Romeo and Juliet… and Doctor Who

Part 9

Not Again!

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Rose awoke to the feel of skin on her face. Blinking before actually opening her eyes, she shifted under something soft. And moving.

Her eyes shot open in confusion and panic, but she relaxed when she saw the Doctor above her. They were in the TARDIS, on the comfortable bench, and she was in his lap; his arms were firmly yet gently round her, snug, tight and warm.

"Wotcha," Rose whispered, smiling slightly. She grimaced. Why did she hurt so? She noticed that the Doctor's fingers were gently trailing over her face, soothing, light and soft.

The Doctor looked immediately relieved, too relieved for words. Rose leaned back into his chest, thankful for his enduring presence that made her feel so alive. She sighed softly as he gently hugged her and felt his lips brush her forehead.

"Morning, Sleeping Beauty," he whispered, pressing his cheek to hers, everything about him slow and gentle. His teasing voice belayed his concern and relief.

"Is it morning?" Rose managed, some of the pain leaving her as she nestled in the Doctor's arms, content.

The Doctor, in response, leaned down and whispered into her ear, his lips brushing the lobe gently, "Not yet."

"Then why did you say 'morning'?" Rose asked back, shivering with delight at the initiated contact and then snuggling closer to him, her nose now in the crook of his neck.

The Doctor swallowed. He had to hold himself back… but suddenly he couldn't help himself. She was teasing him, the horrid little vixen! His lips met hers and in one smooth motion he had her on the floor – then up again when she cried out in pain.

"Oh, Rose," he whispered, his voice infinitely gentle and full of concern. "Rose, are you all right? I'm so sorry, I didn't think – " Her lips were against his before he could blink and her tongue moved to explore his mouth as his invaded hers.

It was a few minutes before they broke apart for air (well, at least one of them), and Rose smiled gently into the Doctor's eyes, stroking his face as he gently cradled her in his lap against his chest.

"I've wanted that for so long," he whispered against her head, stroking her hair.

Rose laughed softly at him. "You think?" she gasped as pain tore through her.

"Rose? Rose!" he feathered her face with light kisses until she answered him.

"Yeah?" she finally answered, wincing as another wave of pain hit.

"I'm taking you to the med bay," he told her firmly, giving her no choice.

"Cheers," she murmured – before she fainted again in the Doctor's arms.

"We're making this a habit," he murmured back as he sighed, stood and hoisted her up and began to walk, kissing her temple.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Rose blinked and shook her head carefully to get rid of the groggy feeling she had. As sharp stabbing pain went through her skull she winced. "Doctor?" she called out tentatively.

The Doctor immediately was at her side, perched on the bed nicknamed as the 'med bed'. "Yeah?"

"What's wrong with me?" Rose asked him, confused.

The Doctor remained silent a moment or two before answering. "I would say that you have Rexifagilagato Syndrome. "

"How can I?" Rose demanded, sitting up. "As far as I know I'm not from Gallifrey…" When the Doctor opened his mouth to speak Rose hastily interrupted him. "And don't you dare tell me I'm really a Time Lord in disguise!"

The Doctor admitted a slightly sheepish grin. "That's Time Lady for you, Rose."

"You mean I am????" Rose asked, unsurprisingly horrified.

"No!" the Doctor quickly told her, shaking his head. "I'm not doing a good job of this, am I?" At Rose's slight shake of the head he sighed. "Thought as much." The Doctor slid off of the bed and walked around, his hands thrust haphazardly into his jacket pockets. "This is inconceivable… frankly, I'm stunned – "

"'Ang on, Doctor," Rose interrupted, a startling revelation coming to her. "Why are you walking around?! You're supposed to be in bed… why aren't you in pain? What's going on? Why aren't –"

"Shush for a mo, Rose. Trying to think," the Doctor interrupted her absently in turn, now pacing. Rose obeyed rather reluctantly, questions spinning inside of her head ferociously.

"Right. I have… decided that I never had Rexifagilagato Syndrome, and you don't either," the Doctor pronounced triumphantly after a long time.

Rose just stared at him blankly from her 'med bed'.

"What?" the Doctor asked her, scratching his ear.

"You had the idea that I did?" she asked back.

"It was a possibility…" the Doctor shifted uncomfortably and Rose frowned.

"What do you mean, 'a possibility'? If it's a Gallifreyan sickness, then how can I possibly get it?" Her eyes widened in realization even as the Doctor began to speak his next words.

"Well, it's… um…"

"Contagious?"

"Yeah."

With a sigh, Rose nodded her head. "Yeah, that makes sense," she told him absently. "You asked me to leave coz you were afraid I'd get it. Must 'av just crossed your mind."

The Doctor blinked, stunned into silence for a moment. He had been slightly afraid that Rose would be more angry at this than the book incident earlier that evening, though he was happy that she seemed to be back to normal; that incident had been so unlike her it had scared even him, a Time Lord.

"Right, so what do I have, and what do you have? I don't know about you, but I'm experiencing a heck of a load of pain right now," Rose muttered.

"Well," the Doctor turned back to the task at hand, frowning. "I don't know."

"What, something you don't know? I'm amazed!" Rose teased him despite the intensity of the moment.

The Doctor huffed. "I didn't say I know everything. I know most things," he reminded her.

"Yeah, right. So this means that it's not your average, ordinary, alien disease then, yeah?" Rose asked.

The Doctor smiled at her. "You're pretty clever for an ape."

Rose scowled. "You've just realized this?"

The Doctor was about to protest when he caught the glimmer of a smile escape her. "No. Just the first time I've voiced it," he admitted, grinning at her.

"First time for everything," Rose commented promptly as the Doctor took back his perch on her bed. "Now, before you come back with a smart remark, let's get back to business."

"You mean this?" the Doctor leaned forward and kissed her swiftly.

"Um, no, I didn't… but that was nice anyway," she murmured smiling as he moved back, grinning.

"Oh, you mean this…" the Doctor turned over to his scanner, reached over and swung it over to her bed so they could both have a look. "This is you," he began in a monotone droning voice that boring professors favoured. "Please do not touch the screen. My Sonic Screwdriver - capitals on that by the way - has made its way into your body and…"

"Doctor," Rose interrupted. "I really didn't need to know that." Even though she knew that he hadn't really stuck his sonic screwdriver that had been goodness-knows-where into her body, she glared at him. The scans he showed were really good, as if it had actually been inside her body. The Sonic Screwdriver had in fact, just been scanned over it.

The Doctor smirked and wiggled his eyebrows at her as Rose studied the scan thoroughly. He watched as she looked over it twice, thoughtfully with a slight frown of concentration on her face.

"What's up?"

"The TARDIS ceiling," Rose replied immediately and absently, without looking up from the scanner.

"Hah hah," the Doctor muttered and leaned over her shoulder to look at whatever she was looking at. "What's on your mind?"

"All it shows here is problems with the ribcage and breathing…" Rose tapped the screen with a pencil (that she had taken from behind the Doctor's ear. How it got there we'll never know) and frowned again. "That doesn't look like an alien disease, Doctor."

"You're right," the Doctor agreed. "It's not. What is alien is us getting it both at the same time."

Rose turned and eyed the Doctor with incredulity. "Are you saying that the play Romeo and Juliet has aliens behind it?"

"Well, there have been… rumours going about that Shakespeare himself was an alien…" Rose hit him in the ribs. "Ow! What was that for?" he asked.

"See? That shouldn't happen! You should be peeling over on the floor in pain because breathing hurts! Just tonight you were saying that you couldn't move! Ooh, I'm really feeling it," Rose said regretfully, touching her ribcage gingerly as she winced.

"Here, let me," the Doctor said gently as he tugged Rose over and gently began to massage her ribcage for her.

Rose raised an eyebrow but continued to allow him to do so. Finally she pulled away. "Enough. We have to do something about this – and besides, you doing that is way too weird." The Doctor grinned at her and took her hand instead.

"What do you propose we do, Miss Marple?"

"Excuse me? I prefer Herecule Poirot."

The Doctor made a wince. "You're a girl. Poirot is moi."

Rose snorted. "It's not like I can imagine you short and fat and twirling two moustaches with a French accent!"

"I beg to differ; I cannot imagine you like that at all."

"Oh, I think I left something out. Complete genius."

"Hey, I'm a genius!" the Doctor replied, offended.

"Not a complete one."

"Meh. One tries." And all he could do was shrug. With a laugh Rose tugged on his arm and the Doctor looked up at her expectantly. "So. What do we do now?" Rose glanced at him and waited with an impatient look on her face and the Doctor rolled his eyes with a groan. "Poirot," he finished, sighing.

"That's better," Rose told him, satisfied.

"Right, so what do we do now…Poirot?"

"I think we need to go ask a few questions, Hastings," Rose replied immediately, speaking with a mock French accent as the Doctor rolled his eyes at his new nickname.

"Hastings? Why can't I be the inspector or something?" the Doctor pressed, sighing again.

"Doctor, the policemen are usually jerks and Hastings is Poirot's assistant."

"He's not his lover," the Doctor replied indignantly.

Rose made a face. "When you think about it, the Inspector isn't Herecule's lover either! You're not mine," she added. With hope she mentally added with a smile, at least not yet.

The Doctor leaned his face closer. "You mean I'm not?" he whispered softly against her skin. "I thought…"

"Oh, have it your way!" Rose replied scooting off the bed before the Doctor could snog her. If he did they would be there all day.

The Doctor sighed silently and jumped off the bed, dutifully following Rose. He would let her take free rein of this adventure, he decided, and if she made any messes, he could hopefully fix them.

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A/N: W00t W00t! I'm so glad I got this chapter done and up before exams! Ta for all the reviews guys! You make my day! What does 'hits' mean? Does that mean the number of people that have clicked on my story, possibly read it but haven't reviewed? If so, I've gotten a lot! Ta again!

Cheers!