Death of the Doctor: The Shansheeth
Sarah Jane Smith and Jo Jones ran down the hallway of UNIT, nearly crashing into Rani, Clyde, and Jo's grandson, Santiago, in the process. They had been invited to the base by a Colonel Tia Karim who had contacted them to inform them that the Doctor had died. They had been stunned and, unlike the children, hadn't believed a word of it for a moment. How could they? How could the Doctor have died?! It didn't make sense, especially to Sarah Jane as she knew Angel had been there with him, and the girl was psychic! She had the Vortex in her! With Angel there, there was no way that the Doctor could have died. And even then, she knew, if he HAD died, she'd feel it. She had to have, how could a man as important as the Doctor just die and no one notice? THAT made no sense at all, THAT was impossible. There would have been something, a whisper, a rumor, a tale, that would have made it back to her on Earth.
But Tia had insisted that he man had died, that he'd died on a distant planet, saving children. Which, she had to admit, was like him, he adored children, even more so after the War, she couldn't picture him ever letting a child come to harm. Tia had claimed that an alien species, the Shansheeth, rather large vulture-like birds with human hands, had found the Doctor's body and, being the 'intergalactic undertakers' had sworn to return the Doctor to the planet that meant the most to him, Earth, for a proper funeral. UNIT had taken over, joined with the Shansheeth, to try and get the funeral in motion, but it was all too suspicious for Sarah Jane.
She'd spent her life working as an investigative journalist, she saw the things that didn't fit her logic. If UNIT had anything to do with it, they would have contacted Martha first and foremost, knowing she was a former companion of the Doctor and a good friend of Angel's. Not only that, they would have contacted the Brigadier too! But there was no word from either of them and, no matter what, no matter what profession Martha went into, whether it was freelance alien fighting or some odd work for Torchwood...she'd heard Jack's brother had recently become immortal like he was and Martha had gone to help run tests and see if it was a permanent condition or not...or what have you, Martha would have contacted her.
Never mind that, MICKEY would have contacted her. Because the man would have been frantic, worried for Angel if the Doctor was dead, because they all knew that Mating meant she would die as well...and yet no body had been recovered for her. And if she was somewhere else, then she had died alone and her body was just lying there somewhere, alone and abandoned and that didn't sit right with her. But there was no word from Martha or Mickey or Jack! If UNIT knew of something like this they would have contacted Torchwood as well, but nothing. There was no sign that others were affected by the Doctor's death. And that was so wrong.
On top of that...only she and Jo had been invited to the funeral. Yes, yes, Tia had remarked that the Brigadier was in Peru and Liz Shaw as on the moon base, but that didn't mean she'd contacted them, just that they were unavailable. There had been a small Remembrance Ceremony before the Doctor's lead lined coffin, and it had been surprisingly empty. And she knew, anyone who knew the Doctor, who had even met him for a moment, would want to be there, would do anything to be there. So why was it just her and Jo? Why JUST them?
They had both agreed, of course, that the Shansheeth and Tia were lying, they had to be, they just needed proof, which was why they were now running through the halls of UNIT, trying to find the children who hadn't believed them, thinking it was just their refusal to accept the fate of the Doctor and Angel.
"There you are!" Sarah Jane gasped in relief as she reached out to put her hands on Clyde's shoulders, so happy to see them ok. She was thankful now that Luke had gone away to University, and wasn't there at the moment. She could tell they were in terrible danger and the last thing she wanted was for him to get involved. She always hated it when he and Clyde and Rani got in the middle of situations like this, well, not hated it per say, more like worried a ridiculous amount that something would happen to them. She was starting to understand how the Doctor must feel with his companions, he was so old, so like a parent to them, they must appear children to him, and if he worried even a fraction of how much she did for the kids, she was surprised he wasn't gray-haired within the first adventure after regeneration.
"Sarah Jane, it's the Shansheeth," Clyde told her, "They're lying through their beaks. They want you and Jo this whole thing's a trap."
He and Rani and Santiago hadn't believed it at first. Why would UNIT lie? UNIT was an ally of the Doctor, wasn't it? So when the soldiers appeared and told them of the death of the Doctor, and the likely death of Angel, they'd believed them. But now...they'd been in the ventilation shafts, they'd heard the Shansheeth plotting something that had to do with Sarah Jane and Jo, they were going to try and use the memories of the women to do something and kill them after. It was all a trap! And if it was a trap for them, maybe the Doctor was alive...oh he hoped he was, because his hand, the same hand that had hit the TARDIS during Sarah Jane's almost-wedding, kept sparking with Artron Energy and it was worrying him.
"I knew it!" Sarah Jane grinned. She knew those vulture-like aliens were lying, as if the Doctor could ever just die like that, as though Angel wouldn't somehow be able to save him.
"If they're lying that means the Doctor's still alive!" Jo realized.
"Yes!" Sarah Jane cheered as she and Jo high-fived each other.
"Course I'm still alive Jo, I'd have thought that was obvious," Clyde spoke, though it was most certainly not his voice that was talking, "Catch up."
"I beg your pardon?" Jo looked at Clyde, startled.
"Clyde is that you?" Sarah Jane frowned.
"Course it's not it's me!" Clyde continued, "I'm using Clyde as a receiver. I've keyed into his residual Artron Energy to organize a very complicated biological swap across ten thousand light years, hold on…"
Clyde twitched and groaned in pain as Artron Energy swarmed around him for a moment, leaving him panting, "That wasn't me," he breathed, a bit scared, "That wasn't me speaking. I'm getting…" he trailed off, looking at his left hand which was white and slightly older looking, "That's not my hand. It's…my hand's not white."
He was suddenly shocked again, twisting in pain as a brown-haired man in a tweed jacket and blue bowtie appeared in his place for a moment, "Sorry Clyde but…" Clyde was back for only a second before he and the man kept swapping places, "This…Space…Is…Taken!" with one final grunt the bowtied man was standing where Clyde had been, grinning at them, "Good…so, gosh that was different, hello everyone!"
"Who are you?" Rani demanded as the man looked at her, "Where's Clyde?"
"Come on Rani. Use your brain. Clyde and I have swapped places. Yes, I'm where he was, so he's where I was which means right now, oh…" he grimaced, "He's in a lot of trouble…"
~8~
"Doctor?" Clyde looked around the red landscape he'd found himself on, clearly another planet given the actual planets he could see in the sky, a sort of scepter-like device whirring behind him, "Doctor!"
"Clyde?" a voice called.
He spun around to see Angel was there, sitting by the device, looking at him with wide eyes as she blinked, clearly the Doctor disappearing had been as unexpected for her as it was for him.
~8~
"You bring him back…" Rani glared, "Whoever you are!"
"No, no Rani don't you see?" Sarah Jane laughed, looking at the man fondly, working it out, "It's you isn't it? You've done it again?"
"Hello Sarah Jane," he smiled, oh his companion was brilliant!
Leave it to Sarah Jane Smith to figure out what had happened and who he was. She had a habit of doing that, he realized, figuring out that it was him from just a few clues. She'd been brilliant when he'd met her as his last self, worked it out (or at least been suspicious) from just him introducing himself as John Smith.
"Doctor?" Sarah Jane asked cautiously.
"That's the Doctor?" Rani eyed him, seeming to have trouble imagining HE was the same man who had appeared at the wedding. She knew about regeneration, Sarah Jane had told them about it, but to see it actually before her, some new man who WAS the Doctor...it was weird.
"What Doctor?" Jo looked confused, "The Doctor? My Doctor?"
"Well…he can change his face," Sarah Jane remarked.
"I know, but into a baby's?"
"Oi!" he cried, "Imagine it from my point of view. The last item I saw you Jo Grant you were what? 21? 22? It's like someone's aged you."
"Doctor?" Sarah Jane frowned, realizing something as she tried to look behind him for someone, "Where's Angel?"
"Oh, she's fine," he waved her off, "She's probably with Clyde right now. Or Clyde's with her. Either way, they're together."
"But you said he was in trouble!" Sarah Jane shook her head, not understanding how he could be so...flippant...with his Mate in trouble. Because 'trouble' for him usually meant epic danger for everyone else. And that...was so wrong, that was so SO not right, the last him...she'd seen him when his Mate was in danger, in any sort of danger, and he was terrifying when she was in that situation.
She knew regeneration could change him, she'd seen it before, experienced how different he could be. But THAT? There was no way, in her mind, that the Doctor, any version of him, could be so easygoing about ANGEL being in danger. It made less sense than the Shansheeth's ridiculous story that he'd died!
And, speaking of the Shansheeth...
"Everyone!" Santiago cried, pointing back down the hall, "Meanwhile…"
They looked back as three Shansheeth appeared at the end of the corridor, walking towards them. The humans stepped back, Sarah Jane and Jo moving in front of the children, but the Doctor just stepped past them, walking down the hall towards the overgrown birds, "Ah, yes, the Claw Shansheeth of the 15th Funeral Fleet, I've been looking for you! Have you been telling people I'm dead?"
"I apologize, the death notice was released a little too soon…" the Shansheeth in the middle of the other two replied, "Though I can rectify this immediately!" he raised his hand and a red beam of energy struck the Doctor in the chest,painfully, "I'm so sorry for your loss Doctor," he added as the Doctor fell to his knees, "Rest in peace!"
~8~
Angel looked at the device as it started to hum, reaching out to touch it, trying to see if something was wrong.
"What is that?" Clyde looked at it as well, "Sounds like a countdown."
Angel just closed her eyes a moment, seeing in her mind and feeling in her soul the Doctor in danger, the pain he was in, "That idiot…" she shook her head, alarmed, knowing the Doctor was under attack and she could help but that she was trapped on another planet with no way to get back to him and...
And then, right before Clyde's very eyes, she disappeared in a swirl of gold light.
"What?!" Clyde blinked.
~8~
Sarah Jane's eyes widened as a small swirl of gold appeared in the hallway between them and the Doctor and Angel appeared with in it, though...she noticed that Angel, while dressed in her typical blue dress, wasn't wearing her black belt which was curious. Angel looked around a moment, seemingly as confused and startled to be standing there as they were to see her, before she saw the Shansheeth attacking the Doctor. She quickly ran to him, throwing out her hands, blasting (well, more like pushing or jolting) the three Shansheeth back with the Vortex energy, freeing the Doctor.
He panted a moment, trying to recover himself from that attack, when he blinked and looked up at her, before jumping to his feet and spinning to her, more shocked than the humans were to see her standing there, "How did you do that?" he'd seen the flash of gold and that was NOT the same energy that had been used by the little device he'd rigged up.
"I have no idea," she admitted, rubbing her head with her hand, her head was pounding now and her limbs felt like lead...
And then she stiffened...
It was just like when she'd appeared in the Thames House to help Jack and Owen and Ianto when they'd dealt with the 456. But...it hadn't hurt as much. She remembered standing beside the device, her hand on it as she tried to check it...and wanting to be with the Doctor, wanting to help and then...the next thing she knew, her hand felt warm and she'd appeared there...only feeling the effects after she'd appeared. She didn't know what it was, she couldn't have teleported herself with the Vortex across ten thousand light-years, not that easily, not without killing herself, she was NOT that strong...but...maybe the device the Doctor had made had helped? It worked based on Artron Energy, it had used it to get the Doctor there...maybe, when she'd touched it, it had absorbed a bit of the Vortex Energy and done the same, used that to teleport her there as well.
But...that did make her curious...it still affected her, she was still stiff and sore and her head hurt so...maybe it wasn't entirely the device, maybe just a tiny, tiny portion of it...was her. She HAD been able to teleport when the Vortex was in full control of her, like when she'd faced the Beast in the Pit...she'd just appeared there, and then appeared in the TARDIS again.
"It just happened!" she shook herself from her thoughts.
"Never mind how it happened!" Sarah Jane called, seeing the Shansheeth start to get up from where they'd stumbled and fallen back from Angel's push, "Just run!"
The two Time Lords ran after the group as they fled down the hallway, the Doctor pushing Angel ahead of him, keeping himself between her and the Shansheeth should they fire again, seeming to forget, for the moment, that she could easily bring up a wall of Vortex energy to shield them if needed, but it didn't register, in his mind, there were enemies behind them and he HAD to make sure Angel was safe. Sarah Jane opened a door at the end of the hall, ushering everyone through it, waiting till the Doctor and Angel had jumped through before closing it behind her.
~8~
"No!" Clyde shook the device as the humming slowed the moment Angel had disappeared, "No, no, no, no, no don't slow down! Take me back!"
~8~
They ran down a hall, Angel rushing ahead to lead them to a room they'd be safe in despite the throbbing in her head, all of them dashing in, "In, in, in, in, in, in, in!" the Doctor called, ushering the others in as well.
"I'm sorry is there a problem?" Tia, a colonel of UNIT, the one who had brought Sarah Jane and Jo there, called out as she walked over to them, having spotted their mad run.
The Doctor just shut the door in her face before opening it again, "Sorry, I was…"
Before he could even finish, Angel ran over and shoved the door shut once more, "Don't trust her," Angel panted, staying against the door to hold it shut.
"Right," the Doctor spun around to look at Sarah Jane, "Right, now we need to lock it, come on use sonic lipstick."
Sarah Jane ran to the door, "Haven't you go the sonic screwdriver?"
"They took it," Angel told her which made Sarah Jane shake her head as she pulled out her own sonic and locked the door.
"Wow!" Jo walked over and looked at her, "They do sonic lipsticks now?"
"Well, we're running out of time," the Doctor murmured, turning to Jo and Sarah Jane, "I need you Sarah," he took her hand, "And you Jo…" and hers as well.
"Need us for what?"
"Remember the old days when I'd go zooming off to far away worlds?" he asked, and a moment later they disappeared in a flash of Artron Energy, leaving Clyde in their place, confused.
"Oi!" Angel shouted at the ceiling, feeling...her hearts zing at that.
They'd been getting closer over their adventures with Amy, and they were closer now than they had been when he'd regenerated and she'd realized his amnesia had set in. Every adventure they got closer and closer but...it was almost like, whenever that happened, something would pop up or the Doctor would do something that made her feel like he was trying to push her away, like he was aware they were closer and like...he didn't want that.
Having him take Sarah Jane and Jo and leave her there...it was like a big reminder that he'd forgotten her all over again. And it hurt. She could understand if he had wanted her to stay there to protect the children, but he hadn't said anything, he hadn't indicated that was part of the plan. If it had been, she'd stay, but right now she had no idea what to do. His thoughts hadn't been on her at all when he'd disappeared.
As though hearing her shout, Clyde disappeared in another pop of energy and the Doctor was back, "Sorry," he smiled sheepishly, grabbing her arm.
Angel turned to the children, realizing the Doctor intended to take her with him, "Stay here! Don't go anywhere else ok?"
Before they could respond, she and the Doctor disappeared once more.
Clyde groaned as he appeared, leaning over to put his hands on his knees, nearly heaving, "Oh…" he groaned, "I'm getting space sick…" Rani just laughed and ran forward to hug him, happy he was ok and back with them.
~8~
Sarah Jane watched, stunned, as the Doctor reappeared before her and Jo with Angel before he dashed between them straight for the device. It wasn't even that he'd just deposited them on another planet and disappeared, or that he was distracted by some odd device, it wasn't that at all. It was the fact that, as soon as she'd appeared there, she realized...Angel was not there with them. The Doctor hadn't taken Angel too! At first she had thought, perhaps they had telepathically communicated a plan, that Angel would stay behind and guard the children...but the Doctor had started towards the device, stopped dead, shouted 'Angel!' and then disappeared to get her.
THAT was what had shocked her.
Because it wasn't a plan, the Doctor had truly forgotten to bring Angel with them! How on...wherever they were...had that happened? Of all things SHE expected to have been left behind and taken later, her or Jo, but never Angel. And now, just now, he'd popped up with the girl...and simply let go of her to run to the device. There was no hug, no reassurance that she was ok, no apology for having forgotten to bring her, nothing at all. She turned, eyeing the Doctor a moment, this was NOT the Doctor she remembered, and she knew...something was very, very wrong.
But the Doctor didn't seem to notice her gaze as he knelt by the scepter-like device to examine it, "No, no, no, no…let's get you working properly. Stop, stop, stop."
"Where are we?" Jo asked as she looked up at the sky, pulling Sarah Jane's attention over...
"Angel," Sarah Jane walked over to her, putting a hand on Angel's shoulder to steady her as the girl swayed, "Are you alright?!"
That was another thing, Angel was clearly shaky from that teleport...and the Doctor had just let go of her and focused on some machine? That wasn't like him at all. The Doctor would have been fretting over her, insisting she sit, scanning her with the sonic, trying to see what was wrong with her, ignoring anything and everything around him till she reassured him she was fine.
What had happened to him?
"Fine," Angel said quietly, though Sarah Jane heard a somber note in her voice and caught the girl's gaze as it flashed to the Doctor and she realized...Angel was well aware of the difference in the Doctor as well, and it was hurting her.
"The Wasteland of the Crimson Heart," the Doctor replied, not having heard Sarah Jane's own question as he stood up to point at a spot behind them, "Planet Earth's that way…" they slowly turned to look, "Bit of a long walk. Sonic please?"
Sarah Jane frowned and held out her lipstick, not even noticing the beauty of the planet around her in her concern for both the Doctor and Angel. The Doctor just took it with a grin and knelt back by the device.
"Wow," Jo smiled, "Oh, so many years since I was on another planet."
"Me too," Sarah Jane murmured, pulling her attention away from the Doctor to look around.
He stood up, laughing, before spinning around and getting back to work.
Angel shook her head at him and squeezed Sarah Jane's hand that was still on her arm, before she stepped away from her and over to Jo, "I don't think we've met yet," she said to Jo, "I'm the Angel."
"Oh, yes," Jo smiled at her, "I'm Jo Jones, nee Grant, I was a companion of the Doctor like Sarah Jane."
"Well, in that case," Angel smiled, hugging her, "It's very nice to meet you!" Jo laughed, hugging her back as Sarah Jane smiled.
Sarah Jane looked over at the Doctor and her smile started to fade, what had happened just then? The Doctor had taken SUCH pride in introducing Angel as his Mate, according to the stories of Donna and Martha, he was always doing that, yet...right now, he was just working away on that stupid device. It was like he didn't even seem to be paying any attention to Angel at all.
~8~
"I'm sorry but can I help?" Tia called through the door as she knocked on it, standing in the hall with the Shansheeth on either side of her, "Is something wrong?"
"But she's on our side isn't she?" Santiago whispered.
"Think about it," Rani replied, "The Doctor's been avoiding her but why? 'Cos Angel said not to trust her! Don't you see? Someone inside UNIT had to fake the DNA results to convince people they had the Doctor's body. Colonel Karim, she's in league with the Shansheeth!"
Tia leaned back from the door where she'd been listening, "Not as daft as they look for two batty old pensioners and a bunch of asberg kids. How on Earth did they summon the Doctor and Angel?"
"They have powers unforeseen," the head Shansheeth remarked.
"Right, first things first. We need to clear this place, seal it off, and keep that lot trapped!" and with that, she turned and stormed down the hall, the Shansheeth following.
~8~
"Do you see?" Rani pointed to a diagram of the base she'd managed to bring up on a computer in the back of the room, "We're slap bang in the middle of the base. There's got to be a way of getting help."
They all looked up suddenly when the alarms started to blare, "What's that mean?" Santiago frowned at the diagram as a section of rooms on it turned red.
"Karim's sealed off the entire funeral wing. We're trapped."
There was a rustling behind them and the grate of the ventilation shaft fell down. They turned to see a blue Groske poke its head out, "Hurry, hurry, follow me!"
They were hesitant to follow it though. They'd encountered Graske before, little red aliens that did nothing but cause trouble and they didn't think a Groske would be much better. They'd seen the Groske working with UNIT and, according to Tia, the Groske were working with UNIT as a form of payment, being allowed to stay there if they helped keep the place up. According to Tia, they weren't nearly as despicable as the Graske, though, since it was all 'according to Tia' they weren't sure they believed her.
But, having little other options, they followed him into the shaft and shuffled down it.
~8~
"Dispense with the coffin," the head Shansheeth told its comrades as they entered the Wake Room where the Remembrance Ceremony and the coffin had been, "Prepare this room for the coalescence," the other two pushed the coffin to the side of the room, against the wall, "Behold, the Memory Weave is ready," he turned around and doors in the back of the room opened behind him to reveal the TARDIS, "Soon it will be active. Deliver the women to our wings and not even the Doctor or his Mate will be able to stop the crusade of the Shansheeth!"
~8~
The Doctor was crouched down beside Sarah Jane as she helped him fix the device while Angel roamed around, seeing if there was any more tech around that might be able to help, Jo sitting off a little ways watching them all though her gaze kept being pulled to Angel. She had seen so much when she travelled with the Doctor, it had opened her eyes to so many things and, she liked to think, she was a rather good judge of character, able to tell the good from the bad, the beautiful inside from the terrible, the lying from the honest. And that girl...she was sweet but...she could tell there was SO much more to her than met the eye.
She didn't really know that much about her, to be honest, she knew she was a Time Lady, given her introduction as 'the' Angel. She knew she had to be kind and gentle and a good person because really, the titles the Time Lords chose really DID say SO much about them! Look at the Doctor! She knew the girl travelled with the Doctor. And she knew the Doctor was completely head over heels in love with her. Oh he couldn't see it, this Doctor struck her as a bit more oblivious than the ones she'd met earlier, but she could tell, she could just tell. And if he wasn't in love with her, he would be very, VERY soon. That girl, in the few minutes she'd known her, she knew she was, well, just what the doctor ordered so to speak. She'd be good for him. She just knew it.
And she could tell Angel was fond of him as well.
"There…" the Doctor pointed to a part of the device. He held a wire to it, ready for Sarah Jane to attach it with her sonic, "…and there…"
"Did it hurt?" Sarah Jane murmured, trying to work out what might have happened. The last time she'd seen him, she got the sense he was about to regenerate from the solemn look on his face, but he'd been so sweet to Angel even then, so she knew something had to have happened to him during regeneration to make him act like this around Angel, so distant. If he could just tell her about it...maybe she could work out exactly what had changed in him.
She very much doubted that Angel had done something that made him this way. And even then, if Angel had somehow been the cause of his regeneration, he wouldn't have been angry or pushed her away, he'd have willingly done whatever it was to save her. It just...it didn't make sense! What could have possibly happened to make him like this?
"…and there…" he continued, pretending like he hadn't heard her.
"I mean the regeneration…" she glanced at Angel, seeing them acting the way they were, seeing the Doctor act so distant from her was off-putting, "That last body of yours, was he ok in the end?"
"It always hurts," he muttered, "…and there."
Sarah Jane sighed, seeing she wouldn't get any more out of him, "So how did you end up in this place?" she stood up, brushing the dirt off her hands.
"The Shansheeth lured me to a mighty old battle field just begging to be explored," he straightened up.
"I told him not to go," Angel added, walking over with a few pieces of tech she'd found, holding them out to the Doctor to examine, though, in the end, he ended up tossing all of them over his shoulder.
"Psychic," he remarked.
"Thief," she countered.
Sarah Jane's frown deepened, even their playful banter was off!
"Anyway he didn't listen to me. And here we are."
"'Cos we're travelling with Amy now," the Doctor explained.
"And Rory," Angel started to smile, "He's my companion."
"Mickey wants to meet him," Sarah Jane added.
They often got together, her and the other companions, every couple months they would meet up and just catch up, talk and laugh and reminisce. It helped to adjust to life on Earth, to have others around you that understood what you'd done and where you'd been and what you'd seen. It had been her idea really, after she'd offered Rose to come find her if she ever needed her, it had made her want to keep in touch with other companions of the Doctor and, as more and more showed up, they'd just...started meeting. She understood all too well how hard it was to adjust to life back on Earth and she'd found that, doing that, meeting with them, it really helped the younger generation to get used to their new lives too. And it brought them all closer, made them feel like even more of a family than just knowing Angel had.
"It might take a while," Angel laughed, completely swearing to herself that she would do that, she wanted her companions to meet, because they really were such amazing men and she knew that they'd get on very well, "He just got married after all."
"Yes," the Doctor nodded, "We dropped them off at a honeymoon planet, which isn't what you'd think. It's not a planet for a honeymoon, it's a planet on a honeymoon, it married an asteroid! And they nicked the TARDIS."
"The Shansheeth stole the TARDIS," Angel corrected, "It wasn't Rory."
"Or Amy," the Doctor agreed, "Fortunately we had all the wreckage to build a space whopping do da thinga ma whatsit."
"So you've got a married couple in the TARDIS?" Jo eyed him, sitting a short distance away.
"Mr. and Mrs. Pond."
"I only left you because I got married."
The Doctor fumbled a bit, not sure how to react to that, so he pointed to a spot on the device, "…and there…"
"Did you think I was stupid?" Jo looked at him.
"Why do you say that?"
"Well…I was a bit dumb. Still am I suppose."
"Now what in the world would make you think that?" he walked over to sit across from her as Angel sat down by the device, Sarah Jane sitting beside her, "Ever, ever, ever?"
Jo shrugged, "We'd been travelling down the Amazon for months and we'd reached a village in Crystalina and it was the only place for thousands of miles that had a telephone. So I called you. I just wanted to say hello. And they told me that you'd left, left UNIT, never came back. So I waited. I waited, because you said you'd see me again. You did. I asked you and you said yes. You promised. So I thought, one day, I'd hear that sound deep in the jungle, I'd hear that funny wheezing noise and a big blue box right in the middle of the rainforest. 'Cos, see, he wouldn't just leave, not forever. Not me. I waited my whole silly life…"
"Oh, but you're an idiot!" he laughed.
"Well there we have it," she nodded.
"No, no, no but don't you see? How could I ever find you? You spent the past 40 years living in huts, climbing up trees, tearing down barricades. You've done everything from flying kites on Kilimanjaro…" his smile turned knowing, "To sailing down the Yangtze in a tea chest. Not even the TARDIS could pin you down. I had to get Angel to pilot because..."
"Hold on…" Jo cut in, staring at him with wide eyes, "I did sail down the Yangtze in a tea chest. How did you know?"
"And that family, all 7 kids, 12 grandchildren, 13th on his way," he gave her a look as her expression turned even more shocked to hear information she'd told Sarah Jane earlier repeated from him, that HE knew it too, "Angel says he'll be dyslexic but that'll be fine. He'll also be a great swimmer apparently."
"So you've been watching me, all this time?" she breathed, touched.
"No," he sighed, "Because you're right I don't look back, I can't. But…the last time I was dying," he started to smile, "Angel...she um, she took me to see you all again, once more, my reward. I saw you Jo, I looked back on all of you, every single one, and…I was so proud."
Jo sniffled, tears in her eyes, "It really is you, isn't it?"
"Hello!" he winked.
~8~
Sarah Jane glanced over at Angel from where she was sitting beside the girl, Angel watching as the Doctor spoke quietly with Jo, "Angel…" she began softly, pulling the Time Lady's attention over to her, "What's going on? What's happened to the Doctor?"
"What do you mean?" Angel asked, though Sarah Jane could see through that.
"You know what I mean. Something happened between the two of you, hasn't it?" she glanced down, seeing the bump of Angel's stomach from her angle and closeness.
She had first noticed when she'd realized Angel wasn't wearing the belt, she'd found herself eyeing the girl trying to work out if it was a 'fashion' choice or something else. But she hadn't seen it, hadn't worked it out, till she'd seen Angel sit, seen the material around her stomach, seen how she was sitting. Angel had her knees up a bit more than was probably comfortable, her feet on her toes to help that, like she was actively trying to block the view of her stomach from the Doctor. But, sitting next to her, she could see the tiny bump and she knew Angel wasn't 'fat' not with how small she was, she knew it was something else, something enormous.
But she didn't want to blatantly bring it up, clearly it was something Angel was trying to hide for some reason. She didn't understand that either, the Doctor LOVED children, if he found out that Angel was pregnant he'd be over the moon! Still, she kept quiet for the moment, that wasn't exactly what she was getting at anyway and perhaps Angel's answer would clear up why she hadn't told him either. If he'd known Angel was pregnant, she doubted the two would have ended up here anyway. She knew exactly how protective the last Doctor had been of his Mate, he never would have risked coming here if he knew she was carrying his child as well...she honestly doubted he'd leave the TARDIS till the baby was born just to be sure it would be safe.
Angel swallowed hard, debating telling Sarah Jane but...something in her told her to do it. Sarah Jane wasn't just a random person, she was the Doctor's companion, she was like...a dear auntie to her in a way, she was wiser and had seen so much and she was so understanding and...she started tearing up, she just needed someone to talk to, a woman, a mother. And while Amy might be the current companion, she didn't want to put all that on Amy after everything the girl had been through with Rory and now celebrating her wedding.
She looked at Sarah Jane to see her eyeing her with such concern...it was so nice to see someone other than Rory worried about her. She nodded to herself, taking a breath, "I'm not sure," she admitted, "I just..." she shook her head, trying to find the words, "The Doctor...he...he doesn't remember Mating with me."
Sarah Jane's eyes widened, "What?"
"He doesn't remember it at all Sarah," she looked at the woman, tears in her eyes as her hand fell to her stomach, rubbing it lightly, "He knows that I'm a Time Lady and that I travelled with him, but…everything about our bond, every little moment we shared that wasn't platonic, everything that led up to it, that made it what it was...it's just…gone…it's all gone..."
"But how?"
Angel could only shrug and sniffle, "I have no idea, one minute he was smiling at me, dancing with me, telling me he loved me...and the next...he was running off and telling people we weren't Mates and...ignoring me," she swallowed once more, "I thought...maybe it was the cracks I told you about," she looked at Sarah Jane again, "That maybe I was erased and that was what was making him forget the Mating. How could we Mate if I'd never been born, but clearly I hadn't been erased yet and was still there so he had to remember me a little..." she looked down, "But now...I'm back, the cracks are closed, and he STILL doesn't remember. Maybe..." she sighed, "Maybe he just...regretted Mating to me and tried to erase as much of it as he could so he wouldn't have to be stuck with me."
Sarah Jane shook her head at that, not just at hearing Angel sound so hopeless and broken and devastated, but...at the very thought of that being what happened. It just couldn't be! She couldn't fathom it. The Doctor she had seen last time had never seemed more in love than with Angel, he couldn't have regretted it, not ever!
"Have you told him?" Sarah Jane asked, "Have you told him that he's forgotten something, maybe..."
"I can't. Sarah he has no idea he's forgotten anything. All those memories, it's like they don't exist in his mind any longer and his mind's already come up with made up memories to fill the gaps. He's got no clue. And," she glanced at the Doctor, "He clearly doesn't want to remember either," she laughed mirthlessly, a sound that seemed so foreign and wrong coming from Angel, "I told him, right to his face, that we were Mated and he just said of course we were friends," she shook her head, "I just…I don't know what to do."
Sarah Jane looked back over at the Doctor as Jo looked surprised at something he'd said, "Will he ever remember?"
"I don't know," Angel admitted in a whisper.
And she really didn't. And the worst thing was...she knew, she could guess, given by the little clues that were dropped, that River Song would just be popping up more and more in their future and...she was terrified that the more River appeared, the closer the Doctor would grow to her. She had promised that she would accept whatever came about in terms of his amnesia, if it meant she could keep the baby, but...she was truly and honestly dreading River being a part of the 'whatever came about.' Of all the people in the Universe that she might lose the Doctor too...she just didn't want it to be River Song.
Sarah Jane could only reach out and take the girl's hand, squeezing it tightly in an offer of strength. She couldn't empathize completely with what Angel was going through, to love someone and have them forget you, to have them be around you every day and look through you. But she could understand what it felt like to lose someone you loved to something else, she had loved Peter so deeply and lost him to the Trickster. And she could understand what it was like to want to do something to save them, to bring them back, but have no idea what to do.
Angel gave her a small smile for her comfort, wiping a tear from her eye before it could fall, there were more important things to deal with at the moment than her despairing romance with the Doctor, "We should probably get back. I told them not to go anywhere, but they're kids, when do they ever listen to adults?"
Sarah Jane sighed, "Knowing them, they've probably already gotten themselves in a mess of trouble," she reached into her pocket and pulled out a whistle, blowing it loudly to get Jo and the Doctor's attention, knowing, from stories and her own experience, that when both got started talking there was little that could stop them except a sudden distraction, "Sorry, but we've got that lot back at home with the Shansheeth."
"Yes, yes," the Doctor agreed, getting up and moving back to the device, "And we still need you Jo. In that bag of yours I can smell black currant, is it buchu oil?"
"Handpicked in Mozambique," Jo got up and dug through her bag, getting the small pouch for him.
"Perfect!" he grinned, opening the top of the device and pouring the oil in, "These circuits need connectivity. Wonderful! Little tiddly drops…that's it! What a team!"
Angel smiled at the women, "Smith and Jones," she laughed, "The perfect pair."
The Doctor tensed as he stood by the device, frowning at that...
~oOo~
"That's you in a nutshell," Angel laughed, that was exactly like him, but he pouted more, so she reached out and put her arm through his, squeezing it, "Still...my science geeky thief."
He beamed at that, "My beautiful ginger psychic," he kissed her temple as Martha smiled at them.
"I really need to find a man," Martha murmured, before her eyes widened, absolutely NOT having wanted THAT to slip out like that.
Angel laughed, "Find a Smith," she told her, reaching out to squeeze Martha's hand, not wanting her to feel embarrassed about it, "Trust me, for us Joneses...it's gotta be a Smith," she turned and looked up at him, "I said it once, I'll say it again, Smith and Jones, the perfect pair."
He nodded, gazing down at her softly, his arms wrapping around her, "Never argue with a psychic," he said sagely.
Martha shook her head with a smile, "I'll keep that in mind," she promised.
~oOo~
The Doctor closed his eyes and shook his head, his head starting to hurt a little bit, oh all this space hopping must be doing his head in a little.
~8~
The Groske kicked down another grate into his own room, "Hurry, hurry, hurry! Come on!"
"Hey, nice," Clyde looked around as he hopped in, "You've got a little den. What's all the hurry for?"
"Pizza!" the Groske held out a box he'd grabbed from a table, offering them some.
"What? I though you had a plan!"
"Shansheeth too scary. Me hide."
"No!" Clyde took the box away, "We've gotta do something."
"Yeah…but hiding's not bad," Rani countered, "'Cos we've gotta keep you safe Clyde. 'Cos whatever the Doctor's doing, he needs you for that body switcheroo."
"Oh, great, great," Clyde looked around, "Stuck on Groskeville."
"Pizza good," the Groske pointed at it.
"Do you get to do this all the time?" Santiago hopped into the room as well, a wide grin on his face, "Fight aliens, and chases, and stuff?"
"You can talk Santiago," Clyde argued with a smile, recalling all the places Santiago and Jo had mentioned they'd been through in their time as activists, "You off to Paraguay and Mt. Everest."
"You just zapped into another planet!"
"Yeah," Clyde grinned wider, "That was pretty cool."
"Yeah we've been to parallel times," Rani listed, "Dream dimensions, limbo, and then we go home for tea."
"Yeah, we see all of this and then my mum's like, 'what did you do today?' And I'm like, 'not much.'"
"Yeah, went to the library."
"Played a bit of footy."
"Stayed behind for drama club."
"Oh, and I fought off a platoon of Judoon in my spare time."
"I've not seen my mum for six months now," Santiago remarked sadly after a moment.
"How come?" Rani frowned.
"She's in Japan organizing a rally. I mean, that's great, you know, it's really good work."
"Yeah," Clyde nodded, both he and Rani feeling bad for the boy, the places he went were amazing to hear about, but would probably be more so if he had been able to go there with his parents and his family, his siblings and others, "Of course it is."
"Before that she was in Africa finding shellflower plants. My father's with the gay dad's organization, hiking across Antarctica. We haven't all been together since about…" he frowned, realizing just how long it had been, "February?"
"When are you gonna see them next?" Rani asked.
"Soon. I don't know…soon though."
Suddenly a metal wall fell down in the ventilation shaft, sealing them in.
Clyde and Rani jumped to their feet, "What's that!?" Clyde looked at the Groske, "What's happening?"
"Trapped," it replied with a small shrug.
~8~
"Excellent," Tia grinned, looking at a computer set in a control panel of the Wake Room as the Shansheeth walked around behind her, "We've got the Brady Bunch exactly where we need them. Now…to apply a little heat…" she pushed a few buttons on the computer and turned on the vents.
"Internal vents to maximum," the computer reported.
~8~
The Groske looked at a circular vent on the wall as it turned red, flooding the room with heat and red light, "Heating!" he called, "Hot, hot, hot."
"They're trying to boil us!" Rani exclaimed.
~8~
"And increasing," Tia smiled, turning up the heat even more.
"The children are irrelevant," the Shansheeth came over to her.
"Not to the Doctor and his Mate they're not. Wherever they are, he'll be planning revenge. We need to divert them. Give his Mate a vision to see."
~8~
"It won't budge!" Clyde shoved against the sliding wall, "Come on Groske there's got to be a way out!" he was starting to regret not listening to Angel when she'd said to stay in the other room.
"No," it shook its head, "We die like rotisserie."
"Yeah well, you can," Rani looked at it, "But I'm not. Sarah Jane!" she started banging on the door, "Anyone!"
"Doctor!" Clyde shouted, "Angel! Where are you!?"
~8~
The Doctor popped up from examining the device once more, "There!" he tapped the top, "That should work! Intergalactic molecular streaming with just a hint of black currant."
"Oh, but what'll happen to Clyde?" Sarah Jane frowned.
"Oh, no, no, no. I fixed it. All I needed was you two. Oil and sonic. Now we can go back and Clyde can stay where he is."
"We need to hurry," Angel told him, stiffening, a pit forming in her stomach at the mention of Clyde, thinking of him and the other children, "I think the children might be in trouble."
He nodded, taking Sarah Jane and Jo's hands as Angel held onto Sarah Jane's arm, "Hold tight!" he called and they disappeared.
~8~
"Get us out of here!" Clyde yelled.
"Sarah Jane!" Rani called, "Angel!"
"Doctor!" Santiago shouted.
Angel ran right to the ventilation shaft the moment they appeared, hearing their cries as the Doctor ran over as well, "Whoops!" he remarked, "Then again, maybe leaving Clyde in the same place wasn't such a good idea."
"Look out!" Sarah Jane stepped up, "Stand back!" she flashed the sonic lipstick at the four corners of the grate, breaking it off.
"Ah! Ventilation shaft," he nudged her, "That takes me back…or even forwards."
Angel barely waited till the grate had come off before she quickly made her way in, her hearts racing at hearing the cries and pleas of the children, they were scared! The Doctor rushed to follow her, trusting her to lead them along the maze of vents and straight to the children.
"Hurry up!" they heard Santiago call, "We're getting boiled alive."
"Hold on!"
"We're coming!" Angel added.
"Don't worry Santiago, I'm here!" Jo knelt before the shaft, shouting to her grandson, "You go first, you've got the sonic lipstick…" she turned to Sarah Jane, only to see her being held back by a Shansheeth that had snuck up on them. She slowly stood up, only for another Shansheeth to grab her, "Ah!" she banged on the vent with her foot as she struggled, the Shansheeth pulling her and Sarah Jane away...
A/N: All I can say...the title for the next story may scare you :( But we'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out what it is }:) I CANNOT believe this story will be over tomorrow! OMG! Time went by SO fast! I'm sad to see this story end, but I'm really excited for Series 6 and 7 because we'll be seeing more of the companions popping up.
And speaking of, did you like how Sarah Jane is learning about what happened to Angel and the Doctor? I was really excited for this episode because I feel like, as readers, you were all able to see, just in the first chapter with 11 that something was wrong, that something was off between him and Angel. And I wanted to show that even Sarah Jane, who had only experienced them together a handful of times was able to see it too, to sort of hint at how the other companions would probably pick it up just from being around the Doctor and Angel for only a moment or two, they'd just know :) I really like that about them and about the twist, that it's so profound, the difference between 10 and 11 that the companions would know nearly the minute they see 11 and Angel together that something is wrong :)
So I hope Sarah Jane's noticing was believable :) I also hope her working out the fact that Angel's pregnant was also realistic. I think, being a mother now, and being a woman, that she'd notice the little things more, like the lack of belt and that would make her look at Angel's stomach, how shaky Angel was from the repeated teleports, the things she was trying to hide from the Doctor, and being so close to Angel she'd be able to see the bump when sitting next to her. All I can say is that Sarah Jane will be making Angel an offer in the next (and last) chapter that Angel might not be able to refuse }:)
But...I can also say the next chapter will have a very...Thella-ish moment between the Doctor and Angel ;)
Some notes on reviews...
That's a great song :) I think it definitely fits to the situation, especially that line. Oh Doctor, when will you realize you've fallen in love with her again? Lol :)
Yup, this is the last episode of this series :) The next story will pick up with Space/Time :)
Awww, thank YOU too! I just try my best to make the OCs believable and relatable and to create an interesting plot that I hope people will enjoy, so it's wonderful to know I'm managing it ^-^ You and all my readers are the reason I write, so thank you all too! ^-^
Oh I think I'm in a severe state of fluff withdrawal at the moment...which usually means epic amounts of it later in the story ;)
BIG things planned for Series 6 (and 7) but I can say that the Wedding of River Song will have a different title. I won't say what it'll be though }:)
I can say that there are a few twists about whether the Doctor will find out that Angel was pregnant, whether while she is pregnant or after she's given birth or after the baby's died, but I can say that yes, he will, at some point, find out about the pregnancy :) I can't say how he finds out though but it'll be...a blow to him }:) I think it would tear him apart, the things that could go wrong...and the things that will go wrong while he was unaware }:)
I hope you have fun at the Renaissance Festival! That's awesome :) Ironically, I might be going to my local Renaissance Faire in a couple weeks with my sister for their ASL weekend (my sister wants to be a teacher for the deaf and is in the process of learning sign language which is awesome) :)
I don't think they need each other to save people, but I think things work out better when they're both involved :) Which is always a good sign for teamwork :) Of corse Angel will be there for Demons Run :) I think, even if she leaves between Doctor's Wife and God Complex, she'd still be there, she and the Doctor wouldn't ever want a child to come to harm :) I think 11 is the darkest, mostly because 9 was always just so broody but with 11 you never know what's coming or when he'll snap, but if rumors are to be believed, 12 will be even darker :) I think we'll see more in later chapters about who's more worried ;) I think Jack would try to flirt with the Ponds the moment he meets them, but Amy's married lol :)