The door to the TARDIS shut and Danni didn't move. The Doctor, not really knowing if he should say anything, quickly flew the TARDIS away, and she still didn't move. She obviously was rather hurt by Clara leaving, and he felt rather bad that he'd had a hand in her decision. However, she was right. Danni was not going to bounce back from this. It was something that, in the past, he'd assumed that she would be able to do. After the Valiant he had been able to just ignore her recovery because of their limited time together. He saw her happy most of the time and he allowed himself to believe that she didn't need any help at all. He'd never offered her any. She'd had to come to terms with what had happened to her on her own, and it had been to her detriment.
She turned to face her and the guilt washed him over him. She took a deep breath, pushing her lips together as she tried to calm herself. In her moments of true need she tried to repress it because he'd taught her that. Even in their year apart, where he'd opened up and listened to her, her instinct was to hide.
"Of all the things I thought I'd see while I was here, Clara leaving really," she shook her head, "really wasn't one of them."
"I agree," he replied honestly. "I never thought she'd leave you of her own accord."
"Don't be mean," she retorted, but it didn't have her normal warning tone behind it. He watched her brow furrow slightly, but she didn't continue. He could see how she was trying to process and he desperately wanted to help.
"What are you thinking?" he asked her.
Her mouth opened, then slammed shut again. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She was being ridiculous. She had to believe he was genuine, otherwise what was the point in running away? Just because he hadn't been every other time she had made it home didn't mean it wasn't her Theta now. Just because she had a reason to be paranoid didn't mean she had to be now. After all, wasn't that exactly what Missy wanted? To unhinge her so much that she'd end up running back to her open arms?
"We've never really done the 'no companion' thing before," Danni started. Something small, something they could both agree on. "There was Rose, then Martha, then Donna, then Amy. We spent – we spent some time alone on the cloud, but that wasn't really travelling. Are we going to- I don't-" She took a deep breath to calm herself. Every part of her wanted to run from the conversation. It frustrated her how she was being so pathetic.
"Can we even be, you know, just us two?" she asked quietly.
He started walking towards her, letting himself smile all the more when she didn't instinctively step away. "Of course we can," he told her. "Think about it. We spent years together, seeing fantastical, beautiful sights between picking up Clara. Now we have all these planets, all these people, anything you can imagine to go explore. Sights that have never been seen and will never be seen again, all waiting for us to appear. With no one to check in with we can just dance across the universe, taking our time, exploring, enjoying together." He could see the tilt of her lips, a smile fighting its way through her barriers. "Just you and me, Danni-Girl," he continued enticingly. "We can see everything." It had always been an easy sell, a little cheap trick he had always been able to pull out. Tempting her with new things, things that no one else had ever seen before, had always worked on her no matter which body he was talking to. It was relieving to see that this body seemed to be the same, cause he could see the ideas already running through her just by the way her eyes widened slightly, lighting up in happiness.
"That does sound rather temping," she admitted.
"We don't need anyone travelling with us," he told her. "The Claras, the Amys, the Roses? They're great and all but," he smirked, "no matter what, it has always been the same. The Doctor and Danni, on the TARDIS, until the end of time. We never needed anyone else. We just liked having them around."
The mention of Clara had been a calculated move, one that he knew would pay off even as her face dropped slightly at their newly departed companion. They were all just a point he was making, and one he knew Danni would see.
She slowly smirked, an almost flirtatious look appeared on her face and he had to think for a moment to place where he'd seen it before; she really had pulled from both of her parents this regeneration, hadn't she?
"Alright, you win," she replied. "But I want to do it. I want to fly us away."
He took a step to the side, waving his arm towards the console. He watched her walk over, a part of his loving the confidence in her walk now. Her last body was always a little self-confident, not her looks but usually in her about her ability. She didn't seem to feel that, now. He hated how it came about, but he was glad she saw herself like he saw her now.
He joined her by her side, a small step further away than he normally would just to give her the space he knew she needed. "Would you like something random, or do you have a place in mind?" he asked her, ready to help guide her.
She looked up at him, the smirk never fading. "Wouldn't you like to know?" she replied before quickly setting the controls. With one last glance at the door, wondering if she should go back for Clara before forcing herself to turn away, she flipped the switch and they were away.
"Where did you learn to do that?" the Doctor asked, surprised as he quickly held onto the console. She wasn't the smoothest of pilots, the TARDIS jolted a little like his idiotic Eleventh self would fly her, but he'd only ever been able to show her a few controls over their time together. They'd always get too… well, distracted and it was never a strong point for her anyway.
"You taught me, remember?" she reminded.
"I did?"
She watched him out of the corner of her eye, observing the way he looked genuinely confused and filed it away as yet another proof point that she was back home again. She needed these moments, because the moment they passed she was back to thinking how Missy would have faked the same thing. She took hold of the fact that the Doctor didn't know it was Missy who had taught her, keeping it close as a reminder. This was real. It wasn't a hallucination. She was safe.
~0~0~0~
Sometimes learning about another person really couldn't be done with asking questions, it had to be done watching them move about, living their everyday life. It just happened that their everyday life revolved around travelling far and wide in a time travelling box.
Danni could feel the Doctor's eyes constantly on her. It unnerved her slightly, if she was honest with herself. She had come to absolutely loathe the feeling of being watched, but she couldn't exactly blame him. She wasn't the wife that had been taken any more. She was new, exciting. He always had been so curious, it was one of the things that she loved about him.
So she really tried to ignore it. She knew that she should have brought it up, but she had already reached her quota of speaking up. Every time she said anything even slightly revealing all she could think about was how Missy would use it against her at a later date.
Clara may have had a point, which was what made her leaving even harder.
Still, she tried to ignore it. She tried to walk through the frosted park, listening to the Doctor point things out, and just enjoy it as a trip. Apparently the TARDIS had wanted to start her off with something easy and calm, because nothing out of the ordinary was happening. There were beautiful trees, and stunning flowers, and the local wildlife didn't seem bothered at all by the small groups of people who walked through their land.
Danni loved to see new things. This planet was simply stunning. She was sure, any other time, she would really have enjoyed it.
But she was bored.
No, that wasn't it. She wasn't bored, she was unsettled. For the last… well, she actually wasn't sure how long, but definitely a good few years, she had been running. Fighting and running. Even once she'd reached Skaro she'd had to sneak her way into the depths with the chance of being exterminated around every corner. There hadn't been any rest or respite. There'd not been walking through a park looking at the foliage. The sudden change in tone and tempo really didn't sit well in her stomach. Everything was tainted with an uneasy feeling, like the moment in a movie just before a scare.
"Are you okay?"
She blinked, pulling herself out of her thoughts to look up at her husband. He looked concerned, his impressive eyebrows pulled together as he frowned. He was so good looking, it was borderline frustrating. Then again, she'd not exactly been short changed this time around either, had she? Had he noticed?
She shot him a little smirk, pulling her jacket closer around her to keep the cold out. "Always, doll," she purred in reply. "Why do you ask?"
In reply he wrinkled his nose. "Don't do that," he told her. "You sound too much like your father. It's confusing."
She couldn't help but laugh at the annoyance in his tone. "I can imagine," she agreed. "I'm not sure I like 'doll' anyway. 'Sweetie' will always have a place in my hearts."
He had to admit that she sounded much more like his Danielle with the other term of endearment, although now that he'd heard her father, he worried that he might hear her mother. He pushed that thought away, though, because it could take root too much. "You weren't saying much," he explained, going back to his question. "I thought you'd be full of questions."
She shrugged. "I was just happy listening," she replied. "You were answering all of my questions before I'd thought to ask them."
They didn't stop walking, but there was a pause for a moment as he thought on her words. Then he smiled, amused. "You're bored."
"How dare you?" she retorted, offended. "Who could be bored walking around such a beautiful park?"
"You're bored," he said, as if her words just confirmed his guess. She huffed slightly, shoving her hands in her jacket pockets as they continued on. "We can go somewhere else, if you would prefer."
"I'm not bored," she insisted again, because it really wasn't the way to describe how she was feeling. "I'm just… I'm just thinking on the last time I was in a park, that was all."
"Oh?"
She pressed her lips together again, wondering if she should let him in a little further. It would be a good test, wouldn't it? Seeing how he reacted to Missy. She had to admit, though, that everything really felt real. The ground under her boots crunched properly, there was no strange spring in anyone's step. The air bit her cheeks. The urge to reach out and grab his hand was overwhelming.
"Yeah, now that was dull," she brushed off. "This is really nice. I guess the calm is a bit strange, but it's really… nice."
"You say that like it's a bad thing," he commented, wondering if he should have taken control of their first trip. This was the problem with the 'random' setting. He could have taken her somewhere with some excitement. Or, at least, a little bit more life than people walking their various species of pets.
"It's not bad, it's just different," she explained. "I'm not used to nice. Everything always has a catch, I'm just waiting for this one."
The Doctor's steps fell to a stop, but Danni continued walked as if she'd not noticed. She had a little bit more of a swagger than she used to. Perhaps it was the jacket. He had always loved an overcoat. That was something to keep in mind for the future.
"Danielle." She came to a stop, turning to look at him with her own confused look. "There's no catch, you know that, right?"
"There's always a catch," she pointed out. "Something bad always follows something good. There's always something to gain from someone's actions. Our lives have shown us that on more than one occasion."
Even with her new body, her new posture, her new voice, that cynicism just didn't seem to fit right. She'd learnt it, he was sure, rather than had been 'born' with it. Once again he wondered just how much Missy had put her through.
"You're right," he agreed with a nod. "Alright, I admit it. There is a catch, there's always a catch, with every place we visit together." She'd straightened, eyes alert. That was Missy. This was all Missy. "And it's that you enjoy yourself," he finished. She didn't relax, but her brows did furrow. "We only do anything because I know you'll enjoy it. If you're bored, or not enjoying this walk in the park, then we can leave. There's always the option to leave if you're not comfortable."
Danni stared, becoming increasingly more suspicious of the man in front of her. Sure, they'd both improved on their communication towards each other before she'd been taken, but this seemed a lot more than she would have expected, even from him.
"I don't believe you," she declared. "I don't believe you one little bit." She saw the hurt flash on his face and was surprised that it wasn't anger at all. When she saw through the facade, it was always anger. "I mean, I want to. I want to believe it's you standing there, telling me to listen to my feelings and being lovely to me, but I don't."
"Is there anything I can do to prove it's me?" he asked her. He wasn't sure how he could possibly prove it was him if she was going in believing everything around her to be fake. It wasn't something he could make her believe.
She shook her head. "I don't-" she started. "I don't want to talk about this right now. What's on the other side of the park?"
She didn't have an answer for him. She had always thought that when she finally made her way back to him, she'd just know it was him. It had to be her Theta, because she could just tell, like some sort of sappy romantic novel – not that she read them or anything. Now she was with him, though, there was no telling because every time she was with him she thought it was him. And every single time it wasn't.
"Danielle," the Doctor called after her as she started walking again. She stuttered in her step, turning around.
"It all feels normal," she told him. "It feels normal, and that's how it always feels. I just- I just," she sighed heavily, "I just need to feel it not feel normal. I- I can't explain it any better than that."
The rage that flared up in him was barely containable. She looked so desperate, a mask he'd not even noticed cracking and letting through her unbridled fear. She was terrified that he wasn't real. He caught it, though, and pushed it back. Missy was still out there, and she hadn't been punished for her misdeeds, but he couldn't let himself dwell on it too much. Danni needed his support, not his anger.
"I can't help with that," he admitted. "I can only keep trying to prove to you that I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere, and that she isn't going to be able to step anywhere near you again."
She nodded slowly. "That's- That's fair," she agreed. "I guess I could, you know, try and let you convince me."
"That's half the battle," he said, hoping that he sounded encouraging and not patronising. The way she raised an eyebrow said he'd failed. "Oh, no, I'm spouting rubbish now. Listen to me, I sound like a self-help book."
She giggled, feeling herself relax, amused at the look of absolute disgust on his face. "Well, I wasn't going to say anything," she told him. "Although, I could write some of it down if you want to remember it."
"Hush, you," he warned as they turned around, heading back towards the TARDIS in an unspoken agreement that this trip had been dead before it had really started. "Don't pretend like you wouldn't read any book I wrote."
"Oh, you are so full of yourself," Danni replied, even though he was right. "As if you could focus long enough to write a book."
~0~0~0~
Apparently, no matter how much Danni had insisted, the Doctor truly believed that she was bored with just visiting a planet, or a time period, and simply watching. She'd always liked people watching so visiting anywhere always was a delight. Still, no matter how much she told him this, he didn't believe her.
She wasn't sure if that was a Doctor trait or a Missy trait, and she was fast coming to the conclusion that they were too similar to be able to tell the difference. It wasn't a thought she particularly liked, but there it was. Floating in her head. Making her doubt everything. It wasn't fun, she didn't appreciate it, but she kept it to herself.
The Doctor was keeping the excitement flowing, though. Between New Years Eve parties that went on for centuries and a cruise that ended up being shipwrecked for two weeks, that thought hadn't actually had time to sink too deeply into her head. She had been more concerned with, well, surviving whatever the universe was throwing their way. And that, to be honest, felt more normal than trying to slowly return to her life back on the TARDIS. In everything she had ever done, she'd been thrown in at the deep end. Why would this been any different?
She had just gone to get changed for their next adventure when she stepped into the console room. The Doctor kept commenting on how she kept dressing like her father, and while it wasn't exactly an insult she had decided to try to go the other way. Of course, she'd spent a good while debating with herself about whether or not she was being coerced into changing her clothes, but the Doctor was right; if she was going to continue to second guess herself then nothing was going to change.
Now, though, she was worried that she'd dressed too much like River. The boots, the leggings and the dress felt a little too much like she was pulling inspiration from her wardrobe. Danni wasn't sure that she had her own style, though, so she kept it. She was allowed to dress herself, which was such an improvement that she didn't want to throw too much fuss about it.
"Doctor?" she asked, calling out to him but he wasn't there. The door out of the TARDIS was open slightly, so she headed over, grabbing her overcoat as she went. She stuck her head out as she slipped it on and saw the Doctor frowning at the TARDIS, running his hand over her. "What's wrong?"
"I don't know," he replied, his voice low and she immediately was on alert. He was trying to be quiet, that was never good. "She's not happy." He looked up at the TARDIS. "Why aren't you happy? Tell me."
"Did you try running the diagnostics?" she asked him.
"Of course not. They're never right," he retorted.
"You know that she behaves better when you ask her what's wrong," Danni replied. "Perhaps you should listen."
"I am listening. The diagnostics are never right," he insisted. "Something here is not right."
Danni turned from him to look where they'd landed. The long hallways looked rather damp, with what looked like mold growing from the ground up. She frowned, stepping out.
"Are we underwater?" she asked. She still wasn't sure if she appreciated the happy grins he shot her when she got something right, but they did help her self esteem a little bit so she let it slide.
As she closed the door behind her, he started down the hallway, rubbing his finger up against some of the grime. He loved to see her asking questions and using her brain. Too many times already he'd seen her force back a question because she was worried that he wasn't going to like her asking it. Almost like she was conditioned not to.
"Some sort of a base," he confirmed. "Any idea what year?"
She looked around, looking at the lights, the moulding of the walls. "We're definitely on Earth. Looks a little old tech," she commented. "Those lights are using rather old bulbs, right?"
He watched her out of the corner of his eye, his grin never fading. "Twenty second century," he confirmed. "Maybe military, maybe scientific."
"And we can breathe, which means oxygen," Danni said, looking to him for more confirmation. He nodded once. "So there must be people somewhere?"
"Somewhere indeed," he drawled. They were both heading deeper into the base, and he glanced to his side. She was looking around, checking each corner, obviously making notes of what she was seeing. He hadn't expected to go somewhere so… unexpected so soon. "Why don't you head back to the TARDIS?" he suggested lightly. "I'm sure the TARDIS just has a bit of indigestion from that never-ending party. Too many imen cakes."
Danni looked at her from the corner of her eyes. "Trying to get rid of me already?" she asked. He quickly shook his head.
"No, no, of course not," he reassured her. "I just thought… well, I don't want you to..."
"You think I'm too fragile to handle one little investigation even though I'm the one who escaped and spent seven years dancing around the universe looking for you, on my own, with no TARDIS." she retorted. "I think I'm fine, don't you?"
"Seven years?" he repeated and she shrugged.
"Roughly," she replied, because she wasn't entirely sure herself. "I think. I lost track. Either way, I'm fine. Stop worrying."
She didn't snap but he immediately felt like he should drop it. To be perfectly honest it wasn't her skill that was casting doubt on the adventure, but rather her ability to tell truth from fiction. Every little glance at every little thing seemed to hold the question of her deciding whether or not it was real. He'd been trying so hard to prove it but he wasn't willing to put her in danger for it.
It seemed like he didn't have a choice, though, as they stumbled upon what seemed to be a mess hall. There were tables with multicoloured chairs around them to give the illusion of home whilst simultaneously having the company logo placed on the wall to remind the crew they were at work. Danni barely paid attention to the mural of the dragon on the wall, instead taking in the dishevelled room, which had chairs strewn over the floor. The doors to the fridges had been left wide open.
"Well, someone left here in a hurry," she commented, stepping around the mess and heading to the counter.
The Doctor, meanwhile, spotted the knife wedged in the mural. He gave it a flick, watching it bounce from side to side but not fall out. It was in there pretty deep. "Didn't you once throw a knife at me?" he asked, looking over his shoulder at her.
"Kinda," she replied as she quickly looked through the cupboards. They were pretty bare, but she ran her hand over each surface to make sure they were flat. The joins seemed pretty sturdy, too. She still hadn't found the door back into Missy's Paradise. "I was throwing it at a Silent. You just happened to come in when it disappeared."
"Oh, yes, that was it," he recalled. "That was jammed in the door pretty hard as well, wasn't it?" He looked back to the wall. "Whatever happened here must have terrified the crew just as much." He turned, heading to one of the tables where the food and drink was still in place, as if the person had just got up and headed to the bathroom. "Whatever it was happened pretty recently." He stuck his finger into the cold cup of tea. "Seven or eight hours ago."
"Please clean that off," she told him as he waved his finger in the air to get the excess liquid off. "You don't know who was drinking that." She walked over, her long strides still seeming rather foreign on his wife. "There's no bodies anywhere, so they must have escaped. With enough time to grab as many provisions with them as they could."
She stood in front of him, hands in the pockets of her dress, pushing her overcoat back and away. He'd spent a lot of their time together thinking how much she looked like her parents, but that was a move she definitely had picked up from him. All she needed was the 'I'm clever' glasses.
His hearts twanged. He never got to say goodbye to his wife. She'd regenerated and there was no closure coming his way.
"Which means they haven't abandoned ship," he reasoned. "Provisions means they're hauled up somewhere."
"If they'd escaped within eight hours, they wouldn't have raided the fridge," she agreed. "It can't have been something from outside, could it?" She nodded towards the window, where they'd both spotted the underwater village outside.
"I doubt it," he replied. "Come on."
He led them out of the room and back into the next hallway, where just around a bend two crewmembers were crouched together on the floor. "Look. Told you. Crew," he boasted.
"I didn't say you were wrong," she replied. "In fact, I literally just agreed with you."
"Yeah, well, it's always good to remind you when I'm right. Get a few in the bag for when I'm not," he explained. She wanted to roll her eyes and tell him he was being childish, but he was just too amusing and she let out a little giggle. He couldn't stop smiling; she was enjoying herself.
They started walking toward the two crewmembers. "Hello, sailors!" the Doctor called to them.
Simultaneously the two figures stood up, their solid forms shimmering into a blurred, faded state. They both turned and stared at them with black, sunken eye sockets but no actual eyes to speak of. Their lips moved but no sound came out. One was dressed as if he was a Victorian, but the other wore military casual clothing. They didn't seem a likely pair at all.
The two Time Lords came to a stop. "Right, I did not expect that," the Doctor said. "Hands up who expected that."
Danni shook her head, her hand going to his jacket pocket again. "You can't have brought us to ghosts," she hissed. "Seriously?"
The figure started walking towards them and, instinctively, Danni took a step back. The Doctor immediately reached out and grabbed her by the wrist, stopping her from moving any further.
"It's okay, it's okay," he quickly rambled. "I don't think they're going to hurt us. I think that they're just curious."
The two ghostly figures stood almost nose to nose with them. Well, they would have had Danni been tall enough. "Well, can't they be curious somewhere else?" Danni hissed to her husband. "I didn't consent to them being this curious close up."
"It's fine," he replied, although he wasn't too sure of that as the two figures looked over them. "Look at you lovely chaps," he said to the ghosts. "What's happened to you, then?"
The figures looked to each other, then turned and walked back the way they had come from. The Doctor looked down at Danni, who was panting lightly in relief. "Do you want to..."
"Head to the TARDIS? No way," she retorted, striding forward. "Come on, keep up."
She practically jogged after the two figures, much to the Doctor's surprised joy. She really was enjoying herself. He should have known; Danni never appreciated being treated like glass. She wasn't looking for everyone else's normal, she was looking for their normal. Well, this was it.
He quickly joined her at her side as they headed around another bend. "So," she whispered. "Any ideas?"
"I haven't a clue," he admitted freely. "Isn't that exciting?"
The smile they shared spoke more than words could. Danni didn't even notice the small shift. As they headed down the hallway and into the new room behind automatic doors, she didn't even look for a hidden doorway into a digital world. She just followed the ghosts and her husband.
"They've gone," Danni commented lowly as the doors closed behind them. It appeared to be some sort of hanger but the ghosts were nowhere to be found. "And what is that?"
Both of them were immediately drawn to the large, silver, metal vehicle sat in the middle of the room. Even though the ghosts never left their minds, both of them hurried around it to see the backside completely open.
"Well, it's alien," the Doctor offered.
"I could have told you that," Danni retorted. There didn't seem to be much inside. Every surface was white, illuminated by two lights. In the middle was a white rectangular object, but there were no signs of controls or any equipment.
Danni quickly cut in front of the Doctor, dashing up the stairs and into the ship. The Doctor was hot on her heels. "Is it a medical ship?" she asked.
"Perhaps," he replied in a tone that said he really wasn't convinced it was. He ran his hand over the top of the rectangular object before something on the wall caught his eye. Strange symbols were carved into the otherwise flawless wall.
He didn't say anything, instead he pointed at the wall and Danni quickly turned around. "How come I can't read that?" she asked him, reaching into her other pocket to pull out her sonic screwdriver. It had been the first thing she had looked for before they'd started travelling again. She liked his glasses, but having her own device just made her feel more in control.
"The TARDIS hasn't translated it," he commented as she scanned the writing.
"Strange," she commented, the results just baffling her. "I think there's something in..."
A whooshing noise pulled her attention out of the ship and back into the room. The two ghosts were stood in the opposite corner, staring at the ship.
"Look, they're back," she whispered, nodding her head towards the opening. The two walked over to the exit, where they stood side by side.
"Hello!" the Doctor greeted, trying to seem as happy as he could at seeing them again. "Did you want to show us this? It's very nice."
Danni shook her head. "What are you doing?" she hissed.
"Trying to be friendly," he explained. "You were always the polite one, isn't that what we're supposed to do?"
"Not to creepy ghosts, no," she replied. "Remember Cardiff?"
She had a point. And, as one of the ghosts turned to grabbed the fire axe off the wall, he really felt rather foolish. "You see? Wrong again. I'm going to take one from the bag," he explained. She shook her head.
"Just move," she snapped and he followed her down the stairs. The ghosts seemed to see that they were trying to make their escape and, as the one with the axe quickly followed and took a swing at them, the other took a harpoon off the wall and aimed at them.
"Alright, perhaps I was a little condescending," he admitted, hands up in the air. "I'm not used to the whole being polite thing. That's normally her job."
The ghost with the harpoon aimed, but before he could fire a bold came from behind the Doctor, knocking it to the side and sending the harpoon wildly to the side. The Doctor spun, alarmed, to see Danni holding a gun. His eyes widened in alarm and she nodded towards the exit.
"Run!"
He followed her out into another hallway. "A gun?!" he exclaimed. "Since when-" they turned another bend, "-since when do you have a gun?"
"Since I spent seven years running away from Missy!" she retorted. "Are you really going to do this now?"
"But-But you never liked guns," he protested. "It's- It doesn't make any sense!"
"I have a gun because if I didn't I'd be dead," she snapped sharply. "As you would be, as I shot the bloody harpoon gun away from you! It is what it is!"
He was right. She didn't like the gun, but she knew that she needed it. It was her ticket to freedom. It kept her safe, and she wasn't about to give it up just because he didn't like soldiers. When she felt safe enough without it she'd put it down. Until then it stayed in her coat pocket.
He pulled them both behind one of the large joins to hide them, peaking around to see if he could see the ghosts. He couldn't, so he turned back to her. "You don't need a gun," he argued. "No one needs a gun. Only people who can't reason need guns, that's why the military uses them!"
"I need-" she started loudly before catching herself. She lowered her voice. "I need a gun because I'm not safe," she hissed. "Until this universe is free from Missy, I am not safe."
"I won't let her near you again," he promised and she shook her head.
"Doesn't mean she won't get me," she replied. "It doesn't mean that she won't keep trying. She's never going to just… to just let me go like that."
He was stopped from arguing further as a hand reached through the wall at them. The Doctor grabbed her, chucking her away from the wall and darting back himself as one of the ghosts walked through. They turned to run to see the Victorian dressed one come out of the floor.
The Doctor grabbed Danni's hand, holding it for the first time without a thought. "Run!" he demanded. She didn't protest and they headed away from both ghosts. "And put that gun away!"
"Fine!" she exclaimed, shoving it into her pocket. At the end of the hallway a door opened and a group of people were stood inside, quickly motioning them forward.
"Found the crew!" Danni cried as they rushed inside. The door was quickly shut behind them, but the two of them pressed up to the window to watch the ghosts. They didn't try and get in, both just staring inside before turning and slowly walking away.
"What are you?" the Doctor muttered to himself.
"Who the hell are you, and what are you doing here?"
They both turned to look at the five people that were all in the small room. They were stood with the backs to the far wall, all dressed in some sort of military-style clothing, all except one who seemed like he should have been in an office rather than in an underwater base.
The Doctor pulled out his psychic paper, holding it up for all to see. "This is Danielle, I'm the Doctor," he explained.
The office man frowned. "You're from UNIT," he read off.
"Well, if that's what it says," the Doctor agreed.
"Been a while, but I guess so," Danni added and he nodded in agreement. They'd both worked for UNIT now, and it was quite the easy cover to fall under. Especially considering neither of them had quit.
The office man straightened. "I'm Pritchard, this is Bennett," he introduced, motioning to the man with glasses on his right. Who didn't have a chance to speak as the woman to his right pushed in front of them both, grinning from ear to ear.
"O'Donnell!" she greeted excitedly, taking hold of the Doctor's hand to shake vigorously before doing the same to Danni. "Are you really the Doctor and Danni?" she asked. "I'm a huge fan!" She giggled happily before remembering she was at work. She pulled back, clearing her throat. "I mean, er, you know... Nice work."
She ducked out of the way as the man to Pritchard's left waved his hand. "Tim Lunn, I sign for Cass," he explained, motioning to the woman to his side, who nodded.
The Doctor didn't normally have time for introductions, but it was usually better to know who to address when he needed answers, so he let it slide. "Tell me, what about those things out there? What are they? Why are they trying to kill us?"
"Well, they're er, they're ghosts," Bennet explained with a little bit of a stutter. He obviously wasn't fairing well under the circumstances.
Danni rolled her eyes. "Of course they're not," she snapped. "Ghosts aren't real."
Cass started signing. "Cass is saying..." Tim started.
The Doctor held his hand up. "Thank you, but I actually don't need your help. I can speak sign. To prove his point he turned to her, signing as he spoke. "Go ahead."
Cass looked a little confused, but then started to sign her answer. It became very clear very quickly that the Doctor had absolutely no idea what she was trying to communicate.
"No, no, actually, I can't." He turned to Danni. "It's been deleted for semaphore," he explained. She shook her head.
"Honestly," she muttered before pushing in front of him. She smiled at Cass, who looked just as confused as she had before the Doctor had told her to start
I'm sorry. He's an idiot. Could you start again?
The Doctor frowned as Cass smiled in amusement. "You know sign?"
"Yes, I know sign," Danni replied without taking her eyes off the other woman.
"What did you say?"
"That you were very clever most of the time, but this was alluding you," she explained offhandedly. He nodded, smirking smugly and straightening slightly. Danni motioned for Cass to carry on and she did.
"Um… One of the ghosts is their commanding… no, sorry was their commanding officer. The other… is that..." The Doctor watched her motion back. "Yes, moley… the other moley guy is new, though, they don't know who that is."
Danni placed her fingertips to her chin, hand flat, moving it away to sign her thanks. Cass nodded in reply and Danni stepped back to the Doctor.
"When did you learn sign language?" he asked her.
"Who's the moley guy?" Danni asked in reply.
"He's from Tivoli," he replied dismissively. "I don't remember you knowing sign language."
Danni's teeth were clenched together as she smiled at the crew. They were all looking at them expectantly. Well, most of them were. O'Donnell still looked a little starstruck. "You're asking this now?" she asked through her clenched jaw.
"I'm just surprised, that's all," the Doctor replied. She sighed.
"I was in captivity for a long time. What was I supposed to do, gardening?" She straightened her jacket. "I read. A lot. And I learnt a fair few sign languages. I thought they'd come in handy to signal my way out."
The way her voice dropped slightly told him that he had pushed a bit too far, but he had hoped it would have been any other reason but that. He'd once regenerated knowing all of the words to every song by the Rolling Stones. "Sorry," he muttered and she shrugged.
"We've got aliens invading an underwater base. Probably should focus on that."
Bennett walked over to the door, looking out of the window. "See? I told you he was an alien. Didn't I say that?" he said to this crew mates as he checked to see if the figures had gone.
"Weird thing is, they're not violent. They're too cowardly. They wouldn't say boo to a goose. They're more likely to give the goose their car keys and bank details," the Doctor explained. "When did they first appear?"
O'Donnell immediately jumped forward, eager to show the two Time Lords that she knew what she was doing. "Oh, did you see that spaceship in the hangar? Yeah, we found that on the lake bed and we'd just got it on board and one of the engines started up and then Moran got..." Her enthusiasm dropped as she remembered what had happened. "Moran was killed."
Cass started signing to them. "Then they appeared," Lunn translated. "And pretty much straight away started trying to kill us. So we grabbed what we could and we were looking for somewhere to hide, and that's when we realised the ghosts couldn't come in here."
Danni looked around the room. "So, what we have are ghosts who are scared of Faraday cages?" she asked. "For some reason I just don't think that works. Maybe they're holograms. No, that doesn't make sense either."
"So, who's in charge now?" the Doctor asked the group. "I need to know who to ignore."
"That would be me," Lunn translated out of habit before catching himself. "Her," he corrected, nodding in Cass's direction.
Pritchard, the man who really shouldn't have been under water, stepped forward. "Actually, that would be me," he told the Doctor, holding out a business card. "I represent Vector Petroleum. We've obtained the mining rights to the oil."
Danni took the card off him before snorting, chucking it over and onto the floor. "Alright sweetie," she said almost mockingly. The Doctor had to agree; this man didn't look like he could lead a horse to water.
"The oil?" the Doctor asked as the man picked his card off the floor, shooting Danni a rather annoyed look. "Where are we?"
"This used to be a military training site," Bennett explained. "There was a dam overlooking it, but the dam burst and the valley was submerged."
"Then twenty years ago, we discovered a massive oil reservoir underneath it," Pritchard finished, grinning as sickly as a greedy man could. Danni rolled her eyes and turned to Cass.
Don't worry. The Doctor isn't that kind of idiot.
Cass seemed to catch herself laughing as Lunn hid his own smirk. The Doctor made a note to ask her about perhaps teaching him once they were home. The lights darkened and then immediately brightened, though, pulling his attention to the room itself.
"Good morning. Entering day mode," a female computer voice declared.
"Okay, it's morning," O'Donnell said in relief. "We can go outside now." The rest of the crew seemed just as pleased with the development, heading to the door and leaving the two Time Lords slightly bewildered.
"Morning?" Danni asked.
"Yeah, we're too far below the surface for daylight, so we have to demarcate artificial days and nights," Bennett explained as O'Donnell opened the door.
"That's clever," Danni said with a nod of approval.
"I'd like to have a further look at that spaceship," the Doctor told then all, "but what about those things that aren't ghosts?"
"Oh, it's all right. They only come out at night," O'Donnell reassured him before the crew headed back out into the halls.
"Ghosts who have a sense of time?" Danni asked, looking up at her husband. "You know, I'm a little disappointed."
"How so?" he asked her.
"You've still not taken me to see actual ghosts," she told him and he couldn't help but smirk back at the one she shot him. "Honestly, Doctor, you call yourself impressive."
"Oh, you're just as cheeky as you always were, aren't you?" he commented and she nodded.
"More fun that way," she retorted. They followed the crew out, quickly overtaking them until they were walking at the front.
"If whatever they are," the Doctor started.
"They're ghosts," Pritchard told him with the certainty of an idiot.
"They're not ghosts," the Doctor corrected. "Have been trying to kill you, why haven't you abandoned the base?"
"That was my call," the office man told them. "We've got about a trillion dollars worth of mining equipment here. We're not just going to abandon it." Both the Doctor and Danni came to a stop, causing the others to follow suit. Pritchard looked defensive. "What? If it all goes pear-shaped, it's not them that lose a bonus."
Danni smiled, nodding. "You see, that's why you're not in charge," she crowed before shooting him a big grin. "You're an arse." His eyes widened in surprise but her smile didn't disappear. In fact, she reached out and took his hand in both of hers. "Don't worry, it happens to the best of us," she reassured him before grimacing. "Actually, no, it doesn't," she continued, embarrassed. "It just happens to arseholes. But don't you worry, I'm sure we're going to work really hard to save you now."
Her face dropped, along with his hand, and she turned to the Doctor. "This way, yes?"
He nodded, a little speechless at the sharpness of her voice. She started walking, her boots echoing in the silence that her little attack had brought on. He followed her, looking around the hanger, trying to bring them all back on track.
A thought occurred to him. "Come to mention it, why is there a Faraday cage on the base?" he asked.
"It's the mining equipment. It runs on nuclear fission. The Faraday cage has been lined with lead to act as a shelter in the event of a radiation leak," Bennett exclaimed.
"So, we are fighting an unknown homicidal force that has taken the form of your commanding officer and a cowardly alien, underwater, in a nuclear reactor," the Doctor summarised.
"Sounds about right for us, really, doesn't it?" Danni asked in reply. He couldn't help but agreed.
"Anything else I should know? Someone got a peanut allergy, or something?" he asked the crew, to which he got blank stares in reply. He'd expected that, so he turned and headed into the large ship, Danielle following behind.
"It all started with this ship," he told her, looking around the rather small room. "This is where the answer will be."
She nodded in agreement, looking at the symbols on the wall again. She had scanned them, hadn't she? What was the result?
She reached into the pocket to pull out her screwdriver as the Doctor crouched to the ground, opening up a hatch he saw. Inside was a power cell, one of two that should have been there. It had been removed, along with whatever was on top of the hatch to begin with. Danni moved to his side as he stood up.
"It's been pillaged?" she asked him. "But what was here to begin with?"
"Well, that's the question," he replied before looking out at the humans who were stood, waiting. "What's happened to the stuff you've removed?" he asked the sea of baffled faces. "This is for long-haul flights. There should be a suspended-animation chamber for the pilot right here. Plus, one of the power cells is missing."
Pritchard perked up. "Power cell?" he asked before jogging up the stairs to join them.
"Yeah. You can see the casing is empty."
Danni glanced over as O'Donnell joined them, catching Lunn and Cass fighting. "What's wrong?" she called over. "Lover's tiff?"
Lunn seemed to become a bit flustered. "She won't let me look inside the spaceship. She says it's not safe," he explained. "I'm saying it's not safe out here."
"Maybe you should listen to her," Danni replied, signing along with her words so Cass could see. "The Doctor's constantly running into situations I wish he wouldn't. I'd rather he'd tried to stay safe as well."
"I'm busy trying to keep all of us safe," the Doctor reminded her.
"I know," she replied. "But a girl can dream, can't she?"
Pritchard stood up from looking in the hatch. "I imagine they're pretty valuable," he commented.
"What?" the Doctor asked sharply.
"I mean powerful," the man corrected himself.
"No you don't, you mean valuable," Danni retorted. "Don't try and hide behind curiosity when you'd happily let these people die for your bonus."
Danni headed back out of the ship before she got really cross with him. Honestly, humans could be the absolute worst in the universe sometimes. Everyone else seemed lovely, and O'Donnell was quite cute in her fangirling, but Pritchard was already rubbing her up the wrong way. Perhaps she should have stayed in the TARDIS after all.
The Doctor watched her go, his own annoyance flaring at how Pritchard seemed to be annoying her. "Well, they can zap a vessel from one side of the galaxy to the other," he told the other man, answering his cover question. "So, you know, take a wild stab in the dark."
"And the missing one must still be out there," Pritchard mused.
"Yes, well, otherwise..." the Doctor started before realising he really didn't want to answer all these stupid questions. He turned to O'Donnell, who did actually seem pretty competent. "Sorry, why is this man still talking to me?"
The Doctor didn't care when the man walked out of the ship, obviously a little offended. Good. He'd offended his wife. The Doctor couldn't care less.
"We haven't removed anything. There hasn't been time," O'Donnell explained. It made no sense, but he could tell she wasn't lying. The Doctor walked down the stairs and out of the ship.
Danni watched Pritchard dart behind the ship and most likely out of the room. She shook her head but didn't speak up. He was probably going to see if he could spot the power cell before someone could take it off him. She wasn't too bothered. They were in the 22nd century, they most likely wouldn't be able to do anything with it anyway.
"So what have we got?" the Doctor mused out loud. She turned her attention back to him. She always loved to watch him work. "Moran dies, and then those things appear. They can walk through walls. They only come out at night and they're sort of see-through."
He'd walked away from them as he followed his train of thought, but she could see the look of realisation appearing on his face. "Doctor, no," she started as he spun around. They locked eyes and he looked positively gleeful.
"Danielle, I think I've done it," he exclaimed, a skip in his step as he walked back to her side. "How's that for impressive?" He didn't wait for her answer, instead turning to Cass. "Where's your bridge?"
~0~0~0~
Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Not much to say on it, to be honest XD
We now have a Facebook Page! It's called The Time Child Saga, feel free to join if you want! Can't promise it'll be as active as my Tumblr (dannifielding *plugplug*), but we can share the love, right? XD
Reviews!
serenitysaiyan - Yep! Always checking. It'll take a long time to get over that. As for the regeneration, well, we may be waiting a little while for that ;)
LoveandAngst - Of course! Thanks sweetie :D
bored411 - Thanks sweetie! The Doctor will come to be a bit nicer to her, but Clara has officially left the TARDIS!
Lena 'Slipstream' Oxton - We will still see Clara, but she will no longer be a companion and therefore won't be coming back to the TARDIS team :)
Authora97 - Thanks sweetie! I thought the same. Something big had just happened, it doesn't just go straight back to normal after that. As for forgiving her, I can very much promise Danni won't ever forgive her. In fact, that's what will make Season 10 so very interesting ;)