Chapter 27
A Worrying Doctor/City of Death
By: Izzy
"Doctor," Lady half whined as they lay in bed together. "I wanna go see Jack." The Doctor frowned at her.
"I don't know how being around Jack would effect the baby," he said.
"With him being a fixed point?" she asked. He nodded and she sighed. Suddenly she rolled over facing him. "Wait I know! Ianto!"
"What about Ianto?" he asked.
"We owe him a trip," she said with a small grin.
"We do," he agreed. "So you're going to have Ianto tell Jack. So you can tell Jack without having to see him, brilliant!"
"Yeah," she said. "Only one small flaw in my plan."
"What's that?" he asked.
"How do I contact Ianto without seeing Jack?" she asked.
"Don't have his number?" he asked.
"Nope," she said. "Wait I know! We could go to the moment he leaves the building after Carney Wharf. Pick him up or just get his number and call him later, which ever he wants to do."
"Brilliant!" he said.
"You'd say that to anything I say," she teased.
"Yes," he grinned "But it's normally true." He kissed the top of her head and got out of bed. He dressed swiftly and she watched him with a smile. He saw her watching and smiled back. "Like what you see?"
"Duh!" she teased with a small giggle. She got out of bed herself. "I wouldn't have married you if I didn't like what I see."
"Well I thought that you married me for my brain," he teased.
"Nah," she said as she dressed in a TARDIS blue Celtic dress and black flats. "I married ya for your amazing soul. You're a good man, Theta. Don't forget that." She left the room to wait for him in the Console room. She didn't see it but he was beaming at her comment.
She sat in the jump seat waiting for him to walk in. She rubbed her stomach thinking about who their child would favor. Hopefully both. Have his amazing hair, her bright eyes, his personality, but then questions started to pop up in her head. Would they favor just is regeneration or any regeneration? Are there things she needs to stay away from? Well she knew aspirin but other than that?
He's not coming, Jess said in Lady's mind, breaking her thoughts up.
So where is he? She asked.
I'll led you there, Jess said. Lady felt mental nudges leading her down the hall to a room she had never seen.
"Theta?" she asked.
"Oh!" he said surprised. He was holding a small worn out what looked like a handmade stuffed animal but it was no animal she could recognize. "Um, I was, um,"
"A baby's room?" she asked as she stepped in seeing the beauty of it. Even the ceiling was a view of the system of Kasterborous and the walls were the Milky way. She smiled as she saw his old crib she recognized it from 'A Good Man Goes to War'. The whole of it amazed her.
"You've seen my crib?" he asked.
"Yeah," she said softly.
"The show?" he asked.
"Yeah," she said just as softly. "There was a part were a friend of yours has a baby and you give her the crib to put her baby in. That is after you talk to the baby and find out she's tired." She laughed a little.
"So we have friends that get pregnant?" he said with a cheeky smile.
"Yeah," she said still in a trance. "Quite awhile from now." She was in awe of the room it was so beautiful and fully stocked with everything you need for a baby. "When'd you put all this together?"
"Remember when Rose thought she was pregnant?" he asked and she nodded. "That's when."
"Ahh," she said. "But Kasterborous?" She pointed up.
"Ah," he said sort of like he did at Downing Street in his Ninth regeneration. "I just changed that. I wanted to get it changed before you saw it." They smiled at each other. "Oh, I want to do a check-up on the baby once a week for the first 3 months."
"Worried we're going to lose it?" she asked trying to stay calm.
"No," he said honestly. "I just worried about how your body handles it. You weren't born a Time Lady after all."
"I know," she said with a faint smile. Her stomach growled.
"Come on let's go have some food." he said. "You'll eat as much as a human while your pregnant." They went to the kitchen and she ate while he watched with a large grin on his face.
"What?" she said with a full mouth.
"Just happy," he said. She shallowed the food that was in her month.
"Care to elaborate?" she asked.
"Well I have two things I never thought I'd have," he said with a large grin still in place. "A beautiful bondmate, and a child on the way."
"You do know that we'll have to slow down a little bit around the time the baby is to be born?" she asked.
"I know but not for long," he said. "Once they're 8 we can start taking them on adventures."
"What about the Time Lord initiation?" she asked.
"I'll teach them everything I know," he said with a proud smile on his face. "You said I'm a great teacher."
"That you are," she said then stuffed the last bite of her food into her mouth. She shallowed it. "Let's go get Ianto!" She jumped up and ran to the console. He shook his head at her out burst. If she was going to be like this the whole pregnancy then their companions were going to have a rough time of it. He could keep up being a Time Lord. He sighed as he followed her to the console room. She had already put in the coordinates. He laughed at her bouncing around the console. The TARDIS moaned and groaned letting them know that they landed. He was surprised that the landing was so smooth.
"How did you land her so smoothly?" he asked.
"She just likes me better," she said giving him a sly grin. He pouted. "Aw don't pout."
"Time Lords don't pout," he said stubbornly.
"Whatever you say," she said still grinning at him. "Let's go talk to Ianto." She ran to the doors followed the Doctor. She swung the doors wide open and ran through them. She found Ianto walking out of Torchwood Tower, with Ai in toe. "Ianto!"
"Rhee?" he asked.
"Mom!" she yelled and hugged Lady. "What are you doing here?" Lady hugged Ai back.
"I'm here to pick Ianto up," Lady said as she turned to him and added. "That is if you want to go."
"But the Doctor said he wanted to celebrate with you," he said.
"I did and we did, kind of," the Doctor said as he stepped out of the TARDIS.
"Love," she said as she bounced to his side and grabbed his arm. He smiled down at her. "Now, Ianto if you don't want to come with us now that's no biggie, tell us a time or give us your number and we'll meet." She smiled at Ianto.
"Go with them Ianto," Ai said. "I'll be fine." She patted his back.
"If you're sure," he said. "Just let me call Lisa." He pulled out his cell phone and called Lisa. "Hello, Lisa. Yes, yes. I'm fine. I just wanted to let you know that I'm going on a special assignment." Lady smiled at his excuse to his girlfriend. "Yes I'll take care. Yes, yes, I'll call you. Love you too. Bye." He hung up the phone. "Shall we?" He looked at the Doctor.
"Allons-y!" both Lady and the Doctor exclaimed as they ran back into the TARDIS, with Ianto right behind them.
"Where to?" the Doctor asked Lady as he spun around the console.
"Companion's choice," she said as Ianto looked around.
"It's, it's bigger on the inside," he said.
"Oh, you get used to it," she said cheerfully. "So where to? Forwards or backwards in time?"
They went on various adventures together and got in to a lot of trouble, Ianto and the Doctor fawned over Lady every time they got into trouble. She laughed at both men as they tried to wait on her hand and foot. She would always say 'Stop fretting,' and swat them away. Before any of them knew it four months had past.
"Four months pregnant," she moaned as she got up from the jump seat. Since she was having twins it was harder to get around now. She could still run and keep up with the boys but she was having a harder time with bending and twisting. Also she was eating often, almost as much as a pregnant human.
"Time for your check up," he said as he grabbed her hand, then guided her out of the console room and down the hall to the Med Bay. She helped her onto the table and he got the ultra sound ready.
"So when should we be able to tell gender?" she asked.
"Now," he grinned at her. "Four months is when we should able to see the gender." She pulled off her dress and threw it to the side. He spread the ultra sound lube onto her stomach she shivered then giggled.
"It's cold." she giggled.
"Sorry I don't have a warmer for it," he said. He moved the wand around on her stomach until they saw one of the babies. "A girl. We're having a little girl." He beamed at the monitor then to Lady. "Let's look for our other one." He moved the wand around again to find the other baby. "A boy." He at his point was smiling so excited that he bobbed in his seat.
"Before you get too carried away," she said. "We need to take measurements of the little ones. Heartbeats, length, and other measurements."
"Not to worry this ultra sound machine did it for us," he said as the machine printed out a paper that was all in Gallifreyan. He took the paper and read it. "Looks like two healthy little ones." He stood up and smiled."Their telepathy isn't developed yet, but I was a late bloomer."
"They take after their dad then," she said with a cheeky smile.
"Now for your check up." he said. He felt her neck, used a stethoscope to listen to her heartbeats, then he measured her, and lastly he laid his head on her stomach.
"That isn't checking on me," she teased.
"No but I want to hear them," he said. And he could. He heard them moving around. Then they kicked him and he laughed.
"Let's go Ianto's probably awake by now," she said. He helped her off the table, she put her dress back on and they walked back hand in hand to the console room.
"Paris!" he exclaimed as they entered the console room, where as she thought Ianto was waiting for them.
"I beg your pardon," Ianto said looking confused.
"He means we're going to Paris," she said as she moved to the console to help the Doctor. Her Celtic dress swished as she moved. She had taken to wearing them full time because it was showing that she was pregnant and she didn't like all the woman wanting to rub her belly. Though she still wore his old leather jacket over the Celtic dresses.
"Bingo!" he exclaimed happily but then he frowned. "That was rubbish! Remind me never to say that again!"
"Love," she said sounding and looking very serious.
"What's wrong?" he asked as she rushed to her. "Is it the babies?"
"Never say 'bingo' again," she said very serious. But couldn't hold the look when he pouted, she burst into a fit of laughter.
"Never do that again!" he shouted sounding hurt.
"Oh, Theta," she said sounding sorry, she cupped his check with her hand. "I didn't mean to upset you." He suddenly smiled and started to tickle her. She laughed. "Stop it, stop!" She squeaked as she laughed. Ianto laughed at the Time couple. He had the pleasure of seeing this display often. It made him really look at the relationship he had with Lisa. She was kind and funny but they rarely had moment where they could just laugh. "I won't do it again I promise!" The Doctor finally stopped his assault of her ribs. He helped her sit down on the jump seat to catch her breath. "So Paris?"
"Yes," he said. "You need a break." He punched in the coordinates and the TARDIS groaned and wheezed letting them know they had arrived. She rushed out of the jump seat grabbed her jacket off his coat that lay on a coral strut.
"I forgot my suit jacket," Ianto said. She laughed at him, because he normally didn't forget things like that.
"And I don't have my Sonic Screwdriver," the Doctor said. "Do you know where I left it?"
"The night stand in our room," she said. "I'll meet you outside."
"Don't wander off," he said as he ran down the hall and she stepped outside. She got fully out of the TARDIS and took a deep breath.
"1979, not bad," she said then laughed to herself. "I'm not even born yet." Suddenly she heard the TARDIS moan and groan. "Doctor!" But it was no use the TARDIS was gone. She sighed. So much for not wandering off. She laughed to herself. She looked around to find herself near the Louvre. She couldn't believe it. She had always wanted to go to the Louvre but never had enough money. Well now she has psychic paper, she grinned and walked in.
Inside the Louvre was more breathtaking then the outside. She loved it. She just wished the Doctor could have been there with her to enjoy it. "The Mona Lisa." she heard a fimilar voice say. She turned her head to see the Fourth Doctor standing in front of the Mona Lisa with Romana. Lady gasped and moved so he couldn't see her but then she found her actions to be silly. He doesn't know her so how can she mess with time streams. She just tried to mute the bond a bit so he couldn't feel that they were bound.
"It's quite good." Romana said plainly.
"Quite good?" he said sounding offended. "That's one of the great treasures of the universe and you say quite good?" Lady tried not to watch them but it was hard she wanted to talk to him so badly.
"The world, Doctor, the world." Romana corrected.
"What are you talking about?" he asked.
"Not the universe in public, Doctor. It only calls attention." she said. Lady laughed lightly.
"I don't care. It's one of the great treasures of the universe!" he proclaimed.
"Shush!" Romana said trying to get him to shut up. Lady laughed lightly again. Good luck with that.
"I don't care." he said. She knew that was coming. "Let them gawp, let them gape. What do I care?"
"Why hasn't she got any eyebrows?" Romana asked.
"What?" he asked. The way he said it reminded Lady of her Doctor, so she giggled loudly then ducked behind a large vase. "Is that all you can say? No eyebrows? We're talking about the Mona Lisa. It's the Mona Lisa! Good heavens, you're right. She hasn't got any eyebrows. Do you know, I never noticed that before."
"La Giaconda, painted by Leonardo da Vinci, 1452 1519." a Guide said as she ran into him. "Ahem. Excuse me, Monsieur?"
"Yes? What is it?" he asked as if he were in a hurry.
"Oh, could you please move along?" she asked.
"What?" he asked which caused Lady to laugh again and put her hand over her mouth.
"Other people wish to enjoy this picture." the Guide said. He stepped away letting the tourist through.
"What did she say?" Romana asked as she joined him.
"She said-" he started but was cut off by a strange feeling, Lady felt it too and it made her sick.
"Mona Lisa, La Giaconda, painted by Leonardo da Vinci, 1452 1519." the Guide said again. "Ahem. Excuse me, Monsieur? Could you please move along. Other people wish to enjoy this picture." All three Time Lords stagger. But Lady gets physically sick, she ran to the nearest trash can to expel all she had for breakfast that morning. She could hear the Doctor causing a seen behind her but she couldn't see what was going on. By the time she was done expelling her stomach contents, the Doctor and Romana were gone. Lady even ran out to see if he was outside, but she missed them.
"Fiddle sticks," Lady said as she kicked the ground in frustration. She walked aimlessly though the streets of Paris and ended up getting hungry as she wandered to a cafe only to see the Doctor and Romana being escorted inside by a man in a tan trench coat, like they wore in cop movies. Lady followed them and sat down near but far enough that the cop if he was that wouldn't suspect that she was with them. Suddenly some shady guys took the cop's gun.
"Now where's the bracelet?" one of the man asked. Lady just watch because those men had guns, she could disable two guns but there were three men and her current status gave her a bit of a handy cap when it came to swift movement. If she weren't four months pregnant she could have taken all three and still had time to tell a bad joke.
"What bracelet?" the Doctor asked as he slipped it on to the barrel of the gun closest to him. Satisfied with having the bracelet the men leave.
"Are you all right?" Romana asked.
"Yes, I'm just relaxing and enjoying Paris." the Doctor said with a large grin.
"All right, that's enough." the cop said. "Very cleverly staged, but you don't fool me."
"Baka," Lady said softly.
"What are you talking about?" the Doctor asked.
"Your men who were in here just now." the cop said.
"My men?" the Doctor asked with a bit of a laugh. "Those thugs?"
"Your thugs." the cop corrected.
"Are you suggesting those men were in my employ?" the Doctor asked. She laughed lightly at the seen.
"Yes." the cop said.
"Baka," she repeated low.
"I don't know if you noticed but he was pointing a gun at me." the Doctor said. "Anyone in my employ who behaved like that, I'd sack him on the spot."
"Except that I know you arranged for them to hold you up as a bluff." the cop said. If she wasn't trying to keep a low profile she would have laughed hard and loud. "You're trying to put me on a false scent."
"You're English, aren't you?" the Doctor asked.
"Yes." the cop said.
"Patron?" the Doctor said as he waved his hand to the table. "I thought I ordered three glasses of water." Then he noticed Lady who was trying not to stare but finding it hard. "Make that four."
"Monsieur." the patron said.
"Listen-" the cop started but was cut off by the Doctor.
"Doctor." he said as he extended his hand to shake the cop's hand.
"Duggan," the cop, now known as Duggan, said.
"Romana," Romana said as she shook Duggan's hand. "Doctor, why did you order four glasses of water?"
"You tell me young lady," the Doctor said as he turned his whole body to look at Lady. "No use trying to hide, I saw you at the Louvre."
"Well, you can't blame me for trying," Lady said as she stood up and walked carefully over to their table.
"Who are you and why are you following us?" he asked. Should she tell him? She thought of a million names she could tell him.
"The Lady," she said. Out of all the names she could give him and she gave him her chosen name. She wanted to face-palm.
"That's not a name," Duggan said.
"It's a Time Lord name," Romana said.
"We should able to feel you," the Doctor said.
"Not if I'm blocking you," Lady said with a cheeky smile.
"Think yourself so clever don't you?" he asked almost flirting. "But you didn't answer me, why are you following us?"
"I felt the 'thing' back there," she said.
"You mean the time slip?" Romana asked.
"Yeah," Lady said. "Made me sick to my stomach, and you have a rep back home that tells me if anyone can figure out why it's you."
"That's not true," Romana said. "He isn't liked back home."
"I didn't say your home," Lady said.
"We'll talk later," the Doctor said as the four glasses of water arrived.
"Could you bring me something to eat I'm famished," she said to the patron. He bowed to her and left to bring her a menu.
"What are you talking about?" Duggan asked.
"Don't matter," Lady said before the Doctor could. He gave her a strange look. "But the question is why do you think that the Doctor is your man?"
"I don't think I know," Duggan said. "What's Scarlioni's angle?"
"Scarlioni's angle?" the Doctor asked. "Never heard of it. Have you ever heard of Scarlioni's angle?" Lady ordered some food and thanked the patron.
"No, I was never any good at geometry." Romana said and Lady giggled at that and Romana smiled at Lady.
"Who's Scarlioni?" the Doctor asked.
"Count Scarlioni." Duggan said as if the Doctor should know him.
"He sounds Italian," Lady said as her food arrived. She shrugged at the speed of the food compared to the speed of the drinks. Oh well bottoms up.
"What?" the Doctor asked.
"Everyone on Earth's heard of Count Scarlioni." Duggan said.
"Ah, well, we've only just landed on Earth." the Doctor said. She shallowed her food.
"I'm not from this Earth," she said.
"Right, fine, that's it." Duggan said harshly. "I give up! You're crazy!" He got up to leave.
"Crazy enough to want to steal the Mona Lisa?" the Doctor asked as Duggan sat right back down. "Or at least be interested in someone who might want to steal the Mona Lisa."
"So, you can imagine the furore." Duggan asked.
"The what?" Romana asked.
"Furore." he repeated. "The whole art word in an uproar."
"Oh, furore." she said.
"Masterpieces that have apparently been missing over the centuries are just turning up all over the place." he said.
"All fakes, of course." Lady said between bites.
"They've got to be, haven't they? Haven't they?" he asked.
"Are they?" Romana asked.
"They're very, very good ones." he said. "They stand up to every scientific test."
"Really?" the Doctor asked. "What, and the only connection in this is the Count?"
"Yes." Duggan said as Lady finished her food and focused fully on their conversation.
"So?" the Doctor asked.
"Nothing dirty can be proved, though." Duggan said. "He's clean. Absolutely clean. So clean he stinks."
"He isn't clean any more." the Doctor said. "The Countess has the bracelet."
"What's that bracelet worth?" Duggan asked.
"Well, it depends on what you want to do with it." the Doctor said.
"It's tech isn't it?" she asked.
"Uh oh." the Doctor and Lady said together as more shady men enter the cafe.
"What?" Duggan asked.
"I think we're being invited to leave." the Doctor said.
"I happen to agree," Lady said. They were pushed into a car. "Hey! Didn't your mother teach you it's not nice to push around pregnant ladies?!"
"You're pregnant?" the Doctor and Romana asked.
"Yeah," Lady said. "My husband and I are rebels." She laughed.
"I love a good rebel," he said with a smile. The drive was silent for the most part. They arrived and were escorted in by a brutish looking butler. He shoved the Doctor inside the room. "I say, what a wonderful butler. He's so violent. Hello, I'm called the Doctor." He crawled over to the Countess to shake her hand. "That's Romana," He pointed to Romana then to Duggan. "That's Duggan," The Doctor pointed to Lady. "And this lovely lady is the Lady. You must be the Countess Scarlioni and this is clearly a delightful Louis Quinze chair. May I sit in it?" He sat down in the chairs. "I say, haven't they worn well? Thank you, Hermann, that'll be all."
"Doctor, you're being very pleasant with me." the Countess said.
"Well, I'm a very pleasant fellow." he said. Lady nodded. The Fourth Doctor was a pleasant fellow.
"But I didn't invite you here for social reasons." the Countess said.
"Yes, I could see that the moment you didn't invite me to have a drink." he said. "Well, I will have a drink now you come to mention it. Yes, do come in, everybody." He moved over to the alcohol that was sat out. He pored himself a glass. "Romana, sit down over there. Duggan. Now, Duggan, you sit there. Lady please sit down by Romana. Do sit down if you want to, Count. Oh, all right. Now, isn't this nice?" He spun around and sat back in the chair he had sat in originally. Everyone sat were they were told to sit.
"The only reason you were brought here was to explain exactly why you stole my bracelet." the Countess said.
"Ah, well, it's my job, you see." the Doctor said. "I'm a thief. And this is Romana, she's my accomplice." He points at Romana. Then to Lady. "Lady's my wife we have a child on the way. And this is Duggan. He's the detective who's been kind enough to catch me. That's his job. You see, our two lines of work dovetail beautifully." He locked his fingers together, to illustrate his point. Lady hugged her stomach protectively.
"Very interesting." the Countess said eying Lady carefully.
"Yes." the Doctor said.
"I was rather under the impression that Mister Duggan was following me." the Countess said.
"Ah." he said. "Well, you're a beautiful woman, probably, and Duggan was trying to summon up the courage to ask you out to dinner, weren't you, Duggan?"
"Who sent you?" she asked.
"Who sent me what?" he asked.
"Doctor, the more you try to convince me that you're a fool, the more I'm likely to think otherwise." she said.
"Oh, he is a fool," Lady said. "Let me assure you."
"Now, it would only be the work of a moment to have you killed." the Countess continued ignoring Lady.
"What?" the Doctor asked. Lady noticed the puzzle box lying on the table in front of her and Romana. Lady picked it up.
"Put it down." the Countess commanded.
"It's one of those isn't it?" Romana asked.
"Yes, it's a very rare and precious Chinese puzzle box." the Countess said. "You won't be able to open it so put it down." Oh she shouldn't have said that.
"Watch me," Lady said as she swiftly opened the box with ease. With such ease it surprised both the Doctor and Romana. "Oh, lookie here." Lady removed the bracelet from the puzzle box.
"Yes." the Count said. "Very pretty, isn't it."
"Very." Romana said. "Where's it from?"
"From?" the Count asked with a chuckle. "It's not from anywhere. It's mine." He snatched the bracelet from Lady.
"My dear, these are the people who stole it from me at the Louvre." the Countess said to the Count.
"Hello there." the Doctor said with a smile and a wave.
"How very curious." the Count said. "Three thieves enter the Louvre gallery and come out with a bracelet. Couldn't you think of anything more interesting to steal?"
"Well, I just thought it was awfully pretty and a terribly unusual design." the Doctor said. "Of course, it would have been much nicer to have stolen one of the pictures, but I've tried that before and all sorts of alarms go off which disturbs the concentration."
"Yes, it would." the Count said. "So you stole the bracelet simply because it's pretty?"
"Yes." the Doctor said. "Well, I think it is. Don't you?"
"Yes." the Count said.
"My dear, I don't think he's as stupid as he seems." the Countess said.
"My dear, nobody could be as stupid as he seems." the Count retorted.
"Oh." the Doctor said sounding a bit disappointed that his ruse didn't go as planned.
"This interview is at an end." the Count declared.
"Good." the Doctor said as everyone that was sitting stood up. "Well, we'll be off. A quick stagger up the Champs Elysees, perhaps a bite at Maxims. What do you think, Lady?"
"Maxims," Lady confirmed. "Still a bit hungry."
"I think a rather better idea would be if Hermann were to lock you into the cellar." the Count said. "I should hate to lose contact with such fascinating people." Hermann, the butler, moved forward, and Duggan picked up the chair he was sitting in to hit him with it.
"Ah. Duggan, what are you doing?" the Doctor said. "For heavens sake, that's a Louis Quinze."
"But you're not going to let them lock us up," Duggan said.
"Just behave like a civilized guest." the Doctor said. "I do beg your pardon, Count." Lady knew the plan it was like, Doctor 101, if you want to know what the evil doer is up to get caught.
"Thank you." the Count said.
"Now," the Doctor said. "Hermann, if you'd just be kind enough to show us to our cellar, we'd be terribly grateful. Do come along, my good chap." Hermann escorted them to the cellar. "How long's the Chateau been here, Hermann?"
"Long enough." Hermann replied.
"Really, that long?" the Doctor said. "Restored four or five hundred years ago?"
"May have been." Hermann replied.
"Very stimulating, very stimulating." the Doctor said as he got to the bottom of the stairs. "And this would be the cellar, would it?"
"Doctor, your boring conversation does not interest me." Hermann said.
"Really." the Doctor said. "Good Lord, a laboratory. Are you locking us into a laboratory?"
"In here." Hermann said pointing to a chamber.
"Oh, I'd much rather stay out here." the Doctor said as he took a real good look at the machine in the laboratory. "This looks so interesting."
"In here, I said." Hermann commanded. The four of them moved into the room with only a lamp in the center.
"You may light it if you wish." Hermann said as he handed Romana a box of matches.
"How long's this thing going to last us?" Romana asked.
"Two hours, maybe three." Hermann said.
"What happens after that?" the Doctor asked.
"After that, you won't need any light." Hermann said as he locked the door and left.
"The Doctor's gonna kill me," Lady said softly as she looked around.
"What?" the Doctor said.
"Nothing," she said.
"No, you said I was going to kill you," he said. "Why would I do that?" Then it came to him. "Your my wife."
"What? No don't be silly," she said.
"I'm right," he said. "I've felt this pull to you since I saw you at the Louvre."
"OK," she said. "But after I leave you, you have to forget me."
"Why would I do that?" he asked.
"Really, Theta you must." she said.
"You know my name from school," he said shocked.
"And that is a long story for another time," she said. "We need to get out of here. So I can get back to my Doctor. He must be freaking out right now."
"I don't freak out," he said.
"What do you think you're playing at?" Duggan interrupted.
"Light the lamp." the Doctor said. As Romana handed Duggan the matches.
"There's only one match." Duggan complained.
"Then get it right." the Doctor said.
"You tell me to get it right?" Duggan said. "We could have escaped at least twice if you hadn't-"
"Exactly, exactly." the Doctor said. "What's the point of coming all the way here just to escape immediately? What we do is, we stay here."
"Yes?" Duggan asked.
"Let them think they've got us safe." the Doctor said.
"Yes?" Duggan repeated as the Doctor produced his Sonic.
"Then we escape. Light the lamp. Come on." he said. Duggan lit the match and dropped it. "Duggan!"
"Don't worry I got this," Lady said as she pulled out her Sonic and lit the lamp.
"You have a Sonic Screwdriver?" the Doctor asked. "That can light fires?"
"Yes," she said. "My Sonic has over five thousand settings." She got a better look around and saw they were in a storage area. Meanwhile he was fiddling with the lock on the door.
"Well?" Duggan asked.
"It's not working." the Doctor said.
"Oh, you and your stupid ideas." Duggan said as he took the Doctor's Sonic and hit the lock on the door with it.
"Don't!" the Doctor and Lady shouted at Duggan.
"Well, what else use is it?" Duggan said.
"It was useful against the Daleks on Skaro." the Doctor said.
"What?" Duggan asked.
"Oh, you wouldn't remember. Never mind." the Doctor said.
"That's all I need." Duggan said. "Locked in a cellar, no way out, and two raving lunatics, and a pregnant woman for company."
"Quit your belly aching," Lady said as she used her Sonic to unlock the door from afar.
"Doctor," Romana said.
"Yes?" the Doctor asked.
"The horizontal length of the stairs is about six metres, isn't it?" she asked.
"Yes, I suppose so. Why?" he asked.
"Well, this room runs alongside the stairs, and it's only two point seven three metres in length." she said.
"That's fascinating." he said. "Shall we look at the lab first?"
"Right, let's get out of here." Duggan said as he opened the door and started to go up the stairs.
"No. There are bound to be a couple of guards at the top of the stairs." the Doctor said.
"Exactly. I'm about ready to thump somebody." Duggan replied.
"Baka," Lady said as she noticed Romana moving equipment to the storage room they were once in. "Need help?"
"Yes," she said. "Grab that." She nodded to some more equipment she needed. Lady grabbed it and carried it into the storage room. "Connect that to that."
"Ahh, your making a crude bomb," Lady said.
"Yes," Romana said. "So what's your story?"
"What do you mean?" Lady asked.
"You said you're not from Gallifrey," Romana said as she worked. "And you have an American accent."
"No," Lady said. "I'm from Earth. You can't tell the Doctor. I used to be human but something happened and I became a Time Lady."
"Do I still travel with him?" Romana asked. Lady frowned. "I was called back?"
"Yes," Lady said. "I think it's done."
"Get back," Romana said. Lady got out of the room and there was a small pop followed by a fair amount of dust. "Doctor?" The dust cleared rather quickly.
"Yes?" the Doctor asked as he reentered the storage room.
"I was right." Romana said as Duggan reentered the storage room with Lady not too far behind.
"About what?" the Doctor asked.
"Those measurements." Romana said. "There's another room behind the wall, bricked up." She pointed to the hole she and Lady had made in the wall.
"Is it important?" Duggan asked.
"Never ignore a coincidence," Lady said. The Doctor smiled at her. "Unless you're busy. Then always ignore a coincidence."
"You're right," the Doctor said. "Let's look." He peered into the hole that the girls had made. "Very impressive."
"The brickwork's very old." Romana said.
"Four to five hundred years." Lady said before the Doctor could.
"In which case it can wait another hour or two while we sort these guys out." Duggan said. She sighed, she was getting agitated at this man's actions. Jack was trigger happy but not nearly as hit happy as this guy. Has this guy ever hear the phrase 'Don't piss off the pregnant lady?' If he didn't cool his jets she was going to show him the meaning behind that phrase.
"No, no, no." the Doctor said. "In my view, a room that's been bricked up for four or five hundred years is urgently overdue for an airing." She giggled at the way he said it.
"Come on, let's get out of here." Duggan said. "We've got the Mona Lisa to worry about."
"Duggan." Lady growled in warning. He looked over at her and saw the death glares she was shooting him and shut his mouth. The Doctor chipped away some of the old mortar in the wall trying to make the hole big enough to get though.
"Why do you suppose the Count's got all this equipment, Doctor?" Romana asked.
"He seems to be financing some dangerous experiment with time." he said. "The professor, of course, thinks he's breeding chickens." Lady laughed at that.
"Stealing the Mona Lisa to pay for chickens?" Duggan scoffed.
"Yes, but who'd want to buy the Mona Lisa?" Romana said. "You can hardly show it if it's known to be stolen."
"Some people live for that kinda thing," Lady said thinking of all the shows of people that bought things just to have them, and the people she knew like that. Stolen or otherwise.
"There are at least seven people in my address book who'd pay millions for that picture for their private collection." Duggan said.
"But no one could even know they'd got it!" Romana exclaimed still not able to understand.
"It would be an expensive gloat, but they'd buy it." he said,
"How are we going to move this last bit?" she asked the Doctor as she noticed that he had reached a snag in making the hole bigger.
"I think I'm going to need some machinery." he said.
"I've got all the machinery I need," Duggan said proudly and Lady rolled her eyes. So corny.
"Eh?" the Doctor asked.
"Stand back." Duggan said as he mosioned for them to move. They moved to the side and watched Duggan do a short run and charge at the wall making the hold large enough for a person to get through. Lady grabbed the lamp and slipped past the Doctor and Romana to hand the lamp to Duggan. Then she slipped into the room followed by the Doctor then Romana. Before them were six cabinets.
"What are they, Doctor?" Romana asked.
"I don't know." the Doctor said.
"They've been here a long time." Duggan said.
"They look to be storage units for painting," Lady said. She knew a bit about the Renaissance, because it was one of her favorite school topics.
"Why do you think that?" he asked.
"I know my Renaissance," she said proudly. The Doctor smiled at her. "It was my favorite period of Earth history." He opened the first door to reveal the Mona Lisa. Everyone was shocked.
"It's the Mona Lisa." he said breathlessly.
"Must be a fake." Duggan said more trying to convince himself it was a fake than making a statement to everyone else.
"I don't know what's hanging in the Louvre, but this is the genuine article." the Doctor said.
"What?" Duggan asked. The Doctor opens the next door, another Mona Lisa. Then the same with all six doors.
"They must be fakes." Duggan said.
"The brushwork's Leonardo's." the Doctor said.
"How can you tell?" Duggan asked.
"It's as characteristic as a signature. The pigment, too." the Doctor said as he stared at the paintings.
"On all of them?" Duggan asked.
"Every one." the Doctor said. "What I don't understand is why a man who's got six Mona Lisas wants to go to all the trouble of stealing a seventh."
"Come on, Doctor, he just said it." Lady said with a small sigh.
"There are seven people who would buy the Mona Lisa in secret, but nobody's going to buy the Mona Lisa when it's hanging in the Louvre!" Dugan exclaimed.
"Of course!" Romana exclaimed. "They'd each have to think they were buying the stolen one."
"Right." Duggan said.
"I wouldn't make a very good criminal, would I?" the Doctor said.
"No." the Count said from behind them. Everyone turned around to see him pointing a gun at them. "Good criminals don't get caught. I see you've found some of my pictures. Rather good, aren't they? By the end of this evening, I shall have a seventh."
"Can I ask you where you got these?" the Doctor asked.
"No." the Count said bluntly.
"Right. Or how you knew they were here?" the Doctor asked hopefully.
"No." the Count repeated just as bluntly.
"They've been bricked up a long time." the Doctor said.
"Yes." the Count said bluntly.
"I like concise answers." the Doctor said with a smile.
"Good." the Count said. "I came down to find Kerensky."
"Oh?" the Doctor asked.
"But he doesn't seem to be able to speak to me." the Count said.
"Oh." the Doctor said.
"Can you throw any light on that?" the Count asked.
"No." the Doctor said.
"I can." Duggan said as he threw the lamp at the Count to distract him, then threw a punch to his face. He hit the ground hard, so Duggan took the opportunity to take the Count's gun.
"Duggan!" the Doctor exclaimed. "Duggan, why is it that every time I start to talk to someone, you knock him unconscious?"
"I didn't expect him to go down that easy." Duggan said.
"Well, if you don't understand heads, you shouldn't go about hitting them." the Doctor asked.
"For the record that was the corniest KO I have ever seen!" Lady exclaimed. "Really, with the light?"
"Well, what else would you suggest?" Duggan asked as he looked at both the Doctor and Lady.
"Duggan!" the Doctor exclaimed. "Your job is to stop his men from stealing the Mona Lisa. The other Mona Lisa." The Doctor led Lady, Romana and Duggan quietly out through the cellar and laboratory, and up the stairs into the main house. Lady saw a gun poking out from behind a plant. She moutions for everyone to say put and crawled on the ground to the Countess were Lady disassembled the gun and used a pressure point to knock the Countess out cold.
"Where did you learn to do that?" Duggan asked.
"Well my dad is a gun collector so I know a lot about guns," Lady said. "But I dislike them terribly. They are noisy and any coward can use a gun to kill someone."
"And the pressure points?" Romana asked.
"You pick up a few things when traveling with him," Lady said as she pointed to the Doctor with her thumb.
"Come on, we've got to get to the Louvre." Duggan said.
"No, you have." the Doctor corrected. "Romana, you look after him. Lady and I've got to go meet an Italian. Middle-aged Italian. In fact, late middle-aged. Renaissance. Come on." He grabbed Lady's hand as they ran out of the chateau. They ran until they got to the Boulevard St Germain. The Doctor used his screwdriver to open a pair of magnetically locked glass doors, they walked through the gallery He paused only to straighten a picture on the wall. He opens the TARDIS door, and let Lady go through first.
"Hello, K9." they said at the same time. "You all right?" He flips the lever to send the TARDIS into the Vortex but sets no coordinates.
"I thought we were going to the Renaissance," she said.
"I want some answers," he said bluntly all the whimsically nature that had been there earlier was no where to be seen.
"What do you want to know?" she asked. "I won't lie to you."
"Who are you really?" he asked. "You have my mother's necklace, I don't give that to anyone. I didn't even give it to my wife."
"I'm your future wife and bondmate," she said.
"But I don't feel it," he said.
"I muting it," she said. She let the bond be at full strength.
"Oh," he said. He smiled at her. "I like you."
"I'm glad," she said with a bright smile she only smiles for him. He approached her and couldn't help himself, he kissed her and she kissed him back. He pressed his body again hers and she moaned at the contact. She damned her pregnancy hormones, making her sensitive. He pulled away and looked at her with great desire. "As much as I'd love to, Theta, we have a job to do."
"We're in the Time Vortex," he replied as he slipped the leather jacket off her shoulders and let it hit the floor. He kissed her neck, she moaned again. "We can make time." He kissed up her neck, jaw, all the way back to her lips. Which once he had pressed his lips to hers her control over herself snapped and the hormones took over. She devoured his lips with great abandon. He fought against her for dominance but she won out. He moaned as she ran her nails threw his curly locks. She finally came back to her senses and pushed him away.
"We can't!" she exclaimed. "Who knows what the Count has planned for Romana and Duggan. As much as I really don't like the man he is still that a human."
"You're right I don't know what came over me," he said.
"It was me," she said. "My hormones hit you all at once. I know because he told me it would happen if I muted the bond then released it. He explained it like a rubber band. The longer you stretch it, the farther it gets, but if you let go the whole rubber band will hit you."
"I'm guessing you've done this before." he said.
"Yes," she said. "We got stuck on a planet, the locals captured us. They made the future you fight in an arena while I was made to serve a lord in every way he wanted." She shivered with disgust. He shook with anger. "I muted the bond so he wouldn't know what the lord was doing to me. And when I released it, once we were safe he went a bit sex hungry." He bent down and picked up her jacket, and like a gentleman helped her get it back on.
"I'm sorry," he said his voice was full of concern. She turned back around after the jacket was on and cupped his face.
"There is no need to apologize to me," she said with a bright smile that melted his lonely hearts.
"Your love, I feel it," he said breathlessly. "It's overwhelming."
"I have loved you for a long time," she said. He smiled and leaned down to softly kiss her again. This time it was full of love and gratitude, instead of lust and heat. They broke the kiss. "Come on, let's go see Leo." He hugged her one last time not really wanting to leave her embrace. He suddenly felt a kick in his lower stomach.
"Oh," he said surprised.
"Feisty today, huh?" she said as she stepped away from him and rubbed her stomach lovingly.
"May I?" he asked as he nodded his head to her stomach.
"They're your children too," she said as she moved her hands and let him bend down, lay his head on her stomach.
"Wait children?" he asked.
"Yeah," she said. "I'm having twins, a boy and a girl." The twins kicked him hard and wiggled about. "They always do that when you lay your head on my stomach."
"They know their father," he said proudly. They wiggled more making him laugh. "Have they developed their psychic abilities yet?" He stood up again.
"No," she said. "He said they might be late bloomers like their daddy."
"But I know this," he said with a smile. "They'll be brilliant like their mother." She giggled at how corny that sounded but the sentiment was sweet.
"Let's go see Leo," she said with a smile. She moved over to the console and began to enter the coordinates. He was shocked to see that she could fly the TARDIS.
"Stay here," he commanded once they landed in 1505. She turned on the monitor to watch because she knew he would need her at some point. He was still the Doctor after all. He walked out of the TARDIS into Leonardo's home. "Leonardo? Leonardo? Ah, that Renaissance sunshine." He stopped before a window and basked in the sun. "Leonardo? The paintings went down very well. Everybody loved them. Last Supper, Mona Lisa. You remember the Mona Lisa? That dreadful woman with no eyebrows who wouldn't sit still, eh?" He picked up a design for a helicopter. "Your idea for the helicopter took a bit longer to catch on, but as I say, these things take time." She watched as a man came up behind him and pressed a sword to his cheek.
"You." the solider said.
"Me?" the Doctor asked.
"Who are you?" the solider asked. "What are you doing here?"
"Ah, well, I just dropped by to see Leonardo, actually." the Doctor said as he turned around slowly. "Is he about?"
"Nobody's allowed to see Leonardo." the solider said firmly as he kept his sword trained on the Doctor.
"Really?" he asked a bit shocked
"He's engaged on important work for Captain Tancredi." the solider said.
"Captain Tancredi?" the Doctor and Lady asked at the same time.
"Tancredi that sounds familiar," she said. "But where could I have heard it?"
"Do you know him?" the solider asked.
"No." the Doctor said.
"He'll want to question you." the solider said.
"Well, I'll want to question him, so we can both have a little chat, can't we." the Doctor said.
"He'll be here instantly." the solider said. She heard the door open but she couldn't see who it was but by the look on the Doctor's face she was going to say that it's someone that shouldn't be there.
"You." the Doctor said as if he couldn't believe his eyes. "What are you doing here?"
"I think that is exactly the question I ought to be asking you, Doctor." the man said as he moved so she could see him on the monitor.
Oh, Goddess. It was that Count from 1979. But how? She asked threw their link.
"Doctor, will you explain to me exactly how you come to be in Paris 1979 and Florence 1505." He said then paused for a moment, giving the Doctor a chance to answer.
I don't know, but I intend to find out, he replied.
When he didn't answer straight away Tancredi added. "I am waiting, Doctor."
"Well, I do flit about a bit, you know." the Doctor said. Lame excuse. She shook her head. Of all his excuses that was among his lamest.
"Through time?" Tancredi asked.
"Yes, I suppose so." the Doctor said. She smacked her forehead with the palm of her right hand leaving both a bit red.
"How, precisely?" Tancredi asked.
"I don't know." the Doctor responded. "I don't seem to be able to help myself. There I am, just walking along minding my own business and pop! I'm on a different planet or even a different time. But enough of my problems. What are you doing here?" Then she realized why he was lying. The Count and this Tancredi were after time travel.
"I will tell you." he said. "The knowledge will be of little use to you, since you will shortly die. I am the last of the Jagaroth. I am also the savior of the Jagaroth." Jagaroth? She had seen a lot of Doctor Who but never heard of the Jagaroth. Jagrafess yes but never Jagaroth.
"Well, I mean, if you're the last of them, there can't be that many about to save, can there?" the Doctor asked. "Jagaroth?" Suddenly his smile faded into a frown.
What are the Jagaroth? She asked.
"You've heard of us." Tancredi said.
"Jagaroth." the Doctor repeated. Nothing good. "I think it was on one of my trips. Yes, you all destroyed yourself in some massive war. Wait, when." He tried to think but his thoughts were cut off by Tancredi answering him.
"Four hundred million years I think is the figure you're looking for." he said.
"Is it really? How time passes. So what are you doing here?" the Doctor asked.
"Surviving." Tancredi said. "The prime motive of all species. We were not all destroyed. A few of us escaped in a crippled spacecraft and made planet-fall in this world in its primeval time. We found it uninhabitable."
"Yes, well, four hundred million years ago it would have been a bit of a shambles." the Doctor said. "No life to tidy it up. No life."
"We tried to leave but the ship disintegrated." Tancredi said. "I was fractured. Splinters of my being are scattered in time. All identical, none complete. I am not satisfied with your explanation. How do you travel through time?"
"Well, as I was saying-" the Doctor said.
"What is that box?" Tancredi asked gesturing to the TARDIS.
"What box?" the Doctor asked.
"That box." Tancredi said again gesturing to the TARDIS.
"That box?" the Doctor said. "I don't know. I've never seen that box in my life." He turned his head and she could see the Mona Lisa behind him. "Ah!" He gestured to the Mona Lisa. "The original, I presume? Completed in 1503 and it's now what, 1505, and you're getting the old boy to do you another six, yes, which you then brick up in a cellar in Paris for Scarlioni to find in four hundred and seventy four time. That's a very nice piece of capital investment." He turned back to Tancredi.
"I can see that you are a dangerously clever man, Doctor." Tancredi said. He had no idea. And the Doctor had an equally clever bondmate. "I think it's time we conducted this conversation somewhat more formally."
"Oh, thank you." the Doctor said with a smile.
"Hold him here while I collect the instruments of torture." Tancredi commanded the soldier. The soldier pushed the Doctor into a chair at the nearby table. "If he wags his tongue, confiscate it."
"How can I talk if you confiscate my-" he started.
"You can write, can't you?" Tancredi asked.
"Yes." the Doctor responded. Tancredi left and the soldier pointed his sword at the Doctor.
"He's mad, isn't he?" he asked as Lady slipped out of the TARDIS leaving the monitor on. "Must be a tough job humouring him. You don't believe all that, do you?"
"What?" the soldier asked. Good, Doctor keep him talking. She slipped fully out of the TARDIS and closed the door carefully behind her.
"Well, Jagaroth spaceships. Isn't it. Isn't it?" the Doctor asked.
"I'm paid simply to fight." the soldier said. That's when the Doctor finally saw her and smiled, but under the table he was signaled her to wait.
"Yes, well, I mean, quite honestly, when you think about all that Jagaroth spaceship." he said.
"When you work for the Borgias, you believe anything." the soldier said.
"The Borgias?" the Doctor said. "Yes, yes, I see your point."
"As I said," the soldier said. "I'm paid to fight."
"Yes." the Doctor said. "As I said, I see your point." He nodded to her, so she grabbed the soldier and used a pressure point in his neck to knock him out. "You really have to tell me where you learned that."
"You'll find out," she grinned.
"Get back into the TARDIS I have a feeling we are going to need a quick get away." he said.
"I have the same feeling," she said.
"Don't take any unnecessary risks," he said with a pointed look. The same look her Doctor gives her before they separate. She giggled as she reentered the TARDIS. She went back to the console and entered the coordinates but didn't throw the lever for the TARDIS to leave. Just as she finished prep for them to leave she heard a voice.
"Just about to pop off through time again, Doctor?" She heard Tancredi say. "How very discourteous when I'd gone to all the trouble of fetching the thumbscrews." She turned around to see the Doctor being forced back into the chair she found him in. Tancredi had the Doctor in the thumbscrew thing. She sighed heavily as he cried out. She could feel that he wasn't really hurt just giving them a rough time. "I haven't started yet."
"I know, it's just his hands are cold." he said and she couldn't help but laugh at that. Seeing as the Time Lord physiology made them colder than humans.
"So sensitive." Tancredi said with a small laugh. "I think we're in for a little treat." She wanted to punch him in his smug face.
"All this is totally unnecessary." the Doctor said.
"You make it necessary." Tancredi said. "You will not tell me the truth."
"I've changed my mind." the Doctor said hastily. "If there's one thing I can't stand, it's being tortured by someone with cold hands. What is it you want to know?" She couldn't help but agree with him on that she was happy that her Doctor always warmed his hands before examining her. People touching you with cold hands are torture on their own.
"Excellent. I want to know how you travel through time." Tancredi demanded.
"It's simple." the Doctor replied simply. "I'm a Time Lord."
"And the girls?" Tancredi said. "The truth."
"Well." the Doctor said.
"Time is running out, Doctor." Tancredi said.
"What do you mean, time's running out? It's only 1505." the Doctor said as the soldier reached for the thumbscrews. "All right, all right." The soldier moved back. "I'll tell you. There is one thing I'd like to know is how do you communicate across time with the other splinters of yourself?"
"I am asking the questions." Tancredi said.
"Are you all right?" the Doctor asked sounding quite concerned. She couldn't see Tancredi's face but when he got up from where he had sat to watch the soldier torture the Doctor, Tancredi walked like he was dizzy.
"Continue." he commanded the soldier but he was too busy watching Tancredi to continue the torture of the Doctor. "The interface of the time continuum is unstable, I know that. Tell me, tell me something useful." Tancredi looked dizzier. "Wait!"
"Right-o." the Doctor said.
"No, not you." Tancredi said. "Continue, Doctor." The Doctor took this a an opportunity to use his teeth to unscrew the thumbscrews. "A moment!"
"Is he often like this?" the Doctor asked as he moved his hands back down so that way if the soldier turned he wouldn't notice that the Doctor had loosened the thumbscrews.
"I'm not paid to notice." the soldier said not turning around. Tancredi swayed and looked worse. The Doctor finished unscrewing himself from the thumbscrews. He slipped behind the soldier and into the TARDIS.
"Yes, I know." Tancredi said. Now both the Doctor and Lady watched Tancredi and the solider.
"Captain!" he said.
"I know. Leave us!" Tancredi commanded.
"Us?" the soldier asked.
"Me!" Tancredi corrected. "Leave me!"
"Sir." the soldier said as he took a bow and left the hut.
"I'm coming." Tancredi said. "Yes. The centuries that divide me shall be undone! The centuries that divide me shall be undone." The Doctor flipped the lever that Lady had yet to flip. She turned off the monitor. Before they knew it they were back at the Rive Gauche.
"The centuries that divide me shall be undone. I don't like the sound of that." He said.
"Nor do I," she said. "Whatever that means is not good." They ran out of the Rive Gauche, hand in hand.
"I couldn't agree more." he said. "It's a shame I'll have to forget you." They ran all the way to the Louvre. He ran up to two gendarmes on the front steps of the closed museum. "Well, what news?"
"Sir, it is very grave." the blonde one said. "The picture of the Mona Lisa has been stolen."
"What?" the Doctor asked. The gendarmes escorted the Doctor and Lady inside. The other gendarmes that were inside already were dusting for prints and looking for other evidence. The Doctor looked around while Lady walked up to the guide that ran into him earlier.
"Excuse me, ma'am," Lady said. "Did you happen to notice two people trying to stop that painting from being stolen last night?"
"Excuse me, mademoiselle?" the guide asked.
"Two people." he said.
"One's a pretty girl and a man 'bout my age with sandy blonde hair." Lady said cutting off the Doctor because he was going to be rude. "He's awful fond hitting things."
"Were they here?" he asked.
"No, monsieur." the guide said. "No, mademoiselle. But I think you should speak to the police."
"Shush." he said as he put a finger to his lips. "No time. We've got the human race to think about. Shush. The human race." It seemed to work the guide didn't say anything else and they were able to slip back out of the Louvre without a fuss. They ran back to the cafe hand in hand. She smiled because even though the wasn't her Doctor he was still the Doctor, which when she really thought about it, that made him her Doctor anyways. They got into the cafe and the theft had already hit the news.
"Patron, you remember those two people I was in here with yesterday?" he asked. The Patron gave him an odd look. "We kept being held up and attacked. Smashing things. You don't happen to know where they went, do you?" He didn't answer the Doctor just turned to grab something. "No. They can't have been mad enough to go back to the chateau." The Patron handed the Doctor a note. "Thank you." He read it aloud so Lady could hear what it said. "Dear Doctor, gone back to the chateau." They both sighed in frustration at the same time, but he turned to the Patron. "Thank you."
"I'm glad to see that somethings never change," she said. The Doctor grabbed her hand and they ran out together.
"How so?" he asked as they ran.
"You and me saving our companions," she said with a small chuckle. "Though I guess in this case it's only your companion."
"So, you and I do a lot of this then?" he asked.
"Oh, you wouldn't believe it," she said. "One of our companions, she was always getting into danger. Even though you told her don't wander off. They never listen."
"And you're an exception to this?" he asked.
"Well," she said how the Tenth Doctor says it. "I don't wander off unless I know where I'm going. So then it really isn't wandering is it?"
"No," he said as they laughed. They reached the chateau and knocked on the front door. An armed guard greeted them at the door. He pushed the Doctor into the sitting room that they were in on their first visit. "I'd like to make an appointment with Count Scarlioni at his earliest convenience, if you don't mind, that is." The guard didn't say anything but as the Doctor tried to distance himself from the gun he bumped into a maid. "Ah, someone in authority. I wonder, would you be kind and tell the Count that I wait upon him, please?" She nodded and left to go tell the Count. "There's a good girl." Lady took a seat but kept her hands up. The guard stood silently. "The silent type, eh? I once knew a boy like you. Never said a word, very taciturn. Well, I said to him, there's no point in talking if you've got nothing to say. Did well in the end, though. Name of Shakespeare. Ever read any Shakespeare? Countess?" She turned her head to see the Countess in the back of the room.
"A little." she said. She tweaked the head of a statuette and a panel in the wall behind opened up. She reached inside to grab a leather bound book from the secret library. "Hamlet. The first draft."
"You're kidding me!" Lady said as she stood. The Countess handed the Doctor the book.
"What?" he said as he opened it up. "It's been missing for centuries."
"It's quite genuine, I assure you." she said.
"I know. I recognize the handwriting." he said as he turned the pages and Lady looked at it with him.
"Shakespeare's." the Countess said.
"No, mine." he said. "He'd sprained his wrist writing sonnets. Wonderful stuff."
"To be or not to be, that's the question." Lady quoted. "Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or to take arms against a sea of troubles And by opposing, end them? To die, to sleep, no more; and by a sleep, to say we end the Heart-ache, and the thousand Natural shocks that Flesh is heir to? 'Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep, to sleep, perchance to Dream; Aye, there's the rub."
"You know your Shakespeare," he said.
"Yes and no," she said. "I just love Hamlet. And Romeo and Juliet."
"Oh Doctor," the Countess said. "I'm quite convinced that you're both perfectly mad."
"Madman with a box," Lady said with a smile.
"Only Nor-norwest." he said. "Nobody's perfect. If you think I'm mad because I say I met Shakespeare, where do you think your precious Count got that?"
"He's a collector." the Countess said. "He has money and contacts."
"Contacts?" Lady laughed lightly. "Human contacts?"
"How much do you really know about him, eh?" he said. "I think rather less than you imagine. How long have you been married to the Count?"
"Long enough." the Countess said.
"Long enough." he said. "I like that. Discretion and charm. So civilized. So terribly unhelpful."
"Discretion and charm." she said. "I couldn't live without it, especially in matters concerning the Count."
"There's discretion then there's willful blindness." Lady said as he gave her a strange look. "Most woman say proudly how long they've been married."
"Blind?" the Countess asked sounding offended. "I help him to steal the Mona Lisa, the greatest crime in the century, and you call me blind?"
"Yes!" both the Doctor and Lady said.
"You see the Count as a master criminal, an art dealer, an insanely wealthy man, and you'd like to see yourself as his consort." he explained.
"But what's he doing in the cellar?" she said. "If he were my husband I'd want to know."
"Tinkering." the Countess said. "Every man must have his hobby."
"Man? Are you sure of that?" he asked. "A man with one eye and green skin, eh? Ransacking the art treasures of history to help him make a machine to reunite him with his people, the Jagaroth, and you didn't notice anything? How discreet, how charming."
"Excuse me, my lady." Hermann said. "Doctor, Lady, the Count is very anxious to see you both in the cellar."
"Think about it, Countess." the Doctor said "Think about it." Hermann escorts them to the cellar again. They saw the Count supervising Romana, who was working on a part for his time machine. "Ah, Count. Hello. I wonder if you could spare me a moment of your time. Romana, hello, how are you? I see the Count's roped you in as a lab assistant. What are you making for him? A model railway? Gallifreyan egg timer? I hope you're not making a time machine. I shall be very angry."
"Doctor, how very nice to see you again." he said. "It seems like only four hundred and seventy four since we last met." He put his hand on Lady's shoulder, which she could see on the Doctor's face that it made him angry. "And I see you brought Lady back with you." He removed his hand from her shoulder and grabbed her chin. "She is so very pretty." Then he looked into her eyes.
"Indeed, indeed, yes." the Doctor said keeping his voice calm. His voice brought the Count out of his thoughts, he turned back to face the Doctor. "I so much prefer the weather in the early part of the sixteenth century, don't you?" He looked around. "Where's Duggan?"
"Doctor, get me out of here." Duggan yelled from the cell.
"Ah, there you are, Duggan." the Doctor said. " Are you behaving yourself? Good, good. Now, Count, this is what I've come to say. If you're thinking of going back in time, you'd better forget it."
"And why do you say that?" the Count said.
"Well, because we're gonna stop you." Lady said.
"Oh no, on the contrary, you're both going to help me." the Count said.
"We are?" the Doctor and Lady asked.
"You are indeed." the Count said. "And if you do not, it'll be so much the worse for you, for these young ladies, and for thousands of other people I could mention if I happened to have the Paris telephone directory on my person."
"Count," the Doctor said seriously. "That sort of blackmail won't work because I know what the consequences will be if you get what you wanted. I can't let you fool about with time."
"What else do you ever do?" the Count asked.
"Ah, well, I'm a professional." the Doctor said. "I know what I'm doing. I also know what you're doing. Romana, put the equipment down."
"Doctor, it's all right." Romana said. "He just wants to get back to his spaceship and reunite himself." The Count took the devise from her and looked it over.
"Romana," Lady said. "He wants to go back four hundred million years, to before the Earth held life." All the color drained from Romana's face as she realized what that meant.
"Doctor, I think we can dispense both with your interference and with your help." the Count said. "Your friend has done her work very well indeed."
"Count, do you realize what will happen if you try to go back to the time before history began?" the Doctor asked.
"Yes. Yes, I do. And I don't care one jot. Hermann." the Count said.
"Sir." Hermann replied.
"Lock them in the cellar." the Count commanded. "They shall stay long enough to watch my departure."
"Yes, sir." Hermann said with a bow.
"After that, kill them in whatever way takes your fancy." the Count said.
"Very good, sir." Hermann said as he stuffed the Doctor, Duggan, Lady, and Romana back into the cell.
"I must say my farewells to the Countess." the Count said as he walked up the stairs and left the cellar.
"Romana," Lady said. "That thing is a Jagaroth."
"If I'd know I was helping the Jagaroth-" Romana started but was interrupted by Duggan.
"Jagaroth?" Duggan said.
"Shush." the Doctor said. He looked at the machine.
"What's a Jagaroth?" Duggan asked again when the Doctor had stopped looking at the machine.
"They're not nice to know." he said.
"So that's why he had to go back in time." Romana said. "He had to reverse history in order to save the Jagaroth race, and I've made that possible."
"Yes, without the stabilizer he only had the time bubble." he said.
"Don't be so hard on yourself, Romana," Lady said. "You didn't know."
"But he couldn't get into that." Duggan said. "You saw what happened to the Professor and the chicken."
"It doesn't travel in time, it just goes forwards or backwards in its own life-cycle." Romana explained. "If he'd got in it he'd just have become a baby again."
"What he was really trying to do was to put the whole world in the bubble, like those tiny jumps in time when we first arrived." the Doctor said. The very meant of them turned Lady's stomach.
"Of course." Romana said.
"Cracks in time." the Doctor said. "He shifted the whole world back in time for two seconds, but what he really wanted to do was shift the whole world back in time four hundred million years."
"But without the stabilizer, he couldn't have been there himself to save his ship." she said. Yeah, but how would he get the power? It would be fantastic."
"What do you think we've been chasing about for all this time?" the Doctor said.
"The Mona Lisas." Duggan said.
"Yes." the Doctor said. "He couldn't have sold them anyway." He turned to Lady to see her covering her mouth like she was going to throw up, so he walked over to her and rubbed circles on her back to try and help.
"Why not?" Duggan asked.
"Well, before Leonardo painted them," the Doctor said. "I wrote 'These are Fakes' on the blank board with felt tip. It would show up under any x-ray."
"Doctor, there won't be any x-rays for it to show up on if he gets back to that ship." she said.
"No, because you supplied him with the vital component he needed." he retorted.
"Wait a minute." she said. "When I made that component, I rigged it so that it could only go back in time for two minutes. After that, he'd be catapulted back to his own time, here. Now he couldn't do any harm."
"One minute would be sufficient for him to go back in time, contact his ship and prevent it exploding." Lady said as she breathed a bit heavily.
"He wouldn't then be splintered in time and all history would be changed." he finished what she was going to say because she was struggling to talk without dry heaving.
"We must do something to stop him." Romana asked. "Is she alright?"
"She'll be fine," he said. "She's just a pregnant Time Lady." She gave Lady a sorrowful look. All Time Ladies had to know how a pregnancy would effect them. And Romana knew that Lady's time sense was hyper sensitive. "I've got an idea." So the time cracks were making her very ill.
"What?" Romana asked.
"We'll ask Duggan." he said.
"Duggan?" both the Doctor and Romana asked.
"Right, stand back again." Duggan said right before he shoulder-charged the door and broke it open. The Doctor helped Lady out of the cell. By the time they were all out, the Count, in his true form, was already standing in the time machine, with a pistol pointed at them.
"You now see me as I truly am." he said.
"Very pretty." the Doctor said as he supported her. He even had his arm wrapped around her shoulders, as she leaned against him. She was starting to feel a bit better but she had a feeling that this sick feeling wasn't caused by the time cracks. Something else was making her sick, because she had been around the machine earlier and it didn't effect her like this.
"And you will see the culmination of my live's work." the Count said.
"How very fulfilling for you." the Doctor retorterd.
"For thousands upon thousands of years my various splintered selves have been working for this moment," the Count said. "And now, with the aid of this device, so kindly supplied by the young lady, I shall be able to make this equipment into a fully operational machine. I'm well aware of the limitations you have built into it, my dear. They will not affect the outcome. I shall return to my spaceship the moment before it exploded and stop myself from pressing the button. You will not be able to read the settings on the dial, Doctor. They will explode as soon as activated." He flipped a switch sat the gun down then stepped into his machine fully. "Goodbye, Doctor." The Doctor let go of Lady and rushed to the dial to try and see the settings, but it was too late the dial popped and caught fire.
"Well, that's got rid of that, then. I need a drink." Duggan said. Suddenly Lady felt all better. She wondered if what was wrong was that she was near the Count in his true form. Since he was only a splinter.
"What? We're going on a journey." the Doctor said.
"Where to?" Duggan asked.
"Four hundred million years ago." Lady said as she grabbed the Doctor's hand and they all ran out.
"Where?" Duggan asked as they ran.
"Just don't ask." the Doctor said. "Come on."
"I'm glad to see that you're better, Lady," Romana said. "We haven't got the time or place coordinates, Doctor.
"The Jagaroth will leave a faint trace through time, but we can only follow it if we get to the TARDIS in minutes." he said. "Come on."
"Hurry!" Lady shouted as she started to drag the Doctor a bit.
"Mad, mad." Duggan said. "They're absolutely mad." The Doctor pulled on Lady's hand to let her know to stop for a minute. She did and he tried to hail a taxi but just like with Donna, they ignored him.
"Is no one interested in history?" he said. They ran straight to the TARDIS. They got inside the TARDIS. "Lady stay here. It seems that with Scaroth in his true form makes you ill." Everyone but Lady left the TARDIS. She used the TARDIS to find out about what happened to the Countess. She found out there was a fire. She gasped and used the TARDIS to go back to the moment they ran out of the chateau, sadly she found out that the Countess was already dead before the fire. She went down to the cellar to find Hermann moving the fakes out of the cell. She snuck up behind him and knocked him out with a pressure point. She was getting good at that, with her Doctor she usually didn't have to use them but she had learned anyway. She grabbed the real Mona Lisa and returned to the TARDIS in enough time to pick up the Doctor, Duggan and Romana right before the Jagaroth ship exploded.
"Here ya go," Lady said as she handed the real Mona Lisa to Duggan.
"How'd you get this?" Duggan asked.
"He's not the only one that can do tricks that defy logic," she said as she nodded to the Doctor. The Doctor took them back to Paris. To the Eiffel Tower to be in fact. "Oh, my Goddess!"
"What?" Duggan asked. "Goddess?"
"I've never been here before!" she exclaimed. "It so beautiful!"
"I've never brought you here?" the Doctor asked surprised at the fact that he had never brought his bondmate to one of his favorite human cities.
"No but you took me to New New York," she said. "That was fun. Funny thing is that back home I always dreamed of traveling and now I am."
"Yes." Duggan said as if he remembered something. "Where do you three come from?"
"From?" the Doctor asked. "Well, I suppose the best way to find out where you've come from is to find out where you're going and then work backwards."
"Where are you going?" Duggan asked.
"I don't know." the Doctor said.
"Nor do I." Romana said. All three of them looked at Lady waiting for her to answer the same question.
"Huh?" she asked. "Where ever the wind takes me. Oh, and to answer your first question Duggan. Home is where the heart is." The Doctor smiled at her. He liked that answer.
"Goodbye." he said as he grabbed her hand and guided her down the Eiffel Tower to the ground floor. They walked out and turned back to see Duggan looking down at them.
"Bye, bye, Duggan!" both the Doctor and Lady shouted up at him.
"So," he said as they walked back toward the TARDIS. "Lady would you like to stay with me a bit longer before going back to your Doctor?"
"But that means you'd have to suppress more memories," she said.
"I don't mind," he said with a smile.
"Sure just let me sleep," she said. "All this getting sick has really taken it out of me."
"Sure," he said. They walked back to the TARDIS, Romana disappeared into the bowels of the TARDIS. "Let's get you settled." He guided Lady to his room. It was slightly different than the room they share in the future but it was still very much the Doctor's room. Same furniture just different sheets, they were ruby red instead of TARDIS blue, and there were less gadgets than she was used to.
"So, you'll let me sleep here?" she asked.
"Of course," he said as he took off her jacket and hung it up in his closet. She slipped off her flats and her dress, so she could climb into the bed. She watched him take off the long scarf and long jacket. He joined her in the bed and held her. She was honestly surprised by this. "I think you'll be more comfortable like this."
"Always," she said. "I love you."
"You know," he started. "I think I'm falling for you." He grinned at her. "Again, I guess."
Notes: Thanks for the reviews. Just so you all know I have decided the twins names. But I intend on them to have more than just the twins so I will take all name recommendations into account. Thanks also to my readers. :) This chapter is dedicated to my mother. Her first Doctor was the Fourth Doctor. And as we all know you can't ever forget your first Doctor.