"You have two hearts Charlie," he blurted and her eyebrows shot up. "I don't know how or why, but you have the anatomy of a Timelord, which is impossible because they're all dead. I killed them all."
. . .
The group fell silent, trying to take in the information. The Doctor kept his eyes firmly on the teen while Amy flitted back and forth between the two. Charlie didn't look at either of them in favour of having a staring contest with her tea. The Timelord had to be mistaken, it was ridiculous! Her, a Timelord? It was the most absurd thing she had ever heard!
"You're lying. You have to be Doctor." She spoke softly, accusing the alien. She focused her eyes on him, disbelief written over her face. "Whatever you're trying to pull here, it isn't funny."
Amy glanced at the man before leaning back in her chair. Whose side was she going to take if things go bad? "You have to have some sort of proof Doctor," she reasoned. There was no way he'd be telling them this without having some proof for them to see. It wasn't enough to trust his word this time.
"Give me a minute then," he sighed, pushing his chair back to stand. Without another word, the Doctor walked off, leaving the girls in the kitchen. Neither one said a word to the other, nor did they even look at each other. Finally, the alien returned and tossed a file onto the table in front of the teen.
"Those are the scans I took of you when we met, immediately after your episode, then when you started feeling better and the last one is from a day ago," he stated, returning to his spot. His mind was racing – he couldn't understand why this was happening and why this girl? Why Charlie? He just wanted to take a broken girl on the trip of a lifetime – why did things always have to get complicated?
Charlie flipped through the papers, showing Amy as well. The first and third ones showed her with only one heart, yet the second and fourth ones revealed another heart beating alongside her own. This couldn't be true, not for her. She wasn't a Timelord – Timelady – whatever it was. That was not possible. She was Charlotte Jackson, normal human Charlotte whose parents had really just adopted her.
"There has to be a mistake," Charlie whispered, furrowing her brow. "This just can't be true. I'm just me." The teen took her chances and glanced up to the Doctor, silently begging, hoping for this to all be a joke. Maybe it was April Fool's Day?
The Doctor shook his head and fished through his pockets for his stethoscope. Putting it on Charlie, he let her listen to what would be her normal heartbeat. "One heart." He moved it to the other side and, sure enough, Charlie heard another heartbeat. "Two hearts."
Charlie took the other end from the Doctor and repeated the 'test' twice before handing the stethoscope back to him. Her face was void of any emotion at all – that wasn't reassuring to either one of the adults in the room.
"What now?" Amy piped up, trying to move the conversation forward. "What does this mean for Charlie?"
The Doctor shook his head, his gaze showing his mind was somewhere else entirely. "I honestly don't know. It's not too much of a difference since it's only her anatomy. Her brain though – it still hasn't changed. I wish I had an answer for all this," his voice dripped with remorse when he focused on Charlie.
"It's not your fault that I am the way I am," she mumbled, not meeting anyone's gaze. "At least, there's no way of telling whose fault it is. I have to go." Shoving her now-cold tea away from her, Charlie stood and practically sprinted out of the kitchen. She needed to go to the library, to get her mind off of this.
Neither one of the adults went after her; they had stayed in the kitchen a while longer before Amy went to her room and the Doctor pretended to fix the TARDIS to occupy himself. Charlie had grabbed any book she could find on the topic of Timelords and studied through the night. She felt as if they explained some of her habits, but she didn't want to believe it.
Had the Doctor known the entire time? Ever since he saw those drawings of hers that she now knew was Circular Gallifreyan? If he did, was that the reason he took her along?
The truth remained that he had lied to her. He had known for weeks – if not longer – and told her nothing. How could he? She trusted him. She had opened up and gifted another person her trust just to have them lie to her face. Did he even care?
'Of course he didn't,' a voice whispered in her head. 'He didn't want to show you the universe. You were just another plaything to him, another mystery to solve.'
"Go away," she mumbled, squeezing her eyes shut. "Just go away. It's not true."
'It is though. Didn't he lie to you? He got everyone to play along and you were foolish enough to believe that they cared for you.'
"Stop it. Just stop!" she shouted, curling her knees to her chest and burying her face in them. Why couldn't that damn voice shut up? Why did her mind have to turn against her as well?
'You keep getting fooled by these people. They only want to use you, to take advantage of you and when they're done, they'll toss you away. Who could ever care about you?'
Charlotte just gave up. She let her mind taunt her as tears burned her skin as they fell. After all, her mind was her own; it knew everything she had gone through. It was only throwing back at her what she subconsciously believed. Just another thing that was her fault. When Charlie left the library it was quiet. She assumed that Amy was still sleeping and she didn't really want to know where the Doctor was. She crept quietly to her room, arms full of books and shut the door.
Charlie was determined to learn everything she could about Timelords.
There had been no knocking on her door that day and if there was, she didn't notice them at all. There had to be an explanation to all this; there was no way she was born a Timelady. The Doctor had killed them all for some reason – she would have to get an explanation about that – and someone would have noticed if a baby had two hearts. She was just Charlie; how could she belong to such an amazing race? No, she was human – Charlie was sure of it.
Raising a hand to her chest, she tried to feel her heart beat. Maybe everything had been a terrible dream. Alas, her meek theory was proven false when she felt both heartbeats in her chest. Would she die quicker if she got cut, since there were two hearts pumping blood? Another question to ask later.
Truth be told, the teen didn't know why she didn't just march up to the Doctor and demand answers. A part of her was mad at him for keeping it a secret, and a part was hurt and betrayed from the argument she had with herself. It was for the best that she didn't search for the Timelord.
For as long as she deemed necessary.
. . .
Amy had tried to talk to the teen on several occasions. When she had stormed off to the library, the Scot didn't feel it would be right to go just then. Charlie needed some time to herself to process the information. Heck, Amy needed some time to understand what had happened herself.
The morning after she had tried knocking on the teen's door but didn't receive an answer. She didn't want to just storm into her room like that, so she respected Charlie's need for privacy and left her alone. Amy had gone in only once to ask if she had wanted something to eat, but Charlie was so entranced by what she was reading that she didn't answer her.
It was then that Amy began leaving meals out for Charlie on the kitchen table. She knew that the teen would venture out of her room for food and the least she could do was ensure a warm meal was waiting.
She had continued to knock on the door every day, but as the days wore on, she knocked less and less. Amy made sure that a meal was always waiting not only for Charlie, but the Doctor as well. Only Charlie's meals ever seemed to be eaten – the Doctor never touched his own.
Amy had spent the next week between knocking on Charlie's door and trying to break down the Doctor's. She had forced him to eat the first time she found him after three days. The redhead was worried for her friends; one seemed to become a recluse and the other a ghost.
How was she supposed to fix them when they kept denying her help?
The Doctor switched between throwing himself into fixing the TARDIS and disappearing completely. It took all of Amy's restraint to not force the two to sit down together and talk it out. She hated seeing the people she cared about the most destroy themselves.
On the fourth day, Amy began noticing that Charlie's meals had begun piling up on the table. It seemed that the teen would only eat once a day if even that. The woman began leaving snacks in front of the teen's door as well so she would at least eat something.
It worked for the first little while and then the teen stopped taking those as well. The Doctor never took his own.
It would be a miracle if they didn't destroy themselves before this was all over.
Amy didn't give up once; her personality didn't know the meaning of giving up. She had pushed for them both to eat in the most passive way she could – leaving food for them everywhere.
Ignoring the lack of a reply from Charlie, Amy began leaving meals on her bedside. She would find some of the plates washed and placed on the counter afterwards and others were still full of food. Others still had bites taken out of them.
The Doctor's were rarely even touched, but even then there were some meals that had been at least partially eaten. It wasn't as if Amy could get into the Timelord's room. The TARDIS had tried her best to lead her to the moping Doctor but even her attempts to help him were futile.
They were going to drive Amy mad.
. . .
It seemed that Charlie needed a little more than week to herself before she would finally come out to see the others. She had thrown things in her room, screamed into her pillow, tried convincing herself that it was all a trick, and even stared at the wall as her mind raced to come up with an answer, and she still didn't fully accept that she was a Timelady.
What she did do though, was make a decision as to what was going to happen next.
She had snuck out when she thought the others were busy to get some food and the TARDIS – even though she didn't approve – rearranged herself so the teen could avoid the other two occupants. But today Charlie stepped out of her room to talk to the both of them.
When she walked into the kitchen, the two were sitting there, talking in hushed tones. They immediately stopped when they noticed her standing there. Amy seemed a bit surprised to find the girl outside her room but the corner of her mouth turned upwards – she was glad.
The Doctor on the other hand, wouldn't meet her gaze and seemed to be fascinated with the palms of his hands.
"Nice to see you Charlie," Amy piped up, walking over to the fridge and grabbing something. "Sit down. I'm going to make sure you eat a proper meal. The both of you." She shot the Doctor a pointed look – if he saw it or not was a completely different thing but he could feel it.
The table was silent as Amy cooked; neither one of them knew how to talk to the other, so the two remained engrossed with their hands. Charlie risked a glance at the man and noticed that he seemed to be upset. She felt as if she should do something, but the voice in her mind returned and she thought against it.
"There you are. Now, eat everything I put in front of you both," Amy ordered, setting the plates down. Charlie smiled and nodded her thanks while the Doctor just picked up his fork and played with his meal. The teen ate silently and Amy shook her head slightly, eating her own supper.
Finally, Charlie got sick of the Doctor's moping. "You have to eat Doctor, even if it's just a bit," she reasoned. When she received no response from the man, or any acknowledgement that he had even heard her, she put down her fork and crossed her arms.
"You have to eat Charlotte, you look terrible," the Doctor said, looking up at last. Charlie shrugged, making no move to begin eating again. "This isn't funny Charlie, you have to eat."
"I'll eat if you do; you look no better than I do," Charlie countered. "Do us both a favour and stop playing with your food."
For a moment the Doctor looked as if he was about to say something – probably witty – but then closed his mouth and picked up his fork, beginning to attack his food. Charlie waited until he had actually swallowed the mouthful before returning to her own plate. Amy winked and shot her a thumbs up.
The redhead picked up the dishes once they were finished and mouthed 'Talk to him,' before turning to wash them. The teen drummed her fingers against the table for a bit, unsure of how she was going to start. It was starting to bug her, how the Doctor wouldn't look at her.
"I'm not mad," she stated just as his head snapped up. "I mean, part of me is mad but I don't know if it's at you or not and I just don't really understand all of this and it's just so weird –" Charlie stopped her babbling and sighed.
"Look, it's just difficult to wrap my head around," she explained. "Part of me is mad at you for quite a few things but I just feel like I can't talk to you about them right now."
The Doctor nodded slightly as Amy rejoined them silently. "That's understandable. Changing species can be . . . difficult to come to terms with. Just know that if there was any way I could help or make this all make sense, I would," he said, as if begging for her to understand. She smiled slightly and squeezed his hand for a brief moment.
"I know old man," she teased and the corner of his mouth turned upwards. It killed Charlie to say what she wanted to, but there was no way she could avoid it. She was sure that it was what she needed right now.
"So, are we all good now?" Amy asked with a grin, crossing her arms and leaning back. "It was starting to get depressing, watching the two of you mope for a week."
"That's not all," Charlie sighed, playing with her sleeve. "Look, I'm not mad at either of you and I thought about this for a long time. It won't be permanent of course." She tried to make them see it from her point of view so that they wouldn't feel hurt or offended. "I want to go back home to London. Have some time to come to terms with the – uh – change."
Silence blanketed the table. Thankfully, no one looked hurt at the request.
"If you need to go back to help you, then I won't stop you," the Doctor finally said with a smile. "Anything that'll help we'll provide."
"And it isn't forever," Amy added. "You can call whenever you want to come back."
"Thank you guys," she grinned, giving them both a hug. "I was worried that you would feel bad if I asked," Charlie admitted to the two, rubbing the back of her neck.
"Don't worry so much about us kiddo," Amy smiled, ruffling the girl's blonde curls. "We'll always understand." She kissed the teen's forehead gently. "I'll make us all some tea and then we can help you pack. How does that sound?"
"Sounds good to me," Charlie replied and the woman got up to make them all a cup. She glanced over to the Doctor, observing his expression for a moment. He chuckled.
"What is it Charlie?"
"Just making sure I didn't hurt you," the teen explained, casting her gaze to her hands. "I just feel like it would help, being with Isabelle and spending some time in London. Prepare me or something, I don't know," she sighed, shrugging. "It doesn't make too much sense to me."
The Timelord smiled and shook his head slightly. "You're right Charlie. If this will help then who am I to stop you? Just make sure that you're careful, alright?"
"Yes mother," she smirked.
"Oi!"
"Knock it off you two!"
"Alright Amy."
"Fine Pond."
. . .
Charlie looked over the contents of her backpack once more. She had packed some clothes – bigger on the inside technology was truly remarkable – her wallet, some books, and her cell phone was tucked away safely in her pocket. She would be staying with Isabelle anyways; Charlie had sent her friend a quick text letting her know that she would be dropping by for a while.
Glancing around at her room, a smile rose to her lips. She would miss her place in the TARDIS, but she really needed to just clear her mind. Hopefully her time with Isabelle would help her with that. This way, the Doctor could focus on Amy and make up for what had happened to Rory.
Thinking about Rory sent a pang through her heart – hearts – and it didn't seem to want to go away. She would give anything to have the man back with them. Things had just been so different without the nurse around. Charlie did miss talking to him as they cooked in the morning, or goofing off as they made dinner.
She could never talk about these things of course – there was too much of a chance that Amy would overhear. So she had to carry it around silently, wondering if he was saved somehow or out there somewhere, waiting for them to find him again.
Shaking her head slightly, Charlie shifted her thoughts away from the nurse and began looking though the pictures on her phone. She had whipped it out whenever she could on their travels, not wanting to miss a thing. She came across one of a picture of her arm, with some error code written on it and remembered the day in the theatre. Charlie still had to ask the Doctor about that.
Tucking her phone back into her pocket, Charlie slung the backpack over her shoulder and walked out to the console room where Amy and the Doctor were waiting. The redhead gave the girl a wave while the Doctor grinned his usual grin, coat slung over the railing, sonic poking out of the pocket.
"All set are we?" he asked, leaning against the console. She nodded, adjusting the slipping strap.
"Yeah, I'm ready," Charlie replied, walking down to join them. "It'll be nice to see Isabelle again."
"We'll miss you kiddo," Amy said, walking towards the duo. The Doctor began flying his ship, knowing that she would take them where they needed to go this time. Charlie smiled.
"I'll miss you guys too, but it isn't for forever."
The TARDIS screeched as she landed, halting the conversation. No one moved after the sound had stopped, savouring the moments where there was still three occupants of the magnificent ship. Charlie was finally able to move, giving Amy a hug.
"I'll see you soon," the teen said, giving the woman a squeeze.
"I'm holding you to that," Amy grinned as she let go, tucking some of Charlie's hair behind her ear. It was the Doctor's turn next. She wrapped her arms around him, closing her eyes for a brief moment.
"Have fun and take care of Amy," Charlie whispered in his ear. The Timelord chuckled lightly and gave her a squeeze.
"Of course," he whispered before letting go, wiping at his eyes. "Now you take care of yourself young lady. Make sure that you're always back before dark or at least have someone with you. Call anytime you want to talk and we'll call back as soon as we can if we miss you. The call I mean. And no boys whatsoever!"
Charlie laughed and gave the Doctor another hug. "You're babbling again."
"Sorry," he replied quickly. The teen let go and he ran a hand through his hair. This was proving to be harder than the Timelord thought it would be – and it was just temporary! She made her way to the doors, giving them a small wave.
"See you soon then," Charlie said, giving them a small smile. Amy gave a wave in return, swiping at her eyes quickly after.
"I'll walk you to the door," the Doctor stated, walking past the teen and out the TARDIS doors.
The teen shared a look with Amy before following the man. The TARDIS had parked herself in the far end of the park across from Isabelle's house. "This was my favourite place to be during summer," she spoke up, glancing around at the trees. "I almost broke my leg falling out of a tree."
The Doctor chuckled, peering at the girl. "That sounds believable."
"Hey! I take offense to that," she grinned, bumping into him playfully. "At least I'm more coordinated than you."
"You little Dalek," the Timelord countered, grinning slightly. Charlie raised her eyebrow slightly.
"What a Dalek?"
"I'll tell you another time," he replied, waving it off. Charlie stopped walking and yanked the Doctor's sleeve back, causing him to stumble slightly. "What's wrong?"
"Police," Charlie replied, pulling him behind a tree. "There are two people walking down the sidewalk – I recognize them because they came to where I worked one day when we got robbed. There are a couple cars as well. Isabelle said something about me being kidnapped."
"I'll head back then and meet you here to pick you up," the Doctor whispered, kissing her forehead before making his way back to the TARDIS while Charlie continued walking.
Everything was going well until one of the officers recognized her and noticed the Doctor running in the opposite direction. It was too late when Charlie realized that there were officers on the other side of the park as well, making their way towards him. They would reach him before he could get to the TARDIS.
"Doctor! Run!" she shouted as hard as she could. The Timelord heard her, but it was too late.
He tried to run but one of the officers had tackled him to the ground. At least they hadn't gotten Amy. Charlie tried to sprint to help the man, but the other two officers she recognized had grabbed her arms and steered her to Isabelle's house.
"It's alright, you won't have to see him ever again," the female officer cooed, probably thinking that she was comforting the teen – her name was Anna if she had the right nametag on. The blonde fought them as hard as she could.
"I wasn't kidnapped! He's my friend!"
"You're in shock, it's understandable," Anna continued as they crossed the road. "You can come and tell us everything at the police station tomorrow dear."
"I am not in shock!" she growled. What were they going to do to him? Before she could make her escape, Isabelle's mother Miranda was hugging her half to death. Charlie had a mini panic attack; what if she felt her double heartbeat?
"We were so worried about you! Isabelle, Charlotte's here!"
"Don't let her leave the house. She's still in shock," Anna told Miranda quietly. "If she's feeling up to it tomorrow, it would be great to have her at the station."
"I missed you so much," Isabelle whispered as she wrapped Charlie in a hug. She hugged her back for a brief moment.
"How long have I been gone?" she questioned, glancing around to see if she could find any clues.
"Almost three months. It's August now Charlie," the raven replied, searching her friend's face. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine –"
"Let her rest Isabelle, poor dear must be tired," Miranda scolded. "I'll get lunch ready for you both," the woman said, ushering the two up the stairs. Charlie caught sight of the Doctor through the window being stuffed into a police car, hands cuffed behind his back.
"Why doesn't he use his sonic?" Charlie muttered under her breath.
"What was that Charlie?" Isabelle questioned and she smiled slightly in return.
"Sorry, could I get cleaned up before lunch?" Charlie asked and Isabelle's face was released form it's worried expression.
"Of course! You know where the bathroom is."
Charlie thanked her friend quickly and headed to the bathroom quickly. As soon as the door was shut behind her, she called the TARDIS' phone. "Come on, pick up," she muttered quietly.
"Hello?"
"Amy! Listen, the Doctor's been arrested and no one will listen to me. They all think that he kidnapped me," Charlie explained quickly. She heard the Scot groan.
"What're we going to do?"
"I don't know," Charlie sighed. "Meet me in the park that I was playing in when we first met tomorrow. Hopefully we can figure something out. I have to go now. Bye."
The teen hung up and leaned against the door. How were they going to get him out of this one? Neither one of them knew how to fly the TARDIS – even if they thought of a way the old girl could help – and they couldn't exactly break him out. No one was listening to Charlie either. She sighed and got ready quickly, walking out and depositing her things in the spare room.
"Lunch's almost done," Isabelle informed, leaning against the doorframe. Charlie smiled at the sight of her friend. "I missed you a lot mate."
"I missed you too," she admitted. "I promise I'll tell you everything you want to know soon."
"There's no rush. Come on. Maybe we can get Mum to let us do a bit of shopping," Isabelle suggested. Charlie walked with her down the stairs.
"Sounds good to me."
The sooner she got the Doctor out of this mess, the sooner she could start telling the truth to her best friend. And stop the guilt that was eating away at her.
. . .
I hope you liked the chapter because it took a while to write. Reviews on anything that I've written is much appreciated.
Also, I now have a Tumblr for my writing so it would be awesome if you could follow it. There's nothing on it now, but I'll be posting a lot of stuff on it about both my fanfictions and my original work.
Tumblr: www. tumblr blog / themuseofdeduction