The Unicorn and the Wasp
Donna was surprised, to say the least, when she had walked back into the TARDIS after saying goodbye to Martha to see Mac standing at the console, puttering around it (more like striding) and flicking absent controls (more like putting in a proper sequence) while the TARDIS rumbled around her (more like hummed in contentment at being properly flown). She'd looked at the Doctor for explanation and the man had just shrugged and said she'd changed her mind about travelling with them. Only for Mac to send him a glare, tell him lying was unbecoming, and state flat out that she was staying because she honestly thought the Doctor would get HER killed.
It had…shocked her, to hear that, to hear someone actually not have faith or trust in the Doctor so much so that they genuinely believed he would end up leading to her death. She'd met so many people that came to trust him as she had and…she had to wince, thinking about how many people DID die around the Doctor, even those who didn't trust him. Lance (though she didn't count that at as a loss), Mrs. Foster, the whole of Pompeii, Solana, Ryder, and she was sure quite a few more. Every time he was around someone DID die, and…it did scare her a bit to realize she hadn't ever really considered that one day it might be HER. Not even when Martha had told her to be careful, told her what happened to her family, had she thought that. But then again, she'd always been someone who needed a blunt explanation than complicated words and instructions.
She did appreciate that about Mac, she said what she thought, she said it plainly, and…she used simple things to accomplish larger tasks. For someone who couldn't even mend a plug, to see Mac using paperclips and rubber bands and whatnot to do things was encouraging, especially when the girl had gone around the console and pointed out all the things wrong with it and proceeded to fix it with just that, rubber bands and paperclips and things. The Doctor's look of horror had had her laughing for hours after. But she really appreciated that Mac told her in simple terms what she felt and what to do at times. She didn't ramble like the Doctor, she didn't use complicated technobabble, she was easy to understand. And it scared her too because to hear someone like that say the Doctor would get her killed one day…it actually got through to her and…while she didn't completely believe it would end that way as she DID still trust the Doctor, she was just…more aware of the danger. And that was fine, if she was in danger then that was her own fault, if she died, it was knowing there was a chance it would happen. And…she was a little touched that Mac, even having just met her, was willing to travel with the Doctor (someone she clearly had issues with) just to make sure she was a little safer.
She…wanted to try and return the favor as best she could for it as well. Not just for Mac but for the Doctor as well. Mac tended to stay in a small room the TARDIS had given her, hardly coming out unless they were going on some sort of trip or if she was bored and wanted to work on fixing the TARDIS. She didn't see much of the woman but what she DID see…well, she could tell that the woman and the Doctor had quite a few problems to resolve. She hadn't exactly seen much of it since she'd been with her family for the most part of the ATMOS thing, and then stuck in the TARDIS, and then trapped with Martha…she hadn't seen the full force of what the two were like.
It actually made some arguments that she had with some of her past boyfriends seem like a laugh in comparison. There were two modes, it seemed, to their fighting. The first was when the Doctor would fight back, when it was some sort of topic he got annoyed with or seemed able to counter, that he knew he could argue back with. Those…didn't tend to happen often. And then there were the times where Mac would make snide comments or go off on a tangent about the Doctor. Those…didn't usually escalate into a shouting match though, they were more side comments that she could see broke the Doctor's hearts to hear.
She hated the snide comments the most, seeing the Doctor look so broken and hurt by it. She gathered quite a lot from Mac through those though. Just…not WHY she was so angry and bitter with the Doctor. She almost wished that Mac wouldn't have come just so that she wouldn't have to see that expression on the Doctor's face. Because there was always guilt. True guilt. Like Mac had said something that was actually TRUE and he knew it. Those times she felt so confused because the comments Mac would make…it didn't fit with the image she had of the Doctor, she couldn't imagine the Doctor doing half the things Mac was snippy about…yet he didn't defend himself in those times, it was like he believed them, like he felt he deserved them.
And if he did…well, she'd been heartbroken enough in her life by men to understand what Mac felt. She'd been betrayed and hurt and had her heart torn out by others and she could see the SAME thing in Mac even now. She'd been hurt deeply by the Doctor…and that put Donna in a hard position. She was the Doctor's companion, she felt loyal to him, but…she was a woman who'd been hurt in the past and she could empathize with Mac.
So she'd decided to be as neutral as possible, till she found out exactly what had happened between the two of them. And then she'd decide if she needed to give Mac a talking to, or slap the Doctor in the head. Until then, she was also trying to suggest as neutral settings for adventures as she could…even if it meant subjecting herself to things like museums (though she'd learned VERY early NOT to suggest that as it ended up with the pair arguing, only this time it wasn't about any past indiscretions but the history of the pieces themselves).
Right now she had no idea what the Planet Zog was or why they were headed there, but she was fairly certain that the rather nice garden with an English manor house beside it was NOT the planet in question.
"Oh, smell that air," the Doctor took an exaggerated breath, "Grass and lemonade and a little bit of mint. Just a hint of mint, must be the 1920s."
"You can tell what year it is just by smelling?" Donna glanced at him.
"Oh yeah," he grinned.
Mac rolled her eyes, "He saw the car," she gestured ahead of them. While Time Lords could sense what time they'd landed in, time being their niche, she knew that the Doctor hadn't given himself time to sense it nor had he run the proper scans before stepping out of the TARDIS to find out when they were. The car itself was of a clear 1920s design.
They watched as a well dressed man got out, being greeted by a butler just as a man in a reverend's attire rode up on a bike. The men quietly spoke, only a few words here and there making it over to them on the wind, something about a party and a Lady Eddison.
"Never mind Planet Zog," Donna smiled, glancing at the two, "A party in the 1920s, that's more like it."
The Doctor casually looked at Mac, "What do you think?" he asked her, shifting slightly.
He was…he knew he didn't need her permission to continue with this trip instead of heading to Zog, it was HIS TARDIS, HIS companion, HIS idea to go to Zog but…he just…he wanted her to be happy. He knew, he knew very well, how her life had gone on Gallifrey after she'd fulfilled her contract with her husband. It had been…a right old misery. His life hadn't been sunshine and daisies, his wife had resented him for the contract being activated but they got on well enough for the children.
Mac had…truly hit the nail on the head when she'd inquired if he was that desperate to get away from his wife that he'd steal a TARDIS and run off. He'd wanted to explore the stars, he always had, but he'd been essentially trapped on Gallifrey because of the contract and his children much like she'd been trapped with her husband. The Contracts were only voided upon finding a Chosen or the death of one of the spouses. That was it and that was all. Once Mac had been wed…there was no turning back and he'd kept track of her, how could he not?
She had always been…someone so important to him, she still was, even now, and it truly broke his hearts to see what had become of her, what the war, what HE, had done to her. She really was SO different than she usually was. He wasn't used to this her, this bitter, angry woman that stood on the other side of Donna, always with someone or something in between her and him. It was a far cry to when she'd snuggle up beside him as they read or when they'd walk with his arm around her…he didn't like the distance, he didn't like how unhappy she was.
He knew it would take more than trying to give her more say and more control and to offer her more 'power' so to speak, to even begin to make up for what he'd done to her and the planet. She'd spent…centuries in absolute misery because of him, and it would be likely centuries more before she might start to forgive him, if she ever did. He just…he wanted her to be happy again, he wanted her to smile and laugh and be her warm old self…and he would do anything he could to see it happen.
"I didn't want to go to Zog in the first place," she reminded him.
"Right," he winced, she'd been quite…vocal about it, so…it really wasn't a surprise that he might have accidently nudged one of the levers so that they'd end up on a mystery tour instead, "But um…the trouble is, we haven't been invited," he glanced at the two women, before reaching into his coat pocket, "Oh, I forgot…" he held the psychic paper up to them, "Yes, we have."
Donna beamed at that, before she noticed something, "I need to get ready!" she gasped and dashed back to the TARDIS, wanting to change out of her modern clothes.
Mac looked down at her own attire, a sort of buttoned up long sleeved, emerald colored shirt, with a charcoal pencil skirt and flats.
"You um…" the Doctor began, rubbing the back of his neck, "You look…fine," he told her, knowing that if he said beautiful she'd likely send a glare at him.
And she did, she always did, every incarnation he knew about, she was just lovely. She had a very simple beauty to her, an easy beauty. She didn't try or exaggerate anything, she wore what she wanted, what she felt comfortable in and that just made her all the more charming. He could remember her first incarnation, she'd favored wearing the red and black and gold colors of Gallifrey, but in a sort of sleeveless dress with a black belt that went to her knees in an asymmetrical cut, with small ankle boots that folded at the top, always so simple with her, it carried over to her even now. A causal, nice blouse, a pencil skirt, flats…it was just her style.
"I need to make sure Donna picks out the right era clothing," she muttered, tuning to head back to the TARDIS.
The Doctor felt himself smile just a little…she hadn't shot him down that time…that was…a small step, but a step nonetheless.
~8~
The Doctor was standing outside the TARDIS, checking his watch, a little surprised it was taking so long. Mac was usually a very quick dresser on Gallifrey…but then he had to remind himself she wasn't the same Mac anymore, and it was DONNA that was getting ready. Human women were notorious for how long they could take.
"We'll be late for cocktails!" he shouted through the door as he knocked on it, only for it to open a moment later and Mac to step out, wearing her same outfit.
"What do you think?" Donna asked as she came out after Mac, dressed in a black Flapper's dress, her red hair curled and pinned back, "Flapper or slapper?"
"Flapper," he remarked, "You look lovely," he glanced at Mac, "You um, didn't want to join her?"
"Didn't you?" she nodded at his own attire, the same pinstripe suit he'd been wearing before.
"Well, my suit is very versatile," he defended, "Goes well in any time period. Women's fashion though…"
Mac just brought her hand up and made the 'stop talking' motion to silence him before walking past him. He let out a breath as he watched her go, though Donna looked at him, able to hear a sort of relief in his tone. Ever since Teddy had died, Mac was…quiet. Oh she still snipped and snapped at the Doctor, still shouted at him and made harsh comments, but at other times she tended to ignore him when he spoke, as though she couldn't tell whether to shout or remark on something and so decided to keep silent. She supposed it was a good thing though, now that Mac was staying onboard the TARDIS…it wouldn't do for any of them if she kept raging at him the way she had the last two trips with Martha. Donna was quite sure that one of them would end up dead in that case.
"Come on you prawn," Donna reached out to link her arm with his and heading off after Mac towards the back of the house where there were various tables and chairs in the process of being set up by a few servants here and there. Food and drinks being placed on them, a small record player going off in the corner, filling the air with music.
"Look sharp!" one of the maids called, "We have guests."
"Good afternoon!" the Doctor greeted as a footman stepped up to the three of them as they sauntered along.
"Drink, sir?" the young boy asked them, "Madams?"
"Sidecar, please," Donna requested as Mac have him a curt shake of the head, she didn't drink.
"And a lime and soda, thank you," the Doctor smiled.
"May I introduce Lady Clemency Eddison," the butler from before announced as a small blonde woman in blue made her way down a small path towards them.
"Oh here we go," Mac muttered as the Doctor jogged towards the woman with a cheerful cry of 'Lady Eddison!' before he started shaking her hand enthusiastically.
"Excuse me," the woman blinked at him, "But who exactly might you be…and what are you doing here?"
"I'm Dr. John Smith," he greeted, "And this is Mackenzie…" he trailed off and looked at Mackenzie for a moment, his eyes wide. He'd been about to introduce her as Mackenzie Smith too, a habit from ages past, but he knew she'd likely KILL him for doing that. He didn't even know why he'd introduced himself as Dr. John Smith when he knew that he could get away with being called just 'the Doctor.' It was just…having her there…knowing that Mac having a normal name like Mackenzie would require a last name, he'd…he'd wanted to give her his own and that…would be a disaster.
"Noble," Mac held out her hand to the woman, "Mackenzie Noble," she offered the woman a small smile, startling Donna in the process of taking her last name too, "Pleased to meet you Lady Eddison, have you met my cousin, Miss Donna Noble?" she put her hand on Donna's shoulder a moment.
Donna…wasn't quite sure how to feel about that, it was making her even more torn about Mac or the Doctor. She got the feeling that the woman wasn't very…open with other people and yes, she could have just given the first name that popped into her head, but for her to select Noble…Mac really WAS serious about being there to protect her wasn't she?
But Donna shook her head out of her thoughts and reached out to shake the woman's hand, "Good afternoon, my lady," she added with a posh accent, trying to curtsy but tipping over a little, "Topping day, what? Spiffing! Top hole!"
"No, no, no, no, no," the Doctor said to her under her breath, "Don't do that. Don't."
Mac merely made the 'stop talking' sign again and hissed at him, "Let her do what she wants."
That was one thing she'd always disliked about the Doctor was that HE could go around doing things but when someone else tried the same, he immediately got defensive about it and told them to stop. He was always a jokester in school, playing tricks on others and pranks and things, but when someone tried the same on him he'd sputter and rage and go silent. That had been mostly in his younger days though, he'd matured near the end, but still it seemed like he retained a little of that nature to him.
The Doctor cleared his throat and turned to Eddison, "We were thrilled to receive your invitation, my lady," he flashed the psychic paper at her, "We met at the ambassador's reception…"
Eddison's eyes widened at that and Mac had to roll her own eyes at that, humans were so eager to not offend or appear stupid that they'd agree with anything if it fended off embarrassment, "Doctor," Eddison returned the greeting, "How could I forget you? But one must be sure with the Unicorn on the loose."
"A unicorn?" he brightened, "Brilliant. Where?"
"Stop using your mouth and start using your brain Doctor," Mac shot him a look, "She said THE Unicorn, not A Unicorn. Not that I'm surprised, you never did have a strength in listening to others."
"Yes," Eddison cast Mac a concerned look for a moment, the girl having a bit more bite in her words than she was sure was necessary, "The jewel thief? And nobody knows who he is. He's just struck again. Snatched Lady Babbington's pearls right from under her nose."
Donna, who had taken a large sip of her drink at Mac starting up again, muttered, "Funny place to wear pearls," and then smiled, seeing a faint quirk in the corner of Mac's lips for the comment.
She could tell that the girl was very…angry and hurt, it was very obvious to everyone that particular fact. She was the same though, exactly the same, when she was hurt and upset and angry. And she got hurt easily for all her bravado, so she lashed out, she shouted at the world for it even when it didn't do anything to help. Mac, instead of taking it out on the world, took it out on the Doctor. She wanted to step in and tell her enough was enough and to leave him alone but…the way Mac reacted, she couldn't help but feel like the Doctor had really and truly deeply hurt her. She wouldn't have wanted anyone to defend Lance in the months after her almost-wedding, she'd have gone off on them for doing it given how badly he'd gotten to her.
As much as it pained her, she understood Mac better than anyone and…until she knew the whole story, she couldn't say anything to defend him or stop her, not till she was sure, not till she could explain it to the Doctor how to make amends or how Mac was overreacting. She just…had to bide her time. She could tell that what Mac was going through and suffering wasn't something the girl would easily share about…she had to get to know Mac better, get on her good side, and find out.
She'd seen it herself around the girl when she was yelling, she let things slip easier than the Doctor did. He could talk and talk and talk for ages and not say anything, Mac…she gave away a lot. SHE would be the one to talk to about what happened, and once she had Mac's side of the story, the Doctor would be easier to crack.
"May I announce the Colonel Hugh Curbishley," the butler called out, "The Honorable Roger Curbishley."
They glanced over to see a younger man pushing an older man in a wheelchair towards them, "My husband," Eddison smiled at them, "And my son."
"Forgive me for not rising," Hugh bowed his head at them as he and Roger arrived, "Never been the same since the flu epidemic back in '18."
"My word!" Roger gasped, staring at Donna and Mac, "You are quite super ladies!" he reached out to shake their hands. Mac just eyed it and rolled her eyes, turning away slightly, leaving Donna to lavish in the man's attention, the Doctor feeling himself smile at seeing that move.
"Oh!" Donna smiled, blushing, "I like the cut of your jib. Chin-chin," she shook his hand.
"I'm the um, Dr. John Smith," the Doctor held out his to shake Roger's as well.
"How do you do?"
"Very well, thanks."
"Your usual, sir," the young man who had taken their drinks earlier stepped over with a drink for Roger.
"Ah, thank you, Davenport," Roger smiled at him, "Just how I like it."
Donna eyed the small family as they spoke among themselves, "How come she's an Eddison but her husband and son are Curbishleys?" she asked them.
"Because she's LADY Eddison," Mac replied, "Her husband isn't, when she dies Roger inherits the title of Lord."
"Miss Robina Redmond," the butler continued as a young woman in a red dress came down the path towards them as well.
"She's the absolute hit of the social season," Eddison told them as she passed to get to the woman, "A must. Miss Redmond!" she took the woman's hands, shaking them.
"Spiffing to meet you at last, my lady," Robina gave a bit of a curtsy.
"Reverend Arnold Golightly," the butler gestured to the man the trio had seen earlier heading for them.
"Ah, Reverend!" Eddison hurried to his side, "How are you? I heard about the church last Thursday night, those ruffians breaking in."
"You apprehended them, I hear," Hugh joined them, making Mac frown, the Reverend wasn't exactly a young man, and for him to fight against some hooligans or something…he should have been more hurt.
"As the Christian fathers taught me, we must forgive them their trespasses," the reverend bowed his head and Mac's frown deepened at how he wasn't denying using force to stop the men, "Quite literally."
"Some of these young boys deserve a decent thrashing," Roger agreed.
"Couldn't agree more, sir," Davenport gave him a suggestive look, causing Roger to clear his throat.
"Typical," Donna sighed, "All the decent men are on the other bus."
"Or Time Lords," the Doctor added.
"Doubtful," Mac muttered, making the Doctor frown, "All of them are disappointments."
The Doctor glanced at her a moment, before speaking in a language Donna couldn't understand, "What about Gareen?" he asked her.
Mac swallowed hard, replying in the same language, "My brother was the only truly good man on that planet," she countered, looking away, it didn't do him any good though did it? Being a good man, not when the entire planet had suffered.
The Doctor looked down at that, knowing where her mind had gone, back to the war, to what he'd done. He didn't blame her, her family had been alive one moment, gone the next, and all that anger about it…it was directed where it was due, at HIM. He could blame the Daleks for the death of his family, they were the creatures who had bombed his family and killed them, Mac…her family had been alive, they were STILL alive right to the end of the war…and then he'd done what he had and…
Well, he hated the Daleks for what they'd done to his family, he'd be a hypocrite to tell her not to hate him for what he'd done to her family.
"Now my lady," they looked over hearing the reverend speaking, "What about this special guest you promised us?"
Eddison looked over at the house and beamed, seeing a woman in a darker blue dress, with blonde hair and shocking blue eyes heading for them, "Here she is!" she cheered, "A lady who needs no introduction."
The Doctor and Donna looked at the small crowd as they started to clap and cheer, the woman starting to duck her head to try and wave off the praises, "Oh, no," she flushed, "Please don't. Thank you, Lady Eddison. Honestly, there's no need," she spotted the three of them, the only three she wasn't sure who they were, and moved to greet them, "Agatha Christie," she offered her hand to Donna.
"What about her?" Donna asked.
"Donna…" Mac cut in, "MEET Agatha Christie," she gestured to the woman.
"No!" Donna's eyes widened, "You're kidding!"
Mac bit her lip to not say anything, if they knew who the woman was…they should have known what she looked like. There WERE photos of her out there.
"Agatha Christie!" the Doctor half leapt forward to shake the woman's hand frantically, "I was just talking about you the other day. I said, 'I bet she's brilliant.' I'm Dr. John Smith, this is Mackenzie, and that's Donna Noble. Oh, I love your stuff! What a mind! You fool me every time. Well…almost every time. Well…once or twice. Well…once. But it was a good once. Well…"
"Doctor," Mac cut in, making her stop talking motion again, not even looking at him as she held out her hand to the woman, "Mackenzie Noble," she introduced herself, emphasizing the 'Noble' that the Doctor had left out.
Agatha looked between her and the Doctor, "You make a rather unusual couple."
"Oh, no!" the Doctor half-shouted, "No, no, no. We're not married."
"Never were, never will be," Mac agreed.
"Oh," Agatha nodded, "My apologies, I assumed as he didn't say your last name," she glanced at Mac, "That you were his wife…"
"No," Mac stated firmly.
"Well," Agatha offered her an apologetic smile, "I'd stay that way if I were you. The thrill is in the chase, never in the capture."
"I'm aware," Mac nodded, Agatha giving her a curious look for that.
"Here, here," Donna agreed, raising her glass, glancing at Mac, both of them sharing an understanding look of heartbreak from their 'significant others.'
"Mrs. Christie," Eddison called her over, "I'm so glad you could come. I'm one of your greatest followers. I've read all six of your books. Uh, is, uh, Mr. Christie not joining us?"
"Is he needed?" Agatha turned to head over to the small group, leaving the trio alone, "Can't a woman make her own way in the world?"
"Don't give my wife ideas," Hugh laughed.
"Mrs. Christie, I have a question," Roger smiled at her, "Why a Belgian detective?"
The Doctor eyed Agatha curiously for a moment, before he turned to Hugh, "Excuse me, Colonel," he moved over to the man and politely took the newspaper in the man's hands from him, quickly shuffling through it looking for something before he found it and motioned Mac and Donna over to him as they watched one of the housekeepers head into the house, looking for a Professor Peach.
"The date on this newspaper…" the Doctor began.
"What about it?" Donna frowned.
Mac looked at it as the Doctor held it out to her, "Agatha Christie disappeared on this date," Mac recalled, she hadn't exactly paid much attention in school about Earth authors, much preferring her own people's writings, but…there were a few very rare authors that she did take an interest in from Earth, Agatha Christie was one, especially after she'd gotten married, she could empathize with the woman. She glanced at Agatha, "She walked in on her husband with another woman," she murmured.
There was no love between her husband and her on Gallifrey, none at all, there was barely any civility. They had a duty and an obligation in their Contracts, but…there was just no love. It was an empty marriage, a loveless one, and one she had hated every minute of. Yet despite all that, despite how little she cared for her husband…she was still crushed when he took a mistress. She probably would have been better at accepting it if they'd spoken first, taking one WAS common on Gallifrey in cases like hers.
For how advanced Gallifrey was in terms of technology…they were quite backwards in terms of their freedom for marriage, quite medieval really. Contracts, everyone was Contracted at birth and those who weren't were considered…not an accepted member of society, more like a pariah. Often parents would create simple, faux Contracts between close friends and their children, put in place merely for a front and encouraging their children to find their Chosens instead. Only a few families actually made Contracts for the sake of advancement and politics. Most did it because it was the norm and expected. The Doctor's family had been like that, doing it just for society's sake, her family had done it for advancement purposes. And in order to advance a family, 'heirs' and children were needed…
She honestly had, in some way, been expecting that her husband would seek out a mistress, but she'd thought that he would have at least had a shred of respect for her after the hell she'd gone through losing her baby and regenerating and dealing with her incurable condition and talked to her before.
She'd walked in on him with his mistress and it…hurt.
"You'd never think to look at her smiling away," Donna remarked sadly, her own mind going to Lance and the Racnoss.
Mac could only eye Agatha, and sometimes you put on a smile so that no one would know how badly you were hurting and butt into your life. You put on a brave face so that no one else would think you weak.
"Well, she's British and moneyed," the Doctor shrugged, "That's what they do, they carry on. Except for this one time. No one knows exactly what happened, she just vanished. Her car will be found tomorrow morning by the side of a lake. Ten days later she turns up at a hotel in Harrogate. Said she'd lost her memory. She never spoke about the disappearance till the day she died. But whatever it was…"
"It's about to happen," Donna realized.
"Right here, right now," he nodded.
"Well then," Mac crossed her arms, "We just have to make sure whatever it is won't end up with her dead instead," she glanced at the Doctor, "You may want to go sit back in the TARDIS."
Before the Doctor could even open his mouth…the housekeeper came running out of the house, screaming bloody murder, literally screaming "The professor! The library! Murder! Murder!"
~8~
The Doctor rushed into the library, followed by Mac and Donna, Agatha only feet behind them, to see the professor man they'd glimpsed speaking to the butler when they'd first arrived lying face down in the middle of the floor.
"Oh, my goodness," the butler gasped as he entered to see the Doctor rushing to the man's side and checking him over.
Mac frowned and moved around the room, pulling her glasses on, trying to see if she could spot something. The Doctor always said she had an eye for detail…she winced and shook her head, no. She didn't care what the Doctor thought of her or any skills she might have. She moved to the body and crouched beside it, looking it over as well.
"Bashed on the back of the head," the Doctor mumbled, "Blunt instrument," he tapped the man's watch, "Watch broke as he fell, time of death was quarter past four," he stood up and turned to a pile of papers on the desk that were haphazardly strewn about, clearly someone had looked through it before Peach had been murdered. A family like Eddison's wouldn't just leave papers lying about but have it all organized.
"Bit of pipe," Donna picked one up from the ground, "Call me Hercule Poirot but I reckon that's blunt enough."
Mac glanced over to see Agatha in the fireplace, picking out a bit of paper from it, before turning back to the body to see the Doctor had seen the same. He offered her a small smile, but she merely looked down and started to examine the floor.
"Nothing worth killing for in that lot," the Doctor swallowed, throwing down the papers, "Dry as dust."
Donna glance at Agatha before making her way to the Doctor's side, speaking quietly to him, "Hold on, the body in the library? I mean, Professor Peach, in the library, with a lead piping?" she gave him an incredulous look at that, it sounded more like board game than a murder.
"Always a death when you show up," Mac muttered to herself as she pulled something out of the crack in the floorboards with a small bit of tape from her pocket. She had foregone her white lab coat but her pencil skirt still had pockets to it, bigger-on-the-inside pockets thankfully, "Isn't there Doctor?"
The Doctor looked away at that, it was true, more often than not.
"Let me see!" they heard Eddison cry from the hall as she pushed her way into the room with the other guests.
"Out of my way!" Hugh demanded as well, only for them all to stop short in the doorway as they caught sight of the body.
"Gerald!"
"Saints preserve us," the reverend breathed, crossing himself.
"Oh, how awful," Robina frowned at the body.
Mac eyed her closely for that, from what she knew of women of the era, especially socialites, she should have fainted at the sight of the dead body, but she was just shaking her head sadly at it.
"Someone should call the police," Agatha determined.
"You don't have to," the Doctor spun around, pulling out the psychic paper once more as Mac rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, he was getting far too dependent on that thing, "Chief Inspector Dr. John Smith from Scotland Yard, known as just the Doctor. Misses Noble are the plucky young girls who help me out."
"Hardly," Mac glared at him, if anything she was a parole officer once step away from arresting him for murder half the time.
"I say," Eddison gasped.
"Mrs. Christie was right," the Doctor continued, ignoring Mac for a moment, "Go into the sitting room. I will question each of you in turn."
"Come along," Agatha turned to the others, gently ushering them out of the room to leave the Doctor to his duty, "Do as the Doctor says. Keep the room undisturbed."
Donna gave him a most unamused look when the door shut, "'The plucky young girls who help me out?'" she raised an eyebrow at that, crossing her arms.
"There were no policewomen in 1926," the Doctor murmured, searching the floor as well.
"But there were female murderers," Mac shot back, "Keep this up Doctor and I'm liable to bean you with that pipe."
He frowned and glanced at her, "Keep what up?"
"This," she gestured at him, at what he was doing, "Pretending to be a detective when you can barely manage being a doctor."
"I AM a Doctor," he reminded her, "YOU were there when I picked the name."
"I was also there when you broke the promise your name was meant to represent," she spat, "Tell me…when did 'Doctor' start to mean 'Murderer?'"
"Look," Donna cut in, seeing this was getting FAR too touchy, the Doctor was even starting to glare at Mac for it and if they kept shouting, the whole house was going to hear them, "You don't want him to play detective, fine, why don't we phone the real police then?"
"The last thing we want is PC Plod sticking his nose in," the Doctor shook his head, "Especially with that stuff on your tape Mackenzie, you KNOW we can't call the police in," he looked at the Time Lady.
"What stuff?" Donna turned to her.
Mac held up the bit of tape stuck to her finger, "I found morphic residue," was all she said.
"Morphic?" Donna got closer to it, looking at what appeared to be a small skin sample of some sort stuck to the tape, "Doesn't sound very 1926."
"It's not," Mac agreed, putting her glasses back on her head, "It only happens when some species genetically re-encode."
"Gene-what?" Donna frowned, before shaking her head, "Never mind. That means the murderer's an alien doesn't it?"
Mac blinked at her a moment, "I was right."
"About what?" Donna looked at her.
"Your mum is dead wrong about you."
Donna started to smile at that, "Thanks."
Mac gave her a nod for it, "It does mean the murderer's an alien, one of them," she nodded back at the door, "Is just taking human form."
Donna sighed, "Doesn't this seem odd to you?" she glanced at the aliens, "There's a murder, a mystery and Agatha Christie?"
"So?" the Doctor nicked the tape off of Mac's finger sniffing the residue, "Happens to me all the time."
"And then THAT happens," Mac gestured at the body, "Someone pays for it."
"That isn't my fault," the Doctor turned to her, "I don't always show up and the…the…the aliens follow me! Sometimes they're already there!"
"And then they attack because you go sticking your nose in it," Mac countered, "You're too curious for your own good."
"You used to love my curiosity," he reminded her.
"I was a child then," she nearly spat.
"You didn't seem that much of a child to me when we got curious about each…"
"My god just stop talking!" Mac snapped, turning to storm out of the room.
Donna hesitated a moment, "Curious about each other eh?" she asked gently, she could guess the sort of relationship the Doctor and Mac might have had. The anger Mac was holding in, she'd seen it for months when she looked at herself in the mirror after Lance. It was the anger and hurt of someone who had been betrayed by someone they loved with everything they had.
She could guess that the Doctor and Mac had been close, closer than close, possibly even intimate on Gallifrey before whatever happened between them happened.
The Doctor just shifted, unwilling to answer though the flush on his cheeks was reply enough, "Sorry about…about her," he murmured.
Donna shrugged, "She's…hurting Doctor," she could tell. Other people could see it as anger, as bitterness and hatred and just…anger at the Doctor.
But she saw more.
She saw the pain and the hurt in her eyes, the betrayal and mistrust Mac had for the Doctor. It was the same she'd had whenever a man would show her interest after her almost-wedding. It wasn't till she'd gone to the edge of the Thames and just…looked back at where it had all happened that she'd found closure in what Lance had done, it wasn't till she'd really seen the Doctor again and gotten to travel with him that she realized she could move on.
She'd found closure…Mac hadn't. And it had to be a terrible burden to go so many centuries and years without that. No wonder the anger festered and the bitterness grew. The pain had never faded because she'd never confronted it.
"I know," he whispered, "I know," and he'd give anything to make it all better like the Doctor he was.
"You um…you have to admit it's a bit weird though," she nudged him, trying to change the topic to a lighter note, "Agatha Christie didn't walk around surrounded by murders. Not really. That's like meeting Charles Dickens and he's surrounded by ghosts. At Christmas."
He smiled at her for her efforts, "Well…"
"Oh come on," she nudged him again, the two of them heading for the door, "It's not like we could drive across country and find Enid Blyton having tea with Noddy. Could we? Noddy's not real, is he? Tell me there's no Noddy."
"There's no Noddy."
"Next thing you'll be telling me it's like Murder on the Orient Express and they all did it…"
"Murder on the Orient Express?" Agatha's voice cut in, making Donna jump as the woman stepped out of an alcove beside them.
"Oh, yeah," Donna smiled, "One of your best."
"And not published till 1934," Mac appeared beside her, murmuring that to her.
"Marvelous idea…" Agatha seemed thoughtful.
"Yeah, tell you what," Donna smiled, "Copyright: Donna Noble, yeah?"
"Anyway," the Doctor cut in, "Mackenzie and I will question suspects…"
"No," Mac cut in.
"Mac," the Doctor turned to her, "I'll…I'd like your eye for the smaller details and…"
"And Agatha is just as adept," Mac interrupted again, "You and her question the suspects, I'll go with Donna, see if we can't find clues."
"But…"
"There's a murderer walking around and you really want your…companion to go off on her own where she might be next?" Mac fixed him with a fierce glare, "Is THAT how it happens with the others? You just let them wander off?"
The Doctor swallowed hard and looked away, it was only a half-truth for him to face. He tried to tell his companions NOT to wander off. He always said it, most important rule with him, don't wander off…yet not even HE kept to that rule at times. He'd let Mickey wander off in the parallel world, he'd told Martha to split up when the Daleks had taken him in Manhattan, he'd allowed Donna to wander back to the TARDIS…those were only small examples, but the fact was…there WERE times he all but ORDERED his companions to wander around. Like with Rose on Chloe Weber's street. He half forced them to at times…and then they got hurt or lost or kidnapped because of him.
And those were only the most recent instances, he couldn't begin to count how many times his older companions had wandered off and split up on his command.
"Go on," he murmured, gesturing them towards the stairs. Mac gave him a curt nod and strode up them, Donna hesitating to give him a concerned look which he returned with a small smile before she too went after the Time Lady, leaving him and Agatha to their own mission, "Right then," he cleared his throat, trying to get back the same enthusiasm, "Solving a murder mystery with Agatha Christie. Brilliant!"
"How like a man to have fun while there's disaster all around him," Agatha remarked and, if he hadn't known better, he'd have thought she were trying to imitate Mac.
"Sorry," he winced, "Yeah."
"I'll work with you gladly, but for the sake of justice, not your own amusement."
He nodded and watched her walk off…there was just no pleasing women was there?
~8~
Donna followed Mac as she briskly walked through the upper halls of the house, stopping in each of the guests' rooms to see what they might be hiding and checking the other rooms around as well. That is, until they came to a locked door. Donna frowned, jiggling the handle only for it to not budge.
"Let me," Mac stepped forward, pulling a hairpin out of her hair, causing her hair to fall free from its bun and topple around her shoulders as she knelt down, pulling her glasses off her head and onto her nose to pick the lock.
"You do this often?" Donna asked when the door clicked open.
"Pick locks?" Mac guessed, standing and shrugging, pushing her glasses back onto her head, "Never could resist a locked door," she murmured, heading in.
The room was dirty and dusty with hardly any light in. Mac frowned, when she spotted a teddy bear lying on the bed and walked over to it. She gently picked it up, Donna watching her sadly, knowing where her mind had gone when she gently tapped the bear's nose.
The Doctor had mentioned to her and Martha how Teddy had gotten his name, genera-ted, and how Mac had agreed because she loved teddy bears. The poor girl…to have gotten a child and then have it torn away from her, she couldn't imagine how painful it was. She could see it in Mac's eyes the moment they'd all been reunited, the motherly spark, the protective drive, the…love, for the boy. To have him die in her arms…to have him die taking a bullet for the Doctor…she was honestly surprised Mac hadn't said MORE to him by way of side comments on the event. But, it seemed children were off the table when it came to insults now.
"1926," she murmured, glancing towards the window when she heard a faint buzzing noise, "They've still got bees."
Mac gently placed the teddy bear down, only vaguely aware of what Donna was saying, she had been keeping track of that as well. She ran a few searches periodically for any alien activity, saw something about the bees disappearing and written it off. With the way humans went about destroying their planet and killing off animal species, it was no surprise to her that the bees were falling in number.
"Oh, what a noise!" Donna continued, heading for one of the curtain covered windows, "Alright, busy bee, I'll let you out. Hold on," she put on a slight accent, "I shall find you with my amazing powers of detection."
She moved over to the window and threw the curtains open, only to scream when she saw it wasn't a bee but a GIANT wasp flying outside the window.
"Donna!" Mac turned at the sound, seeing the large wasp and reached out to grab the woman, pulling her back and digging in her pockets for what she needed.
"That's impossible!" Donna gasped, before shouting, "Doctor!" as it broke through the window, zooming at them.
Mac pulled her down, and pulled her across the room, yanking two objects out of her pocket and holding it up. Donna watched in slight awe as Mac lit a small lighter and pressed a button on an aerosol can, igniting the spray with the flames just as the wasp flew at them again, singing it. It flittered back, trembling and shaking before aiming its stinger at them.
"Go!" Mac grabbed Donna's arm and pulled her out of the room, slamming the door shut behind her just as the wasp stuck it, his stinger going right through the door.
"Doctor!" Donna ran halfway down the hall, shouting for him, hearing him thundering up the stairs and into the halls with them, "There is a giant…wasp!" she pointed back at the door, leading him and Agatha over to where Mac was crouched and looking at the stinger.
"What do you mean, giant wasp?" the Doctor panted from the run.
"I would think that would be obvious Doctor," Mac muttered.
But Donna just repeated, "I mean a wasp that's giant!"
"It's only a silly little insect," Agatha shook her head.
"Oi," Mac glared at her, getting up and moving to Donna's side, "There's nothing silly or little about it," she told the woman, "Or does that," she pointed at the stinger stuck in the door, "Look like either to you?"
The Doctor's eyes widened at the sight of it, "Let me see!" he cried, before pushing his way back into the room, rushing to the broken window, only to see nothing there, "It's gone. Buzzed off."
"But that's fascinating…" Agatha breathed, still staring at the stinger.
"Yes, fascinating," Mac remarked dryly, "And poisonous. And deadly," she paused and smiled sweetly at the Doctor, "Are you sure you're a Time Lord and not a Vespiform Doctor?"
The Doctor ignored her and pushed his way to the stinger, taking a small sample of it with a pencil and a vial, "Well, there are tons of amorphous insectivorous lifeforms but…none in this galactic vector, especially not Vespiforms…"
"I think I understood some of those words," Agatha glanced between the two of them, "Enough to know that you're completely potty."
"Finally, someone else sees it," Mac muttered, crossing her arms.
"Lost its sting, though," Donna cut in, "That makes it defenseless."
"Not for a Vespiform," Mac shook her head, "They can grow new ones…just like a hand," she shot another look at the Doctor who ignored her as well.
"Uh, can we return to sanity?" Agatha frowned at them, "There are no such things as giant wasps."
"Exactly!" the Doctor cheered, standing, "So…the question is, what's it doing here?"
~8~
The small group was heading down the stairs, when they heard a terrified scream coming from outside and bolted. The Doctor and Mac managed to take the lead, being a bit more spry than humans were, and ran outside to see the housekeeper was pinned to the ground under a gargoyle that had fallen on top of her. The Doctor, Donna, and Agatha quickly moved to her side, checking on her, Mac standing back and looking up at the house, a hand shielding her eyes against the sun as she tried to spot where it had fallen from and if the thing that had pushed it was still there. She knew humans, she knew what they were like and the sort of trauma their bodies could withstand, she knew that the housekeeper's time was down to a few mere seconds and…she didn't want to be close to that, she didn't want to see yet another person die because the Doctor had gotten involved.
It HAD to be the Doctor's fault this happened, it was just another thing to add to the long list of travesties. It was the same thing as when the Sontarans had attacked, the Doctor was NOT subtle at all. He went into investigations with a blinking neon light on him shouting out to the alien criminals that he was coming for them and he'd find them. Clearly the woman beneath the gargoyle knew something and might have been coming to the Doctor with that piece of information, the alien had reacted badly to it, worse than it would have if it hadn't known it was being investigated.
She swallowed though, a tiny voice in her head that, for some reason unknown to her, actually sounded a little like Donna, chastised her for it. Saying that of COURSE the alien would be investigated, it had murdered a professor and EVERYONE had seen the body. One couldn't help but expect an investigation after something like that, if not the Doctor than by the police. It was going to happen regardless because of the first murder and it was NOT the Doctor's fault.
She tried to push that voice aside though, it was…easier to blame the Doctor.
"The poor, little…child," Mac looked over, hearing the housekeeper wheeze out those final words before her eyes fluttered closed in death.
"Doctor…" Mac called, her eyes back on the sky, "It's back!"
The Doctor jumped up and stared at the sky, seeing the wasp flying past, "There! Come on!" he grabbed Donna's hand and pulled her back inside as the wasp darted for the doors to the manor, Agatha and Mac rushing after him, following him up the stairs after the wasp.
"Well, this makes a change," Donna huffed, "There's a monster and we're chasing it!"
"Can't be a monster," Agatha shook her head.
"You'd be surprised what monsters can look like," Mac muttered under her breath.
Donna looked at the Doctor, feeling him squeeze her hand tighter for those words. Both of them knew that Mac had likely been referring either to him, or the Daleks…or both. And that broke Donna's heart and she knew it had to hurt the Doctor's, to hear literally the LAST of his people call him a monster. She knew what he'd done to his planet, it had been the last resort he'd said, she saw the pain and the guilt in his eyes every time he talked about it and yes, she knew it was a terrible, horrible, awful thing to do and the consequences had been devastating…but to have him being called a monster for saving the universe? That wasn't right.
She tried, for a moment though, to imagine it from Mac's point of view, or even from her own if it had been the Earth that had been destroyed because of something the Doctor did…if all of her family and friends, in the blink of an eye, were just…gone. She'd be devastated, heartbroken, probably raging as well though. She'd have tried to murder the Doctor, screamed obscenities at him, threatened him, and then demanded he bring the earth back. Only to realize that…the Earth wouldn't come back…she'd be a wreck. She tried to do that, she tried to understand both sides of a fight before she got involved and to empathize with other as much as she could so she didn't take one side undeservingly or find herself unable to try and talk to both sides.
It was hard because…the Doctor felt so guilty and she knew he had every single life in the universe to worry about if he didn't do something…but…if it had been HER family, she wouldn't have been so forgiving either. And Mac, from small comments she'd heard the girl make from time to time, she had gathered enough to know she had siblings, and that made it worse, because SHE couldn't imagine what it would be like to lose them as well, being an only child. She had nieces and nephews and parents and likely cousins and friends and…and she knew the Doctor had that as well but…the Doctor also had children. Though, she'd learned that the Doctor's family had been killed in a bombing, they were gone before the war ended, unlike Mac's family.
It was a very complicated and heart breaking situation to be in, to understand both their cases and their feelings about it.
"A wasp?" Agatha scoffed, pulling Donna from her thoughts, "It's a trick. They do it with mirrors…" she trailed off though when they reached the top of the stairs to see the wasp just hovering there, no mirrors or strings or smoke in sight, "By all that's holy…"
"Oh, but you are wonderful!" the Doctor beamed at it.
"You are kidding me?!" Mac shot him a glare, "It's a murderer and you find it 'wonderful?'" she let out a bitter laugh, "YOU would."
The Doctor glanced at her for only a moment, a hurt expression on his face, before he noticed the wasp readying its stinger, "Now, just stop there!" he tried to move in front of the women, but the wasp flew right at them, stinger first, forcing them to duck down as it flew over them.
"Let go!" Mac yanked her arm out of the Doctor's hold and stood, pulling the spray and lighter out of her pocket and igniting it as the wasp flew at them again, making it hiss and buzz in alarm, before flying off.
"Don't let it get away!" the Doctor shouted, leaping to his feet.
"A 'thank you' would be polite!" Mac snapped at him.
But he was already off down the hallway, calling, "Quick, before it reverts to human form!" back at them as they took off after him, following him up a set of stairs to a hallway with quite a few doors down it, "Where are you?" he banged on the wall, "Come on! There's nowhere to run. Show yourself!" he started to grin when the doors to the hallway opened and all the guests peeked their heads out at him, all of them human again, "Oh…that's just cheating."
"Says the man who wrote the instructions for TARDIS piloting on his arms to try and pass his exams," Mac muttered.
"Oi!" the Doctor glanced at her, almost smiling at that, at how she'd brought up something that wasn't entirely horrible or biting and was actually a tiny bit amusing…only for her to throw him a look and roll her eyes before striding off.
~8~
Mac was sitting in the back of the sitting room of the manor, a handful of flowers scattered on a small table before her as she worked on separating them, slapping the Doctor's hands back when he tried to touch them or poke them. She had an idea to get the wasp, or at least distract it if it attacked again, but the Doctor was NOT helping her focus any. But then again, neither was the sobbing human on the sofa.
"My faithful companion!" Eddison wept, "This is terrible!"
"Excuse me, my lady," Davenport stepped up from where he was standing with a few servants, "She was on her way to tell you something."
"She never found me. She had an appointment with death instead."
Mac tried her best not to feel irritation with the woman for her dramatics, the Doctor was an even bigger drama queen and she hadn't killed him yet.
"She said, 'the poor little child,'" the Doctor finally turned away from her for a moment to speak to Eddison, "Does that mean anything to anyone?"
"No children in this house for years," Hugh sighed, glancing at his son, a small, knowing look in his yes, "Highly unlikely there will be."
"There's always adoption," Mac muttered to him, making the occupants glance at her a moment before looking back at each other.
On Gallifrey, children were sacred. Living such long lives, children were precious. There were NO orphans on Gallifrey, at all. Anyone who had a child and died, leaving them without another parent or something, the children immediately went to the next closest family members. Always. There were no children abandoned, none given up, every person who had a child kept their child or, at the very worst, bestowed them on a family member but NONE were ever left to fend for themselves. It had been one reason she hadn't been able to even have a child in name, there were none to be given.
"Mrs. Christie, you must have twigged something," Robina spoke up, "You've written simply the best detective stories."
"Tell us…what would Poirot do?" the reverend asked.
"Heaven's sake!" Hugh slapped his arm rest on his chair, "Cards on the table, woman! You should be helping us!"
"But…" Agatha shook her head, starting to stutter at being put in the spotlight, "I'm merely a writer."
"But surely you can crack it," Robina smiled encouragingly, "These events, they're exactly like one of your plots."
"That's what I've been saying," Donna nodded eagerly, looking at Agatha, "Agatha, that's got to mean something."
"But what?" Agatha let out a scoffing breath, "I've no answers. None. I'm sorry, all of you, I'm truly sorry, but I've failed," she swallowed hard at that, "If anyone can help us, it's the Doctor and his assistants, not me," she waited till everyone had turned to look at the Doctor and the other women before she got up and walked out of the room.
~8~
A short while later, when the guests and hosts had left the room, leaving Mac and the Doctor alone in a rather uncomfortable and tense silence, Donna and Agatha rushed back in, the author with a small box in her hands that she'd found while she and Donna had been talking outside. The Doctor had immediately taken it and opened it to reveal quite the assortment of lock picking tools.
"Ooh…" the Doctor murmured, poking one or two of them, "Someone came tooled up…the sort of stuff a thief would use."
"The Unicorn!" Agatha's eyes widened at that, "He's here!"
"The Unicorn and the wasp."
"Your drinks, ladies, Doctor," the butler called as he entered the room with three drinks, two for Donna and Agatha and one for the Doctor.
"Very good, Greeves," the Doctor smiled at the man, taking the tray as the butler left, setting it on the table and taking his drink from the mix.
"Oh no," Mac stepped over and snatched the beverage from him, "You're not getting smashed in the middle of a murder investigation," she shot him a look.
"It's ONE drink," he argued, trying to reach for it.
"And we both know that no version of you can hold your liquor," she shot back, stepping back out of his reach, giving him a pointed look before she took a sip of the liquid herself.
"What about the science stuff?" Donna smiled behind her glass at that, there were times, very, VERY rare times, where Mac almost sounded like a nagging wife, which was much more pleasant to think of instead of her being an angry woman making snide remarks, "What did you find?"
"Hm," the Doctor looked over at her with a pout, having watched Mac take another sip, "Vespiform sting. Vespiforms have got hives in the Silifax Galaxy."
"Again you talk like Edward Lear," Agatha shook her head.
"For some reason, this one's behaving like a character in one of your books."
"Come on, Agatha," Donna turned to her, "What would Miss Marple do? She'd've overheard something vital by now because the murderer thinks she's just a harmless old lady."
"1927," Mac mumbled to Donna, taking the last sip of her drink and frowning, her mouth moving as though she were trying to get an aftertaste out of it.
"Clever idea," Agatha mused, "Miss Marple, who writes those?"
"Um," Donna smiled hesitantly, "Copyright: Donna Noble? Add it to the list."
"Mackenzie?" the Doctor called, seeing her starting to sway, looking a bit pale, "Mackenzie!" he jumped to his feet and ran to her side, catching her just as she nearly stumbled and fell.
"I don't…" Mac swallowed, her vision starting to swim, "I don't feel well…" she winced, the Doctor whipping out the sonic and scanning her, not caring that Agatha was watching him.
"Something's inhibiting your enzymes," he looked at the scan as she let out a groan of pain, "You've been poisoned! Donna help me!" he called to her, throwing one of Mac's arms around his shoulders as she convulsed, knowing that if he even dared try go with his first instinct, to scoop her up into his arms entirely, she'd likely deck him for it.
"What do we do?" Donna ran over, taking Mac's other arm as Agatha grabbed the glass out of her hand, "What do we do?!"
"Bitter almonds," Agatha whispered, sniffing the remnants of the glass, "It's cyanide. Sparkling cyanide!"
"This way!" the Doctor started heading for the door with Donna, Agatha rushing after him, seeing him heading for the kitchens and bursting into them with Mac. He ran to a small island in the middle, letting Mac go as she leaned against it, gasping for air, her breathing starting to get labored, "Ginger beer!" he shouted to the kitchen staff who he was quite sure he'd startled the life out of by kicking the door open.
"I beg your pardon?" Davenport shook his head.
"I need ginger beer, now!" he ran to the shelves, "Where is it? Where do you keep the ginger beer!?"
"The gentleman's gone mad!" another of the kitchen staff, a young woman called.
But the Doctor was on a mission, trying to find the beer as Donna ran to help him, Agatha trying to keep Mac standing up straight, "Ah ha!" he cheered, finding a bottle and ran back to Mac, "Here, Mackenzie, you need to drink this," he reached out, not caring what her reactions would be anymore as his hearts hammered in his chest, tilting her head back a bit and lifting the bottle to her lips to drink, making sure she swallowed a few mouthfuls before he pulled it away, "Sorry bout this," he winced, moments before he poured it all over the top of her head, soaking her hair and blouse in the sticky substance.
"Doctor what are you doing?!" Agatha shook her head, "I'm an expert in poisons. Cyanide is fatal! There's no cure!"
"Not for us," he whispered, reaching out to take Mac's head in his hands, making her look at him, "Do you hear me, NOT for US," he looked into her eyes, seeing the pain in them from the poison and looked around, "We can stimulate the inhibited enzymes into reversal. Protein!" he snapped his fingers, "I need protein!" and ran back to the shelves.
"Walnuts!" Donna cried, tossing him a bag of them.
"Brilliant!" the Doctor smiled, rushing back to Mac and pouring some into his hands, half-shoving them into her mouth, not having time to be gentle about it.
"What next?" Donna looked at him, ready to get the next object.
"Salt!" he spun around, moving to the cabinets, "Salt! We need something salty!"
Donna's eyes widened and she ran to the shelf again, grabbing a brown bag, "What about this?"
"What is it?"
"It's salt."
"That's too salty!" he raced to another cupboard, searching through it, more frantic than before as he heard Mac give another pained groan, her breathing getting shorter.
"Oh, that's too salty," Donna rolled her eyes.
"What about this?" Agatha offered, having spotted a jar on the counter and grabbed it.
"Yes!" he beamed, taking it and moving back to Mac, having to tilt her head and try to get her to swallow the contents again, "I'm sorry, sorry, I know you hate fish…" he mumbled, forcing her to eat it by clamping his hand over her mouth till she swallowed.
"Fish?" Donna blinked.
"Anchovies," Agatha elaborated.
The Doctor looked around, needing just one more thing to help but…there was nothing. There was nothing there, nothing in reach, nothing that could create what he need.
"Doctor what is it?" Donna breathed, seeing his quickly dampening expression, "What's left?"
"A shock," he ran a hand through his hand, "Just…just a shock…" he glanced back at Mac, her leaning back against the counter, gripping it with both hands so tightly on either side of her that her knuckles were turning white, her eyes squeezed closed with a fine layer of sweat on her brow. He swallowed hard and strode back over to her, "Didn't say it had to be a good one," he muttered, knowing it would be rather unpleasant for her, before he grabbed her face in his hands and kissed her hard on the lips, remaining there even as she beat a fist against his chest and tried to pull away.
He let go only when he felt her shudder and knew what that meant, the poison was about to be released. He jumped back, Mac throwing her head back and half-falling onto the counter behind her as a black smoke rose out of her mouth and into the air before it dissipated, leaving her slumped against the counter, panting.
"Detox," the Doctor offered as an explanation to the others.
Mac though, just gave him the most withering look and strode up to him, slapping him hard across the face, "Don't you EVER do that to me again!" she snapped at him, tears in her eyes before she turned and stormed out of the room.
Donna frowned, glancing from the Doctor's already reddening cheek to the clearly distressed woman that was practically fleeing the room, and ran after Mac.
~8~
"You shouldn't get so cross with the Doctor," Donna remarked as she joined Mac in the garden of the manor, the woman pacing about, "He was just trying to save your life."
"And that always happens," she huffed, "He tries to save one life and ends up taking five others."
"I don't think that's true," Donna frowned at her, crossing her arms, "Don't you think you're taking this whole anger thing a bit far? I get he hurt you and..."
"You don't know the first thing about what he did to me Donna," Mac stopped her pacing to turn to her.
"Fine," Donna huffed, "I won't ask you to stop being angry, or to forgive him, but could you...I don't know, at least TRY to be civil to him?"
"Civil?" Mac scoffed, "To the man who destroyed my entire planet?"
"His planet too," Donna reminded her, making Mac fall silent, "For the sake of the Universe. Look," she held up a hand to stop Mac from speaking, "You didn't HAVE to come. You don't have to be here right now. You're choosing to, cos you think I'll get hurt right?" Mac nodded, "Well this," she gestured at the woman, "Isn't exactly safe either," she told her, "I get hurt every time you throw a dig at him or make some remark. It hurts him AND me when you do that. So please...I don't want to get caught in the crossfire. That happens enough as it is," she tried to joke, "So for me, will you at least TRY to hold back? Be civil? You don't even have to be polite, just...just civil to him."
Mac's jaw tensed for a moment before she sighed and looked away. It was true, she DIDN'T have to be there, but she was. She could have stayed on Earth, she was CHOOSING to be around the Doctor and it was her own fault for being around a man she clearly had issues with. It wasn't fair to Donna to constantly have to hear her complain about him, "I can try," she offered.
"That's all I'm asking," Donna smiled.
"I...it might be hard," Mac warned, "I've spent...500 years? Near enough, being angry and hurt...that doesn't just go away overnight."
"I get that, I do," Donna nodded, "I'm still unbelievably angry and cross with Lance, my um...ex-fiance," she admitted, "I get it. And I appreciate your effort to at least try."
Mac gave her a small nod and let out a long breath, this...was not going to be easy.
~8~
The Doctor glanced at Mac as they gathered around the dining room table that night. She was…oddly quiet, given what had just happened between them. He had expected glares, perhaps another smack, maybe even some shouts…but she was just sitting there, looking at her soup, pushing the broth around with her spoon, Donna beside her with a tiny hint of a smile on her face. He wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or a bad thing as he didn't know what Donna had obviously said to the woman to make her go so quiet.
He…to be honest, he didn't want that. He didn't want other people telling her things that made her solemn or quiet or hesitant or hurt. Granted, he knew that Donna wouldn't ever say something that would hurt someone else on purpose but she could be quite forceful at times. He'd always hated when the Master would comment things to her on Gallifrey and she'd get quiet and contemplative and he'd later learn that the man had made some sort of remark about her and…and HIM. The Mac he remembered from Gallifrey had always wanted the best for everyone around her, and the Master seemed to take a particular joy in telling her she wasn't what was best for HIM. It took him ages to convince her otherwise so he always hated when she'd go quiet and someone else had a smile on their face for it.
He glanced up though when a bolt of lightning illuminated the room, "A terrible day for all of us," he began, looking at those guests and hosts gathered around them, "The professor struck down, Miss Chandrakala cruelly taken from us, and yet, we still take dinner."
"We are British, Doctor," Eddison straightened in her seat, "What else must we do?"
"Mourn?" Mac supplied, "Properly mourn? Find closure? Come to terms with events?"
The Doctor looked at her oddly for a moment, she sounded more…like she was trying to give an example of something that should be done, but something she hadn't been able to do herself, which he knew, very well, that she hadn't, "And then someone tried to poison Mackenzie," he took up from there, "Any one of you had the chance to put cyanide in my drink. Clearly meaning for ME to take the poison instead, yet I'm afraid you missed the mark. However…it DID rather gave me an idea."
"And what would that be?" the reverend looked over.
Mac glanced up at him, seeing the man shifting in his seat and frowned. She looked around at the chairs, all of them had a sprig of the flowers she'd gathered hanging around. Wasps were near enough to bees that the scent of flowers affected them. It was a simple enough trick, a test, much like the Doctor's test with the soup, but hers was easier to use anywhere instead of tricking someone into consuming his. The only person in the room who was as shifty as the reverend was…well, only the reverend. He was the only one who seemed to be affected by the flowers but…she realized now, that it couldn't be said to be a firm test really. He might simply be allergic to flowers much like she was allergic to cats.
"Well, poison," the Doctor smirked as everyone stopped eating, "Drink up," he grinned as they turned to him, "I've laced the soup with pepper."
"Ah, I thought it was jolly spicy," Hugh gave a small chuckle and eagerly slurped up his soup, proving HE, at least, was not the wasp.
"It's…clever," Mac offered, and the Doctor immediately dropped his spoon in shock at her potential-praise, making it clatter against his bowl before it splashed soup up at him, though he hardly noticed as he gaped at her, "The active ingredient in pepper is piperine which IS an insecticide."
The Doctor started to smile at that, especially when thunder cracked behind them, "Oh, anyone got the shivers?"
Before another word could be spoken, there was another crash of thunder and the lights went out, a window flying open as the window snuffed the candles instantly.
"What the deuce is that?" Hugh gasped, a bit shocked at the violent turn in the weather.
"Listen!" the Doctor slowly stood, "Listen! Listen! Listen!" he put his finger to his lips, all of them falling quiet as he listened intently to the silence…a faint buzzing sounding as Mac stood as well, her hands moving to her pockets to take out the lighter and spray.
"No…" Eddison breathed, "No, it can't be!"
Agatha slammed her hands down on the table and stood up quickly, "Show yourself, demon!" she demanded.
"It's a wasp not a demon," Mac corrected.
"Nobody move!" the Doctor threw out his hands, holding them up, "No, don't!" he called as the guests tried to rise and see where the buzzing was coming from, "Stay where you are!"
Suddenly the wasp flew into the air, Greeves grabbing Donna's arm and pulling her out of the room, the Doctor immediately turning Mac and pushing her on, reaching out to grab Agatha's arm as well, shoving them into the hall with a cry of, "Out! Out! Out! Out! Out!"
He quickly turned and shut the door behind them the moment they were in the corridor outside the room, "Not you, Agatha. You've got a long life to lead yet."
"You complete ass!" Mac nearly spat at him, "Her life is no more important than the others!" she shouted, turning to run past him back into the dining hall, disgusted with how he'd only focused on Agatha instead of the others. Oh this was JUST like how she'd remarked on his lack of care for the 'little people,' all the lives of those non-famous people that he seemed to ignore at times.
"Mackenzie wait!" the Doctor shouted, grabbing a sword off a wall display and rushing after her…only to see that the wasp was gone just as the lights came back on.
"My jewelry," Eddison reached for her necklace, the rather large chunk of gem that had been hanging from it gone, "The Firestone, it's gone! Stolen!"
Mac, however, her gaze was on something she would have deemed far more precious than a stupid stone, "I think THAT should be the focus of your concern," she murmured, staring at the table.
"Roger," Davenport breathed.
Eddison spun around, Robina screaming, as they saw Roger sitting in his seat still, his face in his soup, a knife in his back, "My son…my child!" Eddison ran to him.
Mac just shook her head and turned to go, the Doctor reaching out to grab her arm, "Mackenzie…"
"Don't," she pulled her arm back, "Don't say a word to me Doctor," she took a very large breath, "I promised Donna I'd TRY to be civil to you…but this…" she gestured at the table where Eddison and Hugh were weeping over their son's body, "If we'd STAYED put, instead of you trying to save Agatha's life, we could have saved her and HIM too."
She gave him a disgusted look and shook her head, turning to step out of the room, unable to be around him, her mind returning to another son that had died because of the Doctor's interference. She had promised Donna she would try, and unlike most people, she always tried to keep her promises.
The Doctor just watched her go sadly, because...he'd been trying to save HER life as well.
~8~
The Doctor stood by the fireplace in the sitting room, staring at the flames, trying to will himself deaf to the conversation going on between Agatha and Mac on the sofa behind him, Donna off trying to console Lady Eddison as Mac didn't think she'd manage to do it without making some sort of remark that would lead the woman to blame the Doctor.
"You endured the same, didn't you?" Agatha was asking, "You lost a child?"
"A son," Mac swallowed hard, "It was too sudden, I didn't get enough time with him."
Agatha nodded and reached out to touch her hand, "I'm sorry," she held it, "Parents ought not bury their children."
"No," Mac agreed.
"I…I am sorry for your other pains," Agatha added.
"What other pains?" Mac looked at her, just…tired, her exhaustion in her words.
Agatha gave her a knowing, if sad, smile, "You were hurt by your husband as well, weren't you? Like the other Miss Noble and I were."
She nodded, knowing the woman hardly ever missed a trick, "Yeah, I um…caught him with another woman too," she murmured, "Only, where I come from…" she looked at Agatha with a small encouraging smile of her own, "We aren't allowed to divorce."
Agatha nodded at that, it was…scandal, almost, to divorce in that day and age, but…she could see it in Mac's eyes, the pain went all the deeper because she'd been stuck with the man who had betrayed her even after. She would be sure to give her thoughts on divorce a much more willing look when she had the chance.
"That poor footman," Donna called as she entered the room, "Roger's dead and he can't even mourn him. 1926. It's more like the dark ages," she let out a small huff as she plopped down on the sofa on the other side of Agatha.
"Did you inquire about the necklace?" Agatha turned to her.
"Lady Eddison brought it back from India. It's worth thousands."
"This thing can sting," the Doctor mumbled, "It can fly, it could wipe us all out in seconds," he turned to the three women, though Agatha and Donna knew he was looking at Mac more than them, "Why is it playing this game?"
"Every murder is essentially the same," Agatha offered when Mac remained silent, "They are committed because somebody wants something."
"What does a Vespiform want?"
"Doctor, stop it. The murderer is as human as you or I."
"Maybe that's the key then," Mac murmured, "We've been looking at this as an alien…what if we imagine that the murderer is human?" she glanced at the Doctor, "What changes then?"
He paused, considering that a moment, "That is…brilliant," he nodded, "We've been so caught up with giant wasps, we've forgotten…" he moved over to them, sitting on another sofa across from them, but looking at Agatha this time, "You're the expert."
"Look," Agatha sighed, moving to rub her temples as a headache started to form, "I told you. I'm just a…purveyor of nonsense."
"Oh, no, no, no, no, cos plenty of people write detective stories, but yours are the best. And why? Why are you so good, Agatha Christie? Because you understand. You've lived…you've fought…you've had your heart broken," his glance wavered for only a moment to Mac before he forced it to return to Agatha, "You know about people, their passions, their hope and despair and anger, all of those. Tiny huge things can turn the most ordinary person into a killer. Just think, Agatha. If anyone can solve this, it's you."
~8~
Only a short while later, the remaining guests had gathered, along with their hosts, in the sitting room. Agatha and the Doctor were nearer the fireplace, Donna off to the side, sitting down with a small bag of popcorn in her hands, ready to watch the show. The Doctor got up and stood before the guests, looking at the back of the room where Mac was standing by the door, ready in case someone decided to run for it or if the wasp attacked she would be able to get it from behind.
He looked at her intently, waiting till he'd caught her eye and gave her a questioning look. She gave him a curt nod in reply which got a nod from him as well before he began, "We've called you here on this endless night because we have a murderer in our midst. And when it comes to detection, there's none finer…ladies and gentlemen, I give you Agatha Christie," he gestured to her before moving to sit beside Donna, watching as the woman took his place, standing before them all.
"This is a crooked house," she started and Mac could tell she was trying to embody one of her detectives, trying to play the role of someone from her books to make herself more comfortable, pretend she was acting out a scene for her next novel, trying to see how a scene would work out instead of actually trying to address an audience, "A house of secrets. To understand the solution, we must examine them all. Starting with you…Miss Redmond."
Robina blinked and put a delicate hand to her chest, "But I'm innocent, surely."
"You've never met these people and these people never met you. I think the real Robina Redmond never left London. You're impersonating her!"
"How silly," she smiled tensely, "What proof do you have?"
"You said you'd been to the toilet…"
"Oh," Donna grinned, "I know this, if she was really posh, she'd say 'loo.'"
"Earlier today, Miss Donna Noble and I found this on the lawn…" she moved to a small table to the side and picked up the lock picking tools, "…right beneath your bathroom window. You must have heard both Miss Nobles were searching the bedrooms and you panicked. You ran upstairs and disposed of the evidence."
"I've never seen that thing before in my life," Robina tried to defend.
"What's inside it?" Eddison frowned, shifting in her seat to try and see it clearer.
"The tools of your trade, Miss Redmond, or should I say…the Unicorn," she opened the case suddenly, holding it up for everyone to see the picks, "You came to this house with one sole intention, to steal the Firestone!"
Everyone turned to Robina who looked around, trying to seem innocent, before she sighed and rolled her eyes, "Oh, alright then, it's a fair cop," she stood, a cockney accent to her words, "Yes, I'm the bleedin' Unicorn. Ever so nice to meet you," she gave them a mocking curtsy, "I don't think. I took my chance in the dark and nabbed it," she tugged under the strap of her dress and pulled the necklace out, "Go on then, ya nobs, arrest me. Sling me in jail!" she wound her arm back, ready to throw it, when someone grabbed her wrist.
"I'll take that, thank you," Mac plucked the Firestone from her hand and began to look at it, pulling a magnifying glass from her pocket and a penlight, she put the light between her teeth and stepped back, pulling her glasses down to examine the stone more as the Doctor watched.
"So, is she the murderer?" Donna asked, trying to pull attention away from Mac.
"Don't be so thick," Robina sneered, "I might be a thief but I ain't no killer."
"Quite," Agatha nodded, "There are darker motives at work, and, in examining this household…we come to you…Colonel."
Hugh stared at her a moment, before his face flushed, "Damn it, woman! You with your perspicacity! You've rumbled me!"
And then, before their very eyes…he stood up.
Eddison blinked and stared at him in shock, "You…you can walk? But why?!"
"My darling," he immediately knelt by her side, "How else could I be certain of keeping you by my side?"
The Doctor watched them sadly, the man's words hitting closer to home than he knew he or Mac would have wanted him to admit to. He…he HAD told her that he wanted to be with her forever, had told her once, so long ago, that he wanted her to be his Chosen one day so that he could keep her with him always. He could still remember her face when he'd told her that, how happy she'd been, how…her eyes had sparkled with love and joy and…warmth. It was a far cry from how she looked at him now, but he knew it was all his own fault for it.
"I don't understand," Eddison shook her head.
"You're still a beautiful woman, Clemency. Sooner or later, some chap will turn your head. I couldn't bear that. Staying in the chair was the only way I could be certain of keeping you. Confound it, Mrs. Christie!" he stood again and looked at the woman, "How did you discover the truth?"
"Um," Agatha offered him a small smile, "Actually, I had no idea. I was just going to say you were completely innocent."
"Ah…" he blinked, "Oh…"
"Sorry."
"Well, shall I sit down then?" he pointed at his chair.
"I think you better had," Agatha nodded.
"So he's not the murderer?" Donna guessed.
"Indeed not. To find the truth…let's return…" she glanced at Mac, who turned to her, her glasses on her nose, the penlight in her mouth, the magnifying glass just before her eye, making it seem rather large, and making it rather difficult for Agatha not to laugh at the sight. She nodded, realizing what the woman wanted and pulled the penlight out of her mouth, handing the Firestone over and pushing her glasses up again, "To this, far more than the Unicorn's object of desire. The Firestone has quite a history. Lady Eddison."
"I've done nothing!" Eddison said quickly, a little too quickly and defensively for them to fully believe that.
"You brought it back from India, did you not? Before you met the Colonel. According to your butler," she began, thinking of when she and the Doctor had interviewed him as well, had asked a few of the servants questions after the housekeeper had died, "You came home with malaria and confined yourself to this house for six months, in a room that has been locked ever since, which I rather think means…"
"Stop," Eddison gasped, tears in her eyes, "Please!"
"I'm so sorry. But you had fallen pregnant in India…unmarried and ashamed, you hurried back to England with your confidante, a young maid, later to become housekeeper, Miss Chandrakala."
"Clemency!" Hugh turned to her, his eyes wide at that information, "Is this true?"
But Eddison was sobbing now, far too overcome with the grief of having lost her one son to murder and another to shame, "My poor baby. I had to give him away. Oh, the shame of it."
"But you've never said a word!"
"I had no choice," she looked at him pleadingly.
"There is always a choice," Mac said from behind her.
Eddison looked at her over her shoulder, "But imagine the scandal, the family name…"
"To hell with your family name!" Mac snapped, "He was your SON! Your child! No matter what he should ALWAYS have come first!"
That was what she hated about some humans, the amount of effort and stock they put into image and reputation. It might be the cultural differences of Gallifrey and Earth, with children being so precious and the ways their societies worked, perhaps even a bit of her own desire for a child and being denied it forever…but to think of anyone giving up their child…it disgusted her. She knew, because the progenation machine had worked, if she wanted, she could have another son or daughter by it. The machine was specifically designed to produce one of each gender at a time, switching off between boy or girl, it had the capacity, the excess encoding of chromosomes to do so, how else would the female soldiers be able to help contribute to their cause if not for the machine allowing them to produce sons instead of just daughters? She COULD have another child through it, through something like it. It HAD been an option on Gallifrey but…
It was one she just couldn't bring herself to use.
Yes, she adored her son, Teddy had been everything she'd wanted in a child, except for conception. She was adamant, even now, that she not 'cheat' and have a child in that way, using machines and cloning and things to produce a child. None would be completely set for Time Lord DNA, which was why Teddy hadn't regenerated. She didn't want a cloned child, she didn't want a test tube baby, she wanted a real child in her stomach growing there but it couldn't happen. Teddy had NOT been her choice to create, he had been something that happened, and THAT was ok, that she could accept, it hadn't been HER choosing to do it, but something forced on her. He had been there and she'd accepted him, but she just couldn't bring herself to willingly do something like that.
"It was no ordinary pregnancy either, was it?" the Doctor cut in, not wanting Mac's thoughts to linger too much on Teddy, not wanting to see the pain flash in her eyes as she thought of her son and what happened to him…because of HIM.
Eddison spun around in her seat to face him, "How can you know that?!"
"Excuse me, Agatha," he stood slowly, "This is my territory," he moved over to the fireplace and sat down, taking the Firestone from her as she passed and sat on the sofa to listen to his tale as well, "But when you heard that buzzing sound in the dining room, you said, 'It can't be.' Why did you say that?"
"You'd never believe it," Eddison shook her head miserably.
"The Doctor has opened my mind to believe…many things," Agatha admitted.
Eddison sighed, "It was forty years ago in the heat of Delhi one night. I was alone and that's when I saw it, a dazzling light in the sky. The next day, he came to the house, Christopher, the most handsome man I'd ever seen. Our love blazed like a wildfire and I held nothing back. And in return, he showed me the incredible truth about himself. He made himself human to learn about us. This was his true shape. I loved him so much it didn't matter. But he was stolen from me. 1885, the year of the Great Monsoon. The River Jumna rose up and broke its banks. He was taken at the flood. But Christopher left me a parting gift, a jewel like no other," she nodded at the Firestone, "I wore it always. Part of me never forgot. I keep it close. Always."
"Just like a man," Robina scoffed, "Flashes his family jewels and you end up with a bun in the oven."
"A 'poor little child,'" Agatha murmured, recalling the housekeeper's words, "Forty years ago, Miss Chandrakala took that newborn babe to an orphanage. But Professor Peach worked it out. He found the birth certificate."
"Oh, that's 'maiden,'" Donna offered, thinking on what the Doctor had told her and Mac about the scrap of paper Agatha had found in the fireplace, it had said 'maiden' on it, "Maiden name."
"Precisely."
"So she killed him."
"I did not!" Eddison shouted.
Agatha shook her head, agreeing with Eddison, "Miss Chandrakala feared that the professor had unearthed your secret. She was coming to warn you."
"So she killed her," Donna guessed.
"I did not!" Eddison repeated.
"Donna, give her a chance to finish," Mac called, getting rather annoyed now. She knew Donna was excited to see a murder mystery play out before her with Agatha Christie herself a part of it, but this was getting ridiculous.
"Lady Eddison is innocent," Agatha told them all, "Because at this point… Doctor?" she looked at him.
He nodded, "Thank you. Because at this point when we consider the lies and secrets and the key to these events, then we have to consider…it was you, Donna Noble!" he pointed at her sharply.
"What?" Donna went cross-eyed staring at his finger, "Who did I kill?"
"No," he smiled, making Mac roll her eyes at him, "But you said it all along, the vital clue, that this whole thing is being acted out like a murder mystery. Which means…it was you, Agatha Christie!" he pointed to her now.
"I beg your pardon, sir?" Agatha frowned at him, Mac shaking her head and starting to make her way towards the Doctor, they'd never get anywhere with his dramatic side bursting to life.
"So she killed them?" Donna tried to follow.
"No," the Doctor shook his head, lowering his finger, "But she wrote. She wrote those brilliant, clever books. And who's her greatest admirer? The moving finger points…at you, Lady Eddison!" he moved onto Eddison now.
"Leave me alone!" the woman wept, burying her face in her hands.
"So she did kill them?" Donna repeated.
"No, but just think…" he began, only for Mac to appear beside him and give him the 'stop talking' gesture.
"Lady Eddison," she got right to the point, "What were you doing last Thursday night?"
"Uh," Eddison blinked, startled to be asked that, "I was uh…I was in the library. I was reading my favorite Agatha Christie thinking about her plots, and how clever she must be. How is that relevant?"
"What else happened Thursday night?" she glanced at the reverend.
"I'm sorry?" the man blinked.
"Two boys broke into the church, and you, a man of god, saw fit to use blunt force and violence to stop them?" Mac gave him a look.
"I was most perturbed," the reverend tried to defend himself, "I merely apprehended them."
"A man of peace," Mac shook her head, "A pacifist? A forty year old man against two aggressive boys?"
"Hold on," Donna blinked, "Did you say…forty?" she glanced at Eddison for that.
"Oh, my God!" Eddison gasped, staring at the reverend in shock.
"Lady Eddison," the Doctor began, "Your child, how old would he be now?"
"Forty. He's…forty."
"Your child has come home. "
"Ha!" the reverend shook his head at the absurdity of it all, "This is poppycock!"
"Oh?" the Doctor glanced at him, "You said you were taught by the Christian fathers, meaning, raised in an orphanage."
"My son!" Eddison stared at him, "Can it be?"
Mac rolled her eyes at all the dramatics, "You found the boys and it angered you. For the first time in forever, you were properly angry, and that was what broke through the genetic code of your human half and awakened your father's side."
"You realized your inheritance," the Doctor agreed solemnly, "After all these years…you knew who you were. Oh, then it all kicks off cos this…" he held up the Firestone, "…isn't just a jewel. It's a Vespiform telepathic recorder. It's part of you, your brain, your very essence. And when you activated, so did the Firestone. It beamed your full identity directly into your mind."
"And while it was doing that, it took everything Eddison was reading about Agatha Christie's books and brought that along too. You started to think the world around you was exactly like it would be in one of her novels.
"Turns out," the Doctor started to smile, seeing Mac helping him explain instead of snapping and muttering about how he was doing it. Granted she was sticking more to the 'tell' portion instead of the embellishing way he'd have done it, she was still helping, they were working together, "We are in the middle of a murder mystery. One of yours, Dame Agatha," he gave a small bow to the woman as he sat on the arm of a chair.
"Dame?" Agatha blinked at him.
"1971!" Mac hissed at him.
He winced, "Oh, sorry, not yet."
"So he killed them?" Donna looked around, really hoping it was him and that was it, she was out of popcorn, "Yes? Definitely?"
"Yes," both Mac and the Doctor and Agatha said.
"Well," the reverend chuckled, though he was shifting and backing up as everyone looked at him, "This has certainly been a most entertaining evening. Really, you can't believe any of this, surely, Lady Eddizzz…"
"Lady who?" the Doctor's eyes narrowed at him, hearing the man starting to buzz a little before he'd cut himself off.
The reverend cleared his throat, though he still struggled, "Lady Eddizzzon…"
"Little bit of buzzing there, Vicar?"
"Stop it!" Mac elbowed him in the arm, "Do you ALWAYS have to antagonize the people trying to kill us!"
"Don't make me angry," the reverend hissed at him, glaring.
"Why?" the Doctor challenged, "What happens then?"
"Doctor!" Mac huffed as he went at it again.
"Damn it!" the reverend exploded, shocking everyone with his language, "You humanzzz! Worshipping your tribal sky godzzz! I am so much more! That night, the universe exploded in my mind! I wanted to take what wazz mine. And you, Agatha Christie, with your railway station bookstall romancezzz…what'zzz to stop me killing you?"
Eddison just kept staring at him in awe, "Oh, my dear God!" she reached out for him, "My child!"
"Don't touch him you idiot!" Mac snapped, not understanding how the woman, even being just reunited with her son, couldn't see that there was something VERY wrong with him! Even if the man's father had been a good man, they had JUST finished stressing that the man had a murderer's mind!
What was wrong with humans!?
"What'zzz to stop me killing you all?" the reverend shouted, throwing his arms out and morphing into the wasp right before their eyes.
And even then Eddison continued to reach for him, "Forgive me!"
Luckily, her husband and butler still had their senses about them and managed to pull her back, "No, Clemency!" Hugh shouted, tugging her for the door, "Keep away! Keep away, my darling!"
"No!" Agatha leapt to her feet as the wasp started to head for Eddison, its stinger ready, holding the Firestone up in her hand, "No more murder! If my imagination made you kill, then my imagination will find a way to stop you, foul creature!" and then she ran for the door.
"Oh honestly!" Mac huffed, the dramatics! They could give the Doctor a run for his money. All they had to do was shatter the Firestone and the Vespiform would stop, but Agatha had run off with it, leaving the trio little choice but to follow.
"Wait!" Donna gasped, spotting the wasp heading after them, "Now it's chasing us!"
They managed to make it out of the house and shut the doors, trying to give them some more time, only to spot Agatha already in a car, racing past them.
"Come on!" the Doctor reached out for them, grabbing Donna's hand, Mac pulling hers away before he could reach her though. They winced as the wasp broke through the door, causing it to splinter behind them, the wasp darting past them and hovering, looking at the trio running and Agatha in the car.
"Over here!" Agatha drew its attention, "Come and get me, Reverend!"
"Agatha, what are you doing?" the Doctor demanded of her.
"If I started this, Doctor, then I must stop it!" she turned and pressed her foot to the pedal, speeding off as the wasp raced after her.
"Come on!" the Doctor ran for a second car, sonicing it instead of letting Mac hotwire it, given time was of the essence.
"You said this is the night Agatha Christie loses her memory," Donna gasped as the Doctor sped off after Agatha.
"Time is in flux, Donna!" he shouted above the roar of the engine, "For all we know, this is the night Agatha Christie loses her life and history gets changed!"
"But where is she going?!"
"Where else?" Mac asked them, "Her car was found by a lake tomorrow wasn't it?"
"But what's she going to do?!" the Doctor shook his head, coming to a sudden stop as they reached the lake moments after Agatha, spotting her rushing towards the lake and stopping, spinning around and holding up the Firestone.
"Here I am!" she shouted as the wasp flew at her, "The honey in the trap. Come to me, Vespiform."
Donna blinked and stared, the wasp was slowing down, more hovering before her as the woman stared it down, "She's controlling it!"
"It's mind is based on her thought processes," the Doctor realized as he rushed out of the car, the two after them, "They're linked."
"Quite so, Doctor," Agatha nodded, not even blinking away from the wasp as she stepped slowly closer and closer to the lake, "If I die, then this creature might die with me."
"Oi!" Mac strode past them to the wasp, holding up her spray and lighter, "Leave her alone!"
"You're not meant to be like this," the Doctor tried to reason with it, seeing that, from that angle, Mac would end up burning the creatures wings, potentially killing it, "You've got the wrong template in your mind."
Donna looked between them and the wasp that was getting steadily closer to Agatha and ran forward, "He's not listening!" she grabbed the stone out of Agatha's hand before she could even react, and threw it into the lake, the wasp diving after it instantly, making the water bubble and turn purple for a moment as they stared on, "How do you kill a wasp? Drown it. Just like its father."
"Donna, that thing couldn't help itself," the Doctor murmured.
"Neither could I," Donna whispered.
"If you hadn't stopped it," Mac reached out to put a hand on Donna's shoulder, "It would have continued killing."
The Doctor was silent as he looked at Mac, knowing that he could argue that THAT was what he'd been trying to do with the war and the Daleks. That if he hadn't stopped them, they would have gone on killing. But he knew Mac wouldn't listen, not just because of how massive a loss it was for them both but…his plan had ultimately failed as more Daleks than he cared to remember HAD survived the destruction of Gallifrey. His efforts had truly been for nothing.
"Death comes as the end," Agatha agreed, "And justice is served."
"Murder at the vicar's rage," the Doctor offered, only for Donna to roll her eyes exactly as Mac was, which sort of made him see the 'family' resemblance a bit more, "Needs a bit of work."
"Just one mystery left, Doctor," Agatha turned to the Time Lords, "Who exactly are you two?" she'd never seen someone speak like the Doctor or be able to battle a poison like Mac had.
The Doctor glanced at Mac, not quite sure what to say…when the woman suddenly fell forward, a grimace of pain on her face before she lost consciousness. The Doctor managed to catch her and lower her to the ground, his mind racing as he worked out what had happened, "Oh! It's the Firestone! It's part of the Vespiform's mind! It's dying and it's connected to Agatha!" he looked around, frantic, trying to think of something to do…when she began to glow purple, settling into a gentle unconsciousness as it faded, "It let her go. Right at the end, the Vespiform chose to save someone's life."
"Is she alright, though?" Donna frowned as Mac reached out and took her pulse.
"I've got smelling salts," Mac reached for her pockets.
"No," the Doctor shook his head, seeming about to reach out to stop her before he stopped himself, "Let…let her rest. Her mind needs healing from using the Firestone…of course!" he shouted suddenly, a thought striking him from that remark, "The amnesia! Wiped her mind of everything that happened. The wasp, the murders…"
"And us," Donna sighed, "She'll forget about us."
"Yeah, but we solved another riddle," he grinned, "The mystery of Agatha Christie. And tomorrow morning, her car gets found by the side of the lake just like Mackenzie said. A few days later, she turns up at a hotel in Harrogate…with no idea of what just happened."
"Well then we'd best get her there," Mac determined, "There's no telling how long of a rest she'll need, we should get her ready to head out there as soon as we can."
The Doctor nodded and leaned down to pick Agatha up, the three of them heading to the car to get back to the TARDIS.
~8~
The trio stood across the road, watching as Agatha headed up the steps to the famed hotel, glancing back in their direction but not really seeing them. They were one of the crowd now, "No one'll ever know," the Doctor mused.
"Except Lady Eddison, Hugh, their staff, their guests…" Mac listed.
"Yeah," Donna nodded, "What about them?"
"A shameful story," he shrugged, "They'd never talk of it, too British. While the Unicorn does a bunk back to London Town, she can never say she was there."
"But what happens to Agatha?"
"History," Mac watched as Agatha entered the hotel, "She'll write more, meet another man, get married and just…live her life to the fullest."
"She never thought her books were any good, though. And she must have spent all those years wondering."
The Doctor just grinned at that and took her hand, tugging her back to the TARDIS with Mac following.
~8~
"Thing is," the Doctor's muffled voice drifted up to Mac and Donna as they knelt beside an opening in the grating, the Doctor currently half buried beneath it, digging around for something, "I don't think she ever quite forgot. Great mind like that, some of the details kept bleeding through. All the stuff her imagination could use. Like Miss Marple!"
"I should have made her sign a contract," Donna sighed at that.
"And…where is it?" Donna winced as he banged his head on something, "Hold on…"
"You should organize better Doctor," Mac called down to him.
"Don't need to, cos…here we go!" he cheered, lifting a chest out of the grate and setting it between the two women, "C," he opened it, "That is C for Cyberman," he tossed a Cyberman's chestplate aside, Mac frowning as she touched the center of it, tracing an odd logo on it, "C for Carrionites," and set down a globe he'd nicked from the Globe Theater that had the three Carrionites trapped inside it, still wailing, before he set a bust of Caesar before them as well, "And…" he grinned widely, pulling out a small paperback novel, "Christie, Agatha," he held it up to them to see his copy of 'Death in the Clouds' complete with a wasp on the cover, "Look at that," he tapped the insect.
"She did remember," Donna smiled, taking the book to look at the cover more intently.
"Somewhere at the back of her mind, it all lingered. And that's not all. Look at the copyright page."
Donna opened the front cover, reading the inside note, "'Facsimile edition published in the year…5 billion!?'"
Mac nodded, "And that's not even the oldest edition that'll be published," she added, "Or the most popular."
"People never stop reading them," the Doctor agreed, "She is the best-selling novelist of all time."
"But she never knew," Donna murmured.
"Well, no one knows how they're gonna be remembered," the Doctor began, his tone growing a bit more sad near the end, his glance drifting to Mac for a moment, "We can only hope for the best," he sighed and shrugged, "Maybe that's what kept her writing. The same thing that keeps me travelling," he looked at both women, "Onwards?" he offered.
Donna nodded, "Onwards."
"…Mackenzie?" he looked at her, trying not to be hopeful.
Mac glanced down at the novel, and then to Donna, and back, before she nodded, "Onwards."
The Doctor gave himself a little smile before he jumped to his feet and pulled a lever on the console, making the rotor rise and fall as Donna and Mac looked on, Mac glancing back down at the book once more, there was still…danger out there, she knew, far greater than the Doctor even realized. She still had the Adipose and the Sontaran invasion of Earth in mind, there was something else going on in the Universe and…what better way to look into it, than travelling through it?
A/N: I'm back! ^-^
I just want to say thank you guys SO MUCH for being so understanding about my not being able to update for the last week or so :') I had a note on tumblr about it, but the gist of it was that I was without internet for the last week as my family and I tried to get answers and work out what was a little off about me the last few months, health wise. I'm so relieved to tell you all that I'm a-ok now. Around the weekend I started to feel so much better and by yesterday it was cleared up that, what I'd been feeling the last few months was more a massive stress-related episode than anything truly life threatening, which I'm very, very relieved about. Between finals in December and work and deadlines and stress with my boss and my parents urging me to quit and then that adding to worrying about how I'd be able to help pay the bills and mortgage without a paycheck and so many other things up to about the end of February, the stress really did a number to my health and energy levels :( Having the week off and long discussions with my parents about options for the future took an enormous amount of stress off me and I feel like my old self again. A lot of adjustments have been made in my life and I'm feeling a great deal better and I'm very excited to be back and ready to go ;)
I hope you all liked the chapter :) We'll be finding out exactly what the Doctor did to Mac in the next two ;)
I also wanted to say that, since the last week I wasn't able to sort of keep 'on schedule' for posting chapters (I think we'd be at the 10-specials by now or something), I'm going to cut a day or two off between posting my DW stories and my movie-stories (Thor, Star Wars, and LotR) to catch up. I'll also be posting 2 chapters of Merlin, OUAT, and BBT on certain days, like a little treat, to make sure we get those three stories complete by December 31st ;)
I have a few things to sort through but I should be back on tumblr too in a few hours ;) And I'll also be trying to get back to PMers over the next couple weeks, I've got almost 100 to get through so it might take a little while lol :)
Some notes on reviews...
I have a small sequel to WWTW planned for October, more so of all the 11s being in one place ;) I can't say if Mac will be there though, we'll have quite a few more Time Ladies added by then too so I might want to keep it as just the trio :)
I can say that Teddy DOES live in the end of the episode yup, just like Jenny :) I can't say if Teddy will reappear though, that'll be a secret }:)
Oh the snarking will keep up for a while, it wouldn't be believable or realistic to just have it completely stop as you can't just turn off anger, especially not when the target of it destroyed your entire planet AND your family AND was the cause of your misery for centuries :( You'd be pretty angry and biting too, I'd imagine :( But no, Mac will protect Donna as best she can, she won't be the cause of Donna's plight, but there will be quite a few revelations for Mac. In a way, they're already equal, the Doctor didn't REALLY destroy his planet ;)
Oh the Doctor cares for Mac much more than just as a friend ;) But I can say that yes, what he did (knowingly) did cause him a lot of hurt as well :(
I decided to make it so that Mac can't have children mostly because I'd gotten a lot of comments about how I kept bringing children and Time Tots into my other three TLs and wanted to sort of try this out where we know going in there will not be any children growing up in the TARDIS :( It breaks my heart to do, I love Time Tots and seeing them grow, but I felt like there had to be at least 1 series where we knew it was NOT going to happen to sort of break up all the other children appearing in my other stories (the Doctor's son, daughter, twins, and so on) :(
I sort of figured it was all a part of the machine, that it had some sort of DNA progenation thing that would allow women to have sons instead of just daughters. We saw there were female soldiers, I can't imagine that the original settlers would risk something happening where only the women were left and leaving them to make more women. I feel like it might just be a failsafe in the machine that allows a tweak to have the women have sons too :) And it's sci-fi and the future so they might have developed some way by then to do that ;)
I don't care for bashing fics either so it's hard to write Mac the way she is, Donna doesn't seem to like it either lol :) It's more...Mac actually has reasons and, everything she's bashing, in one way CAN be seen as reality and something that has actually happened in his past :( Which is why I think it's harder to write her, because she has a point at times and does point out the negative qualities of our favorite Time Lord :( But I can say she'll be toning it down (thanks to Donna's request) and it'll only last about another...week and then we get resolution and healing ;)
Mac didn't know about Rassilon nope :( And the Doctor, at this point, feels like he deserves her anger so he hasn't said anything about it (not that he thinks she'd even believe him at this point either) :( But that and Gallifrey Standing will be quite a bit of revelation for Mac going forward yup :) Donna can't really give her a piece of her mind because, in a way, Donna would react the same if someone tried to defend Lance, maybe even be worse than Mac :( But she doesn't want the Doctor constantly hurt so she's definitely put in a request for civility ;)
I tried searching 'Sherlock (episode title) sockshare' and I was able to find the episodes when they first came out :) Not sure if they're still up, but they might be :) But aww, thanks! I'd certainly give you an autograph in exchange for a hug ;) (I'm a hugger lol) So if my hugging you (and possibly buying you a tea/coffee/juice/beverage to chat over) doesn't creep you out, I'm not creeped out either ;) I don't think Mac will go through as much as Angel, I can say there'll be one very traumatizing moment in a later series, but it'll only pop up a little afterwards :) I'll definitely be continuing AAO yup, unfortunately none of the spin-offs this month either. The last week really threw me off and I've got to give a lot of time to catching up when I'd normally be writing them :( But April definitely ;) That series will go right to the end of Angel's story, but probably episode by episode. I'd put a question out about whether people would want it to skip or go in order and the consensus was more in order to see the progression of the relationship from the TARDIS's POV ;)
Mac will slowly come to understand the Doctor and how it's not as much his fault as she thinks things are :) Oh I think this Mac would have killed 11 within 5 minutes of meeting him lol, good thing she had 10 :) I think Mac would very much empathize with Amy in the Asylum yup :( It was mostly Donna that got her to agree to go, probably about 1 or 2 tenths Teddy and a majority Donna, I think she sees Donna as more someone's child (having met Mrs. Noble) and is thinking of her own child a little :( I hope we see Teddy again too :0
Mac is very...angry yup, I sort of want to slap her too :( But she'll definitely be calming down after what Donna asked :) I think it's more she's had centuries of misery because of the Doctor, then lost her planet because of him, and then lost her son so she's very hurt and just angry :'( She'll be getting a few revelations later that'll change how she sees/thinks of him though ;)
I think 10 would be more of the father sort of person. I feel like 11 is more of the 'big brother' type of father, like a child himself, but 10 would be a little more mature, a little more cautious, and maybe a little more of a worrier too, like...if they had a temperature or sneezed he'd freak out lol :)
Nope, Mac will never conceive a baby, no little Time Babies running around the TARDIS :(
