Hello:)

Chapter 21 people! This is, I think, the longest I've ever stuck with a story. Yay!

Just so you know, I'm going to be taking a trip with a bunch of friends... next week? I think. Month-long trip all over Europe. It's going to be a disaster, but I'm exited! (I'm going to see a real life police box! :D My friends don't understand why I'm so exited haha) Not that you care, anyway, but it does affect you. I'm not taking my computer, so I won't be writing, and though I'll update at least one more time before I leave, don't panic when there are no updates in July. I'M NOT LEAVING THIS STORY. I'll finish it, I promise. I won't leave you guys - or Kylie - hanging.

Sooo... don't hate me? And THANKS for all the support guys! I love your reviews. Thanks for making me smile:)

And p.s. Trustpixiedust: You have no idea how exited I got when I read your review! Seriously! You have an awesome name, Kylie;) And OF COURSE Captain Jack Harkness (I just love the name) is going to show up. A good Doctor Who fanfic is never complete without some of his awesomeness

Enjoy!

"How are you holding up?"

I froze, my hands mere millimeters away from the keyboard, fingers poised and ready to finish the sentence. I blinked and looked up from the screen.

The Doctor was hunched over his own computer, seemingly immersed in his work. I didn't buy it, however. His question seemed almost… too charged. Like he was after something.

My lack of answer drew his attention. He looked up and to the side, chocolate brown eyes meeting mine. He quirked an eyebrow.

"Kylie?"

I blinked, again. "Uh, fine. Thanks." I paused. "You?"

"Good, good."

The silence stretched on. I returned to my work.

He finally cracked. "Why don't you want to go home?"

My hands slapped down on the keyboard. The whole table shook with the effort. One of the screwdrivers, the normal type, rolled off.

"What?" I croaked.

"What's keeping you away?" He stepped back from the computer, and I could hear his steps as he strode over.

I looked up just as he reached my table. Eyes sharp and determined. He planted his hands against the smooth metal and leaned over, his eyes boring into mine.

"Why are you so adamant about keeping us away from Osirien?"

I swallowed, hard, suddenly wishing for some ice-cold water. "What are you talking about?"

"Kylie." He warned.

I looked back down, escaping from his searching eyes.

"I don't know what's the problem. We could go anywhere you want. Osirien, even. But what's the fun of going back to boring old home?" I said, trying to sound light.

It seemed it wasn't working.

"You're lying." His hand was suddenly in my land of vision, thumb and forefinger taking hold of my chin, slowly tilting my head up until his eyes were on mine once again. "Try again."

I wrenched my head away, stepping back as I crossed my arms. I glared at him, suddenly furious.

"Tell me about Gallifrey, then. Tell me what really happened. How come you're the last Time Lord. How come you're the only one that survived."

Did you run away? Or did you kill them all?

The change in him was immediate. His shields snapped into place. His eyes were suddenly guarded, closed up. I instantaneously regretted my words.

I winced. "Sorry. I- Just-," I paused, looking into his old eyes. "I'm sorry."

He sighed, looking away, softening just a tad. "It's okay. I'm prying. I'll just… get back to work."

I stopped him with a hand on his arm as he turned away. "I'll tell you. I promise. Just give me time. I swear on anything that matters that I will tell you. I had to make choices my people didn't approve of, and, and-" I paused, but had to say it one more time. Had to make myself believe it. "Someday, I promise I'll tell you."

He was still as he watched me. He licked his lips once before he spoke. "Alright, I'll take you up on that. Doesn't mean I like it, but I'll wait."

I exhaled, shoulders slumping in relief. "Thank you."

He nodded before turning away. "I'm going to check with the Med Bay, see if Abi has anything new."

He approached the intercom and I looked back down at my work. Quite useless, it was. I wasn't actually helping with anything. Just reorganizing the system.

My time was slipping away. I would have to speak with the Doctor, at one time or another. I would have to tell him everything, and I could only hope for the best. Because things could go very wrong. And I still didn't trust the Doctor nearly enough to even hope for the best.

The Doctor was kind, there was no doubt about it. He was old, but he still grasped the every day moments. I knew Osiriens younger than him that thought themselves superior just because they surpassed the two hundred year mark.

But the years had not been kind to the Doctor, that much I knew. He had lived through many things; bad, horrible, things, and I didn't know if the good things were even close to balance them. It scared me, what the last Time Lord was capable of.

"Martha? Riley? How're you doing?" He asked the intercom.

I approached him, trying to hear Martha's response.

Martha's voice crackled through. "Area twenty-nine."

The Doctor slipped on his glasses as he read something on the computer. "Yeah, you've go to move faster."

"We're doing our best."

Riley's voice joined hers. "Find the next number in the sequence three one three, three three one, three six seven." He paused. "What?"

"You said the crew knew all the answers!" Martha despaired.

"The crew's changed since we set the questions."

"You're joking."

The Doctor's head snapped up beside me. "Three seven nine!"

"What?" Martha asked, surprised.

"It's a sequence of happy primes. Three seven nine."

"Happy what?"

The Doctor hit the wall exasperatedly. "Just enter it."

"Are you sure?" Riley asked. "We only get one chance."

The Doctor rolled his eyes at me. "Any number that reduces to one when you take the sum of the square of its digits and you continue iterating until it yields one is a happy number. Any number that doesn't, isn't. A happy prime is a number that is both happy and prime. Now type it in!" he shook his head at me. "I don't know, talk about dumbing down! Don't they teach recreational mathematics any more?"

"We're through!" Martha cried.

The Doctor leaned over the intercom once again. "Keep moving, fast as you can." He paused, taking off his glasses. "And, Martha, be careful. There may something else on board this ship."

Martha's voice shook. "Any time you want to unnerve me, feel free."

The Doctor shared a weak smile with me. "Will do, thanks."

He returned back to work, and sighing, I followed.

The speakers turned on. "Impact in thirty fifty."

I winced, running a hand down my face. Damn the Timepiece. I could just teleport off. Be anywhere in the universe. Anytime. I had had it easy, I now realized. I'd gotten myself into my share of problems, before. Dangerous situations. I just hadn't realized it. Treated everything like a game. One I could turn off with the Timepiece whenever I wanted to.

Before I could have travelled anywhere. What I would give to just disappear to the nice, cool, forests of Deanswell. Just teleport out of here.

Teleport to the TARDIS, I corrected myself. I wouldn't just leave these people behind. Not Martha. Not the Doctor.

A piece of cloth hit me full on the face, and I caught it as it fell, blinking as I tried to make sense out of it.

Erina was looking at me. "Sorry, thought you were paying attention." She gestured at my face, then hers. "You got something down your face. Oil, from the engine, I think."

I scrunched up my nose in distaste, wiping at my face with the foul smelling cloth, then at my hands.

"Thanks."

She shrugged it away.

The Doctor suddenly made a noise of desperation and I looked his way as he handled the equipment and spoke up. "We need back backup in case they don't reach the auxiliary engines in time. Come on, think." He looked at the crew. "Resources. What have we got?"

"Doctor?" Martha's voice from the intercom interrupted him.

Annoyed, he looked in the intercom's direction. "What is it now?"

"Who had the most number ones, Elvis or the Beatles? That's pre-download."

"Elvis." He paused. "No! The Beatles!" He ran a hand through his hair, the sweat making it stand even wilder. "No! Wait! Er. Oh, what was that remix? Er, I don't know. I am a bit busy."

"Fine. I'll ask someone else. Kylie?"

I blinked. "Umm, I haven't even heard of The Bea-tles."

Martha's voice carried her surprise. "What?"

The Doctor looked up, bewildered. "What?"

I shrugged.

The Doctor shook his head. "I know for a fact Osirens listen to the Beatles. I met one."

I rolled my eyes. "Weren't you busy?"

"Right!" He turned around. "Now, where was I? Here comes the sun. No, resources."

I faced the intercom. "Sorry Martha."

"No biggie. I think I'll just phone my mum."

The Doctor was still speaking. "So, the power's still working, the generator's going. If we can harness that. Ah!"

The Captain looked up. "Use the generator to jump-start the ship."

The Doctor smiled in triumph. "Exactly! At the very least, it'll buy us some more time."

The Captain agreed wholeheartedly. "That is brilliant."

"I know. See?" He looked around at the crew, winking at me. "Tiny glimmer of hope."

Scannell frowned. "If it works."

The Captain met his eyes. "Oh, believe me. You're going to make it work."

The Doctor was still grinning as Scannell turned back to work. "That told him."

The countdown was still running down. "Impact in twenty-nine forty-six."

Everybody went back to work, and I huffed. I should have paid more attention back in school, when they tried teaching us how to work engines. Quite a failure, that was.

"Doctor?" Abi called through the intercom from the Med Bay. "These readings are starting to scare me."

"What do you mean?" The Doctor asked back.

"Well, Korwin's body's changing. His whole biological make-up. It's impossible."

There was a pause, and I saw the Doctor's eyes moving over us, unfocused as he listened.

When Abi's voice finally returned, it had changed, drastically. "This is Med-Centre. Urgent assistance requested. Urgent assistance!"

The Doctor's eyes widened before he turned to us. "Stay here! Keep working!" His eyes met mine. "All of you!"

He turned on his heel and ran out. Only a second later, the Captain followed him, hot on his heels.

I rolled my eyes. I would not stay.

I followed after them.

I overtook the Captain easily, running just a few steps behind the Doctor. He heard my steps, glancing behind him.

"I told you to stay!" He yelled, not faltering as he ran.

"I am not your dog, Doctor," I scoffed. "I will not stay when you tell me to."

He spared me another glance, and I swore he looked amused, though he quickly schooled his features. He shook his head. "Nobody ever listens!"

The Doctor suddenly stopped and I wobbled, trying to stop myself from crashing into him. The Doctor was frowning as someone behind me. I followed his gaze, not entirely surprised to see that Scannell had apparently also followed the Doctor and his Captain.

"Captain?" He was asking.

The Doctor was shooting looks between Scannell, the Captain and I. "I told you to stay in Engineering."

The Captain shrugged him off, continuing running. Scannell shot us a look as he followed, sneering as he went; "I only take orders from one person 'round here."

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Oh, is he always this cheery?"

I half smiled, before springing once again into a run, a few steps behind the Doctor.

"Burn with me." The voice ripped through the speakers of the ship. Worried, we increased our speed.

Screams suddenly crackled through the ship's speakers. I stumbled as I ran, equally surprised and horrified. Abi!

"Doctor?" Martha's voice followed through when the shrieks finally died down. "What were those screams?"

We started up the stairs, and I couldn't see the Doctor's face as he responded. "Concentrate on those doors. You've got to keep moving forward!"

As if rehearsed, the computer cut in, "Impact in twenty seven oh six."

Ah, Hell. For once, time was against me, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

We ran into the Med Centre, and we immediately came to a stop. The gurney where Korwin had laid was empty, and so was the rest of the room. Completely vacant.

The Captain gasped. "Korwin's gone."

"Oh, my God."

Something in Scannell's voice made me apprehensive even before I turned to look. I followed his line of sight, immediately gasping in horror.

I now knew why Abi wasn't here.

Her body seemed to have burned into the wall, arms splayed out. Only her shape remained, a shadow burnt into inexistence. I swallowed, hard. I hadn't known Abi. Barely even knew her name. But nobody deserved that.

"Tell me that's not Abi," Scannell whispered.

The Doctor seemed to be the only one capable of movement. He approached the wall slowly, softly tracing the outline with one figure before examining it.

"Endothermic vaporization," He said, turning to look at us. "I've never seen one this ferocious." He paused, and his face changes as if he realized something. "'Burn with me.'"

Scannell winced. "That's what we heard Korwin say."

The Captain stepped forward, bewildered. "What? Do you think?" She met the Doctor's eyes. "No way. Scannell, tell him. Korwin is not a killer. He can't vaporize people. He's human!" She turned to me, despair clear on her eyes. "He is!"

I didn't know what to say. I looked away.

The Doctor approached Abi's workstation, holding up some readings as he squinted at them. "His bioscan results. Internal temperature, one hundred degrees! Body oxygen replaced by hydrogen?" He sounded nothing if not astonished. "Your husband hasn't been infected, he's been overwhelmed."

The Captain snatched the results away. "The test results are wrong."

"But what is it, though?" The Doctor continued, as if he hadn't heard. "A parasite? A mutagenic virus? Something that needs a host body, but how did it get inside him?"

"Doctor!" I yelled, interrupting his tirade. I was watching the Captain's face, saw as it crumbled down with every word he said. I met his eyes as he looked at me, surprised. "He's her husband. Tone down the info, would you?"

"Stop talking like he's some kind of experiment." The Captain pleaded him.

The Doctor wrenched his eyes from mine, and continued. "Where's the ship been? Have you made the planet-fall recently? Docked with any other vessels? Any kind of external contact at all?"

The Captain shook her head. "What is this, an interrogation?"

The Time Lord's eyes were steely. "We've got to stop him before he kills again."

"We're just a cargo ship." She exclaimed.

The woman was close to breaking down, and I wasn't the only one that could tell.

Scannell spoke up. "Doctor, if you give her a minute."

The Captain took a big breath before she shook him off. "I'm fine. I need to warn the crew." She approached the intercom. "Everybody, listen to me. Something has infected Korwin. We think," She paused. "He killed Abi Lerner. None of you must go anywhere near him, is that clear?"

I wondered how much it killed her to say that. I wondered what she was going through. How much did it kill her to turn against a loved one?

My mouth stretched in a grim parody of a smile. Oh, how I ached to ask her.

But it wasn't the same situation, was it? No, not at all. She was forced. He wasn't himself. Korwin was killing people, hurting her crew and friends.

What had I done to make my friends and family turn against me?

A dry laugh caught in my throat.

So much worse.

I think I hated the Doctor for a moment. Right now, this instant. He was forcing things to resurface. Things I hadn't thought of in nearly forty years. Forcing me to face things all over again.

Things that were best left buried. Tombstones that did not need polishing.

"Kylie?" The Doctor's voice intruded into my thoughts.

"Hmm?"

"Are you okay? You look… angry."

I snapped out of my daze, realizing I was glaring at his tall, lanky form. I sighed, shaking off my misplaced anger. I could not fault him. Not for being simply curious.

I gave him a tired smile. "Sorry. Yeah, I'm okay."

He nodded once, accepting my answer, and returned to running his hands over the data spread before him, his brow furrowing in concentration.

The Captain had seated herself a few feet away from me, her elbows on her knees as her hands twisted together worriedly.

She looked up at the Doctor. "Is the infection permanent? Can you cure him?"

The Doctor paused his tinkering, exhaling as he looked at her. "I don't know."

"Don't lie to me, Doctor. Eleven years we've been married. We chose this ship together. He keeps me honest, so I don't want false hope."

The Doctor's voice was almost mechanical. "The parasite's too aggressive. Your husband's gone. There's no way back. I'm sorry."

The Captain looked down. "Thank you." She whispered, broken.

The Doctor approached the beaten down Captain, looking at her eye-level. "Are you certain nothing happened to provoke this? Nobody's working on anything secret? Because it's vital that you tell me."

She shook her head. "I know every inch of this ship. I know every detail of my crew's lives. There is nothing."

"Then why is this thing so interested in you?"

She shrugged. "I wish I knew."

We made our way to the storage area. The Doctor had his glasses out as he inspected the area, tinkering with the controls as he passed them.

"I hope Martha gets there in time." I muttered.

The Doctor spared me a glance, but didn't reply.

The ship's speakers sprang to life and I immediately winced. Nothing good ever came out of this.

"Doctor!" Martha's panicked voice made my blood grow cold. "We're stuck in an escape pod off the area seventeen airlock. One of the crew's trying to jettinson us! You've got to help us!"

"Why is this happening?" The Captain despaired.

"Stay here. I mean it this time!" The Doctor yelled.

I didn't hear the rest. I was already running through the hatches and door, intent on reaching Martha. Only seconds later, the Doctor's footsteps joined mine.

Martha would not die today. We would make sure of that.