Bonding
Summary: AU from The Last of The Time Lords in my own HTL-TARDIS series. "Given up on world domination then?" "Well, I've altered my view on the world a bit; I've found it's so much more pleasant if you don't want to destroy it." Tory has an incomplete Lifemate Bond to the Doctor and a bastardised one to the Master, both want to be completed. But how can Tory choose? Doctor/Tory/Master.
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Me: this is something that occurred to me while I was writing the Last of the Time Lords and the Sound of Drums. I admit I think the characters are slightly OOC but I tried! Hope you enjoy!
This is un-beta read so please forgive any mistakes!
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Lucy's body hit the ground with a wet thump, a giant hole blown out of her chest. Tory sagged back into Jordan's arms, completely catatonic after using the last of her reserves to save the Master's life.
The humans stared between the members of the Time Lord trio.
The Doctor and the Master rushed to Tory's side, the Master using his shoulder to shove Jordan out of the way as his hands were still cuffed behind his back.
Jordan stumbled away a few steps before Jack caught her.
"We have to get her back to the TARDIS." The Doctor announced.
"I'll deal with the authorities." Jack offered.
"I'm not leaving her." Jordan argued, glaring the Doctor down.
The Doctor nodded, giving his silent consent, before lifting Tory into his arms and heading out of the room. Strangely, the Master followed without complaint or resistance.
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The group of four walked through the TARDIS, ignoring the damaged control console as much as they could, and went into the medical bay.
The Doctor put Tory down on one of the beds gently, shot the Master a warning look, and moved over to the scanner which was showing Tory's scan results.
Jordan went to sit on the edge of the bed and hold Tory's hand.
The Master walked to hover at the Doctor's shoulder.
"What is it?" Jordan questioned as the two males turned to face her. "What's wrong with her?!"
"Stupid Ape." The Master muttered.
Jordan glared at him.
"I'm not the one in handcuffs!" she snapped.
The Doctor sighed, pinching his nose between his thumb and finger.
"Master." He said warningly.
The Master smirked to himself but stayed silent.
Jordan looked between the two, sensing some form of history between them.
"Tory'll be fine." The Doctor explained. "She used too much energy to protect the ship and then the Master. Her shields aren't meant to be expanded that far, the most she should cover at one time is an average room but even that is straining."
"And I made her cover a ship." Jordan felt a wave of shame cover her, "This is my fault."
"Yes." The Master agreed casually, moving to lean his hip against the head of Tory's bed.
"No!" the Doctor protested at the same time. "You didn't know."
"Ignorance is no excuse." Jordan snapped. She shook her head and left the room.
"You gonna go after her?" the Master asked, his voice taunting. "That's what you do isn't it? The Sainted Doctor, make the poor, sad, humans feel good about themselves?"
"This is more your fault than hers!" the Doctor snapped at him. "You should have known better!"
The Master snorted.
"Go chase after the little human." The Master dismissed him. "I'll look after OUR Lifemate." He turned his back on the Doctor.
The Doctor glared at the Master's back for a moment before turning on his heel and leaving the room, he needed to explain to Jordan what had happened.
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The Master waited until the Doctor left the room to snap the pitiful handcuffs and free himself. He rubbed his wrists as he focused his attention on the screen showing Tory's scan results and double checked the Doctor's findings. Tory would recover, it was a simple case of exhaustion, but it would take a few days for Tory to be back up to her previous power levels. He twitched his fingers and the imaged changed, now it showed three lines, one on top of the other. The centre line was silver coloured, this was Tory, the top line was gold, this was the Doctor and the bottom line was red, this was the Master.
What the Master had done was force a Lifemate bond to form between himself and Tory shortly after he had captured her, this was his final insurance policy against the worst case scenario, which seemed to have paid off considering he was still alive; Tory's TARDIS side would force her to save his life as the pair of them were Bonded together and so he would live and escape. What he hadn't intended to happen was for him to develop feelings towards Tory, he hadn't realised how intense the Bond was and how it would try and complete itself by fostering positive feelings between the two of them. It didn't create fake feelings or force them but it encouraged them and the Master was already falling victim to this.
The lines onscreen showed the progress of the various Bonds between the Time Lords. The Doctor's gold was solid and constant and complete on his side whereas the Masters was flickering and wavering, there was no way to fully remove the Bond but as it was forced and unwelcome it was dangerously underdeveloped and a health risk for both Tory and the Master.
The Master moved back towards the bed and let his hand rest on Tory's forehead, the skin to skin contact let the connection between them open and then slam shut as it flickered out. The negative emotion it was built on would need to be replaced soon. Otherwise it would risk killing them both.
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The Doctor found Jordan in Tory's room, his TARDIS having guided her there.
"We can't separate them." He explained tiredly from his seat on the edge of Tory's bed as Jordan paced back and forth in front of him. "The Bastardised Lifemate Bond won't allow it."
"Explain that to me again." Jordan ordered, not pausing in her pacing.
"Two Time Lords can create a link between each other that will last throughout their regenerations. It's the greatest proclamation of love that my race can make. If you Bond to your Lifemate you'll recognise them no matter what regeneration they, or yourself, are in." the next part was said quietly, "Making that connection is the greatest honour a regeneration can have. It's almost a competition."
"And you and Tory have one?" Jordan checked, her frenzied pacing having slowed to a stop during the Doctor's explanation.
"Yes." The Doctor admitted, both reluctant and relieved to finally tell someone this secret. "But I don't think she knows." He paused. "We do have the TARDIS Bond but I hardly know anything about that." He ran his hand through his hair in annoyance.
Jordan looked guilty for a moment.
"Yeah." She hesitated. "About that…." Jordan sighed and mentally apologised to Tory, "What do you know about it?"
"I know it lets us share thoughts and emotions when we touch." He offered, suddenly realising that there was more to the Bond than he had being told.
Jordan winced.
"She made me promise not to tell. But you need to know." She took a fortifying breath. "Tory is in constant pain whenever she isn't in the presence of one of your regenerations, she calls it a burning feeling in her chest, between her hearts. She also said that it gets worse every time you leave."
The Doctor didn't say anything, his gaze fixed blindly on the wall.
"Why…why didn't she tell me?" he questioned, hurt and confused.
Jordan berated herself; it seemed she was hurting everyone today. She walked over and sat beside the Doctor and squeezed his shoulder reassuringly.
"She didn't want to pressure you." Jordan explained. "Tory doesn't know about the Lifemate Bond, she thought that if she told you you'd feel trapped into a relationship, she didn't want to force you to be with her, she wanted you to love her of your own free will."
"But I do love her." The Doctor argued.
"Then tell her that!" Jordan ordered. "Idiot." Both human and Time Lord smiled.
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When Tory woke up to say she was confused would be an understatement. The last thing she remembered was fear and pain, from both the TARDIS and herself but now the TARDIS was singing happily and Tory felt safe and secure. What had happened?
There was a hand resting on her forehead, a connection was attempting to solidify between the owner of the hand and Tory herself but it fluctuated. Tory explored this mental space, finding a similar Bond to the Doctor but it wasn't the TARDIS one that she had formed accidentally it was something else, something more. What was this?
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The Master was running his hand through Tory's hair, a subconscious and gentle gesture that was soothing them both as he thought back on his collapsed empire. He wasn't sure if he actually regretted its destruction; after all he now had a Lifemate, an equal someone who would always stand by him even if she disagreed, she would be a support, a rock and she would be his. Together for the rest of their very, very, long lives.
He felt Tory stirring under his hand and started to pull away. But he felt no anger or fear flowing from Tory, rather a deep exhaustion and…contentment? Was she happy to have him near? Why in the world would she be happy to be near him? Especially after all he had done this past year?! His Lifemate was insane! He let his hand linger in her hair a moment longer before retreating as footsteps that could only belong to the Doctor and Jordan approached the room.
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Tory was sitting up by the time Jordan and the Doctor actually entered the room, the Master had moved away from the bed and into a corner.
Jordan, on seeing Tory recovered enough to sit rushed over to her side.
"Humans." The Master sneered as Jordan and Tory embraced.
"Human is better than psychotic." Jordan sneered back as she let go of her friend.
The Master rolled his eyes but refrained from responding, and not because Jordan was important to Tory and he didn't want to hurt the human because it would hurt his Lifemate. It was not. Okay it was, but no one need to know that! The Doctor was giving the Master a knowing look, evidently having guessed the track the Master's thoughts had just gone down. Bastard.
Jordan was quietly whispering to Tory the events that had happened between herself and the Doctor while Tory was sleeping. The smile slowly vanished from Tory's face as she realised what exactly she was being told: the Doctor knew. He knew everything.
"I…" Tory couldn't even meet his gaze, her eyes fixed themselves onto the floor, determined to stay there.
Jordan stepped away and nearer to the Master; to make sure he didn't do anything to ruin the reunion.
The Doctor stepped up in front to Tory, taking one of her hands in his and using the other to tilt her head back up to face him.
"I understand why you did it." He said, his sincerity flowing down the Bond. "I just wish that I'd known sooner; I never wanted you to be in pain because of me." He smiled at her. Tory threw her arms around him and buried her face in his chest.
The Master started to open his mouth, probably to make a scathing comment but Jordan's foot stomped down onto his and his mouth snapped shut. He glared at the human and she smirked; apparently she knew that he wouldn't hurt her thanks to their connections to Tory. The Master kept his glare up but stepped away and towards the bed.
The Doctor and Tory ended their embrace.
Jordan almost laughed out loud at the way the trio arranged themselves, Tory in the middle with a male on either side of her; an angel and a devil on her shoulders. The almost laugh turned into an actual groan as she realised just what this development would mean for her when she stepped back outside the TARDIS doors.
"Oh. Oh shit." Jordan rubbed a hand over her face. "What am I going to tell U.N.I.T.?"
Tory and the Doctor laughed while the Master smirked.
"Don't bother." Tory suggested. "Stay here with us instead." She was only half joking.
"Wonderful." The Master moaned. "Why not invite the Freak and the Girly as well?"
"Thanks, but no thanks." Jordan answered Tory, ignoring the Master completely. "I'd better smooth this over, technically, he works for me now." She jerked her head in the Master's direction to show who she was talking about. "I'm gonna have a hell of a time explaining that one."
"Right." Tory smiled at her best friend sadly. "I'll come visit when all this is sorted out, yeah?"
"You'd better." Jordan warned playfully before turning on her heel and making her way out of the TARDIS. This would be the last time she saw any of the Time Lords for over a year.