The Doctor stared at the new arrival as if he'd seen a ghost, and had to grab the console for support when the TARDIS hit what felt like particularly bad turbulence. The shaking stopped after a couple of minutes, and he looked at the monitor to see what had happened.
"Doctor? What was that?"
Donna was kneeling next to the blonde girl.
"It looks like the
TARDIS reacted to something. I think it has something to do with
her."
"Does your ship do that a lot?"
"No, not really… although with Jack, she went all the way to the end of the universe…"
"The end of the universe?"
"Yeah." He saw her expression. "Oh, we're not there now. We're in Cardiff."
"Again?"
"Yeah. I
do end up here a lot…"
"So, what about her? Do you know her?"
He walked over, and knelt at her side. "Oh, yes. And she shouldn't be here. She's not even meant to be in this universe." Donna raised an eyebrow. "Don't ask. A very long story, that one."
"Doctor… is this… is this Rose?"
"How did you guess that?"
"You told me about her, when we first met, remember? You said she'd gone away."
"She had."
"And now she's
back."
"Well… uh, yeah…"
Rose stirred, attempting to pull herself into a sitting position. She looked up at the Doctor, frowning slightly as if she couldn't quite focus. "Doctor?"
That was all she managed to say before she fell backwards into the Doctor's arms, unconscious. At that moment, the door burst open and Jack ran in.
"Doctor? What's happening…." He saw Rose slumped in the Time Lord's arms. "Is that…."
"Er. Yes."
"What…um, is she okay?"
"I don't think so. She was conscious a moment ago, then she just collapsed."
"Right. I'll get Martha up here." Jack touched his headset. "Martha? Yeah, we've got a problem up here… I need you up here with your med-kit right now." He went over to the Doctor and Donna. "So… how is she here? I thought… you said she was trapped."
"She was. I found something. It looked like a rift in the Vortex. Then there was a bright light and she was just lying in the middle of the floor."
"That's weird."
Martha came in, medical kit in hand. "Okay, what's wrong?" She saw Rose lying on the floor. "Is this the patient?" She knelt next to Rose.
"Yeah." The Doctor looked uncomfortable. "So… how's Torchwood working out for you? Jack treating you okay?"
"Oh, yeah, it's fine. Everything's good. Hard work, though." She did a quick examination, and a few moments later she told Jack and the Doctor to get Rose somewhere other than the floor – which ended up being the TARDIS' med bay. When she was comfortable and connected to various monitors, they went to talk, leaving Donna to keep an eye on Rose.
"Well? Is she okay?" The Doctor looked frantic.
"No. No, she's not okay. She's hardly breathing, her blood pressure and heart rate are really not good. And she's still unconscious, which is not a good sign."
"Prognosis?"
"Honestly? You won't like it."
"Please."
Martha took a deep breath. "You should be prepared for the worst."
Jack was looking more and more concerned. "Which means what, exactly?"
"It means, if you have anything you want to say to her, do it now. Unless there's something tucked away in here that can help her, she doesn't have long."
"She's dying."
"I'm sorry."
The Doctor leant against the wall, staring into space as if he couldn't quite process what Martha had told him. Jack reached out, touching his arm, as he turned to Martha.
"Do you have any idea
why Rose is in such a bad way?"
"I… wait, Rose? That girl…
that's Rose?"
"Uh-huh." Jack nodded.
"Oh, god. I'm sorry… uh… well, she came through the Vortex, right? It must have been that. She must have only been in the Vortex a short time, or she wouldn't have made it through alive at all. Doctor… I'm sorry… I don't know how I can help…"
"It's not your fault."
"Still… hang on…"
"What?"
"Time Lords are
physically more robust than humans, yeah?"
"Yes, but I don't
see what that has to do with anything…"
"Doctor, I'm
sorry… but this is the only thing I can think of. And you're
really not going to like this. Jack, come on… we need to get Rose
back into the control room, now." As Martha and Jack turned to
re-enter the med bay, the Doctor stopped them.
"Martha… what
are you doing?"
"The only thing I can. And we need to do this fast, or it'll be too late."
As they carried a still-unconscious Rose out, the Doctor stayed where he was. He didn't know what Martha was planning… but then he was too caught up in thoughts of Rose… of how he'd got her back, only to have her snatched away again. Suddenly, something Martha had said made sense to him, and he knew what she was going to do. He sprang to his feet and ran after them, followed by a rather confused Donna.
A/N: What's Martha up to? Anyone who guesses right gets a virtual cookie.
Here's a quick teaser for the rest of the story…
There are going to be babies later in this story. Many babies. All of whom will be adorably cute.