A/N: (Talks about something to do with cheese) There we go, random a/n for this chapter doooooone!
Hopefully all your questions (Apart from the obvious ones) Will be answered this chapter. And thanks for all reviews! They were all interesting and good to reply to (except the anon ones of course coz I couldn't reply to them...but they were still completely uber) and weren't the basic "love it update soon", they had SUBSTANCE!!! Awesome!
Chapter 38 – Hungrrrry! Hungrrrrrrrrry!
"Granny I'm hungry!" Rory moaning loudly, jumping up and down as she carefully prepared some lunch for him. Energy deficit, the Doctor had said. He had also said Rory was in a very unbalanced state, he could collapse at any moment yet equally he could run circles around them all. The TARDIS was helping the reformation of his cells of course, and he had only temporarily been let out of the Zero Room to see how his body was coping with the change.
"I know sweetheart, that's why I'm makin' you somethin'," she replied patiently, spreading marmalade over the bread.
"Well hurry up!" he yelled, tugging on her jeans. Sarah-Jane, the Doctor and Rose were watching with untainted amusement from the table as Rory ran a circle around his gran and then proceeded to jump into an unclaimed chair at the table, staring around at the group. "Where's my mummy and daddy and uncle Jack?"
It vaguely surprised Rose that he knew she wasn't his true mother. Obviously they had established some kind of connection.
"Sweetheart, they're…" Rose began, wanting to reach out and hold the boy. She hadn't even had him yet she still felt like his real mother. "They're still with Her."
"But you'll save them, won't you daddy?" he stated more than asked the Doctor, his sad brown eyes gazing straight into his. "You'll save them?"
"You know who I am?" the Doctor asked, a little confused. Rory folded his arms and kicking the legs of his chair with his nose in the air, regarding the Doctor as if he were the five-year-old, not him.
"Course I do," he sniffed, sounding insulted, "you're my daddy before he changed." He reassumed his previous 'cute' look. "Which is why you're gonna save him, right? 'Cause I'm your little guy."
The Ninth Doctor regarded his son for a moment, almost hesitant to touch him before he managed to reach out and ruffle the boy's hair. "Of course."
Rory gritted his teeth in annoyance, patting down his hair indignantly before he paused for a moment, just staring into the Ninth's Doctor's eyes after which he suddenly yelled, "I'M HUNGRY!" at the top of his lungs, jumping off of the chair and running back around to Jackie, tugging on her trousers once more. "I want FOOD! Mummy gets me food! I WANT IT NOW!"
"Wow, are you gonna get this crazy when you regenerate?" Rose asked her Doctor, giving him a playful shove. The Doctor opened his mouth to reply, but Jackie cut straight across him.
"Sweetheart, he's like this normally," she said with a smile, turning finally with plate of food in hand and placing it on the table. Rose just gaped as Rory jumped into his seat, shoving everything around the vague area of his mouth. After a few moments he stopped, staring at the gazing crowd with marmalade smeared over his face.
"Whaaaaaat?" he asked innocently, wiping his mouth with his palm, which inevitably made it worse. "It's rude to stare!"
Jackie sighed, reaching up and wiping around his mouth with a towel. Rory seemed to click.
"Oh, right. Okies," he said, nibbling slightly on the corner of the sandwich whilst watching the others tentively.
"I think I know why you've regenerated into the same body," the Doctor suddenly said, still watching the child thoughtfully. He really did look incredibly like his true father. "It's because I'm half-human, which means you're three quarters human, and therefore you don't have enough Time Lord DNA to completelyrejuvenate your body. Repeating the same DNA structure with the selected alleles is the easy alternative to rewriting the entire DNA profile."
"So he'll look like that through all his bodies?" Sarah-Jane determined and the Doctor nodded. "Which is why the older Rory in the Infirmary…"
"Hasn't changed," the Doctor finished with a nod. "Yeah. He'd have acquired a new heart just after She shot the younger version of him. I thought he was just palpitating at first."
"It feels weird," Rory started up again, still munching on his sandwich. "It goes boom-boom, then the other goes boom-boom, then it's like boom-boom, boom-boom! Just likes how daddy's feels…" he trailed off, gulping down the last of the toast as he stared miserably at the table. "I want my daddy. I want my mummy. I want Uncle Jack."
"They're just gonna check you're alright, then they'll set off to get them back, right Doctor?" Rose prompted, looking at the Ninth Doctor.
He nodded. "I'll get them all back, for you Rory. For you, Lottie and Zoë."
The length of time that passed was impossible to determine, but the next interesting event happened when the dungeon door opened and Mickey appeared, holding a tray of something. Was that…food? Rose moved up to the bars, only now realising how starving she was. Mickey was swift, unlocking the door and placing the tray inside before locking it back up and walking away, completely in a trance the whole time. Rose thoughtfully watched him go.
"Doctor, what's happened to Mickey?" was the question she asked as she moved back to the tray Jack had retrieved, sounding worried. "What's She done to him?"
"She must be possessing him," the Doctor replied after a moment's thought, regarding the few slices of bread with uncertainty. They could be poisoned, or worse. "Wait, don't touch it," he quickly said as Rose reached out to take some bread. "It might be contaminated. She has no reason to keep us alive now, except for pleasure."
"I'll try it," Jack offered, shoving some into his mouth. He chewed for a moment then paused, as if waiting for something to happen before he swallowed it. "A little chewy, but I can't taste anythin' weird."
The Doctor, however dubious he felt knew he wasn't going to keep back Rose for much longer. "Alright, eat it." It seemed strange She would bother to feed them when She hadn't bothered with him at all, but maybe She was just giving them their 'Last Meal', so to speak.
"I mean, when Mickey left he wasn't exactly happywith us but he would never hurt anyone…" Rose was saying, holding out some bread for the Doctor to take.
"Left?" the Doctor echoed.
"He threw a hissy fit and ran out the TARDIS after we landed," Jack answered for Rose who was too preoccupied with eating. "Thought he must've gone back to the TARDIS after we left."
"Obviously not. What was the argument?"
"Mainly about you," he replied, and the Doctor raised his eyebrows. "Well, you and Rose specifically."
"Ooooh," the Doctor exclaimed, realising the truth. "That's it. She's heightened his jealousy, used it to control him. He's so far in a trace he'd rip us all apart without a second thought. She knows we wouldn't hurt him, which is why She's using him to do all the dirty work with us."
Jack nodded. "Makes sense."
"Enjoying your meal?" Khthonia's voice suddenly came from out of nowhere, and the three whirl around to the left to see Her standing in the cell with them, surrounded by a hue of purple coloured light. All three stayed silent, just watching Her watch them. She broadened a smirk. "Guess what?" She pointed to Her belly. "A little version of me and the Doctor on the way."
Rose gritted her teeth, feeling the anger boil up inside her. All three kept their mouths shut, Rose having plenty to say but not trusting for one moment what would come out of her mouth.
"Just so you can see…" She waved a hand over Her womb, and suddenly it started to grow rapidly, swollen to an eight-month pregnancy. She must've sped it up, like She had with Rose. "She's due any day now."
Rose could contain herself no longer as suddenly she exploded, "you bitch!!!" she screamed, launching forwards with her hands outstretched. Suddenly the Doctor yelled out loud and she stopped dead in her tracks, whirling around to see the Doctor's legs shrouded in purple and him crying out in agony. She ran back towards him in alarm, drawing him into a tight hug.
"Stop it!" she shouted at Khthonia, feeling him shaking in her clutch. "Just stop it! I'm sorry!"
The purple disappeared, and the Doctor stopped yelling, clinging onto Rose tightly so he could reassert himself.
"That was stage one," She said slowly and clearly, watching them with a hint of pity in Her eyes. "If you disobey me, we'll slowly move up the ranks to Stage Five…and that won't be very pretty."
She laughed heartily, disappearing in a whirl of purple fabric.
"We are soscrewed," Jack spoke after a few moments of silence, to which Rose and the Doctor both concurred.
"Or not," suddenly said a voice from the side, and all three turned one more only this time to see a small blonde girl in a white dress.
"Eva," Rose realised in delight, watching her as she moved forwards to the group. She gave a wave to Jack, who gave one back. She stopped next to her father, taking his hand in both of hers.
"Daddy? You wanted me?"
He nodded, pushing himself up to full sitting position with his available hand. "Eva, do you trust me?"
She nodded, puzzled. "What is it?"
"I'm going to need your help."
"For what?"
The Doctor looked around at Jack, Rose and Eva, a huge grin plastered on his face. "I've got a real humdinger of a plan."