Doctor Who: Infection
Chapter x47 - Orobouros / ALTERNATE HISTORY?
Disclaimer - I don't own nothing or nobody you know/recognize. Doctor Who is intellectual property of the BBC, afaik.
I SCREWED UP. I kept toying with this one until I thought I was done. NOPE!
It took a year before I finally realized what was wrong: Ianto and Tosh should NOT be around at this point in the story. D'OH!
How is it the CHARACTERS KNOW something is off and the writer DOESN'T?
So consider this an alternate ending that should not, can NOT exist. much like my brain.
Characters: 10, 11, Gleeson!Doctor, Markham, River, Jack, OCs
The TARDIS landed in Cardiff, once more. The Doctor exited and smelled the sea breeze and took a stroll. He knew it wouldn't be long before Jack found him. Better enjoy it while he could.
He was watching the tides on the pier when the ex-Time Agent caught up to him. "What's up, Doc?" he asked, cheekily.
"Not much, lately," he replied. Jack handed him a coffee. "Anything new with you?"
"More of the usual," Jack replied. "Business is a bit slow, to be honest."
"I don't suppose you need a ride anywhere?" he asked cautiously.
Jack thought a minute. "I don't, no."
"But?"
"But, well, it's Gwen and Rhys' anniversary and I can't think what to get them," he admitted. "I was thinking maybe a quick trip to Versailles, or Barcelona. or wherever. Just a quick weekend away."
"You can't pay for their vacation in the here and now?"
"That's no fun!" he laughed. "Come on Doc, just one quick weekend away, just the four of us!"
"Gwen's the one from the Hub, right?" he asked. "and this Rhys? Have I met him? Does he know what Torchwood is about?"
"Not when Gwen first joined and you met her during Davros' Reality Bomb gambit, but he's totally aware of everything now. Come on, Doc!"
"This isn't one of your- ahem, you know?" They began walking back to the Mermaid Quay tourist office, the front for Torchwood Three's Hub.
"What? No! They go off and do their, y'know, anniversary thing, while we wander off and do ours! It'll be fun!"
"Well, I feel like an adventure," he admitted. "BUT, you follow the rules and do everything I say. Understand?"
Jack saluted him. "Time Agent's Honor!"
"Well, alright?" he caved. "But just this once. No more freebies, special requests, or anything! Promise?"
"Yes sir!" he beamed! "Wait until I tell them! It's too bad Martha is away at UNIT this week, she'll be mad she missed you. But Ianto and Tosh will be so jealous! You should see their baby!"
The Doctor stopped. "What?" He looked down at his coffee cup. "What?"
A shadow passed over his face.
The cup fell to the pavement.
The Doctor ran.
Inside the Hub, everyone acted casual. A brunette was going over paperwork at her desk. Near her, a schlubby guy sat on the couch, watching telly with a toddler. He saw a Japanese woman also hard at work at her station, various tech designs on most of her monitors, save one that showed a sleeping infant, as she pressed a soldering iron to an unknown device. A casually dressed hipster dropped off a cup of steaming tea with a light kiss to her head. The Doctor had a vague memory of the brunette and hipster, but he had been in a suit? Those two must be Gwen and Ianto, he mused.
"Everyone! I have an announcement!" Jack boasted, catching all their attentions. "This is the Doctor, as some of you may know. He's just agreed to-"
The Doctor cut him off. "What's going on here?"
"Doc?"
"Some of you shouldn't be here, and," he pointed to the toddler, "I'm pretty sure that's no baby? The littler one, I mean." Rhys hugged his daughter tighter at the accusation.
Confused looks from the crew. "Doctor? What are you talking about?" Jack pressed. "Anwen is Gwen and Rhys' kid, not-"
"You know as well as I do, Captain," the Time Lord countered.
Jack's face grew dark. "My office. Now." He glanced to Ianto and Tosh. "The rest of you stay here."
The pair turned and marched up into Jack's office.
"What do you remember?"
"Bits and pieces, really. Flashes of a reality that was, but is not what that is." He waved toward the door.
"Dammit, Will," Jack hissed. "Do I need to call River?"
"What's going on, here?" the Doctor demanded. He pointed at his head. "I feel like I should know these people, but I don't? Like time has been rewritten?"
"Because it has," he admitted. He glanced at the door, a pained look crossed his face. "Someone- I can't tell you who- time was rewritten. Tosh and Ianto- I know they were meant to die. They're back. They both know. They all know. They got a second chance. Don't take that away from me. From them. They have a child, now!"
The Doctor glared at him. "Why don't I remember?"
"I should call River. She should know what-"
"Yeah! How exactly do you know River Song?"
Jack was taken aback. "What do you mean? I've known River since-" He stopped. "Is this another crosstime caper thing between the two of you? Am I not supposed to say anything?"
The Doctor was silent a long while. Jack could see him mentally trying to piece things together. "I don't know how to put things back," he finally said. "They shouldn't be here. I can't erase that. I can't simply erase them."
"thank you."
The Doctor shook his head. "I'm not doing this for you. I should pull them out of reality, but I don't know where to go with them."
"They can't travel with you, their baby-"
The Doctor held up his hand. "That's another thing. You let them have a child? Do you know what that could do to a timeline?"
Jack narrowed his eyes. "I had no control over that. Tosh was only gone a short time. She was easing this Ianto who never knew us back into our lives, mostly as a default. What happened next- Look, he had no idea he and I were a thing. I lost a lover -twice over- here. I can't deny him his own happiness because I still have feelings for him. Do you know how hard it is to see them together every day? He knows about my Ianto, but he's not that Ianto. It's tearing me apart inside, but I have to let him live his own life." Jack was at the point of tears.
The Doctor gave a slight nod. "I know that only too well," he admitted. He gave no further elaboration. He sniffed and pulled himself into a more commanding pose. He glanced around, as if looking for something.
"Doc? What's wrong?"
"Something else isn't right here?" He mused, then bolted out the door. He stood before the central column, pulled out his Sonic and scanned the tower. Then started pointing it around, as if trying to triangulate something unseen. The others looked at him in curiosity, unsure what he was doing. An alarm went off.
"Intruder!" Gwen reported, as the lift activated and the platform began to descend. The Doctor ignored it.
An armored figure appeared as the lift descended, but they jumped down to the base level and surveyed the room. Most of the team had drawn arms on the newcomer.
"Stay where you are, you're surrounded by armed bastards!" Everyone looked at Rhys. "Something I saw on the telly, yeh?"
The intruder shook his head and tapped his helmet, revealing his face. "He's always been a bit of a dumbass, hasn't he?" He glanced to Gwen, then Jack. "Captain," he saluted.
"Sam?" Jack asked. "It's okay, everyone. I know who this is. He's alright, isn't he?" Jack pressed, lowering his pistol, but not holstering it.
Sam Bush appeared a bit more grizzled than Jack remembered him. He glanced to the Doctor, then did a doubletake. "Damn it all. Am I too early?"
"That depends," the Doctor answered. "Have we met?" He leaned against thin air. "Are you with these people?"
Everyone but Sam and Jack stared at the empty space in astonishment. Tosh immediately started to try and get any readings on what was sitting there.
Gwen caught her husband's attention. "Rhys, take Anwen into the nursery." He nodded and bundled up their daughter and exited the room, despite her cries of protest to stay. Tosh's monitor screen showed them entering the room with her own child. With all eyes on Sam and the Doctor, no one noticed the screen glitch with interference.
The Doctor knocked on an invisible metal. "Coming out anytime soon?"
The door creaked open to reveal another, a burlier ginger man. "So much for stealth mode," he scoffed. The Doctor did a doubletake. This new intruder had a TARDIS, but wore an outfit similar to the one his previous incarnation favored, save for the larger frame and loose copper locks.
Abraxas eyed the Doctor for a moment. "Take a holo-picture, it'll last longer," he said, smirking at his own joke, while warily eyeing the other man. He then glanced to Sam and Jack. "You didn't tell him yet?"
"We're too early," Sam said.
"Yeah, about that?" the Doctor interjected. "Who are you and what is going on?"
"Sam-" Jack started. The armored man held up a hand.
"Friends," Abraxas answered, brushing his hair out of his face. Again. "Ones you haven't met yet. We're just here to make sure you do." He sauntered across the room. He glanced down at Gwen's paperwork as he passed. She closed her folders. He shrugged and walked over to Toshiko, nodding hello.
"What are you doing, Ab-" Jack started, catching himself. Abraxas gave him a warning look before turning back to Tosh's notes. "What are you doing about this planet?" Jack corrected.
"Don't you mean in this time period?" Abraxas answered. He glanced to Tosh. "You forgot to account for the Heisenberg Compensators, right here," he pointed to her designs. She glanced to where he pointed and realized the same thing, quickly making a note of it.
"Hey, Big Red, back on mission?" Jack prodded.
Abraxas turned to him and smiled. "You haven't called me that since-" He caught himself. "In a very long time, kiddo." The Doctor caught him glance his way.
"So these are old friends of yours?" Ianto asked.
"Point to the Coffee Boy," Abraxas noted, earning a look of confusion from Ianto. Jack made a not-so-subtle motion across his throat. Everyone saw it. "Short answer? I've known him for longer than you've been alive, and that won't be for a few centuries, at least. Timey Wimey-"
"Wibbly Wobbly," the Doctor answered from across the room. "I get it. I'm not supposed to know you yet, but you know Jack, probably me, and know of the Torchwood crew, at least. Why are you here?"
Abraxas and Sam shared a look. "An attack on the Hub is imminent. You aren't supposed to be down here, not yet. And-"
Someone else burst out of the invisible TARDIS. He looked vaguely familiar to the Doctor. "INCOMING!"
The name "Dave?" escaped the Doctor's lips as the whole station shook from an unknown force. Most were thrown off balance. Tosh hit a Big Red Button on her desk before Ianto pulled her under her desk. On her monitor, Rhys glanced to the door as heavy panic room doors locked them in. Sam closed his visor and took up a defensive posture, trying to locate the source of the attack.
"Dave" stumbled out of his TARDIS, almost falling into the Doctor, who helped him back to his feet. A glimpse of the man's history flashed into the Doctor's mind, causing him to push the man back in shock. "Who are you?" he asked in bewilderment.
Regaining his footing, Dave's lip curled in reflex, resembling a snarl. His hands tensed as if to claw an opponent before he caught himself. He felt something when the Doctor touched him, but didn't know what it was. "Keep away from me, old man," he warned. He glanced back to his TARDIS door, which had closed behind him. He knew his teammates were under orders to not let them back in until the crisis had passed.
"Not now, boys," Sam warned, still scanning the large room. The others tensed, feeling the change in atmosphere. Heavy and hard to breathe for a moment, then gravity seemed to leave them. Things began floating, then fell back down as they gasped for breath. The effect repeated twice more before a swirling ball of energy erupted out of the Hub tower, spinning around the room and exploding in a ball of light around the room.
Everything went dark.
Then the laughing began.
As their eyes adjusted to the darkness, they saw they were no longer inside the Hub. It was a cavern. They weren't alone. Shadows moved along the walls as a dull light overheard slowly illuminated the cavern. Everyone from the main room was present, as well as Rhys and the children. The four parents gathered instinctively to protect them.
"Well, well, the gang's all here," came an ominous voice from the shadows. Jack soon realized who else was present. It wasn't just Janet and the other Weevils they had in the cells. "Hey guys. Miss me?"
Incredulous whispers of "Owen?" came from the Torchwood crew who knew Owen Harper. The Doctor watched as a thin lipped man with almost skeletal appearance stepped towards them. Weevils surrounded him as if a they were his pets.
"Amazing what a lethal dose of nuclear radiation can do to a dead man walking, isn't it?" he said. "I think I look pretty good, don't you?" He glanced toward the huddled group of his former comrades. "Don't worry, guys. My new boss doesn't want you, just the kid."
Rhys rose to confront him. "Over my dead body!"
"That can be arranged, big boy," Owen sneered. "Speaking of, she did tell you I'm bigger than you, right?" He glanced down with a laugh.
Rhys glanced back to a wide-eyed Gwen. "W-what?"
Jack tackled Owen before he could taunt them further. He began raining blows about the zombie man's face. "Shut up. Don't say another word!"
"Gwen?" Rhys asked before Jack was thrown into him like a rag doll. Jack recovered quickly, Rhys not so much.
Sam blasted Owen with his armor. Skin melted away, but the energy inside him crackled and regrew almost as fast.
"That. Hurt." Owen sneered. A slight motion and Sam was tackled by several Weevils. "Forgot who you were dealing with Jack? I'm still King of the Weevils, don't you know."
To almost everyone's surprise, the Weevils were suddenly set upon by a large wolf-like creature. "Everyone get back!" Abraxas warned. "He can barely keep control in this form!"
"I see you brought friends," Owen taunted. "No matter, I have an army of thousands, if not more, under my command. Do your worst."
Ianto bunged a rock at him. "Get away from us, monster! Leave us alone!"
Owen looked at him incredulously. "I-candy? Did the coffee boy just threaten me? ME?! Poor little twink. Do you think Jack really loves you? You're just his latest little fling."
Ianto looked at him in confusion. "Coffee boy? Jack? I'm not who you think I am, mister." He stood defiant between Owen and Tosh and their child.
Now it was Owen's turn to be confused. "What? Aren't you Jack's little boy toy?"
"Not in this lifetime," Jack warned, pulling the trigger on his pistol, unloading it on his former employee.
Owen laughed the attack off. "What's going on? How is he not your bitch?"
"You mentioned a new boss? You might want to ask them," the Doctor said, nodding to Abraxas, who also had his Sonic out. Both blasted the nuclear zombie with cross frequencies. Owen stumbled back. His wounds were not healing as fast as before.
"W-whaat? Tosh? NO!?" he stammered, finally dropping to his knees. Before Sam blasted them off. He glanced to Tosh once more before Sam separated his undead gaze from this plane of existence.
"I really wish he would have said who he's working for before you did that," the Doctor chided Sam.
Sam glanced to Abraxas. "We know who he's working for, and now we know why he brought us here. Don't let your guard down."
"I wouldn't count Owen out, just yet," Jack noted. He pointed to the wounds that were already healing. "Trust me, I know what that is like." He kicked the torso for good measure.
A rumble from above. An ebon clad armored figure dropped from the darkness above. Sam tensed for another fight.
"The Master requires the child," it announced.
An uneasy look shared between Abraxas, Sam, and Jack.
"So, the Master is behind all of this? Will he never learn?" the Doctor scowled. "Come out and face me, you coward!"
A golden clad figure slowly emerged from the shadows. He appeared to be an aged man, at the end of his life. "Wrong Master, O Time Lord," he greeted them. "It is not Koschei you seek, but another, more ancient one who desires the child out of time."
"Who are you?" the Doctor demanded. "How do you know-?"
"Someone who knows everything. Time, War, Peace, these mean nothing and everything to one who sits above all."
"You're not touching my child!" Gwen yelled at him, rising from where she was tending her injured husband.
He seemed to notice her for the first time. "The Cooper? No, we do not seek either of your children."
"Either? Children?" she repeated as the others seemed to grasp what he meant. She instinctively grabbed at her belly.
"NO!" Tosh and Ianto shouted in unison. It was in vain as the golden one flicked his hand, causing both to go flying away from the bundle they had been protecting. Abraxas caught her by the leg as she flew past him. He tried to roll with the force of her body, but she hit the ground hard.
Sam just missed catching Ianto's arm as he landed on the edge of the light. Rustling just beyond caught his attention. He turned his armor's chest lights on, causing the shadows to disperse. "Vashta Nerada! They've got Vashta Nerada in here!"
He pulled Ianto back, then looked to the ebon armored figure. "Not again!"
The golden robed man strode to the infant. The faint glow in the cavern seemed to move with him, keeping him in the center. "Almost all our cards are on the table now, aren't they?" he mused. He glanced to the Doctor. "No more." A flick of his hand and the child disappeared.
"NO!" came shouts from several directions. The Doctor charged toward the man, but was held fast.
"Did you really think you had a chance, Doctor?" he taunted. "This child should have never been. Never existed. Never when it's parents were never meant to keep existing. We've simply removed it from the timelines. It's fate sealed before it was ever conceived."
Abraxas attacked him from the rear, but was also held fast. Frozen in air.
"Come to think of it, you shouldn't either," he threatened. Another rumble from above caught his attention. "Yes, my Lord," he replied to no one. "Alas, it seems our playtime has come to an end? Farewell, for now, Doctor."
He snapped his fingers and the cavern turned inside out. Everyone fell to the floor of the Hub's main room. Dave had been returned to his human form. Sam was no longer in his armor. As they regained their senses, Jack offered his peacoat to Sam to cover his nearly naked body. "Not that I don't mind the view," he joked, trying to lighten the mood. Sam wasn't having it.
That's when they realized who was no longer there. "Anwen! Rhys!" Gwen shouted, calling her daughter to her side as she spied her injured husband.
Ianto and Toshiko called to each other, realizing their child had just been taken from them by parties unknown for reasons beyond their ken. He hugged her tight, locking eyes with Jack, Abraxas, and the Doctor in turn, a silent vow to them to make things right.
Jack knelt by his once-lover and friends. "I-I'm sorry."
"Bring him back," he hissed. "Now."
"I could if I even knew where to start looking," Jack apologized.
Ianto glared beyond him. "You're immortal. You have time machines. Make it happen."
"It's not that easy, lad," Abraxas consoled him. "Some things are beyond even the Time Lords." He glanced to the Doctor. "We can't save everyone. I'm sorry. Your child-"
"Brendan. His name was Brendan Francis."
"I know, and I'm sorry, Toshiko, Ianto."
"He's our son!" Tosh cried, slapping Jack in the face.
Jack fell over, knocked off balance by the force of her blow. "I wish I could help, prevent any of this, save Brendan from his fate. I'm sorry."
"You should get those wounds checked out in your medbay," Sam urged Ianto as Dave helped him to lift Rhys. "Come on."
"She needs me more, right now." He glared at Jack and Abraxas.
"Can't help her if you have internal injuries."
"Let me," the Doctor urged, waving his Sonic over the mourning father. "A few bruised ribs, minor cuts. Just take it easy for a few days and get plenty of rest."
Ianto glared at him. "Fix this."
The Doctor rose, and looked to Abraxas. "You, with me. Now." he made his way back to Jack's office, locking the door behind them. "Who are you, and who just stole their baby?"
"I'm-" Abraxas bit his tongue before answering. "I'm a friend, just trying to help."
The Doctor glanced at the man's outfit. "Are you me? In a future incarnation, that is?"
"You'll find out, soon enough. That's all I can say," he replied.
"What about the child? The man seemed to know me, and hinted at what fate lay in store for it? Was that to become who I think it was? No More?"
"From the Time War? Who knows?" Abraxas smirked, then shrugged and fiddled with his large ear. This caused his hair to fall into his face again. He brushed it away. Again.
"Finally ginger, eh?" he tried not to smirk.
"Spoilers."
The Doctor sniffed. "Fair enough. You have a TARDIS, under camouflage protocols, no less. You know OF the Time Lords, but don't seem to know much else. Oh, don't give me that face! I saw your reactions back there. You'd make a lousy poker player, let alone sabacc or 4d chess."
Abraxas smirked. "I had a lousy teacher."
"I'm sure you did." He reached out to shake the man's hand. Abraxas hesitated. "Nevermind, then."
"Doc-"
"No, I understand. You have your secrets. You don't want me to know them. I get it, I do."
"Doctor, it's not just that. No one can remember what happened here. Not even you."
The Time Lord was taken aback. "They lost a child! A Child!"
Abraxas hung his head. "I know. I know exactly what was lost today, and I'm sorry for that. But...it must be done. They can't remember."
"Brendan Francis Jones. You remember that name. Because they won't!"
"I'm not erasing a year of their lives, just a few hours."
"Do you understand what you are doing to them?" he pointed back towards the others.
"A child that was taken from it's parents? More than you could ever hope to understand. But you will. In time."
The Doctor started to argue, but caught his tongue. Something else was going on here. "Are you- Are you in league with those kidnappers? Is that was this was?"
Abraxas shook his head. "Oh gods, no! I'm just ensuring a fixed point in time, Time Lord Victorious."
The Doctor took a step back. "What? What did you call me?"
That's when he realized they were not alone. How she snuck in, he would never know. "Time Lord Victorious," she repeated. "Hello, Sweetie." the hypospray was against his neck before he could move.
Abraxas caught him before he hit the floor. "If mom ever finds out you just impersonated her, she'll have a fit."
"She would understand, kiddo," she chuckled as she handed him the hypo and adjusted the controls of her holo-imager. Her mass of blonde curls gave way to a tight, dark bun. Her face narrower than moments before. "Now is the best time to cover our tracks. You have the note for Jack?"
He reached into his inner jacket pocket and drew out an envelope. "Psychic paper, attuned only to him," he repeated his instructions before placing it on Jack's desk. To anyone else, it would be just a blank sheet of paper. To Jack, it ensured the future. His and many more, besides.
"You know, I do find it kinda funny, what with you going by 'Tasha' in your current timeline, while we deal with a 'Tosh' in this mess," he mused to her.
"My timeline? Oh Sweetie, please tell me I didn't have such an idiot child? Then again, You take after your father in that regard," she teased, glancing at the Time Lord's body.
He started to laugh, then realized what she just said. "Hey! I resemble that remark!" She smiled cryptically, then turned off her hard light holo-emitter, vanishing before his eyes. "They oughtta put a leash on those things! Or some sort of H-mark on their foreheads so we know you're a holo-being!" he grumbled.
The next few hours passed slowly. First was convincing the Torchwood team to relax after tending to various wounds. Next was Retconning the day's events from their minds. Then came the wiping of files and staging a fake break in. Any trace of the Doctor's presence was erased. The footage of Sam entering via the lift was altered so he appeared to be the attacker, causing the injuries to the staff.
Then came the hard part. Replacing the infant. If time travel was good for one thing, it was finding good corpses for time travelers to pull off "death" scenes. Unbeknownst to Ianto, he had an infant great-uncle Sean perish in infancy a century before. His great-grandparents had never spoken of his grandfather's elder brother to his other children, a family secret taken to the grave. Sean's body would pass a cursory exam of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, thanks to a doctored file or two from altering Brendan's birth records. That was all they needed to cover the abduction.
All that was left would be to position the Doctor as if he were just arriving in Cardiff. Having two TARDISes was helpful in that regard.
The Doctor woke as the TARDIS landed in Cardiff, once more. He didn't remember falling asleep? Checking the controls, he exited and smelled the sea breeze and took a stroll. He knew it wouldn't be long before Jack found him. Better enjoy it while he could.
He was watching an oddly familiar couple, just slightly too far away to identify as they strolled along the beach tides by the pier when the ex-Time Agent caught up to him. Why did they seem so familiar? And were they watching him watch them? Nah, just a coincidence?
"What's up, Doc?" he asked, cheekily.
"Not much, lately," he replied, distracted. Jack handed him a coffee. "Anything new with you?"
"More of the usual," Jack replied after a long pause. "Business is a bit slow, to be honest."
"I don't suppose you need a ride anywhere?" he asked cautiously.
Jack hesitated. "I don't, no."
"But?"
Jack thought a moment. The grieving couple mourning their child or the one celebrating? Both needed time alone. He could always shut down the Hub for a few days, either way.
"But, well, it's Gwen and Rhys' anniversary and I can't think what to get them," he admitted. "I was thinking maybe a quick trip to Versailles, or Barcelona. or wherever. Just a quick weekend away."
The Doctor paused as the oddest sense of déjà vu washed over him...
TBC…?
I hope this epilogue ties up most of the loose ends. The story ended where it began, one of the Doctor's "quick getaways" that always turn out unexpected journeys. I began writing this before Matt Smith took over, and end it as Jodie's run comes to a close. Matt's run was my hard stop canon as I wrote, and anything before Trenzalore/50th was open to play with. Ten.1 is from his post-TLV/pre-LotTL era.
The Cushing Doctor was MY First Doctor, and Jon's Inferno my first canon story. So time travel and alternate histories were my forte. Plus, he always wanted to be ginger, and I always thought one of them Gleeson men would make a fine Doctor. Brendan might still do it, but Domhnall is out of the BBC budget, now. Brian could do it, if he wanted to. His "Frank from Ireland" with all three was hilarious, as was "The Bisexual." I expect big things from him in the future.
This chapter sets up Ianto & Tosh's child as one of the Time War's participants, if you didn't pick up on those clues. I had also worked in Abaddon as the mastermind behind Flesh, which in my mind evolved into to the Nestene Consciousness in a timey wimey way, and the Tesselecta. As well as semi-establishing Abraxas as the one behind the Time Agency. Imagine my surprise that he got a namedrop in that wild west ep with the Ponds! (A Town Called Mercy) I had to make an aside for that. LOL
I had another ending in mind, where the Doctor regenerates into an new face at the end, but Jo Martin stole that thunder. I'm looking at you, Future!Doctor Michaela Coel! Maybe another time? As of this writing, we don't know where Jo's "Fugitive Doctor" fits, and even ffnet has changed which Doctor name I was using after I started posting this story. (NOT!Shalka!Doctor! Ugh.) _
This took over a decade to write, and several life changes (Disability, moving 3x, new nephew, losing loved ones, the covid/insurrection drama, etc), and I still want to expand on it further. Who knows? Time will tell. It always does.
Thank You for reading.
Thanks to mom for all those science fiction books and letting us read comics and watch this crazy "nonsense".
Thanks to great-grandma for being one of the few supporters of us expressing ourselves growing up, even if you had no clue what we were on about 99% of the time.
Thanks to Papi Perez for your gorgeous art ignoring boundaries and expanding minds.
Thanks to John for being The Brig to my Doctor. FU qult45 for taking him away.
Slainte to Brendan for being you, GingerBear.
Thanks to my River, Michelle for everything. I'm sorry, sweetie.
Thanks to Verity and every Doctor that was and will be.
