Chapter 25 - How Do We Get to Chiswick?

They drove down to the prison in a UNIT jeep. No one really seemed to be talking.

They passed the security to reach the visitor's area. Then there Stein was, already sat in one of the phone booths divided by a clear screen.

Stein looked like he wanted to be anywhere but there.

The Doctor took the seat straight away, gazing at Stein through the window. Neither of them said anything.

"Do you want us to go away?" Donna wondered.

The Doctor nodded.

"Just shout," Jack said, giving him a reassuring pat on the shoulder before he, Donna and Martha left.

The Doctor took a few moments just to stare at Stein before he picked up the phone, leant back casually, and finally spoke. "... Did you get what you wanted?"

"No," Stein grated, looking as though he wanted to kill the Doctor where he sat.

"What did you want from me?"

"Answers."

"Answers to life, the universe and everything?" the Doctor supposed.

"Do not try to associate with me using human culture references, alien," Stein said, utterly emotionless.

"Yeah, sorry," the Doctor replied, somewhat unapologetically. "But I've been here a very long time."

Stein scoffed. "Impossible."

"Oh, you think this is a one-off visit?" the Doctor asked. "I know more about your race than you do."

"I highly doubt that."

"Are you scared of that?"

"You are nothing," Stein stated, his eye twitching slightly. "You are just a specimen."

The Doctor beamed as the eye twitch increased. He was breaking him. "Oh, it was so much easier when I couldn't answer back, wasn't it?"

Stein's eyes narrowed, but he didn't reply.

"It's a shame," the Doctor continued airily. "You're an intelligent man. Brain like that could change the world for the better. … Or for the worse," he eventually added, intentionally baiting him.

Stein, once again, said nothing.

"Wow, not even defending yourself?" the Doctor wondered, trying to gauge his reaction.

"I don't have to justify myself to you."

The Doctor smile. "Yet you feel the need to speak when your pride's insulted."

"This is ridiculous," Stein grated.

"Is it?" the Doctor wondered. "Look, I get it. You question things, you look at things, you deconstruct them, you wonder in what other ways you can use them to benefit more people. That's good, it really is. I'd just prefer it if it didn't involved my body parts next time. I'm fond of those."

"What is the point in telling me this?" Stein drawled.

"I'm telling you that a brain like that shouldn't be locked away in a cell. You should be allowed to think and explore. Let me help you. I can help you."

Stein scoffed again. "I think not."

"Don't be proud," the Doctor said, sighing. "I'm a Time Lord, Doctor Stein. A time traveller from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous. I have two hearts, a binary vascular system, and I'm nearly 1000-years-old. I've had hundreds of years of travelling through space and time, from introducing your pre-historic ancestors to fire to being the last diner at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, and if there's one piece of advice I could give you it would be to forget your pride. The universe is full of beautiful, strange and complicated people and it would be a boring place without them. No matter their background, faith, whether their skin is white, blue, or pink with green spots, every single one has their own place and none of their lives count for nothing. We're all equals. We're all just a bunch of unique, beautiful people occupying the same fish bowl and if you can't accept that I worry for you. You clearly love your species, and that's great, because I love your species too. But try to reach out. Just be humble, just this once, I promise you won't regret it. I really want to help you, Doctor Stein. Let me help you."

"I am not accepting help from the likes of you."

The Doctor sighed. "So that's it, then? You're content to sit in prison for the rest of your life for the sake of your pride?"

Stein just glared at him.

"I'll take that as a yes," the Doctor concluded.

"May I go now?" Stein asked seriously.

The Doctor didn't even bother answering that. "I tried," was all he said, and hung up the phone. He got up, slipping his arm in his crutch before pausing, and looking back.

"By the way, I forgive you."

Without even stopping to gauge a reaction the Doctor left to the door where the others were waiting.

"So what, he's pardoned for his crimes and now working for Unit?" Jack wondered, slightly seriously.

"No, he's chosen to sit in a small dark room for the rest of his life," the Doctor replied. "But that's pride for you. Let's go home."

All three nodded in sync, smiling before Jack and Martha ran off to clear the way, leaving Donna to walk beside him as his pace.

"Can I ask you something?" she asked.

He looked at her. "What?"

"Why d'you care?"

"What do you mean?"

She sighed. "I mean, why do you even care what happens to him? You're a 900-year-old whatsit and he's just a brat of a human. He might've knocked you around for a bit but you're not exactly traumatised. He's nothing to you. Why d'you care?"

The Doctor thought about that for a moment. "Every person deserves a second chance."

"And he just threw his away."

"Exactly. He's smart, Donna, he inquisitive. He's intuitive. If he wasn't willing to torture for it he'd be revered. But he just can't see that. I tried. I'm sad he wasn't willing to try but sometimes you just can't save people from themselves."

Donna nodded. "Okay. I get it."

"Do you?"

She nodded.

He smiled. "C'mon."

He finally got properly dressed later that evening. It had been a while.

He chose his brown suit, light blue shirt and dark red tie with white converse, before finally finishing it with his coat, lovingly repaired by UNIT so well that there was no sign of the drab state it had been in after the crash. The only exception was he couldn't get his right converse over the cast on his foot, but otherwise he managed to get dressed by himself. Small victories, and all that.

It was time to leave.

He finally went out into the console room propped up on one crutch, where the others were standing. They immediately all regarded him with big eyes and wide smiles.

"This isn't my first day at school," the Doctor told them seriously, rolling his eyes.

Martha dived forward to hug him first, for quite a prolonged period before drawing back.

"Don't aggravate that leg or wrist," Martha told him seriously. "And don't forget your ribs, they're fragile too. In fact, just don't do anything for about three weeks, okay, mister?"

He grinned. "Okay," he replied. "I'll take a nice long holiday on a pleasure planet. Oh, and did you sort out…?"

Martha nodded. "All the Unit soldiers in the Loch have got a George Cross, all the army soldiers have been pardoned."

He nodded. "Thank you, Martha. For everything."

"You're welcome," she assured him, giving him a final hug before stepping back.

Jack stepped forward next, extending out a hand for the Time Lord to shake. The Doctor took it, but quickly was dragged forward by Jack into a bone-crunching hug.

"Ow," the Doctor said feebly, pain shooting through his ribs.

Jack immediately loosened. "Sorry," he said, then kissed him fully on the lips.

The Doctor made a face, wiping at his mouth. Jack just laughed.

"Again, sorry for nearly killing you," Jack said. "And drop by Torchwood, would you? I'd love to see you when you're not mostly unconscious."

The Doctor nodded. "I will."

"And next time I might come with you."

The Doctor nodded again as Jack let go, and this time Donna stepped up.

"Pleasure planet? Sounds good," she said.

The Doctor gazed at her for a moment, as he realised what he was implying. "... You want to come?"

"Well duh," she said bluntly. "Someone needs to save your life."

The Doctor glanced at them all. They were laughing. "... Donna, I…"

"Well that's settled," Donna interrupted smoothly. "Can we drop by my house? I need to pick up my stuff. Do I need injections? And do I get a room? Can I have one near the kitchen? Can it be ensuite?"

The Doctor looked blankly at the other two, who just laughed.

"Have fun," Jack said, making to the door with Martha. "Don't do anything we wouldn't do!"

The TARDIS door closed, leaving him and Donna.

"C'mon then, you need a hand piloting?" Donna asked, taking his arm and pulling him to the console, sitting him on the pilot's chair. "Tell me what to press, I'm ready! How do we get to Chiswick?"

The Doctor sighed, finally conceding. "All right," he said. "But there's somewhere I want to go first."

Emma had been discharged from hospital two weeks ago, and been told to rest.

Not that she could. She had no job, a black mark on her record and therefore no chance of getting back into employment as a paramedic. That meant she had no money, and was now indebted to several family members. On top of all of that, she had also had to sign the Official Secrets Act which meant she could tell no one anything about the past couple of months. She'd been advised to get an exceptionally low profile job by a man in a black suit, and though she had tried to defy him it seemed as though all her attempts were getting blocked.

So she was currently sat in her front room on her laptop, her finger hovering over the submit button on an job application to Tesco.

How has it come to this?

Suddenly, the front doorbell rang. Frowning, Emma got up and went to the door, peeking through the spyhole.

"Oh my god," she whispered, and immediately unlocked and opened the door. "Doctor!" she realised.

There he was, her alien, stood there fully dressed asides from a shoe on his right foot, which was in a walking boot. His right wrist was plaster casted and in a sling, and he was propped up on a crutch. His hair was gelled up, and asides from a slightly bloodshot eye and his leg and wrist, he looked in perfect health.

He beamed at her with a beautiful set of perfect teeth. "Hello," he said with an estuary accent. "Not interrupting anything, am I?"

Emma abruptly realised that she was still in her pyjamas. "Oh god!" she realised, but she had no way of hiding it.

Oh god this is embarrassing.

"Um, no, you're fine… Err... would you like to come in?"

"Yes, please," he said. She stepped back, letting him into her living room, before realising what an utter mess it was.

"Sorry," she said quickly. "Umm… Usually it's tidier than this…?"

He shrugged, indifferent.

"Would you like a cup of tea or something?"

The Doctor smiled appreciatively. "If it's going."

"I'll just err… go get dressed," she said awkwardly, and ran out the door.

The Doctor relaxed into the sofa, looking around. There were some pictures on a mantel above a fireplace of family and friends, and large collection of DVDs on shelves to the right. Mostly sci-fi and fantasy. There was a half-eaten bowl of Chocolate Crisp Weetabix Minis on the table and an open laptop, currently on a job application for Tesco. The room was freezing cold.

"Sorry it's cold," Emma said, slightly embarrassed when she returned with two cups of tea.

He nodded, taking the tea. "Thanks… Having financial problems?" he wondered.

"Oh no, I'm fine," she said immediately, offering a wan smile.

"I'm telepathic," the Doctor told her.

She froze immediately. "... Oh, sorry. Yeah. I guess I am."

He grinned a little. "Actually I can't read your mind like this, but saying that really helps get the truth out of people."

Emma stared at him for a moment. "Oh God, that's so annoying."

He laughed. "Sorry," he apologised. "Anyway, I came here to thank you. I'd be dead if it wasn't for you."

"It's okay," she replied, smiling.

"I'm serious. You kept your head in exceptional circumstances, that's special. I was an alien. You could have left me there and no one would've thought any less of you."

"I couldn't do that," Emma told him honestly, sighing. "You were just bleeding and bleeding, I knew you'd die without help."

"I would've," the Doctor confirmed. "Then you took a bullet."

Emma laughed. "More of an accident."

"I'd be dead if you didn't."

She nodded. "Didn't do me much good though, did it?" she said, pointing at her Tesco application. "I've been saving lives for twenty years and now I've gotta stack shelves. Not that I'm saying I regret helping you, I really don't," she added quickly and honestly. "It's just I wish being nice didn't result in this."

The Doctor nodded. "It doesn't have to, you know."

"What?"

"You're a paramedic, and you had enough courage to help an alien. How would you like to be Unit's first xeno paramedic?"

She blinked. "You mean… a paramedic for aliens?"

He nodded. "I've had a word with the Heads of Unit, they need one. Whenever they find an injured alien you'd be first on the scene to give medical help before getting them back to the xenobiologists."

Emma just stared at him. "Are you offering me a job?"

"You can negotiate the pay but it's a specialised job, I imagine it's quite high," the Doctor said, shrugging. "I don't know much about money. But you can help train others too. You can save lives. Unit have plenty of files on alien biology so it will be hard work, you'll have to learn them all, and you'll be discovering new species a lot. But you'll get all the help you need."

Emma continued to stare at him. "D'you really think I could do that?"

He nodded. "Positive. You're more than capable. I've already lost one good brain today, I'm not losing you too."

Emma fell silent, and the Doctor obediently stayed quiet to let her think.

"... I think I'd love it," Emma concluded after a long pause.

He grinned. "I've arranged for Unit to pick you in a few hours to take you to their HQ. You can talk about the details with Colonel Mace."

She nodded, and smiled. "Wow, god, I'd better put some smarter clothes on."

He laughed. "I'd better go," he finally said as he finished the tea, standing up. "Oh, I've got my friend Jack to put some money in your account to tide you over until it's all in place. So you can turn the heating on again."

She laughed in return, suddenly bouncing onto her feet as they walked to the door. "Thank you so much," she said sincerely.

"You're welcome."

"Can I hug you?" she asked suddenly as soon as he'd stepped out the door.

He laughed again. "Of course."

She moved forward and wrapped her arms around him, holding him. "Thank you, thank you," she kept saying, her voice wavering in the sure sign of oncoming tears. "Thank you so much."

"You're welcome, you're welcome, you're welcome," he replied jokingly, hugging her back before they parted.

"Will I see you again?" Emma asked, tears now rolling down her face.

"Dunno," the Doctor replied. "I come and go."

She gave him one final hug. "Look after yourself," she told him.

He nodded. "I will. If I don't, you'll be the first to see me," he jested.

"Oh, don't say that," she said, rolling her eyes. "You're impossible."

"Been called that before," the Doctor mused, before looking at the TARDIS stood across the road. Donna was there, waiting. "Good luck," he directed to Emma.

Emma nodded. "Good bye, Doctor."

He nodded, turned and left.

For a moment, Emma wondered what on Earth he was doing as he went to the blue box where a red-haired woman was waiting. Both her and the Doctor gave Emma a final wave. She waved back, and for the record threw in another yelled, "thank you!". Then they both went inside the blue box.

Suddenly there was the sound of an engine, a weird, vworping sort of noise. Emma checked the surroundings, thinking it was coming from up the street, but then she realised. The blue box was fading in and out. Disappearing from view. The wind around it picked up, several leaves flew across the pavement, until, finally, it disappeared.

She immediately got the feeling that she'd never see him again. But she hoped the feeling was wrong.

She closed her front door, put on the heating, and then went to get ready.

The End

A/N: That's it! wasn't that fun :D Believe it or not, this stemmed out of a single idea by the-writer1988 to give the Doctor a supracondylar fracture (you can tell she's medical by profession, can't you :P) and after a bit of back and forth texting I conceived of the idea of a language barrier fic involving hospitals. She also proofread this, so kudos!

I'm now totally occupied with Uni work for the next 5-6 weeks and presently have no idea when I shall make my ominous return, or with what! I have about a million ideas (they never stop) so I'll be back like a bad smell in a couple of months most likely :P

I've also put a link on my profile to my Gallifreyan Dictionary, which includes some translations of the "pissing" scene, so feel free to take a look :D

Thank you for reading, you are all made of gold-plated awesome. Thank you!

Laura