Chapter 12

Rose's hand clenched onto the counter next to her as another sharp pain went through her chest. They'd gradually gotten more frequent and painful since the day before. She knew she should tell the Doctor – or at least a doctor – but she felt fine otherwise and didn't want to make him worry over nothing. Taking a few deep breaths, she stood up and continued on her way. She smiled when one of the interns came up to her.

"Morning, Jonathon."

He returned her smile. "Morning, Rose." He frowned slightly. "Are you alright? You look awfully pale."

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just having a hard time adjusting to the heat, I think."

The young man eyed her warily. "Okay, but if you need anything, please let me know."

She nodded. "I will. Thank you."

Jonathon fell into step next to her. "Where are you headed today?"

"Back to paediatrics. They apparently really love my story telling."

"Doesn't surprise me! You tell some fantastic stories."

Rose laughed. She'd been telling watered down versions of her travels with the Doctor. Only two other people on this planet would believe the stories were real.

"I have a good imagination."

She beamed when she walked into the children's ward and was greeted by cheers and claps. A little girl of maybe three ran up to her, holding her arms up.

"Wose! Wose up!"

"Hello, Chrissie!" she exclaimed as she picked her up. "How are you this morning?"

Chrissie beamed when Rose said her name. "Stowy, Wose!"

Laughing, Rose sat down in a chair, adjusting Chrissie on her lap. "Alright, alright." She leaned back and tapped her chin in thought. "Now, what did I tell you about yesterday?"

There was a chorus of 'ghosts,' 'werewolves,' and 'killer trees' from the children that had gathered around her. Smiling, she decided on her next story.

She leaned forward. "The Professor and Lily were on their way to see Elvis Presley when the Professor's bad driving put them in London…"

Jonathon leaned against the door jam, arms crossed over his chest, as he watched Rose with a small smile on his face. It had been a long time since he had met someone with so much life. Most of the people there had broken spirits, himself included. There was something about knowing the Universe was ending that destroyed one's hope. He marveled at the fact that this knowledge didn't seem to affect Rose.

Pushing himself off the frame, he turned and left the room, heading to attend to his various patients. He felt a bit like a fraud working in the hospital. He wasn't a doctor, or even working toward being one. He was there because he had more medical knowledge than most others. That's how things worked there. If you had even the slightest bit of experience or knowledge in any given field, you were put to work in it. As he understood it, the two people Rose was traveling with had been sent off to work in the school's computer lab and with the scientists that were working on a way off the planet.

He did his rounds mostly on autopilot, not being able to take his mind off the mysterious woman in pediatrics. There was something…different about Rose. It wasn't just her obvious love of life. There was something more there; he wasn't sure if even she realized it. Then again, he could just be reading too much into her. It may be the newness of her that made her seem different.

Jonathon startled when a hand was placed on his shoulder. Turning, he smiled when he saw it was Rose.

"Want to go grab some lunch?" she asked, her eyes shining as bright as her smile.

He frowned as he looked at a clock. How'd it get so late so quickly? His smile returned as he looked back at her. "I'd love to."

"How do you come up with such amazing stories?" he asked as they set their trays down and sat down across from each other.

Rose shrugged. "They just come to me."

Jonathon shook his head. "I wish I had an imagination like that." He watched her in wonder for a moment before clearing his throat and looking down at his food. "So, how long are you here for?"

"At least a couple of days. Don't know for sure yet."

He frowned at the sadness in her voice. Reaching across the table, he squeezed her hand. "Is your ship that badly damaged?"

Rose sighed and nodded. "Think so, yeah. The Doctor went to go check on it this morning to see just how bad."

"The Doctor? Oh, is that one of the people you're traveling with?"

"Yeah. He's the one helping to find a way off this planet for you lot."

Jonathon leaned back in his chair. "Well, maybe we can all just leave with you." He raised an eyebrow when she gave what looked like a knowing smile.

"Maybe."

He laughed and shook his head. "You are quite the interesting woman, Rose."

"Hardly! I'm just an ordinary girl. Nothing interesting about me."

"Oh, I beg to differ! You travel in a self-repairing ship, tell amazing stories, and manage to keep a genuine smile on your face despite the impending doom of the end of the Universe."

"The self-repairing ship isn't mine, I have a good imagination, and why let the impending doom get you down if you can't stop it?"

Jonathon marveled at her. "This is what I'm talking about. Might as well add modest to that list, too."

Blushing, Rose ducked her head back down, focusing on her food. "Okay, you can stop now."

His smile fell. "I'm sorry if I embarrassed you, Rose. It's just so rare to meet someone like you, especially this far out. We all just get by now. To meet someone with so much life is amazing."

She looked back up and smiled. "Thank you, Jonathon."

He reached across and squeezed her hand again quickly. "You are very welcome, Rose."

Kari stood back, arms crossed over her chest, as she watched the Doctor pace their tent irritably. She smiled in relief when she heard Rose come in only to have it fall as soon as she saw there was someone with her. Casting a quick glance at the Doctor, she stepped over to Rose.

Rose smiled. "Kari, this is Jonathon; Jonathon, Kari."

Kari smiled tightly as she shook his hand. "Nice to meet you." She pulled Rose aside. "He really shouldn't be here right now."

Rose frowned and then noticed the Doctor pacing. "What's wrong?"

"He went to check on the TARDIS three times today and she still won't let him in."

"Oh great."

"Who the hell are you?" the Doctor snapped as he made his way toward the group.

Jonathon's eyes went wide in fear. "I…I'm Jonathon, sir. I work at the hospital."

The Doctor's eyes narrowed as he turned to look at Rose. "Another pretty boy, Rose? Really?"

Sensing something very bad coming, Kari moved past her companions to the frightened young man. She took him by the shoulders. "Thank you for walking our Rose home, Jonathon. It was lovely to meet you." She spoke quickly as she turned the man and ushered him out of the tent.

He tried to fight her as he looked back at the tent. "Is everything okay? Did I do something wrong?"

"No, not at all, he's just a little stressed right now."

"Are you sure? He seemed really upset."

Kari put on the most reassuring smile she could. "Yes, I'm sure. Our ship isn't repairing as quickly as he'd hoped. Thank you again for walking Rose back. I'm sorry I had to rush you out."

Jonathon nodded absently as he looked around Kari at the tent. "Yeah, no problem. Please tell Rose I'll see her tomorrow."

"Will do. Have a good evening."

Kari ducked back into the tent and was relieved to see the Doctor had calmed down considerably and was sitting on the couch with Rose.

Rose looked up and smiled. "Everything okay with Jonathon?"

"Yeah, I think so." She nodded toward the Doctor. "And here?"

"You could just ask me, you know. I am sitting right here."

"And risk getting my head bit off again? I don't think so."

He slunk down the couch. "Sorry," he mumbled.

"Thank you." Kari took a deep breath and blew it out. "You doing better?"

The Doctor leaned forward on his knees and ran his hands down his face. "I just want to know what's wrong with her so I can fix it. But I can't do that if I can't get in."

"Is she still dark?"

He shrugged. "Far as I can tell." He got up and started pacing again. "Thing is that I'm certain this wasn't anything I did."

Rose raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"

He gave her an indignant look. "Yes I'm sure! Well, mostly sure. About seventy five percent sure."

Kari watched him pace like a trapped animal, tension rolling off of him in waves. "What else could've caused it?"

The Doctor slumped into a chair. "I don't know. Another vehicle entering the Vortex right where we were. Coming too close to crossing my own timeline. Someone trying to pull the TARDIS out of the Vortex. I won't know until I can get in there and read the diagnostic logs."

Rose stood up. "Right, well, until that happens, we keep doing what we're doing." She jabbed a thumb toward the flap. "I'm going on a food run; any requests?"

Kari shook her head as she stood up. "Surprise me. I'm going to go hop in the shower."

Rose cringed in pain as she made her way back with the food. Sighing, she realized she was going to have to tell the Doctor. She was sure it wasn't anything serious, but really couldn't take the chance. She found him on the floor fiddling with some gadget when she walked in.

"Whatcha got there?"

"What?" He glanced up at her briefly before going back to his work. "Oh, it's just something I've been working on in my spare time. Keeps my mind off… things."

Her eyes turned sad, knowing what those 'things' were: the TARDIS. It pained her, too, that they didn't know what was wrong. Speaking of pain…

"Um, Doctor?"

"Hmm…"

Rose wrung her hands as she slowly made her way to one of the chairs near him and sat down. Her mouth was suddenly dry, afraid he was going to be mad for not telling him sooner.

"Well, it's just I've had this pain in my chest since we got here. I'm sure it's nothing. Probably just the heat…"

He nodded noncommittally. "Probably. You're not used to such temperatures. I'm sure it's affecting Kari, too. I wouldn't worry about it."

She blew out a sigh of relief. "Yeah, okay, just thought I should tell you. Better safe than sorry."

Rose sat and watched him a moment longer, waiting to see if he was going to say anything more on the subject. When it was clear that the gadget in his hands had his sole attention, she got up and went back to the kitchen area, satisfied that she'd gotten that off her chest, such as it was.