Cold Storm
By Sonic Jules
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Disclaimer: Doctor Who and the characters of said show do not belong to me, no matter how hard I've wished for it. No infringement meant on the owners and associates, nor BBC.
A/N - 1: A huge 'thank-you' to Catharticone, who always knows how to make my work look it's best. Without her, this would be nothing.
A/N - 2: This story is dedicated to ERYTHRITE, who made writing it feel worthwhile. I hope you find all that you want within.
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Chapter One:
Baby, It's Cold Outside
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She was shivering: Shocked from the cold into bleary awareness as her body awoke, forcing herself to stand on wobbly legs, looking around wildly like a hunted animal. She felt dizzy as strange thoughts mingled themselves within her mind, like visions blurred and whispers hushed. Her body shivered involuntarily as she listened to the door creaking, wind assaulting it from the outside. She watched as snow blew underneath it, not noticing the coat that had covered her falling to the floor. She couldn't remember coming here. Hell, she didn't even know where here was.
Rose sifted through the dense fog of her thoughts, trying to recall her last memory before waking up in this piss-off excuse of a shelter in the middle of who-knew-where. Alone. Why was she alone? Did she bring herself here purposely? She knew she hadn't. Couldn't have. Wouldn't have - would she?
Shivering thoroughly, she pulled her jacket closer around herself, realizing she would not have brought herself here with so little clothing as a jacket, t-shirt, and jeans. She wore no boots. Not even a bloody pair of gloves in her pockets.
She looked around, her vision clouded and rather unfocussed, and noticed a window not far from where she stood. It was cracked, and a small chunk of the glass was missing from the upper left corner, letting snow blow through the tiny space with each gust of mightily cold air.
Rose walked toward it, her body shivering more upon reaching the colder air swirling in. As she glanced outwards at the lightened space of the other side, her teeth began chattering as well, joining with her trembling muscles and shaking limbs.
She soon understood the brightness. Everything was covered in snow, and it was falling in true blizzard form as she realized she couldn't see anything but white. Oh, there were different shades of white: there was bright, bright white towards the sky, and there was soft white on the ground, and then of course, the grey-white of snow blowing all around and towards the window, slowly covering her lovely view of, well, white.
She began seeing specks of sparkly, colorful light, and took a deep painful breath, hoping she would not pass out before the knowledge of where she was and how she'd gotten here perhaps came to her.
Rose turned abruptly from the window, her legs shaking to the point of possibly failing to keep her upright, and headed towards the back of the shack. There was a wood stove of some sort in the middle of the wall, and her legs seemed to strengthen in her search for something to burn within it's bowels.
But there was nothing. Nothing to burn as she looked hopefully inside. And even if there had been something, she had no way to ignite it. Discouraged, Rose shuffled herself to a corner and sat down. She soon became distracted though, irritated by a clump of hair sticking to the side of her face. She hadn't really noticed it before, barely moving her head an inch with her shivering stiff posture. But as she sat down, she'd turned her head to see where she was sitting, and that's when she'd felt the tug of it.
Pulling her still too cold hand from her pocket, Rose grasped the hair from her face, sucking in a breath as it pulled slightly at her too cold and too sensitive skin. She absently wondered if perhaps frostbite had set in, and ran her fingers over the skin, feeling the flecks of something coming off with her touch. Bringing her hand in line with her slightly impaired vision, she focused on the brownish bits, realizing rather calmly that it was dried blood. Perhaps frozen, she thought, and wondered at the bubbling urge within her to grin.
Rose began laughing. This whole scenario was ludicrously crude and eerily frightening and totally mad. She had no idea where she was, how she'd arrived, nor how she would survive. And then hysteria began; mingling giggles and tears as she sucked in heaving huge breaths of bitterly cold and painful air between them.
When the door of her temporary abode burst open Rose screamed, suddenly standing, her back curved into the corner as far as she could force it. She screamed again as what looked like the Abominable Snowman pushed towards her, dropping whatever he was carrying loudly to the floor, either shocked by her presence or perhaps frightened by her shrill voice, or both. Regardless, it took another step forward and Rose screamed again, arms raised to protect herself from the intruder.
"Rose?"
She heard its voice and dropped her arms slightly, seeing the snow from the beast's form falling away. Slowly it transformed into a man, and quickly she slid down the walls of her corner, collapsing before his eyes.
OoO
They'd found this shelter by happenstance, pushing their way through an assault of pelting sleet hidden within the snow. It had been a sunny eighteen degrees when they'd arrived - warm in comparison to the blustery minus-five it was now. The temperature had dropped as quickly as the wind had appeared, bringing forth thunderous rumbles and darkening clouds as they quickly searched for protection from the elements.
Unceremoniously, they'd pitched forward during their search, blinded by walls of snow blown across their path as they sought out something that would block this planet's natural assault on them. They had been holding hands when Rose had lost her footing, and the Doctor had refused to let go, thus resulting in their tumultuous plummet down a very steep hill.
They'd both slid through hazardous terrain hidden beneath the guise of soft, fluffy snow, holding each other's hand as gravity pulled them down. Only a large Purntipper tree had separated their hold as each rolled down opposite sides of its trunk.
The side upon which the Doctor landed had been full of prickly but barren bushes and stones lining a small creek, allowing him to slow his descent considerably. But Rose's side had lead her through a narrow path of gnarly, broken tree limbs and boulders. By the time he'd reached her, she was unconscious. He actually shook, not from cold, but from trepidation at the damage her frail human body had prossibly endured.
He'd felt along her limbs and called her name softly before removing his coat and carefully wrapping her within it.
Gently picking her up and moving forward, the Doctor looked for any place to protect them both from the inclement weather that seemed to grow harsher with each step. The little wooden shack had been a blessing, though he didn't believe in such things. But he could, he supposed, if it meant Rose would be all right.
He'd again found himself grateful when the door opened by his hand, enabling him to easily take her inside the shelter. Stepping in and kicking the door closed behind him, the Doctor laid Rose gently on the bare hardwood floor.
He allowed himself to glance at their surroundings as he unwrapped Rose from his coat, wiping away bits of snow and ice accumulated in her hair. The one room shack had no furniture and no curtains, and he presumed it had been abandoned for quite some time, judging by the plentiful cobwebs. But there was a pot-bellied stove at the back in the center, and even though there was no wood with which to fill it, he felt that could be easily resolved as soon as he dealt with his first priority, lying in front of him, unresponsive to his cold, light touch.
The Doctor suddenly stood when the door blew open, slamming against the wall behind it and literally shaking the floor beneath his feet as snow blew in on top of them. The storm was growing more intense, though how he couldn't fathom. He'd need to go out and fetch some wood to burn before it became impossibly worse.
Shutting the door soundly and making sure the latch had clasped, he turned back and knelt down. Fingertips grazed gently across Rose's forehead as he tried to distinguish the noises of the storm from the sounds of her breathing.
He'd carried her through the blizzard and seen the blood beneath her hairline, it had been the only part of her visible after wrapping his coat around her. Now leaning above her, he allowed careful fingertips to run over her scalp, hoping with all his might he'd find no fracture. Finding none, he evaluated her torso and limbs once more, making sure he hadn't missed anything in his previous cursory exam. Still finding no broken bones, he wiped his hands over his face in relief, scowling slightly at the sticky wetness he encountered. Blood, he realized, looking at the reddish smears on his fingertips. He'd deal with that later, if at all, because he was not high on his own list of priorities at the moment.
Wiping his face with the sleeve of his pinstriped jacket, he called to Rose once more, his scowl deepening further with her lack of response. Placing the coat over Rose and tucking it around her fragile form, he stood quickly, determined to find wood for the stove and warmth for his companion.
OoO