Author's Note: My apologies for the late posting, had a busy day today, but here it is! Hop you enjoy! I'm still a bit iffy on my action scenes, so any feedback, tips, or criticisms would be very much appreciated. As usual, I do not own Doctor Who.
Royslady51: Men – can't live with 'em, and there's no sense killin' 'em until you get your hands on a bone saw and a bucket of lye. Kazster: Even I'm fascinated to see how The Doctor will react to finding out about Rose's feeling for "her" Doctor. I mean I kinda know, it's just, sometimes once you actually get to those pivotal moments, a character just goes and does something that surprises you. TK: hahaha, like I said last time, poker is a stupid, stupid game. And with saving Martha's life making Rose more trustworthy, I couldn't help but think of "He saved my life. Bloke-wise, that's up there with flossin'." And The Doctor is a bit hopeless when it comes to Rose. Speaking of, hope you enjoy this chapter, and the reunion! :D Vaylyn: Thank you so much! Despite this being an AU/AR, I really didn't want to deviate from the original characters, and it's easy to fall short of The Doctor. Mauve Guest: I certainly hope this reunion scene lives up to expectations! :D
When the lift reached the fourth floor and the doors opened, Rose and Martha were both surprised to find two police officers standing on either sides of the doors. Past those two, another officer could be seen patrolling the corridor with a German Shepherd on lead. The nurse's station was noticeably vacant. Thinking quickly, Martha reached out and pressed the elevator button, apologizing for having hit the wrong floor, and the two women smiled amiably as the two surly-looking bobbies eyed them through the closing doors. Once shut and on their way down to the third floor, they both looked at one another.
"Well, that was promising," Rose smiled.
"You're mad. You know that, right?" Martha's admonition was belied by her own manic grin.
"How much you wanna bet the stairwell door's under guard, as well?" Rose asked, watching the doors as the lift stopped on the third floor and walking out as soon as they opened.
"I don't," Martha assured, following quickly on Rose's heels, "But I think we have to check, anyway.
"Right," Rose agreed, looking around for the stair access door and, spotting it, making a beeline in its direction, "We'll just pretend we're on our way to an upper floor. Act natural." She blew through the fire door, then paused before the stairs, "Dammit."
"What?" Martha asked. She was fairly humming with energy, 36-hour shift forgotten. In response, Rose pulled back the lab coat and showed her the black knee brace, conspicuous against the pale khaki trousers. "How'd you manage that?"
"I may have fallen on it earlier. When I was – rescuing you," Rose hesitated to use that word, she hardly felt the hero and certainly didn't like thinking about how close Martha Jones had come to an untimely end. Still, there it was.
"You should have gotten that treated the minute you came in," Martha scolded gently, crossing her arms, "No telling how much damage you're doin'."
"I know, I know, but The Doctor can do a much better job patchin' it."
"The Doctor? This hospital's full of doctors!"
"He's not that kind of doctor," Rose cringed a bit, trying to explain, "Well, not only."
"Right, so you trust this 'not-quite-doctor' better than highly trained and educated medical professionals.
"I'm just sayin' after I broke my hand a week ago…"
"Broke your hand? What do you do for a living?"
"Uh, well…" Rose debated how far to push this. She'd have to tell Martha eventually, but thought it better to wait until something sufficiently bizarre happened to make the rest of it less barmy by comparison, "I'm a field agent. For Torchwood."
"Of course," Martha smiled, "I get to deal with my gossipy siblings, my bickering parents, my dad's bimbo girlfriend, and now I'm caught up with some secret agent from a clandestine government agency trying to sneak past the metro police and stop London from being torn apart in a giant – land hurricane. That's, that's brilliant, that is."
"Sorry," Rose shrugged, meaning it. Martha shook her head, but she was still smiling.
"So, who is this doctor, anyway?"
"Oh, he's an alien who travels time and space in a blue police box," Rose explained, simply, before turning to begin her laborious hobble up the stairs.
"You're kiddin' right?" Martha chuckled. Rose just continued up the stairs.
"Come on, then. World's not gonna save itself."
"You are kidding, aren't you?"
"So, who are you, then?" Rob asked as the three loaded up on the elevator.
"I'm The Doctor," he responded, hitting the button for the fourth floor.
"Which doctor?" Rob pressed.
"No, The Doctor. Just 'The Doctor.' And not the kind ya think."
"Ph.D.?" Jeff asked.
"Also, yes." The Doctor gave a quick smile, before turning his attention back to the digital display counting off the floor numbers. Without warning, Rob reached out and slammed the emergency stop button. "Whadja do that for?" The Doctor looked at him, bemused.
"This – this is madness!" The shorter man burst out, "Complete madness! We could get sacked, get arrested, even, and you won't even tell us who you are."
"I told you," his voice raised a bit in defense, "I'm The Doctor."
"What the hell's that supposed to mean?!"
"Rob, just calm down," Jeff put a hand on Rob's shoulder, but the latter brushed him off.
"Don't tell me to calm down!"
"I'm really sorry," Jeff addressed The Doctor, "He's not usually so wound up."
"And don't apologize for me! It's him should be apologizin'!" Rob gestured toward The Doctor who was leaning against the back of the lift car, arms crossed, regarding the whole mess with thinly disguised impatience.
"For what, then? Savin' the world?" The Doctor asked, tone rich with sarcasm.
"You're – you're mental! What you gonna do, huh? It's a storm, just a freak storm!"
"How would you know? Spent the afternoon snoggin' in a utility cupboard."
"Actually, it started in the supply cupboard," Jeff offered. The Doctor rolled his eyes.
"Whichever. Point is, that's no anomaly. It's a telekinetically generated cyclonic supercell that'll destroy the whole of London if we don't stop it. That's why we need to get to the fourth floor, now, if you don't mind."
"Who's we, then? Cause I'm not signin' up for your heroic delusions," Rob looked over at Jeff expectantly. When Jeff hesitated to agree with him, Rob shook his head and turned to depress the elevator stop button. As the lift car began moving again, he pressed the button for the third floor, refusing to look at either of the lift's other occupants. When the chime sounded and the doors opened he stepped out in a huff, only turning his head a second to look at Jeff, his expression wounded and angry, before storming off. When the doors didn't immediately close, Jeff pressed the fourth floor button again.
"Sorry," The Doctor offered as the lift jerked into motion once more.
"'S all right," Jeff smiled, "I'd rather save the world. Besides, he was a rubbish kisser." The Doctor couldn't help but smile, at that.
As it turned out, the stairway door was indeed under guard, but fortunately from the other side. Rose and Martha took turns peeking through the tall, thin window in the fire door before crouching down to formulate some manner of plan. Despite her knee, Rose insisted it was better she draw the police away, seeing as how she had no medical expertise whatsoever. Martha, despite her general misgivings about Rose's mental state, didn't want the mad blonde getting eaten by a German Shepherd. When Rose gave her a wide, manic grin, she knew the debate was over.
"'S all right. I'm good with dogs." Without warning, Rose stood up, swung open the fire door and waltzed into the corridor while Martha looked on in shock. The police seemed just as surprised, as they made no immediate move to intercept her. Then, without preamble, Rose took off at a hobbled run, and the commotion started. The guards left their position by the door, sending up a hue and cry to alert the entire ward of an unauthorized presence. As soon as the coast was clear, Martha slipped through the door, hunched low as she ran along the corridor in the opposite direction.
Meanwhile, Rose was leading the officers on a merry chase through the halls, picking up extra pursuers as she went. She was grinning maniacally at the fact that she managed to outstrip her pursuers on a bum leg, but when she rounded a corner and saw the K-9 unit at the far end of the hall, she stopped short. The officer shouted and leaned over to unlatch the harness, and the German Shephard sprinted forward. It was then, cops catching up from behind and a police dog bearing down ahead, that Rose darted left toward an open door, hopped up, grabbed the door jam and swung her legs up, kicking aside a tile in the drop ceiling and launching herself up into the dark, dusty utility access.
Quickly, Rose rolled to one side as the bobbies converged below, shouting directives to one another to get a ladder, and to her to cease and desist. Instead, she belly-crawled on her elbows and one good knee through the jumble of pipes and wires until she reached the air duct. Crawling along its length, she finally came to a slide-out access panel where the filters were changed. After pausing for a hefty sneeze, she removed the panel and filter, chucked them to the side, and pulled herself, laboriously, into the cramped air shaft. She could hear the distant shouts of the officers behind her, and she began moving, quickly as she could, in the other direction, toward the east wing.
The lift doors opened onto a scene of chaos. A handful of policemen were running in the opposite direction, shouting and making a general scene of everything. One officer remained by the door, spinning around to face them. The Doctor greeted him with a cheerful 'Hello' before stepping forward, grabbing his collar, and swinging him forcefully into the lift. Jeff darted out, the bobby sprawling onto the floor at the back of the car, while The Doctor quickly shorted the lift controls with his Sonic. He slipped out just as the doors were closing and the officer gained his feet and lunged forward.
"Well, that's 'im then. Shall we see what's all the ruckus?" The Doctor grinned. He knew exactly what the ruckus was.
"Right!" Jeff laughed, fully caught up in the excitement, "ICU's this way." The pair sprinted off to their right, following the long, sterile corridor into the east wing. After rounding a corner, they spotted, up ahead, Martha Jones arguing with a guard outside one of the secure ICU rooms. As The Doctor approached with Jeff on his heels, he pulled a leather billfold from his pocket. The guard turned to them as they neared, holding his hands up to signal them to stop.
"Whoa, whoa. This is a secure area," he declared. The Doctor flashed his psychic paper.
"Detective Inspector John Smith. Myself, Doctor Jones, and nurse… I'm sorry, what's your last name?" The Doctor turned to Jeff.
"Yarrow," he supplied.
"Right, Nurse Yarrow. I'm under orders from the MPS Commissioner to have the patient examined. Unlock the door." The policeman looked The Doctor up and down, clearly skeptical.
"You don't look like a copper."
"Well, I'd hardly get any detectin' done if I did, now would I?" The Doctor beamed.
"Sorry, but no one told us you were comin'. I'm gonna have to call this in."
"Jus' so," The Doctor shrugged, but as soon as the officer turned his back and reached for his radio, The Doctor's cheerful façade dropped and he grabbed the other man in a headlock. "Grab 'is keys!" he shouted to Jeff, who jerked to attention and did as he was bid, unclipping the ring of keys from the bobby's belt and rushing to the door of the ICU quarantine unit. The Doctor held fast to the flailing policeman while Jeff unlocked the door and Martha looked at him like – well, like he was an alien.
"Got it!" Jeff proclaimed, shaking The Doctor's attention back to him.
"Good lad!" he commended, somersaulting the officer onto his back and darting inside the room. Martha had frozen a moment, but The Doctor turned and held out his hand, "Come on, then!" She took it and rushed into the room beside him. The Doctor shut the door and pulled out his Sonic securing it. Inside, Martha and Jeff were both staring at the little girl on the bed in wonder. She was perhaps ten years old with pale skin and dark black hair. The noteworthy part, however, was the contraption fitted over her head. Dozens upon dozens of wires fed into a tight-fitting skull cap that luminesced in waves of green, red, and indigo.
The Doctor approached the bed with a solemn expression, his Sonic still in hand. He was studying her carefully, taking in the cap and the wires along with the IV and feeding tube keeping her hydrated and supplied with nutrients. It all looked so inhumane, almost grisly, and she was so very young. He swallowed back a lump in his throat and began scanning her with the Sonic Screwdriver as Jeff and Martha looked on. He paid special attention to the skull cap, running over it with three or four different settings before straightening up and pocketing the device.
"I know you," was the first thing Martha managed to choke out. It caught The Doctor's attention. He considered her closely, knowing exactly what date it was.
"Nope, don't believe so," he grinned, turning his attention back to the girl, "We have to wake her up."
"No, really," Martha insisted, walking around the end of the bed and looking up at him, "Night before last, as I was walking to the hospital for my shift. You were walking the opposite direction, and you said – you said, 'ta-da' and just walked off. Thought you were mental."
"You're not the first," The Doctor shrugged his broad shoulders under the leather jacket, "But right now…" The Doctor was interrupted by an almighty clatter. They all instinctively turned to the door, but saw the grating from the air vent fall out of the ceiling. The Doctor was just about to tug Martha back behind him when he saw two run-down pink Converse peek down out of the ceiling, and his hearts lept.
"Rose!" smiling like a maniac, he rushed forward to stand under the vent. The shoes were followed quickly by legs and torso, all coated in dust, as she lowered herself down until she was hanging from the lip of the drop ceiling. The Doctor put his hands up, grabbing her waist, "I've got ya." Rose let go and immediately placed her hands on his shoulders to steady herself as he swung her about once, letting out a whoop of a laugh, before gently setting her on the floor.
"Doctor!" she pulled him into a hug on instinct, laughing at the joy and ludicrousness of the situation. When she pulled back, he took a moment to look her over, face smudged with dirt, clothes and stolen lab coat in much the same state, and grinning like a nutter. He couldn't stop smiling, himself.
"Rose Tyler, you do know how to make an entrance."