Summary: Five companions the Doctor watched sleep and the one he couldn't bear to.
Warning: There is an OC in this. Mine. The one from jagged edges of time. Heads up.
i.
Susan was always so beautiful to him. Big, doe brown eyes framed by thick lashes fluttering against the pallor of her skin as they began to close – they always struggled to stay open, no matter what, she wanted to be awake, because her Grandfather was.
(such a young one needs rest he would tell her, pressing a kiss to her forehead I will be here when you awaken)
And she would sleep – short bouts, just three hours each – but she looked innocent all the while, looked at peace. All black hair and soft jaw line – such a lovely girl, Susan Foreman was.
Even as tears traced her cheeks as he turned back to the TARDIS to continue on – alone.
(youleaveeveryonedon'tyou sarah jane will ask and he has no answer)
Like always.
ii.
" – and when the Krippilions were at war with the Axphidials they destroyed three worlds in the span of a human year! Eventually something clicked, and they began, what is called, the Daystorm Agreement to leave one another alone and try not to kill everything in their way." He turned to glow at Ace, he was going to take them there, and he was going to let her see what her explosives were in true comparison to the great bombs of the Kripillions – they were like a prick on the finger, like a fly in your ear.
"What do you thi—!"
He was interrupted by a soft snore coming from the Captain's chair.
Asleep. Ace was asleep.
He would have groaned and sat back, waiting for her to wake up (with a crick in her neck, no doubt he chuckled to himself) ignoring everything but the hum of the TARDIS, but found himself staring rather intently at the dormant human.
Ace. Such a hard name. Such a tough name for a girl. It fit in a way – but when she was asleep – when she was curled up like a cat in a chair with her long hair twining out of her ponytail and resting on her cheeks, slightly puffed out as she breathed – she looked every bit Dorothy and Ace was shoved to the side.
She looked sweet and warm. Like a child in a way, and so much like Susan that it physically caused an ache in his chest – right by his left heart.
"I'll show you later, sleep for now, Ace. Goodness knows what trouble you'll find when you wake up." He laid a blanket around her shoulders, smiling kindly.
"Thanks, Prof." She murmured slowly, curling up tighter in to the chair.
Such a sweet girl.
iii.
It was nice for Donna not to be yelling at him. For her instead to be in her room, tucked about in bed, and quiet. The Doctor entered the kitchen, aiming to find some marmalade or something equally tasty, when he saw her. Rather not tucked in bed, and quite curled up against the counter, sleeping soundly.
Donna Noble: counter-sleeper and poor Charades player.
She mumbled something and turned about, only to slump to the floor, and continued snoring.
"Figures, even in sleep she can't keep still." He muttered warmly, removing his jacket and tucking it under her head.
Donna pressed her head against it and burbled, "Smells like bananas."
If she wasn't so dangerous when woken too early from a nap the Doctor would have laughed out loud.
As it was, he just turned to leave and enjoy the silence that her sound sleep provided.
Until she woke up and discovered that he left her on the floor.
iv.
Martha was a pretty girl. Brilliant in her own way. But if she would focus on the mission at hand instead of focusing on him it would save a lot of time. Maybe he could introduce her to Mickey, the both of them seem to focus more on their love lives than saving them.
(that's not fair, doctor a voice whispers in the back of his mind she's doing her best)
He knows that. He knows it and it's kind of cruel of him to act like she's not as good as she is. She is good. Wonderful. But he's hurting and when he's hurting he lashes out.
Unfairly.
So he goes to her room to apologise for snapping at her earlier that day only to discover her asleep. She looks knackered, absolutely dead asleep. And rather sweet (likacelikesusan). Just a girl with no makeup, no sad smile, just a face that's calm and far away from this dangerous world he knows so well.
So he lets her sleep.
If only to let her escape for a little while.
v.
Leon is an odd girl. Listening to music at almost every hour, reading physics books when she knows the world she's in right now makes no sense to physics – defies it openly, in fact. Such an odd girl.
But she's excited for adventure and she's enthralled by everything he has to show her. Like so many others.
Though she has the odd habit of falling asleep in the most odd places of the TARDIS – once in the Zero Gravity room (it's like flying she blushed), in the Chemistry Lab (all those smells and sounds, it's like a symphony she says as she tries to get a stain out of her shirt), even in the Butterfly Room (they tickle she laughs).
So he isn't really truly surprised to find her wrapped in her covers from her bed on the couch in the library. There is a book lying near her hand as it drapes itself over the edge.
"Fell asleep reading again?" He asks to the prone body, brushing back a strand of hair from her face. She'll want to get it cut again, he knows it, as he makes the mental note to stop off at Hisgus II – the hairstyling planet. A quaint place in Galaxy Amphern just off of Earth by three billion light years in fact.
He picks up the book from the ground and marks her place, placing it on the table, before placing her hand back under the covers.
His eyes catch sight of the scar on her neck and he winces slightly, he helped her acquire that and he may spend the rest of her time with him making up for that.
Part of him, though, is both soothed and tickled pink at the expression on her face.
Perhaps the oddest thing about Leon is that even in sleep she looks like she's trying to deduce his world down to simple sciences. Her entire face, screwed up in a contemplative way, eye brows nearly touching and mouth pursed.
Later on Leon will wake up and they will go get her hair cut, and for a moment, she'll forget that this isn't scientifically possible, and just enjoy it.
Or, Rassilon help her, he will burn all of her Physics books.
[[and the one he couldn't]]
Death tricks him all the time. Sometimes he saves the wrong person, sometimes he can't save a damn thing, and sometimes he saves everyone. Death is his worst companion.
Rose is his best.
And he refuses to let them touch one another.
And so it terrifies him to watch Rose sleep, because when Rose Tyler is awake and laughing, all blonde hair and big brown eyes, he can see nothing but hope and love beyond the Death-filled world that is his own. When she is with him, hand slotted between his, body pressing up against him; he is in love and happy and free in ways he was never before.
But when she sleeps and Death looms he sees nothing but darkness and tombstones. He sees loss and pain and suffering and something breaks inside of him because she looks too calm, too still, too much like Death has stolen away her soul – and, in doing so, the Doctor's own.
He doesn't watch her sleep because one day she won't wake up and each night is a painful reminder that even Time runs out – and Rose, human as she is, didn't have much to start with.
And so he holds onto her like a lifeline – and he carves memories into his mind, memories of light and love and sacrifice. And Bad Wolf makes an appearance on every memory. Makes itself known in everything Rose Tyler does (one and the same something croons they were one and the same for you)
And it worries him. He has those moments of pure Rose, but he sees the Wolf inside rear and it terrifies him.
Subsequently he tucks her into bed and whispers, "Sleep now Rose Tyler, and when you wake we'll have ourselves a merry old time. Promise."
He hears her snort in her sleep, jolted slightly by his sudden voice, and it's the most beautiful little noise he's ever heard. Because she's alive and here with him, in this moment, in this bed, and there is no Death.
So he lies down next to her, trying to hold her lightly, but he can't and he presses her against his chest so tightly that he cannot see her face. All he can feel is her breath on his body and the rise and fall of her back. She thinks it's because he wants her so near to him, wants her so close to him that they become one (and he does, he wants her to be his forever and all eternity and however many years he can manufacture out of his own bone).
She doesn't know it's because every body he sees wears her face and every dying scream he hears echoing in his mind sounds exactly like hers.
The last line isn't very good, so I'm sorry for that, but I could not, for the life of me, make it fit. So…hope this is good enough – if not then review with suggestions. And tell me what you think of my OC – because I'm thinking of writing a multi-chap story with her in it (rose/ten reunion of course – but with a twist).
Thanks!
Aimlessly Unknown.