"Hey— hey, easy." The Doctor’s eyes widened and he lunged forward as Rose pulled away and crumpled to the floor. He was too late to catch her properly but at least managed to slow her fall so she didn’t hurt herself, dropping to his knees beside her

"I'm fine," she mumbled again, cursing her stupid weak legs for betraying her at exactly the wrong moment. She didn't want to show the Doctor any weakness. Not again. She dragged a hand across her eyes (she was not crying, she was not crying, she was not), pulling in the deepest breath her stupid lungs would allow. "I'm fine."

"Good, there you go, that’s it." The corner of his mouth quirked up in a tiny, encouraging smile as he felt the shaking of her shoulders beneath his hands begin to dissipate. There was still a worried crease between his brows as he watched her struggle to get it together.

Stop showing him weakness you moron, a voice in the back of Rose's head rebuked her, disgusted. She took a small step back -- and her knees instantly gave out. The Doctor had been holding her up more than she'd realized. She sank to the floor, cursing herself silently. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

"You’re alright," he reassured her gently, even as she snapped at him. He could feel his own concern echoed in the hum of the TARDIS. "You’re alright, I’ve got you. You’re safe."

She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out the obvious pity in his expression so she could center herself. Breathe, breathe, breathe... Another gasp. That was no good. It was another moment before she finally managed to pull in a shaky, uncertain breath. There was still a knott in her chest, which felt as if it was on fire, but her lungs were starting to open up again at least.

"No, you’re not," he said, keeping his tone calm and level for her sake as much as anything— he was holding her at arms length, thumbs rubbing soothing little circles into her shoulders. "Deep breaths, c’mon. You can do this."

"Shut up," she snapped -- or she tried to snap. It was more of a useless gasp. She could feel the TARDIS in the back of her head, humming worriedly, but it was drowned out by the pure panic. She gave a small whimper, buckling forward a bit into the Doctor's touch.

IF WE'VE NEVER RP'D TOGETHER send me a simple starter:

Friendly:

"You look a little lost. Do you need directions?" "That’s an awesome outfit." "How’s the chicken? I can’t decide whether to order it or not." "Excuse me, I think you dropped this." "I don’t know a single person here…"

Flirty:

"Wow, I’ve never seen an angel before…" "You’re the hottest person in this place." "I saw that. You just checked me out." "Hey, can I get your number?" *wolf whistle*

Confrontational:

"You’re in my seat." "What are you staring at?" "You just stepped on my toe!" "Who do you think you are?" "Keep it down, will you?"

Dramatic:

"Get down - he’s got a gun!" "Help, I need medical attention!" "Just kill me now!" "I need a ride! Please!" "Are you crazy? It’s too dangerous!"

rosaperditus liked for a starter

"Look at me. Rose, just look at me and breathe, okay?”

"I am." She wasn't. Just gathering breath to snarl that at him had been a challenge.

The Doctor fell silent at her outburst, tensing up.  His hearts started to speed up, and his muscled tensed up.   He froze as the flight or fight instinct started to rouse.  Swallowing hard he struggled to press it down.

He remained quiet, but he managed to keep from fleeing.  The TARDIS said Rose needed him there.  For her, he would do anything he could.  He had so much left to prove to her.

Rose scrubbed her eyes, taking a deep breath as she tried to press down the anger threatening to consume her. No good. That was no good. She needed to calm down. Now was not the time to have a fit.

"I'm sorry," she said after a moment, her voice stiff. She hadn't meant to snap at him. She really didn't. And she did feel bad.

She was just upset. But he didn't deserve to have that taken out on him.

Not Quite Stable II Closed

The Doctor stilled at the question, and his eyes widened a fraction.  “Live with her?  Well I suppose you could say I did for awhile.  Mostly that we occupied the same building.  I was trying to find a way back to you.”

He shrugged uncomfortably, his gaze dropping down to his hands that curled around his tea.   “The King of France didn’t like me much.  Not that I cared really, but still he made things difficult.  I got sick of dodging him, dodging her, and when I finally accepted I wouldn’t find a way back from there, I left. “

Trying not to squirm in his chair, he had a feeling there was something she wanted to know.  Looking up from his hands he sought out her eyes if he could.  ” I didn’t shag her, if that’s what you want to know.   I didn’t want to.”

Rose frowned, looking down at her tea as she gritted her teeth. She hated Reinette. She'd tried really hard to just move on, to forgive the Doctor and the woman responsible for ruining her life, but in the end the hate had been too much. She didn't like living as a hateful person -- it was the last thing she wanted.

But Reinette had ruined everything. Everything. How was she supposed to feel?

"Okay," she said suddenly, turning and dumping her tea in the sink. "Okay." She couldn't just stand there. She needed to get out. She needed to do something.

She needed to be away from the TARDIS for a bit.

"I should go see Mum. It's been a while. She must be worried."

Tahereh Mafi, Shatter Me  (via disintegrativeruin)

I Feel It In My Bones || Closed

"I assume you didn’t get any sleep, then." It was more a statement than a question. She looked tired, angry, and exactly like he always did after a few days without sleep. He opened his mouth to say something along the lines of ‘get some rest’, but he stopped himself before he did.

Not caring was rule number one now, so why did he want to?

The Doctor looked at her, wondering exactly how much damage he had done. Not an amount he could fix, probably. And he shouldn’t care about that, but he wanted to fix it so, so bad. It had been his mistake, after all It had been his mess. The least he could do was to try to clean it up. At least that’s what he would’ve done, a few years back. Before the TARDIS dematerialised. Before the sound of the TARDIS started to be on his nightmares instead of his dreams.

Except he wasn’t that man anymore, and he didn’t plan on being that man ever again, because he had felt too much, he had loved too much, too deeply. He had given all of himself at all times, and that had only ended in heartbreak. Pain. Fear.

So why did he want to be the Doctor again? Why did he want to be that stupid, pathetic man, who gave all of himself and got nothing in return?

Maybe he had gotten to attached to the name, and it was time to let it go. A man like him—or, well, like the man he was now—didn’t deserve to be the Doctor. (Ha, deserve. Like it was a privilege.)

Help me ‘ere, ol’ girl. You always know what to do, don’t you? Mind givin’ me a bit of advice again?

He looked up, returning his attention to Rose. Maybe if the TARDIS helped, he would be able to fix it. Or as close as he could get, at least. It was better than nothing, right?

However, it still wasn’t enough.

Rose shrugged, sipping her tea. "Probably not. Gets hard to tell after a while where day begins and night ends. Especially since those don't exist up here." It was hard to tell sometimes when she didn't sleep. She attributed a lot of that to her insomnia.

Well, maybe it was a very small part of it.

She took another sip, staring at the liquid in her cup. The TARDIS took her silence as an opportunity.

I will tell you the same thing I tell her, my Thief. You have to be patient. Not a quality either of you seem to possess. But she is just as hurt as you are, even if you do not believe it. And just as you require a little bit of patience and time, so does she.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much she could really offer in the way of help. Nearly two centuries of trying to help Rose, and she had only found a few actual working methods. And who knew if those would actually help the Time Lord, or just make things worse for him.

It was a very delicate line the two of them were walking right then.

"She giving you advice on how to handle me?" Rose asked suddenly. She couldn't hear what the TARDIS was saying, but the ship's presence in her mind was suddenly less than usual, which meant her attention had been diverted somewhere else.

And there was really only one other place it could be.

“Don’t underestimate me, child” He warned, narrowing his eyes “I’m still a Time Lord, and I’m still the Doctor. Wherever you’re been to, I’ve been there before. Whatever you’ve ever planned, I’ve already done it. You don’t know half of who I am, so don’t you dare being so sure you’re safe from me”

Blood was dripping from between his fingers, staining the sleeve of his suit. She wasn’t a little, fragile human. He couldn’t know why, but he could feel flashes of what was wrong –or rather, of what was different. They both had changed.

“We could have been great” He spat aside “Now that you’re not that stupid pink and yellow ape girl anymore and I’m not the useless idiot I used to be”

He narrowed his eyes and looked away, wincing as the pain returned.

"Yeah, I'm so scared of the great powerful Time Lord," Rose snapped back, finally stopping and whirling on her heel. It was all talk -- she knew he was hundreds of years older than her, and smarter, and tougher. She wouldn't stand a chance.

But she also had no intentions of letting it get that far.

Her eyes flashed gold for a moment before softening back to their regular brown, but the fury in her gaze was still obvious. "I'm not looking for a fight Time Lord. You're the one who started this. I'm walking away. You can either let me, or you can find out where else I can stick a knife. I promise it won't be anywhere nearly as gentle as your shoulder. Maybe your next body will be a little more pleasant."

The Doctor may have been older and stronger, but she doubted he was still the type to actually get his hands dirty. No, mind games would be his thing. Twist her around so much she destroys herself, leaving him completely free of the guilt.

He wasn't a physical person. Not in the way. He'd fuck with her head. It made so much more sense for him.

Rose wasn't patient enough for that though.

"Who said I’m babysitting you?  Maybe you are babysitting me.  Or the TARDIS is babysitting both of us.  She’s the oldest technically."   He kept his tone light and cheerful, keeping his hands in his pockets while he followed.

"I never really understood that term, babysitting.   I mean who actually sits on the baby?  That would be rude really, and make a rather rubbish caretaker for a child."  The Doctor rambled as he followed along.   The TARDIS told him to stick with her, so he would.  

If she tried to push him away, well he would just have to ignore it.

"Just stop talking, alright?!" Rose snapped, losing her patience completely. There was a headache blooming in the back of her head now, and his chatter was not helping.

Rose, the TARDIS cautioned her gently. The Doctor was still recovering as well. Snapping at him certainly wasn't going to help with that.

Well you're the one who keeps putting him on me! Rose snapped back, just as annoyed with the TARDIS as she was with the Doctor. She just wanted to be alone. She was never alone anymore. Even when the Doctor wasn't in the same room as hers she always had the TARDIS in the back of her head, humming away, always talking to her, trying to talk her down, trying to...

God she just wanted to be left alone.

Rose--

Stop. Just stop. Just stop and leave me alone.

She knew she wasn't going to get that lucky, but she could try couldn't she?