Recovery

10/Rose

Hurt/Comfort

Summary: When Rose falls ill on an alien planet it's up to the Doctor to help her recover.

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or its characters. Last night I watched David Tennant in Recovery (if you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. It's on youtube. It's a great story, and DT does a fantastic job. All of them do.) So this story shares its name with that, because I'm lousy with titles, and the idea behind it follows along those lines as well, though of course with a DW twist.

Previously:

"Matron Sats, I appreciate all that you have done for Rose. But she would be better cared for with me, in my infirmary. I know her species and I have the training to take care of her. With your permission, and honestly even without it, I'm going to take Rose with me and finish her treatment myself. Could you please help arrange transport for us?"

Matron Sats' eyebrows had gone up during the Doctor's little speech, but she simply nodded when he finished and went off to make the necessary arrangements. The Doctor tucked Rose's clothes and purchases into his large pockets, then he got her ready to be moved. Her breathing had improved so that she could go without the oxygen for a time, but her body was still putting out a phenomenal amount of fluid, so the catheter had to stay.

The preparations done the Doctor sat on Rose's bed at her hip and brushed her sweaty hair off of her face.

"Oh Rose. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I'll get you better, I promise. I can fix you."

Chapter 4

Matron Sats had arranged for an ambulance to take them back to the TARDIS. It wasn't fast, but it was faster than the Doctor could walk carrying Rose the entire way.

When they arrived back at the TARDIS the Doctor gently lifted Rose out of the back of the ambulance. The driver said nothing, but his eyebrows questioned exactly what the Doctor was doing. Without wanting to be impolite, the Doctor simply gave his thanks and let himself into the ship. Quickly he carried Rose to the infirmary and placed her on a couch. He reconnected an oxygen mask for her and put on a new catheter bag.

With Rose settled as well as she could be he took off his overcoat and suit jacket and got to work trying to figure out what was going on. Rose's body temperature was 104, she had an infection somewhere. But from what he didn't know. He took a sample of blood and got the computer started running tests on it. Then he ran his sonic screwdriver over her form. Her heart was still beating at an acceptable rate, and the fluid on her body was disappearing. Luckily she was young and healthy. Any other way and her heart would have given out.

The computer beeped, letting him know the results were back on her blood. He went to the monitor and looked at the Gallifreyan script on the screen. Rose had suffered an allergic reaction to one of the fruits she had eaten. The Doctor didn't know which, and as of this moment it wasn't the most important thing to deal with. That had caused her pain and collapse in the market. However, the infection was due to the combination of drugs she was given at hospital. The acaphin, colatite, and phargo they had given her initially had nearly immediately wiped out her immune system. She caught the first thing that came along. In this case a mild case of a Ledonian cold. But with no immune system in place it was running rampant in her body. Then to add to the problem, the lankierip they gave her for pain was preventing the production of new white blood cells.

The Doctor quickly synthesized the necessary antibiotics to get started on the infection. He added that to her IV and watched as it entered her body. It would take an hour or so to start to see any reaction in her body. This had to start from scratch. There was no immune system to have started the job already.

Next he got to work synthesizing a whole blood transfusion. He had Rose's blood scanned into the computer already, thanks to her being so jeopardy friendly, so it was fairly easy to replicate her exact blood as it should be. This would help jump start her immune system, as well as add back red blood cells. Her system was so diluted now that her body had to work extra hard for any oxygen it was moving around, even though her heart was beating fine and her lungs were emptying out. He also gave her a medication that would increase her blood production in the marrow.

With those two additional bags added to her IV stand he started a second line in her other arm and got them started.

He stood back now and scanned Rose again. Her fever had not risen anymore, and it was slowly coming down. She was at 103.6 at the moment. The antibiotics he had started before the blood transfusion were working, and the infection was being fought. The Doctor listened to her chest again. Her lungs were empty of fluid, and her body was slowly deflating from the rest of the water as well. Her heart was beating strongly and steadily. It seemed she was out of the woods. It'd been six hours since she'd collapsed in the marketplace.

Now that he had the time he set out to do a more detailed scan. He wanted to make sure he didn't miss anything, as well as find out which fruit had caused this in the first place. He knew Rose had been enjoying the fruits of the planet, and hopefully he could find out which one it was so that way she could go back to enjoying the others.

The Doctor got the computer set up to do a full head to toe scan. He knew it would take about an hour to do, so while it was working he whipped up a concoction of vitamins and minerals to help aid Rose's healing, and keep her body in perfect balance, nutritionally speaking. He added that to her IV as well.

As he waited for the detailed scan to finish he sat by Rose's side and wiped her brow with a flannel. He was still concerned about her lack of responsiveness to any of his treatments. He knew he could go into her mind and see what was going on, but he hated to do it without permission. It was only about seven hours since she passed out. She'd been through quite a bit. It's possible she needed more time to come out of it. The Doctor thought he'd give her another hour before he went in to see what was going on.

Just then the computer beeped with the results of the detailed scan. As he looked them over the Doctor frowned. He rubbed his hands over his face and set the computer to do the scan again. As it got started for the second time he went over to Rose and placed his hands on her temples.

"I'm sorry, Rose. I wouldn't do this if I didn't think it absolutely necessary." And with that he delved into her brain.

Nearly immediately he let go and staggered back. He had never been deep within Rose's thoughts before, but he'd touched the surface many times. As a Time Lord it was nearly impossible not to do through any skin to skin contact. And this surface didn't feel like Rose. He couldn't find his way in deeper. Everything was jumbled and fluid. Not at all like a normal brain; Time Lord or human. Humans may consciously only use ten percent of their brain, but all of it was working, and it worked in order. Rose's brain was not. She was in some sort of coma. He had been hoping the results from the scan were wrong, since he'd never seen anything like that before, but they were accurate.

The infection that had stormed through Rose's body had settled in her brain. It had done so much damage that Rose was in a coma and it was possible she'd never come out of it. Even if she did, Rose herself, the wonderful stupid little ape who had had so many adventures by his side may be permanently damaged beyond repair.

to be continued...