Chapter 10 – Smith and Jones Part 4 - Recovery

A few hours later, Rose woke up in an unfamiliar bed with the sheets wrapped securely around her like a cocoon. Not long before her eyes had finally opened had she felt the TARDIS move, where she didn't know. The entire room was quiet and Rose stumbled slightly as she attempted to manoeuvre herself from the bed. She looked around her and frowned.

Damn him! She cursed. He knows I hate the infirmary!

For Rose, the infirmary was a horrible place and it didn't help that the Doctor decided to make the TARDIS' one completely white. It had a horrible, hospital smell to it and although it contained multiple different medicines from several planets, galaxies and time periods, the entire room smelt of Earth disinfectant.

Straightening up, Rose huffed and began to make her way towards the door as her hands groped at anything they could reach for support. She groaned in frustration but continued until she reached the doorway.

Standing at the end of the hall, smirking widely, was the Doctor. His hair was more scruffy than usual, probably from the powerful tugs he gave it when he was thinking, and his tie was slightly askew. Rose grinned.

"Why are you out of bed?"

Rose rolled her eyes. "Well, sorry. I don't particularly like infirmaries- had to get out of there."

The Doctor chuckled as he made his way towards her. "Get back into bed", he whispered, eyes dark.

Rose, ever the tease, bit her lower lip and lightly traced her finger over the swirly pattern of his tie. "Make me", she challenged, watching with satisfaction as his eyes dropped to her lips and his hands darted out to wrap around her waist.

Without a moments worth of hesitation, he pulled her as close as he dared and began to lean down to connect her lips. With only a small gap between their hungry mouths, Rose's heart sped up, but the breath left her when his lips connected with her cheek as he pulled away.

Frowning up at him, Rose began to ask what was wrong when she looked over his shoulder and spotted Martha.

Wait a minute, Rose thought. Since when did Martha get inside the TARDIS?

Martha looked flushed and somewhat nervous as she shifted from her left foot to her right. The Doctor straightened up and looked her over very briefly before he addressed her. Rose however was too busy biting her tongue to refrain from saying something too colourful for Martha's Earth vocabulary to understand. Thinking about it, it was quite funny that Rose had picked up on half of the Doctor's alien curses. She had even said one of them at home when she had stubbed her toe on the sofa. The Doctor had merely gaped at her in shock, cheeks red, while Jackie had demanded to know what it meant. That day was not so fun.

"Martha, I thought you went to the kitchen", the Doctor said. Although he sounded perfectly calm and content, Rose could tell he was secretly as annoyed, possibly more so, than she was.

The brown skinned girl twirled a fallen strand hair around her finger, eyeing the Doctor not so subtly. The Doctor still failed to notice though.

"Oh, well… I was inside the kitchen but when I left the hallway was gone and I was in another. I couldn't find the way back to the console room so I called for you and made my way down here", she rushed anxiously.

Rose couldn't help but snicker quietly. For a bright girl, Martha was awfully silly sometimes.

"The console room is always down the left corridor and three rights away from the kitchen. That never changes, only the unimportant rooms move around. Mind you", the Doctor sighed. "The pear shooting range moves around an awful lot and that is definitively an important room."

The blond beside him couldn't help but giggle. When the Doctor turned back to her, Rose laughed harder. "It's true though. You're in there a lot."

Nodding with a big smile, the Doctor turned back to Martha, who was waiting down the hall awkwardly.

"I'll show you the way", Rose offered. Much to her astonishment, Martha didn't even try to mask her disgust at the idea.

For once the Doctor must have picked up on something, for he stepped forward quickly. "No don't worry Rose, I will."

Rose sighed and watched as the Doctor walked down the correct hall, beckoning Martha after him. She followed swiftly, leaving Rose once again alone.

She decided to head back inside the infirmary and get some more rest. She didn't sleep but the laying still certainly helped ease the ache in her muscles. Lucky for her, the TARDIS had managed to scavenge the book she was currently reading from inside her bedroom – which was rather cluttered – and she read that for a few hours.

After a good few hours of showing Martha around the TARDIS, the Doctor managed to sneak away to check on Rose.

Although Martha was a helpful distraction, she was also rather time consuming. Secretly, the Doctor knew he was being harsh thinking about her like that, but that was how he saw her; a friendly distraction and nothing more. Yet, Martha seemed to have gotten the wrong idea. She took his kindness as flirtation and his dismissive behaviour as denial. It was actually very annoying.

For some reason, Martha was rather intrigued by the workings of the TARDIS and wouldn't halt in her assault of questions. The Doctor, happily answering the questions with child-like enthusiasm, found that although he enjoyed finally having someone who was interested in every one of his strange machines, couldn't stand to be in the room any longer. Certainly not with Rose sitting in the infirmary alone.

So, as soon as Martha was quietly attempting to work out how to make a coffee with the 70TH century machine, he managed to slip away unnoticed.

As he made his way towards the infirmary, he could feel the TARDIS sending him both positive waves but also some negative. It was almost like she was reassuring him at the same time as sending him the mental equivalent of a scowl. Oddly enough, the Doctor seemed to understand her message; she was letting him know Rose was okay but was annoyed that he had left her alone for so long.

Understandable, the Doctor sighed.

When he got to the infirmary, the door was closed. He opened it as quietly as possible- knowing that Rose's need for rest had probably reduced her to a few hours sleep.

He looked inside and instantly smiled when he spotted Rose awake and reading contently on the bed.

"Hey", she grinned as she looked up from her book.

The Doctor nodded kindly as he stepped inside. He joined Rose on the bed, one leg slipping under the sheets and the other dangling from the bed and holding him up.

"How are you?" he asked.

Rose scrunched her nose distastefully. "To be honest? Gross."

"Why?"

She looked up at the Doctor before she shrugged. "I have no idea. I'm so tired and I feel like I have nothing in my stomach. I'm not sure why."

The Doctor frowned curiously. "Well, let's go and fetch something to eat and maybe you'll feel better."

Rose nodded, completely on board with the idea of food. Smiling, she allowed the Doctor to take the remaining needles, which had long since been disconnected from the machinery, out of her arms. He then gently took her hand and led her from the room.

When Rose spotted what was sitting outside the door for her, she burst into laughter. The Doctor chuckled as he watched Rose hold her stomach tightly.

"Oh I love this ship!" she giggled, stroking the wall as she eyes the transport the TARDIS had delivered her.

Sitting in the centre of the hallway, oddly enough, was a small pink wheelchair. It had small pink cushioned seats and even a little detachable tray which Rose assumed was for her book- not that she technically needed it.

The Doctor smirked and waved for Rose to sit down. Rose, laughing harder than before, sat down. The second he began to push her, Rose's laughter increased in volume. The Doctor simply grinned.

He loved seeing Rose like this; care free and happy. There was something in her laugh that was like a drug to him. It instantly made him happier and forced an undeniably huge smile onto his face. The sound of her laughter was like wind chimes, rich and sweet. He could live purely on the sensation he received when he heard it.

They made their way down the hallway, ignoring the random pictures that appeared along the wall. The TARDIS, obviously attempted to keep their spirits light, decided to litter the walls with crudely drawn pictures of random objects. There was a huge eyed dog holding a bone in its mouth, a Slytheen, a Dalek in a skirt, a cartoon sketch of the Doctor- 3D glasses, chucks and all- and even a small drawing of Rose in her angel pyjamas. The Doctor kept silent as he passed the multiple drawings, relishing in the sound of Rose's amusement. One Rose found particularly amusing was a cartoon drawing of Jack in nothing but boxers, holding a mop and kissing it passionately. Rose claimed it was "identical" to her close friend but the Doctor couldn't tear his eyes from her long enough to compare it to the mental image of the con-man in his head.

They eventually found their way to the kitchen, which had a huge picture of a banana on the door, and found Martha inside. She was at the table, chewing on a tea soaked biscuit.

"Oh, hi", she greeted.

Rose smiled when she spotted Martha's eyes lowering to raise an eyebrow at the wheelchair. "Transport from the TARDIS", Rose snickered.

Martha nodded but let her eyes linger on the object a moment longer before looking back at the magazine on the table beside her tea.

The Doctor wheeled Rose up to an empty space at the table and went to the fridge to grab some ready-made spaghetti. Rose beamed as she watched it warm up in the microwave, her stomach feeling lighter than ever.

She took a generous sip of the water the Doctor grabbed her and gently pecked his cheek when he sat down beside her.

"So, how come you're feeling so bad?" Martha asked, obviously uncomfortable with the silence.

Rose shrugged and prepared to answer but the Doctor did instead. "Rose hasn't been feeling normal recently. I'm not sure why the oxygen loss is taking quite such a drastic effect on her body but she should be fine after a good night's sleep."

Martha nodded again. "And the wheelchair?"

This time Rose answer. "Oh, I think the TARDIS was trying to make us laugh and though it'd be funny. She also drew some rather strange drawing across the walls."

Martha looked bewildered. "She can draw?!"

The Doctor scoffed and shook his head. "Not like what you're thinking. She can visually communicate with you through your mind and make you think the images are there. But yes, in a sense. She certainly thinks or conjures up the images and then sends them to your vision almost like an email."

Rose bit her lip to silence her chuckle. "So Martha?" Rose addressed the girl, who instantly looked at her at the mention of her name. "I assume you're a part of the TARDIS crew now, yeah?"

Martha looked determined all of a sudden but she nodded silently, ignoring the Doctor when he quietly muttered something about one trip. Rose smiled. "Cool", she said cheerfully.

"Speaking of which", the Doctor spoke up, "where would you like to go? We can go as soon as Rose has eaten and is feeling a little better."

Rose mentally checked herself over, feeling for any pain. To her surprise, there was none. "Actually", she said astonished. "I feel fine."

The Doctor stared at her in shock. "What?"

Rose was confused. "Honestly, I feel fine all of a sudden. I guess the mention of an adventure got me full of adrenaline." She chuckled nervously.

The Doctor nodded slowly, obviously not believing it. "Well, after we drop Martha off, I'll check you over again. Full body and, if you don't mind, mentally."

Rose sighed. The Doctor had been inside her head before. It was that she didn't enjoy the experience, actually the feeling of having the man she loved walk through her complicated thoughts, manoeuvring around as though he were in a maze, was somewhat… alluring. Attractive even. It made her giddy with pure excitement and desire. The Doctor was well aware of the effects the feeling had on Rose. On the occasion that he had gone into her mind, after Cassandra, the Doctor had instantly been greeted with warmth, and when Rose's body began to react to the sensation, thousands of rather descriptive and graphic pictures. At the time he had said nothing and pretended nothing happened. It was only a few weeks ago that he had actually told her about what he'd seen, much to her embarrassment.

"Sure", she muttered, sipping her tea.

When her spaghetti was eaten, the Doctor led the both of them towards the console room. Martha, still not completely out of questions, ended up spending the next 10 minutes asking the Doctor about the time machine.

Oddly enough, Rose found that having Martha in the TARDIS was quite interesting- save for the fact that the girl enjoyed annoying Rose and ignoring her presence. Martha actually brought out a different side of the Doctor, one she hadn't seen in a while. The last time she had seen him so eager to share information about his ship or his previous adventures was back when the pair were merely friends. As much as Rose loved the development in their relationship, and all the perks that came with being his unofficial girlfriend, she missed the times when they could joke and just be friends. Now, everything they did resulted in flirty smiles, words of affection or embraces. As much as Rose thoroughly enjoyed being held, comforted, kissed and adored by the Doctor, she missed their generally friendly banter.

However, one thing she didn't like at all was Martha's obvious flirting. How Martha didn't get the point that she and the Doctor were together would probably always be a mystery to Rose. The girl probably wouldn't even be acting so desperate had Rose not been there.

"Rose?" the Doctor called, interrupting her thoughts. From the way he was standing opposite Martha, Rose could tell he was uncomfortable. Unless of course he was just appreciating the concept of personal space.

When he reached Rose and drew her into his side, it confirmed his hesitance with Martha.

"How about we go to the past? The future might be a bit much for a first trip", the Doctor smiled kindly to Martha. Regardless, she looked offended.

Rose couldn't help but scoff. "My first trip we went to the end of the world!"

Martha raised an eyebrow at the Doctor while he blushed furiously. "Yes, er, well, I was testing you!"

"Are you not testing me then?" Martha inquired.

The Doctor shrugged. "You're not staying so there's not really any point in 'testing' you", he said. Rose couldn't help but feel bad for Martha; she wasn't used to the Doctor. He didn't mean it in a mean way, far from it- he was just being truthful. But by the look on Martha's face, his honesty was not appreciated.

The Doctor moved around the console. He reached under to a certain compartment that Rose was pretty sure she had never seen before, and pulled forth an old, battered book with a torn spine and folded pages. It was brown and rustic with small circular carving across it. They weren't engravings- it looks as though the Doctor had gotten a knife and carved Gallifreyan into the material. He flicked through the pages for a minute or two until he came across something he obviously found intriguing for his eyes lit up like a child's on Christmas. He slammed the book closed, sparing only a second to look down at it and check for any further damage, before he tossed it back into the mystery compartment, which then proceeded to disappear. The Time Lord had obviously gotten an idea from the book as he raced around the console, manoeuvring the multiple instruments into the right place. When he was content with their positions, he turned to the two other guests. Grinning, he forcefully pulled a lever, sending them hurling into space. Rose felt the familiar churning in her stomach (something she had long since gotten used to) and let out a squeal as she fell forward, clutching the railings. She could hear the Doctor laughing hysterically as Martha let out cries of surprise as the large time ship continued to shake and zoom about.

This was something Rose loved. The feeling of simply being in the TARDIS. It just felt like home to her.

Just to let you guys know, posting is starting to catch up on my writing. I only have one other chapter written so I may not update as frequently as I usually try to. I know this chapter is a day late and I apologize but I had a very short-notice sleep over and didn't get time.

Hope you liked this :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who