The Doctor stared at the place where the screen had just disappeared a moment longer before turning to Lyssa and hesitantly asking, "And just... what does this look like, exactly?"
She opened her mouth to offer some excuse then faltered, nothing believable coming to mind. "Uh... Actually I don't know. What does it look like to you?"
He raised an eyebrow. "Like you're hiding something from me, and it has something to do with the bracelet on your wrist that you're also trying to hide from me."
Her shoulders sagged and she looked away guiltily, letting her hand fall away from her wrist. "Yeah, okay, it's exactly what it looks like."
He chuckled, stepping further into the room. "I'm assumin' it's a spoiler?"
She nodded sheepishly. "Yeah... Sorry. Future stuff. Very far future, actually." She finally looked over at him, her eyes falling to his hand where he was holding her phone. "Did you find anything?" she asked, nodding to the device.
"What?" He looked down at his hand. "Oh. Yeah, that was what I came in here for, actually." He flipped it open, holding it out to her. "I ran a few searches like you asked."
"And?" she asked, switching her gaze between him and the phone as she took it. "What did it say? Am I chatting with an axe murderer?"
He hesitated. "Well..."
"Oh no." She put her head in her hands with a groan. "I'm talking with Jack the Ripper, aren't I?"
"Well, ignorin' the fact that not only was he long dead by 1941 but he also had no access to technology..." the Doctor drawled. "The answer is still no." He chuckled when Lyssa rolled her eyes. "Interestingly enough, the TARDIS actually hid the results from me."
"Wait. For real?" she stared at the phone, furrowing her brow. "I didn't know she could do that on her own - or, well, would, for that matter."
He shrugged. "She doesn't do it often, but sometimes if I'm gettin' too close to somethin' I shouldn't she'll try and steer me away. In this case, she hid all results of who he was. "
He began to pace the room, folding his hands behind his back. "Which is interestin', because she's the one who gave you the mobile, which means that this James, whoever he is, is someone that she wanted you to meet. And it looks like she redirected his calls to you to ensure that you would meet." He paused thoughtfully. "Which means that she's directly interferin', which means that whoever he is, the two of you getting to know the other is important in the future - whether yours or his in particular or the future in general, who knows. Probably both, considerin' she linked the two of you."
"So... I was supposed to meet him?" Lyssa asked, trying to figure it all out. "Like, did she just step in to make sure that time happened the way it was supposed to, or did it not happen originally, and she's twisting the timelines to make sure we meet for some unknown reason?"
The Doctor turned to look at her, a grim look on his face. "I don't know. But somethin's interferin' with the timelines, and it's not just her."
She sucked in a breath. "What do you mean?" she asked, feeling her heart drop into her stomach.
He narrowed his eyes at the wall as he spoke, obviously unhappy. "Somethin' about the timelines seemed off to me, so I took a closer look. At the point in time where you first talked to James, there's evidence of time bein' altered - several times. It looks like someone tried to change time so that you didn't meet, and then the TARDIS went in and manipulated things so that you did meet."
"But... why would someone try to make it so that we didn't meet?" she frowned, puzzled. "I mean, all we've ever done is talked for a bit on the phone. We've never talked about anything identifying or anything important like that. We don't even know each other's real names. Why would someone try to change that?"
He shrugged. "Could be anythin', really. Maybe talkin' to him kept you from bein' in another room where the child might have been, keepin' you from bein' infected earlier and accidentally infectin' other people. Maybe he just needed someone to talk to, and you bein' willin' to do that encouraged him enough that he was able to overcome a hurdle and find the cure to cancer."
Lyssa nodded sagely. "Ah, I see. So it's Big Pharma who's trying to keep us from meeting."
The Doctor snorted. "No, I was just usin' that as an example. What we do might seem small to us, but it could have a lastin' effect on others. The point is, someone out there didn't want the two of you to meet, but the TARDIS interfered."
"So... what should I do?" she asked.
He shrugged. "The TARDIS obviously wants the two of you to get to know each other - it looks like she routed his calls to you multiple times. You've already met now, so that can't be erased without Time reactin' in a big way. I'd say keep talkin' to him if you want to, just don't give away anythin' too important - you never know who might be listenin'."
She clasped a hand to her heart. "Wait. You're saying I shouldn't tell an absolute stranger who I've never seen that I have access to a pure version of the Time Vortex?" She tsked, ignoring the fact that she'd actually done something very similar to that just a few days earlier. "You can't trust anyone these days."
He rolled his eyes. "Just try and use your common sense and you'll be fine."
Lyssa tucked her phone in her pocket with a grin. "If I have any."
"If you have any," he affirmed with a sigh. He turned to leave, then stopped, turning back to her with a hesitant expression. "There is one other thing," he said slowly.
Lyssa squinted at him. "If you're here to tell me that you put a tracking device on my phone I'm going to hit you with something."
"What? No! Why do you always resort to threatenin' violence?" he exclaimed, covering the arm closest to her protectively with his hand.
She shrugged. "Because I'm American and we take our security very seriously except for when we don't? Also, communicating with words is hard."
He scoffed. "Anyways," he said with heavy emphasis. "No, I did not put a trackin' device on your phone - or a listenin' device, thank you very much, Miss Paranoia. The other issue is that when I scanned you after you told me you'd jumped out a window, the scan picked up a few abnormalities."
She frowned. "Like what? I thought the nanogenes fixed everything when they changed us back."
"Oh, they did," he affirmed. "But... there's something else going on." He hesitated. "I'd like to run a few tests, if that's all right with you? I don't think it's anythin' serious, but I'd rather be positive than try and guess."
She nodded, following him out the door and down through the hallways to the Infirmary, trying to figure out what abnormalities he could have been referring to if she was supposedly fine. Unless maybe he was talking about her time levels? The nanogenes had been trying to return everyone to being fully human, maybe they had somehow altered her levels?
After all, normal humans didn't exactly have the Time Vortex running through them.
Feeling a cold chill course through her and leave goosebumps on her arm, she shuddered, hurrying to catch up with the Doctor, suddenly eager to find out what had happened to her. He glanced down at her in curiosity at her increased pace, but she shook her head, not wanting to get into it there in the hallway when she had nothing but speculation to go off of.
The doors to the Infirmary opened with a swish, and she entered the all-too-familiar room with a sigh, taking a seat on one of the beds and looking around the room as the Doctor busied himself with one of the drawers.
She stared down at her fingers, fiddling with them. "You know, I think the last time I was here was after we went to Satellite Five," she remarked idly. "Which means I made it through..." She paused to count on her fingers. "At least three - technically four, if you count this one - adventures without having to go to the Infirmary!"
Maybe she should have gone to the Infirmary, but technically she hadn't had to go, so... she was going to count it as a win.
The Doctor made a doubtful sound. "You're here because of what happened this trip, so I'd say it's only three at the absolute most. And that's not countin' the probability that you should have gone to the Infirmary before now and simply didn't." He sent her a look.
She blinked at him innocently. "I don't know what you're talking about."
He scoffed. "I'm sure you don't." He reached into one of the cupboards above the counter, pulling out a small metal device and setting it on the counter before pausing and turning to her with a hesitant, cautious expression.
She sat up straighter. "What is it?" she asked with a concerned frown. "Is something wrong?"
He sighed, watching her carefully. "Jack said that when you showed up you had a bruise on your face - and he said it wasn't an accident."
Lyssa winced, one hand instinctively coming up to hide her now-healed cheek as she turned her head to avoid his gaze. "And?" she asked lightly.
"And you still had a bruise when I showed up," he finished heavily.
She frowned, turning back to look at him. "So?" she asked in confusion. "What does that have to do with anything?"
He raised an eyebrow. "Lyssa, I showed up almost three weeks after you, and according to Jack your bruise had already started to heal by the time he saw you," he told her as if it were obvious.
She shook her head, not following his point. "Still not getting why that's important, sorry. Bruises take a while to heal. There's nothing weird about that."
"Because normal bruises heal in about two weeks. Anything over that indicates a more serious injury, and you had one on your face," he said in frustration. "Which means it was either a bone bruise or an actual fracture - again, of the bones on your face. Which means that you were hit with enough force that you could have died, particularly if it was never treated, which is likely."
Lyssa sucked in a breath, her mind finally putting the dots together.
She had survived falling from two stories onto her back - something that would have paralyzed or killed a normal human - with only a few bruises, indicating that she was sturdier than the average human.
Maken had hit her in the face with enough force to knock her out for who knows how long and leave bruises that were still not healed after three weeks, indicating more severe damage that was likely healed by the nanogenes.
Meaning if she had still been fully human the force of the blow probably would have shattered her jaw, and she didn't even have the chance to get treatment until hours later, which means she most likely would have died, if she hadn't just died right away.
And there's a big difference between knowing you could have died, and knowing you would have died.
"I need to sit down," she muttered blankly.
"Lyssa, you're already sittin' down. Do you feel all right?" the Doctor asked in concern, stepping close to her and looking her over for any signs of injury he might have somehow missed.
She shook her head, still staring blankly into space. "No, no, I'm fine, I just -" She shook her head, trying to bring herself back to the present and focus on the worried Doctor. "You know when you know someone is evil and murderous, but you're still surprised when they try and murder you? It's kind of like that."
He took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a moment before opening them again. "Do you think you could give me a little more information than that?" he said slowly.
She shrugged halfheartedly. "Like, I know he would have had absolutely no problems with killing me, but..."
But if I'd been a normal human he would have killed me.
Not to mention that while he'd given her bruises that lasted for weeks, Donna and Rory had both been fine once they woke up, without even a hint of a bruise. Which meant he'd deliberately tried to hurt her, if not just straight up kill her.
She shuddered at the thought, curling her arms around her stomach in a futile attempt at comfort. Unbidden, her thoughts flew back to the look on Maken's face just before he'd struck her, the absolute lack of care, of feeling as he'd knocked her out all too fresh in her memory.
"Lyssa?"
She abruptly returned to the present, then jerked her head back when she realized that the Doctor's worried face was inches away from hers. "Aah! Sorry! I'm fine, what were you saying?" she stammered, trying to focus on him.
He drew back, frowning at her, looking more concerned than he had before. "Are you all right? You're pale as a ghost."
She glanced down at her hands - which were noticeably trembling - before turning back to him. "Actually," she started hesitantly, meeting his eyes briefly before looking away again. "I... I, uh... A hug would be kind of nice right now," she admitted in a low voice, her cheeks heating up.
There was a brief pause before his arms wrapped around her, so very gentle but at the same time so secure she felt tears prick her eyes as she relaxed into the hug, leaning her head against his chest. "You never have to ask, fairy-girl," he told her softly.
She laughed weakly, remembering another occasion where he'd told her that. "You've said that before," she muttered.
"Well, maybe you should start listenin' to me, then," he told her smartly, tightening his hold on her ever so briefly before stepping back so he could look her in the eye, though his hands rested lightly on her arms. "Now. I'm sorry to have to ask, because I know you said it's a spoiler, but... whoever did this to you... are they still out there? Is that why you were talkin' to... whoever it was you were talkin' to? Do you need help? I can help you and block out my memories of this after if I need to."
She smiled gratefully, lifting one of her hands to rest on top of the Doctor's, squeezing it lightly in silent thanks. "You were there for me already, Doctor. You were the one who helped me then, but thank you. Like I told Jack, the... person who did this is no longer a problem. They can't hurt me anymore. And it's a separate issue from the person I was talking to." She grinned sheepishly. "That's a different bad guy I'll have to deal with in the future. Which... I am not entirely looking forward to, not gonna lie."
His brows drew together. "Is there anything I can do?"
She shrugged. "I don't think so, sorry. I'm still trying to figure out everything that's going on, honestly." She grinned brightly at him. "You're there too, though, so don't worry! You're plenty suspicious and worried then, so you don't have to be now."
"That's... really not comforting to hear, you know," he told her dryly.
She tsked, waving a hand at him dismissively. "Well, sorry if your standards are higher than I'm willing to meet. I tried." She laughed when he snorted. "Now, forgive me if I'm wrong, but we came in here because there was something you wanted to check or whatever, and as far as I'm aware you haven't checked anything yet."
"I got distracted for a very good reason, thank you very much," he defended himself, releasing her completely and returning to the counter. He lifted the scanner he'd used before off the counter, briefly using his sonic on it before returning to her. "Hold still, please, I want to get an accurate reading."
She sat still with a sigh as he waved it over her, the little device whirring slightly louder as it passed over her chest. He raised an eyebrow, pressing several of the switches on the side before waving it over her chest again with a concentrated expression. It whirred at a lower pitch this time, and he nodded once before continuing his scan. Once he was finished he connected it to the monitor next to the bed, pulling up a screen full of information and twelve-syllable words that she couldn't hope to pronounce let alone understand.
When he'd been working at the screen for several minutes without looking up, she sighed, pulling out her phone to pass the time. Now that the Doctor has said that it was okay for her to talk to James - or at least that it was necessary to the timeline - she figured she might as well get caught up and let him know she was still alive.
She winced as she scanned through the texts. They had started out casual enough, before evolving into concern when she had never responded. While it would have been logical to assume that she just didn't want to talk to a stranger anymore, he seemed to have realized that something else was going on, and had texted multiple times asking if she was okay, or needed any help.
She glanced up at the Doctor, figuring he wouldn't appreciate a loud conversation while he was trying to concentrate, and decided to text rather than call him back.
Lyssa: Oh my gosh, I am so sorry I never responded! I lost my phone and then proceeded to get super sick! I ended up having to go to the hospital and only just got out this morning! I'm okay, I swear, I just had no way to contact anyone until I got out and was able to find my phone again.
Her phone buzzed less than a minute after she'd sent it, and she flipped her phone back open to read it.
James: Oh, you're alive! I must admit I was growing rather concerned when you didn't respond. You don't seem like the type of person to just up and leave without saying goodbye. Are you feeling better now?
Lyssa: Much, thanks. I've got a great Doctor, although don't tell him that or he'll get a big head. He's running a few tests right now, hopefully I'll get the results soon.
The Doctor stepped away from the monitor just then, and she glanced up. "You finished?"
He nodded, a slight frown on his face. "I think so."
"Kay, hold on just a sec."
Lyssa: Got to go, actually, sorry. My results just came in. Talk to you later!
She snapped her phone shut before returning it to her pocket. "All right. Lay it on me. What's up, Doc?"
He sighed, rewarding her with a deadpan expression. "Very funny."
"Thank you, I thought it was too."
He rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Anyways," he said with exaggerated patience. "Sorry it took so long, but I think I've got it mostly all figured out now." He leaned back against the counter, crossing his arms. "When the nanogenes turned everyone back to human, they tried to do just that - turned everyone back to bein' fully human again. Thing is..."
"I'm not supposed to be fully human anymore," Lyssa finished slowly, a chill running down her spine. "So what does that mean? Did it get rid of the Time Vortex in me or something? Am I not gonna be able to jump through time anymore?" She hesitated. "And that probably means my bones or whatever went back to normal too?"
"Not exactly," the Doctor hedged, brow furrowed as he stared at the wall in thought. "You're not supposed to be fully human anymore, but the nanogenes didn't know that, so they tried to make you like everyone else. However, you've got Time written into your biology, and there's not a nanogene in existence that can compete with the Time Vortex. So... long and short of it is, your biology overrode the nanogenes once the changes were no longer considered beneficial."
"What, they couldn't have done that before I started to turn into a mutant zombie?" Lyssa muttered petulantly.
"Actually, no," he answered. "Your biology was still too human. It fought it off as long as it could before giving in." He hesitated. "This is going to be a bit complicated but bear with me. When you got hit by that Time Storm, it rewrote your biology to allow you to safely contain pure Time - something no one else can survive. It didn't do too much else at the time to allow your body to safely adjust to the change without being overwhelmed."
Lyssa nodded. "But I've changed since then too, obviously, given my apparent ability to fall out a window and survive." She grimaced. "I think I remember when that happened, actually, even if I was too sick to understand it at the time. It was just after a really, really awful adventure. You told me my body was adapting to better hold the Time Stream, but it wasn't an easy process." She narrowed her eyes at him. "You told me it was like puberty!" she said accusingly.
He tilted his head to the side, nodding thoughtfully. "Actually, I can see that," he admitted. "Your body's physically changing, you're probably going to experience several hormonal changes as your mind adapts and changes as well." He glanced down at her annoyed expression and couldn't stop the grin from breaking out on his face. "I'm sorry," he offered, trying and failing to keep a straight face. "I have no idea why my future self told you that instead of an actual explanation."
Lyssa sighed. "I guess he didn't have much time to explain it," she admitted sulkily, remembering herself jumping almost immediately after. She wrinkled her nose before sitting up straight again with a sigh. "So basically my body's going to continue changing to better hold the Time Stream?"
He shrugged. "More or less. I don't fully know how yet, but basically... yes. Without giving away any spoilers, you've still got several changes ahead of you, although it'll probably be a while before you go through one again because you just finished one. I can't be positive, but I'd say that the nanogenes probably jump-started the process when they tried to convert you back - your biology took over from there and then just kept going. You probably didn't notice anything because they blended in with all the other changes you were going through."
"Is that what you meant by abnormalities earlier?" Lyssa asked curiously. "That my body is different from how it's supposed to be, or something?"
"In a sense," the Doctor admitted. "Given the way you appeared when I first saw you, I expected you to be at an earlier point." He paused, apparently trying to think of how to explain it before finally settling on, "This is the first time I've seen you at this particular point looking like that."
Lyssa glanced up at that, the words sparking a memory in her mind. "So something's supposed to look different when I'm at this point," she mused. "I probably shouldn't ask what I look like in the future, but I do want to know what's different about me now. You said I've finished changing. So what's different about me now? Can I see through walls now, or something? 'Cause, not gonna lie, that would be really cool."
He snorted. "The Time Stream changes you so that you can safely hold it without dying, with a few unintentional side effects, although none of them are dangerous. I don't think X-Ray vision is going to help. No, it just made you more durable. You'll need less food and water and sleep to survive, and can last longer without oxygen, though I wouldn't recommend tryin' to find your new limits unless you have to. You're also less likely to get sick."
"Wait. It's making me stronger? Am I going to be a superhero now?" Lyssa asked excitedly before gasping. "Do I have abs now?" She lifted up the bottom of her shirt in eager anticipation, only to deflate when her stomach looked as soft and squishy as ever. She poked it disconsolately. "Oh, come on," she moaned, letting her shirt fall back into place. "What a rip-off. At least tell me I got to grow a couple inches. Give me something to work with, here."
The Doctor stifled his laughter. "It's the Time Vortex, not a miracle worker."
She glared at him. "And just what, exactly, are you trying to imply, Sir?"
"Nothing," he said innocently. "Only that the point is to help you survive. Extra muscles won't help with that. You'll have to earn those on your own."
Lyssa rolled her eyes. "Anything else? You mentioned some side effects. What are those?"
"Your hair's a bit lighter for one," he mentioned, glancing at her hair. "Hardly noticeable if you're not lookin', but it is there."
Lyssa immediately grabbed a lock of hair and tried to examine it, only to be frustrated when her hair wasn't long enough for her to get a good look at it. Hopping down from the seat, she hurried into the bathroom, flipping on the light and examining her hair in the mirror.
Like the Doctor had said, it wasn't immediately apparent if you weren't looking for it, but her hair was just a touch lighter in color. Her hair been a mix of shades, but still always some sort of medium brown. Now, in her reflection, she could see her hair was a shade of honey-brown, and looked almost gold when the lights shone on it just right. She fingered the lighter strands, mind flashing back to another woman with gold hair before shaking it off, remembering her talk with the Eleventh Doctor.
Remembering what had happened the last time this happened, she glanced at her eyes in the mirror, glad to see that there were no more gold flecks now than there had been last time. With one last look at her hair in the mirror she shut off the light and returned to the main room, where the Doctor was patiently waiting.
"You okay?" he asked in concern as she leaned against the bed, arms crossed. "You look... pensive."
She shrugged. "I'm still me, right?" she smiled at him halfheartedly.
"Course you are," he said in surprise. "Why wouldn't you be? The Time Stream changes your body, not you. Your spirit, your... personality remain unchanged."
She gave him a small but real smile, remembering Eleven saying much the same thing. "I guess it makes sense when you put it that way. Is there anything else I should know about? Am I gonna glow in the dark?"
He started to shake his head, frowned, and reached for his sonic before scanning her. He read the results and frowned again. "You're... not gonna show up on scans as human anymore unless they're extremely basic tests or have limited technology," he told her reluctantly.
She bit her lip, looking down at the ground and wrapping her arms a little tighter around herself for comfort. "What... what would I show up as?" she asked timidly.
She could practically feel his worried look. "Probably along the lines of human plus. To the naked eye you appear human - you've got the right amount of organs, your blood is the normal color. It'd only be if they tried to take a closer look that anyone would notice something different."
He hesitated. "I wouldn't let anyone draw your blood if at all possible. Because you've got Time written into your biology, it could be very dangerous in the wrong hands. It's got regenerative properties to allow you to heal quicker from injuries, and is highly adaptive. You could still receive a transfusion from a human with your blood type if you had no other choice, but you couldn't give one."
"So... kind of like yours, then?" she asked, finally looking up at him. "'Cause your blood could rewrite history or whatever, if people got hold of it and were able to do experiments and stuff?"
"In a sense, I suppose," he said slowly. "We both have regenerative properties that would be very interesting to certain parties, although you can't actually regenerate. It's part of the reason why Time Lord bodies have to be burned, not buried." His gaze fell to the ground, a haunted expression filling his eyes.
Lyssa bit her lip, almost positive that he was remembering something from the Time War. She cast her mind about for some sort of distraction before settling on something from their most recent adventure.
"So. Jamie. That's a pretty nice name," she said casually, remembering another Jamie far in the Doctor's future, even if he went by a different name most of the time. And come to think of it, Eleven had titled himself 'Jamie' when he'd been forcibly transformed into a child, and Ten had visibly reacted.
The Doctor drew himself out of his memories with a start. "Wha- oh. Yeah. I had a friend once named Jamie. Jamie McCrimmon. He traveled with me and several other friends a very long time ago. He was a good man. He saved my life more than once, and was one of my most reliable friends." He looked sad again for a moment but shook himself out of it before Lyssa could say anything. "Still, the first Jamie I met saved my life, and the second one - well. The second time I met a Jamie, everybody lived, Lyssa. Everybody!"
A soft, slow smile spread across his face. "Everybody is important, even if they can't see it. I've never met someone who wasn't, and I've met a lot of people in my time." He was quiet for a minute. "But someone who can give me hope in the dark times, who can remind me that not everything out there is empty and meaningless - that's rare."
He paused, expression becoming thoughtful. "Jamie means 'supplanter' or 'one who follows', if you want to get technical. But to me... it will always mean hope."
A/N: I am so sorry I haven't updated for so long! This chapter was a nightmare to write - I rewrote it several times, and scrapped it multiple times before finally arriving at what you see here. It's still not perfect, and I'll probably come back to it at a later point with a fresh pair of eyes and edit it some more, but at this point I figured I should just get it up and move on, or I would be here forever trying to make it perfect. P/
I was also in a wedding as a bridesmaid, which took up a bit of time. (Everything went smoothly and the groom cried the whole time, which was both sweet and funny)
Next chapter should hopefully be up in a timely manner, and should be nice and fluffy. :D
I wish you all a very Merry Christmas/ Happy Hanukkah/anything else you might celebrate. Stay warm! :)
Special thanks to everyone who favorited and followed, and shout out to everyone who reviewed! Your encouraging comments really helped when I was struggling with writing this chapter. :D
CallMeSama: I can't PM you bc it seems to be disabled on your account. Anyways, that's a really sweet idea, and I'm honored that you want to do it for me. Feel free to post it in the comments (just be aware that the site removes any links) or PM me, whichever you prefer. :) Your comment is so sweet and it really means a lot to me. I'm really glad that you're enjoying my story - and especially that it got you into Doctor Who. Thanks for an awesome review, and I hope you enjoyed! :D
Thank you all for reading, and I hope you enjoyed! :D
General Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who, just Lyssa.