Disclaimer: I do not own 'Doctor Who' or any of the characters in it. All rights belong to the BBC, though I would love to own it myself. Sigh.
A/N: Over 160 people have this story alerted and yet only eight people can leave reviews. I don't really understand that.
Thank you to the eight people who did leave me feedback :') I made sure to reply to you :)
Anyhoo, the identity of Francine will be revealed now. Enjoy!
The Doctor, who had only been looking at Amy for the past few minutes, finally turned to face the woman. When he recognised her, he gasped. "Francine?"
"Francine's descendant." She corrected. "I'm Samantha. And I know all about you."
The Doctor gazed suspiciously at her. "Did Francine pass information down her family line about me, or something?"
Samantha nodded. "Yes, she passed a lot of stories down about you. Though when you met her, you were bald and wore a leather jacket."
Amy knew all about the Doctor's regeneration process, but picturing him looking like someone else was impossible to her. The Doctor was the man with the bow ties, not with the leather jacket. And picturing him bald was definitely unimaginable. His crazy hair was part of who he was.
"I wasn't bald!" The Doctor protested, climbing to his feet shakily. "I just didn't have a lot of hair. So, what did she tell you?"
Samantha's eyes glinted playfully. "Well, I know that you were the first guy she slept with."
Chris roared with laughter at that, and the Doctor blushed, before sneaking an embarrassed glance at Amy.
When she felt his gaze, she turned her head and raised her eyebrows at him. "You've been around a bit, haven't you?" She remarked, nudging him gently.
"Not a bit. Very, very little!" The Doctor gabbled. "And anyway, my past shouldn't matter. I haven't done anything in this body."
"Maybe we should do something about that." Amy teased, and the Doctor's eyes widened with shock.
"If you won't mate, I will!" Chris chuckled, and Amy spun around to glare at him.
She stalked towards him, and when she reached him, she poked him in the chest with her fingernail, enjoying his wince of pain. "Hey, you can't point a gun at me one minute and then try to get into my skirt the next!" She hissed. "So back off."
Chris raised his hands in mock surrender. "I'm only joking Amy, I know you're taken. I've seen the memories about the Doctor, and let me tell you, your fantasy—"
"Shut. Up." Amy growled, accentuating each word with a hard poke.
To her relief, he stopped talking, and she walked back over to the Doctor's side.
"Fantasy?" He whispered to her quietly, amusement evident in his expression.
Amy carefully trained her eyes forward to avoid his gaze. "I don't know what you're talking about."
The Doctor decided to let it go, and turned to Ronald. "So Ron-can I call you Ron?" At his nod, the Doctor continued. "What's all this then? Great laboratory you've got here. But why's it in a Volcano?"
"I'll show you Doctor." Ronald replied, beckoning him over.
When the Doctor began to walk over to him, he stumbled, still weak from the analysis process. Amy managed to support him, and Samantha offered him some celery.
"Thought you might need this." She told him, grinning knowingly.
The Doctor thanked her and ate it quickly, and Amy shot Samantha a confused look.
"Celery has healing properties and helps Time Lords recover quickly." She explained to her. "Another story that was passed down."
Amy nodded in understanding, and was relieved when the Doctor stood up straight, fully recovered. "Samantha, you are brilliant!" He exclaimed on his way over to Ronald. "Now Ron, show me what you're doing here!"
"We're a research team from England, and we were sent out here to gather valuable minerals for the country." Ronald told him, nodding at Chris and Samantha. "We have Megan as well, but she's in the volcano at the moment, gathering readings." He paused, and looked down at his feet. "There were originally five of us, but Thomas…he's missing."
"Missing?" The Doctor repeated, his interest fading into concern. "It's impossible for someone to go missing here. Your technology would have traced them immediately."
"We know." Ronald sighed, running his fingers through his hair. "We have trackers on everyone within the next five miles. We were able to watch you land the TARDIS, and watch you and Amy ascend up the volcano. But Thomas went excavating yesterday and disappeared off of our radar."
"We don't think he's dead." Chris spoke up, serious for the first time. "We would know it. But we can't find him. And we have the best trackers in the World in this volcano base."
The Doctor met Amy's gaze, and they both nodded at each other.
Grinning, the Doctor turned back to Ronald. "Ron, if anyone can find Thomas, it's us. Let us help."
"I know." Ronald replied, smiling at the Doctor. "I've seen your memories, remember? I know what you two can do."
"Right then!" The Doctor announced, rubbing his palms together. "Let's put on some space suits and go looking."
"We can't go yet." Samantha told him. "We need to wait for Megan to return before we set off. We can only contact her if we're all in the base."
"Fair enough. But tell her to hurry back here, it's dangerous to be out there alone." The Doctor warned.
"I'll do it." Chris volunteered, heading out of the laboratory.
"So Ron, tell me a bit more about these materials you need." The Doctor said, and Amy sighed, knowing that their discussion would be full of scientific things that she didn't understand.
She decided to turn her attention towards Samantha, who was watching the Doctor. "So, how did your ancestor first meet the Doctor?" Amy asked her quietly, not wanting the Doctor to overhear their conversation.
"Francine was a member of Torchwood, not that the Doctor knew that at the time. She knew exactly who he was though, and slept with him to find out information when he arrived in 2065 London." Samantha explained, her tone as quiet as Amy's. "He asked her to travel with him, but she declined his offer."
"Why would she decline? You'd have to be mad to not want to explore the universe with the Doctor." Amy whispered, shaking her head in disbelief.
"Her job was to protect the Earth, and she didn't want to abandon her post. I would have stayed too, if I had been in her position."
"The Doctor told me all about Torchwood." Amy admitted softly. "I suppose I can understand why she felt inclined to keep her job. But I don't think I could do it. I could never leave the Doctor."
Samantha's face grew grave. "Amy, you don't leave the Doctor. He leaves you."
"Excuse me?" Amy exclaimed angrily, causing the Doctor and Ronald to glance over at them briefly. She gave them a reassuring smile, and they resumed their conversation.
"Amy, no human can ever live as long as he will. He leaves his companions before he can grow attached to them." Samantha told her gently. "He's been in love before. He mentioned someone called Sarah Jane to my ancestor, and I'm sure there have been more women he's loved."
"But what about me? Do you think he will leave me too?" Amy whispered, her voice desperate with panic.
At Samantha's silence, Amy knew her answer.
"Well, that's not going to happen." Amy determined. "He'll never get rid of me."
"Don't you think that all of his previous companions have believed that?"
Amy saw red then. "How dare you!" She hissed, no longer caring if the Doctor heard their conversation. "I'm different to them!"
Samantha didn't reply, and turned away from her, leaving Amy fuming. "So Ronald, have you explained everything to the Doctor yet?" She asked her friend brightly.
Ronald nodded, and as they both struck up a conversation, the Doctor headed over to Amy. "Hey Pond." He greeted softly. "Care to explain why you look like someone who has had their favourite miniskirt stolen?"
Amy managed a tight smile, still stung from Samantha's revelation. "I didn't agree with some of her opinions, that's all."
The Doctor studied her thoughtfully. "You never look this angry when you and I clash."
"That's because I like you. I hate her." She muttered, glaring venomously at Samantha.
"It's because she looks like her ancestor!" The Doctor realised, though he couldn't have been more wrong. "Amy, there was nothing between Francine and I! I swear on the moons of Saturn!"
Amy tried her hardest to look reassured. "Okay Doctor, I believe you." She said, though that wasn't the reason at all. But if it stopped the Doctor from asking her any more questions about her sudden angry mood, she'd lie.
The Doctor sighed with relief. "Good. I don't want there to be any tension while we're here. There's something not quite right about this volcano, and everyone is going to have to stick together if we're all going to survive."
Amy's anger turned to concern. "Do you know what's happened to Thomas then?" She asked him worriedly.
He shook his head. "No. But I do know that there's something on this island. Something that's not human."
"But wouldn't they have been able to pick up an alien on their tracker?"
"Not if the alien is using a perception filter." The Doctor replied grimly. "As soon as Megan gets back, we need to explore."
"Can't we sneak out and search for the alien alone? Just the two of us?" Amy asked.
"We need space suits if we intend to stay out there for a long period of time. And it would be hard to get those without drawing attention to ourselves." He replied. "I have some in the TARDIS, but the tracker would catch us going to it."
"Fair point." Amy muttered. "So we just wait?"
"We wait." The Doctor confirmed; sitting on the edge of the table he'd been strapped to.
Amy joined him, and once she'd sat down, the Doctor slid down the table to lie down and rest his head in her lap. She began to stroke his hair, and he sighed in contentment.
It was moments like this that convinced Amy that the Doctor would never leave her. He needed her as much as she needed him.
Samantha looked up and saw the Doctor and Amy sharing a tender moment, and Amy couldn't help but smile smugly at her, resisting the urge to mouth, "I told you so!"
But Samantha only smiled sadly back and turned back to Ronald, causing Amy to lose her smirk.
Before she could begin to worry again, loud alarm bells began to chime, and flashing red lights lit the white laboratory.
The Doctor shot up and jumped off the table, grabbing Amy's hand and yanking her off too. "What's going on?" He bellowed over the alarm.
"Megan's disappeared off the radar!" Samantha yelled back, rushing towards the entrance of the lab. "We need to get to Chris, now!"
Ronald scurried after her, and the Doctor and Amy followed closely behind them. They ran through various white corridors until Samantha stopped outside a black door. She punched in a code to unlock the door, and darted through it once it had opened.
The black door led to some sort of control room, with large screens of different areas of the volcano around the room and many machines with different buttons. Even the Doctor looked impressed with the technology.
"You humans, you never fail to amaze me." He murmured proudly, and Amy squeezed his hand.
"It's not really the time to go off on one of your 'I love humans' speeches." She whispered, and the Doctor reluctantly admitted that she was right.
"Chris, where did Megan disappear from?" Samantha shouted over the alarms, running over to join him at one of the large white consoles.
"She was in layer P of the volcano, directly under the artificial lava!" He yelled, pressing various buttons on the console. "As soon as she disappeared, the alarms went off, and now I can't shut them off!"
"But then again, humans always need my help at the end of the day." The Doctor commented quietly to Amy, before he strode forward to join Samantha and Chris. He aimed his screwdriver at the console, and the alarms stopped, along with the flashing red lights.
"Thank you Doctor." Samantha sighed, resting her hand on his arm. Amy didn't like that, so she marched forward to stand at the Doctor's other side, Ronald right behind her.
"We need to leave this volcano!" Ronald exclaimed. "Two people have gone missing now. And there's only three of us left!"
"We can't leave Thomas and Megan here, whether they're alive or not!" Chris argued. "And we need the volcanic materials. The whole country is counting on us!"
"There are other teams that are gathering the same minerals we are!" Ronald snapped back. "The country will be fine! But we won't be if we stay here!"
"But if we bring back some minerals, we'll be knighted!" Chris shouted back. "The Queen promised us that herself!"
"Being knighted won't matter if we're dead by then! I have a wife and son back home, and I have no intention of leaving them!"
The Doctor coughed loudly then, stopping the men's argument. "Arguing isn't helping anyone." He told them sternly. "We need to stick together to work out what's going on in this volcano. Now, I want you both to make up."
Ronald nodded. "You're right. I'm sorry for shouting Chris, but that's another friend we've lost. I can't lose you and Samantha too."
"I know." Chris sighed. "I'm sorry too. But we can't leave, and we can't stay either."
"But that's where you're wrong!" The Doctor interrupted. "Both Megan and Thomas disappeared whilst they were alone, right? So if we all go down to this 'Layer P' and work out what's going on, we should stay safe. Then you can excavate your minerals and Amy and I can get out of here! What do you say?"
Amy was the first to agree, and after Samantha agreed, Ronald and Chris did as well.
"Right Samantha!" The Doctor exclaimed, placing his hands on her shoulders and pushing her forward, another gesture that Amy didn't like, "Go and get us all some space suits, and then we can go and explore!"
Thanks for reading :)
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Hayley x