In Her Eyes (A Whouffle Fanfiction)

Chapter 26- In The Silence

The two bodies lay on the bed, motionless. Their limbs were intertwined with one another's, foreheads touching, skin dappled gold by the bright sunlight pouring through small gaps in the curtains. Dust motes drifted in the shafts of gold and bird song filled the air, one of many chorus' that would be sung throughout the coming day.

All was still.

All was silent.

Then a limb twitched. An arm, curved and shaped, spasmed against the body laying on top of it.

The room fell silent once more.

Then, not a minute too soon, the other arm jerked and all of a sudden there was a throaty cough and a wheeze as the body rebooted, blood beginning to pump in veins that had been sluggish just a few moments before. Where the corpse had been but a moment ago there now lay a woman, sucking air into her lungs roughly, hands coming out to roll the remaining body off hers. She lay there for a few more minutes then sat up, raising her arms above her head, rolling her shoulders laughing joyfully and turning to tell the man beside her something. Her face dropped when she saw him, sprawled and pale on the sheets, and she dragged herself over to him and shook him by the shoulder.

"Doctor?" Her voice was unnaturally high, for her, voice box still a little rusty from her near brush with death. She didn't seem to notice, however, shaking her companion roughly by the shoulder growing increasingly desperate as time ticked on and he remained unmoving. "Doctor." She rested an ear to his chest, expecting to hear the steady thumpthump thumpthump of his hearts beating in unison.

Nothing.

Clara began to panic, hurriedly administering CPR on him, but which heart do you pump when the patient has two? Running out of time she picked one, reasoning that one heart was better than none, laced her palms together and pumped with all she had, counting the beats out loud.

"One, two, three, four," she chanted, eyes fixed on his face for any sign from him, anything at all, that he was still in there.

"One, two, three, four. One, two, three-"

The Doctor took a long heaving breath that rattled through his lungs. He sat bolt upright dislodging her from his lap and nearly sending Clara flying from the bed. As it was she fell back on her elbows, heart lifting with relief at seeing him alive. Body only working at half capacity his eyes met hers, wild and red-rimmed. Some part of him not concerned with his failing body noted that she was alive and filed the information away for later, but as it was he just grabbed her waist, pulling her back to him as his other hand pounded on his chest to keep his one heart beating.

"Only...one heart," he gasped to her, "Bad...very bad. Need...other one...now."

Nodding, Clara-only semi recovered herself- raced through the various options in her head, trying to find one that would help them out of the present situation. She couldn't do CPR, and it was near impossible to press on his heart when he was so determined to stay upright. Running out of options, she did the first thing that popped into her head and punched him in the chest, similar to how they did it once on the opening credits to Holby City.

To her surprise it worked, and the Doctor's back let out an unpleasant crack as everything fell back into place.

Exhausted, the two fell back into the pillows.

Silence fell over the flat once more as both caught their breaths, rapidly beating hearts slowing down to their usual rate and gasps quieting to deep breaths. The Doctor recovered faster than Clara, his superior biology winning out, and he rolled to face her, grinning with giddy relief that they had both made it.