Chapter 2

-:-

"Hello, is that the Doctor?" asked a female voice that he'd never heard before.

"Yes it is," he answered, not pausing to think about why she'd called him Doctor and not Dr John Smith like the rest of the Earth's population (bar Rose, of course.) "Who's this?"

"My name's Jackie," she mumbled, and he realised that her voice sounded shaky, slightly dazed.

"Are you okay?" he replied, ever the one to want to help people. "What is it? Are you hurt? How did you get this number?"

There was a rush of breath at the other end of the line. "Rose's phone, it was in her bag, I..." she trailed off, and he heard her give a choked sob.

His heart lurched in his chest. "What did you just say? Did you just say Rose? What is it? What's happened? Is she alright? What's going on? Who are you?"

"Calm down, sweetheart, it's gonna be alright," Jackie said, but there was a tremor in her voice. He knew instantly who she was; she was Rose's mother. Only a mother could say something like that to reassure her daughter's friend whilst tearing up inside herself. "But the thing is...she's...she's - "

"She's what?" he asked, panicking as he went through every scenario in his head. "She's what, Jackie? Tell me."

"She's sort of had this accident at work, and - "

He frowned and cut her off. "At work? She's not at work. I work with her, and she's not at work."

"No, no – not that work, not your work...she has another job, one that she does at the weekend, it's...it's so she can help me with the rent and things, but anyway, that's not important. The thing is, she's had an accident and we're at the hospital and -"

"I'm on my way," he pre-empted firmly. "Keep talking; tell me what happened." He strode back into the lab and grabbed his coat, holding up a hand when Martha tried to speak. Jackie explained to him that Rose had tripped and fallen, which didn't sound like much except for the fact that she'd hit her head, fallen unconscious, and was now having an MRI scan to check for brain damage. He froze to the spot, his eyes starting to sting. "Will she..." he trailed off, and cleared his throat because his voice sounded hoarse.

"She'd want you here," Jackie told him earnestly. "I think you should be here. Are you sure you can come?"

"Yes, of course," he answered, launching back into action. He dashed into the office again and grabbed his car keys from the pot on Rose's desk where he kept them. "I'll be driving, so I'll hang up now, but Jackie?"

"Yeah?"

"Tell her I'm coming. Even if she isn't awake, even if she can't hear you...tell her I'm coming." And he ended the call and let out a long breath, rubbing at his chest ineffectually, trying to ease the tension, the ache he felt there at not knowing whether his Rose was going to be okay.

"John, what's going on? You look terrible. Has something happened?" asked Martha.

He nodded distractedly, walking to the exit.

"Well, what is it?" she persisted, following him.

"She's had an accident," he murmured, as he headed towards his car, which was parked a little way along the road. "That was her mother, she's at the hospital, it's...it could be serious, it could be nothing, we don't know yet, but I have to go."

Martha's eyes widened. "Rose?" she guessed.

"Yes," he replied succinctly, opening his car door. "Sorry, Martha - "

"I'm coming with you," she interrupted, climbing in to the car on the other side.

"Right," he sighed, because considering she was belting herself in it didn't look like he had much of a choice in the matter. "Why?" he ventured, starting the ignition and pulling away.

"Because I want to see if she's okay," she replied, as if it was obvious. She sighed at his sidelong look. "Listen, I like her, alright? I do. I just don't like the way she's leading you on."

"She isn't 'leading me on,'" the Doctor retorted, his hands gripping the steering wheel tightly.

"Well, that's not important at the moment anyway, is it? So. How did she hurt herself?"

"Fell at work."

"Work?" Martha scrunched up her nose in confusion. "She wasn't at work."

"That's what I said. Apparently she's got two jobs. I don't think they have much money, her and her mum, who she lives with."

"Oh." Martha seemed to remember something. "Oh, yeah – I think I remember her saying once that she lived on the Powell Estate. That's a council estate, right?"

The Doctor bristled but concentrated on the road, wanting to get the damn car to go faster but not able to because of the amount of traffic. "Yes," he said shortly. "Nothing wrong with that."

Martha held up her hands defensively. "Did I say there was? I was only saying."

"Yeah, I know," he said apologetically. "Sorry I keep snapping at you, it's just – oh bloody hell! Could there be any more red lights today? Why is it that when you really need to get somewhere, all the traffic lights seem to conspire against you?" he muttered to himself grumpily. "Wish this car would just dematerialise here and materialise there."

"That's physically impossible, I'm afraid."

He huffed, "Yeah, 'til I invent a time machine it is."

Martha smiled to herself. "You're going to invent a time machine," she stated in amusement.

"Of course I am," he scoffed, like it was obvious. He'd filled Rose in on his plan awhile back, and she'd encouraged him greatly, albeit with a hint of laughter in her eyes. But he liked that. He liked that she was supportive and teasing at the same time. He liked –

Oh god. What was he going to do if she wasn't alright?

He shook his head, trying to shake those sorts of thoughts from his mind. She was going to be okay. She was going to be okay.

As soon as he'd parked the car, he jumped out and dashed over to the hospital's Accident and Emergency entrance. Martha had to sprint to keep up with his pace.

"Hello," he said to the receptionist once he'd got inside. "Can you tell me where Rose Tyler is? She came in a little while ago with a head injury, I think she's had some MRI scans and things - "

"Are you a relative, Sir?" the receptionist inquired politely.

"Um, no, not exactly," he answered. "Where is she?"

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that, not if you aren't a relative."

"I've just spoken with her mother! She wants me to be here!"

"Sir, calm down. I'm sure that once she's sent up to a ward you can discuss visiting hours - "

He stared at her and interrupted with a scoff, "Visiting hours!"

"So she's still down here at the moment?" Martha asked.

The receptionist sighed. "Sir, Madam, if you aren't relatives - "

"He's her boyfriend," Martha told her, rolling her eyes. "You've got to let him in. And I'm her friend." She could feel the Doctor's eyes on her, could almost sense the disbelief radiating off him.

"Well, if you're her boyfriend..." the woman shrugged, biting her lip thoughtfully.

Martha nudged him with her elbow to prompt him to clarify her statement.

He cleared his throat. "Yes. Er. That's right. Boyfriend. Where is she?"

"Just one moment," smiled the receptionist. "Nurse Faldron!" she called a nurse over. "Remember that girl you just brought in, Rose Tyler? Would you mind taking this gentleman to her room?"

"Yeah, of course," he answered.

"She has a private room just for her?" questioned Martha. "In an A&E department? That's kind of odd."

"Special request from some Captain or other," the receptionist waved off dismissively. "Nurse Faldron can take you both to her, I s'pose." She bit her lip again, then added gently, "I hope she's alright."

That didn't sound good. The Doctor swallowed hard. "Thank you." Then he and Martha followed the nurse towards Rose.

On their journey, Martha murmured, "How do you reckon Jack knew she was here?"

The Doctor's jaw clenched tightly. "I don't know."

"I just assumed Rose's mum called you first..."

"Martha," he said warningly.

"What? I'm just pointing it out! Seems a bit strange, don't you think? That he'd know to pull a few strings..."

"Well I guess we'll find out, won't we."

"You don't think they're secretly seeing each other, do you?"

"Martha, stop it."

"Here we are," announced Nurse Faldron. "Give me a moment." He opened the door to the room and spoke quietly with a nurse who was in there. They both then exited and told the Doctor and Martha that they could enter.

"She's had a very bad fall, I'm afraid," said the nurse who had been attending to her when they arrived. "She's unconscious at present, but her mother is sitting with her."

The Doctor stepped into the room and a woman stood up and dashed over to him. "You must be the Doctor," Jackie said hurriedly.

The nurse corrected her. "Mrs Tyler, this isn't a doctor, he's - "

Jackie interrupted impatiently, "- may we have some time with Rose, on our own, please?"

The nurse nodded sympathetically and left the visitors alone. The Doctor coughed awkwardly. "Yes," he clarified Jackie's earlier remark. "I am."

"I'm glad you could come," Jackie mumbled, before sighing heavily. "Here, sit down. Oh! Sorry, sweetheart," she added, realising her rudeness at not paying attention to Martha. "I'm Jackie, Rose's mum."

Martha smiled pleasantly. "I'm Martha, one of Rose's friends from Torchwood. What have the doctors said, then, about her scan?"

While Martha and Jackie discussed the fact that the doctors hadn't really got a clue what was wrong with Rose, the Doctor sat down beside her and took hold of her hand in his, watching her carefully. "I'm here, Rose," he murmured. "And you're going to be okay."