Aspirin

"Specialists" and Secrets

  @The_First_Fandom got the last chapter"s question right, so this chapter is dedicated to her. Last chapter's trivia question was What did the Doctor do with the TARDIS's manual and why? She said that he threw it into a supernova, and that is correct. The reasoning for this action was that he disagreed with it.

Chapter 5

1 Day, 11 Hours, 48 minutes, and 27 Seconds Ago in a Parallel Universe . . .

The hours had passed in a blur for Jackie. She remembered complete chaos. The paramedics had arrived and had asked Pete what happened. Obviously Jackie hadn't been in the right condition to answer their questions, and Tony had had no idea what had happened. In fact, he still didn't. She had left him at home with the staff. She didn't want to take his birthday party away from him and make him upset. Jackie didn't want to deal with a whining child when she could barely contain her fear for Rose. Jackie had gone with Rose in the ambulance, and Pete had followed behind in his own car. When they had arrived at the hospital, Jackie was forced to leave her daughter's side, and she had to wait in the reception area. She was still in a bit of shock, so she didn't protest. Everyone was kept out of the room with Rose except the doctors. Occasionally, one of the doctors would come out with a clipboard and ask Jackie and Pete questions.

“Did Rose have any heart problems prior to now?”

“No.”

“Has Rose been anywhere that could have given her a disease?”

Jackie took awhile to answer that one. Rose had been to completely different planets in the past. However, that was a long time ago. Surely that wouldn't affect her now. “Not that I can think of.”

“Is Rose allergic to any medications?”

“No.”

“Has Rose been taking any type of drug or medications lately?”

“Well,she took an aspirin last night, but other than that, as far as I know, she hasn't been taking anything else.”

The doctor's eyes rose at that answer. “Why was she taking the Aspirin? Was she showing any symptoms of an illness, or was she in some type of pain?”

“She just had a headache,” said Jackie. “She hasn't been sleeping much lately, and I think she's been working more than she ought to. Do you think that maybe her body shut down from stress or overworking?”

The doctor's shoulders slumped. It obviously wasn't the answer he had been hoping for, and he didn't seem to think that Jackie's theory was correct. “It is possible,” he said. “Maybe even likely in most cases.”

“Rose never was most cases,” Jackie sighed.

The doctor nodded. “It's true. Whatever is wrong with Rose isn't due to stress or anything like that. I won't go too far into details because I've been told not to relay this information to anyone, but there is something not altogether right about Rose. And I'm not just saying this because she's in a coma-like stasis. We just can't figure it out.”

“I never could figure her out either,” Jackie laughed through a sob.

The doctor smiled. “On the bright side, I have been informed that some specialists have somehow heard about your daughter's situation, and they will be arriving shortly. While, I don't know who these specialists are, I've been told that they are the best hoe we have for saving Rose.” The doctor patted Jackie's shoulder and stood up. “Don't worry, Jackie. Rose will be fine.” Then, he walked back to the room where Rose was.