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Rose had been damned lucky not to break her neck in the escape from their latest incarceration. Jeopardy-friendly as usual. A fellow prisoner had told them all about the wife and baby at home. Rose couldn't stand it. She had to help the bloke. The Doctor had been skeptical, thinking the guy would say anything to get a rescue and Rose had been foolish enough, kind enough to risk her own neck.
Once they were running for the TARDIS the Doctor had started ranting. Called her a stupid ape again. Gullible. Ranting and raving to hide the fright he'd felt when she toppled out of that windowsill. Rose had yelled right back at him, and he had unlocked the TARDIS door and slammed it with rather more force than was necessary.
It was then that he noticed that as she defended herself against his rant, she was rubbing her neck and rotating her shoulder. "Rose, I really want to check your neck out, you're in pain," the Doctor blurted when she finally took a breath and let him speak.
"M'fine, don't worry about the stupid ape," she spat.
The Doctor pressed his lips together, frustrated and ashamed. He regretted saying it as soon as he uttered it. "No, Rose, not what I...."
Rose glared at him. She cut him off, spreading her arms wide and pretending to look around the console room. "I don't see any other apes here but me Doctor, obviously it's whatcha meant to say." She winced as she dropped her arms helplessly at her side.
"Please, you need that checked out. To the infirmary with you, Rose Tyler."
He said that last bit lightly, trying to force some humor into a tense situation.
Rose was not amused.
"Rose, please," the Doctor sighed. "You're upright and walkin', but there could be a hidden injury. Please?"
In the end, she agreed. The Doctor scanned her neck and shoulder and was relieved when no serious neck injury was discovered. Her shoulder was strained from hanging onto the windowsill. "If it's okay, I'm going to my room," she stated flatly. Rose jumped down from the examination table and pushed past him.
The Doctor blew out a puff of air and called to Rose just as she placed her hand on the doorknob. "Do you need some pain reliever or a heating pad?"
"M'sure the TARDIS will provide," Rose muttered. She went to turn the door handle.
The TARDIS' hum changed and the Doctor could tell she was displeased with him, and likely Rose would have anything she desired in her room because of it. The TARDIS prodded his mind again, insistently. The Doctor opened his mouth to speak, and even he was surprised at his words. "Do you...well... I mean...I could give you a massage."
The Doctor thought Rose's eyes couldn't possibly be any wider.
Her eyes became hooded and wary again, as if she expecting a renewed round of ranting. Rose barked bitter laughter. "Right, whatever, Doctor. Nope, this ape's going to take a kip."
The Doctor crossed the room in three quick strides. She was hurt more by his words than the fall and he could see it in her defensive posture and downcast eyes. He grasped her hand and was gratified that she didn't immediately pull away. Apologizing never came naturally to him, and he willed the words to come out. He promised himself he'd never hurt her like that again. "I'm sorry, Rose. Never meant to insult you like that."
Her eyebrow shot up and she gave him a wry smirk. "Did you intend to insult me some other way?"
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Didn't mean to insult you at all. Was scared, me. You could have been killed."
"I had to help that poor man. I didn't want his baby growing up fatherless." Rose murmured.
The Doctor sighed. He'd figured as much.
"I get it, I honestly do. But Rose, we don't know if he was tellin' the truth. He could have been connin' you and you got hurt because of it. Could have been much worse. I could be bringin' your broken body back to Jackie." That hit home. He heard a small gasp from her. "I was terrified, Rose. Wasn't even' savin' the world this time, and I could've lost you."
He let those words sink in as they locked eyes, cool blue staring into warm honey brown. "S'fine, Doctor," she finally said on a whisper. "I really want to go to my room...."
"I'll walk you," the Doctor said gently but firmly.
They linked hands as they walked to her room, which the TARDIS had helpfully located closer to the infirmary. They paused at her door. The Doctor cleared his throat, then spoke. "The offer still stands. I can do a hell of a massage. Your shoulder will be good as new."
Rose searched his eyes again, and apparently she liked what she saw this time. "Okay. S'weird, though. Do ya have some...Time Lord chiropractic training? What are your credentials?" She sounded playful, to his immense relief.
"I'm the Doctor. That's all the credentials you need."
Rose blushed a bit at his words, delivered in a low growl, and suddenly the air in the room seemed charged with excess electricity.
Rose unzipped her pink hoodie to reveal a gray vest top underneath. She slipped off the hoodie and dropped it on a chair. He took off his jacket and deposited it next to hers.
"Just..sit on the end of your bed there. S'not a massage table, so I think it'd be more comfortable if you..." The Doctor gestured to the bed. Her eyes not leaving his, Rose sat down on the end of the bed, facing the false window.
The Doctor realized he should probably do something since it was his suggestion, so he sat down behind her, keeping his feet on the floor and twisting to reach Rose. "Umm...kind of awkward, this.. " he began. He pivoted to sit directly behind her.
"Boots off if you're gettin' in my bed, Doctor," Rose interrupted his thoughts.
"Right," the Doctor agreed, bending to untie his boots.
"Never thought I'd be sayin' that sentence," she muttered under her breath. He heard her anyway. He completely agreed, he never thought the situation would present itself. (Not that he hadn't daydreamed it on those days he tinkered under the console while she sat reading a gossip rag on the jumpseat.)
The Doctor situated himself behind her. "Right, then. It might hurt a bit at first but....anyway....Gets better."
The Doctor swept her hair away from the injured shoulder. He could hear himself educating her all about pressure points and pain relief as his hands touched her skin but his mind was somewhere else, going down a different path completely.
He kneaded her shoulder, pressing firmly with his fingers, and his entire thought process, (going down both paths) was suddenly derailed by the relieved moan she gave. It seemed to radiate from her body through his fingers straight to his lower spine. It was too much.
The Doctor stopped his motions. "Too much?" he asked her, and he almost believed he was asking after her and not revealing himself.
"Well, don't stop!" Rose demanded. "S' heavenly."
His brain caught up and he was able to speak, unable to keep from boasting. "Impressed, are ya?"
He couldn't see her face but he could imagine the rolling of the eyes and the tongue-touched smile. "You know I am."
The Doctor chuckled and continued his ministrations. They were silent for a while, save for Rose's little sighs. He could feel something giving way in him, the boundary between him and her starting to buckle and crack. "M'sorry for what I said, Rose," he whispered.
"I know you are," she responded, equally hushed. "I'm sorry I scared you." She pivoted so she could see his face. "I'd do it again, though. I think he was tellin' the truth and God willing, he's home with his baby and his wife right now."
The Doctor nodded. "I wouldn't expect any less of you, Rose Tyler. You're brilliant."
Her smile warmed him. Oh, how he wanted to kiss it right off. Before he could make a move she turned back around. "Keep goin'," she said. "I'm not quite finished yet."
"Duly noted," he replied, and began massaging her shoulder again.
"I might feel the need to fake injuries just to get you to do this on a regular basis," she added with a nervous giggle.
Before he could censor himself he blurted, "No injuries necessary for me to do this. All you have to do is ask."
"Keepin' that in mind, then," she said and her voice was flirty and husky and full of mischief.
Thinking back on it later, he realized that her tone of voice was probably what did him in. Her voice and the lovely curve of her neck and that freckle on her shoulder were all combining to conspire against his resolve to hold himself back from her. Other instincts were moving to the front of the line, elbowing self control roughly back to the end.
The Doctor leaned forward and kissed the back of her neck tenderly. He was rewarded with her gasp. The goosebumps were also quite lovely. He brushed his lips against that freckle that had been clamoring for attention.
"Doctor," she gasped.
"Is this all right?" he asked.
Rose turned to face him. "Yeah," she murmured. She caressed his cheek. "You know it is. S'been that way since Cardiff."
For him it had been that way since "there's me" but he'd tried to write it off as his jumbled, traumatized emotional state at the time. Now he realized he was feeling that way because he loved her and wanted her, plain and simple.
Rose's eyes were wide and earnest and her pupils were dark, so dark. "No, I really didn't," he told her. "Not exactly a catch, me."
Before he could go on and talk himself out of it she placed her finger gently against his lips, shushing him.
As she slid her arms around his neck, she was doing what she always did. As she pressed her lips against his she was rescuing him all over again, and he surrendered to her completely, all fear gone.
The Doctor hadn't intended to start anything, he'd only intended to relieve her pain. He wondered, as Rose gently traced his lips with the tip of that teasing tongue, if she realized how she relieved his pain and made him whole every day. And as he gladly opened his mouth to hers he resolved to show her. Surrender had never felt so sweet.