Ch 24
Rose had been so upset by Pete's insistence on taking John to Torchwood and the meta-crisis' meek agreement to this hair brained plan that she had swiped two of her mother's sleeping tablets and downed them with a glass of brandy in the pursuit of sleep.
By the time everything wore off it was almost noon, she discovered with dismay as she threw on some clothes and ran downstairs.
Jackie was out walking the small Yorkie that shared Rose's name while a mobile phone was cradled on one shoulder and her ever present cigarette held in her other hand. Rose trotted over to her, "where's John?" she demanded. Jackie gestured towards the phone with a scowl on her face.
Rose snatched the phone and pressed the disconnect button, tossing the phone to the ground at the same time, "where's John?" she repeated.
"Your father took him to work today," Jackie explained as she retrieved the discarded phone, "if you hadn't been in a pout earlier, you could have seen him off!"
"I wasn't..." Rose started to protest, then she realised the wisdom of her mother's words, "and he's not my father!" she yelled over her shoulder as she ran back towards the house.
John didn't mind the jabs or the blood tests, and the x-rays were OK as well, even if the room was freezing and he was only clad in a standard issue hospital gown.
The MRI, however was driving him mad.
The confined space, while a bit disconcerting, wasn't really the issue. It was the noise the machine made as it banged and whined while scanning him. They had given him earplugs but his keen hearing, part of his Time Lord heritage, made the sound levels almost unbearable.
Just when he could picture his eardrums rupturing and blood spurting out from his head like a sprinkler the bed slid out and the machine went quiet.
Rob loosened the straps that were used to hold him in place while the machine did its work and helped him off the table.
"We're all done," he smiled warmly, even though something unsettling was glittering just behind his eyes making John feel like a moth about to be speared to a bit of cork board, "you can get dressed and I'll call Pete to come get you."
He had just finished tying his shoes when Pete's smiling face reappeared. Rob immediately took his boss aside and in very low tones babbled on excitedly about his discoveries.
John noticed the alarmingly thick file folder containing his medical information had been left on the counter and checking that no one was watching picked it up and started to read.
When the other two turned back around Rob saw what was going on and scowled, "you shouldn't be reading that," he held his hand out expecting John to hand it over obediently.
But he didn't. So then Rob made to grab it out of his recent patient's grasp, but the other man moved it away quickly.
Pete's mouth quirked up in a grin as the much shorter Rob tried to jump up and snatch the file folder while John calmly stood up, holding it just out of his reach and continued reading.
When he was finished he lowered it just enough so by getting up on his tiptoes Rob could reach the folder. The man was red faced and huffing as he finally got the folder away from John, who by contrast was completely still and quiet.
He looked at Pete then at the door, and back at Rob, "so..." he breathed out, "now what?"