Blood continued to pump from The Doctor's arms, collecting in the awaiting bloodbags. "Don't I even get a cup of tea and a congratulatory sticker for my donation?"

Claire gritted her teeth. He still had that smug tone, but it didn't sound nearly as cocky as before. He had to make an effort to speak. It wouldn't be long now before she'd see him change. She had taken three full pints and the fourth and fifth bags were filling up.

"I wouldn't be treated like this on the NHS!"

"Oh, shut up or I'll…"

"Kill me?" The Doctor asked. He looked pale and drawn from the rapid blood loss "We both know that's a foregone conclusion." His breathing was becoming more shallow and he was once again fighting to stay conscious. The Doctor would never admit it to Claire, but he was scared.

"You won't die. You'll regenerate… that what you called it." Claire couldn't bring herself to look at him. "You'll come back as a different person."

"What would be the point?" his speech was laboured between shallow breaths. " "I'd still be in the same predicament. Strapped down, being bled dry in the name of science. And you'd probably kill the next incarnation too… for research purposes of course" The strength may have been waning in his voice, but the anger and emotion were rising. "Did it ever occur to you…" The Doctor said quietly, a catch in his voice. "That the number of regenerations is finite?" He had to pause to catch his breath. It was getting difficult to talk. "That if I die – if you kill me – that this is the end for me?... Claire… please stop this. Don't do it. You're a doctor, a healer, not a murderer…Please."

"God, Claire…" It was David standing in the doorway with a look of absolute horror on his face. "What ever happened to first do no harm?"

"What are you doing here?" Claire asked

"You weren't answering your phone." David slowly entered the room. "It looked like someone had been in the flat. I was worried about you."

"Well, I'm fine." Claire positioned herself beside the Doctor.

"I'm not." David said trying to keep a calm demeanour "And judging by his complexion, neither is he. What are you doing to him?"

"I needed to see for myself." She said putting one hand on the Doctor's shoulder and picking up a scalpel with the other. "The things he said he can do, David… His physiology, his blood… I could change medical science with it. The regenerative properties he possesses! Imagine what a few drops of his blood could do for a cancer patient or an amputee?" She was pleading with David to understand her. "I'm not doing this for my own glory. This is for the benefit of humanity."

"Wow Claire, Dr Mengele would be proud." He looked at his girlfriend with utter contempt.

She laughed. "I can't believe you're going Godwin on me!"

"You think this is a joke?" David snapped, astonished at her flippancy, given the situation." For pity's sake, Claire! He's a…"

"Human being?" Claire cut him off. "No David, he's not. He's an alien with 2 hearts and an ability to change himself, remember?" She spat his own words back at him "Do you think the government wouldn't have cut him into a million pieces to find out what he is?"

"He's a person, Claire." David retorted. "An intelligent, living, breathing being. He looks no different than you or I and you're treating him like a piece of meat."

"I haven't hurt him." She tried to explain. "I'm keeping the discomfort to a minimum."

The Doctor decided this was one time in his many lives to shut the hell up and stay out of it. The 2 blood bags were now full which stopped any further blood flowing from his body. He felt cold and weak, utterly useless to anyone, even if he weren't so securely tied down.

"So you're practicing humane torture methods? Oh, that makes it alright then, doesn't it!" David scoffed. "My God who are you? You couldn't be the woman I love." He was struggling to put into words the disgust he was feeling towards her. "You… you can't be doing this. This is just… This is wrong, Claire. It's so very wrong and deep down, I think you know it too." David stopped to look around. "Is there anyone else here? What if someone else on staff found you doing this?"

"They'd congratulate me for my incredible scientific find and support me in my research." Claire said,

"I better warn you, I'm not here alone." David pointed to the door. "His friend, Rose, won't be so humane when she sees what you've done."

"Rose will do exactly as she's told… Won't you." Claire looked over David's shoulder to see Rose trying to stay out of sight and brought the scalpel to the Doctor's neck.

"I've called the police." Rose said.

"Liar." Claire smiled. "You wouldn't risk anything happening him."

"What? Like letting some psycho hold a blade to his throat?" Rose glared at her with an intensity the Doctor had never seen before. "And before you get to tell the armed response unit that you've captured an alien for the 'benefit of humanity', they'll just see some poor guy strapped to a table being held hostage by a nutter with a knife and shoot you so full of holes you'll look like a teabag."

Claire blanched at Rose's vivid description, but the scalpel never wavered from the Doctor's neck.

Both David and Rose began to move in on her. "Just put down the blade and get out, Claire. Leave the research, leave the blood and get out before the cops get here." David said, closing in on his girlfriend.

"Listen to him, Claire." The Doctor said, his voice barely above a whisper. "Walk away from this and I promise nothing will happen to you."

"Oh sod all this pussyfooting around!" Rose grabbed the extinguisher from the wall and pulled the safety pin out. She set it off, sending a cloud of Carbon dioxide straight into Claire's face. Claire backed away from the Doctor and David lunged forward, grabbing her wrist. He spun her into him, holding her tight and making sure she couldn't hurt anyone, even herself. Rose swung back the canister, ready to whack Claire across the head, not caring if she knocked her out, or knocked her head off. It was no less than the cow deserved.

"Rose!" The Doctor panted desperately. "Don't do it."

"She was going to kill you!" Rose yelled. "She would have done too."

"Please." The Doctor said quietly. "I just want to get out of here and go home."

David opened the door of the ante room and pushed Claire inside. "You stay in there, while I sort this mess out. I swear, if you try anything, I'll let Rose loose on you." He closed the door, leaving Claire inside pacing like a cat in a cage.

Rose was over with the Doctor unstrapping all the restraints. He smiled drowsily at her. "Thank you." She just nodded, her hands trembling with a combination of fear and anger.

"I'm going to leave one of the cannulas in so we can re-transfuse your blood back in to your body." David said, carefully removing the needle and tubing. He placed a wad of cotton wool over the pinprick and gently bent the Doctor's arm up. The Doctor groaned quietly with pain. His arm had been kept straight and extended for a long period of time and the muscles were stiff.

"How do you feel?" Rose asked. He looked worse than he did at Christmas.

"Pretty terrible, actually." The Doctor managed a feeble smile before turning to David. "First year med student, eh?"

"In a past life." David said, unable to hold eye contact with the Doctor. "I'm sorry. This is all my fault. I should have kept the disc more secure." He dug his hand into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out the disc. "Take it. It's the only copy, I swear... And I'll take care of the MRI readings too."

"No need." The Doctor said, finally able to reach into his pocket and take out the sonic screwdriver. "This will take care of things." Just a few seconds fiddling with the settings wore him out. He handed to Rose. "Just aimed it at the ante room and press the button". It looked like she was aiming straight at Claire who ducked to the floor on seeing it. It buzzed and glowed causing sparks to fly. "Just a wee overload… A little EMP to wipe any information currently stored."

"Doctor?" Rose placed a warm hand on his cheek. His face was ice cold and clammy. She found a blanket and placed it over him. "We need to get you somewhere safe. Can you get the TARDIS here?" The room looked like it would just about hold the blue box. The Doctor nodded and within seconds, Rose heard the familiar noise of the TARDIS rematerialising. She used her key and opened the door.

"Can you stand?"

Before the Doctor could answer one way or the other, David spoke up. "I wouldn't recommend it. It looks like Claire took a lot of blood, very quickly from him. He's probably in shock, but for the life of me, I don't know how I should treat him other than to re-transfuse the blood back in. He should be in a hospital, but you know…" he pointed back at Claire in the ante room. "Just stay with him, keep him warm, let him sleep…It's not like a concussion where you have to keep waking him up… and when that pint of blood is finished going in, just take the tube out and put the next one in." Rose just nodded, taking it all in. "You should get him inside. If anyone else shows up, there could be real trouble."