The Doctor screamed as the metal got forced into his ribcage and tried to sit up.
The straps made it impossible for him to move. He was on the operating table.
Again.
But he was at the operating table. It would have been too much to say that he was relieved; but it was definitely better than still being in the enclosure.
"You seem to experience severe side-effects" explained the Silurian surgeon in front of him. He wore the chainmail gloves, like the last time. Silurian. Of course... he could have guessed that he was a Silurian because of his voice...
"And therefore I'm very sorry" added the Silurian and groped around inside of a box filled with medical gear. "Please try to relax."
The Doctor panted. He was put on a drip and felt the liquid trickling into his body through an infusion needle, which stuck in his hand, slowly. He hit his head while collapsing lifeless back onto the operating table.
"I'm sorry" muttered the Silurian surgeon, moved over and patted his forehead with his chain-mail glove carefully. "I wish I knew how I could make this more comfortable for you."
The Doctor tried to reply but found himself speechless. He must have been intubated again and couldn't produce more than a jarring shriek. His throat was sore. No, he had to correct himself, his throat was not only sore it felt as if someone had tried to wedge something long, hot and spiky down it to force it into his stomach. His eyes were sticky, making it hard for the Doctor to look at the room properly.
The Silurian surgeon sighed and patted him again. "I'm so sorry" he mumbled again "Next time I'd try it without the intubation."
"Next time?!" mouthed the Doctor silently and raised his head again.
All sorts of medical gear were scattered around the room. To his own surprise the Doctor didn't feel any pain – though he noticed that his ribcage has been forced open and was currently rearranged; it could be said that some minor adjustments had taken place over the past, well the Doctor didn't know exactly but probably the last two hours or more. His stomach was nothing more than a gaping bloodstained hole whereof a meaty sphere protruded.
"It's the amniotic sac" explained the Silurian surgeon quietly while he grinded down some of the Doctor's ribs "I'd say you're lucky that you're able to see it yourself for real; but I know that you're unlucky just for being yourself."
The Doctor's head sank back onto the operating table. He closed his glutinous eyelids, though he had to worry a bit about not ever being able to open them again. But due to the fact that the Silurian surgeon had already managed to cut holes and find cavities where the Doctor wouldn't have dared to even think about it...he wouldn't wonder if the surgeon would soon try to perform some 'minor adjustments' on his eyelids as well.
Why?, mouthed the Doctor voiceless, Why are you doing this to me?
"I'm sorry?" asked the Silurian surgeon and came closer, leaning over the weak Doctor who wouldn't manage to produce anything with his sore throat and dried lips but a quiet screech, no matter how hard he tried. The surgeon looked down at his lips and shook his head; he seemed deeply lugubrious. "I'm so sorry" he mumbled "I can't tell you why. HE has to tell you. HE wanted to be the messenger of bad news." "Bad news?" repeated the Doctor voiceless "What's the 'Bad news' then?"
"Anyway I'm feeling deeply ashamed for being forced into doing this" he explained quietly and moved back to the side, taking a look at the Doctor's interior and intestines.
Swoshing sounds filled the air and a tube got forced into the Doctor's anus again; two solid tubes stuck out of his cut open body, one out of the lower part of his ribcage, the other came forth from behind the amniotic sac. The Doctor winced as he felt a tepid liquid rushing through his body and scouring it out.
"But you know... you've got to make the best of it..." the Silurian surgeon turned his head towards the Doctor and saw tears filling his eyes; hurriedly the surgeon added "Not you of course, no. I was merely talking to myself, really. I've got to make the best of it."
The Doctor opened his eyes and squinted against the bright light above his head. The surgeon sighed and there was a deafening buzzing noise before he continued: "Unfortunately I don't know what kind of medication you needed. Currently I'm treating your harried body with a mixture of anti-inflammatory drugs for humans, painkillers and a local anaesthetic for Draconians and a drug containing cortisone which was originally developed for Judoons with sore muscles" he smiled faintly while turning his head towards the Doctor again.
"But they seem to work wonders on your body. And it's the best I can do. Seriously, I'm at my wit's end. I've tried anything on you. And those are the medications with the best result... and the fewest side-effects..."
The Doctor felt his lids shutting again and tried to relax while the flexible tube in his anal region got forced deeper into his body. Fewest side-effects... if that was what has been causing those nightmares... the Doctor breathed in deeply to experience a stinging pain in his ribcage. The Silurian surgeon rushed over to his side and removed a small metal brace which had till now kept a flap of skin from sinking into the open wound.
"Please try to breathe flatly" pleaded the surgeon "It will spare you a lot of pain." "Pain?" mouthed the Doctor while the surgeon started working on the amniotic sac again.
"PAIN?"
Lately it seemed that the Doctor's life consisted of nothing but pain and nightmares.
He sighed voiceless and felt tears welling up in his sticky eyes. His body felt disgusting. And he was sure that it looked nearly twice as disgusting as it felt.
"I swear I'm doing all I can" assured him the surgeon "and of course I know that it's a sin to treat you with medication that hadn't been devised for you. But that's the trouble with Time Lords: A highly developed race, really. Medical science, science, social systems, research and development... of the highest possible standards, all of them. But sadly their knowledge is lost for good... you're the only one left, Doctor. And I can't ask you for help. And even if you'd be able to tell me of what those meds consisted... I wouldn't be able to obtain it, would I?"
There was a long-drawn out sigh from the surgeon as he walked past the Doctor's head a few times. The Doctor sighed and turned his head to face the other way.
"I've had some serious reservations on administering you meds which could have questionable impacts on your body. But HE talked me into it. And so far they've worked alright. Perfectly alright, I'd say if only the deflexion on your chest hadn't started with it... I can't tell you what's causing it, really. And therefore I'm very sorry. But a bit of cortisone will do it, I'm sure. And sooner or later you're as good as new."
The Doctor sighed heavily and twitched. His back hurt and the pain from his ripped open abdomen was starting to spread through his body. The effect of the meds seemed to diminish and the Doctor could feel again. And he felt IT as well.
The foetus. The brat inside of his body. He clenched his fists unwillingly and gritted his teeth. The brat that had been forced into his body; the goddamn sprog which had been kept alive till now artificially by suppressing his body's natural attempts of cutting it off the blood circulation, isolating and in the end reabsorbing it. And he could do nothing but stare at its amniotic sac right now and wish IT had died right away after being inserted.
Two additional heartbeats. He felt two additional heartbeats and it made him furious.
The Silurian surgeon sighed and grabbed a syringe lying beneath him before administering anaesthetic with it again. The Doctor felt the warm fluid flush through his body and sacked back slowly. At least, he thought to himself, they seem to take effect rather fast.
His eyelids became heavier but he was soon awoken from his light slumber as he heard the creaking of a door. Beside him a door had been opened and uncertain footsteps approached.
The Silurian surgeon continued working with only taking a quick glance at the figure aside him once or twice before shaking his head. "Hasn't he forbidden you to enter my surgery?" the Silurian surgeon asked plainly. The figure beside him shrugged and moved from one foot to another, ignoring his comment for now. The figure had something about it that reminded the Doctor of... someone he'd known. Someone he'd known and loved.
The feminine silhouette walked around the operating table; it seemed to eye him up closely. There was something about its walk. It moved with a certain... hip swing, some special pelvic motion, it had the pelvic thrust of a girl, a young and beautiful girl...
The Doctor squinted against the bright light. And blonde hair. The figure had blonde hair too. He sighed quietly while shutting his lids. She had blonde hair.
Just like Rose.
"Really, the Doctor thinks you shouldn't be seeing this" the Silurian surgeon shook his head quietly and inserted several flexible tubes into the Doctor's lower abdomen before performing a deep cut right under the gaping wound that had been his abdominal wall until an operation ago. The stinging pain caused the weak Doctor to flinch.
The feminine figure beside him backed away in bewilderment. "Is it... awake?" she asked. The Doctor opened his eyes instantly and turned his head towards her, causing the poor girl beside him to gasp and flinch.
Rose's voice. She spoke with Rose's voice, he'd heard her loud and clear and he was sure of that, the delirious Doctor was sure that Rose was standing right beside him and she had talked, his Rose, she was here, with him, by his side while his... His head fell to one side and he had to close his eyes again. He was exhausted. He felt tired and worn out. But he couldn't fall asleep, he told himself, not now, not as long as Rose was around.
A quiet alarm somewhere in the room went off, causing the Silurian surgeon to attend the Doctor's side while humming before putting an oxygen mask over his face. The Doctor tried to shake his head but was at all unable to move. The damn medics worked. The damn medics worked damn well.
"Just a little something to prevent a circulatory collapse" explained the Silurian surgeon in a soothing voice to both the Doctor and the girl beside him.
"Wr... Wrose... Wrooo..." the Doctor tried to call her by her name weakly but obviously failed. Tears formed in his eyes and he squinted at the bright light above him again.
"It's alive" concluded Rose "and it seems as if it is... awake..."
"Can't prevent it from waking up all the time" sighed the surgeon "and the Doctor wouldn't be pleased to see this at all."
"But the Doctor isn't here" chuckled Rose and followed the surgeon at every turn. She eyed up the cut open Doctor in front of her closely.
"What's that?" she asked innocently while pointing at the taped-together ribs. "They'd been filed off a bit" explained the Silurian surgeon quietly. Rose pulled a wry face and hid her hands behind her back. The Doctor couldn't stop but followed her with her eyes wearily.
"Why is it staring at me?" asked Rose while meeting the Doctor's gaze irritated
"Doctor, why is it staring at me?" The Silurian surgeon sighed and moved her aside gently, speaking quietly again.
"The Doctor wouldn't like the idea of you attending my surgeries. He'd wanted to spare you the sight of this... poor creature. This poor, poor, innocent creature." The Doctor closed his eyes again as tears trailed down his cheeks.
"What are you doing to him?" asked Rose unaware and put her head to one side. The surgeon sighed aloud.
"I'm afraid I can't tell you" he replied and explicated "I can't tell you mainly because you wouldn't understand if I'd talk to you about the adjustments and operations which had been performed or will take place at a later date..." The Doctor interrupted the Silurian surgeon by whimpering quietly. Rose stared at him appalled before following the surgeon's explanation with her mouth quite ajar.
"And partially I can't tell you because the Doctor ordered me not to talk to you about anything concerning this matter and he forbade me to let you enter the surgery likewise." Rose nodded her ascent and watched the surgeon's actions quietly.
"What's that noise?" she asked all of a sudden and searched the ceiling if she'd manage to find an explanation there. "That's the sound of the pumps" stated the surgeon in a low voice "several liquids and drippings are forced in and out of the body of this poor..."
"No" Rose interrupted him "I mean that constant noise... the humming... the sounds... sounds like distant chimes, doesn't it?"
The Silurian surgeon listened carefully for a moment; then it seemed to dawn on him. He folded his arms and sighed while cocking an eyebrow at Rose. "I perform the surgery – I listen to MY music" concluded the Silurian surgeon and tapped his arm in annoyance "There's nothing wrong with my music, mark my words, there's no accounting for taste for..."
It stopped. They simply stopped.
The Doctor breathed in panic-stricken and shifted weakly.
His hearts had stopped. Both for a moment; though for now one was working on restarting and picking up the pace again.
An alarm went off in the room and the Silurian surgeon rushed towards his head, reaching for his chest.
"That's... that's..." "Doctor, what's happening?" asked Rose uneasy and took a step backward while she couldn't take her eyes off the Doctor.
"What's happening to it?"
"His hearts are worn out" explained the surgeon quietly before meeting the weak and hollow gaze of the Doctor.
"But don't worry, we'll get them started again. There's nothing to worry about. We take good care of you..."
Rose stepped beside the surgeon and stared the Doctor right in the eye.
The alarm had stopped but the Doctor was still struggling helplessly in order to free himself.
Rose reached for his temples and placed her delicate fingers on them. She smiled soothingly.
"Hey, don't be scared. He's the best surgeon in the world. And the whole universe, it seems. You won't die... he's taking good care of..."
The door behind her flung open and both Rose and the Silurian surgeon turned around in bewilderment.
"Don't touch it! Leave it alone!"
That Doctor shut his eyes inevitably but wouldn't manage to open them instantly.
He was weakened. He was...
I hope some of you enjoyed this chapter (and the previous one, "Panic Station" as well). And for those I have news:
I'll stop enclosing the Doctor's experiences in the enclosure in this story. First of all I felt that it's taking up too much room of the story and I really would like to focus on the Doctor-Jack-relationship, which is something I'm afraid I can't if I keep interrupting the story with illusions, nightmares and so on.
But: There's going to be a new story soon, "SHAME: The Doctor's Nightmare".
It will mainly consist of the things that happen to him in the enclosure, the gruesome parts, the disgusting operations and it's definitely going to be a lot more perverted. Hope you'll enjoy that, too.
Anyway if anyone feels that I should keep on enclosing his illusions, dreams, nightmares and so on please let me know. I'm still considering so, just leave a comment or write personal message (PM).
And comments (like Dengirl keeps writing them :) are always appreciated and longed for.