Rose
Rose is laying on her foam bed with the sheets twisted messily around her ankles. She is supposed to be dressed and had her bed made by now, but really, what can they do to her that she has not already done to herself?
Alouette, gentille Alouette
Alouette je te plumerai
Alouette, gentille Alouette
Je te plumerai la tete
Je te plumerai la tete...
She finds herself softly humming the familiar tune, and for some reason, it brings tears to her eyes.
I'm a fucking nutcase, she thinks, laughing in a way which did not exactly prove herself wrong.
Suddenly, the static fizzles in her brain once more. She bolts upright and begins shaking almost immediately.
Oh God, please no, not again, they already think I'm insane, please Doctor, just let me rest for a bloody day!
But it was not the Doctor's voice which was penetrating her skull this time. It was a woman, singing.
But something was terribly wrong. Her voice was high and made her blood chill in her veins, laced with insanity and darkness.
"Alouette, gentille Alouette
Alouette je te plumerai
Alouette, gentille Alouette
Je te plumerai la tete
Je te plumerai la tete..."
Rose sits very still and listens very hard to the voice in her head, which rang out in her mind, blocking out every other sound that might present itself.
"...Je te plumerai le nez
Je te plumerai le nez
Et le nez, et le nez
Et le nez, et le nez..."
The voice recites all of the verses, growing louder with each note, until on the last "o-o-o-oh!" Rose feels her head will burst. The woman's insane singing cuts off abruptly, and the silence and ringing that follows is almost worse than the song itself.
Rose hasn't moved at all, save for the tightening of her hands in her sheets and the clenching of her jaw as she fights to stay calm. She can't afford to have another...episode...
Thankfully, her supervising nurse, Miss Freddie, never once looked up from her paperwork during Rose's turmoil.
Rose lets out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, and slowly, painfully, unclenches her teeth and fists, and stood.
Robotically, she makes her bed and walks out of her room and into the dayroom. Her breakfast is sitting on one of the back tables, as she was not allowed into the cafeteria with the rest of the patients.
She sits and mechanically begins to eat her rubbery eggs and cold bacon. Thoughts are running through her mind faster than she can process each individual one, images and scenarios and words flashing into her minds eye and then back out.
Was it the Doctor?
Was he trying to tell me something?
Is he okay?
Did I just imagine it?
Am I insane?
Will it happen again?
Rose grits her teeth and attempts to swallow her thoughts as she swallows her breakfast. She can't afford to lose it. Not when the Doctor could be so close. Not now. She must. Stay. Calm.
And she must remember.
Doctor
"Richard."
The Doctor is using his I-am-about-to-flippin-lose-it-but-you're-more-useful-to-me-calm voice.
The violet-robed man looks up at him, smiling amiably. "Yes, Doctor?"
"Please explain to me why Rose is hearing Layla in her mind."
"Ah, Doctor, always one to question things, aren't we?" Richard has a relaxed, slightly dreamy look to him.
"Richard. Tell me why." The Doctor is visibly struggling to maintain his cool; Richard would only cooperate if he felt he had the upper hand.
"Well, in short, we are reaching her dimension by anchoring the TARDIS to her mind, which as you know is a very strenuous ordeal-"
"No, you imbecile, I know why she is hearing voices, I want to know why Layla, who is supposedly dead, is singing bloody nursery rhymes into my Rose's head!" The Doctor is shaking with rage, anger coloring his features a brilliant shade of pink.
Richard tut-tut-tuts and shakes his head. "Doctor, no matter how much this irks you, you simply cannot control everything! We are literally anchoring a spaceship onto the mind of a 24 year old girl, we are tearing her apart, surely something is going to get in sooner or later!"
The Doctor collapses into a chair, head in his hands. He doesn't say anything for a long time.
When he finally does speak, his voice is hoarse with worry.
"How close are we to finding her?"
Richard sighs, looking at the Doctor with what seemed like real sympathy and saying, "I don't know, Doctor. We just have to wait and see."
The Doctor sighs rather shakily, and retreats to his room before anyone can witness the breaking of an old man's heart.