A/N: This chapter may be a bit Jack-lite, but he will appear at the end and be in the rest of my version of Series 1 :)

The Empty Child

The TARDIS was hurtling through space, the Doctor and Professor doing their best to keep the box locked on to their target, "You're sure it's mauve?" the Professor called, pulling a lever.

"Yes, it's mauve!" he called, looking at a reading on the monitor as he twisted knobs, the TARDIS shuddering and shaking.

"Positive?"

"Yes! It's mauve!"

"Well I just want to make sure you can tell!" she rolled her eyes, "Don't forget that time you ended up setting off a flash bomb in front of Attila the Hun and literally ended up completely colorblind for a week!"

"That only happened once!" he groaned.

She made her way around the console to look for herself, "What do you know, it is mauve," she smiled at him, "Very you, the universally recognized color for danger!"

He laughed, grinning at her, "Leave it to the humans to be the only ones to use red eh?" he nudged her, "Oh, the misunderstandings. All those red alerts, all that dancing…" he glanced at the monitor, at the cylinder-like object they were following through the Vortex, "Got any idea what that is?"

She frowned, squinting at it, before shaking her head, "It's jumping around too much for me to get a proper look at it."

He nodded, "That's alright, it's got a very basic flight computer, I've hacked in, slaved the TARDIS. Where it goes, we go."

She winced a bit as the console exploded, "That's not very safe," she told him, though he could see a small smile on her face, an excitement in her eyes.

He laughed and took her hand, "Makes it all the better!"

She glanced back at the object from looking at him only for her eyes to widen, "It's jumping time tracks!" she shouted, rushing back around the console, "It's getting away from us!"

He pulled a few levers himself, trying to keep the box on it, seeing a reading come up on the screen, "It's about 30 seconds from the center of London!" he called as they hurtled towards the Earth.

"Better get after it then!" the Professor smiled, pulling a lever and the TARDIS materialized at the end of an alley, behind some bleak looking houses, in London, at night.

They ran for the doors and stepped out, looking around as the Doctor sighed seeing Earth again, they were actually going to try for another planet this time, having spent a few days in the TARDIS just the two of them, but now there they were, "Do you know how long we can knock around space without having to bump into Earth?"

She smiled, "No idea," she remarked, nudging him, "You're the one that keeps bringing us back to it."

He just moved and put his arm around her, looking around at the alley, "Well it must have come down somewhere quite close."

She nodded, "Probably within a mile."

"And it can't have been more than a few weeks ago."

"More like a month I'd say," she leaned on him a bit, looking up at him, "Don't you hate jumping time tracks? Always leaves us a little out," she sighed, "We don't have time to look around an entire mile in the dark…should we use the TARDIS and scan for it?"

"Oh come now Kata," he grinned, "Where's your sense of adventure?"

"In space," she replied with a smile, "I was actually looking a bit forward to an alien planet."

He laughed, squeezing her side, "We'll just ask around, find it, and be off. It hit the middle of London with a very loud bang, someone's got to have seen it," he reached into his pocket and pulled out the psychic paper, holding it up to her.

"'Doctor John Smith, Professor Katherine Stewart, Ministry of Asteroids,'" she read. She blinked a moment and looked at him, "You've named me after the Brigadier?"

He smiled, "He reminded me a lot of you."

"I want to meet him one day," she pointed a finger at him.

He reached out and took it, moving to take her hand as he led her towards a door, putting the psychic paper away and pulling out the sonic, "Door, music, people," he looked at her, "What d'you think?"

"Sounds like my kind of people," she laughed.

He grinned, she always loved music and dancing, before turning to the door and flashing the sonic on it.

"Muuu-mmy…" the Professor heard a faint call, looking over her shoulder for the source but couldn't see anything.

"Gotcha!" he laughed, pulling her attention back as he looked at her, "Shouldn't take a minute!" and led her through the door. They walked down a darkened hallway, following the sound of voices and music to a dimly lit drinking den, crowded with men and women, full of smoke and chatter.

There was a woman standing on a small stage, singing, "For nobody else gave me the thrill, when I have found I love you still, it had to be you, wonderful you…"

The Doctor grinned, seeing a small space before the stage for people to dance if they wished and quickly tugged her over to it, pulling her close and swaying, not even noticing the people watching them.

The Professor, on the other hand, did. She wasn't as uncomfortable with the humans staring and smiling than the aliens on Platform One. But she did notice something else, the way they were dressed, in very fine clothes, though a bit old, round about the early 1940s she'd guess. She wondered how long it would be before the Doctor realized the time and how little help asking about fallen objects would be in the middle of a warzone.

"It had to be you…" the woman finished singing as the audience applauded.

The Doctor pulled away, giving the Professor a small kiss before pulling her to the stage as the woman stepped off and grabbed the microphone, "Excuse me! Excuse me! Could I have everybody's attention just for a mo? Be very quick, eh...hello!" he waved at them cheerily, "Eh...might seem like a stupid question, but has anything fallen from the sky recently?"

There was complete silence for a moment before the audience started to laugh, the Doctor just staring at them, confused.

"Sorry, have I said something funny?" they just laughed harder, "It's just…there's this thing we need to find, would've fallen from the sky a couple of days ago…" a siren sounded above them and the people quickly started to evacuate the room, "Would've landed quite near here..." he looked up, frowning at the siren, "With a very loud..." and then he noticed a poster about Hitler on the wall through the crowd, "Bang..." he sighed, shaking his head.

The Professor started giggling behind him and he turned to her, "You knew didn't you?" he asked her, seeing the playful look in her eyes.

"Yep," she nodded.

"And didn't tell me."

"Nope."

"Why?" he frowned.

She smiled, shrugging, "I love seeing you in these situations."

He rolled his eyes but smiled, tugging her off the stage by the hand he had yet to let go of, and back out the door to the alleyway. Their next best bet was to do as she'd suggested and use the TARDIS to scan for the object, look for alien technology. With bombs dropping left and right, leaving whatever it was they'd been following out there wasn't safe, if a bomb landed on it, for all they knew, it could blow up London and release some sort of disease.

"Aww," the Professor cooed behind him, pulling her hand from his. He turned to see her picking up a black cat with a white nose and paws from on top of a dustbin beside her, petting it, "Hello," she scratched the cat's head, smiling up at him as he gave a strained smile in return, he really wasn't a cat person…

But she just went back to petting the cat and he couldn't help but shake his head at her…until the TARDIS phone started to ring. They both looked up, the Doctor's brow furrowed, the Professor frowning at the noise. They walked over to the box, the Professor still with the cat in her arms, to look at it. The Doctor eyed the instruction panel and popped it open to reveal a compartment behind it where an old phone was hidden.

He stared at it, "How can you be ringing?" he asked it before turning to the Professor, "What's that about? Ringing?" he pulled the sonic out and turned back to the phone, flashing it, "What am I supposed to do with a ringing phone?"

"Don't answer it," someone shouted, "It's not for you."

They looked over to see a young woman had snuck up the alley behind them, her hair in pigtails, a coat all buttoned up.

"How do you know that?" the Professor asked, eyeing her.

"'Cos I do. And I'm tellin' ya, don't answer it."

"Well, if you know so much, tell us this, how can it be ringing?" the Doctor questioned, turning back to the phone, "It's not even a real phone. It's not CONNECTED, it's not…" the Professor put a hand on his shoulder and he turned to see the girl was gone. He looked at her and she nodded down the alley, around a corner near the door they'd come from.

The phone kept ringing.

The Doctor turned back to it, hesitantly picking it up, "Listen in," he told the Professor who nodded and closed her eyes, using their mental bond to hear what he heard, "Hello?" he called into the phone, putting it to his ear, there was just crackling, "This is the Doctor speaking," more crackling, "How may I help you?"

"Mummy?" a little boy replied on the other end. The Doctor's little grin faded, "Mummy?"

"Who is this?" he frowned, "Who's speaking?"

"Are you my mummy?"

"Who is this?"

"Mummy?"

"How did you RING here? This isn't a real phone, it's not wired up to anything, it's…"

"Mummy?"

And then there was silence as the call cut out.

The Doctor slowly replaced the phone in its cradle, poking his head inside to see if the other phone was about to ring. He pulled his head out quickly when there was a crash behind them. He looked at the Professor who put a finger to her lip and cautiously started to move after the sound, him following her around the corner and into a street.

"The planes are coming!" a woman was shouting, "Can't you hear them? Into the shelter. None of your nonsense, now MOVE it!" they followed the sound of the woman's voice to a line of fences, moving to a dustbin and looking over at a fat woman ushering a little boy into a small bomb shelter, "Come on, come on, get in there!" she turned around, "Arthur! Arthur! Will you hurry up? Didn't you hear the sirens?"

A fat man emerged from the house, "Middle of dinner, every night. Bloomin' Germans," he yelled up at the sky, "Don't you eat?"

The Doctor smiled at that.

"I can hear the planes!" the woman called.

"Don't you eat?"

"Oh, keep your voice down, will ya? There's an air raid!" she pushed him into the shelter, following him in, "Get in...there's a war on."

"I know there is…" the man muttered as they disappeared inside, shutting the door behind them.

A moment later the young girl from the alley appeared, sneaking out from around the shelter and into the back of the house, not seeing them watching.

They exchanged a look and began to follow her…

~8~

The girl had just finished carving up some meat from the dinner still left on the table of the house, passing the plate around to a number of children who had gathered around it for dinner.

"One slice each," she told them, "And I want to see everyone chewing properly."

"Thank ya, miss!" a little boy cheered as the food was passed to him.

"Thanks, miss!" another little boy added.

"Thank you miss," and another.

"Thanks, miss!" the Doctor grinned as he received the plate.

The children gasped in surprise and jumped backwards but the girl just continued on, unperturbed, "It's alright! Everybody stay where you are!"

"Good here, innit?" the Doctor glanced behind him where the Professor was standing, still petting that cat who had had fallen asleep in her arms, purring contentedly. He turned back to the kids, "Who's got the salt?"

"Back in your seats!" the girl ordered and the children started to sit again, "They shouldn't be here either."

The Doctor's grin widened as he helped himself to some sauce, "So, you lot...what's the story?"

"What d'you mean?" the second little boy asked.

"You're homeless, right? Living rough?"

"Why d'you wanna know that?" asked the first little boy, "Are you coppers?"

"Of course we're not coppers," the Professor smiled at the boy, "Coppers have dogs don't they?" she held up the cat for them to see before turning and placing it down on the floor.

"Besides, what're coppers gonna do with you lot anyway?" the Doctor asked, "Arrest you for starving?"

The children laughed at that, the ice broken.

"Now," the Professor turned around and moved to lean against the Doctor's back, draping her arms around his neck to rest her chin on his head, "It's 1941, you all shouldn't still be in London. You should've been evacuated to the country by now."

"I was evacuated," the third boy remarked, "They sent me to a farm."

"So why'd you come back?" the Doctor eyed him.

"There was a man there..."

"Yeah, same with Ernie," the first boy added, "Two homes ago."

"Shut up," the second boy nudged him, "It's better on the streets anyway. Better food."

"Yeah. Nancy always gets the best food for us."

The Doctor smiled at Nancy, his hand gently stroking the Professor's arm absently, "So, that's what you do is it Nancy?"

"What is?" Nancy glanced at him from where she was eating.

"As soon as the sirens go, you find a big fat family meal, still warm on the table with everyone down in the air raid shelter and…bingo! Feeding frenzy for the homeless kids of London Town. Puddings for all! As long as the bombs don't get you."

"Something wrong with that?"

"You think he'd tell you there's something wrong?" the Professor laughed lightly, "He thinks it's BRILLIANT."

The Doctor nodded, "I'm not sure if it's Marxism in action or a West End musical."

The children just looked confused.

"Why'd you follow me?" Nancy asked them, "What d'you want?"

"We want to know how a phone that isn't a phone gets a phone call. You seem to be the one to ask."

"I did you a favor. I told you not to answer it, that's all I'm telling ya," she got up and moved to take his plate away.

"What've I done wrong?" he asked, indignant, as the Professor straightened a bit to give Nancy space to take the plate. If he was being honest, he was more cross that Nancy's action made the Professor step back away from him than the fact the food was gone.

"You took two slices," she remarked as the children laughed, "Anything else before you leave?"

"Yeah, there is actually. Thanks for asking. Something we've been looking for…" he pulled a notebook from his pocket and began to sketch it.

"It would've fallen from the sky about a month ago, but not a bomb," the Professor added as he worked, "Not the usual kind anyway. It wouldn't have exploded. It would've just buried itself in the ground somewhere."

"And it would've looked something like..." he turned the pad around, "This."

The Professor leaned around to see it was a rather crude, scribbled drawing of a cylinder-like device. She glanced up at the children to see them looking at it oddly, confused, but Nancy seemed more intent, tense…she knew what it was.

Before she could comment on it there was a knock at the window, "Mummy?" a little boy called, the same little boy from the phone, "Are you in there, mummy?" the Professor turned around and pulled a curtain by the window aside, revealing a little blond boy with a gasmask on his face, "Mummy?"

"Who was the last one in?" Nancy asked the children, urgent.

"Them," Ernie gestured at the Doctor and Professor.

"Nah, they came round the back. Who came in the front?"

"Me," the third boy whispered.

"Did you close the door?"

"I…"

"Did you close the door?"

"Mummy?" the child called, "Mummy?" his shadow turned and moved towards the front of the house, "Muuuuum-my?"

Nancy turned and rushed out of the room, down the hall, and slammed the front door shut, bolting it closed just as the child reached it. She backed away, looking at the shadow of the child as the Doctor and Professor moved into the hall behind her.

"What's this, then?" the Doctor asked, eyeing the boy's shadow, "It's never easy being the only child left out in the cold, you know."

"I suppose you'd know?" Nancy looked at them.

"We do actually, yes," the Professor nodded as the Doctor smiled pleasantly at her.

"It's not exactly a child…"

"Muuum-my?" the child called.

Nancy just pushed past them and went back into the dining room, "Right, everybody out, across the back garden and under the fence," they stared, "Now! Go! Move!" they all jumped up and grabbed their coats, running out the back door save for one little girl sitting with her eyes squeezed tight, "Come on, baby," Nancy walked over to her, "You've got to go. Okay? It's just like a game. Just like chasing," the girl jumped up, "Take your coat, go on," she handed the girl her coat and the girl dashed off, "Go!"

The Doctor and Professor watched the children leaving, confused, as the child called, "Mummy?" they stepped nearer to the door, "Please let me in, mummy," a little hand stuck in through the letterbox, a scar on the back of it, "Please let me in, mummy."

"Are you alright?" the Professor asked him, seeing the scar, stepping forward.

"Please let me in."

She reached out, about to touch the boy, to scan him, see what might be terrifying the other children, when something crashed and shattered against the door, making the child pull his hand back.

"You mustn't let him touch ya!" Nancy shouted at them.

"What happens if he touches her?" the Doctor frowned, reaching back to take the Professor's hand, pulling her closer, his body starting to tense at the danger she'd nearly been in from an ordinary little boy.

"He'll make her like him."

"And what's he like?" the Professor asked.

"I've gotta go," Nancy shook her head, stepping back.

"Nancy, what's he like?" the Doctor called.

She paused, "He's empty," she told them, when the phone began to ring, the three of them looking at it, "It's him. He can make phones ring, he can. Just like with that police box you saw."

The Doctor looked at the shadow of the child before picking up the phone, "Are you my mummy?"

Nancy grabbed the phone and slammed it back down. But then the radio in the dining room turned itself on, playing music but with the child's voice over it, "Mummy? Please let me in, mummy."

They walked into the room, the Doctor turning the tuner when a toy monkey sprang to life, the child speaking through that as well, "Muum-my? Muum-my, muum-my..."

The Professor picked up the monkey and looked at it.

"Stay if you want to," Nancy called before rushing off.

"Om. Comm.," the Professor murmured, holding up the monkey, "The child's speaking through anything with a speaker grille."

The Doctor's eyebrows rose, that was impressive…and completely NOT ordinary…but how was the child doing that?

"Mummy, mummy, mummy..." the child continued to call through the monkey till the Professor clasped the cymbals and held them closed, stilling the monkey.

They walked back into the hall to see the child still there, sticking his hand through the letterbox again, "Mummy? Let me in please, mummy..." the Doctor moved and knelt before the front door, the Professor behind him, her hand on his shoulder as they looked at the scarred little hand, concerned, "PLEASE let me in."

"Your mummy isn't here," the Doctor called.

"Are you my mummy?"

"No mummies here. None be here but us chickens."

"I'm scared."

"Why are those other children frightened of you?" the Professor asked the child gently.

"Please let me in, mummy. I'm scared of the bombs."

The Doctor looked at the Professor a moment, resting his hand on hers, 'What do you think?'

She frowned, eyeing the boy's hand, 'It's a child, it's not like it's very fast…if anything were to happen, well…we're both rather good at running aren't we?'

He smiled, pleased, the child was dangerous, according to Nancy, most likely it involved some sort of alien, and the Professor was ready to face it. Run if need be, but face it. He nodded, turning to the boy, "Okay. We're opening the door now."

The child pulled his hand back, waiting, as the Doctor stood and pulled the bolts holding the door shut, and opened it…but the child was gone. They stepped out onto the street and looked up and down the road but there was no sign of him.

'I take it back,' the Professor called, 'He's VERY fast.'

The Doctor just reached out and took her hand, the two of them heading off, they had to find Nancy, she seemed like the one with all the answers.

~8~

Nancy was hurrying along some train tracks, into an outer house and pulling food out of her bag, hiding it, when she turned around to see the Doctor and Professor standing in the doorway, watching her, "How'd you follow me here?" she asked them, frowning.

"Expert tracker," the Professor shrugged, it had been far too easy to find Nancy, "Nothing can hide from me, not even the Doctor," she nodded at him.

"Yeah, well, it's not like I was trying very hard to keep away from you," he murmured, kissing the side of her head a moment before turning to Nancy, "And I've got the nose for it myself."

Nancy eyed them, suspicious, "People can't usually follow me if I don't want them to."

"My nose has special powers."

"Yeah? That's why it's uh..."

"What?"

"Nothing."

"What?"

"Nothing!" Nancy started to smile teasingly, "Do your ears have special powers too?"

"What're you trying to say?"

"Goodnight, Mister," Nancy turned away.

"Nancy," the Professor called, "There's something chasing you and the other kids."

"Looks like a boy and it isn't a boy, and it started about a month ago, right?" the Doctor added.

Nancy looked at them.

"The thing we're looking for that fell from the sky, that's when it landed."

"And you know what we're talking about, don't you?"

She frowned, "Do you two talk like that a lot?"

"Sorry," the Professor nodded.

Nancy sighed, "There was a bomb. A bomb that wasn't a bomb. Fell the other end of Limehouse Green Station."

"Take us there," the Doctor replied.

Nancy shook her head, "There's soldiers guarding it, barbed wire...you'll never get through."

"Try me," he laughed, "Better yet, try the Professor."

"You sure you wanna know what's going on in there?"

"We really wanna know."

"Then there's someone you need to talk to first."

"Who?" the Professor asked.

"The doctor."

The Doctor's brow furrowed as Nancy turned away to lead them off.

"Aww, look!" the Professor cheered and he turned to see her squat down.

And then he saw it, in the distance the little cat was trotting over to her. Apparently it had followed them through London as they went to find Nancy, "Great…" he mumbled.

"That's a good kitty," she grinned, scooping the cat up as it reached her, cuddling it as she beamed at him.

And he couldn't bring himself to grimace, not when she was smiling like that…

~8~

The Doctor and Professor stood on some steps a good distance away from the bombsite set up just in front of a hospital's gates. The Professor was looking at it through a set of slightly advanced binoculars, holding the cat in her other arm, before handing them to the Doctor to look through.

"The bomb's under that tarpaulin," Nancy told them, standing behind them, "They put the fence up over night. See that building? The hospital."

The Doctor looked to see the gates of Albion Hospital, "What about it?"

"That's where the doctor is. You should talk to him."

"For now, we're more interested in getting in there," he pointed at the bombsite.

"Talk to the doctor first."

"Why?" the Professor glanced at her.

"'Cos then maybe you won't wanna get inside," she told them before turning to head up the steps.

"Where're you going?" the Doctor called, not even looking back.

"There was a lot of food in that house. I've got mouths to feed. Should be safe enough now."

"Can I ask you a question? Who did you lose?"

"What?" Nancy stopped and faced them.

"It's the way you look after all those kids," the Professor explained, "It's almost maternal…" she trailed off, seeing Nancy flinch at the word, "You lost somebody, and you're doing all this to make up for it, aren't you?"

Nancy eyed her a moment before swallowing hard, "My little brother. Jamie. One night I went out looking for food. Same night that thing fell. I told him not to follow me, told him it was dangerous, but he just...he just didn't like being on his own."

"What happened?" the Doctor asked.

"In the middle of an air raid? What do you THINK happened?"

The Doctor nodded and smiled, "Amazing."

"What is?"

"1941," he looked up at the planes dropping bombs in the distance, a large barrage balloon above them.

"Right now, not very far from here," the Professor gently stroked the cat, "A German war machine is rolling across Europe."

The Doctor nodded, "Country after country, falling like dominoes."

"And it looks for all the world like nothing can stop it. Nothing."

"Until one, tiny, damp little island says 'no.'"

"That's it just 'no.' Not here. Not our home."

"A mouse in front of a lion."

The Professor smiled at Nancy, "He may disagree at times," she nodded back at the Doctor, "But you're amazing, all of you, the whole human race."

"Dunno what you do to Hitler, but you frighten the hell out of me," the Doctor grinned, "Off you go then...do what you've gotta do."

"Save the world!"

Nancy eyed them, torn between being touched by their words and utterly disturbed by how effortlessly they'd switched off in speaking.

But before she could speak, the Doctor took the Professor's hand…after she'd put down the cat…and they headed off down the steps towards the hospital.

~8~

The Doctor moved to the gate of the hospital, pulling out the sonic and breaking the lock. The Professor pulled a chain off the gate and turned to the cat that had followed them, "You. Stay," she ordered it, pointing at it warningly.

They turned and walked up a path and into the hospital, getting only a few feet down the main corridor when they heard a small pattering behind them. They turned around only to see the cat had followed them in, staring up at them before giving them a 'meow.'

They stared at the cat and the Professor shook her head, "He listens to me almost as much as you."

"Oi!" he laughed, nudging her.

She sighed, "Come on then," she called to the cat.

The Doctor took her hand and they walked further into the hospital, moving into a ward when they spotted people within. The Doctor frowned, seeing all of them, rows and rows of people, lying on beds, wearing gasmasks, completely lifeless. He looked at the Professor to see her equally as confused before he squeezed her hand and led her out of the room.

They walked around a corner to a lit corridor and up a flight of stairs to another ward, lit more than the other one, but still with rows of gasmasked people lying on beds. They spun around hearing a slight sound behind them as an old man in a white lab coat entered.

"You'll find them everywhere," the man sighed, seeing them, "Every bed in every ward. Hundreds of them."

"Yes, we saw," the Doctor nodded.

"Why are they still wearing gasmasks?" the Professor asked.

"They're not," the doctor told them, "Who are you?"

"We're, uh..." the Doctor trailed, "Are you the doctor?"

"Dr. Constantine. And you are?"

"Nancy sent us," the Professor said, avoiding the question.

"Nancy? That means you must've been asking about the bomb."

"Yes."

"What do you know about it?"

"Nothing," the Doctor said, "Why we were asking. What do you know?"

"Only what it's done."

"These people…were they all caught up in the blast?"

"None of them were," he laughed slightly but it turned into a nasty cough, forcing him to sit down in a chair just behind him by a desk.

"You're very sick," the Doctor took a few steps towards him.

"Dying, I should think, I just haven't been able to find the time. Are you a doctor?"

"He has his moments," the Professor smiled at the Doctor fondly.

"Have you examined any of them, yet?"

"No," the Doctor looked at them.

"Don't touch the flesh."

"Which one?"

"ANY one."

The Doctor raised his eyebrows, pulling out the sonic and leading the Professor over to the beds. She wouldn't be able to scan the people, but her eyes were better than anyone, she might spot something he missed on the physical body. He flashed the sonic over one, the Professor leaning close to look them over.

"Conclusions?" Constantine called.

"Massive head trauma, mostly to the left side..." the Doctor muttered, running the sonic over the chest, "Partial collapse of the chest cavity, mostly to the right…"

"There's some scarring on the back of the hand," the Professor added, squinting as she knelt down by the head of the bed, looking at the person's face, "And the gasmask seems to be fused to the flesh but I can't see any burns."

"Examine another one," Constantine called.

They did so, moving to the next bed and giving the patient the onceover. But everything was exactly the same.

"This isn't possible," the Doctor shook his head, looking at the Professor.

"Examine another."

They hurried to another bed, still the same.

"This isn't possible!"

"No," Constantine agreed.

"They've all got the same injuries!"

"Yes."

"Exactly the same," the Professor frowned.

"Yes."

"Identical, all of them," the Doctor eyed one, "Right down to the scar on the back of the hand."

"How did this happen?" the Professor looked at Constantine, "How did it start?"

"When that bomb dropped, there was just one victim," Constantine began.

"Dead?"

"At first. His injuries were truly dreadful. By the following morning, every doctor and nurse who had treated him, who had touched him, had those exact same injuries. By the morning after that, every patient in the same ward had the exact same injuries. Within a week, the entire hospital. Physical injuries, as plague. Can you explain that? What would you say was the cause of death?"

"The head trauma," the Doctor guessed.

"No."

"Asphyxiation?" the Professor tried, she wouldn't be able to say without touching a body.

"No."

"The collapse of the chest cavity…" the Doctor shook his head.

"No."

"Then what was the cause of death?" the Professor asked.

"There wasn't one," they looked at him, "They're not dead," he hit his cane against a tin bin and the patients all sat up, "It's alright. They're harmless. They just...sort of, sit there. No heartbeat, no life signs of any kind. They just...don't die."

"And they've just been left here?" the Doctor looked nearly disgusted, "Nobody's DOING anything?"

"I try and make them comfortable, what else is there?" Constantine sighed as the bodies laid back down.

"Just you? You're the only one here?"

"Before this war began, I was a father and a grandfather. Now I am neither. But I am still a doctor."

"Yeah. Know the feeling."

The Professor reached out and took his hand, squeezing it.

"I suspect the plan is to blow up the hospital and blame it on a German bomb," Constantine remarked.

"Probably too late," the Professor looked around.

"No. They are isolated cases, but...isolated cases breaking out all over London..." he started coughing again, his speech breaking up. The Professor moved towards him, "Stay back, stay back," he coughed and the Doctor pulled her back a bit, "Listen to me...top floor. Room 802, that's where they took the first victim, the one from the crash site. And you must find Nancy again."

"Nancy?" the Doctor asked.

"It was her brother. She knows more than she's saying. She won't tell me, but she mi…mi…" he gagged, clutching his neck, "M...mu...mee..." they watched in concern as Constantine struggled to speak, "Are...you...my...mum-my?"

The Doctor's eyes widened as a gasmask protruded horribly out of Constantine's mouth, his eyes widening to the point they became the gasmask, fusing to his face as he went limp.

"Hello?" they could hear a man shouting in the distance, "Hello?"

They frowned at each other and headed out of the ward, into the hall to see a man in an allied soldier's uniform and jacket rushing towards them, grinning, "Found you!" the man shouted, "Good evening. Hope I'm not interrupting, Captain Jack Harkness…" he shook the Doctor's hand, "Been looking for you all over the place," he turned to the Professor, smiling charmingly at her, "Cutting it close aren't you?" he kissed the back of her hand.

The Doctor glared, pulling her back and staring at Jack hard, "Close to what?"

"The deadline for the offer," Jack grinned, "Ends in a few hours, didn't think you'd make it on time. Been scanning for you every few days," he winked at the Professor, "Should've done every day."

"Oi!" the Doctor stepped up, moving the Professor just a bit behind him.

"How should I address you?" Jack asked him.

"Doctor and Professor."

"Doctor who?" Jack asked, frowning, "Professor of what?"

"Sorry who are you again?" the Professor moved to the Doctor's side, confused, but the Doctor nearly growled when Jack shot her a smile.

"No need to start aggressive negotiations," Jack told the Doctor, holding up his hands, "We're all Time Agents here."

"Time Agents?" the Professor frowned, why did he think they were Time Agents?

He nodded, "Shall we begin negotiations on the Chula warship? The offer…" he looked at his wrist, the two of them catching sight of a Vortex Manipulator strapped to it, "Still stands."

"Chula?" the Doctor shook his head.

But the Professor eyed his wrist, "You've got a scanner in that?" she nodded at the Manipulator and he nodded so she reached out and grabbed his arm, "You need to scan something. Now."

Clearly this man knew about the device they'd been following, and if the bombsite was the cause of everything happening there, like they had guessed it might be, then Jack was most likely responsible…and he needed to see what he'd done.

~8~

Jack was leaning over a body in the ward, scanning it with his Manipulator, "This just isn't possible. How could this happen?"

"What kind of Chula ship landed here?" the Professor asked him urgently, identifying the specific type of warship could help them figure it all out since they couldn't exactly get to the site.

"What?" he looked up, thinking they might be back on negotiations, "Fully equipped Chula warship. In about an hour a bomb's set to fall on it, unless you'd like to begin negotiations…"

"What kind of warship?"

"Does it matter?" Jack rolled his eyes, before seeming to realize what she was implying, "It's got nothing to do with this!"

"This started at the bombsite," the Doctor glared, "It's got EVERYTHING to do with it. Now answer her. What kind of warship?"

"An ambulance!" he tapped his Manipulator on to show a hologram of the 'warship' before sighing, clearly these two would not be negotiating with him, might as well tell them then, clear himself, "Look. That's what you chased through the Time Vortex. It's space junk. I wanted to kid you it was valuable. It's empty. I made sure of it. Nothing but a shell. I threw it at you. Saw your time travel vehicle, love the retro look, by the way, nice panels, threw you the bait…I wanted to sell it to you and then destroy it before you found out it was junk."

"You said it was a WARship though," the Professor frowned, eyeing the device closer.

"They have ambulances in wars don't they?" he asked, walking away annoyed that the con had fallen through, that they seemed to think these people were the way they were because of him, it unsettled him that his space junk might have done this to so many people, "It was a con. I was conning you, that's what I am, I'm a con man. I thought you were Time Agents but you're not, are you?" he eyed them as they shook their heads, "Ah...should've known. The way you guys are blending in with the local color," he looked at their clothes, "Anyway...whatever's happening here has got NOTHING to do with that ship."

"Human DNA's being rewritten..." the Doctor glared at him, "By an idiot."

Jack frowned, offended, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's some kind of virus," the Professor looked around, "It's converting human beings into these things," she nodded at the bodies, "But why? What's the point?"

Suddenly all the patients sat up, turning to them, calling 'Mummy' repeatedly.

"What's happening?" Jack looked around, alarmed.

"I don't know," the Doctor reached out and grabbed the Professor, pulling her back as they backed up towards a corner.

"Don't let them touch you," the Professor warned Jack.

"What happens if they touch us?" he asked.

"You're looking at it," the Doctor remarked as they were pressed back against the wall.

The cat that had continued to follow the Professor around the room backed up, hissing at the gasmasked people, flicking its paw out as though wanting to scratch them and warn them away as they drew closer and closer…

To be continued…

A/N: A few reviews commented on me possibly writing into at least the start of Series 2 (the Christmas Invasion, New Earth, and Tooth and Claw) since I only started Series 2 at School Reunion. I'm not entirely sure if I should do that. There's a tiny twist at the end of The Parting of the Ways that could make writing out Series 2 a bit difficult. I'll definitely give it a go in outlining the three episodes, and see how it goes from there. I'll be sure to definitely let you know what I'm doing either by the end of Bad Wolf or The Parting of the Ways.

Sorry this chapter was so Jack-lite, but I felt like after what happened in Father's Day, the Doctor wasn't about to let the Professor out of his sight. I figure, if Jack threw the 'space junk' at them on purpose then he would be keeping an eye out for whoever was in the phone box following it. It would make sense that he'd be periodically scanning for alien tech so he'd know when the 'buyers' showed up and that's how he found them.

And just a teaser for the next chapter, we're going to be getting a bit of blushing Professor, especially since Jack is around and we've got a possessive Doctor on our hands :)