Triple Threat
Chapter 12

The Doctor stood there confused. Elizabeth was showing great control – more than she should so soon after being affected by Corvoline. Yet, there she was, pushing through the constant emotion changes to seem almost like her normal self.

He'd seen her emotions change in her eyes but she kept them at bay. It wasn't normal – and that was coming from him. He was curious. How could she do it? Was it something about her genetic make-up, was it something about her basic personality? What was enabling her such control already?

"Hey, Doctor," he heard Elizabeth call and turned to look at that young face. She looked so different than the girl he remembered before the change.

"Yeah," he called back as she smiled at him.

"Can I raid your closet? My clothing doesn't exactly fit anymore," she says, looking down showing her pants are all rolled up a lot and the shirts bag bad on her. "At least until I can go shopping."

"You know where it is," he states and she nods before running off, energetically – more like something he expected from Katherine than from Elizabeth. He laughs as he shakes his head as Katti pokes hers in.

"Did I just hear Elizabeth mention shopping? I'm there," Katherine squeals.

"No you aren't," Elizabeth calls from the closet full of all the clothing he'd collected over nine hundred years. "I'm going out alone so don't even think about coming too."

"But," Katherine begins but Elizabeth comes around the corner in one of his black shirts, a pair of her sister's black dress pants – the only pair he figures – and one of his old black belts.

"No Katti. Thanks for the clothing Doctor. I'll be back later," she calls grabbing a wad of cash from her sister's purse. "Don't leave without me."

"I won't," he promises.

-x-

Katti watches Elizabeth leave and hurries to her sister's room. Something is off about her sister and she knows it. She begins snooping through her sister's things – wondering what she's missing.

After half an hour she comes across a journal and pulls it out. She feels like she's found a treasure trove and opens it to find that her sister writes into it. She writes about everything that happens, what she thinks and feels.

'August fourth – happy birthday to me. I hope Kat likes the jacket and I hope Bells likes the movie collection I got for them. Oh, please don't let it be like last year when they both already bought what I was getting them for themselves.'

'August Fifth – yep… it happened again. So I looked like a fool with nothing to give them. Typical.'

Katherine flipped through a couple pages till she found a somewhat longer entry into the journal.

'December twentieth – I don't know what I'm going to do. Should I tell Bella and break her heart or should I wait till after Christmas then tell her. If she finds out ahead of time and knows that I knew all along she'll be pissed. How can he break up with her this close to Christmas? This is a lose-lose situation I'm stuck in here. I already broke his jaw for this but what should I do? Why does life have to suck?'

Her eyes opened wide when she realized who Elizabeth was talking about. Kevin had broken Bella's heart right after Christmas – at least that's what Elizabeth told them. She'd said the letter breaking up with her arrived the day after Christmas. She'd lied.

This was a whole break through. She read the next page which was listed as December Twenty-sixth.

'I should have done more than broke his jaw. I should have gelded him. Its what he deserves. I had to hold Isabella till she fell asleep, exhausted by her tears. He's broken her heart and I want to break him into a million pieces because of it. Nobody but me is allowed to hurt my sisters and get away with it.'

Katti snorted a laugh at the idea of her sister gelding anyone. Her sister might have been the tough one once but she'd always gotten sick at the sight of blood. No way she could have gone through with it.

She flipped to the date of their arrival –

'We are actually on the TARDIS. This is so surreal. Kat is a handful – lusting after the Doctor and Bells is so lost it's almost comical. Maybe we should have forced her to watch a few episodes when we had the chance. Oh well, too late now. Wonder how else our lives are going to change before this is over with…'

It was ironic and Katti knew it. They'd discovered they were time-ladies due to Elizabeth's recklessness… that gave Katti an idea. She flipped to the day of the 'accident' praying her sister wrote in it. It was the longest entry she'd seen by a long shot.

'To whomever is reading this – most likely Katherine Smith,
Today is the final day of my life. I am well aware of this troubling and saddening fact. This may not be the smartest decision I have ever made but I know it will be the final one. It will all be worth it if I can save innocent lives. More than that – if I can keep my family (yes, that includes Martha and the Doctor) out of harm's way then I will be fine with Death as a consequence. I don't have much time before the others get back so I have to keep this brief. I love my family. No matter how they annoy me and push my buttons till I want to explode I don't want them to change, I can't watch them die. I want them to go on without me. Also… this is important Kat (I know how much that nickname annoys you but since you are most likely the one reading my journal and I'm not around to get lectured, oh well.) Dad was crazy, not eccentric.
I love you…
Elizabeth White'

"Eccentric," Katti muttered under her breath annoyed. After a moment she stood up and slid the journal back to where she originally found it. Then she went to her own room to think.

-x-

"Oh, come on," Isabella muttered annoyed as the lights in her rooms flickered while her computer shut down on her. "You've got to be kidding me. A time-machine that has problems with the power? This has got to be a horrible, horrible joke."

Then she slammed her computer closed and laid her forehead against it, disgruntled at the piece of equipment. After a few moments she stood up and went out to the main area of the TARDIS.

"Doctor, what's wrong with the power now?" she called, her agitation echoing in her voice. Then she realized he wasn't in the room only to have him pop up from under the floor. She shook her head, knowing she should have seen that. He spent a lot of time under the floor when they were stationary like this – if they weren't off on another galactic adventure.

"Sorry, I really could use Elizabeth's help. Right after she collapsed the converters were shot and we're having power spikes all over the TARDIS. Poor girl's having a bit of tantrum right now," The Doctor said. "I suggest not using too much electricity at one time if I was you."

"Great," she muttered before turning back to her room sullenly. She'd just found a cool description of the alien species, Gerts, and was about to check out their anatomy when it crashed. Now she'd have to try and remember what she was looking up later. She flopped down on bed.

-x-

Elizabeth grabbed the skimpy little red off the shoulder number she'd hide in the back of her closet. Most of her clothing was similar to the old stuff she use to wear but now she had to adapt it some. She use to be tall with big bones. Now she was shorter and very petite.

That meant her clothing style had to fit her new body frame. It was trickier than she'd at first considered but she did it. Then she went back to the TARDIS, right where she left it. A smile toyed at the corner of her mouth.

Of all the places she'd been this was the closest to home she'd ever been. Yeah, she'd always insist that anywhere she and her sisters were was home enough for her but here the three of them were closer than they'd ever been. Back, before this, her sisters had been in their own world and she had been the outsider looking in.

Here everything had changed. They treated her with respect. The ribbings they use to give her endlessly had settled to a very manageable level. She loved her sisters but she use to also imagine strangling them when they were younger.

A chuckle escaped her lips as she thought about her new form trying to do that now. She'd look funny. Besides that… both of her sisters could swat her like a fly. Before her body fit her attitude. She'd been a big girl who could handle herself in a fight. Now… not so much.

She still knew how to fight; she just wasn't sure what her body could handle. It felt bizarre. It was like someone had taken her brain and put it in the body of somebody else and expected her to feel right within said body. It didn't work like that and she knew it. How the Doctor had managed was beyond her.

"Doctor, I'm home," she called as she walked in carrying five heavy bags of clothing in her arms. "Hello." Just then the power went out and she rolled her eyes. She dropped the bags right inside the door where she knew she could find them. With that she went to the middle consol and began searching for the problem.

"Who turned out the lights? Doctor, if you don't get those converters running I think I'll have to strangle you," Bella's voice yelled as she walked into the room.

"Hey, why's everything so dark?" Martha yelled from her bedroom.

"Yeah, what happened to the lights?" Katti yelled.

"We'll have them up and running shortly. Elizabeth, could you bring the flash light as well as my sonic screwdriver. They're up there with some of the other tools and my coat," The doctor called.

"Sure thing Doctor," Elizabeth called before moving towards them. She moved around blindly, grabbing the things then moving towards the hole in the floor. She crawled down into it and handed the things off to him.

Then she set about working on the TARDIS. The Doctor worked on his things as fast as she did and within three hours everything was corrected. There were cheers from the other inhabitants who went off. This had given Martha a reason to go visit her family while Katti and Bella went out shopping and for dinner.

"How could you let the poor girl get so bad?" Elizabeth demanded once they crawled out of the hole with the doctor helping her.

"The TARDIS decided to throw a tantrum when you regenerated. I tried to keep up but it was one thing after another. First there was a short in the electrical system which I fixed, then life support, then it was the coolant system, then the power converters became completely shot, also the plumbing needs repaired otherwise things might get messy. I'm one man and even on my best day I can't do all of that," he stated. She nodded understanding.

"You should have asked for help," she said.

"I was giving you time to acclimate to your new body. I know how difficult it can be under normal circumstances. You didn't know you would regenerate plus the Corvoline in your system made you even more volatile. I wanted to make sure you had settled well enough," he stated and she smiled at him.

"Doctor, I'm fine. I'm doing much better. You don't have to worry about me. Now, where do you need me to work?" she asked and he smiled before telling her. She nodded before going to do as he asked.

By the time everyone had returned they had the TARDIS back in pristine condition once more. This was their new lives. This was them.

-x-