Fic - City of Elusion - (7/?) - Ten/Rose - T

[avoria]

Date Published: 3rd October 2007
Title: City of Elusion
Rating: T
Characters: Ten/Rose, OC Hemlock, OC Jezera Mewlan, OC Mägdraz
Genre(s): Horror, mystery, sci-fi, action, adventure, romance, suspense, thriller, supernatural.
Word Count: This part: 2,978
Summary: Ignorance. Fear. Mistrust. Destiny. The tale of what happens when two worlds collide. TenRose.
Disclaimer: The names, images and logos identifying the BBC and their products and services are subject to copyright, design rights and trade marks of the BBC. Used without permission for non-profit, non-commercial personal use.
Fic Type: Multi-Chaptered. WIP.
Archived: fanfiction.net, my Journal and Teaspoon.
Author's Note: This will probably be quite confusing. Sorry about that. All I can suggest is waiting until the end, and if that doesn't make sense, re-reading!
Excerpt: He laughed, bitterly, and shook his head. “No, Rose, that’s not what I mean. What’s the last thing you remember... from here.”

Chapter VII - In Dreams
“Oh, my God, Rose! You’re awake!”

Rose blinked, confusion seeping through her mind like oil. She knew it was impossible. But that didn’t change the fact that her mother was sitting by the end of the bed, excitement and disbelief spreading over her face.

Jackie stood up and came to her daughter’s side. There were tears in her eyes.

“I can’t believe it,” she said, taking her daughter in a large embrace. “All this waiting, and hoping, and praying... and now here you are.” She pulled back and sniffed hard, looking Rose in the eye. Rose stared back, bemused. “You are back, aren’t you? Not just having another episode?”

“A... what?”

Jackie dropped her hands and stepped back. “I’ll have to get the doctor.”

“The Doctor?” Rose asked, hopefully, her heart giving a lurch. If the Doctor were here then maybe he could explain what was going on, give her back some of her memory. She tried to think. The last thing she remembered was... running... pain... Oh, she wished her mind were not so fuzzy.

Jackie was incessantly pressing the emergency ‘help’ button. “He’ll never believe this,” she was muttering to herself. “After all the scans and whatchamacallits, all that stuff that said she wouldn’t come back... and here you are.”

She turned to face her daughter once again. Rose gave a tight smile, unsure quite what was going on. “Hello.”

“‘Hello’, indeed.” Jackie was laughing. “She’s been in a coma for two years and she says ‘hello’!”

Rose stared. “Did you just say... a coma?” she asked, sitting up and leaning on her arm.

Jackie looked at her, sadness beginning to tentatively appear in her eyes. “Maybe I’d better let the doctor talk to you. Check you’re doing okay. Oh, but Rose... it’s been so long.” She brought a hand up to her mouth to stifle an emotional cry, and she turned away from her daughter.

Rose made to get out of the bed. “Mum...”

“No. You stay there. Just... stay there. He should be here in a minute.”

“Who should?”

At that moment the door was opened, and a tall man in a white coat strolled in, staring at his clipboard. Light from the corridor fell across the floor, and he immediately crossed to the table beside Rose’s bed and flicked on the light. He then turned away from Rose and addressed her mother, too quickly for her to see him properly.

“Mrs Tyler,” he said politely, a Scottish lilt taking his voice. “Would you leave us alone for a minute?”

“But, doctor, she’s - ”

“I know,” he replied calmly, putting a hand out. “I guessed from the urgency of your buzzers. But I’m going to need to talk to her. It’s likely Rose will be very dazed, and not quite sure what’s going on. She may not even recognise you.”

“But - ”

“I’ll bring you in as soon as we’re ready.” He had a hand in the small of her back, escorting her to the door. “Ring your husband, if I were you. And anyone you think should know. She can’t be bombarded with visitors, but - ” There was a smile in his voice “ - I dare say she could see one or two.”

With that he ushered Jackie out of the room and closed the door. He then stood for a moment, facing away from Rose. She felt nervousness and fear rise in her body. What on was going on?

“Hello, Rose,” he said, without looking at her. “I see you’ve made quite a recovery.”

He turned; Rose’s heart skidded to a stop, then began working double-time to catch up. She felt a sweat break out on her forehead, cool and comforting.

“Doctor,” she breathed, relief overwhelming her. Tears began to choke the back of her throat and she coughed them away. “What’s going on?”

He looked just like he always did. Tawny hair, slightly ruffled from lack of sleep; soft, brown eyes; slight creases in his forehead; lean posture, and delicate hands. The only thing that did look strange was the white lab coat, with two biros sticking up from the pocket at the chest. But at least he was here, with her... wherever ‘here’ was.

“Do you remember anything about the past few weeks?” he asked, his voice quiet. He stepped slowly towards the bed before hesitantly sitting down just by her feet.

Rose propped herself up, suddenly aware of the heart monitor standing beside her bed. It had seemed so natural, the low ‘beep’ that echoed around the room, but now she had noticed it it seemed loud and obnoxious. She winced.

The Doctor sat patiently waiting at the end of her bed, looking at her gently.

“I don’t... know,” she said, at last. This was the truth.

“Well,” he consulted his clipboard, “what’s the last thing you remember?”

“Walking up that hill. In... Elusion, yeah. I was looking at this weird statue, and then... I dunno. It all went a bit... strange.”

He laughed, bitterly, and shook his head. “No, Rose, that’s not what I mean. What’s the last thing you remember... from here.” He pressed down on the bed gently with his hand.

Rose blinked at him. “I... Nothing. One minute I’m on Elusion, the next I’m waking up here with Mum going all freaky. Doctor,” she leaned forward conspiratorially, fear beginning to flit in her voice, “why’s my mum here? Are we at home, or what?” She sat up again, and her eyes widened. “Oh, my god - I don’t have amnesia, do I? Why am I in hospital? Where’s the TARDIS? And why are you Scottish?” She felt agitation rise: something in his expression wasn’t right. It worried her.

“Rose, calm down,” the Doctor said firmly, but she continued to talk, thoughts and ideas spilling from her mouth before she could really think of them.

“Is this a cover up? Is that what this is? Is there something... I dunno, alien going on? And we’re under cover, yeah? Only...” She frowned to herself, thinking. “Only... something went wrong, yeah. Something muddled my memory. That’s it, isn’t it?”

“Maybe you should relax.” He got to his feet and approached her bedside table. “Have some water?”

Rose watched him warily. Why wasn’t he talking to her? What wasn’t he telling her? She watched as he poured out two glasses of the clear water, then offered one to her. She took it, looking up into his eyes. There was something defeated lurking in them, like a monster hiding under a bed.

“You really don’t remember, do you,” he sighed. Rose shook her head, and he sat down in a chair by the wall. He leaned forward, resting his elbows just behind his knees, and stared at her, his face hard. Rose, feeling uncomfortable under his gaze, wriggled slightly and looked down to the thin bedsheets. “Do you remember why you’re here?”

“I told you, no. Last thing I remember was Elusion.”

“Elusion, Elusion - you’ve mentioned it before, in your slightly more lucid moments. I’m guessing it’s somewhere your mind made up for you, but - ”

“What?” She looked at him, and frowned. “What d’you mean ‘my mind’? You were there, Doctor. I mean, I know you said the place was strange, but... it was real all right. You must remember! Unless...” Unless he had lost his memory, too. The idea worried Rose, and she settled back into silence. Panic gnawed at her heart. What if something had scrambled her brain, and the Doctor’s, so they couldn’t remember the same things?

“Rose,” he began calmly, and there was something weary in his voice, like he had done this hundreds of times before. “Rose, look at me.” She did, and saw only melancholy. “Do you remember anything... before the accident? Anything at all?”

“...Accident?”

He became frustrated, and got to his feet. “Accident, Rose, yes!” He threw a hand carelessly into the air. “The reason why you’re here in the first place. You’ve spoken about it before; mumbled about it. But you can’t remember now?”

She tried to draw herself further into the covers, into the warmth they offered. “I don’t remember anything about an accident,” she said quietly.

The Doctor, after looking at her for a moment, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He then sat down again, and nodded, slipping his chin in the crux of his fingers and thumbs..

“Okay. Well. You were in an accident, Rose. A car accident. About two years ago. You and your fiancée - ”

“Fiancée?” she asked with shock, images of Mickey instantly springing, unbidden, into her mind.

“You and your fiancée were in the car, on the motorway. Some idiot was driving up it the wrong way - collided head on with you. He died. You and your fiancée were badly wounded - lost a lot of blood, between you. You - and he - have been here ever since. There was extensive brain damage to both of you. About a year ago, you started responding to our tests. There was minimal brain activity, but at least it was something. We’ve been heavily monitoring you, keeping you on life support and noting down your responses to different sorts of tests. We hoped that you would... recover. But, really, Rose. This is a miracle.” He smiled at her warmly, and it was golden. “It truly is. A few weeks ago, you woke up. Only for a couple of minutes, but you were there, conscious. You called for me, but by the time I got there, you’d slipped away again. But then... I knew it was only a matter of time. We all just had to have faith, in you and your - ”

“I’ve heard enough,” Rose interrupted, anger flashing through her body like electricity. “I don’t know what the hell is going on, but something’s... messing with us, Doctor. It’s making us think and remember different things.”

“Rose, please, just listen - ”

“No, you listen,” she snapped, tugging at the wires attached to her body. “I don’t need this; I don’t need any of this. If I can get out of here, I can figure out what’s going on and what’s, I dunno, hypnotised you. Wouldn’t be surprised if I was still on Elusion. You told me that place messed up your mind; for all I know, you’re not even the Doctor.”

“Rose!” His voice was loud, violent, and quietened her into fear once again. He’d risen to his feet and his torso was shaking with heavy breaths. Eventually he calmed, and looked at the floor. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled. “It’s just...” When he looked up again, his eyes were brimming with tears. Rose felt something unpleasant tighten in her stomach at seeing him so distraught. “It’s been two years, Rose. Two years, I’ve waited... and, now...”

He came towards the bed and, slowly, knelt at her side. He reached for her hand and clasped it between his. It seemed so small, clamped between his large palms. He looked up, and when he blinked, tears splashed down onto his cheeks. Instinctively, Rose reached out and wiped them away. Closing his eyes, he leant into her palm as though it were a touch he had been craving for decades.

Then, surprisingly, he kissed her palm. Gently, just once, but Rose felt her heart jump. She withdrew her hand and looked at him questioningly. He let out a heavy breath, and his shoulders sagged.

“I’m sorry,” he said again, laughing with grief. He released her hand from his. “I shouldn’t have... I’ve just... It’s been lonely, without you, in here.” He tapped his head. “I’ve missed you.”

“Doctor...”

He frowned. “Do you have to call me that?” he asked, his tone slightly clipped. He made to stand up. “It sounds so... clinical. I’m more to you than that. Aren’t I?” She blinked at him, and something she recognised as realisation spread over his face. “Or is that all I am to you? Just another doctor?”

“I...” She fumbled for words she didn’t have. What could she say? She had never known him by any other name.

He closed his eyes and breathed out through his nose. “John,” he told her, bowing his head as though in sin. “My name is John Smith. And you really don’t remember... anything, do you?”

Rose’s mind instantly kicked into action. John Smith. Surely that must mean that whatever had fiddled with his brain hadn’t done a good job? John Smith was his alias, the name she would recognise anywhere. Which meant that he was still him, on the inside. Just a bit... different.

“I’ve been your friend for years,” he recollected sadly. “They thought I shouldn’t be put on your case because we know each other personally. But I begged for it; I thought that, maybe if you had someone you knew working on you and helping you, it would make you recover quickly. And now... you are. But you don’t remember.” He brought his head up and looked at her with honesty. “You don’t remember any of it.”

“I wish I could,” Rose whispered, feeling her own tears in her throat once again. Then, she shook her head, and with it, those thoughts away. “No,” she countered. “Something weird is going on. I remember you, Doctor. I remember everything we’ve been through. All the adventures we’ve had - ”

He laughed, bitterly, and cut her off. “I’m talking about the real world, Rose. The world you can see, and smell, and touch.”

“So am I!” she retorted. “Look, if I really am a coma patient, how comes I’m okay now, hmm? How come I’m... I dunno, coherent, or whatever?”

“But you’re not! You’re off rambling about some place to do with illusions and time travel!”

Rose frowned. “I never said anything about time travel.”

“Not this time, no,” the Doctor agreed, sighing and running a hand through his hair. “But you’ve been awake about a dozen times over the past few weeks. You’ve spoken about things, briefly. Mumbled words. Elusion. TARDIS. And ‘doctor’, always ‘doctor’. You cry that word like a mantra, sometimes.” His face fell. “I always thought it was you reaching out to this world, calling for me. But it wasn’t. Was it?”

For a reason she couldn’t explain, Rose felt guilty. She looked down to the covers again, and fiddled with them. “It was... Well, yeah, it was you. Course I was calling for you. Who else would I call for?”

Suddenly, he was close to her, his gaze intense as he studied her. “What’s going on in that head, hmm?”

“Doctor.” She levelled with him. He raised his eyebrows. “Something weird is going on. If we can just get out of here and back to the TARDIS, we - ”

“And just what on Earth is a TARDIS, anyway?” he asked, straightening once again. He was no less manic now, Rose was happy to note. “You keep bringing it up.”

“Not ‘it’. She,” Rose corrected before she could stop herself.

The Doctor blinked down at her. “Okay... ‘She’, then. Who is she?”

“I’m getting out of here.”

If the Doctor couldn’t help her - which he certainly did not seem to be able to do in his state - she would just have to do it on her own. She must still have the TARDIS key, somewhere. And if they were still on Elusion, then she’d have to figure out some way to communicate with the ship, maybe bring them both back on board.

Rose flung the covers to one side, which took surprising effort, and slid her legs over the bed to the floor.

“What are you doing?” the Doctor asked, shocked. “Rose, that’s really not - ”

She was about to protest, but as soon as her feet touched the floor and she put any weight on them to stand, she almost tumbled to the floor. Had the Doctor not rushed forward to catch her, it wouldn’t have been long before she’d been lying on the cold, grey tiles.

Gently, he helped her back into bed and slipped the covers back across her.

“You’ll have to take it easy,” he said seriously, looking at her out of the corner of his eye. She watched him intently.

“Why can’t I walk, Doctor?”

When he met her gaze, there was sympathy in his eyes. “I told you.” He brushed some loose hair from her face as he perched on the side of the bed. “You’ve been in a coma for two years. These,” he patted her legs tenderly, “aren’t used to being used. They’ll be fine if you practice at it, they’re just a bit weak.”

Unbidden, she felt the tears rise. This was like a nightmare that wouldn’t go away. “Doctor,” she pleaded, grabbing his wrist tightly. “I’m not in a coma. I’ve never been in a coma. You and me, we’re gonna escape from here. Something’s messing with us.”

“No, Rose.” He shook his head. “I dare say you’ve been living in your own world for a long, long time. It probably feels real to you even as you lie here talking to me. But,” he took her hand and gazed into her eyes, “this is real. Right here, right now.”

She closed her eyes and laid her head back against the wall. Tears burned behind her lids, but she swore to herself she wouldn’t let them fall.

“You’re lying,” she uttered, almost silently. “This isn’t... What happened to my Doctor?” She opened her eyes, but saw only a blurred figure through her tears. His hand tightened on hers. “Where’s he gone?”

He didn’t seem to have an answer. Eventually he slipped his hand out of hers and stood.

“I’ll get your mother,” he said quietly, almost regretfully. “After all this time, she’d probably like to see you.”

Rose didn’t respond. What could she say? So she just lay there, in silence, and listened to footsteps in the corridor outside.

End this Part
<-- |
| Prologue | I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII |