Chapter 3

Help me! Get it out of my head! No! Don't listen to it! It stole my voice! I'm not the monster! Don't throw me out the door! I don't want to die!

"I'm going to fall!" Please, don't let me fall! I don't want to be spider food!

Oh, Rassilon, the pain! What is Sutekh doing to me?

"What have you done?" "Fulfilled the prophecy."

I can't do it. I can't kill the Daleks, not when they're still just children.

"When I say giant, I don't mean big! I mean flipping enormous!"

Master, stop hurting him! Oh, Jack, I'm sorry!

"He's too dangerous to be left alone."

The ship is crashing, Adric is on it, and I can't save him!

"What have you done?" "I looked into the TARDIS and the TARDIS looked into me."

The TARDIS is on fire! I'm going to die! Doctor, help me!

"Exterminate! Exterminate!" "Let me out!"

I should have killed them when I had the chance! Gallifrey is burning… The Daleks are winning… and the Time Lords have gone mad. Oh, gawd, they have to be stopped! Both of them!

"Burn with me, Martha!"

Oh, my head my head my head! It hurts! There's nothing there! Oh, gawd, I'm so alone!

She's falling!

"ROSE!"

The Doctor struggled with the sheets, kicking them away as he scrambled into the corner where the bed met the walls of the sleeping cabin, hyperventilating the entire time. An indistinct and plainly worried voice filtered through as he fought, though he had no clue where it was coming from or who was being addressed. He felt hands on him which seemed to want to pull him away from the shelter he was seeking in the small area. He tried to bat them away but they refused to mind his wishes, reaching his face and holding it.

"Doctor, look at me," an alluring voice ordered sternly. He didn't want to obey but the voice repeated the order, forcing his submission. Shifting his eyes towards the source, he looked into bright brown orbs full of concern. Almost the moment he met those eyes, he calmed, his breathing slowly becoming steadier.

"Rose?" he questioned hesitantly, hoping that what he saw wasn't a hallucination.

"Doctor… you okay?" she responded gently.

Quickly, the Doctor wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly. "You're here. You're real. I thought I'd lost you."

She returned to hug. "You can't lose me. Not ever," she assured him. Pulling away from him, she ran her hand over the back of his head, comforting him. "Bad nightmare?"

He nodded slowly. "Yeah."

"Wanna talk about it?" she queried, though her tone indicated that she didn't expect him to accept the offer.

He took a slightly shaky breath. "Bit hard to do," he replied. "Lots of images… memories. Very confusing. You were falling… and the TARDIS was burning and I was going to die and I grew out of a hand and saved us… and I was about to fall into a huge hole in the ground and I was in my wedding dress… and I really hate giants spiders… and giant wasps… and giant robots… and giant beasts… generally anything giant... and I don't like suns and other entities messing with my head or my body… aging me… and people hurting my friends… and feeling helpless like when Robbie Hargins ran off with that little trollop after taking me to the dance…" He paused and looked at her with confusion. "Wait… did I just say wedding dress?"

"Yeah, you did," Rose confirmed.

"And who's Robbie Hargins?" the Doctor continued, a distressed look on his face. The look immediately switched to one of recognition. "My ex-boyfriend when I was in school…" The distressed expression returned as he cried out, pain in his eyes. "Something's wrong…" he whispered tightly. "Head hurts, chest hurts, can't breath…"

"TARDIS withdrawals, remember?"

He shook his head. "Not TARDIS withdrawals. That's silence… so much silence… too much silence… This is too loud. My brain's screaming at me." Tears started down his cheeks. "He just let them drown. They were just children… big spider children, yeah, but still children… He's so scared. He won't admit it. He'd never admit it but he's so scared. I shouldn't have repeated after him. Why doesn't my mum listen to me? She never listens to me, always lecturing me about getting a job. Only Gramps understands me…" He gasped, curling into himself and obviously in pain.

"Doctor, what's wrong?" Rose asked, scared by what she was seeing. "Tell me what to do."

"Get her out of my head!" he yelled, panic tingeing his voice.

"Get who out?"

"Donna! She's in my head. I can feel her in my head, filling the silence but it hurts. I can't sort them… the memories… What's his, what's hers, what's mine…" He felt hands on his face once again. He pushed the hands away from him fiercely, glaring at Rose as he stood and backed away from the bed. "Leave me alone! Just leave me alone! Don't touch me!" Raising his hands, he gripped his scalp tightly, digging his fingernails as if trying to tear his skin off. "Myhead myhead myhead myhead myhead… Too quiet. Too loud. Need noise, need quiet, need sound, need silence, need thoughts…"

It was clear that he was about to continue his abusive pattern so Rose grabbed his arms, pulling them away from his head. "Doctor, stop it! Just stop it!" She repeated the entreat again and again, even as he continued to struggle against her, until the half-alien man slowly dropped to his knees, shaking violently. The human woman followed him down.

"It hurts," he finally said, the tone of his voice making him sound like a small boy. "I'm going insane," he stated after a long pause, fear clear in his eyes. "This must be what going mad feels like."

"You are not going mad," Rose retorted strongly, turning his head so that she could look into his eyes.

"Yes, I am," he answered emotionally. "And you can't help me, Rose. I can see that clearly now. The silence is never going to leave me. The noise is never going to leave me. I'm never going to get used to them and this pain is never going to go away. It feels like my whole body is being ripped apart and put back together. And he knew it all when he left me here. He abandoned me because he knew I can't be fixed and he can't ever take responsibility for his actions." Watching her negate his words with a shake of her head, he pushed away from her and abruptly stood, fury on his face. "You were wrong!" he shouted towards the ceiling. "She can't save me! No one can save me but you and you knew it! You made me, you bastard! Why don't you fix me?"

"Doctor… stop," Rose whispered, watching his rant with growing fear. "Please stop."

"He just tosses me away like an old dirty rag!" he continued, oblivious to her apprehension. "I killed the Daleks; I committed genocide. What about you?" he shouted at the ceiling again. "How many species did you wipe out, huh? You do it… what, a half a dozen times? But, you… you're all innocent, all 'I didn't have a choice.' You hypocrite! I didn't have a choice either! I do it once… just once!… and you let me slowly go insane? What about Rose? She did it and you're not punishing her!"

"Doctor, stop!"

There were four knocks on the door which sent the Doctor scrambling as far from the door as possible and pressed against a wall, a terrified look on his face while he started to hyperventilate again.

"What's going on in there?" Jackie's voice burst through the door. "Rose? Doctor?"

"It's… Jackie," the hybrid whispered, the tension in his shoulders dissipating at the realization. "It's just Jackie." Slowly, he slid to the floor, sobs coming from his lips as if someone was forcing them out of him. "Oh, gawd… oh, gawd, what's wrong with me?" Looking at Rose again while Jackie continued to demand a response, he felt tears on his cheeks. "Rose… help me. Please," he begged. A moment later, he bundled himself into his chest, sobbing heavily and uncontrollably.

Rose, confusion and fright fighting for control over her, watched helplessly as the half-Time Lord slipped into a complete breakdown, covering her mouth to prevent herself from doing the same. Taking a deep breath to clear her mind of her emotions, she wiped her face of tears and straightened her back before going to the door to allow her mother to enter.

"What's going on in here?" the matriarch demanded. "Why's the Doctor crying? What did you say to him?"

"Nothing," Rose defended herself as she returned to the distraught man, kneeling down in front of him. "He had a nightmare and I tried to comfort him but… I don't know… it's like he just… dissolved in front of me and there was nothing I could do to stop it. I tried but… he just yelled at me and the Doctor… the other Doctor." She took a shaky but mentally cleansing breath. "Mum, ask Dad to redirect our course. Take us to Torchwood."

"We're almost home, you know," Jackie pointed out.

"I know but this is important," Rose countered. "We need to go to Torchwood. He needs help and I don't know what else to do."

At the sound of her words, the Doctor's head rose, fear clouding his eyes. "T… Torchwood? No Torchwood," he said vehemently.

Turning to the Doctor, she reached out and took his hands tightly. "You asked me to help you, yes? How am I supposed to be able to help you if I don't know what's wrong and neither do you? I mean, is this part of those withdrawals you were going through or is this something else? Is it a physical problem? A mental problem?" Seeing him shake his head in a way that said he didn't have a clue one way or the other, she pressed on gently. "We have specialists there who can find out and give you the help you need." Seeing that he was still terrified of what might happen to him, she squeezed his hands. "You won't be ill-treated. I promise. Do you trust me?" She paused, waiting for a positive reaction to her words.

He sniffed sharply, still quivering with emotions as he thought about what she said. "I trust you," he finally answered, though it was clear that the unease was still in his eyes.

She turned her head towards Jackie. "Mum, please," she repeated her request.

"All right," Jackie agreed. Going over to the distraught man, she ran a hand over his head. "It'll be okay, sweetheart," she reassured before kissing his crown. A moment later, she left the room.

Rose watched the Doctor for a long while before slowly moving to sit beside him. Putting her arm around his shoulders, she pulled him close to her. The Doctor, feeling her actions, buried his face into her shoulder. Slowly, the tension in his body seemed to slip away the longer Rose held him, though he didn't change his position once. Neither moved even when Pete came into the room to verify what Rose had asked and to determine whether or not there was a need for the course change, which he agreed there was.

About forty minutes later, the Doctor raised his head, trepidation on his face. "Are we slowing?"

"Yeah," Rose confirmed.

"Over Torchwood?"

"Yeah."

He tensed at her confirmation of his deduction but said nothing more, even as he could tell the zeppelin had come to a stop. Several long minutes later, there was a gentle knock on the door just before Pete came in again, allowing a stranger to step passed him. Immediately, the new arrival went over to Rose and the Doctor, causing the latter to move away from him. It was only Rose's assurances that the medic wouldn't harm him that allowed them to guide the hybrid out of the room and to sit in the waiting wheelchair in the corridor.

The Doctor was silently, albeit reluctantly, cooperative as the medic pushed him out of the zeppelin and straight into a hallway which led to a closed door. After inputting a series of numbers, Pete opened the door, allowing the medic, the Doctor, Rose, and Jackie – who was carrying a sleepy Tony in her arms – to pass through before following.

"Where are you taking me?" the half-Time Lord finally questioned once it was obvious that this sojourn was going to be a lot more than just removal from the zeppelin.

"Dr. Sullivan is waiting to examine you," Pete informed him.

"Psychiatrist?"

"M.D. But he's the best physician we have."

Rose touched his shoulder as the group continued into a lift. "We have to examine you in order to know your biology, Doctor. Otherwise, how can we help you?"

Even though Rose's words once again assured him that no harm would come to him, the Doctor still had concerns about exactly what their examinations of him would involve. From experience, he had gained a distinct wariness of anyone and anything that wanted to know his anatomy; such intentions usually led to a struggle for his own survival as well as that of his companion's. And while he liked little shops in hospitals, he despised being a patient unless it was under his own terms, like it had been when he admitted himself into Royal Hope. Mind you, even that time, it had led to trouble he hadn't planned on.

"I hate hospitals," he grumbled.

Rose looked at him with raised eyebrows. "You hate hospitals? Could have fooled me with how you acted on New Earth."

"We were visiting. That's different. Being a patient, though…"

"Doctor…" she interrupted. "I already told you. Nothing bad is going to happen. Dr. Sullivan will examine you and we'll try to find out exactly what is going on with you."

The moment the doors opened, it was obvious that the level they reached was the medical ward of Torchwood. There was a definite sterility to the surroundings, the air smelling of antiseptic, metal, and cotton. Leaving Pete, Jackie and Tony in a waiting area, Rose escorted the rest of the group down the hall and around a corner before coming to a double door, passing through it with ease.

The moment the Doctor entered the room, he started to hyperventilate upon seeing the view before him. The examination room had a variety of equipment that one would expect in a doctor's office: weight scale, a table of various medical supplies, a couch for the patient to sit on, and a ton of drawers that no doubt held a plethora of gloves, tongue depressors, thermometers, and drugs. But the one thing that caught his attention and caused his anxious reaction was the blatantly alien and very familiar object sitting a few feet in front of a metallic platform with restraints, angled against the far left wall at 120 degrees.

Seeing the alien medical device, he immediately bolted from the wheelchair, terror on his face as he turned to leave the room. Rose, confused by his reaction, hurried to block his exit.

"What's wrong?" she demanded.

"You said they wouldn't hurt me!" he screamed at her.

"They won't," she protested, her puzzlement at his behavior growing.

"Really? Then what are you doing using that!" He pointed to the device with a shaking arm.

"The medical scanner?"

He frowned at her as if she had suddenly told him the sun was made out of yogurt. "Scanner? That's the thing Van Staten used on me! You remember Van Staten, the little sadist. While you were visiting that Dalek, he was 'examining' me with that monstrosity! And it was torture! Every time you use it on someone, you're torturing them!" He tried to move her out of his way but found that she wouldn't budge. "I've got to get out of here!"

Rose held his shoulder in an attempt to calm him. "Doctor… it's harmless. I've been under it myself. It doesn't hurt. I promise." Seeing the wariness on his face, she pressed on. "It's a Velinian medical scanner. It has to be calibrated in order for it to work properly. Van Staten's people probably didn't know how to calibrate the scanner he had to humanoid life forms. That would explain why it hurt you so much when he ran the scan." Her hands moved down to his, taking them firmly. "Dr. Sullivan is the best there is when it comes to alien medical devices. He's not going to let any harm come to you." Taking a breath, she continued. "If you want, I'll have myself scanned first, just so you can see for yourself."

He stared at her for a long moment, still blatantly frightened, before swallowing and licking his lips. "You're sure it's safe." Seeing her nod, he took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, forcing himself to calm. "All right. I trust you. You'll be here, yes?"

"The entire time," she told him gently.

He nodded rapidly as if to make himself believe something he didn't.

The medic who had brought him into the building waited for a moment to make sure that there wasn't going to be another outburst, in case he needed to act, before asking the Doctor to strip down to his underwear, telling him that it was necessary to obtain an accurate and clear scan.

The hybrid slowly obeyed, his breathing erratic the entire time despite Rose's constant reassurance that everything would be okay. He could feel his single heart racing, his blood pressure rising, and his head throbbing but he forced himself to ignore them, telling himself that Rose would never lie to him. It became a sort of mantra to try to calm him further: It's safe. It's good. Rose is here.

He didn't look when the door opened, allowing a tall man with curly white hair to come into the room. Nor did he hear him talk with Rose about what happened to the Doctor since they arrived in on Bad Wolf Bay nor about his unique half-alien biology. He did hear the man – whose voice was oddly familiar – order the medic to help the patient to the scanner bed.

"It's safe. It's good. Rose is here," the Doctor murmured to himself as the medic gently took his arm and guided him towards the platform. He allowed himself to be turned to face the scanner and obeyed when instructed to take one step back and up, thus positioning himself almost exactly as he was those years ago in a Utah bunker, with the exception that he didn't have chains holding his arms up and away from his body.

In an instant, all the reassurances Rose had given him vanished from his mind and sheer terror and panic took over. Screaming, he struggled against the medic's attempts to pacify him. A moment later, the white haired man was also holding him down, trying to get to him verbally before ordering him to be physically restrained. The Doctor thought he heard Rose protesting even as the order was fulfilled and straps were placed on his arms and legs. The next thing he knew, he felt the sting of metal entering his skin and into a vein, depositing a sedative, and then being pulled out.

Almost immediately, the Doctor stopped struggling even though the drug he'd been given hadn't had a chance to take effect. He looked over at Rose, who stood at a distance, covering her mouth as silent tears rolled down her cheeks. The betrayal he felt could clearly by seen in his expressive brown eyes.

"I trusted you. I believed you. How could you do this to me?" he accused quietly due to his growing sleepiness.

Rose shook her head, trying to tell him with that one action all that was running through her mind. She couldn't help but feel a little guilty for the position he was currently in; she was the one who had their course changed to go to Torchwood. But she knew that she did the right thing, especially now that they had been forced to subdue him from a severe panic attack. She knew she would never be able to explain her thoughts at that moment in his current mental but she hoped that, somehow, he would see just how much seeing him in such a state was hurting her.

No one said a word as the Doctor slowly slipped into unconsciousness. The moment his head dropped however, Rose gasped in a breath of air in a desperate attempt to prevent herself from crying any harder, causing Dr. Sullivan and the medic to turn their heads towards her.

Swallowing down her emotions, she cleared her throat and looking into the doctor's eyes. "Keep me informed of his condition, will you? Let me know what you find?"

Dr. Sullivan went up to her with a smile on his face and took her shoulders gently. "Don't worry yourself, dear girl. Whatever is wrong with your friend, we'll find it."

"Thanks, Harry," she responded with genuine gratitude, giving him a hug before leaving the examination room.

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

The first thing that the Doctor noticed was how weak he felt followed by the sound of a mechanical beep, the kind that came from medical equipment when properly attached to a patient. The rhythm of the beeping indicated that the patient was human – only humans had that particular rhythm to their heartbeats – and was in slight distress, as if they had just had a nice long but casual jog. The heartbeat was definitely familiar to him. How many times did he feel that particular cadence against his chest as he hugged a companion after running for their lives? When that happened, his companions almost seemed to have the same kind of heartbeat as him, namely four beats in quick succession only a little slower. The thought of his hearts beating made him shift his focus from the machine's beeps to his own rhythm. He frowned strongly when he noticed a correlation with the beeping and the gentle pounding in his chest.

One heart, he reminded himself. This body only has one heart. And the beat matches the beeps of the machine. Ergo, I must be connected to said machine.

The thought caused him to open his eyes to see what situation he was currently in that would explain his being attached to a heart monitor. To his left and just slightly behind him, he could sense the presence of the machine in question assuring him that, despite it being a little fast for a human, his heartbeat was perfectly normal for his half-Time Lord body. He noticed that his breathing was regular as well, telling him that, whatever the reason for the monitor, it wasn't due to any major physical problems. Well, there was a general soreness throughout his body but that was something he had gotten used to having occasionally. Which only made him once again wonder how he wound up wherever he was.

Turning his head, he regarded his surroundings and noticed that he was in a hospital room, which fit in with him being on a heart monitor. Just to the right of the bed was a visitor's chair just left of one of those rolling raised tables that were so common in human hospitals. On the table were a large water bottle/pitcher and a paper cup with a plastic lid on it. Reaching over for the paper cup, he felt warmth coming from it, which indicated to him that either the nurses left him a hot tea – it smelled like hot tea, anyway – or that he'd had a visitor who had to step out for a bit. Given the unlikelihood of the former being true since hospitals tended towards reusable plastic dishes for their patients, he supposed that the latter was probably the scenario.

Realizing that he was extremely thirsty, he retrieved the water bottle. As he sipped on the thick straw that was there, his conclusions concerning the hot tea were proven true when the door to the room opened and a blonde woman walked in.

"Hi," he greeted Rose, a weak smile on his face. He finished taking his drink before returning the bottle to the rolling table.

Rose's brown eyes, which seemed to be dull when she came in, brightened noticeably at his single word. "You're awake!" she responded, quickly going to his bed and taking his hand.

"Obviously," he commented. Seeing the worried expression in her eyes in spite of his wakefulness, he questioned, "Where am I? What happened?"

The query obviously bothered Rose. "You don't remember?"

"Umm… sort of. We were aboard the zeppelin and you had us redirected to…" He straightened noticeably as his memories came back to him. "Torchwood. You took me to Torchwood."

"Only to help you. You had a mental breakdown on the zeppelin. Like in Norway but worse. And then you had a panic attack when Dr. Sullivan was going to scan you."

"With the Velinian medical scanner. I remember. I accused you of betraying me. I'm sorry."

"Not your fault," she reassured him. "You couldn't help yourself."

"That's just it," he stated with conviction. "I couldn't help myself and that's wrong. What is wrong with me, Rose? I feel completely out of control and I've never felt like that." He paused, clearly uneasy. "Well, once… on a bus… But I don't like to think about that." Taking a breath, he pressed on before Rose could question when that was. "On the plus side, the silence in my head – the empty spot left from the TARDIS – it seems more bearable. Oh, it's still there but… it doesn't seem to hurt as much anymore. Neither does my chest so I suppose that's a good thing." He grimaced slightly. "But Donna's still there. Her memories, anyway. It's like having a song you don't like stuck in your head. It keeps playing over and over and, no matter what you do, you just can't forget it and you wish you could." He looked into her eyes. "What is going on with me?"

"I don't know," Rose admitted. "But Dr. Sullivan has been trying to figure it out. He's taken several scans but he isn't very forthcoming with any prognosis as yet."

"That's because I'm still not sure exactly what is happening with him," said the physician in question as he entered the room. Going up to the Doctor's bed, he smiled at his patient. "So, this is the famous Doctor, is it? We didn't really get a chance to be properly introduced…" He trailed off as he noticed the way the Doctor was staring at him.

"Harry," the hybrid whispered with emotion. "Harry Sullivan." The joy in his voice was almost tangible.

The physician looked at him with questioning eyes. "I'm sorry… have we met?"

"Right," the Doctor stated, swallowing slightly, disappointment in his voice. "You don't know me. But it's fantastic to see you, Harry. Absolutely brilliant! Look at you! Healthy, gray hair… Alive…" he finished in a low voice.

The physician nodded, comprehension coming to his face. "Ah, you must have known an alternate version of me in that other universe. Miss Tyler did explain that concept to me when I first met her. But down to business… Doctor, I have thoroughly examined you – I do apologize for causing you such distress the other day…"

"The other day?" the Doctor questioned with a frown. "How long have I been unconscious?" He paused, a ponderous expression on his face. "One day, four hours, three minutes, fifty-two seconds," he answered his own query. "Well, good to know that my sense of time is still intact in this body."

"I was worried something serious had happened to you with you being unconscious so long," Rose told him gently.

"It was an adverse reaction to the sedative given me," he stated, looking first at Rose and then at Harry. "I wouldn't use a sedative on me again if I were you, Harry. You never know if it might actually stop my hearts… heart," he corrected in a lower voice. He ran his hand over his face. "Blimey, that's going to take time getting used to."

"Hearts?" Harry asked with a frown.

"It's complicated," Rose put in.

Harry shrugged slightly. "Given what I've already seen of the Doctor, complicated is definitely one word to describe him." He again turned his attention to the half-alien. "I've made several full body scans of you and… well, to be quite honest I really don't know what to make of them."

"You are aware that I'm not exactly completely human," the Doctor hedged, hoping that his comment wouldn't cause him to be placed in an uncomfortable predicament, namely fighting for his freedom.

"The problem isn't you being an extraterrestrial," the physician informed him. "I'm well-versed in the biology of several extraterrestrial species, a couple of them human in appearance. But what I saw with your scans doesn't fit anything I've ever seen before. Am I to assume that you are a doctor of medicine?"

"Actually, I'm a doctor of everything." The hybrid paused. "Do you want me to look at your scans?"

"Given that we are talking about your biology, I would imagine that you would be able to shed some light on the issue."

"I'm not exactly familiar with my own biology at the moment," the Doctor confessed. "Not used to having a half-human body. Still, if you think it would help, I would be glad to look at those scans." He looked deep into Harry's eyes. "In fact, I insist. I want to know exactly what information you've gained about me and I want to make sure that anything you did gain will not be used against me or anyone else."

"You don't trust me," Harry surmised.

"I have learned long ago that someone who looks like your friend might not actually be your friend, especially when dealing with parallel versions of said friend."

"Fair enough," came the response. A moment later, Harry handed over the pad he'd been carrying.

"Oh, an iPad! Well, sort of. It is very iPad-y," the Doctor beamed, accepting the object with a grin. Looking on the screen of the pad, his face turned studious. "Is this the first scan you made? How many did you take of me?"

"We took a comparative scan fifteen minutes after the first, just to make sure that we had a clear picture. But as you can see, they are slightly different from each other. So we took another fifteen minutes after that one and it was different from the others. Since then, we've taken a scan once every hour and none of them are the same. Similar to the previous one, but not the same. And they are becoming progressively divergent from the first."

The half-Time Lord flicked through the scans rapidly, almost like flipping through a motion book. He could see the emerging patterns and the shifting colors that told of the constant change which was confusing his physician. "This isn't normal for my species," he murmured. "But it does explain a lot."

"What's wrong?" Rose questioned with concern. She looked over his shoulder at the shifting images. "Wait a minute… are you… changing?"

"Not exactly," the Doctor answered, his eyes not wavering from the pad in his hands. "From what I can tell, it appears that I'm still growing." Gaining a surprised look from the two humans, he pressed on. "Well, not exactly growing. More like the regenerative energy that caused my growth is trying to figure out how to configure me. Sort of like puberty only a lot more volatile. Certainly explains my mood swings. And the pains in my head and chest, which are still there by the way. Add to that the withdrawals that I am suffering from being permanently separated from the TARDIS, which is causing a shift from not hearing anything in my head to hearing too much and back." He took a deep breath. "I'm being rewritten constantly even as we speak."

"So what do we do?" Rose asked, now even more worried about her friend.

The Doctor took a deep breath. "The only thing that we can do is wait until I stabilize. Hopefully, once that is done, I'll be right as rain. But if the last fifty-five hours or so are any indication, it's not going to be pretty."

"As bad as when you thought this was TARDIS withdrawal?"

"Worse because it's in addition to dealing with the TARDIS' absence."

"But what if you don't get better? What if you don't stabilize?"

He looked into the eyes of the woman he loved. "Rose, if I don't stabilize, my brain won't be able to handle the constant shifting. I will gradually go insane and then die from the strain." He put on what he hoped was a reassuring smile. "But that's not going to happen. And do you know why?" She shook her head in response. "Because I have you to keep that from happening. My fantastic Rose. You'll make me better, just like he said. Just by being with me." He reached out and took her hand, affection in his eyes.

The two just looked at each other for a long moment before Harry broke in, shattering the moment. "Well, as much as I am a proponent of positive thinking, I much prefer a more scientifically-based regiment for my patients to take precedence. That being the case, and since you said the only thing that we could do was wait, I'm ordering continued scans to keep track of these changes that you are going through. Once a day will be plenty I think unless something comes up."

"As long as I receive full disclosure of the results from such tests," the hybrid put in forcefully. "And I mean any tests that you perform concerning me." He turned back to the pad in his hands and flicked his finger over its surface to investigate the entire folder that was on it concerning him. "You did some blood testing. DNA testing… Tissue sampling…"

"It's all par for the course," Rose assured him. "Everyone who goes through Torchwood has this testing, regardless of species," Rose tried to assure him. A look of uncertainty crossed his face. "Think about it. You're half-human, Doctor. If you get hurt, how are we supposed to help you properly if we don't even know your anatomy? You don't have the TARDIS to help you heal anymore."

"And I will need you to answer a few questions about how to tend to you in case of emergency," Harry added. "I can assure you that your medical records will never leave Torchwood."

"That's not much of a reassurance," the Doctor pointed out.

Rose took his hand and squeezed it gently. "I work for Torchwood, Doctor," she pointed out. "Do you trust me?"

He looked deep into her eyes with an intensity that matched the passion in his voice as he replied, "With my life and my love."

Rose paused, stunned by the intensity of his words, knowing that he meant every word. She didn't know how she felt about this version of the Doctor, wasn't sure that she could reciprocate the emotions in his eyes. The only thing that she did know was that she had to make sure that he was safe, both physically and mentally. "Then trust me when I say that no harm will ever come to you from Torchwood," she responded. "Not while I'm around."

He gave her a gentle, loving smile at her words. "Okay," he conceded. Glancing one more time at the records in his hand, he gave a tertiary nod before handing the pad back to Harry. "Do what you need to do, Dr. Sullivan," he told the doppelganger of his old friend. "Just be warned. If I don't like what you are doing, it stops."

The physician tucked the pad under his arm. "I took a Hippocratic Oath, Doctor, and I take that oath very seriously. I never have and I never will break that oath, regardless of who is under my care." With those words, he turned and exited the room, clearly having taken offense at the Doctor's warning.

The moment Harry had left the room, Rose fixed the hybrid with a glare. "That was rude," she berated him.

The Doctor scrunched his nose, his eyes showing internal assessment of his previous actions. "Yeah, it was, wasn't it. Still, can't really blame me, can you? The last time I was examined, the examiner was planning on patenting my binary vascular system and… well… I really don't want to be patented… or studied…" Seeing that she was still glaring at him, he returned the expression. "I'm only defending myself, Rose."

She sighed, conceding to his point of view. "I suppose." Deciding that the matter wasn't worth arguing over, she changed the subject. "So… you knew Dr. Sullivan? I mean, in the other universe."

"Yeah," he answered. "He was my companion for a while. Back when I was all teeth and curls."

"You muttered something about being pleased to see him alive."

The hybrid took a slow breath. "He died of cancer twenty years ago, from your perspective."

"I'm sorry," came the heartfelt response.

"It's good to know he's still alive in this universe. Probably is in other universes as well. The cosmos is like that. In one reality, you're best friends with someone; in another, you're bitter enemies and he wears an eye patch." He sniffed. "Of course, I wouldn't want to go to that particular reality again, especially since the Earth is now a volcanic world with no life on it. At least having been there before it became volcanic, I was able to prevent the same from happening to our original universe."

"So, you've been on a parallel Earth before," Rose surmised. "I thought you said travel between universes was impossible without ripping the fabric of reality."

"I also said that the Time Lords kept their eyes on things like that, that when they were around you could travel between dimensions without worry." He scratched his sideburn. "I did over-exaggerate that a bit, as if it were an easy thing. And when I went into that other reality, it wasn't deliberate. I was trying to get the TARDIS console working and I wound up slipping sideways in time, thus finding myself in an alternate reality." He crinkled his nose. "Not something I'd want to do again. Had to go into a healing coma for a short time." He seemed to ponder his words for a moment. "I wonder if I can still do that being half-human."

"Well, let's not try to find that out anytime soon, yeah?" the younger woman told him firmly.

"Yes, ma'am," he responded with a salute, gaining a smile from her.

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A/N: I wonder if anyone got the Firefly reference and the references to past Doctor Who episodes that I put in this chapter. Let me know if you did. :) Reviews are diamonds!