The Empty Child

When Callie and the Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS, Rose and Mickey were looking up at the sky. Callie looked up, too. The stars were fairly bright and plentiful, especially given the fact that they were in the middle of London. She supposed that eighty years less of pollution meant more visible starlight.

"What are you looking at?" The Doctor asked. Rose and Mickey both jumped, noticing them for the first time. Rose's eyes flicked down to their hands— noticing that they weren't connected, Callie guessed.

"Nothing," Mickey said finally. "Just a shadow."

Rose pursed her lips, but didn't argue. Callie looked up again, but didn't see anything.

"You two alright?" Rose asked. Callie smiled and nodded.

"For now, yeah. Anyway, the Doctor was saying something about a Code Mauve?"

Mickey snorted. "That sounds so stupid. Code Red sounds much more dire."

"It's the intergalactic color for danger!" The Doctor protested. "It doesn't need to sound high and mighty."

"What is this thing we're looking for, anyway?" Rose asked. The Doctor shrugged, unbothered.

"No idea!" He looked to Callie.

"Hm," she said, pretending to think. "I'm gonna go with… spoilers."

They all groaned, but it was playful and made her giggle. It felt… nice. Like the tension from before had dissipated and they were all just friends on an adventure.

"Doesn't matter," the Doctor said, clapping his hands once. "It must have come down somewhere close. Within a mile, anyway."

"Not bad," Callie complimented.

"And it can't have been more than a few weeks ago," he continued. "Maybe a month."

"I thought we were right behind it?" Mickey asked. "We were chasing it like mad!"

"It was jumping time tracks all over the place— we're bound to be a little bit out." The Doctor brushed him off, ignoring the exasperated look Rose and Mickey shared.

"You're driving's really awful," Rose commented lightly. The Doctor glared at her— only half-joking.

"Do you want to drive instead?" he spluttered. Callie muffled her giggles with her hand, which made Rose start to laugh, too.

"Yeah, maybe," she snickered. "How much is a little?"

"A bit," the Doctor hedged.

"What's the plan, then?" Mickey asked. "Are you gonna scan or alien tech or something?"

"Yeah, like Spock!" Rose said enthusiastically.

"You like Star Trek?" Callie asked, a little surprised. Rose never really struck her as a sci-fi kind of girl. Which was kind of odd, considering she was basically living in a sci-fi show.

"You like Doctor Who," Rose pointed out. Callie stuck out her tongue, hiding her surprise that Rose knew the name of the show from Callie's universe.

"Fair enough."

"And, anyway," the Doctor continued, looking less than amused. They were coming up on the end of the alley, where a set of sleek black doors stood. There was a neat little sign that read, 'Deliveries Only' on one of them. Soft music permeated from inside. "It hit the middle of London with a very loud bang. I'm just going to ask."

"Bad choice," Callie muttered to herself, but by the look of it Mickey heard her. He raised his eyebrows at her, but she just shook her head. And when the Doctor showed off his psychic paper, like he always did, Mickey was the one to be verbally disappointed.

"It's not very Spock, is it?"

"I don't need Spock!" The Doctor insisted. He looked to Callie, clearly expecting her to back him up. He waved an arm. "Callie, tell them!"

Callie opened her mouth, hesitated, then finally said diplomatically, "Sometimes, the domestic approach can be very effective."

The Doctor's mouth dropped open at the betrayal, and Mickey and Rose howled with laughter. Callie just smiled sheepishly, shrugging.

"Oh, you better scan for some alien tech," Rose choked out as her laughter slowly ebbed. She wiped at the corner of her eye. "You might actually impress Callie for once."

"Might be a bit late for that," Mickey snickered.

The Doctor huffed at them all. "Children, all of you." He shook his head and sonicked the doors, tugging one open.

"Mummy?" A small voice sang out. Rose's laughter ceased immediately. "Mummy?"

The Doctor didn't seem to notice. He walked inside, calling over his shoulder, "Come if you're coming. Won't take a minute."

"Did you guys hear that?" Mickey asked, looking up again. He squinted. Callie nodded.

"Mummy?" The boy's voice was haunting, almost a lullaby as he called out for his mother. It sent chills up Callie's spine. After a long moment, she spotted him on the roof. Jaime, if she remembered correctly. And she was pretty sure she did— even if it had been a long time since she'd seen the episode, this was one of her favorites.

Didn't make it any less creepy, though.

"Mickey, go with the Doctor," she decided quickly. "He's gonna want your help."

More like, it would be easier to find and befriend Jack if she didn't have to worry about yet another new element to the episode. But they needed to hurry— she had no idea how much time they'd burned earlier with the fight, and they needed to get on that barrage balloon's rope ASAP.

God, Callie's life was weird.

"Where are you going?" Mickey asked. Callie didn't take her eyes off the boy with the gas mask and blindly grabbed Rose's hand. Rose was right by her side and, as she finally spotted Jaime, she tensed.

"We'll catch up in a bit," Callie said vaguely. She started dragging Rose forward, trusting Mickey to follow the Doctor like she asked. She didn't have time to make sure, so she just had to trust that Mickey wouldn't wander off like companions were so prone to. Mickey was responsible, right?

"That's a kid," Rose said, stating the obvious. "There's a kid on the roof!"

"Yeah, there is," Callie said. "We need to find a way up there."

"Mummy?" Jaime called.

"Be careful up there!" Rose shouted to him. She waved her arms, trying to get his attention. "We're gonna come get you!"
There was a dumpster nearby, and they got to work. Callie shut the flap shut and scrambled on top. Briefly, she appreciated the fact that she'd changed before leaving the TARDIS. Dangling from a blimp in a minidress would not have been a good time.

Rose followed behind as Callie used a nearby windowsill as leverage to pull herself onto the roof. They stumbled onto the roof, but Jaime was now on the roof of the building next to them, which was taller.

"How'd he move so fast?" Rose panted. They saw as he moved away from their view, and Rose panicked. "You! Up there! Don't move, okay?"

Callie scanned the building, but couldn't find anything with decent handholds. She swore under her breath. Instead, she looked for a convenient rope hanging nearby. They were really about to do this, weren't they?

There was a part of her that felt really bad about not telling Rose what was about to happen. But how else would they meet Jack? And they needed to meet Jack— not only because she knew he would travel with them in the future, but because she didn't remember everything about whatever it was that he stole and dropped in the middle of London. She just knew it was the reason for Jaime's condition.

Even her memory of her favorite episodes wasn't perfect.

"How are we supposed to get up there?" Rose asked, more to herself than Callie. "There's no way up… But he got up there. There has to be a way."

That's when Callie saw the rope. She ran over to it, struggling to grab it as it swayed in the wind. She gave it a good tug, looking towards the sky uncertainly. She could just barely make out the blimp, mostly as a large swath of dark 'sky' with no stars. Her stomach twisted uncomfortably.

She never had the best upper body strength. She really wasn't sure she could do this— but really, did she have a choice?

"Callie?" Rose called, finally noticing Callie had moved across the roof. Callie took a breath to steel herself, then started to climb. Immediately, her upper arms burned. She cursed under her breath, trying to get a grip on the rope with her feet. God, this was like gym class in sophomore year, when she was the only one who couldn't climb the rope all the way to the top.

She made it a good portion up the rope when the blimp started moving, drifting away from the building.

"Callie!" Rose cried, sounding surprisingly far away. Callie braved a look downwards, and with a shock she realized that Rose was not on the rope with her. The rope was already over the alley, too far away for Rose to grab as she ran for it. "Callie!"

To add to Callie's horror, the bomb sirens went off right then. In the distance, she could see fighter planes swooping on London, dropping bomb after bomb. Oh god, oh god, oh god!

"Get back to the Doctor!" Callie shouted, but her voice was drowned out by the sirens and distant explosions. "Or go to the TARDIS! You'll be safe there!"

The barrage balloon began to rise so high it made her dizzy to look down, so she had to turn her gaze upwards. Her palms became a bit sweaty and she started to slip, much to her horror.

"No, no, no, no!" She cried, scrambling to get a better grip. Her legs slipped, too, and now that she was fully airborne, she couldn't find the rope again. Her legs kicked wildly, panic seeping in as a German plane got far too close for comfort.

"Oh, god," she whined. Her arms felt like they were on fire and she knew she was about to fall to her death. If the impact didn't kill her, a bomb surely would. "I've never wanted to jump so badly."

In her desperation, she tried to will herself into the Time Vortex. Anything to get out of this mess. With another slip on the rope, she whimpered. No gold appeared in her vision.


Rose watched in horror as Callie floated away, dangling from a rope in the middle of the sky. She waved a hand and seemed to be shouting something, but it was too faint for Rose to be able to hear.

"What do I do now?" She moaned, smacking her forehead. She looked back towards the alley they'd come from. She could kind of see the TARDIS's light. Maybe she should go back. The Doctor and Mickey would be returning there, anyway. She pursed her lips, before something struck her.

She dug into her pants pocket and pulled out her cell phone. Flipping it open, she called Callie.

"Come on, come on," she muttered. No luck. It went to voicemail and she hung up. She supposed Callie wouldn't be giving up half her grip on the rope to answer her phone, but it had been worth a try.

"Mummy? Mummy?" The little boy's voice rang out once more, lilting and as haunting as a lullaby in the middle of the night.

"Hello?" Rose called. She turned around, but didn't see the little boy in the gas mask. "Are you still there?"


"Come on, Jack," she whined, kicking her legs a bit more. "Hurry up already!"

Then, because apparently her mind hated her and wanted to make her even more scared, she had the awful realization that Jack might not save her. It was just a fluke that he noticed Rose in the show, anyway. What if he didn't see her? What if he did, but didn't bother saving her?

Tears pricked her eyes and she shook her head to rid herself of such thoughts. Jack had to save her. He had to! She just needed to hold on until he made it back to his ship.

And, as if the universe was out to kill her, that was when her grip finally slipped. She fell through the sky, a symphony of explosions echoing like a soundtrack of her doom. For a moment, she thought of how she started this whole adventure falling through the TARDIS— it felt like so long ago now.

Just as she began to maybe accept the fact that she was about to leave this universe the same way she entered it, she suddenly halted midair. With a downwards glance, she saw how close to hitting the ground she'd come. Everything was tinged in blue from the beam she was now caught in.

"Okay, okay, I've got you." Jack's voice was loud and clear. Slowly, Callie's heartbeat slowed down to a more normal rate. She slumped in the air, relaxing as the adrenaline slowly ebbed. She wiped at her eyes, not even embarrassed at how teary she was. She had never felt so close to dying as she did right then— not even when she'd been surrounded by Weeping Angels.

"Thank god," she said, sighing.

"Actually, it's Jack," Jack quipped. She could practically hear the smirk in his voice.

"Oh, good one," she said sarcastically to the air. She gave a little kick. "Can you get me down now, please?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm just programming your descent pattern," he explained. Vaguely, Callie wondered if anyone outside the beam could hear him. It sounded so loud to her, but was the beam like a force field, keeping it inside? "Keep as still as you can, and keep your hands and feet inside the light field."

Callie complied, crossing her hands over her stomach.

"Oh, and can you switch off your cell phone?" Callie scoffed in disbelief. "No, seriously, it interferes with my instrument."

"Which one?" Callie muttered without thinking. She slid her backpack off her back and fished out her phone. It took her a second to find the off switch on her futuristic phone, but she managed to turn it off.

"Oh, good one," Jack mimicked. "But thank you, that's actually much better."

"Cool, now can you get me down?" Callie asked sharply. "Before the Nazis drop a bomb on me?"

"Just a sec!"

Mercifully, she started to slide down the beam. Unfortunately, it was more of a controlled free-fall. Callie couldn't help but let out a startled scream. She practically flew down the beam until sliding into the spaceship and straight into Jack's waiting arms.

"Hey, hey, hey," he muttered as she swayed. For a moment, the world spun around her. "You're fine. The tractor beam— it can scramble your head just a little."

"Oh," she muttered. "Guess that makes sense. Uh, hello."

She was pretty close to Jack's face and— had he always been this handsome?

He smirked. "Hello."

"Jack," she said thoughtlessly. Panic seized her for a moment before she remembered he'd already introduced himself.

"Yeah," he said softly. He looked deep into her eyes, clearly turning on the charm. "And you are?"

"Callie," she murmured. "I mean— Calliope, but everyone calls me Callie."

Why was she stammering like an idiot? This was her friend! Sure, he didn't know it yet, but they were going to be really close one day. Like, best-friend-level close.

Maybe that beam messed her head up more than she thought.

"Calliope," he repeated. His deep voice made it sound almost… romantic. "Like the Muse?"

"She's also the Greek goddess of epic poetry," Callie said with a wry smile. "You could say my mom had big plans for me."

"And all I got saddled with was Jack." Jack finally set her down, though she wasn't very steady on her feet. "Are you alright?"

"Just a bit dizzy," Callie said, not noticing how her voice slurred. "Near-death experiences can do that to a girl." She took a step backwards, falling onto the soft bench situated right behind her. "I just need a sec."

"Take all the time you need." He sat back on his own chair, watching as she took some deep breaths and tried to clear her head.

Callie grabbed her bag once more and rummaged inside. She found a half-drunk bottle of water with Lunar Fair 3187 on the label. Jack raised an eyebrow as she took a hearty gulp.

"Not exactly a local gal, are you?" he asked lightly. She rolled her eyes, feeling more like herself as her head cleared. She gestured to the high tech spaceship they were currently inside.

"Not exactly a local yourself, I take it?"

With a wag of his eyebrows— was he always so emotive with them?— Jack produced a black wallet and flipped it open for her to see. To her delight, the words 'Jack Harkness, age 34, single, works out, and a good time in bed' were scrawled across the page.

"Captain Jack Harkness, 133 Squadron, Royal Air Force. American volunteer," he rattled off. Callie took the 'ID' from him, and snorted.

"You're such a liar," she said with delight. She waved the paper at him. "This says that you're single and work out." She closed the wallet and tossed it at him.

"You caught me," Jack said, unsurprised and not unhappy about it. "Psychic paper— it's a tricky thing. Can't let your mind wander."

"Even so, you expect me to believe you're in the air force with a ship like this?" Callie asked. "I wasn't born yesterday."

"No, just a couple thousand years in the future," he quipped, making her grin. "You're a Time Agent, obviously."

"Obviously," Callie repeated lightly. There was a faint chill inside the spaceship, and she instinctively rubbed her hands together. She hissed, pulling them apart to see red welts littering her palms. "Always the hands," she muttered.

"Burned them on the rope?" She nodded, wincing as she heard a bomb whistle past their ship.

"Aren't you worried about a bomb landing on us?" she asked, craning her neck to look out the window.

"Please. Do you think I did no research before landing here?" Jack sounded half-offended at the insinuation. "Now, can I have a look at your hands for a moment?"

Dutifully, Callie held her hands out to him. She wondered if he thought it was weird, how easily she trusted him. But this was Jack, and even if he barely knew her, he was still the same man she knew. She knew she could trust him.

He held her hands flat with one of his own, angling her wrists a specific way. He pressed a button with his free hand and thousands of glowing yellow microbes swarmed her palms. They pulsed in a circled above her hands.

"Ooh, it kinda tickles," she said.

"Try to keep still," he reminded her. She nodded, blowing a stray curl from in front of her eyes. Jack sighed and pushed it behind her ear for her. "You've seen nanogenes before, right?"

"Uh, yeah," Callie fibbed. "Once."

The nanogenes dissipated after a moment, leaving her skin slightly pink, but a hell of a lot better than it had been. She rubbed them together experimentally and felt no pain.

"Thanks," she said.

"No problem." Jack flicked the switch off and gave her a look. "So, shall we get down to business?"

Callie furrowed her eyebrows. "Business?"

Jack shrugged and stood, opening a hatch above them. The same hatch Callie had tumbled down through a little while ago. The starry night shone above them, marred by the occasional plane flying overhead and the sirens still singing in the background. If it weren't for the air raid, it would be a perfect evening.

"Shall we have a drink on the balcony?" he proposed. He held up a bottle of champagne, then proceeded to lift himself through the hatch. He called down to her, "Bring up the glasses!"

"Bossy," she muttered, but found two champagne glasses. They weren't flutes like she was used to, but flatter and wider. She held them in one hand by the stems and used her free hand to pull herself up. She groaned, her arms shaking from the exertion.

"God, I need to work out more," she muttered, stumbling onto the hull of the ship. It still had its invisibility cloaking on, which gave the impression that she was walking on air. "Okay, this is freakier than glass floors. Can you…" She waved vaguely at her feet.

"So hard to impress," he clucked, but flipped a switch on a remote that made the ship come into view. Callie felt a lot more secure being able to see the ship beneath her feet.

"Yeah, whatever." She held out the glasses to him. With a grin, he popped the stopper off the champagne and poured each of them a generous helping. He took his glass and she took a tentative sip. Compared to the alien vodka she'd been chugging earlier in the night, Earthen champagne was basically sparkling cider.

Still, a small twinge from her earlier hangover hit her.

"So, do you bring all the girls up here?" Callie asked, sounding a bit more flirtatious than she'd intended. Sure, she knew Jack had no interest in her, not really, but it was kind of fun. He tilted his head and smiled charmingly.

"Only the pretty ones."

Despite herself, Callie blushed. She took a sip of her drink to hide it, but even under the stars it must have been noticeable. She wasn't always the best at taking a compliment.

"So," she said, changing the subject, "you mentioned business?"

Jack held his hand out to her and, without thinking, she placed her free one in his. He gave her a gentle twirl, pulling her in close. Somewhere beneath their feet, some smooth jazz started to play. They swayed to the music, Jack impossibly close. Callie felt her blush creep from her cheeks down her neck, and suddenly felt so very warm.

"Are you traveling alone?" he asked finally, his voice low but serious. "Are you authorized to negotiate with me?"

Callie blinked. She'd forgotten what was going on from his point of view. In all the flirting and chitchat, she'd forgotten he thought she was a Time Agent. Forgot where this episode was going.

"Well," she stammered, feeling flushed. "I should discuss it with my… my partner."

"Partner?"

"Yeah— we work together," Callie said softly. "We both have to agree before we settle any— any negotiations."

Was this champagne stronger than she'd thought? Or maybe some of that alien vodka was still in her system. She felt like she couldn't even think, not with him so close to her.

The Doctor appeared in her mind's eye, and she suddenly felt very guilty. But that was stupid! It's not like they were together or anything. She could flirt with whoever she wanted.

That didn't make the sinking feeling in her stomach go away.

"So, when you say your partner, how disappointed should I be?" Jack murmured in her ear. Callie bit her lip.

"Just a tad," she said finally. Jack sighed.

"It's 1941," he began, "the height of the London Blitz. The height of the German bombing campaign, and something else has fallen on London. A fully-equipped Chula warship— the last one in existence, armed to the teeth. And I know where it is, because I parked it.

"If the Agency can name the right price, I can get it for you. But in two hours, a German bomb is going to fall on it and destroy it forever. That's your deadline. Now, shall we discuss payment?"

Callie sighed and took a deep drink of her champagne.

"Two hours, the bomb falls. There'll be nothing left but dust and a crater."

"Like I said, I'll need to discuss it with my partner," Callie said, taking a step back from Jack. As she did so, it was like a spell being broken. The music stopped, the air raid became louder, and Jack looked almost grim. "Problem is, I'm not too sure where he is."

Jack shrugged and raised his wrist to his chest. "I'll just scan for alien tech."

Callie couldn't help but roll her eyes, thinking how satisfied Rose and Mickey would be if there were here.

"What's this guy's name, anyway?" Jack asked as he fiddled with his watch.

"The Doctor."

"Doctor who?" Callie smirked to herself.

"Exactly."


The hospital looked ominous from the outside, though how much of that was in Callie's mind, she didn't know. She and Jack walked at a brisk pace, time of the essence. They were down to an hour and a half until the bomb blew up the Chula ship.

The halls were empty and their steps echoed as they walked inside. It felt like a horror movie come to life.

"Are you sure he's here?" Callie asked after a moment. She knew he was. She knew where this episode was heading— at least, the gist of it— but still. This place was creepy! She didn't want to spend a second longer than she had to in there.

"He's here," Jack replied. Louder, he called, "Hello? Hello?"

"Hello? Who's there?" A voice echoed down the empty hall. Up ahead, Callie saw a shadow.

"Mickey!" She called, jogging ahead to meet him.

"Callie, where have you been?" Mickey hissed, hugging her quickly. "You won't believe the things we've seen already."

"Is this your partner?" Jack asked, coming up behind them. Callie stepped back and shook her head.

"No, this is Mickey. Mickey, this is Jack," Callie said quickly. "Is Rose with you?"

Mickey's eyes widened. "She's not with you?"

Callie cursed. She slung her backpack around, looking for her cell phone. Just then, the Doctor walked into the hall.

"Callie?"

"That's me," she said mindlessly. She finally found her phone and retrieved it, only just then realizing it was still off. She pressed the button to turn it on.

"Good evening," Jack said, his ever charming self. He sauntered up to the Doctor. "Hope we're not interrupting. Jack Harkness."

He stuck his hand out for the Doctor to shake, completely ignoring Mickey. By the frown on Mickey's face, he did not take that very well. The Doctor's eyebrows raised, but he shook Jack's hand.

"I've been hearing about you all the way over," Jack said generously.

"Really?" The Doctor asked skeptically, looking at Callie. Callie paid him no mind, silently urging her phone to turn on faster.

"Yeah, we talked about our time with the Time Agency," she said, unlocking the phone.

"And it's a real pleasure to meet you, Dr. Who," Jack said. Mickey snorted, slapping a hand over his mouth to stifle his snickers. The Doctor glared at him.

Callie tapped the screen to call Rose's phone as Jack waltzed into the ward the boys had just left.

"Dr. Who?" The Doctor asked incredulously.

Callie tipped the phone away from her mouth. "He walked right into it, I had to!"

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Where's Rose?"

Callie made a face as Rose's phone went to voicemail. She left a quick message to call her ASAP and hung up. "We kind of got separated."

"Separated?" Mickey asked, his giggles gone as he realized Rose was actually missing.

"Well, there was a barrage balloon and she didn't catch it in time and next thing I knew I was in Jack's spaceship," Callie explained quickly. "And he thinks we're Time Agents and we need to go along with it, okay? He's trying to sell us a Chula warship or something."

"Chula warship?" The Doctor repeated, confused.

"But where is she?" Mickey demanded.

"I don't know! Hopefully by the TARDIS," Callie said. "I'll call her again."

Callie tried Rose's phone again, walking into the ward after Jack. She slowed to a stop as she took in the scene in front of her.

The ward was a large room— more like a wide corridor than a room, if Callie was being honest. Beds lined the walls, patients lying in each and every one. They all had gas masks for faces, and they all gave Callie the heebie jeebies.

Rose's phone went to voicemail yet again, and Callie's stomach sank. She'd really hoped Rose had gone back to the TARDIS and joined the boys. Oh god, if Rose died in a bombing— Jackie would kill her.


"This just isn't possible," Jack said, not for the first time. He was scanning patient after patient, coming up with the exact same results every single time. "How did this happen?"

The Doctor was leaning against a shelving unit, looking deep in thought. Callie was sat by his feet, leaning on the unit as well, dialing Rose over and over. Mickey was doing the same.

"What kind of Chula ship landed here?" The Doctor asked finally. Jack looked up, surprised.

"What?"

"He claimed it was a warship," Callie said absently. "I'm pretty sure it was an ambulance or something, right?" Callie half glanced at Jack for confirmation, but returned to her phone before he reacted.

"How could you know that?" Jack asked in shock.

"Callie knows things," Mickey said unhelpfully. He groaned, throwing his phone on the ground. If his phone wasn't a Nokia, known for being indestructible, Callie would have winced. "She's not picking up."

"She's got the be in the TARDIS," Callie insisted, dialing again. "She probably left her phone in her room and went to the kitchen or something."

"No, for real," Jack insisted, stalking over to her. He looked panicked. "How could you know it was an ambulance?"

Callie looked up at him, blinked, and realized her mistake. "Uh, well— I'm psychic?" She tried. "Anyway, you were trying to scam us, right?"

Jack spluttered, looking indignant. He obviously didn't take her psychic claim too seriously.

"But it's sitting at the bomb site," the Doctor said, pulling their focus back to him. Callie stood, feeling a bit awkward on the floor. "What kind of ambulance?"

"This has nothing to do with— with all this!" Jack insisted, gesturing to the patients in the beds. "It was just an empty ambulance, see?" He pulled up a hologram for them to see.

"That's what you chased through the Time Vortex— it's space junk! I was gonna stall until the bomb hit and destroyed it— after you'd paid me for it— and you'd never find out it was totally worthless," Jack explained desperately. "This could not have done all this."

"You really are an arsehole," Mickey said in disgust.

"I'm a con man!" Jack corrected.

The Doctor looked disdainfully at him. "Human DNA is being rewritten by an idiot."

"What do you mean?" Callie asked, crossing her arms. She knew, though. Of course she knew.

"I don't know," the Doctor said. "Some kind of virus converting human beings into these things. But why? What's the point?" He looked to Callie, but she shook her head.

"Not yet," she said. She was pretty sure— like, 80% sure— that the nanogenes from the ambulance wouldn't be able to fix this until the 'virus' went airborne. And anyway, they needed the girl (what was her name?) to do it, and she wasn't there yet.

"What about Rose?" Mickey asked.

"We'll find her," Callie insisted. "But this might be a bit more pressing."

"She's out there in an air raid!"

"She's probably in the TARDIS," Callie insisted, though she didn't quite believe it. Still, this was the more pressing issue. Rose was smart— if she wasn't in the TARDIS, Callie had to believe she would survive until they found her. And they would find her.

Mickey was going to argue some more, but was interrupted by movement. All in unison, the patients in the bed sat straight up and stared at the lot of them.

"Mummy?" They started calling. "Mummy? Mummy?"

"What's happening?" Jack asked, horrified.

"I don't know," the Doctor answered. He grabbed Callie, pushing her behind him like he always did. Always protecting her. "Don't let them touch you."

"What happens then?" Jack asked.

"You're looking at it," Mickey said, grabbing Callie's wrist.

"Mummy? Mummy?" The patients stood and started to shuffle towards them, their cries becomes louder as they got closer. The four of them scurried backwards, but they were being cornered. The patients grew closer and closer.

"Mummy? Mummy? Mummy?"


A/N: Thank you guys so much for the support on the last chapter! It really pumped me up and made me want to write quickly to get this out for you. This chapter ended up being really long, but just short enough that I can't separate it into two chapters easily. So, instead, we get the entire episode in one chapter, essentially. :p

Please leave a review and tell me what you think!