Gift for puppetdumbly

To: puppetdumbly
From: wnnb_darklord

Title: Close Encounters of the Team TARDIS Kind
Characters: Rory, Doctor (Ten), Donna
Rating: PG
Warnings: slightly AU
Summary: It was neither dark nor stormy when Rory first ran into the Doctor. Well, when the Doctor ran into him.
Notes: It took me forever to write this. And if I hadn't gotten sick at the worst possible moment, it probably would have been even longer, because it is an absolutely brilliant prompt. Anyway, hope it pleases! Also, thanks to my beta!
Word Count: 4,116



This, Rory thought, was not his best idea ever. He swallowed a curse as he tripped over a tree root again. Pre-dawn light, while a great deal better for visibility than pitch-black darkness, was not very useful for avoiding tree roots. Especially when everything was coloured that washed-out grey so typical of those early morning hours before the sun had quite come out. The wisps of fog curling about his feet weren't helping any either.

The flashlight he'd taken along on a whim was now worse than useless. Except maybe as something to throw. Not that there was anything to throw it at other than vegetation. The little forest at the edge of Leadworth hardly deserved the name. Rory doubted there was anything more threatening than a squirrel in it. At least, there hadn't been.

Rory winced as he stepped on a twig. So much for stealth. Then he wondered why stealth was even important. Not like there was anything to watch out for in here. Despite what the hairs on the back of his neck were trying to tell him. And hadn't the patients all been rambling about some sort of monster?

Rory shook off his fanciful musings. It sounded like something Amy would have said before she'd... He should probably just pack it in and call this whole venture a failure. Besides, he had to get to work in an hour anyway. If he left now, he'd have just enough time to grab a bite to eat before his shift.

Still, the idea didn't sit well with him. Something was responsible for the sudden increase of mental patients at the hospital. Normal, young, previously healthy people didn't suddenly get mental illnesses - at least not in such a short time in such a small town. The doctors had no idea what was going on. Neither did Rory to tell the truth; he'd just noticed odd similarities with most of the patients' ramblings - from those that were coherent enough to speak, at least.

Most of them were found right at the edge of this little woods, terrified expressions on their faces and most unable to string two coherent words together. Those that could seemed to live in mortal fear of the trees and, from what Rory could gather, something lurking in them. The other doctors had dismissed the ramblings as paranoid delusions. Normally, Rory would agree with them, but so many of them having the same story? Was not normal, even if they were genuinely ill for unexplained reasons. He'd tried to bring this up with his superiors, but the doctor which usually dealt with him had little patience for him in the best of times. And a ward filled with patients suffering from an unknown cause was not even remotely the best of times.

So Rory had ventured into the woods, determined to find the reason so many people had suddenly gone round the bend. He hadn't been crazy enough to venture here at night. He wasn't entirely sure before dawn was any better, but at least he'd be missed sooner if anything happened to him.

In any case, whatever was happening wasn't making itself known, even after he'd been wondering around for a couple of hours. Rory sighed. So much for that idea. He turned to head back home.

The scream that rent the air made him whip around. Cracking branches and a strange dull roar sounded all around him. Rory paid the sudden and very disturbing noises around him heed. Someone was in trouble. And he would have been well on his way to helping them had something not barreled into him at a high speed.

Rory gasped, suddenly breathless. The person lying on him twitched and groaned. Suddenly, he pulled himself upright and Rory's first impression was of wild hair, very wide eyes and brown. Lots of brown. Lots of brown quite a bit closer than he was comfortable with.

"Terribly sorry about that! Didn't notice you there."

It was a good thing the sun wasn't shining yet, since Rory had a feeling he'd have been blinded by the smile aimed his way otherwise. Rory was about to stutter out something in response when he found himself hauled to his feet in a remarkably strong grip. The strange man was now shaking his hand.

"Hello! I'm the Doctor! Sorry. Again. Have to dash!"

Just as suddenly as he'd appeared, the man - the Doctor apparently - disappeared. Rory stared after him, a bit dumbfounded. Just as he remembered the scream and a sense of urgency filled him again, the Doctor's head popped out from behind a tree. Rory jumped.

"What's your name?"

Now completely confused, Rory answered.

"Right. Rory Williams, try not to hang around in here anymore. Won't be very good for your health until I can fix this."

And just like that he was gone again.

There was another scream, though it sounded far more frustrated now. Crashes sounded nearby, scuffling following it.

"What took you so bloody long?!"

It was a woman's voice.

"Not now, Donna!" The Doctor's voice rang out.

Suddenly something thundered past Rory. He jumped away and stumbled backwards onto a pile of dead branches. The whatever-it-was paid no attention to him, but bounded away. He barely had enough time to wonder what the hell had just happened before the Doctor and a red-headed woman (Donna?) ran past him after the thing. The sounds of the chase faded away.

Rory didn't know how long he lay there, mouth open. When he picked himself, just knowing there would be bruises, he noticed the golden light creeping through the trees. He bit back a curse and checked his watch. Just great - he was going to be late for his shift.

He glanced back to where the Doctor and Donna had disappeared. He hesitated. He sighed and walked away at a fast pace. If he hurried, he might get to keep his job.

***

This was just not his day, Rory grumbled to himself. After he'd barely made it to work before anybody noticed he was late, he'd been on his feet the whole time. The small breaks he'd managed to catch between patients didn't do much for the fact that he just wanted to curl up somewhere and forget the rest of the world existed for a good few hours of sleep. The fact that he had a bruise on his hip and another on his back the size of an apple didn't help his mood much.

At least this was his last patient before his lunch break. Normally the doctors would handle this sort of thing, but with all the extra patients, they were a bit swamped.

As he approached the patient's bed, he glanced at the chart Dr. Hallis had pushed at him before rushing off to deal with the panic attack one of the patients was having. If they didn't figure out what was wrong with them soon, the patients would have to be transferred to another hospital. The Royal Leadworth hospital just wasn't equipped to deal with them. Rory hoped it wouldn't have to come to that.

"Well, Ms. Noble, it looks like everything's-"

It was then that he noticed who his patient actually was. And her visitor.

Rory gaped for a moment.

"Rory!" The Doctor seemed oddly delighted to see him, "Look Donna! It's Rory!"

The redheaded woman from the woods this morning - his patient - was sitting up in bed with a bit of gauze taped to her head. She looked a little pale, but her gaze was alert. She rolled her eyes at the Doctor's enthusiasm.

"Yeah, I can see that, you great lump. Says so on his name tag, don't it?"

The Doctor seemed greatly offended by this, though Rory didn't fail to notice the mischevious gleam in his eyes.

"No! It's Rory! Rory-from-the-woods-Rory!"

Rory opened his mouth to ask the Doctor if he could stop saying his name quite so much when Donna steamrollered over him.

"You mean the reason you weren't quick enough to stop that thing from almost clobbering me?"

"Yes - wait, no! That happened after!"

"Exactly! So stop hovering about like this bitty knock on the head was all your fault, Spaceman!"

The Doctor opened his mouth to retort and stopped. He let out a huff of breath. All wounded dignity, he turned to Rory.

"I walked right into that one, didn't I?"

"You did a bit, yeah," Rory agreed helplessly, once again completely befuddled at what was happening.

"So what's the verdict, Nurse boy?" Donna asked with a smile, "Am I free to go or will this streak of nothing have to go around panicking like a mother hen some more?"

Rory was about to take umbrage with 'nurse boy'. He got enough flack about that whenever he told people what he did for a living, didn't need it from his patients as well.

"Oi! I do not mother hen!"

Donna raised an eyebrow, which perfectly conveyed her feelings that of course he did. The Doctor spluttered.

"Do not! And you were knocked unconscious! What was I supposed to do after it knocked you out- take you bungee jumping?"

"Doctor -" Rory tried to interject. The Doctor didn't listen to him, caught up in his rant.

"For all I know you could have been hemorrhaging internally-"

"Doctor, she's-"

Donna was listening to the Doctor, expression somewhere between fond, amused and annoyed. Neither of them were paying attention to him. Despite the unfortunate familiarity with the situation, Rory felt a trickle of annoyance seep through. He was tired, bruised and overworked with the load of patients in the hospital. People ignoring him while he was just trying to do his job was not what he needed today.

"And-" the Doctor hadn't let up.

"She's FINE!"

Both of them whipped their heads around to stare at him. Their expressions were surprised, like they'd almost forgotten he was standing right beside them. His courage had faltered a bit when he'd first got their attention, but their dismissal of him spurred him on.

"Fine! Absolutely," his anger petered out, "fine." He paused. "Erm, we'd usually keep you in for observation, but with the hospital being so swamped-"

The Doctor and Donna glanced at each other knowingly. Donna turned to Rory.

"Why is it swamped?" Donna suddenly asked. "Town as small as this, you'd think you'd be bored out of your mind." Her tone clearly implied that she was, though her eyes were fixed on Rory, intent on his answer.

The Doctor's full attention was suddenly on him. Rory swallowed and wondered why he'd ever wanted it in the first place. There was something unnerving about those dark eyes being solely fixated on him. A little exciting, but mostly unnerving.

"T-the mental patients, mostly. The doctor's think it's a sudden onset of acute panic disorders."

"But you don't," the Doctor observed, eyes still fixed on Rory's face. It wasn't a question.

"Well, it's far too sudden, isn't it? And I've never heard of it manifesting so abruptly with no known cause or in so many separate cases. And - and - hang on! You were there! In the woods! And don't think I didn't see you just now! You know something!"

With the half-wild theories forming in his head, Rory had already been half-way to convincing himself the patients were somehow the Doctor's fault. But the Doctor's brilliant smile in answer to his accusations and demands threw him for a loop.

"Oh, I know a lot of things. But what makes you think that just because I was out in the woods this morning means that I have anything to do with all the patients?"

"It's why I was out there in the woods, actually. The patients kept mentioning something...lurking...in there."

"So you went out alone to find it?" Donna asked, eyebrow raised.

"Erm...yeah," it did sound daft now.

"Oh, don't get all pouty, Nurse boy, I'm impressed. Streak of nothing like you-"

"Sorry - is she always like this?" Rory interrupted Donna from making more back-handed compliments, a little fed up by the nickname.

From the Doctor's huge smile, he looked like he was about to answer in the affirmative. Donna's glare stopped him, however.

"Oi! She is very much here and doesn't like to be talked about like she's not there."

"Also has a tendency to talk about herself in the third person," the Doctor deadpanned.

Rory hid a smile at their antics when Donna took a playful swipe at the Doctor's head. He nimbly stepped out of the way, laughing.

"Williams!"

Rory winced. Dr. Hallis was not fond of the nurses taking time out to chat to the patients at the best of days, never mind when they were so busy. The fact that most of the doctors in the hospital didn't like him much didn't help any.

"Yes, Dr. Hallis?" Rory turned around to face him. He stumbled and would have fallen if the Doctor hadn't steadied him.

He muttered a low thanks, glancing at the Doctor's face. He was smiling faintly, but his eyes were cold as he stared at Dr. Hallis.

"If you're quite done here, discharge the patient and haul yourself down to the mental ward. We've got a new treatment we'd like to try."

"Yes, doctor," Rory said. But Dr. Hallis had already left.

"So I'm free to go?" Donna broke the strained silence.

"Wha- oh. Yup," Rory mustered a smile for her. "Just some paperwork to fill out at the front desk."

"Right," she glanced sideways at the Doctor, who was almost vibrating with pent up energy. She smiled. "Oh, go on then! But come get me before you go running off anywhere!"

The Doctor gave her a wounded look.

"I'd never-"

"Yesterday. Twice."

"But-"

"Oi! Spaceman! Don't go arguing with me. I'm wearing a dress that's one step away from me mooning them, so you wouldn't like my temper if I had to get up to give you a slap!"

It was amazing how quickly the Doctor backed down. Rory hid a smile at the memory of another bossy redhead. Then he hid a wince. He didn't much like thinking about Amy. Not after she'd up and left the way she had.

He was jolted out of his thoughts by the Doctor putting an arm around his shoulders.

"So, this mental ward, where would that be?"

"I don't thi-"

"Nonsense!" The Doctor interrupted, "I've got a bit of experience in these matters. Just lead the way!"

The Doctor practically dragged him away.

"Don't break him, Time boy!" Donna called after them.

***

On the way to the ward, Rory wondered at how strange his life had gotten. The Doctor was chatting his ears off, sometimes speaking so quickly Rory couldn't understand half of what he was saying. All he managed to get was Altraxis Prime, psychic dogs, something to do with camouflage and defense mechanisms. And the 69th century, Rifts and for some reason ice skating.

By the time they'd gotten to the ward, Rory had almost forgotten about his suspicions. But when his overworked and overtired brain caught up with what the Doctor was actually saying, he halted at the foot of one of the patients' beds. The Doctor had let him go and was peering down at the older woman strapped to the bed.

"Hold on - aliens? You're saying an alien did this?" he wondered if the Doctor was the one who should be here with the rest of the patients. But well, there were all those freaky things happening in London over the past few years. Rory only wondered if it were aliens, what the hell were they doing in Leadworth?

"Well, an alien," the Doctor drawled absentmindedly, examining Mrs. Flagert. She was whimpering quietly as they stood there and Rory's heart clenched in sympathy. He was just about to ask the Doctor what he was doing when the Doctor straightened up with a grin.

"Brilliant! Molto bene!"

"Brilliant? How is this in any way brilliant? Mrs. Flagert is ill and you're going on about aliens and saying it's brilliant? Unless you can fix her or something then I'm going to have to ask you to leave! You shouldn't even be here and-"

"Rory," the Doctor was suddenly right in front of him, clutching his shoulders lightly, "Brilliant, wonderful Rory. Calm down and listen to me."

Rory was just now aware he had been near to shouting at the Doctor, his frustration over this whole situation spilling over. He took a deep breath and tried not to glare too hard at the Doctor. It was rather hard to keep up any sort of glare while the Doctor was staring at him with those huge, earnest brown eyes.

"Now- this is brilliant because I can fix it."

It took a moment to register.

"You can? How - no, when? How long will it take?"

"Yup, easily, right now and only a moment," the Doctor grinned at him cheekily. Rory could only manage a twitch of a smile in return. Mostly, his mouth was open in wonder and a sense of relief.

"What are you waiting for then?"

It didn't really occur to him not to trust this strange man. Later, Rory will wonder at the impulse. Right now, however, he was too caught up in the possibility of being able to help all of these people.

The Doctor grinned widely at him and then abruptly sobered.

"Right, this might look a little strange, but I'm going to help her, I swear. Rory-" the intensity in his voice snapped Rory's full attention to him, "Don't let anyone disturb me or this could go really badly."

Before Rory could articulate any sort of opinion on that sentence, the Doctor had leaned over Mrs. Flagert and had gently taken her face between his hands. Rory started forward, going to warn him about how the patients really didn't like to be touched when he noticed the absolute stillness in both their forms.

The Doctor had a look of calm concentration on his face as his fingertips lightly touched Mrs. Flagert's temples. Mrs. Flagert looked calm and serene for the first time since she'd been admitted. The Doctor's brow twitched, furrowed and then his whole face smoothed out.

"There we go, shhh, calmly, everything's fine," the Doctor opened his eyes with a delighted smile to look at Mrs. Flagert. Her eyes fluttered and then focused on the Doctor. Whatever Rory's reservations about the Doctor were, they faded at the look of genuine warmth the Doctor gave her.

"Oh yes, hello!" the Doctor grinned, teeth showing. Rory jumped forward to check on her and the Doctor moved back, amusement settling over him as he watched Rory at work.

"Oh, Rory dear," she greeted him. Rory felt a wave of relief pass over him. Mrs. Flagert hadn't recognized anyone since this had started. It was a relief to see his old Math teacher knew who he was again.

Relieved and thankful, he turned to look at the Doctor, who was watching them with a small smile on his face. His earlier bouncing energy had vanished, making the Doctor seem far, far older. As though he knew what Rory was thinking - and from this display, he actually might - the Doctor's lips twitched.

"I believe you said there were more patients?"

***

Despite the fact that the doctors had almost fired him when they'd found out he'd let a complete stranger treat patients, Rory felt remarkably good about himself when his shift ended. The fact that whatever the Doctor had done had worked was probably the only reason he still had a job. In the ruckus that had followed their discovery and Rory's attempts to stop the doctors from interfering with the Doctor, Rory had somehow managed to lose track of both the Doctor and Donna. He'd been a little disappointed they'd gone off without saying goodbye - or giving a proper explanation - but Rory was just glad that things would go back to normal at the hospital now. Those who had friends and family were released to their care and the rest were staying in the hospital for a few days for observation. Just in case if what the Doctor had done hadn't worked. Somehow, Rory wasn't too worried about that.

Rory made his way out of the hospital, breathing in the evening air deeply. It was almost winter. Wistfully, he let himself think of Amy for a moment, wondering which exotic country she was working her way through this time. She'd asked him to come, but he hadn't had the courage. Either to travel around the world with just the clothes on his back or to tell her just why he would miss her so much when she'd leave. He'd figured she'd deserved more than he could give. But sometimes, on nights like this, he wondered what his life would have been like if he'd had the courage.

Raised voices caught up in a friendly argument caught his attention. Almost not daring to hope, Rory looked to see who was arguing.

Sure enough, the Doctor and Donna were standing in the middle of the street, gleefully snarking at each other. The Doctor was as animated as ever, his whole body moving to express his opinion. Donna was calmer, her stance confrontational, but her expression at the Doctor's antics amused. 
 
Donna caught sight of Rory over the Doctor's shoulder and grinned. The Doctor whirled around and a delighted smile broke over his face.

"Rory!"

"I think he knows who he is, Martian boy."

"About that-" Rory hesitated.

"Yes, he is," Donna interjected. The Doctor rolled his eyes in good humour. Rory stilled.

"Oh..." he didn't quite know what to say.

"I think you broke his little ape brain," the Doctor stage whispered to Donna.

"Oi! Spaceman!"

"So! Rory!" the Doctor's arm was around his shoulder again. Again, Rory didn't quite know how to react, "Glad we sorted everything out today! Good man! Hope the doctors didn't give you too much of a hard time, but-"

"The high and mighty Time Lord couldn't be bothered with it," Donna interrupted.

"I couldn't be both- wait, no that's not it," the Doctor shot a glare at Donna, who merely grinned unrepentantly.

"I meant, I had to tie up a few loose ends, make sure everything was ship shape, get Donna here before she wandered off and got into trouble-"

"Really? I'm the one that gets us into trouble?" Donna muttered. The Doctor steamrollered over her like he wasn't listening, although he'd raised his voice at her words.

"Anyway, it's time we're off! Pleasure to have met you, Rory!" he shook Rory's hand vigorously, "Come along, Donna!"

With a laugh and a wave of her hand, Donna turned and followed the Doctor. It wasn't two steps before they were whispering conspiratorially to each other. The further they got away, the louder their voices got, until they were bickering again.

Rory stood there, dumbfounded. That was - he hadn't even...

The Doctor and Donna turned off the path and behind the row of trees surrounding the road to the hospital.

Something snapped in Rory.

"Wait! Hold on!"

Bugger him if they were going to disappear without any explanation. Again. The same way that most people seemed to do around Rory.

But when he got to the point where they'd disappeared in the trees, there was no sign of the two. Which was ridiculous, since there was no other cover for a good 50 meters anywhere else. Unless they'd run for it the moment they'd gotten out of sight, he should have still been able to see them. Rory sighed and turned to head home.

A flicker of blue caught his attention in the corner of his eye. Rory turned and stumbled away from the blue box beside him that felt like it had appeared out of nowhere. He stared at it. What was a Police Box doing here?

There was a light coming from the windows and Rory stared at it transfixed.

He jerked away when the door opened and golden light spilled across the darkening lawn. Donna's head poked out.

"Oi! Nurse boy, you coming inside or what?"

"Just shove him in, Donna," the Doctor's voice sounded cheerfully from inside. Rory blinked. The Doctor had sounded a lot farther away than the size of the box would indicate.

"Well?" Donna prompted and stepped aside. Rory gaped.

He thought about the day he'd had. About his job. About Amy. About all the very good reasons why he should stay. He took a deep breath -

"Alright then."

- and stepped inside.

END