The Doctor needed a minute to process the information that he'd received. He knew he shouldn't know about it, and, he knew he'd not retain it when he returned to his own time line and to Rose, and that made it harder to tie it down and comprehend it. He wanted to remain fully aware of it while he was there and while he was with Josh. Well, most of it. He'd been shot by a dalek? That was embarrassing. Then there was a single hearted version of him living the life he never could with Rose Tyler in another universe where her father was still alive? He guessed that was good for Rose, but what about him? What did he have to look forward to? He did look forward to meeting Josh's mother — she sounded great, but then he was just going to wipe her memories and drop her back home with Josh's great grandfather? It hardly seemed fair.
He looked forward to meeting Martha for the first time as well and there was more of Mickey Smith to come. Mickey Smith was working for UNIT, was married, and had children? He seemed very different from the idiot that had been eaten by a wheelie bin when they'd first met. At least that was something good that was lasting more than the 20 years he'd jumped ahead. What a place to put all his hopes that whatever was coming was going to be worth it — Mickey Smith. The Doctor sighed and made the tea and sandwiches to take back through, he grabbed a couple of bags of crisps and raided his secret chocolate stash again for dessert. Martha was probably right — it wasn't the best diet for a 14 year old human — or a 901 year old time lord responsible for said 14 year old human's recovery.
"I like your friends," Josh commented when the Doctor returned. "I know you don't know Martha yet but she seems nice."
"She does," the Doctor agreed.
"And, what Gramps said about Mum was all true."
"How do you feel about that?"
"I'm not sure yet."
"It's okay not to know," the Doctor stated. "But, if I was you, along with all the other stuff that you must feel about your Mum, I think I'd feel very proud of her and what she did."
"I am," Josh confirmed. "And my dad and my little sister," Josh commented. The Doctor nodded. With all the talk of his mother and what she had done they had to be careful not to forget that it was not only her that Josh had lost in that plane crash. He'd lost his father and his sister too. "And Gramps," Josh commented and then sighed.
"What happened to him?" the Doctor asked.
"He died last year," Josh informed the Doctor. "He was 96 and he went to bed as normal, but then he didn't wake up. They said he had a stroke in his sleep."
"And you don't have grandparents?"
"My dad's mum and dad both died a long time before he met Mum. I don't know how, he never used to talk about it. Mum's dad died before I was born and her mum died when I was two. I don't really remember her, but she got cancer and they didn't find it until it was too late. Gramps said she hated you to begin with," Josh commented informed the Doctor.
"The mothers usually do," the Doctor offered. "But, I'm sorry."
"When Gramps died I thought I was going to have to go into social services or something, but I was put straight into a house with a family," he stated. "That was UNIT who did that wasn't it?"
"Yeah," the Doctor confirmed. "When you're fully healed and you're fit we'll make sure that we find something better. You won't have to runaway to the woods again, okay?"
"Okay," Josh nodded. "And I can stay here until then?"
"You can, yes," the Doctor agreed. "As long as that is what you want to do." Josh nodded that it was.
"Are you going to take your tablets now?" Josh asked him.
"Are you going to nag me about that all night?" the Doctor checked and smiled. "It's not too early now, I'll take mine if you use that clicker I put up for you," the Doctor suggested. "There are four doses sitting in there."
"I wanted to see how bad it gets if I don't press it."
"Why would you want to do that?" the Doctor asked him. "That's daft and you've got breaks in your ankle and it was fully dislocated. It's going to get bad if you don't press it," the Doctor informed him. "And, if you let it get bad then it's going to take a while for that drug to get back up to level, so its best just to keep on using it to keep the drug level high in your bloodstream. It's fine if you want to keep one or two doses in there for if you need to top up, because sometimes it is going to hurt more than others for no apparent reason, but don't let it go down below two doses."
"Okay." Josh took hold of the clicker and pressed it once. "I'll do it again when you've taken yours."
"Blimey," the Doctor commented. He got up and went to get his tablets and took them. "Do you want something to help you sleep while I'm up?" he asked him.
"Not just yet."
"How about I get it out and you can decide if you want to take it a bit later," the Doctor suggested. He got a mild sedative out for Josh in tablet form and put it in a little pot on the table by his bed. "If you find you struggle to get to sleep then this will help."
"Are you going to lie down?" Josh asked the Doctor. "Can't you have a clicker the same as me?" he asked him.
"If we're both tied to the bed then who is going to make the tea?" the Doctor checked with Josh. "I'm fine."
"You don't really look fine," Josh informed him. "Do you want to watch a movie? Or, do you like documentaries?" Josh asked the Doctor. "Have you got any documentaries?"
"Are you kidding?" the Doctor asked him. "The TARDIS library has access to every documentary that has ever been made."
"Even the old David Attenborough ones?"
"All of them," the Doctor confirmed.
"I used to watch them with Gramps," Josh commented.
"If you want to watch something you just have to access the menu on the screen. It's pretty straight forward."
"Do you want to watch one with me?" Josh asked him. The Doctor nodded. "Get comfortable then." Josh indicated to the other bed.
"Leaning back on the bed isn't going to be particularly comfortable for me at the moment," the Doctor reminded him.
"If we put the screen between the beds and angle it a little then you could lie on your side and watch it?" Josh suggested. "I reckon Martha might go mad if you don't rest."
"I think she might," the Doctor agreed. He pulled the monitor a little closer and showed Josh how to access the menu for documentaries before he cautiously got up onto the bed. He sat on it rather than try to lie down. "Haven't you seen all the David Attenborough ones?" the Doctor asked Josh when he was looking through what was available.
"Loads of times."
"Which ones are your favourite?"
"The Blue Planet ones. Blue Planet one to four," he commented. "I like the ocean. Mum said I could get SCUBA lessons for my 12th birthday. The local club didn't teach anyone who was under 12, but she said I could go when I was old enough."
"When the fractures in your ankle are healed it's still going to take you some time to get back to full strength. Swimming would be good for that. I could teach you how to dive as part of your rehabilitation if you wanted me to?"
"You know how to SCUBA dive?"
"Yeah."
"Would you really teach me?" Josh asked and the Doctor nodded. "Could we go somewhere that there are loads of fish? Like a coral reef or something?"
"Yeah."
"And sharks?"
"Sharks?" the Doctor queried. "You think I'm going to save your butt from getting eaten by genetically engineered dragon hybrids, spend weeks making sure your ankle heals properly, and then take you to get eaten by a shark?"
"Sharks only eat people if they think they're seals," Josh told the Doctor. "You can swim safely with sharks as long as you pay attention to their behaviour."
"Oh, reckon you're a shark whisperer do you?" the Doctor teased.
"I like sharks."
"What about a whale shark then?" the Doctor suggested. "Now they're impressive. Biggest fish in Earth's oceans and much less likely to eat you."
"A whale shark would be incredible." Josh beamed. "They've got a breeding programme in the Maldives. Could we do that? Could I really learn to dive and go to see whale sharks in the wild?"
"We could do that," the Doctor stated. "And, if you like sharks then I've got a documentary series on them that you won't have seen."
"I've seen all of them."
"What, even ones that were filmed in 2028?" the Doctor checked with Josh.
"It's only 2026."
"I know," the Doctor confirmed. "As long as you promise not to go and photo bomb the video shoot in two years you can watch it. Nothing more than 2 years early though. Do you want to watch a series on sharks that won't be filmed for two more years?"
"That would be great."
The Doctor found the series. He was happy to watch it with Josh. He liked documentaries. He tended to prefer them to movies. Movies were good to escape into sometimes, but documentaries were the sharing of knowledge and although some were dreadful, most were genuine and the one about the sharks was fascinating. He didn't mind watching it again if Josh was excited to see them. He remained sitting on the bed while they watched the first of the forty minute long episodes. When it finished he heard Josh use his clicker twice, using the remaining doses of drug he had ready.
"Are you hurting?" the Doctor checked with him.
"It's throbbing quite a bit."
"I'll check your cast before I settle down," the Doctor suggested. "We'll need to check it regularly over the next day or so to make sure you're not swelling up too much in there. I'm afraid it is going to be uncomfortable from time to time, but it should never hurt so much that it's all you can think about. If it gets anywhere near that point you need to let me know. Then as soon as the swelling has gone down we can get it set properly and put a proper cast on it and then you'll be able to get up and about on crutches. For now though it's better if you stay in bed." The Doctor checked the cast. His toes were a good colour and there was a good capillary refill. "It's looking fine," he assured Josh. "We can watch another couple of episodes of the documentary if you want, but you need to get some sleep as well. Do you have a bedtime?" he asked him curiously.
"I live in the woods," Josh reminded him. "I don't have anyone to tell me when it's time to go to bed in the woods. If it's night and I'm tired I go to sleep. If it's day time and I'm tired I relax by the stream or take a nap."
"Very sensible," the Doctor commented. "That's much what I do. I don't tend to sleep as much as a human needs to, so, if you do fall asleep and I'm not here when you wake up don't worry. I won't have gone far and I'll check in on your regularly. If I'm not here and you need anything then you can ask the TARDIS and she'll let me know."
"Okay," Josh stated. "Are you going to try and lie down now?"
"Yeah," the Doctor confirmed. He carefully got on the bed and was about to get down to lie on his side.
"Are you going to keep your shoes on?" Josh asked him.
"Was your mother a nag?" the Doctor asked Josh and grinned.
"Not really, but she liked us to be comfortable, and she'd tell us off if we did something daft like go to bed with our shoes on." The Doctor huffed but then smiled. He toed his shoes off so they dropped on the floor, and then put his feet back up on the bed. It took him a while to get comfortable on the bed, and he ended up having to curl up on his side with his arm under his head.
"Can't you take anything stronger?" Josh checked with him.
"I'm fine Josh, just a bit sore, that's all. Let's watch the next episode. If I remember correctly this one is about deep water species of shark."
"Like the six gilled shark?" Josh asked him. "Or the cookie cutter shark?"
"Yeah," the Doctor confirmed. "Do you know why it's called a cookie cutter shark?"
"It bites chunks out of bigger fish like a cookie cutter," Josh informed the Doctor who nodded impressed with his knowledge.
They watched the next episode and then started the third, but Josh had stopped commenting on the documentaries and when the Doctor looked over to him he was sound asleep. The Doctor turned the monitor off and carefully got up from the bed. He gently covered the boy with a blanket, leaving his cast ankle out the side, so he could check it during the night. There was another two doses of medication in Josh's clicker so the Doctor gave him them so he could rest more peacefully. The Doctor carefully adjusted Josh's pillow so he was laying a little flatter.
The Doctor went and made himself a cup of tea and then returned to the sickbay. He was tired himself. It had been a few days since he'd slept, and while he'd warned Josh not to let the pain in his ankle get to the point where it was all he could think about, the rage of his slashed back was not that far off it. He doubted he was going to get asleep himself without some assistance. He couldn't knock himself out in case Josh woke and needed something.
Once he was asleep he'd stay asleep, but he needed to get to sleep first and he was in pain and his head was whirling with all the things he'd learned that he shouldn't have and with the effect of the unintended psychic assault. He did have good friends though. Friends that would be there throughout and new friends to come. He looked across to Josh. When he was awake he thought he looked a little older than 14. He doubted anyone would question it if he said he was 15 and he might have gotten away with 16. Now he was asleep the Doctor thought he looked less troubled and a lot younger.
The Doctor asked the TARDIS to keep Josh safe in his dreams, and then because he didn't want to medicate, but wanted to be fit and well to care for the boy, he asked the TARDIS to do the same for him. He didn't want to lie awake thinking and in pain, nor did he want to endure a nightmare when in the sickbay with Josh. He felt the TARDIS wash over him and encourage him down to rest. The Doctor curled on his side bathed in her silent lullaby. He slid beneath it and slept.