Ten minutes later, Rose was still sitting there, thought the Doctor had fallen asleep. He kept talking to himself, but he didn't seem very feverish, and he was smiling. She heard him mumble something about chocolate, and smiled herself.

It wasn't very comfortable to sit on the edge of the bed like that, so she got up. She walked briskly to the kitchen, grabbed the best chair in there, and dragged it back to his room. That would be more comfortable.

Before she sat down again, she went to the library. She needed something to do. As she walked, she noticed that she could taste cinnamon, which was strange, because she hadn't eaten anything with cinnamon. A moment later, the answer came to her. The Doctor tasted like cinnamon. Satisfied with that conclusion, she found five books that looked interesting and were in English.

As she returned to the Doctor's room, she was cheerful, and wondered vaguely if she tasted like chocolate. Then, she arrived at the door, and froze. The books tumbled out of her hands and she stared in dismay. She'd only been gone twenty minutes—how could he have gotten worse so quickly?

But he was definitely worse. He thrashed around, his breathing uneven, and she knew that his hearts would be racing far too fast. "Doctor," she said, darting forwards. "Doctor!" She brushed her fingers down the side of his face, and jerked them back almost at once. She might have literally burned her hand. "That's not even possible," she whispered, then shook her head impatiently. For a human, certainly not, but for a Time Lord, obviously it was. Well, Time Lord or not, that's couldn't be good.

She fumbled for her cell phone and called Jackie. "Hello?" came the voice.

"Mum!"

"Rose! Rose, are you alright?"

"Yes, Mum, but I've got a really, really important question. What temperature does something need to be to burn you if you just brush against it?"

"I don't know, Rose, it's got to be pretty high! Why?"

She swallowed. "D'you know what temperature a person can die at, Mum?"

"Er—forty or fifty, I think--" said Jackie. "Rose, is something wrong?"

"Yes," whispered Rose, her voice shaking. "Yes, something's wrong. Something's very wrong."

"What's happening? Are you alright? Rose?"

"I'll—I'll call you later, Mum." Rose hung up the phone. She was shaking and there were tears in her eyes. No. No, no, no, no, no...

"I can't break down," she whispered, trying and failing to be strong. "I can't now, not now, I can't break down, c-can't...no, I can't do this, I really can't..." She rubbed her eyes with her hands. "I've got to, though, I can't not do it." She laughed bitterly. "Can't do it, can't not do it. I'm trapped, aren't I, TARDIS?"

She tried to think what she could do, but her mind was drawing a blank. "Doctor," she said, "can you hear me?"

"Rose," he whispered. "Rose...I can't...please, no, not her, not Rose, take me, kill me, but leave Rose alone..."

"Cloth," Rose said to herself. "Doctor, I'm here. I'm right here. I'll be back in just a minute and I'll make it better."

She got up. "I need some sort of cloth. TARDIS?"

There was no answer but a rumbling sound. No help there. How thick are you? She can't talk! She'd have to do this herself. There was a clean dish towel in the kitchen, and that was close. She went there and soaked the towel in icy-cold water. For the final touch, she wrapped some ice in it. That would do it.

She marched back to the Doctor's room. "I'm here," she said, her voice shaking. "Don't die. You've got to live. Please...for me."

An hour passed, two hours, three. The lights dimmed until it was very dark—nighttime. Rose completely ignored the change, except to tell the TARDIS, "I need some light please, thanks." She stopped counting the hours. The lights came on again. It was morning back home. She sighed, half-closing her eyes, but not daring to fall asleep.

"Rose?"

Her head snapped up. "Yes?" She had to focus to stop from losing herself in his eyes. You silly lovebird, you!

He blinked at her, confused. "Why are you here?"

"I live here, silly."

"Not in the TARDIS—here, in my room."

"Don't you want me in here?" she asked, standing. "I can go, if you like."

His hand shot out faster than she would have thought possible. "No! No, don't—don't go..."

She smiled and sat back down. "I won't."

"What time is it?"

She looked at her phone. "Er—eight in the morning."

"How long have you been in here?"

"Since...last night. I think."

He nodded, still disoriented, and ran his hand over his face. "I've got water on my face," he said.

She laughed. "So you do."

He shook his head. "Ow," he complained. "I'm thirsty. Go get me something."

She smirked. "Oh, but to do that, I'd have to leave, now, wouldn't I?"

He frowned. "Can't have that, now, can we?" he murmured. "I suppose I'll just have to die of dehydration. Probably less painful than dying of lack of Rose..."

"Oh, but if you died of dehydration, I would die of lack of Doctor," she said in mock terror. "That would be awful!"

"Well, then, we seem to be in quite a conundrum," he said, grinning. "How shall we solve this one, then?"

"I'm not sure," she said. "Does this help?" She kissed him.

He looked dazed, but grinned even more broadly. "Not really, but thanks anyway."

Rose giggled and brushed his not-ginger hair out of his eyes. "I really should--"

She never finished what she was about to say. An alarm blared loudly, and the TARDIS jolted to the side. Without realizing it, she grabbed the Doctor's hand. She knew what was happening.

The TARDIS was under attack.

A/N: And you probably all thought that it was going to be a whole chapter of complete fluff! That's where I leave you, with the devastating knowledge that something terrible that threatens both of them is coming! Muahahahaha, I'm so evil!

So, like it? Dislike it? Going to die if I don't post the next chapter soon? Too much fluff? Just right fluff? Review!

-SS-