Who: Stella Anderson and Ames Hargreaves What: A surprise visit to Stella’s past... When: Mid-morning on February 9th, 2006. Where: A hospital in Denver, Colorado Warnings: Scheming and... really weird cute.
Ames hated hospitals.
The idea was new, foreign to him somehow, but he decided the moment he threw the young doctor’s coat over his shoulders that they were his least favorite places to be. He couldn’t fathom why, or how it was this came into action, of course, but feelings such as these were never far-off with The Master. Still, the rest was new. New, new, new. He wiggled each of his fingers, admiring the way the veins in the back of his hands stood out against the skin of his hands, coming out of the arms of the coat. All of this was so new. At times, he almost forgot who he was now — Ames. But Ames what? He glanced down at the unconscious, visiting doctor in the corner of the staff’s lavatory. He certainly wasn’t going to be any help when it came to such a question, now was he? A scoff sounded at the back of his throat, and very suddenly, he caught a backwards name on his chest of white in the mirror’s reflection. Hargreaves. Ames Hargreaves.
Today, of course, he was Dr. Ames Hargreaves, a man bent on aiding the sick, making each of his patients all better on the inside. Doctor. The mere thought led his mouth to curl in a silent snarl. Naturally, Ames had not arrived at this specific hospital on a whim, or even a visit. On the contrary — Ames came to visit only one patient in particular. Her name was Stella. Oh, Stella, that gorgeous reincarnation of who was once Amelia Jessica Pond. She was nothing special, no gift to humanity, no gem hidden at the bottom of any ocean, but she was his. That, to Ames, meant absolutely everything.
He took one last glance at the unconscious doctor — whom he knew would be in the same position for the next five hours for when he returned to properly dispose of him, and straightened his stethoscope around his neck. He locked the door after exiting with the key the real Dr. Hargreaves kept in his front pocket, wriggling at the doorknob to make sure the job was finished. Ames crossed underneath a display of yellow “do not enter” tape, and started down a long hallway. He nodded to doctors and nurses as he passed, the stethoscope shrouding a good portion of his more recent surname, and came to a halt when he found her name on a clipboard nestled directly next to an open door. Both his hearts gave a sudden leap of pure excitement, and he reached forward to pull it from its perch on the wall.
He knocked two of his fingers against the door’s frame and stepped inside to find Stella, only slightly younger than how she appeared in what was Amelia’s present, tucked into a hospital bed. “Good morning, ...Stella,” he pretended to find her name on the board in his hands and looked up to flash her a warm smile, “I’m Doctor Hargreaves.”
Stella was miserable. At the tender age of fifteen, this was hardly her first visit to the hospital (on the contrary, she’d long since lost count), but this was by far the worst. All because she was alone. Completely and totally alone. If she’d known it was going to be like this, she would have at least tried to be a little more careful on those tricky steps just outside of school. She usually was, but she was running late this morning, and she slipped, hitting her right arm so hard against the jagged stone that it broke and began to bleed. She passed out almost instantly, and if a teacher hadn’t walked by and seen her... well, she didn’t want to think about that. Needless to say, she’d lost a lot of blood — blood, in her condition, she couldn’t afford to lose.
Stella Anderson’s name was a familiar one at this hospital, particularly in the ER, and the nurses and doctors knew exactly what to do for her as soon as the EMTs’ announced her name. They immediately started the process of a blood transfusion, then moved on to set her broken wrist once the color began to return to her cheeks. Not the first time this had happened, and undoubtedly it wouldn’t be the last. The teacher who’d found her — one she’d never had — stayed with her until Dr. Jones said that she was stable and her parents had been notified. Only then did he make a fantastically speedy getaway, and then she was alone. Dr. Jones was gone before she could tell him that her parents were on vacation, that it would be a miracle if any of her siblings checked the answering machine before Mom and Dad were supposed to come back on Sunday, that there was literally no one to come and get her, or to at least make sure she was okay. No one.
It was a terrifying thought, and before she knew it, she was crying quietly into her pillow. Her arm was throbbing underneath the cast, the blood that was slowly but surely flowing back into her body was making her feel weak and woozy, and all she wanted was a friend. Someone to tell her that everything would be okay, someone to hold her hand as she fell asleep. Amy was here with her, of course, but it wasn’t the same. There was only so much she could say to comfort Stella before she started agreeing with her. She wished Reggie was here, both of them did, but he was still at school. He had no idea she was here, he wouldn’t know for hours, and thinking about that only made her cry harder. No one was looking for her. What was she going to —
But then a knock to her door shocked her out of her tears, and she looked up in surprise, hastily wiping her cheeks before this new doctor could see that she’d been crying. As if it wasn’t perfectly obvious already. “Um. G-good morning,” she stammered back, her throat hoarse and her lips so chapped that it was hard to speak around them. It hit her suddenly that she must’ve looked terrible, and he was bound to see that, and she looked away from him, strangely mortified. “Did Dr. Jones, um... I mean, are you from another ward? Is s-something else wrong with me?” The tears began to well up again as she let her fears run away from her, suspecting the worse even though Dr. Hargreaves’s face was a relatively friendly one. If she had the energy, she would have been hyperventilating by now. This was the worst day of her life.
Anyone with eyes on their face could see that the young girl had been crying. The truth of the matter was, she looked dreadful, even by Ames’ standards. Had his two hearts possessed some ability to truly concern, they would have easily gone out to her. Thankfully, they didn’t, and he was free to continue pretending that they did. His eyebrows creased in what looked to be worry, and he stepped into the dimly lit hospital room. “No, no, I can assure you, there is nothing wrong with you,” he grabbed hold of the visitor’s chair and positioned it directly next to her bedside. “At least, nothing we can’t help you with,” Ames chuckled softly, setting the clipboard on the windowsill a few feet behind the chair.
The real Dr. Hargreaves arrived as a visitor, and had not yet checked in. Ames knew only his first name, Walter, Dr. Jones’ visiting doctor, but only due to his own research and hearsay from nurses he’d somehow managed to wheedle the information from with a quick trip to days before. The plan was easy to set into motion, and it would be easy to wrap up. Ames knew what he was doing the moment he walked into the hospital, and he certainly knew what he was doing now. Most people would consider this to be foolish, somehow impractical. Wouldn’t it have been easier to simply choke the weed now? No. That wouldn’t do. At some point, Ames had every intention of arriving back in what was the present. This, all of this, was a crucial pawn in his game. Patience was something Amelia never knew, but he wasn’t Amelia anymore.
“I’m only here temporarily, I’m afraid,” he began, both his hands casually resting on the backing of the seat. “Doctor Jones asked me to step in for him for the remainder of the day. He has family business to attend to, and I’m here to offer my services when I can. He suggested I come and spend a few minutes of my time with you.” He pointed to the seat, watching her with that same smile, “Do you mind if I join you? No one should have to be alone during something like this.”
At first, Stella didn’t fully comprehend what he was offering until he sat down and spelled it out for her. Normally she was a bright girl, very observant, but today she wasn’t at her best. She was quietly panicking, letting her fears multiply more and more as the minutes she spent in this hospital bed turned into hours — even as Dr. Hargreaves spoke to her, her attention wandered and her dark thoughts became harder and harder to ignore. But when he sat down next to her, he gave her more than just company: he gave her something to focus on, something that would help pull her out of her own head, and she could help but release a shaky sigh of relief when she finally realized that. Solitude was usually something she enjoyed, but not today. Today if she was alone for another second, she knew she’d lose it completely.
“Oh. N-no, of course not, that’s...” She attempted a small smile, but between her wide, hooded eyes and her too-pale skin, she was sure it came out looking like a grimace. She liked this doctor already; he was a stranger, but he was still taking time out of his sure-to-be-busy schedule to sit with her and talk to her. Not even Dr. Jones did that, and she’d been seeing him since she was little. “Thanks. That’s — that’s really nice of you. But you, um... you don’t have to if you don’t want to?” She glanced down at her hands for a moment before looking back up at him a little shyly. “I’m sure you have other patients to attend to, and I’m just kind of.... here.” A small ironic laugh escaped her throat as she felt the knot in her stomach tighten uncomfortably. “Just like I always am.”
Taking his seat with a nod of silent ‘thank you’, Ames removed the stethoscope from around his neck and placed it carefully over the arm of the chair. “Between you and me?” He leaned forward and spoke in a playfully hushed tone, “Today is my off day, but I decided to come round here this morning anyway to specifically help cases such as yours.” He nodded his chin firmly, raising his eyebrows as if to say this were a matter of fact. “I can afford to spare a few moments just for you, don’t you think?” He repositioned himself into the chair, tapping a single finger on the edge of her bed, to then settle his hands back on the chair’s arms. “So, Stella — I can call you Stella, yes?” Ames smiled, getting a better look at her face.
“Do you mind my asking what’s got you so down this morning?” His head gave a slight, nowhere near intimidating tilt, and he appeared to be listening carefully. Though, whether or not he was preparing himself to listen to her story, or something otherwise, was up for debate. He was truthfully very curious to know what went on inside of her mind — what thoughts she kept tucked away from those around her, what conversations were said between she and Little Miss Pond. Mentioning these notions aloud, of course, would only cause the girl panic, and he needed the opposite of that. He needed her to trust him with her life.
“There has to be something we can do to get you smiling again, eh?”
“Oh,” Stella smiled again, though this time she was much more genuine and relaxed. “Yeah, um. Stella’s fine.” Just a few minutes with him, and she already felt ten times better. There weren’t a lot of people in her life who were able to do that for her — her mom, Reggie, someone else she wouldn’t let herself think about because then she’d only get more depressed (three years, it’s been three years, he’s never coming back, is he, Amy?) — but the fact that this stranger could only meant good things, didn’t it? He was kind, charitable, and almost familiar in a way she couldn’t quite put her finger on, but she found that she didn’t care. He talked to her like he was already her friend, and he didn’t patronize her just because she was sick. Of course she liked him. Hardly anyone treated her like this.
“Well. I, um. It’s actually sort of embarrassing.” She laughed again and felt herself blush; the heat of the blood rushing to her cold cheeks was unmistakable, but undoubtedly a good sign. The transfusion was working. “I slipped on the steps outside of my school because I was rushing and, well.” Rolling her eyes, she pulled her broken arm out from under the sheets, reluctantly showing him her cast. “This happened, and I bled a lot, which is really bad ‘cause I’m anemic, and, um. I... haven’t exactly been taking my medicine lately. I thought I was doing better, so I just sort of pretended to keep my mom from freaking out.” Her short-lived act of bravado fell, and her shoulders drooped against the inclined bed, weighed down by mixed feelings of guilt and stupidity. “I didn’t tell the other doctors that. I should’ve, but...”
She trailed off, leaving her reasons unspoken. Even to a stranger they had to be obvious, but even so, she changed the subject. She’d made a mistake — she’d admitted it, but that didn’t mean she wanted to talk about it. “Oh, and nobody knows I’m here. My parents are out of town, and my brothers and sisters never answer the phone. The only person who’ll look for my is my best friend Reggie, but he’s still in school, and he won’t know something’s wrong for hours, and...” She swallowed hard, even though her mouth was dry. Panicking again. “I just... I don’t know what to do.”
“Well then,” Ames finally said, slapping his thighs lightly with his hands, “let’s fix that, shall we?” He stood up on his feet, knocking the seat back slightly with his legs. “But first, let’s get some water in you, yes?” Having passed a pitcher for patients in the hallway, he stepped out to grab one of the empty glasses and poured her out some water. One of the nurses walked past with a smile, and Ames gave her one in return. At times, he wondered if this was how it all should have been from the start. Perhaps this regeneration was his body’s way of telling fate that it wasn’t always in the right — that things such as this were best left in the hands of the experts. Before returning, he noticed a game of checkers on another shelf of the same cart, and placed it beneath his arm.
Reentering the room, he placed the glass of ice water on her nightstand. “There you are.” He moved back to the other side of her bed to retake his seat, and brought the chair underneath his legs to get a closer place next to her. “I can assure you that we are going to get a hold of someone. If you’d like, we could have a message passed to, was it Reggie?” Ames searched her eyes for confirmation and continued, “Via your office at school. Naturally, we will leave messages for everyone, and I will personally see to it that someone comes to your bedside before this day is out, okay?” Something about this felt so natural; it was almost overwhelming.
He set down the box of checkers near her legs tucked under her blankets and gave it a pat. “Now — think you’re up to a quick game before I head back to work, Miss Stella?”
Stella hadn’t really meant to unload on him like that, and for a moment she was almost afraid that she’d scared him away when he stood up to leave, but that was just the vulnerability talking. Of course he wasn’t leaving, he was just trying to help her, make her feel better — she knew that, but when he came back with the water and the board game, she couldn’t help but feel overwhelmingly relieved. She uttered a quiet murmur of thanks, then proceeded to sit up, adjusting the angle of the bed and scooting back a little to keep her head even with his. The sudden movement made her feel a little dizzy, but the feeling quickly passed, and she reached for the water, taking a few tentative sips before setting it back down again. The water was so cold she could feel it travel down her throat and to her stomach — strange, but not entirely unpleasant. It was refreshing, at the very least. Strange that something so ordinary could make her feel so much better.
“Oh, would you?” Stella’s soft voice practically broke with relief, and at last one of her signature bright smiles lit up her pale face. “Thank you so much, Dr. Hargreaves. There’s usually someone here with me when this happens — no, there’s always someone here with me, and I’ve just been... Well, it’s not easy, being alone. Is it? If you can, um — if you can get Reggie here, he’ll... he’ll know what to do. Thank you.”
For the first time all day, she felt like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders, and it most certainly showed. Earlier she’d felt defeated, pathetic, worthless, but now? Now she was back to her old self, more or less. She still felt incredibly small in the big hospital bed (her feet were closer to the middle of the mattress than to the end of it), but thanks to Dr. Hargreaves’ presence, she no longer felt quite so alone. He was her friend. She knew that as surely as she knew her own name. Why weren’t there more doctors like him in this hospital? Because the rest of ‘em are off playin’ Space Gandalf, that’s why, came Amy’s sassy answer, and Stella’s smile widened at their own private joke. She covered it nicely, though, saying to Dr. Hargreaves, “Um, sure? You’ll have to teach me, though. My family’s more into games like Monopoly than checkers...”
When Stella agreed, Ames set to configuring the board and pieces. For some reason, this set wasn’t the traditional red and black, but white and black. Still, he went about setting up each one in its respective square without paying it much mind at all. “Reggie will know what to do,” he drew out ‘do’ on his tongue, making a hypothetical note to himself. “You’ve got it,” he turned the board around so that the white was facing Stella and the black was pointed in his own direction. “The game is easy enough, but it’s no Monopoly.” He looked up from the board to smile at her with a soft chuckle, and turned his attention back to where it was.
“The whole goal is to steal each of your opponent’s pieces and sort of apprehend the entire board, you see. Now, in order to do this, you can go this way, that way, or even.. this way,” he took a black piece to demonstrate this. “It’s all about which path you decide to take. It’s about planning, and I think you,” Ames pointed a finger at her, then continued to play with the pieces, “have got just the stuff. So, when you get to the other side, you set one of your opponent’s pieces on the top of your piece — like so — and that means you’re the king, or the queen, in your case, and you’re basically free to conquer the entire board,” He beamed, putting the pieces back where they belonged. “You’ll get the hang of it in no time. Of this, I am sure.”
He rubbed his hands together, giving Stella his full attention once more. “Are you still interested? Because if you aren’t, I’m sure we can find something else to do. Must be something on the telly this time of day, right?”
Stella listened carefully as he explained the game to her, eyes going back and forth between his face and his hands while he demonstrated. Her gaze was rapt and focused; she was a fast learner, but she wasn’t going to assume she knew anything about this game until after he’d finished teaching her. Surprisingly, it didn’t take very long. Just from what he said, it seemed simple enough, maybe even deceptively so. She could do this.
Leaning forward slightly, Stella bit her lip and brushed her hair behind her ear, studying the board intently before glancing back up at the doctor. A very small and very nearly impish smile played at the corner of her lips as she said, “Okay. White goes first, right?” But just as she hadn’t answered his question, she didn’t wait for an answer to her own. She moved one of her pieces out onto the board, and with that, the game had begun.
“Ye —” but Stella was already one step ahead. His eyes widened, and he shook his head with a soft snort, “You’re already a natural!” He moved a piece of his own forward and smiled at her. Despite how plain she was, Stella was somehow different than most Earth girls. She possessed that certain something that The Doctor always took to when inviting his little pets into his TARDIS for a play date around the universe. Surely there was a name for it, but Ames couldn’t quite recall its specific name. “Tell me a little about yourself, Stella.”
The Master groaned impatiently in the distance of their minds and Ames suppressed what might have been a dangerous smirk. He had no want to hear what the girl had to say, but he knew that this was important. All of this — from the board game, to the glass of water — was crucial. Every action Ames made would need to have a positive reaction. Otherwise, his efforts were futile, and coming back would be a waste of his time. Time. The idea was near laughable. He had it all within his reach again, didn’t he? What was time to him?
“That’s a pretty broad question,” she smiled, pausing for a moment before moving another piece forward. Which was more or less her way of stalling. She always struggled with questions like this. On the first day of school, every year without fail, there was always at least one teacher who asked his students to say their name and tell the class ‘the most interesting thing about themselves.’ Well, Stella had an answer for that — actually, between Amy and her imaginary time-traveling friend, she had two — but that wasn’t something she could tell people and expect to remain among regular people. Coming up with something less interesting about herself, something normal, was always difficult. Apart from Amy, Stella wasn’t all that interesting. That had never really bothered her before, but now... Well, the last thing she wanted was for Dr. Hargreaves to realize that he was wasting his time with her. Surely there must be something...
Biting her lip, she shrugged her shoulders in a quick little twitch. “There’s not much to tell, I guess?” Her shyness overcame her as she searched for an answer, feeling more and more uncomfortable and inadequate by the second. There was a reason she lived in her own little world. She hated talking about herself. “I don’t know. My name’s Stella. I’m anemic. I have a couple older brothers and sisters. My dad loves to hunt, but I’m a vegetarian. I love strawberries? That’s... pretty much it.”
Ames moved a piece of his own across the board and gave a soft ‘tch’, “Well, there’s nothing wrong with any of that. I just learned more about you in those few sentences than I knew just by looking at your sheet over there.” He pointed to the clipboard over his shoulder, and leaned both his elbows on the very edge of the bed. “If you ask me?” Ames set his chin in his hands and nudged her thigh with a gentle prod of his fingertip. “I think you’re far more interesting than you give yourself credit for.”
For once, it wasn’t a lie. Ames was, in fact, curious, and growing even more so with every passing moment. He wanted to see what The Doctor saw. He never could before. Each of these “companions”, in what was once The Master’s past, had been nothing more than guts and full of old-fashioned faith. They saw something in The Doctor that The Master couldn’t quite grasp. How was that something to admire? What did he have that The Master didn’t? Well, Ames decided, he would find out soon enough.
Blushing, Stella smiled widely and shook her head, feeling flattered but not really understanding why. She was the most ordinary, boring person she knew — once he spent more time with her, she had a feeling he’d see that, but for now it was nice to feel a little special. After everything that had happened today, she really needed that. A friend. Someone who made her feel less alone today, and worthy of attention. This wasn’t the first time she’d felt overlooked and forgettable in the eyes of both her friends and family; unfortunately, this was only the most extreme. At least Dr. Hargreaves was here to lessen the pain of her insecurities. He was helping more than she actually knew.
“Well, if you say so,” Stella conceded finally, though her voice still retained most of her skepticism. She shot him a playful grin as she moved one of her pieces forward, nudging it closer to one of his and all but cutting it off. “Your move now. Whatever are you going to do next?”