Characters: Rose Tyler; Tentoo
Rated: safe for all audiences
Tags: Angst; Hurt/Comfort
Summary: Rose tries to reassure the Doctor, when he is frustrated at his failed attempts to shatterfry the TARDIS coral.
Read also at: AO3; FF.net; Teaspoon
Notes: A double-drabble (Drouble) this week: proudly 200 words!
For the prompt from Timepetalsprompts: exhaustion.
“What if it never works?” The Doctor dragged his hands through worry-spiked hair. He scribbled figures across a sheet of paper, already crammed with similar gibberish, before crumpling it and hurling it across the room.
“It will. You’ll do it.” She placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. “But not if you don’t get some rest. A bit human now, remember?”
He scoffed. “Imagine me having to give in to exhaustion! Having to live, rotting, on this one planet for the rest of my life.”
Rose retracted her hand, feeling more alone than she ever had during their years apart. She left him sitting by the dormant TARDIS coral, and went to bed, curling herself around her sorrows, gasping out her tears.
She felt his weight shift the mattress, and stiffened as his arms encircled her. His body shuddered against hers, his sobs a discordant accompaniment to hers.
“I was going to take you to so many places… What good am I if I can’t even do that?”
She stilled in realization, and touched the damp stubble of his cheek. “That don’t matter. Got everything I need, right here.”
“Forever,” she murmured, smiling as he finally drifted to sleep.