Rose continued to shake the Doctor by the shoulder, trying to get him to wake up from his fever induced nightmare. He opened his eyes, took a good long look at Rose, and sat up. Rose smiled.
"Doctor!" she cried happily. "I'm so glad you're awake! That fever is really taking a toll on you!"
The Doctor said nothing as he stared at her as if she were some kind of weird creature. He blinked, his expression turning into a glare. "How dare you impersonate Rose Tyler?"
Rose's smile turned into a frown, confused. "Doctor, what are you talking about?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "You're not making any sense!"
"You heard me, you filthy Zygon!" The Doctor growled, raising his hand. "Change back into your true form or I will make you change back!"
He suddenly struck Rose across the face, his force being so strong she tumbled to the floor, yelping in pain. Rose looked up with tears in her eyes. She realized he was suffering from hallucinations from his illness. He thought he was fighting a Zygon, a red shapeshifting monster he had come across in his past. Rose had once heard of them and she knew how dangerous they were. But the Doctor didn't know that Rose was right in front of him.
"Doctor, you're delirious..." she concluded, tears spilling from her eyes.
The Doctor did not listen. He was about to strike Rose again when he suddenly fainted back onto his pillows, head lolling to the side. Rose was relieved the Doctor was asleep again. She wiped her tears only to find a mixture of red. She gasped, rushing to the bathroom to look into the mirror. There, she found a scratch on her left cheek, with blood dripping from it.
"Oh no..." Rose groaned to herself. She opened the medicine cabinet and grabbed some first aid supplies, beginning work on cleaning up the cut on her face. After her wound was taken care of and bandaged, she went back and checked on the Doctor one more time. He was still passed out from earlier. Rose figured she was better off going to bed. If the Doctor really needed her, he would come to his senses and call for her.
Rose laid in bed for a good two hours just thinking to herself. She was both upset and angry, but she didn't know who to be angry and upset with. The Doctor for slapping her in the face but she should have been angry at herself for not noticing he was delirious.
The night passed uneventfully. Rose fell asleep around 4am while the Doctor slept peacefully, sweating out the rest of his fever. As a result, the Doctor awoke the next morning feeling a lot better. He smiled to himself as he felt wide awake for the first time in days. He ran his fingers through his hair, trying to get the knots out to find it was soaked in sweat. Must have had one terrible fever, he thought to himself, yawning and stretching.
The Doctor peeked at the alarm clock on the nightstand. It was a little past ten o'clock. Rose must be awake by now, he thought, pulling away the covers and placing his feet into his slippers. He took the robe draped onto the chair and pulled it on before leaving the room.
"Rose?" he called out, looking around the flat for the blonde. He couldn't wait to see her and tell her how much better he felt.
"Doctor?" asked a female voice from the kitchen.
"Rose?" The Doctor asked it, entering the kitchen. Instead of finding Rose, he found Jackie instead, sitting at the table peeling potatoes for stew. "Where's Rose?"
"Still in bed," Jackie answered worriedly. "She hasn't been out of her room all morning. She didn't want to eat or anything. She said she was too tired from last night. You must have worn her out."
The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "What?" he asked, befuddled. "I was asleep the whole time."
Jackie slammed the potato peeler down on the table and laughed. "Really?" she asked angrily. "You don't remember going out in the freezing rain?"
The Doctor was taken aback. "Wait, what?" he asked. "No, I don't remember doing that! Last thing I remember was Rose saying she was going to draw a cold bath. I must have fallen asleep after that."
"For your information, she was running the bathtub when she couldn't find you. It turned out that you ran outside to play in the rain," Jackie added. She crossed her arms. "We had to go and rescue you from making yourself even sicker that you already were. I had to change your jim jams and then you got the chills."
The Doctor looked down at his pajamas and saw he was wearing a different colour of pajamas than he was wearing the night before. He crossed his arms over his chest, feeling violated. "You had to-?"
"That's right!" Jackie said haughtily. "Besides, it's not like I haven't seen anything before. Don't worry, Rose didn't see you naked. I sent her away before I put you in dry undergarments."
This made the Doctor blush furiously. Jackie saw him naked?! Jackie was the last person he'd want to see him naked, or even in his underpants. He folded his robe over himself, speechless.
Jackie went back to peeling potatoes while the Doctor slinked away, going over to Rose's room. He loosened his grip on his robe, taking his nudity off his mind. He held a fist to the door, and began to knock gently. There was no answer. He knocked harder. Still no answer. He hoped Rose wasn't sick herself.
"Rose?" he asked, placing his hand on the doorknob. "I'm-I'm coming in. I hope you're decent."
Silence. He turned the doorknob and opened the door slowly. The door creaked as the Doctor opened it wider, poking his head in. "Rose? Are you awake?"
He found the room was a dark pink. The curtains were drawn so no light could get in. The Doctor walked over to the curtains and drew them open, making bright daylight cascade in. He glanced at the bed to find the pink blankets covering a body.
"Rose?" he whispered, resting his hand on what appeared to be Rose's shoulder. "Everything alright?"
Rose, who was awake, said nothing as she kept her eyes closed. She felt the bed dip at the end where her feet were. She heard the Doctor breathe a deep sigh.
"I guess I gave you and your mum a hard time last night?" The Doctor asked, picking up one of Rose's stuffed animals and playing with the whiskers on it. He got no answer from Rose. "Listen, I'm so sorry if I was difficult last night. I had a terribly bad fever and sometimes I get delirious."
"Wish you told me that last night," Rose finally spoke under muffled covers. She pulled the blankets back to reveal the bandage on her left cheek, causing the Doctor's jaw to drop in shock.
"What happened?" asked the Doctor, letting go of the stuffed animal, taking his thumb, and brushing it gently against Rose's cheek. His hand was soft against her cheek, causing Rose to feel goosebumps.
"You slapped me," Rose began. "I don't know how I got this scratch but I must have scratched it on the nightstand or the chair when I fell to the floor. You're really strong, you know."
The Doctor stared at the wound in disbelief. "How?" he asked, his voice shaking. "I don't remember doing it..."
"You don't remember?" Rose asked. "I knew it was the fever making you do it. You were having a bad nightmare last night and I went to wake you up to calm you down but then you woke up, thinking I was a Zygon, and slapped me."
The Doctor tearfully shook his head. "You know I could never hurt you, Rose Tyler," he said. He wrapped his arms around Rose, squeezing her tightly. "But I did and I am so, SO sorry..."
"'s fine," Rose sniffed. She wiped tears away with the back of her hand. "I know you'd never hurt me intentionally. I just wanted to help you and you were just in so much distress. You weren't yourself last night."
"Oh, I know," The Doctor said, letting go of Rose. "Your mum told me about the rain."
Rose's sniffles turned into giggles. "Oh yeah! It was scary at the time but now when you look at it, it's funny!" she said. "You just stood there with your arms spread out and you were letting the rain hit your face."
The Doctor smiled, picturing himself out in the rain. It seemed like something he would normally do. "I just blacked out after you suggested a cold bath. Sometimes when I get a fever, I get a little crazy."
Rose, still smiling, shrugged. "How are you feeling, by the way?" She placed her hand on the Doctor's forehead only to find it was cool to the touch. "Hey, no fever!"
"I am feeling much better this morning," The Doctor added, grinning. "I'm guessing I sweated out the remainder of my fever and the rest did me a lot of good. I think we are going to finally be able to leave here soon!"
This made Rose want to jump for joy. She couldn't wait to get back on their adventures together. No more drab and dreary London! As much as she loved it, it was nothing compared to traveling through time and space.
"I think I will go visit the TARDIS today and check on her, see how she's doing," The Doctor said. "Maybe find a proper treatment for your wound."
"It's just a scratch," Rose pointed out.
"I know, but I caused it," The Doctor said, standing up. "Anyway, going to get out of these jim jams. I miss my pinstripes. I'll see you in a bit."
He left the room and closed the door behind him. This made Rose sigh in relief. She was glad the Doctor was out of the woods now and that he felt terrible for what he had done to her in his fever induced haze. She happily got out of bed and got dressed, getting ready for what the day had in store for them.