Episode 10 "The Doctor Dances"
Chapter 10: Everybody Lives When the Doctor Dances
"Go to your room." I dropped Jack's hand I was so shocked. What was the Doctor thinking? The patients had gotten out of bed and were coming towards us crying for their mummies when the Doctor stepped forward and said that. To my surprise, the patients stopped. "Go to your room."
Rose, Jack, and I exchanged looks as the Doctor continued. "I mean it! I'm very, very angry with you. I'm very, very cross! Go… to… your… room!" And just like that, the patients turned and went back to their beds. I breathed a sigh of relief.
"Oh, I'm really glad that worked," the Doctor said. "Those would have been terrible last words." I couldn't help but give a little laugh at that, despite the previous situation. The Doctor grinned at the three of us, seeming cheery as ever. Once all the patients were back in their beds, we were all able to relax again.
"Why are they all wearing gas masks?" Rose asked sitting next to one of them.
"They're not," Jack answered. "Those masks are flesh and bone."
"How was your con supposed to work?" the Doctor asked.
"Simple enough, really," Jack said. "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 puts 50% 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 in response.
"The London Blitz is great for self-cleaners. Pompeii's nice if you want to make a vacation of it, though. But you've got to set your alarm for Volcano Day." Jack laughed at his own joke but stopped when he saw the look the Doctor was giving him. "Getting a hint of disapproval."
"Take a look around the room. This is what your harmless piece of space junk did," the Doctor told him.
"It was a burnt out medical transporter, it was empty."
"Rose. Viviana," the Doctor called.
"Are we getting out of here?" Rose asked.
"We're going upstairs," he said. Rose and I followed the Doctor.
"I even programmed the flight computer so it wouldn't land on anything living," Jack insisted. "I harmed no one! I don't know what's happening here, but believe me, I have nothing to do with it."
"I'll tell you what's happening," the Doctor started. "You forgot to set your alarm clock. It's Volcano Day." The four of us looked up when a siren went off.
"What's that?" Rose asked.
"The all clear," Jack said.
"I wish," the Doctor shot at Jack. I sighed. I believed the Doctor when he said the ship was the cause of all this, there was no other explanation, but he didn't have to be so rude to Jack. The man truly seemed to believe it was harmless and that it had harmed no one. He had even tried to make sure of it. I wasn't sure about him at first, even after Grandpapa told me I could trust him, but I could see it now. Jack Harkness was a good man. I followed Rose and the Doctor out of the ward, Jack on my heels.
"Mr. Spock!" Jack called. I bit back a laugh when I realized he still thought that was the Doctor's name.
"Doctor!" Rose and I called at the same time. The three of us ran through the halls of the hospital, looking for the man we had lost.
"Have you got a blaster?" I heard the Doctor ask. The three of us skidded to a halt and spun back around. I ran up to the Doctor who was standing on a flight of stairs.
"Sure," Jack answered. Jack reached into his pocket and the four of us stopped at a door.
"The night your space junk landed, someone was hurt," the Doctor said to him. "This is where they were taken."
"What happened?" Rose asked.
"Let's find out. Get it open," the Doctor ordered Jack. I furrowed my eyebrows at that. What was wrong with the Sonic?
"What's wrong with your Sonic Screwdriver?" Rose asked thinking along the same lines as me.
"Nothing," the Doctor said. I turned when I heard Jack's blaster.
"Sonic Blaster, 51st century. Weapon factories in Villengard," the Doctor summed up for us.
"You've been to the factories?" Jack asked him.
"Once."
"They're gone now, destroyed. Main reactor went critical, vaporized the lot," Jack said.
"Like I said. Once." The Doctor gave the blaster back to Jack and my eyes widened at the Doctor's hidden meaning. "There's a banana grove there now. I love bananas. Bananas are good." The Doctor walked into the room.
"Nice blast pattern," Rose said looking at the door. I looked down too and my eyebrows rose in surprise. There was a perfectly square hole where the lock should've been.
"Digital," Jack explained.
"Squareness gun?"
"Yeah."
"I like it." Jack laughed lightly before walking into the room. I followed him in and instantly got one of my feelings. My gut twisted and tightened as I looked around the completely demolished room.
"What do you think?" the Doctor asked.
"Something got out of here," Jack said.
"Yeah. And?" I walked into the other part of the room and gasped at what I saw.
"Something powerful. Angry."
"Powerful and angry."
"A child," I spoke up. Rose and Jack came into the room I was in and looked around. The wall was absolutely covered in drawings and more littered the floor. There were toys strewn across the room and a small bed stood in the corner of the room.
"How could a child do this?" she asked. The Doctor started playing a recording in the other room and I got chills as I listened to it.
"Do you know where you are?" the Doctor asked, Dr. Constantine I think.
"Are you my mummy?" the boy asked. My gut tightened even more the longer we stood there.
"Are you aware of what's around you?" Dr. Constantine continued. "Can you… see?"
"Are you my mummy?" I turned my back and looked at all the different drawings, all of them of different women. Women he imagined were his mummy.
"What do you want? Do you know…?"
"I want my mummy! Are you my mummy? I want my mummy. Are you my mummy? Are you my mummy? Mummy? Mummy?"
"Doctor, Viv and I have heard this voice before," Rose said.
"Me, too," he said.
"Always, 'are you my mummy?' Like it doesn't know," Rose said. "Why doesn't he know?"
"Are you there, mummy? Mummy?" the recording continued. The Doctor stepped into
the child's room with the rest of us and started pacing.
"Doctor, I have a really bad feeling about this," I said.
"Oh, you're getting one of those, are you?"
"Hey! Don't knock 'em." I glared at the Doctor. "I'm a Noctis. Some of us get small premonitions, but they're so small it's often brushed off as deja vu. Some others, like me, are able to tell when something bad it going to happen. We can never tell what, but we get feelings. It's like a twisting and tightening of the gut. I'm getting that now, and… Oh, God." I closed my eyes in horror. "I just figured out why I'm getting that feeling."
"Viviana, what is it?" Jack asked.
"Listen," I whispered. The Doctor made eye contact with me and I knew he had figured it out.
"Can you sense it?" he asked.
"Sense what?" Jack asked.
"Coming out of the walls. Can you feel it?"
"Mummy," the child's voice sounded.
"Funny little human brains. How do you get around in those things?" the Doctor asked looking at Rose and Jack.
"When he's stressed, he likes to insult species," Rose told Jack.
"Rose, I'm thinking!"
"He cuts himself shaving. He does half an hour on life forms he's cleverer than."
"Mummy."
"Rose, please stop," I said.
"There are these children. Living rough around the bomb sites," the Doctor started. "They come out during air raids looking for food."
"Mummy, please."
"Suppose they were there when this thing, whatever it was landed."
"It was a med-ship. It was harmless," Jack insisted.
"Yes, you keep saying. Harmless," the Doctor said. "Suppose one was affected. Altered."
"Altered how?" Rose asked.
"I'm here!" I nearly jumped out of my skin at the child's voice.
"Rose, Jack, it's a child. He's terrified and looking for his mother. He's scared out of his wits and amazingly powerful. I don't think he knows it yet, but he will," I explained. I was standing stiffly and the Doctor had stopped his pacing to look at us. The whirring of the recorder had been going on for almost a minute now. The Doctor laughed nervously.
"It's got the power of a god and I just sent it to its room," he said with a grin.
"Doctor, Viv…" Rose said frightened.
"I'm here," the boy said.
"You guys hear that noise right?" I asked. "That noise means the tape's over, and it's been going on for about a little over a minute now."
"I'm here now! Can't you see me?"
"I sent it to its room," the Doctor said. "This is its room." The Doctor whirled around and I saw the little boy standing in the other room.
"Are you my mummy?" he asked. He cocked his head at Rose before looking at me. "Mummy?"
"Doctor…" Rose said nervously.
"Okay, on my signal, make for the door," Jack instructed. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jack reach into his coat for his blaster.
"Mummy?"
"Now!" Jack pulled the blaster out of his coat. When I saw what was in his hand, I blinked. I probably would've laughed if we were in any other situation. In Jack's hand was a banana. The Doctor pulled out Jack's blaster from his person and blasted a square hole in the wall.
"Go! Now! Don't drop the banana!" the Doctor said.
"Why not?" Jack asked.
"Good source of potassium!" I hopped out the hole and into the hallway after Jack. The Doctor quickly followed me and Jack stole the blaster back from him. I saw the child making his way towards us and my heart rate jumped a couple notches. Jack blasted the door again, closing the hole. All of us visibly relaxed.
"Digital rewind," Jack said. Then, he tossed the banana back to the Doctor. "Nice switch."
"It's from the groves of Villengard, thought it was appropriate," the Doctor said.
"There's really a banana grove in the heart of Villengard? And you did that?" Jack asked. The
Doctor grinned.
"Bananas are good," he said with a grin, but it fell as we heard a thumping on the other side of the wall. The wall cracked and Rose and I jumped.
"Doctor," she cried.
"Come on!" he urged. Rose and I grabbed hands as the four of us ran through the hospital. We almost made it to the end of a hallway when the door opened and several patients made their way towards us. The four of us stopped abruptly and turned and went back the way we came. We passed the cracked wall, the child still breaking it, and saw more patients coming at us from the other direction. Jack lifted his blaster and the four of us realized we were trapped.
"It's keeping us here so it can get at us," the Doctor said.
"It's controlling them?" Jack yelled.
"It is them," the Doctor explained. "It's every living thing in this hospital."
"Okay. This can function as a sonic blaster," Jack said, "a sonic cannon, and it's a triple-enfolded sonic disruptor. Doc, what you got?"
"I've got a sonic… never mind," the Doctor trailed off. Despite this, he pulled out the sonic screwdriver.
"What?"
"It's sonic, okay? Let's leave it at that." I was barely able to contain my laughter. "Oi!"
"What?" I said.
"Stop laughing!" the Doctor scolded.
"I'm not." It was a poor attempt to convince him I wasn't completely amused by his and Jack's banter.
"I heard it, Viviana," the Doctor said tapping his head. I was going to reply but Jack cut me off.
"Is now the time? Disruptor? Cannon? What?"
"It's sonic, totally sonic," the Doctor tried. "I am soniced up."
"A sonic what?"
"Screwdriver!" Rose and I had been watching the two like a tennis match. Jack spun around and was going to say something when the child broke through the wall. My eyes widened and I backed up slightly.
"Going down," I heard Rose say. I turned in time and saw Rose blasting a hole in the floor. Next thing I knew, we were falling. Thankfully, it wasn't too far and I managed to not hurt myself. I landed with a grunt and felt someone roll on top of me. I heard Jack blast the hole closed and I breathed a sigh of relief.
"Sorry, Viv," Rose said as she rolled off me. She stood up as I sat up.
"It's okay," I replied. She offered me a hand and I took it, forgetting all about my burns. I bit back a hiss and tried not to rip my hand away from hers as waves of pain shot through it. "Thanks, Rose," I said. She nodded.
"Doctor, are you okay?" Rose asked.
"Could've used a warning," he replied dryly.
"Ugh, the gratitude," Rose grumbled.
"Who has a sonic screwdriver?" Jack said incredulously.
"I do," the Doctor defended.
"Lights," Rose said. I realized she was right, the room was completely dark.
"Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks, 'Ooh, this could be a little more sonic!'" Jack continued.
"You've never been bored?" the Doctor shot back. I rolled my eyes. Their banter was more annoying than funny now.
"There's got to be a light switch," Rose said. I began helping her look for one. Soon, she found one and turned the lights on.
"Mummy."
"Mummy." I heard. I looked around and realized we had fallen into another ward full of patients. All of them began getting out of their beds and walking towards. The four of us ran towards the door and Jack tried to blast it.
"Damn it," he exclaimed after a couple tries. The Doctor stepped forward and began to sonic the door. "It's the special features, they really drain the battery."
"The battery?" Rose asked. The Doctor managed to get the door open and we dashed through it. "That's so lame!"
"I was going to send for another one but somebody's got to go and blow up the factory," Jack complained.
"Oh, we know," Rose replied. "First day we met him, he blew up our job." I nodded, remembering that day. The Doctor locked the door and Jack jumped up to look out a window. "That's practically how he communicates."
"Okay, that door should hold it for a bit," the Doctor announced.
"The door?" Jack asked incredulously. "The wall didn't stop it."
"Well, it's got to find us first!" the Doctor replied. "Come on, we're not done yet. Assets."
"Well, I've got a banana and, in a pinch, you could put up some shelves," Jack listed off.
"Window?"
"Barred, sheer drop. Seven stories." A small amount of fear crept into me at that.
"And no other exits," Rose said.
"Viviana?" the Doctor called out.
"Well, I've got the lives, memories, and knowledge of five people crammed into my head, but it won't be much help. I'm still not as smart as you, Doctor. I mean, most of my knowledge I got from you, my family's on top of that is slightly redundant. It's basically all the same stuff five times over. Even then, it's so much information that I can't process it. I'm too young, my brain can't handle it. The only other thing I've got is them," I held up my necklace where my family was contained, "and I don't think they can do anything."
"Well, the assets conversation went in a flash, didn't it?" Jack said.
"So, where'd you pick this one up, then?" the Doctor asked Rose and I gesturing to Jack.
"Doctor…" Rose said warningly.
"They were hanging from a barrage balloon, I had an invisible spaceship," Jack explained. "I never stood a chance." Rose and I exchanged slightly uncomfortable looks.
"Okay. One, we've got to get out of here. Two, we can't get out of here. Have I missed anything?" the Doctor asked.
"Jack's gone," I said. I tried to keep the emotion out of my voice. He had just… left us here. I couldn't help but feel a little betrayed. The Doctor whirled around to see I was right.
"Okay, so he's vanished into thin air," Rose said. She had begun pacing. I made myself comfortable in the chair Jack had originally been sitting in. The Doctor was now sitting down also. "Why is it always the great looking ones who do that?"
"I'm making an effort not to be insulted," the Doctor spoke up. I put a hand to my mouth to hide my snickers.
"I mean… men," Rose said. The Doctor smiled sarcastically.
"Okay, thanks, that really helped." I rolled my eyes, but had a smile on your face.
"Here." I leaned over and pecked the Doctor on the cheek. "Better?"
"No." I scowled.
"That's the last time I try to make you feel better," I grumbled. I lowered my voice so only Rose could hear. "Mr. Brooding's making an appearance." Rose snickered and the Doctor shot us a look.
"Rose, Doctor, Viviana. Can you hear me?" I looked up. That was Jack's voice. The Doctor ran over to the radio. "I'm back on my ship. Used the emergency teleport. Sorry I couldn't take you. It's security-keyed to my molecular structure. I'm working on it, hang in there." I furrowed my eyebrows when I saw the Doctor hold up a wire to the radio. It was broken, it looked like it had been ripped from the radio.
"How are you speaking to us?" the Doctor asked.
"Om-Com. I can call anything with a speaker grille," Jack explained.
"Now there's a coincidence," the Doctor muttered.
"What is?" I asked at the same time as Jack.
"The child can Om-Com, too."
"He can?" Rose asked. The Doctor nodded.
"Anything with a speaker grille. Even the TARDIS phone."
"What, you mean the child can phone us?" I heard nervousness in Rose's tone.
"And I can hear you," the boy's voice suddenly sounded. I jumped and looked at the radio in shock. "Coming to find you. Coming to find you."
"Doctor, can you hear that?" Jack asked.
"Loud and clear," the Doctor answered.
"I'll try to block out the signal. Least I can do," Jack said.
"Coming to find you, mummy!"
"Remember this one, Rose?" I furrowed my eyebrows as "Moonlight Serenade" by Glenn Miller started playing. The Doctor looked at Rose and I noticed she looked slightly uncomfortable. Then again, I would be too if he played "Blue Moon" instead.
"Our song," Rose quickly explained. The Doctor merely shrugged and began playing with the wire in his hands. The Doctor soon went over to sonic the window. Rose stood behind me as I wheeled myself around in the wheelchair to entertain myself.
"What are you doing?" Rose asked him.
"Trying to set up a resonation pattern in the concrete, loosen the bars," the Doctor replied. I frowned. Did he not believe that Jack would get us out of here? Rose seemed to accept this and fell silent. A few minutes later, "Moonlight Serenade" ended and another song came on. I couldn't help the blush that came to my face as I heard "Blue Moon." Rose caught it.
"Viv, you're all flushed," she said. The Doctor looked over.
"Well…" I cleared my throat, slightly embarrassed. "This is our song." Rose smiled and nodded, giving me a suggestive look. My blush darkened and Rose laughed. I looked at the Doctor, but unlike before, he didn't just shrug it off. In fact, he looked quite tense. I was about to ask what all that was about when Rose cut me off.
"You don't think he's coming back, do you?" Rose asked about Jack.
"Wouldn't bet my life," the Doctor replied. I frowned at him. I mean, yes, Jack could easily abandon us, but that didn't mean he would.
"Why don't you trust him?" I asked.
"Why do you?" the Doctor shot back.
"Saved our lives," Rose said. "Bloke-wise, that's up there with flossing." The Doctor didn't reply. "I trust him because he's like you. Except with dating and dancing." The Doctor looked back at Rose and shook his head. "What?"
"You just assume I'm…" the Doctor trailed off.
"What?" Rose repeated.
"You just assume I don't dance," the Doctor said. I frowned. The Doctor danced?
"What? Are you telling me you do dance?" Rose grinned.
"900 years old, me. I've been around a bit," the Doctor replied. "I think you can assume at some point I've danced." Rose's grin widened and I couldn't help a smile of my own.
"You?" Rose and I asked, not really believing him.
"Problem?"
"Doesn't the universe implode or something if you dance?"
"Well, I've got the moves, but I wouldn't want to boast." Rose and I exchanged wide grins and I nodded at her. This was something I wanted to see just as much as her. Rose walked over to the radio and turned up the still playing "Blue Moon." She walked towards him and held out a hand.
"You've got the moves?" she asked. "Show me your moves." The Doctor looked extremely thrown, as if he hadn't been expecting her to do that.
"Rose, I'm trying to resonate concrete," he told her sternly.
"Jack will be back. He'll get us out. So, come on," she insisted. I bit back snickers as I watched the Doctor falter. He looked extremely uncomfortable.
"Keep at it, Rosie," I called. "It's not every day you get to see the Doctor squirm." Rose and I grinned at each other while the Doctor scowled.
"The world doesn't end because the Doctor dances," Rose encouraged. The Doctor turned off the sonic and jumped down from the window. He stood right in front of Rose and looked at her. Suddenly, he grabbed her hands.
"Barrage balloon," he said.
"What?" Rose asked, confused.
"You were hanging from a barrage balloon." I quickly, but stealthily slipped my still gloved hands into my jacket pockets.
"Oh. Yeah. About two minutes after you left us," Rose said. "Thousands of feet above London, middle of a German air raid, Union Jack all over my chest, American Flag all over Viviana's."
"I've travelled with a lot of people, but you two are setting new records for jeopardy
friendly," the Doctor said.
"Is this you dancing because I've got notes," Rose spoke up.
"Hanging from a rope, thousands of feet above London," the Doctor ignored her last comment. "Not a cut, not a bruise." I buried my hands deeper into my pockets.
"Yeah, I know. Captain Jack fixed me up," Rose explained.
"Oh, we're calling him Captain Jack now, are we?" the Doctor asked.
"His name's Jack and he's a captain."
"He's not really a captain, Rose."
"He did use psychic paper," I called to them.
"Do you know what I think?" Rose ignored me. "I think you're experiencing captain-envy." The Doctor didn't reply and merely pulled Rose into a dancing position "You will find your feet at the end of your legs. You may care to move them," Rose teased.
"If ever he was a captain, he's been defrocked," the Doctor said. The Doctor pulled Rose quite close and I felt a pang in my gut. I looked around the room, thinking it was one of my feelings, but saw nothing. We were safe. So, what was that all about?
"Yeah? Shame I missed that," Rose replied.
"Actually I quit. Nobody takes my frock," I heard Jack say. I squealed slightly as I found myself falling. Jack had teleported us to his ship, meaning I was no longer sitting in a wheelchair. Jack and the Doctor moved to catch me but didn't quite make it.
"You know, Jack," I teased as he helped me up. "That's the second time you've failed to catch me. No girl likes a guy who slacks on the job." Jack smiled flirtatiously at me.
"But I've always been there to help you back up again," he said. I smiled back at him and nodded.
"True."
"Hands, Viviana." I whirled around, startled at the Doctor's stern tone.
"What?"
"Your hands, let me see them," he said coming towards me. I held them up briefly.
"Look, they're fine, Doctor," I tried. The Doctor paused and I thought I was in the clear.
"You weren't wearing gloves before," he said. I slowly backed away from him but the Doctor reached out and grabbed my arm.
"No, Doctor! Doctor, stop!" It was too late. The Doctor removed my glove and stared at my bloody and now scabbed hands.
"Oh, my God," Rose exclaimed.
"Viviana, you should've told me." Jack's tone was slightly scolding but I ignored it. I tore my hand away from the Doctor and removed my other glove.
"And what's that?" he asked pointing to my neck. I blushed. I had been able to keep the burn hidden with by braid, but it had been pushed aside.
"It's a burn from the console," I said quietly. To be honest, it didn't hurt… that much. The Doctor gave me a very stern look. "I didn't want to worry you." The Doctor was about to reply but paused.
"This is a Chula ship," he observed looking around Jack's ship.
"Yeah, just like that medical transporter," Jack replied. "Only this one is dangerous." The Doctor snapped and a bunch of Nanogenes swirled around his hand.
"They're what fixed my hands up!" Rose exclaimed. "Jack called them…"
"They're Nanogenes," I said.
"Subatomic robots. There are millions of them in here. See?" the Doctor said. "Burned my hand on the console when we landed. All better now. They activate when the bulkhead's sealed. Check you out for damage, fix any physical flaws. You, here." I didn't argue with the Doctor and walked over to him. He had the Nanogenes fix my hands first. They were still bloody, but they no longer throbbed or looked damaged in any way. Then, the Doctor put a hand on my neck. I blushed slightly at the intimate contact, but swallowed it. Now was not the time to get all swoony. Once the Nanogenes were done healing me, the Doctor removed his hand and dispersed them.
"Take us to the crash site," the Doctor said to Jack. "I need to see your space junk."
"Soon as I get the Nav-Com back online. Make yourself comfortable," Jack replied, his tone annoyed. "Carry on with whatever it was you were doing."
"We were talking about dancing," the Doctor said innocently.
"It didn't look like talking," Jack teased.
"It didn't look like dancing, either," I smirked.
"It didn't feel like dancing," Rose backed me up. The Doctor looked between the three of us, unsure what to say. Then, he moved and sat down a little ways away from us. I went to go sit next to him.
"You should've told me about your hands, Viviana," he said.
"What were you going to do about it back there, huh? Sonic them, confirm they were rope burns?" I replied. The Doctor rolled his eyes, but knew I was right.
"Just, tell me next time," he said.
"Next time? I don't know about Rose, but I don't plan on hanging from a barrage balloon during a German air raid ever again." I was trying to lighten the mood, but it didn't work. The Doctor gave me a look and I caved. "Fine, I'll tell you."
"Promise?" I stuck out my pinky.
"Promise." The Doctor gave me a weird look but wrapped his pinky around mine nonetheless. I smiled at him and he returned it.
"So, you used to be a Time Agent and now you're trying to con them?" I heard Rose ask Jack. I looked up, curious about that too.
"If it makes me sound any better, it's not for the money," Jack replied.
"For what?"
"Woke up one morning when I was still working for them, found they'd stolen two years of my memories," Jack told her. "I'd like them back."
"They stole your memories?" Rose asked shocked.
"Two years of my life. No idea what I did." Jack looked at the Doctor. "Your friend over there doesn't trust me. And for all I know, he's right not to." I got up and walked over to stand next to Rose.
"I trust you, Jack," I told him. He gave me a small smile and I returned it. Suddenly, something beeped.
"Okay, we're good to go. The crash site?" Jack asked the Doctor. Minutes later, the four of us were walking up to the bomb site.
"There it is," Jack said once we got there. I saw guards patrolling the grounds and barbed wire surrounding the area. "They've got Algy on duty. Must be important."
"We've got to get past," the Doctor said.
"Are the words 'distract the guard' headed in my general direction?" Rose asked.
"I don't think that'd be such a good idea," Jack said. I furrowed my eyebrows. Rose was a very beautiful woman, why didn't he think it would work?
"Don't worry, I can handle it," Rose told him defensively.
"I've got to know Algy quite well since I've been in town," Jack started. "Trust me, you're not his type." My eyes widened as I realized what Jack was implying. "I'll distract him. Don't wait up." Rose and I exchanged a look.
"Relax. He's a 51st century guy," the Doctor said. "He's just a bit more flexible when it comes to dancing." I blushed at what the Doctor was implying.
"How flexible," Rose asked.
"Oh, by his time, you lot have spread out across half the galaxy."
"Meaning?"
"So many species, so little time."
"What, that's what we do when we get out there?" Rose asked amused. "That's our mission? We seek new life and… and…"
"Dance," the Doctor finished for her. I ignored the grin on his face and turned to watch Jack. He got up there and it seemed to be going fine until Algy fell to his knees. I watched in confusion as Jack backed up. I watched in horror as Algy's face transformed into a gas mask.
"Stay back!" the Doctor yelled. Rose and I followed him as he ran off. Jack repeated the command to the oncoming guards. The Doctor, Rose, and I ran up to Jack and the guards. I stopped and looked at Algy on the ground.
"It's becoming airborne," I realized.
"It's accelerating," the Doctor continued.
"What's keeping us safe?" Rose asked. The Doctor and I exchanged a look.
"Nothing," we answered grimly at the same time. I looked towards the sky as I heard the siren.
"Oh, great, that's just what we need," I grumbled.
"Didn't you say a bomb was going to land here?" Rose said to Jack. I realized she was right. I had completely forgotten about that.
"Nevermind about that," the Doctor said. "If the contaminant's airborne now, there's hours left."
"Till what?" Jack asked.
"Till nothing." the Doctor said. "Forever. For the entire human race."
"Am I the only one who hears singing?" I asked. Everyone listened and I heard a girl singing "Rockabye Baby." I followed the voice and opened a large door to reveal a teenage girl handcuffed to a table. She was singing to an affected guard. She immediately stopped singing when she heard me. She turned her head and I saw the guard stir. I immediately started singing "Rockabye Baby" and motioned for her to join me. The Doctor followed me and came to sonic the girl's handcuffs. We hurried the girl out of the shed, leaving the guard sleeping soundly. The five of us went back to the bomb site and Jack and the Doctor took the sheet off the Chula med-ship.
"You see? Just an ambulance," Jack said.
"That's an ambulance?" the girl asked.
"It's hard to explain," Rose said putting an arm around her. "It's from another world."
"They've been trying to get in," Jack said.
"Of course they have," the Doctor replied as if it were obvious. "They think they've got their hands on Hitler's latest secret weapon." I heard a couple beeps and looked over curiously. "What are you doing?"
"The sooner you see this thing's empty, the sooner you'll know I had nothing to do with it," Jack said. Suddenly, the controls sparked and everyone jumped back. I heard alarms blaring around us. "Didn't happen last time."
"It hadn't crashed last time," the Doctor pointed out. "There'll be emergency protocols."
"Doctor, what is that?" Rose asked. I saw a red light flashing on the control panel. That could not be good. I looked around, not sure what was happening. "Doctor!" Rose's voice alarmed me and I saw what she was looking at. The gates of the of the bomb site were shaking.
"Captain, secure those gates," the Doctor ordered.
"Why?"
"Just do it!" Jack obeyed and ran off towards the gates.
"Nancy, how'd you get in here?" the Doctor asked the girl.
"I cut the wire," she replied.
"Show Viviana and Rose." The Doctor tossed me the sonic. "Setting 2,428-D."
"What?" Rose asked.
"Reattaches barbed wire. Go!" I looked at Nancy.
"Lead the way," I said. She nodded and Rose and I followed her to where she came in. Soon, I saw a large hole in the fence and got to work fixing it.
"Who are you?" Nancy asked Rose and I. "Who are any of you?"
"Never believe us if we told you," Rose said.
"You just told me that was an ambulance from another world," Nancy pointed out. "There are people running around in gas masks calling for their mummies and the sky's full of Germans dropping bombs on me. Tell me, do you think there's anything left I couldn't believe." Rose and I looked at each other but I merely shrugged.
"We're time travelers from the future," Rose finally told her.
"Mad, you are," Nancy said.
"It's the truth," I commented.
"We have a time travel machine," Rose said.
"It's not that. All right, you got a time travel machine," Nancy said. "I believe you. Believe anything, me. But what future." I looked at Nancy briefly and saw the despair in her eyes. She truly did believe there couldn't be a future. Then again, we were in the middle of World War II. In times like this, lots of people thought there couldn't be a future. But there was something else too…
"Nancy, this isn't the end," Rose assured her. "I know how it looks, it's not the end of the world or anything."
"How can you say that?" Nancy cried. "Look at it!" I looked to the sky and saw what she meant. Barrage balloons, planes, and explosions decorated the sky.
"Listen to me. I was born in this city," Rose said. "I'm from here in like 50 years' time."
"From here?"
"I'm a Londoner." Rose smiled. "From your future."
"But…" Nancy trailed off. "But you're not…"
"What?" Rose asked.
"German?"
"Nancy," Rose said. "The German's don't come here. They don't win."
"In fact," I spoke up as I finished with the barbed wire. "You're going to get a new ally soon."
"A new ally?" Nancy asked.
"The US."
"Right. I'll believe that when I see it. They don't want anything to do with this war."
"Nancy, I'm going to tell you a secret," I said with a wink. "Now, you can't tell anyone, promise?" She nodded. "December 7th, 1941. In December of this year, the Japanese are going to bomb the little island of Pearl Harbor. Thousands of Americans will die and they will decide that they can't ignore the war any longer. They will fight, against the Nazis and the Japanese. They don't win this war."
"Don't tell anyone we told you this, but…" Rose said. "You win."
"We win?" Nancy breathed. Rose and I smiled at the girl.
"Come on," Rose said. The three of us got up and made our way back to the Doctor and Jack. When we got there, Jack was opening the med-ship.
"It's empty. Look at it," he said.
"What do you expect in a Chula medical transporter?" the Doctor asked Rose and I. "Bandages? Cough drops?" I frowned. I hadn't thought about that before. Now that I did think about it, I had no idea what to expect.
"I don't know," Rose said. I merely shrugged.
"Yes, you do," the Doctor said. The Doctor held up his hands, and my frown deepened.
"Nanogenes!" Rose cried. My eyes widened when I realized the Doctor was miming summoning the little robots. But if Nanogenes were in the ambulance, that meant…
"It wasn't empty, Captain. There was enough Nanogenes in there to rebuild a species." I looked over at Jack, feeling slightly overwhelmed at that piece of information. I could only imagine how he felt. Jack looked shaken and horrified.
"Oh, God," he breathed.
"Getting it now, are we?" the Doctor said. "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.
"What's life? Life's easy. A quirk of matter," the Doctor said. "Nature's way of keeping meat fresh. Nothing to a Nanogene. 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 a gas mask and what's a skull, but they do their best. And then off they fly, off they go, work to be done. 'Cause 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 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!"
"I didn't know," Jack's tone was defiant. The Doctor looked at him darkly before walking towards the front of the ship. I walked over to Jack, feeling as shaken as he looked. This situation was a lot worse than I could've ever imagined.
"Are you okay?" I asked him softly. Jack gave me a look. "Sorry, bad question. Jack, there was no way you could've known."
"I should've known," he said.
"There was no reason to think nanogenes were in there," I said. It was true. Most people probably wouldn't have ever thought about checking for nanogenes. I had the sneaking suspicion the Doctor only knew because Jack's space ship had them.
"There's no way you're going to convince me this wasn't my fault," Jack said.
"Did you rewrite the boy's DNA?" I asked.
"No…"
"Then, not all of this is your fault," I concluded. "Yes, you're responsible for the ship crashing, but not for the nanogenes escaping and changing the human race." Jack opened his mouth to argue but I raised an eyebrow at him. He closed his mouth and smiled at me.
"Thanks, Viviana." I smiled.
"Despite what the Doctor says or thinks, you're not entirely to blame, Jack." I walked away from him and returned to Rose. Nancy was walking away from the med-ship slightly.
"Rose! Viviana!" she suddenly called. The two of us looked up and ran to her side. My eyes widened when I saw countless patients coming towards us. Countless cried for "mummy" filled my ears and I backed up slightly. Rose ran over to the Doctor.
"It's bringing the gas mask people here, isn't it?" she asked him.
"The ship thinks it's under attack," he replied. "It's calling up the troops. Standard protocol."
"But… the gas mask people aren't troops," Rose said.
"They are now. This is a battlefield ambulance." Nancy and I joined the Doctor and Rose. Jack was making his way to us as well. "The nanogenes don't just fix you up, they get you ready for the frontline. Equip you, program you."
"That's why the child's so strong?" Rose asked. "Why it could do that phoning thing?"
"It's a fully equipped Chula warrior, yes," the Doctor said. "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." More of the affected people began to surround the bomb site.
"Why don't they attack?" Jack asked.
"Good little soldiers. Waiting for their commander," the Doctor explained.
"The boy?" I breathed. "Doctor, you can't be serious! He's just a little boy…" I trailed off. "Four years old."
"What?" the Doctor asked.
"You said he was four years old," I realized. "Doctor, how did you know that?" The man didn't reply, but I saw his eyes flick to Nancy for a second. "We know next to nothing about him. We don't know who his mother is, how to help him. We don't even know his name."
"Jamie," I heard. I turned to Nancy.
"What?"
"His name is Jamie," she said. I studied her for a moment.
"So how long until the bomb falls?" Rose asked Jack nervously. I blinked, having completely forgotten about that… again.
"Any second," Jack answered.
"What's the matter, Captain? Bit too close to the volcano for you?" the Doctor snarked.
"He's just a little boy," Nancy whispered.
"I know," the Doctor replied, his tone now warm.
"He's just a little boy who wants his mummy."
"I know. There isn't a little boy born who wouldn't tear the world apart to save his mummy. And this little boy can."
"So, what are we going to do?" Rose asked.
"I don't know," the Doctor said. I saw tears well up in Nancy's eyes and my curiosity about her only grew.
"It's my fault," Nancy said. I looked over at her for that.
"No," the Doctor assured her.
"It is. It's all my fault."
"How can it be your…" the Doctor trailed off as the affected people around us began crying for their mummies again. The five of us looked around, startled, but I stopped when I saw Nancy begin to cry. I silently hugged the girl and looked at the Doctor. He looked down at her.
'She's hiding something,' I heard the Doctor say.
'She knows about Jamie, she obviously cares for him. But… this is affecting her far more than it would if she wasn't related to him in some way.'
'She said he was her younger brother.'
'Look at her, Doctor.' He did. 'This is more than that. She thinks this was all her fault. She's very defensive of Jamie, she cares about him a lot. She sang to the guard like a mother would to a child. She's got that look… a mother's protectiveness and love.'
'She takes care of the kids on the streets.'
'See, that right there proves it. Most people on the streets have a hard enough time feeding themselves and their families. They take whatever they can get. A normal, teenage girl wouldn't take care of and feed the other kids unless she herself was a mother. She's been lying to us. Jamie's not her brother. Jamie's her son.'
"Nancy, what age are you?" the Doctor asked aloud. The girl began crying even harder into my shoulder. "20? 21? Older than you look, yes?" A bomb fell nearby and the ground shook.
"Doctor, that bomb, we've got seconds," Jack spoke up.
"You can teleport us out," Rose said.
"Not you guys," he told her. The Doctor and I ignored the pair of them and focused solely on the sobbing girl in my arms. "The Nav-Com's back online, going to take too long to override the protocols."
"So, it's Volcano Day," the Doctor said still staring at Nancy. "Do what you've got to do."
"Jack," Rose said. I heard the betrayal lacing her voice and I tried to keep my own from showing. Jack gave me one last look before teleporting away.
"How old were you five years ago?" the Doctor asked Nancy. "15? 16? Old enough to give birth, anyway." Nancy brought her head from my shoulder and sniffed. "He's not your brother, is he?" I stopped hugging her, but kept an arm around her shoulder as I stood next to her. Nancy shook her head, close to tears again. "A teenage, single mother in 1941. So you hid. You lied. You even lied to him." Suddenly, the gates to the bomb site opened, revealing lots of affecting people and Jamie.
"Are you my mummy?" he asked.
"He's going to keep asking, Nancy," the Doctor told her. "He's never going to stop."
"Mummy."
"Tell him," the Doctor said. Nancy shook her head.
"Nancy," she looked at me as I spoke. "Remember what I told you about the war?" she nodded. "I was telling the truth. There's a future out there. For you and Jamie. But you've got to tell him." Nancy looked at me and I gave her shoulder an encouraging squeeze. Jamie and his troops had begun to move towards us.
"Nancy, the future of the human race is in your hands," the Doctor said. "Trust us and tell him." Jamie came a little further towards us.
"Are you my mummy? Are you my mummy?" Jamie cried. Nancy walked towards him as he continued asking.
"Yes, I am your mummy," she said through tears.
"Mummy?" More bombs fell in the distance.
"I'm here."
"Are you my mummy?" I began to frown. Why wasn't this working?
"I'm here," Nancy said as she kneeled before Jamie.
"Are you my mummy?"
"Yes."
"Are you my mummy?"
"He doesn't understand. There's not enough of him left," the Doctor realized.
"I am your mummy. I will always be your mummy," Nancy said. She reached forward and hugged Jamie tightly. As Jamie hugged her back, thousands of nanogenes filled the air around them. My eyes widened.
"What's happening?" Rose breathed. The Doctor and I looked at each other in shock. "Doctor, it's changing her, we should…"
"Shh," the Doctor shushed her. "Come on. Please!" I took the Doctor's hand in excitement, barely daring to hope. "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 asked.
"The DNA," I breathed. I felt a tear of happiness fall down my cheek. "They're recognizing the same DNA." Nancy suddenly fell away from Jamie and the nanogenes dispersed. The Doctor, Rose, and I ran over to them.
"Come on. Give me a day like this," the Doctor practically pleaded. I squeezed his hand before letting go. "Give me this one." The Doctor hesitantly reached down and pulled the gas mask from Jamie's head, revealing a perfectly normal little boy. The nanogenes had fixed him! The Doctor laughed ecstatically and lifted Jamie into the air.
"Welcome back! 20 years to pop music, you're going to love it."
"What happened?" Nancy asked in wonder as the Doctor hugged Jamie, still laughing.
"The nanogenes recognized the superior information. The parent DNA," the Doctor explained. "They didn't change you because you changed them. Mother knows best." The Doctor put down Jamie and Nancy immediately hugged him. My good mood was slightly killed by a bomb landing nearby.
"Doctor, the bomb…" Rose breathed.
"Taken care of it," he answered. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.
"How?" Rose asked.
"Psychology," the Doctor said simply. I looked up and saw the bomb coming towards us. Then, suddenly, it stopped. I saw the blue beam suspending it only feet above the med-ship and laughed in relief.
"Doctor!" Jack called down. He was currently sitting on the bomb in the beam, his spaceship hovering above it.
"Good lad!"
"The bomb's already commenced detonation. I've put it in stasis, but it won't last," Jack informed him. My good mood faltered again slightly.
"Change of plan! Don't need the bomb," the Doctor replied. "Can you get rid of it? Safely as you can?"
"Rose? Viviana?"
"Yeah?" Rose called up.
"Goodbye," Jack said before beaming back into the ship. "By the way." He reappeared. "Love the shirts." Jack looked at me one last time before returning to the ship. Rose and I pulled at our shirts self-consciously. Jack flew his ship away and I turned to see the Doctor with his hands up. Soon, countless nanogenes surrounded his hands.
"What are you doing?" Rose asked.
"Software patch," the Doctor replied. "Going to email the upgrade. You want moves, Rose? I'll give you moves." The Doctor thrust his hands forward and the nanogenes flew towards the patients and guards, getting to work fixing them. The Doctor looked overfilled with joy. I had never seen him looking happier.
"Everybody lives, Rose, Viviana. Just this once! Everybody lives!" Rose and I hugged each other, completely happy and relieved when we saw everyone had been changed back into ordinary humans. The Doctor ran forward, talking to Dr. Constantine. When he came back, he climbed on top of the med-ship.
"Right, you lot!" he called. "Lots to do. Beat the Germans, save the world. Don't forget the welfare state!" He lowered his voice so only Rose and I could hear. "Setting this thing to self-destruct, soon as everybody's clear. History says there was an explosion here. Who am I to argue with history?" I snorted in laughter.
"Usually, the first in line," Rose voiced my thoughts. The Doctor smiled at the two of us and we returned it with smiles of our own. Once he was done, the three of us made our way back to the TARDIS.
"The nanogenes will clean up the mess and switch themselves off, 'cause I just told them to," the Doctor said as we entered the TARDIS. "Nancy and Jamie will go to Dr. Constantine for help, ditto. All in all, all things considered. Fantastic!"
"Look at you beaming away like you're Father Christmas," Rose said grinning.
"Who says I'm not?" the Doctor said. He pointed at us. "Red bicycle and a guitar when you two were 12?"
"What?" Rose and I breathed in equal shock.
"And everybody lives," the Doctor ignored us. "Everybody lives. I need more days like this!"
"Doctor," Rose spoke up. I knew she and I were thinking the same thing.
"Go on, ask me anything. I'm on fire."
"What about Jack?" The Doctor didn't answer. "Why did he say goodbye?" The Doctor flew the TARDIS somewhere and I looked at him. The Doctor nodded and "Moonlight Serenade" began playing as I walked out. The Doctor and Rose began dancing as I went to go get Jack.
"Funny thing…" I heard Jack say. "Last time I was sentenced to death, I ordered four hyper-vodkas for breakfast. All a bit of a blur after that. Woke up in bed with both my executioners. Hmm, lovely couple. They stayed in touch! Can't say that about most executioners. Anyway, thanks for everything, computer. It's been great." Jack toasted with the martini he was holding and drank.
"Both of them?" I spoke. Jack whirled around and saw me standing there. "Why on earth would you need two executioners?"
"Viviana? What are you doing here?" Jack demanded. I rolled my eyes.
"Saving you of course. Come on, then." I lead Jack into the TARDIS to find the Doctor and Rose dancing… awkwardly. Jack paused and looked all around the TARDIS while I went to go sit on the captain's chair. Rose was instructing the Doctor on how to dance and I snickered at the two of them. Jack was still staring at the TARDIS in wonder.
"Close the door, will you," the Doctor said to Jack. "Your ship's about to blow up, there's going to be a draft." The Doctor pulled a lever on the console and Rose smiled at Jack flirtatiously.
"Welcome to the TARDIS, Jack," I said.
"Much bigger on the inside," Jack breathed.
"You'd better be."
"I think what the Doctor's trying to say is," Rose spoke, "you may cut in."
"Rose! I've just remembered," the Doctor exclaimed.
"What?" "In the Mood" started playing and the Doctor grinned.
"I can dance!" The Doctor began swinging to the music.
"Actually, Doctor, I thought Jack might like this dance," Rose said.
"I wasn't asking you." Before I knew it, the Doctor had taken my hand and pulled me up to stand in front of him.
"Doctor! What are you…?" I trailed off when the Doctor put a hand on my waist and pulled me close… really close. I felt my cheeks flare up and butterflies filled my stomach, but ignored them. The Doctor merely grinned at me and spun me around. I smiled and laughed with the Doctor as we danced all around the console. It was like the Doctor had been pretending to be a bad dancer before, he was that good. The Doctor and I ignored Rose and Jack as they stared at us and continued to dance all around the console. Soon, Jack and Rose had even started dancing themselves. At one point, the Doctor dipped me low over his arm, earning a laugh of delight from me. When he pulled me up, we laughed together and continued our dance.