Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Rose! It’s time to get up to go to work, if you don’t hurry you won’t be able to fix your bed head hair!” Layla says as she pounds on the door leading to Rose’s room. She puts her ear to the door and chuckles as she hears Rose grumbling inside after being woken up.

Layla walks into the kitchen and cooks up breakfast for herself and Rose quickly while humming mindlessly. She is eating her breakfast when Rose shuffles in yawning. “Good morning, Layla.” She mutters tiredly.

“Here Rose, I made extra of my food for you to have. You seem to have gone back to sleep after my first attempt to wake you up after I got done working out.”

Rose looks faintly disgusted at the thought of eating eggs with spinach and turkey bacon. Layla looks on faintly amused while Rose contemplates eating or not. Layla gets up and pulls out a plate of plain eggs, regular bacon, and toast from the oven to keep it warm. Rose instantly brightens up, sending Layla a smile in gratitude and starts eating her food quickly. “I don’t see how you can stand to eat that stuff, it’s not very appetizing.”

“I’ve been doing it so long that I enjoy it. Plus, it is healthier and I want to stay fit. You should join me when I work out and eat the food I do, it is far healthier than all the chips you eat, you know?” Layla teases knowing very well that Rose will never join her again after the one and only time she ever tried exercising with her.

Rose blanches, having flashbacks of that traumatic morning. “How about not. Plus, while I eat a lot of chips, I haven’t gained weight so I’ll stick to my chip diet…and you stick to your food.”

Layla playfully pulls a face in amusement and looks at the time. “Oh, we have to go or we’ll be late.” They both exit the kitchen passing by Rose’s mum, Jackie, who is sitting on the still in her dressing gown watching the telly.

“Bye mum, love you!” Rose says giving her mum a kiss on the cheek and grabbing her jacket and bag.

“Bye Jackie, see you later, have fun on your day off today!” Layla says as she grabs her mobile and keys.

“Bye girls, have a good day at work. Be careful while you’re out.” She mutters distractedly, absorbed by her program.

Xxxxxx

The girls realized they are slightly behind and rush to make it to the bus stop in time. “Whew, made it.” Layla states as she looks at Rose amused by her slight huffing from the short amount of fast walking they had to do. “See this is why you should join me for my workouts. It would increase your stamina. I’m sure Mickey Mouse would enjoy that too.” She wiggles her eyebrows and leers suggestively.

Rose sputters and blushes as her best friend says that with no discretion surrounded by people. Rose thought that after having lived with her for five years and being best friends since they were preteens, she would be used to Layla making comments like this and having no shame in what she says. “Pervert, I do fine on my own and have had no complaints.” She slightly whispers back. Rose sends a glare to her friend when she laughs at her for being embarrassed. She slightly envy’s Layla for being bold and herself without worrying about being mortified. They begin to talk about what they plan to do later that night when the bus stops announcing their stop and they make their way off the bus. They both sigh as they look up at the being of their job.

“We need to get better jobs.” Layla mutters as they make their way to the staff lockers.

“You might be able to, you have you’re A-Levels, but I don’t. Maybe I should go back and get them.” Rose replies.

“Well, I don’t know what I want to do as a career right now, I want to travel, but that requires money. If you go back to school, I’ll help you study. I think it would be a good idea if you did though.”

“I’ll think about it, but thank you for your support. Are you coming to lunch with me and Mickey?”

“Yeah, I’ll come with you two, I never miss an opportunity to make fun of Mickey Mouse.” She retorts cheekily.

“You’re so mean, he still blushes and tears up his banana to this day because you pushed his head down when he was going to take a bite causing him to deep throat it.” Rose whispers that last part quietly.

Laughing loudly at that memory. “Oh come on you know it was funny.”

“It was traumatizing to him!” Rose tries to look mad, but she quickly starts sniggering at the memory too. “Alright it was funny, but don’t tell him I said that.”

The girls are still chuckling as they clock in and go meet with the manager to find out where they are going today. “See you at noon Rose.” Layla says as she goes the opposite way Rose is going after they got their tasks.

“See ya!” She calls back.

Xxxxxx

“This is a customer announcement; the store will be closing in five minutes. Please make your way to the registers to check out. Thank you, and have a great evening.”

After the hours go by slowly for the girls, it is finally time to go home. Rose and Layla are talking to each other and joking around when they are stopped by the security guard waving a plastic bag in front of them that holds the lottery money. Rose sighs and grabs the bag and heads towards the lift. Layla not wanting to leave without Rose, goes with her. They take the lift down to the basement and go to Wilsons office.

“Wilson? I’ve got the lottery money. Are you in there Wilson?” Rose, getting a little irritated at not being answered, knocks again and harder this time. “They’re closing the shop, Wilson; I can’t stay here much longer. Wilson! Ugh.”

Layla is smiling in amusement, she loves her best friend, but she has to admit that Rose gets irritated too easily, especially when you don’t answer her when she demands an answer or thinks she should get one. The girls jump in shock having heard a noise down the corridor, not expecting it. Layla looks down the corridor suspiciously while Rose calls out for Wilson again. With no answer, they both look at each other before shrugging and walking down the hall towards the noise.

“Rose, ever heard of horror movies where the girls in the movies go towards the noise and everyone yells at the screen for them to not go, and how stupid they are?” Layla asks her quietly.

Rose gulps, already having doubts about continuing since there was no reply’s back. “Yeah, why?”

“Well, those girls are always horribly murdered…. hope that doesn’t happen to us.” Layla then starts to laugh at the scared look on Rose’s face. “I’m joking Rose. We should go check anyways incase Wilson was in there and he is hurt and unable to answer us.”

Rose glares at her but agrees with the statement, now worrying that Wilson might be hurt. They get to the door where they heard the noise and Layla opens it and turns on the lights. “Wilson? Are you okay? It is Rose and Layla, do you need help?” They weave around the boxes of clothes and dressed mannequins. As they get further into the room, the door they came in at slams shut.

“You’re kidding me.” Rose says as she runs back to the door trying to open it.

“Well shit.” Layla says blankly at the same time when she sees that the door won’t open.

They both quickly turn around when more clattering happens behind them. Rose is looking scared and worried while Layla, the more protective of the two, is starting to get angry. “Who the fuck is there?” Layla asks crossly as Rose asks who is mucking around.

A mannequin twitches and starts to move and it walks towards them “Very funny, you got us. Very funny.” Rose says sarcastically hoping that it is a prank. Layla quickly goes to Rose’s side, ready to take action to protect her. More and more mannequins are twitching and then walking behind the first. “Right, we’ve got the joke. Whose idea was this? Is it Derek’s? Derek is this you?” Rose asks nervously. Hair on the back of her neck is standing up and she is grasping the back of Layla’s shirt tightly.

“Rose, while I wouldn’t be surprised that Dickhead Derek would play a prank on us, I don’t think this is a prank.”

Rose huffs at how even in a time like this, Layla still expresses her dislike of Derek. The girls both start to back up with Layla in front of Rose as the mannequins start crowding around them. With them up against the wall, the mannequin that is in the front lifts its arm up as if to take a swing at them. Layla goes on the offensive and kicks the mannequin in the stomach. More mannequins start to advance when Rose feels someone grab her hand from the side of her.

“Run.” The Doctor says, as he watches the mannequins starting to come closer. Layla, unknowing of the Doctor being here, is startled when she feels a hand wrap around her hand and yank her out of the room. She sees that Rose is the one who grabbed her, but an unknown man had grabbed Rose’s and was pulling them away from the mannequins. The mannequins are chasing after them quickly, well as quick as a plastic mannequin can, which was actually pretty fucking quick. The Doctor pulls them through the basement and into the lift and presses the button to close the doors. The lead mannequin is able to squeeze its arm in before the door closes all the way. The girls watch on, one is panic and the other is curious and full of adrenaline, as the Doctor grabs the arm and with a few tugs pulls it off the mannequin and the doors close.

“You pulled his arm off!” Rose exclaims while still slightly panicking.

The Doctor throws the arm to Rose. “Yep. Plastic.”

“Very clever.” Rose says sarcastically, now finally starting to calm down since they are away from the mannequins.

Layla turns her eyes from Rose to the Doctor and takes a better look at him. He was taller than her with short brown hair, slim face, and big ears and nose, but on him, it fit his face nicely. He was wearing a black leather jacket with a black jumper under, and black jeans, and boots. Overall, she approves, loves the black, and finds him to be very attractive. “Considering how easily you pulled it off and there wasn’t an arm attached, I’m going with it not being a human attacker. Also, there were no wires that I could see, so not electronic. So Stranger, what did you do that semi naked seemingly moving plastic felt the need to attack?” She questions and looks at the Doctor expectantly.

The Doctor had been trying to ignore both of the girls so he could do the job he came to do. He didn’t need anyone else butting in and getting in the way. However, there was something about the way the woman asked her question. She asked it calmly, knowingly. Like she knew she was right about what she said, but wanted confirmation.  He turns to look at her and feels like he has been punched in the gut. Before, with the mannequins, the adrenaline, and that he hadn’t looked at her when he pulled the other girl out of the room had hidden what he just now discovered. He can barely breath, and that is saying something since he has a bypass respiratory system. His hearts are pounding, his palms begin to sweat, and blood is rushing in his ears.

He never thought this would happen to him. Especially with what happened to his people. He knew it could happen with other species, but the chances of that are low. He didn’t know if he deserved this, no, he knew he didn’t deserve this, but it was an opportunity that he wasn’t going to let slip past him. She will mean everything to him. His Promised One, or to humans’ beliefs, his soulmate, but to Time Lords, it was so much more than that. She was also the most beautiful woman he has ever seen. He didn’t know if that was the bond talking or not, but he didn’t care either way.

She had hair that was short, pixie like, cut very short on the sides and back and longer on the top that was styled up and towards the front. Oddly enough she had white hair. He wondered if it was dyed, but seeing that she had white eyebrows and eyelashes he didn’t think so. She had the palest blue eyes, almost like they didn’t have a color at all that stood out with the brushings of red eyeshadow and lovely pale skin. Ah, he thought she is albino, but that didn’t take away from her beauty. She almost looked unearthly. She was 5’8 roughly, and her body; he swallowed hard and he feels his cheeks start to warm up. She was wearing a black pleated skirt with fishnet stockings under and white Doc Martin boots, black fingerless arm warmer gloves, a choker necklace, and a black and white checkered corset vest accentuated her curves and tiny waist nicely. She also had snakebite lip piercings, both nostrils pierced and several in her ear. He could see a few medium sized tattoos on her biceps, one had a coffin with chains and a key on a necklace. The other bicep had a grim reaper and a skeleton. Overall she was a very striking woman.

Realizing he had just been blankly staring at the woman, he clears his throat. He then thinks back and remembers she asked him a question. The Doctor is amused by her blunt and very accurate question fires one back at her. “What makes you think they are after me and not you or your friend?”

“Wait it has to be a prank, right?! Some students or something?” Rose asks. Both the Doctor and Layla look at Rose, both having different reactions. The Doctor had forgotten about the other girl and Layla was just blankly staring at Rose, waiting for her to catch onto the silliness of her question. Rose looks back at Layla. “What? It is a good question!... Isn’t it?”

Layla just facepalms at Rose and slightly shakes her head. She turns back to the Doctor and gives him a deadpanned look. “Unless they wanted the lottery money we dropped back there, why would they continue to chase us after trying to attack us? Besides I haven’t done anything to warrant moving plastic mannequins coming after me. Well unless Jimmy Stone has something to do with them, but he is dumb as fuck, so I highly doubt that.” She says remembering the time she beat up Jimmy for breaking Rose’s heart after she left school for him. “With Rose, well Rose is pretty vanilla, so there wouldn’t be any reason for them to come after her.” She smirks cheekily at Rose at this. “So, logically they are after you. No Rose, like you said, he pulled the arm off of one. Students are not involved. Of course, I could be wrong and it is robotic, but like I said before, there was no wires, unless it was a wireless type of robot. I highly doubt that though, who would want to have robotic mannequins anyways? I’m going to go with something that had nothing to do with humans and it was something else. Or it could have been magic.” She crossed her fingers in hope that it was.

Stunned at her intelligence, he gives her an appraising look as the elevator opens. Remembering that he has a mission to do, he walks out of the elevator without answering his Promised One’s question. I need to find out her name. Seeing as the girls have the option of either following him or going back down to the mannequins, they both choose to follow him.

“Wait what about Wilson? Was he still down there?” Rose questions the Doctor.

“Who is Wilson?” He responds, but is looking at Layla as he asks his question.

“He is the chief electrician.”

He gives Layla a sad look. “Wilson is dead.”

Rose huffs at being ignored and gets slightly irritated. “That’s sick! That is not funny at all”

The Doctor, wondering why this girl would think that he would joke and laugh about someone’s death, ignores her as he disables the lift mechanism with his sonic screwdriver. “Mind your eyes.” He warns. Layla ignores his warning and looks as he takes… is that a sex toy? Because it kind of looks like one, she wonders incredulously. She watches as he disables the lift.

Tired of being ignored Rose demands. “Who are you then? Who’s that lot down there? I said, who are they!”

Irritated that she won’t stop her demanding screeching, turns to her and answers. “They are made of plastic. Living plastic creatures. They are being controlled by a relay device on the roof. That would be a great, big problem if I didn’t have this.” He pulls out something from his pocket that should not have been able to fit inside, and they can see it is a bomb. “So, I am going to go up there and blow them up, and I might well die in the process, but don’t worry about me. No, you go on home. Go on, enjoy your lovely beans on toast. Don’t tell anyone about this, because if you do, you could get them killed.” He shuts the door on them that leads to the roof as he finishes his statement and the last thing they see as the door closes is a big grin on his face. He then remembers he still doesn’t know his Promised One’s name. He opens the door back up still smiling. “I’m the Doctor, by the way. What’re your names?”

“Rose.” She says perplexed at the swift changes in the man.

“I’m Layla.” She says in amusement. She can’t help but smile when she sees his grin.

If possible, his smile seems to brighten having finally learned his Promised One’s name. “Nice to meet you, Layla and Rose. Now run for your lives.”

“Doctor?”

“Yes, Layla?” The longer they stand there the giddier he is becoming at having her attention on him. Wow, the desire for attention sure does kick in quick, he thought.

“Do you need help?”

“You want to help me blow up a building?” He asks surprised.

“What? No! I want to help you with this living plastic stuff. Seems like we’re in trouble if it killed an innocent person Wilson for no reason.”

“Are you going crazy Layla? This is mental, we need to leave right now!” Rose exclaims.

The Doctor was torn. He wants her help and to be around her, but just not at this moment, not while he is going to blow up a building and she could get hurt. Reluctantly he has to say no to her. “No, Layla, I have it covered, but thank you for the offer.”

“Okay, please be careful.” She says seriously. “It would be a shame for the women of this world to lose a cutie like you.” She says in a lighter tone with an impish grin. She gives him a wink and laughs at his stunned look. If anyone else had told her they were going to blow up a building and living plastic she would back away quickly so she doesn’t get murdered by a nutter. However, with this Doctor, he has kind eyes and she has a feeling she can trust him, and surprisingly she does, even after just meeting him.

The Doctor feels his hearts speed up, happy that even though she just met him, and after telling her he was going to blow up the building, she is being so kind and wishing him well. He is also shocked at her compliment. He can already tell he will enjoy being around his Promised One. “I will. Hurry out. Don’t want you getting hurt.” He says and means that fiercely, he never wants her to get hurt.

After he closes the door, Rose, afraid about being in the building with a bomb takes off running with the mannequin arm still in her hand and shouts over her shoulder. “Come on Layla!” Layla takes one last look at the door and bites her lip before running after Rose. He will be fine, she thinks, but she can’t help but worry about this stranger.

xxxxxx

The girls make their way to the main road, looking at the mannequins in the store window worriedly. They don’t have to wait long before a huge explosion happens on the roof and a giant fireball takes out the upper floors of Henrik’s. They look at each other, both realizing that this will be all over the telly and Jackie will be worried, run off to get home quickly, passing an old out of date police telephone box that is parked in the alley between two other stores.

xxxxxx

“The whole of Central London has been closed off as police investigate the fire…”

Rose flops down on the chair and Layla lays on the couch as Jackie walks into the room while on the phone. “I know. It’s on the telly. It’s everywhere. They are lucky to be alive. Honestly, it’s aged them. Skin like an old bible. Walking in now you’d think I was her daughter. Of course, with Layla she can pull off the grandma look with her white hair.” Jackie catches the pillow that Layla threw at her and smirks teasingly at her, the joke helping to ease her worry over the two girls. Jackie was so anxious about the explosion and she is glad they are home and safe. She hands Rose a cup of tea and Layla a water bottle. “Oh, and here’s himself right now.”

Mickey enters the room and goes straight to Rose. “I’ve been phoning your mobiles. You could’ve been dead!” He says to both of them. “It’s on the news and everything. I can’t believe your shop went up!”

“We’re all right, honestly. We’re fine! Don’t make a fuss.” Rose says tiredly.

“Well, what happened?” He asks.

Rose looks slightly panicked at the question and Layla cuts in to help her out. “Don’t know, we weren’t in the shop when it happened. We were on our way home.”

“Here it’s Debbie on the end. She knows a man on the Mirror. Five hundred quid for an interview.” Jackie holds the phone out to Rose.

“Oh, that’s brilliant!” She takes the phone and quickly hangs up on her. Jackie huffs and Layla is quietly laughing at the two.

“Well, you’re got to find some way of making money. Your job’s kaput and I’m not bailing you out.” She says will little heat knowing she would always help them if she could. The phone rings again and Jackie answers it. “Bev! Their alive. I’ve told them, sue for compensation. They were within seconds of death.” She trails off as she leaves the room. Both girls look exasperated with her dramatic act, but is glad that she being her normal self after hearing about the explosion.

“What are you drinking, tea and water? Nah, that’s no good. No good at all. You both are in shock. You need something stronger.” Mickey says while putting Rose’s tea on the table.

“We’re fine.” Both of them say at the same time. Mickey Mouse must be taking lessons from Jackie on how to be dramatic, Layla thinks.

“Now, come on, you deserve proper drinks. We’re going down to the pub, all three of us. My treat. How about it?”

Layla looks at Mickey and smirks. He is laying it on really thick right now. I wonder if Rose put together what he doing, especially since he knows I don’t drink. Rose looks at her and winks, letting her know she caught on. “Is there a match on?” Rose asks knowingly.

“No, I’m just thinking about the both of you babe.” He tries to say innocently.

“There’s a match on, ain’t there.” She states.

Busted, Mickey continues on sheepishly. “That’s not the point, but we could catch the last five minutes.”

“Go on, then. We’re fine, really. Go.”

“Bye. Bye.” Mickey avoids Rose trying to trip him and heads out the door.

“Well, I am going to eat some toast and go to bed. I’m knackered after today. Night Layla.”

“Night Rose, sleep well.” Layla is too curious to go to bed. She sees that Rose brought home the mannequin arm and picks it up looking at is interestedly. She goes to her room and sits at her desk. She looks at the joint where the arm connects to the shoulder and see that it looks like a normal mannequin arm that goes into the torso. No room for a human like she thought and no wires coming out of it either. Wondering how plastic can be living, she questions if it is a type of magic, hopefully. Harry Potter world, here I come, or something else. She tries to think of how it could move and as she is pondering, she is tapping her fingers on her desk. A thought hits her and she looks at her fingers tapping away. Brain waves. Mind control? Her brain is telling her fingers to move like a thought was telling the mannequins to move.

Wondering if she figured it out, she puts the arm back in the living room. She had a strange feeling that they would be seeing the Doctor soon. Well, he did blow up the building, he might not have grabbed a mannequin for himself to examine. Since he purposely went to blow up the building, he was probably chasing after the brain of the operation. If he tracked the relay down to the department store, he might track this arm down trying to find the head honcho. Curiosity now appeased she goes to eat and then go to bed. She wanted to be well rested for what she was thinking would be an interesting day tomorrow.

xxxxxx

The next morning Rose’s alarm clock goes off like normal. “There is no point in getting up, Sweetheart. You’ve got no job to go to.” Jackie says as she drinks a cup of tea while standing in the door frame. She would have said the same to Layla, but she always gets up to work out anyways, losing her job wasn’t enough of an excuse to disrupt her routine. Going into the kitchen Jackie puts bread in the toaster and sits down to talk with Layla about jobs she would want to do.

“There’s Finch’s. You could try them. They’ve always got jobs.” Jackie mentions as Rose shuffles into the kitchen and plops into a chair.

“Oh, great. The butchers.” She moans.

“Well, it might do you good. That shop was giving you airs and graces, and I’m not joking about compensation. You’ve both had genuine shock and trauma. Arianna got two thousand quid off the council just because the old man behind the desk said she looked Greek!” Layla snorts at that. “I know she is Greek, but that’s not the point. It was a valid claim.” Jackie insists as she leaves the kitchen to go back to her room to get ready for the day.

“It’s too early in the morning for her to be this dramatic.” Rose mutters as she sips her tea. Layla went to reply but the both turned their head towards the front door when they heard it rattle. “Mum, you’re such a liar. I told you to nail that cat flap down. We’re going to get strays.”

“I did! Weeks back.” She shouts back from her room.

Layla, figuring that Rose can handle it, goes back to her breakfast while Rose walks to the front door grumbling on the way. “No, you thought about it.” She bends down seeing the screws that once held the flap down on the floor. The flap moves, startling Rose. She hesitantly reaches for the flap and opens it. She is surprised to see the Doctor looking at her from the other side. Quickly she gets up and opens the door to see him looking at her confused.

“What are you doing here?” He is surprised that his signal led him to Rose, but he is now hopeful that he will find more information on Layla. He wants to see his Promised One, but can’t track her down until he deals with the Autons.

“We live here.” She retorts.

We? Annoyed that he had to deal with Rose and not his Promised One. “Well, what do you do that for?”

“Because I do. We’re only at home because someone blew up our job.” She says crossly.

He was hopeful that with Rose saying ‘we live here,’ that Layla is here too. However, seeing as his Promised one doesn’t seem to either be here or close enough to hear Rose getting annoyed, he will stick to his plan to track her down later and talk to her. “I must have gotten the wrong signal. You’re not plastic, are you?” For his own amusement he taps her on the head. “No, bonehead. Bye then.”

Rose grabs the Doctor by his jacket and pulls him inside. “You. Inside. Right now.

“Who is it?” Jackie asks as Rose and the Doctor pass by her room.

As they pass by Jackie’s room, Rose lets go of the Doctor’s jacket to talk to her. “It’s about last night. He’s part of the inquiry. Give us ten minutes.” She continues on her way towards the living room not realizing that the Doctor stopped by Jackie’s door. She bumps into Layla who, having heard that Rose brought someone in, wanted to see who it was. “It’s him Layla, the guy from last night!” Rose whispers quietly to Layla and goes into the living room to clean up some.

Layla smirks in satisfaction that her hunch was right about seeing him soon and looks down the hallway at him. She is able to catch the part of the conversation he was having with Jackie. “I’m in my dressing gown.” Layla can hear Jackie trying to be seductive and holds in a bubble of laughter wanting to see this play out.

The Doctor nods his head obliviously. “Yes, you are.” It’s sad, sometimes he picks up on others intentions and other times it goes right over his head.

“There is a strange man in my bedroom.” Jackie coos.

“Yes, there is.” the Doctor agrees again.

“Well, anything could happen.” Jackie is trying to hint at what she is implying and the Doctor finally understands what she was leading too.

The Doctor blanches, bluntly says “no” and walks down the hall towards Layla. His face brightens up having seen her at the end of the hallway, but he starts to pout when he sees that she is looking towards him and is laughing at what just happened. Although he is happy that she is smiling and laughing, he just wished it wasn’t at him. She also looks fantastic today and feels his hearts speed up. She is wearing a black tank top that had skeletal hands cupping her breasts and ripped up black skinny jeans and purple high-top converses. She also has on the choker she wore last night, studded bracelets on both wrists. He is also able to see that she has even more tattoos on her forearms and they are an array of them. They are randomly placed, but these ones are small. He could see a spider with a web, a few skulls, stars and moons decorated throughout. There are also bats, ravens, and even a black cat, and he can see the theme she is going for.

Layla couldn’t help but laugh at what she had just seen. While she didn’t want Jackie to be upset at being turned down, the Doctors reaction was just too great to not laugh at. Although he was irritated at the blonde ape for bringing him inside when he has a mission to do, he is happy that he gets to see his Promised One after all and sooner than he planned. He goes to talk to her when Rose interrupts when she sees him.

“Don’t mind the mess. Do you want a coffee?” She asks.

Wanting to prolong the visit more he agrees. “Might as well, thanks. Just milk.” Rose continues to talk to the Doctor about going to the police while Layla looks on at the Doctor as he is walking around the room, ignoring Rose. Rose won’t be happy about that. When she wants answers and gives suggestions, she demands action, Layla thought with humor.

The Doctor, realizing why Rose dragged him in, starts ignoring her while going around in the living room looking for more information about his Promised One without seeming like a creep. He was also nervous about starting a conversation with Layla, so playing the curious card might help with his nerves. He was a lot older than her, well obviously he thought, but not just in literal age, but in the way his new regeneration looks as well. He looked to be in his 40’s while she looked to be in her early 20’s at most. He looks in the mirror on the wall and thought in dismay, oh she would never fall for this daft old face. “Ah, could have been worse. Look at the ears.” He says out loud while flicking his ears and is giddy at hearing Layla chuckling.

“I think they fit your face nicely, very attractive.” Layla says with no shyness and is pleased when she sees a dusting of pink on the Doctor’s cheeks.

“I’m not blaming you, even if it was some sort of joke that went wrong.” Rose continues to talk from the kitchen not realizing her audience was not even listening.

The Doctor then picks up a book from the table and flicks through it quickly. “Hmm. Sad ending.” He continues to walk around the room taking it in, while subtly looking at his Promised One. The Doctor picks up some mail, hoping that he can learn Layla’s last name, and with luck when he sees Layla Stevenson and the next one says Rose Tyler on the envelopes.

“All the same, he was nice. Nice bloke.” Rose babbles on.

The Doctor sees a deck of card and wants to show Layla a card trick he learned and starts trying to shuffle the deck while saying, “luck be a lady.” Layla was taking a drink when the cards that the Doctor was shuffling goes flying everywhere and she chokes on her water in laughter while the Doctor looked sheepish at having failed.

“Anyway, if we are going to go to the police, I want to know what we are saying. I want you to explain everything. I don’t even know your name. Doctor, what was it?” Rose asks as she finally comes into the living room with the coffee and gets the Doctor’s attention.

“Just the Doctor.” He replies back.

Rose scoffs. “Like that is your name. Layla, do you believe that?”

“Hmm, yes. Even if it is a nickname, he doesn’t know us and he might not feel comfortable enough to tell us his name, even if that is what most humans do. Besides, even if it isn’t his real name, that is how he introduced himself and seems to be what he prefers to be called. Who am I to tell him that his chosen name can’t be used? Not really any different than some music artists names that are out nowadays.”

The Doctor is surprised. Everyone questions his name or tells him that it isn’t his name. While she might wonder about his real name, she is willing to call him the Doctor because it is what he prefers. Rose, used to the way Layla thinks, looks towards the Doctor, about to start demanding information again when she gets interrupted as the plastic arm that she brought home was now trying to strangle the Doctor. Layla immediately goes to help him, while Rose looks shocked and frozen in place.

With the help of Layla, the arm finally releases its grip on the Doctors neck, and it gets flung in the air towards Rose and attaches to her face, cutting off her breathing. The Doctor gets to Rose first and starts trying to pry it off. Layla stays off to the side out of the way because Rose was moving erratically around trying to get it off. The Doctor gives it a big yank and trips over the glass table and falls on top of it, breaking it, bringing Rose down on top of him. Even in a situation like this, the Doctor flinches at having someone other than his Promised One on top of him. The bond has only just been recognized but it knows it is the wrong person and makes it known to him; at first, until the bond is completed, touching others would cause similar reactions. It gets easier though the more he is around Layla, and eventually he won’t flinch at others.

Layla looks towards Jackie’s room and is glad to hear the hair dryer on. If she came out and seen this, she would blow a gasket. The Doctor, wanting Rose to get off of him, finally brings out his sonic screwdriver and jabs it into the arm causing it to freeze its movements. He squirms out from under Rose. “It’s alright, I’ve stopped it. There you go, see? Armless.” Layla would have laughed from the pun had Rose’s life not just been in danger.

Rose grabs the arm from the Doctor. “Do you think?” And she hits him with it.

“Ow!” The Doctor gets up and grabs the arm. He got what he came for and more information about his Promised One. Now back to work and away from the violent ape.

Xxxxxx

Both Layla and Rose huff as the Doctor leaves. Rose in irritation of not getting answers and Layla from being even more curious about the Doctor and what he is doing. They quickly chase after them, going down the building’s staircase. With his long legs and head start he has a good amount of distance on them. “Hold on a minute. You can’t just go swanning off!” Rose is trying to talk and quickly follows after him and she is getting winded making Layla smirk as her breathing is normal.

“Yes, I can. Here I am. This is me, swanning off. See ya.” The Doctor says back while picking up his speed slightly trying to out walk them.

“But that arm was moving. It tried to kill me.” She cries out.

“Ten out of ten for observation.” The Doctor says at the same time that Layla asks, “did you think you dreamed about the semi-naked mannequins from last night Rose?” The Doctor sends Layla a grin while Rose, just huffs.

She tries to get answers from the Doctor again. “Look, you can’t just walk away. That’s not fair. You’ve got to tell us what’s going on.”

“No, I don’t.” By now the Doctor has made it out behind the flats.

“Alright then. I’ll go to the police. I’ll tell everyone. You said, if we did that, we’d get people killed. So, your choice. Tell us, or I’ll start talking.” Rose says as she pulls out what she thinks is her trump card.

The Doctor scoffs. “Is that supposed to sound tough?”

“Yeah Rose. I’m with the Doctor on this, they would think you are a nutter and lock you up after they laugh in your face.” Layla points out.

“Who are you?” Rose asks for the umpteenth time.

“Told you. The Doctor.”

“Yeah, but Doctor what?”

The Doctor mentally pouts that she said what and not who. It was one of his favorite questions. “Just the Doctor.”

“The Doctor.” Even as Rose says this, she still sounds skeptical.

The Doctor gives a cheesy grin and wiggles his fingers. “Hello!” Layla can’t help but laugh at the silliness happening in front of her. The Doctor, hearing her, turns to her with the same grin and wiggles his fingers at her.

“Is that supposed to sound impressive.” Rose asks snidely.

“Sort of.”

“Come on, then. You can tell us. We’ve seen enough. Are you the police?”

Layla snorts at that. “Rose, the police would have made sure the building was empty before they blew it up, besides that, I highly doubt the police would use a bomb anyways.”

The Doctor nods his head towards Layla. “She’s right. I was just passing through. I’m a long way from home.” He saddens as he thinks of his home. Layla frowns as she hears the loneliness in his voice and sees his slumped shoulders. Something happened when he was at his home if he is this lonely and not going back for a visit.

Rose plows on though. “But what have I done wrong? How come those plastic things keep coming after me?”

Irritated at the blonde for continuing to question him snaps back. “Oh, suddenly the entire world revolves around you. You were just an accident. You got in the way, that’s all.”

“It tried to kill me!” She cries out frustrated.

“Rose, it tried to kill him first. It isn’t after you. We just got in the way like he said. He was the one who blew up the relay, makes sense that they would go after him. We had nothing to do with that, so that is why it didn’t kill us last night, but tried to kill the Doctor when it thought it had the chance.” She was amused at the shock on their faces, but really it was just connecting the dots to figure it out.

“So, what you are saying is the whole world revolves around you?” Rose asks the Doctor.

The Doctor smiles. “Sort of, yeah.”

Rose and Layla smile at this. “You’re full of it!” Rose points at him dramatically. She is definitely her mother’s daughter; Layla thinks with irony, too early for dramatics indeed.

The Doctor just smiles and repeats himself. “Sort of, yeah.”

Seeing the Doctors smile, Rose thought she could get more information. She grabs the mannequin arm from the Doctor and stops walking. “But, all this plastic stuff. Who else knows about it?”

The Doctors smile fades. “No one”.

Layla hears the sadness. “What, you’re on your own? No one else with you?”

“For now, yeah.” The Doctor looks at Layla with a look she couldn’t label. The Doctor turns back to Rose. “Well, who else is there? I mean, you lot, all you do is eat chips, go to bed, and watch telly, while all the time, underneath you, there’s a war going on.”

“Start from the beginning. I mean, if we’re going to go with the living plastic, and I don’t even believe that, but if we do, how did you kill it” Layla wonders why after what they had seen last night and the killer arm earlier, that Rose still didn’t believe him. The Doctor was also thinking the same thing.

“The thing controlling it projects life into the arm. I cut off the signal, dead.”

Rose tries really hard to follow along. “So that’s radio control?”

“No, it is thought control.” He felt bad that she was attacked because of him. “Are you alright?” Layla mentally fists pumps that she was right. She was also proud of Rose for trying to figure it out without sounds sarcastic.

“Yeah, I’m fine. So, who’s controlling it, then?” At this question Layla looks at the Doctor, clear curiosity displayed on her face.

The Doctor sees this, but with Rose there, he has to disappoint her. He wants to take his Promised One with him to see the stars, not Rose. “Long story.” He says and holds back a wince at the disappointment on her face.

“But what’s it all for? I mean, shop window dummies, what’s that about? Is someone trying to take over Britain’s shops?” They all start laughing at the silliness of Rose’s question.

“No, it’s not a price war. They want to overthrow the human race and destroy you. Do you believe me?” He asks hopefully. He wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t believe him, but he hoped his Promised One, did.

Layla picked up on something different that Rose probably didn’t catch. ‘Overthrow the human race and destroy you’ he said you, not us. He isn’t human? That means whatever is causing this war, wasn’t human either. Alien?

Both girls answer at the same time. “No.” “Yes.” The Doctor is filled with relief that his Promised One believes him. He looks at Rose. “But you’re still listening.”

Even more confused about what she was hearing wants to know who this man is. Though she still had her doubts, he was intriguing. “Really though, Doctor. Who are you?”

The Doctor grabs each of their hands, he twitches with Rose’s, the bond yelling at him to let go, that it was wrong to touch her but ignores it, and tightens his hand around Layla’s as it tingles. “Do you know like we were saying about the Earth revolving? It’s like when you were a kid. The first time they tell you the world’s turning and you just can’t quite believe it because everything looks like it’s standing still.”

With his hand holding theirs, they are fascinated as they can feel a change in the air around them, they are completely enraptured. “I can feel it. The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour, and the entire planet is hurtling round the sun at sixty-seven thousand miles an hour. We are falling through space, all of us, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go.” He trails off as he quickly let go of Rose’s hand, but slowly and regretfully let go of Layla’s hand. “That’s who I. Now, forget me, Rose Tyler. Go home.” He gives one last look at Layla, purposely not telling her to go home and forget him, and starts to walk back to the Tardis. He would try to entice Layla to travel with him soon.

Rose, still discombobulated about the experience she just had, turns around and walks back to go home, not realizing that Layla stayed back. Layla is thinking back on everything she heard and understanding what this man was doing. She wants to help, but he already told her he didn’t need it, even if he did sound sad about being on his own. “Doctor.” She calls out. When he turns around, he is surprised and happy that she stayed back. “Thank you. For helping us.”

“You offered your help yesterday, does that offer still stand?” The Doctor asks hopefully. This would be the perfect opportunity to try to entice her, since Rose was gone. She would be able to see the Tardis and we can talk about traveling the universe. Hopefully she would want to come with me.

Layla, surprised, gives the Doctor an excited smile and walks over to him with a pep in her step, if she was a dog, her tail would be wagging madly. “Of course. What can I do?”

“First, there is someone I want you to meet.” He grabs her hand, and feels his hearts speed up. His hand starts to tingle where they touch. He pulls her over to where he parked the Tardis and unlocks the door. He walks inside and tells her to follow him. He can’t wait to see her reaction. He can already feel the Tardis humming in delight. The Tardis herself can feel the connection between her thief and his Promised One and is excited that he finally found her and that he is smiling. He hasn’t smiled much lately since they got back from the war. Hopefully his Promised One can help heal him, mentally and emotionally. The Doctor turns around waiting to see her reaction to the Tardis. He hopes he gets to hear his favorite statement.

Layla looks confused as to why the Doctor went into an old police box…. that shouldn’t even be here in this day and age. Of course, she wouldn’t mind being up against him, he is quite attractive. Shrugging her shoulders, she goes inside and her jaw drops. She looks around the room with awe and childlike curiosity. Seeing all the controls, she realizes that this is probably his ship if he really isn’t human. It looks very technologically advanced than what they have on earth. That bums her out that it probably wouldn’t be magic if there is clearly technology around.

She decides to tease him first but also check to make sure it isn’t magic. “So, you’re a wizard that has magic powers like Harry Potter?” She asks very seriously. It becomes harder to keep a straight face when she sees the Doctor’s reaction.  

The Doctor starts sputtering at the fact that he didn’t get to hear his favorite line and that his beautiful Promised One is under the impression that there is a such thing as magic. Soon, without even realizing it, he is off on a tangent that his beloved Tardis is sentient and there is no such thing as magic and what Tardis stands for. Layla couldn’t take it any longer and burst out laughing loudly. The Doctor stops talking and looks at her with his eyebrows scrunched together. Why was she laughing? His confused face was so cute, but it made her laugh even more. Soon she stops laughing except the few chuckles that still escape. “Based on the acronym of your ship, the inside of your ship is in another dimension, yes? Otherwise, it wouldn’t be possible for the outside to look like a small box, while housing the large area they were standing in.” The Doctor is just gaping at how quick she was to figure it out.

“Fantastic! You are absolutely correct. Great job.” He gives her a big smile that causes her to feel a warmth in her chest and gives him a big grin in return, causing his hearts to speed up at the beauty of her smile. However, that smile soon drops and she looks disappointed. Was that a sigh?! Oh no, does she not like my ship? He soon starts to panic internally.

“Are you sure? Just some alien technology? It would have been cooler if it was magic like Harry Potter, I suppose this is as close as I am going to get to magic like Mr. Weasley’s tent.” She finishes playfully.

The Doctor stops panicking when he realizes she is teasing him and now just looks amused at her playfulness. He knows little about her, but her personality seems to be bright and playful. Her face turns serious and decides to ask him one more question. A serious question. The Doctor realizes that what she is about to say next will be serious and arranges his face to look serious too.

“I have a very serious question here Doctor. It is the matter of life and death.” She pauses for suspense and can see the Doctor leaning forward in anticipation and worry. She has to pinch herself to keep from giggling. “Is there a Harry Potter universe, and if so, can we go to it?”

The Doctor practically stumbles forward at her question and listens to her giggling. He realizes she was teasing him again and sends her a mock glare, but he is hiding his joy that she seems to be taking all of this very well and that she wanted to take a trip with him already. “All in all, she is beautiful. Thank you for showing her to me. I am assuming she was who you wanted me to meet?” She asks and moves her hand over the columns gently.

“Yes, she was who I was wanting you to meet. You don’t have a problem with that though, do you? With us being aliens?” She didn’t seem to give off a vibe that it bothered her, but he doesn’t know her much at all and can’t say for certain, although he is hopeful that she is okay with it.

Layla hums and looks around the Tardis before looking at the Doctor. “No, new species are being discovered every day. If we can find species that are new to us on our planet, why wouldn’t there be different species in the universe? I always thought that there was more out there besides our planet. We, as humans in today’s era, don’t have the technology to travel through space yet besides going to the moon and mars, so it is understandable that it is a big unknown for everyone what exactly is out there in the universe.”

“Fantastic.” The Doctor claps his hands together and starts to move around the Tardis’ console. “So, Layla, first thing we need to do is track the signal from this arm to the source.”

“Won’t it be a problem since you cut the signal off back at my flat?” She inquires. She walks up next to the Doctor and stands next to him, not noticing his hands are slightly shaking from being right next to her and wanting to touch her.

If he didn’t already know what to expect when meeting his Promised One, he might have struggled with the urges that his body is feeling. The bond doesn’t cause instant love, no, but it does cause the body to yearn to be close and touching. It is during those times that their souls can ‘get a feel’ of each other, to get their minds to accept what their souls already know. It is like drawing a moth to a flame, instinctual.

When Time Lords meet their Promised One, it doesn’t take long for them to want to be around each other all the time to get to know one another. It is a sacred bond and if they are already married, that marriage is terminated so they can be with their Promised One. If their parents are arranging a marriage for them and they meet their Promised One, all attempts at other people are prohibited and only the two involved can decide if they want to be together or not, usually they do get together.

The urges calm down the more they get to know their Promised One, but the need to casually touch stays imprinted in the body. They would also be very protective and possessive. They would want their Promised One’s attention on them and not on other possible suitors. Jealousy was very common to see. Usually, it doesn’t take long for Time Lords to marry once they meet their match. The Doctor couldn’t think of anyone that had knowingly given up the chance to be with their Promised One. However, since Layla is human, she won’t feel the urges to the extent that he will. Since the chances of meeting a Promised One in another species were low, not much information on the impulses were documented. From what he read last night, she would trust him a lot faster than she might have normally, and be curious about him. She also would unconsciously give him casual touches as her soul is drawn to his. The thing about Promised Ones is that at first, it is always monogamous, because the souls are trying to merge together, and it is a process that sometimes takes a while. It depends on the species that are merging. But down the line, when the bond settles, if the couple chooses, they could add more people to the relationship, it all depends on the couple and their sexual needs/wants.

But she could still reject him and the bond, but she has to be strong and sure in her feelings and reject him with no doubt in her mind for the slight urges that she would experience to go away. It had happened to a Time Lord who had been matched with a different species. The Time Lord was rejected, but she continued to have the urges to be around her Promised One. She was in agony every day that she couldn’t be with him, and when he died, she killed herself because she couldn’t live without him being alive, he thought.

When bonded, the two involved would join their souls together with the aid of the Tardis’s if the ones matched were different species and when one died, the other followed to prevent the living one from only having half their merged soul, which means, in his case, that Layla’s lifespan will match his, so he would not have to lose her in only a small number of decades. He could spend centuries with her. Unless they have young children, the surviving parent’s soul would latch onto the child or children’s’ soul temporarily to fill in the gap until they are at a self-sustaining age and then the surviving parents’ soul would release to be with their bonded in the afterlife. It is the bonds way of making sure that the progeny is protected until they can take care of themselves and carry on for future generations of the family line.

The thought that he couldn’t win Layla’s heart is an agonizing thought, he didn’t want to be alone anymore. Adding that to the depression he already has about the war, makes him feel like he could cry. He quickly blinks his eyes to remove the urge and focuses back on what she said to distract him from the thoughts that he wouldn’t be with her.  “No, I just stopped the signal from relaying information back and forth, which, without a command, caused it to stop moving. However, it technically isn’t a dead signal. Kind of like an old connection, if I hook it up to the Tardis, I could activate it again to trace it back.” As he was saying this, he was hooking up wires to the arm and when he was finished, he looked at Layla waiting for her next question.

“So, how do you plan on dealing with this living plastic, Doctor?”

“I have to give it a chance to leave earth.” He says seriously, showing no room for debate.

“What about Wilson? They killed him, do we ignore that and let them get away? What are the chances they will even leave peacefully, they already showed they are not peaceful creatures?”

The Doctor hums thoughtfully at her questions. They were goods ones too. “I don’t know what the chances of them peacefully leaving are. However, with Wilson’s death, only three of us know that it was an alien, and anyone would call us nutters if we said so. It would be best to try to get them to leave though to prevent more deaths. I always give them a chance Layla, one that, unfortunately, many tend to ignore, but sometimes, I have to do things that I hate to protect the innocent.” He says sadly.

Layla looks into his eyes and sees the pain of the decisions he has to make. His eyes, they show so much. They look so old, like they have seen more than anyone else, and that he has so much pain in them. “Okay Doctor, you know what you are doing, I’ll support you on this. It would be best to have things go peacefully then to add more deaths to the tally count.” However, she looks over at the arm and sees something that she doesn’t think should be happening. “…It’s not supposed to be melting, right?”

The Doctor whips his head around so fast his neck cracks and he is surprised he didn’t get whiplash. “No, no, no.” He starts to chant over and over as he erratically moves around the console trying to quickly trace the signal before it fades. The Tardis starts to shake and make a strange noise. Layla quickly grabbed onto the railing to keep from falling. With as erratically as he is moving, I feel like there is supposed to be more people piloting this ship.

“Well, I was able to get it to take us to a stronger source of the signal. Maybe we will get lucky. Let’s go see what drew us here.” He says as if everything was going according to plan and nothing went wrong. He opens the door and sees that they are in an alley. He grabs Layla’s hand, and sighs internally at the persistent itch his body had was soothed. The bond has only been known for less than a day and it is already trying to connect. He opens the door that they landed in front of and pulls her through.

They look around and see that they are in the local pizzeria. They weave their way around the employees in the kitchen to go out to the lobby. The Doctor and Layla look around at the customers trying to see what was projecting the signal. Layla spots something very interesting and squeezes the Doctors hand to get his attention. “Is that what we are looking for?” She points to the table that caught her eye.

The Doctor looks at where she is pointing and he grumbles. They see Rose with Mickey, who looks like shiny plastic. How does she not notice that, that is not her boyfriend? They both think the same thing. The Doctor regretfully took his hand from Layla’s and grabs a nearby serving tray. Layla realizes what he is doing, snickers, and grabs a bottle of champagne that was nearby and hands it to him. The Doctor grins at her and has her stay back out of sight of the occupants of the table, but to where she can see hear and see what was going to go down. They listen in onto their conversation and mentally facepalms that Rose still hasn’t noticed something was wrong.

“What was he doing there?” Mickey’s ugly twin asks.

“I’m not going on about it, Mickey. Really, I’m not, because, I know it sounds daft, but I don’t think it’s safe. I think he’s dangerous.” Rose says trying to get Mickey to drop the topic.

Why does she think he is dangerous? Did she look into the Doctor and find out something? Layla ponders. The Doctor is worried that she will agree with or go by what Rose says and then she won’t want to travel with him.

“But you can trust me, Sweetheart. Babe. Sugar. Babe. Sugar. You can tell me anything. Tell me about the Doctor and what he’s planning, and I can help you, Rose. Because that’s all I really want to do, Sweetheart. Babe. Babe. Sugar. Sweetheart.” The doppelganger stutters out.

“What’re you doing that for?” Rose questions and looking at him like she was confused.

Layla throws her hands up in the air in exasperation. That was a total give away that the thing sitting in front of Rose is not the Mickey Mouse she knows and loves, and she still doesn’t see it. The Doctor turns around to face her and looks at her with amusement. He turns back to the table and hold out the serving tray with the champagne to the doppelganger. “Your champagne.”

The Mickey doppelganger doesn’t even look at him. “We didn’t order any champagne. Where’s the Doctor?” The Doctor pouts at being ignored and he hears Layla chuckling quietly. He walks over to Rose’s side of the table and holds out the tray again. “Madam, your champagne.

Rose shoots him down. “It’s not ours. Mickey, what is it? What’s wrong?”

“I need to find out how much you know, so where is he?” He starts demanding and grabs Rose’s hand tightly. Layla has to stop herself from jumping in and protecting Rose. She believes the Doctor can handle it, but ponders to herself why she has so much faith in the man at this point.

Annoyed now, the Doctor asks them again. “Doesn’t anybody want this champagne?”

“Look, we didn’t order it.” The doppelganger finally looks up at the Doctor. “Ah. Gotcha.”

The Doctor is vigorously shaking the bottle up. “Don’t mind me. I’m just toasting the happy couple. On the house!” The Doctor releases the cage corked and it shoots into the doppelganger’s forehead.

They all watch in fascinated disgust as it is absorbed in his head and he spits it out of his mouth. “Anyway.” Mickey says as he gets up and turns his hand into a giant spatula and chops the table with it.

“Yeah, spank that table, Daddy.” Layla quips as Rose flees, screaming, and Mickey wrecks the table. The Doctor quickly grabs the doppelganger’s head and gives it a couple of yanks before it pops off. Seeing this, the other customers inside start screaming.

The doppelganger continues to talk even though he is no longer attached to his body. “Don’t think that’s going to stop me” It starts flailing around. Rose quickly runs to the fire alarm and pulls it while yelling at everyone to get out. Layla is looking out making sure no one gets hurt in the process and that no children are left behind. During the chaos, the Doctor grabs Layla’s hand and Layla calls out to Rose to follow them as they run through the kitchen, back to the door that leads to the Tardis.

The Doctor releases Layla’s hand and seals the door shut while Rose runs down the alley, past the Tardis, but is in dismay when she sees that they are chained and padlocked close. The Doctor looks at Rose in amusement and then turns to Layla and nods his head towards the Tardis.

“Come on, use the tube-thingy.” Rose says as she pulls on the gate.

“It is a sonic screwdriver.” He replies back as he gets his key out.

“Rose come on in here with us. The gate is locked and unless you plan to climb it, come with me if you want to live.” Layla says in her best terminator voice and hears the Doctor snort as he unlocks the Tardis and goes inside.

“Really?! We can’t hide inside a wooden box. It’s going to get us!” Rose exclaims in panic.

“Come on Rose, trust me. We will be fine.” Layla goes inside knowing that Rose would trust her and follow. While Layla wasn’t sure about the strength the outside the Tardis, she had faith that since the Doctor wasn’t running around panicked, then he believed they would be fine. It was a lot to put that much faith into someone so soon after meeting them, but she just had a feeling she could trust him. Plus, he seemed like a genuinely nice guy, I don’t think he would let harm come to others if he could prevent it.

Rose runs insides the Tardis and stops instantly. She runs outside again and around the Tardis. She quickly runs back inside though when her plastic boyfriend finally breaks through the door. She sees the Doctor calming working around the console while Layla is asking questions. “It’s going to follow us!”

“The assembled hordes of Genghis Khan couldn’t get through that door, and believe me, they’ve tried. Now, shut up a minute.” The Doctor says gruffly, focused on wiring the head, not meaning to be rude, but was distracted.

“…What did you do to piss them off?” Layla asks and has to laugh at the indignant look on the Doctor’s face.

“You see, the arm was too simple, but the head’s perfect. I can use it to trace the signal back to the original source.” The Doctor exclaims excitedly with a wide smile.

“So, will this one melt like the arm?” Layla smirks cheekily, although she was worried about Mickey and if he was alright. She didn’t want to bother the Doctor about one person, when the whole earth is in trouble.

The Doctor just looks at her amused and then turns to Rose. “Right. Where do you want to start?

Rose looked overwhelmed as she stared around the inside of the Tardis. “Er, the inside’s bigger than the outside?”

The Doctor smiles happily, he loved it when people said that. He nods his head. “Yes.”

“It’s alien.” She says wide eyed.

“Yes.” He nods again, waiting for her to come to the natural conclusion.

“Are you alien?”

“Yes. Is that all right?” He wonders if she would be as accepting as his Promised One was. However, Layla’s reaction was one of a kind and very different from the disbelief he normally gets.

“Yeah.” Rose says quickly, like she hadn’t really processed the whole conversation. Layla was looking at her worriedly. She could see the meltdown about to happen, between both finding out about an alien, but also wondering what happened to Mickey.

“It’s called the Tardis. T-A-R-D-I-S. That’s Time and Relative Dimension in Space.” The Doctor says proudly with a big grin.

Rose bursts into tears and Layla runs to her and holds her while she cries. Rose’s grips her best friend like a lifeline, extremely worried about her boyfriend. Layla is also worried. While she realized that to the Doctor saving billions was more important than just one person, but to them Mickey meant a lot.

The Doctor rambles on obliviously, hardened by the aftermath of his life and having been alone for a long time that he has become apathetic. “That’s okay. Culture shock. Happens to the best of us.”

“Did they kill him? Mickey? Did they kill Mickey? Is he dead?” Rose’s words are getting harder to understand through her tears. She doesn’t understand how someone could be so heartless and cruel. Layla had been trying to stay positive, that he was alright, but listening to Rose’s questions made her doubt that he was okay. Tears started to gather in her eye at the thought that he wasn’t alive anymore.

“Oh, I didn’t think of that.” The Doctor says carelessly, but winces when his Promised One looks at him with tears in her eyes. His hearts clinch at her anguish and worry about their friend.

“He is my boyfriend and Layla’s best friend. You pulled off his head. They copied him and you didn’t even think?” Rose’s grief turns to anger as she snaps at the Doctor.

“Look, the chances of him being alive are pretty good. They should have kept him alive to maintain the form.” The Doctor says to the girls shamefacedly and with remorse, trying to cheer up the girls. He forgets that he is used to things like this, and this was the first time for the girls.

They both look hopeful and hug each other tight. Letting go, Layla goes to say something when she smells something horrible. She looks at the head and realizes that she was smelling melting plastic. “Um Doctor? The head is melting.”

“Melting.” He says confusedly. He looks over seeing that the head is indeed melting. “Oh, no, no, no, no, no!” He starts running around the console like mad turning knobs and shifting levers.

Rose, not having been in the Tardis when she moves yet stumbles around before grabbing onto a railing like Layla did as soon as she felt the shaking start. “What are you doing?” Rose is gripping the railing tight, confused about what was happening.

“Following the signal. It’s fading. Wait a minute, I’ve got it. No, no, no, no, no, no! Almost there. Almost there. Here we go!” The Doctor rushed the words out quickly. The Tardis stops moving and he is straight out the door like a rocket. Layla is right behind him wondering where they moved to this time.

“Wait Layla! Doctor? You can’t go out there. It’s not safe.” Seeing as they don’t come running inside to escape a headless body, she huffs out a breath and goes outside with them.  She is instantly confused when she sees it is the evening. Wasn’t it just daylight?

The Doctor is lamenting to Layla. “I lost the signal. I got so close.”

Rose cuts in “We’ve moved. Does it fly?” That is what they always show in the alien movies, right?

“Disappears there and reappears here. You wouldn’t understand.” He mutters grumpily, mind still on the lost signal. Layla nods her head thoughtfully, makes sense, humans don’t have access to this type of technology.

“If we’re somewhere else, what about that headless thing? It’s still on the loose.” Rose was worried about it coming across someone and hurting them.

“It melted with the head. Are you going to witter on all night?” He says that like she should have already known that.

“Hey now Doctor, that was a valid question. What if it hadn’t melted and attacked someone?” Layla chided him.

“Are you sure he is still possibly alive? We don’t even know where he is. I’ll have to tell his mother he is missing.” Rose pauses here when she sees that the Doctor is looking at her confused. “You just went and forgot him, again! You were right, you are an alien.”

“Look, if I did forget some kid called Mickey…” The Doctor is interrupted by Rose, and Layla is looking between the two like a tennis match.

“Yeah, he’s not some kid…” Rose doesn’t get to finish because the Doctor interrupts her this time.

“It’s because I’m trying to save the life of every stupid ape blundering on top of this planet, alright?” He shouts out. He then mentally winces when he realizes that he accidentally included his Promised One when he didn’t mean to in that statement even though he knows she is intelligent. He hopes she isn’t upset about that.

However, Layla isn’t upset in the slightest. To her, she sees how much smarter he is than the human race, to be able to travel in time and space and rattle off the knowledge that he does. She doesn’t take it personal about the ape comment, because to him, they are apes.

“Alright.” Rose sulks. However, she moves onto something decidedly more important. “If you are an alien, how come you sound like you’re from the North?”

The Doctor was expecting more questions from her, but not that. He looked at her flabbergasted. Layla can’t help but laugh at both the question and the Doctor’s reaction. “Lots of planets have a north.” He replies without really thinking about what he was saying.

“I think every planet has a north, Doctor.” Layla says and gives him a mischievous grin.

“What’s a police public call box?” Rose asked moving onto the big blue box that was right there.

“It’s a telephone box from the 1950’s. It’s a disguise.” He says brightly and in amusement. Humans are peculiar when they are in shock. At the same time Layla raises her brows, that big blue box is supposed to be a disguise? That is like going hunting in neon pink and using cymbals as a game call. It definitely stands out.

“Okay…” Rose says skeptically. She was thinking similarly. “And this, this living plastic, what’s it got against us?”

“Yeah, you said that it was looking to destroy the human race, but you didn’t say why.” Layla cut in wanting to know what the plastic had against them.

“It has nothing against you humans. It actually loves you. You’re got such a good planet. Lots of smoke and oil, plenty of toxins and dioxins in the air, perfect. Just what the Nestene Consciousness needs. Its food stock was destroyed in the war, all its protein plants rotted, so Earth, dinner!”

“Can we stop it?” Rose asked hopefully.

The Doctor put his arm into his pocket all the way up to the elbow and pulled out a tube of blue slime. Rose gaped at him and Layla looked on curiously. Unable to resist the temptation she steps closer to the Doctor and opens up his jacket pocket and looks inside. She puts her hand inside feeling around and then shoves her arm in feeling the multitude of items and that there was still room where she could reach further in. The Doctor looks at her amused and his hearts skip a beat at her being so close to him.

She pulls her arm out and looks at him. “I want one.” She gently demands. The Doctor almost caves in, but they have more important things to be doing right now.

“Maybe later. Right, now, this is anti-plastic. It will get rid of the Nestene Consciousness.” The Doctor says getting the girls back on track. “But first I’ve got to find it. How can you hide something that big in a city this small?”

Rose was confused again. “Wait, hold on. Hide what?”

“The transmitter. The Consciousness is controlling every single piece of plastic, so it needs a transmitter to boost the signal.” He says as he looks around trying to find it.

“Well, what does it look like?” The girls ask together.

“Like a transmitter.” The Doctor says in ‘duh’ like fashion. “Round and massive, slap bang in the middle of London. A huge circular metal structure like a dish, like a wheel. Radial. Close to where we’re standing. Must be completely invisible.”

The more and more he describes the transmitter, the more the girls facepalm at his obliviousness. They struggle with not outright laughing when he starts questioning their looks of disbelief. Rose just continues to look at it with her lips quirked up, feeling smug that she found it.  Layla gives in and smooshes his lips together like a fish and turns him to face the transmitter. He finally catches on that they are looking at the London Eye, the biggest wheel in the world. He only has one thing to say.

“Fantastic!”

xxxxxx

They all take off running towards the Eye. Rose is all sweaty and huffing, she glares mildly in annoyance at the Doctor and Layla; they were breathing normally. The Doctor loves this. Solving problems, running around, and best thing is that his Promised One is with him and helping. Layla grins at Rose, it’s like she can feel her annoyance, and sticks her tongue out at her in humor.

The Doctor starts talking and Rose wonders how he can still have the energy while running. “Think of it, plastic all over the world, every artificial thing waiting to come alive. The shop window dummies, the phones, wires, the cables.”

Rose jokingly says, “the breast implants.” She was not really realizing how serious the situation is. The Doctor laughs, but he is so used to these situations. Sometimes humor is the only thing holding back the grief.

Layla got to thinking about all the things that would be controlled and how everyone would be in harm’s way. “Oh fuck!” She gasps and slows down unknowingly. Rose and the Doctor heard her exclamation slow down and look at her realizing she wasn’t with them. “What’s wrong?” The Doctor asks worriedly.

“The children!” They look at her and she can almost imagine a question mark floating above their heads and she looks at them in disbelief. “Children play with all kinds of plastic toys!”

They look horrified at her words and collectively they all pick up the pace to get to the Eye. The Doctor gets a warm feeling in his hearts and also in his body at how protective she is to children, even though, in this body, he isn’t big on domestics. What he doesn’t know is that she always thinks about children’s welfare due to her own past. Adults should always protect children; they are the future and innocent, she thinks.

They stop close to the Eye. “We’ve found the transmitter. The Consciousness must be somewhere underneath.” The Doctor says as he looks around trying to find a way down, below the Eye. The girls look around and both spot the manhole and grin to each other as they run over to it.

“Do you think this could be it?” Rose asks Layla.

Layla kneels down and can see through the holes and see an ominous red light shining through. “I think so, look at this light. Go get the Doctor, Rose, I am going to try to get this cover off.”

Rose takes off and sees the Doctor a little way away. Rose cups her hands around her mouth. “Doctor! We think we found a way to get there.”

The Doctor looks over beaming. He sees that it is only Rose and wonders where Layla was. “Fantastic!” He is grinning madly as he follows Rose and sees Layla as she just finished moving the manhole cover to the side. Woah, she is strong. His feels his cheeks slightly burn as he stares at her, she was slightly flushed and a small sheen of sweat starting to gather on her face and neck. The Doctor clears his throat roughly and claps his hands. “Looks good to me. I’ll go first.” He wants to make sure it is safe before the girls go down.

They climb down a short ladder into a brick-built area with lots of chains. “Looks like someone’s sex dungeon: dark, mysterious, and of course, chains. My kind of room.” Layla leers at Rose and the Doctor. They both have different reactions. Rose sputters and blushes while the Doctor’s eyes darken as he looks at Layla and he can feel his cock twitch and harden slightly as he imagines her in bondage. He has noticed that this regeneration is slightly more domineering than his previous bodies, but he wouldn’t be opposed to being dominated either if that is what his Promised One wanted.

“You’re so easy to rile up Rose.” Layla smirks at her friend. She was too busy teasing Rose like always whenever she made a sexual remark that she didn’t notice the Doctor’s reaction. If she had, she would have felt heated from his burning gaze.

The Doctor is able to somewhat pull himself together although his voice is husky and deeper when he talks to them, and leads the girls through a door and down a flight of steps into a multi-level chamber. “The Nestene Consciousness. That’s it, inside the vat. A living plastic creature.”

“Well, then. Tip in your anti-plastic and let’s go.” Rose comments with no filter to her words.

The Doctor is patient and used to humans not seeing the bigger picture. “I’m not here to kill it. I’ve got to give it a chance.”

“Well hopefully it chooses to leave peacefully.” Layla says quietly. She adds in her head, for your mind’s sake. After talking with him about it earlier, it was easy to piece together that there are times where aliens chose not to leave or stop doing what they were doing and he had to take measures to stop them…permanently. She could see the turmoil in his eyes when it was brought up and knows it hurts him to have to do it.

The Doctor walks down to a catwalk that overlooked the seething vat. “I seek audience with the Nestene Consciousness under peaceful contract according to convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation.” The Doctor says clearly and confidently. The stuff in the vat flexes and bubbles as if it was communicating back. “Thank you. If I might have permission to approach?” The Doctor asks, but doesn’t wait for a reply as he is already walking towards it.

Layla was fascinated that the Doctor could understand what this vat of goop was saying. She walked closer to him to see more of their interaction. She hears Rose gasp and sees her moving to a lower level and runs down. “Oh, God! Mickey, it’s me! It’s okay. It’s alright.” Rose whispers to Mickey as she hugs him tightly.

“That thing down there, the liquid. Rose, it can talk!” He is quivering and scared as he whispers back.

“Geez, Mickey you’re stinking.” She turns to the Doctor and Layla and shouts up. “Doctor, you were right! They kept him alive.”

“Yeah, that was always the possibility for them to maintain the copy. Can we keep the domestics outside, thank you?” The Doctor says a little irritated that she was interrupting his conversation. Layla smiles in happiness that Mickey was alright and gives them two thumbs up. She always tried to stay positive and with the Doctor’s words earlier, it was easier to do.

The Doctor sees that Layla followed him and grabs her hand, excited for her to see another alien species. He pulls them closer to the vat. “Am I addressing the Consciousness? Thank you. If I might observe, you infiltrated this civilization by means of warp shunt technology. So, may I suggest, with the greatest respect, that you shunt off?” He tries to be respectful, he really does, but his personality can’t help but be rude at times. Especially when it wouldn’t be helpful to him in the slightest. A face starts to form in the vat of goop and gurgles back at the Doctor.

“Oh, don’t give me that. It’s an invasion, plain and simple. Don’t talk about constitutional rights. I am talking!” The Doctor yells the last bit. A bit more calmly and passionately, he continues. “This planet is just starting. These stupid little people have only just learnt how to walk, but they’re capable of so much more. I’m asking you on their behalf, please, just go.”

“Layla! Doctor!” Rose shouted at them, but she was too late in her warning. Several shop mannequins grabbed Layla and the Doctor. One of them reaches into the Doctor’s pocket and pulls out the anti-plastic.

The Doctor panicked. “That was just insurance. I wasn’t going to use it. I was not attacking you. I’m here to help. I’m not your enemy. I swear, I’m not.” The vat of plastic starts gurgling back to the Doctor and he looks confused. “What do you mean?”

A door slides open to reveal the Tardis. The Doctor struggles more against the mannequins. “No. Oh, no. Honestly, no. Yes, that’s my ship. Wait, that’s not true. I should know. I was there. I fought in the war. It wasn’t my fault. I couldn’t save your world! I couldn’t save any of them!” The Doctor is screaming out in anguish and the vat is arguing back.

Layla could see the devastation in the Doctor’s face as he is pleading to the Consciousness. War huh. Must be what he is suffering from and what happened to his home, maybe. It must have not ended well and I can’t imagine what he went through with him being against violence and trying to save humans and the Consciousness. “Doctor, what’s going on?” She asks.

“It’s the Tardis! The Nestene’s identified its superior technology. It’s terrified. It’s going to the final phase. It’s starting the invasion! Get out and take Rose with you! Just leg it now!”

“Oh yeah like I can leave right now!” Layla says while pointedly tugging her arms that the mannequins are holding. “Besides, I’m not leaving without you. Ohana means family, and family doesn’t get left behind.” Even in a moment like this, she can’t help but try to relieve the tension.

The Doctor would have snorted in amusement if he wasn’t so touched that she wouldn’t leave him behind, but he also grits his teeth because she is being held captive and can’t leave. Layla starts to fight the mannequins that are holding on to her. However, when she dispatches one, more come along. She is taken by surprise when after she tosses a mannequin over the railing, she feels another one pushing at her to follow the same path. She fights and holds on as best as she can, but is soon over the railing taking the mannequin with her. Luckily, she grabs onto the bottom of the railing and is now dangling. Unluckily, the mannequin that pushed her is also holding onto her legs trying to get her to let go.

The Doctor’s hearts pound harshly in his chest and his eyes are opened wide; his face goes pallid. Tendons in his neck are standing out, and he is blinking rapidly. A soft ‘no’ is whispered out before he is struggling like mad to get to her. “Layla! Layla, hold on tight please! Don’t let go!” Blood is rushing in his ears. He is trying to free himself, but more mannequins are holding onto him and he is unable to get away. I have only just found her! I can’t lose her now!

Rose is beyond scared, she is petrified. She had called her mom, and she is out shopping with those mannequins around, the Doctor is being held captive by the mannequins, and her best friend is hanging on for her life, with a mannequin on her legs. Stupid mannequins. Mickey is holding onto her legs crying and she doesn’t know what to do to help. She looks around for anything that can help her to save them. Mickey is shouting at her to just leave him, not seeing Layla hanging from the railing since he is crouched down to the ground and a level above them. But how can she leave her best friend and a man who makes her want to experience new things?

“I’ve got not A-Levels, no job, and no future.” She grabs an axe and chops through the metal ring that is holding a very long chain to the wall and takes a firm hold. “But I tell you what I have got. Jericho Street Junior School under 7’s gymnastic team. I’ve got the bronze!” She runs and swings out along the side of the catwalk kicking the mannequins into the vat. The one holding the anti-plastic was also kicked into the vat causing it to turn blue as the Consciousness cries out in agony.

“Rose!” The Doctor reaches out and grabs her around the waist and pulls her onto the catwalk when she swings by. He quickly let’s go and goes to pull up Layla. Before he can reach out to her though, he sees her fingers slip and she starts to fall. He dives towards her quickly and is able to grab her wrist and he holds on tight.

Determination flows through him and he pulls her up quickly. He wants to hug her tightly, but now isn’t the time. “Now we’re in trouble.” Explosions start and the signals from the Eye stop. The mannequins start to stagger and fall over. The Doctor is holding onto Layla’s hand tightly pulling her towards the Tardis. Rose and Mickey follow behind them. Mickey is on the floor panicking while Rose and Layla grab onto the railing as the Doctor runs around the console piloting her away to a safer place.

The Tardis materializes on the embankment by a row of shuttered kiosks and Mickey runs out, terrified. Rose’s phone rings and sees it is her mother. She listens for a few seconds before she hangs up with a smile. She goes over to Mickey, who is trying to hide behind a pallet. Layla goes up to him and hugs him and tells him she is glad he is alright. The Doctor looks on with a strained smile in the doorway of the Tardis.

“A fat lot of good you were.” Rose says smugly to the Doctor.

The Doctor snaps his fingers. “Nestene Consciousness? Easy.” He painfully remembers the terror he felt when he almost lost Layla and that he couldn’t help her before she got to that point. However, a new determination flows through him to do better at protecting her. She is his to keep and he wants and needs her safe.

“We were pretty useless in there, Doctor.” Layla says with a wry grin.

“Yeah, you’d both be dead if it wasn’t for me. See, I don’t need to be a kickarse mixed martial artist to save the day like you Layla.” Rose says with a cheeky grin.

“Yes, we would. Thank you.” The Doctor is very appreciative to the blonde for helping out.

Layla hugs Rose tight. “You’re the bestest friend I could ever have Rose.”

The Doctor clears his throat to get their attention. “Right then, I’ll be off, unless, er, I don’t know, you two could come with me. This box isn’t just a London hopper, you know. It goes anywhere in the universe free of charge.” The Doctor asked this like it would be no big deal if they said no, but he was tense and starting to sweat. He was just holding himself back from outright begging Layla to come. He also likes the idea of traveling with Rose. She was good companion material. If Layla did come, he also thought she would be happier to have her best friend with her too. Plus, it would help keep him in check and not overwhelming her with his feelings and sexual tension. It’s funny to him, he has been in a lot of relationships but the feelings were never as strong as this. Feelings that he was quickly developing and couldn’t regret that they were happening to begin with, for all that he tried to avoid anything domestic.

“Don’t. He’s an alien. He’s a thing.” Mickey says tearfully, worried that they would be charmed by this new creature and run off with him.

The Doctor glared at Mickey for trying to convince them to stay. “He’s not invited. What do you think? You could stay here, fill your life with work and food and sleep, or you could go anywhere.” He knew he was laying it on thick, but he really wanted them to come.

Rose looks conflicted. “Is it always this dangerous?”

“Yeah.” The Doctor was slightly worried this would deter them, but they needed to know that it wouldn’t always be an easy or fun adventure.

Layla stayed quiet while she waited for Rose to make her decision. She had decided she was going to go; this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. She didn’t want to influence Rose though, especially since she had Mickey to consider. She avoided looking at the Doctor to not give away her intention to go and say something before Rose decided. She can feel him looking at her though.

“Yeah, I can’t. I’ve er, I’ve got to go and find my mum and someone’s got to look after this stupid lump, so.” Rose knew she was giving up a great thing, but she couldn’t just leave and be gone for an undetermined amount of time, especially with her mum looking for her.

Layla could hear the longing to go in Rose’s voice and knew she had to say something so Rose wouldn’t miss this chance. Before the Doctor could say anything she cuts in. “Rose, don’t you remember what Tardis stands for? Time and Relative Dimensions in Space. The Tardis is a time machine. We could be gone for weeks and the Doctor could get us back to this exact time like nothing has happened.” Layla knew that Rose was along for the ride when she beamed a wide and excited smile.

Rose looks at Mickey and kisses him on the cheek. “Thanks.”

Mickey was confused. “Thanks for what?”

She smirks. “Exactly.” She grabs Layla’s hand and follows the Doctor into the Tardis where he pilots her away and dematerializes in front of a baffled and upset Mickey.

Chapter Text

The Doctor claps his hands together and rubs them in excitement. He succeeded. He got both Layla and Rose to join him. “Right then, Layla Stevenson and Rose Tyler, you tell me. Where do you want to go? Backwards or forwards in time. It’s your choice. What’s it going to be?”

Layla looks towards Rose and nodded her head towards her. She didn’t care where they went. She was just excited to be able to travel like this. She also wanted to get to know the strange and intriguing man that had promised them adventures. Rose thought to herself for a minute. She was still slightly skeptical that it could travel in time and she wasn’t sure if she was ready to see the past, so, she decided to go to the future. “Forwards.”

“How far do you want to go?” He asked getting ready to put the coordinates in.

She throws out a number. “One hundred years.”

While Rose and the Doctor were talking, Layla was getting this humming sound in her head. She was slowly walking around listening to the soft hum. She brushed up against the column and the humming got louder. Is... is the humming coming from the Tardis? As soon as she thought that the humming got louder. Are you trying to communicate with me? The humming change as if in confirmation. She can hear the Doctor and Rose talking, but she was more interested in the Tardis right now. She was getting different feelings coming from the Tardis that it was hard to pinpoint what they were. She was getting feelings of being welcomed, happiness, and gratefulness were the feelings she could pick out. There were more though, but more complex than what she understood. She kept going around touching the railings, walls, anything that was the Tardis and trying to communicate back with her.

The Doctor finishes piloting a hundred years. “There you go. Step outside those doors, it’s the twenty second century.”

Rose was astonished. “You’re kidding!”

He could see that Layla wasn’t paying attention, she must have thought that one hundred years was boring. Hmm let’s try... “That’s a bit boring, though. Do you want to go further?”

Rose looks over at Layla and sees that she doesn’t care and shrugs. “Fine by me.”

The Doctor does some more button pushing and lever moving. “Ten thousand years in the future. Step outside, it’s the year 12,005, the new Roman Empire.”

“You think you’re so impressive.” Rose flirts with him.

“I am so impressive!” The Doctor says indignantly. He said it a little loud because he wanted to get Layla’s attention and didn’t want her to believe that he wasn’t impressive.

“You wish.” Rose flirts again not realizing that the Doctor wasn’t flirting back. This man was definitely catching her attention.

“Right then, you asked for it. I know exactly where to go. Hold on!” The Doctor furiously pumps a lever several times and the Tardis is shaking like mad with a huge grin on his face.

The Tardis stops moving and Layla looks at them. “Have you two decided on where to go?” Finally having Layla’s attention on him, he points towards the door with a small smirk on his lips.

“Where are we? What’s out there?” Rose asks in excitement. She doesn’t wait for an answer as she skips to the door.

“Wait! Are we dressed okay for wherever we are? Like we aren’t going to be called harlots for showing ankle like in the 18^th century?” Layla asks, wanting to make sure that what her and Rose are wearing isn’t inappropriate.

The Doctor looks at Rose seeing that she is wearing jeans, a t-shirt and a jacket. The Doctor hardens his reserve as he looks at Layla’s outfit again, pretending to take it into consideration like he hadn’t already ogled her at her flat. He swallows hard at seeing the tightness of her pants and shirt, showing her curves. He jerks his head in a nod. “Yeah, you two will be fine. No problems with what you are wearing. Good job looking out though. There will be times where you have to wear period era clothing. I will let you know when though.”

“Great! Now, onward Rose! We have exploring to do, one step for aliens, one giant leap for us.” Layla points dramatically towards the door. Rose laughs and links her arm with Layla’s and they go to the door and push it open.

xxxxxx

As Rose and Layla go down a flight of steps, the Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to open a large shutter in the wall descends to reveal an orbital view of the earth. He walks over to them. “You lot, you spend all your time thinking about dying, like you’re going to get killed by eggs or beef or global warming or asteroids. But you never take time to imagine the impossible, that maybe you survive. This is the year five-point five slash apple slash twenty-six. Five billion years in your future, and this is the day, hold on.” He pauses for a second and looks at his watch. The sun flares and turns red. “This is the day the sun expands. Welcome to the end of the world.”

Rose looks upset, which the Doctor expected, however, Layla looked at the sun in curiosity. It’s not surprising, Layla thinks, it took millions of years in their own era for things to evolve. It is five billion years past that, so things would have had to evolve even more. Besides, the sun is a star, even stars die.

They look out the window and see a pair of small spaceships approaching the space station. “Shuttles five and six now docking. Guests are reminded that Platform One forbids the use of weapons, teleportation, and religion. Earth Death is scheduled for fifteen thirty-nine.”

Xxxxxx

The Doctor, Layla, and Rose walk along a corridor. The girls are fascinated by the platform and the Doctor is excited for their first adventure off earth. “So, when it says guests, does that mean people?” Rose asked.

“I would assume that it means aliens. The Doctor is an alien, the Consciousness was also an alien, why wouldn’t there be more aliens? Although, I don’t know why they would want to see the earths death, unless of course, the people on earth got their heads out of their arses and welcomed species that are different from themselves?” Layla directs that question to the Doctor.

“This isn’t really a spaceship, more like an observation deck. The great and the good are gathering to watch the planet burn. To them, it is for fun, and by the great and good, I mean the rich.” He replies as he uses his screwdriver on a wall panel.

They walk into a large area with a few display cases and view of space to the front and above. “But, hold on. The sun expanding, that takes hundreds of years.” Rose states in a matter-of-fact way.

“Millions, but the planet’s now property of the National Trust. They’ve been keeping it preserved. See down there? Gravity satellites holding back the sun. The continents shifted, but the Trust shifted them back. So, there the classic earth there.” He talks like a teacher giving a lecture to a student.

“Why would they hold back the sun and shift the continents? Didn’t they think that they would be holding back humans’ evolution if they did that?” Layla asks inquisitively.

“I don’t think they really cared. They had the money to do it, so they used it up. Humans left a while ago though, it came down to the point that money was running out and they knew they needed to find somewhere else to go, so they did. They set out exploring to find other planets they could survive on.”

Rose, glad that no one was left on the planet to die asked, “how long’s it got?”

“About half an hour and then the planet gets roasted.” He says cheerfully. However, in his eyes, he is having flashbacks of his own planet burning and the crushing guilt because it is his fault that it died before its time.

A blue-skinned person with golden slit eyes strides towards them. He asks all of them, “who the hell are you?”

“Oh, that’s nice, thanks.” The Doctor snarks.

The Steward was confused and slightly panicked. “But, how did you get in? This is maximum hospitality zone. The guests have disembarked. They’re on their way any second now.”

The Doctor gets a fantastic idea. “Wait, that’s me. I’m a guest. Look, I’ve got an invitation. Look. There, you, see? It’s fine, you, see? The Doctor plus two. I’m the Doctor, this is Layla Stevenson and Rose Tyler. They are my plus two. Is that all right?”

The Doctor was showing the Steward a piece of paper in his bifold. Rose was gawking at the Steward and Layla was looking between the Steward and inwardly laughing at Rose’s reaction. The Steward looks hard at the paper and then looks at the Doctor and Rose, but lingers a little on Layla. The Doctor bites the inside of his cheek to hold back from saying anything more.

“Well, obviously. Apologies, et cetera. If you’re on board, we’d better start. Enjoy.” He quickly walks away to the lectern with a slight blush darkening his blue skin. That was an embarrassing way to talk to a guest. The white-haired girl was very pretty too.

Rose is still in shock. “He’s blue.”

“Yeah.” The Doctor agrees amused.

“And the Doctor is attractive.” Layla says with a sly grin. They both look at her in disbelief and shock. “What? I thought we were just stating obvious things?” Her eyes light up when she sees the redness in his ears. “How did you get an invite?” Layla asks questioningly.

The Doctor shows Rose his physic paper first, because she had walked in between him and Layla when the Steward showed up. “The paper’s slightly psychic. It shows them whatever I want them to see. Saves a lot of time.” Rose looks at it interestedly. He goes to show Layla, however his mind slightly wanders like usual when he looks at her, and before she can read what new writing was on it, he pulls it back before she could and pockets his bifold.

From the glimpse that Layla got at the paper showed her that it was blank, but couldn’t get a better look before the Doctor puts it away. “That must save you from some trouble. Use it often to get into places you’re not supposed to be?” She asks with her eyebrow raised and her lips quirked up.

The Doctor looks slightly sheepish at being called out. He goes to answer when the Steward announces them. “We have in attendance The Doctor, Layla Stevenson, and Rose Tyler. Thank you. All staff to their positions.” He claps his hands together and a lot of small people appear. “Hurry, now, thank you. Quick as we can. Come along, come along. And now, might I introduce the next honored guest? Representing the Forest of Cheam, we have trees, namely, Jabe, Lute, and Coffa.”

The three newest invitees look as a bark-skinned woman enters with two larger male escorts. They hear the Steward continue. “There will be an exchange of gifts representing peace. If you could keep the room circulating, thank you. Next from the solicitors Jolco and Jolco, we have the Moxx of Balhoon.” More aliens are lined up to be announced.

The trees walk up to the Doctor, who is standing between Rose and Layla, Jabe holds out her hands and in them is a rooted twig in a small pot. “The Gift of Peace. I bring you a cutting of my grandfather.” She hands the pot to the Doctor, who then hands it to Rose. Jabe looks at the Doctor expectantly.

The Doctor begins to pat his jacket pockets, trying to think of a gift he could give. “Thank you. Yes, gifts. Er, I give you in return air from my lungs.” Right after he blows air onto Jabe’s face. He winces inwardly when he realizes he accidentally flirted with her when he didn’t mean to. He just panicked about not having a gift and now his breath gift encouraged Jabe and the attraction to him she seems to have from the look on her face. He looks at Layla and see that she looks amused at what just happened. He is only hoping that she doesn’t have the opinion of him that he flirts with everyone. He is also slightly disappointed that she wasn’t jealous, but remembers that with her being human, that side of the bond will take longer to appear in her. But his side of the bond wasn’t too happy with him and his apparent flirting.

“How intimate.” Jabe says breathily while staring at the Doctor coyly.

The Doctor looks sheepish, and stiff. “Er, there’s more where that came from?”

Jabe doesn’t notice the tension in the Doctor, or how his statement came out as a question. “I bet there is.”

After Jabe and her escorts leave, they see the Steward announce another guest. “From the Silver Devastation, the sponsor of the main event, please welcome the Face of Boe.” Layla is immediately interested in the Face of Boe.

The Doctor was grinning at all the new species the girls get to see. However, when the Face of Boe comes out, he sees how interested Layla is in him. “Interested in the Face of Boe, are we?” He asks Layla, his face somewhat close to hers.

“Yes.” There was no hesitation in her answer. She didn’t even turn to look at the Doctor, too fascinated with Boe. How often do you see a giant humanoid head with straggly hair that looks like a demented science fair project or potions ingredient? Maybe even a member of the Addams family? Since she didn’t look at the Doctor, she didn’t see that Doctor’s smile become strained and the slight jealousy flash across his eyes from not having her attention.

“The Moxx of Balhoon.” The Doctor says as a little blue alien that is sitting on a transport pod approaches.

“My felicitations on this historical happenstance. I give you the gift of bodily saliva.” He then spits right into Rose’s face.

“Thank you very much.” The Doctor says with a laugh as Rose wipes her face in disgust and Layla turns her head and chuckles. The next group appears. “Ah! The adherents of the Repeated Meme. I bring you air from my lungs.” The Doctor doesn’t really have a choice and repeats his ‘gift’. However, he doesn’t think that anyone else would consider it flirting like Jabe did.

A large metal hand holds out a silver ball to the Doctor. “A gift of peace in all good faith.” The Doctor hands the ball to Layla to look at, she then passes it to Rose for her to look at.

The girls get the shock of a lifetime when the last guest is introduced. “And last but not least, our very special guest. Ladies and gentlemen, and trees and multiforms, consider the earth below. In memory of this dying world, we call forth the last human. The Lady Cassandra O’Brien Dot Delta Seventeen.”

A face in a piece of thin skin stretched in a rectangular frame is wheeled in by two men hidden in top-to-toe hospital white hazard suits. “Oh, now, don’t stare. I know. I know it’s shocking, isn’t it? I’ve had my chin completely taken away and look at the difference. Look how thin I am. Thin and dainty. I don’t look a day over two thousand. Moisturize me. Moisturize me.” One of her attendants uses a pump spray on the skin.

People all around her are looking at her in slight disgust. Seeing this, Layla realizes that this is something unique to the individual, not the whole race of humans in this time period. What would cause someone to be so delusional as to remove everything that made someone a human, and think that this is the better way to look and live. In that moment, Layla pities Cassandra. Because she must have lived her life relying on her looks and peoples’ comments on her looks. She must have aged, and thought she wasn’t beautiful anymore, so she resorted to this to be beautiful again in her eyes. She must have relied on other people’s views of her to judge her self-worth.

“Truly, I am the last human. My father was a Texan, my mother was from the Arctic Desert. They were born on the Earth and were the last to be buried in its soil. I have come to honor them and say goodbye. Oh, no tears, no tears. I’m sorry.” Her attendant blotted under her eyes. Rose crept closer to Cassandra as she talked and started to slowly walk around her. She is standing behind Cassandra when she continues on. “But behold, I bring gifts. From earth itself, the last remaining ostrich egg. Legend says it had a wingspan of fifty feet and blew fire from its nostrils. Or was that my third husband? Oh, no. Oh, don’t laugh. I’ll get laughter lines.” People around her are laughing politely, some were a little confused as to what she was talking about though, not being that familiar with human history. Rose was looking at her in disbelief. She glances over to Layla and the Doctor and gives a ‘what the fuck’, look. The Doctor looks amused at her reaction and grins. Layla started to grin, but then she could see the meltdown about to play out in Rose’s eyes.

Cassandra presents her last gift; they wheel out an old jukebox from around the 70’s. “And here, another rarity. According to the archives, this was called an iPod. It stores classical music from humanity’s greatest composers. Play on!” One of the little attendants presses a button. Track 45 is selected and the strains of Tainted Love by Soft Cell rings out.

Layla grimaces at the music, but that turns into a grin when she sees the Doctor bopping around. “Refreshments will now be served. Earth death in thirty minutes.” The Steward announces. Rose seems to finally be at her breaking point and runs from the room.

Layla moves to follow after her to make sure she is okay. The Doctor goes to follow when he is held up by Jabe. “Doctor?” A bright light flashes from the device in her hands. “Thank you.”

xxxxxx

When Layla catches up with Rose, she sees that she is talking to the twig. “You know Rose, talking to inanimate things is okay, but if they start to talk back, you need to get some professional help. Well considering Jabe is a tree woman, and that was her grandfather, I guess he won’t always be inanimate. You doing okay?”

“Yeah, I guess. I was just thinking about how we just hitched a ride with this stranger. We didn’t really even think about it. We don’t even know who he is. A complete stranger.”

“Yeah, I know, but…” Layla gets cut off as they hear the Doctor call for them.

“Layla? Rose? Are you two in here?” He enters the room and walks over to them. “Aye, aye. What do you think?”

Layla smiles. “I think this is fantastic.”

Rose sighs. “Great. Yeah, fine. Once you get past the slightly psychic paper. They’re just so alien. The aliens are so alien. You look at ‘em and they’re aliens.”

“Eloquent, Rose.” Layla says drily.

The Doctor laughs. “Good thing I didn’t take you to the deep south.”

That snaps Rose out of her melancholy. “Where are you from?”

“All over the place.” The Doctor says this like it is no big deal, but he swallows hard at the question.

Layla can see that Rose is going to go on her question tirade, but stays out of it so she can wear herself down from her anxiety of being with a stranger and so far from home. She would probably feel the same, hell, she might not have even come along if it was anyone other than the Doctor. She just knows that she can trust him to have their best interest and safety in mind. She doesn’t know how she knows that; she just does and she trusts her instincts. They have helped her many times in her life.

“They all speak English, why is that?” Rose asks seeing as he was really the only one to ask that to.

“No, you just hear English. It’s a gift of the Tardis. The telepathic field, gets inside your brain and translate.” He very much loved his ship and the help she gave his companions to be able to go on these adventures easier. However, Rose’s reactions are the opposite of what he was expecting.

Rose looked horrified. “It’s inside my brain!?”

The Doctor was definitely perplexed. “Well, in a good way.”

“You are telling me that your machine gets inside my head. It gets inside and it changes my mind, and you didn’t even ask?” She was almost to the point of shouting. Layla looked between Rose and the Doctor. Rose was like a whoopee cushion, all the air had to deflate out of her before she started to think rationally. However, she could see the Doctor was confused at Rose’s reaction. She reaches out and gently grabs a couple of his fingers and gives them a slight squeeze.

“I didn’t think about it like that.” The Doctor turned his hand around and holds hers while lacing their fingers. He sighed in relief, and some tension left his shoulders.

“No, you were too busy thinking up cheap shots about the deep south. Who are you, then, Doctor? What are you called? What sort of alien are you?” Rose demanded.

The Doctor’s hand tightened against Layla’s. “I’m just the Doctor.” He said emphatically.

“From what planet? Where are you from? Tell me who you are!” She asked, not letting it go.

“Well, it’s not as if you’ll know where it is! Why does it matter? This is who I am, right here, right now, alright? All that counts is here and now, and this is me!” The Doctor squeezes Layla’s hand in gratitude, but let’s go to step away from Rose and try to calm down.

“Yeah, and…” Rose started to say when Layla grabbed her hand and squeezed it to get her attention.

“Rose, calm down. Listen, we just met the Doctor, he doesn’t have to tell us something that is obviously a sore point to him. That would be like him demanding answers from you about something you find personal and don’t want to talk about…like your dad. Just let it go, he will tell us when he is ready.” Layla tells her softly and rationally. While she is curious, she wouldn’t demand answers if someone didn’t want to open up.

Rose huffs, but realizes that Layla is right, and arguing with the Doctor over something that doesn’t really mean anything won’t help. She doesn’t want to ruin this trip so she goes up to the Doctor to apologize. “Alright. As my other mate, Shareen, says, don’t argue with the designated driver.” Rose mimics with her phone as if she is going to call someone. “Can’t exactly call for a taxi. There’s no signal. We’re out of range. Just a bit.”

The Doctor, not one to stay angry, accepts Rose’s somewhat apology. “Tell you what.” He takes Rose’s phone apart and messes around with it for a minute. “With a little bit of jiggery pokery.”

“That a technical term?” Rose asks while chuckling. Layla looks on at the two fondly. She loves Rose, she really does, but she is just like her mother at times. She was also starting to care for the Doctor, and didn’t want him upset at something Rose said and did.

“Yeah, I came first in jiggery pokery. What about you?” He asks.

“No, I failed hullabaloo.” She flirted slightly, glad that the Doctor wasn’t mad at her anymore.

“Okay, here you go. You can call home.” The Doctor walks over to Layla to give Rose some privacy with her mum. “Here, give me your phone, I will do the same.”

Layla gives the Doctor her phone. “Thank you. I’m sorry about Rose, I know I don’t have to apologize for her, but she gets like that when she has a hard time accepting something or wants to know information. So, thanks for accepting her somewhat apology.”

The Doctor smiles at her gently. “It’s alright, I’m used to human’s and their reactions to shock. It won’t take long before she isn’t so surprised and overwhelmed. Why are you doing so well though? You don’t seem as freaked out.”

“Hm. Well I am shocked and surprised, but I guess I just hide it better. I am also interested more in learning and seeing about these experiences than freaking out that they are happening. I mean, how often would I run into a time traveling alien that is willing to take me out for adventures? This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for me, and I don’t want miss out because I can’t handle it from shock.”

“Well, for what it’s worth. I am glad you are here. I mean the both of you.” The Doctor stammered and tried to recover from his slip. Rose finishes talking to her mom and walks over to Layla and the Doctor with a look of incredulity.

“Thank that’s amazing, you want to see the bill.” The Doctor grins at Rose’s look of surprise that it worked.

“That was five billion years ago. So, she’s dead now. Five billion years later, my mum’s dead.” Rose says softly.

“Rose, if we were back on earth, and the Doctor came here without us, we would be dead too, but I am sure we would have lived a great life before our deaths.” Layla tries to get Rose to see the reality of their lives and be positive that they were happy.

The Doctor’s hearts clench in distress that had he not gone after the Autons, he would have missed out on meeting his Promised One and then she would have lived without him and him without her, until her death. Thankfully something happens that distracts him. The space station shakes. “That’s not supposed to happen.” He muses.

xxxxxx

“Indubitably, this is the Bad Wolf Scenario. I find the inherent laxity of the on-going multiverse…” The Doctor, Layla, and Rose hear as they pass Moxx talking to a small group around him.

Layla looks around as they enter the room. She sees the Face of Boe and remembers that he is sponsoring the event. She grabs the Doctor’s hand and pulls him to a stop. “I am going to go talk to the Face of Boe and see if he knows anything since he is the one sponsoring this event. You take Scooby-doo here and go talk to others to see if they know anything, and gather some clues.” She points to Rose at the Scooby-doo remark and fake winces when Rose punches her in the arm.

The Doctor pouts at her going to talk to the Face of Boe. He tries not to get jealous, but she was so fascinated with him. “Alright, that’s a good idea. I’m going to walk around and talk to others and see if they can show me the maintenance area.” He sends one last lingering glance towards Layla as she walks away, but turns back to get to work.

“That wasn’t a gravity pocket. I know gravity pockets and they don’t feel like that.” The Doctor starting saying when Jabe walked up to him and Rose. “What do you think, Jabe? Listen to the engines. They’ve pitched up about thirty Hertz. That dodgy or what?”

“It’s the sound of metal. It doesn’t make any sense to me.” She says confused, while being somewhat distracted by the attractive Doctor.

“Where’s the engine room?” He knows that she has taken a liking to him, but he doesn’t want her to misunderstand anything about them.

“Hm? I don’t know, but the maintenance duct is just behind our guest suite, I could show you and your…wife.” She says calculatingly.

The Doctor looks instantly disgusted and Rose looks shy. “She is not my wife!” He states firmly.

Hm. If she isn’t his wife, and didn’t say that they were in a relationship, like a partner, what relationship do they have? “Concubine or prostitute?” Jabe wanted to make sure they weren’t physically together since it appears that they are not romantically.

“No!” He tries, he really does, but the disgust is leaking into his voice more and more and his face has already given away how he feels about those ideas. Jabe is taking his disgust that he is available and is pleased that he is not with Rose. She didn’t think he was with the white-haired girl either, because she felt that he would have said so, and she wasn’t here with him like Rose was.

“Whatever I am, it must be invisible. Do you mind? Tell you what, you two go and pollinate. I’m going to catch up with family. Quick word with Michael Jackson.” Rose was fuming at Jabe and annoyed that the Doctor didn’t stand up for her. She sees that Layla is still talking to the Face and didn’t want to interrupt, so she continues on her way to Cassandra.

Xxxxxx

Layla walks over to the Face and clears her throat slightly. She is super excited to be able to talk to him, but unsure if he can really communicate with her since his head is basically in a giant fish tank filled with water.

“Hello my sweet Layla, it is good to see you again.” Layla jumps as a foreign thought enters her head. She looks at the Face and sees a small smirk on his lips.

“Your sweet? Wait, again? We have met before?”

“Yes. You will learn that when traveling with the Doctor, you will not always meet people in the right order. If I am correct, this is your first trip with him, yes?”

Layla accepts that there is still more to learn about time travel and answers. “Yeah, we just got done dealing with the Nestene Consciousness.” Boe’s eye turn slightly sad, worrying Layla. “How long has it been since you last saw me?” She just had a feeling that this was why he was sad. When he first talked to her, he sounded very happy when he said that he was happy to see her again.

“Always so perceptive. For me, it has been a very long time since I had last seen you. So happy, and enjoying traveling with the Doctor, you were. However, I know that this wasn’t the reason you came over to talk to me. What is it that you wanted to say?” Boe quickly changes the subject before she could ask more insightful questions about the past. He had momentarily forgotten how she was able to piece together things easily and how perceptive she was.

Layla takes the shift is conversation in stride recognizing when someone doesn’t want to continue a line of discussion. “Right, so the Doctor says that the trembling wasn’t a gravity pocket. I thought that since you were sponsoring this event, that you might know something or be able to point us in the direction to go to dealing with this issue?”

“Unfortunately, I do not know much about this station. I just set this up to say goodbye to the earth. However, knowing the Doctor, it won’t take him long to ‘sniff’ out the problem.” Layla can hear the amusement in his voice and realizes the quip he just made in reference to the Doctor. She shares an amused grin with him. She looks over to see the Doctor and Rose talking to Jabe, however she wonders what they were talking about. The Doctor looked disgusted, Rose was getting angry, and Jabe looked pleased?

“Your Doctor is certainty a lady killer. Too bad for them, he focuses his attentions on other things. Anyways, tell me what you think of your first adventure and meeting all of these species?” Layla and Boe continue to talk about different and random things. Layla doesn’t see Rose storm off from Cassandra, nor does she see the Doctor leave with Jabe after one last glance at her

xxxxxx

The Doctor and Jabe leave to the maintenance duct. With the Doctor asking questions along the way to pass the time, and to try to keep Jabe from flirting with him. “Who’s in charge of the platform? There a captain or what?” He asks as he ducks under some dangling wires.

“There is just the Steward and the staff. Everything else is controlled by the metal mind. That is controlled by the corporation. They move the platform from one artistic event to another.” She is walking behind him and is glad for it, she can check him out without him knowing.

“Hm. So there is no one from the corporation on board? No one to help us if we do get in trouble?” He ponders. Looks like I will have to fix this problem then. He grins. “Fantastic!”

“They’re not needed. This facility is purely automatic. The height of the alpha class. Nothing can go wrong.” She is confused though. “Why is that fantastic?”

“So, tell me, Jabe, what’s a tree like you doing in a place like this?” The Doctor asks while looking for something that can give him a clue as to what is going on.

“Respect for the earth.” She replies primly.

The Doctor derides. “Oh, come on. Everyone on this platform is worth zillions. I’m guessing it’s a publicity stunt; in case your share prices drop? I know you lot. You’ve got massive forests everywhere, roots everywhere, and there’s always money in land.” Money is usually involved.

“All the same, we respect earth as family. Mankind is just one of the species that evolved from there. My ancestors were transplanted from there, and I am a direct descendant of the tropical rainforest.” She says with pride. The Doctor finally finds what he is looking for. He uses his sonic to scan a door panel that is stamped as a guide. He fiddles around trying to get access to the maintenance logs, but is denied.

“What about your ancestry, Doctor? I’m sure you can tell me a tale or two.” She asks nosily. “Perhaps a man only enjoys when there is trouble when there is nothing else left. I scanned you earlier. My scanner had trouble identifying you and refused to admit your existence. I am sorry for intruding, but it is amazing you even exist. I want to say how sorry I am.” She gently places her hand on the Doctors arm. She feels him tense up, but thinks it is from what she said.

He is irritated that she looked into him and is touching him, but her words make him think of his home. His eyes start to burn and fill with tears. He takes a shaky breath and a tear drop falls down his face. He clears his throat and blinks his eyes rapidly. He pulls away from her and opens the door and gets back to work. They walk around and he can feel the air conditioning running strong in the room. He walks over to a panel and scans it. “Gotcha.” He pulls it off and they see a spider scuttle out and up the wall. “What the hell is that?” He aims his sonic at the spider, but it starts to fall before Jabe lassoes it. “Hey, nice liana.”

“Thank you. We’re not supposed to show them in public.” Jabe says bashfully.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.” He assures her. He looks at the spider. “Now then, who’s been bringing their pets on board?”

“What does it do?”

“Sabotage.” He says ominously. “And the temperature’s about to rocket. Come on.”

“Earth death in ten minutes”

Xxxxxx

Rose was not having a fantastic time. I should have just gone to Layla and the Face and talked to them instead of Cassandra. She raises her head upward as if asking for patience as Cassandra continued to talk and degrade the ‘mongrels’, ha, like she is any better. “You call them mongrels, but they changed themselves into ‘new-humans’ and you changed yourself into what you think is beautiful. How is what you did any different than what they did? You both did something to change how you were, maybe to better yourselves, but it is still the same.”

“You know nothing child. I am pure, they are not. There is a difference.” Cassandra says snidely.

“Well, if this was the future of human kind, I would rather be a mongrel than a bitchy trampoline. Besides, you aren’t the last human on this platform. My best friend and I were born on that planet. So was my mum and dad, and that makes us, officially, the last humans. You had all the humanity nipped and tucked out of you. You are just skin, Cassandra. Just lipstick and skin. Nice talking.” Rose walks off in a huff. Last human my arse. She decides to walk around the platform to calm down. Then she will go and sit with Layla and the Face and talk to them and wait for the Doctor to come back. However, she doesn’t see the Adherents follow after her.

Xxxxxx

The Doctor and Jabe are running down the corridor. Smoke is filling the area and a glare is coming through a small glass panel in the door. The little assistants have gathered around the door. “Hold on get back.” The Doctor uses his sonic on another small panel.

“Sun filter rising. Sun filter rising.”

“Is the steward in there?” Jabe asks horrified.

The Doctor glares darkly at the door. “You can smell him. Hold on, there’s another sun filter programmed to descend.” He takes off running hoping no one is in the room about to die.

xxxxxx

Rose wakes up from being knocked unconscious by the Adherents. She sees the deadly glare begin to fill the room. She tries to leave but the door won’t open. She starts hammering on the door and screaming. “Let me out! Let me out!”

“Sun Filter descending.”

The Doctor runs to the door and starts working on the panel. “Is anyone in there?” His hearts drop as he hears Rose scream at him to let her out. His breath immediately freezes in his lungs. Where is Layla?! “Rose! Are you alright? Where is Layla?”

“The sun is starting to burn the room! There aren’t many places for me to hide!” She was panicking and not really listening to the Doctor.

The Doctor was working faster trying to get the shield to rise. “Where is Layla, Rose? Is she alright?” He was starting to panic that something was wrong with Layla and that Rose didn’t want to tell him bad news.

“She is okay Doctor; she was with the Face. I, however, am about to be fried. Get me out of here!”

The Doctor sighs and feels simultaneously relieved that Layla is safe, but concerned about Rose as well. Jabe however, heard the emotion in his voice when he asked about Layla. She realizes that while he didn’t feel anything for Rose, he did feel something for the white-haired girl, Layla. While she has developed a liking towards the Doctor, she is glad that the person he has feelings for is safe.

“Sun filter descending. Sun filter descending.”

“Sun filter rising. Sun filter rising.”

“Sun filter descending.”

The Doctor grunts in panic and irritation. “Just what we need.”

“Stop mucking about!” Rose screeches, lowering as slow to the floor as she can.

“I’m not mucking about! It’s fighting back.”

“Open the door!” Rose was crying and went down the stairs to get to low ground and laid down. She was so scared.

“I know! I am working on it.”

Rose looks up at the door when the sun glare hits it. “The lock’s melted!” How am I going to get out now? The Doctor, at his wits end, jams his sonic into the panel and quickly works that way.

“Sun filter descending. Sun filter descending.” The computer somewhat glitches. “Sun filter rising. Sun filter rising.”

“The whole thing’s jammed. I can’t open the doors. You will have to stay there for now!” The Doctor tells Rose.

“Where else am I going to go, Ipswich?” She snarks.

“Earth death in five minutes.”

xxxxxx

The Doctor and Jabe run back to the main room where everyone else were waiting. The Doctor is immediately looking around for Layla. He sighs in relief seeing that she is okay. Layla sees him and Jabe run in with panic on their faces. She heads over to them. “What’s wrong Doctor? Where is Rose?” She started to worry more when he didn’t answer right away.

The Doctor was just happy that she was okay and staring at her for a minute. Then he registers her questions. “Rose is stuck in a room; I just barely got the sun filter to rise back up before I came here. This platform has been sabotaged and we are all in danger.” He whispers quietly in her ear so others don’t hear him.

Layla slightly shivers from feeling his breath on her ear, but realizes the danger of his words. “Do you know what happened and/or who is responsible?”

“I don’t know who in control, but I do know that the temperature is about to rise. Shall we see who is responsible?” He asks solemnly.

“The metal machine confirms. The spider devices have infiltrated the whole of platform one.” Jabe says while holding said spider in her hands.

Cassandra gasped. “How is that possible? Our private rooms are protected by a code wall. Moisturize me, moisturize me.”

“Summon the steward!” Moxx demanded.

“I’m afraid the steward is dead, someone killed him.” Jabe says sadly.

“This whole event was sponsored by the Face of Boe. He invited us. Talk to the Face. Talk to the Face.” Cassandra cried out dramatically.

The Doctor shrugged. “Easy way of finding out. Someone brought their little pet on board. Let’s send him back to his master.” He puts down the Spider that Jabe was scanning, and it scuttles off to Cassandra and scans her, then goes to the Adherents.

“The Adherents of the Repeated Meme. J’accuse!” Cassandra cries out theatrically. Everyone gives different reactions from raised eyebrows of incredulity to snickers of amusement, they were sure that had she any hands, she would have been pointing towards the group overdramatically.

Layla looked at Cassandra in incredulity. Did she really think that no one had seen the spider bot go to her first and she shifted her eyes off to the side? She looked at the Doctor and he huffed in amusement at the look on her face. “That’s all very well, and really kind of obvious, but if you stop and think about it.” He goes over to the Adherents and grabs an arm as they try to hit him. He gives a tug and rips the arm out and pulls out a cable in the arm, causing the Adherents to collapse. “Remote controlled Droids. Nice little cover for the real troublemaker. Go on, Jimbo. Go Home.” He nudges the spider with his foot and it scuttles over to Cassandra and sits in front of her.

Cassandra glares at the Doctor, or at least trying to. With only eyes and a mouth, it is kind of hard to tell her facial expressions. However, you can hear the contempt in her voice. “I bet you were the school swot and never got kissed. At arms!” Her attendants raise their spray guns.

Layla raises her brows, looking at the Doctor, she can tell he could have been a lady killer if he wanted to. He was very attractive; she is positive he has done more than kiss anyone. Even during this situation, the Doctor is amused at people assumptions. “What are you going to do, moisturize me?” He says sarcastically.

“With acid?” Cassandra says snidely. This causes the Doctor to make sure that Layla was out of the way if they were to get trigger happy. She continues. “Oh, you’re too late, anyway. My spiders have control of the mainframe. Oh, you all carried them as gifts, tax free, past every code wall. I’m not just a pretty face.” That statement caused everyone to slightly blanch.

“Sabotaging a ship while you’re still inside it? How stupid’s that?” The Doctor scoffs.

“Well, I had hopes to manufacture a hostage situation with myself as one of the victims. The compensation would have been enormous.”

The Doctor glares at her. She is risking the life of his Promised One and everyone else here for money? “Five billion years and it still comes down to money.” He sneers.

“Do you think it’s cheap to look this good? It costs a fortune. I am the last human, Doctor. Me. Not those freaky little kids of yours.”

Layla had enough. “You think you look good? Looking like a tortilla? Money is not worth everyone’s lives here, get your head out of your arse and stop being so conceited. Oh wait, you don’t have an arse anymore.” The Doctor grabs her hand and tried to calm her down, which she surprisingly does when his hand squeezes hers.

Cassandra looked at her in envy, why does she get to be so beautiful without having to go through the trouble I went through? “I should have locked you in there with your friend, how is she by the way? A little toasty?” She laughs a little, only to slightly flinch back, as much as she can, from the stone-cold glare she was getting from the Doctor.

“Arrest her, the infidel!” Moxx cries out like arresting her would fix the issue.

“Oh, shut it, pixie. I’ve still got my final option.” Cassandra says smugly.

“Earth death in three minutes.”

“Here it comes. You’re just as useful dead, all of you. I have shares in your rival companies and they’ll triple in price as soon as you’re dead. Well, except the Doctor and those heathens, but the satisfaction of them dying is good enough for me. My spiders are primed and ready to destroy the safety systems. How did that old earth song go? Burn, baby, burn.” She taunts.

Jabe scoffs. “Then you will burn with us.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry. I know the use of teleportation is strictly forbidden, but I’m such a naughty thing. Spiders! Activate!” A series of explosions happened around the platform. “Forcefields gone with the planet about to explode. At least it’ll be quick. Just like my fifth husband. Oh, shame on me.”

“Safety systems failing.”

“Bye, bye, darlings. Bye, bye, my darlings.” Cassandra laughs as she and her attendants beam out.

“Heat levels rising.”

“Reset the computer!” Moxx demands.

Jabe shakes her head. “Only the steward would know how.”

“No. We can do it by hand. There must be a system restore switch. Layla, go sit with the Face of Boe and stay out of the way of the suns glare. Jabe, come on. You lot, just chill.” The Doctor and Jabe quickly leave the room.

“Heat rising.”

“Earth death in two minutes. Earth death in two minutes.”

Xxxxxx

Layla goes over towards Boe. She is about to sit next to him when she hears his voice. “Everything will be alright, Layla. However, not all of us are safe. Heat levels are rising, and will get worse the further inside the maintenance area. The Doctor would be okay with his biology… however Jabe…”

Layla listens to what he says and knows what he is hinting at. With Jabe being made of wood, she would be at risk of catching on fire. She kisses Boe’s tank. “Thank you, I will take care of it.” She didn’t know what the Doctor and Jabe had to do to reset the system, but she wasn’t going to let Jabe die if she could stand in her place and be okay with her fleshiness.

xxxxxx

“Heat levels critical.”

“Heat levels critical.”

The Doctor and Jabe make it to the engine room and look around for a switch. The Doctor groans. “Oh, and guess where the switch is.” Jabe looks over to where he is staring at as sees that the switch is on the other side of the turning razor-sharp fan blades.

“Heat levels rising. Heat levels rising.”

The Doctor sees a breaker lever and pulls it down, slowing the fans down a little, but as soon as he lets go, it resets and speeds back up again. Who designs a ship like this? In case of emergencies let’s play chicken with giant, sharp, fan blades?

“External temperature five thousand degrees.”

Jabe sees the problem. She doesn’t think she would be fast enough to get past the fans, and doesn’t want the Doctor to get burned, grabs the breaker, and holds it down. The Doctor’s eyes widen seeing this.  “Jabe, you can’t. The heat’s going to vent through this place.”

Jabe looks at him solemnly. “I know.”

He tried one more time to get through to her. “You’re made of wood.”

“You have someone waiting on you, stop wasting time. Time Lord.” The Doctor was surprised, but nodded his head and runs towards the fans.

“Heat levels hazardous.”

Xxxxxx

Layla is running through the platform, following the signs, to get to the maintenance area. She finally makes it and sees that the Doctor is jumping in between fans but she looks for Jabe and sees that she is really struggling with holding down a lever with the rising heat. She runs over to Jabe and puts her hand on her shoulder first to get her attention.

“What are you doing here?!” Jabe asks surprised.

“You are going to die if you stay longer, but I won’t. I might get burned and be dehydrated, but I can live through that. You won’t live if you burn to ashes. Let me take over.”

Jabe thinks about denying her and staying, but she looks and sees the determination in her eyes, and she really is starting to feel the heat a lot more. She decides to let Layla take over. “Okay, you have to grab this lever and hold it down to slow the fans.” She waits for Layla to grab it, but Layla does something unexpected first.

Layla kisses Jabe’s cheek. “Thank you for trying to save us all.” She grabs her shirt and takes it off. Layla knew that putting her bare skin on a hot metal lever would be a terrible idea. She wants to use her shirt as an oven mitt as long as possible to help with the heat and to protect her skin as best as she could. She knows that doing this would leave her in just her bra, but when it comes to saving lives and trying to protect her hands, modesty is not important. Besides, she isn’t very modest to begin with anyways. She feels no shame or embarrassment to be seen like this, so she really doesn’t care.

“Heat levels critical.”

The heat is extremely hot and Layla grimaces at the burning she can feel in her hands. She is glad she used her shirt, but she can see that the heat from the lever is starting to cause her shirt to deteriorate. Which is a shame, because it is one of her favorites. Sweat was running off her body until she started to get dehydrated. Her mouth is dry and she desperately needs a drink of water. She looks over and sees the Doctor run past the second fan. He still has a small run to get to the third fan, but now her shirt is gone, and bare skin is touching the lever.

“Planet explodes in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four…”

The Doctor dashes past the last fan and runs to the switch. When the countdown gets to one, he is able to flip the switch. “Raise shields!” He yells out. A forcefield envelopes platform one as the earth start to boil, then explodes.

“Exoglass repair. Exoglass repair. Exoglass repair.”

The fans in the room slowed down as cool air flooded through the room. The Doctor is easily able to walk back towards where he thought Jabe was, but his eyes bug out and his mouth slackens when he sees Layla there, and with no shirt on. He is torn between looking away and staring. That is, until he smells burnt flesh and sees her face scrunched up in pain, with tears running from her eyes, and still holding onto the lever. He runs over as quick as he can and realizes her hands are stuck to the lever. He can see that there is no sign of Jabe. He gets upset and starts burning with fury that she is hurt, but even he knows that if she hadn’t taken over, Jabe would have died.

He carefully grabs her hands, and as gently as he can, pry’s her hands from the bar. He can tell that she is trying to keep her pain to herself, but a few grunts and whimpering escape causing his hearts to clench. He gets her hands free and looks at the damage. She had lost skin when he had to pry her hands off the bar, but what he didn’t have to pry was badly damaged. Raw flesh, black in some places, and clear liquid was oozing across; her body’s way of trying to heal the damage.

He clench’s his jaw and takes off his jacket and wraps it around her shoulders, distractedly noticing that she has another tattoo on her ribs and a belly button piercing. He doesn’t want anyone else to see her without a shirt on. Layla makes an exclamation of surprise when he easily lifts her into his arms and starts to walk back to the main room.

Layla glances at him through pain filled eyes, but sees that he is pointedly looking away from her and the tips of his ears are bright red. Even in the amount of pain she is in, she notices’ his awkwardness and can’t help but chuckle when she realizes why he is acting like that. She gathers as much saliva as she can in her mouth and licks her lips to moisten them before she talks. “It’s similar to a bikini Doctor. Nothing to be embarrassed about. I gave my consent to be seen when I took my shirt off. It was a matter of the shirt and trying to save my hands, or my hands would be worse than they are now. It wasn’t a hard choice to make. I don’t regret it, and it is just skin.” She teases. At her gentle teasing, the Doctor starts to sputters and his cheeks turn pink. Layla finds him cute when he is embarrassed.

He can’t really correct her though. Looking at her was too arousing, not embarrassing. So, unfortunately, he has to let her think that since he is afraid that if he says that, she will slap him, and he doesn’t want a slap to the face. Wanting to change the subject. “It was a good idea to use your shirt to try to protect your hands. I can heal them when we get back to the Tardis, after we deal with Cassandra.” After saying this, it brings his mind back to the matter at hand and why she is hurt and in pain to begin with and his fury rises again.

They enter the main room to see it in chaos and that some people have died. Rose rushes over to them and she is slightly jealous when she sees Layla in the Doctor’s arms and wearing his jacket. The Doctor sets Layla down in a nearby chair and Rose watches her wince in pain and then sees her hands. Rose gasps and stands beside her; she sees that Layla doesn’t have a shirt on and that is why she is wearing the Doctor’s jacket. “Layla, are you alright? What happened?” Rose asked worriedly. Jabe comes over to them and she has a bottle of water in her hands and helps Layla drink it knowing that she would need it to rehydrate.

After she drains the bottle, she gives Jabe a grateful smile. “Thank you Jabe.”

“No, thank you Layla, for saving my life.” She gives Rose another water bottle to help Layla drink and walks back over to her escorts and stands with them.

“I’m alright Rose, the Doctor says he can heal me after we get back to the Tardis. I took Jabe’s place helping the Doctor with something and got a little crispy from it. Besides, it is only a flesh wound.” Rose snorts but the Doctor looks at Layla blankly before his face sets in stone and he walks to the middle of the room.

“Is the Doctor okay?” Rose whispered to Layla.

However, the Doctor heard her and answered for himself. “Yeah, I’m fine. I’m full of ideas. I’m bristling with them. Idea number one, teleportation through five thousand degrees needs some kind of feed. Idea number two, this feed must be hidden somewhere nearby.” He goes over to the ostrich egg that Cassandra gifted everyone and smashes it. Inside is a small device. “Idea number three, if you’re as clever as me, then a teleportation feed can be reversed.”

“Oh, you should have seen their little alien faces.” Cassandra says smugly as she is beamed back to the spot where she left. “Oh.”

“The last human.” The Doctor grits out through a clenched jaw. His anger just increased from what he heard.

 “So, you passed my little test. Bravo. This makes you eligible to join the, er, the Human Club.” She stutters trying to play the whole thing off.

“People have died, Cassandra. You murdered them.” If possible, steam would be rising off his head from his anger. You could have killed my Promised One and her friend Rose.

“It depends on your definition of people, and that’s enough of a technicality to keep your lawyers dizzy for centuries. Take me to court, then, Doctor, and watch me smile and cry and flutter.” She says smugly, thinking she was going to get away with this.

The Doctor smirks darkly. “And creak?” Rose is a little scared of the Doctor’s face at this moment, but Layla, even in the pain she is in, is slightly turned on. While she is not a cruel person, she isn’t like the Doctor in thinking that everyone should have a second chance.

The smug smile drops off her face. “And what?”

It is the Doctor’s turn to be smug. “Creak. You’re creaking.”

“What?! Ah! I’m drying out! Oh, sweet heavens. Moisturize me, moisturize me! Where are my surgeons? My lovely boys! It’s too hot!” She panics.

The Doctor looks at her with a blank face. “You raised the temperature.”

“Please, have pity! Moisturize me! Oh, oh, Doctor. I’m sorry. I’ll do anything.”

Rose, who hadn’t been there when Cassandra was first caught, develops pity for her. She didn’t want to see someone die in front of her, she pleads with the Doctor quietly. “Help her.”

The Doctor side eyes Layla and sees her hands. “Everything has its time and everything dies.” No one gets away with hurting my Promised One.

Layla, while having felt pity for Cassandra when they first met, feels none of it now. She made her choices and this is the consequences, this was just karma in her opinion. Besides, even if someone wanted to save her, there was no water or anything that could help her nearby, besides the one she needs herself to rehydrate after helping to save everyone here.

“I’m too young to die!” Were Cassandra’s last words before she was torn apart.

xxxxxx

The Doctor, Layla, and Rose are standing at a large window, looking at the asteroids that were once the earth as they float past the red giant.

“The end of the earth. It’s gone. We were too busy saving ourselves. No one saw it go. All those years, all that history. And no one was even looking.” Rose said with a slightly quivering lip. Layla would have grabbed her hand in comfort, but since she couldn’t, she brushed her shoulder against Rose’s, to show she was there for her.

The Doctor looked at them sadly, he thought that this would be an awesome trip, but it turned out wrong. “Here, come with me.” He leads them to the Tardis and puts in coordinates. He walks to the door and opens it. The girls follow him out, they hear a baby cry and a man laugh. People are bustling around going on about their lives. They smile seeing the earth teeming with life.

“You think it’ll last forever, people and cars and concrete, but it won’t. One day, it’s all gone. Even the sky” The Doctor takes a deep breath and looks pained as he continues. “My planet’s gone. It’s dead. It burned like the Earth. It’s just rocks and dust before its time.” Layla and Rose look at him in compassion. I thought it must have been the war he talked about before with the Nestene Consciousness, Layla thought.

Layla wasn’t going to ask for confirmation, but Rose decides to. “What happened?”

“There was a war… and we lost.” He said the last bit quietly.

“A war with who? What about your people?” Rose asked obliviously. Layla couldn’t believe how Rose was not understanding what happened based on his tone and the look in his eyes. She is usually more observant.

Not wanting to think or answer any questions about who they were fighting, ignores the first question. “I’m a Time Lord. I’m the last of the Time Lords. They’re all gone. I’m the only survivor. I was traveling on my own ‘cos there was no one else.” Layla bumps him with her hip. She may not know him well or really at all, but she has a feeling she will be with him for a while. He is a good person, and he can count on her. The Doctor looks at her in appreciation.

“I’m here.” Rose says peppily. She looks at Layla and gives her a sheepish smile. “So is Layla.”

“You’ve seen how dangerous it is, do you want to go home?” The Doctor hoped that in spite of that, Layla would stay, he would understand if she didn’t. He also wouldn’t be surprised if Rose left either.

“I’m staying. Even with the danger, it is still fun to travel and help people.” Layla says with a grin.

Rose looks a little hesitant. “I don’t know. I want…” She gets distracted by something she smells. “Oh, can you smell chips? Want to get some?”

The Doctor and Layla laugh, but Layla winces when she accidentally bumps her hands. The Doctor sees her hands and realizes he never treated them. “I need to treat Layla’s hands, so I will pass, but you can get some. We will wait for you, and I will show you a room when you come back.”

Rose flashes Layla a guilty look for forgetting about her hands, but she nods. “Alright, I will get some and then wait in the console room for you.” She walks out the door with a pep in her step anticipating her chips.

The Doctor looks at Layla in guilt. “I’m sorry for forgetting about your hands. Let’s go treat them.” He wraps his arm around her shoulders and guides her to the medical room.

“It’s alright Doctor, you were telling us something deeply personal, I wasn’t going to interrupt you for my own needs. Besides, the parts that are burnt the worse are numb now.” Even with her words the Doctor still felt shame that he forgot about his Promised One being in pain because of his shame and guilt.

xxxxxx

They walk into the medical room and the Doctor guides Layla to sit on the bed. He has a naughty thought that he wants to see her on his bed for a different reason. He goes to a cabinet and rummages around for a minute. He pulls out a tube. “This is a regenerative healing gel that will repair the nerves and flesh in your hands and regrow the skin at an accelerated rate. It will also numb the pain as it is spread across the wound.” He goes to another cabinet and easily plucks out a syringe and a vial of medicine. He measures out a dose in the syringe. “This here, will help with the dehydration.”

The Doctor stands in front of Layla and slightly freezes. With her on the bed she is sitting higher than she stands. Because she couldn’t put her arms in his jacket, it is just draped over her shoulders and open. Her chest is on display and the Doctor is having a hard time concentrating, he feels his cock twitch. Layla is amused that even though the Doctor is an alien, he is still a male, and it is amusing what a pair of breasts does to a lot of them. She isn’t embarrassed or shy that she is just in her bra, but she thinks that the Doctor is embarrassed so she decides to help him out. She reaches her left arm out displaying her hand to try to get him back on track.

It works when he clears his throat roughly and grabs her wrist and pulls it closer to him. However, in doing so, his jacket slips off her left shoulder and he gets a clearer vision of her torso. Before he can get distracted again by her breasts, he sees a scar that runs diagonally across her breast bone. He hadn’t noticed it before because he was distracted and was trying to his hid arousal from her. Then there was the matter with her hands and dealing with Cassandra, it isn’t surprising that he never noticed until now.

He gently runs his fingers over the scar with a look of distress on his face. “What happened?” He asks softly. When the Doctor first touched her scar, she had goose bumps rise along her arms. But then she registers his question and looks at him thoughtfully. He told us about his planet, it is only fair that I share something from my past as well.

“When I was born, I was left at the hospital. The woman who gave birth to me left as soon as she could after delivery. She had given the doctors there a fake name and didn’t even name me. The nurse who took care of me after I was born was allowed to name me before they took me into the foster system. Growing up I was moved from foster home to foster home. Some were good, but I had to leave due finances or job relocation or even medical, little things like that to where they couldn’t take care of us and some were bad. However, there were three that were the worst I had been to.” The Doctor had a feeling that he knows where her story is going though and feels dread.

“They started off mainly with just neglect. I was able to fend for myself food wise for the most part, but they weren’t really involved much at all. However, with the first really abusive home, the ‘dad’ lost his job and took up drinking. He became violent and would attack us. Luckily there were only three of us at the time, two boys that were older than me, and they always tried to protect me. We became pretty good at doing first aid to each other, even stitches. It didn’t take long for the ‘dad’ to screw up and hit us in public. That was when they took us away from him and moved us to another home.”

The Doctor stays quiet so she can finish her story. He knows there is more. He grits his teeth in anger that someone would abuse his Promised One. As she was telling him her story, he had given her the injection so her body could start working on getting hydrated and started working on her hands, she was so far into her memories that she didn’t really even notice.

“The second abusive home, the woman was just a bitch, but no less abusive than the first. Similar things happened with that one, but one of the other kids in the house got tired of being abused and told his teacher and his teacher starting collecting evidence because before that without ‘evidence’ there was no case. We were moved immediately. The third, that was the worst one though.”

During this whole time Layla had just been talking normally. She wasn’t angry, or sad, resentful, or ashamed. She had dealt with her feelings towards the abuse a long time ago, and it made her into who she was today, and she didn’t think she turned out so bad. Sometimes she had bad days, but she is thankful they aren’t often and are getting rarer as she gets older. However, had she stayed with them, she did not think she would be as okay about it as she was. Thinking about the third home though, always made her a little sad, but not for herself.

“I went to my third most abusive home, and last, was when I was twelve. That was when I also met Rose and we became best friends. For two years I dealt with the abuse. I was the oldest one there this time, and it was my turn to protect the younger ones. A boy that was eight, and a darling little girl that was six. I was able to get the ‘parents’ negative attention to stay on me to try to protect them. They amped up the abuse though. There were cigarette burnings and cuts.” She vaguely points to the areas where he can see the a few, small circular burns, and small white lines here and there that he could see even against her pale skin, barely, but still visible. Luckily, her tattoos caught the eye more than the scars did, so people wouldn’t always be asking her about them.

“However, there was one day that was by far the worst I had ever had to deal with. I had gotten home late from school and walked into the ‘dad’ beating on the little girl, the boy wasn’t there though or he would have been next. From what I could see, he had already broken her arm, she was bleeding from her head, and she was unconscious. The ‘dad’ was beyond drunk and screaming. I ran over trying to get in between them before he could do more damage to her. He became enraged and pushed me down. He grabbed a knife and cut me across my chest. It was bleeding pretty good. I fell unconscious, but woke up at the hospital. The neighbors had called the police because of the noise.”

She paused here because she could see that the Doctor was affected by what she was saying. She assumed it was because of her being a child and innocent. His neck was turning red from the anger he was feeling and the sorrow for what she went through. “What happened after that? What about the little girl?”

“Well during my time with dealing with the abusive homes, I had to talk to the police after each one so our cases were documented. After the third one, the police lady that I regularly dealt with felt pity for me and helped me get emancipated. After I got emancipated, Jackie begged me to live with her and Rose. Well, she really guilted me, but whatever. I was a mess though, I would flinch at loud noises and have panic attacks if I did something wrong, expecting to be hurt. Jackie helped me get into therapy and that helped out a lot. The therapist helped me move past the trauma and open up more. She made me realize that the abuse wasn’t my fault. She also helped me find outlets for my emotions.”

Layla stopped and took a deep breath as she thought about the little girl that she had once lived with. “As for the little girl, she was in a coma for a swollen brain for six days, but when she woke up, she was okay. There were no complications she had to live with, she healed up well. I had first checked on her a couple of years ago after I had healed myself and found out that she had been adopted by a loving couple and they moved to America for a job relocation and she was happy and healthy. I went to visit her, she actually remembered me and wanted to see me. I think it was because I protected her as much as I could and we were close because of it. I have a picture of her and her parents somewhere in my room.”

The Doctor was angry, but he couldn’t help but smile when he seen the tender smile on Layla’s face. However, there was one question he wanted to ask, but didn’t know if the answer he got would be the one he wanted. “Was it only physical abuse?”

Layla had expected that question and wanted to put him at ease. “There were a couple of close calls, but there was never any sexual abuse, Doctor. Nothing to worry about there. Anything that I have done sexually has always been consensual.” She said with a sly smirk trying to ease the tension, not realizing what her words would do to him. The Doctor was relieved that there was not any of that kind, but he was also jealous at her previous involvement with others sexually.

“That is why when I got emancipated, I started doing mixed martial arts. To protect myself so I won’t be in that position again and it also helped with my control over my emotions. There are rare times when I relapse to how I would act as a child, the flinching and such, but I have not been abused since then. That is also why I am always thinking about children’s safety, adults should always protect children.”

The Doctor looked Layla straight in the eyes. He stared at her intensely. “Layla, I promise, with me, you will never be in that position again.” He says fiercely.

Layla knows he can’t really promise that, but is happy that he cares, and she believes that he will try his best to keep that promise. She leans over and gives him a kiss on his cheek. Her lips tingle afterwards. “I believe you.”

The Doctor feels where she kissed him heat up pleasantly. “Well, your hands are done. They will be slightly sore, but should be fine by tomorrow.”

Layla looked at her hands in surprise and awe. “Wow, you’re like madame Pomphrey. You have magic potions.” She says with mock seriousness.

The Doctor, forgetting the first time she teased him about magic, balks with indignation. “There is… no such thing as magic!” He goes on another tangent about how superior Time Lord science is when he hears Layla laughing and realizes she was teasing him again.

“Are you sure it isn’t magic? I still think the Tardis is magic too.” She busts up laughing at the Doctors pout. However, the pout doesn’t stay long and a fond smile appears on his face from looking at his Promised One.

“Alright enough teasing, but there was one more thing I wanted to ask about. Just more of a curiosity thing for me really.” Layla nods her head giving him permission to ask away. “I was just wondering what your rib tattoo said.”

“That’s all? That’s simple. It is just a quote that seemed to fit my life pretty well, I think. I found it in a book. Here you can read it.” She turns and shows her side to the Doctor giving him a view of the saying.

The Doctor’s face heats up a little at being close to her without her having a shirt on and reads the quote aloud:

“Scar tissue does more than flaunt its strength by chronicling the assaults it has withstood. Scar tissue is new growth. And it is tougher than skin innocent of the blade -Shelley Jackson”

He thinks about it for a minute and realizes that she is right. It really does fit her. He gives her a smile and moves back from her. “I agree, it does seem to fit you pretty well. Here, you can use my jacket until you get to your room and the Tardis will have clothes in a closet for you to pick from. Now, let’s go see if Rose is back and I can show you both to your rooms.” The Doctor guided her back to the main room. He leers at her, although, if I had it my way, it won’t be your room for long.

Chapter Text

It is the mid-morning, at least for Layla having gotten up like normal to work out. She had just gotten out of the shower and wrapped a towel around herself when the Tardis jerks and she falls against the sink. There was a lot more jerking than normal when she had traveled in the Tardis. Worried that something was wrong, she drops the towel and grabs the robe that the Tardis had just set out for her. She quickly puts it on and runs out her door. She is so focused on finding out what was happening, she missed the Tardis’ feelings of excited amusement. The Tardis knew her Thief will have a hard time when he sees his Promised One wearing only a robe. She knew she could have set out some other clothing, but it wouldn’t have been as fun for her if she had.

As Layla gets closer to the control room, she hears the Doctor and Rose yelling at each other.

“Hold that one down!” The Doctor demands.

“I’m holding this one down!”

“Well, hold them both down.”

Rose scoffs as she stretches across half of the console. “It’s not going to work”

“Oi! I promised Layla and you a time machine and that’s what you’re getting. Now, you’ve seen the future, let’s have a look at the past. 1860. How does 1860 sound?” The Doctor sounds absolutely excited.

“What happened in 1860?” Rose asked.

The Doctor shrugs. “I don’t know, let’s find out. Hold on, here we go!”

Layla can see where this is going and quickly grabs onto the railing tightly. She laughs as Rose and the Doctor are thrown to the floor. She walks over to them and puts her hands on her hips. “Rose, what are you doing up? Normally I have to get you up myself after I shower. Also, Doctor, a little warning that we were going to be traveling, I had just gotten out of the shower when all the jerking started happening. I was worried something was wrong.”

“Oi! I can get up on my own without help.” Rose says indignantly but falters under Layla’s unimpressed look and concedes. “…Sometimes.”

The whole time Layla and Rose were talking, the Doctor was frozen. Layla was standing close to them and she was only wearing a robe. A short robe. A short robe with her legs on display still wet from her shower. He can see she has more tattoos on her legs but he is too distracted to pay attention to what they are because she is wearing a short robe that he could slightly see up. He swallows hard and his cock hardens. When his pants feel tight, he realizes that she would be able to see his arousal and quickly gets up and turns away from them, fiddling with the console like it was required. “Sorry for not warning you, are you two alright?”

Layla pulls Rose up from the floor and turns to the Doctor. “We’re good. Where are we anyways?”

The Doctor looks at his screens. “Give the man a medal. Earth, Naples, December 24^th, 1860.”

“That’s so weird. It’s Christmas.” Rose says in awe while looking towards the door.

“Wait, 1860? Aw damn it, that means no lewd behavior or profanity, doesn’t it?” Layla groans.

“Yeah, but we get to wear pretty dresses, right?” Rose asked bouncing on her toes in excitement.

Both girls look towards the Doctor. One in eagerness and the other in displeasure. The Doctor looks back in amusement and anticipation. “Yup. Go out dressed like that, you’ll start a riot.” He glances at Layla, and some fights between some men, and me. “There’s a wardrobe through there. First left, second right, third on the left, go straight ahead, under the stairs, past the bins, fifth door on your left. Hurry up!”

The girls look at him in disbelief. “Yeah, we’re not going to remember that, if we’re not back in five minutes, just wait longer.” Layla grabs Rose’s hand and pulls her down the hall. “Tardis, love, can you show us the way please.” The Doctor is smiling in joy as they walk away. Seeing Layla talk to the Tardis like he does shows the strengthening bond between the two of them. Plus, he was glad that she left to go get dressed. He shifts himself in his pants, if he had stepped away from the console, they would have seen his hardened cock through his pants, and that wouldn’t have been good.

xxxxxx

“This is so exciting!” Rose is skipping around the wardrobe looking at the different dresses while Layla pouts.

“I’ve got the short hair. I could wear a suit and pretend to be a man.” Layla says a little hopeful. She didn’t want people to look at her all disapproving because of her short hair.

Rose gives her a dry look. “Not with the size of your chest you can’t. Now, quit whining and put this on.” Rose hands her a dress that was black that had black lace and a laced dark purple and black corset. It had black half sleeves that hung off her shoulders freeing her collarbones. It showed a good amount of cleavage without being scandalous for this time period. She also sees a pair of heeled black knee-high boots and grabs them.

Layla has to admit that it was beautiful, plus she is familiar with corsets so it won’t be a problem with her wearing one. She gets a gleeful smile on her face, Rose however isn’t used to wearing corsets, she can picture Rose struggling with one on. Since Layla’s hair is short and only a small amount of product is needed, she is finished right as Rose finds herself a dress. She quickly takes out her piercings, except her tongue ring, since that one is usually unnoticed, and puts in clear retainers that the Tardis gave her. Before she heads out, a pair of long black gloves are dropped next to her things from the ceiling. She picks them up and feels how soft they are and smiles at the ceiling, she hadn’t even thought to cover her tattoos. Thanks, love. Wouldn’t want to cause a scandal, now, would we? She can feel the Tardis hum in amusement. “I’m going to head out Rose, make sure the Doctor isn’t breaking anything.”

Rose snorts, they had both seen him using a mallet on the Tardis and agrees. “That’s fine, this is a front laced corset so I don’t need help. I will be out when I’m done.”

Layla walks out into the console room and looks around for the Doctor. The Tardis sends a shock to the Doctor to get him to pay attention, and to stop messing with her wires. The Doctor grumbles but comes out from the grating and looks up and freezes with a sharp intake of breath. His hearts start to pound as he stares at Layla and a flush appears on his neck. “You look stunning.” He finally manages to get out. He looks her up and down several times, devouring her with his gaze.

Layla’s heart starts to thump harder at the look in the Doctor’s eyes. Her body starts to heat up from the hungry gaze he is looking at her with. “Thank you, are you not going to wear period clothes Doctor?” She has to admit to herself that she is slightly disappointed that she doesn’t get to see him in a suit, but she still gets her eye candy with how he normally dresses.

“I changed my jumper!” He is glad for the topic change, and glad that he is still hidden by being halfway in the flooring and she can’t see his physical reaction to her and her dress. I might as well live in cold water, he thought. Rose walks out and stands there looking at the Doctor and Layla. She hopes to get a good reaction from the Doctor about her dress, but she is disappointed by his response.

“You look beautiful Rose, considering.” He states with apathy.

“Considering what?” She huffs. His lackluster comment leaves her dissatisfied. She looks at him with a pinched, unhappy expression.

“That you’re human.”

While it isn’t the best compliment she could have gotten from him, she takes it as a praise. “I think that’s a compliment. Aren’t you going to change?”

Layla snorts at that question and Rose looks at her with confusion. “I asked him that too, but I agree with him, you do look beautiful Rose.”

Seeing as his physical reaction to Layla in her dress finally deflates after thinking some unpleasant thoughts, he comes out from under the flooring. “Come on, let’s go.”

“You stay there. You’ve done this before, this is mine.” Rose takes charge and heads towards the doors and opens them up and sees the falling snow. In doing this, however, she misses the Doctor’s lingering look on Layla as he stands next to her with his arm out to her.

“Ready for this?” He asks her.

Layla loops her arm through his and rests her hand on his forearm and squeezes lightly. His tight muscles finally relax having her so close and touching him. He leads her outside and he watches her face as she looks around.

Layla is looking around in awe that they are in the past. It is hard to believe, but everything is designed from this period. She can’t wait to explore. She feels the Doctor tug her over to a newsstand and he buys a paper. As he looks at it, he notices the date and groans. Layla looks over and a swift laugh escapes her as she notices the problem.

The Doctor reluctantly pulls Layla towards Rose. He looks down at Layla in mild exasperation as she continues to giggle at him over his mistake. “I got the flight a bit wrong.” He mutters out to Rose while averting his gaze from the girls.

Rose was just happy to be there. “I don’t care.”

“It’s not 1860, it’s 1869.” He sighs dejectedly.

“I don’t care.” She repeats while Layla is giggling about where they are and knows how Rose will react.

He bites the bullet. “It’s Cardiff.”

Rose’s shoulders slump. “Right.”

“Oi, buck up you two. Who cares about the location and nine years off the mark, we are in the past! The 1800’s!” Layla states trying to cheer them up, her eyes are bright and engaged while looking around, moving frequently taking in their surroundings. They are walking around looking at the people and buildings when they hear screams.

“That’s more like it!” The Doctor exclaims in excitement. They all quickly take off towards the source of the noise and see a bunch of people fleeing a building. They run in and see a blue gas entity coming out of a body and fly around the auditorium.

“Fantastic!” The Doctor would be excited over something like this. He sees the body collapse and goes to talk to the man on stage. “Did you see where it came from?”

“Ah, the wag reveals himself, does he? I trust you’re satisfied, sir!” The man asks with a pinched mouth and arms crossed over his chest.

“Oi! Leave her alone! Doctor, I’ll get them.” Rose runs off before he can say anything.

Layla, worried about Rose, follows after her after. “I’m going too, make sure she is okay.” She hears the Doctor telling her to be careful before he turns back to the man to continue his questioning. Unfortunately, it takes her a few minutes to get outside with the mass amount of people trying to escape the building.

By the time Layla is able to exit the building, she sees Rose’s dress sticking out of a hearse. “Rose!” She runs towards her not seeing anyone around. She goes to pull Rose out when someone sneaks up behind her and puts a pad of cloth over her mouth. Not expecting it, she inhales a gasp and starts to struggle against him. It doesn’t take long before she too, is passed out like Rose.

“What did you do that for?” The girl with him asks worriedly.

He gives a quick shake of his head and blinks rapidly. “They have seen too much. Get her legs and get her in the hearse. Quickly!”

xxxxxx

The Doctor is still talking to the man when they see the blue entity fly into a gas lamp. “Gas! It’s made of gas.” The Doctor says giddily. He then thinks that the girls should have been back by now and starts to worry. “Layla! Rose!” He dashes out of the building to find them.

“You’re not escaping me, sir. What do you know about that hobgoblin, hmmm? Projection on glass, I suppose. Who put you up to it?” The man follows him, determined to blame him, and find out how he did it.

The Doctor rebuffs. “Yeah, mate. Not now, thanks.” He sees Layla’s white hair and sees that she is in a hearse. He gets into a nearby carriage. “Oi, follow that hearse!”

“I can’t do that, sir.” The driver states in a matter fact way.

The Doctor’s posture is stiff and his muscles rigid. With his jaw clenched he asks, “why not?”

The man from the auditorium comes up. “I’ll tell you why not. I’ll give you a very good reason why not. Because this is my coach.”

Cursing under his breath he grabs the man’s jacket and yanks him into the coach. “Well, get it, then. Move!” The driver takes off at a steady pace, but it isn’t fast enough in the Doctor’s opinion. The Doctor starts to tap his foot in worry. His brow is wrinkling, he takes deep breaths to try to calm himself from the panic of losing his Promised One. “Come on, you’re losing them!”

“Is everything in order, Mister Dickens?” The driver asks uncertainty.

“No! It is not!” He huffs out.

“Wait, what did he say?” The Doctor’s mouth falls open and his eyebrows rise up towards his hair line.

“Let me say this first. I’m not without a sense of humor.” Dickens complained while folding his arms across his chest.

The Doctor ignores the mood of the man. “Dickens?”

“Yes.”

“Charles Dickens?” For some reason the Doctor can’t wrap his head around what he is being told.

“Yes.” Charles replies with more annoyance in his voice.

“The Charles Dickens?” The Doctor wanted one more clarification from the man.

The driver interrupts though. “Should I remove the gentleman, sir?”

“Charles Dickens? You’re brilliant, you are. Completely one hundred percent brilliant. I’ve read them all. Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, and what’s the other one, the one with the ghost?”

Giving a long exhale in resignation Charles names a book. “A Christmas Carol?”

“No, no, no, the one with the trains. The Signal Man, that’s it. Terrifying! The best short story ever written. You’re a genius.” The Doctor gushes out in a rush of excitement. He was feeling a mix of emotions, excitement from meeting Charles Dickens, but also worry about Layla and Rose. He was hoping that with the excitement he showed that Charles would let him stay so they could continue to follow after the girls. If not… well he didn’t want to have to force the issue, but to save Layla, he would.

“You want me to get rid of him, sir?” The Driver asks again.

“Er, no, I think he can stay.” Charles has bashful smile on his face.

“Honestly, Charles. Can I call you Charles? I’m such a big fan.” The Doctor nods while giving him a big grin, happy that the man chose to let him stay without fighting him.

“A what? A big what?” Charles is baffled.

“Fan. Number one fan, that’s me.” He continues while not noticing Charles confusion.

“How exactly are you a fan? In what way do you resemble a means of keeping oneself cool?”

“No, it means fanatic, devoted to. Mind you, I’ve got to say, that American bit in Martin Chuzzlewit, what’s that about? Was that just padding or what? I mean, it’s rubbish, that bit.” He babbles on, not realizing how rude he was.

“I thought you said you were my fan.” He asks sullenly.

The excitement of meeting this legendary literature figure fades away and his worries about Layla and Rose take over fully instead of a mixture. “Come on, faster!”

“Who exactly is in that hearse?” Charles asks wondering why he is so frantic to follow a hearse.

“My friends. Their only nineteen. It’s my fault. They are in my care, and now they are in danger.”

“Well, why are we wasting my time talking about dry, old, books? This is much more important. Driver, be swift! The chase is on!”

You can hear the excitement in the driver’s voice. “Yes, sir!”

“Attaboy, Charlie.”

“Nobody calls me Charlie.” He states with a slight blush remembering those who do, in fact, call him that.

The Doctor gives him a sly look. “The ladies do.”

Charles is shocked. “How do you know that?”

He shrugs happily. “I told you, I’m your number one…”

“Number one fan.” He states sourly.

xxxxxx

Rose and Layla are slow to wake up from the attack on them. They rub their eyes and try to clear the cobwebs in their minds. They look around and see that there are coffins and dead people around them. “Rose, I think they forgot to kill us before they dumped us here.” Layla says blankly.

Rose goes to reply when they both see a corpse rise from the coffin. “Are you all right? You’re kidding me, yeah? You’re just kidding. You are kidding me, aren’t you?” She starts to ask a little hysterically and vehemently shaking her head and flapping her hands. The corpse doesn’t answer and continues coming towards the girls. Rose goes to the door and starts pounding on it. “Let us out!”

While Rose is pounding on the door, Layla is facing the zombies to protect both Rose and herself. When they get a little too close for comfort, she starts fighting them like she did the mannequins. Unfortunately, they don’t feel pain, but it is enough to keep them pushed back. She is swiping their legs out from under them causing them to domino effect into the other and lifting her dress up so she can lift her leg up higher to kick.

Rose is still pounding on the door when she hears the Doctor tell her to move away and he kicks it in and pulls her away, he looks up in time to see Layla roundhouse kick one of the zombies. She turns towards him, and gives him an infectious smile. “I see dead people.” Then raises her fist and punches one of the zombies that tried to sneak up on her as her back was turned. And he can’t help the snort that escapes him and the corner of his mouth quirked up. He relaxes a little, but not much, as he sees that she is safe and unharmed. But he still holds his arm out and when she puts her hand in his, he pulls her towards him. He steps back quickly with Layla by his side, an arm wrapped around her waist, gripping her hip tightly. He would always do his best to protect her, but he is glad that his Promised One can hold her own, and not be a damsel in distress all the time.

“It’s a prank. It must be. We’re under some mesmeric influence.” Charles says faintly, clearing in shock.

“No, we’re not. The dead are walking. Hi.” He says to the girls.

“Hi, who is your friend?” Rose asks while pointing to the Charles.

“Charles Dickens.” He says smugly. Layla quickly whips her head around to stare at Charles, her eyes are wide open with awe. Charles looks at the girl in the Doctor’s arms and feels pleased to see the look on her face.

“My name’s the Doctor. Who are you, then? What do you want?”

“Failing. Open the rift. We’re dying. Trapped in this form. Cannot sustain. Help us, argh!” The gas leaves the corpse’s and returns to the gas lamp. The bodies fall to the floor with a thud.

xxxxxx

They all move towards the living room. Gwyneth pours the tea and Rose is giving Sneed a tongue lashing.  “First of all, you drug us, then you kidnap us, and don’t think I didn’t feel your hands having a quick wander, you dirty old man.” The Doctor snickers but sees that Layla is nodding in agreement to what Rose is saying and he gets angry that someone touched his Promised One like that. I am the only one allowed that honor, he thinks possessively.

“I won’t be spoken to like this!” Sneed blusters out haughtily.

Rose ignores him and continues on her tirade. “Then you stuck us in a room full of zombies! And if that ain’t enough, you swan off and leave us to die! So come on, talk!”

While Layla is angry at what happened, Rose going off on a rampage was humorous and takes away some of her anger. However, she focuses more on what happened and tries to analyze what the zombies are after. Sneed gives up. “It’s not my fault. It’s this house. It always had a reputation. Haunted. But I never had much bother until a few months back, and then the stiffs, the er, dear departed started getting restless.”

Charles scoffs. “Tommyrot.”

“Your witnessed it. Can’t keep the beggars down, sir.” He said imploringly. “They walk. And it is the queerest thing, but they hang onto scraps.” He pleads with them to believe him. “One old fellow who used to be a sexton almost walked into his own memorial service. Just like the old lady going to your performance, sir, just as she planned.”

Charles sneers in derision. “Morbid fancy.”

The Doctor looks at Charles with slight pity. “Oh, Charles, you were there.” He tries to get him to believe what he saw.

“I saw nothing but an illusion.” He says in distaste.

“If you’re going to deny it, don’t waste my time. Just shut up.” He can only handle so much of someone’s willful ignorance. “What about the gas?” He asks Sneed.

“That’s new, sir. Never seen anything like that.”

The Doctor ponders this. “Means it’s getting stronger, the rift’s getting wider and something’s sneaking through.”

The girls look at the Doctor. “What’s the rift?” Rose asks.

Without even looking at her he answers. “A weak point in time and space. A connection between this place and another. That’s the cause of ghost stories, most of the time.”

Sneed looks like a lightbulb just went off in his head. “That’s how I got the house so cheap. Stories going back generations.” Charles has had enough and leaves the room, slamming the door on his way out. “Echoes in the dark, queer songs in the air, and this feeling like a shadow passing over your soul. Mind you, truth be told, it’s good for business. Just what people expect from a gloomy old trade like mine.”

The Doctor walked out after Charles and Rose walked into the kitchen with Gwyneth. That left Layla looking at Sneed. Sneed looked a little uncomfortable being there with her, but she didn’t care. She wanted more information on what happened with the dead bodies. “How many bodies have they tried to use and have they caused any type of problems like they did earlier?”

“There have only been the old man and old woman. The younger man is the old woman’s grandson. He came over to see his grandmother before the funeral. I just left him there to say his goodbyes and when I came back, the woman was strangling him. I tried to help him but she broke his neck and was trying to escape her coffin. I put the lid on it trying to keep her there, but she was so strong. She shoved the lid off and it hit me in the head. I fell to the floor in dizziness and when it cleared up, the woman had left. Gwyneth and I left to go get her, and you know the rest.” Sneed was scared of what was happening and was hoping that they didn’t blame him for the death.

“So, these gas creatures killed him to use his body.” Layla murmurs while looking off to the side in thought.

“You believe me? That the grandmother’s body was used to kill the grandson?” Sneed looked at her with wide eyes, surprised that she would believe him.

“Yes, I do. They were willing to kill us earlier to use our bodies, I believe.” Layla feels a new determination to try to get to the bottom of this mystery. She has a feeling that the Doctor will want to help these creatures, but will he just take their word? Or would he listen to her opinions on what she thought and found out from Sneed?

The Doctor comes back into the living room and the others trailing after him. He looked excited and looked at Layla. “We’re going to have a séance.” Layla didn’t mind this, maybe they can get more information on these creatures.

They all gather around a table. “This is how Madam Mortlock summons those from the Land of Mists, down in Bute town. Come, we must all join hands.” Gwyneth says, taking charge of the event and holding her hands out to her sides for someone’s hands.

Charles scoffs again while standing away from the table with his arms folded against his chest. “I can’t take part in this!”

The Doctor looks amused and quickly takes the seat next to Layla, he turns to Charles. “Humbug? Come on, open mind.” He grabs Layla’s hand and sighs in relief.

“This is precisely the sort of cheap mummery I strive to unmask. Seances? Nothing but luminous tambourines and a squeeze box concealed between the knees. This girl knows nothing.”

The Doctor looks at him with a cheesy grin. “Now, don’t antagonize her. I love a happy medium.” He tightens his hand a little when he hears Layla snort in amusement.

Rose grumbles. “I can’t believe you just said that.”

“Come on, we might need you.” The Doctor implores Charles again and relaxes when Charles takes a seat between Rose and Gwyneth. “Good man, Now, Gwyneth, reach out.”

Gwyneth starts to speak to the entities. “Speak to us. Are you there? Spirits, come. Speak to us that we may relieve your burden.” They all shift around a bit when they hear the whispering start.

“Can you hear that.” Rose whispers.

Charles, not worried about whispering states in a normal tone of scorn. “Nothing can happen. This is sheer folly.”

“Look at her though Charles.” Layla says to him as she looks at Gwyneth. She feels the Doctor’s hand tighten but doesn’t understand why. What she missed was Charles looking at her and a slight interest cross his eyes and the Doctor noticing it.

“I see them. I feel them.” Gwyneth says, swaying slightly. Gas tendrils drift above their heads.

While they can hear whispering, they can’t seem to understand what it is saying so Rose asks. “What’s it saying?”

“They can’t get through the rift. Gwyneth, it’s not controlling you, you’re controlling it. Now, look deep. Allow them through.” The Doctor tells her. Layla is thinking about this, if they have to use her to get through the rift, what damage would that cause her body and mind? It isn’t as if she is opening a door and standing to the side, she would in essence, be the door.

“I can’t.” She cries out.

“Yes, you can. Just believe it. I have faith in you, Gwyneth. Make the link.” The Doctor encourages her.

“Yes.” She says faintly in return. Blue outlines of people start to appear behind Gwyneth.

“Great God! Spirits from the other side.” Sneed says with a tremor in his voice, while needing to wipe his forehead with a piece of cloth with the amount of sweat on it.

“The other side of the universe.” The Doctor corrects.

The blue figures speak with the voice of children and Gwyneth speaks with them. “Pity us. Pity the Gelth. There is little time. Help us.”

“What do you want us to do?” The Doctor asks a little frantic in his want to save them.

“The rift. Take the girl to the rift. Make the bridge. We are so very few. The last of our kind. We face extinction.”

The Doctor understands what it means to be the last of your kind. He doesn’t want that to happen to the Gelth. “What happened?”

“Once we had a physical form like you, but then the war came.”

“War? What war?” Charles is confused. None of this sounded like humans. Human wars didn’t cause gas creatures like this.

“The Time War. The whole universe convulsed. The Time War raged. Invisible to smaller species but devastating to higher forms. Our bodies wasted away. We’re trapped in this gaseous state.”

The Doctor’s face pales and his grip on Layla’s hand tightens. He grimaces and bites his lip. “So, that’s why you need the corpses.”

“We want to stand tall, to feel the sunlight, to live again. We need a physical form, and your dead are abandoned. They’re going to waste. Give them to us.” The Gelth’s pleading somewhat turns into a demand at the end.

“But we can’t.” Rose stammers out suddenly. Layla agrees, but probably for a different reason than Rose has.

“Why not?” The Doctor asks honestly confused and a little irritated.

“It’s not. I mean, it’s not…”

“Not decent? Not polite?” The Doctor cuts her off. “It could save their lives.” He says with a closed off expression.

“Open the rift. Let the Gelth through. We’re dying. Help us. Pity the Gelth.” The Gelth plead before they go back into the gas lamps and Gwyneth collapses across the table.

“Gwyneth?” Both Layla and Rose ask as they move towards the girl. “Are you alright?”

“All true.” Charles says faintly, his face ashen. “It’s all true.”

Layla and Rose pick Gwyneth up and move her to the couch to lie down. Rose mops at her forehead while Layla moves towards the Doctor to tell him her opinion. “I don’t think we should rush into this Doctor. Things aren’t lining up.”

For the first time since meeting her, he looks at her like he has never seen her before. “You think I should just let them die?!”

Layla, unimpressed with his tone, just looks at him blankly. “I never said that. I said things aren’t lining up, and we should wait until we have more information.”

While they continue to argue quietly Gwyneth wakes up. “It’s all right. You just sleep.” Rose says soothingly.

“But my angels, miss. They came, didn’t they? They need me?” Gwyneth questions imploringly.

The Doctor, having heard her, turns away from Layla and their argument to talk to Gwyneth. “They do need you, Gwyneth. You’re they’re only chance of survival.”

Rose steps into the argument. She knows that Layla is on her side as well. “I’ve told you, leave her alone. She’s exhausted and she’s not fighting your battles, here drink this.” She says the last part to Gwyneth while handing her a cup of tea.

Confusion among the other gentleman is still high. But Sneed is the one to question the Doctor since it is happening in his home. “Well, what did you say, Doctor? Explain it again. What are they?”

“Aliens.” He replies simply.

“Like foreigners, you mean?”

Sighing at the mindset of the 1800’s looks at him and agrees. “Pretty foreign, yeah. From up there.” He points his finger towards the ceiling to show the area of the sky.

“Brecon?” Sneed cocks his head to the side.

“Close. And they’ve been trying to get through from Brecon to Cardiff but the road’s blocked. Only a few can get through and even then, they’re weak. They can only test drive the bodies for so long, then they have to revert to gas and hide in the pipes.”

Charles nods his head in understanding. “Which is why they need the girl.”

“They’re not having her.” Rose says emphatically. Layla was nodding her head as to agree. She has more to say too.

“But she can help. Living on the rift, she’s become part of it. She can open it up, make a bridge and let them through.” He is staring at them imploringly to get them to see what he is saying. 

“I think, Doctor, that it is not your choice to make. If it is anyone’s, it would be Gwyneth. However, all the known information needs to be given. They were willing to kill me and Rose to use our bodies. Sneed also told me that they killed that old woman’s grandson and they were using his body. They want anybody, not just dead ones. They never gave out a number either, what if it is more than the dead bodies available? Besides, even if the bridge is open, how would they be able to sustain the bodies when they are decomposing? Lastly, what affect would this have on Gwyneth? Would she be hurt in the process?” She is pleading with him to try to get him to see beyond his guilt of the war and use his brain about what is right in front of his face.

However, it is like Layla never even said anything. “Incredible. Ghosts that are not ghosts but beings from another world, who can only exist in our world by inhabiting cadavers.” Charles says while blinking slowly, and sitting limply.

“Good system. It might work.” The Doctor says with a little pep, trying to ignore the tension in the room with Layla and Rose, and that his hearts are clenching that he is on the outs with his Promised One. He wanted to believe that the Gelth were just desperate and with him helping them, there wouldn’t be any more deaths. He was hoping that what he walked in on earlier when getting the girls was just a misunderstanding. Then they could have their second chance.

“You can’t let them run around inside of dead people!” Rose almost screeches.

“Why not? It’s like recycling.” The Doctor is honestly confused why they don’t want to help.

“Seriously though, you can’t. It’s just wrong. Those bodies were living people. We should respect them even in death.” Rose scoffs in irritation.

“Seriously though, I can. Do you carry a donor card?” The Doctor snaps back. Layla is looking back and forth between the two while getting angrier and angrier.

“That’s different. That’s…” Is Rose’s stammered replied.

“It is different, yeah. It’s a different morality. Get used to it or go home.” Only meaning it for Rose. “You heard what they said, time’s short. I can’t worry about a few corpses when the last of the Gelth could be dying.” Rose backs down slightly, afraid of being sent home so soon.

Layla has had enough. “Take me home, then.” She says in a cold, clipped, tone. Everyone comes to a standstill while Rose and the Doctor look at her with different reactions. Rose looks stunned, while the Doctor looks at her hurt and heartbroken.

“You completely ignored my concerns and opinions and refuse to listen to them rationally. If you don’t want to acknowledge them, then you obviously don’t value my thoughts and concerns. I refuse to follow someone like they are a god and can be the only one to make the decisions when it affects us all. While you know more than us about time and space, our opinions matter too and to disregard them like that disregards us. You’re letting your guilt cloud your judgement. So fine, whenever you’re done with this mistake take me home.” Her voice is calm and quiet masking her fury.  She gives the Doctor a narrowed eyed, nostril flaring look before she spins around and goes to talk to Charles, not giving the Doctor time to respond.

The Doctor was shocked into silence. His eyes are open wide and mouth had fallen open. He feels like he needs to sit down. His hearts were beating harshly in his chest. Painfully. He had never had a companion react like that before. It was even worse because she was his Promised One, but he could understand her view point. He did come across that their opinions didn’t matter. However, she doesn’t understand what he had to do in the war. What it cost him and apparently the Gelth. He can’t just sit back and do nothing. He has to try to help. Maybe he can try to get her to understand that when this is over. Show her that this isn’t a mistake. He will prove it to her. Nothing will go wrong. Then she won’t leave him. Taking a shaky breath and swallowing past the lump in his throat, he turns from where he was staring at Layla. He feels his hearts clench when he hears Charles telling her to call him Charlie. Ignoring that for now, he turns back to Gwyneth who was just looking at him knowingly, but without pity and with compassion.

“I don’t care either. They’re not using her!” Rose gets back into the conversation and she agrees with Layla, this isn’t the right thing to do. While she doesn’t want to go home and she would miss Layla if she does leave, it would leave more of this intriguing man’s attention on her. But she can’t help but feel this is the wrong thing to do without gathering more information.

Gwyneth gently cuts in. She knows about the bond between the Doctor and Layla, and she is sorry that this has gotten in between them. But she feels that this a mission from her mam and she wants to help. “Don’t I get a say, miss?”

“Look, you don’t understand what is going on.” It was said rudely, but Rose did not mean it to be.

“You would say that, miss, because that’s very clear inside your head, that you think I’m stupid.” It was stated in a matter fact way, like she was used to that being said about her.

“That’s not fair.” However that is what Rose was thinking, not in a mean way, just uneducated about aliens’ way.

“It’s true though. Things might be very different where you’re from, but here and now, I know my own mind, and the angels need me. Doctor, what do I have to do?”

The Doctor had been looking between Gwyneth and Layla, his eyes lingering on Layla, but with Gwyneth’s question, he focuses on her. He swallows hard. “You don’t have to do anything.” He knows that his guilt is driving a part of him, and she doesn’t need to do something to relieve that.

“They’ve been singing to me since I was a child, sent by my mam on a holy mission. So, tell me.” Gwyneth says firmly.

“We need to find the rift. This house is on a weak spot, so there must be a spot that’s weaker than any other. Mister Sneed, what’s the weakest part of this house? The place where most of the ghosts have been seen?”

“That would be the morgue.”

Resigned to going through this insane plan Rose pouts. “No chance you were going to say gazebo, is there?” She shares a look with Layla and they both look upset at the events about to take place. The Doctor had lingered back a little to try to talk to Layla, but she wrapped her arm around Charles’ arm and moved past him without another glance. This bond has only just come into existence, but it was already wreaking havoc on his body and emotions.

xxxxxx

Down in the basement they all feel the temperature dropping. They see the recently departed laying under white sheets. “Urgh, talk about Bleak House.” The Doctor was trying to lighten the tension, but his comment falls flat.

“The thing is, Doctor, the Gelth don’t succeed, ‘cos I know they don’t. I know for a fact there weren’t corpses walking around in 1869.” Rose says with a smug smirk on her face as if that proved that this wouldn’t work.

Humans, the Doctor thinks. “Times in flux, changing every second. Your cozy little world can be rewritten like that. Nothing is safe. Remember that. Nothing.”

Layla hums quietly. “Like Back to the Future.” She didn’t look at anyone since she wasn’t expecting a reply, but the Doctor’s quiet ‘yes’ has her gritting her teeth in anger about this plan.

Charles pats Layla’s hand in comfort. “Doctor, I think the room is getting colder.”

Rose gulps loudly, her voice shaking. “Here they come.”

They all look to see a Gelth come out of the gas lamp by the door and stands under a stone archway. “You’ve come to help. Praise the Doctor. Praise him.”

“Promise you won’t hurt her!” Rose pleads with them.

“If there is anyone you should praise, it should be Gwyneth.” Layla mutters loud enough for those around her to hear.

However, they are both ignored. “Hurry! Please, so little time. Pity the Gelth.”

“After this is over, I will take you somewhere else after the transfer. Somewhere you can build proper bodies. This isn’t a permanent solution, alright?” He looks towards the girls, but his eyes are only on Layla after he says this. He tries to show her that he heard her concerns about the corpses and will find a different solution once they come through the bridge.

Gwyneth looks at the Gelth in awe and worship. “My angels, I can help them live.”

“Okay, where is the weak point?” The Doctor questions the Gelth.

“Beneath the arch.” They say back quickly, trying to rush this so they can live.

Gwyneth goes to stand under the arch when Rose goes up to her again. “You don’t have to do this.” Layla says nothing. She knows that she can’t change Gwyneth’s mind and knows that when someone really wants to do something, they will.

“My angels.” Is all Gwyneth says to Rose faintly.

“Establishing the bridge. Reach out to the void. Let us through!” The Gelth’s voice takes on a more demanding tone.

“Yes, I can see you. I can see you. Come! Come to me. Come to this world, poor lost souls!” Gwyneth is so far gone into helping them that she doesn’t realize the consequences that will take place.

“Bridgehead establishing. It has begun. The bridge is made.” The Gelth are gleeful. Gwyneth’s mouth opens and blue gas comes out. “She has given herself to the Gelth. The bridge is open. We descend.” The soft blue apparition turns flaming red with sharp teeth. Its voice hardens and deepens. “The Gelth will come through in force!”

The Doctor has a shocked and slightly lost look on his face. He seems frozen in his spot. No one says anything for a few seconds. Charles speaks up first. “You said that you were few in number!”

“Yeah, a few billion, and all of us in need of corpses.” The gas starts to go towards the dead bodies on the table and they start to stand up.

Sneed’s lip is trembling, sweat is falling from his face even in the cold of the morgue. He pleads with the girl he has raised since a child. “Gwyneth, stop this. Listen to your master. This has gone far enough. Stop dabbling child, and leave these things alone, I beg of you!”

“Mister Sneed! Get back!” Rose shouts as Layla was able to grab him from behind and pull him towards her and Charles.

Seeing what could have happened had Layla not stepped in, the Doctor blankly looks around. “I think it’s gone a little bit wrong.”

The corpses start moving towards them. “We need bodies. All of you. Dead. The human race. Dead.”

“Gwyneth, stop them! Send them back now!” The Doctor pleads with the girl. His hearts are pounding in his ears, a cold sweat is breaking out and his shoulders are tight with tension.

“Five more bodies. Convert them. Make them vessels for the Gelth.” They start to move more towards where Rose and the Doctor and are backing them up against a metal gate, figuring two would be easier to convert first, then they can move onto the other three.

“Doctor, I can’t. I’m sorry. This new world of yours is too much for me. I’m so…” Charles is stuttering out. Sneed had already left when he was able to, but Charles grabs onto Layla and drags her out of the room, with her fighting against him to get to the Doctor and Rose. He was surprising strong in his terror to flee for his old age.

The Doctor grabs Rose and pulls her behind the metal gate, where the corpses cannot reach them. The Gelth continue to try to get them, grabbing at them. “Give yourself to glory. Sacrifice your lives for the Gelth.”

“I trusted you. I pitied you!” The Doctor yells out. His teeth clench and he open and closes his hands multiple times.

The Gelth sound amused. “We don’t want your pity. We want this world and all it’s flesh.”

“Not while I’m alive.” His jaw is set, and his brow is furrowing.

“Then live no more.” They say simply.

“But I can’t die. Tell me I can’t die. I haven’t even been born yet. It’s impossible for me to die. Isn’t it?” Rose is breathing heavily and vehemently shaking her head.

Clearing his throat and meeting her eyes, he looks at her with remorse. “I’m sorry.”

xxxxxx

Charles is dragging Layla out of the house; Sneed is already long gone. “Stop! Charlie, stop! We have to help them!”

“I’m sorry Layla, but what could we do to help them?” He continues to pull her out of the house and one of the Gelth in gas form starts following after them. Layla stops fighting him, grabs his hand, and runs with him down the street. They both stop though when they hear the gas cry out.

“Failing! Atmosphere hostile!” It then dives into the street lamp.

Charles has a moment of realization. “Gas. The gas!” He tugs on Layla’s hand and pulls her back towards the house.

“What are you doing? Do you have a plan?” She is easily keeping up with him, even in heeled shoes, he is an older man after all.

“Yes, go and put the flame out of all the lamps and turn up the gas! This will be what will save the other two. Quickly go!” She let’s go of his hand and runs towards the kitchen turning up the gas on everything she can see. They both get done at the same time and run down the stairs to inform the Doctor about Charles’ plan.

xxxxxx

Sweat is breaking out on Rose’s skin and she is shaking her hands in distress. “But it’s 1869. How can I die now?”

Thoughts are racing through his mind trying to find a way out of this situation. He hopes that Layla made it out safely. “Time isn’t a straight line. It can twist into any shape. You can be born in the twentieth century and die in the nineteenth and it’s all my fault. I brought you two here.”

Rose sighs in resignation. “It’s not your fault. I wanted to come.”

“What about me? I saw the fall of Troy, World War Five. I pushed boxes at the Boston Tea Party. Now I’m going to die in a dungeon in Cardiff.” The Doctor whines. I also just met my Promised One and I didn’t get to tell her or spend a lot of time with her. At least she is safe.

“We’ll go down fighting, yeah?” Rose asks while grabbing his hand and holding it tightly, missing the flinch he made at her touch.

While Rose is gripping his hand tightly, he is not even trying to hold her hand back, without Rose’s grip, their hands would fall apart. “Yeah.” While he likes Rose as a friend, her touch feels wrong. “I’m so glad I met…” he is cut off before he can finish saying ‘the two of you’.

Rose’s eye brightens thinking that he was going to say ‘you’. He misses her smile towards him when Charles and Layla come running back down the stairs.

“Doctor! Doctor! Turn off the flame, turn up the gas! Now, fill the room, all of it, now!” Charles is shouting while doing exactly that with Layla doing some on the other side of the room away from the Gelth.

“What are you doing?!” There is a tightness in his eyes, a vein that pulses in his temple, and his voice deepened in anger that Charles had brought Layla back into a dangerous situation.

“Turn it all on. Flood the place!” Charles is giddy in his ability to help out.

“What, so we choke to death instead?” Rose snarks.

“Isn’t he right though? The Gelth are gaseous creatures.” Layla grunts while trying to rip out the gas pipe on the wall.

“Fill the room with gas, it’ll draw them out of the host. Suck them into the air like poison from a wound!” The Doctor copies Layla and starts to pull the pipe off the wall.

The Gelth corpses start to leave the Doctor and walk towards Charles and Layla. “I hope, oh Lord, I hope that this theory will be validated soon, if not immediately.”

“Plenty more!” The Doctor gets the pipe open and opens the gate, exiting first, and going towards Gwyneth.

“It’s working.” Charles mumbles half surprised.

“Gwyneth, send them back. They lied. They’re not angels.” He tries to get through to her while reaching out and grabbing Layla’s hand, holding it so tight that his knuckles turn white. While Layla is mad at him, she is not a cruel person to deny someone comfort when they need it, so she lets him keep her hand and runs her thumb on against his hand.

Both her and Rose are starting to choke from the gas though and are coughing hard, but they want to stay to help with Gwenyth. “Liars?” Gwyneth talks as if she is under water.

“Look at me. If your mother and father could look down and see this, they’d tell you the same. They’d give you the strength. Now send them back!” The Doctor is trying to encourage her.

“I can’t breathe!” Rose coughs out, Layla is past the point of talking and is coughing hard enough for a lung to come out. Their faces are red and tears are falling from their eyes from the strain.

The Doctor looks down and sees the strain on his Promised One and pushes her towards Rose and Charles and let’s go of her hand. “Get them out of here Charles.”

“I’m not leaving her!” Rose says as she seems to be the only one out of the two of them that can speak. Didn’t help that Layla was standing next to the open gas pipe and Rose was more towards the middle of the room. Charles is starting to cough now and hold up Layla at the same time.

“They’re too strong.” Gwyneth mumbles out.

“Remember that world you saw? Rose’s world? All those people. None of it will exist unless you send them back through the rift.” He pleads out, one because he doesn’t want this event to mess up the future, and two if the future is messed up, then that would affect him meeting Layla.

It doesn’t look like anything was going to happen. “I can’t send them back. But I can hold them off. Hold them in this place, hold them here. Get out.” Gwyneth pulls out a box of matches from her apron pocket and shows the Doctor.

“You can’t!” “Don’t do it!” Rose and Layla say at the same time.

“Leave this place!” Gwyneth says strongly for the first time since being in under the arch.

“Layla, Rose, get out. Go now. I won’t leave her while she’s still in danger. Now go!” He tosses a quick glance at Rose but lingers on Layla. He gives her a look that she can’t decipher.

Rose helps as much as she can with Layla, but Charles seems to be doing most of the work getting them out of the house. “This way!”

They get out into the cold December air and breath in fresh air. The girls start to cry softly realizing out of the two people in that house, only one would be coming out alive. Rose and Layla are holding hands while Layla is tucked under Charles arm since she is still coughing some.

They look towards the house, waiting for someone to emerge. It isn’t long before they see the Doctor running quickly out of the house. He goes flying towards the ground when the house suddenly explodes. Charles turns the girls so his back is towards the house and he is slightly covering them to give them protection.

“She didn’t make it.” Rose says softly.

The Doctor gets up and brushes himself off. He looks towards the girls in remorse. “I’m sorry. She closed the rift.”

“At such a cost. The poor child.” Charles says while still holding onto Layla.

The Doctor stiffens as he realizes how they are standing. “I did try, but Gwyneth was already dead. She had been for at least five minutes.” He says slightly strained. He can see that Layla is still struggling and weak from the gas from being right next to the pipe, but it still doesn’t help the possessiveness he feels towards her with her in another man’s arms. He also knows she is mad at him and wouldn’t want comfort from him right now.

“What do you mean?” Rose asks.

“She died when she opened the bridge, didn’t she?” Layla questions.

“Yes, I think that is when she died.”

“But she can’t have. She spoke to us. She helped us. She saved us. How could she have done that?” Rose asks with her eyes widened rubbing absently at her arms. “She saved the world. A servant girl. No one will ever know.”

Layla tugs on Rose’s hand. “We will know and honor her memory.”

xxxxxx

When they get back to Tardis, they are all ready to go to bed after this eventful day, well the girls are. The Doctor just wants something to distract him. “Right then, Charlie boy, I’ve just got to go into my, er, shed. Won’t be long.”

“What are you going to do now?” Rose asks wondering how he is really feeling about this whole alien thing.

Charles perks up. “I shall take the mail coach back to London, quite literally post-haste. This is no time for me to be on my own. I shall spend Christmas with my family and make amends to them. After all I’ve learned tonight, there can be nothing more vital.”

“I’m glad to see that you’ve cheered up.” Layla is finally able to breathe right and comments towards Charles.

“Exceedingly! This morning, I thought I knew everything in the world. Now I know I’ve just started. All these huge and wonderful notions, Doctor. I’m inspired. I must write about them.”

Rose looks at him in worry. “Do you think that’s wise?”

“I shall be subtle at first.” He says soothingly. “The Mystery of Edwin Drood still lacks an ending. Perhaps the killer was not the boy’s uncle. Perhaps he was not of this Earth. The Mystery of Edwin Drood and the Blue Elementals. I can spread the word, tell the truth.”

“Good luck with it.” The Doctor says knowing it won’t happen. “Nice to meet you. Fantastic.”

Rose shakes his hand and kisses his cheek. “Bye, then, and thanks.”

Layla ignores his hand and pulls him in for a hug and kisses him on his cheek as well The Doctor has to swallow a growl that wanted to come out. “Thank you Charlie. Have a happy Christmas.”

Charles blushes. “Oh, my dear. How modern. Thank you, but I don’t understand. In what way is this goodbye? Where are you going?”

The Doctor shakes off his jealousy, it’s not Layla’s fault that she doesn’t know about their bond yet and there was no guarantee that she would accept it. “You’ll see. In the shed.” He says mysteriously.

“Upon my soul, Doctor, it’s one riddle after another with you. But after all these revelations, there’s just one mystery you still haven’t explained. Answer me this, who are you?”

“Just a friend passing through.”

“But you have such knowledge of future times. I don’t wish to impose on you, but I must ask. My books. Doctor, do they last?” He is holding his breath and raises his eyebrows in anticipation.

“Oh, yes!” He is happy that he can answer this for Charles.

“For how long?”

“Forever. Right. Shed. Come on, Layla and Rose.”

“In the box? All three of you?” He asks with a sly look on his face.

The Doctor shudders at the thought of being in an enclosed space with Layla. “Down boy. See you.”

They all walk into the Tardis; Layla goes to sit down knowing she had to talk to the Doctor. “Doesn’t that change history if he writes about blue ghosts?” Rose questions curiously.

“In a week’s time it’s 1870, and that’s the year he dies. Sorry. He’ll never get to tell his story.”

“Oh, he was so nice.”

“I agree, he was great to talk to, but at least he is happy with this little adventure.” Layla says contentedly.

“True, but in your time, he was already dead. We’ve brought him back to life and he’s more alive now than he’s ever been, old Charlie boy. Let’s give him one last surprise.” He works on piloting the Tardis and they all stand in front of the screen ready to see his face. When they start to dematerialize, they see Charlie’s eyes widen and his mouth drop open.

“Well, I’m knackered. I’m going to get changed and then I need to rest before the next adventure.” Rose says as she yawns in exhaustion.

“If you don’t remember the directions, the Tardis will guide you to the wardrobe, after you are done with that, she will guide you to your room.” He is talking to Rose, but looking at Layla hoping to see if she was still going to use her room or if she is still planning on leaving, but her face gives nothing away.

“Thanks, night.” Rose walks off not realizing that Layla stayed behind to talk to the Doctor.

With no reaction to his words, he thinks that it is hopeless to try to talk to her into staying. “I’m sorry. I’m so, so, sorry I didn’t listen to you. If it is what you really want, I will take you home. Just let me know.” He is avoiding eye contact with her and fidgeting with things around the console.

Layla just looks at him, his shoulders are slumped and there is a dejected look on his face. She knows that his guilt was what was driving him so much to help the Gelth. He presents the image of a little boy who was caught doing something bad and is waiting to be grounded and yelled at. She realizes that had his guilt not played a part in his decisions tonight, he might have used that big brain of his and seen that the Gelth were playing him. But he also wanted to help. He thought he was helping the Gelth. They asked for aid and he tried to deliver it. She understands that this is just who he was and she couldn’t and wouldn’t ask him to change. That was what made him so fantastic and an intriguing man, and her heart hurts that she put that expression on his face.

The Doctor had been waiting for something, anything. To be yelled at, or demanded to go home, but she just said nothing. He assumed that she was so angry that she wouldn’t even talk to him. His hearts broke and he started moving around the console and put in the coordinates to take her home. He wouldn’t even look at her because he didn’t want to see her looking at him negatively. He hoped that one day he could come back and try to get her to travel with him again.

He stops when he hears her sigh. “Doctor…” He turns and sees her with her head bowed pinching the bridge of her nose and her other hand on her hip.

The anxiety is getting to him. He just wants her to say something, anything. To yell or berate, something other than this silence. “I guess this is where you tell me ‘I told you so,’ huh?” He asks her with a self-depreciating smile.

Her head snaps up and her eyes narrow at him angrily, causing him to gulp harshly. “I am not the type of person to rub a mistake in a friends face when they are already hurting, Doctor.”

“I didn’t mean to imply that, Layla.” He says softy.

“Good.” She walks over towards him and stands in front of him. “Doctor, I understand why you wanted to do it, I really do. Guilt is a powerful emotion. While the guilt I felt growing up, unable to protect the kids around me, is nowhere near as strong as yours, I do understand that it can lead to behaving irrationally. But that is why when we know that the guilt is a driving force behind making a decision, that we need to take a step back, and maybe.” She grabs his hands and squeeze them gently. “With the help of friends, come to a decision that is made rationally.”

The Doctor stares at her with a slightly broken look. She can see unfathomable pain in his eyes. His grip on her hands tightens and he is breathing heavily as he thinks over her words, and the terrible day. “I know we aren’t your people, Doctor, but we are your friends. While we are here, with you, you are not alone. You can rely on us. Get to know us more, learn to trust us. Then maybe you will feel comfortable enough to open up to us, to share your burdens. Numbing the pain for a while by saving others and distracting yourself will only make it worse when you finally let yourself feel it, but you don’t have to do it alone.”

The Doctor looks slightly uncomfortable to Layla, but she doesn’t know why. To him, he doesn’t want to share anything with Rose, he would only be open like that with Layla. But it is still too fresh, to raw, and he isn’t ready yet. One day maybe, but not yet. “About Gwyneth and earlier… I’m sorry I didn’t listen. You were right, and she paid the price for my mistake.”

Layla loosens her hands from his and wraps her arms around his waist. He doesn’t know what to do with his hands so he just lets them hang against his sides, he wants to touch her, but not sure where or if now is a good time to do it. “I might have been right about the Gelth, but at the time we didn’t know that for sure. Helping them, helping people who cry out for aid and you lending a hand is who you are, Doctor. Even in the couple adventures we have had, I can already tell that. I can’t and won’t ask you to change who you are. I won’t disregard who you are as a person, your morals. I won’t say it was okay to ignore our opinions and concerns but I should have helped you when you asked for it and supported you. For that I apologize. I know you are already beating yourself up about it, there is no reason for me to add to that. Just think about this, you didn’t start the war, you might have had to participate it in, but you didn’t start it. And I doubt you chose to be in the war in the first place. The Gelth losing their forms, was not your fault, no matter how much they tried to guilt you. You can’t take the blame for everyone who was wronged because of the Time War on your shoulders.”

The Doctor is thunderstruck and can only stare at this incredible human after her speech. He is in awe that someone like her exists and that he is so lucky to have her as his Promised One. His eyes sting with unshed tears and he wraps his arms around her and pulls her in for a tight hug as his body slightly trembles at her acceptance of him and the horrible events of today.

He can feel the emotions that are already developing for her at a quick pace, deepen a little more and he can’t say that he regrets it. He has enjoyed being around his little human and he is clever enough to know that his feelings for her will only continue to grow even stronger. He only hopes that she is starting to feel some good feelings for him as well. Now he can understand why other Time Lords that found their Promised One, didn’t take long before they were married. You would think that with the lifespan the Time Lords have, that they wouldn’t be in a rush to bond, but the feelings are just so strong, and the souls want to be connected, it is hard to prolong it when it feels so right. He is on his way to wanting to connect hearts, mind, souls, and bodies.

He knows that his body and soul are already ready to merge with her, he has been feeling that almost since he met her. His hearts and mind have taken a little longer, but are catching up. He knows soon he will want that all-encompassing intimacy that comes with a bonding. He feels like he is there, for the most part, but he has yet to complete the hardest task: telling her and asking her to bond with him. Of course, with Layla being human, he wasn’t sure how she would feel.

After the Doctor relaxes in her arms and has calmed down Layla wants to break the tension. “I know you don’t understand, but after a while, dresses like this get very restrictive and I want to get out of it right now. As good as it looks on me, it would look better off me and on the floor.” She gives him a saucy wink and let’s go of him to walk back to the wardrobe. She completely misses his heated gaze and his once again stiffened posture. The image she presented to him has his thoughts turning and his blood heating. He feels a pleasant warmth shoot down his spine and his fingers itch to help relieve her of her dress. Once she is out of hearing range, he groans in pleasant agony. While he wouldn’t change Layla for anything, he hopes that her side of the bond picks up just as quickly as his did. He turns around and occupies himself with working on his ship to cool down his body.

Chapter Text

“How long have we been gone?” Rose asks and she leaves the Tardis with Layla and the Doctor following.

“About twelve hours.” He tells her with a smug and pleased smirk on his face. Layla admits to herself that it is a good look on his face, and the confidence was sexy.

“Well, we won’t be long. I know I want to get some of my stuff and maybe we should tell Jackie that we are going to travel a bit? Backpacking? So, we can be gone longer.” Layla directs her last questions towards Rose.

“Yeah, makes sense to me, plus it would help explain any souvenirs we get.”

“What are you going to tell her to explain being gone for the last twelve hours?” The Doctor raises his brow in curiosity as he leans against the Tardis.

“I don’t know, we’ve been to the year five billion, and only been gone, what, twelve hours? No, I’ll just tell her I spent the night at Shareen’s. See you later, and don’t you disappear!”

“Wait Rose, Jackie knows I can’t stand Shareen.” Layla huffs. With a wink towards the Doctor as they both walk towards their flat. “Oh well, I can just tell her I stayed the night at Mickey’s place, gaming.

The Doctor stares after her, growls lowly and presses his lips flat; his muscles are tense. But he lets out a big sigh and relaxes. He knows that Mickey is Rose’s boyfriend, but he doesn’t like the idea of Layla spending the night with any male. He walks around to try to distract himself from the negative thoughts and starts daydreaming about Layla, when he sees a picture on a concrete pillar that catches his eye. Getting closer he sees papers for both Layla and Rose, ‘Police Appeal for Assistance. Can You Help?’ He grabs them and sprints towards the girl’s flat to try to catch up to them before they go in.

xxxxxx

Rose opens the door to their flat, explanation on her lips. “I’m back! I was with Shareen. She was all upset again. Are you in? So, what’s been going on? How’ve you been? What? What’s that face for? It’s not the first time I’ve stayed out all night.” Rose rapid fires questions and her mother’s face gets more distressed with each word coming from Rose. Rose is looking at her mother dumbly while Layla looks around the flat and sees a bunch of posters. He is so dead. He is such a terrible driver. Poor Jackie.

Seeing Layla move off to the side, Jackie realizes that she is not hallucinating and drops her mug of tea. It smashes on the floor startling Rose. “It’s you…” Jackie whispers, her mouth slackens and eyes widen. She looks between Rose and Layla at a loss for words.

Rose looks confused. “Of course it’s us.” Why is mum crying and upset?

“Oh my god. It’s you. Oh my god.” Jackie runs up to the girls and wraps her arms around the both of them. Behind Jackie’s back, Layla holds up the posters for Rose to see and Rose’s eyes widen in disbelief.

They all hear the door open and the Doctor runs in. “It’s not twelve hours, it’s twelve months. You two have been gone for a whole year. Sorry.” Seeing a vaguely familiar man snaps Jackie out of her disbelief and has given way to fury. The Doctor looks like he wants to stay to apologize to the girls, but at the same time, run from the interaction that will obviously be domestic.

xxxxxx

No one says much as they wait for the police to arrive. Since Jackie has hung up the phone from calling them, she hasn’t said anything to them. The girls look remorseful but don’t know what to say to make it better. Jackie’s face went through a range of expressions, but went somewhat blank after Rose said they were just traveling. The Doctor just looks uncomfortable after being forced to stay in the flat.

After the police finally arrive and ask what is going on, Jackie’s rage explodes. “The hours I’ve sat here, days and weeks and month, all on my own. I thought you both were dead, and where were you? Traveling. What the hell does that mean, traveling? That’s no sort of answer. You ask them.” She commands the police. “They won’t tell me. That’s all they say. Traveling.”

“That’s what we were doing.” Rose says unconvincingly.

“With your passport’s still in the drawer? It’s just one lie after another.” She throws her hands up in the air.

Layla winces. There wasn’t a lot of places they could go for a year without their passports in England. The Doctor sees her wince and sends her an apologetic look. Layla’s lip twitches slightly. She should be mad that this happened, but she is really just numb about it. She is sorry that Jackie suffered, but she doesn’t regret going with the Doctor. He has given her what she has always wanted, to travel and see things in the world and as a bonus, the universe. She doesn’t say that to Jackie though, she doesn’t want to send her into another fit. She decides to let Rose do the talking for them, while she has been living with them for years, she isn’t Jackie’s daughter, and she might not get the same reaction that Rose gets for defending their explanation, she didn’t want Jackie to blame her for Rose going missing.

“We meant to phone. Really. We just, forgot. Got tied up seeing what’s out there.” Rose is imploring her mum to just take her word for it, but she knows how protective her mother is, and she doesn’t think her mom would take it well if she said that they were traveling with an alien that can go through time and space.

“What, for a year? You forgot for a year? The both of you? And I am left sitting here. I just don’t believe you. Why won’t you tell me where you’ve been?” Tears are clouding Jackie’s eyes and the girl’s hearts clench. Of course, the Doctor decides to put his foot in his mouth. Really, he was just trying to speed up the domestic event so he can escape.

The Doctor stands up slightly gaining everyone’s attention. He gives them an innocent grin, that actually makes him look like slightly scary. His eyes are almost bugged out and his smile is a little too wide. “Actually, it’s my fault. I sort of er, employed Layla and Rose as my companions.”

“Danger Will Robinson, danger.” Layla mutters under her breath. Did the Doctor not realize how bad that sounds to the police and Jackie along with that smile he is giving them?

“When you say companion, is this a sexual relationship?” The policeman asks nosily and without any reason to seeing that they were all adults.

The Doctor and Rose both shout no, but however Layla mutters. “I wish”. No one hears her except the Doctor and he has to fight down the blush with both arousal and awkwardness to not make the police suspect that he was lying. His feelings are hot and cold. One minute he is heated and devouring Layla with his gaze, and the next he is like a blushing, virgin, schoolboy.

Jackie’s attention turns on him instantly. She gets a good look at him and the image he paints. She jabs her finger in the Doctor’s face. “Then what is it? Because you, you waltz in here all charm and smiles, and the next thing I know, they vanish of the face of the Earth. How old are you then? Forty? Four-five? What, did you find them on the internet? Did you go online and pretend you’re a doctor?”

The Doctor’s hearts clench slightly at the thought that he looked too old to be with Layla, but becomes indignant at her questioning him. “I am a Doctor!”

Jackie’s lips pull back and bares her teeth. “Prove it! Stitch this, mate!” She, quick as lightening, slaps him across the face so hard his head turns to the side from the power of it and he cries out in pain. His skin instantly reddens and he places his hand against his cheek and feels the warmth from the impact. The Doctor quickly leaves the flat and heads up to the roof to wait for the girls. The policemen just look uncomfortable being there. Seems like a simple case of an adult leaving with their boyfriend and not telling the mother. They too, quickly make their escape from the craziness.

Jackie goes into the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea to try to calm down and not cry. The girls look at each other and go after her. They form a three-way hug and all are holding on tightly. Jackie’s lip is quivering. “Did you think about me at all?”

Rose’s eyes tear up, and Layla looks at her sadly. “We did, all the time.”

“I’m sorry Jackie. I should have let you know we were going traveling before we left. There was just an opportunity that we couldn’t pass up. We hadn’t anticipated being gone so long.” Layla said as she was gently rubbing Jackie’s back.

“One phone call. Just to know that you two were alive. That’s all I wanted. Not knowing was the worst.”

“We’re sorry, we really are.” Rose is able to choke out, her throat tightening at the thought of her mother not knowing if they were safe or not.

“Do you know, what terrifies me, is that you still can’t say. What happened to you two. What can be so bad that you can’t tell me, Sweethearts? Where were you?” She pleads with them to tell her, but they can’t know she wouldn’t believe them or handle it well at all.

After Jackie calms down, she sits down with her tea and calls her friends to let them know that Rose and Layla are back. Layla and Rose decide to take quick showers and change clothes before they meet with the Doctor. Rose goes first since it takes longer for her hair to dry, but she isn’t long then it is Layla’s turn. Rose leaves her hair down and straight while wearing a simple, pink, t-shirt, and baggy blue jeans with her almost worn-out sneakers, and her makeup simple. Layla styles her hair and does her makeup quick and dresses in a black long sleeve shirt with lace for the arms and lace on the top above her cleavage and shoulders that is solid black and form fitting from her breasts down and pairs that with a black pleated skirt and her black converses. They look each other over and both nod in satisfaction. They might not have the same taste in clothes, but agree that the look they wear works for them.

xxxxxx

The Doctor is sitting close to the door that gave roof access. He is staring at the clear sky in deep thought. Will they still want to come with me? He was more worried that Layla wouldn’t come, but he has come to like Rose, as a friend of course. He is wondering what is taking them so long to come up when the door opens and they both come out. He notices that they have changed clothes and can smell their shower gel since it is still fresh on their skin. Rose looks the same as she has been, but the Doctor discretely looks Layla up and down admiring her outfit and how it fits on her. The skirt is slightly short so he sees a lot of her legs and can now get a good look at the tattoos on her thighs, and on one it looked like a garter belt from what he could see and his eyes widened at how appealing it was on her leg. He sees on her other thigh, on the outer side of it she has an array of flowers and thorny vines that go down towards her knee and up under her skirt and he wonders how far it goes up. She leans against the door next to the Doctor and he side eyes her legs again. I wonder why she doesn’t have more tattoos on her legs after seeing the collection she has on her arms. But the ones she has on her legs are very stimulating to him. He wants to bite at the garter belt and run his tongue up the length of the flowers and see how high it goes up. He has to bite his lip to stop a groan from escaping and is so grateful when Rose starts talking and distracts him from these arousing thoughts of Layla.

Rose sits along the concrete wall and throws her hands up in the air. “We can’t tell her. Can’t even begin.”

“That’s why her hair is so big, it’s full of secrets.” Layla fake whispers to the Doctor.

Rose snorts. “Don’t Mean Girls me. Mum is never going to forgive us. And we missed a whole year.” She ponders this. “Was it good?”

The Doctor quickly looks away from Layla and looks towards Rose. He pursues his lips. “Middling.”

That shocks a laugh out of Layla, but Rose just gives him the stink eye. “You’re so useless.” She teases.

“Well, if it’s this much trouble, are you going to stay here now?” He finally asks the question he is dreading an answer to. He crosses his fingers in a human gesture he has picked up.

“I’m definitely going with you. I want to travel and see the universe. I love Jackie, but I am not going to let that hold me back from experiencing life.” Layla finishes her statement with a nod of her head. The Doctor gives her a cheesy grin in happiness. He had been so worried that she would stay. Oh, he wouldn’t have given up so easily and would have constantly tried to convince her to come with him, but he is glad there was no hesitancy in her answer. He barely knows her, but he can tell he will grow to love her and that it wouldn’t take long. He isn’t fighting it either. Promised Ones bonds were sacred, and two souls are meant for each other, there is no reason to fight it or deny it. To find the one person that was made for you, well, that was the most beautiful thing in the universe.

Rose however hesitates. “I don’t know. I can’t do that to her again, though.”

“Well, she’s not coming with us.” He was adamant of that and refused to budge for Rose.

“No chance.” The girls say together.

“I don’t do families.” As the Doctor says this, he has a moment of panic. He had a family, a wife, and children before the war, but it was an arranged marriage. He has a feeling that he will probably change his mind if Layla wanted a family with him, but he is hoping that it won’t be for a while so he can spend many years with her alone before he has to share her.

“She slapped you!” Rose bursts out laughing and Layla can’t help but join when she sees the look on his face.

“Nine hundred years of time and space, and I’ve never been slapped by someone’s mother.” He crosses his arms over his chest and turns his head to the side in a pout. Rose and Layla get a clear view of the slap from Jackie and see a red handprint on his cheek. Rose laughs again, but Layla winces in sympathy. “It hurt!” His sulking isn’t helping Rose calm down though.

“I got to give it to Jackie though, that looked like one mean slap. I am actually proud of her for the strength she exhibited… no offense Doctor.” Layla’s mouth twitches as she looks at the Doctors indignant look.

“You’re so lame. When you say nine hundred years?” Rose asks at the same time that Layla asks, “wait you’re over nine hundred years old?”

“Yeah, that’s my age.” He looks at the girls worriedly.

Rose looks on in disbelief and Layla has an impish grin on her face. “Well, you look really good for being way older than sliced bread.” But then thinks to herself, how does one keep track of their age in a time machine where time is irrelevant? I don’t think he would be one to keep track either way, at least not accurately.

“Oi!” But he can’t help but laugh with them. He sends Layla a fond smile as she has her head thrown back in laughter.

“My mum was right. That is one hell of an age gap.” The Doctor’s face twists at this. He doesn’t want Jackie to think he has the hots for Rose, but Rose doesn’t notice and keeps on going. “Every conversation with you just goes mental. There’s no one else I can talk to. We’ve seen all that stuff up there, the size of it, and we can’t say a word. Aliens and spaceships and things, and we’re the only two people on planet Earth who knows they exist.”

Layla scoffs at Rose. Does she really think that we are the Doctor’s first companions? She can’t have expected him to be alone for an unknown number of years, because she really doesn’t think he knows his own age, without having other companions. However, she doesn’t say this out loud knowing that it would put Rose in a strop that she may not be as special as she thought she was. As if being able to travel the universe doesn’t make her special. “I doubt we are the only ones who know. I’m sure with the government, that they would know about aliens too. The Doctor can’t be the only alien to come to Earth.”

Rose nods her head at the possibility and goes to reply when there is a deep horn and a spaceship, trailing black smoke, passes overhead and heads for the city. It misses Tower Bridge, weaves around St. Paul’s, then with a nasty back-fire and a splutter, dives for the Thames, taking out the clock tower. Big Ben chimes once and then the spaceship crashes into the river. They watch a plume of black smoke rise into the air on the horizon.

“Oh, that’s just not fair.” Rose sputters while the Doctor and Layla laugh in excitement. He grabs Layla’s hand tightly, sighs quietly, and pulls her down the stairs yelling for Rose to hurry up, he wants to see this up close.

They get as close as they can, but have to stop because the army has already swooped in and closed down the area and are preventing people from getting closer. The Doctor, with his height, tries to see anything that would give him information, but they are too far away for him to see. “It’s blocked off.” He pouts.

Layla chuckles and pats his hand. “You’ll live.”

“We’re miles from the center. The city must be grid locked. The whole of London must be closing down.” Rose gives up trying to see anything and turns towards Layla and the Doctor.

“I know. I can’t believe I’m here to see this. This is fantastic!” The Doctor was giddy and full of excitement.

“Did you know this was going to happen?” Rose questions, but her face falls at his reply.

“Nope.”

“Do you recognize the ship?” She tries again.

“Nope.” He says with a big grin, excited at not knowing something for once.

“Aren’t you supposed to be super smart?” Layla asks slyly hoping he wasn’t paying attention.

“Nope.” The Doctor stops and realizes what she asked. He turns towards her in mock annoyance. “Very funny.”

“I thought so.” She is laughing at him again, but seeing her smile, makes it worth it.

“Do you know why it crashed?” Rose should be an interrogator, Layla thinks, she sure does as a lot of questions and it is less work for me to have to ask them.

“Nope.” The Doctor is bouncing on his toes, oblivious of Rose’s annoyance at him.

“Oh, I am so glad I’ve got you.”

The Doctor doesn’t notice her sarcasm. “I bet you are. This is what I travel for, Rose. To see history happening right in front of us.”

“Well, let’s go and see it. Never mind the traffic, we’ve got the Tardis.” She pleads. She was really excited and wanted to explore something that others couldn’t.

“I doubt that a big blue box from the mid 1900’s would be ignored if it just happened to materialize in front of the government while dealing with another spacecraft.” Layla says dryly.

“Yeah, better not. They’ve already got one spaceship in the middle of London. I don’t want to shove another one on top.” The Doctor was being pretty logical for once, usually he wouldn’t hesitate in trying to get closer.

“So, history’s happening and we’re stuck here?” Rose pouts.

The Doctor also pouts. “Yes, we are.”

Layla pats the both on the arm. “You poor babies. I want to know what is going on too, but there isn’t a lot we can do right now.”

“Well, we could always do what everybody else does. We could watch it on TV.” Rose suggests.

Layla grimaces. “You do realize that your mom will probably throw a party don’t you? It doesn’t take much to be her excuse to throw one.”

The Doctor looks like he is contemplating if he wanted to deal with Jackie and her parties and get more information, or be in the dark. Rose makes the decision for him when she grabs his and Layla’s hands and pull them back towards their flat. The Doctor holds back a flinch. While he is starting to get comfortable with Rose around, it still feels wrong to touch another, especially when he hasn’t started and finished the bond with Layla.

xxxxxx

Layla was right. By the time they got back to the flat, it was already bursting with Jackie’s friends, celebrating the ‘Martians’ in their toasts. The Doctor was rapidly flipping through the different news channels. He was so concentrated on the TV that he didn’t realize that Layla was looking at him. She was taking in his features and the determined eyes and felt heated.

She looked away and seen that Jackie brought Rose and her friend some tea and complain. “I’ve got no choice, but I’m not going to make him feel welcomed.” Her friend was putting in her two cents trying to make Rose feel guilty for something that wasn’t technically her fault.

“Oi, I’m trying to listen.” The Doctor complains. Layla laughs when Jackie gives the Doctor the stink eye.

She sees a toddler waddling his way towards the Doctor and snatch the remote from him since he was so focused on the TV. He changes the channel to a show about making cakes that is surprisingly about spaceships. The Doctor looks confused for a second before he realizes the toddler was in control of the remote. The Doctor picks the toddler up and puts him in his lap and tries to wrestle for the remote without hurting him. While she knows that the Doctor really wants to know what is going on, he isn’t showing any annoyance at having to deal with the kid. Domestics and no families indeed, she thinks. Based on how he is acting, she thinks that he has experience dealing with children. Well considering he is ‘nine hundred’, I would be more surprised if he didn’t have children.

The Doctor succeeds in retrieving the remote but lets the toddler continue to sit on his lap, while he idly plays with the boy’s hair. It makes Layla’s heart melt. While she isn’t ready to have children now, she does want them eventually, and she wants to be with someone who would be a good father. She slightly blanches that she is thinking about the Doctor and kids at the same time. Way too soon to be thinking that way.

Lost in thought, she doesn’t see the Doctor give her a curious look before he looks around shiftily, puts the toddler down, and walk towards the door. However, she does hear Jackie ask Rose where she is going and sees that she is leaving the flat. She looks around for the Doctor and see that he is gone and figured that Rose was going after him. She lets Rose deal with it since she knows that Rose would make sure that he wasn’t leaving without both of them. A few minutes later she sees Rose come in holding her hands to her chest and a wide smile on her face. I wonder what made her so happy.

Xxxxxx

The Doctor couldn’t take it anymore. There were aliens here! Aliens! And these humans wanted to party. He just didn’t understand them sometimes. And now there was a body discovered. He wanted to go look and get information about it. Something didn’t seem right about this who thing, it seemed almost… too perfect. Maybe a little… trip was in order. A solo trip. The girls wouldn’t mind. They could spend some time doing domestic things, they have been gone for a year after all. He looks at Layla and sees that she is lost in thought and was curious on what was going through that wonderful brain of hers. Getting back on track, he looks around checking to make sure no one was looking at him. Seeing that the coast was clear he heads for the door and makes for the stairs quickly going down them, seemingly escaping without being noticed.

“And where do you think you’re going?” Shoot, so close, the Doctor thought. He turned towards Rose.

“Nowhere. It’s just a bit human in there for me. History just happened and they’re talking about where you can buy dodgy top-up cards for half price. I’m off on a wander, that’s all. I don’t like to sit around doing nothing, you should know that by now.”

Rose looked at him skeptically and crossed her arms over her chest. “Right. There’s a spaceship on the Thames and you’re just wandering.”

The Doctor tries to look nonchalant and put his hands in his pants pocket. “Nothing to do with me. It’s not an invasion. That was a genuine crash landing. Angle of descent, color of smoke, everything. It’s perfect.”

“So?” Rose didn’t know what his point was.

He got an excited smile on his face. “So, maybe this is it. First contact. The day mankind officially comes into contact with an alien race. I’m not interfering because you’ve got to handle this on your own. That’s when the human race finally grows up.” He looks at her like a proud parent. “Just this morning you were all tiny and small and made of clay. Now you can expand. You don’t need me. Go and celebrate history. Spend some time with your mum.”

Rose looks at him worried. “Promise you won’t disappear?” She didn’t want him to leave and not come back. She never had a desire to travel before, that was always Layla, but after meeting him, seeing the stuff he does, and that first adventure, she can’t get enough. She wants to see and do more. She doesn’t want to be stuck on earth being limited on what she can see and do.

The Doctor looks at her kindly. “Tell you what, here take this.” He pats around his pockets trying to remember which one had Rose’s key and which one had Layla’s. Oh right, Layla’s is in the pocket by my hearts and Rose’s is in my right pocket. He reaches in and pulls out her key on a chain and dangles it in front of her. “Tardis key. It’s about time you had one. See you later.” I’ll give Layla hers later.

The Doctor walks away from Rose towards his Tardis and hears a woman call out to him. “Oi, gorgeous! Come back, and join the party!” And he shivers in disgust. He only wants to be hit on by Layla now. Going into the Tardis and working on the console, he misses Mickey yelling at him and coming towards him as he dematerializes.

xxxxxx

It is a short time later when the door opens and Mickey comes in, a look of disbelief on his face. Layla makes her way towards him at the same time that Rose stands up. “I was going to come and see you.”

“Someone owes Mickey an apology.” Jackie’s friend says snottily.

“I’m sorry.” Was Rose’s immediate response, but doesn’t really look like it. Layla knows that Rose has been having doubts about herself and Mickey. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have gone into the Tardis with a total stranger to travel and leave him behind as easily as she did. Layla knows that she gave Rose the push by saying it was a time machine, but it was Rose who made the final decision, but she also didn’t think they would be gone a year either. But this is their relationship and she doesn’t want to interfere with it and generally people only want to listen to advice when it suits them or it is something they want to hear. She also knows that Rose has been having fun traveling and doesn’t want to stop.

“Not you.” The friend cuts back in while pointedly looking at Jackie.

“Well, it’s not my fault. Be fair. What was I supposed to think?” She tries to defend herself.

Mickey nods his head towards the kitchen and Rose, Layla, and Jackie, all follow him. “You two disappear, and who do they turn to? Your boyfriend and best friend. Five times I was taken in for questioning. Five times. No evidence. Course, there couldn’t be, could there? And then I get her, your mother, whispering around the estate, pointing the finger. Stuff through my letterbox and all ‘cos of you two.”

Layla can see the anger he is trying to portray, but she can also see the devastation as well. Mickey has had enough people leave his life, and then his girlfriend and best friend take off with an alien and don’t come back for a year. “Mickey…” Layla says softly getting his attention. “We’re sorry. We weren’t supposed to be gone so long. I know that it doesn’t excuse us, but we never meant to hurt you.”

Some of Mickey’s anger deflates at the sincere apology. While Layla is his best friend, he knew she always wanted to travel. However, Rose is his girlfriend who never really expressed wanting to travel, and she left him for another guy who came in and swept her off her feet. After everything he read up on the Doctor, he had been worried for both of them, more so Rose since Layla could take care of herself and kick arse when needed. He turns to Rose, a heartbroken expression on his face now replacing the anger. “And I waited for you, Rose. Twelve months, waiting for you, Layla, and the Doctor to come back. I looked for you every day.”

“Hold on. You knew about the Doctor? Why didn’t you tell me?” Jackie buts in.

“Would you have believed him? You obviously didn’t believe him when you were accusing him of murder.” Layla looks at her accusingly. Layla knows that Jackie was scared and upset about them being gone, but Jackie knew how Mickey practically worship the ground Rose walked on. In a time of uncertainty, she should have stuck by him and realized he was just as devastated.

Mickey looks at Layla gratefully knowing that Jackie wouldn’t have believed him no matter what he said. “Yeah, yeah. Why not, Rose? Huh? How could I tell her where you went?” It was a mixture of grief and anger in the way the Mickey asked her.

“Tell me now.” Jackie demanded. If Mickey could tell her the truth when Rose wouldn’t, she was going to get it out of him.

Mickey gives her an unkind smile, a flat look in his narrowed eyes. “I might as well, ‘cos you’re stuck here. The Doctor’s gone. Just now. That box thing just faded.”

Rose is shaking her head in denial. “What do you mean?” Layla didn’t think that the Doctor would leave without at least saying goodbye, especially since they said they were wanting to still travel with him when he asked. Why would he leave now?

He smirked cruelly at the look of shock on Rose’s face. “He’s left you. Some boyfriend he turned out to be.”

Rose quickly runs out of the flat while Jackie, Mickey, and Layla follow after her. Rose looks around for the Tardis but sees it is gone. “He wouldn’t just go, he promised me.”

Layla didn’t think that the Doctor would break a simple promise like this. She thinks about it and rationalizes that he probably went to investigate that spaceship. Layla decided to stay out of their argument though. She feels that Mickey has a right to be upset and wants to let him get it all out because upset people don’t want to talk rationally, they want to lash out. Similar to how Rose attacked the Doctor on Platform One. She would also know, it happened to her a lot when she was recovering from the abuse when she came to live with Jackie.

“Oh, he’s dumped you, Rose. Sailed off into space. How does it feel, huh? Now you are left behind with the rest of us Earthlings. Get used to it. He’s vamoosed”

“What’re you two chimps going on about? What’s going on? What’s this Doctor done now?” Jackie was confused, and while she wanted to get onto Mickey for the way he was talking to Rose, she also wanted answers, and Mickey seemed to have them. She also remembered how Layla was when she was recovering from the abuse she lived with and it was similar and knew that he was hurting and lashing out. She knows she didn’t help with accusing him of murder and not sticking with him in this last year of uncertainty.

“He’s not, because he gave me this.” She showed him a key and Layla’s heart lurched, why did Rose get one and not me?  “He’s not my boyfriend, Mickey. He’s better than that. He’s much more important than…” She stops as they all hear the Tardis materializing.

Mickey looks on in shock that it came back and Jackie looks like she had just seen a magic trick and turns to the girls. “How’d you do that, then?” Rose opens the door and walks in, Layla follows and Jackie and Mickey stand in the doorway seeing the inside, one remembering from a previous traumatic event and the other looking on in disbelief.

“Alright, so I lied. I went and had a look. But the whole crash landing’s a fake. I thought so. Just too perfect. I mean, hitting Big Ben. Come on. So, I thought let’s go and have a look.” The Doctor rambled on oblivious of the two extra people nearby.

“My mum’s here.” Rose looks to the Doctor for help but he is just annoyed.

“Oh, that’s just what I need. Don’t you dare make this place domestic.” He is pointing his finger at her with a stern look on his face.

Layla is going around and touching the columns and greeting the Tardis. She feels a warmth in her mind as she is greeted back. Mickey comes storming in and goes up to the Doctor. “You ruined my life, Doctor. They thought they were dead. I was a murder suspect because of you.” Layla gives him a remorseful look.

The Doctor feels slightly bad for the kid. However, that feeling goes away when he glances at Layla’s face and sees the look she is giving to Mickey. Did he say something to upset Layla? He looks towards Rose and slightly blames her; this was her boyfriend. “You see what I mean? Domestic.”

“I bet you don’t even remember my name.” Layla goes to towards Mickey and lays her hand on his arm, wanting him to calm down and to know that even if he is upset with her, she is there for him when she knows he is hurting. He grabs her hand and holds it tightly for the comfort.

The Doctor sees her touching him and sneers at the kid. “Ricky.” He says petulantly.

“It’s Mickey.” He grits his teeth.

“No, it’s Ricky.” The Doctor’s jealousy is getting the best of him and he is resorting to acting immature because he wants them to stop touching each other.

“I think I know my own name.” His other hand clenched into a fist and squeezes Layla’s fingers tightly.

“You think you know your own name? How stupid are you?” He winces mentally when he sees the angry look on Layla’s face.

“That’s enough Doctor. Quit antagonizing him. He has done nothing wrong and was wrongfully accused of murder. He has a right to be angry. You did get us here a year late.”

The Doctor just turns his head to the side, chastened. He looks and sees the smug look on Mickey’s face and that he is still holding Layla’s hand. He gives him a sneer and a dark look. He turns away from them so he doesn’t have to see and starts working around the console.

“Mum, don’t! Don’t go anywhere.” Rose shouts after her mum making them realize that during their own conversation, Jackie had still been there and having a meltdown. Not even a minute later and Rose has returned. “That was a real spaceship?” She stands close to the Doctor looking at what he is seeing on the screen.

Layla glares at Rose. Mickey is here, the one who waited, and she is getting in the personal bubble of another man right in front of him. She ignores the slight jealousy she is feeling when she sees them standing together. For the Doctor, he is too busy looking at the screen to realize how close Rose is standing next to him. If he had noticed, he would have put some space between them instantly. “Yep.” He replies absentmindedly.

“Wait, it was a real spaceship, but it was planned to hit the way it did? Why would they want to draw attention to something that would obviously cause a panic and curiosity? Invasion?” Layla lets go of Mickey’s hand and stands on the other side of the Doctor, whose body unconsciously leans towards her a bit.

“Funny way to invade, putting the world on red alert.” Mickey was resigned to the fact that the Doctor was apparently staying around.

Seeing that Layla and Mickey separated has cooled some of his ire towards the kid. “Good point! So, what’re they up to?” The Doctor bends down and opens a grate on the floor and slips inside. The others are just standing around waiting for him to do whatever he needs to do.

Not wanting to have a talk with Rose just yet, Mickey wanders over to the Doctor. “So, what’re you doing down there?” He might as well try to make nice with the guy. Rose and Layla are already attached to him.

The Doctor however doesn’t want the kid around, he knows that Mickey is Rose’s boyfriend, but considering she left with him and Layla, they don’t seem to have a strong relationship and he doesn’t want Mickey to put his attentions on Layla. “Ricky.”

Mickey glowers and huffs. “Mickey.”

The Doctor ignores him. “Ricky. If I was to tell you what I was doing to the controls of my frankly magnificent time ship, would you even begin to understand?”

Mickey concedes that he is right. “I suppose not.”

“Well, shut it, then.” If the Doctor is unpleasant to Mickey, maybe that will keep him away. However, it backfires when he sees Mickey walk over towards Rose and Layla who had been talking about Jackie and her reaction to the Tardis.

“Some friend you’ve got.” He twists his mouth into a sour expression.

“I’m sorry, he likes to wind people up.” Layla gives him an apologetic look, but Mickey waves it off, it is not her fault her friend is an ass.

“I am sorry Mickey.” Rose says grabbing his hand.

“Every day, I looked. On every street corner, wherever I went, looking for a blue box for a whole year.” His voice catches and his lip slightly trembles remembering the last year that he was alone.

“It’s only been a few days for us. I don’t know. It’s, it’s hard to tell inside this thing, but I swear, it has just been a few days since we last saw you.

His shoulders slump and gives them a bitter smile. “Not enough time to miss me, then?”

Layla doesn’t know what Rose is feeling, but her heart hurts for the pain they put Mickey through. “We are used to seeing you every day Mickey, these last few days have been odd without you.”

Mickey gives Layla and smile in appreciation and looks towards Rose. Rose nods her head in agreement. “I did miss you.” Mickey looks at her happily.

“So, er, in the twelve months, have you been seeing anyone else?” Rose didn’t know if she wanted the answer or not.

“No.”

“Okay.” Rose feels a mixture of happiness and slight disappointment, but doesn’t know why. Maybe because she is happy that he stayed loyal to her, but disappointment because he wasn’t happy, even if it was with someone else?

“Mainly because everyone thinks I murdered the both of you.” He says it simply, but with pain in his eyes. Layla and Rose hug him in apology and hold him tight. He grips them tightly and trembles slightly.

The Doctor looks up from finishing his work under the grate and sees them all hugging. He grits his teeth, but puts on a happy smile and exclaims in happiness. “Got it! Ha, ha! Patched in the radar, looped it back twelve hours so we can follow the flight of that spaceship. Here we go. Hold on. Come on.” He relaxes when they all let go of each other and walk towards him.

They all look at the trajectory on the monitor. “That’s the spaceship on its way to earth, see? The spaceship did a sling shot round the earth before it landed.” The Doctor is pointing at the screen educating them on what was happening.

“What does that mean?” Rose questions, not understanding what he was saying.

“It means that it came from earth in the first place. It went up and came back down. Whoever those aliens are, they haven’t just arrived, they’ve been here for a while. The question is, what have they been doing?”

“What makes you say it is aliens and not someone from Earth? The technology? Or that alien you went to go look at? Also, how did no one notice a spaceship leave earth in the first place before it landed here?”

“Bit of both. The alien on the ship was an earth pig that had been cut open and had other bits placed inside it to make it look like an alien with alien technology, the ship itself is of alien origin. And I have no idea, maybe it was cloaked, or where they took off from was uninhabited? Could be many different reasons.”

xxxxxx

Layla was sitting on a chair by the console checking her message from the last year, the Doctor was messing around the console, and Rose and Mickey were channel surfing on the TV. “How many channels do you get?” Mickey asked the Doctor.

“All the basic packages.” Was his bland response.

Mickey perked up intrigued. “Do you get sports channels?”

“Yes, I get the football. Hold on, I know that lot.” The Doctor took the remote from Mickey to keep him from changing the channel.

“It is looking likely that the government’s bringing in alien specialists- those people who have devoted their lives to studying outer space.”

“UNIT. United Nations Intelligence Taskforce. Good people.”

“How do you know them?” Rose was curious, seemed like the Doctor knew a lot of people.

“How do you become an expert on something that half the people believe to be a myth, and where the government has all kinds of coverups?” Layla pondered, not really expecting an answer.

Mickey cut in before the Doctor could answer her though. “’Cos he’s worked for them. Oh yeah, don’t think I sat on my backside for twelve months, Doctor. I read up on you. You look deep enough on the internet or in the history books, and there’s his name, followed by a list of the dead.”

The Doctor swallows harshly. Typical that humans only focus on how many died and not how many were saved. “That’s nice. Good boy, Ricky.”

“Mickey, I have only been on three adventures with the Doctor, but he saves more people than the amount of people that die. He isn’t all knowing and powerful, he can’t protect everyone. He does what he can to save as many as he can.” Layla gently scolds him, missing the grateful look the Doctor sends her.

“If you know them, why don’t you go and help?” Rose wondered because he seemed like he would be the first in line to figure out this mystery.

“They wouldn’t recognize me. I’ve changed a lot since the old days. Besides, the world’s on a knife-edge. There are aliens out there and fake aliens. We want to keep this alien out of the mix. I’m going undercover. And er, I’d better keep the Tardis out of sight. Ricky, you’ve got a car. You can do some driving.” The Doctor takes charge and moves past the talk of his regenerations. It wasn’t important right now anyways.

Mickey huffs but asks in a dull tone agreeing to drive them. “Where to?”

They all walk towards the door to leave the Tardis. When they all step outside they are blinded by all of the lights being pointed at them. The Doctor hears guns cock and reaches behind him to find Layla and pulls her behind his body.

“Do not move! Step away from the box and raise your hands above your heads.” The policeman gives contradicting orders.

Mickey makes a run for it and Rose looks after him in exasperation. “Rose! Layla!” They hear Jackie scream and see her being held back by a couple of soldiers.

“Raise your hands above your head. You are under arrest.”

The Doctor laughs in amusement and raises his hands with a cheesy grin on his face. “Take me to your leader.” Rose would have facepalmed had she not been at risk of being shot should she move unexpectedly.

“Hey! Quoting things is my bit.” Layla protested with humor. “But I guess I can let that one go, since you are the alien. I get to say it on the next planet we get captured though, since I will be the alien! I call dibs!”

Soldiers crowd around the three of them and manhandle them into a waiting car. First went in Layla, then the Doctor, and lastly, Rose. The Doctor wishes they had put him in first though. His body is wanting to scoot away from Rose, but there isn’t much room for his to move and he doesn’t want to squish Layla against the side of the car. He clears his throat roughly at the thought of him pressing Layla against the side of a car with his body for a different reason. He was never innocent before he met Layla. He has been alive a long time and been with a lot of women, but being around his Promised One is making him feel like he is becoming a sexual maniac. He has been having a lot of fantasy’s since meeting her. But he isn’t going to rush into anything until he secures her heart.

“This is a bit posh. If I knew it was going to be like this, being arrested, I would have done it years ago.” Rose looks around in wonder at the treatment they are getting for being arrested, being with the Doctor was so much fun.

“Rose, did you forget how Jimmy was treated when he was arrested? It was nowhere near as nice as this.” As Layla says this, Rose looks confused as to why they are being treated differently.

“We’re not being arrested, we’re being escorted.” The Doctor corrects her.

“Where are we going then?” She asks.

“I’m assuming where the alien specialists are. If the Doctor has helped them before, and they knew he was here, they would want his help, yes?” Layla points out logically and the Doctor gives her a proud look.

“10 Downing Street?” Rose’s eyes had widened and her jaw dropped in surprise.

“That’s the one.” The Doctor says happy.

“I just wonder how they knew you were in town and where.” Layla wondered.

“Oh, my god. We’re going to 10 Downing Street? How come?” This was turning out to be a good day, another adventure after the disaster this morning.

The Doctor rubs the back of his neck and looks sheepish. “I hate to say it, but Mickey was right. Over the years I’ve visited this planet a lot of times, and I’ve been, er, noticed.”

“I am assuming because you can’t stay out of trouble and are nosey when things like this happen, am I right?” Layla smirked at him, amused. Rose laughs in agreement.

The Doctor perused his lips and wouldn’t meet her eyes. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He denied.

“You sit on a throne of lies.” Layla says with a smirk.

“Now they need you though?” Why else would they arrest us and bring us to 10 Downing Street, Rose thought.

“Like it said on the news. They’re gathering experts in alien knowledge. And who’s the biggest expert of the lot?” The Doctor’s smile was smug, but it quickly fell at their response.

“Patrick Moore?” Rose teased.

“Men in Black?” Layla deadpanned.

“Apart from him and they aren’t even real!” He grumbled.

“So cocky.” Layla winked at him. “Confidence is a sexy trait.” It was said to where only the Doctor heard her.

His head snaps to her and he looks at her with wide eyes and pink cheeks. He knows that Layla finds him attractive, and it seems like these little remarks are her honest feedback. However, he knows it is too soon for her to really develop deep feelings for him and he wants her heart, not just her body. And he isn’t sure if she is just saying it to tease him or not. So, he turns away from her to keep from doing something that will ruin the progress he seems to be making.

Rose, oblivious to what just happened. “Oh, don’t you just love it.” She flirted.

“I’m telling you. Lloyd George, he used to drink me under the table. Who’s the Prime Minister now?”

The girls look at him in disbelief. “How would we know? We missed a year.” They eerily say at the same time. They arrive at 10 Downing Street and all exit the vehicle. The girls are looking around in bewilderment while the Doctor is lapping up the attention and waving to the cameras.

xxxxxx

“Ladies and gentlemen, can we convene? Quick as we can, please. It’s this way on the right, and can I remind you ID cards are to be worn at all times.” They all hear as they walk into the main area. The place is swarming with employees, experts, and security.

The junior secretary walks up to the Doctor and hands him an ID tag. “Here’s your ID card, cards are to be worn at all times. I’m sorry, your companions don’t have clearance.”

The Doctor stiffens and narrows his eyes at the man. Fake and real aliens are around for a reason and he doesn’t want to leave Layla and Rose by themselves. “I don’t go anywhere without them.”

“You’re the code nine, not them. I’m sorry, Doctor. It is the Doctor, isn’t it? They’ll have to stay outside.” The man knows how important the Doctor is, but he is just trying to do his job.

The Doctor’s jaw clenches. “They’re staying with me.”

The secretary swallows thickly. This man is very intimidating when he stares like that. “Look, even I don’t have clearance to go in there. I can’t let them in and that’s a fact.” He is practically pleading with the Doctor to not make a fuss.

“It’s alright, you go.” Rose steps in, saving the man from the Doctor.

“Yeah, besides we’re not experts, maybe we can get some info from the people around here.” Layla whispers to him quietly.

A woman who looks very nervous comes up to the group. “Excuse me. Are you the Doctor?” The Doctor gave the woman a “sure,” but otherwise isn’t paying attention to her at all, too focused on Layla and Rose.

“Not now. We’re busy. Can’t you go home?” The secretary moans at the woman, fed up with dealing with her since she came in.

The woman’s hands are trembling and she looks pale. “I just need a word in private, please.”

The Doctor gives into the girls. “I suppose so. Don’t get in any trouble.” He turns around and enters the conference room.

“You haven’t got clearance. Now leave it.” The secretary snaps at the woman. He then turns to Layla and Rose and starts to guide them away. “I’m going to have to leave you with security.”

The woman, seeing her chance with the Doctor’s companions, quickly cuts in. “It’s alright. I’ll look after them. Let me be of some use.” She puts her hands on the girl’s back and guides them down the hall. “Walk with me. Just walk with me.” Her movements are jerky and her eyes are darting all around, not keeping them focused on one spot for too long.

The woman guides them further and further away from anyone to talk to them privately. “That’s right. Don’t look around. Harriet Jones, MP Flydale North.” She flips them her ID card. “This friend of yours, he’s an expert, is that right? He knows about aliens?”

Rose looks at her suspiciously. “Why do you want to know?”

Layla takes in all the physical signs she is showing. She recognizes the paleness, trembling lips, rapid blinking, and looking all around. This was something that she had dealt with as a kid: terror. Something scared this woman and she wanted to talk to the Doctor. “Is this about the aliens? Do you know something that the Doctor needs to know?” Layla looks at her knowingly, but with a look of sympathy and kindness.

Harriet looks at Layla and sees that look of knowing kindness and breaks down sobbing. She didn’t think that she would be believed so quickly and without even saying a word. She brings the girls to the cabinet room and started explaining everything she saw. “They turned the body into a suit. A disguise for the thing inside!”

Layla was gently holding Harriet and rubbing her back in calm movements. This was how she comforted the kids in foster care. “It’s alright. We believe you. You’re safe.”

“Yeah, it’s alien. They must have some serious technology behind this. If we could find it, we could use it.” Rose starts to search around the room looking for clues. She opens a cupboard and a man’s body falls out. They all look on in shock. “Oh, my god! Is that the…”

Rose is cut off when the secretary comes into the room. “Harriet, for god’s sake. This has gone beyond a joke. You cannot just wander.” He freezes as he sees the body on the floor, stammering out. “Oh, my god. That’s the Prime Minister!”

They all turn around quickly as another person enters the room behind the secretary. The middle-aged, large woman looks around at each of them and then the dead body. She looks up and smirks nastily. “Oh! Has someone been naughty?”

“That’s impossible! He left this afternoon. The Prime Minister left Downing Street. He was driven away!” The secretary was freaking out, he just couldn’t believe that the Prime Minister was dead.

The large woman laughed. “And who told you that, hmm? Me.” She reaches up and pulls at what looks like a zipper and zips open the skin at her forehead. A bright light escapes the opening and they all watch in horror as they realize that she was wearing a skin suit.

When she was done, the alien flexes her three long fingers with claws? Nails? She looked like a giant, green, baby with big black eyes that blinked sideways. The alien goes to grab the secretary since he was the closest, but Layla quickly pulls him out of the way, accidentally getting too close to the alien herself. The alien didn’t stop her arm though and while the alien couldn’t grab Layla like she had planned to do to the secretary, she slashed down and caught Layla in the chest. Layla gasps in pain and puts her hand up to her chest to stem the flow of blood that is leaking from the cut. She quickly leaps back and gets as far away from the alien as she can. They all stare at the alien waiting for it to do something. They, however, weren’t expecting for the alien to seize up like it had been tased and visible sparks coming from the collar on her neck. This gave them plenty of time to leave the room and get a decent head start before the alien was chasing after them.

Xxxxxx

In the briefing room right after the Doctor left the girls, the Doctor takes a seat at the back and sits in the seat sideways quickly flipping through the few pages they had put together for the experts. He raises his eyebrow in surprise at what he reads on the last page and waits for the meeting to start.

“Now, ladies and gentlemen, if I could have your attention, please. As you can see, from the summaries in front of you, the ship had one porcine occupant.” Asquith was not able to continue talking because the Doctor had stood up and just had to take charge as he always did. Of course, he did, he was the cleverest in the room.

“Of course, the really interesting bit happened three days ago, see, filed away under Any Other Business. The North Sea. A satellite detected a signal, a little blip of radiation, at one hundred fathoms, like there’s something down there. You were just about to investigate and the next thing you know, this happens. Spaceships, pigs, massive diversion. From what?” The Doctor is walking around as he is talking, the booklet in hand and head tilted down in thought. “If fake aliens fake an alien crash and an alien pilot, what do they get?” He stops walking and raises his head and looks grim. “Us. They get us. It’s not a diversion, it’s a trap. This is all about us. Alien experts the only people with knowledge how to fight them gathered together in one room.” He stops talking as one of the men in charge up front farts. The Doctor looks at him in disgust. “Excuse me, do you mind not farting while I’m saving the world?”

Green smirks at him. “Would you rather silent but deadly?”

General Asquith reaches up to his forehead and removes his cap. He unzips his forehead. As he is doing this Green is laughing and a blue light is filling the room. A big green alien is wiggling out of the general skin suit. “We are the Slitheen.”

Green looks at everyone with a menacing look. “Thank you all for wearing your ID cards. They’ll help to identify the bodies.” He holds up a remote activation switch and the ID cards emit electric shocks to the wearers, including the Doctor.

Chapter Text

It doesn’t take long for the alien to recover and take chase. Layla and Rose are handling this pretty well considering the few adventures that were on with the Doctor. However, Harriet and the secretary were scared out of their minds. When Layla and Rose realized that they were lagging behind, Layla reached back and grabbed the secretary’s hand and pulled him up towards her. Rose grabbed Harriet’s hand and did the same. They were gripping the girl’s hands like lifelines.

They run to a door and try to open it before the alien gets there but they are too late. Luck is on their side though. The lift opens and they all see the Doctor in it. He sees them, his eyes narrow on the secretary holding Layla’s hand and his eye twitches. He then sees the alien chasing them and sees that they are trying to get in the next room. “Hello!” The Doctor gives them a cheesy grin and a wave, but it is enough for the alien to be distracted giving the others time to escape.

They all look around the room they are in and don’t see another way out. They run to different parts of the room to hide. Rose hides behind one set of curtains, Harriet hides behind the folding screen, and Layla pulls the secretary towards another set of curtains and they hide behind those. Layla is gasping lightly and gripping her chest in pain; blood is seeping between her fingers. The secretary looks at her worried.

They all hold their breath as they hear the door open. “Oh, such fun. Little human children, where are you? Sweet little humeykins, come to me. Let me kiss you better. Kiss you with my big, green lips.” They all shudder in revulsion at the aliens’ words. They hear more alien’s come into the room. “My brothers.” The one that was chasing them, the female, said.

“Happy hunting?”

“It’s wonderful. The more you prolong it, the more they stink.” She sounds so happy to the humans in the room.

They hear an intake of breath. “Sweat and fear.”

“I can smell an old girl. Stale bird and brittle bones.” The brother says, while not pleased with the quality of the smell, he won’t turn down a meal.

“And three ripe youngsters, all hormones and adrenalin. Fresh enough to bend before they snap. One of them is also wounded and her blood smells delicious.” The female alien exclaimed with a smile that couldn’t be contained.

The alien pulls back the curtain that Rose was hiding behind and she screams. Harriet quickly jumps out from behind the screen. “No! Take me first! Take me!”

Luckily, for Harriet, the Doctor bursts in with a fire extinguisher. He sprays them with a fire extinguisher. “Out, with me!” Rose quickly grabs the curtain and pulls it down over the female alien and they all leave the room running quickly.

The Doctor takes in the secretary and Harriet running with them. He sees that the secretary is still holding onto Layla’s hand and is running pretty close to her. His eyes were so focused on that, causing him to miss the blood on Layla’s hands. “Who the hell are you two?”

“Harriet Jones, MP For Flydale North.” She huffs out in between gasping breaths.

“Indra Ganesh, sir.” His squeaks out from the fear he was feeling.

“Nice to meet you.” The Doctor snarks in sarcasm.

It goes over Harriet’s head though. “Likewise.”

“We need to head to the Cabinet Room.” Now they knew where the Doctor was leading them.

“The Emergency Protocols are in there. They give instructions for aliens.” Harriet says helpfully.

“Harriet Jones, I like you.” The Doctor sends Harriet a smile.

She looks pleased. “And I like you too.”

“Enough flirting, more running please.” Layla snarks out, feeling a twinge of jealousy at their banter.

They finally make it to the Cabinet Room and run in, but the aliens catch up before they can close the door. The Doctor grabs a decanter from a side table and stands in the doorway. “One more move and my sonic device will triplicate the flammability of this alcohol. Whoof, we all go up. So back off.” The aliens take a step back from the room, but they don’t leave.

“Right then. Question time. Who exactly are the Slitheen?”

“They’re aliens.” Harriet answers helpfully.

The Doctor makes a face. “Yes, I got that, thanks.”

One of the male aliens looked at the Doctor. “Who are you, if not human?”

“Wait, who’s not human?” Harriet looked around confused as if an alien like the Slitheen would pop out of a skin suit.

Rose points to the Doctor. “He’s not human.”

“He’s not human?” She looks at him trying to find anything alien like on him. “He looks like he is human.”

“Can I have a bit of hush?” The Doctor snapped at them. Was this really the time to be discussing his non-human status?

Harriet looks meekly at the Doctor. “Sorry.” However she couldn’t let it go. “But he’s got a northern accent.”

“Every planet has a north, now hush so the Doctor can finish with them ‘cos I need a little first aid here.” Layla snarked. The bleeding has slowed, but it needs to be cleaned and she might need stitches. Plus, her shirt was partially cut open and she thinks that her bra was sliced in half so without her hand there, she would be giving everyone an eye full.

“You’re hurt?” The Doctor growled out through clenched teeth, but he didn’t turn around to see due to him keeping an eye on the other aliens.

“Focus Doctor, it’s not important right now and isn’t too bad. You can tend to it when we have time.”

The Doctor reluctantly continued his questions. “Come on. You’ve got a spaceship hidden in the North Sea. It’s transmitting a signal. You’ve murdered your way to the top of government. What for, invasion?”

One of the male aliens’ scoffs in derision. “Why would we want to invade this god-forsaken rock?”

“Then something’s brought the Slitheen race here. What is it?” The Doctor tries to speed this conversation up so he can tend to his Promised One.

“The Slitheen race? Slitheen is not our species.” It is said like the Doctor was stupid for thinking that. “Slitheen is our surname. Jocrassa Fel Fotch Pasameer-Day-Slitheen at your service.” He mockingly bows towards the humans and Time Lord.

“So, you’re family.” The Doctor was having a hard time trying to find their end goal. His mind was split between worry of what they wanted and worry for Layla. She might have said it was not important, but she is his Promised One. She is the most important in the room to him.

“A family business.” It was impossible for the Doctor and everyone else to know which Slitheen was which, they can barely tell the male voices from the female.

“Then you’re out to make a profit. How can you do that on a god-forsaken rock?” The Doctor sneered in anger; they were killing people for money. It always comes down to money.

One Slitheen got tired of answering the Doctor’s questions “Ah, excuse me?” He asked in mock politeness. “Your device will do what? Triplicate the flammability?”

The Doctor looks confused. “Is that what I said?”

“You’re making it up.” One male Slitheen growls out.

“Ah, well! Nice try. Harriet, have a drink. I think you’re gonna need it.” The Doctor tries to pass the decanter to Harriet, but she is clutching the red box with the protocols to her chest.

“You pass it to the left first.” Even in this situation, manners should obviously be upheld.

“Sorry.” The Doctor going with it passes the decanter to the person on his left, who happened to be Rose.

“Thanks.” She doesn’t drink it though, just clutches it tightly.

“Now we can end this hunt with a slaughter.” They start to prowl closer to the room ready to fix the loose ends.

“Don’t you think we should run?” Rose asked worriedly.

“Oh.” Layla mumbled. “You must really be worried if you’re willing to do more running.” Both the Doctor and Rose snort at her attempt to relieve the tension.

“Fascinating history, Downing Street. Two thousand years ago, this was marsh land. 1730, it was occupied by a Mister Chicken. He was a nice man. 1796, this was the Cabinet Room. It the Cabinet’s in session and in danger, these are about the four more safest walls in the whole of Great Britain. End of Lesson.” The Doctor lifts a small panel by the door and presses a button. Metal shutters slam down across the windows and doors. The Doctor looked satisfied. “Installed in 1991. Three inches of steel lining every single wall. They’ll never get in.”

Layla’s brows raise. “And how do we get out?”

“Ah.” The Doctor’s satisfied look doesn’t disappear until he looks at Layla and see blood on her hand that is against her chest.

The Doctor rushes over to her and pulls her hand away from her chest. He sucks in a breath when he sees all the blood and that she had been sliced basically in the same spot as the scar she got as a child. It doesn’t even register in his mind how much of her chest was actually showing because he was so worried, at least he didn’t realize it yet.

He pulls her over to the table and lays her down on her back with her legs hanging over the end. He steps in between her legs and rummages around in his pockets for a first aid kit that he always has on hand. He pulls out anything he could possibly need, gauze, needle and thread, alcohol wipes, and ointment. When he has everything set out and within reach, he takes an alcohol wipe and starts to clean the area to see exactly how bad the cut is. He so distracted and focused he doesn’t realize that her chest is almost on display or that Indra was looking at her in admiration.

“You know, when two people are in this position, it is for a more pleasurable activity.” Layla quips quietly so only the Doctor hears. He freezes and realizes the position they are in and where his hands are and how close his face is to her chest. His ears start to burn and his hearts race. He hears a husky chuckle and looks up at Layla’s face. Even though the Doctor could see the slight pain in her features, she gives him a cheeky wink and darts her eyes to his mouth when he absentmindedly licks his lips. His eyes start to dilate.

He clears his throat roughly and glances around the room to see if anyone was paying attention. Rose and Harriet are looking through the Protocol box, but he growls lowly when he sees Indra looking at his Layla, more so at her chest, which he belatedly realizes is almost on full display for his viewing. He gets even closer to Layla, his legs rubbing against her inner thighs and his torso with his jacket hanging covering her frame from Indra’s gaze and gets back to dealing with her wound so she could cover up. He misses Layla’s cheeks redden as she had heard him growling and became heated at the sound.

The Doctor finishes cleaning the area and sees that it had mostly stopped bleeding, but that it needed stitches. “It is in the same spot as your scar, it is about six inches long and has stopped bleeding, but it needs stitches, and I’m sorry, but I don’t have any anesthetic. The stitches and ointment that I will put on the cut though will accelerate the healing and the stitches will dissolve. As long as nothing happens, it should be healed by tomorrow. Hold your shirt closed while I get it ready.”

“It’s alright, I have had to get and give myself stitches without anesthetic before. I can handle it.”

The Doctor’s eye narrow at the reminder of her childhood and sanitizes the needle. He looks over to Indra who was still staring at Layla when he feels the Doctor’s gaze on him. Indra flinches from the look on the Doctor’s face and looks away from her. Satisfied, and ready to do the stitches, he bends back over Layla and nudges her hands away, accidentally seeing more of her chest than before. Before he can get too aroused, he focuses on the cut and starts to stitch her up. As he is stitching her up, she is wiping her own hands with an alcohol wipe to clean the blood off. She twitches every once in a while, but doesn’t make a sound during the process. With her mixed martial arts and what she went through as a child, she has a high pain tolerance.

When the Doctor finishes the stitches, he wipes around it again with an alcohol wipe and then puts a small amount of ointment, gauze and tape to cover the wound. He pulls Layla up, but doesn’t move away from her as he wipes his own hands with another wipe. In doing so, he watches with hooded eyes as she examines her shirt and they see her bra has been cut. She pulls it out, glad that she had put on a strapless one with the shirt she was wearing. She then grips the rest of her shirt and rips it the rest of the way down. In doing so, she wasn’t paying attention to the Doctor and she accidentally flashes him her chest when she rips the shirt open. The Doctor’s eyes fully dilate and he swallows roughly while breathing heavily. His hearts are pounding and his hands twitch, wanting to touch her skin that looks soft. He also noticed that she has two other piercings besides what is on her face and her belly button and it looks erotic. He sees that she has another tattoo as well barely poking out of the waistband of her skirt that is resting low of her hips.

She takes her shirt ends and tie them together into a crop top, she notices her nipples are showing, thanks to her piercings and no bra, but she doesn’t care about that. She notices that the Doctor hasn’t moved; she sees his twitchy hands and hears him breathing heavily. She looks up at him from under her lashes and sees his heated gaze on her. It sends a shot of heat straight to her core and she licks her lips lightly, watching him hone in on the action.

“Thank you, Doctor.” She purrs to him. “I’ll have to find a way to pay you back.” She winks at him and puts her hands on his lower stomach and pushes him back slightly so she can stand up. She feels the Doctor’s muscles stiffen under her hand. “Later of course, Darling. Right now, we have another problem to deal with.” She rests her bottom along the edge of the table facing the others with her arms behind her on the table holding her up at an angle.

The Doctor nods jerkily and looks around the room assessing. He sees that Rose and Harriet weren’t paying attention to them, but remembers Indra and snaps his neck to where he had last seen him. His lip curls up in a sneer and his eyes harden. He sees the blush on the secretary’s face and realizes that the secretary had probably seen more of his Promised One than he hoped he did. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do about that, but stay close to her to discourage the crush that the Doctor could see him have for Layla.

The Doctor walks over to the Prime Minister and drags him to the closet in the room and lays him out gently. He walks back out. “Right, what have we got? Any terminals, anything?”

“No, this place is antique. What I don’t get is, when they killed the Prime Minister, why didn’t they use him as a disguise?” Rose sat down and rested her head on her hand.

“He’s too slim. They’re big old beasts. They need to fit inside big humans.” The Doctor also sits down, but closer to where Layla was resting up against the table.

“But the Slitheen are about eight feet. How do they fit inside the humans?” Rose was glad that she couldn’t be used as a skin suit.

“Does it have anything to do with that collar on their necks? I thought it might have been a translator, but with the Tardis, we wouldn’t need it, but they wouldn’t know that. Could it be both?” Layla points out and asks at the same time.

“Very good. Yes, it is the device around their necks. Compression field. Literally shrinks them down a bit. That’s why there’s all that gas. It’s a big exchange.” The Doctor pats Layla’s hand that was resting against the table.

“Wish I had a compression field. I could fit a size smaller.” Rose, already becoming apathetic to the numerous deaths she has been around in a short amount of time comments.

“Excuse me, people are dead! This is not the time for making jokes.” Harriet scowled at Rose and reprimands her.

“Sorry. You get used to this stuff when you are friends with him.” Rose was sorry she upset Harriet, but making jokes helps her relax in the tense environment.

“Well, that’s a strange friendship.” Harriet mutters while looking at the Doctor and Rose oddly.

“Not really, Harriet. It is very common when someone is around a lot of death to make jokes.” Layla says, standing up for Rose. “It is a coping mechanism for dealing with the stress and can allow you to look at the situation in a different way that may be helpful. It is commonly used by police, soldiers, and even EMT’s and doctor’s that deal with death a lot. If making jokes to keep us from breaking down from the grief helps, then that is what we do.” Layla looks at Harriet seriously. Layla had known about this coping mechanism since she was a child and had employed it along with the other foster kids to keep from breaking down after the abuse they suffered. That is why she would crack jokes or quote movies during tense times to try to calm down making it seem like she wasn’t taking things seriously.

Harriet and Indra look at her mystified. They have never had to deal with it obviously, based on their reactions, and hopefully they never will. But maybe, with time, they would understand what she said a bit better. “Harriet Jones. I’ve heard that name before. Harriet Jones. You’re not famous for anything, are you?” The Doctor cuts in to lighten the conversation. He could see that Layla was thinking back to her childhood when going through her explanation of the dark humor.

Harriet was grateful for the topic change. She didn’t want to think about all of the deaths involved in this fiasco and she hoped she never became apathetic like Rose, Layla, and the Doctor were. She didn’t think should could handle what they apparently are used to. “Oh, hardly.” She scoffs.

“Rings a bell. Harriet Jones.” He hums.

“Lifelong backbencher I’m afraid, and a fat lot of use I’m being now.” She sighs dejectedly and her shoulders were slumped. “The Protocols are redundant. They list the people who could help and they’re dead downstairs.”

“Hasn’t it got, like, defense codes and things? Couldn’t we just launch a nuclear bomb at them?” Rose asked without realizing the consequences of that action.

Harriet looked at Rose disturbed. “You’re a very violent young woman.”

Layla snorts in amusement. “Rose, I don’t think you are making the connection that if we launched a nuclear bomb at them, we would also be caught in the blast as well.” She doesn’t see the Doctor stiffen; he knows that a missile may be their only option if he couldn’t think of another plan.

“Oh, right. Well, I am out of ideas.” She huffs and slumps back in her seat.

“Besides, there’s nothing like that in here. Nuclear strikes do need a release code, yes, but it’s kept secret by the United Nations.” Harriet hammers in the final nail to the coffin that Layla had puts Rose’s idea in.

The Doctor has a moment of clarity. What Harriet said triggered a memory, but it was just on the edge of his consciousness and he couldn’t grasp it yet. “Say that again.”

“What, about the codes?” Harriet tilts her head to the side and purses her lips.

“Anything. All of it.” The Doctor mumbled distractedly, trying to connect the dots in his mind.

“Well, the British Isles can’t gain access to atomic weapons without a Special Resolution from the UN.” Harriet was wondering how this would be helpful.

Layla sneers and Rose scoffs. “Like that’s ever stopped them before.”

Harriet points at her. “Exactly, given our past record. And I voted against that, thank you very much. The codes have been taken out of the government’s hands and given to the UN.” She turns to the Doctor. “Is this important?”

His eyebrows are pulled close, creating a forehead crease while shifting his position to having his arms crossed over his chest. “Everything’s important.”

Lamenting, Harriet too sits down. “If we only knew what the Slitheen wanted. Listen to me. I’m saying Slitheen as if it’s normal.”

“Well, they’re just one family, so it’s not an invasion. They don’t want a Slitheen World. They’re out to make money. That means they want to use something. Something here on Earth. Some kind of asset.” The Doctor explains.

“Like what, gold? Oil? Water?” Harriet names off some of the thing’s humans fight over.

The Doctor turns a beaming smile onto Harriet. “You’re very good at this.”

She looked pleased at the praise. “Thank you.”

“Harriet Jones. Why do I know that name?” The Doctor went back to thinking of something apparently more important. Indra looked at him in bewilderment that he was more concerned with here he heard Harriet’s name than finding a way to get out.

Before anyone can say anything in response, they hear a phone beeping. Rose realizes it is hers and she takes it out to see who was trying to get a hold of her. “Oh, that’s me.”

“But we’re sealed off. How did you get a signal?” Harriet’s eyes are wide and her thoughts are scrambling, trying to understand.

Rose looks smug and points to the Doctor. “He zapped it. Super phone.”

“Which in reality doesn’t make sense. Why would they make a secure room, in Downing Street, without any type of communication inside? If the Prime Minister had to be sealed in, how would anyone know if they couldn’t make contact? Especially if they are able to cut the phone lines, there should be a way to contact someone when they are in here that doesn’t rely on that.” Layla scratched her head in confusion, and winced when her stitches pulled a little bit.

“Then we can phone for help. You must have contacts.” Harriet obviously forgot what happened downstairs.

The Doctor reminds her. “Yeah, dead downstairs.”

“Not all of the experts came today. There would still be some out there that might be able to help. I’m sure there is a list with their numbers on it, but we don’t have anyway to access it in here.” Indra gave them a bit of good news about the experts, but their hopes fell about not being able to get a hold of anyone.

“It’s Mickey.” Rose tells them while looking opening a text message from him.

“Oh? Is he okay?” Layla asked concerned.

Annoyed, the Doctor snarks. “Oh, tell your stupid boyfriend we’re busy.”

Rose waves the phone in the Doctor’s face. “Yeah, he’s not so stupid after all.” The Doctor sees that Mickey had sent them a photo of a Slitheen on the floor in Jackie’s flat.

xxxxxx

Rose’s phone starts to ring and she quickly answers it; and before she can say anything, Mickey is already talking. “No, no, no, no, no. Not just alien, but like, proper alien. All stinking, and wet, and disgusting. And more to the point, it wanted to kill us!”

They can all hear Jackie butt in. “I could’ve died!”

Rose frowns hearing the terror in her mum’s voice. “Is she alright, though? Don’t put her on, just tell me.” She might be worried, but she knew her mum would go off on a tangent if she got ahold of the phone.

Realizing that they could use Mickey and his computer, the Doctor snatches the phone away from Rose. “Is that Ricky? Don’t talk, just shut up and go to your computer.”

Rose and Layla look at each other and sigh, even in a situation like this, the Doctor can’t help but be rude. Petulant, Mickey grumbles. “It’s Mickey, and why should I?”

The Doctor grimaces and has a look of distaste on his face, he sighs heavily. “Mickey the Idiot, I might just choke before I finish this sentence, but, er, I need you.” The Doctor starts telling Mickey what he wants him to do: hack into the UNIT website.

Mickey was glad to be of help and to show that he was not an idiot. “It says password.”

The Doctor however didn’t catch that due to having to plus in the phone to the conference phone speaker. “Say again.”

Mickey sighs but dutifully repeats himself. “It’s asking for the password.”

“Buffalo. Two f’s, one l.” The Doctor felt he had to spell it, since he believed Mickey to be an idiot.

Jackie was curious as to why Mickey was being told to do this. “So, what’s that website?”

Mickey gives her a wide grin. “All the secret information known to mankind. See, they’ve known about aliens for years. They just kept us in the dark.”

The Doctor snaps at him. “Mickey, you were born in the dark.”

“Oh, leave him alone.” Rose defends Mickey.

“Doctor, that’s enough.” Layla reprimands him.

Mickey feels a warmth in his chest and is pleased that his girlfriend and best friend are standing up for him. “Thank you. Password again.”

The Doctor sulks at being scolded and muttered. “Just repeat it every time.” He quickly gets over it though. “Big Ben – why did the Slitheen go and hit Big Ben?”

“You said to gather the experts, to kill them.” Harriet reminds him.

The Doctor waves her off though. “That lot would’ve gathered for a weather balloon. You don’t need to crash land in the middle of London.”

“I still don’t understand why they had to kill the experts though. Even if it is an invasion, there isn’t really a lot the experts could do, right?” Indra directed his question towards the Doctor.

“They could have just wanted the attention that they would get by killing so many at once.” The Doctor shrugged. Indra made a good point, but he was still annoyed by the man and his constant glances at Layla.

“The Slitheen are hiding, but then they put the entire planet on red alert.” Rose couldn’t see their goal plan.

“What would the Slitheen get out of causing a public display of aliens, and then have the alien experts killed?” Everyone looks towards Layla. “They want to cause a panic. So, that leads to the question, what do they get with causing a panic to the world?”

“Oh, listen to them.” Jackie mutters in derision.

Rose looks hurt, while Layla was annoyed, at least we are trying, all she is doing is whining. “At least we are trying.” Rose tells her mother, and Layla thinks that they think alike too often.

“Well, I’ve got a question, if you don’t mind.” Now that Jackie has had time to think, she wants answers from this Doctor. “Since that man walked into our lives, I have been attacked in the streets. I have had creatures from the pits of hell in my own living room, and my daughters disappear off the face of the Earth.”

“We told you what happened.” Exasperation coats Rose’s tone.

“I’m talking to him.” Jackie tells her sharply. “’Cos I’ve seen this life of yours, Doctor and maybe you get off on it, and maybe you think it’s all clever and smart, but you tell me. Just answer me this. Are my daughters safe? Will they always be safe, can you promise me that? Well, what’s the answer?”

“We’re fine mum.” Rose just wants her mum to accept that she was going to be traveling with the Doctor and not make a fuss out of it.

At the same time Layla gives Jackie an answer. “No.” The Doctor’s head snaps to Layla and looks hurt, but she doesn’t look at him. “No matter where we are or where we go, Jackie, we will never be one hundred percent safe. There is no guarantee of that in life, even if we were to not travel with him and stay on earth. With the Doctor though, even though we aren’t one hundred percent safe, he always protects us and everyone around to the best of his abilities. He puts forth the effort that others would run from to try to save the people, the planet, and all those in between.” Layla looks at Rose and they have a silent conversation for a few seconds. “We trust the Doctor with our lives Jackie. You know, as well as I do, that I would not say that about many people.”

The Doctor’s look of hurt turns into adoration. His lips were parted and his eyes were bright and glossy. Mickey cuts in before Jackie can say anything back. “We’re in.”

The Doctor sits up straight and focuses on the next item on the to do list. “Now then, on the left at the top, there’s a tab, an icon. Little concentric circles. Click on that.”

“Alright. What is it?” The screen changes from a map of the world to an oscilloscope reading, with sound.

“The Slitheen have got a spaceship in the North Sea and it’s transmitting that signal. Now hush, let me work out what it’s saying.”

“He’ll have to answer me one day.” They hear Jackie huff in annoyance.

“Hush!” Mickey reprimands her.

“It’s some sort of message.” The Doctor’s eyebrows are furrowed.

“What does it say, shouldn’t the Tardis have translated it for us? I thought you knew millions of languages too.” Layla inquires, but the Doctor doesn’t hear her, he was so focused on trying to figure out the message.

“It’s on a loop, keeps repeating.” The Doctor leaned towards the phone, like getting closer would help him understand what was being said better.

“Well, they said that they were a family business, and if they want something from this planet, couldn’t it be an advert telling those interested what they are selling?” Layla looked around at those in the room to see if her idea had merit.

They hear the doorbell from Mickey’s flat ring and the Doctor couldn’t hear the message with the doorbell interfering. “Hush!”

“That’s not me.” Mickey says while rubbing his chin absentmindedly. He looks towards Jackie. “Go and see who that is.”

Jackie frowns, but heads towards the door. “It’s three o’clock in the morning.”

Poking fun at her, Mickey retorts. “Well, go and tell them that.”

The Doctor continued to listen to the message trying to figure it out. He wasn’t paying attention to Mickey and Jackie anymore. “It’s beaming out into space, who’s it for?”

“Alright already!” They hear Jackie snap as she opens the door. Next thing they hear is her scream and her slamming the door shut. “It’s him! It’s the thing, it’s the Slipeen!”

Those in the cabinet room hear Mickey breathing harshly. “They’ve found us.”

With all the noise going on at Mickey’s flat, the message becomes inaudible to the Doctor. The danger they are in doesn’t register to him at this point. Unfortunately, it happens when the life of the planet is more important than the life of a few. “Mickey, I need that signal.”

Layla and Rose look at each other, their eyes widens and mouths slackening. Rose looks towards the Doctor. “Never mind the signal, get out! Mum, get out! Get out!”

Mickey grabs a baseball bat and faces towards the door. “We can’t, it’s by the front door.” His voice is monotoned. More emotion comes into his voice next though. “Oh, my god, it’s unmasking. It’s going to kill us.”

Harriet looks towards the Doctor who had a vacant look on his face and was slouched down. “There’s got to be some way of stopping them! You’re supposed to be the expert, think of something!”

“I’m trying!” The Doctor’s voice slightly cracked from the pressure. His stomach felt heavy and was frustrated with himself.

“I’ll take it on, Jackie. You just run. Don’t look back.” They hear Mickey say bravely even though they can hear the terror in his voice. “Just run.”

“That’s my mother.” Rose pleads. She’s already lost her father; she can’t lose her mum too.

The Doctor looks at Rose and sees the desperation on her face. He looks towards Layla and sees the same. He knows how much Rose loves her mum and he knows that Jackie is the only mother figure that Layla has. “Right, if we’re going to find their weakness, we need to find out where they’re from. Which planet. So, judging by their basic shape, that narrows it down to five thousand planets within traveling distance. What else do we know about them? Information!”

“They’re green.” Indra says the obvious.

The Doctor nods his head. “Yep. Narrows it down.”

Layla gently touched the bandage on her chest. “Good sense of smell, blood and adrenaline.”

The Doctor sees where she made that connection and grits his teeth. “Narrows it down.”

Harriet snaps her fingers. “The pig technology.”

The Doctor is thinking hard, they have it narrowed down a lot, but not enough. “Narrows it down.”

Rose, more determined to save her mum thinks back to everything that he said about the aliens and spaceship. “The spaceship in the Thames, you said slipstream engine?”

He was getting closer to the answer. “Narrows it down.”

Everyone is holding their breath when Mickey screams. “It’s getting in!”

“They hunt like it’s a ritual.” Rose blurts out in panic.

“Narrows it down.” It was getting repetitive, but he was almost there.

“Wait a minute. Did you notice? When they fart, if you’ll pardon the word, it doesn’t smell like a fart, if you’ll pardon the word, it’s something else. What is it? It’s more like, er…” Harriet trails off trying to think of what the smell reminded her of.

“Bad breath!” Rose exclaims, her nose scrunched up in disgust.

“That’s it!” Harriet was happy she wasn’t the only one to notice the smell.

“Calcium decay! Now, that narrows it down!”

“We’re getting there, mum!” Rose said close to the speaker.

“Too late!” Mickey was trying to be brave, but he couldn’t help but whimper in fear.

“Calcium phosphate. Organic calcium. Living calcium. Creatures made out of living calcium. What else? What else? Hyphenated surname. Yes! That narrows it down to one planet. Raxacoricofallapatorius!” The Doctor jumps up in excitement that he figured it out.

“Oh, yeah, great. We could write ‘em a letter.” Was Mickey’s sour response.

The Doctor scowls and demands. “Get into the kitchen!”

“My god, it’s going to rip us apart!” Jackie screeched.

“Calcium, weakened by the compression field. Acetic acid. Vinegar!” The Doctor was grinning, and it got even wider when he felt Layla squeeze his hand in gratitude.

“Just like Hannibal!” Harriet threw in some history.

“Just like Hannibal. Mickey, have you got any vinegar?”

“How should I know?” If Mickey wasn’t so scared, he would have realized the stupidity of that question.

“It’s your kitchen.” He really is an idiot, the Doctor thought.

“Cupboard by the sink, middle shelf.” Layla said quickly remembering the layout of his kitchen that she highly doubted he changed from last year. The Doctor’s head snaps to her, how often is she in his flat that she remembers the layout a year later? The Doctor had to swallow a growl at the thought of his Promised One being in another male’s home.

“Oh, give it here. What do you need?” They hear Jackie clearer as she takes the phone from Mickey.

“Anything with vinegar!”

They hear sounds of liquid being dumped and Jackie giving a commentary of what she is grabbing. “Gherkins. Yeah, pickled onions. Picked eggs.”

The Doctor looks nauseas and looks towards Rose. “And you kiss this man?” A few seconds later they hear the Slitheen breaking down the door to the kitchen. Jackie throws the vinegar over the alien. It stands around for a few seconds before a loud fart is heard and the alien explodes.

Rose looks towards the Doctor with her eyebrows scrunched together. “Hannibal?”

Harriet was the one that answered her though. “Hannibal crossed the Alps by dissolving boulders with vinegar.”

Rose says a quiet “oh.” While Layla nodded her head in understanding. “Well, there you go then.” Indra walked over to everyone and gives them a glass of port from the decanter. They all toast together and drink except for Layla. She snickers when she sees the Doctor spit his back into the glass. Layla slides her glass back to Indra who had the decanter. He gives her a shy smile. He feels like someone is staring at him and he looks towards the Doctor. He flinches at the glare the man is sending him. He is noticing that when he gives attention to Layla, the Doctor always glares at him.

“The experts are dead, murdered right in front of me by alien hands. Peoples of the earth, heed my words. These visitors do not come in peace.”

Mickey and Jackie are wiping themselves off when they see the conference about the aliens on the TV. Mickey grabs the phone and puts it close to the TV. “Listen to this.”

“Our inspectors have searched the sky above our heads and they have found massive weapons of destruction capable of being deployed within forty-five seconds.”

The Doctor tilts his head to the side and purses his lips. “What?”

“Our technicians can baffle the alien probes, but not for long. We are facing extinction, unless we strike first. The United Kingdom stands directly beneath the belly of the mother ship. I beg of the United Nations, pass an emergency resolution. Give us the access codes. A nuclear strike at the heart of the beast is our only chance of survival because from this moment on it is my solemn duty to inform you planet earth is at war.”

The Doctor rubs his hand over his head. He is standing up with his hip cocked to the side as he thinks about what he just heard. “He’s making it up. There’s no weapons up there, there’s no threat. He just invented it.”

“Do you think they’ll believe him?” Harriet was biting on her thumbnail.

“They did last time.” Rose shrugged.

“Unless someone else is going to look for this ‘probe’, they don’t have any reason not to believe them, especially with the experts dead.” Layla said. “Besides, with us stuck in here and no way to prove they are lying, they most likely will give them the codes.”

A lightbulb goes off in the Doctor’s head. “That’s why the Slitheen went for a spectacle. They want the whole world panicking because you lot, you get scared, you lash out. Layla was right about them wanting to cause a panic.”

“So, they release the defense code.” Rose starts, but Layla finishes her sentence. “And the Slitheen go nuclear.”

“But why?” Indra was sweating, his skin was flushed and the was shaking a little bit.

The Doctor goes over to the metal shutters and opens them up. They see a few of the Slitheen standing there, the female one back in her skin suit. “You get the codes, release the missiles, but not into space because there’s nothing there. You attack every other country on earth. They retaliate, fight back. World War Three. Whole planet gets nuked.”

The female Slitheen gives him a smug smirk. “And we can sit through it safe in our spaceship waiting in the Thames. Not crashed, just parked. Only two minutes away.”

“But you’ll destroy the planet, this beautiful place. What for?” Harriet pleaded.

The Doctor was the one to answer her. “Profit. That’s what the signal is beaming into space. An advert like Layla said.”

“The sale of the century. We reduce the earth to molten slag, then sell it piece by piece. Radioactive chunks, capable of powering every cut-price star liner and budget cargo ship. There’s a recession out there, Doctor. People are buying cheap. This rock becomes raw fuel.” It was said plainly, as if they should have already realized that and seen nothing wrong with the plan.

This is my Promised One’s home. I won’t let what happened to my planet happen to hers. The Doctor’s eye narrow and he clinches his teeth. “At the cost of five billion lives.”

The Slitheen waves her hand carelessly. “Bargain.”

A storm is brewing in the Doctors eyes. They are hard like stone. “I give you a choice. Leave this planet or I’ll stop you.”

A startled laugh escapes the Slitheen. “What, you? Trapped in your box?”

The Doctor doesn’t say anything for a few seconds, just looks at her. “Yes. Me.” He then closes the shutters on the Slitheen’s laughing face, but they see that she started to look worried.

Everyone sits down at the table and the humans in the room start to doze lightly. The Doctor is watching Layla as she sleeps without fear of being caught. She has been on his mind since the moment she came into his life. Thinking about her has kept him from thinking about the war and the guilt he felt. However, right now, even while he gazes at her, his eyes go out of focus and thinks about the war, his choice, and the choice he might have to make in the situation they are in right now. His hearts clench at the thought of the only thing that could save the planet, just like what he had to do to his planet to save the universe.

A few hours later, everyone has woken up from their little cat nap. They had stayed on the phone with Jackie and Mickey all night in case something came up, plus it kept Jackie and Mickey calm knowing that Rose and Layla were safe for the moment. Jackie gives a great big sigh. “Alright, Doctor. I’m not saying I trust you, but there must be something you can do.”

“If we could ferment the port, we could make acetic acid.” Harriet mumbled out.

Indra looked at her. “Unfortunately, that would take too long and we don’t have enough anyways.”

“Mickey, any luck?” Rose asked.

“There are loads of emergency numbers. They’re all on voicemail.”

“Makes sense, between the deaths of the experts and what the current wanker Prime Minister is saying, they have more important things to worry about than answering from an unknown number.” Rose and the Doctor snort at Layla calling the stand in Prime Minister a wanker.

“Voicemail dooms us all.” Harriet moaned in despair.

“If we could just get out of here.” Rose said, but wasn’t really expecting a response.

The Doctor holds his hand together across his stomach but refuses to meet anyone’s eyes. “There’s a way out. There’s always been a way out.”

“What? Why didn’t we use it before now?” Indra questioned him.

The Doctor sighs heavily and looks towards the phone. “Because, I can’t guarantee your daughters will be safe.”

“Don’t you dare. Whatever it is, don’t you dare!” Jackie was practically spitting fire at the thought of her girls being hurt.

The Doctor’s face falls and his tone turns into a pleading one. “That’s the thing. If I don’t dare, everyone dies.”

“Do it.” Rose says. She has faith in the Doctor after everything she has seen him do. Layla nods her head in agreement.

The Doctor looks surprised and looks between the two of them. “You two don’t even know what it is. You’d just let me?”

“Yeah.” Rose stares at him intensely. Layla just looks at him understandingly and accepting.

“Please Doctor. Please. They are my daughters. They are just kids.” Jackie pleads with him to understand like he was pleading with her to understand his side.

“Do you think I don’t know that? Because this is my life, Jackie. It’s not fun, it’s not smart, it’s just standing up and making a decision because nobody else will.” He snaps in agitation and rubbing the back of his neck.

“Then what’re you waiting for?” Rose looks at him tenderly making the Doctor feel uncomfortable.

“I could save the world but lose you two.” He looks to Rose first, but stares intensely into Layla’s eyes when he looks at her. Both of the girls hearts quicken at his statement.

“Our lives are not worth five billion Doctor.” Layla sensibly comments fully believing that. The Doctor’s face twists into a grimace. The Doctor was thinking how wrong she was and in a moment of selfishness the thought of sacrificing a planet he loves if it meant that she would be safe with him. Then the guilt hits him for putting his wants and needs above the people on earth. He knows she is right logically, but to him, she is worth everything.

“Except it’s not your decision, Doctor. It’s mine.” Harriet had been watching the Doctor and seen that he was somehow connected to Layla. She could also see the guilt of having to decide like this and decided to take the decision away from him.

“And who the hell are you?” Jackie snarled.

“Harriet Jones. MP for Flydale North. The only elected representative in this room, chosen by the people for the people. And on behalf of the people, I command you. Do it.” Her hand twitched to flash her badge out of habit but she was able to restrain herself. The Doctor smiles blindingly at Harriet, appreciating that she was taking the responsibility off of him this time.

“How do we get out then?” Rose looked around like there was a secret door to go through or something.

Layla looks at the Doctor, if it is something that he can’t guarantee our safety, then it is an attack that would hit both the Slitheen and us. “We don’t do we? We stay in this room?”

The Doctor looks at her and sees that she has a slight understanding of what his plan was. He nods jerkily and gets the Emergency Protocols form the Red Box. “Use the buffalo password. It overrides everything.” He instructs Mickey.

Mickey thinks he knows where this is going, but Jackie is confused. “What’re you doing?”

“Hacking into the Royal Navy. We’re in. Here it is. HMS Taurean, Trafalgar Class submarine, ten miles off the coast of Plymouth.”

“Right, we need to select a missile.” The Doctor was still searching through the Protocols to make sure there wasn’t anything else that could be useful.

“We can’t go nuclear. We don’t have the defense codes.”

“We don’t need it, nor do we want it. All we need’s an ordinary missile.” Mickey is just as violent as Rose, they are perfect for each other, the Doctor thought. “What’s the first category?”

Mickey looked at the first category. “Sub harpoon, UGM-A4A.”

The Doctor snapped his fingers. “That’s the one. Select it.”

“I could stop you.” Jackie tried to threaten Mickey.

Mickey calls her bluff though. “Do it, then.”

“You ready for this?” The Doctor asks Mickey softly.

Mickey takes a deep breath and shakily answers. “Yeah.”

“Mickey the idiot, the world is in your hands.” The Doctor said with approval in his voice at what Mickey had to do. “Fire.”

Mickey clicks the mouse and they wait impatiently to see what happens. “Oh, my god.” Jackie is holding back a sob of anguish. She already lost Pete, she doesn’t want to lose Rose and Layla too.

“How solid are these?” Harriet was taking responsibility of this decision and she was trying to remain calm about the possibility of her death.

The Doctor looks at her with slight pity seeing her put on a brave face. “Not solid enough. Built for short range attack, nothing this big.”

Rose puts a little pep in her voice. “Alright, now I’m making the decision. We’re not going to die. We’re going to ride this out. It’s like what they say about earthquakes. You can save them by standing under a doorframe. Now, this cupboard’s small so it’s strong. Come and help me. Come on.”

Harriet and Indra go to the cupboard and help clean it out. Layla started to go to help, but the Doctor wrapped his arm around her waist from behind. “No, you’re injured and need to stay still. The three of them is more than enough.” Layla shivers from the Doctor’s warm breath on her ear and his hot hand on the skin of her waist and nods jerkily.

“It’s on radar. Counter defense five-five-six.” Mickey warned the Doctor.

“Stop them intercepting it.” He ordered.

“I’m doing it now. Five-five-six neutralized.”

“Good boy.” The Doctor unplugs the phone and all head into the cupboard. The Doctor moves Layla away from Indra and Rose sits next to him, Harriet was next to Rose, then Layla and the Doctor.

Harriet gives a shaky laugh. “Here we go. Nice knowing you all. Hannibal!”

The Doctor had his arm around Layla, but when the cupboard started roll around, he quickly wraps one arm around her waist and with the other, he holds her head to his chest, cupping the back of her head, holding her tightly to him. When the rolling stops everyone is tangled up. Harriet is laying on top of Rose and Indra. Indra and Rose’s legs are tangled. The Doctor is laying partially on top of Layla with his head now resting against her chest. He lifts his head up slightly and pulls the arm that is around her waist out from under her. He pulls her shirt away slightly and looks at the gauze to see if any of her stitches opened up and were bleeding.

Layla sees the care that he put into keeping her safe since she was already injured and smiles as him fondly. She takes her hand and runs it against the back of his head, gently scratching it and against his neck softly. The Doctor has to swallow a moan at her nails scratching him. The Doctor slowly and reluctantly gets off of her and pushes the steel door off and steps out pulling Layla with him.

Harriet pats the cupboard and smoothed down her clothes. “Made in Britain.”

One of the soldiers come running up to the group. “Oh, my god. Are you alright?”

Harriet whips out her badge it flashes it to the soldier. “Harriet Jones. MP, Flydale North. I want you to contact UN immediately. Tell the ambassadors the crisis is over. They can step down. Go on, tell the news.”

The soldier salutes her. “Yes, ma’am.”

Harriet turns to the three, time travelers. “Someone’s got a hell of a job sorting this lot out. Oh, lord. We haven’t even got a Prime Minister.”

Finally remembering where he heard her name before, the Doctor suggests. “Maybe you should have a go.”

Harriet scoffs. “Me? Huh. I’m only a back-bencher.”

“I’d vote for you.” Rose tells her encouragingly. Rose thought she handled herself well in a crisis.

“Yeah, you handled this situation well, I think you would be good for Prime Minister.” Layla gives her a kind grin and pats her on the shoulder.

Harriet looks bashful. “Now, don’t be silly. Look, I’d better go and see if I can help. Come with me, Indra, I’m sure I could use your help explaining some things.” Harriet starts to make her way down the pile of rubble with Indra following behind her after giving Layla a shy smile. “Hang on! We’re safe! The earth is safe! Sergeant!”

The Doctor crosses his arms over his chest and grits his teeth at the man’s attention to Layla. “I thought I knew the name. Harriet Jones, future Prime Minister. Elected for three successive terms. The architect of Britain’s Golden Age.”

They watch on with happy grins as Harriet is talking to the press. “The crisis has passed! Ladies and gentlemen, I have something to say to you all here today! Mankind stands tall, proud, and undefeated. God bless the human race.”

Xxxxxx

They all walk back towards the flats. The Doctor goes to the Tardis and the girls go to their flat to see Jackie. When they walk in the door, Jackie embraces them tightly. Thankful that they are alright as far as she knows. The girls didn’t want her to know about Layla’s injury so they kept quiet.

They are sitting around the living room talking with the news playing on in the background. “Mankind stands tall, proud.”

“Harriet Jones. Who does she think she is? Look at her, taking all the credit. Should be you two on there. My daughters saved the world!” Jackie was upset that they weren’t getting recognition.

Layla laughs as Rose looks at her mum. “I think the Doctor helped a bit.”

Jackie harrumphs but agrees. “Alright, then. Him too. You should be given knighthoods.”

“That’s not the way he does things. No fuss. He just moves on. He’s not that bad if you gave him a chance.” Rose was practically pleading with her mum to accept him.

“Yeah, he does stuff like this because he wants to help, not for the fame.” Layla agreed with Rose.

Jackie nods her head. “He’s good in a crisis, I’ll give him that.”

The girls fake gasp, and Rose looked at her mum. “Oh, now the world has changed. You’re saying nice things about him.”

“Well, I reckon I’ve got no choice. There’s no getting rid of him since you’re infatuated.” Jackie smirked at Rose and the blush that appeared on her face. Layla looks at Rose and feels a twinge in her chest that Rose seems to like the Doctor.

“I’m not infatuated.” Rose tries to deny unconvincingly.

“What does he eat?” Jackie asked them out of nowhere.

“Food?” Layla says sarcastically.

“How do you mean?” Rose was confused.

“I was going to do shepherd’s pie. All of us. A proper sit down, ‘cos I’m ready to listen. I wanna learn about you two and him and that life you are now leading. Only, I don’t know, he’s an alien. For all I know, he eats grass and safety pins and things.”

Layla chokes on a laugh. “Oh please, put that on a plate for him and tell him to enjoy his dinner, that would be hilarious.”

Rose sniggers and smirks. “He’ll have shepherd pie. You’re going to cook for him?”

“What’s wrong with that?” Jackie asked indignantly.

Rose looks at her with a cheeky smile. “He’s finally met his match.” Layla nods her head in agreement, Jackie isn’t the best cook in the world.

Jackie looks at both of the girls and their expressions, her face sours and gets up to go to the kitchen to start dinner. “You’re not too old for a slap, you know. You can go and visit your gran tomorrow. You two better learn some French. I told her you were in France. I said you were au-pairing.”

Rose’s phone rings and she sees that is says Tardis, she looks at Layla in confusion and answers the call. “Hello?” Layla is glad Rose had her phone today, she left her phone in the Tardis today. They would have been sitting ducks without it.

“Right, I’ll be a couple of hours, then we can go.” Was the first thing the Doctor says. Layla gets close to Rose so she can hear better.

“You’ve got a phone?” Rose asks and Layla looks at her with a ‘why wouldn’t he?’ look.

“You think I can travel through space and time and I haven’t got a phone? Like I said, couple of hours. I’ve just got to send out this dispersal. There you go. That’s cancelling out the Slitheen’s advert in case any bargain hunters turn up.”

“Er, my mother’s cooking.” Was Rose’s way to say that he was wanted over to eat.

“Good. Put her on a slow heat and let her simmer.”

Layla tries to not laugh, she does, but she busts up loudly giggling at his comment. After the day they have had, this has been the funniest thing next to Jackie not knowing if he ate human food and it was making her bend over from amusement. The Doctor hears her laughs and his hearts feel warm from it. Rose steps away from the laughing hyena and tries again. “She’s cooking tea. For us.”

“I don’t do that.” He won’t be domestic for anyone except for Layla, not Rose or Jackie. And since Layla isn’t the one asking, it’s a no. And he is hoping she never realizes the power she has over him. They just met, the bond just started, and she already has him wrapped around her finger.

“She wants to get to know you.” She whines.

“Tough. I’ve got better things to do.”

“It’s just tea.” Rose was being stubborn.

“Not to me it isn’t.”

“Rose, he doesn’t do domestic, plus he is probably still annoyed with Jackie about slapping him.” Layla tries to get through to Rose.

Rose ignores Layla, she really wants her mum and the Doctor to get along. “She is my mother.”

“Well, she’s not mine.”

“That’s not fair.” She pouts. Layla scowls, life isn’t fair, I would know that more than you.

“Well, you can stay there if you want, but right now there’s this plasma storm brewing in the Horsehead Nebula. Fires are burning ten million miles wide. I could fly the Tardis right into the heart of it then ride the shock wave all the way out. Hurtle across the sky and end up anywhere. Your choice.”

The Doctor hangs up and Rose turns to see that Layla has already left, she goes to her room to see her packing and goes to do the same. Jackie walks to Rose’s room. “I was thinking. I’ve got that bottle of Amaretto from New Year’s Eve. Does he drink? I was wondering whether he drinks or not.”

Rose doesn’t stop what she is doing. “Yeah, he does.”

Layla walks up behind Jackie to wait for Rose to join her. Jackie looks at them and sees their bags packed. “Don’t go, Sweethearts. Please don’t go.” She pleads with them.

The girls feel bad about upsetting her, but they want to travel and see the universe while they have the chance. They have been having fun these last few days and don’t want to come back to a boring life of working at shops all the time and not seeing the world. Rose avoids her mum’s eyes and walks out towards the door. Layla gently pats Jackie on the shoulder and follows after Rose.

Jackie refuses to give up trying though and follows them out. She is saying anything she can to get them to stay. They get closer to the Tardis and she is running out of time. “I’ll get a proper job. I’ll work weekends. I’ll pass my test, and if Jim comes round again, I’ll say no. I really will.”

Rose gently takes her mums hands and squeezes them. “I’m not leaving because of you. I’m traveling, that’s all, and then I’ll come back.”

“You should definitely give up on Jim though, you deserve better and he gives me the creeps. Just think of us like we are backpacking around the world. We will keep in touch better too.” Layla hugs Jackie tightly and goes towards the Doctor to give Rose and her mum some time together. The Doctor sees them coming and can’t help the smile that crosses his face, especially when he sees the rucksack that Layla is carrying, meaning she is planning to stay for a while.

“But it’s not safe.” Jackie doesn’t want to stop them from living, but she wants them to be traveling earth, where it is safer, in her opinion and where they can always come home without the need of a spaceship.

“Mum, if you saw it out there, you’d never stay home.” Rose throws her rucksack to the Doctor.

“Got enough stuff?” He snarks to Rose.

“Last time I stepped in there, it was spur of the moment Now I’m signing up. You’re stuck with me.” She smirks at him and turns to Mickey missing the sour look on the Doctor’s face at the thought of being stuck with Rose.

Rose grabs Mickey’s hands. “Come with us. There’s plenty of room.”

Layla sees the panicked look that crosses his face and him pleadingly looking towards the Doctor. “No chance. He’s a liability. I’m not having him on board.”

Rose gives the Doctor a glare. “We’d be dead without him.”

The Doctor crosses his arms across his chest and turns his face to the side and up in the air. “My decision is final.” Besides, why does this ape think she can invite anyone she wants on my ship?

Rose looks towards Mickey and gives him a kiss. “Sorry.”

Mickey looks sad that Rose is once again leaving him. “Good luck, yeah.”

Layla sees the sad look on Mickey’s face and goes to give him a big hug. “I’ll make sure she is safe, and I will bring you back some cool items from other planets.” The Doctor knows that they are close friends, but it doesn’t stop the feelings of the bond and he is tight with tension until they step apart and stop touching.

“You still can’t promise me. What if they get lost? What if something happens to you, Doctor, and they are left all alone, standing on some moon a million light years away. How long do I wait then?” Jackie is jabbing the air at the Doctor.

The Doctor looks at her blankly, not able to give her any promise that things will work out the way she wants. Rose answers for him though. “Mum, you’re forgetting. It’s a time machine. I could go traveling around suns and planets and all the way out to the edge of the universe. And by the time I get back, yeah, ten seconds would have passed. Just ten seconds. So, stop worrying. See you in ten seconds’ time, yeah?” Rose gives her mum a hug and follow Layla and the Doctor into the Tardis.

“Rose, I don’t think you should have promised ten seconds to your mum.” Layla jabs her thumb towards the Doctor. “Based on his record, it would be longer than that before she sees us again.”

“Oi!” The Doctor says indignantly. The girls snicker as him, but his pouting doesn’t last long before he is laughing with them.

Chapter Text

The Tardis materializes in a dimly lit area with carpeting and display cases. The three of them walk out and look around. “So, what is it? What’s wrong?” Rose questions.

The Doctor is looking around looking for a light switch so they can see better. “Don’t know. Some kind of signal drawing the Tardis off course.”

“A signal? Like something calling the Tardis to it? Where and when are we?” Layla looks at the Doctor.

The Doctor looks at his watch. “Earth. Utah, North America. About half a mile underground. 2012”

“God, that’s so close. So, we should be twenty-six.” Rose quickly calculates the numbers.

The Doctor finds a light switch and turns it on, making things easier to see.

“Blimey. It’s a great big museum.” Rose is shocked for some reason.

“Why would a museum be underground?” Layla ponders while rubbing her chin.

“An alien museum. Someone’s got a hobby. They must have spent a fortune on this. Chunks of meteorite, moon dust. That’s the milometer from the Roswell spaceship.” Layla groans, lots of money usually means lots of assholes.

Rose makes a face of disgust. “That’s a bit of Slitheen! That’s a Slitheen’s arm. It’s been stuffed.”

“Oh, look at you.” The Doctor reminiscences. The girls walk over to him and sees that he is looking at a robotic head.

“What is it?” Rose asks standing close to the Doctor.

The Doctor notices and shifts slightly towards Layla who was on his other side, close enough to brush against her. She doesn’t notice since she is focusing on looking at the head. “An old friend of mine. Well, enemy. The stuff of nightmares reduced to an exhibit. I’m getting old.”

Rose looks up at him from under her lashes. “Looking pretty good to me.” The Doctor shifts uncomfortably.

“I agree with Rose, of course I’ve always been attracted to older men anyways.” Layla says nonchalantly still looking at the head. The Doctor’s cheeks heat up, I’m glad she is attracted to this daft old face. It is also good that with my regenerations being random, if it is older, then it wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing.

“Is that where the signal’s coming from?” Out of all the pieces that Rose sees, the head is the only thing, besides the Slitheen arm, that was ‘alive’ at one point or another.

“No, it’s stone dead. The signal’s alive. Something’s reaching out, calling for help.” The Doctor touches the display case and an alarm goes off. Armed guards immediately rush in from all sides and cut them off form the Tardis. He slides in front of Layla, but it doesn’t help since they were surrounded.

“If someone’s collecting aliens, that makes you Exhibit A.” Rose half-ass whispers unhelpfully.

Xxxxxx

The three of them are led upstairs to where they see a man sitting behind a desk. They stand side by side, with Layla in the middle, and the Doctor close to her. The Doctor sees the young kid next to the older guy behind the desk showing him something he bought. “And this is the last. Paid eight hundred thousand dollars for it.”

“What does it do?” The man asks him.

“Well, you see the tubes on the side? It must be to channel something. I think maybe fuel.” The kid was flipping the item around showing the older man what he believed were tubes for fuel.

Before the kid could get anything else wrong, the Doctor stepped in. “I really wouldn’t hold it like that.”

The woman that had escorted them to the office snapped at him. “Shut it.”

The Doctor ignored her. “Really, though, that’s wrong.”

The kid looked slightly scared and worried. “Is it dangerous?”

The Doctor gives him a big grin. “No, it just looks silly.” He reaches for the item, but freezes when firing bolts click all around him. The man behind the desks waves them off and hands the Doctor the curved, palm sized object.

“You just need to be…delicate.” The Doctor gently strokes the artifact and it makes a musical note.

The man’s eyes light up. “Here, let me.” He snatches the item from the Doctor and strokes the item harshly.

“I did say delicate. It reacts to the smallest fingerprint. It needs precision.” The Doctor watches as the man finally gets a hang of it. “Very good. Quite the expert.”

“As are you.” The man tosses the item aside and it falls to the floor and the girls glare at him for the treatment of something rare to earth. “Who exactly are you?”

The Doctor is looking at the man a little less politely after his treatment of a delicate item. “I’m the Doctor. And who are you?”

The man scoffs. “Like you don’t know. We’re hidden away with the most valuable collection of extra-terrestrial artifacts in the world, and you just stumbled in by mistake.”

The Doctor hums and nods his head. “Pretty much sums me up, yeah.” Layla snickers quietly at the Doctor’s reply.

This unfortunately draws the man’s attention to her. The Doctor tenses as the man leers at her, then at Rose, before going back to Layla. “The question is, how did you get in? Fifty-three floors down, with your little cat burglar accomplices. You’re quite a collector yourself, they are rather pretty.”

Rose sneers. “And they are going to smack you if you keep calling us, they.” Layla just gives him a hardened look, but it doesn’t seem to deter him.

“English too! Hey, little Lord Fauntleroy. Got you a girlfriend. The other one can be mine.” He winks at Layla. Her face doesn’t change, but her body shivers slightly in disgust. She only wants one person right now to ogle at her like that, and it isn’t this man. The Doctor’s jaw clenched and his eyes blaze in anger at the leering look he is giving his Promised One.

The boy blushes slightly as he looks at Rose. “This is Mister Henry Van Statten.”

“And who’s he when he’s not at home?” Rose looks at the boy with slight interest, he is pretty cute.

“Mister Van Statten owns the internet.”

Rose scoffs. “Don’t be stupid. No one owns the internet.”

“And let’s just keep the whole world thinking that way, right kids?” He winks at Layla trying to impress her, but she just stays quiet, so she doesn’t say something and end up getting shot.

Wanting the attention off of Layla, the Doctor speaks and draws Van Statten’s attention to him. “So, you’re just about an expert in everything except the things in your museum. Anything you don’t understand, you lock up.”

“And you claim greater knowledge?”

“I don’t need to make claims, I know how good I am.” The Doctor snaps back with confidence.

“And yet, I captured you. Right next to the Cage. What were you doing down there?”

The Cage? What’s that? “You tell me.” The Doctor is tense, he has a feeling that this Van Statten has what was giving out the signal.

“The Cage contains my one living specimen.” Van Statten gives the Doctor a smug look.

I knew it. “And what’s that?”

“Like you don’t know.” Van Statten was trying to be sly.

“Show me.” The Doctor demanded.

“You want to see it?” The Doctor knew Van Statten was goading the him, but if he was going to save this creature, he had to let him.

Rose and Layla look at each other after having watched the Doctor and Van Statten like a tennis match. Rose whispers to Layla. “Blimey, you can smell the testosterone.”

Layla snickers, giving Rose a smirk. “If Van Statten whips his out to measure, I might be sick.” The Doctor heard her and internally snorted. 

“Goddard, inform the Cage we’re heading down. You, English. Look after the girls. Go and canoodle or spoon or whatever it is you British do. And you, Doctor with no name, come and see my pet.”

Layla quickly grabbed the Doctor’s hand and squeezed it tight. “Be careful, I don’t trust him not to do something to you, specifically. Come back safe.”

The Doctor squeezes her hand back and understands what she is implying. If Van Statten finds out that he is an alien, it would not be good. They didn’t notice that Van Statten noticed their interaction, he just couldn’t hear what they were saying. If this Doctor does know something about his pet, if he doesn’t cooperate, I can use the beautiful white-haired woman as leverage. I might just keep her anyways.

Xxxxxx

On the way down to the workshop they were now in, the boy had given his name to them. “Sorry about the mess. Mister Van Statten sort of lets me do my own thing, so long as I deliver the goods. What do you think that is?” Adam gives Rose an inch thick piece of metal to look at.

“Er, a lump of metal?” Rose stammers out. She hears Layla snort and gives her the stink eye. Layla is just glad that Adam is focusing on Rose and not herself. She gets enough unwanted attention.

Adam got all excited. “Yeah. Yeah, but I think, well, I’m almost certain, it’s from the hull of a spacecraft. The thing is, it’s all true. Everything the United Nations tries to keep quiet, spacecraft, aliens, visitors to earth. They really exist.”

“That’s amazing.” Rose said in faux excitement.

“Well, it is like the government to keep us in the dark on things. I wouldn’t be surprised if we met an alien and didn’t know.” Layla says to Adam, but smirks to Rose.

“Yeah, I’d give anything. I don’t think it is ever going to happen. Now in our lifetimes.” He said forlornly. Layla has to turn around and mess with things on the table to keep from laughing at the irony that he did in fact meet an alien already.

“Oh, you never know. What about all those people who say they’ve been inside of spaceships and things and talked to aliens?” Rose was wanting to get his view on this and see how he might possibly handle space.

“I think they’re nutters.” He said with no hesitation.

“Yeah, me too. So, how’d you end up here?”

“Van Statten has agents all over the world looking for geniuses to recruit.” He tells her smugly.

“Oh, right. You’re a genius.” Rose plays on his ego.

“Yeah, we know someone who is like that.” Layla tells him thinking of the Doctor, but she thinks that the Doctor is smarter than a genius, definitely a lot better looking than this one too.

“Sorry, but yeah. I can’t help it. I was born clever. When I was eight, I logged onto the US Defense System. Nearly caused World War Three.” His attempt at being humble failed spectacularly and Layla curled her lip up in disgust about the excitement he displayed about starting a war.

“What, and that’s funny, is it?” Rose was hoping that he was joking about it.

“Well, you should’ve been there just to see them running about. Fantastic!” He had this big grin directed at Rose.

“You sound like the Doctor.” Rose pondered out loud. Maybe if she gives Adam attention, the Doctor might get jealous, and if not, what girl doesn’t enjoy the attentions of a cute boy every now and then?

Layla had to think about that, Adam did resemble the Doctor with his smugness, cockiness, they were both smart, but she thinks the Doctor did it way better than Adam.

“Are you and him?” Adam hints at towards Rose wanting to know what her status was.

“No, we’re just friends.” Rose played with her hair as she quirked up her lips in a teasing grin.

Adam blushes and ducks his head down. “Good.”

“Why is it good?” Rose bites her lip.

“It just is.”

Layla grimaces and slightly gags at them and decides to break up this flirt festival. “Wouldn’t you rather be downstairs? I mean, you’ve got these bits of metal and stuff, but Mister Van Statten’s got a living creature down there.” They jump slightly as if they forgot she was there, and they probably did, Layla was good at being sneaky when need be.

“Yeah. Yeah, well, I did ask, but he keeps it to himself. Although, if you’re a genius, it doesn’t take long to patch through on the comm system.”

Rose jumps slightly in excitement. “Let’s have a look, then.”

“It doesn’t do much, the alien. It’s weird. It’s kind of useless. It’s just like this great big pepper pot.” Adam pulls up the camera from the Cage and they see the alien screaming as one of the employees takes a big drill to its casing.

Rose’s eyes widen in horror. “It’s being tortured! Where’s the Doctor?”

Layla looks on in pity and worry. “If the Doctor hasn’t stopped this already, something may have happened to him.”

“I don’t know.” Adam stammers out.

Rose gives him a glare. “Take us down there now.”

Xxxxxx

Van Statten was leading the Doctor towards the Cage. “We’ve tried everything. The creature has shielded itself, but there’s definite signs of life inside.”

“Inside? Inside what?” The Doctor was trying to think of aliens that used casings to cover themselves and there weren’t many.

Van Statten didn’t answer him though, one of his employees walked up to him. “Welcome back, sir. I’ve had to take the power down. The Metaltron is resting.”

“Metaltron?” The Doctor raised his eyebrow. What a ridiculous name. What idiot came up with that?

“Thought of it myself. Good, isn’t it? Although I’d much prefer to find out its real name.” Van Statten boasted. Ah, now why am I not surprised, the Doctor snickered inwardly.

The employee held out some gloves to the Doctor. “Here, you’d better put these on. The last guy that touched it burst into flames.”

The Doctor held up his hands. “I won’t touch it then.”

Van Statten held out he hand. “Go ahead, Doctor. Impress me.”

The Doctor walks through the heavy door and they close him in not knowing that they won’t open the door unless they get a result they want. Inside the dark room, the Doctor hears the door shut and lock but ignores it. He looks towards the alien, but can’t see it that well. “Look, I’m sorry about this. Mister Van Statten might think he’s clever, but never mind him. I’ve come to help. I’m the Doctor.”

A white light blinked next to a blue light and he hears a metallic voice stutter. “Doc tor?”

“Impossible.” The Doctor shakes his head in denial.

The alien seems to become stronger after the lights come up seeing the Doctor better. “The Doctor?” The lights reveal a bad-tempered pepper pot being held in chains. “Exterminate! Exterminate!”

The Doctor bolts to the door rushing away from the threat, his hearts are pounding, and hammers on the door screaming. “Let me out!” But the doors stay closed.

“Exterminate!” The alien continues to scream. “You are an enemy of the Daleks! You must be destroyed!” Its gun arm twitches, but nothing happens.

The Doctor, realizing that he is still alive, feels his hearts start to calm down from the fast tempo that they had climbed up to. His skin is clammy and he is gasping for air. He has a few seconds to relax before looking over at the Dalek. “It’s not working.”

He laughs at the Dalek hysterical and he has a wild-eyed look. “Fantastic! Oh, fantastic! Powerless! Look at you. The great space dustbin. How does it feel?” The Doctor gets within inches of its eyepieces and stares at it.

“Keep back!” The Dalek screeches.

The Doctor tries to restrain the smile he is giving the Dalek, but he fails and it looks maniacal. “What for? What’re you going to do to me? if you can’t kill, then what are you good for, Dalek? What’s the point of you? You’re nothing. What the hell are you here for?”

“I am waiting for orders.”

“What does that mean?”

“I am a soldier. I was bred to receive orders.”

The Doctor looked at the Dalek gleeful, an unkind smile spreading slowly over his face. “Well, you’re never going to get any. Not ever.”

“I demand orders!”

“They’re never going to come! Your race is dead! You all burnt, all of you. Ten million ships on fire. The entire Dalek race wiped out in one second!”

“You lie!” The Dalek screeched.

The Doctor got close to its eye piece again. “I watched it happen. I made it happen.” During this who time, the Doctor is not once thinking of the consequences this conversation is going to have for him. He is too far gone with the memories and pain from the war.

“You destroyed us?” The Dalek asked surprisingly soft for a Dalek.

For the first time since the conversation started, emotion other than malicious enjoyment was expressed by the Doctor. “I had no choice.” He said brokenly.

“And what of the Time Lords?”

“Dead. They burnt with you. The end of the last great Time War. Everyone lost.” It was said flatly, no emotion at all, even though the guilt was crushing the Doctor’s hearts to pieces.

“And the coward survived.” The Dalek rubbed salt in the wound.

“Oh, and I caught your little signal. Help me. Poor little thing. But there’s no one else coming ‘cos there’s no one else left.” They just kept kicking each other while they were down.

“I am alone in the universe.”

“Yep.” The Doctor popping the ‘p’.

“So are you. We are the same.”

“We’re not the same!” The Doctor pauses and thinks about that for a second. He is the last Time Lord but he has Layla, but doesn’t want the Dalek to know that. And thinking of Layla makes him realize that he has to do something about this Dalek or she will be in danger. “No, wait. Maybe we are. You’re right. Yeah, okay. You’ve got a point. ‘Cos I know what to do. I know what should happen. I know what you deserve. Exterminate.” The Doctor pulls a lever on a nearby console and the Dalek is lit up with electricity.

“Have pity!” The Dalek screams in pain.

“Why should I? You never did.” The Doctor looks on with a stony face that is devoid of emotion as he watches the Dalek suffer, but feels malicious satisfaction and a heady rush of power.

The guards rush in and pull the Doctor out of the room. They cut off the power and the Daleks screams quiet down. Van Statten walks up to the Dalek. “I saved your life. Now talk to me. Goddamn it, talk to me!”

As they are dragging the Doctor out, he is resisting and yelling back towards Van Statten. “You’ve got to destroy it!”

Van Statten gives the Dalek a greedy smile. “The last in the universe. And now I know your name. Dalek. Speak to me, Dalek. I am Henry Van Statten, now recognize me! Make it talk again, Simmons. Whatever it takes.”

xxxxxx

The Doctor walks into the elevator along with Van Statten, Goddard, and a guard. This was after the Doctor had calmed down from his interaction with the Dalek. “The metal’s just battle armor. The real Dalek creature’s inside.”

Van Statten gives wide grin, happy that he is finally getting information on the alien he owns. “What does it look like?”

“A nightmare. It’s a mutation. The Dalek race was genetically engineered. Every single emotion was removed except for hate.” The Doctor lectures, not noticing the greed in Van Statten’s eyes.

“Genetically engineered. By whom?” Maybe we can patent this, Van Statten thought.

“By a genius, Van Statten. By a man who was king of his own little world.” The Doctor gave a sneer towards Van Statten. “You’d like him.”

“It’s been on earth for over fifty years. Sold at a private auction, moving from one collection to another. Why would it be a threat now?” Goddard asks the Doctor.

“Because I’m here. How did it get to earth? Does anyone know?” The Doctor looks at both Goddard and Van Statten.

Goddard internally winces, if the Dalek is an alien, and it knows the Doctor, it isn’t hard to guess that he is also an alien. This won’t end well for him. “The records say it came from the sky like a meteorite. It fell to earth on the Ascension Islands. Burnt in its crater for three days before anybody could get near it and all that time it was screaming. It must have gone insane.”

“It must have fallen through time. The only survivor.” The Doctor tells them.

“You talked about a war?” Goddard was curious about this man, but she can see Van Statten’s face, and feels slightly bad about what he is about to do, but she wants to keep her memories and life.

“The Time War. The final battle between my people and the Dalek race.” It was said calmly, but his hearts still clinch in pain that he is the last and it is his fault that he was the last.

“But you survived, too.” Van Statten looks at him and sees the possibilities of adding him to his collection.

The Doctor’s face tightens in pain. “Not by choice.”

Van Statten starts to rock back and forth on his feet, his smile gets bigger. “This means that the Dalek isn’t the only alien on earth. Doctor, there’s you. The only one of your kind in existence.” The Doctor’s face drops as he realizes his mistake.

Xxxxxx

The Doctor is seized and stripped of his shirt. He is spread-eagled and chained standing up. The Doctor gives Van Statten a glare, but all he gets in return is a smile. “Now, smile!” Van Statten turns on a laser that scans the Doctor’s body and the Doctor screams in pain.

Van Statten reads the results of the scan and claps his hands together. “Two hearts! Binary vascular system. Oh, I am so going to patent this.”

The Doctor is breathing heavily but musters up a sneer. “So, that’s your secret. You don’t just collect this stuff, you scavenge it.”

“This technology has been falling to earth for centuries. All it took was the right mind to use it properly. Oh, the advances I’ve made from alien junk. You have no idea, Doctor. Broadband? Roswell. Just last year my scientists cultivated bacteria from the Russian crater, and do you know what we found? The cure for the common cold. Kept it strictly within the laboratory of course. No need to get people excited. Why sell one cure when I can sell a thousand palliatives?”

“Do you know what a Dalek is, Van Statten? A Dalek is honest. It does what it was born to do for the survival of its species. That creature in your dungeon is better than you.”

“In that case, I will be true to myself and continue.” Van Statten gives him a careless shrug of the shoulders.

The Doctor can see that he isn’t getting through to Van Statten, but he can’t give up. Layla and Rose are in this building and if the Dalek gets free, they are in danger. “Listen to me! That thing downstairs is going to kill every last one of us!”

Van Statten scoffs. “Nothing can escape the Cage.” He then turns on the laser again just because, why not?

“But it’s woken up. It knows I’m here. It’s going to get out. Van Statten, I swear, no one on this base is safe. No one on this planet!” My Promised One is in danger! Why won’t this stupid ape listen to me?!

Van Statten, tired of hearing the Doctor whine about the danger, turns the laser on again just to hear him scream. “So, tell me Doctor, what other information can you give me about aliens?”

“You mean what can I tell you so you can make money off it, right?” The Doctor sneers at him, but it isn’t really effective since he is in pain from the scanning.

Van Statten hums. “Yeah pretty much. Give me something.”

“I will not tell you anything more. You are already putting us all in danger, I won’t let anyone else be a part of your sick money scheme. That’s all you humans seem to care about. Money.”

Van Statten looks at him thoughtfully for a few minutes. Then he has an idea. “What about that white-haired woman with you? She looks almost unearthly. Maybe she is an alien? Maybe I should have a thorough look at her as well to check to make sure she isn’t an alien in hiding. She could be hiding scales or something under her clothes for all I know. Human or alien, she is rather attractive. Even if she isn’t an alien, she has obviously been traveling with one. I’m sure there is a lot she can tell me.” Van Statten stops talking for a minute. He can see the anger on the Doctor’s face and he enjoys that the Doctor is at his mercy. “There are many fun ways a man can get a woman to talk.” He leers at the Doctor so he understands what he is implying.

The Doctor surges forwards as much as he can, the chains are pulled taut. His body is tight with tension, his arms straining against the cuffs around his wrist. They are scrapping the skin, but he doesn’t care. The tiredness and lingering pain he felt from his torture is forgotten with the need to protect his Promised One. “Stay away from her! She is human! They both are!” In protective fury, a snarl rumbles through his chest.

The hardened look on the Doctor’s face momentarily spooks Van Statten, but he believes himself to be safe with the Doctor chained up. “Oh my, someone is protective. One has to wonder why. Maybe detaining them will get you to be more cooperative with me.”

The Doctor forces his body to relax and speaks in a quiet, calm, voice, the tone that even his enemies fear. “If you hurt them in any way Van Statten, you will have to deal with me. That is your one and only warning.”

Van Statten scoffs. “Seeing as you’re currently at my mercy I’m not too concerned.”

Xxxxxx

Adam is in front of the girls when they get stopped by a guard. “Hold it right there.”

Adam flashes his badge in the guard’s face quickly and without stopping. “Level three access. Special clearance from Mister Van Statten.” They are let into the Cage with the alien and slowly walk towards it as the door closes them in. “Don’t get too close.”

Rose steps towards the Dalek, not knowing how dangerous it really is. “Hello. Are you in pain? My name’s Rose Tyler. I’ve got a friend, he can help. He’s called the Doctor. What’s your name?”

It is quiet for a moment before the Dalek answers. “Yes.”

“What?”

“I am in pain. They torture me, but they still fear me. Do you fear me?” The Dalek plays on Rose’s heart strings.

She keeps getting closer to the Dalek. “No, I don’t fear you.”

“I am dying.” Was the pitiful response.

“Rose, don’t get too close. It might think this is a trap for it and harm you. Van Statten’s men has been torturing it, this alien could think this is a new form of attack. I think we should wait for the Doctor to give us more information.” Layla says while she stayed back by Adam.

Rose ignores her though. “No, we can help.”

Layla frowns. She knows that Rose has a big heart, but they didn’t know anything about this alien and if it was dangerous. But she is used to Rose ignoring her warnings when it is about something she wants to do or someone she wants to help. That’s how she got into the mess with Jimmy Stone.

“I welcome death. But I am glad that before I die, I have met a human who was not afraid.” The way the alien was talking was making Layla think that it was trying to manipulate them.

“Isn’t there anything I can do?” Rose asks softly. Her heart hurts that this alien is hurting and dying.

“My race is dead, and I shall die alone.” Rose reaches her hand out and lays it on the metal of the aliens casing.

“Rose! No!” Both Adam and Layla yell at the same time.

Rose’s brief touch on the casing glows gold and quickly fades. The Dalek becomes more animated as it shrieks. “Genetic material extrapolated. Initiate cellular reconstruction!” The Dalek strains against the chains and they break, freeing the alien.

The man that was torturing the Dalek before they came down comes running into the room. “What the hell have you done?” He walks to the Dalek, carrying his drill. The Dalek raises its plunger and the man scoffs. “What are you going to do? Sucker me to death?” And that is exactly what the Dalek does to him. Rose, Layla, and Adam scramble out of the room quickly when they see the man’s head caving in.

The guard that stopped them on the way down is screaming into his radio. “Condition red! Condition red!”

Xxxxxx

After more scans and tests on the Doctor, they are giving him a slight break when the alarms start to blare. “I repeat, this is not a drill.”

The Doctor rolls his head forward limply. “Release me if you want to live.” Van Statten does just that and they head towards his office.

The TV on the wall is showing the scene in the Cage. The Doctor grabs a headset to talk to the guards. “You’ve got to keep it in that cell.”

Rose comes into view a little teary. “Doctor, it’s all my fault.”

The guard next to Rose cuts in. “I’ve sealed the compartment. It can’t get out. That lock’s got a billion combinations.”

Oh my god, they are down there. The Doctor looks for Layla and sees her standing next to Adam. He sees that she is temporarily safe, but it won’t last long. “A Dalek’s a genius. It can calculate a thousand billion combinations in one second flat.”

That is exactly what they see happen as the door to the Cage starts to open up. “Open fire!” The guard shouts.

Van Statten gets in view of the screen. “Don’t shoot it! I want it unharmed.”

The Doctor gives him a nasty glare. “Layla, Rose, get out of there!” When they leave, the Doctor sees the Dalek glide up to the wall monitor and smashes it, absorbing the electricity. They all see it’s battered armor start to mend, turning from brown to gold.

Goddard is on a computer close by. “We’re losing power. It’s draining the base. Oh, my god. It’s draining entire power supplies for the whole of Utah.”

“It’s downloading.” The Doctor says grimly, his voice and face devoid of emotion.

“Downloading what?” Van Statten asks dumbly.

“Sir, the entire West Coast has gone down.” Goddard says before the Doctor can answer.

“It’s not just energy. That Dalek just absorbed the entire internet. It knows everything.” The Doctor is working on the computer to get a layout of the building.

Goddard sees the Dalek shooting around and hits the cameras. “The cameras in the vault have gone down.”

The Doctor looks at the reading on the computer screen. “We’ve only got emergency power. It’s eaten everything else. You’ve got to kill it now!”

Goddard agreed with the Doctor. “All guards converge in the Metaltron cage, immediately.”

The guards are shooting at the Dalek, but it isn’t making any difference. The guards are going down, one by one. Van Statten doesn’t care though. “Tell them to stop shooting at it.”

Goddard looks at him in disgust. “But it’s killing them!”

Van Statten gives her a look that basically says, ‘so?’ “They’re dispensable. That Dalek is unique. I don’t want a scratch on its bodywork, do you hear me? Do you hear me?”

Van Statten gets what he wants, the guards stop shooting at the Dalek, but only because there is no one left alive to shoot. Goddard looks at the schematic of the base. “That’s us, right below the surface. That’s the cage, and that’s the Dalek.”

The Doctor looks at Goddard, not even wanting to look at Van Statten right now. “This museum of yours. Have you got any alien weapons?”

“Lots of them, but the trouble is the Dalek’s between us and them.” She tells him.

The Doctor grits his teeth when he hears Van Statten. “We’ve got to keep that thing alive. We could just seal the entire vault, trap it down there.”

The Doctor looks at him incredulously. “Leaving everyone trapped with it? Layla and Rose are down there. I won’t let that happen. Have you got that? It’s got to go through this area.” The Doctor points to an area on the screen. “What’s that?”

Goddard looks at where he is pointing. “Weapons testing.” She readily gives him the answers he wants and ignores Van Statten. She believes that the Doctor is the only one that can save them.

“Give guns to the technicians, the lawyers, anyone. Everyone. Only then have you got a chance of killing it.” The usual guilt towards killing a living creature and disgust towards weapons never appears. His hatred of the Dalek’s and that his Promised One is close to one keeps his mind from those usual feelings in his want and need to protect her.

“I thought you were the great expert, Doctor. If you’re so impressive, then why not just reason with this Dalek? It must be willing to negotiate. There must be something it needs. Everything needs something.” Van Statten was starting to panic; he doesn’t want to die.

The Doctor ignores his questions and asks one of his own. “What’s the nearest town?”

Van Statten’s eyebrows squish together. “Salt Lake City.”

“Population?” The Doctor’s tone doesn’t change from being monotoned.

“One million.” Why was this important? Van Statten asked himself.

“All dead. If the Dalek gets out, it’ll murder every living creature. That’s all it needs.”

Van Statten throws his hands up in the air as he paces. “But why would it do that?”

The Doctor finally looks at him. “Because it honestly believes they should die. Human beings are different, and anything different is wrong. It’s the ultimate in racial cleansing and you, Van Statten, you’ve let it loose!” The Doctor turns away from Van Statten and turns back towards the computers.

“The Dalek’s surrounded by a force field. The bullets are melting before they even hit home, but it’s not indestructible. If you concentrate your fire, you might get through. Aim for the dome, the head, the eyepiece.” The Doctor talks into the headset to the guards. “That’s the weak spot.”

“Thank you, Doctor, but I think I know how to fight one single tin robot. Positions.” The Doctor grits his teeth in anger at the stupid apes he is having to deal with. Why does no one want to listen to me?

Xxxxxx

While the Doctor was looking for a way to solve this problem, Layla, Rose, Adam, and a guard, De Maggio, are running from the Dalek. De Maggio’s job was to get the three of them out alive and she was determined to do it. “Civilians! Let them through!” They run past a group of soldiers that are prepared to attack the Dalek. As they get past though, they look back and see that the Dalek is attacking and killing the guards.

They get to a staircase and Rose is excited. “Stairs! That’s more like it. It hasn’t got legs. It’s stuck!”

“It’s coming! Get up!” De Maggio is pushing them to run up the stairs.

They get to the bend in the staircase and look towards the Dalek. Adam has a gleeful smile on his face. “Great big alien death machine defeated by a flight of stairs.”

“Now listen to me. I demand that you return to your cage. If you want to negotiate then I can guarantee that Mister Van Statten will be willing to talk. I accept that we imprisoned you and maybe that was wrong, but people have died, and it stops right now. The killing stops. Have you got that? I demand that you surrender. Is that clear?” De Maggio is facing the Dalek and waits for a reply.

It does something that none of them expect. “Elevate.”

“Oh my god.” Rose pales and raises her hand to her mouth in shock.

De Maggio never looks away from the Dalek. “Adam, get them out of here.”

Rose looks at her in shock, they have heard and seen how many guards it has killed, if she stays, she will die too. “Come with us. You can’t stop it.”

However, De Maggio is taking her task seriously and will do what she can to get the three of them out alive. “Someone’s got to try. Now get out! Don’t look back. Just run.”

Layla knows how this is going to end though. Rose and Adam start to run up the stairs again, but Layla reaches down and grabs De Maggio by the wrist tightly and pulls hard, forcing De Maggio to come with them because she can’t escape Layla’s grasp. “Like you said, no more killing. No reason to throw your life away because Van Statten is an idiot.” She had heard Van Statten ordering his guards to stop firing at the Dalek and it made her blood boil. Given no choice, De Maggio picks up the pace to where she is running next to Layla and Layla lets go of her wrist so they don’t trip and drag each other down. The four of them run into the area where the next group of guards are stationed to take their shot at killing the Dalek.

“Hold your fire! You four, get the hell out of here!” The commander hollers at them. While they could use De Maggio, he wants the civilians to have some protection with them.

The four of them run past the guards to the entrance. The Dalek enters, turns, and zooms in on Rose’s face. They keep running away from the Dalek. “It was looking at me.”

Adam scoffs. “Yeah, it wants to slaughter us.”

“No, you ding-dong. It looked at all of us before stopping on Rose and staying there.” Layla snarks. They enter the fire escape staircases and struggle up them tiredly.

Xxxxxx

“Doctor, we’ve got vision.” Goddard gets his attention and points to the TV.

The Doctor swallows harshly. “It wants us to see.”

They watch as the numerous guards all shoot at the Dalek, but it does not take any damage. The Dalek doesn’t move and lets the bullets come towards it. The Dalek’s eyestalk moves around before it lands on the sprinklers. The Dalek shoots the fire alarm and the sprinklers turn on getting everyone and everything wet. The Dalek then elevates into the air and when it was a safe distance away from the floor, fires towards the floor causing everyone to be electrocuted.

“Fall back! Fall back!” The commander is yelling, but it makes no difference. The Dalek shoots up towards the rest of the guards, killing them.

The Doctor looks on in horror at the lives lost because of this Dalek. He can’t let this thing kill any more people. He gives his attention to Van Statten when he talks. “Perhaps it’s time for a new strategy. Maybe we should consider abandoning this place.”

“Except there’s no power to the helipad, sir. We can’t get out.” Goddard tells him in contempt.

The Doctor swallows harshly at what he is thinking. “You said we could seal the vault.”

Van Statten nods. “It was designed to be a bunker in the event of a nuclear war. Steel bulkheads.”

“There isn’t enough power, those bulkheads are massive.” Goddard inputs.

“We’ve got emergency power. We can re-route that to the bulkhead doors.” The Doctor is having a hard time making this decision, but just like with the Slitheen, he can’t put his wants of Layla being with him over the entire world.

“We’d have to bypass the security codes. That would take a computer genius.” Goddard snapped out angrily.

Van Statten rubs his hands together and takes a seat in front of the computer. “Good thing you’ve got me, then.”

The Doctor’s eyes widen and runs his hands over his head. “You want to help?” There has to be more to this.

“I don’t want to die, Doctor. Simple as that. And nobody knows this software better than me.” Van Statten says smugly. I knew it, the Doctor thought in derision.

“Sir.” Goddard directed towards the Doctor, and points to the TV.

“I shall speak only to the Doctor.” They hear the Dalek say after he is back on the ground.

“You’re going to get rusty.” Was the snarky reply.

“I fed off the DNA of Rose Tyler. Extrapolating the biomass of a time traveler regenerated me.”

Dammit Rose, the Doctor crosses his arms over his chest. “What’s your next trick?”

“I have been searching for the Daleks.”

“Yeah, I saw. Downloading the internet. What did you find?” The Doctor questions knowing that the Dalek found nothing.

“I scanned your satellites and radio telescopes. There was nothing.” The Dalek seems to hesitate a second and shockingly it sounds a little hysterical and lost. “Where shall I get my orders now?”

“You’re just a soldier without commands.” The Doctor rubs the salt in deeper.

“Then I shall follow the Primary Order, the Dalek instinct to destroy, to conquer.”

“What for? What’s the point? Don’t you see, it’s all gone? Everything you were, everything you stood for.” He questions rapidly.

“Then what should I do?”

“Alright, then. If you want orders, follow this one. Kill yourself!” The hatred that the Doctor feels for the Dalek takes over rational thought and the morals he vowed to.

“The Daleks must survive!”

“The Daleks have failed! Why don’t you finish the job and make the Daleks extinct? Rid the universe of your filth. Why don’t you just die?” The Doctor spits out in fury, hatred and pain.

The Dalek is quiet for a moment, then says something that cuts the Doctor to his core. “You would make a good Dalek.”

The Doctor’s face drops and his hearts clench. But he can feel the guilt and shame later. “Seal the vault.”

Van Statten starts typing on the keyboard quickly. “I can leech power off the ground defenses, feed it to the bulkheads. God, it’s been years since I had to work this fast.”

The Doctor looks at him in disbelief. “Are you enjoying this?”

“Doctor.” Goddard gets his attention. “They are still down there.” The Doctor goes to the phone on the desk and dials Layla’s number.

Xxxxxx

Layla hears her phone ringing and sees that it is an unknown number. Hoping it is the Doctor, she answers. “If this isn’t the Doctor, this isn’t the best time.”

“Where are you?”

Layla looks at the wall. “Level forty-nine.”

“You’ve got to keep moving. The vault’s being sealed off up at level forty-six.”

“Can’t you stop them from closing?”

“I’m the one who’s closing them. I can’t wait and I can’t help you. Now for god’s sake, run!” He pleads to her, desperate that they make it safely.

Layla keeps the call on, but pulls it away from her ear. “We’ve got to speed it up, they are sealing the vaults to keep the Dalek sealed in.” She picks up the pace and tiredly, the others do as well. The adrenaline is helping their muscles and stamina.

They get up to floor forty-six and run through the hallway. “We’re nearly there. Give us two seconds.” Layla tells the Doctor as she breaths heavily.

They see the bulkheads slowly going down and they have tunnel vision, looking at it. Adam and Layla are ahead of De Maggio and Rose. Layla trips and starts to go down when Adam grabs her arm and steadies her, but she drops her phone. They crawl under the bulkhead and move out of the way for the other two, but they didn’t realize how far behind them they were. When there is only roughly a foot and a half of space left, they see De Maggio roll under the door. It closes and Layla realizes that they are missing Rose.

She starts to pound on the bulkhead. “Rose! No, no, no!” She is crying and screaming, but Adam and De Maggio grab her and pull her towards the elevator.

Xxxxxx

“The vault is sealed.” Van Statten alerts the Doctor.

“Layla, where are you? Layla, did you and Rose make it?” He asks panicky. He hears heavy breathing before he hears a voice.

“Sorry, I was a bit slow. Layla made it through.” Rose says softly. At least Layla is safe. She can be there for mum and Mickey. The Doctor’s hearts drop. He is feeling a mix of emotions. He is happy that his Promised One is safe, but saddened that he is about to lose his friend, Rose. “See you, then, Doctor. It wasn’t your fault. Remember that, okay? It wasn’t your fault. And do you know what? I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. Please don’t let Layla blame herself for this either.” She takes a deep breath. “Here it is.”

The last thing that the Doctor hears is the Dalek screaming. “Exterminate!”

The Doctor takes off the headset and throws it to the side. “I killed her.”

“I’m sorry.” Van Statten says, like his apology will make things okay, or that he even means it.

“I said I’d protect her. She was only here because of me, and you’re sorry? I could’ve killed that Dalek in its cell, but you stopped me.”

“It was the prize of my collection!”

“Your collection? But was it worth it? Worth all those men’s deaths? Worth my friend, Rose? Let me tell you something, Van Statten. Mankind goes into space to explore, to be part of something greater.”

“Exactly!” Van Statten throws his arms up. “I wanted to touch the stars!’

“No. You just want to drag the stars down and stick them underground, underneath tons of sand and dirt, and label them. You’re about as far from the stars as you can get. And you took her down with you. She was only nineteen years old.”

Adam, Layla, and De Maggio enter the room. As soon as Layla and the Doctor see each other and the tears in Layla’s eyes and sorrow in the Doctor’s, they run towards each other and grasp each other tightly in a hug. Layla is trembling and crying and it hurts the Doctor’s hearts that he caused that. He pulls Layla’s face to his neck and rubs the back of her head in comfort. The Doctor wants to blame Adam or even the female guard for leaving Rose behind, but he knows that if he did, Layla would blame herself for Rose being slower than them. He can’t help the thought, even with it making him feel guilty, that out of the two of them, Layla and Rose, he is glad that Layla is safe and in his arms.

It isn’t long before they are interrupted. “Open the bulkhead or Rose Tyler dies.”

Layla and the Doctor snap their heads towards the TV and see that Rose is standing there unharmed. “You’re alive!” The Doctor is able to get out in glee while Layla just gives a big sob, but in happiness this time that Rose is safe.

“Can’t get rid of me.”

“We thought you were dead.”

“Open the bulkhead!” The Dalek demands.

“NO, don’t do it!”

“What use are emotions if you will not save the woman you love?” The Dalek taunts. The Doctor looks at the Dalek flabbergasted. Since when and what do Daleks know of love? And why would they think I love Rose?

Layla’s heart drops in disappointment. She doesn’t know that the Dalek can’t recognize any other emotion other than hate, and with this Dalek mutating, it is even more mixed up and confused. Rose looks slightly confused, there seemed to be a lot of mixed signals, because he seems to pay a lot of attention to Layla. But is feeling giddy at the thought that the Doctor might love her.

The Doctor thinks about his choices. He would be sad to lose Rose, but is her life worth millions of others? He looks down at Layla and sees her pleading eyes. He can’t do it. He can’t sacrifice Rose’s life. He will do what he does best, and make up a plan along the way. “I killed her once. I can’t do it again.” He hits enter on the keyboard and opens the bulkhead allowing Rose and the Dalek to walk through.

“What do we do now, you bleeding heart? What the hell do we do?” Van Statten asks the Doctor angrily.

Adam shrugs. “Kill it when it gets here.”

“All the guns are useless, and the alien weapons are in the vault.” Goddard told Adam.

Adam gets a sheepish look on his face. “Only the catalogued ones.”

Xxxxxx

The Doctor, Layla, and Adam are in Adam’s workshop looking for something to kill the Dalek. The Doctor has refused to let go of Layla’s hand since they left Van Statten’s office. His grip is tight and even though he is touching her, he and the bond are having a hard time affirming that she is really here, alive, and safe.

He is looking through the items and tossing useless ones away, it would go by faster if he could use both hands, but his hand won’t release Layla’s, so he makes due. “Broken. Broke. Hairdryer.”

“Mister Van Statten tends to dispose of his staff, and when he does, he wipes their memory. I kept this stuff in case I needed to fight my way out one day.” Adam tells them as the Doctor looks for something useful.

The Doctor raises his eyebrows upwards. “What, you in a fight? I’d like to see that.”

“I could do.” Was the delusional reply.

“What’re you going to do, throw you’re A-Levels at ‘em?” The Doctors mocking smile turns into a grin when he hears Layla snickering. She wasn’t too sure about this whole plan, but she wanted Rose safe and they couldn’t let the Dalek continue killing people, but she didn’t know how it would affect the Doctor mentally to do it. However it feels wrong to see the Doctor with a gun. In a way, he doesn’t look like the Doctor anymore. “Oh, yes. Lock and load.” He picks up the gun he found and they head off to kill the Dalek.

They get to the office and see that Rose and the Dalek have already left. He doesn’t want Layla around the Dalek, but doesn’t trust Van Statten either so he takes her with him, but keeps her behind him, still holding her hand. When they get closer to Rose and the Dalek, they can hear them talking. He lets go of Layla’s hand and grips the gun ready to shoot.

“Get out of the way. Rose, get out of the way now!”

Rose looks at him in shock. “No, I won’t let you do this.”

“That thing killed hundreds of people.” The Doctor was defending himself to her.

“It’s not the one pointing the gun at me.” Rose tells him calmly.

The Doctor gets an anguished look on his face. “I’ve got to do this. I’ve got to end it. The Daleks destroyed my home, my people. I don’t have much left.”

“Look at it.” Rose steps to the side so the Doctor can see the Dalek. Layla looks out from behind the Doctor to see as well.

“It’s the sunlight, that’s all it wants.”

The Doctor was lost and confused. “But it can’t.”

“It couldn’t kill Van Statten, it couldn’t kill me. It’s changing. What about you, Doctor? What the hell are you changing into?” Her voice started off soft, but ended on a harsh note.

Layla sees that the Dalek wasn’t going to harm anyone anymore and that the Doctor having the gun was doing a lot more damage to him than she realized it would. Most likely he was struggling with his PSTD right now from the war and was having a hard time comprehending what he was seeing. She leans up and whispers into his ear “Darling, doctors are people who love, care, and heal. That is who you are. This right here, is not. Drop the gun, please.”

The Doctor thinks about the words and remembers why he picked his title. He looks at the Dalek and sees that it wasn’t going to attack them, and he drops the gun. The guilt and shame slam into him and he staggers slightly, and Layla grabs him to make sure he doesn’t fall. He was acting worse than this Dalek was right now. I am not who I was when I was in the war. I don’t want to be. Ever again. “I couldn’t... I wasn’t... They’re all dead.”

“Why do we survive?” The Dalek asks him as he continues to move its appendage in the sunlight.

“I don’t know.” The Doctor has asked himself that every day.

“I am the last of the Daleks.” The Dalek was having trouble with its speech.

The Doctor looks at it in pity. “You’re not even that. Rose did more than regenerate you. You’ve absorbed her DNA. You’re mutating. Into something new. I’m sorry.”

“Isn’t that better?” Rose asks naively, hopefully.

The Doctor shakes his head no. “Not for a Dalek.”

“I can feel so many ideas. So much darkness. Rose, give me orders. Order me to die.” The Dalek screeches at her.

Rose’s face drops. “I can’t do that.” Layla can see the pain on her face, and she would step in to protect her from having to kill it, but she didn’t think it would take an order from her. It wants Rose to order it.

“This is not life. This is sickness. I shall not be like you. Order my destruction! Obey! Obey! Obey!” The Dalek was becoming hysterical.

A tear runs down Rose’s face. “Do it.” She softly orders.

“Are you frightened, Rose Tyler?”

“Yeah.” Her heart hurts, she wishes she never had to do it, and she hopes she never has too ever again.

“So am I. Exterminate.” The Dalek closes itself back up. Rose runs towards the Doctor and Layla as the Dalek rises into the air. The balls on its lower body spread out around it creating a forcefield, then it explodes safely, not leaving anything behind.

When Layla sees Rose run towards the Doctor and give him a hug, even if it was a short hug on his part, instead of seeking comfort from her, like she normally does, there is a slight bitterness in her heart that Rose has developed feelings for the Doctor. She isn’t going to deny that she has feelings for the Doctor are developing pretty quick, a lot quicker than it normally happens when she likes someone. But while she likes the Doctor, she doesn’t want to fight her best friend for him, so she won’t actively go after him like she normally would, but she isn’t going to change her personality as a flirt either. I will let him decide if he chooses either of us and if he happens to pick me, I’m not going to turn him down because of Rose’s unrequited feelings. However, she does feel pity towards her Mickey Mouse.

They all walk back towards the Tardis in silence. When they get there, the Doctor sighs heavily. He pats his beautiful ship softly. “A little piece of home. Better than nothing.” Luckily for him though, not only does he has his ship, he also has his Promised One. Well, he is hoping he can win her heart.

Layla puts her hand on his back under his leather jacket and makes gentle circles to give him comfort when she sees the forlorn look on his face. He holds in a shiver at her touch and care towards his emotions.

“Is that the end of it, the Time War?” Rose asks him.

The Doctor gives a pitiful laugh. “I’m the only one left. I win. How about that?”

“The Dalek survived, maybe some of your people did too?” Rose tries to cheer him up, but his face is still frowning.

“I’d know. In here.” He points to his forehead. “Feels like there’s no one.” For now, at least, until Layla and I bond, when, if. Hopefully.

Layla wraps her arm around the Doctor’s waist. “Well then, good thing we’re not going anywhere, right Rose?”

Rose gives them a cheeky grin. “Of course.”

The Doctor smiles at them softly. “Yeah.”

Adam comes running up to them. “We’d better get out. Van Statten’s disappeared. They’re closing down the base. Goddard says they’re going to fill it full of cement, like it never existed.”

“About time.” Rose remarks.

“That is a lot of cement, hopefully someone has access to his money to pay for it.” Layla snickers.

Adam gives them a sad look. “I’ll have to go back home.”

“Better hurry up then. Next flight to Heathrow leaves at fifteen hundred hours.” The Doctor tells him mockingly. Layla just raises her brows up, was he just saying that to get rid of Adam, or does he really know the flight times?

“Adam was saying that all his life he wanted to see the stars.” Rose looks at the Doctor coyly.

“Tell him to go and stand outside, then.” And he grins when he hears Layla laugh.

“He’s all on his own, Doctor, and he did help.”

The Doctor was about to snap out that he left her down there, but then that would make Layla feel bad, because even unintentionally, she did as well and he couldn’t do that to her. “He is a bit pretty.” He looks towards Layla to see if she thought that about the kid. Her lip curls and nose wrinkles.

Rose twirls her hair and looks off to the side. “I hadn’t noticed.”

Happy that Layla doesn’t seem to have feelings for the boy, he can let him come on at least one trip. “On your own head.” He unlocks the Tardis and pushes the door open, allowing Layla to go in first and follow behind her. He goes to the controls and starts to send them off. Rose has walked in by herself, but left the door open. The Tardis starts her whirling and Adam comes in before they dematerialize.

Rose goes towards the Doctor to see where they are going next and to get information that she could use to impress Adam on their trip. Layla goes up to Adam to thank him, not knowing that the Doctor is staring at them intensely.

“Hey Adam, I just wanted to say thanks. You know when I tripped and you kept me from falling. I appreciate the help you gave me.”

Adam blushes slightly, while he likes Rose, he can’t deny that Layla is very beautiful. “It is not a big deal. I am sure you would have done the same for me. I mean you did drag De Maggio with us and saved her life.”

Layla gives him a grin. “Yeah, I’m glad she didn’t fight me on that. Of course, I didn’t really give her a chance to when I was gripping her wrist tightly to keep her from pulling away.” They both laugh and the Doctor’s face tightens, maybe I shouldn’t have let the kid come with us. That possessive jealousy is still going strong. It will probably be there for a while since Layla is human. She doesn’t know about our bond, and won’t develop instincts as strongly as him until she starts to accept him as a mate. He breathes a sigh of relief when Layla heads towards him.

“I’m going to go take a shower and wash this sweat off before our next adventure. I don’t care where we go either, it is always fun. Rose, you might want to shower too, you smell a little ripe.” Layla smirks at her and Rose gives her the stink eye but agrees and walks with her. The Doctor has to forcefully ignore the thought of Layla showering, and when she came out with her short robe and all the preceded that. He gives Layla a jerky nod assuring that they will wait for them before they leave.

“Are you alright, after the who thing with the Dalek and it asking to die?” Layla asked Rose softly and putting her arm around her shoulder softly.

Thinking about it again caused Rose to sniffle softly. “Yeah, it’s just hard to have to do that. I hope I never have to do it again; it was horrible.”

“I would have done it for you to spare you the pain if I could have, but I don’t think it would have taken the order from me, it wanted it from you specifically.” Layla tells her.

“You’d do that for me?” Rose looks at her shocked.

“Of course, Rose, I know how soft hearted you are. I have thicker skin than you, I would have taken that burden in a heartbeat to spare you.”

Rose stops walking and pulls Layla into a tight hug. “Thank you Layla. I love you.”

“Love you too, Rose.” They stay like that for a second before Layla decides to break the tension. “Rose, you really do stink, go take a shower.” In the console area, the Doctor and Adam can hear loud laughter from somewhere down the hallway and the Doctor smiles softly, happily, as he listens to it.

Chapter Text

The Tardis materializes, and the Doctor, Layla, and Rose step out. Rose has asked the Doctor if he could tell her some of the information of where they landed so she could use the knowledge to impress Adam.

The Doctor knew that Rose wanted to impress Adam, and he didn’t have a problem with telling her some facts so she could do that. He didn’t want Layla left behind with Adam, so he told him that they were doing safety checks, something they ‘always’ did. Load of crock, but he doesn’t need to know that. He is just glad that Adam seems more focused on Rose than Layla. He sees that Adam does have some interest towards Layla, but the Doctor thinks her rare beauty intimidates him slightly, and he is more comfortable with Rose’s common beauty.

The Doctor looks around to get an idea of where they are and what he can tell Rose that she can use on Adam. “So, it’s two hundred thousand, and it’s a spaceship. No, wait a minute, space station, and er, go and try that gate over there. Off you go.” The Doctor was hoping that Rose would take Adam and go exploring on a ‘date’ so he can be alone with Layla for a little bit. Get to know her better and just spend time with her.

“Two hundred thousand?” Rose didn’t want to look like an idiot if she got it wrong.

The Doctor nods his head. “Right.”

Rose gives him a smile and opens the Tardis doors. “Adam? Out you come.”

Adam comes stumbling out and his jaw drops and eyes widen. He was just stunned. “Oh, my god.”

Rose gives him an encouraging pat on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it.” Layla and the Doctor are sniggering behind his back at the facial expressions he is making.

Adam is looking around, taking everything in. He is amazed that he is here and that this was even possible. “Where are we?”

Rose claps her hands together and like a tour guide, starts telling him the information she got from the Doctor. “Good question. Let’s see. So, er, judging by the architecture, I’d say we’re around the year two hundred thousand. If you listen…” She pauses for a second and stays quiet.

Adam stays quiet and listens to the sounds around. “Yeah.”

“Engines. We’re on some sort of space station. Yeah, definitely a space station.” She pulls her collar of her t-shirt away from her neck. “It’s a bit warm in here. They could turn the heating down.” Layla nodded and fanned herself, glad that she wore shorts and a tank top. The Doctor was heated, but not for the same reasons as the girls, of course, Layla’s outfits always make him feel heated.

“Tell you what - let’s try that gate. Come on!” Rose grabs his hand and pulls him to a metal gate and opens it to show a massive viewing window showing the earth. “Here we go! And this is... I’ll let the Doctor describe it.” Not having any more information to give to Adam, she pawns the rest of the lecture off onto the Doctor.

The Doctor steps into the spotlight, glad to be able to share his knowledge to his companions and tag-along. “The fourth great and bountiful human empire. And there it is, planet earth at its height. Covered with mega-cities, five moons, population ninety-six billion. The hub of a galactic domain stretching across a million planets, a million species, with mankind right in the middle.” The Doctor doesn’t get to say anymore because they all heard a thud as Adam faints. He looks towards Rose with a smirk. “He’s your boyfriend.”

Rose’s face is twisted into a sour expression, eyebrows drawn together and mouth pursed. “Not anymore.”

Layla just shakes her head at Rose, poor Mickey Mouse, but looks towards Adam and snickers in amusement. “Anyone else think of a fainting goat just now?”

Xxxxxx

They get Adam conscious and standing up. He looks a little out of it and looks like he is about to have a meltdown. The more he looks around, the more overwhelmed he gets. The Doctor opens his arms wide. “Come on, Adam. Open your mind. You’re going to like this. Fantastic period of history. The human race at its most intelligent. Culture, art, politics. This era has got fine food, good manners…” The Doctor was cut off as a man rushes by knocking Layla into the Doctor. He catches her and glares at the man.

“Hey you arsehole! I’m not afraid to take arse and kick names!” Layla shouts at him, but it didn’t make a difference because there suddenly were a lot of people bustling around, opening up food vending stations and serving customers at their counters. People pushes each other and shouting all around. Rose started to snigger at Layla’s threat but then looks bewildered at the sudden hustle and bustle of the crowded area.

“Thank you very much indeed. Somebody there? That’s great. What do you want, love? Alright, keep moving. I’ll be with you lot in a minute. Here you are. One at a time. What now. What was it? Kronkburger with cheese, kronkburger with pajatos. Do you want a drink? Oi, you, mate. Stop pushing. Get back. I said, back.” The nearest food vender is saying rapidly.

The group of time travelers all look around, three in confusion and one still looking overwhelmed. Rose raises a brow at the Doctor and gives him a smirk. “Fine cuisine?”

The Doctor grimaces and rubs his chin as he looks around. He looks at his wrist. “My watch must be wrong. No, it’s fine. It’s weird.”

“That’s what comes of showing off. Your history’s not as good as you thought it was.” Rose still smirks as she talks to him mildly mocking.

Layla looks at Rose and raises her brow, his history would be more UpToDate than ours. Besides, with the trouble he usually gets into, something is wrong since he was so confident about what he was saying. “Maybe their version of manners is different than ours? Cultural difference or what is considered manners? Like the spit gift from Platform One?” Layla sends Rose a playful smile and she gives her a look of disgust as she remembers that wonderful ‘gift’.

The Doctor just to hums and look around. “No, something’s wrong. My history is perfect.”

Adam stops his gaping and points out something the others didn’t notice. “They’re all human. What about the millions of planets, the millions of species? Where are they?”

The Doctor’s head swivels around seeing that Adam is right, there were no other species besides humans. His eyebrows are furrowing trying to figure out what could be wrong here. The Doctor wants to investigate, but he doesn’t want Adam to tag along. A thought hits him, I could benefit from this. “Good question. Actually, that is a good question. Adam, me old mate, you must be starving.”

Adams face pales and looks like he is about to hurl. “No, I’m just a bit time sick.”

The Doctor puts his arm around Adam and leads him over towards the food vender. “No, you just need a bit of grub. Oi, mate – how much is a kronkburger?”

“Two credits twenty, Sweetheart. Now join the queue.” The vender snarked.

The Doctor pats his pockets, knowing that he doesn’t have money. “Money. We need money. Let’s use a cashpoint.” He walks them over to a futuristic ATM. He uses his sonic screwdriver on it and it produces a plastic stick. The Doctor then hands it over to Adam, who looks at it in confusion. “There you go, pocket money. Don’t spend it all on sweets.”

“How does it work?” Adam questioned logically.

It was a good question, but the Doctor wanted to lose him quickly. Plus, he can get Rose to go with him on a ‘date’ and then he will be alone with Layla for a little bit. He puts his hands on his hips and taps his foot. “Go and find out. Stop nagging me. The thing is, Adam, time travel’s like visiting Paris. You can’t just read the guide book; you’ve got to throw yourself in. Eat the food, use the wrong verbs, get charged double and end up kissing complete strangers.” The Doctor gives them a puzzled expression. “Or is that just me?”

Rose snorts, but looks at Layla and wiggles her eyebrows to her. Layla has a smile on her face as if remembering something. The Doctor catches the look and plans to ask her about it. “Stop asking questions, go and do it. Off you go, then. Your first date.” He pushes Rose and Adam on their back to go and mingle.

Rose turns around and shakes her finger at him. “You’re going to get a smack, you are.”

Layla looks at the Doctor and wipes a fake tear from her eye. “They grow up so fast. Wish we had a camera, to mark their first date together for the scrapbook.”

The Doctor snorts, but remembers the looks Rose and her exchanged. “What was that look Rose gave you about?”

“Oh, that? Well, when I went to visit my foster sister, the little girl I told you about, it was my first time crossing the pond. While I didn’t use the wrong verbs, there was a small language/cultural barrier with certain words that got mixed up and learning the exchange for the money took a bit. The eyebrow wiggling was because like you, I ended up kissing a stranger, but I got a good date out of though.” Layla wiggles her eyebrows at the Doctor.

Understanding what she means, the Doctor gives her a smile, but it is slightly strained. He knows she has had relationships before him, but he doesn’t want to think about them if he can help it. He is kind of a possessive person naturally. What is his, he wants to keep. But the bond makes him more possessive, especially over her, even with her not knowing about it.

Before the Doctor can get to upset over it. He distracts himself with asking more about her life. “What state did your foster sister and her family move to? Did you enjoy it?”

“Lily, that was my foster sister’s name, and her parent’s moved to Maine. It was nice there. Is has gorgeous coastlines and the forests were so beautiful. Long stretches of the ocean and miles of wildlife, very peaceful and quiet. Nothing like London. I was able to stay with them a week before I had to go back for financial reasons, but it was fantastic. It was great seeing her too; she was so happy and healthy. I was very thankful towards her parents for taking her in, helping her, and loving her.”

As she was talking, she had a soft and fond smile on her face as she recalled the memories and the Doctor enjoyed seeing the look on her face. “How often do you talk to her?”

“We email often, I had a lot of explaining to do when we were gone for that year, but she accepted the excuses I gave her and wasn’t too mad. She is thirteen now too, so she is at that age where she is struggling with coming from adolescents and is now a teenager. You know, things all kids have to go through when growing up.” Layla had nudged him when she mentioned the missing year and smiled when he gave her a sheepish look. The Doctor was happy that his mess up didn’t ruin her relationship with her foster sister. Maybe one day he would get to meet the girl who put such a soft smile on her face.

Someone bumps into the Doctor causing him to stumble into Layla. Catching himself and Layla before they crash to the floor, he turns and scowls at the guy, but it also reminds him that something is wrong with this station. He holds out his hand to her. “Feel like investigating with me?”

She gives him a grin and grasps his hand, and feels a pleasant tingle. “I thought that is why you got rid of Adam, can’t stay out of trouble, can you?”

The Doctor sighs as he touches her. He tightens his hold slightly and gives her a smirk. “Who me? Never.” He looks around and sees a pair of smartly dressed young women. He pulls Layla over towards them and stops them from walking past. “Er, this is going to sound daft, but can you tell me where I am?”

The women look at each other and then turn towards him with different expressions. One in derision and the other in politeness. The black female scoffs at him. “Floor one-three-nine. Could they write it any bigger.” She points to the wall that has a large 139 painted on it

The Doctor tilts his head to the side and puts on an expectant expression. “Floor one-three-nine of what?”

The black female sneers at him. “Must’ve been a hell of a party.”

The white female that smiled at them politely gives them a soft smile. “You’re on Satellite Five.”

The Doctor plays dumb again. “What’s Satellite Five?”

The black female scoffs again. “Come on, how could you get on board without knowing where you are?” Wow, she is really not a people person, Layla thought, but was holding in a chuckle at the expressions the Doctor is giving them to get information. He is insanely cute. She feels very fond as she looks at him at this moment.

The white females face lights up. “Hold on, wait a minute. Are you a test? Some sort of management test kind of thing?”

The Doctor smiles, perfect now we can get information easier, and holds up his psychic paper. “You’ve got me. Well done. You’re too clever for me.”

The white female gives a big smile. “We were warned about this in basic training. All workers have to be versed in company promotion.”

Her colleague’s attitude does a total one-eighty and pastes a smile on her face. “Right, fire away, ask your questions. If it gets me to floor five-hundred, I’ll do anything.”

Layla squeezes the Doctor’s hand seeing that he is about to say something, but she wants to add to their cover. “Right, first, what are your names, for paperwork of course.” The Doctor looks down at her in approval and looks at workers expectantly.

The white female shakes Layla’s hand. “I’m Suki.”

“And I’m Cathica.” The black female replies.

“Next question, what happens on floor five-hundred?” The Doctor asks, wanting to know why they wanted to get to floor five-hundred so badly.

Cathica looks at him with her eyebrows raised. “The walls are made of gold. And you should know that Mr. and Mrs. Management.”

Layla looks at her slightly confused and then at the Doctor who is resolutely avoiding her eyes, but then she remembers that she and the Doctor are holding hands, and that could have led to the mistake. The Doctor feels his cheeks warm up, because of his bond with Layla, his mind struggled with the titles when he showed them the psychic paper. “Of course, I was just testing to see if you knew it. Anyways, let’s move on. Show us what you do.”

“So, this is what we do.” Cathica walks over to a wall monitor. “Latest news, sandstorms on the new Venus archipelago. Two hundred dead. Glasgow water riots into their third day. Space Land seventy-seven closed by sunspot activity. And over on the Bad Wolf channel, the Face of Boe has just announced he’s pregnant.” Layla has to hold in a snort at the last piece of information. Something must be really wrong if they believe that a giant head in a fish tank can be pregnant.

“I get it. You broadcast the news.” The Doctor now knew what Satellite Five did, but that still doesn’t explain what is wrong with this time period.

Cathica’s fake politeness slips for a moment and she looks at them haughtily. “We are the news. We’re the journalists. We write it, package it and sell it. Six-hundred channels.”

Xxxxxx

“All staff are reminded that the canteen area now operates a self-cleaning table system. Thank you!”

Rose sits down at the table that Adam had picked and hands him a drink she had bought. “Try this. It’s called Zaphic. It’s nice, it’s like a, er, Slush Puppy.”

“What flavor?” Adam looks at it warily.

Not really knowing, Rose takes a drink, its good but… “Sort of beef?”

Adam’s mouth drops open. “Oh, my god. It’s like everything’s gone, home, family, everything.”

Understanding what Adam is going through she takes out her phone and hands it to him. “Here, this helps. The Doctor gave it a bit of a top-up. Who’s back home, your mum and dad?”

Adam nods his head. “Yeah.”

Rose smiles at him encouragingly. “Phone them up.”

He just looks at the phone 21^st century phone confused. “But that’s one hundred and ninety-eight thousand years ago.”

“Honesty, try it. Go on.” Rose doesn’t blame him for not believing. She didn’t at first either. She can’t wait to see his reaction.

“Is there a code for planet earth?” He is so out of his depth here. It is odd to him to not be the cleverest in the room.

Rose just shakes her head. “Just dial.”

He types in his mum’s number and puts it to his ear and hears it ringing. No one answers and it goes to the answering machine and he leaves a message, surprised that it worked. “It’s er. Hi. It’s me. I’ve sort of gone traveling. I met these people and we’ve gone traveling together. But, er, I’m fine, and I’ll call you later. Love you. Bye.” He hangs up and looks at Rose in shock. “That is so…” He is cut off by an alarm sound off.

xxxxxx

An alarm sounds and everyone around is rushing to grab their things and leave. The vendors quickly close up shop as well. The Doctor looks around and sees the lovebirds and waves them over. “Oi! Mutt and Jeff! Over Here!”

Layla turns and just happens to see Adam pocketing what looks like Rose’s phone. Her eyebrows scrunch together and she purses her lips. She has a feeling that Rose let him use it to show that he can still call home, like she called Jackie on the end of the earth adventure, but why would he keep her phone? Seems dodgy. I’ll have to keep my eyes on him.

Seven people are seated at an octagonal desk around a central chair with wires coming out of it.  The Doctor, Layla, Rose, and Adam stand to one side observing what they do. Cathica goes towards the chair in the middle and faces towards the time travelers. “Okay. So, ladies, gentlemen, multi-sex, undecided, or robot, - my name is Cathica Santini Khadeni, in case you want to write to floor five-hundred praising me, and please do. Now, please feel free to ask any questions. The process of news gathering must be open, honest, and beyond bias. That’s company policy.”

“Actually, it’s the law.” Suki gently interrupts.

Cathica sneers. “Yes, thank you, Suki. Okay, keep it calm. Don’t show off for the guests. Here we go.” She settles into the chair. She takes a deep breath and focuses for a second. “And engage safety.” The seven around the desk hold their hands over palm print indents on the table in front of them. Lights start to come on around the room. Cathica clicks her fingers and a portal opens in her forehead. The seven put their hands into the palm print indents. “And three, two, and spike.” A beam of light shines into the portal in her forehead.

The group of time travelers look on in fascinated disgust. “Compressed information, streaming into her. Reports from every city, every country, every planet, and they all get packaged inside her head. She becomes part of the software. Her brain is the computer.” The Doctor explains as he walks around the display.

“But they are not actively reporting, anyone could tell them something and they would report it as accurate because they are not fact checking, right? The who ‘beyond bias’s’ thing, no human will ever be that.” Layla pointed out a flaw to the system this era seemed to have.

“If it goes through her head, she must be a genius?” Rose asked.

“No, they’ve all got tiny little chips in their head, connecting them to her and they transmit six hundred channels. Every single fact in the empire beams out of this place. Now that’s what I call power. That is also the problem, Layla, anything could be a ‘fact’.” The Doctor was rubbing his chin as he thought about the ramifications of them still using this technology in this time period.

Rose looks towards Adam and sees that he looks like he is about to get a sick. “Do you want to get out?”

While grossed out about seeing the woman’s brain, the thought that she becomes the computer is awesome. “No. No, this technology, it’s amazing.”

The Doctor, having heard him, shakes his head sharply. “This technology’s wrong.”

Rose gives him a grin. “Trouble?”

“Oh, yeah.” He gives one back and looks towards Layla.

“Fantastic!” They can’t ever seem to go anywhere without getting into trouble, but Layla doesn’t regret it. I always have fun on these adventures. Plus, the Doctor showing off his intelligence is hot. I love it when he is always spouting off information and showing how clever he is.

The flow of information stops abruptly as Suki pulls her hands towards her chest. Cathica’s portal closes and she sits up. “Come off it, Suki. I wasn’t even halfway. What was that for?”

“Sorry. It must’ve been a glitch.” She tries to play it off, but Layla can see a trace of fear in her eyes.

“Oh.” Cathica pouts, upset that she can’t seem to blame Suki for something.

“Promotion.” A wall lights up with the word and several employees look towards it with hopeful faces.

Cathica has her hands clasps together over her chest, desperate. “Come on. This is it. Come on. Oh god, make it me. Come on, say my name, say my name, say my name.”

“Promotion for Suki Macrae Cantrell. Please proceed to floor five-hundred.”

Suki’s eyes widen and her jaw drops. “I don’t believe it. Floor five-hundred.”

Cathica stomps her foot in frustration, like a child. “How the hell did you manage that? I’m above you?”

Suki shrugs her shoulders. “I don’t know. I just applied on the off chance and they’ve said yes.”

“That’s so not fair. I’ve been applying to floor five-hundred for three years.” Cathica has her arms crossed tightly over her chested and a disgruntled expression on her face.

Rose was confused, she leans towards the Doctor and whispers. “What’s floor five-hundred?”

“The walls are made of gold.” He replies without looking away from Suki.

Layla reached over and grabbed the Doctor’s hand and squeezed it, and for some reason, she feels a tightness in her ease. “Doesn’t it seem a little dodgy that she gets shocked, looks scared, then gets promoted?”

The Doctor was pleased that she is reaching out to touch him more and squeezes her hand back. “Yeah, it is dodgy.”

Xxxxxx

Suki finishes gathering her things and gets ready to head off towards the lift. “Cathica, I’m going to miss you.” She turns towards Layla and the Doctor. “Floor five-hundred, thank you.”

“We didn’t do anything.” the Doctor denies.

“Well, you’re my lucky charms.” She leans over and gives both of them quick hugs.

While the Doctor and Layla are talking to Suki and Cathica, Rose is talking to Adam. “Come on, it’s not that bad.”

“What, with the head thing?” Adam points towards his forehead.

Rose shrugs. “Yeah, well, she’s closed it now!”

However, a thought niggles in his mind, maybe I can use the future knowledge to my advantage? “Yeah, but. It’s everything. It freaks me out. And I just need to... If I could just cool down. Sort of acclimatize.”

Rose furrows her eyebrows. “How do you mean?”

Adam shrugs nonchalantly. “Maybe I could just go and sit on the observation deck. Would that be alright? Soak it in, you know. Pretend I’m a citizen of the year two hundred thousand.”

“Do you want me to come with you.” Rose asks reluctantly, she is starting to somewhat regret bringing him along, she wants to go with the Doctor and figure out the problem with him and Layla.

Adam somewhat panics. “No, no, you stick with the Doctor and Layla. You’d rather be with him. It’s going to take a better man than me to get between you two. Anyway, I’ll be on the deck.”

Happy that he will be fine on his own, but wanting to give him a place to go in case he still can’t handle it, she takes out her Tardis key and hands it to him. “Here you go. Take the Tardis key. You know, just in case it gets a bit too much.”

Adam slightly laughs. “Yeah, like it’s not weird in there.” He turns and leaves with a huge grin on his face.

However, his interaction with Rose didn’t go unnoticed. Layla had seen Rose give Adam the key to the Tardis and frowned. So, now he has the phone and the key. This isn’t good. I’ll think on it and then decide what I want to do about it. She is also still bummed that she never got a key, but she hasn’t said anything about it to the Doctor. It’s his ship and he decides who gets a key to his home, not her.

Xxxxxx

Rose comes back to the Doctor and Layla to hear Suki exclaim. “Oh, my god, I’ve got to go. I can’t keep them waiting. I’m sorry. Say goodbye to Steve for me. Bye!” She gets into the lift and the door closes.

Cathica sneers in derision and jealousy. “Good riddance.”

The Doctor’s eyebrows raise high on his forehead as he looks at her. “You’re talking like you’ll never see her again; she’s only going upstairs.”

Cathica waves her hand carelessly. “We won’t. Once you go to floor five hundred you never come back.” The Doctor and Layla look at each other grimly. How does she not see that being dodgy?

They walk back through the cafeteria. “Have you ever been up there?” The Doctor asks her.

Cathica shakes her head. “I can’t. You need a key for the life, and you only get a key with promotion. No one gets to five hundred except for the chosen few. Look, they only give us twenty minutes for maintenance. Can’t you give it a rest?”

The Doctor sits in the broadcast chair and fiddling with the buttons. Rose is leaning against the head rest and Layla is partially sitting on the chair and the Doctor’s legs. The Doctor doesn’t even look at Cathica as he continues to play around. “But you’ve never been to another floor? Not even one floor down?”

“I went to floor sixteen when I first arrived. That’s medical. That’s when I got my head done, and then I came straight here. Satellite Five, you work, eat, and sleep on the same floor. That’s it, that’s all.” She pauses for a second and makes a realization. “You’re not management, are you?”

The Doctor gives her a sarcastic smirk. “At last. She’s clever.”

Cathica was ready to wash her hands of these three. “Yeah, well, whatever it is, don’t involve me. I don’t know anything.”

“That’s clear.” Layla mutters and the Doctor snorts.

“Don’t you even ask?” The Doctor was exasperated with Cathica.

She was confused. “Well, why would I?”

“That is what a journalist does, Cathica, the research and ask questions to get answers.” Layla says in a ‘duh’ like fashion.

The Doctor nods his head towards Layla. “You’re a journalist.” Then he switches directions trying to get her to use her brain and think and realize there is a problem here. “Why’s all the crew human?”

The confusion doesn’t go away for Cathica, it only seems to increase at the change in direction. “What’s that got to do with anything?”

“There’s no aliens on board. Why?” The Doctor continued to play with the buttons on the chair like a child. Layla smacks his hand trying to get him to stop. She doesn’t want a stream of information to beam into his face and damage him because he was playing around.

She shrugs. “I don’t know. No real reason. They’re not banned or anything. I suppose immigrations tightened up. It’s had to, what with all the threats.”

The Doctor raises his brow. “What threats?”

“I don’t know all of them. Usual stuff.” She repeats like she has been told there were threats, but not what the threats were. “And the price of space warp doubled so that kept the visitors away. Oh, and the government on Chavic Five’s collapsed, so that lot stopped coming, you see. Just lots of little reasons, that’s all.”

“Adding up to one great big fact, and you didn’t even notice.” The Doctor mocked.

Cathica narrowed her eyes. “Doctor, I think if there was any kind of conspiracy, Satellite Five would have seen it. We see everything.”

The Doctor snorts at her willful ignorance. “I can see better. This society’s the wrong shape, even the technology.”

“It’s cutting edge.” She argued.

“It’s backwards. There’s a great big door in your head. You should’ve chucked this out years ago.” The Doctor waved his hand carelessly, basically saying she should have known this already.

“So, what do you think is going on?” Rose cuts in.

The Doctor narrows his eyes in thought. “It’s not just this space station, it’s the whole attitude. It’s the way people think. The great and bountiful human empires stunted. Something’s holding it back.”

Cathica crosses her arms, very put out with the whole conversation. “And how would you know?”

The Doctor finally stops playing with the buttons on the chair and looks her in the eyes. “Trust me, humanity’s been set back about ninety years. When did Satellite Five start broadcasting?”

Cathica swallowed harshly. “…Ninety-one years ago.” She says softly.

Xxxxxx

The Doctor leads them to the computer cupboard and uses his sonic screwdriver on a pair of double doors. Cathica is pacing back in forth wringing her hands together. “We are so going to get in trouble. You’re not allowed to touch the mainframe. You’re going to get told off.”

“Layla, Rose, tell her to button it.” The Doctor says as he messes around with some wires. The girls both look at her at the same time with the same face then get back to work.

“You can’t just vandalize the place. Someone’s going to notice!” She whisper-shouts.

“Cathica, that’s kind of the point, we want to go to floor five hundred, what better way to get there than to be invited, right Doctor?” Layla sends a grin to the Doctor. He sends her a proud grin in return and nods his head.

The Doctor has a goofy grin on his face as he is tearing through the wires in the cupboard with glee, he yanks on a set of wires and it rips out and he looks at it in confusion wondering why it came out. Layla seeing his face and figuring what he is thinking, laughs at him. The Doctor, hearing her laugh, looks down and realizes she is laughing at him, and stuffs the wires back into the nest of other wires, ignores it and moves on.

Cathica is frustrated, she doesn’t know what to do or why she is even here, you know what, screw this. “This is nothing to do with me. I’m going back to work.”

“Go on, then. See you!” The Doctor waves cheerily to her.

She stomps her foot and turns around and comes back. “I can’t just leave you, can I!”

Rose pulls her shirt away from her again and fans at her face. “If you want to be useful, get them to turn the heating down. It’s boiling. What’s wrong with this place? Can’t they do something about it?”

Cathica shrugs. “I don’t know. We keep asking. Something to do with the turbine.”

“Something to do with the turbine.” The Doctor repeats back in a mocking tone.

Cathica throws her hands up in the air. “Well, I don’t know!”

The Doctor points at her. “Exactly. I give up on you, Cathica. Now, Rose. Look at Rose. Rose is asking the right kind of question. And Layla is pointing out the flaws in your system.”

Rose smiles smugly at the praise. “Oh, thank you.” Layla just gives a big cheesy grin and a thumbs up.

“Why is it so hot?” The Doctor ponders.

Cathica looks at them with wide eyes and shakes her head. “One minute you’re worried about the empire and the next it’s the central heating!”

“Well, never underestimate plumbing. Plumbing’s very important.” The Doctor pulls out a screen from the nest of wires and sees the schematic on it. “Here we go. Satellite Five, pipes and plumbing. Look at the layout.”

“This is ridiculous. You’ve got access to the computer’s core. You can look at the archive, the news, the stock exchange, and you’re looking at the pipes?” She complains but looks at the schematic anyways.

“But there’s something wrong.” The Doctor tries one more time to get Cathica to think with her brain and see the problem.

“I suppose.” She agrees grudgingly.

“Why, what is it?” Rose asks. She is handing Layla the leftover wires and Layla is stuffing them back into the cupboard carelessly, they never really pick up after themselves.

“The ventilation system. Cooling ducts, ice filters, all working flat out channeling massive amounts of heat down.” She murmurs as she continues to look at the screen.

The Doctor smiles proudly, happy that she is finally thinking. “All the way from the top.”

“Floor five hundred.” Rose adds on.

The Doctor nods. “Something up there is generating tons and tons of heat.”

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I feel like I’m missing out on a party. It’s all going on upstairs. Fancy a trip?” Rose looks at him coyly.

“You can’t. You need a key.” Cathica protests.

“Keys are just codes, and I’ve got the codes right here. Here we go. Override 215.9976/31.”

Cathica’s mouth drops open. “How come it’s given you the code?”

The Doctor looks up at the security camera. “Someone up there likes me.”

Xxxxxx

The group walk towards the lift and before they get there Layla grabs the Doctors hand and pulls him to a stop. She made up her mind and she decided she was going to make sure that Adam wasn’t doing something stupid. “Doctor, there is something I want to check out while you are going upstairs, it shouldn’t take long and then I can head up and meet you there, but it is imperative that I check something out, it could be important.”

The Doctor frowns and is not happy about Layla wanting to go off on her own where there is trouble around this station, but he has faith that she can take care of herself. “Alright, I trust you to take care of yourself. Come up when you can and be careful.” He lets go of her hand and pulls her into a tight hug. He resists in giving her a kiss to the top of her head and let’s go. “See you soon.” He stares after Layla as she walks off to go search for Adam.

The Doctor turns around and him and Rose get in the lift. Rose looks towards Cathica. “Come on. Come with us.”

She shakes her head. “No way.”

The Doctor gives her a big grin and wiggles his fingers. “Bye!”

“Well. Don’t mention my name. When you get in trouble, just don’t involve me.” She storms off in a huff.

“That’s her gone. Adam’s given up and Layla is checking on something. Looks like it’s just you and me.” He gives Rose a stiff grin.

Rose smiles up at him happily. Finally, I get some alone time with him. “Yeah.”

The Doctor nods his head jerkily. “Yep.” I wish Layla was here.

Xxxxxx

The Doctor and Rose step out of the lift and look around seeing the room covered in frost and it’s freezing. There is plastic hanging up all over and extremely quiet. The Doctor looks at Rose. “The walls are not made of gold. You should go back downstairs.” I hope whatever Layla needs to do takes a longer than what it will take us, something’s not right up here.

Rose gives him a smirk and walks past him. “Tough.” The Doctor just stares after her in exasperation, but follows after her towards a door that was open and light was spilling out from it.

They walk in and see a man standing there already looking at them. “I started without you. This is fascinating. Satellite Five contains every piece of information within the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire. Birth certificates, shopping habits, bank statements, but you two and the other one, you don’t exist. Not a trace. No birth, no job, not the slightest kiss. How can you walk through the world and not leave a single footprint?”

Rose looked around the room and sees the people and skeletons working, but then she notices someone familiar. “Suki. Suki! Hello? Can you hear me? Suki?” She turns towards the man. “What have you done to her?”

The Doctor looks at her sadly, he too seen Suki and the skeletons, but was able to piece together what Rose didn’t. “She’s dead, Rose.”

Rose’s brows furrowed. “But she’s working?”

The Doctor nods his head in agreement. “They’ve all got chips in their heads, and the chips keep going, like puppets.” He finishes in disgust.

The editor claps his hands together with a big smile on his face. “Oh! You’re full of information. But it’s only fair we get some information back, because apparently, you’re no one. It’s so rare not to know something. Who are you?”

Realizing that staying here would be dangerous, the Doctor decides a strategic retreat is necessary and holds his arm out for Rose to lead her out. “It doesn’t matter, because we’re off. Nice to meet you. Come on.”

Unfortunately, for the Doctor he is grabbed by a couple of the dead zombies behind him, and Rose was grabbed tightly by Suki. The smile slides off the editor’s face as he looks at the Doctor. “Tell me who you are.”

The Doctor’s lip curls up and snarked. “Since that information’s keeping us alive, I’m hardly going to say, am I?”

The editor casually puts his hands behind his back and looks at the Doctor calmly. “Well, perhaps my Editor in Chief can convince you otherwise.”

“And who’s that?”

“It may interest you to know that this is not the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire. In fact, it’s not actually human at all. It’s merely a place where humans happen to live…” Before the editor can continue, he is interrupted by a growl.

The editor nods his head apologetically. “Yeah. Yeah, sorry. It’s a place where humans are allowed to live by kind permission of my client.” He makes a gesture for them to look up towards the ceiling and when they do, their jaws drop and eyes widen. On the ceiling they see a giant brown lump hanging, with a very nasty set of teeth on the end of a pseudopodium.

Rose looks on in fear and disgust. “What is that?”

The Doctor however looks incredulous, so this is what screwed up this time period? “You mean that thing’s in charge of Satellite Five?”

The editor looks offended on the creature’s behalf. “That thing, as you put it, is in charge of the human race. For almost a hundred years, mankind has been shaped and guided, his knowledge ambition strictly controlled by its broadcast news, edited by my superior, your master, and humanity’s guiding light, the Mighty Jagrafess of the Holy Hadrojassic Maxarodenfoe.” The editor puts on a happy smile. “I call him Max.”

Xxxxxx

Layla has been all over on this floor looking for Adam and she hasn’t seen him anywhere. Either he wasn’t on this floor, or she kept missing him. She has been asking people and describing him too. A thought had been in her mind for a while and she was hoping she was wrong, but she was starting to think she was going to have to look into it. She walked up to an older man using one of the computers.

“Excuse me sir, may I ask you a question really quick? I’m new to this station.”

The older man looks at her kindly. “Of course miss, what can I do for you?”

“To use the computer, do you have to have one of those chips? You know to get information about the past and such? Or can you use it without the chip?”

“You can only use the computer for about five minutes without the chip, after that you have to get the chip and there are two types, one goes in the back of the head, and it is used for computers like the one I am on, the other is type two and that is the full spike like what the journalists use, it’s where your brain is the computer. Floor sixteen is where you get the chip though, it is a simple process. Is there anything else?”

“Nope, you answered exactly what I needed, thank you sir. Have a great day.”

Layla walks off and the thought she had is starting to sound more plausible. Adam had Rose’s phone and the credit stick. He thinks he is so clever; he is 200,000 years into the future, and he knows he is going back to his home soon. It isn’t hard to assume that he would take some future knowledge back to his time period to use to his advantage, severely affecting the future. I just hope I’m wrong and the wanker isn’t doing what I think he is doing.

Layla walks towards the elevators and goes to floor sixteen. Getting off and unknowingly goes to the same lady that Adam went to when he got his chip. Figuring that it would be hard to get information, Layla tries to think up of a story to see if Adam had been here and when.

“Excuse me, ma’am, I was wondering if you could help me?”

“Yes, what are you needing?”

“See, I am looking for my brother. He said he was going to get a chip and then he was going to bring me the credit stick so I can get mine done, but I haven’t seen him, and I didn’t know if he had been down here yet. His name is Adam, roughly my height, dark brown hair, brown eyes. Has he been here?” Layla crosses her fingers and hopes that the lady will work with her.

The lady certainly remembers Adam, and definitely remembers the credit stick that has unlimited credit. If this girl is looking to get a chip, she could talk her into getting the type two as well, but she has to find her brother first. “Of course, miss, I can help you. He actually just left about ten minutes ago. I am assuming he went back to the floor he was originally on. I will be glad to help you with your chip when you do get your credit stick, I was the one to do your brothers.”

“Oh, thank you ma’am! You have been a big help! I will go look for him right now.” Layla turns around and speed walks the fuck out of there. She goes back up to floor 139 and starts to recheck all the rooms that have computers first and doesn’t see him, the longer it takes to find him though, the angrier she is getting. That fucking twat waffle is going to get popped in the nose. Not seeing him in any of the regular computer areas, she checks the type two computer areas next, planning different ways to maim Adam.

xxxxxx

The Doctor and Rose are zombie-handled into a pair of hefty manacles and chained up. The editor then does what all bad guys do, he monologues. “Create a climate of fear and it’s easy to keep the borders closed. It’s just a matter of emphasis. The right word in the right broadcast repeated often enough can destabilize an economy, invent an enemy, change a vote.”

“So, all the people on earth are like, slaves.” It wasn’t a question; Rose had made it a statement.

The editor tilts his head up and rubs his chin. “Well, now, there’s an interesting point. Is a slave a slave if he doesn’t know he’s enslaved?”

A growl came the Doctor’s throat. “Yes.”

The editor whines. “Oh. I was hoping for a philosophical debate. Is that all I’m going to get? Yes?”

The Doctor just narrowed his eyes. “Yes.”

The editor pouts at this. “You’re no fun.”

The Doctor surges forward as much as he can in his captive state and snarls at the editor. “Let me out of these manacles. You’ll find out how much fun I am.” I don’t mind being in bondage, but only for Layla, and in private.

The editor however isn’t afraid and claps gleefully. “Oh, he’s tough, isn’t he? But, come on. Isn’t it a great system? You’ve got to admire it, just a little bit.”

Rose decided to try to get more information from the man. “You can’t hide something on this scale. Somebody must have noticed.”

The editor nods his head in agreement with her. “From time to time, someone, yes, but the computer chip system allows me to see inside their brains. I can see the smallest doubt and crush it. Then they just carry on, living the life, strutting about downstairs and all over the surface of the earth like they’re so individual, when of course, they’re not.” He sneers in derision. “They’re just cattle. In that respect, the Jagrafess hasn’t changed a thing.”

The Doctor and Rose happen to see Cathica behind the editor’s back at the same time and hold back their smiles. They try to draw her attention to the ceiling. Rose looks up as she asks. “What about you? You’re not a Jagrabelly.”

The Doctor also pointedly looks up as he corrects Rose. “Jagrafess.” He looks back at Cathica to see if she understands. He sees her looks up and her eyes widen.

Rose nods her head towards the Doctor. “Jagrafess. You’re not a Jagrafess. You’re human.”

The editor simply shrugs his shoulders. “Yeah, well, simply being human doesn’t pay very well.” Of course, it always comes down to money, the Doctor thought.

“But you couldn’t have done this on your own.” Rose was trying to figure out who was really in charge of this operation and stall while the Doctor finds a way to save them.

The editor agrees. “No, I represent a consortium of banks. Money prefers a long-term investment. Also, the Jagrafess needed a little hand to install himself.”

Some pieces of the puzzle are fitting together for the Doctor he knows what to ask to hint towards Cathica what she needs to do to save them. “No wonder, a creature that size. What’s his life span?”

The editor, not seeing a problem with the question, has no issue with answering. “Three thousand years.”

The Doctor smirks. “That’s one hell of a metabolism generating all that heat. That’s why Satellite Five’s so hot. You pump it out of the creature, channel it downstairs. Jagrafess stays cool, it stays alive. Satellite Five is one great big life support system.” He looks towards Cathica and sees her face light up, but she doesn’t leave yet.

The editor gives the Doctor a hard look. “But that’s why you’re so dangerous. Knowledge is power, but you remain unknown. Who are you?” The editor doesn’t give them time to answer before he snaps his fingers and energy surges towards the manacles shocking the Doctor and Rose painfully.

The Doctor can handle the pain, but he doesn’t want his companion to be hurt grunts to the editor. “Leave her alone. I’m the Doctor, she’s Rose Tyler. We’re nothing, we’re just wandering.”

But it doesn’t seem to be what the editor wanted, he turns off the electricity and raises his voice at them. “Tell me who you are!”

Rose is breathing heavily in pain, but doesn’t answer, and the Doctor is also breathing heavily but looks bewildered. “I just said!” What’s the point of asking if you won’t accept the answer?

The editor glowers. “Yes, but who do you work for? Who sent you? Who knows about us? Who exactly…” He stops talking for a second when the Jagrafess growls. The editor gains a gleeful smile and that smile makes the Doctor worry. “Time Lord.”

The Doctor’s hearts drop and his eyes widen. “What?”

“Oh, yes. The last of the Time Lords in his traveling machine. Oh, with his little human girls from long ago.” He runs the back of his fingers across Rose’s cheeks gently.

While the Doctor doesn’t have any feelings towards Rose other than friendship, he still feels bad about what happened with the Dalek adventure and how he was happy that Layla had been the one to make it past the bulkhead and was safe from the Dalek. He tries to get rid of the guilt by being a bit more protective of her now though. “Get away from her!”

What he doesn’t realize though, is that Rose was misinterpreting why he was acting like that. She was thinking that he was acting like that out of jealousy, that he doesn’t want any other male to touch her like that and it made her very happy, even if she was disgusted being touched by this man.

The editor stops touching Rose and looks towards the Doctor and the Doctor tries to get back on topic. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The editor just smirks smugly, knowingly. “Time travel.”

The Doctor looks around shiftily, how does he know this? “Someone’s been telling you lies.”

The editor snaps his fingers and a screen pops up. “Young master Adam Mitchell?” On the screen shows Adam on a broadcasting chair with a portal on his forehead open and information streaming from him painfully and him screaming.

Rose looks like she is about to get sick. “Oh, my god. His head!”

The Doctor’s lip curls and his eyes narrow. “What the hell’s he done? What the hell’s he gone and done? They’re reading his mind. He’s telling them everything.”

“And through him, I know everything about you. Every piece of information in his head is now mine. And you have infinite knowledge, Doctor. The Human Empire is tiny compared to what you’ve seen in your T A R D I S. Tardis.”

The Doctor gives him a fierce look. “Well, you’ll never get your hands on it. I’ll die first.”

The editor gives a careless shrug. “Die all you like. I don’t need you. I’ve got the key.” On the screen they show the Tardis key rising in the air from Adam’s pocket.

The Doctor’s mind freezes for a second on two things. One Rose gave her key to Adam. And two, how does he know Rose did? Because he realizes that he forgot to give Layla her key to the Tardis. Oh my god, she probably thinks I don’t trust her or something. In his anger at both thoughts, at Rose and himself, he turns to Rose and snarls at her. “You and your boyfriends!”

“Today, we are the headlines. We can rewrite history. We could prevent mankind from ever developing.” The editor said ignorantly.

“And no one’s going to stop you because you’ve bred a human race that doesn’t bother to ask questions. Stupid little slaves, believing every lie. They’ll just trot right into the slaughter house if they’re told it’s made of gold.” The Doctor wasn’t looking at the editor though. He was looking at Cathica and is happy to see her nod her head and run off.

The Jagrafess snarls and the editor looks panicked. “What’s happening?” They look towards the screen with Adam and see Layla come running up to him with a face of fury and snatch the key out of the air, at the same time, Cathica had disengaged the safety from Adam releasing him from the stream. They see her reach out and grab Rose’s phone from his hand and put it in her pocket. Seeing that the stream was no longer flowing to Adam, they see Layla snap like Cathica did during her demonstration and see his portal close. They all then wince when they see her slap him so hard, he falls off the chair and give him a smirk. The Doctor is feeling a mix of emotions. Happy that she is safe, gratefulness that she has the key, and arousal at her look of fury and the smirk she gave to Adam. Her fury was enticing, and again, he feels like he needs to live in cold water.

The editor was still panicking trying to figure out who disengaged the safety. He pulls up the image on another monitor.

“It’s Cathica!” Rose is happy that she was helping them.

The Doctor nods his head approvingly and proudly. “And she’s thinking. She’s using what she knows.

The editor goes to one of the zombies. “Terminate her access.”

“Everything I told her about Satellite Five. The pipes, the filters, she’s reversing it. Look at that.” The Doctor was just rubbing it in the editor’s face, especially when the icicles started to melt. “It’s getting hot.”

The editor goes up to Suki. “I said, terminate. Burn out her mind.”

On the screen that is still pulled up with Cathica, they can hear her snarky reply to their attempt. “Oh no, you don’t. You should have promoted me years back.” The consoles around the zombies explode and all of the dead operators collapse. Alarms sound in the rest of Satellite Five and people are starting to panic.

“She’s venting the heat up here. The Jagrafess needs to stay cool and now it’s sitting on top of a volcano.” The Doctor says happily.

The editor looks up towards the Jagrafess. “Yes, I’m trying, sir, but I don’t know how she did it. It’s impossible. A member of staff with an idea.” He takes the chair that Suki had sat in and types away trying to correct the problem.

Rose was able to get out of her manacles and runs over to the Doctor. She rummages through his pockets, not feeling him flinch from her touch, but enjoying touching him at the same time and looking for his sonic screwdriver. She finally gets it, but doesn’t know how to use it. “What do I do?”

The Doctor is just glad she stopped touching him like that. “Flick the switch!” He looks towards the editor. “Oi, mate, want to bank on certainty? Massive heat in a massive body, massive bang. See you in the headlines!” Rose gets the Doctor free and he takes his screwdriver back and they run for the broadcast avoiding chunks of ice as they Fall from the ceiling. They hear the Jagrafess growling as they run. They make it up to Cathica and the Doctor snaps his fingers closing her portal and they quickly leave.

Xxxxxx

The Doctor, Rose, and Cathica make it back down to floor 139. They see many people injured and being helped and groups of people talking. The Doctor is looking around looking for Layla, but directs his statement towards Cathica. “We’re just going to go. I hate tidying up. Too many questions you’ll manage.”

“You’ll have to stay and explain it. No one’s going to believe me.” She knew for a fact no one would. A giant booger monster with teeth thing controlling the human empire? No way would they take that seriously.

The Doctor just waved her off. “Oh, they might start believe a lot of things now. The human race should accelerate. All back to normal.” The Doctor’s face lights up as he spots Layla in the crowd but darken as he sees her dragging Adam behind her. Though he is internally gleeful as he sees the darkening purple handprint on his face.

Cathica happens to spot them at the same time too. “What about your friend?”

“He’s not my friend.” He gives Rose a side eye, silently blaming her for this problem.

“Now, don’t.” She tries, but doesn’t have anything to really stand on because it is both hers and Adams faults.

“I’m all right now. Much better. And Layla has the key. Looks it’s... It all worked out for the best, didn’t it? You know, it’s not actually my fault, because you were in charge…” Adam tried to push the blame off but stopped when both Layla and the Doctor’s faces darkened even further than they already were. The Doctor had grabbed Adam by the arm and both he and Layla had pushed him inside the Tardis. Rose follows them inside.

The Doctor pilots the Tardis, and in his anger, it is a quick flight. He then grabs Adam again and pushes him out the door. The girls follow him out. Layla stands beside the Doctor giving him support and Rose leans against the Tardis doors.

Adam looks around in wonder as he realizes he is home. “It’s my house. I’m home! Oh, my god, I’m home! Blimey. I thought you were going to chuck me out of an airlock.”

The Doctor looks at him with narrowed eyes and a clenched jaw. “Is there something else you want to tell me?”

Adam looks around shiftily. “No. What do you mean?”

“Everyone is entitled to being stupid, Adam, but you are really abusing that privilege.” Layla said flatly.

The Doctor walks over to the answering machine where they see that it has three new messages. The Doctor points to it. “The archive of Satellite Five. One second of these messages could’ve changed the world.” The Doctor points his screwdriver at the defenseless answering machine and causes it to explode. He walks back towards Layla. “That’s it, then, see you.”

Adam cocks his head to the side and tugs on his ear. “How do you mean, see you?”

“As in good bye.” The Doctor looks at him like he is an idiot.

“But what about me? You can’t just go. I’ve got my head. I’ve got a chip type two. My head opens.”

The Doctor smirks nastily. “What, like this?” He snaps his fingers and it causes the portal in Adam’s head to open up. Layla sniggers in amusement.

Adam glares. “Don’t.” He snaps his fingers and it closes.

“Don’t do what?” The Doctor snaps his fingers again and it opens again.

“Stop it!” He closes it again.

“Alright now, Doctor, that’s enough. Stop it.” Rose cuts in.  Layla looks over with her eyebrow raised, but the Doctor doesn’t look at her, still somewhat miffed at her.

“Thank you.” Adam says gratefully. Rose snaps her fingers and the portal opens. “Oi!”

“Sorry, I couldn’t resist.” She laughed and it helped some the Doctor lose some of the anger towards her, but not all of it.

Adam closes the portal again. The Doctor looks at Adam seriously. “The whole of history could have been changed because of you.”

“I just wanted to help.” He tries to play off.

“You were helping yourself.” The Doctor scoffs.

“And I’m sorry. I’ve said I’m sorry, and I am, I really am, but you can’t just leave me like this.” He pleads.

“Yes, I can. Cause if you show that head to anyone, they’ll dissect you in seconds. You’ll have to live a very quiet life. Keep out of trouble. Be average, unseen. Good luck.” The Doctor gives him a big grin.

“But I want to come with you.” He pleads.

“I only take the best. I’ve got Layla and Rose.” The three travelers go into the Tardis and leave Adam to his fate on earth.

Xxxxxx

The three-time travelers are in the Tardis and there is a sort of tension. The Doctor takes them into the vortex to rest for the night. Layla is looking at the Doctor warily. She can tell that he is upset. She can see it in the lines of his face, the stiffness of his shoulders. She looks at Rose and she is smiling away not noticing anything wrong. Layla had already given Rose her phone back before they dropped Adam off so she is playing with it right now, but she hasn’t given her the key back. She goes to the Doctor and hands him that. He looks at her. His eyes are dark and his face blank. He grabs the key and nods his head in thanks.

He reaches into his pocket, pulls out a different key though and hands it to her. His face cracks into a soft grin. “Sorry it is so late. I meant to give this to you a while ago, but it was one adventure after another and I forgot.”

Layla takes the key and looks it over. Her heart lurches in happiness. She looks it over and realizes it looks different than the one Rose had, it had strange markings on it, markings she has seen on the monitors of the Tardis that the Doctor can read but that the Tardis doesn’t translate. “What does this mean, Doctor?” She shows it to him and when he looks at it, she can see his eyes widen and his cheeks redden.

“How about a game. It means something in my language. If you can guess what it means, I will tell you if you are right or not. If you get it right, you win a prize, you have three tries. If you lose though, I get a prize. Deal?”

Intrigued by the idea. “Deal. Is it my name?” They shake hands and both sigh softly at the touch.

The Doctor shakes his head. “Nope.” Popping the ‘p’ and gives her a grin. “Two left.” He isn’t sure what he will ask for as a prize, but obviously it will have to deal with her. Depends on where they are at in their relationship, maybe he will save it for down the road.

“So where to next?” Rose asks excitedly.

The Doctor looks at her blankly for a few seconds. “Nowhere right now. We are going to take a break for now. Rest and recharge. You humans need your sleep and to relax. Haven’t slept since before the Dalek and that was a lot of running and then we took Adam to Satellite Five.”

“But, I’m not tired!” Rose complained.

“That’s just the adrenaline, Rose. Once you come down from that, you’ll crash. You need to let your body and muscles relax. Besides, I want to go for a swim and relax in the pool. Wanna join me, Rose? Doctor?”

“No, I guess I will go explore the Tardis, see what rooms there are here.” Rose pouts. She turns to the Doctor. “Can I have my key back?” She holds out her hand.

The Doctor looks at her with hard eyes and walks towards her. He goes to hand her the key and when she tries to take it, he doesn’t release it. She looks at him puzzled. But now that he has her attention he lets go and lets her have the key. “This is the key to my home, Rose. The only thing I have let of my planet, my people. Don’t give it away to anyone. I give them out to people I trust, not to everyone.”

Rose looks down at her feet unable to look him in his eyes. “I’m sorry, it won’t happen again.”

“See that it doesn’t.” He dismisses her and goes to the console. Rose walks out of the room to go exploring, but not as excited as she once was.

Layla pats the Doctor on the shoulder gently. “So, what are you going to do? Did you want to join me for a swim or are you going to do something else?” She was really hoping he would, she would love to see him in just his swim trunks.

The Doctor swallowed hard at the thought of Layla in a swim suit and being in water. His hearts sped up at the image his mind presented. It would probably be safest to avoid the temptation unfortunately. “No, there are some repairs that I need to do around here.” He wasn’t looking at her, so he didn’t see the look of disappointment that crossed her face, if he had, he probably would have changed his mind.

“Alright that’s fine. Have fun breaking, I mean fixing the Tardis.” It’s a shame he isn’t joining me. But after thinking about it, it is probably for the best. I may not be able to keep my hands to myself if I were to see him with only swim trunks on. Her body heats up as she thinks about what he would look like under his clothes. I hope the water is cold.

“Oi!” But he turns away to hide a smile as he hears Layla laugh and the Tardis hum in amusement.

Chapter Text

The Doctor was under the grates in the console room working on the Tardis with Layla passing him things as he requested when Rose came in quietly. Layla looked up. “Hey Rose. What’s wrong?” She looked at her and seen that she was holding a picture frame to her chest and had her head tilted down. The Doctor sat up and looked at Rose, waiting for her to talk.

“Peter Alan Tyler, my dad. The most wonderful man in the world. Born 15^th September 1954. Mum told me he died the 7^th of November 1987, the day of Stuart Hoskins and Sarah Clarke’s wedding. She said he would have loved to see me. So, I was thinking, could we, could we go and see my dad when he was still alive?”

The Doctor looked at her curiously. “Where’s this come from, all of a sudden?”

“All right then, if we can’t, if it goes against the laws of times or something, then never mind, just leave it.” Rose started to leave the room.

The Doctor stood up. “No, I can do anything. I’m just more worried about you.” But he looks to Layla looking a little unsure and sees her looking at Rose worried.

“I want to see him.” Rose says firmly.

“Your wish is my command. But be careful what you wish for.” The Doctor tells her solemnly. The Doctor takes them to one of the happier times in her parents time streams: their wedding.

“I, Peter Alan Tyler, take you, Jacqueline Angela Suzette Prentice.” The registrar starts.

“I, Peter Alan Tyler, take you, Jacqueline Suzanne Suzette Anita.” Peter tries, but fails spectacularly.

Jackie is giving him the stink eye, but sighs in the end and cuts in. “Oh, just carry on. It’s good enough for Lady Di.”

Layla and the Doctor and sniggering and leaning towards each other in their laughter while Rose is looking at her father with her head tilted to the side in slight confusion. “I thought he’d be taller.”

“To be my lawful wedded wife, to love and behold till death do us part.” The registrar finished.

Xxxxxx

“He died so close to home. Mum told me that no one was there when he died. That it was a hit and run driver. They never found who did it. He was dead by the time the ambulance got there. She had wished someone had been there for him when he died. I would like the be that someone. So, he doesn’t have to die alone.” She looks at the Doctor with tears in her eyes.

The Doctor is uncomfortable with this whole thing. He isn’t sure if Rose can handle watching her dad, the man she has never known, die in front of her, not being able to do anything about it, and be there for him in the end. He knows she has seen people die, but they have not had a personal connection to her like this. But she is his friend, and he wants to do something nice for her. Layla is of the same mind as the Doctor. She thinks that it will be harder on Rose than Rose realizes, but she will be there to support her anyway she can.

The Doctor nods his head and goes to type in the date. “November the 7^th?”

Rose nods her head. “1987.” The Doctor puts in the year and the time rotor starts up and the Tardis takes them to their destination. When they walk out the doors, they see that it is a bright and clear day. Rose looks around in surprise. “It’s so weird. The day my father died. I thought it’s be all sort of grim and stormy. It’s just an ordinary day.”

“The past is another country. 1987’s just the Isle of Wight. Are you sure about this?” The Doctor asked. He was starting to get a bad feeling about this whole thing.

Rose nods her heads jerkily and sighs. “Yeah.” They walk towards the street where Pete died in silence. They wanted to give Rose the time to collect herself mentally to prepare herself to see her father die. When they get there, he had not pulled up yet. “This is it. Jordan Road. He was late. He’d been to get a wedding present, a vase. Mum always said, that stupid vase.” A green car comes around the corner and pulls up to the curb. “He got out of his car and crossed the road. Oh god, this is it.” Layla grabbed Rose’s hand while the Doctor grabbed Layla’s.

They watched as Pete got out of his car and they see a beige car come around the corner and drive straight into Pete with the driver shielding his face with his arms and keep driving without stopping and leaving Pete in the road. The vase had fallen to the ground, broken. Pete was trying to move.

“Go to him, quick” The Doctor whispers to Rose trying to encourage her to go to her dad. But she can’t, and they hear sirens approaching.

“It’s too late now. By the time the ambulance got there, he was dead. He can’t die on his own. Can I try again?”

The Doctor nods and takes them back to the Tardis and goes back in time. They walk to the corner of the building and they see their past selves standing at the curbside. “Right, that’s the first us. It’s a very bad idea, two sets of us being here at the same time. Just be careful they don’t see us. Wait until she runs off and they follow, then go to your dad.” They see Pete park at the curb and hear the first Rose say “oh god, this is it.”

“I can’t do this.” The current Rose says.

“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, but this is the last time we can be here.” The Doctor warned her.

It seemed as if that triggered something inside Rose because the next thing he knew, Rose took off running, leaving him and Layla behind and running through their past selves and pushes her father out of the path of the beige car. “Rose! No!” The vase rolls away, unbroken and the earlier Rose, Layla, Doctor vanishes. The Doctor and Layla stare at Rose in horror and disbelief as they grip each other’s hands tightly.

Rose is looking at her father gleefully and patting his arms. “I did it. I saved your life.”

“Blimey, did you see the speed of it? Did you get his number?” Pete asked as he looked around.

Rose was too focused on looking at Pete though and her accomplishment. “I really did it. Oh, my god. Look at you. You’re alive! That car was going to kill you.”

Pete grumbles. “Give me some credit, I did see it coming. I wasn’t going to walk under it, was I.”

Rose grabs his hand and shakes it. “I’m Rose.”

Pete gives her a smile. “That’s a coincidence. That’s my daughter’s name.”

Rose gives him a manic laugh. “That’s a great name. Good choice. Well done.”

“Right, I’d better shift.” Pete looks around and picks up the vase. “I’ve got a wedding to go to.”

Not wanting to be away from him yet, Rose asks. “Is that Sarah Clarke’s wedding?”

Pete furrows his brows. “Yeah, are you going?”

She nods her head. “Yeah.”

“Does your friend and her boyfriend need a lift?” Rose looks over and sees Layla and the Doctor holding hands and gives their hands a small pout, totally missing the looks they are directing at her. As they all pile into Pete’s car, something with blood red eyesight flies over South London.

Xxxxxx

Pete opens the door to his flat and the time-travelers follow in after him. “Right, there we go. Sorry about the mess. If you want a cup of tea, the kitchens just down there, milks in the fridge. Well, it would be, wouldn’t it? Where else would you put the milk? Mind you, there’s always the window sill outside. I always thought if someone invented a window sill with special compartments, you know, one for milk, one for yogurt, make a lot of money out of that. Sell it to students and things.” He pauses for a second. “I should write that down. Anyways, never mind that, excuse me. Got to go and change.” He goes into his bedroom and closes the door leaving the Doctor leaning against the wall, Layla standing around awkwardly and Rose looking around in wonder.

“All the stuff mum kept. His stuff. She kept it all packed away in boxes in the cupboard. She used to show me when she’s had a bit to drink. Here it is, on display. Where it should be. Third prize at bowling. First two got to go to Didcot. Health drinks. Tonics, mum used to call them. He made his money selling this Vitex stuff. He had all sorts of jobs. He was so clever. Solar power. Mum said he was going to do this. Now he can.” Rose realized how quiet it was and turned towards the Doctor. “Okay, look I’ll tell him you two are not together.” Thinking that was the problem.

Layla was looking at the Doctor warily while the Doctor gave Rose a hard stare. “When we met, I said travel with me in space. You said no. Then Layla said time machine.” Layla could hear the hurt he was trying to hide in his voice that he thought Rose used him and his Tardis to benefit herself, and her heart clenches in sadness wondering how many times it had happened in the past.

“It wasn’t some big plan. I just saw it happening and I thought, I can stop it.” The way Rose said it had the Doctor gritting his teeth. Like it was no big deal, that what she did was okay, that she didn’t do anything wrong.

“I did it again. I picked another stupid ape. I should’ve known. It’s not about showing you the universe. It never is. It’s about the universe doing something for you.” I only brought her along because at first, I thought that Layla might need her, but after the few adventures we have been on, she would have been fine without her. He looks towards Layla to see how she feels and Layla has a disappointed face directed at Rose. Good, at least she isn’t upset with me.

“So, it’s okay when you go to other times, and you save people’s lives, but not when it’s me saving my dad?” He is such a hypocrite, Rose thought naively.

“I know what I am doing! You don’t! Two sets of us being there made that a vulnerable point in time.”

“But he’s alive!” She doesn’t understand what she did wrong. She saved him, isn’t that good? Shouldn’t they try to save people?

“My entire planet died. My whole family. Do you think it never occurred to me to go back and save them?” The Doctor’s breath hitched slightly at the remembrance of their deaths. He can feel Layla’s hand slide into his and he squeezes it tightly in gratitude.

“But it’s not like I’ve changed history. Not much. I mean he’s never going to be a world leader. He’s not going to start World War Three or anything.” Layla gapes, does she not realize what having her dad alive means when it comes to her life?

“Rose, there’s a man alive in the world who wasn’t alive before. An ordinary man. That’s the most important thing in creation. The whole world’s different because he’s alive.” The Doctor’s tries to explain, but Rose isn’t listening, she never really was.

Rose looks at him betrayed. “What, would you rather him dead?”

“I’m not saying that.”

“No! I get it! For one, you’re not the most important man in my life.” She shouts to him delusional.

The Doctor scoffs. He doesn’t care about that. It would only bother him if Layla had said that. She is all he needs and wants. He only brought Rose along because he thought she would be a good companion and she was Layla’s best friend. “Let’s see how you get on without me, then. Give me the key. The Tardis key. If I’m so insignificant, give it back to me.”

Rose takes it off from around her neck and slams it down into his awaiting hand. “Alright then, I will.”

“You’ve got what you wanted, so that’s goodbye, then.”

Before the Doctor can move though Rose snaps back. “You don’t scare me. I know how sad you are. You’ll be back in a minute, or you’ll hang around outside the Tardis waiting for me. And I’ll make you wait a long time!”

The Doctor looks at her hard in the eyes. “See, that is where you are wrong, I have Layla, I’m not lonely anymore with her.” He pulls Layla with him and she goes with him silently.

Rose looks at Layla in betrayal. “How could you side with him Layla? You don’t know what it’s like to not have a father, or even a mother. Wouldn’t you want that if you could? Can’t you see why I did it?”

The Doctor and Layla stop. Layla looks at her solemnly for a few seconds before she replies quietly. “No. Because I don’t care about them Rose. Why would I care about people who are complete strangers, who never wanted me? They gave me up. I don’t know them and they don’t know me. I’m not going to waste my life pining over people who don’t mean anything to me and trying to change what happened. It made me who I am. I am a strong, independent, woman and I don’t want to change that. But what you did Rose, with your dad here, you won’t be the same person you are now. He will help raise you and that could be different than how Jackie did. Besides, Jackie loves you, having one parent is better than none, and you weren’t content with that, which is more than what others have.” When she was done talking, the Doctor gently tugged her out of the flat.

Xxxxxx

The Doctor and Layla are walking back towards the Tardis still holding hands in companionable silence. The Doctor kept stealing glances at her to check on her to see how she was doing emotionally, but he couldn’t really tell. He decided to just come out and ask to make sure she wasn’t upset. “Are you alright?”

She looks at him slightly surprised. “Hm? About what happened at the flat? I’m fine about what I said, it really doesn’t bother me. I’m more disappointed in Rose and what she did. I know that she had always wanted her dad around, but she should have been happy to at least have her mum, who did everything for her and loved her so much. I just hope there aren’t any repercussions from what she did. What about you? Are you alright?”

“Me? I’m fine, I’m always fine.” Was the Doctor’s automatic answer for when someone asked him that question and looks away from her.

Layla squeezes his hand and looks at him knowingly. “Please don’t lie to me Doctor, you don’t have to tell me what’s wrong, but don’t lie to me.”

The Doctor winces and rubs the back of his neck with his free hand. “Sorry, I’m upset with Rose, and I can’t shake the feeling that something is wrong, but I don’t know what.”

“Well, whatever it is, I’ll be here with you to help you figure it out. Are we really going to leave Rose?”

The Doctor’s lips flatten. “I’m tempted, but even I took Adam home. I will at least do that for Rose if I decide to not let her come with us anymore.” He looks at her hopefully as he says that, hoping that she would still traveling with him if he was to drop Rose off.

“That would be good, then maybe she would be able to earn your forgiveness and travel with us again.” She gives him a smile and he beams back at her that she would still travel with him if he were to drop Rose off. He hasn’t decided yet, but it is something to think on, maybe see if she apologizes after this nightmare.

They make it up to the Tardis and the Doctor stops and looks around feeling as if something was watching them. Not seeing anything he gets his key out and opens the door but stares in horror as he sees that the inside is just the inside of a regular old police box and not his magnificent spaceship. “Rose!” He tightens he hand on Layla’s and pulls her towards the church knowing that is where Rose was going and takes off running.

Xxxxxx

After the Doctor and Layla leave Pete sticks his head out of his bedroom door. “Boyfriend trouble?”

Rose doesn’t answer him and he goes back in and continues to change. She looks around the flat and sees that it is a mess and starts to clean up out of habit. She is thinking about the fight she had with the Doctor and subsequent Layla. She feels bad that she dragged Layla into it knowing about her past and how hard it was for her. She is putting peanuts back in their bowl when Pete comes out, changed into his wedding suit. “Excuse me, do you mind? What’re you tidying up for?”

Rose comes out of the trance she was in and realizes that she had been doing what she would have been doing had she been at home. “Sorry, force of habit.” I guess this thing with the Doctor has me more upset than I thought it would.

“Listen, don’t worry about him. Couples have rows all the time.” Pete tries to encourage her, misreading their relationship.

“We’re not a couple. Why does everyone think we’re a couple?” And by everyone means Pete and her mum, obviously. “I think he left me.”

“What, a pretty girl like you? If I was going out with you…”

Rose cut him off not wanting her father to talk about dating her. “Stop right there.”

“I was just saying.” Pete protested.

“I know what you’re saying, and we’re not going there. At no point are we going anywhere near there. You aren’t even aware that there exists. I don’t even want to think about there, and believe me, neither do you. There for you is like, like the Bermuda triangle.” Oh god, I wish Layla was here, she would have saved me from this verbal diarrhea and distracted my dad from talking about dating me.

“Blimey, you know how to flatter a bloke.”

“Right, are we off?” Rose stands next to Pete and offers him her arm.

He looks at her oddly. “So, that wouldn’t be a mixed signal at all?”

“Absolutely not.” Rose looked at him like it should have been obvious.

Pete takes her arm and sighs. “I’ll take you back to the loony bin where you belong. Except I’m sure I’ve met you somewhere before.”

Xxxxxx

Pete and Rose get into Pete’s car and they head for the church. Pete is telling Rose about some of the things he does for money. “I met this bloke at the horses, and he’s cutting me in on copyright.”

Rose looks at him in confusion, the stuff he is telling her isn’t matching up with what her mum told her. But this is giving her a chance to get to know him. “But I thought you were a proper businessman and that.”

“I wish! Oh, I do a bit of this, a bit of that, I scrape by.”

Rose looks at him like he is a stranger, which he is to her, but he isn’t the man her mum told her about. “Right. So, I must’ve heard wrong. So, really, you’re a bit of a Del Boy?”

“Oh, shoot me down in flames.” He says fake wounded. “You’re not related to my wife by any chance, are you?”

Rose’s mouth drops open as she just realizes something. “Oh, my god. She’s going to be at the wedding.”

“What, Jackie? Do you know her?”

She shifts, looking uncomfortable. “Sort of.”

“What’s she told you about me, then?” He was fully excepting the usually stuff that she always says, that he was a useless lump.

Rose gives him a dreamy smile. “She said she’d picked the most fantastic man in the world.”

Pete looked at her like she lost her mind. “Must be a different Jackie, then. She’d never say that.” All of a sudden, the radio station changes to a song that hasn’t come out for that time period and Rose looks at it in confusion. Pete looks at like many older people look at younger generation music. “This stuff goes right over my head.”

Rose shakes her head. “That’s not out yet.” Something’s not right here.

Pete shrugs his shoulders awkwardly. “It’s a good job and all.”

Rose takes her phone out and fiddles with it. “I’m just going to check my messages.”

He looks at the phone in wonder. “How do you mean, messages? Is that a phone?”

“Yeah.” Rose messes with her phone but all she hears coming from it is. “Watson, come here. I need you. Watson, come here. I need you. Watson, come here. I need you.”

They don’t see the car that should have killed Pete is right behind them and as Pete turns the corner, it drives straight on and then vanishes. The beige car suddenly appears and drives towards them, Rose grabs the door handle and Pete’s arm. “Dad!”

Pete swerves into the curb. “It’s that car. Same one as before. It was right in front of us. Where’s he done? You called me dad. What’d you say that for?”

They get out of the car and Jackie walks up to them. “Oh, wonderful. Here he is, the accident waiting to happen. You’d be late for your own funeral and it nearly was.”

“No, damage done.” Pete tried to calm her down.

Jackie looked at Rose suspiciously. “And who’s this? What’re you looking at with your mouth open?”

And she was, Rose was looking at her mum in surprise at how she looked. “Your hair.” Rose stuttered out, but gave no other context.

“What?!” Jackie spent a lot of time on her hair and she thought it looked nice and here was this woman gawking at her.

“I’ve never seen it like. I mean, it’s lovely. Your hair’s lovely. And that baby you’re holding. That would be your baby.” That is me.

Jackie looks at Pete and sneers. “Another one of yours, is she?”

“She saved my life.” He protested.

Jackie looks impressed. “Oh, that’s a new one. What was it last time?”

“I didn’t even know her. She was a cloakroom attendant. I was helping her look for my ticket. There were three duffel coats all the same. Somehow the rack collapsed. We were under all this stuff.” Pete tried to explain to Rose even though he didn’t know why he was trying to make her understand that he didn’t cheat.

Rose looked at him in betrayal. “Were you playing around?”

Jackie now sneered at Rose. “What’s it got to do with you what he gets up to?”

Now Rose thought he did indeed get up to something. “What does he get up to?”

“You’d know.” Jackie accused her.

Pete scoffed. “Oh, ‘cos I’m that stupid. I play around and I bring her to meet the missus. You silly cow.”

“But you are that stupid.” Jackie said slowly.

“Can we keep this stuff back home just for now.” Pete asked quietly, he seen they were drawing attention and wanted to keep their argument private and not ruin their friend’s wedding.

Rose was looking back and forth as her parent’s argued and was becoming distressed. This was not how she imagined how they were when they were together. This was not how her mother described her father. This was not how she described their relationship. This is not what she wanted. “Stop it! You’re not like this. You love each other.” Rose was scratching at her scalp and tears started to cloud her eyes.

Jackie took one look at Rose then looked at Pete with pity. “Oh, Pete. You never used to like them mental. Or I don’t know, maybe you did.”

Pete reaches for her hand as Jackie starts to walk away. “Jackie, wait, just listen.”

“If you’re not careful, there’ll be a wedding and a divorce on the same day.”

Pete sighs heavily and then turns towards Rose. He picks up the vase and gives her the keys to his car. “Wait here. Give us a couple of minutes with the missus. Tell you what, straighten the car up. Stick it round the corner or something. Don’t cause any more trouble.” He walks off to talk to Jackie. Rose is just standing there struggling to comprehend what the hell is happening to her family and goes to deal with the car.

xxxxxx

Outside the church the wedding party and guests were standing around talking. Rose was standing around her mother, father, and little Rose, as they argued. Jackie turned her nose up in the air. “I’m not listening. It’s just the duffel coats all over again.”

“Jackie, sometimes a duffel coat is just a duffel coat. Things will get better soon, I promise.” Pete was wrapping his arms around her trying to comfort her and Rose watched them still befuddled at how her parents were acting compared to how her mum told her they were when she was younger.

“I’ve had enough of all your daft schemes. I never know where the next meal’s coming from.”

“I’ll get it right, love. One day soon, I promise you. I’ll get it right. Come on.” Pete tells her softly with a loving smile.

A young Mickey comes running around the corner scared and runs into the church. “Monsters! Going to eat us!”

One of the guests laughs mockingly at him. “What sort of monsters, Sweetheart? Is it aliens?”

The Doctor and Layla finally come up to the street where the church is and see Rose, but they see one of the creatures appear close by. “Rose! Get in the church!”

When Rose hears the Doctor shout her name, she smirks, thinking he has come back for her, until she realizes the urgency of his shout. She turns around and sees one of the creatures and it swoops for her. Luckily for her, the Doctor had knocked into her and pushed her into the ground just in time to avoid its talons.

The Doctor stands up and faces all the guests of the wedding. “Get in the church!” He pushes Layla inside wanting her out of harm’s way and he is thankful that she doesn’t fight him on this and goes in quickly.

Two more of the creatures appear and sort of just hover as if they are looking for the right victim. The guest that made fun of Mickey pales. “Oh my god, what are they? What are they?”

The Doctor ignores her. “Inside!”

The groom starts to leave the church looking for his bride who was standing outside. “Sarah!”

“Stay in there!” The Doctor snapped at him. Humans! The groom’s dad tries to run away but gets pounced on by one of the creatures. Sarah, the bride, is blocked by the second one, but she screams and it flies off and it pounces on the vicar instead. The Doctor finally gets everyone else inside the church and slams the doors shut on the creatures. Through the windows the many creatures can be seen flying around. “They can’t get in. Old windows and doors. Okay. The older something is, the strong it is. What else? Go and check the other doors! Move!” The Doctor takes charges since he is the most knowledgeable about what is happening.

Jackie marches up to him. “What’s happening? What are they? What are they?”

“There’s been an accident in time. A would in time. They’re like bacteria, taking advantage.”

Jackie scoffs. “What do you mean, time? What’re you jabbering on about, time?”

The Doctor glares. “Oh, I might’ve known you’d argue. Jackie, I’m sick of you complaining.”

She looks at him suspiciously. “How do you know my name?”

“I haven’t got time for this.”

“I’ve never met you in my life!” Jackie put her hand on her chest looking scandalized.

“No, and you never will unless I sort this out. Now, if you don’t mind, I’ve waited a long time to say this. Jackie Tyler, do as I say. Go and check the doors.” He snaps at her in an authoritative voice.

Jackie was shocked and seemed like she was about to salute him. “Yes, sir.” She walks away to go do what he said.

The Doctor grins massively. “I should have done that ages ago.”

Layla couldn’t hold it in and burst out laughing. The Doctor spun around quick and sees her hunched over close by laughing and realizes she saw his interaction with Jackie. “I would love for you to do that when we go back to the present and see if she gives you the same response! I bet you she would slap you again!” She cackles again and tears start to come out of her eyes at the image she sees in her mind.

The Doctor winces and rubs his cheek in reminder and then pouts, but he loves hearing Layla laugh. Layla calms down when the groom comes over. “My dad was out there.”

Layla and the Doctor look at him with sympathy. “You can mourn him later. Right now, we’ve got to concentrate on keeping ourselves alive.”

The groom realizes this, but that wasn’t what he was trying to tell him. “No, my dad had…”

“There’s nothing I can do for him.” The Doctor looked pained as he said it. There isn’t much I can do for anyone.

“No, but he had this phone thing. I can’t get it to work. I keep getting this voice.” He hands the Doctor the phone and he holds it up to his ear. “Watson, come here. I need you. Watson, come here. I need you.”

The Doctor looks at the phone somewhat confused and amused. “That’s the very first phone call. Alexander Graham Bell. I don’t think the telephone’s going to be much use.”

“But someone must have called the police.”

The Doctor shook his head. “Police can’t help you now. No one can. Nothing in this universe can harm those things. Time’s been damaged and they’ve come to sterilize the wound by consuming everything inside.”

“Is this because? Is this my fault?” Rose asked timidly, but the Doctor just looked at her blankly before walking away letting her know without saying a word that yes, yes it was her fault.

Xxxxxx

Pete is standing at the window looking outside. “There’s smoke coming up from the city but no sirens. I don’t think it’s just us. I think these things are all over the place. Maybe the whole world.”

The beige care appears at the corner, turns, the driver covers his face and then it disappears again and repeats itself. Pete watches it. “Was that a car?”

The Doctor was watching it with him and already worked out what happened and what might have to happen to fix this situation. “It’s not important. Don’t worry about it.

Xxxxxx

Rose is standing by the altar when Pete comes over towards her. “This mate of yours, what did he mean, this is your fault?”

Rose shook her head, but wouldn’t look him in the eyes. “Don’t know, just everything.”

Pete was looking at her intensely. “I gave you my car keys. You don’t give your keys to a complete stranger. It’s, it’s like I trusted you. Moment, I met you, I just did. Wound in time. You called me dad. I can see it. My eyes. Jackie’s attitude. You sound like her when you shout. You are. You are. You’re my Rose. You’re my Rose grown up.” Rose nods with tears in her eyes and he hugs her tightly.

“Dad. My dad. My daddy.” Rose finally has what she wants, to be able to hug her daddy and for him to know it.

Xxxxxx

A creature head butts a side door and the Doctor pulls the curtain aside and gets out his sonic screwdriver. The groom walks up to the Doctor. “Excuse me, Mister.”

“Doctor.” He corrected automatically after hundreds of years.

“You seem to know what’s going on.”

The Doctor nods slightly. “I give that impression, yeah.” I might know what’s going on, but don’t have a way to fix it. Unfortunately.

“I just wanted to ask.” The groom starts.

“Can you save us?” And the bride finished.

The Doctor stops messing with his screwdriver and gives them his full attention. “Who are you two, then?”

“Stuart Hoskins.”

“Sarah Clark.”

The Doctor looks down and can tell that Sarah is pregnant by the bump in her stomach. “And one extra. Boy or girl?”

Sarah rubs her stomach and smiles. “I don’t know. I don’t want to know, really.”

“How did all this get started?” The Doctor was always curious about humans.

Stuart looked at Sarah lovingly. “Outside the Beatbox Club, two in the morning.”

“Street corner. I’d lost my purse, didn’t have money for a taxi.” She was worried about having to walk home at night.

“I took her home.”

“Then what? Asked her for a date?” He looked at Stuart.

Sarah pointed to the back of her hand. “Wrote his number on the back of my hand.”

Stuart looked at her fondly. “Never got rid of her since. My dad said...” He trails off remembering that his dad is gone.

Sarah swallows harshly. “I don’t know what this is all about, and I know we’re not important.”

“Who said you’re not important? I’ve traveled to all sorts of places, done things you couldn’t even imagine, but you two. Street corner, two in the morning, getting a taxi home.” He looks over towards Layla and sees that she is with little Rose and smiles fondly. Sarah and Stuart see this and smile knowingly. “I’ve never had a life like that. Yes. I’ll try to save you.” The Doctor continues what he was saying as he looked away from Layla.

Xxxxxx

Pete was looking at Rose dumbfounded. “I’m a dad. I mean, I’m already a dad, but Rose grows up and she’s you. That’s wonderful. I mean, I supposed I thought that you’d be a bit useless, what with my useless genes and all, but. Well, I mean, how did you get here?”

Rose looks at him impishly. “Do you really want to know?”

Pete nods his head determinedly. “Yeah.”

“A time machine.” She says it simply, waiting to see if he believed her or not.

“A time machine.” He repeated.

“Cross my heart.”

He looks impressed. “What, do you all have time machines where you come from?”

Rose laughs. “No, just the Doctor.”

“Did you know these things were coming?” He was wondering if that was why they came to this time period.

“No.” She was starting to get worried. He was asking questions about why they were there and she doesn’t want him to know that he was supposed to have died.

“God, I don’t know, my head’s spinning. What’s the future like?” Luckily, for her, he changes the topic.

She shrugs. “It’s not so different.” Her heart clinches at the next question though. It was something she feared he would ask.

“What am I like? Have I gone grey? Have I gone bald? Don’t tell me I’ve gone bald.” When she doesn’t answer he awkwardly moves on. “So, if this mate of yours isn’t your boyfriend and I have to say, I’m glad, because being your dad and all, I think he’s a bit old for you. Have you got a bloke?”

She totally ignores the first few questions and answers the last one, and while her and Mickey never officially broke up, she doesn’t really consider them together anymore. She just hasn’t told him that. “No, I did have one.”

“Mickey!” Jackie shouts as he comes running up towards Rose and hugs her.

“Do you know him?” Pete asks her.

“I just didn’t recognize him in a suit. You have to let go of me, Sweetheart. I’m always saying that.” She pulls him off.

Jackie sighed. “He just grabs hold of what’s passing and holds on for dear life. God help his poor girlfriend if he ever gets one.” Oh, the irony of that and how true it was for Rose.

Pete looked at Jackie. “Me and Rose were just talking.”

Jackie looked at him slightly hurt. “Oh, yeah? Talking? While the world comes to an end, what do you do? Cling to the youngest blonde. Come on, Mick.” She guides Mickey out leaving Pete and Rose alone again.

Pete stands ready to tell Jackie about future Rose so she understands when Rose stops him. “You can’t tell her.”

He didn’t understand though, this would keep Jackie from accusing him and cheating on her. “Why?”

“I mean, I really don’t want you to tell her.” She pleads.

“What, you don’t want people to know?”

“Where I come from, Jackie doesn’t know how to work the timer on the video recorder.”

Pete waved his hand carelessly. “I showed her that last week.” Rose just looked at him and he thought about it for a few seconds. “Point taken.”

xxxxxx

Layla was sitting in one of the pews holding onto little Rose and tickling her belly. The Doctor stood back and watch her for a little bit smiling softly before he approached her and sat down next to her. He holds out his pointer finger and little Rose grabs it with her little hand and grips it tightly. Layla gives the Doctor a small grin. “I asked Jackie if I could watch her for a little bit. I used to babysit for a little bit at the estate and going to the parks I found that when you had a baby with you, it kept unwanted attention away from you for the most part. I was getting tired of the groomsmen chatting me up so I asked to borrow her. Works like a charm.”

Layla had looked back down at little Rose and was making funny faces at her so she missed seeing the Doctor freeze because of what she said. He was angry for two reasons, one they were in danger and they were chatting up his Promised One and two, just because she had a baby with her, she was no longer worthy of their ‘attention’? The Doctor had to shake himself off and relaxed. He put his arm around her on the pew bench and scooted a little bit closer towards Layla. He leaned in towards little Rose and gave her a soft grin and that gave him an excuse for the reason to be touching Layla more. Touching her more helped relax him more. And he had seen her making faces at little Rose and started to make some with her causing the baby to giggle. “Now, Rose, you’re not going to bring about the end of the world, are you? Are you?” Rose walks over towards them and the Doctor straightens up but doesn’t move away from Layla, his hand slides up though and rests on her hip.

Layla feels her heart jolt and feels the warmth of his hand through her clothes on her hip. She looks at Rose trying to distract herself. “Jackie gave her to me to look after.”

“I’d better be careful. I think I just imprinted myself on Mickey like a mother chicken.” Rose reaches down to run her fingers on little Rose’s cheek when the Doctor grabs Rose’s wrist and pushes it away.

“No. Don’t touch the baby. You’re both the same person. That’s a paradox, and we don’t want a paradox happening, not with these things outside. Anything new, any disturbance in time makes them stronger. The paradox might let them in.”

Rose sighs heavily. “I can’t do anything right, can I?”

“Since you ask, no. So, don’t touch the baby.” He says snidely and as if he was dumbing it down for her.

Rose narrows her eyes at him. “I’m not stupid.”

“You could have fooled me.” Rose looks at him hurt but the Doctor doesn’t cave with an apology because what she did was stupid. “However, I wasn’t going to leave you here.”

“I know.” Rose gives a slight smile.

“The entire earth’s been sterilized. This, and other places like it, are all that’s left of the human race. We might hold out for a while, but nothing can stop those creatures. They’ll get through in the end. The walls aren’t that old. And there’s nothing I can do to stop them. There used to be laws stopping this kind of thing from happening. My people would have stopped this but they’re all gone, and now I’m going the same way.”

“If I’d realized.”

“Just tell me you’re sorry.” The Doctor gives in just wanting to be done with this whole day.

“I am. I’m sorry.” Rose had been thinking about Layla had said back at the flat. She had her mum. And her mum was fantastic and did everything for her and made her who she was. But because she saved her dad and wounded time, she is not only going to lose her dad, but now her mum too. So, she is sorry that she messed up. She should have just been content with what she had.

All of a sudden, they hear Layla gasps in pain but she is holding onto little Rose, she stands and thrusts her hip towards the Doctor. “Doctor, front pocket, get it out, hot, burning, fast, please.” She couldn’t reach it very well because it was in the pocket on the side where she was holding the weight of little Rose. She didn’t want to try to pull it out and hold little Rose with only one hand and touch her burning Tardis key with the other, worried that because of the pain, she might drop her.

The Doctor doesn’t know what is causing her pain but he quickly reaches into her front pocket of her jeans and pulls out the burning metal and tosses it to the floor as it burns his fingers. He sees that it is the Tardis key and it is glowing hot. Layla puts little Rose back in her carrycot and rubs her hand over the spot where the key was.

The Doctor takes off his jacket and picks up the key with it safely. “It’s the Tardis key! It’s telling me it’s still connected to the Tardis!” He goes to the pulpit to make an announcement. “The inside of my ship was thrown out of the wound but we can use this to bring it back. And once I’ve got my ship back, then I can mend everything. Now, I just need a bit of power. Has anybody got a battery?”

Stuart stands up holding his dad’s big arse mobile phone. “This one big enough?”

The Doctor beams. “Fantastic.”

“Good old dad. There you go.”

“Just need to do a bit of charging up and then we can bring everyone back.” The Doctor uses his sonic with the key and battery while the creatures continue to batter the windows and doors. Layla had just got back from giving Jackie little Rose back and patted the Doctor on the back when the Tardis slowly started to materializes around the key.

“Right, no one touches that key. Have you got that? Don’t touch it? Anyone touches that key, it’ll be, well, zap. Just leave it be and everything will be fine. We’ll get out of here. All of us. Stuart, Sarah you’re going to get married, just like I said.”

Rose walks over to where the Doctor and Layla were standing and started talking quietly trying to keep Pete from hearing. “When time gets sorted…”

“Everybody here forgets what happened. And don’t worry, the thing that you changed will stay changed.”

However, it was all for naught. Pete had come to his own conclusion and came over. “You mean I’ll be alive, though I’m meant to be dead. That’s why I haven’t done anything with my life, why I didn’t mean anything.”

“It doesn’t work like that.” The Doctor tried to deny.

“Rubbish. I’m so useless I couldn’t even die properly. Now it’s my fault all of this has happened.”

Rose shook her head and grabbed his arm. “This is my fault.”

Pete grabbed her hand and squeeze it softly. “No, love. I’m your dad. It’s my job for it to be my fault.”

Jackie happened to be close by and heard what he said and not knowing that the adult Rose was her little Rose, came to the wrong conclusion. “Her dad? How are you her dad? How old were you, twelve? Oh, that’s disgusting.”

Pete walks to Jackie begging her to listen to him. “Jacks, listen. This is Rose.”

Jackie’s mouth drops open and pain enters her eyes and voice. “Rose? How sick is that? You give my daughter a second-hand name? How many are there? Do you call them all Rose?” The Doctor sighs heavily at the domestics playing out in front of him and grunts when Layla elbows him at his rudeness.

“Oh, for god’s sake, look. It’s the same Rose!” Pete said exasperated. He grabbed little Rose and thrust her into Rose’s arms.

“Rose! No!” However, the Doctor was too late to stop her before they touched. The Doctor snatches little Rose away and gives her back to Jackie and a creature appears in the church.

“Everyone, behind me! I’m the oldest thing in here.” The Doctor stand bravely in front of everyone in the church willing to sacrifice his life for them, but mainly for his Promised One.

“Doctor!” Rose shouts.

The creature circles around and Layla looks between it, the Doctor, the people in the church, and the Tardis. He is the only one who can pilot the Tardis and save these people. They can live without me, but not without him. Eyes set in determination, as soon as she sees the creature start to fly towards the Doctor she takes off and rams into him, knocking him to the floor and putting herself in his place. However, while she saved him, the creature got the last laugh. After it finished eating her, it flew around, into the materializing Tardis, causing it to disappear, before disappearing itself.

Everyone and everything froze. Everyone was hardly breathing least of all the Doctor. He just stared where he last seen Layla before the creature took her away. Someone finally moved across his vision and he looked and sees Rose run towards the Tardis key. “It’s cold. The key’s cold. Oh, my god. She’s dead. This is all my fault. All of you. The whole world.”

As soon as the words registered in his mind, he could feel his pulse elevate, his body started to tremble, and he clenched his teeth. He was leveling a lethal glare towards Rose. As if she could feel the heated look, she turned toward him and flinched and felt terror from the look he was giving her. It was a look where he didn’t even need to say anything to express his emotions, and it was all her fault.

The Doctor slowly stood up and walked towards Rose. She was frozen and couldn’t move and she was terrified. The others around were scared as well. This was the Oncoming Storm. This was who his enemies feared. He stops right in front of her and stares at her with cold, dead, eyes. Her eyes are wide and she is trembling. He reaches out and she flinches but all he does is grab the Tardis key, her key, from her and walks away. Everyone breaths a collective sigh of relief and Rose feels like she could collapse.

The Doctor goes to an area of the church where there is no one else, where he can fall apart without anyone around. Why? Why would she do that? His chest feels like it is caved in, his head falls forward and arms are resting at his sides limply. His eyes are starting to redden, to burn, to cloud with tears, and it doesn’t take much before they start to fall and run down his cheeks. He makes no attempts to wipe them away and his breath hitches as he cries in pain. She was so young and had so much to live for. I am old jaded murderer; it should have been me. Not her. He leans forward with his elbows on his knees and head in his hands as he plays back images of her in his mind. That’s it, she’s gone, I’m alone. I can’t do this without her. Not anymore. Not since I found her. I just found her and now I’m alone again. I found something worth fighting for and now she’s gone.

Xxxxxx

Rose was in her own little world of despair though so she doesn’t notice the Doctor in his. She thinks he is angry that because of her, their friend is dead, and his ship is gone, and everyone here is about to die. She has no idea that it is so much more than that to the Doctor.

Pete looks out the church window and sees the beige card drive around the corner again and again. He goes over to Rose and sits by her, getting her attention. “The Doctor, and Layla, they really cared about you. They didn’t want you to go through it again, not if there was another way. Now there isn’t.”

“What are you talking about?” Rose asks slowly, dreading where he is going with this.

“The car that should have killed me, love. It’s here. The Doctor worked it out way back, but he, er, he tried to protect me. Still, he’s not in charge anymore. I am.”

“But you can’t.” Selfishly, even though everyone is going to die, Rose still doesn’t want to give up her daddy.

Pete looks at her softly. “Who am I, love?”

Rose chokes on a sob. “My daddy.”

Pete looks towards Jackie. “Look at her. She’s ours.”

She finally understands what Pete has been trying to tell her this whole time. “Oh, of course.” She pulls Rose into a tight hug.

“I’m meant to be dead, Jackie. You’re going to get rid of me at last.” Pete tries to be brave, in the face of death for his girls.

Jackie starts to tear up. “Don’t say that.” She is now regretting all the horrible things she has said to him lately and wishes she could take them back.

“For once in your life, trust me. It’s got to be done. You’ve got to survive, because you’ve got to bring up our daughter. I never read you those bedtime stories. I never took you on those picnics. I was never there for you.”

“You would have been.” Rose is pleading, but she knows this has to be done to save the world.

“But I can do this for you. I can be a proper dad to you now.”

“But it’s not fair.” Why can’t I have him in my life?

“I’ve had all these extra hours. No one else in the world has ever had that. And on top of that, I got to see you. And you’re beautiful. How lucky am I, eh? So, come on, do as your dad says. You going to be there for me, love? Thanks for saving me.”

They all watch Pete run out of the church clutching the vase. One of the creatures spots him but doesn’t move towards him. Pete runs to the corner where the car appears. The driver flings his arms across his face and Pete gets hit. The vase drops and breaks and the creatures vanish. Layla is pushing on Rose’s back. “Go to him, quick.” While Rose is running to her dying father, Layla goes towards the Doctor who hasn’t realized what Pete has done, or that she has come back.

Xxxxxx

The Doctor is numb. He doesn’t hear or see anything. He is stuck in a loop of memories, both good and bad, past and present. At least with these creatures, I won’t have to live like this much longer, he thinks to himself. Now he understood why that Time Lord killed herself when her rejected Promised One died. It is agony. Missing part of your soul once you had found it.

He feels an odd sensation on his head at first that starts to drive away the numbness. It soothes an itch in his body. Caresses his soul. For the first time since Layla was eaten, he takes a clear deep breath and relaxes. He feels fingers running across his hair and down the back of his neck, scratching gently. His head is resting on someone’s stomach and he can feel them humming. He freezes, waiting for the natural flinch from touching someone other than his Promised One, but it never comes. That’s impossible, because even though she just died, it would still be a reflex. Hope filters through his hearts as he lifts his head slowly and sees her beautiful face looking down at him with a soft expression.

He chokes on a sob and quickly stands up and pulls her into a hug gripping her tightly. He puts his nose in her hair and smells her hair care products rejoicing that she is alive. Layla is rubbing his back under his jacket and hugging him tightly back. She didn’t think he would be this upset with her being gone, but when she thinks about it, she remembers that he did come back from a war where he lost his family and friends and species. To lose a friend and companion probably hit close to home and brought back a lot of memories for him.

“It’s okay, I’m okay. I’m sorry I brought back bad memories. I didn’t mean to. You’re safe. We’re safe. Everything’s okay.” She kept saying these things over and over until the Doctor calmed down.

When he did calm down and registered her words, it took him a minute to understand that she is taking his reaction to her dying differently than it is. That she thinks it brought back bad memories, but she doesn’t know about his feelings and the bond. It’s a good cover to let her think that for now though. He decides to take a risk and gives her a kiss on the top of her head before he pulls away from her and wipes his face. “Don’t ever, ever, do that again.” He told her firmly.

“They needed you, Doctor. None of us could fly the Tardis. They could live without me, but not without you. From what I have seen, the universe needs you alive, and I will do what I can to make sure you are safe.”

“I need you safe.” He tells her seriously causing her heart to skip a beat.

“I promise to be as safe as I can.”

“Thank you.”

“Now, let’s get Rose and go on a fun adventure and forget this tragic day.” Her smile falters though at the flat look on the Doctor’s face. “Doctor?”

“I think I should take Rose home.”

“Because of what happened?” She looks at him thoughtfully. “Maybe she should have one more chance. She is only human, she didn’t know the consequences of what she did, and it was an emotional thing, and humans do stupid, irrational things when emotions are involved. I mean this is her first mistake with time.”

The Doctor thought about it, and had to think about it without his emotions. He can’t use his emotions to make a decision like Rose did or he would be a hypocrite. Layla is right that it is her first mistake with time. “Fine, you’re right. But this is her only chance. No more after this. This was a huge one too.”

“I agree, she has a good heart when she is thinking rationally, I am sure when she calms down, she will apologize for the trouble she has caused. Let’s go see how she is doing.”

Xxxxxx

Layla and the Doctor walk out of the church with the Doctor refusing to let go of her hand. They walk over to Rose as she kisses Pete on his forehead and stands up. She walks over towards them wiping her eyes. She grabs Layla and hugs her tightly.

“I’m so sorry, it was all my fault you got eaten. And I’m sorry Doctor, that I saved him without talking to you first. It was stupid and I should have talked to you about it first so I would have known the consequences of it. It won’t happen again.” The Doctor gives her a forced grin accepting her apology. He can tell that she is sincere, but he is still upset about what she did and what he had come close to losing permanently.

“No, I made the choice. It’s okay. I’m okay. I’m here.” Layla was rubbing Rose’s back with her free hand since the Doctor still wouldn’t let go of the one. She wrapped her arm around Rose’s neck and pulled her towards her side. “Let’s go to the Tardis and watch movies and relax. How does that sound?”

Rose looks at her warily. “What kind of movies?” Rose’s face makes the Doctor look at Layla curiously.

Layla gives Rose a devious smile. “Raunchy ones of course, I’m thinking borderline porn. Otherwise, what’s the point?”

The Doctor chokes on his spit and his ears turn red and Rose blushes brightly. “No!”

Layla pouts. “Fine, we can watch Disney movies, that will make us happy and not horny.” Layla laughs as she looks at their faces and she drags them towards the Tardis. “Relax prudes.”

Chapter Text

It is a rare morning where they are all in the kitchen at the same time. Layla is looking around at the different fruits looking for her favorite and having no luck as of yet, Rose and the Doctor are sitting at the table drinking their tea. The Doctor walks over and takes a banana from a bowl on the counter. “Layla? Rose? Either of you want a banana? These are from the best groves.”

“Sure, I’ll take one.” Rose holds her hand out for one and he tosses it to her.

He looks towards Layla and she is looking at him with a face of disgust and he looks at her confused. “No, I absolutely hate bananas, they are the grossest things ever.”

The Doctor backs up with his hand over his hearts and his eyes are wide and his jaw dropped open in horror. You would think she had just told him the Tardis was ugly and the worst ship in the universe and that Mickey was smarter than him. His reaction causes the girls the bust out in laughter. He crosses his arms across his chest defensively and demands. “How do you live?!”

She looks at him with a playful smile. “By not eating them, I live happily, but guess what?”

He turns his head to the side and turned up towards the ceiling, his lips pursed and eyes squinted. “What?”

“With me hating bananas.” She laughs when he gasps like a scandalized old Victorian woman. “That means that there is more for you to eat.” She tells him slyly.

There is a moment of silence then it is like he had been electrocuted because he shoots up shouting. “Fantastic!”

While this is happening, Rose is practically on the floor with tears in her eyes from laughing so hard at the ridiculous conversation and the mentality of the Doctor and his love of bananas.

“Oh! Doctor! Guess what her favorite fruit is though!” Rose says mischievously with tears still in her eyes.

“…What?” He asks warily having a bad feeling.

“Pears!”

The Doctor looks aghast and ready to hurl and looks at Layla like she betrayed him. “Is this true?!”

She looks at him slightly confused. “Yes, I absolutely am in love with pears.”

The Doctor storms out of the kitchen shouting over his shoulder in outrage. “No pears on my ship!”

“That escalated quickly.” Layla laughed. As the Doctor leaves he hears the girls giggling as Rose explains his hatred of pears from what he complained to her the other day.

Xxxxxx

Luckily the girls are done eating when the Tardis starts shifting and shaking like mad. They make a mad dash to the console room and see the Doctor running around the time rotor like a maniac. “What’s the emergency?” Rose asks panicky.

“It’s mauve.”

“What the heck is mauve?” Layla asks.

“The universally recognized color for danger.”

“What happened to red?” Rose asked a valid question.

“That’s just humans. By everyone else’s standards, red’s camp. Oh, the misunderstandings. All those red alerts, all that dancing.”

“Wait, do you mean dancing or dancing?” Layla wiggles her eyebrows. Rose snorts and the Doctor wiggles his eyebrows back.

“It’s got a very basic flight computer. I’ve hacked in, slaved the Tardis. Where it goes, we go.”

Rose looked at him skeptically. “And that’s safe, is it?”

He nods. “Totally.” The console makes a loud bang and sparks shoot out. “Okay, reasonably. Should have said reasonably there. No, no, no, no! it’s jumping time tracks, getting away from us.”

“Doctor, you’re supposed to play hard to get, not give into the chase. Tsk tsk.” Layla shook her head in mock disappointment.

Rose laughs at the look on the Doctor’s face. “What exactly is this thing?”

“No idea.”

“Then why are we chasing it?” Rose didn’t understand why he felt the need to go after this mauve item.

“It’s mauve and dangerous, and about thirty seconds from the center of London.”

“Why is it always London?” Layla wanted to know.

Xxxxxx

The Tardis materializes in a back alley between two terraces and the three-time travelers walk out the door. “Do you know how long you can knock around space without happening to bump into earth?”

“With the way you drive?” Layla asks cheekily.

“Five days? Or is that just when we’re out of milk?”

“Of all the species in all the universe and it has to come out of a cow.” The Doctor complained. “Must have come down somewhere quite close within a mile, anyway. And it can’t have been more than a few weeks ago Maybe a month.”

“A month? We were right behind it” Rose gaped.

“It was jumping time tracks all over the place. We’re bound to be a little bit out. Do you want to drive?”

“Ha! Are you sure it was the time tracks and not your driving? I do seem to remember something about twelve hours being twelve months?” Layla nudged him in the side playfully and he mock glared but ended up smiling and nudging her back.

Rose cleared her throat. “Yeah. How much is a little?”

The Doctor shrugged. “A bit.” He was enjoying annoying her. He was still upset about the reaper issue and had been more standoffish with her since.

“Is that exactly a bit?

“Ish.”

Layla laughed. She could tell the Doctor was doing it to annoy Rose and it was working. Rose tended to complain when the Doctor messed up the times, but she didn’t seem to realize that it wasn’t the Doctor doing it, it was the Tardis taking him to places that needed help. Anytime they ended up in the ‘wrong’ time they ended up fixing or saving the day. She made the connection pretty early on from their numerous adventures they had been on. Look at how many times they had been to the wrong time and place and wouldn’t you know, every time the Doctor ended up fixing something at every one of those wrong destination trips.

“What’s the plan, then? Are you going to do a scan for alien tech or something?”

“That would make it too easy and then the adventure would be over too soon.” Layla pouted and the Doctor had to grin at the cuteness of it.

“Rose, it hit the middle of London with a very loud bang. I’m going to ask.” He takes out his psychic paper and shows her.

“Doctor John Smith, Ministry of Asteroids.”

“It’s psychic paper. It tells you…”

“Whatever you want it to tell me, I remember.” Rose says sourly.

The Doctor shrugs. “Sorry.” They come up to a door that is marked ‘Deliveries Only.’

“Not very Spock, is it, just asking.”

“Door, music, people. What do you think?” He asked her sarcastically and Layla snickered.

Rose looked at them annoyed. “I think you should do a scan for alien tech. Give me some Spock, for once. Would it kill you?” What is it with Rose and Spock? I didn’t even know she liked Star Trek? Layla wondered.

The Doctor opens the door with his screwdriver and then something catches his eye that he usually doesn’t notice. “Rose, are you sure about that t-shirt?”

Rose looked at her t-shirt that was a union flag top. “Too early to say. I’m taking it out for a spin.”

“Why what’s wrong with her shirt? Is there something wrong with what I’m wearing?” Layla asked him worried that they would be stoned for showing their ankles.

The Doctor looked at her outfit and admired how her black spaghetti strap dress with a puffy skirt fit on her with her under bust corset. “No, I know we are in the past, but not too far to be a worry. You look beautiful. Fine, you look fine.” He coughed and turned around towards the door. “Although you might be looked at oddly for your jewelry. Come on if you’re coming. It won’t take a minute.” He walks inside but Layla and Rose stay outside.

“Mummy? Mummy?”

Rose and Layla look around in confusion and the Doctor walks inside the building. They look at each other mentally asking if they heard that and they both nodded in agreement.

“Mummy?”

Rose looks up and sees a child with a gasmask up on a nearby roof. “Look up there! Doctor? Doctor? There’s a kid up there!”

“He’s not here, we can deal with this ourselves. Hang on kid I’m coming!” Layla takes off not looking to see if Rose was coming or not.

Rose does catch up though. “Are you all right up there?”

“Mummy?”

They run up a metal fire escape staircase nearby and get to a flat roof but the child is still above them.

“Mummy?”

“Okay, Hang on! Don’t move!” Rose looks around trying to find a way up.

“Can you back away from the ledge, we don’t want you to fall off, Sweetheart.” Layla was worried he was going to fall and hurt himself.

Suddenly a rope dangle down in front of Layla and she takes a hold of it and pulls on it. Seeing that is seems secure she uses it to help her to climb up to the child. Rose follows up after her.

“Mummy. Balloon!”

The barrage balloon drifts and it pulls Rose and Layla away from the wall and the child causing them to dangle over the alleyway. “Doctor! Doctor! Doctor!” Rose shouts in panic.

Layla moans. She is worried too, but she knows that one, the Doctor is not here and two, there isn’t anything he could do right now anyways. They were dangling too far above the ground and drifted away from the building. Next thing they know searchlights comb the sky. Explosions and fires start in various parts of London. A squadron of German planes head towards the girls.

“Okay, maybe not this t-shirt.” Rose mumbles through trembling lips.

“Rose, just hold on tight, we will figure something out.” Layla tries to sound encouraging, but there isn’t anything in sight that can help them and she feels her heart drop. But tightens her grip anyways, refusing to give up just yet.

It feels like it has been forever and Rose’s arms are starting to hurt, trembling with exhaustion, and she is losing her grip. She starts to squirm around trying to get a better grip but ends up falling instead. Rose and Layla are screaming when Rose is caught in a beam of light.

“Okay, okay, I’ve got you.” They hear a man say.

“Who’s got me? Who’s got me, and you know, how?” Rose was scared, she was hanging in the air by a beam of light.

“I’m just programming your descent pattern. Keep as still as you can and keep your hands and feet inside the light field.”

“Descent pattern?”

“Oh, and could you switch off your cell phone? No, seriously, it interferes with my instrument.”

Rose gaped, was he ever going to answer my questions? “You know, no one ever believes that.” She gets out her phone and turns it off before shoving it back into her pocket.

“Thank you. That’s much better.” The man sounds satisfied.

“Oh, yea, that’s a real load off, that is. I’m hanging in the sky in the middle of a German air raid with the Union Jack across my chest, but hey, my mobile phone’s off.” Rose was getting a little hysterical.

“Be with you in a moment.”

“Could you two kind of speed this up a bit, I am quite fit, but I am getting tired of hanging on this rope in a dress. Please and thank you.” Layla snarked out.

“Hold tight!” The man told Rose.

“To what?!”

“…Fair point. Be with you in a second beautiful lady.”

Rose was beamed up and Layla was left hanging by herself. Luckily, she workouts or she would be struggling like Rose had been and if she had been, she doubted that man would have been able to catch both of them before they dropped.

A bright light shined on her and the man’s voice could be heard. “Now your turn Sweetheart, all you have to do is let go and you will stay in the beam of light, you’ll be fine.” He was talking to her soothingly like she was a scared child that he had to calm, but he had saved Rose when he didn’t have to so she trusted him to save her. She let go with no hesitation and crossed her arms over her chest and her ankles with her dress tucked in between her legs to keep it from floating around. She goes hurtling down the light field like Rose was and lands in the man’s arms, and she assumed Rose did as well. “I’ve got you. You’re fine, you’re fine. The tractor beam, it can scramble your head just a little.”

She wraps her arms around his neck to stabilize herself for a second and closes her eyes to ground herself. She takes some deep breaths and then opens her eyes and looks at the man. “Thank you for the help.”

“No problem, Sweetheart.”

“…”

“…”

“You can set me down now.”

“Oh! Right sorry.” He coughs and actually feels a small amount of heat come to his cheeks. She hadn’t reacted like other people and he was watching and waiting for her to and when she didn’t, he spaced out watching her.

Layla looks around and sees Rose laying on the bed asleep. “Is she okay?”

“Yeah, just fainted, she should be up and about soon.” Layla goes and sits by Rose and runs her hands through her hair and looks around the ship not noticing the gaze of the man.

It doesn’t take long before Rose finally stirs and Layla helps her sit up. “Better now?” The man asks her.

“You got lights in here?” She asks. He turns them on and she sees that it is small and cramped with a lot of wires hanging from the ceiling.

“Hello.” The man said.

“Hello.” This from Rose.

“Hello.” This from the man.

“Hello.” This from Layla, who gives them a cheesy grin and wiggles her fingers.

Rose laughs. “Let’s not start that again.”

The man nods his head with a laugh. “Okay.”

“So, who’re you supposed to be, then?”

The man flashes them a wallet. “Captain Jack Harkness, One-Three-Three Squadron, Royal Air Force American volunteer.”

Rose read’s it and smirks at him. “Liar. This is psychic paper. It tells me whatever you want it to tell me.”

Jack looks at her surprised. “How do you know?”

“Two things, One, we have a friend who uses this all the time.”

“Literally, all the time. He doesn’t get invited anywhere. He wouldn’t be able to have fun without it.” Layla nods her head seriously and they laugh.

“And two, you just handed me a piece of paper telling me you’re single and you work out.”

Jack smirks at her but doesn’t look upset that he was caught. “Tricky thing, psychic paper.”

Rose gives him a cheeky grin. “Yeah. Can’t let your mind wander when you’re handing it over.” She gives it back to him.

He reads it and gives her a sly smirk. “Oh, you sort of have a boyfriend called Mickey Smith but you consider yourself to be footloose and fancy free.”

Rose looks stunned. “What?”

“And another one, very.” Layla looks at Rose in disappointment, the least she could do is not string along Mickey Mouse, he deserves better than that.

Rose looks away from the handsome stranger. “Shall we try to get along without the psychic paper.”

He shrugs, he does better without it anyways. “That would be better, wouldn’t it?”

Rose puts her hands in her pockets and walks around the tiny spaceship looking around, trying to change the subject. “Nice spaceship.” Layla sits on the bed and watches the interaction between the two, not really interested, but not rude enough to demand to leave either.

“Gets me around.”

“Very Spock.”

“Rose what is it with you and Star Trek, since when do you even like Star Trek? Or do you just have a thing for tall, big eared, short dark hair, clever, alien males?” Layla tried not to, but she couldn’t help but burst out laughing at the look on Rose’s face. It was so hilarious! Then Rose gave her the stink eye and it made it even funnier!

She completely missed the look of interest from Jack, but Rose didn’t. Maybe I can use this to my advantage. She wasn’t wrong about the Spock thing. If she spends more time with Jack, the Doctor would pay more attention to me. The Doctor is so interesting and I want to know more about him.

Jack looked at them confused. “Who?”

Rose blushed. “Guessing you’re not a local boy, then.”

“A cell phone, a liquid crystal watch, and fabrics that won’t be around for at least another two decades plus the style, and facial piercings that are definitely not done for quite some time. Guessing you’re not local girls.”

Layla nods, and Rose smirks. “Guessing right.” She reaches out to touch the console and hisses as she runs her hands along it.

Jack sits up straighter. “Burn your hands on the rope?”

A bomb whistles past and distracts Rose. “Yeah. We’re parked in midair! Can’t anyone down there see us?”

“No, can I have a look at your hands for a moment?” Jack has a scarf in his hands and is reaching for Rose’s hands slowly.

Rose is hesitant to give him her hands. “Why?”

“Please? You can stop acting now. I know exactly who you are. I can spot a Time Agent a mile away.”

Rose raises her brow. “Time Agent?”

Jack’s back was facing Layla so he missed her raising her brow and the amusement that flashed across her face. Oh yeah, he could spot an Agent, so well in fact that he can spot them before they even hear and work for the place.

“I’ve been expecting one of you guys to show up. Though not, I must say, by barrage balloon. Do you often travel that way?”

“Sometimes I get swept off my feet. By balloons. What are you doing?”

Jack was wrapping his scarf around Rose’s hands and wrists. “Try to keep still.”

“That’s kinky Jack, Rose is pretty vanilla, might want to ease her into it.” Layla gives Jack a wink when he turns around and gives her a roguish smirk and Rose blushes.

He presses a button and a glowing bundle zoom into Rose’s burnt palms. “Nanogenes. Sub-atomic robots. The air in here is full of them. They just repaired three layers of your skin.” The glow dissipates and he unties her wrists.

“Well, tell them thanks.” Rose looked at her hands and was glad that they were no longer burning.

Jack turned to Layla and grabbed her hands and was looking to see if they were burned. They were a little bit and he didn’t want her to be in any pain. He decided to tease her and tied her wrists too. The smirk she gave him told him she knew what he was doing. “I’m tempted to leave you like this, it is a good look for you.” He told her. She threw her head back in a laugh and he untied her when her hands were done being healed. Rose was grinning happily hoping that they were taking a liking to each other.

Layla had to admit that Jack was good looking and seemed like he was fun to be around, but he wasn’t the Doctor, he didn’t give her the same feelings the Doctor did. She was drawn to the Doctor, like a magnet. She constantly wanted to touch him and she wanted to know everything about him. She had never been attracted to someone as much as she was to him, and it wasn’t just physical, it was emotional too, but it also felt deeper than that.

“Now, shall we get down to business?” Jack stood up and looked at the girls.

“Business?” Rose asked him confused, forgetting that he was confusing them with Time Agents.

“Shall we have a drink on the balcony? Bring up the glasses.” Jack opens a hatch to the top of his spaceship and the girls follow him to the top.

Rose is walking with her arms out to the side like she is on a tightrope. “I know I’m standing on something. Jack uses a remote control and the ship appears. “Okay, you have an invisible spaceship.

Jack nods his head. “Yeah.”

“Tethered up to Big ben for some reason.” Rose looked at him confused.

“First rule of active camouflage. Park somewhere you’ll remember.”

Layla barks out a laugh. “Forget often enough to have to make that rule Jack? Or directionally challenged?” Jack opens the bottle of champagne and fills the glasses that Rose brought with her and notices that she only brought two. He looks at Layla questioningly.

“I don’t drink.” She tells him quietly. “Bad memories.” While Jack doesn’t know what happened, he isn’t one to push and he doesn’t want to upset this beautiful lady and wants to make her sad eyes go away.

Jack and Rose are quietly sipping their champagne and Layla is enjoying the night. “You know, it’s getting a bit late, we should really be getting back.” Rose wanted to get back to the Doctor.

“We’re discussing business.” Jack says smoothly.

Rose laughed. “This isn’t business, this is champagne.”

“I try never to discuss business with a clear head. Are you traveling alone? Are you authorized to negotiate with me?”

“What would we be negotiating?”

“I have something for the Time Agency. Something they’d like to buy. Are you in power to make payment?”

Layla looked at Jack thoughtfully. What would be the chances that we chase something that is hurtling through the time vortex at a massive speed heading straight for London, and at the same time when we get here, we end up meeting Jack, who just happens to be selling something to this Time Agency, and that they wouldn’t be connected? The chances of that would be slim to none.

“Well, I, I should talk to my companion.” Rose was starting to get distracted by the alcohol and his looks.

“Companion?”

That’s right! The Doctor, the one I like. “I should really be getting back to him.”

Jack pouted slightly. “Him?”

“Do you have the time.” Rose asked randomly. Jack sighed and used his remote and the clock face on Big Ben lights up showing nine thirty. Rose was impressed. “Okay, that was flash. That was on the flash side.” Layla sniggered; It really doesn’t take much to impress Rose.

“So, when you say your companion, just how disappointed should I be?” Jack was trying to figure out if he would be able to seduce this companion or not to make his sale.

“Okay, we’re standing in midair.” Rose said ignoring his question.

“Mmm-hmmm.”

“On a spaceship, during a German air raid.”

“Do you like Glenn Miller?” Jack started to try to dance with her, but Rose had a brilliant idea and pretended that she was a little too woozy from the alcohol.

“I think you should dance with Layla; I think I need a breather from the champagne for a few minutes.” She goes over to Layla and none to gently pushes her towards Jack who catches her gently and Rose smirks at her success.

Jack uses his remote and Moonlight Serenade plays. He takes Layla into his arms and they dance. He isn’t upset about the partner switch, quite happy in fact, Rose is a pretty girl, but there is something about Layla that draws you in.

“It’s 1941, the height of the London Blitz, the height of the German bombing campaign, and something else has fallen on London. A fully equipped Chula warship. The last one in existence, armed to the teeth. And I know where it is, because I parked it. If the Agency can name the right price, I can get it for you. But in two hours, a German bomb is going to fall on it and destroy it forever. That’s your deadline. That’s the deal. Now, shall we discuss payment?”

Layla didn’t say anything and looked intensely into his eyes. It felt as if she was looking into his soul and made him feel like he was stripped raw. “Do you want to know what I think?”

Not really, your eyes tell me you know and see too much. “What?”

“You don’t want to make an ethical deal with them, hence the champagne. You also don’t care about it because you’d move it before the bomb destroyed it, so it’s not worth it to you to try to find another buyer if we say no and the bomb will clean it up for you. Because of that, you don’t want to show the product before discussing payment. So, revenge? Leverage? Blackmail? I think the Time Agency has something you need or want. Something they won’t give you. So, you try to sell them things they might want in hopes of getting it or using it against them.”

Jack swallows hard and his heart is pounding harshly. She sees too much. She is too perceptive. “So, this companion of yours, does he handle the business?”

Layla smiles at him softly, kindly, and apologetically. She knows that she is perceptive and it can make someone uncomfortable. She squeezes his hand and stops dancing. “Yes.”

Jack looks away from her kind eyes. “Well, maybe we should go find him.”

“And how’re you going to do that?” Rose cuts in, excited that they are going to go see the Doctor.

Jack gives her a smug smirk. “Easy. I’ll do a scan for alien tech.”

Rose pumps her fist in the air. “Finally, a professional.” Jack and Layla just look at her oddly.

Xxxxxx

The Doctor walks into the club and follows a waiter through a bead curtain to where a saxophonist and jazz band is accompanying a woman as she sings.

“For nobody else gave me the thrill. When I have upsold silence still, it had to be you, wonderful you, it had to be you.”

The Doctor takes the woman’s place at the microphone. “Excuse me. Excuse me. Could I have everybody’s attention just for a mo? Be very quick. Hello! Might seem like a stupid question, but has anything fallen from the sky recently?” It goes completely silent and the Doctor doesn’t understand why. All of a sudden everyone starts to laugh like he told the funniest joke in the world.

His eyebrows squish together. “Sorry, have I said something funny? It’s just, there’s this thing that I need to find. Would’ve fallen from the sky a couple of days ago.”

He stops talking as loud air raid sirens start to go off and everyone starts to leave, the Doctor still not realizing the problem continues to try to get the answer to his question. “Would’ve landed quite near here. With a very loud…”

“Quickly as you can, down to the shelter.” A man is hurrying people out the door. The Doctor finally looks around and spots a poster on the wall, ‘Hitler will send no warning!’

“Bang.”

Coming out of the club he sees that his companions are not there, he was glad that they didn’t go in with him, that would have been embarrassing and they would have teased him about it for days. “Layla? Rose?”

The Doctor hears a cat meow nearby and goes towards it and starts to pet it. “You know, one day, just one day, maybe, I’m going to meet someone who gets the whole don’t wander off thing. Nine hundred, who really knows, years of phone box travel, it’s the only thing left to surprise me.”

A phone starts to ring nearby and the Doctor looks around only to look surprised when he realizes it is coming from the Tardis. He looks at it oddly. He opens the small door revealing the antique phone. “How can you be ringing? What’s that about, ringing? What am I supposed to do with a ringing phone?”

He gets out his sonic screwdriver and starts to mess with the phone to figure out why it is ringing when a young woman walks by him up the alleyway. “Don’t answer it. It’s not for you.”

The Doctor stops what he is doing and looks at her. “And how do you know that?”

She turns and faces him. “’Cos I do. And I’m telling you, don’t answer it.”

“Well, if you know so much, tell me this. How can it be ringing? It’s not even a real phone. It’s not connected, it’s not…” The Doctor stops talking when he realizes that at some point, she ditched him and he had been talking to himself.

Seeing that the woman is gone, he is left with no answers on how the phone is ringing, and that the phone is still ringing, he decides to answer it. “Hello? Hello? This is the Doctor Speaking. How many I help you?” He says it cheerfully with a big grin.

“Mummy? Mummy?”

The Doctor’s hearts clench as he hears the child’s voice and the sadness in it. He softens his voice wanting to help the child find his mother. “Who is this? Who’s speaking?”

“Are you, my mummy?”

Still talking gently, but starting to get a weird feeling about this whole thing he asks again. “Who is this?”

“Mummy?”

The Doctor’s voice loses all the gentleness it once had and becomes stern, especially once he remembers that this is not a real phone and a child should not be able to contact him on it. “How did you ring here? This isn’t a real phone. It’s not wired up to anything.”

“Mummy?”

The child hangs up and the Doctor hears the dial tone. He puts the phone back up and opens the doors to the Tardis. “Layla? Rose? Are you two in here?” He gets no answer back.

He hears a noise behind him and runs out of the alley towards it. He walks up towards a fence and sees a family coming out of their house, the husband complaining the whole time and the wife trying to get him in the shelter. “The planes are coming. Can’t you hear them? Into the shelter. None of your nonsense, now move it!” The wife snaps at her husband and the Doctor snickers. He thinks that if Layla was here, she would be making a whip cracking noise. She told him that she does it to Mickey when he gives into Rose’s whims on something he didn’t want to do but she did.

“Come on, hurry up, get in there. Come on. Arthur! Arthur, will you hurry up? Didn’t you hear the siren?” The wife isn’t too hysterical for an air raid, the Doctor thought, this must happen a lot for her to act like this.

Her husband finally comes out of the house stuffing a roll in his mouth, chewing, and shouting up at the sky at the same time. “Middle of dinner, every night. Blooming Germans. Don’t you eat?”

The wife looked around showing worry for the first time. “I can hear the planes.”

The husband is still complaining to the sky though. “Don’t you eat!”

His wife frowns and starts to push him towards the shelter. “Oh, keep your voice down, will you? It’s an air raid! Get in. Look, there’s a war on.”

“I know there’s a war on. Don’t push me.” He pouts like a child.

The Doctor sees that as soon as the family is safely in the shelter and locked up, the woman from before enters the garden and goes into the family’s house. He goes to a window nearby and sees her nicking some tin goods.

The Doctor had watched as the young woman came back out of the house and whistled a couple of times and then a mass of children come running towards her and into the house. When the number slows down, he swiftly and quietly sneaks in and hides out of sight watching them, hearing the children call the woman, Nancy, before he sits at a spot at the table unnoticed.

“He told me about it.” The little boy points to another sitting beside him.

Nancy smiles at him kindly. “Sleeping rough?”

He bobs his head. “Yes, miss.”

Nancy picks up the plate of meat she had been carving and hands it to the child next to her. “All right, then. One slice each, and I want to see everyone chewing properly.” All of the children eagerly dig into the food on their plates, making sure to chew properly, so they don’t get scolded.

“Thank you, miss.” One boy says.

“Thank you, miss.” Another boy says.

“Thank you, miss!” The Doctor says with a big cheesy grin and continues to pass on the plate and goes on eating like nothing was wrong while the children panic.

Nancy calms them down. “It’s all right. Everybody stay where you are!”

The Doctor looks at all the kids and his hearts clench at how small and thin they are, but he puts on a big grin anyways. “Good here, innit? Who’s got the salt?”

Nancy has not stopped looking at him the whole time trying to decide if he was a threat or not, but this food was a good opportunity that she couldn’t pass up just because of this stranger, who was also eating. “Back in your seats. He shouldn’t be here either.”

“So, you lot, what’s your story?” The Doctor was curious, the children were supposed to be evacuated already, why were they still here?

One of the older boys looked at him suspiciously. “What do you mean?”

“You’re homeless, right? Living rough?”

“Why do you want to know that? Are you a copper?” One of the younger boys asked and the Doctor gives him a soft smile at the cuteness.

“Of course, I’m not a copper. What’s a copper going to do with you lot anyway? Arrest you for starving?” That eased the tension and all the kids laughed. “I make it 1941. You lot shouldn’t even be in London. You should’ve been evacuated to the country by now.”

“I was evacuated, sent me to a farm.” A boy told him.

“So, why’d you come back?”

The boy ducked his head as if he was ashamed. “There was a man there.” The Doctor grit his teeth as he knew what the boy was not saying and he is glad that Layla is not here because then she would try to hunt this man down.

“Yeah, same with Ernie. Two homes ago.” Another told him pointing to the boy who looked at him suspiciously earlier.

Ernie gave the kid a dirty look. “Shut up. It’s better on the streets anyway. It’s better food.”

“Yeah. Nancy always gets the best food for us.” They all looked up at Nancy like a big sister.

The Doctor looked at Nancy. “So that’s what you do, is it, Nancy?”

She pursed her lips, but wouldn’t really look him in the eyes very long. “What is?”

“As soon as the sirens go, you find a big fat family meal still warm on the table with everyone down the air raid shelter and bingo! Feeding frenzy for the homeless kids of London Town. Puddings for all, as long as the bombs don’t get you.”

She looked at him challengingly, daring him to tell her that what she was doing for these kids was wrong. “Something wrong with that?”

“Wrong with it? It’s brilliant.” He gives her a grin before he drifts off in his mind. “I’m not sure if it’s Marxism or a West End musical.”

Nancy just looks at him oddly not understanding what he was talking about. “Why’d you follow me? what do you want?”

“I want to know how a phone that isn’t a phone gets a phone call. You seem to be the one to ask.”

She turns away from him and starts to busy herself with the dishes of food. “I did you a favor. I told you not to answer it, that’s all I’m telling you.”

“Great thanks.” He says sarcastically, that helps so much. “And I want to find a whitey in a black dress and a blond in a union jack. And I mean specific ones, I didn’t just wake up this morning with a craving. Well, I did for the white and black, but that’s beside the point. Anybody seen two girls like that?” The kids laughed at him as he started to ramble about Layla, and they shook their heads.

Nancy walks up to the Doctor and snatches his plate away. His eyes widen and he pouts. “What have I done wrong?”

“You took two slices. No blondes with flags and no white with black.” She just wanted this man to leave them in peace. “Anything else before you leave?”

Ignoring her sarcasm he nods his head enthusiastically. “Yeah, there is actually. Thanks for asking. Something I’ve been looking for. Would’ve fallen from the sky about a month ago, but not a bomb. Not the usual kind, anyway. Wouldn’t have exploded. Probably would have just buried itself in the ground somewhere, and it would have looked something like this.” While he was talking, he has a notebook out and was sketching what him and the girls had been following through the vortex. He shows it to her and he sees her eyes widen in recognition. Before she can talk though, a knock on the door causes everyone to jump, startled.

“Mummy? Are you in there, mummy?”

The Doctor walks towards a window and looks out it and can see a little boy with a gas mask on at the front door.

“Mummy?”

Nancy looks around panicked. “Who was the last one in?”

Ernie points to the Doctor, throwing him under the bus. “Him.”

She shakes her head. Since he followed me then he came in the same way I did. “No, he came round the back. Who came in the front?”

“Me.” One of the boys say quietly, afraid that he was in trouble.

Nancy goes to him and grabs his arms firmly, but gently. “Did you close the door?”

He tries to remember, but all he thought about at the time was eating. “Er.”

She slightly shakes him. “Did you close the door?”

“Mummy? Mummy? Mummy?”

Not getting an answer from the child she runs to the front door and bolts the front door so the boy can’t get inside. The Doctor walks up behind her and looks at her oddly. “What’s this then? It’s never easy being the only child left out in the cold, you know.”

“I suppose you’d know.” She says blankly, too focused on the door.

“I do actually, yes.” He says quietly.

Nancy shakes her head. “It’s not exactly a child.”

“Mummy?”

Nancy runs back into the dining room. “Right everybody out. Across the back garden and under the fence. Now! Go! Move!”

The children grab their coats and flee the house. Nancy is talking to the sole remaining little girl, who looks to be no more than four years old. “Come on, baby, we’ve got to go, all right? It’s just like a game. Just like chasing. Take your coat, go on. Go!”

“Mummy? Mummy? Please let me in, mummy. Please let me in, mummy.” The little boy shoves his hand though the letter box.

The Doctor walks closer to the door and squats down. He starts to reach towards the hand. “Are you alright?”

“Please let me in.”

Before the Doctor can touch the child, a vase is thrown at the door and smashes. The hand withdraws quickly and the Doctor turns and looks at Nancy in shock. She is breathing heavily with a wild-eyed look. “You mustn’t let him touch you!”

“What happens if he touches me?”

She pauses for a second, not wanting to talk about it anymore and not knowing how to describe it. “He’ll make you like him.”

“And what’s he like?”

“I’ve got to go.” She turns ready to run away. Her heart still hurts and she still can’t grieve because her pain is still following her.

“Nancy, what’s he like?”

She takes a deep shuddering breath and looks at him with vacant eyes. “He’s empty.” The telephone starts to ring and fear enters her eyes. “It’s him. He can make phones ring. He can. Just like with that police box you saw.” The Doctor picks up the phone wanting to confirm that it is indeed the child.

“Are you, my mummy?”

Nancy takes the phone out of his hands and slams it back down ending the call. However, the radio in the dining room starts up next. “Mummy? Please let me in, mummy?”

Next was a clockwork monkey. “Mummy, mummy, mummy.”

Nancy was shaking her head and backing away from the electronics and towards the door. “Stay if you want to.” She turns and leaves out the back door without looking back. The Doctor walks back towards the front door and the boy puts his hand back through the letterbox. The Doctor sees a scar on the back of his hand.

“Mummy? Let me in please, mummy. Please let me in.”

“Your mummy isn’t here.” While he is worried about where Layla and Rose are, he is glad that Layla isn’t here right now. This would break her heart to have to hear this and not be able to do anything about it.

“Are you, my mummy?”

“No mummies here.” Maybe in the far, far, future he can make Layla a mummy and hear their children call her that. “Nobody here but us chickens. Well, this chicken.”

“I’m scared.”

The Doctor’s face falls. To have to deny a child, especially one that is scared is a terrible feeling. “Why are those other children frightened of you?”

“Please let me in, mummy. I’m scared of the bombs.”

The Doctor couldn’t do it. He can’t let this child suffer even if he is ‘empty’. He is a scared little boy and he isn’t going to deny him comfort anymore. “Okay. I’m opening the door now.” The boy pulls his hand out of the letterbox and the Doctor unbolts the door. When he opens it though, the boy is gone and the street is deserted.

It wasn’t hard for the Doctor to use his cleverness to figure out where Nancy was going and follow her. Nancy is scurrying up to a shack in some railway sidings and hiding the food she took from the last house she was in. When she stands up, she sees the Doctor there, smiling. “How’d you follow me here?”

“I’m good at following, me. Got the nose for it.”

“People can’t usually follow me if I don’t want them to.” She is looking around for a way to escape him and lose him so he can’t follow her again.

The Doctor just taps the side of his nose. “My nose has special powers.”

Nancy looks at his nose and giggles. “Yeah? That’s why it’s…” She stops not wanting to continue.

“What?” Already knowing she is laughing at the size of it.

“Nothing.” She looks away but giggles again.

“What?” He asks her innocently.

“Nothing. Do your ears have special powers too?”

He tilts his head to the side. Knew it, luckily, Layla still finds this daft old face attractive. “What are you trying to say?”

“Goodnight, Mister.”

“Nancy, there’s something chasing you and the other kids. Looks like a boy and it isn’t a boy, and it started about a month ago, right? The thing I’m looking for, the thing that fell from the sky, that’s when it landed. And you know what I’m talking about, don’t you?” He looks at her seriously, wanting her to know that he isn’t going to give up asking until he gets the answers he is looking for.

“There was a bomb. A bomb that wasn’t a bomb. Fell the other end of Limehouse Green Station.” She gives up and finally answers him.

“Take me there.” He demands.

She shakes her head. “There’s soldiers guarding it. Barbed wire. You’ll never get through.

He gives her a slightly impish grin. “Try me.”

“You sure you want to know what’s going on in there?”

He nods. “I really want to know.”

“Then there’s someone you need to talk to first.”

“And who might that be?”

“The doctor.” The Doctor looked at her oddly, he didn’t think it was a future him, but why would he need to talk to a doctor about a not-bomb, bomb?

Nancy reluctantly takes him to where the not-bomb, bomb was and waited there with him while he scoped it out. The Doctor is using his binoculars to scan the area. She points off towards an area that is behind the barbed wire. “The bombs under that tarpaulin. They put the fence up overnight. See that building?” She points in another direction. “The hospital.”

“What about it?” He didn’t understand why he needed to talk to this doctor, all he wanted was a look at the not-bomb.

“That’s where the doctor is. You should talk to him.” She was very firm.

“Why?”

“Because then maybe you won’t want to get inside.” She knew what happened when they took Jamie, what happened to the patients and the staff, and if he understood, he would leave well enough alone.

She turns to leave when he stops her. “Where’re you going?”

“There was a lot of food in that house. I’ve got mouths to feed. Should be safe enough now.”

“Can I ask you a question? Who did you lose?” While he admires that she is taking care of all these kids, in times like this, people usually don’t do something like this without a reason, without going through it themselves or losing someone close to them.

“What?” She asks him softly.

“The way you look after all those kids. It’s because you lost somebody, isn’t it? You’re doing all this to make up for it?” It reminded him of why he does the things he does, because of the guilt. That by helping others, maybe, just maybe, it would lessen the guilt around his hearts. Before the war he helped out all kinds of species just to lend a hand. But since the war, helping people and Layla are the only reasons he hadn’t fallen apart from the barely bearable guilt.

“My little brother. Jamie.” Her breath hitches. “One night I went out looking for food. Same night that thing fell. I told him not to follow me, I told him it was dangerous, but he just. He just didn’t like being on his own.”

“What happened?” The Doctor figured he died, but wasn’t sure if it was the thing they chased through the vortex or the air raids, or if she even knew.

“In the middle of an air raid? What do you think happened?” She asked him a little incredulous.

The Doctor looks up at the sky. “Amazing.”

She looks at him confused. “What is?”

“1941. Right now, not very far from here, the German war machine is rolling up the map of Europe. Country after country, falling like dominoes. Nothing can stop it. Nothing. Until one, tiny damp little island says no. No. Not here. A mouse in front of a lion. You’re amazing, the lot of you. Don’t know what you do to Hitler, but you frighten the hell out of me. Off you go then do what you’ve got to do. Save the world.” Nancy just looks at him like he has lost his marbles and turns away to get back to work feeding the hungry and homeless of her tiny little home.

The Doctor decides to go talk to this doctor at the hospital. He walks to the hospital and gets to the gate and sees that it is chained up. He uses his sonic screwdriver on it and easily unlocks it. Going inside the hospital it is silent. Long, dark wards, every bed has a very still patient in it, and they are all wearing gasmasks. An elderly doctor comes into view leaning heavily on a walking stick.

“You’ll find them everywhere. In every bed, in every ward. Hundreds of them.” Was the first thing the man said to the Doctor.

“Yes, I saw. Why are they still wearing gas masks?”

“They’re not.” He says simply. “Who are you?”

“I’m, er. Are you the doctor?”

“Doctor Constantine. And you are?” He asked again not giving up on trying to learn his name.

The Doctor ignores his question again though, he is a master at that. “Nancy sent me.”

“Nancy?” Doctor Constantine looks at him in question. “That means you must’ve been asking about the bomb.”

“Yes.”

“What do you know about it?”

The Doctor shakes his head. “Nothing, unfortunately. Which is why I was asking. What do you know?”

“Only what it has done.” He sweeps his arm out gesturing towards the patients in the beds.

The Doctor looks around. “These people, they were all caught up in the blast?”

“None of them were.” Doctor Constantine says, confusing him. He laughs at the look on the Doctor’s face but his laughter turns into coughing. He sits in a nearby chair and waves off the Doctor when he moves forward to help him.

The Doctor looks him over carefully. “You’re very sick.”

“Dying, I should think.” Calmly accepting his death. He has already made peace with it. “I just haven’t been able to find the time. Are you a doctor?” Maybe this man can find the cure for these people?

The Doctor nods slightly. “I have my moments.”

“Have you examined any of them?”

“No.” He wanted to, but Doctor Constantine came in before he could.

Doctor Constantine gives his consent. “Don’t touch the flesh though.”

“Which one?”

“Anyone.” He says gravely.

The Doctor points his sonic screwdriver at the nearest patient and Doctor Constantine looks on in fascination, wondering what results this man was getting, he decides to ask. “Conclusions?”

“Massive head trauma, mostly to the left side. Partial collapse of the chest cavity, mostly to the right. There’s some scarring on the back of the hand and the gas mask seems to be fused to the flesh, but I can’t see any burns.”

Doctor Constantine nods having already expected those results, he points towards another patient. “Examine another.”

The Doctor goes to the one he pointed at and examines them. Reading the results, the Doctor’s eyes widen. “This isn’t possible.”

Doctor Constantine finds a little humor in the man’s shock. “Examine another.”

Examining another produces the same results. “This isn’t possible.”

“No.” Doctor Constantine nods his head in agreement.

The Doctor looks at him baffled. “They’ve all got the same injuries.”

“Yes.”

“Exactly the same.” He is starting to repeat himself like he did with Charles Dickens.

“Yes.”

“Identical, all of them, right down to the scar on the back of the hand.”

In his shock the Doctor misses Doctor Constantine looking at his own hand and seeing that he, too, had the same scar that all of the patient carried on their own hand. The Doctor had been pacing back and forth in a small line but stops and faces Doctor Constantine. “How did this happen? How did it start?”

“When that bomb dropped, there was just one victim.”

“Dead?”

He nods his head. “At first. His injuries were truly dreadful. By the following morning, every doctor and nurse who had treated him, who had touched him, had those exact same injuries. By the morning after that, every patient in the same ward, the exact same injuries. Within a week, the entire hospital. Physical injuries as plague. Can you explain that? What would you say was the cause of death?”

The Doctor this about the list of injuries and goes for the one that would normally kill a human first. “The head trauma?”

“No.”

“Asphyxiation.”

“No.”

“The collapse of the chest cavity.” The Doctor asked getting a little exasperated.

“No.” Doctor Constantine found it a little amusing because he knew that this man wouldn’t be able to answer this correctly.

“Alright. What was the cause of death?” He gives up.

Doctor Constantine internally pouted that he gave up so soon. “There wasn’t one. They’re not dead.” He uses his walking stick and hits a waste basket nearby. The noise causes the patients to sit up in their beds. The Doctor jumps startled watching them all sit up at once, a little freaked out.

“It’s alright. They’re harmless.” Doctor Constantine soothes him. “They just sort of sit there. No heartbeat, no life signs of any kind. They just don’t die.”

The Doctor grimaces. “And they’ve just been left here? Nobody’s doing anything?” He watches as the patients all at once lay back down.

“I try and make them comfortable. What else is there?” What am I? Chopped liver?

The Doctor realizes his mistake. “Just you? You’re the only one here?”

“Before this war began, I was a father and a grandfather. Now I am neither. But I am still a doctor.”

The Doctor thinks back on his own family that he had once had, while it was not a marriage of love with his late wife, he did think back on those years with some fondness, mainly towards his children and grandchildren. “Yeah. I know the feeling.”

“I suspect the plan is to blow up the hospital and blame it on the German bomb.”

The Doctor looked around grimly. “Probably too late.”

Doctor Constantine shook his head. “No. There are isolated cases. Isolated cases breaking out all over London.” He started coughing really bad and the Doctor started towards him. “Stay back, stay back. Listen to me. Top floor. Room eight oh two. That’s where they took the first victim, the one from the crash site. And you must find Nancy again.”

“Nancy?” The Doctor looked at the elderly man worriedly. He was coughing really badly and struggling to breath, but told him to stay back.

“It was her brother. She knows more than she’s saying. She won’t tell me, but she might…” He stops coughing and a gasmask starts to protrude from his mouth and form around his face. “Mummy. Are you, my mummy?”

Xxxxxx

Jack leads the girls to a hospital and it is eerily quiet. Jack is looking at his wrist with his own alien tech scanning for the Doctor and sees that he is getting close to the signal. “Hello?”

“Hello?” Rose is excited to see the Doctor again.

“Hello?” Jack smirks at Rose teasingly and chuckles when she blushes and looks away from him.

Layla groans quietly. “Please don’t start that again.”

Jack pats her gently on the arm as the door opens and the Doctor walks out. Jack sees the Doctor and walks up to him. “Good evening. Hope we’re not interrupting. Jack Harkness. I’ve been hearing all about you on the way over.” Jack gives him a charming smile and shakes his hand.

“He knows. I had to tell him about us being Time Agents.” Rose tries to get the Doctor to pick up what she is throwing down, but he is still confused.

“And it’s a real pleasure to meet you, Mister Spock.” Jack says seriously before letting go and walks into the room the Doctor had left to go look at the patients.

Once Jack is out of ear shot Layla releases the laugh, she had been holding in. The look on the Doctors’ face was priceless. Jack had said it seriously too, because he really thought that was the Doctor’s name. The Doctor looks between Rose and Layla confused. “Mister Spock?” He lands his gaze on Rose though, figuring she had something to do with it from her comments from earlier.

“What was I supposed to say? You don’t have a name. Don’t you ever get tired of Doctor? Doctor who?”

“Nine centuries in, I’m coping.” He huffed. Besides, he looked towards Layla, not everyone reacted that way. “Where’ve you two been? We’re in the middle of a London Blitz. It’s not a good time for a stroll.” Especially with a handsome man like Jack, the Doctor thought jealously.

Layla pursed her lips and looked away from his searching eyes not wanting to tell him knowing he would be upset they put themselves in danger. Rose had no problems telling him though. “Who’s strolling? We went by barrage balloon. Only way to see an air raid.”

“What?!” His gaze snaps to Layla and looks her over for any damage and she meets his eyes meekly in apology and he softens seeing that she is safe and okay.

Rose missed this interaction though because she had been heading towards the room where Jack was. “Listen, what’s a Chula warship?” She heads in leaving the Doctor pondering and Layla behind.

“Chula?”

“Yeah, he was trying to sell it to the Time Agency, thinks we were Time Agents. Something about his act though, there is something more involved in it than money for him, but I don’t know what.” The Doctor doesn’t visually respond to her so she slips her hand under his jacket and rubs his back to get his attention. He startles slightly not expecting her touch.

“Sorry, let’s go see what type of warship he was trying to sell, shall we?”

Xxxxxx

The Doctor and Layla walk in and see Jack scanning different patients with the alien tech on his wrist. He looks at the readings and his eyebrows rise up to the middle of his forehead. “This just isn’t possible. How did this happen?”

“What kind of Chula ship landed here?” The Doctor demanded stiffly, a hard look in his eyes, already blaming Jack for this mess.

Jack’s eyes widen as he looks at the Doctor. “What?”

Rose gives the Doctor a smug smirk. “He said it was a warship. He stole it, parked it somewhere out there, somewhere a bomb’s going to fall on it unless we make him an offer.” See, I was paying attention.

“What kind of warship?” The Doctor’s voice was getting slightly harsher.

Jack threw his arms out to the side. “Does it matter? It’s got nothing to do with this.”

“This started at the bomb site. It’s got everything to do with it. What kind of warship?”

“An ambulance!” He blurts out. He holds out his wrist and shows a hologram of the vehicle on it. “Look. That’s what you chased through the time vortex. It’s space junk. I wanted to kid you it was valuable. It’s empty. I made sure of it. Nothing but a shell. I threw it at you. Saw your time travel vehicle, love the retro look, by the way, nice panels. Threw you the bait.”

“Bait?” Rose looked so offended at that moment.

Jack shrugged. “I wanted to sell it to you and then destroy it before you found out it was junk.”

Rose glares at him. “You said it was a warship.”

“They have ambulances in wars. It was a con. I was conning you. That’s what I am, I’m a con man. I thought you were Time Agents. You’re not, are you.”

Rose smirked at him. “Just a couple more freelancers.” Layla looked at him sadly, she can see the tough act he is putting on, but he is genuinely upset and agitated. It must come back to what I said earlier, maybe I was more on track that I thought.

“Oh. Should have known. The way you are blending in with the local color. I mean, flag girl was bad enough, but U-boat captain?” He looks towards Layla. “And while that dress does look great on you Sweetheart, it does not go for this time period.”

He turns back to the Doctor and faces his glare not realizing it is from his comment to Layla and not the situation. “Anyway, whatever’s happening here has got nothing to do with that ship.”

Rose looks at the patients in question. “What is happening here, Doctor?”

He didn’t even look at her. “Human DNA is being rewritten by an idiot.”

“What do you mean?” She went to stand by him, but he walked away from her and he grabbed Layla’s hand and pulled her away from a patient she was about to touch and shook his head.

“I don’t know. Some kind of virus converting human beings into these things. But why? What’s the point?”

It was a good thing that the Doctor pulled Layla away because as soon as he finished talking all at once, all of the patients in the ward sat up and started talking at the same time. “Mummy. Mummy. Mummy? Mummy?”

Rose ran behind the Doctor. “What’s happening?”

The patients and Doctor Constantine all start to stand up. “Mummy.”

The Doctor is holding onto Layla’s hand tightly and his other hand is held out in front of Rose and Jack backing them up. “Don’t let them touch you.”

“Why? What happens?” Rose asked.

“Is that why you stopped me from touching them?”

“Yes Layla, if you touch them, you become like them.” The Doctor told them worriedly as the patients started to crowd around and close in on them.

“Help me, mummy.”

The Doctor was looking for a way out but they were blocked from all sides, there was no escape. They were going to be touched by the patients if he didn’t think of something, he had to protect them.

“Mummy. Mummy. Mummy. Mummy. Mummy. Mummy. Mummy.”

Chapter Text

The patients are within touching distance when the Doctor thinks of something that might work with the child like mentality they are presenting. He gives them a stern look. “Go to your room.” The patients stop moving and just stand very still. Seeing that he got at least a reaction out of them, the Doctor tries again. “Go to your room. I mean it. I’m very, very angry with you. I am very, very cross. Go to your room!” He points with his finger off towards the side and is happy to see them hang their heads in shame and shuffle away. They go back to their beds and lay back down. The Doctor laughs in relief. “I’m really glad that worked. Those would have been terrible last words.”

“You tell them, Daddy.” Layla gives him a wicked smile and winked at him. Whether she meant it literally or sexually, he won’t ever know. I knew he had to have been a father before, no way he had never had a family before with the way he was with that toddler at Jackie’s. She laughed as he sputtered.

Rose looked at the patients and scratched her cheek. “Why are they all wearing gas masks?”

Jack had sat down in a nearby chair and put his feet up on a desk. “They’re not. Those masks are flesh and bone.”

The girls face twist in a mix of disgust and pity. Rose touches her face as if to confirm that she still has it and Layla looks at them sadly. “How awful.”

Hearing the sadness in her voice, the Doctor turns towards Jack and looks at him hard. “How was your con supposed to work?”

“Simple enough, really. Find some harmless piece of space junk, let the nearest Time Agent track it to earth, convince him it’s value, name a price. When he’s put fifty percent up front, oops! A German bomb falls on it, destroys it forever. He never gets to see what he’s paid for; never knows he’s been had. I buy him a drink with his own money, and we discuss dumb luck. The perfect self-cleaning con.” Jack looks around to see if anyone agrees with him about what a great plan it was and is met with different looks. Rose won’t look at him, the Doctor is looking at him angrily, and Layla, her look is the look that makes him the most uncomfortable. She looks at him like she knows he can be better, that he is better than this, and he doesn’t understand why she would have that view of him after only just meeting him.

To be honest, she doesn’t understand it either, but she has always been good at reading people and she always follows her instincts. It has helped her a lot in her life, especially growing up and dealing with the abuse she has had to deal with. It has steered her from the wrong people in life and the wrong choices. Just like she knows she can trust the Doctor, she has a feeling that Jack can be more than what he is presenting to the world, he just has to make the change himself, but she knows that he has the heart for it.

“Yeah. Perfect.” The Doctor sneers as he notices Jack looking at Layla again.

Jack looks away from Layla and avoids her this time. “The London Blitz is great for self-cleaners. Pompeii’s nice if you want to make a vacation of it though, but you’ve got to set your alarm for volcano day.” He stops taking as he takes in the darkened look on the Doctor’s face. He refuses to look at Layla’s and isn’t concerned about Rose’s. “Getting a hint of disapproval.”

The Doctor throws his arms out. “Take a look around the room. This is what your harmless piece of space-junk did.”

Jack, still not wanting to admit any fault to this, denies this accusation. “It was a burnt-out medical transporter. It was empty.”

The Doctor turns on his heal and heads towards the doors. “Layla. Rose.”

Layla follows him without question, figuring they are going to do more investigating. She didn’t know where, but knowing the Doctor is upset and not wanting to irritate him more with questions.

“Are we getting out of here?” Rose however didn’t have that problem.

“We’re going upstairs.”

Jack reluctantly got up and started to follow after them. “I even programmed the flight computer so it wouldn’t land on anything living. I harmed no-one. I don’t know what’s happening here, but believe me, I have nothing to do with it.”

The Doctor looked over the railing of the stairs he was on. “I’ll tell you what’s happening. You forgot to set your alarm clock. It’s volcano day.”

A siren sounds off outside and startles Rose. “What’s that?”

“The all clear.” Jack tells her.

“I wish.” the Doctor mutters under his breath.

Xxxxxx

Layla is the only one able to keep up with the long legs of the Doctor as he rushes up the stairs to the room of the first victim. “Mister Spock? Layla?” They hear Jack shout at them from below.

“Doctor?” Rose is also calling for him since they both have lost sight of the Doctor and Layla.

They run past the staircase when the Doctor leans over from the next flight up causing them to back track when they hear him talk to them. “Have you got a blaster?”

Jack, happy to be of use, pulls one out of his holster. “Sure!” They meet the Doctor and Layla outside a secure metal door.

The Doctor is standing there with his arms crossed over his chest. “The night your space-junk landed. Someone was hurt. This was where they were taken.”

“What happened?” Rose asked.

“Wait, Jack said that he programed it to land where there would be no one alive, that would mean that if there was a victim there, they would have been dead, so the victim is one of these zombie patients? And something is causing them to a zombie patient?” Layla asked the Doctor.

The Doctor gives her a proud smile at her deduction. “Let’s find out. Get it open.”

Rose looks at the Doctor with her brows furrowed. “What’s wrong with your sonic screwdriver.” She whispers.

“Nothing.” He says stiffly. Jack aims his blaster at the door and disintegrates the lock in the shape of a square hole. The Doctor takes the blaster from Jack and looks at it from all angles. “Sonic blaster, fifty first century. Weapon Factories of Villengard?” He asks knowingly.

Jack nods his head. “You’ve been to the factories?”

The Doctor gives him a big cheesy grin. “Once.”

“Well, they’re gone now, destroyed. The main reactor went critical. Vaporized the lot.” Jack said with a heavy sigh.

The Doctor never loses his grin and gives Jack his blaster back. “Like I said. Once. There’s a banana grove there, now. I like bananas.” He looks towards Layla and snickers at her face. “Bananas are good.”

She makes a gagging face. She has the last laugh though. She brushes by him into the room, trailing her fingers along his stomach softly. “Pears are far superior.” She smirks as she turns around and sees that he is giving her the stink eye.

“Nice blast pattern.” They can hear Rose flirting with Jack.

“Digital.” He gives her a charming smile.

“Squareness gun.” She bites her lip and twirls her hair. The Doctor and Layla snicker in amusement.

“Yeah.” Jack gives her a suave smirk and his 51^st century pheromones.

“I like it.”

Xxxxxx

The flirting is finally done and they walk into the room and they can see a room that has filing cabinets, electronic equipment, and it is a huge mess. There is an observation window across the room that is broken. Paper and child drawings are all over the floor.

“What do you think?” The Doctor asks, wanting them to use their brains to help solve this problem, especially since he believed that Jack was the cause of it.

Jack took in the destruction of the room and whistled softly. “Something got out of here.”

Obviously. “Yeah. And?”

“Something powerful. Angry.”

The Doctor nods his head. “Powerful and angry.”

Rose and Layla are looking at the drawings that are obviously done by a child, or at least someone with a child’s mentality. In the drawings, there is stick figures of an adult woman and a little boy. The woman is never the same, different color skin, hair, clothing, but the boy is always the same. Layla’s heart breaks as she realizes why the mother in the pictures is not the same. She connects the reason why the zombies are always asking, ‘are you, my mummy?’ The child doesn’t know who their mum is, and they want to know.

Jack sees the drawings on the floor. “A child? I suppose this explains the mummy.”

“How could a child do this?” Rose didn’t understand, but Layla figured that aliens were involved.

The Doctor turned on a tape machine and they hear a conversation between a little boy and the doctor of the hospital.

“Do you know where you are?”

“Are you, my mummy?”

“Are you aware of what’s around you? Can you see?”

“Are you, my mummy?”

“What do you want? Do you know?”

“I want my mummy. Are you, my mummy? I want my mummy! Are you, my mummy? Are you, my mummy? Mummy? Mummy?”

“Doctor, Layla and I have heard this voice before.” Rose told him a little freaked out.

“Yeah, that’s how we ended up on the barrage balloon, we were trying to save him thinking he needed help.”

“I’ve heard it too.” The Doctor tells them.

“Mummy?”

“Always ‘are you, my mummy?’ Like he doesn’t know.” Rose points out.

“If you look at the drawings, all of the mother figures look different, I would say that he doesn’t know who his mother is.” Layla picked up a couple of the drawings and showed them the differences.

“Mummy?”

“But, why doesn’t he know?”

“He could be an orphan and never knew his mother and/or was adopted? Or is being raised by a sibling? He was abandoned? There are many different reasons as to why he wouldn’t know his mother.” Layla points out, knowing from experience why someone wouldn’t know their parent.

“Are you there, mummy? Mummy? Please, mummy? Mummy?”

Rose looks at the Doctor and sees that he is looking around the room like he is looking for something. “Doctor?”

“Can you sense it?”

Jack mimics him and looks around. “Sense what?”

“Coming out of the walls. Can you feel it?”

“Mummy?”

The Doctor huffs. “Funny little human brains. How do you get around in those things?”

Rose looks at Jack amused. “When he’s stressed, he likes to insult species.”

“Rose, I’m thinking.”

“He cuts himself shaving, he does half an hour on life forms he’s cleverer than.” Jack laughs at this.

“There are these children living rough round the bomb sites. They come out during air-raids looking for food.” The Doctor says this and it breaks Layla’s heart to hear children are suffering and starving.

“Mummy, please?”

The Doctor is rolling his hands in the air trying to gather his thoughts together. “Suppose they were there when this thing, whatever it was, landed?”

Jack protests. “It was a med-ship. It was harmless.”

The Doctor nods his head in agreement. “Yes, you keep saying harmless. Suppose one of them was affected, altered?”

“Altered how?” Rose asked. They were all so focused on the Doctor and what he was saying they didn’t notice that the tape ended, but Layla did. She was also the only one to notice when the little boy appeared and her heart broke again that there wasn’t anything she could do at that moment to help him.

“I’m here.”

Tears are starting to cloud her eyes. She never wants a child to suffer, and she can’t help him, she doesn’t know how to help him. The Doctor stopped pacing and his mouth drops open. “It’s afraid. Terribly afraid and powerful. It doesn’t know it yet, but it will do. It’s got the power of a god, and I just sent it to its room.”

Rose started to look at him in fear at the look on his face. “Doctor?”

“I’m here. Can’t you see me?”

“What’s that noise?” Rose looks around but passes over the child not seeing him and she doesn’t notice Layla not moving and staring right at him.

The Doctor looks at Layla and sees the tears in her eyes and looks towards where she is staring at and his hearts break. “I sent it to its room. This is its room.” He slowly walks towards Layla and grabs her hand and gets ready to pull her back towards the door.

“Are you, my mummy? Mummy?” He is looking at Layla because she is the only one looking at him like he believes a mother would look at their child.

Rose finally sees the child and starts to back away from it. “Doctor?”

Jack starts to reach towards his blaster. “Okay, on my signal make for the door.”

“Mummy?”

Jack whips out his blaster and aims it at the child. “Now!” Only to realize it is a banana and looks at it in total confusion.

“Mummy?”

The Doctor smirks and pulls out Jack’s blaster from his belt and makes a nice, big square hole in the wall. “Go now! Don’t drop the banana!”

“Why not?!” Jack asks him hysterically.

The Doctor sends him a cheeky smile. “Good source of potassium.”

“No drop the banana, they are gross! Pear’s rock!” Layla shouts.

“Oi!”

They all get through the door and Jack snatches his blaster from the Doctor. “Give me that!”

“Mummy. I want my mummy.”

Jack messes with his blaster for a second and aims it towards the wall and shoots again and it repairs the hole that the Doctor made. “Digital rewind.” He looks towards the Doctor and tosses him the banana. “Nice switch.”

Layla reaches for the banana to throw it as far as she can and the Doctor holds it up out of her reach. She still tries to jump and get it, pressing against him to try, but the Doctor isn’t complaining. He looks towards Jack. “It’s from the groves of Villengard. I thought it was appropriate.”

Jack’s mouth drops open. “There’s really a banana grove in the heart of Villengard and you did that?”

The Doctor shrugs and smirks and looks down at Layla and states it like a fact. “Bananas are good.” She gives up trying to get the banana and pouts, and he chuckles at the cuteness of it. But loses his smile as the wall starts to crack.

“Doctor!” Rose shouts, like he doesn’t already know about it. They start to run to get away, but they see that they are being closed in all around by the zombie patients from all directions.

“Mummy. Mummy. Mummy.”

“It’s keeping us here till it can get at us.” The Doctor realizes when he sees that they aren’t really coming any closer, but leaving them trapped.

Jack is pointing his blaster all around making sure none of them get too close. “It’s controlling them?”

The Doctor shook his head. “It is them. It’s every living thing in this hospital.”

“That’s terrifying.” Rose utters.

“Well, a non-frightening zombie is a lame zombie, can’t have those, it would be boring.” Layla states emphatically.

“Okay. This can function as a sonic blaster, a sonic cannon, and as a triple-enfolded sonic disrupter. Doc, what you got?”

The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and looked at it and realized it was not going to help at all. “I’ve got a sonic, er. Oh, never mind.”

“What?”

“It’s sonic, okay? Let’s leave it at that.”

But Jack wouldn’t leave it at that, he wanted to know all of their assets. “Disrupter? Cannon? What?”

The Doctor was panicking a little bit, he has never before been embarrassed by his screwdriver before, he doesn’t know why he is now. “It’s sonic! Totally sonic! I am soniced up!” The girls are looking at each other and pull a face but can help but snigger in amusement at the ridiculousness of the conversation. They look at each other but have a silent conversation and Rose looks at Jack’s blaster and at the ground and Layla’s eyes light up and nods.

“A sonic what?” Jack shouts, fed up with his evasion.

The Doctor shoves his sonic in Jack’s face. “Screwdriver!”

The child finally manages to break through and Rose grabs Jack’s blaster and points it at the floor. “Going down!” They all fall and Jack immediately grabs it from Rose from where he is and repairs the ceiling. “Doctor, Layla are you okay?” Rose asked.

The Doctor rubbed his head. “Could’ve used a warning.”

She grumbled. “Oh, the gratitude.”

“Layla, are you alright?” The Doctor asks worried because he hadn’t heard her yet and he couldn’t see very well.

She groans a little. “I’m okay. I somewhat head-butted Jack, but his body cushioned the fall for mine, so I don’t hurt anywhere else.” She groans again and she is quickly lifted off of Jack by the Doctor. He pulls her away from him and into his arms. He feels around on her head and checks to see if she is okay, but he was also just wanting her off of Jack.

“Even with a head-butt, I’m not going to complain.” They could practically hear the smirk in Jack’s voice. However, it turns incredulous when he turns on the Doctor. “Who has a sonic screwdriver?”

“I do!”

“I thought it was a sex toy the first time I seen it.” Layla shrugged and she felt the Doctor stiffen against her, but in the dark, she couldn’t see his face that well.

“Ah, have much experience with those, do we, Sweetheart?” Jack leers at her, and while she can’t see his face that well, she can just imagine the look on his face. Layla laughs but doesn’t reply. “Anyways, who looks at a screwdriver and thinks, ooh this could be a little more sonic?”

The Doctor, grateful of the topic change, answers him sarcastically. “What, you’ve never been bored? Never had a long night? Never had a lot of cabinets to put up?”

During this whole time, Rose had been trying to find the light switch and she had succeeded. Unfortunately, as soon as she turned on the lights, all of the patients in the room sit up in their beds.

“Mummy. Mummy.”

“Door.” Jack points his blaster and it doesn’t work. “Damn it!”

“Mummy.”

“It’s the special features they really drain the battery.”

“The battery?” Rose screeches.

“We need some LEGO’s! That will slow them down!” Layla says snickering as the Doctor uses his screwdriver and gets them into the storeroom and locks them inside.

“That’s so lame!” Rose says outraged.

Jack sits down in a wheelchair and relaxes. His head rolls back and he looks at her. “I was going to send for another one, but somebody’s got to blow up the factory.”

Rose smirks. “Oh, I know. First day we met him, he blew up our job. That’s practically how he communicates.”

“Our first adventure he also took us to the end of the earth where that exploded too, I just think he likes it when things explode.” Layla laughs and nudges the Doctor and smiles sheepishly because that does seem to happen… a lot.

“Okay, anyways, that door should hold it for a bit.” The Doctor is looking around trying to change the topic.

Jack looks at him like he is crazy. “The door? The wall didn’t stop it?”

He shrugs. “Well, it’s got to find us first.” Ha! “Come on, we’re not done yet! Assets, assets!”

“Well, I’ve got a banana, and in a pinch, you could put up some shelves.”

The Doctor walks over towards the only window in the room. “Window.”

Jack starts to mess with the tech on his wrist. “Barred. Sheer drop outside. Seven stories.”

Rose sits down in a chair and huffs. “And no other exits.”

Jack continued to fiddle. “Well, the assets conversation went in a flash, didn’t it?”

The Doctor gives him the stink eye and looked towards the girls. “So, where’d you pick this one up, then?”

“Doctor.” Rose glared at him, but inwardly she was hoping he would come to accept him so he can be with Layla and then the Doctor will pay more attention to her.

“They were hanging from a barrage balloon; I had an invisible spaceship. I never stood a chance.” Jack takes the chance to make it seem like it was more than it was.

“Okay. One, we’ve got to get out of here. Two, we can’t get out of here. Have I missed anything?”

Rose gasped. “Yeah. Jack just disappeared.

Xxxxxx

The Doctor is sitting down on a bench trying to think of a way to get out, Layla is laying on the same bench with her head on his thigh facing his stomach dozing lightly as he plays with her hair, both of them missing the pout that Rose is giving them.

Rose huffs and sits in the wheelchair that Jack was sitting in. “Okay, so he’s vanished into thin air. Why is it always the great looking ones who do that?”

The Doctor gives her the stink eye. “I’m making an effort not to be insulted.” Not that I care if you find me attractive or not, but no one likes to be called ugly.

“I mean, men.”

“Okay, thanks, that really helped.”

Layla sleepily pats his lower back to gets his attention and he bends down so he can hear her. Rose looks on suspiciously as she can hear Layla mumble something, but not what she said. Whatever it was, caused the Doctor to stiffen and his face to turn a bright red. Before she can think more on it, a radio nearby crackles into life. “Sweetheart? Rose? Doctor? Can you hear me? I’m back on my ship. Used the emergency teleport. Sorry I couldn’t take you. It’s security-keyed to my molecular structure. I’m working on it. Hang in there.”

When the radio came to life Layla had reluctantly gotten up and they all walked over. The Doctor looked behind the radio and seen that the wires had been cut and it would not be useable anymore the normal way. “How are you speaking to us?” He questions Jack.

“Om-Com. I can call anything with a speaker grill.”

The Doctor hums in thought. “Now there’s a coincidence.”

Jack stops what he is doing. “What is?”

“The child can Om-Com, too.”

Rose, not having been there when the child called the Tardis or when the Doctor was with Nancy, was unaware of this. “He can?”

“Anything with a speaker grill. Even the Tardis phone.”

“What, you mean the child can phone us?” That would be super creepy.

“And I can hear you. Coming to find you. Coming to find you.”

“Doctor, can you hear that?” Jack could, but he wasn’t sure if they could.

“Loud and clear.”

“I’ll try to block out the signal. Least I can do.”

“Coming to find you, mummy.”

“Remember this Sweetheart?” He puts on Moonlight Serenade and Layla groans.

The Doctor looks at her questioningly and Rose gleefully informs him. “This is their song. They danced together on his spaceship.” They both see the Doctor throw the radio a harsh glare and his lips thin out. Rose becomes disappointed because she was hoping that he wouldn’t care that she danced with Jack. Layla’s heart beat faster at the jealously he expressed.

She gave Rose the stink eye. “I only had to dance with him because you were saying you needed air from drinking too much and were woozy, it was the only way to speed up the who thing. Besides I suffered too, this music is terrible. My poor ears.” The Doctor snorts and his bad mood turns around. He is amused at her disgruntled expression at her having to listen, in her books, to terrible music.

Xxxxxx

The Doctor, bored of just doing nothing, started to work on the bars on the window to give him something to do besides twiddle his thumbs, Layla is dozing again and Rose is playing with the wheelchair.

“What are you doing?” Rose takes her chance to try to get some attention seeing as Layla is sleeping.

“Trying to set up resonation pattern in the concrete, loosen the bars.”

“You don’t think he’s coming back, do you?” She tilts her head to the side and she takes in his expression.

He snorts. “Wouldn’t bet my life.”

“Why don’t you trust him?”

“Why do you?”

“He saved our life. Bloke-wise, that’s up there with flossing. I trust him because he’s like you. Except with dating and dancing. What?”

“You just assume I’m…”

Rose smirks at him. “What?”

“You just assume that I don’t dance.” Oh no, what if Layla assumes that?

“What, are you telling me you do dance?”

The Doctor scoffs. “Nine hundred years old, me. I’ve been around a bit. I think you can assume at some point I’ve danced.”

“You?”

The Doctor was getting a little uncomfortable, but he walked right into it and if he backs out of it, she will tease him mercilessly. “Problem?”

“Doesn’t the universe implode or something if you dance?”

“Well, I’ve got the moves but I wouldn’t want to boast.”

Rose goes over to the radio and turns it up slightly, not too loud though to where it wakes up Layla. She holds her hand out towards the Doctor. “You’ve got the moves? Show me your moves.”

Now the Doctor is definitely uncomfortable. He doesn’t want to upset Rose by physically flinching where she would definitely notice it by her touch, and he doesn’t want to dance with her. “Rose, I’m trying to resonate concrete.”

“Jack will be back. He’ll get us out. So, come on. The world doesn’t end because the Doctor dances.”

Rose continues to hold out her hands with her palms up and something in the Doctor’s mind clicks and he takes a closer look at them. He steps closer to them and he takes one in hand and he only flinches slightly, and it able to keep it small because he is trying to solve a problem, and it is not a romantic touch. “Barrage balloon?”

Rose frowns. “What?”

“You were hanging from a barrage balloon.”

“Oh, yeah. About two minutes after you left us. Thousands of feet above London, middle of a German air-raid, Union Jack all over my chest.” She slightly sticks out her chest trying to get him enticed, but he totally ignores her hint to look.

“I’ve travelled with a lot of people, but you two are setting new records for jeopardy friendly.”

Rose tries to get him back on the topic of dancing and starts to sway. “Is this you dancing, because I’ve got notes.”

He isn’t even moving. “Hanging from a rope thousand feet above London. Not a cut, not a bruise.”

“Yeah, I know. Captain Jack fixed us up.”

Layla too? He frowns. “Oh, we’re calling him Captain Jack now, are we?”

“Well, his name’s Jack and he is a Captain.”

The Doctor objected. “He’s not really a Captain, Rose.”

“Do you know what I think? I think you’re experiencing Captain envy. You’ll find your feet at the end of your legs. You may care to move them.” She was getting frustrated that he wasn’t cooperating with her at all. She had been hopeful when he walked to her that he was thawing out from being upset with her, but ends up being disappointed.

The Doctor let go of her hand having looked them over all the way and seen no flaws from the healing that was done to them. “If ever he was a Captain, he’s been defrocked.”

Rose pouted. “Yeah? Shame I missed that.”

“Actually, I quit. Nobody takes my frock. Most people notice when they’ve been teleported. You guys are so sweet. Sorry about the delay. I had to take the nav-com offline to override the teleport security.”

The Doctor and Rose looked over at Jack and both felt different emotions. Rose was giddy. The Doctor was furious, a storm brewing in his eyes. Because of where Layla was in the storage room, and that she was sleeping, when Jack teleported them onto his ship, she was teleported directly onto his lap, where she was, still sleeping away as he held her in his arms with a smug smirk on his face.

The Doctor stormed over to him and gave him a hard look. He looked at Jack intensely, and whatever Jack had seen in his eyes, he understood that Layla meant something to him. Meant a lot. He willingly gave her up with the Doctor gently picked her up out of his arms and went towards the back where Jack’s bed was and sat down with Layla still in his arms, never releasing her, willing his hearts and the bond to calm down. Luckily for him, Jack distracts Rose so she doesn’t notice that he didn’t lay her down right away. It is only a few minutes before the Doctor calms down and he gently lays Layla down on the bed and goes back up towards the front like nothing had happened. “You can spend ten minutes overriding your own protocols? Maybe you should remember who ship it is.”

Jack smirked at him. “Oh, I do. She was gorgeous. Like I told her, be back in five minutes.”

The Doctor was looking around the cramped ship. “This is a Chula ship.”

“Yeah, just like that medical transporter. Only this one is dangerous.”

The Doctor snaps his fingers and the golden glow envelops his hands, Rose points at them. “They’re what fixed our hands up, Jack called them, er…”

“Nanobots? Nanogenes?”

“Nanogenes, yeah.”

The Doctor nodded his head. “Sub-atomic robots. There’re millions of them in here, see? Burned my hand on the console when we landed. All better now. They activate when the bulk head is sealed. Check you out for damage, fix any physical flaws. Take us to the crash site I need to see your space junk.”

“As soon as I get the nav-com back online. Make yourself comfortable. Carry on with whatever it was you were doing.”

“I was looking at her healed hands from the rope burn.” The Doctor wasn’t even going to try to pretend that he was dancing with Rose like she wanted to do.

Xxxxxx

It is about five minutes later when Jack accidentally drops something making a loud thud causing Layla to jump up. “What is it? What’s wrong?” She is looking around looking for the problem.

“Sorry Sweetheart, just dropped something, loving the sex hair though.” He winks at her and gets back to work.

She reaches up and feels her hair and realizes it is a mess and remembers that the Doctor was playing with it earlier. She looks at the Doctor and leers. “That would be your fault, you are the one that gave it to me.” She had said it low enough to where only the Doctor had heard her. Rose and Jack were quietly talking at the front of the ship and didn’t notice anything.

The Doctor looks at her hair, her sleep laden eyes, rumpled dress hitched up high on her thighs, and her sitting on a bed, and feels his blood heat up. His pupils dilate and his cock twitches and starts to harden at the image she is presenting. He is staring at her intensely, focused solely on her. He takes a step in her direction, to do what? He doesn’t know, but he takes that first step and then the next.

“Fuck!” Jack gets shocked by getting too close to an exposed wire due to it being such a tiny ship.

As if coming out of a trance, the Doctor stops walking and blinks rapidly. He realizes that he was letting his hormones take over. Luckily, Layla hadn’t realized that he was even headed over towards her, that at some point when he was staring at her, she had turned to the mirror on the wall next to Jack’s bed and was trying to fix her hair. The Doctor huffs and decides to eavesdrop on Jack and Rose’s conversation so he doesn’t jump Layla, especially since she is done with her hair and has walked over and in front of him and bending over to look at what Jack is doing, giving him a great view.

“So, you used to be a Time Agent, now you’re trying to con them?” Rose asked him.

“If it makes me sound any better, it’s not for the money.” He tells her softly, but he is looking at Layla out of the corner of his eye.

“For what?”

He looked at Rose. “Woke up one day when I was still working for them, found they’d stolen two years of my memories. I’d like them back.”

Rose’s mouth dropped open. “They stole your memories?”

Jack nodded his head jerkily. “Two years of my life. No idea what I did. Your friend over there doesn’t trust me, and for all I know, he’s right not to.”

“It doesn’t matter what you did in those two years though Jack, it matters what you do now, in the present. You saved me and Rose when you didn’t have to. You teleported us here, when you didn’t have to. You are helping us with this problem, when you don’t have to. You’re a good man. Even if you did terrible things in those two years, doing good things now can make up for them. At least, that is what I believe.”

There she goes again. Looking at me with those kind eyes that make me want to do and be better. He clears his throat and looks at the Doctor who is giving him an unreadable look. “Okay, we’re good to go. Crash site?”

Xxxxxx

Jack takes them to the crash site and they are all crouched down looking at the guard detail. “There it is.” Jack’s face lights up in recognition. “Hey, they’ve got Algy on duty. It must be important.”

The Doctor is looking through is binoculars. “We’ve got to get past him.”

Rose fluffs her hair and straightens her shirt. “Are the words distract the guard heading in my general direction?” The Doctor is glad that Rose is the one to volunteer to do it and not Layla, he doesn’t think his hearts could take seeing Layla distracting the guards.

Jack shook his head though. “I don’t think that’d be such a good idea.”

“Don’t worry I can handle it.”

He gives Rose a smirk. “I’ve got to know Algy quite well since I’ve been in town. Trust me, you’re not his type. I’ll distract him. Don’t wait up.” He walks off with a swagger in his step.

The Doctor looks at Rose’s face and smirks. “Relax, he’s a fifty first century guy. He’s just a bit more flexible when it comes to dancing.”

Rose looks at him interested. “How flexible?”

The Doctor tries to think of a way to put it. “Well, by his time, you lot have spread out across half the galaxy.”

“Meaning?”

The Doctor looks at Layla as she sniggers and he sees that she understands where he is going with this and he turns back to Rose and laughs. “So many species, so little time.”

Rose looks at him aghast. “What, that’s what we do when we get out there? That’s out mission? We seek new life and, and…”

He just gives her a grin. “Dance.”

xxxxxx

Jack walked up behind Algy. “Hey, tiger. How’s it hanging?”

Algy turned around and looks at Jack confused. “Mummy?”

“Algy, old sport, it’s me.”

Algy’s face is pallid and feverish. “Mummy?”

Jack is looking at him concerned. “It’s me, Jack.”

There is some recognition in Algy’s face for a second before it’s gone. “Jack? Are you, my mummy?” He starts to retch and falls to his knees before his face turns into a gas mask. The Doctor, Layla, and Rose are running forwards from where they were hiding.

“Stay back!” The Doctor reaches them first and starts giving out instructions.

Jack comes out of his state of shock and starts pushing others back. “You men, stay away!”

The Doctor looked around. “The effect’s become air-borne, accelerating.” His hearts were pounding. He didn’t know what he could do to protect Layla and Rose. It didn’t help that the air raid sirens started to go off as well.

“What’s keeping us safe?” Rose asked him hoping that he could give them some hope.

“Nothing.” Was his grim reply. Rose and Layla’s hearts drop in worry.

Jack was looking in the sky. “Ah, here they come again.”

“All we need. Didn’t you say a bomb was going to land here?”

“Yeah, that would be fantastic to get rid of the alien junk, if we didn’t have this problem to deal with right now, and we weren’t standing right next to it of course.” Layla just had to point out unhelpfully.

“Never mind about that. If the contaminants airborne now, there’s hours left.” The Doctor was thinking hard of what this could be and how to fix it. He felt he had all the pieces to the puzzle, he just needed to fit it together.

“For what?” Jack asked somewhat dumbly.

“Till nothing, forever. For the entire human race.” He pauses for a second and tilts his head to the side. “And can anyone else hear singing?”

“Rock-a-bye baby, on the tree tops.”

They walk towards the bomb site headquarters and the Doctor opens the door. They see Nancy handcuffed to the chair and a soldier, fully transformed with a gasmask, asleep as she sings to him.

“When the wind blows, the cradle will rock. When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall. Down will come baby, cradle and all.”

The Doctor creeps in and gestures for Nancy to keep singing. Layla watches from the door and is impressed that for such an enthusiastic and loud man, he sure can be quiet when there is a need.

“Rock-a-bye baby, on the tree tops. When the wind blows the cradle will rock.”

The Doctor frees Nancy from her cuffs and as she finishes her verse of the song, they gently close the door leaving the soldier asleep and alone. They walk back towards the bomb site and get to work getting a light set up and uncovering the spacecraft. “You see? Just an ambulance.” Jack asks them while pointing towards it like they needed help to see the giant vehicle.

Nancy looks at it skeptically. “That’s an ambulance?”

“It’s hard to explain. It’s from another world.” Rose tried.

“It’s from outer space. There are other planets with life beside earth.” Layla flat out said. Since she sung the soldier to sleep she believed that Nancy was a smart woman and could handle the truth bluntly.

Jack looked at the doors and he could see that it looked like crowbar marks and other tools had been used on it. “They’ve been trying to get in.”

The Doctor looked at him with a ‘duh’ look. “Of course they have. They think they’ve got their hands on Hitler’s latest secret weapon. What’re you doing?”

Jack was keying in the access codes to enter the ambulance. He was going to prove that whatever was happening here wasn’t his fault. “The sooner you see this thing is empty, the sooner you’ll know I had nothing to do with it.”

However, his attempt doesn’t go so well. A loud bang is heard, it sparks at him and an alarm goes off causing the access panel to start flashing a red light. Jack looks at it dumbly. “Didn’t happen last time.”

The Doctor looked at him exasperated. Humans! “It hadn’t crashed last time. There will be emergency protocols.”

The Doctor starts to work on the ambulance to try to work on getting it open and turns towards Jack. “Captain, secure those gates!” Anything to slow down the zombies while he puts the puzzle together that would benefit them all.

“Why?”

“Just do it!” The Doctor snapped. He turns to Nancy and his face and voice softens. “Nancy, how’d you get in here?”

“I cut the wire.” She points towards the area where she came in from.

“Show Layla and Rose.” He hands his sonic to Layla. “Setting 2428-D.”

“What?” Rose asked, but the Doctor had turned back to the ambulance and didn’t answer her.

“I’m assuming it will fix where Nancy cut on the fence.” Layla shrugged and she was right, it easily fixed the cut barbed wire. Nancy and Rose are looking around in fear and worry as bombs are starting to fall on London.

Nancy is looking between Layla and Rose, taking in their clothing and how they carrying themselves. “Who are you? Who are any of you?”

“You’d never believe us if we told you.” She doesn’t mean to sound dismissive, but she knows that in the past, people aren’t as accepting. Hell in her own era, people aren’t very accepting of what’s different.

“You two just told me that was an ambulance from another world. There are people running around with gas mask heads calling for their mummies, and the sky’s full of Germans dropping bombs on me. Tell me, do you think there’s anything left I couldn’t believe?”

Layla had to laugh at that. “She has a point, Rose! I like you, Nancy.”

Rose laughs in agreement. “We’re time travelers from the future.”

“Mad, you are.” Nancy accused them.

“We have a time travel machine, seriously!”

Nancy is looking back and for between the girls trying to see if they are jesting with her, but they are looking at her seriously. She shakes her head at them. “It’s not that. Alright, you’ve got a time travel machine. I believe you. Believe anything me.” She bites her lip and looks at them hesitantly. “But what future?”

Understanding floods Layla and Rose’s faces. Rose put her hand on Nancy’s shoulder. “Nancy, this isn’t the end. I know how it looks, but it’s not the end of the world or anything.”

Nancy looks at her hopelessly. “How can you say that? Look at it.”

“Listen to me. We were born in this city. We are from here, in like, fifty years’ time.” Layla nods her head in agreement to what Rose is saying as she continues to fix the fence and let’s Rose comfort Nancy.

“From here?” Nancy was confused.

“We are Londoners. From your future.”

“But, but you’re not…” She trailed off in a whisper.

“What?”

“German.” She whispered it like it was taboo.

Layla looked back at Rose. “I think we should give her some good news Rose, something to look forward to, don’t you think?”

“I agree, my dear friend.” Rose turns towards Nancy. “Nancy, the Germans don’t come here. They don’t win. Don’t tell anyone we told you so, but you know what? You win.”

Nancy’s eyes widen and she gasps softy. “We win?”

Layla finally finishes the fence and grabs their hands, pulling them back towards the Doctor. “Come on!”

Xxxxxx

With the help from the Doctor, Jack was finally able to get the ambulance open. “It’s empty. Look at it.”

“What do you expect in a Chula medical transporter? Bandages? Cough drops? Layla? Rose?” The Doctor asks them, already figuring out what happened to the people here.

Rose looks at him confused on why he was asking her, she is still new to this whole alien thing and she doesn’t know anything about Chula’s. “I don’t know.”

“Yes, you do.”

“Oh my god. Millions of nanogenes in the air of the Chula ships waiting to heal.” Layla looked at him in horror.

The Doctor nodded at her and turned towards Jack. “It wasn’t empty, Captain. There was enough nanogenes in there to rebuild a species.”

Jacks face was mirroring Layla’s. “Oh, god.”

The Doctor’s bared his teeth and looked at Jack with hard eyes. “Getting it now, are we? When the ship crashes, the nanogenes escape. Billions up billions of them, ready to fix all the cuts and bruises in the whole world. But what they find first is a dead child, probably killed earlier that night, and wearing a gasmask.”

“And they brought him back to life? They can do that?” Rose asked shocked.

“But he isn’t alive, not really, more like reanimated.” Layla pointed out.

The Doctor nods his head towards her showing she made a good point. “What’s life? Life is easy. A quirk of matter. Nature’s way of keeping meat fresh. Nothing to a nanogene. One problem, though. These nanogenes, they’re not like the ones on your ship. This lot have never seen a human being before. Don’t know what a human beings supposed to look like. All they’ve got to go on is one little body, and there’s not a lot left. But they carry right on. They do what they’re programmed to do. They patch it up. Can’t tell what’s gasmask and what’s skull, but they do their best. Then they fly, off they go, work to be done. Because, you see, now they think they know what people should look like, and it’s time to fix all the rest. And they won’t ever stop. They won’t ever, ever stop. They entire human race is going to be torn down and rebuilt in the form of one terrified child looking for its mother, and nothing in the world can stop it!”

Jack feels a tightness in his chest and his stomach is upset. His mind is replaying what the Doctor said over and over. “I didn’t know.” He says softly.

“Mummy. Mummy.”

“Rose! Layla!” Nancy calls for them panicking.

Rose looks towards the Doctor. “It’s bringing the gas mask people here, isn’t it?”

He nodded. “The ship thinks it’s under attack. It’s calling up the troops. Standard protocol.”

“But the gas mask people aren’t troops.”

“But they are, like Jack said, they have ambulances in wars, and nanogenes heal, they would be there to heal the soldiers and would be considered soldiers themselves.” Layla told her.

“Yeah, this is a battle-field ambulance. The nanogenes don’t just fix you up, they get you ready for the front lines. Equip you, program you.” The Doctor confirmed what Layla said.

“That’s why the child is so strong. Why it could do that phoning thing.” Rose said connecting the dots.

“Should have really made the connection a long time along when Jack told us about the Om-Com thing and that the child could do it.” Layla shrugged, oh well, that’s what panic of being turned into zombies does to someone.

“It’s a fully equipped Chula warrior, yes. All that weapons tech in the hands of a hysterical four-year-old looking for his mummy. And now there’s an army of them.” The Doctor is looking towards the fence where they see all of the patients from the hospital standing, waiting.

“Why don’t they attack?” Jack wonders aloud.

“Good little soldiers, waiting for their commander.” The Doctor was starting to resign himself to not being able to fix this problem.

“The child?” Jack assumes that he was the one that the Doctor was talking about.

“Jamie.” Nancy corrects.

Jack looks at her. “What?”

She looks at him. “Not the child.” She looks away, looking and sounding so heartbroken. “Jamie.” Hearing her tone Layla snaps her head towards her and looks at her thoughtfully.

Rose is looking at the sky. “So, how long until the bomb falls?”

“Any second.” Jack says nervously.

“What’s the matter, Captain? A bit close to the volcano for you?” The Doctor goads him.

“He’s just a little boy.” Nancy chokes out softy.

Layla puts her hand across her shoulders. “We know.”

“He’s just a little boy who wants his mummy.” Nancy was looking towards the zombies, lost in memories.

“I know. There isn’t a little boy born who wouldn’t tear the world apart to save him mummy. And this little boy can.” The Doctor tells her, not making the connection that Layla made, yet.

“So, what are we going to do?” Rose was starting to worry, this was becoming Downing Street again, but there wasn’t a cabinet they could hide in.

The Doctor’s shoulders slumped. “I don’t know.”

“It’s my fault.” Nancy sobs.

“Shh, it’s okay Nancy.” Layla rubs her back gently. “There is still time to tell him before it is too late. He wants to know, it wouldn’t matter to him, he just wants to know.”

The Doctor looked at Nancy still oblivious to what was being implied with their conversation. “How can it be your…”

“Mummy. Mummy. Mummy. Mummy.”

The Doctor finally realized what wasn’t being outright said. “Nancy, what age are you? Twenty? Twenty-one? Older than you look, yes?”

“Doctor, that bomb. We’ve got seconds.” Jack cuts in panicky.

Rose looks at him hopefully. “You can teleport us out.”

He looks at her sadly. “Not you guys. The nav-coms back online. Going to take too long to override the protocols.”

The Doctor doesn’t even look at him, doesn’t take his gaze away from Nancy. “So, it’s volcano day. Do what you’ve got to do.”

“Jack?” Rose looks at him in betrayal. Jack looks at Layla pleadingly and Layla looks at him softly with no judgement, not blaming him no matter what choice he makes. He teleports out with his heart feeling light.

“How old were you five years ago? Fifteen? Sixteen? Old enough to give birth, anyway? He’s not your brother, is he? A teenage single mother in 1941. So, you hid. You lied. You even lied to him.” The Doctor grabbed Nancy’s hands comfortingly.

The bomb site gate opens and Jamie is standing there. “Are you, my mummy?”

“He’s going to keep asking, Nancy. He’s never going to stop.” The Doctor is pleading with her to tell him. Without her, the world is going to end.

“He won’t be upset or disappointed Nancy. He just wants to know. He just wants a mother.” Layla gently encourages her.

“Mummy?”

The Doctor adds on seeing Nancy wavering. “Tell him. Nancy, the future of the human race is in your hands. Trust us and tell him.”

Nancy and Jamie walk towards each other and are inches from touching. “Are you, my mummy? Are you, my mummy? Are you, my mummy?”

“Yes. Yes, I am your mummy.”

“Mummy?”

“I’m here.”

“Are you, my mummy?”

“I’m here.”

“Are you, my mummy?”

“Yes.”

“Are you, my mummy?”

The Doctor rubs his forehead in despair. “He doesn’t understand. There’s not enough of him left.”

“I am your mummy. I will always be your mummy. I’m so sorry. I am so, so sorry.” Nancy hugs Jamie and a cloud of nanogenes surround them. Layla grabs the Doctors hand in excitement squeezing tightly in hope.

“What’s happening? Doctor, it’s changing her, we should…” Rose was worried about Nancy but the Doctor cut her off.

“Shush! Come on, please. Come on, you clever little nanogenes. Figure it out! The mother, she’s the mother. It’s got to be enough information. Figure it out.” The Doctor is practically bouncing in hope and contained excitement.

“What’s happening?” Rose didn’t understand why he would be excited that she might be changing.

“Rose, he is hoping that the nanogenes would recognize that Nancy is Jamie’s mother, and that Jamie is supposed to look like Nancy, not how they have been making other people look like the gas masked zombies.” Layla tells her since the Doctor was so focused on looking at Nancy and Jamie.

Jamie lets go and Nancy falls on the ground, the Doctor walks over towards them. “See? Recognizing the same DNA. Oh, come on. Give me a day like this. Give me this one. He pulls on the mask from Jamie’s face and it comes off easily. He jumps in the air. “Ha-ha! Welcome back! Twenty years till pop music – you’re going to love it.”

Nancy sits up groggily. “What happened?”

The Doctor helps her stand up, but letting go as soon as he can, because her touch feels wrong. “The nanogenes recognized the superior information, the parent DNA. They didn’t change you because you changed them! Ha-ha! Mother knows best!

Nancy looks at Jamie’s face for the first time in what feels like forever. “Oh, Jamie.”

Over the excitement of saving Jamie, something slipped Rose’s mind, but then it comes back when everything calms down. “Doctor, that bomb.”

The Doctor waves carelessly. “Taken care of it.”

She looks between the Doctor and Layla. “How?”

Layla looks at her sadly and the Doctor doesn’t look at her at all. “Psychology.”

They look up and see the bomb hurtling towards them and they get caught in Jack’s light beam just before impact with Jack sitting astride the bomb. “Doctor!”

The Doctor gives him a grin, the first one since meeting him. “Good lad!”

“The bomb’s already commenced detonation. I’ve put it in stasis, but it won’t last long.”

“Change of plan, don’t need the bomb. Can you get rid of it, safely as you can?”

Jack hesitates, and doesn’t answer him. He looks towards Rose. “Goodbye.” He turns towards Layla. “Bye Sweetheart.” He then vanishes. Within seconds he is back again. “By the way, love the t-shirt and definitely love the dress.” He gives them a wink and Layla a sad smile before vanishing again.

The girls see the Doctor fiddling with something in his hands and then they see a golden glow, Rose walks over and gets close to him. “What are you doing?”

He shifts away from her and walks towards the zombie patients who had just been standing there doing nothing. “Software patch. Going to email the upgrade. You want moves, Rose? I’ll give you moves.” He throws the nanogenes to the waiting patients who all fall to the ground. “Everybody lives. Just this one, everybody lives!” He is cheering and jumping around excitedly. Yes Doctor, everyone does live, Layla looks at him calculatingly.

The Doctor walks up to Doctor Constantine. “The Doctor who never left his patients. Back on your feet, constant doctor. The world doesn’t want to get by without you just yet, and I don’t blame it one bit. These are your patients all better now.”

Doctor Constantine looks around confused. “Yes, yes, so it seems. They also seem to be standing around in a disused railway station. Is there any particular reason for that?”

“Yeah, well, you know, cutbacks. Listen, whatever was wrong with them in the past, you’re probably going to find that they’re cured. Just tell them what a great doctor you are. Don’t make a big deal of it. Okay?” The Doctor walks away and heads back towards the girls with a skip in his step and a big grin on his face.

He turns to face the patients. “Right, you lot. Lots to do. Beat the Germans, save the world. Don’t forget the welfare state! Setting this to self-destruct, soon as everybody’s clear.” He turns and starts working on the ambulance. “History says there was an explosion here. Who am I to argue with history?”

The girls laugh at him and Rose pokes him in the side. “Usually the first in line.”

“I think he just uses it as an excuse to blow things up. Every adventure we have been on with him has had an explosion in it so far.” Layla gives him a cheeky smirk when he gives her the stink eye.

Xxxxxx

They go back to the Tardis in companionable silence still reeling in the good feeling of saving the day. They walk in and the Doctor heads towards the console. “The nanogenes will clean up the mess and switch themselves off, because I just told them to. Nancy and Jamie will go to Doctor Constantine for help, ditto. All in all, all things considered, fantastic.”

“Look at you, beaming away like you’re Father Christmas.” Rose gives him a tongue in teeth smile.

The Doctor points at her. “Who says I’m not, red bicycle when you were twelve?” He looks towards Layla and furrows his brows. “You never asked for anything?” He murmurs softly. “That will change.” He said it so low that she didn’t hear.

“What?” Rose asked, how the hell did he know that?

The Doctor ignored her. “And everybody lives, Layla, Rose! Everybody lives! I need more days like this!”

“Doctor?” Rose got his attention.

“Go on, ask me anything. I’m on fire.”

“What about Jack? Why did he say goodbye?” Rose wanted to travel with him some, she thought he was fun to be around.

The Doctor went quiet. He looks towards Layla and sees her looking at him with her head tilted to the side looking at him thoughtfully. “Everyone?” She asks him softly.

Xxxxxx

The Doctor pilots the Tardis and puts on Moonlight Serenade making Layla grimace. He grabs Layla and pulls her into a dance. If Jack danced with her to this song, he wants to rewrite that memory with one of him and her with this song. Rose goes to the doors and opens in, she sees Jack sitting in his chair drinking a martini. “Well, hurry up then!” Jack looks up surprised before dropping his glass and comes running in.

He sees Layla and the Doctor dancing… well trying to dance. “Okay. And right and turn. Okay, okay, try and spin me again, but this time don’t get my arm up my back.”

“I’m sure I used to know this stuff.” He looks at Jack. “Close the door, will you? Your ship’s about to blow up. There’s going to be a draft.”

The Doctor stops dancing with Layla and starts to pilot the Tardis away into the vortex. “Welcome to the Tardis.”

Jack is looking around in amazement. “Much bigger on the inside.”

The Doctor looks at him sternly. “You’d better be.”

Layla looks at him slyly. “I think what the Doctor’s trying to say it, you may cut in.”

The Doctor panics and changes the music. “Layla! I’ve just remembered!”

She looks at him. “What?”

He grabs her hand and pulls her away from Jack who was just about to start dancing with her. “I can dance! I can dance!”

“Doctor! You had your turn; it was Jack’s next.”

“I’m sure it was, Layla, I’m sure it was, but with who?” They continue to dance and Jack pulls Rose into a dance and they all dance for hours, but the Doctor refuses to switch partners.

Chapter Text

Layla comes into the console to see the Doctor ‘working’ on the Tardis. More like breaking, she snickered to herself. She takes a bite of her pear and walks over towards him, chewing softly, knowing that when he sees it, he will through a fit. Like he has for the past several days. It has been hilarious. The first time he had seen her eating one he had demanded to know where she had gotten one. He has been ‘fixing’ things on the Tardis ever since I told him that she is the one providing me them.

“So, Doctor, what are you breaking now?”

“Oi! I’m not breaking anythi…” He trails off as he looks up and hones in on what is in her hand.

“What are you eating?” He asks even though they both know exactly what she is eating. But he still asks, like he does every morning hoping that he is wrong.

She gives him a look of fake pity. “Poor, poor, Doctor. Poor, deluded, Doctor. We have gone through this every morning for days now. You know exactly what it is.” She takes another bit slowly and chews it while giving him a big smirk and trying not to laugh. The Doctor looks towards the ceiling in betrayal and they both can feel the Tardis hum in amusement. She swallows her bite and wipes the juice that had run from the corner of her lips. “Hmm, I guess there can be pears on your ship then, huh?” Layla gives him a sly look and snickers at his face.

“Let me guess, it was in the kitchen, right?” She nods telling him that he was right and he takes off sprinting down the hallways. She knows he is going towards the kitchen to look for these pears. Most likely to throw into a supernova. He has threatened to do that once he found them, but the Tardis is keeping them well hidden. He refuses to give up on looking though. Layla finds his persistence and annoyance very amusing.

She finishes her pear and goes about cleaning up the mess the Doctor had made. She gets on her knees, reaches inside the grate on the floor, and starts wiping up some unidentified liquid. “Blimey, doesn’t he ever clean you, love? Good thing I’m here, yeah?” She smiles as the Tardis hums in agreement.

She is startled and looks behind her, but doesn’t get up as she hears Jack’s voice. “My, my, what a great view.”

She realizes what view he is talking about and laughs, but at the same time, while she would normally find this very funny because of her personality, it doesn’t feel the same, it feels a little wrong. To get her mind off the feeling, she looks at the rag in her hand and tosses it at Jack. “Here, I’m sure you are used to being covered in unidentified liquids, should feel right at home.”

He barks out a laugh as he avoids the rag. “Where is the Doctor and Rose?”

“Rose is finishing getting ready, and the Doctor is on the usual morning pear hunt of course.”

“Ah, of course.” Jack had been here the first morning that the Tardis had gifted Layla her first pear and it had been the funniest thing that Jack had seen in a while. Rose had told them about their discussion about the bananas from the morning of the day they meet and now he understood the whole banana keep away thing at the hospital.

Layla stands up having finished cleaning and is wiping her hands off on a clean rag. Jack is kind enough to put the grate back over the hole in the floor for her and she gives him a nod in thanks. “I wonder what trouble we are going to get into today. I know that the Doctor said we needed to stop off at Cardiff to refuel and Rose called Mickey to see him. She is going to have dinner with him or something tonight, maybe I can squeeze in and get some time to hang out with him before that.”

“So, Mickey is this sort of boyfriend of Rose’s? What’s up with that?” Jack was curious, Rose was a lovely girl, and Jack loved to flirt with everyone, but he was curious as to why Rose would continue to be with him, if she didn’t want to, or at least, it seemed like she didn’t want to.

Layla frowned at the question. “I don’t… I don’t really know anymore.” She says softly. “Rose, Mickey Mouse, and I used to be so close. We all knew that eventually I was going to go traveling. It was what I was always wanting to do, whether I had the money or I had to backpack and take little jobs along the way or not, I was going to do it. Then we met the Doctor, and things seemed to change a little. I was all for going, it was a chance to travel and as a bonus, not only the earth, but the universe and in time. I mean how could I pass that up?” She looked at him with sparkling eyes.

However, her eyes seem to dull a little, and he was sad to see it happen. “But Rose, I knew she had fun on that adventure we had with the Doctor. I knew that she was interested by him and wanted to travel with him. When she knew it could travel in time and could come back without being missed by her mom and Mickey, she was all for it, even though she had never expressed an interest in traveling before.”

Layla looked around, wanting to make sure that Rose wasn’t close by, she didn’t want her best friend to be in a strop with her because she was telling Jack about how she had been acting and how Layla was disappointed in her. “Ever since we have been traveling, I don’t know, it seems like Rose has changed. I mean, we both have really, we get to experience something that most people don’t, but I feel like she thinks she is better because she has experienced it. I know that she has been a little… uncertain about her relationship with Mickey lately. I mean she met a stranger and left with him, doesn’t really seem like a strong connection, does it?” Jack nods his head in agreement with her, to him, it didn’t seem like it was a strong relationship either. It seemed more one sided.

“I know we are young, and that Rose isn’t tied down, by marriage or anything, but she was, is, I don’t know, she had a relationship with our Mickey Mouse. And while she might not have physically strayed, she has been flirting and getting close with others.”

Jack can see Layla’s point. He sees how Rose is around him, she is very susceptible to his 51^st century pheromones, and he sees her flirting with the Doctor, even when he doesn’t respond back to her. “What are you going to do?”

“There isn’t really anything I can do. I can only be there to support Mickey when she crushes his heart, because she will. She did when we came home from missing a year and instead of comforting him, she was too concerned about getting in the Doctor’s personal bubble and finding out about the spaceship. I was the one who comforted Mickey, but it wasn’t the same. She is the one he worships, and she doesn’t appreciate it.”

“Well, Rose is young, she will figure out what she wants eventually. I am sorry you have to feel so conflicted about the whole situation though. Being put in between two friends is a tough place to be.”

Layla goes to grab Jack’s hand to give it a squeeze but pulls back before she really even moves her hand. Just the thought alone of touching him, feels wrong. She is confused, but pushes it aside to think about later. “Thanks Jack, I didn’t have anyone I could talk to about this. I feel a lot better getting it off my chest.”

Jack gives her a soft smile, and for once not making an innuendo. “That’s what friends are for.”

Xxxxxx

Later in the afternoon everyone is in the console room together, but doing different things. Rose is looking at a magazine, Jack is messing with some alien tech, the Doctor has a red light on his forehead that makes him look goofy as he stands on a ladder fixing something towards the ceiling, and Layla is handing him tools that he asks for.

There is a banging on the Tardis doors and they all look towards it in confusion, usually people just ignore the big blue box that appears out of nowhere. Jack straightens his shoulders and puts on his tough guy face and walks to the door. Opening it, he gives his best, ‘get off my lawn,’ grandpa voice. “Who the hell are you?”

“What do you mean, who the hell am I? Who the hell are you?” The girls smile as they hear Mickey’s voice.

“Captain Jack Harkness. Whatever you’re selling, we’re not buying.”

Mickey pushes him aside roughly and stomps in, muttering. “Get out of my way!”

Jack closes the door and looks towards Layla. “Don’t tell me. This must be Mickey.”

The Doctor looks down from the ladder at Mickey. “Here comes trouble! How’re you doing, Ricky boy?”

“It’s Mickey!” His annoyed expression turns into a grin as he sees Layla smack the Doctor’s leg and give him a frown, and sees the Doctor give her a pout. Always one to stand up for me, she is.

Rose walks up to him and gives him a hug. “Don’t listen to him, he’s winding you up.”

Mickey pulls back from her and looks her over. “You look fantastic.”

“Aw, sweet, look at these two. How come I never get any of that?” Jack asks the Doctor playfully giving Layla a wink.

“Buy me a drink first.” The Doctor smirks at him.

“Buy us a drink first, and then we can talk about it.” She looks at them like the cat that got the canary, knowing she won that round. Even though she doesn’t drink, but that isn’t the point, she still won.

Their heads snap to her and they stare at her with wide eyes. Jack, well he obviously would be up for it. But the Doctor, he knows he isn’t up for it now, the bond wouldn’t let them be, too jealous and possessive. Always monogamous at first, but who knows, maybe once the bond settles, they could come back to this conversation again. Remembering how the Doctor acted on his ship, Jack was figuring that this was something he should talk to the Doctor about in the future, not at this moment in time though. He gives Layla a teasing look. “You two are such hard work.”

The Doctor gives Layla a look of adoration. “But worth it.” He said it softly to where only Jack heard it as Layla had been distracted by Mickey and Rose.

“Did you manage to find it?” Rose asked Mickey all excited.

Mickey hands something to Rose, a tad reluctantly. “There you go.”

Rose holds it to her chest and jumps into the air. “I can go anywhere now.”

The Doctor groused. “I told you; you don’t need a passport.”

“Yeah Rose, the Doctor has his physic paper, Remember? Otherwise, he wouldn’t get to have any fun ‘cos he is never invited anywhere. He also uses it to stay and get out of jail, so even without a passport, if we go to another country, we would be safe as long as he had that.” She gives the Doctor a teasing look.

“Oi! I get invited places! I just like to party crash; those are usually the best kinds of parties that I go to.” He crosses his arms over his chest defending himself.

Rose teases. “It’s all very well going to Platform One and Justicia and the Glass Pyramid of San Kaloon, but what if we end up in Brazil? I might need it. You see, I’m prepared for anything.”

“Even if you have it, unless you entered legally, it wouldn’t be stamped properly and they would know you came in illegally, so in the end, it wouldn’t make a difference.” Layla laughs as Rose gives her the stink eye as she points out the flaws in Rose’s logic.

Mickey looks at Rose sadly. “Sounds like you’re staying, then.” Rose just stares at him without saying anything and realizing she won’t answer him he clears his throat. “So, what’re you doing in Cardiff? And who the hell’s Jumping Jack Flash? I mean, I don’t mind you hanging out with big-ears up there…”

“Oi!”

“Look in the mirror. But this guy, I don’t know, he’s kind of…”

Jack gives him a suave smirk. “Handsome?”

“More like cheesy.” Mickey shoots him down.

“Early twenty first century slang. Is cheesy good or bad?” Jack was confused. He had time hopped a lot, but there was a lot of history to keep up with.

“It’s bad.” Mickey tells him helpfully.

Jack’s face lights up. “But bad means good, isn’t that right?”

The Doctor climbs down the ladder looking put out. “Are you saying I’m not handsome?” He looks towards Layla for some validation and compliments, she was always giving them to him and it made him feel better about this regeneration.

She sees the pout on his face and gives a small laugh. “You are very handsome, Doctor. I am surprised that you don’t have to beat women down with a stick to keep them off of you.” Feeling better, the Doctor gives her a big grin in thanks.

Rose looked fed up with the conversation between Mickey and Jack and wanted to get it back on track from what Mickey had originally asked. “We just stopped off. We need to refuel. The thing is, Cardiff’s got this rift running through the middle of the city. It’s invisible, but it’s like an earthquake fault between different dimensions.”

The Doctor cuts in next. “The rift was healed back in 1869.”

Rose elbows him and cuts him off. “Thanks to a girl named Gwyneth, because these creatures called the Gelth, they were using the rift as a gateway but she saved the world and closed it.”

“But closing a rift always leaves a scar, and that scar generates energy, harmless to the human race.” Jack added helpfully.

“But perfect for the Tardis, so just park it here for a couple of days right on top of the scar and…” The Doctor graciously allows someone else to continue on where he stopped.

“Open up the engines, soak up the radiation.” Jack was making wild hand gestures.

“Like filling her up with petrol and off we go!” Rose was bouncing on her feet.

“Into time!” Jack stopped and looked at Rose and the Doctor.

They all paused for a second and all at once, said at the same time. “And space!”

“My god, have you seen yourselves? You all think you’re so clever, don’t you?” Mickey was looking at them like they needed to be locked up.

“Yeah.”

“Yeah.”

“Yep!”

They all looked towards Layla as they had noticed that she had been quiet during the whole thing and they see her with her hand over her face. When she notices it is quiet, she looks at them and slaps her hands together. “I wash my hands of this weirdness.” She turns and walks away, and Mickey laughs at their faces.

Xxxxxx

While they are waiting for the time for their plans, they decide to head out into town and waste some time. “Let’s go eat, I’m starving and I am sure that Rose is having a chip withdrawal.” Layla rubs her stomach and snickers as Rose punches her in the arm.

“I am not addicted to chips. I just like them.” She defended her. They all just stare at her. Even Jack joins in, even without having watched her eat them yet, and she caves under their stares. “Okay, fine. I am addicted. Stop staring at me. I’m not ashamed.” She turns away and walks towards the doors with her head held high and like she has something stuck up her butt. Mickey and Layla are leaning into each other in laughter at the dramatics of Rose Tyler.

“Alright, alright. Let’s go get Rose her fix and…” The Doctor stops talking and they all look towards Layla as they hear her stomach make noise audibly. “We need to feed Layla before her stomach eats itself.”

Layla simply shrugs. “I told you I was starving. Now let’s go before I eat you all.” She pats her stomach and gives a fake cackle.

They all leave and the sun is shining bright in the sky and it is a nice clear and warm day. “Should take another twenty-four hours, which means we’ve got time to kill.” The Doctor put his hands in his pockets and looked around at the scenery.

“That old lady’s staring.” Mickey said while pointing to said lady. She was indeed staring; her eyes were opened wide and looking somewhat scandalized.

“Probably wondering what five people could do inside a small wooden box.” Jack says while giving Mickey a leer.

“What are you captain of, the Innuendo Squad?”

Jack shrugged his shoulders while raising his hands up, but Layla looked offended. “No, wait. Hold on. That is my position. I am Captain of that squad. Have been for years Mickey Mouse. Don’t make me feed you a banana.” She threatens him.

Mickey blushes causing Jack and the Doctor to look at him curiously while Layla and Rose snicker in amusement. “Seems like a story I want to hear about.” Jack whispered to the Doctor who nodded in agreement. Of course, it has to do with Layla, a banana, and obviously making fun of Ricky here.

Mickey, wanting to not talk about that embarrassing event, quickly changes the subject. “Wait, the Tardis, we can’t just leave it. Doesn’t it get noticed?”

“Yeah, what’s with the police box? Why does it look like that?” Jack has been wanting to know, just hadn’t really thought to ask before.

“It’s a cloaking device.” Rose says smartly.

“Yeah, the Doctor says it is like ‘camouflage’.” Layla says flatly, clearly saying that the police box was anything but.

“It’s called a chameleon circuit. The Tardis is meant to disguise itself wherever it lands, like if this was Ancient Rome, it’s be a statue on a plinth or something. But I landed in the 1960’s, it disguised itself as a police box, and the circuit got stuck.” The Doctor explained to them.

“But it copied a real thing though? There were actually police boxes back then?” Mickey had thought that the Doctor was pulling his leg. He was never one for history and before the Doctor, had never even heard of police boxes.

The Doctor nods his head. “Yeah, on street corners. Phone for help before they had radios and mobiles. If they arrested someone, they could shove them inside till help came, like a little prison cell.”

“Why don’t you just fix the circuit?” Jack figured that with the Doctor being as smart as he was, it would be a simple fix, then he could blend in better.

“I like it, don’t you?” He defended.

“I love it.” Rose looked up at him from under her lashes.

Layla looked at him deviously. She raised her hand to get everyone’s attention, and Mickey smiled because he knew that Layla was going to pick on the Doctor. “Is it just me or does the way the Doctor explained what happened seem…off? I would say that it could have gotten stuck, but most likely he messed around with it, and he broke it. Kind of like how he does with the other stuff that the Tardis has to fix herself after he has a go at it. I think she likes the way she looks, so she doesn’t fix it and change.”

“Oi!” He gives her the stink eye but then pouts as everyone laughs at him.

Layla pats him gently on the hand. “It’s okay Doctor, we still love you, even if you do break stuff all the time.” She said it so carelessly, but she had no idea what those few simple words did to the Doctor. They caused his hearts to skip a beat and a warmth to spread through his body.

“But still, that’s what I meant. There aren’t police boxes anymore, so doesn’t it get noticed?” Mickey knew he was right, people did notice it. He just didn’t know why people didn’t say or do anything about it.

The Doctor wrapped his arm around Mickey’s shoulders as they walked down the sidewalk, forcing himself to not let go instantly. “Ricky, let me tell you something about the human race. You put a mysterious blue box slap bang in the middle of town, what do they do? Walk past it. Now, stop your nagging. Let’s go explore.

“What’s the plan?” Rose asked, excited for another fun day.

“Well, we are obviously going to get your chip fix and save my stomach from caving in, after that, I am up for anything.”

“Oh, anything you say, now that is something I can oof.” Jack was suddenly cut off when the Doctor elbowed him in the side but he is looking away as if he hadn’t noticed anything was wrong when the others looked back to see what stopped Jack from talking.

“I don’t know, but Cardiff, early twenty first century, and the wind’s coming from the east. Trust me, safest place in the universe.” The Doctor says confidently.

Layla starts to slow clap. “Congrats Doctor, that is the start to every horror movie next to ‘this is the safest neighborhood.’”

Xxxxxx

“I swear, six feet tall and with big tusks.” Jack was telling a story of one of his adventures.

However, the Doctor didn’t believe him one bit. “You’re lying through your teeth!”

“I’d have gone bonkers! That’s the word – bonkers!”

“Rose you already are bonkers!” Layla is laughing so hard she starts to snort and that sets off a chain reaction from the others. Mickey was taking a drink and he heard her and choked on his drink. This caused Rose to laugh even harder and fall into Jack and him almost fall out of his own chair which caused the Doctor to laugh so hard that he started to cry.

Getting back to his story Jack continues once everyone’s laughter calms down some. “I mean, it turns out the white things are tusks and I mean tusks! And it’s woken, and it’s not happy.”

“How could you not know it was there?” The Doctor thought that humans were oblivious, conveniently forgetting his own obliviousness.

“And we’re standing there, fifteen of us, naked.”

“Naked?!” Rose screeched.

“Oh, I bet you felt right at home and enjoyed that, Jack. No complaints from you, yeah?” Jack winked at Layla in response but didn’t confirm or deny.

“And I’m like, oh, no, no, it’s got nothing to do with me. and then it roars, and we are running. Oh my god, we are running! And Brakovitch falls, so I turn to him and I say…”

“I knew we should’ve turned left!” Mickey stole the line away from Jack and laughed at his expression.

“That’s my line!” He pouted, but couldn’t keep it up and started to laugh again.

“I don’t believe you. I don’t believe a word you say ever. That is so brilliant. Did you ever get your clothes back?” Layla watched as the Doctor stopped smiling and instead, he started to frown. He got up and walked over to an older man and rudely snatched the paper from his hands and he reads it.

“No, I just picked him up, went right for the ship, full throttle. Didn’t stop until I hit the spacelanes. I was shaking. It was unbelievable. It freaked me out, and by the time I got fifteen light years away I realized I’m like this.” Jack held his hand out and was shaking his hand to show how it was at the time of his adventure.

The Doctor walks back over with the newspaper he apparently stole from the man and holds it up for us to see the front page. “And I was having such a nice day.” On the front page was a picture of Margaret.

Xxxxxx

They get to city hall and huddle together like they are playing American football, why? No idea, but they are on a mission and it is secret and they can’t be overheard. They are going after an official of the government after all. “According to intelligence, the target is the last surviving member of the Slitheen family, a criminal sect from the planet Raxacoricofallapatorius, masquerading as a human being, zipped inside a skin suit.” The Doctor, Layla, and Rose nod in agreement while Mickey looks a little green around the gills. “Okay, plan of attack, we assume a basic fifty-seven fifty-six strategy, covering all available exits on ground floor. Doctor, you go face to face. that’ll designate Exit One. I’ll cover Exit Two. Rose, you Exit Three. Mickey Smith and Layla, you two take Exit Four. Have you got that?”

The Doctor looked at Jack affronted. “Excuse me. Who’s in charge?” Why did he put Layla with Mickey? He didn’t know about Layla and Jack’s talk earlier and how she wanted to spend time with him and Jack putting them together gave her a little bit of time.

Jack straightens up and twitches like he is about to salute. “Sorry. Awaiting orders, sir.”

“Right, here’s the plan.” He pauses and thinks over Jack’s plan and realizes that he can’t think of a better one, well besides Layla coming with him, but changing that would be suspicious. “Like he said. Nice plan. Anything else?”

“Present arms.” Jack holds up his phone.

Everyone pulls out their phones.

“Ready.”

“Ready.”

“Ready. Just call Mickey’s. I didn’t bring mine.” Layla said wanting to not be unaware of what was happening because they called the wrong phone.

“Ready. Speed Dial?”

“Yup.”

“Ready.”

“Check.”

“See you in hell.”

Xxxxxx

The Doctor walks up to the young man sitting at the desk by the mayor’s office doors. “Hello. I’ve come to see the Lord Mayor.”

“Have you got an appointment?”

“No, just an old friend passing by. Bit of a surprise. Can’t wait to see her face.” The Doctor gives the secretary a mischievous grin and bounces on his toes in excitement.

“Well. She’s just having a cup of tea.” He says a little hesitantly.

“Just go in there and tell her the Doctor would like to see her.” The Doctor can see the hesitancy and gently encouraged him to pass his message along.

He nods his head glad that the man wasn’t insisting on seeing her right this minute and was willing to see if she would see him or she would have him make an appointment for a later time. “Doctor who?”

Inwardly he grins at the question. “Just the Doctor. Tell her exactly that. The Doctor.”

“Hang on a tick.” He goes into the mayor’s off and within seconds the Doctor can hear a cup smash on the floor and the secretary comes out again. “The Lord Mayor says thank you for popping by. She’d love to have a chat, but, er, she’s up to her eyes in paperwork. Perhaps if you could make an appointment for next week?”

“She’s climbing out the window, isn’t she?” The Doctor looks at the secretary knowingly.

He grimaces slightly. “Yes, she is.”

The Doctor pushes him aside and runs into the mayor’s office and over to the window. He sees Margaret has already made it to the sidewalk and is running as fast as she can away from the building. He pulls up his phone. “Slitheen heading north.”

“On my way.” Rose takes off running into a clerk carrying a pile of papers.

“Over and out.” Jack leaps over a tea trolley.

“Oh my god.” Mickey looks like he is about to hurl and Layla has a tight grip on his hand as he lags behind.

“Jump Mickey!” Luckily her warning keeps him from crashing into the cleaning woman and her cart.

The Doctor is about to head down the same way that Margaret went down when the secretary comes in and grabs him from behind and tries to manhandle him. “Leave the mayor alone!”

Xxxxxx

At the bottom of the ladder Margaret takes off her brooch. She starts to run but sees Rose coming towards her, she snarls and removes her right earring. Then Jack comes running from the opposite direction. Mickey and Layla come out of their exit and she is blocked in all around.

“Margaret!” The Doctor quickly climbs down the ladder. Margaret removes her other earring and puts it with the first and the brooch.

She is stuck in the middle, but there is a fair bit of distance between Margaret and Mickey and Layla. For some reason, Margaret takes off running towards Mickey and Layla. Rose laughs. “Oh, be fair. She’s not exactly going to outrun us, is she?” As Margaret gets closer to Mickey and Layla, The Doctor gets worried for Layla, but then Margaret just vanishes.

“She’s got a teleport! That’s cheating! Now we’re never going to get her!” Jack threw his arms up in the air and stomped around pouting.

Rose crossed her arms over her chest and cocked her hip out. “Oh, the Doctor’s very good at teleports.”

The Doctor steps forward and holds up his sonic screwdriver and Margaret reappears, running towards them. She vanishes again and he causes her to reappear closer. She vanishes once again, and he causes her to appear within a couple of feet from them. When Mickey and Layla seen Margaret Vanish the first time, they took off toward the others to figure out what the game plan was, so by the time the disappear/reappear game was over, they had made it to the group.

“I could do this all day.” The Doctor looked at her amused.

Margaret was breathing heavily and hunched over from the running she had done. “This is persecution. Why can’t you leave me alone? What did I ever do to you?”

“You tried to kill me, Layla, and destroy this entire planet.”

Margaret huffs and waves her hand carelessly. “Apart from that.” The Doctor’s eyes tighten slightly and he loses his grin. His jaw clenches at the lack of remorse she shows to the death and destruction she was prepared to do.

Xxxxxx

They all walk back into the office of the mayor and the Doctor looks at the plans that Margaret had drawn up and is trying to figure out her goal and end game for playing with the government again.

“So, you’re a Slitheen, you’re on earth, you’re trapped. Your family gets killed, but you teleport out just in the nick of time. You have no means of escape. What do you do? You build a nuclear power station. But what for?”

Margaret shrugs her shoulders. “A philanthropic gesture. I’ve learnt the error of my ways.”

Layla snorts and Margaret gives her a dirty look. “If that was the case Margaret, you wouldn’t have run. You would have talked to the Doctor, shown him all the good you have done, all your goals. Pleaded your case to stay. But you ran, like someone with something to hide, like someone in the wrong. The Doctor is not unreasonable, he may not be happy with how you started, but if he believed you had changed, then I don’t think he would have a problem letting you be, but that is just my opinion.” Layla looks at her thoughtfully. She doesn’t for one second believe Margaret. If she had learnt the error of her ways, then she wouldn’t have fled like a criminal.

The Doctor nodded towards Layla in agreement, standing on her side. He didn’t believe Margaret either. Especially since the words nuclear and rift being together will not end well. “And it just so happens to be right on top of the rift?”

“What right would that be?” She tries to look innocent but fails spectacularly.

“A rift in space and time. If this power station went into meltdown, the entire planet would go…” Jack makes the gesture with his hands indicating a giant boom.

“This station is designed to explode the minute it reaches capacity.” The Doctor shakes his head in disappointment, she had an opportunity to have a second chance and she didn’t take it.

“Didn’t anyone notice? Isn’t there someone in London checking this sort of stuff?” Rose was leaning against the table that held the scaled down model of the station Margaret was wanting to build.

Margaret snorts, but Layla was watching her closely and seen her eyes tighten. “We’re in Cardiff. London doesn’t care. The South Wales coast could fall into the sea and they wouldn’t notice. Oh. I sound like a Welshman. God help me, I’ve gone native.”

“I would think, Margaret, that a nuclear explosion, that would kill millions, would put this little project on London’s radar. And considering your past, between eating people and killing others, you wouldn’t hesitate to stop those who would try to stop this.” Layla was still looking at Margaret, but Margaret wouldn’t look at Layla.

Mickey looked between Layla and the Doctor. “But why would she do that? A great big explosion, she’d only end up killing herself.”

“She’s got a name, you know.” Margaret snipped at him. She didn’t answer if she would die in the explosion, so she had a plan to keep that from happening, but what? Layla wondered.

“She’s not even a she, she’s a thing.” Mickey sneered out.

“Mickey, she is still a female of her species and a living being, she is not a thing.” Layla gently chided him.

“Oh, but she’s clever.” the Doctor walks over to the scaled model and pulls out the middle sections of the model and turns it over to reveal a high tech electronic. He looks at it slightly surprised. “Fantastic.”

“Is that a tribophysical waveform macro-kinetic extrapolator?” Jack grabs it from the Doctor and is looking at it like he got the greatest gift from Santa for Christmas.

The Doctor looks at him surprised at how fast Jack had spit that question out. He nods his head. “Couldn’t had put it better myself.”

However, Layla calls him out on his bullshit. “’Cos you didn’t know what it was, did you?” His shoulders slump and his ego takes a hit, but grins good naturally at her.

“Ooh genius! You didn’t build this? Jack questions, but he already seems to assume that she didn’t.

“I have my hobbies. A little tinkering.” Was the humble reply.

“No, no, no. I mean, you really didn’t build this. Way beyond you.” Now Margaret’s ego takes a hit.

“I bet she stole it.” Mickey was just looking for things to blame Margaret for.

“It fell into my hands.” She neither denied nor confirmed the accusation.

Rose got a little closer to Jack to see the extrapolator, but not too close because she was unsure. “Is it a weapon?”

“It’s a transport. You see, if the reactor blows, the rift opens. Phenomenal cosmic disaster. But this thing shrouds you in a forcefield. You have this energy bubble, so you’re safe.” He puts the device on the floor and mimics standing on and showing the bubble that would wrap around the person. “Then you feed it coordinates, stand on top, and ride the concussion all the way out of the solar system.”

“It’s a surfboard.” Mickey says flatly. Why didn’t he just say that to begin with?

Layla had to chuckle at the simple way that Mickey had defined the long explanation that Jack had given them. It was almost like Jack was the Doctor for a second. Jack nods his head to Mickey. “A pan-dimensional surfboard, yeah.”

Margaret, finally giving up on her act of turning over a new leaf sneers at them. “And it would’ve worked. I’d have surfed away from this dead-end dump and back to civilization.”

“It would have been better had you shook your fist and added ‘if it wasn’t for you meddling kids,’ to the end of your first sentence.” Layla imitates said action showing Margaret what she means. “Minus four points. Your score rests at a six out of ten.” Margaret just looks at Layla confused while all the others are openly grinning.

“You’re such a dork Layla.” Rose looks at her friend fondly.

“Of course, that’s why you all love me. I bring the movie and show quotes at the weirdest times to this group.” Margaret clears her throat to get them all back on track of the previous conversation though and the humor fads from their faces.

“You’d blow up a whole planet just to get a lift?” Mickey was outraged that someone would be so selfish.

“Like stepping on an anthill.” Margaret taunts him.

The Doctor had walked away from the group when something caught his eye. There was a banner hanging up that displayed the name of the project and seeing it caused shivers to run down his back. Two words. Two words that he had heard many times. He turns and looks at Margaret. “How’d you think of the name?”

“What, Blaidd Drwg? It’s Welsh.”

I know that, I’m not stupid. “I know, but how did you think of it?”

Margaret shrugs her shoulder, her eyebrows furrow. “I chose it at random, that’s all. I don’t know. It just sounded good. Does it matter?”

“Blaidd Drwg.” The Doctor said it softly, a little worried.

“What’s it mean?” Rose asked him. Layla wanted to know to and she also wanted to know why the Tardis didn’t translate it automatically. That was slightly worrying.

“Bad Wolf.”

Layla’s eyes widen and Rose pales a little. “But I’ve heard that before. Bad wolf. I’ve heard that lots of times.” Layla nods her heard in agreement to Rose’s statement. She too had heard it many times, but never really thought about it until now how much she heard it.

“Everywhere we go. Two words following us. Bad wolf.” The Doctor was worried. This wasn’t a coincidence. Something was following him and the girls and it was most likely dangerous. However, until it happened, there wasn’t anything he could do, by trying to prevent it, he could start it, and by doing nothing, he could start it. Catch 22.

“How can they be following us?” Rose asked with a slightly shaky voice. She didn’t know why, out of all their adventures this was bothering her. Whenever she heard or thought of the words ‘Bad Wolf’ a chill would go down her spine. She feels Layla grab her hand and she grips it tightly thankful for the comfort.

The Doctor could see that the girls were getting worried and starting to panic so he put on a big smile and played it off. He will think about it more later and try to figure it out when he is by himself to try to keep them safe. “Nah, just a coincidence. Like hearing a word on the radio then hearing it all day. Never mind things to do. Margaret, we’re going to take you home.” What he forgot was how observant Layla was. She saw the tightening muscles in his face and the worry in his own eyes, and she knew that he didn’t think it was a coincidence. But she also knew that it wasn’t something he wanted to talk about right now, if at all, so she let it drop.

“Hold on, isn’t that the easy option, like letting her go?” Jack didn’t understand what the point was, wouldn’t she just leave and start wreaking havoc again?

“I don’t believe it! We actually get to go to Raxa. Wait a minute! Raxacor…” Rose was repeating it over and over in her head and trying to produce it to sound by her mouth.

“Raxacoricofallapatorius.” The Doctor said it slowly to help her out.

“Raxacorico…”

“Fallapatorius.”

“Raxacoricofallapatorius. That’s it! I did it!” In her excitement she jumped onto the Doctor giving him a hug, hanging from his neck. She didn’t feel him flinch from the contact nor did she pay attention and realize that he did not hug her back.

Layla had also seen her hug and felt a big flash of jealously and a bit of possessiveness when Rose hugged him. She understood the jealously, but she didn’t understand the possessiveness. He wasn’t hers, sadly. She had no claim to him. Little did she know, her side of the bond was waking more and more as she spent time with him and developed feelings for him and subconsciously accepted him as a mate.

Margaret dumped a bucket of ice water on Rose’s happiness though. “They have the death penalty. The family Slitheen was tried in its absence many years ago and found guilty with no chance of appeal. According to the statues of government, the moment I return, I am to be executed.” She looked at the Doctor challengingly. “What do you make of that, Doctor? Take me home and you take me to my death.

The Doctor gave her a blank stare, trying to keep her words from making him feel guilty for delivering her for her crimes. “Not my problem.”

Xxxxxx

It was midafternoon and the group of time travelers and Mickey had escorted Margaret to the Tardis to hold her until they were able to leave to take her home. She walked in and looked around in awe at the magnificence of the Doctor’s ship.

“This ship is impossible. It’s superb. How do you get the outside around the inside?”

The Doctor scoffed as he messed around the console. “'Like I’d give you the secret, yeah.”

Margaret tried to stroke his ego. “I almost feel better about being defeated. I never stood a chance. This is the technology of the gods.”

“Don’t worship me – I’d make a very bad god. You wouldn’t get a day off, for starters.”

Layla pokes him in the side. “Yeah if he was a god, he would make all my pears disappear and I couldn’t enjoy them anymore.” She gives him a teasing grin.

He points his finger at her and gives her a stern look. “Look here missy, one of these days I will find out where she hides them and throw them into a supernova and there is nothing you can do to stop me. You need to quit turning my ship against me!”

Layla stepped a little closer to him and looked up at him from under her lashes. She bites her lip and watches as his eyes dart down before quickly coming back to her eyes. “Are you sure there isn’t… anything, I can do?”

She watches him swallow harshly and then he clears his throat roughly. He turns away from her to Jack, how we doing, big fella?” His voice was a pitch lower than normal though and Layla turns away with a smirk seeing that she won that round and her quest to keep her pears continues.

Jack chuckles having watched the interaction between the Doctor and Layla. He has to admit that they would make a great couple and is quite jealous of both of them. “This extrapolator’s top of the range. Where did you get it?” He turns towards Margaret as he directed the question towards her.

She waves her hand carelessly as if she can’t simply remember. “Oh, I don’t know. Some airlock sale?”

Jack snorts. “Must’ve been a great big heist. It’s stacked with power. These things are not easy to come by. They are not just at some ‘airlock sale’.

“But can we use it for fuel.” This was not the Doctor’s area of expertise as much as he was annoyed to say. But if they could use it to leave that much sooner, he would gladly let Jack take the reins so they can get back to exploring sooner.

“It’s not compatible, but it should knock off about twelve hours. We’ll be ready to go by morning.” He says as he starts to hook the extrapolator into the Tardis. The Doctor isn’t happy that they can’t leave right away, but twelve hours better than the original twenty-four. All of them miss the slight smirk that Margaret has on her face.

“Then we’re stuck here overnight.” The Doctor would deny to anyone that he pouted. Who wants to get stuck in Cardiff. That’s almost as bad as dying in Cardiff. He thinks as he remembers the Gelth.

Margaret sits on the jump seat and folds her hands together. “I’m in no hurry.” She was actually very happy that it is working out this way. She is glad it is not compatible because then her plan will work before they can take her home.

“We’ve got a prisoner. The police box is really a police box.” Rose laughed at the irony.

“You’re not just police, though. Since you’re taking me to my death, that makes you, my executioners. Each and every one of you.” She tries to guilt them, and for most of them it is working, but one of them is staring at her blankly.

“Well, you deserve it.” Mickey tries to get rid of the guilt by snipping at her. Look at how many people she and her family killed. She deserves her sentence. But still, he has never killed anyone and feels a little queasy.

“You’re very quick to say so. You’re very quick to soak your hands in my blood, which makes you better than me, how, exactly? Long night ahead. Let’s see who can look me in the eye.” She starts with Mickey who tries and can hold out for a few seconds and then drops his eyes. Rose lasts about two seconds and she looks away. The Doctor looks at her less time than Rose and Jack will not even look at her. However, when she gets to Layla. Layla meets her gaze head on. Layla knows that Margaret is trying to manipulate them. Trying to make them feel remorse for things she did herself. She meets Margaret’s gaze searchingly and tries to see if there was anything good in this female at all.

Margaret thought it would be easy. These people seemed like a sappy bunch, easy to manipulate their feelings and make them feel guilty. But this woman, her gaze, she was perceptive and it was like she could see inside your soul. It made Margaret shiver as she continued to look at her almost colorless eyes and see… nothing, but at the same time, almost disappointment? It was hard to tell what this woman was thinking.

Layla continued to look at her and then decided to tell her what she thought based on what she has seen on their interactions from today. “You try to manipulate us for your crimes and make us feel guilty for us returning you to your planet where your own people have held a trial and found you guilty of crimes. It is not as if you are being wrongfully accused. You would have blown up millions of people just to get a lift off of this planet and not had any problems with it had we not stopped by today, and not to mention how many people you have killed to keep your plans going when they tried to stop it. It is not our job nor place to save you when you feel no remorse for the deaths you have caused and would have caused. If taking you to your planet and you being executed kills one, but saves millions, I will take that burden from the Doctor without hesitation and find a way to pilot the Tardis to Raxacoricofallapatorius myself and deliver you.”

Margaret looks at her, her heart racing and sweat beading on her forehead. Her words were hitting her harder than she thought they would and her gaze never changed either, she delivered it calmly, without anger, or upset. Margaret didn’t know what to think. One thing she did know what that her gaze was doing something to her and she didn’t like it. It felt like there was a tightness in her chest. She couldn’t take it anymore and adverted her eyes and grimaced.

Everyone else had been watching the interaction and had let out a breath when Margaret had looked away. They had seen both Layla and Margaret staring at each other, seemingly frozen. The Doctor wanted to pull Layla away knowing that Margaret was trying to make them feel guilty, but he also knows how perceptive Layla is, and he knows how searching and knowing her gaze can be. Jack knows this too and he swallows at the reminder, thinking back to that time on his ship.

The Doctor’s hearts are thumping hard in his chest at her words. He can see that they had affected Margaret as well. This little human, his little Promised One was amazing. He was just speechless at what she said honestly. He knew that taking Margaret to her planet and her dying would make him feel guilty, but he still had to do it. But the fact that she said she would find a way to do it, to spare him from having to do it, to save him from that guilt. He didn’t deserve someone like her, not after what he had done in the war. But he was glad he had her, so glad, and he wanted nothing more than to grab her and hold her close. Give her a kiss and tell her thank you and never let her go, but he can’t yet. She doesn’t know, and he has to wait. He can’t rush this. He wants forever, and she is worth waiting for, worth working for.

Xxxxxx

After Layla’s words, everything had gone quiet and not much else was said. Rose went and seen her mum. Jackie had demanded to see them when Mickey told them they were going to Cardiff and hitched a ride with him. Layla stayed behind though so she could spend some time with Mickey. Layla and Mickey were just walking around the Tardis exploring the many different rooms. The Tardis was having fun showing her favorite human different rooms that she thought that she would enjoy. The next room they entered Layla almost squealed in excitement. She pulled Mickey in and demanded they played in the room for a little while. He easily gave in just as excited. They both took their shoes off and started running around like kids.

The room was a trampoline park. It was filled with all types of trampolines. Trampoline basketball, dodgeball, foam pits, trapeze swing, rock wall, wipeout and other exciting goodies. They started to jump around like children trying everything out. After an hour or so they are laying on a trampoline together relaxing and catching their breaths.

“How are you Mickey Mouse, honestly.” Layla knows that he has been smiling and laughing with her, but she can still see the sadness in his eyes.

“It’s been hard. I miss you two. I knew you were going to travel, I got used to idea of you not being around often. But Rose was supposed to stay. I had started getting used to the idea of being more serious with her. I had thought about asking her to move in with me, but then she left. And it seems like I don’t matter anymore. Not to her at least.”

Layla reaches over and grabs his hand. She flinches slightly from the feeling of wrongness, but doesn’t let go, he is her best friend and needs comfort. “I’m sorry Mickey. I wish I could say or do something that would make you feel better, but we both know that I can’t. I haven’t talked to Rose about anything either. You know how she is; she would get in a strop and not listen to anything and be upset for days and be irrational.”

Mickey choked out a laugh. “Yeah, she can be pretty irrational. Part of her charm I guess.” He pauses for a second and Layla doesn’t say anything knowing he wants to say something. “I am seeing someone right now though. Trisha Delaney, remember her? Rob Delaney’s sister?”

Layla thinks hard and remembers a slightly heavy girl but pretty girl. “Yeah, I do. She is so nice. How is she doing? Are you happy with her?”

“Yeah, she’s nice. She lost a lot of weight, so she is happy with that. And yeah, I guess I am happy. As happy as I can get, I suppose. It’s hard though. I still love Rose, and I still drop everything and come running to her the moment she calls. And I can’t stop hoping that one of these days she calls she is running right back to… me.” Mickey’s voice wobbles and his breath hitches at the end.

Layla’s heart hurts for Mickey. Unfortunately, there isn’t anything she can do for him. It is all in his hands on how he deals with Rose. He is the only one who can step up and tell her how he is feeling and it mean anything. Sure, she could tell Rose what he is feeling, but it wouldn’t mean the same. It would make Mickey look like a coward and that it wasn’t that big of a deal because he didn’t bring it up himself.

“Look, you two are going out later, right? When she is done spending time with her mum? You should tell her this tonight. Let her know how you feel. You don’t have to make any major decisions or anything. But tell her how hurt you are by what she did and is doing and see what she says. Maybe you can work it out. I know she still wants to travel, but maybe you can, I don’t know, call each other every day or something and just talk to each other. And I am sure if we ask nicely, the Doctor would be willing to let us visit more so you two can have a date. You two can make it work, Mickey, but both of you have to put in the effort. Not just you.”

Mickey thinks on her words and realizes that she is right and he needs to tell Rose how he is feeling. That their relationship won’t fix itself if he doesn’t tell her how he is feeling and keeps it bottled up. And it also won’t fix itself if they don’t communicate often either. He squeezes her hand. “Thanks Layla. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

“Well, you would probably enjoy bananas more, but other than that, you’d be fine. Come on let’s play some more. Oh! Let’s have the Tardis bring the Doctor and Jack in, we can play trampoline dodgeball and it would be me and you versus the Doctor and Jack. We would totally kick their butts. You game?”

Mickey gives her a smirk and a high five. Layla looks towards the ceiling. “Love, can you get the Doctor and Jack here quick, I don’t know make it seem urgent. And when they get in lock the door so they have to stay and play? Please? The Doctor needs to take a break and relax. Oh, but first have them shove Margaret in an empty room so she can’t get into trouble.”

They run over and start to stock pile the balls, and they wait semi patiently with big devious smirks on their faces as they wait for their prey to enter the door. The Tardis plays along with them and dims the light to surprise her Thief and the Future Immortal One.

Xxxxxx

Jack and the Doctor are currently in the console room working on different things just keeping occupied while Margaret watches them semi interested and semi bored. Lights start flashing as the Tardis tries to get the Doctor’s attention and hums out a warning for the Doctor letting him know that Mickey needed help.

The Tardis, knowing her Thief would not want to deal with Mickey and would send Jack, purposely alerted him that. As expected, the Doctor makes a face. “Jack, Ricky the Idiot needs help, probably went to the bathroom, and got lost, can you go find him and deliver him back to Layla? I’ll stay and watch our…guest.”

“Sure, no problem.” He slaps the Doctor on the bum as he passes by and gives him a wink as the Doctor squawks. The Tardis is leading Jack down the hallways and is just leading him around keeping him distracted while she gets ready to send her Thief off next.

In the console room the lights start flashing again and the Doctor groans in annoyance. “What now?” What did that idiot do now? However, his hearts drop when the Tardis alerts him as to why she sent the alert: Layla. Something was wrong with Layla. He quickly started to sprint down towards the hallway when the Tardis hummed and reminded him of their guest. He grunted in annoyance and marched back towards her. He grabbed her arm non-to-gently and pulls her up as she starts to protest, but he ignores her questions and protests. He has bigger things to worry about.

Thankfully his beautiful ship puts an empty room with a bed, toilet and chair first thing in the hallway and he shoves her in quickly shutting the door and he hears the Tardis locking it ensuring she cannot escape. He quickly runs down the hallway following the directions the Tardis is giving him to where Layla is.

He skids to a stop when he nearly collides with Jack who had also been running. “What’s the emergency? I had been looking for Mickey when the Tardis sent the emergency alert and led me here.”

They were both outside of the only door left in the hall, the Tardis having taken away all other doors. The Doctor, worried for Layla, doesn’t answer and opens the door. “Layla? Are you alright? What’s wrong?” He goes into the room but it is dark and he can’t see much.

He walks in farther and hears Jack mumble. “Light switch, where is the light switch.” Next thing they both know is the door slams shut, the lights turn on, and then they are being pelted with projectiles. They turn their backs towards their attackers and wait for it to stop.

They hear giggling and straighten up realizing they weren’t hurt. They look around and see they were being hit by rubber balls. The Doctor turns and looks around and sees Layla and Mickey standing on a trampoline with their hands on their hips and victorious smirks on their face. “What the hell was that? I thought something had happened to you!” He was slightly mad and that made Layla’s smile fall a little.

“Sorry Doctor, we wanted the Tardis to bring you here, we didn’t know she would say it was an emergency. We just thought you could use a break and have some fun. So, we thought a game of dodgeball, you two versus us.”

The Doctor feels a warmth go through his body that she was trying to take care of him and thinking about him and he was sad that he causes her smile to go away. He gives her a smirk. “Well, look how the tables have turned, we seem to be in possession of all the ammo, and you have…none.” He picks up a ball, throws it at Mickey and cackles at it hits him in the stomach causing Mickey to bend over with an oof.

“Buck up Mickey, its game on!” She contemplates how to get some of their balls when the Tardis decides to help her out and rains some balls down on her side causing the Doctor to send the ceiling the stink eye and Layla to laugh and fist pump. They play around for hours doing the many different things the room provides before they are laying down knackered.

“That was fun. Haven’t been this exhausted in a long time. I can’t feel my legs. Good work boys.” Layla sighs out. The Doctor was too tired to feel any type of emotion that he normally would towards her comment. Same with Jack. Mickey was simply used to them and ignored it. “Well, we can just relax a bit longer, then it is time for Mickey’s date with Rose, after that, you still need to work on that surfboard, yeah?”

“Yeah, we only got a little bit of it hooked up.” Jack mumbled out.

“We should probably give our guest some food. She has been locked in a plain room for hours without anything.” The Doctor says without guilt. He had enjoyed the time he spent with Layla and to his surprise, Mickey wasn’t so bad to be around either. He was still getting used to Jack though, especially his flirty behavior.

Xxxxxx

The Doctor watches Mickey and Rose on the scanner leave for their date. He hopes that they have a good time. He knows that he doesn’t bring the girls back often enough to spend time with Mickey, and sometimes he feels bad, but again, domestics.

Jack leans over to see what he is looking at. “So, what’s on?”

The Doctor turns it off, not wanting to get into the whole domestic debate, he doesn’t not want to have a ‘girl talk’ with Jack. Barf. “Nothing. Just…”

Margaret looks at the Doctor a little sourly. She doesn’t know what caused the panic earlier, but she didn’t like being manhandled and shoved into a plain room with nothing to do for hours. She could have at least been given a book. “I gather it’s not always like this, having to wait. I bet you’re always the first to leave, Doctor. Never mind the consequences, off you go.” She was trying to see if any of her words would hit their targets. She was watching him closely, he gave them the choice to leave before he blew up downing street, he was soft hearted. “You butchered my family and then ran for the stars, am I right? But not this time. At last, you have consequences. How does it feel?”

“I didn’t butcher them.” The Doctor protested.

“Don’t answer back. That’s what she wants.” Jack soothed the Doctor.

“Isn’t it a bit ironic? You say that the Doctor has consequences, at last, but isn’t it the same for you. You and your family committed all kinds of crimes, and were tried for them and found guilty, and the consequences of that is your execution. And you’re doing everything you can, trying to make everyone feel guilty for taking you home, just so you don’t have to pay for the crimes you committed. Don’t be a hypocrite, Margaret.” Layla had started off calmly, but towards the end, her last sentence was said harshly, a cold flinty look in her eyes. She was fed up with Margaret trying to make her Doctor feel bad. He already had enough pain and guilt on his shoulders. She shouldn’t be trying to add more undeserved guilt. Her eyes slightly widened, her Doctor? Why would I think that he is mine? She asked herself. But she couldn’t help it, in that moment, she had felt like he was hers to defend, hers to claim and protect.

Margaret refused to look at Layla. Her words pierced her more than she was wanting to admit even to herself. She was a hypocrite, but she wanted to live, she didn’t want to die. And if that made her a hypocrite, well she was okay with that. The Doctor stood slightly behind her and grabbed the back of Layla’s neck with his right hand and gently rubbed it until she relaxed, almost against him, while his other hand grabbed her left and held her and tightly in appreciation. He looked at Margaret who was watching him and pointedly avoiding Layla. “I didn’t. What about you? You had an emergency teleport. You didn’t zap them to safety, did you?”

“It only carries one. I had to fly without coordinates. I ended up on a skip in the Isle of Dogs. It wasn’t funny.”

Jack and the Doctor had started laughing and Layla could feel the Doctor’s laugh rumbling from his chest against her back since she was standing so close to him and she shivered. The Doctor cleared his throat. “Sorry. It is a bit funny.” But he didn’t sound sorry at all.

Margaret reluctantly smiled finding a little bit of humor in it. “Do I get a last request?”

The Doctor stiffened wondering what trick she was trying to use now. “Depends on what it is.”

“I grew quite fond of my little human life. All those rituals. The brushing of the teeth, and the complicated way they cook things. There’s a little restaurant just round the Bay. It became quite a favorite of mine.”

“Is that what you want, a last meal?” The Doctor asks her quietly.

“Don’t I have rights?” Layla snorts at this but stays quiet.

“Oh, like she’s not going to try to escape.” She wasn’t fooling Jack one bit with her pity party act.

“Except I can never escape the Doctor, so where’s the danger? I wonder if you could, do it? To sit with a creature you’re about to kill and take supper. How strong is your stomach?” She taunts him.

“Strong enough.” The Doctor says blandly.

“I wonder. I’ve seen you fight your enemies, now dine with them.”

“You won’t change my mind.” Layla was right, if they let her go, how many more people would she kill.

Margaret looked at him challengingly and hissed. “Prove it.”

The Doctor shook his head. “There are people out there. If you slip away just for one second, they’ll be in danger.”

“Except I’ve got these.” Jack holds up two bangles and gently knocks them against each other. “You both wear one. If she moves more than ten feet away, she gets zapped by ten thousand volts.”

Satisfied that she couldn’t harm anyone, the Doctor had no problem with giving her the meal she wanted. “Margaret, would you like to come out to dinner? My treat?” The words tasted like ash on his tongue as he asked her this, the bond punishing him for asking another that is not his Promised One on a ‘date.’

Layla couldn’t help the lurch that her heart felt as she heard the question the Doctor asked Margaret, but she pushed it aside to make fun of the Doctor. “Your treat? Since when do you have money? Did you go digging through my wallet earlier?”

“I have my ways of getting money when I need it, for special occasions, maybe one day you’ll see.” He gives her a wink and cursed himself for getting too flirty with her. She on the other hand felt her heart sped up at the possibility of going on a date with him.

Margaret brings the attention back to her though. “Dinner in bondage. Works for me.” She holds out her wrist for the bangle and gives the Doctor a smirk.

Layla gives Margaret a smirk. “What a fantastic idea! Thank you, Margaret! I am going to have to try that one day! Jack where can I get some like that, but less… lethal?” Her back is turned but she gives Jack a playful smile as she hears the Doctor sputter and choke on his spit at her statement and question.

Jack decides to play along, teasing the Doctor is so easy, especially when it comes to Layla. “Oh Layla, I can show you so many places where you can get all kinds of…goodies. The future has so many fun toys to play with.” Jack stops talking and looks behind Layla and looks fake surprised. “Oh? You’re still here Doctor? Go on, enjoy your meal. We will get this extrapolator hooked up no problem. Have fun!”

Layla schools her face and turns around and has to pinch herself to keep from laughing. The Doctor’s face is bright red and his eyes are bulging out. His jaw keeps opening and closing like he is trying to say something but can’t get the words out. “Go on Doctor, I’m sure Margaret is hungry. Enjoy your dinner!”

Margaret wraps her arm around the Doctor’s. Layla’s eye twitches and the Doctor slightly flinches. She drags him away as the Doctor continues to look back over his shoulder at the two of them. Layla and Jack just give him a big cheesy grin and wiggle their fingers in a wave. Once he leaves out the doors, they look at each other and they start laughing and they are laughing so hard they almost collapse.

“I wonder what your dear Doctor was thinking of, must have been quite naughty to get that red in the face. Teasing him is so fun and easy though. Thank you for that.” Jack wipes the tears from his eyes.

Layla doesn’t even bother because more just keep coming down. Jack looks at her fondly. Layla calms down and gives Jack a happy smile. “You know, ever since I decided to come traveling with the Doctor, I don’t I have ever had this much fun or laughed this much in my entire life. Having you here is great too; I think the Doctor likes it more than he is willing to admit. Now his ship isn’t female dominate and it is evened out.”

“Well, being here has helped straighten me out, and I enjoy it as well.” He claps his hands together. “Alright enough mushiness, back to work.”

Xxxxxx

“Here we are, out on a date, and you haven’t even asked my proper name.”

The Doctor was glad he was holding the menu up because he couldn’t help it when his face twisted in disgust at the thought of being on a date with anyone other than Layla. “It’s not a date. What’s your name?”

“Blon. I am Blon Fel Fotch Passameer-Day Slitheen. That’s what it’ll say on my death certificate.”

The Doctor gives her a dry smile. “Nice to meet you, Blon.”

Margaret pouted. “I’m sure. Look, that’s where I was living as Margaret. Nice little flat, over there, on the top. Next to the one with the light on.” She points to the one she was talking about and as the Doctor turns to look she reaches over and pours some powder from her ring into his glass of wine.

When the Doctor turns around, she continues to talk. “Two bedrooms, bayside view. I was rather content. Don’t suppose I’ll see it again.”

The Doctor puts down his menu and casually reaches over and swaps the wine glasses before picking his menu up again. “Suppose not.”

She curled her lip. “Thank you.”

He gives her a closed lip grin. “Pleasure.”

“Tell me then, Doctor. What do you know of our species?”

“Only what I’ve seen.” Which, now that I know what your species is, is quite a bit.

“Did you know, for example, in extreme cases, when her life is in danger, a female Raxacoricofallapatorian can manufacture a poison dart within her own finger.” She casually points her finger towards the Doctor and the dart flies out but she is disappointed as the Doctor catches it easily.

“Yes, I did.” He tosses it on the table and continues to read the menu.

“Just checking. And one more thing, between you and me.” She looks around and leans forward motioning him to do it as well. They get close and she starts to whisper. “As a final resort, the excess poison can be exhaled through the lungs.” She starts to exhale when the Doctor simply sprayed a breath freshener directly in her mouth stopping her attack. She sticks out her tongue in disgust and sits back down defeated.

The Doctor seeing this, smiles happily. “That’s better. Now then, what do you think? Mmm, steak looks nice. Steak and chips.”

Xxxxxx

Mickey and Rose were taking a walk. Mickey was thinking hard about what Layla had said and what he should say to Rose, but all Rose could talk about was the Doctor this and the Doctor that.

“The Doctor took us to this planet a while back. It was much colder than this. They called it Woman Wept. The planet was actually called Woman Wept, because…”

Mickey tuned her out. He couldn’t handle hearing anymore about her travels. That was all she had talked about the entire time they had been together and while he was glad she was enjoying herself, she never once asked what he had been up to or if anything exciting had happened to him. “I’m going out with Trisha Delaney.” He quickly blurted out when it seemed like she was done with what she was saying and before she could go on to another story.

Roses mouth shut with a click unsure how to feel about this development. She always thought that Mickey would be there for her. She knew that it was unfair to think like this and to expect him to wait for her, especially when she had feelings for someone else. But she didn’t want to let go of Mickey either. “Right. That’s nice. Trisha from the shop?”

“Yeah. Rob Delany’s sister.”

“Well, she’s nice. She’s a bit big.”

“She lost weight.” He was messing this up. He was trying to take Layla’s advice, but he just blurted it out first instead of telling her his feelings first.

“Well, good for you. She’s nice.” The words were hard to get out of her mouth, it was so dry.

He was disappointed. He thought she might show more emotion. Care a bit more one way or the other. She was neither happy nor upset. He just wanted to change the subject like he never brought it up. “So, tell me more about this planet, then.”

“That was it, really.”

Xxxxxx

“Public execution’s a slow death. They prepare a thin acetic acid, lower me into the cauldron and boil me. The acidity is perfectly gauged to strip away the skin. Internal organs fall out into the liquid, and I become soup. And still alive, still screaming.” Margaret/Blon was being morbid and she knew she was, but she was willing to do anything to get out of going home.

“I don’t make the law.” He shrugged.

“But you deliver it. Will you stay to watch?” She was gleeful to see his reaction, maybe she can get somewhere with him.

The Doctor swallowed harshly. “What else can I do?”

“The Slitheen families huge. There’s a lot more of us, all scattered off-world. Take me to them. Take me somewhere safe.”

The Doctor raised his eyebrow at her, at Downing Street, all of them were the Slitheen family members, what makes the rest of them any different? “But then you’ll start again.”

“I promise I won’t.”

The Doctor looked at her grimly, staring into her eyes similar to the way Layla did and she shivered slightly at the remainder of the girl. “You’ve been in that skin suit too long. You’ve forgotten. There used to be a real Margaret Blaine. You killed her and stripped her and used the skin. You’re pleading for mercy out of a dead woman’s lips.”

Margaret/Blon grimaced at the reminder. “Perhaps I have got used to it. A human life, an ordinary life. That’s all I’m asking. Give me a chance, Doctor. I can change.”

The Doctor looks at her and then remembers Layla’s words and shakes his head. “Layla doesn’t believe you. I don’t believe you.”

Xxxxxx

“So, what do you want to do now?” There has been tension between Mickey and Rose and Mickey wanted it gone. He knew Rose wasn’t going to be here much longer and he didn’t want their time together to be spoiled.

Rose shrugged uncaringly. “Don’t mind.”

“There’s a bar down there with a Spanish name or something.” He started but apparently Rose had finally decided to get something off her chest.

“You don’t even like Trisha Delaney!”

“Oh, is that right? What the hell do you know?”

“I know you, and I know her. And I know that’s never going to happen. So, who do you think you’re kidding?”

“At least I know where she is!” Mickey fed up yelled the one thing that he was angry at Rose for the most.

“There we are, then. It’s got nothing to do with Trisha. This is all about me, isn’t it.” She felt a little smug that he was still willing to come back to her even it he was messing around with others.

Mickey decided to do what Layla said and tell her how he felt. Rose needed to know and their relationship won’t get better if she doesn’t know. “You left me! We were nice, we were happy. And then what? You give me a kiss and you run off with him, and you make me feel like nothing, Rose. I was nothing. I can’t even go out with a stupid girl from a shop because you pick up the phone and I come running.” He is breathing hard and his breath catches. He looks at her and there is a sheen in his eyes. He starts to plead with her. “I mean, is that what I am, Rose, standby? Am I just supposed to sit here for the rest of my life, waiting for you? Because I will.”

Rose looks at him and realizes how much she has hurt him with her actions, but she doesn’t want to stop traveling with the Doctor. “I’m sorry.” But for hurting him or because she won’t stop, she doesn’t clarify or even know herself.

Xxxxxx

“I promise you I’ve changed since we last met, Doctor. There was this girl, just today. A young thing, something of danger. She was getting too close. I felt the blood lust rising, just as the family taught me, I was going to kill her without a thought. And then I stopped. She’s alive somewhere right now. She’s walking around this city because I can change. I did change. I know I can’t prove it.”

“I believe you.” Well about this woman, but you were going to use a nuclear explosion and blow up the planet to get a lift out of here,

“Then you know I’m capable of better.”

“It doesn’t mean anything.” Unfortunately, he has seen many people spare some, thinking they were being good and nice but continue to kill others.

“I spared her life.” Why doesn’t he understand how hard that was for me to do?

“You let one of them go, but that’s nothing new. Every now and then, a little victim’s spared because she smiled, because he’s got freckles, because they begged. And that’s how you live with yourself. That’s how you slaughter millions. Because once in a while, on a whim, if the winds in the right direction, you happen to be kind.”

“Only a killer would know that. Is that right? From what I’ve seen, your funny little happy go lucky little life leaves devastation in its wake. Always moving on because you dare not look back. Playing with so many people’s lives, you might as well be a god. And you’re right, Doctor. You’re absolutely right. Sometimes you let one go. Let me go.”

The Doctor swallows harshly at her accusation. It is a hard pill to swallow, but then he remembers something Layla said a while back to Mickey. That he tries to save as many people as he can, that he can’t save everyone all the time. If he were to let Margaret/Blon go, this one person, how many people would she kill. She would kill more than one, more people than it is worth letting her free.

“In the family Slitheen, we had no choice. I was made to carry out my first kill at thirteen. If I’d refused my father would have fed me to the Venom Grubs. If I’m a killer, it’s because I was born to kill. It’s all I know. Doctor, are you even listening to me?”

“Can you hear that?”

Margaret/Blon whines. “I’m begging for my life.”

“No, listen, shush.” The glasses begin to vibrate, then the plate glass window shatters and the customers begin to scream.

Xxxxxx

I’m not asking you to leave him, because I know that’s not fair, but I just need something. Yeah? Some sort of promise that when you do come back, you’re coming back for me. Maybe more communication too. It wouldn’t hurt at least.”

Rose looks towards the sky as a deep rumbling sound is heard. “Is that thunder?”

Mickey looks at her wondering why she cared. “Does it matter?” I think our conversation is a little more important.

But Rose just ignored him and kept looking around. “That’s not thunder.” Street lights start to explode and people start screaming and running around. Rose runs off towards the Tardis.

Mickey, figuring out where she is heading yells out behind her. “Oh, go on then, run! It’s him again, isn’t it? It’s the Doctor! It’s always the Doctor! It’s always going to be the Doctor. It’s never me!” His heart is beating harshly and his eyes start to burn. “It’s never going to be me, is it.” It’s times like this that he wishes his gran was still here.

Xxxxxx

The Doctor is running towards the disturbance as usual, but his tag along is struggling to keep up with him. “The handcuffs.” She cries out in fear of being zapped.

He waits for her impatiently and then takes it off her wrist and grabs her hand. He has to force himself to tighten his grip. “Don’t think you’re running away.”

“Oh, I’m sticking with you. Some date this turned out to be!” He turns away from her missing her gleeful smirk while she misses his look of revulsion.

They get closer to the Tardis and the Doctor can see energy streaming from the Tardis into the sky. “It’s the rift. The rift’s opening!”

The ground is cracking and things are breaking all over the place. The Doctor gets into the Tardis and looks for Jack and Layla and sees them frantically pulling cables out of the extrapolator. He looks at Jack, blaming him since he was the one in charge of hooking it up. “What the hell are you doing??”

Jack’s eyes were wide and panicked, he didn’t know what happened. “It just went crazy!”

“It’s the rift. Time and space are ripping apart. The whole city going to disappear!”

“It’s the extrapolator. We’ve disconnected it, but it’s still feeding off the engine! It’s using the Tardis. I can’t stop it!”

The Doctor is moving around the console erratically trying to figure out how to fix this situation while Layla stands off to the side with Jack out of the way since they don’t know how to work the Tardis. “Never mind Cardiff, it’s going to rip open the planet.”

Rose comes barreling into the Tardis breathing hard. “What is it? What’s happening?!”

“Oh, just little me?” Margaret/Blon had taken out an arm from her skin suit and used it to grab Rose around her neck. “One wrong move and she snaps like a promise.”

The Doctor and Jack shift in front of Layla blocking her view of Margaret/Blon. Layla puts her hand under the Doctor’s jacket in a show of support. The Doctor looks at Margaret/Blon angrily, but unsurprised. “I might’ve known.”

“I’ve had you bleating all night, poor baby, now shut it. You fly boy, put the extrapolator at my feet.” Jack hesitates and looks to the Doctor. Margaret/Blon tightens her grip on Rose causing her to choke. The Doctor nods to Jack and he puts the extrapolator by her feet. “Thank you, just as I planned.”

“I thought you needed to blow up the nuclear power station.” Rose was able to gasp out.

“Failing that, if I were to be arrested, then anyone capable of tracking me down would have to have considerable technology of their own. Therefore, they would have been captivated by the extrapolator. Especially a magpie mind like yours, Doctor. So, the extrapolator was programmed to go to Plan B., to lock onto the nearest alien power source and open the rift and what a power source it found. I’m back on schedule thanks to you.” She smirks at the Doctor and his eyes tighten in anger. Their lives were in danger again because of her and her stupid plans. But he calmed slightly when he felt Layla lightly rub his back.

“The rift’s going to convulse. You’ll destroy the whole planet.” Jack was trying to reason with her, but even he could see it was pointless.

“And you with it.” She stands on the extrapolator still holding Rose in her grasp. “While I ride this board over the crest of the inferno all the way to freedom. Stand back. Surf’s up.” Margaret/Blon happened to look over and seen Layla in between a gap from the Doctor and Jack and seen the look of disappointment in her eyes and she flinched slightly.

The Tardis console cracks open and a bright light hits Margaret/Blon. The Doctor calms down even more. “Of course, opening the rift means you’ll pull this ship apart.”

“So, sue me.” She tried to seem like she didn’t care.

“It’s not just any old power source. It’s the Tardis. My Tardis. The best ship in the universe.” He said it with love and he felt the Tardis respond in kind.

“It’ll make wonderful scrap.” It was said in a distracted voice, she was drawn to the light, she was looking at it more and more.

“What’s that light?” Rose was starting to look at it too, curious about what it was. The Doctor knew he had to hurry or it would hurt Rose and Jack. He wasn’t worried about it hurting Layla. It would be needed when/if they bonded, the Tardis has to work with her body to change her biology, but now is not the time, but it wouldn’t hurt her to be exposed to it, the Tardis can just let it rest there.

“The heart of the Tardis. This ship’s alive. You’ve opened its soul.”

Margaret/Blon’s arm started to lower and she was looking at the light with a look of awe. “It’s so bright.”

“Look at it, Margaret.” The Doctor encouraged her soothingly.

“Beautiful.”

“Look inside, Blon Fel Fotch. Look at the light.” They see her relax and let go of Rose who runs to Jack. She looks up at the Doctor smiling, she looks over to Layla who is looking at her with a soft smile. “Thank you.” The light gets brighter and everyone has to close their eyes. When the light dies down, they see that she has disappeared. The empty skin suit is on the floor with the extrapolator.

“Don’t look, stay there. Close your eyes!” The Doctor instructs Jack and Rose more so than Layla as he works on closing the Tardis’s heart up. “Now, Jack, come on, shut it all down. Shut down. Rose, that panel over there, turn all the switches to the right. Layla those levers, pull them down.”

Energy stops pouring from into the sky. The Doctor puts his hands on his hips and takes a deep breath and lets out a huge sigh. “Nicely done. Thank you, all.”

“What happened to Margaret?” Rose didn’t know if the Tardis had killed her or not.

“Must’ve burnt up. Carried out her own death sentence.” Jack said logically.

“No, look at her pilot. I think the Tardis is just as much of a pacifist like the Doctor.” Layla didn’t think that the Tardis would kill anyone. The Tardis was always bringing them places that needed saving.

“I don’t think she’s dead either.” The Doctor agreed with Layla.

“Where did she go then.” The skin suit looked flat and she couldn’t see anywhere else that she could have gone.

“She looked into the heart of the Tardis. Even I don’t know how strong that is. And the ship’s telepathic, like I told you, Rose. Gets inside your head. Translate alien languages. Maybe the raw energy can translate all sorts of thoughts.” The Doctor starts to rummage through the skin suit and pulls out a large egg with dreadlocks on the top. “Here she is.”

“She’s an egg?” Rose was staring at the egg, but not comprehending.

The Doctor gave the egg a small smile. “Regressed to her childhood.”

“She’s an egg.” Jack was also unable to comprehend.

“She can start again. Live her life from scratch. If we take her home, giver her to a different family, tell them to bring her up properly, she might be alright!”

“Or she might be worse.” Jack the pessimist came out.

The Doctor shrugged. “That’s her choice.”

“She’s an egg.” Rose still did not compute.

The Doctor laughed at her. “She’s an egg.”

Layla looked at the egg smiling gently. “Where there’s life, there is hope.”

Rose’s brain seems to restart and her mouth drops open. “Oh my god, Mickey!” She runs out the doors and see ambulances all over taking care of the injured. She goes around describing Mickey trying to find him and no one has seen him. She completely misses Mickey watching her at the corner of a building before he turns and walks away. She walks back into the Tardis alone.

“We’re all powered up. We can leave. Opening the rift filled us up with energy. We can go, if that’s alright?” The Doctor was hesitant to ask, he can see that she is upset and didn’t want her to have a domestic issue in front of him.

“Yeah, fine.” She mumbles.

He sighs, she is his friend though. “How’s Mickey?”

“He’s okay. He’s gone.”

He looked at Layla and raised his brow in question. She shrugged her shoulders. She was trying to stay out of their relationship. They were both her best friends and didn’t want to pick sides, even if she didn’t like the way Rose was treating Mickey. He turns back to Rose. “Do you want to go and find him? We’ll wait.”

“No need. He deserves better.” And those words hurt to say, but they were true. He deserved someone that would bet there with him and not off exploring the universe. Or someone who had feelings for another man.

The Doctor nodded his head. “Off we go, then. Always moving on.”

Jack pats the Doctor on the shoulder. “Next stop, Raxacoricofallapatorius. Now you don’t often get to say that.”

“We’ll just stop by and pop her in the hatchery. Margaret the Slitheen can live her life again. A second chance.”

Rose sniffles slightly. “That’d be nice.” While Layla wasn’t happy with how Rose was acting, she was still her best friend, and walks over to her and pulls her into a hug and lets her hold her tight as Rose softly cries on her shoulder.

Chapter Text

A cupboard opens and the Doctor flops out of it onto the floor. “What is it? What’s happening?” He semi slurs almost drunkenly. He is rubbing his head and blinking rapidly trying to clear the confusion.

A woman comes rushing up the him and grips his arm helping him up as much as she can, and even in his confused state, the bond still remembers, and makes him jerk. She is quite smaller than him. “Oh, my god! I don’t believe it! Why’d they put you in there? They never said you were coming.”

The Doctor squints at her. “What happened? I was…” He trails off as he can’t actually remember anything.

The woman pats him on the back, and he is twitching away from her. “Careful now. Oh! Oh, mind yourself! Oh, that’s the transmat. It scrambles your head. I was sick for days. All right? So, what’s your name then, Sweetheart?”

The Doctor is swaying and stumbling about but cringes at the endearment. “The Doctor, I think. I was, er. I don’t know, what happened? How…”

The woman gave him a smile. “You got chosen.”

“Chosen for what?”

“You’re a housemate. You’re in the house. Isn’t that brilliant?!” She claps her hands together and jumps in excitement.

The woman leads them over to two other people by a pink screen with a stylized eye on it. There was a young man there and he did not look happy. At all. He had his hand on his hip and stomped his foot. “That’s not fair.” He whined. “We’ve got eviction in five minutes! I’ve been here for all nine weeks, I’ve followed the rules, I haven’t had a single warning, and then he comes swanning in.”

The woman next to him joins in on the complaining. “If they keep changing the rules, I’m going to protest, I am. You watch me. I’m going to…” She trails off trying to think of a suitable treat. “Paint the walls.” Paint the walls was the best you could come up with? The Doctor wondered.

“Would the Doctor please come to the Diary room?”

The Doctor is directed to said room and he flops down on the chair and is facing a camera. There isn’t much in the room. Just the camera, a chair and a potted plant really.

“You are on channel forty-four thousand. Please do not swear.”

“You have got to be kidding me.” He complained as he rubbed his hand over his face in exasperation. What has he gotten himself into now, and where was Layla and their companions?

Xxxxxx

Rose was slowly coming too and felt someone shaking her. She moans in discomfort realizing she is laying on a hard floor and not her soft bed. Where the hell am I? She opens her eyes and sees a man bent over her trying to get her attention. “What happened?” She mumbles out.

“It’s alright. It’s the transmat. Does your head in. Get a bit of amnesia. What’s your name?” The man spoke to her softly knowing that sometimes the transmat can give someone a nasty headache.

“Rose. But where’s the Doctor?” What about Jack and Layla?

The man was confused on who the Doctor was, but ignored it. “Just remember do what the android says. Don’t provoke it. The android’s word is law.”

“What do you mean, android? Like a robot?”

A woman with a headset and clipboard starts giving out instructions and directing people to their places. “Positions, everyone! Thank you!”

“Come on, hurry up. Steady, steady.” He helps Rose stand up and leads her over towards a stage.

“I was traveling, with the Doctor, a man called Captain Jack, and my friend Layla. The Doctor wouldn’t just leave me.” Rose kept trying to get this man to understand that she was supposed to be with the Doctor, not, wherever she was now.

“That’s enough chat. Positions. Final call! Good luck!” The manager stood off to the side and was giving the final cues for the cameras.

“But I’m not supposed to be here.”

The man looked at her confused. “But it says Rose on the podium. Come on.”

Rose gives up temporarily, and takes a stand at the podium with her name while the man takes a stand at the one that says Rodrick. Rose looks around realizes that the place she is in looks familiar. “Hold on, I must be going mad. It can’t be. This looks like the…”

“Android activated!”

“Oh, my god, the android. The Anne droid.” For some reason, Rose was having a hard time accepting this. Must have been the transmat beam still messing with her mind.

“Welcome to the Weakest Link!” The Anne Droid spoke in her metallic voice.

Xxxxxx

Jack is standing in a plain white room with racks of clothes around, a couple of cameras, and two droids. Droid number one looks at him and tuts. “Here we go again. We’ve got our work cut out for us.”

Droid number two disagrees. “I don’t know. He’s sort of handsome. Has a good lantern jaw.”

If Droid number one had the ability they would have waved their arm carelessly. “Lantern jaws are so last year.”

Jack is just looking around in confusion. “Sorry, nice to meet you, ladies, but where exactly am I?”

“We’re giving you a brand-new image.” Droid number one tells him.

Jack scratches his head as some of the confusion starts to clear and he remembers something. “Oh, hold on, I was with the Doctor.” He stops and looks down at his clothes. “Wait, why is there something wrong with what I’m wearing?”

Droid number two scoffs. “It’s all twentieth century. Where did you get that denim?”

Jack gives her a happy smile. “A little place in Cardiff. It was called the Top Shop.”

“Ah! Design classic.”

“But we’re going to have to find you some new colors. Maybe get rid of that Oklahoma Farm Boy thing you’ve got going on.” Droid number one critiqued him.

Droid number two goes towards a piece of alien tech off to the side. “Just stand still and let the Defabricator work its magic.”

“What’s a Defabricator?” As soon as Jack asks that, the Droid activates the tech and all of Jack’s clothes disintegrates. “Okay. Defabricator. Does exactly what it says on the tin. Am I naked in front of millions of viewers?”

“Absolutely!” Both the Droids exclaimed.

Jack looks into the camera with a sexy smirk. “Ladies, your viewing figures just went up.” He knew he was good looking and wasn’t ashamed of his body at all.

Xxxxxx

Layla groans as she comes into consciousness. She sits up and sees people running around, camera crews, an octagonal ring, and bleachers. She brings her hand up to her hand and rubs it trying to clear the confusion. What happened? Where am I?

A young girl who looked like she was wearing a plain type of uniform comes over to her. “Good to see you have woken up, we don’t like to move competitors over here, they can be pretty violent.”

“Competitors? What’s going on? Where am I?”

“Confused? That would be the transmat, it will clear here soon. What’s your name? Mine is Molly. I am assigned to get you ready for your first round. I am to supposed get you dressed.”

“Layla, and nice to meet you. Dressed for what?”

“For competing of course.”

“Oh right, of course. What’s the competition again?”

Molly looked at her semi concerned but could see that she did look a little dazed still. “This is the UFC show, Layla. You will be fighting in a competition to be number one. Now, let’s take you to get dressed, and I apologize in advance for the outfit they make the women wear, the men uniforms aren’t much better.”

“Oh... okay.” Layla goes with Molly towards the dressing room. Molly was chattering and explaining a few things about the show which she was grateful for. She could see other competitors, men and women. They get inside the female rooms and Molly takes Layla’s measurements and looks for a uniform that would fit her. When she hands them to Layla, Layla’s eyebrows shoot up to the middle of her forehead. She is torn between amusement and anger that they would force women to dress this way for a tv show, that if based on how she got here, they didn’t sign up for.

Molly can see a mixture of emotions on her face and she pats her hand softly. “I know, most of the women here are pretty tough and usually it doesn’t bother them until they lose. They build themselves up and the fear of losing makes them that much stronger. You can’t underestimate them. You have to give it your all to keep yourself safe. I like you, Layla. You’re kind to me. Keep safe.”

Layla can see the fear on Molly’s face. “Molly, what has you so scared? What happens if you lose? Why would I need to keep myself safe?”

Molly looks at Layla in horror. She doesn’t know? How could she not know? “You really don’t know? The only way to leave here alive is to win the tournament.”

Layla’s eyes widened and her heart skipped a beat. “You mean to tell me that if I lose…?”

Molly nods her head, giving her a look of sympathy. “You die.”

Xxxxxx

The Doctor is walking around the room with his sonic screwdriver out scanning the things in the room. The woman that helped him earlier is following him and the other two are just staring at him. Looking at his sonic his grip on it tightens and he grits his teeth. “I can’t open it.”

The woman nods her head. “It’s got a deadlock seal, ever since Big Brother five hundred and four when they all walked out. You must remember that.”

The Doctor pointed to an alcove with a picture in it. “What about this?”

She looked at what he was pointing at. “Oh, that’s Exoglass. You’d need a nuclear bomb to get through.”

He snorts gruffly. “Don’t tempt me.”

The woman steps a little closer to him and looks around a little bit. “I know you’re not supposed to talk about the outside world, but you must’ve been watching. Do people like me? Lynda. Lynda with a Y, not Linda with an I. She got forcibly evicted because she damaged the camera. Am I popular?”

The Doctor was too busy looking for a way out and not concerned with pandering to someone’s ego. “I don’t remember.”

Her face falls and looks worried. “Oh, but does that mean I’m nothing? Some people get this far just because they’re insignificant. Doesn’t anybody notice me?”

Hearing the sadness in her tone, the Doctor realizes that she wasn’t asking to boost her ego, but to see if anyone liked her. He turned around and tried to give her a convincing look. “No, you’re, you’re nice. You’re sweet. Everybody thinks you’re sweet.” And really, she was from what he could tell. She was being very welcoming and answering all of his questions.

She gives a bright smile in happiness. “Oh, is that right? Is that what I am? Oh, no one’s ever told me that before. Am I sweet? Really?” She was just gobsmacked that people thought she was sweet.

The Doctor looked at, glad that she is happy, but wanting to move on and get out of here. “Yeah. Dead sweet.”

“Thank you.”

The Doctor continues to look around. “It’s a wall. Isn’t there supposed to be a garden out there or something?”

Lynda looks at him oddly. “Don’t be daft. No one’s got a garden anymore. Who’s got a garden? Don’t tell me you’ve got a garden.”

“No, I’ve just got the Tardis. I remember.” That’s right, the Tardis is my home.

“That’s the amnesia! So, what happened? Where did they get you?” This man was intriguing, he didn’t seem like the usual contestant they brought on the games.

“We’d just left Raxacoricofallapatorius. Then we went to Kyoto. That’s right, Japan in 1336, and we only just escaped. We were together, we were laughing, and then there was this light. This white light coming through the walls, and then. And then I woke up there.”

Lynda nods her head. “Yeah, that’s the transmat beam. That’s how they pick the housemates.”

The Doctor gives her a look of pity. “Oh, Lynda with a Y. Sweet little Lynda. It’s worse than that. I’m not just a passing traveler. No stupid little transmat gets inside my ship. That beam was fifteen million times more powerful, which means this isn’t just a game. There’s something else going on.” The Doctor turns and looks into one of the cameras that are all around the Big Brother house. “Well, here’s the latest update from the Big Brother house. I’m getting out. I’m going to find my friends, and then I’m going to find you.”

Xxxxxx

“Seventeen, sixteen, fifteen. Thank you, people. Transmitting in twelve, eleven, ten…” The floor manager is counting down.

Rose leans over towards Roderick. “But I need to find the Doc.”

He just sneers. “Just shut up and play the game.”

“Seven. Six.”

Rose straightens up. “Alright then. What the hell. I’m going to play to win!” What’s the harm? Not like I have anything to lose right? The Doctor will find me eventually anyways. It’s not like he will leave me behind.

“Three, and cue!”

“Let’s play The Weakest Link. Start the clock. Agorax, the name of which Basic food stuff is an anagram of the word ‘beard’?” The Anne Droid directs the question towards a man.

“Bread.” The man gives a sigh of relief with the easy question he had been given.

“Correct. Fitch in the Pan Traffic Calendar, which month comes after Hoob?” This is directed towards a woman.

The woman looked really nervous. “Is it Clavadoe?”

“No, Pandoff. Rose, in math, what is 258 minus 158?”

“One hundred!” Rose didn’t know what was up with the random ass questions, but she wasn’t going to complain about the one she got.

“Correct. Roderick.

“Bank.”

“Which letter of the alphabet appears in the word dangle but not in the word gland?”

“E.” The look he gives is like it is obvious and why was that a question?

“Correct. Colleen, in social security, what D is the name of the payment given to Martian Drones?” This question was directed to another woman.

“Default.” The woman sags in relief at the question.

“Correct. Broff, the Great Cobalt Pyramid is built on the remains of which famous Old Earth Institute?” This question was for a man.

He gave the Anne Droid a dear in the headlights look. “Er, touchdown?”

“No, Torchwood. Agorax, in language, all five examples of which type of letter appear in the word facetious?”

“Vowels.”

“Correct. Fitch, in biology, which blood cells contain iron? Red or white?”

“White.”

“No, red. Rose, in the holovid series ‘Jupiter Rising’, the Grexnik is married to whom?”

“How should I know?”

Throughout this whole question and answer game, Rose had failed to notice one thing. All the contestants, except for her, were terrified. In fact, she was laughing and having a good time. Usually she is more observant, but she is failing to see the fear on their faces and the quiver in their voices as they give their answers in hope that they are the right one. The game continues on with Rose never realizing the danger she and the others are in. She never even thought about Layla or Jack and if they were okay or not.

Xxxxxx

Jack is looking in the mirror doing different poses as he tries to decide whether he likes the look or not.

“It’s the buccaneer look. Little dash of pirate and just a tweak of President Schwarzenegger.” Droid number one was explaining the outfit to him.

Jack was holding onto the vest and moving it around. “Er, not sure about the vest. What about a little bit of color to lift it?”

“Absolutely not.” Droid number two snapped. “Never wear black with color. It makes the color look cheap and the black look boring. Now, let’s talk jackets.”

“I kind of like the first one.”

Droid number two held up a different jacket though. “No, that’s a bit too much Hell’s Angel. I think I like the shorter one. Look, waist length, nice and slimming, shows off the bum.”

He shrugs, he was always okay showing off his best features. “Works for me.”

“Once we’ve got an outfit, we can look at the face. Ever thought about cosmetic surgery?”

“I’ve considered it, yeah. A little lift around the eyes. Tighten up the jaw line. What do you think?” His face is his selling point, his best feature, he takes very good care of it.

“Oh, let’s have a bit more ambition. Let’s do something cutting edge.” Jack had been turned the other way and did not see that Droid number one had a chainsaw for a forearm.

Xxxxxx

It was time to choose a contestant for the weakest link of the round. While they were doing that, the Anne Droid was asking questions of the contestants, getting to know them. The Anne Droid looks towards Rose. “So, Rose, what do you actually do?”

“I just travel about a bit. Bit of a tourist, I suppose?” What could you really consider time traveling with an alien and your friend and going on adventures as?

“Another way of saying unemployed.”

Rose choked on her spit, rude. “No.”

“Have you got a job?”

“Well, not really, no, but…”

“Then you are unemployed. And yet, you’ve still got enough money to buy peroxide.” Anne Droid shoots Rose down, and then rubs salt in the wound. “Why Fitch?”

“Er, I think she got a few of the questions wrong, that’s all?”

“Oh, you’d know all about that.” Anne Droid sassed her.

“Well, yeah, but I can’t vote for myself, so it had to be Fitch. I’m sorry, that’s the game. That’s how it works. I had to vote for someone.” Rose didn’t understand what the big deal was or why the woman broke down into tears. Was she that desperate to win this game?

“Let me try again. It was the lights and everything. I couldn’t think.” The woman begged tearfully.

“In fact, with three answers wrong, Broff was the weakest link in that round, but it’s voting that count.” Anne Droid tells them cruelly, letting those that know what is about to happen that they are sending the wrong person as the weakest link.

“I’m sorry. Please. Oh god. Help me!”

“Fitch, you are the weakest link. Goodbye!” A barrel comes out of Anne Droid’s mouth and a beam disintegrates Fitch.

“And we’ve gone to the adverts. Back in three minutes.” The floor manager and all the crew were used to this and were desensitized. They couldn’t let their emotions overrule them or they would end up in the same position.

Rose’s mouth had dropped out and her eyes were wide, she turned to Roderick who was erasing his white board. “What’s that? What’s just happened?”

He shrugged uncaringly. “She was the weakest link, she gets disintegrated. Blasted into atoms.”

“But I voted for her. Oh, my. This is sick. All of you, you’re just sick! I’m not play this.” Rose was about to start running and find a way out but before she could another contestant did it before her.

“I’m not playing! I can’t do it!” Broff was panicking. “I’m not. Please, somebody let me out of here.” But none of the crew reacted, none moved to help him, none cared.

Anne Droid turned towards him. “You are the weakest link.” Broff turns and runs across the studio but doesn’t escape the beam that Anne Droid sent his way. “Goodbye.”

Rodrick turned towards Rose. “Don’t try to escape. It’s play or die.”

Xxxxxx

Lynda and the other two housemates are sitting on the couch waiting for the Doctor to sit down, but he was still walking around trying to find a way out and wanted nothing to do with this ridiculous show. Lynda turned back to face him. “Doctor, they said all the housemates must gather on the sofa. You’ve got to.”

“I’m busy getting out, thanks.” I’ve got more important things to do. I need to find Layla and the others.

“But if you don’t obey, then all the housemates get punished.”

She said is softly with a quiver in her voice and the Doctor wondered what type of punishments they would face if he refused. He sighed and sat down; he wouldn’t let others possibly get hurt because he was being stubborn. “Well, maybe I’ll be voted out, then.” Here’s to hoping.

“How stupid are you? You’ve only just joined, you’re not eligible.” The man snapped at him. Damn, there went that hope, the Doctor internally pouted.

“Don’t try anything clever or we all get it in the neck.”

“Big Brother House this is, David Droid. Crosbie, Lynda and Strood, you have all been nominated for eviction. And the eighth person to be evicted from the Big Brother House is…Crosbie!”

The Doctor leans back on the sofa with his legs stretched out in front of him and his arms crossed over his chest. He leans his head back waiting for this to be over so he can go back to trying to escape.

“I’m sorry! Oh, I’m sorry. Sorry!” Lynda was grasping onto Crosbie apologizing like crazy.

“Oh, it should’ve been me. Oh, that’s not fair, Crosbie love.” Strood complained as he gave her a hug.

“Crosbie, you have ten seconds to make your farewells, and then we’re going to get you.”

“I won’t forget you.” Lynda gives her a tight hug.

“I’m sorry I stole your soap.” Crosbie just had to get that off her chest before she died.

“I don’t mind, honestly.” She would prefer that to Crosbie dying.

“Thanks for the food. You’re a smashing cook. Bless you.” Strood was going to miss her.

“Crosbie, please leave the Big Brother House”

Crosbie and Lynda say a final goodbye before Lynda walks back over to the couch where the Doctor is still sitting. “I don’t believe it. Crosbie.”

“It’s only a game show. She’ll make a fortune on the outside. Sell her story, release a record, fitness video, all of that. She’ll be laughing.” He didn’t understand why they were being so dramatic.

Lynda looked at him oddly. “What do you mean, on the outside?” Strood comes back over and sits next to Lynda. They clasp each other’s hands as they watch Crosbie on the screen.

The Doctor let out a heavy sigh. “What are they waiting for? Why don’t they just let her go?”

Lynda sends a glare to the Doctor. “Stop it, it’s not funny.” She can’t believe that he would mock something like this.

“Eviction in five, four, three, two, one.” A beam comes down from the ceiling and hits Crosbie. After a few moments, she vanishes in a puff of smoke.

The Doctor instantly sits up straight. His eyes are wide. “What was that?”

“Disintegrator beam.” Strood tells him softly.

“She’s been evicted. From life.” Lynda tells him just as quietly.

“Are you insane? You just step right into a disintegrator? Is it that important, getting your face on the telly? Is it worth dying for?” Humans! He will never understand no matter how much he is around them. He doubts he will ever understand them even if him and Layla bond and they spend centuries together.

“You’re talking like we’ve got a choice!”

The Doctor looks at Lynda in horror. They are forced to do this? “But I thought you had to apply?”

Strood scoffs. “Don’t be so stupid. That’s how they played it centuries back.”

“You get chosen whether you like it or not. Everyone on earth is a potential contestant. The transmat beam picks you out at random. And it’s non-stop. There are sixty Big Brother houses running all at one.

“How many? Sixty?” How many other shows are there though?

“They’ve had to cut back. It’s not what it was.” The Doctor wasn’t sure if Strood was saying this as a good thing or bad thing.

“It’s a charnel house! What about the winners? What do they get?”

“They get to live?” Lynda said it simply, like it should have been obvious.

“Is that it?” You are forced to risk your life and you get nothing for it, but your life?

“Well, isn’t that enough?” Lynda would be very grateful to leave with just that.

“Layla is out there. She got caught in the transmat. She is a contestant. So is Jack and Rose. Time I got out. The other contestant, er, Linda with an I. She was forcibly evicted for what?”

“Damage to property.”

The Doctor gives her a big grin. “What, like this?” He points his sonic screwdriver at a camera and obliterates it.

Xxxxxx

The first couple of rounds that Layla have had to go through were similar to what she had to do at home in terms of class. She can already tell that she will have some bruises develop though and she knows that the Doctor is not going to be happy about that. Of course, she is hoping that her ‘uniform’ will be enough to distract him for a while to keep him from looking at the bruised skin. She knows Jack will like it, of course, he would like check someone out even if they were wearing a potato sack.

She is resting on her break after her round. They give the contestants time to refresh and given stimulants so they can continue to fight with energy and stamina without flagging. These would be handy to have when traveling with the Doctor. He sure does make us run a lot. She snickers in amusement at her thoughts.

She hopes that the Doctor, Rose, and Jack are faring better than she is. Hopefully they are on shows that suit them like apparently this one suits her. Could be worse. She could be on a singing show and she is like a tone-deaf walrus. A screeching dying cat would sound better than her and that is putting it nicely. Oh my god, I hope Rose isn’t on a cooking show! No offense to her, but she has definitely inherited her mother’s cooking skills.

“Here Layla, these are patches that you put on your calves, thighs, stomach, and biceps. It will send electrical pulses and help relax and massage the area. Keep the area loose and from tensing up while on your breaks.” Molly helped her put them on since she wasn’t familiar with them.

“Thank you, Molly, you’re a gem. I would be lost without you. You are making this experience bearable. How long do I have left till my break is over?”

“About five minutes. You took the energy and stamina stimulants, right? How is your shoulder doing? Need it stretched out a little?”

“Yeah, I took them, and thank you for swapping out the banana flavored one for me. I really appreciate it. And yes, if you don’t mind that would be fantastic, it is a little stiff.”

“I don’t mind at all, my job of course. But also, because I like you and I want to help you as much as I can. How are you holding up though? Not too tough?”

“Not yet, these women are on par of who I fight at home, but I am assuming they will get tougher the higher I go up.”

“Yes, they will get harder, but I know you can do it. Now, how does that feel?”

Layla moves her arm around stretching out her shoulder and feels how relaxed it is. “You’re a miracle worker Molly.”

Molly’s watch beeped and she looked down reading what it was telling her. “That’s us. Your break is over and time for your next round. Let’s head over.”

They get to the ring and Molly helps Layla put on her thin gloves and puts in her mouth guard. Layla enters the ring and sees her opponent is a woman who is roughly the same size as her, but the look in her eye, it looked more hardened by life. Something had happened to this woman and she’s had a hard life. Now she was like a fight or die situation which made her extremely dangerous. Layla scanned all over her body looking for weakness just like her opponent was most likely doing to her. Layla made she to stand straight, loose arms, weight equally distributed trying to give no hint to any type of injuries she might have.

The woman’s lip curled in displeasure at failing to find anything that she could use right away in an attack and Layla couldn’t help the smirk that curled on her lips. She had noticed right away that the woman had not mastered hiding her weaknesses and Layla could see that she was favoring her right knee.

The bell rings and they square off circling around each other. The woman did well in hiding the slight limp she had, but not well enough for Layla who was extremely observant. And that is where Layla struck. A kick to the side of her knee and the woman went down on it. Layla surged forward and punched her in the head with her left fist and then her right. The woman wrapped her arms around Layla’s waist and was able to pick her up and slam her on the ground.

Layla grunted and was punched in the side. She worked on grabbing the woman’s arm to put her in an arm bar, but she slipped through and separated from Layla and backed away from her limping a little bit more now. The woman was scowling more and scanning around looking for something she could use against Layla.

A couple more kicks to her knee and she won’t be able to put much weight on it. She doesn’t seem to want to be on the ground, but she isn’t able to stay standing very well either, which seems to be what she prefers. Layla decides to give the woman what she wants and stay standing for a bit and not go for the knee, luring her into a false sense of security. They are both grappling with each other and throwing in punches and kneeing when possible. The woman gets a good shot to Layla’s jaw and her head snaps to the side. Knowing that it’s going to swell pretty good unless she can get some ice on it soon, she knows she needs to end this quickly.

Figuring the fastest way would be to get the woman to tap out. She maneuvers her to the cage of the ring before wrapping her arms around her and picking up her leg and tripping the other bringing her to the ground with Layla on top. Quickly rolling around Layla wraps her legs around one of the woman’s. Layla was on her side and the woman was on her hands and knees with Layla wrapped around her right leg. Layla takes the woman’s leg and bends it, putting pressure on the knee. The woman is scrambling around trying to get out, but Layla refuses to give. Even though the woman knows that if she taps, she will die, she can’t take the pain anymore, and she does tap. Layla lets go immediately and flops on her back feeling numb that she sentenced another person to die. I’m sorry.

Xxxxxx

Jack is looking in the mirror again and this time he is in a tennis outfit. Why? He doesn’t know, he doesn’t even like tennis, but he sure can pull off any look. I look damn good in anything I wear. While he knows he looks good, he looks at the white in consideration. “No, I’m just not getting this. It’s just too safe. Too decent. And you’d never keep it clean.”

“Stage two, ready and waiting.” Droid number two said.

Jack didn’t know what stage two was, but he was having fun and was up for more. “Bring it on, girl.” They hit him again with the Defabricator.

“And now it’s time for the face off!” Droid number one said excitedly.

“What does that mean? Do I get to compete with someone else?” Oh, do I get to see someone else naked?

“No, like I said, face off.” Droid number one starts up her chainsaw.

“I think you’d look good with a dog’s head.” Droid number two holds up a large pair of scissors.

“Or maybe no head at all. That would so outrageous.” Droid number one was full of ideas.

“And we could stitch your legs to the middle of your chest.” Droid number two thought they could make this handsome man more intriguing.

“Nothing is too extreme. It’s to die for.”

Jack held up his hands. “Now, hold on ladies. I don’t want to have to shoot either one of you.”

“But you are unarmed!” Droid number one lifted her arm as if to point at him.

“You’re naked.” Droid number two told him as if he didn’t already know.

Jack reaches behind him and produces a small hand weapon and points it at the droids. “But that’s a Compact Laser Deluxe!” Droid number two exclaimed.

“Where were you hiding that?” Droid number one wanted to know.

Jack smirked at them. “You really don’t want to know.

“Give me that accessory.” Droid number one demanded, expecting to be obeyed. Jack ignored the droid and shoots both of their heads off.

Xxxxxx

“You are the weakest link. Goodbye!” Anne Droid says and then Colleen is atomized.

“Going to the break. Two minutes on the clock. Just a reminder we’ve got a solar flare activity coming up in ten. Thanks everyone.”

Rose looked over at Roderick in confusion. “Colleen was clever. She banked all our money. Why’d you vote for her?”

Roderick snorted and gave her a sneer. “Because I want to keep you in. You’re stupid! You don’t even know the Princess Vossaheen’s surname. When it comes to the final, I want to be up against you, so that you get disintegrated and I get a stack load of credits courtesy of the Bad Wolf Corporation.”

Rose’s heart seemed to skip a beat at hearing those two words again. “What do you mean? Who’s Bad Wolf?”

He groans, annoyed with her ignorance. “They’re in charge. They run the Game Station.”

“Why are they called Bad Wolf?”

“I don’t know. It’s just a name. It’s like an old earth nursery rhyme sort of thing what does it matter?

“I keep hearing those words everywhere we go. Bad Wolf.” Rose says to herself softly. She is thinking back to all the times she has heard it. From Gwyneth, with Margaret, Van Statten, graffiti on the Tardis, Face of Boe on the telly on Satellite Five. So many times, she has seen or heard it. “Different times, different places. Like it’s written all over the universe.”

“What’re you on about?” He had only been partially listening to her mumbling thinking too much about winning the game.

“If the Bad Wolf is in charge of this quiz, then Maybe I’m not here by mistake. Someone’s been planning this.

Xxxxxx

“The Doctor, you’ve broken the House Rules. Big Brother has no choice but to evict you. You have ten seconds to make your farewells, and then we’re going to get you!”

The Doctor’s grin gets even bigger. “That’s more like it. Come on, then. Open up!”

Lynda looks at him in horror. “You’re mad! It’s like you want to die.”

Strood crosses his arms over his chest. “I reckon he’s a plant. He was only brought in to stir things up.

“The Doctor, please leave the Big Brother house.”

The Doctor runs into the white corridor. “Come on then, disintegrate me! Come on, what’re you waiting for?”

Lynda is looking at the Doctor as he is yelling at the camera with a huge grin on his face. “He is, he’s mad. He’s bonkers.”

“Disintegrate me. What are you waiting for?”

“Eviction in five, four, three, two, one…” The machine shuts down.

“Ah ha! I knew it! You see, someone brought me into this game. If they’d want me dead, they could’ve transmatted me into a volcano. They want me alive. Maybe security isn’t as tight this end. Are you following this? I’m getting out!”

The Doctor opens the white door and Lynda opens the other door. He turns towards her and gives her a grin. “Come with me.”

“We’re not allowed!” Strood protested.

“Stay in there, you’ve got a fifty-fifty chance of disintegration. Stay with me, I promise I’ll get you out alive. Come on!”

Lynda shakes her head, scared. “No, I can’t. I can’t.”

The Doctor gives Lynda a look of pity. “Lynda, you’re sweet. From what I’ve seen of your world, do you think anyone votes for sweet?” The Doctor motions with his hand for her to come with him and she smiles following after him.

They walk out onto the floor and the Doctor looks around in confusion. This place looks very familiar. He remembers why it is familiar a few seconds later. “Hold on. I’ve been here before. This is Satellite Five. No guards. That makes a change. You’d think a big business-like Satellite Five would be armed to the teeth.” The Doctor messes around with another door and they go through it when it opens. 

“No one’s called it Satellite Five in ages. It’s the Game Station now. Hasn’t been Satellite Five in about a hundred years.”

“A hundred years exactly. It’s the year 200,100. I was here before, floor 139. The Satellite was broadcasting news channels back then. Had a bit of trouble upstairs. Nothing too serious. Easy. Gave them a hand. Home in time for tea.” The Doctor downplayed the trip like he does all his trips.

“A hundred years? What, you were here a hundred years ago?” Lynda was looking at him closely to see if he was lying.

“Yep!”

“You’re looking good on it.”

The Doctor wasn’t sure if she was flirting with him, and felt uncomfortable. “I moisturize.” He internally snorted at his own joke. “Funny sort of readings. All kinds of energy. The place is humming. It’s weird. This goes way beyond normal transmissions. What would they need all that power for?”

Lynda shrugged, she had only played, never knew the mechanics behind it. “I don’t know. I think we’re the first ever contestants to get outside.”

“I had three friends traveling with me. They must’ve got caught in the same transmat. Where would they be?”

“I don’t know. They could’ve been allocated anywhere. There are a hundred different games.”

The Doctor hummed. “Like what?”

“Well, there’s ten floors of Big Brother. There’s a different House behind each of those doors. And then beyond that, there’s all sorts of shows. It’s nonstop. There’s Call My Bluff, with real guns. Countdown, where you’ve got thirty seconds to stop the bomb going off, Ground Force, which is a nasty one. You get turned into compost. Er, Wipeout, speaks for itself. Oh, and Stars in Their Eyes. Literally, stars in their eyes. If you don’t sing, you get blinded.”

The Doctor paled slightly; he hoped Layla did not get on that one. Even he had to agree with her, she could not sing. They had gone to a planet to explore and had dinner. Since Layla didn’t drink the others decided to stick to the non-alcoholic drink for the night. They tried the local drinks, but they caused you to sing. They did not know it at the time. For ten minutes after you finish your drink, every time you tried to talk, you sang instead. Layla was the first to try to talk after drinking and they discovered this. She immediately stopped talking until the ten minutes up and then started laughing so hard tears were coming out of her eyes and her laughter cause the rest of them to laugh with her. He had to admit he thought she would be embarrassed, but she wasn’t, she knew she was terrible, and it didn’t bother her. She only stopped talking to ‘save their poor ears’.

He looked at Lynda a little disgusted with humans at the moment, except his Layla and their travel companions. “And you watch this stuff?”

She shrugged her shoulder. It was normal to watch it, why wouldn’t she? “Everyone does. How come you don’t?”

“Never paid for my license.”

“Oh, my god! You get executed for that!”

That is what she is worried about? More so that I didn’t pay for my license and less about the lives that are being ruined here for people’s entertainment? “Let them try.”

“You keep saying things that don’t make sense. Who are you though, Doctor, really?”

He sighs, everyone asks him that question. He smiles slightly, well, almost everyone. Layla didn’t. She observes and makes her own judgement. She had seen that he was trying to save her species. She didn’t care that he was an alien, that he wanted to travel with her and that the more they traveled, the more she has seen who he is. That is how you truly know who someone is. By observing, not going off their word. But it could have to do with how she grew up. Having to watch and see how people are to see how they would treat others to know if they were safe to be around or not. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Well, it does to me. I’ve just put my life in your hands.”

The Doctor grimaces. How many people have done that and lost their lives because of him, whether it was something he did or didn’t do? “I’m just a traveler, wandering past. Believe it or not, all I’m after is a quiet life.” He pictures the life he wants with Layla. Sure, the running around seeing different planets and species is amazing, but the deaths take a toll on someone. He doesn’t want Layla to become like him. That is a fear he has, that she will become like him emotionally and mentally and he doesn’t want that for her. He wants her to the bright and happy woman she is right now, forever. He doesn’t think they will ever have a life exactly like he wants though. He thinks it will be like it is now, but maybe one day, it will slow down enough, to where if she accepts the bond, they can start a family one day, many centuries down the road.

“So, if we get out of here, what’re you going to do? Just wander off again?”

He nods his head. “Fast as I can.” He is always running. What he prefers. Ever since he was a child.

“So, could I come with you?”

The Doctor pauses for a second trying to understand her reason for asking, was it to get close to him, or to actually travel? Bringing along another person will make Jack even more insufferable, but it will also keep his attention off of Layla, could work out for him in the long run, and Lynda was a sweet person. “Maybe you could.”

“I wouldn’t get in the way.”

“I wouldn’t mind if you came. Not a bad idea, Lynda with a Y. But first of all, we’ve got to concentrate on the getting out. And to do that, you’ve got to know your enemy. Who’s controlling it? Who’s in charge of the satellite now?”

“Hold on.” Lynda spots a light breaker and turns it on, a sign on the wall lights up. “Your lords and masters.”

Bad Wolf Corporation

The Doctor sucks in a sharp breath as he reads the words that have been following him and the girls for a while now. Not able to do anything about it now, he moves on. He moves over to the observation deck and looks at the earth. Lynda, following him the whole time, sucks in a breath. “Blimey! I’ve never seen it for real before. Not from orbit. Planet earth.”

“What’s happened to it?” He asks softly.

Lynda looks at him and sees the sorrow on his face. “Well, it’s always been like that, ever since I was born. See that there? That’s the Great Atlantic Smog Storm. It’s been going on twenty years. We get news flashes telling us when it’s safe to breath outside.”

The Doctor’s face twists like he smelled something unpleasant. “So, the population just sits there? Half the world’s too fat, half the world’s too thin, and you lot just watch telly?”

Lynda nodded, not seeing anything wrong with it. “Ten thousand channels, all beaming down from here.”

“The Human Race. Brainless sheep being fed on a diet of… mind you, have they still got that program where three people have to live with a bear?” He gets distracted wondering about a show he had once seen.

“Oh. Bear With Me. I love that one!”

“And me. The celebrity edition where the bear got in the bath.”

“Got in the bath!” Lynda laughed as she remembered that episode.

The Doctor waves his hand. “But it’s all gone wrong. I mean, history’s gone wrong again. This should be the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire. I don’t understand. Last time I was here I put it right.”

“No, but that’s when it first went wrong. A hundred years ago, like you said. All the news channels, they just shut down overnight.”

The Doctor gaped at her. “But that was me. I did that.”

“There was nothing left in their place. No information. The whole planet just froze. The government, the economy, they collapsed. That was the start of it. One hundred years of hell.”

The Doctor was staring at her in horror, his eyes were filled with despair. “Oh, my. I made this world.” I ruined another planet, another species.

The Doctor is shaken from his thoughts when he hears the lifts open and sees Jack come out of it with a huge gun on his shoulder. Jack looks around and spots the Doctor and a woman with him. He gives the Doctor a big grin. “Hey handsome. Good to see you? Any sign of Layla and Rose?”

“Can’t you track them down?”

He shook his head. “They must still be inside the games. All the rooms are shielded.”

The Doctor grunted in frustration. “If I can just get inside this computer, they have to be here somewhere. The Doctor goes over to one of the computers that Adam had once used on his own trip to this station.

“Well, you’d better hurry up, these games don’t have a happy ending.”

“Do you think I don’t know that?”

Jack hands the Doctor his wrist computer. “There you go, patch that in, it’s programmed to find them, it will find Layla first, takes us to her, and then takes us to Rose after we get Layla.”

The Doctor nods at Jack grateful that they can get Layla out first. “Thanks.”

Jack looks over to the woman at the Doctor’s side and gives her a smile. “Hey there.”

She gives him a small wave. “Hello.”

Jack reaches for her hand and softly kisses the back of it. “Captain Jack Harkness.”

“Lynda Moss.”

“Nice to meet you, Lynda Moss.” Jack gives her a wink.

The Doctor scowls. “Do you mind flirting outside?”

Jack mocks scowls. “I was just saying hello!”

The Doctor looked at him amused. “For you, that’s flirting.” Jack winked at him.

“I’m not complaining.” Lynda said with a happy smile on her face.

“Muchas gracias.”

The Doctor grunts, getting their attention. “It’s not compatible. This stupid system doesn’t make sense.” The Doctor gives the computer to Lynda and kicks the console. Jack takes off the front plate and places it off to the side. “This place should be a basic broadcaster, but the systems are twice as complicated. It’s more than just television. This station’s transmitting something else.”

“Like what?” Jack didn’t like the sound of this. First, they were abducted onto dangerous games that are killing people and now there are transmissions being hidden behind a tv station?

“I don’t know. This whole Bad Wolf thing’s tied up with me. Someone’s manipulated my entire life. It’s some sort of trap and Layla and Rose are stuck inside it.” Lynda looked at the Doctor as he paced around. She could see that he was very worried about the women they kept talking about. Especially this Layla. She could see it every time he said her name. His eyes softened and if you listened you could hear the emotion in his voice when he says her name. She only hoped that both girls were in the tamer games on the station. “Okay. Found Layla, she is on floor four oh four.”

“Oh, my god.” Lynda face slightly pales and she looks at the Doctor fearfully, but as he looks at her, he can see that she is looking at him in fear.

“What’s wrong Lynda?” He asks her softly, not wanting to scare her more than she already is.

“This Layla, you really care for her, yes? I can tell when you say her name. The show she is, my brother was obsessed with it. He liked watching the guys on it, but loved watching the women on it. I can tell you now, Doctor you’re not going to like where she is.”

Hearing what she is saying, hundreds of ideas are running through his mind of what Layla is being forced to do and each one is worse than last. The more he thinks about it, the angrier he becomes. “What show is she on.” He growls out in a gravelly voice.

Jack doesn’t move and neither does Lynda. Jack doesn’t because he knows that the Doctor won’t hurt either of them, he is just worried about Layla and protective of her, but Lynda doesn’t know that and she is scared to tell him. Jack can see that and looks at her softly. “Lynda, tell him. He won’t hurt you, it’s his nature. He is just protective of her and wants her safe. Please. Tell us so we can get her out.”

Lynda nods. “She is on a show called UFC. It means Ultimate Fighting Championship. It is a fighting competition one on one, men vs men, women vs women. The uniforms they have to wear, well I’m going to tell you now, it covers about as much as undergarments does for both genders. When we get there, she is going to be injured and mostly naked.”

Lynda stops talking as she sees him freeze and be as still as a statue, Jack looks at her in horror. He looks over to the Doctor and sees that he is unnaturally silent, it looks like he is a statue, it almost looks like he isn’t even breathing. The Doctor takes a deep breath and clenches his jaw, turns, and sprints out of the room to go to the lift. Jack and Lynda immediately follow to not get left behind.

Xxxxxx

Layla is breathing hard as she sits in the little chair they are provided during intermission while the attending doctor puts butterfly band aids on her eyebrow. She knows she is a mess, and she is starting to drag, but there are only two rounds left of the last match and then she can leave if she wins. This is the toughest one and she isn’t sure if she can pull it off. The woman is a monster. She doesn’t seem to lagging at all and she definitely has less injuries than Layla does.

The bell rings signifying that the match is to continue and the women stand and face each other again. Layla’s shoulder has been giving her a hard time and the woman has been targeting it, and Layla hasn’t been able to spot a weakness on her. Looks like I’ll have to make one. She did however, notice that the woman wanted to be on the ground. Luckily, Layla was comfortable both standing and, on the ground, equally good in both, but not perfect in either.

Layla spends the next precious seconds trying to make a weak spot, but the woman seems to realize and adjust accordingly. Frustrated, Layla makes a mistake and is taken to the mat. The woman takes full advantage and is laying on the punches to her ribs, arms, and head. Layla wraps her legs around her waist and works on trying to flip her to be on top. Taking a risk, she stops defending her face and when the woman goes to punch her there, Layla quickly jabs her in the ribs causing her to ‘oof’ and Layla takes advantage and flips them. She gives her own punches, but she works on trying to get an arm, for an arm bar. Unfortunately, it isn’t long before the bell rings for the next intermission.

Molly, bless Molly, saint Molly, Layla praises in her head, gives Layla her water and rubs her injured shoulder some more. “You can do it Layla. She is the last. This is the last intermission, if you can’t get her to tap or a KO, they go based on scores. So get in as many hits as you can.” The bell rings and Layla stands and stretches slightly. She glances around at the crowd and two people catch her attention but she isn’t able to get a good look before she is having to defend herself.

Sweat is dripping down her face, but she won’t give up. The Doctor wouldn’t, Rose wouldn’t, Jack wouldn’t, she won’t. She just needs the woman to make one mistake. One simple mistake that she can capitalize on. Layla throws a punch and the woman throws one back but Layla quickly moves back, however the woman was already in the process of throwing another, this caused her to overbalance herself. This was the mistake that Layla needed. Layla quickly wrapped one arm under her armpit and was halfway on her back before she even regained her footing.

The woman tried to dislodge her but all she did was push Layla into the cage, which was actually a benefit for her. It helped Layla to maneuver herself onto her back fully. The arm that wasn’t under the one arm jabbed her in the rib causing the arm that was protecting her throat to move down allowing Layla to wrap her arm around her throat. She pulls her arm out from under her arm and locks it with her arm that is around the woman’s throat. Layla wraps her legs around her waist, crosses her ankles tightly and holds on. She figures that this is the best way for this opponent. But she is really struggling to keep this position. Her shoulder is really bothering her. Layla leans her head back slightly and happens to look into the crowd and her eyes widen as she looks directly into the gaze of the Doctor’s.

The Doctor was struggling. He had been from the moment he came into this room. There were too many people, Jack was checking out everyone, especially the competitors. Lynda was right, they are almost naked. He looked around for Layla and couldn’t find her at all. A sinking pit was forming in his stomach. She couldn’t have lost, could she? No. I refuse to believe that. I think I would know if she was dead. I think the bond would know if she was dead. I have to believe that. I can’t think otherwise. If I do, I would crumble. I don’t feel like I did when the reapers ate her.

“Doctor! Doctor!” Lynda had come over and grabbed his hand and thought she startled him when he flinched. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you. But I found her. I asked around to see if they had seen her. She made it to the last round! She is in the ring right now. Come on! I’ll take you there. We can grab Jack on the way, he was close by when I came to get you.”

The Doctor gives her a big grin. “Thank you Lynda with a Y. I appreciate it.” He follows her and as they pass Jack on the way. He was happy that Jack wasn’t flirting and trying to find Layla. “Lynda found her! Let’s go!” Jack sighs in relief. It was hard to disregard his first instinct to flirt with everyone, but his worry over his friend helped him to ignore it.

They get to the bleachers and see the ring. Inside the ring they can see the two women who are fighting. According to the board, they are in the last intermission. The next bell will be the final match between the two before a winner will be decided. The Doctor is looking at Layla and feels as if he is going to have a hearts attack. Even from this distance he can see that what she is wearing barely covers anything and the possessive jealousy that flares up inside him is so strong that he lets out a low growl. He sees the men, and even some women, looking at her with lust and it angers him. She is mine. Mine.

Jack looks at Layla and his eyebrows raise up to the middle of his forehead. This is a day I will gladly remember for the rest of my life. He snaps his head towards the Doctor when he hears the low growl that comes from his chest and it sends a shiver down his spine, he looks at his face and can see the possessive anger on it. This isn’t good. Can’t have him going on a rampage and all caveman like and throwing her over his shoulder and taking her to a cave to make cavebabies. Time for distraction. “That’s hot Doctor, growl again.” When the Doctor head snaps towards him with his eyes wide and mouth open, Jack gives him a smirk and a wink. The Doctor blushes and turns away and goes back to looking at Layla. Jack goes back to watching the match, satisfied that he saved the other men in the area from an angry Time Lord.

Jack let’s out a loud whistle when he sees Layla take advantage of her opponents mistake and joins along in the cheering for her. The Doctor doesn’t say anything. His gaze focused solely on Layla. He can see that she seems to be struggling with something though, is she injured? She looks like she was lagging when she leans her head back and makes eye contact with him. He stares deeply into her eyes trying to convey that he believes in her. That he is sorry that he couldn’t get her out sooner, but he knows she can do this. She seems to understand because she nods her head and tightens her grip, her face set in determination.

Layla was struggling. Her shoulder was burning and her muscles were worn out. However, when she seen the Doctor, she seen that he believed that she could do it. Determination flooded her to prove him right and she tightened her grip. She could tell that the woman was struggling and that she wasn’t going to tap. If she was going to die, why tap, she might as well go unconscious. Her movements became slower and she was stumbling around. She dropped to her knees and Layla unwraps her legs and puts her feet on the mat but keeps her in the choke hold. The ref is close by checking every few seconds to see if she was unconscious or not, he lifts her arm up one more time and it drops with no resistance. The ref signals for the bell to be rung and the match was called. Layla immediately let’s go of the hold, but holds onto the woman and gently lays her down on her back. She looks at the woman sadly, she says to this woman what she has said to every woman before her. “I’m sorry.”

The ref comes over to her and helps her stand up. The announcer comes in and Molly rushes to her side with a towel and a water bottle and more stimulants for recovery. “Ladies and gentlemen, I have to say that it has been an exciting day of competitions today for the women. I present to you, the winner of the 34,695 UFC tournament. Congratulations Layla Stevenson! Now, let’s get you attended to by the doctors and then we can work on sending you home. Congratulations again!”

Layla murmured a thank you and walked quickly out of the ring towards where she had seen the Doctor, but someone had called her name. “Layla! Wait!”

“Molly? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I just wanted to say congratulations and I am so happy that you won. I was really rooting for you. I hope you have a happy life. I have to get back to work though and get stuff ready for tomorrows competitions. Don’t forget to see the doctors to be treated.”

“Thank you, Molly. Don’t worry I will see the Doctor to be treated. I hope you have a good life, Molly.”

After Molly walked away Layla took off again towards where she had seen the Doctor. She was passing by an alcove when a hand reached out and wrapped around her mouth and pulled her into a hard chest, the other arm wrapped around her waist. She started to struggle against the, obvious male, and tried to get him to let go.

“Shh, relax, Layla. It’s me. The Doctor. I’ve got you. We’re here to get you out.” She heard his voice and felt his breath ghost against her ear and she sagged fully against him.

The Doctor let her go and she turned around. He got a good look at how much damage she had actually taken and he was torn between feeling fury and his hearts breaking. She had a split lip. Her jaw on the left side was showing a dark purple bruise. Her right eyebrow had been split open and there were butterfly band aids holding it closed and both of her eyes were black, stepping back from her he could see bruises littering her entire body. Being this close to her, he also got a good look at this so-called uniform and he felt that possessiveness flood through him that others saw her like this. The shorts, if you could call them that, where no bigger than what you would consider boy short underwear, and left much of her bum showing. Her top, barely covered any of her chest. It held enough to support, to keep from falling out, but that was about it. It basically looks like a bikini top, but instead of strings and it tying around the neck it had slightly thicker straps, it was put on like a sports bra. He thinks the bra she wore on Platform One covered more of her chest then this thing did. She also only had tape wrapped around her hands and feet for a small amount of protection.

The Doctor’s jaw clenched and he wished he had some spare clothes that she could change into in his pockets. Note to self. Store extra clothes for Layla in pockets, she seems to lose her clothes often. “Do you want my jacket?”

“No, I’m all sweaty and gross, and don’t want to stink it up, leather is a pain to clean. I’m fine. When we get back to the Tardis I will change.” The Doctor is disappointed that his jacket wouldn’t be coated in her scent. She turns towards Lynda and gives her a smile. “Hello, I’m Layla, who are you?”

“Hi, I’m Lynda with a Y. I was in the Big Brother house with the Doctor.”

“What about Jack and Rose?” Just as she asked that Jack had come back from scouting the area for their escape. His eyes bug out as he gets an up-close view of Layla. “Hi Jack, what show were you on?”

“Oh, a clothing one, they kept changing my outfit on tv.”

Layla smirked at him. “Based on my own outfit, it shows that they don’t care for personal privacy of the body, let me guess, you were naked on tv, weren’t you? You probably enjoyed it too?”

Jack’s eyes get huge at how she accurately guesses it. “W-what how did you know?”

Layla busts up laughing. “Molly was explaining some of the shows to me and that was one of them, and I know you, you’re like me, you’re not body conscious. Anyways, we should find Rose and skedaddle.”

“Right, let’s see, she is on floor four oh seven.” The Doctor said while looking at the little computer.

“Oh, my god, she’s with the Anne Droid. You’ve got to get her out of there.” Lynda’s panic spurred them on. Layla was exhausted, but if Rose was in danger, she would pull out every reserve to try to protect her.

Xxxxxx

While the Doctor, Jack, and Lynda were rescuing Layla, the battle for the weakest link was left between Rose and Roderick. The Anne Droid was asking them both questions left and right and both of them were getting some right and some wrong. They were keeping track of how many ahead/behind they were to each other and it was neck and neck.

The Anne Droid is asking the last question and Rose gets it wrong causing her to lose the game. She hangs her head and her hair is in her face, it feels like her chest has caved-in. Where is the Doctor? He was supposed to be here to save me. He always saves me. She didn’t know that her friends were frantically trying to get the door open to get to her.

“But I’m not meant to be here. I need to find the Doctor. He’s got to be here somewhere he’s always here! He wouldn’t just leave me!” She was panicking wondering where the Doctor was.

Anne Droid turns towards the winner of the game. “Roderick, you are the strongest link, you will be transported home with one thousand six hundred credits.”

“Oh, thank you, thank you so much.” He is practically prancing around in glee.

“This game is illegal. I’m telling you to stop!” Rose snaps, fed up with how they are all acting.

“Rose! Stop this game!” The Doctor shouts as he, Jack, Layla, and Lynda come running in. I knew he would come for me.

Anne Droid turns towards her now. “Rose, you leave this life with nothing.”

“Stop this game!” Jack is screaming but is being held back by security.

“Rose!” Layla is able to evade the security by being nimble and is right behind the Doctor.

“I order you to stop this game!” The Doctor shouts trying to get to Rose. He has a feeling that this Anne Droid is the disintegrator.

“You are the weakest link.”

“Look out for the Anne Droid, it’s armed.” Rose warns them right before Anne Droid shoots Rose and all that is left is a pile of dust.

“What the hell did you do to her?” Jack is fighting even more to get free and more guards to called to restrain him, Lynda is being held by one guard looking at the Doctor and Layla, looking scared.

The Doctor and Layla walk over to the pile of ashes and bend down and run their fingers through it. The Doctor looks over at Layla and his hearts break at the look on her face. He grabs the back of her head with his hand and pulls her towards his neck and wraps his other arm around her waist. She tries to hold it in, to be strong, but her walls crumble at the soft words from the man holding her so gently. “It’s okay to let go, I’ve got you.”

Jack can see the Doctor and Layla embracing and that more guards were coming in, he bares his teeth at them. “Back off!”

“I need security and I need it here right now! It’s this lot.” The floor manager was speaking into her headset and calling for more help.

“Don’t you touch them! Leave them alone!” Jack screams.

A couple of security guards come over towards the Doctor and Layla and they hear her heartbreaking cries and feel some sympathy for the girl. They were told that they were trying to save their friend but she died anyways. Unfortunately, they had a job they had to do, but they could at least show them some courtesy.

Seeing as the man was calm and soothing the girl, the guard got the man’s attention. “Sir, I know this is a tough situation, but I am just doing my job. I know she is grieving, but I am giving you the chance to walk out and to the holding area without cuffs so you can comfort her. But if you fight us, we will have to separate you and cuff you. It is your choice.”

The Doctor sends him a glare, but is thankful that he is even given the choice to begin with. He gives the man a small nod. He looks at Layla and bends slightly and easily picks her up, carrying her like her did on Platform One. She just continues to cry into his neck and he can feel her tears on his skin.

Jack unfortunately, gets the meaner guards. “Sir, put down the gun or I’ll have to shoot.”

“You killed her! Your stupid freaking game show killed her!”

“Sir, I’m arresting you under Private Legislation Sixteen of the Game Station Syndicate.”

They are brought to a cell and told to sit. Layla has finally calmed down enough to be put down, but she stays close to the Doctor and holds his hand. She finds the skin-to-skin contact is helping to keep her calm and until they get out of this situation, she can’t fall apart more than she already has.

They are unlucky when one of Jack’s meaner guards comes in to question them. They had confiscated the Doctor’s sonic screwdriver and wanted to know what it was. He shoved it in the Doctor’s face. “Can you tell us the purpose of this device, sir? Can you tell us how you got on board?”

The Doctor just has a blank stare and doesn’t answer. The only sign that he is even aware of anything is that his hand is holding Layla’s and his thumb is rubbing against her skin.

“Just leave him alone.” Lynda can see that the three of them were in no condition to talk and wanted to stand up for her new friends.

The guard grabs her roughly by the chin. “I’m asking him. Sir? Can you tell us who you are?”

Next, they all have to have their mug shots taken, both front and side profiles. No one resists these demands. What was the point, right? They are back in the cell and the guard is reading them their apparent sentencing. “You will be taken from this place to the Lunar Penal Colony, there to be held without trial. You may not appeal against this sentence. Is that understood?” A second guards comes by to let the one in the cell out.

The Doctor looks at Jack and gives him a nod. “Let’s do it.”

Jack jumps up and pushes the guard out of the way. The two guards are quickly knocked out and Jack regains his Defabricator gun while the Doctor retrieves his sonic screwdriver. Lynda takes the guards weapons, while Layla pats around the guard’s pockets looking for something specific. The other three stop what they are doing and looking down at her quizzically. She finally seems to find what she is wanting and reaches into one of their pockets and pulls out what looks like a candy bar. She opens it and takes a bite. “My preciousssss.” She whispers slightly. Then she freezes and realizes that it is quiet. Too quiet. She looks up and see that they are all staring at her looking amused.

“What? You go all day only getting water and stupid stimulants. You’d want some freaking candy too. I saw him put it in here earlier. It’s mine now.” She points her finger at them. “Mine.” The Doctor opens his mouth to say something when she cuts him off. “And no Doctor, I will never be hungry enough to swallow a banana, unless it is of the fleshy variety.” The Doctor pouts and flushes at the same time. Jack whistles, impressed. Lynda looks shocked since she didn’t know Layla and wasn’t used to her comments like this. She stands up, feeling a little better having gotten something other than liquids in her stomach. “Alright let’s go find who killed my best friend.”

They nod and go to the lift. The Doctor sets the lift to go to floor five hundred and they wait as it takes forever. When they finally get to floor five hundred Jack is the first one out. “Okay, move away from the desk! Nobody try anything clever. Everybody clear. Stand to the side and stay there.”

The Doctor is walking close to the employees with a big gun in his hands. “Who’s in charge of this place?”

Nineteen, eighteen .

“This satellite’s more than a Game Station.”

Seventy-nine, eighty.

“Who killed Rose Tyler?” Layla’s heart clenches at the reminder that her best friend is gone.

All staff are reminded that solar flares.

“I want answers!” The Doctor was getting frustrated, why won’t anyone tell me any bloody thing.

Occur in delta point one.

One of the employees finally came forward. “She can’t reply, don’t shoot!”

The Doctor frowns. “Oh, don’t be so thick. Like I was ever going to shoot.” He tosses the huge gun to the man who struggles under the weight of it. The Doctor turns towards Jack. “Captain, we’ve got more guards on the way up. Secure the exits.”

“Yes, sir.”

The Doctor turned back to the man. “You. What were you saying?”

“But I’ve got your gun?” He was confused, I’m supposed to be in charge now, aren’t I?

The Doctor shrugged. “Okay, so shoot me. Why can’t she answer?”

“She’s er. Can I put this down?” He really did not want to hold the heavy gun anymore or have anything to do with it at all if he had a choice.

“If you want. Just hurry up.”

“Thanks. Sorry. The Controller is linked to the transmissions. The entire output goes through her brain. You’re not a member of staff so she doesn’t recognize your existence.”

The Doctor looks at the woman sadly. He loved humans, they were his favorite, but it was times like this, where they thought this was okay, that made him so disgusted with them. “What’s her name?”

“I don’t know. She was installed when she was five years old. That’s the only live she’s ever known.”

Jack walks back to the Doctor. “Doors sealed. We should be safe for about ten minutes.”

The Doctor nodded in acknowledgement. “Keep an eye on them.”

The man got the Doctor’s attention. “But that stuff you were saying about something going on with the Game Station. I think you’re right. I’ve kept a log. Unauthorized transmats, encrypted signals. It’s been going on for years.”

“Show me.” The Doctor passed Layla and gently pushed her into one of the empty chairs. “You need to rest. You have been physically exerting yourself all day. If you don’t rest now, you’ll pass out from exhaustion later. Please.”

Layla wanted to argue. She wanted to help and she knew he was right, but she was worried that if she fell asleep, she would dream, and she would see Rose and what happened to her. She didn’t know if she wanted to take that risk. But as she looked into the Doctor’s pleading eyes, she sighs and gives him a nod. He gives her a soft grin, and kisses the top of head before he is heading after the man he was talking to.

Jack tries to enter one of the rooms and a woman nearby protests. “You’re not allowed in there. Archive Six is out of bounds.”

Jack raises his brow at her. “Do I look like an out of bounds sort of guy?” He opens the door and goes in. He smiles as he sees the Tardis and walks up to it. He goes to the console and starts to work when he looks at the reading on the screen. “What the hell?”

Solar flare activity in delta-point-zero-fifteen

The woman that tried to stop Jack is now complaining to the Doctor. “If you’re not holding us hostage, then open the door and let us out. The staff are terrified.”

The Doctor just looked at her blankly. “That’s the same staff who execute hundreds of contestants every day.”

“That’s not our fault. We’re just doing our jobs.”

He sneers at her. “And with that sentence you just lost the right to even talk to me. Now back off!”

The power drops and it gets dark, the male from before starts to explain. “That’s just the solar flares. They interfere with the broadcast signal, so this place automatically powers down. Planet earth gets a few repeats. It’s all quite normal.

Doctor.

“Doctor?” The woman tried to get his attention.

“Whatever it is, you can wait.” He really didn’t want to talk to a woman who was okay with killing hundreds a day because it ‘was just our job’.

“I think she wants you.” She persisted pointing to the Controller.

Doctor? Doctor? Where’s the Doctor?

“I’m here.”

Can’t see. I’m blind. So blind. All my life. All I can see is number, but I saw you.

“What do you want?” Why bring me here?

Solar flares hiding me. They can’t hear me. My masters, they always listen but they can’t hear me now the sun, the sun is so bright.

“Who are your masters?”

They wired my head. The name’s forbidden. They control my thoughts but they don’t watch the programs. I could hide you inside the games. Knew that you would find me.

“My friend died in your game.”

Doesn’t matter.

The Doctor clenches his jaw and glances back and sees Layla is sleeping and is glad she didn’t hear that. He remembers her face after seeing Rose die so vividly. He turns back to the Controller. “Don’t you dare tell me that.”

They’ve been hiding. My masters hiding in the dark space, watching and shaping the earth so, so, so many years. Always been there, guiding humanity, hundreds and hundreds of years.

“Who are they?” Why can’t she just tell me or give me a clue instead of talking about something that was easily worked out already.

They wait and plan and grow in numbers. They’re strong now. So strong, my masters.

“Who are they.” He repeats for the umpteenth time.

But speak of you, my master, they fear the Doctor.

Well, geez, that helps. Narrows it down to well, I don’t know, hundreds of species. “Tell me, who are they?” The power comes back on and the Controller goes back to counting.

Twenty-one, twenty-two.

“When’s the next solar flare?”

“Two years’ time.” The man informs him grimly.

“Fat lot of good that is.”

Jack comes running out of archive six. “Found the Tardis.”

The Doctor shakes his head. “We’re not leaving now.”

Jack shakes his head. “No, but the Tardis worked it out. You’ll want to watch this. Lynda, could you stand over there for me please?”

Lynda looks at him scared of what he is going to do to her. “I just want to go home.”

Jack looks at her soothingly. “It’ll only take a second. Could you stand in that spot, quick as you can. Everybody watching? Okay, three, two, one.” Jack hits a button and a beam comes down and Lynda vanishes in a puff of smoke leaving a pile of ashes behind.

The Doctor looks at Jack in horror. “But you killed her!”

Jack just gives him a big grin. “Oh, do you think?” He hits another button and brings Lynda back but this time she is standing by the Doctor.

She puts her hand on her head and she is wobbling slightly. “What the hell was that?”

“It’s a transmat beam. Not a disintegrator, a secondary transmat system. People don’t get killed in the games. They get transported across space. Doctor, Rose is still alive!”

The Doctor gives Jack a big grin and a huge hug, twitching slightly. He wants to wake Layla and tell her the good news, but he knows she needs the sleep. He will tell her when she does wake, first thing. The Doctor is sitting at a computer trying to find some way to trace where Rose was transmatted. “She’s out there somewhere.”

Doctor. Coordinates five-point-six-point-one.

The Doctor looks at the Controller in worry, but types the coordinates in at the same time. “Don’t, the solar flares gone. They’ll hear you.” She ignores him though. She doesn’t care if she lives or dies anymore, she wants her masters to pay and she wants them to be stopped.

Point-four-three-four. No, my masters, no! I defy you! Stigma-seven-seven.

She is unable to finish giving the Doctor the coordinates to her masters before she disappears in a puff of smoke, with her scream lingering in their ears. The Doctor looks at where the Controller had once stood sadly. “They took her.”

The man that has been very helpful to them hands over some papers. “Look, use that. It might contain the final numbers. I kept a log of all the unscheduled transmissions.”

“Nice, thanks. Captain Jack Harkness, by the way.” Jack offers his hand with a smile.

“I’m Davitch Pavale.” The helpful man was now identified to the Doctor, but he really didn’t care and rolls his eyes because he already knows how Jack is going to respond.

“Nice to meet you, Davitch Pavale.”

“There’s a time and a place.” The Doctor scolded Jack.

The woman from earlier comes over. “Are you saying this entire set up’s been a disguise all along?”

The Doctor nods. “Going way back. Installing the Jagrafess a hundred years ago. Someone’s been playing a long game, controlling the human race from behind the scenes for generations.”

“Click on this. The Transmat delivers to that point, right on the edge of the solar system.” Jack pointed to an area on the screen.

The woman looked at it then back to Jack. “There’s nothing there though.”

“It looks like nothing because that’s what this satellite does. Underneath the transmission there’s another signal.” The Doctor works on trying to cancel out the signals.

“Doing what?” Davitch asks.

“Hiding whatever’s out there. Hiding it from sonar, radar, scanner. There’s something sitting right on top of planet earth, but it’s completely invisible. If I cancel out the signal…” The Doctor is able to cancel the signal and it shows a large flying saucer on the holo-viewscreen. He zooms out and revealing a whole lot more of them. The Doctor pales as he recognizes the ships.

“That’s impossible. I know those ships. They were destroyed.” Jack’s eyes were wide open and he was just super confused.

“Obviously, they survived.” The Doctor mumbled.

Lynda, having no idea who or what they were talking about, or what was so significant about the ships, looked between the two of them. “Who did? Who are they?”

“Two hundred ships. More than two thousand on board each one. That’s just about half a million of them.” Was the Doctor’s grim reply.

“Half a million what?” Davitch also had no idea who they were talking about.

“Daleks.” The Doctor’s hearts were starting to pound harshly. Why is it always me? How is it the Daleks somehow continue to survive, while I’m the only one left. It wasn’t fair. Without Layla I would be utterly alone, and that thought fills him with crippling despair. He is going to have to wake Layla up soon. He knows she needs sleep, but he needs her to be awake and alert because things are about to get worse.

“Doctor, we have an incoming transmission, they are opening a communications channel to here.” Jack warned him. A holo-viewscreen pops up and they can see a bunch of Daleks and Rose standing in the back off the side. They all sigh in relief that she is, indeed, alive, but don’t show that relief on their faces.

“I will talk to the Doctor.”

The Doctor gives them a huge grin, one that is obviously fake. “Oh, will you? That’s nice. Hello!”

“The Dalek stratagem nears completion. The fleet is almost ready. You will not intervene.”

The Doctor raises his brow, did they really think he would do nothing? “Oh, really? Why’s that, then?”

“We have your associate. You will obey or she will be exterminated.”

“No.” The Doctor says it with a voice that is devoid of emotion. His face is blank and his eyes have a dead look in them. Everyone in the room looks at him in surprise.

“Explain yourself.”

“I said no.” Nothing about the way the Doctor said it had changed.

“What is the meaning of this negative.” The Dalek sounded confused.

This time, the Doctor sounded amused. “It means no.”

“But she will be destroyed.”

“No! because this is what I’m going to do. I’m going to rescue her. I’m going to save Rose Tyler from the middle of the Dalek fleet and then I’m going to save the earth, and then, just to finish off, I’m going to wipe every last stinking Dalek out of the sky!” Now that the Doctor knew that Rose was alive, he was going to do everything he could to get her back to Layla.

“But you have no weapons, no defenses, no plan.” The Dalek’s confusion was mounting and it was amusing to the Doctor.

“Yeah, and doesn’t that scare you to death.” He looks over to his companion. “Rose?”

She looks at him and gives him a beaming smile, she knew he would find her. “Yes, Doctor?”

“We’re coming to get you.” He aims his sonic screwdriver at the screen ending the transmission.

The Doctor gets up and walks over to Layla. He crouches down and puts his hand on her cheek rubbing it softly, before going to the back of her head and scratching it. She moans and shifts slightly and slowly opens her eyes.

She gives him a sleepy smile and he thinks she looks adorable. “Hey, I know you’re tired, but I have some good news and some bad news to give you.”

She sits up and he pulls his hand away. She lifts her arms up and arches, stretching her arms and back out. “What’s the news then?”

“Good news is, Rose is alive. The beam that hit her was a transmat beam, not a disintegrator beam.”

Layla’s eyes widen almost impossibly wide and she is gaping like a fish. She then launches herself at the Doctor wrapping her arms around his neck and he falls back onto the floor with her on top as she hugs him tightly. He wraps his arms around her and enjoys being able to touch her soft skin and chuckles softly at her happiness. His side of their bond is also practically singing to him at the closeness. He doesn’t know that her side is picking up the signals too and she is getting the feelings of it being so right.

Layla is giddy in excitement about Rose, it also doesn’t hurt that she can hug the Doctor like this and it not be awkward. But then she remembers that he has bad news. It must be about Rose. She was transmatted, but if they haven’t gotten her back, then where is she? Can they get her back? She loosens her hold on his neck and sits up, not really realizing that she is straddling him in her worry about where Rose was, but he certainly noticed and had all kinds of thoughts running through his head as his body heated up and desire floods through him. It takes everything in him to stop himself from hardening under her.  “Doctor, if you know that Rose was transmatted, then where is she?”

The Doctor sighs. He figured she would piece together that the bad news had to deal with Rose and her location. “That’s the bad news. She is on a ship right now surrounded by Daleks. There is a fleet of half a million Dalek’s in two hundred ships over planet earth. But we will get her out. I promise you this. I will bring her back to you Layla.”

She believed him.

Chapter Text

The many Daleks on the ship seemed to be in a panic. The one closest to their hostage got even closer and put their eyestalk right in her face. “You know the Doctor. You understand him. You will predict his actions.”

Rose looked at the Dalek incredulous. She was being held captive, and they expected her to tattle on the one person she had faith in that could rescue her? No dice. Not even that, the Doctor is so very unpredictable sometimes and as much as Rose knew him, even she couldn’t tell how he would get her out of this situation. “I don’t know! And even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you.”

“Predict! Predict! Predict!” Her Dalek was screeching in her ear.

“Tardis detected in flight.” Another Dalek warned the rest inside the ship.

“Launch the missiles. Exterminate.” Her Dalek said, satisfied that they have dealt with the Doctor at last.

Rose looked at the Dalek in panic, her heart was in her throat. “You can’t! The Tardis hasn’t got any defenses. You’re going to kill him.” It didn’t even cross her mind that she was only concerned about the Doctor, and not about Layla and Jack. She should have known that they wouldn’t let the Doctor leave them behind when it came to rescuing her.

“You have predicted correctly.” Her Dalek was smug.

Xxxxxx

Jack was looking at a monitor when he sees the missiles on the radar. “We’ve got incoming!” They all hold on to something as the missiles strike the Tardis and there is a big fireball in the vacuum of space, but doesn’t damage the ship.

Jack looks gives them a satisfied smile. “The extrapolator’s working. We’ve got a fully functional forcefield. Try saying that when you’re drunk.”

“And for my next trick.” The Doctor works around the console and materializes around Rose and her Dalek. “Rose, get down! Get down, Rose!”

Rose quickly notices the change of scenery and that there is a Dalek next to her, she quickly drops to the ground and rolls away from it as the Dalek screeches. “Exterminate!”

The Dalek fires towards the Doctor and Jack, but it misses and Jack uses his Defabricator gun and shoots the Dalek, destroying it. Rose gets up and looks at the now dead Dalek and leaps towards the Doctor, giving him a hug. “You did it! Feels like I haven’t seen you in years.”

The Doctor knows that she is happy to be saved and excited, but he is uncomfortable with her hug and pulls out of it as quick as he can without her noticing and hurting her feelings. “Well, I told you we were coming to get you.”

“Never doubted it.” Rose gives him a smile that is only directed at him, she doesn’t seem to even notice the other two people in the console room with them.

The Doctor seems to notice this and clears his throat awkwardly. He rubs the back of his neck. “We did for a bit. You alright?” The Doctor walks away to put some space between them and over towards Layla and Jack.

“Yeah. You?”

“We are fine.” The Doctor slightly stressed the we, trying to get her to see that Layla and Jack were here. He didn’t know why Rose was being oblivious to Layla, and he could see that Layla was hurt that Rose seemed to be ignoring her.

“Hey, don’t I get a hug?” Jack cuts in drawing Rose’s attention away from the Doctor. He had also noticed how focused Rose was on the Doctor and how he was uncomfortable with it and wanted to help him out.

“Oh, come here!” Rose walks towards Jack to give him a hug.

“I was talking to her.” He points to Layla to show that she too, was there, but he gives Rose her hug. “Welcome home.”

Rose realizes that she had been so happy to see the Doctor that she had indeed been ignoring her friend and looked at her. She had seen the hurt on her face and could see the tear track on her cheeks and remembered that Layla had seen her vanish and had thought she died. Rose runs to Layla and engulfs her in a tight hug.  “Oh, Layla. I’m sorry.”

Layla grips her tightly as her eyes burn with restrained tears. She is happy that her best friend is safe and alive. “I thought I had lost you, Rose.”

“It’s alright. I’m here. I’m safe.” Rose rubs her on the back gently knowing that her friend has not had a lot of people in her life that has stuck around and she, her mum, and Mickey have been the most consistent ones.

Layla pulls back and blinks her eyes rapidly to clear them and the guys look back towards them, having looked away to give them some privacy. Jack tossed the Defabricator gun to the floor. “You were lucky. That was just a one-shot wonder. Drained the gun of all its power supply. Now it’s just a piece of junk.”

Rose looked towards the Doctor as he was just leaning back against the console, his arms across his chest as he broods. “You said they were extinct. How comes they’re still alive?”

“One minute they’re the greatest threat in the universe, the next minute they vanished out of time and space.” Jack informs them.

“They went off to fight a bigger war. The Time War.” The Doctor told him quietly.

Jack looked at him shocked. “I thought that was just a legend.”

He shook his head. “I was there. The war between the Daleks and the Time Lords, with the whole of creation at stake. My people were destroyed, but they took the Daleks with them. I almost thought it was worth it. Now it turns out they died for nothing.” He drops his arms to his sides and slumps his shoulders at the pain.

Layla can hear the devastation in his voice. Can just imagine him asking himself why do the Daleks continue to survive and there are none of his people left. She reaches over and grips his hand and doesn’t make any sound of complaint when he tightens his grip so tight it feels like her bones are creaking. She knows that he isn’t with them all the way right now. A mixture of here and in his memories. Rose looks at him worried and then towards the Tardis doors. “There’s thousands of them now. We could hardly stop one. What’re we going to do?”

The Doctor doesn’t answer her, not having one to give her. His grips on Layla’s hand loosens and then he squeezes it once more in gratitude before letting go. “No good standing round here chin wagging. Human race, you’d gossip all day. The Daleks have got the answers. Let’s go and meet the neighbors.” He strides towards the door at a fast pace and opens the door with no hesitation, with Jack and Layla following already knowing that they would be okay.

Rose sprints after him. “You can’t go out there!”

“Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!” The Daleks are shooting at them but they are not hitting their intended targets due to a forcefield that is extending a few meters out from the Tardis.

The Doctor was leaning against the Tardis with a bored look on his face. He raises his eyebrow and looks at them mockingly. “Is that it? Useless! Null points. It’s alright, come on out. That forcefield can hold back anything.”

“Almost anything.” Jack corrects him, unnecessarily.

“Yes, but I wasn’t going to tell them that. Thanks.” The Doctor huffs.

“Sorry.”

The girls step out, but stay close to the Tardis when Jack holds out his arm. He wants them to be able to run in quickly if they need to make a strategic retreat. Layla looks at the Doctor a little worried, she can see the tenseness in his shoulders and hear the pain, anger, and hatred in his voice. She wishes there was something she could do to help.

“Do you know what they call me in the ancient legends of the Dalek Home World? The Oncoming Storm. You might’ve removed all of your emotions, but I reckon right down deep in your DNA, there’s one little spark left, and that’s fear. Doesn’t it just burn when you face me? So, tell me. How did you survive the Time War?”

“They survived through me.” The lights turn on and it reveals a large apparatus, which shows an exploded Dalek that was huge. It was blue-skinned and had one eye, which was staring at them as, sitting as if it were upon a throne like a king.

“Layla, Rose, Captain, this is the Emperor of the Daleks.”

“You destroyed us, Doctor. The Dalek Race died in your inferno, but my ship survived, falling through time, crippled but alive.”

The Doctor tensed at the reminder and at the fact that while he had mentioned the war and that both sides had lost with him being the last survivor, he never told Layla and their companions how the war ended. He was worried to turn around and see if they made the connection and what expression would be on their faces. He knew that Layla would make the connection with how observant she was, and Jack might too, but he wasn’t sure about Rose. “I get it.”

Jack had understood what was being said, and from what he knows of these Daleks, if the Doctor ended it and both races were gone, or at least supposed to be gone, then it was the only choice he had. He has seen how the Doctor operates after having been with him and the girls for a while, and he knows that committing genocide would be the last thing the Doctor would ever want to do. He knows the Doctor is a good man, and will stand by him. Rose doesn’t really make the connection. She knows that both races were supposed to be gone, but not making the connection that the Doctor, her Doctor was the one who killed them all. She knows that the Doctor only kills when he has too though.

Layla also made the connection and her heart hurt for him. Like Jack, she knew the Doctor, and she likes to think, because she traveled longer with him, and they talked more, that she knew him a little better. She has observed him many times over and can hear and see the pain in his eyes and voice when something reminds him of the war. Whether it be memories or something similar on an adventure. She also knows that he is suffering from PTSD. It’s not hard to see that. But there isn’t really anyone he can talk to about it. He bottles things up and hides behind a mask of cheeriness. She is glad, that when it is just the two of them, he hides behind that mask less and less. Even if he is not in a good mood, he doesn’t pretend to be, and she just gives him silent support, waiting for him to open up to her.

“Do not interrupt.”

“Do not interrupt.”

“Do not interrupt.”

“I think you’re forgetting something. I’m the Doctor, and if there’s one thing I can do, it’s talk. I’ve got five billion languages, and you haven’t got one way of stopping me. So, if anybody’s going to shut up, it’s you!” He spits out a bit annoyed, I love to talk. How dare they tell me to shut up. He is glad to hear Layla snort in amusement though, must not hate me too much about the whole genocide thing if she can be amused with me. “Okie doke. So, where were we?”

“We waited here in the dark space, damaged but rebuilding. Centuries passed, and we quietly infiltrated the systems of earth, harvesting the waste of humanity. The prisoners, the refugees, the dispossessed. They all came to us. The bodies were filtered, pulped, sifted. The seed of the human race is perverted. Only one cell in a billion was fit to be nurtured.”

The Doctor looks at them with his eyebrows raised high. “So, you created an army of Daleks out of the dead.”

“That makes them half human.” Rose points out. Good point, Layla thinks.

“Do not blaspheme.”

“Do not blaspheme.”

“Do not blaspheme.”

“Everything human has been purged. I cultivated pure and blessed Dalek.”

The Doctor scrunched up his face. “Since when did the Daleks have a concept of blasphemy?”

“If it walks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.” Layla said in defense to what Rose was saying about them being half human. If you used something from a human, then you are part human.

“I reached into the dirt and made new life. I am the god of all Daleks!”

“Worship him. Worship him. Worship him.”

The Doctor slowly backed away from the Daleks to the Tardis with wide eyes. “They’re insane. Hiding in silence for hundreds of years, that’s enough to drive anyone mad. But it’s worse than that. Driven mad by your own flesh. The stink of humanity. You hate your own existence. And that makes them more deadly than ever.” He reaches behind him and feels for Layla, the bond helping as it lets him know that he is close to her, he puts his hand on her hip and starts to push her to go inside the Tardis, never taking his eyes off the Daleks. “We’re going.”

“You may not leave my presence.”

“Stay where you are.” The four travelers ignore them and go inside the Tardis and the Daleks start shooting at them again.

“Exterminate!”

“Exterminate! Exterminate!”

“Exterminate! Exterminate! Worship him! You will be exterminated!”

Xxxxxx

The Doctor works on getting the Tardis back to Game Station with the help from the others. As they materialize he comes barreling out immediately giving orders. “Turn everything up, all transmitters full power, wide open. Now! Do it!”

“What does this do?” Davitch asks as he does what he is told.

“Stops the Daleks from transmatting on board. How did you get on? Did you contact earth?”

“Well, we tried to warn them, but all they did was suspend our license because we stopped the programs.”

The Doctor huffed at the ignorance of humans, no matter what era, and how much they advance, they will always be ignorant unfortunately. “And the planet’s just sitting there, defenseless.” He does a double take as he notices someone who should not still be here. “Lynda, what’re you still doing on board? I told you to evacuate everyone.”

“She wouldn’t go.” Davitch quickly explained, he didn’t want to get on this man’s bad side.

Lynda gives him a smile. “Didn’t want to leave you.” It makes the Doctor uncomfortable that she stayed behind for him, it appears. He misses Rose giving Lynda a dirty look, but Layla doesn’t and it makes her feel uncomfortable that both Rose and Lynda are wanting to be a little more than friendly with the Doctor. The jealousy and possessiveness from earlier rise again and she swallows hard as she turns her head to try to push it away.

“There weren’t enough shuttles anyway, or I wouldn’t be here. We’ve got about a hundred people stranded on Floor Zero.” The woman from earlier informed him sourly.

Davitch was looking at the monitor and paled. “Oh, my god. The Fleet is moving. They’re on their way.”

The Doctor starts working on pulling bits out of the conduits, yanking wires out, this time intentionally. “Dalek plan. Big mistake, because what have they left me with? Anyone? Anyone? Oh, come on, it’s obvious. A great big transmitter. This station. If I can change the signal, fold it back, sequence it, anyone?”

Jack’s eyebrows rise up. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

The Doctor just pointed a finger at him and then kept working with the wires. “Give the man a medal.”

“A Delta Wave?” Layla couldn’t tell if Jack was excited or incredulous, maybe both?

“A Delta Wave!” The Doctor was definitely excited.

“What’s a Delta Wave?” Rose asked Jack.

“A wave of Van Cassadyne energy. It fries your brain. Stand in the way of a Delta Wave and your head gets barbecued.”

Layla’s face scrunches up. “Mmm tasty.”

“And this place can transmit a massive wave. Wipe out the Daleks!” The Doctor was definitely giddy. Or at least appeared to be, but Layla could see that some of it was a show, he was worried. She could see it in the tightening around his eyes.

Rose opens her mouth to say something when Lynda cuts in before she could. “Well, get started and do it then.” Rose turns her head, crosses her arms over her chest and pouts. Layla puts her hand over her mouth to hide her grin and quietly snickers.

“Trouble is, wave this size, building this big, brain as clever as mine, should take about, oh, three days? How long till the Fleet arrive?”

Davitch looks at the numbers. “Twenty-two minutes.”

They work on rerouting the wires and other bits and pieces for a while. Jack is working on gathering things ready for the fight that he knows is about to happen. “We’ve now got a forcefield so they can’t blast us out of the sky, but that doesn’t stop the Dalek’s from physically invading.”

Davitch looked at him. “Do they know about the Delta Wave?”

Jack nodded. “They’ll have worked it out at the same time. So, they want to stop the Doctor. That means they’ve got to get this level, five hundred. Now, I can concentrate the extrapolator around the top six levels, five hundred to four-nine-five. So, they’ll penetrate the station below that at level four-nine-four and fight their way up.”

“Who are they fighting?” Davitch asks, but he has a feeling that he knows exactly who will be fighting the Daleks.

“Us.” Was the grim reply. Knew it, Davitch thought.

“There is six of us.” The woman complained. I don’t know her name, but she sounds like a negative Nancy to me, Layla thought to herself.

“Layla, Rose, you can help me. I need all these wires stripped bare.” The Doctor heard the woman and wanted his Promised One and friend nowhere near the Daleks or fighting. He was working on an idea. One that would hurt him to do, but it would keep them safe, but he needed their help to finish the Delta Wave first.

“Right, now there’s four of us.”

Jack shrugs. “Then let’s move it. Into the lift isolate the lift controls.” Davitch and the woman run off and Jack stays so he can say his goodbyes knowing that he won’t be coming out of this alive.

Lynda walks over to the Doctor and he stands up so they can say good bye. “I just want to say, er, thanks, I suppose, and I’ll do my best.”

The Doctor gives her a smile. “Me too.” He hesitates and then holds his hand out for a shake and quickly let’s go of her hand.

Jack walks over to them and the girls stand, wanting to give a proper good bye. Jack looks at them all with a bittersweet smile. “It’s been fun, but I guess this is goodbye.”

Rose tries to give him a smile. “Don’t talk like that. The Doctor’s going to do it. You just watch him.”

Jack gives her a slight look of pity that she believes that he will survive, he walks up to her and gently grasps her cheeks, he leans in and kisses her on the lips. “Rose, you are worth fighting for.”

He then walks over to the Doctor and stands in front of him. “Wish I’d never met you, Doctor. I was much better off as a coward.” He grabs his cheeks as well, ignoring the minute flinch from him and leans in giving him a kiss on the lips.

Lastly, he walks over to Layla. He looks into her eyes and there is a sheen of tears in them and sorrow because she knows. She knows that he is going to die. “You made me better person. Thank you. You Sweetheart, you are most definitely worth fighting for.” He whispers to her and with that he cups her cheeks, noticing that, she too, flinched slightly and gives her a tender kiss. He pulls back and her tears spill over and he gently wipes them away. He backs away from her and faces all three of them. “See you in hell.” He leaves without looking back.

Rose watches his back as he walks away. “He’s going to be alright, isn’t he?”

Layla and the Doctor don’t answer her. They keep working on the Delta Wave. The Doctor sneak’s glances at Layla checking on her. The bond had flared up with Jack and her, but he ignored it because he knew it was the last time, they would be seeing Jack and it was Jack’s way of saying goodbye and getting closure. The Doctor also knew that Jack grew close to Layla and they were good friends, both bonding over making him and Rose embarrassed by their obscene humor. Plus, a part of him, that wasn’t affected by the bond, was intrigued with the idea.

Xxxxxx

Jack and the others had gone all the way down to floor zero to try to get more volunteers to help with the attack. There were a hundred people on this floor. He had been hoping to get at least a few courageous people, but it wasn’t looking good. He jumps up and stands on a pile of crates and fires his machine gun in the air to get everyone’s attention. “One last time! Any more volunteers? There’s an army about to invade this station. I need every last citizen to mount a defense.”

Roderick sneered at him and then looked back towards everyone else. “Don’t listen to him. There aren’t any Daleks. They disappeared thousands of years ago.”

Luckily, for Jack he gets one more volunteer, not as many as he was hoping, but he will take what he can get. “Thanks. As for the rest of you, the Daleks will enter the station at floor four-nine-four and as far as I can tell, they’ll head up, not down. But that’s not a promise. So, here’s a few words of advice. Keep quiet, and if you hear fighting up above, if you hear us dying.” He pauses and looks at Roderick. “Then tell me that the Daleks aren’t real. Don’t make a sound. Let’s go.” Jack, Lynda, and the few volunteers they were able to get all get in the lift.

Xxxxxx

“Suppose…” Rose trails off gathering the Doctor and Layla’s attention.

“What?” He asked.

She shakes her head. “Nothing.”

“You said suppose?” He handed over more wires to Layla when she signaled that she needed more, not wanting to interrupt Rose.

“No, I was just thinking. I mean, obviously you can’t, but you’ve got a time machine. Why can’t you just go back to last week and warn them?”

“That would create a paradox, wouldn’t it? We wouldn’t be able to go back a week because had we not been here, we wouldn’t know to go back a week.” Layla asks and points out.

The Doctor nods. “As soon as the Tardis lands in that second, I become part of the events, stuck in the timeline.”

Rose’s shoulders slump. “Yeah, thought it’d be something like that.”

He is quiet for a second before he speaks again. “There’s another thing the Tardis could do. It could take us away. We could leave. Let history take its course. We go to Marbella 1989.” It is somewhat similar to what his plan is anyways, but he knows they won’t go just like he wouldn’t, besides, his plan is the best idea he has right now to ensure their safety.

“Yeah, but you’d never do that.” Rose said in a matter-of-fact way.

“And we would never ask that of you anyways, we know you Doctor, you never run away because of fear.” The Doctor has to smile at how well they knew him in such a short amount of time.

“No, but you could ask. Never even occurred to either of you, did it?”

“Well, I’m just too good.” Rose preened.

Layla scoffed. “Of course not, we’ve never run before, why start now?”

“The Delta Wave’s started building. How long does it need?” They run over to the console and the Doctor’s head drops as he reads the monitor. He can’t look at Layla, because if he does, she will know something is wrong, that he is lying and she will fight him on what he is about to do. He has to do it. He needs her safe.

Rose takes that as a bad sign. “Is that bad? Okay, it’s bad. How bad is it?”

“Rose Tyler, you’re a genius! We can do it. If I use the Tardis to cross my old timeline. Yes!” He takes off to the Tardis with the girls following him. But Layla is looking at him in suspicion. He has been very adamant that you can’t cross the streams, that is what happened with the time Rose saved her father. What is he up to?

“Hold that down and keep position.” The Doctor directs Rose.

“Layla, hold this one, and this one, don’t let go until I say so.” He physically directs her to the buttons wanting one last opportunity to touch her knowing that it will be the last time he gets to do so. He gently skims his hands along her skin and grins as he feels her shiver.

“What do these do?” Rose asked, stretched out over the console.

“Cancels the buffers. If I’m clever and I’m more than clever, I’m brilliant, I might just save the world. Or rip it apart.”

“I’d go for the first one.” Rose hoped.

“Yeah, we already had a reaper issue, we don’t need a universe ending issue.”

“Me too. Now, I’ve just got to go and power up the Game Station. Hold on!” The Doctor runs out and stops in the midst of his nest of cables and wires. He looks back at the Tardis with sorrow. He points his sonic screwdriver at it and the engines start up.

The girls look at each other in panic. “Doctor, what’re you doing? Can I take my hand off? It’s moving?” Rose shouts towards the door.

Layla doesn’t even bother and let’s go, she thought that he was acting dodgy and now she knows why. “Doctor! Let us out! We can help! Doctor! Don’t do this. Please!” She is banging on the door and is soon joined by Rose.

“Doctor, let me out! Let me out! Doctor what’ve you done?”

They can feel the shaking of the Tardis and know that she is in the process of traveling somewhere. Where? They don’t know. They walk away from the doors and go towards the middle when a hologram appears right in front of them.

This is Emergency Program One. Layla, Rose, now listen, this is important. If this message is activated, then it can only mean one thing. We must be in danger. And I mean fatal. I’m dead or about to die any second with no chance to escape.

“No!” Rose shouts and walks to the side of the hologram while Layla chokes on a sob and walks to the other side.

And that’s okay. Hope it’s a good death. But I promised to look after you two, and that’s what I’m doing. The Tardis is taking you both home.

“I won’t let you!” Rose was determined to get back to him. She will find a way to fly the Tardis. Layla is just looking at the hologram listlessly feeling a pit in her stomach and her heart is clenching in pain.

And I bet you two are fussing and moaning now. Typical. But hold on and just listen a bit more. The Tardis can never return for me. Emergency Program One means I’m facing an enemy that should never get their hands on this machine. So, this is what should happen. Let the Tardis die. Just let this old box gather dust. No one can open it. No one will even notice it. Let it become a strange little thing standing on a street corner. And over the years, do one thing. That’s all, one thing. Have good lives. Do that for me, Layla, Rose. Have a fantastic life.

The hologram flickers out and Rose runs over to the console. “You can’t do this to me. You can’t take me back! Take me back! No!” The engines stop showing that they have arrived at their destination. Rose runs out and then comes back in. “Come on, fly. How do you fly? Come on, help me!” She leaves again and doesn’t come back in.

Mickey comes running down the road. “I knew it! I was all the way down Clifton Parade, and I heard the engines. I thought there’s only one thing that makes a noise like that. What is it?”

Rose just hugs him. “He sent us home.” He hugs her tight as she cries.

Inside the Tardis, Layla was still standing in the same spot. She wasn’t sure why but she felt as if she had been abandoned. It was a soft hum from the Tardis that brought her out of her thoughts. It was calm and understanding. Lights leading to the hall were lighting up indicating that she wanted Layla to follow. Layla sighs softly but picks up her feet and shuffles down the hall following the twists and turns. The Tardis had ended up leading her towards her room and she opened her door for her. Layla goes in and on her bed sees an outfit already picked out, just a simple pair of gray skinny jeans that are ripped up, a black and white striped shirt and her combat boots. There is also a towel and a jar of something and a packet? Curious Layla picks the jar up and reads the label, then she picks up the packet and reads that. She sends a soft grin to the ceiling. “Thanks, love.” She opens the packet and dumps the two little pills in her hand and puts them under her tongue like the instructions said. She waits for them to dissolve and is happy that the flavor is grape. It would be like the Doctor to have banana flavored medicine.

She picks up her towel and goes to the bathroom. It will be the first time she will have seen herself since this morning and what she sees makes her eyes widen. It was no wonder why the Doctor was so angry. She is basically one giant bruise, and she does ache all over. She gets in the shower and takes a long hot one washing the grim and misery of the day off of her. When she gets out, she notices that the pills she took and the shower has already helped ease the soreness in her body. She goes back into her room and sits on her bed. Opening the jar, she scoops some out and rubs it all over her body. Now she smells like coconut and she can see some of her bruises already fading from a dark purple to a yellow color.

When she is done, she flops back and huffs. She wonders why she isn’t crying, but she just feels numb. She knows, that based on how she was as a child, that the numbness will fade, but there is no telling of when that will happen. Can we go back? Can we save him? The answer she gets from the Tardis is conflicting. It seems like there is a way to go back and save him, but she can’t say what it is. Is it because of that Program One? She hums back in confirmation. Layla huffs, he knew we would try to go back.

Layla’s phone beep letting her know she has a message and sluggishly gets up and goes to read it. Sees that it is from Mickey asking where she was at and that they were going to a restaurant to eat and they wanted her to come and eat with them. She really didn’t want to go, but she knew that with Rose being upset, if they didn’t see her, they would think something was wrong with her. She tells him she will meet them and goes to get dressed. She doesn’t even bother with her hair and makeup and leaves to go to eat. I’ll be back, love. I’m not going to abandon you. We will find a way to get your pilot back.

Xxxxxx

The Doctor had been wallowing as he worked on the Delta Wave since the moment he sent the girl’s home. His hearts were hurting, they felt like they were in a vice and being squeezed. He knew it was the right decision to send them home, but it doesn’t make the pain go away. Now, he is actually glad that Layla was a human and not a Time Lord, because with the bond being delayed, it means that she won’t be dying here with him. She can go on to live a long and happy life, even if it hurts that he won’t be a part of it. It’s devastating to think of her being in a relationship with someone else, but he doesn’t want her to be alone the rest of her life either. He knows what it is like to be alone for years. So, he crushes the brief moment of agony and continues to work diligently on the Delta Wave with his hearts torn into pieces and tears burning in his eyes.

“Rose, I’ve called up the internal laser codes. There should be a different number on every screen. Can you read them out to me?”

The Doctor doesn’t look at the monitor where Jack could be seen. “She’s not here.”

“Okay, no problem. Sweetheart, can you, do it?”

His eyes tighten at the reminder. “She isn’t here either.”

Jack snickers and in his voice you can hear the humor. “Of all the time to take a leak. When either of them gets back, tell them to read me the codes.”

“They aren’t coming back.” He tells Jack stiffly.

“What do you mean? Where did they go?”

The Doctor ignored the question. “Just get on with your work.”

Jack sighed as he realized what happened and he looked at the Doctor who hadn’t looked at him once. He sees the slumped shoulders and bowed head. “You took them home, didn’t you?”

His lip tremble slightly, wishing more than anything that it didn’t have to end this way, he finally looks at Jack. “Yeah.” He tells him softly.

“The Delta Wave. Is it ever going to be ready?”

“Tell him the truth, Doctor. There is every possibility the Delta Wave could be complete, but with no possibility of refining it. The Delta Wave must kill every living thing in its path, with no distinction between human and Dalek. All things will die. By your hand.”

Jack could see the Doctor’s shoulders tense at the emperor’s taunt. “Doctor, the range of this transmitter covers the entire earth.”

“You would destroy Daleks and Humans together. If I am God, the creator of all things, then what does that make you, Doctor?”

“There are colonies out there. The human race would survive in some shape or form, but you’re the only Daleks in existence. The whole universe is in danger if I let you live. Don’t you see, Jack? That’s the decision I’ve got to make for every living thing. Die as a human or live as a Dalek. What would you do?” The Doctor defended himself and his decision and pleaded with Jack to understand.

“You sent them home. They’re safe. Keep working.”

“But he will exterminate you!”

“Never doubted him. Never will”

The Doctor smiled at Jack in appreciation and stood up and turned towards the screen with the emperor on it. “Now, you tell me, God of all Daleks, because there’s one thing I never worked out. The words Bad Wolf, spread across time and space, everywhere, drawing me in. how’d you manage that?”

“I did nothing.” The emperor denied.

“Oh, come on, there’s no secrets now, your worship.”

“They are not part of my design. This is the truth of God.”

Xxxxxx

Layla had met up with Jackie, Rose, and Mickey at a restaurant, but she wasn’t interested in eating and neither was Rose. Jackie knew that the girls were upset, hell she was upset when she saw Layla’s face! The Doctor was lucky he wasn’t around or she would slap him again. Sure, Layla said that she was in a mixed martial arts tournament, but she’s been in those before and never been beaten up that bad. She was trying to keep things normal, normal conversation, normal day. “And it’s gone up market, this place. They’re doing little tubs of coleslaw, now. It’s not very nice. It tastes a bit sort of clinical.”

Mickey was also trying to ignore the gloomy atmosphere. “Have you tried that new pizza place down Minto Road?”

“What’s it selling?”

“…Pizza.”

Jackie nodded her head. “That’s nice. Do they deliver.”

“Yeah.” He cringed inwardly, oh god, this conversation is worse than the gloomy atmosphere.

Jackie turns to the girls and sees that they aren’t eating, just playing with the food. “Oh, girls, have something to eat.”

Rose tosses the chip back into the basket. “Two hundred thousand years in the future, he’s dying, and there’s nothing we can do.”

After one bite of food, Layla gave up all pretenses of even trying to eat. It only tasted like ash, and while her stomach was protesting and wanting food, she couldn’t eat. “He saved us. He is always saving us humans. Who is going to be the one to save him?”

“Well, like you said two hundred thousand years. It’s way off.” Jackie tried to be optimistic.

“That’s not how time works Jackie.” Layla says shaking her head.

“Yeah, it’s not. It’s now. That fight is happening right now, and he’s fighting for us, for the whole planet, and we’re just sitting here eating chips.” Rose looks down in disgust.

Jackie grabs a hand from both girls. “Listen to me. God knows I have hated that man, but right now, I love him and do you know why? Because he did the right thing. He sent you two back to me.”

Rose looks at her mum with tears in her eyes. “But what do I do every day, mum? What do I do? Get up, catch the bus, go to work, come back home, eat chips and go to bed? Is that it?”

“It’s what the rest of us do.” Mickey said bitterly.

“But I can’t!”

“Why, because you’re better than us?” Layla knew that Mickey was still hurt over how Rose had been treating him. Hell, she didn’t even know if any of them knew if they were still together or not. I don’t think Rose considers them together, but I think Mickey does. It was such a mess, and now she is unintentionally hurting him more because she is hurting.

“No, I didn’t mean that. But it was. It was a better life. And I don’t mean all the traveling and seeing aliens and spaceships and things. That don’t matter. The Doctor showed me a better way of living your life. You know he showed you too. That you don’t just give up. You don’t just let things happen. You make a stand. You say no. You have the guts to do what’s right when everyone else just runs away, and I just can’t.” Rose gets up and runs away from them unable to be around people right now.

Jackie and Mickey look at Layla and see the dead look in her eyes. “She doesn’t mean anything bad by it, what she says. She is just very… attached to him. I think that the life we were living, the adventures, the danger, it formed a bond that was hard to break. He took care of us, always protected us, and if we did get hurt, always healed us. Besides, you know how Rose gets when she is upset, she is pretty irrational and blurts things out without thinking about what she is saying. Go on Mickey. Go see how she is doing. I am going to go back to the Tardis and talk to her for a bit. See if there is anything we could do to save him.”

Xxxxxx

“Right, Lynda, you are my eyes and ears. When the Daleks get in, you can follow it on that screen and report it to me.” Jack moved her in front of said screen.

“Understood.”

“They’ll detect you but the door’s made of Hydra Combination. It should keep them out.”

Lynda swallowed harshly. “Should?”

Jack looked at her softly. “It’s the best I can do.” He turns to Davitch. “How long till the Fleet arrives?”

“They’ve accelerated.”

Jack claps his hands together. “This is it, ladies and gentlemen. We are at war!”

Xxxxxx

Mickey found Rose sitting on a bench and sat next to her. “You can’t spend the rest of your life thinking about the Doctor.” Why can’t it go back to how it was before you met him?

She sniffled. “But how do I forget him?”

“You’ve got to start living your own life. You know, a proper life, like the kind he’s never had. The sort of life you could have with me.” Mickey decided to throw it out there in hope that she would come back to him and move past the Doctor.

Rose wasn’t paying attention to him though. “Over here. It’s all over here as well!” She was referring to the large letters that were painted on the tarmac of the play area.

“That’s been there for years. It’s just a phrase. It’s just words.” Mickey didn’t see what the big deal was.

“I thought it was a warning. Maybe it’s the opposite. Maybe it’s a message. The same words written down now and two hundred thousand years in the future. It’s a link between me and the Doctor. Bad Wolf here, Bad Wolf there.” Rose was getting really excited. This had to be the way back to him, but what was she missing?

“But if it’s a message, what’s it saying?”

“It’s telling me I can get back. The least I can do is help him escape.”

Xxxxxx

Rose and Mickey make it back to the Tardis and Rose goes inside to see Layla leaning against the console and she stopped talking and turned to look at them. “Rose? What’s got you so excited?”

“Layla! Bad Wolf! It’s here, it’s there. It’s everywhere we have been! It has to be important! I think it means we can get back to him. To save him.” Rose goes to her and pulls her into a hug.

Layla hugs her back tightly. “I was just talking to the Tardis, trying to get any information I could, trying to find a way to save him. She hinted that there was a way to save him, but couldn’t tell me anymore than that. She kinda seemed a little hesitate to even say that, but I think she only did tell me because she wants her pilot back too.”

“Perfect, so there is something we can do. All the Tardis needs to do is make a return trip. Just reverse.”

“Yeah, but we still can’t do it.” Mickey pointed out.

“The Doctor and Layla are always talking about how the Tardis is telepathic. This thing is alive. It can listen.”

“It’s not listening now, is it?” He looked around shiftily like the Tardis was going to smite him for what he said.

“But she is, there just isn’t much she can do. I think it has something to do with that Program One thing that the Doctor set up. I think that he knew we would try to reverse it and come back, so with that program in place, we can’t reverse it. And the Tardis herself can’t remove it.”

Rose nodded in agreement to what Layla was saying. “We need to get inside it. Last time we saw you, with the Slitheen, this middle bit opened, and there was this light, and the Doctor said it was the heart of the Tardis. If we can open it, I can make contact. I can tell it what to do.”

“Rose…” Mickey grabs her hand and holds it gently.

“Mmm?”

“If you go back, you’re going to die.” It pained him to say it and to even think about. He didn’t want her or Layla to go.

Rose shook her head. “That’s a risk I’ve got to take, because there’s nothing left for me here.” Layla looked at Rose in shock at what she just said. She knew that Rose had developed feelings for the Doctor and moved on from Mickey, but Layla also knew that she hadn’t sat down and officially ended it with him either and that was a cruel thing to say. She wasn’t even thinking about her mum.

He looked at her so heartbroken. “Nothing?”

“No.”

He takes a deep breath, even if she isn’t happy with him, he does love her and wants her to be happy. Even if it is with the big eared alien. “Okay, if that’s what you think, let’s get this thing open.”

Xxxxxx

Jack and the volunteers are set up and waiting for the Daleks. “Okay, activate internal lasers, slice them up.” The floor manager does as Jack says.

“Defenses have gone offline. The Dalek’s have overridden the lot.” Lynda warned them.

The floor manager and other volunteers start shooting at the approaching Daleks but they aren’t having any success, the forcefield around the Daleks are absorbing the bullets. The floor manager continues to shoot and screams. “You lied to me! The bullets don’t work!” She was the first to die.

“Advance guard have made it to four-nine-five.” Came Lynda’s next warning.

“Jack, how are we doing?” The Doctor was working as fast as he could to get the Delta Wave done, but he was by himself and he was hurting.

“Four-nine-five should be good. I like four-nine-five.”

“Identify yourself!”

“You are the weakest link. Goodbye!” The Anne Droid vaporizes three Daleks in quick succession.

Jack jumps up in excitement. “Yes!”

“You are the weakest link.” Before she could continue the Dalek blows her head off. “Goodbye.”

“Proceed to next level.”

“They are flying up the ventilation shafts. No, wait a minute. Oh, my god. Why’re they doing that? They’re going down.” Lynda looked at the monitor in horror as she sees several Daleks head down to floor zero where she knows there are almost a hundred people there. She can hear the Daleks entering and the people screaming. The Daleks screeching their ‘exterminates’, and people dying. She can’t take it anymore and turns the sound off on the console. “Floor zero, they killed them all.”

“Lynda! What’s happening on Earth?” The Doctor hoped that they weren’t suffering too much.

“The Fleet’s descending. They’re bombing whole continents. Europa, Pacifica, the New American Alliance. Australasia’s just gone.”

“This is perfection. I have created heaven on earth.”

Jack sighs as he looks at the last handful of humans left alive on this station. “Floor four-nine-nine, we’re the last defense. The bullets should work if you concentrate them on the Dalek’s eyestalk. I’ve got the forcefield at maximum so Dalek fire power should be at its weakest.” Jack had a feeling that even at its weakest, it wouldn’t make a difference, but as long as he stalled long enough for the Doctor to finish, he would die happy. He hears Davitch and the woman whose name he never learned flirt and he smiles bitterly because they will never be able to go for that drink.

The Dalek’s make it to floor four-nine-nine and Jack cocks his gun. “Open fire!” The Doctor can hear the gunfire and rushes to plug in the massive power cable. The Doctor can hear the last of the humans scream as they die, but he doesn’t let it affect him.

“I’ve got a problem.” Lynda says over the com. “They’ve found me.”

“You’ll be alright, Lynda. That side of the station’s reinforced against meteors.” The Doctor tries to soothe her panic, reinforced against meteors, but what about Daleks?

“Hope so! You know what they say about earth workmanship.” The Doctor hears her quick laugh before he hears the sound of glass shattering and her screaming before silence. He closes his eyes in grief. I promised her.

Jack is the last human alive on the station and he is running out of ammo, and time. “Last man standing! For god’s sake, Doctor, finish that thing and kill them!”

“Finish that thing and kill mankind.” The emperor taunts him.

Jack is backing down a corridor and shooting his last bit of ammo. “Doctor, you’ve got twenty seconds maximum!” His gun runs out so he throws it to the side and takes out his pistol and shoots that before it too runs out.

“Exterminate.”

“I kind of figured that.” They shoot him and he is thrown into the wall, slumped over, dead.

“It’s ready!” The Doctor looks down at it in surprised that he actually finished it. He looks up as he hears and then see Daleks enter from all sides of the room. “You really want to think about this, because if I activate the signal, every living creature dies.”

“I am immortal.”

“Do you want to put that to the test?”

“I want to see you become like me. Hail the Doctor the Great Exterminator.”

The Doctor holds onto the device and tries to hide how much his hand is shaking. He doesn’t know if he can do this. He has done it once and it nearly killed him with the crushing guilt, could he do it again?

“Then prove yourself, Doctor. What are you, coward or killer?”

He sighs heavily. He can’t do it. He can’t kill them, even knowing what the Daleks would do to them. He lets go of the lever. “Coward. Any day.”

“Mankind will be harvested because of your weakness.”

“What about me? Am I becoming one of your angels?” He was curious about that. The idea was really disturbing.

“You are the heathen. You will be exterminated.”

Oh, thank God. I won’t be like them. “Maybe it’s time. He closes his eyes waiting for the beam of energy to hit him, but it never does.

“Alert! Tardis materializing!”

“You will not escape!”

Xxxxxx

Mickey went to go get his little mini car and some chains while Layla and Rose waited for him to come back. Rose was super excited. She just knew that this was the way to get back. Layla was worried, but hopeful at the same time.

It isn’t long before Mickey’s back and they are attaching chains to the grate where the heart of the Tardis is and to his car and he drives trying to pull it open. “Faster!” Rose shouts out to him.

“Come on!” Mickey is giving it as much gas as he can safely and it won’t budge.

“It’s not moving!” The chain breaks and Rose kicks the console in frustration.

Why can’t you open up? Can you not do it on your own or do you have to have help to open it? Like with Margaret and the rift? Layla wondered why the Tardis wouldn’t just open, but she wasn’t really saying much on why. She didn’t know if it was because she couldn’t without help or wouldn’t without reason or maybe meeting a certain standard.

Rose’s shoulders are slumped and Layla has her arm around her shoulders and Rose’s arm around her waist. Both giving each other comfort as they try to think of another way to get it open. Jackie walks over to them. “It was never going to work Sweethearts. And the Doctor knew that. He just wanted you two to be safe.”

“We can’t give up.” Rose just wanted her mum to understand. This man meant a lot to her. He wouldn’t give up on them, on her, how could she give up on him.

“Lock the door. Walk away.” She pleaded with them.

“Dad wouldn’t give up.” Rose looked her mum in the eye with determination.

Jackie was slightly startled that she was bringing up her dad, especially since she didn’t even know him. “Well, he’s not here, is her? And even if he was, he’d say the same.”

“No, he wouldn’t. He’d tell me to try anything. If I could save the Doctor’s life, try anything.”

Jackie shrugged. “Well, we’re never going to know.”

“Well, I know because I met him. I met dad.”

Jackie paled slightly. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“The Doctor took us back in time, and I met dad.”

Jackie looked at Rose upset. “Don’t say that.”

“Remember when dad died? There was someone with him, a girl, a blonde girl. She held his hand. You saw her from a distance, mum. You saw her! Think about it. That was me. You saw me.”

Jackie looked at Layla to see if she could spot a lie and Layla was looking at her sadly, but she nodded letting her know that what Rose said was the truth. Jackie’s breath hitched. “Stop it.”

Rose grabbed her mum’s hands. “That’s how good the Doctor is.”

“Stop it! Just stop it!” Jackie couldn’t take it anymore and ran off.

They all lean against the Tardis and Layla can feel her trying to comfort them. She doesn’t know if Mickey and Rose can feel her like she can, but she is grateful for it. She is helping with the numbness, keeping her from breaking down.

“There’s got to be something else we can do.” Mickey was surprisingly trying to stay positive.

“Mum was right. Maybe we should just lock the door and walk away.” Rose was surprisingly giving up.

“I’m not having that. I’m not having you just, just give up now. No way. We just need something stronger than my car. Something bigger. Something like that.” Mickey points to a big yellow recovery truck that comes around the corner and stops by the Tardis. The door opens and Jackie steps out.

“Right, you’ve only got this until six o’clock, so get on with it.” Jackie may not agree with this, but she was going to support her girls. She wanted them to be happy, and will do anything she can to make them happy. And Rose was right, Pete would tell her to try anything.

“Mum, where the hell did you get that from?”

“Rodrigo. He owes me a favor. Never mind why, but you were right about your dad, Sweetheart. He was full of mad ideas, and it’s exactly what he would’ve done. Now, get on with it before I change my mind.” She tosses the keys to Mickey and the three friends smile at each other.

“Are you sure you want to do this Rose? We don’t know how it will affect you, it could kill you, and you have a family, I don’t. Your body might not be able to take the damage.” Layla pulls her to the side and asks her quietly not wanting Jackie to hear.

“Yeah, I’m sure. I know you had it tough at the Game Station, if this is tough on the body, it will be worse for you, because yours already took a beating. Mines fresh. I want to do this.”

Layla looks at her intently before giving her a nod. “Alright, I’ll stand over here out of the way when you work on trying to get the grate open so I am not near it when it does open and it doesn’t go into me by mistake. And before you say anything, I am going with you to make sure you are alright. You are going to have this vortex in you, we have no idea what that will do, you might need me.”

Rose nods and gives her a grin. She walks over to the door and sees that Mickey has just finished hooking up the chain and is getting into the truck. He starts it up and starts to drive and meets resistance.

“Keep going!” Rose shouts to him.

“Put your foot down!” Jackie surprisingly helps.

“Faster!”

They both keep shouting at him telling him to keep going it isn’t long before the console finally bursts open. Rose steps up to it and looks inside and golden energy streams into her eyes. The last thing she hears is Mickey shouting her name before the Tardis doors slam shut on him and the Tardis dematerializes. The Tardis is hurtling through time, at the same time sending energy into Rose. Layla stands away from her and holds onto a railing to keep from falling, but also to stay away from the energy. She doesn’t know that it won’t hurt her as much as it would Rose. It would be needed for hers and the Doctors bonding.

The Tardis stops shaking and Rose opens the doors without touching them and steps outside, she is outlined in a blinding golden light. Energy vines snake outwards all around her. The Doctor looks at her in horror. “What have you done?” Where is Layla, is she alright?

“I looked into the Tardis, and the Tardis looked into me.”

“You looked into the Time Vortex. Rose, only certain people can do that and you’re not one of them and even then, they can’t take the entire vortex inside themselves!”

“This is the abomination!”

“Exterminate!”

The Dalek shoots at her, but Rose just raises her hand and stops the energy from hitting her. “I am the Bad Wolf. I create myself. I take the words. I scatter them in time and space. A message to lead myself here.”

“Rose, you’ve got to stop this. You’ve got to stop this now. You’ve got the entire vortex running through your head. You’re going to burn.” Only certain species could handle some of the vortex and that is only if they are a Time Lord’s Promised One and that is because it is used in the bonding with the Time Lord. And it is only a little bit of the vortex not the whole thing.

“I want you safe. My Doctor.” Here he cringed at that. “Protected from the false god.”

“You cannot hurt me. I am immortal.”

Rose or Bad Wolf, sneered. “You are tiny. I can see the whole of time and space. Every single atom of your existence, and I divide them.” She waves her hand and a Dalek disintegrates. “Everything must come to dust. All things. Everything dies. The Time War ends.” She continues and the rest of the Daleks disintegrates as well.

“I will not die. I cannot die!” But even as the emperor is shouting that, he and his ship disappears in a golden wave.

The Doctor looks at Rose wary. “Rose, you’ve done it. Now stop. Just let go.”

“How can I let go of this? I bring life.” She thinks about Jack and brings him back to life, not wanting him to die.

He can tell what she did, because now Jack feels…wrong. His timeline is messed up now. “But this is wrong! You can’t control life and death.”

“But I can. The sun and the moon, the day and the night.” She grabs her head in pain. “But why do they hurt?”

“The power’s going to kill you.” Why won’t she just let it go! Of course, it is a human thing to want to control things.

“I can see everything. All that is, all that was, all that ever could be.”

The Doctor looked at her surprised. “That’s what I see. All the time. And doesn’t it drive you mad?” Layla, who had been standing close by, but out of the way to not be close to the golden energy heard him and snorted, so that’s what he is blaming his madness on?

Rose starts crying and grips her head with both hands now. “My head.”

The Doctor gets up and sighs, he knows what he has to do and feels extremely queasy about it. The bond already slightly punishing him and he hasn’t even done it yet. “Come here.”

“It’s killing me.”

Yes, well you should have let it go when you had the chance, now I’m going to have to fight against my bond and it is not going to make me feel pleasant. “I think you need a Doctor.” He scrunches up his face but reluctantly leans down and hesitantly presses his lips to her and grunts as he feels the bond rage at him for kissing another who is not his Promised One. Before he met Layla, kissing others had never bothered him, but the idea of even kissing someone other than her now, is…icky. And it isn’t even because the bond will make him feel unpleasant, it’s because after meeting her and getting to know her, he doesn’t want anyone but her. He would like to think that had Promised Ones not been a thing for Time Lords, and he had meet her, he thinks he still would have fallen for her.

The golden energy leaves Rose and transfers from her eyes to his and he catches her as she faints. When he releases all of the vortex, the doors close and they start to dematerialize. He goes to check on Rose and he sees that Layla is already there and his hearts drop. He had wondered where she was, but trying to get Rose to let go of the vortex took all of his focus and he didn’t see her, but he has a feeling that she seen him and that means she most likely seen him kiss Rose. He looks at her face, but it has a blank look. She is checking on Rose’s pulse and breathing, but she isn’t showing any emotion, she looks like she is numb and he wonders what is wrong.

After a few minutes Rose wakes up and rubs her head. “What happened?”

The Doctor has stayed away from both girls, he is shivering and hurting. His skin in tingling painfully. “Don’t you remember?”

Layla helps Rose sit up before pulling her up to stand. “It’s like there was this singing.”

“That’s right. I sang a song and the Daleks ran away.” He said sarcastically. He was a bit upset with her. While he was grateful that she saved him, he didn’t want to regenerate and maybe lose Layla’s interest in him, and if Rose had just let go of the vortex, he wouldn’t be hurting like this.

“We were at home. No, we weren’t, we were in the Tardis, and there was this light. I can’t remember anything else.” Rose is trying to remember what happened and isn’t really paying attention, but Layla is looking at the Doctor and sees his skin darkening, the tremors racking his body and she worries for him.

“Layla Stevenson and Rose Tyler. I was going to take you to so many places. Barcelona. Not the city Barcelona, the planet Barcelona. You’d love it. Fantastic place. They’ve got dogs with no noses. Imagine how many times a day you end up saying that joke, and it’s still funny.”

The Doctor is rambling and his face contorts more in pain. Rose looks at him confused. “Then, why can’t we go?”

Layla didn’t care about that right now. “Doctor, what’s wrong with you?”

“Maybe you will, and maybe I will. But not like this.” He continues to ramble.

“You’re not making any sense.”

“When does he ever really?” Was Layla’s worried snarky remark.

The Doctor laughed. “I might never make sense again. I might have two heads, or no head. Imagine me with no head. And don’t say that’s an improvement. But it’s a bit dodgy, this process. You never know what you’re going to end up with.” He bends over clutching his stomach and grunts in pain.

“Doctor!” Rose starts to run to him along with Layla, both wanting to help with whatever is causing him to hurt.

“Stay away!”

“Doctor, tell us what’s going on.” Rose demanded softly. Layla had a feeling it had to do with the vortex. He was fine until he took it out of Rose and she, herself, said that it was burning her, so the vortex must be doing something to his body.

“I absorbed all the energy of the Time Vortex, and no one’s meant to absorb all of it. Every cell in my body’s dying.”

“Can’t you do something.” Rose pleaded with him. This is my fault. I did this to him.

“Yeah. I’m doing it now. Time Lords have this little trick, it’s sort of a way of cheating death. Except it means I’m going to change, and I’m not going to see you again. Not like this. Not with this daft old face. And before I go.”

Rose started to cry softly. “Don’t say that.”

Layla was somewhat piecing together what he was trying to explain. He was explaining it badly, and he probably shouldn’t have waited until it was about to happen to tell us, but she thought she was understanding. From what he first said ‘might have two heads or no head’, ‘cheat death’, ‘going to change’, ‘not with this daft old face’, it seems like something will change with him physically, something that his species can do.

“Layla, Rose, before I go, I just want to tell you two, you two were fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. And do you know what? So was I.” He looked at Layla wanting her image to be the last that this regeneration gets to see. Golden light bursts out of the Doctor’s body and when the light fades, a new man is standing there in the Doctor’s clothes.

“Hello. Okay. Ooh, new teeth. That’s weird. So, where was I? Oh, that’s right. Barcelona.”

The girls look at him with different reactions. Rose looks scared and shocked while Layla looks at him curiously. She walks up to him and he stops playing with his teeth when he sees her standing in front of him and smiles at her. She frowns slightly as she looks into his eyes; they were a warm brown color. And while they were a different color from the lovely blue she was used to, she knew those eyes, the emotions, the timelessness, the loneliness. She can see him looking at her with a look of anticipation and at the same time worry. He wonders if she believes that he is still the Doctor. That him changing wouldn’t have changed any feelings she might have developed for him and he doesn’t like the frown on her face. He is just looking for any sign that she is taking this change okay and he isn’t disappointed with what he gets.

She smiles.