Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who
A/N: *peeks out* Hi…long time no see. I'll be honest…there's a reason this has taken so long to update, beyond just being busy or not having the motivation. It took a while for me to even admit this to myself, but between the hiatus, and not really liking where the show was going, and getting into other shows and movie franchises…I think I've lost a lot of my interest in Doctor Who. I'm still a Whovian, but not as much as I once was. I do plan on finishing this story, and my other fanfic, but it is going to take a while.
Nightmare in Silver – Part Three
Clara was understandably reluctant to leave Angie and Artie alone with the Planner/Doctor, even though he was tied up. Laura agreed to keep an eye on things in the throne room whilst Charlotte and Clara went to inform the soldiers, including the captain, of the newest developments. Now that she'd actually seen a Cyberman, Ferrin was much more willing to listen to them. "Apparently there are more Cybermen on the way" Clara told her.
"The anti-Cyber gun has about a dozen shots left before it needs to recharge" Ferrin explained.
"Yeah, unfortunately, there might be more than a dozen Cybermen" Charlotte sighed.
Clara pointed up at the wall of the battlements, at a thick cable hanging down against the bricks. "What's that cable for?" she wondered.
"Power line for the park" replied Porridge. Clara turned to Charlotte and asked her, "What would happen if we unhooked the end, dropped it into the moat and turned it on".
"It'd electrify the water, fry whatever stepped in".
"Can Cybermen fly?"
"No, but they're adaptive. Hmm…" Charlotte looked thoughtful, "Maybe we could put someone up a tower as a sniper?" she suggested.
"I'll see what I can do" Ferrin announced, striding over to two of the soldiers whilst Charlotte and Clara went to help drop the cable into the moat, and raise the drawbridge. Soon they had they two best snipers up in the two tallest towers, five soldiers wearing those hand-pulsers, the gun was mounted behind sandbags in front of the wall opposite the doors. They were ready…at least, they really hoped they were.
Whilst they waited, the soldiers cooked up some hot soup. Angie and Artie came out to join them in the courtyard; it was really because they were getting creeped out by the Doctor/Planner playing chess by himself and muttering under his breath…Angie insisted it was just because she was bored. Clara let them stay, but insisted that they had to go and hide as soon as word came from the sentries that the Cybermen were approaching.
Porridge ladled some of the mixed vegetable soup…which vegetables, they didn't know…into a soup cup. "There, get that in you. Warm you up" he said, handing it to Clara with a smile.
"Oh, thank you, Porridge" she smiled in return…she was just about to take a sip when the Doctor called for her from the castle. Clara rolled her eyes and lowered the cup; but then Charlotte handed her cup to Laura and stood up, saying "It's okay, I'll go. Call me if there's trouble".
"Right" Clara nodded.
Charlotte walked into the throne room and strode over to the Doctor, who looked up from his chess set. She saw a flicker of surprise…and what she thought was annoyance pass over his face, before it settled on a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Hey, Charlotte…I thought Clara was coming. Never mind. What's our weapons strength?" he inquired curiously.
"I don't discuss assets with the enemy" she answered coolly, folding her arms.
"I'm not your enemy, Charlotte".
"Oh, not usually, but you're not exactly yourself right now. You're wasting your time anyway…Clara has the trigger unit, not me".
"Trigger unit? You mean for the bomb, the one that makes the planet go all…" he mimed something going boom.
"Implodes it, actually…but you knew that already. Don't play dumb, Planner, it doesn't suit you".
"No, no, don't worry. The Cyber-Planner's hibernating between moves right now".
"Oh, please. You're in the Doctor's head, you have access to his memories. You know that he knows that I know that you're not him".
"Charlotte, I'm telling you, I am the Doctor" he insisted.
Charlotte rolled her eyes, and decided, "This is getting old. Only one way to be sure"- she made to slap him, but he shot his left hand out and grabbed her right wrist, gripping it tight enough to twist the skin. Charlotte winced in pain and tried to prise his fingers away.
"You are a very troublesome girl" the Planner glared at her, "I'll upgrade you first".
She thought fast and quickly pinched the skin on his arm. He pulled his hand away from her wrist and rubbed the sore spot, pouting.
"Ow! That hurt!"
"This hurt!" Charlotte snapped, gesturing to her wrist. His fingers had left marks…when the Doctor noticed them, he blanched and looked guilty.
"Oh, Charlotte, I'm so sorry".
"Don't apologise, it's not your fault" she rolled her eyes, "It just stings. He wanted to break the trigger unit, didn't he?"
"Yeah, he did…but Clara has it. That means they'll go after her" the Doctor said worriedly.
"I'm pretty sure they're going after all of us. Clara will be fine…now come on, you've got a chess game to win" she smiled encouragingly, before turning and walking away. She only made it halfway across the room when she heard him chuckle sinisterly behind her. Charlotte paused and looked over her shoulder to remark, "You know, Cybermen aren't supposed to laugh. What's so funny?"
The Planner gave her an almost predatory grin and sing-songed, "Good news, boys and girls…they're almost here!"
Charlotte broke into a run; she dashed out of the throne room and joined her friends, as well as the captain and Porridge, up on the battlements. Stretched out before them, marching inexorably towards the castle, were hundreds of Cybermen. Shiny, fresh out of hibernation Cybermen, to be more precise; their chances didn't exactly look good. "What did he want?" Clara asked as Charlotte was catching her breath from the sprint.
"It was the other one – he wanted to break the trigger unit. Clara, you've got the trigger for the bomb, so you're gonna be more of a target. Just so you know".
Clara blinked several times. "Not sure I wanted to know that".
"We need to use the bomb" Ferrin insisted, "We have to! We cannot fight all of these!"
"How do you suggest we get off the planet first?" Charlotte demanded, "They're between us and the TARDIS!"
"That isn't my concern; my concern is protecting the empire".
"Hey, you might be willing to martyr yourself, but we're not!"
Laura turned to Porridge and asked, "Do you any way we could escape? We have to do something".
The little man hesitated…in truth, he did know how they could all safely get away, but it would mean revealing his identity….then he peered out over the ramparts, standing on some upturned boxes, and realised how foolish he was. He ran away from the empire, but if he didn't act, if they didn't swiftly end this threat, there would end up being no empire to go back to. He didn't want to have to blow up another galaxy.
So he gulped, and nodded. "I know a way. We need everyone in one place, and we'll need the bomb" he explained, climbing down from the crates and hurrying as fast as he could for the stairs.
"Wait, what about the Doctor?" asked Clara, as they followed Porridge back to the courtyard, "He's still got a Cyber-thing in his head".
There was a sound of firing, two whistling energy blasts, and two screams, one after the other. Ferrin marched over with the bomb, soldiers in tow, face stony. "We just lost the sentries. What do we need to do?"
"Come on inside, we need everyone nearby".
"Does anyone have one of those hand-pulse thingies?" asked Charlotte. Brains held one up, and she took it from him. Once they were inside the throne room, where Clara had sent Angie and Artie for their safety, the Doctor looked up from his chessboard and asked, "What's going on?"
Without answering, Charlotte strode over to him and asked bluntly, "Do you want me to hit you?"
"No – Ow!" he cried, rubbing his sore cheek when she slapped him hard anyway, "What was that for?"
"Peace of mind. Get your sonic out, hurry!"
The Doctor tried to move his arm and pull the sonic from his pocket…and found that he couldn't move it. "He's…argh…got control of the right arm!"
"Well, take it back, it's your body!"
"Charlotte, if it was that easy, I wouldn't be in this mess!"
"Eh, true" she conceded, and stepped forwards, intending to pull out the sonic from his pocket herself.
"Stay back!" he shouted, and she jumped backwards, staring at him with wide eyes. "Sorry…" he ground out, shifting his arm with herculean effort and pulling out the sonic. Then he held out his hand, and she quickly placed the hand-pulser on his palm, making sure it was upside down. The Doctor groaned with the effort of winning the battle of wills, slammed the device against the cybernetic implants on his cheek, and switched on the sonic.
He jerked like he'd been electrocuted – perhaps he had been – and slumped in his seat, unresponsive, much to the alarm of everyone watching. "Doctor?!" Clara exclaimed, rushing forward to see if he was okay, and Charlotte was moving to lift his head – only for him to suddenly sit up, the implants burned away, grinning like a madman.
"Checkmate!"
Clara, Laura and Charlotte sagged in relief. "Err, there's still an army of Cybermen out to get us" Clara pointed out as she hurried to help Charlotte tug the ropes around the Doctor loose.
"Porridge, you said you know a way out" said Laura, and all eyes turned to the small man. He nodded and turned to Ferrin, holding his arms out for the bomb she was holding.
With a raised eyebrow, she gave it to him, and remarked "I could have activated it. I know the verbal passcode".
"So do I, but it isn't keyed to alert the Imperial Flagship to your location at the sound of your voice" Porridge pointed out.
The Doctor scoffed a bit, seemingly oblivious, and asked, "What, and it is for yours?"
"Well, duh" Angie rolled her eyes, "He's the Emperor, isn't he? Oh, come on. It's obvious. He looks exactly like he does on the coin, and on the waxwork, except they made him a bit taller, but look, am I the only one paying attention to anything around here?"
"You are full of surprises" Clara smiled at her proudly.
"What are you waiting for?" Ferrin asked Porridge, who shook his head and replied, "I don't want to be Emperor. If I activate that bomb, it's all over".
"And if you don't, three million Cybermen will spread across the galaxy" the Doctor pointed out, "Isn't that worth dying for?"
"Let him finish" Charlotte insisted, adding to Porridge, "But please hurry. We kinda don't want to be killed".
"The bomb, the throne, it's all connected. I just have to say this is Emperor Ludens Nimrod Kendrick, called Longstaff the forty first, the Defender of Humanity, Imperator of known space. Activate the Desolator. And it's done".
The bomb beeped, and began to count down; there was a loud crash from outside. The Cybermen had arrived. "It'll blow in about eighty seconds" Porridge, or Emperor Kendrick rather, said as he got to his feet, "Easily long enough for the Imperial Flagship to locate me from my identification, warp jump into orbit, and transmat us to the State Room".
Everything seemed to warp and shift, and then they were somewhere else, an opulent and high tech spaceship. "Oh yeah, nice ship" the Doctor nodded appreciatively, "Bit big, not blue enough. Listen, there is a large blue box at coordinates six ultra-nineteen P. I need it transmatted up here right away" he told Porridge quickly.
"Right, did you get that?" the Emperor asked, looking over from his throne like seat. The officer nodded and manipulated the controls; the TARDIS appeared in a shimmer of light. Everyone stared out of the shielded windows at the planet far below, and Porridge sighed, "And that's that. Seventy six, seventy seven, seventy eight, seventy nine…" The planet exploded with a loud boom, the shockwave powerful enough to jerk the spaceship and send them all stumbling for a moment.
"Farewell, Cyberiad" Porridge sighed, "You know, it was good to get away. Good to be a person and not to be lonely, or Emperor of a thousand galaxies with everyone waiting for me to tell them what to do".
"Can't you run away again?" asked Angie. She'd never admit it, but she'd grown rather fond of the man; he was funny. Well, Clara's boyfriend was funny too, but in more of a weird way.
"They'll be keeping a close eye on me this time" Porridge told her, "That's what happens when you're Emperor. Loneliest job in the universe".
"You don't have to be lonely" said Clara, and he smiled at her, getting to his feet and walking over to her.
"I don't" he agreed, before taking her hand and asking something that floored her. "Clara, will you marry me?"
"What?"
"He said"- Artie began, but Angie cut him off. "She heard what he said".
"You're smart and you're beautiful, and I've never met anyone like you before….ah, no offence to you, ladies" he added graciously to Laura and Charlotte.
"None taken" they replied in unison.
Porridge looked up at a blushing, flattered and embarrassed Clara. "And being Emperor won't be as hard if you're by my side. And you'd rule a thousand galaxies" he told her.
Of course, the Doctor couldn't keep his thoughts to himself. "This sounds like an actual marriage proposal" he remarked, "Tricky. Now, if you want my advice"-
Clara just shot him a look and said, "You, not one word. This is between me and the Emperor". When he nodded and stepped back, she looked at Porridge and smiled apologetically. "Porridge… I don't want to rule a thousand galaxies" Clara declined; he sighed and let go of her hand.
"Yeah; silly of me" he nodded.
"I'm really sorry".
"But that's stupid" Angie protested, "You could be Queen of the universe. How can you say no to that? When someone asks you if you want to be Queen of the universe, you say yes. You watch. One day, I'll be Queen of the universe" she declared with a smug smile.
Porridge sat once more in his throne, and remarked, "Of course, I could have you all executed, which is what a proper Emperor would do".
"That's what a dictator would do" said Charlotte, "And you're not a dictator. You're too nice" she smiled at Porridge.
"Actually, there is such a thing as benevolent dictatorships, and they're typically…" the Doctor quickly stopped his lecture when Charlotte, Clara, Laura and even the kids gave him pointed, bored or confused looks.
Porridge chuckled and waved them away. "Go on, get out of here, you five, before I change my mind" he joked.
The Doctor, his companions and the kids headed towards the TARDIS; Ferrin suddenly stepped forward and exclaimed, "Wait!" They paused and looked back at her; she looked at Charlotte and said, "Thank you. You saved my life".
Charlotte smiled brightly; she stood straight and gave a salute, which Ferrin returned. "You're welcome. Bye!"
/
When they were all in the TARDIS, the Doctor turned to Charlotte and apologised, "I'm sorry about your arm".
She just chuckled and replied, "I'm sorry about your face…and I'm sorry for being so snarky with you" she added to Angie. To be honest, she still thought the girl was in serious need of an attitude readjustment, but Charlotte had to remember that she could be just as insufferable and as the adult, she ought to be the bigger person.
Angie shrugged, not meeting her eyes. "'S'okay…I guess I was being kind of rude. Clara must have some reason to be friends with you, so…I guess I can trust her" she acknowledged reluctantly. Deciding it was the closest thing she was going to get to a change of heart, Charlotte nodded, accepting the apology.
Artie stepped forward and shook the Doctor's hand. "Thank you for having me. It was very interesting" he smiled. It was amazing how the boy could shrug off all the danger and focus on the brand new experience – he'd make a good explorer.
"My pleasure" the Doctor smiled back, "Thank you for coming; and you" he added to Angie, shaking her hand as well.
"Sorry I said this box was stupid" she said, before following her brother out the door.
"Bye".
"Bye, thanks Clara" Artie called back.
"Thanks, Clara's boyfriend" added Angie. Clara looked mortified at that, the Doctor looked confused; his other two companions were trying and failing to hold back snickers.
Once she'd gotten over her embarrassment – honestly, just because the Doctor had his arm around her shoulders in two of the pictures – Clara turned to the Doctor and smiled. "Thank you, Doctor".
"For what?"
"Kids day out" she answered, adding to Charlotte and Laura, "Though we could have had advanced warning".
"Sorry, Clara" Laura apologised.
Charlotte shrugged and pointed out, "Still, everything worked out in the end, thank goodness. Good night, Clara".
"Good night. See you guys next Wednesday" she smiled, heading for the door.
"Well, a Wednesday, definitely" the Doctor agreed vaguely, "Next Wednesday, last Wednesday…one of the Wednesdays".
Clara shook her head at him, waved to her friends and left. Charlotte and Laura headed off to their own rooms, to rest and chat before the next adventure…the Doctor stayed in the console room, fiddling with the scanner and bringing the images of the three Clara's up on the screen. What was she?
/
A/N: A lot of the following section, which was meant to be its own separate chapter, was inspired by a PM conversation with jg16395. Any ideas that are credited by my character to 'Jane Green' are actually their ideas, and Jane is a pseudonym. Sharon is a pseudonym for another Whovian friend of mine. As for when it takes place, like with most of the breather chapters, it's at an indeterminate point between the episodes.
Midnight Talk
Charlotte turned over, shoving her pillows into a lump under her head…then she fidgeted and kicked the covers down, tugged them back up again, rolled over. With a frustrated moan, she reached out and picked up the glass of water on her bedside table, taking a sip and flopping back down on the pillows. At long last she fell back asleep, but it seemed like only five minutes before her body demanded attention. Heaving a sigh, Charlotte pulled herself out of the warm covers and padded barefoot over to the door that led to her en-suite bathroom.
She couldn't face going back to bed and trying to sleep…for whatever reason, it just wasn't happening. It probably didn't help that earlier that day, she'd been shot with a stun gun…which was miles better than being shot by a real gun, but she'd still had a few choice words for the guy who fired at her when she woke up. The problem wasn't a lack of exhaustion; it was just that her mind was far too full for sleep to be an option right now.
Putting on her slippers and dressing gown, she pulled open the door to her room and stepped out into the corridor. She felt an urge to talk to someone, but she knew Laura would be sleeping like a log, so that left one other option. Almost as soon as she'd thought of it, the dimly lit corridor slowly grew brighter, but only on one side. Charlotte smiled at the ceiling, whispered "Thanks", and followed the lights.
They led her to the library, and she hesitated. What if the Doctor was busy? Then she shook her head and ventured inside…he probably wouldn't mind. The library was so vast that it took her a while to find him…he was sitting on a plush settee, still in his clothes and reading a novel. He didn't look up as she approached, so she cleared her throat, and he started. "Hey" she said quietly, hovering a few feet away from the settee.
"Oh, hey…what's wrong?" he asked. Charlotte just shrugged, and he guessed, "Can't you sleep?"
She shook her head and finally moved to sit beside him. "I…um…are you busy?"
"Not anymore" he replied, setting the novel aside. It must have been a good book for him to be reading it properly and not speed-reading it, but she couldn't see the title from there. He looked at her expectantly, and she fidgeted, the words getting stuck in her throat. So much for wanting to talk to someone. Charlotte sighed and explained, "I just…have a lot on my mind right now".
"Like?" the Doctor prompted gently.
"…I'm trying to think of…what I'm gonna do when I get home" she explained, "I mean, with my life. I didn't really…have any idea before the whole, getting sucked into a different dimension thing….and I just, I have this feeling that it'll be over soon, the adventures. It was hard enough figuring out what to do with my life before this, but now, I'm gonna be going insane".
"Oh, so it's my fault then, is it?" he asked jokingly; Charlotte gave his shoulder a half-hearted swat and muttered, "I didn't say that. I just…don't know what I'm gonna do. I'm worried about the future, that's why I can't sleep. It doesn't help that I don't really know when I'm getting home…I mean, I trust you to find our universe, and I feel like you're gonna do it soon, but that's all it is, a feeling. Real life is gonna be…difficult, after all this".
"It doesn't have to be" he told her quietly, "Everyone's worried about the future, Charlotte, but it's going to come whether we want it to or not. You might as well take it head on, and you can do anything. You're capable, intelligent, determined…you'll figure out what you want to do and you will be amazing" he smiled proudly.
Charlotte buried her blushing face in her hands. "You are so embarrassing…thanks".
"You're welcome….was there anything else bothering you?"
She hesitated. "Uh, well…since I'm here…do you, um, mind if I ask you…something kinda personal?"
A small frown creased the Doctor's brow as he remarked, "Define 'personal'".
"You don't have to answer it".
"…Go on then. What did you want to ask me?"
"Don't take this the wrong way, but…" she took a deep breath and asked, "Do you ever feel like you're damaged?"
He didn't respond at first, but simply frowned – not angrily, more like he was considering it. At last he replied, "It depends on what you mean by 'damaged'".
"I mean…you've gotta admit, you've been through a lot of sh- stuff the last twelve hundred years" she pointed out, "That would mess anyone up. Besides, the only way you seem to deal with it all is just by….running, metaphorically speaking, and that's not really a solution, it's more like a cry for help".
The Doctor didn't say anything for a few minutes. At length, he shrugged and pointed out, less than helpfully, "Well in the words of Kelly Clarkson, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger".
Charlotte glowered slightly and swatted his shoulder again. "I'm serious. All my friends…well, the ones who watch your show, at least – we all agree that you have, well, issues. Emotional baggage, lots of skeletons in the closet, etc".
"Everyone has those".
"Yeah, everyone has a dark side…except maybe Laura…but most people don't have an evil alter-ego, let alone two" Charlotte said pointedly, "Which doesn't really help matters. I mean, no offence, but you really need to see a psychologist, or a therapist or something".
"I have met psychologists" he insisted, "Loads of 'em. Freud, Carl Jung, Pavlov, his dogs were lovely, very well behaved" the Doctor reminisced.
"I can't imagine why" Charlotte retorted sarcastically, before asking, "Did they all tell you that you were messed up as well?"
"Actually, I usually ended up giving them advice. Usually about how to deal with aliens masquerading as patients…Freud and I had quite the adventure trying to deal with this rogue shapeshifter that fed on feelings of depression. It was in 1937, and I'd just landed in"-
"Are you trying to avoid the subject?" Charlotte asked suspiciously.
"What? No…well…look, what made you bring this up all of a sudden?"
She shrugged. "I've been thinking about it for a while….like I said, my friends and I used to talk about this kind of stuff all the time. It just…never seemed like the right time to bring it up".
"And you think…" the Doctor checked his watch, "that a quarter past midnight is a good time?"
"You never sleep anyway".
"Yes, but you do, and you look tired" he said gently.
"I'm fine" she replied stubbornly, dragging a hand over her face, "And besides, you haven't answered my question".
"Which one?" he inquired.
"The first one, the personal…err…on second thoughts, maybe not, you don't have to answer if you"-
"No, hold on. If you really want to have this conversation...then I suppose, the answer is yes. I do sometimes feel like that...but I think anyone can sometimes feel like that. I think what you really mean is whether I think I really am damaged. Let me ask you this, Charlotte – do you think I'm damaged?" he challenged, turning the question back at her.
"I…" she hesitated, not sure what to say. Part of her wanted to bluntly say "Yes", another part wanted to say "No"….at last she gathered herself and replied, "I just don't see how you could go through so much, for so long, without going insane. More insane" she teased a bit, before finishing, "I mean, just from the…the War, you have survivor's guilt and probably PTSD, add that to all the stuff you went through before then…I mean, you've kind of being going darker since your sixth incarnation" she mused, building up a head of steam.
"You were a bit more violent as Six, more manipulative as Seven, and as Eight – well, you were used as a punching bag by the universe, and got amnesia on top of it all….it's no wonder you eventually snapped and went all Time Lord Victorious. In fact, it's a wonder it took until your tenth incarnation for that to happen…at least, that's the first time I can remember it happening. I'm just….I'm worried about you. I'm afraid that if you don't deal with these issues and this…darkness, one day it's gonna take you over and you'll….you won't be you anymore".
The Doctor smiled sadly at her and pulled her into a hug. "Don't worry about me" he murmured, resting his chin on the top of her head as she rested it on his shoulder, "It may not seem like it, but I do have better coping mechanisms than just 'running'. I'm not telling you what they are, though" he smirked at her, before adding "Besides, Time Lords are more equipped to deal with traumatic experiences. When your natural lifespan lasts for centuries, you have to be able to cope with a lot. I've dealt with more than most, to be fair, but I can still cope".
"I guess being an alien would help" Charlotte agreed, pulling away to look at him, "I dunno, I guess I wanted to help as well".
"You do help, Charlotte" he smiled at her, "My friends always help".
She smiled back. "Well, then you're welcome. Um…since we're talking about this sort of stuff anyway, I was wondering…is one of the reasons you like having companions because…you don't like being alone? I mean, cos I got the impression you were sort of lonely as a kid, bit of an outcast, and my friend Sharon thinks that's why you like having people around so much. She said something really nice, you know, I remember her saying that you going through all…well, everything, and still be able to love and have hope and just…be happy, it's inspiring", she smiled, "How strong you are".
The Doctor smiled back, touched. "Thank you…and tell your friend thank you, when you see her".
"Yeah, soon as she's got over the shock that I'm not dead" Charlotte laughed. She preferred to make light of that particular situation, since the alternative was thinking about it seriously and that made her want to cry. "You might be a jerk sometimes, but your our jerk….and best Time Lord" she told him with a grin, before leaning over to peck him on the cheek.
"Best Time Lord, eh?" he grinned back, amused, "I should get that on a t-shirt. So who's the best Doctor?" he inquired.
"I'm not answering that" Charlotte refused, "If you want to know my favourite….well, if you must know, it's you, but don't let that go to your head" she warned.
"Wouldn't dream of it" he promised, "So, you and your friends used to talk about me, did you? What else did you talk about?"
"Hmmm…Jane had this whole theory about how you secretly have a split personality".
"I do" he nodded, and her eyes widened in surprise. Then the Doctor finished, "Eleven of them, to be exact", and smirked. It took her a second to get the joke, but then she burst out giggling and gave him a playful shove.
"Ha, very funny!" she laughed, "But I'm serious, she told me this whole idea she'd had that you…like, you were born with a split personality, with a…I guess a dominant 'good' personality, and a 'bad' personality that you keep suppressed, except it manifests itself in the form of avatars like the Dream Lord and the Valeyard. She reckons that your real name – the one you can't tell anyone – actually refers to both personalities, so you denounced it to try and distance yourself from the dark personality, but you still have to fight it off because it keeps trying to take over, like one of those psychological horror movies".
The Doctor stared at her for a few long moments. "Is this how you and your friends spent your time? Sitting around making up wild conspiracy theories about me?"
Charlotte giggled again. "They're not conspiracy…oh, who am I kidding? Can you blame us, though? Speaking of conspiracies, I can't believe I didn't think to ask this sooner…but does it ever bother you that the silurians make, like, no sense?"
"I think that's the fifth time you've said 'like' in the past three minutes".
"Shut up. I mean…okay, so the Silurians evolved on Earth before humans, and they all hid underground when they thought a meteorite was gonna hit Earth, but it was really the moon. That implies that for billions of years, the Earth had no moon, and the moon is important! It controls the tides, and it protects us from actual meteorites – if it weren't for the moon, there'd be a lot more craters on Earth, and the Silurians might not have evolved in the first place!
"Then there's the chronology; I mean, they're supposed to have hunted primitive hominids, but when the moon finally decided to show up, some of the Silurians went off into space with dinosaurs. Dinosaurs! I mean, what were they doing, hunting on the backs of raptors like some sort of primeval Jurassic Park?" she asked, giggling. The Doctor was chuckling as well.
"Unless they cloned the dinosaurs, and I guess they could have, there couldn't be dinosaurs and primitive hominids existing at the same time. It's like whoever came up with the Silurians in my universe thought that The Flintstones was a documentary" Charlotte finished, and they both laughed…then Charlotte yawned, suddenly feeling much more tired.
The Doctor nudged her gently and muttered, "You should go back to bed".
"No…" she moaned, "I wanna…figure out the dumb… dino-human thing". The Doctor wasn't sure if she meant the disconnect between dinosaurs and humans existing alongside one another – they hadn't, the Silurians had indeed cloned the large reptiles – or if she was referring to the Silurians themselves as 'dino-humans'. Thank goodness Vastra wasn't around.
"You're tired" he prompted, "You need to sleep. You need lots of energy, with all the running we're doing".
Charlotte moaned a bit…she felt like she just wanted to curl up right there and go to sleep…but to be fair, her bed would be a lot comfier, and less likely to disturb her. So she hugged the Doctor one last time, and reluctantly pulled herself to her feet, yawning again. "Mm…night, Doctor…and thanks, for talking with me. It means a lot, knowing you…trust me that much. I used to work in HR, so I know all about confidentiality" she smiled, making a zipped lip motion. Everything they'd talked about that night…well, what happened in the library stayed in the library.
The Doctor smiled and nodded gratefully. "You're welcome…and yes, I do trust you. Good night, Charlotte".
"I trust you as well" she smiled, one last time, before heading off to find her way back to bed. The Doctor watched her leave, and then picked up his book again. A memory floated to the forefront of his mind…Charlotte, her face tearstained, nervously admitting that she wasn't sure if she could trust him…he was glad he'd earned her trust, because she was a great companion, and he felt like she was finally seeing that herself. She'd come a long way in the past seven months – they all had, he mused thoughtfully, content to sit and listen to the TARDIS gently humming around him.