Author's Note: Hello fellow whovians! I was reading Roxie (a previous story of mine just to see if I could get any ideas flowing) and I came up with this! As the title suggests, it is set a year after the ending of Roxie. This isn't connected to Smile at all :D This is a one shot story by the way.

The first section is a bit like an introduction to let you guys know :)

If you haven't read Roxie, I would recommend that you go back and read that first just so you fully understand what's going on.

Danni x

Tonight was different. Maybe not in the way that you think. Clara was at home with the Maitlands, the Doctor was in the console room fixing up Sexy and Roxie had decided to get some sleep after their day. It was quite normal actually, playing Laser Quest and bowling. That was all Clara's idea.

It had been roughly a year since the Doctor and Clara rescued Roxie from the living hell that she was pulling herself through and that was only the beginning. Several nightmares, finding out she was pregnant with her torturer's baby, the father of the baby invading the TARDIS, Roxie getting shot, losing the baby and then regenerating for the first time. It was a difficult time for all three of the time travelers. That went without saying.

The Doctor was fixing up Sexy and just spending quality time with her when he heard screaming from deeper inside the TARDIS. The Doctor panicked as he realised it was Roxie who was screaming. He knew it was Roxie because Clara was at home with the Maitlands.

He dropped his tools and bolted straight to her room with the TARDIS making the room closer to the console room than it was originally. The time lord thanked the Old Girl and burst into Roxie's room to find that she was thrashing in her covers and was screaming. The Doctor was at her side and placed her hand in his own before whispering in her ear, "It's a dream Roxie. Wake up." He felt her calm down dramatically and whispered in her ear again, "Good girl. That's it." In the past, the Doctor had worked out that whispering into Roxie's ear was the best way to wake her up as it was usually successful.

She then flicked her eyes open and reached her arms out, wanting to feel her father's arms around her, wanting to feel safe. She hadn't had a nightmare like that since before she regenerated. She has had mild ones in the past few months but she didn't need to be woken up from those like that. She could just brush them ones off. This one was different and was the worst she had in a long time. The Doctor sat on the edge of Roxie's bed and held her close to him, comforting her.

The Doctor felt tears soak his shirt but he didn't mind. All that mattered was that Roxie was okay. This was why he didn't sleep when he could avoid doing so as the nightmares would probably kill him. All the people who have been screwed up, or even worse, because of him. It's like Rory said when they visited Venice, 'You know what's dangerous about you? It's not that you take risks. It's that you make them want to impress you. You make it so they don't want to let you down. You have no idea how dangerous you make people to themselves when you're around.'

After a good while of Roxie letting her tears flow and her father comforting her by having his arms around her and rocking her ever so slightly and whispering things into her ear, she decided she was ready to tell him what her dream was about.

"Can I tell you what it was about?" Roxie pulled away a tiny bit and asked her father who was looking down on her.

"If you want to. You know I won't make you."

"It was in the console room. We were back from the bowling and Laser Quest. We were talking about how useless you were at Laser Quest since you came last." Roxie and the Doctor both smiled at this part because even though the Doctor got mocked (that wasn't anything particularly unusual) he loved how it made the girls laugh, "We heard a knocking on the door. You and Clara said that was impossible because we were drifting. We hadn't landed. That's when it was him," Roxie began to struggle recalling the events, leaving longer pauses between each sentence and the Doctor could tell that she was trying to hold in her tears as best she could.

"Hey. Take as much time as you -" The Doctor was interrupted before he could finish his sentence.

"That's was when he said it was his birthday and... you were the present. Me and Clara tried to stop him but Clara got hurt badly and he shot me in one of my hearts. Clara was..."

"Shh. Come here." Roxie threw her arms around the Doctor as he also felt a tear slip down his own face. He had to think about it before he realised that he was crying. He wiped it away before placing one hand on Roxie's spine and the other hand on the back of her head. He rubbed up and down Roxie's back as she clung onto him as if worried that she was going to fall back into her nightmare if she let go.

"I'll protect you Roxie. Cross my hearts."