Miracles Out Of Nowhere
Chapter 10
They found themselves in a sterile room, full of hovering platforms with laid bodies on them, all hooked up. It was a sort of sickbay. The Doctor was immediately scanning around with the sonic as Susan and the others looked around and at the men.
"McGrath! He's one of my men." Avery pointed at one, sleeping on the beds. Susan could hear various machines beeping, almost sounding like…life support. She looked around, twirling on her heels to take in every inch. Why take the injured to kill them? She's not killed them. So, why wait? Susan was brought out of her thoughts by conversation.
"He's still breathing." Amy said, checking.
"My entire crew is here." Then Avery stopped and ran to a bed, shouting. "Toby!" Susan swerved to look and saw an unconscious Toby on a bed. It was a split second later that she heard Amy cry out.
"Rory!"
"The TARDIS!" The Doctor shouted in glee, pressing up against the box in a rather awkward sort of hug like movement. Susan looked around as each checked the thing that mattered to them, and how they were. She stood in the room, silent, realizing she had no one to run to. No one there, that meant anything to her. She felt out of place. She cleared her throat and walked over to Avery and Toby, hoping the boy was alright and she spoke as she walked.
"We have to get them out of here."
"Wait." The Doctor walked over, once again scanning the boy with his sonic. He checked the results and frowned "His fever's gone." He moved over to Rory, Susan following, looking at Rory intently. He seemed fine.
"He looks so well." Amy said, and Susan nodded, reading the results.
"She's keeping him alive." She said, with a gasp of surprise. "His brain is still active, but all its cellular activity is suspended." The Doctor went around to Rory's other side, grasping his hand and comparing it to a card. Susan craned her neck.
"It's not a curse, it's a tissue sample." The Doctor mused, looking at the card showing a similar spot. "Why get samples of people you are about to kill?"
"What if she does not want to kill them?" Susan thought out loud and the Doctor shot her a small smile and raised eyebrows, thinking it over.
"Help me get him up?" Amy asked the Doctor, and together they began to lift Rory. Then the beeping got louder and the singing starter.
"She's coming." The Doctor said in a hurried and frantic whisper, pulling Susan behind a bank of monitors along with Amy and Avery. She looks through to see between the sheets of sheer plastic, looking as the Siren floats in, singing her wordless song and goes to Rory.
"Look." Susan whispered in awe as the Siren seems to make Rory calm down, his fit subsiding. "Anaesthetic."
"What?" asked Avery. Susan turned to him, bending down slightly so as to not be seen.
"That music. The song she sings. So she anaesthetises people and puts their body in stasis." Susan turns back, a smile on her face. Oh, so clever. Brilliant, The Doctor looks on; proud she worked it out and watching as the Siren goes to the other men. The Siren floats to Toby. Susan catches Avery move out of the corner of her eye.
"Avery, no!" The Doctor and Susan yell as Avery shoots at the Siren, who turns a violent red. Red, that was new, Susan thought. They both run out, Susan shooting back a hand to tell Amy to stay put as the Siren advances on Avery. Suddenly, the Doctor sneezes. The Siren turned to them, a glowing fire emanating from her hands now.
"Fire. That's new. What does fire do? Burn? Yes. Destroy? What else?" He rambled and Susan hissed at him.
"Sterilise!"
"Ah, yes. I sneezed. I've brought germs in." The Doctor blew his noise on a handkerchief before he threw the handkerchief on the floor. The Siren blasted the article with fire, sending it into ash. Amy ran to Rory.
"Amy, stop. Don't interfere. Don't touch him. Anaesthetic, tissue sample, screen, sterile working conditions. Ignore all my previous theories!" He warned her, trying to think. But he couldn't. Amy was fed up, just wanting her husband back.
"Yeah? Well, we stopped paying attention a while back." Amy said, sternly as the Doctor paced. Susan looked around, thinking herself. Sterile. Keeping them alive. Oh, so simple. She yelled out to them all.
"She's not a killer at all, she's a doctor!" The Doctor looked up at Susan, the realization dawning on all of them as Amy stopped fiddling with Rory's life support. The Siren turned green and Susan turned to her, marvelling. "This is an automated sick bay. The crew are dead, and so the sick bay has had nothing to do. It's been looking after humanity whilst it's been idle, teleporting the crew on board to heal them." Susan said, eyes growing wider as she comprehended it all. "Look at her. A virtual doctor able to sterilise a whole room."
Amy was less impressed. "Able to burn your face off." But the Doctor joined in finally getting it all and being equally impressed as Susan.
"She's just an interface, seeped through the join between the planes, broadcast in our world. Protean circuitry means she can change her form, and become a human doctor for humans. Oh, sister, you are good."
Amy went to free her husband again but the Siren screeched once more, causing them all to back off. "She won't let us take them." Avery said.
"She's keeping them alive, but she doesn't know how to heal them." The Doctor told them, starting to look worried again.
"Different biological structure to the crew. Face it, one cold wiped them out, she has no idea how to treat any of this. She can just help." Susan explained, her own face contorting with concern for Toby and Rory, for the rest of the crew.
"I'm his wife, for God's sake. Why can't I touch him?" Amy spoke. The Doctor faced her, struck with an idea.
"Tell her, Amy. Show her your ring. She may be virtual but she's intelligent. You can't do anything without her consent. Come on. Sophisticated girl like you. That must be somewhere in your core program."
"Look, he's very ill, okay? I just want to look after him. Why won't you let me near my husband?" She asked the Siren tentatively. Slowly, the Siren held out a hand, a band of white light appearing around it. The Doctor told Amy what to do.
"Consent form. Sign it. Put your hand in the light. Rory's sick. You have to take full responsibility." He explained. Amy placed her hand in the light and the Siren disappeared. They quickly turn off whatever is attached to Rory but he convulses. Susan tries to hold him down, soothe him as he fits.
"He can't breathe. Turn it back on!" She cries and Amy switches it on, Rory returning to a peaceful manner, breathing normally. Amy is looking stricken and Susan cannot think of a single thing to help her, she hated feeling useless.
"What do we do? I can't just leave him here." Amy asked, fear in her voice. Susan rubbed her face, tired, but answered clearly.
"He'll die if you take him out."
"Rory? Rory, wake up." Amy calls to him quietly. He grunts, slowly coming around and Susan cannot help but smile slightly at that; for a moment.
"Where am I?" Rory asked, dazed. Susan kept closer. The Doctor and Amy on one side, Susan on the other, surrounding him.
"You're in a hospital. If you leave, you might die." The Doctor whispered, his voice almost trembling.
"But if you don't, you'll have to stay forever." Susan added. She hadn't spoken much to Rory, the quiet man who seemed to have an ounce of common sense and had cared for her when she first came. Now he was lying down, and would die if he ever got back up.
"You're saying that if I don't get up now…"
"You can never leave." Amy finished, regretfully.
"The Siren will keep you safe." The Doctor assured his friend, consoling him with facts.
"And if I come with you?" Susan knew Rory already knew the answer.
"Rory…you'll be drowning." She answered simply, hating it with every fibre of her being. Rory was a good guy. Good guys shouldn't die. Not like that. Rory took a shuddering gasp, trying to come to terms with it. Then he looked at Amy.
"I'm a nurse." He stated. He was? Susan thought. Amy was confused however.
"What?"
"I can teach you how to save me."
"Whoa. Hold on." Amy said, panicking, unsure where it was going and yet she had enough of inkling that it frightened her. But Rory continued with quick succession.
"I was drowning. You just have to resuscitate me."
"Just?"
"You've seen them do it loads of times in films. CPR. The kiss of life."
"Rory, this isn't a film, okay? What if I do it wrong?" Amy was trembling furiously and Susan had to look away, to walk away. She knew how Amy felt, to feel powerless to stop your loved ones die. Or to have it all rest on your shoulders with no way out. She couldn't watch. She walked over to Captain Avery, close to tears, and gave a consoling smile at the Captain, before looking at Toby, walking slowly to his bed and pressing a hand on his face, wiping away the still damp strands of hair on his face. So young. He had had so much to look forward to. And now he was stuck. Even if they broke him free it'd only be days till the fever took him.
She hears footsteps and knows it's the Doctor, who begins to talk to Avery in a low voice. "We have to send this ship back into space. Imagine if the Siren got ashore. She would have to process every injured human."
"What about Toby?" Susan looked away and to the boy, shaking her head slightly in sorrow.
"I'm sorry. Typhoid fever. Once he returns it's only a matter of time." The Doctor told him in a whisper , looking down.
"What if I stay with him, here. The Siren will look after him." Avery asks and Susan feels her hearts surge with the prospect of hope. "I can't go back to England. And what home does he have now, if not with me?" This was the man who wished to send him back to England. Things can suddenly change. Even when you least expect it.
"Do you think you can sail this thing?" The Doctor asked with a sheepish smile.
"Just point me to the atom accelerator." Apparently an inside joke as Susan looked on puzzled. The Doctor gives a chuckle and leaves to go back to Rory's side. Susan gives the Captain a tap to her head as a salute.
"Keep a tight ship, Captain." She said simply and with a smile. "Glad to see you're not letting go." Avery nods and looks back over to his son. Susan then hears the frantic beeping of the machine and spins to see Amy and The Doctor ripping off Rory's restraints as he struggled to breath. Susan's hearts lurch as she runs quickly over to the TARDIS, grabbing the key from around her neck and jamming it into the lock, her hands shaking. She opens it just in time for Amy and the Doctor, carrying Rory, to hurry through and place Rory on the floor of the TARDIS. Susan slams the door shut before running over to their side as Amy begins CPR.
"Come on. Come on, Rory. Not here. Not this way. Not today." The Doctor tells the lifeless figure as Amy perseveres. Susan can do nothing but watch, biting her lips as she fights back tears. He has to make it.
"He trusted me. He trusted me to save him." Amy whimpers as she tries to continue. Susan goes to her side as the Doctor looks on, grabbing Amy's back and patting it, trying to help his friend.
"Amy, you can do this. Trust me just try!" Susan urged.
"He believes in you. Come on, Amy. Come on!" The Doctor encourages as Amy lets out wails of grief, summoning up determination.
"Please, please, please wake up. Wake up. Wake up. Come on. Come on." She stops as the emotions come over her as she cries against him. Amy leant back, shock over coming her that she couldn't do anything. Rory was gone. There were a few silent moments, the Doctor offering a hand to comfort Amy, but she looked broken. Susan watched with a sadness before closing her eyes in defeat, pain clinching at her waist that made her want to bend over and be sick. Not Rory. Why Rory?
Then, out of the silence, came a cough and another and Susan opened her eyes to see Rory spluttering and coughing against the floor. He was alive. Alive.
"Amy. Amy, you did it. You did it!" The couple embraced. Susan gave a shuddering sigh of relief and the Doctor got up, expressing his own relief. Susan got up as well and walked over to him, he didn't face her. Overcome with happiness at Rory's survival, she hugged her Grandfather.
Susan tightened her hold over her grandfather and he was in shock for a few moments before tightly returning it, glad to have her in his arms. His Susan. He had come so close to losing it all today, all of them had but they were safe. All of them safe.
The hug seemed to last forever, each group in their own little spaces, the Doctor and Susan finally reaching an understanding. The hug came them comfort, consolation and told each other they were not alone. Not anymore.
Later on, Susan rubbed her eyes, suddenly tired; the adrenaline was dissipating and she now had to listen to her own thoughts. She'd have to leave soon. Had to. She looked up from her beige seat she'd woken in the first time, to see Rory and Amy walking up the TARDIS stairs to their bedroom, most likely.
"I thought I was an excellent pirate." Amy commented, her arm looped around her husband.
"I thought you were an excellent nurse."
"Easy, tiger." She flirts before turning to the Doctor from the top. "Goodnight, Doctor."
"Goodnight, Amelia."
"You only call me Amelia when you're worrying about me."
"I always worry about you."
"Mutual."
"Go to bed, Pond." He said with a small smile, before returning to the screen. The Ponds stay there for a moment, whispering and Susan looks up curious. Rory catches her gaze and hurries Amy along. She dismissed it and stretched, got up, walking over.
"What are you looking at?" She asked, peering at the screen, only able to see a flash of a skeletal structure before he switches it off.
"Nothing." He replied swiftly. Susan yawned, she couldn't ask him to drop her off now, she was too tired, and wanted to say goodbye properly. They should have a proper goodbye this time. A final goodbye. So she walked up to the console and her grandfather who was adjusting the screen with a worried face. She put a hand on his arm and he switched it off. She didn't need to know, it didn't concern her at all and he didn't even know if it was true.
"I'm going to bed as well." Susan spoke softly. He looked over at her, so young, yet so old. Her eyes more strained than ever he saw them before. She had grown up so much. And he had barely seen a fraction of it.
"You don't wanted dropping off…wherever it is you live?" He didn't even know where she did live, perhaps Earth, still? It hadn't occurred to ask. Susan shook her head with a small and tired smile.
"I want a sleep, so if you've got any spare rooms then I'll take one of those." Susan said. The Doctor turned to face her fully, flipping the last switch on the console. He had a thought, an idea and grinned.
"No, I have just the perfect room." He said and motioned for Susan to follow him down a corridor. She gave him a bemused look before following.
It was in this moment, as she followed him round the many grey and gold TARDIS corridors, she had time to think and to look at her grandfather. 11th. That's what Amelia had said, back in the hold of that ship. She looked at is face through the corner of her eye and saw his eyes. So old. So many memories hidden in the hazel depths.
It was in that moment, she wondered. She wondered if she knew him at all now.
They wandered like this, the Doctor slightly in front, leading her, a small smile etched on his face. She was going to like it. He thought she was. She was. Yes, she was, he thought to himself. Finally, Susan let out a sigh.
"We have been wandering for hours." She groaned, making the Doctor chuckled. Timelords, or ladies, were never the most patient of lot- that's why they invented time travel. He took her hand and gave it a squeeze as she pouted.
"Don't pout, it's been 15 minutes." He teased, and marked where they were. Nearly there, it was near the library, he remembered. Susan gave a half-hearted chuckle.
"You're one to talk. Marco Polo, you were so grumpy for that journey!" This made the Doctor laugh, that had been so, so long ago. More than 700 years, or was it 800? He forgot, that was how old he was. But he remembered that, stuck on a rickety cart that towed the TARDIS along.
"I rather was, wasn't I?" He mused. The Doctor and his Granddaughter turned a corner and he spotted the door, giving a gleeful tug on Susan's hand so that they reached it quicker. "Ah, ha! Here we are!"
Susan switched her gaze from her grandfather to the door in curiosity and gasped. No. Not after all this time. "Oh." She uttered, and the Doctor gave her a gleeful look. It was a plain door, simply marked with a label: Susan. Taking a deep breath, she turned the handle and stepped inside with a swing of the door.
The walls were that of the old console room, round things sprawling a pattern on the walls and providing storage, she knew many opened outwards to reveal cupboards. But her eyes trailed upwards as a polyholigraph made her ceiling not there at all, instead was a projection of the red skies of Gallifrey, with the Medusa Cascade in the distance and stars littering the auburn night. She remembered reading a story to her son, back on Earth, back when he was young. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. It was like the Great Hall. The book had been banned a few years later as it had suggested other worlds, and therefore aliens. Earth had been on lockdown before the Daleks invaded again.
She was brought out of her thoughts by her grandfather. "What do you think?" He asked, in hopeful anticipation. She looked at him, and saw the smile. She couldn't help but give a small one back.
"This is my room. My old room…I thought…" She stared around in wonder as the Doctor leant back on the door frame.
"That the TARDIS would delete it? No. I made sure." He said softly. He'd always kept this room, a reminder. A memory and a precious one at that.
"We are going to have to talk about it, you know." Susan said, sitting down on the bed, tugging at the hem of her top. The Doctor was silent for a few moment s and Susan looked up towards him.
"I know but…for now…sleep." He said, steadily. Susan nods.
"Goodnight…" She paused before letting out a sigh and a small smile. "Grandfather."
"Goodnight, Susan." The Doctor said with a grin. Grandfather. She'd called him Grandfather. It wasn't total forgiveness but it was a start, and a name he hadn't heard in a long time. The word s was like a comfort blanket, calming him and filling him with happiness.
"Grandfather?" Susan asked, hesitant. The Doctor blinked, coming out of his thoughts.
"Susan?"
"There's one more place…I'd like to go…" She continued and the Doctor perked up. She wanted to stay?
"Of-Of course! Where?" He asked eagerly.
"Home." Susan stated simply.
"Home?" The Doctor frowned in confusion, his mood dampening slightly. Did she mean her home now? Was it a ploy? She wanted to leave, that was it. Susan took a deep breath and waited, biting her lip as she gave a hesitant smile.
"Gallifrey."
The Doctor could say nothing. He merely nodded, and left, closing the door.
Now reviews:
WatchingtheMovieReadingTheBook: So glad you love it! Love the name btw.
DanniFielding: I will endeavor to. I love our chats and am so glad you like this fic!
Copperdragon2: Oh gosh, I really hope I live up to people's expectations of A Good Man Goes to War now!
Alfred's Elevator: I am so glad you're into it! I love writing 11 so much. You are right though. If Susan met 9, then he'd demand all the information and would get so mad at her for being distant yadda yadda! I've always wanted to do this fiction, and to bring Susan back! Thank you so much, your review made my day!
Next time: The Doctor's Wife!
Heather x
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