The Doctor and Rose watched carefully as Kari made her way down a staircase, they knew something was wrong but they had no idea what. Cassandra was still feeling scared, her plan had not gone how she had hoped, the mind of the body she took was fighting back and the body wasn't even human.
"Starting to rethink your little plan are you, Cassandra?" Kari asked smugly.
She didn't answer her as they carried on walking long a walkway, filled with pods, illuminated with a green glow. The Doctor stopped and opened one of the pods with his sonic screwdriver.
"That's disgusting. What's wrong with him?" Cassandra asked.
The Doctor and Rose both ignored her. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." The Doctor said before closing the door again.
"What disease is that?" Cassandra asked when he opened the next pod along.
"All of them. Every single disease in the galaxy. They've been infected with everything." The Doctor told her, not being able to look at Kari.
"What about us?" Rose asked. "Are we safe?"
"The air's sterile. Just don't touch them." He told her, closing the door of that pod.
"How many patients are there?" Rose asked, looking over the railings and at the masses of pods lining every floor. It just seemed to go on and on, never stopping.
"They're not patients." The Doctor told them bitterly.
"But they're sick." Cassandra pointed out. Kari was happily watching everything unfold. She knew what was coming, and she had a plan. She just hoped that it would work.
"They were born sick. They're meant to be sick. They exist to be sick. Lab rats. No wonder the Sisters have got a cure for everything. They've built the ultimate research laboratory. A human farm." He spat. The anger was rising in him now. Not just for what was going on with the humans they were using, but because of Kari.
"Why don't they just die?" Cassandra asked, making Kari snort a little.
"Oh, Cassandra. You really are stupid aren't you?" Kari mocked. "They're the plague carriers, they are always the last ones to die, but eventually they do die. Just like everything in the universe. Everything must come to an end, otherwise nothing would get started."
Cassandra tried to just ignore her as the Doctor spoke. "Plague carriers. The last to go." He said, repeating what Kari had just told her.
"It's for the greater cause." Novice Hame told them, standing a little away from them.
The Doctor glared at her. "Novice Hame. When you took your vows, did you agree to this?"
"The Sisterhood has sworn to help." She replied.
Kari wanted to push Cassandra aside and shout at Novice Hame. "Calm, Princess." A voice called to her. "You know the ending of this adventure, do not be hasty." He warned her.
She let out a mental sigh, knowing that he was right. She still didn't like the fact that she had to keep her feelings to herself, but what else could she do?
"What, by killing?" The Doctor spat at Hame.
"But they're not real people." Novice Hame said calmly. "They're specially grown. They have no proper existence."
"What's the turnover? Hm? Thousand a day? Thousand the next? Thousand the next? How many thousand? For how many years? How many?" The Doctor growled at Hame, inching ever closer to her.
Novice Hame just looked at him, keeping herself composed and calm. "Mankind needed us. They came to this planet with so many illnesses. We couldn't cope. We did try. We tried everything. We tried using clone meat and bio-cattle, but the results were too slow. So the Sisterhood grew its own flesh. That's all they are. Flesh."
"These people are alive." Rose cried in horror, finally understanding what was going on.
"But think of those humans out there, health and happy, because of us." Hame told her, trying to make her see it was for the great good.
"If they live because of this, then life is worthless." The Doctor was trying not to let his anger get the better of him, but his mind was still full of concern for Kari.
"But who are you to decide that?"
"I'm the Doctor." He told her, stepping forward and away from Rose and Kari. "And if you don't like it, if you want to take it to a higher authority, there isn't one. It stops with me."
"Okay, Doctor. You really need to calm down now. Thing's are going to go from bad to worse." Kari called to him, making him look at her out of the corner of his eye. He was sure he had only imagined her talking to him like that before, but now he was certain she was communicating with him.
"Just to confirm, none of the humans in the city actually know about this?" Cassandra asked, looking over the Doctor's shoulder from where she was now standing.
"We thought it best not."
"You know, I can understand the bodies, I really can. I can understand your vows. But the one thing I really can't understand… What the hell have you done to Kari?" The Doctor bellowed, making said woman and Rose flinch a little.
"Didn't I tell you to calm down?" Kari called to him again. "I'm okay, sort of. It's complicate, just like everything in my life."
"We haven't done anything." Novice Hame told him.
"I'm perfectly fine." Was what came from Kari's mouth, although it really wasn't her speaking.
"These people are dying, and Kari would care." The Doctor said, pointing to the pods and glaring at Hame.
"Oh, alright, clever clogs." Cassandra said, spinning the Doctor around so that he was now facing her. "Smarty pants. Ladykiller." She said, tugging at his tie a little.
"What's happened to you?" He asked, his voice full of concern.
"I knew something was going on in this hospital, but I needed this body and your mind to find it out." She told him, leaning ever closer.
"Who are you?" He asked, worry completely taking him over now.
"The Last Human." She whispered to him.
"Cassandra?" the Doctor asked, not really believing her.
"Wake up and smell the perfume." Cassandra said, pulling it out from where she had hidden it and spraying the Doctor in the face with it.
"And now, you can get lost Cassandra. You've found out what's going on, so disappear." Kari ordered.
Cassandra sniggered. "Oh please. I'm not finished yet." She said, forgetting that Rose was still standing behind her.
"Not finished what?" Rose asked cautiously.
Cassandra quickly spun around to face her. "Oh, you're still here are you?" She said, looking her up and down. "Hmm, you're a pure human. Not the prettiest. But I'm sure you will be less annoying than her." She said, referring to Kari.
"I am still here you know. And don't you even think about taking Rose's body, because I won't let you." Kari hissed at her.
"You've hurt him." Novice Hame called, going and checking the Doctor who was lying on the floor. "I don't understand. I'll have to fetch Matron."
"You do that, because I want to see her. Now, run along. Sound the alarm!" Cassandra called, watching Novice Hame run off before pulling at a cable, making several alarms blare. "Now, what am I going to do with you?" Cassandra said, forcing a smirk onto Kari's face.
"I'm warning you, Cassandra, do not touch her." Kari growled at her.
She shrugged her shoulders and sprayed Rose with the same thing she that had knocked the Doctor out. Somehow she managed to drag the Doctor into an empty pod, before shoving Rose in with him.
"Here comes your pet." Kari called, noticing Chip coming towards them.
"Let me out! Let me out!" Kari heard the Doctor cry, banging on the door of the pod.
"Aren't you lucky there was a spare? Standing room only. They aren't really designed for two people." Cassandra said, glancing down at the still unconscious Rose at the Doctor's feet.
"You've stolen Kari's body." He growled, the fire burning in his eyes.
"Over the years, I've thought of a thousand ways to kill you, Doctor, and your precious Kari. And now, that's exactly what I've got. One thousand diseases. They pump the patients with a top-up every ten minutes. You've got about three minutes left. Enjoy." She said, about to walk away.
"Just let Kari go, Cassandra." He pleaded.
Cassandra stopped and turned back to face the Doctor. "I will. As soon as I've found someone younger, less annoying. Then I'll junk her with the waste. Now hushaby. It's show time." She said, walking over to where Matron Casp and Sister Jatt were now standing.
"Okay Doctor, time to listen to me. Cassandra is not going to 'junk me with the waste', she wouldn't dare." Kari told him, ignoring the conversation Cassandra was having. She already knew what was going on, she didn't need to hear it as well, especially not coming from her mouth.
"Kari? But… how are you doing that?" The Doctor asked her in shock.
"I had some help from an old friend." She told him, thinking about that giant face that was upstairs waiting for them to be done. "Now listen to me, Cassandra is going to cause utter chaos in a minute. Wake Rose up, your going to be running after me."
"Are you okay? You're not hurt or anything are you?" He asked her, his concern flooding into Kari's mind.
"Nah, I'm fine. Tougher then I look, you should know that by now." She told him.
"Well, nice try. Chip? Plan B." Cassandra said. He pulled a lever and all the pods began to open, including the one Rose and the Doctor were in.
"What've you done?" The Doctor screamed, helping Rose to her feet.
"Gave the system a shot of adrenaline, just to wake them up. See you!" Cassandra called, going to run off.
"Oh, I don't think so, missy." Kari growled in a very low and intimidating voice. Her body froze immediately.
Kari turned around and looked at the Doctor, after having taken her body back from Cassandra for a moment. She gave him a wink as he reached her, hoping that he would understand that it was now her, and not Cassandra.
Their attention was taken elsewhere when they heard Sister Jatt screaming in pain as she died when one of the humans from the pod touched her.
"What the hell have you done?" The Doctor spat at her.
"It wasn't me." Kari protested, clearly he hadn't realised that it was her.
"Once touch and you get every disease in the world, and I want that body safe, Cassandra." The Doctor was past angry now, he was fuming, on the verge of becoming the Oncoming Storm.
"I'm not Cassandra!" Kari bellowed. "Stupid bloody Time Lords." She mumbled.
The Doctor and Rose both looked at her with wide eyes. "Kari?" He asked, not daring to believe it was her.
"Yes, now move. Come on, we've got to go down." She said, grabbing his and Rose's hand and dragging them along with her.
"Kari, how are you doing that? What's going on?" The Doctor asked, as they ran down the metal staircase.
"No time to explain, you will find out soon enough." She told him, moving as fast as she could. "Ugh, I'm going to have to let her back, she's poking around too much. Or trying to at least." Kari said.
"I'm warning you, Cassandra, anything stupid and I push you right out of this body and into one of those poor humans. Do you understand me?" Kari said to the woman, who was now back in charge of her body.
"Perfectly." Cassandra muttered. She turned around and glanced at Rose as they carried on moving. "I should have taken your body when I had the chance." She told her.
"What have you done to Kari?" Rose asked her as the dodged a few more of the infected humans.
"I've taken her body. And I have regretted it ever since. If only it had been you, Rose Tyler, who stepped into the lift."
"You knew what was going to happen?" The Doctor called to Kari.
"But of course, my dear Doctor. And I know how to get us out of here as well. Just keep going." She told him as they finally reached the basement.
Cassandra immediately ran for the lift, pushing the call button several times over. "No, the lifts have closed down. That's the quarantine. Nothing's moving." The Doctor told her.
"This way!" She cried, leading them to where she had taken Kari and her body. Only, on the way, Chip became trapped by some of the infected. She grabbed the Doctor as he tried to go back for him. "Leave him! He's just a clone thing. He's only got a half-life. Come on."
"We're sorry." Rose called back to Chip as they carried on after Cassandra.
"We're trapped. What am I going to do?" Cassandra cried as she tried the back door, only to find it blocked by the infected.
"Well, for starters, you're going to leave that body. That psychograft is banned on every civilised planet. You're compressing Kari to death." The Doctor said angrily, pointing to the contraption that had caught Kari.
"No, she really isn't. Haven't you been paying attention?" Kari called to him, slightly amused.
"But I've got nowhere to go. My original skin is dead." The woman protested.
"Not my problem. You can float as atoms in the air. Now, get out. Giver her back to me." The Doctor was doing his utmost best to keep in control of himself.
"Not good. Doctor, you need to block your mind from her, right now!" Kari shouted to him as a warning.
"You asked for it." Cassandra said, before a strange cloud emerged from Kari and went into the Doctor.
"Cassandra, get out of him right now." Kari shouted to the woman who was now in the Doctor's body.
"Oh, my. This is different." Cassandra said, getting used to the new body she now had. "Goodness me, I'm a man. Yum. So many parts. And hardly used. Oh no, another one with two hearts." She moaned, feeling them both beating.
"Get out of him." Kari ordered, stepping closer to her.
"Oh, he's slim, and a little bit foxy." Before Cassandra could say anything else, Kari had slapped the Doctor's face hard.
"Sorry. I just wanted her to shut the hell up." Kari called, hoping that he would hear her.
"How are you doing this?" He asked her, not sure how he could hear her or why he could talk back to her.
Kari giggled a little. "I'm brilliant. Isn't that what you're always calling me?" She said, before being distracted by some infected people entering the room
"What do we do? What would he do? The Doctor, what the hell would he do?" Cassandra asked in a blind panic.
"Ladder." Rose said, pointing over to a metal ladder on the wall. "We've got to go up."
"Out of the way, blondie." Cassandra said, pushing Rose out of the way.
Kari just rolled her eyes and followed behind them. "Please, help us. Help." One of the infected called to her.
She gave the woman a small smile. "I will, I promise I will help you. By the end of today you will be free and have a new life. I promise." Kari told her. The woman stopped advancing and nodded to her, something that looked vaguely like a smile on her face.
They ended up climbing a life shaft, with no real plan of what they were doing.
"If you get out of the Doctor's body, he can think of something." Rose called to the body in front of her.
"Yap, yap yap. Maybe I was better not taking your body. It would probably be hormone city." Cassandra replied, not really caring.
Kari just rolled her eyes again. "Oh, shut up Cassandra." She said, before she felt someone grab her ankle. When she looked down, she saw Matron Casp holding onto her.
"All our good work. All that healing. The good name of the Sisterhood. You have destroyed everything." The cat hissed at her.
"Go and play with a ball of string." Cassandra called down, watching what was happening.
"Everywhere, disease. This is the human world. Sickness!" Matron Casp said, before being grabbed herself by one of the infected.
Kari looked down and saw the woman who she had promised to help looking up at her. "Thank you." She whispered, before moving forward again.
They finally reached the door to one of the floors but couldn't get it open. "Now what do we do?" Cassandra asked, the fear running through her again.
"Use the sonic screwdriver." Rose suggested.
"You mean this thing?" Cassandra asked, as she pulled the slim silver tube with the blue light at the end out of the Doctor's pocket.
"Yes, she means that thing." Kari called up, getting slightly annoyed. The infected people were right behind her, but for some reason, they were taking their time to reach her, hesitating. It was almost as if they wanted her to get away.
"Well, I don't know how. That Doctor's hidden away all his thoughts." Cassandra moaned.
Kari couldn't help but grin. "Come on then, Cassandra. I suppose I will have to put up with you again."
"Hold on tight." Cassandra said, before the strange cloud left the Doctor and went back to Kari.
"Oh lovely." Cassandra moaned from Kari's body. She looked up at the Doctor. "Open it!" She ordered.
"Not till you get out of her." The Doctor demanded.
"We need the Doctor." Cassandra protested, while Kari was just sitting back, laughing away.
"I order you to leave her." He said threateningly, pointing the screwdriver at her. With a heavy sigh she left Kari and went back into the Doctor.
"Oh, for the love of…" Kari moaned. "Cassandra, get the hell out of him right now." Kari ordered.
"But I can't go into you, he simply refuses. He's so rude. And you won't let me take her, not that I'd really want to." She said, looking at Rose with disgust.
"I don't care. Get. Out." Kari ground out through gritted teeth.
"Oh, I am so going to regret this." Cassandra said, before leaving the Doctor and landing in the infected woman directly below Kari.
"Oh, sweet Lord. I look disgusting." Cassandra moaned, looking at her hands and arms.
The Doctor managed to get the lift door open and pulled Rose up. Kari was quickly pulled up and into a hug with the Doctor. "Nice to have you back." The Doctor said, beaming away.
Before Kari could say anything, Cassandra was back with her. "That was your last warning, Cassandra!" The Doctor hissed as he closed and locked the lift doors.
"Inside her head. They're so alone. They keep reaching out, just to hold us. All their lives and they've never been touched." Cassandra told the Doctor and Rose as she thought back to what she had seen. "But Kari, they trust her. They believe in her. She promised she would help them."
The Doctor and Rose both smiled a little. "Well, that's Kari for you." Rose said, thinking about her best friend and all the times she has helped people and put others before herself.
"Come on." The Doctor said, holding a hand out to help Cassandra up.
They didn't make it far before someone was brandishing something at them in defence. "We're safe! We're safe! We're safe! We're clean! We're clean! Look, look." The Doctor called, showing the woman his hands. Rose done the same, and Kari's hands followed.
"Show me your skin." The woman demanded.
"Look, clean. Look, if we'd been touched, we'd be dead." The woman lowered her make shift weapon and allowed them to enter the ward. "So how's it going up here? What's the status?" The Doctor asked.
"There's nothing but silence from the other wards. I think we're the only ones left. And I've been trying to override the quarantine. If I can trip the signal over to New New York, they can send a private executive squad." She told him.
"You can't do that. If they forced entry, they'd break quarantine." The Doctor warned her.
"Excuse me, Cassandra, I need my body back for a minute." Kari said, pushing the other woman to the side. She didn't seem to protest, in fact, she seemed to be in a world of her own and not really paying attention.
"I am not dying in here." The woman protested.
"We can't let a single particle of disease get out. There are ten million people in that city. They'd all be at risk. Now, turn that off!" Kari shouted before turning to the Doctor and Rose. "Always the rich ones. Think they are better than everyone else, that they have more of a right to live."
"Not if it get's me out." The woman said, still playing with the device in her hand.
"Alright, fine. So we have to stop you lot as well." Kari said, before looking over at the big face in the tank and smiling. "Mind if I borrow a few things? Not that you really need them, eh?" She asked the face.
Kari heard him chuckling. "Take anything you need, Princess." He replied to her.
She got started straight away in taking down all the intravenous solutions that were hanging on a stand by his tank.
"Cassandra?" The Doctor asked quietly.
"Kari, actually. So glad you know me so well that you can tell the bloody difference." She mumbled.
"What are you doing?" He asked her, watching her grab as many bags as she could.
"Oh, come on Doctor. Think about it. Why were those poor humans created in the first place?" Kari asked him.
She could have sworn she saw a light bulb suddenly light up above his head. "To cure everything." He whispered. "Oh Kari, you're brilliant." He said, kissing the top of her head before running around and telling everyone else to get as many bags of solution as they could find.
"Why did you promise to help them?" Cassandra asked her as she was hooking the bags onto a rope tied around the Doctor.
"Because they are alive. They deserve the chance to live. You've lived, you've had a pretty good life, but what kind of life have they had, Cassandra?" She asked her.
"They're so alone. So empty." Cassandra told her quietly.
"Would you wish that life on anyone? You're not the nicest person I've ever met, I'll admit that, but do you really want to see them all die?" Cassandra didn't answer her. She couldn't, because she knew that the truth was that she didn't. After being inside that woman's head, how could she want them dead? She felt sympathy for them, she could now understand them.
"Right, I think you're all done now, Doctor." Kari said, hanging the last bag she had onto the rope.
"You okay?" He asked her, holding her by the top of her arms and gently rubbing them.
Kari nodded at him. "Yeah, I'm fine. I think Cassandra is finally starting to change." She said, shocking the Doctor a little.
"So, are you coming then?" He asked her as they walked towards the lift.
"Yes. I made a promise, and I'm sure as hell not going to break it." Kari said, turning around and calling for Rose. "We're going to need you as well."
The Doctor jumped into the lift shaft, grabbing hold of the metal wire hanging down. The strange wheel contraption he had been holding was now attached to the cable. "Well?" The Doctor said, looking back at Kari. She let a grin spread across her face before jumping and hanging onto the Doctor.
After shifting herself to the side of him she turned back to the blonde haired woman looking at her with wide eyes. "Come on, Rose." She called.
Rose hesitated for a moment before closing her eyes and jumping as well, grabbing hold of the Doctor. 'You're both mad. You know that?" She said, letting out a scared little laugh.
"Yeah, but you wouldn't want us any other way would you, Rose?" Kari said, beaming away at her. "How you doing there, Cassandra?"
"You're completely mad. Both of you. Your perfect for each other." Cassandra told her, catching her by surprise.
"Did you just say something nice?" Kari asked her, not able to believe it.
Cassandra didn't get the chance to answer as they were suddenly plummeting down the lift shaft. "Well, that's one way to lose weight." Rose said, unhooking her arms from around the Doctor.
"Now, listen. When we say so, take hold of that lever." The Doctor told Rose as he pointed to it.
"There's still a quarantine down there. We can't…" Rose started to protest.
"Just, hold that lever. We're cooking up a cocktail." Kari said, starting to take some of the bags from the Doctor.
"I know a bit about medicine myself." He said, following her lead and ripping the bags open with his teeth and emptying the contents into the large tank on top of the lift they landed on.
"Oh, do you now, Doctor?" Kari said with a grin. He just flashed her a smile as they carried one.
Once the last bag was empty, Kari opened the hatch that led to the inside of the lift. "Now, that lever's going to resist, but keep it in position. Hold onto it with everything you've got." She told Rose, sitting on the edge, getting ready to jump.
"What about you two?" She asked, not knowing what the plan was still.
"We've got an appointment." The Doctor told her. 'The Doctor is in."
Kari just rolled her eyes at him. "Geronimo." She said, before jumping down, the Doctor landing right behind her. She took the screwdriver from his hand and used it to open the doors of the lift. "We're in here!" She shouted. "Come on!"
The infected people started making their way towards them. "Pull that lever!" The Doctor called up to Rose as the people got closer to them.
"Come and get us. Come on!" Kari shouted.
"We're in here, come on!" The Doctor called, a smile on his face.
"Commence stage one disinfection." The computer called. That was when all the different solutions that Kari and the Doctor had emptied into the tank above them started to rain down.
The first person Kari saw was the woman she had made the promise to. She stepped forward and grabbed hold of her hand tightly. "I kept my promise. Now pass it on." She whispered to her. The woman nodded and smiled before walking away from her.
"Pass it on!" The Doctor cried as more tried to enter the lift.
The solution was healing them, removing every disease they had. Their skin hissed and steamed but when it cleared, they were healed.
"Hey, Cassandra? Want to do something good for a change?" Kari asked, before letting the other woman take control. "Touch them, give them back their lives." She told her.
Cassandra did as she was told and touch anyone and everyone. She hugged the young ones, feeling their happiness. "A brand new form of life. New humans." Kari told her. "Look at them. Grown by cats, kept in the dark, fed by tubes, but completely alive. You can't deny them, because you helped create them."
What Kari hadn't realised was that she had told the Doctor as well as Cassandra. She hadn't meant to, she just didn't know that she was doing it.
"The human race just keeps on going, keeps on changing. Life will out!" The Doctor announced happily.
"So, what do you think now then, Cassandra?" Kari asked her.
"That it's time to change." She answered honestly.
A while later, the quarantine had been lifted and the police were taking away the staff. That was when the Doctor finally remembered the reason they had been there in the first place "The Face of Boe!" He cried, dragging Rose and Kari back up to ward 26.
"You were supposed to be dying." The Doctor said to the head in the tank.
"There are better things to do today. Dying can wait." The Face of Boe replied.
"Oh, I hate telepath. Just what I need, a head full of big face. Isn't she bad enough?" Cassandra moaned.
"Shh! Why did Kari let you back anyway?" The Doctor questioned her.
Cassandra just shrugged Kari's shoulders. "I don't know. She didn't say."
The Face of Boe chuckled a little. "I have grown tired with the universe, Doctor, but you have taught me to look at it anew."
"There are legends, you know. Saying that you're millions of years old." The Doctor said, looking at the tank.
"There are? That would be impossible."
"Nope, just a bit unlikely." Kari called to him, making him laugh again.
"Wouldn't it just." The Doctor said, a smile on his face. "I got the impression there was something you wanted to tell me."
"A great secret."
The Doctor looked at him. "So the legend says."
"It can wait." The Face of Boe told him.
"Oh, does it have to?" The Doctor moaned.
"He is going to be sulking for days now, thank you very much." Kari grumbled to him.
"Remember what I told you, Princess. He cannot know. There are many struggles to come, but you must stay strong. You know where to find me when you need me." He told her softly.
"I know. If there's one person in the universe I know I can trust that isn't the Doctor, it's you, Captain Harkness."
"I haven't been called that for a long time."
"Yeah? Well, you're always Captain Jack Harkness to me, no matter what anyone says or how you look. Oh, I can't wait to see the Doctor's face when he realises it's you." Kari said excitedly. The look on both his and Martha's face when they found out was priceless.
She heard him chuckling in her head before he began speaking to everyone else again. "We shall meet again, Doctor. For the third time, for the last time, and the truth shall be told. Until that day." He then disappeared in a beam of light.
"That is enigmatic." The Doctor said in awe. "That… That is… That is text book enigmatic." He said before turning to face Kari. "And now for you." He said to Cassandra.
"But everything's happy. Everything's fine. Can't you just leave me?" She pleaded.
"You've lived long enough. Leave that body and end it, Cassandra."
"I don't want to die." Cassandra spluttered, pretending to cry.
"No one does." The Doctor told her softly.
"Help me." She begged. He was the Doctor, why wouldn't he help her?
"I can't."
"Mistress!" A voice called, running into the room.
"Oh, you're alive." Cassandra said, looking at Chip.
"I kept myself safe for you, mistress." He announced.
"A body." Cassandra said, thinking. "And not just that, a volunteer."
"Don't you dare!" The Doctor shouted. "He's got a life of his own."
Chip turned to face the Doctor. "But I worship the mistress. I welcome her."
"You can't, Cassandra, you…" The Doctor didn't get to finish his sentence, as a cloud left Kari and went into Chip.
Kari would have hit the floor if the Doctor hadn't have caught hold of her. "You alright?" He asked, trying to keep her steady. She tried to stand up more but only succeeded on almost falling flat on her face again. "Whoa!" The Doctor said, tightening his grip around her waist. "Okay?"
Kari looked up and him and smiled. "Yeah. Hello." She said, holding onto him, never wanting to let go.
"Hello. Welcome back." He said, hugging her tightly.
"Oh, sweet Lord. I'm a walking doodle." Cassandra said, looking at the markings all over Chip's arms.
"You can't stay in there. I'm sorry, Cassandra, but that's not fair. I can take you to the city. They can build you a skin tank and you can stand trial for what you've done." The Doctor said, stilling keeping a tight hold on Kari. After everything that had happened, he was not letting her go anywhere.
"Well, that would be rather dramatic. Possible my finest hour. And certainly my finest hat. But I'm afraid we don't have the time. Poor little Chip is only a half-life. And he's been through so much. His heart is racing so. He's failing. I don't think he's going to last…" Cassandra said, just a Chip's body lurched forward.
"Hey, you alright?" Kari asked as she bent down to help her up.
"I'm fine. I'm dying, but that's fine." She answered, looking at Kari sadly. Kari knew what was going to happen, and it would seem that Cassandra had finally accepted it.
"I can take you to the city." The Doctor offered.
"No, you won't. Everything's new on this planet. There's no place for Chip and me anymore. You're right, Kari. It's time to die. And that's good." Kari could hear the sadness as she spoke through Chip's body.
"Come on." Kari said, helping her up. "I think there is one last thing we can do."
Kari sat and waited in the TARDIS while the Doctor and Rose took Cassandra to see her younger self, to tell her that she was beautiful.
"How you doing?" Rose asked her as she sat down on the chair next to her.
"Me? I'm fine. Always fun having someone try to take over your body and kill everyone and try to blackmail some evil cat nuns." She told her, not really feeling fine at all.
Rose understood exactly what she was saying and wrapped her arms around her. "Cassandra wanted me to tell you something." Rose whispered to her. "She said thank you."
Kari just nodded and hugged her friend back.
A/N: Sorry for the long wait. Still been ill, which has been a pain in itself, but also had a uni assignment due. But that's all done now! Yay!
Okay, so I have one more chapter to go, before things start to get even more complicated for Kari. And I'm please to say, that no one has managed to work out the big secret yet! Which will soon be revealed.
I promise to get my head back into my stories, even though I have had requests to put up my other Merlin story (which I am still debating about doing).
I love all your reviews, so keep them coming. You are all wonderful and magnificent people.
Pippa.