Reign of the World

Chapter 21

Rose had time to get one good breath in before the Doctor pulled her under the water with him.  She immediately berated herself for not getting her wits about her sooner.  If she had they could've swam out of the way instead of having to go straight down. 

The Doctor was motioning for her to swim to the side anyway, and without a second glance at the others, Rose followed him.  She wondered if his coat was pulling him down at all.  Although, with his respiratory bypass, that might not be a problem.  He could probably stay underwater for days, if he so desired.

He turned over his shoulder every so often to make sure she was following, then looked up to see the ship almost bearing down on them.  He turned swiftly and grabbed Rose by her shoulders and shot down in the water, pulling her with him.

She really didn't have time to wonder how he'd gotten them so far down so fast because she was starting to run out of air.  She touched the Doctor's cheek to get his attention and laid a hand over her chest. 

He raised his eyebrows and nodded.  Then he sealed his mouth over hers. 

At first she had no idea how kissing was going to help in this situation until she realized he was using his big Time Lord lungs to breathe air into hers.  He apparently could process carbon dioxide, if this was any indication of it. 

The ship fell fully into the water, and bubbles surrounded them as it plunged deeper, pushing the Doctor and Rose down along with it.  Rose felt fear start to seep into her veins and fisted her hand in the Doctor's coat.  He stroked her cheek reassuringly with his thumb and gave her more breath.

The chaos surrounding them was almost lost on them as they held onto each other under the ocean.  Luckily, they'd gotten out of the way, the ship just grazed Rose's back as it continued its descent, and the Doctor tapped her cheek, letting her know he was going to pull away.

They backed off from each other and stared down into the abyss, where the ship and the Daleks who had been occupying it were floating downwards in the water, deactivated or dead, she wasn't sure.  She shivered, and at that, the Doctor started to help her pull up to the surface.

With both of them holding onto each other and kicking, they made it to the surface easily, and Rose gasped for breath as she clutched at the Doctor's shoulders and started to tread water.

The Doctor looked around them and nodded his chin towards the shore.  It was about forty meters away.  "Can you make it?" He asked.

Rose nodded, though she felt less than sure.  "I'm gonna have to."

He pressed a kiss to her forehead and together they started swimming towards the shore.  The survivors of the shipwreck stood on the beach, shock etched in all their faces.  Then they saw the Doctor and Rose and started cheering, knowing that it had to be that completely mental couple that destroyed the ship and obviously saved them all.

Two men dove headfirst into the sea and paddled out to meet them, helping them to the shore.  Rose kept an eye on the Doctor, wanting to make sure he was okay.  His head lolled forward and it was obvious he was more tired than he had been letting on. 

Rose focused on kicking her feet and the arm around her waist as they were both pulled to shore.  When they got to the beach the only thing Rose could do was lay in the damp sand and catch her breath, with the Doctor right next to her.

"Are you okay?" he asked breathlessly, turning his head to look at her.  She knew if he had his way he'd already be examining her with the sonic, but then were both too exhausted to do anything of the sort. 

She nodded, unable to form words, and she watched as the two men who had pulled them from the water had spotted Mr. Kelly and Tiffany and swam out after them.

"I'm going to send out a sound flare from the sonic," the Doctor panted, sitting up slowly.  "We've got to get out of here."

He pulled the sonic out of his coat and adjusted the settings on it.  He explained in a loud, tired voice what he was about to do to the rest of the survivors, which they cheered him on for.  He held the tool up in the air and pressed the button, the buzz filling the air. 

"That will alert everyone with in a fifty mile radius," he said, and collapsed back down next to Rose on the sand.

They both would've been very content to sleep for days there, having the adrenaline washed out of them and being chilled to the bone, but a couple people insisted they at least take some of their clothes off and get near a fire.

As it turned out, big, burly man had built a shelter that was circular with a fire pit built in the middle.  The Doctor and Rose were helped out of their over layers, and Rose shimmied out of her jeans since she still had her sleep shorts on from the boat.  The Doctor was left in just his trousers and undershirt, and they could barely stand two seconds without curling up together.  The water was really just too cold.

An older, attentive woman started up the fire, felt Rose's forehead, told them to lie down, felt Rose's forehead, thanked them for everything they had obviously done, felt the Doctor's forehead, and then Rose's once more for good measure before giving them some of the fruit they had found and leaving them alone.

Rose looked suspiciously at the fruit.  "Is this safe for me to eat?"  She asked.

"Yes, completely, one hundred percent safe," he assured her, "Come on, you must be starving, and I'd like to get some sleep before we're rescued."

Mr. Kelly and Tiffany's shivering selves were brought up next, with the same attentive woman fawning over them and helping them.  Tiffany only managed a few bites of the fruit before falling asleep, but Mr. Kelly seemed a tad more coherent.  That was probably the shock.

"You were right, Doctor Smith," he said quietly, "We should've stayed behind."

"It's alright," The Doctor assured him.  And nothing more was said.

After they'd finished eating, the Doctor and Rose fell asleep curled around each other and waiting for help to arrive.