Chapter Text
You haven’t gotten out of bed in days. Well, that’s not entirely true. Trips to the bathroom and foraging for food in near-empty cupboards counts as getting up, doesn’t it? Either way, your days are filled with scrolling, staring at the wall, or napping. You think no one has noticed, especially since it is a period of down time for Team TARDIS. Yaz is with her parents, Ryan and Graham are off somewhere, and the Doctor is constantly making repairs to the ship. However, you would be wrong. The Doctor, for all her faults and idiosyncrasies, her quirks and aloofness, notices. Oh, she notices. And she is concerned.
It is another day of emptiness when a knock sounds at your door. You freeze. Maybe if you are as silent as possible, whoever it is will go away. After all, it isn’t the agreed upon time for the gang to meet back up again. You are as quiet as can be, even your breathing makes little noise.
“I know you’re in there,” comes the Doctor’s voice. “According to the TARDIS, she says you’re in bed. Will you let me in? I’ve brought biscuits! Homemade ones too.” Her voice is so cheerful that it’s hard to leave her standing out there in the corridor. Wrapping a blanket around yourself, you walk to the door, opening it to a grinning Doctor, who holds out a plate of assorted biscuits. She doesn’t even wait for you to say anything before waltzing in and depositing herself on your bed, cross-legged.
“Doctor, now really isn’t a good time,” you breathe out, taking to the space she left before closing the door.
“Well, I was just taking a break and thought I would check up on my favorite human.”
“I thought Yaz was your favorite human?” The tips of the Doctor’s ears turn a shade of pink.
“Never you mind that,” the Doctor mumbles. “I can have multiple favorite humans. Anyway, biscuit?” She offers up the plate of biscuits. You, however, are apprehensive, especially given the Doctor’s cooking skills.
“When you say homemade,” You begin.
“I took them out of the box and put them on the plate. See? Homemade.” She grins. You let out a sigh of relief.
“Again, now isn’t really a good time. I have, um, things to do.” You both gaze around at your rumpled bed, your dirty floor, your messy desk. Without missing a beat, the Doctor replies.
“I have things to do too, but you know, it’s always good to take breaks. You taught me that. Biscuit?” She repeats the offer more firmly this time. Fighting not to roll your eyes, you crawl back into bed, taking a biscuit from the plate. “It’s good to take breaks,” The Doctor echoes, “even if it’s from a break.” There’s a silence between you two, punctuated only by the crunching of sweet treats. “You have been in bed for five days. I counted.” You sigh, ready to defend yourself. You’re used to defending yourself when it comes to your depression. Writing it off as just being tired or resting, but somehow with the Doctor, you don’t want to do that. You’ve grown quite tired of it.
“I don’t feel well. I can’t focus on anything. Nothing seems interesting.”
“It seems like you're burnt out.”
“How can I be burnt out? I haven't been doing anything.”
“Emotionally burnt out. You care very much, I've seen it every time we go on an adventure. You have been doing everything you can to take care of others while also taking care of yourself. That takes work. About the same amount of work it takes to fix an old TARDIS. It takes a toll, and this is the toll. You can wallow as long as you don’t stay there. You said that to me once, I think, so now I'm saying it to you.” The Doctor crunches on another biscuit, sending crumbs all over the sheets.
“Hey, you're getting those everywhere,” you point out, wiping the small bits of biscuit off your bedding.
“I guess you'll have to change your sheets, then,” she grins before continuing her spiel. “Cross one thing off your list a day. It can be very small, so small, smaller than this, very minuscule, even. But you have to do it.”
“I can try.”
“Trying works. I try all the time. You know, there was this one time…,” The Doctor rambles on and on about some planet in another time, but has given you something to think on.