Hey guys! Chapter 26:)

Enjoy!

Jenny, or 'Mother of Mine' as Baines called her, disentangled herself from Martha and joined her family. I stepped beside Martha, and we both held our guns in their direction.

I tried not to notice how Martha's hands shook as they clutched the gun. How mine didn't. How the Doctor should have reacted as he saw us hold guns. He should have been disappointed. He should have taken them from us.

He didn't. He was Mr. Smith now. A confused human that didn't want anything to do with this.

I couldn't really blame him.

"Don't try anything." Martha ordered. "I'm warning you, or Sonny boy gets it."

Baines cocked his head. "She's almost brave, this one." His eyes then narrowed at me. "And this one. She has held a gun before."

I shrugged, flashing a fake smile. "Better be careful, then."

Jenny smiled back. "I should have taken one of their forms. Much more fun. So much spirit. The other female humans are so very dull."

They thought I was human. That was good. Finally we had a small advantage.

As one, the family stalked a bit closer. Warily, Martha and I stepped back.

"What happened to Jenny?" Martha asked them. "Is she gone?"

"She is consumed. Her body's mine."

Martha glared. "You mean she's dead."

Jenny grinned. "Yes. And she went with precious little dignity. All that screaming."

Martha suddenly screamed and my head spun in her direction. A scarecrow was holding her from behind. With a snarl, I fired the gun in its direction, and it disintegrated into thin air. Martha's hand connected with my arm and pulled me after her as we ran out of the building.

Joan and Mr. Smith were the only two that remained outside the village hall. Maybe he hadn't abandoned us completely after all. Martha was near hysterics as she screamed at them.

"Don't just stand there, move! God, you're rubbish as a human." She pulled Mr. Smith by the arm. "Come on!"

We ran towards the school, and I watched as the Doctor huffed and panted right along with Martha and Joan. The two hearts were really gone. I wasn't sure why it continued to surprise me. I wasn't doing much better, stumbling after them. The dress was a nuisance, one I'd rather didn't have.

We entered the school, the Doctor closing the main doors behind us. He reached for a bell placed nearby, and I watched in bewilderment as he began to ring it.

"What are you doing?" Martha exclaimed.

Mr. Smith didn't even look at her. "Maybe one man can't fight them, but this school teaches us to stand together. Take arms! Take arms!"

Martha and I exchanged glances. This was the furthest he could get from the Doctor. Take arms? These kids?

"You can't do that!" Martha said in disbelief.

"You want me to fight, don't you? Take arms! Take arms!"

Martha looked at me. "We can't let him do this."

I bit my lip, looking at the Doctor as he barked out orders before settling my eyes on her. "I don't think we have a choice." I swallowed. "He's human now and… I don't know how else we can stop them."

Martha wasn't convinced. She darted around the kids handing out guns, the soldiers, and followed Mr. Smith.

"You can't do this, Doctor." She insisted. "Mister Smith!"

I trailed after them; stashing my own alien gun in one of my coat's pockets, dread boiling a pit in my stomach.

"They're just boys." Martha insisted. "You can't ask them to fight. They don't stand a chance."

Mr. Smith finally stopped, turning to look at her. "They're cadets, Miss Jones. They are trained to defend the King and all his citizens and properties."

A door slammed, and another man entered. The headmaster.

"What in thunder's name is this?" He asked. "Before I devise an excellent and endless series of punishments for each and every one of you, could someone explain very simply and immediately exactly what is going on?"

Mr. Smith stepped up. "Headmaster, I have to report the school is under attack."

Unbelief colored the headmaster's voice. "Really? Is that so? Perhaps you and I should have a word in private."

"No, I promise you, sir. I was in the village with Matron. It's Baines, sir. Jeremy Baines and Mister Clark from Oakham Farm. They've gone mad, sir. They've got guns. They've already murdered people in the village. I saw it happen."

The headmaster turned towards Joan. "Matron, is that so?"

She nodded. "I'm afraid it's true, sir."

"Murder on our own soil?"

She nodded, again. "I saw it. Yes."

"Perhaps you did well then, Mister Smith." The Headmaster said, surprised. "What makes you think the danger's coming here?"

Mr. Smith hesitated. "Well, sir, they said-"

Joan took over. "Baines threatened Mister Smith, sir. Said he'd follow him. We don't know why."

The headmaster exhaled before straightening his shoulders. "Very well. You boys, remain on guard." He turned towards the kids. "Mister Snell, telephone for the police. Mister Philips, with me. We shall investigate."

Martha blocked his path. "No! But it's not safe out there."

The headmaster sneered. "Mister Smith, it seems your favorite servant is giving me advice. You will control her, sir." He brushed past her.

Martha turned towards me. "This is not right. We have to stop it. Doctor-"

I grasped Martha's shoulder, dragging her around until she faced me. "Martha," I said, lowly. "This is not the Doctor. You need to understand that. This is man, a human man, with his memories, and fears, and wants, and desires. He's no longer the brilliant Time Lord we know."

She hesitated, despair in her eyes, before nodding. "Well then, let's change that. We've got to find that watch."

I nodded back, running after her as she exited the room, surprised when nurse Joan joined us. We ran through the hallways, holding our skirts in our hands and stumbling in out heels. I was tempted to throw them off.

I'm not sure what was it that made me stop in the middle of the hall. Joan brushed past me, but I didn't move. There was something in the air that had called my attention. A whisper, of sorts.

Keep me safe. Keep me dark. Keep me closed.

The hall seemed empty, and though I couldn't quite convince myself that I had imagined it, I ignored it and ran after the two nurses.

We entered a new room, a study, with stacks and stacks of books and memorabilia piled up, one over the other. Martha rushed towards the nearest table, looking around for the watch. I bit my lip, looking around. The room was a mess. How would we find it here?

"This is mad." Joan huffed beside me.

Martha didn't turn around. "I know it sounds mad, but when the Doctor became human, he took the alien part of himself and he stored it inside the watch." She paused. "It's not really a watch, it just looks like a watch."

Joan blinked. "And alien means not from abroad, I take it."

That surprised a chuckle out of me as I searched the fireplace. "Try another galaxy."

Martha nodded. "The man you call Johan Smith, he was born on another world."

Joan mulled it over. "A different species."

"Yeah."

Then tell me. In this fairy tale, who are you?" Joan's eyes flickered over to me. "Both of you?"

Martha looked away. "Just friends."

"And human, I take it?"

Martha looked over to me, and I grinned. "She's human," I said. "I'm not."

Joan blinked, started. "What?"

"I'm Osirien. And, before you ask me to prove it, I can't. You'd have to open me up. And we don't have time to put on our surgical gloves." I took my coat's sleeve and pushed it up, showing her my Timepiece. "This helps me travel through time and space, very much like the Doctor."

Joan looked paler than before. "The watch. It looks just as it does on his drawings."

I remembered Martha mentioning how the Doctor wrote his dreams down. His memories. So I nodded, meeting her eyes.

"I'm not only human." Martha broke the sudden tense silence. "I'm training to be a doctor. Not an alien doctor, a proper doctor. A doctor of medicine."

Joan spluttered. "Well that certainly is nonsense. Women might train to be doctors, but hardly a skivvy and hardly one of you color."

Well, fuck you too. I looked up to see Martha's face change, determined to prove Joan wrong.

"Oh, do you think? Bones of the hand." She sneered, lifting up her hand and pointing as she explained. "Carpal bones, proximal row. Scaphoid, lunate, tiquetal, pisiform. Distal row. Trapezium, trapezoid, capitate, hamate. Then the metacarpal bones extending in three distinct phalanges. Proximal, middle, distal."

"Go Martha." I muttered, grinning.

They were a bunch of meaningful words to me, but nurse Joan seemed to get them. Even looked somewhat impressed.

"You read that in a book." She said.

Martha rolled her eyes. "Yes, to pass my exams. Can't you see this is true?"

The nurse turned away. "I must go."

"If we find that watch, then we can stop them." Martha insisted.

Joan shook her head. "Those boys are going to fight. I might not be a doctor, but I'm still their nurse. They need me."

She left, and Martha turned to me with a huff. "I can't believe her."

I looked out the door, where Joan had disappeared. "She's brave, I'll give her that. But I don't much like her. She's going to complicate the Doctor's return. If we find the watch."

Martha frowned, sighing as she returned to her search. I approached a desk, sifting through the piles of papers. I paused when one caught my attention.

The TARDIS took most of the space, right in the middle of the blank piece of paper, in all of its boxy glory. The top left corner of the page had the lower part of an arm in it, extending all the way to the fingertips. It was female, and it was mine. The Timepiece rested on the wrist. The lower right corner was what made my breath catch. It was me. My lower face was hidden by a bandanna, but the forehead, the eyes and the hair were definitely mine. The drawing was shoulders up, and I looked straight back at myself. It was how I probably looked back in New New York, the attraction patch running through my veins. I so hoped he didn't dream all that.

The likeness was uncanny. The Doctor had a talent I had not been aware of. He made me… prettier than I was. I liked it.

I folded the paper in half, stashing it in my coat right as Martha stepped back from her stash, giving a little scream as she threw some of the paper into the air.

I blinked. "Are you all right?" I asked.

"It's not here! Somebody must have taken it. Come on."

She strode off, and with a roll of my eyes, I followed. Martha's feet stomped down the wooden floor, and yet, I heard another whisper.

Beware.

I blinked, stopping and looking around. I now knew I wasn't imagining it. But I didn't know what it was. Much less where it came from.

Frowning, I followed the hallway after Martha, catching her just as she entered the kitchen. She and Joan were against a window, peering outside.

"It's about to start." Martha whispered.

I leaned against the glass, staring out at the trenches and the boys sitting behind them, ready with their guns. Mr. Smith was amongst them, holding a rifle and staring determinately at the door.

The huge door was shaking with each push of the scarecrows, and then, all of a sudden, it broke.

Scarecrows rushed in, followed by the sound of gunfire. One by one, each of the scarecrows fell to the bullets, lying in heaps. Fortunately, none of the things ever reached the boys, falling before they could.

I looked at Mr. Smith, noticing his stillness. He had not fired once, even though he was in the perfect position to do so. Some of the Doctor must be bleeding through.

The fight died down until nothing remained. It was just a moment of silence, however, when a new figure stepped through the door. I blinked, realizing it was a little girl holding up a balloon. The headmaster approached her, before I saw Martha stop him.

I ran out of the school, surprised I hadn't heard her leave.

"Just listen to me!" Martha said. "She's part of it. Matron, tell him."

Joan looked indecisive. "I think that. I don't know. I think you should stay back, headmaster."

"Mister Smith-" Martha tried.

"She was, she was with, with Baines in the village."

The headmaster shook his head. "Mister Smith, I've seen many strange sights this night, but there is no cause on God's Earth that would allow me to see this child in the field of battle, sir. Come with me."

The little girl just smiled. "You're funny."

The headmaster tried smiling back. "That's right. Now take my hand."

"So funny."

The little girl drew her gun, and with the sweet smile still on her face, she shot the headmaster. We all watched in horror as he disintegrated.

She turned towards us. "Now who's going to shoot me? Any of you, really?"

"Put down your guns." Mr. Smith abruptly ordered.

One of the boys hesitated. "But sir, the headmaster."

Mr. Smith shook his head. "I'll not see this happen. Not anymore. You will retreat in an orderly fashion back through the school. Hutchinson, lead the way."

"But sir-"

"I said, lead the way."

Baines stepped up beside the little, grinning. "Well, go on, then. Run!"

He fired his gun into the air, and everybody exploded into action. The boys ran inside, and the scarecrows rushed after them. I pulled Martha through the doorway, relieved when I saw the Doctor and Joan running close behind.

The minutes that followed were a nightmare. We ran from room to room, hall to hall, trying to get all the kids out to safety. They were slow, and felt like hours.

"Let's go. Quick as you can." Mr. Smith told the boys.

"Don't go to the village." Martha added. "It's not safe."

The Doctor turned towards us. "An you ladies."

Joan shook her head. "Not till we've got the boys out."

Yeah. And we weren't letting Mr. Smith out of our sight.

We passed by an open doorway, leading out to the forest. Mr. Smith peered outside, turning once again towards us. "Now. I insist. Go. If there are any more boys inside, I'll find them."

Without waiting for a response, he opened another door, leading to the school. He immediately closed it again and locked it, and I could only guess that scarecrows were waiting inside.

"I think," he said, pulling us through the open doorway. "Retreat."

We ran along the edges of the forest, jumping over overgrown bushes and sprinting past trees, keeping the school always to our right.

"Doctor! Doctor!"

We paused, hearing the taunts. With a finger against my lips, I motioned the rest of our group behind some bushes, and peered towards the school.

Clark was standing there, surrounded by scarecrows. But what caught my attention was the glow coming from behind them.

The TARDIS.

Ah, hell.

"Come back, Doctor." Clark continued shouting. "Come home. Come home and claim your prize."

The rest of the family gathered around Clark. I glanced at Mr. Smith, seeing his eyes riveted on the TARDIS.

"Out you come, Doctor." Baines joined in. "There's a good boy. Come to the Family."

"Time to end it now."

Mr. Smith didn't even react. He seemed fascinated by the spaceship standing tall behind the family.

"You recognize it, don't you?" Martha prodded.

"I've never seen it in my life." He breathed.

"Do you remember its name?" She asked.

He finally looked at her, and his eyes were wide. He was finally starting to believe us.

"I'm sorry, John," Joan said softly, holding his shoulder. "But you wrote about it. The blue box. You dreamt of a blue box."

He shook his head. "I'm not. I'm John Smith. That's all I want to be. John Smith, with his life, and his job, and his self. Why can't I be John Smith? Isn't he a good man?"

I winced, hearing the despair in his voice. The way it almost broke. This was killing him. How could we do this to him?

How could we not?

"Yes." Joan finally replied. "Yes, he is."

"Why can't I stay?"

I closed my eyes, knowing that I had never been so cruel. I felt like crying.

"But we need the Doctor." Martha said softly.

I couldn't meet his eyes. "We need the real you."

Mr. Smith shook his head. "What am I, then? Nothing. I'm just a story."

He stood up, leaving us behind. We exchanged looks, Martha's eyes reflecting the same turmoil I felt.

The Doctor was not a happy creature. He carried a burden within himself. He was the last of his kind, the last Time Lord in existence, and he was lonely. Even when he smiled, his eyes never truly lost their sadness.

But he was our friend. The keenest mind I had ever known. The kindest smile I had ever seen. Probably the bravest creature I had ever met.

And he was this world's best hope for survival.

With a sigh, Martha and I got up, trailing after the two humans.

I could only hope he'll forgive us.