The Doctor stumbled back to his rooms, tears welling in his emerald green eyes. The Pond's had finally -blessedly- gone to their new room with a nice king size bed and he'd fixed up the TARDIS as well as he could. She'd landed them somewhere, though he didn't know where and had no intention of finding out. Honestly right then he was just tired. He wanted to get back to his room, perhaps have a good cry and sleep for a full eight hours even if he didn't need them. Luckily he'd been able to shoo Koschei back to his room after waking him up so that was a few dozen less questions he had to answer. All he needed to do was make it down the hall and through the door an no one would know what was going on.

It was dark, incredibly dark. It seemed wherever they'd landed it was night and the TARDIS was imitating the conditions outside. Still he managed to make it to his room. He didn't bother with the slights, instead shutting the door quietly. He barely made it two steps forward before collapsed on his knees, head bowed and arms hanging at his side. His breath hitched once, then twice, and soon enough he was sobbing quietly.

Hello. Hello Doctor. It's so very, very nice to meet you.

He sobbed harder, in a matter of seconds turning from upbeat Time Lord to a quivering silent mess.

She'd been with him for so long and finally, just this once, they could talk. He could listen to her, know what she thought, and then it was over. It was like she had died, in a way. Oh, he knew her soul was all around him, that the more soothing thrumming of the walls was her attempt to say 'I'm here, love' but it wasn't working. Because he couldn't talk to her. She was practically his wife and they couldn't even speak!

His own wife had died on Gallifrey before he'd even started traveling - before Susan was born. He'd been heartbroken for a decade and then his little Susan came shining through. In nine hundred years he'd become accustomed to his friends and family dropping like flies around him. This though… this was worse. Because the TARDIS was there. She would always be there. But they could never… interact.

There was a groan to his left and all the Doctor could think was 'That's not where my bed is.'

He wiped the tears from his eyes quickly, but they just kept falling. He remained completely still, dark-adjusted eyes flickering around. This wasn't his room. He didn't have a desk and the bed was in the wrong place and there should have been a large coat rack to his right.

It suddenly occurred to him that he'd stumbled back to his room not only with blurred vision but in near-pitch blackness.

"Doctor?" Koschei's sleep addled voice grumbled out. "What are you doing in here?"

"I- um- nothing. Came in by accident." The other Time Lord said quickly, wincing as he couldn't keep the tears from his voice. Slowly, like a large sloth, Koschei rolled out of bed. His hand thumped on the desk a few times as he searched for the light and almost twenty seconds later there was a small click as it flickered on.

Koschei blinked, staring at his friend. The Doctor really was in a state, red rimmed eyes puffy, face flushed and bowtie askew looking like a kicked puppy.

"Are you alright?" Okay, stupid question of the day. Did he look alright?

The Doctor -idiot he was- nodded quickly, rushing to his feet. "Of course!" He said, voice layered in fake cheeriness and sorrow. "I'm always alright! Sort of tripped on my way in and I think there was some sort of pollen on the consol I'm allergic to." He sneezed loudly. "See? Just allergies. Now I'll be going back to my room…" He turned quickly, flinging open the door. Just as he was about to leave there was a shuffle and suddenly he was wrapped in a boney pair of arms.

"K-Kosch," the Doctor said in a questioning tone. "What are you doing?"

The arms around him tightened. "Shut up you idiot, I'm hugging you."

"I know but why?" There was a moment of silence and Koschei dropped his forehead on to the other Time Lord's shoulder.

"Because… you're upset." Koschei replied awkwardly, voice muffled by the tweed jacket. "And you've been trying to help me and you didn't let me die and even if I am broken you're still going to try and fix me and shouldn't I return the favor even if it's just this once?" His breath caught, just for a moment, like he was holding back tears.

Slowly, the Doctor turned in Koschei grip, skinny arms wrapping around the smaller form and the tears started coming down again. "You don't need to."

Koschei nodded, burying his head in the crook of the Doctor's neck. "Yes I do. Now be quiet and just… do what you need to."

So they stood there, in the half-light, clutching each other like they were the last beings in the universe.