Prompt from develish1 on Bad Wolf Rising, to write a fic based on an exquisite piece of fan art entitled Briar Rose, by the-untempered-prism, which may be viewed at deviantart. (Many apologies, but this site is simply not letting me post a direct link)

"Professor! I think he's wakin' up!" a youthful voice shouted, far too loud, and far too close to the Doctor's pounding skull.

"Volume, Ace," the Doctor muttered, then his eyes shot wide open as his battered synapses processed exactly what he'd just heard and said.

"Easy there, lad," one of his own past selves soothed in a voice with a slight Scottish burr, pressing him back against the diagnostic bed.

The Doctor stared in disbelief from the slightly portly man in the question mark jumper to the feisty teenaged girl and he groaned. "You - her - how?"

"Psychic scream, my boy. Powerful enough to knock me right off my feet. I'm guessing that was you. Your friend is human -"

"ROSE!" the Doctor cried, brushing off the restraining hands and stumbling to his feet. His legs didn't want to hold him, and he would have fallen if Ace and his former self hadn't grabbed his arms. He stumbled over to the other diagnostic bed with their aid.

"Ace, fetch a chair, quickly!" the Seventh Doctor snapped.

"Thanks, Ace,' the Doctor muttered, sinking into the seat gratefully. His eyes, indeed all of his senses, were trained on Rose's unmoving form. He could hear her respirations, and the beat of her heart, but she was so still.

"Professor, how's he know my name?" he vaguely heard Ace ask, only to be hushed by his former self.

The Doctor noticed that his long brown coat was draped over Rose, and he shot his counterpart a questioning look.

"She felt a bit cool," the other Doctor explained. "I put your coat on her until we could find a proper blanket, and well…it seemed as if her vital signs got a bit stronger, so I thought it best to leave it." He shrugged sheepishly.

The Doctor reached out and gently stroked Rose's arm. "How did you find us?" he asked.

"As I said, I experienced a very powerful psychic distress call. We came to investigate and found your TARDIS adrift. We towed you to a nearby moon and came aboard. Good thing the old girl still recognizes me."

The Doctor dragged his hands through his hair as he moaned in pain. "Paradoxes. Splendid."

"Least of our worries, right now, I'd say. What do you remember?"

"We landed on what I thought was an uninhabited asteroid, except that it wasn't an asteroid, it was actually an extremely powerful telepathic, well, I guess vampire, would be the closest word. It could make your fantasies and dreams and wishes come to life all around you - while it siphoned off your life force. By the time I realized what was happening, it had already sunk itself into Rose's mind. I grabbed her and ran for the TARDIS. The alien was trying to take her, too. The last thing I recall was trying to send us into the vortex…"

"When we found you, the TARDIS was adrift, but she was already starting to recover. So were you."

"And Rose?" the Doctor asked urgently.

"Best to show you, I think," the other Doctor replied. He reached up and set one hand gently against Rose's temple, nodding for his counterpart to do the same. "I, er, wasn't meaning to intrude, you understand. I was merely trying to determine the extent of her injuries…"

"Of course."

Both Doctors closed their eyes, reaching out to find Rose's mind. Instantly, they found themselves in a fairy tale forest. A glorious, golden castle crowned a hill surrounded by a towering hedge of roses. The blossoms themselves were a lush pink, dewy and fragrant, but the canes were thick and impenetrable, and featured formidable thorns. A detail that the pinstriped Doctor discovered the hard way.

"Thoughts?" his counterpart asked.

"I told Rose to imagine a wall around her mind. It looks as though she took that literally. Let's get back."

The Doctor opened his eyes, and found himself back in the medbay, with Ace staring at them curiously. He grinned at her affectionately. "Ace, why don't you pop along to the galley? I'm pretty sure there's a plate of bacon sandwiches in there somewhere."

Her eyes brightened, and she looked to her own Doctor for approval. He nodded, and she wandered off in search of food.

"She still have that baseball bat?" the Tenth Doctor asked, absently taking one of Rose's limp hands and cradling it between his palms.

"And the nitro nine. Despite my best efforts." He chuckled indulgently, for a moment, then sobered as he turned his attention back to Rose. "This young lady…I'm sensing that she's rather more than just another traveling companion."

The older Doctor nodded, swallowing harshly. "She's…a piece of my soul, that I never realized was missing, until the day I met her, and she took my hand… I have to get her back. Have to."

"Then we shall." He paused then, carefully considering his next words. "You understand, before I took the liberty of looking inside her mind, I tried everything possible with this equipment."

"I thought as much," the pinstriped Doctor said quietly. He was steadier on his feet now, carefully scanning the readouts of the equipment that monitored Rose. "Physically, she's stable. But her mind…"

"That alien terrified her. She escaped the only way she could - deep inside her own psyche."

"D'you think she can find her own way out again?"

"I think you're going to have to go in and get her," the Seventh Doctor said kindly.

The Doctor glanced helplessly around the medbay, as though seeking inspiration. "Surely there must be something here -"

"I've tried everything here," his former self reminded him impatiently. "No," he continued, in a much more gentle tone, "a princess locked in a tower…I'd say that's a job for a prince. Oh, I'll help you, of course, but I think this one is entirely up to you."

"I am not a prince."

"Oh, I think you are, to her."

"I want to help," Ace said earnestly, peering in from the doorway, where neither man had noticed her standing.

The two Doctors exchanged glances.

"I want to say it's too dangerous, but that's never meant much of anything to her," the Doctor in the pinstriped suit fretted.

"She can be quite resourceful, you may recall."

"Why do you want to help, Ace?" the Tenth Doctor asked rather intently.

"Because she's your friend, just like I'm his, and you need her. You're no good on your own."

"Flattering as ever. Oh, how I've missed you," the Doctor said warmly.

"You're him, aren't you? From the future or somethin'?"

"Something like that. Best not to think too much about it."

"So I can come, then?"

"Yeah. 'Course you can." He stopped near the head of the bed, his gaze focused on Rose's too-still face.

The other Doctor noticed. "Come here, Ace," he called, stepping across the room to give his counterpart some semblance of privacy. "I want to…erm, explain what is going to happen."

"Huh? Oh, sure, Professor," she replied, following him.

The Doctor carefully laid down Rose's hand, tucking her arm back under his coat. He stroked her cheek tenderly, noting her pallor, and unnatural coolness. "I am so, so sorry Rose. I will fix this, I swear I will, but I need you to hang on for me, all right? 'Cuz I'd be lost without you."

He tucked his coat more firmly around her body, rubbing up and down her arms lightly, as if to impart warmth. He bent and pressed his lips fervently to her forehead. "I'm coming to get you, Rose," he vowed.

The other Doctor glanced over discreetly and saw him scrubbing his hands roughly over his face. "Are we ready, then?"

"No time like the present," the pinstriped Doctor replied, with one final, lingering glance at Rose's unconscious face.