It was my turn to dig again.
The Doctor rubbed his eyes groggily and stretched. He must have really needed that sleep. But why? Suddenly, with a pounding ache, his body reminded him why. He was aching from head to toe, and he groaned as he realized he still had to go back to that blasted garden Rose had insisted they start.
It was his mistake to tell her to go to the library while he did some slight repairs to the console. He figured she would be caught up in Harry Potter, Pride and Prejudice, even, but never Gardening 101. Of course, that's what she chose.
Rose told him while they were searching for the perfect room to start planting, that she had dreamed of growing her own plants and vegetables since she was a little girl, but they had never had the space at the Powell Estate. How could he resist her jabbering? Even if she sometimes annoyed him, she was still his pink and yellow human.
The TARDIS had provided a perfect greenhouse, equipped with everything Rose would need. However, she had failed to mention before that she wanted the Doctor to help her. If he would have known that, he would have never agreed to help her search. Then again, he suspected his ship was on Rose's side.
They spent all day yesterday in the dirt, Rose talking to him nonstop to try to distract him from the pain in his knees, in his legs, everywhere. Thank God he hadn't had to dig, or else the Doctor was sure he would have blisters all over his hands this morning. But today? It was his turn.
The Doctor pulled his pillow over his large ears, and tugged his duvet as high as he could, turning away from his door. Maybe if he pretended to be asleep, Rose wouldn't bother him. Then when she went to the garden, he could hide somewhere until dinner. No such luck.
"Doctor!" she called from his door. "Come on, I know you never sleep in this late. Time to work on the garden, yeah?"
The Doctor sighed, pulling the pillow from his head and throwing it at her playfully. "How about a visit to Midnight instead?"
"Nope. Not today. Tomorrow maybe!" she exclaimed, bouncing happily on her toes.
He gulped as he saw the outfit she was in today. A pair of overalls and a purple tank top. The overall shorts were tiny, exposing inches upon inches of smooth legs, and one strap was undone, hanging off her shoulder…
"Doctor, are ya in there?" Rose teased, smiling her tongue in teeth grin, and causing the Doctor to shake himself from those thoughts. He was a dirty old man. She was an innocent young woman, and she trusted him. This caused him to feel so guilty that he jumped right out of bed, a grin on.
"You said you wanted to plant a garden?" the Doctor asked, holding out an arm for Rose to take. She giggled, and her cheeks turned the most delightful shade of pink.
"Why yes, my Doctor." He smiled at that phrase. My Doctor. She never said my Mickey, or, he shuddered, my Adam. He was thankful she had never given that good-for-nothing the time of day. Although, why she asked him to travel with them, he would never know. He told her pretty boys were trouble, and look what happened!
Rose led him through the greenhouse door, and he dreaded having to bend down again.
"Alright, let's get to work!" she exclaimed, bending over, with, he noted sulkily, seemingly no pain at all. The Doctor sighed, and lowered himself as gently to the ground as possible. He let out a grunt of pain, and held his leg muscle. He didn't realize it hurt so much until he got on the ground.
"Are ya sore?" Rose asked amusedly.
He turned his head towards her, lifting his chin to appear fine. "Nah. I'm always fine."
She raised an eyebrow and looked at his hand locked around his leg muscle. "Just stretching then?" Rose smirked.
"'Course," he said roughly, picking up a trowel from the ground next to Rose. He carefully dug out just a few grains of the dirt at a time, so as not to hurt his already aching muscles.
"Can ya go any faster?" Rose asked. "I kinda wanna be done before Christmas," she teased.
The Doctor grumbled to himself, and put more pressure behind his dig, wincing as a fresh wave of pain traveled up his arm. He dropped the trowel, and clutched his arm in pain.
"Are ya sure you're not sore?" she asked, looking concerned now. "We can take a rest today. Read in the library or somethin', yeah?"
"No!" he said quickly, causing her to look at him in surprise. "What I mean to say is, look what happened from you readin' already." He pointed at the space around them sulkily.
"Not much of a green thumb?" Rose asked.
"I prefer to buy," the Doctor admitted. "My parents, they-" He dropped his eyes to the ground, the memory getting pushed further back into his mind.
"What?" she prompted.
"Nothing, never mind." The Doctor picked the trowel back up, stabbing it into the ground and ignoring the pain in his arm. Maybe if he had just learned to be a farmer, his planet would still be there. He didn't complain anymore for the rest of the day.
"Dinner?" Rose asked, a while later, and his mind told him they hadn't eaten anything all day. He scolded himself for not stopping for Rose to eat. He was hungry, which must mean she was famished. "I'm sorry, Rose," he apologized. "I am stupid. I forgot that humans need to eat more often than Time Lords." S
he placed a hand on his arm, causing him to lose his breath for a dizzying moment. "It's okay," she reassured him. "I wasn't too hungry. Trust me, I'd tell ya."
He nodded, dropping the trowel.. He winced as the pain in his hands became noticeable for the first time that day. The Doctor's hands were covered in huge blisters. "This sort of stings," he said.
Rose hopped up on her feet, and held out a hand for the Doctor. He gently placed one inside of hers, and pulled himself up. She turned his palm over to examine it.
"Those are some nasty blisters, yeah?"
"A bit," the Doctor shrugged. "Let's go see if we can find somethin' in the kitchen."
Rose looked at him another moment before nodding, and entwining their fingers together.
...
She insisted they go to the med bay for something to heal his blisters.
"I'm fine," he told her.
"Just do it for me, please?" she asked, and he couldn't say no to that.
The Doctor rummaged in his medical cabinets for a few moments before he found what he was looking for.
"Let me," Rose said gently, holding out her hands for the supplies.
He obliged, handing her the cream and the ACE bandages. "Put some of this on, and I'll be good to go tomorrow," he promised her. "All healed."
She nodded, motioning for him to sit on one of the metal cots. He gingerly sat down, and looked at her. Rose was concentrated on her task, tucking her hair behind her ears and untwisting the cap. She squeezed out a generous amount in her palm and gently touched his hand with it. The Doctor hissed in pain, and she recoiled like he had bitten her.
"I'm sorry!" she exclaimed.
"It's okay," he reassured her. "Keep goin'."
Rose nervously moved towards him again, taking her wrist in her unused hand carefully, and rubbed the cream onto the blisters of his right hand in clockwise movements. She was careful, precise, and made sure every area of his hand was sufficiently covered. She would make a good doctor, he observed. Rose did the same to his other hand and started wrapping his hands with the bandages. She didn't ask where the safety pins were, she just knew. She reached into the jar behind her and pulled two out, quickly fastening the bandages in place. She placed a quick kiss to each one, flushing red and rushing out the door. The Doctor let out a breath he hadn't been holding, and wondered what had just happened.