The Little Street Girl

by MyLadyOfStories

Jace is a street girl, and has been for 2 years. She ran from her foster parents when she was 12, and never looked back. Jace was doing well, living anonymously as a boy until the spaceship crashed into Big Ben. And then everything changed when the Doctor found her. He gave her a home.

8. Empty

Jace:

The TARDIS was jolting around like mad, and I ended up going to the console room because of the beeping that for some reason was purple, well, mauve, instead of red as it usually was. I hadn't been back in here since I'd found out I was part, uh, mostly, Time Lord. "What's the emergency?"

The Doctor looked at me, with an even softer look than normal. "It's mauve."

"I can see that, I'm the one who see's sound, remember? Why is it mauve?"

"The universally recognised colour for danger."

Huh, cool. But Rose was confused. "What happened to red?"

He gave her a wry smile. "That's just humans. By everyone else's standards, red's camp. Oh, the misunderstandings. All those red alerts, all that dancing. It's got a very basic flight computer. I've hacked in, slaved the TARDIS. Where it goes, we go."

"And that's safe, is it?" I asked him, arms folded in skepticism.

"Totally." And then the TARDIS console went Bang! "Okay, reasonably. Should have said reasonably there. No, no, no, no! It's jumping time tracks, getting away from us."

"What exactly is this thing?"

My potential birth father shrugged. "No idea."

Oh, that sounded good. "Then why are we chasing it?"

"It's mauve and dangerous, and about thirty seconds from the centre of London." And then we materialised and I went out the TARDIS first, not wanting to be close to him just yet. I knew we had to talk about the fact he knew my mum, in that way, and everything was pointing towards my dad not being my real dad, but I wasn't ready for that yet. "Do you know how long you can knock around space without happening to bump into Earth? "

"Five days?" Rose suggested, walking closer to me to make sure I was OK. "Or is that just when we're out of milk?"

He sighed. "Of all the species in all the Universe and it has to come out of a cow. Must have come down somewhere quite close. Within a mile, anyway. And it can't have been more than a few weeks ago. Maybe a month."

That didn't sound right. "A month? We were right behind it."

"It was jumping time tracks all over the place." He reminded me, going to walk closer, but I stepped back again. "We're bound to be a little bit out. Do you want to drive? Scrap that, I know you'd say yes." Oh, I already knew I could.

"Yeah. How much is a little?"

"A bit."

Seriously? "Is that exactly a bit?"

"Ish."

Rose interrupted then, trying to clear the air. I wonder if she knew why it was awkward between us. "What's the plan, then? Are you going to do a scan for alien tech or something?"

It was my turn to scoff. "Rose, it hit the middle of London with a very loud bang. We're going to ask." He took out his psychic paper and showed it to us. "Doctor John Smith, Ministry of Asteroids."

"It's psychic paper. It tells you"

We both interrupted. "Whatever you want it to tell us, we remember."

"Sorry." He said that mainly looking at me and I hugged my arms around myself, looking at the delivery door.

"Not very Spock, is it, just asking."

The door was quiet, but I could see the distant waves of music coming towards me, jazz, and it was swirling blue and green. "Door, music, people. What do you think?"

"I think you should do a scan for alien tech." Rose told him, and looked at the Doctor. "Give me some Spock, for once. Would it kill you?"

He went with my plan though, and opened the door with the sonic screwdriver, and looked at Rose's Union Flag top. "Are you sure about that t-shirt?"

"Too early to say. I'm taking it out for a spin." It was a bit gaudy.

"Come on if you're coming. It won't take a minute." I smiled, going in before the Doctor could realise, but he followed quickly.

"Jacey-"

I shook my head. "Shut up. Not in the mood."

But he grabbed my hand and pulled me back, hugging me. I wanted to fight, but I really needed the hug, so just let it happen. "I know. I know you don't want to talk, and I know I can never replace your dad in my heart, but Jace... I'm always here for you, and I will never send you home, because the TARDIS is your home."

"I'm part Time Lord, Doctor. Why am I part Time Lord?" I asked him softly, my face in his chest, and his soft jumper felt like home to me. "I'm human, I've always been human..."

The Doctor rocked me gently, stroking my hair. "I know, I know it's hard, but don't you see? Your mother at least was human, but your father was Time Lord. And... It's likely that Time Lord was me."

Would it really be so bad if he was my biological father? My dad, my real dad, Harry, he was gone now anyway and the Doctor had been so good to me, a real, proper dad figure. "C, can we talk about this later please?"

He nodded, kissing my hair and wiping away tear tracks from my cheek and then smiled. "My Jacey. You're brilliant, no matter what. OK? And I'm always, always here." Then he pulled back, and took the lady's place at the microphone. "Excuse me. Excuse me. Could I have everybody's attention just for a mo? Be very quick. Hello! Might seem like a stupid question, but has anything fallen from the sky recently?" They were all silent until there was a big burst of noisy, purple corkscrewed laughter. "Sorry, have I said something funny? It's just, there's this thing that I need to find. Would've fallen from the sky a couple of days ago."

Something came then, and the room was light up with red bursts of noise every few seconds. And everyone started to leave. "Would've landed quite near here. With a very loud-"

"Quickly as you can, down to the shelter."

I spotted a poster and pulled him down to look at it. Hitler will Send no Warning. "Rose?" We both called, now realising her top was really not a good idea. And we ran back to where the TARDIS was, and a cat meowed.

Picking her up, the Doctor bopped my nose with her little paw. "You know, one day, just one day, maybe, I'm going to meet someone who gets the whole don't wander off thing. Plus, you're no exception, love. That whole Phoenix and the Sontarans thing. Nine hundred years of phone box travel, it's the only thing left to surprise me." And then the phone started ringing.

"How can you be ringing?" He asked, handing me the cat. She's adorable, we were keeping her. "What's that about, ringing? What am I supposed to do with a ringing phone?"

But just as he got out his sonic, another girl who looked to be around my age came up the alley. "Don't answer it. It's not for you."

"And how do you know that?" I asked, sneakily letting my new pet, who I was calling Rain because of her beautiful grey eyes, into the TARDIS without the Doctor realising.

"'Cos I do. And I'm telling you, don't answer it."

He wasn't all that impressed with her though, making sure I was safe. "Well, if you know so much, tell me this. How can it be ringing? It's not even a real one. It's not connected, it's not-" But she was gone and he answered it. "Hello? Hello? This is the Doctor speaking. How may I help you?" He seemed surprised with this. "Who is this? Who's speaking? Who is this? How did you ring here? This isn't a real phone. It's not wired up to anything."

Then he hung up and knocked on the door. "Rose? Rose, are you in there?" I was keeping my cat. I've never had a pet, and the TARDIS was plenty big enough. But then he started running and I sprinted after him.

We did some garden hopping, which was gross as everything was coated in grease, but then we saw a woman ushering her family into the air raid shelter. And then when they were in there, the girl from before went into the kitchen and took tinned foods from the cupboard.

And once that was done, she went to the front door, and whistled twice before a load of kids came in. "Many kids out there?" She asked one, as they all dove for the food. "Ah! Still carving. Sit and wait. We've got the whole air raid."

And then we watched the girl take charge, making sure that everyone was getting some. And we sat down with them. Not that they realised until the Doctor said thanks. I got away with it, being a similar age, but he was an adult. Unless we're playing Monopoly. "It's all right. Everybody stay where you are!"

"Good here, innit?" I smiled, looking in disgust at the fatty, greasy food in front of me, as all the kids moved aside. "Who's got the salt?"

But the girl, Nancy, sorted them all out. "Back in your seats. He shouldn't be here either, and look at her, she's skinnier than all of us together."

"I'll agree with you there. Jace, start eating." Oh, thanks, dad. "So, you lot, what's the story?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're homeless, right? Living rough? I did that, from when I was 10 to around 14. I'm 15 soon too." I told them, smiling as I picked at the greasy food, specks of fat in there. It made what little I had in my stomach churn. I ate little, and always vegetarian. I had to hide in a slaughter house once.

Then the Doctor started talking. "I make it 1941. You lot shouldn't even be in London. You should've been evacuated to the country by now."

"I was evacuated. Sent me to a farm." One said.

I frowned at him. "So why'd you come back?"

"There was a man there." I flinched, knowing what that was like. A man that liked you a little too much.

The Doctor wrapped his arms around me, kissing my hair as a couple of kids agreed. "Yeah, same with Ernie. Two homes ago." And they said how Nancy got them good food. I'd have to remember that, if I ever did end up back on the streets.

"As soon as the sirens go, you find a big fat family meal still warm on the table with everyone down in the air raid shelter and bingo! Feeding frenzy for the homeless kids of London Town. Puddings for all, as long as the bombs don't get you."

Nancy raised an eye brow. "Something wrong with that?"

"Wrong with it?" He grinned manically. "It's brilliant. I'm not sure if it's Marxism in action or a West End musical." Oh, nice. But I didn't mind him talking, his calm, yet excited voice with its yellow and green waves mostly covered the dark grey of the planes in the sky.

The older girl still wasn't impressed. "Why'd you follow me? What do you want?"

"We want to know how a phone that isn't a phone gets a phone call." Oh, that reminded me, I had a cat in the TARDIS. Hopefully she wouldn't wander off, that would just be too much. "You seem to be the one to ask."

"I did you a favour. I told you not to answer it, that's all I'm telling you." That helped.

The Doctor agreed with me. "Great, thanks. And Jace and I want to find a blonde in a Union Jack. I mean a specific one. I didn't just wake up this morning with a craving. Anybody seen a girl like that?" Nancy came over and took his plate away as I gave up trying to eat. "What have I done wrong?"

"You took two slices. Jace, you need to eat something. No blondes, no flags. Anything else before you leave?"

"Yeah, there is actually." Come on, Doctor, the girl was just trying to feed these kids. "Thanks for asking. Something I've been looking for. Would've fallen from the sky about a month ago, but not a bomb. Not the usual kind, anyway. Wouldn't have exploded. Probably would have just buried itself in the ground somewhere, and it would have looked something like this." He held up a rough sketch of the craft the TARDIS was following. Basically, a tube. A knock on the door made everyone jump.

"Mummy? Are you in there, mummy?" We looked and saw a little boy in a gas mask, still out in the cold. "Mummy?"

Nancy looked around at all the kids. "Who was the last one in?" Pointing fingers time. And then she dashed to close the front door and we followed.

Why was she locking this little boy out? "What's this, then? It's never easy being the only child left out in the cold, you know."

She gave the Doctor a bitter smile. "I suppose you'd know."

"I do actually, yes. It's another reason why I won't ever abandon my Jace."

"It's not exactly a child." She said after a moment, seeing the Doctor with his hand on my shoulder protectively.

But she didn't look long, getting everyone out of the dining room and into the night again, being so careful with the youngest, a tiny little girl of about 3 or 4. I knew the way she was acting. She was a mother, or at least had looked after a brother or sister like her own.

"Mummy? Mummy? Please let me in, mummy. Please let me in, mummy."

The boy put his hand through the letter box and I wanted to take it, seeing the scar. "Are you all right?"

"Please let me in."

But Nancy threw something at the boy and it shattered, making him withdraw. "You mustn't let him touch you!"

The Doctor put my behind him at that, where he knew I wasn't going to be caught by him. "What happens if he touches us?"

"He'll make you like him."

I didn't like the sound of that. "And what's he like?"

She shook her head. "I've got to go."

I darted to grab her hand stopping her from running off. "Nancy, what's he like?"

Her once bright blue eyes were now dead as she looked back at me. "He's empty." And then the phone started ringing. "It's him. He can make phones ring. He can. Just like with that police box you saw."

"Are you my mummy?" I heard when the Doctor picked it up. Always that. Nancy put it back down, but I heard and saw a crackle of black and white static from the kitchen and the voice started up there again. "Mummy? Please let me in, mummy."' And then the clockwork monkey started doing the same.

Nancy pulled free and started running. "You stay if you want to."

The boy puts his hand through the letterbox again as she ran to the back door, the Doctor holding me tight. "Mummy? Let me in please, mummy. Please let me in."

"Your mummy isn't here." I told him, taking the Doctor's hand tight, feeling so bad for the little boy.

"Are you my mummy?"

"No mummies here." He told him. "Just a dad. Nobody here but us chickens. Well, this chicken and a chick." I wasn't a chick, or a child.

The little boy was breaking my heart. "I'm scared."

"Why are those other children frightened of you?"

He didn't answer the question. "Please let me in, mummy. I'm scared of the bombs."

I couldn't help it, I got to my feet and walked towards the door. "Okay. I'm opening the door now." The hand pulled back, but as I took the bolts down and opened the door he had gone, leaving just the small trail of his sound, little white foot prints on the wet street.

DW

"How'd you follow me here?" Nancy asked as the Doctor and I smiled at her.

"I'm good at following, me. Got the eyes for it." That wasn't an understatement, I really did. I followed the footprints, dark blue on the grey path. Hard to spot, but not impossible.

She was still confused. "People can't usually follow me if I don't want them to."

The Doctor shrugged, keeping his hand on my shoulder. "Her eyes and ears have special powers."

"Goodnight, Mister, Miss."

As someone her age, I knelt down with her, not caring about the wet mud getting on my jeans. Worse had been on there. "Nancy, there's something chasing you and the other kids. Looks like a boy and it isn't a boy, and it started about a month ago, right? The thing we're looking for, the thing that fell from the sky, that's when it landed." Her eyes were dark and knowing, like she was so scared but she didn't want to say. "And you know what we're talking about, don't you?"

Nancy hesitated for a moment. "There was a bomb. A bomb that wasn't a bomb. Fell the other end of Limehouse Green Station."

The Doctor copied me, kneeling down. "Take me there."

"There's soldiers guarding it. Barbed wire." Been through worse. Razor wire that was electrified. There was a reason my wrist had been broken. "You'll never get through."

We both kept our eyes on her. "Try me."

"You sure you want to know what's going on in there?"

The Doctor nodded. "We really want to know."

"Then there's someone you need to talk to first."

Well, at least we were getting somewhere. "And who might that be?"

"The Doctor." That was a turn of events, but she lead us to where the camp was and we saw that there was a lot soldiers. And I saw the cleaning of guns, the metallic shine of them in the low lighting that only my special eyes could see. "The bomb's under that tarpaulin. They put the fence up over night. See that building? The hospital."

I saw it and saw the slight buzz of electicity in the walls, telling me it was still in use, if not full of just empty vessels from the war conflict. "What about it?"

She nodded a little, looking scared. "That's where the doctor is. You should talk to him."

"For now, I'm more interested in getting in there. Jace, you go there, and I'll go into the camp." Uh, no. We were staying together. Not quite ready for my own adventure again just yet. That ended bady.

But luckily Nancy was on my side for this. "Talk to the doctor first."

But I was still confused by this. "Why?"

"Because then maybe you won't want to get inside."

And then she got to her feet, heading to the main path again. "Where're you going?"

Nancy just shrugged. "There was a lot of food in that house. I've got mouths to feed. Should be safe enough now."

"Can I ask you a question?" She paused, looking hesitantly at the Doctor. "Who did you lose?"

That made her blink. "What?"

"The way you look after all those kids." I pointed out, knowing I'd seen the same thing. "It's because you lost somebody, isn't it? You're doing all this to make up for it."

Her eyes darkened even further. "My little brother. Jamie. One night I went out looking for food. Same night that thing fell. I told him not to follow me, I told him it was dangerous, but he just. He just didn't like being on his own." I knew how that felt, and so did the Doctor, squeezing my hand and putting his leather jacket on me as I started shivering, even through the coat I had on.

"What happened?"

"In the middle of an air raid?" She reminded us. "What do you think happened?"

He gave a massive smile, rubbing my arms. "Amazing."

"What is?"

"1941." He beamed. "Right now, not very far from here, the German war machine is rolling up the map of Europe. Country after country, falling like dominoes. Nothing can stop it. Nothing. Until one, tiny, damp little island says no. No. Not here. A mouse in front of a lion. You're amazing, the lot of you. Don't know what you do to Hitler, but you frighten the hell out of me. Off you go then do what you've got to do. Save the world."

And then she walked away and we went to the hospital, somewhere that sent shivers down my spine. All the bed were filled, all with gasmasks on, and an elderly doctor came in after a moment, leaving us in silence for a moment. "You'll find them everywhere. In every bed, in every ward. Hundreds of them." That was really not good, and very, very ominous. I loved big words, just the power in a single word.

"Yes, we saw." The Doctor agreed, keeping me behind him. "Why are they still wearing gas masks?"

He didn't seem concerned. "They're not. Who are you?"

"I'm, er." He changed the question. "Are you the doctor?"

The man nodded. "Doctor Constantine. And you are?"

It was our turn to nod. "Nancy sent us. I'm Jace."

"Nancy?" Doctor Constantines eyes widened for a moment. "That means you must've been asking about the bomb." We agreed. "What do you know about it?"

Surely that was obvious? "Nothing. Why we were asking. What do you know?"

The man shrugged, sitting down tiredly. "Only what it's done."

"These people, they were all caught up in the blast?" I asked, looking at all of them.

He shook his head. "None of them were." Doctor Constantine chuckled, then coughed violently, shaking the entire chair as the Doctor walked a little closer.

"You're very sick."

"Dying," He corrected. "I should think. I just haven't been able to find the time. Are you a doctor?"

"I have my moments."

"Have you examined any of them yet?"

"No."

He didn't seem all to concerned. "Don't touch the flesh."

That didn't make much sense. "Which one?"

"Any one." The Doctor told me to stay back and examined one with the sonic, sending spirals of blue around, making me smile as usual as I ran my fingers through the corckscrews of sonic waves. "Conclusions? Besides your evidently insane daughter."

That made him glare, because even though it was considered a madness, I wasn't overly crazy unless my senses were overwhelmed by too much at once. "Massive head trauma, mostly to the left side. Partial collapse of the chest cavity, mostly to the right. There's some scarring on the back of the hand and the gas mask seems to be fused to the flesh, but I can't see any burns."

"Examine another one."

He did as he was told and didn't look pleased. "This isn't possible."

"Examine another." He did again and repeated himself. "No."

"Doctor, what is it?" I asked, going to move closer but he held me back.

"They've all got the same injuries."

Constantine nodded. "Yes."

This was really not sounding good. "Exactly the same."

"Yes."

"Identical, all of them, right down to the scar on the back of the hand." I paused, seeing he had the scar, though he hid it. He was infected. "How did this happen? How did it start?"

He shrugged. "When that bomb dropped, there was just one victim."

The little boy... "Dead?"

"At first." Constantine agreed. "His injuries were truly dreadful. By the following morning, every doctor and nurse who had treated him, who had touched him, had those exact same injuries. By the morning after that, every patient in the same ward, the exact same injuries. Within a week, the entire hospital. Physical injuries as plague. Can you explain that? What would you say was the cause of death?"

"The head trauma." I told him, knowing that the brain would have given out before the lungs. He disagreed and the Doctor suggested asphyxiation and the chest cavity collapsing before I started seeing what Constantine was getting at. "Doctor... They're not dead..." Because small, very small, waves were coming off of them, just over where their heart would be.

Constantine nodded, hitting a waste basket with his stick and the noise made the patients sit up in their beds. "It's all right. They're harmless. They just sort of sit there. No life signs of any kind, besides a slight heart beat. They just don't die."

"And they've just been left here? Nobody's doing anything?" The Doctor asked as they all lay back down, creeping the hell out of me.

"I try and make them comfortable." He told us tiredly, and I was reminded of the fact he was infected. "What else is there?"

But that wasn't good. "Just you? You're the only one here?"

"Before this war began, I was a father and a grandfather. Now I am neither. But I'm still a doctor."

The Doctor nodded, holding me close again. "Yeah. I know the feeling. Jace... she was a surprise, but she's everything to me now." Oh... Who cares if he's not my real dad, he's trying either way.

He just shruffed. "I suspect the plan is to blow up the hospital and blame it on a German bomb."

That wouldn't work. "Probably too late."

"No. There are isolated cases. Isolated cases breaking out all over London." He started coughing again and the Doctor went to help but I held his hand tight, not letting him. "Stay back, stay back. Listen to me. Top floor. Room eight oh two. That's where they took the first victim, the one from the crash site. And you must find Nancy again."

I frowned. "Nancy?"

"It was her brother." Oh God... "She knows more than she's saying. She won't tell me, but she might Mummy. Are you my mummy?" No... I had to turn around, swallowing more nausea as his face started becoming a gasmask.

And then we heard Rose, calling for someone, as well as a guys voice. We followed the sound where we found Rosie, and a Captain of the American Navy. He was nice looking, but a bit too good looking. Rose seemed smitten though. "Good evening. Hope we're not interrupting. Jack Harkness. I've been hearing all about you on the way over."

"He knows." Rose said, giving a knowing look. "I had to tell him about us being Time Agents, and Jace being an apprentice, as well as your daughter."

Jack, with his honey coloured voice, laced with charm and melted chocolate, shook his and my hands. "And it's a real pleasure to meet you, Mister Spock, Miss Spock." And then he walked in.

We both stared at her. "Mister Spock? Miss Spock?"

"What was I supposed to say?" She asked, hugging me and checking me down for injuries. I was fine, just a bit spinny from trying not to throw up one too many times. "You don't have a name, which makes Jacey hard to explain. Don't you ever get tired of Doctor? Doctor who?"

He just gave her a hard look. "Nine centuries in, I'm coping. Where've you been? We're in the middle of a London Blitz. It's not a good time for a stroll."

"Who's strolling?" She smirked, holding my hand as we followed Jack into the ward again. "I went by barrage balloon. Only way to see an air raid."

We stared again. "What?!"

At which pojnt she changed the subject. "Listen, what's a Chula warship?"

"Chula?"

Jack was using a wrist tricorder thing to examine the patients as we saw him and the conversation was dropped a little. "This just isn't possible. How did this happen?"

"What kind of Chula ship landed here?" The Doctor asked him, getting right to the point.

He blinked. "What?"

"He said it was a warship." Rose told us. "He stole it, parked it somewhere out there, somewhere a bomb's going to fall on it unless we make him an offer."

Nothing much was sounding good today. "What kind of warship?"

"Does it matter?" He asked. "It's got nothing to do with this."

"This started at the bomb site. It's got everything to do with it. What kind of warship?"

"An ambulance! Look." Jack produced a hologram of it from his wrist device, that was already giving me a headache with its tinny sound. !That's what you chased through the Time Vortex. It's space junk. I wanted to kid you it was valuable. It's empty. I made sure of it. Nothing but a shell. I threw it at you. Saw your time travel vehicle, love the retro look, by the way, nice panels. Threw you the bait."

"Bait?"

Jack was really telling us everything now. "I wanted to sell it to you and then destroy it before you found out it was junk."

"You said it was a war ship." Rose told him, not quite as smitten now.

He gave her a look. "They have ambulances in wars. It was a con. I was conning you. That's what I am, I'm a con man. I thought you were Time Agents. You're not, are you."

"Just a couple more freelancers." I agreed.

"Oh. Should have known. The way you guys are blending in with the local colour. I mean, Flag Girl was bad enough, but U-Boat Captain with his synesthetic daughter?" Was it that obvious? "Anyway, whatever's happening here has got nothing to do with that ship."

Rose turned to look back at us. "What is happening here, Doctor?"

"Human DNA is being rewritten by an idiot." He said, doing what he normally did when stressed, and pacing, pausing to check me every few seconds.

But this confused her. "What do you mean?"

"We don't know." I told her. "Some kind of virus converting human beings into these things. But why? What's the point?"

And then the patients suddenly sat up. "Mummy. Mummy. Mummy? Mummy?"

"What's happening?"

He shook his head as they all moved to stand, even poor Doctor Constantine. "I don't know. Jacey, stay behind me. Don't let them touch you."

"What happens if they touch us?" Rose asked, taking my other hand, making sure I was well and truly protected. I wasn't just a kid! I could protect myself!

"You're looking at it." And they kept closing in on us, and it was not looking good. Oh, poor Rain, all alone in the TARDIS...