Chapter Eight- Jack meet John
"Er, Doctor Cameron?" the Doctor asked innocently from the examination table, "What exactly are you looking for?"
"This is just common procedure," she explained, "We do it for all our new patients."
"Oh," he nodded his head slowly, "So, er, am I an official patient now? Like, checked in to the hospital?"
"We're working on that right now," Cameron replied as she reached around for a syringe with which to draw blood, "Put out your arm."
"I, er, can't give blood," the Doctor said hesitantly, "Er, low… blood sugar."
"One vial won't do anything to your blood sugar," Cameron assured him, "I just need to do a few tests to check for infection."
"But, don't you need patient consent for that sort of thing?"
"Well, technically… yes," she admitted, "But… it's just…"
"Doctor Cameron, can I trust you?" the Doctor asked, looking deep into her eyes, "Can I trust you with my life?"
"I am a doctor, sir," she reminded him, "You can trust me."
"You can't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you," he insisted firmly, "Not House or any of your mates. This conversation never happened."
"Okay," she eyed him curiously, seriously fearing for his mental stability.
"You can't run any tests on me," the Doctor informed her, standing up from the table, "No tests, no scans, nothing. Technically you can't do any of that anyway without patient consent and a medical history, of which I don't have."
"In that case, what do you propose we do?" Cameron asked, crossing her arms over her chest, "Just let you suffer in a bed?"
"Let me run my own tests," he insisted, "All I need is full run of the lab."
"No!" she replied indignantly, "If you mess something up, I'll get it in the neck."
"Then can I just stay here for the night?" he asked, "I need somewhere sanitary and relaxing for the next eight or nine hours so I can finish healing. Then I'll be on my merry way."
"You've got a four inch long gash in the back of your neck and some sort of circulatory disorder," she put a hand on his chest to keep him from walking out of the room, "You can't go anywhere."
"But, I'm not even a proper patient!" he protested, "You can't just…"
"Sir, please sit down," Cameron was growing worried, "Dr. House should be here in a minute and you can discuss your predicament with him."
"But--"
"So, Doctor," House strode into the room casually, an accoustic-electric guitar in hand, "Is that really your name? Is it a nickname, or did your parents just really hate you?"
"Er," the Doctor wasn't sure how to reply.
"What's your real name?" House asked, sitting down on the stool and propping his leg up on the step stool beside the table, "Other than 'Doctor'. Doctor who?"
"Er, John--" he began to reply, only to be cut off by the other doctor.
"Lemme guess: Smith?" House began tuning the guitar.
"N-no… er… H-Harkness," the Doctor watched the drug-addict psychopath as he began strumming on the instrument, "I'm Doctor John Harkness."
"Harkness?" Cameron spluttered, "Harkness?!"
"Yeah," the Doctor nodded, glancing over at the surprised young woman, "Something wrong with that?"
"Are you related to Jack Harkness?" she asked quizzically, stepping toward the Doctor.
"Er, why?" he furrowed his brows, "What's he done this time?"
"Nothing," House silenced Cameron, "Her ex-boyfriend. She's been looking for a rebound."
"I have not!" Cameron whipped around to face House.
"See, first sign of guilt: denial," House grinned and began strumming again, "She's got a thing for sick people."
"Is he here?" the Doctor's eyes were wide, his nostrils slightly flared, "Is Jack in this hospital?"
"Oh! You've found us out," House slapped a hand to his forehead dramatically, "We've got your brother in our clutches and we're not letting him out."
"He's not my brother," the Doctor stated flatly as he made his way to the door, "Can you take me to him?"
"You can't go out there!" Cameron grabbed the sleeve of the Doctor's hospital gown.
House put a hand on her shoulder, "We can take him for a field trip to see his brother."
--
"Where's he at, then?" the Doctor questioned as he followed House and Cameron down the corridor, "Intensive Care? Emergency Room? Nurses' Station?"
"I hope not," House commented as they passed the nurses' station. He pointed to a three-legged stool beside the desk, "That's my spot."
"Right," the Doctor glanced around and sighted Jack in the room directly across from the station, "Jack!"
"Doctor?" Jack looked up from his crossword puzzle and grinned, "Doctor!"
The Doctor paused outside the door, wondering what in the world he was about to do. Jack was an impossible thing now. He wasn't the man the Doctor had grown to know… and occasionally love. He touched the door handle unsurely and opened the door then stepped in slowly.
Jack jumped up from the bed and threw his arms around the Doctor, "Doctor, I've been searching everywhere for you! I've missed you so much!"
"Yeah," the Doctor whispered, still unsure about Jack's new existence as an immortal man, "You too, Jack."
"So, what're you doing in a hospital gown?" Jack cocked an eyebrow after releasing the Doctor from the close embrace, "Since when do you get sick?"
"I'm not sick," the Doctor shrugged, "Just got a nasty cut and Rose was worried. Now I'm stuck here."
"You have the TARDIS, don't you?" Jack inquired, sitting back on his bed, "Why don't you just swan off without a backward glance? You seem to be really good at doing that."
"Hey, I had to!" the Doctor said defensively, "You had to save the world!"
"You could've told me," Jack furrowed his brows, trying not to glare too harshly, "You could've told me what happened to me."
"I couldn't!" he replied loudly, alerting the doctors outside the room, "I had to regenerate! I had to save Rose! I had to save the world!"
"But… ten seconds, Doctor," Jack sighed and looked at his bare toes, "That's all it would've taken. You could've waited ten seconds."
"No, I really couldn't," the Doctor muttered, then spun around when he heard the door open behind him.
"Okay, fieldtrip's over, kids," House leaned against the doorframe, "John's little blonde is getting worried over him and we've got tests to run on both of you Harknesses."
"John Harkness?" Jack raised an eyebrow at the Doctor, "I didn't know you decided to take my name."
"It's a recent development," the Doctor explained with a slight shrug and a wink.
House's jaw almost dropped. "Oh! You're not brothers… you're married!"