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A young woman stood in the reception hall of Ashbridge Cottage Hospital. She appeared rather nervous, fiddling with the lapels of the dark coloured jacket she wore. She was watching as UNIT Captain Munro attempted to sooth Dr Henderson's confusion about the whole situation. Henderson had been trying to get the young woman examined as well - after all, she appeared in the same field as the strange blue box and the strange older man had, so it was obvious that they were connected - but she insisted her friend was the main focus.
Speaking of said friend, she watched as he was lifted up on a stretcher, covered in a blanket. He was barely moving, not even twitching or breathing. She continued fidgeting, clearly uncomfortable with the idea of waiting, as Henderson scoffed in surprise.
"Dammit, man," he shouted, "why didn't you take him to a military hospital?!"
Munro sighed.
"For one thing, sir," he explained, "there isn't one in the area. And for another…"
He turned to the stretcher and pulled back the sheet on top.
"Both he and his friend are clearly civilians," Munro finished, gesturing to the man lying there.
Henderson looked in amazement at the man. He - at first - believed that the man and the young woman were related. However, he couldn't find any connection between the tall and thin man on the stretcher and the young woman who appeared so concerned about him.
One thing he had noticed were their clothes - although her's were not ones he'd seen a young woman wear (mostly because she was wearing trousers), they seemed to fit perfectly, albeit slightly oversized. As for her friend, his coat and trousers were far too small, leaving bony wrists and ankles stretching out like a scarecrow.
"Not a very military figure, I agree," Henderson agreed, "and his friend seems far too young,"
He sighed, "all right, I suppose I'd better take a look at him,"
He turned to the soldiers carrying the stretcher.
"Take him through to casualty, will you?" He asked, "the porter will show you the way,"
Munro gave the soldiers a nod. In response, they carried the stretcher through the swing doors into the casualty ward.
"You've no idea who either of them are, I suppose?" Henderson asked.
Munro shook his head.
"Haven't a clue, sir, but the young woman asked to be brought to the Brigadier after this,"
"Sure, talk about me like I'm not here," said young woman muttered, before quickly realising that she spoke out of turn, "I'm sorry,"
"Neither of them have any identification, either, I'm afraid,"
Henderson heaved a sigh.
"You don't realise the amount of paperwork these cases involve," he stated in a weary voice, "reports to the police, memos to the hospital committee… All in triplicate,"
The young woman clicked her tongue against the back of her teeth.
"Sorry for all the trouble we've caused,"
"Not to worry, ma'am," Munro said, quickly making a hasty retreat, "I'm sure the Brigadier will be most grateful for Dr Henderson's help,"
He then looked down at his watch.
"Which reminds me," he continued, "I really ought to phone in a report. I wonder if I might…"
"Over there," Henderson nodded towards a phone booth in the corner, "mind you, this chap and his little girl friend are still your responsibility,"
The young woman gagged, "I'm not his girl friend,"
Munro shot both her and Henderson a trademark charming smile.
"I believe he more meant 'friend that just happens to be a girl'," Munro nodded, "thanks again, sir, now, if you'll excuse me,"
Hastily, he disappeared inside the phone booth. The young woman was standing outside, still fiddling with the lapels of her coat and now moving to the hem of her shirt. Henderson - having realised that he'd been out-manouvered - turned and went through the swing doors after his new patient.
After a few minutes, Munro got contact with the Brigadier.
"Munro, here, sir," he greeted, "I'm at the Ashbridge Cottage Hospital,"
He was silent for a few minutes, as the Brigadier responded.
"No, sir," was his response to the Brigadier's question about the meteorites, "all we've found so far are a pair of civvies - one unconcious, but another one who wants to speak to you,"
More silence.
"Why do you want to know what the other one looks like?" Munro asked, looking over at the young woman, "she's a girl, dark hair… Yes, and she's wearing clothes that look out of place. Not military. Aha…"
He ducked his head out of the phonebooth.
"The Brigadier wants to speak to you,"
"Thank you," The young woman said, picking up the phone from Munro, "yo, Brigadier! It's been… Uh… I can't say it's been a while, you know how it is,"
She paused, rocking her head back and forth as the Brigadier spoke.
"Yeah, yeah, the 'unconscious civvie' isn't just a drunk tramp," she explained, "that's the Doctor. He even came with the TARDIS - yes, it still is in the form of a police box. It's out in a field. I tried to get them to bring it in, but they wouldn't listen to me,"
She blinked.
"You want me to do… What? Can't I just…" She sighed, "oh, okay, sir yes sir, hold on - I haven't really used a landline in a while…"
She turned to face Munro, placing her hand over the bottom part of the phone's reciever.
"The Brigadier wants an armed guard on the police box," she explained, "and this is orders from him, through me,"
"Wouldn't the police want it back?"
"Nope," the young woman said, popping the 'p', "nobody's to be allowed near it unless they're with UNIT,"
"But I don't understand—"
"Unfortunately, this might be above your paygrade," the young woman sighed, taking her hand off the reciever, "the Doctor's in casualty right now, with Dr Henderson - they think he's comatose. Yup, it's a long story. Unfortunately, I don't have much time to explain, I'm in a bit of a panic myself, haha,"
She hummed.
"Yes, yes, I'll tell him straight away," She said, and placed her hand over the reciever again, "can you be a dear and also get an armed guard on my friend, please? More a precaution than anything,"
Munro stared at her blankly. The young woman stared back at him. She took her hand of the reciever.
"I think it'd be best if you gave him the instructions, sir," she frowned, handing the phone back to Munro, "good luck!"
Munro was now incredibly puzzled. He picked up the phone and listened to the rest of the Brigadier's instructions.
"Very good sir…" Munro said, "what do you want me to do with the young woman?"
Luna was sitting on a bed across from the Doctor's. It was a fairly private room, with only Dr Henderson and the nurses for company.
She was getting bored.
She had left her phone in her room on the TARDIS - bringing a modern day (for her) mobile phone to the 1970s was probably going to get strange looks from everyone - and the only things she could read were medical pamphlets that she knew were outdated but the doctors here didn't think were.
Well, they were already getting a headache from the Doctor's x-ray. Luna frowned, thinking back to some lore she remembered reading about the Doctor - him having two hearts only existed because Spearhead From Space was partially ripped off from another script. A common headcanon was that the 'second heart' only grew in following his regeneration from One to Two.
Luna tried to think if Two had ever mentioned anything about that—
And the memories came flooding back.
She didn't know how long she and the Doctor had been travelling together when the regeneration was to happen. All she knew was that it was going to happen and she had to just prepare for it. She'd seen video of it, she'd seen him sitting on a chair and fading in and out, transforming into his third face.
However, it wasn't nearly as pretty as the reconstructions made it look. He'd sat down in the chair, when suddenly, he lurched forward violently. Luna saw the phoenix fire leaking out of his limbs, but it didn't cover what was actually happening. Oh Gods, were his bones reconstructing?
She raced towards him, grabbing onto his arms. The skin and bones shifted underneath her grip, bones nearly bursting out of the mutating skin as he screeched out her name. His bones were breaking. Oh Gods, they were breaking under her fingers, skin shifting and reforming.
His back arched backwards, and Luna assumed that growing several feet in height would be painful. Her hands were still gripping onto his wrists - well, it was formerly gripping onto around his elbows but that was beside the point. He coughed, and Luna was petrified a lung or one of his hearts were going to burst out, but it was actually much worse.
Some teeth landed on her shoulder, dripping with blood and bile. Of course the Time Lords made the face form in last. It was an execution. It wasn't pretty like phoenix fire, it was grotesque and horrifying. She looked over at the TARDIS - she was moving for what would be the last time. The column went up and down as Luna moved her hands back to the Doctor's shoulders, watching his face finally mutate, shock of white hair growing in place of the black.
Every bone, every fiber, every bit of skin. Luna had been close to regeneration before, but this was worse. The Doctor breathed, and Luna was almost thankful that he was breathing…
Which was when the ship shook, having landed in 20th century Earth.
She was shaken out of her memories by the Brigadier, entering the room. She stood up.
"Brig!" She exclaimed, running towards him and practically launching herself into his arms for a hug.
Surprisingly, he reciprocated it. Luna probably looked deeply shell-shocked.
"S-Sorry, I know you're supposed to be professional…"
Doctor Henderson cleared his throat. Luna awkwardly pulled away from the Brigadier, and gave him a salute - an American salute, not a British salute, but still. The Brigadier smiled, looking over at the Doctor, body smothered by sheets, wriggling awkwardly like a worm smothered by dirt.
"I understand you might be able to cast some light on our mystery man, Brigadier?" Henderson asked.
The Brigadier nodded.
"In that case, considering his friend hasn't been helpful," Henderson continued, "I'd be very grateful for some explanation of his physical make up,"
"What do you mean?"
"His whole cardiovascular system is different from anything I've ever encountered…"
The conversation trailed off in Luna's mind. Did they just forget she was in the room? She had half a mind to knock that man's teeth out - the Doctor's teeth were still on the floor of the console room, she'd have to clean it up and the blood and the bile, or maybe the TARDIS had cleaned it up herself - stop, stop, stop, stop thinking about it.
The woman who was with the Brigadier - Liz Shaw, Luna remembered - noticed her panic and gently walked towards her.
"Are you alright?"
"Y-Yeah…"
That was a lie. Luna was physically stopping herself from bursting into tears. Liz lead her back to the bed she had been seated on at first, and sat her down. The pair saw as the Brigadier pulled back the sheet from the Doctor's face, and Luna pursed her lips. She really should've bought a pamphlet or something with her. She saw the confusion in the Brigadier's face, and frowned.
"Well?" Liz asked, "do you know him?"
The Brigadier shook his head, "the man's a complete stranger,"
"He's not," Luna said, causing the Brigadier to stare at her in confusion, "he's the Doctor,"
"Whatever are you talking about? I've never seen him before in my life!"
"Listen, you're just gonna have to trust me…" Luna sighed, "he changed. It's something his people do, usually when they're close to death. In this case… It wasn't his choice. I saw it happen—"
"Is that why there's blood on your jacket?" Liz interrupted.
Luna's eyes widened. She hadn't noticed blood on her jacket. However, before she could explain, the Doctor finally woke up. Luna let out a sigh of relief, and he tilted his head towards her.
"Oh, good, you're finally awake."