"These… humans will become like me." The new, human Dalek Sec said. "Prepare them for hybridisation." The prisoners protested and tried to get away from the pig slaves, which were coming in around them.
"Leave me alone! Don't you dare!" Martha struggled as the Doctor and Violet slipped away behind some machinery, going unnoticed in the fuss.
A song started playing, and the shouts died down, everyone looking towards the source.
"What is that sound?" Dalek Sec demanded. The Doctor stepped out, placing a radio down onto one of the experimenting tables.
"That would be me." He waved. "Hello. Surprise. Boo. Et cetera."
"Doctor." Dalek Sec greeted.
"The enemy of the Daleks." Another Dalek stated.
"Exterminate." One screeched, pointing a mechanical arm at him.
Dalek Sec held up his hands. "Wait."
"Well, then. A new form of Dalek." The Doctor walked forward nonchalantly. "Fascinating and very clever."
"The Cult of Skaro escaped the Unnamed's slaughter." Dalek Sec sneered, and Violet winced where she was still hiding.
"How did you end up in 1930?" The Doctor ignored his comment, knowing that it was a sore subject for Violet.
"Emergency Temporal Shift."
"Oh, that must have roasted up your power cells, yeah?" He scoffed, moving around in the confinement the Daleks had formed around him. "Time was, four Daleks could have conquered the world but instead your skulking away, hidden in the dark, experimenting. All of which results in you." He looked Dalek Sec up and down, not condenscendingly, but curiously.
"Where is the Unnamed?" Dalek Sec looked around. "Surely she's not scared." He provoked.
The Doctor glared, thinking of the pain they had caused her. "What, like you? No- she's so much stronger. But you've grown weaker, haven't you? Devolved into scared, lonely little things, forced to evolve." He turned back to Dalek Sec. "Which brings us back to you."
"I am Dalek in human form."
"What does it feel like? You can talk to me, Dalek Sec. It is Dalek Sec, isn't it? That's your name? You've got a name and a mind of your own. Tell me what you're thinking right now." He said curiously
"I… feel… humanity." Dalek Sec pushed out the words.
"Good. That's good." The Doctor nodded.
"I… feel… everything we wanted from mankind- which is ambition. Hatred. Aggression and war. Such… a genius for war." He mused.
"No, that's not what humanity means-"
"I think it does." Sec interrupted. "At heart, this species is so very…Dalek."
The Doctor was at a loss for words at that, so he changed the topic. "All right, so what have you achieved hen? With this Final Experiment, eh? Nothing! 'Cause I can show you what you're missing with this thing." He pointed at the device he had set down. "Simple little radio."
"What is the purpose of that device?" Dalek Sec interrogated.
"Well, exactly. It plays music. What's the point of that?" He asked sarcastically. "Oh, with music, you can dance to it, sing with it, fall in love to it. Unless you're a Dalek of course." He aimed his sonic at the device, but the other Daleks intercepted his view.
"You will step away from the device." One ordered. The Doctor frowned at his plan gone wrong, but moved away when he saw the laser stalks pointed at him. They moved closer, encircling him so there was no way out.
Violet poked her head around the corner and saw this before stepping out fully.
"Move away from him." She ordered calmly, as the Daleks turned to her in shock.
"The Unnamed! Exterminate!" They screeched and fired at her. They blue bolts missed her by an inch as she ducked behind a beam.
"That's not very nice, is it?" She called. "I was just gonna say hello."
"You will be exterminated!"
She showed her head. "Yeah, I gathered that, thanks. But seriously, let him go." She motioned at the Doctor before dodging out of the way of another bolt.
"He will stay!" They replied, and Violet sighed and stepped in front of the Daleks once more.
"Swap?" She suggested.
The Doctor glared at her. "Don't you dare!" He shouted.
Violet ignored him. "What do you say? You let the Doctor go, release the humans and take me in return. I'd say that's a fair deal." She talked nonchalantly as she moved around the room lightly, the Daleks staying very still.
Once Violet made it to Dalek Sec, who stood before the Doctor still, she stopped and held out her hand.
"Deal?"
He looked down at it for a second, hesitating, before he put his clawed hand in hers.
"Let the humans and the Doctor go." He ordered the pig slaves and Daleks. They did so, and the prisoners ran out as soon as they were free.
"You're not serious, are you? They'll murder you!" The Doctor yelled, enraged at the suicidal act of the girl.
"Let them try." She said with a glint in her eyes. "Now go. They need your help." She pleaded.
He looked at her for a moment, searching for a crumble in her tough resolve that would make her try and run with him, but when he didn't, he nodded and left slowly.
"Thank you." She said as he walked out of the laboratory, catching up with the rest of them. Once he was a safe distance away, she pulled out her sonic and locked the door behind him.
"You do not want to be saved?" Dalek Sec asked, confused.
"You'd kill him in the blink of an eye." Violet spat. "I'm not going to do that."
"I have no intention of killing him. We need your help."
"You want to make human Daleks." Violet summed up as she looked at the body lying in front of her. It was attached to all sorts of tubes, keeping it alive.
"Yes, but we do not have the genius to see the plan through." Dalek Sec said.
"You just called me a genius." Violet pointed out before turning to the other Daleks. "And you're going to let him make a whole new race? You'll be different from them. They'll all be the same, but you won't have emotions or a human body. Imagine that. The Cult of Skaro- outsiders." She taunted them, knowing that it was the only way to get a proper answer out of them.
"We will rule the species together." Sec spoke for them, making Violet shake her head.
"No, I'm asking them." She moved closer to a Dalek. "Are you going to let him take away your supremecy?" She said lowly.
"We are supreme! We will always be supreme!" It screeched suddenly, the other two Daleks moving in on her.
"Daleks! What is the purpose of this attack?" Dalek Sec demanded, but he got no answer. The three of them trapped Violet against the beam she had hidden behind earlier.
"Of course you wouldn't be okay with this!" She said. "You're the Daleks- you don't evolve, and you certainly don't become human!"
"You will not assist." The Daleks told her. "Exterminate!"
They pointed their stalks at her and fired, hitting her chest thrice. She groaned and clutched it, feeling the burn of the lasers hitting her hearts. She fell to the ground an stopped herself screaming as the pain spread through her body like a wildfire underneath the blazing sun.
Slowly, a feeling of numbness enclosed her. Then came the darkness.
When the Doctor burst into the Dalek lab, he immediately started shouting.
"Those people were defenceless! You only wanted me, but no, that wasn't enough for you! You had to start killing 'cause that's the only thing a Dalek's good for!" He accused.
"The deaths… were wrong." Sec admitted.
"I'm sorry?" He raised his eyebrows in the biggest confusion.
"That man, their leader Solomon, he showed courage."
"And that's good?" The Doctor looked for confirmation.
"That's excellent." Sec nodded.
"Is it me or are you just becoming a little bit more human?"
"You are the last of your kind and now I am the first of mine." The hybrid spoke.
The Doctor shook his head. "I'm not the last of my kind. I have Violet." He paused, as if remembering. "Where is she?" He growled.
Sec looked over to where he pig slaves had moved her. "My Daleks got to her before I could convince them otherwise."
"You killed her!" He ran over to her side and checked for heartbeats. When he didn't find any, he moved her so she was lying properly and moved a strand of hair out of her face gently, not even noticing the lone tear running down his face. He stayed that way, on he knees beside her, for a little while before standing up and facing Dalek Sec.
"You murdered her!" He shouted, fury and pain obvious in his eyes.
"And I apologise." He said solemnly. "The Daleks didn't see the potential in her, only her threat."
"But you didn't have to kill her!" The Doctor was shaking. He had only just found her. There was so much he wanted to do with her, so much he wanted them to see, but the Daleks took that away from him. Another thing on the long list of things they had destroyed.
It was deeper than that, though. In those past few weeks, Violet had helped him. She had been there to protect him from his nightmares- from the terrible things he dreamt about. She had been there to save him so many times, and this time she had died doing so. It was his fault.
He had killed her.
There was only darkness. There was no concept of time or space, just the darkness. She was in it. Somewhere, nowhere- she was there, but she wasn't. Because there was nothing. She didn't know how long she floated in the endless night.
But then there was something. It was different- she had never felt anything. It came rushing closer, and she couldn't decipher what it was until it hit her.
Pain.
Fury.
Loss.
She cried out in her mind as the waves kept coming, rolling in on her, making her scream into the darkness.
The Doctor had helped Dalek Sec create the human Daleks. He was still shaking a little, furious over the loss of Violet, but he had to help them. If he hadn't, they would have gone back to destroying the planet.
The gene feed had just been released into the bodies when the lights of the lab turned red and an alarm sounded.
"What's that?" The Doctor looked around.
"What's happening? Is there a malfunction?" Sec asked the Daleks. "Answer me!"
"No, no, no. The gene feed! They're overriding the gene feed!" The Doctor, who had figured out what was happening, rushed over to the controls to try an fix it.
"Impossible. They cannot disobey orders." Sec denied.
The Dalek next to the controls spoke. "The Doctor will step away from the controls." He did so, backing away from the weapon pointed at him.
"Stop! You will not fire." The hybrid commanded.
"He is an enemy of the Daleks."
"And so are you."
"I am your commander." Sec reasoned. "I am Dalek Sec."
"You have lost your authority."
"You are no longer a Dalek."
"What have you done with the gene feed?" The Doctor shouted.
"The new bodies will be 100% Dalek."
"No. You can't do this!" Dalek Sec protested.
"Pig slaves, restrain Dalek Sec and the Doctor." Two pig slaves grabbed Sec, but the Doctor carefully picked up Violet before he was restrained. He looked down at her limp figure and closed his eyes for a second, desperately hoping that she wasn't dead.
A ping sounded, and Lazlo, who was holding the Doctor, spoke quietly. "There's the lift."
"After you." The Doctor said in an equally quiet voice, and the two of them pushed through the pig slaves and headed for the lift, the Doctor pointing his sonic at it.
Once they were inside, Lazlo leant against the side, panting heavily, dragging his collar down as if it were suffocating him.
"We've only got minutes before the gamma radiation reaches the Earth. We need to get to the top of the building." The Doctor said quickly before looking at the almost-pig slave. "Lazlo, what's wrong?"
"Out of breath. It's nothing. We've escaped them, Doctor. That's all that matters." He moved away from the topic, but the Doctor still looked at him in worry.
"I'm sorry about her." Lazlo gestured at Violet. The Doctor looked down at her, lying in his arms.
"So am I." He said.
They rode in silence, but the lift doors opened finally and revealed Martha and Tallulah standing by some plans.
"Doctor!" Martha shouted, running up to him with a huge smile on her face, which faded when she saw the girl in his arms. "What happened to her?" She frowned.
"They killed her." He spat venomously, but gently placed her down on the ground gently.
Martha couldn't help but be slightly envious of the care Violet got even when she was dead. When the Doctor stood back up, she led him to the plans. "We worked it out. We know what they've done. There's Dalekanium on the mast." She pointed out before pausing and looking at him properly. "And it's good to see you too, by the way." She grinned.
"You too." He said and hugged her quickly before a ding sounded and the lift doors closed. "No, no, no. See, never waste time with a hug." He ran to the controls next to it, but pointing his sonic at it didn't help.
"It's a deadlock seal. I can't stop it." He said, not noticing Martha, who was disappointed at the fact that her hug was a 'waste'.
"Where's it going?" She panicked.
"Right down to the Daleks. And they're not going to leave us alone up here. What's the time?" The Doctor asked.
"11:15." Frank replied, looking at a clock.
"Six minutes to go. I've got to remove the Dalekanium before the gamma radiation hits."
Tallulah frowned. "Gammon radiation? What the heck is that?"
Martha looked anxious for a split-second before leading the Doctor outside.
"Oh, that's high. That's very- Blimey, that's high." He said nervously.
"And we've got to go even higher. That's the mast up there, look." She moved to the ladder. "There's three pieces of Dalekanium at the base. We've got to get 'em off."
"That's not 'we'. That's just me." The Doctor corrected her.
"I won't just stand here and watch you!" Martha protested.
"No, you're gonna have your hands full, anyway. I'm sorry, Martha, but you've got to fight." He told her, genuinely sorry.
He started to climb up the scaffolding, leaving Martha, Tallulah, Lazlo and Frank alone. They quickly armed themselves, getting ready for the pig slaves to come out of the lift.
Suddenly, they heard an intake of breath behind them. They turned around to see Violet, sitting up, hands on her chest and breathing heavily.
"Where's the Doctor?" Were the first words out of her mouth.
"He said you were dead!" Tallulah exclaimed.
"He was wrong. Now, where is he?" She pressed.
"We went up, to take the Dalekanium off." She told Violet, scared.
Violet got up and ran for the ladder, but Martha stopped her.
"You can't go up there! He said we had to fight!" She said. If she didn't get to help the Doctor, neither should Violet.
"Yeah, well, he thought I was dead, too."
"You're not going!" Martha glared, making Violet scoff.
"Are you going to stop me?"
Martha nodded. "If I have to."
"Oh for the love of... Stop being so bloody primitive and let me help him!" She moved her out of the way and started climbing up ladder, just seeing the Doctor drop his sonic. She caught it as it fell past her and put it in her pocket.
She heard him shout as he tried to remove the Dalekanium with his bare hands, but when he figured out that it was no use, he climbed up the mast and held onto it tightly just as the lightning hit.
"Theta!" Violet shouted, trying to move her exhausted body faster, seeing him being electrocuted by the bolt of lightning. The lightning passed along the whole building, and Violet clenched her teeth, not so much in pain, but at hearing the Doctor scream.
She made it up to the top just as the lightning stopped and caught the Doctor as he fell from the mast, unconsious. She checked his vitals quickly before letting out a breath and dropping her head on to his chest in exhaustion.
"We're going to be alright, Theta." She whispered and took his hand into hers.
She heard a woman's screech. "Doctor? Doctor!" Martha came into view and knelt next to the Doctor, completely ignoring the woman lying beside him. "Are you okay?"
He moved slowly. "Oh, my head." He groaned.
"Hiya." Martha smiled in relief.
"Hi." He croaked. "You survived then."
"So did you." Martha retorted, before adding, "Just about."
Violet sat up, clutching her head. "Just ignore me, then."
The Doctor looked at her in shock, only just realising she was there. "But you were-"
"Dead?" She suggested. "Yeah, I was."
The Doctor shook his head. "That's impossible. You can't come back from the dead... How does that work?"
"Well, if you want me to go..." She trailed off with a slight smirk on her face.
"Oh, come here." He held out his arms and hugged Violet, who laughed. When he let go of her, she slapped him across the face.
"What was that for?!" He exclaimed, holding his cheek.
"For being an idiot." She replied, but was smiling.
The Doctor grinned. "Yeah, but you wouldn't have me any other way, right?"
"Touché." She got up, pulling him up with her. "Now, no time to waste. Manhattan needs us."
They went dow the scaffolding and looked out at the city. "The Daleks will have gone straight to a war footing. They'll be using the sewers, spreading their soldiers out underneath Manhattan." The Doctor guessed.
"How do we stop them?" Lazlo asked.
"There's only one chance. I got in the way. That gamma strike went zapping though me first." He moved into the building, still holding Violet's hand.
Martha followed after them. "But what does that mean?"
"We need to draw fire. Before they can attack New York, I need to face them." He changed the topic. "Think, think, think, think. We need some sort of space, somewhere safe, somewhere out of the way." He spoke more to himself than anyone else.
"Tallulah!" Violet spun around.
"That's me. Three Ls and an H." She said proudly.
"The theatre! It should be empty, it's past midnight. Can you get us inside?" She asked.
The show girl shrugged. "Don't see why not."
"Is there another lift?" The Doctor asked, eyeing the pig slaves lying in it, dead.
"We came up in the service elevator." Martha suggested, wanting to be helpful.
"That'll do. Allons-y!" He ran off, pulling Violet with him.
They arrived in the dark theatre and the Doctor immediately threw his coat to the ground and jumped up onto the seats, Violet following too.
"This should do it." The Doctor looked at Violet, who nodded and got out her sonic.
"Hope they have insurance." She muttered and started messing with the device.
"There ain't nothin' more creepy than a theatre in the dark." Tallulah commented. "Listen, Doctor, I know you got a thing for showtunes, but there's a time and place, huh?" She complained, but stopped when Lazlo fell into the chair beside her.
"Lazlo, what's wrong?" She worried, sitting down next to him.
"Nothing. It's just so hot." Lazlo said, breathing heavily.
"But…it's freezing in here." She turned to the Time Lords. "Doctor, what's happening to him?"
Violet gave him a look, and he moved from the seat to Lazlo, checking his condition while Violet checked the frequency of her sonic.
"What are you doing?" Martha asked her reluctantly.
"If the Daleks are going to war, they'll wanna find their number one enemy. I'm just telling them where I am." Violet held up her sonic, the blue light at the tip blinking, sending a signal. "You should go." She commented.
"I'm not leaving him again!" She protested.
"You have to." Violet said curtly, putting her sonic back into her pocket.
"Who are you to order me around? Some kind of Dalek?" Martha sneered.
Violet stopped, and the Doctor watched her cautiously as she turned to the young woman. "No. I'm a thousand times worse."
Just then, the doors of the theatre bursted open and the human Daleks marched in, holding guns that resembled to the ones of Dalek machines.
"Oh, my God! Well I guess that's them then, huh?" Tallulah held onto Lazlo tighter.
"Humans… with Dalek DNA." Martha commented, looking around.
Frank went to move forward, but the Doctor held him back. "It's all right. Just stay calm. Don't antagonize them."
"But what about the Dalek masters? Where are they?" Lazlo questioned.
As that question was spoken, there was an explosion on stage. The group ducked behind the seats to avoid the debris that flew through the theatre.
Once the smoke cleared, two Daleks could be seen, Dalek Sec chained to them and crawling between them.
"The Unnamed and the Doctor will stand before the Daleks." They ordered. The Doctor grabbed her hand as they both stepped over the seats to stand in the front row.
"You will die, Time Lords. It is the beginning of a new age."
"Planet Earth will become New Skaro."
"Oh, and what a world." Violet commented."With anything just the slightest bit different ground into the dirt."
The Doctor pointed at the creature on it's hands and knees between them. "That's Dalek Sec. Don't you remember? The cleverest Dalek ever and look what you've done to him. Is that your new empire? Hm? Is that the foundation for a whole new civilization?"
"My Daleks… just understand this." Dalek Sec spoke up. "If you choose death and destruction, then death and destruction will choose you."
"Incorrect. We will always survive."
"Now we will destroy our greatest enemies."
"But he can help you." Sec tried to reason with them.
"The Doctor must die." They denied him.
"No, I beg you, don't." Dalek Sec started to stand up in front of one of the Daleks.
"Exterminate!" It screeched just as Sec stood, and it shot him, killing him instantly.
"Your own leader." The Doctor sneered. "The only creature who might have led you out of the darkness and you destroyed him." He turned to the human Daleks. "Do you see what they did? Huh? You see what a Dalek really is?"
"Since we're going to die either way, let's give them a try." Violet gestured at the hybrids. "How about it? Your new race baptised in the blood of their greatest enemies. Go on." She suggested darkly. The Doctor squeezed her hand as they cocked their guns and aimed at them.
"What are you waiting for? Give the command!" The Doctor taunted.
"Exterminate!" The Daleks ordered, but nothing happened, so they repeated the order.
"Exterminate!" They screeched, but there was still nothing.
"Exterminate!" They tried again.
"Why?" One of the human Daleks asked.
"Daleks do not question orders."
"But why?" He asked again.
"You will stop this."
"But… why?" He repeated.
"You always do question everything." She nudged the Doctor.
"You must not question." The Daleks said.
"But you are not our master. And we… we are not Daleks." The man denied.
"No, you're not, and you never will be." Violet told him.
Sorry, I got in the way of the lightening strike. Time Lord DNA got all mixed up." The Doctor told the Daleks.
"Just that little bit of freedom." Violet grinned.
"If they will not obey, then they must die." The Dalek promptly shot the man that had asked questions.
"Get down!" The Doctor shouted. They did so, only hearing the hybrids systematically shoot the Daleks, and the Daleks taking them out one by one.
"Exterminate!" They shouted, but were both blown up in the following moments. When the hybrids stopped firing, the Doctor and Violet went over the one of them.
"It's all right. You did it. You're free." The Doctor told him. Violet moved to another, but they all clutched their heads and started screaming, falling to the ground.
"No!" The Doctor shouted. "They can't! They can't! They can't!" He knelt down next to one of the bodies. Violet did so too, but she was more interested in the Doctor than the hybrids. She pulled him away from it, hugging him.
"I'm sorry, Theta." She whispered. He nodded and wrapped his arms around her, shaking a little. He held onto her tightly, the sorrow overwhelming him as she soothed him, running a hand over his back rythmatically.
Martha ran over to them. "What happened? What was that?" She questioned, breaking them apart.
"They killed 'em. Rather than let them live." He spat. "An entire species- genocide." Violet took his hand again, despite Martha's looks. He needed her- Martha could wait.
"Only two of the Daleks have been destroyed." Lazlo spoke up, feeling pitiful for the Doctor, seeing how much it pained him. "One of the Dalek masters must still be alive."
The Doctor and Violet stood up. "Oh, yes. In the whole universe. Just one."
The Dalek was still connected to the battle computer when the Doctor and Violet barged in.
"Now what?" The Doctor asked.
"You will be exterminated." The Dalek stated.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Just think about it, Dalek- What was your name?"
"Dalek Caan." It said.
"Dalek Caan. Your entire species has been wiped out. And now the Cult of Skaro has been eradicated. Leaving only you." Violet stepped forward.
"Right now you're facing the only people in the universe who might show you some compassion. 'Cause I've just seen one genocide. I won't cause another. Caan… let me help you." The Doctor paused. "What do you say?"
Caan was silent for a second before he screeched, "Emergency Temporal Shift!" and disappeared, only leaving wires behind. The Doctor growled lowly and Violet took his hand in a silent apology.
"Doctor! Doctor! He's sick!" Martha shouted, appearing with Tallulah, both of them supporting Lazlo, who was breathing heavily. The lowered him onto the floor, and Tallulah held him in her arms.
"It's okay. You're all right." Martha reassured him. Violet and the Doctor approached them. "It's his heart. It's racing like mad. I've never seen anything like it." She told them.
"What is it, Doctor?" Tallulah asked frightfully. "What's the matter with him? He says he can't breathe? What is it?"
"It's time, sweetheart." Lazlo wheezed.
"What do you mean 'time'? What are you talking about?" She frowned.
"None of the slaves survive for long. Most of them only live a few weeks. I was lucky. I held on 'cause I had you. But now… I'm dyin', Tallulah." He confessed.
"No you're not. Not now, after all this." She turned to the Time Lords. "Can't you do somethin'?"
"Oh, Tallulah with three Ls and an H- just you watch." The Doctor stood up and threw away his coat. Violet saw the determination in his eyes and smiled when he looked at her. She could have helped him- in fact, she could have probably done it more efficiently- but she knew that he needed to do it.
"What do we need? Oh, I don't know. How about a great big genetic laboratory? Oh look, we've got one. Lazlo, just you hold on." The Doctor started running about, fixing up a cure, making Martha smile.
"There's been too many deaths today. Way too many people have died. Brand new creatures and wise old men and age-old enemies. And I'm telling you, I'm telling you right now, I am not having one more death! Got that? Not one!" He paused. "Tallulah, out of the way." He took out his stethoscope and put it on.
"The Doctor is in."
The Doctor, Violet, Martha, Tallulah and Lazlo were waiting in Central Park when Frank returned.
"Well I talked to 'em and I told 'em what Solomon would've said and I reckon I shamed one or two of 'em." Frank smiled.
"What did they say?" The Doctor asked.
"They said yes." Tallulah hugged Lazlo tearfully. "They'll give you a home, Lazlo. I mean, uh, don't imagine people ain't gonna stare. I can't promise you'll be at peace but, in the end, that is what Hooverville is for, people who ain't got nowhere else."
"Thank you. I- I can't thank you enough." Lazlo said genuinely and hugged Tallulah once more.
"I'm sorry." The Doctor sat down next to Violet, who was sitting by the open door of the TARDIS, looking into space.
"What for?" She asked distantly, concentrating on the stars.
"The Daleks killed you because you took my place." He said gravely.
Violet looked up at his pained expression. "They would have killed you." She told him softly, trying to stop him from blaming himself, but instead, he just changed topics.
"How did you come back?" He questioned curiously.
Violet sighed and leant her head on his shouler. "I told you, Theta. They changed my whole biology."
"But how does it work? Do you just... never regenerate?" He frowned.
"No, I do." She took a breath before she launched into explaination. "When a Dalek shoots me, the damage is spread around my whole body. It's supposed to heal before it kills me, but they shot me thrice and the damage was too much. So instead, my body repaired itself while I was dead and then started up my hearts again."
"Does it hurt?" The Doctor asked quietly.
Violet hesitated before nodding. "Terribly." She whispered.
"How many times have you died?"
"It doesn't matter." She ignored the look the Doctor was giving her. "You should sleep."
He sighed. "So should you."
"You were electrocuted."
"You died."
"Touché." They looked at each other for a second before grin broke out on the Doctor's face, making Violet laugh a little.
"You still have to sleep, though." She pointed out.
"Yes, mother." He joked.
Violet slapped him on the arm before looking at him seriously. "How are you?"
"I'm fine." He said lightly, wearing a strained smile.
"Please don't lie to me." She whispered, her eyes pleading.
"Sorry... Force of habit." He said honestly.
"It shouldn't have to be, Theta. Don't hide how you feel." She put hand on top of his. "Not from me, anyway."
He looked at their hands and intertwined their fingers gently before speaking. "I won't."
Violet smiled at that before getting up, pulling the Doctor with her. "So, we've got the whole of time and space to see. Where next?"