When someone you admire and look up to gets hurt, it's easy to remember that not everyone is as bulletproof as they seem. Even if they have saved countless lives before.
"Maybe we should stop going back in time, at least until you figure out how to get to the right date," Rose suggested, closing the TARDIS door against the sound of clashing blades. She looked around, noting the absence of the two men she'd been travelling with. Of course they'd rushed past her in the ten seconds she'd held the door open.
Wherever the Doctor went, Jack followed. He felt almost like a lovesick fool (he looked the part, too) in the way he tagged along after him. But this time he was glad that he'd followed him.
One of the fighters, mistaking the darker-clothed Doctor for an enemy soldier, stabbed at his shoulder. More fighters followed, their blades slashing at the suddenly-vulnerable Time Lord.
"No! Don't kill him, he's not your enemy!" Jack shouted, throwing himself between his injured Doctor and the stabbing blades. Maybe his status of Captain shone through even in unfamiliar clothes, or maybe the soldiers trusted someone as unarmed as him. Whatever the case, they backed off and Jack lifted the Doctor from where he'd fallen. His leather jacket was shredded in places and in other places shining with blood. He lay limp in Jack's arms, a fact which worried the Captain.
As soon as the TARDIS came into sight, Jack slipped the Doctor's TARDIS key from the pocket where it was kept and quickly unlocked the door.
"He's hurt! What can I do to help?" Rose immediately discovered, walking to Jack and frowning at the poor, broken form in his arms.
"Do you know where he keeps the bandages and medical equipment?" Jack asked, shifting the heavy burden in his arms. "Man, he's heavy."
"Yeah, I'll go get it. You can fix him, right?" Rose chewed her bottom lip nervously.
"Course I can," Jack grinned. "It's not like I haven't bandaged someone's wounds before. Meet me at his bedroom." She nodded and ran off to find what he'd asked for while Jack headed for the Doctor's bedroom. He'd been here before a few times, sharing the man's bed.
As gently as he could, Jack laid the Doctor down on his bed and then removed his poor jacket. At the movement, the Doctor hissed in pain and opened his eyes.
"You're awake," Jack grinned. "You blacked out for a while there. I was worried."
"You try staying awake when you've been stabbed multiple times," the Doctor retorted, wincing as Jack prodded at his shoulder wound.
"Don't talk, just rest," Jack urged him, brushing the backs of his fingers against his pale cheek. Rose arrived at that moment, smiling in relief at seeing the Doctor awake.
"Doctor, you're awake," she smiled, setting down the basket of bandages and other medical equipment. "How are you feeling?"
"Like I've just been stabbed," the Doctor joked, but winced as he tried to laugh.
"Hey, you're not supposed to be talking," Jack reminded him, reaching for the medical scissors and beginning to cut off the dark shirt which was darker in places from blood. Somehow, that was only somewhat more reassuring than seeing the blood more obviously.
"So should I go?" Rose wondered, standing awkwardly to the side.
"What does the doctor say?" the Time Lord asked in response.
"I don't know, what do you say?"
"No, he's the doctor for now."
"Rose, if you can stand to hear me fussing over him, you can stay," Jack offered. Now she understood.
"Right, I'll just leave you two alone," she decided, her eyes twinkling with knowing. The two men shared a grin.
"You're hurt too," the Doctor soon discovered, seeing the purpling on Jack's blue coat.
"Just a scratch," Jack shrugged. In his worry over the Doctor, he didn't feel the pain anyway.
He couldn't decide whether it was a good or bad thing that the Doctor didn't have any wounds to tend to below his belt. Probably a good thing.
At last, with all the Doctor's wounds cleaned and bandaged, Jack could relax.
"Jack." He didn't hear his name being called the first time, too busy cleaning up the bloodied pads. But he came back to the present when he felt a touch on his injury. At that, he gave a short yelp of pain and glared at the hand touching him.
"What do you want? That hurt," he complained, looking at the smiling face of his Doctor.
"Thank you for looking after me," the Doctor smiled, and pulled Jack down to kiss him after trying and failing to sit up.
"You're just lucky I followed you out there," Jack reminded him. "You're not bulletproof or swordproof or whatever, no matter how much you act like it."
They kissed a few more times, Jack leaning heavily on his uninjured side, but finally his strength failed him and he ended up lying on his side beside the Doctor.
"You should really tend to your own wound now," the Doctor urged him. "It should only be my blood on this bed."
"Okay but you get some rest. And that's not a suggestion, that's an order," Jack grinned, and kissed him one more time before getting up and doing as his Doctor ordered.