The Doctor's eyes are pulled together tightly in a wince of obvious pain.
"Oh, Doctor!" Amy cries in alarm as Rory places a palm on The Doctor's forehead.
"He's burning up." Says Rory and sweeps the long fringe away from the Time Lord's forehead.
Amy quickly gets up and goes to the scanner. To her surprise the medical program is already open and running and is briefly curious as to why, before pushing the thought out of her head and selecting "The Doctor" from the lists of life forms already listed to be aboard the TARDIS. A window opens up showing abnormally high readings on his temperature and heartbeats. She looks down at her husband, the nurse, who is already holding two fingers to the Doctor's throat and then puts an ear to The Doctor's chest to listen to his breathing.
"Doctor, can you hear me Doctor? Listen, we have to get you to bed. Something is the matter with you."
He just answers with another low groan.
Rory hauls the Doctor up from under his arms and supports the Time Lord's lolling head. For a skinny bloke though, The Doctor is much heavier than he looks. Rory indicates for Amy to hold The Doctor's legs. Together the two of them carefully carry their ailed patient to their own bedroom and place him onto Amy's bunk.
Rory removes The Doctor's jacket and bowtie, while Amy goes about unlacing The Doctor's boots, then slipping each off one at a time. Amy then covers him with the duvet and strokes his usually cool-to-the-touch cheek, but is now so dangerously warm that she pulls her hand away.
"We have to get that temperature down" says Rory calmly "I'll get a cold cloth for his forehead. "
"Good idea" Amy replies in a somewhat empty voice, which cues Rory to lean down and kiss his wife.
"Don't worry, Amy. He'll be alright." Although deep down he really isn't sure of this and absentmindedly crosses his fingers as he walks from the bathroom and wets a cloth with cold water.
The Doctor falls in and out of consciousness in the next few hours. Sometimes he would lean over and throw up, so Rory had to source out a container to keep by the bed. He'd also have to then wipe The Doctor's mouth each time with the cloth, which he then disposed of at the wash bin in the corner of the room and replaced it with a fresh one. While The Doctor had spoken, it didn't seem to be anything coherent. He would make long ramblings such as "Have you ever thought what it's like to be wanderers in the Fourth Dimension? Have you? To be exiles? Susan and I are cut off from our own planet - without friends or protection. But one day we shall get back. Yes, one day..", but then he'd stop in the middle of these long ramblings and offer the Ponds a jelly-baby. He had said some things which stirred pity for the ancient Time Lord inside themselves, such as "alone in the universe", "they all leave me" and "they break my heart". Rory changed the cloth on the Doctor's head, whenever it got too warm, which was much too quickly for the nurse's liking. Amy was constantly straightening the blankets and tucking the Doctor in, as he tossed and turned through the pained fever. At one point, Amy let out a yawn and Rory insisted she take a rest in his own bunk for a while. She was so tired she didn't put up a protest and was asleep within minutes.
Upon going to change the Doctor's cloth for what seemed like the fiftieth time, Rory opened the medicine cabinet out of curiosity. He was soon let down though. For a supposed "doctor", The Doctor was severely underprepared for a medical situation like this. The cabinet contained an empty box of sticky bandages, a measuring cup for administering medicines, of which there was none of, a few cotton buds and what looked like a tympanic thermometer. The type used in the ear and that produces a quick reading. Rory pocketed the thermometer and changed the cloth then returned to the bedroom, to find that the lower bunk was empty and The Doctor had gone.