Broken: A Time Lord's Story (Doctor Who Novel)

Chapter 27 Into the Long Night: part one

A/N, For those of you unfamiliar with the TARDIS, it's a sentient spaceship that travels in time and space. It is bonded to it's pilot and calls him Thief. Jack is immortal because of the ship and River was conceived on her. It's all timey wimey. For me, the ship considers Jack and River her children.

o0o

Thete ached in places that he didn't even know existed; even his toes hurt. The pain and exhaustion were worth it, though. He savoured the moment of his victory -- his first victory against the ... what did Nan say that he called them -- morons, he beat the morons. He'd stood on his feet and beat them six ways to Sunday. They didn‭’‬t have the chance ‬to kick,‭ ‬grab, or force him away from this place.‭ It didn't matter that the effort left him utterly exhausted. Cass followed Hank into the room, fussed at him again and injected his morphine into his IV line, following it with a dose of Phenergan. He was almost grateful -- almost. The drugs made it easier to breathe, eased the nausea that always followed his antibiotics, but they made it harder to focus on the strangers and his success. He closed his eyes for just a second and snorted.

They said that they knew him,‭ ‬but they lied. He didn‭’‬t know them.‭ ‬ Their faces,‭ ‬their smiles,‭ ‬even their smells meant nothing.‭ They'd lied about K'Nar too, although he was a little perplexed how they had found out about her. When they had the chance to prove that they knew her, they couldn't. They must have thought that he was incredibly stupid. Keeping order to his thoughts was proving even more difficult than usual. On top of the tumbling mess in his head, his eyelids felt as if someone had attached ten ton weights making them almost impossible to open. He fought against the darkness threatening to overshadow his brain;  he didn't want to go to sleep, not yet. When he managed to pry his eyes open again, it required several seconds before his blurry vision cleared enough to recognise that Hank, Nan and Sarah sat next to his bed.

"Hey," he murmured trying to sound stronger than he felt and maybe show how proud he felt.  Just a lttle. "I did it. I beat them."

"Yes, you did," Nan chuckled lightly as she caressed his hand gently . "They were impressed. What did you think about them?"

Thete snorted. "They're liars," he snorted. "Did they leave?"

"No, they're going to stay for a while and visit with us. You don't have to worry though--sleep now," Nan answered as she kissed his forehead.

"Is Annie coming?"

"No, not tonight, sweetie, she's staying home with Emily," Sarah answered gently.

"Oh." His answer was barely understandable as the drugs began to drag him under.

"Lady doctor needs to leave," he mumbled. "Didn't like..." He shifted restlessly fighting the growing tug of sleep. "Don't like her." Thete drifted. "What did Cass give me? Can't stay...." His words slurred as he gave in to the gentle strokes of Hank caressing his head. ‬ Cass roused him for a minute, ignored his grumbling as ‬Hank‭ ‬slid his arms under his shoulders, and helped him sit up long enough to swallow some orange liquid stuff.‭ ‬It stung his tongue as it went down. A noise in the room made him vaguely aware that someone with Cass was helping setting up some piece of equipment.‭ He wasn't sure that he liked that, and then they came back to bother him.

‬"Quit, Cass," he grumbled when she taped something under his arm.

"It's just a thermometer, Thete; go to sleep for a while." Cass straightened his covers.

He was sure that they were getting ready to do some horrible test on him. ‬ Hank was here now,‭ ‬and he would watch out for him. After all, he‭’‬d made that annoying woman leave.‭ Who was she to ask his name‭? Maybe, with any luck, they would all leave. Well, except the guy with the nose -- he kind of liked him. His wife was alright too; she had nice ginger hair. She was a ginge; yeah, they could stay. But as far as he was concerned, the lady doctor and the big guy could leave now and never come back.