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It was a very dark and warm night, and the people in a small settlement were chattering happily, dancing to their melodies and feasting on foods they had found earlier in the forest. It was charming to know that so many years in the future there were still people who chose such a peaceful way of living, acceptant of nature. Even if it was on a different planet. It still looked similar to Earth.
The fireplace was crackling, and most of the beings here laughing. Still, there was one tent in which no sound could be heard save for a few grunts of pain every so often, getting muffled by the music outside. The town’s healer was preparing some stinking mixture from herbs, and her daughter brought some fresh water. The Doctor was lying relentlessly on the blanket in the middle of the tent, his brow sweaty and eyes squeezed tightly shut. He seemed to be unaware of his surroundings.
Donna wasn’t entirely sure how they ended up in this situation. They were just supposed to help the people find the source that poisoned their lakes and rivers. Instead, they were forced to fight a snake-like species, whom they had never seen before. They did win, but of course nothing was ever that simple while travelling with the Doctor, and somewhere in the middle of chaos that had ensued, an arrow shot his calf. The effects weren’t immediate, and he kept on telling her he was alright, that his biology made him more resistant to various substances.
Yet, he fainted somewhere in the middle of their way back, and Donna may have panicked. Fortunately, the villagers were grateful for their help and wanted to return the favour.
It was some kind of venom that spread all over the body, attacking the heart. Thank heavens the Doctor had two of them but still, it left him quite immobilised. Donna remembered his white but sweaty face, and that absent look in his eyes that honestly scared her. They got to the village shortly after he started mumbling something incomprehensive.
It had been hours since then, and his state did not get better despite the medicine he had been given. The fever refused to go down, and Donna worried for his health for the first time in ages. He always used to get out of different challenging situations with nothing more than a scratch (occasionally). Now he was in pain and she could see it very clearly. He kept on thrashing on the ground, fighting the help that they tried to give him, obviously not realising where he was. Every single groan and gasp of pain he let out broke Donna’s heart more and more, and she couldn’t help shedding a few tears.
“It’s going to be alright, Doctor,” she whispered her reassurances, hoping he could hear her in his descent into madness. “You’re going to be okay.”
He never replied, his head going left and right, hearing the voice but not seeing who was speaking. He was trembling like a leaf fighting against the strongest wind.
“Here,” Felucia, the healer, told her suddenly as she knelt down and handed her a bowl of some green liquid in it. It smelt awful. “It’s medicine. It will help him beat down the fever. I’ll hold his head and you make sure he drinks it all.”
She simply nodded, her hands shaking with nerves and fear for his well-being. She had never witnessed him battle anything like this. Most of the things didn’t affect him, that including all sort of venoms.
He whimpered when hands grabbed both sides of his face and held it up for Donna to press the antidote against his shaking lips. His teeth were clattering, and he didn’t open his eyes to see what was happening.
“Hush, Spaceman, drink this. It’ll help.” She was fairly certain he wasn’t listening but she continued to hold the medicine to his lips, carefully pouring it into his mouth, afraid he would start choking. He didn’t, he obeyed her with not many protests.
His erratic breathing calmed down a little, and he rested his head against the pillow when Felucia let go. Donna fixed the blanket to cover most of his upper body, sheltering him from cold. She didn’t even realise she’d been holding his hand. It was limp and sweaty in her tight grasp.
“Is he going to be okay?” she asked the healer quietly, her other hand caressing the messy hair on his head. It might have been her imagination or just wishful thinking, but he did seem to lean into the contact.
“Should be,” the black-haired woman with blueish skin replied with a nod. Donna wasn’t sure which species she was. The Doctor probably told her, but she wasn’t listening, too engaged in the beauty of the world. “He’s a Timelord. There’s a high chance he’ll survive the night. The first one is always the worst.”
“He jumped in to save me, you know?” she uttered, never looking away from him. He appeared to have fallen asleep, at last. The creases of pain disappeared from his white face slowly, which was probably a good sign. “Always risking his own life to rescue someone else, that stupid Marsian.”
Felucia smiled faintly at that and put a bowl filled with water her daughter had brought earlier next to them. Having grabbed a cloth, she let the cold liquid soak in and wiped the sweat away from his forehead. He flinched but did not react in any other way.
“You seem close.”
Donna smirked, her hand squeezing his.
“He’s my best friend. My only friend, I’m afraid. I’ve seen so many wonderful things thanks to him, and he’d better not die on me right now because I will be very, very upset. Besides, he’s my only lift home.”
“Where are you from?”
“Earth,” she answered like it wasn’t obvious and finally glanced at the woman. “London, to be more precise.”
Felucia didn’t say anything to it, too focused on keeping the wet cloth close to his skin. The silence spread around, and Donna could hardly hear the music and joyful people outside now. They were all celebrating the Doctor’s victory and even asked her to join as her friend wouldn’t want her to worry too much, but she refused. She couldn’t find it in herself to be cheerful while the Doctor was suffering. She wouldn’t leave him alone even for a second in case he was going to wake up.
“My job is done here,” the healer exclaimed calmly, throwing the cloth into the bowl and putting it away. “There isn’t much more I can do for him right now. He needs to beat his fever first. Are you going to stay here for the night? I’m sure we could find you some better accommodation. You, too, are our hero, after all.”
“Thank you, but I’d like to keep him company,” she smiled softly, trying not to sound too broken by all this. It was ridiculous, really, because of course the Doctor would be fine, he had been through worse. Yet, Donna couldn’t stop worrying. “I do appreciate your kind offer, though. Go join your people. You’ve already done more for us than we could ask you.”
She smiled with gratitude and it wasn’t long before Donna was left alone with her friend, who was finally sleeping peacefully. The fire kept on crackling quietly, giving warmth and light to the area, and she watched his face features that were contorted in pain just a few moments ago.
“Nice lot, those people,” she whispered. Perhaps he could hear her. Perhaps it would make him wake up faster. It was naïve to consider, but she had to try and besides, there was nothing better to do. “I really had a nice time, you know. That is, until you decided to be the hero again and took that arrow for me. How many times, Spaceman? I swear to God, I’m going to kill you myself one of these days.”
As expected, there was no answer, and Donna lifted her hand to rub her face. It was stupid to cry over something like this – he was going to get through it, it was more than certain. But the doubts gnawed at her, never leaving even for a second. She just hated seeing him in pain, especially if that pain had been meant for her. Though, she knew she would probably be dead now if that arrow had hit her. Yet, the thought of him suffering only to save her pointless being was agonising.
He shouldn’t have done this. He should have been jumping all around at the moment, talking nonsense and getting his round of applause for saving yet another planet. Not this, this wasn’t right. This was everything but right, in fact, and Donna was determined to give him a piece of mind when he finally woke up. If he woke up.
*
He did wake up, feeling groggy and quite sore all over. For a moment, he didn’t even know where he was, or what had happened. He remembered being in the forest and the snake-like creatures chasing after them. Donna was there, too, but the rest was a big blur of events.
He let out a quiet groan as he fought to open his eyes, and there was sudden commotion nearby. Briefly, he felt someone’s touch upon his palm, and he forced himself to focus on the blurry face above him. He felt extremely weak, and he figured it would be hard to talk. It was as if his energy had been stolen.
“Doctor?” a female voice asked, filled with relief and hope, and the touch on his hand became more apparent. The woman was holding it in a firm and yet careful grip, and he squinted at the red-haired silhouette.
“Donna?” he croaked, shocked at the awful sound of his voice. It was barely audible, and his throat was very sore. His head ached, too, and all his muscles felt like he didn’t have control over them. “What happened?”
He attempted to sit up, but the pain awoke once more, this time sharper, and hands gently pushed him back.
“Don’t you remember? You saved everyone and almost got killed. Again.”
He blinked the weariness away and swallowed thickly although it cost him a lot of strength to do so.
“That’s a hazard that comes with a job, I suppose.” He whispered and once the focus entirely came back to him, he took a proper glance at his friend’s face. She looked unharmed. There was concern in her compassionate eyes and fresh tear stains on her cheeks. “What’s this, were you crying?”
Donna was caught off guard by his question and a few beats of silence passed between them until she spoke again, rolling her eyes and grinning.
“Because of you? As if,” She huffed, making him smirk, as well. “I was worried how I’d get home.”
The Doctor tried to ignore the throbbing in his head, his rapid pulse and the trembling of his limbs, and gave her another smile. It was genuine although stained with pain he wasn’t able to completely shut down. Whatever got him was incredibly strong. Had it been venom? He was resistant to most of the poisons, what would be so powerful to break through his Timelord biology? He wasn’t in the state to ponder on this right now, but he made a mental note to look into this in the nearest future.
“Here,” Donna snapped him out of his consuming thoughts and grabbed a small wooden bowl filled with water. “Drink. Felucia said you’d need lots of hydration as long as the venom was still in your system.”
So it had been venom. It was good to know. He had to find out which one so this situation wouldn’t repeat. He didn’t want Donna to worry about his health and he definitely didn’t enjoy being looked after in this manner. It made him feel utterly helpless and vulnerable.
Still, he had no strength to argue at the moment so he obediently accepted the fact Donna lifted his head and pressed the water against his lips. The cool liquid was nice, soothed his burning insides and made him feel slightly more refreshed.
She touched his brow tenderly next, like a mother taking care of her sick child. He let her even if it was a bit humiliating.
“Have you slept at all?” he asked her suddenly, spotting the dark bags under her puffy eyes. She seemed exhausted, and he felt guilty. It was his fault. He should have been more careful.
“Not really,” she admitted, smiling to reassure him she was fine. “I’ll take some rest when we’re back in the TARDIS. Are you hungry? You should probably eat something.”
“No,” he croaked, shaking his head and wincing at the faint ache. He suspected he would vomit if given any food right now. This would be the most embarrassing thing he might ever do. “I’m just weary. And cold.”
“Nothing surprising – you still have a fever,” Donna claimed firmly, fixing the blanket he must have shaken off during the night. “Try to get some proper rest now. I’ll go tell Felucia you woke up.”
He forced himself to nod despite the general weakness in his limbs, and closed his eyes for a few seconds as Donna scrambled to her feet.
“Donna,” he called her quietly when she was almost out of the tent. She looked at him over her shoulder, and he smirked slightly. “Thank you.”
Not saying anything at first, she simply examined his face, his moisty eyes and sticky hair. He must have looked terrible, but she didn’t comment on it at all. Instead, she just smiled back at him, her face features softening as she whispered, “Anytime, Spaceman.”