A/N: Small smattering of smut in the first scene. You have been warned :D

Reference to solitary confinement comes from Echoes, the fifth in this series. Isn't that tragic? This universe has been going for so long I'm now back-referencing this series like, ALL THE TIME :o

Chapter 16 - Controlling a Time Lord

She saw her Time Lord, sitting on his favourite chair in the library, glasses on, deeply engrossed in a book as he usually was on a Sunday. She briefly looked at the cover – something spacey and intelligent, she realised. She couldn't even begin to understand the title of it.

Oh well, she decided. She moved forward, neatly straddling him. He looked up, surprised.

'Busy?' she asked.

'Apparently not,' he mused as she removed his glasses, plucked the book out of his hands and dropped it onto the floor. She then leaned forward, kissing him gently with her arms linked around his neck.

It continued for a few minutes, as it always did. She worked around his mouth, making sure to get every last bit of him. She loved him. She loved how he tasted like peppermint, how he smelt like honey. She'd kissed a few men in her time but no one ever quite like the Time Lord. His mouth had a distinct flavour that ever since they'd been bonded she couldn't get enough of. She supposed it was the bond doing that.

After the few minutes she finally drew back, cupping his face in both of her hands. 'I love you,' she told him.

'Likewise,' he assured her, slightly out of breath from the constant kissing.

She ran her hands through his hair, her finger sliding through his perfect brown locks. They smelt like strawberries.

'Have you been usin' my shampoo?' she asked, giggling a little.

'Maybe,' he replied, guilty.

She laughed and pulled back to look at him, regarding him as Adonis. He was to her anyway. Maybe he was a little bit on the skinny side and a bit pale, but she had grown to love his lanky and pasty nature. Every bit of him, she decided, was perfect.

She suddenly felt a compulsion to lean forward and lick his cheek. He looked a little disconcerted but played along as she simultaneously reached down to his trousers. He didn't have much of a sex drive either, so there was always a hint of bewilderment whenever she did it, but she found that quite funny. Besides, he was learning. She knew that he relentlessly read all the books in the library about human sexual stimulation, but he was too embarrassed to tell her. Still, it was sweet that he cared.

So without a further thought, she reached down and unbuttoned his trousers. She coaxed him to move enough for her to pull them and his boxers down, before pulling down her own clothes. There was that bewildered look on his face again, like he was trying to work out the most logical action to take now. So she did the groundwork for him until he was ready, and eventually they connected.

Then they moved in perfect rhythm. He was groaning. She looked up at him, wanting to see his beautiful face… But seconds later she realised that his groaning wasn't out of pleasure. It was pure pain.

'Get off,' he moaned. 'Get off.'

'What? Why?'

'Get off…'

She tried to, but for some reason she couldn't stop. 'I can't…'

Then suddenly he was bleeding, from his nose, his eyes, his ears and his mouth. It seemed to get heavier with every movement they made. Then he was crying.

'No, stop,' he choked out through a mouth of blood and tears. 'Please…'

'I can't!'

She watched, horrified as suddenly his perfect face was falling apart in front of her. His eyes were melting, his hair was falling out, his skin was peeling off and his muscles tuning to soup...

'Please stop!' he cried.

'I can't!'

'STOP!'

'I can't!'

The Doctor woke up with an abrupt jerk, gasping for air.

Oh my god!

'You saw that?' the Doctor asked, gripping onto the side of the bed, white knuckled.

Yeah! What the hell was it?

'Just a dream,' the Doctor said quickly, checking the room for anyone else but he was alone. 'It was a dream…'

He suddenly felt something warm on his face. He reached up to wipe under his nose, and saw blood on his fingers. He had a nosebleed.

Oh my god. You're bleeding. Like the dream. I'm destroying your head, aren't I? That's what that dream was about! You're gonna fall apart like in the dream!

'I don't think that's even physically possible,' the Doctor reasoned. 'It was just a dream.'

But you're bleeding!

'It's just a nosebleed. People get nosebleeds all the time.'

You don't!

'It's fine.'

No, it's not!

He got to his feet, limping to the toilet to check himself in the mirror. Apart from the blood under his nose, he looked fine.

Oh god, we've gotta get me out now. I'm killing you.

The Doctor damped his fingers and began to wipe away the blood. At least the nosebleed had stopped. 'It's probably just an after-effect of regeneration,' he lied.

You're lying.

He sighed. 'Okay, it's not,' he admitted. 'But we're on the way to Sirrus. We'll sort it out.'

Okay. Just be quick, yeah?

He nodded into the mirror. He knew she was right. If the blood was from his brain, then it was an indication his brain couldn't cope with a second consciousness inside it and it was started to break down. He had to get her out as soon as possible.

He was so glad she couldn't read his thoughts.

Brax had taken the comatose Alex straight to the TARDIS infirmary, attaching him to menagerie of machines, which constituted life support. MArtha had helped, even though her baby was now long overdue. He'd tried to comfort his niece, but he wasn't very good at empathy. So he'd just watched as she sobbed relentlessly, hugging her gran tightly, before retrieving her brother's toys and reading to him from his favourite books.

There was a distinct air of resignation from everyone who visited the infirmary. They all seemed to sense he was going to die. Even Leah, the four-year-old with a bright, positive perception of the universe had no hope for him. She blamed herself, but Brax blamed himself even more. His brother's son was dying and there was very little he could do about it. He had been their guardian. Theta had trusted him for the first time since he was a tot, when he'd left his plant in Braxiatel's care and the older brother accidentally forgotten to water it. Now one of Theta's children was about to die. He'd let him down again, but this time it wasn't a plant. It much much more important than that. It was his son.

As Leah and Jack fell asleep in the chair next to Alex's bed, Braxiatel went to the library. He went to the furthest corner to make sure he couldn't be overheard, took a deep breath, and activated the chip in his palm.

'Jack,' he muttered.

'What?' came the reply almost immediately.

His mouth was dry, but he managed to speak, 'May I talk to Theta and Rose, please?'

There was a brief silence. 'What have you done?'

'Please let me talk to them.'

'What's happened to Leah?' Jack grated.

'She's okay,' Brax replied quietly. 'Please, I need to talk to them.'

'Tell me why.'

Brax sighed, closing his eyes briefly. 'It's Alex.'

'... What?'

'He's… he's been poisoned.'

'What!? How!?'

Brax could feel he was about to cry. He never cried. 'He was bitten by a creipian spider. He was… He saved his sister.'

'They were in danger!?'

'I couldn't stop them... '

'Are you serious!? You couldn't STOP them!? They're two and four!'

'I'm s-sorry,' Brax choked out. He couldn't stop the tears now. 'Please, I n-need to tell them. I d-don't think Alex has long… And h-he won't be able to regenerate… He's too young… Too weak. I can't… I can't stop the p-poison. Thete and Rose need to… they need to say good bye.'

The ensuing silence deafened Brax. 'No,' Jack finally replied firmly.

'... Pardon?'

'I'm not telling them, because you're gonna fix this,' Jack snapped in return.

'I can't…'

'Start with an antidote.'

'He's too weak...'

'Shut the hell up, he's the strongest kid I know. Give him a damn chance, don't just write him off. Get him the antidote and take him to hospital.'

'But he's a gallifreyan, they'll…'

'Then find someone you trust! Over and out.'

Jack dropped his palm, thoroughly riled. He took a deep breath, steeling himself and checking for Spleen before stepping through the door into the sleeping quarters where the Doctor had gone to sleep off his respiratory bypass.

He saw the Doctor in the bathroom, staring at the mirror. Immediately his heart sank at the sight of him. No doubt Brax had blocked off the bond so the Doctor couldn't feel anything wrong. Maybe Jack should tell him and Rose. Maybe Brax was right. Maybe there was nothing that could save the boy and the Doctor and Rose needed to say goodbye before he died.

He stepped forward to approach the Time Lord, and saw a smear of red under his nose. The Doctor was trying to clean it off.

'You're bleeding,' Jack realised.

The Doctor looked up at Jack, surprised. 'Just a nosebleed,' he said, tugging at his ear.

Immediately Jack knew he was lying. He didn't get nosebleeds. There was only one rational reason for him to be haemorrhaging from his nose and for him to be lying about it. Keeping Rose in his head for so long was starting to have an effect. Now it would only get worse.

Alex flashed across Jack's brain again. Telling the Doctor would completely jeopardise the plan, he realised. The Doctor would become completely manic if he knew about Alex, and that would put both him and Rose's consciousness in severe danger when the Doctor halted their passage to Sirrus to get back to his son, especially when it was now starting to have a physical effect.

No, he wouldn't tell him, Jack decided.

'Spleen's in the cockpit contacting his friends on Sirrus,' Jack said, trying not to let his voice tremble. 'Everything's fine.'

He felt bad for not saying anything. He hoped to all the deities that Brax would be able to get Alex help. If the boy died, his parents wouldn't know for a very long time, and then resent Jack for not telling them when it mattered; denying them the chance to goodbye to their only son.

The Doctor nodded. 'We need to get there as soon as possible.'

'We're on max power.'

'Good,' the Doctor replied. 'Any problems with Spleen?'

'None,' Jack replied, still gazing at him. He suddenly felt compelled to move forward, resting a hand on his best friend's shoulder. 'Whatever happens, I'm here for you, okay?' he said, utterly seriously.

The Doctor looked at him strangely. 'Are you okay?'

Jack beamed. 'Fine!' He let go and stepped back. 'Just saying.'

The Doctor raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment. 'You'd better go and eavesdrop on Spleen.'

'You won't believe it,' Spleen was saying into the comm. 'It's a human controlling a Time Lord…'

'You're joking,' his brother replied, astonished.

'No, I'm serious. He's doing whatever the human says.'

'That's not possible...'

'He's calling him master and obeying him,' Spleen explained. 'The human said it was because the Time Lord went insane in Volag-Noc and now he's relying on him.'

'Are they playing you?'

'Who cares? You do realise on this ship I have that fulaking kreshka of a Time Lord waltzing around? Subservient or not, I can kill this stupid human and take this Time Lord for our family. Imagine how much we'd be feared if we had a Time Lord...'

'What's the plan, then?'

'We dock, and you be ready with the family to take the Time Lord. Prepare heavily. We cannot underestimate him.'

'Okay.'

The door of the cockpit suddenly slid open. Spleen didn't turn. 'Thank you brother, we will be docking in fourteen hours.' He hung up the comm unit, and finally turned to the human. 'All is prepared.'

The human nodded. 'Good.'

Spleen gazed at him. 'Where's the Time Lord?'

The human gestured behind him. 'In the other room.'

'So,' Spleen began, leaning back in the chair, 'how do you control the Time Lord?'

'What?'

'Everyone knows the Doctor,' Spleen told him. 'He's a notorious radical free-thinker. Does what he wants when he wants and everyone else ends up paying the price. He can't possibly be your slave. No offence, but humans aren't exactly powerful.'

The human mused on that. 'Have you ever been in solitary confinement?'

Spleen shook his head.

'How about an elevator? Ever got stuck in an elevator?'

Spleen raised an eyebrow. 'What's this got to do with…'

'Yes or no?' the human prompted.

'Once.'

'Imagine being stuck in that elevator. You can't get out, and no one wants to get in. Occasionally food drops. But that's it. You can't wash yourself. You have no visual or auditory stimulation but your own body. It's cold, and dark, and you're alone. You know what happens to people who don't get stimulation? They think, and think, and keep thinking, until they can't think normally anymore. Then they start hallucinating, imagining voices. Yeah, you can delay the insanity with singing, talking to yourself, or pain, but you can't do much more than that. And you're not there for a day, or a week... but twelve years. Twelve years of nothing. And you know through all of it, that no one is coming to save you. That's what happened to him.'

Spleen paused. 'Oh,' he murmured.

'Time Lords are strong though, they were trained in the Time War in torture resistance,' the human continued. 'Occasionally he gets some of himself back but you give him a few whacks and you're doing him a favour. It's the need for pain with him. The need to feel something. That's why he loves me.'

'Loves?' Spleen repeated disbelievingly.

'He adores me,' the human explained. 'That's why he doesn't leave me.'

'I see,' Spleen mused. Maybe the human wasn't lying. Maybe the most famous Time Lord in the universe really was completely compromised. Maybe, just maybe, he could replicate the situation with the Time Lord after the human was dead.

He turned back to the controls, and made sure they were on the highest power.