The Doctor looked out over the courtyard underneath his window. There were students still crossing as they headed to their evening classes, so even though the sun was setting there was still quite the bit of activity on campus. He wasn't one for people watching, usually, but he found himself stood at his window and watching the world outside.
He smiled slightly as he was drawn immediately to Danni, who was walking in a group of young people she had very quickly seemed to pick up. As much as he would always crave her time and her attention – heaven knew how selfish he could be when he allowed it – it was nice to see her finally relaxing. She felt like she was much less friendly this time around, but he knew better. She'd barely had time to settle into her decision and she'd already gained a gaggle of humans.
The door opened behind him and he turned to see Bill slip in, ready for her next tutoring session. "Everything alright?" she asked, as she was used to seeing him sat at his desk when she turned up. "Did you see something? Are we under attack? Is something coming? Is it Heather, is she back?"
He tried not to roll his eyes. "No, unfortunately we are not under threat of an imminent alien invasion," he told her. "You're here to learn, not to panic."
She sat down on the other side of his desk and let her bag fall heavily to the ground. "I think I've got enough reason to be concerned pretty much all of the time."
He walked over to his small library that he had set up on the side of his office. "If you spend all of your time worrying then you will not get anything else done," he pointed out. "Just enjoy the moments as they come."
He grabbed a book and chucked it over to her, which she caught with ease. "Oh, that reminds me," she said as she started flicking through it without waiting to see what she was looking for. "I'm moving in a couple of weeks, and I was thinking that instead of hiring a taxi, driving all the way over there with my stuff crammed in…"
"Fine, you can use the TARDIS," he interrupted and she grinned happily. "But she isn't supposed to be used to ferry things about. I'm not picking you up when you've got too much shopping, or if your Christmas dinner hasn't finished cooking, or if you don't want to use iPlayer."
Bill frowned. "iPlayer?" she repeated. The Doctor shook his head, as if dismissing her confusion rather than dismissing the thought of his previous companion. Clara still would, on occasion, creep up in his thoughts and he couldn't voice them because no one he was with would understand. Plus, no matter how long it had been, he still couldn't quite get over how she had mirrored his own actions and had tried to kill Danielle. He hated having his own mistakes highlighted.
"The TARDIS is much more than a means of transport. So, just the once," he continued without explaining. That was something Bill was used to, so she let it drop and went back to looking through the book.
"Where do you get all these books from?" she asked. "Does the TARDIS make them? 'cause this is one of the textbooks that you set for the class, and there is no way you can buy a leatherbound version of it. Textbooks don't come leather-bound anymore. They come in boring colours for way too much money."
"The TARDIS doesn't do everything for me," he replied. "Sometimes you've just got to know the CEO to a famous publisher and save his life."
Bill shot him a look. "Seriously?"
He smirked. "A lot of fingers in a lot of pies," he said, giving his fingers a little wiggle. "Now, how about you turn to page 193 and we stop all this chatter."
~0~0~0~
"I'm sure," Danni insisted, pressing her phone to her ear. "If you think something is wrong, stay."
"Perhaps you should come too," the Doctor replied. "Creepy house, weird noises; two heads would be better than one."
"If there something wrong then I'll just get in the way," she replied. "I trust you to do whatever is necessary to keep everyone safe. I'll keep an eye on everything back here."
"You just don't want to be in the company of a bunch of university students," he accused.
"I really don't," she agreed, groaning at the very idea. "I've just got over that hurdle with Kyle and his friends, I really don't want to jump right into a bunch of young adults and leave the Vault completely unprotected."
She could almost hear his sigh of exasperation, even though, to his credit, he kept it to himself. "Nardole is there. It will be fine for you to leave for a little while."
She shuffled on the spot. She hated letting him down, but as she sat in Nardole's office, she really didn't feel comfortable leaving. "Alright, fine," she muttered. "Send me the address, I'll grab an Uber and be there soon."
"Ah," he replied, as if he'd not thought of how she'd get to them in the first place. "Let me chase down Bill, I send you a text message."
She smiled slightly. He seemed rather happy that she was going along, and how could she take that away? She wasn't the evil stepmother in their story, she was the princess.
Did she want to be a princess? She'd get a tiara…
"Alright, sweetie. Love you."
"Love you too."
And she sat back and waited. And waited. And waited.
~0~0~0~
Danni paced up and down the large open area outside the Vault. Back and forth, unable to stand still. She'd make one lap then pull out her hand sanitiser, squirting a large amount into her hands before rubbing it in as she walked away. Eventually she just left it out on a box that had been discarded. Why was everything so gross? Did the Doctor just not think to tidy up down here? What was Nardole doing in his spare time, letting it go to ruin like this?
The door opened to the basement and she heard Nardole scuttle down the stairs. When he was worried, he scuttled a lot. He was like a crab. A nervous, annoying crab.
She was so glad he was there.
"Anything?" she barked at him as he appeared out of the shadows.
"Nothing, ma'am," he replied. "I tried calling Moira but she wouldn't tell me Bill's new address. She didn't trust that I worked for the university."
"Why not?" Danni snapped. "Did you use the voice again?"
"What voice?" he asked, a little insulted.
"You put on a voice when you answer the phone. You sound like a waiter. I think it's from Darillium, it's very off-putting." She turned back to look at the Vault door. Could she just dowse herself in hand sanitiser, or would that be bad for her skin?
"That's charming, that is," Nardole grumbled. "I am trying to find him, you know?"
She spun back around. "Then where is he?" she exclaimed before her voice broke. "Where-Where is he?"
Nardole, immediately, felt sorry for her and walked over. He placed a hand on each of her arms and started rubbing furiously. It used to baffle Danni, but then she realised that he was trying to mimic how he'd seen humans comfort each other, just really badly and it now actually helped her feel a little better.
"Is he still not answering his phone?" he asked.
"It's not even ringing. It's like he's out of range. Do you know how hard that is for a phone that can call any time from anywhere in space to be out of range?"
Nardole did. "Alright, what about roommates? You said she was moving in with people, do we know who?"
"No. When I asked, trying to seem interested, all he said was that they were students and that all students were the same, so it didn't really matter."
That did sound like both of the Time Lords, so he didn't really question it. In fact, it was more noteworthy that Danni asked in the first place. He nodded to himself before cracking his fingers. "Alright, let me see if I can hack back into the university's system, look for some address changes. Give me five minutes."
She grabbed his arm before he could leave the basement, though. "Do-Do you think she knows?" she whispered, fearful as she nodded towards the Vault door. "That something might have happened."
"Of course not," he promised. "Unless the Doctor has contacted her himself, neither of us have said a word to her. She's trapped and out of the loop, don't worry."
She nodded, letting go of him. "Out of the loop, yeah," she muttered, trying to calm herself down. "She doesn't know a thing. She's out of the loop."
Nardole watched her turn back to stare at the Vault before dashing out, a worried look on his own face. He did hope the Doctor was alright, in fact it was probably a safe bet to put your money on the Doctor coming out on top. Still, he was concerned about where, exactly, the Doctor was. And how Danni would react knowing that she was the last defence between the universe and Missy.
~0~0~0~
Nardole, through pure force of will, managed to get Danni out of the basement with the promise that he would stand in her place. She had made it back to the office, but couldn't find the ability to sit down so she paced instead.
No more adventures. There could be no more adventures. It was absolutely killing her not knowing if he was coming back. She should have gone with him in the first place. He should have made Bill take a fucking cab. His big hearts were one of the many things that drew her to him, but it was because of them that she was now worrying that something absolutely terrible had happened to him. It had been hours. It had been all night. She had considered many times calling Kyle and calling her group of friends to arms, but Bristol was huge and she really had no idea where they were.
Nardole had tried to locate the TARDIS, next, but had been unsuccessful. That could have just been down to the shielding she had, though, and there was no way of getting around it without being in the TARDIS to lower them. And, well, that involved the Doctor or herself being anywhere near it and she had no idea if he was even close to the blue box.
If he was hurt, if he wasn't safe, then that was on her. She shouldn't have told him to go on his own. They should be doing whatever it was together. He shouldn't be doing it at all. She should have been there to save him.
She really couldn't stand still and she held her phone tightly in her hand. Kyle wouldn't mind, would he? He had a large group of friends and he seemed to be able to gather them with barely a moment's notice. She could get a group together, start in the more popular student housing areas and move out. Have everyone pair up so no one got lost, and everyone in this day and age had trackers and smart phones that she could hack into and keep updated on Nardole's computer so if something did go wrong she'd have a better understanding of where it happened and she could actually go on the offensive. Sure, a lot of her stuff was in the TARDIS, but she'd be alright. The Doctor saved the world with no TARDIS, no screwdriver and in only twenty minutes. She could take on Bristol in a day. It was Bristol, after all.
She was just about to call Kyle, hoping that he would answer and wouldn't be too angry at her waking him up so early, when the sound of the TARDIS filled the office. She stared at the corner with her eyes wide as she felt almost too scared to feel relief at seeing the box finally coming home.
By the time the Doctor emerged she was already outside the door and she didn't even question the two white carrier bags he was holding. She just chucked her arms around him and held him as tightly as she could, face in his chest, happy to hear his hearts beating again.
The Doctor didn't hug her back straight away, arms out and away so he didn't drop the bags. "Well, I was expecting a lot more shouting," he told her and she shook her head against him.
"No shouting. No arguing. Hug," she demanded and he chuckled slightly.
"Can I at least put the bags down?" he asked her. "Or are they required for this moment of affection?"
She pulled away, very reluctantly he could tell, and he placed the bags on his desk. Immediately she had pulled him back into a hug and he was very happy to let her do so. He gave her a squeeze. "I'm sorry I never got to text you," he told her. "I couldn't get a signal."
"I tried to call you," she replied.
"I don't doubt that. I'm sorry you were worried."
"Were you scared?" she asked him and he nodded.
"Terrified. But it worked out alright and, look, I'm back before midnight."
Danni frowned, because that didn't sound right, and she looked to the window and saw that it was still dark. It had felt like the entire night had passed, it felt like it should have been morning. She had been about to call Kyle and wake him up but, if it wasn't even midnight, chances were he wasn't even in bed yet.
She laughed, her voice breaking slightly. "I thought you were gone…" she trailed off and he held her tighter.
"I've told you about that," he scolded lightly. "You and me, in the TARDIS, until the end of time."
She nodded and pulled back, wiping her eyes before she started crying. "What's in the bags, then?" she asked.
"Oh, some food," he replied, taking her hand and leading her over to the chair by the desk. He sat her down. "Chinese, your favourite. I thought we could have a little indoor picnic while I told you a story."
She couldn't help but smile. "A story?"
He began pulling the cartons out, pushing the stuff in his way to the edges of the desk so he could display their feast properly. "Oh yes, a story," he replied. "About a boy, his mother, homeless students, some killer insects." He looked up at her, a grin on his face. "And a hell of a lot of wood."
~0~0~0~
Danni stormed into the bedroom, grumbling to herself before she dropped her laptop onto the bed. How was she supposed to study if the Doctor insisted on talking at every single moment? Bill didn't know any better, but he did. She needed quiet. How long had they been at the university now? He knew how she studied; it had never changed.
She ignored the fact that she was just angry because he'd brought in a companion with zero consideration of her or the responsibilities that he decided they needed to bear. It definitely wasn't to do with the fact that Bill kept talking about their little adventure at her ill-fated student housing attempt, and it wasn't making her feel rather left out and a little jealous of their time together.
It had nothing to do with that fact that she had also been researching how to get him out of that stupid thousand-year oath he'd agreed to take, and as of yet had come up with absolutely nothing. No, it was purely because they both kept yapping away and she needed quiet to study. Plain and simple.
Of course, if she did find a way for him to get out of the oath, she knew that he would never take it. He wanted to help Missy find the goodness inside and he wouldn't listen to her when she told him there wasn't anything good inside that woman. She was beyond redemption.
She sat heavily on the bed, opening her laptop with more force than necessary. And now she had to write a 4000-word essay on the drawbacks of viewing time in a linear fashion. She smiled slightly before she opened the word processor. He was a fantastic teacher, though. She could listen to him gives lectures for the next thousand years no problem at all. Even if he went over old ground, she would still enjoy it more than pretty much everything else.
She started her studies by, naturally, going on the internet. This time period did love Twitter so that was her first stop. It was usually a hell pit of arguments and death threats, but sometimes there was a good meme she could lose some time in.
Next was Facebook, where she liked a couple of posts on the group that had been created for everyone who attended the Doctor's lectures. She turned down an invite for a night out, but promised to fill a spot at a trivia night. Kyle had sent her a few gifs she needed to reply to. He had a good eye for making her chuckle slightly. Not many people could make her laugh these days, it wasn't a reaction that came naturally anymore.
Lastly were her emails. Brian still liked to drop her the occasional update of the 1950s, and all the plants that he was cultivating in Amy and Rory's back garden. She appreciated updates from all her family and, no matter which body she was in, she made sure to give him the proper level of attention and intrigue. If he loved the plants so much then they must have been important.
Then, amongst the spam and newsletters she'd inevitably signed up to when she went online shopping, a random email appeared. With the subject of 'FAO: Danielle Fielding' she should have guessed it was just some more spam, but it still caught her attention enough to open it.
'Hello, my Pet.'
She smiled softly to herself. The Doctor hated email, but who else could it be?
The door opened and the man himself peered around the door. "Ah, I thought you would be here," he said. She looked up at him. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I've just got an essay to write," she replied a little cheekily. "My professor decided he wanted us to write a 4000-word essay for next Tuesday."
"And some old idiot kept prattling on so you couldn't focus?" he asked in reply, looking a little sheepish.
"Oh, you heard him too?" she asked, playing along. "I've asked him so many times to not do that when I'm working but he just can't help himself."
"He can't. He must love the sound of his own voice," the Doctor replied.
"He just likes to tell stories," she replied. "There's never a moment that goes by when he's not spinning some yarn, re-living his highlights."
"Speaking of, has he ever told you about his greatest highlight?" he asked, leaning against the doorframe. "About how one human with bright red hair managed to save his life and forgive him…"
She smiled a fond smile at him. "Theta, I have homework," she reminded him.
"Who forgave him again and again, even when he got on her nerves?" he finished and she shook her head, amused. "Your professor is always giving you homework. Maybe you should find another one who doesn't eat up so much of your time."
"Nah," she dismissed. "The rest of the universe is boring. He's the only one who can hold my attention long enough for me to actually want to do the homework he sets."
"That's good. Because I know, from experience, that he's only teaching because he likes to see you smile," the Doctor told her. "Speaking of." He stepped into the room, revealing a large mug he'd hidden behind his back. "I thought you could do with something warm while you studied."
"Thanks," she replied sincerely. He walked over and placed it on the bedside table. He then leant down and placed a kiss on her hair. She turned, caught his lips for a brief kiss, but let him go. She really did want to get the essay done.
"Was 4000 words too many?" he asked as he headed for the door. The fact she'd hauled herself up in the bedroom told him rather clearly that she wanted to be left alone.
"I shouldn't think so," she replied. "Linear time can be quite the complicated subject when you dive in enough. I suspect you'll have a few over the word count."
He paused at the doorway. "Perhaps I should stop assigning so many essays," he declared. "I'm just making more work for myself."
"Definitely might be something to consider," she agreed. He chuckled, knowing that he wasn't going to stop challenging his students, then headed through the door.
Danni looked back at her computer and saw the email he sent her. "Theta?"
He darted back into the room. "Yes?"
"Did you send me an email before?" she asked. His brows furrowed.
"Why would I do that? I know where you are," he replied, confused.
"I guess so," she mused with a frown. Then she smiled. "Love you."
"Love you too, my Pet," he replied before disappearing. Probably going back to Bill, she was sure their tutoring session had another half an hour or so to go.
She didn't pay it much mind, instead she turned back to the email. She believed the Doctor completely when he said it wasn't from him, but that didn't mean that he wouldn't send it from his future to her present. The TARDIS could, on occasion, divert from one timeline to another if needed.
'Who is this?'
It seemed the simplest of questions and she sent it without much thought of manners. A moment later it there was a reply.
'Don't be stupid.'
She frowned, annoyed for a moment. They obviously thought that she should know who they were, which she didn't. Maybe she could work it out. The Doctor was the only one who called her his Pet but, while the next message could have easily been from him, she knew it wasn't. He might have prompted her to work it out for herself, but he wouldn't have straight up called her 'stupid'. Well, maybe if he was in a rather precarious jam that he needed her help with straight away.
She checked the email address, something she should have thought of sooner. Her eyes widened slightly. The username and domain name were exactly the same.
'knockknock.'
Four knocks.
Well, she had to admit, it was pretty on the nose and she felt rather stupid for not noticing it sooner. It didn't last very long, though, because the anger at the thought quickly took over. She slammed the lid on her laptop shut and jumped off her bed. She stormed out of the TARDIS, straight past the Doctor and Bill who just watched her leave but didn't follow. The look on her face must have told them that she was best left alone and she was glad at it, because she didn't want Bill to see her shouting.
Nardole was outside the Vault door, doing whatever checks he tended to do when he was there. He glanced over his shoulder. "Danielle, I was just making sure…"
"Move," she demanded shortly. He spun, looking slightly alarmed.
"What-What are you…" he stuttered but she pushed him out of the way, tapping away on the keypad that unlocked the doors. "You can't go in there! She's not ready to see anyone."
"Don't care," Danni retorted. "She's broken the rules." She continued to type – the Doctor had really overdone the passcode – and didn't look up as she called inside. "Get inside the glass box!" she commanded. "If you're not in there I'm not coming in!"
"Danielle, I must insist you stop this at once," Nardole exclaimed. "The Doctor gave me strict instructions to keep everyone out of there, including yourself. It's for your safety."
"Who did River tell you to listen to?" she countered.
"Well, that's not really fair…"
"That's not an answer."
He sighed. "You, Danielle," he admitted reluctantly.
"So, my orders supersede the Doctor's. Stop contradicting me."
"But you have to see why I must," Nardole pressed. "She's recovering, not recovered. If she gets ideas then it could set everything back decades!"
"She's never going to recover," Danni snapped as she stepped back and the Vault doors started to open. She wasn't sure if she was relieved or not to see Missy sat in the middle of the room in the containment field in the middle of the room. On one hand she was very happy to see as many barriers as possible between her and Missy, but it also meant that she would be able to talk to the other Time Lady and that was never a good prospect.
Keeping her anger tight, she strode into the room. "Where did you get the internet?" she demanded. "You're not supposed to contact the outside world at all."
Missy held her hand up to her chest. "I don't have access to the internet," she promised. "Or a phone, or even a Morse code machine."
"You are lying," Danni snapped back, getting as close to the glass as she dared. "Where is it?"
"I promise I don't have any such thing," Missy replied. "You know I'm not lying."
Danni barked out an angry laugh. "You're not lying?" she exclaimed. "All you do is lie!" She opened the laptop, showing her the browser where her email inbox sat. "What is this, then?" she demanded. "Knock-Knock at Knock-Knock dot com. Did you really think I wouldn't get that?"
Missy leant a little closer to see and, despite the glass walls separating them, Danni stepped back and away from her. "I can see the confusion," Missy replied calmly. "But honestly, Danielle, that isn't me. You can check the room if you like. I'm sure you've got that silly little sonic device with you."
Danni stared at her for a moment longer, alert in case she tried something she needed to react to quickly. She did have a point, unfortunately, so after a moment to make sure she wasn't too much of a threat, Danni tucked her laptop underneath her arm and pulled out her screwdriver. She did a quick scan of the area and found Missy was right. She lowered her arm, still holding the sonic screwdriver tightly. "There's nothing here," she admitted reluctantly.
"I'm glad you can see that now," Missy replied, standing up. Danni again moved a little backwards from the glass. "I really am trying to change, Danielle. Surely you can see that?"
Danni shook her head. "You can't change," she retorted. "You're never going to change. Your regeneration is poisoned."
She actually looked hurt, which just made Danni feel a little sick. "I am trying," she insisted again. "I know I hurt you, I know I did wrong. Please, let me show that to you."
She stepped towards Danni and Danni shot backwards, dropping her screwdriver in her panic. "Stay back," she cried. "Stay away from me."
"Please, Danielle," Missy begged. "I just want to make it up to you."
Danni shook her head. "No, no, you're not going to change and you're not coming anywhere near me," she exclaimed. She turned and quickly strode out of the Vault. "Lock it up, Nardole."
Nardole sighed heavily, doing as she said. "I said it wasn't a good idea," he muttered.
"I know you did," Danni retorted as Missy sat back down, watching the doors to the vault close in front of her. "Don't tell the Doctor I was here."
"But Danielle…"
"Don't tell him!"
Nardole sighed again as she disappeared out of the basement. "I shouldn't have come here," he muttered. "No gratitude at all."
~0~0~0~
Danni stopped after bursting back out into the outside world, leaning against the wall and panting heavily. Her hands were shaking, her hearts were racing. They had been here decades and she still couldn't help but feel absolutely terrified just at the sight of Missy. She hated going down there, but she had needed to find out if Missy was trying to escape. There had been no ability to contact anyone outside the Vault, though. Missy was clean.
The thought should have calmed her, but it didn't. She reopened the laptop yet again and replied to the email quickly.
'Who is this?'
She watched, trying to catch her breath and calm her nerves, for what felt like eternity. She'd never been so anxious to get an email before. Then the reply appeared. There was a picture attached and embedded but, as the university infrastructure was absolutely awful, the text appeared first.
'Did you miss me?'
'What do you think of the beard?'
Her eyes widened, her breath caught and her knees went weak. The wall was the only thing holding her up as the image quickly revealed itself. Brown hair, styled beard, a killer grin and a ridiculous smug look.
"Koschei?"
~0~0~0~
I'm so happy to see so many of you still here! Fills this old author's heart right up :D
I'm trying to get back into weekly updates. I can't promise it will be every week, but I really am trying!
Reviews!
serenitysaiyan - Honestly, loved seeing all your reviews come in all at once. Glad you're enjoying it! Not quite Oh, but you're not wrong, he must be around there somewhere!
Guest - Thank you for the review :D
SuspianFeels - Thanks you, sweetie! Hope you liked this one too!
Guest - Not quite any Bill, yet. I will be getting them both out and about soon enough, though.
Psst - Thanks :D
ViceroyIcarus - I'm not sure if you'll see this in order, but thank you so much! I did decide that, depending on the episode, some of the 'getting stuff done' parts just wouldn't change and at that point I'm just rehashing the canon, whereas this has always been focused on Danni and so I decided to keep on her changes. That's why this story has actually already skipped a couple of episodes. That's not going to always be the case, as her story progresses so will the amount of time she will have in the canon stories, but for now she's kind of separated from them.
bored411 - Oh, I can't wait for Thirteen, it's going to be so much fun to write them together! Thank you for reading, sweetie :D