CHAPTER 9

THE MORNING AFTER

The Doctor awoke with a start and sat up quickly, immediately regretting having done so. His hand went to his spinning head and looked around in bewilderment. He was still on the operating table and had been covered with a blanket. His initial thoughts were to wonder why he wasn't dead. He saw, much to his relief, that all the surgical instruments had been put away. The enormous light overhead had been turned off, leaving the room in semi-darkness.

He suddenly remembered his gravely injured companion and turned around to look at the energy bed. It was still humming quietly, the monitors displaying the information regarding the current occupant whose outlined form was visible through the opaque cover. Breathing a sigh of relief, the Doctor threw off the blanket and swung his legs over the side of the table. The door through the bookcase to the Director's office was standing open and he could see the morning sunlight on the carpet on the other side. He wondered absently if this is what had wakened him. Conspicuous by her absence was Miss Constance Sorenson, who was nowhere to be seen

The Doctor slid down from the table and stood unsteadily beside it a few minutes, allowing his head to clear more fully. He suddenly noticed a door to one side of the computer that he would've sworn wasn't there the night before. A quick peek inside revealed it to be a small scrub room and he seized the opportunity to splash cold water in his face, discovering at the same time that the injuries he had inflicted on his wrists had been treated and dressed.

Feeling more alert, he went to check on Jason's condition, finding his coat and scarf neatly folded on the stool beside the energy bed. The Time Lord put them on as he scrutinized the monitors. Then, with the utmost care, he raised the lid, seeing a more recognizable Jason inside. His facial features had returned to normal, as had his skin coloring. Even his hair had darkened to a mixture of black and gray. His naked form had been covered with a blanket and he was lying on his side, the straps having been removed at some point during the night. At first glance, he appeared to be sleeping peacefully.

All the readings indicated the recovering Alterran was, indeed, in a deep, natural sleep, but the Doctor was skeptical of the unfamiliar device, or more accurately, of the operator of the unfamiliar device. He raised one of his companion's eyelids and a sapphire blue crystal sparkled back at him. Startled, he drew back his hand. The crystal was identical to those he had seen encircling the Alterran's body when in his true form. Is this how his eyes actually appear? he wondered. It was then that the Doctor realized how little he knew about his shape-changing companion, and that all the information in the TARDIS's data banks concerning Gallifrey's oldest of allies barely scratched the surface. How typical of the Time Lords to omit anything that might actually be helpful, he thought in annoyance.

The Time Lord checked Jason's eyes a second time, the crystal sparkling back at him again. "There's more to you than meets the eye, isn't there, my Alterran friend?" he observed thoughtfully. Rubbing his bandaged wrists, he added in a grateful voice, "And I'm very glad you're on my side."

Satisfied his companion was out of immediate danger, the Doctor closed the cabinet and went into the Director's office. He found Constance at the desk, her head in her arms, fast asleep. He studied her for a few minutes before looking around the office. Someone had cleaned up the shattered debris the battling Alterran's had left in their wake the night before. Just inside the door was a cart on top of which were several covered dishes and two large urns containing something that smelled distinctly like coffee.

Turning back to the desk, the Time Lord softly knocked on the top. Constance opened her eyes and sat up, looking slightly embarrassed. "I must've fallen asleep," she said guiltily, stretching out her arms.

"That makes two of us," the Doctor replied acidly. He poured two cups of coffee and took them over to the desk, taking a seat opposite the reserved Alterran female.

"Ye-es. It was necessary at the time," she said blandly, gratefully accepting the steaming cup.

The Doctor was incredulous. "No apologies. Just…it was necessary?" He could feel himself becoming very angry. "My dear woman, you can't just go around drugging people for— How long have I been out, anyway?"

Constance looked at her watch. "About ten hours." She held up her hands when she received another reproachful scowl. "Now don't look as me like that, Doctor. I didn't drug you that heavily. It was your own exhaustion that did the rest."

"Why am I still alive, by the way? I'd assumed—"

"You assumed I was going to kill you," Miss Sorenson completed blandly, apparently amused by this. "You don't think very much of me, do you, Doctor?"

Choosing not to respond, the Time Lord took a sip from his cup and studied the woman across the desk with a distinct air of suspicion. "How's Tobias the Blackmailer this morning?" he asked conversationally.

"He's dead."

The Doctor almost choked on his coffee. "He's what!" he sputtered at last.

Constance's somber expression did not change. "He died shortly after you…uh, passed out. A massive brain hemorrhage. Apparently his brain couldn't take the stress from his reformulated Changeling substance."

The Doctor stared in stupefied amazement as the woman across from him went on in the same dispassionate tone.

"I won't pretend I'm sorry he's dead. He made my life a living hell for too many years for me to feel anything but relief. But…I suppose I wouldn't've wished this on him—poor, pathetic creature."

The Doctor found his voice at last. "So, since Tobias is dead, the Doctor lives by default, is that it?"

"No! Good Lord, no!" Miss Sorenson was clearly appalled. She jumped to her feet and leaned across the desk, fixing him in an angry gaze. "I've done a great many thing in my life I'm not proud of, Doctor, but murder isn't one of them!"

The Time Lord opened his mouth but she cut him off. "I know what you're thinking. A murder was committed so I could be cured. Don't you think I know that? It haunts me every day. We didn't find out until it was too late how…how…" Constance gave way to an involuntary shudder and turned away, hugging herself.

The emotional outburst took the Doctor completely off guard. He cleared his throat and said calmly, "Actually, I was about to point out how close you came to killing someone last night."

To his amazement, Constance threw back her head and laughed. Her expression softened and she turned back to face him with a genuine smile on her face, allowing some of her true personality to peek through. "I wouldn't've let Jason die, Doctor, not if I could've prevented it. To tell you the truth, I didn't think your plan would work. It was so wonderfully simple."

The Doctor watched as another person emerged from the cold, impersonal shell that surrounded Miss Constance Sorenson. He wasn't sure if it was just another deception to catch him off guard, but he did have to admit it was much more agreeable.

"Tell me," he ventured, "if you didn't think my plan would work, what was that little power play all about?"

Constance lowered her eyes and smiled self-consciously. "I…uh, did that to get the gun away from you." Looking up, she added, "I hate guns."

"So do I." The Time Lord turned a meaningful gaze toward the connecting door, adding darkly, "Especially that one."

The woman across the desk nodded thoughtfully only to stiffen, her expression hardening when the Doctor asked, "And your reason for drugging me, what was that? Presumably you're just as capable of overpowering me as Tobias was. Jason too, come to that. Especially in your true form."

"Your presence…complicated things a little."

"Only a little? I usually complicate things a great deal."

"The truth is you don't trust me. And I had too much to do and no time to argue or explain. You wouldn't've believed me anyway. Drugging you was the least injurious option I had."

Receiving only a skeptical look in reply, Constance's voice took on a defensive edge. "Would you really rather I'd attacked you, Doctor? I'd've thought you had enough bruises already. After all, you're the one who wanted the discreet distance. I was hoping to avoid being added to your list of Alterran atrocities."

The Doctor was momentarily silent, thinking that, like his companion, there was more to this Alterran female than met the eye. "It would appear," he said in a quiet voice, "that we both misjudged one another, wouldn't it?" Constance merely eyed him coldly. "Thank you for tending to my injuries, by the way," he added mildly, giving her an innocent look as he took a sip from his cup.

Once again, the cold shell cracked as a genuine smile came to Constance's face. "You're welcome. It's the least I could do, since you prevented me from making a disastrously fatal error in judgment. You saved Jason's life with that little brainstorm of yours, Doctor. You know that, don't you? He came out of his coma around five o'clock this morning and was sleeping naturally the last time I checked on him."

"He was when I checked on him as well," the Doctor informed.

After a momentary silence, Constance sat on the edge of the desk, her face solemn once again. "There are a few things you should know about his condition before he wakes up..."

The gravity in her voice worried the Doctor. "He is out of danger, isn't he?" he asked concernedly.

Miss Sorenson assured him that his companion was not in any immediate danger. It was his convalescence that concerned her. Because Jason's crystalline lattice had been shattered so extensively, his system would be unstable for some time. Two months at the very least. He would also be considerably weakened physically. Her major concern rose from the fact that he would only be prevented from transmuting for approximately two weeks. "Until his system returns to normal," she said soberly, "he runs the risk of a misfire every time he transmutes."

Noting the Time Lord's stunned expression, Constance misinterpreted it as bewilderment and asked, "You do know what I mean by a misfire, don't you?"

The Doctor nodded. The term was not unfamiliar. In fact, not long after they first met he had saved the Alterran's life after he suffered a misfire. Jason had explained it as a molecular change gone wrong, likening it to running an engine at full speed and then throwing it into reverse. Under normal conditions, a misfire was only fatal if left untreated, but given Jason's current state of health, were he to suffer one, it would very well kill him outright.

"Just what do you suggest I do about it, Miss Sorenson?" the Doctor asked reasonably. "Jason's a Healer, don't forget. He probably knows more about this than the two of us put together."

"He'll still need looking after. Knowledge is no substitute for experience," Constance replied knowingly. "Being deprived of the freedom to transmute can be difficult. Even traumatic." Thinking a moment, she said, "I suppose the best analogy would be your suddenly becoming deaf. You'd still appear completely normal…but…"

"Ye-es," the Time Lord muttered. "I see your point."

"And then there's the physical weakness. It can appear quite suddenly."

The Doctor sat thoughtfully for several minutes, staring in to his coffee and mulling everything over in his mind. Looking up, he asked finally, "Tell me, just how closely will I need to monitor him?"

"Oh, dear. I hope I haven't upset you with my worse case scenario," Constance said apologetically. She assured him that, once Jason was strong enough to leave the confines of the energy bed, he would only require periodic checks on his progress. "Providing he doesn't overexert himself," she added.

"Well, now that K-9 is up and running again, I suppose I could program him to monitor him continuously."

"That would be perfect. I can give you all the data you'll need. Then you'll be able to leave whenever you like."

The Doctor nodded absently, apparently deep in thought. He suddenly realized what Constance had said and looked up sharply, jumping to his feet. "Leave? Leave! A man is dead. Jason and I are nearly murdered. And now it's back to business as usual?" the incensed Time Lord thundered.

"No, of course not!" Miss Sorenson replied with equal force. "But I can't exactly tell the whole truth, now can I? As far as the staff is concerned, Director Black died of a massive stroke while working late in his office. End of story. What happened between us must remain between us."

The Doctor stiffened visibly. She was right and he knew it. It would benefit no one for the whole truth to become known. It would only serve to disrupt the lives of the entire Foundation staff needlessly.

"Are you hungry? I know I am," Constance said, her voice suddenly congenial. Getting down from the desk, she went over to the cart by the door. "I took the liberty of having some breakfast sent down from the mansion. We can have it by the fireplace, if you like."

From behind her, a voice said softly, "I'd love a cup of coffee."