"It's a bite, Andy, I'm gunna be fine." Joe insisted, pushing Andy's fumbling hands away from his bloodied torso.

"A bite!? Joe, you know that doesn't equal fine!" Andy exclaimed with panic and fear evident in his tone, "It may take longer, but you could get iced like Frank, or become one of those-those..."

Joe just shot a lopsided grin at the freaking out boy. "Then we won't let it get that far, hu?" He asked in a soothing tone. He reached up and brushed his fingertips against Andy's jaw, making him stiffen and nod. Joe turned to the Doctor, raising an eyebrow at his position on Frank. "Sir?"

"He was okay." The Doctor said, trying to take everything in as well as process it at the same time. "You're here, where's Patrick?"

Joe's grin faultered. The grip on the beanie in his hand tightened as he shook his head. "Kid ganked the son of a bitch." Joe's smile that followed was a bittersweet one. It told the Doctor all he needed to know.

"I'm so sorry..." The time lord whispered, "I never meant for that to happen..."

Joe shrugged with a wince at the movement. "Every hunt is a chance for death... The kid just got distracted..."

"Is there still a chance?.." Andy asked in a soft voice. Joe's silence gave him the confirmation that there wasn't.

However, before any other questions could be asked, another screech echoed through the air.

"They're coming." Joe groaned, pushing himself up and using Andy for support. "They ambushed us. It's how they got Patrick." He turned to the Doctor, "You and your boyfriend need to get back to that blue box thing of yours."

"Oh-oh, he's not-ho-how will we when those things are out there?" The Doctor stampered over his words due to Joe's statement.

More noises echoed through the air and against the walls of the metal room they were in. Andy looked fearful, while Joe's expression was harder to read.

"You'll be on your way through the back door while I distract them." Joe said plainly.

"You'll distract them, my ass!" Andy exclaimed, looking at Joe as if he was insane. "You're already wounded, going back out there is a death sentence."

"So is waiting in here." Joe argued as another screech echoed around them, "At least they can make it out." He added, pointing to the Doctor and his unconscious companion.

The Doctor shook his head. "I could save you, you don't have to die here." He insisted, "If we can get everyone to my ship..."

Joe shook his head as he leaned against Andy. "I'm going to die where my friends died, or nowhere at all." He said, firmly.

The fear on Andy's face had shifted to determination. "I'll stand by you." He told Joe.

"You saved him." The Doctor said as he climbed off of Frank, "Please let me save you."

Joe and Andy exchanged looks. "I've been dealing with this hell long enough anyway." Joe finally smirked, "Maybe it'll get better when we meet up with our friends on the other side."

Andy nodded, "Patrick did owe me five bucks from that time money was still important."

The Doctor frowned at the two of them. "My blue box, it's a time machine! I can take you away!"

"Where's there to go without the guys we grew up with?" Joe asked the Doctor. He patted Andy's shoulder and gave him a smile. "You said you'll stand by me? Show them the way and we'll go out together."

Andy nodded, making sure Joe was leaning against the wall before hurrying across the room. The Doctor looked at him sadly with the shake of his head.

"You don't have to do this." He insisted, "You don't have to die for Frank and I."

Joe shrugged. "It's not just for you two. With just two of us, it's going to be hard to keep it up anyway." He let out a pained groan, holding his side. "With the way I am, I'm not leaving Andy go out alone..."

The Doctor tried to argue further, but Andy called out for him from across the room. The long haired human was pushing a large piece of furniture to reveal a hole in the floor. He waved the Doctor over, barely seeming to have broken a sweat.

"This tunnel takes you just a few feet away from that ship of yours. It's the one we used when we were trying to stop that thing when it got to Frank..." Andy said, peering down the tunnel.

"Did you see us land?" The Doctor asked.

Andy nodded, "We did, but the vamp going for him took a bit more precedence than introductions."

"Sorry we didn't make it in enough time, by the way..." Joe said before letting out a grunt of pain.

"I'm sorry for everything that's been caused from us landing here." The Doctor said, turning back to Joe as Andy hurried over to the small group.

Joe shrugged. "Life would of happened no matter what." He replied, shutting his eyes tightly. "No avoiding the inevitable."

"Please, just let me save you."

Joe just grinned through his closed eyes. "The only way to save me is by taking that son of a bitch out, but you don't condone it. Sorry, sir."

The Doctor frowned at Joe. Beside him, Andy was lifting Frank up into his arms. The human held the unconscious figure, carefully, walking over to the Doctor. The Doctor extended his arms, giving Andy the signal to transfer Frank to his arms.

"Can you get him?" Andy asked.

The Doctor nodded. "I may be old, but I can carry him."

Andy gave the Doctor a strange look, shifting his gaze over to Joe as well, but said nothing. The Doctor figured it was the face. Face could be a bit deceiving with the age, but that wasn't important at the moment. He needed to make sure Frank would be alright.

"He should wake up." Joe groaned as Andy hurried over to support him, "We've helped a couple out of it, and they all woke up."

"How can I ever repay you?" The Doctor asked, holding Frank over his shoulder. He could feel the human's slow breaths against him as he spoke.

"Live." Joe grinned, opening his eyes. Even with the distance between them, the Doctor could see gray in his iris. "Go anywhere away from this hell hole."

"Somewhere this is just a legend being told." Andy said with an amused grin on his face, "Wonder how this will be remembered..."

The Doctor gave them both a smile, despite the terrifying noises outside of the room. Humans never failed to surprise with their actions.

"I definitely won't forget you." He told them with a nod. They nodded in return before the Doctor turned to hurry to the tunnel. He jumped down, carefully, finding himself in a roughly carved tunnel. He followed it blindly, seeing as there was no light, as he could hear the noise of something moving back over the hole he had entered through.

He ended up running into a wall with an unexpected cry. He regained his footing, tapping Frank's backside to make sure he was alright as well. After Frank's expected lack of response, the Doctor reached into his pocket and pulled out his sonic. He illuminated the device to look around.

To his side, a crude ladder of sorts was built into the wall. He tilted his head up to see a slight ray of light peaking down upon them.

"That's the way, Frankie." The Doctor grinned, pocketing his sonic and reaching out to the ladder. It was surprisingly stable as he crawled up. When he reached the top, he pushed against a light barrier above him. "Oh, I wish you were up to help me..."

After a moment of fighting the barrier to the side, he finally made it. A wave of cold air over took them as the Doctor scrambled up the last few steps of the ladder.

The tunnel had taken them to a snowed area just feet away from the tardis. The Doctor sighed in relief at the sight. Getting Frank there would ensure his safety from this place, even if he was already on a path to recovery from what Joe had said.

Screeches and bangs echoed through the air. The Doctor felt horrible to leave the two behind, but they wouldn't come with him. He couldn't force them into something like this... He could only hope they would be alright.

"C'mon Frankie." The Doctor muttered, beginning to trudge through the snow to his ship. "Let's at least get you warmed up from this cold...

---

Frank sat groggily on his bed in shorts and a tank top as the Doctor poked his cheeks, pushed fingers through his hair, and everything in between. The human had woken up shortly after being brought back to the tardis, and the Doctor had been frantically caring for him.

"Eyes, look up at me, Frankie." The Doctor ordered, placing his fingers under Frank's chin to tilt his head up. Frank's eyes were slowly regaining their color, but there were still speckles of gray laced within his mixed iris.

The Doctor scanned over Frank's eyes, intently, before pulling up his sonic and turning it on. Frank grimanced at the sudden green light, blinking rapidly. At least, as fast as he could in his current state.

"Doctor! Please..." His voice came out a bit cracked and worn as the Doctor pulled the device away, "What good will that even do?.."

"I'm just checking to make sure you're okay." The Doctor replied, sliding the hand that had been under Frank's chin up the side of the human's face to tap his head. "Are you?"

Frank shook his head, looking tiredly at the Doctor. "I still don't know any of what you're talking about. I can hardly remember the landing after we got hit."

The Doctor frowned. He pushed back Frank's hair before pulling his hand back. "You scared me." He said as his eyebrows furrowed at his companion, "I was terrified I wasn't going to walk out of there with you by my side. I almost lost you."

"I don't even remember." Frank spoke with a mixture of confusion and unknowing on his face. He looked down at his bandaged arm before looking back at the time lord. "You'd think I'd remember something like that."

"Well, right now, what you need is rest." The Doctor said as he stood up from his position in front of Frank, "It may help. Or not! Brains are weird... Now, lie down." The Doctor instructed, pointing to Frank's pillow.

The human didn't object. He adjusted himself along the bed with one arm under his pillow. His legs got kicked out at askew angles, but Frank seemed to find it comfortable. His eyes fell and he sucked in a deep breath of air before his body seemed to relax.

The Doctor smiled at Frank. He was already small, but the human just looked so much smaller in this instance. Maybe it was his exhaustion with the thing they had just escaped from, or just his strange sleeping position, but it made the Doctor smile.

He grabbed a blanket from the end of Franks bed and draped it over the small figure, who's breathing had already grown to a slow and even pace within the short amount of time that his eyes had been closed. The Doctor pushed some more of Frank's hair away from his face before he turned to leave the room. Frank needed his rest, and it wouldn't help to hover over him.

The door shut silently as the Doctor closed it with care. He really had been scared for his companion. It had felt like a hopeless mission at some points... Then to loose three people... He hated how these things always came with a price.

He sighed as he walked through the halls of the Tardis. They were now simply drifting through space because of Frank needing to recover. The time lord didn't want to risk landing into another tricky situation while he was so weak.

"I'm nervous, why am I nervous? He's recovering just fine, calm down Doctor..." The time lord muttered to himself as he spun on his heel to walk back down the hall, "Frankie will be just fine..."

He nodded to himself as he passed by Frank's room again. This time, he diverted off to the small kitchen nearest to the human's room, just in case.

---

It took a few days for Frank to have the strength to get up from his bed and tiredly cross his room. He didn't particularly notice the speckles of gray in his hazel iris when he peaked at the mirror by his door, just his messy hair and bagged eyes. He felt so slow, but still better than he had felt first waking up to the Doctor poking his cheek.

Frank yawned as he pushed his door open and leaned out into the hall. He felt slightly better with each step, so he took a few out into the hall. He fell against the opposite wall, but pushed himself upright to continue down the hallway.

He could hear singing.

The song was unfamiliar, but the voice was. It sounded like his Doctor... But he didn't sing, did he?

Frank followed the soft melody and found himself at the tardis' control panel. The Doctor was down there as Frank leaned against the railing for support. The red headed alien was singing as he wandered slowly around the panel, only occasionally flipping a switch or tapping a button. Frank put his arms against the railing before resting his head on them. The Doctor's voice was beautiful, and Frank just wanted to keep listening.

However, it wasn't long before the Doctor could feel his presence in the room and looked up. "Frankie!" He exclaimed with a smile instantly growing on his face.

Frank pushed himself up from the railing and smiled in return as the Doctor hurried up the steps to stand in front of him. Before he could say anything, however, the time lord was smooshing his cheeks together and looking him over.

"How are you feeling? Hot? Cold? Yes, no?"

"Sqwish." Frank muttered through his fish pout. The Doctor released him with a sheepish look.

"Sorry about that. You just haven't been up in a bit."

Frank shrugged, "Your methods really helped."

The Doctor giggled. "Thank goodness for all those Doctoring for Dummies books I have in the library." He giggled harder when he saw a look of shock cross over Frank's face, "I'm kidding! Although there is a whole section dedicated to that genera."

Frank let out a laugh of his own as the tardis made the noise of landing. Frank looked at the Doctor with confusion.

"Where are we?"

The Doctor grinned. "No idea. Wanna see? If you're well enough, of course."

Frank didn't even have to think about his answer before it was out of his mouth. "Hell yes."

~~~
A/N~ special Saturday upload as thanks for 7k! :D also, couldn't leave you hangin' with what was happening, could I?

~Skittles Out~