As We Go
Chapter 3: A Long Day's Night

A/N: Sorrrrrrrrry it took sooooooooooo long. :( Thanks also for being so patient, I had exams last week and all writing was stalled until now. Now I can go on a writing frenzy! lol I did make a 3.0 for the semester if that makes anyone feel any better:-p Again, I love you guys! Squee! Sorry for the HORRIBLE errors in chap. 2. Guess I wanted it out so bad that I didn't double check it. This chapter was the most fun to write because it all peaks toward the end. The title for this chapter is appropriate for the content but deceptive of the length unfortunately. I simply felt too much was going on already to add more. And as many of you pointed out the Tardis does have a medical lab. The Doctor has reasons for not currently using it that will be alluded to later on in the chapter. Hopefully chapter 4 will answer most of your questions about technicalities. Again, thanks to everyone for your great reviews! Please keep reading and keep reviewing :o)

Rose dropped down to catch him before he could fall, her arms gripping round his waist as he clung to her shoulders. He didn't feel the impact of hitting the floor so he assumed they'd managed to keep that particular pain away. His eyes rose to meet her panicked hazel orbs and locked. The feelings he saw screaming to him there were all but breathing a life of their own. How did she manage to fix concern, strength, promise, and loyalty all in that one look? She was saying more in a second than she could have in a thousand years. He squeezed her arms gently to keep her from pulling away, though no such move was made. She must've been recovering from the shock because he could see her searching for something in him now, an answer to a question that it seemed like she didn't even know... and he felt guilty. He had lied to her about the mission already, lied about his health, and now he was going to have to lie to get her out of the Tardis so he could properly inspect his wounds. When he'd gotten them the day before they hadn't seemed so bad, in fact he'd completely neglected them in his efforts to get away from the danger. Of course then he had passed out on his bed for a good twelve hours and decided to come here when he woke up. He wasn't behaving very smartly. Wounds kill people and the last thing he needed was to regenerate on Rose all over again. At least he had cleaned them up and changed clothes before he went after her. Jackie had actually insisted that he do so if he insisted on not telling Rose what was wrong. Jackie just didn't understand that he didn't want Rose to see him like this or know what he had done to protect her. He was too afraid of losing her, of scaring her off because he couldn't guard her completely... the less she knew of this the better off they were...

"Hey Rose?" Mickey's voice blasted the complete silence that had blanketed the room. He let the Tardis door shut behind him. Rose was the first to look away as she helped the Doctor to his feet.

"Mickey, hey..." she started, but at the look of hurt on his face hesitated, "he tripped s'all. I tried to stop him from fal--"

"I just came by to let you know I got called into work last second. Bob's having trouble with the inventory records," Mickey explained cheerfully. Rose's eyebrows knit together in confusion and she nodded.

"So no dinner?" she asked meekly, taking a couple steps toward him. The Doctor went back to digging in the storage door next to him. He was no moron when it came to private matters and this was his best attempt at ignoring the one before him.

"No. No dinner and no movies. I'll probably be there a while..." he answered, the happiness fading. "But come by the flat later so I can say goodbye," he added with vigor. Rose nodded and smiled.

"Yeah. Yeah sure, I'll be there. Say tenish?" Without even looking at her the Doctor could hear her best attempt at smoothing the tension out. She was really good at saying the right thing when it was needed... sometimes. Others she spouted exactly what was on her mind regardless of the penalty. He couldn't decide if that quality was endearing or obnoxious. Poor Mick though. It really hadn't been what it looked like. And poor Rose for having the duty of convincing him otherwise.

"Yeah, tenish," he turned to leave. "See you Doctor." The Doctor stood to face the door, shoving both hands in his pockets as he leaned back against the nearest cabinet.

"See you Rickey," he agreed quietly. The door slammed in response making him and Rose both cringe. "Maybe I should've said Mickey," he thought aloud.

"You know he can't stand it when you call him that, it drives him bonkers," Rose murmured. She finally turned back toward him. Several steps now separated them and the link they had had. "He looked so hurt," she said, imploring him with her eyes to make the whole thing better, "all you did was fall. I mean it wasn't like we... kissed or anything." The Doctor nodded to himself, eyes dropping to the steel floor beneath them. They might not have kissed but the situation would have looked very different to an outsider. "Doctor?" Her voice was still fairly soft. He looked up to find her examining the walls. "You didn't have a run in did you? You went on a mission?" She made it sound like a question but he knew it wasn't. It was a request for confirmation.

"Yes." Her eyes fell back on his and he knew what she was about to say.

"Why?" The pain this knowledge seemed to cause her clawed at his insides more than the nagging ache of his chest. He pushed off the cabinet to approach her and instantly regretted it. He didn't realize how many muscles that little motion would involve and the surge of agony that ripped through him forced a pause into his speech.

"It wasn't anything important, Rose. It was last second and a bit risky... I didn't see the need to take you away from your vacation," he explained, hoping the pain he felt didn't show to her. He was having a hard time focusing on her face. The fuzzy line around his vision was back and the swirling in his head was coming back too. He tried to force it off by blinking hard.

"It wasn't my vacation though, I didn't want to go," she reminded him. "I don't care how risky it is, I'm your companion and I would follow you anywhere." He looked straight at her now, despite the growing fogginess of the room. He had to. Her words were penetrating. She clearly told him that she was upset with him for lying, but also devoted to his every move... She wasn't going to question him or run away because it meant more than a little lethal behavior. He didn't know what to say or feel... all he knew was confusion. She was struggling to tell him something else, something more than those few words had already revealed to him...

It happened in slow motion. One second she was looking at him, trying to tell him how much she loved her life with him (without being too domestic) and the next he was falling. He had started to take a step, to say something to her, and he never completed either.

"Doctor?" Rose dove to catch him as he crumpled to the floor before her. "Doctor? Doctor!" She sank under his weight, cradling his shoulders as best she could. "DOCTOR!" He wasn't responding at all. He was practically lifeless. For a minute she held him there, desperately thinking of what she could do for help. This can't be happening, it can't, she thought distraught. She'd almost lost him during the regeneration, helpless to stop whatever was hurting him and now she was there again. Her very being was on high alert. Suddenly she remembered her cell phone and gracefully managed to slip it out of her pocket without dropping his head. She phoned Jackie in tears and together they carried his limp body up to the flat.

"What happened?" Jackie whispered in the kitchen once they'd settled him on the couch. Rose looked a nervous wreck with her hands wringing worriedly and her eyes still red from crying. She couldn't help but remember how lost Rose had looked the last time something like this happened.

"I don't know. One second we were talking and then the next he just collapsed," she replied. Jackie drew her daughter into a tight hug as an effort to chase away the fear.

"He's alright, it's alright now, Rose. He probably was just hungry," she offered, still clinging to the promise she had made with him earlier. She felt wretched for not assuring her daughter when she had the power to.

"Hungry?" questioned Rose, pulling back.

"I mean like maybe his blood sugar ran low?"

"Oh... I think I'm going to get him a cool rag and some water... would you prop him on a pillow?" she asked. Jackie nodded and they split up. She had just reached to lift up his head when the Doctor groaned.

"Rose!" she bellowed and the younger girl came thundering back into the room. She set aside the glass of water in her hand and assisted him with sitting up. She then knelt before him on a comfortable eye level, keeping her hands on his knees to remind herself he wasn't dying.

"Are you alright?" she rasped. His brown eyes searched for hers through the lingering blackness. His hair was a mess and his head felt like someone had shoved a needle through it, but the fear in her voice was the worst result yet of whatever had happened. As though she'd read his mind she said: "You passed out... mum thinks you might not have eaten properly toady." He glanced over at Jackie. Her face held similar worry.

"I'm fine, really... but maybe I will take some of whatever she's cooking," he smiled half heartedly. Rose returned it, relieved, and tossed one at her mum. Jackie must have been cooking when Rose called for help because the air was full of wonderful scents.

"That's dandy to me Doctor, but you'd best not lie to her anymore. If she finds out on her own... well lets just say some things are hereditary," she warned. The Doctor's hand inexplicably moved to protect his cheek from any oncoming slaps as Rose eyed him.

"Lie to me about what? You are okay aren't you?" she asked. He nodded, swallowing with some difficulty. His throat was so dry and his mouth tasted sticky that when he spotted the water she'd brought in he immediately reached for it. Obviously Jackie hadn't given him away though she might as well have. Rose had enough suspicion now to connect the dots on her own.

"I'm fine, Rose," he tried. Her eyes filled with worry and heartache as she studied him down to the last hair on his hand.

"You keep saying that... Oh my god," she trembled and threw herself toward him. He prepared for a hug or a punch, but her hand tenderly pushed against the upper left side of his chest. When she drew it back the pale contours were stained with blood. "You're bleeding..." she whispered terrified. He sighed defeated and looked at his chest. He was still wearing the trench coat so the blood must've run through. Had it not been for the darkness of his clothes she might not have seen the liquid to begin with, but now that she had the jig was up. He was trying to remember if it had been bleeding this badly when he arrived. Surely he would've used the skin setting on the sonic screwdriver if it had... right? He wasn't being so daft with this situation as to leave a gaping hole in his chest was he? Reaching up dumbly he grazed the sore area with his fingertips. She watched as he discovered blood there too.

"It's nothing Rose, just a small cut I got--"

"On that mission you wouldn't take me on?" she erupted. He blinked at the anger in her voice, her face streaked with panic. This wasn't like her at all to be so quickly shaken.

"It's not the mission I wouldn't take you on, its mission I COULDN'T take you on," he corrected, "there is a difference."

"No there isn't. What was this mission, Doctor?" she asked, emphasizing his name almost hatefully. His eyebrows furrowed. "Needed to save a damsel in distress? Shopping for a new companion? Stop me if I reach it."

"Rose..." his words seemed to fail him in the face of her. She was never like this, never so irrational. How did she come up with that as the answer anyway? There was no retort to something so unfathomable. He scanned the room looking for something to help him understand, something to jar his mind into working order. She seemed to be getting control again because she looked at him hard for a long while.

"Take it off," she squeaked.

"Take what off?" That look of innocent bewilderment was on him again and she fought off a sad smile.

"Your shirt... you need medical attention. I'll get the kit," she replied.

"Nah, I'll just go get the sonic screwdriver from the Tardis and-- " she held up a hand to stop him. He sat back down on the couch.

"No, you aren't going anywhere. You wanna stumbled down the stairs? Or maybe crack open your head?" she interrogated. He frowned at her.

"I'm not going to do that Rose. I'm fine. I'll just get the screwdriver and set it to medical--"

"No... What? You don't understand English? How bout Spanish then? No," she said tartly. Jackie came to him, holding a muffin in one had and milk in the other, both of their eyes on Rose's retreating back. He knew she was angry but not angry enough to insult him. He thought he was the one who was supposed to do that.

In the bathroom Rose delayed retrieving the first aid kit. She sat against the tub with her knees lifted. What was wrong with her? How could she throw off at him like that? He'd never done anything intentional to her, so how could she assume he would? She didn't know what to think, what to do... all she knew was a blinding feeling of chaos. First that moment in the Tardis where she had started to feel normal again, then him slumping to the earth like he was dead, and now this. On top of his lying, Mickey's reaction to them, and the throbbing exhaustion coursing through her from several nights without sleep... She didn't know what the truth was anymore. Which way was up? she thought desolately and looked to the bathroom ceiling for a reply. Always up, always away... she felt like she was struggling to stay afloat, struggling and scraping at the walls as she fell to her death.

When she finally came back with the box in her hand he was waiting in silence. The remnants of a muffin in one hand and a half drunken glass of milk in the other. He was in only his undershirt now, a fresh white button up lying next to him. Her mum must've taken his over shirts and jacket to the wash instead of saving them for the Tardis. The Doctor looked up at her. He'd felt her come in and now his deep brown eyes swallowed her whole. How was she still sane when he had every ability to drive her crazy? "That one too," she said and opened the first aid kit on the coffee table. He flushed involuntarily, removing his shirt as told. He still didn't understand why she didn't go get the blasted sonic screwdriver. It wasn't a setting he liked to use but the medical function it had could mend skin far more efficiently than Earth medicine. Fidgeting slightly under her gaze, he couldn't recall if she'd ever seen him without his shirt on... bloody good first impression this would be. "Oh Doctor," she gasped. It was a long gash that curved its way from near his collar bone to just over his belly button, cut uncomfortably deep and bleeding rather significantly. Mostly it was colored purple and pink from the bruising but the dark clods of dry blood was a poignant display of how serious it really seemed to be. He quirked an eyebrow at it. It couldn't have been that bad when he landed.

"It's not as bad as it looks. A lot of dried blood I think," he told her, hoping it was true. "I heal very quickly you know so in a couple days it's only going to be a scratch." It was a promise she seemed disinterested in. She took out some gauge and the alcohol, refusing to speak. It hurt like seven hells when the alcohol found its way into his wound. Never would he have chosen this over the prickling feeling of the screwdriver, never! But he watched her face every mind boggling instant that her fingertips skimmed his skin and somehow he was fine with this option. Did she know that every time she did that it felt like lightning to him? Like someone was running electricity through him for fun? She put down the dirty gauge she'd been using and lifted another. "I didn't want you to know, Rose. I didn't want you to worry so I was going to hide it until it was better," he pleaded. Her eyes flicked up to his for less than a second and then back to his chest. Another moment of silence captured them. "Please Rose, say something!"

"You want me to say something? Like what? Like how ruddy stupid I feel? Or maybe how bloody stupid I AM for still doing this for you when I don't even know how you got it?" she snipped.

"What? Rose..." he gripped her wrist, surprised at the huskiness of his own voice. "You are not stupid by any means of the imagination. What's gotten into you? Why do I feel there is something you aren't telling me?" She looked up at him finally, eyes stinging with pent up emotions.

"Tell me, the truth... why didn't you take me with you on this mission?" Her voice was deadly calm. It only carried a slight hint of the fear he knew lurked within her. He swallowed, his gaze never wavering from hers now that she would look at him.

"There was an enemy... his name was Correll and he's hated me for a very long time. Ever since I blew up his brother in a misfired attack on the Daleks back in the time war... he's made it his mission to assure I have no piece of happiness in this life ...ever since I regenerated I thought I might be free of him. I had hoped..." Her eyes held his, filled with her own hope. She trusted him, believing every word that crossed his lips as though it kept her alive and it hurt to see what his lying had done to her. It hurt enough that he was secretly deciding to never do it again. "I received a transmission from him a week ago. He's learned of my new body... and of you... he threatened to destroy it all. I had to stop him," he explained. When she didn't reply he ventured on, "Before he could take you from me." Rose gazed at him for a long second, accepting what he said as the truth before going back to work at his wound. She removed her wrist from his grip, eyes red with unshed tears.

"You should've told me," she finally croaked, but he'd expected more. He'd expected her to berate him and guilt him and probably even punch him good in the arm for lying to her about everything... but nothing about her reactions were right tonight, they weren't Rose. They weren't the same compassionate, resilient, headstrong, and easy going Rose he knew so well. He tried to think, with all his knowledge of time and space, what could possibly be making her behave like this. The dramatically changing image of her was almost unnerving. Something was amiss with her, there was something she wasn't telling him and he couldn't be deterred from knowing it now. He opened his mouth to speak and abruptly she stood, making her way to leave the room again.

"Rose," he said, but she kept walking. He leapt to his feet to follow, grabbing his shirt along the way. "Rose." She could hear him calling her and the urgency in his voice but she just couldn't talk to him right then. Jackie passed on her way back to the kitchen and froze at the look on her daughter's face. Her reaction only made the Doctor move faster.

"Wait, Doctor," Jackie asked timidly. He stopped, looking at her confused as he buttoned his shirt. "Rose has had a hard week, a really hard week... just give her time."

"Pay attention now," he started, a fierce look in his eyes, "something is wrong with Rose... She is behaving odder than anyone I've ever seen and right now I don't know why. There isn't a good enough reason for me not to follow her!" he snapped and pushed past her. He knew he sounded angry, he knew he'd have to apologize, but he also knew that Rose's well being was at risk and that was all that mattered.

When he reached the hallway he found every door closed except for the loo. Since he hadn't bothered to learn the layout of her home a rush of frustration hit him and he began to open them all. Two doors later he only had one left and the distinct sound of tears was calling him through it. He found her in the dark, sitting against the far wall with her face buried in her hands and her knees to her chest. To his right was a bed so he assumed this to be her room he was entering. She still sniffled, to his dismay, despite obvious efforts not to as he knelt before her. He didn't speak because he didn't know what to say. His first instinct was to hold her, to tell her he was there for her, and it was stronger than he anticipated. Luckily she found her voice first.

"I'm sorry..." she sniveled, fingers gripping around her face.

"Why?" he asked strongly while openly allowing his eyes to wander over her. He was searching for a sign, some small indication of what was causing this but all he found was agony.

"Because I thought you didn't want me anymore, that you were giving me the shove off," she spluttered, stopping him in his tracks. He now was completely focused on her and the feelings she was emitting. "I was afraid that there was something I did... or didn't do that made you wish you'd traded companions and now... that gash on your chest..." She trailed off, body heaving with deep breaths. His eyes were filled to the brim with shock, wider than she'd ever made them go before and it was as if she was leaving him, taking away the only thing he needed. How could she think that? How? She was everything... she was the best... no one could ever replace her, didn't she know that? "I was so bloomin idiotic, Doctor," she cried, jerking her head up to face him. Their eyes met and he felt like something important had been ripped from inside him. "All you were trying to do was protect me and I reacted this way, I betrayed you," she rasped. She seemed so shocked by her own actions, so ashamed and at a loss. Something clicked in his mind and he began to put together necessary pieces to help her out of this, but first he had to calm her. Taking her face into his hands he drew her toward him gently, hoping to let her feel how close she was to him. She gazed back, reading his eyes with a stronger control.

"You didn't betray me, Rose," he almost whispered. "You didn't do anything. Something is making you behave like this and I'm going to figure out what it is, okay? Stop crying, please." He was almost begging her to be normal again, to stop this torture they both were going through and suddenly her lips were against his. He sat paralyzed against her, shocked and joyous in the same breath, but also furiously disappointed he couldn't enjoy it in the next. He pulled back. He had felt something hard and square brush against his finger when she moved toward him and now, he thought he knew the source of her erratic displays. Pushing her hair back he ignored the look on her face completely as he investigated behind the accused ear. Straightaway he withdrew his hand gripping a tiny metal square between his thumb and index finger that wasn't supposed to be there. Whatever she had been feeling before dissolved when she saw the offending object in his hand and the wrathful look on his face.

Chapter 4: Whispers in the Dark The flat had just fallen silent when a scream sliced through the night air. In an instant he was on his feet, everything forgotten but one thought. He knew that scream, he knew the very pitch it struck and the terror flowing through his veins at the knowledge that she was in danger.

A/N: Another one bites the dust! lol Hope that wasn't too much of a cliff hanger :)