Note: I do not own Doctor Who or Torchwood. Madison Toya is all mine however.
She was running, she felt like she had been running forever. She had no idea where she was or where she was going, all she knew was that she couldn't stop. The moment she stopped she would be caught, she couldn't let anyone get her. It felt like she had been running all her life. Her chest was pounding, she was struggling to breath and she was aching all over. All she wanted to do was scream at the world and make everything stop, but she knew that was impossible. She carried on running, placing a hand in her pocket and closed her eyes.
"Hey, Madison! Madison wake up! Come on, wake up now, its ok just wake up." Jack was shaking her gently. She had been asleep for hours and he was still sitting there with her lying on him. When she had first fallen asleep neither Jack nor the Doctor really knew what to do, so they stayed there watching her for a while. She looked so peaceful, as if she didn't have a care in the world. The Doctor had gone wandering around the TARDIS some time ago, but came back when everything began shaking. That's when Jack noticed she was crying and mumbling and started to try and wake her up. "Madison, wake up, show me those amazing eyes of yours!" Jack pleaded.
She began to stir, the Doctor looked over at her and everything started to settle down. He thought that had been odd, the TARDIS didn't usually act like that when they weren't in flight. It was slightly concerning him. Eventually she opened her eyes.
"Where am I?" She asked, looking at Jack.
"It's ok, you're safe. You're in the TARDIS with me and the Doctor. Remember us?" She nodded and looked over to the Doctor. He flashed her a cheeky smile and she give him a smile back.
"That's better!" The Doctor said, walking over to her to help her up. He offered his hands out, she pushed the blankets off herself and grabbed hold of his hands and he pulled her up. Suddenly her eyes began to glaze over and her body went limp.
"Whoa! Steady now!" He said as Jack quickly got up to help. As soon as Jack had hold of her waist the Doctor let go of her hands. She blinked hard, and hung onto Jack's coat tightly. She looked up at him, her eyes shining green.
"Hey, are you ok?" Jack said, giving the Doctor a slightly bemused look.
"Sorry, I'm fine, just feeling a little lightheaded is all. So can someone please explain to me where I am and what is going on?" She asked as Jack moved the blankets out of the way helped her to sit back down again.
"Well that's what we were hoping you could do." The Doctor said, watching her closely. "How much do you remember before waking up?" He asked, sitting down beside her.
"I remember leaving the house, it was my first day as an art teacher at the school. I never made it far, something was after me. Oh, the school isn't going to be happy about this. First day and I didn't bother to show up. That isn't going to look good when I'm trying to find a job now. Then you both showed up. You were talking, I was getting annoyed because I heard you and didn't know if you were going to help or just leave me." She looked over at the Doctor. "You told me you were the Doctor and you asked me my name. Then you told me to run." She looked down at the ground, she could remember it so clearly because it kept replaying over and over in her head.
"Then what happened?" The Doctor asked her softly, he didn't want to scare her anymore then she already had been. He had to be delicate and gentle.
She didn't look up, her hands were in her lap and she was constantly twiddling her fingers. "I ran like you told me to, I ran home. Then there was banging at the door. I panicked, I was scared so I ran out to the back garden and climbed over the fence."
The Doctor looked at her, "What did you do when you went home Madison?"
She stopped playing with her hands and reached into her pocket, wrapping her fingers around the silver tube there. "I went into the kitchen, made a mess to make it look like someone had been in the house. Then ran out the back door."
The Doctor studied her hard and he could see she wasn't telling the whole truth. He knew she had been looking for something in the kitchen, he just needed to find out what.
"We want to help you Madison, so you have to tell us the truth ok? I promise you we are not going to hurt you, we really do just want to help." He looked at her, her eyes were welling up with tears again. He needed to change tactics. "Ok, so after you climbed over the fence what happened?"
She continued to fiddle with the tube in her pocked while looking down. "I wished I was somewhere safe."
"Good," the Doctor said. "So what happened after that?"
"I woke up here." The tears were running down her cheeks now.
"Right, ok! Now listen to me, what exactly where you doing when you wished to be somewhere safe? Where were you exactly? What were you doing?" He said it so quickly, Madison started at him blankly. "Please, this is could be very important. What else can you tell me?"
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She pulled the silver tube out of her pocket. "I was holding this."
The Doctor was looking at the silver tube in her hand, as was Jack. It was hard to tell who was more stunned.
"Now where did you get that the Madison?" The Doctor asked her, his voice was so soft and gentle.
"I don't remember, I've always had it, for as long as I can remember. But then, I can't remember everything." She said the last part so quietly that Jack had to repeat what she had said just to make sure he heard correctly.
"You can't remember everything? How much is everything?" Jack asked her.
"A lot, I can only remember the past 8 years, nothing before that."
The Doctor and Jack exchanged looks. There was a lot more to this girl than either one of them knew. They needed to work it all out and they had to do it fast.
"Can I take a look at it? I promise to give it back." The Doctor asked her. She nodded and handed it to him. He dashed over to where his coat was hanging and rummaged through the pockets until he found something. He pulled out a matching silver tube. He held them next to each other and then pushed the button that turned them on. They both hummed in unison.
"Matching pair, interesting." He said, walking over and handing Madison's one back to her. She held onto it tightly and placed it back in her pocket.
"I think we could all do with a nice cup of tea and a chat. How about it Madison? I want you to tell us everything about you, would that be ok?"
She looked at the Doctor and nodded. She didn't feel that she really had a choice. She felt as if she was trapped, there was nowhere to go, nowhere to hide. All she could do was listen to these men and do what they asked of her.
Madison was exhausted. They had been sitting around the table for hours now and all she had done was talk, answering the occasional question that was thrown in. She told them all about how she was found on a beach, and taken in by a wonderful, childless couple. She explained that how after they had died she hated life and everything around her. Then she told them about all the strange creatures that had approached her. The Doctor listened intensely, nodding and agreeing and saying the odd 'I see'. Jack sat next to her, giving her hand the occasional squeeze just to let her know that everything was fine.
For her, everything was not fine. Her life had never been simple and it just kept getting more and more complicated each and every day. Her head was reeling, her eyes were sore and all she wanted to do was go home and curl up in her bed. She knew that wasn't going to happen. She wondered if she was ever going to see her home again. The life she had build was back there, but now it felt like a distant memory.
She had finally reached the point where she woke up in the TARDIS. The Doctor jumped out of his chair, "Right then! First things first, lets take a look inside your head."
Madison's eyes grew wide, she wasn't sure she was up for anything else right now, she just wanted to sleep and forget everything for a while. Plus she didn't quite understand what he meant about looking inside her head, it scared her. Jack saw the expression on her face and began to speak before the Doctor could say anything else.
"I think maybe it's best that Madison gets some sleep first. She has been through a hell of a lot and has just told her life story to two complete strangers. I think some rest would probably do us all some good." The Doctor looked at him, he knew he was right and that everything he wanted to do was probably not such a good idea with Madison ready to fall asleep. But he hated waiting around, he wanted to get it all dealt with quickly. The Doctor thought about it for a moment and then relented.
"Yes, good idea. Madison, let's go find you a room." He held his hand out to her, she hesitated for a moment and then stood up and took it. Her head began to spin again, only worse that before. Jack caught her just before she hit the floor. "Or Jack can carry you." The Doctor said, frowning, as Jack swooped her up into his arms and followed behind the Doctor.
They walked for a few minutes in silence along several corridors until the Doctor stopped. A Door had appeared in the wall. "Ok well it looks like this is your room. Interesting…" The Doctor stood and pondered for a moment and then opened the door. Jack went in and laid Madison down on the bed, she was already half asleep.
"Sleep well." Jack said and his kissed her on the cheek and left the room, closing the door behind him.
He looked at the Doctor. "I know that look. What's wrong?"
"I don't know. It's curious, why did the TARDIS pick this room?" He continued to stare at the closed door.
"Doctor? Why is it curious? What's wrong with this room?" Jack asked, his voice showing more concern now.
"Probably nothing, just that room. Well, it has a direct door to the console room. Now why would she feel that Madison needed to have that door there? I wonder if she knows something that I don't. Now I feel like I'm forgetting something."
Jack laughed at him. "Well after wandering around here for a few centuries you're likely to forget something every now and again."
The Doctor grinned at him. If something were wrong he would work it out. Right now he had to focus on keeping this girl safe and finding out why she was in so much trouble. Not to mention how she managed to get on board the TARDIS in the first place and why she has a sonic screwdriver that is a match to his own.
Jack and the Doctor entered the console room, the Doctor had been mumbling to himself as soon as they left Madison and every time Jack questioned him he just waved his hand at him and said 'not now Jack'. The console room was dimly lit, like the ship itself was sleeping, which is a probability as the TARDIS is sentinel. The TARDIS was able to get inside your head and translate any language, it was a brilliant ability for people who travelled to different places. There was a telepathic link between the TARDIS and almost everyone who came on board.
The Doctor sat down and placed his feet up on the console, deep in thought. Jack leaned against the console, arms folded in front of him, just waiting, waiting for the moment he knew would come and the Doctor would suddenly be rambling and Jack would find it hard to keep up. He didn't have to wait long.
"I still don't understand how she got in here. I've checked through the TARDIS data banks and she can't tell me anything. Nothing! Now that's not like her. Just who is that girl and what is going on? We need answers Jack, and we need them fast. Tell me, who else has been coming after her?"
Jack looked at him, letting out a long sigh. That's the one question he really didn't want the Doctor to ask him, because he knew what would happen when he did. So far he had managed to avoid the topic being brought up, but his luck had run out.
"So far there have been Autons, Krawee, Zygons and…" Jack paused, the Doctors eyes were already wide with astonishment. Maybe telling him this last one was not such a good idea, he thought to himself.
"Come on Jack, who else has been after her?" The Doctor was deadly serious, he already knew it was bad from the way Jack was being reluctant to say anything.
"Sontarans." Jack replied.
As always, reviews or comments are always welcome. I'm actually starting to question some of the things I had planned. What do people think so far?