Would it always be this hard to wake up? Rose was swimming back to awareness, but couldn't quite get there. As she floated in and out of sleep's grasp, she focused on the pleasantly scratchy texture of the Doctor's suit jacket against her cheek and the soothing feeling of his hand brushing through her hair. After some time, she managed a contented hum.

"Rose?" the Doctor asked. And that was strange - her name as a question. It was odd to her to hear the hesitancy in his voice. The wrongness was enough to bring her further out of sleep and start tugging small wisps of memory back to her.

She was in the infirmary - sick or, hurt or…something else. Her mind was muddled and her body - it didn't feel right, didn't work like it should.

At first she just remembered the feeling of panic from before, but soon she was experiencing it all over again as she fought and failed to fully wake up. Her breath came out in stuttering gasps and her brain felt like it was on fire. She needed to open her eyes. She needed to wake up. Why couldn't she do this simple, basic thing?

"Shhh," the Doctor soothed, "Take your time."

She wanted to heed his advice, but the panic wouldn't let her. She was too wrapped up in fighting this frenzied internal battle. She tried wiggling her fingers or toes, tried to sit up, tried to do…something, but she continued to float around just under the surface of wakefulness. Finally with a jerk of her legs and a cry, she broke through. For several moments all she could do was take deep gulps of air. The Doctor shifted her slightly so that she could see his face.

"Bloody 'ell," she finally managed, then laughed weakly with relief. As she woke up more fully, she felt the panic recede and started to feel a bit more like herself. Or, well, a fuzzy version of herself anyway. Like she'd overdone it with the hyper-vodka.

"I'd say, yeah," the Doctor agreed. They grinned at each other for a few heartbeats as her breathing evened out. Finally, she got her brain and her mouth in line enough to ask, "Doctor, whas goin' on?" She looked down at her body, "my arms…and dunno…all mixed up."

The Doctor let out a puff of breath before speaking, "What's the last thing you remember?"

Oh really, so he was going to play that game? Now? She gave him a very cross look to let him know how little she cared for him answering a question with another question.

When he just laughed, she was very nearly affronted.

"Sorry, sorry. Just…haven't seen that look in a long time," he grinned.

"'ow long?" she asked, not sure if she truly wanted to know the answer.

"Too long."

Well he didn't have to wait to see the look again. But this time when he laughed in response, she giggled too.

"Oh alright," the Doctor acquiesced, "But I do want to start at the beginning and I'm not really sure where that is for you unless I know how much you remember."

Rose concentrated for a moment before speaking. It took so much work to organize her thoughts. "I…dunno. If I try…it all…skips about. I just…'s just travelin'. Just us travelin'." After a few moments of screwing up her face in thought and fighting down waves of vertigo she added, "Cake 'n ball bearin's?" She tried hard to to enunciate the words properly.

The Doctor laughed heartily and she felt the vibrations of it where she was resting against his chest. It was a lovely feeling.

"Wha'?" she asked, grinning.

"Just a funny thing to remember is all," he said, "But that's good! Really good. You didn't lose much at all. Just a couple weeks."

A couple weeks?! How was that not losing much? In just a couple weeks they could have rearranged the universe a few times over if they were on point. Some of what she was feeling must have showed on her face because the Doctor rushed to comfort her.

"It's ok," he said, "You may get it back in time. And if not…I'll tell you all about it."

"M'kay," she sighed, frustrated that she already felt herself drifting back off to sleep. She blinked her eyes a few times and clumsily shifted in the Doctor's arms to try and stay awake.

"Want something to drink?" the Doctor asked. Now that he mentioned it, she was rather thirsty. And hungry. But also nauseous. How could she be nauseous and hungry at the same time?

She was much more concerned with figuring out what was going on, but maybe a little refreshment would help her think more clearly. She nodded.

"Alright, Rose Tyler, your wish is my command. I have your tea all set out already," he said as he gently shifted her back against the pillows so he could retrieve it. She watched him bound across the room and grab a mug from the counter he was fiddling at earlier. Once he was back sitting on her bed, he put the mug down on a side table so he had two hands to adjust her back to a more upright position back against his chest. Rose tried not to think too hard about how weak she was. She felt like a rag doll and the Doctor seemed to not only expect this, but have some experience with moving her around. Maybe it was just one of those things one picks up while living for centuries.

Finally, he grabbed something from a drawer next to her bed and brought the mug around towards her mouth.

"Gunna need help," she said when her arms wouldn't obey her command to take the mug from him.

"Of course," he said, "One mo' and…here you go."

Rose sputtered when instead of him bringing the cup to her mouth as she expected, he dunked a weird lolly looking sponge in her tea and then put it in her mouth.

"Oh! Sorry, sorry!" the Doctor hastily put the sponge back in the tea and wiped her chin with the a flannel he'd manufactured from somewhere. "This is how you've been drinking lately."

Drinking from a sponge lolly? That would be a pretty weird hobby to take up in the few weeks she couldn't remember.

After thinking things through for a moment she asked, "Straw?"

"Er…why don't we try this first. It's easy, I promise. You just weren't ready for it. All you have to do is suck on the sponge, the pink part."

The Doctor brought the sponge lolly to her mouth again, and this time Rose did as he said. The flavor of the tea sent a happy thrum through her, but she hardly got a taste before she'd sucked all the liquid out. This really wasn't the best way to take in a beverage. Also, "S' cold," she complained.

"Er, yes well, didn't want you to burn you tongue," the Doctor said.

"Ice cold," Rose shot back.

"Nonsense, Rose Tyler, it's just above room temperature. Ice cold! The nerve!" the Doctor huffed and Rose giggled even though he was trying way too hard.

"More?" she asked and he obliged. Tepid temperature aside, the tea was fantastic. The Doctor had been right about it being easy to use the sponge lolly, but she still thought there were more efficient ways to drink. Like, for example, how she normally did. She was too tired to ask him about it though. For a few minutes, she was just content to drink her fill of tea and feel the Doctor's chest shifting behind her as he assisted.

Too quickly, she tired, and when the Doctor brought the next sip to her mouth she clamped her lips shut and jerked her head back and forth.

"All done?" he asked.

She nodded, "Ta."

"Anytime. Now where were we? Shall we try to get an explanation out of me before you fall back asleep?" he asked. Rose chuckled again. Well at least he was self aware about how difficult it could be to get him to properly explain things.

"Please," she nodded and blinked her eyes a few times to help keep the room in focus.

"So. Where to begin? Well, it all started when we went to visit your mum for a laundry run," he began.

A few disjointed images flashed through her mind.

"Ghosts?" she interrupted.

"Yes, exactly! The ghosts!" the Doctor seemed pleased, "That's brilliant! See I told you the memories might come a back eventually. Well, maybe sooner than eventually. Anyway…"

But as he was about to continue Rose could have sworn she heard her mum's voice echoing in from the hallway. But why would her mum be on board the TARDIS?

"Mum?" Rose questioned, trying to shift to look at the Doctor, "Here? The TARDIS?"

The Doctor had tensed as Rose's muddled mind struggled to deal with this new piece of incongruent information. Then another voice joined her Mum's. There was something about it…She tried to place all of this in some kind of logical order as the voices got louder. The Doctor seemed to be trying to untangle himself out from behind her, spilling tea all down her front.

"Jackie wait!" he called out. But her Mum was already though the doorway. It was so strange to see her mother here, amongst the coral walls of the TARDIS. Even when they parked in the living room of the flat, she usually refused to so much as step foot on board the ship. Rose's headache was back with a vengeance as she tried to process everything.

"Mum?" she asked. Her mum froze, staring at her like Rose was a ghost herself, before screaming and falling against the doorway. The hell? Now her vision was pulsing black in time with the throbbing in her head.

"Jackie?! Jacks what is it?" the second voice echoed through the door. There were an awful lot of voices speaking all at once and Rose couldn't even begin to decipher anything out of the commotion. And then a man was by Jackie's side and the man was her dead father and his hands went instantly to rest on her mother's very large, very pregnant belly.

"Mum what? Doctor what?" Rose asked, feeling panicky and fighting the pulsing darkness in her vision. Her head felt like it was about to explode and electric bolts of pain started shooting through her body, making her jerk and twitch.

"My head," she whimpered, then fell back into darkness.