Thanks for the reviews, it means a lot to me to get feedback. I'm in the Gcse couple of weeks now, so don't hold your breath for an update. But, my god, I just watched 42 and it got me back writing this. Go David Tennant!
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Rose watched anxiously as Jack set the Doctor down gently on her bed; from the slow steadiness of his breathing she guessed he'd fallen asleep. Fallen asleep or just blacked out from it all. He was so pale, and in the feeble bulb light of her room she could see the thin film of sweat on his forehead.
He had a fever all right, but could they risk giving him anything for it? He'd told her once that human medicine didn't agree with him. Something like aspirin, or was it paracetemol… Oh this was hopeless, if he'd just wake up and tell them what he needed, tell her how she could help – but no, he'd gone and collapsed and left them alone. Stupid, stupid, ignorant alien!
She put a hand to her head, slumping slightly. What was she thinking, she wasn't angry with him. Maybe it was easier to be angry when there was nothing else she could do.
She wanted so badly to get on the bed beside him and curl her arms protectively around his chest to take away the pain. There was no way she was going to let anything else hurt him.
"What do we do now?" Rose asked quietly.
Jack didn't know how to answer her, she knew from the way his eyes flicked worryingly over to the Doctor and back to her; instead he just took her hand in his and gave it a small squeeze.
"I'm guessin' he doesn't want any tea then," said Jackie, holding two mugs of the steamy liquid, as she poked her head around the door. She sighed as she saw the bedraggled Time lord lying on top of the duvet. "I told him he was looking a bit peaky but he was 'aving none of it!"
Jack slipped an arm around Rose's waist and cuddled her close. "He'll get better though, you know what he's like."
"Yeah, tough as old boots." muttered Jackie, handing him a mug, "Let's try and give him some tea, Rose. Worked the last time didn't it?"
Rose nodded numbly, taking the tea after wiping at her eyes frustratedly to get rid of the tears. "We need to wake him up to drink it." She said, hating the way her voice cracked slightly, betraying her worry.
"Well, I'm not doing it," Jackie said, frowning, "I don't want a cranky alien on my hands!"
Rose tried to smile at her other's attempt at lightening the situation, but all she managed was a quirk of her lips before she clambered onto the bed beside the resting Doctor, careful so as not to spill the tea. "Doctor?" She brushed a hand against his burning forehead, "I've got some tea, wakey wakey." There was no response, so she set the mug down on the bedside table and patted his face lightly with the palm of her hand, "Come on Doctor, if you're lucky Mum might even get you some biscuits." The Doctor's head lolled onto the pillow, eyes closed, skin beyond pale, "chocolate digestives?" Rose pleaded shakily.
There was a comforting hand on her shoulder and she looked up to see Jack's consoling gaze, "Let's leave him for a bit Rose, I'm sure he's just conked out. Must be exhausted."
"Yeah," she mumbled, biting her lip, "You're right." He had to be right.
"It's getting late love," Jackie said, "why don't we all get some sleep? He'll probably be fine come tomorrow, annoying the hell out of us as usual."
Rose laughed a little and nodded, tucking her legs underneath her as she sat on the bed. "Mum, d'ya mind if I kip here tonight… in this room?" she glanced at the Doctor, who looked positively dwarfed in the massive bed and duvet cover, "Just to keep an eye on him you know."
Jackie gave her daughter an understanding smile, "No funny business mind, I'll make up a bed for you."
"And uh if it's not too much hassle," Jack said, with an exaggerated yawn and stretch of his arms, "I'll take the sofa. Haven't roughed it in a while, so it should be fun."
Rose hugged her arms, she knew that Jack meant that he didn't want to leave the Doctor. She almost wanted him to stay with her, stay with her and the Doctor and make everything okay. He'd be just down the hall.
"You can have my room if you like." Jackie smiled, taking Jack's cup of finished tea off him and accidentally brushing his fingers.
"Oh, I couldn't do that."
"Yes you could."
"And put a lovely lady like yourself out of a nice warm bed?"
"… Who said you were putting me out?"
Rose widened her eyes and turned to the pair of them. "Mum!"
"All right," Jackie said with a roll of her eyes, "I'll go get you a duvet."
…
The alarm clock next to her bed read '2:53am' in block red numbers, it was the only light, buzzing softly in the gloom, but for a sliver of moonlight that fell from the window.
Rose sighed, pulling the duvet around her shoulders and trying not to doze off. She could hear Jackie's snoring through the thin wall to her right, and Jack's soft breathing from the sofa down the hall. The Doctor didn't seem to make a noise at all, and she lay on the floor gazing at his still form as if willing his chest to keep up its steady rise and fall motion.
The darkness layered everything with a fuzzy mist, and for a spilt second Rose thought the Doctor's chest had stopped moving completely. Her heart sped up and she sat up with a jolt.
"Doctor?" she whispered fretfully.
Her eyes adjusted slightly and she could see the pyjamas they'd managed to dress him in hitch with his slow breathing. Jack had taken delight in being the only male, and so he claimed, the only one with the right to dress the Doctor into pyjamas. Much to Jackie's disappointment, he'd managed to change the unresisting Timelord while she was helping to make up the beds.
Rose settled back into the make-shift bed with a relieved sigh. This was silly, he was going to be fine - he was always fine.
And yet deep down, she knew that he wasn't.
Her eyelids drooped and she covered her mouth as a yawn escaped her. She didn't want to fall asleep, she couldn't, what if the Doctor needed her during the night? What if he stopped breathing? What if he woke up and she wasn't there to comfort him? What if… What if…?
She snuggled her head into the pillow, eyes closing all of their own accord. The last thing she saw before sleep smothered her was the Doctor turn his head slightly towards her. His forehead crinkled faintly as he took in a deep breath.
And then she drifted off.
Rose swore she'd only let her eyes close for a few seconds, a few seconds, that was all! But when she woke up, sprawled next to the Doctor's bed with the duvet coiled around her legs, the morning sun was already filtering through her window.
Maybe today they could find out just what exactly the Doctor was suffering from. She and Jack could take a look into the Tardis, even without the grumpy Timelord's permission.
Rose ran a hand through the tangles in her hair, and stood up hastily, rubbing at her eyes. She turned to take a look at herself in the mirror. Just as she thought, a night on the floor hadn't done her any good. She needed a shower, desperately.
Frowning at the bags under her eyes she was about to traipse off to the bathroom when she caught sight of the bed behind her in the mirror. The bed that should have had a resting Timelord in it. The bed that should have had a resting Timelord in it, but didn't. She swore, spinning around to see that the bed was indeed empty; the sheets twisted and crumpled, with no sign of the Doctor anywhere.
"Jack!" she yelled.
…
"All right, just don't panic." Jack started calmly, although he felt anything but, "I'm sure we'll find him Rose. He can't have gone far."
"Someone must have taken him. He couldn't even stand on his own yesterday – Oh god Jack what if someone gave the Tardis a virus on purpose? What if they wanted the Doctor and we just left him in bed and now they've gone an' taken him away from us – he's ill for god's sake!"
"Wow Rose, just breathe!" Jack admonished, putting his hands on her shoulders to steady her, "I'll go look for him, and you stay here with Jackie."
Rose glowered at him, "No way. I'm coming too."
Jack did his best to look sympathetic, "Rose, as much as I'd love you to come with me around London dressed in flying sheep pyjamas…" Rose looked down at herself at that and blushed, "I think I can handle it."
Rose sighed frustratedly, of all the times to be wearing cute animal nightclothes. "Fine." She grumbled, "You go on ahead and I'll catch you up as soon as I'm changed."
"No problem, we'll be back before you know it." And then Jack was gone, the door to her bedroom swinging shut behind him with a soft click. Rose stood, hugging her arms for a moment and waiting for the slam of the front door.
The footsteps backpedaled, and she heard someone exhale noisily. And then her bedroom door opened again, much to her surprise.
She looked up, hazel eyes laced with confusion, "What is it? I could've been changing you know."
Jack regarded her with an amused expression, eyebrows raised, "Rose… Why didn't you think to check the kitchen?"
She followed him out, and low and behold, there was the cause of all the trouble. The Doctor was lying, back sloped against a cupboard door, eyes closed with a box of PG Tips clutched in his fingers. He looked so incredibly sweet that Rose couldn't help a small smile, "Looks like he was trying to make a cup of tea." she said to Jack, a little apologetically.
"The one on the bedside table was cold." The Doctor mumbled in response, eyes still closed, "had bits floating on top of it too… not pretty."
"Oh you're awake are you?" said Jack, "Rose was scared out of her wits thinking you'd been kidnapped. Get back into bed."
"Can't." His eyes opened for a minute; the dark orbs fever bright and shimmering. Jack's concern came back full blaze, for a moment the Doctor had acted like he usually would, but in the blink of an eye he was back to the vulnerable state. He wasn't even bothering to hide the flush in his cheeks, or the heave of his chest as he forced in another difficult breath. He just sat dejectedly on the kitchen floor, making no move to get back up. "Much… much too hot…. Why is it so warm in here? Don't you primitive humans have air-conditioning?"
Yes they did have air conditioning, just not at this time in the morning. "Well if you'd let us take you back to the Tardis I'm sure she'll help you Doc." Jack's eyes pleaded, "We'll just get some medicine, just tell us which ones, and then we'll pop right back out again."
The Doctor laughed breathily, "No can do Captain, you can't get into the Tardis. I've hidden the keys!"
Jack knelt on the floor with a frustrated shake of his head, placing a hand on the other man's forehead and recoiling almost instantly in shock. "Rose, we've got to get his temperature down!"
Rose looked down at him confusedly, "What do you mean?"
Jack was stripping the Timelord of his nightshirt hurriedly, no time for pleasantries. The Doctor blinked groggily at him in distress - "… hey, what're you doing? Get your mitts off me…" - Any other time and Jack would've been glad to take off the Doctor's clothes, but in this situation nothing erotic even skimmed through his mind.
Well, nothing too erotic, anyway.
"We've got to reduce his temperature – have you-" a hundred different scenarios spun through his head, and he grasped onto one desperately, "have you got a bath in this flat?" It was a long shot but they couldn't get into the Tardis thanks to the Doctor, it was probably the only thing they could do. In any case, it was the only thing he could think of.
"Yeah," Rose answered, confused, "why?"
"Go fill it with cold water. I'll be there in a minute."
Jack lifted the Timelord up as he had done the previous night, hoping that it wouldn't be a common occurrence. He was much heavier than he looked. The Doctor's skin burned against his and he hurried to the bathroom, stumbling slightly as the Doctor's hand came up to claw at his shirt.
"Jack," he heard him groan softly, fingers grasping his top as if it were a lifeline, "It hurts."
Rose had already filled the bath half full with cold water when he got there, and Jack didn't bother with the rest of the Doctor's clothes, dumping him into the tub and sloshing the cold water over him with cupped hands.
The Doctor opened his eyes drowsily, laughing as he wiggled a toe out of the water, "I'm in the bath…" he frowned, leaning his head against the side of the tub, "where's my duck?"
Jack didn't respond, turning the taps on by the Timelord's bent knees. More cold water. It needed to be colder.
"Rose, I'll be right back." He glanced up at her as she did her best to wring out a cold flannel, holding it against the Doctor's neck, then chest and shoulders in an attempt to quench the fever burning through his skin.
He gave her a reassuring smile then darted back to the kitchen. Something cold, something cold - the freezer! He heaved open the freezer door and yanked out the ice cube tray hurriedly, shards of ice spraying out at his fingers in his haste. There was a bag of frozen peas which he took too, but he didn't think Jackie would be too happy if he pinched anything else. They'd only just met after all.
He kicked the freezer door closed with a foot, biting his lip as the frozen objects bit into his skin and he ran back to the bathroom.
The Doctor was giggling now, splashing his long limbs in the undersized tub as Rose looked at him helplessly, "Whass that you've got there?" the Timelord slurred, breathing faster now, breath coming out in short gasps as his fever worsened. Jack couldn't tell whether that was sweat beading on his forehead or water. He hoped it was the latter.
"It's ice Doctor," he replied, getting down on his knees beside the bath and ignoring the puddles of water soaking into his trousers, "we're going to cool you down a bit."
"But I feel great, no ice for me," he gave Rose a winning smile, "Tegan wants some though, don't you? Tegan..?"
"Doctor, my name is Rose." Rose said smoothing his hair back with the newly wetted flannel, eyes welling up again.
Jack plopped the ice cubes into the bath, causing the Doctor to shiver and squirm away from the ghostly blocks beneath the water. "Don't let them get me, you've got to help!"
"I'm trying to help Doctor. If you'd just hold still for a minute!"
The Doctor's shivers became more pronounced, and he hugged his knees against his chest. Jack turned off the tap, pushing the suddenly more submissive Doctor back into the water. The Timelord stilled for a moment, letting the freezing water lap over his body before blinking up at his companions as if only realising they were there.
He coughed, back spasming as he forced the air from his lungs. Jack let out a relieved sigh, bringing up the bag of frozen peas and laying it over the Doctor's head. He groaned in response, dark eyes flicking to his surroundings, "I'm… in the bath?" he inquired confusedly, "Jackie's bath?"
"You've got a fever Doctor, we've got to reduce your temperature." Jack explained, scooping up the icy water over the Doctor's shoulders.
The Doctor nodded, curling in on himself as his back shuddered against the rim of the tub, "Oh Jack… R-rose." His teeth chattered uncontrollably, "I'm s-so sorr-ry."
"Shh, Doctor, it's all right. You'll be fine. You've got us." Rose soothed. She couldn't help the ache in her heart as she looked at him, shivering and soaking.
"N-no… it's g-getting worse. Much w-worse."
Just what did he mean by that?
There was sudden creak and they all looked up as Jackie Tyler pushed open the bathroom door.
Her blue eyes widened as she took in the scene. There appeared to be a half-naked, shivering and bedraggled looking Doctor in her bathtub with a packet of thawing garden peas sliding slowly off his forehead.
Her ice cube tray lay forgotten and empty on the lino beneath her feet.
And to top it all off a flustered looking Jack and Rose looked up at her uncomfortably, dripping with water and looking, for all the world, like they'd been dragged through a bramble bush backwards.
She sighed, "Missed all the action then, did I?"
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Thanks so much for the people who added this to their favourites/alerts. It's nice to know people enjoy reading this load of drivel lol! More soon, hopefully x
