Rose's expression matches the Doctor's as she stares at the piece of rice in his fingers.
"Has…has this ever happened before?"
"No."
"Is it the first time you've thought about that particular dream?"
"No. I've been having the same dream for months, but this never happened whenever I thought about it. I didn't just vanish every time I woke up…"
"Okay…has it happened with any other dream you've had?"
"No. Look, what's going on? I'm scared here!" And she looks it, the Doctor notes. Not surprising, really, but he can't do anything until he knows the details.
"You have a dream. You think about the dream, then you're in it. Right, we're going to try something." He takes her hand, throwing the grain of rice onto the table. "You okay with this?" She nods. Anything to get answers. "Think about a dream you've had. The weirdest dream you've ever had, and visualise yourself in that dream as well as you can."
Nothing happens, and she's wondering what in the world he's taken. "What does this have to do with it?"
"Hmmm…" The Doctor doesn't answer, but sits in silence, wearing a thoughtful expression. "Next try! Close your eyes again, and this time, visualise yourself in London. We're standing by Big Ben. London, 1877 just to be careful. Really-"
Rose screams.
The Doctor joins in as they find themselves in a tangled mess of arms and legs on something cold. Cautiously, he opens his eyes and looks at the surroundings, eyes wide. "Rose?" She's refusing to open her eyes.
"Erm…Rose? You might want to take a look at this…"
She opens her eyes slowly, staring round, terrified. There's a stain on her white top from where they've landed in a puddle, and she's shivering from the cold of both the night air and the water. "What happened? What did I do?"
The Doctor leaps up; pulling Rose with him, and pulls out the screwdriver to scan her. "Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!" She can't decide whether he looks shocked or over the moon.
"What? Tell me!!"
"Vortex…TARDIS. TARDIS! Oh, brilliant! You brilliant girl! And you-" He throws his arms round Rose and kisses her. "You are amazing! How you're even keeping it all in that head of yours is beyond me, but…wow!"
"DOCTOR! WHAT HAPPENED?!"
"On the beach, she said goodbye, right? Through you. And she told me I wouldn't be stuck in the same place forever, and you said she said to look after me, and…"
"Doctor, you're babbling."
"Sorry," he grins. "But…wow! Do you have a headache?"
"What? No! Talk sense!"
"Remember any pain when she spoke through you?"
" I don't remember the speaking. But…whoa. Crap. Crappy crap crap. It hurt like hell before. Like it did when…oh, God, not again!"
"Yeah, again. Except this time, for some reason, you can handle it. No idea why. She's given you the vortex. Well, a piece of it, 'cause you can handle it now. Is that possible, a piece of it? Oh, I don't know, don't care either. And you know what you've just done, don't you?"
Rose looks around, realisation dawning. "1877…" she whispers, gaze returning to the Doctor, a smile slowly appearing on her face despite it all. "Which means-"
"-That
whatever dream you found yourself in, it wasn't a dream. You took
yourself into your future." He winks, as if he knows something he
shouldn't. Rose blushes, and he winks again, tauntingly. "Rice in
your hair."
Rose's face turns even redder.
"Rice. Rice, rice, rice…" he continues in a sing-song voice, turning Rose from embarrassed, to embarrassed and very annoyed. "So, now all we've got to do is get back," he announces, suddenly changing the subject. He waves at a man passing by in the dark street, and then turns back to her. "Without getting anything in your hair this time."
"DOCTOR!"
