The Doctor wanted to keep a close eye on his wife. For a lot of people a throwaway comment about wanting to kill someone was said in anger, but never had any force or intention behind it. He found humans especially culpable of being rather hyperbolic with their exclamations of emotions, so it was no surprise that he had come to expect that from his wife.
However, he wasn't sure that was the case. Her anger was always teetering on the balance of falling over into action rather than just words, and with the situation of the creature under the water being close to her own, he had to be a little careful. He couldn't let her genuinely hurt anyone else, for her own sake as well as theirs. Time had calmed her down and he trusted her, but still he just wanted to make sure she didn't fall back into old habits.
"Look, this isn't the first time we've been to a place like this," Danni said. They were peeking over a wooden wall to watch a bunch of men working. It looked like they were building bricks. They had been directed to a workhouse which had mysteriously exploded into life around the time that London started to freeze over. "Remember, with Silhouette? I managed to get some rather useful information."
"No," the Doctor said firmly. "We can do this the old-fashioned way."
"It still might be better if only one of us goes in," she protested. "I might not be blonde anymore, but the men were really friendly to me."
"Exactly." He glanced over the wall again. There were quite a few men working away, all in winter clothing and all looking like they'd been there for hours already. He didn't want to send his pretty, young wife into there. "We can all go in together. There is absolutely no need to split up."
"How are we getting in?" Bill asked. The Doctor reached into his pocket and pulled out his psychic paper. He flipped open the small leather wallet and showed her the inside. "You work for the palace?" she asked, looking slightly impressed.
Danni held back from glancing at Bill. While, yes, she had liked the way the young woman had been taking everything in with enthusiasm, she still had only expected to spend the day with her. It was now bordering into the second day and she really wanted to just get on with the task at hand without her. There was always an element of having to explain to other people what was going on that she and the Doctor just never experienced anymore. She found it a bit of a waste of time when there was someone – or something – that needed saving.
The Doctor shared a look with his wife. "Haven't heard that one in a while," he said.
"Can't exactly pull the 'President of the World' card here, can we?" she pointed out in reply. "Best play into the monarchy while they're still relevant."
"Wait, what?" Bill asked as she followed the Doctor. "President of the World? You?"
"No, of course not," he replied. "I would never. That's Danielle's job."
"Seriously?" she said with a laugh. She still couldn't quite work out if they were being serious or not when they said things like that.
"Well, I'm not right now," Danni said as if she was trying to dismiss it. "That doesn't happen for a couple of centuries. Plus, it's only in times of extreme international distress."
Bill blinked. "Really?" she asked. "That's pretty awesome."
Danni smirked at her. "Oh, I know," she boasted. "I've got a plane and everything. The Doctor likes poncing about in it."
"Who doesn't like poncing about in a big plane?" the Doctor countered, which Danni couldn't exactly argue with.
It was rather easy to just walk right into the yard, which spoke of the arrogance of the person who owned it. If there had been better security, they would have been concerned about people getting in. Without the security, it meant that they were confident on their ownership alone to keep people out.
"Oi. How'd you get through here?" a man called over as he made his way over to them. He seemed surprised, which again meant that they'd just expected people to stay out.
"Ah ha! At last, someone in authority," the Doctor replied, quickly trying to fall into character by pulling out the psychic paper again and showing the man.
The man read the paper and immediately believed what he saw. "Oh, I do apologise, sir. Does Lord Sutcliffe know you're here?"
"Does Lord Sutcliffe know we're here?" the Doctor repeated, scoffing slightly before looking at the two women. "Does Lord Sutcliffe know we're here?" he genuinely asked them.
"Of course he does, sweetie," Danni replied slowly, her brows furrowing in confusion. Had it really been so long that he'd forgotten how to do it?
"Lord Sutcliffe insisted we come," Bill added and the Doctor nodded.
"Oh, that Lord Sutcliffe, yes," he said. "There's no arguing with Sutcliffe when he puts his foot down. You'd better show us around."
It was quite obvious that the man agreed, leading them through the site. Everyone seemed to be working rather hard, shovelling and moulding the bricks up as foremen shouted out for them to work even faster. It felt very much of the times to be there, and Danni had to force herself to continue with her husband rather than just standing there and watching everyone work.
"Why all the fuss? It's just mud from the river, isn't it?" Bill asked.
"Mud is one word for it," the Doctor replied as they stopped at a table where the bricks were being laid out, possibly to dry.
"Is this even the right place? The creature's almost a mile away."
"The creature's head is almost a mile away," the Doctor pointed out. Bill picked up a brick, curious, and brought it up to her nose. "I assume we're now at the other end." He walked off, looking for the foreman as Danni tried not to smirk too much.
"He means it's shit," she told Bill, who shot her a look as she dropped the brick.
"I got that," she replied.
"You smelt it."
"Yeah, I noticed."
Bill, not too happy about how her mistake seemed to perk Danni up somewhat, walked over to the Doctor to find out what was going on. Danni did, for a moment, consider letting the other woman use the bottle of hand sanitiser that she kept on her at all times. However, she was still a little annoyed at the fact that the woman had joined them on her and the Doctor's first trip out for a while and she let herself enjoy the hilarity for a moment before looking around once again.
The bricks can't have been used for building. If they were then they wouldn't have been left out in the cold to harden, they would have been baked. It also wouldn't have been such a secret operation, after all who cared at all about actual bricks? The buildings around them were made out of brick, they were in plenty of homes and kids would pretend to build with them when they played. No one would hide bricks.
But something that money could be made from was a very different story. Something that as few people as possible could know about. Something that the workers themselves probably didn't know they were making. Something that was the size, shape and weight as a brick but something that definitely wasn't a brick.
"I'm not one to speculate," the foreman was saying as Danni rejointed the group. The Doctor was nodding along, obviously very easily getting the man to talk.
"But you can't help it because you're a man of intelligence," the Doctor replied.
Danni appeared at his side. "It's fuel," she stated and the Doctor looked down at her.
"You think so?" he asked and she nodded.
"Bricks that aren't bricks? Secret entrances?" She looked at the foreman. "But you already knew that, didn't you?"
"They won't let us smoke in here, so I assumed so," he replied. "Fuel for the furnaces, ma'am."
"Excellent reasoning," the Doctor told them both. "Lord Sutcliffe appreciates an enquiring mind."
The foreman looked rather proud of himself. "Well, I keep my ear to the ground, you know."
"And what is the ground saying these days?"
The man looked at the table of drying bricks. He seemed a bit uncertain of what he was about to say, checking for anyone who might have been listening without realising the three people he shouldn't have been telling were in front of him. "That this stuff burns a thousand times longer than coal?" he replied, a little unsure. "Hotter, too. Hotter than they can measure."
"Excellent," the Doctor replied slowly, now looking at the bricks in a different light. Danielle was right, it turned out. "First class."
"I'm right, aren't I, sir?" the man asked and the Doctor looked up at him.
"Oh, there's no stopping you. You keep this up, you won't be working in this yard for very long."
The man straightened out his jacket. "Oh, you think not?" he asked, hopefully.
"Oh, we can guarantee that," Danni told him. "If you are as clever as you are making out."
"You know what else they say?" the man started. He was suddenly very eager to do anything to get himself out of the yard. Unfortunately, he was probably just digging himself a bigger hole. "They say it even burns under water."
~0~0~0~
The Sutcliffe House was exactly what you would expect of a stately home in the early 1800's. It had iron railings around the outside to keep people out, and was built of bright, clean stone that made it stand out against the grey backdrop of London. It also had the name 'Sutcliffe' in big lettering above the double front doors, just in case anyone didn't know who the house belonged to.
"Urgh," Danni said as she hoisted her skirt up a little to walk up the stairs to the front of the house. "Look at it. It's so… urgh."
"Posh, you mean?" the Doctor asked.
"Extravagant," she corrected. "No one had ever needed a house this big. Or stairs this wide. You could get three elephants up here and still have room to breathe." She looked up at the door. "And what's with the nameplate? Does he frequently forget who he is? Or where he lives? Is it like when theme parks give areas of their parking lots wacky names so you can find your way back at the end of the day?"
The Doctor found her comments highly amusing, especially considering they lived in an infinitely sized time machine. Neither of them had been stupid enough to put their name on it, though.
"Perhaps he had a lot of things," the Doctor reasoned. "Maybe he had a bunch of relatives that came by for Christmas one year and never left?"
"Maybe he is the relative who never left," Danni offered.
Bill couldn't quite understand how neither of them were nervous. "So, this guy has a pet monster that turns people into fuel and we're just rocking up at his door?" she asked.
"That's his door, this is us rocking," the Doctor replied before ringing the doorbell. "If we're going to stop him, we need to know where he started."
"Meaning?"
"Which planet is he from," Danni replied as the door was opened by an old butler. The Doctor held up his psychic paper, which was once again enough to get them into the house and taken to the drawing room. It was large, as the house suggested, with books lining two of the walks in large bookcases. There were ornate chairs to one side, and a fireplace that kept the room warm compared to the snow. Danni was immediately drawn to it, and the ornaments that sat on the mantlepiece, whereas the Doctor spotted the orrery in the middle of the room and couldn't resist playing with it.
"You know it's not accurate," she called over to him.
"It is for the time," he replied as he moved the planets into the correct positions. "That is probably the best we can hope for."
"At least it proves he's not an alien," she commented as she picked up a vase to look at the base. Aynsley China was quite a name, it was a shame it wasn't an original.
The Doctor paused. "What makes you say that?"
She turned her torso so she could nod at the orrery. "Does it annoy you?"
"Does what annoy me?"
"The fact that the orrery isn't quite right?"
He looked at it again. "Of course," he replied.
"There you go then," she said. "An alien who knows better is annoyed at the fact that it's not to scale. He's human. I'd bet on it."
The Doctor continued to stare at the orrery. She wasn't wrong, it really bothered him that it wasn't quite right but he also knew that humanity didn't quite get a hang of their solar system for a few hundred years, so he couldn't expect more from them. Still, just because they were alien didn't mean they were also smart. He was also living proof that you could be insanely clever and still an idiot.
"Night out?" he suggested and she nodded.
"You're on."
Bill, who again just watched the two have almost a full conversation without her, was just confused. "What just happened?"
The Doctor quickly looked at her, like he just remembered she was there. "She wanted to bet," he reasoned, as if it cleared everything up. It didn't.
"Yeah, so?"
Danni walked back over to her, adjusting her outfit now she was away from the fire. "If I'm right and Sutcliffe is human, then he owes me a date. If he's an alien, then I owe him one. It's something my mum and dad used to do when we all lived together."
"You have a mum and dad?" Bill asked, sounding surprised and Danni's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Everyone comes from somewhere," she countered, suddenly feeling ridiculous for letting the reason slip. She hadn't meant to justify herself, but it had just slipped out. It was what had gotten her into so much trouble with Missy, apparently her skills at keeping things to herself were lacking again.
"Well, yeah, of course," Bill replied, realising she had once again managed to offend Danni with her runaway mouth. "I-I didn't mean that. It's just… well, you two are alien, and old and… well, it's just strange to think of you two having parents, that's all."
Danni stared at her for a moment. "They're dead," she stated bluntly. "So don't think too much on it."
She turned and headed back to the mantlepiece, suddenly back in a terrible mood. Bill cringed to herself. She knew how it was when someone would bring up a parent as if they were alive, and the pain that never quite went away when you had to correct them. It was always a little, constant reminder that someone important was missing form your life.
She quickly looked to the Doctor. "I didn't mean it like that," she told him. "It's just, you know, you two feel so much bigger than everyone else. It's weird to think that someone put either of you into time outs."
The Doctor knew what she meant. He knew that everyone they met, eventually, saw the pair as some large, detached presence that made it hard for them to see the couple in ordinary situations. He knew that Bill's brain sometimes took a moment to catch up with what she was actually saying and that had been one of the things that had intrigued him when he'd called her to his office. He also knew that no matter how much she apologised, Danni had much more reason to distrust her than she would ever have trusting anyone and it really wouldn't matter.
"Oh, trust me, we've had our share of time outs," he told her before walking over. "Look, Bill, I need you to leave the talking to me."
She glanced over and Danni and thought that maybe he was right. "Yeah…"
"You're about to meet a man, alien or otherwise, for whom human beings are raw material," he continued just in case she thought about protesting. "Who grinds up children for profit. What we are here for is one thing. Information. We get that with diplomacy and tact. Charm, if necessary."
She sighed heavily. "Okay. I get it," she replied, sitting down on an armchair to get comfortable.
"Always remember, Bill. Passion fights, but reason wins."
The door opened before both Bill and Danni could roll their eyes at him and a man who obviously considered himself a 'gentleman' walked in. He was wearing a bright blue jacket which stood out against the greyness of the time period, with white trousers. He was carrying the Doctor's psychic paper, which had been taken to him to prove who they were.
"Doctor Disco, from the Fairford Club! Obviously, one aspires to membership, but to actually be considered for…" he said as he walked over to the Doctor, blatantly sucking up to a person who he thought was of great importance. He seemed to have all of the charm and decorum of someone who had quite a bit of money for the time period.
Of course, then he had to go and take a look at the people the Doctor had brought with him. His eyes fell onto Bill, who was sat on his chair, and the anger that broke out on his face took away any chance of any of them thinking he was a decent human being.
"Who, who let this creature in here?" He raged, stuttering as he shook the leather wallet at Bill, who was simply stunned at the bile that had come from his mouth. "On your feet, girl, in the presence of your betters."
She stared at him, offended and absolutely baffled by the hatred she was receiving just because she was sat there. She did feel slightly smug, if not incredibly disappointed, that her original reservations about the trip had proven to be somewhat true and at the very least, if she took the high ground over the arsehole in front of her, she could claim that she had been right all along.
She wasn't much fussed about taking the high ground and she was about to retaliate when the Doctor tapped Sutcliffe on the shoulder. She tried to calm down, remembering what the Doctor had told her, when he pulled his right arm back and punched him straight in the face.
Danni let out a large bark of delighted laughter as the Doctor shook his hand, trying to stop his knuckles from throbbing. "He's human. Thirty-one years of age. Low on iron."
"Yeah, that was pretty convincing racism for an extra-terrestrial," she replied, looking down at the man on the floor, who was currently unconscious.
"In our experience only humans tend to have that ability to be that ignorant," Danni agreed as a group of men came in, obviously hearing the ruckus that her husband had caused. They were very quickly tied up, arms behind their backs as Sutcliffe was taken care of by his servants.
He pushed something cool up against his swollen eye as he looked at the from the chair Bill had sat in, leg crossed over the other. "Well, you're not from the Fairford Club," he stated.
"The creature in the river, where did it come from?" the Doctor asked.
"Who the devil are you people?"
"Answer the question," Danni replied and he shot her a distasteful look.
"You are not much better than the company you keep," he told her. "Do not address me unless spoken to."
The Doctor's hands clenched behind his back, his anger flaring again at the cruel way the man was speaking about both his wife and his friend.
"I will remember that when the blackeye my husband has given you has proven to have knocked some manners into that inbred, infantile brain of yours," Danni replied calmly. Bill pressed her lips together to stop herself from smirking. The Doctor shot her a sideways glance, calming down just slightly. If he'd not been tied up, he was sure he would have had punched him yet again in another bout of uncharacteristic violence. Luckily for him, his wife could hold her own.
"How dare you…" Sutcliffe started, shifting to stand up so he could shout at her.
"Where did it come from?" she snapped firmly.
"Nowhere!" he retorted angrily before sitting back down. "It's always been there. The secret's been passed down in the family since, I don't know when. As far back as records go."
"Then tell me, do you also keep a record of how many it's killed?" the Doctor asked.
"Please," Sutcliffe dismissed. "People know the ice is dangerous, yet they will insist on their festivities. That's hardly my fault."
"Don't sell yourself short. This is the biggest Frost Fair in decades, and that's down to you."
"It is?" Bill asked, surprised.
"It is?" Danni asked at the same time, also surprised.
"The man holding me has a tattoo on his left hand," he explained. "And that's not all, is it? The circus performers, the elephant, that's all you."
He took a moment to reply, obviously thinking very carefully about his answer. "I made the most of the situation. It's the first proper freeze it's caused in years."
"Why? Production down, huh? Not enough people dying?" Bill snapped.
"Girl, you show the ignorance of all your kind," he replied and she took a step forward, ready to finish what the Doctor had started. She was pulled back by the man who had tied her up. "Without that beast, my mills would rely on coal mines, and men die in coal mines all the time."
"I preferred it when you were alien."
"When I was?"
"Well, that explained the lack of humanity," the Doctor replied. "What makes you so sure that your life is worth more than those people out there on the ice? Is it the money? The accident of birth that puts you inside the big, fancy house?"
"I help move this country forward. I move this Empire forward."
"He was always human," Danni replied, staring at the man in front of her with a rising contempt. "It's the hallmark of the species. They will all disregard humanity the moment it is not beneficial." She nodded towards him. "The stink of self-indulgence and arrogance from him taints the world like it does from every other ape that roams this planet. Using people, using children, to his own end won't ever touch the sides. Keeping a lonely, kind, helpless creature trapped won't touch his heart because he has no humanity. Because, ironically, he is very human."
"I'm afraid your help is right on the money," Sutcliffe told the Doctor. "I guess that's why we hire them, isn't it?" He turned to his own help. "If they know about the beast, then others must, too. We bring the plan forward."
"When, sir?"
"Now! In daylight."
~0~0~0~
"Do you really think all that?" Bill asked Danni as they were marched out of the house. Danni didn't look at her, instead paying attention to the steps up ahead so she didn't stumble down them now that she didn't have the ability to hold her skirt up. "All that stuff about humans?"
"Yes," she replied simply. "I have met a handful of humans that break the mould. Most of them do not."
"That is not true," the Doctor argued, only to be shook by the man holding him. He looked back at his captor. "Do you mind? I'm trying to have a conversation here as you inevitably march us to our doom."
"Our doom?" Bill repeated.
"The creature in the water," Danni clarified for her offhandedly. "You have to admit that most humans we meet on these adventures do not tend to be a beacon of morality."
"What about your new friend, Kyle?"
"Kyle is harmless," she replied. "I did say most, not all." She was also told, in no uncertain terms, to be quiet as well and she glared up at her captor. "You know, when this all comes together and we end up beating you, being rude to me is not going to help you. I can't abide rudeness."
"Which is surprising, considering how rude you're being," Bill pointed out as they were shoved into a waiting carriage.
"It's not rude when I'm right."
~0~0~0~
No one seemed to pay attention to the three people being marched, tied, across the ice by the burly men that Sutcliffe employed. They were too busy enjoying the festivities and that was what he had been counting on. After all, he was the one paying to keep them distracted enough that they could become fish food.
They were taken into a tent to the side of the Front Fair, full of barrels with wires coming off them and to a panel hanging off the centre pole. The man holding Danni turned to Sutcliffe whilst Bill and the Doctor were pushed towards the pole.
"They won't all fit in here, sir," he told the man. Sutcliffe rolled his eyes.
"Just tie the little one to one of the shelving units," he instructed. He nodded and marched Danni to the back of the tent, just out of reach of the Doctor, and pushed her down to the ground as well. She swallowed hard, trying to ignore the feeling of being tied up again.
"You-You know, the only person I normally let do this to me is my husband," she stated, trying to keep her mind on the present. After all, rope was pretty weak in the grand scheme of things. She'd been held down by chains and metal cuffs before and she found rope to be uncomfortable, but relatively harmless. She'd eventually be able to escape from it. "But I can make an exception for you, I suppose."
Her hearts were picking up pace already even though she knew she had bigger things to worry about – like the barrels of gunpower they were surrounded by. She really didn't want to panic right now. She really didn't want to panic in front of all these strangers. Or Bill, for that matter, who she knew would immediately be curious and be unable to let it go, even when she was told to.
"It could be rum," Bill was saying as Danni started taking slow, shaky breaths. She was fine. It was just rope. "Rum came in barrels."
The Doctor shook his head. "Nah, smell that," he told her. "It's their—" He couldn't take his attention of his wife, who was sat with her eyes closed and with no witty retort to hide how uncomfortable she was. He knew she had been fine until the moment they had been separated. The quicker they could get free, the quicker he could help her. "It's their home-made rocket fuel, redeployed as explosive." He looked up at Sutcliffe. "It's a little reckless, don't you think? Half the fair disappears into the river, the secret of your success won't be a secret anymore."
"Hardly. The city will pause to mourn a fireworks display gone tragically awry, and the creature will be fed. By spring, this will be a footnote in history. That is progress."
"No," Danni spoke up, her eyes still closed. "That is not progress. That's just you being a cu—"
"Danielle," the Doctor cut in. He was glad she was talking, even if it was just her trying to distract herself from being restrained against her will, but he also knew that a potty mouth wasn't going to get them anywhere.
Sutcliffe turned to his help, not deeming what she said even worth acknowledging. "They're bringing the elephant out presently. We won't get bigger crowds than that, so make sure you're off the ice by noon."
"Noon? There's no way you can keep us here that long," Bill said as the grand gentleman left the tent. "We'll just scream our heads off."
The Doctor immediately began to shake his head. "No. No, please, please, please…"
She didn't listen as she cried out with one, drawn-out word. "HELP!"
The henchman was neither fazed nor annoyed as he, too, left the three in the tent to be blown up. The people outside were not pulled to the noise as they were too busy having a good time to even hear the woman's cry. The Doctor just winced and Danni began tugging at her restraints to see if she could break through them easily.
Bill coughed as she finally stopped shouting, having used all the air in her lungs to shout. The Doctor started shuffling on the spot. "If you're quite finished, I could use some help."
"What are you…" Bill asked, feeling him move.
"Sonic screwdriver, inside pocket," he instructed. The moment he felt her starting to move he looking over at Danielle. "Danni? Danni, are you alright?"
"Been better," she replied softly. "Are you going to be long?"
"No, Bill is just getting me my screwdriver. Do you have yours?"
"No, didn't fit in the dress. I really could use your help."
"I won't be a moment," he told her, grunting slightly as he lurched to the side. It came flying out of his pocket, just out of his reach but in Bill's. "It's out of my pocket. Bill is just going to kick it over to me."
"I don't need a running commentary, sweetie," Danni told him and he nodded.
"Yeah," he agreed. "Probably not too helpful."
Bill kicked the screwdriver over to his hand, and once again he was grateful for a companion with long legs. It wasn't hard for him to twist it in his hands and point it at the ropes. "Not long now," he told Danni.
"Again, don't need the commentary, just as quick as you can."
Her tone was biting and Bill frowned to herself. The Doctor was obviously trying to calm his wife down, but all she seemed to be doing was getting annoyed. That's all she seemed to do. Her mother used to say that people were only that miserable because their life was so full of hurt that it over spilled, and that it was their loved ones' jobs to bring it back down to the boil. The Doctor really did seem to be doing his best, which endeared him to Bill just a little more. She knew people who definitely were not that way inclined.
Her thoughts were once again pulled away from the strange couple from outer space when a green light came in from underneath the tent's front entrance. "Um, Doctor?"
"Huh?" he asked before spotting the light coming towards them. "Oh, hello!"
"How are you doing that?"
"Er…"
"Oh my god, it's the screwdriver!" Danni cried out. "It makes a noise. People make a noise. They don't do it when there's lot of people because hunting a crowd is a bad idea. But a drunk person, a kid, someone lost on the ice on their own makes a lot of sound in the silence and the sonic is louder and stranger than footsteps. There, you know. Now, please, get me out of this rope before I start really panicking!"
She spoke quickly, almost frantically and neither the Doctor nor Bill were convinced she wasn't already panicking. The Doctor could feel it starting to break through the barriers between them and he nodded quickly.
"I am only going to be a minute," he promised. "Just breathe, you're fine."
"I am not fine!" she exclaimed. "We're surrounded by barrels of explosives, there's a hungry and pissed off fish underneath us and we're all tied up like we're a bunch of kebabs. Please tell me how that is fine?!"
The front flap to the tent lifted up and a henchman walked back in. "What are you doing?" he demanded, storming over to the Doctor and snatching the sonic screwdriver from him. "Give me that!"
He seemed intrigued by it for a moment, until he noticed the green light underneath the ice. It was quickly joined by more and more and they began to circle him. He began panicking himself, backing away but the lights swirled around him faster and faster.
"Turn it off. There's a button on the side," the Doctor instructed, but the man was too scared to be able to work it correctly. "Here! Give it here!" He chucked it over to the Doctor, who had managed to get himself free before the screwdriver had been taken off him. Unfortunately, he was too late and the man fell through a hole that appeared in the ice. It immediately closed back up and it was like he was never there. "Afraid it has a knack to it," the Doctor muttered to himself.
Danni didn't notice the man fall through the hole, or the fact that Doctor had managed to get himself free from his own restraints. She had stopped paying attention the moment the henchman had come into the tent. She was tired of waiting; she knew what happened when she did. She'd started moving her arms from side to side, rubbing the rope against the wood as she tried to loosen any of the knots that kept her in place. The rope scratched against her skin but she didn't really care. Wounds would heal, but her panic felt like it would never go away.
The Doctor scrambled over to her, grabbing her shoulders to stop her moving. "Danielle," he said firmly to get her attention. "If you don't stop moving, I can't help you."
She met his gaze and she nodded, eyes a little wider than he would have liked but she seemed relatively calm. The last time he'd seen her restrained against her will she hadn't been expecting it. When Ashildr had tricked them into putting the cuffs on she had screamed. This time, at the very least, she seemed calm enough to let him undo the rope and toss it away.
"Ready?" he asked before helping her up to her feet. She didn't say a word, just brushed her dress back into shape and he knew that she was fine, if not a little shaken. So he turned his attention to Bill, who was still staring at the ice where the man had fallen through.
"Bill," he called to her. "Miss Potts?" She looked at him. "I need you with us."
"I, I…" she stuttered, unable to think straight at the sight of another death.
"Things to do, Bill. Decisions to make," the Doctor snapped, giving her something to focus on. "What are we going to do about Tiny?"
She frowned. "Tiny?"
"The creature. The loch-less monster. The not-so-little mermaid," he clarified. "Are we just going to leave her down there?"
"No," Danni replied, because there was no other option. "She didn't ask to be trapped, did she? When you're finally free, you don't wait around to smell the roses. You run, and you run fast."
"You don't know that," Bill snapped. "You can't possibly know what will happen when we let her go. She might burst up out of the water and eat a hundred people right off of Southbank! She could eat half of London!"
"So she deserves to be trapped for the rest of her life? Picking off people for scraps, longing to be free?" She jabbed down at the ice underneath them. "You heard her crying! Are you really that heartless to leave her sobbing on her own?"
"Why would you even care?" Bill asked, just as angrily. "I thought you didn't like humanity. What do you care about some monster trapped all alone?"
The Doctor waited for a moment to see if Danni would correct Bill, but she just pressed her lips together. It wasn't his story to tell, but if any of them knew what it was to be free after being contained, it was her. He knew he'd been in that confession dial for billions of years, but he only remembered his last go around, for which he was very grateful. Her time with Missy had been long, and full of pain and a mismatch of memories they were both now sure she could never piece back together again.
She looked up at him and there was no look of upset, or anger. She just looked terribly done with everything. "She's your companion, you deal with this," she told him bluntly.
"Danni…" he started but she was already walking out of the tent.
"You deal with it," she repeated, with no room for argument. The tent door fell closed behind her and the Doctor turned to Bill.
"Where-Where is she going?" Bill asked him.
"I suspect away from you," he replied. "Miss Potts, do you know why I chose to tutor you?"
"I don't know, because I smile too much?" she shot back.
"No, it was because you came to my class when you didn't have to," he replied. "Most people in my classes don't quite understand what I'm trying to say, and you were no different. It was just that they had to be there, they'd paid money and its part of their lives. But you, despite not having to be there, despite not understanding, came day after day just because you felt like you were learning something. And when you did, even if you didn't understand it, you smiled because there's a part of you that understands that knowledge is everything."
Bill shifted on the spot, uncomfortable at the praise because she wasn't used to getting it, and so bluntly. "What does that have to do with anything?" she asked.
"I chose you, out of everyone else, because you can see the value in chasing down a path of knowledge even if you don't understand the way," he explained. "You just needed guidance to make the most of the journey, where to follow the road and where to stray. You keep straying down the path that is Danielle, you need to stop." He motioned to the door. "Her being here, right now, is a miracle unto itself and the more you crave knowledge from her, the more she will run away. There are bigger and more important things to spend that big brain of your on, Miss Potts, than fulfilling the need to gain gossip on my wife."
"Like what?" she asked and he nodded downwards.
"The loch-less monster," he reminded her. "You need to decide what we are going to do."
"Why is it up to me?" Bill asked.
"Because it can't be up to me," he said softly. "Your people, your planet. I serve at the pleasure of the human race, and right now, that's you. Give me an order. Not long till noon. I need an order."
Bill looked out the flap of the doorway, where the bright light from outside was streaming in along with the noise of the festivities. She looked down at the ice, where a creature was trapped that could kill them all. And then she thought about the noise it made, the way she felt it rattle inside of her and how she could feel the despair the creature was feeling.
"Save her," she begged. The Doctor grinned and turned to the wires and the explosives, quickly getting to work.
"I'll take care of this. You get everyone off the ice."
Bill nodded firmly and turned, rushing out into what she had expected to be festivities. Instead, she saw people moving off the ice, being ushered by each other. On one side she saw Kitty, motioning with her hands to some people to get moving. She rushed over and grabbed her arm.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Getting everyone off the ice," Kitty replied like Bill should have known better. "Your mate said everyone needed getting off the ice."
Bill looked around, trying to spot Danni and wishing that she could find her with her mind like the Doctor could. She spotted her, again, across the way ushering her own crowd of people to leave the ice. She patted Kitty on the arm.
"Keep going," she encouraged. "We need to get as many people as we can safe."
She made her way through the crowd to Danni, somehow managing to not get trampled on by the mass exodus of people leaving. "How did you know what was going to happen?" she asked. "Did the Doctor tell you with those mind powers?"
Danni shot her a look that made her feel like she was a little bit delusional. "No, no mind powers," she replied slowly, as if Bill was a little bit confused. "The Doctor chooses his friends well. There was no other choice in this. He keeps the company of good people."
"I'm sorry that I keep saying things to offend you," Bill said, truly meaning it. "I need to think more before I speak. My mum always said that my mouth can run away from me." Danni shrugged.
"Let's just get people off the ice, yeah?"
~0~0~0~
The Doctor, as he always did, managed to pull a plan out of thin air and save the creature with the least amount of damage the surrounding area. And, as he and Danni both had suspected, the creature did not rise up and gobble up half of London. Instead, she sped off into the ocean where should could swim freely, and far away from mankind.
Bill was utterly amazed that the Doctor had managed to pull it off and no one else had to die. She knew they had done the right thing the moment she had told the Doctor to save the creature, but hearing her happy cry as she escaped the Thames made it all worth it. That was what she was slowly coming around to see; that it was always worth it.
Stepping back out into the Doctor's office felt almost surreal considering how they'd spent the last couple of days. None of them had gotten changed, but she felt like she was walking out onto a different planet yet again. Still, though, nothing had changed since they'd left and she felt like everything should have. So, she immediately dropped onto her phone to try and find out what change they'd made to history by saving the sea creature.
The door opened as the Doctor starting looking through the papers on his desk. He was always unpleasantly reminded about just how much paperwork came with being a professor. He really didn't appreciate it.
"Alright, I've brought you all some tea," Nardole declared as he stepped in, carrying a tray like it was the most delicate thing in the world. "I put a bit of coffee in it, as well, just to give it some flavour. I'm sure it will warm you both up whilst you…" He trailed off as finally looked up from his balancing act and saw the Doctor in full Georgian era clothes. "Oh sir, no. This is unacceptable. This is beyond unacceptable. This is naughty!"
The Doctor shot him a look. "Language."
Bill flipped through her search results, becoming more and more confused. "I don't get it. London, 1814. Monster, sea creature, serpent, really, really big fish. Nothing."
"Sir, you said you wouldn't be going off-world," Nardole continued to scold. The Doctor opened his jacket, showing off his clothes pointedly.
"Do these look like off-world clothes to you?" he retorted.
"But, sir, your wife!" he exclaimed. "You know how angry she was last time; she is not going to be happy to find out you left her alone again!"
"Oh, do be quiet, Nardole," Danni snapped as she stepped out of the TARDIS. He stared at her, shocked, as she was dressed to match both the Doctor and Bill. "I could hear you from the other side of the console."
"Ma'am! I must protest!" he started, hands clenching in frustration. "You said…"
"I know what I said. I don't want him going off and leaving me alone with the Vault ever again," Danni cut in. "And, look, he didn't."
"Your mother…"
"My mother told you to listen to me," she said firmly.
"I don't understand. How could it not have been headline news?" Bill asked, ignoring the argument going on around her as she focused on what she felt was the more important information.
"Humans have a rather large knack for ignoring the obvious that is going on around them," Danni told her. "Along with all the drunk people who were there that day, they probably brushed it under the rug like everything else."
"Sir," Nardole said with a harsh edge, trying to get his attention. "We need to talk. Your oath."
"Give us a coin," the Doctor replied.
"What?
"Give me a coin. We'll toss for it. Heads, the TARDIS stays put." He looked over at his wife and new friend, a soft smile on his face. He knew, despite everything, nothing was going to stop them now. "Tails, you leave us alone."
~0~0~0~
Nardole tried not to stomp around the basement, but it was very hard when he had such heavy legs and he was in such a foul mood. He grumbled to himself as he checked over the Vault yet again before clocking off for the evening and having some down time. His 'me' time was important and he refused to let any Time Lord ruin it.
"Leave them alone, huh," he grumbled. "Chance would be a fine thing. I didn't ask to be re-assembled, did I? And I certainly didn't ask to be Professor Song's babysitter."
He turned to head away when there was a knocking on the door of the Vault. Three loud, hard knocks that froze him on the spot and sent his panic systems into overdrive. "Knocking," he whispered to himself before turning, trying to hold his nerve. "What was that about it?" he called to the Vault. "Knocking. What was that about? No one's going to open the door, just because you're knocking!"
Again, she knocked and again he felt his panic rise. "Oh, getting cocky now, are you? Why? What do you think you know?" His circuits ran cold as a terrifying thought hit him. "What has he told you?"
All she did, all she could do, was knock in return and a million ideas rushed through Nardole's rather amazing head. His protectiveness over his new mismatched family flared and he stood tall as he glared at the Vault from behind his glasses. "Because, yeah, he may have a little friend now and, yeah, he may be a little bit distracted but I'll tell you something; he'll never be distracted enough. And as long as I am here, as long as we both are still here, you are going nowhere. And you are not getting anywhere near her."
Before his nerve left him completely, he turned and walked out of the basement, hearing Missy bang after him until he reached the surface against. Then he was quick, rushing up the stairs and to the Doctor's office, where he entered without even knocking.
The Doctor rolled his eyes as he looked up from his desk. He was just finishing up for the night, he really didn't want to have another lecture from Nardole. "I thought we agreed you'd leave us alone," he said lowly.
"Sir, there was knocking," he replied. The Doctor paused his movements for just a moment, his hands locking up in a wave of panic.
"Was it…"
"No, not that, sir," Nardole quickly dismissed and the Doctor relaxed slightly. "Just ordinary knocking, but knocking none the less."
Knocking was worrying, Nardole was right, but there was a certain pattern that could make them all collectively take notice. He was always a little concerned that the Vault could only hold back so much, and if that sound of four reached his wife…
"Thank you, Nardole. You can leave, now."
Nardole didn't like his dismissive attitude. "But, sir, what if she knows?" he asked. "If she senses that Danni has been off on an adventure, if she knows that she's finally starting to let her guard down, who knows what it will inspire in her?"
He looked up, annoyed. "I will handle it," he said firmly. "As long as Danielle is kept strictly away from the Vault everything will continue to go as plan. You can leave, now."
Not knowing whether he should tell the Doctor that his wife was still rather drawn to the Vault below them, or keeping his word – which he'd given to River – to do as she said and not tell the Doctor, he flustered on the spot for a moment before storming out and into his office.
The Doctor didn't have time to acted concerned about what the knocking meant, because the TARDIS door opened and Danni appeared. She'd changed into something more comfortable and she smiled slightly when she saw that he was alone. "Did I hear Nardole?" she asked and he nodded.
"He's retiring to his office for the night. Probably to do some of those crosswords he is terrible at," the Doctor lied effortlessly. "Are you off to bed?"
"In a minute, yeah," she replied. She stepped out, letting the door close gently behind her. "I just wanted to say thank you, for the trip."
"It didn't exactly go as I'd planned," he admitted.
"What, you didn't plan for a sea monster in the Thames?" she teased lightly. She perched herself on the edge of his desk, her legs dangling both comically and adorably over the edge. "Thank you for encouraging me to go. I enjoyed it, it felt like old times."
He picked up her hand. "Here is to many more new times," he replied, placing a kiss on her palm. "I won't be a moment. Perhaps we could catch up on some rest together."
"That never happens," she pointed out but slid off the desk and back to the floor. "Love you."
"Love you too, my Pet," he said honestly and without shame. The door shot behind her and rubbed his hand over his mouth. What was he going to do? He genuinely thought that he could teach Missy how to be good. That if Danni saw her change then she would find comfort in the universe again, and in turn may start to forgive herself. And, for his own selfish reasons, because he never wanted to go through losing her again. It was almost too much to bear the first time, he couldn't survive it happening again.
But why was she knocking now, the first time Danni had been purposefully off in the TARDIS since they'd set up home at the university? Did she know? And if she did, then how?
He stood up, shaking the thoughts and pushing the worry away. He knew the Vault was safe. She was never getting out. He just had to be a bit more observant when he visited her to see if he was missing anything. He just had to do his job better. Nothing in the universe was more dangerous than the woman behind that door, right?
Unbeknownst to him, across the universe and in a different time, another TARDIS stood. It couldn't fly, it couldn't move, but the pilot smiled to himself as he scanned through all records of the Time Child he could find on Earth, knowing he was finding his ticket to freedom.
~0~0~0~
Sorry for the extended break. I never intended to be gone for so long, but real life absolutely kicked my arse last year. Here's hoping I can get back to writing again properly :)