"Doctor? Doctor where are you?!" Rose called through the darkness, coughing the dust from her lungs. The explosion had shut out the lights in the tunnel and caused walls to crumble—hence the darkness and dust.

The Doctor had been ahead of Rose when the missile hit. She had seen the panic in his eyes when the warning came before he was blown away with the rest of them. Rose hadn't even had time to scream. Now that the ground had stopped shaking, Rose hesitantly stood up and felt around in the dark till she found the intact wall beside her.

"Doctor?" she raised her voice, desperately trying to find her friend. There was no answer except for a ringing in Rose's ears. Terror was starting to grip at Rose as she felt around in the blackness. Please be okay, Doctor. Please.

The ground shook with an aftershock and Rose crouched down on the floor again, covering her head in case more rocks fell. Something brushed her heel and Rose let out a small scream. A coughing sound met her ears as an answer.

"Who's there?" Rose said and she reached forward to feel along the floor until she touched what had brushed her ankle; someone's hand. "Doctor? Jamie? Grace?"

She listed a few of the names of her new friends but the person didn't answer. Rose wished she could see; it's make everything so much easier. She gripped the man's hand in her own and then ran her other up his sleeve until she reached his head. Something wet and sticky covered the man's neck and Rose recoiled her touch briefly.

"Oh god, is that blood?" she whispered. The sound of gravel shuffling met her ears and she assumed that he was trying to nod on the floor.

"Okay, don't move," Rose told him. "I'll help you. You're gonna be alright."

She returned her hand to his head, this time to his cheek as she tried to distinguish who it was. Her fingers traced the man's long sideburns as she climbed toward his thick hair. Her heart skipped a beat.

"Doctor!" she gasped and scooted closer to him so that she could lift his head and cradle it in her lap. The Doctor coughed again in reply, a strangled cry almost. Rose's eyes had begun to adjust to the darkness and she could make out the Doctor's shape among the stones.

"Shh shh don't talk," Rose whispered and ran her ran her hand down his cheek and placed the other to his neck, trying to stop the bleeding. "I've got you, okay? You're going to be fine."

The Doctor's hand reached up toward her and caught her shirt by her neck, gripping it tightly. He tried speaking again, only to succeed in making a choked gurgle.

"Please, Doctor," Rose said and felt tears in her eyes. "You're hurt. Just, just don't move. We'll get out."

Rose leaned her head down toward him, resting her temple against his forehead. The Doctor released her shirt as she did this and he stilled. A pain pricked at Rose's mind, but it left just as soon as it started before she could think much about it.

"Rose."

"Yeah, I'm here," Rose started to whisper. Then she stopped and pulled away from the Doctor in surprise. The Doctor couldn't speak… His voice had sounded in her head.

"Doctor?" she murmured uncertainly.

"I'm sorry," his voice answered in her mind. "I'm so sorry. I wouldn't have done this if I had another way to communicate with you. It's just that… well, I won't be lasting very long if I don't stop bleeding and I need your help. Normally I'd just tell you what to do, but as you've felt and heard, I've damaged my voice. I'll heal, hopefully, but that's only if I don't regenerate first. Well, I'd heal if I regenerated too—"

"Doctor, wait, just slow down a bit," Rose interrupted him and shook her head.

"Sorry."

"Okay," Rose took a deep breath and started again. "You've, er, you're talking in my head?"

"Yes. And I can explain after—" his thought broke off as the Doctor coughed again. Sharp pain struck Rose's mind and she felt a shiver go through her. Her neck felt like it was on fire as waves of pain emitted from it—and then it all stopped.

"Rose, I'm so sorry." The Doctor's thought to her and Rose felt concern flood her mind. "I lost control over my emotions. I'm so sorry you had to experience that. I won't let it happen again."

"Is that what you're feeling?" Rose's voice caught.

"Yes," he thought to her. "But it's not that bad. I'll be okay…"

"Tell me how to help you," Rose said as she gave his cheek another stroke.

"I've got a torch in my trouser pocket," he thought to her. "And a bandage in my coat pocket."

Rose nodded, and then remembering that the Doctor couldn't in fact see her, she said, "Right. Er, sorry if running my hand down you makes you uncomfortable."

"I think I'd much rather enjoy your hands running up and down my body than bleeding out."

"Oi, don't get sassy when you're dying," Rose forced herself to smile even though she was terrified. Her hands shook as she looked blindly for his trouser pocket. What if it was too late? What if he'd lost too much blood? She didn't want to lose this Doctor too.

"I'll be okay, Rose," the Doctor's voice was soft in her head.

"I guess you can hear my thoughts too then?" Rose murmured.

"Yeah, sorry 'bout that," he thought. "I promise I won't go through your personal thoughts. Well, I guess every thought is personal, but I mean I won't go looking through your thoughts and—ROSE!"

"Sorry!" Rose squeaked and jumped her hand back as she had accidentally ran it over a particular part of his trousers. Embarrassment flooded over her (probably half of it from the Doctor).

"Er, I think what you're looking for—the torch I mean—is a little to the left," the Doctor thought quickly.

"Oh, yeah, right," Rose cleared her throat and reached into his pocket. She fumbled around for a bit, brushing past all the other paraphernalia that he had in there until her fingers closed around what she was looking for. Pulling out the small torch, she flicked the switch on and squinted her eyes as the light shown.

"Oh that's bright," the Doctor thought. She agreed with him mentally.

After her eyes adjusted, she began shining the torch around the cavern. The wall beside them was mostly intact, but the opposite wall was in ruins. Rocks and debris covered the floor and the two time traveler's friends were nowhere to be seen.

"They're probably on the other side of the barricade," the Doctor said to her, having received her thoughts about them. Rose nodded and turned the light beam onto the Doctor's face.

She froze, unable say or do anything as she gazed at him. The side of the Doctor's face was scratched up, bits of gravel sticking to it and wedged in his skin. He had a scrape across his nose, and his lip split open with a thin trail of blood coming out of the side of his mouth. His suit too was torn, but none of the cuts seemed to have reached his skin there.

But what made Rose's heart clench was the mangled state of his neck. From his jaw to his collar was a large gash about an inch wide in some parts. Blood seeped out of it slowly, staining his neck and chest red.

"Doctor…" Rose started but couldn't finish.

"That bad, huh?"

Rose felt nervousness emit from him. Tears threatened to spill down Rose's cheeks and she tore her gaze away from his mangled neck to meet his eyes. Pain shown through his, but he tried to smile for her.

"I'll be okay," the Doctor thought. "I'm always okay, remember?"

"Yeah," Rose gave him a half smile. "You're gonna be okay. I'll get that bandage now."

"That's probably good," he said as Rose began fumbling through his coat pocket. "And once I'm all fixed up, we can go find Jamie, Grace, Daniel, Terrance, Parker and the rest of the gang, make sure they're okay, and then get back to base, eh? Sound like a good plan?"

Rose nodded to him as she pulled the bandage from his pocket and then said, "I'm gonna have to clean your, your neck before I put this on, okay?"

"That's gonna sting," he hesitated a bit before continuing. "You still have your water flask?"

"Yeah, it luckily stayed on during the explosion," Rose said as she pulled the container from her belt. Popping it open, she took a deep breath before pouring the contents over the Doctor's neck. He immediately gasped as the cold water hit him. He started coughing again too, which caused fresh blood to seep from his wound again. Once she had poured out most of the liquid, she capped the flask and dropped it to the ground.

"Rose, please, it hurts so much," his thoughts sounded like sobs and Rose felt her heart twist.

"It's gonna be okay," she choked out as she carefully lifted his head so she could wrap the cloth around it. His face scrunched up in agony as she did. Rose felt pricks of pain pierce her mind too as they slipped over the Doctor's barriers.

"Almost done," she whispered to him. "You're going to be alright."

She didn't know who she was promising to—him or herself. Rose finished wrapping the bandage around the gash and tied the ends together. The Doctor's eyes were closed and his breathing uneven. Rose brought a hand to the intact part of his face and stroked her thumb across his cheek.

"You're okay now, see?" she said. "It's all done. You're gonna be alright."

"…maybe I should start calling you Doctor."

Rose laughed a bit at that as the Doctor opened his eyes slowly and glanced at her.

"I think I'm feeling better already," he thought. "You must have a healing touch."

"So, no regeneration?" Rose said hopefully.

"Not today, I suppose," he smiled at her. "You're stuck with this body for a while."

"Well good," Rose said and poked his chest. "Cos I happen to like this body."

"I like it too. It's very sexy."

Rose giggled and thought to herself, "Yeah, it is."

"Thank you," the Doctor purred.

"Oh, I forgot you could hear that," Rose said as she blushed a bit.

"Yup. Sorry."

Another tremor shook the ground unexpectedly. It only lasted for a few moments, but it reminded Rose that they were stuck in a place that could cave in any second.

"We need to get out of here," she murmured.

"Yeah, probably do," the Doctor agreed.

"I'm gonna go look around and see if I can find a path," Rose told him and started to get up when the Doctor stopped her.

"Wait!" he thought loudly to her and he reached up to grab her hand. "I forgot to tell you something about the telepathic connection we have—"

"Yeah, you're gonna have to explain all of that. But later, Doctor."

"Yes, I know," he said. "But I can only communicate with you if you are touching me."

Rose frowned and looked down to him, "So?"

"So," the Doctor drew out the word, "if you get up to look around, you'll not be touching me and then our conversation would be very one-sided."

"I think you can last a few minutes without talking, well, thinking," Rose said and rolled her eyes. "Besides, if I just sit here with you we'll probably never get out and then you won't get help and I don't want you dying on me."

"Hmph," the Doctor snorted and released her hand. "Fair enough then. Don't take too long though."

"I won't," Rose reassured him before gingerly removing herself from under his head. The Doctor grunted a bit when as she did.

Standing up, Rose shined her torch around the cavern once more. She walked over to the rubble head on the wall opposite him and looked around for any faults. Not seeing any obvious ones, she turned left to look at the blockage on the north side of the tunnel. She received the same results from earlier.

"I don't see any way out over here," she called over to the Doctor, giving him her report. "I hope the others are okay, and not trapped somewhere else like we are."

Rose walked over to the south entrance. Fallen rocks blocked this one too, but they were considerably smaller than the ones before. Putting the touch in her mouth to free her hands, she started pulling away some of the rocks from the walls bend. They came out easily, but with each rock she removed, a rain of gravel fell from the top of the stack.

"I bet I could clear enough of the wreckage away for us to slip through to the other side," Rose called to the Doctor after she removed the torch from her mouth. "It'd take a while though."

The Doctor snapped his fingers a couple times behind her. Raising a brow she turned and walked back over to him. She crouched down beside him and rested a hand on his arm.

"Did you just snap at me like you would a dog?" she asked him in an unamused tone.

"Well, I wanted to get your attention," he pouted. "Sorry if I offended you. But I think that clearing the rocks there would be our best bet to get out of here."

"Right, so exactly what I said."

"Yes. I thought you'd like to hear my opinion on the matter."

"Oh, so thoughtful of you," Rose rolled her eyes but smiled.

"I can help too, you know."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Rose said nervously.

"I want to help," the Doctor insisted. "I feel useless just lying here. I think I've stopped bleeding mostly anyways. Help me up?"

"Doctor," Rose started but he didn't listen.

"I'll help myself up then," he thought and began to prop himself up on his elbows. His face contorted in pain and Rose caught him as he slumped back.

"I'm fine," the Doctor grunted as Rose helped him sit up.

"Don't lie to me," Rose said. "You are far from fine."

"I'm well enough to help you though and that's what matters."

"I'm not going to convince you otherwise, am I?" Rose sighed.

"Nope."

Rose helped the Doctor to his feet. He stood shakily for a few moments before his knees gave way a bit and he slumped against her. Rose held him as he used her as a crutch to steady himself.

"I'm okay, I'm okay," the Doctor murmured. Rose assumed more to himself than her.

"Just lean against me," Rose whispered. "That way we can talk too, right?"

"Yeah…"

Rose wrapped one of her arms around his waist and helped him walk over to the rock fall. Once they reached it, she released him to free her hands so she could pull away the rubble. The Doctor for his part tried to help, but mostly he just leaned against her. Rose could feel him shaking and every one of his breaths sounded struggled.

"Why don't you explain our new psychic connection while we work," Rose said, glancing over to look at him. His face had gotten paler now that they were standing.

"Alright," he thought to her. "Well, I acted very quickly once I realized that I couldn't talk. When you touched you head to mine, I created a telepathic link between us. A small one, mind you, just so I can talk to you."

"But I could feel your pain," Rose murmured.

"Yeah, that wasn't supposed to happen," he sighed. "I'm not exactly my strongest right now, if you can see, so sometimes my feelings could slip through to you."

"Can you feel mine?"

"Yes, if they're strong," he thought and moved away slightly so Rose could toss a larger boulder behind them. "I can feel your nervousness and concern right now."

"Well those aren't gonna change for a while," Rose said and then asked, "Is this link eternal? Am I always gonna hear your thoughts?"

"No, I can… sever it whenever I want."

"So we're not, er, bonded or something."

"Not necessarily," the Doctor smirked. "I'd need your consent to do that, or otherwise… it'd be very painful for you to create… a complete connection."

Rose noticed that his words were coming to her slower now. Looking over to him she saw that is eyes were drooping, and he wasn't really helping now but just leaning against her.

"Hey, why don't you take a break," Rose whispered and guided him to sit by a large chunk of concrete. "You've helped a lot. Just take it easy, okay?"

"Alright…" he thought and let her lean him against the rock. "I am feeling a bit lightheaded. But… but I wanna… talk to you still."

"You can talk to me once we're out of here," Rose bargained with him. "Just rest for a bit."

The Doctor frowned at her, but didn't have the chance to argue as she got up and returned to the wall. She worked at the rocks, dragging the gravel away and creating a passage. Rose glanced over to the Doctor every other minute making sure he was still alright. He stayed awake for the most part, his tired eyes staring at the dust, but Rose caught him dozing every now and again too. When this happened, she'd go over and gently wake him, offering some of the left over water in her flask as well.

"Hey, you got to stay awake," Rose told him. "Can't have you slipping into a coma."

"No… we wouldn't want that," his thoughts sounded far away. "Those can last… quite a long time… with Time Lords."

Rose's palms were cut and bleeding by the time that she broke through to the other side. It was only a small hole, but still it made hope spring up in Rose's chest.

"Doctor!" she cried happily and ran over to him. "I've made it through! We're gonna get out of here!"

"That's great!" he smiled lazily at her. "Knew you could… could do it… Nothing stops you… Rose—"

"Rose? Doctor?" A far away voice called out. "Is that you guys?"

"Grace!" Rose shouted with a laugh. "Yes! It's us! Oh god, I am so glad to hear your voice."

"Us too, sweetheart," Grace called to them from the other side of the barricade. "Are you two alright? Is Parker with you guys? Everyone else is over here."

"Parker isn't here," Rose said. "But the Doctor's hurt. His neck is gashed up pretty badly and he's lost a lot of blood."

"It's not… that bad."

"Shh," Rose thought to the Doctor before calling to Grace, "Are the rest of the guys alright where you are?"

"We're fine," a different voice, Jamie, answered her. "Terrance is a bit beat up but he keeps insisting he's fine. Daniel found a clear passage back to base, and he's gone to go get help. We're gonna help clear some of the rocks on this side so you guys can get through."

"Okay," Rose said and stood up to return to the hole she had made. "I've got a little hole here. Can you see my torch beam?"

"Ow!" came the answer from Jamie. "Yeah, I can see it as you're blinding me."

"Oops, sorry."

"Just sit tight, Rose," Grace said. "Make sure the Doctor's okay. We'll get you out."

"Alright," Rose replied. The sound or rocks moving met her ears from behind the barricade. Rose went back over the Doctor.

"You should probably move, so you don't get hit if some rocks fall over here," she said to him, wrapping one of his arms around her shoulder to help him stand.

"Yeah… I don't fancy being hit by any more of those," he mumbled and pushed himself up from the ground with Rose's help. "Thank you… for being here… I… I don't know what I'd do without you."

"I'm always going to be here for you," Rose murmured, giving him a squeeze around his middle. "Can't get rid of me."

"I'm glad," he smiled softly. "I quite enjoy having you… with me. You're my…best friend… I'm so glad I… met you."

"Me too," Rose whispered. "But don't you be getting all sappy right now. Doesn't suit you."

"I'm gonna need a new suit… aren't I?"

"Yeah, this one's a bit scratched up," Rose smiled. "You can change once we get back to the TARDIS and after we make sure that you're okay."

"I'm always okay…" the Doctor thought to her and Rose felt a warm presence fill her mind from him. "When you're here."