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The shrill beeping of an alarm clock reading 08:00 am starts blaring out annoyingly. As one Alice Noble's hand shot out from underneath the navy blue check duvet, whacking the snooze button on top defiantly. Deciding to drift off for a couple of minutes of sleep.
But only for that to be much short-lived when about twenty minutes later Alice's dearest friend and flatmate Martha Jones who she's known since starting this journey into becoming Doctors together. Was currently banging her fist angrily on her bedroom door, "Come on, Ally get up we're going to be late don't want Mr Stoker having a go at you again do we."
"Alright, alright," the young woman instantly sat up and yawned stretching her arms above her tangled messy red mane, brown eyes becoming wide as saucers once she has noticed the time on the clock. She almost falls flat on her face quickly grabbing a shirt, jumper, skirt, tights, some red converse and hurried out the room, quickly ate breakfast, and headed straight out with Martha to go directly to the Royal Hope Hospital.
Both the young women are weaving in and out of the busy London streets, listening to music through earphones from their mobile phones. Suddenly Martha's phone began to ring, and she answered it straight away going between her family members like a personal messaging service. The young Noble had to guess it was about her brother Leo's twenty-first birthday party later this evening that Martha has invited her along for some moral support.
Her heart honestly went out to her with Martha's parents getting divorced last year, and all the family drama she had to put up with constantly. Which reminded Alice that she'd have to give her mum and sister a call later to see catch up and see how things were. Her father had passed away from cancer just not that many months ago, so it made her want to check up on her family much more often than necessary.
Especially, Donna, she had become more worried about her big sister lately, ever since their adventure with the Doctor last Christmas she hadn't been the same. So Alice suggested she have an experience of her own and that's where Donna currently was, sunning herself in the ancient land of Egypt.
That's when suddenly out of nowhere when she had just been thinking about the Doctor there he stood blocking her and Martha's path only on Chancery Street. Alice's staring back at him with utter disbelief that he was here, she wanted to pinch herself to know she wasn't dreaming, but yet there he stood still wearing that same brown pinstriped suit, converse and hair spiked within an inch of its life.
"Like so," he now offered with that ever so cheeky grin and gave her a small wink passing her his dark blue patterned tie, "See?"
And just like that, he walked away, blending into the crowd leaving Martha freaked out. Alice somewhat baffled about what the Doctor just did well he was a little odd anyway who is she to complain but needed to play it off to that she hadn't a clue who he was, "Well, that was just the weirdest thing ever," Alice comments shaking her head, stuffing the Doctor's tie into her messenger bag and closing it.
"Oh, definitely weird," Martha agreed, nodding her head, "No doubt about that. Now let's get going, or we'll be late."
They continued their way and arrived at the Royal Hope Hospital not ten minutes later. A man in full black motorbike gear head to toe barged his way through us on the way in.
"Oi! Watch, it mate," Alice and Martha hollered at him as they paused to look at them, both entered the hospital. Hesitating for a moment, both women a little uncertain on how to react they continued into the building.
Alice and Martha went to their perspective lockers, put away their personal belongings and pulled on their white lab coats. They touched their locker doors, both receiving an electric shock causing her and Alice to share similar looks of bewilderment. But Alice just didn't know what would cause something like that, but it told her it wasn't normal. There was a little unusual warmth on her chest from where the locket rested against her skin, that her dad gave her before passing away. But she decided to ignore it, debating whether it was the after-effects of the electric shock or that she might be possibly coming down with something.
A hand comes to rest on her shoulder, almost making her jump, before read losing it was Martha, "You alright Ally? I've been calling you for the last minute."
Alice cleared her throat, "Uh, yeah, sorry about that I was miles away."
"What were you thinking about?" her best friend asked.
"Nothing, Martha come on, let's go, or we'll be late."
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Alice stifled a yawn, just as she and Martha and their fellow medical students approached the next patient's bed. Mr Stoker, an older man with balding hair who had an air of arrogance about him, was currently trying to demonstrate the art of diagnosing a patient as a part of their training. But only it was that Martha's mind was plagued with nothing but her brothers' party.
The patient in question was called Mrs Finnegan, who began explaining her medical problem, "I was all right till this morning. Then, I don't know, I woke up, and I felt all dizzy again. It was worse than when I came in."
Mr Stoker checks the woman's pulse-taking hold of the patient's wrist, "Pulse is slightly thready," he glanced to the doctors-in-training, "Well, let's see what Britain's finest might suggest, Any ideas, Moregenstern?"
"Dizziness can be a sign of early-onset diabetes," Moregenstern responded with a slight stutter.
"Hardly early onset," if you'll forgive me, Miss Finnegan. Any more ideas? Swales?"
"Um..." but Alice could tell they were clueless about it, "Could recommend a CT scan," they offered with a guess.
"And spend all our money?" Mr Stoker dismissed with a scoff and a wave of his hand and looked in Martha's direction, "Jones?"
"We could take bloods and check for Meniere's disease," Martha didn't have a clue either.
That's when Alice simple stepped forwards to directing her question at the patient, "What did you have for dinner yesterday?"
"I had salad," Mrs Finnegan innocently replied.
"What about the night before?" Alice inquired.
"Salad, again..."
"Her diagnosis Mr Stoker is a salt deficiency," the young woman diagnosed, leaving Martha rather impressed by her friend.
"Very impressive diagnosis Miss Noble there may be hope for you after all," he praised the young woman before the students followed him across the lobby, "Hippocrates himself expounded on the virtues of salt. Recommended the inhalation of steam from seawater. Though no doubt if he'd been afflicted with my students, results might have been rather more colourful."
Alice noticed her friend stopping to look at two men in leather, similar to that who had barged into them earlier, just getting out of the lift. They followed after the other students and into another ward, to another patient who sat in bed with a slight vacant smile on his face.
"Now then, Mr Smith. Very good morning to you. How are you today?" Mr Stoker greeted, as both Alice and Martha glanced cautiously behind them.
"Aw, not so bad, still a bit, you know. Blah," 'Mr Smith's' eyes drifted across the room. Eyes instantly widen stopping at the familiar face of one Alice Noble, staring back at him with disbelief. Martha, on the other hand, was equally as surprised to see the very same man who had been on the street earlier. Alice was having words with him when she got the chance.
"John Smith, admitted yesterday with severe abdominal pains. Jones, why don't you see what you can find? Amaze me," Mr Stoker, giving her a look that told her not to get anything else wrong today.
The young Noble watched her friend step forwards and take her stethoscope from around her neck, leaning forwards to quietly speak to him, "That wasn't very clever, running around outside, was it?"
"Sorry?" the Doctor frowned, wondering what she meant.
"On Chancery Street this morning. You came up to me, and my friend took your tie off and gave it to her," Martha explained, warming up the end of her stethoscope.
"Really? What did I do that for?" but he still frowns in confusion.
Because he's weird, Alice thought and internally scoffed.
"I don't know, you just did," Martha asked with a shrug, which made Alice wonder the same thing yet then again he did have a time machine, so maybe it was him but from another moment in time.
"Not me. I was here, in bed," the Time Lord jabbed his finger at the staff, who have currently sat around at the reception, "Ask the nurses."
"Well, that's weird, cause it looked like you. Have you got a brother?" Alice noticed her eye him suspiciously.
"No, not any more. Just me."
Mr Stoker cleared his throat from behind her, "As time passes and I grow ever more infirm and weary, Miss Jones."
"Sorry. Right," she apologised with a slight blush on her cheeks, turning back to place her stethoscope on his chest a puzzled look coming across Martha's face. She moves it over to the other side of his chest something that hadn't gone unnoticed by Alice who now tilted her head as the Doctor winked at her.
"I weep for further generations," Mr Stoker sighed with aggravation, "Are you having trouble locating the heart, Miss Jones?"
The young redhead watched Martha draw back slowly, but she was just equally as stunned. He had two hearts! But then again why would that surprise her he was an alien after all! "Um. I don't know. Stomach cramps?"
"That is a symptom, not a diagnosis," Mr Stoker almost scolded her, going towards the foot of the bed, "And you rather failed basic techniques by not consulting first with the patient's chart."
He went to pick it up the chart, only to receive an electric shock, instantly dropping it onto the bed.
"That happened to me this morning," Martha recalls about the shock she and Alice had gotten earlier.
"Me too," Alice offered with a nod.
"I had the same thing on the door handle," Moregenstern adds.
"And me, on the lift," Swales tells them.
"That's only to be expected. There's a thunderstorm moving in, and lightning is a form of static electricity, as was first proven by - anyone?" Mr Stoker looked expectantly at his students.
"Benjamin Franklin," both Alice and the Doctor answered in unison, sharing a brief yet surprised look with one another as everyone else couldn't help but find it very odd.
"Correct!"
"My mate Ben," the Doctor looked away deep in thought, "That was a day and a half. I got rope burns off that kite, and then I got soaked..." the other students offered various looks of concern at Mr Smith, but not Alice knowing his statement wasn't crazy but very real.
"Quite..."
"...and then I got electrocuted," he added with a rather enthusiastic smile.
"Moving on..." Mr Stoker now turned to a nurse and whispered, "I think perhaps a visit from psychiatric," Alice knew the Doctor was a lot to deal with, but he was always a step away from being in the loony bin, "And next we have..."
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During lunch break just as Alice comes out of the ladies toilets, she catches the Time Lord coming down the corridor quickly peering into the staff kitchenette where she knew Martha was currently with Swales. So in doing so, she promptly hid out of sight, hiding around the corner waiting for him to approach it.
Once he finally does, Alice grabbed the Doctor by his dressing gowns lapels as he let out a noise of bewilderment and shoved him up against the wall, "What are you bloody doing here?"
"Well..." he dragged out carefully trying to consider his answer, from the young redheads intense questioning gaze, gesturing at her, "I was going to ask you the same thing Ally, but I think the whole getup is pretty obvious."
"Yes, I'm doing my doctor's training here," Alice loosens her grip on him, pointing at the floor before angrily jabbing a finger in his chest, "But the last thing I need right now is you showing up," she moved away from a few steps, folded her arms across her chest and stared at him still want, "Now tell me why you're here?"
"There are plasma coils surrounding the entire hospital..." the Doctor explained, even though Alice hadn't the foggiest what he's nattering on about, she pretended to nod along with interest, "The energy has been building up for the last couple of days, so that's..."
Alice interjected with a disbelieving scoff and shook her head, "...why you booked yourself in with a bad stomach to waste valuable NHS resources," now pinching the bridge of her nose, "Just for you to have a snoop around. Never thought for you to be bad boy Doctor," she ended sarcastically, but he hadn't noticed.
"Why thank you," there was a few moments of deathly drawn-out silence between them after he spoke only for the Doctor to break it quick succession, "So...how's Donna?"
"She's away in Egypt at the moment. Doing what she said she would," Alice replied with a shrug hands in her coat pockets, as they now began walking side by side down the corridor together.
"That's great," the Time Lord voiced with a pleasant smile.
"So what about you?" Alice inquired glancing sideways at him.
Quickly Alice saw that pleasant expression fade into one of nothing but a mask of emptiness as he stared straight ahead, "What about me?"
"Are you still travelling by yourself?" the young woman tried to elaborate more.
The Doctor suddenly stopped walking from her question, "Yeah, I'm still travelling by myself," he offered sternly with a small sniff, "It's like I told Donna, I don't need anyone. I'm just fine being on my own."
"Doc, we all need somebody," Alice offered gently.
"Well, certainly not me."
Alice scoffed and rolled her eyes as they began walking again, trying but wanting to believe him, "Look, I don't know what happened about your friend Rose, my sister had mentioned once," she tried to ignore the slight flinch he gave, just from saying the name Rose, "All that guilt and self-pity your feeling is worthless. That isn't going to bring her back and pushing those away who are trying to help you isn't going to bring your friend back either. So buck up and get on with your life."
The Time Lord didn't say anything and turned his back on Alice. Who had noticed the glare in his eyes? It's generally followed by that person offering an apology, in which case if they've been offended by another's words, but Alice wasn't going to give him the benefit of the doubt. Because she told him exactly what she thought and didn't care monkeys if he was annoyed with her about it, she just had to say something.
After a few moments, he said monotonously without even looking the young woman in the eye, "Now..." he takes a deep breath, "I'd say it was nice to see you again Alice, but I've got some more investigating to do and good luck with everything," he quickly glanced over his shoulder at her sadly before walking away.
"Hey, wait! You're not going anywhere without me, mister!" Alice goes chasing after him up the corridor, firmly grabbing his arm.
"Alice, go and get back to your training," he yanked his arm from her grip.
"I'm coming with you whether you like it or not, Spaceman," Alice offered with the most stubborn of looks, that'd even put her older sister to shame.
"Stop calling me 'Spaceman' please," he insisted with raised eyebrows.
"Why not, Spaceman?" Alice narrowed her eyes at him, "I like calling you that so live with it, Spaceman."
"You won't stop calling me that until I let you come with me, will you?" he asked with a deep sigh.
"Yeah."
"Okay," he let out another sigh, "Come on, let's go, stay with me and don't go wandering off."
"Of course, Doctor sir," Alice gave a salute.
"Please don't do that," he returned her a sour look, and he walked off.
With Alice muttering under her breath as she followed after him, "Grouch."