The Queen and the Rose

Chapter 21

Although the Doctor was itching to run scans on Rose to be thorough and protect her, he knew that at this point she wouldn't allow it. The only thing she was thinking about was saving the world again. Sometimes he wondered what he would do without her. Probably wallow, the TARDIS suggested.  The Doctor would've rolled his eyes, but he acknowledged that she was probably right.

If it were up to the Doctor, all this testing, Rose wouldn't leave the med bay for days, and certainly wouldn't leave the TARDIS until he knew she was better.  Unfortunately for him, he had chosen a very headstrong and stubborn woman to fall in love with.  Then again, that was definitely not something he would consider unfortunate.  

Isi did not seem surprised by the TARDIS when she walked in.   She looked around, her hands clasped in front of her, and took a few steps into the console room.  

"Bigger on the inside!" the Doctor said excitedly, flinging his arms wide and grinning at Isi.  His expression dropped when he noticed she did not seem impressed.  "You know, multi dimensional?  Small outside, big inside?  No?"

Isi looked at him with a dull expression.  "I have seen magic before, Doctor.  You forget."

"But... But have you ever seen this?" He spread his hands again and let them drop heavily to his sides. 

Rose patted his shoulder sympathetically as she walked past him.  "Can't win them all, Doctor."

"Won you, didn't I?" The Doctor shot back.  She arched an eyebrow at him.  "We've got company."

The three of them made their way to the med bay, Isi seeming to be more impressed by the nonsense on the screens than anything she'd seen yet.  She touched the computer screen gently, marveling at the touch of static that pricked her fingers.  She pulled her fingers back and looked at Rose in awe.  

"That is amazing," She said softly.

Rose smiled and hoisted herself onto the table.  "Brilliant, isn't it?"

"You're of the future, aren't you?"  Isi asked in return.

The Doctor spared her a glance as he donned his glasses.  "Yes, we are.  And we can help you.  You understand that, don't you?"

Isi nodded slowly, looking between both of them.  "I trust you because you want to defeat the Queen, as do I.  You are... Safe."

He grinned at her as he pulled some wires from a drawer and started to hook them up to Rose's temples.  "Relax," he said softly.  Rose closed her eyes and allowed herself to relax, her shoulders drooping.  He attached the wires to her temples, and she was a bit shocked at the fact that it didn't hurt.  She opened her eyes slowly as he pulled the other end of the wires and plugged them into the computer. 

"I'm just going to monitor her brain activity for a few minutes, and I'll find what bit of her... Power can be used to help our situation," the Doctor explained to Isi as he clicked around on his computer.  He then turned to watch Rose as though willing her to do something with her brain.  

"Is staring at me going to help?" Rose asked patiently, and the Doctor jolted, straightening his tie and sniffing indignantly.  

"No, staring is not really a necessity, I'm just... Monitoring changes in your irises," he said.

Isi seemed fascinated by this and took a step forward to look at Rose's eyes.  "Her eyes are dilated."

Rose directed her attention upward, but not before she saw the tips of the Doctor's ears turn red.  She felt herself blushing in response.  "Yeah, that's not the power doing that."