TenRose One Shots

Cuddling

Explosions, everywhere.

Everywhere, over the entire surface of Gallifrey, Daleks flew through the sky, shouting, "Exterminate! Exterminate!" The Doctor aimed at the dalek over his head, at the eyestalk. He fired and the dalek spiralled out of control, falling to the ground. Behind him, three children and a woman fought off six daleks.

They were out of ammunition. They threw their guns aside. The woman looked to the Doctor, mouthing, 'I love you. And I'm sorry.' The daleks shouted that one, menacing word, and in a flash, the woman and the children lay dead on the ground.

"Nooooooo!" the Doctor shouted.

He woke up, sweating and panting, in his bedroom in the TARDIS. Next to him, Rose rolled over and sat up groggily.

"Doctor? What's wrong?" she questioned, flicking on the light.

"Nothing," he mumbled, leaning back on his pillow. "Just a nightmare."

"What about?" Rose asked.

"Nothing."

"It's not nothing," she said, laying her head on his chest. "You're all sweaty. Come on, tell me."

The Doctor squeezed his eyes shut and a warm tear slid out. He pulled in a breath, a deep, shuddery breath.

"It was about...the Time War. Between us and the Daleks. And it...it...."

There was this big knot in his throat and the tears were burning at the corners of his eyes.

"I couldn't stop it. I couldn't save them. It's all my fault. I killed them," the Doctor wept, covering his face with his hands.

"Shh, shh," Rose comforted, smoothing his hair and running her fingers through it. "It wasn't your fault, it wasn't you. It's okay. Shh."

She kept whispering sweet nothings to him until his shoulders stopped shaking. The Doctor wiped his face and sighed shakily. Rose had her arms around him and she was rocking slowly. She had her face in his hair.

"You okay?" she asked, rubbing his arm slowly.

"Yeah, it was just a nightmare."

"You wanna...tell me what it was about?"

The Doctor leaned his head on her shoulder and calmed himself down. He closed his eyes and the image from the dream came back. His wife and children.

"I was...fighting a dalek. Once I disposed of it, I turned around to look at...."

"Look at who?"

"My family," he answered, his eyes brimming again. "I looked at them, and they were surrounded by daleks, on every side. Their weapons weren't working. The daleks...the daleks murdered them. They killed my family."

The Doctor was crying on Rose's shoulder and she was rocking him and whispering.

"It wasn't your fault, don't blame yourself. There was nothing you could've done."

The Doctor sniffled and wiped his nose. "You're right. You're always right, Rose."

"Hey," Rose said, looking him in the eyes. "I love you, you know."

The Doctor smiled a watery smile. "I love you too."

The Doctor closed his eyes and fell asleep cuddled up to Rose, his flower. Rose turned the light off and hummed lightly until they were both fast asleep.