I do not own Doctor Who, Torchwood or any of the Characters they created, Mark belongs to Andymine who was gracious enough to let me borrow him briefly, thankyou!
Thanks to Owensheart on Livejournal for the beta, without your help I couldn't of published this story, please read and review as I love feedback and it helps me improve my writing!
The Sins of the Mother
Prologue
"Doctor" a voice cries out.
"Doctor" the voice cries again.
A young woman is in the next room, lying in bed trying to sleep.
"Doctor" the voice is getting louder.
The young woman hears this and starts to roll over, her big eyes beginning to flutter.
"DOCTOR IT'S THE MASTER NOOOOOOOOOOO!' She screams
The young woman bolts out of bed and runs into the next room, her purple flannelette PJ's swishing as she's runs and her long brown hair flying back, through familiar hallways to her mother's room.
The woman in the in the bed is thrashing around her dark brown hair sweaty and plastered on her face, the bed sheets tangled and messy, they twist around her body as she moves, she keeps screaming "Doctor!" over and over again at the top of her lungs. Her eyes are screwed shut and the woman is in pain, the young woman runs over and grabs the older woman by the shoulders and starts to shake her to try and wake her as she thrashes and screams at the same time.
"Mum, mum it's me, it's just a dream, wake up Mum!" the younger woman speaks softly into her ear.
The older woman keeps thrashing around, kicking and screaming still, the younger woman tries again, but to no avail, the younger woman let's go and runs over to the low table in the middle of the room, it's round with a lacy doily tablecloth on top, littering the tabletop is an array of bottles, jars and packets, the young woman leans over and brushing her long brown hair back behind her ears, she scans the jars quickly, the older woman's thrashing is getting worse and the screaming is unintelligible now, she quickly glances away from her task, then back to the table, finds the bottle she needs and sprints over to the bed, opening the bottle as she runs, with one hand the younger woman holds down the older woman and with the other she passes the open bottle under her nose, a strange smell comes from within, the older woman goes limp within seconds, her big eyes begin to flicker open and she rolls her head towards her daughter. Her breathing hard and ragged, but within minutes it slows and becomes slower and more regular.
Her Daughter begins to untangle her mother from the mess of sheets and straightens her bed again as her mother recovers, the young woman starts to shake with fear as to what's happening to her mother, but tells' herself "Come on pull it together now, don't let her see your're scared." As her big green eyes begin to fill with tears, she rubs the palms of her hands into them to wipe away her tears, and then pulls the covers over her mother. At the bedside table the younger woman reaches for the thermometer, places a probe cover on it and pushes it into her mother's ear, she's still clammy, with trickles of sweat running down the side's of her face from her hairline to her neck. As the thermometer goes beep, her daughter checks it, 38 degrees celsius, her mother has a fever, she walks back to the table again and reaches for a packet of Panadol, pops two tablets from the packet, she reaches for the glass and proceeds to pick up the jug of water, pours a glass of water and crosses back to the now still figure in the bed.
Placing the water and the tablets on the bedside table, the younger woman helps her mother to sit up, propping her up with pillows, she lifts the glass to her mother's lips, she drinks greedily, sucking at the water, her daughter pulls the glass away before her mother chokes, she then feeds her mother the tablets one by one, raises the glass to her lips to wash down the tablets, her mother drinks slower this time and finishes the glass. Her daughter places the glass on the bedside and waits for her mother to recover.
The older woman opens her eyes, her big brown eyes take in her daughter's face and settles on her big green eyes, she thinks to herself "My god she's grown up so much, I just wish I could be here longer to see her grow more beautiful" a sad smile plays on her face, now thin and gaunt, greying in complexion compared to her daughter's healthy glowing skin, her high cheekbones slightly pink from the cold in the house, her daughter looks back with worry, eyebrows furrowed, Her Daughter asks,
"Are you okay now, In any pain mum, Do you need something stronger?'
"No darling, I'm fine now, no need for the Morphine yet." Her mother replies. She sigh's and lays back into the pillows more.
An uneasy silence passes for a moment or two between them, the younger woman is sitting on the edge of the bed, looks down at her lap, picking her nails and biting her bottom lip in thought, "Should I ask her?" She thinks to herself, "I have to ask her, it's been going on for too long now" Looking up at her mum, who has now relaxed and resting with her eyes half closed, she plucks up her courage, and begins to speak in a low whimper almost, as she begins to sob,
"Mum who's this 'Doctor' that you have nightmares about?"
She waits for her to reply, her mum opens her eyes and rolls her head over to look at her daughter,
"Why do you want to know for my darling?" she says softly.
"Because ever since they told you that the Cancer had spread from your breast to you bones, the nightmares started, and I hate what they're doing to you... I'm scared that they'll end up killing you soon... that's all... please tell me mum...please?"
Her daughter has tears running down her cheeks now and is trying to control the sobs coming from her throat but to no avail, she breaks down and start's crying into the duvet cover on the bed.
The older woman lift's up one of her frail hands and strokes the back of her daughter's head, through her long brown hair that curls and waves down her back. "How much time do I have left now? If I tell her will it hurt her more?" she asks' herself in thought.
As if to answer her question her daughter stops crying and looks up at her and says
"You've got to tell me Mum or I'm ringing Dad and telling him to admit you to the Hospital, now what will it be?' her eyes blaze with anger and despair.
"You promised me you would never do that!" Her mother starts to feel breathless, "Please don't Lisa, you'll never believe me if I did tell you darling, it all happened before I met your Father, Please darling don't do that." Her mother's breathing start's to labour now with the effort of talking. Her eyes start to fill with tears at the thought of not being able to die at home, in a hospital being attended by nameless, faceless people was more than enough to not keep holding in this massive secret any longer from her daughter.
"Well tell me then, because I need to know Mum, these nightmares must be signs of trauma that you suffered long ago, this is normally what happens to shellshock victims, I've seen it in my patients, so don't think I won't believe you, 'cause it's well know that you went missing for 3 years when you went over to London, so I think I'm owed a explanation, don't you?" Lisa raises one of her eyebrows her voice tinged with slight sarcasm, a slight smile played on her lips.
"Okay then, you asked for it Lise," She pauses and catches her breath, "It started when I was on my way to Heathrow for my first flight, I was excited and nervous, I'd never been a stewardess on a international flight before, only domestic back here in Australia, I decided to drive to Heathrow and I got a flat tire, I didn't want to miss the flight, so when I saw a nearby Police Box," Lisa laughs when she hears this, it's more like a "you've got to be joking giggle" than a full blown belly laugh " Hey they really had those in England in those days Lise 'cause they didn't have mobiles then, so stop laughing 'cause I'm getting tired here." Lisa stopped laughing and her mother caught her breath and continued, "I went to the police box to call for help, well when I stepped inside, it was bigger on the inside than the outside, that's when I realised that it was no police box, and I meet The Doctor..."