A/N: Some time has passed between the previous story "A Different Way I Need You" and this one. At this point the Doctor and Rose have bonded several times and are serious in their relationship. I place this story shortly after the episode "Fear Her."

Take me back!

Rose brutally but thankfully awoke. She bolted up in her bed before she was even fully awake and a hand instinctively flew to her mouth where she still felt those dreaded words on her lips. Her eyes flew open and were met by the starry lights that glowed on the ceiling of her room on the TARDIS. Even still it took her several minutes to realize that she was really here and not trapped in the subconscious world which she had just escaped. Her legs were knotted in her blanket and she gripped two handfuls of it in her fists. She felt paralyzed, pinned by fear that irrationally made her not want to move. Her throat was raw from screams she must have made in her sleep and she was gulping air to replace what she must have used on them.

She'd had a nightmare. It had to have been a nightmare. Of course it was a nightmare. Except...it didn't feel like nightmare. She struggled now to remember what had happened in it but whatever had been left of the dream upon waking was fading with every second. Somehow, she felt that it probably hadn't even made any sense when she was in the midst of it. But the feelings attached to it had been very real and very strong; even now they were very present with her.

She lay back on her bed, her fists still gripping the blanket up against her chest, and she tried to relax herself. She focused on the lights on her ceiling trying to soothe herself. They were a gift of the TARDIS. She'd installed them for Rose, an exact replica of the night sky from Rose's home on Earth. But despite the calming sight and the deep breaths she was taking she could not stop the panic that was trying to force itself up from the depths of her or the fear that was now coming to surround her.

It wasn't just a nightmare, she knew it. It was something entirely different. It was like seeing the world differently. It was like she could feel time. She could almost taste it changing in front of her. Even the colors of it had hurt. None of it made any sense and she now worked to try to piece it all together.

She struggled to try and remember what had happened but nothing came to her even though she searched her mind out. She was left only with the sounds and feelings and those terrified her. She could still clearly hear both hers and the Doctor's screams and cries. And she could distinctly feel loss. Whatever had happened, she had lost the Doctor. Of that she was sure. She felt he had been ripped from her in some way, leaving her arms, her heart and her mind, completely empty. She now felt that emptiness as if it were somehow truth.

She could clearly remember hearing her own voice crying out Take me back! Take me back! The desperation in her voice when she cried out those words frightened her to her very core. She didn't even want to consider what would have to happen for her to cry like that, to lose it so completely without reservation. What terrible thing would have to happen for her to sound so desperate and so broken? Not only to feel that way but to scream it at the top of her lungs?

Those three words were the only bit of actual information she could glean from the dream and she felt a pinch inside of her when she considered them. Why was it always those three words? Of course, hearing her scream them in the nightmare, she knew what must have happened. She'd screamed those words when the Doctor had sent her away at Satellite 5 and she screamed them again when they stole her away from him on Krop-Tor. Hearing those words now she knew she must have lost him. Why did it have to be those three terrible words that she heard now?

She sat up again in her bed, restless, giving up on her attempts to calm herself and put both of her hands to her head. Her mind ached terribly as it reached and searched. She was not surprised to feel it. It was her mind trying to reach out to the Doctor's but limited in its efforts to connect with him across the distance. Her mind pulsed and throbbed, desperate to seek comfort from the Doctor's. The pain was meant to drive her to him to seek comfort from him and to get the answers she needed. She needed to know that he was still here, that he was safe. It sought to know he wasn't going to leave her, desperate to know he wouldn't let anyone take her away.

It was the bond she and the Doctor had made when they touched their minds together. They were now forever telepathically connected with an ongoing need to spent time communicating inside of their minds. That need to seek out each other's comfort in this way was always worse when they were in danger or times of trouble. In fact, it was almost losing the Doctor and her subsequent need to touch him telepathically that had led the Doctor to realize that they were both mentally bonded to one another. He had initially felt guilty when he realized what was happening. The need for mental bonding was something that he had been born with. But he had not known that she would desire for it like he did. By bonding with her he had awakened something inside of her and had sent them both a down a road they could never return. Not that either one wanted to.

The need to touch his mind was now all consuming. She felt it in every part of herself. She could think of nothing else. She had to satisfy it and to know that he really was here and safe. He always said she was did a good job of controlling the need and not letting it control her. He had said that some humans wouldn't be able to handle the addition of a need like that. It was a very powerful thing and could get the best of you, if you were not disciplined enough to gain control over it. But it was times like these she felt she really was becoming crazed with it.

She threw back the covers and nearly ran out of her room and to the Doctor's. Her bare feet were getting cold from the TARDIS floor and maybe she should feel ridiculous running down the halls of the TARDIS in the middle of the night clad only in her short sleep shorts and tank but the fact was, she just didn't. This just didn't feel right. She needed to know that the Doctor was here and safe. She needed to feel his mind inside of hers. She had never felt the desire to so this much before and there had to be a reason for that.

She had gotten a lot better about asking for this. At first, despite the fact that they had been so close the first time they had bonded, she still wasn't sure how to talk with him about it. At first they had both been shy about talking about it even though both had wanted to do it again shortly after their first time. But after Rose realized it was a need she had and the Doctor knew he wasn't the only one who felt that way, it had become easier for both of them to ask for it. Now they were often on the same page; when one needed it so did the other.

So, she did not worry what she would say to him now. Even if this was only a nightmare she'd had and he didn't feel the same distress she did she could still tell him how it upset her and he would be more than happy to comfort her. He was the only one who could remove this ache inside of her and she now knew how he delighted it doing that for her.

They had bonded their minds several times since they had started this relationship. She felt a flare of warmth inside of her as she remembered those times. She could remember each time in vivid detail. She kept those shared times inside of her like secrets. Each time they came together their bond got stronger. Every time they made each other stronger. What was happening between her and the Doctor was something incredibly special.

But if she had to explain it all with words she would be unable to. She would never be able to explain what was happening between the two of them. It was happening with emotions, not words and so there were no words for it. Even between the two of them most of it went unspoken. Things were changing and things were being said but it was like wordless whispers passing between them. It was so deeply personal and private she wouldn't want to explain it anyway.

She spent a few more minutes trying to find the Doctor's room, which always seemed to be in a different location each time she looked for it, when she turned a corner and found him at the end of it. She halted when she saw him and he did the same. His bare feet, t-shirt and pyjama pants told that this had been one of those rare nights that he had actually slept.

Relief flooded her. Her mind jumped at the sight of him. Now that she could see him and register the fact that he was physically alright the pulsing in her head changed from a desperate need to a deep want. She had told herself that it had only been a dream but that did not stop her from feeling like what happened was very much reality. For a moment, losing him, being separated completely from him, had been real. And by the look on his face that mirrored her own emotions she knew that what had just happened to her had also happened to him. It also told her that it had not been just been a dream.

She was surprised when he started to run towards her and she moved quickly to meet him. He gathered her in his arms and held her desperately, almost too hard against himself. The relief she had initially felt at the sight of him was fading. The way he clung to her was unlike him. Even as their relationship was growing he still wasn't this open with her physically. His arms now held her body as close as possible against his. She felt anguish and grief radiating off of him. There was no relief mixed in the emotions she could feel from him. She still felt him mourning for her even as he held her, angst heavy in his touch. To feel it all from him called back her own fear and anxiety.

"You saw it too, didn't you?" he asked as she felt him bury his face against her shoulder.

"Yes," she said, wanting to feel glad that they shared this experience but unable to as their emotions built, spurred on by the emotions of the other.

"I don't know how that's possible," he said, almost to himself as he pondered this.

"It felt so real. What was it? It was just a nightmare, right?" she asked desperately.

Only silence and unease from him and she thought she felt his arms get a little tighter around her.

"Tell me it was only a nightmare, Doctor," she begged grabbing him quite noticeably tighter.

He suddenly grabbed her head roughly in his hands and looked her in face. For a moment she thought he was about to plunge inside of her head without word or pretense. She felt a shot of excitement and a chill run all the way through her at the idea that he would. She longed for him to do just that. It was the very thing she desired. She pushed up on her toes even her body leaning in and reaching out for it.

But he hesitated with his hands at the back of her head looking intensely at her. She inwardly urged him to move his fingers forward just a few inches to rest on her temples and her hands grabbed at his with pent up energy. It was taking everything inside of her not to take her hands and immediately dive inside of his mind. She was practically going mad from the energy and power that was building inside of her head needing to be freed. The desire and fear for his safety was building it by the second.

He looked at her and she knew. Of course, it wasn't just a dream and he wouldn't give her anything but the truth. "What was it then?" she asked, a tremble of emotion in her voice.

"It was a...possibility."

"It was the future?"

"Not necessarily."

"What do you mean? Can't you tell?"

"It was the future," he admitted with reluctance. "But it isn't necessarily the right one. There are multiple versions of the future at any given time. I don't know for certain which one is the correct one unless there is a fixed point."

She was right. This hadn't just had a nightmare. She had gotten a glimpse of the future. That had never happened before. She normally would be excited at gaining a new experience but she couldn't when what she had glimpsed was so awful. Instead, she felt dread but she had to ask. "Is this a fixed point?"

"No," he said and she could feel he was being honest. There was a brief shot of relief when he said it. She also felt determination in his answer, brief but it was there. He would do what he could to make sure it wouldn't happen. If it wasn't fixed he still had the power to do that. But that feeling was brief and did not last.

"But you think it's going to happen. You said something's coming. You said a storm was approaching. This is it," she said her voice breaking and tears coming to her eyes. "You already could feel it. This is going to happen."

He grabbed her firmly by the shoulders. "We don't know that, Rose."

"But-" she said her desperation growing.

"No," he said firmly. "I felt something coming, yes. But this nightmare, this glimpse of the future could be completely unrelated. And most importantly it may never occur."

"But what was it? What happened to us? I couldn't make much sense of it."

"It doesn't matter," he said with determination his teeth clenched. "It isn't going to happen."

She felt he was just barely containing the anguish and fear that were building in him. It did nothing to convince her of the words he was saying. He was trying to focus on his determination and optimism but they were warring with the darkness this possible future brought. But she couldn't just move past it that easily. She had never seen the future before and this was a terrible first glimpse of it.

"But it happened tonight," she said quietly. She felt him loosen his grip on her and she watched as something shifted in his eyes. With it she felt the small wall he was trying to build around his heart crumbling. She'd always known that was what he did. He had always built walls to protect himself from the pain around him but now she could feel those walls. She could now feel how those walls kept her out. He was getting better at not handling everything that way. It was becoming easier for him to face those emotions. She was helping him to face those emotions that he feared. Because of her he feared them less.

"I'm sorry," she continued on. "Maybe you can just move past it but I can't. I'm not used to this. I believe you, I do. I know it might not happen but...it felt like it happened. It felt real tonight. It felt like I lost you."

His face softened. "Oh Rose," he said putting his hands gently on her face. She felt her love for him multiply at the tender words and gesture. She loved him so much and feeling the loss of him was the worst feeling she'd ever had

"I don't know what happened," she continued on. "I couldn't make sense of it all. But I know I lost you. I heard our screams...I heard my cries. I can still hear you screaming like I've never heard before. And I can feel it all."

"I don't know what happened either...sometimes when I see future events it's clear as if it were happening right in front of me. Other times it's more abstract. When I see events from my own personal timeline it's always obscured. But you're right...we were separated."

"I feel so empty. I...I need..." she said struggling.

"I know," he said quietly with feeling shaking his head in agreement.

He silently took her head and shifted it so that the side of hers touched the side of his, making contact at their temples, taking them both to where they needed to be.