Martha was about to go and put a call out to get James to attend the Doctor's room to discuss what she suspected was a neurological involvement when the cyclical pain hit him again. It was too much for him to bear and he moaned and held onto Martha's hand. He tried to lie desperately still and to breathe through his nose. He did all the things he could think of to try and minimise the waves of pain that rode his leg as if it were some obscene bucking bronco. The cowboys were in, riding his leg like some kind of sick and twisted torture rodeo. None of his techniques were strong enough to defeat the cowboys.

"Keep still." Martha tried to hold him as the pain caused him to wriggle on the bed. He brought his left leg up and twisted over slightly. "Breathe in through your nose, Doctor, and keep still," Martha instructed but he was gasping between low moans. She clipped the feed over to the mask and put it over his nose and mouth, holding it despite him turning his head away from it.

"Gerald," Martha turned to her junior medic who had come to see if there was anything she needed. "Go and put an immediate call out for James Lloyd to attend please," she instructed. The lunch plates could wait. Sarah Jane had cleared them all up into a pile at the end of the bench before she left anyway.

Martha realised that it might have been better if one of them had stayed so they could hold and comfort him while she dealt with him medically. She didn't know if the episodes were getting physically wore or the Doctor was just less able to deal with them because he was exhausted. Either way he could not continue like this. It was too much for him. She couldn't increase the Bladamine levels any further.

"It will go off soon, Doctor," Martha assured him, hoping that it would not be long until he started to calm down though she worried they were getting more drawn out as well as more intense.

The Doctor was still being punished by the cowboys when James arrived in. Although Martha would have been happier if he had settled again she was relieved James could see that pain the Time Lord was enduring or it would be simply a case of telling him that it hurt more sometimes. Seeing the affect of the pain on the Doctor's pallor, his blood oxygen levels, his blood pressure, and his level of awareness was much more of a statement that showed the pain was very real and more of a concern that an expected variation in the level of discomfort such an injury would cause.

"This has been happening every ten to fifteen minutes," Martha advised James. "It has to be neurological. The pain relief is not touching it, and it appears to be worsening in intensity and duration."

"Okay," James could see he was in agony. "Doctor? Can you tell me where about the pain is?" He asked the Time Lord directly.

"Leg…" the Doctor moaned.

"Alright." James glanced at Martha and rolled his eyes slightly. "Can you tell me where in your leg it is hurting? Is it your knee?"

"No…"

"Okay, what about your ankle? Is it coming from your ankle, Doctor?"

"No?" the Time Lord whined his response.

"So, it's coming from between your knee and your ankle then?"

"No…"

"Alright." James was not entirely surprised that the Doctor was unable to fully differentiate where the pain was in his leg. He had little doubt that there would be nerve damage associated with each of the separate injuries. It was not complete because he retained sensation, but he expected it was more acutely associated with the mid-shaft fractures. "Let's elevate his leg further," James instructed. "We should get some ice on the cast as well."

"Gerald, can you fetch some gel pads please?" Martha suggested. The junior medic went to get them.

"I think this is coming from mid-shin," James advised. As he adjusted the sling to raise the Doctor's leg higher the Time Lord cried out in pain.

Martha held his hand, taking the role of friend rather than medic as James worked to try to determine the cause of the pain he was in. His leg was cast and it was secure, it should not have caused him so much pain to elevate it further. Even as Martha held his hand and caressed his head she knew she could not do much for him as he was oblivious to anything but the pain on the surface anyway. He still held her hand.

Martha got her phone out. She had a strong suspicion that a certain captain would not have gone far. He'd probably be trying to get himself accommodated in the UNIT barracks for a while. He was always welcome at hers but he was about a foot too long for the sofa. Jack was the last person that she had spoken to on her personal phone so she pulled up the call received list and just hit redial.

"Missing me already?" Jack answered the phone cheekily.

"Of course," Martha tutted. "How far are you away from here?" she asked him.

"Not far. I thought I'd take a wander up into town until later on, I'm only ten minutes away. Why?"

"Would you mind coming back?" Martha suggested. "We're having some issues and could do with someone on hand holding duties," Martha commented. She looked at the way the Doctor was crushing her other hand. "Someone with stronger hands than I have."

"Is he bad?" Jack worried already turning around and starting to job back toward the UNIT base. He'd been planning on walking along the Thames and then cutting up through embankment and heading up to Leicester Square, then to Covent Garden, China Town, and then Soho, sure he'd be able to find some entertainment for the afternoon before returning to visit in the evening. When he heard the Doctor cry out in background he picked up his pace.

"Let the gatehouse know I will be back," Jack suggested. "I will be as quick as I can be."

"Thanks, Jack." Martha was relieved. She thought about ringing Sarah Jane, but she was going home for Luke to come home from school. It would not be fair for the Doctor to have the boisterous and curious teenager to deal with and it would not be fair for Sarah Jane to be more worried than she already was. She hoped that it was not something that they had to be worried about, but if he didn't improve she thought it might be necessary for them to take him into surgery early. She wondered who would be classed as his next of kin if she did have to discuss going ahead with the procedure. The TARDIS probably, though how she would document that on the consent form she did not know.

"Is the East Wing ready yet?" James knew that the Doctor was going to be moved into there.

"It should be," Martha confirmed.

"I will go and check to make sure the cleaning crew is finished. They were only just going in earlier. There was a spill in the lab that they had to deal with first," Gerald offered. He went along the corridor past the treatment rooms, through a set of double doors, round the corner, and then through another set of sliding glass doors that formed the barrier between the wings of the hospital. They could be sealed and could provide an air seal if a high level quarantine was required. A quarantine was going to be put in place but only a level four one and Gerald knew that was only so that there wasn't a stream of people wanting to visit the Time Lord while he was recovering. He could see the cleaning crew were still working and he went and got an update.

"Is it ready?" Martha asked when he returned.

"They are just finishing off in the kitchen area, but the bedroom is ready for him."

"Okay, good, Doctor?" James made sure he got as much for the Time Lord's attention as he could spare from the cowboys. He was sure the pony had to get tired soon. "We're going to relocate you into the East Wing and then split the cast for you."

"Is it too tight?" Martha had checked it. She was sure it had not got too tight yet, there was certainly no circulatory compromise.

"No, it's still okay, but it will need doing. So, I want to do it now. We will take him down to a two third cast which will still give him full protection providing he does remain in bed. I want to do some scans we may have to alter the position of the central shaft fragments. I expect that is where the nerve is being affected. We can try some different positions fairly easily, if we have to and we'll start by doing some direct ice and see if that helps. It will be more effective than icing the cast. It's clear we're not going to have to worry about him going anywhere, so we'll need to manage this the best we can until he's able to have surgery."

"Okay," Martha confirmed.

"What level of pain relief is he on?" James asked picking up a chart at the end of the Doctor's bed. It had a bright red label on the top of the first page indicating drug allergies and that Doctor Jones was to be consulted prior to any medications being given. James knew that only the most awkward patients got a red sticker, some with minor allergies or contradictions got orange ones to warn, but very few got a complete no medication to be given, though not many of their patients were members of a different species. "5mls of Bladamine," James commented thoughtfully. "And not only still alive, but still awake, and still in pain."

"Welcome to the world of the Time Lord's medic," Martha commented.

"We can't take the level of his Bladamine any higher than it is," Martha advised James as the orthopaedic specialist marvelled at the dose that the Doctor was already receiving. She held both of the Doctor's hands as the Time Lord seemed to be calming back down, his moans becoming less desperate though it was clear he remained in discomfort. "Take deep breaths, Doctor, in through your nose remember," Martha encouraged.

"Can I… have a drink?" the Doctor asked a little hoarsely as he tried to clear his throat.

"You can have some water for now. I'm not sure how much you caught about what we've decided to do?" Martha asked him, but he looked at her blankly so she guessed it was nothing. "We're going to move you into the East Wing now." Martha saw a look of horror cross the Time Lord's face as he worried that moving was going to give the cowboy permission to mount up all over again.

"Don't worry. Your bed is on wheels," Martha assured him. "So, all we're going to do is take you in there and swap the beds over. Once you're in there we're going to split the cast in two places and remove a couple of inches at the front. It will allow us to get access to your leg for icing and possibly even local anaesthesia to try to make it you more comfortable," Martha explained.

"Martha has indicated that she believes that the additional pain you are receiving is neurological in origin and I concur. I suspect that there is some involvement of nerve tissues around the mid-shaft fractures that you have," James explained. "If you were human there would be various drug combinations we would try to minimise the impact of nerve pain, muscle spasm, and swelling. We'd certainly be looking at giving you some heavy duty anti-inflammatory drugs and also a muscle relaxant."

"I'm not.. human."

"No, I am aware of that. Hence the big do not give him any drugs stickers all over your charts," James commented. "What we need to know is if there are any nerve blockers, muscle relaxants, and anti-inflammatory drugs that you can take in combination with the Bladamine you are on. Hopefully if we can find the correct drug combination we will be able to minimise the pain that you're experiencing. So, are there any drugs you think you should try and if there are do we have access to them?" James asked him.

"Stenlaforate dijalipam is a muscle relaxant… that can be used… with Bladamine."

"I've never heard of that before. What is it? Stena…"

"Stenalaforate dijalipam. It is just normally called dijalipam," the Doctor advised.

"Do you have any in the TARDIS?" Martha asked him.

"Yes, but she is in standby mode… isn't she? It's in… the sickbay pharmacy because it is dangerous stuff. It acts… as a neurotoxin in humans and is fatally potent."

"Okay, how is it administered?"

"Intravenously usually, or there are times when it can be delivered direct, but you can't inject directly into my leg."

"We will see. I've got Jack coming back," Martha told the Doctor.

"Captain Jack?"

"Yes," Martha nodded.

"Why?"

"Because I think you need someone to keep you distracted and to hold your hand while James and I deal with your leg and Jack is very good at hand holding and distraction," Martha commented. "You don't mind do you?"

"No, though, I'd be wary of his… distraction techniques."

"He'll behave." Martha grinned. "At least until you're feeling a bit better. Once he gets back I will ask someone to escort him over to the TARDIS and pick up the dijalipam."

"You need to take precautions when handling it," the Doctor worried.

"How dangerous is it?"

"I can only have 0.5ml of it an hour," the Doctor commented. "Or it will have a respiratory depressive affect. Especially when given with Bladamine that has the same potential at high doses."

"Since you're taking 5ml of Bladamine and hour that you can only take 0.5ml of this new one means it is very potent?" James asked the Doctor.

"It is a Time Lord specific drug," the Doctor explained. "0.03ml has been known to be fatal when accidentally administered to a human. That was an extreme case though and the subject was allergic to the drug as well as affected by it. On average around 0.1ml would definitely have a fatal paralysing affect. It would knock out the respiratory system in a few seconds and affect the heart muscle inside a minute," the Doctor commented. "Because such a small dose is so dangerous even a needle stick injury could be very serious. It is also readily absorbed through the skin," the Doctor advised. "I am not sure it is worth bringing over. It is dangerous."

"We're quite used to handling some potent chemicals. What I will do is when it is brought over from the TARDIS I'll get it diluted."

"Diluted?"

"Yes, since we will likely be using it intravenously for you I will prepare some drip bags ready and the rest of the drug I will put in measured doses and dilute them. It won't make it any less difficult to administer through the drips, but it will mean it is safer if there are any accidents, though it is unlikely," Martha advised. "The medical team are careful when they handle drugs and needles. I'll dilute it to a factor of ten and make sure that you get 5ml an hour. Then it would take a full 1ml to affect a human and that will be harder to administer accidentally," Martha assured the Doctor.

"That's quite clever."

"I'm not just a pretty face you know," Martha teased the Doctor slightly and he smiled weakly. Gerald came in with a glass of water for the Doctor and he drank some. "You can have a cup of tea once we've got you sorted out in the East Wing."

"Should we go?" James glanced at his watch. Not because he was being impatient but because he had another patient coming in for an adjustment to be made to an external fixator and he did not want to keep them waiting too long. Martha caught him reading the time. He didn't want her to think that he was being dismissive of the Doctor and the pain he was in because he really wasn't.

"Eddie Flynn is due in at half three," James reminded Martha. It was only just ten to three, but if they were going to split the Doctor's cast then it was going to take some time.

"Okay," Martha commented. "He's just having a planar extension today isn't he?" Martha checked.

"Yes, I'm doing that and then he will see Barb afterward for a pin clean."

"Alright, I will take the Doctor into the East Wing with Gerald. I will arrange for Jack to go and pick up the drugs from the TARDIS, and then when you have dealt with Eddie you can come back and we will split the cast. That means you can have a cup of tea before hand," Martha advised the Doctor. "Is that okay?"

"Is it going to be a long delay?" the Doctor wasn't sure how much longer he was going to be able to stand it. The cowboys were all geared up and walking around the paddock checking on their livestock picking the ones ready for the next rodeo.

"It might be as much as an hour, but, Eddie is often in early and if he is then James can see him quickly," Martha assured the Doctor. "We just don't like to keep him waiting here for long if we can avoid it."

"Who is Eddie?"

"You may meet him before the end of your stay depending on how long it is until you're ready for surgery. He's only four so we try to get him in and out so he doesn't have to stay here too long. We don't have many paediatric patients so we don't have many toys around and things to keep him occupied, but he'd not get the treatment he's having in the UK without him having it here," Martha explained.

"And he's four?"

"He's booked in to have some surgery and an over night stay in a couple of weeks."

"You'll be able to play with him then," Martha teased.

"I am not going to still be here in two weeks."

"We'll see how long it is until you can safely have surgery. If we decide that we need to put a full plate in then it may be a week or so before the swelling goes down enough to do that," James warned him. "Then it will depend on how you cope with it after the surgery. Until you're able to fend a little for yourself I don't see that you're going to be able to go anywhere."

"For now, let's get you into the East Wing and wait for Jack so he can go and get you the drugs from the TARDIS," Martha commented not wanting the Doctor to be thinking too much about the length of time he might be stuck in the hospital. Knowing the extent of the injuries she thought two weeks was probably the most optimistic end of the stay scale.

They had chatted for so long that the next wave of the intolerable pain hit the Doctor while Martha and Gerald were pushing his bed along the corridor toward the East Wing. He was moaning on the bed as the cowboy bucked and bounced around on his leg. As they got him into the room in the East Wing that would become his place of stay for at least the next fortnight Jack arrived back. He was shown through by Anita and he immediately took up the role of providing comfort to the Time Lord.

"He's getting worse," Jack commented as he gripped the Doctor's hand, but the Time Lord seemed almost oblivious to everything going on around him.

"It is exhausting him," Martha agreed. She allowed Jack to comfort the Doctor while he got his drip set back up and connected the monitors back up so they could be read on the screens on show in the room. The room looked more comfortable. It was less visibly sterile with pale blue walls rather than the harsh white. There was a TV in the room and an arm chair with cushions. There were still obvious signs of medical equipment but it was not as basic.

The TV was connected to a massive digital library of films and music. When the Doctor was more sorted she'd show him how to access it and he could watch just about any film released in the UK and a few that had only been released overseas. She was sure he'd find something he wanted to watch once he was feeling more comfortable.

"You need to do something, Martha," Jack fretted as he tried to hold the Doctor. "He can't carry on like this."

"I know. The orthopaedic specialist has just gone to deal with a priority patient and then he will be back."

"How can this not be a priority?" Jack didn't mean to question Martha, but he couldn't stand to see the Doctor in so much difficulty. "He's in agony."

"What I need you to do is get over to the TARDIS and find a drug that he thinks may help. When he calms down again he will be able to tell us where it is," Martha suggested.

"Come on, Doc, take deep breaths." Jack didn't know hat else to say as the Doctor whined on inhale and groaned on exhale in an excruciating verbal seesaw. Jack caressed his head and clutched his hand as the Doctor tensed and writhed slightly on the bed. He whimpered and keened, but then he fell silent as his body went slack. His vice like grip on Jack's hand faded away to nothing. "Martha?"

"He's passed out," Martha sighed. She adjusted the position of his head on the pillow to ensure that his airway was protected and she put the oxygen mask back on to feed it to his nose and mouth rather than just his nose. As she was doing that a low moan rose from the Doctor's throat as he started to come back round almost straight away.

"Oh, Doctor, you're too stubborn for your own good," Martha complained. "You should stay asleep for a while."

"It hurts… so much… Martha?" the Doctor sounded like he was pleading with her to do something to help him.

"Tell me where I can find the drugs you need?" Jack held the Doctor's hand again. The Doctor looked at the large calloused hand in his. It was the Captain's. He wasn't even really sure that he'd been aware of him coming into the room. "Hello, again, I came back early." Jack could see the Doctor was a little confused. It was clear he still wasn't comfortable because his grip was tight and he was bending and straightening his left leg under the sheet restlessly as if he could find a better position to lie in.

"Thank you," the Doctor accepted.

"I'm going to go over to the TARDIS and get some medicine that you need?" Jack prompted. "Where will I find it?"

"In the pharmacy cupboard... they are in sickbay… it's got a coded door."

"What is the code?"

"Raynes, alim, coray, ramsah," the Doctor commented quietly. "I will need… to write it down for you."

"Here," Martha got a pen out of the breast pocket of her white coat and a small flip notebook from her combat trousers. The Doctor took it and wrote four Gallifreyan symbols on it and then she handed it to Jack to make sure he could read them okay.

"You need to locate… them on the four… reels in the lock."

"Why didn't you just say it was one, two, three, four?" Jack asked the Time Lord looking at the symbols which were each a hexagon with a small circle up in the top right hand side intersecting it, but then with one, two, three, or four lines running through the circle.

"It is… one to four… in Gallifreyan," the Doctor accepted.

"Say it again?" Jack prompted.

"Raynes, alim, coray, ramsah."

"Raynes, alim, coray, ramsah," the Captain repeated. The Doctor nodded.

"Gallifreyan lessons can wait until later," Martha suggested. "Is there anything else that you want Jack to get from the TARDIS? What about something to help you to sleep later on?" Martha asked him. "I will be looking at our standard sedation. Do you have anything else you want Jack to get from the TARDIS while he is there?"

"Tea?"

"You want me to bring you a cup of tea from the TARDIS?" Jack was surprised by the notion, but Martha wasn't.

"Oh, I am sorry, Doctor," Martha laughed an apology to the Time Lord, but the Captain just regarded her curiously. "You don't need to get Jack to bring a tea supply from the TARDIS. I've got some decent tea bags. I'm sorry, I should have told Gerald not to use the standard UNIT kit," Martha apologised to the Doctor and then looked to Jack to continue her explanation. "The UNIT tea supply is horrid. It comes out grey and it tastes weird. When I started here I replaced all the tea supplies in the hospital over to what I consider to be decent tea and all the squaddies complained until I had to switch it back, but it is awful," Martha advised him.

"It's foul," the Doctor grumbled.

"I will speak to Gerald and make sure he doesn't use the UNIT stock," Martha commented. "I am sorry," she realised that not only had he had a horrible shock and hurt himself, come to UNIT and been tortured by them because their medications didn't last long enough, was still suffering because they were unable to manage his pain to consistently tolerable levels, but they had also given him rubbish tea.

"Not coming here… again," the Doctor complained. Martha put her hand to his right cheek for a moment in an unusually intimate show of direct affection. He didn't object, but he looked so pale and tired that anything had to help.

"I will get Gerald to make you a decent cup of tea. Now you're in the East wing it will be easier. One of us will always be in here and there is a little kitchen just next door where we can make tea and sandwiches and things. This part of the hospital doubles up as one of our isolation and quarantine areas, but it is kitted out a bit like a long term hostel. Once you've had surgery and are starting to move around a bit there is a common room with a pool table and things, it will give us a week or so to practise," Martha suggested.

"A week?" the Doctor asked quietly.

"Do you want to talk about what you have done to your leg yet?" Martha asked him. For a moment it looked like he was just going to burst into tears. Jack obviously saw the same level of distress on the Time Lord's pallid expression because he carefully wrapped his arms around him and kissed him on the top of the head. Martha wondered if she should just tell him whether he wanted to know or not. It was horrible and serious, but she'd seen the footage from the TARDIS and the way the Doctor had needed to free himself from the ladder and then move across the TARDIS with his leg literally flopping from the breaks. She didn't know what was going through his head except that it was probably made worse because his head had to be aching on top because of the way he had hit that too. He didn't answer the question verbally, but he did shake his head slightly.

"Why not, Doc?" Jack asked him. "It's got to be worse not knowing than having to hid out. I mean I've seen it and it's horrible, but Martha doesn't think there is anything that won't heal and I'm sure she'd feel better if you could discuss it just so she knows about the Time Lord side of it?"

"It's okay," Martha didn't want the Doctor to get too distressed. "We'll see about it later on. Let's get back to what we need from the TARDIS or James will be finished with Eddie and we won't be ready for him. I've got Darjeeling, Assam, and good old English Breakfast teas so unless you really do want TARDIS tea then you don't need to worry about Jack fetching your teabags," Martha assured him. "He could pick you up a couple of T-shirts couldn't he? I don't think that your suit is a good idea for a while. I'll find some tracksuit pants that we can cut a leg off. As long as you're not going to object to them being UNIT issue?" Martha pointed to the UNIT medical emblem on the T-shirt that he was wearing.

"I don't want to be dressed like a soldier," the Doctor mumbled.

"You won't be," Martha assured him. "You'll be dressing like a nurse." She winked at him and he sighed. "Unless you've got any tracksuit bottoms that are going to be loose enough and comfortable enough for you to lie in and that you don't mind having a leg hacked off I would suggest that you just borrow some," Martha suggested seriously and the Doctor nodded.

"Good," Martha confirmed. "Right, no, I want you to consider what you would do if you had a Time Lord patient with serious soft tissue and skeletal injuries with an uncontrolled neurological aspect that will be managed with a combination of Bladamine and dijalipam. Your patient is getting exhausted…"

"…and grumpy," Jack interjected.

"Understandably grumpy for now," Martha didn't dispute it and the Doctor grumbled. "Though prolonged grumpiness will not be tolerated. How would you manage the patient's night time rest period as it is likely that they will need assistance to sleep. Available in stock is dihenhydramine, zolpidem tartrate, and alprazolam," Martha commented. "There is also temazapam and Lorazepam, but I know that the patient is unable to tolerate them. How would you best ensure that the patient has a peaceful night?" Martha asked the Doctor.

"Is the zolpidem tartrate an extended release or a standard release drug?" the Doctor asked.

"It is available as either. Can you take zolpidem? I thought that GABA blockers weren't too good for you?"

"Zolpidem tartrate binds to a specific GABA receptor and it is fine. Generic GABA blockers like the benzodiazepines aren't suitable for Time Lords but Zolpidem is quite effective as a sedative, though it can have side effects."

"What are they likely to be?"

"Potential hallucinations and particularly vivid dreams," the Doctor offered.

"Have you ever taken it before?"

"I've not taken it in this regeneration."

"So, does your response to drugs change between regenerations?" Martha checked with him.

"Different body; subtle differences in biochemistry," the Doctor confirmed.

"Is there an alternative sedation you'd like Jack to get out of the TARDIS?" Martha got back to the question in hand.

"No, I don't think so."

"We can always revisit it tomorrow depending on how we go tonight," Martha suggested. "So, we'll stick to zolpidem tonight?"

"Yeah."

"What dose will you be taking so we can make sure we have plenty available," Martha advised.

"30mg should be enough if I can't sleep."

"That is 3 times the maximum dose for a human," Martha commented.

"I used to date a guy that took zolpidem," Jack commented. "It knocked him out totally, but after a couple of hours I could wake him up and he'd get all horny. We'd have a good time and then in the morning he'd not remember a thing about it," Jack advised.

"Jack!" Martha exclaimed. "I think that is bordering on abuse."

"I'm not sure it's bordering," the Doctor stated. "He's not staying… tonight is he?"

"He might do." Martha chuckled. "But don't worry. I'll keep you safe."