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"Rose… I need you to stay absolutely, perfectly, completely still.”
Rose froze as her foot came down on a fallen log. Every muscle tensed as she tried not to even breathe too heavily.
“What??” She hissed through clenched teeth, “did I step on something?”
The Doctor came back towards her, picking his way over the trail with exaggerated caution as if trying not to disturb a single root. They were on their way back to the TARDIS after a mercifully uneventful visit to a tiny planet called Shine Vella. The forest here was much like an Amazonian jungle, except that the primary colour surrounding them was red. Bright red leaves hanging from deep crimson trees, growing from rust colored soil.
“It's alright. I'm going to come help you. You must have stepped through a mosvite nest. Right now they're just exploring you,” Rose tensed even further; being unable to see the creatures made it much worse, “It's alright, it's alright! We just don't want them getting excited and biting you.”
“And if they do? Doctor!?”
“Shhhh, don't worry, I won't let that happen,” he said, coming up close and reaching for her head. He put a hand on her shoulder to keep her still, and Rose felt him pull something from her hair, toss it aside, then go for another. “Mosvites are venomous, it won't kill you, but it can cause paralysis, and by the time I could mix an antidote it will have set in permanently.”
“Well don't touch them, what about you!”
“I'm immune, but that also means they aren't attracted to me. I hadn't thought about the possibility of a human drawing them. Almost done. You can move your arms as long as you don't jostle.”
Rose lowered her arms, which she'd been holding awkwardly out to the sides. She was still balanced precariously, half on the log, and in an attempt to anchor herself she grabbed the pockets of the Doctor's blaser in front of her. He stepped a little closer to make it easier.
“Alright. There! All gone. See?”
He brought his hand in front of her face, holding a small, fuzzy orange thing about the size of a cotton ball. It was glowing faintly.
“It's alright, you can take a look. They can't move on their own.”
Rose breathed a sigh of relief and leaned in to examine the thing more closely. The Doctor let out a sudden puff of breath, and the mosvite exploded like a dandelion, tiny bits of glowing fluff flying into Rose's face. She shrieked and backed away, flapping her hands at her nose. It was a second before she realized the Doctor was cackling.
“I'm sorry, I couldn't resist! Mosvites are harmless, no more dangerous than butterflies.”
“Doctor!” Rose hurled herself at him, smacking his arm several times with both hands. The Doctor laughed harder, and grabbed her wrists, twisting her around until he held her from behind with her arms pinned across her body.
“I'm gonna kill you for that!” She laughed, making a show of trying to get free, though truthfully she didn't particularly mind being in this position.
“Aww, no you won't,” the Doctor said, squeezing her tight with his chin on her shoulder, “You love my antics.”
Rose growled at him, but squirmed inwardly, grateful he wasn't watching her face at that particular word choice. The Doctor began marching them onwards, stepping in unison with her as if she were a ragdoll. Rose kept up a vocal and thoroughly facetious protest as they approached the TARDIS door.
“This is a cruel and blatant abuse of your Time Lord knowledge. There are limits, Doctor, and even I may snap one day.”
“Oh yeah?” He teased, “I'd like to see that.” He gave her one last squeeze before releasing her and letting them into the TARDIS. Rose followed after him, biting her lips around an enormous grin.