Rose watched as the Doctor glided across the dance floor, a gaggle of preteen girls dancing and giggling around him. Rose gave a small, weak smile at the sight; the Doctor commanded such attention wherever he went, without even trying. Rose watched as the Doctor began to dance, or rather wiggle around on the dance floor as the girls around him giggled and pushed each other out of the way to get closer to him. He was, not surprisingly, drawing the attention of the adults around him as well. The room was filled with laughter, dancing, and feasting as the Aboron people celebrated a life they didn't think they would still be living, but had been given back to them, thanks to the Doctor.
They had come across Aboron in their travels; the TARDIS had practically thrown them at the planet. They had been planning on visiting the tropics on Earth for a bit of downtime, but it had seemed the TARDIS had other plans. A massive, abandoned spacecraft had gotten caught in their gravitational pull and was going to come crashing down on the planet within hours when the Doctor had shown up. The Aborons, a people who closely resembled humans except for small blue dots on their skin that looked like blue freckles, knew what was happening, but lacking the ability of flight or space travel, had no way of stopping it. The Doctor had used the strength of the TARDIS to pull the spacecraft from the planet's gravitational pull and far away from them. They had, of course, been eternally grateful to the Doctor. While he wouldn't accept any of the lavish gifts that they tried to give him, he did accept the invite to a celebration in his honor. He had been dancing and laughing the entire night; Rose was glad to see such delight in his eyes. He didn't often give himself over to such relaxing and gratitude.
Normally, Rose would have been right alongside the Doctor in the festivities. That's what she wished she was doing right now; instead, she sitting on the sidelines. Rose sat at the table she and the Doctor had had dinner at, where she had sat all night, unmoving. Her arms were wrapped around her stomach as terrible cramps shot through her stomach and lower belly. Waves of nausea came across her and Rose sucked air through her mouth in a desperate attempt to keep from vomiting. Every move that she made threatened to send her stomach over the edge and she remained frozen to keep her stomach contents down. Rose's head swam and she laid her head down when the Doctor was otherwise occupied and not watching her. She didn't want her troubled stomach to ruin his rare fun.
Rose hadn't been feeling like her normal self all week. Her stomach had ached often and she hadn't eaten much the entire week; she found that anytime that she did eat, she was rushing to the bathroom not long after. When running around with the Doctor, that wasn't much of an option so she had been keeping away from food to keep the troubling symptoms at bay. Each morning she woke up more and more tired and though she knew what she really needed was some rest, she had dragged herself out of bed each morning to run after their next adventure. It was only the flu, and she didn't want the Doctor needlessly worrying about her. After a week, she had hoped that the virus had almost run its course by now. But right now, it seemed to getting worse than ever.
Rose had eaten a small amount at dinner; she had desperately not wanted to eat anything but she didn't want to be rude so she had forced some food down her throat. It was now seriously making a threat to be seen again. Rose lifted her head and watched the Doctor who was still dancing. She hoped that he would soon be ready to leave, but the broad smile on his face as he twirled around the floor with a little girl on his hip, told Rose that he was nowhere close to getting ready to leave. Rose's head was burning and felt heavy, almost as if she couldn't hold it up any longer. She didn't want to bail on the Doctor and the Aborons party, but she knew she wasn't going to be able to maintain the appearance of health much longer. She decided she would tell the Doctor she was tired and go back to the TARDIS and get some much needed sleep. He was so distracted by everyone around him that he wasn't likely to notice her distress anyway; she hoped that he didn't.
Rose stood up slowly from the table and began to make her way to the Doctor. She felt herself swaying as she walked, the room spinning as her stomach churned dangerously. She tried to make herself keep going, but when she was halfway to the Doctor, her stomach reached the point of refusing to be ignored. She could feel bile rising in her throat as her stomach lurched. Rose thought for one, horrible second that she was going to end up vomiting in the middle of the floor. With her last small inch of energy left, Rose launched herself for the door. She had just gotten out of the door and into the courtyard when her stomach finally couldn't manage anymore. She fell to her knees by a bush as her stomach violently spilled everything it had in it. Rose was desperately relived that no one was around to see her pitifully throwing up in the bushes. Just when she had thought that she was done, her stomach would lurch again. After what seemed like forever, her stomach stilled, the muscles in her stomach aching. Her eyes were tearing from the bodily shock and she was shivering uncontrollably. She felt so bad she was just barely resisting the urge to cry.
Rose had made the decision to simply go back to the TARDIS without telling the Doctor when she suddenly heard his voice behind her. "Rose? Oh...are you alright?"
Rose felt mortified, kneeling on the ground next to a pile of vomit, tears pulling at her eyes as she heard the Doctor behind her. Despite the obvious evidence that she was not alright, Rose said, "Yeah...yeah...I'm okay. My stomach was just a little upset" It was a gross understatement.
Rose looked up to see the Doctor looking down at her with concern. He knelt beside her and Rose resisted the urge to cling to him and bury her face in his pinstriped suit. She wanted comfort from him and yet she didn't want him to worry. "I saw you run out of the room...you looked upset so I ran after you" he said, looking in Rose's eyes. He touched her cheek and Rose lost almost all of her resolve to not crumple into him. His hand was so cool against her burning skin. "You're so pale"
Rose shook her head. " 'M fine...really" Rose lied. She didn't him worrying about her simply because she had a stomach bug. "I just...need some sleep is all. I'm gonna go back to the TARDIS, alright?"
The Doctor nodded. "Of course...yes. Sleep is good...especially for you humans. You seem to need so much of it" He gave her a smile but it quickly faded as he sensed more was going on. "Rose...you look..." he paused. The word he was looking for was terrible, horrible, awful but he didn't say it, for which she was glad. " Are you really sure you're okay?"
Rose felt like she might simply pass out any minuet; she was just so tired. "I really just need some sleep" she lied again. The Doctor, it seemed, finally bought it.
"Alright...well...I'll walk you back at least" He said as he nodded. He grabbed Rose's arm and helped her up. Rose stumbled a little as she stood and she was glad that the Doctor didn't seem to notice. They walked back to the TARDIS and Rose resisted the urge to lean on him. She felt so weak and the walk seemed an insurmountable task; the only thing that kept her going was the thought that she would soon be able to collapse into the warmth and comfort of her bed. Along with the weakness of the walk, her stomach was also now protesting again. She felt nausea rise up again, threatening to overtake her as she saw the wonderful blue doors of the TARDIS.
The Doctor directed Rose towards her room, but Rose could tell with the battle going on in her belly that she wasn't going to make it. "Alright, bedtime for Rose Tyler" the Doctor said with a small grin as he looked her, not aware how close he was to being covered in vomit. Somehow, Rose managed to keep calm.
"Uh...actually I need to use the restroom first" Rose said calmly, feeling sweat bead on her forehead as she fought to keep it down until they got there. She pulled the Doctor in the direction of the bathroom. She felt relief when she saw the door to the bathroom and broke free of the Doctor's hold, launching herself toward the bathroom. She barely made it to the toilet in time, bile burning her throat as it came back up forcefully. She gripped the toilet as her stomach cramped painfully; she had had some awful sicknesses before but she couldn't remember ever feeling quite this awful before. Her throat was on fire from the acid of her stomach and Rose pulled herself up to the sink. She turned the water on and used her hand to scoop some water into her mouth. It felt wonderfully cool and soothing as it trickled down her throat.
"Uh...Rose?" The Doctor called out from behind the door, uncertain. "you, uh...need anything?"
No doubt he had heard her becoming sick; he sounded uncomfortable, as if he wanted to help but didn't know if Rose wanted his help. "No...uh, I'm okay" Rose said as she drank some more water.
There was a pause. "Well...uh...okay, then. I suppose I should go say good night to the Aborons, thank them for the warm reception and all. I'll be back in a little while, alright?" he called out.
Suddenly, Rose didn't want him to leave. She had been struggling to not let him know she was sick so he wouldn't worry about her, but now that he was actually buying her cover, she wanted to change it. She didn't really want the Doctor to see her in such a state of complete sickness but she knew she didn't want to be alone right now. Everything hurt and she just wanted to curl up against him weakly and soak in his warmth; right now she might just be sick enough to show her weakness for him. And right now, she was honestly a little afraid she might not be able to make it to her room alone, weak as she was.
Rose opened her mouth to tell him to stay when an undeniable cramp gripped her stomach; apparently the water had been too much. She lunged for the toilet again, holding onto it weakly as her body rejected the small amount of water she had drank. Her body felt so drained that she briefly thought about simply crumpling onto the floor and going to sleep but she was desperate to keep the Doctor from leaving.
She pulled herself up as quickly as she could and stumbled toward the door, her head desperately spinning. She threw the door open, but as she had expected, he was already gone. Feeling completely defeated, Rose leaned against the door and gave an involuntary whimper. Fatigue beginning to overtake her, Rose began to walk down the hallway, thinking of nothing but falling into bed. Her steps were slow and heavy, and the more she walked, the more her vision began to cloud. Blackness started at the edges of her vision and began to take over more and more. She was almost to her bedroom when she felt herself begin to lose the battle to stay awake; the remaining light in her vision blackened as she lost herself to unconsciousness finally.
Rose is not doing so good! Might her Doctor be able to help her? Please review and let me know what you think so far!