It had been almost three months since you saw him last. There was no telling what his captors were doing to him- if they could capture The Doctor, who knew the extent of the horrors they were capable of.
You traveled everywhere trying to save him. The Doctor made a good decision the day he taught you how to fly the TARDIS. Every lead you found, you followed, but to no avail. You were tired, and you had almost given up hope.
You stood in the console room, staring blankly at the controls. You had used each and every one, and none of them lead you to him. Where do you go next? You lifted your hand to touch one of the controls, when your body was thrown backward as the TARDIS took off. This couldn’t be good. You got to your feet as quick as you could and fiddled with the controls, but they didn’t change anything. Finally, you landed, and you walked cautiously to the door.
You cracked it open just enough so one eye could peek through the crack to see what was outside. It was almost like some sort of underground power facility, with chords everywhere and sparks firing every second. It didn’t seem as though there was anyone directly outside, so you left the TARDIS and continued down a long corridor, scanning the bundles of chords with the sonic screwdriver The Doctor handed you just before he was taken from you.
There was a long ladder at the end of the corridor that looked as if it lead outside. You climbed up and sure enough, you were practically blinded by the sun. You held your arm above your head to see a massive facility of some kind. The sun scorched your back as you ran toward the door and sonicked it before you reached it so you could be sure it would open.
You bounded inside, where it was not much cooler than it had been outside, but much darker. You looked around, it was almost as if there were people, or something, here not very long ago, but they just picked up and left suddenly. Why had the TARDIS brought you here? You pressed on through deafening silence down another corridor, and another, and another, when there was a loud electrical noise from above you. The power source, perhaps? You needed to find a way up. You ran down another dark corridor to find a set of stairs which you bounded up. You were met with two large metal doors with some sort of identification kiosk which you happened to be standing directly in front of.
SCANNING. The automated voice said as a webbed beam scanned you from head to toe.
DENIED. You jumped to the side as another, slightly more deadly looking beam shot out of the kiosk and left a hole in the opposite wall. You waved the sonic screwdriver over the kiosk until it shorted out and the doors opened.
You took a deep breath before entering.
You stepped into a large, dark room full of more chords and wires, and in the center, the figure of a human was hooked up to each and every one of them.
No.
”_____________.” He sighed your name weakly. His head hung by his bare chest, his ankles and wrists in chains, and probes stuck all over his body. Wherever there weren’t probes, there were large wounds, some still fresh and bleeding.
“Doctor!” You shouted as you ran to him, “I’ve- I never stopped trying to find you.” Your eyes filled up as you got a closer look at his condition.
“It’s..not your fault.” He said, his voice was husky and dry, “you couldn’t have. The whole planet is under quarantine. No one can get in, no one can get out. Hidden from the rest of the universe. Even the TARDIS wouldn’t have recognized it.”
“But, why did they take you?” You asked, trying to figure out a way to disconnect him.
“They’re under quarantine because some of their people stole something from one of the highest orders in the galaxy. They needed someone with high tolerance and enough experience to interrogate them.”
“And you, have experience..” You said as more of a realization than a question, thinking back to what he had told you about his experiences in the Time War. “How did I get here?” You asked, changing the subject.
“I built a homing mechanism out of spare parts I collected over time. Like a big magnet. I pulled you here. But we have to go, now. They won’t be gone long.”
“Where did they go?”
“Some sort of planet wide meeting regarding the quarantine.” The Doctor said breathlessly
“They have those?”
“Since I suggested they do, they do.”
“You clever boy.” You smiled at him, even when he was being tortured and made to torture, he still had that chip on his shoulder.
“The sonic should be able to disable these connections, just use that.” The Doctor said as you quickly produced the sonic from your pocket and waved it over him. The probes fell off one by one as you passed them. When the chains around his wrists gave way he fell forward onto you. You supported him with one arm and used the others to set his ankles free. He could barely breathe, let alone walk.
“I’ve got you.” You whispered as you turned to prop him up on your shoulders.
“How far away is the TARDIS?” The Doctor asked, his head falling loosely against yours.
“It’s outside, um, underground.” You said cautiously. You had no idea how you would ever get there with him like this.
Just as you stepped to exit the room, a loud siren went off, and about a dozen creatures that looked exactly like the ones you saw The Doctor with the day he was taken materialized in the room.
“Perfect.” The Doctor sighed, “My sonic screwdriver, please.” You handed it to him and he weakly lifted his arm into the air. The next thing you knew, you were standing in front of the TARDIS in the dark corridor you started in.
“How did you…?” You asked incredulously.
“The whole room is a teleport bay, so they can get to me at any time to make sure I’m not escaping. The sonic is always locked on to the signal of the TARDIS, so I just reversed the teleport and here we…” His voice trailed off as he practically fainted on you. You opened the door and dragged him inside. You set him on the floor next to the console before running over and flipping a few switches.
“Let me get us somewhere safe, and then we can fix you up.” You said with a weak smile, knowing that he was hurting.
“That’s my girl.” The Doctor said faintly as his head rolled to the other side.
Once you managed to get the TARDIS near Earth, you set it on autopilot and dragged The Doctor into his room and helped him onto the bed.
“What do you need?” You began, “Water? I’m going to need some hydrogen peroxide for those wounds. And some gauze. I’ll just run to the medical wing and get a few things and I’ll be right back.” You said as you hurried out of the room.
You reappeared moments later with a large bag full of supplies. You gave him a cup that you filled with water and let him drink as you set the bag down and began unpacking it onto the table next to The Doctor’s bed.
“Wait.” The Doctor said as he finished the water, “Just, come here.”
You didn’t understand what he meant, “But you’re hurting..”
“I’m fine,” He said shaking his head, his voice was still raspy, “please.” He extended his arm over the other side of the bed, signaling you to lie down next to him.
You walked around the end of the bed and carefully climbed on next to him. He put his other arm around you and held you close.
“Do you want to talk about it?” You asked.
“Maybe someday. Thank you, for finding me.” He said, his voice catching in his throat.
“You brought me to you.” You said against his chest.
“I would have been out of luck if there hadn’t been anyone in the TARDIS. But you were still looking for me.”
“Of course I was, what else was I going to do?”
“You could have forgotten about me.”
“I could never forget about you.” You said, your eyes filling up, “We need to get those wounds packed-” You tilted your head up to him in order to get to work with the gauze, when he gently pressed his lips to yours.
“I’m sorry,” He said when he finally pulled away, “I just-“
“I missed you so much.” You finished his sentence with your own.
“So much.” He confirmed with a stronger smile as you pulled him in and kissed him again.
“What was that precious item those people stole?” You asked as you broke the kiss, surely The Doctor wouldn’t just leave without solving the mystery, no matter how badly he was being treated.
“Did I not say? Oh! Don’t know what it does, but it’s in my pocket. We’ve got a delivery to make in the morning.” He said, smiling again.
“Why can’t we go now?” You asked, “If it is that important…”
“I’m taking the night off!” He exclaimed as he pulled you onto him. He caught you off guard and you pressed his hands on his chest to steady yourself. “Oi! Easy on the gaping wounds!”
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” You squeaked, moving your hands to the pillow on either side of his head. “If you had just let me dress them-“
“Oh they’ll be fine.” He said, pulling you down to kiss you again, “You’d need a lot more hydrogen peroxide than that anyway.”
“Why?”
“They’re bigger on the inside.” He smirked up at you.
“Oh shut up.” You said, rolling your eyes.
“Make me.” He challenged.
“I just might.” You said as you leaned down to press your lips against his, but he shifted and tossed you on your back and climbed on top of you while you giggled.
