Chapter Nine

Content

Ashley had thought she wouldn't sleep. In fact, she actually hoped she wouldn't sleep, but as soon as she lay her head down on the pillow – only inches away from the Doctor's head – she fell into a deep sleep. It was understandable, of course. She didn't think she had slept properly since she dozed off after drinking the last of that wine from her fridge, and even then she hadn't got a good night's sleep. She had run from a guy who wanted to steal her brain, a giant spider that wanted to take her eyeballs, a crazy woman who wanted to steal her youth…

Realistically, she should have dropped unconscious by now.

To her she felt like she had only been asleep for about ten minutes or so, but opening her eyes and seeing Mitchell's weary face as he shook her awake told her otherwise. She sat up abruptly, rubbing her eyes.

'Wha… Is he out?' she asked groggily.

Mitchell shook his head grimly. 'I'm sorry.' He moved back around the bed by the Doctor. Ashley watched him in bewilderment.

'Why are you apologising? What's wrong?'

Mitchell cleared his throat. 'Come and look at this. I'll explain.'

Ashley's heart was in her throat. She was expecting the worst. He was dead. She was going to go right down that hall and grab that son of a bitch's wire and-

'It's been twenty four and a half hours since we got back and found him.' Mitchell explained. He pointed at a small screen by the side of the bed. 'These are his vitals. I don't know how or why, but it seems like he has two heartbeats… that's impossible I know but I worked with it and managed to still get relatively decent readings.' He pointed at a red line. 'Now, if he was experiencing any discomfort or stress of any kind, this line would be going crazy. The steady rhythm pretty much suggests that he's perfectly fine.' He looked at Ashley worriedly. 'Content.'

Ashley blinked and rubbed her eye with the heel of her hand. She shook her head. 'So… So what? He's going to come out of it soon though, right? He's started the unplugging thing.'

Mitchell eyed her for a moment. 'It means he's happy.' He replied gently. 'After twenty-four hours, people normally decide to stay where they are. I'm sorry, Ashley, but you're going to have to wait the two weeks if you want him out and I can assure you after two weeks of being in VR, he won't be the same person you knew before.'

'What do you mean, not the same person?' She frowned at the young man before her. Her head was still swimming from sleep.

Mitchell sighed and looked down, searching for words. 'He… He will have spent two weeks in the best place imaginable. Everything he ever wanted will be there. His every single dream come true. Imagine… Imagine if that were you. Then imagine someone pulled you out of that, into a world…' He looked around and frowned. 'Into a world like this. Could you live this life knowing you've lost a perfect one?'

Ashley frowned, feeling herself shaking. 'The Doctor isn't like that. He's not that weak.'

'We all have our weaknesses.' Mitchell told her gently. 'This machine knows all of our weaknesses. I've never met a single person who has gone back to their normal life after two weeks of being plugged in. Not one.'

Ashley gritted her teeth. Tears were welling in her eyes and she was trembling all over. 'No…' she mumbled.

'Ashley, we can only do our best…' He reached out to her arm.

'No!' she screamed, slapping his arm away. She shot to her feet so suddenly that she stumbled backwards, knocking over a trolley with a half empty jug of water on it. It crashed to the floor, water soaking in the carpet. 'The Doctor wouldn't!' she sobbed. 'He wouldn't leave me stranded like this! He promised!'

Mitchell stood slowly, arms held out to her. 'Come on. It's okay, really. We can help him, but I need for you to calm down…'

'It's his fault!' she yelled angrily, tears streaming down her face. 'That bastard Cartwright!' She turned on her heels and ran out of the room. Mitchell watched after her for a moment in confusion, and then chased after her.

Ashley burst through the door of the other bedroom and stormed towards the elderly man on the bed. She reached out for the wire, but Mitchell grabbed her and pulled her back before she had the chance.

'Get off me!' she growled.

'This isn't the way!' Mitchell yelled, struggling to keep hold of her.

Ashley felt that warmth in her stomach. 'He did this! It's his fault!'

'And do you think it's right if you kill him?' Mitchell cried. 'You think it makes it fair? We can still help the Doctor! While he's alive, we can help him. Do you think he would want you to kill Mr Cartwright because of him?'

Ashley stopped struggling slowly. She let out an anguished sob. 'No…'

Mitchell turned her around and moved his face close to hers, staring into her eyes. 'We can help him, okay?'

Ashley nodded, wiping her nose with the back of her hand. 'Okay… yeah…'

Mitchell pulled her into a hug. 'It's not as bad as you think, okay? He'll be fine.'

Ashley nodded, her face against his chest. 'Okay.'

He squeezed her hand and pulled her towards the door. 'Come on.'

Ashley cast one last look at Harrison Cartwright, and left him in peace.

It took her about twenty minutes to calm down again. She sat on the bed beside the Doctor and watched him. He didn't move a muscle. Ashley found herself wondering if he would get itchy. Because, surely if he got an itch, he wouldn't be able to scratch it… and in the VR game he wouldn't be able to get it either because he wouldn't be really scratching. Or would the game just tell him he wasn't itchy?

She frowned at the headache that was beginning to make itself known.

'Are you okay?'

She glanced up to Mitchell. He was looking at her warily, probably expecting her to go off on another bender.

'Yeah.' She replied quietly. 'I'm okay.'

Mitchell nodded. 'So… what do you want to do? Should I start the unplugging?'

Ashley looked at the Doctor. 'No.' she said.

'I'm sorry?'

She ran a hand over her face and sighed heavily. 'If we force him out… I mean, if he is really happy and we force him out, what's to stop him plugging himself straight back in? We don't know how he feels about it. Maybe he's hoping we don't pull the plug at all.' She reached out and carefully plucked a small piece of white thread from the Doctor's suit. 'We have to make him want to come out.'

'Well he can't hear us talking.' Mitchell told her, shaking his head.

Ashley bit her lip. 'I know.'

Mitchell eyed her for a while. 'There's one other way.'

She looked up at him, eyes wide with hope. 'What?'

'One of us can hook up to the machine,' Mitchell told her with a shrug. 'I can split the plugs so we wouldn't go into our own game, we would go into his.'

Ashley frowned thoughtfully. 'And we would be able to talk to him?'

Mitchell nodded. 'It's risky though. I've never seen anyone do it. The game might reject the new person. Or, worse, the new person could decide they like it there too. Might not want to leave.'

Ashley drummed her fingers on the bed. 'But it's possible?'

'Yeah.'

She mulled it over for a moment. 'Okay. We'll do that.'

Mitchell nodded. 'I'll go in.' he told her. 'If something goes wrong I'd rather it be me than…'

'No,' Ashley frowned, waving her hand. 'If anyone is going to talk the Doctor into coming out, it'll have to be me. I… I know a little more about him than you do. I'll go in and I'll talk him around.' She nodded to herself.

Mitchell eyed her unsurely. 'Are you sure?'

'Yeah. He's saved my life before, the least I can do is return the favour.'

'Okay then.' Mitchell pushed himself up. 'I'll go get the stuff.'

Ashley watched him leave the room sadly. She turned back to the Doctor when he had left and took his hand. 'I'm sorry if you're happy wherever you are,' she said quietly. 'But you can't stay there. You know you can't.'