Sitting beside Theodore while he rested on the starchy white bed, his vitals normalized, slowly, the royal honey's pushed out of his body, Lila watched him, a helpless look on her face.
Al said he'd be fine, though it'll take some time for his body to regenerate the lost blood, and ridding the royal honey, but seeing the vats of his blood, well it unnerved Lila.
Once Theodore wakes up and everything checked out, Al says that he'll be out of commission for a day and a half, that he'll bring them to the planet with the Diner, that way he can further help regain what he lost by eating select foods on Al's recommendation.
Still, the sight wasn't leaving Lila's mind as her chestnut eyes laid on Theodore, her hand on his.
She can't even remember what happened leading up to them becoming captured, all she remembered's them coming back to their room, and that's it.
Don't even know how or why she wasn't being used as bath water for one of the Family.
Why she's even alive, somehow, she was, and it bothered her that someone with a huge secret like it would've been careless, but Al tried comforting her by telling her that even the most meticulous have their mishaps.
"Psst!" Al grabbed Lila's attention as she turned her head to see him standing in the doorway, as he informed her that while it wasn't an unpleasant phone call, he retrieved what they needed for their plan.
Don't ask how his contact retrieved the toxins, that's for another time, just know that it wasn't a whole lot, but it's enough to pack a wallop to whatever schlub drinks it.
It took time, Al had trouble with Theodore's blood coagulating with a drop of the stuff, so he had to refine it further, oh, it's something!
Think of every nasty disease, distilled to one bottle of black liquid that with one scratch, capable of sending the poor bastard on the ground in pained screams until death claimed them.
No wonder it took the Drekker long periods creating the toxins and why they're only capable of using them once before having to consume more infected tissue to replenish it.
But!
O' Al managed to create a breakthrough, now they got what they needed to make the last remnant of the Family get her just due!
As Al stood triumphantly, he noticed a look on Lila's face, a quizzical one, and he showed concern while she momentary blinked, before saying, "If they knew their number's called, sending only their daughter wouldn't make sense, would it?"
Like Al said, the Family can't reproduce with humans, and if they were cold and calculating as Al said they were, they'd better plan, especially after so many encounters with Theodore's father.
Mulling it over, Al mused, "But, I didn't see anything other than her!"
Raising her free finger, Lila reminded Al, "Wouldn't want a reunion with the good Doctor, especially if he knew where to look."
Dolores knew from her Family drilling it into her head that if the Doctor ever found her, he would get suspicious, and if she hadn't fell into complete compliancy, she'd make sure that he wouldn't get suspicious.
"You're thinking that when the Family hid Dolores… she was… you know?" Al gestured as Lila nodded, explaining to him that the Family planned everything down to the detail, surely, because of Theodore's father.
Making sure their only daughter escaped already pregnant, would've made for an easier time for the Family to rebound after Medikus wiped them from the face of the Earth.
"But, if that were true, why wouldn't there be more, by now?" Al's baffled as he tried to think, that if it were true that the only daughter escaped pregnant, she'd been on the island for decades at this point, why wouldn't there be more of them?
Lila asked what he knew about the family and he calculated that if Dolores was pregnant, she would've birthed twins.
A boy and a girl, it was a mutation caused by the Family's… well… you know by now.
"If she's going to celebrate capturing him, her children would be there, too, right?" Lila glanced at the resting Theodore, gently stroking his hand with her thumb.
Nodding, Al responded that Dolores would command them to come with her to the winery to celebrate Theodore's capture.
Still doesn't explain why there wouldn't be more outside the twins.
"I know they sometimes have issues reproducing themselves, with their, uh, problems, but there should've been at least a handful of the bastards!" Al's perturbed, but Lila wasn't interested, all she wanted to ensure, that every member of the Family, drinks the tainted wine.
Which, she's forced to breakaway from Theodore, gently pulling her hand away from his, a gentle tap on his nose, before getting up from her chair, following Al out of the medical bay.
On Al's recommendation, Lila took Theodore's pocket watch, Al says she can use it to project Theodore onto the table, making it look as if he hadn't been released, for a short while at least, once they realize their stock isn't growing like it should, and that Al needed to vacate the cellar to avoid detection.
Once they see the TARDIS, they'll do whatever it takes to make sure Theodore doesn't escape… though he already did, but the point Al's trying to make, it's a bad thing for them to catch sight of the TARDIS.
Returning to the console room, Al pointed her to the bottle of refined Drekker toxin.
It's tasteless, it won't rouse their suspicion, but once it hits their stomach, it won't be pretty.
There won't be a trace of the Family or the Drekker toxins left.
"And once they're taken care of, we'll deal with their vintage stock," Lila heavily sighed as she grabbed the bottle of the toxin, holding it carefully.
Diluted and refined, it's no longer the brackish color it once was and when asked, Al informed her, "Don't ask."
Best not to ask how his contact obtained the toxins, just know that after this, they'll have to make do with something else, because Al can't call his contact again.
Not that he blamed him, it wasn't like he asked for a quick supply run from the local grocery store.
"Whatever, let's just ruin their night, and get the hell out of here," Lila went to the door, when she opened, time had only elapsed ten minutes outside of the TARDIS.
No sign of Dolores or her family from hell.
Following Al's instructions, Lila used the pocket watch to project Theodore's image, it's lifelike enough that the Family wouldn't notice it until they get too close.
Should be enough time to get in and out.
Going over to the vats that sat idly, quietly churning the collected blood, Lila opened the hatch of the first one, pouring half of the toxins inside, before quickly moving on to the next one.
Emptied the bottle to very last drop, Lila sees the toxins intermixing with Theodore's blood.
Once the bastards get their first drinks, it'll be their last.
Closing the last vat, Lila's prepared to dash back into the TARDIS when she sees the TARDIS dematerialize before her, leaving her stranded in the cellar with the only exit being the staircase leading up.
Would've gone up the staircase and tried escaping that way, but of course, that would've made things easier.
No, the Family's coming to collect their spoils and Lila's stuck in the cellar, with no hope of escaping.
"Al!" Lila hissed as she gripped the empty bottle in her hand.
Panicking, Lila's chestnut eyes dashed as she's trying to come up with a plan while her mind panicked, until she remembered the pocket watch.
All Lila had to do's activate the invisibility shield for a spell, walk around them, hurry up the staircase, and she'll be out of the winery before they caught on!
Though, it's a gamble, using it make projections of both her and Theodore and turn her invisible to the naked eye, it's fickle because of its age, and while Theodore spent nights working on it, even it can't escape the grips of time.
Not wanting to risk it failing at the worst opportune time, as she retrieved the pocket watch, muttering under her breath as she followed Theodore's instructions, Lila decided to take a gamble.
Of course, a gambling something like this risked inevitably causing it to blow up in Lila's face, but she had no other choice.
So, she turned herself invisible, projected Theodore, still hooked up to the machines, and hoped for the best.
Oh, when Al makes a reappearance, she's going to have some choice words with him!
Had he been flesh and blood, Lila would've started with a backhand first!
There are footsteps coming down the staircase and voices.
Three people, one of them's Dolores and…
Lila's silently shocked as she heard the sheriff.
Always!
As if the name wasn't a dead giveaway!
Sheriff Lucian, one of the Family members.
Another woman's with them, Lila guessed that she was the wife he mentioned.
Sick.
So.
So.
Sick.
Something's wrong with her, Lila sees that her ruby lips are lopsided on one side of her face, it's more noticeable as she smiled, and her pale skin looked sickly than it did healthy.
The way she acted, she's almost childish and aloof.
As if it wasn't disturbing, enough!
The sheriff held a hidden disheveled look on his face as he went with Dolores and Bonnie towards the projected Theodore, the machinery still thinking they're pumping his blood, and the tubes pumping phantom blood into the vats.
"When should we drink?" Bonnie excitedly asked Dolores, her doe-eyes glistening.
Smiling, Dolores gently pulled on Bonnie's cheek as she gingerly said, "Soon, my child, soon!"
Releasing her grip on the giggling Bonnie, Dolores turned her attention to Theodore as he remained hooked up.
"Look at him, my children, the murderer of our family!" Dolores snorted as her usual jovial self turned bitter and cold, her smile turning into a scowl, as she stared at the man who destroyed her family.
Oh yes, when she was young, she watched as he slaughtered her family, that cold look in his damn blue eyes!
Her family burnt the image of him into her mind, hid her away when that day came, but she snuck out of hiding, to see him herself, and here she was, seeing him, again.
"Murderer!" Dolores snarled at Theodore, her emotions welling inside her.
… Somehow… she didn't notice Lila was missing, none of them did, and the more Lila sneaked in the background, it was as though she wasn't part of the plan.
Then, how did she…?
It took a great deal not to audibly yowl when a sharp nail scrapped vertically on her palm, deeply enough to cause a blood trail from the bottom of the handrail to where she stopped, leaving a trail of blood dripping as Lila recoiled her bleeding hand, chewing on her bottom lip while trying to refrain from audibly cursing.
Her ears rang as she stumbled backwards, almost lost her footing and falling backwards, dazed, Lila smelled the familiar smell of used gun powder, and as she recovered, she noticed there's a gunshot in the wall above the handrails, just short of her nose.
Almost a rhinoplasty from hell!
"Go! Go fetch!" Lila overheard Dolores prodding Sheriff Lucian while she internally panicked.
Of course!
Of… effing… course!
Dolores's a bloodhound (pun thoroughly intended!) and smelled Lila without even seeing her the moment she hurt her hand.
Who the hell didn't finish carpentry school and left exposed nails in the damn handrails?!
Pappy would've clobbered the fool!
Her mind running marathons, Lila looked down to the bottle in her other hand, cursed herself as she hurried back down the staircase, and calculatedly threw it hard as she can throw it at the adjacent shelves filled with bottles, causing a cascade of bottles to start falling and the crashing noises deafened her boots thudding against the wooden steps.
Panicking, Lila rushed up the staircase towards the door at the top of the staircase, thankfully, the door didn't latch properly, allowing her to hurry through.
Once she's out of the cellar, her mind racing, Lila quickly used her adrenaline to pull whatever heavy thing she can think of that's in the hallway in front of the hidden door, preventing the Family from getting out, at least enough time for Lila to come up with the next step in her escape plan.
She's going to do, what anyone would in her situation: break out of the winery front door, it's glass, and the adrenaline's still pumping, she can launch something through the doors and bust her way through!
Her boots clanking against the laminated floor, Lila hurried towards the main area, seeing the doors ahead of her, she used the force to slide into them.
Locked and chain.
No problem.
Lila rushed to find something she can use that wasn't screwed into the flooring that she can hoist over her head, and luckily, she found a receptionist's chair that wasn't screwed, light that she can hoist it above her head, heavy in the hollow aluminum that made up the body.
Blood dripped over the wrapped aluminum body as Lila hoisted it above her head, the stinging sensation worsened as she gripped the chair, as she slammed it against the doors, the glass shattering into pieces as the force transferred to the panels.
Sirens started going off, but Lila wasn't deterred, she used the chair to break the glass off the panels as she forced herself through the opening, the broken glass breaking under her feet.
Adjusting herself, Lila stood up and as she's about to drop the chair and flee the winery, she's stopped by a sight of a man with bright eyes staring at her.
The shock sent her backwards and she felt arms wrapping around her neck as someone pulled her back, causing her to drop the chair as she's struggling to fight against the arms pushing on her neck as they pulled her back.
"Now, where do you think, you're going?" Lila heard an incensed Dolores.