Doctor Who | |
A Face of Extremes
Rating: PG-13, Doctor/Harry slash * * * I had only been assigned to UNIT’s medical staff shortly before I met the Doctor. The posting was not anything out of the ordinary; I gave check-ups to the fighting men and women that were posted there. At first, the only unusual thing about the posting seemed to be that everybody else was from the Army and I was from the Navy. It’s never easy to work in another service. That’s not to say that the soldiers were ever unfriendly but there was always an attitude of ‘oh, you’re the Navy chap’. I got so sick of hearing it, that I made it a point to wear my white coat as often as possible. I suppose it didn’t help that I’ve always been a fairly reserved sort of fellow myself. The Brigadier summoned me to a medical emergency and I came to UNIT’s headquarters, a room I’d never been to before. I opened the door and the first thing I saw was a girl in a bright blue dress and an absurd white hat kneeling over somebody on the ground. Brigadier Stewart was standing off to the side, watching grimly with his arms crossed. I knelt down to examine him. A quick check showed that his breathing was steady and his pulse, while slightly erratic, was within perfectly acceptable limits. His temperature seemed stable; if slightly cool to the touch. There were no serious injuries visible. It was then that I looked to his face. He seemed to be in his early forties and, judging from his clothes, was clearly a civilian. It was a face full of extremes - the nose was slightly too big for the face, the hair was too clown-like for the seriousness of the expression, the lips were far too wide and the teeth were far too big for his mouth. Then he opened his eyes. They were large, brown and full of life. Suddenly it didn’t seem to matter that the rest of his face seemed slightly out of proportion; it just seemed to fit somehow.
Faster than anybody could restrain him, he was sitting up and gripping the girl’s arm absent-mindedly. I stood up. I’d seen enough to recognise a man in shock, probably from a blow to the head. There was no reason he couldn’t be moved. The girl finally looked at me for the first time. She was trying to be strong but I could see the worry in her eyes. I tried to smile reassuringly at her but then returned to business. I turned to the soldiers that had accompanied me in.
I stopped in the very act of closing the doors behind me. It was only the second time that the Brigadier had ever called me by my rank. The first time had been when I first joined UNIT but since then it had been ‘Dr Sullivan’.
He looked me directly in the eye and I was left in no doubt that my patient was important in some way that the Brigadier wasn’t prepared to admit to. I followed my conscripted orderlies back to the infirmary. This man who the Brigadier had called the Doctor was laid on a bed. I sat down to examine him further while the two soldiers waited behind me. I soon got the feeling that the soldiers weren’t there because they were assigned or because they wanted to be helpful - they were checking up on me. My temper eventually snapped and I sent them scurrying from my infirmary. I didn’t spend years in medical training just to be told how to do my job. * * * According to the Brigadier’s orders, I assigned one of the other medical officers to handle everything and anything that might occur so that I could devote my entire attention to the Doctor. I spent most of that afternoon by his side, monitoring him. His vitals seemed stable so I was inclined to believe that it was shock rather than any serious injuries. However, I was still concerned that he might sink into a coma or become catatonic.
I stayed by his side to monitor him, catching up on paperwork. He stirred in fits, usually without warning and muttering as if he were in the middle of a conversation. It seemed that my reassurance had worked too well. He didn’t stir for the rest of the night and most of the next morning. I spent a good portion of the night there, anxious to be sure that it really was sleep and not a coma. After several hours had passed, I reflected ruefully that it was unfortunate that I had already chased the soldiers away - I might have been able to persuade them to fetch me a cup of tea. The girl happened to visit during that night and was unhappy to find the Doctor unresponsive when she called to him. She introduced herself to me as a journalist named Sarah Jane Smith. Exactly what a journalist was doing on a top-secret facility was never explained. I assumed that it was unlikely that she was here in a professional capacity. Probably, she had gained admittance because she had an important relative on staff.
Like the soldiers had, she watched me critically the whole time, assessing my every movement.
She fixed me with a glare that told me that I had not successfully kept a straight face. She bit her lip and I got the idea that she was trying to stop herself from saying something hostile. She tightened her grip on her handbag and walked to the door. I walked with her and opened the door for her. She glared at me again as she walked out through it. I could do little but hope that she wasn’t too well connected or I could just have sunk my own career. * * *
It was nearly noon the next day by the time he stirred again. This time he seemed to barely register my presence in the room. Instead he sat up, hand reaching out towards thin air. His brown eyes were turned away from me.
I’m not sure when I realised he was awake. I felt like I was being watched and I turned to look at him. The brown eyes regarded me with a faint mixture of confusion and amusement. I hadn’t finished before the eyes had closed again and my hand was released. I was quite glad that I had sent the soldiers away earlier. I crawled off of the bed, feeling strangely embarrassed. I fetched a nurse and instructed her to arrange for somebody to be with him at all times while I got a few hours sleep. * * * I returned to the infirmary after a good seven hours. According to the nurse, he had woken twice more but he hadn’t spoken directly to her. Instead, he’d ranted about giant teleporting spiders and a woman named Jo. I released her to go get some rest of her own.
I pulled my stool up to his bedside again. I placed my stethoscope in my ears and was about to press the other end against his chest when he awoke again. He jerked upright, snatching my wrist in a vice-like grip. I sighed and studied him again. The Brigadier had never given my patient any name other than ‘The Doctor’ and had remained tight-lipped about his origins. I was very much starting to feel as if there was something the Brigadier wasn’t telling me. Shrugging, I raised the stethoscope again to try to listen to his heartbeat.
Once again he shot upright without warning, knocking the stethoscope away. The brown eyes stared at me, wide enough to suggest hysteria.
He lay down again but propped up on his elbows so that he could watch me. He gave me the impression of an adult humouring a stubborn child. It didn’t particularly matter to me what he thought of me, as long as he cooperated.
I abandoned the stethoscope attempt and sat back to look him in the eyes. To my credit, I managed to hold his weight for a good ten seconds before I forced him backwards so that we both toppled back onto the mattress. I extricated myself from our entangled limbs and stood back. I reflected ruefully that I really ought to be getting hazard pay for this sort of thing. It also occurred to me that the services of a psychiatrist might be necessary. Then again, psychiatrists didn’t do so well with comatose patients so that option would have to wait until he was awake for more than five minutes at a time. * * * I wouldn’t have said it was possible but after three weeks, I still hadn’t managed to listen to the Doctor’s heartbeat using my stethoscope. While he was otherwise comatose and unpredictable, any attempt to use the stethoscope would provoke an instant reaction. Once, the stethoscope was thrown out the window. It was only because I grabbed him by the nightshirt that he didn’t topple out of the window too as soon as he passed out again. He always seemed amused and suspicious to see me, though I had to repeat my name several times. He always seemed insulted when told he was in the infirmary or when told he was unwell. I took to telling him that he was in the sickbay and that he was just a little out of sorts. Sometimes he’d remember our previous conversations and sometimes he wouldn’t. The girl came to visit regularly but at such odd hours that I gathered she must be working most of the day. The Brigadier popped in once or twice but always seemed embarrassed and didn’t stay long. He was reserved and it was difficult to know what he was thinking. Sergeant Benton popped in like clock-work every week for an update on the Doctor’s condition. He was a friendly sort and he never said it in so many words, but I had a feeling he was reporting straight back to the Brigadier. I tried not to be too insulted that everyone was watching over my shoulder as if I were still a medical student. Granted, I wasn’t as experienced as the base’s previous medical officer but I wasn’t straight out of the academy. I had four years of experience under my belt and none of my colleagues had ever questioned my competence. That, I feel, is saying something since the head nurse at the UNIT base struck me as a woman unafraid of giving out her opinion. If I’d been completely incompetent, she would have told me.
It was after one of Benton’s visits when the phone in my office rang. I tried to answer it without sounding too depressed. We hung up and I marched into the infirmary to see the Doctor. I think I was in such a good mood that I was humming. For the first time, it seemed as if somebody was actually being friendly rather than simply polite. I was trying to think of a way of returning the favour when I realised that the Doctor’s bed was empty. While the Doctor had often had the strength to stand up, he hadn’t been able to keep his feet for very long periods. The bedside cabinet that had held his few belongings had been hurriedly emptied. I searched the room but I couldn’t find him in any of the usual places. Just to be sure, I stuck my head out the window and checked the flower-beds below, but saw nothing. I heard the sound of the infirmary’s outer door opening and the Brigadier’s loud voice. I couldn’t hear what he was saying but the answer was in a woman’s voice. I scampered out the opposite door, intent on finding the Doctor before Sarah could descend on me with her biting disapproval. Even though the Doctor had never made it very far out of the room before, I had an inkling of where to go. I went to the only place on the base that I’d seen him before he became my patient. I went back to the room where he’d first collapsed, the one with the Police Box in the corner.
Sure enough, there was the Doctor, rattling the door of the Police Box, with his coat pulled on over his hospital gown.
I closed the doors behind me and crossed my arms sternly.
I walked forward and the Doctor sidled around sideways to avoid me. In truth, I was impressed that he was up and about and carrying on a conversation, albeit a childish one. Apparently, he hoped that as long as I was listening that I wouldn’t come near him. This didn’t really bother me since I was blocking the only door out of the room.
Showing not a shadow of concern, he began jogging up and down vigorously on the spot.
I hurriedly placed the other end in my ears and listened to his heartbeat for the first time. It sounded a little irregular but before I could say so, he moved the stethoscope over to the right sound of his chest. A second heartbeat sounded just out of sync with the first.
He walked across the room, talking as he went.
I looked around the room for a telephone. There was one on the far desk but I daren’t move from between the Doctor and the door. There was also no way I’d be able to get to it without him catching on.
The earnestness returned, the eyes widening even further but I knew quite perfectly what he was up to.
I slipped out of his grip and pressed my back against the doors. I looked at him disapprovingly.
He wandered over to the table and picked up a cable. He curled the ends ominously around his fists and then spun around and slapped the cable against the ground. I tried not to jump too much. The Doctor locked eyes with me and I swallowed, worried where this could lead. I had no idea what this man was capable of.
The Doctor jumped over the cable and swung it over my head in an arc. I jumped to avoid being swept off my feet but the Doctor kept going. He was skipping with the cable, standing so close to me that I was forced to start skipping too or else I’d end up tripping over the cable.
I abandoned speech and just kept skipping absurdly, unable to think properly with the chant droning on and on. The Doctor kept eye contact, refusing to look away and smiling at my bewilderment. I hoped he wasn’t about to pass out again but somehow I didn’t think he would. I must have looked hopeful when the chant finished because the Doctor grinned wider and began to count to the same beat. Somehow he’d turned us around and was skipping us towards the opposite wall. I was moving backwards and I couldn’t see where we were going. I knew the Doctor could see, but he continued to stare at me instead. Unless the Doctor was attempting some kind of stage-show hypnosis, I was baffled as to why he wouldn’t look away. I’ve never had anything said against my face but I didn’t think it deserved the attention either.
With a clunk, my back hit a metal cabinet that was resting against the wall. The Doctor laughed at me and I knew I'd failed some sort of test. He dipped his head forward abruptly and kissed me full on the lips. I tensed against him and struggled for a moment but he simply pushed his weight forward and pinned me against the cabinet. His nose knocked against mine, his curls tickling my forehead. I couldn’t move and I couldn’t call for help. Then he tilted his head and kissed me even harder. My mind raced, trying to work out what it was that this crazy man wanted from me. He already demonstrated that he could easily confound me without having to resort to such desperate measures. His strength was so far in excess of mine that he could have simply overpowered me but he hadn’t. I couldn’t see any way that this could benefit him. No benefit at all, unless he genuinely wanted to kiss me. It had been a long time since anybody (a woman or otherwise) had wanted to kiss me, let alone done so.
Hardly daring to hope, I gave in. I shut my eyes, relaxed and allowed him to kiss me. I felt his lips curve into a smile against mine. Taking it as encouragement, I hesitantly returned the kiss as best I could. The pressure pinning me to the cabinet eased a little and I felt his arms moving beside me. I registered the cabinet door opening beside me but I didn’t realise what was happening until he tripped me over backwards. I landed awkwardly at the bottom of the cabinet, my head wedged in the corner and my feet kicking in the air. Grinning unapologetically at me, the Doctor grabbed my ankles and swiftly tied them together with the cable. I flailed about helplessly, unable to find any leverage to get myself up the right way again. I hung there, upside down in the dark, for no more than five minutes but it was quite long enough to decide that this was one of the most embarrassing moments of my life. THE END |
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