The Assassin of Madness

Chapter 17

The Doctor, as a rule, usually didn't panic.  But as Rose drifted off to sleep with her words still ringing in his head, he found himself doing just that.  She'd read Gallifreyan.  Without even thinking about it.  He shook his head and looked at the map that she'd shown him.  Regardless of how she'd found it, it was what he'd been looking for.

It was a very detailed three-dimensional map of the Emperor's palace.  The Doctor started where they'd entered the ballroom, trying not to think too hard about Rose's solid and comforting weight against him.  She kept rubbing her cheek on his chest in her sleep, and it was one hundred percent distracting. 

The palace was massive, and he wasn't sure how he was going to figure out how to navigate into the Emperor's lower quarters.  They'd been there once before, but it had been a trek to get there, he remembered.  And all the hallways looked the same.  He slammed his head back on his pillow, or rather, Rose's pillow, and sighed heavily.  

Rose said he should give up the 'pacifist's way out'.  He was starting to think she might be right.  How could they come up against someone so big?  He was a ruler, had thousands of people, maybe more, if he was underestimating, behind him.  It appeared him being the last Time Lord didn't matter here.  He was used to people bending to his will simply because of that, and it wouldn't work here.  Lifting his head, but refusing to release Rose in any way, he went back to his virtual self-led tour.  He wasn't finding anything and he resisted the urge to groan in frustration.  At this point, he was considering throwing his tiny computer away and curling around Rose to bathe in the comfort she gave him. 

She was giving him comfort anyway, he supposed, with her arm around his waist and her head on his chest.  He pressed on in his research, for her, mostly, because he wanted to find another way out, didn't want another life on her hands, or his, even.  That didn't stop him from pressing a fleeting kiss to her hair, where she would never feel it and never know it happened.

Of course, he also wanted to kiss her properly.  A lot.  And he almost had, had wanted to, back in their cell.  Oh, he'd wanted to kiss her, and was certain that she would've allowed it.  If he'd just given in, pulled her sweet lips to his...

He cleared his throat, forcing that train of thought to derail and throw itself off a cliff.  It was inappropriate for him to think of her in that way, no matter how often he seemed to forget that and thought about her that way anyway.  Especially now, when she was curled up around him, placing her trust in him to protect her in her sleep.

She shifted in her sleep, running her sock clad foot up his leg.  His eyes slammed shut as he tried to focus.  Even in her sleep, she was a complete tease.  He continued to scroll around, focusing but still getting lost in the stark white corridors of the Emperor's palace.  That was, he focused until Rose grunted in her sleep.  He wondered if she would notice if he put himself in a small coma to get through the next hour or so.

********

The TARDIS was simultaneously keeping her eye on the Doctor and Rose in Rose's bedroom and Jack,seeing what they were coming up with.  Jack was running around, being very gentle with the console but he was pressing buttons.  He knew which ones would take them into flight, thankfully, and didn't use any that would harm them.  The TARIDS made sure of that more than he did, however.  

Jack was panicked, mostly because he knew that despite the Doctor's best intentions, he probably wasn't doing what he thought he was supposed to be doing.  Knowing them, they were probably talking each other up, reminiscing and generally not doing anything helpful.

They were probably making those besotted faces at each other that neither thought the other made, too.

"Come on, old girl, help me out," Jack murmured, patting the console.  The TARDIS hummed soothingly in his head, sort of letting him know that she really didn't know what to do in this case.  Truth be told, it was a new situation for her as well.  Daleks she could handle.  Crazed Emperors who wanted her Thief, Wolf, and Time Agent?  Now, that was another matter entirely.  At this point she was considering locking them in to keep them safe.