A/N: And so we plough on... 31 chapters in this.

Chapter 16 – The Return Of Bundy

Leah, Floppy and Francine had just finished their picnic on Cuddly Hill when suddenly Floppy took Leah's arm and smiled at her gently.

"Time to go back to the real world! Bedtime for you, Leah!" Floppy told her.

"But I don't wanna..."

"Now, what will your Daddy and Mummy think when they come to say goodnight and you're not there?" Floppy pointed out, still smiling.

Leah harrumphed and scuffed the blanket ground with her foot. "Fine."

Floppy laughed and took her hand. Francine bidded them goodbye and Leah waved in return, before they began to make their way back to the portal.

"So how are you enjoying Cuddly World?" Floppy wondered as they walked.

"It's really fun," Leah said, smiling happily. "I really wish I could bring my Daddy here, he'd love it."

"Well, you know the rules," Floppy told her gently. "It must remain our little secret."

Leah nodded. They were almost at the portal now. But just as they got within ten metres, suddenly the world around them darkened considerably...

Leah stopped, and frowned. "What is that?"

"Oh dear," Floppy muttered. "Oh, Leah, I perhaps should have mentioned it earlier."

"What?" Leah asked, a little worried now. "What's happening?"

"I have to admit, Leah, I did not just bring you here to see Cuddly Land," Floppy began, looking a little guilty. "There is something that's upsetting the love of Cuddly World, and we need you to help us..."

"What is it?" Leah wondered, and then seconds later her question was answered. There was a figure coming towards them over the hill, lumbering menacingly as all the cuddlies around it screamed and ran. As the figure drew closer Leah could begin to make it out... A cuddly who was sown up haphazardly all over, one of its eyes missing, an ear sown on backwards, the stuffing spilling out of tears...

Then she realised who it was.

"Bundy!" she croaked.

"Leah!" Bundy yelled angrily. "You killed me, Leah!"

Leah began to back away as Bundy drew closer, her eyes widening... "Bundy, I'm sorry!"

"You killed me!" Bundy yelled again, now inches away from her. "You blew me up!"

"I didn't... I didn't want to... I... I had to..." Leah stammered, still backing away.

"You replaced me! With a new toy!" Bundy shouted, pointing a paw at Floppy who was stood there trembling.

"You were gone Bundy, I had to..."

"Your love was a lie, wasn't it, Leah!" Bundy cried. "You never loved me!"

"I did, Bundy, I did..." Leah insisted. "I had to blow you up, Uncle Koschei put..."

"I was going to bring you to Cuddly World, Leah! We were going to be best friends forever! And you killed me!" Bundy yelled, cutting over Leah's protests. "Do you know what it's like to have someone you love blow you up? Do you?"

"Umm, no..."

"I'm going to show you!" Bundy yelled, but Leah had made it to the portal now. She jumped through it and emerged in her toy chest in her bedroom, scrambling out to fall headlong onto the floor. She whirled back around to face the toy chest, watching with baited breath for any sign of Bundy...

"Leeeaaaaah!" suddenly came a muffled yell of rage, and the disfigured Bundy emerged from within the bed of toys. She caught sight of Leah and instantly dived forward straight onto Leah's face.

"Bundy!" Leah cried, struggling desperately to get Bundy off of her face but the bear had an amazingly tight grip. Eventually she managed to get the bear off and threw her across the room where she hit the wall and fell down soundlessly behind the bed.

Leah just stared for a moment, breathing heavily. There was no sound coming from the bed.

Nervously, she dropped to all fours and crawled to look under it. She pushed aside her toys and peered in, looking to see where Bundy had gone...

A tattered face loomed suddenly from the shadows, and Leah screamed.

Roughly five seconds later the door burst open and the Doctor rushed in, alert. Leah instantly scrambled to her feet and spun around to meet him.

He frowned, looking at her standing there looking innocently up at him. "You all right?"

"Fine!" Leah said happily.

He raised an eyebrow, looking around the room for a moment before looking back at her.

"You're up to something," he stated.

"No, nothing," Leah insisted, still smiling.

"Seriously, you've been hiding from us for the last couple of weeks... What's going on?"

Leah sighed, already knowing he wasn't going to go away. "I can't say."

"Well, that's not worrying," he said sarcastically, dropping to one knee to her level.

"Please, Daddy, trust me. I'm gonna sort it out."

"Can I help?"

"No," she said quickly. "I have to sort it out by myself."

He looked extremely unconvinced, but thankfully conceded. "Okay. Get washed and changed and I'll come say goodnight."

He got up, and made to turn and leave.

"Wait!" Leah said suddenly, running to him and grabbing his leg.

"What?"

"Can you stay until I'm ready?"

That frown appeared again. "Leah..."

"Sorting it," she insisted. "Please stay."

"Well... fine," the Doctor said. "You go and get changed and I'll pick a book."

Leah nodded happily, and bounced off into the bathroom. When she returned her Daddy was sitting on the bed with a book in hand.

"This okay?" he asked, holding up 'Where's My Teddy'.

Leah nodded, jumping onto bed and drawing the covers up to her nose. The Doctor opened the book and began to read.

"One day I could not find my teddy! I looked all over my bedroom, but she was nowhere to be found! So I went to the living room and asked Mummy where my teddy could be. Mummy smiled and held up a teddy. 'Is this your teddy?' she asked. But its paws were too woolly! 'That's not my teddy!' I replied. 'Try asking Daddy!' she told me, so I went to find Daddy."

He frowned a little, checking the front cover of the book. "Maybe this one's a little young for you..."

"No!" Leah insisted. "Please read it."

"Well, okay," the Doctor said, opening it again.

"I went to the kitchen and asked Daddy where my teddy could be. Daddy smiled and held up a teddy. 'Is this your teddy?' he asked. But its nose was too squishy! 'That's not my teddy!' I replied. 'Try asking Granny!' he told me, so I went to find Granny."

He paused again, and looked at her. "Are you sure you want me to read this? I'd be happy with Harry Potter."

"Read it!" Leah insisted again, a little annoyed now.

"Fine," the Doctor replied, and looked at the book again.

"I went to the garden and asked Granny where my teddy could be. Granny smiled and held up a teddy. 'Is this your teddy?' she asked. But its ears were too bendy! 'That's not my teddy!' I replied. 'Try asking your brother!' she told me, so I went to find my brother.

"I went to the study and asked my brother where my teddy could be. My brother smiled and held up a teddy. 'Is this your teddy?' he asked. But its eyes were too shiny! 'That's not my teddy!' I replied. 'Try asking your other toys!' he told me, so I went to find my other toys.

"I went to my bedroom and asked my toys where my teddy could be. They smiled and held up a teddy. 'Is this your teddy?' they asked. Its paws were not woolly, its nose was not squishy, its ears were not bendy and its eyes were not shiny. 'Yes!' I said. It was my teddy, and I was very glad to have her back! The end."

He looked at Leah, and she was nearly half asleep. He leant forward to kiss her forehead, tucking her in. Then he caught sight of something down the side of the bed. He reached down to take it, and drew out a very bedraggled looking bear that somehow seemed strangely familiar.

He shrugged it off, getting up off of the bed and putting the book back on the shelf before quietly slipping out the door with the bear still in hand, the light switching off automatically as he closed the door behind him.

He made his way back to the living room, where Rose was sat curled up under a blanket. He dropped down next to her and gave her the teddy.

"Yours to fix," he said as she took it. She looked at the bear for a moment, frowning slightly before shrugging it off and putting it on the side to fix later. She looked at him and held out an arm to draw him in, snuggling up against him and pulling the blanket over them both. It had been a week since the accident now, and with the Doctor's osteo-regenerator working its magic Rose's broken bones were very nearly healed.

"If you want sex, I'm really too tired," the Doctor told her seriously.

"Maybe because you haven't eaten, drank or slept for four days," Rose told him seriously.

"Please don't," he muttered.

"Seriously, the eatin' I could handle, I get that. But sleepin' and drinkin' has cropped up now too and that's really worryin' me, yeah? You've had less energy than... Than a snail on sleeping pills."

"Nice metaphor," the Doctor complemented tiredly.

"Doctor, I'm serious. This isn't good for you, yeah? You need to stand up to your dad, this is gonna kill you."

He closed his eyes and rolled his head back against the sofa. "I... I can't do that."

"Why not?" Rose asked.

"Please, really don't want to talk about it right now," he said in a murmur as his eyes slipped closed...

He jerked awake again in seconds, blinking erratically. He was beyond exhausted, but he had to stay awake. He wasn't going to eat or drink until his father did. So he would continue with this. Indefinitely, if he had too.

Two weeks passed, and the TARDIS still ill. Rose was beginning to get a bit bored of staying in one place, though frankly with the state the Doctor was in she wouldn't put all her faith in him flying the TARDIS anywhere. He hadn't had any food, drink or sleep for nearly three weeks now, and it was beginning to show. He was becoming forgetful and irritable, he would be in the middle of a sentence and suddenly forget what he was saying. It was so unlike him it was absolutely terrifying.

They went into Torchwood as the Doctor needed some more syringes. He and Rose found Martha in the medical bay, just about to start an autopsy on an alien.

She looked up on their entry, and smiled. "Hello!"

"Martha, have you got..." the Doctor suddenly paused, frowning slightly. "The... things. Umm... you know."

"I don't?" Martha queried.

"The... things... You know!" he suddenly burst out, annoyed.

"He wants a new batch of syringes," Rose said gently.

"Oh, of course," Martha said with a smile, moving to the drawer and pulling them out, then handing them to the Doctor. She regarded him for a moment. He was looking very pale and weak, his eyes not quite focusing on what he was looking at.

He gazed through the syringes for a moment, before suddenly raising his head up and nodding. "Thanks," he said, and trudged out the door back to the TARDIS.

"He really doesn't seem very well," Martha muttered.

"I know," Rose replied, sighing. "His dad's stopped him eatin' and drinkin'. A bit ago he stopped him sleepin' too."

Martha's jaw dropped. "Why?"

"Apparently Time Lords don't need to. His dad yells at him when he tries to do any of them."

"He's got a mind of his own, hasn't he?" Martha wondered a little sarcastically. "His dad can't control him."

Rose pursed her lips, neither confirming nor denying anything.

"What?" Martha asked.

"... Did you ever have a teacher at school who was so imposing you'd just do everything they'd say?"

"He's scared of him?" Martha realised.

"Yeah," Rose replied, nodding. "And he's tryin' to get on his good side."

"How long has it been since he had something to eat or drink?"

"It's been a week now," Rose muttered.

"This isn't a small thing, Rose," Martha told her seriously. "If he doesn't get some food or water or sleep... He's going to be in serious trouble. Even if he is a Time Lord this is nothing small."

"I know," Rose said with a sigh. "It's so complicated, he's tryin' to please his dad and he's hatin' every second. He practically been banned from the kitchen. Every time I try to give him somethin' his dad appears and I have to hide it."

"Are you going to stand up to his dad or what?" Martha demanded.

"I know I should," Rose said with another sigh. "It's scary seein' him like this. It's really not like him. He's completely changed since his parents arrived, but I know all he wants to do is please his dad and I really don't want to wreck that for him, he's just gettin' somewhere and he'd never forgive me for ruinin' it."

Martha fixed her with a stare. "Sorry if I'm going to sound callous, but he's already walking around in a haze. Another week and it could be terminal. His body is used to eating like a human now, and he's used to sleeping every night. He can't just suddenly change that or there's going to be serious sides effects. You're seeing it now. He has to eat something and it's no business of his father's. Promise me you'll make him eat something."

Rose swallowed.

"Promise me," Martha insisted.

"I promise," Rose replied, nodding.

Night drew in, and Rose came out of the kitchen holding a tray of food a drink. She checked the corridor for any sign of Ulysses, but he was nowhere to be seen. She darted across the corridor and into the living area where the Doctor was, lying on the sofa curled in on himself staring sightlessly at the TV.

"Doctor?" Rose began gently. He looked up, and instantly saw the tray of food and drink. His eyes widened.

"Here." She gave the tray to him, and he stared at it in complete disbelief as if he was being given the Holy Grail. "He's not around."

The Doctor quickly grabbed the tray, and began tearing packets open to throw things down his throat like hungry lion who'd just been given the world biggest zebra carcass. Rose kept glancing at the door as he ate. She didn't know why she was so nervous of Ulysses. He seemed to carry an air of authority about him... Or maybe that was an air of fear.

Finally she resigned to herself and sank into the sofa, watching her husband. She had stacked the tray high and he was already nearly halfway through it.

"Theta!" Ulysses' voice roared suddenly from behind them and the Doctor froze. "What are you doing?"

"Father, I..." the Doctor began, glancing between his father and Rose. "I was just..."

"I thought I told you not to do that!" Ulysses roared.

Rose watched the Doctor as he seemed to shrink where he sat. A little boy told off by his father for breaking a window with his football. Then she decided she'd had enough. She got up and strode over to Ulysses, arms folded.

"You say you want what's best for him so let him eat and drink! He hasn't for weeks! He's dehydrated, malnourished and sleep deprived!"

Ulysses looked down at her with a look that seemed to regard her as some kind of worm. "Time Lords do not need..."

"I don't care what Time Lords don't need!" Rose screamed in his face. "He's my husband, the father of my children and he needs to eat, sleep and drink! I made him food, now he's gonna eat it, and then he's going to bed!"

"You don't know anything, human," Ulysses spat. "I know my race and I know my son, and eating, sleeping and drinking so much is making him ill!"

"Just look at him!" Rose yelled, gesturing to the Doctor sat there, transfixed. "Does he look healthy to you? He's pale and weak and I know he's trying so hard to please you but he just can't go on like this! You're gonna end up killing him!"

Ulysses looked very uninterested, shoving her roughly aside to go to his son. Rose hit the floor from the shove, absolutely winded. The Doctor suddenly lurched into action, getting to his feet and going to Rose.

"Are you okay?" he asked gently.

She nodded, accepting his help to her feet.

"Let me talk to him," the Doctor said gently to her.

She nodded again, giving a quick kiss before moving out of the door.

The Doctor turned to Ulysses, suddenly alight with rage. "Don't you dare touch her again."

"Oh come on, Theta," Ulysses reprimanded. "You know I'm right!"

"Actually, Father," the Doctor began insincerely. "I don't think you're right. I think you're incredibly wrong. Rose is right, and I don't know why I was trying to please you so much but I'm done with it. You can take your Time Lord biology and shove it."

Ulysses looked aghast. "You dare insult my intelligence, Theta?"

The Doctor stood his ground, his fists clenched. "Maybe I just grew up to be cleverer than you could ever dream of being!"

"Oh my god!" Rose shrieked as Ulysses reappeared a few minutes later supporting the Doctor, who looked barely awake, bruised around his eyes with a bloody nose. "What the hell..."

"It all happened so fast!" Ulysses said quickly, his eyes wide. "We were angry, then suddenly he lurched out at me, slipped and hit the table!"

"Doctor?" Rose breathed, somehow not really believing that as she took hold of him, gazing into his watery blackened eyes. "What happened?"

"I think I fell over," the Doctor murmured, dazed.

"Infirmary, right now," Rose demanded, eyeing Ulysses suspiciously. The older Time Lord made to follow, eager to help, but Rose held up her hand. "Not you," she spat.

Ulysses simply sighed and nodded, stepping back before Rose escorted the Doctor to the infirmary.

"There we go," Rose said as she mopped up the last of the blood from around his nose as his sat on the edge of a bed holding a pack of ice to his face. "It's not broken."

"Well, that's something," the Doctor supposed, a little more alert now.

"What really happened?" Rose wondered, pulling the ice pack from his face. He had a small cut on the bridge of his nose and the bruising around his eyes but nothing more.

"My father told you."

"It's okay, he's not around here," Rose whispered gently to him. "Tell me what happened."

"You know. I went to hit him pretty hard after he started yelling at me and he dodged. Since I had my entire body weight behind the punch, I fell forward pretty heavily and smacked my face into the coffee table, knocking myself out in the process," the Doctor explained, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Really?" Rose asked, frowning.

"Yep," the Doctor replied.

She could tell he wasn't lying.

"I've never seen you punch anyone before," Rose mused.

"Well, this is what it looks like," he said, gesturing at his face.

Rose laughed. "I can't even imagine you punchin' anyone. You must've really lost control."

"It's a bit of a haze," the Doctor admitted. "But I was so angry at him. I'm surprised I didn't tear him limb from limb. It was the fact he shoved you that got me going and everything from there on in just got me angrier."

Rose nodded, and then began laughing at herself. "Oh god, I thought for a minute he'd hit you, there."

"He might as well have," the Doctor joked, gesturing at his face again. "I'm an idiot."

"Not all the time," Rose assured him, kissing him gently. "Now come to bed and get some sleep."

The Doctor shifted uncomfortably. "But..."

"Doctor, we're done with that now. You're going to bed, then when you wake up I am makin' you a full English Breakfast, then I'm gonna watch you eat it, and I'm not gonna be satisfied until I see every last drip of egg mopped up off of the plate, yeah?"

He sighed. "Fine."

She grinned and kissed him. "Good. I won't ask for sex until tomorrow."

A/N: Severe Doctor whumpage incoming...