The Bells of Saint John - Part 2
Clara eyed the two Time Lords as they quietly worked at the controls of the TARDIS, it seemed like each of them had taken a half of them, one side each. It made sense what with there being controls both in the middle and around the edges of the small space, but she couldn't help but watch them work a moment or two before she set her empty teacup down on the middle controls and walked closer to them.
"Ok," she took a breath, "When are you going to explain what the hell is going on?"
"Breakfast," the Doctor stated, hitting a switch up and causing the TARDIS to jolt slightly.
"Still working on your parking then?" the Judge managed a small joke, a little more at ease now that they weren't on a crashing plane any longer.
The Doctor just laughed and headed for the door, the Judge moving around the console to join him, but Clara ran out after them, a frown on her face, "I ain't waiting till breakfast."
"You're quite impatient," the Judge remarked, "Bossy as well."
Clara simply crossed her arms, not rejecting that statement though.
"It's a time machine," the Doctor explained, "You never have to wait for breakfast," he winked and moved to the doors, throwing them open to allow sunlight to stream into the room before he stepped out, the sound of clapping and cheering starting the moment he was outside, "Thank you."
The Judge let out a breath and shook her head, "He has a rather large flair for the dramatics," she warned Clara before heading after the man.
Clara paused only a moment before following as well, stepping out of the TARDIS to see that they were on the South Bank of the Thames. A group of people had gathered around the TARDIS, applauding what they likely thought was a magic act, the box that mysteriously appeared out of nowhere.
"Thank you," the Doctor chuckled, bowing at them, "Yes, magic blue box."
The Judge moved beside him as he pulled the fez out of an inner pocket of his jacket, "So much for that 'sticking to the shadows' nonsense then?" she gave him a pointed look, having heard his discussion with Dorium just after he'd reset time with River Song. He'd implied that he would be quiet, that he'd remain hidden, unnoticed…and now he was making the box appear in front of a crowd of people in broad daylight.
The Doctor pointed at her like he was going to say something before turning instead, having no argument or defense, and began to pass around the fez instead, "All donations gratefully accepted. Roll up, roll up, give us your dosh. Pennies, pounds, anything you've got," he spun around and pressed the fez into the Judge's hand, "Keep collecting, dear, we need enough for…"
"For breakfast," she cut in gently, ushering him to the TARDIS, "I know. You never carry money."
She was getting nearly as bad as he was. She didn't have much money on her either. When one spent time in a time machine and going off to different planets, the idea of currency became rather lacking. It was always a different currency everywhere they went so there was no point to actually carry any money with them. More often than not, the currency they had couldn't be exchanged. She did have a small bank account on Earth, courtesy of Jack, he'd done it for all his teammates. In case anything ever happened to them, he wanted to make sure their families would be ok, not that they had much by way of families in the end. She hadn't understood why he'd done the same for her, all she had was the Doctor and he didn't need money at all. But Jack had been reasonable, had said that she didn't know how long she'd stay on Earth for, that for all they knew she might end up there long after he and the other team broke up and aged and died (well, not HIM, but still, the point stood). He'd wanted to thank her for her help, to make sure that she would be taken care of and have something to support her if Torchwood had ever disbanded, which it did for a time.
But she didn't have a card to it, would have had to go to the bank to collect even a small amount of the money and that would take time as well as likely alert the wi-fi and security that she was there. It would give them the ability to track who she was and find out those close to her that were still alive and she wasn't going to put her team in jeopardy. Not over breakfast.
"Just popping back to the garage," the Doctor waved to the crowd as he headed for the TARDIS, being sure to close the doors behind him so that others couldn't wander in.
"Garage?" Clara popped up beside the Judge looking rather confused.
"Ignore that last remark," she offered, "The Doctor likes to call the TARDIS any number of things instead of what she should be called."
Clara shook her head, not entirely sure she wanted to know what the Doctor called the machine, she'd heard some…rather out there names that a few old boyfriends had called their cars, "So, this is tomorrow, then? Tomorrow's come early?"
"Time machine Clara," she repeated, "We just skipped ahead in time. WE were the ones that came early."
The two women turned around to the sound of the applause starting up again to see that the Doctor was coming out of the TARDIS, pushing two vehicles with him, one a motorbike and another a small Vespa, "Thank you, thank you," he laughed, setting them to stand and shutting the door behind him once more, "Tomorrow, a camel!"
"We're are NOT putting a camel in the TARDIS, Doctor," the Judge called as she and Clara headed over to him.
The Doctor merely smirked playfully and handed the two girls helmets, taking the fez from the Judge to empty its contents into his pockets, slipping the fez onto the head of a passing boy, before he hopped onto the motorbike, "Judge?" he gave her a smile and nodded behind him.
The Judge hesitated a moment before taking a breath and getting on behind him.
"Is…that one for me?" Clara nodded at the small scooter.
"Yeah," the Doctor grinned, "Just keep close," he told her, fairly convinced that she wasn't going to take off on them given that the last version of her had stuck around solely to see what was going to happen next and because she was curious. He got the sense that this her was equally so.
Clara shrugged and got on the little scooter, taking off a moment later after the Doctor, cameras snapping around them as the crowd tried to take pictures of the 'magicians' as they departed.
They drove a fair distance away from the TARDIS though Clara didn't speak again till they were crossing Westminster Bridge, "If you've got a flying time machine, why are we on these things?"
"I don't take the TARDIS into battle," the Doctor called above the noise of the bikes and the wind and traffic around them.
"Because it's made of wood?"
"Because it's the most powerful ship in the universe and I don't want it falling into the wrong hands," the Doctor told her.
"The point of a secret weapon is that it remains secret," the Judge agreed, though the Doctor had likely not really helped the whole secrecy part with how he'd had the TARDIS appear just then.
"Got it," Clara nodded, falling silent as they rode past the Horse Guards Parade and under the Admiralty Arch, still not entirely sure where they were going but trusting them one more time that, perhaps, when they got wherever they were going, they'd tell her what was going on.
~8~
The Time Lords and Clara were gathered around the table of a small rooftop café that overlooked St. Paul's Cathedral, another building in the distance tall and pointed, shining in the sun. The Doctor had the laptop open before him, the Judge finishing up her beverage while looking at her mobile phone, one that she rarely used unless it was to contact Jack or, in rare cases, UNIT, making sure that he and the new team were ok and to warn them about the wi-fi. Clara was watching the two of them, eating the last of her breakfast fruit and smoothie.
"So if we can travel anywhere in time and space, why did we travel to the morning?" Clara wondered, "What's the point in that?"
"Whoever's after us spent the whole night looking for us," the Doctor murmured, his gaze still focused on the screen, "Are you tired?"
"Yes."
"Then imagine how they feel," he smiled, "They came the long way round."
"We couldn't risk going too far into the future either," the Judge added, setting her phone down, "Now that they're aware we know about them, we couldn't risk going too far and having them up their attempts or advance their plans. We needed to be close enough where they'd have spent time trying to find us first but not exactly focused on rushing whatever they're doing with the wi-fi."
Clara nodded slowly at that, it did make sense. She had been about to ask why they'd selected the next morning and not just jumped months into the future after whoever it was that was after them had given up the search for them. In those months, they could have ended up 'hoovering up' half the world.
"They've got to be close," the Doctor muttered, frowning at the laptop, "Definitely London, going by the signal distribution. I can hack the lowest level of their operating system, but I can't establish a physical location, the security's too good."
The Judge was silent, eyeing the Doctor intently at that, not entirely sure if he was trying to tempt Clara into using her new computer knowledge to assess what she knew and how advanced she'd become or if he genuinely couldn't hack the security.
"Are you aliens?" Clara asked.
The Judge looked at her for that, "Was that not clear in the plane?" she wondered, quite certain that the Doctor had at least implied that, much like she knew her tended use of the generalizing 'Humans' tended to tip others off that they were not, in fact, human.
"We are, yes," the Doctor nodded instead, "Ok with that?"
"Fine, yeah," Clara shrugged, "I think I'm fine."
"Oh, good."
"So what happens if you do find them?" Clara inquired, "What then?"
"I don't know," the Doctor shrugged this time, "I can't tell the future, I just work there."
"The future's going to fire you one day," the Judge remarked, "You're terrible at your job."
"I'll have you know that I'm brilliant at my job," he stuck his tongue out at her.
"You blew up the Universe," the Judge gave him a look.
"Right, so…brilliantly bad," he grumbled.
"So you don't have a plan then?" Clara frowned at that.
"You know what I always say about plans?" he started to smile.
"What?"
"That things are better," the Judge cut in, "I believe his favored phrase is, a thing is like a plan but more brilliant or something like that."
"Well people always have plans or things," Clara mused.
"Yes," the Doctor agreed with that, "Yes, I suppose they do," he glanced at the Judge a moment before he nodded at the computer. She shrugged and he slid the computer over to her, allowing her to look at it. He knew that there was as much a chance that she'd work it out as he'd had luck trying to do, but she had worked with Torchwood for a while and perhaps she'd picked up something, "So tell me," he looked at Clara, "How long have you been looking after those kids?"
"About a year, since their mum died."
"Ok," he murmured slowly, "But why you? The Judge was right, family friend, we get that, but there must have been others. Why did it have to be you? I mean, you don't…you don't really seem like a nanny."
Clara fiddled with her straw a moment before reaching out to the laptop, "May I?" she asked the Judge.
The Judge, however, pulled the laptop back, away from Clara. Firstly, Clara was a human, which meant, more often than not, she'd likely do something that would mess up and alert the others that they were there. Then there was the fact that they only knew that Clara knew what Twitter was, it wasn't any indication that she actually knew how to use computers. Then there was the fact that, if the Doctor genuinely couldn't work out what to do, chances were Clara wouldn't either. On top of that, if this was just some test by the Doctor to see what Clara could do, then he should have been open about it.
"Sorry, what?" the Doctor scoffed, reaching out to take the laptop as well, pulling it further away from Clara.
"You need to know where they physically are," Clara reasoned, "Their exact location."
"Yes."
"I can do it," she reached out to try and pull the laptop towards herself.
"Oi, I need that!" he pulled it back, only serving to start a tug of war for the Judge to watch.
"You've hacked the lower operating system. I'll have their physical location in under five minutes. Go and get a coffee."
"If I can't find them, you can't."
"They uploaded me, remember. I've got computing stuff in my head."
"So do I."
"I have insane hacking skills."
"I'm from space, and the future, with two hearts and...27 brains."
"And I can find them in under five minutes, plus photographs. 27?"
"Ok, slight exaggeration."
"At this point, dear," the Judge cut in dryly, "I'm not even sure you managed half a brain," she stood up, "I'LL get the coffee."
The Doctor pouted, "How come you get to get the coffee?"
The Judge gave him a look, shaking her head at how he'd just been ranting about how he wanted to be the one hacking the system, "Because if I let you go in there," she pointed behind her, "You'll get distracted by the pastries and cakes and cookies and come back her already halfway to a sugar-high and without any manner of drinks that didn't involve copious amounts of sugar."
The Doctor pointed at her like he was going to argue, only to run his hand through his hair instead, she was right.
"Now," she looked between them, "You two, stay here, stay put, and don't start fighting," she pointed at them warningly, "Behave yourselves."
Clara and the Doctor watched as she turned to head inside, before Clara looked at the Doctor, "She's a mother isn't she?"
"How can you tell?" the Doctor turned back to her.
"She's got that mum voice."
He smiled, "She is," he nodded, though his smile started to fade, "Was," he cleared his throat, "She does rather have that mum voice down doesn't she? Never quite got the hang of the dad voice."
Clara stared at him, "YOU are a father?"
"Was," he swallowed hard.
"Wait…the…two of you?" Clara gestured between him and the direction that the Judge had gone, shocked that she hadn't realized they were together, there was no ring on his finger.
The Doctor gave her a small smile again and tapped the laptop, "Would you like me to…"
"No!" Clara tugged it closer to him, "I've got it."
"Don't feel bad if you can't get in," he warned, crossing his arms and sitting back, "The security is absolute."
"It's never about the security, it's about the people," she murmured, opening the laptop and starting to tap away.
The Doctor glanced over at the door the Judge had entered, watching her approaching the order counter a moment, before he returned his attention to watching Clara work, his mind racing as he tried to work out who she was…
~8~
The Judge glanced back at the Doctor, able to see him sitting on the patio portion of the café, for a moment before she focused on the order counter. She walked right past the tasty treats, now more sure than ever that she'd made the right choice in not allowing the Doctor to make the journey in there, his sweet tooth in this incarnation was worse than all three of her children combined when they'd been small. Though…she could admit that her granddaughter, Susan, had one that was nearly twice as bad.
"Hello," she greeted an older man that was working behind the counter, "I'd like two more cappuccinos and a small tea please."
"Just a moment, ma'am," the man smiled, turning to start the cappuccino machine.
The Judge's small smile fell when she saw a small light flicker over the man, saw him stiffen. She did that often, watched people when they made or prepared food or beverage. Sometimes, in Torchwood, Jack would think it funny to mess with the food slightly, Owen was worse when he was irritated with you, so she'd made it a habit to watch people during moments like that. She'd been watching the man, she'd seen the light, so when he turned to her, his face blank, she wasn't surprised to hear some sort of threat in his voice, she knew there was wi-fi there, it was how they'd been able to use the laptop, but they'd hoped that, with how the Doctor had made sure to sonic the connection that the laptop had had to the prior connection that attacked Clara and sever it, that they'd be safe.
It appeared not.
"You realize you haven't the slightest chance of saving your little friend?" the man asked, a slightly different intonation to his words, someone else was speaking through him.
"Lip synching are we?" she eyed the man, her hands absently rubbing the sides of her legs.
The man blinked as another flash of light struck him, "Oh yes," the man laughed, nodding at a small radio on the wall, "I love this song."
The Judge frowned and waited, seeing the tell-tale light flash again.
"Well aren't you a clever girl," the man nearly sneered, "To work out that it isn't, in fact, the old man speaking," only to go back to work a moment later.
"I'm speaking," a voice said behind her, making her jump and spin around, a waitress standing there, a tray pressed to her hip, "Just using whatever's to hand," she glanced over, looking through the window, observing Clara and the Doctor, "Oh, she's rather pretty, isn't she? Aren't you afraid your beau will stray?"
"No," the Judge stated, fully confident in that.
"You're that sure?" she smirked, "What if it wasn't his choice?" she taunted, "I could make him, you know."
"I've yet to meet a creature or person besides our children that could change his mind," the Judge shook her head.
"Well then, I want you to take a look around. Go on. Have a little stroll. And see how impossible your situation is. Go on. Take a look, I do love showing off."
"Doesn't that arrogance often end up being what does in the villain at the end of a story?" the Judge countered.
The waitress gave her another smirk before the electricity crackled and she went off about her business, leaving the Judge tense, glancing out to see the Doctor outside. She knew she could call out to him, that he'd hear her and come help her, but…she didn't want to leave Clara alone, not now that they were surrounded. She'd failed to help protect the woman once before, she wasn't going to drag the Doctor away and leave Clara vulnerable. She could handle this, she was sure of it, she could, and…if she couldn't…the Doctor was right out there, he'd be there in an instant if she called out.
The light flashed and a little girl stood, the Judge cursing herself for having mentioned children before, knowing that the one controlling the wi-fi was using it purposefully to get to her, "Just let me show you what control of the Wi-Fi can do for one," the girl smiled, "Stop!" she shouted and everyone in the café stopped moving.
"I was privy to your show of power last night," the Judge reminded her, "Or did you really think the plane just randomly didn't crash? You were willing to risk a plane full of innocent lives just to take out Clara? That's vile."
The girl didn't seem perturbed by that, "And clear!" she ordered, all those who were frozen now getting up to leave the café.
The Judge glanced out at patio, it hadn't had that many people out there to begin with, so it didn't surprise her when the Doctor didn't notice the inside of the café clearing out.
"We can hack anyone in the Wi-Fi," a voice called from the side, drawing the Judge's attention over to a monitor on the wall where a news reporter was speaking nearly right to her, "Once they've been exposed long enough."
The Judge frowned, "How many of your base stations are here right now?" she asked the news reporter, stepping closer to the wall, "They have to be here, close."
"There's always someone close," the woman smirked, not answering the question exactly, "We've released thousands into the world. They home in on the Wi-Fi like rats sniffing cheese."
"The humans, while…lacking, are not rats to be tested on," the Judge shook her head, "At best, they're apes. So why don't you tell me who your Jane Goodall is that's keeping such a close eye on them?" she put her hands on her hips to keep from rubbing her legs and letting on just how nervous she was to be doing this alone.
"Ooh, Jane Goodall is quite a distance away from my client," the woman laughed, "My client doesn't just observe, he improves. He requires a steady diet of living human minds. Healthy, free range human minds. He loves and cares for humanity. In fact, he can't get enough of it."
"You are murdering human beings," the Judge argued, "Murder is murder, it is against not just human law but a vast amount of other alien laws. And you can rest assured, when we find you, you will stop and you and your client will be delivered to the proper authorities to deal with this matter. You had better hope that your client is not of a race where death is the penalty for murder."
"It's not murder, it's life," the woman scoffed, "The farmer tends his flock like a loving parent. The abattoir is not a contradiction. No one loves cattle more than Burger King."
"The humans are not cattle!" the Judge huffed, "And my husband is very fond of them. He will stop at nothing to end this. Your client must know that by now."
"And how is he going to do that?" she mocked, "You don't even know where we are."
"Give it time," the Judge threatened, opening her mouth to say more…
When she heard Clara screaming for her from outside.
~8~
The Doctor was sitting there, as silent as he'd ever been, having been forced to 'zip his lips' a short while ago by a rather fierce glare from Clara as she worked away at the computer.
He had to admit, he was…impressed. He actually wished that the Judge had stayed there to observe Clara in action, she would have had to be impressed with how focused Clara was and how she was actually managing to crack this case. She had set up a user account, Oswin, which had made him flinch as she thought it up. But she'd also managed to hack into the computers of the workers, not the computers exactly actually the webcams. She took pictures of the staff and had cross referenced them with facial recognition sites and social media. She'd found out the identities of the workers, found their statuses on other sites, and was just searching to see if they posted where they were working.
Though…he was quite sure that if the Judge had been there, she would have merely chocked this up to the programming that Clara had been gifted during the upload.
He looked up when Clara sat back heavily against her chair, staring at the laptop, "I did it," she breathed, "I really did, I did it!"
"You found them?" he started to smile as well.
She nodded, still a bit in shock, before she looked up at him, "I found them. The Shard. They're in the Shard. Floor 65."
"Floor 65," the Doctor spoke, his voice rather flat.
The Doctor, however, stiffened at that, because while that voice that spoke was his, HE hadn't been the one to say it. His lips hadn't moved.
"Clara…" the Doctor began, slowly straightening in his seat, reaching out to put a hand on hers to stop her from trying to type more.
"What?" Clara looked up. The Doctor just slowly turned his head, Clara following his gaze to see that there was another Doctor standing there, stiff, straight, not even breathing, just looking at them blankly, "What's not you…" she whispered, "You're right here…"
The Doctor slowly stood as the base stations head began to turn in a circle, Clara standing as well, recalling the last time she'd seen a 'person' do that. The Doctor reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her behind him and trying to flash the base station with the sonic just as a beam shot out from the head and struck him in the head.
"JUDGE!" Clara screamed and the Judge came running from the café just as the Doctor fell to the ground, the light receding into the base station which twitched and remained immobile, the last act of the sonic disabling it from attacking anyone again.
"Doctor!" the Judge gasped, rushing to his body and dropping to her knees, "Doctor? Doctor!" she moved him onto his back, touching his face, her eyes searching his but he remained unresponsive.
"Carah?" she heard a voice calling behind her in Gallifreyan, "Carah, can you hear me?" she slowly stood and turned, facing the base station, its head backwards, the Doctor's face visible in the curved portion, "If you can hear me, you know what to do dear. You KNOW. You can work it out. Cos you're brilliant," he smiled, "And you don't like injustice any more than I do. So," he clapped his hands, not seeming at all frightened to have been uploaded instead of Clara, "I'll see you soon."
The Judge swallowed hard, tears in her eyes as he just smiled at her, but couldn't see her, his trust in her, his trust that she would be able to save HIM this time, both lightening her and burdening her with the thoughts of what if she failed? She took a breath and looked down at the Doctor on the ground, then back at the immobile base station, and back to the Doctor.
She quickly crouched down and grabbed the sonic, trying to set it, bashing it slightly on her hand. She hadn't really actually paid attention to what the sonic was or what it did. It was just a noisy wand, a toy that he seemed dependent on. She knew the basics of it, but she didn't know all that it could do. So she took another breath and aimed it at the base station, hoping that it would be able to let her do what she needed it to do.
…and hoping that Clara would be able to help her.
Well, that was just a testament to how desperate she was, she was going to ask a human for help.
Wonderful.
~8~
In a room of the Shard, three individuals stood before a wall that appeared to be nothing but monitors all stacked on top of each other, various faces and people on them calling out for help, how they didn't know where they were, pleading to be released.
There was a young Asian man, an older man, and an older woman in a pantsuit, with short gray hair and light eyes. They were standing there, focusing on the one face among the others that wasn't shouting or crying or begging…a man in a purple suit who merely tugged on his bowtie and sat back, crossing his arm and grinning at them.
"Should we pulp him?" the older man inquired, turning to the older woman for confirmation, clearly she was the one in charge, "Or keep him as a hostage?"
"There's no point," the woman smirked, "He's fully integrated, he can't be downloaded. I'm disappointed we didn't get the girl," she sighed, "But this one is proving far, FAR more brilliant than the others, isn't he Alexie?"
The young Asian man nodded, "His brainwaves are off the charts, Ms. Kizlet," turning away a moment later when he heard a beeping behind him coming from his computer.
Kizlet chuckled, "I believe our client will be most pleased with this turn of events."
"Um…ma'am," Alexie called, "The girl, the other one, the purple girl…she's coming."
"What?" Kizlet scoffed, as though that were ridiculous, turning only to see Alexie at his desk, typing frantically at the computer, following an image of the girl, the Judge she assumed, racing through London on the motorbike.
"We could stop her, I suppose," the older man stated, glancing at Kizlet.
She smirked though, "Why bother? It might be quite funny. She's clearly not as much a threat as bowtie back there," she smiled, "Let's see what she can do," she eyed the video feed, waiting till the Judge got closer to the Shard, stopping just before the building and pulling off her helmet, staring up at it before she got off, a messenger bag around her shoulder and headed for the building, "Let her in," she ordered, "Bring her to my office."
Alexie nodded, typing an order to the guards on the first floor as Kizlet turned and left, heading for her office to wait.
It was a fairly short wait however, a direct ride up from the lobby to the top floor and soon enough the girl, the Judge, was being escorted to her office, her associate, Mahler, leading her right to the room.
"Leave us," Kizlet called to the man, who hesitated only a moment before turning to step out of the room, leaving the two women alone, "Now…" she leaned forward, locking her fingers and resting her elbows on her desk, smirking at the Judge, "How can I help you?"
"Download the Doctor back into his body," the Judge stated.
"Hmm…" Kizlet hummed, contemplating it.
"Now," she gave Kizlet a hard look.
"Alas, I can't," Kizlet mock-sighed.
"Oh I think you can."
"Sadly, no. He's a fully integrated part of the data cloud now. He can't be separated."
"If he can't be separated from the cloud, then download the whole thing. ALL the others you have trapped there," she held up her hand to stop Kizlet speaking, "And don't lie to me, I saw the monitors, I know there are others."
"You realize what would happen?" Kizlet eyed her.
"The bodies that haven't died yet would have their minds back."
"And that would be a tiny number. Most would simply die."
"At least they would be free," the Judge glared at her, "Now give the order or…"
"Or what?" Kizlet challenged, slowly standing, the smirk still present on her face, "My client is well aware of you," she warned, "I doubt you have what it takes to stop him. So why would you even come here? You must know that you would fail."
"You're right," the Judge nodded, turning slightly to open the bag at her hip, "I may not have what it takes to stop you, but the Doctor does."
"And he's not here," Kizlet laughed, "He's in the data cloud."
"ONE of his is," the Judge grinned.
Kizlet's smile fell as she saw what the Judge had pulled out of the bag…the base station's head, "No…" she stumbled back from her desk as the Judge lifted the metal head in one hand, the sonic in the other, "No. No! Not me! Not me!"
"Clara?" the Judge called as she flicked the sonic on, opening the connection between the base station and the laptop that Clara was using to operate it from back in the café, "Now!"
A moment later a beam of light shot out of the robotic head, striking Kizlet in the head, forcing her back even more. The Judge waited a moment longer, waited till Kizlet fell to the ground, till she could hear the woman shouting from the main room, above the voices of the others that had been taken, screaming for them to put her back in her body, to download her.
She knew that the men out there wouldn't do it, they were under her orders not to download anyone. So she hurried over to the woman's desk, looking along it till she found a tablet. She flicked the sonic on, dropping the base station head onto Kizlet's chair, and flashed it on the tablet, smiling and letting out a breath of relief when she saw that it was connected to the entire operation. She focused, concentrating, and grinned when she saw the image on the tablet of the monitors starting to blink off individually, the people returning to their bodies.
She tossed the tablet on the desk and strode out of the room, pulling her mobile out on the way as she headed for the lobby to lock down the building. All she had to do now was get in touch with Jack or UNIT and make sure that this building was taken care of.
~8~
The Doctor took a deep breath as he woke, blinking blearily as he looked up to find he'd fallen asleep on the ground to see Clara sitting at the table, the laptop in her arms, watching him with a small smile.
"Welcome to the land of the living," she quipped.
He groaned and flopped onto his back, "Don't do that," he shook his head, "Don't."
She gave him an apologetic smile, "Sorry."
He let out a long breath before he hopped up, "Come on," he turned and quickly made to stride out of the café.
"Where are we going?" Clara rushed after him.
"To the TARDIS," he stated, walking faster, "I do believe I'm late in picking up my wife."
Clara's smile was back at that, "Um…one problem," she told him as they reached the lift.
"What's that?"
"She took the motorbike."
"Ah."
~8~
"I'm sorry you know," the Judge remarked as she leaned against the console, looking at the Doctor as he sat on the stairs to the upper level, reading a book.
"For what?" he blinked, staring at her in confusion.
She opened her moth, trying to find the words to say what she was thinking, "That I wasn't there."
He smiled softly at that, "I'm glad you weren't," he closed the book, "If you'd been there, Carah, if you'd gotten uploaded or hurt or…"
"Not…not on the café," she cut in, "I'm sorry that I wasn't there, all the other times. All those times that you got hurt or were in danger and I wasn't there to help you."
"You had work to do at Torchwood," he shook his head gently, "You weren't ready or comfortable to travel with me, I understood that, I…"
"Not just then," she interrupted once more and he held up his hands at her tone of irritation at him continually thinking he understood what she was trying to say, letting her speak, "You asked me, a time or two, to come with you, on your travels."
He opened his mouth to speak but forced it closed. He'd only asked her 2 times, literally only 2. The first was when he'd just been about to go off on his own for the first real time, he'd asked her to come with him and she'd refused and he hadn't pushed. And then, again, once more…just before the war truly started, when all the warning signs were there, when they were just on the cusp of it. He'd asked her to come with him, to join him, to stay out of the war…he'd extended the same offer to his children as well, they'd said no. Gallifrey was their home, they felt a need to protect her. And he…he'd fled. He'd been a coward.
No…it hadn't just been that. He hadn't been able to let go of his title, the Doctor, meant to help and heal, not to fight and kill. He'd done so much bad in his time travelling, tried to balance it with good. But he hadn't been able to forget any instant where his efforts had gone wrong on his travels. He'd been sure that he'd join the war and it would all go wrong and he'd end up blowing up the planet just trying to help and…oh look, he very well had. He'd just…he couldn't bear it, a war, being in the middle of all that evil, he was running all the time to escape the evils he had already done in his past, to do more, on his own planet, to his own people…he couldn't do it. He was selfish, he knew, that he was less wary of getting involved with other cultures and peoples, whether it went wrong or not, but couldn't bring himself to truly stay on Gallifrey. The times he had, he'd mucked it up exponentially.
But he kept silent, because she wasn't finished.
"You asked me to go with you and I said no and you…regenerated, more than half a dozen times," she shook her head, "Look at you Theta," she blinked and he could see a few tears in her eyes, "Look at what incarnation you're on, how many times you've regenerated, and how many times was I actually there for you? None."
"Carah…"
She held up a hand, "I should have been. As your wife. I should have gone with you, been with you through all of that, but I said no and you got hurt over and over and I…" she swallowed hard, looking away, "I almost lost you, again. And I was able to save you this time and ALL I could think about was that…I should have been there. Maybe…maybe I would have been able to help you, save you then as well."
"You're not the only one guilty," he spoke after a moment, when he was sure she'd said what she'd needed to, "I should have been there too. Out of all the times YOU regenerated Carah, I was only actually THERE twice. I was only there to see it happen two times. Do you think you're the only one that feels like you betrayed the other to not have been there and protected you?" he shook his head, "Every time I saw you, every time I saw a new you, I…wanted to kill Jack for letting it happen. And I hated myself even more for not insisting you come with me each time. I should have been there for you Carah, as your husband, I should have stayed with you on Earth and protected you."
The Judge gave him a long look at that, the Doctor frowning when he saw a flash of disappointment in her eyes before it was gone as she looked away.
"We both have guilt Carah," he continued, "But all of that is in the past. Right now, we're together, and we can protect each other now. Save each other."
"And how am I going to save you now?" she asked him quietly, looking back at him, a solemn expression on her face as she eyed him, "How CAN I save you?"
He knew what she was thinking of, his current incarnation. When the Time Lords granted a second cycle, it was meant for ONLY the person they gifted it to. It could not be given to another Time Lord. So while she had a dozen regenerations to go, he was out. There was no way to save him from that end.
Thankfully he was saved from answering when there was a knock on the door and Clara slowly entered as they'd set the TARDIS down just outside the house they'd tracked Clara to.
"So," Clara smiled as she saw them, they'd sort of left her in the middle of the Shard's lobby just as UNIT was storming the building, "They come back, do they?"
"You didn't answer my question," the Doctor remarked, looking over at Clara, thinking about the brief conversation they'd had about her nannying after the Judge had gotten up to get drinks.
"What question?"
"You don't seem like a nanny."
"I was going to travel," Clara sighed, "I came to stay for a week before I left and during that week..."
"Mrs. Maitland passed on?" the Judge guessed, thinking about the 'Maitland' wi-fi connection that the Doctor had showed her, thinking about the pictures of the children and Clara and that woman in the family photos, "And you can't bring yourself to leave, not even to see those 101 places."
"I will do one day," Clara told them, "I'll see them."
"But you don't run out on the people you care about," the Doctor nodded, "Wish I was more like that," he frowned a moment as the Judge looked away at that, pushing off the console to move to the controls, absently working on them, "You know," he focused back on Clara, "The thing about a time machine, you can run away all you like and still be home in time for tea, so what do you say?" eh smiled, "Anywhere. All of time and space, right outside those doors."
"Does this work?" Clara laughed at that, "Eh? Is this actually what you do? Do you just crook your finger and people just jump in your snog box and fly away?"
The Judge looked up as the TARDIS gave a loud groan in protest at that, "Best not to call her a snog-box," she warned Clara, "She gets cross when the Doctor calls her names, you're just a human."
"So what do you say?" the Doctor smirked at Clara.
Clara considered it a moment, "Come back tomorrow, ask me again."
"Why?"
"Cos tomorrow, I might say yes," she teased, before turning to walk towards the doors, "Some time after 7 ok for you?"
"It's a time machine," the Judge reminded her.
"Any time's ok," the Doctor agreed.
"See you then," Clara waved over her shoulder.
"Clara, one question," the Judge called, making her pause, "Why do you have a leaf in your book?"
"That wasn't a leaf," she smiled, "That was page one," she gave them another wave before she disappeared out the doors, leaving them to ponder that.
"Right then," the Doctor clapped his hands, rubbing them together as he stood up, "Clara Oswald? Time to find out who she is, eh?" he smiled at the Judge and moved to the controls, pulling a lever and sending them off on their latest investigation.
A/N: I wonder what the Judge was disappointed with…hmm…we'll find out soon }:) I really wanted to write a moment where the Doctor was the one taken and just sort of have the Judge have a 'yay!' moment where she got to save him :)
Some notes on reviews...
I can't say when/if the Judge will regenerate or not, we'll have to wait and see :)
The Percy Jackson ones, by the time I get to them, would likely be based on the movies, all of them might be out by then lol :) But they would be altered to actually be true to the myths (I'm still SO angry that they messed up the major ones of Sea of Monsters) and have some references and tweaks to be more true to the books :)
The spinoffs should be continued this month and and the next, then altered to include 2 more in November and December :)