AN: Heartfelt thanks to everyone who took the time to read my story. Special thanks to narnian23, Son of Whitebeard and TiaKisu for going the extra step and reviewing. You guys rock!

"If you could touch the alien sand and hear the cries of strange birds and watch them wheel in another sky, would that satisfy you?"

For the longest second of his life, the Doctor found himself frozen, only coming back to himself when Chi'Ko'Ba let out a devastated cry. 'Rose!'

The avian girl was on her knees trying to help her, and the sounds of waning celebration around them abruptly shifted into one of panic and upset.

'Turn her on her side – and get the damned table out of the way!' the Doctor barked as he finally moved. With one hand he checked Rose's pulse while the other reached for the goblet.

He took a whiff and scowled.

There was no scent that a human would have been able to pick up, but with his senses he faintly identified the ethanol odour. Someone had laced her drink with undistilled yiwan, a compound which was about a hundred times more harmful to the human nervous system than its refined cousin.

'It's yiwan,' he told Chi'Ko'ba, who gasped in horror. The Doctor looked around, searching desperately for any nearby herbs or roots that might act as an antidote. As he did so, he perceived Tane off to one side, watching the events with something like triumph in his eyes.

When he noticed the Doctor's scrutiny, however, he arranged his face into an expression of innocence shock that didn't fit his persona.

'You!' he snapped. 'What've you done?!'

Tane raised his hands defensively. 'What are you talking about? I did nothing to the outsider.'

'Rose is human,' the Doctor growled. 'Certain substances on this planet can hurt her – in unrefined doses, perhaps even kill her! Now how much did you give her?'

The exact amount would decide the proper course of treatment, and whether he could manage it here or if he had to return to the TARDIS.

'You can't prove I did anything, outsider,' Tane sneered.

'If something happens to this girl, I won't rest until whoever's responsible is dealt with,' the Doctor told the avian man coldly. 'And I don't care who I go through to do that.'

They were words that many a desperate man had said before, but never with such unwavering conviction and the perceptible threat that the Doctor could manage. For a moment he felt like his seventh incarnation was taking hold, and the nameless one who had fought in the War. They were dangerous men, men who did not flinch at Machiavellian tactics no matter how base.

From the way Tane paled, he obviously saw that promise in the Doctor's eyes.

'How much did you give her?' he asked once more.

Tane swallowed, unable to turn away, and murmured, 'Three roots.'

A cacophony of disgusted and dismayed cries arose, but the Doctor barely perceived them. That amount of yiwan could act as quickly as rat poison in the human body, and that wasn't even touching on the neurological effects.

'I can't treat her here,' he told Chi'Ko'ba, shoving her away and picking up Rose's unconscious, barely breathing form. 'I can flush her system back on the TARDIS – we have to go –!'

'Out of the question!' Chi's mother insisted, appearing as if out of nowhere. 'She is our family now, we will care for her in our nest, as is custom in times of sickness.'

'You don't have the proper treatments here!' the Doctor snapped. 'Nothing that you could safely use on a human.'

'The gods will provide,' Chi's father insisted. 'She is no longer your concern, Doctor. Your guardianship has passed. Let us care for her properly.'

'Now you listen –!' the Doctor all-but snarled, not caring a whit for local traditions. The longer Rose was unconscious, the more debilitating the effect of the root.

'You will not interfere, Doctor – this is our custom,' the bride's mother insisted, and he sensed people surrounding him. 'If you flout our ways, you will be treated as hostile.'

Which would mean a trip down the tree in the quickest way. He needed to get Rose out of here. His eyes lingered on the sharpened cutlery that had been left on the table. It wasn't his preferred method of convincing people, but Rose was in trouble, and –

A loud, keening screech broke up the imminent tensions, and everyone stared around to see Chi'Ko'Ba standing in the middle of the crowd, grabbing on to Tane. For someone who had been so pursuant of her before, he was making a concerted effort to break away now.

'The poisoner is trying to escape! Stop him!' she insisted. 'I demand justice for my nest mate, as per the traditions!'

It was as if a bomb had exploded. The Velopssians exploded into sound and movement, excited and impassioned by the poisoning of Rose and Chi's declaration. No one seemed to know what to do at first – attend to the poisoned human, or go after her poisoner.

The tide changed as Tane freed himself, bolting away.

Velopssian dedication to justice ensured that the rest of the flock go after him. If the Doctor was lucky enough, he might just be able to…

In the midst of the turmoil, the Doctor saw Chi nod to him, and he realised she would make sure the distraction continued.

He beamed at her, knowing it would have to suffice as a thank you, and hauled Rose over his shoulder, legging it back to the TARDIS.

'Ta for a lovely day and congratulations on your nuptials! We'll send postcards!' he called to her as he ran. He knew it was only a matter of time before Rose's new in-laws and the rest of the flock came after him.

He didn't look back, too intent on getting to where the TARDIS was parked.

As he dodged through the uneven terrain of the branch, he forced himself to stay detached from the still seizing body of the girl in his arms. If he let himself get upset, it might slow him down and then he would lose her.

Still, as he periodically glanced down to check that she was still breathing, the grey colour of her skin and the slackness in her face made his stomach churn.

His memory flashed back to the look on her face at her first sight of the aliens on Platform One. He'd practically been able to hear her thoughts churning as her world view changed. It had been a breath-taking thing to behold.

He always loved that first taste of wonder that emanated from a new companion as they stepped into a whole new world. But Rose's made his hearts speed up and the smile on his face more genuine for the first time in ages.

Because of this, it had hit him all the more keenly when that sense of wonder and enjoyment in her had altered, and had been replaced by overwhelming uncertainty.

He should have expected it really, the surprise and slight xenophobia, but she had so far been taking everything so bloody well that he had been caught up short.

But she'd obviously gotten over that, in such a short time and then ended up in this mess –

His brow furrowed in resolve.

He would not let her go that easy. In four days, she had made his life worth living again. He'd be damned if he let her die before the universe got to see how brilliant Rose Tyler was.

· ΘΣ ·

Rose came to herself in a sterile white room, the clicks and beeps of machinery providing a counterpoint to her own heartbeat. A second later the Doctor's concerned face swam into view.

'All right, Rose?'

'… Doctor?'

There was a whirring and then an electric blue shine in her eyes.

'Pupil dilation's normal, heartbeat's good… what's the last thing you remember?'

That brought her up short.

'Um… gas zombies,' she murmured. It was harder than it should be to dredge up the memories. 'Charles Dickens?'

The Doctor's expression morphed into something resembling dismay. 'Ah.'

'"Ah"?' she repeated flatly. 'What's that supposed to mean?'

'Strong drink, that,' he remarked, looking sheepish.

'Drink? What are you talking about?' Rose wanted to know, pushing herself up on her elbows. The Doctor's lack of forthrightness was upsetting her. 'What happened?' She looked around the white room, noticing the machines and computers that wouldn't have been out of place in a medical drama. 'Why am I in the hospital?'

'You're not – you're in the TARDIS sickbay.'

'How big is this place exactly that you can fit a sickbay, and a three-storey wardrobe and…' she trailed off, something occurring to her. She glanced down at her jeans and hoodie. 'Hold on, where's my dress? Did you change me?'

'Don't be stupid, you changed yourself before our last stop,' the Doctor retorted, his ears tinged slightly pink.

'Our last stop?'

'Only, we've just been on a bit of an adventure,' he said dismissively. 'Stopped in to a wedding and you had one too many – don't worry, you didn't miss anything completely important.'

'What are you talking about? Of course I did!' Rose cried, furious with herself. In her short time with him, she had come to the immutable conclusion that anything that happened while travelling with the Doctor was important.

'If it makes you feel better, it sometimes happens,' the Doctor told her comfortingly. 'I don't know how many times I've gotten amnesia.'

'Oh, that's comforting!'

He snorted in amusement, and then to her surprise he looked away. From the general shiftiness of his body language, she got the sense that there was something he didn't want to say to her.

'Doctor? What's going on?'

'Nothing,' he told her quickly, and then followed that up with a hasty, 'Well, something –' He saw her expression, '– not having to do with travelling in the direct sense.'

'Meaning?'

'There was… we had a bit of a…'

The Doctor, who knew everything about everything, sounded like he didn't know how to get the words out.

'I'm still getting used to being around people again,' he finally said, uncomfortably, changing tactics. 'It's possible I was a bit… short with you about… events. The Gelth, specifically.' Rose raised her eyebrows, the memories of their most recent adventure – or so she'd thought – filtering back to her through a haze. 'You called me on it, and I…'

He trailed off with a shrug and crossed his arms defensively.

Confusion aside, she acknowledged that as the closest thing to an explanation or an apology that she was bound to get. Despite her dislike of being kept in the dark and her curiosity over whatever had happened before she woke up, she recognised that the Doctor was struggling with something.

Instinct told her not to make a big deal about it, and so she decided to let the matter lie.

This time.

Instead, she offered him a wry look. 'Well… I said we should make sure we suited before exploring the universe together.'

He raised an eyebrow at her, expression defensive. 'Does that mean you want me to take you home?'

'Nah, 'course not. Well, not permanently – I do want to grab some things from the flat, though.'

'Right, well, let's get it over with if we have to head back.'

She blinked. That had been almost too easy. 'What?'

He glanced over his shoulder at her with an expression like she had dribbled on her shirt. 'Weren't you listening? Back to your time.'

'You mean it?'

'Why wouldn't I? Come on, I can bring you back to the very next morning. Sunday, sixth of March, 2005, we'll get your things, then be off again, quick as you like.'

'Sounds good to me!' Rose laughed, and the frowned. 'Wait a minute… when I talked to Mum, she said it was Wednesday.'

'Did she?' the Doctor frowned. 'Hm – must be a glitch in the phone. I meant to sync it to your relative time.' He shrugged. 'Well, go grab it and I'll take a peek. Likely it reached out to a week in either direction.'

'So I might have called her before I even left?'

'Yup.'

'That's weird.'

'That's time travel.' They beamed at each other for a minute, and then the Doctor clapped his hands together. 'Well then, if you're back to the land of the living, let's get going. Planets to see, people to marry…'

Rose smiled as he bounded from the room, shaking her head at his manic energy.

Something about his words triggered something, and she frowned.

'Wait… who's getting married?'

But he had already dashed off.

By the time she wound her way out of the med bay and back to the control room, he was glaring at the console.

'Not the Powell Estate,' he confided with forced neutrality. 'Right planet this time, but a few years off.'

'Years?'

'Well… and a century,' he admitted, still studying the screen. Suddenly his expression cleared. 'Oh, but you won't want to miss this! C'mon!'

And before she could ask him any more questions, he had seized her hand and was dragging her from the TARDIS.

Hurrying to catch up with him as they burst through the doorway, she couldn't help but be sure she had made the right choice travelling with the Doctor.

Unbidden, the memory of that poor drunk at New Years' came to her mind, and she decided that he might have been on to something.

Maybe this will be a really good year after all.

To Be Continued in Kindred Spirits

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