Chapter Fifteen: Back to Normal…Just

The TARDIS spiraled once again through the Time Vortex, the Doctor at the controls and Martha changing the dressings of Lisa’s wounds. Most of them had healed by now, the only one still bleeding was the one on her head. Her bruises had faded and the rest of the cuts were closed.

Knowing that they had to keep the fact they’d gone to Hill Valley from her, the Doctor asked Martha to clean her up and change her clothes to something similar to what she’d been wearing. He had a story all thought up; he just hoped she didn’t sense the lie.

Even with her pulses getting stronger, Lisa remained stubbornly unconscious throughout the cleaning and the clothes change. She was placed back on the seat near the console, her wings arranged so she was laying comfortably, within the eye line of the Doctor. He wanted to be there when she awoke.

They stood in silence for a moment before the Doctor finally broke it.

“Thank you,” he said to Martha.

She looked up, puzzled. “For what?”

“First off…for leaving giving us some time alone before this whole mess started. And for now.”

Martha smiled, flattered. “Well, you’re welcome.”

The Doctor smiled and went back to working the controls. Martha went over and took Lisa’s pulses and reported that they were almost normal. Well, for her. She would probably be waking up soon.

Sure enough, Lisa groaned not long after and muttered, “Unghh…Doctor…?”

The Time Lord was a blur as he rushed to her side, taking her hand and gently caressing her face. “Lisa?” he coaxed. “Come on, Lisa…wake up.”

Lisa groaned again, wincing. The Doctor knew why; her head was throbbing. He wasn’t surprised.

Wake up, he said telepathically, hoping that would jar her awake.

She grimaced again. “My head…” She finally opened her eyes and squinted. “Doctor?” she whispered.

He had to smile. “Hello,” he said gently.

“What happened? My head hurts…” She brought a hand up and felt the bandage there.

He caught her hand and squeezed lightly. “What’s the last thing you remember?” he asked.

The act of thinking made her wince, but she said, “Er…uh, we were in the TARDIS…there was beeping and the engines sounded weird…the TARDIS was shaking and…” She paused, frowning. “That’s it.”

He nodded. This was good, that meant the story he’d fabricated would work. “The dimensional stabilizers were malfunctioning. That’s why she was sounding an alarm. We couldn’t keep control. The console exploded. It threw you back. You hit your head.”

Still frowning, she looked around the console room. The Doctor had made sure nothing was amiss inside so as to not give anything away. Hopefully her head hurt too much to think about it. Her eyes fell on Martha, who gave her a smile.

“Pretty nasty bump you got,” she said.

Lisa made a small noise in her throat, once again putting her hand to her head. “Am I bleeding?”

“A little,” the Doctor told her. “But you’re healing fast.”

“Yeah…that’s what happens…I’d love to get rid of this headache, though.”

The Doctor smiled. Same old Lisa. “Don’t worry,” he said to her. “We’ll take care of it.”

Lisa recovered fully after a few more hours. She had no idea about their little adventure with Dalek Caan and her old friends and it remained that way. Lisa’s timeline had not been contaminated and, much, much later in her future, the circuit completed itself.

The End

Back *~*~* Chapter Fourteen *~*~* Trivia and In-Jokes