Sleeping on the Job
The Doctor grabbed a hold of Rose just as he felt the shift start to manifest again. "Mickey, another shift incoming! Stay there!" he called quickly, just as the room started to whiten.
Like before, the exposure of the room was suddenly cranked up. The Doctor could see nothing but white around him; like he'd been dropped on a sheet of paper. He could feel Rose's hands holding on to his arms and her head pressed into his chest as she shielded her eyes from the sudden whiteness. She was with him, she wasn't going to be taken.
But the shift was different this time, weaker. It looked more like a few seconds long camera flash than a minute long intense snow storm it was last time. He knew Rose was in his arms, so when the colour started to return to the room, it was Mickey who his eyes darted to, checking that he was okay.
Luckily, Mickey was still standing there; rooted in place, obviously taking his advice to heart.
"It's over." the Doctor announced. Now that he knew Mickey was okay he shifted his attention to where he'd last seen Bilis Manger, but, as suspected, there was only an empty corridor. Bilis had shifted away. He was the one responsible for sending Tosh and Jack to 1941 after all. But, why?
In response to his words, Mickey let out a breath, like he'd been holding it the whole time, his shoulders slumping in relief.
And at the same time, the Doctor felt Rose stir, blinking her eyes at the change of brightness.
"Alright?" he asked Rose, scanning her for injury.
Rose pinched the bridge of her nose and blinked hard to clear the splodges in her vision. "Yeah."
"Sure?"
She nodded, scanning the corridor for herself.
Satisfied the Doctor turned back to Mickey. "Mickey, you alright?"
Mickey nodded sluggishly, staring at the spot where Bilis was just standing. "But 'e's gone. That shift thing got 'im then?"
"Yep, he's gone, been shifted to another time." the Doctor explained quickly, taking the sonic out of his pocket and scanning the area as he spoke. He hastily checked the readings on the side, nope definitely gone. "Although, I'd say it wasn't the shift that got him, more like he used the shift."
"Wot, so he was the one controlling it?" Mickey asked in astonishment.
"Yep, but that can wait." the Doctor said hastily, pulling away from Rose and rapidly checking her over again, just to be sure. It took a second; no bruises, no sign of pain in her expression, no smell of blood. But something had clearly happened. He turned to Mickey, he seemed fine on the surface too. "Are you both alright?" he asked as he waved the sonic up and down both of them to triple check. They'd both been so spooked. He checked the readings, nothing. "Just what was that back there?" a slight hint of agitation in his voice. What was going on!
"It felt lik-"
"Wait." Rose interrupted, holding out a hand to stop Mickey from speaking. She was looking fearfully at the entrance to the office. She had been since the room returned to normal.
The Doctor instantly spun round, standing protectively in front of her.
There was nothing there.
Rose held lightly onto his arm and spoke very quietly. "The other one might still be 'ere."
She was right. The Doctor braced.
At first he doubted Bilis's reactions, thought he was just manipulating Rose and Mickey telepathically in some way. But it was clear from the way Bilis acted when Rose and Mickey were targeted that he wasn't expecting it. And even if Bilis wasn't aware of his abilities for some reason, the sonic should be able to pick up on some sort of telepathic interference, or even physiological telekinesis transference. But it didn't, meaning something undetectable on the sonic's frequency was responsible.
Basically, something was hiding from them, and doing a very good job with it at that.
He pointed the sonic screwdriver at the entrance of the office, but he held it like a weapon. At the same time Rose motioned for Mickey to stand closer to the two of them. He obeyed, side stepping towards them, not taking his eyes off the entrance.
"Show yourself." the Doctor demanded.
They waited in silence for a few seconds.
"Maybe they can't." Rose suggested.
"Or maybe there playing with us." added Mickey, rather unhelpfully.
The Doctor tried again, his voice as commanding as he could make it. "I'm speaking to you, the entity not visible on this plane. I request parley in compliance with the Shadow Proclamation."
But, like before, the trio was met with nothing but silence for several seconds.
The Doctor exhaled deeply through his nose before glancing to both of them and striding towards the office. In an ideal world he would've told Rose and Mickey to wait behind, but not only would Rose completely ignore his request, Mickey was right and this undetectable being could just be toying with them. They could be right next to them for all he knew. "Keep close." he warned.
Rose slid her hand that was holding his arm downwards to his hand, her fingers interlinking with his. Mickey crossed over to the Doctor's free side so that the Doctor was in the middle. They moved as a unit towards the doorway of the office, poised for a confrontation.
Mickey's breathing was getting more laboured, Rose was clutching on to his hand tighter.
They peered around the doorway and looked fully into the cluttered office.
They gazed out into the office and ….
there was nothing, absolutely sod all. The only hint of movement was from the hands of Bilis's dozens of clocks, ticking away in perfect sync. Everything else was still.
The two men unwound but Rose glanced around the room and threw a Biro from the top of a chest of draws at the desk chair she'd seen Bilis staring at earlier. It hit the back of the chair with a ping and bounced onto the floor. For good measure the Doctor then scanned the area with the sonic screwdriver, but shook his head when he found nothing.
"Show yourself." Rose called to the air. "We just want to talk."
There was a few seconds of silence, but, again, nothing happened.
Rose's shoulders slumped. "Guess not then." she grumbled to herself.
"So… wot now?" Mickey asked, slightly more relaxed than before. "We can't tell if we're talking to somin or not."
The Doctor thought a moment looking around the room. "Jeez Louise, this man really likes clocks." he commented, before addressing Mickey. "No, we can't. So unless we obtain any evidence to prove otherwise, for now let's assume they left with Bilis. But stay close. I mean it! No wondering off. Last thing we want is for more of us to get pulled through to the other time." He looked sternly at Rose and then Mickey, until they each nodded in agreement. The Doctor relaxed. "Good." he said lightly. "So, now, Mickey!" Mickey jumped, surprised to be suddenly called upon. "What were you going to say back there; before Rose stopped you? What did it do to you?"
Mickey's face wrinkled in disgust as he remembered the sensation. "Well, it sounds weird, but it felt like someone licked me."
Rose perked up. "Yeah, me too." she added energetically. "Like something just licked me right across my cheek." She swiped her thumb across her cheek to further demonstrate.
The Doctor looked between them, utterly baffled. "Licked?" he said, completely thrown.
They both nodded. "Yeah." explained Rose. "That's why I fell back. I thought I was about to be dinner or sommin."
The Doctor stood there for a few moments processing the whole thing. Licked? That made no sense. Why lick them both …. unless.
"It was a distraction." he announced. "Whoever it was, was trying to get me away from Bilis so he could escape."
"But why he'd need to do that?" Rose pushed. "He could've just sneaked out the front door, we weren't exactly guarding the entrance." she looked to the Doctor. "And just before you came, it seemed more like he was about to try somethin-."
"He went after you?" the Doctor asked darkly.
"Well, at first yeah, that's what I thought. He kept coming closer to me, and when I told him to back off, he didn't. He had that y' know… look in his eyes."
"But he didn't grab ya, or nothing?" Mickey asked, while the Doctor was out of it, staring coldly at nothing in particular.
Rose shook her head. "No, I thought he was goin' to shift me, like Tosh and Jack, but then all of a sudden 'e just stopped."
The Doctor snapped out of it. "Stopped?"
"Yeah. At first… Bilis, he said he 'was already under contract' to whatever this other thing is," Rose motioned a hand to the chair. "But then he just stopped in his tracks. And after that all 'e wanted to do was leave."
"So, then the other thing did something, then? Said something to him. Got to be, right? Maybe it's on our side?" Mickey questioned.
"Yeah, that's what I'm thinking, like they said somemin or told them somemin, and then in the hall when all three of us were cornering him, 'e must've decided to listen and bugger off."
"Right." the Doctor said distractedly, thinking away. "Well if that's the case – and we have no idea where to even begin on identifying the other…." He searched for the right word. "Being – then we should see what we can find out about this Bilis Manger, see what he's planning, or was planning to do with this place and why he needs Jack and Tosh."
"Wot! So he took them on purpose?" Mickey asked
The Doctor jerked his eyebrows upwards to confirm Mickey's suspicions.
"Right, well then, we should call in the others. They'll be able to help." Rose suggested.
"Yes." the Doctor agreed. "The more the merrier."
The dance hall was full to the brim with people, smiling and laughing in their best dress, despite the fact that most of the men would be shipping off to war in a few days.
Tosh and Jack were resting their elbows on the railings along the upper rim of the parallel staircases, looking down to a crowd of people talking by the stage; the chandelier crystals glistening from the ceiling just above them, the lighting warm and welcoming, the music of the live band almost drowned out by the numerous discussions going on around them, the paint on the walls bright and fresh, a far cry to what the dance hall would look like sixty years into the future. But regardless of all the elegance surrounding them, Tosh and Jack's faces were solemn.
They were both looking at one man in particular. An American, wearing a full Captain's uniform, chatting to his men with a glass of brandy in his hand.
"Why does that man have your name?" Tosh asked quietly, looking to Jack, but his eyes glazed over and her temper flared. "I'm lost enough here without you holding back on me."
"I took his, I needed a false identity, so I took his name." he said bluntly, still studying the Captain, who was chuckling along to jokes from his men. "But I didn't realise he was so hot." he smirked.
"Jack." Tosh snapped in agitation, before a thought hit her and her voice withered. "But if you chose his identity to steal, then he…"
"He dies, tomorrow."
Tosh's anger dissipated instantly, replaced with sadness for this man, who was so oblivious to his upcoming death, a huge smile still on his face. "Who were you?" she asked Jack gently.
Jack dipped his head and let out a long sigh. "I was a con man, a time travelling con man, looking to sell some space junk to whoever might come along." Jack turned his body to face Tosh, his eyes pleading and sorrowful. "But I made a mistake, a colossal mistake; overlooked something."
"What happened?"
Jack looked away. He hesitated, but after a clear battle within himself and a long pause he continued, turning back to look Tosh in the eye. "I almost destroyed the human race."
Tosh's eyes popped. "What?" she gasped, her eyes flickering over his face as she tried desperately to understand. "How? Why?"
"I failed to register what'd happen when you introduce alien tech into a new environment."
"And how did you stop it?"
"I didn't."
Tosh seemed lost for a split second. "But if it happened in 1941, and I'm alive, well I was in 2007, then..." Her face scrunched up in concentration. "Someone must of stopped it." She figured it out, her eyes widening. "The Doctor."
Jack smiled.
"So that's how you met?"
"I was in a dance hall not too far off this one; middle of London." He winked. "Hell of a party. Then, I got an alert that there was alien tech in the area, so I started watching the skies. And that's when I see this beautiful blonde dangling fifty feet in the air in the middle of the Blitz, a union Jack across her chest."
Tosh's mouth hung open. "ROSE!"
Jack chuckled. "Know any other blondes who could get into that much trouble?"
Tosh smirked despite the heaviness of the information she was hearing.
"Take that as a no." he chuckled.
"Wait, so, it's true, it's all true. That blue box we saw can travel in time and space. Through the whole universe." Tosh asked awe struck, even as she was speaking it was like she couldn't comprehend what she was saying.
Jack seemed a little taken back, surprised. "How'd you know that?"
"UNIT's files." Tosh replied quickly, but Jack was still looking at her questioningly. "I was curious." She shrugged, elaborating. "Well, what do you expect? He just shows up and saves the whole planet in a single day, someone who; my boss, my friend, and the former Prime Minister all seem to know. I couldn't help it." Tosh adjusted her elbows on the railing at looked back down towards the stairs, her expression changing, becoming more somber. "I can see why you and Rose want to leave." she admitted sadly. "I mean to see other planets, to see other times, it must be fascinating."
"It is." he agreed, matching her tone, before it became lighter. "So, don't worry. Once the Tardis is ready the Doctor'll come pick us up. Hey, if you ask nicely he might even give you a lift; take you to that family thing you had."
The Torchwood team left no stone unturned as they ransacked the derelict dance hall.
Gwen and Ianto were busy sorting through all the furniture piled up in front of the stage, taring off the cloth coverings.
The already cluttered office was a complete mess, bits of paper covering the floor like a thin layer of snow, opened and emptied draws piled one on top of the other, as Rose, Owen, Mickey and the Doctor plunged through it. The contents of a Torchwood file the team had found earlier splayed out on the desk, showing numerous paparazzi shots of the team with detailed information about their lives, news articles about their exploits, but nothing on Rose or Mickey.
"I don't get it, why doesn't Bilis have anything on you two?" Owen asked, standing by the office desk and staring intently at a photograph in his hand. It was a photo of him standing next to Gwen, the SUV behind them, police caution tape blurred in the foreground.
The Doctor yawned before he spoke, standing upright from inspecting one of Bilis's grandfather clock's pendulums, causing Mickey and Rose to exchange a worried glance. "Because whatever he was planning with –" the Doctor gestured around to various parts of the office. "all this, was for an alternative timeline, one where Rose and Mickey aren't part of Torchwood. His plans are practically useless now."
"That why Smith and Tyler are missing from these photos?" Owen asked, plopping into the desk chair as he flicked through some more pictures from the file.
The Doctor's face fell. "Yes… most likely… probably…. Let me see?"
Owen leaned over the desk and stretched out to pass the photos to the Doctor, who rapidly started flicking through them, only to stop suddenly.
"Wait hold on, I don't actually know what I'm looking at." the Doctor looked around the room. "Rose!" he said excitedly, bounding up to her. "Tell me what's wrong with these photos."
Rose squinted as she tried to study them, but the Doctor flicked through them at such a pace all she saw was a blur of colour.
"Hold on! Give me a chance to actually look." she complained.
The Doctor gave her a sheepish look as an apology and began flicking through the photos incredibly slowly, unbelievably slowly. So slow, in fact, that he was still on the first picture ten seconds later.
Rose shot him a 'seriously?' sort of looked mixed with a bit of 'what you on?' But it was pretty clear from the look of absolute concentration on his face, made even more prominent with his tongue sticking out, that he was being one hundred percent serious. The photo still hadn't changed.
Someone, Rose thought, needed to go to B-E-D and soon.
"Why don't you let me do it?" she asked carefully.
"Really? Why? Am I going to fast?" he asked, sounding genuinely hurt.
From the desk Rose could see Owen roll his eyes.
"Err, no, but I can... see it … better if I'm holding it." she said, tripping over herself.
But luckily the Doctor was too tired to catch her extremely obvious lie. "Ah! Yes, why didn't you say so?" he chirped, handing over the photos to Rose.
As she flicked through them, trying to rack her brain to remember where they might've been taken and what might be off about them, the Doctor ducked down and weaved his head through her arms, completely blocking her view. Truly, the only thing that Rose could see now was a blur of brown from the hair on the back of his head pressing against her face, tickling her nose and getting in her mouth.
"You're right, Rose. You can see the photos much better when you're holding them." he praised.
Rose released one hand from holding onto the photos, so she could manoeuvre her body to look over the Doctor's shoulder, who, Rose was quick to realise, was standing with his feet apart in order to match her height.
"He off his face or something?" Owen asked dryly.
"He's had a bit of a week." Rose assured. "He just needs a sleep."
"You sure he doesn't need to be in a medically induced coma?" Owen remarked from the chair.
The Doctor burst out laughing for a few seconds before coming to an abrupt halt moments later, his face falling. "That's not a very nice thing to say about Mickey." he said grumpily at Owen. He gave a cheeky grin. "Very funny though."
Owen looked at him like he'd grown another head.
"What?" the Doctor shrugged.
"Maybe you should sit down Boss?" Mickey suggested.
"Why would I need to sit down?"
Mickey blinked and, looking a little lost, turned to Rose for help.
"…So, then you can… err… tell us about the photos and why me and Mickey aren't in them. And then we can go back to mum's." Rose explained pushing the Doctor towards the desk chair with one hand, passing the photos to Mickey and swatting at Owen to move with the other.
"Ah, yes, lovely." said the Doctor, grinning madly.
Owen hastily got up and climbed out one side of the desk while Mickey and Rose guided the Doctor towards the chair on the other. They both pushed him down to sit but he seemed completely unaware of what was going on and put up no resistance. He yawned again.
"Ah cuse me." He looked out to the desk. "Right, what were we doing again?"
Rose was getting more and more worried. "We were looking at the pictures." she said delicately, crouching down to his level, scanning his face. If Jack and Tosh weren't missing and Bilis hadn't seemed so dangerous, she'd take him right home. "Me and Mickey aren't in them and you said it was because Bilis was using an alternative timeline or somethin?"
The Doctor's own face fell as he realised how worried Rose looked. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"We're just worried about you, y' know?"
"Why?" the Doctor looked around to all of them.
"Cos you've been acting like a nutter." Owen said bluntly.
The Doctor studied Mickey and Rose, who both had the same looks of concern on their faces. "No, I'm just due a sleep that's all, but don't worry I can handle it." he said, seeming a little embarrassed, and maybe, Rose thought, a little scared. He pulled the chair he was sitting on closer to the desk, an excuse to divert his gaze elsewhere.
Nobody said anything, making the silence awkward. "Right then." the Doctor clapped his hands together. "These the photos?" he said examining them to fill the silence.
"Err, yeah." Rose stuttered.
The Doctor started to flick through them, Rose knelt down next to the desk chair the Doctor was sitting on, so she didn't have to uncomfortably squat, while Mickey looked over the Doctor's shoulder from the other side of the chair, Owen looking on from the opposite side of the desk, even though he could no longer see the photos.
"That one." Rose said, glad the 'flick pace' was more reasonable this time around. The Doctor stopped. "It was me and Gwen at the café. We were questioning those two, they killed their friend for some stupid alien eyeball thing."
The Doctor separated that photo from the pile and examined it thoroughly, looking over it like a jeweller would an expensive diamond, holding it up to the light and everything. "Right." he said flatly. "Any others?" he nodded to the remaining pictures. Rose quickly flicked through them, Mickey looking too.
"Yeah this one en all." Mickey pointed out, flicking the front photo. It was a picture of Owen walking alone in a wooded area. He had a determined look on his face and was carrying a bulky medical case, that looked more like a toolbox. "This was that time we found the alien body in the woods. But see I'm meant to be standing next to him. I remember cos it's right next to where I… tripped." he muttered the last part, only now realising why the memory was so strong.
The Doctor exploded into a fit of laughter at about the same time as Owen.
"Never did get to see the rest of your victory dance, Smith."
"Oh Mickey." the Doctor sighed disappointedly. "Can't take you anywhere."
"Oh, fuck off, yeah." Mickey pouted, folding his arms in a huff. The Doctor seemed legitimately remorseful, but Mickey's reaction made Owen find the situation all the more amusing.
"Almost made the Hammers losing worth it."
"Alright!" Mickey snapped. "But it's different yeah! I'm not in the picture."
"Shame, I would've kept it when I needed a pick me up." Owen added.
"Here, here." the Doctor agreed, albeit quietly.
"Anyway." Rose interrupted. God at this rate it'd be the next morning before they got anything done. Jack and Tosh might need there help sooner, men, she thought. "Wot does it mean?" she asked the Doctor sternly.
"It means that old Bilis isn't human, or at least he's not anymore. He's some kind of time entity, time traveller, that doesn't rely on technology to travel through time."
"That's possible?" Rose asked.
The Doctor's tone was serious, bordering on enticing, like he was telling a mystical story. "Oh yes. There's legends and myths spanning many civilisations. People who 'become a seer of time.' Natives who make deals with omnipotent beings and become endowed with abilities beyond their species capabilities." A shiver went up the Doctor's spine as he shook himself out of it, and his voice turned more casual. "That or he's some sort of alien that has the innate ability to travel in time, but where's the mystery in that, eh?"
"So he's an alien then." Owen said blandly. "Cos I might've heard a lot of shit on this job but I've never seen a human suddenly sprout wings and start to fly."
"One single observation can invalidate a general statement derived from millennia of confirmatory sightings of millions of white swans. All you need is one single black bird." the Doctor quoted.
"You've seen a black swan then?" Owen asked.
"Only once." the Doctor said, briefly scanning Rose up and down before turning his attention back to the desk, letting out a long breath, his light tone reappearing. "Anyway, let's get down to it shall we?" The others said nothing so the Doctor took that as a yes. "At any rate, Bilis can travel through time without technology, but any time travel in itself is risky. The future is constantly changing, effected by ordinary people's everyday choices. But, throw a time traveller into the mix and things get a bit more complicated."
"And that time traveller would be Bilis?" Owen asked to confirm.
"Yes and no… well it's debatable." the Doctor answered unconfidently, before he waved a dismissive hand and carried on much more sure of himself, like he was a professor giving a lecture. "Whatever Bilis is –or was - planning, he was, given the evidence," He nodded to the information on the desk. "- travelling in time to prepare for it." He looked around to each of the others in turn, checking they all still followed. He saw no drooling so continued. "But, judging from the dates here," He tapped the date in a corner of a news article spread out on the desk. "He was traveling – or shifting, more accurately – between different points in time very close together. And there's always a risk, doing that, that you'll create, or get trapped in, an alternative timeline; a different possible future of your own making. Mickey and Rose aren't in these photos because they never were, not in this version of events."
"But, I mean, if that's true then why's he here now? In this version of time or whatever?" Mickey asked.
"Because –unless it's fixed – time is constantly in-flux. There are a billion, billion possible outcomes, forever changing. If you travel in time, and interact with the world, you always push the possible futures in a different direction, just by simply being there. While Bilis was time travelling, this - " The Doctor waved his hands over the pictures and articles in front of him. "was the most likely future. Sure, it changed every time he shifted, but the changes were so miniscule, he probably didn't even notice. But, presumably, when you lot got pulled back to this universe, this" He gestured again to the articles and photos in front of him. "Stopped being a viable future and became an alternative future instead, only surviving because of Bilis's own personal timeline. So, when he last shifted from the past – 1941, in all likelihood, or some other time before your arrival - he automatically transported himself to this, more dominant, future without realising it." The Doctor thought. "And he must've kept this stuff on his person while he travelled, hence why it exists in this timeline."
"Okay, so that explains that, but we still don't know what he's planning or what he wants with Tosh and Jack." Owen added.
"Well, if he can travel in time then maybe he's looking for something we have or are going to have? Something that only Jack knows where it is?" Rose suggested.
"But then why not just take it, if he can shift or whatever it is? Follow Jack when he first hides the thing." Owen retorted.
Rose thought a little harder. "Okay so he needs us to do something, then? Something 'e can't do on his own."
"He might've used Torchwood before, our files are gone, but there might be some UNIT files on him, or somemin, or at least some sort of paper trail or an article from 1941, or, I dunno just something. Like maybe we can find Tosh and Jack in an old newspaper. I mean that's wot I'd try if I was trapped in the past and needed to tell people in the future where I was. Maybe they left us a message explaining everything?" added Mickey.
"Yeah, that's good." Owen said, flicking an approving finger in Mickey's direction. "Right Smith, you go back to the SUV, the UNIT database is still hooked up, whatever you can find on Bilis, Jack, Tosh, anything." He turned to look at Rose. "Tyle-" He stopped, but he wasn't looking at Rose.
Rose followed Owen's line of sight; up towards the Doctor's face.
His eyes were glassed over; unblinking, his mouth catching flies, like someone had just hit pause on a Doctor receptible remote. Rose was surprised there was no dribble coming from his mouth.
"Tyler." Owen sighed impatiently, rubbing his brow to calm himself. "Take him home before he keels over, alien or not, I know sleep deprivation when I see it."
"Right." Rose agreed distractedly, waving a hand in front of the Doctor.
Nothing.
"I'll keep searching here, and tell the others what's going on." Owen finished, grimacing slightly at the sorry state of the Doctor.
"Doctor." Rose called softly.
Nope.
"Doctor, please."
He blinked. "Rose?" he said groggily, quickly noticing how frightened she looked and placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Are you alright? ≡ι τ&έχει"
Rose smiled, relieved that he'd at least answered her, although what the last part was she had not the foggiest idea. She decided to focus on the first question. "I'm fine. I think we need to go back to mum's though, yeah?"
The Doctor looked around and, despite his current state, could decipher pitying looks when he saw them.
"ℵ~…. Em, wait… yes, okay, let's, go." he said, thinking carefully about each word.
Rose paid for a taxi ride back to the house, because sod putting the Doctor on a bus in his current state. Which was just as well because his head lulled to the side as soon as he sat down.
"I'm fine." he would say groggily, as he jolted back up again and tried to pretend nothing happened, only to slouch and eventually repeat the action a few minutes later.
"How long has it actually been since you last slept?" she asked as she practically heaved him up the stairs and to her room. Thankfully, everyone was out so it was just him and her, which was good because her mum would only cause a fuss and she had a feeling that would make the situation worse.
"Em, sleep? Oh… about three weeks. Who needs it, eh?"
Rose's eyes popped but she didn't say anything right away. She had no idea what to compare that to. "And how much do you sleep normally?"
"Oh…" his features screwed up in concentration. "About once every… five, six, days." he said in a high tone, like the number was nothing as dire as it sounded. "And that's pushing it a bit, it's healthy to sleep once every three days, two if a lot of thinking was involved, but I try to avoid such a time wasting activity." he leaned closer to her as if to reveal an important secret. He attempted to whisper, but his voice grew in volume with each word. "But really it's because I hate doing it. Hate it, hate it, hate it, hate it, with a capital H."
Oh dear it was just as bad as she thought it was, she quickened her march towards her bedroom and pushed the Doctor onto the bed. "Look just stay here, get comfy and I'm going to change. I'll be back okay?"
"You're leaving?" he said, but he sounded so hurt, Rose knew he was thinking something else.
"Just to get ready." she reassured quickly, grabbing him by the shoulders and praying that the look she was giving him was dramatic enough to convince him.
"Ready? For what? Are you in trouble?"
No, but you most definitely are.
"Nope." she said lightly, forcing out a smile. "Just want to make you wait a bit." she said cheekily, hoping he had enough brain power left to process a joke.
"Oh, that's not very nice." he smiled.
And with that she quickly dashed off to the bathroom, scrambling to put on last night's pyjamas that she'd left in the washing bin.
When she got back into the room the Doctor was already asleep on the bed… or so it seemed. Like before, once she sat down on the other side of the bed he shot up and out; as if on a catapult mechanism.
"Sorry." he said.
She gently pulled him back down so that he was sitting on the bed. "Doctor, please you have to sleep."
The Doctor sat down without a word, but didn't lie down fully on the mattress, staying on the edge.
She sighed. She was hoping it might be easier given that he was so tired, but now that didn't seem the case. "If it's not just the bad dreams, then wot else is it?" she asked, hoping to gain some insight into how to help.
The Doctor didn't say anything for a long while he just sat there on the edge of the bed. Rose waited.
"Well, I guess, it's not exactly a pleasant sight." His mouth moved to say more, he even rocked a little as he stopped himself. Rose sat up in the bed and put a hand on his shoulder.
"I don't want you to see me like that." he said.
Rose's eyes softened as she shuffled closer to him and pulled him into a hug. He was being unusually open with her, but she knew he was too exhausted to be able to restrain himself like he normally would.
She didn't want to take advantage of that, so she wouldn't push him anymore.
She just held onto him for a few moments. He was so rigid he barely relaxed.
"Doctor, I'd take seeing you in a state over you going through somemin like that on your own any day." she said honestly. "I want to help, yeah? Even if I can't do much to stop them, I can at least be there when you wake up."
He didn't say anything for a while.
"Yeah?"
"Yes." she said with certainty.
He thought for a little, from her position behind him she could see a smile form on his lips. "You really are something Rose Tyler."
She smiled before hastily adding on. "And it's not just me."
The Doctor, finally, looked back at her. He was clearly a bit confused. "Hmm?"
"It's not just me who wants to help you, but all of us" she explained, but as she suspected the Doctor shut down instantly, his body becoming stiff again, and turning away from her once more.
She pulled away and let him be. But she continued, becoming a little flustered, but continuing nonetheless. Because, although he'd never admit it, she knew he wasn't just worried about her seeing him, he was worried about the others, how they might react. It would explain why he'd been so adamant about sleeping on the Tardis, because the walls were thicker in there. "Y' know when I was first staying in the parallel world I used to 'ave bad dreams all the time."
The Doctor closed up even more, like he was bracing himself for a punch, he took a tight intake of breath and Rose noticed his hands start to clutch the edge of the mattress.
She just hoped, after she'd said her bit, that he'd feel a little less nervous about sleeping.
"Like I used to worry about something happenin' and you not being there to stop it. And that thing with Lil didn't make it any better.'" she fiddled with her fingers as she explained. "Like I'd see when Lil got attacked, only it'd be a different person each time." She cast her eyes to the floor as the fear she felt back then surfaced, the memories flashing through her mind. "You were even in it once."
The Doctor still sat unmoving, like he'd been turned to stone. But he was listening, Rose knew that much.
"They used to get so bad that I'd call out in my sleep. God it was so embarrassing, used to send everyone running to my room… But then I realised, it was cos they were worried about me. And they just wanted to help. I mean, if it was any of them goin' through the same thing, I'd just want to help them too. And it's the same with you."
She looked up hopefully at him, nope, still nothing readable.
"And I'm not saying you have to feel the same way, but mum has practically adopted you now, just like she 'as with Mickey and Jack. If it's that bad that the others will 'ear you, I know it's a bit weird, but they really just want to 'elp, and they're not going to kick you out, or make fun of you or anything like that, because you're part of the gang now, even if mum does slap you sometimes."
The Doctor still didn't move, not even a twitch; keeping everything so guarded.
Rose waited… and waited.
Maybe she'd exposed him too much, he was feeling too vunrable?
It was another five seconds before he finally spoke, Rose knew, she was counting. "So… you're saying I'm a Tyler now, is that it?" he asked, his tone void of emotion.
Rose was a bit unsure of what to say; yes, but not like we're married, but not like siblings either, it was tricky to put into words. "Well, yeah." she settled on, before her silence became a problem. "Though I don't think anyone sees us as brother and sister though, that'd be weird." She stopped herself before she dug herself into any more of a hole. If they weren't brother and sister then they were, well, married, right? But she hadn't meant it like that at all! She just wanted him to know that he was accepted here, that they – all of them – weren't going to leave him. Oh, why didn't she just say that? Real smooth, Rose, stella people skills as ever.
She hesitantly looked up, expecting to see a Doctor sized dust cloud instead of him, the door wide open; swinging on it's hinges, and the sound of the - suddenly working - Tardis in the distance.
But he was still there.
"You're right, that would be weird." he said, his tone lighter but still not turning to look at her.
After another couple of seconds he sighed. "Well I suppose I should go change into my jimjams, Jackie will only be nagging me otherwise." he said, getting up without casting a single look her way.
She watched him like a hawk as he moved over to her wardrobe by the door, opened it an started fishing around for his pyjamas in the brown paper Primark bag Jackie had handed him the day before.
She wanted to see his face, try and get a read on his expression.
Was he going to do a runner? Please no, not that. He needed to sleep.
A second later Rose's eyes popped. The Doctor started taking off his clothes.
Her cheeks instantly flushed as the Doctor took off his shoes, moving quickly on to his t-shirt.
But what did this mean? He'd always got changed in the bathroom until now. Did he believe her words? Or was he just too tired to care? Should she look away because he wasn't functioning at full capacity? Or was it his way of saying I trust you a bit more now? Like when a cat jumps up on the bed for the first time. Would looking away upset him, because it'd be like her saying she wasn't ready? Was she reading too much into this? Why was everything always so complex with him? Her head jerked back and forth in a fluster, undecided to where exactly she should be looking.
She settled on keeping her eyes straight ahead, ready to dart them either way once she had more information. She risked a look, she could see his bare back, his hair ruffled as he pulled his t-shirt over his head. God he was stunning. The actual action of him undressing was intoxicating. Rose had understood yesterday why Victorians got hot under the collar over a bit of ankle showing; because it was a rare sight. She'd actually seen his arms in that t - shirt, it might as well have been his arse, but now it looked like she might actually get to see that for real.
He flung the shirt back in the direction of the paper bag. Any other time, Rose was sure it would fall perfectly into the bag without the slightest rustling sound, but given his current condition, he missed the bag by miles, putting far too little power into the chuck. The t-shirt hit the floor, crumpling in an instant behind him.
He moved on to his jeans, only to stop with his hands on the zipper. "Hold on, where's the sink?"
He thought he was already in the bathroom. Look away, look away, look away.
Rose couldn't see his face, whipping her head around to the opposite wall as quick as she could, but she could picture him scanning the room, and even in his present condition she was sure he could see her ears glowing red.
"Oh."
There was silence.
Deafening silence.
Please speak Doctor, so I know you haven't 'checked out' again, Rose mentally pleaded.
"Pretend you didn't see that." he said blandly.
"Yeah, fine." Rose replied quickly, nodding enthusiastically. "Whatever suits you." she was sure to clarify.
"Oh thank fuck for that." he said, utterly relieved. "That was a close one Theta, you absolute plonker."
Rose didn't know whether to burst out laughing or gasp in shock. It was very clear that his brain to mouth filter was malfunctioning catastrophically. She'd never heard him swear before, and it sort of felt like when you see a teacher in the supermarket. But, far more importantly, he'd not referred to himself as the Doctor but 'Theta' was that… was that his real name? He never said that. He needed to go to sleep, now, before he regretted it later.
"Ready?" she asked, unable to hear anything to tell her otherwise.
"Yeah."
She hesitantly looked round, half expecting he'd have forgotten to put on the bottoms.
No, fully dressed in the plaid pyjamas her mum had got him. The buttons were all done wrong though, like a child who doesn't know how to get themselves dressed.
She smiled and pulled back the covers, patting the empty space on the bed.
He moved shyly over to the bed. This time when he got in he took the time to plump up the pillows, and get comfortable, laying on his stomach and getting underneath the covers, instead of just coffin styling it like she'd found him before. And this time when he rested his head on the pillows he tucked his arms underneath them and closed his eyes.
So this is how he actually went to sleep.
Rose tried to stifle her smile but couldn't. He really was adorable. When they got back to the Tardis she really hoped he'd be okay with keeping this arrangement. Going to bed every night, next to him, yes please.
"Happy now?" he asked, clearly sensing her glee even though his eyes were shut.
"Yes." she giggled, leaning back to turn off the light before wiggling back under the covers. "Good night, Doctor."
"Nighty nighty – no – nighty night, HA! Nighty night Rose Tyler."
She laid still in the room for a few minutes. The sun was still up, and it's glow visible through the material of the curtains, some children still playing outside as she waited for some sort of hint that he'd fallen asleep.
"Rose." he asked after a few more minutes had past.
"Yeah?"
"You're not going to leave are you?"
"No." she said instantly.
"Even if I scare you tonight?"
"Nope, fraid not."
"Good. I don't want you to leave."
Her heart broke a little.
But before she could offer any sort of reassurance he spoke again.
"I mean you can… if you want, don't think that you can't. But I'd like it if you stayed."
"I know." she said sadly, restraining herself from hugging him like she wanted to do. He had been so finicky about sharing a bed with her, and so terrified of sleeping in front of her, she was worried any other 'domestic' firsts would push him over the edge. Baby steps, baby steps.
"Good. Good." he said, yawning.
Next to her Rose heard him shuffle a little, then a few minutes later she started to hear him snoring softly.
She looked over to the clock by her bed. The Doctor had finally gotten to sleep at six thirty-seven in the evening.
She wasn't sure when she herself had fallen asleep, but she was abruptly pulled from her peaceful slumber by an arm flinging over her side.
She quickly reached over to turn the side light on. It was dark outside now, the ember light from the lampposts outside pushing through the gap in the curtains. No sound of the TV, the early morning perhaps? She looked over to the Doctor.
His eyes were clenched shut, his face twisted.
He was having a bad dream.
She could do this. She could do this.
"Doctor?" she tried to sooth. She reached out and stroked her hand through his hair and hoped that whatever nightmare he was having wouldn't morph into a Dalek trying to eat his head or something. "Doctor, it's okay. It's okay, it's just a dream, it's not real, I'm here."
After half a minute and little change, it was clear this was doing sod all. She thought back to when she was little, nope nothing, her mum used to just send her back to bed. But Pete would sing to Tony when he'd wake up in the night. She remembered the time they went to the Olympics and saw Chloe and how her mum used to sing to her too. Maybe that'd help?
She wasn't much of a singer, well that's what Jimmy used to tell her anyway, she pushed that name away, briefly annoyed how it'd wriggled into her head just now. She refocused her attention to the Doctor, it looked like he was in agony.
She had to try something!
She didn't give much thought into the song, she just blurted out the lyrics to whatever she'd been hearing recently on the radio. 'Mr Brightside' came to mind first. She completely botched it she was sure, but she sang softly as to not wake up the house.
She kept stroking his hair as she sang, and after a few verses it – thank fuck – seemed to sooth him.
It was short lived though. For as soon as she'd stop he'd start up again a few minutes later.
It was two hours, and numerous song changes, before his breathing changed as he started to fall into a deeper sleep. So deep in fact, Rose momentarily thought she'd sung him to death. His breaths were so long, lasting well over twenty seconds. And the pause between each exhale and inhale so great, it gave the impression that he wasn't breathing at all. But after ten minutes had passed, and the pattern hadn't changed, Rose put it down to as a 'superior Time Lord' thing.
She waited another ten minutes just to be sure he wouldn't start up again.
He didn't so she allowed herself to drift back to sleep, happy that she'd seemed to make some small amount of difference.
A/N:
Next Chapter: Err I keep changing the names at the moment so *shrugs*
When: Sunday/Monday if it's a good week
Other Notes: The symbols the Doctor's saying don't really mean anything. I just made up the order. But it's meant to represent Gallifreyan. According to the wiki the ancient Gallifreyan was a mixture of greek symbols and maths stuff so I just copied it in as I couldn't add the circles.