The Girl of Colours (Book TWO)

Wheels

The Doctor:

They rushed her right to hospital, an ambulance having already been waiting, and Clara and I were riding with her, so pale and soaked to the skin as they wrapped her hand in a bandage, cut so deep that she'd severed a few tendons. But they would heal, just like her hair would grow back in time. Not so sure about the rest of her.

"Who here is family?" We were asked as we followed her into the A&E, and I went to say that I was, that I was her grandfather, but I couldn't. "We need someone to sign the forms for the surgery."

Clara gabbled for a moment, unsure what she was supposed to say. "I'm, I'm marrying her, erm, her, um, fiancée. I can sign, right?"

They nodded satisfied with that, and she signed the papers. "Until her parents get here yes. She's lucky, looks like the damage is fixed to her back and legs, but we have to see how surgery goes."

Sky was rushed off, and Clara went to follow, but I held her back, knowing that we couldn't go with her into the OR. "Clara, you can't go any further in, what we need to do now, is call Callie and Luke, tell them what happened."

"It's my fault." She muttered, looking so lost. "She, she begged me, she begged me not to let go. Her hands were in mine, and I tried, I, I tried to hold on, but..." Opening her palm, she showed me the ring that had slipped off her hand as she fell. 

"No." I told her firmly, hugging her tight. "It wasn't your fault, you're a foot shorter than her, and it was soaking wet, Clara. It was our fault, mine and her families. We should have done more, you're the one who got her to come away, but the rain made her slip. It was really not your fault. Stay here, you're her medical proxy now, you have to make the decisions for her until she wakes up. I need to call her parents."

I left her in the waiting room, still coated in water, wearing my purple tweed jacket as I went outside the hospital, cowering in the tiny smoking shelter to call my daughter, coughing at the foul stench. "Dad? Dad, did you find her, please, please tell me you found her."

Oh... "Yes, we, Clara and I, we, we found her."

"Where is she? I'll get Lyrica, Noah and Luke, where is she?"

"We're at the hospital. She, uh, she fell."

There was silence on the other end of the line, and for a moment I thought that she'd hung up on me, until I realised she was silently sobbing, probably trying not to wake Lyric. "Oh, oh, God, s, she's not..."

Thank god, no. "She's in surgery, they think that she's going to make it. Sky didn't jump, she was trying to get down, but it was too wet, and part of the roof, it, well, it just came away, and we didn't get her in time. Callie, I'm sorry, I, I should have done more, called you sooner, called in someone you never want to see again, but I didn't."

"No, dad, it's not your fault. Just... We'll get to the hospital as soon as possible, make sure that Clara's OK too, this would be killing her. Love you."

"I love you too, Calliope." I hung up and dialled another person, someone I did try and avoid a lot, but he was someone who could help Sky a lot. 

He unfortunately also sounded like he was in a bar as he picked up. "Captain Jack Harkness."

Yes, I knew who you were, idiot. "Torchwood 5."

"Doesn't exist, we're still looking for Torchwood 4. Who is this?"

"St Jude's Church, 24 Collingham Road, London, meet me there. Lock onto the date through your stupid space hopper."

Then I hung up, and started back towards the church. It was easy to get inside, given that psychic paper made people believe everything, and once I'd cleared all the police out, who'd taped it all off, and erased all the cameras of the press hanging about, I saw that it was for sale, that the building was possibly going to be demolished if no one bought it. If it was Sky's sanctuary, we should make it that again.