I would really like to thank 1963to2013 for being the first reviewer to this story!
Also, sorry for the HORRIBLE lengths of the chapters. On my writing software, I feel like I'm writing sooooo much, and then it goes on fanfiction and it's tiny. I'll try to fit more chapters in. Remember, reviewing fuels my muse!
"You know what the Time Vortex is?" The Doctor inquired.
"I- I've read a little on it." Tethefta tried to tell him. "The advanced parts of the hospital are trying to widen our branches into time, but we only have knowledge from old Gallifreyan textbooks. That must mean that you... You're a... Are you really?"
She took her stethoscope and felt both sides of his chest.
"Pardon my language, but no freaking way! Oh, I will get her back to you, Doctor. I will. I promise. Rose will be our priority, she has to be. Forgend, Klandid, I've got a couple of ideas. Doctor, follow me, please."
Forgend and Klandid looked as shocked as the Doctor, all three of them with wide eyes and open mouths. With newfound hope, the Doctor stood up and followed Tethefta out of the room and up to Rose's room. Forgend and Klandid followed suit, wondering just what they had gotten into.
Forgend and Klandid entered Rose's room, gingerly shutting the doors behind them, leaving Tethefta and the Doctor on the other side to talk.
"Doctor, I am so sorry. But I am determined to get her back to you."
The Doctor was grateful, but at the same time slightly confused.
"Why were you more determined after you found out that I was a Time Lord?"
Tethefta squirmed before finally saying, "I know what happened."
The Doctor looked down at the floor, having felt bad enough about Rose already, without the reminder of the scarring war.
"It's okay. It's not your fault. I just want Rose back."
"Well, I was thinking..."
That had gotten the Time Lord's attention.
"... I can make an artificial memory remedy without to much trouble. But there are ingredients that I need that we don't have, or are extinct. For instance, a dillhoffia from Earth's Eocene period would be needed, and you can get that. Same with a saxonipollis, and both banksia plants from the Pleistocene period, and... Well, you get the picture."
"Artificial memory?"
"Yeah, it's a simple concoction, really. It gives the taker their memories back for a short period of time. All the memories come to them in sort of a dream-like state, so they are not really sure they are memories. Usually, we can ask them to recount the dream, which often triggers their natural memories, snapping them out of the amnesia. It does take some time to prepare, though."
The Doctor's eyes shone with aspiration. He knew his Rose would be back in no time.
"I'll get the ingredients. Anything. No problem."
Tethefta clapped her hands together.
"Lovely!" She exclaimed.
"Now let me see Rose."
The Doctor attempted to push passed Tethefta and enter the room to check on Rose, but the nurse was surprisingly strong.
"I'm sorry, but Rose has requested to be left alone, no visitors."
The Doctor's hearts sunk.
"But I need to see her."
Tethefta and the Doctor stood in quiet, neither speaking.
"Fine. I see how this will be. I'll return when I recieve a list with the ingredients for the medicine."
With teary eyes, the Doctor turned on his heel, and started to walk away. Then Tethefta yelled to him.
"Wait!"
She ran up to him and spoke low.
"I can let you in, at night, while she is sleeping. You'd have to leave before she wakes though. I just... I know what it is like. My hus- My ex husband also got amnesia. I tried to be by his side, morning until night, but it was tiresome. I had to work. I saw less and less of him, and he decided it was too difficult to live with no memory. He decided to leave me for someone else, and start a new life altogether. I don't want that to happen to you. I don't want that to happen to anyone, ever. I'll give you a room, at the hospital, and during the days you can help me make the artificial memory. I'd still have to work most of the time, but you could keep yourself busy while you wait for Rose to return. I'll let you into her room at night, and you can stay with her while she sleeps. Good plan?"
The Doctor mulled it over for a bit. He fought back and forth with himself, until he decided a slumbering Rose was better than no Rose. He told Tethefta so, and she nodded.
"Wonderful. Here is the key to your room," She handed him a keycard. "Your room number is stated on the card. I can also have a pass made for you, allowing you to have full access to the hospital and Rose's ward."
The Doctor nodded sheepishly, trying to keep up with the nurse. Tethefta looked to the clock on the wall.
"My, how the time flies when you're with a Time Lord, eh? Sorry, just trying to make this a little easier. We have to give Rose a small neuroleptic sedative tonight, so I'll alert you when you can come in. Gives us about an hour and a half. We will try to feed some of the information you gave us to Rose, see what happens. Then we'll put her to sleep. Your card will flash yellow when you can come in. If it flashes red, well, let's just hope it doesn't."
The Doctor gave Tethefta a worried look.
"Why? What happens when it flashes red?"
"Emergency. But it doesn't happen often, a lot of times it's a false alarm, the card malfunctioning. Just swing by if it's red, 'kay?"
The Doctor stared down at the card, then slowly inclined his head in acknowledgement. He just hoped the card would never turn scarlet.
Tethefta bowed her head to the Doctor, then turned around and walked into Rose's room. The Doctor held onto the card with his life, knowing that it was now the only thing permitting him to stay in the same building as Rose, although that was too far away, in his opinion. If it was up to him, whether Rose remembered him or not, he would have liked to stay in the TARDIS with her, cuddled up in a double bed; just big enough for the both of them, just small enough for it to be intimate. He wished. Until then, he just had to wait an hour and a half. That's all, an hour and a half. How hard could that be?