Hello again, my fabulous readers! How's everyone doing today?

Hugs to Dragonjewel25 for stalking the story! yay!

TheGirlWhoImagined- apologizing for missing two things? When you made everything else 30 times more fabulous?! Psh! Please! You rock!

Power of the Pineapple- Thanks! Your name is as cool as a fez!

neva-chanluvsmonsters101- yeah, sorry hun. Thanks so much! That makes me really happy to hear. I've been told before that I sometimes create a Mary-Sue so I'm trying really hard not to here. Glad you like it so much! And stalking me in a good way? Is there such a thing? ...OF COURSE!

Coyote Soupus- haha yeah, I have those lazy days too :P haha, you like it that much? Thanks! I was like "hmm...how to make a superwho crossover with Coyote Soupus...sounds like some sort of space dog...!" Lol. One question: what does "canon" mean?

Mimi-loves-llamas- thanks! Can I say one thing? I feel as though the word "loves" in your name should have two "l"s. Does that make me weird? It would match the word "llamas" then...my brain is tired :/

SomerPassion- *falls to the floor* well I probably should have seen that coming... thanks...uhh...dear... glad you like it :P

Lol so another round of applause to TheGirlWhoImagined for editing again. I love what you did to it! Seriously guys, if you haven't checked out her stories yet, do it. They're fantabulous!

Umm...Reviews today will get you the Doctor's leather jacket (the one 9 wore and 10 wore the first time we see him).*

*Jacket may or may not include said Doctors. They might not both fit in it at once.

Chapter 12 – Needles

Cora stopped giggling after a few minutes. God, she'd missed the feeling. It'd been way too long! She wiped any remaining tears of mirth from her eyes and sighed. It was time to get back to business. "Doctor," she asked, "what did you mean; someone created a new bacteria to infect me with a perception filter? Will it wear off? Can my body fight it off? Will it...kill me?"

The Doctor sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, frustrated that he had no answers for her. "I don't know, Cora. I wish I did, but I just don't know."

During some point of their laugh-fest, Owen had sauntered over, followed by Ianto. Owen had gotten bored of waiting for Jack and Cora to return, so he decided to join them himself. And Ianto wanted to keep their medical examiner from doing anything stupid. Jack grinned from ear to ear at the group. Seriously, thought Cora, doesn't he ever frown? "Aha! Doctor, I want you to meet Owen, our chief medical officer, and I believe you've already met Ianto. Guys, this is the Doctor."

Owen gave the Time Lord a little half wave, "Hey."

Ianto, however reached out to shake his hand, "pleasure."

Jack looked around for a minute, searching for something, the corners of his mouth turning down slightly. 'Bingo!' Cora smirked. "Where's Tosh and Gwen?" he asked. Owen jerked a thumb towards the door, "They went to round up a Weevel. No big deal."

Jack nodded thoughtfully as Cora peered at Owen warily when his gaze fixed upon her. She was worried he would ask her another embarrassing question. Yet she was surprised when that wasn't the case; her secrets safe for now. He crossed his arms, "About that bacteria thing, I've got a bit of an idea."

"I've got to stop going along with everything you guys say," Cora sighed from her perch on the metal slab. The Veritaserum had worn off—finally—but she was, once again, hooked up to a bunch of machines. Perfect. "Seriously, why do I let you talk me into this?"

Owen smirked, "Because you think we're hot."

He chuckled at Cora's discomfort, her cheeks reddened. Damn, that wasn't going to be forgotten anytime soon. For about the tenth time that day, she cursed the truth serum. "Anyways," Owen continued, "this is all perfectly safe. Completely harmless."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

Cora sighed again—this time in relief, "Well good, at least I won't be worried about exploding or dying or having my brain fried by the 'Thing-A-Majig.'"

"Thing-A-Mabob, Cora. Not jig," the Doctor clarified looking up from fiddling with a nob. Cora rolled her eyes, there's a difference. She tried examining all the wires connected to her body. Heart-rate monitors, temperature scanners, and a few other odds and ends she had no names for, but they all looked like regular hospital things—how much harm could they cause?

"Alright, so I ran a few scans, and if I'm right, this dye should light up the bacteria on an x-ray," Owen stated slowly approaching her while tapping on a syringe, releasing the air bubbles. Her eyes widened comically as she scooted backwards away from him. She did not agree to that! Jack braced his arms behind her on the gurney blocking her retreat, keeping her seated on the exam table. "What's wrong," he asked from over her shoulder, concern leaking into his voice. Cora only shook her head as she tried to escape his firm grasp, her eyes never leaving Owen's hands. Jack followed her gaze. He stifled a laugh as he understood, "Scared of needles?"

Cora heard the amusement in his tone and scowled. "No, I just don't particularly like them!"

She struggled against Jack but he firmly held her in place as Owen advanced. She jabbed a finger in his direction, "Harper, you keep that freaking needle away from me or I swear you'll never have children!"

He raised an eyebrow at the threat smirking once again at her expense. Ignoring her he moved closer, only to jump back a moment later. Cora lashed out at him, kicking wildly like a mule. He narrowly escaped losing his masculinity as she almost broke free from Jack!

"Ianto, could ya' get her legs," Owen barked out glaring at her. When she was fully restrained, he injected the needle into her arm. Cora winced at the small prick it came with. "Baby," Owen muttered.

"Dare you to say that again when I'm free," she glared from Jacks vice grip. Owen quickly walked out of reach over to one of the machine.

After a few minutes of waiting for the dye to spread through her body, he took a few x-rays. The room gasped at the results. Her entire body was lit up—the bacteria were everywhere. Ianto let out a low whistle, "Sorry, Cora, but I don't think you're going to be fighting that off."

Cora groaned. Great, just great. "Don't worry, Cora," the Doctor patted her back reassuringly, "we'll figure something out."

"Oh, hey. Doctor," Jack turned to him, "would you mind checking something out before you go? Something slipped through the Rift and we can't figure out what it is."

The Doctor nodded and gave Cora the TARDIS key, assuring her that he'd be there in just a couple seconds. She nodded and headed towards the blue box, questions filling her mind. Why was this happening? Who would do this? What now? And why her?

Shutting the door behind her with a soft click something caught her attention. Cora looked up and gasped. What the hell?

A few minutes later, the Doctor sauntered into the TARDIS, grinning like a madman. Jack had found a sonic potato. He laughed. Who'd make such a silly thing? However, he paused as he found Cora blankly staring off down a hallway. "Cora," the Doctor spoke carefully. She spun around and smiled at him, "Ready to go?"

The Doctor raised an eyebrow at her sudden change in emotion, "What were you staring at?"

He had a bad feeling—something nagging in the back of his mind. Something was off. She shrugged, "Just off in my own little world, I guess." She grinned over at him, "So, what's the plan?"