"Are you boys getting on all right?" Martha asked as she came in with a bag of clothes and a toothbrush in one hand and three cups of tea in the other which were starting to burn her knuckles. "Jack?" He went over to her and rescued the steaming mugs. She'd been okay to carry them the short distance from the galley to the sickbay, but she'd heard Jack talking to Josh and decided not to interrupt. She wasn't sure the Luke Smith and Luke Rattigan comments were entirely appropriate, but she did know that UNIT wasn't only interested in Josh because they owed Donna Noble the safety and security of her son. Joshua's SAT scores had highlighted him as gifted at an early age and there had been concerns about what the metacrisis might mean for him. When he had disappeared from the foster home seven months previously there had been increasing fears that the reason why he'd not been located was because he had been taken by someone and was being manipulated.
Little did they know the reason why he'd not been located was because he was smart enough to evade them and had decided living in the woods was better than his foster home. She'd already made some initial enquiries about the foster home and was assured it had been above board and that his needs had been met. When she suggested that if his needs had been met that he wouldn't be living in the woods she'd got no further with it. She was going to delve deeper into it though. How could living on your own in a shelter in the woods be better?
She wasn't entirely sure Jack should have been quite as blunt with Josh as he had been, but Josh didn't seem to mind and he didn't appear to be offended. Jack had a point as well, the Doctor could show him fantastic and incredible things, but Jack was also wrong. It wasn't down to Josh to make sure he remained grounded and sought out a normal life. It was down to them to enable him to do that. The Doctor wasn't going to go running headlong into off world dangers with an injured 14 year old on board. When not in the midst of a crisis, what always struck her about the time lord was that as much as he had done, as much as he had been through, as much as he had seen, he still had an insatiable desire to discover more. With all of time and space at his hand his enthusiasm, passion, and compassion wasn't reserved only for the most incredible and wondrous universal events, but he could be equally as enthralled by the tiniest of things which most would deem completely insignificant. She was sure he would see Josh well, and, knowing where the Doctor was in his time line and what was to come, a couple of months of incredible, wonderful, brilliant tiny things with someone who would match his enthusiasm and hang on his every word would do the Doctor the world of good as well.
"We got you a few T-shirts last night," Martha informed Josh and put the bag on the edge of his bed for him. "Mickey chose them so if you don't like them blame him. We can always pop back and get some different ones if you don't. We also got you a couple of pairs of shorts and some tracksuit bottoms. They've got poppers along the side of the leg so you won't have to worry about the cast. They may be a bit more practical than fashionable," she warned him. "We can get you some more when the cast comes off. I was going to get you a new pair of trainers too, I think those ones have just about had it, but Mickey suggested we should let you choose them yourself, so we've got a couple of catalogues for you to look through. If there is anything you need or anything you fancy let us know and we'll sort it out."
"You don't need to do all that," Josh informed her.
"I know we don't need to," Martha confirmed. "But we'd like to. It's the least we can do. Whatever it is that has led you here, we've not done enough to make sure you're okay and I am sorry."
"I can look after myself."
"You've done very well at looking after yourself," Martha agreed. "And, I'm sure that if you'd not have broken your ankle you would have continued to be able to do so, but you're going to be stuck for a while. I know the Doctor will take care of you, but I want you to know Mickey and I will make sure we're here for you as well if you ever need us, but enough of that for now. I'm going to check your cast again and then I'll check the Doctor. When you've had your cup of tea you can get cleaned up and changed. I've brought you a toothbrush so you can do your teeth, but have your tea first or it'll end up tasting rotten."
"Can you check the Doctor first?" Josh asked her.
"Why? Do you think there is something wrong?" Martha checked glancing over to the time lord.
"His temperature is 19.7 degrees. It's gone back up a bit, but Jack said he might do that because he needs to recover his energy and it's only 0.4 degrees so not really significant, but I need to finish rewording the template so Jack can give it to the UNIT scientists. I'm nearly done, it will only take a couple more minutes."
"Go on then," Martha agreed. She checked the Doctor. His vitals were still off and he was still feverish, but he was improving. She mopped him down with a cool cloth. He didn't stir as she did nor as she carefully peeled his dressings down a little just to have a quick peek at the top of one of the wounds. It was starting to look better. There was no fresh blood and although it was going to feel very tight and sore and he was going to have to be very careful not to pull his back until it healed, she didn't think it would take too long now.
"Is he okay?" Josh checked when Martha had finished going over him. He'd finished his template and was ready for Jack to check it for him again.
"He's still pretty poorly, but we're definitely going in the right direction with him now. He's stable and he's resting and he just needs a chance to heal and to recover now. He's not bleeding any longer and there are initial signs of healing in the new wound tracts, so he's doing well. When he wakes up he's still not going to feel particularly well, but he's improving and he will get better. We just need to give him the time to do that, and, make sure that as he starts to feel better that he doesn't get over ambitious and rip his staples or exhaust himself. There is a chance we're all going to have to be involved with UNIT outside at some point," Martha reminded Josh. "I'll be counting on you to keep him in line."