Just a quick chapter before I go on holiday. It was meant to be longer and more things happening but that's till next chapter.
But hope you guys enjoy :)
Chapter 13 Sick and Needing a Friend
The Doctor had never looked more shocked and disgusted in his life.
Never in his long life of travelling through time and space has a companion of his been sick over him. Hands flapping in the air comically, his instincts kicked in as he stepped out of the puddle of vomit, grimacing as he did. His perfectly clean shoes were ruined and the bottoms of his trousers were sprayed with sick also.
The TARDIS groaned in disapproval at the mess on her floor. Lights briefly flaring.
You and me both thought the Doctor. First Courtney now Lauren.
His ship continued to beep in what he assumed were worried tones.
The Doctor looked at the girl in front of him who stood doubled over, one hand holding onto the console for support, the other clutching her stomach.
"Are you finished?" He asked in disgust.
"Err…" Lauren mumbled as a small tremor ran through her body. Subtle, but the Doctor picked up on it.
Eyes wide in the realization she was going to be sick again he acted fast this time, quickly discarding his vomit coated shoes so not to spread it everywhere he walked, he grasped the girl by the shoulders turning her around, and pushed her forward with him to the stairs. The Doctor got her down the steps onto the lower level and to his desk that was situated just off from the corridor, a bin sat beside the desk which was the Doctor's target. He got her to the bin just in time as she gagged and spilled the contents of her stomach into it.
It was official. Hearing someone being sick was the most awful and cringiest sound in all the known universe, the Doctor summarized.
While Lauren was being sick into the bin the Doctor had the courtesy to hold her hair out of her face.
"Thank you," Lauren whispered hoarsely when her stomach decided to stop turning itself inside out.
The Doctor did not reply, instead Lauren heard the sonic screwdriver buzz annoyingly close to her. She glanced up to see the sonic aimed at the bite wound on her neck. Lauren dared a glance at his expression noting his eyebrows drawn together in a scowl, making the lines more prominent on his face. He tutted and mumbled to himself as he studied the readings, bringing the sonic close to his face as if he was physically reading off it.
"Can you heal it?" Lauren asked hoping he had some super advanced healing gel from the future for it.
"Yes." The Doctor said curtly, holding the sonic screwdriver to his ear now listening to the different pitches; he sighed before pocketing it. "But it's infected. Or rather I should say you're infected." He said dragging the girl by the upper arm to the direction of the med bay.
"What?" Lauren said in alarm. "Slow, slow down please my legs can't keep up," she protested, her legs shaking.
The Doctor slowed his pace for her but luckily the TARDIS helpfully placed the med bay closer for them. He opened the door leading her into the room as he explained. "You didn't just get bitten by a spider, it was a germ, bacteria. Bacteria that you have never encountered in your life and therefore your immune system has no defense for. Already it's got into your system and is making you ill. Nothing too serious but you'll be suffering cold like symptoms for at least a week."
The Doctor gestured for her to sit on the patient bed on the right as he turned on the computers beside it. The room was white and sterile as imagined but smaller than Lauren expected. Smaller compared to some other rooms Lauren found such as the room with the swimming pool, the pool itself was the same size as an Olympic one with large marble pillars holding the ceiling up. The med bay seemed to have only two main patient beds on opposite sides of the walls, each with three computers set up for accurate data results and what appeared to be an overhead medical scanner for studying the patient she presumed. Cupboards lined the walls and down at the end of the room was a table for surgery for more serious injuries. Hopefully she'll never have to use that part of the room.
Lauren hopped onto the bed, swinging her legs idly as she waited for the Doctor. All three computers lit up, the Doctor typed various commands for them to perform in the background while he reached a hand above to the overhead medical scanner.
"What's that called?" Lauren asked curiously as he positioned the point of the scanner to face her. It was easily movable with the ability to extend out and the scanner could swivel to point in any direction.
"Advanced Diagnostic Terminal or ADT for short. A scanner and computers system to study and monitor the patient or anyone on board. And it can be programmed for other species such as Humans." He answered.
"Anyone on board?"
"Yes, if need be I can run the ADT programme on anyone regardless of where they are on the ship from the console room." He then began rambling on, "Information is fed through to the monitor or a holographic projector can show a humanoid image, usually me, of the ADT programme though the voice interface mode."
"Interesting." It really was interesting to her, however, the wave of nausea and increasing headache were making it hard for her to concentrate especially if he was going to ramble into a long winded explanation for things. Which the Doctor tended to do. The brightness of the room wasn't helping, Lauren found herself squinting and black spots kept appearing in her vision.
"Don't move," the Doctor ordered as the machine scanned her from top to toe. He looked to the screens waiting for the results he already knew but needed confirmation on.
"It was when you got attacked by the spider inside the base?" the Doctor asked even though it sounded more of a statement than a question.
Lauren nodded.
The Doctor shook his head, "Wandering off and getting yourself attacked by dangerous germ spiders. Why did you do that?"
Lauren remained silent. She didn't know how to answer him. She hoped he'd have let the subject drop after the fight with Clara.
Lauren stared at the floor suddenly becoming interested in the Doctor's feet. It was weird seeing him in his socks they quickly became a source of amusement for her. Being mortified at the fact she just vomited on and in front of her hero she didn't notice them until now. He had question marks on his socks. Green with bright yellow question marks. It was funny, and quite frankly a little bit adorable. The girl realized she could use this to her advantage.
Lauren smirked finally looking up at him.
The Doctor frowned at her amused look. What was so funny? He was asking her a serious question.
"Nice socks. Question marks? Is the question why are you wearing those socks?" She joked hoping to distract him.
The Doctor blushed slightly.
Wait, is he actually blushing?!
"Are you blushing? That's adorable." Lauren laughed.
"Stop it. It's not adorable. There just really comfy," He scowled giving her his best anger face with those eyebrows.
"Doctor Question Mark! Doctor Who?" Lauren dared him. "That's the question and you like it when people ask you it, but you're never going to answer it."
"And you don't want to answer my question," the Doctor countered having had enough of her bantering.
Damn it
"I told you the rules. You wouldn't be sick now if you didn't decide to run way."
Lauren was getting annoyed, "I didn't run away I went after – " She faltered then, realizing her slip up.
The computers bleeped as the results of her scan came. But the Doctor ignored it for the moment.
"After Henry, yeah you said before. Why on Gallifrey did you decide to run after him?" The Doctor asked perplexed. "What was so important that you disappeared without telling us, to follow him?"
"Nothing," Lauren mumbled.
"Nothing? Really? You're a very bad liar Lauren." The Doctor sighed in frustration at the stubbornness of the girl in front of him. Why did he always pick the stubborn ones to travel with him? Why couldn't she just give him a reason? Didn't she trust him?
The Doctor decided to lay down the ground rules firmly. "Listen I'm trying to understand here. I'm trying to help you but I don't want to keep telling you to do as you're told. In future if I say to do something you do it, if I say not to do something you don't do it, otherwise I can't always help you if you get yourself in trouble. Anything that happens to you falls on me, so I need you to trust me."
"Yeah well you broke Clara's trust!" Lauren almost yelled at him.
She trusted the Doctor with her life but she couldn't tell him the real reason why she went after Henry. The Doctor can't, must, not know her secret. She realizes now how subtle with her knowledge she has to be in the future. Already she's caused conflict between them and this is not what she wanted. Lauren can understand his frustration, his annoyance and need to understand her actions. He's scared if she gets hurt. This version of him hides behind a rude, indifferent exterior but the Doctor will always care about his companions no matter how short a period he's known them for.
Lauren doesn't want any more arguments today but she's angry. Angry at the fact she can't tell him why she ran off to Henry, angry he'll distrust her more for giving no explanation, but at the same time she's angry over his behaviour with Clara, with all of them really.
"You talk of trust and running away but you ran off too! Clara was crying and you ran off and left us to make a decision between killing an innocence creature and/or risking the lives of every innocent person on Earth. But either way each choice would have resulted in death for us on the base regardless." Lauren was breathing heavily now, feeling very light headed. The words were just tumbling out of her mouth.
"You didn't need to leave to prove a point Doctor. Earth is your home too, you made it so. All Clara needed, we, needed was for you to act like a friend. Friends don't run away, friends stand beside one another when faced with tough choices. If it wasn't your choice to make Doctor, you could have at least explained that to her while still supporting her. Clara had always stood by you has she not?"
The Doctor looked at her stunned at her outburst. He didn't argue back this time.
Clara stood by you when you were on Gallifrey, about to press that button to end it all, she even helped you make a better choice. That wasn't her decision to make, it was your home world Doctor, but Clara helped you realize who you chose to be, a Doctor.
Lauren wished she could say those words out loud to him but she wasn't meant to know those facts now. Her temper made her headache worse. She felt like she was burning up and her vision was going blurry. The Doctor must had noticed judging by his expression and checking the computer screens.
"Lauren calm down please," the Doctor order with a hint of panic in his voice.
Lauren didn't calm down, everything was spinning. "Is that how you repay your best friend Doctor?" She asked with one last breath before she felt the world around her go dark.
The Doctor managed to catch her in his arms just in time as she fainted and fell off the bed towards the floor.
"Lauren Raven you're certainly a work load." He whispered into her hair before gently laying her down onto the bed. Using his hand on her forehead he took her temperature, "I'll act a better friend, I promise." He said softly. Something he probably wouldn't have said if she was awake.