The Running Man

Gemini

Sarah Jane watched him hover over the ice cream flavors like an anxious child, debating which one he wanted. He'd explained on the way to the ice cream parlor that his tastes changed along with regenerations. He honestly had no idea what he liked, though he had certainly enjoyed those bananas at breakfast.

She would have suggested that he get banana, but Sweet Scoops was a relatively small shop with only about six flavors. Instead, she watched him over the top of her cone. The woman behind the Doctor had a pair of impatient children whining and tugging on her purse. The Doctor glanced at him as if they were monsters that he fought on a regular basis and ordered as hastily as she could. As soon as the woman over the counter handed him his cone, he made a beeline for Sarah Jane.

"What's wrong?" she asked, patting the red booth cushion beside her.

He dropped into it and took a thoughtful slurp. Mint chocolate chip, she noted, not what she would have expected from him.

"I don't do families," he said shortly.

End of discussion. She accepted the silence and took another lick. The Doctor had a family, once upon a time. He'd mentioned them on occasion, but she guessed they had gone with Gallifrey. Sarah Jane couldn't blame him for 'not doing families.'

They ate their ice creams in silence. The Doctor's gaze stayed trained on the children. They were pacified the moment they got their ice creams, and chattered on about nothing under their mother's watchful eye.

"Mint?" she asked hesitantly.

She always felt like she was walking on eggshells with this Doctor, never knowing what would remind him, or hurt him.

"I've never liked it before."

He didn't continue, but Sarah Jane knew what he would have said. His past regenerations would have never considered a leather jacket, either.

"New man."

He nodded. Understanding that no further discussion was needed, Sarah Jane switched topics.

"How long are you staying?"

~o0o~

Not 'You can stay as long as you like.' Nothing about him staying put for good this time. Sarah Jane knew—no, expected—that he would leave. The question threw him off, though. How long was he staying? Sarah Jane wanted to know when she had to let him go again. He sighed. The slow path was not an option for him. It never had been.

"Maybe a few more days," he said, bringing his hand up to run it through hair that he couldn't anymore. He'd have to break that habit.

She nodded, a flash of disappointment crossing her face, replaced with acceptance almost as soon as it had come. She was silent as they left the ice cream parlor. The Doctor left her to her thoughts. He knew all too well how annoying it was to be interrupted mid thought. Beyond that, she probably didn't want anything to do with him anyway. He shoved his fists deep in his pockets, already taking comfort in the familiar weight on his shoulders.

When they turned on to her street, Sarah Jane pulled his hand out of his pocket and took it, offering a smile. A peace offering.

The Doctor had been to almost the end of the universe and back—more than once—but he'd never understand why Sarah Jane Smith always came back.

They had almost reached her front door when her neighbor's door flew open.

"Sarah Jane!" she called. "Tea?"

Sarah Jane lit up. The Doctor groaned under his breath. Tea with her elderly neighbor was not particularly what he wanted to do with his time, but if it made her smile like that…maybe it was worth it.

"Doctor?" she asked.

A little reluctantly, he nodded. Sarah Jane's smiled widened, and she tugged him across the lawn and up to the woman's front porch.

"You didn't tell me you had a…gentleman caller," she said, eyes twinkling.

The Doctor felt a prickle of unease run up his back. Whether or not this came from the woman herself, the insinuation there was something between him and Sarah Jane or the fact she was using a term nearly two centuries out of date remained to be seen. His mind whirring, the Doctor nearly missed the two women's conversation.

"Thank you, Dorothy," Sarah Jane said warmly. "This is the Doctor."

Dorothy's pale eyebrows shot up. "Do you have another name, Doctor?"

Testing his theory, the Doctor lowered the mental shields he'd been using to block the silence and reached out. Sure enough, another telepath was there to greet him.

They call me the Oncoming Storm

"I don't doubt it," Dorothy said out loud.

Sarah Jane's eyes flicked uncertainly between her neighbor and the Doctor. She'd always had a basic resistance to mental attacks, and the Doctor knew she probably heard the low buzz of telepathic activity.

I thought there were no more Time Lords.

You thought wrong. Why are you here?

I am not here to harm her.

What then?

There are people who would hurt you, Oncoming Storm.

I'm not afraid of them.

You shouldn't fear for yourself.

The Doctor froze. "Sarah Jane?"

Mistakenly assuming that he was speaking to her, Sarah Jane opened her mouth. He shot her a look and she closed it. Dorothy nodded. Without sparing the old woman a second glance, he grabbed Sarah Jane's hand and ran down to the TARDIS, thankful that it was only a short while away.

"She's a—"

"Telepath?" Sarah Jane guessed. "I could tell."

"And you couldn't before?" he asked, flinging open the TARDIS door and shoving her inside before following.

"She didn't make a point of broadcasting it," she snapped.

"K9 didn't pick up on anything?"

"He broke down about six months ago."

"I could have fixed him," he said, beginning to hammer information into the TARDIS computer.

"I didn't want…"

He angrily punched numbers and figures into the console, trying to figure out which species fit what he knew about Dorothy-the-telepath. Sarah Jane had put off fixing K9 (who was important to her safety, not to mention a companion in his own right) just because she thought a trip down memory lane would hurt him.

A Gemeni. Of course. He cursed under his breath.

"Stay here."

She didn't listen. She never did.

"Sarah Jane, they're after you."

She nodded. "Of course they are."

"Stay here, Sarah Jane."

"Doctor—"

He couldn't be responsible for another death, couldn't have another name to run through when he reminded himself why he still kept going. Much quicker than Sarah Jane could hope to move, he leapt to his feet and sprang out the door. He heard her enraged shout right before it shut.

"You left so soon."

He whipped around, hands clenched into fists. Dorothy smiled innocently at him, a perfect little grandmother. Someone wrestled his arms behind his back while another pressed a thick cloth over his mouth and nose. The world toppled around him.

~o0o~

Sarah Jane swore loudly and paced around the console room, arms crossed. She wasn't a little girl anymore. To him she supposed she was, but on Earth she was certainly was an adult.

"Let me out!" she cried at the TARDIS.

The machine attempted to calm her, but no amount of comforting hums would make her any less angry. He was in trouble, he probably needed help and she wouldn't past this regeneration to run straight into mortal danger without thinking about it.

"I'll go halfway across the galaxy," she threatened. "I'd like to see him manage human life."

She wasn't sure the Doctor knew what taxes were, or how to get money without raiding a bank using the psychic paper. The TARDIS hummed a little more insistently. If it were possible, she sounded exasperated.

"I'm serious," she said, punching random buttons and twirling dials.

There was an irritated click and the door became unlatched. Sarah Jane grinned and ran for the door.

"Thank you!"

The TARDIS gave a small note of warning, but Sarah Jane ignored her as she strode out into the sunlight.

~o0o~

It took the Doctor ten minutes to rid his system of whatever it was that he'd inhaled. His head was still fuzzy, but he was awake and he could take stock of his situation.

The rumbling beneath him suggested that he was on a truck—hopefully not a spaceship. He took a deep breath. It was a typical chemical used on the Gemini home planet, Castollux that would knock a human out for hours. Thankfully, a respiratory bypass system took care of the problem much faster.

The Doctor's hands were bound behind his back with two thick metal cuffs that bit into his skin. He still had his jacket, and even better, his sonic screwdriver. Careful not to make too much noise, the Doctor shifted ever so slightly, bringing his hands to his pockets. His shoulder wrenched painfully when the truck hit a bump, but he managed to slide the screwdriver out of his pocket and flick it to the on position. The cuffs loosened. He pulled free, and, in one fluid moment, leapt to his feet. His hand was on the door handle when he heard the voice.

"Stop."

He didn't even look back.

"We have your companion."

The Doctor chanced a glance over his shoulder, hoping with all his might that she was bluffing. Fat lot of good that did him.

"Let her go."

"Step away from the door and drop it."

The Doctor's fingers tensed over his sonic screwdriver, but Sarah Jane's voice rang in his mind. 'Don't go forgetting me.' 'Dangerous? Since when did I care?'

With a clatter, the screwdriver hit the ground. He took a few steps away from the door, glaring, hands in the air.

"Very good," Dorothy-the-telepath practically purred. "Come here, now."

This regeneration, more than any other before it, hated being yanked around like a dog on a chain. Slowly making it clear that he was still very much into control of his situation, he made his way over to where Dorothy was pointing. The telepath dumped Sarah Jane on the floor. Without looking at his captor, the Doctor knelt beside Sarah Jane and checked her pulse. It was slower than normal. Clearly, she'd used the same thing on her that they'd used on him.

"Let her go," he repeated, dangerously enunciating each word.

"Oh no, Oncoming Storm. You must pay for the destruction of my planet."

All the air vanished from his lungs. So that's what it was about. The Gemini woman wanted revenge for the death of her planet and most of her people. He'd feel bad for her if she hadn't kidnapped Sarah Jane. His companion was only human.

"She had nothing to do with it!"

Dorothy-the-telepath smiled. "But she has everything to do with you. Sleep tight, love."

Two copies of herself sprouted from her side. Her daughters scooped the cloth they'd used to subdue the Doctor earlier from the floor and approached him. He glared defiantly at him, but didn't fight back as they pressed it over his face.

~o0o~

Dorthotrixlankite, or Dorothy Wells as she was known on Earth, was not a bad woman. She, like the Doctor, had never been one to delight in violence. The destruction of her planet and her family in the Time War, though, had lit a fire in her chest that could not be quenched. She wanted to right the wrongs in the universe, beginning with avenging her true daughters (not like the ones she could sprout at a moment's notice.) This meant finding that last Time Lord, the Doctor, the destroyer in guise of a healer, and ripping him apart in every way she knew how. This began with his companion.

It was a shame. Dorthotrixlankite had grown to like the little human over the past few months while gaining her trust. Still, the Doctor had to know loss like she had, and his human companions were the closest thing the strange man had to friends.

She watched, bored, as her prisoner slumped sideways over his companion. Even when unconscious, he was protective of her.

"Mother—"began one of the Geminichildren.

"Never," Dorthotrixlankite snarled, "call me Mother."

A pair of soft autumn-amber eyes flashed in her memory and the Gemini flinched, immediately shutting it out.

"Should we watch him, Mo—ma'am?"

"Yes," Dorthotrixlankite said. "We can't have any escapes."

Much like the Gelths of Series One, the Gemini were a highly telepathic race that were slightly more advanced than humans, enough to be affected by the Time War. Also like the Gelth, their home planet was destroyed in the fighting. Dorthotrixlankite, of course, blames the Doctor for the deaths of her children and is out for revenge. She just so happened to land on Earth in around 1950, and waited until she found one of the Doctor's companions, so this revenge is a long time in coming.

The name Gemini, of course, comes from the twin constellation—the Gemini race is able to sprout an exact replica of themselves from their side that will listen to them no matter what.

The name for their planet, Castollux, comes from the Greek myth explaining the Gemini constellation, the myth of Castor and Pollux.