Winter Rose, Book 1

By Your Side

All was quiet in the TARDIS as the Humans slept and the Doctor fiddled with the ship's console. That is, until a piercing scream ripped through the air. The Time Lord jerked to attention, spinning around and looking down the hallway leading to the bedrooms. A second scream launched him into motion, racing down the dimmed halfway in search of the dark blue and gold door the screams had come from.

"Triah?" The Doctor whispered, opening the door to her room, peeking into the darkness. Stiff gasps and quieted sobs were all that reached his ears. Urging him into the room. He squinted through the darkness, seeing the blankets almost all having been thrown on the floor, but Win's figure wasn't there.

"Triah?" He called softly again as he tried to locate the origin of the stifled crying. His attention zeroed in on the pitch black corner of the room to the left of her bed. Carefully moving closer, the Doctor found his Triah lying on the floor, curled up in a shaking ball. With agonizing slowness, the Doctor lowered himself to the floor next to her. Taking extra care not to startle or frighten her.

"Hey, it's okay Snow White. It's okay." He soothed as he gently rested his hand on her shoulder. She went stiff for a second.

"G-goose?" She whimpered, lifting her face away from her knees.

"Shh, I'm here." He assured her with a small smile she could barely make out between the darkness and her blurry tear filled eyes. Swallowing back the saliva gathering in the back of her throat, Win managed to uncurl herself a small bit.

"Come on, Triah, you're okay. It was just a nightmare." Win slowly nodded, still looking quite shaken up.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked her next, squeezing her shoulder lightly, but she shook her head, curling back up into a ball.

"That's okay, you just cry then. Get all those nasty tears out." The Doctor sighed as he slid his hand up and down her arm, trying to offer some comfort until she calmed down a bit more.

Not knowing what else to do, the Doctor started babbling quietly. Telling her anything and everything that came to mind. It took about twenty minutes for Win's tears to run out and her sniffling to be quieted. Slowly she started to uncurl herself, which caught the Doctor's attention. She held her arms out to him in a silent request. Allowing the Doctor to pick her up, cradling her in his arms, and hold her tight to his chest.

"I'm sorry." Win sniffled, burying her face in the side of his neck and gripping tight to the front of his jumper. Being that the Doctor had taken off his leather jacket while working on the console.

"What for? Having a nightmare?" He asked her, keeping his tone low and soft as she slowly relaxed into him. Win nodded her head, not saying anything.

"That's not something you need to apologize for, Triah. If anything I should be apologizing for not being there to chase it away." The Doctor sighed as he started rubbing her back soothingly.

"No, you didn't know it would happen, Goose." Win murmured in his defense. The Doctor huffed lightly.

"I should have, after what you went through today... well it would be expected for you to have nightmares."

"But you still kept your promise." Win noted, causing the Doctor to blink in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"You're here, giving me a shoulder to cry on and chasing the nightmares away. Don't even remember what it was about." Win explained quietly.

"Oh." She giggled lightly at him.

"Silly Goose." Win hummed, smiling softly.

"Your silly Goose." The Doctor emphasized lightly as he looked down at her and smiled.