Hello readers! Sorry I took so long to post this. I haven't had much internet connection lately. The next chapter will be posted on either the third or fourth. The year just seemed to go by so fast. I have just finished writing Tooth and Claw, but it and other chapters still need to be tweeked. Anyway, enough chatting here is The Doctor Dances.
Diclaimer: I own nothing but my oc.
"Mummy. Mummy," the patients repeated. They were almost within touching distance of us.
"Go to your room," I said firmly. The gas mask zombies stood still. "Go to your room. I mean it. I'm very, very angry with you." I did my best to sound angry despite how sacred I was. "I am very, very cross. Go to your room!" I shouted, pointing to the ceiling. Slowly, the patients returned to their beds. I let out a sigh of relief. "I'm really glad that worked. Those would have been terrible last words," I joked lightly, attempting to cover up how scared I had been. I may have known what was going to happen, but watching the episodes on tv and actually living them was totally different. We walked back to the middle of the room.
"Why are they all wearing gas masks?" Rose asked, glancing at each of the patients.
"They're not," Jack said, reclining in Doctor Constantine's chair. "Those masks are flesh and bone."
"How was your con supposed to work?" the Doctor inquired, glaring at Jack.
Jack shrugged. "Simple enough, really. Find some harmless piece of space junk, let the nearest Time Agent track it back to Earth, convince him it's valuable, name a price. When he's put fifty percent up front, oops! A German bomb falls on it, destroys it forever. He never gets to see what he's paid for, never knows he's been had. I buy him a drink with his own money, and we discuss dumb luck. The perfect self-cleaning con."
"Yeah. Perfect," the Doctor muttered sarcastically.
"The London Blitz is great for self-cleaners," Jack explained. "Pompeii's nice if you want to make a vacation of it though, but you've got to set your alarm for volcano day." He laughed, but stopped when he saw the Doctor wasn't joining in. "Getting a hint of disapproval."
"Take a look around the room. This is what your harmless piece of space-junk did," the Doctor replied angrily, gesturing to the gas mask zombies laying peacefully on their beds.
"It was a burnt-out medical transporter. It was empty," Jack protested.
"Elena. Rose," the Doctor called. Rose and I jogged after him as he walked to the door.
"Are we getting out of here?" Rose questioned hopefully.
"We're going upstairs," the Doctor replied.
"I even programmed the flight computer so it wouldn't land on anything living," Jack continued, getting to his feet. "I harmed no-one. I don't know what's happening here, but believe me, I had nothing to do with it."
The Doctor glared at Jack. "I'll tell you what's happening. You forgot to set your alarm clock. It's volcano day." A siren sounded in the distance.
"What's that?" Rose asked, tilting her head.
"The all clear," Jack replied.
"I wish," the Doctor said flatly before grabbing my hand and heading upstairs, leaving Jack and Rose behind. We walked down another hallway and came to a thick metal door.
"Mister Spock?" Jack called a few minutes later.
"Doctor?" Rose added, her and Jack still on the flight below us.
The Doctor poked his head around the corner of the staircase. "Have you got a blaster?" He asked Jack. Rose and Jack came jogging back to the stairs, having passed it in their search.
"Sure!" Jack responded happily.
"The night your space-junk landed, someone was hurt. This was where they were taken," the Doctor explained, gesturing to the door.
"What happened?" Rose inquired.
"Let's find out. Get it open," the Doctor told Jack. Jack obliged and pulled out his blaster.
"Something wrong with your sonic screwdriver?" I asked the Doctor quietly, raising an eyebrow.
"No," he replied. Jack disintegrated a square hole in the door. "Sonic blaster, fifty first century. Weapon Factories of Villengard?" The Doctor took the blaster from Jack and examined it.
"You've been to the factories?" Jack asked curiously.
"Once," the Doctor responded, handing the blaster back.
"Well, they gone now, destroyed. The main reactor went critical. Vaporized the lot," Jack said.
"Like I said. Once. There's a banana grove there, now. I like bananas. Bananas are good," the Doctor said with a grin.
I shook my head in amusement as we climbed through the hole. "You and your bananas."
"What?" The Doctor asked indignantly. "What wrong with bananas?"
"Tell you what," I told him, "if we survive the gas mask zombies, I will make you a banana smoothie when we get back to the TARDIS." The Doctor grinned.
"Squareness gun," I heard Rose say.
"Yeah," Jack replied.
"I like it," Rose complimented.
I poked my head back through the hole. "If guys could stop flirting and focus that would be great," I said.
"Right, sorry," Rose apologized. She and Jack climbed through the hole.
The room we now stood in was a mess. Filing cabinets were tipped over and a chair laid on its side. There was another room on the other side of the wall, an observation window allowing us to see through to the room. Child's drawings littered the walls of the other room and the observation window was broken. In short, it looked liked something had been trapped in the room and had managed to escape.
"What do you think?" The Doctor asked Jack.
Jack inspected the room. "Something got out of here," he replied.
"Yeah. And?" The Doctor pressed.
"Something powerful. Angry," Jack added.
"Powerful and angry," the Doctor repeated. I walked into the other room. A small bed sat in the corner. I spotted a teddy bear lying on the floor and walked over and licked it up.
'Poor Jamie,' I thought as I gently stroked the bear. 'All he wants is his mommy.' I tucked the teddy bear into my jacket pocket. I decided to give it to him later, once we've saved him and the rest of the patients.
"A child?" Jack asked, shocked. "I suppose this explains Mummy."
"How could a child do this?" Rose questioned, looking at the carnage around the room. The Doctor turned on a tape machine that was siting on a desk.
"Do you know where you are?" Dr. Constantine asked.
"Are you my mummy?" A child inquired.
"Are you aware of what's around you? Can you see?" Constantine pressed.
"Are you my mummy?" The child repeated.
"What do you want? Do you know..." Constantine began, but was interrupted by the child.
"I want my mummy. Are you my mummy? I want my mummy! Are you my mummy? Are you my mummy? Mummy? Mummy?" The child repeated over and over. I blinked away tears as I listened to the recording.
"Doctor, Elena and I have heard this voice before," Rose said.
"Me too," the Doctor replied.
"Mummy?" The child said again.
"Always are you my mummy?. Like he doesn't know," Rose mused.
"Mummy?"
"Why doesn't he know?" Rose asked.
"Are you there, mummy? Mummy?" The child continued to repeat. "Mummy? Please, mummy? Mummy?"
I glanced at the Doctor who appeared to be deep in thought, his brows furrowed in concentration. "Doctor?" I asked softly, walking up to him.
"Can you sense it?" He asked as he started pacing around the room. I nodded, suppressing a shiver. It felt like we were being watched.
"Sense what?" Jack inquired, confused.
"Coming out of the walls. Can you feel it?" the Doctor asked again.
"Mummy?" The child said again.
"Funny little human brains,," the Doctor commented, pausing in his pacing. "How do you get around in those things?" I would have smacked him, but given our situation I decided to let the comment slide.
"When he's stressed, he likes to insult species," Rose explained to Jack.
"Rose, I'm thinking," the Doctor said in annoyance.
"He cuts himself shaving, he does half an hour on life forms he's cleverer than," I added.
"Elena, hush," the Doctor said, stopping in front of the observation Windows. I huffed in annoyance. "There are these children living rough round the bomb sites. They come out during air-raids looking for food," the Doctor began.
"Mummy, please?" The child pleaded.
"Suppose they were there when this thing, whatever it was, landed?" The Doctor continued, ignoring the tape.
"It was a med-ship. It was harmless," Jack protested.
"Yes, you keep saying harmless. Suppose one of them was affected, altered?" The Doctor suggested.
"Altered how?" Rose asked nervously.
"I'm here!" The child said. I glanced over to the tape to find that it had run out.
"Um, Doctor," I said quietly, eyeing the tape player. The Doctor ignored me and continued his rambling.
"It's afraid. Terribly afraid and powerful. It doesn't know it yet, but it will do. It's got the power of a god, and Elena just sent it to it's room," the Doctor realized, his eyes widening.
"Doctor," I tried again.
"I'm here. Can't you see me?" The child asked.
"What's that noise?" Rose asked, glancing around the room for the source.
"End of the tape," I informed them. "It ran out about thirty seconds ago."
"I'm here, now. Can't you see me?" The child repeated.
"I sent it to it's room. This is it's room," I said, my eyes widening in realization. I spun around to to see the child Rose and I had tried to rescue earlier standing in the doorway.
"Are you my mummy? Mummy?" He asked.
"Doctor?" Rose asked, worriedly. We all started backing up.
"Okay, on my signal make for the door," Jack reaching hand into his belt as he moved behind the Doctor.
"Mummy?" The child said again.
"Now!" Jack yelled, pulling out his blaster and pointing it at the patients over the Doctor's shoulder, only to find it was a banana. He stared at the fruit in confusion.
"Mummy?" The child repeated.
The Doctor pulled Jack's blaster out and dissolved a square hole in the wall next to us. "Go now!" He ushered us through the door. Rose and I waisted no time climbing through the hole. "Don't drop the banana!" He yelled at Jack.
"Why not?!" Jack asked, clambering through the hole after Rose and I.
"Good source of potassium!" The Doctor replied.
Jack grabbed the blaster back from the Doctor "Give me that!"
"Mummy. I want my mummy," the child said yet again.
Jack quickly pressed a button and pointed his blaster at the hole and repaired the wall. "Digital rewind. Nice switch," Jack complimented, tossing the banana back to the Doctor.
"It's from the groves of Villengard. I thought it was appropriate," the Doctor said, smirking.
"When exactly did you have the time to switch the gun?" I asked incredulously. I had always wondered how he had managed to switch the blaster without Jack noticing.
The Doctor smirked at me. "A magician never reveals his secrets," he replied.
I crossed my arms and raised an eyebrow. "Oh, so you're a magician now, are you?"
"There's really a banana grove in the heart of Villengard and you did that?" Jack asked the Doctor.
"Bananas are good," the Doctor replied simply. Suddenly, the child hit the other side of the wall, cracking it.
"Doctor!" Rose yelled.
"Come on!" The Doctor yelled. We ran down one hallway only to stop short as the patients appeared around the corner. We turned around and bolted back the other way. Another group of patients appeared and herded us back to the wall the child was trying to break through.
"Mummy. Mummy. Mummy," they repeated.
"It's keeping us here till it can get at us," the Doctor explained as the child continued to try to break through the wall.
"It's controlling them?" Jack asked incredulously.
"It is them. It's every living thing in this hospital," the Doctor corrected.
"Okay," Jack said. "This can function as a sonic blaster, a sonic cannon, and as a triple-enfolded sonic disrupter. Doc, what you got?"
The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver. "I've got a sonic," the Doctor paused and looked at his device. "...er. Oh, never mind."
"What?" Jack asked, aiming his blaster at one zombie group then the other.
"It's sonic, okay?" The Doctor said. "Let's leave it at that." The patients continued to advance and the child hammered on the wall again, cracking it further.
"Disrupter? Cannon? What?" Jack pressed.
"It's sonic! Totally sonic! I am soniced up!" The Doctor insisted.
"A sonic what?!" Jack yelled.
"Screwdriver!" The Doctor yelled back, holding up said item for Jack to see. The child finally managed to break through the wall and we spin to face him.
I quickly grabbed Jack's blaster and pointed it at the floor. "Going down!" I yelled in warning before dissolving the floor. We all cried out in shock as we dropped through the hole I had made. We landed with a thud and Jack quickly grabbed his blaster back and repaired the hole. I groaned in pain as I shoved the Doctor's legs off my stomach and sat up.
"Everyone okay?" I asked rubbing the back of my head.
"Could've used a warning," the Doctor complained as he helped me up.
"A simple thank you would suffice," I retorted.
"Who has a sonic screwdriver?" Jack asked the Doctor.
"I do," the Doctor replied irritably.
"Lights," Rose muttered as she glanced around the dark room.
"Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks, ooo, this could be a little more sonic?" Jack mocked.
"Boys," I warned, not in the mood for them to start an argument.
"What, you've never been bored?" The Doctor inquired.
"There's got to be a light switch," Rose mumbled, running around the room.
"Never had a long night? Never had a lot of cabinets to put up?" The Doctor continued. The lights came on as Rose finally located the switch, illuminating another room full of gas mask zombies. The patients sat up.
"Mummy. Mummy," they said.
"Door," Jack said, running over to the door. He tried his blaster on the door, but the blaster just sputtered. "Dang it!" Jack yelled in frustration, smacking his blaster with his hand.
"Mummy," the patients repeated, getting out of bed.
"It's the special features. They really drain the battery," Jack explained irritably.
"The battery?" Rose exclaimed. The Doctor quickly pulled out his sonic and opened the door. "That's so lame!" We ran through the door and down another hallway.
"I was going to send for another one, but somebody's got to blow up the factory," Jack said loudly, making sure the Doctor could here him.
"Oh, I know," Rose replied. "First day I met him, he blew my job up. That's practically how he communicates."
"Okay, that door should hold it for a bit," the Doctor said, sonicing the door to the room we had just entered.
"The door? The wall didn't stop it!" Jack pointed out.
"Well, it's got to find us first! Come on, we're not done yet! Assets, assets!" The Doctor said, hurriedly glancing around the room.
"Well, I've got a banana, and in a pinch you could put up some shelves," Jack replied sarcastically.
The Doctor spotted a small window with bars. "Window," he said, running over to it and hoisting himself up onto the table by the wall to look out.
"Barred. Sheer drop outside. Seven stories," Jack said, having checked when we entered the room.
"And no other exits," I noticed.
"Well, the assets conversation went in a flash, didn't it?" Jack said bitterly from his place in a wheelchair.
The Doctor turned to me. "So, where'd you pick this one up, then?" He gestured to Jack.
"Doctor," I said in exasperation.
"They were hanging from a barrage balloon, I had an invisible spaceship. I never stood a chance," Jack replied humorously.
"Okay," the Doctor said, glancing around the room again. "One, we've got to get out of here. Two, we can't get out of here. Have I missed anything?"
"Yeah. Jack just disappeared," Rose pointed out. The Doctor and I looked around to see that Jack had indeed gone. The Doctor and I sat down on a bench that was sitting on one wall.
"Okay, so he's vanished into thin air. Why is it always the great looking ones who do that?" Rose complained.
"I'm making an effort not to be insulted," the Doctor said flatly. I giggled, but covered my mouth when the Doctor sent a glare my way.
"I mean, men," Rose corrected.
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Okay, thanks, that really helped," he replied sarcastically.
"You're a male Time Lord, Doctor, not a human man," I giggled, nudging him my shoulder. He looked at me. The radio sitting on a shelf then crackled to life.
"Rose? Elena? Doctor?" Jack asked. The Doctor jumped up and ran over to the radio. He flipped it right side up. "Can you hear me? I'm back on my ship. Used the emergency teleport. Sorry I couldn't take you," he apologized. The Doctor held up a frayed wire that was attached to the radio. He raised his eyebrows at Rose and I, us all wondering the same thing. How was Jack talking through the radio if the radio had no power? "It's security-keyed to my molecular structure. I'm working on it. Hang in there."
"How're you speaking to us?" The Doctor asked, confusedly.
"Om-Com. I can call anything with a speaker grill," Jack explained.
"Now there's a coincidence," the Doctor said.
Now it was Jack's turned to be confused. "What is?"
"The child can Om-Com, too," the Doctor informed us.
"He can?" Rose asked.
The Doctor nodded. "Anything with a speaker grill. Even the Tardis phone."
"What, you mean the child can phone us?" Rose questioned in confusion.
"And I can hear you. Coming to find you. Coming to find you," the child said, talking through the radio.
"Doctor, can you hear that?" Jack inquired.
"Loud and clear," the Doctor replied.
"I'll try to block out the signal. Least I can do," Jack said.
"Coming to find you, mummy," The child said.
"Remember this one, Rose?" Jack asked, turning on the song he had played when he and Rose danced.
"Our song," Rose said, softly, smiling at the memory and blushing slightly. The Doctor stood up and jumped on the table so he could reach the window. He took out his sonic screwdriver and started sonicing the cement under the window bars. Rose plopped herself down in a wheelchair. After a few moments of listening to the sonic, I decided to break the silence.
"What you doing?" I asked the Doctor.
"Trying to set up a resonation pattern in the concrete, loosen the bars," he explained.
"You don't think he's coming back, do you?" I inquired.
"Wouldn't bet my life," he replied without looking up from his task.
"Why don't you trust him?" I questioned, leaning against the wall behind me and crossing my arms.
"Why do you?" The Doctor retorted.
"He saved mine and Rose's lives," I answered.
"Bloke-wise, that's up there with flossing," Rose said. I smiled and shook my head.
"I trust him because I've met him before. I know what he's like. Plus he's like you," I explained. "Except with dating and dancing." The Doctor glanced back at me with a raised eyebrow. "What?"
He went back to his task. "You just assume I'm..." He hesitated.
"What?" I pressed, raising my eyebrow.
"You just assume that I don't dance," he replied.
"What, are you telling me you do dance?" I asked.
"Nine hundred years old, me. I've been around a bit. I think you can assume at some point I've danced," the Doctor retorted.
"You?" I inquired, raising the other eyebrow.
"Problem?" The Doctor asked, turning back around.
"You? Mr. Brooding, dance?" I teased.
"Well, I've got the moves but I wouldn't want to boast," the Doctor replied, returning to resonating the bars. I stood up and turned up the volume on the radio.
I held out my hand to the Doctor as he stared at me. "You've got the moves? Show me your moves."
"Elena, I'm trying to resonate concrete," the Doctor protested, gesturing to the wall behind him.
"Jack'll be back. He'll get us out. So come on," I insisted. "The world doesn't end because the Doctor dances." I ignored Rose's quiet giggling in the background. The Doctor slowly stepped down from the table and walked towards me.
He took my hands and examined them. "Barrage balloon?" He asked, furrowing his brows in confusion.
"What?" I asked, tilting my held slightly.
"You and Rose were hanging from a barrage balloon," the Doctor recalled.
"Oh, yeah," I confirmed. "About two minutes after you left us. Thousands of feet above London, middle of a German air-raid, and the TARDIS had to make me wear my Captain America shirt," I huffed.
The Doctor continued to scrutinize my hands. "I've traveled with a lot of people, but you're setting new records for jeopardy friendly."
I ignored him. "If this is how you dance I have a few tips for you," I said.
"Hanging from a rope thousands feet above London. Not a cut, not a bruise," the Doctor noticed.
I shrugged. "Yeah, I know. Captain Jack fixed us up."
The Doctor glanced up at me with raised eyebrows. "Oh, we're calling him Captain Jack now, are we?"
I shrugged again. "Well, his name's Jack and he's a Captain," I answered. "His last name should have been Sparrow."
"He's not really a Captain, Elena."
I smirked at him. "Getting a bit jealous, are we?" I nodded to his feet. "You'll find your feet at the end of your legs. You may care to move them."
The Doctor started to shuffle his feet. "If ever he was a Captain, he's been defrocked."
"Yeah? Shame I missed that," I giggled.
"Actually, I quit. Nobody takes my frock," Jack interrupted, causing the Doctor and I to turn around in surprise. Jack was sitting in his chair and Rose on his bunk. "Most people notice when they've been teleported. You guys are so sweet. Sorry about the delay. I had to take the nav-com offline to override the teleport security."
The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "You can spend ten minutes overriding your own protocols? Maybe you should remember whose ship it is."
"Oh, I do," Jack replied with a grin. "She was gorgeous. Like I told her, be back in five minutes."
"This is a Chula ship," the Doctor noted, glancing around the ships cramped interior.
"Yeah," Jack confirmed, "just like that medical transporter. Only this one is dangerous." The Doctor snapped his fingers and a golden cloud enveloped his hands.
"They're what fixed my hands up," I told him. "Nanogenes I believe is what Jack called them."
"Sub-atomic robots," the Doctor explained. "There's millions of them in here, see? Burned my hand on the console when we landed. All better now." The nanogenes disappeared. "They activate when the bulk head's sealed. Check you out for damage, fix any physical flaws. Take us to the crash site. I need to see your space junk," he told Jack.
"As soon as I get the nav-com back online. Make yourself comfortable. Carry on with whatever it was you were doing," Jack replied, waving his hand in the Doctor and I's direction.
"We were talking about dancing," the Doctor explained.
"It didn't look like talking," Jack said.
"It didn't feel like dancing," I mumbled.
"So, you used to be a Time Agent now you're trying to con them?" Rose asked Jack.
"If it makes me sound any better, it's not for the money," Jack said.
"For what?" Rose asked curiously.
"Woke up one day when I was still working for them, found they'd stolen two years of my memories. I'd like them back," Jack replied darkly.
"They stole your memories?" Rose asked, shocked. I glanced at Jack sadly.
"Two years of my life," Jack explained. "No idea what I did. Your friend over there doesn't trust me," he gestured to the Doctor, "and for all I know he's right not to. Okay, we're good to go. Crash site?" He asked, turning to the Doctor.
We landed and climbed out of Jack's ship. We walked to the crash site. A fence surrounded the perimeter of the site and guards patrolled the area. We stood behind a stack of bins and surveyed the area.
"There it is," Jack said, nodding to the site. He then noticed a particular guard. "Hey, they've got Algy on duty. It must be important."
"We've got to get past him," the Doctor said.
"Are the words distract the guard heading in my general direction?" Rose inquired with a smile.
"I don't think that'd be such a good idea," Jack told her.
"Don't worry I can handle it," Rose insisted.
"I've got to know Algy quite well since I've been in town," Jack explained. "Trust me, you're not his type. I'll distract him. Don't wait up." He jogged down to meet Algy.
"Relax," the Doctor assured Rose, "he's a fifty first century guy. He's just a bit more flexible when it comes to dancing."
"How flexible?" Rose asked apprehensively.
"Well, by his time, you lot have spread out across half the galaxy," he explained.
"Meaning?" Rose inquired.
The Doctor grinned. "So many species, so little time."
"What, that's what we do when we get out there? That's our mission? We seek new life, and, and..." Rose struggled to find the right word.
"Dance," the Doctor and I replied, grinning. We watched as Jack jogged over to Algy.
"Hey, tiger. How's it hanging? " Jack called to Algy. The guard turned around.
"Mummy?" Algy asked, looking at Jack confusedly.
"Algy, old sport, it's me," Jack said.
"Mummy?" Algy repeated. I furrowed my eyebrows and tilted my head.
"Wait a minute," I mumbled, mentally going through the events of this episode. The Doctor glanced at me.
"What is it?" He asked me.
"It's me, Jack," Jack insisted.
"Jack?" Algy tilted his head. "Are you my mummy?" Algy started to retch and collapsed to his knees. He continued to choke as his face turned into a gas mask. I took off towards Jack.
"Elena!" The Doctor called as he and Rose followed me.
"Jack! Get back!" I yelled as I ran.
"You men, stay away!" Jack ordered the soldiers who had come over to see what was going on. We stood over Algy, who had completely transformed into a gas mask zombie.
"The effect's become air-borne, accelerating," the Doctor informed us. A siren signaling the start of another air raid rang through the air.
"What's keeping us safe?" Rose asked in concern.
"Nothing," I replied solemnly. Explosions went off as bombs started dropping.
"Ah, here they come again," Jack said, looking at the sky.
"All we need," Rose muttered. "Didn't you say a bomb was going to land here?" She asked Jack.
"Never mind about that," the Doctor dismissed. "If the contaminants airborne now, there's hours left."
"For what?" Jack asked in confusion.
"Till nothing, forever. For the entire human race. And can anyone else hear singing?" The Doctor asked, interrupting himself and furrowing his eyebrows in confusion. I tilted my head slightly and sure enough I could hear singing.
"Nancy," I said quietly. The Doctor walked off towards the singing. The Doctor and I walked up to one of the tents that were set up around the site.
"When the wind blows, the cradle will rock. When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall. Down will come baby, cradle and all," Nancy sang quietly as the Doctor and I poked our heads in. Nancy paused and looked around. In front of her was another gas mask zombie soldier laying fast asleep on the table. I gestured for her to keep singing. "Rock-a-bye baby, on the tree tops. When the wind blows the cradle will rock," Nancy continued as the Doctor walked over and soniced her handcuffs. We hurried out and went to go find Rose and Jack.
We stood in front of the object that the Doctor, Rose, and I had been chasing. The object was about the size of the bombs that were currently being dropped on London. It sat in a crater it had created when it hit the ground.
"You see?" Jack said, gesturing to the object. "Just an ambulance."
Nancy started at the partially buried object. "That's an ambulance?" She asked in disbelief.
"It's hard to explain. It's from another world," Rose said.
"They've been trying to get in," Jack stated, noticing a multitude of scratches on the ambulances metal surface.
"Of course they have. They think they've got their hands on Hitler's latest secret weapon," the Doctor stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world. He then looked over to Jack who was busy entering the key code into a panel on the side of the ambulance. "What're you doing?"
"The sooner you see this thing is empty, the sooner you'll know I had nothing to do with it," Jack replied. My eyes widened as I remembered that the key code wasn't going to work this time.
"Wait, Jack!" I tired, but it was too late. There was a loud bang and Jack flinched back as sparks flew in his face. An alarm started blasting from the ambulance.
"Didn't happen last time," Jack said, eyeing the flashing red light on the panel.
"It hadn't crashed last time!" I told him angrily.
"She's right," the Doctor agreed. "There'll be emergency protocols."
"Doctor, what is that?" Rose asked nervously. The Doctor didn't answer. "Doctor!"
The Doctor turned to Jack. "Captain, secure those gates!"
"Why?" Jack inquired.
"Just do it!" The Doctor yelled. Jack ran off.
"Nancy, you cut the wire to get in right?" I asked her.
"Yeah," she replied, looking a bit confused as to how I knew that.
"Show Rose," the Doctor said, pulling out his sonic screwdriver. "Setting two thousand four hundred and twenty eight D." He tossed Rose the sonic.
"What?" Rose asked in confusion as she caught the sonic.
"Reattaches barbed wire," I explained quickly.
"Go!" The Doctor told her. Rose and Nancy took off.
Jack came running back after closing the gates. "Now let's see if we can get this open," he said, rubbing his hands together as he approached the ambulance.
Jack finally managed to get it open, just as Rose and Nancy returned. Rose handed the Doctor back his sonic. "It's empty. Look at it," Jack insisted, gesturing at the empty interior.
"What do you expect in a Chula medical transporter?" The Doctor asked. "Bandages? Cough drops? Elena? Rose?"
Rose shrugged and shook her head. "I don't know."
"Nanogenes," I answered. "Enough to rebuild a species."
Jack looked horrified. "Oh, gosh," he gasped, finally realizing what he had done.
"Getting it now, are we?" The Doctor asked irritably. "When the ship crashes, the nanogenes escape. Billions upon billions of them, ready to fix all the cuts and bruises in the whole world. But what they find first is a dead child, probably killed earlier that night, and wearing a gas mask."
"And they brought him back to life? They can do that?" Rose asked incredulously.
"What's life? Life's easy. A quirk of matter. Nature's way of keeping meat fresh. Nothing to a nanogene," the Doctor replied. "One problem, though. These nanogenes, they're not like the ones on your ship. This lot have never seen a human being before. Don't know what a human being's supposed to look like. All they've got to go on is one little body, and there's not a lot left. But they carry right on. They do what they're programmed to do. They patch it up. Can't tell what's gas mask and what's skull, but they do their best. Then off they fly, off they go, work to be done. Because, you see, now they think they know what people should look like, and it's time to fix all the rest. And they won't ever stop. They won't ever, ever stop. The entire human race is going to be torn down and rebuilt in the form of one terrified child looking for its mother, and nothing in the world can stop it!" the Doctor yelled angrily at Jack.
"I didn't know," Jack protested, attempting to defend himself. The Doctor started working on the ambulance as it continued to sound the alarm. I stood next to him as he messed with the wires. I glanced up and spotted a group of gas mask zombies headed our way.
"Mummy. Mummy," they repeated over and over.
"Rose!" Nancy called, having spotted the patients too. Rose ran over to her.
"It's bringing the gas mask people here, isn't it?" Rose asked the Doctor as she ran back over to us.
The Doctor glanced up from his work, but didn't stop. "The ship thinks it's under attack. It's calling up the troops. Standard protocol," he explained.
"But the gas mask people aren't troops," Rose pointed out.
"They are now," I told her, still staring at the approaching zombie group.
"This is a battle-field ambulance," the Doctor explained further. "The nanogenes don't just fix you up, they get you ready for the front line. Equip you, program you."
"That's why the child's so strong," Rose realized. "Why it could do that phoning thing."
The Doctor nodded. "It's a fully equipped Chula warrior, yes. All that weapons tech in the hands of a hysterical four year old looking for his mummy. And now there's an army of them." The patients surrounded us, but didn't cross the barbed wire fence. I glanced around at them, nervously picking at my nails.
"Why don't they attack?" Jack wondered aloud.
"Good little soldiers, waiting for their commander," the Doctor explained.
Jack glanced back at the Doctor with a look of confusion. "The child?"
"Jamie," Nancy said softly.
"What?" Jack asked, turning to look at her.
"Not the child. Jamie," Nancy repeated a bit louder. The Doctor stared at Nancy.
"So how long until the bomb falls?" Rose asked Jack.
"Any second," Jack replied.
"What's the matter, Captain?" The Doctor mocked, walking towards Nancy. "A bit close to the volcano for you?"
"He's just a little boy," Nancy said, sadly.
"I know," the Doctor said softly.
"He's just a little boy who wants his mummy," Nancy insisted, her voice cracking.
"I know," the Doctor repeated, stopping in front of Nancy. "There isn't a little boy born who wouldn't tear the world apart to save his mummy. And this little boy can." He stared at the patients standing outside the fence.
"So what're we going to do?" Rose asked worriedly.
"I don't know," the Doctor replied.
Nancy closed her eyes as tears began to trickle down her cheeks. "It's my fault."
The Doctor shook his head. "No," he told her gently.
"It is. It's all my fault," Nancy insisted. I watched her sadly.
"How can it be your-" The Doctor stopped mid sentence as the patients suddenly started speaking again.
"Mummy. Mummy. Mummy. Mummy," the patients continued to repeat. We all glanced around from patient to patient. The Doctor turned to look at Nancy as something seemed to click. He glanced at me for confirmation. I nodded, knowing what he was thinking. He went to open his mouth, but I held up a hand. He looked at me questioningly and I shook my head.
I approached Nancy. "Nancy, how old are you?" I asked gently. She didn't answer as she continued to cry silently. "Twenty? Twenty one? Older than you look, yes?" The bombs continued to go off and sounded like they were getting closer.
"Doctor, that bomb. We've got seconds," Jack urged.
"You can teleport us out," Rose said.
Jack shook his head. "Not you guys. The nav-com's back online. Going to take too long to override the protocols."
"So it's volcano day," the Doctor said, still looking at Nancy. "Do what you've got to do."
"Jack?" Rose asked, staring at the former Time Agent pleadingly. Jack gave her an apologetic look before pulling out his remote and vanishing.
"How old were you five years ago? Fifteen? Sixteen?" The Doctor asked Nancy. "Old enough to give birth, anyway." Nancy glanced at the Doctor, hers eyes full of tears.
"He's not your brother, is he?" I asked gently. Nancy shook her head.
"A teenage single mother in 1941," the Doctor said. "So you hid. You lied." Nancy nodded, sniffing. "You even lied to him." We jumped as the gate burst open, revealing the patients with the child, Jamie at the front.
"Are you my mummy?" Jamie asked.
"He's going to keep asking, Nancy. He's never going to stop," the Doctor told her.
"Mummy?" Jamie repeated, as if to prove the Doctor's point.
I placed a hand on Nancy's shoulder. "Tell him," I told her softly. She glanced at Jamie.
"Nancy, the future of the human race is in your hands. Trust me and tell him," the Doctor urged. Nancy slowed walked towards Jamie.
"Are you my mummy? Are you my mummy? Are you my mummy?" Jamie repeated, walking towards Nancy.
"Yes," Nancy affirmed, her voice cracking. "Yes, I am your mummy."
"Mummy?" Jamie repeated.
"I'm here."
"Are you my mummy?"
"I'm here." Nancy kneeled in front on Jamie.
"Are you my mummy?"
"Yes."
"Are you my mummy?"
The Doctor and I watched Nancy try to convince Jamie. "He doesn't understand. There's not enough of him left," the Doctor said sadly.
"I am your mummy. I will always be your mummy," Nancy said. "I'm so sorry. I am so, so sorry." Nancy hugged Jamie, stroking his head. A cloud of nanogenes surrounded them.
"What's happening?" Rose asked in concern. "Doctor, it's changing her, we should-"
"Shush!" The Doctor interrupted, staring at the nanogenes cloud. "Come on, please," he pleaded. "Come on, you clever little nanogenes. Figure it out! The mother, she's the mother. It's got to be enough information. Figure it out."
"What's happening?" Rose inquired.
"See?" The Doctor said excitedly, pointing to the nanogene cloud. "Recognizing the same DNA." Jamie let go of Nancy and Nancy fell to the ground. The Doctor, Rose, and I ran over to Nancy and Jamie.
"Oh, come on," the Doctor pleaded. "Give me a day like this. Give me this one." The Doctor bent down and removed Jamie's gas mask. Jamie looks up at the Doctor, his hair messed up from the gas mask. "Ha-ha! Welcome back!" The Doctor cried gleefully, picking Jamie up. I grinned and jumped up and down in excitement. "Twenty years till pop music - you're going to love it," he told Jamie.
"What happened?" Nancy asked in confusion. I held out a hand to her. She took it gratefully.
"The nanogenes recognized the superior information, the parent DNA," the Doctor explained. "They didn't change you because you changed them! Ha-ha! Mother knows best!" The Doctor exclaimed happily.
"Oh, Jamie," Nancy said softly, hugging her son again.
"Doctor, that bomb," Rose said worriedly.
"Taken care of it," the Doctor replied, grinning at Nancy and her son.
"How?" Rose asked in confusion.
"Psychology," I told her, smiling softly at Nancy and Jamie. We looked up and saw the bomb hurtling towards us. Suddenly, a spaceship came zooming down and caught the bomb in a blue beam. Jack appeared astride the bomb.
"Doctor!" Jack called.
"Good lad!" The Doctor complimented.
"The bomb's already commenced detonation. I've put it in stasis but it won't last long," Jack explained.
"Change of plan," the Doctor said. "Don't need the bomb. Can you get rid of it, safely as you can?"
Jack nodded. "Rose? Els?"
"Yeah?" Rose asked, smiling. I raised my eyebrows, silently telling him to continue. I didn't notice the Doctor glance at me when Jack called be Els.
"Goodbye," Jack said. He and the bomb vanished. Jack reappeared. "By the way, love the tee-shirts." Rose smiled and adjusted her shirt while I simply grinned. Jack disappeared again and the spaceship flew off. The Doctor started down at his hands. He grinned as he summoned some nanogenes.
"What are you doing?" Rose asked him.
"Software patch," the Doctor explained, not taking his eyes off the nanogenes. "Going to email the upgrade. You want moves, Elena? I'll give you moves." He grinned as he threw his hands outward. The nanogenes flew to the patients waiting patiently by the gate. They all fell to the ground. "Everybody lives, Elena. Just this once, everybody lives!" The Doctor exclaimed, throwing his arms out excitedly. I grinned and ran into his open arms. We laughed as he spun me around, hugging me tightly. He set me down and and jogged over to Dr. Constantine, who was getting to his feet.
I turned to Jamie knelt in front of him. "I got something for you," I told him. I reach into my jacket pocket and pulled out the teddy bear I had taken from the hospital. "I think this belongs to you." I held out the bear for him. Jamie reached out and took the teddy bear. He smiled and hugged me. I giggled and hugged him back. "Take care of your mother okay?" Jamie nodded as he hugged the bear to his chest. I stood up and ruffled Jamie's hair.
The Doctor came jogging back after his talk with Dr. Constantine and climbed on top of the ambulance. "Right, you lot," the Doctor called to the patients. "Lots to do. Beat the Germans, save the world. Don't forget the welfare state!" Dr. Constantine smiled and started urging people to leave. The Doctor started pressing buttons on the ambulance "Setting this to self-destruct, soon as everybody's clear," he explained. "History says there was an explosion here. Who am I to argue with history?"
"Usually the first in line," I giggled. He grinned at me.
The Doctor, Rose, and I made it back to the TARDIS. "The nanogenes will clean up the mess and switch themselves off, because I just told them to. Nancy and Jamie will go to Doctor Constantine for help, ditto. All in all, all things considered, fantastic!" He ran around the console grinning.
"Look at you, beaming away like you're Father Christmas," Rose laughed.
"Who says I'm not, red bicycle when you were twelve?" The Doctor replied.
Rose stared at the Doctor. "What?"
"And everybody lives, Elena!" The Doctor he told me happily. "Everybody lives! I need more days like this."
"You certainly do," I replied, giggling at his enthusiasm.
"Doctor," Rose said.
"Go on, ask me anything. I'm on fire," the Doctor said excitedly, not having heard Rose.
"What about Jack?" Rose asked. The Doctor stopped running around the console and glanced at Rose sadly. "Why'd he say goodbye?" The Doctor didn't answer.
I looked at the Doctor. "We can't leave him, Doctor. I think we owe him."
"How do we owe him?" The Doctor asked me.
"He did save Rose and I's lives," I reminded him. He stared at me for a moment before putting in coordinates and pulling a lever, sending us into the Time Vortex. The Doctor flicked another switch and the Moonlight Serenade to play.
The Doctor walked up to me. "May I have this dance?" He asked, holding out his hand.
I grinned and took his hand. "You may." The next few minutes were spent trying to teach the Doctor how to dance, which was somewhat difficult as I didn't really know how. We danced by the open TARDIS doors, which the Doctor had opened right after we landed. The TARDIS was parked inside Jack's spaceship.
"Well, hurry up then!" I called to Jack when he finally noticed we were there. Jack came running in and looked around the TARDIS console room in awe. "Okay. And right and turn," I told the Doctor as I attempted to teach him to dance. He spun me around, but somehow managed to twist my arm behind my back. "Okay, let's try that again and try not to get my arm up my back. No extra points for a half-nelson," I teased.
"I'm sure I used to know this stuff," the Doctor insisted. He turned to Jack who was still glancing around the room. "Close the door, will you? Your ship's about to blow up. There's going to be a draught." Jack shut the door and the Doctor started the TARDIS engine.
"Welcome to the Tardis," I greeted, spreading my arms.
"Much bigger on the inside," Jack noted.
"You'd better be," the Doctor replied sternly.
I rolled my eyes. "I think what the Doctor's trying to say is you may cut in," I said, walking up to Jack.
"Elena!" The Doctor called. "I've just remembered!"
"What?" I questioned, raising an eyebrow. The music changed to something more upbeat.
The Doctor started snapping his fingers o the beat of the song. "I can dance! I can dance!" He grinned as he started dancing.
"Actually, Doctor, I thought Jack might like this dance," I told him.
"I'm sure he would, Elena," the Doctor replied. "I'm absolutely certain. But who with?" He held out his hand to me. I stared at him for a moment then turned to Jack.
"Sorry, Jack, looks like I'm taken." I smiled apologetically. "But I believe there is a blonde over there who doesn't have a dance partner," I said, gesturing to Rose, who was standing by one of the coral pillars. Rose grinned at Jack. I took the Doctor's hand and together we danced around the console. I grinned at the Doctor as we danced and he returned the grin. He spun me around without pinning my arm behind my back and dipped me. I laughed gleefully. The Doctor pulled me back up. We started at each other, both of us with and identical grin on our faces. I felt my heart flutter as I stared into his piercing blue eyes. I jumped slightly when I heard clapping. I turned my head to see Rose and Jack standing off to the side, clapping and grinning. The Doctor let go of me and I pouted internally, missing the feel of his arms around me. He bowed to Jack and Rose and I smiled softly.
Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. Please review and let me know what you think so far. Happy New Years everyone!