TW: The next four chapters (35-38) contain mentions of COVID-19. If this poses as a trigger for you, please abstain from reading. Thank you.
London's city centre was eerily quiet for midday. Where there usually would've been crowds of people drifting down the pavements, searching for the best place to sit for some lunch or a cuppa, there was only snow, the Doctor, and Rose.
The Doctor looked around, his eyes darting about in their sockets. He craned his neck as they passed the Abbey, a frown tugging at his mouth. 'You don't happen to have your mobile on you, do you?' he inquired, turning to look down at her.
Rose pursed her lips as she reached into her pockets and dug around. 'I should,' she said before giving a soft 'a-ha' and withdrawing the outdated pink device.
'Thanks,' the Doctor said and took it from her. He flipped it open and started dialling a number.
'Say, Doctor,' Rose mused, 'when are we, y'reckon?'
The Doctor hummed nonsensically and pressed her mobile between his ear and his shoulder as he fumbled about his wrist. A second later he held his watch out to her. 'Check for yourself.'
She raised her eyebrows at him and gingerly took the watch from him. She turned it over in her hands, running her fingers over the cool leather straps.
It was a regular watch with a regular face. No etchings or anything alien about it. It was broken though. There was a wide crack down the glass and when Rose lifted it to her ear to see if she could hear it ticking, a voice came out instead. 'London, England, Human Earth. Milky Way Galaxy, Solis-Row-64 Orion-Cygnus Arm. 51.4975 N, 0.1357 W 18 November 2020 A.D.' It kept repeating itself until Rose pulled the watch away from her ear.
She stared at it in wonder before turning to the Doctor. She held the watch out and he glanced at her. 'Keep it,' he told her. 'You'll end up using it more than me.' Before she could thank him or say anything else, he perked up, his eyes brightening.
'Kate Stewart,' he drawled into her mobile. 'Took you a couple minutes to pick up, eh?'
Faintly, there was a reply of: 'What do you want, Doctor?'
The Doctor sniffed and turned his head about his neck. 'Well, I happen to be passing through and I can't help but notice the lack of, well, people. Has something happened?'
On the other end of the line, there was a bitter chuckle. 'You've come at quite the time,' the woman replied drily. 'Where are you right now?'
The Doctor pursed his lips. 'Westminster,' he said. 'Right by Big Ben.'
'All right. You're gonna want to start heading to St. Thomas.'
'You never did answer my question, Kate. Has something happened?'
There was a sigh. 'St. Thomas, Doctor, Rose. Goodbye.'
'Kate—' he started, warning note in his tone.
There was a click! and the Doctor frowned down at her mobile. 'Her father never would've done that,' he remarked.
He sighed and handed Rose her mobile back. Then, seeing that she was still holding his watch, reached down and started fastening it to her wrist. 'She wants us to head to St. Thomas,' he told her.
Rose nodded. 'All right. Do you think she's hurt?'
The Doctor shook his head. 'Kate wouldn't be so stupid to get herself hurt. Come on.' He slipped his fingers into hers and started tugging her along.
Looking about, Rose picked out several clues about what was going on. Lying about, discarded and half covered in snow, were blue surgical masks. And as they neared St. Thomas, there was a cluster of timelines. Hundreds of them. All tying together and pulsing with each second that passed. As a whole, it was still golden with youth but as she focused and picked it apart, she founded more strands growing dimmer. Her breath caught when she realised how many more were growing dimmer than staying aglow.
She stopped and, because of their linked hands, the Doctor drew to a pause as well. She stood, on the pavement off Westminster Bridge, her eyes glued on the building a couple blocks away from them.
'Rose?' He looked down at her, his brows drawn worryingly together. 'Rose, what's the matter?'
The cold bit at her throat as she drew a breath and tried to speak, 'I can't—' She shook her head, willing herself to look away from the cluster of dying timelines— dying people— and found herself unable to. 'There's so many,' she whispered.
The Doctor followed her line of sight and let out a soft 'Oh'.
'I've—' She swallowed and tried again. 'I've seen dyin' planets. Loads of 'em. It's impossible not to, when you've been playin' Planet Roulette for God knows how long.' She let out a bitter laugh at her own joke. 'But I—' Finally, she tore her eyes away to address the Doctor. 'Why are there so many?'
He looked down at her, his eyes searching over her face. There was a guardedness to his eyes that hadn't been there in all the years Rose knew him. Not even as her first Doctor, all snark and leather. He sighed through his nose, his breath fogging in front of him. 'Let's go find out,' he said softly. 'And try to fix it.'
'And fix it,' Rose corrected. 'Because we are. There shouldn't— I know it's a hospital an' all but- but there's gotta be hundreds in there. All of 'em dyin'.'
The Doctor nodded. 'We're gonna fix it, Rose. We're gonna figure out what's going on and we're gonna do as much as we can.' He squeezed her hand, regaining her attention. 'But Rose?' His tone turned serious. 'If there's a fixed point— if this is something that has to happen—'
Her face fell, along with her heart, and she looked away— at the hospital, at the Thames, at her snow covered boots. 'We can't interfere,' she finished.
'But it doesn't seem like this is a Fixed Point,' the Doctor went on. 'So let's not lose hope till we've got good reason to.'
St. Thomas' car park, like everything else, was strangely desolate. There were a few cars and SUVs parked in the back, in the 'Staff Only' section, but even most of the ambulances were still in the park.
The Doctor's mouth pulled down into a frown as they neared the doors. ''Face coverings required for entry'?' he read. 'Now that I think about it, there's been quite a few of these signs about. On the shops and all.'
'I saw some surgical masks out on the bridge,' Rose supplied. 'Perhaps there's some sort of epidemic in London.'
'Or pollution,' the Doctor countered. 'The TARDIS could be protecting us from the toxins.' He threw his head back, squinting up at the overcast sky. 'Do those clouds look odd to you?'
'They just… they look like clouds.'
The Doctor 'hmm'ed and crouched down to scoop up a handful of dirty snow. Rose reached out and grabbed his wrist as he raised it to his face.
'Do not eat the snow,' she ordered.
The Doctor scoffed. 'I wasn't gonna eat it. Don't be ridiculous, Rose Tyler.' He raised his eyebrows and looked pointedly to her hand, still wrapped around his wrist. Warily, she let go. The Doctor shook his hand out, bits of snow flying onto their coats. He held it under his nose and gave a great sniff.
Instantly, he coughed, his whole body convulsing with the reaction. He doubled over, hands on his knees, as great hacks caused his shoulders to shake.
'Doctor?' Rose leaned over him, her hands going to his shoulders. 'Doctor, what's the matter?'
The fit went on for almost a minute. With the Doctor trying to cough his lungs and both his hearts out, tears running out of his eyes and his face red, and Rose desperately trying to steady him and keep him breathing.
As his coughs faded more into pants, the Doctor tried to speak, 'God— first of all— pollution is absolutely terrible—' He let out a wobbly wheeze. 'Rassilon— why is your snow so- so dirty?'
Despite her worry, Rose let out a laugh. 'I told you not to touch it.'
The Doctor chuckled, the sound weak and breathy, against her. 'Technically—' he cleared his throat, once, twice, three times— 'you said not to eat it.'
'And thank God you didn't,' Rose chided, 'if sniffin' it's affected you that much.'
They stood for a moment longer. The Doctor leaning heavily against Rose, his breath coming out in soft pants against her shoulder. Absently, Rose had started to rub his back, light enough that she was pretty sure he didn't even feel it.
'Well,' the Doctor croaked. 'We aren't achieving anything just standing here.'
Reluctantly— reluctantly?— Rose let go of him and turned to the doors. She drew her shoulders back and took a steadying breath. 'Here we go,' she said.
The Doctor took her hand in his and gave it a soft squeeze before letting go and striding ahead. 'Here we go,' he replied.
