Breaking Point

A Peek At The Past

The Doctor was suddenly awake, though not quite aware yet. The unwelcome confusion that filled his mind slowly dissipated as he took in his surroundings. He realized he was laying in Rose's bed, wrapped around her, holding her like she was a teddy bear. Her head was pillowed on his arm, which had started to go numb.

He slowly moved his arm out from under her, trying to keep her from waking up. He liked his arm, he needed his arm, which included the one part of himself that was still all Gallifreyan. When his arm was free, he moved his wrist around, trying to shake off the pins and needles feeling. This wrist that had a slight weakness in the dorsal tubercle, something his other self no longer had.

Rose moaned and wiggled, right against his hips. He scooted back a little. That was something he did not need her doing right now. He started counting to one million via happy primes. He thought of Jack, who had given him a bit of advice when they had seen him a couple of days ago. The man could be very helpful, even if his advice did come with laced with innuendo. Suddenly, he decided they should go visit Rose's family. That thought took care of the issue.

He watched Rose sleeping, her face calm, but her eyes moving under her closed eyelids. He thought about the events of the night before, the things he had learned. No one should ever have to make a choice like that. Why did the bad guys never listen?

The more he learned about her time over there, the more he hated himself for not doing more to try to get her back. Her time away was her crucible. They said that what didn't kill you made you stronger, but really, were three types of people to come out of such a thing. Those who break under the weight, those who are stronger for it, and those who wind up not being able to escape the pain.

He still didn't know what type he was.

Her breathing changed, she was waking up. A moment later, her eyes started to open, and she rolled onto her back. When she saw him, she froze, a confused look on her face, which quickly cleared to be replaced by a small smile.

"Good morning, sleepy head."

"Morning, Doctor." She lifted her head and looked around, getting her bearings before she got up. She went to her wardrobe, looking for an outfit to wear for that day.

He got up out of the bed and looked for his jacket. "So, sleep well?" he asked.

"Yes, I did. Thanks. And you?"

"Like a new human," he replied with a cheeky grin.

"Oh, wittle bebe Doctah."

"Oi, I'll have you know, that I'm also well north of a thousand!"

She stopped looking through her wardrobe and looked over at him with wide eyes. "Has it been that long since..."

"Oh, no, no it hasn't, just a couple years. Um, when I said 900, I meant 900ish years I've been roaming the universe. I just, um, didn't correct you, before."

"You lied about your age. The big, bad Time Lord lies about his age to make him sound younger!" She was laughing. "Just how old are you?"

"It's not-it's not to sound younger," he said indignantly. "And I don't really know, 1100, 1200? You know how things are in this life, I had lost track of how old I was back, oh, my third life I believe it was?"

She shook her head and went into her en-suite, but left the door open, indicating that they could still talk. He saw his jacket over by the door and picked it up, wondering how it got all the way over there.

He then went over to the open doorway and said, "I finished looking at the results of your scans. Went over them several times to be sure."

She froze and looked at him, toothbrush in her mouth. He tapped his head, and she rolled her eyes, then resumed brushing. He had been trying to teach her how to converse telepathically and normally at the same time, so that they could tell each other things silently without others noticing. He'd make her practice at various times that she thought was random, but really, he chose moments when they were under stress, or when she'd have a harder time doing it.