Ch 102

Amelia and Freya were trying to calm Felix in the medbay. They'd put him down in the crib the TARDIS provided and were trying to distract him with an old stuffed whale, waving it about above his head. Felix's cries had died down to whimpers, though mostly because there was a pacifier in his mouth preventing him from outright wailing.

Jack and the Doctor brought River over to one of the exam tables upon entering, helping her lay down. Jack went to take care of Felix as the Doctor got to work setting up scans for River and all the other kids, even Terra though he knew she was probably fine.

"Why do you have to do scans of us?" Arthur asked.

"That was a very powerful sonic wave and I want to make to make such you aren't hurt," he set the last scan for himself and glanced at River. If that's what the sonic wave did to a fully grown adult, he fretted how the kids might be affected, even with their ears covered.

The TARDIS put up the results of the scans. Felix and Amelia each had a ruptured eardrum but the other children seemed fine. River had ruptured both her eardrums as well as fractured several bones in her inner ears on both sides.

The Doctor read all the diagnosis aloud, glancing between the kids and his wife. "Jack, can you start Felix and Amelia on antibiotic ear drops."

Jack nodded, getting the medication out of the cabinet. The Doctor sat slowly on the cot next to River. "Do you want something for the pain?"

River didn't answer aside from squeezing his hand. Jack got some pain medication as well an handed out doses to Amelia and River. Both accepted gratefully.

Terra tapped Jack's leg. She seemed to be the only to spot her brother's new affliction.

"Erm...Doctor..." Jack warned after Terra pointed out what was going on. Felix's ears had started to glow with a soft yellow light.

The Doctor looked over, eyes widening. He stood quickly rushing over to the cot. The baby had stopped crying by now, his ears engulfed in light.

"Felix..." he lifted the baby up, "Stop that. They'll heal on their own." By that point, he was already finished, flapping his arms happily.

The Doctor looked him over, peering at his ears and sighing. He looked back at River. River's eyes were closed now, looking like she was in a great deal of pain, despite the medication. The Doctor handed Felix over to Jack. "Would you mind getting the kids some lunch?"

"Sure." Jack nodded, ushering the kids out of the room.

"And, let me know if you need more pain meds, Amelia," he called after them as they left. He turned his attention back to his wife and sat by her again.

He put his hands on either side of her head and snapped one and then the other to see if she still reacted to sound. She didn't react at all, eyes staying closed.

Frowning, he tapped her shoulders. She opened her eyes just a tad.

"Can you hear me?" he asked in a normal tone.

"What?" She frowned.

"[I said: can you hear me?]" he sighed, though this time the question was rhetorical since the answer was obviously no. She shook her head, closing her eyes again. Her head hurt so much, it hurt to keep her eyes open.

He left her side for a few moments. He tucked a few cloth-wrapped ice packs around her head when he returned and pressed pills of a different, stronger pain medication into her palm.

She took the medicine, reaching for his hand for comfort again. Letting out a worried sigh, he intertwined his hand with hers and squeezed.

"My head..." She murmured wearily.

"Give the new meds a chance to kick in," he said then stopped remembering she couldn't hear him. He squeezed her hand instead to show her that he'd heard.

She held his hand tighter, "Kids?"

With Jack, he thought directly to her to save her the effort of opening her eyes.

They're okay?

Well...Yes. He answered with slight hesitation. Felix is better.

All River really heard was the yes, her brain in too much pain to process anything after that. He didn't press the subject, deciding he could tell her once the meds kicked in.

In the meanwhile, he sat with her while they waited.

After a while, River started to relax with the easing pain. Her expression softened out of a grimace into a neutral tone.

River? The Doctor started.

Yeah?

Felix healed himself.

What? What do you mean?

He concentrated and shared the recent memory with her of the boy's ears glowing.

Her mind immediately relayed distress, upset at this information. She tried to stand, pushing herself off the cot.

"River no." He put his hands on her shoulders. The swelling in your ears is going to throw off your balance control. You shouldn't get up.

She groaned, laying back down when the pressure in her head surged.

He's okay. The Doctor assured, adjusting the ice packs around her head. He's with Jack and the kids now.

Are you sure?

Yes. He stroked his thumb over the back of her hand. Yes, I'm sure.

She closed her eyes again, finding that this was the best she was going to get for now.

After a long while, Terra and Arthur wandered back into the medbay and sat by their mother's bed.

"[Are you okay]" River asked the two kids.

The two of them nodded. "Dad says my ears are fine. And Terra did hear it anyways so she's fine, too." Arthur pointed out.

"Arthur, you need to sign to her. She can't hear right now," the Doctor informed.

"What do you mean she can't hear?" Arthur's expression matched his mother's.

"[That sound wave fractured some of the bones in her inner ears,]" he explained. "[The swelling from that is causing a temporary deafness.]" Truthfully, they wouldn't know if it was temporary or not until the swelling went down.

"Oh..." Arthur signed to his mother this time, "[Dad said my ears are fine and so are Terra's.]"

Terra looked conflicted but slightly hopeful. "[You're like me now?]"

"[Just for a little while.]" River nodded slightly.

"[Oh.]" She glanced at her father, then her brother, then finally back to River. "[What was that glowing thing Felix did? Jack wouldn't tell me.]"

River looked at the Doctor, her distressed look returning. He met her eyes, his expression remaining schooled. Do you want me to explain it?

I don't want her to know.

What should I tell her? I don't want to lie.

I don't know. I can't think right now, my head hurts.

He thought for a moment and started slowly. "[It was a reaction to the damage from the soundwave.]"

"[What did it do?]"

He looked at River again but was unwilling to tell a lie. "[It sped up his healing process.]"

"[It fixed him?]" She hesitated before asking her next question, "[Could it fix me?]"

"[You're not broken,]" he frowned slightly, not wanting Terra to think she needed 'fixing'. "[But I don't think it could make you hear.]"

"[Can't Mum do it too? Then she could hear again.]" Arthur suggested.

"[That not—she'll heal just the same either way.]" He said quickly, trying to veer the subject. "[Would you go let Jack know to bring the device out of the console room. I don't want it in the TARDIS anymore.]"

"[But why doesn't Mummy use glow too?]" Arthur pressed.

"[It's only for big emergencies. I don't want to discuss this right now.]"

Arthur deflated slightly, leaving to do as the Doctor asked. Terra stayed, not wanting to leave her parents regardless of the Doctor going strict.

"[Terra, my love,]" the Doctor started gently. "[Why don't we go and let mummy rest?]"

"[But I wanna stay.]" She pouted.

He glanced at his wife, seeing how exhausted she looked. "[I promise we can come back soon. She needs to rest so she can heal.]" Terra huffed, wiggling off the bed. He took her hand as he led her from the room. "[Do you want to help me with something?]"

Terra nodded, always eager to help, "[What are we doing?]"

"[We're going to try to figure out what went wrong with the device. It's safe since you deactivated it.]"

"[Okay.]"

The Doctor stopped as they approached the console room, signaling for Terra to stop as well. The lights had all been shut off inside the console room except for the central column where the time rotor was and a shadow passed by it.

"[What is that?]" Terra frowned.

"[Terra,]" he said slowly, not taking his eyes off the dark room. "[Go find uncle Jack.]"

The little girl ran off, understanding the seriousness of the situation from her father's expression. The Doctor took a step inside the console room when he heard Terra's footsteps get far enough away and took out a torch from his pocket. He shined it over the controls, scanning for danger.

The cracks in the central column and the monitor had been repaired—no doubt something the TARDIS took care of. The device was still where Jack left it on the console, but next to it now was a looming figure a few feet taller than the Doctor.

The Doctor squared his jaw, reaching for his sonic with his free hand. "Who are you?"

The creature didn't speak, slowly turning to face the Doctor, seemingly looming taller and taller as it turned. Just as it was about to be fully faced to face with the Doctor, a blaster shot whizzed past the Doctor, narrowly missing the creature.

The Doctor spun around to see who had shot, but the creature didn't miss the opportunity to dash. It grabbed the device, ripping wires out that had been left over from the data collecting, then vanished in a quick flash of light.

Freya was standing at the entrance to the console room, blaster in hand. "Sorry. I thought I had the shot." She looked quite defeated.

Mildly dazed, the Doctor looked between his daughter and the spot the creature had just been standing. "It was... isn't that your mother's gun?"

She nodded slowly, "Yeah. I got it from your room." She went over to him, going to hand it over, thinking he would want to confiscate it. "What was that?"

"I don't know." He took the blaster, fumbling cluelessly with it for a moment before turning the safety on and pocketing it. "It could have been the owner of that device but something tells me it's probably not that simple."

"Where's Mum?" She continued to ask questions, "I thought she would be in the med bay still, but she wasn't there."

"She isn't?" He sounded as confused as she did. He started down the corridor, walking fast to go see for himself.

Freya ran after him, trying to keep up. They got to the medbay quickly, the Doctor looking around desperately. Just like Freya said, the medbay was empty, not a thing looking out of place either. "You didn't see her in the bedroom, either?" he asked Freya.

Freya shook her head, "I thought she was with you."

He tried to sate his growing worry, telling himself that she had probably just gone for a glass of water or something. River wasn't one to sit still after all, although getting up at all would have been quite painful with her injuries... "Jack is with the others, yes?"

Freya nodded, "Yeah, he brought them all to the safe room."

"Why didn't you go with them, Freya?" he started to frown, searching for a scanner.

"I wanted to help. I thought you might be in danger, so I went to get Mum's blaster. I tried to find her first, but I couldn't, so I went to the console room and found you." She explained.

"I... appreciate the help, my star, but next time please stay with your uncle? You did very well, but I couldn't it imagine if you..." he stopped before he could go further, not wanting to think about it. Instead, he gave her a weak smile as he found the scanner and programmed it to search for life forms. "You have your mother's instincts."

Freya nodded, trying to get a peek at the scanner. When the results showed up, it showed the two of them in the medbay, and five in the safe room. There was a single life form in the library as well, though it was flickering in and out.

The Doctor's frown deepened and he started towards the library without looking up. He was at the library doors before he realized Freya was still following him. He turned to her, knowing she wouldn't go back even if he told her to. "Freya listen. The scanner says there someone in there and they're hurt, but I don't know who. It could be your mother or it could be another one of those... things. So stay behind me, please. And if I tell you to run, then run."

Freya nodded, listening for once. They entered as quietly as possible, creeping along the shelves with the scanner as their guide.