If these stitches were anything to go by, I'd say Jack was secretly a professional surgeon in his spare time. Or. He spent way too much of his time patching people, or himself, up. Which raised the unhappy question of what exactly was he getting up to, that he was constantly having to sew human flesh back together?

But I'd been unconscious for most of the process, so I didn't really get a chance to ask. It was reassuring to see that he was recovered. Only the bloodstain on his shirt and fading pink scars gave any sign that he'd had his throat bitten out hours earlier. Which was a neat party trick. Creepy as hell, but neat.

It was just me left now, me and my old friend, the lamp of majestic healing. Everyone else was busy running around the ship trying to make her fly again. I had a smaller, but no less important project. Trying to untangle my wet hair. Which was a nightmare with the added gray film that coated every part of me that had come in contact with the water. So basically, it was everywhere.

"You shouldn't scratch at it. Your hands are filthy." The Professor was lurking in the doorway.

I shot him a look, "What are you, my mother?" I hadn't been scratching it. More just…scratching around it. Delicately. Hey, it itched like hell under this lamp. It was a miracle I'd left it alone this long.

"Certainly not." He snapped. That wasn't a surprise, he'd probably drawn the short straw and was just as unhappy to see me as I was him. Someone had to check on the feeble human while the grown-ups make sure we can get off Satan's Fantasy Island. "How is it coming on?" He asked as he walked further into the clinic area.

"Just fine. Jack seems to know his stuff." Two thin rows of black stitches started mid-thigh and stopped just above my knee. The lamp would make them useless in a few hours, but it was nice not to bleed to death in the meantime.

"And how are you?" He asked, leaning against the nearby cot. Nice of him to pretend to care.

"Peachy."

"Is that so?" His eyes narrowed in disbelief. Couldn't put anything past this guy. Maybe if he didn't want snotty answers, he shouldn't be asking stupid questions. Of course I wasn't okay, I was fraying apart at the seams. So was everyone else. We'd just crashed a spooky monster cave, nearly been torn apart, drowned, and time vortexed into who knows what. There was a whole bouquet of colorful and exotic deaths we'd tried to experience today. There should probably be a frequent flier mile program for that.

Whining about it, though, wasn't going to fix it. So it didn't really matter how I was actually doing. And it certainly wouldn't matter to him.

"Yep." I beamed at him. He sighed in an annoyed way.

"Fitzgerald, I came to apologize."

"Oh yeah?" Look at that really interesting thread coming off of my jeans. Let's look at that instead of directly at him.

"Yes. I said I wasn't going to let anything happen to you. I failed."

Was he serious? There's no way he was being serious. I looked up at him.

He was.

What an idiot.

"Seriously? That's what you're apologizing for?"

"Of course," he looked at me strangely, like he had no idea what else he could possibly have to be sorry about. Well. It was possible he didn't… "What-"

"I fell off a damn boat. Because of crazy super soldier time lords. Do you really think that was something you could have prevented?"

"If I had been with you-" He insisted but I cut him off with a bitter laugh.

"Yeah? Whose fault was that?" Oh, oh. I know the answer. Who's got two thumbs and can be blamed entirely for throwing a pouty fit and refusing to ride on a boat with the Professor?

This girl.

Hell, I was still throwing a pouty fit because she had kissed him. And he might have kissed her back, and what the hell does that mean-No. Not the time to get into that analysis. Never was probably the time. Yeah, never was good. He opened his mouth to answer, but nothing came out.

"Exactly."

"That doesn't matter." He shook his head. "I should have insisted. Fitzgerald, I swore-"

"That's your solution? You were just going to ignore what I wanted? Dragged me kicking and screaming across the ocean? Really?" His jaw tightened, he didn't seem to appreciate the tone I was using. Too bad.

"It would have been for your own-"

"If you say 'good' I'm going to find something heavy, and I'm going to beat you with it." That shut him up. And pissed him off. "I guess I was wrong, you're not any better than you were before. You're still just an over controlling psychopath. But you know what? I'm an adult. Maybe I'm not old, or mystical, or full of spacey fucking wisdom, but I can handle myself. I don't need a babysitter, and you are not responsible for me." My voice just kept getting louder, apparently he was exceptionally good at getting under my skin. Who knew? "I know I'm the low species on the totem pole, but I am capable of making my own decisions. So take your sorry's, and stuff them. Got it?"

The silence hung in the room in a terrifying way. Like it had only just occurred to me that I might have actually shouted some of those things at him, out loud. So I had gotten a bit worked up. In my defense, it had been a long day, and I'd lost a lot of blood. He was angry too, and for a moment, I thought he might really strangle me this time. Which, really, would just be the icing on the god damn cake.

"I am aware that you are not in need of a nanny," his voice had a barely controlled edge to it. "And I'm certainly not implying that I should be one, least of all yours. What you are in desperate need of, are manners. I do apologize profusely that I was bothered to care or worry for your safety at all. It was an accident, I assure you, and won't happen again. I wouldn't want to offend your barbaric human sensibilities." His nostrils flared and there was color on his cheeks. It might have been funny if I wasn't so furious, and maybe a little afraid of him.

"I appreciate it." I said as I scratched at my leg because it itched and because I knew it would irk him. "Why don't you go care about Ailla's safety? I bet she's got loads of manners."

Okay, that was childish. Maybe I had been optimistic when I had claimed to be an adult. He blinked in surprise, I'd probably hit a nerve. Good.

Except it didn't really feel good, because this wasn't really the direction I wanted this to be going. I'm pretty sure I wanted it headed the opposite way. Seeing him with Ailla like that had cemented that pretty clearly in my mind. No matter how stupid it was, I wanted him. But it was too late to stop now, wasn't it? Dumb ass.

All aboard the alienation train! Next stop, forever alone!

"Is that-" He frowned, watching me suspiciously. I glared right back at him, not giving up now, not when I'm so close to my unwanted victory. "Very well." He finally said quietly. The anger had receded but he still looked like he had something sour in his mouth. He stood up straight and marched out of the room without another word.

Well. That felt terrible. Should have said something, you know, other than the shitty things I had been saying. Maybe along the lines of 'thanks for caring at all' or 'it wasn't your fault'. You know, in a nice way? I was just so…so…pissed off at him. He was a shitty listener, how many times had he- Wait. Who was I thinking about? The man who had kidnapped me from my home, made me tea despite my insisting I didn't like it, tried to sacrifice himself to help me out, took on Rassilon when I explicitly told him not to.

So…not the man I'd just been yelling at.

God dammit. I'm an idiot.

I crossed my arms over my chest because I was not going to chase after him. Nope. I had a busted leg. And, I was technically right. And I was still too angry to sound convincingly apologetic.

Or I was just too stubborn to try. And too afraid that he'd shoot me down, you know, just like I'd shot him down just a moment ago.

You know, someday, I'll be a proper grown-up and handle these situations in an adult manner.

Today wasn't that day.