Title: Deep Freeze
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Tenth Doctor/Ross Jenkins
Fandom: Doctor Who
Rating: PG-13
Table: 4, 50ficlets
Prompt: 31, Frozen
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my own imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the Tenth Doctor or Ross Jenkins, just borrowing them for a while. Please do not sue.

***

"Doctor! Wake up!" Ross pleaded, sliding his arms around the Time Lord's inert frame and pulling the other man into his lap. He pressed his lips against the Doctor's mouth, hoping and praying that he could breathe some life into his lover.

The Doctor was alive; he could feel the Time Lord's hearts beating under his palm. But he was so cold and pale that he almost seemed dead -- and despite all of his efforts, the young man didn't know how to restore his lover to consciousness.

They couldn't stay here for much longer, Ross told himself, looking around them at the frozen tundra. The Tardis wasn't far away -- just a little ways into the nearby woods. But he had to get the Doctor up and on his feet again to make their way to the ship.

He definitely couldn't carry the Time Lord; he might have the strength to do it, but in this kind of cold, he wasn't at all sure that he could get the two of them back to the ship before he was overcome by the freezing winter conditions.

All he had to do was wake the Doctor -- but at the moment, nothing seemed to be working, and he was becoming more and more desperate with each minute that passed. The Doctor was so cold and pale, almost as though he was a corpse.

"Doctor, you have to wake up," Ross whispered, cupping the Time Lord's face in his hands. "I don't know how to get us out of here, and I need your help. Please, love," he begged, pressing his lips against the Doctor's mouth.

If only he had some idea of what had happened to the Time Lord, maybe he could do something to fix it, to make his love come back to reality, Ross thought frantically. But he and the Doctor had become separated when a storm had blown up.

He'd thought that he wasn't going to find the Time Lord; he'd been lucky enough to take shelter in one of the small buildings that were scattered about the landscape, but it seemed that the other man hadn't been so lucky. He'd been caught in the storm.

The worst of it was that the Doctor had more than likely been looking for him, Ross thought, a sob rising in his throat. This was his fault. If the Doctor hadn't been wandering about in a dangerous storm in search of him, then the Time Lord wouldn't be in a state of frozen stasis.

"Doctor, please, please wake up," Ross whispered, resting his forehead against the other man's. "I can't do this alone. I need your help. I know that it's my fault you're like this, but please come out of it. I can't go on without you."

As though in answer to his whispered prayers, Ross was almost positive that he could feel movement in the Doctor's hands, a soft whisper from those slack lips. He stared into the Time Lord's face, but he couldn't see any proof that his lover was coming to.

If he sat here and stared long enough, would what he wanted to see actually happen? he asked himself. Or would they both simply freeze to death, here in this frozen wasteland where they should probably never have been in the first place?

"R-Ross?" The sound of the Doctor's voice made Ross gasp and look down at the man whose head was resting in his lap; his eyes widened when he realized that the Time Lord was awake, those dark eyes gazing up at him in consternation.

"Wh-what happened?" the Doctor asked, his voice weak. He sat up, shaking his head. "The last thing I remember is slipping on a patch of ice .... ah, I see!" he exclaimed with a laugh. "I must have hit my head when I fell, and passed out."

"Doctor, you're nearly frozen!" Ross told him, starting to get to his feet and holding out a hand to help the Time Lord up along with him. "We have to get back to the Tardis and get you warm. I know you're more equipped to withstand extreme cold than I am, but --"

"Yes, you're right, we have to get back to the ship," the Doctor interrupted him, getting to his feet and brushing the snow off of his trench coat. "But more for your sake than mine. If you're out here much longer, you'll catch your death of cold."

Ross nodded meekly, amazed that the Doctor could seem as though he might be dying of cold only a few minutes before, and now seem perfectly normal. But he could think about that later, he told himself. He was chilled to the bone.

He could explain all that had happened to the Doctor later, Ross thought as he and the Time Lord set off through the woods towards the Tardis. First, he wanted to get warm -- and feel thankful that he and the Doctor weren't still in this deep freeze.

***