A/N: I'm not dead! I just had exams and my computer was behind some nasty locks. But here's is the next chapter that should've come last Tuesday. I hope you like this one. I got to solo a bit. :)
1. An Old Friend
Rose was saying goodbyes to Jackie and Mickey outside the Tardis. She had packed now and was ready to go. The Doctor peeked out of the Tardis and smiled brightly. Rose took his hand, returning the smile.
"Let's go then. Sierra is waiting for us." He said and pulled Rose a step closer to the Tardis.
"Sierra? She's there already? When did she leave?" The blonde asked.
"Some point. Probably when we watched TV. She has been here ever since." He shrugged. They waved goodbye to Jackie and Mickey and stepped into the Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. Sierra was jumped off the jump seat, beaming at them. Her jacket was discarded on the railing behind her.
"Finally you came! I was getting bored. I mean, there's just so many times I can walk into the library and back without getting lost and in the way take a round in the wardrobe." She told them brightly before turning towards the console.
"Why did you disappear?" Rose asked, rather tactlessly.
"I just came here to wait for you. Where are we going now then? Some dodgy spot in the sky?"
"That's right!" The Doctor laughed and strode to Sierra. He sensed she didn't want to discuss about the matter why she left earlier and gave one look to Rose and the blonde understood not to press on. The two – the Time Lord and Human Yet Not – started working on the console, taking a direction to the 'dodgy spot in the sky'. The Time Rotor started pumping up and down. The three of them smiled.
"So, where exactly are we going?" Rose asked after a while.
"Further than we've ever gone before." The Doctor grinned.
"To a place where we can meet an old friend of ours." Sierra added with a smile on her face. Rose grinned back.
Rose, Sierra and the Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS onto a windy stretch of grass. Rose's mouth dropped open.
"It's the year five billion and twenty three... We're in the galaxy M87, and this... this is New Earth." the Doctor introduced the planet beneath their feet. They all were looking upon a futuristic city, with flying vehicles zooming to and from.
"That's just... that's-…" Rose stuttered before bursting out laughing, in wonder.
"Not bad. Not bad at all!" The Doctor was nodding. Sierra smiled at their faces.
"That's amazing. I'll never get used to this. Never. Different ground beneath my feet!" Rose continued. She jumped up and down excitedly. "Different sky...! What's that smell?"
The Doctor bent down and pulled some grass up. He showed it to her.
"Apple grass." He announced.
"Apple grass...!"
"Yep, apple grass." Sierra nodded.
"That's beautiful!" Rose gazed up at the Doctor with a wide smile. "Oh, I love this. Can I just say..." She linked her arm through his. "...travelling with you... I love it."
"Me too." The Doctor said. "With you both." He looked at Sierra who merely smiled. He made a note to ask her if everything was alright. Rose laughed, bringing the Time Lord's attention back her and the Doctor grinned to her. "Come on!" He grabbed the blonde's hand and they dashed off, Sierra a step behind them. She smiled sadly at their backs. This was how it would always be…
They were lying sprawled on the grass, Rose and the Doctor on his coat and Sierra right next to them since there wasn't enough space for all three of them.
"So, the year five billion… The sun expands, the Earth gets roasted." He said.
"That was our first date." Rose smiled.
"Date? More like our first life-threatening adventure in space." Sierra snorted.
"But we had chips!" The Doctor pointed out. They all giggled. "So anyway, planet gone, all rocks and dust, but the human race lives on, spread out across the stars. Soon as the Earth burns up - oh, yeah, they get all nostalgic - big revival movement... but find this place!" He sat up for a better look at the view. "Same size as the Earth... same air... same orbit... lovely! Call goes out, the humans move in!"
"What's the city called?" Rose asked as Sierra sat up too.
"New New York." She answered.
"Oh, come on."
"It is! It's the City of New New York!" The Doctor assured the blonde. He paused then, thinking. "Strictly speaking, it's the fifteenth New York since the original. So that makes it New New New New New New New New New New New New New New York."
Rose smiled at him, reminiscing. He noticed.
"What?"
"You're so different."
"New New Doctor." He grinned. Rose giggled, Sierra snickered and the Doctor chuckled. The metal spider watched them.
"Can we go and visit New New York? So good they named it twice." Rose asked, getting up.
"Well - I thought we might go there first." The Doctor got up too and helped then Sierra while nodding towards a large building in the distance, on the coast.
"Why? What is it?" Rose asked. The Doctor was putting his coat on now some he didn't answer because of the wind made it much harder to put it on. So Rose and Sierra helped him.
"Some sort of hospital. Green moon on the side - that's the universal symbol for hospitals." He told them.
"Reminds me about Red Cross. The symbol of the organization is literally a red cross but in some countries a red crescent is used due the Islamic religion. And in some countries where religion is a touchy subject and neither cross nor crescent can be used, they use a red diamond." Sierra mused, the Doctor nodding next to her.
"That's right. You can't believe how hard it is to find a symbol and color and the combination of them that won't offend anyone…" Sierra raised her eyebrows at this. "Or at least offends as least species as possible."
"Hmm!" Rose frowned, not quite catching on.
"I got this." The Doctor said then, changing slightly the subject. He pulled out the psychic paper. "A message on the psychic paper." The words 'Ward 26 - Please Come' scrawled across the paper. "Someone wants to see me."
"And me, I got the same message while waiting for you two." Sierra smiled. Actually her message was slightly different but she couldn't show it to them without revealing Jack's identity.
"Hmm! And I thought we were just sight-seeing. Come on then! Let's go and buy some grapes." Rose linked her arm through their both, making herself walk in the middle. Sierra and the Doctor caught this slightly jealous act and looked over the blonde's head at each other, turning away then a stifling their laughter the blonde didn't notice. The spider followed them.
They walked through the hospital doors and into the reception.
"Bit rich coming from you." Rose snorted.
"I can't help it! I don't like hospitals - they give me the creeps!" The Doctor retorted.
"Seven, right?" Sierra asked. The Doctor nodded.
"Yeah."
"I wouldn't like hospitals either. Not after that." She stated and added in her mind. "And not after this."
"The Pleasure Gardens will now take visitors carrying green or blue identification cards for the next fifteen minutes. Visitors are reminded that cuttings from the gardens are not permitted."
"Very smart. Not exactly NHS." Rose stated, looking around in interest.
"No shop. I like the little shop!" The Doctor whined and Sierra chuckled.
"I thought this far in the future, they'd have cured everything." The blonde continued.
"The human race moves on, but so do the viruses. It's an ongoing war." Sierra resisted the urge to roll her eyes but couldn't stop a shudder. The things going on in this hospital…
A cat nurse walked by and nodded politely to Rose, who stared at her. Sierra nudged her in the ribs and swatted her pointing hand away but she didn't care.
"They're cats." The blonde said.
"Now, don't stare... Think what you look like to them, all..." The Doctor looked her up and down. "Pink and yellow… That's where I'd put the shop!" He pointed over Rose's shoulder. "Right there!"
Whilst Rose was looking, he walked over to the lift and stepped inside. Sierra followed him, not wanting an encounter with Cassandra.
"Ward 26, thanks!" The Time Lord told the lift.
"Hold on! Hold on!" Rose rushed to the lift, but too late. The doors had already closed.
"Oh, too late. I'm going up."
"It's all right, there's another lift." The blonde told him. She rushed to the other lift and pressed the button there.
"Ward 26. And watch out for the disinfectant." The Doctor told her.
"Watch out for what?"
"The disinfectant!" Sierra and the Doctor said simultaneously.
"The what?"
"The di- oh, you'll find out." The Doctor waved his hand, ending the topic. Sierra chuckled.
"I can just imagine Jackie doing exactly the same than Rose. 'The what?'" She laughed. The Doctor joined in.
"Commence stage one: disinfection." Green lights flashed on and they were soaked in a shower of disinfectant. The Doctor was perfectly calm about this while Sierra…
"Bleargh…" She wrinkled her nose at the strong smell and being soaked. She managed to get the disinfectant on her mouth and ended up spitting it out. The Doctor chuckled at her and ran his hands through his hair like he's being in shower. Sierra looked at him incredulously.
A white powder is puffed onto them. The Doctor barely reacted, Sierra coughed.
A blow-dryer engaged. The Doctor looked like he was enjoying the experience immensely, spreading his coat out to dry and smiling happily. Sierra laughed too. Both at the Time Lord and at the wind.
The lift doors slid open at ward 26 and they stepped out. It was almost like the disinfectant hadn't happened. Although their hair were now much smoother and tidier.
"Here we are then." Sierra smiled, looking around. The Doctor did so too but turned then to look at her.
"Are you alright?"
"Hmh? Yes, I'm fine. Why do you ask?" She looked up at him.
"Just… you seemed sad earlier. Back on Earth." The Doctor looked away, at the ceiling. Emotion talk wasn't his strengths in this regeneration… Actually in none of them. Five had come quite close but…
"Just a bit of homesickness, nothing serious. I'm fine now." The girl smiled, the sad look in her eyes. "Spending Christmas away from home…"
"I see." He took her hand.
"Yeah, you are probably the only one who can." She leaned her head on his shoulder. "Thank you."
"For what?"
"For being you. Just being exactly who you are. Not forcing anything from yourself and just being there. My rock. My solid and steady rock I can hold on."
"I should be the one to say those words to you. Those exact words…" He squeezed her hand and they looked at each other, melancholic smiles on their faces, before proceeding to the ward.
They were lead into the ward by Sister Jatt.
"Nice place. No shop, downstairs. I'd have a shop. Not a big one - just a shop. So people can shop." The Doctor remarked. Sierra crossed her arms.
"You know, none of the hospitals I've visited had had a shop. Why there'd be? If one wants to buy something to bring to the patients they can do it elsewhere." She told the man. Sister Jatt agreed with her.
"The hospital is a place of healing." The cat said.
"A shop does some people the world of good. Not me. Other people..." The Doctor said, trailing off as they started to walk. There was a patient who was completely red. Sierra stared at it, remembering the Crimson Horror from the eight season with Eleven and Clara. "The Sisters of Plentitude take a lifelong vow to help. And to mend."
They passed a bed holding an extremely fat man looking as though he was about to turn to stone. Sierra was reminded of the Weeping Angels at the catacombs when they made Amy think her hand was turning into stone.
"Excuse me!" A prim and rather snappy woman approached the Doctor and Sierra. "Members of the public may only gaze upon the Duke of Manhattan with written permission from the Senate of New New York."
"That's Petrifold Regression, right?" The Doctor nodded towards the Duke.
"I'm dying, sir. A lifetime of charity and abstinence. And it ends like this." The Duke told him.
"Any statements made by the Duke of Manhattan may not be made public without official clearance." The woman said. Sierra resisted an urge to snort. As if they'd made anything to public. Some people really cared only about appearances. And this woman was like some lawyer. What was her name again…
"Frau Clovis!" The Duke gasped. Ah, that was her name: Frau Clovis. The said woman rushed to his side and he grasped her hand. "I'm so weak!"
"Sister Jatt! A little privacy, please!" Frau Clovis snapped. Sister Jatt lead them away.
"He'll be up and about in no time." She told the two travelers.
"I doubt it. Petrifold Regression? He's turning to stone. There won't be a cure for... oh... a thousand years? He might be up and about, but only as a statue..." The Doctor thought aloud.
"Have faith in the sisterhood. But is there no one here you recognize?" The Doctor looked around. His eye was caught. Sierra smiled and walked to the direction he was looking with a spring in her step. Sister Jatt was looking into another direction. "It's rather unusual to visit without knowing the patient."
"No. I think we've found him." The Doctor said and followed Sierra who had already kneeled in front of the glass tank of the Face of Boe, her hand pressed against the cool surface of it and a gentle smile on her face.
"Novice Hame - if I can leave this gentleman and young lady in your care?" Sister Jatt asked the other, younger, cat nurse.
"Oh, I think our friend got lost. Uh - Rose Tyler. Could you ask at reception?" The Doctor requested the older cat.
"Certainly, sir." She left. Novice Hame and the Doctor looked at the Face of Boe.
"I'm afraid the Face of Boe's asleep. That's all he tends to do these days. Are you a friend, or...?" Novice Hame asked.
"We met just the once on Platform One. What's wrong with him?" The Doctor frowned.
"I'm so sorry. I thought you knew. The Face of Boe is dying."
"Of what?"
"Old age. The one thing we can't cure. He's thousands of years old. Some people say millions. Although, that's impossible."
"Oh, no... I like impossible." There was a smile on the Time Lord's face. He kneeled before the Face of Boe, next to Sierra. "I'm here. I look a bit different, but it's me... it's the Doctor..." He placed a hand on the tank. The Face of Boe sighed.
"He is not impossible. Impossible would be wrong. He's just a bit improbable." Sierra said quietly. "Hello, old friend. I'm here. And I'll always be when you need me."
"Hope, harmony and health. Hope, harmony and health."
The Doctor crossed the ward and gave Novice Hame a glass of water.
"That's very kind. But there's no need." She thanked.
"You're the one working." He said, going to the window.
"There's not much to do. Just maintain his smoke. And I suppose I'm company. I can hear him singing, sometimes. In my mind... such ancient songs..."
"Are we the only visitors?"
"The rest of Boe-kind became extinct. Long ago. He's the only one left. Legend says that the Face of Boe has watched the universe grow old. There's all sorts of superstitions around him. One story says that just before his death, the Face of Boe will impart his great secret. That he will speak those words only to ones like himself."
"What does that mean?" The Doctor frowned.
"It's just a story." Novice Hame said.
"Tell me the rest."
"It's said he'll talk to two wanderers. To the man without a home and the girl far away from hers."
The Doctor recognized himself and Sierra in the sentence. He spared a glance at Sierra who hadn't moved at all during the minutes they had been by the glass tank. She was just silently watching the Face, waiting for him to wake up.
"The lonely God and even lonelier girl."
While waiting for the Face of Boe to wake up, the Doctor called Rose.
"Rose, where are you?" He asked when the blonde(Cassandra now) answered.
"Uhm... wotcha..."
"Where've you been? How long does it take to get to Ward 26?"
"I'm on my way, governor. I shall proceed up the Apples and Pears."
"You'll never guess. I'm with the Face of Boe! Remember him?"
"Course I do... that big old... boat... race..."
"I'd better go. See you in a minute." He replaced the receiver. The Duke of Manhattan was laughing behind him. He and Frau Clovis both had a glass of champagne.
"Didn't think I was going to make it!" The Duke told everyone around. The Doctor stepped into view. "It's that man again!" The Doctor smiled, scratching his ear absent-mindedly. "He's my good luck charm! Come in! Don't be shy!"
"Any friendship expressed by the Duke of Manhattan does not constitute a form of legal contract." Frau Clovis told the Time Lord.
"Winch me up." The duke gave the Doctor the thumbs up. Frau Clovis pressed a button on a remote and the bed tilted forwards. "Ah! Look at me! No sign of infection!"
"Champagne, sir?" A waiter asked the Doctor.
"No thanks. Uh... you had Petrifold Regression, right?"
"That being the operative word! Past tense! Completely cured." The Duke boomed and laughed joyfully.
"But that's impossible."
"Primitive species would accuse us of magic, but it's merely the tender application of science." Matron Casp told the Doctor.
"How on Earth did you cure him?" He was staring at her dumbfounded.
"How on New Earth, you might say." The Matron corrected.
"What's in that solution?" He nodded towards the drip.
"A simple remedy." Came the simple answer.
"Then tell me what it is."
"I'm sorry. Patient confidentiality. I don't believe we've met. My name is Matron Casp."
"I'm the Doctor."
"I think you'll find that we're the Doctors here."
"Matron Casp, you're needed in intensive care." Sister Jatt told the older woman.
"If you would excuse me."
The Doctor nodded to her and she left with Sister Jatt. He watched them walk away.
The Face of Boe was stirring. Sierra held her breath. She didn't even notice how Cassandra/Rose entered to the ward and how the Doctor explained her about the patients around and their miraculous getting-betters. She didn't even care when they went to find the Intensive Care ward.
One big eye opened slightly, closed and then the both eyes opened. Sierra smiled.
"Hello, Jack…" She whispered. A hint of a smile appeared on Boe's lips and Sierra felt she was pulled forwards. She actually stayed still but her mind was being pulled. It wasn't rough and didn't hurt. It was more like being guided through a door into a place full of sunlight although she would probably compare it being stepped into a warm bath.
And there he was, like she remembered him. Standing straight and watching the scenery below them, his WWII greatcoat flapping in the wind. They were in Cardiff, in 21st century Cardiff, standing on the roof of the Millennium Centre. Sun was shining through silvery grey clouds, like it was right after rain.
"Where are we?" Sierra asked.
"Inside my mind. We can talk much privately now than in normal telepathy." He answered and turned to look at her, giving her that dazzling smile that made the most beings swoon. She walked closer and took his hand.
"The best years of your life?" She asked, looking around. "Before 4-5-6?"
"Before that, yeah. Actually even before Exit Wounds, like you dubbed it." They both looked ahead and sat down then, keeping their gazes from each other.
"I see."
"I've missed you. And the Doctor. And everyone else."
"Must be hard… Outliving everyone else. Being the oldest being in existence."
"Yeah, harder than you can imagine."
"You know… It can end. It will end. When we see for the next time." Jack looked down at her and she looked back at him.
"I know. I found out some time ago."
"The last time we will meet…" Sierra squeezed his hand.
"It's a relief actually. I don't know how long I could've gone on. One eternity has already been enough."
"I can understand it. And when you die… you'll see Ianto. I know you have missed him the most." The looked at each other, sad smiles on their faces.
"Like I promised, I never forgot him… God, how I miss him." Jack brought his free hand on his mouth and seemed to be holding back tears. His whole body trembled and his eyes narrowed. One name made it happen. It was like the shell he had built over the years and kept inside it was breaking apart. But it was also like he had been waiting for it to happen. Waiting for someone to come and break it. And she was the only one who knew everything about him and could come this far in future and do it.
"It's alright." Sierra whispered and enveloped him into a gentle embrace as he broke down.
It took minutes to them until Jack calmed down. He looked up her still slightly curled against his own legs. Sierra looked at him and smiled gently. He returned the smile vaguely and looked at the scenery then. It was same, except there was a bit more clouds.
"Thank you."
"You are welcome." She was about to continue but right then…
"This building is under quarantine."
"What's that?" Sierra looked around.
"Something must be going on at the hospital." Jack realized. "You need to go back."
"Yeah."
Sierra was pulled backwards now. The warm feeling disappeared and she found herself back on the ward 26, in front of the glass tank, still on her knees. Her knees hurt now. She got on her feet with a groan and looked back at the Face of Boe.
"I'll be back."
"Repeat: this building is under quarantine. No one may leave the premises. Repeat..."
Sierra ran towards the doors of the ward only to find them locked and the zombies from the Intensive Care against them, trying to pry their way in.
Time passed too slowly until the Doctor and Rose/Cassandra came back to the ward 26. Sierra barely held her laughter when she was Frau Clovis brandishing a chair at them menacingly, roaring like a wild animal.
"We're safe! We're safe! We're safe. We're clean! We're clean! Look, look-." The Doctor told the woman.
"Show me your skin." Frau Clovis demanded and the Doctor did.
"Look! Clean. Look, if we'd been touched, we'd be dead." He told her. Frau Clovis nodded and put the chair down.
"Doctor!" Sierra ran to hug him. "Thank god you are alright." She pulled apart and came a searching look to Rose/Cassandra. She scowled at the blonde. "Cassandra." There was barely a nod.
"And you know how?" Cassandra asked scathingly.
"I just do. And don't even think about getting into my head." Sierra glared at her and Cassandra, probably remembering from Platform One, decided not to even try it.
"So, how's it going up here? What's the status?" The Doctor broke the glaring contest between the two seemingly nineteen-year-old girls. Frau Clovis was the one to answer him.
"There's nothing but silence from the other wards. I think we're the only ones left. And I've been trying to override the quarantine." She fiddled with a small device she was holding. "If I can trip a signal over to New New York, they can send a private executive squad."
"You can't do that. If they force entry, they'd break quarantine."
"I am not dying in here."
"We can't let a single particle of disease get out. There is ten million people in that City, they'd all be at risk! Now, turn that off!"
"Not if it gets me out."
"All right, fine. So I have to stop you lot as well. Suits me. Sierra. Rose. Novice Hame. Everyone! Excuse me your grace- get me intravenous solutions for every single disease. Move it!"
Everyone gathered all the solutions. The Doctor tied a rope around his body and Sierra attached the solutions to it so they hang off him with the help from Cassandra/Rose.
"How's that? Will that do?" He asked then.
"I don't know! Will it do for what?" Cassandra asked.
"It will." Sierra said confidently and the Doctor smiled to her before turning around and opening the doors to the lift with the Sonic Screwdriver.
"The lifts aren't working." Cassandra pointed out. The Doctor peered down the shaft.
"Not moving. Different thing." He stepped right back, ready for a running jump. "Here we go." He stuck the Sonic Screwdriver between his teeth and ran. Sierra rolled her eyes.
"Why didn't he put it back into his pocket?" She mumbled.
"But you're not going to-." Cassandra started but the Doctor had already jumped into the middle of the shaft and clung now on the rope. "What do you think you're doing?!"
"I'm going down!" He told her and fixed up the wench with his sonic screwdriver. "Come on!"
"Not in a million years." Cassandra stated.
"I need another pair of hands. What do you think? If you're so desperate to stay alive... Why don't you live a little?"
"I'm coming." Sierra said as she saw more zombies emerging from the quarantine. She jumped… past the Doctor…
"Sierra!"
"'Tis fine!" She shouted upwards as she twisted upside down for a second and flipped then back upright. She pressed a button of some gadget she had on her belt and her fall stopped right before the bottom of the lift shaft. She pressed the button again, allowing her feet to touch the bottom now. Sierra looked up to see Cassandra/Rose jumping into the lift shaft too and onto the Doctor's back with a regretful moan.
"You're completely mad. I can see why she likes you."
"Going down!" Their voices echoed ever so slightly. They whizzed down the shaft, screaming. Sierra had to cover her ears. They straightened themselves out when they reach the bottom.
"Well, that's one way to lose weight" Cassandra quipped.
"Now, listen… When I say so, take hold of that lever. You too, Sierra." The Doctor told them. "And never do that again. I'm going to confiscate that Anti-Gravi device you used." He added to the brunette and plucked it from her belt. Sierra rolled her eyes with a huff.
"There's still a quarantine down there, we can't-." Cassandra started but the Doctor interrupted her.
"Hold that lever!" Cassandra backed down. "I'm cooking up a cocktail. I know a bit about medicine myself." The Doctor ripped the tops of the packets of each solution with his teeth and skirted them into the clear container where the disinfectant for the lift should go. Sierra helped him, not with teeth but with her laser knife. "Now, that lever's going to resist. But keep it in position." He opened a trapdoor in the top of the lift. "Hold onto it with everything you've got."
"What about you?" Cassandra asked.
"I've got an appointment. The Doctor is in." He dropped down into the lift and opened the doors. "I'm in here, come on!" He yelled to the zombies in the floor.
"Don't tell them!" Cassandra shrieked.
"Pull that lever!" Sierra and Cassandra pulled it. The infected people staggered towards the lift. "Come and get me, come on! I'm in here, come on!"
"Commence stage one: disinfection."
"Hurry up, come on!" He beckoned them towards him. The solution showered into the lift, soaking him. "Come on, come on."
The infected people stumbled into the shower and were also soaked with the medicine.
"All they wanna do is pass it on. Pass it on!"
"Pass on what? Pass on what?!" Cassandra asked in confusion.
"The solution! The cure!" Sierra grinned widely.
"Pass it on!"
The infected people touched each other, and passed on their good health. The boils began to disappear. The Doctor grinned manically. Cassandra jumped down into the lift with the Doctor's help, followed closely by Sierra.
"What did they pass on? Did you kill them? All of them?" Cassandra asked. Sierra frowned at her.
"No. That's your way of doing things." She snapped. The Doctor nodded and walked into the midst of the not-anymore-infected people.
"I'm the Doctor and I cured them." He told them. The new humans looked around at their surroundings, slightly child-like. A woman came up to the Doctor and hugged him. "That's right! Hey, hey! There we go, sweetheart! Ay? Look at him..." He ushered her off to sit with someone. "Go on, that's it! That's it! It's a new sub-species, Cassandra!" He took a man by the shoulders and looked at him. "A brand new form of life! New Humans! Look at them, look!" He bended down to look at them with a huge smile on his face. "Grown by cats... kept in the dark, fed by tubes... but completely, completely alive!" He turned around to point at Cassandra. "You can't deny them, because you helped create them."
Cassandra rolled her eyes.
"The human race just keeps on going. Keeps on changing. Life will out! Ha!" The Doctor ended his speech gleefully.
"This is the NNYPD. Please step away from the shuttles." A voice said from outside. Sierra sighed.
"Here we go then…"
The hospital was swarming with police officers when the Doctor (still wet and in shirtsleeves), Sierra and Cassandra emerged back onto the ward.
"All staff will present themselves to the officers for immediate arrest. I repeat: immediate arrest. All new life forms will be catalogued and taken into care."
Novice Hame was led away by a police officer. She caught the Doctor's eye. He didn't smile to her.
"All visitors to the hospital will be required to make a statement to the NNYPD."
The Doctor's head jerked up, suddenly remembering: "The Face of Boe!" He dashed off again, Sierra right behind him. Cassandra rolled her eyes before following the two.
The Doctor approached the Face of Boe who looked very much alive and well.
"You were supposed to be dying." The Time Lord smiled.
"There are better things to do today. Dying can wait." Came the telepathic answer. Sierra smiled at the warmness and familiarity.
"Oh, I hate telepathy. Just what I need, a head full of big face." Cassandra complained behind them.
"Shut it!" Sierra snapped and gave her a death glare. Cassandra took a step back.
"I have grown tired with the universe, Doctor, but you have taught me to look at it anew."
"There are legends you know, saying that you're millions of years old." The Doctor said quietly while kneeling in front of Boe.
"There are? That would be impossible." The ancient man laughed.
"Wouldn't it just? I got the impression... there was something you wanted to tell me..."
"A great secret."
"A secret that shouldn't have been found. It just gives hope before breaking everything completely apart." Sierra sighed.
"Yes, it was like that…"
"Don't tell me more." Sierra sat down and crossed her legs. "I want to live it through only once and find out on my own."
"I wish you didn't need to." Her oldest friend sighed and closed his eyes for a second. "It was the hardest for you."
"Don't tell me more." Sierra muttered, eyes darkened. She didn't want to know. Not even one more word. She didn't want to worry about it before she really had to. The Doctor looked at her worriedly before turning back towards Boe.
"So the legend says… A secret." He said a bit awkwardly.
"It can wait."
"Oh, does it have to?" The Time Lord asked and noticed Sierra stiffening next to him.
"We shall meet again, Doctor, for the third time... for the last time... and the truth shall be told. Until that day..." He teleported himself away.
"That is enigmatic. That… that is… that is textbook enigmatic." The Doctor almost stuttered. Sierra chuckled but there wasn't as must humor as she usually had. He nodded to himself, stood up and helped Sierra on her feet too before facing Cassandra, who had been examining her nails, completely disinterested in the proceedings. "And now for you."
"But... everything's happy. Everything's fine... can't you just leave me?" Cassandra asked, her voice faltered under Sierra's glare.
"You've lived long enough. Leave that body and end it, Cassandra." The Doctor said sternly.
"I don't want to die!"
"No one does."
"Except Jack…" Sierra thought silently.
"Help me!"
"I can't."
Chip appeared, making Cassandra gasp.
"Mistress!" Ha called in relief.
"Ah! You're alive!"
"I kept myself safe. For you, mistress."
"A body... and not just that, a volunteer..."
"Don't you dare. He's got a life of his own." The Doctor growled.
"But I worship the mistress!" Chip put in. Cassandra winked at him. "I welcome her."
"You can't, Cassandra, you-…" The Doctor didn't get any further when the whisp of smoky thing that was Cassandra leaped from Rose to Chip's body. Rose fell forward with a gasp, and the Doctor lunged to catch her. "Oh! You all right?" He asked the blonde.
Rose paused and losed her balance again.
"Whoa! Okay?"
"Yeah…" The blonde said shakily. After a moment she finally got her bearings and gathered herself together… to find herself staring right at the Doctor. She smiled. "Hello!"
"Hello. Welcome back." The Doctor smiled back. Rose gazed up at him, smiling, when they were distracted again by Cassandra.
"Oh, sweet Lord. I'm a walking doodle." The woman scoffed.
"You can't stay in there. I'm sorry, Cassandra, but that's not fair. I can take you to the City. They can build you a skin tank and you can stand trial for what you've done." The Doctor told her.
"Well, that would be rather dramatic. Possibly my finest hour. And certainly my finest hat." Cassandra mused. The Doctor and Rose glanced at each other. Sierra stared the ceiling, not paying attention anymore. "But I'm afraid we don't have time. Poor little Chip is only a half-life. And he's been through so much. His heart is racing so. He's failing. I don't think he's going to last-…"
Her legs gave way. Rose and the Doctor lunged forward to support him.
"You all right?" The Doctor asked.
"I'm fine." She paused. The Doctor and Rose stared at her in concern. "I'm dying. But that's fine."
"I can take you to the City." The Time Lord offered.
"No, you won't. Everything's new on this planet. There's no place for Chip and me anymore. You're right, Doctor. It's time to die. And that's good."
The Doctor and Rose helped her to her feet.
"Come on. There's one last thing I can do." The Doctor said quietly and they lead her away, Sierra following them from distance.
The TARDIS materialized with a soft hum. The Doctor stepped out of the doors, followed by Cassandra/Chip and Rose. Sierra stepped out too, rather reluctantly though. They were landed at the place on the tape Cassandra was playing, at the party. Cassandra, as a proper human being was laughing and talking, the life and soul of the party. Cassandra/Chip turned to the Doctor.
"Thank you." She said quietly.
"Just go. And don't look back." The Doctor told her softly.
"Good luck." Rose said.
"…It's gonna be alright." Sierra said dully, not looking at either of them. She didn't want her emotions overtake her now. Neither of them commented it.
Cassandra/Chip walked into the midst of the party, up to human-Cassandra. She's smiling, watching her, what she used to be.
"And if you'd actually seen them, they were shocked! But don't quote me on that. Oh, naughty. À bientôt!" Human-Cassandra walked away from the group of people she was talking to and Cassandra/Chip approached her cautiously.
"Excuse me... Lady Cassandra..."
"I'm sorry, I don't need anything right now. I'm fine, thank you." She turned away.
"No… I just wanted to say... you look beautiful."
Human- Cassandra looks at her.
"Well. That's very kind, you strange little thing. Thank you very much." She smiled.
"I mean it." Cassandra/Chip stepped forward and looks straight into her eyes. "You look... so beautiful." She said sincerely. Human-Cassandra stares at her, touched.
"Thank you."
Cassandra/Chip's eyelids fluttered closed and she keeled over.
"Oh, my Lord. Are you alright? What is it? What's wrong? Someone get some help!" Human-Cassandra gathered the other into her arms. "Call a medic or something, quickly!"
"Who is he?"
"I don't know. He just came up to me. I don't even know his name. He just collapsed. I think he's dying. Someone do something! I've got you, sweetheart... it's all right..."
Rose looked close to tears, and the Doctor was watching solemnly. Sierra still kept her gaze pointedly away from the scene but tears were freely flowing down her cheeks.
"There you are... there you are, I've got you... it'll be all right. There, there, you poor little thing..." Human-Cassandra rocked her broken and dying future gently.
The Doctor and Rose walked slowly back to the TARDIS. The Doctor paused for one last look before following Rose through the doors. Sierra stepped in a bit after them. The doors closed behind them and the Tardis dematerialized.
A/N: Here you are. I hope yoyu liked this one bacause I was bloody crying during writing this and this took me flipping forever! Oh, and now I'm in Donna-mode or something... Anyways, please review. I need something to cheer me up and get me back to writing...
And by the way. I got a question about having a polyvore sometime ago. No I don't have one I won't make one but if you go to Deviantart and search Tsukiko75014 and from there you go to the folder labelled "Doctor Who -related art" you'll find Sierra's outfic throughout the first and second seasons and some of third season clothes too.
See you again in two weeks!