"So," The Doctor said as he scanned the village square. "What I'm gathering is, she hasn't arrived yet."
The sun had risen. It had been right on the cusp of dawn when they'd arrived, the town had still been dark. Still, in the morning light, a flame burned right in the centre of town. Björn had called it their eternal flame. It always burned. Well, unless it rained. But they would always relight it after.
She figured they hadn't come up with gas pipes yet to keep it running.
She adjusted the cloak that Bjorn had draped over her shoulders when she had complained about the cold, feeling bad that it brushed along the ground as she was so much shorter than him. Despite her voicing those concerns, Bjorn had said he'd rather have to wash it than allow her to freeze. She looked away from the fire and to The Doctor.
"Who hasn't?"
"The mother! The planter of the seed!"
"Oh, the xenomorph queen."
"Well, no, but if it helps. Or maybe! Could be, hope not."
"Are xenomorphs real?"
"No!" The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Not everything from movies is real! Gungans are, though! So, since there's nothing alien in the village so far," he continued before Callie could ask what he meant. "We have the chance to stop it before it even arrives!"
"What do you expect we're looking for?" Björn asked. "I will inform the watchmen so they can alert us if it appears."
"We don't know," The Doctor reiterated. "Like I said, could be anything. Big scorpion monster or sexy scorpion lady, awooga." He didn't seem entirely convinced of his own awooga, but his face did hold a grin.
Callie stared at him in somewhat mild disgust. "And when she does arrive, what do we do then?"
"We kill it," said one of Björn's men - Callie remembered the man calling him Erik.
"No!" The Doctor immediately protested. "No killing, we prevent it from ever planting the seed so no one gets hurt."
"And then what?"
He looked to Callie, opening his mouth to speak before closing it and frowning at her. "That's step 5 or 6, I haven't gotten that far yet. Be patient, Calliope!"
She scowled at him, swatting his hand away when he poked her forehead. "I don't want to kill it. No one else needs to die today. We stop it and take it back to wherever it came from."
The Doctor grinned a bit. "Exactly right! We catch the planter together, all of us, then Callie and I take her back home. Then I take Callie home."
"I get to go with you?" Callie asked softly.
"Well I can't just leave her in the TARDIS while I drop you home, can I? She needs extra security, Barry Island champ."
He was trying to make it out like it was no big deal and he was only taking her because he had to, but she didn't care. She grinned to herself as he playfully punched her arm, turning to look at the fire again. If she survived this, he'd take her to another planet. An alien planet!
"Björn, secure the border," she demanded. "We search anyone who tries to enter, even if they're human looking."
Björn looked at her with a frown, not moving.
"Please."
He nodded, giving her a smile. "You are short on your manners, Calliope. They could take you far."
"Oh, I knew I liked you," The Doctor laughed. "Björn, what Callie said. Callie, what Björn said!"
"I think I do alright," she grumbled. "We'll likely need to restrain her."
"Right! Get some ropes, possibly some chains! Why restrain her, Callie? She could always cooperate."
"If she's desperate enough to leave the survival of her species to a millennium of evolution, hidden in human dna and barely even alive, then I don't think she'll be cooperative, Doctor."
The Doctor grinned and pointed at her before clapping. Callie wondered if he even knew how to emote without his hands. "I like the way you think, clever Callie. Brilliant. Ropes and chains! When mother facehugger does arrive we will be ready for her!"
"Right," Björn grinned, patting his back and making him sputter. "I admire your passion, Doctor. And your mind for tactics. You too, Calliope! Never have I met a woman so clever."
"You'll be as clever one day, if you're lucky."
"Cheeky woman," he said, still grinning as he left to inform the guards.
"Oh, Welsh and flirty," The Doctor mumbled. "Brilliant. Callie, I'm going to go back to the TARDIS, see what else I can find out about the thing, are you coming?"
"What? No, you can't leave!"
"I'm only going back for the ship, see what other analysis I can get on the facehugger! It's been hooked up to the TARDIS for an hour now, could even have a species name by now. The more we know, the better prepared we are!"
"It's too dangerous, the mother could be out there! You can't just run off and get killed, you're my ride home!" She took a few rapid steps toward him, grasping at his wrist when he stepped away from her.
He looked down at her hand and frowned before looking up at her again. "So you'd rather go in blind? It could be anything, and I don't like what could be, not like this."
"If you go out, you could die. Better to go in blind than not at all."
The Doctor stared at her, like he was trying to will her to relent and let go of him. In fact, he was. Much to his extreme annoyance, she didn't. She stared right back, too determined to fall for his little semi telepathic mind trick. She was either much too clever to give into his (self described) handsome stare, or too stubborn.
He usually found that the two went hand in hand. Cleverness and stubbornness were a very inconvenient mix, except when it was The Doctor being clever and stubborn.
"Fine," he relented, moving his hand from her loosened grip. "But not because you told me to, you don't get to boss me around. I'm the one with the time machine."
"And you're the one who sort of kidnapped me! I'm not getting trapped in the 10th century because you can't function without all the information. Sometimes you don't know everything, but you work with what you have to come to a conclusion. You should know this, if you're really a doctor."
He scrunched his mouth up a bit, like he was chewing on his response. Callie smiled a bit. Cocky man that he was, she guessed that he wasn't used to others being right before he was.
"Well, it's more of an ambiguous P.H.D situation. Has anyone ever told you you're very bossy?"
"Only when I'm scared out of my mind."
"Good, scared is good, scared makes you focused. Keep being scared"
Callie tilted her head. In her experience, scared usually made her cry. It was a miracle she hadn't yet. She adjusted the cloak again, the fur on her shoulders weighing her down but ultimately shielding her from the cold.
"Come on, off to help." He beckoned for her to follow, heading toward where they'd seen Björn leave to.
"It's illegal to pretend you're actually a doctor, you know," muttered Callie, who was struggling to get the cloak to sit right.
The Doctor's eyes rolled again, and he opened his mouth to respond only to be interrupted by a shrill screaming from nearby, muffled by at least a few buildings. He looked at Callie, who looked at him. She then took off running in a full sprint, cloak flying out behind her as he followed closely behind, secretly enjoying her eager need to help. He was also, though he'd not yet admit it to himself, thoroughly enjoying her company.
They found a woman laid against a building, eyes wide and body shaking as she watched something disappear around a corner. Callie rushed toward her, while The Doctor rushed to follow the scrap of fabric he'd only just seen slipping away. He turned the corner to see an empty alley, void of anyone but a dog grooming itself against a bale of hay.
How could it have disappeared that fast? Perhaps it could teleport. It was possible the creature's technology was more advanced than he'd anticipated. But then perhaps it was just incredibly fast. Or maybe it was a shapeshifter, still in front of him, perhaps even…
He stalked toward the dog, dainty eyebrows furrowed close as he pointed at the mutt. "Don't act like I'm stupid because you'll never get far doing that, if you think you can hide from me to hurt these people then you have no idea who you're dealing-"
"Doctor!" Callie called.
The Doctor looked back, then at the dog, who looked up at him with a tilted head, tongue lolling out of its mouth. He paused, then sighed, waving the dog off and rushing back. She knelt beside the woman, her hand held carefully in Callie's as he body laid against her.
"She's hit her head," said Callie, lifting her gaze to meet his. "I need to check her for a concussion, but… there's this."
She lifted the shaking woman's hand to show a wound on the back of it, clearly fresh. It looked akin to a botfly, only bigger and far more disgusting. It writhed and pulsated beneath her skin, digging deeper , and when she snuck another look at it her eyes rolled back and she passed out against Callie. The Doctor's eyes met hers. "It's like in the ambulance, yeah?"
"Only smaller, going in instead of out. The seed, which means-"
"She's already here and we've just locked ourselves into a village with her." A flash of fear crossed Callie's expression, vulnerability taking its rightful place on her usually composed and serious face. She'd done a good job keeping it cool since Björn had assured her he meant her no harm.
"Hey, hey." The Doctor crouched beside her, hesitating as he placed an awkward hand on her shoulder. "The seed has been planted, see? Now we've got it. I can fix this, we can fix this. You just do what you do, Nurse Callie, and help me help her."
"What happened?" Came Björn's booming question as he rounded the corner with his axe drawn. His eyes hurriedly scanned the area like it was a battlefield, and he was analysing every detail to make his next move. He zeroed in on the woman's hand and he heaved forward on heavy feet. "I see… she has been made host, yes?"
"We think so, but she's hit her head too," said Callie. "We need to get her inside."
He nodded and didn't hesitate to scoop up the unconscious woman, grumbling a bit when Callie instructed him to support her head. "Like you're holding a baby!"
"She is not a baby, she is a woman."
"A woman with a potential head injury, you oaf!"
"Oh, brilliant, I've picked up another married couple," The Doctor mumbled, trying to sonic her wound only for Callie to swat him away. He looked at her in offense, scoffing and beginning to look through the limited readings as they walked back to the hall.
They set her down in Björn's bed when they reached it, and Callie immediately began to look her over, using the tools left in her pockets. Björn marveled at the little beam of light and the Doctor's tool, which he insisted was not the same as Callie's. And he grumbled again when the two strange visitors refused to answer his questions about what they were.
They claimed they didn't have time to explain it as Callie shone the light into the woman's eyes, and he wondered if they had indeed come from the distant future, that they weren't just bewitched by the trickster god like he'd thought. It had been such an impossibility that he had simply put it down to Loki's games, but he was beginning to think they truly were a gift from the gods sent to protect his home.
He unfolded his arms and straightened up from his grumpy slouch when he heard Erik enter the hall outside, the warriors entrance marked by his worried shouting. When Callie looked up at him he held up his hand, going to deal with the man while they worked.
"Where is she, Björn?" Erik shouted, trying to push past him only to be stopped. "Is she okay?"
"Your wife is strong, Erik," he assured his friend, placing his hand on his shoulder. "She is the strongest shieldmaiden I know, she will not be hurt by a bump to the head."
"You cannot know that! You allow these strangers to be alone with her when she could be hurt! How can we trust that they know what they are doing? I must be with my wife, Björn. Let me see her!"
"She's okay!" Callie rushed out, hands raised in a passive gesture, adjusting her glasses on her nose and giving him a reassuring smile. "Everything looks okay, she's got a bit of a bump and she may have a headache, but she didn't hurt herself in the fall."
Erik stepped away from Björn to crane his neck, trying to see past Callie and the curtain. He looked down at Callie, face full of fear that didn't suit his brave features.
"And the baby?"