Chapter 4.

Martha let her hand down by her side after running it across her scalp in disbelief, "you didn't think to sound the bell?"

The elderly patient in the bay across from Penny shook her head with great innocence, "Well he couldn't have gone far, he didn't leave all that long ago."

With a sigh, Martha noticed that the missing patient had left his gown on the bed and looked back to the elderly lady, engaging in a lecture type discourse, nodding from the bedclothes on the bed to where the Doctor's footwear would have been "well if he didn't plan on going far, why did he change back into his clothes?"

Martha then stopped herself, looking down, realising that the stress of working New Year's Eve, being away from Brennan and now missing a patient had accumulated to losing perspective on the actual situation at hand, "I'm sorry. It's just been a very long night and this is even before we have the drunks gatecrashing the hospital," she began to find her smile, "you just get some rest and if you see him, tell him he's in big trouble, ok?"

After finding her composure, Martha asked around for a man matching dress code she assumed the missing patient would have adopted – nothing. She reasoned that given his appearance didn't seem to show any obvious sign of illness or injury, it wouldn't be all that hard for him to blend in as a visitor or someone who had been previously discharged. "No, he couldn't have," she was suddenly reminded of a patient she had a while back who had made an attempt at signing himself out, except that patient didn't succeed. Surely this patient didn't actually do that? She ran back to the reception desk, looking through the logbook for the bay and ward number.

Sure enough, the nameless man had signed himself out, with a sigh, she felt her mood shifting again, "shit" she muttered. The last thing Martha needed as a student was to have lost one of her patients, that would be a sure way of never being admitted to medical practice. It conflicted her, but for now, surely if she could find the man before reporting it, the rest of the night could go smoothly?

The Doctor had made it outside of the hospital. Looking around, it was the usual romp one would expect on a New Year's Eve. But what part in all this did he play? He looked to the taxis and busses, strangely he had a recognition of what they were and the purpose they served. He only knew too well he needed a form of currency, but he was broke. But something then caught his eye, a red telephone box, narrowing his eyes, he walked over to it. Remembering the name of the facility, he flipped through the phone book and found it to which the address was revealed. It still wasn't of much use because he had very little fix on his orientation in London.

While lost in his thoughts, he winced, raising his hands to his head in response to a sharp pain, he then widened his hands to the walls that surrounded him in the phone booth, he eyes widened with vivid images of another type of box, a phone box not unlike his but of a different colour. In desperation, he pushed the door open for fresh air and sat on a bench just near the phone booth. He collected his thoughts and his manner, looking to the night sky, deeply troubled, he stood up and set off down the street. He descended down a set of stairs to a railway station and got to the platform, looking at the maps of London. While they weren't street or location specific, they did give a basic outline of the various areas. It was a long shot and a bit of a risk, but a free ride on The Tube would get him closer to where he wanted to be. His inner instinct urged him on despite his reservations, he knew it's what drove him yet he ironically didn't know himself.

Martha walked back into the ward where the strange man once stayed and returned to the elderly woman. She pulled out a chair from within the bay and sat beside her. Engaging her bedside manner, Martha placed her hand the elderly woman's hand, "are you feeling better?"

The patient looked to Martha, "oh, you're now my nurse too?"

Martha smirked and shook her head, "I deserved that. No, truthfully, I just want to make sure you're ok, I just didn't feel good about our little exchange earlier."

The patient said with great control and calmness, "don't be silly, I'm fine. Though to be home would be nice."

Martha nodded, "well, I can't do that but if there's anything else you need. Please, don't hesitate to ask." Martha felt that the bedside manner was starting to wear thin given that the lady was growing less and less receptive to it. Martha removed her hand from the patient and placed it in her lap, almost like a Sister of the Church.

"Before I go, just about the man," nodding to where the patient would have been resting had he followed nurse's instructions.

The lady shook her head, "nothing. Not a sign."

Martha looked to her inquisitively, "no hints of where he may have gone? Any remarks he made that stood out before he left?"

The lady stopped to think and looked to Martha, "he seemed to watch a bit of telly before he left. You know, that big story with that strange woman at the Bowman Facility? What a nutter, bodies going missing, I mean really", she remarked with a chuckle.

Martha couldn't help it draw the parallels between the situation the patient spoke of and that of her very own, "it would certainly send one mad."

"Said he was going to ask questions…more questions" she shrugged and looked ahead. "Here I was thinking I was a patient to long."

Martha looked ahead and thought to herself that he couldn't have possibly been so intrigued by the report that he would actually go looking for answers. But at the same time he wasn't in the hospital, he had no wallet or personal ID. He couldn't have gone far, but he came across as the type of guy that didn't care less. Certainly, he lacked some faculties that characterised his strangeness. But he also knew the system well enough to sign himself out of the hospital. What or whom was she dealing with? He was clueless but clever, stranded but opportunistic, strange but goal driven, disorderly but cute.

It wasn't much to go on, but it's all she had. One thing Martha knew is that she couldn't live with herself knowing that a patient had left the hospital on his own accord, only to land in more harm. She would have to lie a little, but she could get off her shift if the circumstances were extenuating enough. With that in mind, she was on her feet.