Danni was acting weird. The Doctor couldn't really put his finger on it, but something was off. Ever since they'd come out of the other side of the invasion of the Monks she had not been acting quite like herself, and he wasn't sure if he should be worried or not.
It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, either. She'd been so much happier, and open, and she reminded him so much of how she had relaxed during their time on Darillium. She wasn't hiding from herself or the universe anymore. She spent a lot of her time laughing, and talking to her friends, and he was sure she was starting to think about bringing that Kyle lad onto the TARDIS like he had done Bill. She'd not said anything about it, of course, but he could tell. He knew the look on her face when she told him stories of their nights out together. She'd found herself a friend that wasn't Nardole. Of course, that wasn't a bad thing.
He just wasn't sure about the suddenness of it all. Perhaps being trapped with Missy again had forced her to look inwards and decide that she wasn't happy constantly hiding from the possibility of Missy escaping, or coming from the past the grab her, or even some hypothetical future. Maybe the change had been gradual but as they'd been separated, he'd just not seen it. It felt so strange to be concerned that she was so happy, because surely that was a good thing? Surely this was what he'd been wanting to happen all along?
And, it turned out, he wasn't the only one who had seen the sudden change in her. That was why Nardole was sat in the chair across from his desk, a serious look on his face, waiting expectantly for an answer from him.
The Doctor just shrugged. "So?" he asked, like it didn't bother him at all.
"So?" Nardole repeated, sounded outraged at the response. "Are you not even the least bit worried?"
"Why would I be worried?" the Doctor replied. "She's happy; what's wrong with that?"
"Everything!"
The Doctor pressed his fingers together as he leant backwards in his chair, resting his chin on the peak they created. "You do realise that you're supposed to want people to be happy, right?"
"I do want her to be happy," Nardole retorted. "But—" he looked around, as if he was checking for anyone who might be listening, before leaning forward towards the desk. "She was in that Vault for six months," he said, his voice lower as well to keep the illusion of secrecy. "And then she came out happy and settled? How do we know that Missy didn't do anything to her?"
"Because she didn't," the Doctor retorted, annoyed that he'd had the same thoughts as Nardole.
"How do you know that?"
"Because." The Doctor shifted in his chair. "One; she is my wife; I would know if Missy had done anything because I would be the first person that she would tell…"
"But, Sir…"
"Two," the Doctor continued sharply, cutting Nardole off before he could continue. "If Missy had done something you would also know, if you're doing your job right."
"I am, but…"
"And three," the Doctor cut in yet again. "Do you really think Missy, and by extension Danielle, would still be here if Missy had successfully managed to brainwash my wife?"
Nardole opened his mouth to argue- he always seemed to argue – but then closed it again. Then opened it again. Then closed it again. "Can you please stop gaping at me like a goldfish?" the Doctor scolded.
"Then what is going on? This isn't like Danielle."
"This isn't like the Danielle you know," he corrected. "Did it ever occur to you that maybe after being trapped in a room with Missy for six months she might actually have realised that Missy cannot get out of the Vault if she tried?"
The robot stared at him for a moment. "That's just occurred to you right now, hasn't it?" he accused.
"So what if it has?" the Doctor shot back. The office door opened, stopping the discussion as they both turned to see Danni walk in. She looked ready to greet her husband but then stopped, looking between the two.
She then turned to Nardole. "Nardole, what did you do?" she asked him.
"Nothing!" he exclaimed, outrage. "I just came to ask your husband…"
"He wanted to know when he gets to cook again," the Doctor replied for him.
She pulled a face. "Not a chance after last time," she stated firmly. "I don't care how messed up your tastebuds are, even the TARDIS couldn't clear the smell. It took days before we could enter the kitchen again."
She walked over to the TARDIS. "I have homework to do," she told the pair. "Don't go taking off on any adventures while I'm in the bedroom. I can't be distracted, I'm already behind."
"You, behind? Never," the Doctor said. "You're much too clever to fall behind, my Pet."
She nodded. "I know, that's why I'm doing my work now," she replied. She turned back, only to place a kiss on his cheek, before pointing at Nardole. "Takeaway tonight," she warned.
She disappeared into the TARDIS and the Doctor looked back at him. "Told you," he bragged. "She's fine. You're being too paranoid."
Nardole really didn't agree, but he could see he wasn't about to convince the Doctor otherwise. Whatever doubts the Time Lord had were being overshadowed by his desperate need for his wife to be as okay as she was portraying to the world. He knew different, though, as he stood up.
"I'm going to check the Vault again," he declared. "But you, sir, really should keep an eye out. This could be an eye of a storm we're not watching coming."
"Yes, yes, I'm sure it's terrible that she's so happy," he dismissed. "Go on, before I dock your pay."
"You don't pay me," Nardole grumbled as he headed off.
"Then I'll give you a wage just to dock it!" he called after him as Bill came in, watching Nardole storm in.
"What's gotten up his nose?" she asked.
"As much as he could fit, I imagine," he replied. "Come on, don't dawdle, we have a lot to do today."
~0~0~0~
Danni liked to do her homework in the bedroom. She wasn't sure why, after all they had a perfectly good library and study that she could have worked in. However, the bedroom just made her feel more comfortable and less distracted. She didn't like to think it was because of all the time she'd spent locked up in a bedroom, she had decided long ago it was just because she felt the most at home there.
It meant, though, that she could slip in there with her laptop and the Doctor wouldn't be any the wiser. He really would think that she was doing some boring essay and while she didn't like hiding from him, for right now it was the best she could do.
She sat down and crossed her legs as she opened the lid to her new laptop. She had plans to get around to fixing the shattered one but she'd not found the time yet. She was quick to type in her password, and even quicker to type in an answer to the message that was awaiting her.
Sorry I was so long, my class overran. Are you still safe?
She leant back, chewing on her lip as she waited on the reply.
I'd be safer if you came to pick me up. But for now, I am fine. How is pretending to be a normal human going?
Good, actually. You can't blame me for you getting into this mess. You said so yourself; it's your own fault.
She glanced at the door, making sure that it was closed, as if any of the doors in the TARDIS ever stayed open. She was just so worried that someone might walk in and somehow catch her red handed. She wasn't ready for that, yet.
I didn't say I was blaming you for my predicament. I said I was blaming you for not coming to pick me up.
She sighed to herself. She'd really tried to have some proper conversation with him, she really had. However, as he always had been, Koschei just couldn't stop being his pig-headed self and it was very quickly getting on her last nerves.
You know, I could just leave you rot there. It's no skin of my nose if you've dug your own grave.
He didn't reply straight away, which is what she had expected. However, he took so long that she actually considered doing some work after all.
You're right, I'm sorry. I'm not used to this whole 'asking for help' thing. It's very tiresome.
Her eyebrows shot up as she read the reply over again and again. She wasn't surprised by his tone, which was very easy to read through the text. He'd apologised. He'd actually apologised in text form; in a medium she could pull up as proof that he knew how to do so. That was a bigger step than most people would have realised.
Her fingers hovered over the keyboard for moment as she continued to chew her lip. It took a couple of attempts, a couple of hesitations and doubts, before she finished the message.
I don't know if this is really you. After all, a selfie isn't exactly the best proof.
His reply was instant. Really? And here I was thinking that you trusted me.
She snorted to herself at the idea of trusting him. I want to know it's you before I even consider helping you. A selfie isn't going to cut it.
And how do you expect to rectify that if you won't come here first?
You're currently stood in a TARDIS. I'm at a laptop. Figure it out.
All she had to do was sit back and wait. She knew he was clever enough to get the hint, but she wasn't sure if he would actually take it. She wasn't even sure if she wanted him to take the hint. Or maybe she did. Would it be that bad to see his face? To know that he was actually in the universe, that he'd made it out before he'd become Missy? Was that even a good thing? What was going to happen to him that was going to make him become Missy?
She watched the screen as the call came in and, for a moment, considered just slamming the lid and moving on with her life. She knew he was on the other side though, and the thought of not answering sat strange. So she swallowed and clicked the button, answering the call.
"Ah, Danielle, seems a lot has happened since we last spoke," he greeted with his drawl. She frowned slightly before realising that she had been a completely different person when they'd last seen each other. And, really, he shouldn't have known that.
"You don't seem too surprised."
"Why would I be?" he retorted. "You think that I didn't come across you in my travels? The Time Child has been very busy."
He said her nickname rather mockingly, like he didn't particularly like it. She still had a bit of a love-hate relationship with it herself, but hearing his tone made her slightly defensive of it.
"That's all your fault," she snapped. Even as the words came out she realised that she shouldn't have said that. "The beard is very old-school. You've not had that since before the Time War."
"You remember my facial hair? I don't know if I should be flattered or concerned."
"Neither," she replied shortly. Part of her had been hopeful that it really was him on the other end of the emails, but now that he was in front of her she wasn't sure how to feel. She felt uncomfortable, a little scared, and a little relieved all that all balled up in the pit of her stomach. "Well, you seem to be alive. I don't see what else I can do for you."
She expected him to snap at her, or say something rather sarcastic considering they both knew he'd been asking for her to come pick her up for a while now. She rather hoped that he would, it really would make slamming the laptop close a lot either if he pissed her off.
Instead, he looked at her for a moment, like he was trying to work out how she would fit into his plans. His mind was changing just at the sight of her and it was weird enough that she felt more uncomfortable. "How did you manage to end up at a University in Bristol?"
Her eyes widened slightly. She wasn't expecting him to bring that up and she really didn't have an answer she could give him. So, she settled on a word that she hadn't used in centuries. "Spoilers."
He grinned. "Oh, so it's something to do with me?" he replied, almost gleefully. "Well, I have to admit, I really am looking forward to finding out how I trap you in one of the dullest places on Earth."
"At least I'm not on the run from another race of people I've managed to piss off," she retorted.
"Touché," he replied. "Tell me; when we meet again, is it fun?"
"No," she snapped. "This was a terrible idea. You're supposed to be a genius, figure your own way out."
She reached out, ready to slam her screen down and to go and tell the Doctor exactly what was happening, when he spoke up. "Wait, wait, wait," he quickly said, enough to make her pause. "Look, this isn't a great moment for me, I'll admit it. I thought I would rather die than ask a human for help, but here we are."
She just stared at him, unimpressed. "Is this supposed to be swaying me over to your side? Because you're doing a piss-poor job about it."
He sighed, exasperated. "Don't you think this a really good indication of how dire my situation actually is?"
She hesitated slightly. A part of her wanted to help him, and a part of her wanted to help anyone who was in trouble. She hated both of those parts at the moment, because there was a large part of her that wanted to let him rock but it wasn't winning the fight. "You have to understand," she started slowly. "The reason the Doctor and I are even here, the reason I look like this, a lot of what has happened to me over the last few hundred years has been because of you." She didn't want to give too much away, but there was a desperate need to have him understand why she wasn't going to jump and help him like she once would have. "I can't forget that, Koschei, no matter how much you want me to."
He was silent again for a moment, then he nodded. "I understand," he said, taking her by surprise for the second time.
"You do?"
"Of course. I know what it's like to be wronged by someone. Perhaps too many people," he explained. He then took a deep breath. "Well, I'll let you get on with your day, Danielle."
"You will?" she asked again, not quite sure what was happening.
"You don't have to seem so surprised. I'm not completely unreasonable," he retorted, a little offended. "Go on. Head back to your classes, and your…" He paused for a moment, looking her over. "Student?" She nodded. "I guess you'll have essays to write." He waved her away. "Go on, off you go."
Feeling like she wasn't quite leaving of her own accord, she slowly shut the lid on the laptop, ending the video call. She stared at the top of it, still very confused. She'd expected more pushback, more of him trying to persuade her. She'd expected… well, she definitely hadn't expected him to just give in like that. What was going on?
~0~0~0~
Nardole wasn't one to stick his nose in where it didn't belong. He'd learnt not to do that a long time ago, with another nose that he'd rather liked but had lost by sticking it into something dangerous and with too many teeth. He knew when to prod a little more and when to mind his own business and just walk away. Poking his nose into the Doctor's and Danielle's business definitely was something he would turn and walk away from. They were grown aliens, with their own messes that they could clear up.
Unfortunately, he was also a man with fantastic integrity, and he had agreed to keep an eye on River's daughter until such a time as she didn't need it anymore. So even though he would have normally been very happy to let her be happy, he knew he needed to find the cause and to fix it should it not be in anyone's best interest.
He really had to wonder when she wouldn't need looking after anymore. Not that he didn't enjoy the two Time Lords' company, but being their nanny has become increasingly difficult as of late and he really was getting to the point of grumbling about it. Maybe he just needed a vacation.
He had to be a little worried, though, when he found her rummaging around underneath the console. She'd taken a lot of things out and the floor was covered in all of the bits and bobs the two had collected over the years. So much so that he had to carefully step around it as he walked over to her. "Danielle, Ma'am," he asked, narrowly avoiding stepping on something that looked like it could have been a coat hanger once, but definitely wasn't anymore. "What are you doing?"
She pulled her head out of one of the cupboards she had found. "Looking for something, what did you think I was doing?" she countered before heading back in again.
"Well, yes, I gathered that. But you seem to be making quite the mess," he continued. "What on Earth are you looking for? Maybe I can help and we can tidy this up. That I spent hours sorting, and dusting…"
"It's fine," she called out. "I-I know it's around here somewhere. I just… I can't remember." She stepped out against, closing the door behind her as she made no attempt to put all the stuff back in. "I think I put it away once I knew I was home, but I can't…" She growled in frustration. "My memories still aren't great from that time, you know? I just… I had to have put it somewhere."
"Put what?" he asked, because her ramblings didn't make much sense at all.
"Nothing, nothing," she dismissed. "Well, something, obviously, but it's nothing." She turned and looked at the mess she had made. "Maybe I put it in something else," she mused. "That does sound like me."
"Ma'am," Nardole started carefully. "Is-Is everything alright?"
"Of course, why wouldn't it be?" she retorted, sitting on the floor in a bunch of boxes.
"Well, you've been, well, you seem to have not been yourself the last couple of weeks," he explained. "And, well, you are rummaging in a bunch of old boxes."
"People do that all the time, Nardole. There's nothing strange," she dismissed. "You must have lost something in the past."
"And what is it you're looking for?" he asked. She sighed and looked up at him.
"You're not going to leave me alone, are you?"
He sat down on the floor, crossing his legs like he was a large, balding, aged child. "You know I can be very persuasive when I want to be."
She smiled at him fondly. "That's how we met, remember?" she said to him. "You were very charming."
He grimaced slightly. "I still remember the smell in that suit," he told her. "And I've had new olfactory nerve since then."
She leant back on her hands. "Whatever happened to Ramone?" she asked him. "River never mentions him at all."
"He kept the suit, I believe. We did keep in contact for a while, but those things fall to the side, you know?"
She laughed slightly. "Yeah, how do I know," she replied. She took a deep breath. "If I tell you, you can't tell the Doctor." He opened his mouth. "Please, Nardole, I don't want him to know."
He looked at her suspiciously, and she knew that he thought it was going to be something terrible. "Alright," he finally replied. "But I have the right to change my mind if I think it's something dangerous, or harmful to you."
She furrowed her eyebrows. "What the hell do you think I'm up to, exactly?"
He shrugged. "You tell me," he countered.
"Fair." She looked forward again. "I was fixing my laptop, you know the one I dropped…"
"After you foolish confronted Missy about spam emails, I remember," he replied, a little cheekily for her liking.
"Yes, that one," she drawled, her voice warning him to keep quiet. "And I was thinking, as I am known to do when I'm on my own. I used to be really into building furniture. Like, I loved putting it together but there's only so many chairs one can build before it all becomes a bit… I dunno, samey. I kinda fell out of putting things together, and then the Vault happened and I've not had much time since landing here to really think too much about it."
She looked towards the cupboards, a faraway look on her face that Nardole had seen a couple of times over the recent years. "When I was trapped in the Vault with Missy, I had a lot of time to think about my past, and what I used to do. And, as I was holding the cables in my laptop, I had this flash of a memory." She sat up straight, looking down at her hands which she held in front of her. "I remember sitting on a floor repairing tablets. You know, like broken iPads or something. And I really enjoyed it. I-I don't remember where I was, but it was familiar. I think I lived there, but why would I live there? I-I don't…"
"Ma'am," Nardole called gently, pulling her out of her memories of Clara as kindly as he could.
She swallowed hard. "I know I've been acting a bit different since the Monks," she admitted. "But it's because I had time to think, and I want to be different. I want to be like that Danni again, who was still a little scared of being caught, but who wasn't constantly looking over her shoulder and worrying so much. So I'm trying my best to do that."
"You just want to be happier," he summarised and she nodded.
"That's it," she said softly. "That's what I want to be. I want to be happier."
"I still don't understand what that has to do with you pulling the console room apart," he pointed out.
"Well, I was thinking about what made me happy, and it's mainly my husband. I want to show him how happy he makes me, how better he makes my life. But you know how hard he is to buy presents for. Think about last Christmas." Nardole remembered it clearly, and very much agreed with her. "And we live in a space and time machine, so it's not like trips out are particularly special in that regard. And he knows a lot more about the universe than I will ever know, so it always becomes a bit of an educational adventure when we do go out. He just likes to see things, and people, and places. He doesn't want things; he loves seeing other people flourish. That's why he wanted to help Bill so badly.
"So, I thought, that I would fix up my Vortex Manipulator. You know, the one I used to escape Missy. I figured that if I could show him that I could fix something as complex as a manipulator on my own, because of what he has taught me, stuff I would never have known without him, that it might bring him some joy." She shrugged. "I don't know, maybe I'm just being over sentimental."
"I don't think so at all, Ma'am," Nardole told her.
"Really?"
"In fact, I think that's the best present you could give him." He looked at the piles of stuff around them. "I'm sure I saw it in here somewhere."
"Can you keep it a secret, though?" she pressed. "I don't want him to know in case it takes decades to do."
He smirked, happy to be in on the secret. "Your surprise is safe with me."
She smiled at him and they both set about to looking for the leather band. Danni only paused to watch him for a moment in case there was a sign that he hadn't believed her. She didn't like lying to Nardole, but he was such an easy target. He'd be able to help her and the Doctor would never know.
~0~0~0~
"Wow."
"I know."
"Just-Just wow."
Danni shared a smile with the Doctor, who rolled his eyes despite also being rather delighted by the reaction. "I know," she repeated again.
Kyle hasn't stopped looking up at the console from the moment that he'd stepped into the TARDIS. She couldn't blame him, after all the TARDIS was a rather impressive piece of machinery. There was a shimmer of light from the top to the bottom of the time rotor, showing that the TARDIS knew how magnificent she was and no one could blame them.
Kyle finally turned back to Danni, still a little stunned. She really enjoyed showing people the TARDIS for the first time, and it has been such a long time since she'd had the pleasure of doing so. "So, you really are an alien?" he asked and she nodded. "And so's the Doctor? And you both live in here?"
"That sums it up, yeah," she confirmed.
"I-I can't believe it," he said before shaking his head. "Actually, no, I can believe it. I can absolutely believe it." He took a step closer to the middle of the room. It was cute, really. It was like he was too scared to touch anything. "How-How does it work? Are we in another dimension? Is it like a portal, or- or a stargate?"
"She is called the TARDIS," Danni replied, walking over to his side. "This is Time Lord technology at it's finest. Basically, all of the inner dimensions are squished together and held inside the outer casing. She can calculate the exact exterior she needs to blend into any time or place across the whole universe, then settles on the police box because it's incredibly sexy."
The console flashed again and Kyle's eyes widened a fraction more, which Danni hadn't thought was possible. "She can hear you?" he whispered.
"She can hear everything," she replied. "She just can't respond in the traditional sense, but she lets you know what she's feeling, don't you Old Girl?"
She patted the console and felt a lovely brush of cool air that let her know the TARDIS was replying to her. Over the years the Doctor had always wanted to talk the TARDIS – and one time he had, for a brief moment – but she had never had that issue with the time machine. She might not always get direct answers, but both of them felt heard and Danni knew it.
He looked over at Bill and Nardole, who were also watching, slightly amused. "Are they alien too?"
Bill waved at him. "Human, actually," she replied.
"And Nardole is a… robot?" she turned the declaration into a question, not wanting to misidentify her friend.
He shrugged. "Mostly," he offered in reply and she nodded.
"Mostly a robot, yeah."
Kyle didn't say anything for a moment. "And- and you chose to park up in Bristol?" he asked her.
"Yeah," she drawled. She wasn't quite ready to tell him about Missy and the Vault. One step at a time and all that. "Well, you know, sometimes you need a pit stop."
"And you chose Bristol?"
"Actually, he chose Bristol," she replied, motioning over to her husband. "I wanted to go to another planet, but I lost the rock, paper, scissors. But, well, it's not all bad. I mean, you do always seem to be getting invaded."
"We do?" Kyle asked, because he couldn't remember anything particularly out of the ordinary happening recently.
"Wait until he hears about her being the President of the World," Bill said to Nardole, pretending to whisper but really not trying.
Kyle, who had turned to look at her when she'd started talking, snapped his head back around to look at Danni. "You're the President of the World?" he exclaimed.
"Only sometimes," she replied. "The Doctor gave me the title, really. He just wanted to First Man title."
"He's the First Man of the World?!"
Bill turned to Nardole. "You're right, this is really fun," she conceded as they both grinned.
"He's not as bad as you were," the Doctor chimed in. "At least he didn't think it was a kitchen."
"Or a lift," Nardole added onto the end.
"It's never taken someone so long to see what was right in front of their eyes."
"How does it work?" Kyle was asking. "Can you just go anywhere you want? Do you need, like, a passport or paperwork or something?"
"Let me tell you something," Danni started, pulling a monitor towards her. "If you're doing everything official, you're doing it wrong." She looked over at the Doctor. "Anything interesting happening right now?"
"I believe a probe is about to land on Mars," he replied. "A little dull, but might be a good day trip."
She nodded. "A trip to NASA it is," she declared. She hesitated slightly, though, before turning to Kyle. "Look, I know we're friends and all…"
"I know, I know, I can't tell anyone," he quickly interrupted. "Of course I can't, that would be mental. Everyone would be hounding you. I've seen sci-fi movies. You'd be cut up on a table before you knew it. I don't want that on my conscience."
"Or on your final grade," the Doctor chimed in. He pointed over at his professor.
"That too. My parents would kill me!"
Danni rolled her eyes, and yet somehow wasn't at all offended by his words. "Off we go then, Kyle. Let's go see some offices!"
~0~0~0~
Sorry I've been gone so long. I hope you are doing well, and you enjoy this little update :)