Reign of the World

Chapter 18

Rose awoke before nightfall to the unnerving feeling of being stared at.  She blinked her eyes open slowly, aware of an arm thrown around her waist and someone spooned up behind her.  Realizing it was the Doctor, she cuddled farther back into him and felt his breath against her neck. 

She blinked again, her eyes fully open, and saw Tiffany staring at her, which was probably where the feeling had come from.  She raised an eyebrow in query and saw Tiffany furrow her own brows. 

"He would've come to me," she said, her voice barely filtering over to Rose with how quiet her tone was. 

Rose blinked in surprise and turned her head to see the Doctor nuzzling at her neck.  "I don't think so, actually," she whispered as he cuddled farther up against her back. 

"I think we can both agree that I'm the more...  Suitable of the two of us for him," Tiffany responded, a smug edge in her voice. 

"You don't know him," Rose protested.

"And you do?"

Rose nodded once, careful not to dislodge the Doctor from her.  "I've known him for two years.  I don't think you'd be able to carry what he does, Tiffany.  He's not just a gorgeous face, alright?"

The Doctor shifted behind her then, grunting softly in his half-asleep state.  He nosed her hair away from her neck and kissed her there slowly, reverently.  Rose diverted her gaze from Tiffany, not wanting that moment to involve her at all. 

He pressed a final kiss under her jawbone.  "I heard your voice," he whispered, his voice gravelly.  "Go back to sleep, we've got two hours till nightfall."

She turned her head up to him.  "Okay.  Sorry I woke you."

He smiled sleepily down at her.  "It's alright."  he kissed her on the lips and then cuddled back behind her, in his proper spot, Rose thought. 

"You drove us together, in a way," Rose said, barely above a whisper.  "So don't blame me for anything that's happened."

Tiffany's eyes snapped with anger, but she didn't reply to Rose.  Instead, she screwed her eyes shut and burrowed deeper under the covers. 

Rose pulled the Doctor's arm more securely around her, and he responded by humming in the back of his throat.  He moved up to press silent kisses on her face.  She squirmed and shushed him.  "Two hours till nightfall, remember?"

He nuzzled her neck and settled in, and she fell asleep comfortably in his arms. 

If there was one thing they were lucky for, it was that the Doctor had an internal time clock.  He woke up a few moments before sundown.  He shook Rose's shoulder gently until she awoke, blinking slowly up at him.

"Morning," She grinned at him.

"Evening, actually," he returned her smile and the both of them got out of the bed, both silently hoping that the rustling noises they were making would be enough to wake their travelling companions up.  Mr. Kelly neither of them minded, of course, he was just along for the ride.  It was Tiffany nobody wanted to go within ten feet of.

Rose pulled on her shoes and then watched the Doctor put on the rest of his clothes.  He watched her staring and arched an eyebrow.  "Enjoying the show?" He asked quietly as she shamelessly eyed him over.

She flashed him a dazzling grin.  "Absolutely."

He tightened his tie and winked at her.  "Shall we recap our plan?" He asked, sitting down next to her where she was perched on the bed.

"We sneak up to the cockpit, find a window, plunge the ship into the ocean and swim to safety," Rose recited smoothly.

The Doctor nodded.  "Basically, yes."

"Well, you ramble," Rose lifted a shoulder, "I give the abridged version of whatever you're trying to say."

The Doctor opened his mouth as if to protest, but then shut it and stood, looking on thoughtfully.  "Alright, I suppose you're right."

Mr. Kelly sat up then, looking at them groggily.  "Time to go?" he asked quietly.

Rose and the Doctor both nodded vigorously, neither of them wanting to be the one that had to wake Tiffany.  It didn't look like Mr. Kelly wanted to either, though, as his face fell reluctantly and he shook Tiffany's shoulder.  She started awake and sat up, still looking angry from the night before.  Rose wondered if she'd ever let it go. 

They rustled themselves together and pushed one of the beds back into the other cell before the Doctor started working on sonicing the door to their cell open.  Rose kept an eye out for Daleks, but there didn't seem to be any patrolling the area, and she supposed that maybe the Doctor was telling the truth, that the Daleks did sleep.  Or at least recharge over the night.  It was certainly something. 

The Doctor busted the lock open, making a hushed cry of excitement and grabbing Rose by the hand, pulling her out after him.  They rushed along the hallways, but after a while they all looked the same to Rose and she was starting to wonder if even the Doctor knew where he was going.

He had pretty good time sense, but she knew from experience that the man did not have a very good sense of direction, in time or space.  She tried to remain optimistic though, because she really did believe in him, and she always had.

After about seven hallways that were nearly identical, she started to grow worried.  She didn't know if they'd ever find the cockpit, or even anywhere on the way to the cockpit.

The Doctor turned a corner so harshly that Rose, Mr. Kelly, and Tiffany all smacked into a wall.  He'd rounded them to a stairwell, and immediately started pulling Rose up said stairs.  She nearly tripped on her trainers on the way up, and was glad that the Doctor at least had a grip on her hand. 

Tiffany and Mr. Kelly were struggling to keep up, she could tell, but they really were doing their best.  It was close enough, after all.

The Doctor brought them all to a halt in front of a big metal door that the TARDIS translated for the Doctor and Rose, even from back on the shore of New New York.

"Ah," The Doctor smiled, looking satisfied.  He looked at Rose and waggled his eyebrows.  "The cockpit!"