p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;"strongspan style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Fighting in the Home Front/span/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""WE REALLY NEED TO talk about how much you antagonize our enemies," the Doctor told his brown-haired companion as they sat at the table in the kitchen. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""I only say what needs to be said… or what is the God-awful truth," Lyla sniffed, as she took a drink from her cup of coffee and stabbed a piece of egg. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""And what happens when there is that one enemy that gets tired of that mouth of yours and does something about it," he tried to reason with her. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Then they will realize that my threats aren't just threats, they're promises," she said all too casually for the topic of conversation. Lyla looked over at the Doctor sitting across from her and tilted her head. "I'm not helpless. I think you sometimes forget that fact. I know you've never seen it but I can take care of myself when need be." She went back to eating her breakfast for a couple of seconds and then pointed her fork at the Timelord and told him seriously, "You need to learn to trust."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"He huffed and took a drink of his tea as he eyed her, "It's not that I don't trust you. It's that I don't trust the universe when it comes to you. You are a danger magnet and regularly end up in my medbay, remember."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""That's because I was helping others, not because I was protecting myself." She cocked her head and continued, "Self-defense is different from rescuing others." Lyla looked away from the Timelord, staring off into the distance as she tried to explain, "There is something desperate in self-defense. It's a 'anything goes, nothing is off limits' type of desperate. Being raised by someone who had to work a lot of calls of assault, abuse, and worse, you are very quickly taught how to defend yourself in those types of situations." Lyla turned back to the Doctor and gave him an almost patronizing smile, "You have almost always been on top of the food chain. For those who aren't… life is different down here. It's a no-holds-bar fight to survive."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"He swallowed thickly as he finally looked away from her. "You think I've never had to be in that situation?" He asked her seriously./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""I think that you don't know what it feels like to walk in a carpark with keys between your knuckles just daring someone to come up behind you." She stood up with her empty plate and walked towards the sink, effectively turning her back on him, "I think you don't know what it means to check the backseat of your car every single time you get in it." As she stood at the sink and rinsed off her plate with very deliberate motions, she continued to talk, "I think you don't know what it feels like to shove a chair under a door handle at every hotel because no one can be trusted, and it is so terribly easy to get a key card for any room." She sat her now rinsed plate in the high-tech dishwasher that sat on the counter, "Do I think you have been in situations that deem that level of caution… Yes. Do I think you live in that state of what a human female of the twentieth century does?" Lyla turned back to face him as she leaned against the counter behind her with her hands, "No. I don't think you know that level of crazy and paranoid."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"He looked at her with a blank face, tea completely forgotten, "You know I would protect-"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""You've completely missed the point," frustrated, Lyla cut him off. "It's not about protecting me. It's about protecting myself and not needing emsomeone/em to do that for me. You need to realize that I'm not some naive little girl who jumped at the chance of a big strong man who offered to show me the stars." She stared him down and finally huffed and turned her head away, "Hell, I met you when plastic beings tried to kill Rose and I." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"He opened his mouth several times, truly lost for words at what Lyla was saying to him. Before he could gather himself, she was already barreling on again. "Doctor, you don't have to protect me from the horrors of this universe. I promise I've seen worse."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Touching a nerve, the Doctor stood and stalked towards the reclining Lyla with a sneer and ice hard eyes, "You've seen genocide. War. Participated in those things, have you?" He finally stopped directly in front of her and placed his hands on either side of her, effectively trapping her. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""No," She raised her head meeting his eyes and tensed, "but I've seen rape and abuse. I've seen someone beat another so bloody then proceeded to cajole and tell them that they didn't mean it." Lyla brought her foot up and slammed it into his instep causing him to grunt and to shift his weight to one side giving her the opportunity to elbow him in the gut to further open up the escape point. Now off balance from the two blows, the Doctor, putting most of his weight on one hand while the other came up to hold his midsection, Lyla twisted to the side and pushed him toward the counter, while she slipped out to the side. Now free she turned and backed away from the Timelord, "Don't belittle my horrors. They affect us all the same. They just manifest in different ways." She put a good ten feet between the two before she said, "You don't know my history. I may even one day sit down and tell you. But today is not that day." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"He straightened up, as his arms fell away to his sides. He stared at the brown-haired Texan with something close to respect in his eyes before taking stock of her tense stance and fighting posture. He raised his hands palm first in a sign of truce before he spoke, "Lyla. You know I didn't mean-"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Lyla cut him off once again with an unpleasant smile, "Don't tell me what I should and shouldn't know… You did. We both know you did. You backed me in a corner, and I responded." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""I know. I'm sorry," he stood still, in his non-threatening pose as Lyla studied him. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"She stared him down with a disappointed frown, and finally loosened her posture and tense shoulders with a heavy sigh. Lyla looked away from him and slowly crossed her arms, "I know you are." she sighed before looking back at him with a frown and a thick swallow, "Are we done with this?" She gestured between the two with a wave of her hand, "Cause I could use a hug now." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"The Doctor nodded and raised his arms a little higher and with thick voice, offered, "C'mere"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Lyla took a hesitant step forward before practically falling into his arms. She wrapped her arms around his middle, clenching that back of his navy jumper in her fists. One of the Doctor's arms wrapped around her shoulders, while the other hand found itself buried in Lyla's curly locks. He held tight to the back of her head as he heaved a deep breath. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Lyla rubbed her face into his chest, trying to bury herself in his closeness and smell, while the Doctor ducked his head and buried his nose in her hair and pulled her just a touch tighter, trying to cocoon her in his arms. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Good Morning." Rose stepped through the door of the kitchen, she paused mid-step as she took in her two friends, "Am I interrupting?" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"The other two occupants raised their head from each and turned to look at Rose and replied at the same time, "No." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Lyla not stepping away from the Timelord said conversationally, "Breakfast is in the oven."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"The Doctor sighed, "How many times do I have to tell you… It's not an oven is a -"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Yeah yeah. It's a space age thing that cooks stuff just like an oven does. So for simplicity reasons it's an oven," Lyla interrupted. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""You know, I'm getting really put out by you interrupting me so much. I may just have to do something about it," The Doctor threatened her with a blooming smile and Lyla slowly unwound herself from the scheming Timelord. He caught her just as she was pulling away and tickled her sides. Lyla twitched as a laugh escaped her. She twisted and turned to escape the Doctor's tickling fingers. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""WE REALLY NEED TO talk about how much you antagonize our enemies," the Doctor told his brown-haired companion as they sat at the table in the kitchen. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""I only say what needs to be said… or what is the God-awful truth," Lyla sniffed, as she took a drink from her cup of coffee and stabbed a piece of egg. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""And what happens when there is that one enemy that gets tired of that mouth of yours and does something about it," he tried to reason with her. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Then they will realize that my threats aren't just threats, they're promises," she said all too casually for the topic of conversation. Lyla looked over at the Doctor sitting across from her and tilted her head. "I'm not helpless. I think you sometimes forget that fact. I know you've never seen it but I can take care of myself when need be." She went back to eating her breakfast for a couple of seconds and then pointed her fork at the Timelord and told him seriously, "You need to learn to trust."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"He huffed and took a drink of his tea as he eyed her, "It's not that I don't trust you. It's that I don't trust the universe when it comes to you. You are a danger magnet and regularly end up in my medbay, remember."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""That's because I was helping others, not because I was protecting myself." She cocked her head and continued, "Self-defense is different from rescuing others." Lyla looked away from the Timelord, staring off into the distance as she tried to explain, "There is something desperate in self-defense. It's a 'anything goes, nothing is off limits' type of desperate. Being raised by someone who had to work a lot of calls of assault, abuse, and worse, you are very quickly taught how to defend yourself in those types of situations." Lyla turned back to the Doctor and gave him an almost patronizing smile, "You have almost always been on top of the food chain. For those who aren't… life is different down here. It's a no-holds-bar fight to survive."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"He swallowed thickly as he finally looked away from her. "You think I've never had to be in that situation?" He asked her seriously./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""I think that you don't know what it feels like to walk in a carpark with keys between your knuckles just daring someone to come up behind you." She stood up with her empty plate and walked towards the sink, effectively turning her back on him, "I think you don't know what it means to check the backseat of your car every single time you get in it." As she stood at the sink and rinsed off her plate with very deliberate motions, she continued to talk, "I think you don't know what it feels like to shove a chair under a door handle at every hotel because no one can be trusted, and it is so terribly easy to get a key card for any room." She sat her now rinsed plate in the high-tech dishwasher that sat on the counter, "Do I think you have been in situations that deem that level of caution… Yes. Do I think you live in that state of what a human female of the twentieth century does?" Lyla turned back to face him as she leaned against the counter behind her with her hands, "No. I don't think you know that level of crazy and paranoid."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"He looked at her with a blank face, tea completely forgotten, "You know I would protect-"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""You've completely missed the point," frustrated, Lyla cut him off. "It's not about protecting me. It's about protecting myself and not needing emsomeone/em to do that for me. You need to realize that I'm not some naive little girl who jumped at the chance of a big strong man who offered to show me the stars." She stared him down and finally huffed and turned her head away, "Hell, I met you when plastic beings tried to kill Rose and I." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"He opened his mouth several times, truly lost for words at what Lyla was saying to him. Before he could gather himself, she was already barreling on again. "Doctor, you don't have to protect me from the horrors of this universe. I promise I've seen worse."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Touching a nerve, the Doctor stood and stalked towards the reclining Lyla with a sneer and ice hard eyes, "You've seen genocide. War. Participated in those things, have you?" He finally stopped directly in front of her and placed his hands on either side of her, effectively trapping her. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""No," She raised her head meeting his eyes and tensed, "but I've seen rape and abuse. I've seen someone beat another so bloody then proceeded to cajole and tell them that they didn't mean it." Lyla brought her foot up and slammed it into his instep causing him to grunt and to shift his weight to one side giving her the opportunity to elbow him in the gut to further open up the escape point. Now off balance from the two blows, the Doctor, putting most of his weight on one hand while the other came up to hold his midsection, Lyla twisted to the side and pushed him toward the counter, while she slipped out to the side. Now free she turned and backed away from the Timelord, "Don't belittle my horrors. They affect us all the same. They just manifest in different ways." She put a good ten feet between the two before she said, "You don't know my history. I may even one day sit down and tell you. But today is not that day." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"He straightened up, as his arms fell away to his sides. He stared at the brown-haired Texan with something close to respect in his eyes before taking stock of her tense stance and fighting posture. He raised his hands palm first in a sign of truce before he spoke, "Lyla. You know I didn't mean-"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Lyla cut him off once again with an unpleasant smile, "Don't tell me what I should and shouldn't know… You did. We both know you did. You backed me in a corner, and I responded." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""I know. I'm sorry," he stood still, in his non-threatening pose as Lyla studied him. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"She stared him down with a disappointed frown, and finally loosened her posture and tense shoulders with a heavy sigh. Lyla looked away from him and slowly crossed her arms, "I know you are." she sighed before looking back at him with a frown and a thick swallow, "Are we done with this?" She gestured between the two with a wave of her hand, "Cause I could use a hug now." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"The Doctor nodded and raised his arms a little higher and with thick voice, offered, "C'mere"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Lyla took a hesitant step forward before practically falling into his arms. She wrapped her arms around his middle, clenching that back of his navy jumper in her fists. One of the Doctor's arms wrapped around her shoulders, while the other hand found itself buried in Lyla's curly locks. He held tight to the back of her head as he heaved a deep breath. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Lyla rubbed her face into his chest, trying to bury herself in his closeness and smell, while the Doctor ducked his head and buried his nose in her hair and pulled her just a touch tighter, trying to cocoon her in his arms. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Good Morning." Rose stepped through the door of the kitchen, she paused mid-step as she took in her two friends, "Am I interrupting?" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"The other two occupants raised their head from each and turned to look at Rose and replied at the same time, "No." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Lyla not stepping away from the Timelord said conversationally, "Breakfast is in the oven."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"The Doctor sighed, "How many times do I have to tell you… It's not an oven is a -"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Yeah yeah. It's a space age thing that cooks stuff just like an oven does. So for simplicity reasons it's an oven," Lyla interrupted. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""You know, I'm getting really put out by you interrupting me so much. I may just have to do something about it," The Doctor threatened her with a blooming smile and Lyla slowly unwound herself from the scheming Timelord. He caught her just as she was pulling away and tickled her sides. Lyla twitched as a laugh escaped her. She twisted and turned to escape the Doctor's tickling fingers. /span/p
