Running Out

Chapter 16 - Recovery

Author's Notes:

Alright... I just couldn't leave you all there for a whole week. This chapter was just sitting there, waiting to be published anyway, so I thought... what the hell? It will definitely be another week before the next (and last) chapter, however, as I haven't even finished writing it yet, let alone editing it. 

Anyhow... without further ado...

_______________________________________

John sat in the TARDIS, his lethal and life saving machine, only now barely aware of where he was. The pounding ache from every joint and muscle… from every bone and organ… now consumed him. This was it. He was dying. And if the teleporter didn’t do it’s job… if his foggy calculations and instructions to Sarah had been off… he would soon find his soul hovering bodiless over his own lifeless corpse.

From outside the machine he thought he heard shouting, but even if the apocalypse was happening out there, he wouldn’t be able to lift even his eyelids to find out how to help Sarah Jane and his family. And Rose. 

Images of her lovely face and her golden hair shimmering against her shoulders in the sunlight floated before him. A deep longing filled him as he thought of her. He didn’t want to die now. Now that he knew there was a chance he could actually spend a lifetime with her, the idea of leaving that possibility behind pulled at him. He didn’t want to go.

Suddenly, the air around him began to compress and the telltale noise of the TARDIS filled his ears. This was it. Behind his closed lids he watched darting golden motes of energy pulse back and forth and moment by moment he felt his body being squeezed more tightly. The pressure seemed to be all around him and within him at the same time, making his lungs feel like they were closing in, being drained of what little oxygen they had stored. Panic welled in him with the complete absence of air and agony filled him as he felt his body… his skin, organs, bones and joints...contract. Every nerve he had fired a warning to his brain that overload was imminent. His tissues pulled in on themselves so tightly he was positive he was imploding. But just when he was sure he had reached the very end of his existence, the energy surrounding him began pulling away, leaving his body free to inhale blessed air and his organs to find their rightful place within him. Opening his eyes, he found the golden swirling lights hadn’t been only in his mind. They floated about in front and around him, circling him in a bath of soft healing energy. A sort of euphoria and lightness now enveloped him making him almost giddy. He was alive!

Taking stock of his body, he was desperately relieved to find his breath wasn’t laboured. His bones and joints felt a lot like he’d overdone a particularly grueling workout, but the overriding pain was gone. Reaching out a shaky hand, he touched inside of the TARDIS in wonder and heard himself whimper in relief. His creation… this blessed machine...had healed him. 

As the noise of his brilliant TARDIS finally died off and the revelation that he wasn’t merely visiting his body from the afterlife had worn off, he began to process voices from outside the box. A scream. A scream? Oh god… they were in the lab… Harry’s lab. It was all coming back… the situation he’d put his family and Sarah Jane in so that he might live. 

Standing quickly… too quickly, he realized as he had to grab at the wall to maintain his balance… he opened the door of the TARDIS and stepped out. The scene that greeted him was surreal. 

Jack was standing over Harry’s unconscious form and Sarah Jane and Donna were huddled over…

“ROSE!” he heard himself shout in disbelief. She was unconscious and… oh my God… was that blood?!