"I need you to not say anything for the next few minutes," I said to the Dalek as I shifted the baby around so that I was cradling them in one arm.
"WHY?"
"Because I need to talk to someone and I need them not to panic right now," I said as I lifted the phone out of my pocket and answered it. "Hello this is Emma answering the phone before the preapproved time."
"Are you Alright!?" The Doctor sounded hysterical again and I couldn't quite put my finger on why until I realized that the golden light was regeneration energy. All the Time Lords left on this ship using up all their regenerations all at once, though I wasn't quite sure how I knew that.
"I'm totally fine. No headache, no blood, no imminent death," I said as reassuringly as possible as a few more lights started to flicker on, and the Dalek was finally brought into light. I swallowed and bit my lip so I wouldn't take back the last bit.
"You aren't funny Emma." The relief in his voice was palpable even through the phone.
"Are you the one who turned the power on?" I asked to try and distract him. The Dalek's weapons were missing as were most of the little round things that covered its lower half.
"I didn't want you to freeze. Come up to the navigation deck," he said, and I took a deep breath.
"I just want to see if I can figure out the science. It seems important," I said as I looked between the baby, which was staring at me calmly, and the Dalek.
"Call me in ten minutes," he said after a few moments of hesitation. I agreed and hung up the phone.
"THAT WAS THE DOCTOR." I couldn't quite tell if it was a statement or a question, but I nodded anyways.
"Yes," I said. I looked down at the baby and started shifting the clothes around until I discovered that the baby was a little girl before I looked back up at the Dalek. "Is that a problem?"
"HE IS THE ENEMY OF THE DALEKS."
"That's correct." I took a shaky breath as I looked back down at the baby. "How about we call you River? It was one of the names my Mom wanted to call me. I think it suits you better."
"YOU ARE NOT AFRAID." I was going to get a cramp in my neck from the way I kept shifting my head at this point.
"I am very afraid of you. But I'm also fairly certain that the Time Lords who ran this ship probably ripped your weapons off you long ago. Which was probably terrible, I'm sorry," I said before I realized that I was starting to babble and chomped down on my lip.
"YOU ARE SORRY?" The Dalek asked.
"Believe it or not yeah. Somehow I find myself being sympathetic for a Dalek." I dug around in the cylinder that River had been in to see if there was a long enough blanket to fashion a sling out of.
"THANK YOU." I jumped in shock at that and stared at the Dalek in confusion, who somehow managed to look just as confused.
"Welcome," I managed to squeak out after we both looked at each other for several moments. The eyestalk slid slightly to the side and I took the opportunity to make a sling out of the blanket that was luckily shoved in the bottom of the cylinder.
"YOU DO NOT HATE THE ABOMINATION."
"River is not an abomination. It's not her fault that she's part human, part Gallifreyan and part Dalek," I said as I settled her in the sling and smiled as she cooed in delight. It was hard to say out loud, but not saying it wouldn't make it any easier or less real.
"THE TIME LORDS HATED IT."
"That's because they're assholes. I notice that you didn't include yourself in the hate category," I said as I took a few steps towards the Dalek.
"SHE IS NEW. INNOCENT." I blinked in confusion at the words until the pieces clicked together. The Time Lords wouldn't have passed up an opportunity like an emotionless Dalek to experiment with, not with some human and Gallifreyan DNA sitting around handy. But who knew really? Maybe they had just messed with its emotional dampeners if it had those.
"Oh my God. The Time Lords did it back to you," I whispered in shock. We both looked at each other for several seconds before I took a deep breath and exhaled sharply.
"Can you move?" I asked.
"NO." I nodded because of course the Time Lords would have removed all the options of escape.
"If I just tap my finger against you will that be enough to heal you so that you can move?" I asked because if I had artron energy and time energy bouncing around in my blood stream I wasn't about to take chances in making a super Dalek.
"YES." I tapped my finger against the smooth dome quickly which glowed yellow faintly before disappearing and the Dalek rolled forward slightly.
"I did not think this through," I muttered to myself as I realized that I had no idea what to do now that I had given the Dalek the ability to move. "Is it okay if I ask you questions?"
"YES."
"Why didn't you self destruct when the Time Lords captured you?"
"THE TIME LORDS DISABLED IT." That also made sense and explained a lot. The Daleks didn't generally seem the type to sit around and let themselves get tortured.
"Honestly I am mostly stalling for time until I decide what to do about you and River," I admitted after silence had fallen over the room. "Normally I would just go to the Doctor, but I have a feeling that wouldn't go over well."
"CORRECT." I got the vague impression that the Dalek was squinting in confusion. "THE WAR IS OVER."
"I'm not sure if that was a question or not, but yes. It ended years ago," I said as I quickly checked the time to make sure I didn't miss calling the Doctor.
"HOW DID IT END?"
"The Doctor burned Gallifrey and the Daleks along with it. It was the only way," I said around the lump in my throat and focused on River to make sure I didn't start crying about the War all over again.
"THEN WHY HAS MY DESTRESS BEACON BEEN ANSWERED?" The Dalek asked and I stared at it in horror.
"Well shit. Stay quiet for a couple seconds I'm going to call the Doctor." I pulled out my phone and dialled.
"Why are you calling early?" I rubbed my forehead as I tried to decide how to tell him all this stuff without making him panic.
"I found out that there are some Daleks headed our way." I heard sonic noises and Gallifreyan swears so I took that to mean he had confirmed that. "And the science was really important."
"Get up here right now," he ordered. "I do not want us separated by Daleks."
"Coming," I said and decided I would just bring the Dalek if it wanted to come with. "I'll bring the science to show you. And yes, I promise it is that important."
"Okay. Don't take a direct route, I've sent the schematics to your phone." I frowned at his words.
"Wait you don't want to stay on the phone the whole time?" It was what I had been expecting and I had been ready to try and talk him out of it, so I didn't have to explain the Dalek just yet.
"I won't risk the Daleks being able to track the signals if they get to the ship before you get here," he said, and I rolled my eyes as I smiled.
"Paranoid. See you soon I love you," I said even as I dutifully hung up the phone and pulled up the map the Doctor had sent. I swallowed at looked up at the Dalek. "Okay so you can either come with me and River to the Doctor or you can wait for the rest of the Daleks. Your choice."
"CHOICE." I wondered if I would ever get the hang of determining when a Dalek was and wasn't asking a question, but then realized that I wasn't sure that I actually wanted to have enough time to figure it out.
"Yep. All up to you. River doesn't get a choice because she's too small and dependent," I said and bounced her slightly to make her giggle.
"I WILL ACCOMPANY YOU." I took another deep breath before I flashed a thumbs up.
"Okay then let's do this," I said, and we left. I tried to focus more on the map and River than the Dalek who was walking with me so that I didn't freak out, but at the same time I felt like I was bursting with questions.
"I WANT TO ASK." I was really happy that the Dalek had broken the silence between us, even if it did make me jump slightly.
"What do you want to ask?"
"WHAT IS THIS FEELING?"
"Confusion probably. Like the world doesn't make sense anymore even though the answers should be right in front of you?" I glanced at it for confirmation.
"YES."
"Were you aware of everything while you were in the Void?" I asked softly.
"YES."
"I'm sorry that must have been horrible. It's a wonder you didn't go mad," I said, but then again this non-violent, confused, mildly curious Dalek was probably the Dalek version of mad.
"I DO NOT FEEL LIKE A DALEK." I certainly hadn't been expecting it to say that, but I took a deep breath and soldiered on.
"I guess you aren't a Dalek then. You're something else, like River," I said and bounced her gently. Its eyestalk swiveled to look at her properly. "If you want, I was thinking we could give you the name Dale. River and Dale, first of their kind."
"DALE." It sounded slightly confused so I nodded slowly.
"It's a name. Kind of a play off of Dalek you know? Dalek but without the K." If the Doctor were here, he'd be rolling his eyes at my dumb suggestion, but it was the best I could come up with on short notice. I didn't exactly have any male names to fall back on since my parents had known I was going to be a girl and I was not going to call a Dalek the same name as either of my father figures.
"DALE WOULD BE SUITABLE." I smiled at it.
"Great! You're Dale now," I said brightly before my spirits fell as I checked the map and realized we were quickly approaching the Doctor and I still had no idea what to tell him. "Dale any ideas on how to explain you and River to the Doctor?"
"NEGATIVE." I sighed deeply.
"Yeah me either. He is not going to take this well."
"AFFIRMATIVE." I grinned at Dale and somehow, I got the feeling it was confused back. "WHY DO YOU LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT?"
"You just reminded me of another robot I met once," I said trying to decrease my smile, but really it wasn't everyday a Dalek reminded you of K9. "Oh boy here we go."
"Doctor I need you to do me a really really big favour," I said after we stopped outside the flight deck door.
"What? Emma is the door locked?" The Doctor called over the sounds of frantic typing.
"Listen it's about the science and I need you to not panic okay?"
"Panic? Panic about what?" I sighed and opened the door leading the way. I pointed at River first.
"So, this is River, and this is Dale. I found them both in a laboratory. I told you that I was bringing you the science and here it is!"
The Doctor went a shade of pale I don't think I had ever seen before as he rushed forwards, probably to yank me away from Dale and behind him, but I quickly shoved River into his arms before he could manage.
"Thanks for taking her my back was starting to hurt," I said truthfully as the Doctor automatically cradled her properly which meant he didn't have any free hands for his sonic. I fished it out of his pocket anyways just to be safe and sealed the doors shut extra tight for the moment. "Dale this is the Doctor if you hadn't figured that out."
"HE HAS REGENERATED." I nodded idly.
"Probably a couple of times since you last saw him. At least twice."
"Emma what the Hell is going on!?" The Doctor bellowed and I sighed.
"Honestly, I'm stalling for time to try and figure out how to explain. Dale didn't have any helpful ideas," I said as calmly as I could manage before I cracked at the Doctor's icy look and gestured at River. "Ever heard of the Kookaburra project?"
"Yes, but I don't see how that's-" He cut himself off and looked down at River. She giggled and waved her fists in the air towards his face. She probably thought his hair was funny. He looked back up at me. "But-"
"And if the Time Lords had a Dalek to experiment on, wouldn't they? That's where Dale comes in," I said and waved at Dale over my shoulder who rolled forward in a slightly anxious way.
"You were right. The science really was important," he said weakly before he held River out. I took her just as he collapsed to sit down in a chair, bending in half to fist his hand in his hair as he rested his elbows on his knees. "I'd heard of it, but I thought it was a rumour, that the Time Lords couldn't be stupid enough to-"
I set River down on the floor gently and motioned for Dale to keep an eye on her before I approached the Doctor, kneeling in front of him and loosening his fingers from his hair as I smoothed mine through his fringe comfortingly.
"Why am I so stupid?" He hissed to himself and I shook my head.
"You aren't."
"Then why do I continue to delude myself that the Time Lords weren't such horrible people?" He asked as he looked up at me, his eyes glassy and swimming with tears. I swallowed and leaned in to rest my forehead against his.
"You have spent hundreds of years trying to not be like them and you hold them up to that standard that you set for yourself so long ago," I said and smoothed my thumb over his cheek. "And I imagine it's a lot for the same reasons as why I don't think my parents were horrible people. Because no matter how bad they were I still loved them."
"How do you always know what to say?" He asked as he leaned heavily against my hand. I gave him a smile as I leaned in to kiss his other cheek.
"Because I know you," I whispered before I pressed my lips to his in a comforting kiss. I pulled away and stood up to pick River up off the floor to give him a moment to collect himself.
"So, Plan!" The Doctor cried as soon as he bounced out of the chair. He took River from me before I could say anything which I was grateful for because my back really was starting to hurt. I was severely out of practice at holding babies.
"My plan was get here with River and Dale so you might be on your own," I said.
"Well I'm certain we've been in tighter scrapes than this," he said after several moments, which made me think that he had been hoping I would have a plan because he didn't.
"Just us on a Time Lord ship with a baby and a not very Dalek Dalek I named Dale." I paused to pretend to think about it for a few moments. "No sorry nothing really comes to mind."
"Stop that this instant," he said teasingly, and I winked at him.
hr
Early update because I'm going to a convention tomorrow and definitely won't have time. Hope you're enjoying!