nevermoreraven | Gallifreyan Nature: Chapter 12

Fandom: Doctor Who
Rating: Teen
DISCLAIMER: Other people have actually read this one before the internet. Yes, I know. It's weird.
Summary: This is a rewrite of the Human Nature/Family of Blood two-parter, because I really liked Latimer. It's long. I liked it pretty well at the time, as did the other readers, so let's see how well it held up. ...so far, so good. also I actually bothered to tab for once on this one.
It's not finished, but it's fairly close.

It was the clanking on the windows that woke Martha Jones, out of another good dream, no less. She didn’t want to wake up, but the noise wouldn’t stop, like a constant auditory hallucination in her head. She just wanted to roll over, to pretend the universe didn’t exist, but she couldn’t ignore the sound. Jenny mumbled something in her sleep. And then the tap came again, louder this time. Martha turned over and stared at the window. She was right in time to see a rock hit the window, hard enough to cause tiny fractures to appear within the glass. She ran over to the window to look down, feeling embarrassed that she was still in her nightgown-a lacey pink affair of all things.

She forgot the awkwardness of the situation when she saw who’d been trying to get her attention. It was Daniel, looking much the worse for wear, and he crumpled as soon as she’d reached the window, all strength gone. She didn’t even know if he’d seen her, a dark shadow in the moonlight, if he’d known that he’d achieved what he’d been trying so hard to accomplish.

She ran down the steps two at a time, ignoring her persistent need for breath and the cold chill that ran through her now that she wasn’t snugly tucked into the admittedly second-rate sheets they reserved for the servants. She flung open the door and ran to where the young Time Lord lay, disregarding the fact that she was leaving the front door open or the fact that she’d slammed the door into the inside wall. She was heedless to everything else, aware only that the Doctor had collapsed and he needed her help rather urgently.

She reached his prone form and slowed down, trying her best to diagnose what might be the problem. He didn’t appear to have head or spinal injuries-she wasn’t sure where he could have acquired those anyway. When she touched his back gently, however, he screamed. He was quite loud and, obviously, in terrible pain. She turned him over, as best she could. She couldn’t do a thing for him here. Better find the extent of his injuries, then take him somewhere safe where she could help him heal.

Martha glanced over him, worried, then knelt and listened to his chest. His right heart appeared to have stopped altogether. That wasn’t such a good sign, but at least it meant that his secret of being a Time Lord was undetected for now.

She didn’t exactly decide to take him to the TARDIS. The decision was taken for her, as his worsening conditioning seemed to dictate that he get the best of help possible.

Doctor Jones began her preparations to pick up the limp body, fitting her shoes more snugly on her feet. She certainly didn’t expect Daniel to become conscious again, though the first sign of life she noticed was the coughing behind her. Anxiously, she turned to look, and he smiled limply at her. “Hullo, Martha…”

Miss Jones knew from her days at Royal Hope Hospital it was always good to have a patient that was awake. Not only could they answer questions, but it also indicated that their condition wasn’t-usually-immediately life-threatening. “Hey, Daniel. How’re you feeling?”

His smile was lopsided. “Hurts. So much…”

“How’d you get this?” She touched his back, just enough that he could tell what she was asking about.

“It’s the beating…Nurse Redfern told me I hadn’t learned my lesson. I don’t remember much.” Another half-smile. It wasn’t really funny, but he appeared to be slightly in shock-which wasn’t good. The pain from the wounds combined with the shock could kill him, pretty quickly.

She caressed his cheek, feeling the pain go through her at the thought of losing him. At the same time, she felt an intense anger for Redfern, not only because she’d tried to take the Doctor from her, but because her lack of professionalism might get an innocent kid killed. No matter whether it was the practice of this time to let children take really bad wounds and not treat it as much as they would in a modern hospital, it was the lack of compassion that wasn’t worthy of those who practiced medicine in any century. “Don’t worry-and don’t you dare leave me. You hear me?” Martha smiled through the tears, and Daniel smiled back-just enough that she knew he’d heard her and was comforted by her words.

“Yep. I hear. Don’t worry, I’m not leaving you. Not this time.” He didn’t exactly get a chance to explain his remarks, as he slipped into unconsciousness again.

The timeship seemed to wake up a little as she entered, carrying Daniel’s limp body in her arms. He wasn’t as heavy as the Doctor, though part of that probably had to do with age. But it wasn’t like carrying a few school books, either. She hastily set him down on the TARDIS’ empty seat near the console. She heard the ship’s sounds change. She didn’t know whether it was just her imagination, but for some reason it sounded distraught. “You and me both,” she sighed, taking a deep breath before picking him up again.

It seemed the path to the medical area of the TARDIS was shorter than she remembered, which was good, because Winters seemed to get heavier with every step she took. Her heart seemed to mirror his increase in weight. At one point, he snuggled closer to her, clutched at her jacket, trying to find comfort wherever he could, even while not awake. Her eyes threatened to fill with tears, but after setting him down on one of the medical tables she wiped any moisture out. She had work to do, a life to save. That might have been melodramatic if she hadn’t studied his wounds-which were really badly treated-and if she hadn’t noticed the energy slowly flowing out of Daniel’s body as she had been carrying it to the special barn where the TARDIS was hidden away. Again, that sounded weird, like something from a bad science fiction movie, but it had happened. She’d sensed it, and that was all that mattered. Anyone else would have died by now, but Winters was special. Stronger than anyone else she knew. He was so important, not just to her, but to the universe, and if he died, she’d have some select words for the Doctor when he finally stopped lurking inside that watch.

“Just hang on, Dan.” For some reason, the longer version of his name didn’t seem to fit, not here, not now. She gently squeezed his hand, and he sighed, the sound of one quietly content.

She may not have known much about the physiognomy of a Gallifreyan, but she knew how to clean out wounds and treat them, and she knew how to try to prevent shock from going too far. She was just going to do the best she could and hope it helped.