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Chapter 35 - Hospital

Rose and the Doctor got themselves cleaned up and redressed. Rose washed her face and reapplied her make-up after she had gotten so upset. The Doctor's heart weighed heavy. He had disappointed her yet again.

Rose was not happy about it at all, but the promise that he would tell her what was going on soon seemed to help her cope with whatever he was on about at the moment.

They walked down the hall to the residence where Caroline and Pete had told them they would be waiting for them.

The Doctor held Rose's hand. "Do you know, you ripped my shirt?"

Rose laughed under her breath. Seeing her smile seemed to lift the weight that had settled on his heart just moments before.

"I think it was you that ripped your shirt." Rose corrected him.

"Oh. Yeah, it might have been." he agreed remembering their very recent shag with a smile on his face. "It was completely worth it. I have no regrets." he nodded approvingly.

Rose stopped walking and looked his face.

"How are you keeping me from sensing your emotions unless we touch? I used to be able to feel that until recently?"

The Doctor ran his hand through his hair. "Well, I had to shield that. I didn't want you to worry. I've had a lot on my mind I don't want to bother you about. You shouldn't be able to feel them at all. You are one of the strongest empaths I've ever met."

Rose considered him. She then poked him hard in the chest.

"You better tell me about this soon, old man. And I've still not decided if I need to punch you about it yet." Rose demanded.

Sweat beaded up on the Doctor's head. He nodded and looked at the floor. "I promise I will, Rose. I just can't now. I really can't."

Rose turned back and started walking down the hall again.

The Doctor walked next to her, running his hand through his hair again.

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As soon as they entered the resistance, they were met with a familiar voice.

"Well, how the hell are y'all mashed softies!"

The Doctor and Rose started laughing immediately. The tension from the last few minutes, forgotten. Rose rushed over to kiss Howie on the cheek.

"How are you there, Howie?"

Howie smiled as he greeted them and shook the Doctor's hand. The Doctor couldn't be happier that he was there. If anything would make Rose smile, it was totally President Howard Shepherd.

"Where is Harriet?" the Doctor asked.

"She had to run out for a meeting. She'll be back later tonight." Pete explained.

"Yeah, some politician sold his saddle. Does that really surprise you there, Doc?" Howie asked the Doctor.

The Doctor ran his hand in his hair. He was so confused. "Ugh... maybe it does. I don't know."

Howie tossed his hand in the air in frustration. "Well this entire, damn day has just gave me a sour belly! Are you and Rose still sparking?"

Pete laughed at the look on the Doctor's face. He just stood there listening to Howie with a very confused look on his face. He was clear, by the look, that he was trying to figure out what Howie was saying.

"Sparking." the Doctor repeated, as he tried to figure out what he was saying.

Caroline piped up. "Oh, we didn't tell him. We wanted you to tell him."

Howie turned to Caroline. "Tell me what? Is this treason here?"

Rose apparently understood what Caroline was saying and stepped forward to Howie and showed him her engagement ring.

Howie looked down at the ring, realized what it meant, and embraced Rose. He laughed, which caused the entire room to begin laughing. He let Rose go and grabbed the Doctor and hugged him too.

The Doctor was still so confused. But, he guessed that he was just told of their recent engagement.

"Well, if that don't beat all. Spelendiferous! I tell you, Rose. This dandy fellow of yours is one to ride the river with! Sound on the goose! Not a sog! I am completely dandified!"

The Doctor laughed in disbelief. He still had no idea what Howie had said, but it sounded like he approved.

Pete laughed as he walked over and smacked the Doctor on the shoulder. "It's good. He's happy for you two."

The Doctor nodded. "Thanks Pete."

"You looked a bit lost." Pete laughed. "Come on, we'll head on over to the hospital. Howie, you want to join us?"

"Hell! Let's squaddle! Let these hen's splash. Sparkle Up, boys!" Howie said as he grabbed his cowboy hat, and walked out the door.

The Doctor reached over and grabbed Rose's hand. "You alright here?"

She was feeling the intense fear that was threatening to overtake him as she held his hand.

She nodded. "I'm fine. Are you alri-"

"Fine!" he answered quickly.

They looked at one another for a few moments, each one wondering what they could say.

He kissed her quickly her lips as left to walk out the door.

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The staff at the hospital were extremely helpful. The first thing the Doctor did was have an MRI done of his head. No one asked why thinking it was probably something related to a new project him and Pete must be working on. After the test was ran, the Doctor came in to read the images. He was wearing his glasses.

He was looking very closely in certain areas of his brain. Zooming in on certain places. He never said a word. Pete and Howie just watched him work. Not knowing what he was doing, they could tell he was probably needing them to be quiet at the moment.

After looking at the results intensely for 14 minutes 32.4 seconds, the Doctor stood up and ran both of his hands through his hair.

"I need a lab. Can I use one here?" he asked Howie.

"Sure! Let me holler at some pill!" Howie offered and left the room.

A doctor, lead the trio and bodyguards to a lab where the Doctor drew some blood from his own arm. The lab had four workstations. The Doctor studied his blood under a microscope, as Pete and Howie sat behind him at the other two workstations. Bodyguards had stood in the hallway at the door.

Deep in thought, the Doctor reached in his pocket and pulled out a lollipop and put it in his mouth.

"What 'cha got there, Doc?" Howie asked him.

Remembering they were there, he turned around and tossed them both a lollipop as well. Then he returned to examining his blood.

Howie was finished being quiet. He took his lollipop out of his mouth and began to speak.

"Pete, is he playing the gallery?"

Pete laughed quietly at his friend. "No, I think he knows what he's doing."

"He's being to make me feel a bit pokerish."

The Doctor looked up at Howie and smiled. "Pokerish? I'm not going to do anything to you."

"Having any luck, Doctor?" Pete asked him.

The Doctor sat back in his chair and ran his hand through his hair. "Sort of. I don't know. I need another sample."

"Of what?" Howie asked.

"Another blood sample. From just a regular human." the Doctor said.

Howie laughed, "A human? What is having a fit about, Pete?"

Pete laughed quietly at Howie's response. He walked down to the Doctor, rolling up his sleeve. "Here Doc. Take a sample from me."

The Doctor seemed surprised as Pete sat down in a chair next to him.

"Thanks, Pete. I really appreciate it." The Doctor put on some gloves and drew Pete's blood.

"This isn't played-out. You two are making me all-overish." Howie declared as he crossed his arms.

Pete looked up at Howie as the Doctor drew his blood, "The Doctor isn't from around here, Howie. I thought I had told you that."

"Yeah you did, and you are plum crazy!" Howie declared.

The Doctor smiled proudly. "Now, that I understand!"

Pete continued to explain to his friend, "Howie. You idiot. You know I work at Torchwood. You know that Rose can talk these aliens out of shooting our planet out of the sky. Where do you think she learned that from?"

Howie considered as he scratched his chin. "That Rosie sure can talk a dog off of a gut wagon. How did she meet such a foreigner?"

The Doctor finished drawing Pete's blood and put a cotton ball on his arm. He helped Pete bend his arm, then he went back to his work and looked at Pete's blood under the microscope.

"You know, Howie. I don't know how the Doctor and Rose met." Pete realized.

The Doctor filled in, "I was investigating some Autons, living plastic sorts, that had came to 21st century Earth. And we bumped into one another." he explained simply as he continued to investigate.

The Doctor looked for a few moments at the sample, and then turned around to address Howie and Pete.

"The bigger question is, 'How did you two meet?' You two are a very unlikely pair." The Doctor asked them as he crossed his arms and looked at them both.

Pete smiled. "Yeah, I've known old Howie there a very long time. We met in summer camp back when we were boys."

Howie interjected. "Yep! Circle T's Dude Ranch!"

The Doctor laughed disbelievingly. "A dude ranch? You?" he pointed a Pete.

Pete laughed quietly. "Yeah, my father sent me to boarding school as soon as I was old enough to be shipped off. When we had our summer break, he let me pick a camp that would last all summer. I picked that one because I had romanticized notions of being a cowboy when I was 12."

Howie laughed. "Oh yeah! This fellow from the Old Country came over and found him a filly. He was so sweet on that girl. And she loved to hear him talk. He would jammer all day with her."

Pete was embarrassed. "Oh! We don't have to talk about that, Howie!"

The Doctor laughed in surprise. "A girl, huh?"

"Yeah, a girl. Howie knew I was going to take her on a midnight ride one night. But, it got very late and I didn't come back."

Howie started telling the story, "Yep. Old Pete here was going to get him some sugar from that girl. Something spooked the horses. Hers ran back to camp, but Pete's threw him off."

Pete looked seriously, "Yeah, it did. That horse threw me completely off his back, and down a deep ravine."

Howie said, "It was really late at night, and Pete didn't show up. So, I went looking for him."

Pete continued, "Yep. And he found me. Broken leg, bone pushed through the skin, three broken ribs, concussion."

The Doctor's eyes got huge. "That must have been a deep ravine!"

Pete nodded. "It was. I remember hitting every tree on the way down. It's not the sort of thing a man forgets."

Howie spoke. "It took me forever to find him. But, when I did, my damn flashlight burnt out. I couldn't find my way back to help. Besides, I wasn't sure if I would be able to remember where he was coming back in the dark."

The Doctor asked, "So, what happened."

Pete pointed back at Howie. "Howie happened. He splinted my leg. Made me as comfortable as he could, and kept me awake all night. He refused to leave me. When the sun came up the next morning, he went to get help. I was out of the there in 20 minutes and on my way to the hospital. Spent 15 days in there. They say he saved my life."

This explained so much.

"So, you can understand his slang because you've known him so long?" the Doctor asked.

"No, he tried to learn to speak it to impress that girl!" Howie laughed.

Pete laughed under his breath. "Yeah, I did. And look what it got me. Although I say I can understand him because of that concussion."

Howie cross his arms and laughed at Pete. "Maybe that's it."

The Doctor laughed. "Why do you talk like that, Howie?" Then he realized, "I'd understood everything you've said in the last few minutes."

"Boy, I grew up in a house with 14 siblings. I found out real quick that people will listen to you if they had no idea what you are about to say next. My siblings are all doctors, lawyers and that sort that love to argue and explain how they are right and you ain't. But, look at where me talking like this has gotten me. I'm someplace where I can make a difference, with just what I say."

Pete laughed, "Oh yeah, like that incident with the Japanese emperor?"

Howie got serious and pointed at Pete. "Hey! We worked that out. No need to bring it up again."

The Doctor and Pete laughed.

Pete continued. "Every year after that accident, I'd have my father give me the money for summer camp. I'd take it and come over here to the states and just stay with Howie at his family's home all summer. Father never knew."

"We had the best times! Boy, didn't we ever get into some messes!" Howie declared proudly.

Pete laughed, "Oh yeah. Some of those things, we can never talk about. It would be the end of us both!"

All three of the men laughed. The Doctor, satisfied, turned back around to start studying the microscope again.

Howie sighed. "And you're okay with an alien pirooting your Rose, Pete?"

"Pirooting? What the hell is that?" Pete asked him.

"You know." Howie made a motion with his hands that left little to the imagination.

The Doctor blushed and turned back to his work.

Pete put his head in his hand, in embarrassment and laughed. "You will be the death of me, Howie. We aren't talking about that. I don't want to know."

"Good answer." the Doctor remarked as he continued looking at the blood samples. He was now comparing them.

"But he looks like folk!" Howie said.

The Doctor was enjoying this. He started laughing.

"No, Howie. You look like my people! Ever think of it that way?" he asked him without looking up from his work.

"So you are the same as us?" Howie asked.

"No... there are differences. For one thing, I have more senses than you do. Twenty-six senses in fact." the Doctor said.

"Really?" Pete said. "Like what?"

The Doctor looked Pete in the face. "Well, one for example, is I can tell when people are being dishonest or keeping something from me."

All of the blood must have ran out of Pete's face. "Oh, shit." he stumbled.

"But, no matter. I have my ways of finding out stuff." the Doctor said as he returned to his work.

Pete rubbed his face in his hand. "How much do you know?"

"All of it. You will find that I'm a very hard man to keep any secrets from, Pete Tyler." the Doctor said.

Howie started laughing under his breath. "That was an ambush if I ever saw one! All over the shoot! I like this Doc' guy! He's a fellow in apple pie order! I told you, Pete, that you were playing with fire having him protect Rose with just a lick and promise of information. There are only two things that always tell the truth. Small children and drunks."

"Oh, shut up Howie." Pete told him.

The Doctor laughed at Pete's reaction.

"Don't worry about it, Pete. I think we understand one another."

Pete said, "Yeah. Doctor. Sorry."

"Oh, good. You two are family. No need to argufy! I'm glad y'all can work it out." Howie declared.

The Doctor said, "Yeah, we're good. Pete, how long as your cholesterol been this high, mate?"

Howie howled in laughter. "No good deed goes unpunished, buckaroo!"

Pete put his elbows on his knees as he rolled his eyes at Howie. "A while. I'm on medication for it."

"Well, it's not working. I mean, it is ridiculously high, Pete." the Doctor told him.

Pete looked a bit uncomfortable. "Yeah, now you sound like my doctor."

Howie asked, "Is it from the drinking?"

The Doctor shook his head. "Surprisingly, had he not been drinking as much, he probably would have already had a much bigger problem."

"Damn, peckerhead! Listen to this Doc'! It's not time to turn in your chips!" Howie fussed at Pete. Causing Pete to laugh.

The Doctor smiled at him. "Don't worry, Pete. It's a simple fix."

He walked over to a refrigerated case and looked around until he found a small bottle of medicine. Finding what he was looking for, he drew it up into a small syringe. He came back over and gave Pete a shot in the arm.

"Stop taking that medicine, let me find something that will work." the Doctor said as he went to the computer and started looking.

"Well, he ain't one for piddling around is he?" Howie declared.

Finding what he needed, he pointed to the screen. "That's what you need, Pete. Call Doctor Fletcher and have him prescribe it for you. I don't have the authority to do that."

"To hell with that! I'm the damn President of these here United States! I say you can give ole Pete whatever the hell he needs to get him out of this peck of trouble! Or anyone else for that matter!"

The Doctor smiled. "Well, thank you Howie."

Howie looked seriously at Pete. "That's twice now, Pete."

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