Second Opinion A Doctor Who/House crossover Sephy For P-chan “I told you not to put it there.” “Oh, I knew this was coming. Rose, didn’t I tell you this was coming? Can’t ever say ‘Thank you, Jack, you saved our lives, Jack.’” “Because you didn’t,” Came the slightly smug reply, the swish of leather loud in her ears and she didn’t have to look to know that the Doctor had crossed his arms, head probably cocked in mocking challenge, all but daring someone to contradict. “As I recall, I was the one who got us out. With my little sonic screwdriver.” “You’re never going to let that go. Look, I’m sorry I insulted your … tool like that but would it kill you to at least acknowledge that I had something to do with your being able to use that penlight?” “Penlight –“ “Hey!” Rose Tyler lifted her face from her hands, feeling the vein above her left eye throb as her eyes narrowed, glancing around them and then jogging her head. “Don’t suppose you could both lower the volume a bit? Unless of course you’d like to continue this in front of an audience?” Both men shifted, the Doctor a little uncomfortably, leaning out of his slouch against the wall and plopping down with a dulled thud in the seat beside her while Jack inclined his head towards the nearest person, giving them a charming smile as he stood at attention, the faintest hint of discomfort grooved in dark circles under his eyes. “He’s not sleeping,” Rose whispered, lacing her fingers as she leaned forward, elbows on her knees. There was a soft snort, the Doctor closing one of his eyes while the other fixed on Jack, then her, that gaze a little too intent, a little too discerning for comfort. “Not sitting either. I told him –“ “I know, okay, I know,” Rose cut him off, not wanting another tirade that would inevitably lead to yet another argument because Jack ‘happened to overhear’. She hesitated, “Y’know, he did save our lives.” “Maybe,” the Doctor scratched his neck, looking unconvinced. “But there are better ways to effect a jail break than jamming high powered weaponry up his –“ “We got out at least and you weren’t doing much better, now were you?” It was perverse but she got something of a pleasure at watching the Doctor squirm at times like this. He liked to talk big, like he knew everything and sometimes, she thought maybe he did but that didn’t mean he was always right. She might have felt more triumphant about that if she hadn’t been so certain that he knew it too. They’d only been traveling together a short time (or over a year if you went by the time her mother held, one long, agonizing, harrowing year as Jackie liked to remind her daughter whenever they spoke) but Rose liked to believe she was starting to learn some of the Doctor’s quirks. He liked to show off, he did but there was something fragile beneath that bravado, unsteady, almost nervous, like a five year old wanting desperately to impress on the first day of school. That and a hideous loneliness in those chill blue eyes, wide and so startling that when you first saw them, you thought the man owning them had to be mad. He acted like it. Rose wasn’t entirely convinced that he wasn’t but he was also hers. Her Doctor, her painfully skinny, angular little Time Lord with an accent that you couldn’t take the North of England out of, all shapeless and formless in well-worn blacks, his battered leather coat looking as if had seen more than it’s fair share of galactic dust. She felt, oh what was it? Protective, yes that was it. Protective of him. Connected to him too; as if they were meant to come together somehow, meant to meet up in that department store. It wasn’t something she dared voice. He’d probably make fun of her, call it rubbish and tell her she was being a stupid, superstitious ape again. “I would have gotten us out,” the Doctor said, voice defensive as he ran long fingers over his close-cut hair. “I just needed to find the right sonic calibration –“ “—which you said yourself could take awhile. Face it, Jack got us out and you owe him.” “Oh I do,” the Doctor said in solemn agreement, waving his hand around the waiting room before crossing his arms, eyes closing. “And I like to pay back my debts.” “Right. And where exactly are we? And why are we here?” “Princeton-Plainsboro. It’s a research hospital in the middle of New Jersey,” Came the prompt reply, “We’re here for a medical opinion with the best diagnostician I’ve ever encountered.” Rose raised her eyebrow, reaching up to remove a strand of loose blond hair from her mouth, again peeking at Jack where he was smiling and nodding still at the people in the waiting room, rocking anxiously on his heels, flirting without realizing as he smoothed hands over his loose blue shirt and for some reason, no one ever called him on it. Whatever discomfort he was in, he hid it with a well-placed word and a cocky grin, leaning in and lowering his voice at the just the right moments. The nurse had already bumped them up a few appointments after a private conversation with the “Captain,” the Doctor rolling his eyes and making faces behind their backs, Rose having to work not to giggle as he started imitating the woman’s breathy little laugh. “A medical opinion about what? I mean, we already know what’s wrong.” “We do. But Jack insists it just couldn’t be that. That it has to be something else because he’s never torn rectal tissue before with the old ‘gun in the arse’ trick. I tried to explain that he wasn’t as young as he once was and once those tissues start to harden up, they become less limber and then he got really offended. Said I was just giving him a hard time because I was jealous and demanded a second opinion. So here we are.” Brow furrowing, she nodded, “Okay, I’ll bite but who are we here to –“ “Jack Harkness?” A short, dark-haired woman was strolling towards them, the crisp business suit underneath her lab coat telling Rose that she wasn’t just another doctor. Folder in hand and expression annoyed, her delicate features were stern though her tone sounded almost apologetic. Rose watched Jack straighten, wincing a little as he walked forward to meet her, hand extended, a faint tell-tale limp breaking his stride. The dark-haired woman’s eyes lingered on him, cheeks reddening a touch before they focused on Rose and the Doctor coming up behind him, manner becoming more brisk. “I’m Doctor Lisa Cuddy, the administrator for Princeton-Plainsboro. I wanted to apologize. You were supposed to see Dr. House – twenty minutes ago. Apparently he just – ah – snuck into Room Five on us and no one knew he was even around,” Doctor Cuddy’s smile became almost brittle, tight with frustration, “But he’s ready to see you now.” “How is Greg?” The Doctor asked, jamming his hands in his pockets. “You know, Dr. House?” Dr. Cuddy sounded surprised, the eyes sweeping over the Doctor suddenly more piercing than before. “Oh we go way back. Way, way back.” The Doctor paused, frowning in thought. "Or possibly way forward," he waved a hand towards his head, "Sorry, it gets a bit jumbled about up here sometimes." “I’m sorry and you are?” “The Doctor. And this is Rose Tyler and well, you’ve met Jack,” The Doctor rocked back on his heels, looking around in appreciation. “Doctor Lisa Cuddy, right?” “I – yes. That’s right.” That maniac gleam that she knew all too well suddenly entered the Doctor’s eyes, as he shouldered Jack out of the way, grasping Doctor Cuddy’s hand and shaking it enthusiastically, the smaller woman all but vibrating with each hearty pump. “I’ve always wanted to meet you – heard so much about you, don’t you know? I’ve just never been in the neighborhood.” “Mapleton Road?” “No, New Jersey. Lovely place you’ve got here though it could use another wing, don’t you think? One entirely devoted to medical research, particularly nanotechnology.-” “Well, I –“ “Fantastic,” the Doctor beamed, cutting the flustered woman off before smacking Jack on the bum, the larger man yelping as he jerked out of his too patient wait, much to the amusement of Rose and the bemusement of Doctor Cuddy. “I think we’ll go see Greg now. We’ve made poor Jacky boy stand around far too long. Can’t sit down. It’s a terrible problem. I’m quite broken up about it myself.” “What the hell was that about?” Rose hissed as the Doctor pushed Jack forward, past Doctor Cuddy who was staring after them, mouth open and blinking, as if she were trying to rewind the last few minutes of conversation before shaking her head and turning around, Rose glancing over her shoulder just in time to see Doctor Cuddy glancing over hers. “That’s Doctor Lisa Cuddy. In the next ten years, she’s going to start the first nano-medical technology lab in the United States, working closely with the Japanese on developing nanites. In another ten after that, they’ll undergo their first trial run right here, in this very hospital and after that – Bam! Human medicine will leap forward about oh…two hundred years?” The Doctor paused, “Though she’s a bit shorter than I expected.” “And this – Doctor House?” There it was, that smirk, the one that always went along with the gleam and which always signified the Doctor was up to something. “You’ll see. How’s your back, Jack?” His tone was solicitous, almost honeyed and sympathetic and neither Rose nor Jack bought it for a minute. “Oh just fine, Doctor. Thanks for the help back there,” Jack gave him a toothy, murderous grin. “Well, just so you know I’ve always got your back.” “Don’t I wish,” Jack’s tone was plaintive, “Don’t tease me, Doctor, my backside is aching, not the rest of me.” “Oh don’t worry. I’m sure Greg will fix you right up,” The Doctor winked and opened the examination room door for them. Whatever she was expecting, it wasn’t the scruffy, graying man huddled in the corner of the room, swearing at the mini-television in his hands and adjusting it. “Come in and shut the door. And be quiet. I’m at the best part.” Rose and Jack exchanged glances, Rose a little nonplussed and Jack looking as if wished he were anywhere but here, eyeing the examination table with wary apprehension. The Doctor meanwhile loped over, peering over Doctor House’s shoulder before nodding and pulling up the extra stool in the room, the older man, scowling but making room for him. “Look if this is a bad time – “Jack began, both the Doctors twirling on their stool towards him, House smacking the cane in his hand against the floor. “It’s Alan and Monica time.” Rose peered around Jack’s shoulder, incredulous, “What? That on the telly? Are you telling me some soap is more important than a patient?” House sighed, speaking very slowly, as if she were too dense to understand, “It is when I’ve waited two weeks for this crucial plot point to be revealed. I’m pretty sure we’re going to find out she had the baby in secret but sometimes they surprise me. As for him? Let’s see…you’ve all been out in the waiting room for an hour, he’s been standing the entire time -- I diagnose acute pain in the ass. Something I’m sadly familiar with. What did you swallow?” The question was abrupt enough to catch Jack off-guard, “Nothing!” “It’s more a case of what he shoved up there,” the Doctor said, pulling out a bag from his coat and popping a piece of candy in his mouth, offering House one who eyed it then took one. “Aren’t you a little too old and experienced to make those sorts of mistakes? Usually guys like you are a little more careful when doing things like that,” House groused at him, keeping one eye fixed on the screen. “Hey, look,” Rose crossed her arms, glaring at the both of the seated men, “There’s no need to be rude. He’s in pain, aren’t you even going to do something?” There was a knock at the door, a younger blond haired man popping his head in, giving them all an apologetic smile. He was handsome in that boyish, too good to be true sort of way, quite the honey as Jack would say and not just because his hair was that same warm shade, Cupid’s bow mouth that just begged to be kissed. Rose felt her heart pick up just a little, shuffling and giving him a bit of a smile and wishing she’d worn something a bit more stylish than jeans and her Hello Kitty t-shirt. She glanced over and twitched, noticing that Jack was smiling too, smiling and eyeing the newcomer like he’d just found something yummy he wanted to take a bite from. Bad, bad mental image, she rubbed her forehead, smoothing her other hand against her jeans. “Ah, Doctor Chase. Just the person I wanted to see.” “I – what?” Australian she noted, watching as the blond doctor sidled into the room. There was a joke in this somewhere, about a girl trapped in a room full of doctors. Not that Jack was one though she was sure he’d been known to play doctor on occasion. “I have a patient here. In need of a close examination, something that I think will be just up your alley. Be a good boy and do it for Daddy, won’t you? I promise I’ll give you a cookie later on,” House dug around in his pockets in a move that was eerily familiar, retrieving a bottle and popping the top, dropping a pill in his hand. “Oh and if it turns out to be another MP3 player, call the RIAA, I’m sure we can cut some kind of deal with them about this kind of thing. Give me another one of those candies… I’m sorry who are you again?” “The Doctor.” House rolled his eyes, “Aren’t we all?” ***End return to splash page