A-Levels and Aliens
Apologises for the short delay in posting. I've been busy and the internet's being dodgy! I went ice sliding last Sunday so now I know exactly how Rose is feeling physically as I kind of did a forward somersault over a not so safe safety barrier after coming down a snowy slope on an inflatable tube at a very high speed. I'm really aching and I have bruises everywhere! Anyways, hope you enjoy and please review. Think we might be coming to the end of the serious angst for this story but you never know!
Disclaimer: Nothing you might recognise belongs to me
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Rose first described the events that had happened just after she'd left Jack in the Camden Markets and the Ziola had kidnapped her right up until Zoë had taunted her and beat her up. She spoke clearly and confidently even when she talked about how painful it had been when Zoë had kicked her. She absorbed confidence from the Doctor who held her tightly in his arms, letting her know that he was supporting her through this. He had realized some parts would be difficult for her to recall and tried to convey to her that he was there for her.
"And then, after she left, I was left in that room for… I'd assume a couple of hours. I just sat there and thought, trying to ignore how painful it suddenly was to breathe,"
"She'd broken some of your ribs," the Doctor said, "I bandaged them up for you and they'll probably take a couple of weeks to heal properly. How are they feeling now?"
"Sore." Rose winced, gingerly placing her hands over them. The Doctor put his hands over the top of hers and interlinked their fingers carefully,
"What happened next?" he asked,
"Zoë and Zach came for me eventually and took me downstairs to another room where Zed- that's the other Ziola by the way- was waiting. They strapped me up against the wall and told me to get Bad Wolf to resurrect their species and when I refused, Zed pressed this button on this machine that was pointed straight at me and this ray came out and sort of scanned me…" She tensed up for a moment and when she spoke again, there was a sob in her voice. "It was so painful; Doctor and they kept doing it. I tried desperately hard not to scream but I couldn't help myself on the last time,"
"It's OK, Rose," the Doctor said, softly, running one hand through her tangled, unwashed hair, "I know how painful those scanners can be. When we were at Van Statten's museum, he used one on me… 'for scientific reasons' he said but all I know is that it hurt a lot."
Rose sniffed sadly and tightened her one armed grip around him. She wasn't looking forward to telling the Doctor the next bit. But she had to.
"Zoë and Zed left the room then," she whispered, "They told Zach it was his turn." She paused and closed her eyes, thinking about what happened next. The Doctor felt her start trembling again.
"Shh. I'm here, my angel," he murmured, squeezing her hand.
She tightened her grip before taking a deep breath and continuing. "He came up to me and ran his hand down my cheek and started saying stuff about how pretty I looked before." Rose stopped and took another deep breath. "I swore at him and then he tutted and said that he hoped I wouldn't be teaching that sort of language to the baby… Doctor, he said I was pregnant!"
The Doctor jerked, his mind going blank. He forced breath back into his lungs and willed his brain to co-operate. "Pregnant..?" He looked at Rose, who had gone rigid and was breathing hoarsely. "You… you can't be, Rose," he said, "I checked you over with a sort of scanner before and it would have told me if you were,"
"But he'd just used that ray machine thing so wouldn't he have known from that?" asked Rose, shakily,
"No. Rose, we'd only made love for the first time less than two days before. It wouldn't have registered,"
"So, I'm not pregnant?"
"Nope, we can check it over with a human test if you want," the Doctor suggested,
"OK," Rose breathed, a huge weight seeming to lift from her shoulders, "Is…is it possible for me to get pregnant with your baby?"
"I think so," replied the Doctor, cautiously, "It's difficult though."
"Doctor?" Rose asked, after a minute, "Would… would you be pleased if it happened?"
The Doctor hugged her as she sat. "I'd be over the moon," he replied, honestly, "But let's not deliberately try just yet… that's if you wanted a baby with me,"
"If I ever have a child, I'd want you to be the father," Rose said, confidently.
The Doctor beamed and kissed her cheek gently. They sat curled up together in a companionable silence for a few more minutes until Rose remembered that she still hadn't told the Doctor everything. Her smile drooped and she sighed. "There's more."
"Tell me when you're ready," requested the Doctor,
"Zach told me something else," she said, wanting to get it over and done with, "He killed my uncle and all those other innocent people on the trains last January. He said he used the same mind control drug on the driver that he used on me."
The Doctor sucked in a breath. "I'm sorry,"
"I'm glad he told me," Rose said, making him raise an eyebrow in question, "It made me furious. I was so angry that I managed to ignore all the pain and just concentrated on getting out of there. An'…an' when he touched me up, it only made me angrier,"
"He touched you up?" the Doctor asked, his eyes almost emitting sparks.
Rose nodded, swallowing audibly.
"I am going to kill him!" he growled,
"I tried to get away but the shackles didn't let me," Rose sobbed, shaking again, "I'm so sorry!"
The Doctor swallowed his anger with difficulty before rubbing the back of Rose's hand with his thumb. "It's not your fault, don't ever think that."
She tilted her head upwards to look at him. "But it is, Doctor," she whispered, "I let him do it!"
"No, you didn't," soothed the Doctor, "You said yourself; you were shackled to the wall. You couldn't move. Please believe me."
Rose stared at him, her eyes blurry with tears that she refused to let fall.
"How did you escape?" he asked, deliberately changing the subject.
The corners of Rose's mouth turned up and she rested her head back on the Doctor's chest before telling him how she'd pretended to be about to faint and then how she'd used the SING trick that she'd learnt from the Miss Congeniality movies on Zach in order to escape out of the front door.
"I thought the Ziola were chasing me and I couldn't move anymore so I just collapsed in that alleyway. I thought that I was about to die," she said, quietly, "I thought I had died when I saw you there. You arrived just in time,"
"I'm glad," the Doctor murmured, "I'm so proud of you, Rose, I truly am."
Rose snuggled further into him, closed her eyes and didn't reply. The Doctor kissed her head lightly before letting her fall asleep, safe in his arms.
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Jack Harkness knocked on his companion's bedroom door before entering quietly. He had learnt to do this over the past few days as he never knew if Rose was awake or not.
His first thought upon entering was that the room was deserted as the bed was certainly empty. Then, he looked around and noticed the Doctor's brown head appearing from one side of the bed. He walked around to discover him sitting cross legged on the floor with a fast asleep Rose Tyler wrapped lovingly in his arms.
"She's letting you touch her!" Jack blurted out immediately.
The Doctor nodded, a relieved smile on his lips. "She's got past it," he said quietly, in an effort not to rouse Rose,
"She tell you what happened?"
"Yeah," the Doctor confirmed, "They did some horrible things to her. She could have been a lot worse though. It's amazing just how well she's coped,"
"They didn't…" Jack asked, fearfully,
"No," the Doctor said, very relieved, "She said that Zach felt her up a bit."
The just-awake Rose snapped her eyes open and tensed at this.
Jack bit his lip. "Do you think that's why she wouldn't let anyone touch her?"
"Partly why, yeah. I also think that it was due to Zach tricking her into believing that she was pregnant,"
"Pregnant?" Jack gasped,
"She's not, she just believed she was," the Doctor said, flicking his hand to Rose's cheek to wipe away the tear that was rolling its way down it, "It's OK, Rose,"
"How'd you know I was awake?" Rose asked, hoarsely, taking his hand and tilting her head up to his so their eyes met,
"Your body went tense and you stopped breathing so evenly," he replied, with a gentle smile, "Do you think my theory about your touching phobia is correct? Incidentally, what seemed to cure it, in terms of me anyway?"
Rose thought for a moment while her two best friends watched her patiently. Jack had slid down the wall to sit opposite them.
"I do think you're right," she murmured finally and breathed in, "Before you came in, I had a bad dream and the Ziola were surrounding me and taunting me. They were saying that they were gonna get me and not even you could save me." She paused, looking at the Doctor. "Then, I woke up and the first thing I saw was you and I suddenly realized that you had and always would be there to look after me. And it was silly to be scared of touching you so I tried to get to you as fast as possible. Didn't work very well though." She gave a wry grin while pausing again in thought. "I guess I felt guilty for what Zach did and I couldn't stop him. And when I thought I might be pregnant, I think I felt scared of what your reaction would be and didn't think I was… I dunno… worthy enough for you to touch me."
The Doctor squeezed her hand. "And you do know that the last bit is all rubbish, don't you? The first bit about me always going to be here for you is definitely true though."
Rose nodded with a smile. She could still scarcely believe that the Doctor loved her so much. Suddenly, she wriggled uncomfortably.
"My bum's gone numb."
The Doctor and Jack laughed. It was just so typical of life on the TARDIS that it could go quickly from being a lovey-dovey moment to a moment like right now.
"C'mon then," said the Doctor, "Let me help you up."
She clambered off his lap and he knelt up, groaning slightly as blood rushed back into his legs that had been stationary for a few hours. He had Rose put her arms around his neck and he slowly stood them both up, supporting her with his hands as her still weak legs trembled.
"There we go," the Doctor grinned, "What do you wanna do now?"
Rose screwed up her nose. "I want a bath and hair wash. I feel so dirty!"
"Rose, do you want me to cook you something?" asked Jack, standing up next to them,
"Yes please," she beamed, suddenly realising how hungry she was. She'd hardly eaten anything in the past few days,
"Want anything in particular?"
"Nah, surprise me," Rose looked at Jack dying to give him a hug but not feeling able to. He smiled at her, clearly telling her it was OK and to take her time.
"C'mon then, beautiful," said the Doctor, placing an arm around Rose's waist and helping her to slowly make their way to their bathroom.
Once inside, the Doctor set the taps running while Rose steadied herself on the sink with one hand and removed her pyjama top with the other before gasping slightly.
"What's wrong?" the Doctor asked, immediately,
"Nothing," she replied, quietly, "Do I need to take off these bandages?"
"Yeah, here, I'll do it," he replied, standing behind her and beginning to unwrap them. He noticed that she kept her head down and her shoulders tense while he did it.
"What's wrong?" he asked, again, placing his hands gently on her shoulders.
They began to shake suddenly and Rose began to sob.
"Look at me," she cried, "I've got so many bruises!"
The Doctor glanced down at the dark purple patch around her ribs and the other bruises on her arms and chest. "They're fading. They were a lot worse last Saturday, don't worry,"
"How can you bear to look at me?" Rose whispered, following his eye line,
"'Cause I love you, Rose. And that's never gonna change just 'cause of a few bruises that will be gone soon. I love you 'cause of who you are, not what you look like," answered the Doctor. He put his hand under her chin and tilted her head back up to look in the large mirror in front of them. "Look."
Rose stared at their mirror image as the Doctor gently cuddled her. "This is all I want," he whispered, "Just you and me. The Doctor and Rose. Together forever,"
"Together forever," Rise repeated, melting back against his chest, "Thanks, Doctor,"
"You're welcome," he replied, understanding that she was referring to everything that he had done for her over the past few hours, days, months and even years. "Now, how about that bath?"
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Review please. Constructive criticism is gladly received
