Throughout September, they've been mourning Bill's death, Lila hadn't been quite the same since the officer told her the news, and though she insisted that she's fine, Theodore knows her more than she knows herself.
There's been a slight change in her behavior since, staying later than usual, though she claimed she wanted to help the others, but Hammond had to shoo her from work more than once.
She hadn't been going out to lunch, hanging around the break room, sometimes without something to eat, though it didn't last, her telepath connection with Theodore prevented from lasting long.
He informed her that because of their telepathic link, her emotions periodically leaked into his mind, and he experiences them, feels them.
It's part of being a Time Lord, their minds are their greatest strengths and weaknesses, and their connections with each other are some of the strongest.
When someone is going through a loss like Lila, their loved ones feel it, too. His uncle believed their telepathic connections helped with the healing process, though to humans it would seem unusual and invasive.
Not saying there hadn't been instances where it was the case, but Hamon swore that it's always been about everyone coming together to handle a loss and heal.
Unfortunately, the Council no longer found it satisfactory, thus it lost its luster on Gallifrey, but stubbornly, Hamon kept the tradition alive, teaching Medikus and others likeminded just to spite the Council.
Of course, because Lila is human, she couldn't feel Theodore's emotions periodically. The only way she would have some inclination of his emotions's if she melded her mind with his.
Like how his mother melded her mind with his father, they'd feel each other emotions periodically.
… Though, it's unwise to broach the topic, he's likely to turn burning red and sputter, as he used to do sometime, ago.
Somethings haven't changed.
Still, though Lila doesn't like talking about it, Theodore made it clear that it affects him, too, even if Lila never meant it.
Through encouragement and reminding her of their time in Japan, Lila started discussing her internal turmoil with him in private.
She wasn't happy, but Theodore's pearly whites helped her.
Lila remained adamant, she wouldn't believe that her longtime friend would commit suicide out of the blue.
"I knew her," Lila bitterly talked to Theodore over beer, "she wouldn't do it. She doesn't... didn't... even live close to the bridge!"
Theodore let her speak her mind before giving his thoughts, though he had trouble parsing sentences on the subject, he tells Lila that they don't know what goes on behind close doors.
Even if Bill's friends didn't see anything unusual in her behaviour, she kept the façade going long enough they wouldn't see something amiss.
Just before she left London as her job shifted courses, Louise talked with Lila, and Louise affirmed that Bill was happy the last time she saw her, the façade worked on her, too.
Theodore and Lila drank their beer, there they reminiscence, more.
Through adventures, Lila's able to work out her grief, running from danger, talking down trigger happy delegates, all in a day's work, and though she's better, now, than she was then, there were still the occasional pangs.
It's been six weeks since Bill's untimely death, they're now in the first week of October, September was a mere blimp on everyone's mind, and Hammond was forced to hire a replacement, as the increased load from people coming to the library during test week caused strains among the librarians attempting to work double the amount.
Theodore broached the topic of him and Lila going to Oktoberfest, somewhere local this time, since they've been working between their jobs and saving worlds over, and Lila agreed to the date.
It'll give them something to do and nothing like fresh beer from the tap to help wash down smorgasbords worth of food to help with that.
Forward to now, they're on their latest adventure, on a space ship orbiting a planet, apparently it sent a SOS, and no one responded when other ships intercepted it.
Instead of boarding the space ship, they get the Doctor and his companion to board it in their steed, instead, and why they went through the effort to phone Theodore's because they believe there's something on the ship in his wheelhouse.
Them saying that the moment he confirmed there's either no or few survivors, they'll torpedo the ship into pieces, didn't help the matter, and off they go with their heads held high as they stepped out of the TARDIS.
"So, what do you think it is?" Lila asked Theodore what they meant when they told him that something was in his wheelhouse and he pondered this as he walked around what looked like a loading bay.
Already, Theodore nixed the presence of Cybermen and Daleks, Al would've said something, and they wouldn't be this quiet if they knew someone scanned the space ship. More when they picked up the TARDIS on their scanners.
Nothing mechanical or technologically advanced, in nature, nothing said otherwise, and once again, Al would've said something.
Hard to say what's in his wheelhouse, but that's the point of being the Doctor, investigating vague comments, and hoping for the best.
Leaving the cargo bay with Lila after concluding there's nothing for them to find in here, with his large hands in his stitched pockets, Theodore walked with Lila up the grated steps, they head for the bay doors leading into the silver tubular hallway with a large window on the right side.
Walking up, they see the planet the ship's orbiting, the milky blue water hidden by the white clouds, it gave Lila an opportunity, Theodore immediately knew what's on her mind.
"The whole world, is in my hands!" Lila singsonged, her hands outstretched as she sees the planet, Theodore grinning from ear to ear.
Looking towards him, Lila argued, "Come on, you gotta do it, at least once."
Smiling, Theodore responds with, "Oh, I know, my dear Watson."
They continued their walk, until they found the mess hall.
It says it on the tin, it's a mess hall.
There's food left on the tables, utensils scattered, it looked like there were people here, but then abruptly picked up and left everything behind.
Outside that, everything's virtually untouched in the mess hall.
Of course, this wasn't helping them, when Theodore heard the name of the ship during the phone call.
Take a wild guess.
"We're in space, though," Lila found it impossible they're recreating a futuristic Ourang Medan, but here they are, on a futuristic namesake, and already there's parallels.
Everything seemed untouched, the food couldn't be no more than a few hours old.
Moving on from the mess hall, they found the sleeping quarters for the crew of thirty, nothing looked touched, there's messy beds, but then there's neatly made ones, there's still the scent of freshly sprayed cologne in the air.
A few minutes old, it wasn't someone excessively spraying themselves, Lila found the bottle.
Barely used, someone just started using it, or conservative about its use.
Theodore poked around the beds, reaching under the mattresses. He found adult magazines with dog ears, a hidden stash of money in a tightly wrapped trash bag tapped to the underside of the mattress, and journals.
When in doubt, read the private thoughts of someone's journal, usually they're uncensored, and he'll know when things went to hell when he finds a page abruptly left unfinished.
Flipping through the pages, Theodore didn't find anything noteworthy. Drama, family woes, the standards of journals, until the recent passage described someone from the medical bay complaining about abdomen pains.
"If they say Xenomorphs, I vote we abandon ship," Lila tensed up as she nervously watched the vents, not wanting to get face hugged to death.
Yes, they agreed to see if there's survivors, but the moment the journal says what she thinks it's going to say, the crew's already dead or wishing they were.
Even Theodore's natural strength couldn't allow him to reasonably take on a grown Xenomorph. Doubly, if they're the queen.
And Lila's not going back to Hammond with the words, "Your brother became an unwilling father to a chest busting alien."
Shaking his head in disbelief, Theodore reminded Lila that they haven't run into any aliens like those, but Lila pointed out, "Scott had to get the idea from somewhere, man."
Who knows if Ridley Scott had a counterpart that encountered the aliens that would bleed into his memories and give him the inspiration, barring translation issues?
As for what happened to his counterpart, well, those random thoughts probably had the answer.
"I'm sure we'd hear something about them, by now," Theodore looked at her before returning to the journal, reading through it.
Someone complained of abdomen pain, went to medical bay, put out of commission because of it, and that's it.
There are no journal entries thereafter.
The last one's dated a few hours ago, at most.
"Oh, don't tell me," Lila knew the unspoken words Theodore's thinking about and he nods.
They'll have to investigate the medical bay.