Haven't I Given Enough?

Calling For Help

2007

The Doctor didn't like hospitals. It was ironic, but there was something about the cold, clinical buildings that made him uncomfortable. Especially after his last adventure with Rose to New Earth, which had only ended as it did due to luck and quick thinking. He had to keep himself on high alert, always ready for the next threat—

"Wonders, you told me I'd see. Things I couldn't even imagine. And here we've been stuck in a hospital for two days" Rose complained, popping one of the grapes she had bought for him into her mouth.

He gave his blonde companion a grin, knowing despite her complaining that she was glad to have been on her home planet again, even if it was for just a few days. What the Doctor wouldn't give to have just a few more days on Gallifrey...

"We've arrived a year into your future, Rose. Who knows what we might see?" The Doctor insisted, as Rose pouted.

"Well, the hospital food certainly hasn't got any better" Rose pointed out, looking at what she assumed was a cheese sandwich on the Doctor's table.

"We'll only be here for another day or two. Three days tops...maybe four—" The Doctor began, but Rose cut him off with a groan.

"If there was really someone in this hospital who needed help, wouldn't we have found them by now?" Rose exclaimed, as the Doctor's brow furrowed.

He knew she was right to some degree. The TARDIS had picked up a distress signal coming from inside the hospital, one that seemed to have been transmitting for some time now. His sonic screwdriver could pick up an abnormal life sign, but it was unable to pinpoint the being. Why would someone set off a distress signal and then make it impossible to find them?

"What aren't you telling me, Doctor?" Rose asked, her big brown eyes boring into his.

"...The distress signal is broadcasting in lots of different languages. Dozens...and one of them is Gallifreyan" The Doctor admitted, as Rose's mouth went slack.

"You think one of your people...?" Rose trailed off, not sure if she wanted to finish the question.

"No. No, I would have sensed if there was another Time Lord on this planet. This is something different" The Doctor told her, shaking his head.

"So, any ideas on who it is?" Rose questioned, as she slowly surveyed the ward, her eyes darting from patient to patient.

"Not a clue" The Doctor shrugged, appearing far too carefree.

Rose knew the Time Lord well enough now to know when he was putting on an act. There was still more he wasn't telling her, she was sure of it. She was just reaching out to touch his hand when a middle-aged nurse stormed over to them, clutching at a clipboard in her arms.

"Visting hours finished ten minutes ago" The woman snapped.

"I'll be gone in a second" Rose replied, as the nurse quirked an eyebrow.

"That wasn't a request" She insisted, her lips drawn in a fine line.

"Alright, alright. I'm going" Rose huffed, grabbing her coat.

"Be careful. Don't go looking on your own" The Doctor warned, as Rose held her hands up in mock defence.

"Anyone else want to tell me what to do?" Rose complained, as a grin spread over the Doctor's lips.

"See ya'" Rose mumbled, as the nurse ushered her away from the bed space, causing the Doctor's forehead to wrinkle.

He slowly pulled his sonic screwdriver out of his hospital pyjamas and took a quick scan of the nurse, finding nothing strange showed up. She was human. Just as everyone else seemed to be. With a sigh, the Doctor leaned back against his uncomfortable pillow, feeling eyes on him. He slowly turned to see the patient next to him all but staring into his soul, a vacant expression on his face. Suddenly, the Doctor remembered why he hated hospitals so much. Too many people beyond help.