Sitting at the table, his arms crossed over his arms, his slightly bushy brow raised, a man stared at the woman speaking at the center of the meeting room, she'd told him the division's plans on retrofitting the captured Dalek.
"Something like that, you don't think it wouldn't have a way to phone home?" he questioned Director Harriet's handling of the situation, since the day he came aboard this insane plan of theirs, he's questioned their doings and his sanity.
Bedeviled at his outburst, Director Harriet stated, "The scientists and the engineers ensured that it can't transmit data without our knowledge. You saw it firsthand, Engineer Watson, it can't do anything."
Tilting his head, Paul then said, "In all my years working in the navy, yours and mine, I've seen ways people get around your little blockades."
Once more, the seasoned engineer of the US and UK navies pointed out that despite Director Harriet's insistence, there's still ways getting around their disabling of the Dalek.
Which, years ago, he wouldn't have dreamed being a part of a division where he was tasked to help create and execute plans that seemed fiction.
If he could joke freely, he'd question his choices going into the navy and not the Air Force, seeing that they'd make good match with aliens.
"You think it's possible that it can still transmit?" Paul heard a younger woman ask him, sitting across from him, and he nodded, reminding her that if what they've told him says anything, then he had reasons to believe that the mothership's already done a headcount and came up short of one Dalek.
Rubbing his wearied chestnut eyes, Paul insisted that if these Daleks were advanced as the division told him, then it would've been idiotic on their part not having ways of transmitting their locations, their data, despite the attempts by Torchwood.
"Director, I brought the Doctor," Ianto came through the doors, informing Director Harriet of the arrival of the figurehead they've been wanting to question for sometime, but he never showed his face, until now.
Moving to the side, Ianto showed Theodore who immediately noticed the man sitting across from the younger woman and the man instantly recognizing Theodore.
Once Lila went through the doors, her chestnut eyes fell to…
Lila struggled for words, trying to not oust herself and her father, as she realized that this wasn't a version of her father, that this was her father!
The moment her father saw her, his jaw dropped as his chestnut eyes locked with hers, Lila knew he wanted to utter her name, he didn't, but his face did more enough to convey the severity of the situation as he realized that it's her.
Gesturing, Director Harriet asked Theodore and Lila to take their seats, already they silently knew that it was only a matter of time before Lila's father gets a chance to speak to them privately, already Lila knew the words that'll come out of his mouth.
He wanted to say something, she knows that look better than anyone, but either for his or her sake, he's staying quiet about knowing her, though they both suspected it'll only be a matter of time before someone figured out, they're related, even if her father never uttered a word about her to anyone here.
Forced to sit across from him, Theodore felt the heat from those chestnut eyes as Lila's father leers at him, from the sight alone, Theodore knew that UNIT and Torchwood told Lila's father everything about him, his father, and what lives on Earth that hides among the populace.
"My dad works for friggin' UNIT, now?" Lila shared her disposition privately as she communicated with Theodore with his telepathy.
Which, none of them knew that there was a UNIT in their universe, it was only in others, and his father and Al never said anything.
"They must've just formed recently," Theodore flinched as he realized that they had months of preparation and time to create Torchwood in secrecy, that no one knew of it until, now!
Chewing on her bottom lip, Lila responded with, "How the hell could this happened, why didn't Al pick up on this?"
Theodore reminded her, that there's aliens on Earth, it was only a matter of time, while his father made sure they're aliens that wouldn't cause too many issues with the humans, there's still concerns like the one in the containment cell.
"Al would've said he detected it," Lila found it impossible that the TARDIS wouldn't pick up a lone Dalek scouting in the pacific, but then remembered how Torchwood disabled him with ease, and frowns as she rubbed her frustrated eyes.
Exhaling sharply, Theodore's in a situation of his own, with Torchwood and UNIT investigating aliens, it brought his, his siblings, their Uncle, and David's delicate issues to the forefront.
Director Harriet spoke with Theodore as he gave his answers, trying to avoid crossing his icy blue eyes with Engineer Watson's fiery chestnut eyes, despite not catching sight of them, the hate radiating from them's felt from across the table.
It's hard giving answers without exposing himself further, but Theodore pushed through, sharing his similar sentiments of the chained Dalek, that they're craftier than most give them, especially when sufficiently motivated.
Director Harriet didn't seem particularly frightened at the implications of the Dalek causing problems, she had that air about her that suggested that she's confident in her abilities maintaining order.
"Even if it could, we would catch it," Gwen pointed out that even if the Dalek's capable of still communicating with the mothership, the sophisticated computers would intercept hidden messages.
Still, it didn't satiate the concerns shared between Theodore and… Engineer Watson.
Adamant that he stays, Director Harriet ordered Theodore to turn over his belongings and head to a containment cell with an escort.
Recoiling, Theodore sputtered, "You can't do this! I'm a citizen!"
Honest to God, truth!
Shaking her head, her neatly combed hair in a bun stiffly moving, Director Harriet insisted that because of the implications, he do as she ordered him, or else, as she thinly gave him threats.
With a hand gesture, she summoned soldiers into the meeting room as Theodore's forced from his spot, Lila arguing as two soldiers kept her away from his side as the other soldiers pull him towards the door.
"This is bull!" Lila spat as she's forced to watch helplessly as Theodore's forcibly escorted by the soldiers to his own containment cell while they assessed the situation in depth, as the director called it.
She then plainly told Lila that he's an alien, thus he's under arrest.
Wanting to turn the meeting room into a scene from WWE without the script, Lila's tempted to throw everything in her vicinity at Director Harriet's face in quick succession, but with the presence of her father, she's forced to remain idle, until the soldiers escorted her out to be detained.
Marched towards a holding cell, different than a containment cell without the electrified cages and chains, Lila's forced into it, an exasperated look on her face.
Not only has her father been working with UNIT and Torchwood, he found out what Theodore really was, and what he and Lila do when they're not working at the library.
That explained everything that was going on, why her father no longer trusted Theodore, and gave him those looks.
"Oh, frell me!" Lila sat on the bed on the side of the holding cell with an audible groan as the soldiers forcibly separated her and Theodore on top of learning the truth about her father's new job that he kept guarded for much of the year.
The silence in the holding cell didn't last as she heard her father coming through the guarded doors, an exasperated look on his face as he's allowed to speak openly without the others hearing them.
"Of all the things you've done!" Lila heard her father exhale sharply, his anger emphasizing his southern accent, as he showed disproval at the revelation.
Getting up from her spot on the bed, Lila went up to the bars as she gestures, "Dad, I can ex— "
Of course, that wouldn't work and her father sharply said with a finger raise and that look in his chestnut eyes, "I don't want to hear it!"
Incensed that she lied to him, kept this from him, the normally subdue Paul S. Watson grew agitated that his daughter was with the Doctor.
"I should've known!" her father uttered as he realized that he should've trusted his guts, not to trust Theodore, the only reason he did in the first place was because of Lila, now that's thrown out the window.
Lila defended Theodore, telling her father that she trusted the aloof giant, explaining that though his methods are unconventional, he's a good man, and she attested that while he would've hurt a fly if given a chance, he would never hurt her, likening him to a teddy bear.
Seeing the doubt in her father's face, Lila insisted that he's wrong about Theodore, that the aloof giant always tried keeping her from harm, the only reason she gets hurt during their adventures's because of her insistence in seeing them through, and her inherited stubbornness not wanting to quit.
Gesturing as he walked towards the bars, his navy outfit crumpling as he moved his arms, her father goes, "Why?"
Why would Lila do something foolish like this?
Exhaling sharply, Lila decided to sit on the edge of the bed, as she looked over to her father with a despondent look on her face.
"It wasn't my choice, dad. I kinda got swept up in it, so he did, and we sorta went with it, okay?" Lila stated that things happened out of their control that resulted in them becoming entrenched in these things that would've been science fiction to Lila months earlier.
Not to mention, the TARDIS kidnapped them and wouldn't let them go home if they didn't comply with its wishes, so there's that!
Gesturing as his chestnut eyes glistened under the lights above, her father asked, "Why didn't you tell me?"
Tilting her head, Lila answered with her own question, "Would you've believed me had I picked up the phone and called you?"
Imagine telling her father months ago about the incident that caused her to meet Theodore that would later change her outlook on life and how she grew to love the aloof giant more than as an unusual friend.
Pondering Lila's question, Paul admitted that he wouldn't have believed her until, now, but the fact of the matter's that she kept this from him, and Lila told him why.
"Dad, if you knew, you would've grounded my ass," Lila pointed out that if her father knew, he would do everything in his power to prevent her from going on these dangerous adventures, become enamored with Theodore, and her father affirmed that he would ground her until her sixties!
Looking at him, Lila then added, "And you sure as hell wouldn't let me see Teddi."
Shaking his head, her father affirmed that he would've forbid it, out of fear for her, and his distrust.
Getting up from her spot, again, Lila pointed at herself as she emphasized that she's not a teenager, anymore, but her father insisted, "You're still my little girl, Lee."
Despite Lila almost being thirty, in his heart, her father still sees her as the shy child he put on his lap while helping cut her carrots.
And.
It's his job as a father making sure her potential boyfriends aren't wanted by Interpol or Torchwood!
"He's not Superman, dad!" Lila balked at her father seeing Theodore as a threat, informing him that while Theodore doesn't have the same qualities as Superman, he's still as much as Clark Kent.
Exhaling sharply as he started pacing around the area outside the bars, her father shook her head at the thought that the people working at Torchwood weren't pulling his leg, that his daughter's boyfriend was the Doctor.
The mental fortitude he had to take up to keep himself from outright breaking down and forcing the confrontation with Theodore!
"Dad," Lila frowned as she grabbed his attention, "he's… he's not the only one!"
Having no other choice, Lila had to tell her father that Theodore wasn't the only Doctor running around and the sight of her face's fine lined face as it contorted into a baffled look at the thought that there's more of them.
"So, what's this about, then?" her father wanted answers and Lila's forced to give them, as she tells her father that despite the zesty changes to the show to make it more enticing to casuals, it summed up what she and the others do when they weren't living their normal lives.
Adventuring, stopping bad guys, and saving worlds over.
Groaning, her father briefly closed his eyes as he uttered, "God, why couldn't it have been the Enterprise?!"
Of everything that had to happen, it would been this, and for once, he wished his daughter had been the cadet aboard the Enterprise!
Blue shirt, only!
Chewing on her bottom lip, Lila quickly asked, "What are they gonna do with Teddi?"
Her father shrugs as he informed her that he doesn't know, that's not his department, but he does know what'll happen to Lila, and that's coming home with him.
Rubbing her chestnut eyes as she grew frustrated with her father, Lila insisted that she stay and help Theodore, that Torchwood's got the wrong ideas.
"So, just last week, when they showed me the whatcha-call-'ems, they had the wrong idea to want to arrest that guy and-and slap him with a conspiracy charge?" Her father agitatedly gestured as he brought up the time the division had him look at schematics for Cybermen that looked awfully close to the show versions that seemingly acted the same way, it wasn't out of some misguided fears, that they had every right to fear that the creator of that show.
Weakly shrugging, Lila responded with, "David didn't make them! He just had them interpreted for the general audience. Hell, he hates them as much as Teddi!"
Trying her hardest, Lila fought with her father about what he perceived as she stood up for Theodore and David, though despite her attempts, her stubborn father refused to see it her way.
He wanted nothing more than her protected and away from Theodore, perceiving him as a threat, an unusual suspect.
Their argument became interrupted when Ianto stepped into the holding cell, asking for her father while Lila stood beside the bars.
Exhaling, her father nodded, telling Ianto he'll be there, before turning his head, telling Lila that their argument wasn't over, as he left with Ianto.
Watching them leave, frustration stuck on her face, Lila briefly closed her chestnut eyes as she exhaled sharply.
"Fracking hell!" Lila lashed out against the bars in front of her, venting her frustrations that billowed out, unable to convince her father of Theodore's innocence.
Stuck in the holding cell, time ticking down to when her father has her turned over to him, so he'll take her home, and bar her from seeing Theodore ever, again, Lila sat on the edge of the bed, hands under her chin, as she leered at the guarded doors.
"Lee…" she heard Theodore in her head.
Taking a deep breathe, Lila tells him, "Dad won't listen to me, he thinks you and David are threats. God only knows what they know about the Ko'gan and the Samito."
Trying to keep her composure in her mind, Lila exhaled sharply, while Theodore comforted her, that despite this happening, they'll figure things out, they always do.
"Except one thing," Lila informed him about her father adamant about her and Theodore's relationship.
Sure, maybe they'll figure out how to get out of this with the skin on their teeth, but that won't change the fact that her father isn't happy about learning the truth about Theodore.
"It was going to happen sooner than later," Theodore admitted that while he expected a rash decision by her father, the reveal that he wasn't all that he seems was doomed to happen, it just happened, now.
Scoffing, Lila asked how Theodore remained calm about the whole situation, and he tells her that his father taught him that despite any stressful situations, there's always a way out of them, though they may not always be what he expected.
"And my late grandfather absolutely hated my father for years," Theodore reminded Lila of the stories that he shared with her about his family.
His grandfather on his mother's side hated Theodore's father during his adventuring years, due to situations that might've been his father's doing, but more when the late Brigadier's daughter grew infatuated with him.
Nodding, Lila remembered the details.
It was complicated by the fact that Brigadier Wilcox wasn't Sarah's biological father, her father died in an attack by the Cybermen, and her mother died earlier from unknown causes, but Brigadier Wilcox raised her as his own, nonetheless.
He absolutely hated Medikus with every fiber of his being, but then came the moment he was informed of Medikus's relationship with Sarah, he blew his top.
The only reason he changed his tune's because Sarah gave him the ultimatum: either accept that she loves Medikus or find that he won't get many updates about their adventures as he used to, which caused the Brigadier to swallow his words.
Don't know how he'd feel about his grandchildren, Brigadier Wilcox died a little before Hammond was born, lung cancer, and well, maybe it's for the best.
"Always the same story, but a different coat of paint," Lila summed as Theodore affirmed, before comforting her as he assured her that her father wouldn't be like his late grandfather.
It'll take time, yes, but he'll come to understand.
"Maybe," Lila frowned as she rested on her back, her chestnut eyes staring up at the ceiling.
While her father can be overbearing at times, she doubted he could be that hateful towards Theodore, that he'll just burry his disdain for him the moment she tries giving him the ultimatum.
Then again, with everything that happened, Lila grew unsure, deeply in her thoughts she didn't want to lose him, either if he refused compromising with her.
"Still your heart, dear Watson," Theodore softly tells her, assuring her that they'll figure some way out of their situations, they always do.
Rather than have her stress herself into sickness, Theodore wanted Lila to remain calm, he can take care of himself, and though it'll be a challenging time when they get through this, they had plenty of adventures with worse odds.
"Unhand me, this instant!" Lila's jolted when she heard a woman shouting through the door as soldiers struggled bringing her inside.
Pushing herself up, Lila's eyes widened when she saw…
Catherine?
Immediately, Catherine's eyes crossed Lila's as the women shared quiet words before the soldiers pushed Catherine forward.
She's put in a cell next to Lila's as she shouted at the bedeviled soldiers who looked like they dealt with Black Friday shoppers as they disappeared through the door, leaving the women in their respected cells.
"Cat, wha, what the hell's going on?" Lila asked the agitated woman as she paced through her cell, her slip-on heels barely making a noise as she walked.
Catherine stopped for a moment to say to Lila, "You tell me! We get a SOS from you lot and when we went to find you, we got arrested!"
In his desperation, Al tried reaching out for help, but it was scrambled all to hell to try to avoid Torchwood's detection, and when Catherine and David went to investigate the SOS, they were immediately arrested.
"What the hell's Torchwood, anyway?" Catherine pointed as she didn't recognize the division and Lila brought her up to speed with, he limited knowledge she and Theodore managed to figure out before their own arrest.
Sitting in the middle of the bed, Lila asks Catherine, "Where'd they take Davey?"
Shrugging her shoulders, her jade shirt fluttered as she moved, Catherine tells Lila, "All I know's they got him holed up. Apparently, they really wanted to speak with him!"
Frowning as she nodded, Lila summed that like warranty callers, UNIT and Torchwood wanted words with David for a while, but his schedule never aligned with theirs, and being off the show helped keeping him from their clutches, but that's moot, now.
"This can't be legal!" Catherine refused to believe that the division had any right to arrest them, only for Lila to tell her what Director Harriet told her, because David and Theodore's perceived as aliens (though they are, but only partly) Torchwood's using loopholes to arrest them and confiscating both TARDIS'.
Gesturing as her long sleeves swayed, Catherine insisted that Torchwood doesn't have any legal ground to stand on, Lila reminded her that UNIT's using them for plausible deniability, meaning that Torchwood has more leeway to interpret the laws.
"Oh! This is what I get for answering the telephone!" Catherine agitatedly sat on her bed, set opposite direction to Lila's, allowing the women to speak to each other as they shared their concerns.
Hearing that Torchwood found a Dalek scouting, Catherine grew concerned, as she tells Lila that she and David never saw them on their scanners, causing Lila to reply, "I know, we didn't, either. We don't even know how long it was patrolling before they got their hands on it!"
Without that fine detail, they have no clue how long the Dalek's been broadcasting its location to the mothership, what it did or didn't send, and already Lila's getting that feeling in her stomach that this day's going to get collectively worse.