Quantum Leap/Doctor Who: The Silence of the Angel

Chapter 10

It was around four AM by the time the surgery was completely finished. As the medics were pushing the Doctor back to his recovery room, the Doctor suddenly slipped into a seizure. Martha immediately figured that it was all the tampering with his brain, but she knew that knowing the cause wouldn't help much in this case. Her first instinct was to help, but Haimund put a hand on her shoulder and said, "It's their hospital. They can handle this." Usually she would leave it with no second thoughts because, yes, there were other doctors just as qualified as her and definitely doctors much more qualified, but she didn't feel like any other doctors were qualified to take care of him, the Doctor. What if time lords weren't helped in the same way for seizing as humans? What if they discovered his hearts, or worse still, he went into cardiac arrest? She had helped him before with this problem (twice, actually), but these doctors wouldn't know what to do nor would they know why Martha would have to go to such lengths to get his "heart" working again.

Seeing the Doctor having a seizure was much more terrifying than seeing him unconscious or under cardiac arrest or both. His eyes were open but rolled back in a horrifying manner, such as a possessed person in a horror movie. It unnerved Martha so much that she felt compelled to look away, yet she looked on because of some unknown force which felt strangely like curiosity and interest at the same time. It disgusted her that she seemed to be interested, but, as a doctor and his friend, she couldn't help it. His mouth and eyes were open and his arms and legs flailed about like a fish out of water, only more sickening because he was not a fish nor did he need water, plus he was not supposed to be "malfunctioning" in this manner. The Doctor was allowed to be hurt and he was allowed to fall down and fall asleep, but he wasn't allowed to be seriously injured in Martha's book. He was too important- too strong to be hurt like this or suffer like this. It just didn't seem right to see him so vulnerable. It didn't seem right to see him in the position of most of her patients- helpless and hurt.

When the seizure died down and his vitals were checked, they brought him back to the recovery room without any more trouble. After Martha paid them off, they calmed down about his unusual anatomy and let him rest in peace.

"Doctor? Doctor, you alright?" When Al returned, the Doctor was awake again. Like before, he was holding his head and contorting his face in discomfort.

"They...." he began, then sighed in relief and closed his eyes. "They've finished. They're all done."

"You alright?" Al asked. He wondered what it would feel like to go through surgery fully conscious and shuddered at the thought of it. He couldn't imagine how much pain that would induce and felt a pang of sympathy for the poor guy.

"I'm fine. I'm totally fine. I am," he said in response, repeating and rephrasing what he said as though assuring himself. Of course, that meant he wasn't fine. He was obviously far from fine but there was nothing Al could do about it.

"I'm not sure that we could put you to sleep without waking Sam up, and he's probably still recovering from the surgery, so I'm sorry but we can't do anything. Could I get you some aspirin or something?"

"No! No, no no." He sat up and held his hands in front of him, waving them frantically. "And you've got to make sure they don't give any to Sam. I know they probably won't because he needs something much stronger for his pain, but you still have to tell him when he wakes up if he does keep his own consciousness. My subconscious will know without a doubt."

"Why not? What's wrong with aspirin?"

"It's toxic to my species. A single dose could kill me so you've got to make sure he doesn't take any, you understand?"

"Yeah, yeah, alright. I'll tell him when he wakes up." Al waved a hand dismissively at him and looked away for a second. "You think once he's off his meds you'll stop having to have one of you be conscious all the time? I mean, you two were awake at the same time before this all went down."