Chapter Eighteen:

Bed Nurse

Andie, as of recent, had found herself in bed more and more often. She had opened her eyes to a worried mum and granddad. Andie groaned in pain as the pain in her shoulder threaded hotly with waking.

Jack, however, came in with a quiet Torchwood member in tow. He brought with him a sandwich and soup for her brunch. Setting the food off to the side, he aided in lifting Andie. He pressed a small kiss to her head, checking for a fever. Not finding one, he let her have her food.

She welcomed the heat of the soup and cool of the sandwich filling up her empty stomach. Reaching out, she didn't find a drink till the Doctor finally entered.

"Lemonade," he said with a grin. His clothes were messy – tie untied, jacket unbuttoned. The Doctor gave her the not-too-sweet0not-too-sour lemonade and stood in the corner of the room, forcing himself unnoticed.

Donna was asking Andie a million question which aided Anwen's write-up of the incident. She wasn't meaning to help, Donna wasn't, but the other Jack had taught her the right questions. Andie answered them without pause. After Andie was sure Donna was done, she set the food off to the side to ask for everyone but Jack and the Doctor to leave for a moment.

She lifted up, covering her front, and let out a hiss of pain. She felt Jack's hands push her hair to the side. Her head bent forward, and Andie paled in pain. Slowly, the wound was healing, but Jack had finally convinced the Doctor to phone Torchwood for another opinion. He noticed the distance the Doctor kept from her now that Donna and Wilfred were about, and questioned him when Andie fell into a pond of sleep.

"Donna, Wilf, and Andie have to get to know one another. I don't want to interfere." He was tinkering with one of the many toys Torchwood had found, so he didn't have to look at Jack.

Jack didn't fall for it. He sat down next to the Doctor and patted his leg. For years, he watched Andie to take care and concern for people, and now he hoped to use that skill with the Doctor.

"You're a lonely man, Doctor. Sometimes no one's there to be your company, but right now that is not the case. You've got people who care for you… Let them." As he said this, he watched Andie as she woke up, blinking away sleep. She wiped at her eyes in a childlike manner. Finally, she looked at Jack, and he grinned in response.

"How are Donna and Wilf?"

Andie hadn't noticed the dose of medicine in her soup till she woke up, head pounding as a side effect. She didn't say anything to Jack about it. Instead, she sipped the lemonade and frowned at the Doctor. "You alright, Doctor?"

He nodded, starting to straighten out his clothes. He didn't look at the interrogator, for fear he would feel guilty and just burst to tell the truth.

Andie rolled her eyes at him and sighed. "Doctor, I haven't known you for long, but I do know when you're lying. I'm not stupid."

Jack laughed. "My young Echo is right. She lets on pretty quickly."

The Doctor paled before murmuring something dismissing himself. "I'll be right back, Andie. Right back." Because something was happening. He could see the vortex. Time was unlocking itself in his mind, and he was already setting the TARDIS to the future.

River Song popped in, a careless character and someone he didn't need at the very moment, but she felt his distress across the universe and decided to be there for him, if only in the background.

The Doctor threw open the doors, glancing with wide eyes at River's caring look. He saw outside, in the stars, a name painted like his own. Like so many he had seen, but never really thought about because it hurt. The Vortex swirled outside, just past him, and the stars were floating where a planet once stood. Where so many lives were given. The stars represented those lives. And those stars painted a very strong, beautiful name.

Echo.

He could see her future. He knew her fate, just like River's, and he ached at that thought. Slowly, he shut the TARDIS door.