Rose awoke the next morning, aching. She rubbed her head trying to remember what had happened. It all came flooding back, the wolves, her own golden wolf, the fight, returning to the TARDIS. She glanced down at her pyjama's and realised that when she'd transformed back she must've only had enough energy to pull them on before collapsing into bed.
But hang on; she was in her own room, a single bed… Sitting bolt upright she glanced round. No Doctor. Throwing herself out of bed she ran to the console room in a panic.
Please say the nanites haven't got him. Please…
She burst into the console room and couldn't see him anywhere. He heart was thumping in her chest, making her ribs ache even more.
"Doctor?" Rose called out worriedly. She heard a thud and some cursing in Gallifreyan. Sighing she wandered round the console and found one of the metal grating panels moved out the way. The Doctor stuck his head up rubbing it gingerly.
"Alright?" He asked, pulling himself up and almost falling back down when Rose threw her arms round his neck. "Hey, what's wrong?"
"I thought I'd killed you!" Rose said pulling back and frowning as she whacked him.
"Ow!" The Doctor moaned, though it hadn't really hurt. "What was that for?"
"For making me think the nanites had thrown you out of the airlock!" Rose replied, sitting cross-legged beside the hole.
"Sorry," he said smiling slightly. "But the nanites are gone. Nothing to worry about."
"What do you mean they're gone?" Rose asked confused.
"Remember how I said that some of the wolves back on that planet lost their nanites when they got so old because they had trained their minds enough to not need them?" The Doctor said standing up and holding out a hand for Rose. She took it standing up too.
"Yeah," she replied not quite understanding.
"Well, your brain is so highly advanced for a human what with the whole Bad Wolf thing that the nanites realised you'd keep your mind in wolf form," the Doctor grinned. "So off they went, back to their home planet, leaving you free and me unharmed."
Rose ran a hand through her hair thinking. She couldn't remember much that had gone on when she was the wolf.
"Did I kill them?" She asked worriedly.
"Nope," the Doctor shook his head. "Just gave 'em a nip here and there and they soon slunk off to sulk."
Rose nodded looking down at her hands. They were a bit scratched here and there and she could feel several bruises forming on her sides and back.
"They'll fade," the Doctor said, his own injuries looking much better than they had done. "As will the tail."
Rose looked up at him and the Doctor laughed, resulting in him earning another whack from Rose.
"That's not funny," she groaned.
"No, sorry," the Doctor said trying to keep a straight face.
"Don't make me take you home!" Rose warned and the Doctor looked at her wide eyed.
"Oh, Rose, don't make me go see your mother!" He moaned and she stuck her tongue out at him.
"Don't be irritating then," she replied. She linked her fingers through his and leant against him then. "Glad you're ok."
The Doctor smiled to himself then. He squeezed her hand gently and pulled a lever on the TARDIS console.
"Where are we going?" She asked looking at him in confusion.
"You said when we got rid of the nanites you wanted to go somewhere relaxing," the Doctor grinned. "You might wanna get dressed."
Rose smiled back and nodded, heading off back to her room. She was back within ten minutes and the Doctor, who'd covered the hole with the metal grating again, was running round the console like a madman, flipping switches, pulling levers, pressing buttons and doing a random twirl at the end making Rose laugh.
He looked up at her and pulled out his glasses, putting them on and looking at something on the console screen. The TARDIS shuddered as it landed and the Doctor looked up beaming.
"Where are we?" Rose asked.
"Go and have a look," the Doctor said shoving his hands in his pockets.
Rose grinned and wandered over to the TARDIS doors opening them and stepping out. She looked round in amazement as the Doctor stepped out behind her.
"Wow," she said. "It's beautiful…"
The sky was a deep purple with weird birds that looked like flying stingrays. The clouds were mixtures of sunset reds and pale oranges, floating serenely past.
The ground was covered in knee high baby blue grass like stuff and Rose could see for miles and miles, nothing interrupting the view, not a mountain, not a building, not a thing.
A few stars were visible in the sky as well, one was a particularly large pink looking star and Rose wondered what they were called. As is he'd heard her thoughts the Doctor spoke.
"That's Gallifrey," he said quietly. "Before the war. We can't go back to the actual planet because I'm already part of events there, but I thought this place was quite relaxing and that I dunno… you might want to see it…"
He shuffled his feet awkwardly then wondering whether Rose would think him mad and silly for assuming she'd want to see his old home planet.
"It's great," she said, laughing the way she did when there was a slight tension between them. "I love it."
The Doctor smiled and she linked her fingers through his again, squeezing his hand gently and looking up at the sky.