The Assassin of Madness

Chapter 5

When Rose returned, she was wearing the outfit he'd suggested, his t-shirt and the silken shorts from the wardrobe.  She was a bit uncomfortable, but knew she looked good in the ensemble.  It looked like her legs went on for miles.  She ruffled her own hair and walked to the other side of the bed, but got distracted staring out the window.

"What?" The Doctor asked curiously, craning his neck to try to see what she was looking at.

"All the lights," she whispered, almost touching the glass but thinking better of it.  "Don't you think?"

He hummed and leaned back on the pillows again.  "They're soft, not like the lights in London or other cities in the 21st Century.  Everyone loves the stars around here."

At his words, Rose tilted her chin up to look into the sky through the window.  "That's beautiful," she whispered, awestruck.  

"I could make us a star-roof," the Doctor suggested, almost shyly, "With the sonic, if you wanted to look, still."

"Won't we get in trouble?" She asked him.

The Doctor shook his head.  "No, not at all, as long as we put it all back before morning," he said.  He held out an arm for her.  "Come on."

She grinned at him and got under the covers quickly, cuddling into his side.  "Okay, go for it," she said excitedly.

He almost laughed at her excitement, but bit his lip to keep from doing so.  He picked up the sonic from where he'd set it on the bedside table and adjusted the settings before aiming it at the high ceiling of the room. 

Seemingly at his command, the ceiling pulled back, baring the sky to their view.  The Doctor almost regretted that he couldn't create glass, because the night breeze was coming right down onto them.  Rose moved to lay down and the second he followed she cuddled up next to him, a hand over one of his hearts.  

Alright, so maybe the cool breeze wasn't so bad.

He pulled the blankets up over both of them and tilted his head so he could murmur in her ear.  "They used to worship stars, in this area especially.  They said that something that bright had to be a deity, so they might as well treat it as such.  And so, they did that, but the stars never answered their prayers or helped them with anything, so they gave up."

"Oh, ye of little faith," she murmured into his chest.

He chuckled, "Yes, well, many beings are like that.  They just want to be proved right."

"Do people worship the stars because of you?" She asked softly.

Whether she realized it or not it was a loaded question.  He could tell her that yes, people did worship the stars because of him, and him alone, or he could tell her the truth.  When she was this close, cuddled up with him and treating him like he wasn't a genocidal monster, it was hard to refuse her anything.  He decided he needed to tell her what he knew, about both of them.

"I get scans from the TARDIS sometimes, when I ask," he began, "About certain planets and what they believe and what they're up to."  He inhaled slowly, "Do you remember Tri'oli?"

"Yes," Rose replied, "We were there a couple months ago."

"We were," he agreed, "They now worship a goddess of golden hair and light laugh."

She moved her head from his chest to stare down into his face.  "What, really?" 

He smiled and nodded.  "Yes, they believe we came from the heavens, and that made them want to worship us.  But clearly, they took a shining to you."

"But you were with me," Rose said, "Didn't they think you were a god."

"They thought I was the goddess's consort," he replied dryly.

She snorted and laid her head back on his chest.  "Maybe we should visit there again someday, check up on them."

Before he could stop himself, he ran his fingers up into her hair.  "Maybe we will," he told her, which she knew meant "We'll definitely go, now that someone said something."

They lay in silence, watching the stars twinkling merrily at them.  Rose curled up tighter around him, and the Doctor thought the she really didn't understand what that was doing to him.

"You can sleep if you want," he told her.

"I like the stars," she mumbled.  "Are we going to explore tomorrow?" She asked.

"I would expect so," he replied, "The Emperor seemed to take a shining to you."

"Both of us," she corrected.

He hummed noncommittally.  She snorted and seemed to drop the subject before she spoke again.

"You know, you don't have to be jealous."

"I'm not jealous, Rose Tyler, I'm very far above that, with being a superior being and all," he said, causing her to giggle.

"You know, it's okay if you are, even if you don't say it.  Makes a girl feel valuable or something, I dunno," she lifted a shoulder and mumbled something else.

"What was that?" He asked her playfully, trying to get off of the subject of him being jealous, because he certainly wasn't about to tell her that he was.  Her ego didn't really need stroking at all.

She turned her face firmly into his chest, "Nothing," She said, her voice muffled by his shirt.

"Really?" He tickled her side with his free hand and she laughed, trying to squirm away from him, but his grip on her was too tight.  "Tell me and I'll stop."

"Okay, okay!" She gasped breathlessly, still giggling when he removed his fingers from her ribs.  "I said it's okay for you to get jealous because... Well, because sometimes I get jealous too."

"Do you?"

"You know... Friend jealous," she said awkwardly.  

He pressed a nearly imperceptable kiss to her hairline.  "Friend jealous," he repeated, and she relaxed into him.

"Leave the skylight open till morning," she mumbled, starting to drop off.

"Yes, ma'am," he replied. 

Maybe them sharing a bed hadn't been a good idea after all.  He'd been tempted at least six times before getting into bed with her, and he knew that it wasn't like her being asleep would make it any... Less.

He liked holding her, probably much more than he should.  If Rassilon had seen him in this situation with a human, he'd be more disgraced than he had already been.  As if responding to his own thoughts, he tucked Rose even closer against him, so she was almost on top of him.  She responded to it positively, squeezing him around the waist, letting him know she was still awake. 

"Go to bed," he chuckled, squeezing her around the shoulders.

"I am in bed, if you'd noticed," she said smartly.  "Is there something wrong?  I can hear your brain working from here."

"Rose, my brain is much too efficient for you to hear.  Like a credit stick being loaded, that's what my brain sounds like.  Almost completely silent!"

"And what's mine?" Rose asked, "A hair dryer running?" 

He laughed.  "I couldn't tell you, Rose, I'v never heard you think."

He heard her let out a soft huff of laughter right before she yawned, trying and failing to hide the action from him.

"Go to sleep, Rose, you'll want rest if we're going to explore in the morning."

"Yeah... Yeah, you're probably right."

When her breathing had evened out and he knew she was asleep, he thought it might be best if he shut the the skylight, just so she didn't catch cold.  He used the sonic to close it back up and pulled the covers higher around her before letting himself drop off to sleep.