Disclaimer: Only in my dreams.

A/N: Thank you to yaoilover6969, tenrosefanno.1, The Lonesome Rose, scifigeekgirl, Dengirl, Viper5336, sherlokiantreky, LoneAngel666, Lillibella for the reviews! And to all of you who favrited and subscribed last chapter! Its much appreciated :D! Gah! It's been forever since I last updated!XD Sorry, real life (exams) has been time consuming XP, not to mention my lack of muse lately... Anyway, I hope you enjoy the next chapter :)!

Chapter 9

"Well?" Rose asked, growing impatient as she watched him examine the results.

The Doctor swallowed heavily and ran a hand nervously through his hair, before turning to Rose. "Well, it's not a virus..."

"What do you mean it's not a virus?" Rose asked, arching her brows in confusion. "Isn't that what the sonic picked up when you scanned the dart?"

The Doctor started rubbing the back of his neck "Funnily enough, the dart has nothing to do with this-the virus it contained was out of my system before we arrived on the estate." He said, looking away a sheepishly.

"Doctor," Rose reached out and grabbed his arm, stilling its movements "if it's not the virus from the dart, then what is it?" she asked quietly. 'Rose had seen his expression when he examined the results; he wasn't getting away with the 'I'm always alright' façade, not this time'.

The Doctor let his arm drop, but seemed lost in thought "It's called Vathlure, it's similar to your lots bacteria, only it's slightly sentient, and it only effects telepaths..." he glanced around the med-bay, as if to take stock of what was there "That's why the only thing I could pick up with the sonic was minor damage to my immune system-it must have a much lower frequency to effect...' the Doctor began to mutter absently, before he noticed the glare Rose was giving him "…What?"

"Damage to your immune system?" Rose couldn't keep the hint of frustration from her voice "When did you discover this?"

"Um..." the Doctor tried to move his arm to rub the back of his neck again, seemingly out of an instinctive reflex for awkward situations, but Rose still had a firm grip on it. "Your Mum's flat" he swallowed "didn't I tell you about that?" he added nervously.

She decided to let it go, for now, in favor for the more pressing matters. "So the Saln'kierians are telepathic?"

The Doctor seemed relieved by the topic change "Nope." He said, popping the P

"So, we have a bacteria that can only infect telepaths, on a planet that has no telepaths and no form of space travel, which meannns?..." The Doctor looked at Rose expectantly .

"...That their must be someone down there that doesn't belong?" Rose offered uncertainly.

"Exactly!" The Doctor exclaimed, as he yanked his arm from Rose's grasp and began limping around the med-bay collecting various chemicals and vials as he went.

"And chances are that that someone or someones, are Coralites- a telepathic race from the same planet as the Vathlure." He let everything he just collected clatter onto an empty counter before he began searching his pockets for, what Rose assumed, were his glasses.

Rose fumbled in her hood-y pocket for a few moments before withdrawing the Doctors glasses, glad she had thought to bring them down with her. She walked over to the counter where the Doctor was still fumbling around in his pockets, and dangled them in front of his face "Looking for these?"

The Doctor looked up from his search, beaming when he saw what she was holding. He quickly took the glasses from her and put them on before he began measuring and mixing chemicals.

"Now where was I... Right! The Coralite have strict rules about interfering on planets with 'pre-space travel' life, so it's not likely they're down there on purpose. " The Doctor lit a burner and placed a beaker of chemicals on top, before spinning around to lean against the counter. " Probably crash landed, and are in need of some help, which is where we come in!" He gave Rose a dazzling smile before turning away and flicking off the burner. He reached out to his left and retrieved a hand towel, that Rose could've sworn wasn't there before, and used it to set the beaker on the counter to cool without burning his hands.

"But, what about the Valthlare? Rose asked, trying to keep him from dodging off the topic.

"Vathlure," he corrected her "and didn't I say?...No, I didn't, must've got a bit ahead of my self there…"

"Anyway" the Doctor said as he checked the beaker to see if it had cooled down "The elements needed to create an effective chemical repellent-can't use antibodies, it's a smi-sentient bacteria, would be far to good at fighting back- is located on Corala. But I can't land there without putting the TARDIS at risk." He paused when he saw the look Rose was giving him "The TARDIS is a telepathic life form, if I land her on a planet crawling with Vathlure there's a very good chance she would become infected." The Doctor explained patently.

"So… You think the Corralites stranded down on Saln'kier have what you need to make the chemical repellant?" Rose asked uncertainly.

The Doctor beamed, clearly pleased that Rose was keeping up with him "Exactly!... Well, not so much think so as know so." He said, rubbing his chin with one hand and absently picking the beaker up with the other. "They're a peaceful race, and dislike the thought of causing harm to other life forms - intentional or not – so they should, at the very least, have the raw materials needed to make it." The Doctor explained as he walked with the beaker, to a machine with a funnel attachment in the corner of the med-bay.

"But what if you keel over while were out there!" Rose burst out in frustration. "And don't you dare tell me that that's not likely to happen! In the eight hours we were at my Mum's you collapsed three times, two of which you wound up unconscious!"

"That would be what this is for." The Doctor said, indicating to the muddy green liquid swirling in the glass container, not seeming to notice Rose's anger "Honestly Rose, why did you think I was mixing all those chemicals?" he asked, raising an eyebrow as he regarded her.

Rose didn't know how to answer. To be honest, she had been to preoccupied by he worry over the Time Lord to pay attention to what he was doing. So she settled for the obvious question "What is it for?"

The Doctor shook gave an exaggerated sigh and shook his head, as he muttered something about how dense humans could be.

"It's a distraction for the Vathlure, should keep the bacteria busy for about ohh... five hours. More than enough time for us to find the Coralite, get the cure, and send them home!" He said, his optimism sounding forced.

His answer concerned Rose, usually that would be his cue to give a long, complicated speech about what it was and how it worked. And was it just her or had he gotten paler…

The Doctor gave Rose a tight smile before trying to pour the beakers contents down the funnel on the top of the machine, but his hands had began to shake, nearly dropping it in the process. Rose reached out and pressed her hands over his, just in time to keep the beaker slipping from his fingertips.

She looked up at him, he wasn't meeting her eyes, but she could see the lines of pain and exhaustion on his face. Why didn't he just tell her he was in pain, just let her help him when he clearly needed it?...

Once all of the liquid had been poured down the funnel and the beaker set aside, Rose reached out and gently laid her hand on the Doctors arm. "Doctor, if you don't get the cure in five hours, what's this thing gonna do to you?"

The Doctor gave Rose a reassuring smile "It's not going to come to that, so no need to dwell on it."

"Doctor, please." Rose pleaded, tightening her grip on his arm.

The Doctor's grin faded as his expression turned to one of guilt. "It will kill me." He said softly.'

"And you'll regenerate?" The Doctor didn't answer Rose's question, but the look on his face was answer enough. "Oh God."

The Doctor pulled Rose into a hug. "The Vathlure survive by feeding off the electrical currents in the brain which in itself, with the fractional amount they take, is neither fatal nor leaves any permanent damage, it's the byproduct they leave behind that's dangerous. It will block signals in my brain from reaching the rest of my body, causing most of my major organs to shut down, and stop my body from receiving the signal that initiates regeneration… If it gets that far, I won't be able to come back…" he said quietly, rubbing his thumb absently over Rose's shoulder. "But we have five hours Rose, before that happens, five hours, we can do that."

It sounded to Rose like he was trying to convince himself as much as her.

When the Doctor pulled back he gave her a small smile. "You ok?"

Rose looked him in the eyes "Are you?"

"Yea" the Doctor replied quietly.

Rose nodded "Than yes, I'm ok."

The Doctor smiled softly in acknowledgment.

"I'm going to go set the coordinates for Saln'kier, could you wait here for this to finish?" he asked, indicating to the machine behind him.

Rose nodded "Yea. Um, how do I know when it's done?"

"Don't worry, you'll know." The Doctor gave Rose one last reassuring smile before half running half limping out of the med-bay and down the corridor toward the console room.

Rose watched him until he was out of sight before turning and leaning heavily against the counter. When he smiled at her she could see it didn't reach his eyes, could tell he was still in quite a bit of pain. They had worked on tighter deadlines than this before, and with the sonic screwdriver to help them track the Coralite their biggest worry was avoiding the natives. It should be easy…

Maybe it was just because it was the Doctors life on the line this time, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something was going to go horribly wrong...

A 'blow horn' worthy "ding" echoed through the med-bay, making Rose nearly fall over snapped her from her thoughts 'why does he have that thing so loud?'. She turned to see four small glass jars sitting neatly in a tray below the machine the Doctor told her to watch.

Rose sighed, pushing thoughts of doom aside as she leaned down to pick them up, before turning and walking out the med-bay door.