Rose woke groggy and achy the next morning. It had been one hell of a night. She'd paid a price for all the work she'd done with her arm in the form of terrible muscle cramps and electric bolts of pain shooting through her body. She'd managed to keep the screams from escaping her throat, but no force of will was enough to prevent the silent tears from falling or to keep her from flinching with the intensity of each shock that wracked her body. She must have put on quite a show because the Doctor's hands had trembled as he'd injected the extra pain medication through the tube coming out of her upper chest.
She had managed to drift off to sleep after that, only to wake over and over again from relentless nightmares. The dreams had all been the same - a formless white haze devouring her, ripping her apart, driving her mad without any hope of relief or reprieve. It was the Void, Rose supposed, but she wasn't sure if the dreams were memories or just her mind's reaction to everything she'd gone through since she fell. Either way, she'd been stuck in a cycle of struggling against the drowsiness of the pain medication as long as possible before slipping into sleep only to jerk awake a few minutes later in distress. After several hours of this, the Doctor had finally convinced her to let him give her something that would allow her a deep, dreamless sleep. To be honest, she'd given in more so that he could get some rest. She hadn't been sure there was really a sleep deep enough where the dreams could not find her, and the thought of being unable to wake herself when they did terrified her. But at that point, the Doctor had been on high alert with her for hours on end and she had been worried about him. She had wondered when he'd last left the TARDIS for some fresh air and adventure, or even gotten a decent stretch of sleep. As far as she could tell, he hadn't left the infirmary in days except for that one quick trip to get some applesauce.
She'd trembled as the Doctor had placed an oxygen cannula on her and had started the sedation, but thankfully it had done the trick and she'd slept soundly and without dreams of any kind for the rest of the night.
Upon waking she found the Doctor sitting next to her, snoring away in what looked like a very uncomfortable position. As she let the remaining fogginess from the drugged sleep dissipate, she watched him and pondered how she might get him to take a proper break at some point today. Maybe she'd ask the TARDIS to lure him out of the infirmary with the scent of bananas and then lock him out of the room until he got some rest. Or maybe the old girl could fake an emergency that required some tinkering. The problem was, Rose usually had to touch the coral walls to communicate with the ship so directly, and there was no way she could reach with her rubbish arms. She'd have to think of something else…
Rose hadn't come up with anything several minutes later when her mum came padding into the room.
"Hello sweetheart," Jackie whispered beaming when she saw Rose was awake.
"Morning Mum," Rose yawned and then managed a small smile.
"And how would you know it's morning then? It's dimmer than a cave in here," her mum complained as she eased herself into the empty chair across from where the Doctor was sleeping.
Rose thought for a moment. How did she know it was morning? "I just do," she gave an uncoordinated shrug, "It's just how the TARDIS sort of feels, ya know?"
Jackie shook her head in bemusement.
"Also," Rose sniffed, "You're having you're morning cuppa. English Breakfast, yeah?"
"Uncanny that nose of yours," Jackie said. "Anyway, how are you feeling today, sweetheart?"
"Ok, I guess," Rose replied. Scared, frustrated, and achy didn't seem like a good answer, but saying "good" would be too much of a lie.
"How's my little sibling doing?" Rose asked to prevent any further inquiries.
"Oh, the little one is kicking away as usual," Jackie said as she smiled and rubbed her belly, "I think he likes the morning cuppa as much as I do."
"Well your tea did save the world once," Rose grinned.
"Was the first thing you reacted to when you were in that coma thing too," Jackie raised her cup proudly.
"Really?" Rose asked, "Hmmm, don't remember."
"Nah, you were still…not you then."
It was weird to think that she had been eating, drinking, sniffing tea, and doing god knew what else before she'd truly woken up. It was oddly embarrassing, like being caught on camera when she wasn't expecting it.
"But you're back now," Jackie added as if to reassure herself.
"More or less," Rose grumbled.
"Oh, you'll get there sweetheart," Jackie assured her as she patted Rose's hand.
Rose gave another jerky shrug and steered the conversation away from herself once again, figuring it was too early in the day to start moping, "So…tell me about you and Pete then."
Jackie blushed and it was nice to see her mum looking so young and happy.
"You met in a stairwell?" Rose prompted.
That was all it took and Jackie gave her an animated recounting of meeting this new Pete and their life together. Rose was happy that he'd been there for her mum when she'd been gone. That had been an awful lot for him to take on so early in their courtship. And how mad was that, a duplicate version of her dead father courting her mother? This life, there was nothing like it.
Rose wished she could have been there to see it all. But at least she was here now. And she'd be there when the baby came, though she wasn't sure how good of a big sister she would be in her current state. Her experiences babysitting on the estate made her think that taking care of kids involved a lot of running around and lifting. Not exactly her strengths at the moment.
At some point in the conversation, the Doctor woke up and went to fetch her breakfast. After some coaxing from both her mum and the Doctor, she did finally try some pureed egg whites. It took her a while to get over the texture, but the Doctor was right, it did taste just like regular old eggs. Still, between the unappetizing look of the stuff and how exhausting it was to eat even with the Doctor's help, she didn't get very far through her meal. The Doctor filled out her nutritional needs with some more of that goop through her feeding tube. This time she was more fascinated than grossed out by the process. Once she got over the weirdness of the tube thing, she found she was relieved that she didn't have to eat everything her body needed. She had enough going on as it was without that extra pressure placed on her. Hopefully soon she'd be able to feed herself, whether it was with a spoon or by tube. She was eager to get some independence back.
Throughout the meal, her mum continued to talk all about Pete and the baby. "He'd like to see you," Jackie said eventually, referring to Pete.
Rose thought about it for a moment, "Yeah, ok. I should probably apologize for freaking out on him before."
"Oh he understands, sweetheart. It was a nasty shock and bad timing. We wouldn't have barged in if we'd known you were just getting your bearings," Jackie assured her, "We didn't even know you were properly awake."
"Yeah, nasty shock for you too, eh?" Rose grinned remembering how her mum has shrieked.
"No, not nasty. Best thing that's ever happened, seeing you were back with us," Jackie said tearing up slightly.
Rose found she couldn't look at her mum. To the TARDIS ceiling, she said, "Yeah, of course Pete can stop by." Then she grinned, and continued "I have to give him The Talk after all."
"The talk?" Jackie asked. The Doctor snickered from where he was sonic cleaning medical equipment in the corner.
"Well, yeah. His intentions. Is he gunna make you happy? Is he good enough for ya? Stuff like that," she said. At Jackie's worried look Rose burst out laughing, "Kidding mum! I'm kidding."
"Oh the cheek," Jackie muttered, "I'll go fetch him then, shall I?"
"Yeah," Rose agreed. "Oh and Doctor…"
"Hmm?" he looked over at her, "Now that Mum and Pete are up, you should take a break, yeah?"
He smiled at her, "I'm fine, Rose. Besides I have this mess to clean up."
"Yeah, good luck getting that one to leave your side," Jackie said.
"No, I mean it Doctor. I know you've got that superior biology and all, but you still need some sleep." When the Doctor opened his mouth to argue, she continued, "Proper sleep. Like, in a bed."
The Doctor folded his arms and leaned against the counter, "Are you trying to get rid of me, Rose Tyler?"
"Never," she flashed her tongue touched smile at him, "Just…take a break, yeah? Get some sleep and a proper meal and go tinker with something for a bit."
After a brief stare down, the Doctor conceded. "Very well, I can tell when I'm not wanted," he sniffed in mock self-pity. "Let's at least get you sitting up and comfortable first."
The Doctor and Jackie worked together to get her sitting against the elevated head of the bed. "How's that?" the Doctor asked as he fluffed a pillow under her left arm, "Feel ok?"
"Snug as a bug," Rose grinned up at him.
"Good," he said, surprising her with a kiss on her forehead, "Anything else before I go to my exile?"
Rose was a bit flustered from the feeling of his lips on her skin, platonic as the gesture was. "Er, nope. No. All good here. Unless you've gotten any spare working limbs in those magic pockets of yours?"
Rose instantly regretted the remark when the Doctor's face fell. "Give it time," he said as he took her hand to give it a squeeze.
"'Course," she smiled at him and was rewarded when his face brightened considerably.
"Alright, see you in a bit," he saluted and then walked towards the door.
In the doorway he turned, "And if you need anything -"
"Go!" she laughed, wishing she could throw a pillow at him.
"Right," he nodded and then exited to the corridor.
"He'd do anything for you, you know," her mum said fondly after the Doctor was out of earshot.
Rose smiled, "Course he would, we're best mates. I'd do the same for him."
"Best mates? Still going with that story, are you?" Jackie asked with raised eyebrows.
Rose's smile slipped and she sighed, once again looking up at the coral ceiling. She didn't have the energy for this kind of thing. Or the emotional fortitude. If she got thinking too hard about how she wanted more with the Doctor or how impossible that was, especially now, she'd lose it. She was already trying her best not to ruminate on the fear that her days with him were numbered. He was a good person, so he was helping her out right now. But if she didn't get better, it couldn't last forever. The universe needed him. He needed to go on with his life. And if she couldn't keep up...
"Leave it mum," she said with a harsher edge to her voice than she'd intended.
"Oh alright," Jackie took a final sip of tea before placing the mug on the far counter, "Pete then?"
"Sounds good," Rose said, equal parts nervous and glad for the distraction.