CHAPTER SEVEN

The Doctor was almost asleep by the time his PSW pushed his wheelchair back into the room. He had spent most of the afternoon in the gardens with Grace, sleeping in the grass sometimes but usually walking and enjoying the feel of the sun on his face. When it was time for dinner, he was tired enough to not even fight with Grace about getting into the chair or being pushed back to his room.

He tiredly moved from the chair to the bed and eyed the covered tray on the table. "Hospital food," he muttered.

"Better than no food at all," came Jack Harkness' voice from behind him.

Grace was about to scold the man from Torchwood for startling the Doctor, but she was surprised by his hand on her arm and the amusement in the brown eyes. The Doctor had not been surprised nor startled, it was if he had known Jack was there. "I was wondering when I was going to see you," he simply said as he eased himself down into the bed, although the back of it was up so he was mostly sitting anyway.

"Yeah." Jack scratched the back of his head. "Well, with the uproar your collapse caused, I've been busy liaising between Torchwood and UNIT with Sir Alistair as a 'civilian' liaison for UNIT while I'm representing Torchwood. Civilian my ass. No one warned me he was the retired, and not very retired mind you, Brigidier-General Alistair Lethbridge-Steward of UNIT itself, responsible for its very inception... and your former co-worker and possible commanding officer while at UNIT. No, no, thanks for the warning and all... appreciate that."

By the end the Doctor was grinning. "Sorry... I had, ah... it slipped my mind considering all that happened on the Valiant and everything. Would have have told you otherwise. And then you went back too quickly. It just didn't come up again and I forgot. So, what's for dinner tonight?"

He lifted the lid and looked at the various dishes on the tray. If it was supposed to be food, they had failed. He sighed and looked at Grace. "You know perfectly well it's what you can handle."

"I thought I was on the mend..." he complained, half-heartedly.

"You are," she answered matter of factly. "But don't expect a sudden change to your usual... whatever it is..."

"Chips," answered Jack, looking around the room.

The Doctor sucked in his lips, almost in embarrassment as Grace looked from one to the other. "Chips? As in potato chips out the bag?" she asked.

"No, as in what you Americans call 'fries'," answered the Doctor. "Only more homemade, I suppose."

"Well, no wonder you had a heart attack if that's all you eat, skinny or not, your cholesterol must have been through the roof... maybe even the stratosphere. Especially given your lifestyle!" exclaimed Grace. "For the love of God, Doctor..."

The Doctor held up his hand to forestall any further ranting from Grace, which was increasing in volume and emotion the more she continued. He was also glaring at Jack for letting that little fact slip. "I haven't even eaten them in... oh... years now. Only with-" The Doctor swallowed suddenly, then took a bite of something and a sip of tea, and only sighed. "At least the tea is passable."

"With who?" asked Grace, puzzled but she saw Jack shaking his head and she let it drop.

For now.

"So, Doctor, any idea when he can go home?" asked Jack.

"I don't know," answered the Doctor.

"I was actually talking to your doctor, Doctor," Jack retorted, a note of teasing peevishness in his voice. "So?"

"Well, he is on the mend," she answered. "If he behaves..." She ignored the 'Who, me?' look from the Doctor. "... I imagine he will continue to recover at a incremental pace like he has been."

"And?" asked Jack.

Grace didn't answer.

"Yeah, I'd like to know the answer to that as well," came the Doctor's voice. "Considering this is me we're talking about here." Grace sat down and gave the Doctor a level stare. "I don't like the look of that."

"Yeah, maybe I'm going to step out for a minute here, let you two discuss something about the can of worms I think I just opened here," said Jack as he gave a half salute and did as he said he was. "Just going to find a cup of whatever passes for coffee..."

"Jack... don't, I already know I... damn..." the Doctor said, looking at his food, feeling his already shaky appetite slip away, although he sipped at his tea.

"What am I missing here?" asked Jack and he caught the look from Grace and the brood on the alien. "Oh shit. That bad, eh? But he will get out of here eventually, though, right? What about picking up some consultation work to keep busy? Can't be all that bad to live on Earth with friends, can it?"

The Doctor perked up a bit at this. "You have a point."

"Damn straight I do," said Jack, sitting down. "Are you going to eat that?"

"Should I eat it or did I already?" asked the Doctor critically, poking at the food on his place.

Grace threw her hands up in the air. "Oh, let's not start this again."


The TARDIS settled with a whisper, and then, with the same whisper, took the form of a plinth in the... the Time Lord looked around. Plas. It was called the Plas. He was in Cardiff. He looked around, then back to the hidden TARDIS which mimicked the other plinths in the Plas so perfectly it looked like it had always been there. With a satisfied nod, he stepped out completely and locked it. He tucked the key in an inside pocket, next to his own sonic device and walked around.

Moments later, he noticed a few people milling about the Plas that hadn't been there before, running around with technology. He watched them in amusement, then the amusement slid away when he overheard their conversation and realized he had been detected and that a Hub of something called Torchwood lay below his very feet. With a sigh, he faded back to a cafe and let his sensitive hearing fill in the blanks.

"What do you mean, you can't find anything?" came a voice over the speaker of the communication device, a woman by the sounds of it.

"Tosh, there is nothing here. And I mean nothing. Nothing is out of place, no aliens, no debris... not one thing..." said the well dressed man in the dark suit.

"Should we recall Jack and Owen?"

"No, if there's nothing to report, there's nothing to report. And he's not going to be happy with us if he's pulled away from that other alien's deathbed and he misses his chance to say good-bye to his friend," answered the man with a sigh as he put away the scanner. "And I wouldn't blame him."

The Time Lord quirked a brow. Alien hunting organization with one of their higher-ups a friend of an alien, who was on his deathbed. Interesting.

"Have you heard from Jack?" asked Tosh.

It wasn't as if their conversation was easy to overhear, they were speaking softly. It was just that his hearing was that sensitive and focused on them.

"He says the Doctor is doing better, but his traveling days are done. He's going to see if he'll live with consulting, if he recovers. As I said, the alien could very well be on his deathbed and wasn't doing well the last time Jack was in to see him," answered the other man as he walked back to where ever he had been.

The Time Lord felt his two hearts drop into his shoes as it suddenly slammed into place, choking on his coffee and spluttering as he did so. That had the effect of attracting the other man's attention as he walked by him, causing him to stop dead in his tracks and narrow his eyes at him. The human and the Gallifreyan stared at each other for a long time before the Time Lord took the man by his elbow and out of earshot. "Now, tell me young man... about this Doctor that is on his deathbed."

The other man's eyes thinned. "You didn't hear anything."

"But I did. You're looking for alien activity, are you not?" asked the Time Lord as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his key.

Unlike the keys to the Doctor's TARDIS, his looked Gallifreyan. The other man's eyes widened. "Come with me," he ordered tersely.

"Only because you've asked and I've volunteered the information, you understand," said the Time Lord. "Because, much as I loathe to admit it, I have a personal stake in the Doctor and his... he's... he's not is he?"

The other man had the grace to look at least semi-sympathetic at the sudden change in tone in the other man's voice, of the concern. "We don't know. But, last we heard he wasn't doing well at all."

"What happened to him?" asked the Time Lord softly.

"Heart attack, right-sided."

The Time Lord closed his eyes. Double damn. Not something a Time Lord could regenerate out of either. How well he knew it - it was... had been... a common cause of death on Gallifrey. "And his left?" asked the Time Lord.

The other man's eyes thinned. "How much do you know of this particular... alien's... physiology."

The Time Lord smiled. "It's my own physiology. The Doctor and I share the same home world, the same heritage. I am thinking that perhaps I can help."

The other man stopped dead in his tracks and stared at him. "You're a Time Lord?" he asked in shock.

"Indeed I am," answered the Time Lord, putting a hand to the centre of his own chest. "Forgive me, I am known as Irving Braxiatel, of the House of Lungbarrow and the Prydonian Chapter of the Council of Time Lords... when there was a Council of Time Lords."

For a long moment the other man was silent in shock, and then he held out his hand. Irving took it and shook it before they mutually dropped hands. "Ianto Jones, administrative manager of Torchwood Three. The other on the phone was Toshiko Sato, xeno-technology specialist. Normally there are three others - Jack Harkness who is our nominal Director and field supervisor, Gwen who is field support and investigative, and Dr. Owen Harper who is our xeno-medical expert, and paramedic when we need one. Gwen is here, you'll meet her in a few moments. Jack and Owen are with the Doctor as Owen was called there due to his specialty in the hopes of helping him."

This was given in a matter of fact, professional and even tone. Braxiatel wondered if he told the time in the same even tone, but he could respect that. Even like it. The cog wheel door cycled open and they walked in and Braxiatel looked around as he walked in, aware of the two women regarding him in barely restrained shock. "Ianto, what the hell...?" asked the Welshwoman, Gwen, he gathered.

"Short explanation, he is the disturbance you sent me to investigate," answered Ianto with a shrug. "And he found me after overhearing everything on our communication devices from across the Plas."

"Sir, could you explain?" asked Tosh.

"One, I'm not human and the disturbance wasn't me but my ship. It's called a TARDIS, by the way. Two, I have a name and it is Irving Braxiatel. Irving to friends, of which I have none that still live unless you count my brother... who is wherever your Jack Harkness and Owen Harper are. Speaking of which... now that I've cleared that up, where is my brother the Doctor and how would I go about seeing him myself?" asked Braxiatel.

For a long moment everyone was speechless. "Don't everyone talk at once," he supplied. "I'm thinking I might be able to help, if that's what you need."

"What? Yes, of course!" exclaimed Gwen. "Uh, I'll have to call Jack."

"You do that," said Braxiatel as he spotted a comfortable looking couch and walked up to it, then sat on it, one leg crossed over the other as he picked up a magazine... and then promptly discarded it with reddening ears at what he saw... and opted for the daily newspaper instead as safer reading material. "Meanwhile, could I bother you for a cup of tea?"


Jack stood silently, absolutely still as he listened to Gwen on the other end of the phone. Martha, Grace and Donna, as well as Owen and Harry, watched his face pale until it could have matched the white walls of the hospital. "And you're quite certain he stated that?" asked Jack finally.

There was a pause. "And that was his exact wording?"

Another pause. "What is he doing now?" asked Jack, then Jack grinned, although it was humourless. "Considering what he told you I'm not surprised by that... sounds like his... okay, I'm not believing his story until I can confirm it." There was another pause. "Yeah, I know that's going to be the only way to confirm it and he's going to go ballistic. Just nuts. He's not going to believe it either. Tell this... what did you say his name was again? Irving Braxiatel. Tell Mr. Braxiatel that, and I hope he understands this, that in the best interests of his brother's continued health... and we'd like to see it stay improving... that until I can confirm that he even had a brother named that, or went by that name that you cannot disclose his location. For his own safety. If this Braxiatel is truly the Doctor's brother." Jack openly scoffed. "Then he'll understand that. And ask to listen to his two hearts. While it won't confirm 'brotherhood' it will confirm he's at least a Time Lord... he showed you his what?"

Jack listened in silence, but the other five had gone slack mouthed and pale in shock at hearing at least Jack's side of the conversation. "Okay, that proves he's got his own TARDIS and can fly it at least. But it doesn't prove his identity." Pause again. "What you mean he can hear us? Mr. Braxiatel, I'm honoured to meet you by phone."

The other five listened in silence as Jack paced while listening. It seemed like what this Braxiatel was saying was making sense to Jack as he'd nod every once and awhile. "Look, I get what you're saying, but... next question... how are you getting here even if you know where..."

There was a slight whispering sound, then the wind picked up in the break room as the whispering sound grew to an almost recognizable whooshing sound that rose and fell in an all too familiar cadence before settling.

For a long moment they saw nothing, then out of the very wall a man stepped out, brushing off his suit as an equally astonished Gwen stepped out with him. "Jack?" she asked in shock, before looking at the wall, then to Braxiatel, and back to Jack again. "Remarkable."

The Time Lord only smiled cooly. "Was that a suitable demonstration, Mr. Harkness?" asked Braxiatel. "Now, may I please see my brother?"

Jack hung up the phone in astonishment, and pointed in wordless shock to Harry. Harry nodded and stepped forward to shake Braxiatel's hand. Once the handshake broke off and Harry explained, "He's doing much better than he had been when we first brought him in here. But he's not out of the woods yet."

"But not on his deathbed, as Mr. Jones explained?" asked Braxiatel, and only a slight softening around the creased eyes showed the relief the Time Lord felt.

"Ah, no," answered Grace. "But we suspect he has no more regenerations left due to this, and he's still very ill and weak."

Braxiatel nodded, and then followed them as they led him up the stairs to the floor. The UNIT soldiers stationed outside his door straightened as Harry nodded to them. "Give me a moment, he may be sleeping."

Braxiatel shook his head, with a slight smile. "I know he is, I can sense the disjointed and unconscious thoughts from his subconscious while he dreams. He's not consciously aware that I'm here but as I grow closer to him, he's becoming aware of it. If I enter now, he'll wake up and... may I see his charts?"

Harry walked in quietly and then came back out with the clipboard. Braxiatel took them and then sat in a chair in the hallway, reading them over. He looked up again. "Where did you get knowledge of Gallifreyan medicine?"

"His TARDIS translated some of the medical manuals she felt we'd need," answered Martha. "We couldn't formulate everything exactly, but using the chemical composition strings we were able to synthesize them, as well was use the information on what not to give him. It also suggested therapy to help rehabilitate him to the best his body will allow."

Braxiatel nodded. "I don't say this often, if at all, but I am impressed that such a primitive world could take what little information you have gleaned and used it as well as an elder civilization's medical experts would have."

"Thanks, I think," answered Martha, rolling her eyes and looking at the others in amusement.

"I think, perhaps, it would be best to let my brother rest for now," said Braxiatel as he stood up and handed the charts back over to Harry. "I will stay here until I sense his waking and then I'll go in and see him. I won't disturb him until then."

There was a few moments of uncomfortable silence, and Jack was about to leave when he heard from the other Time Lord, "What the hell happened that makes it hurt to look at the... well, the both of you?"

He pointed from Jack to Owen and back again. "One is a tangled mess and the other... egh... I won't go there."