Chapter 11 – Tall-ish, traveller-ish and single-ish

First name: "The"

Last name: "Doctor"

Sex: "Very, very good"

Age: "Around 900"

DOB: "Something B.C…?"

Blood type: "Some weird kinda stuff type thing…alien, though"

Hair colour: "First he was bald, now he's brown-haired"

Eye colour: "First he had blue eyes, now he's got brown eyes, which by the way, are rather sexy"

Distinguishing features: "He's got two hearts and a HUGE (Scribbles)nis"

Address: "In a phone box…just about anywhere, really"

Place of birth: "Balamory…?"

Phone number: "His phone box doesn't work, unless there's a weird psychic boy altered by nanogenes around"

Profession: "Full time arse-kicker and intergalactic hero"

Why was he/she admitted to hospital?: "Well, I'm currently being chased by a weird dude who wants my baby I've just made with The Doctor for some strange reason, and there was this really demented guy who smashed into the side of the bus we were on with his lorry and…the rest is self-explanatory really"

Allergies: "If you're worried about feeding him, he can survive on bananas, jelly babies and marmalade from a jar"

Marital status: "Single…at the moment"

Children: "Yace!"

Your relationship with the patient: "I'm having his baby"

Rose glanced over the completed form, scanning through, and then shook her head in a negative. She ripped the paper from the clipboard with her unbroken wrist and scrunched up the paper into a tight ball, shoving it into her coat pocket. She was aware the doctor, Dr. Jones, on the other side of the desk was giving her small glances as she promptly took another form, shoving it onto the clipboard.

First name: "John"

Last name: "Smith"

Sex: "Male"

Age: "35"

DOB: "Unknown"

Blood type: "Unknown"

Hair colour: "Brown"

Eye colour: "Brown"

Distinguishing features: "He's kinda tall-ish"

Address: "He travels a lot"

Place of birth: "Unknown"

Phone number: "Doesn't have one"

Profession: "Traveller-ish"

Why was he/she admitted to hospital?: "Bus crash"

Allergies: "None known"

Marital status: "Single-ish"

Children: "None"

Your relationship with the patient: "I travel with him"

Rose sat back to examine the paper, a lot happier with the commonness of the contents. She gently pushed it across the desk to Dr. Jones sitting on the other side, who gave a brief glance over it, before nodding in approval and filing it into a cluster of papers clutched in his hands.

Then it went back to that dreary hospital atmosphere.

The only time Rose had ever been to a hospital was year four in Primary School - the events that had led her to breaking her leg involved her boyfriend (At the time…), a cricket bat and a rather bad aim. So hospitals, in Rose's eyes, weren't bad places.

But now the fact The Doctor had been given a twenty-five percent survivability rating on arrival didn't exactly boost her confidence of the way they operated. Plus, if they did a scan on him; they would find out his alienity, take him away to a secret government unit, dissect him, lock him up – and she'd never see him ever again. She'd give birth to an alien. Then they'd take that away too.

This was all her fault. If she hadn't taken The Doctor on a stupid trip out they would never be in this position right now. The shadow would have never come to attack her, the creature would have never smashed into the bus and The Doctor wouldn't have had to play the hero and nearly get himself killed. Again.

But at least her mum had arrived. However much it was that Jackie disapproved of The Doctor, she knew how much he meant to her, and would never desert her at a time like this.

Rose hadn't even been allowed to see him, since she arrived at the hospital after The Doctor and he'd disappeared straight into the Operating Room beneath a bustle of concerned looking surgeons. So now she sat rigid, staring at the hospital doctor flicking through a clipboard of papers, fiddling with her fingers and biting her nails in an attempt to get rid of the nervousness, waiting for the results of the operation.

"He's unconscious, critical, but stable." Dr. Jones smiled reassuringly at Rose as her expression slowly turned into a grin, before the doctor continued, "he's suffered significant head trauma, internal bruising and internal bleeding, a broken right arm, fractured left patella, cracked and bruised ribs, major bruising and lacerations to his chest, stomach and arms, some minor bruising and lacerations to his face and legs, also third degree burns to his right leg," Dr. Jones reeled off like a shopping list.

Rose could only fight back the tears as all the injuries registered one after the other in her mind. Lacerations. Broken bones. Cracked bones. Fractured bones. Bruised bones. Bruised skin. Internal bruising. Internal bleeding. Burns. Head trauma…how in the universe had he survived? He seemed to have every single thing wrong with him that was in the damned medical dictionary.

"The head trauma is so great, he may not recall some of his memories for a while. He may be different. He may not instantly recall who you are, or even who he is. It's impossible to tell until he wakes up, and then we can assess the full extent of the damage."

Rose gawped. No. This couldn't be happening. Her Doctor - unable to remember who she was. She felt the warm, reassuring hand from her mother slip quietly into her own, but she didn't move her gaze from the man now sitting opposite her, telling her subliminally that The Doctor was going to die.

"He won't be able to do the simple things, like making a cup of tea or writing his name on a piece of paper for a few months. In time his cuts and bruises will heal, but for the moment he might be unrecognisable. Don't start testing his mind on the events of the night yet, because otherwise it might shatter. He may seem a little disoriented upon waking – he's just had major surgery and we can't seem to identify his blood type…"

That's because he's an alien.

"Can I see him?" Rose asked, getting onto her feet, and Dr. Jones nodded sympathetically.

"He's in the Invasive section, room 7R in the Intensive Care Unit. I'll have a nurse escort you."

----------

What would she see?

Would he be on the verge of death?

What if he died right infront of her?

If he woke, would he know who she was?

So many questions poured through her mind, each one more daunting than the next. And she hadn't actually looked at him yet. That was the beauty of it, see. He had the ability to scare her to Timbuktu, yet he didn't even need to be in the room with her.

Then she opened her eyes.

Despite how all the cuts and bruises had been cleaned, stitched where needed and bandaged, he still looked nothing short of a train wreck. He was attached to every machine known to man, bandages wrapped around his head, his right arm in a cast. His left shin and ankle were poking out from underneath the hospital bed cover, wrapped up in bandages too. His right leg, where Rose knew the burns were hiding, was in a special cooling bandage three quarters of the way up his leg, including his foot.

So, all in all – he'd had better days.

Rose strolled forward bravely, leaving her mother standing at the door as the nurse silently filtered away. She rested a hand to his bandaged head, almost as if she was willing him to wake up. Maybe if he woke up, she'd wake up. Out of this terrifying nightmare.

The heart rate monitor was beeping in a steady pulse, and immediately Rose knew the reason the doctors hadn't pick up on his two hearts yet was because only one was beating. She closed her eyes tightly, her mind filled with despair, fear and anger. He didn't even know he was a father yet. Maybe he'd die before he knew…regenerate…and hate her and the baby. Dump her back on Earth and fly away to the universe.

"Rose?" Jackie asked from across the room, and Rose turned to her, biting her lip to stop herself from crying.

"I'm pregnant," she suddenly burst out; unable to stop herself as Jackie did a double take.

"You what?" she asked, unable to believe what she'd just heard.

"I'm pregnant," Rose repeated firmly. It took a few more moments to sink in, and then Jackie smiled heartily, clapping her hands together like it was Rose's first day at school. The look that said 'My little Rose is growing up!'.

"I knew you and Mickey would always get it together! Congratulations Rose!" She started walking forward to hug her pregnant daughter, marriage ceremonies, nursery decorations and baby bonnets whizzing through her mind. Rose just sighed. She'd have to do this the hard way.

"It's The Doctor's."

Jackie stopped dead in her tracks, eyes wide open in surprise. Her jaw dropped open and closed continuously in disbelief, making her look remarkably similar to a goldfish.

"Sweet, for a moment there I thought you said it was The Doctor's…"

"It is The Doctor's mum."

Rose waited patiently for the balloon to burst. It was inflating…inflating…inflating…inflating…!

"YOU HAD SEX WITH A NINE-HUNDRED YEAR OLD ALIEN?(!)"

It burst.

"It was an accident!" Rose protested, before wincing as she realised what had just come out of her mouth.

"AN ACCIDENT?(!)" Jackie screeched, "HOW CAN HAVING SEX POSSIBLY BE AN ACCIDENT?(!)"

"I didn't mean to!"

"He FORCED you?(!)"

"No!"

"How long ago?"

"It was last night…"

"Good." Jackie nodded, folding her arms. "Then we can get an abortion."

Rose's eyes widened. "Mum!!!"

"It's the best way, dear."

"What if I don't want an abortion? What if I wanna keep this baby?"

"Then you'll 'ave an alien baby!"

"But it's my alien baby!"

"It's yours and The Doctor's alien baby, and I have no doubt that 'e agrees with me. What does 'e think by the way?"

Rose looked at the floor with a sigh. "He doesn't know yet."

"When were ya plannin' on tellin' 'im?"

"…Tonight."

The room feel silent for a moment as they each went into their own respective thoughts. Rose felt numb. Jackie just felt guilty.

"Sorry," Jackie muttered.

"It's okay," Rose replied, running a hand across the cool metal side rails of the hospital bed, not looking at The Doctor. She couldn't bear to.

"Rose…"

Rose's head jerked up towards the head of the bed, where The Doctor was looking at her through a face full of bruises. For a moment her heart raced – would he still be the same?

"Yeah, I'm here." She smiled, taking the deeply cut hand of his unbroken arm gently, not even daring to squeeze it incase she hurt him.

"What…" He breathed in deeply a few times, before continuing, "…happened?"

He couldn't remember? Was this part of the head trauma or did he just have a really shit short term memory?

"We were in a crash," she answered, running a finger down the deep cuts in her own face. "It's okay. We're safe, Doctor. We're in a hospital," she tried to reassure him, but to her alarm he suddenly started trying to get up out of the bed.

"No…" But the pain that streamed through his helpless body was all too much, and he gave up with a groan, falling down and wincing as pain shot right through him.

"Oi, mister," Jackie interrupted, stepping forward with a hand raised to slap him. He looked positively terrified, and Rose climbed over the siderail to sit next to him, smiling in pity. "You're not goin' anywhere till you're better – you've got a lot of explainin' to do. You're gonna get better so I can kill you."

The Doctor's terrified look turned to a half smile, and Rose grinned at him happily. Thank god her mother hadn't let slip the whole pregnancy thing.

"Thank you for saving me." Rose smiled, hugging him extremely carefully so that she couldn't hurt him. He grunted in reply, obviously extremely tired and hurting too much to string a sentence together.

"You need to get some rest." Rose let go of him, pulling the blankets up further around his beaten chest. "I'll stay, I swear I won't leave you."

The Doctor looked extremely grateful as he closed his eyes, and drifted quickly off into a dreamless sleep. Rose didn't speak until she heard his gentle breathing, and even then she listened to it for a few minutes before turning to consult her mother, who'd long since slipped into a chair next to the bed.

"Please don't tell him about the baby. Not yet," Rose begged her mother. "The shock would send him overboard, and he's not ready for it."

Jackie sighed, defeated. "If you don't want me to, I won't Rose." She grinned heartily at her only, and now impregnated daughter. "I promise."