"These biscuits," Rose began, waving one around for emphasis, "are absolutely amazing." The Doctor grinned as she took another bite, then started talking again, spraying crumbs across the table. "Seriously amazing. I mean, the chocolate is just bliss."
"Yeah, and you're just eating it. You should see what they do with it on Merillia!"
"Oh, yeah? What's that?" The remainder of the biscuit stopped halfway to Rose's mouth and she looked at it for a moment, a positively wicked grin spreading across her face. The Doctor just blushed, and quickly changed the subject.
"So. Anything else coming to mind?" He put his mug down on the table and looked at Rose seriously now, waiting patiently for her to finish her biscuit.
"I don't know," she sighed. "There were the pictures. Well, you saw those, some of them anyway. I didn't want to look. I couldn't help it. And when I saw the ones of what happened…I had no idea up 'till then, I just remembered having the most God-awful migraine." Rose swallowed. She knew she had to go on, but even while she was saying this, the burning was starting again, faintly, at the very back of her mind. The Doctor evidently sensed something was wrong, because he reached under the table to take her hand, bringing it to rest against his cheek.
"It's okay. Go on."
"I thought it was bad watching him…you…but now I know why. Did it hurt?" She turned her head to look at him, blushing slightly at the sight of her hand resting on his face. He regarded her sadly. Time for some truth, he knew, but he didn't want to hurt her anymore.
He sighed. "Like hell."
Rose turned away again, moving her hand away as though he'd burnt her. She buried her face in her hands, trying not to cry. "I'm sorry. God, I'm sorry."
"Don't be. I told you, I chose to do it. I didn't have to but I did. I took that stuff out of you, knowing what it'd do to me if I did, and I put it back, and it hurt so much, but you know what?"
"What?"
He looked at her, deadly serious, and she could see his eyes were wet, as though he were about to cry too. "I'd do it again. I'd do it a thousand times because it would keep you safe." Rose said nothing, so he went on. "He's still in here, you know. I've got all his memories, and I can prove it. 'Run!', I said. And Gwyneth, remember her? Almost dancing before that idiot Jack teleported us. Let's see…oh yeah, what about the Slitheen? They were really something!"
Rose's face broke into a huge grin, the Doctor's following, as she realised he was telling the truth.
"So, what happened? On the satellite, I mean."
The atmosphere sobered at once. "The Daleks were going to kill us. You. Couldn't let that happen, could I? I sent you back home in the TARDIS, told you some rubbish about how we could go back and fix it, I don't know. Except, being the stubborn ape you are-" he stuck his tongue out at her, grinning, "you pulled her open, got an entire time vortex stuck in your head and came back. Destroyed the Daleks, every last one of them, but you were destroying yourself, too."
"I thought you said you couldn't do that. Get the TARDIS open?"
"You can't. She wanted you to. Anyway, you…I tried to get you to let it go, but you wouldn't. Maybe you couldn't. But, I could see it, running through you. It was burning you up. Remember how we saw Earth go up?" Rose nodded. "It was like that. It was amazing, beautiful, even, but it was killing you. So I took it out for you."
Rose closed her eyes, searching frantically for the memory. It had to be there, somewhere, didn't it? And somewhere, she could remember it – the singing, the dust, everything. She opened her eyes again, and found that only one word came to mind.
"Damn. Damn it!"
"What?" Rose was smiling, a hand to her head as if she couldn't quite believe it, whatever 'it' was.
"I wait God knows how long, and when you finally do it, I don't even realise. Well, that's bloody typical."
"Of course," the Doctor continued, apparently ignoring her, there's only one way you could have done what you did in the med bay." He pointed at his head. "Still there. I didn't quite finish the job. And if I don't get that out too, two things could happen. One, you could be fine, or two, it'll do some serious damage."
"It's still in there? But, you said you got it out!" Rose tried not to panic, tried not to think of the Doctor 'dying' the last time he fixed her up. "You, you…what if it happens again?" She stood up suddenly, backing off, knocking her chair to the floor.
"It won't. Besides, there's more than one way to do it, and what's in there is tiny, nothing compared to before. It's not an emergency, like before, but we still have to do something about it. Don't panic, okay? It'll be okay." He stood up, reaching for Rose but only managing a handful of her top. Pulling her back towards him, he wrapped his arms round her, running a hand through her hair as she choked out a sob. "I'm not going to die, Rose, I swear."
"So…how are you going to get it out?"
The Doctor moved back slightly, arms still round Rose's neck, and grinned at the flushed look on her face. "Take your pick. The psychic way, the tied-to-a-bed-in-the-med-bay-again way, or the fun way."
