A/N: Thank you so much if you're still reading this! I know there's been a stupidly long gap between this and the last chapter. Some of this was written whilst I was on a ferry across the English channel at 3:30am! So if it's bad blame the sleep deprivation :P

Thanks so much for the wonderful reviews! I was able to read them via my phone while I was away and they made me very happy :) I know I'm mean to the Doctor, but doesn't that make it more like the real episodes? :P They're always cruel to him! I mean just look at that finale…

Chapter 10

Things can't get any worse?

The Doctor's searing pain seemed to quickly subside into a dull throb, but it left him feeling shaken and weak. Rose had somehow managed to aid him down from the frozen wave – which climbing had suddenly revealed itself to be a very irresponsible idea – and together they staggered back to the TARDIS.

All the way the Doctor had muttered incoherent apologies for leaning on Rose as he stumbled along, barely conscious. She of course had told him to stop worrying about her as she dutifully supported his weight – although she secretly thought how lucky she was that he was so skinny – and that after all he always looked after her.

A good half an hour later found Rose guiding him to the pilots chair and he slumped into it gratefully with a groan. They took a moment to catch their breath, both feeling thoroughly drained. Rose watched the Doctor anxiously from across the console as he sat awkwardly in the chair.

She couldn't recall ever having seen him in such a rough state- except for perhaps when he had regenerated and it had all gone horribly wrong, and that definitely wasn't a time she wanted to be reminded of. His skin was deathly pale, and he wore a strained expression as if it were an effort for him to even stay sitting upright.

Even long after Rose had recovered from their hike back to the TARDIS the Doctor was still gasping for air. She instinctively went to sit beside him on the chair, and shuffled up to him closely so that she could support him. He looked up at her gratefully and clasped her hand in his own. Rose tried to ignore how cold he was.

"How are you feeling?" She asked him nervously.

"Um… better, I guess. I just feel so exhausted." He muttered glumly. Rose looked at him worriedly, squeezing his hand to reassure him because she didn't know what else she could do.

"What do you think it was?" She asked him softly, and the Doctor looked away into the distance. For a moment she wondered if he would even respond.

"I don't know." He said eventually, and Rose's stomach dropped as she saw a look of exposed fear flicker across his face. It was unusual for him to not even have a clue, and often it signalled something very bad was about to happen. Unless he did know something, and was hiding it from her…

Once she would have shaken this thought away hastily – the Doctor wouldn't lie to her. But he wasn't her Doctor right now, he was a different man. She clutched his hand tighter.

"Do you think you'll be alright?" she said swallowing back tears. He looked back at her quickly masking his previous expression.

"Course. I'm always alright." And with that he dropped her hand and got to his feet, walking around the console.

He fiddled with the controls absent-mindedly, trying his best to look unaffected by what had just happened. But Rose saw the way he winced as he stood, and did not miss the weary manner with which he moved. He was a mere ghost of his former energetic self.

Rose apprehensively joined him at the console, watching him with concern.

"So… where to next?" the Doctor said in attempt to sound cheery but failing miserably.

"Umm… I dunno…" Rose said distractedly; getting the Doctors memories back suddenly seemed so unimportant.

"Well it doesn't have to be somewhere we've been before does it? We could have a break, go somewhere new!" he made to dart around the console excitedly, but Rose saw the pain he was clearly suffering. She couldn't work out whether this cheery façade was more for her benefit or to prove to himself that he was okay. She could tell that this had really shaken him, and that on its own was disturbing enough.

"What about the planet Teripath? They have oceans of pure silver! Or how about Barcelona? I've always wanted to take someone there you know. Not the place mind you, the pla- arrghhh!" The Doctors rambling was suddenly cut short by the return of that searing pain ripping through his head.

"Doctor!" Rose was at his side in a heartbeat, putting her arms around him to protect him should he fall. He bent over the console in agony, his fingers digging into his skull. He slowly looked up at her as the pain faded once more, and saw the tears brimming her eyes. He knew now that there was no avoiding this. Rose definitely wasn't going to let him.

"Doctor you can't go on like this, you've got to get help!" Her voice shook as she tried desperately not to let the panic consume her.

"From who?" he replied irritably. Rose withdrew a little from his snappy response, but said nothing. He was right of course; there was no one to turn to. For a few moments there was silence, until a thought occurred to Rose which caused her stomach to turn.

"You don't think…" she trailed off and the Doctor looked up at her expectantly.

"What?"

"This couldn't be… to do with that box thing could it?" The Doctor raised his eyebrows at this.

"What d'you mean?"

"It's not some sort of side effect of using the box to bring me across the void or something? I mean it was meant to be impossible for you to reach me…"

"Nah, the memory loss was all I got from that." he said, dismissing the thought with a wave of his hand.

"But how can you be so sure when you don't even remember what happened?" Rose said desperately as her fear began to take hold. She couldn't bear the thought that the Doctor could be in this pain because of her.

"Because… that's just…" Rose's heart fell at his loss of certainty. She watched as he contemplated his situation, catching once again that small glimmer of trepidation betrayed by his eyes.

"So what was an event we visited? A specific point in time?" the Doctor suddenly cut through the silence, catching Rose off guard with the abrupt change of topic.

"What? No! We're not worrying about getting your memories back til we work out what's wrong with you!" She said defiantly.

"No no no, just trust me. Clearly what we've been doing so far hasn't been sufficient to trigger them so I figured we could try the other approach and see if that works."

"You mean going back to the same point in time?" He nodded. "But you said we couldn't, that it was too risky."

"I know I know, but this might be our only chance. We'll just have to be careful."

"All the same you're not well, what do I do if this gets worse and I can't help you?" Rose's voice wavered with worry as she looked at him, pleading him to see reason.

"Rose I'm fine, look at me." He said reassuringly placing a hand on her shoulder. At the moment at least he did seem to be better, although he was still pale and tired looking.

"But what if it does happen again? It's happened twice already." She whispered, a stray tear escaping her eye. The Doctor gave her a small smile and brushed it away from her cheek softly.

"I think doing this will help me to understand something. Please, just trust me." He spoke tenderly and with that and his gentle touch she caved. Unable to speak she simply nodded her acceptance and his smile broadened.

"So then, didn't you say we went to Queen Elizabeth's coronation?" The Doctor recalled from their conversation back on New Earth.

"Yeah that's right. We weren't actually at it though; we were at Muswell Hill you said, cause of the TV transmitter."

"Ah," He began to set the coordinates, "but can you remember a very specific area though were we both went to?"

"Well, we spent most of the time in this street, but I can't remember the name of it…" she pondered it, although perplexed as to his need for exact details. No offence to his flying but he rarely seemed to end up where he aimed for, after all they had never even meant to go to the coronation. "I dunno, we were both at the police station as well if that's any help. It was just after the coronation had been aired, you came to find me there."

"Ah! That'll do." He flicked a couple more switches before lurching the TARDIS into life.

"But hang on a minute, you said the reason we couldn't go to events was cause of the risk of bumping into ourselves, so why are you going looking for us?" She asked, mildly alarmed at whether he knew what he was doing or not.

"Yes but as long as we don't see ourselves we should be okay," he gave her a quick smile, but she wasn't entirely convinced. Nevertheless she couldn't help a smile spreading across her face at the way he seemed to always go looking for trouble, even at moments like this.

Within a few moments they had landed, and the Doctor peeked cautiously out of the TARDIS doors. After checking the coast was clear, he beckoned Rose over and they slowly stepped outside.

The Doctor had done it- they were indeed back at the police station in 1953. They could hear lots of people talking and laughing nearby, and warily stuck their heads around the corner ahead. There was a group of people standing about in the court yard behind the police station, all of them smiling and chatting happily amongst themselves.

Rose remembered this well, for she had been a part of this crowd. She spotted herself, talking to a random woman who she had befriended whilst waiting for the Doctor.

The Doctor frowned. Where was he? He was certain he had picked the right coordinates in time according to Rose's description. But suddenly there he was, appearing from around the far corner wearing the biggest grin ever. He watched himself walk over briskly to Rose, thinking how bizarre it was to be watching himself from the past that he couldn't even remember.

He saw himself sweep Rose off her feet into a crushing hug, both of them smiling like nothing else mattered in the world. The Doctor felt a little taken aback. This him seemed so happy, but he couldn't remember feeling that happy in… well years. He glanced across to see Rose's reaction as she stood beside him, and saw her also watching the scene intently, a wistful expression on her face.

Rose felt butterflies float about her stomach at the sight of her and the Doctor before anything to do with the parallel universe had happened. They were so carefree and delighted just to be together. It was like she was watching the reunion that should have been relived tenfold only mere days ago. She longed to be the Rose she saw before her, enfolded in her Doctor's arms.

As they watched – Rose feeling nostalgic and the Doctor mystified – the other Doctor and Rose suddenly broke apart from their hug, looking at each other in confusion. Their baffled expression quickly turned to one of terror, although everyone else in the crowd seemed oblivious to their plight.

"Doctor… what's going on?" Rose asked nervously as they watched from their safe distance.

"What d'you mean?" The Doctor replied without tearing his eyes away from the scene.

"Something's happening… something's going wrong, this never happened." The panic was rising in her voice.

Suddenly the other Doctor and Rose gripped their heads in pain, and within seconds they had vanished into thin air. It was as if they had been wiped out of existence. Now the Doctor shared Rose's alarm.

"What?!" He spat, his eyes wide. He walked towards the crowd, no longer caring if he was seen.

"Doctor what's going on!" Rose cried, running after him.

"It can't be!" The Doctor ignored her, spinning around on the spot searching desperately for any sign of himself or the other Rose.

"They didn't see us did they? They can't have! We were out of sight, we didn't do anything!" Rose exclaimed in shock, but the Doctor still did not take any notice of her.

"No… it's really happening, NO!" The Doctor yelled, angrily running his hands through his hair.

"Doctor?" Rose said in a small voice, reaching out to him tentatively. He suddenly spun around to face her, his face furious and she whipped her hand away quickly.

"Why would I do that? Why on earth would I have even attempted to do something like that when I must have known what could happen?" He shouted in her face and she took a step backwards.

"Doctor just tell me what's going on," Rose said firmly, and he took a deep breath to calm himself down.

"Rose… you said you saved my life…" He began, his voice shaking. She nodded.

"On the first day we met."

"But… I've had all of my memories of you wiped, as if I never met you. And if I'd never met you… I'd be dead…" Rose's eyes widened.

"But it's just memories. It's not real; I mean it still all happened even if you don't remember." Rose looked at him for reassurance but he looked away. "Right Doctor?"

"I'm a Timelord. Tampering with a human's memory is dangerous, but mess with the mind of a Timelord… " He trailed off. He turned back to her and she saw the fear in his eyes that had been flickering there for days, now revealed without any attempt by him to hide it. "Timelords are more complicated, having a connection to the time vortex itself and all that, and being telepathic. If I don't remember meeting you, then I never did."

Rose felt like someone had just dropped a brick in her stomach. She should have known something like this would happen. It had all been going too well, they'd been having too much fun getting to know each other.

"Rose… I'm fading from existence," The Doctor almost whispered it as he looked at her in terror. Suddenly the pain caught up with him once more, and he crumpled under the strain. Rose grabbed him before he fell, struggling to hold him up. "Get me back to the TARDIS, NOW!" The Doctor demanded as soon as he regained the ability to speak.

As soon as they were inside the Doctor began rapidly setting coordinates into the console, stumbling every so often from a burst of the blinding pain. The TARDIS shook as he tried to fly her regardless of the state he was in, and Rose clung on for dear life.

"Doctor slow down! Where are we going?" Rose yelled frantically over the whirring of the engines, but he didn't even acknowledge that he had heard her. Abruptly they landed with an almighty thud, which sent Rose rolling about the floor. Before she could even pick herself up the Doctor had thrown himself out of the TARDIS doors without a backwards glance.

"Doctor! Wait!" She cried after him, clambering to her feet and rushing to the doors. As she burst from the TARDIS she almost collided with the stationary Doctor, who clearly hadn't got very far.

"Doctor would you please tell me what-" Rose forgot all about what she had been about to say as she followed the Doctor's gaze, frozen by the image that met her eyes. "Oh my god…"

A/N: Little bit shorter but I wanted to make sure I got this uploaded before I go away again tomorrow. I hope it doesn't seem too rushed. I'm going to Cardiff :) Perhaps it will inspire me for my story!

Also sorry if its inaccurate, I dunno if Timelords are actually connected to the time vortex but I kept thinking of the ending of the parting of the ways were Rose has it running through her head and is all "I can see all of time and space" and the Doctor says that's what he sees all the time. Just take it all with a pinch of salt anyways ;)

I don't think there's going to be much more, maybe 2 chapters, at most 3. Unless I think of something else… Thanks for reading!