After having their energy zapped from them by The Boneless, The Doctor insisted that Rose and Jaime were given a thorough medical check in the MedBay. Alexia and J.D agreed with the Time Lord, mainly because they were extremely worried and the fact a vulnerability had been exploited by The Boneless. So in the end the two females found themselves being checked over in the MedBay.
"As you can see, darling, I'm perfectly fine." Rose told The Doctor, pointing at the monitor that was showing her vitals. Everything was showing as 100%.
"Like always." The Doctor uttered, his brow furrowed at the monitor. Of course, Rose had the Time Vortex on her side so she was always going to be 100% fit and healthy. Any injuries she had would always heal quickly.
"Like always." Rose repeated, giving him version two of her Rose Tyler Grin he loved so much.
They stared at each other for quite some time before The Doctor moved towards Rose and held her hands. He was about to kiss her until somebody coughed to get their attention. Of course, there were other people still in the room.
Chuckling, Rose watched as The Doctor turned his attention to Jaime, Alexia and J.D.
When he looked at Jaime's vitals he saw that they were all in the high nineties. That didn't worry him as it was normal for Jaime. She never reached 100% despite being a Half-Time Lord, Half Human Psionic Manipulator. "How are you feeling?" He asked his daughter.
Jaime was frowning, thinking before answering his question. "A wee bit light headed," she told him. "Tinglin' staticky feelin', like electric."
"What does that mean?" Alexia worried as she stood by her daughter.
"I don't think there's anything to worry about," the Doctor spoke. "The Boneless were using electrical energy and it appears Jaime has over-absorbed that energy so it's causing the feeling of static. All she has to do is express it when the time is right. As for the light headedness, that'll pass in time."
Listening to what the Doctor just said, Jaime had a feeling it was Paradoxical. The static tingle across her skin was irritating but she could bare it for the moment.
As for Alexia, she wasn't satisfied with what she was told, and considering she'd been in many hospitals visits with her daughter, it gave her bad memories. "But what about the shape-shifting?" She asked. "What was that all about? I know you explained how Rose turned into a Wolf, but Jaime isn't like Rose."
The Half-Time Lord sensed Jaime's revulsion when shape-shifting was mentioned and sat next to her on the bed, putting his arm around her shoulders. She was tense and he could see memories of her as Psi in the NightmareVerse. Where she shape-shifted to cause as much catastrophic trouble as she could. *You're not that person,* John mentally told her, kissing her on the temple and getting a static shock for his troubles. *Ow!* He mentally cried out and rubbed his nose. Jaime just smiled grimly. *That Universe wasn't even real. Just something that was dreamed up.*
Despite his calming words, Jaime didn't feel comforted. Shape-shifting hadn't been on her agenda.
"Technically it's not shape-shifting," the Doctor replied to Alexia and began to explain. "It's basically another side effect from absorbing energy from The Boneless. It's called Omnifarious, the ability to transform into any type of living being." Jaime grimaced at this, still not liking the sound of it. "Other than that, there's nothing else wrong." The Doctor concluded the medical check up.
"Oh, great!" The Scots-girl perked up and scooted off the bed. "Are we done then?" She asked before walking out of the MedBay.
John quickly followed her.
The Doctor noticed the questioning expression on Alexia's face. "What's on your Mind?" He asked the woman.
Alexia looked up at the Doctor and Rose looking thoughtful. She realised her daughter didn't appear to like being in the Medical Wing either. But that wasn't on her Mind. "I may not have the ability to feel emotions or Read Minds but I saw Jaime's reaction when I mentioned shape-shifting. It was like she was repulsed over the ability to shape-shift, yet she's been fine with all her other abilities. Why is that?" She asked, bouts of confusion coming from her.
Both Rose and The Doctor stared back silently before looking at each other in realisation.
"What? What is it?" Alexia asked the pair.
"She never told you?" Rose questioned.
"Told me what?" Now she was really confused. "What are you not telling me?"
Rose opened her mouth to say something but then thought better of it and closed it. Luckily The Doctor helped her out. "It's not up to us to tell you," he said. "Who you should be asking is Jaime."
Alexia nodded her head. "Yeah, okay." She replied, turned away and hurried out of the MedBay.
A wide-eyed Rose looked over at The Doctor. "I thought she already knew considering she mentioned it a couple of times."
"Obviously she didn't," the Doctor replied. "Until now that is!" He put his arm around Rose's waist. 'C'mon." He uttered and they exited the MedBay.
"Are you sure you're okay?" J.D asked Jaime as they stood in the console room watching Freya guide Oswin around the Console, basically teaching her how to fly the TARDIS.
"Aye!" Jaime muttered a reply with a scowl. She was in tip top condition apart from the feeling of lightheadedness and the static electric tingling. It was just the idea of shapeshifting that lingered in her Mind. Even if it was part of her abilities she really had no desire to test it out. Not to mention the thought of doing so gave her bad memories. And there was a lot of them.
Meanwhile, John wasn't convinced that Jaime was okay. Even though she said so, she really wasn't. He could sense her Mind was in turmoil. He didn't know what else he could say to give her some comfort.
Two minutes and 56 seconds later Alexia walked into the Console Room and joined the pair, also watching Freya and Oswin before turning her attention to her daughter. "Jaime? What exactly is your issue with shape-shifting?" She asked, noticing John glance towards them.
"Nothin'." Jaime muttered darkly.
Though Alexia wasn't quite satisfied with the answer she was given. "What are you not telling me?" She continued to ask.
Jaime huffed out a sigh. From the kind of emotions that were washing off her mother she could tell she wasn't going to let it go. And out of the corner of her eye she could see John moving away from them to give her some space. "Okay, fine!" She muttered and turned away, approaching one of the steps that led to the lower Console Room.
Following her daughter down the steps, Alexia joined her at a desk and sat down on one of the seats that were placed near it.
Jaime sat back in her seat and took a deep breath before she could start. "There was a Time Storm that scattered several people across the Universe and throughout time. We had tae track 'em down and bring 'em back home. One of the Planets we came across was called Krypton…not that one," she added before her mum could interrupt. "It was nicknamed the Nightmare Planet." She closed her eyes and took in another deep breath before she could continue. This discussion was far harder than any discussion she'd ever had.
"Why was it called the Nightmare Planet?" Alexia wondered, curious yet very cautious.
Opening her eyes, Jaime looked over at her mum. "Because the air on the planet caused people tae fall into a deep sleep," she answered. "Krypton is a sentient planet, like House, and in order tae feed it forced its victims tae have unendin' nightmares." She noticed her mum nodding her head, a wave of understanding washing off her.
"Right, so that's how the planet got its name," Alexia said. "But what exactly did you dream of?" She asked, a grim expression on her face.
"We all had different nightmares," Jaime told her. "Rose remained in Pete's World with John, where he grew old but she didnae, John was attacked by Spiders and dad…was left alone tae make one mistake after another."
Alexia sighed and noticed Rose and The Doctor walking into the Console Room from where she sat. Then she heard Rose asking where they were and J.D replying that they'd gone below.
The woman looked back at her daughter who was now nervously shifting about in her chair. "Jaime, putting it off won't make it go away. What happened?" She ignored the scowl sent her way.
"We were visitin' the Doctor Who Experience when MI6 caught up with us. They tranqued and separated us. They wanted tae use me for their own purposes." Jaime felt shock and horror washing off her mum and she looked away in order to continue. "No matter how many times I asked they wouldnae take me tae see you. And they talked tae me as if they wanted tae be friends. 'Cept I knew they were lyin' tae me and I told 'em so. Even caused a wee bit of damage in the process."
Alexia smiled grimly, knowing her daughter wouldn't willingly work with them. But something must have happened to change her Mind. "So what changed?" She asked.
"They did," Jaime replied. "Instead of coaxin' me, the one who had been assigned tae me befriended me by usin' my love of Doctor Who tae make me co-operate." She felt anger washing off her mum. "I wouldnae have trusted him, 'cept he knew quite a bit 'bout the show and we watched dozens of classic episodes together."
After shaking her head, Alexia moved her chair closer to Jaime. "But they would have found all sorts of info on Doctor Who online. How could you not tell they were lying?"
The Scots-girl shrugged her shoulders. "I suppose they must have found a way 'round that," she answered. "'Cause I couldnae sense or feel anythin' dubious."
"Okay," Alexia sounded really worried. "What happened next?"
"I remember we were watchin' a classic episode when he started talkin' 'bout how I was special and unique tae have the abilities I had, then went on tae say I could get 'em under control if I trained 'em. And for some reason I found myself agreein' with him. Shortly after that I was leanin' tae use my abilities."
A wince appeared on Jaime's face as the memories of what she did came to her. None of them were pleasant. "At first it was just liftin' things with telekinesis, and then as it progressed it went from objects tae livin' people."
Alexia frowned. "Living people? What do you mean?" It sounded bad.
Jaime looked sheepish but felt guilty. "They would bring in people nobody would miss," she continued. "Homeless people, that kind of thing. But they would be told tae go after me with a weapon and I woukd lose my temper and use Mind Control tae make 'em kill themselves." Alexia's eyes widened and Jaime noticed this. "I know," she groaned out. "I'm not exactly proud of it. And it continued with me somehow becomin' used tae murderin' all these people without a thought. And tae finish off that trainin' they gave me one last human target tae kill." Needing to take a break, Jaime closed her eyes and took in a deep breath.
It made Alexia wonder what could be worse than being forced to kill people until she was used to it? She leaned forward in her seat towards her daughter. "Whatever it is that happened you can tell me. You can't just bottle it up." She received no reply and sighed in exasperation. "Jaime!" She uttered and reached out, putting her hand on Jaime's shoulder.
However, she didn't expect the Scots-girl to practically jump out of her seat and walk away. She could hear Jaime grumbling as she paced before sitting down at the bottom of the steps and covering her face with her hands. It left Alexia feeling surprised, so she stood up and carefully approached her daughter before crouching in front of her. "Come on!" She coaxed. "It can't be that bad. You can tell me." Jaime put her hands down and looked up at her and she saw that her dark eyes were brimming with tears and had the most guiltiest looking expression on her face. Oh, maybe it WAS bad.
"It was you!" Jaime cried out. "They brought you tae me tae see what I would do, knowin' I was changed, knowin' I would likely kill you in cold blood."
Face paling, Alexia figured out what happened next. "And did you?" She was almost afraid to ask.
"You tried tae convince me tae stop, that you still loved me. But I didnae listen and told you what they expected tae hear. And then…" The Scots-girl gulped, eyes still wide as the horrible incident played out in her Mind. "Then I phased my hand straight into your chest and pulled out your heart, squeezin' it until it burst while you collapsed tae the floor, dead." Alexia decided to stand up, face even paler. "Rassilon! I can still feel how it felt," Jaime's voice shook. "It was warm and squidgy, and it was still beatin'. The blood was warm and slick, drippin' tae the floor…"
Not wanting to hear anymore, Alexia stood up and then pulled her daughter to her feet, capturing her in a firm hug. "It's okay darling," she soothed. "It was just a nightmare. It wasn't real, not one bit and it didn't happen." She was surprised when Jaime roughly pushed her away.
"But it WAS real," she argued back, voice raised and loud enough to catch everyone's attention. "It was real tae me. They turned me into some dirty scumbag assassin until I was out of control, until I started shape-shiftin' and time travelin' and fuckin' 'bout with Fixed Points in Time!" Jaime was angry and that showed when sparks of static electricity was seen jumping off her. "And it was real 'cause we jumped into that Univese while tryin' tae find you." She couldn't describe the absolute wrongness she'd felt when they'd landed there. It had literally made her stomach feel like it was a washing machine. Thankfully they made a quick exit out of that universe.
Alexia stared back at her daughter, now realising why she had such contempt for shape-shifting. She was scared she was going to turn into her Nightmare self if she used the Omnifarious ability. Though the Doctor had told her it was nothing like shape-shifting.
Knowing she had to calm her daughter, Alexia stepped forward and put her hands on Jaime's shoulders. "I'm here, alive and kicking," she spoke, looking Jaime straight in the eyes. "Not stuck in our old universe or dead in another. And you shouldn't linger over something that happened in a parallel universe involving a parallel version of you. You, Jaime, are a good girl. You're MY girl and I wouldn't particularly care whatever you look like." Once again she pulled Jaime in for another hug and this time her daughter burst into a sobbing mess. Alexia sighed as she spotted J.D stood at the top of the stairs, watching them. Then she felt the TARDIS land with a thud.
After hearing the shouting from Jaime, as well as sensing her anger and turmoil, John quickly moved towards the steps to see what was going on. He wanted to go down and comfort Jaime, but it seemed Alexia was doing a good enough job. So he stayed at the top of the steps and let the two females have their moment. He saw Alexia look up at him as they landed and he gave her an awkward looking smile. He heard someone open the TARDIS door, which was followed by a cry of surprise.
"Doctor, this isn't Stratford!" Oswin cried out. "This looks more like the New Forest." She looked back at The Doctor with an annoyed scowl. "Why have you parked up in the middle of a forest?"
Curiosity calling, John, Rose and The Doctor joined Freya and Oswin at the door and looked outside. They were indeed in a forest full of green leafed trees.
"I didn't land us in a forest," The Doctor argued back with a frown.
"Well it certainly looks like a forest." John replied.
"It can't be. The topography is all wrong," the Doctor continued to argue. "Hold on!" He closed the door and hurried over to the Console, pulling a lever. For several seconds the Time Rotor moved before it stopped again.
"You have reached your destination." The TARDIS GPS stated.
"See, we're in the right place," the Time Lord told them. "It's the forest that shouldn't be there."
"We're not even in the right city," Rose stated. She was checking the Monitor to see where they had landed. "The TARDIS says we've landed in Central London."
Oswin groaned and walked towards the Console while Freya joined her mother at the Monitor. She was extremely curious as to why there was a forest where there shouldn't be. "Doctor, we're miles away from Stratford. Why are we even in London?"
The Doctor shook his head. He had no answer as to why the TARDIS decided to land in London instead of Stratford. But now they had bigger problems with a forest that shouldn't be.
"Not to worry. Once we've figured this out we'll get you to Stratford in time." Freya told her girlfriend.
"Why exactly is there a forest in Central London anyway?" John wondered as he leaned against the rail. It felt familiar for some reason. Then he was brought out of his thoughts when he heard the door open and looked around to see Jaime exiting the Timeship. He hadn't seen her walk up the stairs so she must have teleported. "Jaime!" He called, following her.
Outside, after wiping her eyes, a wide-eyed Jaime looked around at her surroundings, realising why they'd landed in 2016 London instead of Stratford. In the back of her Mind she could feel the tingling sensation that told her that her younger Incarnation was here somewhere. She just didn't know where at this point. If she were to stretch her Mind out to search for her younger self she would be able to feel how sick she was. Jaime heard the TARDIS door open and sensed that it was John joining her.
"Are you okay, Jaime?" He questioned.
The Scots-girl quickly turned to him. "In!" She urgently uttered. Pushing John back into the TARDIS while the Half-Time Lord squawked in protest. Slamming the door shut, Jaime turned to everyone else, noticing her mum was now standing by the Console next to The Doctor. "The TARDIS is parked in Trafalgar Square. The forest isnae just coverin' London but the whole world." She told everyone.
Raising surprised brows, The Doctor moved towards Jaime. "And how do you know that?" He asked.
"Because I remember bein' here before, as my younger self!" She looked around at Rose and John. "Remember what I said underneath Stonehenge?" Jaime prompted.
Rose nodded her head. "Yeah, you said you remembered waking up in a forest that was actually London."
"Aye! And I also remember seein' you two." Jaime added, looking from her dad to Rose, eyes still wide. "And you saw me and tried tae help but I didnae stay." She saw her mum edging her way towards the door while The Doctor contemplated over what he was just told.
Luckily J.D caught Alexia before she could exit the TARDIS. "You can't go out there. It's a Paradox." He told the woman. The look on her face made him feel guilty.
"It's not the right time." Jaime mysteriously uttered.
"He's got a point," the Doctor said. "If she didn't see you out there then it's not a good idea."
Huffing out a sigh, Alexia stepped away from the door and John let go of her.
Now the Doctor turned his attention to Jaime. "When did we see you and how?" He asked his daughter from the past.
"When Nelson's Column falls, you'll see me then!" Jaime answered him.
Alexia gasped. "What could make a statue collapse?" She asked.
"No idea. It's a mess out there!" The Scots-girl replied, yet she had a sheepish expression on her face. Freya noticed the look on her sister's face and grinned, knowing the obvious reason why Nelson's Column fell.
"But that means you've known all this time I would regenerate!" Rose stated. All the Scots-girl could do was look even more sheepish and shrug her shoulders.
"Well she could hardly reveal that, could she." The Doctor replied with a chuckle and a manic-like grin. Rose agreed with him considering that Jaime was abiding by the rules of Time Travel.
The sound of a mobile going off caught their attention and Freya watched as Oswin pulled her mobile from her bag and answered it. "Hello!" She uttered before scowling. Watching that scowl and listening to the sarcastic comments, Freya didn't need to ask who was calling. Oswin was clearly talking to her sister. Once the call ended, Oswin placed her phone back in her bag and groaned. "That was Clara," she said. "She and another teacher were having some sort of class sleepover in the Natural History Museum. She's seen the forest and asked if we knew about it." Oswin continued to scowl and Freya could feel she was annoyed. "She wants to meet up at Trafalgar Square."
"Yes, that should be okay." Rose spoke up.
Meanwhile, Jaime frowned at the human, wondering why Oswin was at odds with her sister. She wanted to read her Mind to find out why but she knew it would be rude to do so. "Actually, we got tae get goin'," Jaime spoke up, grabbing the hands of her mother and John while searching for a connection that felt right. "Oswin, watch out for your sister, keep her away from any busy roads." After that they teleported out.
"What? What was that about?" A mystified Oswin uttered.