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storypaint ([personal profile] storypaint) wrote2015-02-05 08:56 pm

[Doctor Who] worse without a nurse (Martha and Rory gen)

Title: worse without a nurse
Fandom: Doctor Who
Length: 485 words
Prompt: comment_fic: Doctor Who, Martha + Rory, patching up someone with very non-human anatomy
Pairing: Martha and Rory gen
Other: n/a

Excerpt: The being moans and Rory lets it crush the fingers on his free hand (the other hand holds the stuff Martha is going to need to sew it up again). Non-human or not, everyone needs a bit of comfort.

"What is that?" Rory asks, looking at the organ Martha is holding in her hand with a sort of sick fascination. He's a nurse, he's been in blood up to his elbows, he has involuntarily tasted other fluids. But every once in a while, something gets to him. Martha is too distracted and professional to care. She puts the thing in the little tray he's scrounged for her, next to the bony plate that had covered it.

The being moans and Rory lets it crush the fingers on his free hand (the other hand holds the stuff Martha is going to need to sew it up again). Non-human or not, everyone needs a bit of comfort.

"I asked the doctor," Martha says, with a lowercase D, and it's funny how he can just tell, even before she shrugs her shoulder in the direction of the being working in the corner on another survivor. Its coat is splattered with gold blood, like Martha and Rory are.

"It said something about non-essential, so I went for it. I think it's something like a swim-bladder. They're really graceful in the water," Martha says. She takes the little tube from him and Rory pulls his hand free so he can help hold the skin together. He makes soothing noises at the being, who repeats the sounds back to him with almost an exact mimic.

"Is it making fun of me?" he says, with disbelief.

"The TARDIS isn't close enough," Martha says, and there's a little line between her eyebrows that Rory doesn't like. Of all the Doctor's friends that he has met so far, Martha has been the most unflappable. She carefully applies the wound-closer to the being's skin.

"She does the translating usually, but since she's not around, it thinks we're speaking gibberish to it," Martha continues. "It's probably trying to thank us."

Rory doesn't look around, because there are way too many beings here for them to help, even with the few native medical professionals that have shown up. If he catches the eyes of someone, he'll have to help them next, and he knows they have to allocate their resources carefully.

"You're really good at that," he says as Martha finishes with this one and stands up straight, scanning the crowd for the next most injured person.

"Experience," she says tersely, picking out someone with their lower half soaked in gold. It is being supported by another being that isn't quite as injured.

Rory wonders where the Doctor and Amy have gone, but he doesn't have much time to contemplate. There are hands to hold and tools to clean and vital signs to monitor. They'll be back. Until then, he and Martha have a job.

"Hi," he says to the conscious being with the injured one in its arms. It blinks double-lidded eyes at him.

"Hi," it says back, and Rory smiles.