Author's Note: Next chapter. This one takes place some time after The Invasion.
I do not own Doctor Who or any of its characters.
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Without a Sound
Somewhere in the recesses of his brain, which was currently trapped inside a throbbing head, the Doctor wasn't all that shocked that this happened.
He remembered stopping by the planet Geolous many years ago when he was still traveling with Susan. They both had marveled at the colorful flowers and the fruits hanging off every tree branch around them. The Doctor had taken a few pieces of the fruit to examine as specimens, but Susan had impulsively eaten one of them. She had enjoyed it so much, the Doctor decided that there was no harm in joining her. They ended up eating most of their "specimens" while sitting on a lush patch of blue grass and watching birds fly in loops in the sky.
It wasn't until a few hours later that they both had come down with a fever which led the most atrocious migraines they had ever experienced. For a brief time, the Doctor thought that they had been infected with some kind of mind parasite. Susan was still able to tend to the most basic operations of the TARDIS, but the Doctor had been so stricken with pain, he could barely see straight or even move.
Fortunately, the effects were temporary and subsequent tests on themselves showed no lasting effects. For a long time after that, the two of them were much more cautious about what they ate on the worlds they visited, and the Doctor made a secret vow to avoid spending any more time on Geolous.
Still, the TARDIS had a strange way of returning to planets he had visited before when he least suspected it. He recognized Geolous only a few seconds after he stepped out of the TARDIS along with Jamie and Zoe. As soon as he realized where he was, he turned around and was ready to immediately take off again.
"Oh come, Doctor," Zoe had said. "You said yourself that you hardly explored this planet the last time you were here."
"And ye said that there were no nasty beasties here, right?" Jamie chimed in. "So what's to worry aboot? It'll be a nice change from the usual trouble we land in."
"Oh all right," the Doctor finally huffed with a shake of his head. "But whatever you do, do not eat any of the fruits here. They may look harmless, but I can assure that they are not."
Jamie and Zoe both gave their word that they would not consume any of the local vegetation, and the three of them ventured out into the forest. At one point, the trees parted and the ruins of an ancient village lay in front of them. Delighted at their find, the Doctor spent over three hours investigating every abandoned dwelling. Zoe explored the ruins with him, the two of them theorizing about the culture that had once lived there. Meanwhile, Jamie wandered off by himself, admiring the mosaics on the walls for a time until finally settling under the shade of a tree to take a nap.
Eventually, the Doctor noted that Jamie had been gone for a while and went to look for him with Zoe close behind. They soon found the piper fast asleep under the tree. Zoe was about to go wake him when a loud 'crack' caught the Doctor's attention. He grabbed her arm to still her and was horrified when he realized that the slow, creaking sound he heard was the trunk of the tree breaking apart. It wasn't long until the noise woke Jamie up.
"Doctor? Zoe? What's goin' on?" he yawned as he rubbed sleep-filled eyes. "Where's that noise…?"
"Jamie," the Doctor said, edging toward the tree. "Keep very still."
"Why? What…?"
"That tree you're under is splintering from the inside," the Doctor cut in. "I've seen it happen here before. Right now, it could fall apart at any minute. You'll be crushed by those branches."
Jamie glanced up for a few seconds, his eyes widening at the thick branches drooping over his head, before returning his gaze to the Doctor's face.
"Jamie, I need you get ready to jump toward me when I give the word," the Doctor said, continuing his incremental advance. "Careful now. Keep your movements slow and quiet. That's it."
Zoe fidgeted in place as she watched Jamie shift into a crouching position and the Doctor shuffle forward until he was almost within arm's length of the Highlander. Once he was in position, the Doctor held out both his arms toward Jamie.
"Now Jamie!"
Jamie sprang toward the Doctor, who grabbed the piper with both hands and threw himself and Jamie backward just as the tree trunk split open in a burst of splinters and shards of bark. Overripe fruit that was hanging from the branches exploded as it hit the ground. The Doctor and Jamie happened to be on the ground near the spot where a large portion of the fruit landed, causing them to be splattered with chunks of the rinds and flesh. By the time it was over, the pair of them were covered in slimy bits of purplish pulp and tiny pearl-white seeds with juice dripping down the tips of their hair.
At first, Zoe's mouth hung open due to anxiety over the condition of her two friends and then in amazement at their bedraggled appearance. Her very next response was laughter.
"Och, ye think it's funny, do ye?" Jamie said, a threat in his tone. "Right, how aboot ye try a 'wee bit of this fruit yerself then?"
Zoe backed away, confident that the piper would make good on his warning, but the Doctor put a hand on Jamie's arm before he could act.
"No Jamie," he sighed. "Let's just get back to the TARDIS. I have no desire to become a meal plate for any insects that might be attracted to this glop."
Zoe giggled again, and Jamie glared at her every step of the way back to the TARDIS. Once they were inside both Jamie and the Doctor immediately went to their rooms to change clothes and clean up. Other than some good-natured jibes that were sure to pass between Jamie and Zoe for the next few hours, the Doctor figured that that would be the end of it.
Unfortunately, that prediction turned out to be overly optimistic.
After he had washed away the last remnants of the fruit away and had dressed himself in a fresh outfit, the Doctor had dematerialized into the Vortex and went to make supper for everyone. He was just finishing up and had asked Jamie to set the table when he felt his cheeks flush and the first twinges of pain in his skull.
"No, no it's not possible," the Doctor muttered as he placed a hand to his forehead. "I didn't eat any of the fruit this time and made sure not to let any of the juice or seeds get into my mouth."
Beads of sweat formed on his brow, and the Doctor moaned as he wiped them away.
"Doctor?"
The Doctor opened his eyes and wondered when he had closed them. He felt a hand on his arm and looked over to see Jamie standing next to him, concern in his eyes.
"It's all right, Jamie," he assured him. "Just a little tired is all. Let Zoe know that the food is ready, all right?"
The piper patted his shoulder and left the kitchen. The Doctor paused for another minute to compose himself before putting the food on the table.
The dinner turned out to be a pleasant affair. Zoe and Jamie teased each other much like the Doctor guessed they would, and he actually felt a little better after getting something to eat. At the end of the meal, Jamie went to his room to practice on his chanter. Zoe finished what was on her plate and offered to take care of the dishes when the Doctor groaned and clutched the sides of his head.
"Doctor?" Zoe said as she walked over to him. "Doctor, are you all right?"
"What?" the Doctor said. "Oh, oh yes. Yes, I'm fine. I'm…no, oh no…."
The Doctor closed his eyes and covered his face with his hands. He suddenly realized that, even though he hadn't eaten the fruit on Geolous this time, the juice and rinds must be toxic to the touch for Gallifreyans just the same.
"I'll be all right, Zoe," he said. "It's just that blasted fruit. Some of the juice must have gotten into my system."
"Absorbed through the skin, perhaps," Zoe said. "That's not too surprising given how you were covered in that fruit residue. Is there anything we can do, Doctor?"
"No, not really," the Doctor said. "It'll pass in time. I just need to lie down for a while is all."
The Doctor stood up from his chair. He tried to walk out of the room, but staggered against the table instead. Zoe took him by the arm and guided him toward his bedroom.
"Thank you, Zoe," he said as they walked over to his bed. "I'll just be a few hours. You'll make sure to keep an eye on the power levels in the console room and let me know if there's any change, won't you?"
"Of course," she said. "Are you sure that there aren't any medicines in the sick bay that you could take to help with your condition? I could get them for you."
"Well there is a neural relaxant I could take to help with the pain," the Doctor mused. "Could you get that for me? Third shelf of the medicine cabinet and all the way to the end. You'll see a clear bottle with round, yellow pills."
Zoe nodded and left the room to fetch the pills. Meanwhile the Doctor shrugged off his coat, draping it over a chair next to his bed. He slipped his shoes off and pushed his braces off his shoulders just as Zoe returned with a glass of water and a small vial.
"Oh yes, that's the one," the Doctor said. "Thank you, Zoe."
The Doctor shook a pair of pills out of the bottle and popped them into his mouth before taking a long sip of the water. Then he sat the water onto his nightstand and laid down. Zoe placed a blanket over him.
"Are you sure that you don't need anything else, Doctor?" she asked him. "It looks as though your temperature is elevated." She reached down and placed her fingers on one of his wrists. "Your pulses are unsteady too."
"I'll be fine, Zoe," he insisted. "I told you, I've put up with this before. It never lasts more than a few hours. Now, don't fuss me. Just let me rest."
"All right, Doctor," she said. "But I will come back in two hours to check on you."
"Fair enough," the Doctor murmured as he closed his eyes.
He listened to Zoe's footsteps as she left the room. He was grateful for the blanket she had thought to cover him with and pulled it up to his shoulders. Once he was done positioning it, he laid down on his back and waited for the TARDIS to lower the lights in his room down to dim.
'If I keep perfectly still, the pain should subside marginally,' he thought to himself. 'Yes, all I have to do is not move and not try to think too much either.'
The Doctor worked to find a good balance between becoming completely rigid and suitably relaxed. Using skills he had learned from Tibetan monks, he had almost achieved it when he heard door to his bedroom open, a sliver of light running over his bed.
"Doctor?"
The Doctor sighed. He had thought that it was Zoe coming to tell him about some issue in the console room. However, the soft, Scottish burr told him that he had a new visitor.
"I'm all right, Jamie," he said, anticipating the piper's next question. Even as he said this, the Doctor was aware that he wasn't being very convincing. If it this was anything like the last time, he was probably pale, sweating and speaking in a voice enfeebled by pain.
"Zoe told me aboot how ye were sick and said that I should stop my bagpipe playing so ye could get some rest," Jamie said as he walked in. "She said ye'd been poisoned by that fruit.
The Doctor's lips twitched as he tried to hold back a smile. He was pretty sure that Zoe had her own reasons for asking Jamie to stop practicing which had nothing to do with his condition, but he wisely decided to keep that to himself.
"Well, 'poisoned' might be too strong a word, Jamie," he said. "It's more like eating something that disagrees with you and having to wait a day for it to pass. Ap-pear-ently that fruit was more toxic than I thought."
"Och, ye must be all right if ye can still make jokes like that," Jamie said with a smirk.
The Doctor chuckled, but immediately regretted it as another spike of pain reverberated in his head. Concerned, Jamie moved closer and put his hand on the Doctor's shoulder.
"Doctor, are ye sure ye're all right?"
The Doctor let out another sigh. He was grateful that his companions cared for him so much, but having to keep reassuring them meant talking far more than he wanted to right now.
"Jamie, I already told Zoe not to fuss me," he said. "Now please, go away and let me have some peace and quiet for a change, all right?"
Jamie stared at him for another moment before looking down at the floor. There had been a flicker of hurt in the piper's eyes. The Doctor worried that he had been too harsh with him and then he realized that Jamie probably felt responsible for his current condition given how it was the result of rescuing the piper from being crushed by that tree.
"Jamie…."
The Scot turned on his heel and walked out of the room without another word. The Doctor started to get up to go after him, but even that small amount of movement created another wave of pain, causing him to moan and close his eyes again until it passed.
Just as he was about to try again, he heard the sound of boot-heels walking on the floor. He opened his eyes to see that Jamie had returned with a balled up washcloth in his hand. The piper knelt down beside the bed and gently patted the Doctor's forehead with it, the fabric damp and cool.
"Feel any better?" Jamie asked.
At first, the Doctor didn't answer, grateful that he had not hurt Jamie's feelings too much and worried that he might snap again if he opened his mouth. However, it wasn't long until he had to admit that the piper's ministrations felt blissful.
"Yes, thank you, Jamie," he murmured. "How did you….?"
"My father used to do this for my brother, Hamish when he was a bairn and used to get those pains in his head," Jamie answered. "He always said it made him feel better."
The Doctor gave a tiny nod and closed his eyes again as Jamie continued to dab his head. After a few more minutes of this, the piper stopped and put his hand on the top of the Doctor's head near the crown.
"Rest now," Jamie whispered. "I promise to be quiet, and ye don' have to say another word to me. Jes let me stay so I can be here if ye need me."
This time the Doctor did nothing to hide his smile. It was a smile of contentment, but also of wonder over how he could have gained such a friend in his random travels.
"Thank you, Jamie," he said quietly.
The Doctor heard Jamie move into what was probably a more comfortable position before becoming still, his hand on the Doctor's head. The warmth from the Scot's fingers and palm radiated into his scalp and became a soothing balm for the ache in his skull. The pain was too great for him to actually fall asleep, so instead, the Doctor let himself drift into fluid daydreams and reverie. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he heard music and felt a breeze that was fragrant with heather.
Both of them ended up staying like that for hours. A quiet moment that was only focused on the gentle touch between two who were connected beyond the need for words.
