Chapter 4 - Fried Doctor
The moment the Doctor became aware, a pain exploded from somewhere in his shoulder and his head. He drew in a short, sharp breath through gritted teeth, easing open his eyes to meet the face of another man leant over him, that faded brown hair, the bright blue eyes, the slightly chubby face that seemed all too familiar…
"Larec?" he almost choked on the word.
"Doctor," Larec said simply. The Doctor looked around in bewilderment at his new surroundings – they'd changed a bit, but he still recognised the room of the Healer.
"What are you doing here?" the Doctor asked.
"I was about to ask you the same question," he replied. The Doctor winced as he pushed himself up, trying to avoid his left arm.
"Where's Donna?" he began to ask as he looked around the room, but she was nowhere in sight. His head was spinning too much to stay sitting up, so he laid back down quickly before he overbalanced.
"She is fine, she is with Gabrielle," Larec said, gaining the Time Lord's attention once more.
"Sorry," he replied, smiling gently. "I promise you, I never meant to land here. We crashed here, I didn't realise where we were."
"Father Jace has advised you to leave as soon as you feel you are ready," Larec said and the Doctor nodded.
"I will."
Larec's next question was the one that simply had to be asked. "Where's Rose?"
The Doctor's eyes remained constantly on his. "Gone."
Larec's eyes widened. "She's not… dead?"
The Doctor maintained his gaze. "She's safe," he said, but Larec could clearly hear the hint of heartbreak in his tone. He didn't question further.
"We have told Martin you died," Larec changed the subject, "he brought in an unconscious stranger, that was all he knew. I don't think he recognised you under the blood."
"Good," the Doctor muttered, "as it should be."
Larec smiled gently. "I'll leave you to rest," he said, disappearing out the door. The Doctor turned his head sideways once more, trying to regain his sense of balance but instead was startled to find Donna standing in a doorway previously closed, staring accusingly at him.
"You've been here before then?"
"Kinda…" The Doctor looked away from her uncomfortably, searching desperately for a way to change the subject. Her lips pursed, foot tapping. "What happened?" he eventually drew upon, eyes flickering down to the cloth wrapped around his shoulder – he could feel more around his head, too.
"You went and got yourself bloody shot in the shoulder with an arrow then cracked your 'ead open, didn't you?" Donna said rhetorically, "you made me sit 'ere for three hours thinkin' you were gonna die!"
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Donna, dying is the last thing on my mind when I'm with you, 'cause I know you'll kill me for it."
"Too right, space man! But I'll tell you what's weird…" She paused, staring at him. "Your blood is red!"
He turned towards her, left eyebrow arched, inquisitive. "What exactly were you expecting?"
"I dunno, like purple or green… Or that dull yellow-greenish like in the film Alien!"
The Doctor shook his head in amused disbelief, head relaxing against the pillow.
"Where are we anyway?" Donna carried on, moving to the end of his bed. "What year?"
"Roughly 1259 AD, Medieval England," the Doctor replied casually. Donna however, almost exploded.
"Wow!" she exclaimed, eyes wide and staring at him like the cat who'd just got the cream, "we're actually in 1259 AD?! The real 1259 AD? Where no one took baths and thought God would cure everythin'?" She didn't wait for affirmation. "That's amazing! Oh my God! We could go see a joustin' tournament while we're 'ere!"
The Doctor smiled, but the pain was getting worse. He winced, letting his head loll even more as he lightly closed his eyes. Donna thankfully got the hint.
"Are you all right?" she asked sounding anxious, "d'you want anythin'?"
"I believe that's my job," came another familiar voice from across the room, and the Doctor looked up to see a very recognizable face emerging in the doorway, holding a tray of medical bit and bobs.
"Gabrielle," the Doctor muttered, more as a statement than a greeting. She smiled gently at him and moved forward, taking the seat next to his bed and setting the tray down on a near table. "Are you okay?" it wasn't just a question in passing, he seemed genuinely concerned for her health, Donna noticed.
"I'm fine thank you Doctor," Gabrielle replied, maintaining her smile. She reached up to his head, unpeeling the dressings to reveal his bloody gash once more to Donna. The Doctor winced with the pain.
"I'll get out of 'ere if you don't mind," Donna said. "Seen enough of your blood for one day, thanks."
He grinned. "I'll see you later."
"You'd better."
"Joshua?" Martin asked his son as the boy stared unseeingly at the wall ahead, his plate of food untouched. Joshua didn't seem to hear his father speaking to him.
"Joshua?" his mother asked next, concern evident in her tone. He blinked, suddenly looking back at his parents as he was torn from his daydream.
"I'm sorry," he said, looking back down at his plate of food.
"Are you still thinking about that man?" Martin questioned, and slowly Joshua nodded in reply. "Joshua, there was nothing we could do to save him. Larec did his best but some wounds are just too deep to heal." Joshua nodded again, in silence. For a moment longer he sat staring at his dinner before his eyes moved to his mother, lips pouted, eyes wide.
"I don't feel well mummy, can I go bed?"
His mother and father exchanged a looked, before she nodded and smiled at him. He slid down from the kitchen chair, practically bolting from the room towards his own. He slid into bed, pulling the covers over his head and curling up into a ball, closing his eyes. Hours ticked by as he lay there underneath the warm sheets, unmoving. He heard the door to his room quietly swing open and he scrunched his eyes together tightly, still hidden beneath the covers. After a few moments the door quietly shut again and the footsteps padded away to nothing.
A few more minutes trickled by in the silence of midnight. The murmurs of conversation he'd become used to hearing between his mother and father over the course of the night was gone, only the creatures of the night sounding through the walls of his room.
Slowly and quietly, Joshua slid out of bed and tiptoed across the floor, slipping on his shoes before inching his bedroom door open as carefully as he could. He crossed to the front door, wincing as it creaked loudly before sliding through the tiny gap. He shut the door, breathing a sigh of relief as he turned back around to look around the streets of Olbian.
All was still and silent save for the drizzle that had since started. He broke into a run, picking the shortest route to the church where the Healer's Room was situated. It didn't take him long. The church was always open so he darted inside, checking Father Jace was not still hanging around before heading straight to the Healer's Room. Joshua wondered if they would have already buried the body of the dead stranger.
When he entered, the room was completely dark and silent. He quickly went back to the altar of Mondrith, borrowing a candle and returning to the dark doorway. For a moment Joshua wondered what he was getting himself into, before shrugging and moving forward.
It was warm, the embers of a dying fire across the room. He scanned the room – cupboards, shelves of bottles containing different coloured liquids, dead body, more shelves of books, more c…
Hold on.
Dead body?!
Joshua's breath caught in his throat as he fought to calm himself down. Expecting this, remember? He took a tentative step forward towards the still body, the pale-skinned arm of a person catching in the little light his candle provided.
Dare he venture forward more?
He took another courageous step forward, raising the candle higher to reveal the body was motionless, laid between the sheets. He tentatively raised a hand, prodding at the arm.
Suddenly the arm jerked erratically in an insane reaction to his touch, and Joshua screamed as the person sat straight up, gasping for air. It was alive!
Joshua began to stumble back, still screaming as the corpse stared at him in complete surprise. The boy tripped backwards over a bundle of cloth on the floor, dropping the candle but not bothering to pick it up again as he sprinted from the room, almost hitting the door as he went.
The Doctor blinked, still surprised as to what had happened. He'd immersed himself into a healing coma and the boy had somehow ripped him right from it. That was, if it was a boy. It had happened too fast.
His head was spinning from sitting up straight for too long, so he lay back down on the pillows and tried to right his sense of balance once more.
Then he smelt it.
Something was burning.
He turned his head and opened his eyes, only to come face to face with a roaring fire from where the person had tripped. They must've dropped the candle…
The Doctor was panicking. He tried to get out of the bed, head spinning as he was vaguely aware of falling to the floor on his knees. Where was the doorway? His head, oh Rassilon…
The fire was spreading rapidly, and suddenly it became very hot from his left. He opened his eyes fully, forcing them to adjust and locate the doorway but to no avail.
Pain shot through his shoulder with the unexpected movement and he cried out in utter agony, feeling a warm liquid spreading over his shoulder and hand. He'd reopened the wound. He grunted, suddenly aware that the fire with but inches from him. He backed away, leaning up against the bed he'd just got out of and trying to figure out with mathematics the direction of the exit.
Right, he had to go right.
Left arm dangling uselessly he edged towards his right one-handed, hoping and pleading the fire hadn't spread to cover the doorway. He didn't want to die yet.
But it didn't feel as though he was getting any further away from the heat. He was coughing on the smoke, sweating profusely and face scrunched up from the pain of his shoulder wound. He was so tired, he needed to sleep. Sleep cured everything.
No, wait… someone had grabbed his good arm, dragging him across the floor in the direction he'd been intending to go. He forced open his eyes, vision blurry as the roaring of the fire became quieter and suddenly he was cooler – much cooler. There was a figure knelt next to him – the same person who had been in the room. He had been right; it was a young boy, probably about five or six years of age. He was leant over the Doctor, his eyes wide in both awe and fear at the Time Lord. The Doctor gave him a small smile, head still spinning at a million miles per hour. He was about to tell the boy to get help, but Larec was already here.
"Doctor!" he yelled from a distance, footsteps running towards them. "Joshua! Are you both okay?" More footsteps trampled by them, shouts and yells of panicked villagers at the fire. The Doctor blinked back the fog and forced himself to his haunches, hand clutching at his shoulder wound once more.
"Doctor!" came another yell, somehow managing to be louder than the rest of the surroundings combined. Donna Noble. A supporting arm slipped around him, pulling him to his feet as another hand pressed against his bleeding shoulder. "Are you all right?"
"Joshua!" another panicked yell came, yet more rushing footsteps headed his way. "Tell me you're okay!" It was close now, the voice so desperate it was heartbreaking. The Doctor recognised that voice…
"Martin?" he gasped, forcing his eyes fully open to take in the appearance of the man now standing before him, holding his son protectively. Donna watched Martin's eyes snapped to the Doctor and stared in utter disbelief.
"Doctor?" he croaked amidst the commotion in the church. "By the Goddess…"
The Doctor gave him a small smile.
"Hello again," he said, and then finally fainted onto Donna. She struggled under his weight but thankfully Martin moved forward, scooping the unconscious Time Lord up in both arms and turning with him immediately, jogging out of the church before Donna could utter a word.
A/N: The fire was not planned. I swear. It just came out from a deep recess in my brain somewhere. I like burning the Doctor. Hehe. Hehehehe. Hehehehehehehehe!
Err, anyway.
Remember, reviews are LOVE. I hate posting something I think no one's reading, it's why the Penguin fic never got finished. But that one WAS awful, I'll give you that. But I'm actually pretty into this one so review and I'll love you :D I'll review reply! I promise! Any questions, ask 'em now. NOW!