Summary: A short one-shot fic about Rose being upset and the Doctor comforting her. Post fathers day. The story is better than the summary albeit slightly. I promise. I know it's cheesy and stupid and all but it's my first fic. Please please please please please please (fingers starting to hurt now) please read and review!
The Way It Is
"Dad! Dad! Don't go! You can't leave me! DAD!"
Rose's shouts could be heard throughout the many pathways and passages of the tardis, echoing and dying, pitiful and helpless.
The Doctor heard them, loud and clear and it was like an ice cold blade tearing through his heart. He couldn't bear to hear Rose in pain, or sad or distressed. Not only was she his best friend and his responsibility, but she was the only person in the world he had. She was everything to him. He would die a million times over if it meant keeping her safe and if he ever lost her he sometimes doubted whether the sun would ever rise again. As the screams of her pain echoed through his dreams he rose from his bed and made the now familiar journey to Rose's room.
As he approached the doorway and saw her tiny form, curled up on her bed a hand of iron gripped at his heart. She looked so small and fragile, little more than a kid he thought. But there was so much more than that to his Rose. She was more than just a kid. She had seen the end of the world, an invasion of Downing Street, and army of ghosts and a werewolf. She had been punched, kicked, insulted, used and possessed. And yet still she stayed with him. She kept him going, kept him alive. Her smile could brighten even the darkest of situations and her laugh could make even the stoniest of hearts fall in love with her. Yes, she was much more than just a kid.
He crossed the room in two strides and lowered himself to sit on her bed. He gently stroked her tangled hair away from her face and saw that it was submerged in tears. As another sharp stab of guilt and pain and love shot through his heart she let out another scream and sat bolt upright, her eyes wide and unseeing.
"Dad? Dad is that you? Wake up! Wake up! Dad don't leave me! Don't leave me alone dad!"
Fresh tears coursed down her cheeks and she began to rock to and fro like one possessed. The doctor could bear this no longer and took her firmly by the shoulders stopping her violent movements and helpless whimpers. Rose's eyes stayed for a moment wide and glassy but then clouded and blinked rapidly. She was back. She looked puzzled for a moment but then, as if in recognition, her eyes welled with tears once more. The doctor did not speak to her. He did not try and talk or cheer her up. He simply enveloped her in his strong arms and rocked her fragile body back and forth, stroking her hair and whispering Gallifreyan rhymes under his breath.
Rose rested her head against his chest, hearing his double heartbeat and cried. She cried out of pain and sorrow and grief. She cried of the loss of her father. She cried until she felt empty inside and there was nothing left to cry with.
They sat together, an unspoken bond between them. Rose needed the doctor, the doctor needed Rose. It was never questioned, never doubted. It was the way it was. When there was a call in the night there would always be comfort. When there was a battle to be won there would always be support. As long as one needed the other they would be there. That's just the way it was.
