Disclaimer: i do not own Doctor Who, Torchwood or World War 1 for that matter, i did some minor research on the section having to do with the battle of Verdun, not very well on my part but it was meant to only be a quick blip.

A special thanks to Lady Nightlord, for editing and criticing my work over emails...lots of them...

Read and Enjoy please.

Chapter Two Battle Fields part 2

None of Catharine's troupes returned the next day, nor the next after that. Catharine had found some of the newer medical supplies and tools so that she could attempt to speed up her recovery. The Doctor found it annoying to be stuck in one place as long as they were but he waited it out until she was applying the stitches wrong. He stopped her and applied the stitching himself. She looked from his hand to him. Her face was covered in mud and pain emanated from her eyes."Sorry Catharine, I didn't mean to cause you to get hurt."

"Don't be sorry, if it weren't for you, I might have been stuck in that hole for a few more days before realizing I hadn't eaten." She grinned then looked him in the eyes. "I should try and get you back to your Tardis."

"Come with me." The Doctor said quickly.

"What?"

"Come with me, through time and space, please, I need someone a friend to travel with."

Catharine's face dropped from its happy appearance to a stunned frightened one. "I don't know if I can…there's so many people here in the borderlands that need help…this is the only outpost for miles around."

"Give the task to Leon…heck Gwen could help him." He took the gloves off and grabbed both of her hands. "Please."

"I can see what I can do." She stood up and walked away. This is what she wanted but the abruptness of how the Doctor asked her scared every fiber of her being. She walked into Leon's quarters and shook him awake. "Leon, I'm leaving town for a while, you're in charge."

"Catharine," He asked sleepily, "Are you going with him?"

"Yes, but if I don't feel safe I will come back…don't let Gwen worry about me." She walked out and back to her quarters. Once inside with the door closed she grabbed a small backpack and started putting her military green cargo pants and tank tops in the bag. She pulled her trench coat off the back of the door and put it on. She walked out with the bag slung over one shoulder and the rifle over the other. The Doctor looked at her amazed.

"Didn't need long to think about it did you?" he said.

"Nope, but I would like for you to do one thing for me."

"Anything,"

"Carry my bag, since you won't carry a gun I'll carry those." She slipped the bag off her shoulders and handed it to the Doctor. "Thanks, it is heavier than this rifle." She forced the rifle to stay up on her shoulder. "We should go at midnight, that's in the next five minutes."

"Why at midnight?" He asked while sitting down with the bag.

"That's when the people out there rotate guards." She looked at her wrist-watch and tapped her leg nervously while waiting for the clock to strike midnight. When it did the watch beeped four times. She grabbed the Doctor's hand and they ran across the field back to where his Tardis was. She pushed him into the barricade of ruble while she stood with her back to him and holding the rifle so that if anyone was to come up behind she could shoot them. They made their way back into the underground tunnels and into the Tardis. Once inside she looked around, the place felt almost welcoming to her. Several winding curving pillars seemed to hold up the dome like structure. In the center was a circular control console and in the very center of the console was a tall cylindrical tube that stretched all the way to the ceiling. The room was warmer than the place she had just come from and she started to take her coat off but then decided against it.

"Well, that was a bit close." He said while putting her bag down on the captain's chair. She nodded her head and dropped the rifle to the ground. "You all right?"

"Yes, just…don't ever make me run across a field with crazy gun slinging idiots again!" Catharine turned around and slapped him across the cheek. "You're worse than Jack and every other Torchwood member when it comes to that kind of stunt."

"Ow, why is it the women, always the women? Usually mother's however." The Doctor said while rubbing his cheek.

"Sorry, it's just…I'm not used to risking my neck for someone I hardly know." She picked up the rifle and bag. "Could you show me to where I will be sleeping?" The Doctor nodded his head and with a small smile walked with her through the corridors of the Tardis. She began counting as they walked.

"You do realize you can call for me and ask for help." The Doctor gave her a pat on her shoulder.

"All right I'll stop counting the repeating patterns to my room then." She let out a sigh while slipping the rifle off one shoulder and onto the other. "Look Doctor, I…I lost a man a couple of years ago…I don't need someone thinking I need to be looked after but…you seem to need to be looked after." She smiled softly while they walked into a rather large bedroom. "Wow…so how does the Tardis get so…big?"

"It's naturally this big, Time Lord Technology."

She looked at him confused. "Time Lord?"

"That's what I am…didn't Jack tell you that?"

She shook her head. "No, he told me that you were an alien and to trust you above all else." Her eyes flickered towards his hand. He was fiddling with something in his pocket while she stood there confused. "Could you tell me more, concerning your people I mean?"

His eyes grew dark. She backed away from him and looked down at her feet. "Not really a good idea…maybe some other time."

Catharine walked over to the bed and sat down. "What about your planet, could you tell me what I looked like?"

"Why are you so interested?" he countered.

She didn't look up from her lap. He could tell she was embarrassed about something. He walked over and sat next to her. "I wanted to be an astronaut when I was a kid. Then being raised within the Torchwood Network I changed career paths. I haven't ever seen another planet, except when we were taken hostage by the Daleks." She was whispering while playing with her coat sleeve. "Sorry if I…stirred up bad feelings."

"Burnt orange," he whispered. Her attention was drawn to him and before she could ask what he was talking about he continued. "The sky was burnt-orange. The mountains were covered in snow and the forests were silver leaved. The plains were covered in red grass. The citadel of the Time Lords was domed city that the spires seemed to be made of gold." A few tears rolled down his face. "When I was a little boy, we used to live in a house that was perched halfway up the top of a mountain. I had run down that mountain and I found that the rocks weren't grey at all - but they were red, brown and purple and gold. And those pathetic little patches of sludgy snow were shining white in the sunlight. Gallifrey's second sun would rise in the south and the mountains would shine and made the silver-leafed trees look like a forest on fire in the mornings."

Catharine put a hand on his shoulder. She could tell he was in pain. Catharine looked him in the eyes. "You're crying," she whispered as she felt her own tears roll down her face. "What happened to your planet?"

"A war," He managed to say.

"All things are inevitable, it happened because it had to." She whispered. "Time is ever changing; maybe you just need someone who understands what time is like."

The Doctor stood back up and wiped the tears from his face. "You're right,"

"Women's intuition got to love it." She smirked then patted his hand. "Now where are we going?"

"Where would you like to go?" He held his hand out to her. She took hold of his hand and let him walk her back to the control room.

"I would like to say good-bye to my cousin Ianto…he'll understand I think."

"Out of the question!" He blurted at her. She pulled back and looked at him fearfully. "That unto itself could cause a time paradox."

"Not unless it was supposed to happen." She pulled out a letter from her coat. "Ianto wrote it three weeks before his death. Jack gave it to me after he helped Gwen pack up Ianto's belongings." She handed it to the Doctor. He could tell that it was not a woman's' hand writing.

'Dear Catharine,

If you're reading this, I'm dead. You visited me three week ago, told me that I was going to write this letter and then we were going to fight something that even you were frightened to talk to me about. You turned twenty-seven three days before you came to visit me. I was shocked that you were standing before me. You looked so much like your mother, only Jack and the Doctor could explain to me what was going on. And Doctor, if you're reading this as well, take good care of my cousin and the one I considered as the best little sister I could have.

Sincerely Ianto Jones.'

The Doctor looked at her in disbelief then thought for a few moments. "All right, Cardiff 16 years ago." He started flipping switches and the Tardis whirred to life. Catharine grabbed hold of the closest pillar while the Tardis rocked and was thrown back and forth.

When they stopped Catharine held onto her stomach with one arm while covering her mouth with the other. "You all right?" The Doctor asked as he put a hand on her shoulder.

"I get motion sickness that's all…come on we need to get to Ianto and Jack." Catharine ran out of the Tardis and quickly looked around. "This isn't Cardiff…" She walked back inside the Tardis and glared at the Doctor.

"What do you mean this isn't Cardiff?" He looked out to see men in blue military uniforms. They were standing about in a muddy battle worn fields. He closed the doors "You're right, this isn't Cardiff, this is Verdun."

"That place sounds familiar, why does it sound familiar?" She put a finger over her mouth and tapped it impatiently while thinking. "World War One, you mean to tell me I left one war and entered another?" her voice squeaked as she walked up to the Doctor and pointed a finger up at him.

He glanced down his nose at the short woman. "I am terribly sorry, it's not like I intended for the Tardis to bring us here."

Catharine flung her arms in the air and walked away from him. "No, she just decided to make my life a living hell hole!"

"She?" The Doctor raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, she…what is this Tardis actually a he or an it?"

The Doctor chuckled. "You're one of the few people to actually refer to her as another sentient being not a piece of equipment."

Catharine stood still and looked at him slightly alarmed but then smiled. "You sure…I mean it makes perfect sense that she's got to be a semi-sentient thing, I just…it was…I don't know what I'm saying…I'm confusing myself." She sat down on the captain's chair. "So…do we go explore what's going on out there?"

He held his arm out to her. "Yes but I suggest that you get a different outfit…come on, I'll help you find a French military uniform."

She looped her arm through his and followed closely. "Are you sure that's a good idea? I am a girl after all."

"Yes, but at first glance one wouldn't think you were, and I can say that you're hitting puberty." He smiled down at her then started sorting through the clothing in the wardrobe. He pulled out a blue military uniform.

"Do I get to keep my guns?" she asked while slipping her tank top off and letting it fall to the ground.

"No, sorry," He looked away while handing her the uniform. "I'll ask around when we leave if you can have one." When he looked back up she was slipping the uniform on and dusting it off.

"All right, well let's go." She bounded down the stairs and out the door. The Doctor followed closely behind her and held out a psychic paper to the first man to ask what they were doing there.

"You two are the newest recruits we've got." The man said with a soft French accent.

"Yes, could you tell us the date?"

"22 of May 1916," The man replied.

"Who's in command here?" Catharine asked making her voice crack between low and high.

"General Charles Mangin," the man replied again, this time he looked around nervously. "Shall I take you to him?"

"No, it's fine, we'll be looking around for a while…my young friend here is actually on R and R right now."

"All right." The man walked away.

The Doctor walked with Catharine towards a small group of soldiers. "All right, fill me in men." The Doctor ordered flashing the psychic paper.

"SIR!" The men shouted as they stood at attention.

"At ease men, now answer me this: What is the plan for later today?" The Doctor looked at each one then at Catharine.

"We are going to retake Fort Doaumont." One of the younger soldiers said while grabbing a slice of bread. "Here, you can have it kid." The soldier got up and handed it to Catharine.

"Thank you sir," Catharine said in the same voice she had used on the other soldier. "Do any of you have a pistol or rifle I could have; I seem to have lost mine while being transferred here."

The same young soldier stood up, grabbed a rifle from a stack and handed it to her. "It was my brother's, take good care of it."

Catharine felt her heart nearly stop. This young man's brother was dead and he was giving her his rifle. "I am honored." She bowed to the soldier in respect then turned to the Doctor. "Sir, shall we go back to our stations?"

"Yes," He walked with his young companion back towards the Tardis. She looked frightened and above all else sad. "What troubles you my young friend?" The Doctor was whispering so that only she could hear him.

"They're so young…why are they always so young?" She looked down at the rifle in her hands and let a single tear roll down her face. "I want to help at least start this fight."

"Actually we should—"

"No, the Tardis brought us here for a reason; I want to know why she did." Catharine continued to walk past the Tardis. She walked towards the group of older soldiers. "May I join you sirs?" Her voice had slipped back to that of her fake teenage boy. The men nodded and moved a chair over for her. She sat with them and they talked about random subjects. The Doctor stood leaning against the Tardis. He found that her talking to the men made their spirits lighten ever so slightly. Maybe that's why the Tardis had stopped him in the middle of her battle field and this one. So that they could come to an understanding of how their lives were supposed to be.

Unexpectedly a whistle blew and the men grabbed their weapons and headed right for the front lines. The Doctor grabbed hold of Catharine and ran her back inside the Tardis. She started to try and fight back until the Doctor threw her into the Captain's chair and started the Tardis back up. She looked at him with wide eyes. "Why?" was all she managed to whisper.

"I won't lose another human to my dangerous life." He whispered as he walked back to her. "Besides you need to visit your cousin alive."

Catharine grimaced then flew out of the captain's chair and hit her head on the control panel. She wanted to curse the Tardis but found that if she did the Doctor would probably get mad and argue that it was her own fault. 'Insufferable old man, I swear, he's going to be the death of me.' She thought bitterly as the Tardis came to an abrupt stop. This time the Doctor walked out and came back inside with a grin. "Let me guess, I need yet another change of clothes." She retorted.

"With that attitude I should let you walk around in that uniform." He shot back while grabbing her shoulder and pulling her to her feet. "There's a decent set of female clothes in the Wardrobe." He pointed off into the distance and she followed where his finger lead her.

When she walked down out of the wardrobe she was wearing a black knee high dress with a simple dark blue coat. "Happy?" She asked while stumbling in the high heeled shoes.

"Better, now your cousin will think that you're a decent young woman and not a French soldier."

She walked off again and this time, when she came back, she was wearing a black tank top, black dress pants and a pair of black leather combat boots. "I feel safer now that I'm out of those death traps." She was talking about the high heels and the short skirt. "Besides, Ianto and Jack wouldn't believe that it was me if I wore a dress."

A/N: Thank you for reading, please review.