Chapter 4

Ace had talked with the Doctor until he grew weary and closed his eyes.

An hour later the Doctor began to shiver again.

He has said much in the time Ace had stayed at his bedside, promising everything would soon be back to normal, and then closing his eyes and murmuring that he needed to rest.

Ace swept her hand over his hair and spoken softly to him, reminding him he would soon be away from this place and back in the Tardis, that they would soon be leaving – but he had spoken whispered words she could not make out, and then fallen into a deep sleep.

As his breathing grew heavy and he tossed and turned as if caught in a nightmare, she felt a flicker of panic and hit the call button beside his bed.

"Professor?" she said anxiously as she placed her hand on his shoulder and gave him a shake

But the Doctor did not respond, and as the shock hit her that he had slipped into unconsciousness, there was no more time to think or cry or panic, because Carla rushed into the room accompanied by two medics.

"I can't wake him!" Ace exclaimed, "He was okay, he was talking to me and then –"

"I was expecting this," Carla replied as she leaned over him and started to examine him, "The toxin is progressing rapidly. He needs the surgery now, we can't wait any longer."

Ace blinked away tears that blurred her vision as the medics prepared to wheel his bed from the room.

"You have to do it now? Is it dangerous, will he be okay?"

As she spoke she grasped the Doctor's hand, and was shocked at how cold it felt.

Carla briefly explained:

"We have to place external implants at key points along the spine and chest and one at the side of his head, all giving off electrical pulses to slow the progress of the toxin. He's very weak and that is why the procedure is dangerous. After the implants are activated, he will most certainly suffer a seizure, I'm hoping it will be mild. But after that, there are no guarantees – he could continue to have the seizures, or it could happen randomly and be much less severe than the first - if he recovers, this treatment will be effective. If not, he will die. I'm sorry, Ace, Everything that can be done to save him will be done."

Her hand was tugged from his grasp as the bed was shifted away from the wall and the staff began to remove him from the room.

Ace stood up and watched as he was taken away from her sight and far from the reach of her hand, and she blinked as tears ran down her face.

"I just want to be there for him, I can't leave him - the Professor will be all on his own –"

"He's in the best possible hands," she promised her, "We will do all we can for him. The Doctor has saved the earth many times over the centuries. Now it's time for us to try and save him. This is going to take a while, the implants have to be placed very carefully because the toxin is preventing wounds from healing, so infection is a big risk. He's very ill, Ace. I can only promise we will do our best for him."

Ace wanted to speak but tears choked off her voice as she nodded and blinked away more tears from her sore eyes.

"The surgery will take around six hours," she told her, "As soon as he's back in his room you can stay with him. I'm sure he will feel so much better for seeing you there when he wakes."

And then she walked out, leaving Ace standing alone in a room that seemed so empty now that the bed was gone, and so was the Professor…


Ace waited.

At first she waited in his room, but the emptiness of the place only made the ache in her heart unbearable as she kept looking back at the space his bed had once occupied. She checked her watch and then she grabbed her jacket and put it back on and then walked out of the room, knowing she was stuck with the hardest task of all – waiting for the outcome.

Ace walked back down the corridor and out of the medical centre, turned a corner and found a lift. She remembered that this ship was vast and decided a little exploring could do no harm to kill the time…

She hit a button and the doors slid open and she stepped inside.

"Dining recreation or retail?" an electronic voice asked her.

The question had briefly shifted her thoughts from her worries for the Professor.

"Retail sounds great," she said, and the lift began to ascend.

As the lift continued to climb, she thought about her Professor and tears stung at her eyes again as she pictured him cold and shivering, deeply unconscious on the operating table as Dr Bailey started to fit the implants. She had no clue what cybernetic implants looked like, and she wasn't sure if her imagination was running away with her because she was afraid for him, but she kept imagining him lying there clinging to life while ugly metal was fixed to his flesh, she wondered if her lovers body would ever be the same again, would he still look like the Doctor after he had been through this procedure?

Dr Bailey had said he would need several implants.

She had also said he could suffer seizures because of them.

Ace didn't like the sound of the one that would send small shocks into his brain.

She knew he was a Timelord and not made quite like the average human being, but that knowledge gave her little comfort.

She wondered if the implants would cause bleeding, because Carla said the wounds would not be able to heal.

Ace was on the brink of tears again.

What kind of a poison stopped open wounds from healing?

She felt as if her heart was wounded too, and like the Doctors own injuries, would never heal as long as he was in such pain…

Ace drew in a small breath and then wiped away her tears with the sleeve of her bomber jacket.

Those thoughts were still swirling around in her mind and she wanted to sink to the floor of the lift and sob like a frightened child.

It had never occurred to her that something like this could happen, and that her Professor could one day be so ill that he could even die before her…That had never seemed possible, because he was a Timelord, he could regenerate, he would live on forever…wouldn't he?

She thought again of the man she loved so weak and in such pain as she knew there was nothing she could do to help him. At that moment as the lift continued to rise, she felt a thousand light years away from him and her heart seemed torn in half and the pain cut so deep she wanted to double up with the agony of it.

Ace thought of the new closeness they had found, of the brief time they had shared together in a way she had once thought impossible, and she recalled every second of it. She remembered the softness of his kiss and wondered if she would ever know his kiss again, then as she recalled running her fingers through his soft dark hair she thought of the implant that would be fixed to his head and she wondered what it would look like, and if he would still have his soft dark hair when saw him again.

Ace put her hand to her mouth and stifled a sob as her eyes glazed with hot tears that almost blinded her.

Then the doors to the lift opened and she stepped out, pausing to wipe away her tears yet again with the sleeve of her jacket.


Ace found she was standing in a shopping mall, it was dimly lit with the area's lighting on half power.

The place was deserted, but this change of scene was enough to stop her tears as her curiosity took over.

She checked her watch again.

The Doctor had been in surgery for an hour.

There was plenty of time left to explore…

As she walked away from the lift, the doors closed and the sound echoed around the vast room.

Ace looked up and saw the shopping mall had three levels. The escalators had fallen still and would be easy to climb to reach the next floor. Here where she stood looked to be a food court, but all the shops had the shutters down.

She began to climb up to the first floor, thinking how much this place reminded her of earth, and happier times. Now it seemed all happier times were consigned to the past, because the future seemed so uncertain…

Ace reached the top and saw here a few stores were open, but for customers to use self-service machines only.

The bright lights after so much gloom pulled her like a magnet, and Ace walked past a clothing shop and into a large department store.

It felt ghostly with mannequins posing in the latest fashions across the other side of the vast interior and no staff about, but she smiled, thinking of earth, and happier times once more.

The Professor had taken her shopping many times on many worlds. He had given her a credit card too, but assured her there was a limit on it. When she had asked him what that limit was, he had simply said, it was set to that point just before the urge for needless spending set in…

She hadn't questioned it, she had thanked him and accepted it and so far it had worked everywhere they had travelled, and she had not gone on any crazy shopping sprees, either…

As she walked through the store she wondered what she ought to get, but her thoughts were only with the Doctor. She paused to place her hand on the fabric of a soft, warm blanket that was neatly folded on a shelf and she recalled how cold he was, then she took it off the shelf.

She walked through the women's clothing section and paused again, smiling as she held up some lacy black underwear. Then her smile faded and she cancelled that thought…the Professor would certainly be surprised to find she was wearing something so silky and sensual, but not right now, he was too ill for that kind of fun…

Ace turned to see a mannequin wearing a laced up corset. She looked at the garment for a moment and then she reached up and took it down from the display, remembering the Doctor had said the implant treatment would fix him…he was going to get better, he had told her that, so perhaps she could save this for better times…

She went up to the self-service check out, paid for the items and put them in a bag and walked out of the store.

Ace paused to look up at the third floor, seeing there were a few lights on up there too. But then she thought about the Doctor and thinking of him made her feel as if she was too far away once more, and she turned back, heading for the stairs that led to the ground floor.

And footsteps echoed across the polished floor, heavy footsteps that sounded close behind:

Someone else was on the first floor, and they were heading for the stairs…

Ace stopped walking and turned her head, giving a gasp as the shadowy figure of a man stepped back into the gloom swallowed by shadow.

She was torn between turning back to face her fear or simply running.

Ace did not believe in running away from a threat, her time with the Doctor fighting all kinds of enemies had taught her it was always better to find courage and make a stand. But her rucksack, along with her baseball bat and her nitro nine, was back on level two, in the Tardis. The only weapons she had at this moment were her fists, and she had no clue who or what was lurking just a short distance behind her.

"Ace."

Her eyes widened as she heard her name whispered and that whisper seemed to fill the hollow space around her.

She was halfway down the stationary escalator. She looked ahead and saw the lift on the next floor, just a short distance from the bottom of the steps.

She knew what she needed to do…


Ace ran.

As she collided with something solid she staggered back, catching the rail of the escalator to steady herself as she looked sharply at the person who stood in front of her, who wore a dark uniform and had a laser pistol holstered at her side.

Then she saw the woman's badge stated K Travis, Security, and suddenly felt much safer.

"What are you doing down here?"

Ace drew in a breath and glanced up the stairway, but saw no sign of the man who had been watching her.

"I'm travelling with the Doctor - he's fallen ill, and Carla Bailey –"

"Ah yes, we know – you're the companion of the great Timelord," the woman said, and she smiled kindly, but there was a sad look about her eyes that told Ace the crew on this ship already knew about the Doctor's situation.

"News travels fast," Ace remarked.

The woman fixed pale blue eyes on her as she stood in the semi gloom with her tied back blonde hair looking golden beneath the dim lighting.

"We were informed that he is very unwell," she replied, "But Dr Bailey is an excellent surgeon. You must have faith in her, she will do all she can for him."

And then she frowned as she looked up the stairway to the top.

"Is everything all right? You seemed to be running from someone."

"I'm not sure," Ace replied, "I thought I saw someone on the first floor - a man. And someone said Ace, they whispered my name. I started to run and then I almost ran into you, and now I'm not sure what I saw. I'm very worried about the Doctor. Maybe I was imagining things."

"Well its spooky over here with everything on half power and half the place closed down," she replied, and then she smiled.

"I'll check it out, by the way I'm Karen Travis, head of security. Wait here, I'll go up and take a look."

Ace stood at the bottom of the steps feeling useless armed only with a carrier bag containing two very different gifts for the man she loved, and missing her trusty baseball bat.

Karen Travis pulled out the pistol and kept it in a firm grip and made her way quickly up the steps. Ace saw her walk away from the top of the stairway; she went left, then right, making a quick sweep of the area. Then she lowered the weapon and began to make her way down the steps once more.

"I saw nothing. But it's shadowy up there and you have a lot on your mind…I don't mean to offend you but it probably was your imagination."

She reached the bottom of the steps and put her gun away, looking at Ace sympathetically.

"You must be going through a lot right now. I know I would be if it was my friend who was so desperately ill."

Ace blinked but failed to hold back her tears.

"Carla said the implants are his only hope," she told her as her voice broke up, and then she stifled a sob.

"And I'm not his friend, I'm much more than that – we've only just got together and I'm so scared I'm losing him!"

Karen placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sure you are, Ace. But you have to be strong for him. He relies on you far more than you know. Come with me, you look like you could use a cup of tea…"


Karen led her through the lower floor of the mall and came to a door and unlocked it.

"This is where I spend my time," she told her, from here I can see through every security camera on every level of the mall."

Ace stepped inside the small room and looked at the sea of monitors on the wall. They did show every angle of every level, and inside every open store, but there was no sign of an intruder.

Karen sat down at her desk and gestured to a chair on the other side of it, and as Ace sat down she opened a thermos flask and poured out some hot tea and handed it to her.

"I think you could also use some company," she said, "You're handling a lot of worry on your own, Ace."

She looked back at the security guard as surprise registered in her eyes.

"Well yes I am but what choice do I have? It's crazy, he's a Timelord, I'm just a human being with one life, I'm so much weaker than him, I can't regenerate or live for centuries…yet he's the one who's become so ill. I never thought something like this could happen to him."

Karen spoke gently as she replied.

"None of us expect the worst, we like to think we can keep those we love safe. He probably feels the same way about you. But these things can and do happen – what we do about it depends on how strong we can be, and I think you and the Doctor have a very strong bond, Ace. I think when he feels like breaking, you will be the one to hold him together."

Ace was staring at her. She had never expected a stranger to make such a profound statement that meant so much to her.

"Thanks," she said quietly, "I want to help him. I don't know how I can do that, it seems like it's all out of my hands –"

"It's not."

Ace blinked.

"How would you know?"

"Just an observation I've made based on all I've learned in my thirty years alive," Karen replied, "People who are meant to be together, who have real love – nothing can break that."

Ace sipped her tea and then smiled.

"That's me and the Professor," she said, suddenly feeling more optimistic, "We belong together. We're so happy together." And then her smile faded, "That's why this is so unfair. We were friends for several years before we fell in love, it took time. Maybe too much time, now he could die, now there could be no time left. Dr Bailey said he's so weak he might not get through the surgery."

Karen leaned across the table and covered Ace's hand in a gentle, warm grip as she looked into her eyes.

"Ace," she said "Do you really think that man, travelling the universe in his police box with his days like crazy paving, would find you, only to lose you again? He's lost out many times in the past as people came and went from his life but not you, Ace… You're the one. There's a reason for that. Think of this as a test. You need to be strong for him, until he can be strong for himself again."

And then she let go of her hand.

Ace finished her tea and looked back at Karen with suspicion in her eyes.

"Are you sure you're just a security guard?" she asked.

Karen smiled.

"I've been many things," she replied, "In my thirty years…I don't miss much. And I know you should be stronger even if you don't think you can be –it's all there inside you, but you have to find it. He needs you. And you will get him through this and you'll both come out of this even stronger than before. You just have to believe."

Her words had stirred up much emotion and it came as a surprise to Ace that where there had once been fear, now courage resided.

"I do," she said in a hushed voice, "I believe in the doctor, and in me and him and in all we have, nothing can break that."

Karen's eyes shone as she smiled.

"See? You can be strong."

And then she checked her watch.

"It's almost the end of my shift. You'd better get back upstairs - you never know, it could have gone better than you think, he could be out of surgery soon."

Ace stood up and picked up her shopping bag.

"Thanks," she said, "What you said, it makes a lot of sense."

"I'm always down here in the morning," Karen replied, "If you want to chat, you know where to find me – just don't tell anyone else about me."

"Why?" Ace asked, pausing by the door to look back at her.

"Because I'm not supposed to let anyone in the security room," she replied, and then she smiled again.

"Get in that lift and go back to the hospital. I bet when you get there the Doctor will already be back in his room. And make sure you get some sleep - you look worn out. You'll wake up feeling so much better."

"Thanks," Ace said again, and then she left the room.

As the door closed behind her, Karen thought of Ace and the Doctor and all the things Ace was yet to know, and then as her eyes shone, they sparkled golden as the security guard looked back at the screens, scanning them for the intruder once more.

She caught sight of Ace stepping into the lift and smiled.

"That's right," she murmured, "Off you go. Look after him, that's all he needs to get through this…"

And while she spoke her eyes still glittered in shades of unearthly gold, as if made of eternity.


Ace stepped out of the lift and began to walk down the long, pale corridor that led towards the Doctor's room.

She still carried the words that had made so much sense to her at the time Karen had spoken them, but now she was getting closer to his door, fear began to run cold through her blood.

Dr Bailey had just turned a corner and was walking towards her.

Ace waited for her near the Doctor's room, afraid to walk in, afraid to do anything until she had spoken to her, because she feared the worst.

"Is he still in surgery? Is he doing okay?"

"The implants were much easier to fit than we expected," Carla told her, "We were able to get his treatment done quickly, he remained stable throughout the procedure. He's back in his room now – but he is very weak and we won't know if it's been successful until he wakes. That could take several hours, but you're welcome to stay with him, we've made him comfortable."

"Thanks."

Ace had barely been able to get the word out as she wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her coat, then she smiled through her tears.

"Thank you," she said again, and turned to the door and opened it and went inside, then closed it again behind her, wanting only to be with her Professor as she watched him rest, and clung to the hope that he would recover.


Ace sat down at the Doctor's bedside and as she looked at him, more tears sprang to her eyes, but this time out of sheer relief:

He still looked like her Professor.

He was deeply unconscious but breathing slowly and evenly and there was no trace left of the chills that had caused him to shiver and sweat so violently before. A small silver disc had been set in the centre of his chest, and another at the side of his neck. She cautiously ran her fingers through his hair and found another implant, this one was square and larger than the others, but hidden beneath his dark hair and it was so slender and flat against his scalp she guessed he would have no problem putting his hat on despite the presence of the cybernetic device.

"Professor," she said quietly, "I know you can't hear me, but I want to say something to you: I'm here for you, and I'm going to get you through this. You're going to be fine, because I'm going to make sure of it."

He gave no reply as he slept on.

Ace checked her watch and wondered how many hours it had been since she had slept, and then she got out of the chair and sat on the edge of the bed, cautiously laying beside him, placing her head on the corner of one of the large pillows that supported him as he continued to sleep.

She paused to plant a gentle kiss in his hair, and then she smiled as she closed her eyes.

"I'm with you, Professor," she whispered, "I'm staying with you forever…and you know what? It's all going to be okay…"

And then as the worry and exhaustion took its toll, Ace fell asleep beside him, keeping a tight hold on his hand as she held on the hope that their love really was strong enough to stand up to anything, as she dreamed of happier times, in the hope those times would soon be back forever.