Whoo, first Doctor who fanfiction! I have a smoking passion for this show and I think it is just brilliant. This oneshot takes place after the Impossible Planet and the Satan Pit, my two favorite episodes during the Ten Era. I really hope you enjoy this little insertion of my imagination.

Flames are welcome.

~Tony

She wakes from her nightmare of darkness and shadow, of death and voids, calling out for her mother. As soon as she opens her eyes, she's staring at the deep cerulean of the TARDIS walls and it isn't much better; they remind her of ocean depths where no light reaches the rocky crevices that house the most interesting concoctions of animalistic creation (she's seen aliens, fought them, conversed with them, you name it, but oceanic creatures are still a fear of hers). Her breathing is erratic, her heart racing, and her mind churning.

It was just a dream. But it was so much more.

In the wake of their adventure to what the Doctor had deemed as the "Impossible Planet" orbiting without danger (seemingly) around a black hole, and their encounter with the Beast, Rose had been suffering from chronic nightmares, ones that had her screaming for safety in the middle of the night. In the first few nights where Rose dreamed of the Beast calling out to her and promising her death in battle…

("It said I was going to die in battle," she assured him quietly from behind golden locks.

He looked as if he didn't care. "And it lied," he finally said with an unspoken promise, glancing at her.

She smiled, but was completely reassured.)

…the Doctor came to her and comforted her. He held her, combed his fingers through her hair, wiped her tears, and sat with her until Rose didn't feel as if closing her eyes would bring the Beast back.

The Devil, she should say.

Rose told the Doctor to leave her be. She was a big girl now; could make a cup of tea for herself on her own. The last thing she wanted was a 900 plus-year-old man worrying himself over her mental wellbeing. Of course, he refused.

"You tell me they're just dreams, Doctor, and when I tell you to let me alone, you won't! Don't you think I can handle it myself if they're 'just dreams'?" she told him with an edge to her voice, and she wasn't sure if the edge was sharpened with fortitude or with belief in what the Beast had to say.

("You will die…and I will live…!" There was triumph in his voice, as if it was a sure fact.)

She sits in her bed, her mind screaming with the comprehension of just what the Beast is…was. A demon that somehow escaped the confines of its universe exploding, a demon who had found a way to slip between the cracks of a fading reality into a newly formed one, a demon that was caught in a perpetual orbit around a black hole that somehow couldn't figure out how to eat everything in its path.

Rose fumbles with the covers that encase her sweaty form, and throws them off her. Reaching to the nightstand set beside her large, four-poster bed, she comes away with her mobile (the one that the Doctor, in his previous incarnation, had programmed to receive reception from all corners of the universe) and dials home.

Jackie has been missing out on all the action, and maybe it's a good thing. Jackie certainly doesn't think so. Jackie wants her Rose back safe and sound, putting monster-chasing and time-traveling behind her for good. As she listens to the dial tone with a shaky voice in the dark, Rose silently wonders what would happen if she really did die in battle. What would happen to Jackie?

"Hi there, you've reached the Tyler residence and we unfortunately can't come to the telephone right now, so please leave a message! Ta!" Jackie's voice rang out into the cold darkness. At the sound, tears formulated and pooled in Rose's eyes and she could not for the life of her decided why she was crying. There was a beep that marked when Rose's message could begin.

"Um, hi Mum, it's me, Rose," she began shakily. Wiping a tear from her eye, she continued, "I don't really know why I'm calling ya… I 'spect it's because I'm homesick or something. Doctor and me have gone on some pretty wild adventures as of late. We went to this planet that was in orbit around a black hole… pretty wild, yeah? And I guess… I just really miss you, Mum…"

She fought to keep back her emotions, biting her lip fiercely and knitting her eyebrows together.

"There was this thing, on that planet, and the Doctor reckons it's from the previous universe or something like that… I think it's the Devil, and I know you don't believe in things like that Mum," Rose hastened through tears and a trembling voice, "but he told me I was going to die in battle. He knew who I was… he knew I was far from home.

I just needed to tell you that. Doctor told me it lied… and I 'spose you'll tell me to listen to 'im, but… what if he just told me that to make me shut up or something?" A pause as Rose scratched her nose and wondered at that query. She shook it from her mind; the Doctor was better than that. "Never mind. How are things at home? Did I miss anything much? Call me when you get this. Love you, bye."

She hung up abruptly and let her mobile drop from her hand to the TARDIS floor. She sat for a moment, letting tears spill down her cheeks and watching them as they hit her lap. The glistened for a moment and then disappeared into the fabric.

The Doctor wouldn't lie to her. She was sure of it. She trusted him with her life, and she had trusted him with everything else that she knew. Could she really allow herself to think these things?

Deciding she wouldn't find any sleep tonight, Rose withdrew from her room in the TARDIS and made her way to the control room.

Pleased? Disgruntled? Review!