A/N: To prove that I haven't abandoned this story, here's the next chapter!

As always, thank you to everyone who has reviewed, favorited, or followed.

2185
Omega

The first thing the Doctor heard upon entering the tenements near Afterlife was a loud argument between two women. He strode towards the argument, forcing Samara to quicken her steps to catch up. With his luck, this was -

"I don't like her, Nef," the older of the two women was saying, hands on her hips as she glared at the younger one. "It's always Morinth says these days. What happened to your own dreams, your artistry?"

Samara had frozen at the name Morinth, and the Doctor paused to look at her. Samara's face, as usual, gave nothing away that she did not want it to, but the Doctor was sure she was feeling something. That was the name her daughter was using these days, she'd said.

"I'm a grown woman, Mother," the younger woman said testily. "I can make my own decisions. It's just - don't you remember what it feels like? When you've forged a connection with someone? Morinth makes me feel so…"

"Drained," Nef's mother said bluntly. "You come home looking wrung out, pale, like you're on drugs, girl. A mother's allowed to fuss over her only child." She stepped forward and took the girl's hand. "Nef, please. Something isn't right."

"Excuse me," the Doctor said brightly. Both women turned to look at him. Nef's eyes widened as she saw Samara. Was there a family resemblance between Samara and her daughter, then? "We're, ah, looking for Morinth, actually, and it seems as though we found just the person to ask."

"Why?" Nef asked suspiciously.

"Nef!" her mother scolded. "That's no way to treat a visitor."

"Don't worry," the Doctor said, still deliberately affecting a bright tone to keep the situation calm, "we just want to speak to her." Seeing the set of Nef's mouth, he added, "Please. It's rather important."

"If it's so important, why don't you know how to find her already?" Nef challenged.

"I have known Morinth a long time," Samara said evenly. Nef's gaze swung to her like a compass point swinging north. "But we have not spoken in many years. I am here to rectify that - but because things are so strained between us, I did not know where to begin looking. Your name was mentioned as someone often in Morinth's company."

Nef bit her lip and looked at the ground while her mother continued to stare disapprovingly. Finally she sighed, her shoulders slumping as she exhaled. "I - I have her address. We're supposed to meet tonight. I don't know if she's there right now." She hesitated, then looked back up at the Doctor and Samara. "You really just want to talk to her?"

"I promise," the Doctor said. Samara remained silent.

Nef gave them the address. Her mother put her arm around Nef's shoulders and steered her back inside.

"The girl started to believe what her mother said," Samara said quietly. "It appears our visit did the trick."

"If your daughter is as dangerous as you say, we probably just saved Nef's life," the Doctor replied. "That's a good thing, Samara."

Samara drew herself up straight and nodded. "Yes. It is." She turned to look at the Doctor. "Let us go find my daughter so I can deal with her once and for all."

The address took the Doctor and Samara to what appeared to be an active, upscale area of Omega. The buildings were significantly more polished than the tenements they'd just visited, the paths well-lit with many well-dressed beings walking around despite the late hour. Though the time of day did matter somewhat less on a space station, where the day-night cycle was completely artificial.

"She hides in plain sight," Samara commented as they neared Morinth's building. "Who would expect a serial killer to be found in such a neighborhood?"

"The brightest exteriors often hide the darkest interiors," the Doctor replied, taking one last look around before he entered the building. Morinth had the top floor to herself, which meant they were less likely to cause any collateral trouble. They climbed the stairs in silence and halted outside of Morinth's door.

"We don't even know if she's there," the Doctor said in an undertone.

"She is," Samara said, her voice quiet yet firm. "I know it."

He didn't see the point in arguing, so he simply removed his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the lock. Electronic locks like this one were easy to deal with, and the light above the lock soon turned a green to match the glow from the screwdriver. Samara pushed the door open and strode in as though it were her apartment, and not her daughter's.

"What is-" the asari inside said. There was a definite resemblance between the two of them - Morinth's facial structure and features were a younger mirror of her mother's. Her eyes narrowed as a blue glow enveloped her, a matching one already having formed around Samara. "Mother." Morinth spat the single word out with more malice than Samara had probably ever possessed in her entire life.

"Mirala," Samara replied.

"Don't call me that." Morinth raised her hand, the blue glow intensifying momentarily. Samara staggered, but recovered her balance and pushed back. Morinth flew backwards and thudded against the window. She snarled as she got to her feet and made a pushing motion with both hands. This time, it was Samara's turn to be thrown, crashing through a table and hitting the floor hard.

"You are still my daughter, whatever else you have become," Samara said as she got to her feet. "It is why I have pursued you here. Your crimes are my responsibility."

"My name is Morinth." The younger asari crossed her arms across her chest and threw them outwards, biotic energy radiating outwards, so bright that the Doctor lost his focus for a moment. But only a moment. He started preparing himself mentally.

"And my only crime was being born with the gifts you gave me," Morinth said. Her hand lifted upwards, a chair following the motion as Morinth used her biotics to raise and fling it at her mother. Samara threw both hands outward and deflected the chair off to the side.

"Enough!" Samara shouted. Her hand shot forward at the same time as Morinth's and the energy from both asari collided in the air between them. The pulsing mass of energy kept both of them where they were, faces gritted in concentration, looking for an opening to strike at the other one.

The Doctor lunged forward and tackled Morinth to the ground. The physical contact between them gave him an opening into her mind. The meld slammed into place, not a gentle meeting of minds like he'd experienced with Liara and Samara, but a rough joining where so much of Morinth was kept back from him even as her surface emotions bubbled into his mind. He felt anger, hatred, and resentment from her, normally simply directed at everyone and everything around her, but now focused squarely on Samara.

He saw Morinth as a child, working long and hard to imitate her mother, impatient with her own life. Her mother was strong and beautiful but so passive. Mirala knew that Samara had been out wandering the galaxy in her maiden years, seeing and experiencing rather than sitting back on Thessia and watching the world go by. And she'd given that up. Mirala didn't understand that.

He saw the first time that Mirala melded with someone else. She could still remember the echoes of passion and excitement that had flowed through her, and then the ecstasy of a completed meld. And there had been nothing since that had even been close, that had matched the combination of discovery and power she'd felt that day. The pain she'd felt in feedback from her lover had simply added a bit of spice to the experience, and it had been only a small sliver of what her unfortunate partner had experienced. It hadn't taken her long to seek out someone else and repeat the experience, chasing that first high. Her failure just made her determined to try again - and she'd never stopped, not ever, not since that first time.

He saw the contempt that started to grow when she realized that Samara was chasing her. Her mother was wasting her time. It was the same thought she'd had when she was a child, that Samara should have been doing more than she was. Why was she chasing her daughter? Mirala wasn't doing anything horrendous, anything world-shattering. The ones she preyed on were the weak of society, the ones that were desperately seeking some sort of meaning in their lives. She gave them that meaning.

He saw all of this while Samara was still reacting. She was a dim figure off to the side, barely recognized - all of his attention was firmly on Morinth.

Get OUT! Morinth shrieked. She tried to push the Doctor out of her head, but he was stronger than she was, and he held on. She pushed again, and this time she broke some of the walls he'd put up and he saw his own memories and experiences flowing towards her. The restlessness and impatience he'd felt right before he left Gallifrey for the first time, the yearning to go and see what was out there. The loneliness that came when his companions left, for one reason or another.

The crushing guilt he still carried over the decision to let Gallifrey burn.

And she thinks I am a monster, Morinth said. What is my death toll compared to yours, Doctor? How many people have you hurt in all those times and places?

The Doctor ground his teeth and blocked Morinth off again. He'd seen everything he needed to. He knew that Morinth would never stop killing on her own. But Samara's wasn't the only way to stop Morinth.

Three different asari had melded with him. He found the commonality in their melds, found the part of Morinth that was permitting him to do this in the first place. And he pushed against it.

Morinth shrieked in pain as the meld cut off abruptly, collapsing to the floor and curling up into a ball. The Doctor closed his eyes for a moment to regain his balance and center himself - and chase the ghost of Morinth out of his head. Her pain still seemed to echo in him, even though he knew it wasn't his.

"What have you done?" Samara asked from behind him. He couldn't quite read the emotions in her voice. She was trying to project that same calm she always affected, but it was a false calm. There was uncertainty there, maybe a little bit of fear.

The Doctor turned and met her gaze, his expression firm and unyielding. "I removed her ability to meld," he said. "You were right that she would never stop killing in that manner. So I took it away from her."

"It would have been kinder to kill me!" Morinth howled, hands clutching at her head. "You should have killed me."

The Doctor ignored her and kept his attention on Samara. That uncertainty he thought he'd heard was there in her face, now. "I did not know such a thing was possible," she said softly. "The ability to meld is … what defines an asari. Or, at least, one of the most important things. No other race can do what we do. I … do not know what an asari who could not meld would do."

"Live," the Doctor said, the word coming out harsher than he'd intended. He turned to look at Morinth. "There are more things in life than melding. More ways to appreciate beauty and wonder. Other ways to fill that void you've been trying to fill since before you ran from Thessia."

"You self-righteous asshole," Morinth spat. "What gives you the right? Why do you get to tell me what I can and can't do?"

"Because someone has to speak for your victims, the innocents you've hurt," the Doctor said, his voice quiet but intense. "And I've been doing that for longer than you've been alive." He pointed a finger at her and spoke louder than before. "Don't try to tell me that they don't matter. That no one misses them. Everyone matters. Everyone has someone that would miss them when they leave. That's one of the beautiful things about life, you know. I've never seen it be any different, anywhere in all the times and places I've been. I went to the end of the universe and found love and friendship there." He felt himself turning to look at Samara, without really knowing why. "I choose to believe that everyone can find happiness if they truly want it."

"Even you?" Morinth asked.

"Even me," the Doctor agreed. He turned his gaze back towards the younger asari. "Don't waste this chance. It's not one that many people get."

Morinth glared at him again, resentfully, and started to try to push herself off the ground. She hadn't gotten very far before she shrieked and collapsed to the floor again. The Doctor gave a small nod. He'd expected that. He hoped the enforced idleness would give her a chance to actually think about what he said instead of simply lashing out in pain, as she had always done. "Let's go," he said, and turned away from her one final time. "There's nothing more for us here."