Chapter 37 – Lovely, Crunchy, Fresh-Baked Cookies
"Time to get up!" a shrill voice screamed through the Doctor's brain as he opened his eyes, only being able to watch as Khthonia stepped in through the cell door and extended out Her hand, sending coils of purple rope-like energy around his ankles and snapping together. She waved Her hand once more and his broken legs were suddenly dragging him along the floor, the sudden pain a shock to his system as he let loose involuntarily cries of pure, undivided agony.
"Doctor!" he heard Jack's cry for him as the entire world was instantaneously turned upside-down and the pain began to mount. Ropes suddenly flew around his wrists, binding them tightly, after which the rope began to coil around his entire body, keeping him immobilised. All the while he was screaming with the agony in his legs, currently supporting his entire weight as he hung upside-down in the middle of the cell, unable to move.
"Let him go!" Rose demanded, although she was obviously out of her place to make orders.
She gave Rose a truly evil smile, which lingered for a few moments before it fell, and she grew wearily of the Doctor's cries. "Oh do shut up," She said calmly over the Doctor as She lifted Her hand once more, purple aura tingling on the Doctor's skin as he continued to cry out.
Rose almost cried with joy as Mickey Smith suddenly turned into the room, eyes transfixed to the far wall. He was holding a baseball bat; walking up behind Her as he lifted it high above his head, ready to strike it down…
His aim was perfect.
"What're youdoin'?!"Rose shrieked after the bat hit the Doctor's head and he fell silent and limp. "Mickey, it's us! It's Rose!"
He didn't seemed to register her as Khthonia waved Her hand once more and the magical ropes slackened, letting the Doctor fall headfirst onto the ground. Still, Mickey made no move to help them.
"Mickey!" Rose tried again, but by now Jack was resting his hand on her shoulder.
"That's not Mickey. Not anymore," he said lowly as Khthonia gazed at the Doctor with pure lust.
"I've been waiting a long time for this," She said in delight, licking her lips as She waved Her hand one last time, Mickey moving forward and taking the bound Time Lord roughly down the long corridor to realms unknown.
Rose already knew what She was going to do, but she refused to cry.
She allowed him to come back to semi-consciousness just for a moment. Just long enough for him to realise he was in Her bedroom, bound down tightly with strong restraints. Just long enough to realise what She was going to do with him, and get cleanly away with.
When he fell unconscious once more, She made Her move.
The Doctor sat with his son the entire night, holding the boy's hand tightly. The time it took was unlimited – he could only hope his Tenth form had taught his son enough about the process for Rory to go through it on his own, without his true father by his side like he had promised to be. The Ninth Doctor wasn't that far out of parenthood himself, before things in the War had been taken out of control. It was for that reason he would protect his son and daughter now; save them and their mother like he hadn't been able to before.
He stayed by the boy's side for three hours solid, Jackie and Rose on the other side. Three hours of total silence, just waiting for the moment to arrive. Lucky for them, it came sooner rather than later.
"Doctor, what's that?"
The Doctor lifted his head from his hands slowly, as if expecting it to be another false alarm. At first he couldn't see it, but as his eyes finally began to adjust he saw what Rose had, and he went rigid.
That golden glow tingling on his skin. Yes. The Doctor squeezed reassuringly on the boy's hand. "I'm here Rory. Listen to my voice. Go towards the golden light. Nothing else matters right now, just concentrate on my voice and follow my instructions. Go towards the golden light. Don't' stop, don't think, just do it."
Milliseconds felt like hours as the golden light slowly began to intensify on his skin, until he was finally consumed by a complete hue of gold.
"C'mon," the Doctor muttered, "just a little more…Rory, I want you to think of your daddy, picture his face…"
Then it came. Suddenly the bright golden light shot out like a funnel around his head and hands, rejuvenating his physical form into a stronger, healthier boy. Finally a smile broadened on the Doctor's face, and soon Jackie and Rose were crying out with joy.
"He'll look different and act a little different, but he'll still be him," the Doctor assured mainly his Rose, as Jackie already knew this. "He'll be weak for a while, probably a little manic at times but that's natural."
He turned back to Rory as the sound began to fade, and then got the shock of his life.
Rory was coming around. He opened his eyes slowly, tentively, as if terrified what was out there. He blinked a few times to focus, seeing the three gathered around where he was laying on apparently thin air.
"Hey…" he suddenly said, reaching up to his chest and resting a hand on the right side. Suddenly his confusion turned into a bright grin resembling that of his father's. "I've got two boom-booms granny!"
Jackie was crying with joy as she launched forward to strangle him in a vice-like hug, seemingly having unnoticed the matter that was slightly wrong here. Rory squirmed beneath her grip, finally managing to wriggle out and lift his hands up to his face, tracing it over in inspection. After a moment of exploration, he frowned.
"Daddy lied," he said suddenly, looking a little annoyed. "He said I'd change!"
The Doctor just stared, watching the boy with the familiar blondy-brown tufts and deep brown eyes without comprehension. This wasn't right. Something had gone wrong.
Rory Sigma-Tyler had just regenerated into the same body.
They didn't know how much time had truly passed but whatever it was, it was far too long. Rose was holding onto Jack, thoughts and fears flashing through her mind for the Doctor's welfare.
"He'll be fine Rose, you know him." Jack reassured her, holding her close.
She nodded, but didn't reply.
Suddenly there was a loud clicking sound, and an explosion of light down the corridor that hurt Rose's eyes. The dungeon door had just been opened. She instantly pulled away from Jack and bounced over to the bars, pressing her face against them to see what was going on. She could see two silhouettes in the doorway, one dragging a body along behind them. Three guesses who they were.
She bit her tongue to stop herself from crying out to the Doctor, knowing it would do no good. She watched the limp body as it was dragged along the concrete flooring, catching the Doctor's face in the light. He was looking dry now, and dressed in his own clean clothes. Rose could see the other figure now, Mickey, face set in stone as it had been before.
She felt Jack move next to her, watching as the cell door just flew open infront of Mickey. He threw the Doctor's body inside, and before they could even move the door slammed shut and Mickey had disappeared back out the dungeon door. The light disappeared, and once again the only source of light came from the tiny barred drain above their heads.
"Doctor?" Rose moved forward towards him, turning his head gently to the side to reveal a large dark bruise across his left temple and a couple of scratches by his right eye. She gently ran a finger over the scratches, watching Jack as he quickly accessed the Doctor over.
"See? Told you he would be fine!" Jack beamed as he drew back, throwing his coat over the Doctor once more. "Doc, wake up…" he said gently in the Time Lord's ear, "I've got cookies…lovely, crunchy, fresh-baked cookies…"
"Wha…? Where?" the Doctor suddenly murmured, eyes shooting open with an expression of anticipation. He took a moment to register them both in his view, and then his face fell. "Oh, I'm still here. Jack, you're a liar. You don't have any cookies."
"Whoops," Jack said, not sounding in the least bit apologetic. Rose smiled, leaning down and pressing a kiss to the Doctor's lips. After a moment she tried to pull away, but his arms quickly flew up and wrapped around her, holding her to him.
"Rose, I'm so sorry," he murmured in-between kisses. "I love you."
Rose didn't really have to ask what had brought this on. "It's okay, I love you too. I know you put up a fight," she said with a smile, brushing back his hair. "When we get back home we're gonna have constant sex for a week, okay?"
"Do it right now if you like," Jack shrugged, gesturing his hand towards them both as they turned to stare at him. "I can watch. Or, if you need a third person…"
"Err, no thanks," the Doctor cut over him, looking a little terrified.
There was a momentary pause as Rose kissed the Doctor once more, realising it had been quite a long time since she'd done so. "…How long are we gonna stay here for?"
Neither Jack nor the Doctor had an answer to that one.
"They'll be back for us Rose," Jack said after another uncomfortable pause, resting a hand on her arm. "Till then we just gotta survive."
But Rose wasn't sure if they could even do that for very long.
A/N: 'Not so sire, 'tis a job for the mighty FORK!!!' (Ahem) Anyway...I know what you're thinking: "HOW LONG CAN SHE POSSIBLY KEEP ON RAMBLING FOR?!" ...I'll admit this one went a bit out of control but I just did that ego-inflating thing and read through my reviews for the previous chapter and thought to myself, "wow! These people are actually reading it! But I'm taking an age to update! WHERE IS THE JUSTICE?!" so I'm going to try and hurry myself along so it's at least finished before series four :D
That being said, don't ask me how long it's gonna take to finish...
I'm gonna reply to reviews this chapter, since this chapter was a bit dark and murderous and RARGH KILL THE DOCTOR kinda thing.