Seven Days
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:This story was inspired by Catharticone, who gave me several paragraphs of prompts when shamelessly begged. She really is the creator of this story, and I'm not sure why my name actually appears as the author, except that she'd fuss. ;o) Cheers to her, as always, for her betaing and expertise.
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Chapter One:
One Long Half Day
For a moment she was paralyzed with shock. She'd seen the large, sealed glass case the moment she entered the room, but it had taken another second or two for her to accept that the body floating inside was the Doctor. How did the creature manage to capture and submerge him in the murky water? And why was he so pale and so utterly still?
As these thoughts coalesced into coherence, Rose abruptly realized what she needed to do. She was aware that the creature had slithered into the room, but that was unimportant. All that mattered now was getting the Doctor out of the aquatic prison. Lurching away from the tentacle whipping out at her, she swung her leg with all her might. She felt and heard a strange crunch as her bare foot connected with the glass, but she paid it no heed.
The tentacle slithered forward to wrap around her neck. Ineffectually she clawed at it even as she prepared to deliver another solid kick to the glass. Once more she slammed her heel against the cool surface; the vibration making the Doctor's limp body bob about in the water.
Rose was finding it difficult to breathe as the tentacle tightened about her throat. But she gathered her strength and kicked out once more. Her heel collided with the glass, and she felt the cool rush of liquid as water seeped through the crack she'd made.
Her vision was clouding, and she could not draw a breath. She fell forward as water and sharp shards gushed forth from the shattered tank.
Just as her vision began to darken at the edges, a large piece of jagged glass impaled the tentacle that held her neck, releasing her just as the Doctor's body washed by.
She saw him, through the blackness that threatened her vision, and sucked in precious air now accessible to her. Her purpose was simple: Help the Doctor.
Rising up to her knees, Rose slid herself beside him, calling his name through ragged gasps of air, her raspy voice rising in panic. He was deathly pale and she knew before her fingers touched his neck that there'd be no pulse beneath them.
"Doctor!" she cried, hands on his chest. Rose was panicked. She didn't know what to do to bring him back to her. He wasn't human, but he breathed like one, and perhaps...
Rose leaned forward, breathing air into the lifeless lungs of the Time Lord, her own need for air making her dizzy. "Doctor!" she yelled again between breaths. "Please," she whispered, her tears falling down upon his cheeks. She slumped forward, knowing she'd hear no heartbeats beneath the damp cloth.
With sheer force of will, Rose raised herself above him, shaking with emotion. "You can't leave me now!" she screamed with renewed energy as she continued to force air in his lungs. His chin was smeared with blood, and she couldn't begin to fathom where it was coming from, nor how it was flowing if his hearts were still.
To Rose, it was just something else she couldn't fix, and hysteria set in. As fear reared its ugly head, she realized that she was fighting a losing battle, one that would surely kill her as well if she couldn't pull him through.
"Breathe, dammit! Breathe!" She hit his chest hard; both hands clenched into fists, landing atop each of his hearts.
The Doctor gasped as his torso rose up slightly from the ground, sputtering water from his lips before gulping in huge breaths of air. Rose sat back on her legs in shock, hand to her mouth as she watched him come back to the land of the living.
The Doctor looked at Rose, a hand to his painful chest, and forced his way up clumsily until he was sitting, still sputtering and coughing - but alive - much to Rose's astonished relief.
"You didn't have to hit so hard," he exclaimed, rubbing his chest and grinning. His grin fell as he looked at Rose, breathing too fast and finding no humor in his statement. "It's all right, Rose. You were fantastic," he spoke softly.
She raised a hand towards him, and the Doctor watched as her trembling fingers touched his face. "You're really all right," she whispered, her voice filled with shock and astonishment.
The Doctor clasped her hand in his. "I am. Thanks to you."
He smiled, one of those smiles that bore his depth of admiration for her. She turned her head away, sighing deeply as she allowed relief to wash over her.
"Rose," the Doctor called, his voice suddenly urgent. When she turned to face him, his hand clasped her chin, holding it in place. "Your neck's bleeding."
She brought her hand up to where his eyes indicated, feeling the thickened wetness of blood on her fingers. Looking down, she saw blood on her t-shirt. Rose met the Doctor's eyes. "That's good, good it's not your blood then," she said, her fingers touching his jaw where blood had smeared across his freckled skin. "I, I thought you were bleedin' before."
"The flow seems to have stopped now, just try not to move your neck around too much before I can repair the damage. For now I just need you to take a few deep breaths and try to keep calm. We've still got to get out of here, and I'm not sure that she," he indicated the tentacled being, "is the only one here. They usually travel alone, but I won't be sure until we're back in the TARDIS."
"I don't even know where 'here' is," she told him, her eyes roaming the dungeon-like area. It all seemed a bit surreal to her now.
"Carabrellan. We landed here, oh, I'd say about eight, perhaps nine hours ago. We were going to enjoy a little peaceful excursion to visit with the locals. You said the skies were the most beautiful you had seen yet. Do you remember?"
She softly shook her head, waiting for him to continue.
"Well, that's all right. We were hardly out of the TARDIS before the ground opened up and swallowed us whole. Well, not really swallowed, but it kind of felt that way." He stood, looking around at the ceiling. "Trap door," he announced, pointing towards the upper right corner. "Dropped us down about six feet - luckily there was dirt beneath it or we could've been injured from that fall ..." His words drifted off as he realized that had been the least of their worries. "Anyway, that," he continued, pointing to their captor, "is - or was - a Globoron. They're scavengers, going planet to planet, stealing energy and emotions and brain waves from wherever they land, feeding off of the inhabitants like sitting down to a big ol' buffet. When we fell through, it must've been like hitting the jackpot, capturing me. Probably why you were put in another room for the time being, luckily for me. Greedy little mongrel wanted my many regenerations worth of thoughts and memories and everything else all stored up in here," he said, tapping the side of his head.
He sat down beside her again, rubbing a hand up and down her arm. "Did you do that?" he asked, indicating the obviously dead creature curled against the wall.
Her eyes looked back at the half-human, half reptillian creature; its tentacles curled inward, yellowish body fluids dripping from various wounds. "Maybe. It saw me when I found you and had an arm 'round my throat, but I was kickin' at the tank it had you in, tryin' to break it, and when it finally cracked, glass and water went everywhere."
"It's all right. It's over now," the Doctor said, noting her elevated breathing as she recounted the events. "Rose, we need to get back to the ship. I can look you over properly there, all right?"
She stared at him for a few moments, as if needing the time to understand his words. "Where is the TARDIS?"
The Doctor pointed above them. "Just up there. Not too far, all right?" he replied, his tone calm for her benefit. "Come on, up you come," he said as he stood, offering his hand to help her up. "Don't know about you, but personally I can't wait to get out of these wet clothes -"
He did not anticipate the scream that tore from her lips as she tried to stand, nor the weight of her body as he held on tightly when she suddenly fell over.
"Rose!" he hollered worriedly, seeing the pain clearly written on her face. He went to the floor with her, kneeling beside her as she folded into herself, recoiling in obvious distress. "Where do you hurt?"
She breathed heavily for a few seconds before forcing herself to calm down enough to speak. "'My foot," she finally hissed, her fingers wrapping around the appendage protectively.
"Let me have a look," he said, gently nudging her hand aside.
Lifting her damp jean cuff up carefully, he immediately saw the reason for her distress, not above her ankle, but below it. She'd broken her calcaneus. The Doctor closed his eyes for a moment, letting his fingers run over the top of her foot gingerly. She didn't deserve the severe pain he knew this kind of injury caused.
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