The moment the small group appeared at Limehouse Green where the medical ship was located, Rieka had already started off towards the ship, only to be stopped by the Doctor who shook his head when she glanced back at him with a frown.

"There it is," Jack pointed out rather unnecessary before he looked around. His eyes lit up when he recognised one of the soldiers that were patrolling the general area. "Hey, they've got Algy on duty," he remarked, "It must be important."

"We've got to get passed them," the Doctor said, more to Rieka than anyone as she continued to frown at him.

Rose, on the other hand, smiled at the Doctor's words as she straightened her outfit. "Are the words 'distract the guard' heading in my general direction?" she asked as she finished adjusting her shirt.

"I don't think that's such a good idea."

Rieka glanced to Rose as Jack replied, her frown being joined by a slight crease between her eyebrows.

"Don't worry," Rose assured the American with a smirk, "I think I can handle it."

The Doctor had to hold back a snort at his companion's words, knowing full well how awful her attempts at flirting were like. Then again... the Time Lord glanced at his Nesdra, There's a pretty good reason as to why I wouldn't fall for it, he mused, knowing that there was only one person for him. Though he couldn't help but feel a little poignant at the knowledge that she had no idea about who he was.

Jack just shook his head at the blonde, while Rieka's eyes went between Rose and Algy, trying to work out why Rose trying would be such a bad idea. The American found Rose to be rather flirtatious – which usually would have been enough for Jack – but Rose Tyler seemed to be very available, and it surprised him when he found that he was thinking how that Mickey Smith guy thought about her flirting with others.

"I've gotten to know Algy quite well since I've been in town," he told Rose, "Trust me, you're not his type."

"Oh," Rieka blinked as Jack moved off, suddenly realising why it would have been a bad idea for Rose to do... well, whatever she was going to do.

"I'll distract him," Jack called back over his shoulder, "Don't wait up."

Rieka frowned at Jack's retreating form, and the moment the Doctor saw it, he spoke up. "Relax. He's a fifty-first century guy," he smiled, raising an eyebrow, "He's just a bit more flexible when it comes to dancing," he explained.

"Dancing?" Rieka muttered, wondering what in Merlin's name did dancing have anything to do with distracting the guard. "What does dancing have to do with distracting the guard?" she asked as she turned to look at the Doctor, feeling as though - once again - that she was missing something. But for the life of her, Rieka just couldn't figure it what, and it was slowly beginning to frustrate her.

"How flexible?" Rose questioned curiously, and it caused the Doctor's jaw to snap shut as he looked to his companion, still a little – okay, a lot – surprised that his Nesdra still had no idea as to what they had been talking about for the last hour or so.

"Well, by this time, you lot have spread out across half the galaxy," he explained as he looked back to his Nesdra.

"And how does dancing have anything to do with that?" Rieka asked with a slowly growing frown as she still tried to work out how dancing fit into all this.

The Time Lord couldn't help but smirk as he replied, "So many species, so little time." Though his smirk fell when his Nesdra's expression didn't change.

"What, that's what we do when we get out there?" Rose cut in, shooting Rieka a look, "That's our mission? We seek new life, and, and..."

The penny finally dropped for Rieka and her eyebrows flew upwards as her eyes widened. "You mean sex," she finally put it all together, though her expression just turned confused once more. The Doctor and Rose, however, were staring at Rieka; their mouths handing open in shocked surprise. "What?" the red head asked when she noticed their expressions, her eyebrows furrowing again at their expressions, "I don't understand how dancing and sex having anything in common," she continued as her nose wrinkled in distaste. She shook her head, looking to the Doctor, "Seriously. How do you expect someone to get sex from dancing? It just doesn't make any sense."

There was an audible click as the Doctor's mouth snapped shut once more. He cleared his throat, feeling his cheeks warm as he tried avidly to not think about how one could get sex from dancing, but he was failing miserably at his Nesdra's clearly serious expression; which was in turn making his flush grow.

Thankfully, he was distracted when Jack's voice called out, "It's me, Jack."

It had the trio looking towards the conman, and the moment they noticed that the man, Algy, was retching, they were already rushing forwards. Algy fell to his knees as his face morphed into a gasmask, and the Doctor was quick to shout, "Stay back!" to the other soldiers who had come to help their comrade.

"You men, stay away," Jack reinforced the Doctor's order, getting the men to back away.

"The effect's become air-borne – accelerating," the Doctor exclaimed, and Rieka flinched; looking away from Algy as air-raid sirens begun to sound over London. She glanced around frantically, knowing that things had just gone from bad, to worse.

"What's keeping us safe?" Rose questioned the Doctor in a panic, although it was Rieka who answered with a rather blunt, "Nothing."

Bombs started to fall in the distance, and the group all looked in the direction they were falling as they realised that it wasn't just the nanogenes that were their only problem.

"Ah, here they come again," Jack groaned.

"All we need," Rose complained in agreement. Though she was quick to look at the man when she recalled what he had told her earlier. "Didn't you say a bomb was going to land here?" she asked the conman.

"Never mind about that," the Doctor huffed, knowing that the bomb was the last of their worries, "If the contaminates air-borne now, there's hours left." "For what?" Jack questioned.

"Till nothing, forever," the Time Lord replied, not noticing when Rieka slipped away; a small, confused frown upon the red head's lips as she swore she could hear a familiar voice singing. "For the entire human race," the Doctor continued, his hearts constricting in his chest at the mere thought of losing his Nesdra. His hand instinctively sought Rieka's, needing the physical contact to remind him that she was fine, only for his head to snap in the direction where his Rieka had been and felt as though time had stopped around him when he realised that she wasn't there.

It was only when he heard the faint voice of someone singing did the Doctor feel as though time had started again; a slow exhale leaving him as he went in search of the source, knowing that it was most likely what had drawn his Nesdra's attention.

Rieka had already reached the tent where the singing was coming from, and when she opened the flap, the red head was surprised to find Nancy handcuffed to a chair as she continued to sing a lullaby to the soldier slumped across the table next to her. It was only when Rieka stepped inside, did she see the gasmask that had replaced the soldier's face, and she motioned for the younger woman to continue singing as she entered.

"When the wind blows, the cradle will rock. When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall. Down will come baby, cradle and all."

By the time she had reached Nancy, the tent flap opened again and the Doctor appeared. He was relieved to see that his Nesdra was fine and gestured for Nancy to continue her singing; realising why she was doing so at the sight of the slumped soldier.

"Rock-a-bye baby, on the tops. When the wind blows, the cradle will rock."

After a quick glance in the Doctor's direction, Rieka was quick to unfasten the handcuffs that were restraining Nancy with a pulse of magic and helped Nancy from the chair.

As the pair passed the Doctor, he glanced back to the chair where Nancy had been sitting and noticed the open handcuffs. He shook off his curiosity for now, but he didn't think that his Nesdra had the keys for them, and as he followed after the pair, the Time Lord couldn't help but wonder if he would ever find out just what kind of abilities Rieka had.

Or if she would ever tell him.

When the trio returned to the bomb site, the area had already been lit up and Jack had uncovered the spacecraft.

"You see?" the American remarked as they approached, still trying to get them to understand that he had nothing to do with whatever was happening, "Just an ambulance."

"That's an ambulance?" Nancy looked to Rieka in surprise.

"It's hard to understand," Rose piped up, put out by the fact that she felt as though she was once again being ignored with the red head present, "It's from another world."

Nancy glanced at Rieka and the red head nodded in confirmation as Jack examined the ship, trying to get it open before he noticed that there was marks upon it that he knew hadn't been there before. "They've tried to get in," he muttered, moving to the keypad.

"Of course they have," the Doctor scoffed at the man, wondering how he could be so thick, "They think they've got their hands on Hitler's latest secret weapon. What are you doing?" he asked when he noticed that the American was keying in access codes, still trying to get into the ship.

"The sooner you see this thing is empty, the sooner you'll know I had nothing to do with it," Jack explained, not looking up from what he was doing.

Rieka frowned as she tilted her head, though when she opened her mouth to tell Jack that she didn't think it was a wise idea to try and force his way into the ship, there was a sudden bang as sparks exploded from the keypad as an alarm went off. She couldn't stop herself from flinching at the sudden noise.

"Didn't happen last time," Jack muttered as he backed away from the ship as the access panel started flashing with a red light.

"It hadn't crashed last time," Rieka remarked with furrowed brows as she moved towards the flashing panel. She held back a wince at the alarms pitch as she studied the panel, "There will be emergency protocols."

"Doctor, what is that?" Rose asked as Rieka studied the panel.

While they were busy with the ship, there was a sudden battering at the hospital doors before they were thrown open and the patients started heading towards them.

"Doctor!" the blonde exclaimed when she spotted them, and the Time Lord was quick to snap into action.

"Captain," he turned to Jack, "Secure those gates!" he ordered.

"Why?" Jack asked, only for Rieka to look up from the panel and towards him.

"Just do it!" she growled, her eyes flashing in warning.

Jack hesitated, frowning as he met Rieka's gaze.

"Javic, when the number turns to seven, hit the third switch."

"What?" Javic turned towards a somewhat familiar red head, "Why would I want to do that?"

"Just do it!" the woman snapped as she quickly moved towards the exit of his ship; the door lowering on its own as she approached.

Javic frowned as he watched the numbers slowly rise, but the moment it reached seven, the red head suddenly leapt from the ship.

"Jack?" the Doctor frowned as he looked at the man, although his words seemed to have broken through whatever thoughts that were running through the conman's mind and Jack quickly shook his head before moving off to secure the gates. Turning back to his Nesdra, the Doctor noticed Nancy looking between Jack's retreating form and Rieka. "Nancy, how'd you get here?" he asked the young woman.

"I cut the wire," she explained, pointing in the direction she had come through the gate.

"Show Rose," he said before turning to his companion, "Setting two thousand, four hundred and twenty-eight D," he told Rose, tossing the blonde his sonic.

"What?" Rose looked to the Time Lord's sonic in utter confusion, wondering what that setting was supposed to do.

"It reattaches barbed wire," Rieka clarified without looking up from the access panel she was still trying to break through. She didn't notice the Doctor glance at her in confusion as Nancy and Rose rushed off to fix the fence. Wincing as more bombs continued to fall, Rieka frowned as she was once again denied access into the ship and looked to the Time Lord to see if he had any idea, only to pause when she noticed the expression on his face as he watched her.

"How did you know that?" the Doctor questioned, unable to hold back his curiosity this time. He could understand how his Nesdra knew about aliens and what was out there, but he was very certain that he had never – past, future, or present – told his Nesdra what each setting on his sonic did.

"Know what?" the red head replied with a small frown.

"My sonic," the Time Lord stated, raising an eyebrow, "You knew the setting."

"I..."

Rieka's frown deepened as she trailed off, unable to explain how she had known what that exact setting would do. She looked away from the Doctor as Jack returned and she let him have access to the keypad as she tried to recall where she would have learnt about the Doctor's sonic. But even having a library the likes anyone of the twentieth century had never seen, Rieka knew that there was nothing in the books she had been left with that mentioned anything about sonic screwdrivers.

Neither the Doctor nor Rieka noticed that Jack was watching the red head out of the corner of his eye, trying to figure out what it was he had seen before.

Seeing his Nesdra's troubled expression, the Doctor was about say something, but was cut off by Jack as the conman managed to finally get the ambulance open.

"It's empty," Jack declared and the pair turned their attention back to him, "Look at it." He showed them the interior of the ship, which in Rieka's opinion was rather empty; matching with the conman's earlier words about having made certain that it had been so.

But Rieka knew that he had missed one very important thing.

It had never been 'empty'.

"What did you expect in a Chula medical transporter?" the Doctor asked the American rather sarcastically. "Bandages? Cough drops?" he continued before suddenly turning to Rieka when Jack just continued to look at him with that same, clueless expression.

Rieka, having a fair idea as to what the Doctor was doing, frowned as she eyed Jack; raising her hand and showing him the now unscarred back. Jack blanched before the red head had even spoken, the sudden realisation hitting him like a ton of bricks.

"Nanogenes."

"It wasn't empty, Captain," the Doctor continued on as Jack's expression turned horrified, "There was enough nanogenes in there to rebuild a species."

"Oh, god!" the American breathed; looking between the two as Rose and Nancy returned from fixing the fence. His eyes finally stopped darting between them when they landed on the back of Rieka's once scarred hand, and he suddenly felt sick at the knowledge that whatever had happened to her, it had been his fault.

"Getting it now, are we?" the Doctor asked, barely managing to hold back on his anger. He couldn't really help it though, knowing that the conman had not only put the entire Earth at risk, but his Nesdra as well. And that was something the Time Lord wouldn't stand for. "When the ship crashes, the nanogenes escape. Billions upon billions of them, ready to fix all the cuts and bruises in the whole world. But what they find first is a dead child, probably killed earlier that night, and wearing a gas mask."

"What? And they brought him back to life?" Rose questioned in surprise, "Can they do that?"

"What's life?" the Doctor questioned, "Life's easy. A quirk of matter. Nature's way of keeping meat fresh. Nothing to a nanogenes. One problem, though. These nanogenes, they're not like the ones on you ship. This lot have never seen a human being before. Don't know what a human being's supposed to look like. All they've got to go on is one little boy, and there's not a lot left. But they carry right on. They do what they're programmed to do. They patch it up. Can't tell what's gas mask and what's skull, but they do their best. Then off they fly, off they go, work to be done. Because, you see, now they think they know what people should look like, and it's time to fix all the rest. And they won't ever stop. They won't ever, ever stop. The entire human race is going to be torn down and rebuilt in the form of one terrified child looking for its mother and nothing in the world can stop it!"

"I didn't know," Jack muttered, aghast at the knowledge that he was responsible behind everything that was happening to the patients.

To Rieka.

The Doctor ignored him as he moved to work on the ambulance. He needed to find a way to fix this, and quickly.

"Mummy. Mummy," the patients repeated as they got closer to the fence that surrounded the site, and it cause Rose and Nancy's heads to snap in their direction.

"Rieka!" Nancy shrieked in terror; grabbing a hold of the red head's hand and unknowingly stopping her from assisting the Doctor.

"It's bringing all the patients here," Rieka observed as she looked between the ship and said patients as they continued to force their way through the fence. She ran small circles on the back of Nancy's hand with her thumb, feeling the young woman tremble at her side, though didn't stop to question her actions. Comfort was not something that Rieka was accustomed to giving, though could tell that Nancy needed it right now.

"The ship thinks it's under attack," the Time Lord agreed, "It's calling up the troops. Standard protocol." "But the gas mask people aren't troops," Rose exclaimed.

"They are now," Rieka said with a frown, nodding to the ambulance, "That's a Chula battle-field ambulance. The Chula's use nanogenes in war to heal their soldiers. But they also reconfigure them." She turned her gaze towards the patients, her eyebrows creasing slightly, "Stronger. Faster. Obedient. Loyal." Shaking her head, Rieka continued, "Nanogenes don't just fix you up, they get you ready for the front line. Equip you - programme you. It's why Jamie is so strong. It's why he can om-com."

Rose frowned. "How do you know?"

Glancing at the blonde, Rieka raised an eyebrow. "I read," she stated rather simply.

"He's a fully equipped Chula warrior, yes," the Doctor cut in when he noticed that Rose was about to say something snide, "All that weapon tech in the hands of a hysterical four-year-old looking for his mummy. And now there's an army of them."

"Why don't they attack?" Jack asked as he guardedly observed the patients that had gathered around the fenced perimeter.

"Good little soldiers, waiting for their commander," the Doctor said.

"The child?"

"Jamie," Rieka and Nancy corrected the conman.

"What?"

Nancy shook her head at Jack; her grip on Rieka's hand tightening. "Not 'the child'. Jamie," she told him.

"So, how long until the bomb falls?" Rose asked as she turned her gaze up to the sky.

Jack looked to his manipulator. "Any second," he stated.

"What's the matter, Captain?" the Doctor mocked when he heard the unease in the American's tone, "Bit close to the volcano for you?"

"He's just a little boy," Nancy muttered in distress, drawing Rieka's curious gaze from the Doctor.

The red head pursed her lips as she saw the expression on Nancy's face; realisation setting in as to why she was allowing the other woman's need for comfort. Kneeling down a little so she was the same height as Nancy, Rieka did something that she hadn't done in a rather long time. "I know he is," she agreed softly, resting a comforting hand on Nancy's shoulder, "He's just a little boy who wants his mummy." When Nancy's eyes widened in alarm, Rieka only smiled softly as she gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze.

"You know?"

Rieka nodded. "There isn't a boy born who wouldn't tear the world apart to save his mummy," she said quietly as she slipped her hand from Nancy's shoulder to grab her hand and gave both a gentle squeeze.

"And this little boy can," the Doctor spoke up from behind Rieka, whom he noticed immediately stiffened the moment he announced his presence.

"So, what're we going to do?" Rose asked.

"It's all my fault," Nancy told Rieka, who despite having being startled by the Doctor's presence shook her head adamantly.

"No," she told the younger woman gently, still feeling rather tense with the Doctor at her back, though managed to calm herself. He hadn't done anything to show that he was a threat to her. If anything, the Doctor had done the complete opposite. "It's not your fault, Nancy," she continued.

"But it is," Nancy sobbed, letting her head fall forwards.

"Mummy. Mummy. Mummy."

Rieka nudged Nancy's head up with her hand, getting the other woman to look at her. "Nancy, this is not your fault. You had no idea this would happen. I don't know why you never told him," she said softly, "But I can understand why you never told anyone else. A young, single mother, all on her own." Rieka smiled at Nancy, despite the sounds of bombs growing ever so closer in the distance.

"Doctor, that bomb. We've got seconds," Jack told the Time Lord.

"You can teleport us out?" Rose looked to Jack hopefully, though her hopes were dashed when he shook his head in the negative.

"Not you guys," he stated, a slight downwards twitch of his lips as he glanced at Rieka before mentally shaking his head, "The nav-com's back online. Going to take too long to override the protocols."

The Doctor, who hadn't taken his eyes off his Nesdra, waved his hand dismissively to the American. "So, it's volcano day. Do what you've got to do," he told the man.

"Jack?" Rose turned to Jack, but frowned when he barely glanced at her before he vanished.

"He's not your brother, is he?" the Doctor asked Nancy softly, moving so he was beside Rieka, "A teenage mother in nineteen forty-one. So you hid. You lied. You even lied to him."

The gate that led to the bombsite opened and Jamie walked inside, stopping after a few feet as he looked to be staring at Nancy.

"Are you my mummy?" he asked, and Rieka felt her heart constrict at the question.

How often had she asked one so very similar?

"He's never going to keep asking," the witch told Nancy sadly, knowing full well what Jamie was experiencing, "He's never going to stop."

"Mummy?"

"Tell him, Nancy," the Doctor urged the young woman gently, "The future of the human race is in your hands. Trust me, and tell him." Nancy hesitated, looking to Rieka who nodded with a small smile.

"Trust us, Nancy," she amended, giving the young mother a slight nudge in the direction of her son.

"Are you my mummy? Are you my mummy? Are you my mummy?" Jamie continued to ask as the distance between himself and his mother slowly disappeared.

"Yes," Nancy confirmed in an almost strangled sob, "Yes, I am your mummy."

Rieka looked away from the pair, her thoughts bittersweet as her hand unconsciously fiddled with her necklaces. She still couldn't help but wonder, even after more than sixty years, if she would ever find her parents. Or even just learning who they were. Ever since she had been left at the orphanage when she had been only one, the witch had rather hoped that she could have found some sort of record of her parents as she grew up, but even with the advantage of being in the magical world, it was as if they had never existed.

And now, being in a completely different universe, Rieka doubted that she would ever find them.

"Are you my mummy?" Jamie continued to ask.

"Yes," the young woman told her son.

"Are you my mummy?" Jamie repeated.

"He doesn't understand," the Doctor breathed, his hearts heavy at the thought, "There's not enough of him left."

Dropping her hand, Rieka glanced at the Doctor with a slight frown. In a very uncharacteristic move, she grabbed his hand and caused him to jump, having not expected her to do so. But when he noticed that it was his Nesdra, the Time Lord was quick to relax. She offered him a small smile before she looked back to Nancy and Jamie. "They may not understand, but he does," she stated softly.

Her words brought a frown to the Doctor's lips, though upon seeing the way she was watching the pair, the Doctor shifted his hand slightly; intertwining his fingers with Rieka's. He felt her stiffen, and was relieved when she didn't try and pull her hand away. He may not know what had happened to her father, but the Doctor knew that even in two thousand and five, his passing still affected her. And with the knowledge that this was her past, the Time Lord knew that the pain would be more painful for his Nesdra, and with that thought, gave Rieka's hand a slight squeeze.

"I am your mummy. I will always be your mummy," Nancy told her son, tears streaming down her cheeks, "I'm so sorry. I am so, so sorry," she continued as she pulled Jamie into her embrace, and a cloud of nanogenes surrounded them.

"What's happening?" Rose asked in alarm as she watched it happen, "Doctor, it's changing her, we shoul-"

"Shush!" the Time Lord's grip tightened around Rieka's as he watched, "Come on, please. Come on, you clever little nanogenes. Figure it out! The mother, she's the mother. It's got to be enough information. Figure it out," he pleaded.

"What's happening?" Rose questioned as Rieka let the Doctor's hand go and rushed towards Nancy and Jamie. Though the Time Lord was quick to follow, Rose following as he answered.

"See?" the Doctor questioned as the cloud of nanogenes left the pair and Rieka caught a swaying Nancy as he caught Jamie.

"Recognising the same DNA," Rieka finished as she made sure that Nancy was steady on her feet.

"Oh, come on. Give me a day like this. Give me this one," the Doctor pleaded as he removed Jamie's gasmask. The moment it came away easily, the Doctor suddenly exclaimed, "Ha, Ha!" as he picked up Jamie and spun the boy around. "Welcome back! Twenty years till pop music – you're going to love it," he declared as he put Jamie back down onto his feet next to his mother; who was quick to pull him to her side.

"What happened?" Nancy asked as she looked between Rieka and the Time Lord.

"The nanogenes recognised the superior information," the red-headed witch smiled down at Jamie as the boy tugged at her sleeve and she ruffled his hair before she looked back to Nancy, "The parent DNA."

"They didn't change you, because you changed them!" the Doctor cut in; his excitement growing with every word, "Ha, ha! Mother knows best!"

"Oh, Jamie," Nancy breathed as she hugged her son.

Rieka watched with a small smile. Though it was quick to disappear when her gaze moved passed the pair and towards the patients that were still mulling about outside the site perimeter. They may have saved Jamie, but Doctor Constantine and the others that had been affected were still the same.

"Doctor, that bomb," Rose decided to remind them, though the Doctor didn't seem all that bothered as he replied rather casually, "Taken care of it." His words had Rieka frowning at him. "How?" she asked.

With a grin, the Doctor gestured towards Nancy and Jamie, "Psychology."

The red head opened her mouth to ask just how he had managed to handle a bomb with a mother and son, only to snap it closed not a second later and stiffen; her eyes darting upwards and to the bomb that was now hurtling towards them. She found the answer to her unasked question, as the bomb was suddenly caught in a light beam right before impact.

Jack appeared with a flash; sitting with a leg on each side of the bomb as he called, "Doctor!"

"Good lad," the Time Lord stated with a grin.

"The bomb's already commenced detonation. I've put it in stasis but it won't last long," Jack told them.

"Change of plan. Don't need the bomb," the Doctor waved him off, "Can you get rid of it, safely as you can?" he asked.

The American nodded before turning his gaze to Rose and Rieka. "Rose? Red?"

"Yeah?" Rose asked, though Rieka only frowned at the name he used for her.

"Goodbye," Jack said before he disappeared with the bomb, only to reappear a moment later, "By the way, love the shirt," he told Rose, who tugged at the bottom of said shirt embarrassedly, before he turned to the witch, "And Red, smile more," he said before he vanished again.

His spaceship sucked up the light beam and then flew off.

Rieka continued to frown after Jack's departure, unsure as to what she should make with the nickname he had seemed fitting to call her. Nor as to how to take his departing words. Before she could think too much on it, her attention was drawn to the Doctor as he was suddenly surrounded by thousands – if not millions – of nanogenes. "What are you doing?" she asked curiously, her silver-grey eyes wide as she watched the subatomic robots hover around the Time Lord like a large cluster of fireflies; giving his countenance a rather magical appearance.

The moment the Time Lord turned to her, a warm smile upon his lips, Rieka's breath caught at the sight he made. "Software patch," he told her, "Going to email the upgrade. I promised you that I would find a way to fix this." He flung his hands outwards and the nanogenes flew towards the patients, "This is me, keeping that promise."

The patients all fell to the ground as the nanogenes hovered around them, though the witch took no notice; her eyes still on the excited, giddy, animated, hopeful Doctor.

Hopeful?

"Everyone lives, Aries!" the Doctor exclaimed as he pulled his confused Nesdra into a hug, "Just this once, everyone lives!"

The red head froze the moment she felt the Doctor's lips brush against her forehead before letting her go and rushing off. She blinked a few times as he headed over towards the patients and Constantine as they all slowly got to their feet; confusion marring her features as she felt a warmth slowly creep its way up her face and Rieka swallowed. Her eyebrows furrowed and she shook her head, trying to make some sort of sense of her mystifying emotions that she was currently feeling when she noticed that Rose was look at her, the blonde's expression clearly telling the witch that she wasn't happy.

"What?" Rieka asked, welcoming the distraction as she slowly felt her emotions settle with something less confusing to think about.

The scowl that was on Rose's face only seemed to deepen at the red head's obliviousness before she turned her gaze away. "Nothing," she muttered.

Rieka, not quite believing the blonde, shrugged. She still had no idea as to what had just happened, and the more she tried to work it out, the more a fluttering sensation appeared in her gut, so she ignored it; wondering instead if she had eaten something bad during the day as she headed over towards where the Doctor and Constantine were talking.

"Doctor Constantine," she heard the Doctor greet as she approached. Rieka could still hear the excitement and glee that was in his tone, and it brought her thoughts back to the emotion she had sworn she had felt earlier when he had reprogrammed the nanogenes. "Who never left his patients," the Time Lord continued as the witch's eyebrows creased, wondering why the man would be hopeful, "Back on your feet, constant doctor. The world doesn't want to be without you just yet, and I don't blame it one bit. These are your patients. All better now."

A confused frown was upon Constantine's face as he looked around. "Yes, yes, so it seems," he agreed a little distractedly, "They also seem to be standing around in a disused railway station. Is there any reason for that?"

The red head couldn't help but smile at the sight of her mentor looking like his old self, and was quick to let her presence be known as she stated, "Cutbacks."

"Rieka!" Constantine exclaimed in delight as his eyes fell upon the young woman he had come to see as the daughter he had never had. "I'm glad to see you're okay, my dear," he continued as he grasped her scar-free hand; giving it a quick once over before nodding in approval.

The Doctor watched on, his emotions conflicted at the sight of the older man embracing his Nesdra in the fatherly hug. He felt torn, wishing that he could ask her if she wanted to travel with him, but knowing that she couldn't. This was Aries' past, and he would not alter it in any way. He would do anything to make sure that Rieka became the woman he had met at Downing Street.

No matter how different the two seemed.

"Listen," he continued with a smile as the pair parted, "Whatever was wrong with them in the past, you're probably going to find that they're cured. Just tell them what a great doctor you both are. Just... don't make a bug thing of it. Okay?"

Rieka watched the Doctor as he walked away. Her head was tilted slightly to the side as she was suddenly hit with that feeling of hope once more. Though she was distracted – the feeling fading – as an old woman hobbled up to both herself and Constantine.

"Doctor Constantine. Ma'am Lestari," the woman greeted.

"Mrs Harcourt," Constantine replied with a genuinely warm smile, "How much better you're looking," he complimented.

The lady's expression was bewildered, bordering onto panic, and Rieka's expression turned concerned, thinking that there was something wrong. Though the red head almost burst out laughing at what she heard next.

"My leg's grown back! When I came to the hospital, I had one leg."

"Well," Rieka smiled at the woman, hiding her amusement behind her occlumency walls, noticing that the Doctor had paused; his head turning slightly back towards them. "There is a war going on," she continued, curious to know if the man's hearing was just as his sight. Her thoughts were confirmed as she finished with, "Is it possible you miscounted?" and the Time Lord snorted softly to himself as he made his way over to the ambulance.

Climbing atop the spacecraft, the Doctor turned to the patients. "Right, you lot," he addressed the gathering crowd, "Lots to do. Beat the Germans, save the world. Don't forget the welfare state!" he told them before he knelt down to fiddle with the access pad.

"Setting this to self-destruct, soon as everybody's clear. History says there was an explosion here. Who am I to argue with history?"

Rose frowned, feeling rather left out.

"Usually the first in line," she muttered to herself.