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A few hours later the Doctor awoke, comfortable despite the fact he was on a sofa, with pleasant warmth spread across half his body. Somehow they'd managed to shuffle themselves sideways with Rose draped around his waist, blonde hair splayed across his chest where her head laid resting. He grinned down at his companion, thinking over the revelations of the previous night.
He was puzzled over the diamond, which he still had clutched in his hand, but more specifically over the fact that it was HIS own misplaced star. Logically it made sense for him not to remember should he cause a paradox, but surely if he had hidden the memories he would have initiated a trigger that would allow him to recall such a meeting. He focused back in his memories and was unsurprised to indeed have sections of time missing, all spanning a week at most and during his Fifth and Eighth regenerations. It appeared his assumption was correct, somehow she had managed to travel back, and indeed forwards within his own time line, as well as others.
But why those three in particular? He hadn't lied, Eight had been his more psychic self, perhaps he had glimpsed this particular future, he couldn't be sure. And Five? He had modelled himself on Five and Rose, how did that factor into the equation? And also Rose, who had not questioned Jenny's lineage as if she had already known. Had she met Jenny in his other future? Seen that it was obvious they had taken maternal DNA from that tiny part of her in him? Did she even know about it at all? It was probably best not to try and conceive what could have, did happen, in one of his futures. Besides, he would never become Eleven so it wasn't even worth the time to postulate any such scenarios.
And what of River Song? A joke played by Rose by all his accounts, sometime in their future? This would indicate not only that he was still capable of making a permanent bond, but more importantly implying that Rose was able to support it also which would lead him to muse over her not being entirely human anymore, which was something that to him was impossible. But then if not, how had she been hearing his mind and how, at some point, would he bind them together. Only the bound share what must never be spoken, his name in particular was too dangerous.
With the inclusion of The Face of Boe being in this universe and the new and improved Shadow Proclamation the aforementioned was probably the most troublesome of all the thoughts currently being processed in his overly large Time Lord mind. All pondered in the instant before he reached out and gently brushed a stray lock from his companions face.
"Hello." The Doctor bid her softly, her eye fluttering open at his touch.
"Hmmm," She mumbled with a smile, attempting to burrow herself back into his chest. "What time is it?"
"5.33." He replied, gently extricating his sonic and flashing it at the curtained window which slid back to reveal the pre-dawn horizon. Rose turned her head to face the steadily lightening sky.
"Haven't seen a dawn in ages." Rose spoke softly, voice muffled by the soft, thick material of his dressing gown.
"Well," He grinned down at her, "You shouldn't miss this one, because here it comes, right, about- now." Rose grinned as the sun rose almost at his command.
"That's cheatin you know." Rose chastised. "You think ya so impressive." She earned her self a snort and chuckle which vibrated through him.
"I am so impressive." He grinned as he pulled the sonic from his pocket and jiggery poked life back into the dying embers of the fire.
"How did you do that?" She laughed lifting her head to look up at him.
"What?" He frowned returning his prize possession to his pocket.
"Pull whatever you want from ya pockets?" She exclaimed happily confused.
"Oh," He smiled, "I've linked them. No point having what you need in your other pants pockets."
"More Time Lord science?" She snorted shaking her head, "Have to get you to do that to mine."
"Already did." He grinned. "Whatever's in my pockets you have access to, obviously when the new stuff turns up I'll have to fix them but it's no problem. They're bigger on the inside now too."
"You're so alien." She smiled at him in awe, quickly returning her head to his chest as her cheeks flamed, earning her another delighted chuckle from the Doctor.
"Doctor?" He smiled at her blush before resting his head against the sofa.
"Hmmm?" Came the distracted reply.
"I was thinkin' ." Her fingers absently fiddling with the material under her head.
"Dangerous that." He replied softly.
"Shut up," She chastised half heartedly, "Well, it's just that, ya know, we have two bedrooms, yea, but I don't know, even though there's plenty a room, I thought maybe I, I could share-...with you." She tried to peak up through her hair to gauge his reaction.
He took a deep breath and pretended to mull over her proposal longer than he actually needed to, enjoying her apparent inability to look at him.
"I mean, only If ya want, I just thought that maybe you still don't need as much sleep, and I wouldn't get in your way or anything I just can't, I mean I haven't slept since, well you know- and havin' you here, the dreams don't come ya know-?" She shrugged, still refusing to turn her head, almost hiding in his gown.
"We'll I don't see why not, s'long as you don't snore, besides, it's not like we haven't shared before." He shrugged letting her off, feeling her tension drain slightly as she slapped him on the chest for the snoring remark, "And you're right, I need more sleep than before but only two or three hours every two days should be sufficient."
"How long were we asleep for?" Rose mumbled, "I'm still so tired."
"Four hours, thirty-two minutes and forty-five point eight seconds." He replied, "Even I need a few more hours right now considering I'm technically within the first three days of regeneration and have definitely not had entirely enough sleep for what we've been through."
Rose mumbled her agreement as the Doctor shifted and sat up, collecting her in his arms as he stood and easily, despite his lack of sufficient sleep, manoeuvred them through the still dark room and into the bedroom, gently placing her down on the bed and pulled the duvet over her. He turned away to close the door and pull the curtains only to be stopped by a small hand clutching the arm of his robe, its owner quite obviously delirious.
"Doctor, don't leave me." Rose's small voice pleaded, almost tearing his single heart in two. He placed a lingering kiss on her temple, gently sending her subconscious his reassurance that his absence would only be for a moment. She settled and released her grip allowing him to fix the drapes and door before abandoning his robe and stretching out on top of the duvet, one hand rest behind his head, the other occupying the small space between them.
He glanced over with a smile as her hand entwined itself with his own, wondering briefly if she was in his head again, having realised how lonely his hand felt without hers even though she was only a few inches away. Pond hummed happily in the back of his mind, her telepathic touch strengthened by the two of them joined together. He got the distinct impression that to her, this was how it should be. He smiled at his clever little TARDIS and drifted back to sleep. The Doctor and Rose Tyler in the TARDIS. Forever.
The Doctor was running through fire and flame, body after mangled putrefied body, the souls of a billion dead screaming out, deafening and suffocating him as he tried to out run the dark shadow nipping at his heels, his only reprieve an intermittent flash of gold in the distance, beckoning him, calling him, pushing back the darkness just enough for him to remain one step ahead of an unknown fate. He's tired, breathing now has become difficult, once he could easily have gone on almost forever, but not now, not this weak single hearted form he has taken, his reaction time faltering with fatigue and dejection, his mind, heart and body at war with each other, hounding him, berating him, it's almost too much to bare, just enough to let his attention slip and catch a careless foot fall. There is nothing he can do now but fall, the darkness will consume him. He holds his breathe and reaches out to the light in the darkness, dimmer now than he once had thought. It has been decided. He will fall. Resigned to his fate he turns towards the darkness, taking it head on in one final act of defiance. The black swallows him whole.
It's dark, and wrong and the silence is deafening, like the silence in his head left by the war. Alone, well he was used to that now, but something had been forgotten that should not have. You are not alone. Where had he heard that before? Perhaps it was merely his synapses firing for the last time. Death, he thought, there were crueller fates. He closed his eyes to receive his punishment only it didn't come. Instead the sounds of thunder and a mournful cry filled the darkness, piercing through him almost to the point of pain. His eyes flicked open, still dark, but the sound surrounded him, it pushed against him, pulled him. In a brilliant explosion of gold, the darkness released its grip sending him hurtling towards the now blinding light he had been running towards, he turned briefly for a glimpse of his saviour and almost fell once more as the wolf snarled and howled at the darkness, forcing it into a retreat. It turned and ran towards him picking up pace as it approached. He didn't need any more persuasion and with the golden creature upon his flank and a renewed determination and vigour they charged towards the light, the wolf sweeping him along faster and faster until he could no longer keep his eyes open, then with a mighty shove of the wolfs head the light was gone and he was standing in a room with a large domed ceiling, a woman he once knew looking at him as if he were a ghost. "Doctor?"
"Romana!" He cried out, sitting bolt upright, dripping sweat and panting.
His head snapped to the right, his attention caught by the sight of Rose convulsing, chest heaving, gasping for breath, eyes wide open and burning gold.
"Rose?" He shifted to kneel over her, stopped by the dead tight grip she had on his hand.
"No, no, no, no! Rose let it go!" He screamed at her, finally able to prise his hand from her.
"Why were you in my head, how, why did you come after me!" He was frantically running the sonic over her. She was burning, her skin to him feeling almost like it was on fire.
"Rose do you hear me?" He shook her almost violently to no avail.
He pressed his fingers to her temples and kept is grip firm despite the convulsions, unable to let her adjust to his presence gradually, she screamed out to him as he desperately fought his way through her burning mind to rebuild walls he had erected oh so long ago to keep her safe, and calmed her body's reaction. By the time he retreated from her mind as delicately as possible she was sobbing, but the spasms had ceased. The Doctor sagged to his knees on the floor next to the bed, his eyes red and bloodshot, his cheeks tear stained as he looked upon her unconscious face. He gently brushed a cool hand across her damp brow causing her to jerk away slightly. He pulled away from her, running both hands through his hair and down his face with a sigh.
"What have I done?" He whispered.
