Don’t Go To Sleep

Chapter Two

Rose gasped and let go of the orb in shock. Instead of dropping heavily down onto the bed as she expected it to, the light within burst into life again the moment it left her fingers, and floated upwards to hover around the dark candelabra. She stared up at it, wide-eyed and fearful, still not quite believing what she saw. Am I actually awake? Or am I having one of those dreams where you think you wake up but you don’t really, and then you DO wake up? Her head spun in confusion and she shut her eyes tight, hoping that when she opened them, she’d be properly awake and everything would be back to normal. But the orb remained, its light penetrating even her strongly clamped eyelids.

“Nngh…Rose…what are you doing?” grunted the Doctor, and Rose jumped violently. She had almost forgotten he was there, let alone the fact he was so close, warm hand still resting on her thigh. It seemed like so long ago she had fallen asleep, yet she guessed the dream had only lasted for a few minutes. But no matter how confused she felt, how scared, how worried; she knew the Doctor could help. She’d witnessed him save the Earth so many times from all manner of strange alien creatures, watched him go through more pain than any human…she’d even seen his pants. And - unlike most doctors - he worked evenings and weekends, too.
“Doctor…” she began shakily. “Something is very, very wrong.”

x

 “Right – let’s go through this again,” said the Doctor, ruffling his mop of brown hair impatiently with his hands and pacing around the hotel room. Rose sat on the bed, quilt gathered around herself, trying to look anywhere but his black-clad…areas. “So everything was white and the people had no faces?” Rose nodded. “And a woman told you that they had evolved and were ready for something – they’d revolutionised?” Rose nodded again.
“But what does all this mean, Doctor?” she asked, head pounding.
“Well, the fact you returned from the dream holding an object from it tells us a lot,” he said, looking up at her and grinning in a concerned sort of way, indicating the floating orb with a single inclination of his head.
“Tells us a lot about what?”
He sighed and stopped pacing, staring straight into her eyes.
“I can’t be sure, Rose, but I think the real and dream worlds are colliding. The dreams of humans have always been random, uncontrolled, musings of the subconscious mind. But now, it looks like the people who inhabit the dream world have found a way of controlling the dreams of humans. They are making them come to this particular place, a place where they can do something that they can’t do anywhere else…” He began to pace again, clutching his head. “A place where objects, even people, from the dream world can pass through to reality using the dreamers as transport…sorry, I should really put some clothes on, shouldn’t I?”

Rose jumped and quickly looked away, blushing. She had been quite subconsciously staring at his general pants area as he paced agitatedly around the room.
“No, no, sorry…carry on.”
He chuckled slightly before continuing in serious tones. “Say, maybe, they’ve found some kind of rift in time and space. A hole between two worlds, if you like, through which matter can pass. They’re just practising at the moment with objects, but I imagine soon enough the dream people will attach themselves to humans and enter the real world…and then…” he stopped, hands on the sill of the large window, looking out onto the glittering night of Bristol.
“And then?” Rose said quietly, easing herself down from the bed and padding over to join him.
“War,” he murmured, lips a hard line, muscular shoulders tense in the light from the orb. They were silent for a few moments, both gazing out upon the punctuated blackness, barely daring to breathe.

War between dream and reality… Rose thought. That’s gotta be weird.
“Doctor,” she said cautiously, breaking the thick silence. He turned to look at her, hazel eyes reflecting the tiny pinpricks of light from outside as their faces swam in shadow, away from the orb’s glow. “I don’t think we should go to sleep tonight…you know, in case anything else…”
“I don’t think anyone should go to sleep,” the Doctor murmured. “You saw how many other people were in that dream of yours – most of them were probably human, like you. The more people sleep, the more chance they have to invade.”
“So we have to somehow stop everyone from sleeping?”
“Seems bizarre, but…I think it’s the only option. I suppose we could get the message across by making a broadcast, but how many people do you think will actually believe it?” He sighed, knuckles white on the sill. Rose looked back out onto the streets.
“At least Starbucks will be happy,” she said, giggling in spite of the situation.

The Doctor smiled slightly and wandered back into the middle of the room. Standing on tiptoes, he reached the orb and pulled it down – the light within extinguishing the moment he made contact.
“I don’t fancy holding onto this thing all night,” he said, frowning at it as though it had just done something very offensive. “It’s going in the bathroom.” After releasing it he shut the door – the room suddenly seemed very dark, and Rose could see nothing as she stumbled in the direction of the bed. She held her arms out in front of her in a zombie-like manner, trying to feel her way through the velvety blackness.
“Doctor, I can’t- oops!” She caught her foot on a stray cushion and fell forwards, feeling a pair of strong arms catch her around the waist just centimetres before her body hit the floor.
“Come on, Rose, the bed’s this way,” he said, pulling her upright. “Hold onto my arm – no, that’s not my arm!”
“Certainly firm enough to be,” Rose muttered in slight shock as she let go of whatever she’d just grabbed and allowed the Doctor to steer her to the bed through the impenetrable darkness.

Staring blindly ahead of her, she was able to clamber onto the soft duvet and settled there as the Doctor joined her, making the springs of the mattress creak.
“Now what?” asked Rose, glad the Doctor couldn’t see her burning cheeks. He was sitting very close; the heat from his body almost scorching her bare skin.
“Now…we don’t go to sleep.” he replied simply, and they both sat there in a solitary silence. Rose’s eyes began to grow accustomed to the dark; she could now just make out the outline of the armchair against the window, and the Doctor’s silhouette in front of her, his hair in its usual messy state. She felt a sudden yawn overcome her and realised again how tired she was. Sleep threatened as her eyelids tried to force themselves shut, thoughts muffling, breath deepening…

“Okay, this isn’t going to work.” The Doctor’s voice jolted her out of the daze and she regained posture, feeling fearful. “We need to do something to take our minds off sleep, otherwise…well, you know what’ll happen.”
“Like what?” asked Rose, trying to keep her eyes wide against their will. The Doctor’s own gaze was on her again, she could feel it.
“Well…” he leaned back on his hands, his shape now clearly visible to her in what had become only semi-darkness. “We could…talk about Intergalactic Frequencies?” Rose laughed.
“I thought you didn’t want me to fall asleep?”
He chuckled. “Didn’t think so. Umm…how about we have a Su-Doku competition?”
“No! Doctor, be serious.”
“I am!”
They looked at each other for a while, listening to the steady rumble of cars as they passed on the road outside the window, smelling the scent of fresh flowers and immaculately clean sheets.

“I win!”
“What?” Rose jumped, confused, as the Doctor did a little celebratory jiggle.
“You blinked,” he said, grinning widely at her.
“WHAT? I didn’t even know we were – argh!” She grabbed hold of a pillow and threw it at him in frustration. He caught it and laughed, before hurtling it back at her. It hit her on the side of the face and she squealed.
“Oww! Right, that’s it…”
She lunged forward and, before he could stop her, started to tickle his sides viciously. He squirmed and tried to break free.
“Rose – no – stop!” he laughed, struggling to get away.
She giggled and continued. “What’s the matter – is the Doctor ticklish?”
He writhed beneath her, panting. “No – argh! – well, maybe – oww! – but the question is, are you?”

Without warning, he pushed her off him with amazing agility and flipped himself over.
“See how the tides turn, Miss Tyler?” he growled, fingers working furiously at her neck and waist. She screamed and wriggled.
“No! Stop – please – argh!” Tears were leaking from the corners of her eyes as she laughed and fought against the Doctor’s strong hands. The room was suddenly very hot as they thrashed around on the bed, limbs kicking and pillows flying. She gave a particularly shrill squeal and he abruptly stopped, breathing heavily. Rose opened her eyes and looked up at him in surprise as he wavered over her, legs straddling her hips. His face was only centimetres from her own, eyes staring into hers, the expression of a startled rabbit upon his handsome features.

He was much, much too close.

Rose’s heartbeat raced ahead of her, pounding behind its prison bars, battling to break out. They were both trembling, gazing intently at each other through the thick, sweet darkness. The Doctor’s limbs seemed to suddenly give way beneath him and he fell softly onto her, the gap between them closing completely. Before she knew it, before she could even think, Rose found her lips encased by the Doctor’s, his tongue gently moving forward to explore her mouth. He tasted so sweet, so warm, so soft…

x

“Well,” gasped Rose, chest rising and falling heavily. “That worked.” It had all happened so fast; the sky outside was already beginning to lighten with the weak dawn sun. She guessed it must have been more than an hour since she had lost all conscious thought, and given herself up to the Time Lord’s handcrafted sensations.
The Doctor snickered quietly, kissing her on the cheek before rolling off onto the bed. “It sure did.” He grinned at the ceiling for a few minutes in a satisfied way, before sitting up. “I’m gonna go get cleaned up,” he said, making his way over to the bathroom door and opening it, light from the orb immediately illuminating the room.
“Okay.” Rose shielded her eyes from the sudden light, and covered herself up in the duvet.
“Don’t go to sleep,” winked the Doctor, closing the door behind him and leaving Rose in darkness once more.

She lay there, heart still pounding, still feeling the occasional soft rush of pleasure as her mind relived what they’d just done. She could hardly comprehend it; it was too wonderful, too amazing…she’d been in love with him almost ever since the very first time he’d grabbed her hand and told her to “Run!”; and on every occasion this moment had been repeated, the feelings had intensified. She’d always had the inkling he felt the same way, yet for everything to happen so quickly was a bit of a surprise. Still, thought Rose as her heavy breathing gradually subsided, I really hope this isn’t just a dream. Scared by this notion, she pinched herself hard to make sure.
“Oww!” An angry little red mark appeared on her thigh and she smiled to herself jubilantly, listening to the hiss of the shower as the Doctor washed himself, smelling the scent of a memory she’d never forget.

When he emerged from the bathroom, rubbing himself dry with a towel, Rose leapt down from the bed and went to him. He tossed the towel aside and took her in his arms, kissing her hair softly. She breathed in his soft woody smell and held tight to him, willing him to feel the love pulsing inside of her chest, feeling his own two heartbeats against her cheek. Three hearts, throbbing together in perfect time.

Three hearts, each skipping a beat as a horrified scream punched a hole through the thick, humid air.