It's finally here! Apologies for the ridiculous amount of time it's taken - I have actually had this as a draft copy for ages but I just couldn't get it quite right when editing. My exams are over now so I can focus on writing more.

Now, onto the story...

Chapter 14 - Bad Wolf, Bad Dream

When Rose got into bed (which was still just a mattress and a duvet), her mind played the screams of the victim from her dream over and over again. She tried to think of something, anything, to deter her thoughts away, but the only other thing that would come into her head was flashbacks from when she still had her mum, making her feel even more depressed. After tossing and turning under her covers, she found herself falling asleep.

When Rose opened her eyes, it was still dark. In fact, it was so dark that she couldn't see a thing for the first minute or two. She felt around and realised that she wasn't in bed, but lying against the ground on her front. She tried to stand up, but she could only move her arms. Immediately, she made the connection back to the dream she had before.

"No," she whispered, a sudden surge of adrenaline rushing through her. She really didn't want another nightmare. At least, not one like the last one. Anything but that.

A faint light caught her eye, from the corner of the room, about five metres away. It moved, and as her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she noticed that the light was coming from a torch which was being carried by none other than the same cloaked figure as she'd seen the other night. She held her breath. It crept across the room, until it reached a mattress. She knew that mattress. She was in the Doctor's bedroom. She started to panic, desperate to wake herself. She pinched and slapped and bit her arm, but she didn't wake up. She stared at the figure. Wisps of blonde hair fell from under its deep black cloak, and it was now crouching by the Doctor, who was beginning to stir in his sleep.

"Wake up, Doctor! For God's sake wake up!" she said. Her shouts turned into frustrated sobs when she saw that neither of them could hear her. She told herself it was just a dream, chanting it over and over in her head, but it felt all too real.

The figure drew a knife from its cloak tantalisingly slowly. All of the actions it carried out were smooth and unhurried. It placed the knife on the side of the Doctor's pillow. Rose tried to look away, but wherever her eyes went, the image of the Doctor and the attacker followed. When she scrunched her eyes shut, the image filled her head, as if she'd never closed her eyes.

The cloaked figure placed a finger on the side of the Doctor's face and traced a line. Then, it took its hood and slowly pulled it back, revealing its identity. Rose didn't like what she saw.

Right there, under the cloak, was her own face.

"No! Please, no!" she screamed. This was worse than any scary adventure she'd been on with the Doctor or any horror movie she'd seen. The face of the attacker was exactly the same as her own, except from the eyes. They looked dark and merciless, almost possessed. The cloaked replica of herself picked up the knife. It dragged the knife down the side of the Doctor's face, drawing a neat line of blood. He woke up instantly and shoved the Rose replica away from him.

"Get off me!" he said, rage and fear in his voice. Blood seeped from the wound, trickling down his face as he sat up and attempted to run away. But, the clone was back on top of him in a flash. When he saw the the face of his attacker, he looked shocked and his eyes filled with hurt.

Rose felt sick. She had to wake up. She couldn't bear to watch it any longer. She tried every way possible to wake herself, smacking and pinching her body in desperation. But nothing worked.

The Doctor tried to pin down the Rose replica, but it flipped him back over and started cutting into his shoulder. That thing had impossible strength. Rose needed that strength to awaken herself. She closed her eyes and focused, trying to ignore the Doctor's shouts of anguish. Then, she had a thought - it was her nightmare, anything could happen. So, what if she could swap bodies with her clone? That way she'd be able to stop her from trying to murder the Doctor. She may not have been able to end the nightmare, but she hoped she would be able to control it. She closed her eyes. Concentrating hard, she imagined herself standing over the Doctor, the cool metal of the knife in her palm, the fabric of the black cloak against her skin.

When she opened her eyes, she was standing by the Doctor. He must have noticed the difference in her eyes from the clone because his expression changed from enraged and frightened to sadness and confusion.

"Doctor, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she said, sobbing and shaking. She stroked the sore broken skin on side of his face and touched his shoulder; not caring about the blood she was smearing over her hands. She could have seen him die, so she was just happy to be touching his still very alive body. Not long after, she felt a strange floating sensation and saw the room go fuzzy. Before she knew it, she and the Doctor were drifting apart. Soon enough, they were impossibly far away from each other. She shouted his name, reaching for him as everything faded to black.

Her eyes burst open. "Doctor!" Her screams and cries filled her bedroom when she awoke. "Doctor, I'm sorry!" she cried, vivid images of the Doctor's blood soaked face haunting her, not disappearing.

A few seconds later, the Doctor rushed in. He'd clearly been sleeping as Rose could see the faint outlines of his dressing gown in the darkness which he was still tying as he came into the room.

"Rose, it's okay, I'm here," he said. She couldn't see him, but she could feel him around her, cradling her trembling body.

"It was - so - real," she said between gasps for air. He cuddled her close.

"It's alright, it was just a dream," he said, caressing her. They sat there for a few minutes before the Doctor said, "let's turn the light on so we can get you comfortable and talk about it." He got up and pressed the switch, letting light fill the room and making Rose feel a lot better. But, when he turned around, she shrieked at what she saw.

"Rose, what is it?" he said, urgently.

She was so terrified that her throat went completely dry and she found it difficult to speak. "You're - you're bleeding, Doctor." That was all she could force herself to say. He looked exactly like he had done in her nightmare. He had a long fresh cut down the side of his face, and blood was seeping through his dressing gown from his shoulder.

He glanced down at his shoulder, where Rose was pointing and his face twisted into a look of shock and fear. He looked back up at Rose, who was sitting at thpe end of the mattress, clutching her legs to her chest.

"Rose, your hands," he said, swallowing. She looked at her hands as he'd said. They were covered in blood. Her eyes widened as she realised that they weren't cut and she hadn't touched the Doctor's injuries... she'd only touched them in her dream.

"No!" she said, her voice desperate. "Please! No! It wasn't real! It couldn't've been!"

"It's okay, it's okay," he said, as he sat back down next to Rose. He pulled her close to his body and stroked her back.

"It's not!" she said through sobs.

"Listen to me, Rose. I don't know what's going on, but I'll find out. We'll be okay."

Rose slowed her breathing, trying to pull herself together. "But that's what I dreamed about, Doctor. I was watching someone with my face attack you," she said, tears rolling down her cheeks. "It couldn't've been real, could it? Oh my God, there might be someone here."

"Calm down. I'll scan the flat," he said, sliding his sonic screwdriver out his dressing gown pocket. He pointed it at the door and it buzzed as it worked. "Nope, it's only us here."

Rose breathed a sigh of relief. Then, she noticed that the patch of blood on the Doctor's dressing gown had got bigger and saw him wince as he moved his arm. "We've gotta stop the bleeding," she said, panic rising in her voice.

"Good plan. Once I'm sorted, we can work out what's going on."

They walked out of the bedroom to the living room. Rose was constantly taking paranoid glances behind her even though she knew they were alone in the flat. The dream had really messed with her head. She told the Doctor to lie down on the sofa ready for her, then went to the kitchen. She quickly washed her hands, took a small bowl of cold water with a sponge and grabbed the first aid kit which she was extremely thankful that they'd bought on their previous shopping trip.

Back in the living room, she opened the kit and located the antiseptic wipes and fresh bandages. First, she sponged cold water over the side of his face to clean it. Luckily, it wasn't very deep. She tried to remain calm, but she had been shaken up by her nightmare and her trembling hands were showing it. Once the bleeding stopped, she used the antiseptic wipes and taped on a rectangular piece of bandage. Then, she turned her attention to his shoulder. She carefully peeled back his dressing gown and located the slash across his shoulder which was still bleeding.

"Oh God, what do I do?" she said, trying to keep her cool.

"Put pressure on it to stop the bleeding, use a tea towel or something," he said.

She grabbed the nearest towel from the kitchen and returned to the Doctor where she placed the towel on his wound and pressed on it. When she'd stopped the bleeding, she tightly wrapped the bandage around it.

"All done," she said, attempting to smile.

"Thank you," he said, smiling back. He adjusted his position so that he was sitting upright. "Right," he said, patting the space of sofa next to him to indicate Rose to sit down. "Let's hear about your dream."

She sat down and told him about the nightmare she'd just had, the nightmare the previous night which had sounded the same as the case the Doctor was investigating, the one before that which she couldn't remember much of, as well as fact that she'd been feeling exhausted. She hated reciting the dreams because it meant she had to try and remember them, which was the last thing she felt like doing.

"But your injuries, they were exactly the same in my dream," she said, her voice cracking. "I- I didn't hurt you, did I? Oh God, please say I didn't!" She felt awful. All the Doctor ever did was keep her safe and she'd gone and hurt him. It just wasn't fair on him.

He put his arm around her. "Rose, it's okay. Even if you did, I wouldn't care, because I know that you'd never have wanted to." She felt a little better knowing that. "So, we need to find out what's been causing all this, why I'm bleeding and whether having that dream about the attack on the woman was just a weird coincidence."

There was a pause while they tried to think of ideas.

"Doctor, I've just thought - nothing's changed while we've been here that we know of apart from you bringing home that box thing, yeah?"

"Mm, the Dream Box," He narrowed his eyes in thought.

"Dreams! That's it, it's gotta be."

"If it is, then why isn't it affecting me?"

"Maybe it's 'cause it only works on certain species. Might not affect Time Lords or something."

"That's a point."

"How do we find out what's goin' on then?"

He sighed. "I don't know. If it is the Dream Box, I was going to have it destroyed anyway, but that may not stop the link between you and it, if there is one. I'll try doing some scans with my sonic and look for links first," he said. Rose nodded, and got up to bring the box over to the sofa.

The Doctor scanned the Dream Box, then his injuries, then Rose. As he did so, she watched him closely. She thought about when he had kissed her earlier that night. It had escaped her mind after all that'd happened. Why had he kissed her? Was it a sign? Maybe it was just to comfort her. She just didn't know. But she was glad to have something other than those horrible dreams to think of.

"Well, it's not picking up any links. I'm gonna need some more accurate equipment," he said, shaking his head.

"What like? We don't have the TARDIS or anything."

The Doctor thought deeply for a few seconds. "I know - I can ask Steve's wife. She works in a lab, and if I get my hands on some unused bits and pieces there, I can build a scanner to see inside your brain, and the Dream Box."

"Great!"

"Yeah. Only problem is we'll have to wait until Monday."

"Oh. Well I guess I'll just have to stay up 'til then," she said.

"Rose, I really don't think-,"

"I'm not going back to sleep. I can't. That thing," she said, looking at the Dream Box with distaste, "might hurt people. I might hurt people."

The Doctor looked at her in silence, urging her to change her mind and see sense with his eyes. Finally, he sighed and gave in.

Rose glanced at the bandages on his shoulder. "Does it really hurt?" she said, quietly.

"Nah, it's alright," he said. He shifted his arm and tried to hide the fact he was wincing in pain.

She placed her arm around him and rested her head on his uninjured shoulder. "I'm really sorry," she whispered.

"You've got nothing to be sorry for," he said, looking down at her guilt-ridden face.

"It was me, it must've been. There's no one else here and the stupid thing had my face." She looked up at him with frightened eyes. "I don't want to be a murderer."

"Don't ever say that."

"But it would have killed you, and it was me!"

"It was a dream, and there could've been someone in here who escaped before I woke up to hear you, and that box thing could have made you aware some how."

"Maybe we should check the door," she said, pulling herself up from the sofa. She went to the front door, hoping and praying that it would be unlocked or slightly open, but what she found was an untouched, locked door.

She turned around and looked at the Doctor in despair. She checked all the windows, even though they were several floors up, but they were all locked too.

"We'll work this out," the Doctor said.

Rose took a seat on the sofa again and sighed. It was going to be a long night.

It was around half past two in the morning when Rose decided to search for some food. She was getting restless just sat on the sofa, waiting for the time to pass. She found the last chunk of cheese in the fridge and ate it on her way back to the living room.

She found the Doctor still sat on the sofa, but he now had the Dream Box which he was tapping away at. He licked it and wrinkled up his nose. Then, he looked up at Rose.

"I've had a thought," he said. "I'm thinking there might be something inside it that is capable of attacking me and causing your dreams to be connected." He tapped at the top of the box again.

"Wait, don't open it!" she said, the words falling from her lips before she knew what she was saying.

The Doctor stopped trying to open the box and looked up. "Huh? Why?"

"I - I don't know. It's like... I feel like I've opened it before. Oh I dunno, it's just nothing," she said, trying to figure out why she had a strange feeling that she'd seen the inside of it before.

"You don't happen to remember what you were doing three nights ago, do you?" the Doctor said, putting the box to one side. Rose sat beside him, thinking for a second.

"I don't think so. Isn't that when you said I was sleepwalking or something?"

He narrowed his eyes. "That's what I thought you were doing. You were out of your room, staring at this box, saying things about it. Ring any bells?"

"No, I can't remember. But it might've happened. I just have this feeling it shouldn't be opened."

"In that case I think it could well've happened - my sonic couldn't pick up any changes in you when it happened, but neither could it detect anything this time."

Rose sighed and said, "At least we've got an alien mystery to solve."

"I suppose, but I'd rather you weren't being affected like you are."

"Mm, I know, but that can't be helped." She tapped a rhythm on the arm of the sofa. "I'm bored. What should we do to cheer up this all-nighter?"

They decided on playing some Gallifreyan card games, something that Rose had grown to love. They sat on the floor for several hours playing, chatting and laughing, trying to forget about the situation they had been faced with.