More than this

Part 1

  His hearts stopped when he realised what was going on in his home. The day had been a long and terribly draining one. Both for him and Rose. Him from facing his worst enemy and having to watch that Dalek threaten his Rose. And Rose from having to be threatened by the deadly alien and facing the Doctor's darkest side. He felt guilty for that. For her seeing the beast in him. For her seeing him so consumed by his rage and hate and destroying need to kill the thing responsible for his pain and loss, for his solitude. He had lost his control and almost gave in to the violence of another murder. If Rose hadn't stopped him, what would he have done after that? How would he have handled another murder, even if it was the murder of an enemy? The tight hug he had given Rose after that had let her seen how vulnerable he was. But no word had been spoken.
The Doctor had thought that tonight she might need a bit of comfort. Or maybe it was him who needed to be tacitly comforted by the blonde girl. He had just forgotten a tiny little detail: the pretty boy Rose had invited over in his... their home. A pretty boy he had let in because he couldn't refuse anything to the beautiful blonde he was falling for faster than it took him to pronounce Gallifrey. He couldn't remember the name. For all that mattered. Rose was jeopardy friendly, and pretty boy had been openly flirting with her. She had been flattered. A beautiful girl was always flattered when a handsome boy was finding interest in her. She had brought the predator on board and the Doctor had to forget about his growing jealousy toward the boy. At least, hide it inside down like the rest of his emotions. Because he could never allow himself to love someone as bright as Rose Tyler.
However, when he found himself facing the pretty boy pinning Rose to the wall of the corridor close to her room and kissing the delicate and pale skin of her neck and chest by force, the Doctor saw red. Rose was struggling against him and trying to push him away because she didn't want him to touch her but he was imprisoning her between the wall and him and trying to slip his hand under her clothes. And the Doctor saw something he had never seen before in Rose's body language: the panic caused by old demons coming back, the resignation to the situation. But if Rose was withdrawing, the Doctor certainly wasn't gonna let the guy have what he wanted. Pretty boy was gonna learn the hard way that no one was allowed to hurt Rose, and especially not under his nose, and even less in their home.
The Doctor walked to the abusive young man and put a hand on his shoulder. His grip was tight and harmful. He pulled the man away from Rose and when he looked at him angrily, he met two blue eyes glaring at him with such a cold rage that anyone would have run away from the Time Lord if they were the cause of it. He kept a tight grip on the man's shoulder and glanced at Rose. She was trembling and shaken, trying to pull herself back together. The panic hadn't left her, and that was enough for him. He didn't say a thing. He didn't hit the pretty boy. He just dragged him to the console room, his hand squeezing his shoulder so hard it would leave clear bruises. He avoided every attempt the man made to run away or punch him and kicked him out of the TARDIS which had gotten back to her latest destination.

"Don't you dare touching her ever again!" he roared to the pretty boy.

And then, he slammed the hub's door, abandoning him into Van Statten basement. He sent the TARDIS into the Vortex and walked back to Rose. She was curled up against the wall and silently crying. He gathered her in his arms and she immediately buried her face into the wool of his jumper and gripped his leather jacket as he brought her to the library. The TARDIS had understood well what he wanted. She had gotten the small private lounging ready and steaming cups of tea were waiting for them on the coffee table. The Doctor sat down on the couch and took Rose in his lap, holding her close to him. Once again, he kept silent, didn't ask her any questions. He just held her until she had nothing left to cry, until she actually fell asleep in his lap, her hands still tightly gripping his leather jacket.