Unbound

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Chapter Two

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After laying Rose back down and quite literally shoving her arm back into it's socket, the Doctor sank down on the floor, his back against the bed. His hands were shaking as he wiped them on his jeans, the black denim a welcome friction. He stayed like that for a long time, his face showing the emotional war he was enduring within.

He had been in 'Doctor mode' as he'd removed her shirt and jeans, checking her over thoroughly. He'd examined every inch of skin on her body while she was still in the painless abyss into which he'd willed her. The sunlight that shown clearly through the windows now had revealed many more scrapes on her abused body; a small mark here and there on her arms, and bruises - many in the shapes of fingers - all over. But she hadn't been sexually assaulted, and that revelation had him cleaning her wounds, setting her arm in its socket, then redressing her numbly before he allowed himself to sink to the floor in utter relief.

He'd let her rest; her body needed it, obviously. He had no doubt she hadn't slept since they'd left the TARDIS, when she'd walked outside with him, her hand in his, ready to visit this world well-known for its friendly atmosphere.

The Doctor rubbed his hands over his face, remembering the exact moment that he'd realized he'd set the coordinates wrong. He slammed his palms to his forehead with disgust. He'd been so stupid! When the soldiers had approached them after they'd reached the small town, he should've kept his big mouth shut.

This was not the time for self recrimination, however. Rose was his main concern, and rightfully so, since her predicament was completely his fault. But none of that now. He needed to keep an eye on her, because she could have internal damage that he could not determine without at least having the sonic to use.

His lugubrious thoughts had kept him occupied for at least four hours, if his calculations from the sun's slow movement outside were accurate. It was time to bring her out of her forced slumber, and if she slept of her own free will after that, then so be it.

Raising himself from the floor, the Doctor rearranged Rose once again so that she was propped up a bit to help her breathing. Sitting beside her on the camp bed, he checked the make-shift sling he'd fashioned for her from a strip of blanket, making sure her shoulder was as comfortable as it could be under the circumstances. He then felt about her ribs, checking where he'd wrapped them with another few pieces of the tattered cloth. He leaned in and listened: her breathing was not strained.

Nodding to himself, he sat up and took a deep, long breath. He then placed his fingertips on her temples and closed his eyes.

Opening them again, the Doctor saw Rose looking at him. He smiled.

"Rose, how do you feel now?" he asked, letting his fingers fall from her face as his hands landed on either side of her hips.

She blinked a few times, then nodded. "Better, thanks." Her voice was still a bit raspy, but the rest she'd had seemed to help it strengthen, if only a little.

"Don't thank me," he said briskly, looking away from her as his grin faded quickly. "Sun's gonna be down soon. We can leave here at dark and be back at the TARDIS in a couple of hours. You, young lady, need to rest up as much as possible. We've got a lot of walkin' to do."

"You all right?" she asked, confused by his sudden change in demeanor.

"I'm fine," he answered, still looking out the window.

"What's this?" she asked, just noticing the sling as she lifted her arm slightly to indicate what she was talking about.

"Oh," he began, finally looking back towards her. "Your shoulder was dislocated, but I've reset it and you're gonna be fine, maybe a bit sore until I can get us back to the ship and sort it properly. The sling's just to make you more comfortable 'til we get back. How's it feel? All right?"

"Yeah," she nodded.

The Doctor bent down, retrieving the tin cup he'd refilled. "Drink this," he began, lifting the cup to her lips. "You're dehydrated. I need you to drink as much as you can before we head out."

Rose drank about half the cup before turning her head away.

"Enough for now?" the Doctor asked as he removed it, knowing her answer.

"Where are we?" she asked after clearing her throat.

"A little huntin' shack I happened upon after we got out of the camp."

"Camp?"

"Prison camp. Do you remember that, Rose?"

"Yeah. We got hauled away by those soldiers. Don't really remember us gettin' out of there, though."

"You were a little out of it. They roughed you up pretty good."

"I remember that," she said quietly, her eyes lowering to look at the hem of her shirt.

Rose looked up again as the Doctor's hand cupped her cheek. "You should get some more sleep. We've got a bit of a jaunt to make this evening, and I want you well rested."

"I'll be okay," she told him confidently. She turned her head away from him and closed her eyes.

The Doctor watched her as her body relaxed, giving in to the need for rest almost immediately. He sighed heavily then pushed himself off the bed, sitting back down on the floor beside it, elbows on his knees and face in his hands.

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The Doctor presumed he'd nodded off, for the scream that echoed in the small shack had him literally jumping, tangling his limbs up a bit as he maneuvered himself quickly to his knees, spinning around to see Rose's tear-streaked face.

"Rose! You all right? What's wrong? What happened?" He was literally grabbing her head as he spoke, his fingers moving gently over her hair in concern.

"'M fine. Bad dream," she whispered, forcefully closing her eyes, as if trying to wipe an image away from her vision.

The Doctor moved to sit beside her, and as soon as he was seated Rose leaned away from him slightly, groaning at the effort it took.

"Rose? Am I hurting you?"

Her eyes flew open, and the first thing he noticed was their glassy appearance. The second thing he noticed was the rosy flush of her cheeks. Instantly his hands went to her face, one across her forehead, the other cupping her chin.

"You're burning up. Must've caught something in that rat trap of a confinement cell you were in."

Rose instantly pulled away from his hold on her. "I told you, I'm all right," she said quietly, though her tone was a bit harsh. He was sure her ribs were hurting after screaming like that.

The Doctor sat back, looking at her with an unreadable expression. "And I'm tellin' you, you're not. Your temperature's 102.3, give or take a tenth of a nudge. Either you've caught somethin' viral or ... no, I'm sure you just caught yourself a bug. Nothing to fret about. Just goes to show that your immune system bottomed out a little ... but we'll get it all sorted soon enough."

She seemed to sink back into the bed as her breathing evened out. He hoped it was because the pain from her outburst was receding, allowing her to relax, and not because she wanted to distance herself from him.

"So, some dream you had, was it?" he asked, standing suddenly and retrieving the towel from the bedside table. He took it over to the sink, pumping the handle so he could soak it. He quickly returned with the dripping cloth as he sat beside her again, patting it against her heated face and neck.

Rose shuddered slightly in response; whether it was from his unanswered question or his actions, he wasn't sure. But when she suddenly pushed him away with a strength he didn't think she was capable of, he was sure of one thing: She wanted him away from her.

"Rose?" He asked cautiously. "What's that about, then?"

"Jus', just get away from me. God, first you leave me alone for, forever with those, those animals, then you're hoverin' all over me jus' like they were! Leave me alone!" It had taken a lot of effort for her to spit those words out so venomously, and now she was trying to recover with short, quick breaths.

"Rose, stop. You're gonna hyperventilate. Slow breaths - slow ones. Come on, you've got to slow 'em down," he spoke softly, ignoring her outburst as he tried to comfort her.

"You left me. You left me there, with those nasty little men. Do you know they took shifts with me? Yeah, wanted to make sure I didn't sleep, hopin' I'd tell 'em who you were and why we were here. They said you'd escaped for a while before they captured you again. You jus' left me there. You didn't even know if I was dead or alive!" She was becoming hysterical, he could tell. Between not being able to breathe properly and the twisted memories of her captivity, then top it all of with her fever ...

"Rose, I never left you. Do you understand? I could never do something like that. They were just messin' around with your mind, tryin' to get you to talk. You're not thinkin' clearly or you'd know better."

"But why? Why would they tell me that stuff then? They showed me pictures of you. Out in the city's park, talkin' to some woman with blue skin, said they took 'em right before they grabbed you again and -"

"Rose, they either drugged you or fabricated those photos or both. I was in a cell not twenty feet from your own. I was never in any park, or talking to some female. And I'd never, ever leave you behind. Do you understand me, Rose?"

She continued to slow down her breathing, but as soon as it was controlled, she was talking to him again.

"I never dreamed you could do that to me, I mean, I thought we had somethin', you know, special," she whispered sadly. She was rather stunned when the Doctor grabbed her right arm and pushed the sleeve of her shirt up, examining more thoroughly a mark he'd seen earlier inside the bend of her elbow.

"There," he pointed out with his index finger. "The bastards injected you with something, and no doubt it helped you believe what you're sayin', so I'm not gonna hold it against you. But now we've got somethin' else to worry about, because I haven't the foggiest idea what they've drugged you with. Damn it."

The Doctor set her arm back down beside her then got up and began pacing the limited space within the abandoned shack.

"It's not my fault?" she questioned, watching him wander the room with hooded eyes.

"Course not. It's mine. I'm the one who set the coordinates wrong by three hundred years. I did it. I messed up."

"Yeah, but ..." she whispered, her voice fading as her eyes closed.

The Doctor turned sharply upon hearing her softening words. "Rose?" His voice sounded a bit panicked as he moved quickly beside her. "Rose?"

She mumbled a little in response to him calling her, but as the Doctor checked her vital signs, he realized that she'd only just fallen asleep again. She had no doubt worn herself out from that outburst just moments before. That compiled with her injuries and fever had him wondering just how she'd stayed awake as long as she had.

"But nothin'," he whispered, sitting beside her once more. He picked up the wet towel and began gently rubbing it along her face and neck. "This was entirely my fault. All of it. And I'm sorry, Rose. So very sorry. For it all."

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