The Doctor frowned. "What kind of a problem?"
Rose's zombie took a breath before explaining. "To stop the TARDIS we drained the energy needed. Afterwards, we sealed the hole so it wouldn't lose more energy than necessary. Apparently, though, someone didn't do a good enough job sealing the hole," she said, giving Jack's zombie an accusing glare. He glared back.
"What's the problem?" the Doctor hissed through gritted teeth.
"It's been leaking energy," Rose-zombie replied. "Even with the power of all three of us, we can't restore the energy and re-seal the leak."
"So what do you need?" the Doctor asked, his hearts sinking to his stomach. How long were they going to be stuck here?
"Rose," Jack-zombie answered. The Doctor looked to him sharply and paused.
"What's the catch?" he asked softly. The zombies hesitated, looking at each other.
"We'll need to control Rose's soul again," Jack's zombie told the Doctor.
"No," he said automatically. Jack, the real Jack, shot a look at him. The Doctor met it calmly.
"I'm not letting her go through that again."
"Doctor…" Jack began.
"If we can't use her, we can't fix the TARDIS," the Jack zombie argued. The Doctor stared at him and Jack watched him in fascination, noticing the visible internal war his friend was going through. Not for the first time, Jack was glad he wasn't the Doctor.
Finally the Doctor looked away, defeated.
"Fine," he said quietly. "But she gets to make the final decision."
Rose's zombie nodded. "Of course."
"I'll talk to her when she wakes up," he added, this time with more volume.
"There might not be time for that," the Rose zombie pointed out. "Before too long either a dinosaur will succeed in eating us or the TARDIS will lose all its energy and there is no possible way we can fix it then."
"Don't see why being eaten by a dinosaur bothers you; the undead can't die," the Doctor muttered. Aloud he said, "All right. I'll go wake her up."
XxXxX
The Doctor stood at Rose's open doorway, watching her sleep peacefully. She was on her side, one arm flung over her head. He side moved with the motion of her breathing, slow and even. Distantly, he remembered the last time he had come here to wake her up. Then her sleep had been restless, haunted by a dream that soon became a reality. Then he had wanted to wake her, to save her from her nightmare. Now all he wanted to do was watch her sleep. Not wake her so she could lose control of her soul. She didn't deserve that. She deserved a long-needed good night's rest. When she would actually get that was the question.
With a deep, long sigh full of feeling, the Doctor walked to Rose's side and sat on the edge of her bed.
"Rose," he whispered, shaking her shoulder gently. No reaction. Again, he sighed, his eyes fixed on her beautiful face. Heavens, she was beautiful. She was so brave, so strong. His hand caressed her cheek softly. He wished he could be a strong and brave as her. If only he could borrow some of that strength…
Suddenly he pulled his hand away as if he were burned. He had been caressing her! Since when did the Doctor caress anyone?
Shaking it away, he resumed trying to wake the young human.
"Rose," he said firmly. "Rose, wake up."
"Mmm…" she mumbled, swatting his hand away. Drugged with sleep, her eyes flicked up to meet his. "Wha' you wan'?"
He smiled gently. "I want you to wake up, that's what."
She groaned unhappily and sat up to look at him. "Why?" she asked. The Doctor hesitated and suddenly Rose's eyes widened. "Wait…" she said. "What happened? Last I remember…the zombies were talking to me." She gasped. "Doctor, they want to kill you! And Jack!" she exclaimed. He grinned at her, his usual goofy grin.
"Not anymore," he said triumphantly. Rose frowned.
"What happened? They wanted me to help them kill you but I told them I wouldn't…and then all I remember is a searing pain…and it wasn't just a physical pain."
The Doctor winced, but Rose wasn't finished.
"But…then I remember waking up from what seemed like…death, almost, and your face was really close…like you were really worried or concerned or somethin'."
The Doctor looked away, the tips of his ears turning a shade darker than normal.
"They had taken over your soul. But that's in the past," he said, looking back to Rose. "They were the ones who messed with the TARDIS. All they want, apparently, is to go home. So I made a deal with them. They fix the TARDIS, I get them home. But there's a problem that they hadn't expected, I don't have time to explain it fully, but they need your help," he told her. Rose raised an eyebrow.
"Why me?" she asked. The Doctor shrugged.
"I don't know. But to do it, they need to take over your soul again. I told them you were to make the final decision," he said, silently begging her to say no. Rose considered this, taking in the pleading look in the Doctor's eyes. She knew he wanted her to say no. He didn't want her to go through that again, especially at the wrath of her mother. Distantly, she wished it were more than friendship and fear of Jackie.
"There'll be that pain again, won't there?" she asked after a moment. The Doctor nodded, slightly relieved. She was going to say no! But his spirits plummeted suddenly when Rose spoke again.
"I'll do it."
A/N: I love reviewers and live for constructive criticism!
