Revenge of a Time Lord

Chapter 37

Rose woke up after a terrible nightmare. Again. She had nightmares about the Doctor turning against her. She trusted him, but apparently she was still scared that he would do something bad again. Rose told herself that it had been just a dream, that she was safe with the Doctor, that he wouldn't hurt her anymore. But still, she couldn't calm down completely.

Then she suddenly realized where she was. She was not in her own bed, but in the Doctor's. But the Doctor wasn't there, at least not anymore. He had probably tucked her in bed. She was even wearing a t-shirt that was way too large for her. Rose smiled at the thought that the Doctor had cared about her so much, that he had made sure she wouldn't get cold.

But when the door opened, Rose screamed, her nightmare coming back. The Doctor entered his room, fully dressed, with the knife he had used before in his hand. The blood was still on it, it was dry, but it was still there.

Rose shrank away from him. She had to be dreaming. This was still her nightmare. He was coming for her. He was going to hurt her. When he came closer, Rose screamed even louder. She was completely oblivious of the genuinely concerned look on the Doctor's face when he approached her, her eyes were fixed on the silver weapon in his hand.

'GO AWAY! DON'T HURT ME, PLEASE!' Rose screamed frantically.

'Rose! Calm down! What's wrong?' the Doctor asked worriedly, dropping the knife and hurrying over to Rose, who flinched at his sudden movement. 'Tell me what's wrong and I will help you!'

The fact that he had dropped the knife brought Rose back to reality again. He didn't come to hurt her, he was worried about her. He had taken care of her while she was sleeping.

'I'm sorry,' Rose trembled, 'I was just overreacting... I am sorry, Doctor...'

'No, don't be sorry, tell me what's wrong. Why did you think I was going to hurt you?'

'That knife...'

'I just wanted to put the knife away, so we would never have to look at it again. Is that the reason why you were so frightened?' the Doctor asked, gently cupping Rose's chin so she had to look him in the eyes.

Rose nodded.

'Tell me the truth,' the Doctor demanded. 'There is something else.'

Now Rose shook her head. She hated to lie to the Doctor, but she had no choice. She couldn't just tell him that she had a nightmare about him. He would think that she hated him. And that wasn't true.

'Do I have to enter your mind again to find out?' the Doctor asked sternly and Rose knew that he wouldn't go away before she had told him what was wrong.

'I- I will tell you, if... you promise me that you will not take it personally. I love you, nothing can change that, okay?' Rose said, still shaking a bit.

The Doctor wrapped his arms firmly around her, trying to make her stop shaking. He wanted to make her feel safer.

'I promise... Please tell me,' the Doctor whispered soothingly.

'I had a nightmare,' Rose told him softly.

'About me?' the Doctor was now truly worried. Even more than he already was. She had told him about having nightmares about him before, and now he knew that she was still having them.

Rose only nodded.

'What did I do in your nightmare?'

'You had that knife... and you wanted to... hurt me. I ran away, but you were chasing me. I wasn't fast enough and you grabbed me. Then I woke up, panicking. Until I realised that I was safe, that it had been just a bad dream and then I noticed how I was lying in your bed. I saw how nice you have been to me and then I remembered you didn't want to hurt me. Until you came in with that knife again, my eyes were fixed on that thing, not on you, and I guess I started panicking again,' Rose said. 'I am such a baby, don't worry about it, I will get over it.'