Work Text:
“When was the last time you saw the Doctor?” Donna asked. Rose stopped what she was doing. When was the last time she’d seen him? The TARDIS was still there in the backyard, but she hadn’t seen him in a while.
“Four days?” she tried. That was, to say the least, concerning. Especially since the TARDIS hadn’t moved.
Her mother stared at her before letting out a very long, exasperated sigh. The sigh of someone who had suffered the Doctor’s antics for many a year. “Go check on him,” she said. “He’s probably moping about or being dramatic or… something.” She waved a dismissive hand.
“Okay,” she said, stepping out into the backyard. It was a cold and dismal day in early winter, the dark sky threatening to dump rain on her any second. “Doctor?” she called, knocking on the TARDIS door. No answer. She tried again. “Doctor?” The TARDIS door pushed open. Obviously he wasn’t going to get the door or the TARDIS wouldn’t have let her in.
The control room was empty. It was a bit eerie, the usually bright lights were dimmed, casting strange shadows about the room. She shuddered. Where the hell was her uncle? One of the hallways branching off from the control room was lit. Maybe the TARDIS was trying to tell her something.
“Doctor?” she called, crossing the control room. No response came except her own voice echoing off the walls. Was she in a horror movie? It certainly felt like it. She finally entered the hallway, watching how it spiraled into more doors and corridors. Where was she supposed to start? Luckily, her question was answered before she could think about giving up, as the TARDIS opened one of the many doors for her.
It looked like a bedroom. It seemed decently expensive, but mostly simple. Also it was huge. For a bedroom. There was a whole sitting area to the left of the bed for god’s sake. And the room even had another small corridor in it, which, upon inspection, appeared to lead to a bathroom. The most pressing matter, however, was the bed, which was piled high with several blankets and pillows, arranged in a circular lump. Almost like a nest.
She walked up to the bed and poked the blanket nest, because she was curious if it was solid or not. To her surprise, the blankets grunted. She poked them again. The blankets made a muffled noise that sounded rather like, “Quit that.” A third poke produced a “Go away.” A fourth poke produced the scowling face of the Doctor, who immediately brightened when he saw that it was her. “Hullo Rose,” he said, coughing. He sounded rather sickly.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“Nooo,” he groaned, his voice hoarse. “I appear to have contracted some kind of illness.” He coughed.
“…Do you have medicine?” she tried.
“No,” the lump responded. “Why did you turn the lights on? It’s too briiiight.”
“Sorry,” she said, going over to turn off the lights. He grunted, pulling the blankets back over his head. “Uncle?” She poked him.
“Mnnngh. Go away. Everything aches.”
“You need medicine.”
“Nooooo. I’m a Time Lord,” they stuck their hand out from under the blankets to wave it around dismissively. “It’ll—it’ll wear off. Suvside. Immune system good. Better than yours.”
“You’re not making sense.”
“I’m making perfect sense, Rose.”
“I-I’m getting mum.”
“No!” he said, his head popping up from under the blankets. “No, Donna’ll kill mee!” he flopped halfway out of the bed. “I’m gonna get lectured… something about how I need to take more care of myself…” He appeared to be falling asleep as he said so.
“You do need to take more care of yourself,” she said.
“Nuh uh,” he said, pulling himself back into the blankets. She stared at them. She couldn’t believe a several billion year old alien had just told her ‘nuh uh.’
“Nuh uh?” she asked.
“Go away,” they yawned.
“Yeah, I’m getting mum,” she said. She heard them let out a very pathetic, very resigned sigh.
A while later, she returned with Donna in tow. She poked the nest of blankets on the bed. It let out a very disgruntled noise and bunched up further. She poked it again.
“Go away, I’m fine,” it grumbled.
“You are not fine, mister,” Donna said, ripping the covers off. The Doctor groaned loudly. “Don’t give me that. Stop pretending you’re fine and take some medicine.”
“Don’t have any,” he muttered.
“That’s why I brought you some,” she hissed.
“Won’t work,” they said, trying to pull the blankets back over their head before Donna stopped them.
“Quit being stubborn and take the damn medicine.” He eyed her suspiciously, but apparently decided he’d rather take a couple pills than get his ass beat by Donna. “There, was that so hard?” she asked. He looked consigned to his fate. “Now, just stay there and I’ll bring you some lovely soup.”
She walked away, leaving just him and Rose. “I’m blaming you for this, by the way,” they said, shooting a look at her before retreating back into their blankets.
“Happy to be blamed, you sick idiot,” she replied. They grunted.