"One hot chocolate." The Doctor put it on the table beside Josh. "I'll make the tea when the others get here in case they're delayed. Cold tea is rubbish."
"Thanks."
"Josh," the Doctor began as he cautiously sat in the seat without leaning back into it.
"Have you taken your antibiotics and painkillers?" Josh asked him.
"They're not due for a couple of hours yet," the Doctor informed him. "I was wondering. You know the stories your great grandfather told you? In any of them did he mention something called a metacrisis?" the Doctor asked him. He knew he should just wait for Martha and Mickey to come in, but it was drawing more than a usual number strands of thought and they were all getting confused and twisted round into something that made less and less sense rather than more.
"He said there was a meta-thingy-mabob," Josh commented. "Gramps wasn't very good with jargon or technical stuff."
"Do you remember what he said about it?"
"He said that all the universes were in danger. He said there were daleks and a weird boss dalek thing that looked like he was half man sitting in a dalek with an eye thing in the middle of his head. He said he saw that on the laptop when it came on all by itself. He said there were lots of planets in the sky because the Earth got moved right across space. He said Mum was on a spaceship with you right in the middle of it all and somehow you got split into two or something and that Mum ended up getting your consciousness in her head. She saved everyone in all the universes but the stuff in her head was too powerful and you had to take it out along with all her memories of you. That is why Gramps couldn't tell me until after she had died and why she didn't know. If she remembered you then she would die. He said that you left her behind and went travelling off on your own and that you were really sad. I don't know many of the details. Only what he said. He said Mum was asleep when you brought her home and then when she woke up you were still there but she didn't know who you were. Gramps was really sad about that as well. He really liked you and always watched out for you in case he saw you again."
"Did he?"
"He said he had his own adventure with you, but the last time he saw you was at Mum and Dad's wedding. He said you came to the wedding but only stood and watched from a distance because you couldn't risk Mum seeing you and remembering. He said it was good you saw how happy Mum was marrying Dad, but he said he knew he wasn't going to see you again after that."
"Daleks and planets in the sky?" the Doctor commented and sighed. "More daleks? And a man sitting in a dalek? That sounds like Davros?" The Doctor rubbed his face and leant back into the seat to think, but then quickly sat forward again. "How could it be Davros? Did your great grandfather ever mention that name to you? Did he ever say the name Davros?"
"I don't remember him saying it."
"He was killed in the time war," the Doctor reported. "His ship was destroyed by the Nightmare Child." The Doctor got up from the seat and walked a little way across the sickbay. "How could it be Davros?" He paced trying to think. "And daleks? It's always the daleks, and a metacrisis?" He turned back to Josh. "And he definitely said I got split into two?" Josh nodded. "If I got split in two and your mum was affected as well. That's a three way metacrisis? How could that even be possible? I'd have to be regenerating," the Doctor thought out loud. "Did he ever say what I looked like?"
"He said you had sticky-uppy hair and wore a suit," Josh informed the Doctor. "That sounds like you. Why, is there more than one Doctor?"
"If I'm hurt and about to die there is this process that happens called regeneration; instead of dying I change. It would take a lot of energy to cause a metacrisis. The only thing I can think of that could generate that kind of energy would be if I was changing and your Mum somehow got caught in the crossfire, but then why would that cause me to split into two? If I looked the same though it couldn't be regenerative energy that caused it." The Doctor sighed as he moved to sit in the seat again. "It may take a while, but we will work it out, Josh. We will piece together what happened to your Mum and once we've figured that you we will be able to see how that might have impacted on you."
"Find out why I'm weird and why UNIT are so interested in me?" Josh checked and the Doctor nodded. "And why you feel like you're inside me?"
"What do you mean by that, what do you feel?"
"Before, when you came back in from outside I knew you were upset before you came back in here," Josh informed the Doctor. "And, when you took my hand in the tunnel? What was that? Because that was really weird?"
"It was a bit, yeah," the Doctor confirmed.
"You kind of make me feel safe," Josh admitted. "More than just because you've looked after me, but, like a hug from the inside out. I don't know how to explain it. I'm sorry I gave you a hard time in the tunnel and stuff? I just didn't know what to think. I trust you now."
"That's good to know," the Doctor commented and smiled. He was willing to stand up to the whole of UNIT to keep him safe if he needed to. It was good Josh trusted him to do that. "What you're describing about the way you feel is usually only experienced by related Time Lords. I'm not entirely sure, but it is possible, that because you were so frightened by the creatures in the tunnel — understandably so since they're pretty terrifying, that it might have triggered some sort of failsafe? I don't know, I'm making it up really, but maybe something did get left behind in your Mum after the metacrisis and that did pass on to you. I might need to ask your permission to do some blood tests and maybe a scan or two to see if we can pinpoint what is going on."
"So you can stop it?" Josh asked him.
"Not unless that is what you wanted or it was going to become damaging to you. All I can see now is that you're a very intelligent young man with an extraordinary capacity to form psychic connections — now it is entirely possible that will only ever be with me. I mean, do you hear voices? Can you hear other people thinking?"
"No, nothing like that."
"Sometimes, if people are particularly clever, or, they have unique abilities that can start to make them feel separate from everyone else," the Doctor commented. "I think that when you're healed, it will be important that you are with people and not alone in the woods."
"I like it in the woods."
"Yeah," the Doctor offered. "The TARDIS is better though, right?"
"The TARDIS is incredible. I didn't get a chance to see the outside properly before, but it's just like Gramps said. It's a wooden box."
"If you're going to be staying in here for a while then you need to accept that the TARDIS is not an 'it'. She is very much a 'she', and she doesn't like it when people call her 'it'. You should probably be aware that if you can connect with me that there is a chance you will connect to the TARDIS too. You will become more attuned to her rhythm and her moods and if you can form a connection then you may be able to hear her singing to you one day."
"That'd be nice. Can she really sing?" Josh asked the Doctor and he nodded. "Sorry I called you an it," he called up to the ship making the Doctor smile.