AN: Written for a prompt on Livejournal. Will not be continued.

Rory and the Mad Doctor

Rory was pacing about in the hospital locker rooms after his call from Amy suddenly dropped. He swore under his breath, ready to charge out of there and return to work, but he stopped, mid-stride, when he heard a banging on the locker doors.

"Oy, who's back there?" he called. The noises stopped, leading Rory to worry. Usually someone called out, even if they were having a fit and taking it out on the lockers. He'd seen it before many times.

Curiosity got the better of him, and he crept back into the locker stacks and peered around the corner. He observed the back of a patient, and instead of spooking him, Rory watched silently as the man rummaged through the lockers and began nicking the staffs' clothes.

"Hey, you can't just take those!" Rory called, and when the man turned around, his determined blue eyes and wild curly brown hair gave Rory a bit of a fright.

The man, awkwardly and partially naked, turned around and came at him so fast Rory felt the man's breath on his face. "Uh…" Apparently he didn't know about such things as personal space. Rory glanced down at his wrist band. "John Smith." Rory sighed. Of course his name was John Smith.

"Doctor," he clarified in a smooth tone. He was still looking at Rory like he was either the most fascinating thing ever, or like he was going to eat him. Rory hoped for anything but the latter.

"Ok…Dr. John Smith, why are you stealing clothes? Let me take you back to your bed…"

"I need to leave this place immediately." Rory averted his eyes when the man started putting on his pants. "You're going to help me."

"Uh, I don't think…"

"I was put here against my will, no…" He paused and looked away. "He put me here, to stall me, but I know his plans, and I'll find him. I'll catch up with him."

"What…who? Who put you here?" Rory supposed these were all just the ramblings of a lunatic, but he decided to pry more information out of him anyway, just to see how he could help him. If he was barking mad, well then, he'd call hospital security, but until then, he honestly did want to help him. Suddenly, the mad man with curly hair grabbed Rory's biceps.

"Please, you're all in danger. Everyone here. If the Master knows I can remember…"

"Hold on, mate, are you threatening the people at the hospital?" Rory began to feel uneasy about the guy, even though he didn't seem like a bad person. He couldn't even sense anything negative about him, but that didn't mean anything. Looks were always deceiving.

"No, no, don't be stupid, I'm trying to save you!" he said, his tone tinged with foreboding. "The memory is fuzzy, but I know him. I know what he can do." He paused, and in the man's blue eyes, Rory saw such depth of emotion: fear, empathy, and regret. This poor bloke had been through a lot, and Rory was just sympathetic enough to help him.

"I don't think I can…" Oh, he was getting so sacked for this.

"Just let me leave then. Let me walk out the front doors…"

"But you're hurt," Rory countered. The mad doctor smiled at him.

"Your concern is touching, and maybe I'd love a companion like you …someday." The man paused, peering at him and leaving Rory bewildered. "Oh, I see. Maybe I will meet you again after all." He pulled on the lapels of the stolen green coat jacket, completed his ensemble, and he smiled at Rory affectionately.

"I'm off. Thank you for your assistance, young Rory," he said, and Rory trailed after him dumbly as the mad doctor dashed through the locker room doors and through the hospital's halls. Lucky for him, people didn't seem to readily notice his presence, and as Rory walked silently behind him, he looked around for anyone that might cause the man trouble. When he turned around, the Doctor was out of his sight. Rory ran to the window, hoping to see one glimpse of him before he was nothing more than a tired, afternoon illusion.

Unfortunately, the mad man who wanted to save them all from the unseen Master was gone, and with clothing he'd stolen from them. Rory just hoped that it wouldn't come back to him, and he'd rather forget the meeting had ever happened.

"Oh! Oh, no, no…" Rory cried, and as he carried on, pointing and blathering at the TARDIS screen, Amy and the Doctor gravitated over to him with instant curiosity.

"Ah…" the Doctor said. "You've been going through the TARDIS databanks."

"Hey, who is that?" Amy asked.

"Me," the Doctor said, looking fondly at the picture of the curly-haired man with deep eyes and dressed in Victorian-like garb. "Well, one of me."

"I…I've met him before!" Rory stated. He turned to point at the Doctor. "Well, you…I've met you before."

The Doctor furrowed his brow in contemplation. "It's entirely possible. I had loads of memory problems in that incarnation."

Rory kept pointing at him. "You stole clothes from our hospital!"

Amy laughed. "Well, there's a surprise," she drawled.

"And you were really mad! Like totally mental. Kept raving about the Master," Rory said. "I can't believe I didn't realize it until now." Rory looked up and noticed the grave expression on the Doctor's face. He assumed it had something to do with the Master.

Rory wondered if the Doctor was going to enlighten him, but instead, his expression turned quickly, and he was beaming again. "Well, I suppose that happened a lot with me, especially with that one, going around, finding myself without much of a memory in hospitals. I was fortunate you found me, Rory."

"That doesn't excuse the fact that you were raving like a loony and you asked me to help you escape the hospital. I almost got sacked that day! Thankfully, they didn't accuse me of stealing the clothes," Rory said, rubbing his head. "Had to tell them I saw a madman running out with them to cover my arse."

The Doctor looked slightly annoyed, but more because of Amy continuous laughter and not Rory's strange first meeting with him.

"Why does everyone I meet automatically assume I'm mad? No, no, don't answer that, Ponds," the Doctor said with a heavy sigh.

"Ooh, Doctor," Amy said in between giggles. She elbowed him playfully, and he pouted at her. "Don't be such a grumpy face, yeah? Just be happy that with you, some things just never change."

END