lostwolf | Evolution of the Wolf

Chapter 1, Chapter 2

Chapter 3. Seek and Hide

Outside the kitchen Rose concentrated her mind and reached out in search of the Doctor. She bit her lip in furious concentration, honing the link, seeking and suddenly there he was. He was in one of the gardens. For a moment she could see silver leafed trees and red roses before her head pounded and she was forced to reduce the intensity of the connection. She refocused her attention on the more easily sustained filament that wafted invisibly in the air, linking her mind to his. Following where it led, she trotted off down the corridor, careful to keep his full mug of tea from spilling.

‘Tea’s up,’ she announced with artificial cheer as she emerged into the garden room. The Doctor turned and huffed at her;

‘No hiding from you these days, is there?’

‘You were hiding?’

He looked at her self-consciously, rubbing a hand at the base of his neck. ‘Of course not, just observing, that’s all. Getting better with the old telepathic skills, aren’t you? Practice makes perfect; glad to see you’ve been listening to me, at least about that. Not that you don’t always listen, what with having ears and everything, but it’s not often you really listen, is it?’ He tilted his head to one side, scratching his ear meditatively;

‘Interesting things, ears. Did you know there’s a species of humanoids on Kelsory Prime that never evolved ears? They hear – um, can’t really say hear, can I? Well, obviously, I can say hear, but what I mean is, I can’t say it about them – hear being derived from ear. Rude, using a word …’

‘Doctor. Babbling.’ Rose thrust his mug of tea at him, cutting short his nervous monologue.

‘Uh, right. Sorry. Must stop doing that. Note to self: don’t babble. Babble. Interesting word, that. Babble.’ He flexed his lips around the word, blowing out vigorously on the ‘b’. ‘Quite right of you to draw attention to it. Not sure I can, though. Stop babbling. Do try, but so much going on up here and…’

‘Doctor!’

The Doctor fell silent and, to stop his mouth, took a quick gulp of tea, which promptly went down the wrong way. Eyes streaming, he coughed desperately, as Rose thumped his back.

‘God, you’re such a child sometimes, you know. You alright, now?’ The Doctor nodded glumly and took another, more cautious, sip from his mug, noting once again how far the mighty Time Lords had fallen in him, their last representative.

Rose sipped her own tea and waited for him to speak.

‘You okay?’

Rose nodded, ‘Just bruised, nothing to worry about.’

‘You sure?’

Rose huffed.

‘Okay, okay, you’re sure. I just worry about you, Rose. I can’t help it. I worry. You make me worry.’ He let a hand drift towards her, touching her arm gently, then more boldly when she didn’t pull away. He reached out and took her mug from her, placing it and his own on the ground by his feet. Moving in front of her he rested his hands gently on her upper arms, running them down to her hands and then back up again until they rested against her shoulders.

‘You scared me, Rose. I saw you falling in front of that creature and I thought you were going to be crushed,’ he shuddered and pulled her tight against him, pressing gentle kisses against her hair. Rose leant into him for a moment, letting her hands drift to the small of his back, inhaling his particular honey accented scent. For those brief moments her heart felt lighter, the weight she seemed to carry permanently these days momentarily forgotten. Then a hand was tipping her chin up and the Doctor was lowering his lips to hers and something clamped around her heart. Suddenly rigid, she pushed away from him, turning, bending to pick up their discarded mugs and in one fluid motion at the door.

‘Better get these washed,’ she announced, rushing from the room and leaving a flummoxed Doctor alone once more.

I thought she wanted me. He muttered to the TARDIS. His old friend, however, was no help whatsoever; she was, it seemed, as confused as him by Rose’s behaviour.

*******************

Rose hurried down the corridor, back towards the kitchen. It was deserted once more, a fact for which she was supremely grateful. Dumping the mugs in the dishwasher she retreated to her bedroom, closing the door firmly against the day. Her room was a mess, clothes and shoes in disarray. She considered, briefly, tidying but her head was pounding after the bout of telepathy and the edges of her vision shimmered with the beginnings of a migraine.

She stood in the middle of the room for a moment before surrendering to fatigue. Collapsing onto her bed, she grabbed a pillow, hugging it to her stomach. She scrunched forwards, screwing her eyes closed, feeling their burning prick against her lids. She knew she was sore and achy, but that was as nothing to the yawning ache within. She let herself fall sideways only to yelp as her hip collided with something hard. She scooted back, shoving her hand down the bed and connecting with the offending article. She pulled it into her eye-line; it was a photo album. It hadn’t been there earlier and she wondered if the TARDIS was moving things around again. She moved to toss it onto the floor, but as she shifted it a photo slipped from the pages and fell onto her duvet. It was a picture taken at the christening of Rose’s cousin’s baby. Jackie was holding the tot and beaming at the camera, flanked by her equally jubilant daughter and a half-cut Mickey. Rose looked at the picture for a moment before sweeping it and the album onto the floor roughly. She rolled over, turning her back on the room and the now slightly crumpled picture discarded on the floor. She closed her eyes against the world and waited for sleep to claim her.

Chapter 4