Chapter Twenty-Five: Doctor, Doctor

Cardiff never looked so empty to Jack; running through many familiar landmarks, he saw not a single person around. The rift had finally spread across the city and swallowed everyone up out of existence. Jack and his team from Torchwood Three had failed to protect Cardiff, and it was all because he had left Gwen, Owen, Tosh, and Ianto. He knew that he should have stayed behind…he should have waited for when the time was right to leave. And now…all was lost.

After running around for what felt like hours through the night atmosphere, Jack finally gave up and stopped at Roald Dahl Plass, the former location of the Torchwood Three Hub. Panting heavily, Jack stared at the Millennium Centre in despair; but, as his eyes locked with the building, he felt something off about the sight. After a while of staring at the Centre, he found the one thing that was off about the sight: the familiar police box situated near it. Standing beside the police box was a tall, slim man with dark brown hair and pale skin and dressed in trainers and a light brown overcoat. Jack immediately recognized who the stranger was and ran to him with haste.

"Doctor!"

He shouted the man's supposed name, but the man did not respond.

"Doctor!"

Jack increased the volume of his voice, believing the man had not heard him the first time. When Jack was halfway close to the man and the police box, he saw him going into it, completely ignoring the fact that Jack was running to him.

"DOCTOR!"

Jack's final effort in gaining the man's attention by screaming was futile. The stranger had already gotten into the police box, shutting the door behind him. Jack had gotten close enough to the police box to touch it; but before he could have done so…

BOOM!

The police box exploded in a flash of intense white light right in front of Jack. The force of the blast blew Jack away while engulfing him in the light. All he could see was whiteness all around him; the light did not extinguish itself at any point, causing Jack to stir in a state of panic…

Harkness slowly regained consciousness on the hospital bed as he found the light shining over his eyes was in actuality a small flashlight of Dr. Whale. Seeing that Jack was finally awaked, Whale smiled and removed the flashlight from his eyes. "Welcome back, Mr. Harkness," the doctor said while placing the flashlight into the right pocket of his white coat. "You gave everyone quite a scare when you were shouting for me in your sleep."

"What happened?" Jack asked in a raspy voice.

"Apparently you were shot in the abdomen while rescuing Mr. Smith from a madman out in the woods." Whale informed, before turning to another party in the room that Jack could not see from his horizontal position. "You can ask him the rest of the details. I'm merely here to see that you're making a good recovery." He briefly checked on the specific area he was shot in, which had been well-treated and bandaged up. Whale lightly touched the bandaging, causing Jack to wince a little. "Sorry for the discomfort. It was a pretty nasty wound when you were first brought into the emergency room, but we were able to take care of it before it got any worse."

"How long will it be before he'll be released?"

It was Emma Swan's voice that Jack heard ask the question, prompting him to try and sit up from the bed, only to be stopped of his attempt from the pain in his side. Whale quickly caught onto Harkness' actions and led him back down. "Whoa, whoa. Easy there, Jack. I can take care of that for you." He then automatically inclined the upper portion of the bed to allow Jack to see Emma, John Smith, and Henry standing at the foot of the bed.

"Hey, Jack." Emma gave a small wave along with Smith and Henry. "How are you feeling?"

"Like hell."

Even though Jack's response was honest, the others reacted with laughter.

"It'll be a while before his wound heals, but I'll determine when the right time is for him to be released." Whale informed right before he departed from the room, leaving Emma, Smith, and Henry alone with Jack.

Smith was the first one to step forward and say, "Jack, I…I just want to thank you for saving me back there. If it weren't for you…"

"It's no problem, John." Jack interrupted; he then turned to Emma and inquired, "How is Mary Margaret?"

"I was able to convince her to go back before Regina got there." Emma answered and added with distain, "Of course, I'm starting to wish I hadn't after that district attorney Albert Spencer was brought in to interview her."

Jack winced, but not from the pain. "Things are looking that bad, eh?"

Emma smirked. "Not for long. In fact, I found some critical evidence that could save Mary Margaret."

Smith and Henry were surprised from this update. "You have?"

"Yep. And I'm gonna need your help, Henry." Emma requested.

Henry was grinning from ear-to-ear in delight. "Sure, Emma. Whatever you need."

"Cool. Let's talk about it outside the hospital." She then waved again to Jack and Smith before she and Henry walked out of Jack's room.

Watching them leave, Smith turned to Jack and gestured to the door. "I need to go, too. I'm supposed to be seeing Ruby at Granny's in an hour."

Smith was just on his way out until Jack called for him. "Wait, John. I need to tell you something." Smith stopped and returned to Jack's bedside, listening intently. "Something isn't right here. I was shot and…I'm not healing."

"Yes, you said that back in that lunatic's house after he shot you." Smith said. "Jack, listen…I don't know whatever life you led before coming to Storybrooke, but no one is invincible. Emma told me that you think you're immortal."

"I don't think, John! I know I am!" Jack's raised voice drew some attention outside of the room; Smith could see the stares coming through the windows from nurses and doctors alike.

"Jack, please calm down."

"No! I need to get the hell out of here! I need to find the Doctor!"

"I'll get Whale back in here. He can give you something that will help."

"He's not the Doctor I need, John! I need…"

The door swung open once more as a short, older man in a white coat similar to Dr. Whale's stepped in, carrying a clipboard. "What is the problem, gentlemen?"

Smith looked upon the short man, seeming to have recognized him at first, but losing focus on where he had seen him before as Jack continued ranting. "I-I'm sorry, doctor. My friend…he's a little delusional after…"

The doctor nodded understandingly. "Oh, I see. Well, the only solution for cases such as this would be sleep." He removed a syringe from his left pocket and approached Jack with it, injecting the fluid inside through his right arm. After some time, Jack's ranting slowed down, and he drifted back into unconsciousness. "There. He should be out for at least a few hours now. When he wakes up, he won't be so aggressive."

Smith shook his head as he looked over the unconscious Jack. "He's gone totally mental. The poor bloke talks about being immortal and whatnot."

"Sounds like fairy tales brought on by delusions of grandeur." The doctor implied; he nodded to Jack's clothes, which hung in the nearby closet. "Look at the way he dresses. He must believe he's the Red Baron or some type of hero he's seen in too many World War II movies."

Smith chuckled, nodding in agreement with the doctor's diagnosis. Again, as he looked to him, he gained a sense of familiarity. "I'm sorry, but…have we met somewhere before? I just…I have this silly notion that we've known each other for the longest time."

The short-statured doctor shrugged. "I moved here just a few days ago."

"Huh." Smith muttered, giving up completely on guessing and instead shaking hands with the new citizen. "Well, it's always nice to meet a new face. Name's John Smith."

The doctor smiled while shaking Smith's hand. "I'm Alder Dorm."

"Pleasure meeting you, Dr. Dorm." Smith's digital wristwatch began to beep, and he was quickly reminded of the task he set out to do before Jack intervened. "Oh, god. I need to get going. Thank you for taking care of my friend."

"It's not a problem, Mr. Smith. He's in good hands."

"Brilliant. Thank you."

Dorm watched the young man as he dashed out of the hospital room. The smile on his face slowly faded into a deep scowl that would have been directed towards Smith had he remained in the room at the time of the shift. Dorm directed his scowling face to the unconscious Jack Harkness, focusing on the bandaged side of his abdomen. Slowly and carefully, Dorm peeled back the bandage to expose Jack's tended wound; however, rather than a swollen, red, stitched-up wound, there was just plain, flawless skin that matched with the rest of Jack's body. His wound was perfectly healed and gave the impression that the immortal captain had not been shot at all.

After inspecting the miraculously healed area, Dorm grinned and covered it back up with the bandage and uttered to the unconscious Jack, "It'll be our little secret, Jack…well, mostly my secret."