Rieka's body was stiff as she looked around the room before her, the feeling of wrongness not leaving and it forced the witch to rely on her occlumency skills to stop it from driving her from the room. She hadn't been able to enter this room since Constantine had pretty much locked her out – not that she could have easily overridden the lock – and she could understand why Constantine had done so.
Jamie's scent was everywhere and it brought up feelings that Rieka had been trying to keep at bay since seeing the little boy after the incident. But what the red head hadn't been expecting was how destroyed the room was.
The contents of the open filing cabinets littered the floor around the small group, and broken electronic equipment had been just left where it lay, abandoned. The window of the observation room was shattered, and Rieka wondered what exactly had occurred here. This looked like the work of a raging adult, not a child.
"What do you think?" the Doctor asked as he watched his Nesdra continue around the room, noticing her stiff posture and unease as she took in the destruction around them. It made him curious to know if she was getting the same feeling he was, although he really shouldn't have been surprised.
Jack glanced around the ruined room as he and Rose looked around as well. "Something got out of here," the American stated as he too, kept an eye on Rieka. He was still curious about exactly what she was, even though his manipulator was telling him that she was nothing but a twentieth century human. But the former Time Agent couldn't stop the nagging sensation of familiarity he felt towards the red head.
Jack just, for the life of him, couldn't work out why.
The Doctor rolled his eyes at the man's response. "Yeah. And?" he asked as he turned to look at Jack, only for his eyes to narrow when he realised that the man was watching his Nesdra.
"Something powerful. Angry," Jack amended, raising an eyebrow when he noticed that, once again, the Doctor was glaring at him.
Rieka, oblivious to the others, was looking at some drawings that littered the floor before she come across a Steiff teddy bear. "Powerful and angry," she murmured as she picked up the bear, her heart clenching when she realised that it had been the same bear that she had gifted Jamie two Christmas' ago. Oh, Jamie, she thought as her eyes dropped back to the drawings, holding the bear against her chest as she tried to see what her old mentor had wanted her to see.
"A child?" Jack questioned in surprise as he watched the red head pick up the bear. "I suppose this explains 'Mummy'," he added as an afterthought.
"Oh," Rieka breathed as the pieces fell into place in her mind, staring at one of the drawings and wondered how she had never seen it before. "How could I have missed it?" she muttered in despair as she looked the picture over. It was a drawing of a little boy holding the hand of an older woman who – to Rieka – looked remarkably a lot like Nancy. Though it was the word 'Mummy' that was written above the figure that helped complete the puzzle in her mind.
"How could a child do this?" Rose questioned, turning to the Doctor as he made his way over to a tape machine before pressing the play button.
"Do you know where you are?" the voice of Doctor Constantine came through the device and Rieka looked up from the drawing when she heard it.
"Are you my mummy?" Jamie questioned.
"She never told him," the red head whispered as she continued to listen to the tape, feeling her heart ache as her gaze returned to the drawing.
"Are you aware of what's around you? Can you see?" Constantine continued to question the boy, although Jamie just repeated his question.
"Are you my mummy?"
"What do you want? Do you know?"
"I want my mummy. Are you my mummy? I want my mummy! Are you my mummy? Are you my mummy? Mummy? Mummy?" Jamie's voice grew more hysterical as each question was asked.
"Doctor," Rose said as she glanced at the Time Lord, "I've heard this voice before."
"Me too," the Doctor stated, though his eyes were on his Nesdra and the sad expression that was on her face.
"Mummy?" Jamie asked again, and it had Rieka internally flinching. She knew exactly what Jamie was going through right now, and it took all of her power to remain in that room.
"Always 'Are you my mummy?'. Like he doesn't know," Rose stated.
"Mummy?"
"Why doesn't he know?" the blonde continued to question out loud.
Because she never told him, Rieka thought as she placed the drawing down.
"Are you there, Mummy? Mummy?" Jamie's voice continued to come from the tape recorder, "Mummy? Please, mummy? Mummy?"
"Doctor?" Rose asked as the Time Lord begun to pace around the room, though her question had him pausing.
"Can you sense it?" he asked as he looked to each human, though his eyes lingered on Rieka when her eyes darted to him in surprise, confirming his suspicions that she could feel whatever it was that he was feeling. How? That was still a mystery that the Doctor hoped to solve, though he couldn't help but think it had something to do with her unusual abilities... whatever they were.
"Sense what?" Jack asked as he looked between the Doctor and Rieka. He hadn't missed how the man hadn't really let the red head out of his sight, and adding on the glares Jack had been receiving since meeting the pair, he silently wondered about the possibility of there being something between the pair. He had noted that the Doctor hadn't been surprised by Rieka's outburst earlier, but more curious than anything.
"Coming out of the walls," the Doctor clarified, watching as Rieka swallowed as she lowered her gaze back to the teddy she was holding. "Can you feel it?"
Rieka closed her eyes, knowing what the Doctor was talking about. She was rather surprised that he could feel it too, but he was telling the truth. There was an oppressing feeling that she had been almost overwhelmed by since the moment she had stepped inside the room that had her occluding heavily to stop her from running from the room. The feelings that she was feeling was almost swamping her own emotions. The anger, sadness and fear that she was feeling was so thick that she almost found it hard to breath.
"Mummy?" Jamie's voice cut through the silence.
The Doctor shook his head at Rose and Jack as they just continued to look at him with the same expression. "Funny little human brains," he commented, and his choice of pronoun had Rieka looking at him oddly, "How so you get around those things." Rose just rolled her eyes and turned to Jack. "When he's stressed, he likes to insult species," she told the man.
"Rose, I'm thinking."
The blonde continued on, however, ignoring the Doctor, "He cuts himself shaving, he does half an hour on lifeforms he's cleverer than," and Rieka shot her a questionable look before her gaze returned to the Time Lord. If he had been looking, he would have seen a slight change in her expression; a shift in her regard at hearing that he wasn't human. The fact that he wasn't didn't surprise the witch as much as she had believed it should have, although she had never met an alien before, so Rieka was rather unsure what she was supposed to feel in the first place.
But having spent fifteen years in a world were magic and magical creatures were the norm, Rieka concluded that having met an alien hadn't been as surprising after what she had lived through. And hearing that the Doctor was an alien did help explain his age, although that was still something that she was trying to work through. She found it rather odd, having been baffled at the knowledge that someone could live to be over nine hundred when she hadn't seemed to age a day in the last forty.
She did guess that nine hundred years was rather pushing the boundary, as a witch or wizard, despite their longer lifespan than muggles, still reached old age by the middle of their second century.
"There are these children living it rough round the bomb sites," the Doctor continued to think out loud, drawing his Nesdra from her thoughts, "They come out during air-raids looking for food.
"Mummy, please?"
"Suppose they were there when this thing, whatever it was, landed?" the Doctor pondered. Rieka opened her mouth to tell him that she knew for certain that there was one child that had been present, but Jack cut across her.
"It was a medi-ship," the American exclaimed, still trying to get them to believe that he had not part in what was happening, "It was harmless."
"Yes, you keep saying harmless," the Doctor huffed as he turned to the man, "Suppose one of them was affected; altered?" he questioned.
"Altered how?" Rose asked, not noticing Rieka stiffen when she heard the tape run out, but still heard Jamie's voice.
"I'm here!"
The Doctor did notice, however, and was quick to come to the same conclusion as his Nesdra. "It's afraid," he told them quietly, "Terribly afraid and powerful. It doesn't know it yet, but it will do. It's got the power of a god, and I just sent it to its room."
"Doctor," Rose frowned as a clicking sound reached her ear.
"I'm here," Jamie said from the doorway as he tilted his head at Rieka, "Can't you see me?"
"What's that noise?" Rose asked.
"End of the tape," Rieka said as the clicking of the tape recorder continued, the red head not moving an inch as she watched Jamie take a step into the room. "It ran out thirty seconds ago," she informed them.
"I'm here, now. Can't you see me?" Jamie asked again as he took another step into the room closer to the tape recorder, and Rieka took one away.
"I sent it to its room," the Doctor breathed, "This is its room," he said before he turned to the tape recorder and found Jamie standing beside it.
"Are you my mummy?" Jamie repeated as he continued to stare at Rieka, "Mummy?"
"Oh, Jamie," the red head breathed as the teddy fell from her grasp.
"Doctor?" Rose looked to the Time Lord, hoping that he had a way to get her out of this.
It was Jack, however, who stepped up in front of her and the Doctor, glancing at Rieka as he did so. "Okay, on my signal make for the door," he ordered.
"Mummy?" Jamie took another step towards Rieka, but the red head shook her head sadly and took another step away from him, coming to stand beside the Doctor. She just managed to catch Jack drawing his blaster and aim it at Jamie, shouting, "Now!" as he did so. Only to find that he was holding a banana.
"Mummy?"
The Doctor smirked as he pulled out Jack's blaster from his belt and fired it at a wall, making a large, square hole in the wall that they could escape through. "Go, now!" he urged the others, the four of them dashing towards the opening in the wall. "Don't drop the banana," he added over his shoulder, directing his words to Jack.
"Why not?" the man replied as he stepped through the hole, still holding said banana.
"Good source of potassium," the Time Lord explained as if it was the most reasonable excuse to not discard the berry while trying to get away from a gasmask-wearing child that could kill them with a simple touch.
The moment the small group had made it to the other side of the wall, Jack turned to the Doctor. "Give me that!" he snapped as he snatched the blaster from the Time Lord's hand.
"Mummy. I want my mummy!" Jamie called on the other side of the hole, and Rieka glanced back through to see Jamie looking at her, just as Jack used his blaster to repair the hole.
"Digital rewind," the man said before tossing the banana he had back to the Doctor, "Nice switch."
"It's from the groves of Villengard," the Doctor explained with a shrug as he pocketed the banana, feeling a little calmer now that they were out of direct danger for the time being, "I thought it was appropriate."
"There's really a banana grove in the heart of Villengard," Jack sounded rather impressed as he looked to the Doctor, "And you did that?"
"Bananas are good."
Rieka, who had been watching the pair converse, rather baffled at how casual both men were talking about a place that one had destroyed to grow bananas, suddenly let out a hiss as the scar on the back of her hand flared at the same time a crack appeared in the wall that Jack had just replaced; Jamie trying to force his way through.
"Doctor!" she called, clutching her hand as it started to burn more than it had before. The red head didn't know why she had called his name, but she also didn't question why she had done so. Things were happening a little too quickly for her to process through efficiently, and Rieka was starting to grow scared with all that was going on. There was only so much one could deal with, and aliens, time travel, and a boy no older that five that seemed to do things that Rieka couldn't... it was getting a little too much for the witch.
The moment he heard his name, the Time Lord's head snapped in the direction of his Nesdra and his eyes grew wide at the sight of her staring at her gloved hand once more, not needing to see that it was affecting her again. "Come on!" he shouted, moving to grab Rieka's hand but stopped himself when she shook her head and stepped away. He knew that he needed to get her away from the boy, but Rieka wasn't leaving.
Instead, the red head turned to the wall that Jamie was trying to break through, placing her gloved hands against it. She didn't know how long she could hold him back, but she'd be damned if she couldn't give the others the time they needed to escape. "Go!" she shouted as she pushed outwards with her magic, using it to reinforce the wall to make it harder for Jamie to break through.
"Aries!" the Doctor called as another crack appeared in the wall, trying to move towards her, though Rose grabbed his arm. He was quick to brush her off, knowing that there was no way he was going to leave his Nesdra alone. He didn't with the Dalek, and there was no way he was going to do it now.
Sweat had appeared on Rieka's forehead as the wall she was reinforcing took on a red hue, and as her eyes met the Doctor's, she ordered, "Go! I'll hold him off."
It was only Jack grabbing the Doctor that had the Time Lord leaving, though the trio didn't get very far when they suddenly came face to face with more gasmask patients coming from the other direction.
"Mummy? Mummy? Mummy?" the patients repeated as they got closer to the group, and it caused them to turn and head back towards where Rieka was still trying to keep Jamie at bay.
"It's keeping us here 'til it can get at us," the Doctor told them as they were backed up towards the wall his Nesdra was still supporting. He couldn't stop himself from turning to look at her worriedly, noting the pain etched in her features; her jaw clenched tightly as she pushed more power into reinforcing the wall. Sweat trickled down her forehead as she continued, and the Doctor knew that she wasn't going to be able to keep Jamie back for much longer.
"It's controlling them?" Jack asked, not believing what he was hearing.
"It is them," the Doctor corrected, looking away from Rieka and back to the patients, "It's every living thing in this hospital." But for some reason, not Aries, he added mentally in relief before shaking his head, knowing that he could work out what made his Nesdra so different when they had managed to get out of this mess.
"Okay," Jack looked at his blaster as he fiddled with the settings, "This can function as a sonic blaster, a sonic cannon, and as a triple-enfolded sonic disruptor," Rieka raised an eyebrow at hear what his gun could do before refocusing on the wall when another crack started to appear. "Doc, what you got?" the American asked the Doctor, who was behind him, facing the other direction.
"I've got a sonic, er," the Doctor held up his sonic before him. He wouldn't say he was embarrassed by his screwdriver, but it really didn't seem like the best tool to have right then. "Oh, never mind."
"What?" Jack questioned, glancing over his shoulder and to the Time Lord before back to the patients as they continued to advance.
"It's sonic, okay? Leave it at that," the Doctor stated as he aimed his screwdriver at the patients, not really sure as to what he could do with it. It wasn't a weapon – not that he actually wanted to harm the patients – but there was only so much a sonic screwdriver could do in a situation like this, and none of the settings had a way of putting a halt to the patient's advance.
Rieka's arms shook and her jaw clenched, not even having the strength to roll her eyes at the pair arguing as her concentration was solely focused on keeping Jamie at bay. But each time he tried to force his way through the wall, the pain in Rieka's hand only grew, and the witch didn't know how much longer she could hold him off.
"Disruptor? Canon? What?" Jack huffed as he continued to aim his weapon at the patients, wondering why the Doctor wouldn't just tell him.
"It's sonic! Totally sonic!" the Doctor exclaimed, "I am sonicked up!" "A sonic what?!" Jack shouted as he rounded on the Doctor.
"Screwdriver!" the Time Lord snapped right back as he also turned to face Jack, holding up his sonic in front of him. Though his attention was diverted to Rieka when she let out a hiss as her spell fell; stumbling away from the wall with her scarred hand clutched against her chest as Jamie managed to finally break through the wall.
Without warning, Rose grabbed Jack's blaster while the man was still holding it and aimed it towards the floor. "Going down!" she called as she fired the blaster, barely giving Rieka any warning before Rose, Jack, and the Doctor all fell through the hole the blonde created.
Before she lost her footing and fell through the hole, Rieka turned on her heel and disappeared with a crack.
Jack was the first to get up, quickly aiming his blaster at the roof as he changed the settings before repairing the hole that Rose had made in the floor... er, ceiling?
"Doctor?" Rose called as she got herself to her feet, "Are you okay?" she asked, finding it hard to see as the lights on this floor were out.
"Could've used some warning," the Time Lord grumbled as he stood. He looked around for his Nesdra as he brushed himself down, sighing in relief the moment he spotted her resting against the wall opposite to where they had landed; her head turned upwards to the ceiling, though her eyes were closed.
"Oh, the gratitude," Rose huffed; rolling her eyes as she ran her hands against the wall, searching for a light-switch.
"Who has a sonic screwdriver?" Jack suddenly questioned, turning in the direction he had heard the Doctor's voice.
"I do," the Doctor shot back defensively as he pocketed his screwdriver and headed closer to Rieka. He wanted to make sure that she was okay, as well as maybe tell him what she had figured out back in Jamie's room.
"Lights," Rose muttered as she continued to feel around for a light-switch. The blonde really wasn't interested in hearing the two men argue over their choice of sonic devices.
Rieka turned her head away from the ceiling when she heard the Doctor approach. She opened her eyes and looked down to her gloved hands, noticing that her scar was no longer burning. Why it was no longer burning was a good question, and the red head wondered if it had anything to do with Jamie not knowing where she was.
A part of Rieka questioned if it was still possible to save Jamie, having just seen what the boy was capable of. But the witch knew that she wouldn't give up on him. She just had to figure out how.
"Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks, ooo, this could be a little more sonic?" Jack questioned the empty space in front of him sarcastically, not realising the Doctor had already moved away.
Rieka watched the Doctor from under her lashes as he turned back to Jack, rather surprised at how easily the man could see in the dark as he replied, "What, you've never been bored?" She wondered if his ease in the dark had anything to do with the fact that he was an alien. The witch had always had the ability to see in the dark, though it wasn't until her first animagus shift did Rieka realise why.
An owl was built to see and hunt in the nocturnal hours.
"There's gotta be a light-switch," Rose continued to mutter, ignoring the males in her search for a switch.
"Never had a long night?" the Doctor questioned sarcastically, still defending his screwdriver to Jack, "Never had a lot of cabinets to put up?" Though his continued persistence only had Rieka shaking her head at him; her lip twitching upwards slightly before she caught herself.
Before Rieka could question herself as to why she had just felt something akin to fond amusement towards the Doctor, Rose made a noise of triumph as she found what she had been searching for and flicked the light-switch, causing Rieka to blink a few times as her eyes adjusted to the sudden change in lighting.
As soon as her eyes had adjusted, however, the red head let out another hiss in pain as the patients that were in the room all sat up in their beds, chanting 'Mummy?' over and over again in their child-like voices. Rieka grasped her scarred hand with her other, squeezing it to try and block the pain as she backed away from the beds.
"Door!" Jack exclaimed when he spotted a door, and the small group rushed over to it. The American tried to use his blaster on the lock, but it didn't work. "Damn it!" he huffed, hitting the gun a few times.
The Doctor was quick to push his way to the front and used his sonic on the door; rolling his eyes as he passed an irritated Jack.
"Mummy?" the patients repeated as they got off their beds and begun to approach the group.
"It's the special features. They drain the battery," Jack explained, looking at his blaster with a small frown, wondering why, of all the times, did it have to fail on him now.
"The battery?" Rose remarked, sounding rather unimpressed as the Doctor managed to get the door open. The small group rushed inside as she added, "That's so lame!"
Her comment only had Rieka rolling her eyes as she made her way to the corner of the room and away from the others. How the blonde expected a blaster to run endlessly, Rieka decided not even to think on it. Instead, the red head removed the glove from her scarred hand, having noticed that it wasn't burning as much as it was before, but there was still a slight throbbing. It was also pulsing with that odd red energy again.
"I was going to send for another one," Jack complained, glaring at the Doctor as the Time Lord continued to use his sonic to lock the door behind them, "But somebody's got to blow up the factory."
"Oh I know," Rose agreed, nodding in the Doctor's direction, "First day I met him, he blew up my job. That's practically how he communicates."
Her words had Rieka looking up from her hand, a frown appearing on her lips as her silver-grey eyes landed on the alien in question. An eyebrow raised questionably when he turned away from the door, and the Doctor paused when he noticed that she was watching him.
Tugging on his ear, the Doctor turned to the others as he hoped that wasn't all his Nesdra thought he did. But he winced when he remembered Downing Street, as well as his earlier bragging about having destroyed a weapons factory. The only time he could say he wasn't responsible for was Satellite Five, though even then the Time Lord realised that he probably would have done if it resulted in stopping the Editor.
The Doctor frowned, realising that anytime he had run into his Nesdra, it had always ended up with them in trouble; one way or another.
"Okay," the Doctor cleared his throat, shaking his head to get away from where his thoughts were heading, "That door should hold it for a bit."
"The door?!" Jack asked incredulously as he turned to the Doctor, "The wall didn't stop it!"
"Well," Rieka spoke up as she straightened, leaning the back of her head against the wall behind her as her eyes darted from the Doctor, Rose, and Jack, "He's got to find us first." The witch knew it was a stretch, and without actually looking fulling into what she suspected was happening, but Rieka was rather hopeful that since her hand wasn't burning anymore, it meant that whatever link that was shared between herself, Jamie, and the patients was broken. And if she could somehow manage to keep that link closed, Rieka hoped she could figure out if there was any way to use it to their advantage; or use it to stop Jamie.
Surprise cut across Rieka's expression when the Doctor didn't hesitate to agree with her, though it was quick to be replaced by a confused, but curious expression. Though for the red head, the mystery that was the Doctor only continued to grow when she caught the look he gave his companion when he caught her glaring at Rieka.
"Come on," the Doctor snapped, not liking the way Rose continued to behave around his Nesdra; nor the grin that he noticed the conman was giving him, "We're not done yet! Assets, assets!"
"Well, I've got a banana, and in a pinch, you can put up some shelves," Jack remarked, his voice dripping with sarcasm before he turned to Rieka with a smirk, "And Rie here can always just wipe then out if it comes to it," he added, only to pause when he realised what words had left his mouth. And the expression that the red head was giving him was clearly telling him that he had said something wrong.
"What?" Rieka asked Jack, her heart beating faster in her chest at the name the American had used; knowing that she never used that nickname, let alone having given him her name in the first place. Her eyes narrowed on the man, wondering just who he was. Though when Jack looked away, scowling in confusion as he made himself comfortable and started to fiddle with his vortex manipulator, Rieka frowned. It wasn't the behaviour of someone who held information against her, nor was it familiarity that was the expression on Jack's face as he glanced up to Rieka.
So, how did he know...?
"Window," the Doctor said as he rushed over to it, more concerned about getting his Nesdra to safety than listening to Jack's 'witty' comments about his sonic.
"Barred. Sheer drop outside of about..." Rieka stated absentmindedly as she covertly watched Jack from under her lashes, "Seven stories." The man seemed to be just as confused as she was at what name he had used, and as he continued to fiddle with his manipulator, Rieka's gaze turned to Rose, wondering if the blonde had told him her name. It could have been an accidently guess, since she swore the Doctor had called her Aries earlier, though she wanted to know why Jack had chosen to go with Rie.
"And no other exits," Rose stated with a frown. She turned away from Rieka and Jack to watch the Doctor, far less annoyed than earlier about seeing the red head again. No matter how Rose felt towards the other woman, she couldn't deny that whatever Rieka's strange, freakish abilities were, they really did help when they ran into trouble.
"Well, the assets conversation went in a flash, didn't it?" Jack complained as he glanced up from his device, only to notice that Rieka was still watching him closely. His eyebrows furrowed as he returned her stare, wondering why she seemed so bloody familiar. He really wanted to get his memories back that the Time Agency had stolen from him.
The Doctor rolled his eyes at Jack's comment, glancing at Rose with an expression of weary tolerance. "So, where'd you pick this one up, then?" he asked, wondering if he really wanted to know what trouble she had managed to end up in to have met the American. He really did question why he brought her along sometimes, and really didn't like how she treated his Nesdra; who he suddenly realised had used the name Eris during the whole incident with Rose's father. And if he hadn't of known where his Nesdra had gone, the Doctor was certain that he would have dropped Rose off back home without a backwards glance.
"Doctor," the blonde in question warned, not wanting the Time Lord to start again.
Jack had other ideas, however, and turned to the Time Lord with a smirk. "She was hanging from a barrage balloon; I had an invisible spaceship. I never stood a chance," he said.
The Doctor's eyes rolled once more as he turned away from the pair and to Rieka. At least he knew that she would be helpful. "Okay," he begun, silently delighted that he drew Rieka's attention away from Jack, "One, we've got to get out of here. Two, we can't get out of here. Have I missed anything?" he asked.
Rieka, who had been listening to the Doctor, frowned when she felt a shift in the air and looked to where Jack had been sitting. Her eyebrows raised in surprise when she noticed that the American was no longer there; having disappeared from the cupboard.
"Yeah," Rose piped up, having noticed the same thing Rieka had, "Jack just disappeared."
The Time Lord turned to where Jack had been, and his eyes rolled for a third time when he noticed that Jack had indeed vanished. He moved back to the window as he continued to try and figure a way out; as well as trying to work out what was going on with the patients so he could try and save his Nesdra. The Doctor didn't know what he would do if he was to lose her now, and he wasn't going to leave her fate in the hands of a conman.
"Okay, so he's vanished into thin air," Rose pouted as she continued to stare at the spot where Jack had been. "Why is it always the great looking ones who do that?" she bemoaned.
The Doctor paused and glanced back at Rose, his eyebrows creasing slightly. "I'm making an effort not to be insulted," he commented, casting a glance to his Nesdra who was watching them both. He didn't really care what Rose thought about him, but the Doctor couldn't ignore the jealousy he had felt when he noticed that Rieka had been watching Jack earlier. His hearts skipped a beat at the prospect that Jack may have caught her eye and panic flowed through the Doctor like a wave.
"I mean, men," Rose corrected with an eyeroll, although there was a smile slowly appearing on her lips.
Feeling rather uncomfortable with where the conversation between the Doctor and Rose was going, Rieka frowned as she looked back down to her hand, wanting to try and distract herself. Though if she was honest with herself, the red head found that despite her reservations against the man, she'd prefer the Doctor over Jack. It wasn't just that the Doctor hadn't placed a fifty-first century ship in the middle of London during the 1941 Blitz and caused an outbreak of an unknown virus that killed and altered anyone it came into contact with; a virus that was still trying to kill her. But there was something about the Doctor. Something that Rieka just couldn't put her finger on.
"Okay, thanks," the Doctor replied, "That really helped." He turned away from Rose and back to the window, only for a radio to gain his attention as it crackled to life. It also had Rieka's head snapping up in it's direction, a small frown on her face.
"Rose? Doctor? Uh... Red?"
Jack's voice came through the device, though he sounded a little hesitant about what to call Rieka. Though the red head in question's frown only deepened as she took a step towards the radio.
"Can you hear me? I'm back on my ship. Used the emergency teleport. Sorry I couldn't take you." Jack continued, "It's security-keyed into my molecular structure. I'm working on it. Hang in there."
The Doctor frowned as Jack spoke, and he approached the radio and picked it up, turning to show it to Rose and Rieka; both woman giving him different expressions at the broken wires in the back that weren't connected to anything. Rose's expression was confused, though the Doctor really hadn't expected her to actually understand what he was showing her. Rieka's expression, however, was more... calculating.
"How are you speaking to us?" the Doctor questioned out loud, though his eyes darted to Rieka when it wasn't only Jack who replied.
"Om-Com," Rieka spoke up at the same time as Jack, though the American added, "I can call anything with a speaker grill."
"Now there's a coincidence," the Time Lord commented as his eyebrows furrowed.
"What is" Jack asked.
The Doctor looked between Rose and Rieka. "The child-" he begun, only to be cut off by Rieka.
"Jamie," his Nesdra corrected with a slight frown.
"Sorry, Jamie," the Doctor amended before he continued, "He can Om-Com too."
"He can?" Rieka enquired, rather surprised to hear that. Though, she mused, her eyebrows furrowing slightly as she though it all over, If the ship is from the fifty-first century, I guess that it could be possible that whatever had changed Jamie had also given him a few extra abilities. Though Rieka's eyebrows only furrowed further as she realised that there wasn't any virus that she knew of – both past and future – that could do something like what had happened to Jamie. The only things that came to mind were a few advance types of technology that she had skimmed across in her readings, though none explained how whatever was affecting not only herself, but the patients was spread by touch.
"Anything with a speaker grill. Even the TARDIS phone," the Doctor confirmed, a little surprised to know that Rieka hadn't known that titbit of information. He could already see her working through the new information, though her slowly changing expression was telling him that she didn't like results her mind had come up with in regard to learning that Jamie could Om-Com.
"What?" Rose breathed, her eyes wide with fright, "You mean the child-"
"Jamie," Rieka cut in again as she shook her head; clearing it. Whatever was affecting Jamie; affecting herself, Rieka knew that she would find a way to fix it. She had to.
Rose rolled her eyes at the red head, only stopping when she noticed that the Doctor was frowning at her, an eyebrow raised. "Jamie, then," she begrudgingly conceded with an overexaggerated sigh before she continued on with what she was saying, "You mean he can phone us?"
Isn't that what he just said? Rieka thought before she frowned, What's a TARDIS? She was about to open her mouth and ask the Doctor when Jamie's voice cut through the static coming from the radio and her hand flared in pain.
"And I can hear you. Coming to find you. Coming to find you," the boy taunted.
"Doctor, can you hear that?" Jack asked, having heard the child's voice on his end.
"Loud and clear," the Time Lord confirmed grimly, glancing at Rieka in concern as she hissed in pain, clutching her now glove-free, scarred hand against her chest once more.
"I'll try and block out the signal," Jack informed them, "Least I can do."
"Coming to find you, mummy," Jamie's voice continued to taunt as Rieka moved back to the corner she had been standing in, looking to her hand as the pain faded slightly.
"Remember this one, Rose?" Jack asked before 'Moonlight Serenade' started playing through the radio.
The Doctor looked to Rose, causing the blonde to shift uncomfortably at his expression. "Our song," she explained, feeling rather embarrassed, and it had the Doctor rolling his eyes once more.
Though her words were forgotten when Rieka let out a cry in pain and fell to her knees as the pain in her hand intensified. The red head didn't even notice that the Doctor had moved until he had appeared in front of her. "What's wrong?" he questioned, wanting to reach for his Nesdra's hand, but also knowing that he couldn't. The dual wants were clashing inside him, and as much as the Doctor worried for his own safety, his Nesdra's would always be more important. Seeing her like this once again was not something the Time Lord wanted to witness.
"It's fine," Rieka ground out, instinctively holding her injured hand closer to her chest as she backed away from the Doctor. She may understand that the man was an alien from the future, but she didn't want him to see her hand. It was still pulsing with energy, and Rieka was honestly scared. She didn't know what was happening anymore, and she was starting to feel way out of her depth.
"It's clearly not fine!" the Doctor retorted with a pointed frown, not wanting to deal with his Nesdra's stubborn nature. He could clearly see that she was in pain, though as his blue eyes met her silver-grey, the Doctor paused. He could see her pain, but it was the underling fear that had his hearts clenching and realisation hit him like a freight train.
She was terrified.
Not just about whatever was happening to her right now, but exposing herself – opening herself up to someone.
So many things fell into place. So many things about his Nesdra's peculiar behaviour during their encounters finally made sense to the Doctor, and as his gaze dropped back to his Nesdra's scarred hand, he swallowed.
"No!" Rieka hissed, her eyes wide as the Doctor suddenly grabbed her wrist in a surprisingly gentle, but firm grip; using her jacket as a barrier against touching her skin. The red head tried to pull her arm from his grasp, but she wasn't able to break free from his grip.
Rose looked to them when she heard Rieka, scowling when she noticed that the Doctor was focused solely on the red head. She didn't know why Rieka seemed to be important to the Doctor. She didn't even know how the red head kept continuing to show up wherever they went. But it was the look that overcame the Doctor's face whenever his eyes landed on Rieka that really got to Rose. The blonde couldn't help but feel as though he should be looking at her like that. Like she was the most important person in the universe.
"I can't tell what's happening if I can't see it," the Doctor murmured softly to Rieka as he tried to get her to show him her hand. He knew how his Nesdra would normally shut down when it came to anything to do with herself; having tried multiple times in the past to open up, but now that he understood why she was so closed off, the Doctor wasn't going to let the opportunity pass him by to get her to see that he was someone he hoped she would come to trust. "And I can't help you if I don't know what's wrong," he added, trying to get Rieka to calm.
"There's nothing wrong!"
Rieka wasn't calming, and it wasn't until the Doctor let her wrist go and leant back on his heels did she stop trying to back away from him.
"I'm not going to force you to show me, Rieka," the Time Lord told her quietly, and Rieka's eyes darted over his face, trying to figure out what he was up to. He tilted his head slightly, his lip twitching upwards as he held out his hand to her – palm up, "I only want to help." Rieka looked between the Time Lord's hand and his face, confused as to why he was so persistent. And she was thrown more off kilter by how concerned the man looked; almost pleading with her to allow him to help. It caused an odd sensation to stir in Rieka's stomach and she dropped her gaze from his, wondering what was happening to her.
Biting her lip as the pain intensified in her hand; her eyes starting to water as her gaze fell back onto her hands, Rieka felt as though she wasn't sure as to what was going on anymore. Everything that had happened over the last few hours; the last few weeks... it was all starting to get to the red head and she felt as though she couldn't breathe.
"...copy me, Rieka. In, and out. In, and out..."
Rieka jumped when she felt someone squeeze her wrist, her eyes darting up to meet the concerned, blue eyes of the Doctor's as he continued to show her how to breathe. It wasn't until the first, clear breath of oxygen hit Rieka's lungs did the ringing in her ears dim and the Doctor offered her a small smile.
"That's it," he praised, giving her wrist another gentle squeeze before letting go.
The reaction Rieka had to his movement stunned both her and the Doctor, and when her eyes darted to their joint hands as there was a flash of red light, her eyes widened and she snatched hers away as if burned. "So-sorry," she stuttered as she tried to back away from the Doctor, wondering what had gotten into her to have actually grabbed his hand, though jumped when her back hit the wall behind her. Her gaze snapped to the Doctor – who was staring at her with an expression she couldn't read – and wondered why, after almost a month of being able to not touch anyone, she had latched onto him.
What made him so different?
The Doctor continued to watch his Nesdra, his hearts almost breaking at the terrified look in her eyes as they flittered between his hand, hers, and his face. He could see the panic returning, almost able to feel as her mind took a dive for the worst, and knew he had to do something before she up and disappeared on him. And he knew that she was capable of doing just that after he had his memory returned of the Nestene Consciousness. And so, without thinking, the Doctor did the first thing that came to him.
"Doctor!" Rose shouted as she stood up from her seat the same moment Rieka froze as the Doctor's hand closed around hers. There was another flash of light and Rieka's eyes widened when the burning sensation in her hand started to fade. "What are you doing?" Rose continued, seeing that the pairs joined hands were pulsing with the same red energy that Rieka had noticed earlier.
The Doctor shivered as he met his Nesdra's gaze, feeling the rather familiar feeling of her magic. "May I?' he asked, somehow managing to keep his voice even as he nodded to their joint hands. He could still remember the first time he had shook her hand, and he almost closed his eyes as he took in a deep breath.
Ink-stained parchment, the crisp wind on a winters morning, fresh herbs, and a slight earthly scent tickled the Doctor's nose as his mind took him back to when he had first found out just who she was.
The Doctor continued to flip through the channels on his scanner, trying to find one that might give him more information on the spaceship that had landed in the Thames earlier that day.
He barely – and he meant barely - held back an eyeroll when the ape, er, I mean human he really did believe was called Ricky suddenly asked, "How many channels do you get?"
"All the basic packages," he replied, flicking through a few more channels.
"You get the sports channels?"
Really, the Time Lord thought, not bothering to hold back his eyeroll that time as he shot the boy who really could have been named Mickey as look. "Yes, I get the football." He looked back to the screen as he flicked through another channel, wondering if all apes were so predictable, only to stop short, changing the channel back to the one prior. "Hold on, I know that bloke," he remarked, pointing to one of the men on the screen.
"It is looking likely that the government is bringing in alien specialists," a reporter spoke as a small group of specialists approached 10 Downing Street, "Those people who have devoted their lives to studying outer space."
"UNIT!" the Time Lord exclaimed in delight, "United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, good people."
"How do you know them?" Rose asked.
"'Cos he's worked for them," Mickey cut in before the Doctor could reply; earning himself a surprised look from the pair, "Yeah, don't think I sat on my backside for twelve months, Doctor. I read up on you. You look deep enough on the internet... and in the history books, and there's his name," he shot the Time Lord a look, "Followed by the list of the dead."
"That's nice. Good boy, Ricky."
It was definitely Ricky.
"If you know them, why don't you go and help?" Rose asked, trying to defuse the argument she knew was coming before it even arose.
"They wouldn't recognise me," the Doctor replied with a shrug, "I've changed a lot since the old days. Besides, the world's on a knife-edge. There's aliens out there and fake aliens. We want to keep this alien out of the mix. I'm going undercover... and eh, better keep the TARDIS out of sight." He grabbed his leather jacket and put it on, glancing at, "Ricky! You've got a car – you can do some driving," he said as he headed to the TARDIS door.
Mickey didn't even bother trying to correct the Doctor as he asked, "Where to?!" causing the Doctor to turn around before he had reached the door and face him.
"The roads are clearing. Let's go and have a look at that spaceship," he replied before he turned back around and pulled the door open and stepped outside.
The moment the trio stepped outside, they found themselves caught under the searchlight of a helicopter as others could be heard above. The TARDIS was surrounded by multiple vehicles; soldiers and police all training their weapons on the trio.
"Do not move!" was ordered over a loudspeaker, and in all the sudden tension, Mickey made a break for it, causing a few of the officers to follow after him. Jackie could be heard screeching for her daughter over the noise, and the Doctor had to resist the urge to openly smirk as he raised his hands after the voice over the loudspeaker ordered them to.
He really couldn't help himself, he really couldn't.
"Take me to your leader!" the Doctor shouted, before he and Rose were swiftly led to an odd pair standing in front of a vehicle; muttering quietly to each other. Though they both straightened as the Doctor approached, and he internally rolled his eyes. Soldiers, he thought as he and Rose stopped in front of them. He would admit that he had been rather grateful that they hadn't saluted him, though.
"You're to come with us," the blond told them, and the Doctor's eyebrows furrowed when he didn't recognise either; his eyes lingering on the red head beside the blond.
His grin was quick to return as he said, "Hello, and who might you two be?"
Once again, it was the blond who replied, and the Doctor was a little surprised to find himself annoyed that the young woman beside him hadn't spoken. "Commander Nick Aspen, MOD," the man introduced himself as he held out his hand.
"Ministry of Defence," the Time Lord said as he accepted the blond's hand, though he was rather confused as to what had brought an MoD officer to London.
"I've been called in on behalf of the Ministry to liaison with UNIT during this investigation," the Commander explained, almost as if he was replying to the Doctor's thoughts.
Nodding in understanding, the Doctor let his hand go and looked questioningly to the red head standing beside him. He hadn't been able to place it at the time, but there had always been something familiar about Aries Prince. It was in the way she held herself. "Are you MoD as well?" he enquired.
"No, sir," she replied with a shake of her head, "Aries Prince, Unit's Scientific Division," she stated, holding out her hand to the Time Lord.
Though instead of immediately taking it, the Doctor's eyebrows furrowed at her response, once again getting the vague sense of something about the red head that he just couldn't place. Something that niggled at the back of his mind, but the moment he had grabbed her hand to shake it, everything vanished from his mind as a jolt passed through him.
