* A/N I also do not own Doctor Who or any of its characters; I only own my OC. Contains spoilers for the series.
Terry opened her eyes as she found herself in her room in the Tardis once more.
'Was it all a dream?' She wondered, thinking back to the Doctor proposing to her.
A flash of pain passed through her head, and Terry touched her temple with a slight wince. A faint vision, almost like a scene from a blurry dream, of seeing Donna and the Doctor - no, the New Doctor - in the Tardis console room crossed her mind before the vision was engulfed in fire that disappeared into golden light.
'No… it wasn't a dream.' Terry realized.
Everything was a bit difficult to remember, like trying to remember a dream after waking up - the more she tried to focus, the less clear the picture became. But she could remember enough now to know it had been real and, now that she'd had some time to digest, to know that there was something inside of her - something that the Doctor feared.
Terry furrowed her brows at that thought, when suddenly the Tardis lurched and Terry stumbled forward - only to fall backward and onto her butt as the Tardis turned sharply in the opposite direction.
"What in the stars?"
Terry pushed herself up, barely saving herself from tumbling forward this time as the Tardis spun again, and she staggered her way out of her room. Clutching the walls for support, she made her way toward the console room, almost going flying into it when another sharp turn sent her toppling forward.
"Doctor!" Terry yelled as she came running into the console room - not by choice but to avoid falling flat on her face.
"Angel!" Ten shouted in a mix of glee and confusion, and Martha called, "Terry!"
"Oh, thank God!" Donna added from where she was clutching the console beside Martha. "Someone who can finally fly this thing properly!"
"What's going- woah!"
Terry fell back as the Tardis twirled in Space and Time, and she clutched the railings to keep from falling back. Only to reach forward to grab onto the console as the Tardis flipped over again and she was sent staggering forwards instead.
"Terry!" The Doctor exclaimed, maneuvering himself toward her as quickly as he could despite the bumpy trip the Tardis was taking them on. "Hang on!"
"Thanks, I've got that part." Terry retorted. Although she did appreciate it when the Doctor moved so he was caging her between his arms. It meant her head banged into his chest whenever the Tardis tilted, but she preferred that to the threat of falling backward and painfully crashing into the back railing if not the far wall.
"What's wrong with the Tardis?" Terry asked above the banging and occasional yelp from the companions as the Tardis's movements threatened to have them all crashing about.
"That's what I want to know!" Donna responded, and the Doctor explained, "The control's not working. Oops! Ow!"
A particularly nasty bang had Terry's head whack into the Doctor's chin, sending him toppling to the side while she clutched her head even as she was slammed back into the console.
"Ow!" Terry echoed the Doctor's complaint, and Martha called, "Are you two all right?"
"Yeah, I've had worse." Terry grumbled, but the Doctor was already distracted from the pain. Rubbing his chin absently, he stared at the jar that sat at the base of the time rotor where he had fallen to.
"Doctor?" Terry called, and he answered, "I don't know where we're going, but my old hand's very excited about it."
"What?" Terry asked, whipping her head to stare at the Doctor and his hand.
She immediately grimaced at the headache the action caused her throbbing head, while Donna cried in a mix of horror and incredulity, "I thought that was just some freaky alien thing. You telling me it's yours? "
"Well." The Doctor shrugged, and Martha explained, "It got cut off. He grew a new one."
"You are completely impossible!" Donna informed the Doctor. "Don't tell me angel can do that too."
"Well."
It was Terry's turn to shrug while the Doctor corrected Donna, "Not impossible. Just a bit unlikely."
"It's about to get a bit more unlikely." Terry informed them, and the Doctor perked up.
"Oh? It's been a while since we did an adventure you know." He said.
"I thought you hated that kind because Terry throws herself into danger." Martha called, and Terry thought she detected a hint of teasing in the companion's voice.
"What?" Terry asked, and the Doctor said hastily, "Nothing. Oh, look, I think we're about to lan-"
There was a bang as the Tardis crashed, and they all ducked as the console threw up sparks everywhere. Terry yelped in pain as the Doctor accidentally pulled her hair in his attempt to grasp onto her and the console. The silence that followed was almost disconcerting after all the noise, and Donna shook her head as the group tried to orient themselves in the sudden stillness.
"-d." The Doctor finished, recovering first as usual. "Come on then!"
Grabbing Terry's hand in his left, he pulled the petite Time Lady up to her feet before dashing out of the Tardis with her. Donna and Martha exchanged looks.
"Do you think he'll notice if we don't follow?" Donna asked, and Martha shook her head.
"He won't." She replied, her tone indicating that she was clearly speaking from some past experience. "At least, not for a while. But Terry will. Besides."
The former companion grinned.
"Do you really want to miss this?"
Donna grinned back, and the two women rushed out after the Doctor and Terry. The Time Lord himself was examining the junkyard the Tardis had brought them to, peering around from the trash to the rest of the railway tunnel that the junkyard was in while he absently played with the strand of Terry's hair that he'd accidentally pulled out earlier. Terry stood to the side, a contemplative look on her face as she stared at what looked like a smiley face stress ball that she'd picked up from the junk pile. Martha wondered what the look meant because she doubted the stress ball was important enough to cause it… was it?
As Martha observed her, the Time Lady herself was busy sighing internally.
'Of course I would come to a younger him… one too young probably to know the answers to my questions. I'm not sure exactly when the Doctor figures things out but better not say anything until I meet up with a version of him that's already… er, done pyramids in Area 52.'
Terry winced a little as she thought about how, for the longest time, she had thought that particular adventure would end with the Doctor marrying River. To think he would in reality propose to her...
"Why would the Tardis bring us here, then?" The Doctor mused from beside her.
Terry glanced at him with a small smile on her lips. 'Well, there's time to think on that later. For now, I'd best focus on the present or else he's going to notice.'
"Oh, I love this bit." Martha sighed as she observed the two Time Lords with growing anticipation.
"I thought you wanted to go home." Donna joked, and Martha looked at the older woman with equal amusement sparkling in her eyes.
"I know, but all the same, it's that feeling you get." She said, and Donna's grin widened.
"Like you swallowed a hamster?" She suggested and Martha's answering smile matched the redhead's as the companions exchanged gleeful looks.
"Don't move! Stay where you are!"
The group jumped, even Terry, and they all turned just in time to see three soldiers rushing into the junkyard, their rifles cocked and aimed at the Doctor and his companions.
"Drop your weapons!"
The soldier in the front - Cline, Terry recalled - ordered, and the group quickly lifted their hands in surrender.
"We're unarmed." The Doctor said hastily. "Look, no weapons. Never any weapons. We're safe."
He flipped his hands around as he spoke, meaning to indicate just how empty his hands were. But the soldiers focused on his hands, and one murmured to their superior, "Look at their hands. They're clean."
Martha and Donna exchanged looks while Cline murmured back, "All right, process them."
"Angel? What do they mean?" The Doctor asked telepathically, when Cline pointed to him.
"Him first."
The two soldiers moved at Cline's order, rushing forward and grabbing the Doctor's arms.
"Wait! Oi!" The Doctor protested as the soldiers began to drag him to the side. "What's wrong with clean hands?"
The three women hurried after the soldiers and the Doctor, ignoring Cline as he trained his gun on them warningly, and Martha demanded, "What's going on?"
"Leave him alone!" Donna exclaimed as the soldiers thrust the Doctor's right hand into a machine that had been in the corner of the junkyard.
"Stay back." Cline ordered, prodding Terry's back with his rifle, and Terry shot him a dangerous look that had him shutting up quickly.
The Time Lady then turned back to the Doctor and the machine as the Doctor muttered, "Something tells me this isn't about to check my blood pressure. Argh!"
He suddenly let out a yell, pulling against the machine in a futile attempt to free himself, and Donna demanded, "What are you doing to him?"
"Everyone gets processed." Cline replied seriously, while the Doctor complained, "It's taking a tissue sample. Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow! And extrapolated it. Some kind of accelerator?"
The Doctor was released as he spoke, and he quickly pulled out his arm to examine it, staring in particular at the back of his hand. The companions and Terry moved beside him, Martha asking worriedly, "Are you all right?"
Martha examined the shallow cut on the back of the Doctor's hand, relieved that it wasn't deep though she worried that it could get infected. Donna also sighed in relief to see it wasn't anything more serious, while the Doctor frowned as he looked from his hand to the machine, noting the man-sized cylinder that was connected to the machine his arm had been thrust into.
"What on earth?"He murmured, his eyes widening as he put two and two together. "That's…"
"Angel, please tell me that's not what I think it is."
Terry gave the Doctor a guilty look just as the glass and metal doors of the cylinder part of the machine slid open. A waft of steam blew out onto the group, and as it began to clear they could just make out a figure stepping out from inside.
Both Martha and Donna blinked, staring at the petite, skinny and blonde woman who stood before them while Terry looked at the Doctor. He appeared frozen in shock, unable to tear his eyes off the woman dressed like a soldier in combat boots and trousers… and with blonde hair that was eerily similar to Terry's first generation even if her face looked like a mix of Terry's current face… and his own.
The new woman herself didn't appear to notice them at first as Cline stepped forward and handed her a rifle, saying firmly, "Arm yourself."
The blonde did exactly that, quickly stripping the rifle and checking it while Martha asked quietly, "Where did she come from? Terry?"
Terry shook her head.
"Theta." She prodded gently in her mind, and the Doctor managed to get out aloud in response to Martha's question, "From me."
"From you?" Donna repeated incredulously. "How? Who is she?"
The Doctor seemed unable to reply, and his mouth opened and closed several times as he watched the new woman thoroughly check the rifle she'd been handed.
"Well, she's, well…" He faltered, especially as at that moment the woman who would soon be named Jenny looked over at them. The Doctor's voice seemed to die out as his eyes met startlingly familiar blue eyes, and Terry finally explained to the companions.
"She's his daughter."
Both Donna and Martha's mouths fell open, unable to believe it even when the truth stared them right in the face, while at the same time Jenny cocked her gun and beamed at the Doctor.
"Hello, Dad." Jenny announced, and Terry had an inexplicable urge to laugh at the Doctor's appalled expression.
"That's not possible." Donna said flatly, while Martha - ever the practical scientist - asked, "But why does she look like Terry? I mean, both Terry's - she looks a bit like first Terry and current Terry, right down to her height."
"Are you calling me short?" Terry chimed in, and Martha gave her a stern look.
"Angel, this isn't funny." She insisted and Terry sighed.
She knew it wasn't - but she didn't want to freak the Doctor out even more and she really wanted him to quickly get past the fear that seeing Jenny would awaken in him because… well, because it wasn't fair to Jenny. She didn't deserve the hurt the Doctor was inevitably going to inflict on her when he rejected her.
Terry did have to admit though, things weren't looking too good as Cline questioned Jenny, "You primed to take orders? Ready to fight?"
"Instant mental download of all strategic and military protocols, sir." Jenny replied without missing a beat. "Generation five thousand soldier primed and in peak physical health. Oh, I'm ready."
She moved to join the other soldiers at the makeshift barricade that was already set up near the machine. All the soldiers were aiming their guns across the junkyard as they waited for some movement after the enormous energy beacon the machine's use would have sent out to any nearby settlements. At the back, still near the machine, stood the Doctor, Terry, and their companions.
"So she really is your daughter?" Donna asked at last, and the Doctor hummed.
"Mmm. Technically."
"Technically how?" Martha demanded, and the Doctor explained grimly, "Progenation. Reproduction from a single organism. Means one parent is biological mother and father."
He glanced around to see the soldiers setting up what looked like explosives along the walls of the junkyard while he continued, "You take a sample of diploid cells, split them into haploids, then recombine them in a different arrangement and grow. Very quickly, apparently."
He nodded toward Jenny, who was already a woman in her mid-twenties - in appearance at least.
"So if she came from your cell, why does she look like Terry?" Donna asked in a low voice, and the Doctor sighed.
"I had a strand of her hair in my hand." The Doctor muttered. "It was between my fingers when they stuffed my hand into that progenator machine. The extrapolator must have taken part of the hair cell in the sample and created her as a mix of my and Terry's cells. Risky business when you think of how many ways that could have gone wrong - what if I had a cat hair on me? - but then progenation is always risky."
"So, she's actually both of yous' daughter?" Donna asked and the Doctor grimaced.
Martha looked to Terry, who shrugged a little helplessly. She didn't know - all she knew was that Jenny was definitely the Doctor's daughter.
"We just look similar - it could be coincidence." Terry pointed out, when suddenly Jenny called sharply, "Something's coming!"
The group looked over just in time to see shadows appearing on the wall on the far side of the junkyard tunnel. Whatever was approaching wasn't human although it was bipedal. And armed.
The Doctor pulled Terry, Martha, and Donna back as the approaching figures began to fire at the humans, and Cline yelled, "It's the Hath!"
The soldiers began to fire back in earnest although they were forced to back away from the shots that came their way.
"Get down!" Jenny yelled at the Doctor's group.
The Doctor pulled Terry down, who pulled Donna down, before they hurried away for cover. Martha had already moved in the opposite direction, also seeking shelter from the bullets raining their way. A grunt had Terry popping her head - carefully - out to see one of the soldiers had fallen down, clutching a bloody leg. It was the one who had been setting up the bombs… and the detonator lay fallen on the ground beside the man.
"Angel, no!" The Doctor exclaimed grabbing Terry's arm and hauling her back when she took a step forward. "You, stay!"
He darted out instead, and Cline - seeing the movement from the corner of his eye, called, "We have to blow the tunnel! Get the detonator!"
"I'm not detonating anything!" The Doctor snapped in return as he knelt beside the wounded soldier, helping the man up enough to be hauled to cover.
Another soldier, who had been using the Tardis as a cover, collapsed with a pained yelp and that was when the Hath noticed Martha where she was hiding not far behind the fallen soldier. One of the Hath grabbed her, causing her to shriek, while the remaining continued their assault.
"Oh no!" Donna shouted when she saw the younger woman in trouble, but Terry pulled the redhead back as she said, "Look out!"
They barely dodged the bullets that came in their direction while in the front, the Hath came gradually closer. Jenny launched herself forward, taking on the lead Hath with her fist and a powerful roundhouse kick. The Hath soldier went down and Jenny darted forward to grab the detonator where it lay on the ground.
"Blow the thing!" Cline bellowed as he and the other soldiers continued to fire back at the Hath. "Blow the thing!"
"Doctor, Martha!" Donna cried in alarm, and the Doctor saw Martha in the grasp of one of the Hath, the soldier's hand clamped over Martha's mouth to muffle her screams.
"Martha!" The Doctor yelled, alarmed.
"Blow this thing!" Cline yelled, and the Doctor rushed at Jenny in alarm.
"No, don't!" The Doctor cried. But Jenny ignored his cry as she slammed her hand down on the button.
An alarm began to ring, and the Doctor backtracked against his will. Terry grabbed Donna and pushed her to run; and the Doctor grabbed a hold of Terry and pushed her to run. Keeping himself behind Terry as a shield, they raced as far away from the junkyard as possible, followed by Jenny and the other soldiers, and they'd barely made it away when there was a huge explosion.
The entire tunnel shook with the force as a hole the size of a tank was blown into the wall, collapsing the roof. Small fires flared up only to be quenched immediately by the falling rock and bricks while smoke and dust billowed out in the wake of the explosion. When it was finally silent, the group slowly made their way back to examine the damage, and the Doctor despaired as he saw the entire tunnel was blocked by debris, cutting them off from the Tardis and Martha.
"You've sealed off the tunnel." The Doctor accused, whirling on Jenny as she came up behind him. "Why did you do that?"
Jenny stared back at him in disbelief and she protested, "They were trying to kill us."
"But they've got my friend!" The Doctor snapped angrily.
But Jenny answered grimly, "Collateral damage. At least you've still got them."
She nodded at Terry and Martha before pointing at Cline as she continued.
"He lost both his men. I'd say you came out ahead."
"Her name's Martha." Donna snarled, coming up behind the Doctor indignantly. "And she's not 'collateral damage', not for anyone. Have you got that, GI Jane?"
Jenny blinked, taken aback, while Terry also came up behind the Doctor silently. Taking his hand, she said to Jenny seriously, "Martha's our good friend and more importantly a good person. Where we come from, no one, least of all people like her, are ever just collateral damage."
Jenny stared at her before averting her eyes although whether with newly-developing guilt, confusion, or dismissal Terry couldn't tell.
She let it be for now as she added soothingly to the Doctor, "Martha will be alright. I wouldn't have let her be taken if she wasn't going to be."
"Things don't always go the way you saw them." The Doctor reminded her grimly, and Terry shook her head.
"Trust me."
The Doctor sighed, and he looked at Terry.
"I do." He replied, squeezing her hand. "But I have to try. I have to find her."
Terry nodded in agreement even if she knew he wasn't going to get very far regardless. But his search was going to be what led them to the end of this particular adventure so she stood back to let him pass her. As she did, Terry noticed Jenny was watching them with an extremely odd look on her face but the Doctor didn't see as he made to turn to search for any way to get to the other side of the blockade.
However, Cline stopped them as he pointed his gun at them firmly and threatened, "You're going nowhere."
The Doctor stopped in grudging surrender, but Cline was even more suspicious as he said, "You don't make sense, you three. No guns, no marks, no fight in you. I'm taking you to General Cobb."
He jerked his rifle and he ordered, "Now, move."
The Doctor glanced at Terry, who gave a minute nod. With one last look back at the blockade to which they had lost Martha, the group turned and allowed Cline to lead them away.