She couldn't precisely say how long she'd been there. It could have been seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years… Well, she could go on. It didn't matter. She wasn't entirely sure on how long she'd been there. It had been long enough that that she was sure that her family - if they even searched for her - had presumed her dead.

No, she told herself for what seemed like the millionth time, they searched. They searched for me. Just not because they wanted me back.

No, the O'Connors family would have searched for her simply because she'd been a valuable pawn that could be sold off to the second-wealthiest family on Earth in order for them to expand their empire. And when they'd realized that their daughter, Jayden, was long gone, they'd likely thrown a temper, complaining about the fact that they wouldn't be able to continue with their plans, which had been made from her birth.

With a scowl, Jay tightened her arms around her knees. She'd tucked her knees to her chest to make herself smaller, her greasy blonde hair falling into exhausted blue eyes as she waited to see what would happen. They had no idea. No. Idea. No clue that the man they'd been setting her up with for marriage had been the one to drug her and sell her alongside a few other men and women to some kind of crazed alien that scared the daylights out of her.

Jay wasn't prejudiced against aliens. The first encounter had only happened when she was fifteen, nearly five years ago. She'd not really grown up with them, but she'd certainly been exposed since they'd shown up, and she even had a deep fondness for a few aliens who'd she'd spoken to during one of her father's many parties. If there was one good thing about Mark O'Connors, it was the fact that he'd seen the goodness in doing business with those who weren't originally from Earth, and had made sure to include them in his work.

So...no, Jay wasn't prejudiced. She was quite friendly with several aliens.

But this alien...heavens above, it was like the aliens from movies of years and years ago, when they'd invaded the planet and killed everyone. Maybe even worse. It was a nightmare that had come to life. It was a monster from the worst nightmares she could barely remember, like the monster she'd thought existed beneath her bed despite her parents snarled comments that there wasn't one. With multiple joints in each limb, over-sized arms, no features on its face outside of a mouth, and slimy black flesh…

She wasn't sure what it had done with the two other girls in her cell, but she was sure that blood she sometimes saw in those ridiculously oversized teeth had to do with their disappearance.

Jay bit her lip, flinching. She'd done that so much the skin had long since split and bled and bruised. She swiped her grimy hand over the injury, trying to avoid thinking of how much dirt she was depositing into the wound. If she didn't have an infection yet, then she wasn't getting one.

Jay rested her head back against the stone wall behind her, exhausted. She was a mess, covered in dirt and grime, clothed in what was left of a formal blue dress that had cloaked her body for the party she'd been taken from. "Can I have a word in private?" he'd asked. She'd not known any better and had agreed, knowing her father, while being a downright jerk, would not keep bad company. Surely the man was trustworthy.

And then she'd woken up with a bunch of other people in some dark space she barely remembered, her head aching and her eyes burning with tears.

Jay had been sitting there for a few hours when she heard the familiar shuffling. She pressed her back desperately against the stone wall, her body trembling despite her determination to hide it. She knew that sound better than her own heartbeat now. It meant that someone from a nearby cell - or herself - was going to die.

The creature stopped outside her cell, a slimy gray tongue sliding through the air to taste it. She could see its awkward limbs quivering as it tested the air, tasting for her fear. And when it caught the taste of it, it laughed, sounding like metal scraping over a chalkboard.

She heard its voice in her head and true fear filled her, making her bite back a sob. Tasty…. it crooned. Not ready...not yet…

She let out the sob as it moved on. A moment later, she heard a man screaming in sheer terror and agony. A wet slosh was heard just before he fell silent. Jay heard someone nearby begin to weep, and that was it. She wondered if there was anyone left. Anyone but her and the weeping person.

Shivering, Jay closed her eyes, resting her grimy cheek against the wall and praying that she'd somehow survive this.

Jay wasn't entirely sure of how much time had passed when she heard shouting. Her head snapped up, and she listened intently, noting dully that she was never sure of how much time had passed in this hell. She cocked her head a little as she listened, her blue eyes sharp with wariness.

The shouting turned to rage-filled shrieks, accompanied by the slightest sounds of shuffling that warned her of who was coming. Jay pressed back, silent, and then jumped when the creature appeared before her cell, hauling a struggling woman with it. Jay silently watched in shock when the barred door of her cell was pried open and the creature threw the woman in so hard that she landed on her back and clawed at her chest as she struggled to catch her breath. Without another word, the creature reattached the door and shuffled off, cackling to itself and snapping its teeth in glee.

Jay waited until it was gone, and then crawled on her bruised knees and hands over to the poor woman. She hadn't been there very long. She was young, not much older or younger than Jay, with darker skin, wild brown eyes, and hair falling around her shoulders. Her clothes looked as torn and ripped as Jay's, maybe even a little more so despite her lack of time there, and Jay wondered how hard she'd fought. "Are you...okay?" she said hoarsely. She hadn't spoken in so long!
The woman speechlessly nodded, face hardening as she sat up. She rubbed her chest a little and then muttered, "Ridiculous. Showed up out of nowhere-"

"Sh," Jay hushed, pressing her finger to her lips. The woman held an accent she'd not heard but once or twice, when her father's co-workers from across the ever smaller Atlantic had come. She took a shaken breath. "Don't speak too loudly, it will come back. I'm Jayden O'Connors, but you can call me Jay. What's your name?"

"Martha Jones," Martha said in response, taking a deep breath herself. She looked a little bit calmer as she rubbed her hands over her arms and looked around. "Have you seen it go by with someone? I've been looking for him since he disappeared on me almost an hour ago…"

Jay found herself startled. "You mean you weren't brought here by someone else?"

"Other than the one I'm with, no," Martha replied, climbing to her feet. She went over to test the strength of the bars, giving them a solid shake and scowling when the door didn't budge. She felt along them, seeking a lock. "It's a long story best saved for later. How do we get out?"

"We don't," Jay said honestly and tucked herself back into her corner. "I don't know where your friend is, but he'll be dead or trapped, soon."

"Oh, it's not a problem if he's trapped," Martha said, thinking of everything that she'd seen the man capable of so far. It certainly wasn't a problem at all. But she needed him to get home, and she was worried that he'd simply up and leave them there. Giving up, she began to pace the cell. Jay watched her from quiet blue eyes. "How'd you end up in here then? Where are you from?"

"You haven't heard of me?" Jay was startled. Almost everyone knew who she was. Maybe it was a blessing though. Maybe it was a good thing. "I'm a part of the O'Connors family, who runs the most successful company seen in the last two centuries." She said it without a care. She hated it. "We're based in the fifth expansion onto the Atlantic Ocean of New York City." A pause. "Where are you from?"

"Not there," was Martha's only response. "How long have you been here?"

"I don't know." Jay sighed softly, licking her dry lips. Her throat was aching from talking so much for the first time in a while. She'd not eaten or drunk anything in a while either, which only made it so much harder. She closed her eyes to rest. "A while. When I first came, there were two other women in here with me and nearly thirty overall."

"What happened to them?"

"The creature ate them," Jay mumbled, tightening her grip around her knees. "It won't be long. There's you, me, and one other. I can feel it. I'll be next." Her voice hitched, tears gathering. "I don't want to die. I really don't."

"You won't," Martha said fiercely. "That man I know? He'll be coming soon. I mean, if he's willing to walk around with Shakespeare and deal with witches, there's no way he'd just leave people here." A pause. "I hope. I haven't really seen much of him, I'm realizing."

Jay gave a choked laugh. "We're as good as dead," she murmured, speaking confidently, as if she knew that such a thing was certain. "That thing won't let us go. It'll eat us and that'll be it." She lifted her chin a little. "I'm sorry, that you won't get to go home."

Martha shot her an irritable look and kicked at a rock. "Don't think like that. It won't help us get out of here. What have you tried?"

Jay thought it over for a few minutes and then said, "I've tried just about everything. I shook the bars, kicked at them, threw debris at them...no luck." She drew her knees beneath her and watched as Martha thoughtfully picked up a larger piece of debris, weighing it in her hand. After a moment, she returned to the bars. She ran her fingers over them, searching-

"Lock," she grinned, and then wedged the debris through. She awkwardly began to slam the large stone against the hinge, and Jay cowered at the loud banging sounds that filled the air.

"Martha!" she protested, pleading. "Stop! You'll bring it to us, and then-"

"Ah-ha!" she cheered as something cracked and the door, which Jay had ripped at with all of her strength and failed, shifted. Martha carefully tossed the stone over her shoulder and then hefted the door a little out of the way. "There! Look, it's big enough for us to wedge through it now. Are you coming, Jay?"

Jay thought it over. She was dead either way, though. So, she climbed to her sore bare feet and padded softly over to join Martha at the door. She swallowed painfully as Martha ducked through the hole she'd managed to make, squirming when she got stuck for a moment. When she'd got out on the other side, Martha turned to look back and Jay hastily followed, taking Martha's hand when she offered it. "Thanks," she whispered as she paused to regain her bearings. Jay peered around them, making a face at the sight of empty, blood-stained cells that looked just like hers. It was dim, so dark she could barely see, but a single torch further down the wall gave enough light that the stains looked like shadows. Martha barely noticed them, instead marching up to the torch and prying it from the wall. She made a face as it came away somewhat slimy, covered in what looked like mold. "Oh, gross."

Jay curled a lip slightly in disgust and then wrapped her arms around herself as she began to follow Martha down the stone corridor lined with cells. She kept close, trusting the girl she'd met only minutes before for a reason she couldn't explain. This girl, who'd gotten out when Jay hadn't been able to in so long, would be the person who got them out of there, no matter what Jay thought in the back of her mind. No matter what she had doubts about. Martha would get them to safety.

As they walked, Jay asked, "Martha, where are you from?"

"Earth, a couple centuries before this one," she replied, and then admitted, "I think, I'm not entirely sure actually. The Doctor mentioned that this was I think two centuries in the future...we were only supposed to go on one trip, but something hijacked his ship and dragged it here. I don't remember what he called this kind of place. Not a parallel universe, but something similar? I don't know."

Jay's eyes lit up with excitement. She remembered the one class she'd taken in history - her parents had paid the university to keep her in line, or whatever they'd called it - but she'd been allowed to pick one class to satisfy the history requirement. She'd chosen to study the early 2000s and the twenty years after, and had loved them. "I've always loved learning about that time! Is it true that you don't yet have the cure to cancer? And that cars use fossil fuels to get around? And that you have yet to find a way to live on the moon?"

Martha threw her a startled look, eyes wide with surprise. "You live on the moon?"

"Some do, but I've been there a few times," Jay said with a dismissive wave. "My father says that the family needs to be ready to deal with whatever problems arise in the company, but I always thought it would be fun to live on the moon." She found herself rather chatty despite her sore throat, her fear making her anxious and her anxiety making her try to calm it through speech.

"...yeah. I guess all of that is true," she said with a shrug, and she furrowed her brow. "What about you? What's life in the future like?"

"Um, I wouldn't know," she admitted, "I'm not usually allowed to leave to leave my household, and even then leaving my room is an unusual circumstance outside of family dinners." She thought about it for a moment. "I go places for parties. The moon was interesting."

Martha chuckled, shaking her head almost in disbelief, but said nothing else about what the future might be like for her. Instead, she frowned when Jay suddenly paused, listening intently. "Do you hear that?" Jay asked quietly.

Jay pressed her lips together, listening. A soft sound, a hum almost, was in the air. Jay slowly slid to the floor, resting her fingers against the stone, and Martha threw her a puzzled glance as she did so. Jay said nothing as she waited, and then tilted her head back, blue eyes sharp. "I don't think it's the monster, but...I can feel it. Whatever this is, it's humming through the stone. I can feel it. I...I feel as if it's not malevolent, Martha."

Martha nodded and helped Jay to her feet, frowning a little at how thin the young woman was. Martha was young herself, but Jay seemed even younger, and it worried her that she'd been here for an unknown length of time and was so bony. Hopefully, the Doctor would know what to do. If she found him. She'd kill him when she found him.

Or kiss him! Martha cheered quietly when they followed the hum that Jay had felt and found themselves confronted with a familiar blue police box. Jay was fascinated by it, cocking her head in confusion, but Martha knocked smartly on the front door, calling, "Doctor?"

There was no answer, and Martha was disappointed. They'd found his TARDIS, but no sign of him. "Come on, Jay, it looks like he's not here-"

She stopped.

"What on earth are you doing?" she asked, arching a brow as she watched Jay stroke her fingers over the blue wood, her eyes round with interest. Jay had pressed her cheek to it, her gaze hooded. She leaned her head to its hard surface, and Martha could have sworn she heard the wood groan beneath Jay's touch. "Jay?"

"Don't you hear it?" she asked, surprised. "It's singing."

Martha decided then and there that this girl had been in the darkness and fear for far too long. Slowly, she shook her head and said, "No. No, it's just...wood. On the outside of a spaceship."

"Not just a spaceship," Jay breathed, her fingers continuing to stroke the wood. She finally pulled away, resting her chin against the surface as she looked up at the sign at the top that read words she didn't bother to read. "So much more. This is...so much more." She smiled. "Living. It pulses with life, unlike any other spaceship I've seen. And I've seen plenty, believe me. My father sells parts for them." She pulled back at long last, looking reluctant, and the TARDIS seemed to moan in protest.

But she forced herself to turn her back on it for now, instead asking, "The person you're looking for isn't here?"

Martha slowly shook her head, not tearing her eyes from Jay for an instant. "No. No, he's not. Which means he's somewhere else. I don't have a key, or we could wait inside the TARDIS for him…" She eyed the lock with distaste, and then grabbed Jay's hand and started off again, away from the ship. Jay looked unhappy to leave it behind, and she could feel it humming beneath her feet, but she let Martha tug her along.

Perhaps this man Martha sought could explain the song to her? For it had been sad, and so, so lonely…

Once again, the women began their trek through the creature's home.

This place was quite good at creating the impression that one was lost to time, the Doctor mused to himself, knelt among the slime left behind by an alien he didn't believe he'd come into contact with before. He ran his finger through the slime, contemplating. Usually, he wouldn't have hesitated to pop his finger into his mouth, but something told him it would be a bad idea. The slime burned on his fingers, let alone the inside of his mouth, so he wiped it on his pants and continued onward, occasionally scanning with his sonic screwdriver.

He just didn't understand. It didn't happen often, but the Doctor couldn't understand how this creature, who seemed to be barely capable of human levels of intelligence - if he was right, he'd only encountered it for the briefest of moments before it had torn off in another direction, seeking something or someone - could trap the TARDIS in its bubble outside of the normal universe he occupied.

How?

And he still had to find Martha, too, and make sure that the TARDIS was all right...heaven forbid the life form got its hands on his Sexy…

The Doctor paced along the corridor, not bothered at all by the near pitch black he walked in. He'd experienced far worse. The Time War, the Daleks...everything about them was far worse than anything the dark could bring. He imagined that for some, this creature would be the one of nightmares.

Understandable, though he hadn't really had a good look at it before it was-

The Doctor stilled when something caught his attention, the sound of weeping. Instinct had him tracking the sound to its origin, his feet moving quickly through the corridors, his eyes sharp as he watched for the alien. While the Doctor wasn't one for killing, that didn't mean others felt the same, and something about this creature told him it wasn't in the same mindset he was.

He sped up to a jog as the weeping became terrified screaming, pleas of "no" and "please."

He stopped when it became silence.

Sadness filled the Doctor as he noted that the person was very likely dead, if not worse. But his attention rose to hyper alert as he heard shuffling nearby, followed by another scream - this one like nothing he'd ever heard. It echoed through the stone corridors, full of fury that he himself understood. The Doctor felt goosebumps rise to his flesh, and shook his head hastily before starting forward again, this time noting that he was now passing walls lined with medieval barred cells, and decided that his priorities needed to be rearranged.

TARDIS first.

Because then he could find Martha.

When the scream filled the air, Martha nearly buckled beneath the sudden weight of Jay clutching her, her blue eyes rounding with sheer terror. "Oh, no," Jay whimpered, her nails digging into Martha's jacket-clad arm. "Oh no! We need to go. We need to go."

Not liking the franticness with which Jay was suddenly yanking her down the hall, her hands shaking so hard that she could barely hold onto Martha, the other woman demanded, "What was that?"

"It's angry," Jay whispered. "It found us gone. We have to go, Martha. It's coming."

Martha felt a shiver go down her spine at the way Jay said that, and before long, they were both sprinting down the hall. Jay ignored the burning of something smearing her bare feet, seeping into the cuts and bruises that littered them, determined to get out of there as quickly as she could. If need be, she decided, she'd drag Martha by the hair, because no one deserved the fate that the creature had laid out for them.

"We should go back to the TARDIS," Martha gasped. "The Doctor will show up at some point-"

"I tried hiding and it found me when we first came here," Jay argued, not looking back. "If we go and hide behind the ship until your friend comes, we will be found. And we will-"

She slammed into something, and Jay was sent rebounding with a yelp right into Martha, both of them crashing onto the slime covered stone floor. Jay yelped when something jagged ripped through her arm, sending pain shooting up the limb. Martha propped herself up on her elbow as she peered up at why they'd been stopped, scowling, but then gave a flash of a smile.

"There you are," the Doctor mused, looking startled that someone had run into him. He had his hands in his pockets, his gaze darting curiously between Martha and Jay. "Who's this?"

"Jay," Martha answered, and then demanded, "Where've you been, Doctor? Been looking all over for you. You just...left! While I was being dragged off by that...that thing!" She climbed to her feet, looking agitated, and he grimaced.

"Sorry 'bout that, got distracted." He offered a friendly hand to Jay, who hesitated before taking it. She examined the cut in her arm, which shook in agony as the slime from the floor suddenly hissed and seemed to almost bubble. Her face went white and the Doctor immediately narrowed his gaze and snatched her arm up, investigating. "Not good," he muttered, looking grim. "Not good at all." He paused when another scream filled the air, this one even angrier than before. "But we can deal with that later. Have you seen the TARDIS?" he asked Martha.

Martha gave a curt nod, still not pleased with him whatsoever. She nodded her head in the direction they'd come from. "Passed the police box not too long ago."

The Doctor stepped past them, gripping Jay's wrist to tug the young woman along, but she held firm, even as her arm throbbed with agony. "No," she whispered, heart racing. "We can't. We can't go that way, it's down there. Can't you hear it?"

"Hear it?" he questioned curiously. "You can hear it when it moves?"

She gave him a wry look. "When it shuffles past to kill your cellmates, you get to know what it sounds like." She remained firm, even tugging her arm free. She pressed the cut to her torn and shredded dress, saying, "We can't go that way. Surely there's another route we can take?"

"I haven't been able to so much as get a bearing in here," Martha reported, shaking her head. "It's as if-"

"The corridors regenerate themselves randomly, intentional in their confusing of the victims stuck here," the Doctor finished, nodding curtly. "Which means even if we were to go back the way you came, it's unlikely the TARDIS would be where you left her." He raked a hand through his messy hair and then popped a finger into his mouth. Lifting it into the air, he paused, and then opened his mouth to speak.

He was cut off by another scream, this one practically bursting their eardrums in strength as the creature threw itself from the shadows. Its arms stretched out, reaching, and the Doctor whirled around, shoving Martha and Jay forward. "Run!"

They did.

Jay raced beside Martha, the Doctor only a step behind them as they fled from the monster on their heels. Jay shot around the next corner like a rocket, sobbing as she ran. She could imagine the sight of the alien eating the person she'd shared her cell with, remember those sharp teeth, the screaming-

Even as her legs began to buckle, exhausted, she pushed herself further and faster. She would not let herself be captured again, fear driving her forward. Martha didn't let her fall behind, either, keeping a tight grip on her wrist.

Suddenly, she felt it.

Jay stopped for the briefest of moments, and the Doctor nearly tripped over her, startled by the sudden stop.

She felt it, she realized. She could hear its song.

The TARDIS, as they'd called that beautiful blue ship, was singing its song, calling for them, and Jay tore down the corridor again, shouting, "This way!" Her voice rang with excitement, glee, and Martha gave her a look of exasperation. What was wrong with this girl?!

Her attitude changed when the TARDIS came into view, and the Doctor gave a whoop of excitement, charging forward and slamming into the front doors at full force. Whereas they'd been locked before, the TARDIS seemed to sense their desperation, and the doors flew wide open. They piled in, even Jay, who'd not been inside or even invited, and then the doors slammed shut behind them. A second later, the entire ship rocked as the monster crashed into the side, screaming in fury.

Jay's hands shook, her body aching and full of fiery pain as Martha clambered off of her. She simply lay there on the strange grated space beneath her, the song loud in her ears but fading into silence. She was so tired, so exhausted. So ready to just let this grated floor rise up and swallow her whole-

But there were gentle hands on her shoulders then, giving her a shake. "Up you go," the man Martha had called a doctor urged gently, smiling briefly before forcing her to her feet. Lifting his head, he asked, "Martha, could you get her to the seat by the console?"

"Sure," Martha agreed, winding an arm around Jay's waist, and the blonde stopped dead rather than continuing forward. She stared up and around, in awe of the room. Martha chuckled. "Cool, isn't it?"

"Bigger," she said faintly. "But beautiful, too."

The Doctor beamed, and then grimaced when the ship rocked beneath their feet. "We can't leave it here, not if it's been eating people." He paused to tap the console he'd suddenly walked over to, reaching for a screen that swung into reach. "Do you know what it is, old girl?" Without looking back, he added aloud, "Martha, get those cuts cleaned out."

"Please," Jay said pitifully, holding out the gashed arm to show Martha the way it was burning and bubbling, the skin blistering beneath the slime that coated the wounds. She could feel it searing its ways into her veins, and something told her she'd feel the effects of that burning for a while.

Martha's eyes rounded at the sight. "Oh, my-"

"Infirmary, down that hall, two lefts and a right," the Doctor told her, still studying the screen as it relayed information neither woman could read. He finally looked back for the briefest of moments. "The TARDIS will put everything you need in a cabinet. You know what to look for." He gave her a smile before he went back to what he was doing and Jay finally spluttered, nearly slurring her words, "What are you?"

He opened his mouth to give the answer he always gave, that he was the Doctor, and then realized that she hadn't asked who he was, but what he was. He blinked. That was new. "Time Lord," he said cheerfully, reaching out and smacking the screen away. He had what he needed. The TARDIS had reported the creature to be one of nightmarish proportions, and he'd decided it best to seal up the creature's little universe bubble permanently rather than killing it. Mostly because he wasn't one for killing.

"Time Lord," Jay repeated, her voice thick. She allowed Martha to guide her to her feet, even following her towards the infirmary. "I've heard of you. I think." And then she was gone, whisked down a corridor to the infirmary.

The Doctor watched after her, finding himself delighted. This human girl had not only found the TARDIS somehow, but she'd heard of his presence on what he assumed to be Earth. Of course, he wasn't entirely sure. This creature had been drawing on humans from all over.

After he dealt with sealing it away, he mused as he fiddled with a lever, he'd have to figure out who was handing the humans over. They'd be dealt with after this was over and after he'd figured out just what that slime would do the girl who'd been bathed in it. If it had burned his skin, he didn't want to think what it was doing as it seeped into open wounds-

The Doctor stilled, and then whirled around just in time to hear Martha shout "Doctor!" He took off at a sprint, winding his way to the infirmary, and when he arrived, breathing a little hard, he was confronted by the sight of a panicked Martha holding a bloodied rag - soaked through and dripping to the solid floor the TARDIS had created for the infirmary. It was as if her body was forcing all of the blood it could through the large cut. Jay was shivering, her eyes round with shock and her lips parted as she sucked in confused and pained gasps.

Martha turned confused and desperate eyes on him. She wasn't made for this, damn it! She was trying to become a human doctor, not...not one who dealt with aliens!

"Keep the pressure," he ordered, becoming a whirlwind of chaos as he sought after something that would seal the wound. "Keep her talking."

"Right!" Martha turned her entire attention back onto Jay. "You said you were from the future, right? Tell me more about it." Jay turned a shocked look on her, stunned that she'd be asking questions like that right now when she appeared to be bleeding abnormally heavily for a gash in an arm. "Tell me!" she ordered. "What's up with the family?"

"I...I…" Jay sputtered for a few moments, and then finally cleared her throat and said faintly, "I have a brother."

"Good," Martha said, holding her hand out when the Doctor offered another, fresh rag, a couple jars of something in his hands. He ordered her to try them, and then went back to searching through different cabinets, muttering aloud under his breath. "What's his name?"

"Lucas O'Connors," Jay answered.

The Doctor smacked his head on a cabinet shelf he'd bent over to search through, looking over his shoulder at her in shock. "You. You're an O'Connors?"

Jay seemed to shrink in on herself. "Yes."

But he didn't clarify, instead threw himself fully back into what he was doing. Martha noted that, deciding to ask later, when Jay wasn't bleeding out. Her face was ghostly now, twisted with pain, and Martha felt bad for her. Gently, Martha began to try and smear one of the creams over the injury. The blood only kept going, so Martha pressed the cloth over it and asked, "How old is Lucas?"

"Nine," Jay answered, face softening despite the fear. "He's only nine. He's a good kid, even though he's been spoiled by our mother and father. He just got a dog, the day I left." Her lips trembled. "He named the puppy after me. J.J. It's what he called me when he was too young to say my full name."

"Aw," Martha murmured, smiling briefly. She tried another ointment, this one only making Jay flinch and try to rip her arm away. "Doctor!" she called, "None of these are-"

"Let me in," he ordered, stepping into Martha's space. She moved away with wide eyes and he gently took Jay's arm out of her hands. Jay watched him curiously from beneath her lashes as he began to try different jars, ordering Martha to hand him which one he wanted to try next.

After a moment, Jay said, "You're older than you appear to be, aren't you." A pause, and then she flushed and said hastily, "Not to be rude, of course."

He chuckled and paused to check a jar Martha handed him. "Yes, I am. Martha, I change my mind, give me the one on the far side, with the green and blue lid. We need to heal the wound rather than counteract whatever's infected it. We can worry about that later, when she's not going to bleed out."

"Are you qualified for this?" Martha couldn't help but ask as she gave him the jar he'd asked for, her worried eyes darting to Jay, who was looking ready to pass out. "Should we take her to a hospital?"

"Perhaps. After we can leave," he decided. "For now…" He eyed the jar, studying the liquid within. "I'm going to need a clean syringe. Martha, third drawer from the top in the center."

Jay's eyes rounded as Martha handed it to him, withdrawing it from the drawer with ease. "What's that?" she demanded, snatching her arm back. The Doctor protested, but she only lifted her voice in fear at the sight of the needle that had appeared in his hand. "What is that?"

Martha gave her an incredulous look. "Honestly, you've dealt with a nightmare and are bleeding out because of it, but you're scared of a needle?"

"Stay away from me," Jay warned, tucking her bloodied feet beneath her on the small seat she'd been using, looking ready to hurtle off of it and throw herself past him. "Stay away."

The Doctor stared at her, unsure of how to proceed, so Martha sighed heavily and stepped around him, grabbing her shoulders gently before she could try and get away. "Jay O'Connors," she said firmly, smiling briefly at the scared girl. She threw the Doctor a look, and he inclined his head a little. "I know you're scared. But you need to give us a chance to help you, okay?"

Jay took a shaken breath. "The last time someone used one of those, I ended up in a cell."

Martha grimaced, understanding the reasoning behind her fear. And she had to give the girl credit for being as brave as she had thus far. Martha, had she not known the capabilities of the Doctor and his TARDIS and had she not held newly acquired trust for him, would have been fleeing the other way from them. "Jay," she repeated. "We aren't going to hurt you. If anything, the Doctor will get you home."

To her bewilderment, Jay whispered, "I don't want to go home either." Her voice cracked. "How do you think I ended up in that cell, Martha? My father tried to marry me off to the man who put me there."

A chill ran down her spine. How could a father be so heartless? No matter how much her own parents argued, Martha knew they loved her.

"Then we'll find somewhere else," she said gently. "We'll find you a place where you can feel at home and loved, alright? But we won't take you anywhere dangerous. You're safe. But you have to let us stop the bleeding. Will you let me give you the injection? I promise you, it's just to help the bleeding. It's not to do anything else."

Jay, heart racing, breathed, "You promise? Do you promise me that nothing will happen?" Martha promised, and then Jay turned wide blue eyes on the Doctor, begging him silently.

He said gently, "I promise."

"Okay. Okay, you can...you can do it," Jay breathed, holding her arm back out. She held the Doctor's gaze warily, and he handed the syringe to Martha at her request. Martha expertly prepared it, and then told Jay to distract herself because it would help.

The Doctor took it upon himself to help, crouching beside the chair that Jay had settled back into. He offered a bright smile. "So you're an O'Connors?" he added as Martha tried to figure out the best place to give the injection.

"Yes," Jay said with a grimace, flinching when Martha prodded at a spot. "Sadly. My father, Mark, is the CEO of the wealthiest company in our time. We sell parts for spaceships to the other wealthy morons," she added wryly, rolling her eyes a little. She didn't understand why everyone had to go back and forth so often, littering the area around their beautiful planet. Well, not so pretty now. People had begun to grow concerned, even mentioning ideas on how to fix it.

The Doctor flashed another quick grin before saying, "Quite the famous name in later years. First and only family to spread the industry throughout the galaxy and even further centuries later. Even end up with their own planet. Too bad it's enveloped with a plague that kills everyone." Jay looked horrified by the idea, and then squealed when there was a sharp pinch. A moment later, Martha pulled back and told her she was done.

The Doctor immediately snagged the injured arm to look and sure enough, the wound seemed to close before their eyes. Martha's eyes rounded. "Why don't we have that on Earth?" she demanded.

"Mortality is an important part of humanity," was all he said. "And if used too often, it tends to have bad effects." He narrowed his eyes a little and ran his fingers over the veins around the scar that had formed. Jay stared at them, too, for they'd turned black. When the Doctor requested to look at her foot, the same thing was discovered. "Martha, from here. A right and a left followed by another right, third door on the right. After that, door exactly to the right."

"Doctor?" Martha questioned when he rocketed to his feet and flounced from the room, but he left without another word and was long gone by the time she went to check out after him.

Shrugging to herself, Martha let him go and then went back to Jay, pulling her carefully to her feet. "Come on," she mumbled, "let's go see what he wanted us to look at…"

It turned out that the pair of women had been directed into a closet of mammoth proportions. Even Jay was impressed. "This makes my mother's closet look petite," she had told Martha, eyes round with shock.

Martha had caught on quickly to the Doctor's intentions and helped Jay pick out some clean clothes and even shoes, handing her a pair of shoes like the Doctor's. Jay had eyed them anxiously but said nothing, only let Martha steer her to the door on their right after leaving the closet.

A quick bath in the nice bathroom that Martha had previously not known existed cleaned Jay up, and the girl found herself relying heavily on Martha's help when she quickly grew exhausted, ready to pass out in the bath. But after getting cleaned up, Matha helped her get dressed in clothes she'd never worn before - something that Martha was astonished about.

As Martha instructed her on how to tie her shoes, which Jay struggled horribly with, the embarrassed blonde admitted, "My family is always wearing formal clothes. I've seen clothes like these in books in my classes, but I've only ever worn formal gowns and such. And heels."

Martha snorted as she stood, helping Jay to her feet. She couldn't even walk in the shortest of heels. "Come on," she said firmly, "let's go see if the Doctor has figured out what to do about your nightmare of an alien, Jay…"

They finally returned to the main control area, and Jay allowed herself to run her fingers along the walls as Martha abandoned her to stride over to the Doctor, speaking to him urgently under her breath. Jay didn't bother to join them. Instead, she smiled quietly as she listened to the song in her ears, not entirely understanding just how she was hearing something the other two didn't seem to notice.

She lightly crouched on the grated floor, letting her fingers run over it. "Beautiful," she breathed.

There was a sudden yelp from where the Doctor and Martha stood, and Jay's head snapped up to find him waving away sparks that had burst forth. She grinned, sensing that the TARDIS had done it in response to her compliment, but said nothing more and instead cleared her throat to catch the Doctor's attention. He looked her way and she asked, "What now?"

He beamed, and then turned back to the various buttons, levers, knobs, and so much more. "I figured out where the single entrance and exit point into this little bubble was while you were getting cleaned up. Now, we close it. Then, we get something to eat."

As if it was an everyday experience, closing up an alien into a something that Jay compared to another dimension.

Jay hesitated, watching as Martha stepped back to let him flounce around, chattering about everything and nothing, changing subjects so fast she barely understood. Finally, she said, "You...you are not human, are you? You called yourself a Time Lord."

"I am," Martha supplied with a grimace. "Just tagging along for now." She'd wanted to see exciting sights, like that of the moon and Shakespeare. She'd not imagined that there were aliens like the one they'd encountered out and about. Suddenly, she added, "He's alien though."

"You don't look alien," Jay commented, studying the Doctor closely.

"You don't look human," he retorted, flipping a switch so that a panel in the floor popped open. "Time Lords came first." And then he was clambering down through the floor, muttering to himself.

Martha rolled her eyes and then said, "An odd one, that's what he is."

To her surprise, Jay smiled broadly, blue eyes glittering with excitement. "But not a bad one. He's old. Incredibly old. But I believe it's made him kind." A pause. "Well, to those who deserve that kindness, like you." Rather than speaking further on the matter, Jay went back to exploring the control room, running her fingers along railings and humming under her breath. Her fingers throbbed, nearly numb, but she ignored it.

She wanted to investigate this beautiful ship that had called out through its song. Her song, Jay could feel. In either case, Jay liked her.

"What are you doing?" Martha asked when the Doctor re-emerged not too long later, sonic screwdriver held daintily between his teeth and the hand not gripping a ladder holding a flat metal disk with a very big red button in the center of it. "What is that?"

"A thing," was the only answer he gave, and he carefully set it down on the console before swinging the screen around to look at it. Jay joined the pair, peering over his shoulder with Martha at the screen. Jay furrowed her brow when she couldn't read what information filled it, but didn't bother to ask, because Martha apparently couldn't either. The Doctor, however, could, and patted the console. "Thanks, old girl. Good place to land. Alright. Martha, I need your help. Take this," he handed her the device he'd brought up, "and don't touch that red button unless you want to implode."

Martha looked like she wanted nothing more than to hurl it away from her but kept a careful grip on it.

"Jay O'Connors," he continued, turning to Jay. She straightened, lips quirking a little when he asked, "How good is your grip?"

"Not very. I can't feel my fingers," she admitted.

"Then you go and sit in that seat and hold on best as you can," he instructed, gesturing to the captain's seat across the console. Jay bounced over to it quickly, sensing that he wanted to get a move on. "Martha, let me see that now." She handed over the device, and he nodded. "Okay, I'm going to set coordinates, and when I say so, you'll need to pull this lever." He touched the very lever he'd mentioned, eyes wary. "Not a second too late, or we'll implode along with this fellow outside."

"Right," Martha said confidently despite not looking as such.

The Doctor made sure everything was set, quickly setting whatever coordinates he wanted, and then approached the doors. From where she'd seated herself, Jay's eyes grew round and she shot to her feet. "What are you doing?"

He gave her an incredulous look. "We can't close the opening from in here."

"It's waiting out there!" she said with distress. "Are you insane?"

The Doctor turned back around and stopped before the doors. "That's why I'm going to press the button, drop it outside, close the door, and Martha's going to hit the lever. We'll have three seconds, Martha. Approximately three point...oh, I'd say seven, maybe? seconds before it goes off. Be ready."

"Right," Martha agreed, wrapping her hand around the lever. The Doctor waited until Jay was back in the seat, until Martha had nodded, and then slowly slid the door open just enough to press the button and hurl the device through the crack just as the alien screamed, throwing itself at the TARDIS again. Jay yelped when the TARDIS rocked.

The Doctor barely slammed the door shut before shouting, "Martha!"

She yanked the lever down, and Jay squealed when the TARDIS shook violently, suddenly shaking this way and that as if determined to dislodge them. No, Jay realized as the Doctor managed to somehow stumble to the controls, his face fierce. Not to dislodge them - to free them from the realm in which she'd been trapped. For the first time, it hit Jay that she was free. Truly free. Dressed in shoes that didn't hurt her feet with poisonous slime racing through her veins and strangers with a spaceship, but free.

And despite all of the fear that she'd felt for the past few seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, possibly years…

Jay threw her head back and laughed in delight.

I have things I should be doing. But I wanted to write this instead.

I have four, almost five chapters written including this one. This fic is something I've tried before, but re-did. It's coming out much better now. :D It's going to be a lot like my Skinwalker fic, in which I update when I can. I'll update every other day to every two days for now due to pre-written stuff, but no promises on keeping that up. This'll go from Martha-era all the way to the end of the 11th Doctor if I actually get that far. I might even split it up into multiple fics. We'll see.

I hope you enjoy!