Title: Cough Syrup and Chicken Soup
Author:
janna_hawkins Beta:
danaems Summary: Rose is sick and the Doctor has to take care of her.
Characters: Ninth Doctor, Rose Tyler
Disclaimer: I own nothing related to Doctor Who except my psychic paper, sonic screwdriver and sonic pen :)
Author Notes: Dedicated to
lostwolfchats in honor of her birthday tomorrow. I hope you like it!
~..~
"Rose? Rose, wake up."
What did that blasted Time Lord want now? She was so tired. A bit of sleep would feel so good...
"Rose, please! Come on, you silly ape, wake up!"
Fine then, she would but if all he wanted was to show her something he thought was amazing, she was going to hit him.
Rose opened her eyes slowly to find two anxious blue ones gazing into them.
"Oh, Rose, you're all right."
"Do'er? Whassa ma'er?" Wait, what was wrong with her voice? Why did her throat hurt so much?
"Shh, don't try to talk. You're still not fully recovered."
She frowned slightly. "Wha-" He cut her off by gently covering her mouth with his hand.
"What did I say? Be quiet, Rose, and I'll explain."
She managed to nod slightly and he moved his hand.
"Good. Now, do you remember where we last were? Don't talk, just nod or shake your head. Thank you. We were on Earth in nineteen-nineteen during the flu epidemic. You caught it while we were helping out in that hospital."
Her eyes widened and she tried to sit up but was easily halted by his hands as a fit of coughing racked her body.
"Please don't, Rose. You need to lie still and rest. You almost died," he said quietly, reaching for something out of sight.
She glanced to the side and saw his hand holding a small bottle of greenish liquid.
"You need to take this. It'll help keep your coughing down."
He poured a small amount of the liquid onto a spoon and carefully brought it to her mouth. She managed to open it enough for him to pour the liquid into her mouth before swallowing. It tasted strangely like chocolate.
She glanced up to find him smiling at her. "It taste alright?"
She nodded, smiling weakly. "Choc'ate."
"Everything is chocolate to you," he said with a smirk before suddenly glaring at her. "And what did I say about talking? You need to save your strength."
She rolled her eyes, sighing softly.
He smiled and gently threaded his fingers through hers. "I know, it’s hard to be helpless like this, but it's for the best."
A sudden alarm startled both of them.
The Doctor grinned. "Almost forgot. I put a pot of chicken soup on the stove for when you woke up. You wouldn't happen to be hungry by any chance, would you?" A loud growl from the area of her stomach made his grin even wider. "I'll take that as a yes. Be right back. You don't move, understand? And stay awake!"
She nodded and watched as he disappeared through a door that she could have sworn wasn't there before.
A few minutes later, he appeared again and she almost laughed. He was balancing a steaming bowl and a spoon in one hand while the other was carrying two mugs of what she assumed was tea. He set them down on the small side table and frowned.
"What're you smiling at?"
She grinned. " 'Ou domes'ic."
He rolled his eyes and reached for the bowl. "Yes, yes, I'm doing domestic. Now, open your mouth. We'll try the soup first." He carefully slipped the spoon into her waiting mouth and she swallowed, moaning softly as the warm liquid hit the sensitive inner lining of her throat.
"You alright?"
She nodded slightly. " 'Urts."
"Right. Sorry about that." The Doctor frowned and set the spoon aside in the bowl before leaning over to gently touch her forehead. "At least you're not hot anymore. We can try the soup again later after it cools down a bit."
She nodded and relaxed back into her pillow, closing her eyes.
"Oi! Don't go back to sleep!"
She opened her eyes to glare at his slightly panicked face. "Tired."
"I know, I know, but you can't sleep right now. You have to stay awake until I can make sure you don't..." he trailed off, looking anywhere, but at her.
"Wha?"
"Rose, you didn't just have the flu. You were in a coma for a week."
"Wha?!"
"The influenza virus must have combined with something harmless you picked up on another planet. You collapsed shortly after we got back here. You can't go back to sleep. Not until I'm sure you won't relapse."
"But 'm tired!"
"And I'm sorry, but you just can't sleep."
"Fine. Tell me story."
"What?"
"Story. Keep me 'wake."
"Rose..."
"Please?"
After a few moments he sighed. "Fine. But you have to stop talking."
She nodded eagerly and settled back against her pillow.
"Once upon a time there was a fantastic Time Lord who went around the universe fixing everything that ever went wrong. He traveled all over in his time machine and did all sorts of fantastic things. The end."
"Oi!"
"What? I told you your story."
"No good. Be'er one."
"What?! 'Not good'? You have no taste, Rose Tyler!"
"Be'er story. Now!" she demanded, raising a hand as if to slap him.
"Alright, alright!" he said quickly, raising his arms to protect his face. "Once upon a time in a universe not very far away there was a man who went around his universe fixing things that were wrong and stopping bad people. This man was a very lonely man. His family and friends were all gone and he had only his wonderful space and time machine to talk to. Even though his space and time machine was the best space and time machine in the whole universe, the lonely man still wanted someone else to talk to."
Rose smiled.
He grinned back and continued, "He found this someone else when he was stopping an evil bubbling creature that made plastic people come alive and make lots of trouble on a very pretty planet. The someone else he met was a girl with yellow hair. The plastic people were trying to make lots of trouble for her until the lonely man came and made them go away. The girl told him thank you and went home. The lonely man went back to his space and time machine and was sad."
"Oh, poor Doc'er."
"Shh! The next day the lonely man was chasing a plastic person's arm when he ran into the yellow-haired girl again. The arm had run inside her house to try and hide. They chased it outside and she helped him follow the arm until they found the place where the evil bubbling creature was hiding. When the evil bubbling creature was telling the plastic people to make trouble for the lonely man, the girl with yellow hair told the evil bubbling creature to leave. The evil bubbling creature said no but the girl made it go away by swinging on a rope," he said quietly while running his hand through her hair.
She sighed and leaned into his hand.
"Now comes the good part," he whispered. "When the evil bubbling creature and the plastic people were gone, the lonely man told the girl thank you for helping him and asked if she wanted to take a trip in his space machine. She shook her head and told him no thank you. He sadly left but suddenly remembered that he hadn't told the girl that his ship could go in time too. He went back and told her what he had forgotten. This time she said yes and ran into his space and time machine. For the first time in a very, very long time the lonely man smiled. He wasn't quite as lonely anymore," he finished, leaning down to press a kiss to her forehead. "Now, I think it'll be alright for you to sleep. Sweet dreams, Rose Tyler." He turned to go, but Rose reached up and grabbed his hand.
"No, stay. 'Til I fall 'sleep."
He smiled and sat down again. "Of course, Rose."
When her breathing had evened out, he carefully stood. Leaning over her while pulling the blankets up to her chin, he pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. "Sweet dreams, my perfect little Rose."