Chapter Text
“Doctor!” Rose cried, stumbling through the smoke. “Doctor!”
There was no reply from the burning forest. She ran ahead, still shouting his name when a log crashed down, missing her by mere centimetres.
“Doctor!”
—
The Doctor gasped, sitting bolt upright and taking in his surroundings. Or, what he could figure out of his surroundings. The world was an endless sheet of black, punctuated by scattered bright patches giving off… heat.
Fire. The forests of Allercon-Tetra, which were on fire. Vaguely he remembered running, trying to find Rose, before something blunt hit him and his memory cut out. Presumably he was knocked out.
He had to find Rose.
He staggered to his feet, swaying with the pounding in his head. The Doctor barely managed three steps before he sank to his knees, unable to carry on. “Rose!” he shouted. The volume sent him into a hack coughing fit and he cried out as his ribs erupted into a burning pain. It was entirely unlike and worse than the small fire burns he could feel dotting his skin where it’d burned holes in his jumper. He wrapped his arms around himself as he struggled to gasp in air between coughs. Chest still burning he spat something wet onto the ground and prayed it wasn’t blood. If it was blood…
Well, bleeding into the lungs was bad, no matter the species.
When he could pull in air without hacking up a lung he shouted, only a touch quieter, “Rose! Rose!”
He had to get moving. Feeling around for something to support himself the Doctor’s hand brushed something hot and he pulled away, hissing. His fingers ghosted across his left palm and sure enough, the burning pain spiked and he swallowed a whine. Maybe getting up wasn’t the best move. “Rose!” he tried again. “Rose! Where are you?”
“Doctor?”
That was her. That was her voice, he’d know it anywhere. “Rose! I’m over here,” he called, again trying to stand up. His ankle twinged with pain. While wobbling on his feet he managed, holding his unburned hand to his ribs. One or two of them felt broken, but it’d be impossible to tell without sight and his sonic, which Rose had.
Then he could hear footsteps on dry leaves and looked in that direction. “Rose? Is that you?”
The footsteps got closer and someone wrapped him in a hug. He leant into the touch and couldn’t help leaning on her to stay upright.
“Yeah, ‘s me.” She tightened her hold on him. “Hang on…” Rose pulled back, though she kept one of her hands on his shoulder. “Doctor, are you alright?”
“‘Course,” he lied.
“No…” the Doctor could feel her eyes taking in his surely battered appearance, how he was unsteady on his feet, one arm pressed firmly against his ribcage. He heard her gasp a little as she ghosted her fingers across his face. “How many fingers am I holding up?”
His eyes had to be horribly unfocused, which his clever girl was sure to pick up on. He opened his mouth to speak a couple of times before words came out. “I can’t see,” he admitted. “Not a thing.”
Her fingers stopped. “W-What?”
Careful not to touch anything to his burned palm he mimicked her, brushing his fingers across her face until he could feel a lock of hair loose from the ponytail she’d done it up in earlier. He tucked it behind her ear. “I got hit on the head by something, I don’t know what. But when I woke up I couldn’t… couldn’t see,” he finished. And oh-so-fortunately his lungs decided to protest against the smoke again and he coughed, jostling his ribs. He cried out, almost falling to the gourd before Rose hurried to support him.
“Doctor?” she asked with fear and worry in the cadences of her voice. He hated hearing that, but hated it even more when he was the cause. “What’s wrong?”
"'M fine."
He could envision her expression perfectly. No words needed to be spoken.
“I think,” he gasped between coughs, “I broke a couple ribs. An’ maybe breathed in too much smoke.”
She moved, pulling the arm that wasn’t curled around his chest over his shoulders. “Getting back to the TARDIS is a good idea, then?” she asked.
He managed a weak smile. “Yeah.”
Rose didn’t say anything before he felt her shake her head. “Sorry, I just smiled at you.”
Shame swelled within him that she had to say that, felt she had to apologise for continuing the nonverbal way of communicating they’d established a long time ago, not long after they met. A smile here, a brush of their hands there, all said what words weren’t clear enough for. “‘S okay.”
Skepticalness rolled off her in waves and he looked to where he assumed she was. “It is. Getting back to the TARDIS is our priority right now.”
“Yeah,” she mumbled. “Are you okay to walk? Just…” she trailed off for a moment. “You look like you’re in a lot of pain,” she finished.
I am, his thoughts shouted. They needed to get moving soon, before he succumbed to it. If he did that they’d be stuck here until he recovered, because the adrenaline was wearing off and he knew he had a more serious head injury than what was apparent. If he waited, he wouldn’t be walking out of here. “I’m okay,” he summarised. “Just make sure I don’t trip over anything.”
She huffed a laugh. “Easier said than done.” But she began guiding him, telling him where there was a hole in the ground or a log to step over.
He was entirely reliant on Rose Tyler, and he’d never been less afraid. Somehow, through all the shame of needing someone, not even being able to walk on his own, he trusted her completely.
“Hmm.” She stopped walking.
“What?” the Doctor asked. It was getting harder to speak through the fog spreading through his head, threatening to smother him if he wasn’t careful. “Rose, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” she said quickly. “There’s just a really big fallen tree and I’m not sure it’ll be easy to climb over. So we need to take the long way.”
Flames crackled in the background.
“Will you be okay to stay here for a minute while I go see which way’s quicker? It’s just…”
“I slow you down,” he finished.
“No!” Rose said quickly, moving so he’d be supported by the fallen tree. “I can see walking’s hurting you, and I don’t want you to be in pain,” she quietly explained. “I’ll be back in a sec.”
He heard her dart away through the undergrowth, a “be careful,” dying on his lips.
The adrenaline was almost completely gone too, and he was starting to feel other injuries he hadn’t realised were there. Some cuts on his face that stung, but those were easily ignored. The one he couldn’t ignore, on the other hand, was his left ankle. It seemed he’d twisted it.
A hand on his shoulder shocked him out of his self-diagnosis and he whipped around, biting back a cry as his whole body protested, and raised his hands in front of his face to defend himself. “Who are you?” he said as clearly as he could through the fog.
“‘S me.”
He recognised that voice, but his mind couldn’t place it. It could be anyone. “Who are you,” he repeated.
“Doctor,” he tensed, “you… you know me. I’m Rose. Rose Tyler.”
It took 0.5 seconds for him to place the voice and the name. It took 0.7 seconds for him to stagger into her arms, and 1.3 to comprehend what just happened and what he’d just thought.
“Rose…” he whispered. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay,” she said after a short moment. “I left you alone, you can’t see anything and I didn’t give you any warning. It’s okay.”
He nodded, though didn’t believe her words. It’s not okay, it’s never okay to forget your best friend because you’re injured and – if you stop lying to yourself – frightened.
“C’mon, it’s only a few more minutes to the TARDIS.”
They walked the rest of the way as quickly as they could. The Doctor felt Rose’s worried glances as they approached the time travelling blue box. He beamed when he felt her touch against his mind. The head injury couldn't be too bad if he could still feel his TARDIS. He fished the key from his pocket and handed it to Rose, who quickly unlocked the door.
Then they were inside, away from the fire and the burning forest.
And all the adrenaline wore off.
His knees gave out and Rose tried to keep supporting him as he stumbled to stay upright. “Medbay,” she insisted.
“Yeah.”
—
Hours later, the Doctor woke up under the startling bright lights of the medbay… startling bright lights.
He could see the lights. Pushing himself into a sitting position, wincing when the movement jostled his still-healing ribs, he saw Rose asleep on a chair next to his bed. Smiling to himself he ran his fingers through her hair, curling the strands around his fingers.
Then he grabbed his leather jacket from where it’d been slung over the back of a chair and started to walk down the hall to the kitchen. Rose would be wanting, no, needing tea when she woke up, and it was best to have it ready. And some biscuits, even if it was only to argue over which was the best.
That chair couldn’t be comfortable.
Turning back into the medbay he lifted her out of the chair, laid her gently on the bed, and grabbed a spare blanket to wrap around her. Then he pressed a light kiss to her forehead and went back to the kitchen to fix them breakfast.