Author's Notes: Still don't own Doctor Who. Anyway, sorry about the delay but I needed to put in some work on another story. Also, had that ten mile race. Anyway, thanks for the reads and the reviews, I can't wait for more. Happy reading!
Lydia stepped out of the TARDIS again. She found Donna and Georgiana in the sitting room again.
"Good morning," said Donna with a smile. "There was a spaceship crash or something in Cardiff. John's had to go in to work, your dad's gone with him."
"And my mother?"
"She and your sister went to meet Amy's fiance and prepare him for the Doctor." She smiled. "Why don't you sit down?"
Lydia sat on the sofa stiffly.
"You know you don't have to stay in there, Lydia," said Donna. "It's a big house , you could stay in one of the guest rooms or certainly have a look around. The neighborhood is safe, you could go out."
The thought of walking around an alien planet terrified Lydia, let alone staying outside the safety of the TARDIS.
"I'm fine," said Lydia.
Donna paused. "Yeah, but I don't think you are."
She had said it. She had actually said it. Time Lords were very good at a number of things: time travel, millinery, cricket, but they were rubbish at emotions. When she had come home, after the initial outburst of feeling, her parents were back to business as usual. Routine. Ceremony. That's how Time Lords dealt with adversity. They all knew Lydia wasn't alright, but went on anyway. This human she had just met could see it.
"That's just me," said Lydia.
Donna shook her head. "No, nobody feels like that all the time. At least you shouldn't. I had problems when I was around your age, pushed myself too hard, terrified I would disappoint my parents."
"Did you?"
"Disappoint my parents? No," said Donna.
Lydia nodded. "That's what I am. A massive disappointment."
"No," said Donna, "I'm sure you're not."
"I'm nothing. I can't go to the Academy, I can't look at the Untempered Schism, I can't even leave my house. I thought about running away, even got to the outer dome of the Citadel, I was too afraid to step outside."
"Can't you ask to go?," asked Donna. "Reapply or something?"
"It's not like that."
"I know a little of what happened to you, your parents can't blame you for it. I'm sure they don't."
"My mother lost a regeneration trying to keep the Silence from taking me. My father lost another one getting me back. I will never be able to prove to them that it was worth it." She took a breath. "I don't even think it was worth it. Humans at least you've only got the one life to get through."
Donna was in disbelief. This poor girl. John spoke of the Time Lords as if they were so powerful, but Lydia was just as vulnerable as the next girl, wasn't she? She was headed back to the blue box.
"Lydia," said Donna, "it'll get better."
Before Lydia could refute that, she added, "And believe me, I'm a mum. I would do anything for my kids, including die and I just have the one life."
Lydia went in the TARDIS wordlessly. The doorbell rang. Donna turned to Georgiana. "Who could that be? Mummy will go find out."
It was Ethan.
"What are you doing here?," she asked.
"I don't have a choice, Donna."
"Choice about what?"
Ethan jabbed her with a small needle. Before Donna could start screaming, she dropped to the ground.
Ella watched from the upstairs landing as Ethan dragged Donna in unconscious. She would have screamed, but it was worse than that. The monsters were with him, along with two other ladies. She ran down the hall to the master bedroom. She grabbed the phone and dialed frantically as Josh entered.
"Dad's here," he said.
"Torchwood, Gwen Cooper speaking."
"Ella Noble. I need to talk to my dad!"
"Ella? What's happened, love?"
Ella was about to speak when she heard the line go dead. She and Josh ran to the window as Miss Johnson ran in.
"You two get in the bathroom and lie in the tub!"
"The tub?", exclaimed Josh.
"Just do it!"
They hurried. Miss Johnson shut the door on them as she assured them that she was going to get their mummy and baby sister.
Josh looked at Ella, still perplexed about the events.
"The monsters are back," she said.
"We're set, right?," asked Ethan. He looked at Kovarian nervously. "You'll leave Josh and Ella alone?"
"Yes," said Kovarian. She stabbed Ethan with her own small needle and he dropped to the ground.
Kovarian turned and looked at Georgiana who stared at Donna's still body anxiously.
"Don't worry, little one. Everything's going to be fine."
"Stop what you're doing," said Johnson as she saw Kovarian lifting Georgiana out of her walker. "Put the baby down."
"How's she here?," asked Rose.
It's her alternate," hissed Kovarian. She looked at Johnson. "Think you can stop us?"
"You can't teleport out of here and you won't get past me."
Kovarian gave a sinister smile. "I'm not teleporting. Your key, Miss Tyler."
Rose put her key in the lock and Kovarian put Georgiana's hand on the handle. The TARDIS door popped open.
"How'd you do that?," asked Rose.
"DNA lock," said Kovarian. "Authorized sequences only."
"Wait, does that mean I'm not authorized on my Doctor's TARDIS?," Rose asked suddenly.
Johnson tried to shoot at Kovarian, but Rose took her down instead.
"Let's go, Miss Tyler," said Kovarian.
Rose had never been more eager to hear words in her life.
There was one other time. At Bad Wolf Bay.
John had spent hours with the Doctor at Torchwood and was starting to wonder how this regeneration had managed to survive this long. It certainly wasn't because of his charms.
"Well, that is just superb!," said the Doctor, looking at the monitor of the crash. He turned to John and pointed at a piece of wreckage. "Don't you see it?"
John walked over to the monitory to have a closer look and put on his glasses.
"The brainy specs!," the Doctor said in glee. "I miss those! Do you think I could pull it off?"
John ignored him. "They turned their spaceship into a Void ship!" He shook his head. "Why? Why would anyone do that?"
"Well, you said that's what mad girl wanted," said the Doctor, "it must be what the Silence wanted as well. Question is why?"
Gwen entered. "He's ready."
"Splendid," said the Doctor.
The Doctor followed John into the interrogation room.
Ephraim looked as if the air had been sucked from the cell. He looked up at the Doctor in fear.
"Hello, Ephraim," said John.
Ephraim wasn't looking at him, though. His eyes were set on the Doctor. What life had been left in him was gone.
"It's you," said Ephraim in awe.
"Yes, it is."
He looked from the Doctor to John in confusion. The Doctor ignored this and pulled the small stool to Ephraim's bedside.
"Now, you've been to the other side, haven't you? Alternate dimensions, all in the name of the Silence. What were you doing there?"
"There was a plan..." he started slowly.
"What sort of plan?," asked John.
"These creatures, they used children..." Ephraim looked even paler.
"It's alright," said the Doctor. "What were they called?"
Ephraim said something unintelligible to John.
The Doctor nodded. He turned to John. "Don't suppose your father ever told you a story about monsters that came to Gallifrey in the Dark Times and stole children?"
"I remember it vaguely."
The Doctor looked back at Ephraim. "Is that what you need Time Babies for? To give them to the creatures?"
"No, it was just a cover," said Ephraim. "We were going to get the humans to hand over the child and the Noble woman thinking they were in exchange for the children of Earth."
"Children of Earth," the Doctor mused. "They could hardly pass that up, could they?"
"Donna Noble," John said frantically. "Did you take Donna Noble? And the baby?"
Ephraim shook his head. "It didn't work. The exchange never took place and the creatures turned on us. We were slaughtered."
The Doctor nodded. "And you used the emergency dimensional shift to get back here via the Cardiff Rift. Just barely."
"Donna and the baby? Were they alright?," asked John.
"I don't know."
"You don't know?," exclaimed John. "She was suffering from a Human Time Lord metacrisis! Her brain could have burned up if she realized why you wanted that baby!"
The Doctor leaned in to Ephraim. "Now, Ephraim, tell me this, I've met Donna Noble, at least this universe's version of her and I don't think her alternate would be the sort of person to try and kidnap a baby from, or worse yet try to kidnap. Why did the Silence want her?"
"She was pregnant."
John was stunned. He hadn't thought of that somehow.
"Well," said the Doctor, "I certainly work fast in the other universe. Two Time Babies in two years. I do hope they're ginger. Ephraim, just one more thing. What do you need them for?"
"The guardian."
"The guardian. Which one?"
Ephraim shook his head.
"What does a Guardian need a Time Baby for?," asked the Doctor.
"I don't know."
John suddenly had a sinking feeling. "Ephraim, what are you not telling us?"
The Doctor's face paled. "Something's wrong. Something's very, very wrong."
Gwen ran in. "John, Ella rang and then the line cut out."
John looked back at Ephraim. "What's happening?," he growled.
"It's already over," said Ephraim.
Author's Notes: Sorry, sometimes cliffhangers happen. I know, I promise I'll update this one sooner. You might try having a look at my other story, First Impressions, especially the latest chapter? Hint, hint.