"Guardian of the Array"
29. Believe That I Can
Inside the TARDIS
Another day had gone by, and outside the town was bursting with activity: today was the day of the festival. Inside the TARDIS however, the Doctor and Gemma were getting ready. Artie was with them once more, and as he looked at the pair of them going this way and that, he had a sneaking suspicion: they were going to leave him behind again.
"Gemma?" he approached her, and she looked up. "Can I help?" he slowly asked. She looked at him, then the Doctor. "I want to help… I need to help," he told them both. The Doctor let out a breath and came closer to them.
"Arthur… Artie… I believe it might be best if you stayed here, in the TARDIS."
"Why?" he asked, frowning.
"Artie…" Gemma tried to calm him.
"It's because of my chair, isn't it?" he accused.
"No, it's because you are eight years old," she took his hands, getting him to look her in the eye, getting him to see she was telling the truth. "What have we been telling you from the start? Your chair doesn't ever need to stop you. Sure, it won't be easy sometimes, but that's no reason to keep from finding another way." He believed her, she could see; they had been telling him enough times that it was becoming an accepted truth. It was only about stopping himself from defaulting back to 'I can't.'
"Then let me help," he asked again. Gemma looked exasperated, having to deny him. He was still a child, still needing of some protection for that reason and that reason alone. "What if I do it anyway? What if I'm part of what makes things happen the way they're supposed to?" he pointed out, and Gemma could all but feel the Doctor smile behind her. Artie wasn't going to back down.
"Dear Arthur," she came to crouch next to Gemma before reaching in her pocket. She produced the sonic screwdriver, which she presented to him. Gemma threw her a nervous look, but Artie never saw it. He was just stunned, pleasantly so.
"I can…" he started to ask, as the Doctor held it out to him.
"Take it," she told him. "I trust you'll be careful with it?"
"I swear," Artie nodded. He looked at it, turned it around in his hands, weighed it, felt for the texture and the light at the end.
"How is your aim?" the Doctor asked, reaching over to carefully show him how to hold it.
When he first got it to light up, make a sound, he startled and laughed, which brought a smile to the Time Lady's face in such a way that Gemma had never seen. She couldn't explain it in any other way than to say it was motherly. The Doctor had always had something of a mother in her, ever since she'd met her, but it had taken Gemma seeing her interact with a child, with this child, for her to consider something she had never considered before. The Doctor was hundreds of years old… so in all that time, surely…
"So you understand then?" the Doctor was saying to Artie, and Gemma realized she had completely spaced out on what they were doing.
"Yes," Artie nodded with a determined smile.
"Good, now put the sonic away, where you can reach it easily but no one will see it," she instructed, and he did as told. "Perfect. Now there's one more thing, and if you're going to do anything, then you need to promise me you'll do this above all else, do you swear?"
"What is it?" Artie asked.
"If I ever tell you to leave, to hide, you have to do it, no questions asked. Can you promise me that?" she held out her hand to the boy. He considered this for a moment, then put his hand in hers.
"I promise."
"Now just come here," she stood and wheeled him to sit near the screen. She tapped out a few commands, and when she pushed the screen to be right in front of him, he had what he quickly guessed to be target practice. "Like I showed you?" He took out the sonic again, and for the next little while they could hear the whirring and dinging along with Artie's barely restrained cheers and sighs whenever he did or didn't hit his targets. Now the two women were back at their preparations, though now Gemma couldn't help but go up to the Doctor and ask the question that had sprouted in her head.
"Is there something on my head?" the Doctor asked then, and Gemma blinked. She supposed she had been staring. With a breath, she'd stepped nearer. Artie was too busy with his target practice to pay them any mind.
"It's only that… there's something I… The way you are with Artie, it's very… natural. So I got to wondering if you…" She hadn't needed to ask the question. The Doctor had been well able to get to it on her own, and Gemma had only to see the look it provoked in her to know the answer. Yes, she'd had children. No, she didn't have them anymore. "What hap…"
There was a knock at the TARDIS door, sudden and frantic. The Doctor had barely blinked that she had moved to look out and then open the door.
"I'm sorry, I didn't…" Jenny came through, looking like she would have walked, yes, but would have much rather ran. The Doctor shut the door and turned to her again.
"What's happened?" she asked.
"The festival has begun," Jenny declared.
"Yes, but that's…"
"I've lost her, Doctor," Jenny shook her head. "I'm so sorry."
"Lost who?" Gemma asked.
"Daphne, and the other one. They got by me, I couldn't stop them… I don't know where they've gone."
"They have things that need doing," the Doctor spoke evenly. "They would have gone whether we stopped them or not."
"But they have no idea what we know," Gemma moved to help Artie down nearer the door.
"Nor should they," said the Doctor. "We better get into position."
TO BE CONTINUED (TUESDAY)
