They had fallen silent again after that. It had gotten too hot to even think, let alone talk, and the only topic was one neither wanted to face.
Suddenly, the escape pod gave a sharp jerk, almost like the TARDIS would when she was flying through time. The computerized voice which only minutes before had spelled out their doom now dully informed them, "Remagnetizing."
Riley gaped at the screen, a relieved laugh escaping him. "We're being pulled back!" Molly rushed to the window to see. Slowly but surely, they were drifting back towards the ship. They could see a small figure clinging to the side of the ship in a spacesuit, messing with the controls.
"It's the Doctor!" Molly realized. "He saved us! I told you he would!" Both laughing, they shared a quick hug, the melancholy from earlier fading fast. They had survived this, and they would save the ship too, they were sure.
As they drew nearer, Molly started to grow concerned. The Doctor didn't seem to be working with the controls anymore, but he was still on the side of the ship, staring at the sun behind them. Molly frowned. "Something's wrong. We're going to run into him, but he's not moving."
They came closer and closer, and still the Doctor didn't get out of the way. He seemed utterly transfixed on the sun, frozen and unable to move. Molly thought for sure they'd crush him, but at the last moment the captain reached out and pulled him into the ship. The escape pod re-connected to the ship, and the doors opened. "Airlock recompression completed," the computer informed them.
Riley and Molly scrambled out of the escape pod, grabbing their jackets before they left, and back into Area Seventeen. The captain was trying to help the Doctor, who was on the ground with his eyes shut tightly. Molly dropped down to his side immediately. "Doctor! Are you alright?"
For a moment, his eyes began to open, and Molly knew something was wrong. Blinding white light was pouring from the Time Lord's eyes, making him look possessed. Molly recoiled slightly at the sight. The Doctor shut his eyes again quickly, groaning loudly in pain. "Stay away from me!" he ordered wildly. Molly ignored the order, staying crouched by his side.
The captain looked shaken by the Doctor's condition. "What's happened?"
At the sound of her voice, the Doctor's head spun to face her, his voice wild with rage and pain as he screamed, "It's your fault, Captain McDonnell!"
Looking increasingly shaken, McDonnell turned to Riley. "Riley, get down to area ten and help Scannell with the doors. Go!" The young man obeyed quickly, throwing a quick, worried glance over his shoulder as he left.
"You mined that sun," the Time Lord accused her in a wild tone. "Stripped its surface for cheap fuel. You should have scanned for life!" He screamed in pain as Molly did her best to sooth him. "That sun is alive, he continued, "A living organism. You scooped out its heart, used it for fuel, and now it's screaming!"
"What do you mean? How can a sun be alive?" the captain asked shakily. "Why is he saying that?"
"Because it's living in me," he growled out between gritted teeth.
McDonnell's eyes widened in horror. " Oh my god."
"Humans!" he spat out hatefully. "You grab whatever's nearest and bleed it dry! You should have scanned!"
"It takes too long," McDonnell defended herself weakly. "We'd be caught. Fusion scoops are illegal."
Seemingly fed up with the captain, the Doctor swung his head to face Molly. Urgently he told her, "You've got to freeze me, quickly."
"Freeze you?" Molly repeated. "What do you mean?"
"Stasis chamber. You've got to take it below minus two hundred. Freeze it out of me! It'll use me to kill you if you don't. The closer we get to the sun, the stronger it gets! Med-centre, quickly! Quickly!"
Molly didn't need to be to twice. She grabbed the Doctor by the torso and began dragging him towards the door while a baffled McDonnell watched. "Help me!" she snapped, uncharacteristically sharp, at the woman who'd been the cause of this. The captain snapped back into life and hurried to help Molly.
SCENEBREAK
The two were able to carry the Doctor into the med centre in a few minutes time. Together they lifted him up into the stasis chamber. Molly noticed a manual sitting out on a table and ran over to grab it. "I can operate the chamber," she told the captain.
The Time Lord let out a slight cry of pain. "Molly, where are you?"
Molly automatically reached for his hand, desperate to comfort him. His skin burned to the touch, and his screams had been reduced to groans. "I'm here Doctor," she assured him desperately. His terror was horrible to watch. He was always the clever one, the one in charge.
"No, you don't know how this equipment works," the captain protested. "You'll kill him. Nobody can survive those temperatures."
"He's an alien, and he says he can. And what other choice do we have?"
"Let me help you, then," she insisted.
She didn't meet the woman's eyes as she ordered curtly, "I'm fine, thanks." McDonnell hesitated, but finally obeyed, stepping back and watching quietly. Molly skimmed quickly through the manual before heading confidently to the controls. She couldn't afford to freak out now like she had at the hospital, the very first day she had met the Doctor. Then, she had been unsure and scared and had nearly failed. This time was different. This time, she would do this right, to save the Doctor's life.
"Ten seconds," the Doctor told her between gritted teeth. "That's all I'll be able to take. No more. Molly!"
She desperately wanted to go and comfort him, but she needed to stay by the machine. "Yes?"
"It's burning me up. I can't control it. If you don't get rid of it, I could kill you." His pained growl turned into a low whimper. "I could kill you all. I'm scared. I'm so scared. It's burning through me. Then what'll happen?"
It was horrible to hear the last great Time Lord whimpering in utter terror. Molly was terrified for her friend, but she forced her voice to remain calm as she told him, "Don't be scared. You're going to be fine. You've saved my life before, now it's my turn. I'll help you, Doctor."
"There's this process," he continued, "This thing that happens if I'm about to die - "
"You're not going to die," Molly cut him off firmly. "Alright? I won't let you." She finally finished with the machine. "Alright, it's working. You ready?"
"No," he whimpered, but she started it up anyway. He was her best friend, she wasn't going to fail him. The Time Lord was rolled completely into the chamber, and after a few seconds the temperature began dropping rapidly. Frost began to appear on the Doctor's body, and his skin turned a deathly white. Molly forced herself to breathe normally. This was going to work. It had to.
Suddenly, the lights on the controls went dim, and the stasis chamber powered off. The Doctor let out a panicked cry. "No! Molly, you can't stop it, not yet."
"That wasn't me," she told him shakily. "Something's gone wrong with the machine.
McDonnell read the monitor with concern. "Power's been cut in Engineering," she told Molly.
"By who?" Molly asked.
The captain squared her shoulders, pain and determination in her expression. "Leave it to me," she told Molly grimly. Before the pathologist could argue, she turned and headed out of the room, leaving Molly alone with the quickly defrosting Time Lord.
SCENEBREAK
It had been too long; something had gone wrong. The Doctor was completely defrosted now, and the machine still hadn't powered up. "Come on," Molly begged the stasis chamber quietly, "he's going to die soon, come on!"
From inside the chamber, the Doctor called out to her, "Molly, listen! I've only got a moment. You've got to go!"
Molly shook her head stubbornly. "I'm not leaving you, alright?"
Ignoring her protest, he continued, "Get to the front. Vent the engines. Sun particles in the fuel, get rid of them."
"Doctor, I can't leave you to die!"
"You've got to give back what they took," he panted out. "Please go!"
Molly hesitated. He was dying, but if she did what he said, there was still a chance to save him. "Fine. But I'll come back once I'm done. Just... be okay when I get back, yeah?"
With that, she took off down the hallway as fast as she could. There was a chance, just a slim chance, but she had to try.
SCENEBREAK
When Molly reached Area Four, the intercom by the wall buzzed on. She slowed down reluctantly to answer. "Molly!" a familiar voice cried.
"Doctor! What are you doing?" He shouldn't have been up and on the intercom.
"I can't fight it," he told her in a wildly panicked tone. "Give it back or..." he trailed off for a few moments before continuing in a low, raspy voice, "burn with me. Burn with me, Molly."
The moment he spoke those words, the same words as Ashton before, she took off. She had to get to the front of the ship now.
She finally reached the front, where Scannell and Riley were trying to start up the auxiliary engines. A dull warning of "Collision alert" was being repeated over and over by the computer. There were only seconds left.
Riley was staring at the controls in horror. "It's not working. Why's it not working?!"
"Dump the fuel," Molly ordered, breathless from her run. "Dump it into the sun."
Riley and Scannell gaped at her. "What?"
Quickly she explained, "It's the fuel or wants, not us. Just do it!" Looking baffled, but left with little choice, they obeyed. "Fuel dump in progress. Fuel dump in progress," the computer informed them. Molly felt the ship shudder back to life, and a few moments later the softthrum of the engines became audible.
Scannell stared at the monitor with wide eyes, a huge grin spreading across his face. "There! The auxiliaries are firing!"
"Impact averted," the computer confirmed. Molly let out a laugh of relief. They'd done it.
"We're clear," Riley breathed, hardly seeming to believe it. "We've got just enough reserves."
Now that their safety was assured, Molly bolted back the way she came, not stopping until she'd reached the med centre. As she rounded the corner, she found herself being pulled into a hug by a no-longer-possessed Time Lord. She hugged him back, both of them suddenly very relieved that they had survived.
SCENEBREAK
"This is never your ship," Scannell said with wonder as he stared at the blue box. Now that they had gotten far enough from the sun, Area Thirty was accessible again, and the TARDIS wasn't so much as scorched.
The Doctor beamed proudly. "Compact, eh? And another good word, robust. Barely a scorch mark on her."
Only Scannell and Riley had made it of the original seven crew members. Molly felt a rush of sadness for those they'd failed to save, but at least two of them were alive. "Will you be alright? With no fuel and all?"
"We've sent out an official mayday," Riley assured her. "The authorities'll pick us up soon enough."
Scannell sighed. "Though how we explain what happened..."
"Just tell them," the Doctor said firmly. "That sun needs care and protection just like any other living thing."
With that, the Time Lord retreated into his TARDIS, followed quickly by his companion. He turned to her with a warm grin. "Now, what do you say? Ice skating on the mineral lakes of Kur-ha. Fancy it?"
Molly grinned back. "Sure!" A sly thought entered her mind, and she smirked as she asked, "Ever skated before?"
He shrugged. "A bit here and there, though not in a few years. Why?"
"Oh, no reason," she lied with a smirk. She couldn't wait to see the look on his face when she demonstrated the skills a childhood of figure skating had left her with.
He started towards the console, but after a moment he turned back to her. "By the way, you'll be needing this." The Time Lord handed her a small silver key.
She looked at it with wonder. "Is this what I think it is?"
He nodded. "TARDIS key. Frequent flier's privilege." The Doctor sobered a moment, a genuinely warm smile on his face as he said, "Thank you."
She smiled back. "You're welcome." After a few moments, she started towards the console, grinning back at the Doctor. "Well come on then! Ice skating it is!"
Adventure and danger and fear could wait for a bit. It was time for the last great Time Lord to have rings skated around him.
So I finally wrapped up 42. Now this time you actually will have to wait, as I am both on vacation and have to research for the next bit. I won't tell you what's coming up for Human Nature and Family of Blood, only that it's quite a bit different from canon.
You might be wondering why I cut the romantic bits that Martha had with Frank and Riley. Well, with Frank, Molly was a few years older than Martha, so a romance wouldn't have been as plausible there, not to mention she had a boyfriend at the time. As for Riley, Molly had just been almost killed by the boyfriend that lied to her, and she's shy by nature. Romance was the last thing on her mind.
The bit at the end about ice skating is a reference to my personal headcanon that Molly was a figure skater growing up. For more about that, you can read my four-part story Home is a Sheet of Ice. To get an idea of what their skating adventure was like, at least on the Doctor's part, look up "David Tennant Ice Skating" on Google. That'll give you a pretty good idea.