Due to all the reviews, I figured I'd go ahead and give this to you. :) It's longer, because it has both episodes in one, but the second part was longer and I couldn't separate them without giving you an uber-short first chapter! Read and review!
Oh, and you're gonna love this. For those of you who wanted more original scenes, well, you're welcome. ;)
Chapter 8: The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances
Freya swam to the edge of the pool, managing to get out before being flung back in the pool. The TARDIS was jerking about crazily. Freya threw herself out of the pool, pulling herself out and gripping the couch.
Her book was at the bottom of the pool. She stared at it sadly before managing to get out of the library.
Still dripping, Freya stumbled into the console room where the Doctor was flitting about like a child who'd forgotten to take his ADD medication.
"What's going on?" Freya asked him, gripping a railing just as the TARDIS jerked once more.
"There's an emergency. Mauve," the Doctor explained.
"Mauve?" Freya asked. Was that a color? She thought it was.
"The universally recognized color for danger!" the Doctor exclaimed, flipping a few switches. Oh. So it was a color. She moved so she could see the screen. They were flying through some sort of swirling tunnel after a long cylindrical piece of…metal.
"I thought that was red. Is red just an earth thing?" Freya asked him.
"Just humans. By everyone else's standards, red's camp. Oh, the misunderstandings. All those red alerts, all that dancing. It's got a very basic flight computer. I've hacked in, locked the TARDIS on it. Where it goes, we go," the Doctor said gleefully.
"Is that safe?" Freya asked, patting the coral of the TARDIS in worry.
"Totally," the Doctor agreed. An explosion shook the TARDIS, throwing her at the Doctor. He caught her with a sheepish smile.
"Okay, reasonably. Should have said reasonably there. No, no, no, NO!" the Doctor shouted, releasing her as he rushed around the console once more.
"It's jumping time tracks, getting away from us!" the Doctor shouted.
"What exactly are we following?" Freya asked suspiciously.
"No idea!" the Doctor said, almost gleefully.
"Then why are we chasing it?" Freya questioned him in disbelief.
"It's mauve and dangerous, and about thirty seconds from the center of London. Why are you wet?" he asked her suddenly.
"You were holding me earlier, and you just noticed I'm soaked?" Freya asked him, unconvinced.
"I was a bit busy. Did you try swimming in your clothes?" he asked once more.
"TARDIS flung the pool into the library, and with all your jerking, I got thrown in the pool. Twice. You owe me a new book," Freya told him.
"You need dry clothes. No time for the wardrobe. Too massive. TARDIS can be too tricky. I think I have an outfit or two in the corner over there. Tug on whatever fits the best," the Doctor told her absently, waving her off.
"Of your clothes? How will they fit?" Freya asked him, staring at him. He shrugged.
"It's the TARDIS. She probably has something over there already waiting for you to shrug on," the Doctor told her. Freya held back an indignant huff and made her way to the pile of clothing. Of everything in the pile. The only things that seemed to be relatively near her size was a knee-length skirt, a pair of short shorts, and a t-shirt with the Union Jack across the chest.
Freya sighed and glanced around, making sure the Doctor wasn't looking, before she pulled her clothes off and the shirt and shorts on. After a second thought, she tugged the skirt on over the shorts as well. The skirt was really loose, but the last thing she wanted was to walk outside in short shorts in the middle of the 1800s.
She made her way back over to him. He glanced at her outfit and frowned.
"Are you sure about that shirt?" he asked. Freya nodded.
"The only other shirts were all yours and I'm sure that would look lovely in whatever period we land in," Freya pointed out.
"I'm sure my shirts would look more in place than that shirt...Oi! What's wrong with my shirts?" the Doctor asked indignantly, losing his first thought the rest of her words registered to him.
"Nothing…for you. But for me? That would look a bit…unusual, I'm sure," Freya told him. He shrugged and headed for the door, Freya hot on his heels.
They were in an alley. Freya glanced around. It was dark out, and everything seemed sort of dirty. So it was a city.
"Must've come down somewhere quite close. Within a mile, anyway. And it can't have been more than a few weeks ago. Maybe a month," the Doctor mused.
"A month? I thought we were right behind it? And this is London, yes?" Freya asked to make sure. The Doctor nodded.
"Yes. London. And it was jumping time tracks all over the place. We're bound to be a little bit out. Do you want to drive?" he asked indignantly. Freya shrugged, glancing around.
"What's the plan? Can you scan for alien tech? Is that how you usually find the trouble that doesn't find you?" Freya asked him. The Doctor shrugged and shook his head.
"It hit the middle of London with a very loud bang. I'm going to ask," he told her, holding out his wallet.
"Doctor John Smith, Ministry of Asteroids?" Freya asked him, scrunching up her nose.
"It's psychic paper. It tells you what I want it to tell you," he told her.
"You used it before, haven't you?" Freya asked. The Doctor nodded as he headed towards a door marked Deliveries Only.
"Door, music, people. What do you think?" he asked. Freya shrugged.
"You're in charge," she told him. He beamed at her.
"Yes. I am. Thanks for noticing," he said pleasantly as he opened the door.
"Coming?" he asked her. Freya nodded, but as she started to follow him, she froze.
"Mummy?"
The voice was coming from behind her. Behind and above her. Freya turned around and her eyes widened.
There was a child, a little boy, wearing a gasmask, up on the roof behind where the Doctor had entered.
"Doctor? There's a child up there!" Freya called, hoping the Doctor would hear her. When she didn't hear him coming, she quickly made her way over to the ladder leading up to the roof.
"Are you all right up there?" Freya called out.
"Mummy?" the child repeated. Freya climbed faster.
She managed to make it to the first tier of the roof. The child was still higher up than she was.
"Mummy?" it repeated again. Almost as if that were the only word the poor thing knew.
"Okay, hang on! I'm coming up. Don't move," Freya begged the child. She glanced around desperately, looking for a ladder to use. No ladder.
A rope fell in front of her though. Freya looked up in surprise. Was the child trying to help her? What was going on? Freya grabbed the rope and tugged on it. It seemed to be tied to something.
Freya bit her lip. She was dreadful at rope climbing. She'd failed that gym class in high school. But a second glance told her there wasn't another way up. She dug her fingers into the rope and used all of her upper body strength to pull herself up.
The wall, she found out quickly, was really helpful with climbing. She could actually climb next to the wall. Why hadn't there been a wall in gym class? Freya quickly dismissed the thoughts, looking up towards the child.
"I'm almost there!" Freya called, hoping the child would be fine, would wait on her.
"Mummy! Balloon!" the child said. That was the first word the child had said that wasn't Mummy. But why balloon? Freya felt the rope move and she gripped it tightly, glancing up at the child.
But it wasn't the child moving the rope.
The rope was attached to a barrage balloon.
Oh. That would explain why the child said balloon, she realized as her stomach dropped.
Freya didn't even have a chance to let go of the rope before she was pulled away from the roof, over the alley.
"Doctor!" Freya shouted, hoping he would come out of the building and see her, save her.
But how could he save her? It wasn't like his spaceship could actually fly.
Sirens started blaring. All of a sudden, the sky was filled with searchlights, scanning the sky. Freya nearly let go in shock at the first explosion. The rope twisted, bringing her face to face with a s squadron of German planes, all flying towards her.
Her and her Union Jack t-shirt.
Freya gripped the rope as tightly as she could, cursing the TARDIS with every word she could think of that sounded remotely vulgar. She should have worn the Doctor's shirt. At least the Doctor's shirt wouldn't have attracted a German fleet.
The skirt, which had been loose on her to begin with, started sliding down. Freya was grateful she'd left the shorts on. But she didn't want to lose the skirt! It was a bit chilly for just a pair of shorts.
Not that she had a say in the matter.
The skirt ended up falling. Freya took advantage of the loss of extra material around her legs and managed to wrap her leg around the rope. But her grip was slipping. She tried digging her fingers into the rope itself but even that didn't seem to be working. She slid a bit, stifling a scream as she did.
She had no idea how long she clung there. But her shoulders started aching. Her hands were slipping. And her head was pounding from the rush of adrenaline as she desperately clung to the rope.
But her fingers slipped.
The rope slid from her fingers, taking some of her skin with it. Freya screamed, the feeling of the air parting all around her. For half a second, it felt exhilarating. Until her mind caught up with her, told her she was falling to her death.
And then she just wasn't falling.
Her eyes, which had closed on their own accord, snapped open to see a sort of blue beam…thing…around her. Like a tube.
"Okay, okay. I've got you," a voice called out.
"Who's got me? Who are you? What's going on?" Freya asked, her voice cracking slightly.
"I'm just programming your descent pattern. Keep as still as you can and keep your hands and feet inside the light field," the voice told her lightly.
"Descent pattern?" Freya asked in confusion. Who was this? Only the Doctor could save her like that. And this wasn't the Doctor.
"Oh, and could you switch off your cell phone. It interferes with my instrument," he called out once more. Freya shook her head, about to say she didn't have a cell phone, when she felt her pocket and realized that her cell phone was, indeed, in her shorts pocket.
That could have only been the TARDIS's doing.
Freya pulled it out and switched it off, sliding it back in her pocket before she dropped it. Her hands were shaking severely.
"Thank you. That's much better. Be with you in a moment," the voice told her. Freya kept her mouth shut, glancing around. The German planes weren't on her anymore, but she was still hovering quite a ways above London. High enough up that she doubted she'd survive a fall.
"Hold tight!" the voice told her once more. The voice, Freya realized, was familiar. Sort of.
It was the voice from the library.
The moment she realized this, she was thrown down into the blue beam, landing firmly in a man's arms.
The man who'd broke into the TARDIS.
"I've got you. You're fine, you're just fine. The tractor beam, it can scramble your head just a little bit," the man told her.
"You. I heard you. You were in our library earlier," Freya managed to gasp out. The man frowned down at her.
"I've not seen you before, beautiful. I'd have remembered you if I had," he said with a wink. Freya shook her head.
"No. You put a book in our library. One of me. Of my future, that I was supposed to only read when certain events happened," Freya argued, feeling slightly lightheaded. The man tilted his head.
"Did I now? Your future? Did you read it?" he asked her, intrigued. Freya shook her head.
"I read the warning label and put it back. Why did you put it there? How did you get in the TARDIS?" Freya asked him.
"The TARDIS? Darling, I've never heard of your TARDIS. Never been in one either," he told her. He flashed her another smile.
"Can you put me down?" Freya asked him, feeling uncomfortable from his smiles. His smile faded and he regarded her oddly before settling her down carefully.
"You look a bit dizzy," he told her.
"I'm not…" Freya drifted off as she swayed.
And the world went black.
When she came to, she was laying on what appeared to be a small bed. She shot up quickly, barely avoiding hitting her head on the ceiling of the little cove. She rolled out of the bed, colliding with the floor.
"You okay back there?" the man asked her.
"I can't see," Freya murmured more to herself than him. She needed to see. Whoever he was, she didn't trust him. She didn't trust him and she didn't like him. She had to get out of there, get back to the Doctor.
A moment later, lights flooded the area. Freya glanced around. It was a spaceship, she was sure. It was incredibly small and there were wires all over the place, as if he'd had to rip the wires from the main frame to hotwire it or something.
"Hello," he said with a wink.
"Who are you?" Freya asked him, taking a small step towards the window. She glanced out, hoping he had landed them.
He hadn't.
They were still rather high in the sky of London. Lovely.
"Captain Jack Harkness, One Three Three Squadron, Royal Air Force. American volunteer," he said, standing up. Freya instantly jumped back, but he held an ID card out to her. Freya took it cautiously, examining the paper.
It didn't say his name.
It said he was single. And he worked out. But from his look, he thought it said what he'd told her.
"Psychic paper," Freya said suddenly.
"How'd you know?" he asked her in surprise.
"It said you're single and you work out," Freya told him drily, handing the paper back. She made sure she didn't accidentally touch his hand as she did.
"Tricky thing, psychic paper," he said, glancing down at the paper. He looked back up quickly, slightly alarmed.
"You're terrified of me. You're travelling with someone who you're desperate to get back. But you're terrified of me. That's not how this is supposed to work," Jack muttered to himself. Freya took a quick step back.
"What's your name?" he asked her, taking a step away from her. Freya relaxed a bit at the increased distance.
"Freya. Freya O'Leary," she told him quietly. He slipped his psychic paper back into his pocket.
"And you're not from this time. Cell phone, and those clothes most certainly aren't something a local would wear. Nice bum, by the way," he commented with a smirk. Freya wished the skirt had stayed on.
"It was the only clothes I could pull on in such short notice. It was this or my…fiancé's clothes," Freya stumbled over the word. Jack tilted his head.
"Interesting reaction. And I'd love to know just what you were doing that required you to have to tug clothes on quickly," he said, waggling his eyebrows at her.
"I got thrown into a pool," Freya said drily. Jack continued to stare at her.
"Just…get me back to the ground. Please. I need to find him," Freya finally begged.
"Whoa. Calm down. We'll find this mystery man of yours. How about I fix your hands up first? As a sort of peace offering? I don't know what I did to terrify you, but maybe that'll make up for it?" Jack offered. Freya tentatively took a step towards him, watching him carefully. He didn't look like he had any sort of weapons on him or within reach.
But that didn't mean anything.
She glanced down at her hands. They'd been worse before, at the observation deck. She could manage with rope burns. She flexed her hands, wincing as the pain shot through her hands.
Did she really need her hands to find the Doctor?
She was pulled out of her reverie when a scarf wrapped itself tightly around her hands. Freya's eyes shot up in terror to see Jack wrapping the scarf tightly around her hands.
"Calm down. I'm fixing up your hands. You can stop acting now. I know who you are. I can spot a Time Agent a mile away," Jack told her, not releasing. Freya tried tugging away from him but he held her in place. He reached behind him and pushed a button.
Tiny glowing…things…floated out at her, surrounding her hands. Freya squeezed her eyes shut in panic, only to open them when she felt the pain fade.
Then the particles started moving towards her chest. Freya jerked back suddenly, throwing herself away from him. She hit the floor as the particles disappeared.
"Calm down. They're just nanogenes. What's wrong with your chest?" he asked her.
"My heart's a bit different than most peoples'. What are nanogenes? What's a Time Agent?" Freya asked him, struggling to get the scarf off of her hands. Jack was openly frowning at her now.
"Nanogenes are sub-atomic robots. The air's full of them in here. They just repaired three layers of your skin. And you're a Time Agent…aren't you?" he asked in disbelief. Freya shook her head, hoping the nanogenes would stay away from her. She didn't know how they'd react to her two hearts.
"I don't know what a Time Agent is. I'm…I need to get back to the Doctor," Freya said, feeling her panic rise.
"Calm down. We'll find this Doctor. Is he the Time Agent?" Jack asked her, intrigued. She was the first person he'd ever known who'd reacted to him that way.
"No. He's…the Doctor. Please. Let me go," Freya begged.
"I'm not holding you prisoner. You need to relax a bit. Everything's fine. It's not the best time to be running around on the streets," Jack told her, grabbing a bottle and two glass cups and heading up a set of stairs.
"Come on, will ya?" Jack called out. Freya managed to get the scarf completely off of her hands and ran the other way. They were still in the air. And she had no clue how to drive the spaceship. There was no way she could commandeer it and get herself down.
Her only option was to go up with him.
Her arms wrapped tightly around her stomach as she made her way to the top of the spaceship. Her eyes widened as she was met with the sight of Big Ben's clock face, staring straight at her.
They were tethered to Big Ben.
"Sit down before you fall off the edge," Jack called to her. Freya obediently sank to the roof of the ship, sitting in her spot. Jack moved closer, stopping when he was about two feet away. Freya's anxiety seemed to grow the closer to her he got.
"So you're not a Time Agent. Was the Blue Box yours?" Jack asked her. Freya jumped. Jack shook his head and popped the top off of the bottle he was holding. Alcohol. Freya frowned at that.
"Yes. That's the Doctor's. Can we please find him?" Freya begged him. Jack shrugged and handed her a glass of wine. Freya eyed it suspiciously, waiting until he took a healthy swallow of his before she sipped on hers. The flavor was brilliant, but she didn't trust Jack. She didn't trust him at all.
"And you're sure you're not Time Agents?" Jack asked for clarification. Freya's eyes widened.
"I don't know. I'm his guest. He might be a time agent. Let's find him and you can find out!" Freya suggested excitedly. That was a way she could get back to the Doctor! Why hadn't she thought of that before?
"And how do I know you're not going to just run off as soon as we land?" Jack asked her, one of his eyebrows shooting up. Freya couldn't even meet his eyes.
Because that's what she planned on doing.
"Please, just…let's find him," Freya begged. Jack downed the rest of his glass of wine before refilling both his and hers, although hers still had quite a bit in it.
"Fine. Two glasses. You drink two glasses and I'll take you to find this fiancé of yours," Jack acquiesced.
"One glass," Freya countered, her voice wavering.
"Just start drinking."
It took her awhile to get both glasses down, and by the time she had she was entirely too dizzy to even walk straight. Not that it stopped her from trying. But Jack, true to his word, took them down.
"Okay, I've done a scan for alien tech. We're heading for a hospital. Look alive, will ya?" Jack asked her as she swayed slightly.
"I said one glass," Freya murmured, wishing she'd stuck with one glass. The smile Jack flashed her said he was pleased with the result.
"Eh, you'll be fine. Come on!" Jack said, roping his arm around her waist as he pulled her along. Freya would have protested, would have tried to get as far away from him as she could, but she found it to take all of her focus just to keep herself upright.
"You're a real lightweight, aren't you?" Jack commented as she stumbled into him.
"I've never drank before," Freya admitted. Jack groaned before winking at her, his expression shifting so quickly it made Freya's head spin.
"Do I look more attractive now?" he asked her. Freya shrugged, stumbling once more. Jack sighed before scooping her up into his arms, not even pausing in his walking as he did.
"I'll take that as a yes," Jack said.
"Who are you really?" Freya asked him. He sighed, glancing down at her.
"I already told you. Captain Jack Harkness," he said.
"But where are you from? When?" Freya pressed on. Jack's smirk grew at her words.
"You get bold when you're drunk. I'll remember that. I'm from the 51st century. From a place you've never heard about," he told her, still smirking.
"There's the hospital this supposed fiancé is in. Tell me, where's the ring if you're engaged?" Jack asked her, wriggling his eyebrows at her.
"I have a necklace instead. Different culture," Freya told him, turning her head so that she could see where they were going.
Not that she wanted to.
It was as if Jack had found the creepiest hospital in the area and chose that to be the location of the Doctor. Then again, knowing the Doctor, he did the exact same thing.
The moment Jack stepped into the hospital, Freya knew something was wrong. It felt wrong. And there was no one there.
"Hello? Anybody here?" Jack called out as he started wandering down the halls.
"Hello?" Freya called out as well, knowing the Doctor wouldn't recognize Jack's voice.
"You can put me down now," Freya told Jack, feeling better. The creepiness in the atmosphere seemed to be clearing her head.
Or not.
She stumbled the moment her feet hit the ground, but she shied away from Jack.
"Back to this? I thought you were warming up to me," Jack said in disbelief.
"You got me drunk," Freya pointed out, unhappy to hear her words slurring.
"How was I supposed to know you'd get drunk off two glasses? I had two glasses and I'm functioning just fine," Jack pointed out.
Freya opened her mouth but before she could protest anymore, the Doctor walked out of a room near them. Freya's eyes widened at the sight of him and she threw herself at him, falling into him rather than just hugging him as she had planned on doing. The Doctor steadied her and returned her hug before quickly pulling back, staring critically at her.
Taking in the sight of her missing skirt, short shorts, and flushed cheeks.
"What happened to you? I thought you were following me?" the Doctor asked her in disbelief. Freya shook her head but stopped quickly, as the world decided to shake along with her head.
"There was a little boy. I was trying to save him but ended up…not. And then he captured me," Freya said. The Doctor's eyes snapped up to glare at Jack.
"Good evening. Hope we're not interrupting. Captain Jack Harkness. I've been hearing all about you on the way over. What I haven't heard yet is if you're a Time Agent or not," Jack told him lightly.
"Time Agent?" the Doctor asked, glancing down at Freya in confusion. She shook her head.
"I told him I had no clue what a Time Agent was or if you were one. It was the quickest way to get me here," Freya admitted.
"So you're not Time Agents," Jack said, deflating.
"No. We're not. Do you have something to do with this?" the Doctor asked Jack, his voice a quiet sort of fury.
"With what?" Jack asked in confusion. He glanced down at Freya and his eyes widened.
"Oh. Yeah. Sorry. I gave her two glasses of wine. I didn't think it'd get her that drunk. I was just trying to relax her. She wouldn't stop freaking out and trying to jump from my ship," Jack said flippantly.
"No. Not that. Although I'm not happy about that either! I mean about the people. The gas mask people. Are you causing it?" the Doctor asked, releasing Freya. He gave her a gentle push for the wall before stalking angrily towards Jack. Jack took a quick step back.
"I don't know anything about gas mask people. I am only trying to sell a Chula warship to the Time Agency," Jack said defensively.
"Then why don't you come see what your warship's done," the Doctor said coldly, turning around and briskly making his way back into the room he'd exited. Jack hurried after him, leaving Freya to stumble into the room on her own. She stayed in the doorway, taking deep and steady breathes. How did one get rid of intoxication?
Oh. She didn't have a clue. Water. Drink water? She didn't have water. The whole thing was upsetting.
She watched as Jack ran around the room, examining person after person. Each of them looked like the child she'd been trying to help. She shivered at the sight, wrapping her arms tightly around herself. Each person just lying in a cot like that upset her. It was unnatural.
"This just isn't possible. How did this happen?" Jack muttered frantically to himself as he skitted around, scanning person after person. Freya's eyes widened as she noticed one of the people's chest rising.
"Doctor….they're alive. They're still alive," Freya whispered in horror. The Doctor nodded.
"What kind of ship exactly did you land here?" the Doctor asked Jack coldly. He shook his head.
"A Chula warship. It had nothing to do with this," Jack protested.
"This started at the bomb site. It's got everything to do with it! What kind of warship?" the Doctor yelled, furious.
"An ambulance! Look!" Jack finally shouted, making a hologram of the odd thing they'd followed through space appear over his bracelet-like device.
"That's what you chased through the Time Vortex. It's space junk. I wanted to make you think it was valuable. It's empty. I made sure of it. Nothing but a shell. I threw it at you, thinking you were a Time Agent. Saw your time travel vehicle, love the retro look by the way, nice panels. Threw you the bait," Jack admitted, looking quite distraught at having to reveal his plans.
"Bait? You're a con man," Freya realized.
"I shoulda realized it though. Shoulda realized you weren't Time Agents. It didn't help that Flag Girl had no clue what a Time Agent was. I thought she was just clueless. The two of you don't exactly fit in either. But that's beside the point. What's happening here has got nothing to do with that ship," Jack told them confidently.
"What is happening here?" Freya asked uncomfortably. The entire room was making her skin crawl.
"Human DNA is being rewritten by an idiot," the Doctor spat at Jack.
"What are you talking about?" Jack asked him.
"Some sort of virus is converting human beings into these things. But why? What's the point?" the Doctor asked, talking to himself more than anyone else. Freya moved from the wall to them, focusing intently on staying upright as she did.
"Are they soldiers? They have on gas masks. Could they have been changed to be some sort of unstoppable soldier?" Freya suggested as the wall vanished. She fell forward roughly, kissing the ground before she managed to right herself.
"What the hell did you give her?" the Doctor asked Jack, irritated.
"It was just some wine! I drank just as much as she did!" Jack protested.
"But yes. That is a good idea. But who? Who wanted soldiers? You don't want soldiers. You're genuinely shocked," the Doctor said, his eyes sliding to Jack.
"Yes I'm genuinely shocked! This has nothing to do with me!" Jack yelled at him.
The patients all jerked up in their beds.
Freya fell backwards, shoving herself as far away from the creatures as she could. The Doctor's arms slid under her armpits and pulled her quickly to her feet. One of his arms looped around her stomach, pulling her back with him and Jack. Back away from the mass of gas-mask soldiers.
"Mummy?" they started chanting, questioning, as they inched forward.
"Doctor, what's happening?" Jack asked.
"I don't know," the Doctor said grimly. The Doctor kept pulling her back with him before stopping suddenly. His arm left her so abruptly that she nearly fell forward. The arm came back.
"Jack, hold her steady. Behind me!" the Doctor ordered, handing Freya over to Jack, just like some sort of rag doll.
"Don't let them touch you!" the Doctor ordered, eyes glued to the patients.
"Why? What happens if they touch us?" Freya asked him urgently.
"You're looking at it," the Doctor said sadly. The Doctor's words both alarmed and saddened her. They were just like the Dalek. They couldn't be touched. No one could touch them. They were alone. She tried stepping forward.
Jack's grip on her tightened and the Doctor's arm shot out.
"Oh no. This is not the time to try hugging something that shouldn't be hugged. They don't have a conscious thought process left. A hug won't cure them," the Doctor told her.
"You said touching a Dalek wouldn't work either," Freya argued quietly.
"You touched a Dalek?" Jack asked, his voice a mixture of horror, disbelief and awe.
"I held a Dalek. The creature inside, not just the metal shell," Freya informed him. Jack stared down at her with a renewed expression of respect.
"But these are not like them. Stay back," the Doctor ordered her as the patients shambled closer.
"You said they don't have a conscious thought process. But they keep asking for their mummy. They want their mummy. So they do," Freya argued.
"No. The child, the first one, he wants his mummy. The others are only mimicking him," the Doctor corrected her impatiently, his eyes darting around.
"So what if his mummy told him to go away?" Freya shot back. The Doctor's mouth opened and then abruptly closed.
"STOP!" Freya shouted at them. To her surprise, the patients froze. She glanced at the Doctor, then at Jack. Then back to the Doctor.
"Go to your room," Freya ordered, barely managing to keep the tremor out of her voice. The patients all tilted their head to the side, regarding her very carefully.
"Keep going!" the Doctor hissed at her. Freya moved forward slightly, Jack still holding her up. She gripped the Doctor's jacket tightly with one hand and pointed towards the door with the other.
"Go. To. Your. Room. I'm angry with you. I'm very cross! You know better! Go to your room and think about what you've done!" Freya ordered, keeping her tone as neutral as she could. She knew how to mimic that voice. Her mother had told her that all the time growing up.
To her joy and disbelief, the patients all turned and started shambling back towards their beds. The Doctor turned and pulled her from Jack's grip, lifting her into the air and spinning her around before pulling her into a hug, a beaming smile on his face the entire time.
"You are fantastic! Absolutely fantastic! And I am soo glad that worked! Those would have been terrible last words!" the Doctor told her, laughing as he held her close.
"Hate to break it up, but we need to get out of here," Jack said impatiently. The Doctor ignored him, pulling back.
"Why are they all wearing gas masks? Is that part of the soldier thing?" Freya asked the Doctor.
"No. Those masks are flesh and bone," Jack said grimly. The Doctor's grin melted off his face as he regarded Jack once more.
"How was your con supposed to work?" he asked Jack coldly.
"Simple enough, really. Find some harmless piece of space junk, let the nearest Time Agent track it back to Earth, convince him it's valuable, name a price. When he's put fifty percent up front, oops! A German bomb falls on it, destroys it forever. He never gets to see what he's paid for, never knows he's been had. I buy him a drink with his own money, and we discuss dumb luck. The perfect self-cleaning con. The London Blitz is great for self-cleaners. Pompeii's nice if you want to make a vacation of it though, but you've got to set your alarm for volcano day….Getting a hint of disapproval," Jack said as he regarded the Doctor and Freya.
"Take a look around the room. This is what your harmless piece of space-junk did," the Doctor told him coldly.
"It was a burnt-out medical transporter. It was empty!" Jack protested.
"Doctor, shouldn't we get out of here?" Freya asked. She had a feeling her trick wouldn't last that long.
"No. But we do need to go upstairs," the Doctor said, pulling them out of the room and towards a staircase.
"But I even programmed the flight computer so it wouldn't land on anything living. I harmed no one. I don't know what's happening here, but believe me. I had nothing to do with it!" Jack continued protesting as the Doctor kept Freya from falling down the stairs they were running up.
'I'll tell you what's happening. You forgot to set your alarm clock. It's volcano day," the Doctor retorted angrily. Freya slipped and barely avoided slamming her head into the stairs as a siren pierced the air.
"What's that?" Freya asked anxiously as the Doctor hoisted her to her feet.
"The all clear," Jack said, but he didn't sound too sure about that.
"I wish," the Doctor muttered as he tried continuing up the stairs.
"Why don't you just carry her?" Jack asked the Doctor, gesturing towards Freya.
"I don't want to be carried," Freya protested quickly. Being carried made her feel useless. The Doctor stopped and let go of her, quickly turning around.
"Fine. Jack, make sure she doesn't fall. Freya, jump onto my back. Treat it like a piggy-back ride," the Doctor told her. Jack moved behind Freya and she jumped, roping her arms around his neck. Her legs started to slide but Jack's hands quickly wrapped them around the Doctor.
"Good. Now let's go!" the Doctor said as he started to run up the stairs. Jack ran alongside him. Freya hated to admit it, but they were able to move much faster now. She hadn't realized how much she'd been slowing them down.
As soon as they hit the landing, the Doctor ran straight for a door.
"Have you got a blaster?" he asked, gesturing towards the door. Freya's head spun. What about his sonic screwdriver? Wasn't that the point of the thing?
"Sure!" Jack said happily, pulling out what looked like a gun.
"The night your space-junk landed, someone was hurt. This was where they were taken," the Doctor explained as Jack pointed what Freya assumed was a blaster at the door. A square patch where the lock had been vanished. The Doctor seemed thoroughly impressed.
"Sonic blaster, fifty-first century. Weapon Factories of Villengard?" the Doctor asked Jack. Freya rested her head on the Doctor's shoulder as he dashed into the now-unlocked room.
"You've been to the factories?" Jack asked, sounding impressed as well.
"Once," the Doctor said evasively.
"Well, they're gone now, destroyed. The main reactor went critical. Vaporized the lot," Jack said sadly, closing the door and aiming the gun back at it. The lock appeared just as it had been.
"Like I said. Once. There's a banana grove there, now. I like bananas. Bananas are good," the Doctor said cheerfully.
"Did you do it?" Freya asked him quietly.
"What, blow up the factory? Why would I do that?" the Doctor asked her in a puzzled tone.
"Why wouldn't you do that?" Freya shot back. The wine was making her more outspoken. She wasn't sure she liked that. She couldn't wait for the effect to wear off so she could be of use again.
The room they were in was extremely messy. There were two rooms, in a sense. The first room, the one they'd walked in, was full of filing cabinets and what Freya assumed was cutting edge technology for the time. A window that originally offered a viewing link to the second room was shattered. The Doctor walked into the smaller room, sitting Freya on the tiny bed before looking around.
"It's the child, isn't it?" Freya asked sadly.
"But whatever was in here…it was powerful. Powerful and angry. A child did all this?" Jack asked the Doctor in disbelief. The Doctor wandered back into the other room, pressing play on a tape recorder-like device.
Freya examined the pictures on the wall while the tape rolled in the background. Each picture was of a girl, a girl with brown hair and brown eyes. Like her. But not her. And some of them had a little boy in them as well, holding the woman's hand.
"Doctor, he's drawn his mummy. But he keeps asking if people are his mummy. Why? He should know his mummy, what she looks like, who she is," Freya pointed out. The Doctor nodded, glancing around.
"Why wouldn't he know who his mummy was?" the Doctor murmured more to himself than anyone else.
The Doctor spun on Jack, yelling at him. Freya turned from them, touching one of the photos nearest to the bed. The picture really did look like her. Was that why the child listened to her command? Because she resembled what he thought his mummy looked like?
Her ears became aware of an odd clicking noise. Freya leapt off the bed, stumbling back into the wall at the sudden movement.
Standing in the doorway was the child. The child who was watching her intently.
"I'm here!" the child said. But the Doctor and Jack hadn't seemed to noticed.
"It's afraid. Terribly afraid and powerful. It doesn't know it yet, but it will do. It's got the power of a god, and Freya just sent it to its room," the Doctor said with a choked laugh. He glanced over at Freya, taking in her wide-eyed, frozen stance.
"What's that noise?" Jack asked, sensing something off.
"End of the tape. It ran out about thirty seconds ago," the Doctor said, his own eyes now glued on the child.
"I'm here, now. Can you see me?" the child asked, directing his words more to Freya than anyone else.
"Freya sent it to its room. This is its room," the Doctor said with another laugh. Jack spun around, wide eyes hitting what the Doctor and Freya had already seen.
"Are you my mummy? Mummy?" the child asked, taking a step towards Freya. Jack and the Doctor moved towards Freya, cutting off the child's sight of her.
"Okay. On my signal, make for the door," Jack said slowly, reaching for his pocket.
"Mummy?" the child asked again.
"Now!" Jack shouted, whipping a banana out of his pocket. His eyes widened at the sight. The Doctor pulled Jack's sonic blaster from his own belt, blasting a large hole in the wall.
"Go now! Don't drop the banana!" the Doctor shouted at Jack as he grabbed Freya. He didn't even bother scooping her into his arms like he had before. Instead, he awkwardly wrapped one arm around her legs and the other around her back, leaving her in an almost sitting position in the Doctor's arms. She gripped the Doctor's leather jacket tightly as he jumped through the hole.
"Why not? It's a banana!" Jack shouted as he followed the Doctor through the hole.
"It's a good source of potassium!" the Doctor shot back. Jack grabbed the blaster from the Doctor and aimed it back at the wall, filling the hole.
"Digital rewind. Nice switch," Jack said, sounding unhappy at the admittance. The Doctor sat Freya back onto her feet.
"It's from the groves of Villengard. I thought it was appropriate," the Doctor told him with a cheesy grin.
"There's really a banana grove in the heart of Villengard and you did that?" Jack asked in disbelief.
"Bananas are good," the Doctor repeated, as if that was the answer to the universe.
Knowing the Doctor, it very well might be.
The walls started cracking. Freya jumped at the sound, colliding with Jack.
"Come on!" the Doctor shouted, grabbing Freya's hand. He slammed to a halt at the sight of other patients coming at them from the other side.
The patients moved forward slowly, repeating its mantra.
"It's keeping us here til it can get at us," the Doctor realized, eyes wide.
"It's controlling them?" Jack asked in disbelief.
"It is them. It's every living thing in this hospital," the Doctor retorted angrily.
Jack glanced in both directions before aiming his sonic blaster.
"Okay. This can function as a sonic blaster, a sonic cannon, and as a triple-enfolded sonic disruptor. Doc, what've you got?" Jack asked, not bothering to turn around again. The Doctor whipped out his sonic screwdriver, examining it with wide eyes.
"I've got a sonic…er, nevermind," the Doctor said quickly.
"What?" Jack asked, the gun moving to aim towards wherever the plaster of the wall was falling the most.
"It's sonic, okay? Let's leave it at that!" the Doctor retorted quickly.
"Disruptor? Cannon? What?" Jack asked, getting impatient. Freya clutched the Doctor's free hand tightly, eyes darting between the patients and the crumbling wall.
"It's sonic! Totally sonic! I am sonicked up!" the Doctor shouted.
"A SONIC WHAT?" Jack shouted right back.
"SCREWDRIVER!" the Doctor yelled, matching his tone. Jack froze, spinning around to see that it was, indeed, a screwdriver. His eyes widened and his jaw slackened in disbelief at the sight, just as the child broke through the wall. Freya snatched the blaster from Jack's hands and pointed it at the ground, closing her eyes as she pressed what she hoped was the right button.
The three of them tumbled through the floor, Freya's shirt catching on the edge of floor on the way down. She ignored the sound of her shirt ripping as she slammed into the ground on top of Jack and the Doctor. Jack instantly ripped the gun from her hands and repaired the hole in the ceiling.
"Is everyone okay?" Freya asked them.
"Could've used a warning," the Doctor said indignantly.
"Who has a sonic screwdriver?" Jack asked in disbelief.
"We need lights," Freya murmured, standing quickly. The world tilted for a moment before righting itself. Freya's hands quickly went to the shirt, feeling for how much damage had been done.
Her frown grew. It had ripped the shirt pretty badly. How did that even happen? Why did that happen? The shirt was more of a vest now than a shirt, and a good portion of the bottom of the material was gone as well.
"Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks, oh, this could be a little more sonic?" Jack continued behind her.
"What, you've never been bored?" the Doctor shot back.
Freya moved away from the two of them, stumbling into a wall. Her hands skimmed the surface, finally resting on a light switch.
"Yes," Freya cheered to herself as she flipped the switch on.
"Never had a lot of cabinets to put up?" the Doctor was asking Jack when the lights flooded the room.
They were in a room full of patients. All of whom sat up and started chanting as they shuffled towards the three of them. The Doctor grabbed Freya's hand and pulled her along behind Jack.
They made it to a door, but when Jack tried blasting it, it didn't work.
"Damn it! It's the special features! They really drain the battery," Jack shouted angrily.
"The battery?" Freya asked in disbelief. The Doctor shoved Jack out of the way, instantly using his sonic screwdriver to open the door. The three of them rushed inside as the Doctor sonicked the door shut once more.
"I think the screwdriver just won," Freya told Jack, stepping away from him.
"I was going to send for another one, one that didn't have that problem, but somebody's got to blow up the factory!" Jack shot at the Doctor.
"The door should hold it a bit. Now, let's think. Assets. What are our assets?" the Doctor asked, spinning to face Freya and Jack.
"Well, I've got a banana, and in a pinch you could put up some shelves," Jack said sarcastically. His eyes landed on Freya and his smirk appeared.
"Nice shirt," Jack said with a wink. Freya moved away from him, trying to hold the shirt as much together as she could. Jack's words drew the Doctor's attention and he sighed.
"You and clothes. Hold on a minute," the Doctor said, shrugging off his jacket. He started to hand her the jacket before he actually looked at her shirt. He sighed deeply and pulled his own shirt off, tossing it at Freya.
"Put that on. I told you you should've just wore my shirt to begin with," the Doctor told her as he pulled the leather jacket back on.
"Window!" the Doctor shouted suddenly, moving for the barred window. Freya turned from the others and slid the ripped shirt off before tugging the Doctor's shirt on. The shirt was long enough that it covered the shorts completely.
Which was one of the reasons she hadn't put the Doctor's shirt on first.
"It's barred. Sheer drop outside. Seven stories, and no other exits," Jack explained to the Doctor. He then shook his head.
"Well, the assets conversation went in a flash, didn't it?" he asked scathingly. The Doctor turned to Freya, his eyes examining her outfit before jerking his thumb towards Jack.
"Where'd you pick this one up then?" he asked her, his tone slightly irritated.
"She was hanging from a barrage balloon, I had an invisible spaceship. I never stood a chance," Jack said sarcastically, eyes glued to the Doctor. Freya recognized the looks on their faces.
It was similar to the look the Doctor had had when Davey had been trying to give her the necklace back on Woman Wept.
"Okay. One, we've got to get out of here. Two, we can't get out of here. Have I missed anything?" the Doctor asked, spinning to face Freya.
"Yeah. Jack just disappeared," Freya murmured, staring at the spot he'd been in.
The Doctor spun around, eyes wide. But Jack was gone.
"Good riddance," the Doctor finally said, faking a smile. Freya faked one as well as the Doctor turned back to the window. He'd climbed up on a chair and was using his sonic screwdriver to…well, Freya had no clue what exactly he was doing. The radio behind them started crackling. Freya turned to stare at it. It wasn't connected to anything.
"Freya? Doctor? Can you hear me? I'm back on my ship! Used the emergency teleport. Sorry I couldn't take you. It's security-keyed to my molecular structure. I'm working on it though. Hang in there," Jack's voice told them through the radio. The Doctor jumped back down from the chair and moved towards the radio. He fingered the disconnected wires as well.
"How are you speaking to us?" the Doctor asked him, his eyes narrowing.
"Om-Com. I can call anything with a speaker grill," Jack boasted. The Doctor shot Freya an uneasy look.
"Now there's a coincidence. The child can Om-Com too," the Doctor told Freya.
"He can?" Freya asked in horror.
"Anything with a speaker grill. Even the TARDIS phone," the Doctor replied grimly.
"If it can speak to us through anything, does that mean it can hear us too?" Freya asked in terror.
"I can hear you. Coming to find you. Coming to find you, mummy," the child said in a sing-song voice.
"Doctor, can you hear that?" Jack asked uneasily.
"Loud and clear," the Doctor responded.
"I'll try to block out the signal. Least I can do," Jack told them. A few seconds later, a smooth jazz song spilled from the speakers, filling the room.
The Doctor returned to the window, screwdriver in hand. Freya all but collapsed into a wheelchair, watching the Doctor as her eyes drooped.
"What're you thinking about?" the Doctor asked her quietly. Freya cracked her eyes back open, leaning back more in the wheelchair. What had she been thinking about? The music…dancing? What it would be like to dance?
"Nothing interesting," Freya said slowly, sighing as her eyes drifted shut again. The sound of the sonic screwdriver stopped and Freya heard the Doctor jump down from the chair he'd been standing in.
"You're currently drunk. I bet you're thinking of interesting things. I tend to get the best information out of people when they're drunk," the Doctor told her, an almost childish gleam in his eyes.
"Dancing," Freya blurted out. She opened her eyes a moment later. The Doctor looked taken aback, as if he hadn't been expecting her to answer him.
"I was thinking of dancing. And what it felt like," Freya said with a sigh, closing her eyes once more.
"Have you ever danced before?" the Doctor asked her quietly.
"No. Never danced. I bet I'd be rubbish at it," Freya mused. Her eyes shot open and she threw herself out of the chair, colliding with the Doctor. He steadied her, his own eyes wide at her sudden movement.
"Show me how to dance," Freya commanded him, hoping he wouldn't get mad with her order.
"You want me to show you how to dance?" the Doctor choked, confused. Freya nodded eagerly. She grabbed one of his hands and wrapped it around her waist before moving to do the same with the other. Her own hands found their way around his neck and she waited expectantly for him to move.
"Why do you want to know how to dance?" the Doctor asked her.
"Because I don't know how. You said you were nine hundred years old. Surely you've danced before," Freya begged. The Doctor sighed and slowly started to move. Freya moved with him, surprised at how quickly he gave in.
"This is dancing?" she asked in a whisper, almost mesmerized by the simple movements.
"Yeah. I'd suppose it is," the Doctor told her.
"Why'd you stop what you were doing?" Freya asked him, glancing back at the window. It looked the same as it had before.
"We're seven stories up. I could possibly survive that. You couldn't. We'll have to either shove our way past the gas mask people or wait for Jack," the Doctor said in disgust. Freya couldn't resist the urge to giggle at his distaste for Jack. She didn't trust Jack either, and she was incredibly uncomfortable around him, but she wasn't acting as the Doctor was.
She stumbled into him as he turned her, earning a cheeky grin from him.
"Is there some sort of secret alien way to get alcohol out of my system? I don't like it," Freya complained, a smile on her lips as she did. The Doctor smiled as well.
"It would help you with the running, wouldn't it?" the Doctor teased her. Freya nodded.
"I don't like stumbling," Freya told him.
"But you stumble even without the alcohol," the Doctor told her with a grin.
"Plus, you're more open when you're drunk," the Doctor added with a smile.
"Then get me drunk when our lives aren't in danger," Freya bit back, surprised at her own words. The Doctor's grin intensified.
"Oh, I plan on it," he told her with a beaming smile.
"But now?" Freya urged, wishing just to feel like herself and be able to run.
"I can't get rid of the aftereffects. It'll just push you into a hangover early. Can you deal with a hangover?" the Doctor asked her curiously. Freya nodded quickly.
"I could run with a hangover, right?" Freya asked him. He nodded.
"Good. Then take the alcohol away," Freya ordered.
And the next thing she knew, his lips were firmly on hers.
Well.
She wasn't expecting that.
Freya closed her eyes and melted into him, his feet still moving, still pulling her along in the dance she'd begged for.
She somewhat jumped when she felt his tongue pressing against her lips. Her lips parted in surprise, unsure as to what he was doing.
That must've been the right thing to do, because as soon as her lips parted, his did too, and she felt the dizzying effects of the alcohol leaving her. It was replaced by a pounding headache. Was that the hangover he mentioned?
Once the dizziness had vanished, she half-expected the Doctor to pull away. She hadn't been expecting him to pull her closer, his tongue exploring her mouth with a sense of desperation. Freya relaxed into his grip, tentatively pushing her own tongue at his, unsure of what was happening.
Someone cleared their throat behind them, causing the Doctor to throw himself backwards, eyes wide and glued to Freya. She stared at him as well, hand immediately going to her pounding head.
"I don't think I like hangovers," Freya admitted quietly.
"Most people notice when they've been teleported. You guys are so sweet. Sorry about the delay. I had to take the nav-com offline to override the teleport security," Jack explained. Freya turned, surprised to notice they were back on his ship. He was sitting in his captain chair, eyeing them rather gleefully.
"You can spend ten minutes overriding your own protocols? Maybe you should remember whose ship it is," the Doctor told Jack bitingly, a glare on his lips.
"Oh, I do. She was gorgeous. Like I told her, be back in five minutes," Jack said with a wink to Freya. Freya simply ignored him, while the Doctor stepped to block Jack's view of her.
"This is a Chula ship," the Doctor said, glancing around. Freya moved to the side so she could see both the Doctor and Jack. The Doctor looked quite distracted from his usual cool. Wait – did he take in the alcohol from her then? Was this him…drunk?
No. Jack didn't seem drunk. That much alcohol couldn't affect the Doctor in the same way it had affected her. If it would have, he wouldn't have done it. They needed his mind sharp, moreso than they needed Freya's mind.
"Yeah, just like that medical transporter. Only this one is dangerous," Jack explained. The Doctor snapped his fingers and a golden glow enveloped his hands. The same glow that had fixed her hands. The Doctor glanced at her, then at her hands, then back to his own.
"You said barrage balloon. And these things fixed your hands too?" the Doctor asked. Freya nodded, wincing as she did.
"Nanobots? Nanogenes?" the Doctor asked her.
"Nanogenes," Freya responded in assurance.
"Sub-atomic robots. There's millions of them in here, see? Burned my hand on the console when we landed. All better now. They activate when the bulk head's sealed. Check you out for damage, fix any physical flaws. Take us to the crash site. I need to see your space junk," the Doctor ordered. Freya made sure she stayed away from the golden glowing things.
"Doctor, if they fix any physical flaw, will they try to fix my hearts?" Freya asked in alarm. The Doctor's eyes widened as well. He gripped her hand with his, pulling her close to him.
"If you stay close to me, they should think you and me are the same. So they won't get rid of the one heart. If anything, they'd try to make you more like me," he tried explaining.
"As soon as I can get the nav-com back online. Make yourselves comfortable," Jack said, ignoring their conversation. He glanced back up at them and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
"Carry on with whatever it was you were doing," Jack suggested with a wink. Freya's cheeks flushed and the Doctor's ears went pink.
"We were dancing," the Doctor told him quickly. Jack's eyebrows didn't lower.
"Dancing with your tongue down her throat. Feel free to dance with me later," he suggested, winking at the Doctor and then at Freya.
The Doctor quickly pulled Freya back away from him. Freya allowed him to. The two of them sat down on the bed Freya had woken up on when she was first on the ship.
"If you took the alcohol out of my system, does that mean you're drunk?" Freya asked him quietly. The Doctor grinned at her and glanced back at Jack, putting a finger to his lips.
"Shh. He doesn't need to know that," the Doctor told her gleefully.
"So you are drunk. Are you okay?" Freya asked him.
"Of course I'm okay. And I'm not entirely drunk. Superior DNA, I have. It's more like a buzz. Don't get all quiet on me again!" the Doctor all but whined. Freya couldn't hold back her giggle at his childish behavior.
"If this is you buzzed, I'd hate to see you completely drunk," she teased. The Doctor's grin slid off his face and his eyes focused on her, focused intently on her. Freya's eyes widened at the shift in his demeanor.
"I'm going to kiss you again," the Doctor warned her, staring at her. Only he wasn't staring at her eyes. He was staring at her lips.
"Why?" Freya asked, eyes wide. The Doctor's eyes went back to her eyes before drifting back to her lips.
"Because I'm fairly certain I have some sort of feelings for you," the Doctor said almost uncomfortably.
"So you want to kiss me?" Freya asked for clarification. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear nervously, only for the Doctor to grab her hand and still it.
"Isn't it normal for a bloke to kiss his fiancé?" the Doctor asked her, a smile forming on his lips.
And then their lips met.
A little while later, the Doctor had finally released her and was examining the ship, thinking. Freya moved cautiously towards Jack.
"You used to be a Time Agent, didn't you? And now you want to con them?" Freya asked him settling a few feet from Jack. She could feel the Doctor's eyes on her back almost instantly.
"Your fiancé's trying to burn a hole in the back of my head. Possessive, isn't he?" Jack asked teasingly. Freya waited for an answer from him, not wanting to rise to his bait.
"If it makes me sound any better, it's not for money," Jack finally answered her.
"Then why?" Freya asked, instinctively moving a bit closer.
"Woke up one day when I was still working for them, found they'd stolen two years of my memories. I'd like them back," Jack explained.
"They stole your memories?" Frey asked in shock. Jack nodded grimly.
"Two years of my lie. I'd like them back. No idea what I did. Your fiancé doesn't trust me. You don't either, for that matter. And for all I know you're right not to. We're good to go. Crash site?" he asked the Doctor. The Doctor bound over to them, nodding.
Freya reached over and tentatively put her hand on Jack's shoulder. His eyes shot over to her. She hadn't willingly touched him before.
"I think you're wrong. You're not dangerous. You're just…wrong," Freya admitted sheepishly. Jack's expression turned to a smile and he shook his head.
"You know how to make a guy feel better," he told her with a smile. And with that, they were beamed out.
Freya's head spun at the sudden displacement. She stumbled away from the two of them and, to her utter embarrassment, retched violently. Two sets of hands steadied her, one holding her hair back and the other keeping her upright.
"Sorry. It can shake you up a bit," Jack apologized.
"She's hungover. Of course it'll shake her up," the Doctor shot back.
"I'm okay," Freya said weakly as she moved back, away from the mess she'd made. The two of them carefully released her and they headed for a fenced in area.
"There it is. Hey, they've got Algy on duty. It must be important," Jack said, obviously intrigued.
"We've got to get past him," the Doctor stated.
"I've got this," Jack said with a grin, breezing past them. Freya's eyes widened.
"But he was just flirting with me?" Freya asked the Doctor weakly. The Doctor's grin widened as his arm wrapped itself around Freya.
"He's a fifty-first century guy. He's a bit more flexible when it comes to dancing," the Doctor said with a teasing grin. Freya started to ask about dancing before she flushed.
Oh.
"How flexible?" Freya asked cautiously.
"Well, by his time, you lot have spread out across half the galaxy," the Doctor said, raising an eyebrow at her.
"What does that mean?" Freya breathed, still confused.
"So many species, so little time," the Doctor said with an almost wistful sigh. Freya flinched, her head whipping around to stare at Jack with wide eyes.
"So that's what the human race does? Find new life, and…" Freya drifted off.
"Dance," the Doctor finished, a suggestive grin on his face. A grin that slid off the moment his eyes went back to Jack. Freya glanced back at Jack only to see the man he'd been talking to had fallen to the ground and a gas mask was coming out of his mouth.
"Stay back!" the Doctor yelled to Jack as the two of them started running towards him.
"You men, stay away!" Jack yelled at the other soldiers as they approached.
"The effect's become air-borne, accelerating," the Doctor said just as the air raid sirens started going once more.
"Then what's keeping us safe?" Freya asked nervously.
"Nothing," the Doctor told her.
"We've got a problem. A bomb is gonna land here. Any time," Jack told them, his eyes wide.
"Never mind that. If the contaminant's airborne now, there's hours left," the Doctor told them, his expression cold.
"For what?" Jack asked in confusion.
"Til nothing, forever. For the entire human race. And can anyone else hear singing?" the Doctor asked, spinning around. Freya listened, and she could make out the strains of a song being sung nearby. The Doctor took off running, Freya hot on his heels. And it sounded like Jack wasn't far behind.
They entered a shack to find a woman with brown hair singing to one of the gas mask people. She hesitated but started back up again as the Doctor moved to her, sonicking her free from the handcuffs that locked her to the table. The four of them dashed out of the shack and towards the space junk.
Jack ran ahead of them, pulling the tarp off of the spacecraft.
"See? Just an ambulance," Jack reassured them.
"That's an ambulance?" the girl asked. Freya smiled at her.
"It's…foreign. I'm Freya," Freya said, offering her hand to the girl.
"Nancy," the girl said, taking her hand and shaking it.
"They've been trying to get in!" Jack exclaimed as he pulled back.
"Of course they have! They think they've got their hands on Hitler's latest secret weapon. What're you doing?" the Doctor asked as Jack pounded away on a little keyboard-like thing.
"The sooner you see this thing is empty, the sooner you'll know I had nothing to do with it!" Jack told them, only for it to spark at him. An alarm went off and the keyboard started flashing red.
"Didn't do that last time," Jack said lightly, but Freya could see he was scared.
"It hadn't crashed last time. There'll be emergency protocols," the Doctor told Jack.
"Doctor…" Freya drifted off, her eyes staring at the gates. The gas mask people were shambling towards the gates. But they were already entering. It was too late to try keeping them out. Freya and Nancy backed closer to the Doctor and Jack, eyeing the masses. They seemed to stop once entering the gates, waiting.
Jack let out an exclamation from behind them as the ship opened.
"It's empty. Look at it," Jack told them.
"What do you expect in a Chula medical transporter? Bandages? Cough drops? Freya?" the Doctor asked her expectantly. Freya tried thinking. What else? What else? Why should she know?
"Nanogenes?" Freya asked. That was the only thing she knew about the other ship. The Doctor's expression told her she was right. Jack's face was rapidly paling.
"It wasn't empty, Captain. There were enough nanogenes in there to rebuild an entire species," the Doctor told Jack angrily.
"Oh God," Jack whispered, his face deathly pale.
"Getting it now, are we? When the ship crashes, the nanogenes escape. Billions upon billions of them, ready to fix all the cuts and bruises in the whole world. But what they find first is a dead child, probably killed earlier in the night, and wearing a gas mask," the Doctor spat angrily.
"They brought him back to life?" Freya asked, horrified.
"What's life? Life's easy. A quirk of matter. Nature's way of keeping meat fresh. Nothing to a nanogene. One problem though. These nanogenes, they're not like the ones from your ship. This lot have never seen a human being before. Don't know what a human being's supposed to look like. All they've got to go on is one little body, and there's not a lot left. But they carry right on. They do what they're programmed to do. They patch it up. Can't tell what's gasmask and what's skull, but they do their best. Then off they fly, off they go, work to be done. Because, you see, now they think they know what people should look like, and it's time to fix all the rest. And they won't ever stop. They won't ever, ever stop. The entire human race is going to be torn down and rebuilt in the form of one terrified child looking for its mother, and nothing in the world can stop it!" the Doctor shouted at Jack.
"I didn't know!" Jack shouted back, terrified as well.
"It's bringing the gas mask people here. The machine is, isn't it? That's what the red light is," Freya realized. The Doctor nodded.
"The ship thinks it's under attack. It's calling up the troops. Standard protocol," the Doctor explained.
"They aren't troops though…are they?" Freya asked once more.
"They are now. This is a battle-field ambulance. The nanogenes don't just fix you up, they get you ready for the front line. Equip you, program you. That's why the child was so strong. Why it can do the om-com. It's a fully equipped Chula warrior. All that weapons tech in the ahnds of a hysterical four year old looking for his mummy. And now there's an army of them," the Doctor explained.
"Why are they waiting?" Jack asked.
"Good little soldiers, waiting for their commander," the Doctor responded, eyes still on the gas mask people.
"The child?" Jack asked in disbelief.
"Jamie," Nancy supplied quietly.
"What?" Jack asked. Freya turned to the girl, eyeing her.
"Not the child. Jamie," Nancy said stubbornly. Jack and the Doctor started talking, but Freya ignored them.
"Nancy…who is Jamie?" Freya asked the girl. Nancy turned away. Freya moved in front of her, grabbing her hands.
"Who is Jamie?" Freya repeated. Nancy's brown eyes dropped. And Freya's widened.
The girl was only a bit taller than Freya. Same body structure, same hair color, same eye color. Almost the same skin color. The two looked like they could be sisters.
And the child….Jamie…kept thinking she was his mummy.
"He's your son," Freya whispered. Tears welled up in Nancy's eyes. Freya didn't wait for words, merely pulled the girl into a tight hug as Nancy sobbed into her shoulder. Freya glanced back at the gate to see that the child was standing there now. Her eyes darted back to the Doctor and Jack, only to see that Jack had disappeared.
"Are you my mummy?" the child, Jamie, asked as he approached them. Nancy jerked away from Freya, stumbling backwards.
Freya stepped forward. The Doctor's hand rested on her shoulder, jerking her back.
"No. No. No. Not again," the Doctor told her sternly. Freya turned to face him, making her face as resolute as she could.
"Jamie just wants his mother. You said we're all gonna die anyway. Can I not give the child a hug, allow him to think I'm his mother for a few minutes?" Freya asked the Doctor. The Doctor's gaze hardened along with his grip on her shoulder.
"He thinks everyone is his mummy," the Doctor retorted. But Freya shook her head, gazing at Nancy. Nancy, who knew.
"No. I look like his mother. He thinks I am his mother because I look like her," Freya told him. The Doctor's eyes bounced between her and Nancy and his eyes widened.
"You're his mother. You said he was your brother. But he's not. Tell him, Nancy. Tell him the truth," the Doctor urged her. Nancy, tears still rolling down her face, moved to Jamie.
"I'm your mummy. It's me," Nancy said as she dropped to her knees and wrapped the child in a tight hug. Freya felt the Doctor hug her from the side, eyes glued to Nancy.
"Come on, you clever little nanogenes. Figure it out! The mother, she's the mother! It's got to be enough information. Figure it out!" the Doctor murmured anxiously.
As he spoke, the gold glow started surrounding the two of them. Freya started to jerk forwards but the Doctor stopped her. Both of them were okay as Nancy pulled back. The Doctor moved closer, dragging Freya along with him.
"Come on. Give me a day like this. Please. Give me this one," the Doctor begged as he pulled on the gas mask. It fell off of Jamie's face, revealing that he did indeed have a face still. The Doctor's eyes widened and his face beamed as he scooped the child up.
"Haha! Welcome back! Twenty years til pop music – you're gonna love it!" the Doctor cheered.
"What happened?" Nancy asked. The Doctor smiled at her and handed Jamie to her.
"The nanogenes recognized the superior information, the parent DNA. They didn't change you because you changed them! Haha! Mother knows best!" the Doctor cheered.
"What about the bomb Jack mentioned?" Freya asked, a feeling of dread pooling inside o her.
"Taken care of," the Doctor waved her off as he started pounding away on the spaceship's keyboard. Freya glanced up to see a bomb falling towards them, only for Jack's beam to catch it much like he'd caught her.
"Doctor!" Jack shouted. The Doctor glanced up, a smile on his face.
"Good lad! Change of plan. Don't need the bomb. Can you get rid of it, safely as you can?" the Doctor asked him. Jack gave him a sad smile and nodded.
"It's already commenced detonation. Freya? Goodbye," Jack said with a smile before disappearing. Freya turned back to the Doctor who was pulling the gold particles around his fingertips.
"What are you doing?" Freya asked him curiously.
"Software patch. Going to email the upgrade. Everyone's gonna live!" the Doctor told her happily as he threw the particles at the gas mask people. She could practically see them changing before her eyes. The Doctor picked her up and spun her around happily. With her hand still in his, he dragged her with him to talk to another man.
Freya didn't listen though. Because the gold particles were creeping near her. She pressed herself closer to the Doctor, hoping they would go away.
But they weren't.
"Doctor!" Freya whispered anxiously as the particles started swirling around her. They swirled around the Doctor as well, but he didn't seem to notice them.
"Doctor!" Freya said loudly. The Doctor spun around, eyes widening at the sight of the particles.
"Go on, shoo!" he tried saying, but nothing happened.
Nothing until one of the charms on the bracelet seemingly dissolved and mixed into the other gold particles. They seemed to absorb into her skin before fading. The Doctor's hands gripped her tightly.
"What did they do? What did they change?" the Doctor asked her anxiously, his hand drifting to check her heartbeat. Both hearts were beating. The small heart had increased even more, but it was still much below that of a normal heart. But she still had both hearts.
"If it didn't get rid of your heart, what did it do?" the Doctor asked her, lifting her hand to examine the bracelet.
"I think the TARDIS is protecting me. I don't know why though," Freya mused, staring at the bracelet.
"What did she tell you when she gave it to you?" the Doctor asked her.
"She said it'd keep me warm when I wasn't on board. Until it was needed to do something else," Freya murmured. The Doctor started examining the other charms. There were quite a few. There was a TARDIS box, what looked like a baby shoe, and so many other symbols she had no idea about.
"It changed something in your body. That much is obvious. We need to figure out what it is," the Doctor told her, tugging her away from the crowds.
"But I feel fine. I don't even feel…hungover…anymore," Freya pointed out, testing the word.
"No tiredness? You've been feeling tired a lot," the Doctor commented.
"No. I feel just fine," Freya told him, almost shocked at how true that statement was.
When they got to the TARDIS, the Doctor ushered her towards the med-bay.
"Wait! What about Jack?" Freya asked suddenly, stopping in her tracks.
"What about him?" the Doctor asked.
"Why did he say goodbye?" Freya asked. The Doctor stopped and dashed back to the console, flipping a few switches. He then ran over to the door and threw it open before turning some music on.
"Why don't you come over and dance with me again then? Jack'll be in here in a minute," the Doctor told her. Freya smiled and made her way to the Doctor, allowing him to pull her into a dance.
"Welcome to the TARDIS," the Doctor called out after a moment.
"Much bigger on the inside. And I see your definition of dancing has changed," Jack's voice called out teasingly.
"Jealous?" the Doctor asked cheekily.
"More like disappointed. I was looking forward to joining in on the dancing," Jack said. Freya laughed at the Doctor's bright red ears.
"What type of dancing were you wanting to join in on?" Freya asked as the Doctor spun her around. She was able to catch sight of Jack's eyebrows wriggling up and down at her in the brief turn before she was pulled to the Doctor.
"Close the door. There's a bit of a draft," the Doctor called out to Jack.
Freya rested her head on the Doctor's chest, nearly sighing as he continued to spin her around to the smooth music.
What a perfect adventure.
A.N. - So, there it is. I hope you liked it. Please leave a review. I got a plethora of wonderful reviews this time and would love to have that happen again. I will warn you, the next chapter is a shorter chapter. And I'm sorry for that. A shorter, but highly necessary chapter. And slighlty cliche, and all that jazz. So I'm going to apologize for it now.
What do you think? What do you think'll happen next? Let me know your thoughts! I personally adore this chapter! ;)
Oh! And I had another question for you. While I am nearing the end (of writing only!) of series one, I wanted to know what you guys wanted. Do you guys want me to continue series 2 in this same story, or make it as a sequel? It's all up to you guys! Just let me know what you would prefer, so I have a general idea as to whether I'm going to have to come up with a separate title (because that is SOOOO strenuous ;) haha).
Just let me know!
Andi