The Doctor was sitting down in Jack's old chair, and Rose put her hand on the back of it, while Kayla watched them, sitting on the floor, her back against the wall, facing an old radio.
"Okay, so he's vanished into thin air. Why is it always the GREAT looking ones who do that?" the Doctor peered up at her, giving her a look.
"I'm making an effort not to be insulted." He whined, and Kayla snorted softly.
"I mean...men." Rose waved her hand dismissively.
"Okay. Thanks. That REALLY helped." The Doctor smiled sarcastically, and Kayla snorted again. Across from her, the old radio she had been staring at sprung to life, and Jack's voice came through it.
"Rose? Doctor? Kayla? Can you hear me?" Jack questioned. Rose and the Doctor hurried over to the radio, the Doctor picking it up while Kayla slowly got to feet.
"Took you long enough." She muttered.
"I'm back on my ship." Jack said, ignoring Kayla. "Used the emergency teleport. Sorry I couldn't take you, Kayla, you know how it is." The Doctor with a lot of confusion, held the wires that had been ripped out of the radio. "It's security-keyed to my molecular structure. I'm working on it-hang in there." Jack told them.
"How're you speaking to us?" the Doctor wondered.
"It's Om-Com. He can call anything with a speaker grille." Kayla explained.
"Now there's a coincidence." The Doctor muttered.
"What is?" Jack asked.
"The Child can Om-Com too." Kayla glanced over at the Doctor.
"Never ignore a coincidence, unless you're busy, then always ignore a coincidence." She said wisely, as if she was quoting someone. "Or at least, that's what a friend of mine told me. We were at the Luna Academy together, said she was quoting a great friend. God, she flirted a lot, and whenever I would ask a question, she would answer with-"
"It can?" Rose interrupted, and Kayla looked at her before blushing.
"Sorry, I ramble." She said embarrassed.
"Anything with a speaker grille. Even the TARDIS phone." The Doctor told him.
"What, you mean the Child can phone us?" Rose questioned worriedly.
"And I can hear you. Coming to find you. Coming to fiiiiind you." The child taunted, and Kayla tensed, her hand unknowingly went to the Doctor's again, and this time, the Doctor actually felt it. Unlike any of the other times, he squeezed her hand gently, his finger weaving through hers.
"Doctor, Kayla, can you hear that?" Jack wondered.
"Perfectly, loud and clear." Kayla reported to him.
"I'll try to block out the signal. Least I can do." He promised them.
"Coming to find you, mummy!" The child called to them through the radio.
"I really dislike the word, 'mummy,' now. Am I the only person?" Kayla wondered, and the Doctor smirked down at her.
"Remember this one, Rose?" Blackheart by Two Steps From Hell started to play, and Kayla groaned.
"Please tell me it isn't your song, please." She begged Rose or Jack, probably both.
"Our song." Rose said sheepishly, embarrassed. Kayla groaned loudly.
"Change the song." She demanded, and Jack laughed loudly.
"To what?" Kayla considered the question for a moment, "Magic of Love or Norwegian Pirate." She requested.
"I'll put those both of them on lope." He told her, and instantly, the song switched to some strings playing that continued the same tone as a pan flute played.
"Thanks." She removed her hand almost guilty from the Doctor's, blushing even more than Rose.
Rose shuffled around her wheelchair, bored. Norwegian Pirate had just started to play for the third time. Kayla stood next to the Doctor, holding her wrist next to the bars while the sonic screwdriver droned on and on. Rose turned the wheelchair to watch the two, noticing how the brunet and the Doctor really made a striking couple, something that didn't please her at all. The Doctor's was hers, not some con girl. So she knew interesting facts, Rose had faced down villains that would make that girl scream if she couldn't handle a child running around in a gasmask.
"What you doing?" Rose asked loudly, trying to distract the pair, who were too close for her liking.
"Trying to set up a resonation pattern in the concrete. Loosen the bars." The Doctor answered.
"While I'm trying to see how close we are to the ground, and not liking the results." Kayla told Rose, even though they both knew she was asking the Doctor.
"You don't think he's coming back, do ya?" Rose questioned the Doctor, yet Kayla answered her again.
"He may be my father, Rose, but he's a criminal, and you can't trust criminals." Kayla explained to her.
"But you're a criminal." Kayla shrugged.
"Never said I wasn't. I live my life in darker hues, darker than most. Darker than the Doctor even…and if he is who I think he is, then that is a feat." Kayla explained.
"Why don't you trust Jack? He's your father, he's coming back." She said.
"Why do you?" the Doctor wondered.
"Saved my life. Bloke-wise, that's up there with flossing." She explained.
"So, I could have saved the Doctor's life only to kill him and turn him into a battery." The Doctor shot her a shocked look. "Yes I know the myths." She teased lightly.
"I trust him 'cos he's like you. Except with dating and dancing." Rose cut in, not liking how friendly, how flirty, they were. Kayla made an odd noise, while the Doctor shot Rose an odd look.
"What?" She asked, defensively.
"You just assume I'm..." the Doctor swallowed roughly.
"What?" Rose repeated, glad that she had drawn the Doctor's attention from Kayla.
"You just assume that I don't...dance." the Doctor said softly, more embarrassed than he had ever been to Rose. He thought of Rose like a sister. He had had a little sister, but she was far gone, yet it made him remember, something that was dangerous, especially for a man like the Doctor.
"What, are you telling me you DO...dance?" Rose asked suddenly, drawing the Doctor from his reminiscing.
"Oh he does, he's a Time Lord, and the High Council made sure that everyone danced. Either arranged or picked, all to get more Ladies." Kayla commented.
"How do you know about that?" Kayla looked at him, deep pain in her eyes.
"The Time Agency had us study any race that had to do with time. One of them was the Time Lords." She shrugged lightly, and then went over to the radio to listen to the song, giving the Doctor and Rose space, something that the blond was very thankful for.
"Doesn't the universe implode or something if you...dance?" Rose flirted to him, and the Doctor shifted uncomfortably. "You've got any moves?" Rose wondered, shuffling forwards some. Kayla bit back a snort as she watched the Doctor glance over at her, terrified. It wasn't her place, though she was starting to feel bad for the leather-clad man.
"Rose, I'm trying to resonate concrete." He tried weakly.
"Jack'll be back, he'll get us out. So come on-the world doesn't end 'cos the Doctor dances." Rose flirted. The Doctor turned to look at Rose, his sonic clasped in one hand as he looked at her. Glancing down at her outstretch hands, he realized they were clean, normal, with no rope burn.
"Barrage balloon?" He questioned, grabbing her wrists and flipping her hands over to check, no rope burns.
"... What?" Rose asked, completely lost.
"You were hanging from a barrage balloon." He reminded her, and Kayla stopped using her VM on the bars from a distance to look for herself. Of course the Doctor was right.
"Oh...yeah. About two minutes after you left me. Thousands of feet above London-middle of a German air-raid-Union Jack ALL over my chest." Rose remembered, the Doctor hardly heard her, his attention on Kayla and how close she was to him. There was something about her, something that made him want her. He felt like he had met her before, but when, and how.
"Wow, I've been in a lot of sticky situations, but that takes the cake." Kayla remarked, noticing that the Doctor wasn't doing anything except thinking.
"Is this you dancing? 'Cos I've got notes." Rose flirted.
"Hanging from a rope a thousand feet above London. Not a cut, not a bruise." The Doctor showed Rose her own hands.
"Yeah, I know. Captain Jack fixed me up..." Her voice trailed off.
"Oh, we're calling him 'Captain Jack' now, are we?" the Doctor commented.
"Rose, he's not a Captain. The Time Agency, they wanted us to be theirs, nobody else's, so they stripped us of our name and had us pick our own. Jack got his from playing cards with me in the bar, Jack of Hearts, quite fitting. I got mine…well I think that's enough story telling for tonight, besides, we're with Jack." She glanced over at Jack who was sitting in his Captain's chair, on his spaceship.
"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.
"You can spend ten minutes overriding your own protocols? Maybe you should remember whose ship it is." The Doctor chastised.
"Oh, I do. She was GORGEOUS." Jack told him.
"But she was so begging for us to take her ship. She kept going on a on about her security, and she called me a, 'low life prostitute,' for flirting with someone. Jack was off shagging and I get called a prostitute for flirting. So I stole her ship and picked Jack up, who was shagging, and I kid you not, the owner of the ship." She looked over at Jack, who shrugged.
"Like I told her-be back in five minutes." He ducked underneath the console, going into the compartment and disappearing from view some.
"This is a Chula ship." The Doctor commented while Rose stood stiffly.
"Yeah, just like that medical transporter. Only, this one IS dangerous." Jack called up to them.
"They're both dangerous Jack, only in different ways." Kayla corrected, and Jack made no comment. The Doctor broke the silence by snapping his fingers, and his hand was instantly surrounded by nanogenes.
"They're what fixed my hands up! Jack called 'em, um..." Rose struggled or the words.
"Nanobots? Nanogenes." The Doctor told her.
"Nanogenes, yeah." Rose agreed.
"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." Rose beamed at the Doctor as he banished the nanogenes with a wave of his hand and turned to Jack, who had reappeared.
"Take us to the crash site. I need to see your space junk." The Doctor demanded.
"As soon as I get the nav-com back online." Jack spoke like he was being nagged by the Time Lord.
"Kayla, will you hold this." Jack requested, handing her a complicated wire system.
"Do you want me to get the nav-com online too?" She wondered, and Jack nodded, making Kayla sigh with annoyance but otherwise she got to work.
"Make yourself comfortable. Carry on with whatever it was you were..." he gestured to the Doctor and Rose, "... doing." He finished, smirking.
"We were talking about dancing!" the Doctor defended him.
"It didn't look like talking." Jack pointed out.
"Didn't feel like dancing." The Doctor looked over at Rose, shocked that she would gang up at him like that.
Kayla was sitting in her seat next to the Captain's Chair which held Jack, who was listening to Rose talk. The Doctor sat next to Kayla, offering her help every once in a while, a help she used.
"So, you used to BE a Time Agent-now you're trying to con them?" Rose wondered.
"If it makes me sound any better, it's not for the money." Jack reasoned.
"For what?" Rose questioned.
"Woke up one day when I was working for them - found they'd stolen two years of my memories. I'd like them back." He explained.
"They stole your memories?" Rose asked, shocked.
"Two years of my life. No idea what I did. Of course, Kayla is worse. She was there top agent, working for them since she was 10, went on her first mission when she was 13. Woke up the same day as me, she couldn't remember her childhood, her past, until she reached 10. She was an orphan, but she still had memories, and they were all gone. She got me out when she heard that I had no memories too, and we ran. The only things we know is that she's my daughter, and that's only because of DNA. No mother is on record, it's horrible." He sighed deeply, feeling the Doctor's gaze on him.
"Your friend over there doesn't trust me. And for all I know...he's right not to, but he's wrong not to trust Kayla, she hate being a con artist." Kayla looked up just as the computer beeped, signaling that the nav-com was online.
"Done." She looked over at the Doctor, who was studying her, shocked. "Thanks for helping me." She told him sheepishly, a light blush on her pale cheeks.
"Okay, we're good to go." Jack announced, and the Doctor tore his gaze from Kayla's to Jack's. "Crash site?" Jack questioned.
The Doctor, Rose, Jack, and Kayla walked over the rail station near the bombsite. They peered over the barbed wire.
"There it is." Jack informed them softly. He spotted a solider outside. "Ay, they've got Algy on duty. Must be important." He noted.
"We've gotta get past." The Doctor reasoned.
"The words 'distract the guard' head in my general direction." Rose commented.
"Or mine." Kayla added.
"I don't think that'd be such a good idea, Rose." Rose and Kayla blinked.
"Don't worry...I can handle it." Rose reassured him.
"I've got to know Algy quite well since I've been in town. Trust me. You're not his type. I'll distract him, or Kayla can." Kayla shook her head.
"You know him better. If anything, I'll scare him." Jack nodded his agreement and walked away.
"Don't wait up." He told the three, and Kayla pretended to gag as the Doctor and Rose looked at each other.
"Relax, he's a 51st century guy. He's just a bit more flexible when it comes to dancing." The Doctor told him.
"HOW flexible?" Rose asked.
"Well, by his time, you lot have spread out across half the galaxy." Kayla nodded.
"Meaning?" Rose questioned.
"So many species, so little time..." Kayla explained, grinning just as much as the Doctor.
"What, that's what we do when we get out there? That's our mission? We seek new life, and...and..." Rose couldn't finish the sentence, shocked.
"Dance." Kayla put in, rolling the word in her mouth like a samba. The Doctor sniggered, and Kayla joined in while Jack jumped down onto the rail track on the bomb site, where Algy is.
"Hey, tiger! How's it hanging?" Jack flirted, and Algy turned towards Jack, he looked inquisitive.
"Mummy?" He asked, and Kayla tensed, her hand on the Doctor's arm.
"Algy, old sport, it's me." Jack told him, thinking the old man was joking.
"Mummy?" Algy repeated.
"It's me, Jack." He tried, his smile fading.
"Jack?" Algy cocked his head to the side, observing Jack in with childish curiosity. "Are you my...mummy?" He coughed, falling to his knees. Before their very eyes, his face transformed into a gasmask. Jack is horror-stricken while Kayla squeezed the Doctor's arm tightly, closing her eyes to the horrible sight she had already seen. The other soldiers, seeing Algy's form on the ground, head forwards to him.
"Stay back!" Kayla yelled to them loudly.
"You men! Stay away!" Jack commanded.
Kayla, the Doctor, and Rose rushed to Jack and Algy-who was lying on the ground lifeless. Rose stared down at the man, shocked.
"The effect's become air-borne. Accelerating." The Doctor warned.
"What's keeping US safe?" Rose questioned, and Kayla got the feeling that she meant the Doctor and herself, not Kayla or Jack.
"Nothing." She voiced darkly. For the second time that night, the air-raid sirens went off.
"Ah, here they come again." Jack said, looking at the inky blackness dotted with stars.
"All we need. Didn't you say a bomb was gonna land...HERE?" Rose motioned around the area, and Jack nodded, nobody paid attention to the sound of someone singing in the background.
"Never mind about that. If the contaminants air-borne now, there's hours left." The Doctor explained.
"For what?" Jack asked.
"Until nothing of the human race remains. Until nothing forever. For every single human on this planet. And can anyone here music?" Kayla started to walk purposefully towards a shed where music, a lullaby, drifted out.
"Rock-a-by baby, on the tree tops, when the wind blows the cradle will rock..." the sweet voice drifted out, like honey. "When the bough breaks the cradle will fall, and down will come baby, cradle and all." The girl's voice grew louder as Kayla walked closer to the shed. She reached out to push it open, but the Doctor's hands were already on the wood, and he pushed it open, the door creaking as it opened. Nancy, who was singing to one of the gasmask people, the latter of which was sound asleep. Upon hearing the door opening, Nancy looked up sharply, and Kayla motioned for her to continue singing.
"Rock-a-by baby..." She drew the Doctor's attention to the handcuffs while Kayla watched the gasmask person, ready to shout the alarm if he awoke, "... on the tree tops, when the wind blows the cradle will rock..." Nancy continued.
The Doctor approached her, taking out his sonic screwdriver as he did so. He flicked it on, and its droning sound began as he unlocked Nancy's handcuffs. Rose and Jack stood next to Kayla by the doorway. The handcuffs snapped open, and Nancy stood up, rubbing her wrists. They all made eye contact for a few seconds, and then they all left the shed, leaving the gasmask person fast asleep.
They, Jack, Rose, Kayla, Nancy, and the Doctor, went back to the bombsite where the Doctor, Jack, and Kayla uncovered the Chula med-ship, which had a tarpaulin over it, hiding it from view. Nancy and Rose watched.
"You see? Just an ambulance." Jack told the Doctor proudly.
"That's an ambulance?" Nancy questioned, shocked. Rose put a reassuring arm around Nancy, giving her a warm smile, offering her more comfort than the blond had ever given to Kayla.
"It's hard to explain, it's...it's from another world." Rose told her.
Kayla started to study the controls, her brow furrowing as she came up with her readings, using her VM for help.
"They've been trying to get in." She mumbled.
"Of COURSE they have." The Doctor said bitterly, not missing Kayla's wince, and feeling bad for it. Jack shot a glare to the Doctor, noticing Kayla's wince.
"You put in the code, I don't want to risk anything." Jack told his daughter, and she nodded, her fingers flying across the numbers.
"They think they've got their hands on Hitler's latest secret weapon. What're you doing?" the Doctor asked, her, noticing her almost blurred fingers.
"Well, the sooner you see this thing is empty, the sooner you'll see we had nothing to do with it." Jack explained, holding onto the frail hope that he was right. The control exploded with sparks, and Kayla toppled off the med-ship, landing with a thud.
"Damn emergency protocols." She cursed softly, getting up.
"Didn't happen last time." Jack pointed out, and Kayla laughed lightly.
"It hadn't crashed last time. They're the emergency protocols." She explained.
"Doctor, what IS that?" A red light on the control panel flashed brightly, drawing Rose's attention to it, but got no answer.
"Doctor!" Rose cried out the warning, noticing the gates on the other side of the bomb site, which were shaking.
"Captain, secure those gates!" the Doctor ordered.
"Why?" Jack yelled back, shocked.
"Oh just do it." Kayla told him. Jack obeyed his daughter, running for the gates as Kayla and the Doctor turned towards Nancy.
"Nancy, how'd you get in here?" Kayla asked.
"I cut the wire." Nancy answered.
"Show Rose." The Doctor commanded, tossing his screwdriver to Rose. "Setting two thousand four hundred and twenty eight D." he told her.
"What?" Rose questioned, confused.
"Reattaches barbed wire. Go!" Kayla explained, almost shoving the other girls to the gate. Behind them, Jack slammed the gate closed.
Kayla jumped off the med-ship rubbing one of her hands as she went to stand next to the Doctor, watching as Jack opened the hatch of the med-ship.
"It's empty. Look at it." Jack told him, smirking. Kayla rolled her eyes, noting Rose's and Nancy's presence.
"Did you think that it might have been full once, but whatever it was got out?" She asked her father softly, and the Doctor grinned behind her.
"What do you expect in a Chula medical transporter? Bandages? Cough drops? Rose?" He questioned the blond, looking over at her.
"I dunno." Rose admitted, her eyes on Kayla's who was far too close to the Doctor, and when she leaned in closer to the Doctor, and whispered something into one of his large ears, Rose almost bit her tongue, her jealousy was so great.
"Yes, you do." The Doctor told her. He mimicked snapping his fingers, and Rose realized it.
"Nanogenes!" She crowed out in victory.
"It wasn't empty, Captain. There was enough nanogenes in there to rebuild a species." The Doctor told Jack, and Kayla winced.
"Oh, God." Jack said, the once proud Captain ashen and shaking.
"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 that night and wearing a gasmask." He glanced over at Kayla, who was much paler than she seemed to usually be.
"Jamie." She whispered softly, and the Doctor nodded in her direction, agreeing.
"And they brought him back to life? They can DO that?" Rose's brown eyes were wide, shocked at the very thought of anything having the power of a god, to be able to bring back life.
"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 on Jack's ship." Kayla stopped, her voice shaking, and Rose thought she detected a tear on her face.
"This lot have never seen a human being before. Don't know what a human being's supposed to look like." The Doctor finished for her, and Rose felt her anger to the young girl grow.
"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. 'Cos 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." Kayla, who's hand was in the Doctor's, made him stop, and when she started again, her voice was shaking some, her eyes glistening with unshed tears.
"The entire Human Race is gonna be torn down and rebuilt in the form of one terrified child looking for its mother, and NOTHING in the world can stop it! But that's not the worse bit. The worse bit is that I'm responsible." She looked down at the ground in defeat.
"No you're not, I am." Jack told her, and then faced the Doctor, the rage of the last Time Lord. "I didn't know. Kayla didn't know. We didn't know, so stop blaming her." He told the Doctor definitely.
"I'm not blaming her, she's blaming herself." The Doctor said, going over to the med-ship, he started to examine it, using his sonic screwdriver. Nancy didn't watch any of this like she had the conversation, instead she was the one to spot the gasmask people first who were walking towards the gate.
"Rose? Kayla?" Nancy called, scared. Kayla and Rose rushed towards the girl, following her gaze where they saw the people walking to the gate. They were still far away, but too close for anybody's liking. Kayla went over to the med-ship, examining the red light on the control pad that she had been working on.
"It's bringing the gasmask people here, isn't it?" Rose said to the Doctor, also examining the light.
"It believes that's it's under attack, so it's calling the troops to protect it, stander protocol." Kayla explained lightly, saving the Doctor time.
"But...the gasmask people aren't troops..." Rose's voice trailed off in uncertainty.
"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." The Doctor told her.
"The Time Agency had millions of them in one room. If someone was defying them, a part of the Agency or not, they would throw them in that room, make them mindless soldiers, make them do whatever they wanted them to do. It was sick." Kayla mused, remembering her past, the screams of the victims.
"That's why the Child's so strong. Why it could do that phoning thing. And that's why the people are so…zombie like." Rose commented, making the connection.
"It's a fully equipped Chula warrior, yes. All that weapons tech in the hands of a hysterical four year old-looking for his mummy. And now there's an army of them." The Doctor spoke softly, his eyes on Kayla, realizing the pain he was causing her. As he had spoken, guilt had crashed down upon her, making her feel worse and worse. She was still unusually pale for her; ashen would be a better word for it. Unlike her father, who wouldn't see the results to his con, Kayla was well aware of them, and she was putting more and more guilt on herself as a result.
The gasmask people were at the fence, surrounding it. The five of them shifted worriedly, scared, though they were determined not to show it.
"Why don't they attack?" Jack asked, watching them warily.
"Their soldiers Jack, good little soldiers, and they're awaiting their orders like they should, and their commander." Kayla said, her voice lifeless, thinking about her own training at the Time Agency. How they had been brutal since the beginning, so brutal…
"The child?" Jack guessed, and Kayla nodded, watching the soldiers, her hand resting on her hip.
"Jamie." Nancy corrected.
"What?" He asked, not paying attention.
"Not 'the child.' Jamie." Nancy repeated, glaring at Jack with a motherly sort of rage. Kyla glanced at the Doctor at the same time that the Doctor did, both unaware of the other doing so, but Rose saw, and Rose didn't like what she saw.
"So, how long until the bomb falls?" Rose asked quickly.
"Any second." Jack replied promptly, scanning the skies worriedly.
"What's the matter, Captain? Bit close to the volcano for you?" the Doctor teased, and Kayla winced some.
"He's just a little boy." Nancy said.
"I know." Kayla agreed.
"He's just a little boy who wants his mummy." Nancy spoke again, still upset.
"I know Nancy, I know. I have no idea who my mum is, all I know it that the Time Agency killed her sometime after I left. Before I found out this information, I tore the universe up in my insane quest to find her, to reach her. Any child would do the same, whether it was the universe or the world, they would use whatever power they could to find their mummy, to keeper her safe. The one thing that separates Jamie from any other, is that he has the power to do all that and more." Kayla looked down at Nancy, her gaze soft on the young girl, her head spinning.
"So what're we gonna DO?" Rose asked loudly.
"I don't know." The Doctor said truthfully, and Rose sighed, like this answer had disappointed her. Tears welled in Nancy's eyes.
"It's my fault." Nancy said bitterly. Kayla knelt down and stared Nancy straight in the eye.
"Never ever say that went you and I know that it isn't." She told Nancy.
"It is. It's all my fault." Nancy disagreed. Kayla slowly got up, piecing together the puzzle before the Doctor did, who said gently to Nancy,
"How can it be your-" His voice broke off as he spun violently, looking at all the gasmask people behind the fence, calling for their mummy-and then back at Nancy, who's sobbing uncontrollably. Kayla looked back at forth between the people, her eyes wide, to Nancy, who had claimed that it was her fault.
"Nancy, how old are you? 21, 20? Much older than you look." She asked rapidly. A bomb lands nearby, making Rose and Jack flinch.
"Doctor-that bomb. We've got seconds." Kayla glanced over at Jack before turning her gaze to the Doctor.
"He's right, and your plan must only take seconds. Whatever you have planned, Time Lord, pray that it happens quickly, and it works." She coughed lightly, rubbing one of her hand, itching it really.
"Are you okay?" Jack wondered, and Kayla nodded quickly.
"You know, I'm just gonna go stand near the gate, right next to it." She itched her hand again, knowing that a scar was forming there. A weak nanogene had gotten her, if the Doctor's plan didn't work, then she would die.
Another bomb landed.
"You can teleport us out." Rose said wildly to Jack, who was watching his coughing daughter retreat to the gate.
"Not you guys. The nav-com's back online. Gonna take too long to override the protocols. Besides, I'm sticking around, my daughter's dying." He looked over to the Doctor, who's attention was fixed on the sobbing Nancy. "Doctor, my daughter is becoming one of them, look." He pointed to his daughter's hunched-over form, and then he saw her face change. The Doctor glanced over and saw all this, he mouthed her name once, and then he turned back to Nancy. He had to use this barley worked out plan, before it was too late.
"So it's volcano day. Do what you've got to do. Kayla's gone, I won't be able to get her back." Jack glanced over at his daughter, who was standing stalk still, her Time Agency knife in her hand. He would never get her back, and he made his decision.
"Jack?" Rose questioned, her voice showing her betrayal. Jack looked at her apologetically for a moment, and then he stared over at his daughter, memorizing her features, and he tapped in the code on his VM, ready to die.
"How old were you five years ago? Fifteen? Sixteen? Old enough to give birth, anyway." The Doctor said hurriedly. Nancy, who was still sobbing, glanced up at the Doctor but then turned her face away out of shame of the truth. "He's not your brother, is he?" the Doctor continued.
Nancy shook her head tearfully.
"A teenage single mother in 1941. So you hid. You lied." He said, not caring if he was upsetting her, he had to save Kayla. Nancy nodded, tears streaming down her face. "You even lied to him." He said quickly.
The gates swung open and the child stood in front of the army, Kayla went to stand next to him, her dagger's blade glistening in the moonlight. The gasmask army was ready for charge, they just needed their orders.
"Are you my mummy?" the child asked, echoed by Kayla. The Doctor felt his hearts twinge painfully, but he pushed the pain away.
"He's gonna keep asking, Nancy. He's never gonna stop. Tell him." He told the tearful girl.
Nancy didn't answer, and the gasmask people all walked forwards, marching in perfect unison.
"Nancy...the future of the human race is in your hands. Trust me...and tell him." The Doctor pleaded, allowing his eyes to leave Nancy to look over at Kayla. Nancy sniffed, still sad. Jamie and Kayla still walked forwards.
"Are you my mummy?" Jamie asked, taking a step forwards with Kayla right next to him.
"Are you my mummy?" He asked. The Doctor gave Nancy a gentle push in his direction. Nancy walked the rest of the way, stopping near the Child.
"Are you my mummy? Are you my mummy?" He chanted.
"Yes." She whispered. "Yes. I AM your mummy." Her voice was stronger as the Child walked forwards.
"Mummy?" he asked.
"I'm here." She reassured.
"Are you my mummy?" He asked again. Nancy knelt before him.
"I'm here." She repeated.
"Are you my mummy?" the child asked.
"Yes." Nancy whispered.
"He doesn't understand. There's not enough of him left." The Doctor whispered to Rose,
Nancy looked at her little, sweet boy. "I am your mummy. I will always be your mummy. I'm so sorry." She pleaded tearfully, meaning every word. Nancy took him into her arms, not caring if she became a masked person, not caring if she would die, only caring for Jamie, for her Jamie. A golden light, the nanogenes, consumed both mother and child.
"I am so, so sorry." Nancy continued.
"What's happening?" Rose asked the Doctor. Nancy was still hugging Jamie, stroking what was left of his hair. Doctor, it's changing her, we should-"
"Shh!" the Doctor commanded, his eyes on the nanogenes.
"Come on, please. Come on, you CLEVER little nanogenes-figure it out! The mother. She's the mother! There's gotta be enough information, figure it out!" the Doctor pleaded.
"What's happening?" Rose wondered.
"The nanogenes are a work of science, and they bow to science too. They're recognizing the DNA, Nancy's and Jamie's shared DNA." the Doctor explained to Rose. The golden light disappeared, and the two ran to Jamie and Nancy, the latter of which had been flung on the ground when the nanogenes had left.
"Oh please, please, just this once." the Doctor pleaded, looking down at Jamie. The Doctor reached down and removed the gasmask that the boy was still wearing. The Doctor and stared down at the sweet, perfect, normal little boy who stood there. Nancy stared in amazement, seeing her son's face. The Doctor laughed ecstatically, the Doctor lifted Jamie up, swinging him through the air.
"Ah-ha-ha! Welcome back! Twenty years 'til pop music-you're gonna love it." He promised the young boy. The Doctor hugged him, laughing.
"What happened?" Nancy asked in wonder.
"The nanogenes recognized the superior information-the parent DNA. They didn't change YOU because YOU changed them! Haha!" He plopped Jamie down in front of Nancy. "Mother knows best!" He chorused.
"Jamie...!" Nancy cried out, almost crying in happiness. Another bomb landed nearby.
"Doctor, that bomb..." Rose reminded him.
"Taken care of it." He reassured Rose.
"How?" Rose asked.
"Psychology!" the Doctor answered, motioning to Nancy and Jamie. Her eyes went to the sky as a bomb plummeted towards them…and was suddenly snatched out the air by a blue forcefield. A moment later, Jack appeared, hovering in the same tunnel of light.
"Doctor, have you saved Kayla?" He called down to them.
"Good lad, and I have." He yelled back proudly.
"The bomb's already commenced detonation. I've put it in stasis but it won't last long." Jack warned.
"Change of plan-don't need the bomb. Can you get rid of it? Safely as you can?" The Doctor yelled up to him.
"Take care of Kayla." Jack yelled back. "Oh, and tell Kayla to not be afraid anymore." He asked. "Right, and Rose?" He finished.
"Yeah?" Rose called back, wounded that she was last.
"Goodbye." He said simply. And he disappeared. "By the way-love the tee-shirt." He called, reappearing. He grinned broadly down at Rose, and Kayla, and the Doctor. Rose grinned back at him, Jack disappeared again, his ship zooming off into the night sky. The Doctor walked a few paces away, staring intently at his hands, summing the nanogenes. They instantly fluttered around him.
"What're you doing?" Rose asked.
"Software patch. Gonna email the upgrade. You want me to dance Rose? I'll show you how I dance." He throws the nanogenes away from him, towards the gasmask people who are still milling around on the train track, lost without their leader. The Doctor gives his widest grin of the evening as the people fell to the ground, the nanogenes, their golden light, surrounding them.
"Everybody lives, Rose. Just this once. Everybody lives!" The Doctor whooped as the gasmask people got to their feet, no longer wearing their masks, restored to humanity. The Doctor bounded over to Kayla, helping her up. She smiled, and then followed him to see Doctor Constantine.
"Doctor Constantine. Who never left his patients. Back on your feet, constant doctor! World doesn't wanna get by without you just yet, and I don't blame it one bit." Kayla gestured to the people still milling about.
"These are all your patients, no longer sick or dying or dead, but perfectly fine. Except for being a bit confused." She whispered the last bit like it was a secret even though it was obvious.
"Yes, yes...so it seems. They also seem to be standing around in a disused railway station. Is there any particular reason for that?" Doctor Constantine asked, also very confused. That didn't put a damper in the Doctor's and Kayla's grins.
"Yeah, well, you know-cutbacks. Listen, whatever was wrong with them in the past, you're probably gonna find that they're cured. Just tell them what a great doctor you are. Don't make a big thing of it. Okay?" the Doctor explained to Constantine, and then they ran back to Rose, Kayla listening to the conversation the elderly doctor was having with an old lady.
"Doctor Constantine." She said.
"Mrs. Harcourt-how much better you are looking!" the elderly doctor said, sounding pleasantly surprised.
"My leg's grown back! When I come to the hospital, I had ONE leg." Mrs. Harcourt remarked, utterly bewildered.
"Well-there is a war on. Is it possible you miscounted?" the doctor tried. Kayla lost interest in the conversation after that. Instead, she focused on getting onto the med-ship and calling down to the people.
"Right, you lot! Lots to do! Beat the Germans, save the world-don't forget the Welfare State!" He reminded them. Doctor Constantine smiled, and started the hard task of leading his patients away. Kayla bent over the controls while the Doctor slid off the med-ship, explaining what Kayla was doing to Rose.
"Setting this to self-destruct, soon as everybody's clear. History says there was an explosion here. Who am I to argue with history?" He patted the med-ship, smiling up at Kayla.
"Usually the first in line." Rose disagreed, watching Kayla's and the Doctor exchange with narrowed eyes.
The Doctor and Rose entered the TARDIS with Kayla standing stiffly in the doorway.
"The nanogenes will clean up the mess and switch themselves off-because I just told them to. Nancy and Jamie will go to Doctor Constantine for help-ditto-all in all, all things considered-fantastic!" He spoke with such enthusiasm, that Rose and Kyla couldn't help but grin at him. Rose from next to him while Kyla from afar, admiring the TARDIS who had greeted her with open arms.
"Look at you, beaming away like you're Father Christmas!" Rose teased the Doctor.
"Who says I'm not, red-bicycle-when-you-were-twelve?" Rose blinked, wide-eyed and startled.
"What?!" the Doctor ran over to Kayla, noticing her in the doorway, and pulling her to the middle of the counsel room.
"And everybody lives, Kayla! Everybody lives!" He told her excitedly. "I need more days like this." He commented, flipping a switch on the counsel.
"Doctor..." Rose said softly.
"Go on, ask me anything. I'm on FIRE!" He told her.
"What about Jack? Rose asked, and Kayla froze and stared at her, tears shimmering in her eyes while the Doctor's smile faded away, and he carried on working, brushing away the familiar pain of losing someone. "Why'd he say goodbye?" Rose continued, and pain filled Kayla's features.
"Thank you, for worrying about my father, but there's no need for that." She said softy.
"Why, where is he?" Rose questioned.
"He's gone Rose, gone forever." Kyla answered bitterly, leaving the counsel room and heading down a hallway.
"Where are you going?" The Doctor called afterwards.
"The library." She yelled back, only to run back as the Doctor started to play Blackheart by Two Steps From Hell.
"Oh, you didn't." She breathed, seeing her old home harness to the TARDIS.
"Well, hurry up then!" Rose called to Jack, who ran in only to gawk at the sheer size of the place. Kayla beamed at Jack, distracted by him. The Doctor used that distraction to pull Kayla into a waltz, several beats off the music but otherwise fine.
"Close the door, will you. Your ship's about to blow up-there's gonna be a draft." He warned him, Rose leaned against a pillar, glaring at Kayla, who ran over and helped Jack close the door, hugging him tightly afterwards. The Doctor flicked a switch, and the engines started up.
"Welcome to the TARDIS." He introduced.
"Much bigger on the inside..." Jack said, awestruck.
"You'd better be." The Doctor growled out.
"I think what the Doctor's TRYING to say is...you may cut in." She flirted holding her hand out as if to dance. The Doctor shrugged as Let's Dance by David Bowie started to come through the speakers. He pulled her into a quick dance that was on time, and Kayla smiled at the Doctor, who grinned back broadly. She could get use to this, as long as her many secrets weren't revealed.
If you say run
I'll run with you
And if you say hide
I'll hide
Because my love for you
Would break my heart in two
If you should walk,
Into my arms,
And tremble like a
Flower
The TARDIS rocked gently in the Time Vortex, knowing things no others would believe. Her Thief had fallen in love with the girl, an odd girl, who had confided her secrets to the TARDIS in a second. The TARDIS had listened, knowing that her secrets would be revealed, and soon. Her Wolf was jealous, and growing more so as her Thief danced with the other thief. The soon to be immortal watched all carefully, like his daughter did. And the TARDIS watched as the daughter's and father's eyes met, and they nodded, both liking the TARDIS and tired of their evil ways, joined the lighter forces. There would be battle, and deaths, and hell to fall upon the four. But her Wolf, her Thief, the other Thief, and the Soon to be Immortal, would be prepared, they had to be, or else…the world would end. This was the Thief's final battle, the one for the Game Station and all of Earth.
Right, if I spelt Kayla, Kyle, sorry. It's still Kayla, my brain wasn't working when I wrote this and I think I got them all but I'm not sure.