A/N: Not as long as i would've liked. I'm afraid i have exams coming up so updates will be in short supply for the next few weeks
The Doctor spent a few hours on the verge of consciousness. His eyelids fluttering weakly. His skin had become unnaturally pale and his temperature had risen significantly nearing that of a humans. Rose hovered around him constantly re-soaking the flannel that lay on his brow.
"Please don't die" she whispered, she ran her fingers through his hair, his fringe was now plastered to his forehead but Rose didn't stop.
Rose was now stood by the window staring out side; she held a mug of tea in her hand but didn't drink it just let the heat make her fingers tingle almost painfully. A groan instantly snatched her attention from the view of night time London
"Doctor!" she ran over to crouch by him, he'd sat up a bit but he still looked weak, grey rings circled his eyes and his eyelids were dropped "How are you?"
"Been better" he tried to smile but failed
"What happened?"
"Body's trying to fight it."
"That's good isn't it?"
"It would be if I stood a chance" he gave a throaty cough and went to stand up but Rose pinned his arm down.
"I need to check the scans" he croaked
"No you need to rest"
"I'm only going to get worse" he coughed again he quickly wiped his sleeve across his mouth but no fast enough, Rose had seen the blood speckling his lips
"What's wrong with you?"
"I dunno" he looked away from her "I need to go home. My dad, he's not keen on me but he's a doctor. He'll know what to do"
"You're too ill to move"
"I told you I'm only getting worse." He paused bright brown eyes scanning her "Whenever I mention going home you tense up…just like that"
Rose forced herself to relax
"It's just the thought of you driving the TARDIS again"
"You did it before he were in the TARDIS" His eyes were thinned on her now
"It doesn't matter"
"You know why?"
"Why what?"
"Why I can't sense any other Timelord's"
"I don't know what you're talking about" she started to pull the blanket back onto him
"What are you not telling me?" he was sat up now, dark eyes glaring at Rose
"I can't tell you."
"I could make you. I'm telepathic"
"And ill. I'm going to see where Mickey is"
"Right" he said shortly, clearing this subject was not going to be dropped
Mickey walked back into the living room. The teenage Timelord was sat on the arm of the chair elbows on knees, chin rested on knuckles. His skin was on the verge of being grey but his brow was furrowed in thought, he was ignoring his illness to try and fix everything, some things never changed
"You're awake then" Mickey came in to sit on the armchair opposite the Doctor
"Nope I'm sleep walking"
"You look like death warmed up"
"I can assure however bad I look I feel 100 times worse"
Mickey gave a small chuckle
"Do you know what Rose isn't telling me? About the other Timelords?"
Mickey met the Doctor's eyes, they were pleading.
"It's not the sort of thing you wanna know. Trust me"
"If you don't tell me I'll make up some worse scenarios"
"I don't think you could if you tried"
The Doctor cocked his head to the side at this, frowning
"Rose'll kill me. Just leave it" he finished lamely
"Please"
Mickey took in a deep breath
"Fine...They're all gone. They all died in a…a Time War"
"A Time War?" the Timelord's voice had gone quiet obviously a Time war was very bad. The Doctor slid off the arm and back into the cushion of the sofa, he brought his knees to his chest.
"Why am I still alive?"
"Got lucky I suppose"
"Lucky" the Doctor gave a humourless laugh
"I'm going to get you some water" Mickey gave him a concerned glance. The Doctor didn't move eyes staring at the far wall but not seeing it.
Mickey swilled a mug out and started to fill it with water.
"I can't do this" Rose came to lean on the counter by Mickey who remained silent for a moment
"I told him"
"What?" Rose's brow creased
"I told the Doctor's that the other Timelord's are dead"
"What"
"He needed to know. He couldn't feel them so he must've known on some level that they …weren't there"
Rose ran into the living room
"You idiot!"
Mickey walked in
"He's gone." Rose said shortly "happy?"
"I didn't think he'd-"
"Well he did"
"Calm down" Jackie made her presence known "He's a bloody kid! He's on an alien planet and just found out he's family and friends are dead. He's got you harassing him and telling him he should be an adult. He's bound to freak out. Let's go find him"
Both Rose and Mickey looked shocked by Jackie's new found care about the Doctor.
"Come on" Rose muttered grabbing her coat. And running after her mother.
"Let's split up" Mickey suggested.
Rose and Mickey took a bus into town where they'd been earlier and Jackie explored the estate.
She'd tried the alley ways surrounding the estate with no luck. She next tried the park. It was very dark but she could see a figure hunched up on a bench. She walked over to him able to make out that he was the teenage Timelord.
"Hey darlin'" she came to sit by him. He looked so small and scared. She put a hand on his back "You want to come back to the flat?"
His only reply was a fractional shake of his head
"Ok. Let's stay here for a bit"
She rubbed his back gently, she could feel him trembling and despite the sub-zero temperatures she doubted that the cold was the cause.
"Everything's going to be all right"
"I wish I could believe you" he whispered
"You'll be surprised, I'm sure right now it seems like the end of everything. But there's always something to look forward to. Rose had some trouble with a boyfriend and she was left with nothing but then she found you. And everything got better. Rose or maybe you'll find someone else who can help, make you better. Just what the doctor ordered"
"There's a difference between a boyfriend and a whole species"
"Yeah but you live longer. You have longer to sort yourself out"
"Why? I've lost everything. I could just end it all"
"No" Jackie snapped "While I'm alive that's not going to happen. I don't care whether you're stuck like this or we get your annoying older self-back. There's no way I gunna let you take your own life"
"Thank-you"
"What for?"
"Not telling me to grow up."
She smiled at him
"Let's get you a coffee then we can head back to the flat. I won't text Rose yet so she can't come and harass us"
He nodded thankfully
"I think the idea of Rose taking you clothes shopping was for you to get out of that suit it really doesn't fit you"
"I don't want to wear human clothes"
"Isn't that suit human?"
"It's different" he gave another cough spraying droplets of blood onto his sleeve
"Come you need warming up" she pulled the scraggly boy to his feet. He followed her without argument, something she couldn't help but think of as out of character.