Title: The Sphere

Summary: Torchwood finds a mysterious sphere just in time to receive a visit from their friendly neighborhood Doctor who has a weird reaction to the ball. Mayhem ensues for the group as they try to fix their broken Doctor. Doctor Whump.

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: Not mine, just borrowing

Spoilers: Owen is dead but Ianto is still alive. The Doctor has no companion and has never met Donna Noble. It's pretty much an AU where I've changed things that I don't like about both shows.

Author's Note: I don't exactly know when I'm setting this in both shows but I am completely ignoring the end of it. Owen is dead but Martha is working for them in his place. 10 is by himself; he has no companion traveling with him.

AN2: This is more a Doctor Who fic that takes place in Torchwood so it could be seen as a crossover (and I will be posting it as one) but it's not really meant to be.

Captain Jack Harkness sat at his desk in the Torchwood base in Cardiff twiddling with the alien sphere they had recently found at a crash site. It had been a busy week between capturing more and more Weevils (the suckers seemed to be going hog wild lately and popping up everywhere!) and the random encounters with other unknowns that the team had barely had time to breathe.

He continue to turn the sphere over and over in his hands trading the item from one hand to the other, tossing it like it was a baseball instead of an alien artifact. It was about the size of a small bouncy ball that you would find at your local Target or Walmart however unlike the bouncy ball this shape does not bounce. Its hard shell was made of an alloy that wasn't known to Earth nor any other planet that they had on record.

There were markings across it that Jack had a vague recognition of though at the moment his mind couldn't determine where he'd seen them. They looked a mixture of ancient Arabic and simple curly-cues that had been somehow etched into the metal with such precision diamond engravers would be jealous.

A soft knock sounded in his doorway followed by Ianto carrying two cups of something steaming hot. Deep blue eyes roamed over him, looking at him with such excitement and desire that Jack was tempted to throw the man onto his desk and sex him to death right then and there. However over the years Jack has learned a bit of self restraint and remained seated in his chair, fiddling with the sphere.

"Find out what it is yet?" Ianto asked absently placing a cup of hot coffee on the desk in front of Jack.

The Captain grabbed the cup and took a deep sip, savoring the flavor of the magnificent coffee mixed with milk and just a little bit of cinnamon and nutmeg. He looked up at Ianto with grateful, and hungry, eyes. "Not yet. I think I might need to call in an expert."

"What expert?" Ianto hadn't heard of them ever using outside help, with the exception of Martha of course, so the mere fact that his boss and lover is suggesting it now intrigues him. "Another UNIT member?"

"No although we do share the common acquaintance," Jack answered with a faraway look in his green eyes. Excitement replaced the look as a strange wheezing sound echoed through the middle of the hub and a strange but strong wind swept through the base, flinging stray papers everywhere and a shirt or two up around their owner's chest.

Jack downed the rest of his coffee then bounded down out of his office to the spot by the fountain where the TARDIS was currently materializing. Ianto followed behind incredulously wondering who it was that has his friend so happy.

Gwen and Tosh quickly grabbed their guns and pulled them out, aiming at the door of the big blue box. They didn't know what was going on but they weren't going to take any chances where safety was concerned.

Martha was busy performing an autopsy on their latest dead alien. She liked to listen to music from her ipod while she did those so she had no idea that a familiar friend had come for a visit.

The right hand side door of the blue Police Box opened and spiky chestnut hair poked out followed by the rest of the owner's head. The upper torso soon followed, halfway peeking out of the safety of the TARDIS.

"Did you miss me?" the Doctor cockily asked though the question was more out of greeting than arrogance.

In his excitement Jack didn't noticed the way the Doctor was holding his right arm closely to his side and rushed to his friend enveloping him in a bone-crushing, bear hug. The smile on his face faded quickly when the man he was currently crushing let out a loud, pained, "OW!"

The Captain released his hold of the Time Lord and held him at arms length, not too tightly of course. His normally stoic face creased in concern when he saw the Doctor grimace deeply, then use his left arm to cradle the right and hold it close to his torso.

"What happened?" he asked as his eyes roamed over the seemingly injured arm trying to diagnose the problem.

The Doctor grimaced again and squirmed under the Captain's scrutiny. "Er is Martha around by chance?"

"She's performing an autopsy right now is it urgent?" Ianto asked before Jack could answer. He could have smacked himself for letting his jealousy get in the way of his professionalism but he didn't know this man and though he may be "injured" he wasn't about to get Martha unless it was an emergency; not that it was up to him really. Jack would more than likely override him any second.

As expected Jack threw a glare at his employee but the Doctor merely stood where he was and studied the professional man with a practiced eye. "Well if she's busy I can wait," he answered giving a shrug and a grimace when his hurting limb reminded him not to do that. "Have you got a waiting room or someplace I can keep myself busy until she's available? I don't think the TARDIS fancies me hanging around in her for too much longer."

The Torchwood members threw each other quizzical, confused and doubting looks but soon they felt the cool, damp air in the hub fill with an annoyed buzzing hum that caused the lot of them to actually take a step away from the machine.

"What's all this then, a party?" Martha's voice asked from the autopsy room that she's lovingly named the cellar. She stopped dead in her tracks when she spotted the big blue box in the middle of the Torchwood hum. "Doctor?"

Gwen, Ianto and Tosh all turned their heads from Martha to the man who still stood just outside the Police Box.

"Wait a minute," Gwen began. She was quickly silenced by an impatient swish of Jack's hand.

Martha rushed up to the Doctor but stopped short when she saw his guarded and pained posture. "Are you alright? What happened?"

She gently grabbed her friend by his left elbow and started guiding him to the closest chair which happened to be the bucket seats by an abandoned coffee table. Gently she pulled his right arm out of the hold of his left then maneuvered it out of the sleeve of his suit. She waited a few minutes to give her friend time to slow his breathing before she began examining the arm starting at the wrist and heading up.

A year or so ago the mere thought of examining the Time Lord in such an intimate manner would have made her skin tingle with excitement and she would have had to strive to hide her body's reaction to being allowed to touch him. However things have changed and Martha was finally able to look at the alien that was her best friend, her love interest and her companion for a year and see only a friend.

Steadily her hands moved up the slender, muscled arm moving past the elbow and up to the bicep. She touched a soft spot that wasn't supposed to be soft and winced when she felt the bone of the humerus move beneath her touch signaling a broken bone.

Ignoring the Doctor's gasp of pain Martha continued with her examination. She felt more breaks the closer she wandered to his shoulder and soon she felt a jagged edge in his skin suggesting a laceration of some sort. She hadn't had time to put gloves on before she began her examination, a fact that she wasn't worried about since the Time Lord biology could handle any infection that came its way with the speed of a bullet passing through air. One of her nails caught on something taught and stringy and she felt something sleek and wet beneath her fingers.

The Doctor gasped and actually whimpered under her touch causing Martha to withdraw immediately, flapping his suit jacket back over the arm.

"Sorry," she apologized gently as she walked over to the nearest sink to wash her hands. "Why didn't you seek medical attention sooner? Surely the TARDIS could have patched you up in the time it took you to come here and get my attention."

"She's being a bit temperamental right now and refuses to help. Seems to think I need a vacation though I don't know what gave her that idea."

Jack and Martha gave each other a look before they turned the same look onto the Doctor. "Seriously? You don't think you could use a break?"

"Of course not," the Doctor answered sounding as if that was the silliest suggestion ever made. "It's not like I wear down as easily as you humans do and honestly how do you lot sleep so much? I'll never understand it. Time Lords don't need that much sleep. We prefer to not sleep most of our very long lives away – you get more done that way."

"Right. Before I point out the fact that you're paler than a white sheet, you look like you haven't eaten for a month and I suppose you could use a few years of sleep let's get you to the cellar so I can fix up your arm," Martha suggested using his left arm to guide him to an upright position then leading him to what served as their medical bay.

The group stared unabashedly at the Doctor's back. His light blue dress shirt was slashed and torn. Ragged claw lines were carved into the fabric with blood red stains drying on it. Through the holes in the fabric the team members could see just how deeply the flesh had been torn, giving them a small lesson in the anatomy of the shoulder; if all people were Time Lords of course.

Jack threw Ianto another glare, pointedly looking between the Doctor's bloody back and his lover. His expression was one of incredulity, anger and disappointment. "And you would have had him wait," he said evenly. As Ianto opened his mouth to speak the Captain threw up his hand in a silencing motion, "Fix the Doctor some tea would you? He's going to be asking for it pretty soon."

Ianto nodded, turning his sad eyes down to the floor. Jack hated seeing his lover and friend so bothered over something that wasn't truly that big of a deal. He walked over to the man who hadn't moved from the same spot he'd walked to when the Doctor had first arrived and reached out a hand, cupping his cheek and trailing down to the well carved chin, using it to make the Welshman look at him.

He leaned in for a brief kiss, letting his lips linger a little longer than was necessary on the mouth that he couldn't resist before he spun around and followed to where the Doctor and Martha were talking and laughing.

"I'm right in assuming that anesthesia wouldn't work on you and the same for pain medication?" Martha asked as she helped the Doctor out of his shirts.

"Yes, well for the anesthetic at any rate. I can have pain medication but only if there isn't any aspirin in it which most of your Earth medicines are."

Tossing the ruined clothing to the ground out of the way, Martha moved closer to the Doctor's right side within easy reach of the wounds and her portable medical table that held her instruments and supplies.

"Well Doctor this is Torchwood. We do have medicines from more than just Earth available," Jack interjected cheerily from the catwalk above the room.

The Doctor hissed as the antiseptic came into contact with the open scratches. It took all his restraint not to tear away from the painful contact but he managed it by keeping his posture so rigid if he were to jerk in any sudden movement the bones would likely snap with the force. "I'll be alright. Best to wait until we're done; it makes it easier to sleep."

"Are you sure? That was just a precursor, getting the shallowest of the scratches first. I have to dig into the deeper ones now- what were you doing rolling around in dirt before you came?"

"Something like that," the Doctor replied with a deep grimace as latex covered hands prodded one of the deeper lacerations. The veins in his neck popped out blue against the red flush of his skin as he held his breath in an attempt to not yell in pain.

"If you're sure," Martha began. "Jack come down here and hold him up. He's going to need something to squeeze and you're as good a teddy bear as any."

"Hey I think I represent that remark," Jack replied sounding indignant at the intended insult. None the less he came down to the middle of the room where the Doctor sat on the edge of the chair, his hands gripping the edge with enough force to lose blood flow and dig his short nails into the pleather fabric.

"I need you to hold him upright and still," Martha instructed professionally, the medical part of her brain trying to separate itself from the realization that she was about to cause a dear friend a lot of pain.

"Doctor, hold on to me," Jack commanded as he loosened the Time Lord's grip on the table/chair. The Doctor's hands held onto Jack's shoulders with a vice-like grip, crushing the soft tissue, sinew and muscles beneath.

Martha did her best to be as quick as possible but she also had to make sure to take her time in order to get all the foreign matter out of the wounds as possible. At first glance she'd thought that all she needed to do was stitch him up, set the bones and brace the arm and shoulder against any movement but closer examination proved her original assessment wrong.

Whatever had done this damage had been long, wide and partially sharp able of digging deeply through all the layers of skin and over half the layers of thick muscle beneath.

"How long did you wait before you came and got me?" she half asked, half accused of Jack as she grabbed a stitching needle and degradable string. Mercilessly she slipped the needle through the horribly torn fibers of his muscle, helping pull it closer so it could heal quicker.

The Doctor groaned horribly, the sound coming out a cross between a groan and a scream, as his grip tightened even more. Jack winced knowing he would end up with two deep bruises in the shape of hands by the time they were finished but he didn't mind if it was the only way he could help his friend.

"I was just about to come and get you when you showed up," he explained hoping to be able to leave Ianto out of it. Jack knew that Martha was just as protective of the Doctor as he was and if she found out the Welshman had flat out refused to allow the Time Lord to see her right away she might just put down her medical equipment here and now and haul off and slap him two or three times, after she was done chewing him out of course.

"And that was after how many minutes of conversation? How long from his arrival did you know he was injured?" She interrogated frustrated that her friend had been left in such excruciating pain for so long.

"I didn't tell him," the Doctor growled out. He found it hard to put any cheerfulness in his voice when all he felt was pain so he didn't bother trying.

Gratitude swirled through Jack. He didn't know why the Doctor was covering for him but at the moment he couldn't be happier about it.

The Doctor being the Doctor didn't take insults to heart; he received them too often for him to care. Most beings to him, while being marvelous, brilliant and fascinating were also ignorant and miniscule in the grand scheme of things.

Jack new that the Doctor hadn't taken the stern dismissal from Ianto personally but Jack had. It annoyed him that his friend would be so uncaring towards a being he considered one of his oldest and best friends.

He winced as the Time Lord's grip tightened even more, how he didn't understand, but soon replaced the wince with an even look, smiling whenever the man who was clinging to him looked up at him with pleading brown eyes.

"How's it going back there?" he asked conversationally for the benefit of all in the room.

A light ping echoed throughout the room as Martha dumped the used needled into a basin for disposal or sterilization. "Almost done; I just need to apply some cream to the stitches to help with drying, itchiness and pain then I can bandage them up." The two men released sighs of relief but Martha continued still, "Then I can set his arm and brace it."

"His arm, what's wrong with his arm? I thought he just had the scratches."

"Jack you should know when the Doctor does something it's never halfway," Martha teased though her chocolate brown eyes spoke volumes of the concern she felt. "He's broken his humerus in at least three different places."

"Well that's not very funny," Jack said with a half smile. "Badda bump, psh," he added sounding like a drum and cymbal after a bad joke.

Both Martha and the Doctor looked at him with a look that said, "Seriously?" but neither spoke as Martha stepped around and grabbed the Doctor's upper right arm. With a sharp, professional twist she set the misaligned bones of his humerus into place while doing her best to ignore the hoarse scream that echoed from her friend.

She wrapped a thin, foam medical brace around the bicep then attached a plastic clamshell brace on top, fixing the band of it over his head and around his chest before securing it to the injured arm. She wrapped another foam medical brace around the back of the strap that attached to his chest to provide cushioning and separating the strap from the newly inserted stitches.

"Okay time for the sling," she said with a smile more than a little happy that her work was done. She hadn't enjoyed causing her patient pain that the feeling was only increased by the fact that her patient also happened to be her friend.

"Martha I'm not really sure I'll need it," the Doctor announced gruffly.

"You may be called the Doctor but between the two of us I'm the one who actually has the medical degree so why don't you leave that decision up to me hm?"

"Oi when did you get so bossy?" the Time Lord replied sounding indignant but looking anything but as a grin spread across his face as she helped him slip the sling on.

"You should know Doc, she's always bossy when it comes to her patient's health," Jack said with a cheeky smile.

"Which you are. Hey don't glare at me," Martha defended holding up her hands in innocence, "blame the TARDIS if you don't like it. Tomorrow. Right now you're going to rest," she turned her attention to Jack, "Is there a bed he could use and get to."

Jack frowned slightly. The 'get to' portion of her question told him that the offer of his bed was out of the question since the Doctor would have to climb down and up to get to it but he also assumed that Martha wanted the Time Lord to sleep right away which meant that trying to find him a room was out of the question.

An inviting hum filled the hub and for the first time since he'd arrived, the Doctor relaxed on the chair.

"I think the TARDIS is saying he can stay with her until we can find him a different place to stay," Jack answered though he knew Martha already knew that.

"Okay, lets go Doctor and don't think of locking those doors. One of us will be checking on you every now and then and we'll need access. I know the TARDIS will provide whomever it is directions to your room so that won't be a problem-"

"Oi how do you know the TARDIS would be so hospitable?"

Martha smiled sweetly, "Because she just told me. She may be willing to let you sleep in her but she still wants you to take a vacation and relax which means letting us help you heal as slowly as your "superior Time Lord biology" can go. Now come on, march mister."

She waited until the Doctor started moving before grabbing two vials and a syringe. The best thing for him right now would be to rest which wouldn't be very comfortable for him without the help of pain medication (care of the Pari planet) and a sedative from Earth. She knew his body would process the sedative too quick for it to work longer than twenty minutes but she figured that would be just long enough for him to fall deeply asleep and let his own biology take over.

The three of them walked into the TARDIS and straight to the Doctor's bedroom where a big, cozy, inviting bed waited complete it several pillows. Martha stepped forward and placed half of the pillows against the wall then motioned the Time Lord to come and sit down, which he did obediently. Once he was seated Martha added a couple more pillows, making sure the softest of them were in a position to support the injured and torn back and shoulder.

"I'm going to give you a non-aspirin pain medication and a sedative alright?" Martha asked as she filled the syringe with the vial of pain medication.

The Doctor gave a loud sigh, not at all happy with the idea of being drugged. "Yeah alright," he conceded at last.

She offered an encouraging smile before swiftly inserting the needle full of both medications into his uninjured arm, pushed down the plunger then pulled out again, using her thumb in an effort to soothe the irritated skin as she drew little circles.

"Alright. Get some rest and Jack or I will be in to check on you in a bit," she instructed professionally offering a sincere smile as his eyes began to droop. She gave him a kiss on the forehead before she headed for the exit.

Jack offered a smile as well, bent down to repeat the same kiss that Martha gave then followed his friend out the door and out of the TARDIS.

Since Martha still had an autopsy to finish they decided that the first person to check on the Doctor should be Jack who agreed readily. But first he needed to have a conversation with Ianto and the rest of his team. He knew they had questions and he was finally willing to answer them.

There you go! I have an idea of where this story is heading but it wasn't planned. The story just kind of attacked me and I started writing to see where it would go. I hope you liked it. Please Review and let me know what you thought!