Chapter 10: Steady Now

"Regenerate? What do you mean?" Martha worriedly asked him.

"It's a thing……a trick we Time Lords do when we…….. die." He was still gasping for air.

Martha tried to replace the oxygen mask on his face. "Don't talk like that."

He held the mask back with his hand "You said yourself."

She shook her head and took his upraised hand, gently fixing the mask on his face. "I'm not gonna let you die, Doctor. I couldn't."

Now the shock was settling in her mind. It was true. He was very sick, and bound to be even sicker as this was the beginning of the infection. If this Regeneration thing he talked about was not functional, well there was a good chance he would die. She brushed away the tear that threatened to fall. She was a Doctor, well almost. She could help him.

He was having more and more difficulty breathing and she turned up the oxygen feed a little. Sponging his brow again she looked into his eyes, so full of pain. She could barely stand it. She could tell even he did not know what to do.

"Just breathe, okay? Rest.", she cooed. He nodded weakly, swallowing back a pain filled grunt.

He needed something to help ease the pain. She rummaged the cabinet again, pulling out an intravenous start kit, tubing and solution, and syringes for the pain medication she found. She rolled over the IV stand complete with pump. How convenient.

He seemed to take her advice; he had closed his eyes and began taking deeper breaths. She took his hand again.

"I'm going to start this medicine for you, you'll need it for the pain. I know your chest hurts and this will help." She rubbed his right arm, checking for appropriate veins to place the needle. He continued to take breaths and again nodded slightly, not even opening his eyes as she slid the needle into his vein and secured it with tape. She threaded the tubing into the pump and began the fluid.

"Here goes." He watched her as she slowly injected the pain medication into the tubing port. She studied his reaction, again sponging his face with the cloth. "Better?"

He nodded weakly and whispered, "Thanks" Again he closed his eyes. She lay the cool cloth over his forehead and studied the readouts again.

She was sure the initial infection came from the plasmavore's attack, partially draining his blood salts. Who knows where her straw had been. That was enough time for the bacteria from her straw to settle in his left heart.

Then if that wasn't enough, his left heart was stopped again by the witch when they were visiting with Shakespeare. Then the stress of the fight with the Daleks. The lightening strike he had suffered short circuited his immune system and allowed the infection to mutate and grow and spread to his body. He was lucky to be alive after all that. She knew he wasn't human but still….