A.N. This chapter feels a little short to me, but the next part is specifically from River's point of view so I wanted to separate that. Unrelated, reviews are wonderful things that I am eternally grateful for. =]
For the second time in one day, Rose found herself in the sterile surroundings of the MedBay. She remembered arguing with the Doctor that they should redecorate this room as well, brighten it up so it didn't feel so coldly medical. He had refused, asserting that if they left the room as it was, she would be less inclined to getting injured since she hated it so much.
It had been a rude explanation then and now the sterile white walls and chromium reflections mocked her. Where was he to scold at her for getting hurt twice in one day? He would have made a joke about her actually liking the MedBay as much as she protested to the contrary, then he would have brought her a mug of tea and a piggy back ride out to the media room where they would have snuggled into to watch a sci-fi film during which the Doctor would have pointed out every flaw consequently drowning out the entire dialogue of the film.
Instead, the Doctor in the room with her paced, his hands folded behind his back, chin tucked down to his chest. Rose's eyelids were still heavy, so she watched him between half open eyes, her breath coming slow and steady. She was exceedingly annoyed with herself. She was not a damsel in distress, she should not be constantly swooning and having to be carted off. It was embarrassing.
Still. Her eyelids fluttered down as she exhaled slowly. She was tired. The Doctor was gone, she didn't know how to find him, she felt trapped. Her attention drifted to the wolf growling defensively in her chest and soon she was falling away from consciousness.
"What is going on, River?" the Doctor asked, whirling about on his toes to continue his downward pace.
River perched on the only clear counter top, her hands planted on either side of her, and her legs bent, resting against the bottom cabinet. She had watched the Doctor reenacting his pacing scene for the past two hours.
Two hours during which she had left the MedBay only to explain to her parents what was going on and that they could head back for their TARDIS if they wanted. They had deferred and were now sitting quietly in the hallway, backs against the wall, Amy's head on Rory's shoulder, their hands tangled together.
"I don't know, Doctor, I'm sorry."
"But you must, River! You had to know she was coming, you had to know this would happen!" He stalked toward her, features maligned with anger.
River tilted her head to the side, her wonderous hair an aura about her face. "I don't. Until this morning, I had never even heard of Rose before."
The Doctor threw his arms up. "How can that be possible! Give me your journal."
She shook her head, eyes wide. "I can't do that, Doctor, you know that."
"I don't give a damn, River! I need to know what's going on. This is Rose!" He pressed forward until he had her caged against the cabinets, his body aggressively leaning into hers.
River pressed her lips together, the stark light of the MedBay casting the Doctor's already dark features into shadows. They had so many moments like this, all dutifully recorded in her diary, moments where he was the Storm and she was the shore against which it broke.
Momentary jealousy stabbed her heart because she knew Rose wasn't a buffer. Either Rose had learned to tame the Storm or it was never directed at her to begin with. Either way – Now wasn't the time to dwell on it.
"I can't give you the journal and you know that, Doctor. Those are the rules you created. And you kept true to those rules even when you didn't know me, know if you could trust me, otherwise we wouldn't be here now. I need you to trust me like that again. There is nothing in the journal about Rose, I didn't know she existed. And even if I had, you wouldn't be allowed to read it. You can't know what happens, those are the rules of the game."
"This is not a game, River," he said scathingly, backing off as if being so near her disgusted him. River held in her flinch, refusing to let him see just how much his actions cost her. "This is Rose's life and I won't –"
A soft moan from the table captured his attention and he whirled around, forgetting entirely about River, who slipped unnoticed from the room, her shoulders shaking.
"Rose!" He fell to his knees beside the gurney, his face parallel with hers. His fingertips gently brushed the hair from her face. Her skin was still flushed to the touch, heating him up with energy and worry.
Rose managed a fragile smile before closing her eyes on a shuddering sigh. "Got to stop doing that, it'll wreck my sleeping cycle."
The Doctor laughed brittlely. "How do you feel?"
"Tired and dehydrated. Think you could get me some tea?"
"Yes, of course," he bobbed his head rapidly. "River!"
There was no response. He looked over his shoulder, but the spot where River had been was vacant. "Where is she?"
They were in a crisis and River had pulled a runner. He pushed to his feet and crossed to the door. Wrenching it open, he looked into the hallway where only Rory remained. "Where's River?"
Rory eyed him unhappily. "She's with Amy."
"I need her help."
"Don't think she particularly feels like helping you right now, Doctor." And there was that Rory Williams certainty of character coming out to make the Doctor feel like an ass.
Alright, yes, he might have been too harsh with River, but she could take it, she always did, put up with his tantrums, played the martyr.
"Rose needs tea, can you get it?" Not even a mention of knowing exactly what Rory was talking about.
He stood up, stretching out his long limbs. "Sure, I'll make tea for Rose. Then I think we should be going, Doctor."
"I can't leave," he said earnestly. "Something is wrong with Rose, I've got to stay here until it's figured out –"
"That's not what I meant," Rory cut him off. "Amy, River, and I. We should get back. To our TARDIS at least."
The Doctor gaped feeling wrong footed. "If – if that's what you want."
Rose leaned against the MedBay doors feeling exactly the eavesdropper she was, but desperate times called for desperate measures. Her body felt unbelievably heavy and she knew she wouldn't be doing any running for the rest of the day, which meant that searching for the Doctor would have to wait until tomorrow just as the Doctor had said.
Added to that, listening to Rory and the Doctor, it seemed she was creating a rather stunning mess of his life at the moment. River caught unfairly in the middle. This was not what she wanted, this was why she had felt it better to send them all off that first time. But now they were here, and the mess just kept getting stickier.
No, Rose could do this on her own. She'd found her way back to the Doctor on her own before and the odds had been far greater against her that time. This time they were already in the same universe, no matter the mystery that surrounded exactly how she and he had gotten here to begin with.
Rose didn't remember anything about that, only seeing the Doctor's TARDIS in front of her in Cardiff, probably refueling on energy as it so infrequently needed to do. Before that, she remembered reading his scribbled note, her vision tunneling to gold, heat bursting through her veins, then the TARDIS. That was it.
Still, the point remained, the hardest part was already surmounted. Now she was on the very planet his TARDIS had landed on, and she could find him, even with tribal aliens who had a penchant for poison darts. Time to break ties before things became irrevocably messed up.
Steeling herself with a deep breath and ignoring the almost paralyzing heaviness of her limbs that were only partly due to her brush with Bad Wolf, she pushed open the MedBay doors.
The Doctor turned, shocked, to see her. "Rose! You shouldn't be standing! You should be lying, lying still, flat, vertically, umoving!"
"Nah." She forced her best smile into place. "Right as rain, me." She paused, then said, "In fact, I think Rory's right. I think it's time for everyone to pack up and head for Rio."
"Rio – what – Rio?!" the Doctor stuttered.
"No, Rose, that's not what I meant," Rory said at the same time, their voices flowing over one another.
Bad Wolf tried to rise from her curled position by Rose's heart to defend her guardian, but fell back on her haunches, exhausted from the day's exertions. Rose was grateful for the reprieve. She needed to make the Doctor understand with her own words or he'd never listen.
"You've taken me here, that's more than I could have hoped for. This morning I had only a vague scribbled note, now I've got the TARDIS and a hostile planet." She perfected another forced smile.
The Doctor looked borderline apocalyptic, a look Rose had seen countless times before, but never directed at her as it was now. "Rose Tyler, do not be an idiot."
Her smile instantly failed. Bad Wolf growled in her chest, Rose's eyes sparking golden. The Doctor scowled in retaliation. Seeing the obvious rising hostilities, Rory edged his way between the two, hands raised.
"I think everyone's tensions are running a bit high at the mo, Amy and mine's included what with finding out not all TARDISes assign you bunk beds." He paused, waiting to see if either party would retaliate or, preferably, appreciate his wittiness.
Neither happened. He soldiered on undeterred. "From how I understand it, which is admittedly a lot of guesswork since Amy and I haven't exactly been kept in the loop; we've got a missing half Doctor, which really, I'd appreciate that being explained at some point, can't tell you what bizarre things Amy and I have imagined; Rose is here when she shouldn't be with spooky glowing eyes; and River is getting her heart trampled over left and right."
He took a deep breath. "I think we all need to regroup. Get a plan together to find Rose's Doctor –"
"I am her Doctor," the Doctor interjected stubbornly.
Rory cut him a look of raised eyebrows. "Be that as it may, I think Rose is looking for a very specific version of her Doctor." Rose allowed a little smile at this to which Rory returned a very grateful one. "And I get the feeling you aren't him. So, I'll round up the others, we'll put a plan together to get back Ten and a Half, that's what you call him right?" he asked in aside to Rose.
"Yes, well, I mean, if we need to designate which Doctor we are talking about," Rose corrected herself.
"Great. So, we'll work on finding a way to find the Doctor when we all meet up in five, okay?"
"Perfect," Rose agreed, her smile no longer forced.
The Doctor grumbled, one boot scuffing against the grating, but nodding his assent.
Rory's shoulders relaxed. "Right then. I'm off to find the girls."