A/N: The Doctor takes a good whumping in this fic, I mean a seriously good whumping - I'm talking burning buildings, hospitals, mental breakdowns... Seriously, It's ridiculous. But not quite yet! We'll get there... We'll get there :D *taps fingers together like Mr Burns* Mmmm, eeeexcellent.

Chapter 12 – What Floppy Really Thinks

"Jackie, no, Jackie, listen... Jackie... JACKIE!" the Doctor yelled down the phone in the quiet hospital ward. A nurse glared at him and he smiled apologetically before turning his attention back to the phone where a thoroughly hysterical Jackie was screaming at him. "Jackie, calm down. She's fine, it only caught her in the side... Jackie, shh, Jackie, listen to me... No, don't come here now... Look, she's a bit bruised, cut and scraped, got a concussion, a fractured arm and a sprained ankle, it's nothing very serious... Of course I care!... Jackie... Jackie... Shh-shh-shh! If she wasn't fine I'd tell you... They're keeping her in overnight for the concussion... Leah and Alex are fine! And don't come down here, visiting hours are nearly up... Look, I'll phone you tomorrow, all right?... I'm hanging up now... Bye!"

He quickly put the phone down, and caught the nurse's gaze again.

"Sorry," he said with a shrug. "Mother-in-Law."

This seemed to satisfy her, so he grinned and picked up the phone again, dialling for Torchwood.

"Oh hi, Mickey, it's me... Yeah, can you get Jack?... It's pretty important... Yeah, I'll wait."

He clicked his tongue and rapped his fingers on the table. The nurse glared at him again. He stopped doing it.

"Jack, it's me, look... Jack, please don't talk to me about this right now... Look, just shove them in a cupboard or something... Jack, something's happened... I'm in the hospital... No, I'm fine, it's Rose, she's been hit by a car... Don't worry, she's okay, just minor things, but they're keeping her in overnight... No, don't come here, I need you to get my parents... Probably lost in Cardiff somewhere if they haven't reached you by now to be honest... My Mum can put Alex to bed but can you deal look after Leah? Tell her Rose is fine and I'll be back to talk to her in a while, keep her occupied... Yeah, I'll phone you... Honestly, it's fine... Thanks, Jack, bye."

He hung up. The nurse was staring at him again.

"What?" he asked seriously, and she looked away. He rolled his eyes and jogged quietly down the ward to the bed at the end where Rose was. He took a seat beside the bed, just gazing at her face for a few moments.

As if she sensed his presence, she suddenly opened her eyes, that moved around the ceiling for a moment before resting on him.

"Morning... No wait, it's evening," the Doctor corrected, grinning down at her.

Rose took a few moments to process where she was and what was going on... And then she realised she was in a hospital.

"... What happened to me?"

"You were hit by a car," the Doctor said gently. "You've fractured your arm, sprained your ankle and you've got a bit of a bang on the head but you'll be fine."

"... I got hit by a car?" Rose repeated in disbelief.

"I think the driver just didn't see you, he tried to brake but swerved, caught you and crashed into a takeaway."

"Is he okay?" Rose asked anxiously.

The Doctor smiled that her concern was primarily for someone she didn't even know. "He's okay, got a bit of whiplash. He got you these." He picked up a box of chocolates from the bedside table next to a bottle of wine, and held them out, his smile turning sheepish. She quickly realised why as she opened the box with her working arm and found half of them were missing.

"Sorry," he said. "Got a bit peckish."

She laughed and reached up to him for a kiss and a hug. "You taste like milk chocolate hazelnut with caramel," she noted.

"Good palette," the Doctor replied, laughing and picking out a strawberry delight, unwrapping it and slipping it into her mouth.

"Thank you," she said, chewing and swallowing. "God, I can't believe I was hit by a car. I don't remember at all."

"Well, we did have this exact conversation about twenty minutes ago," the Doctor said, still grinning.

"Oh? Sorry."

"Don't worry, that'll clear up. It was all very quick, though," the Doctor replied, picking out a toffee finger for himself and chewing on it. "I was talking to my Mum, you walked out with Leah to cross the road, I saw the car coming, I dived forward to grab Leah, pulled her out the way and the next thing I heard was... the impact. I looked up and you were lying on the road. A bystander called an ambulance, I gave you and the driver first aid, the ambulance got there, I hitched a ride and my parents are taking Leah and Alex home. And before you ask, I called Jack, my Mum is putting Alex to bed and Jack's going to look after Leah."

Rose took this in, then her eyes widened. "Oh my God, is Leah okay? She saw me..."

"I told Jack to tell her you were fine and I'll talk to her when I get back. I'll talk to Alex too. But let's face it, Leah's seen a lot worse. Hmm," he suddenly paused, looking at his toffee finger with a frown. "I don't think I like toffee. That's all yours." He fed her the rest of the stick.

She quickly chewed and swallowed. "What about Mum?"

"I just phoned her, she went a bit mental but I think I finally got through to her that you're not on your deathbed."

She smiled. "You're very calm," she noted.

"I am now," the Doctor said seriously. "That was the most terrifying moment of my life, seeing you lying on the road covered in blood... I panicked. Please don't do that again, you humans only have one life and I'd like to have yours," he joked.

She just smiled at that, taking his hand and contentedly leaning back on the bed. "Did your Dad used to hit you?" she suddenly asked.

The Doctor froze, staring at her. "Umm, what?"

"It's been buggin' me. Why d'you flinch?"

"Rose..."

"Doctor."

He looked at her, and sighed. "No, he's never hit me."

"They why d'you flinch?"

"I... I know it's pathetic. But I just... I just feel like he could. I just can't help it. It's the way it's always been."

"You're scared of him, yeah?"

"That's only part of it," the Doctor muttered. "He's just... Well, I was a constant disappointment for him. I broke rules and abandoned my duties, turned into a renegade, was disowned by the House... I've made him pretty angry over the years. And if he's putting my brother over me then that's really not a good thing."

"So, what?"

"I... I just want him to see me differently."

"Make him proud?"

"... I suppose. But I think that's a bit out of reach now. So maybe if I could... just make him happy for a while. I don't think I've seen him smile since I was a loomling. At least, not because of me." He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I'd never even thought about this before the Time War. But during the War, when the Daleks were killing everyone around me, when I was crouching in a muddy ditch with shots flying everywhere... When I realised I had to create the Moment and end it. I thought about my family more than I ever had before. How I never talked to my Mum anymore, how I never bothered to even try and talk to my Father."

"So you wanna patch things up," Rose surmised.

He thought about that, then nodded. "Yeah... And get to know him, I guess. I think I've left it too late, though."

"It's never too late."

"He resents me. This is... This has just gone on for too long. He told me he'd hand me over for execution for what I've done. I can't fix this."

"Don't be like that," Rose said gently. "Just sit down with him, talk to him. Say you're sorry, yeah? It's worth a try."

"I suppose," the Doctor muttered, falling silent. There was a slight pause, before Rose suddenly looked at him, brow furrowing.

"Sorry, what were we talkin' about?"

He paused for a few moments, then gave her a small smile. "Nothing, don't worry. You should get some sleep."

"But what happened to me?" she asked, confused. "Was I in an accident?"

He leant forward to kiss her. "Yeah. Don't worry, you'll be okay, minor injuries but you've got a concussion. Some lovely nurses and doctors are going to look after you tonight and I'm taking care of Leah and Alex. I'd better go."

"Okay," she murmured, closing her eyes. She didn't let go of his hand.

"Let go of my hand, then," he said, trying to peel Rose's hand off of his. It wasn't shifting.

"No, you're stayin'." She'd obviously already decided.

"Visiting hours are nearly up..."

"To hell with visitin' hours."

"Rose..."

"Oh, fine then," she conceded, and let go of his hand. He got up and leant forward for another kiss, deeper and for longer this time.

"Sleep well, I'll see you tomorrow," he said after he'd pulled back.

"You'd better," she replied, grinning.

He just grinned back, then left.

"And I said, well gosh! I am so sorry I took the last pain au chocolat! And she said, oh that's quite all right, I prefer crumpets! And I said..."

"Floppy," Leah interrupted.

"Yes?" Floppy asked, jolted out of her hilarious anecdote. "More tea?"

"No, I've got something to tell you..."

"Hmm?" Floppy wondered, pouring herself more tea.

"Mummy, she got hit by a car..."

"Oh, I'm so terribly sorry to hear that!" Floppy replied, furry paw over mouth. "How is she?"

"I dunno," Leah conceded. "Uncle Jack went to get Daddy from the hospital ages ago..."

"Well, I'm sure he'll return with good news!"

Leah bit her lip. "I'm scared, Floppy," she admitted.

"Well, I'm sure everything will be all right," Floppy assured her. "I do think you need some more tea!"

She topped up Leah's cup with more water.

"You do know this isn't tea, right?" Leah wondered, taking the cup and sipping at her water.

"It isn't?" Floppy wondered. "Well you always called it that when you played tea parties with us!"

"Well you can't have real tea because it's really hot."

"Oh. Well what is this?" Floppy asked.

"Water."

"Then I shall call it water from now on!" Floppy declared, then looked seriously at her. "I do think you need cheering up. I left something under the bed that might do the trick... Hold on a tick!" she said, and dived under the bed.

Suddenly there was a knock at the bedroom door and it opened slowly to reveal her Daddy standing there, smiling.

"Hello," he said, then regarded her sitting at the play table with plastic cups of water. "Not interrupting anything, am I?"

She got up and ran to him, hugging his leg tightly. "What's happened to Mummy?" she asked.

"Let go of my leg and we'll go to the kitchen, have some tea and I'll tell you."

She nodded enthusiastically, reaching up to been taken into his arms, to which he obliged, and they left.

"Hmm? Are we going to have some tea?" Floppy wondered as she scrambled out from under the bed, but found no one.

"So really it's fine," the Doctor told Leah as they drank tea and feasted on biscuits. "She's hurt her ankle and her arm, and she's hit her head. It's nothing very serious and she's not in any danger at all."

Leah nodded silently.

"She's got what I had about a year ago, you know, concussion? Which means that she's temporarily become really forgetful. So you can say something to her and a few minutes later she'll forget it and ask you what you said. It should only last a little bit, but that means you have to be extra good and extra patient around her when she comes home tomorrow."

Leah nodded again.

"What did you see earlier during the accident?"

"Nothing," Leah told him.

"Nothing?" the Doctor repeated.

She shook her head. "You grabbed me then all I heard was alarms and when I looked up Granny picked me up."

"Okay," the Doctor said, nodding. "Good. So really, just don't worry, she's absolutely fine and she's coming home tomorrow. Do you want to ask me anything?"

She shook her head.

He smiled and nodded again. "Okay. Now I think we should both go to bed because it's been a very long day. Get changed, pick out a book and I'll come and read you to sleep."

A few hours later the Doctor was alone in bed, staring at the ceiling. It had been the first time he'd slept without Rose next to him for a year. A whole year. Over a year, in fact.

It had been a very long time since the Shadow Proclamation, but it had taken them all that time to get over it. They may have all got out alive and he was now physically healed, but the emotional scars ran very deep. Leah had only stopped bed-wetting a few months ago, though her nightmares, although few and far in-between now, were always a presence. Not to mention the problems with Alex as a repercussion for what they did.

But he knew there was an inevitability that one day he would have to go back to the Shadow Proclamation. As proved by what had happened with the TARDIS, he couldn't just keep finding these stranded aliens and taking them home. There was no telling how many they had missed so far, or where those missing ones had gone. One day he would have to go back to the Proclamation and tell them to de-level Earth again to a level five. One day very soon, in all likelihood.

But he was trying not to think about that. He just wanted to go to sleep. But maybe because he'd got used to Rose next to him, maybe because of his constant stinging headache from the TARDIS, or maybe because he was thinking too damn much, he really couldn't sleep.

He sighed and turned over, seeing the TV in the corner. He'd fix that tomorrow for Rose.

Suddenly there was the sound of footsteps from outside, and the door creaked ever so slightly open. Then Leah poked her head through, meeting his gaze with Floppy tucked under her arm.

She offered him a smile and climbed up onto the bed, crawling next to him and slipping under the covers.

"Floppy thought you might be lonely," she told him, cuddling up under his arm.

"She's not wrong," he muttered, looking at the girl. "Thanks."

"No problem," she said with a beaming smile, holding onto him and Floppy in equal measure as she closed her eyes. He kissed her, then closed his eyes too.