The Lazarus Experiment: Wrong

Martha held onto the console as the Doctor and Angel ran around it, trying to pilot the TARDIS, "There we go..." the Doctor smiled as they landed.

"Well done girl," Angel reached out to pat the rotor, beaming as the TARDIS hummed in what sounded like pride.

"Perfect landing," the Doctor nodded, "Which isn't easy in such a tight spot."

"You should be used to tight spots by now," Martha joked, "Where are we?"

"The end of the line," the Doctor said as Martha rushed to the doors, "No place like it."

Martha looked at him questioningly when he nodded at her to open the doors. She did and ran outside, only to stop, disappointed, as she saw the destination…her bedroom and not the one the TARDIS had made for her. The Doctor glanced at Angel who was looking sadly at the door before taking her hand. He knew she must be sad to see Martha go. But he'd said one trip, and even then it had been stretched.

This was it.

"Home," Martha mumbled as they stepped out, "You took me home?"

"In fact, the morning after we left, so you've only been gone about 12 hours."

"Well," Angel cut in lightly, "14 hours and 53 minutes."

The Doctor beamed at her, "No time at all, really," he started looking around the room as Angel wandered off, smiling softly at the pictures on Martha's mantle of her family, one of her standing with a young woman and a young man, clearly her siblings given how much they looked like each other.

She'd never had a brother before. Just her sister. She often wondered what it would have been like though, to have a brother, an older brother, to protect her. It was probably why she'd been so close to Jack, after he'd stopped trying to flirt with her of course. He was so protective of her and Rose, so playful yet serious at times, he always looked out for her but tried to make her laugh and comfort her when needed. It meant so much to her to have him in her life, the fact he wasn't there any more hurt her so much.

She missed him.

A lot.

"But all the stuff we've done," Martha shook her head, "Shakespeare, New New York, old New York?"

"In just one night," Angel nodded, "Relatively speaking of course."

"Everything should be just as it was, books, CDs," the Doctor picked up some undergarments drying on a small rack, "Laundry," Martha snatched the lingerie from his fingertips, "So, back where you were, as promised."

"This is it?" Martha asked.

It couldn't be. It just couldn't! She had a room on the TARDIS, an actual room! With her name on it. She had Angel vouching for her, she had the girl's promise that she'd be able to stay. So...why wasn't she? Why hadn't the Doctor realized how much she wanted to stay? Angel had sensed it, used her ESP or whatever it was that she had, and told her he would. But...when? Because he was cutting it a little fine right now. He truly seemed ready to just walk off and not look back and she couldn't bear that.

The Doctor took a deep breath, "Yeah, we should probably…um…" he was cut off by Martha's phone ringing.

"Hi!" Martha's answering phone picked up, "I'm out! Leave a message!"

"I'm sorry," she had to smile at that at least, embarrassed though she was, it put off the 'goodbye' a little longer.

"Martha, are you there?" her mother called out, "Pick it up, will you?"

"It's mum. It'll wait."

"Alright then, pretend that you're out if you like."

Angel laughed, "She certainly knows you," she nudged Martha, getting the woman to smile a bit more.

"I was only calling to say that your sister's on TV. On the news of all things. Just thought you might be interested."

Martha gasped as she turned to pick up the remote and turn on the TV to where an old man was standing before a press conference, Martha's sister, they recognized her from when they'd first met Martha, standing in the background, "The details are top secret…"

"How could Tish end up on the news?" Martha shook her head, watching as the screen read 'Professor Lazarus,' the man in his late 70s.

"Tonight, I will demonstrate a device…"

"She's got a new job. PR for some research lab."

"…with the push of a single button, I will change what it means to be human," Lazarus said as Martha switched off the TV.

"Sorry," she smiled before turning to them, "You were saying we should…"

"Yes, yes, we should," the Doctor nodded, "One trip is what we said."

"That's what YOU said," Angel reminded him pointedly, letting him know she did not agree with his plan at all. He just smiled sadly and pulled her closer, putting an arm around her apologetically.

"Yeah," Martha nodded at him, starting to feel resigned to the fact that she really wasn't going to become the next companion. She supposed it made a little sense, Angel, when they'd first met and been cornered by the Judoon, had said that she couldn't see everything. Perhaps she hadn't seen the future, seen her joining them, maybe it had just all been wishful thinking, "I suppose things just kind of…escalated."

"Mmm," he nodded, "Seems to happen to me a lot. Though...usually just when I'm around Angel," he shot a wink at the ginger woman as she blushed, feeling his hearts speeding up, their rate escalating with her nearness.

"Thank you," Martha looked between them, sincere, "For everything."

"It was our pleasure," the Doctor smiled, heading back into the TARDIS, his arm slipping from Angel's shoulders to her hand to tug her along.

Angel stopped halfway through the door, letting the Doctor continue on without her, to look back at Martha with a small, knowing smile, "Give us 30 seconds yeah?"

Martha looked at her, confused, when the door shut. The wheezing noise filled the room as she stepped back, watching as the box disappeared. She looked at her watch, counting down the seconds until…

The box materialized again...30 seconds later.

The Doctor stuck his head out the door with Angel, "No, I'm sorry. Did he say he was going to change what it means to be human?"

~8~

Professor Lazarus stood in his office of his laboratory that night, looking out the window at London, at the partygoers coming for his presentation when an old woman, his backer, moved to stand beside him. She was roughly the same age as him with her hair pulled back in a serious bun, standing primly, "Are you sure it's safe?" she asked.

"There were some issues," he admitted, "They've been resolved. I'm confident I'm in no serious danger."

"That's comforting Richard, but it wasn't just you I was worried about," she remarked dryly.

Not only was his safety on her mind but her own. She had put a lot of money, time, and resources into funding his research, her reputation, her investment, would be on the line as well. Not to mention Mr. Saxon would have recommended quite a few more potential backers to attend and HIS reputation could be tarnished by what happened tonight. That was NOT something any of them wanted.

"Your concern is touching," he rolled his eyes

"The people in that room will represent billions of pounds' worth of potential investment. Mr. Saxon wants to be sure they like what they see."

"Don't worry. Our friend will get his money's worth."

"You wanted to see the guest list for tonight, Professor?" Tish asked, entering the room with a file of papers.

"Yes," he turned to her, smiling, "Thank you, Leticia," she nodded, setting the file down onto his desk when he put his hand on hers, stopping her from leaving, "That's an interesting perfume," he leaned in, actually seeming to be sniffing her, "What's it called?"

"Soap," she replied, pulling her hand away, thoroughly and sufficiently disturbed by the man, feeling rather uncomfortable, so she turned on her heel and left the office, Lazarus watching her go intently.

~8~

As the Doctor, Angel, and Martha walked down the street, when Angel tugged the Doctor to the side, narrowly avoiding him walking into a tree that had been planted along the edge of the sidewalk, "Careful!" she laughed, seeing him completely out of his depth and distracted.

Martha shook her head, highly, highly amused by what she was seeing. The Doctor had been in a stupor ever since she and Angel had stepped out of the wardrobe. She really only had one or two 'dresses' that she could wear to a party or social gathering like this, but Angel hadn't the slightest idea what was acceptable in human terms for this era. So Martha had volunteered to help her pick out a dress...oh she had been DYING for that chance ever since they'd seen Tallulah and the showgirls performing. She knew she couldn't go THAT far in terms of dressing Angel up for the Doctor, but still...she DID want Angel to look nice AND get the Doctor all flustered. It was just adorable how 'in control' the man was most of the time but how completely that was lost whenever Angel was around.

She had managed to find a beautiful white dress with red flowers, roses, embroidered all over it, and a pair of white flats with tiny red bows on the top and a rim of red around the bottom of it. The dress was a halter style dress, not the kind where it was mostly two straps that tied behind the neck, but more of a solid bit of fabric that covered the chest with a small, round loop that slid over the head to hold the dress in place. It was fitted very well to Angel and went to about her knees, the skirt cut in a layered 'pixie style' that looked adorable on the ginger. But...the BEST part...was that the dress was nearly entirely backless. She'd seen it with her brother, how he reacted to his own girlfriend when they went out, men seemed to love the dresses that showed off their girls' legs, shoulders, and back...and the Doctor was about to get ALL three. AND she did him one better...she'd convinced Angel to leave her hair down as well and NOT in a plait. She'd noticed how the Doctor perked up when Angel's hair was down, how he playfully tugged it when it was dangling in its braid. She did know that Angel seemed to really love the braids though so she did include some of it in the hairstyle. She'd taken two pieces of Angel's hair near the top and front of her head and braided it, tying the ends to the beginnings to make two braided loops. She pulled a bit of hair through the loops and simply braided them together as a normal plait as well. The girl looked lovely.

And the Doctor's reaction had been priceless, truly one she was determined to commit to memory for the rest of her life. They'd stepped out of the wardrobe and made their way to the console room where the Doctor was still rambling on about what that Lazarus bloke might be attempting to do by talking about all the other times he'd encountered a human who had changed into something else. She was sure she'd caught something about a werewolf and something about plastic goop but shaken her head. She'd just shouted out that they were ready and he'd turned...completely sputtering out when his gaze landed on Angel.

He'd stared, completely and openly, at her, his eyes wide, his mouth open to the point where she could almost swear she'd seen a bit of drool about to dribble onto his shirt. But Angel had grown uncomfortable and a bit concerned by his reaction, him being SO speechless, and asked if her dress was alright. His mouth had snapped shut and he'd just walked right over to her, reaching out to cup her face before pulling her into a kiss that had HER blushing just seeing it happen before she turned away to give them some privacy...

That is, till the TARDIS bucked and they nearly toppled to the floor. Angel and the Doctor had laughed, standing up, the Doctor helping the Time Lady up, SHE had manged to stay standing for once, having been nearer to the console and able to grab on. Angel had asked him once more if he was sure the outfit was alright. He'd just brushed a lock of hair away from her face, assuring her it was, that she was just beautiful. Angel had beamed and eagerly run to the door...and the Doctor saw the BACK of her outfit...or lack thereof and been struck dumb once more it seemed.

She'd laughed SO hard when Angel had turned around at the door to call them over and the Doctor had just nodded mutely and, in a daze, made his way to the door, his gaze so focused on Angel that he'd nearly run into the captain's chair on the way and tripped to the floor. She'd helped him up and they'd stepped out with Angel to head for the labs...

Though the Doctor, it seemed, still hadn't managed to pull his gaze away from the ginger even then...which explained the tree.

"Are you sure you're alright Doctor?" Angel asked, eyeing him with genuine concern, he wasn't acting like himself.

He blinked quickly, as though actually trying to remind himself how to talk, and nodded, "Fine, fine, just fine," he said, his voice a bit squeaky. He cleared it, seeing Angel frowning at the tone, "It's just um..." he looked down at himself, at his black suit, for ANYTHING to distract himself with, and started fussing with his cuffs, "It's just this...black tie. Whenever I wear this, something bad always happens."

"It's not the outfit, that's just you," Martha laughed, seeing him peeking at Angel once more, clearly more interested in her than the cuffs. She herself was wearing a lovely purple, sleeveless, knee-length dress with a V-neck and black heels, her hair hanging down.

"Oh no," Angel shook her head, "It's definitely the suit."

"Ah well," he beamed at her, reaching out to take her hand, "Good thing I've got my good luck charm with me eh?"

She smiled but reached out to pat his bowtie, "Still...I think we'd have much more 'luck' if this was a tie rather than a bowtie," she winked at him and his mouth went dry at the implication, he knew exactly why she loved his tie so much.

He turned, his hand moving around her as he twisted to look down the street, "It wouldn't take too long to go back to the TARDIS would it?" he looked at Martha, "We'd be on time wouldn't we?"

Martha smirked, "Go BACK to the TARDIS?" she waggled her eyebrows as the Doctor blushed, snapping his hand away from Angel's bare back, where it had been resting, as though shocked. Angel just looked confused by the action while Martha shook her head, "Probably not," she told him, "And besides, I think the tie suits you, the suit as well. Sort of in a James Bond kind of way."

"James Bond?" he frowned a moment, before smiling in approval, "Really?"

"Why must you stroke his ego?" Angel asked Martha jokingly as they laughed.

"Oi," Martha nudged her, "That means YOU get to be 'the gorgeous woman' he has his adventures with."

"You're gorgeous too," Angel nodded at her, "I love that dress Martha, purple really suits you."

"Thanks Angie," Martha smiled, before blinking, seeing Angel's own smile dim just a bit, "Everything alright?"

"Fine," Angel said quietly, "It's just...haven't been called Angie in a while."

Martha frowned and looked at the Doctor when Angel stepped past them to head into the building, Lazarus Laboratories, as they arrived.

"Did I say something wrong?" she asked the Doctor, concerned, if she had then she truly hadn't meant to.

"No," the Doctor reassured her, "It's just...her um...brother," he supplied, knowing how Angel felt about the man, "He used to call her Angie all the time."

It was mostly true, Jack had called her Angie first, seemed to prefer calling her that instead of Angel, like a playful nickname. He'd called her Angie once, but she hadn't been around, it had been to Mrs. Finnegan in the Royal Hope Hospital as she worked on the MRI machine. In fact, the only other time he'd heard someone call her Angie was Jackie Tyler, once, right before they lost Rose and her family to Pete's World. Besides that...no one but Jack had really called her it.

"Where is he?" Martha frowned, "Was it...was it the War?"

"No, it was um...Daleks," he answered, not really wanting to get into it, they were getting closer to where Angel was standing, looking at a 'Vote Saxon' poster on the wall, and he didn't want to talk about all that right now.

He wasn't entirely sure just how much of that whole fiasco Angel remembered, even with their mental bond, it was like that was a door not meant to be opened, like anything to do with the Vortex was just locked away in her mind. Bringing it up now...he didn't want to have to tell her that Jack was alive, that he'd felt the man coming back, felt the shift in time, and that HE'D abandoned the man who was so much like Angel's older brother, that he'd left him behind. Angel had been too absorbed by the Vortex, too overpowered, and then fallen unconscious, there was a chance she didn't know what had happened, that she only assumed Jack had died with the rest of the men and women the Daleks attacked save Lynda and the Controller, both alive due to her interference.

He couldn't bring it up and have her think she'd managed to save two women, two strangers, but NOT her brother.

He couldn't bring it up and have to tell her what became of her brother because of her.

It would crush her and he could never do that to her.

He walked over to her, slipping an arm around her and pressing a kiss to her hair, smiling when he saw her smile at the action, Martha reaching out to sqeeze the woman's hand as well in a silent apology and comfort. He nodded to himself when Angel turned her head to smile at Martha, no, he wouldn't tell her, it was a far kinder fate to let her think Jack had died than become what he knew the man was.

~8~

The guests mingled around the reception area, looking at a large, white cabinet that had four pillars around it, slightly curved at the top, stationed in the middle of the room.

"Oh, look, they've got nibbles!" the Doctor grinned, pulling a handful of the hors d'oeuvres off a tray of a passing waiter, "I love nibbles!" he popped one into his mouth as Angel took one from his hand, trying it herself, tossing it into the air to catch, grinning as she chewed on it, it was delicious!

"Hello!" Tish greeted, walking over to them.

"Tish," Martha smiled, hugging her tightly.

"You look great. So, what do you think? Impressive, isn't it?"

"Very."

"And two nights out in a row for you, that's dangerously close to a social life."

"If I keep this up, I'll end up in all the gossip columns."

"You might, actually," Tish warned her, actually serious, "Keep an eye out for photographers. And mum. She's coming too, even dragging Leo along with her."

"Leo in black tie?" Martha eyed her, incredulous, "That I must see," Tish nodded but looked at the Doctor and Angel, "This is, uh, the Doctor and Angel."

"Hello," the Doctor greeted, shaking her hand.

"Nice to meet you," Angel agreed, shaking her hand too, so pleased to officially meet Martha's sister.

"Are they with you?" Tish looked at Martha.

"Yeah," she shrugged.

"But they're not on the list. How did they get in?"

The Doctor and Angel exchanged a glance, "My um...brother's around here somewhere," Angel supplied, her mind still on Jack since Martha had called her 'Angie' before, "I'm his plus one."

Martha nodded, following along, "And he's my plus one," she gestured at the Doctor.

"So, this Lazarus bloke, he's your boss?" the Doctor quickly changed the topic, not wanting Tish to ask Angel who, exactly, her brother was to check it against her list.

"Professor Lazarus, yes," she corrected, "I'm part of his executive staff."

"She's in the PR department," Martha waved it off.

"I'm head of the PR department, actually."

"You're joking," Martha's eyes widened.

"I put this whole thing together," she gestured around the room.

"Well congratulations Tish!" Angel beamed, moving over to hug the girl, startling her a bit as Tish blinked but eventually hugged her back, "It's wonderful," she added, pulling away, "You've done a fantastic job."

Tish smiled a bit at that, proud of her work, and looked at Martha who had glanced around the room at Angel's words and looked back at her, proud as well. That felt...nice. Even though the girl was a complete stranger, Angel's praises had made her feel rather good about it, happy. It was nice to know her hard work was appreciated.

"So do you know what the professor's going to be doing tonight?" the Doctor nodded at the cabinet, "That looks like it might be a sonic micro-field manipulator."

"He's a science geek," Tish shook her head at him, "I should've known. Gotta get back to work now. I'll catch up with you later," she told Martha.

"Science geek?" the Doctor frowned as Tish walked off, "What does that mean?"

"That you're obsessively enthusiastic about it," Martha laughed.

"Oh, nice," the Doctor nodded, pouting.

"That's you in a nutshell," Angel laughed, that was exactly like him, but he pouted more, so she reached out and put her arm through his, squeezing it, "Still...my science geeky thief."

He beamed at that, "My beautiful ginger psychic," he kissed her temple as Martha smiled at them.

"I really need to find a man," Martha murmured, before her eyes widened, absolutely NOT having wanted THAT to slip out like that.

Angel laughed, "Find a Smith," she told her, reaching out to squeeze Martha's hand, not wanting her to feel embarassed about it, "Trust me, for us Joneses...it's gotta be a Smith," she turned and looked up at the Doctor, "I said it once, I'll say it again, Smith and Jones, the perfect pair."

The Doctor nodded, gazing down at her softly, his arms wrapping around her, "Never argue with a psychic," he said sagely.

Martha shook her head with a smile, "I'll keep that in mind," she promised.

~8~

"Your father's caused me enough heartache already with his menopause and his trophy girlfriend," Martha's mother muttered as she walked into the reception with her arm linked with Leo's.

"Yeah, mum, I know," he sighed, repeating those words for what must have been the 100th time just in the last hour, "It's just something he said last night."

"Martha!" she waved, spotting her.

Martha turned around from where she had been watching Angel and the Doctor dancing with each other on a makeshift dance floor, the two of them swaying, their eyes closed, holding each other, the Doctor's chin resting against Angel's temple as his hand absently stroked up and down her bare back, making Angel smile as they moved. The music wasn't all that slow, but the two didn't seem to mind and Martha couldn't help but feel the Doctor was definitely setting the bar for Mates, or whatever they were, with how well he treated Angel. If she could only find someone who was even half the man the Doctor was...she'd be a VERY happy woman.

But she shook herself from those thoughts when she saw her mother and smiled, "Mum!" she ran forward, hugging her as like she hadn't seen her in ages as Angel and the Doctor looked over and smiled at the reunion.

"Oh," her mother hugged her back, a bit surprised, but pleased, "Alright, what's the occasion?"

"What do you mean? I'm just pleased to see you, that's all."

"You saw me last night."

"I know. I just…miss you. You're looking good, Leo."

"Yeah," he nodded, "If anyone asks me to fetch 'em a drink, I'll swing for him."

Martha saw her mother glance at the Doctor and Angel behind her as they stepped up to join her, "You disappeared last night," she remarked.

"I just...went home," Martha supplied.

"On your own?"

"These are friends of mine, Angel and the Doctor."

"Nice to meet you Mrs. Jones," Angel smiled, shaking Mrs. Jones's hand, "Leo," before turning to him as well.

"Doctor what?" Mrs. Jones eyed the Doctor.

"No, it's just the Doctor," Martha said, "We've been doing some work together."

"Yeah, alright," the Doctor shook Mrs. Jones's hand as well, "Lovely to meet you, Mrs. Jones. Heard a lot about you."

"Have you?" she raised an eyebrow, "What have you heard then?"

"Oh, you know, that you're...Martha's mother and…um…no, actually, that's…that's about it. We haven't had much time to chat, you know, been busy."

"Busy? Doing what, exactly?"

"Oh…you know…stuff…" he rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably.

"That didn't help," Angel joked, wrapping her arm around him as he put his arm around her.

"Yeah, I know," he muttered, that simple action of being so comfortable around Angel, of how his gaze just drifted to her and stayed there, seemed to assuage Mrs. Jones's suspicions, if only a bit.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" professor Lazarus called, tapping on a glass to draw their attention, "I am Professor Richard Lazarus and tonight I'm going to perform a miracle. It is, I believe, the most important advance since Rutherford split the atom, the biggest leap since Armstrong stood on the moon. Tonight, you will watch and wonder. Tomorrow, you'll awake to a world which will be changed forever," he turned around and stepped into the cabinet.

Two female technicians started the machine from a bank of instruments off to the side. There was a high-pitched whir and a bright blue light emitted from the cabinet as the four pillars began to spin individually, creating a force field. They then began to rotate around each other, going faster and faster, making the light brighter and brighter...

"Something's wrong," Angel said, staring straight into the light, "Something isn't right…"

'...That means Lazarus has changed his own molecular patterns...'

What? He did what?!

'...Have you see Lazarus or Tish anywhere?...'

Why did Martha sound so frantic? So scared?

...a creature looking more like a cross between a human skeleton and a scorpion, reared up...

Angel gasped at the horrible sight, just as the warning alarms went off.

"It's overloading!" the Doctor yelled.

The technicians tried to stop it but the panel exploded, short circuiting. The Doctor rushed over, jumping over the desk and turning the sonic at the controls.

"Somebody stop him!" Lazarus's backer cried, "Get him away from those controls!"

"If this thing goes off, it'll take the whole building with it!" the Doctor yelled back at her, his hearts racing at the reminder that his Mate was IN the building, "Is that what you want?" he tried the sonic on another panel but it didn't work. He reached over to the main wires and yanked them out. The cabinet, thankfully, slowed down, stopping spinning. Martha rushed forward, despite Angel trying to hold her back, and over to the door, "Get it open!"

Martha pulled the door open, smoke coming out, as Lazarus emerged, 40 years younger. The photographers went wild, snapping away, as Martha and the Doctor looked on, amazed, Angel's eyes, though, widened in horror.

Lazarus smiled at them, "Ladies and gentlemen, I am Richard Lazarus. I am 76 years old and I am reborn!"

Angel shook her head and frantically backed away through the cheering crowd as though trying to get as far away from Lazarus as possible. The Doctor frowned, seeing it, and ran after her, Martha following, "Angel!" he called, managing to grab hold of her arm on the other side of the crowd, "What is it? What's happened?"

"It's all wrong," she said, shaking her head quickly and looking at Lazarus, "HE'S wrong. I…I can't even look at him…he's just…he's…"

He quickly pulled her to him, seeing her shaken up, badly. He had no idea what had happened to Lazarus or what might happen because of it, but if it scared Angel that badly…it couldn't be good.

~8~

People actually stood in line for an opportunity to take a picture with Lazarus while Angel and the Doctor stood near the machine. The Doctor was examining it while Martha had her arm around the girl, who seemed calmer than she was before, though still had her eyes on Lazarus as though expecting him to explode.

"It can't be the same guy," Martha remarked, "It's impossible. It must be a trick."

"Oh, it's not a trick," the Doctor sighed, "I wish it were."

"What just happened, then?"

"He changed everything that it means to be human," Angel replied quietly, her stomach churning as she watched the man.

There was a terrible pit in her stomach that told her he was so far from human right now that...she just couldn't...she wanted to leave, now, she wanted to run away but...there were so many people there. So many innocent humans who might be hurt if her fears were confirmed, that he was that horrible creature she'd seen in her vision.

She couldn't abandon them, no matter what.

~8~

Lazarus's partner walked over to him as he spoke with some guests, "Excuse me," she smiled at them pulling him away, "That was the most astonishing thing I've ever seen. Look at you!"

"This is only the beginning," he smiled at her, "We're not just making history, we're shaping the future too."

"Think of the money we'll make. People will sell their souls to be transformed like that. And I'll be first in line," Lazarus cracked his neck in pain and gasped before snatching a tray of hors d'oeuvres off a passing waiter, shoveling one after another into his mouth as she watched, aghast, "Richard!"

"I'm famished!"

"Energy deficit," the Doctor remarked as he walked over with Angel and Martha, though the two women stood a bit back for Angel's sake, "Always happens with this kind of process."

"You speak as if you see this every day, Mr.…"

"Doctor. And, well, no, not every day, but I have some experience in this kind of transformation."

"That's not possible."

"Using hypersonic sound waves to create a state of resonance. That's…that's inspired."

"You understand the theory, then?"

"Enough to know that you couldn't possibly have allowed for all the variables."

"No experiment is entirely without risk," he waved off his concern.

"That thing nearly exploded!" the Doctor snapped now, seeing how flippant the man was with the safety of the lives around him, of his Mate's life, "You might as well have stepped into a blender!"

"You're not qualified to comment," his partner said snootily.

"If he hadn't stopped that machine...it would have exploded," Angel took just a half step closer.

"Then I thank you, Doctor," Lazarus turned to the man, "But that's a simple engineering issue. What happened inside the capsule was exactly what was supposed to happen. No more, no less."

"You've no way of knowing that until you've run proper tests," Martha shook her head.

Lazarus chuckled, holding out his arms, "Look at me! You can see what happened. I'm all the proof you need."

"This device will be properly certified before we start to operate commercially," his partner added.

"Commercially?!" Martha gaped, "You are joking. That'll cause chaos."

"Not chaos," he shook his head, "Change. A chance for humanity to evolve, to improve."

"No," Angel shook her head at him sadly, "It's not about improving to you is it? Just how much longer your clients can live for."

"A lot longer," he answered, nodding his head, imagining it, "Perhaps indefinitely."

"Everything dies. Everything, all things, must die at some point."

"Richard, we have things to discuss," his partner reminded him, heading off, "Upstairs."

"Goodbye, Doctor, ladies," Lazarus smiled, moving to follow as Angel stepped back, "In a few years, you'll look back and laugh at how wrong you were," he reached out to take Martha's hand, kissing the back of it before leaving.

"Ooh, he's out of his depth," the Doctor sighed, "No idea of the damage he might have done."

"Not might have," Angel watched him go, crossing her arms, uneasy.

"So what do we do now?" Martha asked.

"Now…well, this building must be full of laboratories," the Doctor looked around, "I say we do our own tests."

Martha held up her hand, "Lucky I've just collected a DNA sample then, isn't it?"

"Oh, Martha Jones, you're a star!" he beamed.

"I told you she was good!" Angel linked her arms with Martha's un-Lazarus DNA-ed arm, now in a much better mood as the professor was gone.

~8~

Lazarus stood with his partner in his office, sipping scotch and looking out at London, "I grew up over there," he pointed, "Tiny flat above a butcher's shop."

"It'll have a blue plaque soon," she remarked, "'Richard Lazarus lived here.'"

"It's gone. Destroyed in the war. The bombing."

"Of course."

"1940. D'you remember? Night after night. Explosions. Guns. Firestorm."

"My parents had sent me to the country by then."

"When the sirens went, we'd go to the cathedral there. We used to shelter in the crypt…the living cowering among the dead."

"But look at what you've built here, now. You've laid the foundations for an empire. An empire we can rule together," she reached up and pulled him down for a kiss, when he pulled away, exhaling sharply, "Well, what's wrong?"

He wiped his lips with his hand and chuckled, grabbing her chin and forcing her to look at her reflection in the window, "Look at yourself woman."

She pushed his hand away and glared at him.

~8~

Martha and Angel sat on stools in a lab, looking at the results of the DNA test on the computer, as the Doctor leaned over them, standing between them, "Amazing," the Doctor breathed.

"What?" Martha looked at him.

"Lazarus's DNA."

Angel frowned, "I can't see anything different."

"Look at it!" he pointed, just as the image flickered.

"Oh my God!" Martha gasped.

"Tell me that didn't just change," Angel frowned, her hearts starting to race at the sight, at all the horrible things it could mean.

"But it can't have!"

"But it did," the Doctor nodded solemnly.

"It's impossible."

"And that's two impossible things we've seen tonight," the Doctor smiled, "Don't you love it when that happens?"

"That means Lazarus has changed his own molecular patterns."

"Hypersonic sound waves to destabilize the cell structure then a mutagenic program to manipulate the coding in the protein strands..." he trailed off, seeing both girls staring at him, "Basically, he hacked into his own genes and instructed them to rejuvenate."

"But they're still mutating now," Martha commented, watching as the screen blipped again.

"He missed something, didn't he?" Angel looked up at the Doctor as he nodded again, "There's something in his DNA that activated because of those waves," she shook her head as it changed another time, "I don't think he'll be able to stabilize. It's like..." she blinked, "Something's trying to change him."

"Change him into what?"

"I dunno but I think we need to find out," the Doctor nodded, stepping back.

"That woman said they were going upstairs."

"Let's go!" the Doctor shouted as they rushed from the lab.

A/N: Aww...I can't help but wonder...if Angel had THAT reaction to Lazarus being just...wrong...how will she deal with Jack? :(

But yay! Did you LOVE the Doctor's reaction to the dress? Lol, I loved writing it :)

Quick question though...this story should have about 44 chapters by the end of Last of the Time Lords. I was going to make Time Crash the first chapter of the next story but...I'm thinking I might make it the last chapter of this one. The next story is going to have Music of the Spheres as a mini-sode chapter which means about 46 chapters so...I was thinking of sticking Time Crash to the end of this one and balancing them out to 45 each. What do you guys think? Would you want Time Crash to be the last of this story or the start of the next? :)

In other news...O...M...G! DW! AHH! I'm not going to spoil anything here, but...SO MANY IDEAS! Yay! And...BBC confirmed that DT will reprise his role as 10 in the 50th Anniversary! Woo! Not too thrilled that Rose will apparently be back too...I think if BP is signed up, we should get Martha, and Donna and the Ponds as well (somehow)...it would really be almost like an insult JUST to bring Rose back. No offense to Rose or Rose fans but, you can't just bring back ONE companion, not for something like the 50th! I'd LOVE to see all past companions too, especially Classic Who, anyone and everyone that could be brought back should be, that would be epic :)

I just want to say, HOW ironic is this? This chapter had the 'Angie' comment (already in it before editing) and the new DW episode had an 'Angie' too :)

And...Happy Easter!

Some notes on reviews...

Hotch always struck me as the 'dad' of the group, so in charge, stern, but cares SO much about his team. I love how he has all these little lines and jokes and says them so seriously that you just laugh, like asking Spencer if he joined a boy band because of a new haircut :) And thanks! Have to say, I love all my readers/reviewers :)

I'm not sure if Boe had psychic powers. I know he was definitely telepathic though, Rose/Cassandra commented on that once I think. I don't really see him as psychic as much as...he's just been around SO long and he knows the Doctor's fate from two different POVs. It's like, he knows about why the Doctor 'isn't alone' because he was there when it happened and just realized that the Doctor he met in Gridlock was at a different point in the timelines, a point where he could actually tell him the 'secret.' Like...he knew he'd meet 10 again after the New Earth hospital because he was still with Rose and Jack knew that the Doctor didn't find out about the 'Face of Boe' till Martha (anyone else love how Martha brings that up for the Doctor to 'remember what the Face of Boe said' while Jack is RIGHT there. Hmm...maybe that's why he commented on it? Like, he doesn't know the Face of Boe is an actual FACE lol. Poor Barrowman). Getting back on topic, the last time Boe meets the Doctor he says 'you are not alone' because he was also there during the Sound of Drums and LOTTL...if that whole ramble made any sense at all lol :)

We may not see Angel as a showgirl...but we WILL see her as a flapper ;) Gingers United! Woo! :)

The Angels Take Manhattan...for all my OCs that will be a...tough episode for them. I actually got to go to the Statue of Liberty once with my family when my cousins visited from Germany years ago. We got to go all the way to the top! And then I saw TATM and was like...omg...never doing THAT again lol :)

Loved the youtube videos! I especially liked the first Mary Poppins one, the way it sort of went a bit dark in the middle :) Peter Pan and Taking to the Skies definitely fit well with DW too, though I have to say I love any video made using the music from the actual DW previews/trailers for the Protectors one :) The Trouble video was great too, I was actually thinking of another video suggestion watching it, the suggestion about You'll Be In My Heart, just because I agree that YBIMH fits fairly well with the Doctor/Angel story, and that the Trouble video made me think of 10 and the Professor and Rose, except without that part about the boy not really loving anyone. I sort of feel like, for the Academic Series, deep in the Doctor's hearts the Professor really would be the only one for him so Rose really was out of luck before she even met him :)

We'll definitely be getting more of John Smith's backstory when we get to him, no worries. But as for what Angel will do...I will give a hint about that at the end of 42 :)