Rose arrived late from work one afternoon, she was absolutely exhausted after an incident at work, which she daren't tell the Doctor about, she knew he would over-react, shout, and over-react once more. He wasn't exactly known for being calm in situations like these, especially when it was something happening to Rose, so she thought it best to just stay quiet for now, just for now. She took a deep breath, taking off her shoes and coat, walking in the front room to find the fire on, and the Doctor sitting on the sofa waiting for her.

Great, she thought.

"Jake phoned." He said, plain and simply. "He didn't think you'd tell me, and judging by the expression on your face, I'd say he was right."

"It's not a bi-"

"No!" The Doctor stopped her, standing up, "No, don't you dare say it's not a big deal Rose. You collapsed, at work, twice. And you don't think that's a big deal? People don't just collapse for no reason, there's something you're not telling me."

"Doctor-"

"Don't give me some excuse Rose, I'm your Husband," He said, "Yeah? Your Husband, we're a team me and you, we're partners, we can't lie to one another. Now what happened?" He asked softly, taking Rose's hand in his.

"We should sit down," Rose suggested, pulling him over to the sofa, sitting next to him, taking another deep breath, what had happened throughout the day had all seemed like a big blur. "I haven't been feeling right for a while, I didn't say anything because I honestly thought it was nothing, a few migraines here and there, it's bound to happen when you have three kids running around day after day, I thought it was stress."

"Thought?" The Doctor questioned, stroking her hand softly, "Rose, how long has been going on? The migraines?"

"About a month?" Rose winced slightly, she knew she shouldn't have left it so long, "Like I said, I thought it was stress."

"did you found out why you're feeling like this?" The Doctor asked softly, he had to admit, he was too scared to hear the answer, the last thing he wanted to hear was that Rose was seriously ill, or just any bad news.

"Well..." Rose began and looked down at the ground as she built up the courage to speak, "I was talking to Jake about it once the medics had checked me out, made sure I was okay, and he thinks it might be an effect...She started to explain, and sighed.

"Of..." The Doctor trailed.

"Of the dimension jump," Rose whispered, and she watched as the Doctor froze for a moment, "I never thought of it before, travelling from universe to universe, through the void so many times, it's...I don't know, done something."

"Y-you sure that's what it is?" He whispered, his voice shaking, the thought made him sick, all Rose wanted was to get back to him, well, the real him, and for it to do this to her, make her ill, maybe dying.

"No," Rose shook her head gently, "Talking to the medics and Jake, it's what we had come up with, we're not sure yet though." She explained, Rose could see the pain in the Doctor's eyes, he was blaming himself, this was exactly what Rose had predicted, he was blaming himself as always.

"Right." The Doctor nodded gently and sighed.

"They're gonna do some tests tomorrow, make sure that's what's caused me to feel like this, see what damage may or may not have been done but you have got to promise me something! stop blaming yourself, this isn't and never will be your fault, its mine, I didn't think about the consequences of hopping from universe to universe, never thought of the damage it could do to me."

"Yeah, I know, because you were too busy trying to make your way back to me, and look, you didn't even get what you wanted did you?"

"Don't." Rose quickly shushed him, placing her finger on his lips to stop him from talking, "Don't say it as though I didn't want you, I did, and I do. You're not second best, never ever will be."

"Don't say 'never ever'." The Doctor whispered beneath her finger, "Bad luck."

"I think we've beaten all the bad luck that's been thrown at us, don't you?" Rose asked gently, but the Doctor didn't reply, he simply sat there, taking in the information, "I'll be fine, once we've figured out what exactly is going on, we'll fix it, we'll deal with it."

"what if its not that simple-" The Doctor began, only to be broken off by Rose again.

"we can list all the 'what if's' until the sun explodes, whatever happens we deal with it, together, like you said, we're partners, forever. And we'll overcome whatever happens together. Okay?" She asked and The Doctor nodded.

"Okay," He replied, taking a deep breath, "Together. I'll stand by you no matter what."

"Good," Rose nodded, "Now, can we go to bed? I'm exhausted? Long day tomorrow.."

"Of course." The Doctor nodded, pulling up from the sofa, he knew this was going to be tougher than either of them thought, Rose was sick, he mentally kicked himself, why hadn't he thought the void could affect her? Of course it would, but they'd overcome this, together.

They always did.

Thoughts? What do you think the void and universe hopping has done to Rose?

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