Shared Dreams

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Rose stood in the fields of the mountains overlooking the citadel. It was beautiful. She didn't know if this was actually what Gallifrey looked like, but ever since the Doctor had described it to her, this was what she saw.

"Theta!" she heard a young girl call out. "Koschei!" She turned to see two boys sitting in the long red grass, a pretty little girl running towards them. They couldn't have been older than seven.

"Zeta!" one of the boys', who was dressed in tones or red, cried in delight. Somehow Rose knew that these weren't their real names. It was as if their real names had been burned from all memory. She couldn't help laughing as the girl ran and lunched herself at the boy. They fell over laughing and hugging. The other boy, who was dressed in darker shades of blue, smiled and rolled his eyes.

"What took you so long, Zeta?" the boy in blue asked. At this the girl pulled a sour face.

"Matron was keeping a closer eye on me today. The Lord President doesn't want me messing around when our birthdays are getting so close."

Suddenly the boy in red cracked up laughing. "What did you do?" he cried.

"Oh, you know," she said adorably and very slyly. "I may have slipped some clorossa in her drink." Both of the boy's mouths fell open. "I don't think I was caught," she added. "And she would have fallen unconscious before she even realised what happened."

"You are the most devious little Time Lady ever!" the boy in red giggled uncontrollably.

"Why thank you, Thete," she did a mock curtsey, which was oddly graceful despite the fact she was sitting down.

Rose was standing right beside them by now, she was sure that they couldn't see her. They must only be a memory… the Doctor's memory? He was the only one who remembered Gallifrey. So, how was she having his dream?

"Uh oh," the boy in blue, who must be Koschei, sighed. Zeta smiled with glee. They were both looking at Theta who was grinning madly at her, a bright light in his eyes.

"I know that look!" she giggled.

In the next second she had jumped up and Theta was chasing her. Koschei was up and following after them. They ran and they laughed and they tumbled down the hills for what seemed like ages. Rose laughed as she joined them, despite the fact she couldn't actually be a part of the memory.

Part of her mind wondered if these - or just one of them - were the Doctor's children. Quickly she pushed that thought to the back of her mind. She had come to accept the fact he once had kids, but it was still rather strange to her.

Soon Koschei had to leave, and he waved goodbye to his friends and ran off to his home. Theta and Zeta turned to each other and continued to laugh. She smiled at them, they were so cute. They were like those little kids that you saw together and just knew that they would grow up together, have their trials, and then always find their way back to each other in the end, and grow old together. She listened as they talked. After a while Zeta managed to convince Theta to stop running and just lie and look at the passing clouds that drifted lazily across the burnt orange sky. They stayed together even when the second sun started to set.

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"What do you think you're going to do?" Zeta asked. Theta jumped down from the tree he had been in and leant against it, he had a bundle of silver leaves in his hands and he was trying to twist them into something.

"I don't know," he replied. "I already run enough… And everyone already seems to think I'm mad." They both giggled. "Who knows?"

Slowly the smile faded from Zeta's face and she looked very solemn. "I'm afraid I'm going to go mad," she whispered quietly. Theta's eyes rose to find hers and he stood and hugged her.

"You're not going to go mad. I promise," he told her. "You're brilliant and sweet and far too intelligent to lose your mind to it." Smiling softly he held up the leaves he had been playing with. They had been twisted together with the red grass to make a pretty silver flower. He brushed back her hair and tucked it behind her ear. Zeta smiled and blushed. Then she leant forward and gave him a quick peck on the lips. Theta's eyes widened in surprise and he blushed too, but the smile never left his face.

"Zeta!" an angry shriek sounded through the mountains. The smile dropped from the children's faces and their eyes widened in horror.

Theta slipped his hand into Zeta's, looked up at her and smiled. "Run," he grinned. And they did. Right into the trees. They didn't plan on ever stopping.

?...DW…?

Rose woke, smiling. She was lying on the couch in the Library. The Doctor was curled up beside her, his hands on her temples. She hardly dared breathe. She hardly ever saw the Doctor asleep and he looked so adorable. His hair was in even more disarray than usual and he had a faint smile on his lips. But, as if sensing her watching him, his eyes fluttered open.

"Hello," he murmured sleepily.

"Hi… Um, Doctor?"

"Mmm?"

"Your hands are still on my temples."

He looked at her in surprise. "Oh, sorry," he said taking his hands away.

There was a perfectly innocent reason why they were curled together, asleep on the couch. No really there was! And it wasn't just her trying to convince herself otherwise, either.

The last few days had been exhausting. Jackie had rung her up in delighted hysterics because Mickey was back. They had been worried and went down to see what the trouble was. Mickey was in the parallel world, he couldn't be there. So they were surprised to find that it really was him. And he wasn't alone. The parallel Pete and Jake were there too. The ensuing days resulted with the first of the ghosts, which according to Mickey, were Cybermen. They traced the activity back to some anti-Doctor organisation called 'Torchwood' and managed to close the crack down and send back the 'Void Ship' (or what ever it was) before any real harm could be done. Okay, so they had had to face a handful of Cybermen and four Daleks, but in the end the two fought and cancelled each other out. The last Dalek had been destroyed by Jake and the rest of the Daleks and Cybermen were effectively trapped in something the Doctor called the 'Void'. Or as Rose liked to call it 'Hell'. Right where they belonged.

But then Mickey, Jake and Pete became trapped on this side. Not that any of them were complaining, really. Pete was already shacked back up with her mother. The ordeal had resulted in two very tired time travellers. They had sat together in the Library for a relaxing cup of tea next to the fire. Rose had a killer headache, so the Doctor had begun to massage her temples… and that was the last thing she remembered. They must have fallen asleep like that.

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"Have a nice dream?" she asked him.

"Yeah. Yeah, I guess so," she smiled faintly. But there was a shadow beneath is eyes. She always saw it when she knew he was thinking of his lost home. Gently she placed her hand on his arm.

"It looked lovely," she told him.

His eyes widened in surprise. "How do you-?"

"I think you might have projected your dream into my head with the whole touchy thing," she said somewhat guiltily. Much to her surprise, he didn't close up, in fact, he smiled at her.

"Beautiful wasn't it?"

Smiling back, she nodded to him. "So who were they? The children."

The Doctor was silent for a long time. Rose began to doubt that he was going to say anything. But he did. "Well… Theta. Um, that was me." She looked at him slightly in shock, but really she wasn't surprised. He acted a lot like that anyway. Rose didn't quite think she was being literal all those times she had told him he was like a child. "Zeta and Koschei were my best friends. Children didn't really play… they were meant to be preparing for their time in the Academy. It was more of a duty. But the three of us never did like the rules." A small smile tugged at his lips. But that soon faded.

"Koschei… he - well, something happened. Anyway, he kind of went off the deep end. Took on the name 'the Master'. He spent the last few hundred years after we left making my life a living hell. The last time I was him was right before the Time War…" he faded off with a haunted look in his eyes.

"And Zeta?" she prompted gently, trying to steer him away from that train of thought. She only hoped that the subject of Zeta was a happier one.

"Well, I guess you could sort of all her my first crush," he smiled. Rose laughed, guessing as much from the dream. "Well, not a crush per se. Time Lords weren't really meant to fall in love. Well, they could, it just didn't happen very often. Those people were often counted as dreamers. Most marriages were arranged. Heck, mine was!" he realised in his babbling what he'd let slip and fell quiet for a moment. When he continued the sadness was back in his voice.

"I lied to her," he said sadly. "That promise I made to her, I broke it." He took a deep breath. "When the children of Gallifrey turned eight, they would be taken for initiation into the Academy. They are made to look into - well, basically it's the Time Vortex. All that knowledge suddenly going through you head… Some people would be inspired, some - like me - would run away… and some would go mad." He took another deep, shaky breath. "They went mad. Both of them. The Master - er, Koschei was mostly alright… well, other than turning into an evil psychopath. But Zeta, I never saw her after I was initiated. She was younger than me so she was initiated later. I was eager to see her after months of waiting. But she never came. After a while, word spread that she was being housed and taught back at her home. It had driven her mad and she wasn't stable enough to be around others. I never saw her again."

"I'm sorry," Rose whispered.

"It's okay, I guess," he sighed running a hand through his hair. "We were still children. I've had 894 years to get over it… Anyway!" he said suddenly bright and chipper again. He jumped off the couch and pulled her up too. "How about a visit to your Mum, eh? See how Pete's settling back in. I didn't give you much of a chance to talk yesterday."

"Really?" she said, surprised he would offer such a thing.

"Yeah."

"Lets go, then!" she grinned.

"Allons-y!" he cried and dragged her to the console room. He wanted to forget his past at the moment. It felt good being able to tell Rose, but he still wanted to forget. A visit to Jackie Tyler was bound to distract him… Although… probably not in a good way.