A/N: Hope the last chapter didn't confuse many people. All I can say is keep reading and all will be explained. Coming up in the story we meet with a couple of old faces and the Doctor faces an agonising struggle.
Disclaimer: Still don't own anything although if either Chris or David were up for sale I'd gladly sell a kidney to pay for them!
Rose could barely look at the Doctor as he gently sponged the remaining eye liner tattoos she'd given herself off her arm. Around her the TARDIS med-suite glowed a soothing blue and hummed around her, calming her slightly. She couldn't remember much before waking up in the room, the Doctor gently washing the black marks of her skin. She remembered leaving him to go and change and then watching his and her mother's concerned eyes as they sat in her bathroom before she was picked up in the familiar strong arms and carried home. She couldn't remember coming to the med suite so she assumed she had fallen asleep against his shoulder as he'd carried her.
When she'd woken he'd asked if she recognised him and when she'd told him that she did he'd breathed a massive sigh of relief and Jackie, who had been beside him at the time, had given his shoulder a gentle squeeze. She'd since gone to make them all tea in the TARDIS kitchen as the Doctor continued to take off the symbols. He didn't speak again after that but Rose knew that she must have frightened them by the look on his face and how delicately he was treating her. She didn't mind his gentle hands, her head felt fuzzy and her skin sore from where the marks had been on her. She longed to question him though but she knew he would bring the subject up in his own time.
"Still know who I am?"
The Doctor's voice cut through her reverie, causing her to look up and get caught up in the whirling chocolate pools that stared at her with a mix of deep love and desperate concern. She sighed and sat up a little straighter on the bed.
"For the thousandth time, yes!" she said, "I recognise you. You're the Doctor, the tenth incarnation of the Doctor, a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. You go about the universe in your ship called the TARDIS, which stands for Time and Relative Dimension in Space. We met when the Nestene Consciousness invaded London, you have a mole between your shoulders and have a particular fascination with getting me into bed. Do I pass?"
The Doctor gave her a pained glance at her harsh tone, he had asked her the same question several times now but he had to be sure. Her memory loss had frightened him more so than the marks on her body. He couldn't bear the thought of her not recognising him.
"I'm sorry Rose," was all he managed to say, "You frightened me."
"Please tell me what happened," said Rose as he put the sponge to one side and sat on the bed beside her. He took her hands in his own, his thumb rubbing gently on the back of her hand.
"You were in the bathroom, crying. You started going on about the Beast and I saw you covered in those marks. I thought it had possessed you the same way you told me it possessed Toby. Then you didn't recognise me and that didn't fit. Then I found the eyeliner in your hand. You'd drawn the patterns on yourself."
"You think I'm mad don't you," said Rose casting her eyes to her feet and pulling her hands away. The Doctor caught them fast and held them against his chest, letting her feel the odd rhythm of his hearts. Hammering harder than usual she realised.
"Rose, look at me," he said, glad when her eyes flicked up to his, "I don't think you're mad but I think you might be sick and I want to find out what is wrong so I can make it better. Now try to remember, did you hit your head at anytime when we were on the Sanctuary Base?"
Rose thought for a minute before shrugging, "I don't think so. I can't remember. I felt a bit light headed when we were fighting the Ood but that was because we didn't have much oxygen in the service tunnels."
"Tea's up!"
Rose felt the Doctor's hearts jump in alarm as her mother's voice sounded once more in the room. Jackie entered carrying a tray and Rose welcomed the aroma of the freshly brewed tea. The Doctor shook his head before swiftly nicking a mug off the tray and taking a drink before grimacing and handing it to Rose.
"Yours I believe, far too sweet."
"So what's wrong with her?" said Jackie, "She looks fine now."
"Looks can be deceiving. I'm going to hook Rose up to a few monitors tonight, see if she has anymore…episodes. Perhaps that way I can work out what's wrong because to be honest with you I haven't a clue. The initial scan showed negative for any alien infections and everything appears to be in working order in a human sense, although as I only got a chance to examine her after the event had passed it could be anything," said the Doctor, gratefully accepting his correct cup of tea. Only realising a few sips in how domestic it was to be accepting tea in his own TARDIS from the woman who could potentially be his mother in law. He shook his head at the notion, he and Rose had barely been together a day and he was considering his in-laws.
The trio sat in silence for a time until the Doctor got up to busy himself with hooking Rose up to the TARDIS. Hoping that whatever he found was wrong would be easy enough to treat.
XXXX
It was a sound the Doctor always found haunting. Bringing back terrifying memories for himself and for friends he'd lost. The incessant beeping that soon became undistinguishable in the room suddenly beginning to switch pitch dramatically and the lights to flash a warning to him that something was wrong. And this time is was accompanied by the screams, the shrill, pained screams of a woman in torment. Clawing at the bed around her, clawing at his clothes as he tried to help her. Wide, black eyes stared up at him, not recognising him and trying to push him away, denying him. Words that meant nothing or that meant the world escaping as cries from blue-tinged lips.
The Doctor, lay a hand on Rose's forehead but she slapped him away. Her nails doing a fine job of letting him know to back away.
"Who are you? Get away from me! Mum! Mum! Help me."
"Rose, its me, it's the Doctor. You're Mum's in the flat. You're in the TARDIS, You're safe," said the Doctor, paling dramatically as the monitor warned him that her heart rate was continuing to fluctuated and that her oxygen levels were far too low, "You're experiencing a hallucination of some sort, your brain isn't getting enough oxygen. I need you to calm down and breathe."
"Leave me alone," she cried, forcing him away from her with so much force that she sent him tumbling over the chair he's been seated in.
The Doctor felt the impact like being hit by a truck, his side colliding hard with the metal of the chair. He tried not to cry out, not wanting to distress Rose any further by adding his pain to hers. He struggled to his feet and once again was met by the onslaught of her vicious hands that had only recently been so gentle on him.
"Please, please, stay still and let me help you," he pleaded.
"Get away…"
"PLEASE ROSE!"
For a moment she looked as though she was going to protest but then she began gasping for air, gripping onto his shirt like her life depending on it, "Help me!" she pleaded, "Can't breathe."
The Doctor pulled an oxygen mask over her mouth and turned on the supply, "Yes you can. Calm down. You can breathe," he said as soothingly as possible, trying to hide his fear. Her eyes seemed to clear and a soft recognition came to them. The Doctor, fearing she might do more harm to herself the next time took a needle he'd prepared before Rose had first gone to sleep and carefully injected into her arm. Rose's heart rate and oxygen levels began to equalise and she began to fall back into a restful sleep, the hallucination passed but the Doctor continued speaking, "You and me are going to go on a little trip once I've fetched your mum. I have a friend, she might be able to help you."
A/N: Again apologies if the chapter is a bit slow moving but I need to set things up for the main part of the story. Hopefully you've worked out who they're going to visit but if not I won't ruin the surprise…you'll just have to wait until I update.
Nova x
