"Ah yes." Rose followed a grinning Doctor out of the TARDIS and her eyes fell upon a forest with trees miles high. The bark was a dark charcoal color while the leaves were a contrast snow white that glistened like diamonds in the sunlight.
"It's beautiful." Rose whispered in awe, her neck tilted back to look up at the leaves. "But," She turned towards the Doctor, perplexed. "Didn't you say we were going to the fields of something or other?"
"The fields are..." His eyes scanned the forest and he lifted his arm pointing directly to the right of him. "...two miles that way."
Her lips twitched in amusement. "Two miles, hm?"
He turned to her with a frown. "Don't look at me like that Rose Tyler. I know exactly what I'm doing. I meant to park here."
"Of course you did." She teased with a cheeky grin.
"I did!" He insisted. "We're always running, running, running. I thought it'd be a nice change to walk and what a better place to walk than through the forests of Ziedlor."
"So we're going hiking." Rose said.
"Pretty much yeah." He grinned at her and she grinned back. He grabbed her hand, intwined their fingers and gave her a small tug. She of course followed willingly and leaned into his side as they started into the wooded area.
Rose observed her surroundings as the Doctor started going on about the history of the forests. Not only were the leaves snow white but so was the vegetation covering the ground. She spotted a few furry alien creatures scurrying across the ground and hanging around in the branches of the trees. Occasionally a bird-like creature would fly through the leaves and cry out with the most beautiful chirp Rose had ever heard.
It was times like these that made Rose realize how absolutely lucky she was. There may be a time, millions of years from now when humans would be able to visit any planet in the universe but for right now, where she's from, humans couldn't even imagine that a place like this even existed in the universe.
She loved traveling with the Doctor and running from and fighting with aliens of all different shapes and sizes. But then there were those days, like these, that they took a break from all of that and Rose got discover the beauty and wonder of the universe. There was nothing more she loved doing than to step on a distant, beautiful planet and observe the life around her with her hand securely wrapped in the Doctor's.
Her leg brushed up against a dangling plant with heart shaped leaves and her mind flickered to that one time she'd gone hiking with her mother. Jackie didn't want to go either but her new boyfriend was an expert and desired to take her on one of his trails and Jackie refused to go without Rose.
"You've gotta wear long pants out in the woods, Rose." Jackie informed a young Rose. "You never know how many diseased filled little creatures are out there."
Rose glanced down at her jean clad legs and was thankful the Doctor informed her of the appropriate weather prior to their adventure. Still, she took a step closer, leaning into his side.
"Doctor?" She cut into his speech and he huffed in annoyance, looking at her with a frown.
"Just wondering...are there any mutated alien ticks and things around here? Getting an alien disease is not really on my to-do list for today."
The frown on his face pulled into a smirk and squeezed her hand reassuringly. "You're safe, Rose."
"Yeah?"
"There are no bugs on this planet. Though ticks aren't really bugs."
"You're not about to tell me that ticks are actually aliens from another planet who invaded Earth, are you?"
He shot her a look. "Don't be silly, Rose. Of course not. The only true bugs on Earth are in the family Reduviidae in the class Insecta and are known as either the kissing bug, the assassin bug or the cone-nosed bug. Ticks, on other hand, are in the class Arachnida classified with spiders, mites and scorpions because of their eight legs. Bed bugs are also what are known as 'true bugs' in the order of Hemiptora..."
Rose rolled her eyes and tuned him out, refocusing on the beautiful scenery around her. She could listen to him speak for hours if it was about another planet but she couldn't care less about her own planet. There was a reason she wasn't in school anymore.
Sometimes, Rose thought, as another ten minutes passed and he was still going on about different classes and families and orders of the creatures of Earth, that the Doctor just liked to hear his own voice.
So she let him speak his mind freely as she got lost in her own thoughts.
"Rose?"
"Yeah?" Rose snapped her head up at the Doctor's accusing tone and held back a smile at the adorable pout on his lips. He'd deny it for all he was worth but pouted quite a bit especially when he did not get his way.
"Are you even listening to me?"
Rose bit her lip and shrugged sheepishly in reply and he groaned.
"Honestly," He sighed, "What is the point of having you around if you don't listen to a thing I say?"
"Oi!" She cried and nudged him. "I listen to you! And let's face it Doctor," She tightened her grip on his hand and wrapped her arm around his and leaned into his shoulder, poking her tongue out between her teeth in a flirty, cheeky grin, "You'd be lost without me."
He neither confirmed or denied it but the smile tugging at his lips was enough answer for Rose. Whether he admitted it or not she was important to him and she knew it. Perhaps not in the way she dreamed about, perhaps not even close to that but he cared and she knew she was there for more than just a pair of ears for him to talk to.
She laughed jovially and bumped her hip into his. "Carry on then Doctor."
He huffed and turned up his nose and she couldn't quite tell if he was actually offended or not. "Since you don't listen to me I see no reason to carry on."
Her eyebrows shot up. She knew as well as he did that he couldn't be quiet if he wanted to.
He caught her look and pressed his lips together, remaining quiet for a very long thirty seconds and then cleared his throat. "Right, well then, where was I?"
She shook her head, smiling fondly, and decided to make her Time Lord happy and listen to him.
He just got into discussing the trematodes and nematodes when Rose squeaked as something hit her in the neck. The noise immediately caught the Doctor's attention and he whirled around to face her completely, concern written on his features.
Rose hissed quietly as she reached up to her neck and pulled a dart-like object from her skin. The Doctor swiped it from her hand and she reached her hand up to rub the sore spot on her neck. The Doctor looked over the dart with narrowed, curious eyes and then scanned the wooded area for the source.
"What is it?" Rose asked, eyeing the dart a bit nervously. "Is it from an animal?"
"No." He muttered quietly, still scanning the forest. "This is definitely man made. Well when I say man made I mean the most intelligent life on this planet. In this case it would be..."
Rose's eyes widened as behind the Doctor's shoulder she saw two humanoid creatures emerging from the woods.
"Them?" She pointed over his shoulder and he spun quickly.
"Yes." He confirmed. "Them."
The creatures were a dull grey color, human-looking except for their three legs and pointed ears. They carried spears nearly as tall as they were, which was an exceptional height, a good foot or two above the Doctor, and wore clothing made out of what looked like the snow-white foliage of the woods.
The Doctor's hand once again found hers and she noticed the dangerous look on his face before it quickly snapped into a happy grin and he approached the two creatures slowly.
"Well hello! I'm the Doctor, this is Rose, and you must be the native Ziedlorians. We mean you no harm, we come in peace." He smiled over his shoulder at Rose. "I've always wanted to say that."
Rose gasped and gripped the Doctor's hand as the creatures extended their arms so their spears were mere inches from their throats.
"Oh." The Doctor stared down at the spear, swallowing so hard his Adam's apple came dangerously close to the pointed edge. "Listen if you could, my friend and I here would greatly appreciate if you would lower your extremely sharp weapons away from our necks."
The creatures growled and brought the spears even closer.
"Or not." He squeaked. Rose's wide eyes were focused upon the spear as she held her breath, afraid to even move.
"What are you doing on our land?" One of the creatures hissed keeping a fierce glare on the two time travelers.
The Doctor and Rose exchanged glances and at their lack of response the creatures hissed again. "We demand an answer!"
"Yes, well," The Doctor spoke slowly, his voice a bit strained, "You are making it quite difficult for us to say anything with your weapons this close to cutting off our heads."
The creatures let out a low growl and slowly lowered their spears so they were directly over their hearts.
"Oh that makes it so much better." Rose remarked, her voice dripping with obvious sarcasm. A squeak escaped her throat as the spear poked her chest and she pressed her lips firmly together and glared at the creatures.
"Let me do the talking, yeah?" The Doctor murmured near her ear and then turned a charming smile on the aliens. "Thank you, now, your question was what are we doing here? Well, as I just did mention we come in peace. We're not here to hurt you or take your land or anything destructive. We're simply two travelers stopping by this lovely planet, really it's absolutely brilliant, for a relaxing walk."
"And why should we believe you?" The other grey alien growled, eyeing the Doctor skeptically.
"What? You mean you don't trust these faces?" His lips curled into cheshire-like grin and Rose eyed him for a moment before slapping a grin onto her own lips. The pair of aliens narrowed their eyes in suspicion at the two grinning fools and growled in disbelief.
"Alright," The Doctor sighed, dropping the smile off of his face, "Look, my ship is right back there." He hoisted his free hand over his shoulder, pointing backwards with his thumb. "My friend and I are perfectly content living in there, we don't need your land for anything, we're not trying to steal it from you, we just want to get to fields of Zhahoc."
"Who are you?" The first creature asked slowly, his eyes searching for any sign of the truth.
"The Doctor." He answered with a self satisfied grin.
"The Doctor of what?" The other asked.
"Nothing." The Doctor answered simply and then pursed his lips in thought, reconsidering his answer. "Everything. Time. Space."
The Doctor grunted as the spear pressed harder against his chest and the alien snarled, clearly displeased with his answer.
"Who are you?" He repeated again with more bite.
"For the third and final time, because really how many times do I need to say it, I'm the Doctor. This is Rose. We are time travelers and that's it. We find a planet, we stay for a bit, look around if its pretty, occasionally get into a bit of trouble if people don't really like us, and then we leave and do it all again somewhere else."
"What specie are you?" The other asked.
"Me? Well I'm a Time Lord."
"Never heard of 'em." The first growled, keeping his spear tightly pressed to the Doctor's chest.
"Really?" His voice squeaked in surprise. "Never?"
"We do not know much of the universe." The other answered. "We only know what is in our history."
"What planet are Time Lord's from?" The first asked.
Rose glanced at the Doctor and at once noticed the darkness that washed over his face. She squeezed his hand and his eyes flickered to her and he swallowed thickly before answering tensely, "Gallifrey."
The creatures glanced at one another, studying the other's face for a moment before returning to the couple. "We do not recognize the name."
"No." The Doctor sighed heavily. "I don't suppose you would..."
"And the female? Is she Time Lord as well?"
"I'm human." Rose answered shortly.
"A human?" They gasped in surprise. "From Earth?"
"Yes, of course from Earth, where else?"
"Wait a minute!" The Doctor cried and the aliens eyes snapped to him, eyeing him sharply. "Am I to believe that you've heard of human beings and Earth but not of the Time Lords and Gallifrey? Time Lords have been in the universe centuries longer than humans!"
"Your planet serves no importance to our kind." The one holding the spear against the Doctor answered simply.
The Doctor huffed, offended. "And Earth does?"
"Oi! There is nothing wrong with Earth!" Rose insisted.
"Well, its no Gallifrey."
"Pardon me Doctor, but aren't you always the one saying how brilliant humans are?"
"Some humans." He corrected. "Some humans are exceptionally brilliant but still not as brilliant as Time Lords."
Rose scoffed, shaking her head. "You are so self righteous. "
"With good reason! Humans are simple minded..."
"Simple minded!" Rose cried indignantly. The two were now so heavily focused on each other that they failed to notice the Ziedlorians has lowered their weapons and had taken a few steps back eyeing the two in bemusement.
"Yes," The Doctor nodded, turning to face his companion fully. "Rose, you couldn't even begin to imagine what goes on in my head."
"Oh really?" Rose countered, crossing her arms over her chest. "I think everyone around you has a pretty good idea what goes on in your head because you never shut up."
The Doctor gaped at her in astonishment. "I thought you liked when I talked!" His voice squeaked and she fought back a smirk.
"You like when you talk Doctor, and you like to think I like when you talk."
His jaw dropped further and he spluttered. "R-Rose..."
Rose chewed lightly on the inside of her cheek, trying to keep the smile threatening to spread across her lips at bay. But the moment his lower lip started to wobble ever so lightly she lost it and her body was overcome with laughter.
The offended pout snapped off his face and was replaced with a scowl, one that once Rose got a glance at only made her laugh harder.
"I really do not understand what is so funny Rose Tyler. You insulted me!"
One of her arms wrapped around her midsection and she slapped her hand over her mouth to muffle the laughter while she shook her head. He huffed and narrowed his eyes in a glare and Rose, finally getting control of herself, wiped away the tears from her eyes and reached out to grab hold of the Doctor's arm. She pulled herself closer to him, looping her arm through his and grinning up at him. "I'm sorry, Doctor. It's so fun to tease you sometimes."
His stony expression started to soften immediately at the sight of her irresistible, stunning, tongue-in-teeth grin. No matter what stupid thing his little human did she'd always find a way to crawl right back into his good graces. In some cases it took just a simple look from those lively eyes to have him under her spell. This happened to be one of those cases.
"And you call me rude. Blimey." He settled for as a reply and he was certainly pleased with the way Rose responded. She leaned into his shoulder, grinning up at him brilliantly and very lightly bumped her hip into his.
"Are you two always like this?" The alien's voice suddenly reminded the Doctor and Rose that they were not alone and just minutes ago were being threatened by said aliens. They glanced at the aliens, at each other, at themselves and then back at the aliens.
"You, ah, let us go." The Doctor observed.
"We did yes." One of the Ziedlorians agreed. "We have deemed you safe and you have captured our interest. We have never seen an inter-specie couple before."
Rose blushed at the words and bit down on her lip softly while the Doctor simply raised his eyebrows. "An inter-species what?" He had heard them quite clearly and there was no need for them to repeat themselves but he had asked anyway.
"You two are together, are you not?" The other Ziedlorian questioned. "Traveling together and acting as you do? You must be wedded for quite some time now."
Rose and the Doctor quickly shared a glance and then jumped away from each other, letting go of the other's arm, both now shifting awkwardly. The Doctor rubbed the back of his neck and cleared his throat, "No, we uh- no. We're not- together. Well, we're together but not...together. I mean we're not...married."
"Just friends." Rose agreed and hoped no one could hear the disappointment in her voice.
"Really?" Rose's heart thudded almost painfully at how honestly surprised the alien sounded. It wasn't the first time they'd been mistaken for a couple and it probably wouldn't be the last but it still did things to Rose that she'd never admit.
"Yes. Two friends just traveling together is all. " The Doctor assured quickly and his face scrunched up curiously and Rose knew he was about to change the subject. "I'm sorry I didn't quite catch your names."
"My name is Rae-hl." The one standing across from the Doctor introduced himself and then pointed to the other. "This is my brother Rae-buu. We are warriors of the tribe Qimtiph."
The Doctor's face lit as the knowledge snapped in his mind. "Qimtiph, of course! A small tribe on Ziedlor but very powerful, you do not want to get into a war with them." He informed Rose.
"You know of us." Rae-hl stated an air of surprise in his tone.
"I know everything." The Doctor beamed and Rose rolled her eyes.
"We apologize for threatening you but we do hope you understand our position." Rae-buu said. "Other tribes have tried to take over our land as well as different species from foreign planets such as yourselves."
"Yes, yes. We completely understand, don't we Rose?" Rose nodded and smiled at the aliens. "Land is very valuable on every planet it seems. Now as we have mentioned before and have proved to be true, we do not want your land, however I do have a question."
"We will try our best to answer." Rae-hl nodded his head respectfully.
The Doctor held up the dart that hit Rose which was still in his hand. "You hit Rose with this, what is it?"
"It is a dart." Rae-buu answered and motioned to a belt-like object hanging around his waist with other darts planted securely around it.
"It is not poisonous if that is what you are wondering." Rae-hl explained. "It is simply a tranquilizer so we may take the intruders to our village and hold them prisoner. Your human should be unconscious."
Rose lifted her hand to her neck to feel the spot on her neck where she was hit and looked at the Doctor to see him staring down at her, question and concern written in his eyes.
"I feel fine." She shrugged bringing her hand back down to her side.
"Odd." The Doctor muttered. "Perhaps it doesn't effect humans."
Rose smirked smugly and nudged him with her elbow. "Whose got the superior biology now, hm?"
He shook his head, huffing in bemusement. He flicked the dart onto the ground and crushed it beneath his toe and shoved his hands into his pockets.
"Right then," He addressed Rose, "We should probably get going. It shouldn't take too much longer to get there but the longer we wait the shorter time we'll have to spend there."
Rose nodded at him and then smiled at the Rae brothers. "It was a pleasure to meet you, um, men."
The Doctor hid a snigger and rubbed the space above his upper lip to hide his smirk.
"As was it a pleasure to meet you Miss Rose." Rae-hl approached her and took her hand in his cold, grey one and brought it to his lips in a light kiss. Rae-buu followed his brother's lead and did the same with her other hand and Rose giggled, biting down on her lip, her cheeks flushing.
The smirk was gone from the Doctor's face and his eyes were narrowed as he watched the aliens with his companion.
"We apologize for threatening you." Rae-hl stated once they backed away from Rose. "You and Miss Rose are welcome on Ziedlor anytime."
"Yes." The Doctor said dismissively and Rose eyed him curiously. "Thank you, we appreciate it. Now if you don't mind we must be going. Rose?" He sniffed and without another word walked past Rae-hl and Rae-buu.
Rose sighed and sent an apologetic look at the two brothers. She mouthed an 'I'm sorry' and wished them a final goodbye before running after the Doctor.
"What was that all about?" She asked once she caught up to him, slipping her arm through his. "You were acting rude to them for no reason. They were nothing but polite!"
"A bit too polite if you ask me." He answered tensely.
"Why Doctor," She squeezed his arm and smirked up at him, "I'd say you were jealous."
"Jealous?" He scoffed. "Me? Rose don't be silly. I do not get jealous."
"You do so!" She laughed. "Your face would practically turn green when Jack was around."
He barked a laugh. "Jack doesn't count. Jack was...Jack."
"He so counts!"
"No he doesn't." He insisted with a shake of his head.
"Does!"
"Does not."
"Alright then," She slid her hand down into his and tangled their fingers together and swung their arms between them, "What about Mickey?"
He shot her an incredulous look. "Mickey-the-idiot? You think I was ever jealous of Mickey-the-idiot?"
"He's not an idiot!" She objected fiercely but then grinned cheekily, "And yes I do."
"Rubbish." He snorted. "Absolute rubbish. I do not get jealous, least of all of human beings."
"Again with the humans." She muttered under her breath and he looked down at her, eyebrow raised.
"What?"
She ignored that specific question and carried on with her former point, "Okay so not jealous of humans, whatever, but you were so jealous of those tribal aliens back there."
"I was not jealous!" He insisted. "I just thought they were a little too over friendly with you is all."
Her brow rose. "A little over friendly? Doctor, they kissed my hand. People on Earth do that all the time, you of all people should know in many cultures its a sign of respect."
He grumbled something about alien customs being different than Earth customs and she laughed, shaking her head.
"Just admit it Doctor, you didn't like that they were male and they were showing me affection."
"I am simply looking out for you Rose, it has nothing to do with jealousy." He explained and scoffed again. "Me, jealous. Ridiculous."
With a slight roll of her eyes Rose decided to give up the fight. She knew when she couldn't and wouldn't win and discussions about the Doctor's feelings, particularly about her, was definitely one of them.
So to make him happy, as she so loved to do, she asked him to talk about the creatures he was explaining before. His face immediately lit up and scientific babble started leaving his lips so fast she knew she had no chance of keeping up. But she listened any how, hanging onto his every word because she really did love to hear him talk.
He talked and talked and talked and talked until Rose cut him off with a gasp. She let go of his hand and leapt through the brush ahead of her only to enter into fields and fields of empty space covered in white and fluffy foliage.
"Welcome Rose Tyler to the fields of Zhahoc." The Doctor grinned, throwing his arm lightly over her shoulders. She looked up at him, grinning brightly.
"It's beautiful." And before he had a chance to agree she let out a squeal, grabbed his hand and pulled him forward. She laughed as she ran with him across the fields and his laughter soon joined hers.
They ran a couple of yards before Rose let go of his hand and started to spin around amongst the flowers, kicking up the fluffy foliage into the air all around her.
The Doctor shoved his hands into his pockets and watched her, a very love-struck smile growing on his lips. The way the stray leaves danced around her and glinted in the sunlight made her seem more beautiful in his eyes than ever before. He was always captivated by her stunning beauty, ever since that first time she came out dressed in 19th century garb. And whether she dressed like she belonged in the renaissance or the 50's or the 70's or in her PJ's from just waking up in the mornings, she was still the most beautiful creature he'd ever seen.
With a peel of laughter she collapsed onto the ground near his feet. "Oh." She whined in laughter, bringing her hands to her head. "That was not a good idea." She popped on eye open and saw the Doctor grinning down at her. She grinned back up at him and shot up, grabbed his hand and pulled him down next to her.
He let out a very un-Doctor like screech and she laughed harder, burying her face into his shoulder. He scowled at the top of her head. "That wasn't very nice."
"Yeah?" She propped herself up on her elbow and giggled. "Neither is this." She launched herself at him grabbing him by the shoulders and pressing him into the ground.
He gaped at her in shock. "Oh Miss Tyler...that was a big mistake."
"Oh was it?" She countered, her tongue slipping between her teeth and she waggled her eyebrows teasingly.
"Oh yes." His tone had taken a bit of a growl to it and Rose swallowed her feelings of arousal. "Because no one tackles a Time Lord and gets away with it."
She cocked an eyebrow, challenging him. "What'cha ya gonna do, Time Lord?"
His eyes glinted mischievously and his chest rumbled with a deep chuckle. "Oh Rose, something I should have done a long time ago."
Her breath caught in her chest as he suddenly lightly grabbed her from behind the head to hold her in place and lifted his own head towards hers. Her eyes subconsciously closed and her lips parted shuddering slightly at the feel of his breath against her mouth. She waited and waited and could practically feel his lips against hers when suddenly, quick as lightening she was being flipped and pressed into the ground. She felt the Doctor's body pressed against hers and his mouth suddenly against her ear, "Gotcha'." He was off of her before she could breath and when she finally opened her eyes she saw him smugly strutting away.
She let out a breath and ran a hand through her hair and tried to clear her foggy brain. Her hand came to rest over the flushed skin of her chest right over her rapidly beating heart and once she regained control of her body and thoughts she narrowed her eyes at the retreating Time Lord.
"Oh you are so dead." She leapt to her feet and ran after him. At the sound of her feet hitting the ground, the Doctor looked over his shoulder and grinned at her and then took off in a run, his maniac laughter drifting into the open air.
As fast as he was, she was just a bit faster and she grabbed him from around the waist and brought them both to the ground. She landed on top of him and he let out a pained groan and she took the opportunity to maneuver herself so she was tightly straddling him to the ground her hands pressed down onto his chest. "Don't mess with a human." She hissed playfully.
"Yes, yes, alright, don't mess with a human, I've got it." His voice was strained from her weight upon his chest. "Now would you please get off of me?"
She stuck out her tongue at him but obliged and rolled off to his side. He grunted as he sat up and shifted his weight. "Blimey, you're a lot of heavier than you look."
"I'm not sure whether to take that as a compliment."
He simply smirked in reply.
Hours later they were sprawled out on the Doctor's jacket, Rose comfortable curled against his side, her head lightly rested against his chest and his arm holding her securely to him.
The Doctor was telling her the story of how the fields of Zhahoc were created and unintentionally she began to doze off against his chest. Fortunately for her the Doctor was too busy talking to realize that she wasn't listening to him.
"...so, the waters from the flood washed the seeds from the mountains down to this valley and the natives who survived the flood realized they could now use this land. They worked and worked and it took many years for the plants to grow but eventually it blossomed into this. It's very beautiful as you have previously mentioned and the texture is so soft it is perfect for clothing material and that is why the Ziedlorians are so protective of this land you see, because of this field."
She hummed quietly and snuggled further into his chest. "Tha's fascinatin'." She mumbled and his lips turned upward in a smile.
"Did you hear a word I just said?" He questioned her and she shook her head, humming again in reply.
He chuckled and the vibrations in his chest caused a small smile to appear on her lips. "Rose." He brushed his lips against the top of her head and she inclined her head upwards, opening her eyes a crack. "We should go, Rose. The sun is beginning to set and we have to make it back before dark."
"Why's that?" She wondered with a yawn, pushing herself off of him.
He stood up and helped the sleepy human to her feet and then grabbed his coat and shook it free of all white plant particles. "The nocturnal creatures on this planet are not pleasant. They won't harm the natives but they will detect we are not of this planet and they will kill us."
Her eyes widened and now she was suddenly awake than she was just seconds ago. "I'm sorry, what?"
"Oh yes, vicious, nasty creatures. I suppose for a visual you can picture a dragon and a wolf." He explained slipping on his coat and wiping off the rest of the particles.
"You're serious."
"Completely." He nodded. "Why wouldn't I be?"
She crossed her arms over her chest and stared at him. "You're telling me that if we don't make it back to the TARDIS by night fall, we will be eaten by an alien dragon/wolf creature."
"More or less." He shrugged and grinned at her. "So we'd better get goin' eh?"
"I honestly don't know what to do with you sometimes, Doctor." She sighed as she grabbed onto his arm.
"There's no fun if there's no threat of danger." He answered.
"I would have thought that getting threatened by alien creatures with gigantic swords was enough danger for today."
"There is no such thing as enough danger." He winked at her and let go of her arm to run ahead a few paces. "Come on Rose, lets not dilly dally."
"If we get stuck in the dark, I'm so throwing you to the dragon-wolf first." She called ahead and he simply laughed.
Forty five minutes into the journey back to the TARDIS and the Doctor was once again off on one of his long tangents. He would turn back every so often to check on Rose and see her lagging behind, glaring at him and he;d simply grin and continue to walk and talk.
"So, where do you think we should go next, Rose? Fancy a trip to another planet? You know we never did take that trip to Barcelona, I really do need to show you the noseless dogs. You'll love them Rose! Friendliest creatures in the galaxy, well that galaxy. Or we could go back in Earth's history I have always wanted to meet Shakespeare, brilliant bloke that one. 'To be or not to be, that is the question.' What'd you think, Rose?" He glanced over his shoulder to find his companion and the contented grin quickly washed off his face at seeing no sign of her. "Rose?"
Panic quickly squeezed at his hearts and dread coursed through his veins. "Rose?" He spun around and paced quickly backwards, his eyes scanning the wooded forests for any sign of his human companion. "Rose, really this is no time to be wondering off. I was serious about the Ishelu's you know they will swallow you whole."
He expected to hear a giggle, a rustle in the woods, any sign at all that his Rose was still around somewhere and just playing some joke on him, possibly pay back for his earlier joke on her.
"Rose?" He tried to hide the quiver of fear in his voice. "Rose the sun is getting dangerously low."
He had just seen her not minutes ago she couldn't have gotten far. Unless one of the Ziedlorians had captured her silently. He gritted his teeth, anger now joining the fear and dread that coursed through his body.
"Rose!" He started to run now, desperate to find her. He wondered if maybe she had accidentally taken the wrong turn without realizing it. He noticed she was rather tired back in the fields and could have been daydreaming and wondered off without him.
"Rose!" He raised his voice to carry across the wild expanse of the forest. "Ro-"
He suddenly came to a jolting stop and all the air seemed to be ripped from his lungs. There, lying just feet ahead, face down was his Rose. He stared in silent shock for a moment or two and then ran over to her, falling to his knees beside her. "Rose." He whispered vehemently, reaching out for her. He gently flipped her so she was lying on her back and his hearts plummeted deep into his stomach at the sight of her. She was unconscious and extremely pale and her head bobbed limp to the side as he moved her.
He swallowed over the sudden lump in his throat and gathered her into his arms. He moved to brush her hair out of her face but as his hand grazed her forehead he hissed and reeled back, his concern for her multiplying ten fold. She was running a temperature that he knew for sure was way too high for a human being. He clenched his jaw, cuddling her gently against his chest. He kissed the top of her head and closed his eyes, a million thoughts running through his head all at once. What happened to her? How? Did something hit her? Did she step on something? Did she ingest something? What was causing that fever? What could he do to stop it?
Opening his eyes and fighting his suddenly slightly blurred vision, he observed the darkening sky and his face grew cold and determined. "I've got you Rose." He whispered against her hair and with a grunt he carefully rose to his feet, Rose safely tucked against his chest.
Ignoring the thought of the long journey back to the TARDIS he shifted Rose closer to him and took the woods, the only thought on his mind his sick companion in his arms.