Chapter Ten
Taken
Demons Run when a good man goes to war
When the Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS in his Headless Monk robes it took everything he had not to lock the doors behind him. He needed to prove to Rose that he trusted her to look out for herself, that he wouldn't leave her so he could keep her safe. They were equals; where one went so did the other.
It still felt wrong to be wearing the robes of the very same thing that would have killed her in an alternate reality. He shuddered at the thought.
The Doctor turned to face her, giving her a pleading look.
She smiled. "Nice try."
He sighed and put his hand on her side. "Be careful."
"You too. Hey, I'll see you soon."
He nodded and leaned forward, kissing her softly.
"I love you," he whispered, his worry leaking into his voice.
"I'll be fine," she breathed. "And I love you too. Now go before you miss your cue."
Rose pulled his hood up, making sure it covered his entire face.
"There. Now just shut up for a bit and you'll make a perfect Headless Monk."
Beneath his hood the Doctor snorted. He started to leave, practising how he would have to walk to convince them of what he was masquerading as.
"Doctor?" she called to him.
He cocked his head slightly to the side. He could practically hear the smile in her voice.
"Give 'em hell."
Night will fall and drown the sun
Rose knew she had to wait to go to the Doctor. She also knew that something was going to go wrong once she found him. She just didn't know what. For the first time she was frustrated at not being able to see their futures.
What if she didn't wait? What if she just went to him, damn the consequences?
Bad things happen to wizards who meddle with time.
Rose rolled her eyes. Trust her to resort to the wisdom Hermione Granger to prevent her from causing what would probably be an end-of-the-world paradox.
All of a sudden, she hated how important this battle was, hated how the balance of everything weighed upon her and the Doctor. She'd been blessed with the Bad Wolf's powers but she knew they would also become her curse.
And so she sat and waited alone, wishing she could ignore the horrible feeling in her gut that she was going to mess something up.
When a good man goes to war
In the control room, the Doctor sat, still seething at what Colonel Manton and Madame Kovarian had done. He tried not to hate everyone he went up against but that woman was just asking to be despised.
When he heard footsteps he turned slightly. His hearts jumped and sank at the same time; it was Rose.
"What are you doing here? I thought you weren't coming until Amy and Rory got the baby."
"She's fine. Rory got her in time. They're with Amy now."
He looked at her, his expression unfathomable.
"You can see them in your mind, can't you? That's how you know."
She nodded hurriedly, her mind on far more important things.
"Doctor, I think we should go. Staying here doesn't feel right."
He frowned, standing up and putting an arm around her protectively.
"What's wrong?"
"I don't know!" she cried. "I just-it feels like I need to go. Not away from you or-no," she said gravely. "Not need to go. Will go."
"Rose, I can't give you the TARDIS. We might need her," he said apologetically.
Rose pulled away from him. "I know. I'll go…wait by her then. See if I can find Rory and Amy."
The Doctor nodded, still concerned as she walked out the door without a second glance.
Pushing the thoughts away, he walked over to Vastra and Dorium, hoping for some good news.
Friendship dies and true love lies
Trying not to run full-speed to the TARDIS, Rose forced herself into a casually walk. She was just being wary because of the baby. That was all.
Yeah right, she thought.
She turned into another corridor. It was a dead end.
"Well hello there," a smooth voice said from behind.
She stopped dead.
She heard clicks and realised they were getting ready to shoot her.
She whirled around and screamed, "NO!"
Madame Kovarian raised her hand at the men next to her, signalling them to stop.
Rose realised she was trapped.
"Wait…scan her. If she's a friend of the Doctor's she would be too noble to beg for her life."
Pulling out a small, square device the man on Madame Kovarian's right pointed it at Rose. After a minute he said, "Human, I think. It looks like her genes have been mutated or something but I'm guessing she was originally human." He frowned. "She's with child and-oh…" he breathed.
"What?" she snapped irritably.
"The baby. It looks like it has two hearts."
"Half-Time Lord," murmured Madame Kovarian. She looked at Rose sharply.
"Who are you to be carrying a Time Lord baby? It can't be like Melody so…oh my. This is just too perfect. Is it the Doctor's baby?" she asked sweetly, moving ever so slightly closer to Rose. The man on her right did the same.
"I-no. I don't know what you're talking about," Rose said weakly.
"Of course you don't. Grab her!"
The man lunged at her, catching hold of her wrist. Rose fought him but he was too strong. He laughed.
"Restrain her, sedate her but make sure she's safe; I want what's inside of her."
Kicking, biting, scratching, Rose tried to struggle out of his hold. He grabbed her other arm, twisting it behind her, causing her to cry out in pain. Then she felt a small prick in her leg and her world turned black.
Night will fall and dark will rise
River Song was no coward but the thought of telling her parents who she really was terrified her.
They knew her as Professor River Song, killer of a good man. It wasn't exactly a good first impression. She wanted to be their Melody. But she hadn't been Melody in a long, long time.
Was it possible for them to ever see her as their little girl?
Was it possible for River to still be her?
When a good man goes to war
The Doctor was in shock. Time Lord shock. Melody was half-Time Lord?
Melody Pond, Amy and Rory's daughter and half-Time Lord? His mind refused to accept it, even with the information Dorium and Vastra had produced. But still…he wasn't alone anymore. He knew he wouldn't be anyway with his baby on the way but still.
It was a nice feeling.
If only it could last.
All the time a part of his mind was thinking about Rose. She was the Bad Wolf; if she said something felt wrong then something was definitely wrong.
Maybe he'd been an idiot to say no to her. He was always banging on about how he trusted her and when she'd confessed to him that something wasn't right he'd treated her like a child.
Like the boy who cried wolf.
Irony is such a bitch, he thought irritably before spluttering at how he'd thought it. He'd been around humans for too long.
Just when he'd decided to go after her, round everyone up and get the hell off this rock the screen in front of him came to life.
Demons Run but count the cost
"A child is not a weapon!" the Doctor screamed, spit flying.
"Oh give us time," came the silky reply. "She can be. She will be."
"Except you've already lost her and I swear I'll never let you anywhere near her again."
"Oh, Doctor. Fooling you once was a joy. But fooling you twice, the same way? It's a privilege."
He stared at her, the reality sinking in.
"Amy, Amy," he said quietly. He ran out of the room as fast as he could, hoping desperately he would get there in time.
"AMY!" he cried. "AMY! Amy!"
He faintly heard, "Rory…RORY!"
"Amy, she's not real. Melody; she's a Flesh avatar. Amy!" he yelled, frantically banging and Sonicing the door.
He ran into the hangar, staring around at the devastation surrounding him.
"Amy…"
"Yeah," Rory said flatly. "We know."
The battle's won but the child is lost.
He saw Strax dying and Rory comforting him. The Doctor didn't think he could feel any worse. And then he saw Amy.
He walked slowly over to where she was sat, looking more defeated than he'd ever seen her.
"So they took her anyway. All this was for nothing."
"I am so…sorry."
He went to hug her, hating the sight of her so sad. She backed away, tears running down her face.
"Amy, it's not his fault," said Jenny in a bid to calm the troubled woman.
"I know, I know," she said, looking away from the Doctor.
She walked away, Rory following her instantly, holding her to his chest.
Vastra came over to the Doctor.
"Doctor, there's someone who wants to speak to you."
What he said about not feeling any worse? How wrong he was, he thought gravely as he said goodbye to the dying girl.
Lorna, he reminded himself.
"Who was she?" he asked.
"I don't know but she was very brave," Vastra said, her voice threatening to break.
"They're always brave. They're always brave…" he said heavily, running a hand down his face.
He frowned, suddenly remembering another brave companion.
"Where's Rose?" he asked, trying so hard not to panic.
"She was with you," Vastra said simply. Then she frowned, confused. "But when I was up there she wasn't…"
"No. She said she was going to go back to the TARDIS or see if she could find Amy."
Vastra stared at him in alarm. "She never came here."
His chest constricted, hurting him as he struggled to breath.
"Rory! Rory, was Rose with you?"
"I haven't seen her since I left the TARDIS."
"Where did she go? Did they-?"
"Yoo-hoo," a voice called.
He turned, seeing a giant screen projected onto the far wall.
"Have you realised that your little pet is gone?" Madame Kovarian crooned. "It took you long enough."
"What have you done to her?" he snarled.
"She's right here safe and sound. Although she is giving me such a sense of déjà vu. We get rid of one pregnant woman and find ourselves with another."
Everyone looked at the Doctor in surprise. The Doctor merely glared at the screen.
"If you hurt her-"
"Now, Doctor, why would I hurt her when she's carrying something so special? We're already planning on raising little Melody as a weapon against you. Imagine how much fun it will be to make your own child hate you too. And now we have two Time Lords. Or should I say Time Ladies."
The Doctor's hearts broke as he remembered his words from before.
And don't forget, it's half-human too; it might end up hating me!
The rest of what she'd said sank in. He was having a little girl. That woman had his daughter.
And his Rose.
He resisted the temptation to scream Gallifreyan profanities at her.
"Doctor, what is she talking about?" Amy demanded, breaking him out of his reverie.
"You haven't told her? Oh this is almost too good to be true. Your daughter is half-Time Lord. And the girl we followed is carrying his child, another half-Time Lord."
"I will find you," the Doctor said darkly. "And I will show you no mercy if you do anything to either of them."
"Don't you mean the three of them?" she asked, smiling smugly. "I'll put you out of your misery, Doctor. There's no need to worry about the girl. As soon as she's had the child we'll leave her for you to find."
"Alive. I had better find her alive," he said darkly.
Madame Kovarian smirked. "How will you find someone who doesn't exist?"
The screen went blank.
"NO!" he screamed, rage, fear and pain intermingling in the one word.
"Doctor," Amy asked with forced calm. "Is Melody half-Time Lord?"
"Yes," he said, broken. "Yes, she is. She has two hearts."
"But no time head, right?"
He nodded.
"Rose is pregnant?" she asked gently.
He nodded again, fighting back tears.
"What did she mean, she doesn't exist?" Rory asked, trying to distract himself from thoughts of how his daughter was half-Time Lord. How his daughter was more like the Doctor than him.
"They must have done her DNA. Rose is dead. On Earth, she's dead. I can't track her down using official records. I'll have to-"
"Well then, soldier, how goes the day?"
He whirled round, his hearts pounding. He wanted so much to blame this on River; she wasn't here, she could have helped, she could have stopped this.
But deep down he knew it was his fault.
"Where the hell have you been? Every time you've asked I have been there! Where the hell were you today?" he practically growled.
"I couldn't have prevented this."
"You could have tried!"
"And so, my love, could you."
"Don't call me that!" he roared.
She ignored him and turned to Amy.
"I know you're not all right. But hold tight, Amy, because you're going to be."
"You think I wanted this? I didn't do this! This wasn't me!" the Doctor exclaimed.
"This was exactly you. All this. All of it. You make them so afraid. When you began all those years ago, sailing off to see the Universe, did you ever think you'd become this? The man who can turn an army around at the mention of his name. 'Doctor.' The word for 'healer' and 'wise man' throughout the Universe. We get that word from you, you know. If you carry on the way you are, what might that word come to mean? To the people of the Gamma Forests, the word Doctor means 'Mighty Warrior'. How far you've come. And now they've taken a child. The child of your best friends, and they're going to turn her into a weapon just to bring you down. And all this, my love, in fear of you."
The Doctor stared at her for a moment. He didn't need a lecture from her, not now, especially when Rose was missing and he was wasting time listening to her when he could be starting his search. He looked at her, his jaw working, trying to stop himself from roaring the question at her. He walked towards her slowly. He remembered what Rose had said, what Rory told him.
"Who are you?" he asked quietly.
She looked at him for a second before skipping away.
"Oh look! Your cot! I haven't seen that in a very long while!"
He followed her, catching her wrist.
"No, tell me who you are."
Her voice softened.
"I am telling you. Can't you read?"
She placed his hand on the cot.
He looked down, and he read, and after a moment, tears gathered in his eyes.
"Hello."
"Hello," she said with a smile.
If felt wrong doing this with her. He laughed oddly.
"But that means!"
"I'm afraid it does."
"Ooh! But you and I, we've..."
He mimed kissing.
"Yes."
He'd cheated on Rose without even knowing it. Well he had known because he'd thought about her afterwards. Whether he remembered reuniting with her or not, he still considered kissing anyone who wasn't her cheating. He'd cheated on her with Amy's daughter. Another odd laugh.
"How do I look?"
"Amazing."
"I better be."
"Yes, you'd better be."
"Vastra and Jenny, 'til the next time. Rory and Amy, I know where to find your daughter and on my life she will be safe! River, get them all home."
"Doctor!" Rory called, going after him.
"No! Where are you going? No," said Amy who was now not only confused and devastated but also furious.
He shut the door and started up the TARDIS immediately.
Once inside the Doctor felt his enthusiastic optimism disappear.
He knew where Melody-River?-was but if Rose wasn't with her then he was seriously stuck for ideas.
He tried not to feel like he was betraying Amy by looking for Rose first.
But it wasn't just Rose. It was Rose and his daughter. Amy would understand that surely, being a parent whose child had been taken herself?
Surely she would go for Melody first if she was in his position?
He set a destination and went for it. If he was right everything would be grand and everyone would be happy, happy, happy.
If he was wrong…well, there would be hell to pay.