Safe

Awake and Alive

Rose's face was soaked. Her, already smeared make up, was running a little more than before.
The Doctor opened his eyes and turned his head to look at Rose.
"Rose? What's wrong?"
Rose's stopped crying and looked at the Doctor. He was trying to sit up but he stopped after his first grunt.
"Stay down." She told him.
"What's the matter?"
"It's... It's just that this is too much. I knew that the terrorist attacks were bad but... I don't know. I thought I would be okay seeing this but it's too much." Rose admitted.
"Rose, this wasn't my plan. I don't know why the TARDIS took us here. I don't know why Astrid ran off. I don't know why I even went into the tower to help. I didn't want this to happen. I'm sorry I got you into this." The Doctor looked away as he let a tear run down his cheek.
"I know this wasn't your intention." Rose said. She knew the Doctor felt bad, she got out of bed and sat on his bedside. She laid a finger under his chin and made him turn to look at her.
"It's not your fault."
The Doctor looked away.
"One question, Doctor. You told me you have orange blood. Shouldn't that scream alien?"
The Doctor's voice was hoarse, "I guess humans see red."
"So what happened?" Rose asked.
"The building collapsed. I broke most of my ribs and my radial head in my arm. The doctor said I may not have a lot of use in my left arm when it heals so I'll have to do therapy." He told his companion. He decided to surprise Rose with Astrid after they both got out.
"Are you okay? Emotionally, I mean."
"Yeah. A bit shaken up, but fine. You?"
"Now I am." Rose said.
NEXT DAY
"Just sign here" Chelsey said to Rose, instructing her where to sign her release papers. Rose signed her name and Chelsey took the paper from her.
"You're free to go!" She said, smiling. She handed Rose her clothes and Rose jumped out of the bed and ran to the bathroom to change.
She emerged from the bathroom with her hospital gown folded under her arm. Her hair was wavy and in a neat ponytail. The Doctor, who had just gotten done therapy for his arm, smiled despite his pain.
"We will need to put someone else in here. We need to make room for the people still coming in. Just letting you know." Chelsey said to the duo.
"That's fine." The Doctor said.
Instead of getting back into her hospital bed, Rose pulled a blue chair to the Doctor's bedside.
"So...." Rose's voice trailed off
"Why don't you go down to the cafeteria or somewhere to get some real food? I'll be fine." The Doctor said.
"I know you will be fine. I don't think I'm ready to see the aftermath of all this." Rose said, hanging her head.
"Don't be ashamed." The Doctor said, using his finger to lift her chin up.
THE NEXT DAY
The Doctor moaned in pain as the physical therapist for his arm gently moved his arm up and down. Rose sat by the Doctor squeezing his hand and speaking calming words.
The therapist let go of his arm.
"Can you make those movements?" She asked. She pulled out a pen and laid it on the clipboard on her lap.
It took him a few moments but he finally copied the up and down motion, but not without groans of pain.
The therapist wrote something down on her clipboard
"Okay you're done for the day. Keep practicing the 4 movements we just went over 3 times a day." She said.
When she got up to leave, Dr. Robert came in. He smiled at the therapist.
"Mr. Smith I just wanted to let you know that in about 2 hours you will have a roommate."
"Okay, thanks." The Doctor smiled. The doctor nodded then left, followed by the therapist.
2 hours later, not one, but two people were rolled into the room on separate beds. The doctor who followed close behind the nurses was a different doctor. This man was an older Japanese man. He was tall and skinny with black hair and a few gray strands. He wore his white lab coat over a light blue button down shirt with a red and blue tie.
The 2 men in the beds were bloody and one of them had only one leg.
"Excuse me," Rose called for the doctor
The doctor looked up.
"we were told there would only be one new person in here." Rose said.
One of the bloody men groaned.
"They just found a lot of people and we need to starts putting more than 2 in rooms. I'm sorry." The doctor had a thick New York accent.
Chelsey walked into the room before Rose had a chance to respond.
"Some pain mess, Mr. Smith?" She offered him some medicine and the Doctor gratefully took it. His smile faded.
"Cheer up, Mr. Smith. You only have to stay one more day. The doctor will check you out tomorrow afternoon and if everything checks out okay you can go." Chelsey smiled
The Doctor smiled. He swallowed the pain killers and put the tiny cup on the table.
"Oh, Rose. I have a little surprise for you when we get out of here."
"When we get out of here can you please take me home? I just... I want to see my mum." Rose said, lowering her head so the Doctor couldn't see her face.
"Do you want to stay there?" The Doctor asked.
"No I just want to see my mum and tell her I love her." Rose said.
LATER THAT NIGHT
It was 12 am when Rose was awoken by the sound of near by yelling and a heart monitor. A heart monitor that was currently flatlining. Rose jumped out of her chair, afraid that it was the Doctor. She looked at the monitor near his bed and sighed in relief when she saw that his hearts were beating a steady rhythm. It took a moment for her to realize that the person dying was the man next to them
There was more yelling. She could hear the defibrillator being charged and she could here the shock. Still flatline.
The doctors continued performing CPR and shocked him f couple more times before Rose heard a doctor say
"Time of death 12:03 am."
Rose felt someone wrap their hand around her arm. It was the Doctor.
"You okay?" He asked
Rose shook her head.
The Doctor reached and gently pulled Rose down so she was laying on the shoulder of his good arm. He stroked her hair as a couple tears fell.
He heard them rolling the body out of the room.
"It's going to be okay."
THE NEXT DAY
The Doctor groaned in pain as Dr. Robert used his fingers to press on the Doctor's side. The doctor moved his had to the other side and started feeling the area around where the bicep would lay. After a few seconds of excruciating pain, Dr. Robert stopped
"Well you seem to be healing quite quickly, this has been the speediest improvement I've ever seen." The doctor remarked.
The Doctor was waiting for the 'it's almost like you're alien' remark but it never came.
"Let me just check your arm." He said.
After feeling around the Doctor's arm he's scribbled something down on a clipboard.
"Well?" Rose said, impatiently.
"I think he's well enough to go home."
Rose silently cheered.
After signing the release forms, Chelsey entered the room with a wheel chair for the Doctor. Dr. Robert and Rose helped the Doctor stand up and sit in the chair. The Doctor hissed in pain. Once he was in the chair, Chelsey turned the wheelchair around and out.
The Doctor and Rose waved goodbye to the man, who was a firefighter, and they were out.
Outside the hospital, the city was not as busy as New York usually was. Now it was mostly locals and only a few tourists around. The twin towers had been visible only a few days ago from the hospital but now there was not sky.
"I guess this is it." Chelsey smiled.
"Yeah." Rose grinned, "maybe I'll visit New York again."
"I hope you do. New York isn't always like this." Chelsey said, referring to the emptiness and violence.
The Doctor nudged Rose's back, urging her to hurry up.
"We have to go." Rose said to Chelsey.
"Well... Goodbye. I hope you feel better Mr. Smith."
"Thank you. Nice meeting you." The Doctor said,holding out his hand for her to shake. She took his hand in hers and instead of shaking he kissed it.
"See ya. Thank you for everything" Rose said, hugging her and they left.

The Doctor flagged down a taxi. When it stopped Rose started trying to move the Doctor out of his wheelchair and into the cab. The Doctor's whimpers made Rose regrets grow. Once the Doctor was finally in, the cabdriver got out and helped Rose field the wheelchair and put it in the trunk.
Rose entered the cab and sat next to the Doctor.
"So where to?" The cab driver asked.
"The animal shelter, Charles street." The Doctor replied. Rose's head snapped up.
"Wait what?" Rose was shocked
"Astrid was in the debris when I woke up. They told me they were taking her to the animal shelter on Charles street. She's fine." The Doctor explained.
Rose squealed with excitement
"Why didn't you tell me??"
"I wanted it to be a surprise."
"Charles st is coming up." The driver told them.
When the driver pulled up to the animal shelter, Rose jumped right out.
It was only a matter of seconds before the wheelchair was beside the taxi. Rose helped the Doctor into the wheelchair. Once he was comfortable, Rose began to push him forward. She stopped by the drivers window.
"Can you wait here for us?"
"Sure."
Rose pushed the Doctor into the shelter and stopped by the front desk. You could hear the barking as soon as you walked in.
"Do you have a small scruffy brown dog? She has white paws. Responds to Astrid." Rose asked the young girl behind the desk.
"I don't know. Would you recognize her if you saw her?"
"I guess."
The lady walked out from behind the desk, quickly glancing at the Doctor.
She took them back to where the dogs were. At the sight of people, the dogs barks got louder. Some cages had more than 2 dogs, some only held one. Rose slowly pushed the wheelchair down the aisle, looking at the dogs.
Rose's eyes lit up when she saw Astrid lying in a bed in the second to last cage.
"Astrid!" She exclaimed. The small dog picked her head up when she heard her name. The lady working at the shelter unlocked the cage and Astrid bolted out and jumped into Rose's arms.
"Astrid!" She exclaimed again. The puppy started licking her face and tipping happily.
Rose put Astrid in the Doctor's lap. They signed Astrid out and left.

The taxi dropped them off about a block away from the TARDIS.
"No charge." The driver told them, smiling at them.
"Thank you." Rose said. The driver tipped his hat and pulled away from the curb.
When they reached the TARDIS, Rose unlocked the door and she had to lift the wheel chair up and over the step. The TARDIS hummed with joy at their return. The Doctor grunted in pain. Astrid was laying on his lap and she bounced when the wheelchair hit the ground.
"Sorry, Doctor. Where do you want to go?"
"Just take me to the console and help me up, please."
Rose wheeled him over to the console. Astrid jumped off the Doctor's lap when his legs slanted as he stood up. She trotted away to her water bowl near the door.
The Doctor stood up and used the console for support.
"Stand back, Rose." He told her.
Rose obeyed and took a step back. Her jaw dropped when she saw the golden light coming from under his collar.
"No please don't change!" Rose pleaded.
The Doctor didn't obey. The energy absorbed the Doctor and then seconds later, it was gone. The cast disappeared drom his arm and he wasn't using the TARDIS console for support. And he still looked the same.
"What happened?" Rose asked him.
"Not a full fledge regeneration. I can heal myself without regenerating and still look the same. I like this face." The Doctor explained
"So... You're better? No broken ribs, no broken arm?"
"No injuries." The Doctor confirmed, smiling.
Rose grinned. She suddenly grabbed the Doctor and pulled him into a huge hug. The Doctor wrapped her arms around her and picked her up off the ground.
After a minute of embracing, the Doctor finally let her go.
"Are you okay? I know that it was a lot."
"I just... I don't know. I thought I could handle it but it was a lot. I knew that America was upset and that these attacks scarred the country but I never thought that it was this bad."
"I know." The Doctor said. He pulled her into a hug and they stood there for a few minutes before Rose pulled away.
"Let's go. Let's just get out of here." Rose said, wiping a tear away.
"Home?"
"Home."
The Doctor pulled a lever and the TARDIS dematerialized.
A/N: Here's to the victims who lost their lives during the terrorist attacks and to their families. Never forget <3

Keep an eye out for my next story Their Darkest Hour!