Angst 13 “If you don’t hug me right now I think I might fall apart.
Donna sighs, staring blankly at her book.
She's in the TARDIS library, sitting in her usual loveseat next to the fire. She's been parked here for the better part of the afternoon, waiting for the Doctor to show himself. He doesn't always, of course, she's been travelling with him long enough to know that, long enough to know that sometimes she'll need to go get him- or even just lay down with him and keep him company, but this time she thought he might need his space.
She looks down at her watch.
It's been exactly twenty two hours and seventeen minutes since they left the Midnight Leisure Palace.
She sighs, again, even though she's fairly certain she's already done so about sixty million times since boarding the TARDIS yesterday afternoon. They'd stayed one more night in their room, only because it had been so late when the Doctors shuttle came in and he'd insisted he just wanted to rest, and packed their stuff to get back to their home sweet police box after a lengthy sleep. Of course, it wasn't lost on her that he'd slept longer than usual, or the hollow look in his eye as he'd wordlessly ambled to his room. She'd decided to give him some time to recuperate on his own, for the time being, but she knew she'd have to seek him out eventually, and if his door was locked, she'd tear it down.
She doesn't end up needing to go check on him, though, because before she even looks up from her book, she hears a quiet, wet, "Donna?" from the library entrance.
She snaps her head up, to see the Doctor, leaning on the door frame for support.
Oh gods.
He's shaking like a leaf, his wide eyes shiny and red-rimmed, peeking out from behind the door frame like some shy child, afraid of getting in trouble. "D-Donna-... I-I need-"
Donna doesn't even wait for him to finish, dropping her book and bolting to her friend.
"You need to sit down, is what you need!" She cries, tucking her arms under his, letting him lean on her before he topples clean over. She guides him back toward the chair, feeling guilty he had to drag himself all the way here from his room.
"I'm dying," the Doctor chokes out, "it's- it's coming for me-"
"No, come on, you know what this is," Donna says, trying her best to sound soothing as she sits him down, "You're just having a bit of an episode, that's all!"
She pauses to get a good look at him once she's got him sitting down- his face is sheet-white, his hair sticking out at odd angles, and he has a bit of a runny nose. He's wearing a big, comfy sweater that's usually reserved for when he isn't feeling his best, physically, and she notices one of his hands has worked its way into the opposite sleeve.
"None of that now," she says, pulling them apart.
"I feel like I'm gonna be sick.." the Doctor mumbles miserably.
"That's alright, I'll go get a pale-"
Just as Donna takes a step, the Doctor grabs her wrist, tightly holding onto her.
"Don't go," he pleads, "please don't leave me alone. If you don't hug me right now, I think-" his voice cracks, "I might fall apart!"
Donna doesn't hesitate to fulfill his request, immediately wrapping her arms as tightly around him as she can manage.
"You're alright, Spaceman," she says as he sobs into her shoulder, "you're safe, nothings coming to get you."
"It is, it is, it's here," the Doctor stutters, "I can feel it, it's in me-"
"And I'm telling you, it's not!" Donna pleads, "look, can't you talk? Can't you move?"
"No, you don't understand," says the Doctor, "it got in, it got in!... It's always gonna be there now."
Donna feels her heart drop into her stomach. She takes a deep breath, grips him tighter than she thought possible, and says,
"I know."
