The Empty Child
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Me: please forgive the late update! I had exams and revision and….it was a bad two months and its only going to get worse. I tried to make up for it though! Promise! I've edited the last chapter, removed some of the mistakes and I've uploaded two chapters at once! Enjoy!
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Tory woke up slowly, stirring on the hard medical bed that had been assigned to her as part of the overnight nursing assignment that Doctor Constantine had asked her to perform with him. The man himself was the reason she was waking as he poked her gently in the side with his walking stick.
"What?" she groaned.
"Come along girl." He said, backing away as she sat up, swung her legs over the side of the bed and started pulling on her boots, "It's time for the night rounds." He waited for her outside the door to the room as she made sure her dress, that she had slept in just to make getting up easier, was still fastened properly. "I don't know what I'll do once you've gone." He muttered as she closed the door behind her and they started to walk around the mostly abandoned building.
"You'll be fine Doctor, it's not like the patients do much." She joked weakly.
"Indeed." The man agreed, without humour.
"Are they still…"
"The same? Yes. I don't know why you keep expecting them to be different every time you see them." Tory shrugged. "How long until you leave girl?" the Constantine asked suddenly.
"I should be setting out today, Lord knows, I've worried Jordan long enough." Constantine hummed gesturing for Tory to continue as he checked one of the gas masked patients for a heartbeat. "But I'm still not sure if my transport will even work." Tory trailed off.
"Do not assume me ignorant girl, a flash of silver light is not a normal way for a young lady to appear on the steps of a hospital. You're lucky the army wasn't in residence at that point; they'd 'ave had you out of here faster than I could blink!" Tory stayed silent as they entered the last ward.
Rows of the gas masked patients lined the wall and a balding, older man was standing over one. He turned as he heard the door open.
"You'll find them everywhere." Constantine told him, not at all bothered that a strange man had appeared in his hospital, "Every bed in every ward. Hundreds of them." Tory stepped out from behind him and grinned as she recognised the Doctor's profile, the Time Lord not some random human. The 9th regeneration of the Doctor was staring at one of the patients and didn't notice her.
"Yes, I saw." He agreed, "Why are they still wearing gas masks?"
"They're not." Constantine told him flatly, "Who are you?"
"He's the Doctor," Tory answered bringing both men's' attention to her, the Doctor grinned while Constantine frowned.
"Tory!" the Doctor called to her happily. Tory grinned. Constantine coughed, pointedly. "Nancy sent me." The Doctor explained.
"Nancy?" Tory repeated.
"That means you must've been asking about the bomb." Constantine stated.
"Yes." The Doctor agreed.
"What do you know about it?" Constantine demanded.
"Nothing." The Doctor lied, Tory narrowed her eyes at him; there had to be a reason he was asking! "Why I was asking. What do you know?"
"Only what it's done." Tory answered for him.
"These people," the Doctor continued, "were they all caught up in the blast?"
"None of them were." Constantine was about to laugh at the shocked look on the Doctors face but it turned into a hacking cough half way through, Tory steered him to a chair in the centre of the room, careful not to touch his skin. The Doctor took a few steps towards the pair.
"You're very sick." He stated.
"Dying, I should think," Constantine agreed, "I just haven't been able to find the time. Are you a doctor?" Tory tutted at him.
"No more of that defeatist attitude!" she protested, "How do you expect to defeat the Germans if you continue on like that?"
"I have my moments." The Doctor answered the question with a smile at Tory and her fussing.
"Have you examined any of them, yet?"
"No." the Doctor answered.
"Don't touch the skin." Tory warned him as he began to move.
"Which one?"
"Anyone." She answered forebodingly.
The Doctor's eyebrows rose but Tory didn't notice as she continued to try and make Constantine as comfortable as possible, the Doctor felt the smallest flash of jealously at the soft look in Tory's eye as she cared for the old man but squashed it down, she wasn't the Doctor's to claim.
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Me: you have no idea how many times I had to rewrite that last paragraph to make it make sense to anyone aside from me! All the 'he's'!
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The Doctor pulled out his sonic, shaking his head to get rid of his thoughts and scanned one of the bodies.
"Conclusions?" Constantine asked.
"Massive head trauma, mostly to the left side..." the Doctor answered clinically, moving the sonic over the chest area, "Partial collapse of the chest cavity, mostly to the right. There's some scarring on the back of the hand and the gas mask seems to be fused to the flesh but I can't see any burns." Tory stepped away from Constantine and walked slightly closer to the Doctor.
"Look at another one." She advised him. He did as he was told.
"This isn't possible." He protested.
"Examine another." The older looking man barked. Tory grabbed the Doctor's hand as he passed her and followed him to the next bed, receiving a comforting squeeze.
"This isn't possible!" the Doctor protested as his exam results came up the same.
"No." Constantine agreed.
"They've all got the same injuries!"
"Yes."
"Exactly the same."
"Yes."
"Identical, all of them. Right down to the scar on the back of the hand." Suddenly the Doctor pulled Tory's hands up to his face before scanning them.
"I'm fine," she reassured him, "I made sure not to touch." He stared into her eyes for a moment before nodding; Tory blushed slightly at the attention but ignored her inner Jordan as she squealed in delight. Tory glanced back at Constantine, trying desperately hard to erase the damning scar on the back of his hand.
"How did this happen?" the Doctor demanded, "How did it start?" Tory stayed silent and let the human explain.
"When that bomb dropped, there was just one victim."
"Dead?"
"At first." The human continued, "His injuries were truly dreadful. By the following morning, every doctor and nurse who had treated him, who had touched him, had those exact same injuries. By the morning after that, every patient in the same ward had the exact same injuries. Within a week, the entire hospital. Physical injuries, as plague. Can you explain that? What would you say was the cause of death?"
"The head trauma." The Doctor answered.
"No."
"Asphyxiation."
"No."
"The collapse of the chest cavity..."
"No."
"All right. What was the cause of death?" The Doctor asked.
"There wasn't one." Tory told him quietly, he turned to face her frowning.
"They're not dead." Constantine elaborated before hitting his walking stick against a steel bin. All the patients sat up. The Doctor's shock showed clearly on his face. "It's all right. They're harmless. They just... sort of, sit there. No heartbeat, no life signs of any kind. They just... don't die."
"And they've just been left here?" The Doctor asked looking around, keeping Tory behind him but not noticing the subconscious protective gesture, "Nobody's doinganything?" The patients lay down again.
"We try and make them comfortable, what else is there?" Constantine asked.
"Just you? You're the only two here?"
"I'm repaying a debt." Tory explained, "He found me when I arrived here and offered me a place to stay in return I've helped him this last year, today was my last day."
"Before this war began," Constantine spoke up, "I was a father and a grandfather. Now I am neither. But I am still a doctor."
"Yeah." The Doctor was lost in his own thoughts and didn't notice what he was saying, "Know the feeling."
"I suspect the plan is to blow up the hospital and blame it on a German bomb." Constantine spoke like he would about the weather. The Doctor looked around the room again.
"Probably too late." He commented.
"No. They are isolated cases, but... isolated cases breaking out all over London..." he coughed again, worse than the last time and the Time Lords started to move towards him, Tory faster and closer than the Doctor, "Stay back, stay back." He coughed again, it was getting harder for him to speak, "Listen to me... top floor. Room 802, that's where they took the first victim - the one from the crash site. And you must find Nancy again."
"Nancy?" the Doctor asked, shocked.
"It was her brother. She knows more than she's saying. She won't tell me, but she mi... mi..." he gagged and clutched at his neck, "M... mu... mee..." The Doctor pulled Tory back to his side but watched the human with concern, "Are... you... my... mum-my?" as the pair watched a gas mask started to force its way out of Constantine's mouth, Tory held back tears and turned her head into the Doctors chest so that she didn't have to watch. She heard him go limp in his chair and muffled her sob against the leather jacket. The Doctor wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly.
Voices could be heard in the distance. The Doctor unwrapped Tory from his arms.
"Will you be alright?" she laughed humourlessly.
"I'm a Time Lord; I'm always alright." He kissed her fore-head and walked out of the ward. Tory stared after him, what was that about?
She whipped her eyes and kept her gaze deliberately turned from her latest patient in the middle of the room.
"I'm so sorry." She whispered to him, her voice carrying across the empty room, "So, so sorry."
A new man entered the ward, brown haired, wearing a dark blue trench coat and ruggedly handsome.
"Hello," he introduced himself, "Captain Jack Harkness." He walked right up to her took her hand and kissed it, she stared at him, surprised.
"It'll never work between us," she blurted, "you have an American accent."
"What's that supposed to mean?" he demanded playfully. Tory blinked at him, coming out of her daze.
"Jack? What are you doing here?" he stepped closer to her.
"Do you know me?" he asked charmingly.
"Yes, and I'd very much like not to get to know you better."
"You wound me dear lady!"
"Yes," she replied, "I will." The Doctor snorted in amusement as he re-entered the room and heard the last part of their conversation.
"Ah," Jack smirked, "a challenge." Tory wasn't certain if he was talking about the Doctor or her. Jack walked away from her and towards one of the bodies to scan it with a device on his wrist.
"Hello Rose." Tory greeted the Doctors companion with a smile and got one in return.
"Are you with them? Rose only mentioned Mr. Spock." Jack asked. Tory blinked.
"Mr…Spock? Okay, I can go with that. No, I'm on my own, had a bit of trouble with my transport and got stuck here for the past year, I'll be off once all this is done though."
"So not a Time Agent?" Jack checked.
"Nope." Tory answered with a grin.
"So how do you know me?"
"I meet you in your future."
"Oh? Was I good?"
"Shut up Jack." Tory sighed but enjoying the banter none the less. Jack grinned.
"That's not what she said." Tory face palmed.
Jack frowned as he got the results of his scan, ending the banter and checked another patient.
"This just isn't possible." He protested, "How could this happen?"
"What kind of Chula ship landed here?" the Doctor demanded suddenly from where he was leaning on the wall.
"What?" both Jack and Tory asked, the first surprised by the subject change and the other confused.
"He said it was a warship." Rose explained, "He stole it. Parked it somewhere out there, somewhere a bomb's gonna fall on it - unless WEmake him an offer."
"What kind of warship?" the Doctor asked.
"Does it matter?" Jack demanded, agitated, "It's got nothing to do with this!"
"This started at the bomb site." The Doctor said angrily, "It's got everythingto do with it. What kind of warship?" he was shouting by the end.
"An ambulance!" Jack roared back before calming himself and turning on his wrist device, "Look." A hologram appeared; it was round and cylindrical and would be about two meters long and one wide in real life. "That's what you chased through the Time Vortex; its space junk. I wanted to kid you it was valuable. It's empty. I made sure of it. Nothing but a shell. I threw it at you. Saw your time travel vehicle, love the retro look, by the way, nice panels, threw you the bait..."
"Bait?" Rose repeated, sounding offended.
"I wanted to sell it to you and then destroy it before you found out it was junk." Jack explained.
"You said it was a warship." She protested.
"They have ambulances in wars." He said annoyed, walking closer to Tory, "It was a con. I was conning you, that's what I am, I'm a con man. I thought you were Time Agents but you're not, are you?"
"Just a couple more free-lancers." Rose answered scathingly.
"Ahh... should've known. The way you guys are blending in with the local colour, I mean, Flag Girl was bad enough, but U-Boat Captain?" Rose and the Doctor looked uncomfortable and picked at their clothes.
"Jack," Tory spoke up for the first time, "be nice." He stared at her before turning back to the other two.
"Anyway... Whatever's happening here has got nothingto do with that ship." Jack protested one last time. Rose looked around at the patients.
"What ishappening here, Doctor?" she asked.
"Human DNA's being rewritten" he paused, dramatically, "by an idiot." Tory sighed before explaining a bit better.
"It has to be a virus, and for the moment can only be transmitted through direct skin to skin contact, so no touching!" she warned Rose as she bent closer to one of the bodies. Rose nodded.
"But why?" the Doctor asked, "What's the point?"
"World domination?" Tory suggested, "The whole mawahahaha thing?" the Doctor just stared at her, "What?"
Suddenly the patient Rose was looking at sat up, as did all the others in the ward. Rose jumped backwards.
"Mummy?" they asked.
"What's happening?" Rose demanded and she stared around.
"I don't know." The Doctor answered.
The patients stood up.
"That's never happened before." Tory muttered frowning.
The patients moved towards the four backing them into a corner.
"Don't let them touch you." The Doctor ordered.
"What happens if they touch us?" Rose asked, slowly backing away.
"You're looking at it."
The patients continued to chant as they backed the four up against the wall. No escape.
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Me: considering stopping here…..
Tory: Well?!
Me: well what?
Tory: are we stopping here?
Me: maaaayyyyybbeee. *evil grin*
Tory: I hate you.
Me: *silence*
Timmy: *face plams* you do realise that you just told the person who controls your existence that you hate them?
Tory:…..*realisation dawns*…..ah…..
Legend-wait-for-it-Dary: ah indeed.
Timmy: do you want a big funeral? Or a small one?
Tory: *blinks*
Legend-wait-for-it-Dary: she's typing!
Tory & Timmy: *turn to try and see laptop screen but fail*
Tory: does anyone else suddenly have a really bad feeling?
Timmy: Nope. *grins* all good here!
Legend-wait-for-it-Dary: *thoughtfully* little hungry….
Timmy: I could eat.
Legend-wait-for-it-Dary: salad?
Timmy: sure.
Legend-wait-for-it-Dary & Timmy: *leave room*
Tory: ahhhh well shit.
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"Mummy!" one of the gasmask people cried out. Tory turned her head to face it while trying to keep the others in her peripheral.
"I am very disappointed in you!" she started speaking in a slow deadly voice, "I'm very, very cross with you and your daddy," she pointed at the Doctor, not realising the possible connotations to her words, "Go to your room!" the gasmask people all tilted their heads to the side, "I mean it! Don't you even try to come back down or I won't be giving you any supper either!" she stomped her foot, "Go to your room!" the gasmask people turned away slowly and shuffled back to their beds.
Tory watched them for a moment and once they were all down, turned back to the Doctor, Jack and Rose, "I am so glad that worked; those would have being horrible last words!" she grinned manically.
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9th Doctor: you stole my lines!
Me: *too distracted to really notice that it's the Doctor she's talking to as she types* It wasn't me!
9th Doctor: you stole my line!I am very, very angry with you. I am very, VERY cross!*smirks*
Timmy: *walks into room, does double take* not good not good!*mutters* how did this nutter get here anyway?
9th Doctor: who you calling a nutter?
Timmy: see anyone else here?
9th Doctor: no.
Timmy: then guess.
Tory: *walks into room while towelling her hair* what's up*she catches sight of the Doctor* eeep! How did he get here?
Timmy: I don't know do i?
Tory: Wasn't asking you! *turns to me* You're the bloody author!
Me: I am TRYING TO WRITE *catches sight of the Doctor* What the hell?! How did he get here?!
Tory: I was asking you that!
Timmy: Girl has a point.
Tory: shut it bucko!
9th Doctor: if you would be good enough to SHUT UP FOR A MINIUTE I will find out what happened.
Me & Tory: yes sir!*salutes and then breaks down into giggles*
9th Doctor: *rolls eyes* it's always the crazy ones.
Me & Tory: *glance at each other* yeah! *falls to floor laughing!"
9th Doctor: *slowly fades away*
Tory: hey! Where'd he go?
Timmy: good riddance! *huffs and leaves room*
Me: *shrugs*
Tory: *goes back to shower*
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Rose sat in one of the empty chairs beside the beds of the gas mask victims at were meant for family while Jack slid into the same chair that Constantine had once used; Tory assumed that the man himself was in his own room on the third floor. The Doctor was leaning on the wall close to Rose's chair and Tory was just re-entering the room from one of the store cupboards pulling a wheeled tray behind her. She stopped beside Jack and nudged him with it to get his attention; he gave her a smile and took one of the three cups of water.
Tory did the same with Rose and the Doctor, sharing the Doctor's water as she leant on the wall beside him.
"Why are they all wearing gas masks?" Rose asked suddenly as she put her empty cup down on the patient's bedside table.
"They're not." Jack answered, "Those masks are flesh and bone."
"How was your con supposed to work?" the Doctor changed the topic.
"Simple enough, really." Jack answered with a shrug, "Find some harmless piece of space-junk... let the nearest Time Agent track it back to Earth. Convince him it's valuable, name a price. When he's put 50% up front, oops! A German bomb falls on it, destroys it forever. He never gets to see what he's paid for. Never knows he's been had. I buy him a drink with his own money, and we discuss dumb luck. The perfect self-cleaning con."
"Yeah. Perfect." The Doctor agreed sarcastically. Jack either missed the sarcasm or ignored it.
"The London Blitz is great for self-cleaners, Pompeii's nice if you want to make a vacation of it though, but you've got to set your alarm for volcano day." He laughed at his own joke but trailed off as the Doctor stared at him blankly and Tory turned to study the celling. "Getting a hint of disapproval."
"Take a look around the room." The Doctor ordered, "This is what your "harmless piece of space-junk" did."
"It was a burnt-out medical transporter, it was empty." Jack insisted. The Doctor gave him a dark look, grabbed Tory's hand and walked towards the door; Tory following behind.
"Rose." The Doctor called.
"We getting out of here?" she asked.
"We're going upstairs." The Doctor answered. Rose stood and started to follow as Jack got up and called after them.
"I even programmed the flight computer so it wouldn't land on anything living, I harmed no-one! I don't know what's happening here, but believe me, I had nothing to do with it."
"I'll tell you what's happening." The Doctor growled, "You forgot to set your alarm clock. It's volcano day." A siren went off in the distance.
"What's that?" Rose asked.
"The all-clear." Tory and Jack answered.
"I wish." The Doctor muttered as he passed through the doors, still holding Tory's hand, Rose and Jack following.
The Doctor broke out into a jog, letting go of Tory's hand as she started to move under her own power.
"I've missed this!" she grinned as they stared climbing the stairs, barely slowing down. The Doctor grinned back at her.
They reached the top floor and Tory looked around curiously; she'd never being up here before. It was a long bare stretch of corridor with a single thick metal door, locked.
She jumped as she heard Jack and Rose's running steps below them.
"Mr Spock?" Jack called.
"Doctor?" Rose did the same. Tory and the Doctor stuck their heads over the banister in time to see the two humans run past the flight of stairs the two aliens had just climbed.
"Have you got a blaster?" the Doctor yelled down. The two humans skidded to a stop and jogged back to the stairs.
"Sure!" Jack confirmed before he and Rose started to run up the stairs. They arrived on the landing and the Doctor started talking.
"The night your space-junk landed, someone was hurt. This was where they were taken." He explained gesturing at the door.
"What happened?" Rose asked.
"For what I was told," Tory spoke up dragging their attention to her, "it was a child, Nancy's little brother." She frowned as she tried to remember more details. She shook her head, "That's all I've got."
"Get it open." The Doctor ordered. Jack grinned and pulled out a smaller blaster than the one the Face of Boe had given Tory. The Doctor moved back to stand beside Rose while Tory swaggered up to Jack and lent on his arm playfully, she pulled out her own blaster and showed it to him.
"Mine's bigger." She smirked at him before walking back to where the Doctor and Rose were waiting hearing Jack chuckling behind her. She stopped and stood on the Doctor's left while Rose took his right. The Doctor wrapped an arm around her waist prompting her to lean on his shoulder.
"What's wrong with your sonic screwdriver?" Rose asked quietly.
"Nothing." The Doctor answered. Jack fired and cut a perfect square hole around the lock of the door making it squeak open.
"Sonic blaster, 51st century. Weapon Factories of Villengard?" the Doctor checked as he walked up to Jack's side, arm still wrapped around Tory and Rose following.
"You've been to the factories?" Jack asked in surprise. The Doctor took the blaster off Jack and studied it.
"Once."
"Well, they're gone now." Jack explained, "Destroyed. The main reactor went critical; vaporized the lot." The Doctor gave the blaster back.
"Like I said, once." He grinned, "There's a banana grove there, now. I like bananas. Bananas are good." He smiled pleasantly at Jack before walking into the room, taking Tory with him. Rose walked up to jack.
"Nice blast pattern." She complimented him.
"Digital."
"Squareness gun."
"Yeah." Jack agreed.
"I like it." Rose past him and into the room, Jack laughed as he followed her.
Tory reached out and flicked on the light switch as she entered the room; it was a quarantine room with a glass window separating the patients' area from where the doctors would stand. The glass was shattered, chairs and tables broken and thrown around, papers and notes were thrown all over the floor. Through the glass Tory could see the walls were covered in children's drawings, most of a small boy and his mum holding hands in different places a few toys were scattered on the floor and a little bed was in the far corner.
"What d'you think?" the Doctor asked the room at large.
"Something got out of here..." Jack answered.
"Yeah. And?"
"Something powerful. Angry." Jack elaborated.
"Powerful and angry." The Doctor repeated, letting go off Tory as she moved away from him towards the scattered bits of paper on the floor.
Jack walked through the next door into the child's room.
"A child?" he muttered, "I suppose this explains "mummy"."
"How could a child do this?" Rose asked as she joined him. Tory moved another stack of papers and uncovered what she had been looking for; a tape recorder.
"Constantine always recorded his chats with the patients," she explained as she lifted it onto the table for the Doctor to look at, "he always did it just in case a patient didn't make it so the family could hear their voice one last time." The Doctor squeezed her hand in comfort before starting the recording.
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Me: anything in italics is the recording.
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"Do you know where you are?" Constantine's voice demanded.
"Are you my mummy?" the child asked.
"Are you aware of what's around you? Can you... see?" Constantine asked.
"Are you my mummy?"
"What do you want? Do you know..." he was interrupted.
"I want my mummy. Are you my mummy? I want my mummy! Are you my mummy? Are you my mummy? Mummy? Mummy?"
"Doctor," Rose spoke, "I've heard this voice before."
"Me too." The Doctor answered.
"Mummy?" the child asked again.
"Always, "are you my mummy ?". Like he doesn't know." Rose realised.
"Mummy?"
"Why doesn't he know?" Rose asked.
"Are you there, mummy? Mummy?"
Tory heard the reels of the tape spinning, the slight clicking noise making her flinch.
"Mummy?" the child asked, "Please, mummy?" Tory had to force herself not to look towards the door, "Mummy?"
The Doctor started pacing.
"Doctor?" Rose asked carefully.
"Can you sense it?" he demanded, not stopping his pacing, Tory looked up at him then, trying to feel what he could feel.
"Sense what?" Jack asked.
"Coming out of the walls, can you feel it?" The Doctor stopped and faced Tory.
"Mummy?" the child asked again.
"Funny little human brains, how do they get around in those things?" he asked her, Tory gave him a weak smile.
"When he's stressed, he likes to insult species." Rose explained to Jack. The Doctor went back to his pacing.
"Rose, I'm thinking." He scolded her.
"Cuts himself shaving," she carried on, "does half an hour in life forms he's cleverer than..." the Doctor interrupted her.
"There are these children living rough around the bomb site. They come out during air-raids looking for food."
"Mummy, please?" Tory flinched but refused to look towards the door.
"Suppose they were there when this thing, whatever it was, landed?" the Doctor continued.
"It was a med-ship." Jack pointed out, "It was harmless."
"Yes, you keep saying. "Harmless". Suppose one of them was affected, altered?"
"Altered how?" Rose asked.
"I'm here!" the child announced. Tory met its gaze.
"IT's afraid," the others looked at her as she spoke, "So very afraid and so very powerful, it hasn't realised it yet but it will soon. It's got the power of a god and do you know what I did?" she gave a short humourless laugh before meeting the Doctors gaze, "I sent it to its room." The sound of the tape reels spinning seemed to get louder, the humans finally noticing.
"Doctor..." Rose paused scared.
"I'm here." The child spoke up again, "Can't you see me?"
"What's that noise?" her voice shook.
"End of the tape." The Doctor explained quietly, "It ran out about 30 seconds ago."
"I'm here, now." The child spoke up, "Can't you see me?"
"I sent it to its room," Tory explained, "This is its room!" the two humans and the Doctor span around and spotted the child beside the tape machine.
"Are you my mummy?" he cocked his head to one side, staring at Rose, "Mummy?" he asked her.
"Doctor?" Rose looked to him for help.
"Okay..." Jack spoke quietly, "on my signal... make for the door. Now!" he violently pulled a banana out of the holster where he expected his sonic blaster to sit, he pointed it threateningly at the child before realising. The Doctor grinned and pulled out Jack's sonic blaster, blasting a hole in the wall.
"Go! Now!" he ordered, "Don't drop the banana!" Jack jumped through the hole followed by Tory, Rose and the Doctor.
"Why not?!" Jack demanded.
"Good source of potassium!" the Doctor and Tory answered.
Tory looked up and down the corridor they were now in trying to plot the nearest exit.
"Give me that!" Jack grabbed the blaster back off the Doctor and fiddled with the settings.
"Are you my mummy?" the child asked as it walked towards the hole. Jack pointed his blaster at the hole and it rebuilt itself, blocking the child off.
"Digital rewind." He explained tossing the banana back at the Doctor, "Nice switch." He complimented.
"It's from the Groves of Villengard." The Doctor answered, "I thought it was appropriate."
"There's really a banana grove in the heart of Villengard and you did that?" Jack asked, slightly in awe and slightly disbelieving.
"Bananas are good." The Doctor answered simply. Rose looked between the two bemused as Tory shook her head.
"Can I have that?" she asked, gesturing for the banana. The Doctor handed it over. "Thanks." She smiled at him before pealing it and taking a bite. The Doctor pouted slightly. The four were brought sharply back to reality as the child hit the wall and managed to crack it.
"Doctor!" Rose shouted.
"Come on!" he grabbed her and Tory's hands and ran for it, Jack on his heels. They got down a short flight of stairs and down a corridor before their path was blocked off by the gas mask patients, they ran back and were blocked from that direction as well. They were stuck, back where they started with the child still breaking through the wall.
"It's keeping us here so it can get at us." The Doctor spoke up as the four moved as far back from the wall as they could go. Jack pulled his blaster and pointed it at each side of gas mask patients as he spoke.
"It's controlling them?"
"It isthem." The Doctor explained, "It's every living thing in this hospital."
"Okay. This can function as a sonic blaster, a sonic cannon, and a triple-enfolded sonic disrupter." He listed, "Doc, what you got?" The Doctor pulled the sonic out of his pocket and stood back-to-back with Jack to cover one side of the hall.
"A sonic, er... oh, never mind."
"What?" Jack demanded.
"It's sonic, okay? Let's leave it at that."
"Disrupter? Cannon? What?"
"It's sonic! Totally sonic! I am sonic-ed up!"
"A sonic what?!"
"SCREWDRIVER!" the Doctor yelled. Jack spun around to face him just as the child broke completely through the wall. Tory grabbed the Doctors hand and Rose's sleeve while Rose grabbed Jack's wrist.
"Hold on!" Tory yelled as she closed her eyes and forced enough of her Meridian particles to cover all four of them. They vanished in a flash of silver light.
They landed in a messy heap on the floor of another ward.
"I'm never doing that again." Tory groaned. Jack and Rose jumped to their feet, Rose moved towards where she could just make out the wall and Jack turned to the Doctor who had moved to sit on the floor with Tory's head in his lap, "I've used too much energy; transporting four people is a lot different from just doing two even without moving time zones," Tory explained, "I just have to recharge."
"Who has a sonic screwdriver?" Jack asked incredulously.
"Ido!" the Doctor answered.
"Light!" Rose muttered, running her hands along the wall.
"Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks "oohoo, this could be a little more sonic"?" Jack demanded.
"What, you've never been bored?" the Doctor returned indignantly.
"There's gotta be a light switch!" Rose was still searching.
"Never had a long night?" the Doctor demanded, helping a slightly recovered Tory to her feet, "Never had a lot of cabinets to put up?" Rose flicked on the lights. All the gas mask patients, who had been lying silently in their beds along both sides of the room, shot upright.
"Mummy?!"
"Door!" Jack called.
"Here we go again." Tory groaned, almost falling over as they darted towards the door. The Doctor wrapped an arm around her waist to hold her steady as Rose did the same on her other side. Jack shoved the door and once he realised it was locked tried to use his blaster which fizzed and died.
"Damn it!" he stepped aside and the Doctor used the sonic in his left hand to open the door, Jack wacked the blaster angrily, "It's the special features, they really drain the battery."
"The battery?!" Rose demanded as the Doctor opened the door and they all rushed through it, "That's so lame." She continued. Rose took all of Tory's weight as the Doctor darted back to the door and used the sonic to lock it. Jack helped Rose place Tory in a wheelchair before darting to the window.
"I was gonna send for another one," Jack defended, "but somebody's gotta blow up the factory." He glared at the Doctor. As he moved away from the window and towards Tory, she smiled at him tiredly and patted his hand to try and calm him down.
"Oh, I know," Rose spoke as she sat in a wooden chair beside Tory, "first day I met him, he blew my job up. That's practically how he communicates."
"Okay," the Doctor spoke up as he turned away from the door, "that door should hold it for a bit."
"The door?!" Jack exclaimed, "The walldidn't stop it!"
"Well, it's gotta findus first!" the Doctor pointed out, "Come on, we're not done yet! Assets, assets!"
"Well, I had a banana," Jack answered, "and at a pinch you could put up some shelves."
"Window..." the Doctor realised, moving towards it.
"Barred, sheer drop outside, seven stories." Jack listed off.
"And no other exits." Rose stated, standing and letting Jack take her chair as he moved to take Tory's pulse, worried, as her eyes drifted open and shut.
"Well, the assets conversation went in a flash, didn't it?" Jack muttered scornfully, Tory gave him a weak look of disapproval.
"So, where'd you pick this one up, then?" The Doctor asked Rose scornfully.
"Doctor..." Rose told him warningly.
"She was hanging from a barrage balloon," Jack explained, "I had an invisible spaceship. I never stood a chance." Rose looked uncomfortable.
"Okay, one," the Doctor started. Jack winked at Tory,
"I'll be back Beautiful." He muttered before tapping some coordinates onto his wrist device and vanishing,
"we want to get out of here." The Doctor continued, "Two, we can'tget out of here. Have I missed anything?" Rose turned to check on Tory and noticed Jack's disappearance.
"Yeah... Jack just disappeared." Rose muttered. The Doctor spun to see the empty chair beside Tory. He walked down from the window and sat in the chair.
"Fantastic." He muttered sarcastically. Tory shifted slightly and took his hand.
"Give me five," she muttered, "I'll 'ave us out of here in no time." Her words slurred together slightly. The Doctor shook his head.
"I'll work something out." He reassured her. Tory nodded. Rose walked up to the pair, placing her hand on the back of the Doctor's chair.
"Okay, so he's vanished into thin air. Why is it always the greatlooking ones who do that?" she asked. The Doctor peered up at her, giving her a look. Tory scoffed, moving with more energy.
"I'm making an effort not to be insulted." He told her.
"I mean... men." She waved a hand dismissively.
"Okay. Thanks. That reallyhelped." He answered sarcastically.
"I think you're a man." Tory informed him.
"Thanks." He responded sarcastically.
"I'd give anything to get you out of that jacket," she continued, ignoring the surprised look the Doctor gave her, "I really, really like that jacket." Rose smothered a snort at the Doctor's disappointed face.
"Rose? Doctor? Beautiful? Can you hear me?" Jack's voice filled the room coming from an old radio on one of the storage shelves. Rose and the Doctor hurried over to it while Tory just turned her head, "I'm back on my ship." Jack continued, "Used the emergency teleport. Sorry I couldn't take you." The Doctor held up the wires from the back of the radio, all disconnected, "It's security-keyed to my molecular structure. I'm working on it, hang in there."
"How are you speaking to us?" the Doctor asked.
"Om-Com." Jack answered, "I can call anything with a speaker grille."
"Now there's a coincidence." The Doctor muttered. Rose gave him a curious look.
"What is?" Jack asked.
"The Child can Om-Com too."
"It can?" Rose asked. The Doctor nodded.
"Anything with a speaker grille. Even the TARDIS phone." He added over his shoulder to Tory.
"That's impossible!" Tory disagreed, "It's not even a real phone!"
"That's what I said."
"You told a child at the other end of an impossible phone call that said call was impossible?" Tory asked.
"Yep." The Doctor answered with a grin, popping the 'p'.
"I bloody love you!" Tory grinned.
"What, you mean the Child can phone us?" Rose asked, dragging the two Time Lords back to the subject.
"And I can hear you." The child answered, its voice coming through the same radio as Jack's, "Coming to find you. Coming to fiiiiind you." It sing-songed.
"Doctor, can you hear that?" Jack asked.
"Loud and clear."
"I'll try to block out the signal. Least I can do."
"Coming to find you, mummy!" The child called.
"Remember this one, Rose?" Jack asked as Glenn Miller's 'Moonlight Serenade' started to play through the radio.
Rose looked slightly flustered as both the Doctor and Tory sent her a questioning glance.
"Our song." She explained in an embarrassed tone. The Doctor nodded and turned away, walking back to the window and sonic-ing the concrete.
Rose moved and sat down beside Tory as the other woman smirked at her.
"What?" Rose muttered.
"Was he any good?" Tory teased, sitting up straighter as more of her energy came back. Rose blushed.
"We had champagne on top of a floating spaceship next to Big Ben, and danced to Glenn Miller."
"Ohhhh." Tory sighed.
"I know." Rose responded, "What you doing?" she asked the Doctor as he shifted from one side of the window to the other, holding the sonic to it.
"Trying to set up a resonation pattern in the concrete; loosen the bars."
"You don't think he's coming back, do ya?" Rose questioned, swinging her legs so that they were over the arm of her chair.
"Wouldn't bet my life." The Doctor responded.
"Why don't you trust him?" Rose asked.
"Why do you?" The Doctor returned.
"Saved my life." Rose answered, "Bloke-wise, that's up there with flossing." The Doctor didn't answer. Rose and Tory studied him. "I trust him 'cos he's like you; except with dating and dancing." The Doctor shot her a look, his eyes drifting to Tory before snapping back. "What?" Rose asked.
"You just assume I'm..."
"What?" Tory asked this time.
"You just assume that I don't... dance." Rose placed her feet on the ground.
"What, are you telling me you do... dance?" she questioned, grinning.
"Nine hundred years old, me. I've been around a bit. I think you can assume that at some point I've danced." Rose's grin grew wider and her eyes darted from one Time Lord to the other.
Tory was more energised and shifted in her wheel chair to lean on her knees as she looked the Doctor up and down.
"You?!" Rose teased.
"Problem?" The Doctor asked.
"Doesn't the universe implode or something if you... dance?" she teased again.
"Well, I've got the moves but I wouldn't want to boast." He commented. Rose grinned, stood and moved towards the radio, turning the music up. The Doctor looked up, completely surprised. Rose stopped beside Tory and helped the Time Lady to her feet, pushing her towards the Doctor.
"You've got the moves?" She asked, "Show me your moves."
"Rose," the Doctor sighed, "I'm trying to resonate concrete and Tory should be resting." He pointed out.
"I'm with Rose on this one," Tory disagreed, "and I'm fine now anyway."
"Jack'll be back, he'll get us out." Rose beckoned to him, "So come on, the world doesn't end 'cos the Doctor dances." The Doctor snapped of the sonic and walked towards Tory slowly, an odd expression on his face. Tory held out her hands to him, he looked at them for a moment before his gaze moved to Rose. Tory felt incredibly disappointed for a moment before shoving the emotion down.
"Barrage balloon?" The Doctor questioned.
"What?" Rose asked, completely lost. He pointed to her hands.
"You were hanging from a barrage balloon."
"Best way to see and air-raid." Tory commented.
"That's what I said." Rose told her with a grin before turning back to the Doctor, "About two minutes after you left me. Thousands of feet above London, middle of a German air-raid, Union Jack allover my chest." The Doctor raised his eyebrows.
"I've travelled with a lot of people, but you're setting new records for jeopardy-friendly." He commented.
"Is this you dancing? 'Cos I've got notes." Rose quipped.
"Hanging from a rope a thousand feet above London. Not a cut, not a bruise." The Doctor mused. Tory looked at Rose in question.
"Yeah, I know. Captain Jack fixed me up..."
"Oh, we're calling him Captain Jack now, are we?" the Doctor asked.
"Well, his name's Jack and he's a captain..." Rose pointed out.
"He's not really a captain, Rose." The Doctor pointed out with a self-satisfied smile.
"You know what Rose," Tory started, winking at the blonde, "I think he's experiencing captain envy."
"Yeah," Rose agreed, "he's got it bad." The Doctor half nodded before moving closer to Tory.
"What are you doing?" she asked him and he took her hands.
"Dancing."
"Oh…." She placed her hands on his shoulders and felt his on her hips as they started to sway to the music.
"You'll find your feet at the end of your legs. You may care to move them." Rose instructed. The Doctor and Tory were now chest to chest, she was trying to resist the temptation to put her head on his shoulder.
"If ever he was a captain, he's been defrocked." The Doctor told Rose over Tory's head.
"Yeah?" Rose smiled at the pair, "Shame I missed that."
"Actually, I quit." Jack spoke, "Nobody takes my frock." All three of them looked around in shock, they were standing in what had to be Jack's ship but Tory had no idea how they had gotten there. She moved back from the Doctor and he removed his hands suddenly like he had forgotten they were there. "Most people notice when they've been teleported." Jack commented, "You guys are so sweet." Tory felt a slight blush on her cheeks, "Sorry about the delay. I had to take the nav-com offline to override the teleport security."
"You can spend ten minutes overriding your own protocols?" The Doctor asked, "Maybe you should remember whose ship it is."
"Oh, I do. She was gorgeous." Rose smiled at his comment, "Like I told her, be back in five minutes." He ducked underneath the console.
"This is a Chula ship." The Doctor stated as he looked around.
"Yeah," Jack called up, "just like that medical transporter. Only, this one is dangerous." The Doctor snapped his fingers and his hand was instantly surrounded by a golden glow.
"They're what fixed my hands up!" Rose exclaimed, "Jack called 'em, um..."
"Nanobots?" the Doctor suggested, "Nanogenes."
"Nanogenes," she cried, recognising the word, "yeah."
"Sub-atomic robots." The Doctor explained, "There's millions of them in here, see? Burned my hand on the console when we landed - all better now. They activate when the bulk head's sealed. Check you out for damage, fix any physical flaws." Rose beamed. The Doctor banished the nanogenes with a wave of his hand and turned to Jack who had come up from under the console while he was talking. "Take us to the crash site." He ordered, "I need to see your space junk."
"As soon as I get the nav-com back online." Jack sighed the Doctor looked annoyed, "Make yourself comfortable. Carry on with whatever it was you were..." he gestured at Tory, "doing."
"We were talking about dancing!" the Doctor told him innocently.
"It didn't look like talking." Jack commented.
"Didn't feel like dancing." Tory muttered causing the Doctor to glance back at her.
Tory sat down on one of the beds on the side of the ship and the Doctor followed her. Rose walked to the front of the ship and stood behind the captain's chair where Jack was working.
Tory picked up the Doctor's hand and started playing with his fingers distractedly.
"You okay?" he asked gently.
"Hum?" she glanced up at him.
"You alright now?" he asked again, she looked back down at his hand, seeming to just realise what she was doing.
"I'm good," she answered, "You don't mind this do you?" she lifted his hand slightly to indicate what she was talking about.
"No its fine," he reassured her, "It's…..nice." he noticed her blush.
"Okay then."
They were saved from further awkwardness by Jack speaking up.
"Okay, we're good to go." He announced, "Crash site?"
)0(
Tory sighed as she spotted the hospital in the background as the group of four walked towards the main gates of the crash site. The Doctor took her hand, noticing what she was staring at, and gave it a comforting squeeze. They ducked down behind a pile of rubbish set on the unused train tracks as they noticed the guard station.
"There it is." Jack muttered, studying the guard, "Ay, they've got Algy on duty. Must be important."
"We've gotta get past." The Doctor pointed out.
"The words 'distract the guard' head in my general direction." Rose asked, somehow managing to sound amused and exasperated.
"I don't think that'd be such a good idea." Jack answered.
"Don't worry... I can handle it."
"I've got to know Algy quite well," Jack explained, "since I've been in town. Trust me. You're not his type. I'll distract him." He stood and walked towards the guard post, "Don't wait up." Rose stared after him for a moment before look at the Doctor for an explanation.
"Relax, he's a 51st century guy. He's just a bit more flexible when it comes to dancing."
"Howflexible?" Rose questioned.
"Well, by his time, you lot have spread out across half the galaxy." The Doctor hinted.
"Meaning?" the Doctor grinned.
"So many species, so little time..."
"What, that's what we do when we get out there? That's our mission? We seek new life, and... and..." she trailed off.
"Dance." The Doctor finished, sniggering.
Jack reached the guard station.
"Hey, tiger!" he greeted the other man, "How's it hanging?" the older man turned to face Jack a questioning look on his face.
"Mummy?" he asked. Tory and the Doctor shared a dark look.
"Algy, old sport, it's me." Jack tried.
"Mummy?" Jack's smiled vanished.
"It's me, Jack."
"Jack?" the man repeated, like a child learning a stranger's name, "Are you my... mummy?" He coughed falling to his knees. Tory gasped and knowing what was coming buried her face in the Doctor's jacket once more.
"Stay back!" the Doctor yelled. Tory looked up to see a crowd of soldiers heading for Jack and the older man.
"You men! Stay away!" Jack ordered. The Doctor helped Tory to her feet while Rose was already running towards where Jack was standing. The four came together again, Rose and Jack looking horror struck.
"The effect's become air-borne." The Doctor realised.
It's accelerating." Tory added.
"What's keeping ussafe?" Rose looked up at them, managing to drag her gaze away from the man on the floor.
"Nothing." The Doctor answered. The air-raid siren cut through the silence that the Doctor's comment had inspired. Jack looked up at the sky.
"Ah, here they come again." He groaned.
"All we need." Rose sighed before frowning in thought, "Didn't you say a bomb was gonna land... Here?" Jack nodded. Tory turned her head slightly as she heard something…was that singing?
"Never mind about that." The Doctor dismissed the bomb, "If the contaminants air-borne now, there's hours left."
"For what?"
"'Til nothing." The Doctor announced, "'Til forever. For the entire human race. And can anyone else hear singing?" The Doctor turned and charged off towards the shed that the singing seemed to be coming from. Tory turned to Jack.
"Order those men into the air-raid shelters," she told him, "at least they'll be safe from the bomb."
"Aye." He responded before moving towards the small group of men that had yet to move. Tory turned to Rose.
"Don't worry about the bomb," she reassured the other woman, "If push comes to shove I can get us all out of here just like before, okay?" Rose nodded before following the Doctor to the shed that he had just disappeared inside of.
Tory stared around, letting her U.N.I.T. training take over.
"What else…" she tried to think, "what have I forgotten?" she slapped herself in the forehead, "Ah! Jordan! Where are you when I need you, eh?" she muttered. She looked around again spotting Jack coming back towards her from one direction while Rose, the Doctor and Nancy did the same from the other.
They turned as one and walked into the centre of the site. Jack and the Doctor moving forward together and throwing the tarpaulin off the Chula medical ship, making the spotlights all around the area switch on.
"You see?" Jack asked, "Just an ambulance."
"That's an ambulance?" Nancy muttered to Rose.
"It's hard to explain," Rose told her, "it's... it's from another world." Jack moved so he could see the control panel on the side of the capsule.
"They've been trying to get in." Jack commented.
"Of coursethey have." The Doctor scoffed as Jack started typing in a code, "They think they've got their hands on Hitler's latest secret weapon. What're you doing?"
"Well, the sooner you see this thing is empty, the sooner you'll see I had nothing to do with it." Jack explained. Suddenly the console exploded with sparks and an alarm went off, they all jumped back, "That didn't happen last time." Jack muttered.
"It hadn't crashed last time." The Doctor explained, "They're the emergency protocols."
"Doctor, what isthat?" Rose asked spotting a red light on the panel flashing, "Doctor!" the gates on the other side of the bomb site started shaking.
"Jack!" Tory yelled, "Get those gates shut!"
"Why?" Jack demanded.
"Just do it!" the Doctor yelled, backing Tory up. Jack ran to obey. The Doctor turned to Nancy, "Nancy, how'd you get in here?"
"I cut the wire."
"Show Rose." He ordered, tossing the sonic to Rose, "Setting two thousand four hundred and twenty eight D."
"What?"
"Reattaches barbed wire. Go!" Jack slammed the gates shut.
"Shift." Tory commanded the Doctor as Nancy lead Rose away, "I'm the one that's a living ship, so shift." The Doctor did as he was told and Tory moved into his place. She put her hand against the panel and frowned as she started to work her way through the encrypting code.
The hatch slid open at the same time Tory stumbled back.
"It's empty." Jack gestured at the pod, "Look at it." Rose and Nancy came back; Rose steadying Tory as she shook her head trying to get the numbers and codes to fade from her vision.
"What do you expect in a Chula medical transporter? Bandages? Cough drops?" he turned away from Jack, "Rose?"
"I dunno." She answered with a shrug as Tory gave her a grateful smile.
"Yes, you do." Tory told her grabbing the blonde's hands.
"Nanogenes!" Rose realised.
"It wasn't empty, Captain." The Doctor spoke, "There was enough nanogenes in there to rebuild a species." Jack paled.
"Oh, God."
"Getting it now, are we? When the ship crashes, the nanogenes escape. Billions upon billions of them, ready to fix all the cuts and bruises in the whole world. But what they find first is a dead child, probably killed earlier that night and wearing a gasmask."
"And they brought him back to life?" Rose asked in amazement, "They can do that?"
"What's life? Life's easy. A quirk of matter. Nature's way of keeping meat fresh. Nothing to a nanogene. One problem, though, these nanogenes, they're not like the ones on your ship. This lot have never seen a human being before. Don't know what a human being's supposed to look like. All they've got to go on is one little body, and there's not a lot left. But they carry right on. They do what they're programmed to do, they patch it up. Can't tell what's gasmask and what's skull, but they do their best. Then off they fly - off they go, work to be done. 'Cos you see nowthey thinkthey know what people should look like and it's time to fix all the rest. And they won't ever stop. They won't ever, ever stop. The entire Human Race is gonna be torn down and rebuilt in the form of one terrified child looking for its mother, and nothingin the world can stop it!" he was shouting at Jack by the end of it and Jack was visibly shaken.
"I didn't know." Jack tried to defend himself.
"We know," Tory told him gently. The Doctor just gave him a cold stare and pulled out his sonic, wrapping an arm around Tory's waist to stop her from moving away.
"It's bringing the gasmask people here, isn't it?" Rose asked suddenly, staring at the flashing red light.
"The ship thinks it's under attack," Tory explained, "wouldn't listen to me when I tried to tell it different, so it's call up the troops, standard protocol."
"But... the gasmask people aren't troops..." Rose protested.
"They are now." The Doctor explained, "This is a battle-field ambulance. The nanogenes don't just fix you up, they get you ready for the front line. Equip you, programme you."
"That's why the Child's so strong." Rose realised, "Why it could do that phoning thing."
"It's a fully equipped Chula warrior, yes." The Doctor agreed, "All that weapons tech in the hands of a hysterical four year old, looking for his mummy. And now there's an army of them." The gas mask people had made it to the surrounding fence but had stopped there.
"Why don't they attack?" Jack asked.
"Good little soldiers." The Doctor explained, "Waiting for their commander."
"The child?"
"Jamie." Nancy corrected Jack sharply.
"What?" he asked. Nancy glared at him.
"Not "the child". Jamie." The Doctor looked over at her.
"So, how long until the bomb falls?" Rose asked desperately.
"Any second." Jack answered, nervously.
"What's the matter, Captain?" the Doctor sneered, "Bit close to the volcano for you?"
"He's just a little boy." Nancy spoke up.
"We know." Tory told her gently.
"He's just a little boy who wants his mummy." Nancy was crying quietly.
"I know." The Doctor reassured her, "There isn't a little boy born who wouldn't tear the world apart to save his mummy. And this little boy can."
"So what're we gonna do?" Rose demanded, loudly.
"I don't know." The Doctor answered.
"It's my fault." Nancy cried.
"No." Tory protested.
"It is. It's all my fault."
"How can it be your..." Tory stopped midway through her question as the gas mask people seemed to get louder in their cries.
"Nancy, what age are you?" the Doctor demanded, "Twenty? Twenty-one? Older than you look, yes?" a bomb landed nearby making Rose and Jack flinch. Tory moved to Rose's side and took her hand.
"Doctor, that bomb. We've got seconds." Jack pointed out. Another one landed.
"You can teleport us out." Rose suggested as she started at Jack.
"Not you guys." Jack explained, "The nav-com's back online. Gonna take too long to override the protocols." The Doctor didn't turn, his eyes still fixed on Nancy as he spoke.
"So it's volcano day. Do what you've got to do."
"Jack?" Rose asked, looking betrayed.
"You'll do the right thing." Tory whispered before nodding at Jack giving her what little comfort she could. Jack looked at Rose, almost apologetically before teleporting away.
"How old were you five years ago?" the Doctor continued his interrogation, "Fifteen? Sixteen? Old enough to give birth, anyway." Nancy, still sobbing, looked up at him before glancing away, "He's not your brother, is he?" he asked gently. Nancy shook her head, unable to speak, "A teenage single mother in 1941. So you hid. You lied. You even lied to him." The gates swung open as the child, Jamie, and his army arrived.
"Are you my mummy?"
"He's gonna keep asking, Nancy." The Doctor told her, "He's never gonna stop. Tell him." She didn't answer as the gas mask people started to walk forwards, "Nancy... the future of the human race is in your hands. Trust me... and tell him." Nancy sniffed. The child, Jamie, walked forwards, in front of his troops.
"Are you my mummy?" the Doctor gave Nancy a small push to get her moving.
"Are you my mummy? Are you my mummy?"
"Yes." Nancy whispered before her voice got stronger, "Yes. I AMyour mummy."
"Mummy?"
"I'm here."
"Are you my mummy?" they were in front of each other now. Nancy kneeled so they were the same height.
"I'm here." She repeated.
"Are you my mummy?"
"Yes." She answered again.
"He doesn't understand." Tory muttered, slightly tearful, to Rose, "There's not enough of him left."
"I amyour mummy." Nancy spoke through her tears, "I will always be your mummy. I'm so sorry." She pulled him into a hug, no longer caring what could happen to her. A golden glow covered the pair as the nanogenes appeared, "I am so, so sorry."
"What's happening?" Rose asked, looking between the two unmoving Time Lords, "Doctor, it's changing her, we should..."
"Shh!" the Doctor silenced her, "Come on, please. Come on, you cleverlittle nanogenes, figure it out! The mother. She's the mother! There's gotta be enough information, figure it out!"
"What's happening?"
"The nanogenes," Tory explained, "are recognising the parent DNA!" Nancy fell away from Jamie and on to the ground as the nanogenes vanished. The Doctor rushed over followed by Rose and Tory.
"Oh, come on. Give me a day like this. Give me this one." The Doctor prayed. He reached out to the gas mask and pulled it off. Tory laughed in relief as the adorable blonde boy grinned up at them. Nancy stared, delighted, while the Doctor joined Tory in her laughter as he lifted Jamie into the air and swung him around, "Ah-ha-ha! Welcome back! Twenty years 'til pop music, you're gonna loveit." He hugged Jamie before Tory latched onto the boy's other side to hug him as well.
"What happened?" Nancy asked in wonder.
"The nanogenes recognised the superior information, the parent DNA. They didn't change you because you changed them! Haha!" he put Jamie down in front of her before wrapping his arm around Tory's waist, "Mother knows best!"
"Jamie...!" Nancy was crying with happiness now. A bomb landed nearby.
"Doctor, that bomb..." Rose started.
"Taken care of it." The Doctor beamed.
"How?"
"Psychology!" he answered with a gesture at the happy family.
They all looked up as the bomb fell and watched as it was caught in a blue forcefield. A second later Jack appeared sitting on the bomb like a horse.
"Doctor!" Jack called down.
"Good lad!" the Doctor praised him.
"The bomb's already commenced detonation. I've put it in stasis but it won't last long."
"Change of plan, don't need the bomb. Can you get rid of it? Safely as you can?" the Doctor asked.
"Rose?" Jack called to the blonde after nodding at the Doctor.
"Yeah?"
"Goodbye." He vanished and Rose looked slightly disappointed before he reappeared, "By the way, love the tee-shirt." They grinned at each other. Jack vanished again and he and his ship flew off into the sky.
The Doctor walked a few paces away, staring intently at his hands. He waved them once and the nanogenes coated them.
"What're you doing?" Rose asked.
"Software patch. Gonna email the upgrade. You want moves, Rose? I'll give you moves." He threw the nanogenes away from himself and towards the gas mask army who all fall to the ground, "Everybody lives, Rose. Just this once. Everybody lives!" the Doctor yelled, ecstatic.
All the gas mask people climbed to their feet removing the gas masks as they recovered and looking around them in confusion. The Doctor grabbed Tory's hand and darted into the crowd leading her towards…Constantine!
"Doctor Constantine." The Doctor greeted him, as Tory launched herself at him, grabbing the man in a hug, "Who never left his patients. Back on your feet, constant doctor! World doesn't wanna get by without you just yet, and I don't blame it one bit." He gestured around, "These are your patients. All better, now!"
"Yes, yes... so it seems." Constantine answered, as Tory let go of him and back to the Doctor's side, "They also seem to be standing around in a disused railway station. Is there any particular reason for that?"
"Yeah, well, you know, cutbacks. Listen, whatever was wrong with them in the past, you're probably gonna find that they're cured. Just tell them what a great doctor you are. Don't make a big thing of it. Okay?" he turned and rushed away.
"Thank you," Tory spoke to Constantine, "for everything!" before following the Doctor.
"Right, you lot!" the Doctor yelled as he reset some of the setting on the transport, "Lots to do! Beat the Germans, save the world, don't forget the Welfare State!" he spoke only to Rose and Tory now as the humans walked away, "Setting this to self-destruct, soon as everybody's clear. History says there was an explosion here. Who am I to argue with history?"
"Usually the first in line." Rose grinned. Tory laughed as the Doctor matched Rose's expression.
)0(
The three entered the TARDIS, the Doctor still chatting away happily.
"The nanogenes will clean up the mess and switch themselves off, because I just told them to. Nancy and Jamie will go to Doctor Constantine for help, ditto - all in all, all things considered, fantastic!" Rose and Tory shared a grin at his enthusiasm.
"Look at you, beaming away like you're Father Christmas!" she teased.
"Who says I'm not, red-bicycle-when-you-were-twelve?"
"What?!"
"And everybody lives, Rose! Tory! Everybody lives!" he and Tory were almost dancing around the console as they set the coordinates, "I need more days like this."
"Doctor..." Rose hesitated.
"Go on, ask me anything. I'm on fire!"
"What about Jack?" Rose asked, the Doctor's smile faded and he stopped fiddling with the controls, Tory continued, hiding a smile, "Why'd he say goodbye?"
"I got it covered!" Tory announced as she pulled the dematerialisation leaver.
)0(
"Okay, computer, how long can we keep the bomb in stasis?" Jack asked as he sat in the Captain's chair.
Stasis decaying at ninety percent per cycle. Detonation in three minutes.
"Can we jettison it?"
Any attempt to jettison the device will precipitate detonation. One hundred percent probability.
Jack closed his eyes for a moment.
"We could stick it in an escape pod." Jack suggested.
There is no escape pod on board.
"I see the flaw in that." Jack admitted, "I'llget in the escape pod!"
There is no escape pod on board.
"Did you check everywhere?" his voice was rising.
Affirmative.
"Under the sink?!" he shouted.
Affirmative.
Jack nodded, calming himself down as he realised just how pointless arguing was.
"Okay. Out of one hundred... exactly how dead am I?"
Termination of Captain Jack Harkness in under two minutes; one hundred percent probability.
Jack sighed.
JACK : Lovely. Thanks. Good to know the numbers.
You're welcome.
"Okay then. Think we'd better initiate emergency protocol four-one-seven."
Affirmative.
A martini like drink appeared on the top of the console; he reached out, took it with a smile and sipped it.
"Oooh, a little too much vermouth. See if I come here again!" he laughed, "Funny thing... last time I was sentenced to death, I ordered four hyper-vodkas for my breakfast. All a bit of a blur after that. Woke up in bed with both my executioners. Hmm, lovely couple. They stayed in touch!" he stopped pondering what he had just said, "Can't say that about most executioners." He laughed again, "Anyway. Thanks for everything, computer. It's been great."
Behind him the bomb ticked away with 'Moonlight Serenade' playing over it. Jack spun around seeing the open doors of the TARDIS stood up. Tory lent against the side of the door, grinning at him while Rose and the Doctor were twisted around each other rather awkwardly.
"Well, hurry up then!" Tory winked at him before turning away and walking up the ramp to around half way, where she stopped and leant against one of the corral supports. Jack followed staring around in amazement while Tory watched Rose and the Doctor waltzing around the console, with Rose making okaying noises when he got something right.
"Right, and turn..." Rose instructed, the Doctor obeyed but managed to twist her arm around her back, "Okay, okay, try and spin me again, but this time, don't get my arm up my back!" the Doctor looked sheepish, "No extra points for a half-nelson."
"I'm sureI used to know this stuff." The Doctor insisted before turning to Jack, "Close the door, will you. Your ship's about to blow up, there's gonna be a draft." Rose grinned and joined Tory against the pillar. The Doctor flicked a switch on the console and the engines started up, "Welcome to the TARDIS."
"Much bigger on the inside..." Jack spoke still staring around.
"You'd better be." The Doctor warned.
"I think what the Doctor's tryingto say is... you may cut in." Rose grinned and reached to take his hand, to continue the dance.
"Rose!" the Doctor burst out suddenly, "I've just remembered!"
"What?" Rose asked looking around at him.
'In The Mood' blared out of the speakers as the TARDIS change the song. The Doctor moved in time to the song, clicking his fingers.
"I can dance!"
"Actually, Doctor..." Rose hinted casually, "I thought Tory might like this dance." Tory blushed as the Doctors eyes met hers. She walked up the rest of the ramp towards him, holding out her hand. He took it and pulled her towards him, spinning her in the process; it's almost as if he was pretending that he couldn't dance earlier. He spun her perfectly around the console, drawing her towards him and then away. Suddenly he threw her backwards over his arm, Tory laughed in delight. The Doctor pulled her back up and she rested against his chest, giggling.