The Doomsday Child

A/N: Hello avid readers, sorry for such a delay here, I've had stuff to do. But here is a nice long chapter for you all. I'll admit its not my best, but the next chapter I've already written and is much better, which will be uploaded in a few days. Enjoy!

'Quickly, come on!' The Doctor shouted, racing down the steps, Harry hurrying behind him. They'd past only two landings before the red haired woman appeared, shock all over her face, before grabbing the Doctor in a tight hug. Harry ran into the Doctor's back as he flew down the stairs, staring at this woman whom the Doctor seemed to know.

'Oh my god!' She cried, the both of them pulling away. 'I don't believe it! You've even got the same suit!' She smiled madly, before her eyes found Harry, who was hiding behind the Doctor. 'Oh my god, Doctor-'

A loud crash and several loud footsteps could be heard, dashing up the stairs, just a few flights below them.

'Just like old times!' The Doctor smiled, grabbing Donna's hand in one, and Harry's in the other. 'Come on, run!'

'Doctor!' You've...you've kidnapped a child!' Donna gasped as they pounded up the stairs. The Doctor stopped and look around, confused.

'What do you mean?' He asked, pushing open the door to the roof. Donna pointed at Harry, who stared at Donna apprehensively. 'No I haven't! That's Harry, He's mine, I didn't kidnap him.' He shouted across the roof, the wind whistling in their ears.

'So what, did you just lay an egg? Is that what your race does? Oh my god, you did lay an egg!' Donna covered her mouth, and Harry frowned.

'I didn't come from an egg!' Harry shouted. A question dawned on him, and he looked over to the Doctor, besides the window cleaners cradle. 'I didn't come from an egg, did I?' He asked urgently.

'Not the time for this conversation, sorry.' The Doctor said, pulling away a panel. 'Donna, what are you doing here?'

'I was looking for you!' The red haired woman said, gesturing wildly. Though Harry could tell she was watching him out of the corner of her eye. 'I came here, 'cos I though, how do you find the Doctor? And then I just thought, look for trouble and he'll turn up!' She followed him as he began to sonic the internal mechanisms of the cradle. 'So I looked everywhere, you name it – UFOs, sightings, crop circles, sea monsters. I looked, I found them all!'

'Sea monsters?' Harry said, picturing this red haired woman with the Loch Ness Monster. His train of thought trailed away as he pictured the creature – he'd have to ask the Doctor if it was real.

'Harry, come on!' The Doctor was back in the cradle, helping Donna climb in. He hurried up the steps, and almost fell in. The Doctor clicked the sonic, and the cradle began to descend from the roof. As they past the top floor, the roof door could be heard slamming open. The cradle edged down smoothly, until suddenly, it jerked and the three inhabitants fell to it's floor. Harry looked up, seeing the blonde woman from earlier, something sinister twinkling in her unnaturally blue eyes.

'Hold on, we can get in through the window!' The Doctor yelled, the sonic pulsing. A clamping sound echoed through the building, and the sonic seemed void at opening the window. 'I can't get it open!'

'Smash it then!' Donna's head popped up, in her hand, a huge spanner. Harry banged on the glass with his hands as Donna unsuccessfully tried to shatter the glass.

'Dad it won't move!' He yelled. He doesn't hear the sparks until Donna's voice made him look upwards: ''She's cutting the cable!' The cradle shuddered, and Harry felt an arm wrap around him quickly, the Doctor's shouts ringing down his ear.

'Donna!' He called, as the cradle tilted, Donna falling from it as the Doctor managed to hold himself and Harry inside. Harry gripped the only other cable, leaning over to see Donna dangling from the severed cable, hundreds of feet from the ground.

'Hold on!'

'I AM!' The Doctor tried to hoist the cable, along with Donna, back inside the cradle, but it was no use.

'Dad! She's cutting the other!' Harry screamed, clinging to the cable. He had looked up to see the woman pointing, what only could be a sonic device, towards the remaining cable. The Doctor pulled himself back up besides Harry and pulled him close as he too saw the sonic device in the woman's slender hand. As she pressed the device's button, the Doctor aimed his own sonic device upwards. At first, there was no effect, until the woman suddenly let hers go, ad it began to fall towards them. Reaching out, the Doctor managed to grab the device, which was disguised as an office pen. He held it between his teeth, before spinning round.

'Up you get,' said the Time Lord, his words muffled by the pen in his mouth. Harry clambered onto the Doctor's back, clinging tighter than ever before as he looked down the London street below them.

'What about Donna?'He asked, as the Doctor began to shimmy his way up the cable. The man didn't reply as he climbed a little higher, until the reached the window they'd originally tried to enter through. He pointed the sonic pen at the window lock, which sprang open. The two tried to climb, in, but fell ungracefully to the carpeted office floor. Harry lay on his back, breathing heavy for a moment, erasing the image of the London ground so far away he'd been dangling over.

'Come on!' The Doctor said, managing to get to his feet. He hoisted Harry up, and they two dashed down a flight of stairs, into the office where they could reach Donna.

'What the hell is going on?' A shrill voice called. Harry spun round to see a woman tied to the chair. A the Doctor dealt with the window, Harry dropped to his knees and tried to untie the woman, but the knots were tight.

'Here!' The Doctor threw his screwdriver over, as he used the pen to open the window. He reached for Donna's hanging legs, which managed to nearly kick him in the face. Harry pressed the button on the screwdriver, aiming it at the knotted cables. A spark later, and they fell from the woman and the chair.

'Donna! Donna, it's me, come on! I've got you!' The Doctor yelled, still getting kicked he manoeuvred Donna into the office.

'Will someone tell me what's going on!' The woman said, as Donna managed to clamber through the window, looking disgruntled. Harry shrugged, and followed the pair as they raced from the office, leaving the woman looking very confused and irritated. The Doctor's hand found Harry's, as the three ran through the building, hurling round corners.

'So if you're not from an egg, what did he do? Clone himself?' Donna asked Harry as they ran.

'I'm not a clone either!' Harry stressed, bumping into the Doctor's back as he came to stop in what appeared to be a call centre. He looked round, to see the woman had cut them off, her armed guards flanked at her side. A hand pressed on his shoulder, as Donna pushed Harry away from the sight of the woman.

'Well then,' she said with a smile, pulling her glasses away. 'at last.'

'Hello,' Donna said, giving a little, nervous wave.

'Nice to meet you I'm the Doctor, and this is Harry.' He nodded down to Harry, whom had pushed away Donna's protective hand.

'And I'm Donna.'

'Partners in crime, or is it a family activity?' She quizzed.

'Oh no were not,' The Doctor trailed off, shaking his hand between himself and Donna.

'Definitely not,' Donna confirmed.

'Oh well. But obviously off-worlders, judging by your sonic technology.' Miss Foster smiled knowingly.

'Oh yes!' The Doctor exclaimed, patting his pockets. 'I've still got your sonic pen!' He procured the device from his pocket, examining it. 'Nice, I like it. It's...sleek?' He showed it to both Donna and Harry. Harry frowned at the device, whilst Donna agreed.

'And if you were to sign your real name, that would be…?'

'Matron Cofelia of the Five-Straighten Classabindi Nursery Fleet.' She said with a smile. 'Intergalactic class.'

'A wet nurse,' The Doctor said, 'using humans as surrogates.' Harry frowned, trying to understand the problem. The creature he'd seen in the Matron's office had been rather cute.

'I've been employed by the Adiposian First Family to foster a new generation after their breeding planet was lost.'

'How did you lose a whole planet?' Harry asked, confused. The matron chuckled lightly as the Doctor shushed Harry.

'Politics have nothing to do with me, I'm just here to care for the children.'

'Like an outer-space super-nanny?' Donna asked. Harry mused on the thought – his Nana always threatened to bring the super-nanny round if he misbehaved.

'Yes if you like,' smiled the matron.

'So...so those little things, they're made out of fat, yeah?' Donna said, asking about something she'd seen. Harry peered around the Doctor's side, staring wide eyed at the two guards with guns. What was more unnerving was the matron's smile, which made him more uncomfortable than the guns. But her smile disappeared suddenly, and Harry felt his stomach drop.

'Are you threatening me?' She asked slowly.

'I'm trying to help you, Matron.' The Doctor said, calm before the storm. 'This is your one chance; because if you don't call this off, then I'll have to stop you.'

'I hardly think you can stop bullets.' At her words, the guards lifted their weapons and aimed. The Doctor's hands shot up, and he stood fully in front of Harry and Donna; the red haired woman put a hand on the boys arm and held him back. 'Don't worry,' said the Matron, 'they've a very good aim; and I'd never let a child be hurt. But the both of you,' she nodded to the Doctor and Donna. The Doctor's hand reached backwards, and Harry instinctively placed the screwdriver in the man's hand, but slowly as he saw the guns twitch.

'No, no, hold on, hold on,' the Doctor held up his hands, sonic devices in each hand. 'One more thing, before...dying, do you know what happens if you hold two identical sonic devices against each other?'

The Matron held a short pause, a muscle twitching in her cheek before she answered. 'No,'

'Nor me, let's find out!' He aimed the devices to each other, and when activated, emitted a deafening noise. Harry squeezed his eyes shut and felt his knees go weak. When the noise cuts out, he kept his eyes tight shut until he was pulled away by Donna's hand, the three of them leaving the Matron and her guard's momentarily stunned by the noise. They run again, retuning to the stair well and following the familiar path the storage room cupboard within the building. The Doctor pulled open the door, and began chucking everything out; high visibility jackets, mops, and brooms. Harry's backpack came flying from the cupboard, along with his colouring pencils.

'Well, that's one solution,' Donna said, stepping over a fallen broom. 'Hide in a cupboard. I like it.' Harry collected his things and followed Donna inside, as the Doctor removed the panel hiding the computer which ran through the building.

'We've been hacking into this thing all day; the Matron's got a computer core running through the centre of the building. Triple deadlocked. And now I've got this,' the Doctor held up the sonic pen, 'I can get into it.' The Doctor began clicking the pen, giving himself access to the Matron's super computer, which he had been unsuccessful in hacking all day. The computer began to bleep loudly, warning them of incoming guests.

'Dad?' Harry said, pointing to the alarm.

'Got it. She's wired up the whole building. We need a bit of privacy.' He pulled two sparking plugs towards each other, which cancelled out the alarm. 'Just enough to stop them.'

'Why has she got this computer in the whole building?' Harry asked, staring at it intently.

'Good question,' The Doctor said, hastily ruffling his son's hair as he began stripping wires and twisting them together. 'What's it all for?' As he continued to fiddle with cables, Donna watched the pair work silently.

'Here, go about pulling these apart.' The Doctor said, handing several loose cables to Harry. 'They might come in handy.' The boy sat at his father's feet and started with untangling the trail of cables which fed into the computer. Donna's eyes travelled between the two, noting the similarities between them: the way their hair stood on end, the way both stuck their tongue out the corner of their mouth when concentrating. Yet Donna saw differences in both.

'You look older,' she voiced her opinion quietly to the Doctor.

'Thanks.' He said dryly, fiddling with the cables.

'So you're no longer on your own then,' she nodded towards Harry, who was becoming frustrated with the knots the wires had managed to get themselves into.

'No, no I um…' The Doctor trailed. 'I'm not. I found him. Well, he found me really.'

'What do you mean?' She asked, confused. The Doctor peered over the top of his glasses between Donna and Harry, before focusing back on the cables. 'You just found him…like he was lost...is Rose his mum?' She asked, much quieter, worried as to what the reaction could be at saying the missing woman's name.

'Yes.' The Doctor said finally.

'So you were all alone until you found each other.'

'You could say that. Well, no actually. I had a friend. Martha Jones. She came with me, for a while. And...I destroyed half her life. But she's good now, she's good. She's gone.'

'What about Rose? You found Harry, but is she…?'

'Still lost.' He said finally. 'I thought you were going to travel the world?'

Although he didn't show it, Harry listened to every word said between the two. He kept his mental connection with the Doctor distant as to keep him unaware. But hearing his mums name, he'd felt something well up in his chest. And it wasn't frustration with the tangled up cables. But his train of thought was cut off by the computer's automated voice.

'What's happening?' He asked, dropping the cables and standing up.

'She's started the program!' He began pulling levers and trying to shut down the program. 'Harry, keep that one held down,' he pointed to a lever. Harry put his weight behind it to keep it down, despite it protesting.

'So far they're just loosing weight, but the Matron has gone up to emergency pathogenesis.'

'What does that mean?' Harry asked.

'That's when they convert…' Donna trailed off, shock on her face.

'Skeletons, organs, everything. A million people are going to die!' The Doctor ran a hand through his hair as he tried to think up a solution on the spot. Although that was his speciality, he had no ideas.

'What do you need to do to stop it?' Harry asked, aware of how the lever was putting up a fight.

'I've got to cancel the signal,' he said, as he pulled out a golden necklace, with a pendant swinging on the chain. He pulled the capsule pendant apart, revealing a frayed wire end. 'This contains the primary signal. I f I can switch it off…'

'Everyone is safe?' Harry asked, the Doctor nodding frantically. But as he wired the capsule in, success nearly in reach, the computer called out again.

'Inducer increasing.'

The Doctor became more visibly tense. 'No, no, no, no, no. She's doubled it, I need...I haven't got time!'

'What do you need?' Harry asked, but the man continued to frantically paw at the computer.

'Doctor, what do you need?' Donna asked.

'I need a second capsule to boost the override, but I've only got the one. I can't save them!' He continued to fiddle with the switches in a vain attempt to stop it. Harry had never seen this look in the man's eyes – almost ready to give up hope. That was, until he saw the swinging pendant Donna held in her hand.

'Where'd you get that?' Harry asked in amazement, the Doctor and Donna burst out laughing. He quickly snatched the pendant and began wiring it into the system, which flashed bright, before powering down.

'It worked! Ha!' The Doctor cried, pulling Donna in for a hug. 'Brilliant!'

'You did it!' Harry smiled, as the Doctor pulled him in for a hug. 'Lucky you had one in your pocket!' Harry beamed at Donna between the Doctor's arms. The woman continued to laugh, until there was a loud, buzzing sound coming from beyond the building.

'What was that?' Harry asked, the noise still ringing through the building.

'That must be the nursery ship,' The Doctor said, listing for key distinctive noises.

'When you say nursery, you don't mean a crèche in Notting Hill,' Donna said. Before them, the computer begins to light up, and Harry prepares himself to pull down on the lever.

'Incoming signal.' Chimed the computer, before an alien language echoed through the speakers. Even with the translation circuits, it took Harry some time to listen to words and understand what was being said.

'Instructions from the Adiposian First Family…' The Doctor said, trailing off as he listened. 'She's wired up the tower block into a levitation block, but...oooh.' Harry heard the change in tone from the computer. 'We're not the one's in trouble now. She is!' The man dashed from the cupboard so quickly, that if Harry had blinked he'd have missed the man.

'How doe he do that!' Donna sighed, but ran from the cupboard. 'Not the stairs again!' They began re-climbing the stairs again that night, reaching the roof with barely a puff of breath left in them, apart from the Doctor.

'Wow!' Harry said, watching the Adipose float into the sky under the blue light of the levitation beam. The Doctor's hand reached out and pulled Harry back, as the child ran to the edge to see better.

'What are you going to do then? Blow them up?' Donna asked.

'No!' Harry cried, looking at the small, harmless creatures which smiled as they headed towards the large ship above.

'They're just children, they can't help where they came from.' The Doctor said, wrapping his arms around Harry as they watched the Adipose ascend.

'That makes a change from last time.' Donna said, Harry staring up at the two adults. The Doctor gently guided Harry's head back in the direction of the Adipose. 'Harry and that Martha must have done you good.'

'Yeah. Yeah she did,' The Doctor said. 'She fancied me.'

Harry found himself laughing with Donna.

'Mad Martha, that one. Blind Martha. Charity Martha.' Harry continued to laugh, having never heard anyone talk to the Doctor like that. The Doctor gave him a friendly push, before they all waved at a passing Adipose.

'I'm waving at fat,' Donna said, astounded.

'They're kind of cute. Can we keep one?' Harry asked, Donna laughing as the Doctor rolled his eyes.

'You'd have a whole zoo if you could. But to be fair, as a diet plan, it does sort of work.' He shrugged. 'There she is!' Just beyond the edge of the roof, the Matron was hovering in the air, a triumphant smile on her face.

'Matron Cofelia! Listen to me!'

'Oh I don't think so, Doctor. And if I never see you again, it will be too soon.' She said, a pursing her lips into a smile.

'Oh, why does no one ever listen? I'm trying to help! Just get across to the roof. Can you shift the levitation beam?'

'What, so you can arrest me? It's certainly not to hire my service for your own child.' She nodded to Harry, who frowned at the woman.

'Just listen!' The Doctor called out. 'I saw the Adiposian instructions – they know its a crime, breeding on earth. So what's the one thing they want to get rid of? They're accomplice!'

'I'm far more than tha – I'm nanny, to all these children,' she waved her arms in the air, but there were no Adiposian children left, as they were all safely aboard the ship, with only the Matron left in the air.

'Exactly – Mum and Dad have got the kids now, they don't need the nanny anymore.' As if realisation had dawned on her, the matron's smile vanished, as the blue light keeping her suspended in the air disappeared, and she plummeted to the ground. Donna pulled Harry away from the edge and away from the sight, as they heard the Matron's body land. He buried his face in the Doctor's chest, and they stayed silent for a moment, before they silently agreed to make their way downstairs.

'Are you ok?' The familiar warmth accompanied the voice in his head. Harry nodded silently and slipped his hand into the Doctor's as they reached the ground floor. Outside, the street was pandemonium. Retrieving the sonic pen from his pocket, the Doctor tossed it into the rubbish bin at the side of the road. Nobody would have paid the three of them any attention, as the ambulance crew wheeled the matron's body into the van and people were still yelling along the street.

'Oi! You three!' Harry turned around, still holding the Doctor's hand, and was confused to see the lady from before, tied to the chair. Again.

'You're just mad! Do you hear me? And I', gonna report you...for madness!' She hissed and tried her best to make her way down the steps, still tied to the chair.

'I thought we helped her?' Harry asked, confused. The Doctor stayed silent, but gave his hand a squeeze.

'You see, some people just can't take it.' Donna said, and Harry agreed as he watched the woman head towards a police officer. 'And some people can. So then,' She said, as the Doctor and Harry turned to face her. 'TARDIS! Oh come on!' Donna grabbed Harry's hand and pulled him away, laughing as hey left the sight of Adipose Industries. A light rain slowly began to fall, and Harry pulled up his jumper's hood, as the Doctor led them towards the alleyway several streets away where he parked the TARDIS earlier that day. All the way, Donna's hand kept hold of Harry's as she laughed and beamed away. Her excitement was contagious to him, and he came to the conclusion that he liked this woman. He would have to ask the Doctor how he knew Donna, as she seemed a brilliant and bright person.

'That's my car!' She exclaimed as they rounded a corner, the TARDIS in sight. 'That is like, destiny!' She pulled Harry over to the car, unlocked it and opened the boot. Inside, it was full of suitcases of different sizes and colours. 'And I've been ready for this; I packed ages ago.'

'You don't say?' Harry said with a smile, before the wind was knocked out of him as a suitcase was flung into his arms.

'...cos I thought, hot weather; cold weather; no weather…' She pulled out more bags and boxes, flinging them into the Doctor's arms. 'It goes anywhere. I've gotta be prepared!' She adds the last box to the Time Lord's hands.

'You've got a...a hat box?' He quizzed.

'Planet of the hats! I'm ready!' Harry and the Doctor place the cases on the ground as Donna runs over to the open TARDIS door.

'Do I need injections though? Like when you go to Cambodia, is there any of that? Cause my friend Veena, when she went to Bahrain, and…' Donna trailed off, and Harry could see the pained look on the Doctor's face.

'You're not saying much…' Donna noted.

'No, it's just...it's a funny old life, in the TARDIS.'

Donna's face became notably sad as she quieted down. 'You don't want me,'

'I'm not saying that,'

'But you asked me…' Donna stood tall and readied herself for the inevitable rejection. 'Would you rather it be just you two? I can understand that…'

'That's not what I'm saying,' The Doctor said simply. Harry looked up at the Time Lord, tugging on his sleeve, silently pleading to let Donna come with them. 'It's just...the last time, with Martha. Like I said, it got complicated. And it was all my fault.' He sighed deeply. 'I just want a mate.'

Donna's face was suddenly overcome with terror and disgust as she hid behind the TARDIS door.

'You just want TO MATE?' She exclaimed, in shock. Harry blinked violently, trying to understand the Doctor's bumbling need to correct the situation and Donna's shock.

'I just want A mate!'

'You're not mating with me sunshine! You've got one miniature alien right there, we don't need another!'

'What is she talking about?' Harry asked, and the Doctor became all the more flustered.

'A mate! I want A mate!' he managed to correct the situation, and Donna no longer looked so shocked and disturbed. Whilst Harry was still at a loss of the conversation that had just occurred.

'There we are then, ok.' The Doctor nodded, happy the awkward miscommunication had been dealt with. Though by the confusion Harry was emitting he may be answering more awkward questions later.

'What, I can come?' Donna asked, stepping out of the TARDIS. The Doctor looked down at Harry next to him.

'Well its really up to him,' The Doctor crouched down to meet his son eye-to-eye. 'What do you say, can she come with?'

'Yeah!' Harry beamed a toothy smile, and Donna smiled fondly. 'We'd love you to come, wouldn't we, Dad.' He nudged the Doctor, whose face split into a massive, wide grin.

'I'd love it,' He said, beaming the same as his son.

'Oh, that's just,; Donna ran forward, ready to hug them both, until she remembered, 'Car keys!'

'What?'

'I've still got my mums car keys! I won't be a minute!' Donna, a face full of happiness and excitement, ran off back down the alleyway and round the corner.

'Come on, Casanova. Let's get these bags shifted on-board.' The Doctor said, picking up as much as he could, carrying it to the console room. Harry clambered inside, dragging a suitcase and carrying a couple of shoe boxes under his arm. They dump the luggage besides the console, and once everything is moved, Harry looked over to the Doctor.

'Dad?' He asked, following the man who paced around the console.

'Yes?'

'I didn't really hatch from an egg, did I?' The Doctor stopped, mid-press of a button to peer over at the confused child before him, thinking of how much he wasn't going to enjoy the explanation he would have to give.

'No. I'll explain...that...later,' he said, scratching the back of his head, nearly tripping over one of Donna's suitcases, much to Harry's amusement, as laughs echoed around the TARDIS console room.