Twelve years earlier — Sunnydale, 1999
"It wasn't his fault!" Buffy shouted. "He's not evil! He was just trying to help!"
The Doctor was locked up in the book cage at the Sunnydale high school library. Blimey! With all the times they locked him up, here, he might as well move in a settee and a telly and change his forwarding address!
"This is your destiny, Buffy," Giles reminded her. "It is your sacred duty to…!"
Buffy, in a fit of rage, yanked a bunch of Giles' books off the bookcases and threw them onto the floor.
Giles stared at her in absolute horror. The insult to his books seemed to sting him more than any physical injury could.
"The Doctor's my friend, Giles," Buffy snapped. "I like him."
Giles sighed, and leaned down to pick up his fallen books. "Yes, but…"
"And I know you don't care," Buffy ranted. She threw up her arms in the air. "I know that you're all with the 'bewitched' and 'magic voice' and 'influence of evil' thing — but he isn't…!"
"Oh, my God," Cordelia said, threading her hands through her hair. "Will someone please shut her up?"
Xander stepped forwards. "Look, Buff — we're just trying to do right by you. But your mom thinks…"
Buffy cut Xander off by shooting him a glare that could petrify at 20 paces.
"I'll admit — I've looked into the matter," Giles said, carefully dusting off the outside of his books, before sliding each back onto the shelf, "and the evidence does seem to confirm that the Doctor isn't evil." He slid the final book into place. "But that doesn't mean he isn't dangerous. You know—"
Right. This was getting them nowhere.
"Sorry to interrupt this little tête-à-tête," the Doctor interrupted, from inside the cage. "But… is no one going to ask why that completely ordinary wall reacted like that?" He scratched the back of his neck. "Because, thing is, if you scan that wall instead of ripping it open — the sonic tells you there is absolutely nothing special about it, whatsoever."
Xander turned on him. "You said you were brain damaged, right? So maybe you should just let us non-brain-damaged people deal with this — and stop screwing with the world!"
The Doctor frowned. "Ah," he said. "Yes. Right. That." He rubbed his head. "Thing is… I sort of feel like I've been getting significantly better, over the past few days. And at a surprising rate of recovery, too. Which is a bit odd, don't you think?"
"So, what? You're saying someone's disappearing people and feeding their mental energy to you, to make your brain better?" Xander demanded. "Is that it?"
The Doctor scratched his head. "That… is a somewhat terrifying, but very real possibility." He grimaced. "Would certainly explain the rapid recovery." He ran a hand down his face, thinking it all through. "Blimey."
Giles grabbed Buffy by the shoulders and spun her back around to face him.
"You saw what he did, tonight," Giles reminded Buffy. "How many people died because of his recklessness? You can't treat him like he's simply another of your friends." He pointed. "That man is dangerous."
"Yes, yes, possibly," the Doctor admitted, regaining his determination. "But, tell you what? If this is because of me — I will stop it." He scanned his eyes across the room. "And then I'll get back Buffy's wolf friend, and I'll…!"
The Doctor trailed off. His eyes grew sad.
"Oh, dear," the Doctor said, eyes landing on Cordelia and Xander — but not Willow. Just Willow's book, hovering in midair. "Down one more."
Buffy followed his gaze and gasped, horrified.
"That doesn't matter," said Giles, pointedly, grabbing the book out of the air and putting it away on the shelf. "None of them matter."
The Doctor quirked an eyebrow. "Sorry?"
Buffy stared at Giles. "Uh… Giles?"
Xander seemed not to notice. He kept his eyes leveled at the Doctor. "You're to blame for this, aren't you, Doctor? Willow's gone because of you!" He stormed over, shaking with rage. "You've got some nerve, letting…!"
"Ignore the missing people, Xander," Giles said, pulling Xander away. "Willow does not matter. Neither does anyone else. This is all simply distracting us from our purpose."
The Doctor scratched his head. "Sure you're feeling all right, Rupert Giles?" He stepped closer to the front of the cage, poking his fingers through the meshing. "Haven't been hanging 'round some big bulgy alien with a bright orange proboscis, recently? Or swallowing any substances that are sort of a pinkish purple with…?"
"You!" Giles cut in, harshly, turning on the Doctor. "You claim to be Buffy's friend. You claim to want to help her." He flung a finger back to point at Buffy. "But can you understand what she's been through? Can you fathom how difficult this is for her? The Slayer. The one girl in all the world! She has a mission and a destiny, and she must not stray from that path!"
Buffy noticed another lizard out of the corner of her eye and staked it.
"Right…" The Doctor scratched the back of his neck. "Just to clarify: what, exactly, is this 'difficult' thing that you expect Buffy to do for you?"
Buffy stepped towards Giles. "Giles, seriously, what's with the not-caringness?"
"There's nothing wrong with me, Buffy; I'm perfectly fine," Giles dismissed. He kept his eyes leveled at the Doctor. "You've done enough harm already, Doctor. So stop. Now."
Xander put his hands on his hips. "Yeah! Buffy knows better than to listen to you." He paused, then walked over to Buffy, a little sheepishly. "You… uh… do know better than to listen to him, right? Just… don't want to ruin my street cred, here."
Buffy stared at everyone around her, in the room. "I have absolutely no idea what you guys are talking about."
"That makes two of us," the Doctor agreed.
Giles turned around, his anger falling away. "Buffy," he said with a sigh, approaching her, "I know how difficult this is, but you must go through with it. Everyone, everywhere, will die — and you are the only one who can stop it."
The Doctor leaned against the side of the cage. "Everyone, everywhere, will die? New one on me. Just who did manage to brainwash you, exactly — and what do they want? The Earth? The universe?" He gave a cheeky smile. "Because whatever it is, Buffy'll never go through with it."
Giles, in a burst of fury, turned on the Doctor. "You bloody alien!" he shouted. "Is that all you can think of — some mystery to solve or some masterplot to unravel? Is it really all escape plans and prison breaks and alien brain parasites and scientific rubbish, to you?!" He pointed his finger in the Doctor's face. "If you care, at all, for Buffy — you will cease this at once and…!"
Giles trailed off, suddenly looking a bit guilty.
"...and, just, cooperate, yes?" Giles cleared his throat, a little awkwardly. "Sorry, I'm afraid I rather lost my temper there, for a moment." He stepped back to the library desk, reached beneath it, and pulled out a tin of cookies. "Please… help yourself." He offered the Doctor one of the cookies from the tin, poking it through the wire meshing. "If there's anything we can do to make you feel more comfortable…"
The Doctor didn't take the cookie. Just looked between them all, utterly baffled.
"This is all mad," the Doctor muttered, running a hand through his hair. Then, louder: "Look, will one of you lot please tell me what, precisely, is going on here?" Waved at Giles. "Or are you just going to continue your vacillation between angry yelling and nicely offering me tea and scones?"
Cordelia ran into Giles' office. "Oh! I can do tea!" She emerged from the office with a teapot. "See?" Then looked inside it and frowned. "Uh… anyone actually know how to make tea?"
"Maybe I'm the one going mad," the Doctor muttered, dropping his head into his hands. "Is that it? Am I just sitting about on a street corner somewhere, drooling while ranting about Hellmouths and odd brick walls and all that?"
Buffy grabbed the keys to the cage off the desk. "If you're crazy, Doctor, then so am I." Marched to the door of the book cage and unlocked it. "So screw what these guys say." Threw open the door. "I'm getting you out of here."
The Doctor beamed. "Oh, I knew there was a reason I liked you, Buffy Summers." He ran over and hugged her. "Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant — that's what you are!"
Giles was looking angry enough to throttle the Doctor with his bare hands.
"And now, I think it might be best," the Doctor decided, grabbing Buffy by the hand and tugging her behind him, "if we ran!"
The Doctor and Buffy sprinted out of the library.
"Okay, it's… demonic possession," Buffy guessed, as they raced down the halls. "Like, a mass possession of tons of different people. Except you're all Time Lordy, so your brain works differently — which is why the mass possession is making your brain stronger instead of weaker. And Giles is trying to…"
Movement, to Buffy's left. A hand darted out and grabbed her sleeve.
Buffy spun around, yanked the person whose hand it was up by the shirt, and slammed them against the wall. Then Buffy blinked, as she realized who she'd actually grabbed.
"Oh, my God!" Buffy shouted, dropping the person. "Did you follow me? Are you spying on me?"
The person shuffled, awkwardly. "I just noticed the TARDIS was in Sunnydale, and… you know… wanted to see the Doctor and stuff." She grinned at the Doctor, and waved, excitedly. "So… hi!"
The Doctor stared at her.
He gave her a small, puzzled wave back.
He knew who this person was. This cheery little girl with a spark of attitude, her blue eyes passionate and her brown hair neatly combed.
It was Dawn Summers.
"Does Mom even know you're out here, Dawn?" Buffy demanded. She grabbed her sister by the arm and tried to drag her off. "No, actually, don't answer. I know she doesn't. And that means you're going right back home, before…!"
"Before Mom finds out that you're not really 'studying' — you're just hanging around your weird alien friend, again?" Dawn snapped, struggling against Buffy. "Come on, Buffy. Whatever's going on, I can help! Really!"
The Doctor ran a hand through his hair. "But that's… she can't be… not in 1999! It's impossible! It's… it's…" He shook his head, again. "I really must be going mad."
That was when he heard the safety click off a gun, right behind him. He spun around, raising his hands above his head, and only then realized who, precisely, was standing there — pointing a gun at his head.
Buffy turned, too. Her jaw dropped. "Mom?!"
