Right, here's the next part of Family of Blood.
Outside the stable, John Smith paused before heading back. Rose and Martha were there waiting as the Matron had led the boys away from the school to somewhere safe.
"Now, I insist." he said "The pair of you just go. If there are any more boys inside, I'll find them." He opened the door to the passage and saw scarecrows. He slammed it shut and locked it. "I think...retreat." he, Rose and Martha ran
--
Timothy was running outside
--
John Smith, Rose and Martha were in the woods near the school when the heard Mr Clark
"Doctor!" he shouted in a sing song voice "Doctor!" They stopped and looked, Mr Clark was standing in front of the Tardis. "Come back, Doctor. Come home. Come and claim your prize."
"Out you come, Doctor!" Baines said "There's a good boy. Come to the Family."
"Time to end it now!" Jenny said
"You recognise it, don't you?" Martha asked softly.
"Come out, Doctor!" Jenny shouted "Come to us!"
"I've never seen it in my life." John said
"Do you remember its name?" Martha asked
"I'm sorry, John, but you wrote about it." Rose said, trying to help "The blue box. You dreamt of a blue box."
"I'm not--I'm John Smith." John said "That's all I want to be. John Smith, with his life...and his job...and his love. Why can't I be John Smith? Isn't he a good man?"
"Yes." Rose said "Yes, he is."
"Why can't I stay?"
"But we need the Doctor." Martha said
"So what am I then, nothing?" he said "I'm just a story." He ran off and Rose went after him as fast as she could. Martha followed after a pause
"One more phase and we won't have to hunt." Baines said "The Doctor, Mr Smith, the boy, the watch--they will come to us. Soldiers! Guard this thing!" The Family left.
--
The Doctor, Rose and Martha were rushing down a country road as fast as Rose's heavily pregnant frame would allow. They stopped to get their bearings
"This way." Rose said "I think I know where we can hide"
"We've got to keep going." John said
"Just listen to me for once, John." Rose said "Follow me." Martha looked between her friends before following Rose. John followed them after a pause.
--
Rose, Martha and the Doctor arrive at a dark house.
"Here we are." Rose said, breathing heavily, her hand resting on her stomach "It should be empty. Oh, it's been months since I've ran like that."
"But who lives here?" Martha asked
"If I'm right, no one." The three of them walked to the front door and Rose entered first. It was a simple cottage kitchen with a tea set on the table.
"Hello?" she said "No one home. We should be safe here."
"Whose house is it, though?"
"Um, the Cartwrights." Rose answered, having spent the last two months in the village, she had come to know some of the residents quite well and that included the Cartwright family "That little girl at the school--she's Lucy Cartwright, or she's taken Lucy Cartwright's form. If she came home this afternoon and if the parents tried to stop their little girl, then they were killed." she put her hand on the teapot. "Stone cold."
John Smith sat down on one of the chairs at the table and looked as if he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders "I must go to them before anyone else dies." he said
"You can't." Rose said as she sat beside him "Martha, there must be something we can do."
"Not without the watch." Martha replied shaking her head
"You're both this Doctor's companions!" John said "Can't you help? What exactly do you do for him? Why does he need you?"
"Because he's lonely." Martha said
"And that's what you want me to become?" John asked, but was interrupted by a knock on the door and they all turned to face it.
"What if it's them?" Rose asked
"I'm not an expert, but I don't think scarecrows knock." Martha replied, realising that her female friend was worried about the safety of her child. She walked over to the door and opened it to reveal Timothy Latimer
"I brought you this." Timothy as he held out the watch
"Martha." the watch said.
Inside the house, Martha held the watch out in her palm in front of the Doctor
"Hold it." she said
"I won't." he replied
"Please, just hold it." Rose said
"It told me to find you." Timothy said "It wants to be held."
"You've had this watch all this time?" Rose said "Why didn't you return it?"
"Because it was waiting." Timothy said "And because I was scared of the Doctor."
"Why?"
"Because...I've seen him." Timothy said "He's...like fire and ice and rage. He's like the night and the storm in the heart of the sun."
"Stop it." John Smith said
"He's ancient and forever." Timothy continued as though his teacher hadn't spoken "He burns at the centre of time and he can see the turn of the universe."
"Stop!" John said "I said stop it."
"And he's wonderful." Timothy finished
Rose reached into her coat pocket and pulled out her husband's journal "I've still got this." she said "The journal."
"Those are just stories."
"No." Rose said "You know that's not true, now. Perhaps there's something that will help us in here." There was an explosion outside and they all gasped.
"What the hell?" Martha asked. They all looked out of the window and saw what could pass for meteorites falling to the ground.
"They're destroying the village." Rose said
"Watch." John said softly as he picked it up
"John?"
"Come closer." the watch said
"Can you hear it?" Timothy asked
"Closer. Closer."
"I think he's asleep." John said "Waiting to awaken."
"Why did he speak to me?" Timothy asked
"Oh, low-level telepathic field." the Doctor said in his normal voice "You were born with it. Just an extra synaptic engram causing--" he stopped and inhaled deeply "Is that how he talks?"
"That's him!" Rose said "All you have to do is open it and he's back."
"You knew this all along and..."
"I'm sorry, but I was just following your list of things to do."
"Right." he said softly
"It was always going to end, though!" Martha said "The Doctor said the Family's got a limited lifespan. That's why they need to consume a Time Lord. Otherwise, three months and they die. Like mayflies, he said."
"So your job was to execute me." he said
"People are dying out there!" Martha said "They need him and we need him. 'Cause you've got no idea of what he's like. I've only just met him . It wasn't even that long ago, but he is everything...he's my best friend...and I love him to bits. And I hope to God he won't remember me saying this." The house rocked with the explosions
"It's getting closer." Timothy said
"I should have thought of it before--I can give them this." he said "Just the watch. Then they can leave and I can stay as I am!"
"You can't do that!" Martha said as Rose stayed silent
"If they want the Doctor, they can have him." John Smith said
"He'll never let you do it." Martha said
"If they get what they want, then--then--" he said
"Then it all ends in destruction." Rose said "Those creatures would live forever to breed and conquer. War across the stars...for every child." she paused and turned to her friend "Martha, Timothy, would you leave us alone, please?" Rose asked. She could see her husband was on the verge of crying. Martha took the hint and left with Timothy. Once they were gone, the Doctor broke down, Rose hugged him tightly.
--
The Family kept firing on the village.
--
Martha and Timothy sat on a bench outside the house. Martha pulled the boy into her arms and held him tightly.
--
Back inside the house, the Doctor and Rose were sitting side by side. The Doctor was holding the watch in one hand, staring at it "You have to do it." Rose said
"Why?" he asked "He won't love you"
"Yes, he does." Rose replied "He loves me just as you do."
"Really?"
"Yes." Rose said "You've dreamt about it."
"My dreams were real." he said "I wasn't...I..."
"Let me see." Rose said as she took the watch. She turned it over in her hands. She could hear the real Doctor speaking to her. "I can hear him." she told him "He wants to come back". The Doctor reached out and held her hand, the watch touching both of them. The Doctor gasped and experienced visions of what his life with Rose could be like. He saw the birth of their baby, walking in the park with Rose and their three children and finally his peaceful death in bed. "They're all safe, aren't they?" John Smith asked "The children...the grandchildren...everyone's safe?"
"Did you see?" he asked Rose
"The Doctor has such adventures, but we can still have that life" Rose answered just wanting her husband back to normal and hoping that he wouldn't hate her when he was himself again
"Really?" he asked as he looked at the watch again.
"Everyone's safe." Rose replied "They all send their love, John."
"It's done." he said "Thank you." And he closed his eyes for the last time.
"What are you going to do?" Rose asked. The Doctor turned to her, breathing heavily, but he did not answer. Instead he left; Rose looked down guiltily and walked towards the window.
Right, the last chapter will be up in a minute
TTFN
Julie
