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Chapter 10 – Back in the Med Bay

Rose and Lance walked with Karen through the hallways of the ship. Rose held baby Samuel in her arms. Lance held Karen about the shoulder and assured her that Samuel was alright. She was trying not to cry, especially in front of Rose Tyler.

Lance walked with them into the med bay, and down the hallway. Karen saw Samuel sitting on the side of a bed, without his shirt on. The Doctor sat behind him, doing something to his back. Arles held his hand as he grunted.

"Samuel!" She gasp and ran to him. She took his other hand and he smiled without opening his eyes.

"Karen. Oh, I'm glad to see you." He told her without opening his eyes.

Rose handed baby Samuel to Lance.

Lance kissed his face and smiled. "And who has you now?"

Baby Samuel held his hands out to the room. "My Ren."

Rose pointed at the baby. "Karen loves you, Samuel. Mum will be with you in a bit."

Samuel poked his lip out and Lance playfully kissed his face. "Come with Lance."

Baby Samuel clapped his hands together. "Don, Wance, Pleze."

Lance took the baby back down the hallway.

Karen became more frightened as Samuel gripped her hand tighter. He looked as if he was in a lot of pain. "Are you alright?"

The Doctor spoke, "He is a lucky guy. Hang on. Nearly have it. There!"

Samuel opened his eyes and seemed to be relieved. "Oh, that's better!"

The Doctor quickly tossed whatever was in Samuel's back to the side and quickly went to work on repairing the wound. "And more blood."

Rose fussed, "We don't need a play by play, please."

The Doctor grit his teeth as he continued to work on Samuel's back. "Sorry. Oh, this is a mess."

As soon as Samuel's eyes had focused on Karen, he laid his forehead to hers and closed his eyes again.

Arles put Samuel's other hand in Karen's and pat her back. "He's going to be alright."

Karen gripped Samuel's hands tighter.

The Doctor spoke to him. "Hang on, son. Is the pain blocker still working?"

Samuel didn't open his eyes and grit his teeth. "Yeah."

Arles shook his head. "This doesn't look like it's working, Dad. I'm getting him another one."

Karen stroked Samuel's face. "You're alright, Samuel. He's going to make the pain stop."

Samuel didn't open his eyes and told her quietly. "Stay with me. Please."

"I'm here, Samuel. Everything is alright." She told him.

Arles put another pain blocker on Samuel's back and turned it on. Samuel's eyes opened widely. "Oh! That one is working."

Arles put another one on the other side of where his Dad was working on Samuel's back. "Some added insurance, brother."

Rose walked over to the where the Doctor was closing the wound. "What happened?"

The Doctor continued to work. "Somehow, he landed on the side of a table. The glass broke, and the edge of the leg, broke off, and went into his back."

Samuel seemed to relax as the pain blockers did their job. His breathing steadied and the color returned to his face.

Karen kissed his face and told him quietly, "You're alright."

The Doctor nodded, "Okay. Let's lay you down, son. On your side."

Arles and the Doctor worked together to lay Samuel down. Karen moved a chair on wheels over for her to sit on. She ran her hand through Samuel's hair as he looked into her eyes and reassured him that he was alright.

Rose rubbed his leg. "Gosh, how did this happen?"

The Doctor groaned. "Oh, how things always happen. Rose Tyler, your son is as jeopardy friendly as you are."

Rose pat Samuel's leg. "He certainly looks it."

Samuel closed his eyes and groaned.

"Feel that?" The Doctor stopped working.

"Yes." Samuel told him.

The Doctor looked up at Karen. "I'm going to put him to sleep."

Samuel griped Karen's hand tighter. "Don't leave me."

She kissed his face. "Samuel, I'm not going anywhere. I'm right here. Shhh…. Let him work."

Arles put a device on Samuel's forehead and pressed a button. Samuel relaxed as he drifted to sleep.

Karen held her lips to his head and whispered, "You're alright."

Rose put her hands on her hips. "And someone needs to explain how this happened."

Arles moved his eyes over to her. "Ummm."

She rose her eyebrows. "Arles? What do you know about this?"

The Doctor grinned, "That's amazing, Rose."

"What?"

He continued to work on Samuel's back. "Arles is only two months old, and you're already progressed to parent the adult version of him, too."

Arles held out his hands. "He's alright, Mum-"

"And I'd like to know how he ended up on this table." Rose insisted.

Arles dropped his head dramatically and handed his Dad some more gauze. "Mum. Dad is sorting him out-"

She rose her eyebrows at him. "So, this is you, not telling me what I'm asking. Does this ever work with me?"

Arles shook his head. "Not usually, no ma'am-"

"Then you had better start talking, young man!" She pointed at him.

Arles reached up to get a hyper spray container and handed it to the Doctor. The Doctor looked at it in surprise. "Oh, yeah. Thanks, son."

Arles sighed. "We were fighting a Vesuos-"

Karen lifted her head up, "A Vesuos?"

Arles nodded, "Yes. Sammy's watch told him that one was inside of Stark's penthouse. Me, him, and Papa went to sort it out-"

"Whoa." Rose insisted. "Where is Lewis?"

The Doctor didn't look up. "He's disposing of the body with Tony."

"The body?" Karen asked in disbelief.

Arles bobbed his head in excitement, "Yes! The body. Papa has one more Vesuos on his record, now."

The Doctor looked back at Arles, who immediately stopped celebrating and cleared his throat. "Right. That's nothing to celebrate, Dad. You're right."

Rose turned her head to keep them from seeing her grin.

Arles continued. "I phased to keep him from getting his hands on me, and Sammy….well, he got tossed."

"Tossed?" Karen asked.

Arles nodded. "Right through the door like a softball. He fell to the sitting room and broke Tony's table."

Karen kissed Samuel's face again. "Oh my gosh. Samuel, you are alright."

The Doctor continued to work. "Fell from the top landing, huh? That explains a lot of what I'm seeing back here."

Rose shook her head. "Should we even be in here-"

"I have a sterile field on him. You're fine."

Rose looked back at her son and pat his leg.

Karen continued to run her fingertips through his hair.

The Doctor worked in silence for a while and Arles handed him things to assist before he even would ask for it. Rose watched and crossed her arms. "Arles?"

He held up his hands, "I've told you everything I know, Mum!"

She smiled, "Are you a Doctor, too?"

"No way. Why would I want to do that?" He asked as he turned and pulled another device out of a drawer to hand to his Dad.

Rose grinned. "Seems like you know your way around this room."

"I've been here a lot." Arles told her. "Sammy is usually the one out of our lot who gets hurt. Well, no that's not true."

Karen looked up, "It probably seems that way because he can heal you guys when you get hurt."

Arles nodded, "Yeah, that's probably it. And when he gets hurt, Sammy really gets hurt."

The Doctor continued to work on his son. "This rib is broken. Hand me that…."

Arles handed the tool that his Dad needed to him just as he found something in Sam's back, "And what is this? Metal bits?"

Arles shrugged his shoulders. "That's probably shrapnel from when he was shot."

The Doctor looked up at him. "Why is it still here?"

Arles shook his head. "Tony took him to the hospital when he was shot. You were someplace with Ashena. The Doctor removed as much as he could, but said he would probably find more…"

The Doctor groaned. "This is such a mess."

Rose looked up at Arles, "Sam was shot?"

Arles nodded, "Yes, ma'am. But, see. He's fine!"

Rose shook her head. "Mum is not convinced here, Arles."

The Doctor groaned, "He was with Tony when it happened. He's told me about it."

Just as he said that, Tony and Lewis walked into the room.

Tony made a face. "And that looks more involved than I thought."

Rose immediately questioned him. "And what is this about Samuel being shot-"

Tony held up his hands, "He hit a table! He wasn't shot-"

"He was, too! And he was with you when it-"

"You're pissed. I can see that-"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

The Doctor looked up and hushed them. "Oi! Go fight out in the hallway."

Tony didn't hear the Doctor. "Rose, I haven't done anything yet-"

"Yet! How did he get shot?"

"He was flying in one of my suits-"

"Has he been flying in the suits since he's been here?" Rose asked.

Tony rubbed his face. "Ummm…yeah-"

"Tony! I'm going to kill you-"

"It was just once! I think, maybe twice! And he's fine-"

"This isn't fine-"

Karen stood up and pointed at Rose and Tony. Her look of determination could have rivaled the Oncoming Storm in that moment. "You two. Take it outside."

Tony rose his eyebrow and cleared his throat. He held his hand out to invite Rose to walk through the door first, and then he closed the door behind them.

The Doctor looked up at Karen and grinned. "You're tough."

Karen sat back down and kissed Samuel's head again. "He's been through enough without hearing that."

The Doctor nodded. "I agree. Although, I'll admit that I would like to see if Stark can block Rose's punch."

Karen grinned and began to run her hand through Samuel's hair again.

Lewis moved to stand beside of the Doctor and look at Samuel's back. "That's a lot of damage."

"Ah, it's not that bad. I had to open it up in here to get some metal out."

Lewis nodded and looked up at Arles. "Are you alright?"

Arles looked surprised, "Yeah, Papa. You?"

Lewis crossed his arms and watched the Doctor work again. "Yeah. I'm fine. Why wasn't his personal shield on?"

Arles held his hands out. "Couldn't tell you."

Lewis rose his eyebrow at his son. "What is yours' on?"

"Right now? It's on maybe 30%-"

"Check it and tell me."

Arles sighed and looked at his bracelet. "It's turned off."

"Turned off?" Lewis repeated. "And do you-"

Karen pointed at Lewis. "Ah! Take it outside, Papa. I'm not even kidding."

Lewis stood up and held the door open. Arles put his hands in his pockets and walked out of the door. Lewis joined him as the door closed behind them.

The Doctor looked up and seeing it was just him and Karen there with Samuel, grinned. "Really tough."

"Samuel would tease me about this. He calls me the 'Black Mumba'."

The Doctor laughed. "That sounds appropriate."

She watched him work for a bit, "If you need me to hand you anything, let me know-"

"Nah, I think I'm nearly finished here. It's looking better. He has, several chipped places on his spine. Do you know what that's from?"

She ran her hand through his hair again. "I don't know."

The Doctor nodded and reached in to heal the spots that he could using his regeneration energy. Karen was so busy looking at Samuel's sleeping face and reassuring him that he was alright, that she never noticed.

The Doctor continued to work. "And Rose owes you an apology that I'm going to give for her."

"Why?" Karen asked.

"She let the secret slip when we were at dinner tonight."

Karen smiled and continued to run her hand through Samuel's hair. "I told him it was alright to tell everyone. He thinks I need a big ceremony, but I don't."

The Doctor stopped working and looked confused at her. "So, no big ceremony?"

She kissed Samuel's head again. "I don't want that. Gosh, the stress of that with the baby on top of it. School. This dig."

The Doctor grinned and went back to work. "Yeah, I see what you mean."

Karen looked up at him. "Did you and Rose have a big wedding?"

He smiled, "No. Just a very small thing. We had Howie marry us there in London at our flat there. Just family were there. Quauhtin. That sort of thing. We weren't even wearing shoes."

Karen laughed.

The Doctor continued to work. "I admit. I told Rose she was completely mental when she told me that she wanted to exchange the vows the way we did. Howie was drunk. Gosh, so drunk that he had to be coached on the words."

Karen giggled and played with Samuel's hair again.

The Doctor smiled, "But, seeing these huge wedding plans that Jackie Tyler has now. I'm very grateful that Rose didn't want that. Especially, with all of this….security problems and such."

Karen smiled. "That's what I wanted. Something small. Just between me and him. He did the…umm….where he makes the promise to the baby?"

The Doctor continued to work. "The Andromedaen Promise to the Child. That's appropriate."

"I thought it was very sweet. He made me cry."

The Doctor smiled proudly, "What did he say?"

"There aren't actual words to that?"

"No. It's whatever you want to say."

She smiled at Samuel again and ran her hand through his hair. "Oh, I might start crying again. I didn't know that."

The Doctor continued to work and nodded. "He says you've decided on a name. Halley."

"Yes. We haven't thought of anything to go with it. But, it's a start."

"When I was deciding what my name would be, Rose insisted we write it down. I was surprised how many names that eliminated. That's what I would suggest."

"Writing it down?"

"Yep." He popped.

Karen held her hand on Samuel's head and watched the Doctor work. "You are Johnathan…what?"

"Johnathon Alexander Storm Smith." He told her without looking up. "Rose felt that John Smith was too oblivious of a false name."

"I agree. Where does Alexander come from?"

"Samuel probably has told you."

"He said he didn't know."

The Doctor stopped working and looked up at her. "Really?"

"He said he had no idea."

"That's interesting. I wonder why I never told him why." The Doctor asked as he went back to work.

"My guess is Alexander the Great."

The Doctor mumbled. "He was great. Without question. A much better man than I'll ever hope to be."

Getting the impression that he didn't want to talk about it, Karen looked back at Samuel and ran her hand through his hair again.

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Meanwhile, Rose and Tony had gone into the main room of the med bay. She rounded on him as soon as she felt they wouldn't be heard.

"And he was shot!"

Tony put his hands in his pockets and shrugged his shoulders. "Not today."

"He's hurt-"

"Because he's a brave kid! He saw that something was my place, and went to see what it was. He knows these Vesous are coming back for him, or my Soli. Rose. Have you seen one of these things?"

She sighed. "I just don't want him hurt."

"Of course you don't. I don't either. But, they are coming to take Soli. To take my son. He's trying to stop that. Do you see how brave this guy is? Or are you too busy screaming at me?"

Rose put her hands on her hips and shook her head.

"He's not the baby that Lance just left out of here with, Rose."

Rose wiped her eyes. "He's my baby."

"You can tell! He's…..wow."

Rose smiled and wiped her eyes. "Thank you."

"This guy…..Rose. He rushes right into a situation. Doesn't stop to think that he may get hurt. Believe me. It's something on my mind, too! I want to keep him safe, along with these other kids. I'm not the enemy here. I am trying to help."

Rose nodded and took a deep breath. "You're right. Tony, I'm sorry."

Tony waved his hand to excuse her. "Ah. All of us are worked up. I picked a terrible time to stop drinking."

Rose looked up at him and laughed.

He grinned at her. "So, we're good?"

She nodded. "Yes."

Just then, the doors slid open to the med bay and little Samuel ran in chasing a light ball. Lance was right behind him. Rose and Tony both turned to see Samuel running.

"Oh my gosh!" She exclaimed.

Samuel stopped running and stood briefly before he fell back on his backside. He laughed and clapped his hands together. "Mum! Mum! Sam go!"

Tony and Rose looked back at one another and smiled.

Tony rose his eyebrows. "Can you see? No fear. Already."

Rose willed herself not to cry and rushed over to take baby Samuel in her arms.

He laughed. "Mum!"

She kissed his little face. "You are such a brave little, boy. Do you know that?"

Samuel hugged his Mum.

Lance recalled the light ball to his hand. "Samuel doing better?"

Tony ran his hand through the baby's hair. "John's still working. Did he get a haircut?"

Rose held her face close to Samuel's. "He did."

He looks more like a little boy than a baby, now." Tony grinned.

Samuel clapped, "Nee!"

Tony smiled at him. "Hey, man. I like your haircut."

Samuel hugged Rose again and laid his head on her shoulder.

She rubbed his back and kissed him.

Tony looked back at Lance. "I'd like to have a look at something in the control room while I'm up here."

Lance nodded. "Sure, man. I'm going to return to the island with the ladies. Umm, Rose?"

Rose continued to hold Samuel in her arms. "I'm alright. Go ahead."

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