Rose.
They'd been running around on the moon of Taxon VI all day. Rose had opened the door to the TARDIS and stood gobsmacked at what she had seen. The entire moon was in the the middle of a festival and it seemed like everyone was out to celebrate.
She wasn't sure why and she didn't care particularly what for, all she knew was that it was amazing. It as almost like opening the doors and getting hit by a bus.
Everything was so vivid.
There were swirling colours and noise and smells and people and exotic laughter... She spun in slow circles gaping at all the things that now surrounded her. The Doctor laughed at her reaction but he grabbed her hand and pulled her straight into the thick of it.
It was like walking through a dream.
A bubble of laughter escaped her and she squeezed the Doctor's hand, still in hers, trying to convey everything she felt in that moment. He looked back at her and smiled, his eyes lighting up as he saw the wonder in hers. He lived for the moments like these. They spent hours there, though Rose never once stopped to think just how long.
There was always something new to experience, whether it be the food or the dancing, the people or the music. She wanted to try it all.
It was only when she sat down for a moment that she found herself unable to get up. Her bones ached and her eyes grew heavy. Before she knew it she'd closed them and was letting the music roll through her mind, feeling nothing but contented peace as she drifted off.
That was how the Doctor found her only five minutes later. In all the noise and chaos it had take him a moment to realise he'd lost her. He'd panicked for all of thirty seconds before he spotted her sitting on a bench, her head lolled against her shoulder.
For another minute there was worry. What had happened to her? Was she okay? It wasn't until he placed his hand against her forehead, checking to see if she had a temperature that she leant into his touch and let out a string of quiet nonsensical words did he realise what had happened.
He thought back. They'd been here...ten hours? And before that they'd spent their morning in Medival England... He winced as he totted up the twenty hours without sleep couldn't be good for a human.
Carefully, he slipped an arm around her shoulders and another under her knees and in a fluid motion he stood. Holding her more easily than any human could ever hope to do he set off at a steady walk for the TARDIS.
Once inside he laid her to rest on her bed and quietly shut the door. She hadn't woken the entire time. Another indication if just how tired she must have been. Only once he was back in the control room did he berate himself.
He always forgot they were human. Somewhere between the running for their lives and the laughing in the face of death he always forgot his companions were simply human.
They weren't time lords and he would do well to remember that.
Martha.
In some ways student life had prepared Martha for a life among the stars. She was adept at long days followed by short nights. She was well practiced at snatching a few hours sleep where she could and it was because of this that it wasn't long before the Doctor had forgotten her human limitations.
It came as a nasty shock when they demanded they be remembered.
He couldn't even remember how it had happened but somehow he and Martha had ended up embroiled into a nasty and brutal civil war on a unheard of planet.
Caught in the crossfire neither if them knew which way to go. Intent on getting them out the Doctor had seen an opportunity and, only pausing to grab her hand and pull her along after him, they had ran for it.
All was going well until he felt rather than saw Martha stumble behind him. He looked around and almost stopped dead in horror.
She'd been hit.
Whatever either side had been using to try and kill each other, one of the projectiles had hit Martha in the right side if her abdomen. He saw the blood and felt a rage building up though he wasn't too sure whom it was directed.
Him for dragging her into this?
Her for being in the way of the bullet or the person who had dared hit her?
He realised it was irrational but in that moment he didn't care. In hindsight, he realised that it was lucky that one of them at least kept their wits about them. It was Martha who, despite being wounded, kept running and ended up pulling him into action.
When they were sure they were both safe he had insisted that she let him help her but she had waved off his concerns almost airily with a voice that sounded so reassuringly even that he had allowed himself to be mollified. She stripped him of his tie and used it to secure a press against the injury and had stood up.
How bad could she really feel if she was the one dragging him along for the ride, he reasoned. It wasn't until they managed to find their way back to the outpost of the rebel group where he had parked the TARDIS did things start to go horribly wrong.
He had already been half through the door and Martha was saying her final goodbyes when he heard the shout of alarm go up. He turned on his heel and saw a sight he had been dreading. Martha was collapsed on the floor, her face a far cry from its usual warm tone as she stirred weakly, trying even then to appear fine, even as he watched one of the rebels lift her shirt from her stomach to reveal the blood saturated compress that was actually doing very little to stem the slow but consistent bleeding.
The man holding Martha's shirt shouted for the resident healer who came over at a run, obviously curious at the urgent cry. He took one look at Martha and turned to the Doctor. "Why didn't you bring her sooner?" He had asked.
The question hit hard.
He didn't know what was worse, the fact he had forgotten that Martha was only human, or the fact that she had forgotten too.
Donna.
He hadn't realised it as much with Rose and Martha but travelling with Donna meant a regimented food cycle. Well, maybe regimented was a bit of an exaggeration but the fact was inescapable.
When they had first started travelling together he had often forgot how often she needed to eat. She never once hurried her pace for him, even on occasion going as far to cook her meal slower. Or at least that's what it looked like to him. He soon learned not to question her.
Donna was insufferable to be around in what passed for their version of the morning before she had had at least one cup of coffee. Any attempt to try and get her do anything else had proven extremely foolhardy and at worst downright dangerous.
After one particular incident breakfast was a must as were the meals that followed. Eventually, he began eating with her though he didn't always feel the need to. Any food either of them ate was burned off tenfold but the extortionate amount of running required of them both in their everyday lives.
She never felt any shame of voicing what she needed and rightly so. Both Rose and Martha had hidden what their human nature had demanded of them, almost as if it was something shameful and not to be spoken about.
It was a nice change to have a companion who simply told him she was hungry and then disappeared off to find food.
It was nice to have someone who refused to change.
~o~o~o~
Years after all of them had left he still remembered what they had taught him. Amy had even once said that it was strange how easily he accomadated for their needs as humans when he didn't feel them.
He had smiled sadly tousled her hair and sent her to bed with a quick "Night-night Pond." She had smiled and left and he had let her, confident in the knowledge that at least for now she was safe and healthy.
When she and Rory had came down the next morning for breakfast it was to see the Doctor already sitting there, sipping his coffee, making a disgusted face at every mouthful. Neither of them asked why he drank it if he hated so, they simply accepted it as one of his many quirks. He never would have told them anyway. It served as a bitter reminder that his friends were but humans and he would do well to remember as much.
...
A/N- I wrote this a while ago and I was in two minds about whether or not to post it but... Meh. Hope you enjoyed it, if you did (or didn't) please leave a review. Merry Christmas! VE