Aries Residence , London: March 7th, 2006
There was a clunk, causing Aries to wince as one of the boxes that littered her desk shifted. The witch hoped that there wasn't anything breakable inside, having forgotten what box held what long before she had moved them back into her old home.
It had been a few weeks since she had managed to find the courage to step foot inside the house again – the last time having been to change the wards – and Aries found that she was still stalling with fully unpacking as the quiet, unused, empty house seemed to echo in her mind. She could feel what was missing, but also knew that there was nothing she could do about it.
She was alone once more in the house she had appeared in all those decades ago, and the witch, although much more stable and in a far better condition when she had first appeared, found that she wasn't too certain as to how she should feel about being alone. And so she was procrastinating... which wasn't getting her mood to lift in the slightest.
"Another fail," Aries muttered as she sunk into the chair in her study, a piece of paper clutched in one hand as the familiar feeling of disappointment settled in her stomach once more. Her silver-grey eyes re-read the results of the DNA comparison test before letting it fall into the metal teeth of the paper shredder that sat under her desk.
It had been seven months since she had asked Alistair if there was any chance she could access the DNA samples and files that UNIT kept of the various alien lifeforms they had come across. But even with those samples, she was still coming up with nothing. Though the witch had been rather surprised when she begun to note that a few of the most recent samples that had been sent her way had come from Torchwood. She had questioned the Brigadier about how he managed to get them, but the man was wisely not revealing his contacts.
Such a Slytherin...
The latest sample that Aries had just tested was also the last that Alistair had been able to get a hold of, and the red head was feeling rather disheartened that even after so long, the answer of what she was still went unanswered. It wasn't very high on the list of things that Aries considered important, but it had been something that had been always there, niggling away ever since she had heard what that Dalek had called her all those years ago.
There was the slightest shift in the air that had Aries glancing towards the doorway of her study; feeling the wards around the property alert her to someone approaching her front door and a sigh escaped her as she wondered who it could be. Sarah wasn't supposed to be coming around until later the next day to help the witch unpack after Aries had accidently let it slip that she had only really unpacked her study, and anyone else who knew where she lived knew to call in advance. Even the UNIT officials that came to see her about various cases, or to pick her up when apparation was out of the question waited in their car and messaged her that they had arrived while they waited in her driveway.
Heading to her front door, Aries was surprised when she opened it to reveal a blond-haired man that was dressed as a postman. In his hands was a small box covered in brown paper, and the witch frowned as she eyed the man questionably. She had a private postal box at the post office just down the road that all her mail went to, as well as another in Wales near her lab for anything work related, so Aries was a little wary as to what would have brought the man to her door.
"Aries Prince?"
The red head couldn't help it as her frown deepened. "Yes?" she replied as she looked the blond up and down, unable to pinpoint why she felt as though she should know him. He wasn't anyone she recognised.
Seeing her wary expression, the man was quick to explain why he had appeared on her doorstep. "I was asked to deliver this to you personally," he said, holding the box out to Aries, whose gaze flickered to the item in question before returning to the blond – making no move to take the box.
"Who sent it?" she enquired.
The blond's lip twitched upwards, almost as if in approval as he retrieved a small letter from his pocket. "The Brigadier warned me that you would be rather cautious," he said, "And said that you'd know that this," he raised the box up, " was from him when you read this," he finished, now holding the letter out to Aries instead of the brown box.
Pursing her lips, the red-headed witch accepted the letter from the man, although even as she did so, Aries found herself glancing at the blond curiously, wondering why Alistair would have sent her anything without warning her beforehand. The witch was also highly suspicion- Oh, who was she kidding?
Aries knew that the blond wasn't a mailman, as no one knew about her connection with the Brigadier except for those that were in the 'Need to Know'. And people in the postal industry were most definitely in the 'Need to Not Know' group.
Giving the blond one last glance, Aries opened the letter and quickly read it. Her eyebrows raised as she did so, knowing immediately that the man hadn't been lying about knowing it was from Alistair. She could recognise the Brigadier's messy script anywhere.
Aries,
I'm sorry for not telling you that I was sending this, but after speaking to you and knowing that you haven't been able to get a positive result with your research, I ended up getting my hands on a sample that might be able to give you some answers.
If this sample provides fruitful in your research, please let me know and I'll send further information in regard to it. I would have sent the information now, but the rarity, along with what would happen if the wrong people found out about the sample has caused me to not do so.
I hope it holds your answers,
Alistair.
When she was finished reading, Aries pocketed the letter as she turned her gaze back onto the blond. "You're not a mailman, are you?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. The letter – and it's writer – told her as much, and that wasn't even considering the feeling she was getting from the man.
The blond shook his head with a small smile, his expression clearly seeming to state that he approved of her observations, though Aries didn't have a clue as to why. "No, I'm not," he confirmed as he pulled something else from his pocket; showing it to the red head who immediately recognised the UNIT ID card. "Commander Aspen if the Ministry of Defence. Currently called in to liaison with UNIT under the direct request of Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart," he introduced himself.
Aries nodded in understanding, realising why she wouldn't have recognised the man, or heard about him from Alistair. The red head had nothing personally to do with the MoD, her main priority being UNIT itself, as well as her ongoing investigation on Torchwood.
"Thank you for dropping the box off," she said as she finally accepted the parcel from the blond, offering him a small smile.
The Commander nodded as he tucked his ID back into its pocket. "It was not a problem, Ma'am," he replied with a small smile of his own before he turned and walked away.
The witch watched him go for a moment before her eyes fell onto the box in her hand. And as she closed the front door, Aries wondered what type of sample would have Alistair having it hand-delivered to her very door – by a Commander of the Ministry of Defence, no less.
-0-
Re-entering her study, Aries approached her desk before placing the box atop it and sat down; staring at the item for a moment as she contemplated as to what she should do. Her fingers twitched, wanting to scan the box to see if there was anything nefarious about it, but stopped herself. The witch knew that Alistair would never send her anything that could possibly bring her harm, and so with a slow exhale, the red-headed witch slid the box closer to her and opened it.
She was rather surprised to see a smaller, wooden object nestled inside the box, surrounded by shredded paper. A note was tucked in behind it, and with furrowed brows, Aries took the note out and placed it beside the packaging; her mind set on trying to figure out what Alistair had sent her as she pulled the item in question out of the box for closer examination.
It was made of a lightly varnished wood and was about eight centimetre's long. The ends were the shape of a pentagon and had some very fine, but detailed carvings on it. The top two sides had a carving of a wolf howling at a moon, while the front was fitted with a small latch which Aries undid; only to grow confused when she noticed another item nestled inside.
"Why would Alistair send me a Cryptex?" the red head muttered as she started at the small cylinder-shaped device. It was a beautiful piece of craftmanship, and Aries couldn't help but admire it. Even the letters on the combination lock shone like someone had spent hours polishing each one. They had once spoken about creating one for sensitive information, and although Aries had the plans ready to go, they had never actually put the idea into production.
But as the red head continued to carefully examine the Cryptex, she could clearly see that Alistair had gone ahead and made one, and it made her wonder why he had done so. More so since the Brigadier's letter had stated that all the package had held was a sample.
Speaking of notes...
Aries dropped her gaze to the note that had accompanied the Cryptex, wondering if it would hold any answers to what Alistair had sent her and picked it up to read.
To know your future, you must remember your past.
And although I am yours, you had me recast.
I am the truth behind the lies.
The secret that you try so hard to hide.
And although others use me more than you,
I'm only known by a certain few.
Frowning as she read the words, Aries' confused gaze fell back onto the Cryptex. Gingerly removing it from the box it was inside – remembering the various traps and triggers that she had once planned on including – the witch held it carefully in her hand.
"... others use me more than you, I'm only known by a certain few," she repeated as she tried to work out what the riddle meant. Though as her silver-grey eyes fell onto the box the Cryptex had been placed inside, a smile twisted Aries' lips as they landed on the engraving of the howling wolf. "Alistair, you brilliant man," she exclaimed as she slowly started rolling the letters around on the Cryptex, and when she was finished, the witch hoped that the word she had chosen would unlock it.
R – I – E – K – A
There was a click, and Aries waited with bated breath, hoping that she'd been correct. She let it out with a heavy sigh of relief when one end of the Cryptex popped outwards. The red head carefully twisted the end off and peered inside, raising an eyebrow when all she saw was a small vial hidden snuggly within.
Gently sliding the vial out and onto her hand, Aries placed the Cryptex back inside it's box, and when her gaze landed on the vial, her eyebrows knitted together in confusion.
"It couldn't be..." she frowned, peering at the mother-of-pearl sheen that the substance inside gave off. Popping the top off vial, unable to stop herself, Aries wafted the spiralling steam towards her nose, and her heart skipped a beat.
"Amortentia," the witch whispered in surprise, even as her brain tried to figure out why Alistair would have – or even how he had - gotten a hold of the most potent love potion in existence.
Let alone why he bloody well sent it to her?!
Her answer seemed to arrive as soon as the word passed her lips, and Aries almost dropped the vial when there was a spark of something that seemed to have come from within the vial itself, and the potion changed; darkening until it looked like slightly discoloured blood.
"Okay..." Aries said slowly as she carefully placed the vial onto her desk, eyeing it rather warily, "What in Merlin's name did you send me?" she muttered as she tried to process what she was looking at. A million questions ran through the red-headed witch's mind, but none more vocal than who had charmed that vial.
She had spent over a century on this planet without running into another magical soul, and yet here was her 'boss', sending her a mysterious sample that had been charmed to look like the most potent love potion that never existed in this universe. The spell had been so small and well made, the work of a Charms Master for sure, that Aries hadn't even had a chance to see if she could get a trace on the magical signature.
Picking the vial back up after a few moments of it not doing anything else, the witch's eyebrows knitted together as she peered at it, noticing the way the blood looked more orange-red. Not human at least, she thought, still wanting to know why Alistair seemed to have gone to such extremes to send her a sample, but pushed the thought aside.
She had work to do, and without another thought on where Alistair could have met someone magical, the red head re-stoppered the vial and warded it strongly before disapparating, heading straight to her lab.
A renewed spark of hope ignited in the witch at the possibility that this sample may just hold the answers she had been looking for, as well as the knowledge that she may not be as alone as she once had believed.
There was another magical being out there, and after she had the results from this test, Aries was not going to let anything stop her from finding them.
-0-
After setting up the comparison test, Aries sunk back into her chair with a sigh. She placed a her hand over the spot on her forearm where she had drawn a vial of blood to compare the unusual sample against and with a whispered spell, healed the mark the needle had left on her skin.
All the red head had to do now was wait for the machine to do its thing and provide her with the results. But as she ran a hand through her hair, Aries' thoughts weren't on the test, but the vial.
There was someone out there – other than herself – that could use magic, and Aries planned to find them. Though first she wanted to know the results from the sample that Alistair had sent her, knowing that there was a high chance that it might provide a clue as to who could be behind the spell. And so with another glance around her lab, searching for anything she might have missed or needed, the witch turned on her heel and disappeared with a crack.
Reappearing in the rather bare living room of her house, ignoring the grandfather clock as it chimed the hour, Aries thought about what she could do while she waited. She was feeling a little excited about the test that was going on in her lab, but also didn't feel like spending the time waiting alone in the house that held some painful memories.
Making a quick decision, Aries headed off to her bedroom to change into some more comfortable clothes, feeling that a run might do her some good in settling her nerves and help burn off the excess energy she could feel. It also didn't hurt that a run meant spending time away from the house that had once been her home.
Once changed, the red head grabbed her mobile and ID card before setting off out the door. She had no plans on where she was headed and just allowed her feet to guide her as she focused on her breathing, just wanting to think of nothing but each breath she inhaled and exhaled. She had only made it a few streets away from the building when a beeping sound caught her attention and Aries came to a stop, pulling her phone from her pocket with a frown.
Pressing a button on the device, the screen changed to an image of a radar as something large passed through the Earth's atmosphere and was heading straight for London. Her eyes widened in shock before her head snapped up, just in time to see what had invaded Earth's airspace.
A large spaceship flew passed overhead, and Aries winced and had to cover her ears as a loud horn blared from the ship.
Looking back down to her phone, the witch pressed a few more buttons, ignoring the people around her as the streets turned chaotic when the ship suddenly collided with Big Ben, as she tried to triangulate the spaceship's origin. The screen changed once more however as it started to ring, and the red head was quick to answer the call.
"Alistair, what can I do for you?" the red head asked as she headed in the direction that the spaceship had crashed.
"Aries, I can presume that you've seen our guests," the Brigadier stated the moment the call connected, as always getting straight to the point, "I need you at Headquarters as soon as you can get here."
The red head furrowed her brows as she stopped walking, her gaze lingering towards the direction she had seen the ship go. "Is there a reason you need me there?" she asked as a small frown appeared on her face, "Instead of Ground Zero?"
"As far as we know, there hasn't been a sighting of him anywhere, and since he is currently MIA, I'm calling you in as the Royal Commander to help run this operation. You're the only competent alien expert besides the Doctor that will be able to get this situation under control, and hopefully help us understand what we're dealing with."
Aries' frown only deepened at the man's words. "You know, Alistair. One day you're going to have to tell me how I actually ended up with that title," she remarked as she turned away from the Thames and headed back towards her house. "Just send a car out to my residence and I'll be there shortly."
There was the sound of what she guessed to be a relieved sigh on the other end of the line before Alistair said, "Thank you, Aries. I'll send someone out now."
"I'll talk soon," the red head replied before ending the call. Though as she pocketed her phone, Aries glanced back towards the Thames before shaking her head.
By the time she had turned into her street, there was already a black SUV parked in the driveway at the front of her house. Nodding to the driver as she went inside, the witch quickly changed and grabbed a few things before leaving once more, her earlier research forgotten as her mind tried to work out why a spaceship picked today of all days to crash into the middle of London.
-0-
"Kate, I have no idea why you wanted me in that room if you were just going to have others overrule my decisions," Aries huffed as she walked through her front door, the door slamming shut behind her as the wards around the property snapped into place with a flash of red light.
It was later in the evening and the red-headed witch wasn't happy about how her day had gone. After she had left, she had not been taken to Headquarters as she had first presumed, but dropped off at Kate's office with the thought that she would be able to render some order in the chaos that the spaceship had caused after it breached not only British airspace, but Earth's as well. And since her position was not known to the general public – or even most government branches – a lot of her ideas and thoughts had been overlooked.
And to add on to everything she had just had to go through, Aries had stumbled across some information that had been under the name of the Black Archives.
"Aries, I know what you're thinking," Kate sighed, "But you have to know that UNIT holds its secrecy for a reason. If the general public were to know what we know, there would be chaos."
Aries clenched her jaw and her hair begun to ruffle as her magic twisted under her skin, "You know that I am not talking about the general public, Kate. Those news reporters should have been contained immediately, but instead; they were left to run wild. People are going to panic either way and there was no need for the media to build onto that. What in Merlin's name was the Secretary General thinking telling people to watch the skies. Have they got any idea about what chaos that would cause."
There was another heavy sigh on the other end of the phone before Kate spoke again, "Aries, you know that we don't have control over everything."
"Oh, I know, Kate," the red head cut in, "You don't have to remind me what you can and won't do. I've watched this organisation grow over the last decade and I have to say that what it has become, it's not the same organisation that your father helped create," Aries snapped, and a breeze begun to whip around her living room as her anger got the better of her.
"Of course it's not. UNIT needs to move with the changes. It can't-"
"Do not try and explain it to me, Kate Lethbridge-Stewart," Aries cut her off again with a hiss, "I've seen enough change in my life to know that the way you are going about it is wrong. What you are doing to, what you have become is not the same UNIT that I joined, not the same UNIT your father created."
It hadn't been just the spaceship that the witch had been researching that day. She had also taken the opportunity to do a quick sweep of the UNIT database. Since Aries generally got information from Alistair in regards to most cases or from Kate when she was working in the field as Eris, the red head rarely had time to actually see what was happening with other parts of the organisation. And what she had found had her furious.
"Of course it's not. What my father created was not capable of keeping up with changes of the world. UNIT needs to expand. The way that UNIT had been running and containing the knowledge of alien lifeforms would have eventually gotten out and then where would we be?"
The paperwork on her coffee table flew across the room and the empty mug of tea that had been left there earlier shattered as Aries' control snapped. "When I joined this organisation, I agreed to help you with understanding alien life. I had implemented orders that anything too advanced or dangerous to handle should be destroyed, not left in one place that would give any alien race with the knowledge on how to use them an armoury to overtake the Earth."
There was a pause on the other end of the phone before Kate spoke up again, "You may hold the position of Royal Commander, Aries, but that gives you no right to tell me how to run this organisation. Those decisions were made with the wellbeing of everyone involved. The Black Archives are protected by the highest security measures known to man."
Shaking her head, Aries let out a quiet sigh, realising that she wasn't going to get through to the woman on the other end of the call. "And that will be your downfall, Kate," she said, "You have placed everything that you deemed dangerous or unknown under one roof, and have left it under a lock that most alien species had probably cracked as children." She walked into her kitchen, but not before clearing up the mess she had caused in her living room. "But enough of that. It's clear that you're still as stubborn as your father, and my question for you is why did a spaceship crash land in the middle of the Thames, almost taking out Big Ben while doing so, only to find that it was piloted by a spliced pig?"
Kate's voice seemed to sound relieved to Aries' ears as she replied. We're working on it as we speak." There was some shouting and muffled sounds in the background that had Aries' eyebrows raising. "I've got to go, Aries. Just make sure you're ready to head off to Downing Street. It'll be a tremendous help to have someone on the inside to help us figure out what's going on."
Flicking the kettle on, Aries sighed as she leaned a hip against the counter, "I'm only going as another advisor, Kate," she told the woman, "It'll be easier to mingle with the others if they don't know my position. Most don't know what I look like anyway."
"Alright." Kate agreed, even as the chaos in the background only grew, "I'll send a car around in fifteen," she added before hanging up.
Aries placed the phone on the counter and made her way to her bedroom to get quickly changed. By the time the kettle had finished boiling, she had already managed to changed her top and gotten another coat on.
Another ten minutes later had the red-headed witch sitting at her kitchen table drinking her tea as she waited for her ride to arrive to take her to 10 Downing Street.
-0-
Exactly fifteen minutes after Kate had hung up – and much to the woman's word – there was a knock at the door the had Aries' head turning towards it with a frown.
She got up out of her chair at the table and placed her cup into the sink before heading to answer the door, silently wondering if it was going to become the norm for people to just appear at her place and knock on her door instead of messaging her and waiting in their car. But she gathered that it wasn't every day that a spaceship crashed into the middle of London.
"Commander Aspen," the red head greeted in surprise when she opened the door and seeing the same blond that had shadowed her doorstep earlier that day.
"Evening, Miss Prince," the man greeted politely with a small forwards incline of his head. "I hope that you don't mind, but I volunteered to drive you to Downing Street this evening."
Aries shook her head as she replied, "Not at all, Commander. I was just surprised to see that it was you, that was all. And please call me Aries. Miss Prince makes me feel rather old," she continued before adding a little curiously as she eyed the blond, "I would have thought you would have been called in ahead of me."
The Commander chuckled, "It would only be fair for me to do so if you would call me Nick," he stated before gesturing to the sedan in Aries' driveway, "And as to being called ahead, I was informed that I wasn't needed as UNIT already had the people they required attending the conference."
"Don't look at me," the red head raised an eyebrow at the look Nick was giving her, "I'm just a Scientific Advisor," she said as she slipped into the front seat.
Nick shook his head as he entered the driver's seat and started up the car. "In that case, I guess you have the appropriate clearance to know that we will be doing a slight detour on the way," he informed the witch as he reversed down the driveway. "I was informed that I was to pick someone else up as well," he added when he caught sight of Aries' curious expression.
The red head shrugged, not at all phased about taking longer to get to the one place she had been trying to avoid all day. She had really been lucky enough that Kate had allowed her to go as a Scientific Advisor. "That's fine," she told the blond before asking, "Though I have to know, how long have you known Alistair? He's a man of few words and has never mentioned any association with the MoD before."
"Hmm, I would have to say it's been about a year since I started liaising with UNIT, though I've known Alistair for about five years now. Generally my work is just an odd job here and there," the blond replied as he turned out of Aries' street and into another.
"The man really does like his odd jobs," the red head muttered with a small smile as she looked out the window. Silence fell over the pair as they continued on their way, although it wasn't long for a frown to appear on the witch's lips when they began to approach a large number of police vehicles and a helicopter. She turned to Nick, a curious eyebrow cocked as she said, "Okay, now I'm curious. Just who is your other pick up?"
The man just glanced at her sideways, but didn't say anything as he parked the car.
Continuing to frown, Aries turned back to the commotion happening outside and her eyebrows raised when she spotted the TARDIS in the middle of all the chaos – just as the Doctor, Rose Tyler, and –
"What's Mouse doing with them?" the red head questioned herself quietly as she spotted the young man step out of the box with the other two and directly into the helicopter's spotlight. She was quick to exit the vehicle when she heard the police demands.
"Do not move! Step away from the box and raise your hands above your heads."
Mickey wasted no time in making a run for it the moment he saw his chance, and if Aries just happened to be looking in the other direction as her nephew made himself scarce... well, she had been distracted by Jackie Tyler appearing amongst the throngs of officers, shouting and screaming for her daughter as they police held her back.
"Raise your hands above your head. You're under arrest."
The Time Lord and his companion were quick to comply to the commands given to them, although a small groan escaped Aries when she managed to hear what the Doctor said as he grinned at the armed forces surrounding him and Rose.
"Take me to your leader."
"Everything alright?" Nick asked as he appeared by Aries' side, causing the red head to glance at him as the Doctor and Rose were escorted to their vehicle.
"The man's ego is big enough. Did they have to make it bigger?" she remarked before straightening as the pair reached them.
She could hear Nick chuckle quietly as he followed her actions. "You're to come with us," the man told the Doctor and Rose as they stopped in front of them. The Time Lord looked between the two, his eyebrows furrowed slightly before a grin appeared on his face.
"Hello, and who might you two be?" he questioned.
Nick was the first to introduce himself as he held out his hand towards the Doctor.
"Commander Nick Aspen, MoD."
"Ministry of Defence," the Time Lord said, a little confused as to what the MoD were doing there as he shook the man's hand.
"I've been called in on behalf of the MoD to liaison with UNIT during this investigation," Nick explained as if he could read the Doctor's mind, who was quick to nod in understanding before he turned his blue eyes on Aries.
"Are you MoD as well?" he asked the red head, feeling that there was something about the young woman and the way she held herself, but he just couldn't place what it was.
"No, sir," Aries replied with a shake of her head, "Aries Prince, UNIT's Scientific Division," she stated, holding her own hand out to the Doctor to shake.
Instead of shaking her hand, the Doctor frowned slightly at her response, once again getting a feeling about the red head that he just could name. Something was niggling at the back of his mind, something telling him that the woman was familiar, but the moment he grabbed her hand to shake it, all thoughts left him as a jolt shot through him the moment his hand enclosed around hers. His eyes widened in surprised disbelief at the sensation, and the Doctor found that he was rather at a loss for words as the jolt was quickly followed by a warmth that started at their connecting hands before rushing through his body like a wave,
Aries' silver-grey eyes were confused as she felt the same jolt shoot through her as the Doctor made to shake her hand, but as her gaze met the blue eyes of the Doctor, the witch found that for the first time in over a century, she didn't want to question it. Not when it was immediately followed by a feeling of warmth and completeness that seemed to fill all the empty places in her heart – a calming, reassuring warmth that seemed to caress her very soul.
Her heart beat quickly inside her chest as she suddenly found herself overwhelmed by a unique – but painfully familiar – scent. It had been one that had confused her ever since she had first come across the love potion. It was the scent of leather, old books, some sort of oil, and a distinct, overpowering scent of sweet electricity. It took the witch only a moment to realise that the scent of sweet electricity was something that she had always associated with her time-turner... the scent of time. Something that Aries was vaguely aware of smelling the first time she had stepped inside the Time Lord's ship.
So engrossed in the Doctor's presence and what those scents meant, Aries startled badly, jerking her hand from the Doctor's when her phone started ringing. "Sorry," she was quick to say when she noticed the Time Lord frowning slightly as she pulled out her phone, ignoring the pull she felt to retake his hand. The moment she saw who was calling her, the red head was surprised to feel annoyance towards the Brigadier for interrupting... well, whatever it was that had just occurred between herself and the Time Lord. Giving the Doctor and Rose a glance, the former still watching her with a slight frown, she was quick to say, "I've got to take this," before she moved away and out of earshot.
"Alistair, what can I do for you?" she questioned the moment the call connected, finding her gaze being drawn back to the Doctor as Nick led the pair to the sedan.
"I was wondering if Commander Aspen had arrived yet?"
"Yes, he had," the red head replied with a small frown, "And we've also just picked up the Code Blue," she added as she continued to watch the man in question, rather confused and curious to know what had just happened between them. She had touched the man's hand plenty of times in the past, and not once had she ever had a reaction like that before.
"Ah, yes. Sorry about not informing you, but Kate had only got the notification that he had been sighted not that long ago."
"That would explain why she had to cut our conversation short," the red head said, "And it's also why I have to go, Alistair. I'll talk with you later."
"I'll be waiting," Alistair replied before hanging up.
With a sigh, Aries pocketed her mobile before looking at her hand, flexing it to make a fist before straightening her fingers and flipping it over so she could look at her palm. She had no idea what had just transpired between herself and the Doctor when they had shaken hands, and what confused Aries the most was her lack of alarm over the sensations that she knew she should feel. At any other time in her life, the red-headed witch would be demanding answers to know what he had done – if it was at all the Doctor's fault in the first place – which something deep inside Aries was telling her that he had no idea that whatever had happened was going to happen.
The surprise and shock that had been in his eyes was enough to give her pause. As well as the fact that something was telling Aries that whatever had happened, it wasn't harmful. In fact, it had given the witch a sense of peace that she hadn't felt in her entire life, and she was rather reluctant to question what had brought in on with the fear of the feeling leaving her.
Shaking her head and letting her hand fall back to her side, Aries moved back to the car and got back in the front beside Nick once more, ignoring the blond's questioning look as he started the car. An eyebrow raised at the conversation she could hear in the backseat between Rose and the Doctor.
"This is a bit posh. If I knew it was going to be like this, being arrested, I would have done it years ago," the blonde commented.
The Doctor, who had been trying and failing at not staring at the red head in the front, managed to tear his gaze away from Aries to look at his companion. "We're not being arrested, we're being escorted," he explained. Before he knew it, the Doctor once more found his gaze falling to the passenger seat in front of him as his mind whirled over what he had experienced not minutes earlier.
Ever since the Time War and his hand in finishing it, the Time Lord had given up on his chance of ever finding his Nesdra, knowing that it was almost unheard of to find one's heart-mate – or soulmate – outside of his own species, and with Gallifrey gone, along with its people, he had concluded that he would never find his.
But to have found her, right here on Earth and working for the same organisation that he had once worked for... the Doctor found that he was at a loss for words.
She couldn't be a Time Lady. He would have sensed her long before he had seen her.
"Where to?" Rose asked, managing to break through the litany of thoughts that were running riot inside the Time Lord's vast mind and he looked back to her with a raised eyebrow; a small grin working its way upon his lips for an entirely different reason.
"Where do you think? Downing Street."
Rose's expression turned surprised as she said, "You're kidding."
"I'm not," the Doctor told her, his gaze flickering to Aries when he noticed her shift in her seat, turning so she could look back at them.
"10 Downing Street?" Rose asked, her disbelief clear for all to see.
Irritation flashed across the Doctor's blue eyes as he looked back to his companion. "That's the one," he confirmed with a nod, finding her continuous questions rather pestering. As much as he may have be quite happy in indulging her curiosity in the past, right now it was only becoming a hindrance for the Time Lord. All he wanted to do was learn more about his Nesdra and try and to get to know her better.
"Oh, my god. I'm going to 10 Downing Street," Rose exclaimed ecstatically before she suddenly frowned, eyeing the Doctor. "How come?"
Letting out a sigh, the Time Lord knew that he wasn't going to get a chance to talk with Aries if he didn't placate his companions seemingly never-ending stream of questions. And it took quite a bit of restraint on his part not to snap at her and tell her to quit pestering him. "I hate to say it, but Mickey was right-" he didn't see his Nesdra stiffen at the mention of her nephew , "-Over the years, I've visited this planet a lit of times, and I've been, er... noticed."
Aries couldn't help but snort when she heard what he had said, unable to stop herself. The thought of the Doctor being 'just noticed' was an understatement. From what she had heard in the background earlier when she guessed Kate had received the call about the Doctor having been sighted, it sounded like his very name had sent UNIT into a scramble.
"What?" the man in question asked, raising an eyebrow at his Nesdra as she turned further in her seat so she could see him more clearly.
"'Noticed' being the understatement of the century in that statement, Doctor," the witch told him with an amused upturn of her lips.
The Doctor tugged at his ear as he fought down a grin of his own, unable to help but wonder just how much the red head knew about him. She was working in the same division of UNIT that he had once worked in, so there was a high chance she had heard something about him, and as much as the Doctor didn't like the way the organisation handled some – if not all – cases they handled, the Time Lord couldn't help but feel relieved that Aries held the knowledge of aliens – and by chance, him.
The idea of not having to explain that he wasn't human seemed to take a weight of the Time Lord's shoulders, though there was something that was still eating away at him. Something that had stopped him from reaching out and re-grabbing her hand earlier when her phone had interrupted his revelation.
"Now they need you?" Rose interjected with a small frown, coming to realise that she wasn't the only person on Earth with the knowledge that there were other lifeforms out there.
"Like it said on the news. They're gathering experts in alien knowledge," the Doctor explained, not taking his eyes away from Aries as he asked her, "And who's the biggest expert of the lot?"
"Patrick Moore," the red-headed witch deadpanned, causing Nick to snort, glancing at her in amusement. He was rather glad to have volunteered to take them as he listened to their banter and couldn't keep the smile that was on his face away as it continued.
The Doctor blinked at her rather serious expression before he noticed the way her eyes almost seemed to be dancing with mirth. He pouted, rolling his eyes in good humour when he realised that she had just pulled his leg as he huffed, "Apart from him. He was rather liking how easy it was to talk with Aries, and was enjoying her teasing – even if it was at his expense.
"Oh, don't you just love it," Rose exclaimed, although her eyes narrowed on the red head in the front seat. She didn't know who this Aries Prince was, and really wasn't too sure how to feel about the fact that the red head seemed familiar with who the Doctor was.
"I'm telling you. Lloyd George, he use to drink me under the table," the Doctor exclaimed, earning a choked laugh from his Nesdra that only caused his grin to grow. "Who's the Prime Minister now?" he asked.
Aries head appeared between the two front seats. "Tony Blair," she told him before raising an eyebrow. "Though I thought you would have known that," she added.
The Time Lord's expression became a little sheepish. "I may have missed a year," he admitted, earning a knowing look from his Nesdra that told him she may know he more than he had first perceived.
Silver-grey eyed moved between Rose and the Doctor before Aries shook her head. "At least it was the right location," she said a little nonchalantly as she turned back around and face the front, leaving the pair looking at her with different expressions.
"What do you mean?" Rose asked, but the red head in the front didn't reply. Turning to the Doctor, who was looking rather embarrassed and possibly a little shocked, she asked him, "What did she mean, Doctor?"
"Er," the Time Lord shook his head, tugging at his ear once more before he sent his Nesdra a half-hearted glare when he swore he could hear her snickering under her breath. "It's nothing..."