A/N: whovianpower has been bugging me to update XD (thanks a lot, btw, I never thought anyone would like my story this much ^_^) so here is Chapter 9.

Chapter 9: 11 Cares Too

After that, all was black. I couldn't see anything or hear anything. I couldn't even feel. I was in a strange place, and I didn't know where that was.

After an unmeasurable amount of time, a light appeared. Almost unconsciously, I moved towards it. Closer and closer until it engulfed me and I found myself standing in a white room.

"Turn around."

I obeyed the voice, which I realised was the Doctor. The new Doctor. He stood a metre away from me, concern on his face.

"Hello." I said. "Where are we?"

"In your mind." He replied. "I am…sorry, but I had to enter it. It's the only way to save you."

I frowned. "I didn't know you could do that. I mean, the previous you could, but you've never really…"

A faint smile crossed his face. "Doesn't matter. Point is, I did it. Now, as to why you're here. You told me you were eating some fruit at that market. Well, after conducting some tests on your body – which, by the way, is comatose – I discovered that one of those fruits was called Ghrean."

"What's Ghrean?" I asked.

"The only fruit you shouldn't have eaten." He muttered ominously. "It's extremely poisonous to humans, although harmless to the natives. All the colonials living on that planet know this."

"Why didn't the lady at the stall tell me?" I demanded.

"Probably because she thought you weren't human, as much as you appear to be one. She wouldn't imagine any human would touch Ghrean. Your Doctor didn't warn you of it?"

I shook my head. "He didn't mention anything dangerous."

The Doctor's face hardened. "Idiot."

"Hey!" I leapt to my Doctor's defence. "He almost never forgets anything! Don't get on his back because of one incident."

In a fit of emotion, the Doctor closed the gap between me and grabbed my shoulders roughly. "You don't understand! This one incident may cost you your life!"

It was then that I realised that post-regeneration, the Doctor's caring nature towards me never changed. Even though I was Talia from the past, he still desired to keep me from harm.

I took a deep breath. "Alright, is there an antidote? Is there anything that can be done?"

He pulled back. "Yes, except it is difficult to get. There are many different planets to visit. I will do it though, don't think I'm hesitant. Well, enough chit-chat, I've got to get started."

He turned to leave through a door that I only just realised was there.

"Oh, and by the way! Try not to wake up. If you do, you will find your body in extreme pain, and I think you'd prefer if you didn't experience that." He cautioned.

"Ok." I replied. "Thank you."

He opened the door, and the room disappeared, replaced by the black nothingness again.

It could have been hours or days later that the light and the room appeared again. I quickly located the Doctor.

"I have the antidote." He announced, although he looked grim.

"You make it sound like that's a bad thing?"

"The bad part is that you have to be conscious before I can administer it. You remember what I told you last time?"

I nodded with a shiver. "Yeah."

"I'm sorry. It won't be for long, but it has to be done."

"I…I understand. Will you wake me up yourself?"

"Yes. It'll be easier that way. All you have to do is follow me."

He indicated the door.

I swallowed and took a few deep breaths, before reminding myself that I'd been through pain before. "I'm ready."

He took my hand and we walked through the door.

As he had promised, conscious was accompanied by waves upon waves of sharp, stinging pain all over my body. It clouded my vision and made me feel very disorientated, but I realised that I was on a table of some sort. Probably in the med bay. Though I tried to hide it, I couldn't help a gasp escape my lips.

"I'm administering the antidote now."

The Doctor's voice was brisk, as though trying to convey to me the speed of the procedure. But surely he understood that every second of agony was like an hour?

I closed my eyes again and let out another groan, tensing. "Make it stop!"

I felt his hand on my arm. Again, I was glad that he cared for me just as much as the other Doctor. "Soon. The antidote will work faster with you awake. The pain should begin to fade in just a few minutes."

I nodded, hoping for the truth of his statement. When finally the pain did begin to back off, I let my body go entirely limp. Hot, bothered and aching all over, I lay there, panting.

"That…was…something I'd rather not experience again." I gasped. "Thank you."

He chuckled slightly. "You're welcome. And hopefully you won't have to. You're lucky you were with me, in a way."

"Yeah."

"Is there anything you want or need? I think you should rest again soon."

I felt guilty for voicing my request, and wouldn't have if he hadn't of asked, but decided I'd better. "Can you take me back, please?"

"Of course." He said without hesitation. "Besides, it'd be nice to get a Talia back who remembers all of the adventures we'd had together."

"Am I still happy?" I asked. It was an odd question, but I needed to know.

"I can't really reveal much about your future." He warned.

"I know. I just…always worry about how I'll be after the regeneration. Whether I'm mean to you or anything." I confessed.

"No, no, nothing like that. You don't hurt my feelings, if that's what you mean. Of course, there are times when I sense you reminiscing about the old me, and it's only natural that you will miss him. But you never tell me you'd rather have him back, and you so far haven't even considered leaving."

I smiled, before being content to fall silent as he got up to direct the TARDIS to her destination.

I must have slipped into a light sleep for the next thing I knew the Doctor was in the middle of picking me up.

"Hang on! I'll walk!" I cried, dazedly shocked at first when the wrong Doctor's face appeared in front of me.

He blinked, but seemed amused. "Alright, but we'll take it slow. You're still recovering."

He was right. I still felt shaky on my legs and so leaned on him a bit, but was determined not to seem completely helpless.

We were met by my Doctor and the future me as soon as we opened the door, the former looking quite annoyed.

"You…complete thickhead!" he snapped at the new Doctor. "Can't you even fly the TARDIS straight? It's been a week! And what have you done to my Talia?"

He came over to me and lifted my head, studying me for any sign of illness.

"No, you're the idiot!" the other Doctor retorted. "How could you not warn her about Ghrean? I just saved her life!"

My Doctor reeled back, wide-eyed. "They-they have Ghrean on this planet?"

"Yes, you nitwit, and Talia, because she didn't know, ate some! I've spent the last few days planet-hopping to get all the antidote's ingredients, so don't you yell at me for being a week out of tune!"

My Doctor instantly removed me from the arm of the other, wrapping his own very protectively around me, something which made my heart flutter as it was quite a possessive move.

"Don't be angry at him." I murmured. "If it weren't for him, I wouldn't be here."

My Doctor's face softened somewhat.

There was an angry rumbling sound from the TARDIS.

"Ooh, doesn't like the paradox of us two." The new Doctor commented.

"You and your Talia should leave then." My Doctor said, though not abruptly.

She nodded. "It's been…wonderful to spend the last week with you, Doctor, as I have missed you so much. But as I'm sure he's aware, I've grown to like travelling with him. Besides, staying with you any longer would probably blow a hole in the universe the size of Belgium, so it'd better be avoided."

The two Doctors laughed and the older me gave us both a hug before walking towards the TARDIS.

"Take care of her!" The new Doctor warned. "I don't want to be on some planet with her and she suddenly disappears, all right?"

He nodded. "Believe me, I will."

"Ok then. Talia, you'll be seeing me then. I'm not too sure how soon, though." He winked. I hoped it wouldn't be too soon.

"Bye!" I waved. He, too, walked to his TARDIS and soon it was disappearing.

The Doctor looked down at me. "You seem very tired."

"I am." I said, smothering a yawn that had arisen to prove his comment. "Let's get back to our TARDIS."

A/N: Now there's a break of about a day between this and the next chapter. Let's all remember that the Doctor still needs to get Talia back for getting him tipsy!