A/N: Please excuse any errors; I stayed up till half past three in the morning to finish this for you guys. Sweet dreams!
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Bella comforted the kids quietly as they were introduced to the Cybermen, telling them that she would protect them. Her height had made it easy for her to blend in; she was actually a bit shorter than some of the older kids. Thanks to all of her running earlier that day (and the Doctor ripping the back of her dress) she looked every bit as dusty and tattered as the children she sought to protect.
She fingered the handle of the sword at her waist, itching for a fight. No one threatened kids on her watch.
She tried to avoid being noticed by the Cybermen guards as she went around helping the littlest children lift heavy items and generally making their lives a bit easier; while she worked she looked around, trying to figure out a way to help the kids escape. She didn't care if the Cybermen were twice her size, Bella knew that she would figure something out.
She talked to the kids as she worked; the more she learned, the angrier she got. She had always considered England to be such a modern society but this? Anyone who treated such a blessing as children like slaves deserved to burn. Maybe she could talk Jack into helping her put a stop to this when he got a new Vortex Manipulator.
But first she had to stop the Cybermen.
"Children! Pay attention. Now let the new Industrial Revolution begin. I want to see you work!"
Bella hid when the woman in the red dress appeared and ordered the children to work harder. She wanted to stomp that witch into the ground but knew she was outnumbered. Bella followed her when she left, creeping from spot to spot, hoping for a chance to catch the woman alone. She watched as the metal monsters led the woman to a room that contained what Bella could only describe as an Electric Chair; while the woman in the red dress called it a throne Bella only saw death.
Bella smiled tightly as the Cybermen confessed to lying to the woman before dragging her to the chair and strapping her in. Serves you right, you evil witch! Bella thought, satisfied at her fate. She backed out of the room and returned to the children, hoping that the Cybermen would be distracted for a while.
Bella started trying doors, hoping to locate an escape route for the slaving children. When she found one she started sneaking the kids away a few at a time, taking them to the exit and telling them to run.
"Delete! Delete!" Bella jerked to a stop when she heard a klaxon go off and the Cybermen start chanting. Bella ran to the main work area; the Cybermen were killing the kids! She saw a Cyberman grab a child by the shoulder, killing it with a burst of electricity. Bella snatched the sword from her waist and charged.
She struck low, aiming for a knee joint from behind. She cheered inwardly as the metal monster stumbled. She gave a yell, darted around it and stabbed it in one of its eyes; the machine twitched and fell silent.
Bella pulled the sword back out and looked for her next target.
"Now all of you, out! Do you hear me?" Bella saw the Doctor race in yelling, Jackson Lake at his heels. She ducked when Lake pulled out an infostamp and aimed it in her direction. She turned to see that one of the machines had came up behind her while she was distracted.
"Thanks!" she called out to the man for saving her life.
Her husband jumped up on one of the cogs that the children had been forced to turn. "That's an order! Every single one of you, run! There's a hot pie for everyone if you leg it!"
Children ran helter-skelter around the area as Jackson Lake and Rosita joined in the chorus. "All of you, come on, as fast as you can, come on!" Lake yelled while Rosita guided them to the exit.
Bella snuck up on another Cyberman and took him out before he could kill Lake; he nodded at her in silent acknowledgement.
"Here!" Jackson said, handing her one of the infostamps. "Use this, it will make killing them easier. Just rip open the back and press this button." he explained quickly as he demonstrated.
"Thanks!" Bella said, throwing the sword down as she set off with her new weapon. He was right; the device made killing the Cybermen a lot easier.
One by one Lake, Rosita, and Bella killed the Cybermen threatening the children as they helped the Doctor evacuate the building. Bella looked around to discover Lake frozen in place, staring at the children as they ran by. The expression on his face told Bella that he was in the midst of a flashback so she moved closer to watch over him.
"That's my son," she heard him whisper. She looked up; a little boy was on one of the upper levels, staring down at them. Bella didn't hesitate. She grabbed her skirts up in her hands and started running up the stairs.
Flames erupted beneath her as explosions rocked the place. Bella stumbled, grabbing the railing for dear life. She looked back to see the stairs were going up in flames behind her. She hissed as her hands connected with the burning wood and spurred herself to climb even faster. The last steps gave way, collapsing beneath her feet. Bella threw out her arms and caught the landing as she fell.
She pulled herself up, shaking with effort as she heard the Doctor scream her name. She forced herself off the floor, ran to the little boy, and scooped him up in her arms. "It's okay, it's okay, I've got you!" Bella reassured the frightened child as she looked around, desperately searching for a way off the landing.
She was trapped.
"Bella!" The Doctor yelled. "Don't move! I'm coming!" She watched as her husband snatched her abandoned sword off the floor and used it to cut a piece of rope that was tied nearby. It jerked him up and soon he was on the landing with them.
"Hello!" he told the pair. "Put the boy on your back," he told his wife, quickly helping her to reposition the child. "Now put your arms around me," he instructed Bella. She wrapped her arms around his neck and before she could register what was happening the Time Lord had swung them to safety.
Bella moved the boy to her hip before they raced down to rejoin Jackson. "Merry Christmas!" the Doctor smiled as Jackson snatched the child from Bella's arms and hugged him tightly.
The Time Lord quickly had them on the move again. Bella found herself racing through a cellar and eventually into the night. When they reached the street Bella looked up to discover that a giant robot resembling a steampunk version of a Transformer was towering over London. She glanced over at the long, thin piece of gadget that the Doctor had removed from a bigger device they had passed in the cellar. Whatever it was, she figured it must be important. Hopefully it was something that could be used to stop the giant metal monster.
"What is that thing?" Bella asked, pointing up at the sky.
"It's a Cyberking," her husband answered.
"And a Cyberking is what?" Jackson asked.
"It's a ship. Dreadnought class. Front line of an invasion. And inside the chest, a Cyberfactory, ready to convert millions."
"Convert millions into what?" Bella asked as they started running again.
"Cybermen," the Doctor replied.
"Oh."
The Time Lord skidded to a stop, pointing. "Just head south! Take them south. Go to the parkland," The Doctor ordered.
"But where are you going?" Bella and Jackson asked simultaneously.
"To stop that thing," the Doctor answered.
"But I should be with you," Lake argued, handing Bella his son.
The Doctor looked Jackson Lake in the eye. "Jackson, you've got your son and my wife to look after. Now go."
Bella looked between the two men as they faced off. Whatever they were posturing about she just wanted to save the little boy. "Can we get out of here, that thing is coming!"
"God save you, Doctor," the other man finally relented and the Doctor ran off. Jackson guided Bella southward.
"Oh, sir! I thought I lost you!" Rosita exclaimed when she finally caught up with them amidst the chaos.
Jackson gestured to the boy that Bella was stubbornly clinging to. "My son, Rosita. This boy is my son." An explosion interrupted the reunion and the group ducked into a doorway for cover.
Jackson pointed up at the sky. "It's the Tardis! She's flying!"
Bella looked up to see the balloon rising up above them.
"Who the hell is that?" a young man from the crowd asked Jackson.
"His name, sir, is the Doctor."
Bella gasped. She hadn't even thought about what her husband was racing off to do; she had been too focused on the the little boy in her arms. She watched as the Cyberking turned to face her husband, praying that he would be okay. She watched the Doctor beam a light toward the robot's head and heard an inhuman scream come from the giant machine as it started exploding.
"He's killed it!" Jackson cheered. "Whatever he did, he's killed it."
"But it's going to fall!" Rosita exclaimed.
Bella grabbed the boy in her arms even tighter as they started running again. The looked up to see the Doctor point something else at the falling metal monster; swirls of light surrounded the machine before it suddenly vanished.
"Well, I'd say he used the Dimension Vault to transfer the wreckage of the Cyberking into the Time Vortex, there to be harmlessly disintegrated," Jackson Lake explained to the crowd. He chuckled. "Oh, I've picked up a lot!"
Jackson jumped up on a nearby lamp post. "Ladies and gentlemen, I know that man, that Doctor on high, and I know that he has done this deed a thousand times, but not once, not ever, has he ever been thanked. But no more! For I say to you, on this Christmas morn, bravo, sir! Bravo! Bravo, sir!"
"Bravo!" Bella joined in with the crowd as they cheered for her husband.
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The Doctor and Jackson Lake walked ahead of the women and child as they headed towards the Tardis. "The city will recover, as London always does," Jackson said. "Though the events of today will be history, spoken of for centuries to come."
The Doctor tugged at his ear. "Yeah. Funny that." He didn't have the heart to tell the other man that the events would be quickly forgotten.
"And a new history begins for me." Jackson continued. "I find myself a widower, but with my son and a good friend."
The Time Lord smiled, looking back at Rosita standing beside his wife. "Now, take care of that one. She's marvelous."
"Frederick will need a nursemaid and I can think of none better." Jackson's mood turned somber as he lowered his voice. "Might I ask, do you and your wife have any children?"
The Doctor shook his head. "We lost our first child not too long ago. Bella was only five months' along."
Jackson nodded. "Ahh, I see. I suspected something had happened; your wife hasn't let Frederick out of her arms not once. She needs another to fill the void inside, I think."
The Time Lord nodded.
"Please, come dine with us at the Traveler's Halt. We're having a Christmas feast in celebration, and in memory of those we have lost. It might make it easier to part your wife from my son if we do it there."
The Doctor glanced back at his young wife. "Yeah, that might be best," he agreed slowly.
"Oh, is that it?" Jackson Lake changed the subject as he spied the Tardis beneath a nearby archway.
The Doctor nodded, a small smile lifting his features.
"Oh! Oh, if I might, Doctor?" Jackson gestured towards the Tardis. "One last adventure?"
"Be my guest." The pair walked over to the Tardis. The Doctor unlocked the door and gestured for Jackson to enter.
The Doctor savored Jackson's reaction as he looked around. "Oh. Oh my word." Jackson exclaimed as he examined the console room of the time ship. "Oh, goodness me! Well...but this is, but this is nonsense!"
The Time Lord raised an eyebrow at the other man's reaction. "Well, that's one word for it."
"Complete and utter, wonderful nonsense! How very, very silly. Oh, no! I can't bear it. Oh, it's causing my head to ache. No, no, no, no, no, no!" the man exclaimed as he dashed back outside and leaned against the archway.
"Oh, gracious! That's quite enough," Jackson continued as the Time Lord closed the door. "Shall we go now?"
"Oh, let's go then," the Doctor agreed. "Jackson, if anyone had to be the Doctor, I'm glad it was you."
"The feast awaits. Come with me. Walk this way." Jackson urged the Doctor as the pair started walking back to where Bella and Rosita were waiting with Jackson's son.
The Doctor smiled. "I certainly will. Merry Christmas to you, Jackson."
"Merry Christmas indeed, Doctor."
