"Now look, Doctor," Missy said, sitting back down on the medbay bed. "I'll listen to you. But I'm not getting all... emotional, talking about my feelings, okay? So don't try and turn it into one of those conversations." She raised an eyebrow to the Doctor in warning. The Doctor smiled slightly and nodded.
"I'll try." He replied. He sighed and sat in the chair beside the bed. "What happened earlier, Missy?"
Missy rolled her eyes. "I was threatened." She replied.
"You were not. You were doing the threatening." He scoffed. Missy smiled wickedly.
"So I was, Doctor." She smiled. The Doctor noted the worrying amount Missy seemed to enjoy hearing him say those words.
"That's not what I meant, though, and you know it. You were acting strange the whole time we were there." He said. He noticed Missy's eyes darken.
"Breaching the emotional feelings rule, Doctor." She snapped.
"You were afraid." The Doctor said, daring to push her further. Missy sat up straight in a blink of an eye, and had a murderous expression lingering on her face. She didn't reply, however, and the Doctor could tell her anger was driven by her embarrassment. "Why?" He questioned.
"Don't push it, Doctor." Missy spat. She met eyes with the Doctor, hoping to glare at him in the most threatening way she could, however she paused as she noticed the genuine curiousity in his eyes.
Missy looked away. "I was..." she began, trailing off. She couldn't bring herself to even say the words.
The pieces finally clicked together for the Doctor, and he leaned closer to Missy. "When was the last time you left the vault, Missy?" He asked gently.
Missy huffed as if to brush him off, but he could see the tears forming in her eyes, never to be allowed to fall. "I'm sorry." The Doctor whispered. Missy's eyes snapped to him and she frowned angrily.
"You're sorry, Doctor? For what?" She spat sarcastically. She stood up from the bed, prompting the Doctor to rise as well. "Sorry for abandoning me, time and time again? On Gallifrey, on Skaro, in the vault... what difference does it make?" She began walking towards him slowly, backing him towards the wall.
The Doctor stood against the wall, but not in fear. Fear was what Missy wanted. What she needed to use to gain control over a situations, or her own feelings. A satisfaction he was not going to grant her. "I'm not afraid of you." He said gently. Missy pushed him roughly against the wall in anger.
"You are. You always have been." She sneered. The Doctor smiled softly.
"Used to be, you're right. But you know why that's changed?" He replied.
"Why?" Missy spat, as if the word was poison.
"Because you've changed." The Doctor said. Missy dropped her hands and stumbled back slightly, in a rare show of vulnerability. "I'm sorry I left you. I really am. You just couldn't be trusted, Missy. How could I trust you then?" He said quietly. Missy stared at a spot on the floor as she attempted to regain control of her limbs. "I made a mistake, earlier. I didn't realise how afraid you must have been outside of the vault. I didn't think. But I've made a thousand other mistakes throughout my life, and so have you. We can't change our past actions, Missy. Only our future ones."
Missy slumped back on to the bed in defeat, but said nothing. The Doctor attempted to reach out to her via telepathy, but she had placed mental walls between their minds to block him out. "Missy, say something. Please." He said softly. He hesitated. "Kos." He whispered. Missy's head snapped up to face him, and she nodded. Her eyes were surprisingly dry, to her relief.
"Theta." She whispered in reply, a whisper so quiet that had there been any other background noise, he wouldn't have heard it. A pause of uncertain silence followed, neither of them knowing where to go next, before the Doctor leapt up.
"Oh! Hold on!" He exclaimed. He held up a hand signalling her to wait, and ran out of the room. Moments later he returned with one hand behind his back. "As promised." He smiled, passing the gift into her hands. She opened her hands to see a new white piano key.
"Thete..." she muttered, examining it. She looked up and shared a glance with him that said a thousand words, without needing any to actually be said aloud. The Doctor smiled.
"You're welcome."
dwdwdw
Bill watched the Doctor return to the console after having obviously just spoken to Missy. She placed down the book she had been reading and raised a questioning eyebrow.
"What?" The Doctor asked distractedly as he fiddled with the TARDIS controls.
"What do you mean, what? How'd it go?" Bill replied impatiently.
"We talked, like you wanted us to." The Doctor answered simply. Bill sighed, realising it was unlikely she'd get any other information from him.
"So... now what are we gonna do?" She asked. Before the Doctor had a chance to reply, Nardole entered the room.
"Phew! Those repairs took much longer than you said they would, Doctor." Nardole exclaimed tiredly. He sat on a chair nearby and met eyes with Bill.
"How is everything?" He asked carefully.
"Good, I think." Bill replied. The Doctor ignored them as if he hadn't heard them. Whether it was because he was too distracted, or didn't wish to discuss it, Bill was unsure.
"And Missy? She's just... staying here, on the TARDIS?" Nardole asked with a slight frown.
"Just for now." The Doctor replied. Bill nodded slowly.
"Is that... wise?" Nardole said nervously. An uncomfortable silence met Nardole's question, revealing that neither Bill nor the Doctor knew the answer.
