Flatline: A New Doctor
In a dimly lit room, a man paced back and forth across the sitting room of his flat, a phone pressed so firmly against his ear that his glasses were skewing on his nose but he didn't dare fix them. His gaze was fixed on the blinds, all down, minimizing the light coming through, hoping the lack of brightness might offer him cover. If he couldn't see well…then it had to mean others couldn't see HIM well in return, right?
He nearly sagged when the line opened, "Police, please," he said softly, his voice low and quiet, "Hello?" he paused to listen, hoping that the way the phone was pressed to him might muffle the, to his ears, loud voice on the other end, "Yes. I know who did it. Who did it all. I figured it out. No!" he frantically shook his head even though the person on the phone couldn't see him, "No, I can't speak up," he yanked his glasses off, "They might hear me," he glanced around the flat, tense, as a hissing noise rose up, "Oh, no. Oh, no. Listen!" he began to shout now, knowing he had been caught, knowing his time was up, there was no point to whisper any longer and he needed to make sure that the police heard him, "Listen. They are everywhere. All around. We've been so blind…"
He couldn't even finish, something latching onto his legs and dragging him down to the floor with a scream, forcing him to drop the phone, which dangled off the cord.
"Hello?" a woman was calling from the other end, "Sir? Are you in a safe place? Are you being held against your will? Sir?"
But the man was no longer there.
Instead, etched against the wall was a series of stripes…in the shape of the man being stretched thin, his mouth open in a silent scream…
~8~
"I think that's everything…" Tailor murmured as she and MK9 followed Clara back into the console room, Clara with a bag slung over her shoulder, Tailor with a laundry sack full of clothing, while MK9 tried to help as well, rolling on with Clara's purse on his back.
Angel glanced up from where she and the Doctor were at the console, setting some commands to take Clara home. They could have stayed where they were, having picked Clara up from her flat a few hours ago, but with Clara's request for better time management, they had piloted the TARDIS into the Vortex to drift in space so they could return her mere minutes after they left instead of hours later.
"You could leave it," Angel told the woman, "We don't mind, really."
"We do have literally acres of room," the Doctor agreed, "We'd never notice the mess."
Clara rolled her eyes, more at the Doctor's addendum than Angel's words, "Oh, no. It's alright. Danny's got a little bit territorial. The idea of me leaving so much as a toothbrush here...but, still, he's alright with us doing this which I admit's a little bit weird. Cos you'd think if he had a problem with me leaving stuff in the TARDIS, he'd object to me travelling in the TARDIS. But he's not, so…"
"Aunt Clara?" Tailor cut in.
"Yeah?"
"You're rambling as much as dad," Tailor eyed her, "Are you ok?"
"I'm fine," Clara answered quickly, inwardly cursing that she'd let her nerves get the best of her with her excuse.
This was…a lie. All of it. Danny had no idea that she was still travelling, though to be fair she'd never actually told HIM she planned to stop, just the Time Lords. She had wanted to cut that tie and go see him so she could tell him the truth that the travelling was over. She just…hadn't gotten to that point. They had talked, after his phone call, during their lunch break at Coal Hill the next day.
Not a lot had really been resolved.
She hadn't told him she was still travelling, he hadn't said anything about wanting her to stop. He hadn't really said anything at all about that. He'd just apologized for walking off and for how he sounded. He'd had a really bad day with the kids, he'd been called to talk with the Headmaster about if he was alright since his usual attitude was more dower and quiet than normal, and he'd had a terrible flashback to the war, all before he'd come to see her. It wasn't an excuse, he admitted, he just wanted to explain why he hadn't been in the right mindset to talk about something that already put him on edge.
She didn't really know where they were right now, where they stood relationship wise.
She was supposed to go on a date with him tomorrow night so perhaps they were starting again. And she was going to handle this differently. She'd start with, every so often, talking about an old adventure, little slips, not whole recollections. If Danny asked for more detail, she'd give it. Till he was more accepting of her little slips. Then she'd tell more full stories. Then she'd tell more about the Time Lords themselves, about the family. Then maybe casually run into one of the family while they were out or perhaps invite Skye to have her mother pick her up after a club meeting or something, just so he was exposed to a little more of the normal and personal aspect. Then…then she'd work on having him be a part of some sort Earth based adventure. And then, hopefully, he might see that she was safe and happy and that he'd be ok with her travelling again.
She wasn't going to lie. If he asked her, she would tell him what she was up to.
She just…didn't want to give him any reason to ask just yet, hence why she was taking all her stuff out of the old box and putting it back in her flat. Whenever Danny stopped by, she wanted him to see her stuff there and nothing missing. If he asked where her toothbrush was, she would have had to tell him in the TARDIS. And then he'd either ask why it was there or why she didn't get a new one and it would just snowball from there.
She also didn't want to tell the Time Lords what she was doing either. The Doctor would make some remark about Danny, Tailor would probably be cross with Danny and feel that he was making her feel like she had to cover things up again, and Angel…well Angel would probably tell her to tell Danny the truth. She wanted to do this her way.
Clara glanced over at the console and froze…Angel was looking at her with the look only a mother who knew their child was trying to cover something up could muster.
She knew.
...of course she knew.
Of all them, Angel WOULD be the one to know.
Oh god, she really hoped Angel wasn't going to say anything and…
"Ok," the Doctor spoke, cutting off Angel IF she was going to say something, "Same time you left, same place. Ish."
Clara glanced at Angel, the Time Lady giving her a small smile before she moved to her Mate's side to check the readings. She let out a breath, seeing Angel wasn't going to bring it up…and then the Doctor's words caught up to her, "Ish? Don't give me an ish."
"I'm sorry, Clara," Angel said, frowning at the readings, "But these readings are very...ishy."
"Ishy?" Tailor repeated, moving to her mother's side and looking at the Gallifreyan symbols. Her eyes widened, "Wow…that IS ishy."
"Alright," Clara sighed, "I'll take ishy, I guess," and headed for the doors. If even ANGEL thought the readings were off then it wasn't the Doctor's fault…this time. Though, when she got to the doors she couldn't help but frown at them, "Um, guys?" she called, staring at the doors…the smaller doors...doors that had literally shrunk to half their size.
"Scanners detect spatial disturbance," MK9 announced as the dog trundled over to Clara's side to scan the door.
That got the Time Lords' attention as they all hurried over to stare at the doors. An alarm trilled behind them.
"Aunt Idris isn't happy," Tailor spoke, translating what that meant.
The Doctor moved forward, getting on this knees, to pull the doors open, peering out to see Earth, as the scanners had indicated before. He began to crawl out of it, holding out a hand half into the box to help Angel as she followed, and the rest once she was through, Clara tossing her bag to the side with her purse and laundry before crawling after them, though MK9 just rolled on out.
"Oh my god, that's adorable," Tailor had to laugh when she got to her feet and turned around to see that the TARDIS had shrunk down on the outside too, to about the size of a child.
"You alright?" the Doctor asked Angel, more focused on his Mate as she swayed a bit upon standing.
Angel nodded, blinking a bit though she felt like a flush had gone through her, rushing downwards, though not one of heat but of light-headedness. She was sure she probably looked a bit paler as a result, "I'm fine," she reassured the Doctor, watching as Tailor began to walk around the smaller TARDIS with MK9 to examine it, "Just a little lightheaded," she reassured him, "The Spatial shift."
"Right," he nodded, though he glanced at her a moment longer. But he didn't sense any falsehood off of her, she wasn't lying, but he still worried, seeing her needing a moment to gather herself wasn't like her. But, then again, this wasn't like the TARDIS either, and Angel had always been more connected to the TARDIS, she would be more affected by such a change to it than he would.
"I wonder what caused this…" Tailor wondered aloud, "MK9?"
"Scanners undetermined," the robotic dog answered, not getting a clear reading.
"If I had a sonic…" Tailor began.
The Doctor rolled his eyes and pulled out his own, tossing it to her to further scan the box, there were a few settings on the sonic that MK9 didn't have yet, "I don't think we're bigger," the Doctor worked through the possibilities, "Are we?"
"Negative," MK9 announced as he scanned them.
"Next question," Clara huffed, "Where even are we?"
"Bristol," Angel answered, closing her eyes and taking a breath, not just to confirm that where they were matched the scans the TARDIS had run, but to get her bearings too. That rush of lightheadedness had taken her by surprise, though she should have expected it, looking back. Whenever anything affected the TARDIS it always seemed to affect her too.
"Bristol?" Clara gaped, "We're in Bristol?"
"Affirmative," MK9 answered, utilizing his GPS to confirm.
"And 120 miles from where we should be," the Doctor agreed, "Impressive."
"No," Clara huffed, "Not impressive. Annoying."
"No, this is impressive," the Doctor pointed at the TARDIS, "This...is annoying," and then pointed at Clara…or tried to, had Angel not reached out to tug his moving finger down and link their hands together.
"What he means, Clara," Angel opened her eyes to look at the woman, "Is that Sissy never does something like this, and none of us put in commands to do it either."
"So why is she?" Tailor nodded, sighing as she tossed the sonic back to her father, "Nothing," she told him, the sonic not a help in this case.
"Which is huge," the Doctor beamed, "Well, not literally huge, slightly smaller than usual. Which is huge."
"Yes," Clara deadpanned, "I get it. You're excited. When can I go home?"
"Oh, come on, Aunt Clara," Tailor laughed as she moved to Clara's side, linking her arm through hers, "Where's your sense of adventure?"
"I'm pretty sure I left it on the Yangtze River," Clara grumbled under her breath, their last trip before this one.
"Your house isn't going anywhere," the Doctor waved her off, "And neither is ours until we get this figured out. Could you not just let me enjoy this moment of not knowing something? I mean, it happens so rarely."
Tailor snorted at that.
"Hey!" the Doctor huffed, giving her a mock-glare.
Tailor merely shrugged in reply.
"Come on, my love," Angel tugged him back to the box, "Let's run some internal scans, might pick something up."
He let out a light breath but nodded, following her back into the TARDIS.
"What about you?" Clara turned to Tailor as she crouched down to examine MK9's scanner.
Tailor glanced up at her, "We're going to scan around the TARDIS, see if we pick anything up."
They'd scanned the box itself, but not a few feet around it. If anyone was sending some sort of signal to the box or some sort of command, hopefully the scanners would pick that up at least.
"Give me a mo, I'll go get the sonic and help," Clara told her, hurrying to follow the Doctor and Angel back into the TARDIS to get the sonic.
~8~
A small group of men were gathered around just outside a sopping area, standing before a long wall of graffiti and, while most of the men appeared resigned and agitated, one youth was smirking as he looked at the artwork on display. It was HIS work after all, why wouldn't he be proud of it?
Well, he wasn't proud he'd gotten caught doing it, now he was stuck there with the other men, serving community time to paint over it. It was a travesty to cover up such brilliant art in his opinion, just because it wasn't what most would call art.
"It's your filth, Rigsy!" an older man, always a grouch, spat as he strode up to the boy, "Start with your signature," he turned and dipped a large brush into a pail of white paint, holding it out to Rigsy to take.
"Oh, come on, there's no need for this," one of the other men complained, all of them aware that it was rather cruel of the man to force the boy to erase his own work, work he was clearly proud of and put effort into, even if it was graffiti.
But the old man waited till Rigsy took the brush, "There you go," he smirked, watching as Rigsy turned to begin painting over his name before he glared at the other men, "Get on with it. This is community service, not a holiday camp!"
Rigsy sighed, continuing to paint on.
If that old grouch thought this was punishment…he clearly didn't know anything about graffiti artists, they LOVED a blank canvas to tag.
~8~
"Ah, there it is, give me," Clara called as she scrambled to her feet within the TARDIS, hurrying over to the console where the Doctor was scanning it with the sonic, Angel to the side and running scans on a monitor.
"Give what?" the Doctor asked, not halting.
"The sonic," she said, holding out a hand for it, "I'm going to help Tailor scan the area and…"
She was cut off suddenly by the TARDIS shaking around them, an alarm blaring over them. Angel quickly reached out to switch it off.
"What was that?" Clara tensed, looking to the Time Lords.
But the Doctor's attention was on something past her shoulder, which he darted past her for, rushing right up to the doors and stopping before them, they were even smaller now. So small that not even MK9 would be able to trundle on through.
"Oh, that can't be good," he breathed.
"Doctor…" Clara began, "Tailor is still outside."
The Doctor's eyes widened as he spun around, "Angel!"
Angel nodded and disappeared in a flash of gold…
Only to reappear two feet away, with a deep frown on her face as she turned to the console, "Sissy, let me out."
~8~
"Scanners indicate anomalous signal, Mistress," MK9 stated, already starting to roll in the direction his scanners.
"Hey, hold on," Tailor called as she jogged after him, "MK9, you know we're not supposed to wander off," she told the dog, catching up to it just before it began to try and hover down the stairs that would lead to a pedestrian subway.
"Apologies, Mistress," MK9 wagged his ears, "Signal is below."
Tailor glanced down the stairs and to the robotic dog, before she sighed, crouching down to pick him up, "We're just going down the stairs, looking at where the signal is, and then coming right back, ok?"
"Affirmative."
"And if dad asks, you were the one wandering off and I went to stop you."
"Affirmative."
She shook her head, but patted the dog on the head with her other hand, hopping down the last few stairs to the pathway below, turning with MK9 in a slow circle, "Which direction?"
MK9 was silent until the spin came to the proper direction, "Ahead," he announced.
Tailor frowned as she looked ahead to see a memorial of sorts along the pathway. It was a mural of people painted along the wall, their backs to onlookers, with photos and flowers and toys scattered at the bottom of it. She wouldn't have needed MK9's scanner to tell her the signal was coming from that direction now that she looked at it. She was getting a very creepy feeling off that mural like…even though it was paint and the backs were to her, the people in them were watching her...
"Cheer up, love," a man in a colored vest spoke as he walked past her, "Might never happen."
"Have some respect," a young black man glared at his coworker, all of them clearly doing some sort of community service, "She's grieving."
"Oh, sorry, love," the first man at least had the decency to apologize, "I didn't mean nothing by it."
Tailor gave him a brief nod before she turned to try and head back to the stairs, really wanting to get as far away from the mural as possible, when the black man rushed after her.
"Sorry about them," he offered, "They're idiots."
"It's fine," Tailor reassured him.
"I've lost someone, too. My Aunt Karina. Deaf as a post," he glanced back at the paintings, and then to Tailor once more, "Didn't really know her that well but she's still gone. Is your one in the mural?"
"Um, no?"
The man nodded his head, empathetic, "I'm sure they'll get round to it at some point. I'm not really with that lot out there. I just have to do this community service thing. I just do graffiti. Not anything, you know, murdery or..."
"Sorry," Tailor cut in, "But um…what is that mural for though? What happened to the people in it?"
The boy frowned, "You mean you don't know?"
"Negative," MK9 answered.
"Did that thing just talk?" the boy gaped at the robotic dog.
"Oi, that's my doggy!" Tailor glared at him, tugging MK9 back a bit, defensive.
"Sorry, sorry," the boy gave her an odd look.
Tailor sighed, "It's fine, just…tell me about that mural?"
~8~
"What do you mean let you out?" the Doctor quickly moved to Angel's side, though a flash of her mind told him what she meant. She had tried to teleport out of the TARDIS and to Tailor's side, but the TARDIS had somehow blocked her, "Oi!" he glared at the rotor, "Stop that!"
"What happened?" Clara rushed over, looking between the two Time Lords.
"Sissy won't let me out," Angel told her, frowning at the rotor.
"How do you mean? I thought you could teleport anywhere? How's the TARDIS stopping you?"
"She gave me the power of the Vortex," Angel reminded her, "But we still don't know how the heart of the TARDIS works, not fully. Somehow Sissy is blocking my ability to teleport out."
"She must be using her own access to the Vortex to cancel out yours," the Doctor rubbed his head, his hearts starting to pound at the thought of his daughter being out there without them, "Maybe your teleporting works like travel through the Vortex, just much faster and more localized," he looked at Angel, they never really went into detail about HOW her abilities worked, only really focused on them when they weren't working or worked too much, "She's blocking your access."
Angel frowned and concentrated on her hand, watching as it began to glow with the power of the Vortex, like normal.
"Ok, she's blocking your access to the Vortex for the sake of travel then," he corrected with a roll of his eyes, "Which doesn't help us get to our daughter."
"You don't need to get to me," Tailor's voice spoke behind them.
The trio spun around and could only blink when they looked toward the doors to see part of Tailor's face as she looked through them, grinning and looking like she was doing her best not to crack up.
"Tailor!" the Doctor shouted, running towards the doors.
"You're tiny!" Tailor giggled slightly, "The TARDIS is so small now, it's like the size of Aunt Amy's paper-mache model. I can actually pick it up, it's adorable. I mean, a bit creepy since you're all the same size as before, so that means the exterior dimensions are the only thing that changed…"
"Affirmative!" they could hear MK9 squeak from somewhere, which eased the Doctor's nerves even just a bit that the robotic dog was still with her at least.
"Still, from the outside, SO cute!"
"Sweetheart," Angel cut in lightly, moving to the Doctor's side, his relief that their daughter was alright flooding through her, not that she wasn't relieved herself, "Where did you go?'
"What?!" the Doctor nearly snapped, giving his daughter a stern look, "What did we say about wandering off!?"
Tailor rolled her eyes, "I didn't!" she huffed, "MK9 trundled off and I had to go get him," she defended, "And it was a good thing I did too, I think I've found something. This nice bloke named Rigsy…"
"Who?" the Doctor shook his head, "What? Bloke? Why are you off talking to boys?"
"My love," Angel gave him a light smile, reaching out to touch his arm, "I don't think she intentionally sought out a boy to talk to."
"I didn't," Tailor added, "He sought me out."
"You're not helping!" Clara called to her, joining the Time Lords at the doors when she saw Tailor smirking as she teased her father, "Doctor, why don't you go sit down, you look like you're about to have a stroke."
Tailor sighed, knowing she probably shouldn't tease her father, not when he was likely already freaking out about her being outside the TARDIS while he was stuck inside, "I'm not interested in human boys, dad," she promised, moving the box so he could see her cross her hearts, "Honest. They're funny, and they're great as family and friends, but I'm not interested in dating anyone," she just barely refrained from adding 'yet' to that.
"Good," the Doctor sighed, his hand resting on his chest as his hearts raced.
"Besides, they'd have to get past my dad first, and he's a really tough act to follow," she joked, recalling what Sarah Jane often said about him.
"Exactly," he pointed at her, "No boys unless they get past me first. And even if they do, they have to get past your mum and that's impossible."
Angel had to shake her head at his antics. But she liked to think that, if the day ever came where Tailor did find herself interested in someone else, that her senses would at least let her know if the person was good for her daughter, if it was meant to be and would lead to centuries and millennia of happiness for her little girl.
"You were saying, sweetheart?" she called to the girl.
"Right, yes, Rigsy," Tailor nodded, ignoring the face her father pulled at the mention of the boy by name, "Apparently people have gone missing all over the place," she told them, "Mysterious disappearances, mysteriously shrinking TARDIS…do you think there could be a connection..."
"Could be," the Doctor remarked.
"Mum?" Tailor finished, giggling under her breath at her father's pout, he'd spoken up too soon for her to direct her question.
Angel laughed, patting the Doctor on the arm, "I think there might be," she told her daughter, "The sensors are down but I've been thinking about what could cause this, something nearby has to be leaching the external dimensions."
Tailor grew serious at that, "And you guys can't get out, can you?"
"No," the Doctor sighed.
"Angel tried to teleport out," Clara told her, "But your aunt is apparently refusing to let her."
"Sissy's trying to protect us," Angel defended lightly, having had a moment to hear the TARDIS's reasoning, "She's had to close down all access to the Vortex, if something's affecting the external dimensions, she didn't want to let them get to the internal ones."
"So we just need to figure out what," Tailor determined.
"No, no," the Doctor shook his head, "WE need to figure out what, YOU need to stay where you are or farther away from where you are, in a safe direction."
Tailor gave him an unimpressed look, so much like her father that Clara had to bite her lip to keep from laughing, Angel sending Clara a small smile as she caught the resemblance too.
"That's not going to work, dad," Tailor pointed out, "You can't risk taking off in this state and you're going to need to be closer to where the leaching is coming to figure out what's going on and reverse it. The only way you're going to manage that is if I carry you there."
The Doctor opened his mouth as though he were about to argue…when it snapped shut because…he couldn't. There really was no way to counter the points she made. The sensors were down so they had to investigate personally, but they couldn't get out or move the box themselves.
"I know you're not happy about it," Tailor continued, "But it's what has to be done. I've got MK9 with me, he's got a laser! And you and mum and Aunt Clara will be RIGHT there, the entire time. Mum may not be able to teleport out but you can still use the Vortex, right?"
Angel glanced at the Doctor, lightly patting his arm to move him aside so she could reach her hand through the porthole-sized doors, Tailor jerking back to give her room. It was a bit hard to see with her hand through the hole, but she could feel the Vortex stirring and, with a snap of her fingers, a golden wall rose up to surround Tailor and MK9.
"So see?" Tailor continued as her mother pulled back, the wall fading, "Still have firepower. Still have protection. Still have your 27 brains," she joked, "And Aunt Clara's human perspective. I CAN do this, dad, it'll…it'll be like the next step after the Blitzer. A plan all together, then a plan I do with you watching out."
She didn't add that the next step after would be her going a plan all on her own, she didn't want to give him heartsattacks right now.
"Please?" she looked at her father.
The Doctor looked at Angel, at a loss of what to do. On the one hand he had planned, ever since a little before the Blitzer, to help his daughter prepare, to learn, so she could handle herself one day. He just never thought that day would be so soon, too soon. He didn't want her to be out there on her own like this, with them having NO idea what was going on and not readily available to help her or protect her. But, on the other hand, they really didn't have another choice unless they called one of the family to pop in to assist and who knew how long that would be or if they were even available what with the messes Torchwood and UNIT kept getting into…
Angel could see it in his expression, his reluctance, but also the resignation of what had to happen. It wasn't just that though, she was Tailor's mother as much as he was her father. They were parents together and he didn't want to give a go-ahead if it was something SHE didn't agree with either.
"She is your daughter through and through," was all she said with a small smile.
Her hearts ached to not be out there with her daughter, and a pit had formed in her stomach at the knowledge that she wouldn't be able to get out there if something truly horrible happened. But in spite of that, there was a warmth in her chest too, a…reassurance, that all would be well. Her daughter was every bit their child, clever and curious, cautious and caring, and capable. They would still be there, she could still reach out to protect her child if danger arose, and the Doctor could walk her through anything she didn't know how to do.
Tailor had always trusted them, it was time they returned the favor.
The Doctor sighed, "Fine," he said, but pointed a sharp finger at Tailor just as the girl began to squeal and cheer, "But there are conditions!"
"Right, of course," Tailor nodded, serious.
The Doctor rubbed his head, before moving to the console to grab a few items and bits and bobs, sonicing them and the controls, and returning to the door, "Psychic paper," he told her, handing it to his daughter through the door, "Keep it on you at all times."
"Ok," Tailor took it.
"Sonic," he continued, "Does not leave your hand, missy!"
"Like it's glued there," she agreed.
"Stick this in your ear," he ordered, handing an earbud to her and waiting till she'd done so to go to the console, "Can you hear me?"
"Yup!" she popped the p.
"Now you may feel a slight shock…" he warned.
"Did you just hack my optic nerve with nanotech?" Tailor asked with a huff, feeling just that.
"Yes, I did," he nodded, moving to the monitor to set up the connection.
"What's that mean?" Clara whispered to Angel, not wanting to distract the Doctor as he worked or Tailor as she took directions.
"We'll be able to see what Tailor does, and hear what she hears," she explained, leading Clara to the console where the feed was clearing.
They could see the TARDIS, held in their daughter's hands, before she stepped closer to MK9 and set the box down on his back for a smoother ride.
"Right," Tailor straightened, "We ready to go?"
The Doctor let out a long breath, looking at Angel and holding out a hand to take hers, squeezing it a moment for strength, "Yes," he determined.
"Right," Tailor nodded, "They had this weird mural this way," she told them, starting to head in that direction with MK9 carrying the TARDIS, "It's supposed to be a memorial for the people who've gone missing, but I got a really weird feeling from it. Maybe it could help lead us to the leaching."
The Doctor kept his eyes on the monitor, watching intently for anything out of the ordinary to warn his daughter of…but it was a fairly uneventful walk and hop down a few stairs to the shopping area.
"What do you think?" Tailor asked, looking around to make sure no one was nearby to hear her talking to herself.
The Doctor cleared his throat to focus on the task at hand, "Hold out the sonic and spin, slowly," he added, not wanting her to go so fast she (and they) ended up dizzy, "Scan the area."
"My love," Angel said gently, "I'm going to wait by the door, easier access if anything happens," she told him. She didn't know if she'd be able to bring up the Vortex outside the TARDIS from inside the box or only when her hand was outside the doors. Either way, she'd feel much better being nearer the doors so she could react accordingly.
The Doctor nodded, pressing a kiss to the back of her hand, before releasing her to go wait, "Come on, Clara, you're up."
"What do you need me to do?" Clara moved to his side, ready to help., her earlier annoyance forgotten in the face of Tailor potentially being in danger.
"For now, keep an eye on this reading," he pointed to a small gauge, "This is our connection to Tailor, anything starts to move that needle, even a bit, you let me know."
"Got it," Clara nodded. She would have liked something more involved, but anything at all that she could do to reassure the Time Lords and help keep Tailor safe she would do in a heartbeat.
"Are you getting anything?" Tailor asked, making a full circle.
The Doctor sighed, not sure if he was happy or not about the readings, "Nothing useful," he told her. Nothing useful meant his daughter was safe, but also meant they still didn't know what was going on which put his daughter in danger.
"Hey!" a male voice called, and he looked up to see a young black man jogging over to Tailor, "You never did tell me your name."
"Oh, who's this now?" the Doctor grumbled, "No time to fraternize. Come on, get rid of him."
Angel didn't need to see her daughter's face to know she was grinning.
"I'm…Doctor Taylor Jones," Tailor introduced herself, holding out a hand to shake the man's, "Nice to meet you."
Clara had to laugh at that, "She's so your daughter," she commented, glancing between Angel as she smiled in the doorway of the TARDIS, and the Doctor as he glared fiercely at the young man on the monitor.
"Hello again, Rigsy," Tailor added so they would know who the man was.
Rigsy eyed her oddly.
"Oi!" the Doctor shouted, "Don't do that! No doing that! Stop eyeing my daughter!"
Clara glanced at the monitor, "He looks like he's trying to work out how someone as young as Tailor is a doctor," she commented, "He's not checking her out."
"He's still looking," the Doctor muttered under his breath.
Angel had to cover her mouth with a hand to keep from laughing out loud. Their poor daughter was going to have a hell of a time ever even one day potentially finding a Mate if the Doctor kept this up.
"Sorry for asking," Rigsy began, "But…you don't look old enough to be a doctor."
Tailor shrugged, "I'm very clever."
Clara snorted, "Your daughter there, Doctor."
The Doctor couldn't keep the smug smirk off his face if he tried.
"And very curious," Tailor continued, "So tell me more about these missing people. Who was the last one to vanish?"
"I can do you one better than plain old telling," he remarked, "I can show you. Last guy lived just down the road. This way."
The Doctor was back to grumbling as Tailor turned to follow the man, now about to spend MORE time with him, "I don't like him."
"A lot of people would say the same about you, Doctor," Clara pointed out with a raised eyebrow.
"And you are the one who always saves the day," Angel reminded him, sending him a gentle smile, "Perhaps Rigsy will surprise you."
The Doctor just huffed but fell silent.
~8~
"My dad would LOVE you," Tailor told Rigsy as the man literally ducked under police tape meant to bar the entrance to the flat in question.
"No, I would not," the Doctor huffed as he watched the feed on the TARDIS monitor. He glanced up to Angel, "He's teaching our daughter terrible habits!" he called to her.
Angel looked back over to him, "Sonicing and entering?" she reminded him of his own less than wonderful habits that could get their daughter in trouble.
"That's not…it wasn't…I don't…" he sputtered for a response, sounding very much like his last incarnation, "Shut up," he groused.
Angel just laughed as Clara shook her head at his antics.
"Thanks, I think?" Rigsy chuckled on the monitor, leading Tailor into the sitting room, "So this bloke, he was the last one to go missing. And when he disappeared all the doors and windows were locked from the inside."
Tailor nodded.
"Wasn't me!" Angel called over, which made the Doctor roll his eyes, though it brought up a good point that teleports could be in use.
"I love a good locked room mystery," he mumbled, starting to get a little more invested in what Rigsy was saying.
"I prefer historical fictions," Tailor countered, not realizing she'd said it out loud. Every trip in the TARDIS showed her another perspective of a historical event or another. Being able to read different variations of it always made things much more interesting.
"What?" Rigsy looked at her.
Tailor turned her head to the side, her arm lifting to point to her ear where the earbud was, "Sorry, was talking to my dad."
"You've…got your dad on the phone?" Rigsy gave her another odd look.
"He's a doctor, too," she focused on him again, "Two doctors are better than one. And my Aunt Clara's on the line too, she's an Agent," she added, stretching the truth a bit, her aunt had been/would be a Time Agent, but Rigsy didn't need to know THAT much yet.
"What is your mum on too?" Rigsy deadpanned.
"She's psychic, so yes," Tailor nodded, moving to look around the room, unperturbed by Rigsy's incredulous expression.
"Let's see," the Doctor leaned in to closely examine everything his daughter was seeing, "Missing people, tiny TARDIS, what's the link? Sonic, sweetheart."
Tailor lifted the sonic, still in hand as promised, and began to flick it around the room, MK9 trundling around the base of the room himself as he, too, scanned and sent the readings back to the TARDIS. She had commanded the dog to operate on silent for the moment, Rigsy had seemed spooked when he'd spoken last and, in an effort to make things run smoother, she'd set the dog to just send the results back to her parents, unless there was a danger about.
"I think this is great that someone's finally looking into this," Rigsy commented as Tailor got to work, "The police weren't doing anything. They never do on this estate. People were thinking that no one was listening. That no one cared. So, yeah. I think it's great what you're doing."
"Ok, right, I think that we can manage on our own from now on," the Doctor cut in.
Clara snorted, "He's NOT flirting with her, Doctor," she saw right through his remark, "He's just being grateful is all."
"He's complimenting her!"
"And you don't want people to compliment our daughter?" Angel called over.
"Yes, but not BOYS."
"Well, they DO make up half the population of Earth," Clara gave him a look, "It's a 50-50 chance a boy will talk to her."
"Oh, don't give him any ideas on how to change the odds, Aunt Clara," Tailor nearly groaned into the comm., just knowing her father would start to wonder if he could.
"We're not sending Rigsy off just yet, my love," Angel told him, "He knows more about what's going on than we do. What if we come up with more questions?"
The Doctor sighed, rubbing his forehead, done in by logic, "Fine, fine," he muttered, "The fluorescent pudding brain can stay."
Tailor spun around to face Rigsy, "What?"
"What?" Rigsy looked at her, startled, "I didn't say anything."
"You looked like you wanted to."
"You weren't even facing me."
"Doesn't mean you weren't thinking about saying something. What was it?"
"And there's the Angel in her," Clara smiled, hearing that. It was sort of like how Angel always managed to answer the phone a moment before it rang. Tailor had sensed the man wasn't saying something. It was interesting, to her, how clearly the traits of her parents came through in Tailor when they weren't right next to her. It was also wonderful to see the small ways she was different from them too, her own person, a wonderful person.
"He could still be in the room," was all Rigsy said.
"What do you mean?" Tailor asked.
"It's like one of those locked room things you get in books. It's always something weird, like, he's still in the room or something. Do you want to go and check out another flat?"
"Still in the room…" Tailor murmured, starting to look around even more carefully.
"Or something in the room you can't see…" Angel spoke too, a frown on her face, why did they keep seeming to run into 'invisible' enemies lately.
"Wish you were here, mum," Tailor mumbled, having heard her.
"Maybe he's lost in the desert, or something," Rigsy remarked, causing Tailor to look back over to where he was staring at a mural of sand on the wall.
Angel frowned, catching a glimpse of it in the Doctor's mind, but it was quickly gone, replaced with their daughter continuing to look around the room.
"I'm missing something," Tailor sighed, "I know I am."
"It's not just you, sweetheart," the Doctor reassured her, not wanting her to feel let down or like she was failing, "All of us."
She nodded, "Ok, missing man, locked room, tiny TARDIS, leaching external dimensions…"
"Sorry, what?" Rigsy turned to her, "External what?"
"External dimensions," Tailor repeated, giving an absent wave of her arm towards the TARDIS resting on MK9's back, "Explains the tiny TARDIS. Really Rigsy, you're cleverer than that, keep up."
Clara blinked and looked at the Doctor, "I'm honestly not sure if she sounded more like you or Angel just then."
Could go either way. It could have been an insult that he was too slow. Or encouragement that he was clever.
"Yeah, so…my lunch break's nearly up," Rigsy spoke, starting to edge towards the door, "This...this has been...interesting…"
"I'm not mad, Rigsy," Tailor told him, turning to face him, "Come here, let me show you what I meant."
"Tailor, what are you doing?" the Doctor called as Tailor lifted the TARDIS off of MK9 and placed it on a shelf so it was more eye level.
"Mum, can you open the doors please?" Tailor asked instead, glancing over at Rigsy as the man inched back in, though still wary.
Angel turned and pulled the tiny doors open, peering out at her daughter and Rigsy, the poor boy so startled he stumbled back a few steps, "Hello," she greeted the boy.
"Um…hi?" Rigsy looked between Tailor and her, a little confused and looking a great deal like he had no idea what was going on.
"I'm Angel," she introduced.
"My mum," Tailor beamed.
"Nice to meet you, Rigsy."
"Yeah…you too," Rigsy gave her a polite nod.
"See, my love," Angel called over her shoulder, "He's a perfectly respectful young man."
"Um, who's she talking to?" Rigsy whispered to Tailor.
"My dad," Tailor whispered back though a little louder than he had, "Aunt Clara's in there, too."
"You've got three people crammed in that itty bitty space?"
Angel laughed, "Our ship is bigger on the inside, don't worry."
"Ship?" Rigsy frowned, "What, like a spaceship?"
"Correctamundo!" Tailor cheered, and then laughed when she realized what she'd said.
Angel bit her lip when she heard the Doctor grumbling behind her about 'that ridiculous word' again.
"So you're like aliens, or something?" Rigsy seemed to calm down somewhat.
Angel guessed it was a little to do with how prevalent aliens had become, after all the events that occurred on Earth, it was almost impossible to hide aliens any longer. But it was a little more than that though, she got a feeling off Rigsy that his words earlier were true. He very much was just so grateful someone was looking into these disappearances, alien or human, they were helping.
Therefore, they were good aliens.
And now she got the feeling that he was starting to guess that the disappearances might be alien related too…which meant there might be bad aliens around.
"Good ones," Angel agreed, reassuring him as best she could, "Always happy to help."
"Well dad can be a bit grumpy to help at times," Tailor chimed in, "But he always helps."
"Tailor," Angel called, a frown starting to grow on her face, "That painting on the wall, of the desert, could you show it to me once more?"
"Sure," Tailor nodded, picking up the TARDIS and carrying it over to the wall, holding it up so her mother could take a closer look.
Angel tilted her head as she eyed the pattern on the wall, that pit in her stomach telling her it wasn't what it appeared to be but also that she should not reach out and touch it either. There was something familiar about it that she just couldn't place…
…a web of red lines stretched across the wall...
'…trying to understand three dimensions...'
…a mural with the people facing forwards instead of back...
"Tailor," the Doctor called through the comm., seeing those flashes in her mind, growing serious and nervous for his daughter, "Scan that painting."
Tailor nodded, setting the TARDIS back down on MK9's back to flick the sonic on the painting.
Not even a moment later an alarm began to blare within the TARDIS.
Tailor spun around to look down at the box, "Dad? What's wrong?" she looked at the sonic, "It wasn't me, I didn't even get a complete scan…"
"No, sweetheart," the Doctor reassured her, "Whatever's leaching, it just drained a massive amount of energy from inside the TARDIS."
"Right," Tailor turned, reaching out to grab Rigsy's arm, "Andiamo."
It was too much a coincidence that the alarms went off, that the power was drained, right as she was going to scan that painting. It put her on edge and made her feel like there was a little more to the thought that whoever was responsible might still be there. They probably should have started with one of the earlier disappearances, evidence might still be left behind but the people who did it wouldn't be.
Probably a better thing that she get out now before her father realized that too.
~8~
Angel sighed as she leaned against the now-closed doors of the TARDIS, rubbing her head, "I'm so sorry, my love."
The Doctor looked over at her, "For what?" he asked, a frown on his face. He thought back to his most recent thoughts and emotions but he'd not done anything that would make her feel bad or blame her for anything.
"My family cared for the TARDISes," she reminded him, "We nurtured them and adapted them. I knew dimensions before I knew colors…I don't know why this is so difficult for me to work through."
The Doctor had always been the clever one, the one who could work out anything and everything. And she was always fine with that, she loved how clever he was, she loved seeing him work things out, he was so impressive. She had long ago come to terms with her own lack of cleverness, compared to other Time Ladies that is. A simple TARDIS farmer, that was her.
And that was probably why she was feeling more upset than normal about all this. Oh she was all over the place, it felt, one minute confused, then fearful for her daughter, then happy to meet Rigsy, then back to upset and feeling like she was useless. And she knew she wasn't, not normally. Between her visions and the power of the Vortex, she was a force in her own right, equal to the Doctor.
But the one thing she had to her, that was just her and not some fluke of natural gift or odd choice of the TARDIS…was her history with the old boxes. She knew them, better than anything. She might even say she knew them better than she knew the Doctor, better than she knew her own daughter. So much of her life had been based in them and around them. TARDISes were HER thing…and it was getting to her more than it ever had before to know she wasn't living up to that level of knowledge now.
One second she'd feel confident she knew what was going on, then she'd second guess herself, then she'd feel hopeless, angry, determined, and on and on.
It was likely also Tailor being out there, alone, and she couldn't help her daughter. She couldn't come up with the answer for what was wrong with the TARDIS and now her daughter was out there investigating to try and work it out too.
The Doctor glanced at Clara, nodding at the monitor, before he slipped away and over to Angel as Clara took his spot watching out for Tailor as she walked down a street with Rigsy.
"Hey," he reached out to take Angel's hands, "This is not your fault and no one is blaming you. I don't know what's going on either."
"I know," she sighed, lightly swinging her arms, "I just…TARDISes were always the one area I knew. NOT knowing this…"
He nodded, understanding. He was always so curious to know more and more and more, and there were times where not knowing drove him up the walls. There were too many times to count, those situations, but he hated not knowing, especially when the thing he didn't know was a danger to those around him. He felt it all the time, it was normal to him, he expected it.
Angel never really felt that, not often, not so extremely. She was content to learn, to not know certain things, because HE knew them or would know them soon enough. She didn't expect herself to know everything. Except when it came to the TARDISes. This was her moment of hating not knowing something. There was so much in the Universe that he couldn't realistically know everything, and that was fine to her. But for this ONE thing that she knew everything about, and to be thrown by this?
She was struggling.
"Something to add to that manual you and Tailor are working on," he offered, giving her a small, reassuring smile, "We'll figure this out, together."
She smiled back at him, nodding, "We will," she agreed, "Tailor's counting on us."
"Tailor's counting on us," he repeated, leaning in to kiss her forehead, then her lips, before he moved back to the console, a thought having struck him while they were speaking, "Sweetheart," he called to Tailor, "We've seen the most recent disappearance, but what was the first one?"
"Rigsy," Tailor turned to the man, "Do you happen to know who the first disappearance was?"
He nodded, "Yeah, but I don't think we'll be able to check it out though."
"Why not?"
"The police have it locked down."
Tailor snorted, "Leave that to me."
~8~
"I'm really glad that worked," Tailor muttered to her parents as she followed Rigsy and a policewoman towards the house of the first victim. She'd never really used the psychic paper before and, being a psychic-in-training, she hadn't known if she would end up canceling out the paper.
"I'm just glad that you went with a more believable ID and not something ridiculous like Ministry of Gardening," Clara countered, sending the Doctor a pointed look for his rather terrible covers, causing him to roll his eyes.
"MI5?" the policewoman was reading off the paper as she led the two of them through the halls, into the room where it happened.
"Mhmm," Tailor hummed, looking around carefully, "This string of disappearances has got our attention."
"You look a bit young to be MI5," the woman remarked.
"I'm just the newest operative," Tailor covered, "Better to fit in with the shopping area and whatnot."
"Well, you've come to the right place, ma'am," the police woman smiled at her, believing her as it made sense, "First reported disappearance, a Mr. Heath. It's not on the estate, but it's exactly the same MO as the rest..."
The Doctor frowned as he watched through their daughter's eyes, he was starting to think that it didn't have anything to do with teleports, neither the sonic nor MK9's scans picked up evidence or residual for such tech. But what could get into a locked room? It wasn't a ghost, they weren't real, so it wasn't like it passed through the walls…
He tensed as another thought struck him, "Tailor," he called out, "Be very, very careful here, sweetheart. Locked room mysteries. Classic solution number one…" he pointed at Clara.
"Um, they're still in the room?" she guessed, thinking back to what Rigsy had said.
He nodded, taking a deep breath to try and remain calm, sending Angel a meaningful look to be ready at the doors, because there was one other solution, almost worse than the first.
"Classic solution number two…they're in the walls."
A/N: I wanted to try and go in a different direction with this episode. In my first two attempts, Clara was outside the TARDIS with the Time Lords inside and, in one, was joined later by one of the pairings child, an adult. I wanted to sort of see what would happen if it was the child/teenager of the Time Lords that got stuck outside without Clara or their parents. How would Tailor handle this situation? And it sort of felt a little right, in terms of the next step for her. The Doctor is aware that he may not always be around or that, one day, Tailor may want to go off on her own adventures, and he's trying to do his best to teach her all he can and make sure she's safe, like with the Blitzer. The next logical step would be for her to be leading an adventure, more on her own, but with her parents nearby to step in.
It just happened WAY sooner than the Doctor would have liked lol.
And in a manner he did not prepare for or want to have come up.
And then to have a BOY around his daughter without him there to intimidate him? I think this is his worst nightmare playing out lol ;)
We got a tiny look into how Tailor handles the lead-up to the danger, her own little quirks, habits, and abilities come up. Now I wonder how she'll handle the true danger? }:)
Just a quick final little note, I've caught up a majority of my stories by now, there's only Angel and Claire left (which I'll get to once I finish Flatline for Angel). Once I've gotten through both of them, I'll be working on getting some other stories going so if you haven't voted on my profile for which stories (of a select few) you're most looking forward to, head on over ;) I'm really undecided which to post once Angel is completed and hoping your thoughts on what you're excited for will help me plan it out ;)
Some notes on reviews...
I'm glad you like TL6 :) She's been super fun to outline and work on and I'm very excited to one day get her posted too :)
Thank you! I really try to keep Tailor relevant and her own person, but with the influences or some things in common with her parents :) I feel like with Evy's child, he went very far into the mini-Doctor personality with tiny hints of his mother popping up. Tailor came across to me as more blended, but she also had Clara there as the 'cool aunt' to help sort of soften that, I think :) I wanted to explore more of her here, her own thoughts and traits and POV for how she would handle this situation, I hope you'll enjoy it :)