Chapter Five

The Doctor Is In

"… How should I know?" the little dark haired boy asked honestly.

Rose smirked at the cuteness and reached to take a feather out of his hair.

He grinned and asked another question. "Where's my big brother?"

"He's at school now." Jackie said. "And he's not your-"

Rose interjected. "Why do you think he's your big brother?" There was a ring at the door and Jackie went to go get it. She rolled her eyes as she left the room.

His eyes rounded and he said in a mocking tone "Duh! Because he told me he was, you silly goose!"

Dr. Jed came into the room. He was a close friend of the Tylers and especially Pete. He was more than happy to make a simple house call to break up his busy day at his practice. Not many doctors get house calls anymore.

"Why, hello there, Tony! Oh… you're not Tony." Dr. Jed said in a cute voice curious to meet the new little friend of the Tyler family. "What's your name?" He was now leaning next to the brown haired boy's side of the bed.

Jackie and Rose tried to answer quickly at the same time with two stories that did not coincide. Jackie was saying something about that he was a distance relative of her own aunt, twice removed. Rose said that she found him wondering around outside in the streets and he was probably an orphan. Both stories were rushed and completed in a mumbled sentence or two. It was as if they both should have ended with the phrase 'or something like that…'

Dr. Jed looked up from the boy who was simply smiling back at him. "Oh… I see that you haven't quite figured out your story yet have you. Just tell me, is he from your planet Jackie?"

Rose and Jackie looked shocked.

Dr. Jed stood up straight. "It's alright. Yes, I know everything." Rose kind of chuckled at this, there was no way he knew "everything". "I demanded an explanation from Pete when you got the flu for the third time Jackie. It was as if you didn't receive your 360 flu vaccine as an infant. I thought maybe you just came from a homeless family or immigrated here, but that didn't explain your accent. When Pete denied both stories I said that you were special and I wanted to write a case study about: The first case to ever get the flu three times after getting the flu vaccine. Well, I would have titled it more strategically." He grinned a little and looked up trying to remember what title he picked out for his case study. He snapped out of it and got back to business. "Ah. Anyway! Pete begged me not to do it and when I asked why and reminded him about doctor-patient confidentiality, Pete explained what happened."

Rose and Jackie looked at each other. They didn't want to say anything Dr. Jed didn't know. The little voice spoke up, he wanted to hear the rest of the story. "What happened?"

"Oh no! I'm sorry! Does he not know?"

"Well… erm…" Rose looked back at her mother. "Yes, he kinda knows, but he's just little, you know?"

Dr. Jed, nodding all knowingly, then leaned in close to the little boy and told this story in a very charismatic way, with large gestures and over exaggerated words.

"Not so so long ago in a galaxy and planet far FAR awaaaay…" He paused to see if the little one was interested at all, and his big brown eyes said 'yes', so Dr. Jed continued. "Miss Jackie over there lived on another… planet!" He had paused to add some suspense.

"Oh! WOW!" The little boy was soaking it all up. "Another planet?"

This bothered Rose. The Doctor had been to nearly all the planets in his lifetime. Did he totally forget or was this not her Doctor.

Dr. Jed continued "And probably a little bit before you were born there were some bad robots trying to destroy both of our worlds! Miss Jackie was a warrior from her planet and jumped onto their ship to try to stop them but little did she know that they could teleport from her planet to this planet. By the time the battle was over, Miss Jackie was stuck here on our planet. Then, she soon met Mr. Tyler and they fell in love and lived happily ever after!" He rushed in a mumbled; "Except for having the flu every so often."

The little boy sat not moving. Was the performance that bad? Oh, yes he had forgotten to add the last bit. "THE END!" Dr. Jed said in a sing-song voice.

"Oh. YEAH!" The little one clapped in delight.

"Well, anyway…" Dr. Jed stood up and straightened his jacket. "I came to have a look at you Rose. You fainted?"

Dr. Jed did a few things like checked her heart rate and made sure her pupils dilated correctly.

"No sign of concussion whatsoever! You just had a little fright is all. Just do me a favor, go drink a good amount of water and have a good salty meal. You're blood sugar may have been low and you may need some electrolytes."

"Oh, um… yes, of course." Rose wasn't really paying attention. She was watching the little one play in Dr. Jed's black bag.

"Can I be Rose's doctor now?" He was eager.

"Well, erm…" He looked at his silver watch. "I suppose my colleagues can handle themselves for a bit more." Dr. Jed smirked, picked him up off the floor and sat him next to Rose. "Alright, first thing you need to know about being a doctor is bed side manner. You have to be nice to your patient and be sure you are treating her as a human being." He looked at the boy waiting for a reply.

"Human being, got it." He rusted the stethoscope from the bag.

"Next, before I allow you to be her doctor you need to take an oath. It's very special."

"Alright! I'm ready!" The boy sat up straight, facing Dr. Jed directly.

Rose was lying on the bed between them. The boy, patiently kneeling next to her and Dr. Jed was leaning over to get into his bag on the floor. Rose watched as Dr. Jed pulled out a small book from his black bag. It was a worn leather dark brown book. He opened to a page that was marked with a thin piece of dark blue ribbon. A picture fell out from between the pages and Dr. Jed picked it up immediately. Rose saw a picture of a young Dr. Jed and a young woman. She had a bright ring on her finger. They were very happy. He grinned a bit at the picture and tucked it into the pages before the blue ribbon.

"Okay, here we are! Now, you need to know this is very important. An oath is a promise to your family, your dearest friends, anyone you will ever work with, and also to yourself. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir." He was serious.

"Now, I will read the oath, this is the very same oath that I took when I became a doctor. I will read it and if you agree with it and you will promise to listen to it and do what it says you then can repeat what I say. Okay?"

"Yes, okay."

Rose watched as the little boy all so seriously repeats every word of the oath.

"I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant." Dr. Jed proudly states and the boy repeats with a similar inflection.

"I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow." He repeats.

"I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures that are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism." He repeated and where Dr. Jed thought he would stumble the boy resounded the words perfectly.

"I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug." He repeated with a smile.

"I will not be ashamed to say 'I know not', nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery." Repeated.

"I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know." Repeated.

"Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death." At this the boy looked down and with the eyes like a man who has fought in wars, he repeated.

"If it is given to me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty." He looks at Rose and gave a little wink, then looked back at Dr. Jed in all seriousness again and repeats.

"Above all, I must not play at God." The boy paused at first, and then repeated.

"I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability." He repeated.

"My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick. I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure." He repeated.

"I will remember that I remain a member of society with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm."

At this the boy begins to repeat and says "I will remember that I remain a member of society with special obligations to all my human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm." Rose caught the one word he left out, but Dr. Jed did not. He continued while Rose fought back a smile.

"If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter." He repeats.

"May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help." He grins from ear to ear and so does Rose. She thought about how all the words made perfect sense to her Doctor. Her Doctor upholds the finest of traditions of being a Time Lord by upholding the law of the Shadow Proclamation. Then, there were the words 'may I long experience'. She didn't have to think over that one. Then, the end, 'help', the one word her Doctor could never resist.

The boy knelt higher and pulled his shoulders back saying "May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I LONG experience the joy of healing those who seek my help!" His words got louder and stronger as the sentence finally came to an end.

Dr. Jed was trying to be professional but he was grinning thinking on how serious the boy just took it all. "A very fine young boy indeed." He said to Rose. "Now you're a doctor!" Dr. Jed patted him on his shoulder.

"Well ain't that just fantastic." Rose whispered through her teeth.

"Oh. You know what? I don't even know your name. What's your name boy?"

He was putting the stethoscope around his neck, looked up and replied. "I'm the Doctor! Rose's Doctor!"

Rose slammed her head back into her pillow.

Hello readers! Thanks to everyone who has made this story a favorite and is still following along. I'm planning my wedding to my own doctor right now so sorry it's been so long. You know I read other fan fics and read what the authors say at the bottom and they always apologize for taking so long to upload and I normally just roll my eyes and click to go read the next chapter. Now I understand why they apologize and feel so bad. If you don't write, your characters don't get to live on, and no one knows their story. I won't let this story die, that's for sure. See you in the next chapters!