Author's Notes: I do not own Doctor Who, the Duplicate Doctor, Donna who really isn't in this chapter, Amy, Jeff. You remember Jeff, right? For like two minutes in The Eleventh Hour? Also, I borrowed a lot from Moffatt this chapter, I do that a lot. Lots of Series 6 spoilers, but I'm not going step by step so... Oh, thanks for the reads and reviews again and I haven't said hello lurkers in a while so let me do that. Hello, lurkers! Please enjoy and let me know what you think.
The Doctor bounded back into the TARDIS, red Chuck Taylors bouncing as he walked. Amy and Jeff were right behind him.
"The girl in the spacesuit. It's all about her! Who is she?"
The Doctor looked back at Jeff and Amy and casually stepped behind the TARDIS monitor.
"Or you know, we could just go on adventures. Who's in the mood for some adventures? I am! That and a piece of banana cake, I know this place in the year five billion that makes the most-"
The Oracle cleared her throat behind him.
The Doctor looked back at the Oracle. In her fourth incarnation, she was a good deal shorter than him, not that it bothered the Doctor. It was incredibly hard to get regenerations to match up. She had long dark brown hair, a porcelain complexion and the most striking blue eyes. Those eyes were currently trained on him along with her perturbed pursed lips, possibly the only thing betraying her age.
"Right. It's been a long day. Jeff. Amy. Why don't you go find your rooms?"
"Uh, we're married now," said Amy. "You do know we share a room?"
The Oracle snorted. "Wait three hundred years. You'll soon get over that."
Jeff and Amy were soon off. The Doctor looked back at the Oracle.
"Pregnancy scan," said the Oracle. "Want to share?"
"I don't know."
"Did you run a diagnostic?"
"Of course I did!"
She sighed and leaned back against the railing around the console. "I'll rephrase. Do you know how to run a diagnostic?"
"I know how to maintain my ship, thank you."
"Fine, try it on me."
The Doctor sighed. He ran it.
"Not pregnant."
"So, it works then," said the Oracle. "Now any guesses as to why it would do that or should I call tech support?"
"I do not need tech support."
"Yeah, that's why the swimming pool is in the library."
He shrugged. "It's fun, though, isn't it?"
"Doctor!"
"Sorry."
"Do you want my best guess?" She stepped forward. "Amy is pregnant and for some reason the TARDIS scanner is uncertain about it. The girl in the spacesuit is her daughter."
The Doctor was flabbergasted. "What? Really?"
She threw her arms up. "You mean that didn't occur to you? How could that not occur to you? Why would you have sent the envelopes then?"
"How do you know I sent the envelopes?"
She held up the TARDIS blue envelope they had received and rolled her eyes. "There's a banana smear on the back."
"Oh."
"So, what's the plan? Are we just going to act like nothing's wrong and then we go on ridiculous adventures to... I don't know. It could be anything with you."
Some pirates, a cryptic TARDIS giving clues with a mouth and a bunch of Gangers later...
Jeff helped Amy into the TARDIS as they left the press conference behind.
"Contractions? What do you mean contractions?," said Jeff.
The Doctor drew a deep breath. "Oh, you should have married the nurse. Contractions! She's having a baby!"
"What? No, Jeff, I can't be," said Amy.
"We needed to see the Flesh in its early days," said the Oracle, approaching with the Sonic Screwdriver. "That's why he scanned it, still doesn't bloody explain why he had to touch it!"
"More to the point, I needed enough information to block the signal."
"What signal?," asked Jeff.
"The one that's been following us through time and space," said the Oracle. "Even outside the universe. I must admit, that's pretty impressive."
Amy bent over. "It hurts."
"Try and breathe, Amy," said the Doctor.
"Easy for you to say," said the Oracle. She turned to Amy. "When you wake up, ask for some drugs. The good stuff, none of the rubbish where you can still feel pressure."
"What do you mean when I wake up?," said Amy. "I'm awake!"
The Doctor shook his head. "Jeff, stand away."
"Why?," he asked.
"Given what we've learned, I'll be as humane as I can, but it has to be done. Jeff, stand away."
Jeff slowly disentangled himslef from Amy. The Doctor took the sonic from the Oracle and walked closer to Amy.
"Doctor, I am frightened. I'm properly, properly scared."
"Don't be. Hold on. We're coming for you, I swear it. Whatever happens, however hard, however far, we will find you."
"I'm here," Amy said desperately.
"No, you're not. You haven't been here for a long, long time." He raised the sonic at Amy. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."
Amy melted into a puddle of the flesh. Jeff looked at the Time Lords in shock.
"What was that?"
The Oracle sighed. "She's the flesh! What part of this don't you get?"
"Right!," said the Doctor, bounding up to the TARDIS controls. "Let's get this show on the road!"
Mayantha was surprised to see the TARDIS materialize in the library. The Oracle came out.
"Oh, good. There you are, sweethearts. How do you fancy a trip to fight some aliens you can't remember after you stop looking at them?"
"I was going to read," said Mayantha.
"Oh, well, bring the book with you."
The Doctor stepped out, Jeff was right behind him.
"Oi! Where do you think you're going?," said the Doctor.
"I was following you..."
"Well, you can't. Humans aren't allowed on Gallifrey. As long as you stay inside the TARDIS we're fine for a few minutes." He looked at Mayantha and grinned. "There's my girl! Come here!"
Mayantha smiled as she indulged her father's tenth incarnation's need for constant hugging.
"Jeff, Mayantha. Mayantha, Jeff. His wife was turned into a flesh duplicate and is currently somewhere we have no idea about. Also, there's a baby. And also... no, that's pretty much it. No! Wait, the universe exploded! Also, met Nixon. President of Mexico."
They heard the front door open and shut. The Master the Library. "What do you mean you can't remember them after you look away from them? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard!"
"Oh, good. Nice to see you as well," said the Doctor.
The Master looked him up and down. "Are you wearing trainers with a suit?"
The Oracle came back in with a scroll. "Oh, good, Master, you got my message."
"We're trying to rescue some companion? You're losing them worse than usual." He looked at Jeff. "What's he?"
"That's Jeff," said the Doctor.
"What's a Jeff? Is he human? You can't have humans on Gallifrey!"
The Doctor motioned at Jeff's feet in the doorway of the TARDIS. "He's not on Gallifrey."
"Oh, now you care about rules," said the Oracle. "Are you going to go to the High Council then?"
The Master stiffened. "No. I suppose not."
"What did you do this time?," asked the Doctor.
"Nothing anyone will notice."
"Right, we still need more help," said the Doctor.
"Four Time Lords need help?," asked the Master with a sneer.
Commander Jack Harkness sat in a bar when he was approached by a sultry raven-haired woman.
"Commander Harkness," said the Oracle.
"That's me. How can I help you, sweetheart?"
"Well, you can stop calling me sweetheart for starters..."
Jack looked in amazement as the Doctor appeared next to the Oracle.
"Doctor?," he said.
"Hi, Jack. You remember the Oracle, don't you?"
Jack looked her up and down. "New look. I sort of liked you as a ginger, though. This is good, too. So, what are you two doing here? If you don't have anything planned, I can think of a few ideas for the three of us."
The Oracle rolled her eyes. "I'm sure you can."
"Anyway," said the Doctor, "ever heard of a place called Demon's Run?"
"We've seen a lot of activity there," said Jack. "Something's going on."
"What's going on is they've kidnapped my companion and her baby."
"Why?," asked Jack.
"No idea," said the Doctor.
"Great, I can see you'vre really thought this through."
"Are you coming or not?," asked the Oracle.
They showed Jack to the nearby and waiting TARDIS. The Master sat on the jumpseat looking disgusted.
"So, I followed the initial staffing just fine. You two, Mayantha, me. Four geniuses, that was good. Let's face it Jeff was an anchor around our necks," he said motioning at the offending human.
"Hey!," said Jeff.
"I mean, but it was his wife so whatever. Then you picked up Silurians, okay, fine. They've got poison. That could be helpful." Then he motioned at Jenny and Madame Vastra. "The Victorian London Silurian Human Lesbian lovers. They're entertaining at least, but now you've brought on a lactating Sontaran and Captain Pansexual."
"I only lactate to perform nursing duties!"
"Can we say fetish?," asked the Master. "Let's ask Captain Pansexual for his expert opinion."
"Commander Pansexual, actually," said Jack with a smile. "Good to see you again, too, Master."
"Captain, Commander, whatever. Then you've got space pirates or something. Like proper space pirates. This whole thing is bizarre."
Jack sided up to Mayantha. "Commander Jack Harkness."
She smiled. "Mayantha."
"Jack, no," said the Doctor.
"What?"
"That's my daughter."
Jack shook his head. "That's just not fair."
"NOw that we've got that settled," said the Doctor, "let's talk about how we're going to take Demon's Run."
"Oh? Are you sure you don't want to get anyone else? What about the fat blue guy you know?," asked the Master. "Every battle needs a fat. blue guy!"
The Doctor walked into the communications room of Demon's Run. The Oracle was already there and the Master had been working on the computer system for a while.
"So," he said, "how are you doing?"
"Hacked!"
"Find out anything?," said the Master.
The Oracle sighed. "Just that we're wasting our time."
"Oh, good, you're going to argue," said the Master. "So glad I came."
"What was that business with Colonel Runaway? What were you thinking? It's as if you just want some giant fist to come out of the sky and smack you down and since I'm usually standing next to you, it's going to hit me."
"He deserved it."
"Oh, so now you decide what people deserve? You're going to have to change names with him, aren't you?," she said motioning at the Master.
"Does anyone want to know what they were looking for?," said the Master. "They've been scanning her since she was born, do you think there's a reason why?"
The Doctor and the Oracle turned.
"Here's an idea, let's try looking at her DNA!" The Master punched a button and a picture of a DNA strand came up.
"Great, a human DNA strand, thank you."
"Yes, look closer...Human plus."
"Plus what?," asked the Doctor.
"Plus Time Lord..." growled the Oracle.
The Doctor turned to see the Oracle was glaring at him.
"What?," asked the Doctor, not registering why.
"Anything you want to say?"
"What?"
"Who's got a knife?"
"What?"
"You thought you were being so clever, confessing to the whole kiss thing. I say let's see how the eleventh one of you goes!"
The Master sat back in his chair, truly enjoying the spectacle.
"What? You think Amy and I?"
"You have some sort of weird ginger fetish!"
"I do not! I did not sleep with Amy!"
"What about the vortex?," asked the Master.
"What?," asked the Doctor.
"The vortex, pretty similiar in terms of exposure to the Untempered Schism. We know it has an effect on companions, what about at the cellular level? What if a human was conceived in the Time Vortex? The humans, did they happen to do their whole human mating thing in the TARDIS in the vortex?"
"I don't know," said the Doctor. "Why would I know that?"
"Wait, what's that thing called where they get married and they go on the trip?," said the Oracle.
"Their honeymoon..." said the Doctor. "But why would you do that? What do you need a Time Lord for?"
"You can't go around having sex in someone else's TARDIS," said the Oracle. "It's just rude."
Just then Madame Kovarian appeared on the screen in the room.
"Oh, look, crazy eyepatch lady," said the Master. "Because I was worried we would never hear from her again!"
"I see you've been accessing our files. What do you think?"
"What is she?," asked the Doctor.
"Hope. Hope in this endless, bitter war."
"What war?," asked the Doctor. "Against who?"
"Against you," said Madame Kovarian.
"Well, that figures," said the Oracle.
"A child is not a weapon," said the Doctor.
"Oh, give us time. She can be. She will be," said Madame Kovarian.
"Except you don't have her," said the Doctor.
Madame Kovarian had a eerily coy smile on her face. "Oh, Doctor. Fooling you once was a joy... but fooling you twice, the same way, it's a privilege."
"Oh, no," said the Doctor, the truth dawning on him.
An alarm went off. They heard chanting. The Master went back to the computer.
"There's something going on in the hangar," said the Master.
"That's the battle prayer," said the Oracle.
They fought their way down to the hangar. The Oracle went to Mayantha first, who was sitting with the deceased Lorna Bucket. The Sontaran nurse had died. Jack, Jenny and Madame Vastra were seeing to the injured Silurian soldiers. Jeff was in the corner with Amy, trying to comfort her as she held an empty blanket.
The Doctor approached Amy and Jeff. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
"Doctor," said the Oracle.
She pulled him to the side, with the old cot they had let Melody rest in.
"This was a gift from that Lorna Bucket. A prayer leaf with the name of the baby on it in the language of the Gamma Forest," said the Oracle.
"Yeah? So?"
"Oh, you don't read Gamma Forest?," asked the Oracle.
"No. Sorry."
"Did you know in the Gamma Forest there's no water but the river?"
"What?," asked the Doctor. "That's what the TARDIS said."
"Yes, I know, I probably should have looked it up, but Melody Pond, look Pond is River, Melody is Song..."
The Doctor looked at the prayer leaf again as the TARDIS finally translated and back at the Oracle.
"Oh, no."
John was startled as Mayantha looked up. A ginger woman was walking towards them.
"What are you doing here?," she said looking at John.
"Amy, I'm sorry, this isn't the Doctor. Well, actually he's a duplicate of the Doctor from another dimension with human characteristics-"
"What?," said Amy.
"I tried to talk to Jeff, he wouldn't let me," said Mayantha.
Amy shook her head. "I can't talk about this."
"Amy."
"Look, it's just, no."
Amy started walking away and came back. "How is she? Your sister, I mean."
Mayantha shook her head. "She's better, mostly."
Amy nodded and stalked off.
"Mayantha's staying with my family and I in London. Donna Noble's house in Notting Hill," John called after her.
She left. John turned to Mayantha.
"We have to get back to London," said John. "Donna's mother is coming. Oh, there's this thing called nagging that humans do that I should warn you about..."
"Want me to finish the story?," asked Mayantha.
"Later," said John, turning back to where the twins were playing. "We can pace ourselves. Josh, Ella, we're going home! Allons-y!"