Grace had never been so relieved in her life when the door slid open and she saw the Doctor standing there.
"Oh, my God, I don't think I've ever been so happy to see anyone!" she exclaimed, just about managing to stop herself hurtling forwards and throwing her arms around his neck. When he didn't speak she realised he was flanked by two soldiers and looking very, very serious. Her heart, which had lifted and been joyously soaring amongst the clouds, dropped straight back into her shoes. "What's the matter? What's happening?"
"You are free to go," one of the guards said in that strange sing-song manner the Gelphonians had. "You will leave the cell."
"Doctor?" Confused, Grace turned back to him; two minutes ago she'd been dolefully contemplating her fate, sure she was on death row and now this... "Doctor, what do they mean?"
"The charges against you have been dropped," he told her quietly. "Go back to the TARDIS and wait for me there."
"Wait for you... no! We'll leave together! They don't need you here any more - "
"The Doctor will remain," intoned the other guard. "His punishment is still to be carried out."
"His what?!" Grace wanted to scream; she wasn't stupid by a long chalk (she was a successful cardiologist for God's sake!) but she didn't understand any of this. "What punishment? What's he done? He helped you - "
"The Doctor has agreed to accept your punishment and suffer the consequences," the first guard announced.
"Under Gelphonian law the crime of one may be freely accepted by its mate," added the other. "As your mate the Doctor was willing to bear your sentence."
"He argued quite eloquently in your defence. The judges were convinced that you are a primitive life form with no understanding that what you did was wrong."
"I'm a what?" For a split second Grace was ready to chew her companion out for that description but she noticed the tiny shake of the head he gave and clammed up. His eyes were melancholy but his jaw was set, his head held high. "Oh, Doctor. Why did you do this?"
"Go back to the TARDIS," he said again, his voice amazingly level. "Lee is there already. I'll follow you as soon as I can."
"What will they do?" she asked. At no point during her imprisonment had she been told what might await her, whether it would be a telling-off or a fate worse than death. She hadn't even been allowed to attend her own trial on this insane world, and all for trying to help someone in need of urgent medical assistance. He didn't respond, so she tried again. "Doctor, what will they do?"
"Sentence is no concern of yours," the first guard declared. "You will leave the cell."
"Do as they say, Grace," the Doctor urged. "Just walk away and don't look back."
"No! I'm not leaving you!" She stepped towards him, arms outstretched; with a swift movement she almost didn't even see two blasters were pointed right at her heart. "Hey, am I not even allowed to give my 'mate' a goodbye hug?" she demanded, thinking fast. "It's...er... traditional in our culture."
The guards looked at each other. "Very well," the second one said. "You have one minute."
Grace didn't hesitate; she pulled the Doctor to her in a desperate embrace, feeling his arms slide around her waist. "What will they do to you?" she whispered in his ear.
"It doesn't matter. All that matters is your safety," he told her firmly.
"Bullshit," she retorted. "I might be safe but you're not! Let me stay with you!"
"Grace." He hadn't raised his voice but the sharp edge to his tone made her flinch. "Their patience won't last forever. I had to negotiate hard for them to extend the same courtesies to an off-worlder as they do to their own people so please don't throw all that effort away. If we waste too much of their time they may decide to make an example of us and execute us both. Do you want that?"
Suddenly Grace felt very small, and hopelessly out of her depth. All she'd wanted was to do her job and help someone in trouble and look where that had got her, where it had got them both. "No," she said softly. "No, of course I don't."
"Then walk away. They won't bother you; now I've taken the shame and responsibility for your crime you pretty much cease to exist for them. Just look after yourself, and Lee, until I get back, OK?"
"OK," she reluctantly agreed, and he gave her a fierce squeeze for a second before one of the guards announced that their time was up and he must let her go. They motioned for him to enter the cell she had just vacated, and she could barely make out the reassuring little smile he gave her before the door slid shut; it took her a moment to realise it was because her eyes were full of tears.
For one horrible moment Grace wondered if she'd ever see him again.
Just as the Doctor had said, no one paid Grace any attention as she made her way back through the streets of the city to where they'd left the TARDIS. People looked straight through her, or turned their heads away as she passed. Word gets round quickly here, she thought ruefully, I've been shunned. Eventually the familiar blue shape of the police box loomed out of the trees ahead of her and she broke into a stumbling run, realising only at the last moment that the Doctor had given his key to Lee and she didn't have anyone to give her a helpful bunk up to reach the one hidden above the sign. Collapsing against the door she banged on the nearest panel as loudly as she could, giving the wood a kick for good measure and immediately feeling guilty. "Sorry, old girl," she whispered, stroking the grain. "It's been a bad day. A really bad day."
Abruptly the door opened and she all but fell into the lobby, dragging herself back to her feet with the last of the energy that had seemed to be draining away ever since she left the Doctor behind in the prison. She made it through the doors to the console room and they shut behind her with a comforting boom; nothing would be getting inside after her. Her legs wobbled as she stumbled down the steps; glancing up she felt eyes on her and saw Lee standing by the console, his face creased in a worried frown.
"Where the hell have you been?" he demanded. "And where's the Doctor?"
"They let me go, thanks for asking," Grace snapped, and he flinched, briefly lowering his gaze. "The Doctor offered to take my place."
"He did what?!" Lee's eyes and mouth widened to comic proportions. "Then you mean - "
"I'll explain, or try to," she said wearily. "But first I need a stiff drink."
The Doctor not being much of a drinker it took some cajoling to persuade the food machine to make her a Scotch, but she managed it eventually.
She cleaned herself up some while Lee paced the console room in frustration, and, figuring she deserved comfort of some sort after all she'd been through, finally curled up in the big red and gold armchair on the edge of the library with her drink and a furry throw to fill him in on what had been happening over the past thirty-six hours. As she spoke his expression gradually turned from disbelief to anger to horror; his teeth and fists clenched but she knew that, no matter how mad they both were feeling, there was nothing they could do.
"He'll be OK, though, right?" he asked. "It's the Doctor; he's always OK."
"I don't know," Grace told him honestly. "He wouldn't say what he thought they might do and I have no idea what constitutes justice on this mixed up mud ball."
"We should get into the prison; break him out!"
"With what: just the two of us and no weapons?" He looked mutinous and she rested a hand on his arm. "I feel the same, Lee; I hated to have to leave him. But what can we do? We don't have an army, no one will support us; we can't even move the TARDIS."
Lee brightened. "How about the mayor? The Doctor helped him out; maybe he'll do the same in return."
"It was the mayor who approved my sentence," Grace said. "He won't help us now; it would be seen as overriding the whole legal system for an off-worlder and his ministers won't stand for that. However much we hate it, we're got no choice but to sit tight and wait for the Doctor to get back. Who knows: maybe they'll just let him off with a slap on the wrist."
Even as she spoke the words she knew it was a vain hope.
Lee was fast asleep on the sofa when the knock sounded on the TARDIS door and it took a few moments for Grace's brain to make the connection between the noise and the awaited return of their companion; she was on her feet and hurrying across to the console almost before she realised the fact. On the scanner the view from the exterior camera just showed her the top of the Doctor's curly head as he leaned against the door; she couldn't see any obvious marks on him but knew by now that alien cultures often had more subtle means of imparting their own favoured brand of 'justice'. Swiftly she threw the lever to let him in and was halfway across the room when he appeared at the top of the stairs, standing straight and tall but with a fading bruise across the right side of his face and a definite tremble in his hands.
"Oh, thank God," Grace breathed. "I was starting to think they'd never let you go."
He smiled, just slightly. "The miscreant – or rather her representative – has been punished, atonement has been made, so they released me. And also told me in no uncertain terms to get off their planet and never come back." On the surface his voice was as smooth and even as ever but she didn't miss its tiny wobble as he reached the end of the sentence. Something was obviously wrong.
"Such a nice people," she said dryly, adding before he could reply, "You're hurt; what did they do?"
"Really, Grace, I'm perfectly all right," the Doctor insisted, reluctant, as ever to submit himself to what he regarded as her 'fussing'. He walked with admirable control over to the console and started laying in new coordinates, sending the ship barrelling back into the vortex and away from Gelphon. As the sound of the ancient engines reverberated through the room and the familiar swirling blue-green beauty of the vortex rippled across the ceiling his pinched expression relaxed just a fraction and he breathed what must have been a heartsfelt sigh of relief. Grace could sympathise; she couldn't wait to get away either, but there were more important issues to deal with right now and she wasn't going to be flimflammed, not this time.
"Doctor," she said, using the no-nonsense tone that always used to work on interns and inexperienced nurses, "Where are you hurt?"
He waved a dismissive hand, a gesture that might have been more effective had not the hand in question been shaking. "It's nothing; they had no idea about my superior physiology."
"It doesn't look like nothing to me." Grace came up beside him and he jumped, as though he hadn't noticed her standing there. She lifted a hand to his face, gently touching the bruise with her fingertips and he flinched away; there was a cut just under his eye and the sclera was bloodshot. "Did they hit you?"
"More than once, actually." He caught hold of her fingers and moved them away. A shiver bolted up Grace's spine; his skin was even colder than usual, practically freezing. "There's no need to fuss; I just need a bit of a lie down, that's all."
She didn't believe him for a moment but she knew how to deal with incidents like this; for all his alien origins he was a man and she knew from long experience that men always hated to admit when they needed help. "OK," she told him, stepping back slightly. "Off you go, then; Lee and I will leave you in peace."
The Doctor's eyes widened in surprise that she was accepting defeat so easily before narrowing again suspiciously. "Really?"
"Really. You go have a nice nap." She gave him a bright smile. "I'll put the kettle on when you wake up."
"Thank you." Turning slightly he went to take a step, but stopped, blinking furiously. One hand flew out to the console for support, catching hold of the ledge with clumsy fingers. "Er... Grace?" he said in a very small voice, the little colour that had been left in his face leeching away as though someone had pulled a plug.
Grace was back at his side in a moment. "What is it?"
He made an effort to straighten up but failed miserably and as she watched his eyes began to lose focus. "I'm terribly sorry, but I think I'm going to collapse," he mumbled, and pitched forwards in a dead faint. Grace was only just quick enough to catch him before his head hit the parquet floor, and as she did she finally saw the blood that was pooling on the back of his coat, soaking into the velvet.
Grace yelled at Lee to wake him, and between them they managed to carry the Doctor to the TARDIS's infirmary, a room she'd so far only seen in passing and never had cause to enter.
They manoeuvred him out of his coat, waistcoat and shirt and laid him down on his stomach on one of the beds; Grace felt her own gut churn slightly as she beheld the wounds across his back: long welts that appeared to have been made by a lash of some sort. She glanced up to see Lee looking rather green and sent him over to the multitude of shiny white cupboards to search for cotton, antiseptic and bandages. For all his experience on the streets with the triads it was obvious he'd never seen injuries of this sort before, but then neither had she, not really. This kind of barbarity had no place in the modern world. Silently she thanked the Doctor for sparing her such a punishment and cursed him for being stupid enough to take it on himself.
"Those guys are complete sickos," Lee observed, holding the tray for her and averting his eyes as she bathed the wounds. Under her touch and the sting of the antiseptic the Doctor started and groaned; she gently rested a hand on his shoulder as he instinctively tried to sit up.
"It's OK; just lie still. I'm dealing with it," Grace told him, and could see him gritting his teeth as she continued with her work. "Some of these are going to need stitches; do you have needles and suture thread?"
He shook his head. "No need."
"Doctor, I don't care about your Gallifreyan healing powers; I'm the medic here and you're not going to talk me out of this," she warned. "Those wounds need stitching."
"No, no, no, that's not what I meant," he said hoarsely. With a grimace of pain he lifted himself up on one elbow and managed to point towards one of the cabinets. "Isoderm welder, top shelf."
"Lie back down; Lee can get it," Grace instructed, and a few moments later a rather baffled Lee was handing her an egg-shaped device with no apparent buttons or controls.
"What the heck does this do?" he asked, frowning.
"It knits torn flesh back together," the Doctor told him and Grace couldn't help but laugh despite the situation.
"Yeah, right," she said. "And I'm Mother Teresa."
The Doctor just gave her a look, his face tense, and she immediately wished she'd kept her mouth shut. This was no time to be facetious. "Grace, please."
"OK, OK, I'm sorry; that was unprofessional. How does it work?"
"Just wave it over my back. But no more than two passes, mind," he added as she moved the welder into position. "That should hopefully be enough."
Grace did as she was told. The first pass all but stopped the bleeding, and to her amazement before she'd finished the second the cuts were beginning to close. She'd seen the Doctor's incredible powers of recuperation more than once before but this... this was something else. The idea that future technology would be able to create something like this, would be able to heal almost instantly... in that moment she couldn't decide whether from her point of view it was a good or a bad thing. Centuries from now, would they even need doctors, people like her, any more?
She was still staring at the miracle in her hand when the Doctor pushed himself stiffly into a sitting position. He glanced around for his shirt and pulled a face when he saw the state of it, opting instead to wrap the blanket from the end of the bed around his shoulders; Grace caught it just in time, pulling it away to reveal his healing back. The wounds had all but closed up; what was left already scabbing over and drying out. She wondered whether she'd ever get used to seeing such serious injuries just disappear, her medical training constantly claxoning at her that, no matter what her eyes told her, it should not be happening. It could not be happening!
"Hold on," she said, grateful to be distracted by something practical she could do to help. "You need a dressing on those."
She knew he was rolling his eyes at her but ignored him, fetching gauze and tape from the supplies Lee had found earlier. The kid was standing around awkwardly, not quite sure what, if anything, he should be doing, and Grace took pity on him.
"Why don't you put the kettle on?" she suggested. "I think we could all use a hot drink."
Relieved, Lee went, having no doubt picked up on the tension that was building in the air. Grace took the gauze back to the Doctor and busied herself dressing what was left of his wounds. "You didn't have to send him away," he said quietly.
"Yes, I did," she replied, and he glanced at her over his shoulder, brows lifted in surprise. "I don't want him to be here when we start yelling at each other."
"Are we likely to be yelling at each other?"
"Probably. I definitely feel like yelling at you right now," Grace told him, snipping off a length of surgical tape. "Want to guess why?"
"I have a feeling you're going to tell me anyway," the Doctor said, flinching slightly as she gently pressed the tape to his skin. "You might as well get on with it."
"OK, I will." Pausing, she closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath before exclaiming, "What the hell did you think you were doing back there, putting yourself in deadly danger because of me? You nearly got yourself killed!"
"Grace, Grace, Grace - "
She shook her head. "Ohhh, no. Don't you dare 'Grace Grace Grace' me. You knew what was waiting for you but you didn't tell me, did you? Of course not; that would have been too easy. Instead you left me to drive myself mad wondering what those maniacs might do! Don't you think it might have been helpful to actually let me in on your plan?" He opened his mouth to object but she held up a hand, pacing away from the bed, her voice rising as the fear and frustration of the last few hours poured out. "Was a quick 'don't worry, Grace: they'll flog me but I'll drag myself back to the TARDIS and you can put me back together with a surgical magic wand' too much to ask? I have been worried sick about you, you insensitive alien bastard!"
She fairly screamed the last word at him and to his credit he had the decency to look contrite. Grace's heart was pounding, her blood rushing in her ears; tears of anger spiked behind her eyes and she turned away, wiping at them with the back of her hand. When she managed to speak once more it was in little more than a whisper:
"When that door separated us I thought I might have seen you for the last time and I just couldn't bear it."
The Doctor said nothing, but a few moments later she felt strong arms encircle her waist from behind and after a moment's resistance for form's sake leaned gratefully into the embrace. They stayed like that for a while, heads together, hands clasped, until eventually she felt his breath on her neck and he murmured, "I'm sorry, truly I am. But you see I couldn't tell you what would happen; it wasn't possible."
Grace bit her lip. "Couldn't, or wouldn't?"
"I couldn't tell you because I didn't know myself." She straightened slightly, twisting her head round to look at him and he nodded. "Sentence hadn't yet been passed; I had no idea what was facing me after that door closed."
"Oh, my God." Grace stared at him, hoping he was joking, but could find no trace of levity or guile in his expression. "You're serious."
"Absolutely. I agreed to take on your punishment, whatever the court decided upon."
"They could have done anything... they could have executed you!" she cried, horrified. "How could you agree to do that? How could you walk into the unknown and be so calm about it?"
The Doctor shrugged. "Because I didn't want you to be the one to make that step. It wasn't fair, or just, and you didn't deserve it."
"Neither did you! It's crazy, completely insane..." She trailed off, turning in his arms until they were face to face. Gently she cupped his bruised cheek in her hand. "You were willing to sacrifice yourself... for me?"
"Of course." He said it with utter, quiet conviction, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world to do. "You're my friend, Grace. Why wouldn't I?"
"Oh, God..." With a sigh Grace rested her forehead against his. "I don't think I'm worthy of your friendship, Doctor."
"Allow me to be the judge of that," he retorted.
She laughed, shortly. "You really are a lunatic, aren't you?" she asked, not expecting an answer. "I guess I'll have to try to live up to your expectations."
He shook his head, curls tickling her temple. "Who says I have expectations? It's enough that you're here."
"Crazy man." She kissed his battered cheekbone. "Can we use that welder-thingy to fix up your face?"
"Not unless you want me one-eyed." The Doctor smiled, and then winced as it pulled on tender skin. "It'll heal up soon enough. I suppose I'd better make myself presentable and then we should join Lee; the kettle has probably boiled dry by now."
"True," Grace agreed, reluctantly letting him go. "One thing, though, Doctor."
He paused, gathering up his blood-stained clothes. "Oh, yes?"
"I don't ever want to be frightened like that again. Next time, even if you don't know the answer, tell me something, OK? Not having a clue what's going on scares the crap out of me."
"I can't promise anything," he hedged. "But I'll do my best."
"Good enough for now," she said, and took the hand he offered her. As they left the infirmary she added, "But as your 'mate', I just want you to know that if you don't I'll kill you myself, or at the very least make life extremely uncomfortable for you.
"And that is a promise."