Shhh, just accept it, I wasn't going to make you lot wait any longer. Might do some corrections later but yeah.

D.R.

"My nose hurts."

The statement had been quiet, so low, so absurd, Jackie almost missed it. "Your nose hurts?" Her daughter asked.

"No." He shoved Rose's legs off of his lap where they had been resting unperturbed for the last three hours' worth of Star Trek movies, and leaned forward to bury his face in his hands with a muffled groan, fingers tangling in his already mussed hair. "Rassilon, my head."

Rose sat up from where she had been leaning against Mickey, "Doctor, what is it? What's wrong?" She didn't expect her hand to be shaken off. "Hey mister." She prodded him lightly in the ribs, trying to cajole a smile from him; she had already discovered that his new body was overly ticklish. He didn't even budge, so she pouted at him instead, eventually reaching for him again, fingers extended.

"Rose, leave him." Mickey advised, tugging her away from the time lord, and The Doctor might have thanked him for it if he could just put his thoughts together right. He dragged his hands down his face, and watched as the world swirled and shimmied around the edges, kaleidoscoping in front of him, sounds merging into colors, colors into sounds. It was so not good timing, and somehow he didn't think he would be able to shake Rose long enough for him to escape to the peace of the TARDIS while he allowed her to drift in the vortex until he could see straight again.

He wasn't sure how long he sat there watching the world twist in an odd phantasmagoria of shapes, colors, and sound, everything dripping in color so thick he could taste it, he was vaguely aware of Jackie shooing Rose and Mickey out of the main room and into the kitchen. He could hear bits and pieces of their conversation, but he couldn't be bothered enough to attempt to make sense of any of it.

Eventually a warm hand rested on his elbow, and another wrapped around his shoulders, lifting him from the couch and guiding him back to the bedroom he had spent the majority of Christmas Eve and Christmas in, and now apparently the day after the day after Christmas. "Don't step in the color puddles." He warned her seriously as the world dripped around them. "Colored poodles rather." He corrected himself. "My head." Why was it always so hard to keep things straight? He shut his eyes tightly against the world, choosing to trust Jackie to not run him head long into any walls.

"Hush you plum." She pushed him down into the bed, drawing the covers up around him. "You know what's happening?" It took him a moment to make his head move in the right dimension to nod. A migraine, he had been prone to them starting as a student on Gallifrey. "Good. Take these," She said pressing two pills into his palm, "They aren't aspirin," She pitched before he could protest "Rose said none of that, these are all natural, the packaging said so, I popped down to the grocers down the street before Mickey and Rose went out. Might help at least take the edge off." She held a glass of water to his lips and he threw them back, pulling a face at the bitter after taste before settling back into the pillows. He managed to doze for about fifteen minutes before he threw off the covers and ran for the bathroom; Jackie gave him a few moments of privacy before following him and hovering in the door.

"There's got to be someone I can ring, Rose said no hospitals, but you haven't been exactly well since-"

"No" He choked out, "Please, it's just-" He gagged again before spitting and flushing, pillowing his head on his arm "Just let me sleep this off, 'm fine." He promised thinly. He allowed her to help him back to bed after a while where he promptly fell back asleep.

Nearly an hour later there was a knock at the door. 1234 "Howard, I told you not to come round tonight, Rose is here." Jackie called through the door as she undid the chain. However, when she opened the door it wasn't Howard standing there. "Who are you? What are you doing here at this time of the night? Yes, Charles Dickens, I'm talking to you" He looked ridiculous and seemed taken aback at being addressed in such tones, and he had actually turned to look over his shoulder to see if there was perhaps someone else. He pointed at himself questioningly. "Who else would I be talking to?"

He looked fifty shades of confused. Jackie was clearly not who he was expecting to answer the door, and Jackie had enough loitering and slammed it shut. She shook her head and moved into the kitchen. 1234 She tried to ignore it, she really did. 1234 "Doctor?" 1234 "Doctor!" The shouting did her in.

She flung open the door, "I have neighbors you know!" She hissed, but with an anxious expression he pushed past her into the apartment. "What do you mean by this? Just bursting in here, what do you need him for?" He ignored her and turned into Jackie's destroyed bedroom. He didn't seem to care about the mess though, brown eyes focusing on the man lying prone in the bed.

"What have you done to him?" His voice was low, horrified. The Doctor, his Doctor, was never still, and that in itself was terrifying.

"Nothing, he's just having a bit of a lie down." The man crossed to the bed and rested a hand against the Doctor's thin chest before his eyebrows knitted further together, "Oh leave him sleep."

He tore open the shirt the Doctor was wearing, sending buttons scattering about, ignoring Jackie's shout of protest, "This is not nothing." His tone was even but anger seethed under the surface. Jackie saw what the man had noticed up close, a fine, angry, red rash extended across his torso. "Now, I will ask you again, very, very calmly, what have you done to him?"

"I told you, nothing, he had a headache, so I gave him something for it, and he went to sleep, that's all."

"What did you give him?"

"It's nothing, it's all natural!" Still she produced the bottle and he snatched it away from her, eyes scouring the label.

"All natural and nothing are not synonymous." He cracked his neck as he slowly turned his head to her after reading the bottle. "This is willow bark."

"Right, see it's all natural, the bagger said it didn't have aspirin, perfectly harmless."

The man went very quiet for a moment, and then the bottle bounced off the side of Jackie's head before falling harmlessly to the floor and rolling away, and then the shouting started.

"What was that for?" Jackie cried emphatically.

"Do you know what willow bark is?"

"I dunno, the bark from a willow tree?" The man on the bed groaned, writhing a bit, and it silenced any response from Mister Dickens, from either of them really. The man dropped to his knees, tangling his fingers into the Doctor's and brushing his free hand through the shock of thick brown hair.

His head rolled to the side and his eyes opened half way, "Koschei." The word was little more than a breath.

"I'm here Thete." He promised, a whisper nearly too low for Jackie to hear, "I'm right here."

The Doctor might have replied with "You came back" but Jackie couldn't be sure.

"I" The monosyllabic word was choked off, and he shook his head pressing those delicate fingers to his own lips. She took the moment to sneak out of the room.

She glanced back into the room some time later, the man was sitting in her bed, the Doctor pulled protectively to his chest, slack jawed, head lolling lifelessly against the other's shoulder.

He glared at her, barring his teeth when she lingered too long, but then the Doctor's breath hitched a bit, and Jackie felt ashamed for not noting how tight it had been when she had checked on him, "Don't you dare die on me, don't you dare leave me now. You promised, all those years ago at the academy, remember the academy, the Deca? You promised, don't you dare." He hefted the lanky man more securely in his arms, trying to help him breathe.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" She asked tentatively stepping into the room, he gave a sharp bark of laughter.

"What, you haven't done enough? What are you doing? Don't touch him you stunted little ape." He hissed savagely, drawing away from the hand she extended towards them. She retreated from the room but returned a moment later with a steaming bowl of sharp smelling water. He didn't snap at her when she sat on the edge of the bed, though he did watch her motions warily.

"Rose caught croup when she was still in primary." She explained stirring the bowl, releasing more of the scent into the air, "When she couldn't breathe at night I used to sit up with her and do this, the steam would help, and the peppermint was supposed to also help ease the tightness."

It had a nearly instantaneous affect and The Doctor was soon breathing easier. She took one of the man's hands and curled it around the bowl she had been holding. Jackie patted his leg before standing.

The next time she checked in on them both men were asleep, the Doctor's head tucked underneath the other's chin.

Jackie woke to a muffled scream around one the next morning, not remembering when she had fallen asleep. The light in her room was on, and when she looked around the corner she could see the Doctor thrashing about on the bed, crying out words that she couldn't understand.

"What is it?" The man cast her an annoyed look that came across more tired and haggard than anything. "I heard screaming."

"A nightmare." His voice was clipped as the Doctor thrashed, he managed to pin his wrists above his head with one hand while another pressed against his temples. "Listen to me." The strange man commanded, all but straddling the lithe form even as the Doctor went nearly limp beneath him at the contact "You're safe." Those were the last words she could understand though before they trailed into some other language. She felt like she was spying on something very private, but she couldn't tear her eyes away even as the words melted away and Mr. Dickens rolled them so he was no longer on top but they were lying side by side, entangled in each other.

Jackie was curled on the settee when the stranger finally abandoned his patient. "How is he?"

"Fine. Resting."

"He'll be alright then?"

"Yes, just-"

"No more willow bark, got it." She caught the bemused half smile he shot her.

She watched as he lifted a picture of Rose. "That's Rose, my daughter, she travels with him."

His brow furrowed, "She's very pale, all pink and yellow-y."

"What?" She questioned, confused by the statement.

He shook his head before focusing on the telly that she had muted but left on. "Who is that then? Harriet Jones… Who's she?"

Jackie gave him an incredulous look "Where have you been? That's the bleedin' prime minister, that is, well, was, gonna have another election now aren't we? Vote of non-confidence and all after that business with the Sycorax invasion." Something whistled in the kitchen and Jackie disappeared off to attend to it.

"Sycorax Invasion?" He parroted dully.

"Blimey, what rock have you been hiding under? Everyone went up on the roofs Christmas morning didn't they, big space ship in the sky? It was all over the telly." The man shook his head and Jackie sighed at him, bringing over two mugs of tea. She caught his skeptical look into the mug and the way he tipped the liquid about, "it's just tea you plum, The Doctor is fond enough of it."

He looked surprised, but then a small smile pulled at the edges of his mouth and he gave a soft chuckle before laying the mug to the side. He looked like he was once again fighting off tears, and Jackie had to resist the maternal tug to comfort the stranger in her living room. He regained control though again a moment later, and after several minutes of awkward silence he shifted as though to prepare to leave.

She walked him to the door, stepping out into the frosty air, when he was half way down the steps she called after him, "Wait, I never caught your name."

He faltered a moment, reaching for a name, an identity, he latched onto the first name he could "Harrie- Harold, Harold Saxon, Harry if you'd like."

Jackie laughed, "You should run for prime minister, another Harry in office." He gave her a tight smile before taking the rest of the steps, "I'd vote for you."

"What, really?" He turned back at the bottom.

"Sure, good as anyone else right?"

"Better." He promised with a cheeky grin. She turned to go in, but as she closed the door she heard her name and stepped back out to look over the railing to where he stood alone, the snow swirling in eddies around him, "Jackie, do one more thing for me, make sure he knows... he's never alone... Can you do that?"

The Doctor didn't wake again until the next evening. Mickey and Rose had come round for a bit, but she had shooed them away again when they began to get a bit restless.

He had sat bolt upright in bed when she was in there folding some laundry.

"Feeling better?" He was looking around rather wildly, "What is it sweetheart?"

He ignored her, talking to himself, "No, I can smell him, but he can't be here, where is he?" He sounded a bit desperate as he threw back the covers.

He shoved past her to race, well, stagger, to the door, "You can smell him?!" Jackie asked incredulously, "Oh don't be stupid," Then she paused, eyes narrowing, "What else can you smell?"

"Jackie, who was he?" The voice floated in from the front door along with the frosty air, "What did he look like? Did he have, oh… I don't know, fangs, glowing eyes, anything just different? Something little even… Maybe a goatee?"

She seemed a bit put out at being ignored, and set about tidying up the living room a bit."Dunno, never seen him before. He was dressed a bit odd though, wasn't he? Big poofy sleeves, this weird neck tie thing, and all that. Sort of costumey, like he just walked out of a play. I dunno, get all sorts I guess, got you didn't we? He called himself Harold, Harold Saxon. I told him he should run for prime minister, be a laugh, first Harriet and then Harold. Reckon people could use a laugh."

"Harold?" He echoed, "Harold." It sounded like he was testing the name and not finding it quite to his liking, "Doesn't make sense. How can he be gone? How could he have been here though? I just- I don't know."

"Doctor, are you even paying attention?" She cut across his musings, "Ah come in and close the door, gonna run up the heating bill you are, he's long gone anyways. Come sit down and have some tea." It took a few attempts but she finally manhandled him back to the sofa.

They both sat there nursing their tea for a long time before Jackie decided to ask what had been weighing on her mind all day, "Are you Vulcans?" He gave her a blank stare and she gestured at the telly. It took him a moment, but he managed to choke on his mouthful of tea, she patted his back a bit as he tried to regain his breath without coughing.

It took several minutes and his eyes were watering by the time he managed to rasp out a "No. No. Not Vulcan"

"Well your ears aren't all that pointy." Though they did flame rather red with that remark. "But he did something vulcanny to you and-"

"Not Vulcan." He reiterated.

She nodded, "Harold isn't his real name is it?"

"No."

Jackie nodded, "Rose said that box of yours translates everything into English, but he was speaking something and I couldn't understand it."

"Gallifreyan I imagine."

"Oh, where do they speak that?"

"On Gallifrey."

"Oh." She fidgeted a bit, "Who was he?"

He hesitated, "A friend once, a long time ago, we grew up together."

"On Gallifrey?" She hedged cautiously,

He gave her a long look, "Yes, on Gallifrey, the Shining World of the Seven Systems."

His words held something a bit biting, a bit akin to sarcasm, "Is it… Is it far?"

"Oh, just… two hundred and fifty million light years, give or take."

"I- that's- oh."

"Yup." He popped the p lightly.

"What was it like?"

"Beautiful." His answer was bitten out, terse at best.

"Have you ever taken Rose there?"

"Nope." Another pop

"Will you?"

He gave her another long look, "No."

Something in his tone told her not to press the matter, "He mentioned an academy."

"Prydon." He supplied.

"And the Deca."

He looked over her shoulder, "A group of Prydon students, friends, a group of friends."

"Were you a part of that group?"

He hesitated, "Yes."

"And that man, Harold Saxon?"

He gave a ragged sigh, "Yes."

"What happened to them, where are they now?"

"Gone."

"Gone where?"

He stared down at the tea for a long time, not answering, looking a bit lost in its depths. "It solves everything. It's supposed to solve everything." He broke then, and Jackie rescued the mug before folding him into a tight embrace.

"He wanted me to tell you something Doctor." She said when the sobs had died down enough that she thought he might be able to hear her, "That friend of yours. He said to tell you that… well that you're never alone, and you aren't."