Repercussions (7/55)
May. 8th, 2008 11:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
amberfocus
Banner by Megz33
Chapter Seven: Help Me
My father is strapped to a conversion table, a helmet clamped onto his head, but you can still see his face, still see the pain and fear on it. It seems frozen that way. He looks dead. If I hadn't heard him call for Mum, I'd be sure of it just by looking. Parts of the cyber suit appeared to be welded to his chest and his legs are encased in it.
“Out of the way,” the Doctor barks sharply to my mum and he carefully checks my father over, scanning him with his sonic screwdriver. He looks at the connections securing my dad to the table. One hand has been torn free from the cables, the mobile just beneath it on the ground where he must have dropped it after he'd called home.
“Pete!” Mum says her voice breaking and she lets out heartrending sobs. There is no response from the table, no flicker of awareness, no trace movement.
“Get him out of there, Doctor!” I cry out. “Get his body off that table.”
“I can’t, Rose.”
“Why not?” I demand.
“Because if I take him off, it’ll kill him,” he says.
“He’s alive?” My mother looks up with hope in her eyes.
“Daddy?” I say, unbelieving. Just then he opens his eyes.
“Help me,” he says, his eyes not focusing, his voice unbelievably depleted and full of pain.
“We’re going to help you,” says the Doctor. “I promise you, Pete. We're going to help. Rose?” He has to repeat himself. “Rose?”
I stand up. “Yes, Doctor?”
“I can help him, but not here. We’ve got to get him into the TARDIS and we can’t take him off the table to do it. I have to go and bring it here. I’ll be back as fast as I can be. Stay with your mum!”
He startles me then by pulling me close and kissing me on the forehead. “It’ll be all right, Rose. I promise.” Then he is gone.
I stand there stunned, not knowing which part of the situation to be affected by most. Here is my father in close to the worst circumstances I can ever imagine and then there is the fact that the Doctor had just kissed me. My mind, seeking to hide from the horror of Dad's situation, focuses on the kiss. And in that moment I am again strongly reminded of the thought that this Doctor is a stranger to me.
I shake it off, turning back to my father. I walk around to the far side of the conversion table and pick up his hand. “I’m here, Daddy,” I say. “The Doctor’s gone to get help. You’re going to be fine.”
The explosion that rocks the building puts lie to my words.
“Pete!” Mum says her voice breaking and she lets out heartrending sobs. There is no response from the table, no flicker of awareness, no trace movement.
“Get him out of there, Doctor!” I cry out. “Get his body off that table.”
“I can’t, Rose.”
“Why not?” I demand.
“Because if I take him off, it’ll kill him,” he says.
“He’s alive?” My mother looks up with hope in her eyes.
“Daddy?” I say, unbelieving. Just then he opens his eyes.
“Help me,” he says, his eyes not focusing, his voice unbelievably depleted and full of pain.
“We’re going to help you,” says the Doctor. “I promise you, Pete. We're going to help. Rose?” He has to repeat himself. “Rose?”
I stand up. “Yes, Doctor?”
“I can help him, but not here. We’ve got to get him into the TARDIS and we can’t take him off the table to do it. I have to go and bring it here. I’ll be back as fast as I can be. Stay with your mum!”
He startles me then by pulling me close and kissing me on the forehead. “It’ll be all right, Rose. I promise.” Then he is gone.
I stand there stunned, not knowing which part of the situation to be affected by most. Here is my father in close to the worst circumstances I can ever imagine and then there is the fact that the Doctor had just kissed me. My mind, seeking to hide from the horror of Dad's situation, focuses on the kiss. And in that moment I am again strongly reminded of the thought that this Doctor is a stranger to me.
I shake it off, turning back to my father. I walk around to the far side of the conversion table and pick up his hand. “I’m here, Daddy,” I say. “The Doctor’s gone to get help. You’re going to be fine.”
The explosion that rocks the building puts lie to my words.
