here, finally, is the next chapter. I'm so sorry that its taken so long, by beta was busy for a long time and I was also spending time on Pottermore :P
anyway, here you go, enjoy, and please review!
Chapter 3 ~ Complicated Secrets
When he re-entered the TARDIS he found a very heavy atmosphere. Cora was standing near the console and Donna was sitting opposite her, gazing at her new friend with an expression of sadness and compassion. The silence was not awkward, nor strained, it was strangely companionable. If the Doctor hadn't been so on edge that his head was about to explode he probably would have realised he was walking into something very touching and probably would have left quietly. As it was, he didn't even notice the unshed tears in Cora's eyes.
As he moved forward Cora jumped slightly and, on seeing the expression on his face, moved forward, full of concern, clearly sensing that something bad had happened, 'what's wrong?'
The Doctor stood still, his fists clenched in an attempt to hold in the anger and fear that threatened to burst out of him, then said quietly, 'we were—' his voice cracked and he had to start again, swallowing, 'we were too late. We were too late' he repeated despairingly.
'What?' shouted Donna, a rebuff on the tip of her tongue fleeing as she leaped to her feet.
'That's not possible', whispered Cora, leaning heavily on a rail, her voice echoing the disbelief and horror she felt.
The Doctor said, 'I found…' he stopped, unable to continue as he remembered the blood that he had found. After a moment he tried again, 'the flat was completely trashed and there was evidence of a struggle. Whatever took her was distinctly not human'.
Donna stared at him and then turned to Cora and asked bluntly, 'but how come we turned up late? You said that we had a whole day before she would be taken'.
Cora was gripping the railing so hard that her knuckles were whitening rapidly. After a moment she whispered, 'we should…' suddenly her eyes widened in horror and she asked sharply, 'what is the date?'
The Doctor glanced at a screen on the console and said unemotionally, 'the fifteenth'. He was still battling to keep his emotions in check, his anger and his fear, and was getting absolutely nowhere. The image of destruction in Martha's flat kept springing up in his mind and the photo he had taken from the flat seemed to burn his skin through his shirt.
There was a split second of silence in which Donna saw Cora's face transform and felt the sudden rising tension in the girl's body. The next moment, Cora had slammed her hand into the metal railing hard, ignoring the obvious damage it may have caused and the angry hum of the TARDIS, and started to shout violently in a language that Donna didn't understand. She may not have understood what the girl was saying, but the meaning was clear. She was frustrated, angry, and by the look in her eye, scared.
After a moment she suddenly switched to English and continued to rant, '—I told him! I asked him over and over whether I would loose any time because it was a prototype and not a hundred percent accurate. And after all that time it took, I have to arrive a day late!' she was clearly talking to herself and after a moment she stopped, her shoulders slumping and her eyes full of despair.
The tense silence was abruptly broken by the Doctor's shocked voice saying, 'where the hell did you learn to speak my language?'
Donna, who could see Cora in profile, saw her eyes close and her neck stiffen as an expression of absolute horror crossed her face. The Doctor was staring at the back of her head, his face drained of colour and feeling completely numb. It was impossible that she could know his language, unless she had been taught, and he knew that he would personally never teach anyone he knew, not even his companions, and there was no one else who could. He stepped forward slightly and repeated, 'how do you know my language? Did someone teach it to you? Who are you?'
Cora took a deep breath and turned to face him, 'I can't tell you and you know why. I'm from the future, what you want to know could cause a paradox'. There was a blank mask over her face, though her eyes were full of desperation, and her voice held a pleading note.
The Doctor seemed to go through some inner struggled before he managed to say, 'tell me one thing; are you a Time Lord?' Donna felt her heart crack at the obvious hurt and desperation in his broken voice, as well as a small amount of hope.
Cora held his broken gaze for a moment, her face completely clear and calm and then said, 'I can't tell you. Not yet, not until this is all over. Then I will tell you'. From her position, Donna could see that the young girl's hands were twisted tightly behind her back, and suddenly understood exactly what Cora had put at risk. She couldn't tell the Doctor whether she was a Time Lord or not because either way it would change something, no matter how miniscule, in the future.
The Doctor opened his mouth to protest and then clamped it shut, nodding mutely instead. Donna suddenly stepped forward towards him and said quietly, 'Doctor, right now we need to find Martha. Right now she needs you and you're the only one who can find her'.
She had said the right thing. The Doctor's head snapped up and he fixed his gaze on Cora with a different, but just as strong, intensity, saying, 'right, is there anything you know about where she's been taken?'
Relief briefly flooded Cora before she wiped it from her face and said quickly, 'we only know that its some kind of warehouse, or a underground bunker, but nothing else. She might not even be in the city'.
The Doctor nodded and produced his sonic screwdriver, 'I scanned her blood a moment ago—'
'What! There was blood? As in Martha's blood? Why didn't you say something?' shrieked Donna, her concern for the woman she had recently met, and become good friends with, boiling over.
The Doctor blinked, 'I didn't want to worry you—'
'Worry me? Well you've failed in that I can assure you!' she raged.
The Doctor turned away from his fuming companion and started to walk around the console, talking quietly to himself as he knelt down on the floor and pulled up the metal covering, revealing a large chest, 'I scanned her blood, which means that the sonic has her DNA reading…' he flipped open the chest and rummaged around in it for a moment before pulling out an object that looked very much like a digital clock. He put it on the floor and pressed a button on the side, waiting for it to turn on.
Donna glared angrily at the machine, as if this entire situation was its fault and snapped, 'how is a clock going to help us, space man?'
The Doctor began to scan the machine with his screwdriver, saying, 'its not a clock Donna, it's a DNA Manipulation Location device'.
Donna stared at him, 'in English, Doctor'.
The Doctor paused and glanced up at her, 'err…I scan DNA into it and it finds roughly where that person is for me?'
Donna put her hands on her hips, 'now wasn't that easier to say?'
The Doctor shrugged, 'not really'. He turned back and began to press a series of buttons on the device, then stared at it intently, clearly waiting for something.
Cora knelt down next to him and looked at the device with interest, 'I've never seen one of these before, though I have heard of them, but I heard that they were pretty unreliable'.
The Doctor flashed her a grin, 'that's the advantage of being me'. Cora glanced at him and saw that his eyes held the same curiosity that they had before, but without the accusation and recklessness; he was clearly prepared to wait for the answer to his question, prepared to wait until this was all over. He had been alone for so long that he would wait for years if it would mean he didn't have to be alone any longer. She felt a pang in her chest and wished desperately that she could tell him right now, to save him from that. This had all been too much for her; having to cope with telling him about Martha, remembering the family that she had left behind, and now having to stop her self from telling the man she knew so well the one thing that would either spark or quench his hopes. She gripped the floor under her and forced the words back down her throat, remembering exactly what she had been told before she came back in time and remembering just how much she would change.
At that moment there was a loud beep from the device and the Doctor turned back to it, his eyes burning with anticipation as a series of small numbers appeared on the digital screen. Donna leaned over his shoulder, her curiosity overcoming her previous annoyance, 'what's that mean?'
The Doctor jumped up, narrowly missing colliding with Donna, and ran over to the console. He started to press a series of buttons, explaining as he did, 'latitude and longitude, roughly to the nearest meter or so'.
The TARDIS began to hum just as Cora said sharply, 'shouldn't you land it a bit further away? Just encase we land directly on top of Martha?'
The Doctor nodded 'I have, hopefully just outside the building'.
The three of them grabbed onto the edge of the console as the Doctor sent the TARDIS hurtling through the vortex.
so what do you think?
i'm sorry its so short, the next one will be longer :) and it will be up sooner hopefully, once i've finished it :)
please review, again suggestions are welcome!