A/N The Doctor wakes fully and now has to come to terms with their current situation.

So sorry for the technical issues with this chapter not being accessible when first posted. Apparently FF has been having some issues, but tech support was very helpful in working to fix it. Thanks guys!

Chapter 5

The dense fog of slumber slowly dissipated from Rose's mind like the clearing of mist as the first light of dawn washed into the room, bathing the chamber in a soft golden glow. For a brief few seconds she thought she was in her bed on the TARDIS, but then reality came crashing back, bringing the memories of the day before: the crash, the Doctor's injuries, and their current location in the castle where they had taken up temporary residence.

Blinking several times as she acclimated to a state of wakefulness, Rose then turned over on her left side towards the Doctor, who she was currently sharing a bed with. Considering that one undeniably pleasant detail, the thought briefly flitted through her mind that maybe not everything about this situation was so bad, but then she scolded herself for letting her thoughts stray under such circumstances.

As she turned, her foot had inadvertently brushed the Doctor's in the process. He stirred slightly at the contact, making a snuffling noise but didn't seem to wake. Rose propped her head up on her hand and peered at his face. The burns to his skin that had begun healing quickly the night before seemed to have improved even more in the hours since she'd seen him last. Looking at his face now, just slightly pinker than usual, she wouldn't have even known he had been burned at all. She was realistic enough to know that the severe injury to his eyes might take a little longer to heal than his skin, but she could only hope they would be equally restored soon. If not, well, they would cross that hurdle when the time came. For now they had this day to get through.

The Doctor looked so peaceful in this moment of undisturbed rest, and a part of Rose wished he could stay this way. She knew the heaviness of their current situation would begin weighing on him the moment he woke. He not only had his injuries to contend with, but the condition of the TARDIS and the fact that it meant they were now stranded here, at least for the time being. Rose also knew he would undoubtedly find a way to blame himself for this situation, even though she didn't.

Observing him in this unguarded moment, Rose had the urge to reach up and brush the soft fringe of his dark brown hair from his forehead. It had flattened somewhat in the night and somehow it just seemed wrong – like its subdued appearance matched the Doctor's overall condition, and that just wasn't right. Not for him. Rose drew her right hand out from beneath the covers and lifted it to his face, tenderly stroking back his hair.

The Doctor breathed in deeply through his nose and turned his head slowly in her direction. She couldn't see beneath the bandage to judge by his eyes if he was awake, but she could sense he was.

"Hello," she whispered, her hushed tone seeming appropriate for this tentative moment when his feelings over all of this could swing in any direction.

"Rose?" he questioned, his voice croaky but stronger than the night before.

She reached for his right hand that lay at his side. Rose took it in hers and squeezed gently. "I'm right here."

The Doctor lifted his left hand and touched the bandage covering his eyes. He had known the moment the TARDIS' fluid links ruptured in his face it wasn't going to be good. The question now, along with a stream of others forming in his mind, was just how bad was it?

"It's just temporary," Rose immediately tried to assure him as his fingers probed the bandage. "The burns on your face and neck have mostly healed already, and I'm sure your eyes will be fine in no time, too. You were treated by a physician last night who said your eyes might fully recover with just a little time."

The Doctor didn't reply to that. He just remained still as he asked his next question, his voice gaining more strength. "Where are we? No. No, wait...what about the TARDIS?"

"It's not far from where we are right now, still sitting in the field where we...landed. But it..." Rose paused. There was no easy way to say it, and he wouldn't appreciate anything less than the truth. "It was burning."

"I'm aware of that," he snapped. The Doctor breathed in deeply. "I'm sorry. I just..."

"I know. It's okay," she answered. Obviously he wasn't in the brightest of moods due to all this, but she granted him understanding. "Anyway, after we crashed, the fire only seemed to get worse. Nearly the whole console room was in flames. Then the Cloister Bell started sounding..."

"How did I get out?" he puzzled.

"The hard way. You might look slim, but you're a right load when you're dead weight," Rose replied, trying to put some lightness into her tone.

He sucked in a breath. "Rose, that must have taken minutes. Time was critical, and you could have been trapped!"

Rose sat up fully, looking down at him. "You honestly think I would have just left you?" she retorted.

"But you could have been–"

"I could have been hurt. Yeah. Just like you when you put yourself in harm's way to protect me." Her voice softened. "We look out for each other. 'S what we do, yeah?"

"Yeah," he finally relented with a weak sigh. "Are you sure you weren't hurt?"

"I'm fine," Rose assured him. "Thanks to you."

He grunted, replying in a self-deprecating tone. "Yeah, thanks to me."

Rose didn't indulge the self-condemnation he was slipping into and instead continued on. "So then, after we got out, the TARDIS sealed the doors shut behind us. It...it was still smoking when we left."

The Doctor nodded slightly, letting this settle in.

"Can you still feel her?" Rose asked softly.

"A bit," he replied after a pause. The searing pain he had felt from the TARDIS the night before was now reduced to a dull throb, but this didn't mean the ship was better. It was now weaker. "She's weak. And it's not going to be easy for her to repair herself. If we were on Earth right now it would be better. As it turns out, the Earth has just the right sort of energy. And if I could get the TARDIS to the Rift, the rich source of power would allow her to repair in no time. Wherever we are, this planet is just...wrong. Wrong energy, wrong–"

Rose cut him off, not wanting him to sink lower in gloom. "It could always be worse, though. A castle isn't exactly the worst place we've ever been forced to stay, and the people are a lot friendlier than some we've encountered."

That caught his attention. The Doctor turned his head towards her again. "Castle?"

Rose affected her most posh voice. "We are in the royal palace of King Zerin of Zobulan...apparently. The King himself found us and took us in." She shook her head slightly in amazement. "Blimey! You should have seen the welcoming committee that came to greet us." Rose halted then, realizing what she had unwittingly said to a man currently without sight. "I'm sorry. I...I didn't mean..."

The Doctor sighed in irritation. "Rose, if you're going to be tripping over words around me then this is going to be a very exasperating recovery."

"Well, sorry," she huffed, his mood starting to feel abrasive when all she'd been trying to do was think of him. "Just tryin' to be sensitive. Maybe you should actually give it a try once in a while instead of being so..." Rose stopped herself, not meaning to snap at him. The very last thing she wanted was to be at odds with him right now, despite his mood.

But her reply seemed to actually lighten the tension as his lips quirked faintly upward. "I am the rude one, though. Remember? That's the sort of a man I am."

"And not ginger," she mumbled with a half-smile.

"Not ginger," he agreed ruefully, then paused in thought. "Though with the flames, I suppose my hair came close to it yesterday, didn't it?"

Rose poked him in the shoulder, but couldn't stop the smirk. "Not funny."

She relaxed and eased back down on her side. Speaking of his hair, Rose absently noted that it had fallen flat again. She wanted to ruffle it back into proper disarray, and reached out without thinking, but then stopped herself mid-way and pulled her hand back. They had managed to be in the same bed together and so far avoid awkwardness. Add in the act of indulgently caressing his scalp while sharing a bed and that might change the circumstances a bit.

The Doctor blew out a long puff of air as one arm went behind his head. "So...Zobulan, you say?"

"Yeah," she confirmed. "You know the planet?"

He shook his head. "Never been here."

She gaped at him. "Seriously? There are actually places left you haven't been?"

"Oh, of course there are," he chuckled, and it was the most gorgeous sound to her ears. "It's a big universe, Rose. Why do you think I keep traveling?"

Rose tried to sound enthusiastic in her response. "Well, this is like an adventure then, yeah? Somewhere we've never been."

"Yeah, one grand adventure," he agreed, though he didn't even try for the enthusiasm she had as he spoke the words flatly.

They were both quiet for a minute before the Doctor spoke again. "So...is it morning now?"

"Yeah," Rose verified. "Early though. First light, by the looks of it." Rose flinched. Already she was acting as his eyes. She didn't want to make him feel any more helpless, but some things couldn't be avoided.

The Doctor lay still, and though his face was partially obscured by the bandage, she could tell the gears in his head were turning at their typical frenetic pace, his acute senses kicking in.

He finally nodded. "Yes, early morning. Slept for...," he inhaled slowly and deeply, as if analyzing the very air itself to give him the precise answer, "6 hours and 22.7 minutes, relative Earth time...which you humans have me in the habit of using."

Rose couldn't help but smile back at him. This was a little more like her Doctor. "We humans just have the most logical way for relating time. Admit it, Time Lord," she replied lightly.

He turned his head towards her, a slight smile on his lips, but Rose knew if she could see his eyes it wouldn't reach them, no matter how hard they were both trying to remain light. "Hmm. Well, you humans have a few merits, I'll give you that."

"How gracious of you," she replied with a smirk.

They drifted into silence for a minute. Rose's gaze strayed toward the windows as she watched a few particles of dust dance through the sunbeams scattering light through the room in this quiet calm of early morning, the ambiance a placid contrast to the churning in both their minds. Rose turned her eyes back to him. "How are you feeling now?"

She could almost hear the 'I'm Always Alright' response on his lips, always at the ready. So she was a little taken aback by his reply, predictably sarcastic as it may have been; but still, he didn't just skirt the issue. "Well now, let's see. At the moment I've lost my sight, my TARDIS, any means of getting you back home, and trapped us on a planet I don't even know. Aside from that I've never been better."

"You haven't lost me," Rose pointed out, then added a little more quietly, "And I am home." Rose knew if his eyes were on her he'd be studying her intently...or quickly turning away. She cleared her throat. "I mean...for the past few years now, home for me has been wherever we are. Everywhere we go, no matter where or how far, as long as we're together I'm home."

Rose could see him swallow hard. That statement was seriously pushing their ever-present boundaries, but she really didn't care at the moment. Considering all of the uncertainty over their circumstances, she needed him to know this much at least. Rose continued on, because it was clear he didn't really have a response for that. "And besides, this is not your fault. Things happen. Sometimes good things, and sometimes not so good. But you can't claim responsibility for them all. You're impressive, but you're not that impressive."

"Oi!" he quipped, finding his voice again and grateful for the switch to a less loaded topic. "Not that impressive? Lord of Time, Rose."

She chuckled. "I said you're impressive. Don't go lookin' for me to give your ego any more strokin' than that. You're impossible enough as it is."

He smirked slightly. And then, as would inevitably happen when you share a bed with someone, Rose's bare leg brushed against his, bringing awareness to the fact that her legs were indeed bare. Rose was suddenly hyper-aware of her T-shirt-and-knickers-only state of undress. And if either had momentarily forgotten, both were quickly reminded that they were sharing a bed together. Rose quickly pulled her leg back as the Doctor shifted and drew in a breath.

So much for the lack of awkwardness. Rose didn't want their current sleeping arrangements to make him feel uneasy, but then she kicked herself for directly bringing up the unspoken topic that had the potential to do just that. "I...I didn't want to just leave you alone last night, and I didn't want to put anyone out by taking up even more rooms, so I asked for just one room for the both of us. But this one only has the one bed, so..." Rose put the brakes on before she undoubtedly made things even more awkward.

He just nodded, seeming unfazed; but then, he was the Doctor and she couldn't always read his feelings simply by his outward reaction. "Practical and conserves space. Can't argue with that. Weeell, just as long as you don't snore..."

"You are the rude one, aren't you?" she replied in mock offense, relieved but maybe just a little disappointed that he was so unaffected and didn't seem to care about their sleeping arrangements either way.

"Mm, warned you that I was. But I suppose we won't be making much enjoyable use of this shared bed anyway though, will we?" he added. They both froze. He cleared his throat, the awkward pause showing he wasn't entirely unaffected by the subject matter after all. "That is to say...just as soon as the TARDIS is safe to enter there will be a lot of work to do. No time for dozing."

"No time for dozing," she agreed with a nod, affecting his same nonchalant tone.

They lapsed into silence after that, each contemplating their uncertain immediate future. With the mention of repairing the TARDIS, Rose couldn't stop herself from questioning whether there was any way at all for the Doctor to help the TARDIS repair itself until his eyes had fully recovered, but she wasn't going to voice that question and sound as if she had any doubts in him. Right now the Doctor had enough doubts of his own.

Those doubts were currently swirling through the Doctor's mind and making him question how he was even going to function like this. The Doctor hated everything about this. Not only was he currently confined to one place and one time, uncertain of just what it was going to take to repair the TARDIS, but he was, for the time being, now in a state of dependence. Dependence on Rose. He hated the loss of control and vulnerability for any length of time. This was not a position he was used to being in.

Yet at the same time, he trusted Rose with his life. If he had to relinquish some of his control to someone else right now he had to admit to being glad it was her. He thought of what she must have been going through since the day before. Rose must have been terrified, yet she had kept her wits, gotten them both to safety and stayed by his side after. And in the face of his immediate frustrations he hadn't really shown adequate gratitude for that.

"Rose?" he spoke up again.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for...looking out for me."

He might not have been able to see it, but her smile had just made the room about three shades brighter. Rose reached across for his hand and joined it with hers as she had the previous night, the established gesture an anchor for them both as she answered simply, "Always."