Chapter Seven

From On Top of the World

Hope you enjoy the story, sorry if it moves too fast – its just the way I write – I am trying to slow it down - trying being the main word in that sentance. Thanks for your reviews Cassy and Sepik.


When Rose opened her eyes she noticed she was in a strange room andlying on a cold metal floor, she felt like she was hurtling through the air at a hundred miles an hour. Her vision was still foggy from her earlier attack so she held onto the nearest thing to support herself, it just so happened to be the Doctors' leg. He was leaning over a control button hitting random buttons when he felt Roses' cold hand gripping onto his leg tightly. He turned to look down at Rose.

'Allo!' The Doctor grinned as he greeted her. Whilst she had been unconscious the Doctor had delicately wrapped a bandage around her head from the first aid box on board of the escape pod. She was aware of the wetness that covered the bandage – it wasn't doing much to stem the blood flow – but it was better than nothing. He stood smiling at her for a while whilst he checked her over with his eyes - mentally reassuring himself, when he was satisfied he offered her a hand to grab instead of his leg and he slowly hosted her to her feet. Instantly the room began to spin and she had to steady herself on his shoulders whilst he grabbed her waist to help hold her up.

'Easy does it' he told her whilst smiling at her. She could still see the concern in his eyes but he covered this up with his grins. He stood there holding her up as she glanced around the room. It was a room with metal floors and huge glass windows showing the view of space, a large monitor was at the front of the room and Stavishm stood there pressing buttons and checking coordinates. There were doors leading to other rooms but Rose couldn't conceivable think of where they lead to, the room was small but felt huge compared to the cell she had been kept in for the last couple of hours.

'Where are we?' she asked him weakly. He grinned,

'We are in an escape pod! You should thank our clever friend Stavishm for that' he said gesturing towards Stavishm who continued to work at the controls, she smiled at him in thanks and he nodded in acknowledgment. Rose turned to look outside the window; she had released the Doctor but now clung on to the railings and gazed out in awe. The suns were setting in the west and an amber glow shone over the skies, the clouds floated by weightlessly and the three moons started to float up into the sky as the suns disappeared. Barcelona could barely be seen from up there; thousands and thousands of stars sparkled and shot by.

'It's so beautiful' Rose whispered. The Doctor took her hand and gazed out the window with her, they smiled at each other – no words were needed. Together they watched the stars twinkle and bathed in their light. The night was peaceful and perfect, the Doctor and Rose were contented in each others company. Rose turned to the Doctor, her eyes deep and mysterious. She smiled up at him and asked

'What are you thinking?' He looked momentarily distracted and then he smiled back at her.

'Just how nice it is – this is. Me and you – together again' he told her. He raised and eyebrow

'Back to how we used to be?' he carefully asked. She blushed and looked at her feet awkwardly knowing he was hinting at the discomfit that had been between them at the beginning of their trip. She knew it had been her fault for losing trust in him and that it had hurt him deeply, she wished she could apologise for it but she didn't really know the words to say. All she knew was that she was sure he was back and she trusted him more than ever – how could she doubt him after he fought so hard to save her from Divad?

'Yeah – sorry about that' she quietly told him trying not to make a big deal about it whilst embarrassed that he had noticed her discomfort so easily – he knew her too well. He studied her eyes and could tell that she truly meant what she said. His face revealed no emotions

'It hurt, you know' he gently told her. She winced

'I know, I never meant to hurt you, I never really lost trust in you I was just… just confused. But you have to know it hurt me to – I had no warning, your regeneration just came upon me! You just looked so different I had to be sure you were still the same… you know - inside' The Doctor contemplated what she said then he nodded – his face grave.

'Well you know what they say' Rose frowned at him and then his face broke out into a huge grin.

'Even the most beautiful Rose has its' thorns' he collapsed laughing at the intended pun as Rose elbowed him in the ribs and gave him a look.

'Oh come one, don't tell me you didn't think that was funny!' he exclaimed, shaking her head she matched his grin with one of her own. He threw his arms around her waist and hoisted her into the air. She hugged him back grateful for his forgiveness, they spun one another around in the air like they used to as Stavishm watched in amazement at this display of human emotion. He spun her around laughing – it was like old times – that was until Roses' hand shot to the gash in her head and he realised how pale she looked. He knew her injury was bad – but not that bad.

'Rose?' he cautiously asked, the smiles vanishing from both of their faces, she looked up at him and blinked – but he still saw the pain that laced her eyes. She smiled weakly up at him as he frowned.

'Don't look so worried! I'm fine!' she reassured him although she knew she could hardly stand up and the pain was increasing. He wanted to ask her more about her injuries but she had turned back to the window. She gazed out at the night but the Doctor watched her hands – her knuckles had turned white from her gripping on so tightly. She feebly nodded towards something out of the window trying to distract him from his thoughts of her.

'So what's that?' she asked the Doctor who forced himself to tear his gaze away from her hands and onto the object in the night sky.

'That, my dear Rose, is an escape pod' he said quietly whilst staring at her wound trying to think what he could do. His hand dug around in his pocket for the sonic screwdriver, if only he could find the right setting…

'Like this one?' she asked curiously as the Doctor pulled his hand out of his pocket revealing the Sonic Screwdriver. He held it up to the light as he fiddled with the settings and Rose turned to look at him.

'Yep! As a matter of fact – exactly like this one' Rose turned to question the Doctor but he started to move towards her head with the Sonic Screwdriver, she started to shake her head at him but they were interrupted by Stavishm who came running up from behind them.

'Master! Master! We are being fired at!' Stavishm exclaimed as suddenly bullets started striking at the windows but luckily bouncing off as Roses' mouth fell open.

'Don't worry – they can't get through' he paused to think, 'Well I don't think they can'

He grinned down at her loving the adventure of their lives.

'Who are they?' she quietly asked him

'That is Divad' he said matter of factly to Rose who looked up at him confused.

'Who?' she asked puzzled

'That bloke who tried to kill us – you know made out of metal? Oh yeah, you never met him but he met you.' The Doctor declared as he raced to the controls and frantically pushed buttons still with his manic grin still in place. Rose took several deep breaths to steady herself and then she realised she could not stand up any longer – she had to sit down. She gingerly lowered herself to the floor and gazed at her feet to try and distract her mind from the pounding in her head and the room spinning in front of her. She felt sea sick – even though she knew she didn't get travel sick, she closed her mouth tightly and swallowed several times trying to prevent herself from vomiting over the Doctors' converses. Luckily, the Doctor hadn't noticed as he called out

'Rose, could you give us a hand?'

'Sure' she replied, lying to him as she pulled herself to her feet knowing she wouldn't make it, she started to stagger towards the Doctor – she was right – she never made it. The Doctor looked up and saw her start to fall forwards; he darted forward and caught her before she hit the floor.

'Woopsie' she whispered. His eyes studied her face and she looked up into his intense brown eyes.

'Floor's not very safe, is it? I nearly tripped!' she lied. Her looked into her eyes and knew she was lying – he also knew she was lying because she was embarrassed about her injuries. She was such a proud woman and she didn't want to be useless – lying around helpless. He admired her pride but knew that sometimes he had to look out for her; he pondered what to do next.

He smiled back at her; she was now standing and just steadying herself on his shoulders.

'I need you to sit here and push this button for me, okay? He said as he slowly propelled her towards a chair and a red button. She sat down gratefully and smiled up at him

'Sure I can do that' he grinned at her, knowing that she was just going to be pushing the light switch for the loo over and over again – but what else could he do, she needed rest and wasn't going to take it any other way.

'Good, now I need you to push it every thirty seconds' he told her as she nodded back at him.

Rose watched him as he went back to working at the controls; she was thankful that she could just rest here and close her eyes. She had a sneaky suspicion that there was no need to really push this button, but she did it anyway. The Doctor was like that, she thought, he knows me too well. She smiled, grateful for him not making a fuss about it. The Doctor had been working on the buttons for a while and he looked up out of the window, he stalked over to it noticing a sleeping Rose on the way. Divad had stopped firing and his escape pod seemed to be still, the Doctors face set into thoughtful lines. Then he remembered Rose sleeping, you never, never let people with head injuries sleep! He thought, kicking himself as he gently shook her trying to rouse her from her slumber, he couldn't help but think how adorable she looked whilst sleeping. A couple seconds later Rose started to stir

'Is it morning already?' she asked through a yawn. She opened her eyes and slowly allowed it to register where she was. She looked up and saw the Doctor leaning over her, she took his hand and allowed herself to be dragged towards to window still sleepwalking.

'Look!' he said excitedly, 'they stopped firing'

'Really?' Rose replied not as enthusiastically, secretly wishing that she was still asleep.

'What did you do?' she asked feigning interest as she started to close her eyes again. She felt herself wobble as she gave into sleep and then she felt the Doctors' arm around her waist supporting her. She opened her eyes again and gazed out the window, she saw a red laser burst through the night sky shattering the peace, it sounded like a swarm of hungry bees and was as bright as a thousand rubies. It struck the escape pod shattering it into a million pieces and surly killing Divad. Roses' eyes widened and the Doctor cocked his head in curiosity.

'What was that?' Rose whispered, The Doctor shook his head

'I haven't the faintest-'he started but was cut of by Roses' scream. Pieces of the escape pod were hurtling towards them about to smack into their escape pod. A shower of metal entwisted with plastic and glass began to shower over Barcelona and sent huge chunks of metal reverberating through out space.

'I don't suppose the escape pod has its' own escape pod?' Rose asked meekly, The Doctor grinned at her

'No such luck.' he pulled her down to the floor and sheltered her body with his own knowing that he had to protect her as they prepared for the impact that was inevitable. The force of the metal hitting their escape pod was like a nuclear bomb going off; a mushroom cloud decorated the sky where the objects had collided. Rose and the Doctor bounced up and down entrapped in metal, clinging on to each other the entire time. Their escape pod had broken into pieces and was spiralling through the air heading towards Barcelona. Stavishm clung onto the metal as did Rose and the Doctor, all of them hung with their legs flailing in the air. The Doctor grinned at Rose and shouted

'I always wanted to go sky diving' Rose laughed back

'Me to, but not like this!' she shouted back. They noticed the falling metal was slowing as it entered Barcelona's atmosphere, a piece of material flapped behind them acting as a parachute and the air resistance helped reduce their speed. As they entered the atmosphere their speed continued to decline and the gravity was weaker so that they weren't attracted to the ground as much.

'Hold on tight!' the Doctor yelled as they approached the ground, they hit the ground with a thud and skidded forwards through the purple grass until they reached a stop. Rose rolled over onto the grass, rolling off of the metal just lying on her back not trusting her legs to support her yet. The Doctor stood up and grinned.

'Who said time travel couldn't be fun!' he declared as he helped Rose to her feet. He was secretly grateful that the metal they were on hadn't enflamed as they entered the atmosphere – it had been a possibility – but an unlikely one due to the sophisticated metal the escape pod had been built of. It was built for escaping and that is exactly what it had done - helped them to escape. The trio slowly walked towards the Tardis to rest, as they approached the blue box Stavishm stopped.

'What is this?' Stavishm asked.

'That? Oh that's the Tardis' The Doctor told Stavishm. Stavishm searched his dictionary that was installed in his mind.

'Tardis: noun – a room or building that seems to be much larger than it actually is or appears to be from the outside' Stavishm declared – reciting it out of his brain. Rose beamed at him.

'Exactly right' she told him. The Doctor continued to smile

'Actually you missed a bit' he told them

'Although that is true, Tardis stands for Time and Relative Dimension In Space. The word Tardis was actually entered into the Oxford dictionary in September 2002' he grinned at Rose who quirked an eyebrow.

'I may have had something to do with it' he told her innocently as her unwavering gaze questioned him, she shook her head at him as they entered the Tardis. As soon as they entered the doors slammed shut behind them, the distinct sound ofdoorslocking echoed, the Doctor frowned knowing this was not meant to happen. He ran up to the doors and started pulling at them – they were trapped inside the Tardis.

'What's happening?' Rose asked about to panic. The Doctors' face was set in grim lines

'I don't know' he replied as he tried to think. The Doctor and Roses' eyes met asa robotic voice from behind them called out.

'I know'


Next Chapter: The sickening sound of metal colliding with metal echoed throughout the Tardis. Rose blinked trying to remain awake, she could feel the blood trickling down her forehead and down the back of her head from her previous wound – but she didn't care she had to save the Doctor

Sorry, had to add the 'Tardis: noun – a room or building that seems to be much larger than it actually is or appears to be from the outside' after noticing the word Tardis didn't come up with a red line saying it was spelt incorrectly or was a word it didn't recognise. Interested, I found it is actually a word in the dictionary and looked up some stuff about it! So after that I couldn't help but put it in the story!

Also, sorry the chapter isn't as long as I'd like it to be but got 5 exams next week and it would seem I have to revise for them. - pulls angry face - but after that there are 2 more then they are over (runs around room cheering) and I can continue with longer chapters! (if you like longer chapters- let me know)

Thanks for reading, please review so I can know what you do and don't like so I can add (or take away) more of that! Thank you!