Eighth Man Bound, Part Two:
No sooner did she find herself almost freed from the Doctor's dead weight than the normal chaos of the TARDIS' rematerialization toppled him back over her. With an exasperated huff, Rose doggedly managed to wrestle his unconscious form enough to the side to squirm out from beneath him. She rubbed her back as she sat up, wincing at the crack of vertebrae as she stretched.
"Heavier than you look," she murmured to herself as she leaned over and struggled to roll him on his back. Settling back on her haunches she took the moment to study him. The rapid flick of his eyeballs behind his lids, the quick pulses at his temples, and the shallow pull of his breath were the only movement. "What are you on about now?" she asked his silent form as she recalled his final words before passing out literally on top of her. She repressed a shiver at the memory of the slightly unhinged look in his eyes before they slid closed. "All the great Time Lords went mad…"
Shaking off a strange unsettled feeling, she bent over and laid the back of her hand against his cheek. The coolness of the skin beneath her touch seemed normal for him, so she turned her hand around and tapped the side of his face several times. "Doctor!" She said loudly, "Doctor, it's time to wake up!"
The body beneath her palm didn't stir. As time went on with no change, she found herself becoming increasingly frantic. She called him, she shook him, she slapped him, and, in one supremely memorable moment of desperation, even tried kissing him to no avail. He remained still and cool with racing hearts and flickering eyelashes.
She briefly considered trying to get him to the Med Bay, but the recollection of how much trouble she had just getting out from underneath him cut that short. Moving someone who's completely unconscious is never as easy as it looks in the movies. Finally she settled on a quick solo trip for a medical scanner and bedding. Once she managed to wrangle the Doctor into a more sheltered position among a nest of pillows and blankets, she carefully duplicated the steps he'd shown her in his last incarnation to operate the scanning equipment.
Frowning at the results, she did it again. And again. Still, the stubborn little screen displayed the same answer. "His condition is bloody well not optimal!" She snarled at it in frustration, "I'd think if it were optimal he'd be awake!" With a irritated growl she tossed the device onto a leftover pillow.
Turning to look back at the Doctor, she felt a heavy spike of fear and worry hit her heart. She always forgot that he wasn't human. Oh, she knew it consciously; but subconsciously? More often than not, in her head he was just like any other bloke. It was only at times like this when she realized how little she really knew about his species. Was this normal for his people - they go a bit mad and then sleep it off? Was this hibernation? Meditation? God help him if it was another regeneration. She'd just started to get used to this one, if he'd gone and done something to cause that again she was going to kill him the next time herself.
Reaching forward with both hands, she grabbed the lapels of his jacket and hitched him up enough so his head lolled towards her. "Enough of this mucking about!" She yelled in his face with a little shake, "You wake up, Doctor! We go out fighting, yeah? Not having a kip!" A loud thud filled the air and the unexpected shaking of the TARDIS sent her sprawling across his chest.
"What the hell?" She yelped as she scrambled to her feet just as a second slam set the TARDIS rocking. Barely catching herself on the console, Rose scurried over to the view screen. With her heart pounding in her throat, she switched the view between the different perspectives surrounding the TARDIS, but she could see nothing beyond the darkness of night on an alien world. Fiddling with the display, she managed to change the view to something resembling infrared. But for as far as the TARDIS' view screens could show her there was nothing but a barren, desolate wasteland. She fiddled with various knobs and dials trying to get some information on what'd hit them, but unfortunately she'd exhausted her meager skills with the console's viewing equipment. And it wasn't as if scanning for alien tech was ever something she could get the Doctor to show her how to do.
A quick glance showed the Doctor still dead to the world. "You picked a brilliant time to nod off," she drawled sarcastically to the insensate form at her feet.
Unsurprisingly, the Doctor didn't answer.