What It Is And Isn't

Chapter 12

He took her home then, to the TARDIS, where she had wanted to be since they'd shown up in this godforsaken place.  He should have listened to her, he lamented as he carried her out of the forest.  People tried to approach him, for, aside from Phillip, there wasn't really anyone that had 'survived' capture when it came to the Rake. 
Gren ran up and blocked the door to the TARDIS.  The Doctor quirked an eyebrow up at him, daring him to say something, daring him to say that he could not enter his own home.  He watched Gren swallow hard and look at the girl, curled up in his arm, either unconscious or asleep.
"Get out of my way," the Doctor said through gritted teeth, his eyes snapping.  There was no one that would not cower in the face of the Oncoming Storm.  Well, except for Rose, perhaps. After all, she had seen it, and she had stayed. But Gren did not stand a chance, and the Doctor was going to make sure of it.
"No," Gren replied unsteadily, "You said you would both stay in a room. Here."
"For God's sake, we're not going to leave the planet!" The Doctor shouted.  Rose turned her face into his collar, her eyes fluttering open.  He hadn't meant to wake her. Her head probably ached from something being inside it, he realized, and he cringed with the realization. He lowered his voice and began again. "I don't know if you've noticed, Gren, but something quite horrible has just happened to Rose. I should look her over in the med bay in my ship.  Do you understand me?"
"We have plenty of serviceable hospitals here," Gren protested, "They are updated and Rose would be quite safe-"
The Doctor snapped.  "Rose will be safest in her own home.  And you are not going to stop me.  Now.  Move."
He pushed Gren out of the way.  The other man was standing there quite half heartedly of course, and it was not hard for the Doctor to move him.  He slipped into the ship, which hummed in worry.  Rose pointed at her ankle, removing her hand from him to do so.
"Can you fix that?"  She asked.
"Of course."
"Okay.  Doctor?"
"Yes?"
"I'm not useless."
"I know," he said, "Why would you think that you're useless, Rose?"
"I couldn't escape, or get out by myself."
"Aside from Cassandra, Rose, you've never dealt with mental warfare.  It was natural for you to be afraid after something like that happened to you, and it's probably best that you were.  The TARDIS could only protect your mind for so long."
She blew out a sigh. "I don't need to be saved."
"You've saved me so many times, Rose."
She laughed a little as he carried her to the med bay.  Once he'd gotten her into the room he set her on the bed.  She shifted so that she was facing him, her feet dangling off the edge as she waited for him to run whatever tests he was planning to run. 
He offered her a smile and she tugged him to her, wrapping her arms around his neck.  He gave into her touch, holding her tenderly, afraid if he squeezed too hard she would get scared again. 
"Can it get me in here?" She asked on a whisper.  "Will it kill me?"
"The TARDIS can protect you better in here than it could when you were in the woods."  He said, pulling back to look at her.  Her eyes were completely focused, there was no sign of an internal concussion.  He pushed her hair back from her face.  "I have to set up a tube on you to keep track of a couple things in your system, and then I'm going to do a test on your brain. Alright?"
She nodded.  "That's alright." 
He pushed off the table and resisted the urge to touch her more, to pull her back into an embrace that she would have trouble getting out of.  He thought he'd lost her.  This was worse than most.  She had been just out of his grip, taken by something he could nto even pretend to understand.  That was not something they were used to.
Though Rose was closed off, there was no sign that there was damage to her brain.  She continued to kick her feet, her hands now shoved under her thighs as though she was trying not to reach out and touch him as well.

He wished she would, in a way. Wished she'd be the one to breach the gap. But she wouldn't because he had already set up the rules, made her keep her distance. She knew the guidelines of what was alright, and he was going to have to keep it that way because that was the way it had always been. That made it safe. That made it okay to hug and it made it okay for him to kiss her forehead and her to kiss his cheek. The moment things passed that it would be complicated and he did not want anything with her to be complicated. Because she was too important to him.