My Rival, My Doctor

Chapter 36

Pins and needles shot up my leg. Not now, please God, not now. I continued running up the stairs, ignoring the slight limp. "Celeste?" the Doctor asked from behind me, "Why are you limping?"

"Side effect," I muttered.

Martha was curious. "Of?"

"Chen seven," I explained hastily, "I technically don't have it, but for the month, paresthesia won't stop happening." They paused. "My leg fell asleep! Jeez, you call yourself a doctor."

"Wait a minute, you got Chen seven?" the Doctor asked incredulously, "How?"

I took a deep breath. "Ok, so it started off with a wrong button into a room for a hospital with a girl. Then sixteen years later, I die. Twenty years later, a boy comes for the girl, promising that if she helps get the younger girl back, the older girl could come with them. So, the younger girl with the older girl end up in the same timestream, the older girl stays, and I somehow end up alive!" I managed to say in one breath. That was harder than I thought, since I couldn't mention the Ponds.

The Doctor looked at me then swept me off of my feet, bridal style. "Woah, woah, woah, what are you doing?" I asked.

"Getting you out of here," he answered and started running up the stairs with Martha right behind us.

"Didn't agree to this!"

The Doctor carried me to a floor that Judoon already checked. Cautiously, he set me to my feet where feeling was starting to come back. "They've done this floor. Come on. The Judoon are logical and just a little bit thick," I repeated, "They won't go back to check a floor they've checked already. If we're lucky. Which we're normally not."

Swales was giving oxygen to a patient. Looking around, I noticed the mass of people, oxygen deprived. Martha asked, "How much oxygen is there?''

"Not enough for all these people," she answered gravely, "We're going to run out." The Doctor and I paced a bit before turning to Martha. I checked, "How are you feeling? Are you all right?"

Martha smiled breathlessly. "I'm running on adrenaline."

"Welcome to our world." The Doctor glanced at me hopefully.

"What about the Judoon?"

"Nah, great big lung reserves," I dismissed, "It won't slow them down."

"Where's Mr Stoker's office?"

"It's this way," Martha gestured to a hallway. My heartbeats were racing, but I was doing my best to hide it.

Mr. Stoker's office was cramped, but surprising morbid. Well, every room's morbid when you have a drained body in the middle. "She's gone. She was here."

The Doctor and I observed the pale body. He sighed, "Drained him dry. Every last drop."

"I was right. She's a plasmavore," I concluded.

"What's she doing on Earth?"

"Hiding. On the run," he trailed off.

"Like Ronald Biggs in Rio de Janeiro," I suggested.

"Yes!" The Doctor agreed, "What's she doing now? She's still not safe. The Judoon could execute us all. Come on."

Martha and I waited over Mr. Stoker. "Wait a minute." We each took an eyelid and closed it in respect.

The Doctor paced in the hall, muttering, "Think, think, think. If I was a plasmavore surrounded by police, what would I do?"

MRI was nearby and my face lit up in discovery. He noticed and sighed, "Ah. She's as clever as you." The Doctor took a side glance. "Almost." I cracked a smile.