By: Mistress of the Knight
Beta: None yet
Rating: Maybe a slight bit of profanity, but not much else.
Fandom: House MD/Dr Who
Pairings: None
Warnings: Story may contain spoilers up to end of season 2 in House and for the first two series of the new BBC Dr Who series
Summary: The tenth Doctor (played by the delicious David Tennant) has arrived but, due to a well intentioned time machine, will not be being nursed back to health in a London flat by Jackie Tylor. If House gets a hold of him though, he might be less grateful for this fact.
Authors note: Yes, this is a crossover between two very different shows. I can't resist those weird combinations, just to see if I can get away with it! Think of this like a deep fried Mars bar. Bizarre, yet, hopefully, oddly satisfying. I just hope it won't leave you feeling too nauseous! I shall be doing some medical homework as I go along which will make writing slower, but I'm not a doctor so please excuse any malpractice I might inadvertently perform.
Disclaimer: If I owned the rights to any of these shows I would die happy. I don't so I shall die poor instead. I'm sure the owners wouldn't mind me playing with their creations a bit. If they didn't want poor frustrated women to obsess over them they shouldn't have cast such sexy actors!
Chapter One
Hi, Honey, we're….
The darkness was that oppressive, damp, almost tangible force that you only find under the ground. It was only disturbed in a few isolated points by the soft orange glow of energy saving recessed bulbs that dimly illuminated the squat shapes of scattered cars, and by the sickly green light from a neon exit sign shining in one corner. The silence was complete, but slowly a rising whine started to insinuate itself into the cool, still air. The noise increased in rhythmic swoops until the empty space was resonating with repeating whooshes like the wash of a querulous ocean. The hulking shapes of the vehicles began to take on a clearer form, outlined in a growing blue shimmer that focused gradually into a luminous nucleus in one of the empty bays against one wall. If anyone had been around to witness these unearthly lights and noises they may have felt a little let down by the mundane shape that coalesced within the pulsating blue lights. The solid blue box settled into place with a final creak and then sat, innocently incongruous, neatly lined up between the white lines of the parking space.
The silence was restored for a moment, but was then broken again as the door of the crate crashed open to spill out a young girl of about nineteen, her face flushed and eyes frantic and puffy. She pulled up her mad dash within a few paces, looking around with wild shakes of her head that sent her damp, honey blonde hair swinging up to stick at her tear-streaked cheeks. She looked confused and broken as she raised a trembling hand to her face to clear it. Her voice seemed to loose itself in the quiet of the car park as she whispered to the empty space "Mum?".
She stood huddled for a moment, all the frantic energy of a moment before pulled into miserable stillness. Her arms crept around her stomach as if cradling a bullet wound to the gut. No-one who knew her well as the confident and vivacious young woman that she had recently blossomed into would have recognised the lost and scared child that stared around herself in despairing bewilderment. A soft groan from inside the blue phone box broke her out of her funk and she turned back, almost reluctantly, to the warm stream of light of the open door.
A tousled head poked through, dark chocolate brown eyes blinking in surprise at the gloom of the parking lot. The tall, lanky man leaned heavily on the doorframe as he looked around at his surroundings. He seemed not to see the hand that the blonde tentatively reached out to steady him then withdrew, as if scared to touch the rumpled man in front of her.
"Ah!" he exclaimed in a rather strained voice. "Not quite what I was aiming for. Lacks the charms of the Powell Estate. No graffiti, no empty crisp packets, no smell of urine." He paused briefly, a tight smile flitting over his drawn features. "On the plus side though, no Jackie Tyler or Mickey the Mouth."
The girl didn't respond with her usual mock annoyance at his taunts but instead looked about ready to burst into tears again. She gulped and responded in a voice that was obviously aiming for a casual tone but missed by a mile. "Of all the times for the tardis to mess up, it would be now." She gestured abruptly to his sagging frame, only kept upright by a white knuckled grip on the blue wood of the door frame. "And don't you have a go at my mum! You really need her right now." She paused, a hot tear tracing down one slightly grubby cheek. "I really need her right now" she added quietly, as if to herself alone.
There was a strained silence for a moment then the man called in a gentle, pleading tone "Rose!" he hesitated, then seemed to change his mind on what he was about to say, continuing more firmly with, "just go and find out where we are."
The girl nodded, almost gratefully, and turned quickly to stalk off into the darkness. As soon as she had turned her back to him the man seemed to sag into himself, a look of pain and weariness pulling his boyish features into older, more hollow lines. He held his hand up before his face, studying it as if he had never seen it before. "I'm getting too old for this" he muttered wryly, then pulled himself slightly straighter as footsteps approached out of the gloom.
Rose reappeared in the halo of light cast from the open door of the tardis, still looking flushed but slightly more controlled. "I found a sign" she blurted. "We're in the car park of the Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. Wherever that is." She shrugged with one shoulder, glancing round her. "Though by the looks of those cars I reckon we're on earth, and 'bout the right century, at least."
The Doctor let out a long heartfelt groan. "Brilliant!" he muttered. "A hospital. And in America! Bloody tardis and it's bossy personality, always did think it knew what's best for me. The last thing I need right now is a hospital."
Rose folded her arms across her chest in a defensive barrier against his irritation. She raised one eyebrow as she looked him up and down, taking in the increasingly sagged slump of a body that seemed shrunken inside a too big leather jacket. "Really!" she snapped "'Coz you could've fooled me!"
The Doctor flicked a scowl at her. "I don't do hospitals" he sulked. "Last time I was brought to an American hospital the doctor messed up so much I ended up in the morgue." He sighed before continuing an a more pleasant tone. "Not her fault I suppose. Nice girl. Ended up saving the world together. Maybe I should look her up." He gasped suddenly as a spasm caused him to hunch over, his arms clutched around his torso. "Maybe now's not the best time" he forced out in a pained whisper.
Rose stepped forward but again pulled up short, her hand hovering uncertainly above the knotted muscles of his shoulder. She flinched as his head whipped around, those deep eyes boring into her with sudden urgency.
"Rose" he hissed through clenched teeth. "You've got to help keep me away from those doctors. I've already died once today. Rather not have to go through that again in some lab somewhere."
Rose threw her hands up in frustration and blurted in an agitated voice "Well that's just great but where else am I …" she broke off with a gasp as the Doctor let out a small sigh then folded to slide bonelessly into an unconscious heap at her feet. She stood staring down at the crumpled body for a moment and then let out a choked noise, a sob swallowed back with a grim set of her lips. "Great." she muttered, staring down at the still body of the stranger who was the centre of her universe. "What am I supposed to do now, Doctor? I can't fly this thing anymore!" she shouted in fear and frustration at his unresponsive form. She spun around, staring into the empty darkness of the deserted hospital car park and let out a slightly hysterical bubble of laughter. "Hello!" she called with desperate sarcasm "Is there a doctor in the house?!"