Active Sick Day (Doctor Who, Sixth Doctor)

[DaylightStarr]

Title: Active Sick Day

Fandom: Doctor Who, Sixth Doctor

Disclaimer: So not mine. I’m making no money from this.

Summary: The Doctor has promised Peri a nice, relaxing day at a health spa to help clear up her cold. When has anything gone according to plan as far as the Doctor goes? Especially this Doctor?

A/N: I’ve fallen in love with the Sixth Doctor and Peri. So much so that I’ve written a first… a female coldfic! I’ve never written one before (although I have written a few female allergy fics) so I’m rather nervous. *Bites nails* I hope you enjoy it.

DWDWDW

“Doctor, do you even kd’ow where we’re going adybore?” Peri’s voice was not only incredibly stuffy but plaintive as well. “I was probised a health spa resort with eucalyptus saudas ad… add all those other thidgs you talked about. All I see right dow is raid, wet forest and bore raid. Ad it’s so cold… Hek-isshhuu! Heh-kiisshh! K’isshhuu! He’kishh-cchhuu!” After the fit had ended, Peri sniffled miserably and pushed her hair out of her eyes. She’d run out of tissues about a half mile back and had been sniffling ever since.

The Doctor stopped, a sudden and rather uncalled for surge of sympathy for his ill companion rushing through him. However he quickly covered it up as he fished out the most garish handkerchief Peri had ever seen. “Here Peri, stop sniveling and blow your nose. We must be close now, we’ve been walking much longer than I remember last time. And I know I’ve landed in the right spot.”

“Oh, you always say that.” Peri took the handkerchief and blew her sore, red nose. A nose that was already raw from the head-cold she’d been nursing for the last four days. “I still dod’t see why you could’t take be to a place and tibe where they could get rid of this cold for be.”

“I told you why before and you know how much I hate to repeat myself.” The Doctor put his hands in his pockets and looked around the rainforest thoughtfully, still trying to figure out where they were.

“Hubor be, will you? Baybe you were telli’g be whed I was coughi’g, sneezi’g or blowi’g by dose. You do ted to go od ad od regardless of who’s listedi’g to you.”

“Are you accusing me of prattling?” The Doctor tugged at his lapels and looked down at her with a pompous indignity.

“You always prattle.” Her voice was tired, the retort falling flat.

“Always and never are very final, very powerful words. Don’t use them lightly.” He waggled a finger and Peri in chastisement.

“Who said I was usi’g theb lightly?” She muttered, stuffing the loud handkerchief into the pocket of her shorts. “Heh-kisshhuu! Isshhuu! Hek’kisshh-chuu! Heh-Chhhuu!” She sneezed into her hands and wiped them surreptitiously her backside, hoping the Doctor wouldn’t see and chide her for putting the handkerchief away too quickly.

He didn’t seem to notice. “You just need a good cup of tea and a rest.”

“Which you’ve already probised and haved’t delivered yet.” She told him irritably. “And why dod’t you adswer by questiod?”

“I can’t take you to the future because the cures they have are not suited to someone who hasn’t been genetically enhanced, if you must know, again. Your physiology would reject it roundly and it would more than likely make you very, very ill, if not kill you. Happy?”

“Was that really so hard to tell be? So, what dow?” She turned away and cupped her hands over her nose and mouth, “Heh-k’iisshh-cchhuu! K’ishhuu!”. She sniffled and pulled out her handkerchief and blew her nose, wincing.

“Now we keep going and find that spa. I know it has to be around here somewhere.” He started to mutter to himself, seeming to forget that Peri was there at all. Not that that wasn’t unusual or anything, but she would have liked some sort of courtesy while she was feeling ill.

“Doctor, cad… do you bide if we just go back?” Peri wiped her nose on her dampening handkerchief. “Please.” She put it away, but had the unsettling feeling that she’d need it before too long.

“What? Go back? Why in the world do you want to do that? I thought you wanted to go to this spa, having people wait on you hand and foot until you feel quite better and all that. It’s just ahead… somewhere. I took Jamie here when he…”

“Doctor please, we’ll be out here all day if you…if...you...” Peri raised a finger in a “one second” gesture, “Heh...heh...HEH-ISHHUU! K’isshh! K’isshh-CHHUU!” Before she could dig out her now rather useless handkerchief the Doctor handed her a fresh one, just as obscenely colored as the last.

“Are you actually telling me that you want to just go back to the TARDIS and… I don’t know, take cold medicine and tea or something?” The look on his face told her exactly how he felt about something as mundane as that.

“That’s exactly what I’b telli’g you.” Peri agreed, bringing the cloth away from her face and crumpling it up in her hand. “I’b cold, sleepy and wadt to lie down.” She rubbed at her sore, itchy nose and sniffled, then shivered violently.

The Doctor opened his mouth to protest but closed it, seeing exactly how miserable his companion was, and he sighed deeply. “Very well, alright. Let’s get you back to the TARDIS all nice and cozy.” Grudgingly, the Doctor shrugged off his coat and put it around her shoulders.

“Ared’t you afraid you’ll catch cold too?” Peri pulled the coat tightly around herself.

“Me?” The Doctor looked down at her as if she asked something indecent of him. “Catch a human cold? Don’t be silly, Perpugilliam, I’m a Time Lord. And while you may look like a Time Lord I certainly cannot catch a virus from you.”

“Alright already, you dod’t have to be so sbug about it. It was just a questiod.” Shaking her head, she followed him down the path they’d walked down. “So, what will you do? You kd’ow while I’b like this?”

“Oh I don’t know, I’ll think of something. There’s always work to be done on the TARDIS after all.”

“Of course if you could keep it ruddi’g to start with you would’t deed to keep fixi’g it.” The jab against the TARDIS was only half hearted at best. Peri was too busy trying to keep up with the Doctor and trying not to sneeze, cough or do anything else that would hurt her already throbbing head.

“Here now, be nice about the poor Old Girl. She’s in better shape that you are at the moment.”

“Dot fair, the TARDIS cad’t catch colds.”

“You’d be surprised.” The Doctor muttered to himself, then looked around the rainforest.

“What does that bead? I’m dot in the bood for your riddles.” She sniffled and rubbed her nose with the Doctor’s handkerchief.

“Never mind, I’ll explain it to you when your addled brain can keep up better than it can now. Well, I mean…”

“Dot dow. You cad say what you want to be about by idtelligedce later but right dow I just… dever bide. Let’s just… do you kd’ow where you parked?”

“Of course I know that. What sort of imbecile do you take me for?”

“You know, you really don’t have to look at me so pointedly when you say ‘ib’becile’.” She muttered into her handkerchief before blowing her nose.

“I was just saying…” The Doctor stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked down the footpath. “I honestly think it’s around here somewhere. I was certain of it. The spa, not the TARDIS. The TARDIS is that way of course.” He pointed to the right end of a fork before looking back the way they came. “But…”

“Doctor!” Peri cut herself off, coughing deeply into her steepled hands. The Doctor could hear a mild congestion rattling in her lungs that he hadn’t heard before and it troubled him far more than he was willing to let on.

“Alright, back to the TARDIS with you now, no arguments my dear girl.” He waved her down the path with an imperious air.

She gaped at him, her mouth slightly open. “Who was argui’g? I said I wadted…”

“We’ll be standing out in the rain all day if you insist on bickering with me. Come along Peri.”

After blowing her nose one more time, she set off after him. “Ad you really, really kd’ow where you’re goi’g?”

“How many times do I have to tell you I certainly do? I just can’t think with all your interminable noise.” He raised an eyebrow as she started to sneeze, as if to prove his point. “Are you quite finished?”

“Yes.” Peri sighed heavily, not having the energy to drag up a witty comeback.

The Doctor heaved a sigh and took her hand, not unkindly. “We’re almost there, Peri, I promise you. Then you can go in and have a hot bath and take care of yourself.” He kept hold of her hand as he led her down the right fork of the footpath, grinning as the blue box loomed into view. “See, I told you I knew where we were going.” He glanced at her cheekily and pushed the door open, even standing aside to allow her to go first.

“I’ve dever beed so happy to see this hudk of judk before id by life.” Shrugging off the brilliantly colored coat, Peri handed it back to him before heading for her bathroom and a hot tub, ignoring the loud “hunk of junk!?” protest coming from the Doctor. She turned on the hot water, the TARDIS cooperating with her for once, and sank into a steamy tub filling with bubbles. She’d brought a magazine in with her and started to flip through it, sniffling as she did so.

After an hour or so, Peri finally got out of the tub and pulled on a long, white, low cut dress that served very well as a bathrobe. She wasn’t sure where it came from (it certainly wasn’t anything she had brought on board) but it fit her very well, looked nice and, above all, was extremely comfortable. Cinching the pink band around her waist she headed for the console room. “Heh’k’isshh! Heh-Kisshhuu! K’ishhuu! Hek’ishh-chhuu!” She sniffled, wiping her nose on a piece of toilet paper she’d remembered to grab.

“Finally.” The Doctor’s voice echoed down the hallway, greeting her before he actually came into view. “I thought you’d been drowned. I was about to go hunting for you. I fancied a cup of tea.”

“Yes Doctor.” Peri’s reply was despondent as she turned back to go to the kitchen to fix him his tea. She’d wanted one herself, but before he said anything she had decided that she didn’t want it badly enough to actually make it.

“Here, where do you think you’re going? I tell you I made tea and you leave. That hardly seems grateful now does it?”

“You bade tea?” She stepped into the room looking incredulous. Sure enough, he’d set up a small table and two chairs, such as a person would see on a patio, and on the table he had a good sized cast-iron pot simmering on a warmer with two cups set out. “I guess I dever figured you kd’ew how. At least, this you did’t kd’ow how.”

“This me? This me?! if you’re so much better at it why don’t you go right back in there and make it fresh, Miss Smarty-pants?” He tugged at his lapels and scowled down at her.

“Alright, alright, I’b sorry, I’b sure you fix terrific tea. Don’t get so melodramatic.” Settling down into the rather nice reclining patio chair, Peri poured out the tea for both of them and blew on hers, the steam tickling her sensitive nose. “Hek-isshh’chhuu! Hek-ishhh! He’kishh-chhuu!”

She grabbed a napkin and blew her nose into it before the Doctor plucked it out of her hand, replacing it with a calm blue handkerchief. “This right here is why your nose is so very red and sore, Peri.” He waved the balled up napkin toward her. “It was bad enough with you using those paper tissues of yours, but this is far worse.” He tossed the napkin into a small wastebin with disdain.

“Ad you kd’ow how disgusti’g I thidk these thidgs are.” She sighed heavily, refusing to tell him that he was right about them being softer on her nose, however.

“Yes, yes I know. Let’s just agree to differ then, shall we?” He sipped his tea, watching her with a keen eye. Her eyes were drooping, her cheeks were flushed and she was holding her cup between her hands as if they were cold. “Once you’ve finished your tea, I would suggest you return to your room for a nap. You look as if you could use it.”

“I’b dot a child; I dod’t deed to go take a nap.” She brought her tea to her lips and swallowed the hot liquid too quickly, burning her tongue.

“No, not a child at all. I’m only old enough to be your grandfather, several generations back.” He set down his drained cup and got to his feet. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m a busy man. This TARDIS isn’t going to repair her own navigational system, now is she?” He got up, stuffing his hands in his pockets, and sauntered to the center console. Peri couldn’t see what he was doing from her vantage point, but judging from the angry mutterings coming from the Doctor and the whirring protests the TARDIS gave in reply, she was pretty sure she didn’t want to know.

She would have gone to her room if she wasn’t so dead set on proving to the Doctor that she didn’t need to, but inspite of her earlier protests, she felt her eyes growing very heavy. The reclining chair was oddly comfortable and the tea had a soothing effect on her, even if it was rather overly sweet. Before long, Peri was dozing off, snoring lightly through a blocked nose.

The Doctor stopped his so-called “work” and returned to the table, then rested a cool hand on her warm forehead. He smiled to himself and tugged off his multicolored coat, draping it over her and pulling it up to her chin. “Sleep well, Perpugilliam.” Rising to his feet, the Doctor sat back down and poured himself another cup of tea. “Don’t suppose you’d mind lowering the lights, would you Old Girl? I think all repairs can wait until we’re all feeling better.” He grinned to himself and the lights dimmed obediently, and sipped his tea, kicking his feet back.

[silentdreamer789]

Never watched the sixth Doctor, but really enjoyed this

[cally]

Awwww, you did a great job with Peri. I could totally hear her voice!

[DaylightStarr]

Never watched the sixth Doctor, but really enjoyed this

Oh, well thank you for giving this a try! That makes me so happy that you liked it even if you didn't know the characters.

Awwww, you did a great job with Peri. I could totally hear her voice!

YAY!!!!! I am grinning like an idiot right now! I'm SO glad you could hear her voice! Thank you!