Note: A reminder, if the Doctor is talking it is always in Gallifreyan (if it's from Rose's POV and his speech is understandable, that means those are words she has learned). As in the previous chapter, Rose speaks in both English and Gallifreyan, but it should be clear which language she is using at any given moment. Gallifreyan words are presented in the language itself only when they are being learned or demonstrated.
Chapter 4: Context Dependent Variance
The Doctor was very rarely overwhelmed. He prided himself on how much it took to really rattle him. He'd faced down hordes of mindless drones with a smile, fought his way through Gigrelian Marmots in a feeding frenzy and only lost his tie, and he'd walked away from more disasters than any one person probably should. He was the definition of unflappable.
And yet.
Ever since taking her hand in that basement in London, he'd found himself regularly surprised, shocked, and unsure around Rose Tyler. It was a singularly discomfiting feeling, not knowing what he should do or say. It was worse now, with this new gob and the constant, pressing desire to talk and talk and talk. He hoped it was a charming trait, the ability to ramble about anything that might drift through his mind. But, there was no way of knowing right now when Rose couldn't understand a word he was saying. So, he bit his tongue and kept as quiet as he could, not wanting to overwhelm her or cause her to regret her decision to rejoin him in the TARDIS.
She shifted in his arms and he sighed. Or, at least he didn't want to cause more regret than this little incident was already going to. He carefully picked his way across the space between where Rose had landed and the door of the TARDIS. The ship was practically shouting at him to get out, you fluffy twig! Despite the dire situation, he did not try to stop the smile her command elicited. No matter the smoke steadily thickening in the air, she did not sound terribly panicked. He figured she wanted them gone so she could enter a repair cycle without worrying about them either suffocating or being unceremoniously mulched when she shifted things around. It was standard practice when she was this badly damaged, though he would have preferred to have access to the medbay for Rose.
Just as he reached the doors, the TARDIS console rang a bell. He looked back and saw a small dark green, canvas backpack. The styling was distinctly military and he frowned. Jack. Probably. The American wasn't the only soldier he'd ever had aboard, but he was the most recent. His items would be easier for a hurting TARDIS to call forth. The thought of the former companion sent an unexpected shock of sadness through him. They might have started off on the wrong foot, but by the time the Game Station rolled around, the Doctor had genuinely liked the other man. He did not think he was wrong to have left him, but maybe one day he could pop around for a visit? Find out exactly why he caused such chaos to the timelines around him. Maybe.
He leaned over, freeing one hand from supporting Rose long enough to scoop the strap of the bag onto his elbow.
"Anything else?" he asked the TARDIS. She groaned and wheezed and he got the impression that she was holding herself very, very still for them. She couldn't feel pain, not in a Time Lord or Human sense, but every sensation that raked across his mind from her sang of discomfort.
"Right," he said, "We'll just be going. Onto the planet. Without any translation. And an injured human. And-" The TARDIS wheezed louder. "Sorry!" He stepped through the open doors and into the light.
As soon as he crossed the threshold the doors slammed shut, nearly catching his heel. He twisted his head to look at the ship, but his annoyance faded away as quickly as it had come when he saw that the light atop the TARDIS was powered down. He swallowed and felt for her in his mind; she was there, but the buoyant crackle he associated with her presence was severely lessened. He forced back his anxiety. She would be fine. She would have told him if whatever had damaged her caused a fatal injury. The thought didn't really help.
"Okay Rose," he said. There was no reason to stop himself from talking now, he supposed. She was already unconscious, how much more overwhelmed could she get? "The air's breathable, though I guess you already knew that since you're breathing." He paused to check that, suddenly afraid he'd missed something. Gentle puffs of air escaped her slightly parted lips. Yay, he thought, breathing is good! "So, breathable air, and it looks like we're in the... ah. Middle of a forest." Now he did turn fully on his heel, careful not to over balance Rose, and glared at the TARDIS. "You couldn't have dropped us off somewhere closer to a city?"
No response.
He groaned. It looked like it was close to midday, so there was at least plenty of time to find a suitable spot to wait out the night. He wanted to get Rose someplace at least marginally comfortable to inspect her broken arm and hopefully get it splinted. It would be good if he could manage it before she woke up so she didn't have to feel it, especially if the break needed to be set.
The clearing the TARDIS landed in was relatively small, bordered on two sides by huge coniferous trees. Directly in front of them was a sheer cliff-face. He tilted his head back to look up, the top was at least one hundred meters up. Unless Jack had squirreled away some pretty intense climbing gear, there was no way they were making it up that. The final side of the clearing fell off sharply. It was surrounded by large bounders and torn up dirt. He winced. Hopefully whatever seismic activity had caused that was not a regular occurence.
"Right," he said, "Let's get that arm looked at." He crossed the clearing towards the closest stand of trees. They looked similar enough to Earth trees that he wasn't terribly concerned about Rose touching them, so when he reached them he bent over and gently leaned her against the trunk. He wrapped his fingers around the wrist of her unbroken arm and counted heart beats.
After a few seconds he gently set the wrist down. He reached up and lay one hand across her brow, sweaty and cool to the touch. He'd known it of course, but it was still discouraging to have hard evidence. He took a moment to sweep back the sweaty fringe of hair from her forehead before delving into the backpack for supplies.
"Let's see just what Captain Jack had hidden away, shall we?" he asked the air. A thought occurred to him. "Oh, please let this be a work backpack. No supplies for, ah, dancing."
Rose awoke with a start. She jerked up to something that approximated a seated position before a sharp jolt of pain washed over her. She groaned. Suddenly, there were hands on her shoulders.
"Ah!" She tried to move backwards but hit something solid behind herself. The impact caused another of wave of agony, this time centered on her right arm. The hands vanished and she opened her eyes. The Doctor crouched before her, his hands held up in a placating gesture and a worried look twisting his new face.
"Kuoliros!" he said. He gestured wildly around her and then towards her arm, speaking rapidly the entire time. As he spoke he reached into a bag at his side and withdrew a small fabric patch that he placed on the exposed shoulder of her right arm. Immediately the pain diminished to a dull ache.
"Doctor! That's too fast!" She said, "I can't understand anything you're saying." She tilted her head back and hit it against the tree, "And that's useless for me to say. Thank you for the patch though."
He'd stopped talking now. He rubbed one hand across the back of his neck in a clearly embarrassed gesture.
"Yeah, I forgot for a second too," she said. "Uh, wait. What was the word? Ah, jerlim, uh, aqaj?" She was trying to ask where they were. She was confident that jerlim meant 'where', but he hadn't taught her the word for 'we'. The closest she could get was using the plural for two and the word for 'I' and hope he understood.
He beamed at her and tilted forward to press a rapid kiss against her forehead. She was pretty proud of herself for not leaning into the touch, despite how much she wanted to.
"We," he used the same word she had, "On planet. Uh, not Earth!" She rolled her eyes and pointed with her good hand at the bright purple grass beneath them. He laughed. "Yes. not Earth. You nufekuj wedsauj." As he said the last two words he picked up a stick and snapped it in half and then pointed to her arm. "Nufekuj," he repeated and broke another twig.
"Wedsauj?" She pointed to her arm with her other hand. He shook his head.
"Wedsauj," he pointed at her arm. "Wedsaaj." He pointed to his own.
"Oh you're kidding me!" She groaned. "They change depending on who's talking too?" He shrugged helplessly. "I know you can't understand, I just want to complain, Doctor."
She took a breath and steadied herself. "Okay, so," she switched to Gallifreyan, "I broke my arm?"
"Yes," the Doctor said, "Okay now." He gently took the arm and showed her the hard-sided splint he'd placed on it. "No run, no hit." It looked like it was physically paining him to use such simple sentences, but Rose appreciated the effort to ensure she could understand.
"Why planet?" she asked.
He shrugged, the casual gesture belied by the tension that appeared in his shoulders and eyes.
"TARDIS hit?" he was clearly guessing. "I need to-" He held up his sonic and gestured around them.
"Go," Rose told him. "I am okay." She really was. Her arm barely hurt at all now and though she still felt a tad shakey, she wasn't about to pass out again. Lord, that was embarrassing. She'd swooned like the star of one of her mom's soaps.
The Doctor did not hesitate once given permission. He bounded to his feet and out away from her into the clearing she could just see through the trees. The sonic was already buzzing away as he swept it in a wide arc before him. Rose watched him with a fond smile. She might not understand the words he was muttering to himself, but she knew she probably wouldn't have understood even if he was speaking English. There was something comforting in that, to know that she'd be in the same situation even if things were normal.
She leaned further back against the tree. She might not hurt anymore, but she was still exhausted. Who knew being unconscious took it out of you like this? She allowed her eyes to drift halfway closed, watching the Doctor with her mind wandering.
He had just started back towards her when she heard the noise. Twigs breaking, a shuffling sound, like heavy stones across concrete, and low puffs of air.
"Uh, Doctor!" She called quietly. "You should get back here!" It wasn't Gallifreyan, but she knew she sounded scared and he'd never not responded when she was scared. His eyes met hers and he began to jog.
"Kuoliros!" he called.
But, it was too late, the ground around Rose had opened and for the second time that day she was falling.