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Rose shuffled into the Tardis galley, rubbing her cloudy, sleep-shrouded eyes with one hand as she reached blindly for the teapot. Her fingers closed over the handle. No wait. That was a hand, not a handle.
“Now Rose, where are your manners? Didn't your mum ever teach you not to snatch toys from the other children?”
Rose pulled her hand back like it had been shocked. “Oh my god, Doctor! Sorry. Still half asleep apparently.”
He grinned. “Have a seat, Ms. Tyler, I'll fix you a cuppa. Didn't expect to see you up so soon.” He reached into one of the copper cupboards above the counter and pulled out her favorite mug; one that he'd given her. It was plain white, but when it was filled with hot drink, the picture of a pink and yellow rose bloomed into view.
Rose slumped into one of the dining chairs with a yawn, chin resting in the cup of her palm. “How long was I asleep?”
“Just two hours, thirty-seven minutes, forty-two seconds.”
She yawned again. “God, no wonder I'm still so tired.”
The Doctor brought their teacups to the table and sat across from her. “So.” He clacked his teeth. “What's up?”
“Mm?” Rose slurred in puzzlement.
“Well, 's not like you to go on so little sleep.” He pushed her teacup towards her and she put her fingers around it, straightening up in her seat slightly and using her now free hand to bob the string of the teabag up and down.
“I had a really weird dream,” she said. “You know, one of those ones you can't shake unless you get up and have a cup of tea first.”
“Ah. I see.” The Doctor blew steam away from his cup and took a sip. “Care to spill? Er, the dream, that is, not the tea.”
Rose chuckled slightly, rolling her eyes. “It was really weird. I mean it was a nightmare really. You, me, and Mickey, we were on this spaceship. It was an abandoned spaceship. And there was this fireplace that you could see through, and a little girl lived inside. Only it turned out she was real. The fireplace, it was like a window into another time. And time moved more quickly there, because she grew up really fast.”
The Doctor grinned. “Look at you. You've been on the Tardis so long, you're having space dreams.”
Rose laughed. “Yeah, guess I am. Anyway, you went through the fireplace, and me and Mickey wandered off--”
“Blimey, you even wander off in your dreams! What is it with you humans!”
Rose frowned. “Doctor, do you want to hear my dream or not?”
He cringed. “Right. Sorry.” He scratched the back of his neck sheepishly.
“Anyway,” she said with emphasis, “We found the spaceship was being powered by all these human organs. We looked into little windows and saw hearts and eyeballs and stuff, all wired into the ship.”
The Doctor grimaced in distaste. “Well, that's rather...”
“Yeah, I know. Totally gross. Anyway, you ended up falling in love with this girl in the fireplace--”
“The little girl?” the Doctor yelped, face wrinkled in displeasure.
“No! No, I mean after she grew up. Remember, her timeline was moving faster than us.”
The Doctor shuddered. “Right.”
“So there were these weird clockwork robot things, and in order to save the girl—woman, sorry,” she amended with a roll of the eyes, “you had to break the connection to the ship. But the way you did it...” she trailed off, looking grim, finally emitting a sigh and taking a sip of her tea.
“What? What'd I do?”
She glanced sheepishly up at him. “You left. You broke the link to the ship, but you did it by trapping yourself in her world. You... you abandoned us. Me and Mickey and the Tardis.”
He stared at her aghast. “What? I would never!”
“Yeah, I mean that's what I thought... but it was so real." She sighed. "I had to get up after that.”
“Rose...” the Doctor reached out and put a hand over hers. “Really. I would never. That's a promise. Not for anyone... especially some random woman. Blimey! You don't really think...?”
“No! No, Doctor... I just... I mean, it was just a dream, but... that night... when I met Sarah Jane, and the things you said... I did wonder...”
“Rose!” He stood and scooted into the seat next to her, pulling her into a hug. “Never. Never ever.”
Rose leaned into him. “But Sarah Jane...”
“That was different.”
“How?” she asked, unable to keep the incredulity out of her voice.
The Doctor pulled back and looked into her eyes. “I'd been summoned back to Gallifrey. She couldn't come.”
“But you could have gone back.”
He shook his head. “No. I couldn't.”
“Why not?” Rose fought back tears.
He glanced at her grimly, then looked away. “It was the Time War, Rose. I... I wasn't the same man. I couldn't go back. I couldn't face her... Couldn't face anyone. Not after what I'd done.”
She stared wordlessly. His expression had turned so stern, so dark, she almost couldn't bear looking at him. She reached up and put a hand on his cheek.
He turned his gaze back to her, expression softening slightly. “Rose... I was lost. I never would have found my way back without you.”
“No, Doctor. You would have. The path was always there. You just needed a hand to guide you back, that's all. Could have been anybody.”
“No. I needed a hand, yes, but... I needed a light, too.” He pulled her back into his arms, resting his chin on her head. “A pink and yellow one,” he said with a smile in his voice.
She giggled. “Stop it, Doctor,” she chided.
“No, I mean it!” he said, releasing her from the hug. She sat up straighter, relieved to see he was smiling again. “Don't you see? You're my compass! How could I ever leave you behind?” He cringed. “Blimey, I'd be like Moses in the desert!”
Rose laughed, shoulder-bumping him. “All right, fine, guess I'm stuck with you.”
“Like gorilla glue!”
She laughed again, more softly this time. The tension she'd been feeling had melted away, leaving her more relaxed, and she couldn't help but yawn again, eyes feeling heavy.
“Come on, Rose,” he said, standing and pulling her to her feet. “You need the rest of your forty winks.”
“Hate to say it, but I think you're right.”
He pulled her shuffling form back to her room and pulled the covers back on the bed. She crawled in and settled down, but as he pulled the blankets back up, she squirmed in discomfort, feeling around beneath the blankets and finally pulling a book out from under her ribs. She chucked it lazily onto the foot of the bed and rolled over, falling asleep almost immediately.
The Doctor smiled faintly, reluctant to leave, looking down at his pink and yellow miracle sleeping peacefully. She deserved a nice long kip. Besides, Mickey was asleep, too. Best to keep everyone on the same schedule if their next adventure was to be anything worthwhile.
As he turned to go, he glanced down at the book. Madame de Pompadour by Nancy Mitford.
“A bit dull,” he muttered as he left the room.