Wow, this is another long one. (So is the next one, it's about the same length and I wrote it in like 5 days so I'm fairly chuffed with myself at the moment.) But it wraps up the Time Loop arc, and I hope you like it!
Thanks for all the feedback so far, I love you guys!
Loop 14
"Come on Carly, sword up!"
"It's not even a sword!" The mechanic said with exasperation. "It's a steel rod!"
The Doctor let out a heavy sigh. "Come on, Carly, a bit of imagination, please! It's a sword, now come on! Try and hit me."
"Are you sure you actually know how to do this?" Aliya asked, sitting next to Yori and Lex and watching with a large frown. "I know you've told me in the past that you can, but-"
"I have won plenty of duels, I'll have you know. En guard!"
To her surprise, he was actually quite competent from what she could tell.
Carly, meanwhile, really wasn't a natural when it came to learning how to fence. In all fairness, it took a good hour for her to give up, or at least want to take a break. That was when the Doctor caught Aliya's eye and then nodded towards the steel rod that had been dropped on the floor of the bridge.
"No," Aliya said the second she realised what the look meant, "Not happening."
"Why not?"
"I don't do fighting."
"You let Jack teach you how to shoot a gun."
"That was different."
"I know, guns are awful, any old idiot can fire a gun, but using a sword takes skill."
"Skill I won't have."
"Not without practice."
"My answer is still no, Doctor."
"Aliya!"
She just crossed her arms and cocked an eyebrow at him, which only served to make him more exasperated. She couldn't help it, though. He was too adorable when he was annoyed and melodramatically flapping his arms at her.
"It's the weapon of a lady," he said, "No self-respecting lady of rank such as yourself should be unable to use a sword. There's nothing clever about not learning to defend yourself."
Aliya stared at him, thinking it over, and finally let out a sigh of defeat. "Fine."
He beamed. "Brilliant. Over here, then."
She picked up the steel rod on the floor, gripped it tight, and came to stand opposite him. "Alright, what first?"
"Is this going to be one of those awesome training montages where you end up really close together and there's loads of sexual tension?" Carly asked, and got a whack on her arm from Yori for the comment.
"You been watching too many old films," Lex said to her.
The Doctor and Aliya chose to ignore them all and instead both lifted their 'weapons'. The former lunged forward without warning, and the latter flinched out of the way instead of trying to block him, though in doing so did actually manage to avoid getting hit.
"Good defensive instincts," the Doctor commented, "Which is more than can be usually said about you."
"Shut up," she said, rolling her eyes, "I have no idea what to do with this thing. Show me."
"Well, for a start, you're holding it all wrong and you're not even standing right."
"So teach me."
He smirked and leaned his fake sword against the edge of the stairs before coming to stand behind her and curling his fingers around where hers grasped the end of the steel rod.
"Don't grip it so tight," he murmured, his mouth near her ear and making her whole body straighten up a little in its hyper-awareness of his proximity. "It should feel like an extension of your arm, which means you can't drop it."
Very deliberately, Aliya dropped the rod, which would have been a lot more effective of a statement if it hadn't hit her foot, but she did her best to hide the wince. When she glanced over her shoulder at the Doctor, he was rolling his eyes, and she just gave him a smug look.
"Sorry, what were you saying?"
"Stop being so...obtuse." When she just laughed, he let out an exasperated sigh even though his eyes showed his amusement. "Pick it up." She did, and he again put his hand around hers. "Now, you want to stand on an angle, like this."
His free hand moved to change the alignment of her hips, and Aliya heard Carly mutter something about 'fucking called it', followed by an 'ow!'.
"Now this brings back memories," Aliya muttered.
"What do you mean?" The Doctor asked, now correcting the line of her shoulders and back. She tried her best to not get distracted by the feel of his hand at the base of her spine.
"Jack was also incapable of teaching me how to use a weapon without getting handsy."
"I'm not getting handsy!" He exclaimed, affronted. "This is the easiest way to correct your stance."
"I know, compared to him, you really aren't handsy at all, so it's fine," she said, shrugging marginally, "Though that might have been because we didn't have spectators."
The Doctor stared at her, a flicker of annoyance in his eyes. "Are you trying to make me jealous?"
Aliya, still looking at him over her shoulder, just grinned. "Is it working?"
"Maybe."
"I'll take that as a yes."
His mouth was back at her ear. "Shut up." He pressed a kiss into her temple, making her giggle. "Now, when someone comes at you, you block them like this…"
Loop 15
The rods met with a loud metallic clang, over and over, making the sound continuously echo through the room. With almost a whole loop's practice and then some, Aliya was now able to block most of the Doctor's strikes, and even try the offensive a few times, though admittedly not to any degree of success.
"A hundred loops and you might be good at this," the Doctor told her, making her laugh.
"A hundred loops and I think I'd have you on your back."
(They didn't hear Caleb mutter "It wouldn't take a hundred loops for her to achieve that if she went about it the right way", or see Yori's smirk of agreement.)
"I'd like to see you try."
"Just you wait."
Loop 22
"And that's when Darth Vader looked Luke right in the eye, and said, Luke, I am your father."
"What the fuck?!" Caleb yelped, making Aliya laugh because she'd had much the same reaction when watching the films in Sarah Jane's attic with Clyde, Rani and Sky.
The Doctor took that moment to add, "Greatest cinematic plot twist of all time, to this day and beyond."
"I'm not so sure about that," Yori said, "But it's a damn good one, for sure."
"Okay, but then what happened?" Caleb demanded, staring at Aliya, who was the one telling the saga. "Come on, you can't just leave it there!" She grinned at him and resumed the tale, thinking about how proud Clyde would be of her to be spreading the word of Star Wars far into the future when most knowledge of it had apparently died out.
"Well, Luke screamed at him, denying the truth because it was so horrible, even though a part of him knew that it was true, and Darth Vader told him so…"
Loop 37
Carly, with the Doctor's help, offered to act out the whole musical of The Sound of Music, and it turned out that she was a very good singer, able to hit the needed soprano notes. She sang I Have Confidence with great gusto, immediately taking on the role of Maria and nailing her spirit.
The Doctor, as Aliya had somewhat known but forgotten, wasn't a terrible singer himself, and when he sang Rolf and the Captain's parts she was pleasantly surprised at how soothing she found his voice in this new form. Perhaps she would have to ask him to sing for her more often.
"For here you are, standing there, loving me...whether or not you should…"
"So somewhere in my youth, or childhood, I must have done something good…"
The Doctor and Carly smiled at each other where they were holding hands, and Carly grabbed his lapels so that she could kiss him quickly, making him squeak and the others burst out laughing at the shade of red his face turned.
"Carly," Yori said disapprovingly, once the girl had let the Time Lord go.
"What? I got her earlier, it only seemed fair," Carly replied, shrugging and looking far too pleased with herself. "Besides, you're interrupting. The story isn't done yet."
Loop 104
In the end they lapsed into silence. They had run out of things to say, and without the need to sleep with their bodies being reset every three hours, they all needed the time to themselves to just be and think without having to speak.
Some loops the Doctor and Aliya would sit apart once getting to the bridge and silently barricading the door, but often they sat together. They would be only just touching and never speaking or even meeting eyes.
It wasn't that speaking had become forbidden. It just now seemed wrong. Too difficult. Something being forced out of them against their will. Something for people who didn't have forever encased in three hours.
Loop 142
"We're stuck here, aren't we?"
Yori's voice broke the silence that had permeated the bridge for over a week in relative time. They were all sitting in different spots in the room, with Carly being the exception because she had chosen to lie down on the ground instead.
It took almost half a minute for anyone to reply, so surprised they all were at someone actually speaking.
"Well, yeah, have been for a while," the Doctor eventually said, frowning at her.
Yori was leaning against the console and staring blankly ahead. "But I mean truly stuck. Forever. We're just going to keep going around and around and around. Never more than three hours. Never anywhere but here or with anyone but the five of us."
"No," Aliya told her, her voice quiet but firm, "We might be stuck for now, but not forever. We'll think of a way out. If there is one thing he can do, the Doctor always finds a way out."
"I really hope you're right."
Loop 143
"Alright," the Doctor said firmly once they got the door barricaded, "Enough of that not talking stuff. Had enough of that to last me a decade or so. What do you guys think of Harry Potter?"
Aliya frowned. "Never got around to reading it."
"Isn't that some famous story about magic and some kid with a scar?" Yori asked, lifting an eyebrow. "I feel like I might have heard of it somewhere."
"Really? I haven't," Caleb said with surprise, "But then my gran always hated the idea of magic, so maybe that's why she never got into it or brought it up."
"It's a brilliant story, shaped a whole generation and then some," the Doctor told them, grinning, "Go on, grab your seats. This one might take a while."
Loop 634
"Doctor, if you try and tell me one more thing about the Lord of the Rings, I'll not talk to you for the next 100 loops."
Aliya's threat made the Doctor gape at her. "That's twelve and a half days!"
"And we might be in here for twelve and a half centuries for all we know!" She retorted. "It's nothing. But if you don't want it then please shut up about this Tolkien guy and talk about something else."
"I second that," Yori said, her fingers stroking through Caleb's hair where he was lying with his head in her lap, "It was interesting at first, but I couldn't care less about these details and the fictional languages themselves."
"I stopped listening to anything he was saying about four loops ago," Lex muttered, leaning back in his chair with his eyes shut.
"Wait, languages," the Doctor said, his face lighting up, "That's it. Languages!"
"What about them?" Caleb asked, his voice soft and eyes only half open because he was half dozing off from Yori stroking his hair.
"Well, I know every single one in existence. That's another way to pass the time. I could teach them to you, anything you wanted. Delphon language of the eyebrows, the universal sign language, Ancient South Martian, Russian, Raxacoricofallapatorian-"
"I know that last one already," Lex put in, making the Doctor blink at him.
"Well, alright, not that one then."
"Do we get a choice in this?"
"Of course, but I mean, what other choices are there at this point?"
Loop 1,321
"I can't do this."
Everyone in the room turned to look at Aliya, who had fallen into the nearest chair, laid her arm across the back, and rested her forehead on it.
"Do what?" Caleb asked.
"Learn. With humans," she said, sighing, "I've tried, I've tried for weeks now. But I can't do it for another second."
"Why not?"
She made a face. "It's horrible for me to have to say this, Caleb, but you're not intelligent enough. Or more accurately, I'm too intelligent in comparison. I'm picking these languages up at ten times the speed any of you are."
"Really?" Yori asked with surprise. "It didn't seem like it. You're the quickest, yes, but-"
"I've been refraining from showing off, holding myself back," Aliya answered, giving her an apologetic look, "But I can't do it. I can't dumb myself down or just sit around here waiting for you to get something that seems so damned simple to me."
"It's not our fault," Lex said, frowning at her.
"No, it's not," she agreed quickly, "This isn't a criticism of you, not really. You guys can keep going, I'll just need to be able to go and do something else in the gaps where I'm waiting for you guys to catch up."
"Or, instead, once you've worked it all out, you could help me teach them each time," the Doctor pointed out, making her blink at him.
"Oh."
"Yeah. Thought so."
Loop 3,002
"I miss Jenny."
They had been going through another silent period for the last few loops, having finally tired of language lessons. But this particular thought had been nagging at Aliya's mind for long enough now that she hadn't been able to keep it in any longer.
Her head was on the Doctor's shoulder, and they were sitting against the wall that had become their favourite spot in the room. His hand wound through hers, interlocking their fingers and giving a gentle squeeze.
"Yeah, me too."
"Who's Jenny?" Yori asked. Carly was back with her head in her lap, curled up and practically purring at getting her hair played with by Yori's manicured fingers.
"Our daughter," the Doctor replied, a tiny smile playing on his lips. "Well, my daughter, technically. Born from a progenation machine, extracted from a single cell of my biology. But these days, Aliya's her mum in all the ways that count."
"It's been over a year since we've seen her, if we're counting all these loops," Aliya said, her hearts heavy, "And when we did, we made her leave and she told us we were both full of shit. Oh god, what if we never see her again and that's how we left things? Her thinking she wasn't wanted?"
"We'll see her again," he told her, his voice quiet and firm, "You said so yourself. I always find a way out."
"Then why haven't you?" Yori's eyes were narrowed as the question left her lips. "All we've done is sit around and accept that this has happened, but that's because I have no idea about intricate mechanics or bloody Time Lords or any of this. You're supposed to be the experts, but you just stopped trying."
"I'm...I'm waiting for a new idea," the Doctor said weakly, "I tried all my initial ones."
"You said it's been a year," Carly pointed out, sitting up, "Can't you try again?"
He swallowed. "Okay. I'm sorry. I'll start trying to think of things again. I promise." He gave them a wide smile that looked rather forced. "There, it's on a backburner in my brain, should get something come through in a bit."
"Thinking about seeing Jenny might help speed that up," Aliya suggested, "And I'll keep thinking too. We all will."
"Do you think she's okay?"
"She'll be with Mari. She'll be fine."
"It's been a year since we saw her too. Longer."
Aliya bit her lip. "Yeah, I know. But I don't...miss her." She glanced sideways at him. "Do you? I mean, it's okay if you do, I just-"
"I wouldn't say that I miss her, as such," he mused quietly, "But I do want to see her. There's still so much there that isn't...so much to be...well, you know."
"Do you think it ever will be?" Her voice was soft as she tried to imagine the possibility. It was still so strange, still so wrong in so many ways, and yet she could picture it. In a blurry, abstract sort of way. It wasn't impossible, just still bizarre and unlikely in her eyes.
The Doctor sighed. "Well, I think that depends on the two of you a lot more than it does on me."
Aliya couldn't quite answer that. Besides, he was right and they both knew it.
"So who's Mari?" Carly asked, making them exchange unsure looks about whether to divulge the information which required a fair amount of backstory.
Still, they were likely going to be stuck with these people for a while yet, and what else was there to talk about?
So Aliya shared a tiny nod with the Doctor, took a deep breath, and started the story right from the day she had arrived at Torchwood and met the woman called Marion Narke.
Loop 3,003
When they finally got to how they had made Jenny leave the TARDIS and seek out her sister, the Time Lords went quiet and let the story hang in the air.
"Well fuck," was all Caleb said after about ten seconds.
Aliya gave a single nod. "That pretty much sums it up."
"If we ever get out of here, I guess the best I can say is good luck with that," the boy said sympathetically, "Still, you never really know how these things will turn out. You might surprise each other."
Even though the Doctor gave him a small smile, likely due to his optimism, Aliya couldn't quite muster the words to form a reply.
Loop 3,021
The Doctor had an idea. Finally.
Loop 3,023
It didn't work.
Loop 3,027
Neither did the one after that.
Loop 3,101
Or any of the ones after that.
Loop 3,152
"I think my brain needs a timeout," the Doctor said with a sigh as he sunk to the floor beside Aliya.
"I'm sorry that my ideas weren't any better than yours," his friend said.
"I'm sorry I came up with a grand total of one idea," Caleb put in with a heavy sigh, "Not including the one me and Yori came up with together."
"And I'm sorry that mine didn't work either," Lex added.
The Doctor made a face. "I think it's safe to say we all gave it a shot. We're just going to have to take another break and hope the right plan comes to us eventually."
"What, a break for another year?" Aliya said with a lifted eyebrow. "That's hardly ideal."
"Wait, if it's been a year, does that mean I'm twenty now?" Caleb asked, frowning at the thought. "Because that's super weird. I mean it feels like it's been a year, but it also doesn't, you know?"
"Well, no, because you haven't aged," the Doctor said, shaking his head, "You might have now lived through an extra year, but your body hasn't. It's where these things tend to get a bit complicated."
"I know what you mean though, Caleb," Yori said, "How it doesn't feel like it's been a year even though we know it has. Like it's...blurred."
"That's a time loop for you," the man in the bowtie replied, "They keep the perception of those inside it focused on the loop itself as it's happening, not the repetitions. You know it's been a year, because you have the memories, but it doesn't entirely feel like it because it's trying to keep your perception narrowed down to three hours, specifically the current three hours."
"You know, most of the time I can't tell if you're making this stuff up or what," Lex muttered.
No amount of protesting or assurances on the Doctor's part could entirely convince him, if only because the entire concept was too temporally complex to be anything more than abstract for his human mind. But in the end he more or less accepted it, which was something.
Loop 6,232
The second year of relative time had been spent with Carly, Yori and Lex telling and acting out some of the most popular stories from their homeworlds, as the Doctor had done with so many of Earth's.
It also involved a few more attempts at finding a way out of the bridge. When those failed, despair set in as the group of five began to lose hope that they would find a way out any time soon.
The Doctor, who Aliya could tell felt very responsible for the whole situation even if that wasn't remotely true, did his best to keep entertaining them with stories from his centuries of travel. If there's one thing he never ran out of, it was stories. Almost all of them were new to Aliya as well, so it was far from the worst way to spend the time.
Loop 7,436
"And that's when I worked out that she was going to disappear from time unless I saved her ancestor! But no, she wouldn't stay behind, she insisted on coming with me."
"Why are you making this sound like a bad thing?"
The Doctor huffed. "A fifty five year old historian made me wait while she packed hot chocolate and her medicine into her handbag before getting into the TARDIS with me, and then she refused to take off her highly anachronistic cardigan in Tudor England because she was worried about getting cold. Carried her handbag around the whole time too. She wouldn't listen to a word I said about anything."
Aliya couldn't help but laugh heartily. "I wish I could have met this Evelyn Smythe. She sounds great."
"Yes, I imagine the two of you would have gotten along all too well."
"So you really do just end up travelling with whoever you bump into?" Yori asked, lifting an eyebrow at him.
"More or less," he admitted, "Something wrong with that?"
"No. It's just...odd. Don't they think you're strange or possibly dangerous?"
"Strange, certainly. I don't know about dangerous. Not as much as you might think," the Doctor considered thoughtfully, "I don't know. Maybe I just seem trustworthy."
"Or maybe the allure of all of time and space outweighs any worrying," Carly suggested, "I reckon it would for me."
"That could be it, yeah."
Loop 10,465
"Will the two of you SHUT UP!"
At Yori's shout, the two Time Lords - who had been busy bickering for the better part of an hour - whipped around to look at her.
"I have had it with whatever the hell this is," the captain of the station growled, looking a lot more like the grumpy first impression she had been when they met her, "So nip it in the bud now. I will gag you both if I have to."
The problem was, that now that they had been interrupted, Aliya couldn't even remember what they had been disagreeing on in the first place or indeed what they had really been saying. It had just been one of those times where everything he said rubbed her the wrong way and vice versa, and so things had gone south.
"Er, sorry," the Doctor said, frowning and looking as if he was experiencing a similar inability to recall where their conversation had taken such a turn.
"My ears," Caleb murmured, "They're at peace again. What a revelation. Thank the stars."
"Tell me about it," Lex agreed.
Loop 12,056
Aliya had the brilliant idea of not running to the bridge but instead trying to go back past the Vortisaur to get to the TARDIS. This stroke of genius ended with her getting a chunk of her neck chomped out by the Vortisaur's incredibly sharp teeth.
She bled out in the corridor before the chronal energies from the creature could even age the wound.
Loop 12,057
This made her cranky for the next hundred loops.
Loop 12,157
It probably would have only made her cranky for forty nine loops if the Doctor hadn't been lecturing her the entire time about the stupidity of what she'd done and how she needed to have more regard for her own life, time loop or no.
When he finally shut up about it, she mellowed out.
Yori, who had been about ready to strangle them both for at least the twelfth time since the loop had started, nearly cried from sheer relief (Lex wasn't far behind and Carly preferred to make dramatic commentary).
Loop 19,768
"I'm never taking any kind of freedom for granted again," Carly said, sitting backwards on her favourite chair and resting her chin on the top of it. "I mean, food. Going to the bathroom. We haven't needed to do any of that because we just keep getting reset. But you know, I like eating. I like the relief that comes with taking a pee. Or how good a hot shower feels."
Yori let out a wistful sigh. "What I wouldn't give for a bath in the hot springs back home and some of Mum's homemade dumplings."
"I want my wife's cake. Think my daughter still knows how to make it."
"I just want to be back in the TARDIS," the Doctor said, "I can't remember the last time I stayed so long in one place, and one time. It's torture. I'm going mad, I'm sure of it."
"Right, because you were so sane before," Aliya retorted, "I just want pancakes and a hug from Jenny."
Lex turned his gaze onto her and the Doctor. "Are we ever going to get that? Will I ever see my daughter again?"
"Yes," the Doctor replied, meeting his gaze evenly, "I don't know how long it will take, but I promise, Lex, we'll see our daughters again."
Yori's eyes flicked to Carly for a moment before moving to examine something on the floor.
Loop 29,432
"We haven't been alone in years," the Doctor said to Aliya quietly enough that the others couldn't hear him, and with enough surprise in his voice that she could tell he had only just realised it, "Not since I had to watch you die in the corridor. And before that, even longer."
"Not since right at the beginning, after that Shakespeare stuff," she murmured, thinking about how bizarre the whole concept was.
"I mean, it's fine."
"Yeah."
"But it's-"
"I know."
"Supply cupboard?"
"Yes."
They silently got up and moved to open the door of the cupboard and go inside, paying the attention of the others no mind as they shut the door behind them. It didn't matter what the others thought.
Something about being away from the eyes of the humans was so liberating in a way Aliya knew she would never be able to verbalise. She let out an odd breath of relief and smiled at the Doctor, who sent her a near identical grin back.
He found a comfortable enough seat on top of a backup generator and held his arms out. She wasted no time in sliding into his lap and wrapping an arm around his neck.
Neither of them said a word because neither of them needed to. Their heads tilted so that their foreheads pressed together, opening the mental connection that had gone unexplored for so long between them now. Longer than the time they had spent together before it had been forged (and much longer than the time they had spent together after before coming to the station).
I've missed you. Is that ridiculous?
No. I've missed you too.
It was only the beginning of the loop, so they were able to sit there for several hours, just basking in the feeling of the closeness they had been deprived of for a number of superficial reasons.
Loop 29,433
They made an immediate beeline for the supply cupboard again once the door was barricaded. Thankfully, again, the others said nothing. Probably more glad to be rid of their presence for a while more than anything else.
Aliya tugged the Doctor by his lapels back so that she was against the wall and he was standing over her, able to lean his forehead down against hers easily.
This could be a good way for us to brainstorm a way out of this, actually.
There was hesitation in his mind that came through before any kind of measured reply could. It puzzled her and she couldn't help pushing a little deeper until she discovered something odd.
You're in no rush to get out of this. For all your complaining about staying still, a part of you doesn't mind being stuck.
...yes.
Why?
….
Doctor, why?
He broke their connection so abruptly that it hurt, jerking back and making them both wince before she focused her narrowed gaze on him.
"Doctor," she said slowly.
"I don't want to talk about it," he said, eyes fixed on the floor and voice flat.
She laughed without humour. "Too bad. We're here, and you just admitted that you're okay with being stuck here when you're so afraid of being still that you've been running for a thousand years. So tell me why."
"No."
"Doctor, tell me. Now."
The Doctor lifted his chin a little, defiance in his eyes. "And if I don't? Is it going to be another one of your bizarre convoluted threats?"
"Lying by omission is still lying."
"You would know."
"Yes," Aliya agreed without missing a beat, making sure to hold his gaze, "I would. And you don't get to lie to me."
A smirk touched his lips, and paired with the strange coldness in his eyes, it sent an unpleasant feeling slithering under her skin. "Don't I? How in the world would you know?"
The words made her feel stupid. Like he was saying she was naive and didn't deserve to know the things kept from her. It lit a fire in her, because she had no interesting in knowing all of his secrets, but some of them weren't just about him.
"Is that your tactic? Act like an arsehole and hope I'll back down and go have a little cry somewhere?" She asked, scowling at him.
"Isn't that what usually happens?"
"Fuck you."
"Maybe not right now. Not really in the mood and it seems impractical when we're having a perfectly good argument."
Aliya stared at him with disbelief before storming out of the supply cupboard, taking in gulps of air as she strode out into the main body of the bridge because all the oxygen had spontaneously vanished from her lungs.
He followed her out, watching her with those impossibly guarded eyes.
"Tell me!" She shouted, ignoring the feeling of the stares of the humans now that they were out in the open. "Tell me why you're okay with staying here! Tell me right now because acting like this isn't clever, this isn't cool or funny, it's horrible and it's fucking terrifying!"
Something in his face shifted. Like she'd gotten through to him for a second.
"You're scaring me," she said, her voice having dropped to all but a whisper, "And you're belittling me."
He frowned. "That wasn't the point."
"Maybe not, but that's what's happened!" Aliya remarked, throwing her hands up in the air. "You can't just turn on the person you call your best friend when she asks a perfectly valid question!"
"The answer's only going to make everything worse!"
"I don't care!" She retorted, incredulous as to how he could think that his answer could be anything they couldn't deal with. "Tell me the appeal of staying here!"
"Because the moment I leave I'll have to start saying goodbye!"
The Doctor's shout hung in the air and she froze, eyes wide with horror. He stood, a man defeated, with shoulders slumped and a heavy melancholy permeating every inch of his body. He pursed his lips inwards, looking a completely different person to the one who had been snarking at her half a minute before.
"Goodbye to what?" She asked. The question was barely audible.
He sighed, and looked at her with those sad eyes that never failed to hurt her hearts. "Everything. Everyone."
Her chest felt too tight, but also too hot, as if she were somehow simultaneously suffocating and burning from the inside. "So this is about Utah," she managed to get out, "You're really intending to go."
"Guys, you know we're still here, right?" Caleb asked, breaking the singular attention they had had on each other and reminding them that they had been shouting at each other in front of the three crewmembers.
"What's Utah?" Lex asked, frowning.
"It's a country on Earth, I think."
"US state, actually," the Doctor corrected rather automatically.
"I'm assuming there's something a lot more significant about it than just its geographical information, unless Aliya has a strange aversion to the place that we were previously unaware of," Yori said.
"Aliya, let's not do this here," the Doctor said quietly, "Please."
She shook her head. "No, we're going to do this here, because here you can't run away. Here you're stuck and you have to listen."
"We can't avoid-"
"I'm not going to let you walk off to your death-"
"You've already seen that that's exactly what you will do."
"Fuck what I've seen! Fuck what we think we know about this! There are ways around it, there has to be, because you don't get to just give up!"
His expression darkened. "Give up? That's what you think this is?"
She just stared at him, very suddenly feeling utterly exhausted. "Isn't it?"
"Well, if you think so, it must be," he muttered bitterly, and turned on his heel to go back into the supply cupboard and shut the door behind him. Despite the very obvious fact that he didn't want to talk to her, Aliya currently couldn't give less of a damn what he wanted.
She marched up to the door and tried to open it, only to find he must have locked it with the sonic.
"I don't care if you've given up," she yelled through the door, "Because I never will! I won't let you go there, we're going to find a way around it together, and then you're going to thank me!"
"It's a fixed point!"
"I don't care!" Aliya's voice broke as she leaned her forehead against the cold metal of the door, and she could feel the wetness of the tears she had somehow managed to hold off until now.
When he didn't reply, she just let herself stand there and cry, until a hand came to rest on her shoulder. She turned around to see Caleb standing there, his eyes soft and concerned, and when she offered no resistance he wrapped his arms around her in a hug and let her sob into his shoulder.
"I don't really understand, but it seems pretty bad, so I'm sorry," he murmured.
"Yeah, it's bad," she whispered, "And if he keeps being this stupid and stubborn I don't know what I can do."
Loop 29,434
It became apparent that the Doctor really had no interest in talking to her at all while Silencio was still on their minds.
Loop 29,438
It didn't take long for her to feel the same way. They sat in opposite corners of the room in sullen silence, while the others found themselves in the middle of an incredibly awkward standoff.
Loop 31,054
Carly, Yori and Lex soon found it easy enough to ignore the feuding Time Lords and continue having conversations of their own. It was a relief for Aliya to have something else to focus on other than her own incredibly troubling thoughts.
She had to keep her eyes shut, though, because even just meeting the Doctor's eyes from across the room by accident was enough to reinvigorate all the anger and worry that she was currently bottling up.
Loop 37,102
After over two years, Aliya reached her breaking point.
"I can't do this," she said, getting to her feet and catching the Doctor's eye as he looked at her with surprise, "I can't not speak to you for this long. I'd rather we be screaming at each other than ignoring each other."
"Thank god," Yori remarked loudly, "This was getting ridiculous. How many loops even was that?"
"Seven thousand, six hundred and sixty eight," the Doctor answered automatically, still sitting down and not looking as if he intended to get up.
"Over two and a half years," Carly said, sounding floored. "That's actually insane. Like, how could you just stay quiet the whole time?"
"Time Lord patience, I guess."
"Or sheer stubbornness," the Doctor muttered.
"I'd be silent for a decade if it meant he won't die at the end," Aliya said flatly, crossing her arms and glaring at the man she was talking about, "I'd do almost anything."
"Almost anything but adhere to the rules you always put so much more stock into than I did."
"I don't want to break them, I want to bend them because I know we can, and it's worth it."
He jumped to his feet. "No, it's not!" His face twisted. "Aliya, I'm not worth damaging the Web of Time. I know you might think I am, but I'm not."
"We shouldn't need to damage it," she said, shaking her head, "And even if we did, you would be worth it."
"No, I wouldn't!" He shouted. "I'm not a good man, Aliya, I'm not a hero. You might think that. Amy might think that. Jenny might think that. But I'm not. I killed our people, Aliya! Every last person, even the children, with the push of a button!"
"You had to," she said weakly.
"There!" He threw his arms up in the air. "Since when did you make excuses for me?"
That threw her. He was right. But thankfully, she quickly realised that she had an answer, even if it wasn't a pleasant one.
"Since I learned how much you hate yourself. It's not making excuses. It's understanding. And forgiveness."
It was his turn to stare. His eyes swam with inner conflict and Aliya was all too aware of the heavy gazes of their spectators, who she knew shouldn't be witness to all this but couldn't really be told to go anywhere.
"You are a hero," Aliya continued, "Not a perfect one, not the kind from fairytales, but you save people and you care about them all and that means something. And you're right, Jenny does believe that. If you go to Silencio to die, are you going to be the one to tell her?"
The Doctor's face fell. "I - I don't-"
"Are you going to look her in the eye and tell her that you're going to leave her and me to go to your death, just because some religious nutters think that you should?!" She demanded, her voice more powerful. "Or are you going to leave it to me, are you going to go and die and leave me to tell her, out of the blue, that you're dead?"
"It has to happen one way or another!"
"I'll tell her you gave up!" Aliya shouted furiously. "So help me, I will!"
Something dangerous flashed in his eyes. "You wouldn't."
"I would, because it would be the truth! I'll tell her how you accepted your fate and just lay down to take it even though you had so much to live for, even though I begged-"
"I'm not giving up!" He yelled.
"Yes you are! You're the Doctor, you always find a way, you search for every possibility to save everyone, but this time, because it's you, you don't care and you aren't even trying!"
"It's a fixed point, there's nothing I can do!"
"We only have my memories to go off to know what happened! That gives us room to fix it!"
"We can't fix everything!"
"We have to!" Aliya screamed, her entire body shaking as tears pricked her eyes. "We have to, because you don't get to leave me! You don't get to die and leave me alone! Not now, not after everything!"
"You'll have Jenny and the others," he said, sounding as though he knew how unconvincing it sounded.
She shook her head. "I'll still be the only one. The only Time Lord. And I'm not strong enough for that. I can't be the only one, I just can't. I don't know how to live with an empty head like you did."
The Doctor was looking at her with those big sad eyes of his, but when he spoke, it was strangely flat. "So this is actually about you. Nevermind that I'm the one that's going to die on that beach, you're making this about you."
"I have to!" Aliya exclaimed. "I know you don't care enough about yourself, so I have to make this about me to be sure that you do care. If you die, if it happens, I don't even get to be there, because I already was! I'll have to be sitting away somewhere, waiting for my mind to be ripped apart and thrown into desolation-"
"Stop."
"No! No, I-"
There were more things she was going to yell at him, but words became impossible as her throat became entirely choked up by her crying. Shaking her head again, and throwing apologetic looks at Yori and the others about what they were having to witness, she ran to the supply cupboard and shut the door behind her.
A part of her wanted to wipe at her eyes but she knew it was pointless since she was still crying a river. With a scream of frustration, she lashed out with a physical violence that was uncommon for her and let her fist collide with a nearby container of cables. The scream shifted to one of pain as the container proved to be more solid than it looked.
She'd hit it on the edge, and as she retracted her hand she saw broken skin starting to leak a tiny amount of blood across her knuckles. She swore.
The door slid open and the Doctor stepped inside.
"Fuck off," she spat as the door slid shut, "In case it wasn't blatantly fucking obvious, I came in here to get away from you."
His eyes immediately went to her bleeding hand. "You're hurt."
Aliya snorted. "Yeah, and I just cut my hand open too."
"Let me look at it," he said, stepping forward and reaching for her injured limb, but she stumbled back so fast that she slammed into the spare air filter. "Aliya-"
"Don't go all gentle on me now," she said, glaring, "It's not like-"
"I'm sorry."
"No!" She shouted. "You don't get to say sorry. There's no point in saying sorry for something you haven't done yet when you're still going to do it!"
"But I am sorry-"
"You don't get to leave me!" Aliya's voice trembled but was no less loud for it. "You're my best friend in the whole universe and there is so little point to all of this without you! I never cared about seeing other worlds or wonders nearly so much as I did about seeing them with my friend!"
"Do you think I want this?" He asked, horrified. "You do, I can tell! I may not like myself, Aliya - and yes, before you snort at me, I know that is the understatement of the century - but I don't actually want to die!"
That made her pause, and cock her head at him.
"I'm going to Silencio because I have to," he continued, "I know you'll lose me, and that Jenny will lose me, and so will all the others. But I lose my life, Aliya. I lose everything that I am, I just stop, and as far as I'm concerned I might as well not have existed in the first place because I'll just be dead and I won't remember all the things I did when I was alive!"
"You'll always have existed-"
"I know, but I'll be gone," he whispered, "The dead can't remember."
"Stop it."
"Not until you realise that I don't actually hate myself so much that I want to die!" He shouted. "But I have to, because it's a fixed point and you've already seen it happen."
"Yes, and I cried over your body," Aliya reminded him, her fists clenched, "I didn't even realise then that I was still in love with you. But regardless of not always knowing how, I've never loved you any less, and I never will."
"I know."
The fact that his response, even now, was still the same, was a familiarity and a comfort that had a single sob escaping her chest. She held his eyes with hers, both of them so riled up and at odds.
"I'll never care about anyone else the way I care about you," she said, her voice so quiet, "You're...you're it for me. If you die, I'll have Jenny and the others but it won't be the same. They don't know me like you do, not all the little things I could never explain, they don't understand-"
He stopped her mouth with a desperate kiss, which in any other circumstance would have probably made her furious. But she had just spent two years not speaking to him, let alone doing anything as simple as innocently touching him.
She had missed him so much. Every part of her ached for him regardless of the part that was trying to tell her about still having reason to argue. The fury and worry was still there, but she could feel it coursing through her body instead of her brain. Driving her to use the power of the emotions for something other than yelling.
Aliya kissed him back, her hands coming to rest at his waist and pulling him closer. When he broke the kiss, he leaned his forehead against hers.
"I'm not promising anything," he whispered, "But once we're out of the loop, we can look for other options."
She wanted to cry with relief, which of course meant that she indeed did exactly that. "Thank you."
"If we don't work something out, I'm still going to go."
Aliya let her hands slide underneath his tweed jacket and start slipping it from his shoulders. She tried not to wince as her injured hand scraped against the fabric. "And if that happens, I'm still going to do everything I can to stop you."
"You won't succeed."
"I suppose we'll find out."
The jacket hit the floor. They came together in perfect synchronicity, her arms wrapping around his neck at the same time that his lifted her off the ground and wrapped her legs around his hips. The kiss that followed was rough, her fingers twisted in the hair at the back of his neck, tongues and teeth skimming across lips even as he turned them so that he could press her into the only bit of free wall space within reach.
"I'm still mad at you," she gasped into the skin of his cheek when they briefly stopped for oxygen.
"Good, I'm still mad at you."
"But I'm not going to yell anymore. The others shouldn't have to hear it and we've reached an understanding. Yelling isn't going to get us anywhere."
"Agreed."
"Now shut up and kiss me."
He did, but not without first yanking her shirt up and off her body with no degree of gentleness. In turn, she undid his bowtie and threw it off to the side somewhere before undoing his shirt and then his belt. She was distracted quickly when his hand disappeared under the waistband of her jeans, seeking the spot that had her shuddering against him when he found it.
His mouth swallowed any sounds that escaped her, and it was much harder to concentrate, but she still managed to undo his trousers.
His free hand cupped her face in a gesture that was oddly soft. "They might hear us," he whispered, with that tiny worried frown that was so endearing.
"So we'll have to be quiet," she said simply before kissing him to stop any more words that might want to leave his mouth. Thankfully, he kissed her back and his hands assisted hers in fumbling with their clothing.
What followed wasn't gentle, driven by anger and disagreement and worry, but it was still tender, somehow. They still mostly succeeded in keeping quiet.
After, as the physical sensation began to fade, they continued to bask in the mental side of it, their interlocked hands maintaining the link as they slumped against the cupboard wall. They'd lost themselves so completely that they were totally unsure of how much time had passed and how much time was left in the loop.
Aliya used her free hand to cup his face. His eyes flickered shut as she brushed feather light kisses across his forehead, eyelids and cheeks.
"No more fighting for a while," she asked, "Please. I don't have it in me to do this all the time."
"I promise."
He pulled her into a proper hug, and they stayed like that until the loop ended.
Loop 37,103
"So you two are alright now?" Yori asked them ten seconds after they got the door barricaded.
Aliya and the Doctor, who had barely looked at let alone touched each other in any way yet, blinked at her and wondered how it could have been that obvious.
"Yeah," the former said.
"Thank the stars for that," the nearby teenager said, "That was just insane."
"Carly or Caleb?" The Doctor asked.
"Caleb."
"I'm sorry you three had to witness all that," he told them solemnly, "It's not something anyone should have had to see."
"Maybe," Yori said, eyeing them calmly but with no small degree of concern, "But it seemed important. And serious. Is everything okay?"
The Doctor gave Aliya a tiny smile. "We're hoping it will be."
"Best of luck with all of it, if we ever get out of here," Lex said, patting him on the shoulder. The other man smiled at him, only to falter and freeze a moment later.
"Doctor? What is it?"
"I just remembered."
"Remembered what?"
"I have this." He rummaged in his jacket until he finally pulled out a small portable chessboard.
"You idiot!" Aliya shouted. "You've had that this whole time?!"
"Yeah, sorry."
Yori was equally frustrated but for a rather different reason. "I thought you'd remembered something important!"
"It is important!" The Doctor said indignantly. "It has backgammon on the other side!" While Yori just stared at him with stunned disbelief, Caleb giggled. "So who here actually knows how to play?"
Caleb grinned. "On Ping, we play live Chess."
"Live chess?" Aliya inquired curiously.
"Well, yeah, we play in the arena and people come and watch," he said, and she was appeased until he added, "And they run more electricity through each piece for every time you move it."
"What the fuck?!" Aliya exclaimed. "That's barbaric."
"That's the game that'll go intergalactic by the 52nd century," the Doctor corrected.
"Really?" Caleb asked, delighted.
"I hope you weren't in danger playing it," Yori said, frowning at him.
"Well, I wasn't dumb enough to compete properly, people die all the time in the league matches and quite like being alive," he replied, shaking his head, "I practiced at home with Dad mostly. Maybe one day I couldn't done it for real, I was good enough. But all this stuff was better, and less likely to get me killed."
"Well, this is just the original version, no electricity, sorry," the Doctor said, chuckling as he took a cloth bag out of his jacket and pulled a plain wooden rook out of it to make his point.
"That's okay," Caleb said, still grinning, "I just might not be as good. Bit of a different strategy when you don't have to worry about being electrocuted."
"I suppose there would be," Aliya said, still entirely unsure of how to feel about it.
Yori and Lex didn't know how to play, so the rest of the loop became a chess tutorial with the Doctor and Aliya playing a quick paced game as a demonstration.
And so began the tournament.
Loop 37, 112
They did the tournament as a round robin, with multiple rounds of each person playing each other person. The Time Lords kept the scores in their heads since nothing could be written down that wouldn't be reset within three hours.
Yori and Lex, as both incredibly intelligent individuals, picked the game up quickly and developed as players with every game that passed, whether they were playing or watching.
Any match between Carly and the Time Lords, or between the two Time Lords, tended to be very even and the results always changed. Carly was smug about it, certainly, but didn't seem to realise the gravity of her own genius, or just how impressed the Time Lords were with her ability to sometimes beat them.
Even more evenly matched were Yori and Lex. While the Time Lords were gradually pulling ahead of the young mechanic, though not so much of each other, Yori and Lex zigzagged to the point of their scores being neck and neck the entire time.
"Is it sheer determination from losing the last time that allows you to win the next?" Carly asked Yori as she checkmated Lex.
"Probably," the loser of the game said.
Loop 37,232
To Aliya's dismay, the Doctor started to gain wins over her until he was in a vaguely comfortable lead.
Loop 37,278
Unfortunately her annoyance caused a lapse in focus which only furthered the gap.
Loop 39,878
It only took about a year for them all to get very sick of chess, and they agreed to wait as long as they could bear before moving onto backgammon, which only the Doctor already knew how to play.
Loop 40,439
"I was thinking we should go straight to Torchwood once we're out of here," the Doctor said to Aliya, who was busy braiding Yori's hair in a traditional Gallifreyan style, "See Jenny. Tell her how we've missed her. Take her somewhere nice to say sorry."
"But she still stays at Torchwood?"
"Yes."
"Okay. Yeah. That sounds good." Aliya frowned as she considered her next question, and kept her eyes focused on the twisting of her fingers in front of her. "What about Mari?"
"She can come too, if she likes. We could all get ice cream."
She had to laugh, a little cynically. It made him frown.
"What?"
"Us all going for ice cream," she said, making a face but smiling despite herself, "You make it sound so normal. A normal family ice cream outing. As if."
"It'll never happen if we don't try," the Doctor told her, his forehead still creased, "Mari's never going to change her mind about us if we aren't around to try and change it."
"Mm, I'm sure evicting Jenny has really endeared us to her," Aliya muttered, and his face fell a little. He clearly hadn't considered that part of the scenario, "But sure, if she's there, we'll ask if she wants to come and get ice cream. I rate her likelihood of saying says to be about one in a hundred."
"Well, at least she's still meant to be meeting us in the same place as last time, but a week later," he pointed out, "At some point we can go and hope she's there."
"Sure." Yori's braid was finished. "There, you're done." Aliya used her phone to take a picture so that Yori could see.
"Oh, it's lovely," the captain remarked after being shown, smiling, "I was never any good at braids myself."
"Maybe not, but you can do flawless eyeliner in like two seconds," Caleb said, "You really need to teach me how to do that."
"See, any kind of cosmetics, you'd be better asking a monkey to do it than me," Aliya told them, laughing, "Braids are the only things people of my civilisation bothered with, generally. But my hair these days isn't long enough. Thanks for letting me have a go with yours."
"You can have a go with mine if you like," Caleb said, and he chuckled when Aliya grinned and just ruffled his shaggy pixie cut, "What, too blue?"
"Yes, that's definitely it."
"I'd look great with blue hair," the Doctor said absently.
"No."
"Oh come on Aliya-"
"Seriously, no."
Loop 45,644
It turned out that Aliya - once she was taught it - was incredibly good at Backgammon.
Loop 45,651
Caleb, strangely, was not.
Loop 46,031
Not even with a lot of practice.
Loop 52,347
Caleb was mid-sentence when he very abruptly trailed off, an odd look of realisation on his face.
"Caleb, what is it?" The Doctor asked.
"Yori, we haven't had our periods in years," the boy said, frowning at the utterly bizarre thought.
"Well, thank the gods for small mercies," his captain replied, "If I'd had to deal with your pre-cycle mood swings on top of all of this I think I'd have truly gone out of my mind by now."
"Gee, thanks."
"My loss of sanity is still on the cards at this point, but probably won't be your fault if it comes to pass."
"Whose will it be?"
"I'd have thought that was obvious."
Loop 57,806
They were in the middle of one of their periods of extended silence when Carly broke it.
"So, what if I have an idea?"
The others perked up, Lex and Yori sitting up straighter and Aliya lifting her head from the Doctor's shoulder. All eyes in the room were on the young mechanic.
"Like, an idea for getting us out of here," she said slowly, "That kind of idea."
"Well, we haven't tried anything in awhile," the Doctor said, smiling, "I think we'll give anything a go at this point. What did you have in mind?"
Carly frowned, running a hand through her short hair. "It...seems too simple. Like we should have thought of it before, so I feel like maybe you guys did, and there's a reason it won't work."
"Good thing to know, he might be a genius but he's also a moron," Aliya said, nodding to the Doctor, "So there's a good chance we just missed it."
"Okay. Well, the problem is that we need to get to that ship of yours to end the loop, right?"
"Yes."
"But the Vortisaur is between us and the ship."
"Yes."
"Well...what if it wasn't? What if we trapped the Vortisaur in here, leaving us free to get to the other end of the ship?"
"That's...actually a really good idea," Aliya said, her eyes widening. Her head snapped to look at the Doctor. "Do you think it could work?"
"But you lot start the loop in here," he said, frowning, "Which means at some point, your path would have to cross the Vortisaur's. That wouldn't end well for any of you."
"But didn't you say it flies?" Yori asked, her eyes more alert and sharp than they had been in a long time.
"Yes, it flies."
"Which means if it came through that door, it wouldn't stop at the end of the top platform, it would keep going into the airspace of this area," she said, pointing at the imaginary flight path with her finger.
"And how would that be a good thing?"
"Well, we just be ready, just by the door, let it fly past us into here and then we run through and lock it before it can turn around."
"Shit, that could actually work," Aliya breathed. It had been so long since there had been a tangible chance at getting out. The sensation of an immediate visible hope was odd but completely welcome.
"There's nothing to barricade the door on the other side," Lex pointed out, "It'd smash through."
"So we lock it, and run," Yori said firmly, "I'm not seeing a lot of other options. Besides, worse case scenario is that it fails and we're still just as stuck as we were before we tried it."
Lex sighed. "I'm not so good at the running thing, Captain."
"We'll help you," Carly told him, putting her hand on his shoulder, "All of us."
"...well, alright then. Worth a try."
The Doctor leapt to his feet. "You three are brilliant. Absolutely amazing, especially you-" He gave Carly a fleeting and highly enthusiastic kiss on the forehead, "So, next loop, due in about half an hour, we're going to try this, yeah?"
So the planning began.
Loop 57,807
The change in action after tens of thousands of loops of being barricaded out confused the Vortisaur, making it linger by the door. When Caleb poked his head around to see what was happening, it went badly for him. And then for the majority of the others.
Loop 57,808
The Vortisaur flew in this time, but turned around faster than expected and managed to close its jaw around Lex's ankle due to the old man not being quick enough out of the door.
Loop 57,809
"Third time lucky!" The Doctor shouted as they all got through the door and it locked behind them. He used the sonic to try and reinforce it a bit. "Alright, run!"
The group of five sprinted down the corridor, and there was something so liberating in itself about finally being in new surroundings. The banging of the Vortisaur trying to get through the door echoed through the corridor, a near constant rhythm that spurred them on when fatigue had them wanting to stop.
"I've gotta rest for a minute," Lex panted, coming to a stop. The sound of a harsh metallic tearing could be heard in the far distance.
"That's the Vortisaur, it's gotten through," Aliya said, "Lex, we've got to keep going, it can fly and it's fast."
Yori just grit her teeth and crossed to her medical offer. "Lex, get on my back."
Lex stared. "Captain, I'm not that light-"
"Do it. That's an order."
She set her stance as he did as he was told, and even though she made a face once his arms were around her neck and she was taking his full weight, she remained steady on her feet.
"Come on," she said, plodding onward much to the amazement of everyone else.
"I want to be her," Carly breathed, before running to catch up. The Time Lords did the same. The image of Lex on Yori's back was an odd one, but Yori barely faltered even though she was now considerably slower.
"The TARDIS!" The Doctor shouted gleefully as they finally reached the end of the corridor. The howl of the Vortisaur made them all jump as it was closer than ever. "And not a moment too soon, everyone in!"
They piled into the TARDIS, and once the door was shut Yori put Lex down with a sigh of relief and immediately collapsed against the wooden panels, sliding to the floor and shutting her eyes.
"Aliya, with me," the Doctor said, rushing to the console platform, "You're going to close the vortex tear and I'm going to end the loop. We need to be perfectly synchronised, so tell me when you're ready."
They worked for a few minutes, stopping only to flinch when the Vortisaur rammed itself against the police box doors.
"Okay, I'm ready," Aliya said, checking the calculations one more time before looking up.
"Are you sure? We can't get this wrong, Aliya."
"Are you sure?" She countered. He just pursed his lips and nodded.
"Okay, on three. One, two, three!"
They both pulled down their levers and outside the Vortisaur let out an odd noise, but otherwise nothing of note happened. Yori got to her feet and frowned at them.
"How long will it take?"
The Doctor smiled at her. "It's already done. We did it. What were you expecting? Big explosions or some nice glowing lights?"
"I don't know. Something."
"So now do we wait to check it worked?" Carly asked.
Aliya shook her head. "It worked. The loop is broken. My tongue isn't tingling anymore. Which is weird, because I'd completely gotten used to it. It'll probably take me weeks at the very least to adjust back."
"We did it," Yori said, blinking, "We're free? Really?"
Aliya grinned. "Really."
Carly hugged Yori excitedly, and the two human females clung to each other while starting to laugh with pure elation. They quickly welcomed Lex into their embrace and the two Time Lords shared a smile at the display.
"So, now we get the Vortisaur in here and put it back in the vortex," Aliya said to the Doctor, to clarify that it was still the plan given it had been conceived almost twenty years earlier.
"Yep, still the plan," he replied, making her wonder if he had directly read the thought. "We should probably let you lot get back to sorting your space station out."
"I still can't believe you just carried him all that way," Carly was busy saying to Yori, not paying them any attention.
Yori shrugged. "It had to be done."
"Jensen, Raj, and Ren are dead," Lex said suddenly, making them all stare at him, "They were in the detached section before the loop, but I forgot. I think we all did. How did we forget?"
"Time Loops do strange things to minds, especially human ones," the Doctor explained, "Make you focus on your immediate surroundings. Forget about things outside it. Losses that hadn't sunk in yet."
Carly's cheerful expression had disappeared. "I had a massive crush on Raj," she said, crestfallen, "I was trying to work up the nerve to make a move."
Yori hugged her around the shoulders. "I know. It'll be okay."
"Thanks, Mum," Carly joked, but Yori just smiled at her and kissed her temple.
"Laugh all you like now," she warned, "But I lost them and I've just spent an extra...how long was it?"
"Twenty years, almost," the Doctor answered.
"An extra twenty years with you, missy," Yori continued, "If you thought I was grumpy and overprotective before, just you wait to see what I've got now."
"Figures," Carly said, grinning back, "You're, like, 20% captain, 30% grump, 15% secret dancer, and 35% secret mom friend."
"Why did you say that last bit like an American?"
"I dunno, it sounded better."
"Guess we've got a big cleanup to do," Lex considered, "Still, if you weren't here, Doctor, things with that tear or the creature probably would have been a lot worse, so thank you."
"You're very welcome."
"Is this goodbye, then?" Carly asked.
"Yes, I rather think it is," the Doctor said, "In a minute we'll get the Vortisaur in here and the TARDIS will be able to put it in a containment vortex, but not for long. Best you three aren't here for the vortex bit anyway. Don't need any of you looking into it and going loopy."
Carly came up the steps to give him a big hug. "Well, thanks for helping us not go out of our minds with boredom, anyway. Even if I ended up being the one who came up with the escape plan."
"And I won't forget it," he promised, smiling at her as they pulled away, "You know, the people who come travelling with me sometimes...you certainly fit the profile. I don't suppose you'd be interested?"
Carly took a long around the time machine. There was longing in her eyes. "It's a beautiful ship. And you guys are great," she said, smiling at both of the Time Lords, "But honestly, I think if I had to spend another extended period of time with you two and all your bullshit I'd probably go insane."
Yori and Aliya laughed at that, the first with agreement and the second with sheepish understanding. The Doctor laughed too, after a few seconds of surprise.
"Fair enough," he chuckled, "You're going to be amazing, I just know it."
"Don't we all?" Yori was watching her mechanic proudly. The Doctor turned his attention to the temperamental captain.
"It's been a pleasure."
"Wish I could say the same," Yori said, holding her hand out to him. He shook it, but used it to pull her into a quick hug that she grudgingly went along with. "I'll be glad if I never see the two of you again, I think. But it wasn't all bad."
"Careful, Yori, you'll make me blush," he retorted, and she just grinned at him.
Aliya gave Carly a big hug. "I'll miss you," the blonde said.
"Same," the human replied, "Or at least, some of the time." They laughed again before Aliya moved to hug Lex.
"I hope you get to see your daughter," she said to him.
"I hope everything works out with your two."
Aliya's face fell a little, and she could only give a miniscule nod. With Anna excluded, she didn't quite consider herself to have two daughters. Whenever she thought of Mari everything was just a blur. Thankfully, while she swallowed a lump in her throat, the Doctor swooped in.
"Thank you, I'm sure it will," he said to the other man, smiling and clapping him on the other back, "Take care, Lex."
"And you, Doctor."
"Okay, time to let Ramsey II in."
Before anyone could ask who that was, the Doctor had flicked the switch to open the doors. The striped indigo creature that resembled a pterodactyl surged in, but the blue haze of the TARDIS containment vortex stopped it from getting far.
"That's your cue, captain," the Doctor said, and gave her a mock salute as she guided Carly and Lex past the vortisaur and out of the doors.
"Goodbye, Doctor," she said, and the others echoed her sentiments. He just nodded while Aliya waved goodbye, and then the door lock was activated and they were gone.
"So, time vortex."
"That's the one."
They worked side by side until they had materialised with no spatial coordinates, purely within the vortex. A release of the containment vortex had the vortisaur screeching and then soaring out into the untamed wild beyond the wooden doors.
Aliya pulled down the door lock lever. "So, Ramsey II?"
The Doctor gave her a bashful smile. "Charley called our one Ramsey, after the prime minister of her time. Seemed to work. I think she'd understand our not trying to domesticate this one, though, after how our attempts with Ramsey I worked out."
"Or maybe Ramsey I just didn't like being around a temporal anomaly."
He gaped. "How do you know about that?"
"Given how your saving Charley's life nearly threatened the whole universe at one point, Doctor, you shouldn't be surprised that Romana might have mentioned it."
"I didn't know I had changed the timelines until it was too late," he muttered.
"I know. Now come on, it's been nineteen point eight years since we've had any sleep. I'm exhausted, mentally if not physically."
"And then ice cream?"
"Yes."
"It's good to be home."
Aliya smiled at him, slid her hand into his, and pulled him up the stairs. "Yeah, it is."
I hope that was a satisfactory end to what was a fairly bizarre, at times trying, but generally fun ride! Thanks for reading, and let me know what you thought! Next chapter is the farewell tour aka feels city but hopefully in a good way.
I'm gonna distract myself from freaking out about the incoming Hell Bent by getting onto the Closing Time AU. Because shop shenanigans and baby cute with just the right amount of Silencio angst is one thing that can't go wrong.
-MayFairy :)
Guest Review Replies:
EvenEth13 - So glad you liked the working in of Much Ado! I'm obsessed with that play, especially Tennant and Tate's version, and it occurred to me how similar some of the Daliya sentiments were and I had to play with it. Yeah, the Doctor verbalising his love for Aliya thing is a tricky one, because he's not one to say that sort of thing (Eight was, but generally the Doctor isn't), but then I've always wanted the emphasis on the lack of importance. She doesn't need to hear it, BUT it does mean that when it does eventually come out, it's going to be an extra special little moment. Thanks!