A/N: Thanks for the lovely comments so far - they made my day. xx
"Rose! Rose!"
She shot up from the bed, gasping for breath. It took a second for her vision to clear but sitting on the bed next to her was a familiar Time Lord. His hair was all messy and on the end of his nose was his glasses. Usually Rose would be happy to see him looking like that, but the anxious look on his face made her think differently.
Rose felt a soft hand cup her cheek.
"Rose, what was it? Bad dream?"
She nodded and raised a hand to feel the back of her head. The Doctor saw what she was doing and instinctively to see what was wrong.
"Rose, tell me because you're beginning to panic me and that's not good". He said, meeting her gaze.
"I'm… fine" She mumbled.
She looked down on the floor, where her lamp was broken, smashed into tiny pieces. The Doctor followed her eye line. "Yeah, I rushed in when I heard something crash. Thought you might have fallen out of bed or something daft. Weeelll I was hoping it was something daft". He half-smiled at her, trying to release some of the tension.
Pulling off the covers, Rose stood up, still wary of her surroundings. The Doctor watched her carefully.
"I need a drink" she muttered.
"Okay," The Doctor backed to the door but never broke his eye contact. "Don't worry, I'll get it.
"No, it's okay".
She stepped out the room, shaky on her feet, but determined nonetheless. The Doctor followed her, keeping track of her movement. It wasn't often that he saw Rose this terrified and it unnerved him.
They came to the kitchen door and she stopped in her tracks. A few seconds passed, she took deep breath and gazed at the Doctor. He looked back at her, worried but there was warmth in his look. A look that Rose came to trust over the last couple of years, even though he had changed faces. That look was always the same.
She held out her hand and the Doctor instantly grabbed it. They opened the door together and walked inside. It was normal. No broken glass on the floor, no puddle of water, no crack in the wall. No cause for distress whatsoever.
Rose sighed, relieved, she grabbed a glass of water and gulped it straight down. She placed back on the counter, not to near the edge, scared similar events from her nightmare might occur. Rose hesitantly glanced at the Doctor and puffed out her cheeks.
He walked towards her and pulled her into a hug. They wrapped their arms around each other. Reassured, Rose could feel his hearts beating madly against her ear.
"Nightmare, it was just a nightmare" Rose stated pulling away slightly.
"It's more than that. Tell me"
They moved to the table and Rose told him everything, except the injury she thought she had. It was bad enough to have that image in her head, it didn't need to be in his as well.
It was strange to her to be so scared by a dream, when she had faced so many monsters before. The Doctor listened to her carefully, never looking away from her, taking it all in. More than anything she just wanted to forget it and put it behind her.
"Rose, it wasn't real," He said, taking off his glasses. "Sometimes our mind's play tricks on us. But you're safe here, in the Tardis, with me."
Rose nodded, but the images of red eyes and deep voice flooded her mind. She glanced behind him at the wall where she'd injured herself.
"What?" he asked, looking behind him.
"Nothing".
He is awake…
"I…" she started
And you will worship him.
Rose looked into the Doctor's eyes. "I killed a man".
"No, you didn't"
"I to... took that gun and shot it. I di… didn't even think twice" Her voice was shaking and she clamped her hand to her mouth. "What did I do?"
"Nothing" The Doctor stated "Absolutely nothing, Rose. You did what was best"
"He was human. It wasn't his fault. We could have helped him, we could have tried" She sobbed.
The Doctor moved from his chair, stepped towards Rose and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Rose, we can't save everyone. I'm sorry but that's just the way it is. If we were meant to save everyone and we could choose who lived, then we'd had too much power. No one in this universe has that right. Not even me"
Rose shrugged. "But that's not fair"
"No, it's not"
Tears trickled down her face and she wiped them away with the back of her hand. All she felt was shame.
"Rose, he was possessed. If you didn't fire the gun, he would have gone back to Earth. That would have put everyone at risk. You did the right thing"
"It wasn't right" she stood up, anger filling her voice. "He was human like me".
"Rose, he's nothing like you". The Doctor's voice was dry and very serious.
"What does that mean?" She asked him, confused by his tone. The Doctor didn't answer her.
"Doctor, what does that mean?" Rose repeated.
"Look, you should try to get some rest. We can talk about it in the morning." He moved away from her, turning his back.
"Well, we knows what that means" She said, not hiding the sarcasm from her voice.
"Rose, I'm telling you to leave it alone." He sounded angry, but more so at himself than her.
"You think I did the right thing?"
"Yes" he said firmly.
"What if it was someone else? What is if was Ida or Mr Jefferson?"
"Rose that's not-"
"Not what?" She continued, getting frustrated "What if it was me?"
The Doctor spun around to her, his eyes were dark, darker than Rose had seen them in a while. "But it wasn't you, was it"
Rose strode towards and grabbed his arm. "If it was me that was possessed, will it still have been the right thing?"
He kept the eye contact and said with a calm voice. "But that didn't happen, Rose. You're safe".
"So, you're saying you would have done something different if it was me?" Rose said, unsure of where the conservation was heading. "You said it yourself the Beast is dangerous, would you have brought it aboard to find a solution?"
"Rose-"
"Would you?"
"Rose, I'm telling you to drop it!" The Doctor was nearly shouting at her, which scared them both.
"What makes my life more important than anyone else's?"
"Everything!" He shouted.
