"Don't try anything," Martha said darkly as she pushed Jenny away, her brown eyes darting between Baines, Mr. Clarke, and Jenny. The girl with them was glaring maliciously. She looked at her, too, holding the gun up so that it was pointed at Baines. "I'm warning you, or sonny boy gets it!"
"She's almost brave, this one," Baines cooed, looking entirely amused with Martha. His gaze flicked up momentarily before returning to Martha, and the woman briefly wondered why.
"I should have taken her form," Jenny said wistfully. "Much more fun, so much spirit…"
"What happened to Jenny? Is she gone?" Martha demanded as she backed towards the door.
"She is consumed," Jenny replied, or, at least, the creature in her did. "Her body is mine. She went with precious little dignity...all that screaming!" And then she grinned, and Martha screamed as a scarecrow grabbed her from before. Baines shouted at someone to get the gun, but Martha ducked beneath the scarecrow and bolted outside.
She nearly ran right into John and Joan, who were still standing at the door with wide eyes. Martha wanted to scream when she realized Jay was nowhere in sight. Where had she gone?! "Don't just stand there!" Martha ran past them, shoving them as she did so. "God, you're rubbish as a human - come on!"
John took Joan's hand and they bolted after her, looking worried. Despite being bothered by them, Matha found herself desperately hoping that Jay was okay and safe at least. She was sure that she'd meet them at the school, as it was where John and Martha had worked.
They arrived at the school, barely able to catch their breath and heaving for air. John slammed the heavy wooden door that led to the school shut, bolting it, and then lunged for a bell that he immediately began to ring. Martha blinked, gasping, "What're you doing?"
"Maybe one man can't fight them," John told her and Martha's face paled as she realized what he was saying, "but this school teaches us to stand together. Take arms!" he shouted as boys began to emerge. "Take arms!"
"You can't do that!" Martha said desperately, remembering all that the Doctor had instructed she and Jay to do.
He gave her a look that made her shiver. "You wanted me to fight, didn't you?"
"I say, sir," a boy by the name of Hutchinson yawned as he came down, his eyes blinking blearily, and Martha felt sick. They were children. "What's the matter?"
"Enemy at the door, Hutchinson," John said darkly. "Enemy at the door. Take arms."
The boys looked confused, but didn't dare to contradict him and went to work. Martha stood there beside Joan, horrified as the boys began to rush this way and that. "They're just children!" she cried. "You can't ask them to fight!" John ignored her, urging the boys along. "They don't stand a chance!"
"They're cadets, Miss Jones," John answered, his eyes blazing with determination. "They are trained to defend the King and all his properties."
Martha groaned, frustrated, and she turned to go and find Jay only to find herself with a very angry headmaster behind her. She froze, and Joan looked just as nervous as he bellowed, "What in thunder's name is this?" The boys around them stilled as well, and in any other circumstance, Martha would have laughed. Even Joan looked scared. "Before i devise an excellent and endless series of punishments for each and every one of you, could someone explain very simply and immediately exactly what is going on?"
"Headmaster," John said, picking his words extremely carefully, "I have to report that the school is under attack." The headmaster scoffed, disbelieving, and he hurried to say, "I promise you, sir, I was in the village with Matron. It's Baines, sir, Jeremy Baines and Mr. Clarke from Oakham Farm. They've gone mad, sir. They've got guns. They've already murdered people in the village. I...we saw it happen."
"Matron," the headmaster said evenly without looking at Joan. "Is that so?"
"I'm afraid it's true, sir," Joan said quietly. "I saw it as well."
"Perhaps you did well then, Mr. Smith," the headmaster said, and everyone relaxed. No punishments from this man. "Murder on our own soil...what makes you think that danger will come here?"
"Baines threatened Mr. Smith, sir, and said that he'd follow him," Joan said, and Martha blinked at the look on her face. "We don't know why." Joan looked determined and it took Martha a moment to realize why. As sweet as she was on John, Joan had lost a husband to violence. She would protect John, even if it was a danger to herself. And for that, Joan earned some respect.
"Very well," the headmaster said. "You boys, remain on guard. Mr. Snell," he called to another teacher who'd appeared, yawning, "telephone the police. Mr. Philips, with me. We shall investigate."
"No," Martha protested, standing in front of him with wide eyes, "it's not safe out there!"
The headmaster gave her a rather sharp and nasty look. "Mr. Smith, it seems your favorite servant is giving me advice. You will control her, sir." And then, without further prompting, he left, and Martha scowled after him.
"This Doctor," Timothy said, his eyes clouded with worry and fear for the situation at hand as he looked at the watch in his palm. "He's...your friend?"
"Yes," Jay said confidently, glad she'd followed the boy who'd introduced himself only moments ago. He was a good kid, who had taken the watch without meaning any harm towards anyone else. He knew the watch was important. He knew everything, which had surprised her initially. Yet, she understood. She, too, could hear the watch whispering, "Hold me, keep me safe. Keep me dark. Keep me closed. The time is not right." It was urging him to protect it. Jay could hear the Doctor's voice in that watch, and she smiled warmly at Timothy. "The Doctor is my friend. And despite all of the horrible things you say you saw...he's a good man. A troubled one, but a good one nonetheless. Now, I have to go and find my friends. Will you be okay?"
"Yes," Timothy promised, and then paused when the watch began to whisper once more.
"Not yet," it murmured to Timothy. "Not while the Family is abroad...danger!"
"You can hear it, too? The watch?" Timothy asked, looking at Jay with wide eyes.
She nodded and touched his arm gently, her face grim. "I hear many things," she told him, "and I don't think the Doctor knows, to be honest. Nor Martha." She left without another word and disappeared down the hall, following the directions he'd given her a moment before. She took no time to get to John Smith's office, and burst through the door, scaring the hell out of Martha and Joan. Both looked at her with wide eyes and their hands pressed over their hearts.
"Where the hell have you been?" Martha cried. "Come on, we have to find the watch!"
"Speaking with that boy Timothy Latimer," Jay told them. She gently took Martha's hand when Martha approached, looking distressed, and gave it a squeeze. "Martha, he has it. The watch. You don't have to stress, the watch wants him to protect it. The watch is safe."
Martha looked as if she was going to collapse out of relief and she groaned. "Oh, thank God," she whispered, pressing a hand briefly over her eyes. She was watched by Joan, who also flicked her gaze over Jay before speaking.
"You said he was alien...not from abroad, I take it?" Joan said quietly, catching their attention.
"The man you call John Smith was born on another planet," Jay confirmed, smiling kindly at the matron. Nothing was her fault; she couldn't help it that she'd fallen in love with a Time Lord in hiding. "A different species all together, of course."
"In...in this fairy tale," Joan said, leaning heavily on a chair near her. She looked upset. "Who are you two?"
"Just friends. I'm not...I mean, you haven't got rivals," Martha said bitterly. "As much as I might... Just friends. We're both just friends."
"Human?"
"Human," Martha confirmed, and then inclined her head towards Jay. "She's got a little something extra mixed in, but we're human, and more than that, we don't just follow him around. Jay's an heiress, of sorts?" She looked to her friend for confirmation and Jay made a face but nodded. I'm training to be a doctor. Not an alien doctor, a proper doctor, a doctor of medicine."
Jay was slightly surprised when Joan wrinkled her nose, looking at the young woman in disbelief. "Well that certainly is nonsense. Women might train to be doctors, but hardly a skivvy and hardly one f your color."
"Martha," Jay warned, but Martha's eyes blazed with anger at the comment. She worked just as hard to be a doctor as anyone. "Oh," Martha said irritably, "do you think?" She lifted her hand and began to list off different bones of the hand, pointing to each as she went. Jay got lost somewhere, caught unprepared by the term "scaphoid," and Joan gave Martha look of distrust as she proclaimed that Martha had read that in a book. Martha laughed. "Yes, to pass my exams. Can't you see that this is true?"
Joan only shook her head and turned away, saying quietly, "Those boys are going to fight. I might not be a doctor, but I'm still a nurse. They need me." And with that, she abandoned the two women to look at one another in distress.
The boys finished preparing for the battle was to come and even fired upon an army of scarecrows beneath the supervision of John Smith and the headmaster. Jay, the miserable Joan - who had questioned John about his life and not received the answers she had wanted - and Martha watched from the windows as the Family directed the scarecrows and seemed to be amused by it all. It wasn't until the Family sent the girl forward, with the headmaster stepping past the line of guns that Jay bolted past Martha with the other women hard on her heels to flee to the outside.
"You child," the headmaster was saying as Jay ran outside. "Come out of the way. Come into the school...you don't know who's out there. It's the Cartwright girl, isn't it? Come here, come to me."
"Sir!" Jay cried as she burst outside. "Don't go near her!"
"Silence, woman. Who are you and why are you in my school, anyways?" the headmaster snapped, glaring at her.
"No, but she's right!" Martha added in to the headmaster's annoyance. "She's part of it!"
Joan agreed, and John added in quietly, "She was with Baines in the village, sir."
"Mr. Smith," the headmaster said crossly, "I've seen many strange sights this night, but there is no cause on God's earth that would allow me to see this child in the field of battle, sir." Jay ran a hand desperately through her hair, trying to figure out who was going to stop him, but he'd all ready smiled kindly at the girl. "Come with me."
"You're funny," she mused, giggling softly. Her hand suddenly darted out of her coat, revealing a gun like Baines had held, and they all watched in horror as the young girl shot the headmaster dead. Jay squeaked in horror, grabbing Martha's arm as she mocked, "Now, who's going to shoot me? Any of you?"
"Put down your guns," John ordered the boys. One tried to protest, claiming that the headmaster had just died because of this girl, but John said evenly, "I will not see this happen. Not anymore. You will treat in an orderly fashion, back through the school. Hutchinson, lead the way."
"Go on then!" Baines laughed as he appeared, looking quite smug about everything as he lifted the gun into the air. "Run!" One shot had the boys panicking and the students created chaos as they fled. John stood his ground amongst them all to cast a wary look at Baines before turning and bustling with the boys to get inside, pausing at the doorway that led out of the school and into the lot that held the stables. "This way, boys!" he called. "Quick as you can, let's go!"
They streamed past him and he felt a twinge of guilt. None of them were used to this kind of fighting - not like the adults were. Martha and Jay clung to each other, refusing to let the streams of people push them apart from one another. Joan ended up near them and when John saw them, he called, "And you, ladies!"
"Not until we get the boys out!" Joan retorted, and for once, Martha agreed with her.
They didn't get them all to the stable lot, and Jay wanted to cry in frustration as she scanned the crowds for the missing Timothy Latimer. "Martha," she whispered loudly, making sure she could be heard. "Martha-"
But Martha ignored her, instead focused on making sure that John didn't leave their sight. It was as the last trickles of boys were piling past the that John pushed his way through to stand before them. "Now," he said sternly, looking at the three women. "I insist. The pair of you just go. If there are any more boys inside, I'll find them."
"Mr. Smith!" Jay trilled in protest as he opened the door to the passage that would lead back into the school only to discover a row of scarecrows shuffling forward. He slammed it shut, locking it with wide eyes. "I think...retreat!"
They whirled around and the four all bolted through the stable lot and towards the tree. Distantly in the dark, Jay could see the boys fleeing, whether it be for the woods, the village, or just to hide. Martha's hand was so tight around Jay's, Jay thought she could feel her fingers going numb - but she quickly realized that it wasn't Martha doing it.
Pins and needles had spread all the way up through her forearms and calves, making each step painful the moment she realized the pain was there. She stumbled, but Martha kept her up and running with Joan and John a step behind them. They stopped just within the treeline's shadows, hiding from the Family as Mr. Clarke emerged, singing the Doctor's title mockingly as he sought the Time Lord out.
"Oh, God," Jay groaned when she saw what appeared behind Mr. Clarke, teleported there by whatever the Family had used. Because there was no way in hell these aliens could simply pick up the TARDIS like that.
"Come back, Doctor!" Mr. Clarke shouted, grinning at the trees. "Come home. Come and claim your prize."
"Out you come, Doctor!" Baines sang along with him, laughing maliciously. "There's a good boy, come to the Family!"
Jenny giggled and called, "Time to end it now!"
Softly, Martha said to John with tears gathering in her eyes, "Do you remember its name?" Her heart ached at the sight of the TARDIS in enemy hands. The Doctor was always worried about that ship. From where they stood, Jay could hear its song, sleepy and distressed.
"I've never seen it in my life," John said blankly, still trying to deny what was the truth.
"I'm sorry John, but you wrote about it," Joan said. Her voice cracked as she spoke, her own eyes tearing up as she looked to him sadly. "That blue box, you dreamt of it. You dreamt of a blue box."
Jay gave the poor woman a sympathetic look. She understood what they needed, that they needed the Doctor. That to survive this, she needed the Doctor. She didn't like it, but she knew. And it killed her, because Joan was clearly in love with the man he'd been since meeting her. John looked to her with faint hope in his face. He said, "I'm not...I'm John Smith. That's all I want to be. John Smith, with his life and his job ad his love. Why can't I be John Smith? Isn't he a good man?"
Joan touched his arm with a sorrowful look when tears gathered at the corner of his eyes and began to trickle down his cheeks. "Yes, he is," Joan said softly.
"But why can't I stay?" he said desperately.
"Because," Jay told him with a kind but sorrowful look. "We need the Doctor, Mr. Smith, and I'm sorry."
"So what am I then?" he spat. "Nothing? I'm just...am I just a story?" He shook his head in denial and turned away, quickly taking off for the village. Jay made a sound, and Martha tore off after him with the Doctor, leaving her to struggle to keep up as those pins and needles crept further up her legs, her heart pounding in her chest.
Before they could talk sense into the man, Jay decided, they needed to catch their breath and calm down. Focus on what was important. So, heaving for air, she said, "Follow me. I know somewhere we can hide."
"We've got to keep going," John said stiffly, shaking his head.
"Just listen to a woman for once," Joan said in exasperation. "We can't keep running. Lead the way, Miss O'Connors."
"Thank you." Jay took off at a stuttering jog that sent pain skittering through her every few seconds, and after a moment's hesitation, John followed her. Joan was at his side, Martha behind to ensure that he didn't disappear. Jay led them through the trees along the village until she found the old abandoned house that she knew they would need. Her lips curved briefly into a smug smile before she lost it. "There," she claimed.
"Abandoned. I know this house," Joan realized. "Oh, it's a long time since I've run that far."
"Are you sure?" Martha said regarding the fact that the house was abandoned.
"I'm positive," Jay promised and then stepped through the front door. She held it open to let everyone in, John frowning briefly at her as he went, but she ignored him and closed it behind them. They all quietly went to the kitchen, leaning on various pieces of furniture. John couldn't seem to bring himself to remain standing and dropped into a chair with a grim look on his face.
They were all quiet for a short while before John said quietly, "I must go to them before anyone else dies."
"You can't," Joan said quietly. She sat beside him, taking his hand in hers with a warm, gentle expression. She turned her gaze to Martha after a moment, and then to Jay with a pleading look in her eyes. "There must be something we can do."
"Not without the watch," Martha said, folding her arms and leaning her hip against a counter, watching intently as Jay uncomfortably shook out her wrists. "You good, Jay?"
"Yep," Jay said with a grimace. "Just...the shaking helps. It's going to happen here soon, if the pins and needles that I feel are anything to go by, y'know?" The young blonde took a deep breath before addressing Joan. "Don't worry. I trust the Doctor. So does Martha, and even if we don't have the watch - which is safe - then we'll be alright, because everything will be figured out."
John didn't look the least bit happy with this and instead said with an angry wave towards the pair of women, "You're this Doctor's companions! Can't you help? What exactly do you do for him? Why does he need you?"
"To be fair, I need him more than he could ever need me," Jay said quietly, her face suddenly saddening just briefly before becoming neutral. "He doesn't need me at all. But he's the only one who knows how to deal with what I acquired, so that's why I'm here."
"That's not true," Martha disagreed, shaking her head. "You're a friend, Jay, you're here because we want you here. Because he's lonely and needs both of us."
"And that's what you want me to become," John said with disgust, but before Martha could respond and counter that statement with one of her own, there was a knoc on the door. They all froze. Joan looked utterly terrified, and it was Martha who strode for the door.
"I'm not an expert," Martha said as she gripped the knob, "but I don't think scarecrows knock." She opened the door cautiously and then blinked at the sight of the boy before her. "Tim," she recognized, blinking. "What are you-"
He peered around her at Jay, who looked delighted to see him, and then turned his attention on Martha. "I brought you this," he said and thrust his hand out towards Martha. She gasped at the familiar sight of the fob watch with its circular inscriptions on the front of it. She let him drop it into her open palm and smiled warmly at it. From where she stood, knowing that Timothy could hear it, Jay heard the watch whisper Martha's name.
"Hold it," she said after thanking Timothy, turning on John. He scowled and shook his head. "Please," she begged, "just hold it."
"It told me to find you all," Timothy supplied, shifting his weight after closing the door behind him. "It wants to be held. I'm sorry. I would have returned it sooner, but Miss O'Connors and the watch both said it was waiting. And...I was scared of the Doctor." Joan looked surprised, and he became flustered. "I've seen him. He's like fire and ice and rage...like the night and the storm in the heart of the sun."
"Stop it," John breathed.
"He's ancient and forever," Timothy said as if he hadn't heard John speak, watching as Martha placed the watch on the table before John. "He burns at the center of time and he can see the turn of the universe."
"Stop!" John cried now, hands shaking as he clasped them, bowing his head a little and hunching his shoulders. "I said stop it."
"And he's wonderful," Timothy finished. Jay and Martha murmured their agreement.
Joan was quiet for a few moments, watching John closely. And then, she reached into the pocket of her coat. She pulled out a journal, a familiar journal that had Martha gasping softly under her breath, and she placed it gently on the table between them. "I've still got this," she said to John. "The journal. And I know you think it's just stories, but we know that's not true. Perhaps there's something in-"
A sudden explosion had them all jolting in fear, and Jay stumbled when the ground shook violently beneath their feet, barely catching herself. "What the hell?" Martha cried, flying to the window in time to see things falling from the sky and slamming into the ground, blowing up as they did so.
"They're destroying the village," Jay murmured in horror, wondering if the kind widow she'd worked for would be okay.
"John," Joan said suddenly, catching their attention. They all turned to look. John had picked up the watch, his thumb brushing over the engravings on the front of it. "Don't," she said softly.
"Come closer," Jay heard the watch whisper. Timothy watched her before looking back to John as it spoke again, urging John, "Closer, closer!"
"I think he's asleep," John said quietly. "Waiting to awaken." He ran his thumb over it again, his jaw working furiously as he thought over what he should do.
"Why did he speak to me?" Timothy suddenly asked, addressing Martha and Jay.
"Oh," John said suddenly, and Martha perked up at the familiar tone of voice as he spoke. This was not John Smith speaking, she knew, this was the Doctor. "Low-level telepathic field. You were born with it. Just an extra synaptic engram causing - is...is that how he talks?" He cut off with a terrified look on his face.
Martha clapped her hands together, excited. "That's him! All you have to do is open it and he's back!"
"Martha," Jay warned, grabbing her arm gently and giving it a firm squeeze. Martha needed to stop. It wasn't helping, no matter how much she loved her friends and wanted them to be back to normal.
As Joan flipped through the journal John had created, John said darkly, "He never thought about it, did he? About falling in love." Joan stiffened, but didn't look up. "What sort of man is that? And now you expect me to die?"
No one so much as flinched when another explosion went off.
"It was always going to end though," Martha said desperately.
Gently, Jay cut in, shooting the other woman a sharp look. Stop, the look said warningly and Martha blinked in surprise. Usually, Jay was fairly docile - towards she and the Doctor, anyways. Why was she being so harsh now?
"Mr. Smith," Jay said, addressing him as she had Joan at the village dance, before the Family had arrived, "The Doctor told us that the Family's got a limited lifespan. That's why they need to consume a Time Lord. Otherwise, they die like mayflies within three months...people are dying out there, and we need him. You've no idea what he's like. Neither Martha and I….we don't know everything about him. We've only just met him, really. Me even more recently. But he is everything to us. We love him to pieces." She didn't look at Martha, who flinched, because they both knew Martha loved him in an entirely different way than Jay did.
The house suddenly shook from another explosion.
"It's getting closer," Timothy said suddenly, looking nervously to Martha and Jay.
Before they could respond, John suddenly gasped, his hand tightening around the watch as he looked to them . "I should have thought of this before...I can give them this, just the watch. They they can leave and I can stay as I am!"
"You can't do that," Martha cried. "He'll never let you do it!"
"If they want the Doctor, they can have him. If they get what they want, then…"
Joan surprised them all by saying softly, her eyes blazing with grief and sorrow and determination, "Then it all ends in destruction. I never read to the end of your journal, but those creatures would live forever to breed and conquer. War across the stars, for every child." And for children, she would give up her own happiness. He looked at her with tears rolling down his cheeks, and she smiled warmly at him as she said, "Martha, Miss O'Connors, Timothy. Would you leave us alone, please?"
"Of course," Jay agreed, and Timothy ducked out. Martha tried to protest, but Jay pushed her out and together, they all dropped to sit on a bench just outside after Jay closed the door. Martha pulled Timothy in for a hug as they watched the flames burn in the village, listened to the faintest of screams.
"Do you think he'll do it?" Martha whispered to Jay. "He wouldn't...he wouldn't force us to stay here, would he?"
"No," Jay said evenly, "and though I barely know John Smith, I know that he is too good a man to let every villager die simply for selfish reasons. But...I feel bad for him." She leaned her head on Martha's shoulder. "He is scared to die, and you can't blame him for that."
It took everything in him to completely bypass the guilt and devastation still residing in his heart as he stepped into the ship. Guilt for Joan, mostly, but guilt for Jay and Martha and Timothy, for the death that had come because he'd chosen this time to hide in, for everything. He owed so many people simply because he had not thought of a better way to deal with these creatures, and with the guilt came fury.
But, the Doctor shoved that deep down, and he took on a desperate, grieving look. "Just...just stop the bombardment!" he cried, clumsily leaning against a wall so that his fingers pressed against various buttons. The Family, who had turned to face him, barely took notice of what he was doing. "Just stop the bombardment, please, that's all I'm asking. I'll do anything you want, just...stop!"
And maybe, he thought as he looked to them, he might spare them, leave them somewhere nice if they did show mercy.
So, he added, "Please."
Jenny studied him, and then flipped a switch. There was a hiss as the ship answered, and she paused to inhale deeply, taking in his scent. "Still human," she reported.
"Now," the Doctor said, stammering and keeping up the appearance, "I can't...I can't pretend to understand, not for a second, but I want you to know that I'm innocent in all this. He made me John Smith. It's...it's not like I had any control over it." As he spoke, he played with a few buttons behind him, hand awkwardly placed behind him to make it look as if it had cushioned the way he'd run into a wall.
"He didn't just make himself human, he made himself an idiot," Jenny muttered, glancing at Mr. Clarke with arched brows.
"I don't care about this Doctor and your family," the Doctor continued, determined to keep them distracted as he put their ship into self destruction. "I just want you to go. I've made my choice. You can have him." He held the watch out. His fingers were tight around it. "Just take it. Please! Take him away."
"At last," Baines said with a grin, snatching it from his fingers. He shoved the Doctor and the Doctor grunted as he was thrust towards another wall. He hid a slight smirk as he purposely slapped against the very buttons he'd been aiming for. He quickly lost the smirk as he turned around to watch them. Baines was looking at the watch with excitement. "Family of Mine," he said happily, "now we shall have the lives of a Time Lord." He opened it.
And nothing happened.
"It's empty!" Baines cried, glaring at the Doctor. "What did you do?" He threw the watch and stiffened with anger when the Doctor caught it, speaking in his normal manner with a hint of triumph.
"Oh, I think the explanation might be you've been fooled by a simple olfactory misdirection," the Doctor told them, fiddling with the watch thoughtfully. "It's a little bit like ventriloquism of the nose. It's an elementary trick in certain parts of the galaxy, but it has got to be said," he paused to put on his black frames, arching his brows as he looked at a part of the machinery, "I don't like the looks of that hydroconometer. It seems to be indicating that you've got energy feedback all the way through the retrostabilizers feeding back into the primary heat converter. Ah," he sighed, shaking his head. "'Cause if there's one thing you shouldn't have done, you shouldn't have let me press all those buttons. But, in fairness, I'll give you one word of advice." He grinned. "Run!"
The Doctor bolted out of the ship past them, hearing the furious Baines scream at his family to run. They all followed the Doctor out of the ship, only to be thrown to the ground by the force of the explosion behind them. When they looked up, they found the Doctor standing over them.
Gone was the grin.
In its place was such a look of fury that they all cowered against the grass.
At last, they understood why the Doctor had gone into hiding. Not because he'd been scared...but to give them all a chance, because the Doctor knew no mercy to those like them.
Martha and Jay sat together, knowing nothing of what the Doctor had done to the Family and perched on the captain's seat before the humming TARDIS console. It was nice to be in the fully awake time machine again, and Jay listened to her happy singing as they waited for the furious Time Lord to come back from saying farewell to Joan. They weren't entirely sure what he was going to say. If he would invite her and she'd come, and although Martha knew it would hurt, she was okay with it. Joan wasn't a bad person and deserved as much happiness as the rest of them. And if that was what would bring the Doctor happiness...then so be it.
Jay hissed softly, catching her attention. "Alright?" Martha asked, relieved to be in modern clothing again. She was entirely grateful to find herself in jeans again. Jay looked much more comfortable, too..
"Not really. It's up through my shoulders and hips," Jay admitted, biting the inside of her cheek. "So long as we aren't running like that again anytime soon, I'm sure I'll be okay for a while though. Just...you won't see me moving much."
"I'll go wait for him outside," she said. "The Doctor should know. You'll be alright in here?" Jay nodded, sad that she didn't have the energy to get up and say farewell to Timothy, who was waiting outside, looking curiously at the TARDIS, and Martha left her there on the captain's seat in peaceful silence to meet the Doctor outside. She was relieved to catch him just outside, as he was preparing to come in.
"Alright," he said cheerfully, smiling broadly when he saw Martha although his brow furrowed a little when he realized Jay was nowhere to be found. "Molto bene!"
"How was she?" Martha asked, stopping him from going in. "If you want, I could go and-"
"It's time we moved on," the Doctor responded, losing his smile. There was a sorrowful look in his eyes, only adding to the darkness that had been there from the moment they'd met and would likely remain until his death. The Doctor was quiet for a moment. "Where's Jay?"
"Inside. She's not feeling well." They exchanged a knowing look. "She...did she ever tell you what she thinks the factor that brings out those attacks is? That the more her heart pumps, the more the poison shoots through her? She said it gets worse the harder her heart works. The pain spread through her hips and shoulders now, and she doesn't think she'll be moving a lot."
"Circulation then," he murmured. "I'll take a look. Thank you, Martha." He took a deep breath and then turned to face Timothy when he appeared around the corner of the TARDIS with a large grin. "Tim-Timothy-Timber," he said cheerfully.
"I just wanted to say goodbye," Timothy said hesitantly. "Is Miss O'Connors out here?" They shook their head and he looked disappointed, but said with his chin high in the air, "And thank you. I've seen the future and I know now what must be done. It's coming, isn't it? The biggest war ever."
"You don't have to fight," Martha said quietly, smiling gently at him. "You could get hurt."
"So could you, traveling around with him," Timothy said pointedly, gesturing to the Doctor, "but it's not going to stop you."
She inclined her head in acknowledgement. The Doctor cut in, smiling slightly at the boy's cheek. He liked him. He liked him a lot. "Tim, I'd be honored if you'd take this," he said suddenly, offering the watch.
Timothy took it, lifting it to his ear. He shook it a little. "I can't hear it anymore."
"You won't hear it again," the Doctor explained. "It's just a watch now, but keep it with you for good luck." He ruffled the boy's hair affectionately. Martha bid him farewell and hugged him tightly, kissing Timothy on the cheek before going to join Jay in the TARDIS. A moment later, Timothy smiled as he heard Jay shout a very loud "Bye!" at the top of her lungs.
"You'll like this bit," the Doctor promised Timothy, winking before ducking in himself. He went to work upon striding up to the console. As he did, he realized Jay was questioning Martha what was going to happen in the year of 1914. He cleared his throat to catch their attention and said, "In June of nineteen-fourteen, an archduke of Austria was shot by a Serbian and this then led, through nations having treaties with other nations, like a line of dominoes falling, to World War I."
The trio fell into silence as the Doctor sent the TARDIS into space to freely drift. When they were calmly doing so, he turned to face the girls. He studied them closely and then said gently, "Thank you. Thank you both. I don't say it enough."
Martha said nothing, but Jay only looked behind him at the time rotar and murmured, "Anytime, and I mean that sincerely. I can't speak for Martha, but you saved me, and I will forever be grateful and in your debt because of it."
He didn't necessarily like that, but smiled quietly nonetheless.
Shorter chapter to finish up the Family, but now it's done! I'm excited for what I've planned for so many episodes. "Blink" is going to be one of them. "Blink" and "Midnight" are two I'm extremely excited to work on.
Thanks to the lovely Arashi - IV of VI for reviewing, as well as those who favorited and followed! I appreciate you all. :)
