Counting with Fairies Ch 12

Chapter 12

The Doctor left the meeting with a promise to return with his spaceship.  He headed out of the forest.  The night was still dark.  When he reached the edge of the woods, he pulled out his sonic screwdriver, pressed the button and waved it in the air.  It beeped erratically until it locked onto the TARDIS's location.  He started walking, whistling happily as he went.  It had been rough, but everything was working out.  He'd get his TARDIS, pick up the Poikyo, take them to Lisi and then he's bring Sally back to see the Pascaline.  He felt bad their little outing had taken such a dramatic turn, but he intended to keep his promise to her.

He hoped Sally had found her way back to the TARDIS alright.  He had an uneasy feeling.  He picked up his pace, deciding that he needed to get back as quickly as possible.

The sky was turning pink in the early morning by the time he arrived back to the TARDIS.  He pulled out his key and unlocked the door.

"Sally?" he called.  There was no answer.  He ran farther into the console room.  "Sally!" he yelled again.  Nothing.  He looked around.  Everything looked exactly as he had left it.  Sally never made it back.

The Doctor ran to the door and opened it, stepping back out into the French countryside.  "Sally!" he desperately called out.  He ran down to the road and looked around.  "Please, please" he whispered to himself, "let Sally be alright."  He saw a ways up the road what looked like a muddy person lying in the ditch alongside the road.

"Sally!" the Doctor called again, running to her.  She moved when he reached her.  He breathed a heavy sigh of relief.  She was alive, but shivering with cold in the morning dew.  He quickly slipped off his jacket and wrapped it around Sally's back and shoulders.  With his help, she turned over and rested her back against his chest.  She smiled at him.  He smiled back in surprise.

"Sorry I didn't make it back to the TARDIS before morning.  I took the scenic route," Sally said, her eyes twinkled.

In his relief, the Doctor laughed.  "I guess you must have."

Sally pulled the Doctor's jacket closer around her.  Her throat was dry and she coughed a little.  The Doctor reached his hand down into one of the pockets of his jacket and pulled out a pouch filled with water.  He handed it to her and she eagerly drank from it.

"Careful now, not too much, yet," the Doctor said.  "Can you walk?"

Sally shook her head. "I don't think I can do another step.  I sprained my ankle." She pulled up her skirt to show him her leg wrapped in the green over tunic.  "I walked on it last night for a long time, but I can't now.  It hurts too much."

He moved around to her leg and gently began to unwrap the cloth from it.  Sally clenched her jaw.  It hurt.  She gave an involuntary squeak when he felt her ankle  It was swollen and hot.  "It's not broken.  I need to get you back to the TARDIS sick bay."  He reached into another pocket of his jacket and pulled out what looked like a syringe.

Sally gasped, "Please no needles, Doctor.  I can't stand needles."

"No need for needles," he chuckled at his own joke.  "Need for needles.  I like that.  No, there is no needles involved here.  Technology from your future, remember?"  He smiled and placed the device against Sally's leg.  Sally squeezed her eyes shut.  She felt on her leg what seemed like a burst of warm air against her skin.  She opened her eyes and looked at the Doctor.  He was smiling and putting the device back into his pocket.

"That's it?" she asked.

"That's it," he said.  "How does your leg feel now?"

"Better.  It still hurts, but not nearly as much.  Thank you.  How did you pull that thing and a pouch of water out of your pockets?  I'm wearing your jacket, but I don't feel those things in the pockets."

"The pockets are like the TARDIS, bigger on the inside," he smiled a mischievous half grin at her.  "Now, come on." He stooped down to pick her up.

"Doctor, you can't carry me all the way back to the TARDIS."

"Sure I can.  I'm stronger than I look.  I've carried  injured girls before."  He picked Sally up quite easily.  She put her arms around his neck.  "See, this isn't so bad.  Once, I was visiting a planet and my companion, her name was Peri, was dying from a terrible toxin.  She was unconscious and I carried her for a long time.  The thing was, was that I was also dying from the same toxin and there were hot mud bursts going on all around me.  So, this is much better.  You're not dying, I'm not dying and there is no natural disaster going on around us."  He smiled.

"So, did you save the girl?" Sally teasingly asked.

"As a matter of fact, I did." 

"If only we had some fairy dust," Sally said, "then you wouldn't have to carry me at all.  I could just fly back."   The TARDIS was coming into view.  "I almost made it to the TARDIS, didn't I?" Sally asked.

"Yes, you got very close.  Do you have the key I gave you?"  The Doctor held Sally as she fished the key from her pocket and unlocked the door with a click.  The Doctor carried her into the TARDIS and down one of the corridors.  He turned into a room that looked like a doctor's examination room and he gently placed her on the table.  He picked up a scanner and held it over Sally's leg.  "Good news.  Not broken."

The Doctor opened a drawer and took out some white dressing.  "Don't worry, we'll soon have you fixed up."  He wrapped her foot and ankle.  He did a much better job than she had with her tunic.

"Sorry about the dress, Doctor," Sally said.

"What?" asked the Doctor.

"This dress, it belongs to you and I've shredded part of it and have completely covered the rest with mud."

The Doctor laughed.  "No worries Sally, really."  He finished wrapping her foot. "Now, I have a little job to do and then you can shower and change clothes. Alright?"

Sally nodded.

"Now off to the console room." He pulled up a wheelchair. "Hop in!" he said cheerfully.

"Doctor, I'm not hurt that bad.  I'm sure I can walk on it."

"Don't be silly.  Get in the wheelchair and enjoy rolling through the TARDIS corridors. Think of it as flying while sitting down."  He helped Sally off the table and into the wheelchair.  He turned it around and pushed it out the door.  He started to run down the hall of the TARDIS.  Sally cried out in delight, closed her eyes and imagined herself flying.  By the time they reached the control room, they were both laughing.

He parked her near his favorite reading chair and went to the console.

"Doctor," Sally cried out, suddenly remembering why she had been out wandering the French countryside on her own at night.  "What happened with the fairies and the Poikyo?"

"Peace Sally!  They made peace.  We are on our way to pick up the Poikyo.  They have agreed to go to another planet and I have the perfect one picked out for them."

The Doctor set about working at the console, flipping switches and turning knobs.  Sally watched him.  She still had his jacket wrapped around her shoulders.  It was warm and smelled nice.  The blue bars in the central column began to move up and down.  She watched the column.  It was humming hypnotically.  Sally's eyes drooped and she fell fast asleep.

The Doctor was starting to tell her the story about what had happened in the forest with the fairies and Poikyo when he looked at her.  He was surprised to see her asleep in the wheelchair.  They had only run down the corridor a few minutes before.  He went to one of the chairs in the console room and picked up a pillow.  He took the pillow and tucked it under Sally's head.  He flew the TARDIS to the wood's edge.   He stepped out and went into the forest.  The Poikyo were waiting for him.

Chapter 13