Rose stood in the TARDIS control room staring at the shirtless Doctor, who was running his hands very carefully over the bright red lines crossing his torso. They looked like they'd been etched into his skin, kind of like someone had drew them- not onto, but into his skin- with the sharp tip of an old-fashioned calligraphy pen.

Though the marks on his skin weren't the only reason that she stood staring. She quite liked the way he looked without his shirt on...

At the sound of the Doctor's voice, she jerked herself back from her thoughts. She frowned though; she must not have heard him right, because what he said did not register with her as any word she knew...

"What?" She asked.

The Doctor turned to her and mumbled, "Nothing. Rose-"

"What did you say?" She persisted. "You sounded like you were speaking... some other language... But why-"

The Doctor interrupted her. "Rose, that was Gallifreyan, okay? The TARDIS doesn't translate that. But-"

Rose then cut in. "What is so secret that you can't say it in English to me?" She teased, trying to smile a little bit. She hoped to lighten the Doctor's mood, if she could.

The Doctor sighed and held up his hands. "It's not a secret. I just thought I'd save you the earache of severe profanity." He smiled a little. "Would you prefer the English translation?"

Rose laughed, only slightly. "No, I understand."

The Doctor then turned back to the console and pressed a button or two, and the screen which they had been using as a mirror turned dark. He fished his shirt off the console and started putting it back on, deliberately avoiding meeting Rose's eyes.

Rose knew that the Doctor was worried. She was, too; extremely so. Once the Doctor had gotten his shirt back on, she spoke.

"So... Doctor?"

"Yeah?" He replied, glancing up. He was leaning against the console, looking towards her.

"What kind of illness is this?" She asked tentatively, motioning her hand towards the angry red lines going around and across his torso. "Do 'ya know?"

As soon as she saw his face she knew the answer before he even spoke it.

"No," he said, with another sigh. "This disease has a bunch of effects, but they're all completely random..." He ran his hand down his face, to just underneath his chin. "Once I think I might be able to match the symptoms to a disease I've heard of, another symptom pops up." He spat out the last two words angrily. "I can't even find a place to start, I..."

He stopped and appeared to think on it, while rubbing the injection spot with his left hand.

"Well..." Rose said. She tried to think. Something, anything.

"Oh!" She knew one thing... "You had said something about calling Captain Jack!"

The Doctor widened his eyes for a few seconds, hopeful, but then the hope slid right off his face. "Yeah, I was gonna call him, but I don't know the number. Remember, he's working with Torchwood now. Plus, I don't know how much longer I'll have before the next... Before my next episode strikes me." He sounded grim.

"We'll find him, Doctor," said Rose. That seemed like the only option they had, short of going back to that ship. But she knew how the Doctor felt about that... Every time she had mentioned it before, he had avoided the very thought of it. He'd even seemed... was it... scared?

The Doctor spoke, bringing her back from her thoughts. "But if we're out there wandering about looking for him... That could really take a while."

Rose blinked. Was it just her, or did the Doctor's face seem to pale slightly?

Suddenly she remembered it- how could she have been so thick?!

"Doctor! I've got Captain Jack's phone number! His personal number!"

The Doctor looked up, getting paler by the minute, it seemed. A thin smile spread across his face. "Wow. How many people does he solicit a day, I wonder?" The Doctor seemed to choke a bit on the last few words he spoke.

"Doctor?" Rose said.

"Rose..." He started, his eyes slightly going out of focus. "I think I need to go lie down, I-"

Rose knew immediately what he meant. "Oh God," she said, as she grabbed his hand and started running towards the TARDIS's sick bay. At first, the Doctor was moving his legs, running with her. But with each step he started to lag behind, so Rose pulled his hand and ran even faster, as fast as she could.

By the time they got near the sick bay (or at least what Rose hoped was the sick bay), Rose was practically dragging the Doctor. They finally arrived, and she knew he wasn't going to be able to get up onto the higher stretcher by himself, so, looking around quickly, she found one that was much lower down to the ground, and up against a corner of the wall. She shoved him onto it, as gently as she could.

Before the Doctor's back even hit the mat, his eyes scrunched closed and he started screaming, a horrible scream that sounded like he was being burned alive. The convulsions then began, again. Trying to hold the Doctor down as best and gently as she could, Rose pulled out her phone, and scrambled until she finally found Captain Jack's personal number. She dialed it immediately.

A yawn came across from the other end. "Captain Jack here-"

"This is Rose," she yelled into the phone, trying to be heard over the Doctor's screams, which were getting louder and louder by the second. "You need to come here to the TARDIS RIGHT NOW, it's the Doctor!"