Through the Darkest of Your Days

A/N: Just a quick Rose/Doctor oneshot. Enjoy.

I apologize for my lack of creativity with the whole other world part, it's late, I'm tired and not willing to come up with a whole backstory.

Let's just agree this story is because of late night inspiration and towards the end I was falling asleep myself, so I'll revise later or something.

xx

Sleep. The Doctor never needed much of it. A few hours here and there to recharge, just like the TARDIS needed the Time Rift to recharge every now and again, he needed sleep to recharge. To shut his mind off if even just for a minute. Even a Time Lord needed a few hours of silence. Which is what he was doing right now, sprawled out on the bed in his room, not bothering to change out of the pinstriped suit he was in. Hair a mess, snoring slightly, he'd be up in three to four hours, but had locked the door in case. Martha and himself had an agreement. If the door was ajar, you could enter. Closed without being locked, you knocked and asked to come in. If the door was locked, you took that as a "Do Not Disturb" and you left them be, unless an emergency dictated otherwise. These rules had been the same with all his other companions, even Rose, except with Rose, he never bothered locking the door.

His Rose, the only place he saw her now was in his dreams and memories. Stored under lock and key, he could play the memories back when he needed, to give him strength and courage. When he did sleep, he dreamt about her. The way she smiled. The way her hair looked fanned across the pillow while she slept. The way her eyes shone when she finally figured something out. That "aha" moment when something would finally click. This dream was no different, except it was.

xx

They had just returned to the Time Rift after going to the tropical planet Muaki-ahi. The beaches had purple sand and the most gorgeous golden waters. The Doctor had been there once or twice before and had wanted to show Rose. Which he did, but of course, something was wrong, as it always was. It hadn't taken long to resolve, just a big longer than planned. They had returned to the TARDIS after a ceremony from the leader of the country to thank Rose and the Doctor. Rose had been wearing this sundress, white with flowers coming up from the bottom. The straps were thick and she complained afterwards about her tan lines. Her golden hair and been pulled back into a ponytail, pieces fell into her face, those pieces he wanted to push back out of her face. He couldn't take his eyes off of her, she looked so stunning. Rose always looked stunning, but there was something about that day. However, the TARDIS pulled him away from the thoughts of Rose with demanding to be recharged, she was tired and needed just a bit of time off. Back to the Time Rift it was. He could use sleep too, he could tell. His thoughts were moving at a million miles per hour, he felt like he couldn't keep up. Physically he was tired too. Bags had started to form under his eyes, he moved a wee bit slower, his eyes kept falling shut, he needed sleep. He declared this to Rose after they had gone back to Earth and she had agreed. She'd pop out for some chips or something. She'd be back.

It hadn't taken long for the Doctor to pull off his suit and shirt and to collapse on the bed. Exhaustion had hit him like a ton of bricks and it didn't happen like that much for the Time Lord.

He was cute when he slept, sprawled out on the bed, limbs askew. His hair a mess, no shirt on, if you looked closely, you could see small marks on his back from various adventures, scars, burn marks. He was skinny, she'd give him that, but it wasn't a bad skinny. It was a good skinny, a familiar skinny. That made no sense whatsoever. He was her Doctor, that was simply it. She rarely got to watch him sleep, but here he was, fast asleep. She couldn't help but climb into the bed with him, he didn't do anything, just muttered something that was in some alien language, lord if she knew which one it was. Staring at his spine, she shifted a bit and allowed her fingers to count the bones in his back, walking up them one at a time, attempting to remember how many there were. She had taken an anatomy class once, but that had been long ago. Fingers walking up his back, started at the very bottom of his back, by his bottom and counted up. Mentally keeping note of all the scars, burns, wanting to kiss them all, make them feel better.

She had gotten midway up his back when he muttered something and shifted. "Mmmfmph. What are you doing?" he muttered sleepily, opening one eye to look at the blonde woman beside him. "Don't you knock?"

"I'm counting your backbones. No, why would I knock? The door was ajar. Do you have the same spine as us humans?"

"Rose Tyler, do you even know how many backbones humans have? However, to answer your question, love, yes, yes I do." He muttered yet again, closing his eye and yawning.

"Do you want me to stop?"

"Mmm, no, don't stop. It feels nice."

So, she didn't, she finished her counting and procceded to draw shapes on his back, he'd guess them sleepily after three or four he finally dozed off. Arm around her midsection. It was moments like this he never wanted to leave.

xx

Except, he had to. He woke up because of a random noise outside of his door, looking over at the empty bed beside him, he groaned and put his head back into the pillow. It was only a dream. A dream like it always was. He could only have her in bits and pieces. Never as a whole. Never for more than a few hours. His Rose was gone. She was gone, but it was for the better. Deep down, he knew it was for the better.