Title: Relief From Dreams
Summary: He's dreaming about it.
Author's Notes: Sigh. Written this morning but everyone else got there first. Blast you, Sparks! ;-)
"See you, then, Doctor."
There's a pause, and he's terrified, absolutely terrified because she's about to die, for God's sake,and there's nothing he can do –
Except…
Wait.
He's lived through this, he's done it before and she survived, this is just a dream –
Then he hears that grating metallic voice, and that one word chills his blood. Then there's the sound of that raygun, but something is different, something is wrong because Rose just screamed and she didn't do that when this happened before…
"Rose?" he says quietly. "Oh, God, please be there, Rose…"
There's no answer…He sat up in his bed abruptly, sweating heavily and trembling. He pulled the covers off and stumbled out of the room and down the corridor to Rose's bedroom, throwing the door open…
At the sight of the lump beneath the sheets he breathed a sigh of relief.
The lumped stirred, and Rose's head appeared, squinting at him. "What is it? S'wrong?"
"Nothing." He loved saying that. "Nothing's wrong, everything's fine. Go back to sleep."
But she sat up. "You have a dream?"
For a moment it felt as if his hearts had stopped. How well she knows me. "Y-Yeah," he replied, more than a little embarrassed.
She shifted. "Get in."
He would have raised merry hell at this suggestion except that if he did get in, it would mean uninterrupted sleep for the rest of the night and the guarantee that if and when he did wake up, she'd be there. With him.
He ignored the feelings that stirred within him at that thought.
Slowly, he climbed into the bed, under the covers.
"You're all sweaty," Rose mumbled, curling up right next to him. "Dream about a Dalek?"
"Yeah." And you.
She sighed. He felt the movement against his chest. "Dead now, though. Where we going tomorrow?"
"Dunno." He wrapped an arm around her. "Somewhere quiet, though. Don't fancy having to do more running for a while, and anyway, we've got our second passenger to think about now." He glanced down at Rose. Her eyes were glinting slyly at him. "And don't think I didn't notice how well you two got along. I don't want any hanky panky, is that clear?"
She grinned. "Course."
He was going to have a little talk with Adam anyway, naturally, but for the time being he let himself enjoy the warmth of Rose's grin.
A little while later, as they were drifting off, she murmured, "Can't get rid of me."
In a split second he was back in that room, feeling it all over again – the fear, the anger, the sheer blinding relief, and the love, oh, so much love…
Then Rose shifted and he was in her bedroom, in her bed once more. "I thought you were dead," he whispered.
"I know. But I'm not." She found his hand and squeezed it.
He squeezed back.