Day of the Moon, Part 1
Amy was shocked, her hand still raised with the gun aimed at the spaceman…no, at the little girl trapped within the suit, horrified by what she had just done. She felt numb and sick, as if the entire world had stopped moving in that one horrifying moment that she had pulled the trigger, hearing that near deafening bang echo around her, the sound of the Doctor and the Hatter shouting at her. She couldn't move, she didn't even think she was breathing as she stood there, staring transfixed at the helpless child she had just shot at. Oh God, what had she done?
"Amy!" the Hatter shouted, grabbing at Amy's arm, forcing her to drop the gun. It cluttered onto the concrete floor, snapping Amy back to reality. The Time Lady began tugging Amy away, still looking completely horrified, her eyes flickering frantically from Amy to the little girl, wanting to make sure she was okay. And she was, the shot had missed her, but only by inches and she was still moving slowly towards them.
The Doctor grabbed Canton, trying to pull the man up onto his feet as he started to stir, "Amy!" he called, looking back to the shocked women, "Amy!"
"I've got her!" the Time Lady assured him, looking sickly pale in the torch light and very shaken by what had just happened, but she pushed that all away and just focused on forcing Amy along.
They made it back out into another hallway and down a set of steps, finding themselves running back into the main warehouse, the sound of the spaceman's footsteps echoing behind them. They ran past Rory and River as they climbed up out of the manhole, shouting urgently at them to run, both looking very afraid. They ran back towards the TARDIS, when Canton stopped, managing to break free from the Doctor's hold as he clutched at his shoulder, very confused.
"What's going on?" he asked, frowning at them, wondering why they were all shouting and running.
"Look behind you!" the Doctor told him, turning back around to face him, grabbing the Hatter's hand.
"There's nothing behind me!"
"Just look!" the Hatter insisted, her eyes wide, "Canton, look behind you!"
Slowly, Canton turned around as Amy screamed, finding a very tall alien walking towards him with long fingers and a mouthless face, almost like a melted candle…
…
Three months had passed since that day in the warehouse, and during those months the Doctor and the Hatter been held prisoner in Area 51 under close guard. They had both been forced into straightjackets, despite the Hatter's pregnancy, and chained to two chairs in the middle of a very large, clean warehouse-like space with armed guards positioned around the room. It hadn't been so bad, they had managed to pass the time talking about past adventures, ignored completely by everyone else in the room, but it was just a little annoying that they couldn't reach out and touch each other. Still, Canton had made sure that they were taken care of with plenty of food and water, the Hatter especially.
"That beard really is awful, sweetheart," the Hatter remarked, shaking her head as she eyed the beared that the Doctor had grown during their imprisonment. His hair had also grown quite a bit, but so had her own hair. It now reached the middle of her shoulder blades, rather than her shoulders, but that was nothing compared to how much her stomach had increased in only three months. She now looked five months pregnant by human standards, no way she could try hiding it now.
"You don't like it?" the Doctor said, amused, knowing perfectly well that she didn't. He remembered the time he didn't shave for three days and she refused to kiss him because his face was too prickly, she was probably dreaming about shaving it off herself by now.
"Beards remind me of the Master," she sighed, making a face, "And you know how I feel about him".
"I promise to get rid of it the first chance I get".
"You had better".
The door opened, making them look up to see Canton and another two men in suits stroll into the room, walking past the warnings signs about not approaching the prisoners. The guards around the room watched them go, saluting as they passed by them and neared the black platform that the Time Lords were being held on, a yellow painted circle around their chairs.
"All visitors to remain behind the yellow line," a voice announced over the loud speaker, "All visitors to remain behind the yellow line…"
"We found Amy Pond," Canton informed the Time Lords as they watched him calmly. He moved to stand just before the platform, carrying a cream coloured folder in his hands, "She had strange markings on her arm," he flipped the folder open and withdrew a photo, holding it up for them to see an image of Amy's arm lying on sandy ground where her body had obviously fallen, tally marks covering her skin. He lowered the photo, eyeing them closely, but they remained completely calm and composed, hardly blinking at all, "Do you know what they are?" he tossed the file with the photo on top of it over the yellow line, just at the Hatter's feet.
"Interesting," the Hatter said flatly, glancing down at the picture, swallowing as her mouth grew dry.
The Doctor looked back over to Canton, "Why don't you ask her?" he suggested.
Canton simply tilted his head slightly and smirked, watching as the grief for their fallen friend finally dawned on them, both growing very pale and quiet.
….
The Doctor and the Hatter watched as two scientists in white lab coats worked together, carefully placing thick, black bricks on top of rows to build a wall around the Time Lords. In the corner behind the Hatter, they had already finished part of the wall by the look of it.
"We found Doctor Song," Canton told them, standing opposite from where they were currently building with two other suited men standing on either side of him.
"These bricks," the Doctor muttered thoughtfully, ignoring Canton as he looked at the blocks closely, "What are they made of?" he wondered, glancing at the Time Lady.
The Hatter frowned slightly, eyeing the blocks curiously, running her mind through a list of different marital that they could be using, "River," she began absently, feeling a spark of concern, "Where is she?"
"She ran," Canton replied, unconcerned, "Off the fiftieth floor".
The Doctor exchanged a quick, pained look with the Time Lady before turning his attention back to the bricks, "I would say zero balanced dwarf star alloy," he determined, watching as one of the blokes was fitted into place and the cracks between the blocks flared bright white before fading, sealed together seamlessly.
"Indeed," the Hatter nodded, trying hard to ignore Canton, "Excellent choice if you're building a prison. It's the thickest material in the Universe," she looked back to the Doctor, "Nothing can get through that".
"You're building us the perfect prison," he realised, and looked back over to Canton, his tone growing darker, "And it still won't be enough".
….
It took less than two days for the scientist to finish building their prison cell completely around them, leaving them sitting inside a darked room with bright lights running around the bottom of the cell. Canton walked into the cell, follow by two soldiers in a green uniform, dragging two black body bags behind them into the cell through the doorway of missing blocks, placing the bags either side of the Time Lords, one on the Doctor's right side and the other bag on the Hatter's left. The Hatter swallowed as she watched, wincing slightly as the soldiers dropped the bag on the ground beside her a little too hard for her taste.
"Is there a reason you're doing this?" the Doctor questioned, glaring up at Canton, who was standing back by the doorway, seeming to be enjoying himself.
"I want you to know where you stand," Canton replied.
"Well, technically we're not standing," the Hatter remarked dryly, shooting him a quick look.
"In a cell," the Doctor sighed, but he couldn't help giving the brunet a small smile.
"In the perfect cell," Canton corrected, watching as the soldier's finished placing the bags on the ground and walked out the door, "Nothing can penetrate these walls. Not a sound, not a radio wave…" he turned and put his five fingers on his right hand on the wall, into a set of five rings cut out of the brick, making a square light up around the holes. The door began to slide across the opening and shut, sealing completely closed into the surface of the wall, seamless. He turned back around to face them, "Not the tiniest particle of anything," he continued, "In here, you are literally cut off from the rest of the Universe," he paused, glancing over to the door as the last crack sealed, before glancing back over to the Time Lords, "So I guess they can't hear us, right?"
"Excellent job, Canton," the Hatter grinned at him, her eyes drifting quickly back over to the now completely smooth surface of wall where the door was hidden now, "Are you sure that door's really sealed?"
"You bet," he nodded.
The Doctor immediately stood and began to shake off his chains and straightjacket, the Time Lady doing the same beside him with a bit more care and difficulty, finding it almost impossible to get the jacket off with her baby bump. The moment the Doctor was free, he was at the Hatter's side, helping her to pull the jacket off and wrapping his arms around her the second she was free of her own restraints, hugging her tightly to him, overjoyed to simply be able to touch each other again in over three months. Amy and Rory sat up in their body bags with gasps, struggling to try and get the bags undone from the inside.
The Time Lords regretfully separated and moved to help them, the Hatter moving to Rory and unzipping his bag as he sucked in relieved lungful's of air. The Hatter smiled as she lightly placed a kiss to the top of his head, while the Doctor helped Amy.
"Are you okay?" the Doctor asked, looking back and forth between the two.
"Finally," Amy breathed, panting slightly as she pushed the bag off her shoulders.
"These things could really do with air holes!" Rory complained loudly, making the Hatter laugh, ruffling his hair affectionately as she stood a little wobbly after having being forced to sit for so long.
"Never had a complaint before," Canton commented, shrugging.
The Doctor rubbed his hands together, a grin spreading across his face, "Now, first things first…" he turned to the Hatter and kissed her, slow and tenderly. Three months really was too long to not have any physical contact.
Amy tried very hard not to look at them, feeling as if she was intruding on a private moment between the two as she turned away to face Canton, pulling her legs out of the bag and standing, "Isn't it going to look odd that you're staying in here with us?" she asked him, clearing her throat slightly awkwardly.
"Odd, but not alarming," Canton shook his head, avoiding looking at the Time Lords, too, "They know there's no way out of this place".
The Hatter finally pulled back from the Doctor, her cheeks bright red and her lips looking slightly swollen, "Nice to see you, too, sweetheart," she grinned at him.
He returned the smile, "Sorry about the beard, dear".
"Just this once, I'm willing to make an exception," she said, winking playfully as she patted his cheek, "However, that doesn't mean you get to keep it. I like my doctor's to be clean shaven," she finished teasingly.
He laughed, bending slightly to place a quick kiss to her stomach, making her smile grow softer as he straightened once more. She was quite glad she had decide to start wearing maternity versions of her normal clothing before they ended up in prison, otherwise she really wouldn't have been able to wear her old skirt or even her old top at this stage anymore now that she was eight months pregnant.
The Doctor cleared his throat and turned back around, stretching his arms out as he looked over to Canton, "That's exactly right," he said, referring to his previous remark, moving towards the corner of the cell as he grabbed his blue bracers, pulling them back from his chest, "Whatever they might think we're doing in here, they know we're not going anywhere…" he released his bracers with a snap and fell sideways, coming to a stop leaning against the TARDIS hidden in the corner as a flash of blue moved around the edges of the time machine. He looked back to them, grinning broadly as the Time Lady moved to his side, just as he snapped his fingers and the doors swung open, "Shall we?"
Amy grinned at them and followed Rory in through the TARDIS doors, the Time Lady hurrying behind them and up to the controls.
"What about Doctor Song?" Canton asked, looking back to the Doctor as he moved into the time machine, "She dove off a rooftop!"
"Don't worry," the Doctor shook his head, shutting the doors behind him, "She does that".
The Hatter moved around the controls, smiling widely, delighted to be back in the TARDIS again after so long. She could practically feel the TARDIS humming with happiness, too, "Amy, Rory," she looked over to the couple, "Would you two be a couple of dears and open all the doors to the swimming pool for me?" she paused in consideration, "Oh, and layout some clothes and a towel for her, too".
Amy and Rory dashed off out of the room to do as she instructed, while the Doctor quickly joined the Time Lady at the controls, pulling a lever and setting them off. Canton stood back, grabbing a hold if a railing behind him as he watched them pilot the time machine, working perfectly in synch with each other. A moment passed as they paused in their work and a loud splash sounded from somewhere in the distance, down the many hallways, signalling River's arrival.
The Doctor took a moment to retrieve his blazer from where he had left it hanging over a railing, happily slipping it back on, while the Hatter grabbed her own jacket. She sighed slightly as she very quickly realised that she was no longer going to be able to do the front zipper up over her stomach, but she very rarely did that, anyway, so she supposed it wasn't much of an issue.
"So!" the Doctor began, moving back to the controls, and pulling another lever as he passed it. Rory and Amy returned to the console room, "We know they're everywhere. Not just a landing party, an occupying force".
"And it would seem that they've been here for quite some time," the Hatter added, casting River a quick smile as she noticed the still rather damp looking women walking up the steps towards them, drying her wet hair with a towel and now wearing a greenish-grey, sleeveless dress with boots. She moved around to the typewriter, typing something into the controls, a small frown crossing her face as she continued, "Which only makes it more frustrating, because no one seems to be able to actually remember them…" she sighed, not liking that at all.
"So what are they up to?" Canton asked, frowning.
"No idea," the Doctor shook his head, already prepared for the question, "But the good news is…" he grabbed a lever and pulled it, making the time machine jolt as they came to a stop. He stumbled back slightly, looking back to them with a glimmer in his eyes, "We've got a secret weapon!"
He grabbed the Hatter's hand and they ran around the console, heading down the stairs and over to the doors, the others hurrying along after them. They threw the doors open and stepped out into an open field of wetland, but what caught their attention was a huge rocket in the distance, ready to be launched with several other buildings scattering around it. NASA's Space Station.
"Apollo Eleven's your secret weapon?" River remarked, giving the Doctor and Hatter an incredulous look.
"Oh, don't be silly," the Hatter said with a light, scolding tone of voice. She shook her head at River, "Of course it's not Apollo Eleven".
"It's Neil Armstrong's foot," the Doctor grinned broadly.
The brunet paused, glancing at him, "Okay…I think I can kind of see why that would sound a bit silly," she had to admit. It really didn't sound that way in her head, but then again, she had always had a rather different way of looking at things.
"Right, then," he continued to grin, clapping his hands together, spinning around to face them. The humans were still giving them rather strange and confused looks, not understanding what they could possibly be planning to do with Neil Armstrong's foot, "I've got a promise to keep," he reached up to touch his beard.
"Yes," the Time Lady nodded at her once, almost pushing him towards the TARDIS in her eagerness for him to shave the damn thing off already. She didn't so much mind the rest of his hair being longer, but that beard simply had to go, and quickly, "Please, get rid of it, sweetheart".
He could only laugh, holding up his hands in surrender as he headed back inside the TARDIS, half tempted to purposely drag his feet and make her drag him to the bathroom herself.
"You really hate facial hair, don't you?" Amy commented, looking as if she was trying hard not to laugh as the Doctor disappeared inside the time machine.
The Hatter shivered, making a face, "You would to if you ever meet the Master in the old days," she muttered, shaking her head, "What went through that man's head to think that he actually looked good, I have no idea".
….
"Ow!" Canton suddenly cried, making everyone look over to him, startled.
"Ha!" the Doctor smiled, amused by the grimace the man gave him as he injected something into his hand with a small medical gun device.
The Doctor was now clean shaven again and had gotten the Hatter's help to trim his hair back to its normal length, while the Time Lady had decided to keep her hair a bit longer. She had actually grown to like it a bit longer, but she wouldn't be surprised if she grew bored of the length and cut it back to her shoulders within a few weeks. Having long hair was just a pain, she still didn't know how her First and Forth regenerations could stand having hair that went to the middle of their backs. No, shoulder length was more practical and it was one of the reasons why she cut it all off during the Time War. A Bob haircut just needed to be brushed, fiddling with pins and other hair accessories was a waste of time.
"So!" he continued brightly, spinning away from Canton as the man stared down at his open palm, confused, "Three months, what have we found out?" he looked around to the others.
"Well, they are everywhere," Rory remarked, holding out his arms as he stood back from the controls, "Every state in America…" the Doctor grabbed his hand and injected something into his open palm, too, "Ahh!" he gasped painfully, flitching back from him.
The Hatter smiled at him and pushed off from where she was leaning against the controls, moving to pat his arm sympathetically, "But it's not just America, as far as we can tell," she said, shaking her head, "It seems to be all over the planet".
"There's a greater concentration here, though," River pointed out, looking up at the monitor at what very limited information they had managed to gather together, which really wasn't much at all.
The Doctor moved around the console to Amy, injecting the gun into her open palm, "Ow!" Amy exclaimed, giving him a dark glare as she pulled her hand closer to her chest.
He lowered the gun, his face softening with concern as he eyed her carefully, "Are you okay?" he asked her softly, recalling her little announcement back in the warehouse. Surly she would have started to show by now?
She meet his eyes and nodded, "All better".
"Better?" he repeated, raising his eyebrows just slightly.
"Turns out I was wrong," she told him quietly, lowering her voice to just above a whisper as she noticed Rory making his way over to them, "I'm not pregnant".
Rory reached them, looking curiously at Amy, "What's up?" he questioned, his eyes flickering almost suspiciously over to the Doctor, trying to work out what they seemed to be talking about so quietly between themselves.
"Nothing," Amy said a little too quickly, turning to him, trying to laugh it off, "Really, nothing, seriously…"
The Doctor sighed slightly and turned away, moving back to the Hatter's side, wrapping his arm around her waist. They exchanged a look, the Time Lady having heard every word that Amy had said.
"So you've seen them, but you don't remember them?" Canton frowned, looking over to River, trying hard to follow along with everything.
"You've seen them, too," River glanced over to him from the monitor, "That night at the warehouse, remember?" his frown deepened as he listened, "While you were pretending to hunt us down, we saw hundreds of those things," she shook her head, frustrated, "We still don't know what they look like".
"It's like they edit themselves out of your memory as soon as you look away," Rory commented, trying to help explain it all to Canton, who turned to focus on him, "The exact second you're not looking at them, you can't remember anything".
"Sometimes you feel a bit sick, though," Amy added, shaking her head, "But not always".
"So that's why you marked your skin," Canton realised, nodding slowly in understanding.
She sighed slightly, shrugging, "Only way we'd know if we'd had an encounter".
"How long have they been here?"
"That's what we'd spent the last three months trying to find out".
"Not easy, if you can't remember anything you discover," Rory grumbled slightly, crossing his arms across his chest.
Canton looked slightly startled, "How long do you think?" he asked, frowning deeply.
"As long as there's been something in the corner of your eye," the Doctor began, walking towards him, very serious, "Or creaking in your house, or breathing under your bed, or voices through a wall," he moved very close to Canton, before turning back around, looking around at the humans, while the Hatter smiled faintly. She did so love to hear him make his speeches, she supposed that was the Time Lady side of her. Time Lords did so love to make their big speeches every chance they got, though, not nearly as impressive or interesting as the Doctor's speeches, "They've been running your lives for a very long time now, so keep this straight in your head," he continued firmly, "We are not fighting an alien invasion, we're leading a revolution. And today, the battle begins".
"How?"
"Like this…" he had, while they had all been too busy listening, managed to step behind River. He spun around and injected the medical gun into her hand.
"Ahh!" River yelped, startled and pained as she started shaking her hand, trying to get rid of the unpleasant feeling.
The Doctor and the Hatter burst out laughing, the Time Lady moving to apologetically pat River's shoulder as she stepped closer to the Doctor's side, "Sorry, River, but it's necessary," she smiled at her, earning a mock glare from her in return, "It's called a nano recorder," she informed them all as the Doctor held up a small red capsule for them all to see. She sighed slightly, holding out her open palm to him, trying to prepare herself.
He gently took her offered hand, placing a soft kiss to her open palm, "Sorry about this, dear…" he murmured, really not wanting to cause her pain, but they had little choice. She gave him a small smile and closed her eyes as he pressed the tip of the gun onto her palm and fired it as quickly as he could, making her wince painfully and her eyes snap open, but otherwise her expression remained the same.
"That wasn't nearly as bad as I expected," she commented lightly, looking down at her palm where an inch long, red line was now in the middle of her hand.
"Good," he smiled at her, and kissed the mark very lightly. He didn't let go of her hand as he cleared his throat, turning back to the others, "It fuses with the cartilage in your hand," he said, handing her the gun, grimacing painfully as she injected his hand, too.
She gave him a small smile, reaching up to pat his cheek fondly, "What's the point of being married if you can't inject each other with a nano recorder once and a while?" she shrugged, before pausing as everyone looked at her strangely, "And that really didn't come out how I thought it would in my head".
"Anyway," the Doctor said loudly after an awkward moment, shaking his head. Sometimes, she really could be as bad as him with speaking without thinking it through first, "And it tunes itself directly to the speech centres in your brain," he explained to the room, "It'll pick up your voice, no matter what".
"It forms a telepathic connect between you and the device within your hand," the Hatter added, holding her open palm up too, nodding to where her own device was beneath her skin, "If and when you come across one of the creatures you simply activate it…"
The Doctor held up his open palm and pressed his middle finger down onto the middle of his hand, making a red light glow where the recorder was, "And describe aloud exactly what you're seeing," he cut in, and tapped the same spot again with his other hand, making the recording of his voice repeat back, "'And describe aloud exactly what you're seeing…'" he dropped his hand as the recording finished, "Because the moment you break contact, you're going to forget it happened".
"That little red light will flash whenever you have left yourselves a message," the Time Lady nodded, fixing each human with a stern look, "So you must continually check your hand to make sure, because if you do end up encountering these creatures, that's the first place you will know about it. It's very important that you just keep checking, okay?"
"Why didn't you tell me about this before we started?" Canton asked, looking between the Time Lords.
"We did," the Doctor told him as the Hatter moved over to the controls, typing something into them, "But even information about these creatures erases itself over time," the Time Lady paused and look back over to him, giving him a nod as she pressed one final button. He turned back to Canton, "We couldn't refresh it because we couldn't talk to you," his eyes came to rest on something behind Canton.
Canton turned slightly to follow his gaze and turned back to face the Doctor, reaching forward to adjust his bowtie…pausing when he noticed everyone staring at him, Amy, Rory, and River gathered together behind the Time Lords, "What?" he frowned at them, "What are you staring at?"
"Look at your hand," River instructed him, her voice low and firm.
He looked down at his open palm, only to find a red light blinking back at him, "Why's it doing that?" he questioned, growing slightly alarmed.
"Remember what we said?" the Hatter said calmly, "What did we say the red light meant if you see it flashing?"
"I haven't…"
"Play it," the Doctor ordered him softly.
Canton slowly looked back down to the blinking lightly and pressed the middle of his palm, "'My God, how did it get here?'" his recorded voice exclaimed, sounding frightened.
"'It's alright, Canton,'" the Hatter's voice came over the recoding, sounding soothing, "'Just keep looking at it. Don't take your eyes off the creature'".
"'And when I say, turn back,'" the Doctor's voice came over, "'And when you do, straighten my bowtie'".
Canton began to turn around again as the recoding continued, "'What? What are you staring at?'"
"'Look at your hand,'" River's voice came over as the recoding ended.
His eyes widened as standing across the room, by the doors, was a very tall creature in a black suit and tie with long fingers and a face that almost looked like a melted candle with deep set eyes, and missing a mouth or a defined nose.
"It's a hologram," the Hatter informed them, keeping her eyes fixed on the 3-D image of the creature, "We extrapolated it from a picture taken on Amy's phone".
"Take a good, long look," the Doctor told them, maintaining eye contact with the image as he stepped back, and hit a button on the controls. The hologram faded, leaving them all blinking in confusion and shaking their heads, the Hatter taking a moment to close her eyes tightly as a wave of nausea washed over her. He turned back to looking around at them, "You just saw an image of one of the creatures we're fighting," he clicked his fingers at them, "Describe it to me," he turned to Canton, clicking his fingers again.
Canton blinked, "I can't," he shook his head, looking very startled.
"No," he agreed, glancing back to the others, who shook their heads, "Neither can I".
"Same," the Hatter sighed heavily, grateful that the sickly feeling had finally passed, "Which is equally annoying and fascinating".
The Doctor smiled at her, quickly kissing her cheek, amused at just how frustrated he knew she would be finding the entire situation, possibly even more so then him. He glanced back to Canton, "You straightened my bowtie because I planted the idea in your head while you were looking at the creature," he explained to him as he and the Hatter moved around the console to the monitor.
Amy hurried around to join them with Rory at her side, "So they could do that to people," she realised, frowning, "You could be doing stuff and not really know why you're doing it".
"Like posthypnotic suggestion," Rory remarked, nodding.
"Ruling the world with posthypnotic suggestion…" she said quietly, her eyes widening at the thought.
"It's not as mad as it might sound," the Hatter said thoughtfully, looking across to her, "It's actually rather clever…" she paused, a frown crossing her face, "Though, I completely disagree against anything that takes away a person's free will".
The Doctor finished typing something into the controls, "Now, then," he began, straightening, "A little girl in a space suit," he pointed across to Amy and Rory, "They got the suit from NASA, but where did they get the little girl?"
"Yes, that is very curious," the Time Lady nodded, not liking the idea at all that these creatures had a little girl completely at their disposal. It made her very, very nervous.
"It could be anywhere," Canton shook his head.
"True," the brunet inclined her head in his direction, exchanging a look with the Doctor beside her, "But if I was them, then I would prefer to stay close to that warehouse…"
"Because why bother doing anything else?" the Doctor cut in, shrugging as he stepped aside, letting the Hatter room to type at the typewriter, "And they'd take her from somewhere that would cause the least amount of attention," he continued, watching as she brought up a green map on the monitor with three, blinking red dots on it, zooming in on one of them, "But you'll have to find her. We're off to NASA," he gestured to himself and the Time Lady.
"Find her?" Canton frowned at them, "Where do we look?"
The Hatter sighed heavily, looking sadly at the blinking red dot on the screen before. She had seen far too many orphaned children during the Time War and with her own child on the way, the idea of any child growing up without a parent or someone to love them, broke her hearts, "Why, children's homes, of course," she told them softly.
….
The Doctor was lying on his back, fiddling with wires and brightly coloured cables in the mess of machinery above his head, while the Hatter sat on the edge of the doorway of the modular sitting on top of Apollo Eleven, watching him work with a wary expression. She had tried to help, but she had soon discovered that her enlarged stomach was simply too much of a hindrance to climb into the tight space, and she had been a little afraid that if she tried to lie down beneath the controls, she might never be able to get back up again, even with the Doctor's assistance. She dreaded to imagine how she was going to be once she reached the final stages.
She craned her neck slightly, trying to see just what he was toying with now. It made her nervous not being able to see just what he was doing, after all, the human race actually managing to reach the moon was a huge historical event and the last thing they needed was for the Doctor to end up blowing something up or to end up accidently programming the rocket to go flying off to Mars. That really wouldn't be a good thing, but she could just imagine him doing it. That, and she had to admit that she was a bit of a control freak when it came to this sort of thing, she didn't like sitting back and letting the Doctor have all the fun.
"Okay, I think we're ready, dear!" the Doctor called, holding out his hand towards her.
"You think?" she raised her eyebrows, not moving to pass him the small device that she had built.
"Well…I'm pretty sure…." he said, sounding slightly unsure for a moment before his voice grew more confidant, "I know what I'm doing!"
"Well, I should hope so, but with you I never can be quite sure," she replied, a hint of teasing entering her tone. She shook her head, amused as she picked up the device from her lap and passed it to him, his hand disappearing into the mess of wires with the device, "Just try not to blow anything up," she said playfully, "This isn't the TARDIS".
"I know how to do engineering stuff!" he huffed, mock offended as he set to work connecting the device inside the wires.
She laughed, "Talking to a professional engineer, sweetheart," she reminded him.
"You used to wear pyjamas in your workshop".
"Okay, so maybe less of the professional and more of the engineer".
The Doctor laughed and shook his head, quickly finishing wiring the device in, smiling slightly as the green light on top of the device immediately lit up, signalling that it was working, not that he had ever doubted that the Hatter couldn't build a device in under five minutes like this one that would work perfectly, "And we've got a green light!" he cheered.
The Hatter smiled broadly, leaning forward…well, as much as she could to pat his knee, "Well done, sweetheart," she said happily, just as something beeped in her jacket pocket. She quickly reached inside her pocket and pulled out a small communicator device, a copy of the ones she had given to the others while they were off on their other tasks. She quickly checked the small screen before raising it to her ear, "Hello, Amy," she greeted as the Doctor continued to fiddle with the wires.
"I think we're found the place she was taken from," Amy said over the link.
She frowned slightly and lowered the device, "She says that she think's they've found the place the little girl was taken from," she told the Doctor hurriedly.
"How does she know?" the Doctor's voice came, sounding slightly muffled, as if he had something in his mouth as he worked.
She lifted the device back to her ear, "What makes you say that?" she asked Amy.
"Because those things have been here," Amy replied, "But the whole place is deserted. There's just one guy here and I think he's lost it".
"Ah, yes," the Hatter nodded, sighing sadly, "That does tend to happen if a person has their memories wiped to many times. It eventually fries the brain," she frowned at the thought. The man must have been exposed quite a bit and on a very frequent bases for it to have grown noticeable, though, "Keep to the plan and find out as much as you possibly can, but don't stay for much longer," she said firmly, looking over to see the Doctor slotting the last piece of their device into place, or at least from what she could make out from where she was sitting.
"Where are you two?"
"We're…" she began to answer, only to trail off, her eyes widening slightly, "Actually, let me get back to you. Doctor!" she called quickly as she ended the call and dropped the device into her lap, hitting his shoe sticking out from beneath the wires, "We're got company!"
The Doctor slammed the panel shut above him at once and sat up straight, looking through the doorway to see the Hatter half turned from where she was sitting on the edge of the doorframe, looking outside, smiling brightly at two technicians staring at them in shock, "Don't worry," he said cheerfully to the two men, "I've put everything back the way I found it…" the Hatter cleared her throat pointedly and he paused, glancing down to a piece of wire dangling in his hand, "Except this," he held it up, looking back to the men, "There's always a bit left over, isn't there?"
The Hatter struggled not to burst out laughing as the two technicians slowly looked at each other. She really should have known this would end up happening.
….
The Doctor and the Hatter had been forcefully escorted from the top of Apollo Eleven, handcuffed, and lead into a lecture hall in the middle of the base where they were forced to take a seat in two chairs at the front of the room with raised benches around the back of the room, looking down to where they were sitting before a long bench that was covered in papers, globes, even a model of a space shuttle, while behind that, on the wall, was a huge green chalkboard with scientific equations scribbled all across it and plans for different modal pieces.
The Hatter tried hard to shift into a more comfortable position, the metal of her handcuffs digging into her wrists as she did so, her lower back twinging sharply as she struggled to hold back a wince. Behind her, stood a solider, while another two men, both wearing white shirts and ties, where facing them with stern and questioning expressions.
"Now, one more time, sir, ma'am," one of the men, who was sitting down and looking at them through his glasses, sighed, "How the hell did you get into the command module?"
"Oh, that was child's play," the Hatter shook her head dismissively, flashing them a small smile, "You really should work on that, by the way. Anyone with immoral purposes could just walk in…" she paused, considering what she had just said, going on hurriedly, "But we are here under completely moral purposes, we don't just do this for fun…well, okay, maybe a little bit…"
"Ah, dear?" the Doctor cleared his throat, trying hard not to laugh, glancing at her as the two men stared at her.
She blushed faintly, "Yes, right," she nodded, "Rambling, terrible habit".
"You expect us to believe that you broke through all our top secret security codes and overrides?" the seated man raised his eyebrows incredulously at the Time Lady.
The brunet looked back to him, smirking slightly at him, raising an eyebrow at him, "Scary, huh?"
The man sighed again, looking as if he was on the verge of getting a headache, "Just tell us the truth," he tried again.
"We've told you," the Doctor rolled his eyes, growing annoyed that they just weren't listening, "We're on a top secret mission for the President," he tried biting through the chain of his cuffs as the Hatter shook her head at him.
The seated man looked rather amused, "Well, maybe if you just get President Nixon to assure us of that, sir, that would be swell".
The Hatter continued to smile at the man as the Doctor released the chain, "I'm sure he will happily do that," she said pleasantly, "We're sent him a message, so I expect that he will be arriving at any moment now".
The two men laughed, the seated man mouthed 'oh,' mockingly, just as the door on the other side of the room opened. River and Rory stood back on either side of the door, holding it open as Nixon walked into the room with the TARDIS visible behind them. The Hatter struggled to hold back a laugh as she noticed River wearing a blue, 1960's style dress suit with her hair tied up, while Rory was wearing a suit himself with glasses and his hair slicked back, looking rather awkward as they moved further into the room.
"Hello!" Nixon greeted as both men stood, quickly spinning around to face him with stunned expressions. The Doctor smiled broadly and waved cheerfully as the Hatter lifted her cuffed hands to tap the brim of her hat, "I believe it's Mr Gardner, is that correct?" Nixon asked as he reached out to shake the glasses wearing man's hand, "Head of security?"
"Er, yes, sir," Gardner nodded quickly, still looking quite shocked as he shook hands with the President, "Yes, Mister President," he let go of his hand, standing a bit straighter.
"Mr Grant, is it?" Nixon turned to the second man, offering his hand to shake again.
Grant shook his hand, "Yes, Mister President!" he exclaimed, smiling.
Nixon looked between both men with a proud look, "The hopes and dreams of millions of Americans stand here today at Cape Kennedy," he said to them, "And you're the men who guard those dreams," he smiled at them, "On behalf of the American people, I thank you".
Gardner broke into a very proud smile, "You're welcome, Mister President".
"I understand you have a baby on the way, Mr Grant," he turned to the second man again.
"Yes, Mister President," Grant nodded, sounding surprised that Nixon would even know that about him.
"What are you hoping for, a boy or a girl?"
The Hatter smiled faintly, exchanging a quick look with the Doctor. Traditionally, on Gallifrey most families choose to find out the gender of their expected child well in advance, usually at the very first chance that they possibly could so that they could organise arranged marriages even before the child had been born, just as the Hatter's parents had done with her. It was usually something that the older and higher regarded families would do so that they could insure that they got the best possible political alliance that they could get through marriages. But with their own child, they still hadn't quite decided whether they wanted to know. There was a funny excitement trying to guess what they were having with the Doctor being completely convinced that they were having a girl, while the Hatter was still undecided, trying to stay more neutral on the subject. She would just be happy to have a healthy child at the end of it, gender really didn't matter to her in the slightest bit.
"Just as healthy American, sir," Grant replied as Rory spotted the small model of a rocket module sitting on the bench, bending down slightly to take a closer look at it.
Nixon laughed, stepping closer to the man, "A healthy American will do just nicely," he lightly punched his shoulder with each word, before stepping back, growing slightly more serious, "Now, fellows, listen. This man and women, here…" he gestured over to the Time Lords, "Code names the Doctor and the Hatter…" both men turned and looked back to them as they both grinned, waving cheerfully to them, the Hatter winking, "…is doing some work for me personally," he continued, giving the two men a smile as they turned back to him, "Could you…cut them a little slack?"
"Um, Mister President," Gardner began, hesitantly, "They did break in to Apollo Eleven".
Nixon frowned slightly in surprise, certainly not having expected that as he glanced over to the Time Lords, the Hatter coughing sheepishly as the Doctor mouthed, 'sorry'.
"Well," Nixon tried to laugh it off, looking back to the men, thinking quickly, "I'm, uh, I'm sure they had a very good reason for that…" River and Rory exchanged a small, amused look behind his back as he went on hastily, "But I need you to release them now so they can get on with some very important work for the American people. Could you do that for me?"
"Well…" Grant started to say, quite reluctant to just let them get away, even for the President.
"Son," he looked at them very seriously, "I am your Commander and Chief".
"Uh, then I guess that would be fine, Mister President," Gardner interrupted quickly, nodding.
"Glad to hear it".
Gardner looked back to the soldier still keeping the Time Lords under guard and motioned to him to release the pair, which he immediately did, unlocking the handcuffs. The Doctor stood and rolled his wrists before moving to help the Hatter stand, giving her a quick, concerned look as he noticed the faint grimace that cross her face as she climbed onto her feet.
"I'm fine," she assured him softly, giving him a comforting smile, "Just a bit of back pain, it's to be expected".
"Are you sure?" he asked, still eyeing her carefully, not letting go of her hands.
"Completely".
Reluctantly, he nodded, knowing that pushing any further on the subject would only earn him a whack or an annoyed look from her as he spun back around to face Gardner and Grant, still keeping his left hand in hers, "Thank you!" he said brightly to the men, shaking Grant's hand before he had time to blink, "Bye-bye," he moved on to shake Gardner's hand next. He turned to Nixon, snapping his fingers and pointing at him.
"Yes, lovely to meet you," the Hatter flashed the two men a cheerful smile, "Shame about the handcuffs".
And with that, she and the Doctor turned, hand in hand, and strolled off across the room towards the open doorway where the TARDIS was waiting for them.
"Carry on, gentlemen," Nixon told Gardner and Grant with a smile, turning and following after the Time Lords with River walking behind him.
Rory was still looking at the model as he picked up a piece attached to the top of the module that looked like a satellite dish, only to end up accidently snapping it off. He glanced quickly over to the men, his eyes widening in alarm as he quickly tried to stick it back into place, but it wouldn't stick. After a few tries he gave up and hastily dropped the piece on the table, before turning to face the men as they stared at him, clearing his throat loudly, "America salutes you," he told them, saluting them and turning back to hurry after the others as they disappeared inside the TARDIS, shutting the doors of the room behind him.
…
The Time Lords took Nixon back to the White House, Nixon settling into his chair behind his desk while the Doctor and the Hatter stood before him with the TARDIS parked behind them on the rug once more, "From this point forward," the Hatter said firmly to the man, leaning over the desk slightly to meet the man's eyes, "Everything that happens inside this office must be recorded, that way we can insure that you haven't been influenced by these creatures".
She straightened and turned to walk over to the TARDIS with the Doctor at her side, when Nixon quickly stood, "Doctor, Hatter," he called, frowning at them, making them stop and turn back to look at him, "You have to give me more than this," he insisted sternly, "What were you doing to Apollo Eleven?"
"A thing," the Doctor said vaguely, "A clever thing. Now, no more questions," he meet his eyes, very serious, "You have to trust us and nobody else".
Suddenly, the TARDIS door opened and River leaned out with one of the communicator devices in her hand, the screen glowing, "Hatter!" she called urgently, "Doctor! It's Canton!" the Time Lords turned and hurried back across to the time machine, "Quick, he needs us!"
….
The Doctor, the Hatter, River, and Rory ran up a set of old, wooden stairs of one of the children's homes that they had sent Amy and Canton to investigate. The entire building looking as if it should be condemned with old paint flaking off the wall, while some walls even had messages painted across it shouting at people to get out. Lightening was flashing outside and the place smelt terribly of dust and mould that tickled the Hatter's nose irritatingly as they ran up the creaking steps that she was slightly concerned might give way at any sudden movement, but luckily they held as they continued up to the top of the old building.
"Amy!" Canton was shouting, sounding as if he was hitting against a heavy door, "Amy, can you hear me?" he said loudly, "Amy, I'm going to try to blow the lock. I need you to stand back!"
They finally reached the attic floor of the building and ran into an even more dimly lit, narrow, slopping ceiled hallway with several doors coming off it, just in time to see Canton with his gun out and aimed at the lock of a large, heavy metal door that was completely different from the rest of the plain white, wooden doors of the rest of the hallway. It almost looked like it should belong to a prison cell.
"Okay, gun down!" the Doctor ordered him quickly, running around the man and closer to the door, "I've got it!" he pulled out his sonic and began flashing it at the lock.
"Amy!" Rory called almost frantically, moving closer to the door, desperately wanting to get to his wife as the Hatter put a hand on his arm, trying to calm him, but it was little use, "We're here!" he told her, "Are you okay?"
"I can't see!" Amy cried through the door.
"It's okay, Amy!" the Hatter tried to assure her, very concerned, "We'll be with you in a tick!"
The Doctor finally managed to unlock the door and pushed it open, dashing into the room with Rory and the Hatter right on his heels, followed by River and Canton. The room looked like it had belonged to a little girl with a small bed pushed against one side of the room, a painting of a ballerina on the wall, and dolls scattered around. There was even a chest of drawers on the opposite side of the room from the bed that was covered in picture frames with black and whites photos in them, all of which featuring a young girl around the age of six or seven, some seeming to have been taken from when she was even younger. Not one appeared to contain a single image of anyone else, just the girl, from what the Time Lady could see.
"Where is she?" Rory asked worriedly, looking around at the empty room for any sign of Amy, still hearing the faint sound of sobbing coming from somewhere within the room, but it was as if Amy was invisible.
A fallen spacesuit was lying in the middle of the floor, and the Time Lords quickly moved over to it, the Doctor running his sonic over it as River knelt beside it and lifted the visor, "It's empty," she announced, shining her torch into the helmet.
"It's so dark," Amy's voice came again, sounding very tearful, "So dark…"
The Hatter swallowed thickly as she followed the sound of Amy's voice, looking down to see a small, blinking red light of a nano recorder on the rug in the middle of the room, "Doctor…" she began softly, grabbing his hand, feeling ill just seeing that tiny little device on the floor when it ought to be in Amy's hand.
"I don't know where I am…" Amy was still saying as everyone looked down at the blinking light, Rory's mouth falling open in horror, "Please, can anybody hear me?" she broke off with a sob.
The Time Lady closed her eyes tightly, letting out a heavy breathe as she realised that they had taken Amy. Slowly, Rory crouched down and carefully picked up the nano recorder that was only just bigger than a grain of rice, "They took this out of her…" he said softly, stunned and horrified as he looked back up to the Time Lords, "How did they do that?" he stood, staring down at the device, "Why can I hear her?"
The Hatter flinched as Amy whimpered and sobbed shakily, feeling her hearts breaking for the poor girl, knowing how terrified she must have been. The Doctor stepped towards him grimly.
"Is it a recording?" River asked, still kneeling by the spacesuits helmet as she looked over to them.
The Doctor flashed his sonic at the device and checked the results, lowering his head, "Er, it defaults to live," he murmured, "This is current".
"Everything that that she says, it's happening right now," the Hatter added, her voice barely above a whisper, feeling quite sickened by the sound of Amy's terrified crying when there was nothing they could do to try and comfort her.
Rory lifted the device up to his mouth, "Amy, can you hear me?" he asked frantically, desperately trying to speak with her as he turned away from them, "We're coming for you. Wherever you are, we're coming, I swear".
"She can't hear you," the Doctor told him quietly, looking at him sadly, "I'm so sorry. It's one way".
Rory turned back around to face them, focusing on the Doctor, "She can always hear me, Doctor," he said firmly, meeting his eyes with a look of such certainty that it was impossible to even try arguing, "Always. Wherever she is, and she always knows that I am coming for her. Do you understand me? Always".
The Doctor stared at him for a moment as the Hatter took his hand, nodding back to Rory, "Yes, we understand," she agreed, glancing back to the Doctor, because there was no force in the Universe that would ever stop her from going after the Doctor if something ever happened to him, just as she knew, with complete confidence, that the Doctor wouldn't stop until he had found her if she was ever taken. There was nothing in the entire Universe that would ever keep them apart, nothing that would ever stop them from finding each, "Completely and utterly, we know exactly what you mean," she smiled very faintly at the Doctor, "Always".
"Always," the Doctor repeated softly, lifting her hand and planting a gentle kiss to it.
"Doctor?" Amy's voice called out suddenly, "Hatter? Are you out there? Can you hear me?" the Doctor closed his eyes, the Hatter sighing heavily as she noticed Rory look down at the device, knowing how it would pain him to hear Amy calling for them instead of him, "Doctor? Hatter? Oh, God…" she started sobbing, "Please, please, just get me out of this…"
Rory swallowed and look back up to them, "They're coming," he promised her, "I'll bring them, I swear".
"Hello?" a man's voice suddenly called from the hallway, making them jump, quickly spinning around to face the doorway, Canton with his gun at the ready, "Is somebody there?" an older man walked into the doorway, looking quite confused as Canton sighed in relief, lowering his weapon, "I think someone has been shot," he told them, "I think we should help. We c…" he stopped, blinking rapidly, his confusion growing even worse, "I can't re…I can't remember…"
The Doctor grabbed the Hatter's hand and dashed out the door, managing to get the man to lead them back down stairs to the lower levels of the building to his office, the others followed close behind them. They slowed to a fast walk as they reached the landing and the man turned, leading them down a short corridor to where an open door was waiting for them with lights still on inside the shabby office. A chair had been toppled over onto the floor by an old desk that was littered with papers, most of it covered it dust, but it was the alien that was slumped beneath the window opposite from the doorway, that caught their attention, it's rattling breathes sounding slightly laboured with pain as it struggled to move closer towards the wall to get away from them.
Canton shone his torch on the alien as the Time Lords slowly approached it with their hands raised, trying to show it that they meant no harm as they came to kneel a short distance from it, "We have no intention of causing you any more harm," the Hatter said calmly, her voice carrying a slightly harder edge as she went on, "We just need to know who and what you are?"
"Silence, Doctor and Hatter," the alien replied, its raspy voice filling their minds, "We are the Silence".
The Doctor and the Hatter's eyes widened, slowly looking at each other as they realised that they had been warned about the Silence, for months it had followed them almost from everywhere they had gone, the same word had followed them. Silence. Prisoner Zero had known, even Rosanna from their trip to Venice had mentioned the Silence, they had even heard it right before the TARDIS had exploded, and yet, they had never even imagine for a moment that the Silence might be more than an odd manner of phrasing.
"And Silence will fall," the creature finished darkly, practically glaring at them.
The Hatter swallowed and stood, looking determined, "We'll see about that".
I apologise for the lateness of this chapter, I had meant to post it last week but I had a friend's birthday dinner to attend and didn't have a chance to post it. And this week I've been trying to think of just what I wish to do once I finish my current schooling at the end of next year, whether to go on and do something like chiropracting at University or actually become a medical doctor, eventually specialising in Chronic Fatigue. So that's been keeping me busy. I hope you liked it. Tell me what you thought, please review :)
Guest reviews:
Guest (1): I'm sorry for the long wait, but I hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for the review :)
Guest (2): I can't say much, just that the Hatter will not be pleased that the Master's taken a liking to hats. Expect bickering between them, but the Hatter's feelings towards Missy really won't change just because the Master's now a women, if anything it will probably only make the two of them bicker even more. I imagine that the Hatter's reaction to Missy will be very much like the Doctor's, completely shocked and stunned, but I really can't say anything more. I hope that answered you're question :)