AN: Sorry it took so long, I've had a wild January and February is not looking so hot either. Please review to boost up my morale. :D
-0-
The Tardis materialized in a dim basement filing room the Doctor opening the Tardis doors to stare down the barrels of three Lee Enfield rifles, made in Britain, which moved aside to reveal the PM.
"Amy? Winston Churchill." The Doctor introduced Amy as she stepped out followed by Stella.
"Doctor. Is it you?" Churchill looked the Doctor over, wide eyed.
"Oh, Winston, my old friend." The Doctor went in for a handshake, but Churchill held out his hand and beckoned. "Ah, every time."
"What's he after?" Amy asked.
"Tardis key, of course." The Doctor replied as Stella shut the Tardis door behind them.
"Think of what I could achieve with your remarkable machine, Doctor." Winston pleaded. "The lives that could be saved."
"Ah, doesn't work like that." The Doctor replied shaking his head.
"Must I take it by force?" Winston questioned, his men standing ready, their guns still pointed threateningly at the time travelers.
"I'd like to see you try Winny." Stella stepped forward hands on hips, her cyborg lines remaining visible much to the Doctor and Amy's surprise.
"Stella, you lines." The Doctor said in a slightly panicked sotto voice as he held open his jacket standing in front of her shielding her from the others view.
"It's ok Doctor." Stella winked as she pulled him to the side. "Isn't that right Winny?"
"Only one person calls me Winny and those lines…Stella?" Winston questioned and Stella nodded with a toothy grin.
"The one and only." Stella flung out her arms.
"You look different." Winston commented with a chuckle.
"Yeah, long story." Stella said as they hugged then stepped apart, the Doctor wrapping his arm around her waist. "Now you wouldn't shoot me or my fiancé now would you?"
"Fiancé? Well congratulations to the both of you." Winston beamed then spoke to the soldiers. "At ease."
"You rang?" The Doctor questioned as the soldiers lowered their guns.
-0-
Winston led them down a corridor as they spoke, the ongoing war evident all around them in the looks of strained faces, the dilapidated state of the building, and everything seemed chaotic.
"So you've changed your face again." Winston commented.
"Yeah, well, had a bit of work done." The Doctor replied with a shrug.
"And Stella, you've changed as well, I thought you were only a cyborg." Winston glanced to her.
"Oh well there was a meta-crisis thing, you know." Stella said leaving the PM with a confused look on his face. "How's Clementine?"
"As well as can be expected in these dark days, but she is as ever my rock." Winston sighed with a small smile. "I must, as always, thank you for introducing us and re-introducing us at that lovely dinner party."
"My pleasure, and the children?" Stella went on.
"Very well, though they are not children any longer and they wish to see you once again." Winston replied.
"Then I will do my best to do so." Stella nodded.
"Got it, got it, got it. Cabinet War Rooms, right?" Amy said in excitement.
"Yep. Top secret heart of the War Office, right under London." The Doctor said with a grin.
"You're late, by the way." Winston told them.
"Requisitions, sir." Blanche said handing Winston some forms and Winston handing the Doctor his cane.
"Excellent." Winston signed them handing them back as they were given to him.
"Late?" Stella prompted as the Doctor checked his watch.
"I rang you a month ago." Winston replied, looking over the forms.
"Really? Sorry, sorry. It's a Type Forty Tardis, it's. I'm just running her in." The Doctor explained.
"Yes, there was a loose nut at the wheel." Stella grinned.
"Oi, I am a very able pilot." The Doctor bopped her nose with his finger.
"Something the matter, Breen? You look a little down in the dumps." Winston took note of the woman taking the papers back from him.
"No, sir. Fine, sir." Blanche replied, shaking her head although her eyes were worried.
"Action this day, Breen. Action this day." Winston encouraged.
"Yes, sir." Blanche nodded walking away.
"Excuse me, sir." A young man, walked up to them. "Got another formation coming in, Prime Minister. Stukas, by the look of them."
"We shall go up top then, Group Captain. We'll give them what for. Coming, Doctor? Stella?" Winston called back to them.
"Why?" The Doctor asked as they followed.
"I have something to show you." Winston replied taking his cane back, stepping into a lift followed by the time travelers, the lift starting up as soon as the doors were closed. Winston smoked his stogy, the Doctor waving the offending smoke from his face.
"Winny, what did you wife say about smoking in people's faces?" Stella gave him a pointed look.
"Oh, right apologies." Winston lowered his stogy before talking again. "We stand at a crossroads, quite alone, with our backs to the wall. Invasion is expected daily. So I will grasp with both hands anything that will give us an advantage over the Nazi menace."
"Such as?" The Doctor asked.
"Follow me." Winston said stepping out of the lift when it stopped and the doors opened up onto the top floor then they continued onto the roof. There were sandbags and sentries, and a white-coated scientist searching the skies with powerful binoculars.
"Wow." Amy breathed out.
"Doctor, Stella, this is Professor Edwin Bracewell. Head of our Ironsides Project." Winston introduced them. The Doctor gave him a V for Victory salute and Stella gave him a jaunty salute.
"How do you do?" Bracewell said politely as he waved back to them.
"Two flights JU thirty eights approaching from the east." A soldier called out and a bomb landed nearby coming from the planes flying in over head.
"Oh, Doctor, Stella, it's…"Amy gazed wide eyed at all the barrage balloons moored over the city.
"History." The Doctor supplied for her.
"Ready, Bracewell?" Winston asked.
"Aye aye, sir." Bracewell gave the thumbs up though he was still looking through the binoculars. "On my order, fire!"
A barrage of energy bolts zoomed out from a sandbagged emplacement towards the approaching Nazi planes hitting everyone dead center destroying them all.
"What was that?" Amy asked.
"That wasn't human." Stella breathed out.
"That was never human technology." The Doctor said, his hearts beginning to race. "That sounded like."
"But it can't be." Stella shook her head.
"Show me. Show me. Show me what that was!" The Doctor ordered as he darted up a small ladder to a higher part of the roof.
"Advance." Bracewell ordered proudly.
"Our new secret weapon. Ha!" Churchill said as a Dalek rolled out from the emplacement. It's designation logo was a Union Flag and it was painted khaki, with an army utility belt around it.
"Oh no." Stella felt a cold sweat cover her body.
"What do you think? Quite something, eh?" Winston grinned.
"What are you doing here?" The Doctor asked in shock.
"I am your soldier." It replied.
"What?" Stella's hands griped tightly into fists as she stood in front of Amy protectively.
"I am your soldier." It repeated.
"Stop this. Stop now." The Doctor ordered as he stood eye to eye stalk with the Dalek. "Now, you know who I am. You always know."
"Your identity is unknown." The Dalek replied.
"Perhaps I can clarify things here. This is one of my Ironsides." Bracewell said proudly.
"Your what?" The Doctor looked to him.
"You will help the Allied cause in any way that you can." Bracewell said to the Dalek.
"Yes." The Dalek answered.
"Until the Germans have been utterly smashed." Bracewell said.
"Yes." The Dalek said.
"And what is your ultimate aim?" Bracewell questioned.
"To win the war." The Dalek replied. Stella moved quickly to Winston pulling Amy along with her by her hand, her back to the Dalek as she spoke quietly, but sternly.
"We need to have a word, now." Stella said with a dark look.
"Right, come this way." Winston said and led them back into the building and down to his office where the Doctor went straight into an explanation of what the Ironsides really were.
"They're Daleks. They're called Daleks." The Doctor said as he paced in front of Winston's desk.
"They are Bracewell's Ironsides, Doctor. Look. Blueprints, statistics, field tests, photographs." Winston motioned to the papers littering his desk, on top blue prints for the Daleks. "He invented them."
"Invented them? Oh, no, no, no." The Doctor shook his head leaning forward over the deck.
"Yes. He approached one of our brass hats a few months ago. Fellow's a genius." Winston replied as he braced himself up against his desk.
"A Scottish genius, too. Maybe you should listen to…" Amy started to speak.
"Shush." Stella ordered, popping a pink lollipop that tasted like apple pie complete with the taste of crust as well as giving off realistic warmth into her mouth. "He didn't invent them. They're alien."
"Alien." Churchill echoed as one glided past the open door, looking in, no one speaking until it was gone.
"And totally hostile." The Doctor said with a strained look.
"Precisely. They will win me the war." Winston replied showing them a poster with a Dalek on the front before moving out of his office, the others following him out into the corridor.
"Why won't you listen to me? Why did you call me in if you won't listen to me?" The Doctor demanded in frustration.
"When I rang you a month ago, I must admit I had my doubts." Churchill went on. "The Ironsides seemed too good to be true."
"Yes. Right. So destroy them. Exterminate them." The Doctor snapped.
"But imagine what I could do with a hundred. A thousand." Churchill replied.
"We are imagining." Stella said with a growl as a Dalek went past them carrying a despatch box. "Winston, listen, these things are bad news."
"Amy, tell him." The Doctor said as Winston went into another room ahead of them.
"Tell him what?" Amy asked in confusion.
"About the Daleks." The Doctor prompted.
"What would I know about the Daleks?" Amy's brows furrowed.
"Everything. They invaded your world, remember? Planets in the sky. You don't forget that." The Doctor turned to Amy whose face remained confused. "Amy, tell me you remember the Daleks."
"No, sorry." Amy shook her head.
"That's not possible." Stella breathed out sharing a worried look with the Doctor before they rushed into the map room. They stood near a poll watching a Dalek nearby, both of them tense and worried.
"Blue leader to Two squadron and six two three five seven. Over."
"Bandits at ten o'clock."
"Two three five seven. Over."
"So, they're up to something." Stella said as she and the Doctor eyed one of the Daleks.
"But what is it? What are they after?" The Doctor questioned as Amy walked up to them.
"Well, let's just ask, shall we?" Amy said easily and walked over to the Dalek.
"Amy. Amelia!" The Doctor snapped, but Amy ignored him tapping the Dalek's shell to gain its attention.
"Can I be of assistance?" It asked as it turned to him.
"Oh. Yes, yes. See, my friends reckons you're dangerous." Amy pointed back at them as she spoke. "That you're an alien. Is it true?"
"I am your soldier." It replied.
"Yeah. Got that bit. Love a squaddie. What else, though?" Amy asked rocking on her heels.
"Please excuse me. I have duties to perform." It moved past her not answering. Stella marched over taking Amy by the arm pulling her away.
"Did you really think that a race of evil mutants was just going to tell you their whole plan because you asked?!" Stella snapped.
"They don't seem to be dangerous." Amy argued.
"Amelia, who knows more of the universe, me or you?" Stella looked to her.
"You." Amy replied slowly.
"Then I think that it is a safe bet that you can trust me when I say that these things are evil incarnate and that you should stay away from them, go it?" Stella said seriously.
"Got it." Amy nodded, a little scared at how scared Stella seemed to be.
"Good." Stella said as she wrung her hands.
"Winston. Winston, please." The Doctor begged taking the cigar from Churchill's mouth.
"We are waging total war, Doctor. Day after day the Luftwaffe pound this great city like an iron fist." Churchill said, getting frustrated with the Doctor and Stella accusations.
"Wait till the Daleks get started." The Doctor replied.
"Men, women and children slaughtered. Families torn apart. Wren's churches in flame." Winston mourned.
"Yeah. Try the Earth in flames." Stella said with a bit of bite.
"I weep for my country. I weep for my empire. It is breaking my heart." Winston bemoaned as he walked around the map table, the Doctor and Stella following him.
"You're resisting, Winston. The whole world knows you're resisting. You're a beacon of hope." The Doctor argued as Winston signed more papers.
"But for how long?" Winston questioned. "Millions of innocent lives will be saved if I use these Ironsides now."
"Can I be of assistance?" A Dalek came up to them.
"Shut it." The Doctor snapped at it before looking back to Winston. "Listen to me. Just listen. The Daleks have no conscience, no mercy, no pity. They are my oldest and deadliest enemy. You cannot trust them."
"Winny listen to us, please…" Stella begged.
"If Hitler invaded hell, I would give a favorable reference to the Devil. These machines are our salvation." Winston said right before a siren sounded and he placed a hand over his heart in relief. "Oh, the All Clear. We are safe, for now."
"That's what you think." Stella muttered as Churchill left, the Dalek eyeing them for a moment, the Doctor and Stella glaring back before it rolled away.
"Doctor, Stella, it's the All Clear. You okay?" Amy said coming up to them, eyeing the tense time travelers.
"What does hate look like, Amy?" The Doctor questioned as he worried a hat he had picked up in his hands.
"Hate?" Amy asked.
"It looks like a Dalek." The Doctor said throwing the hat onto a table.
"And we're going to prove it." Stella said as they walked out of the room brushing past the Dalek on the way out.
-0-
In his laboratory Bracewell was hard at work on one of his numerous inventions. The whole of the room was littered with bits and pieces of machinery as well as many other forms of laboratory tools. As he worked at his bench he was approached by one of the Daleks.
"Would you care for some tea?" The Dalek asked.
"That would be very nice, thank you." Bracewell replied as the Doctor, Stella, and Amy came into the lab.
"All right, Prof. Now, the PM's been filling me in. Amazing things, these Ironsides of yours. Amazing. You must be very proud of them." The Doctor said as he picked up a spanner and walked over to some stacks of files.
"Just doing my bit." Bracewell said humbly, but with a proud smile.
"Not bad for a Paisley boy." Amy commented picking up the spanner the Doctor had set aside in favor of the files that he read while seated in a leather chair. Stella leaned perched on the arm reasing the files with the Doctor.
"Yes, I thought I detected a familiar cadence, my dear." Bracewell said looking to the red head.
"How did you do it? Come up with the idea?" Stella questioned looking up from the file to the so called inventor.
"How does the muse of invention come to anyone?" Bracewell questioned back.
"But you get a lot of these clever notions, do you?" The Doctor asked, throwing the files to the side.
"Well, ideas just seem to teem from my head. Wonderful things, like." Bracewell gestured to his head before going over to some stacks of notes he had, the others following. "Let me show you. Some musings on the potential of hypersonic flight." Bracewell showed them his ideas, handing the files to the Doctor and Stella who glanced them over before throwing them back down to the table. "Gravity bubbles that can sustain life outside of the terrestrial atmosphere. Came to me in the bath."
"And are these your ideas or theirs?" The Doctor asked with a dark look.
"Oh no, no, no. These robots are entirely under my control, Doctor. They are…." Bracewell was interrupted by the Dalek returning with his tea. "Thank you. The perfect servant, and the perfect warrior."
"I don't know what you're up to, Professor, but whatever they've promised, you cannot trust them." The Doctor said seriously as he leaned into the Professors face, pointing at him to emphasize his point. "Call them what you like, the Daleks are death."
"Yes, Doctor. Death to our enemies. Death to the forces of darkness, and death to the Third Reich." Winston said as he came into the room followed by another Dalek.
"Yes, Winston, and death to everyone else too." The Doctor said as a Dalek rolled up to Stella, who backed away going tense.
"Would you care for some tea?" It asked.
"Get away from me, just stay back!" Stella snapped as the Doctor darted between them knocking the tray from the Dalek's sucker, enraged that it had come anywhere near Stella.
"Stop this! What are you doing here? What do you want?" The Doctor demanded as Stella clung to the back of his jacket not only for comfort, but to pull the Doctor out of the way should things take a turn for the worse.
"We seek only to help you." The Dalek said.
"To do what?" The Doctor snapped as the others looked on worriedly.
"To win the war." The Dalek replied.
"Really? Which war?" The Doctor ground out.
"I do not understand." The Dalek said.
"This war, against the Nazis, or your war? The war against the rest of the Universe? The war against all life forms that are not Dalek?" The Doctor replied tensely.
"I do not understand. I am your soldier." The Dalek said.
"Oh, yeah? Okay. Okay, soldier, defend yourself." The Doctor picked up a huge spanner and started hitting the Dalek over and over again, his anger having reached the breaking point.
"Doctor, what the devil?" Churchill called out.
"You do not require tea?" The Dalek questioned as the Doctor beat it.
"Stop him! Prime Minister, please." Bracewell said fearfully.
"Doctor, what the devil? Please, these machines are precious." Winston tried to stop him.
"Come on. Fight back. You want to, don't you? You know you do." The Doctor yelled.
"I must protest." Bracewell said.
"What are you waiting for? Look, you hate me. You want to kill me. Well, go on. Kill me. Kill me!" The Doctor hit harder and harder.
"Doctor, be careful." Stella called out as she tried to pull him back.
"Please desist from striking me. I am your soldier." The Dalek said and the Doctor pushed past Stella attacking the Dalek again with all of his anger.
"You are my enemy! And I am yours." The Doctor roared. "You are everything I despise. The worst thing in all creation. I've defeated you time and time again. I've defeated you. I sent you back into the Void. I saved the whole of reality from you." The Doctor dropped the spanner and kicked the Dalek back causing him roll away into a small desk. "I am the Doctor. And you are the Daleks."
"Correct." The Dalek rolled forward next to the other Dalek. "Review testimony."
'I am the Doctor. And you are the Daleks.'
"Testimony. What are you talking about, testimony?" The Doctor questioned breathing hard as Stella wrapped one of her arms around his.
"Transmitting testimony now." The Dalek said.
"Transmit what, where?" Stella breathed out.
-0-
A Dalek saucer on the far side of the Moon came out of the shadows and into the light.
"Receiving testimony now." Gold Dalek said.
'I am the Doctor. And you are the Daleks.'
The lights on a golden Dalek-shaped pod lit up.
"Progenitor activated. Testimony accepted. Testimony accepted." The Gold Dalek chanted.
-0-
"Testimony accepted." The Dalek announced.
"Get back, all of you." The Doctor ordered, pulling Stella back with him.
"Marines! Marines, get in here." Winston called out and the two Marines who came through the door were instantly exterminated causing them all to flinch back, Stella reaching out and pulling Amy behind herself and the Doctor.
"Stop it, stop it, please." Bracewell begged, his hands held out in front of him. "What are you doing? You are my Ironsides."
"We are the Daleks." The Dalek said.
"But I created you." Bracewell said.
"No." The Dalek blew off Bracewell's left hand which sparked and spluttered causing the man to fall back in shock starring at the stump with wires sticking out of it. "We created you."
"Victory. Victory. Victory." The Daleks teleported away.
"What just happened, Doctor? Stella?" Amy questioned as the Doctor and Stella starred at the spot the Daleks had teleported from.
"I wanted to know what they wanted. What their plan was. I was their plan." The Doctor in horrified shock before racing out of the room pulling Stella along with him.
"Hey!" Amy raced after them.
"Testimony accepted. That's what they said. My testimony." The Doctor said as they came back into the filling room where the Tardis was parked.
"Don't beat yourself up because you were right. So, what do we do? Is this what we do now? Chase after them?" Amy asked as the Doctor opened up the Tardis.
"This is what I do….yeah, and it's dangerous, so you wait here with Stella." The Doctor replied.
"Excuse me?" Stella gripped his hand not allowing him to go into the Tardis.
"What, so you mean we've got to stay safe down here in the middle of the London Blitz?" Amy questioned.
"Safe as it gets around me." The Doctor said with a grin.
"Doctor…" Stella started.
"No Stella, I need you to stay here." The Doctor cut her off, taking her other hand in his. "I don't know what will happen up there so I need you on the ground, ok?"
"Fine, but you better come back." Stella relented with a sharp look.
"Always." The Doctor gave Stella a quick loving kiss before going back into the Tardis and it dematerialized before them. Stella watched as she twisted her engagement ring around her finger nervously, extremely worried for the safety of her Doctor.
"What's he expect us to do now?" Amy asked in annoyance.
"K B O, of course." Winston replied.
"What?" Amy looked to the Minister.
"Keep buggering on." Winston replied.
"Couldn't have said it better Winny." Stella said as she squared shoulders with a deep breath.
-0-
The Doctor set the scanner on search, looking for the location of the Dalek ship.
"Come on." The Doctor chanted before he finally got a hit. "Bingo!"
-0-
Winston, Amy, and Stella stayed in the file room waiting for any sign of the Doctor. Stella paced uncontrollably as she twisted her ring in agitation and bit at her lip.
"Daleks, why did it have to be Daleks?" Stella muttered in frustration. "Those stupid, horrible, salt and pepper shakers." Stella let out an angry growl slamming her hand into one of the shelves. "I should have gone with him."
"Stella, I'm sure he'll be fine." Amy tried to console her from where she was sitting.
"Amy, right now the Doctor is up there with the most evil thing the universe has ever given birth to. Every horrible horrific thing you've ever seen or heard of is what a Dalek is made up of and now he's up there on his own and I'm stuck down here." Stella rubbed her face in agitation.
"Stella…" Winston gained her attention. "I am sorry…that I did not listen to you and the Doctor."
"Winny, you're in the middle of a nightmare and were given a beacon of hope, how could you not cling to it with both hands? There's nothing to forgive, you wanted to save your people and your home, that it nothing to apologize for." Stella assured him as Blanche, one of the secretaries, came into the room.
"Prime Minister." Blanche announced herself.
"Yes?" Winston turned to Blanche.
"Signal from RDF, sir. Unidentified object. Hanging in the sky, Captain Childers says. We can't get a proper fix, though. It's too far up." Blanche informed them handing over the report.
"What do you think, Stella, Miss Pond? The Doctor's in trouble and now we know where he is." Winston said slapping the report.
"Yeah. Because he'll be on that ship, won't he." Amy said getting excited.
"Exactly, right in the middle of everything." Stella nodded.
-0-
An air raid warden was on duty surveying the entirety of London from atop a building. Barrage balloons were silhouetted against the night sky and flames illuminated some of the buildings below. Suddenly a light came on in a building across the road.
"Oi, put that light out." The Warden ordered sharply and the light was put out.
-0-
The khaki Daleks entered the space craft approaching the gold Dalek and the large machine. The three of them stood before the massive machine watching it as it worked.
"Commencing Phase Two. The Progenitor is activated. It begins." The gold Dalek said as the Progenitor lit up coming to life. "The final phase commences, channel all reserve power to Progenitor." Gold ordered, but then the Tardis materialized and the Doctor strolled out confidently.
"How about that cuppa now, then?" The Doctor asked in fake cheerfullness.
"It is the Doctor." Gold said.
"Exterminate." Another Dalek called out.
"Wait, wait, wait. I wouldn't if I were you. Tardis self-destruct, and you know what that means. My ship goes, you all go with it." The Doctor held out a Jammy Dodger biscuit.
"You would not use such a device." A Dalek said.
"Try me." The Doctor replied and one of the Daleks made to move forward.
"Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah. No scans. No nothing. One move and I'll destroy us all, you got that? Tardis bang bang, Daleks boom!" The Doctor said and the Dalek backed up. "Good boy." The Doctor started to wonder around one of the control consoles while keeping an eye on the Daleks while he talked. "This ship's pretty beaten up. Running on empty, I'd say, like you. When we last met, you were at the end of your rope. Finished."
"One ship survived." A Dalek said.
"And you fell back through time, yes. Crippled, dying." The Doctor said as he walked up to them his hands in his pockets.
"We picked up a trace. One of the Progenitor devices." A Dalek said.
"Progenitor? What's that when it's at home?" The Doctor asked.
"It is our past, and our future." A Dalek responded.
"Oh? That's deep. That is deep for a Dalek. What does it mean, though?" The Doctor questioned as he clapped his hands together.
"It contains pure Dalek DNA. Thousands were created. All were lost, save one." Gold said.
"Okay, but there's still one thing I don't get, though." The Doctor said as his brows scrunched up. "If you've got the Progenitor, why build Bracewell?"
"It was necessary." The Dalek said hesitantly.
"But why?" The Doctor looked to them, but none answered, they even looked ashamed almost as their eye stalks focused else were. "I get it. Oh, I get it. I get it. Oh ho! This is rich." The Doctor scoffed in realization. "The Progenitor wouldn't recognize you, would it? It saw you as impure. Your DNA is unrecognizable as Dalek."
"A solution was devised." A Dalek said.
"Yes, yes, yes. Me. My testimony. So you set a trap." The Doctor said bitterly as he started to pace while he talked. "You knew that the Progenitor would recognize me, the Daleks' greatest enemy. It would accept my word. My recognition of you." One of the Daleks moved over to a console activating it. "No. No, no. What are you doing?"
"Withdraw now, Doctor, or the city dies in flames." Gold ordered.
"Who are you kidding? This ship is a wreck. You don't have the power to destroy London." The Doctor replied as he held up the fake self-destruct button.
"Watch as the humans destroy themselves." Gold said and a ray went out from the spaceship causing the lights all over the city to come on.
"What the…? No." The Warden said in horror.
-0-
The map room was thrown into a frenzy of hurried panicked people as the generators came on lighting up London like a Christmas tree, making it a very easy target for the Nazi's. They tried to shut them down, but it was no use.
"The generators won't switch off. The lights are on all across London, Prime Minister."
"It's the Daleks." Stella spat out distastefully.
"The Germans can see every inch of the city. We're sitting ducks." Winston said in urgency. "Get those lights out before the Germans get here."
"Confirm. Squadron two four four and fifty six mobilized. Emergency. Emergency."
"One oh nine? One oh nine, confirm."
"Thousands will die if we don't get those lights out now." Churchill said in fear and desperation.
"German bombers sighted over the Channel, sir. ETA ten minutes, sir."
"Here they come. Get a message to Mister Attlee. War Cabinet meeting at oh three hundred hours." Winston ordered. "If we're all still here."
"We can't just sit here. We've got to take the fight to the Daleks." Amy said looking from Churchill to Stella, the cyborg standing rigidly with her arms crossed as she glared into space.
"How? None of our weapons are a match for theirs." Winston replied.
"Oh God, we must have something." Amy said, trying to think as she ran her hands through her hair.
"Six oh four Blenheim squadron, stand by."
"Oh. It's staring us in the face." Amy said suddenly gaining their attention. "A gift, from the Daleks."
"Amy, what do you…" Stella started to ask, but then her eyes lit up in realization as she started to hop in place before rushing down the hall with the others following. "Miss Pond, you are brilliant."
-0-
"Turn those lights off now." The Doctor demanded as he brandished the self-destruct button. "Turn London off or I swear I will use the Tardis self destruct."
"Stalemate, Doctor. Leave us and return to Earth." The Dalek ordered.
"Oh, that's it. That's your great victory? You leave?" The Doctor spat out.
"Extinction is not an option. We shall return to our own time and begin again." The Dalek announced.
"No, no, no. I won't let you get away this time. I won't." The Doctor replied, his anger building then the machine went quiet.
"We have succeeded. DNA reconstruction is complete. Observe, Doctor, a new Dalek paradigm." Five restyled Daleks glided out from the Progenitor cabinet as the Doctor watched on in a tense silence, each of the Dalek a different color. "The Progenitor has fulfilled our new destiny. Behold, the restoration of the Daleks. The resurrection of the master race."
-0-
Amy, Stella, and Churchill came into the lab just as Bracewell was lifting a gun to his head while weeping bitterly.
"Bracewell, put the gun down." Winston ordered.
"My life is a lie, and I choose to end it." Bracewell replied.
"In your own time, Paisley boy, because right now we need your help." Amy said as they walked over to him.
"But those creatures, my Ironsides, they made me? I can remember things. So many things. The last war. The squalor and the mud and the awful, awful misery of it all. What am I? What am I?" Bracewell demanded, the gun shaking in his hand.
"What you are, sir, is either on our side or theirs. Now, I don't give a damn if you're a machine, Bracewell. Are you a man?" Winston asked as he leaned forward causing Bracewell to hesitate.
"Listen to me. I understand." Stella said as she reached out, gently taking the gun from his hand and handing it to Amy who set it away from Bracewell. "Really, I do."
"You're not an alien? You're like me?" Bracewell looked to the lines that covered her.
"These markings, what I am, I was not always this way, I was human once, then I was recreated, but that doesn't make me any less human nor does it you. You may not have started out as human, but you can become one right now." Stella said as held his hand in hers. "Look, there is a spaceship up there lighting up London like a Christmas tree. Thousands of people will die tonight if we don't stop it, and you are the only one who can help take it down."
"I am?" Bracewell questioned.
"You're alien technology. You're as clever as the Daleks are, so start thinking." Amy stepped in looking between Stella and the two men. "What about rockets? You got rockets? Because you said gravity whatsits, hypersonic flight, some kind of missile."
"It isn't a fireworks party, Miss Pond. We need proper tactical. Oh. A missile. Or..." Winston's eyes lit up.
"Or what?" Stella asked.
"We could send something up there, you say?" Churchill asked.
"Yes, well, with a gravity bubble, yes, but. Theoretically it's possible that we could actually send something into space." Bracewell replied holding up his design, Winston taking it and looing it over.
"Bracewell, Stella, it's time to think big." Winston looked between the two as he slapped the desing back down on the table.
-0-
"All hail the new Daleks. All hail the new Daleks." The Daleks praised.
"Yes, you are inferior." White said.
"Yes." The Dalek replied.
"Then prepare." White said.
"We are ready." The Daleks said.
"Cleanse the unclean. Total obliteration. Disintegrate." White ordered and the new Daleks exterminated the old khaki and gold ones.
"Blimey. What do you do to the ones who mess up?" The Doctor questioned.
"You are the Doctor. You must be exterminated." White ordered as he moved forward, toward the Doctor.
"Don't mess with me, sweetheart." The Doctor held out his Jammy Dodger again.
-0-
"More Nazi bombers approaching in strike formation. Incendiary bombs have hit the East End of London."
"At last." Winston said as Bracewell and Stella came into the war room, Stella carrying a sort of TV radio combination with a round screen and Bracewell wearing a wired circlet around his head connected to it. "Are they ready?"
"I hope so." Bracewell replied as Stella sat down their invention on a nearby table and started to power it up.
"But in the meantime, this will pick up Dalek transmissions." Stella and Bracewell's rigged radar scanner whacking it a few times until it picked up a picture of the White Dalek and the Doctor.
"We are the paradigm of a new Dalek race." White said.
"It's him. It's the Doctor." Amy said with a grin.
"Right in the middle of a mess, that's my fiancé." Stella said as she bit her lip nervously. Amy glanced over to Stella seeing the fear in her eyes causing a cold shiver down her own back. Amy reached out patting Stella on the shoulder getting a small thankful smile from her.
"Scientist, Strategist, Drone, Eternal, and the Supreme." White named what each of them was.
"Which would be you, I'm guessing. Well, you know, nice paint job." The Doctor said, stading face to eyestalk with the white Dalek. "I'd be feeling pretty swish if I looked like you. Pretty supreme."
"He's got company. New company. You've got to hurry up." Amy said looking to Stella and Bracewell right before a phone went off.
"Yes? Right. Right, thanks." Bracewell answered the phone. "Ready when you are, Prime Minister.".
"Splendid." Winston nodded.
"Spaceship's exact coordinates located." Stella said as she brought it up on the screen for all to see.
"Go to it, Group Captain. Go to it." Churchill ordered and the Captain jumped to it.
"Broadsword to Danny Boy. Broadsword to Danny Boy. Scramble. Scramble. Scramble."
-0-
"Question is, what do we do now? Either you turn off your clever machine or I'll blow you and your new paradigm into eternity." The Doctor said.
"And yourself." White said.
"Occupational hazard." The Doctor replied.
"Does the one designated Stella share this view?" White questioned causing the Doctor to go tense. "Intelligence reveals you share an emotional bond with the female."
"Don't you dare talk about her, don't even say her name." The Doctor snapped angrily, distracting him from the blue Dalek who scanned him.
"Scan reveals nothing. Tardis self-destruct device non-existent." Blue said rolling up next to white causing the Doctor to groan lightly.
"All right, it's a Jammy Dodger, but I was promised tea." The Doctor ate his biscuit angrily before an alarm sounded.
"Alert. Unidentified projectile approaching. Correction, multiple projectiles." Blue alerted them, the Doctor darting over to one of the consoles.
"What have the humans done?" White demanded.
"I don't know." The Doctor replied in confusion as he worked the console.
"Explain. Explain. Explain." White ordered.
"Danny Boy to the Doctor. Danny Boy to the Doctor. Are you receiving me? Over."
"Oh ho! Winston, Stella, you beauties." The Doctor cheered with a wide grin as a flight of Spitfires were on their way surrounded by air bubbles.
"Danny Boy to the Doctor. Come in. Over."
"Loud and clear, Danny Boy. Big dish, side of the ship. Blow it up. Over." The Doctor answered.
"Exterminate the Doctor." White ordered as the Doctor ran for the Tardis.
"You heard him, Group Captain. Target that dish. Send in all we've got." Churchill ordered as Amy and Stella grinned looking back to the monitor.
"Broadsword to Danny Boy. Target the dish and stop that signal. Over."
"Understood, sir. Over. You can count on us. Over."
"Oh, good luck, lads."
"Okay, chaps, let's put London back under cover of darkness.
"Tally ho!"
"Cover my back, going in close."
"Pull out, pull out." The planes flew in opening fire, the Daleks returning fire, the planes weaving about between the shots and sending back just as good as they got.
"We've lost Jubilee, sir. Over." One of the planes was shot down, blasted to pieces and sent hurtling back to earth.
"Beam still active, sir."
"Send them in again." Churchill ordered and another plane was taken out.
"Flintlock's down sir, and the dish seems to be protected. Over."
"Shields intact. Pulse still active." Orange reported.
"Danny Boy to the Doctor. Only me left now. Anything you can do, sir? Over."
"The Doctor to Danny Boy. The Doctor to Danny Boy. I can disrupt the Dalek shields, but not for long. Over." The Doctor and got to work on his console, his face drawn.
"Good show, Doctor. Go to it. Over. I'm going in. Wish me luck. Over."
"Shields de-activated." Danny-boy destroyed the shield, the explosion rocketing through the Dalek ship. "Energy pulse destroyed."
"Direct hit, sir!"
Amy and Stella hugged each other as they all cheered while up on the roof, the Air Raid Warden watched the lights go out all over London.
"Thank the Lord." The warden said then shook his fist at the sky. "Do your worst, Adolf."
"Danny Boy to the Doctor. Going in for another attack."
"The Doctor to Danny Boy. The Doctor to Danny Boy. Destroy this ship. Over." The Doctor ordered urgently into his comm.
"What about you, Doctor?"
"I'll be okay." The Doctor said before the Supreme appeared on his screen.
"Doctor, call off your attack." White ordered.
"Ah ha. What, and let you scuttle off back to the future? No fear. This is the end for you. The final end." The Doctor replied as he leaned against the railing.
"Call off the attack, or we will destroy the Earth." White threatened.
"I'm not stupid, mate. You've just played your last card." The Doctor said.
"Bracewell is a bomb." White said.
"You're bluffing. Deception's second nature to you. There isn't a sincere bone in your body. There isn't a bone in your body." The Doctor said before the Supreme Dalek went from the large screen to the console screen.
"His power is derived from an Oblivion Continuum. Call off your attack, or we will detonate the android." White said and the Doctor felt his hearts drop.
"No. This is my best chance ever. The last of the Daleks. I can rid the Universe of you, once and for all." The Doctor said, almost desperate.
"Then do it. But we will shatter the planet below." White challenged. "The Earth will die screaming."
"Yeah, and if I let you go, you'll be stronger than ever. A new race of Daleks." The Doctor said bitterly.
"Then choose, Doctor. Destroy the Daleks or save the Earth." White taunted. "Begin countdown of Oblivion Continuum. Choose, Doctor. Choose. Choose."
"The Doctor to Danny Boy. The Doctor to Danny Boy. Withdraw." The Doctor ordered quickly.
"Say again, sir. Over."
"Withdraw. Return to Earth. Over and out." The Doctor snapped sending the Tardis into motion.
"But sir."
"There's no time. You have to return to Earth now. Over." The Doctor ordered and the Spitfire returned to Earth as the Tardis materialized in the filing room again, the Doctor bursting out of the doors.
"The Doctor has failed. His compassion is his greatest weakness." White declared. "Daleks have no such weakness."
The Doctor ran down the corridor into the war room and punched Bracewell on the jaw, knocking him down with a hard upper cut to the jaw. The Doctor then shook his hand with a wince of pain as the others looked on in shock.
"OW!" The Doctor whined.
"Doctor!" Amy snapped.
"What was that for?" Stella questioned as she kneeled down next to Bracewell.
"Sorry, Professor, you're a bomb." The Doctor said kneeling down next to them. "An inconceivably massive Dalek bomb."
"What?" Bracewell asked in confusion and fear.
"There's an Oblivion Continuum inside you. A captured wormhole that provides perpetual power. Detonate that, and the Earth will bleed through into another dimension. Now keep down." The Doctor used his sonic screwdriver to open up Bracewell's torso.
"Well?" Amy asked as one of the five blue segments of a circle on Bracewell's torso turned yellow.
"I don't know, I don't know, I don't know." The Doctor said, panicking. "Never seen one up close before. Stella?"
"Once, but we couldn't deactivate it, we had to run." Stella said fearfully. "We barely made it out, but that was just a ship, only fifty people to evacuate."
"So what, they've wired him up to detonate?" Amy questioned.
"Oh no, not wired him up. He is a bomb. Walking, talking, pow, exploding, the moment that flashes red." The Doctor gestured wildly.
"There's a blue wire or something you have to cut, isn't there? There's always a blue wire. Or a red one." Amy supplied as the Doctor stood up pointing at her.
"You're not helping." The Doctor said and started to pace.
"It's incredible. He talked to us about his memories. The Great War." Winston said in wonder.
"Someone else's stolen thoughts, implanted in a positronic brain." The Doctor replied as he tossed his sonic back and forth between his hands trying to think.
"But he's not just a bomb, I know what to do." Stella said in realization. "Now listen to me Edwin, tell us about it, Bracewell, tell us about your life.
"Stella, I really don't think this is the time." Bracewell shook his head.
"Tell us, and prove you're human." Stella pressed as she placed her hand on his shoulder, her free hand holding his. "Tell us everything."
"My family ran the Post Office. It's a little place just near the abbey, just by the ash trees. There used to be eight trees but there was a storm." Bracewell said in a strained voice.
"And your parents? Come on, tell me." Stella encouraged him.
"Good people. Kind people. They died. Scarlet fever." Bracewell started to tear up.
"What was that like? How did it feel? How did it make you feel, Edwin? Tell me. Tell me now." Stella said desperately.
"It hurt. It hurt, Stella, it hurt so badly. It was like a wound. I thought it was worse than a wound. Like I'd been emptied out. There was nothing left." Bracewell said as he cried. Stella took his hand between hers holding it tightly as two red, one yellow and two blue segments remained.
"Good. Remember it now, Edwin. The ash trees by the Post Office and your mum and dad, and losing them, and men in the trenches you saw die." The Doctor pressed, catching on to what Stella was trying to do. "Remember it. Feel it. You feel it because you're human. You're not like them. You're not like the Daleks."
"It hurts, Doctor. It hurts so much." Bracewell gripped Stella's hand as he cried.
"Good. Good, good, brilliant. Embrace it. That means you're alive. They cannot explode that bomb because you're a human being. You are flesh and blood. They cannot explode that bomb. Believe it. You are Professor Edwin Bracewell, and you, my friend, are a human being." The Doctor told him, but now it was four red, one yellow. "It's not working. I can't stop it."
"Hey, Paisley. Ever fancied someone you know you shouldn't?" Amy walked over to them, kneeling down next to Stella.
"What?" Bracewell looked to her.
"It hurts, doesn't it?" Amy glanced up at the Doctor, then to Stella before looking back to him. "But kind of a good hurt."
"I really shouldn't talk about her." Bracewell turned red.
"Oh. There's a her?" Amy teased with a smile as the yellow turned back to blue.
"What was her name?" Stella asked.
"Dorabella." Bracewell breathed out.
"Dorabella?" The Doctor snickered slightly causing Stella to reach over Bracewell and pop the Doctor upside the head with a disapproving look. "It's a lovely name. It's a beautiful name."
"What was she like, Edwin?" Amy asked.
"Oh, such a smile. And her eyes. Her eyes were so blue. Almost violet, like the last touch of sunset on the edge of the world. Dorabella." Bracewell sighed with a dreamy look then all of the segments returned to blue.
"Welcome to the human race." The Doctor grinned before shooting to his feet followed by Stella. The Doctor pointed at Churchill. "You're brilliant." Pointed to Bracewell. "You're brilliant." Points to Amy. "You're Brilliant." Points to Stella. "And you…I…" The Doctor grabbed hold of Stella pulling her into a deep dip and a passionate kiss, then brought her back up leaving her breathless and giggling. "Now. Got to stop them." The Doctor made for the door along with Stella. "Stop the Daleks."
"Wait, Doctor." Bracewell stopped him as he sat up, the Doctor and Stella looking back to him. "Wait, wait. It's too late."
-0-
"Detonation sequence activated." White announced. "Time corridor establishing."
"Time jump in thirty rels." Blue said.
"Countdown proceeding." White said.
"Oblivion Continuum inactive." Blue called out.
"Impossible." White replied.
"Time jump imminent. Prepare." Blue said.
"You will never defeat us, Doctor. We will return." White said triumphantly.
"We will return." The Dalek spaceship made the time jump.
-0-
"Gone." Bracewell said as the Doctor's face became stricken. "They've gone."
"No. No!" The Doctor snapped in despair. "They can't. They can't have got away from me again."
"No, I can feel it. My mind is clear. The Daleks have gone." Bracewell shook his head as the Doctor grabbed hold of a nearby support beam, leaning against it heavily.
"Doctor, it's okay. You did it. You stopped the bomb. Doctor?" Amy tried to cheer him up.
"I had a choice. And they knew I'd choose the Earth. The Daleks have won. They beat me. They've won." The Doctor shook his head looking away.
"No they didn't." Stella stepped up to him cupping his face gently making him look at her. "Do you honestly think that if you had chosen differently that it would make you feel better? Yes, they got away, but think about all those you saved, look around at all of these people around you right now living and breathing because of you and tell me again that you lost." The Doctor reached up covering her hands with his. "You saved the Earth my love, you saved all of our lives."
"She's right Doctor, not too shabby, is it? Is it?" Amy grinned as the Doctor let go of Stella's hands and wrapping his arm around her waist holding her closer to his side pressing a kiss onto the top of her head.
"No, it's not too shabby." The Doctor said looking down at Stella, knowing that letting Bracewell explode was never an option, not with his Starlight on earth. He couldn't bare it should anything happen to her.
"It's a brilliant achievement, my dear friend. Here, have a cigar." Winston offered, pulling one of his cigars from his pocket.
"No." The Doctor waved him off with a slight smile.
-0-
It was a new morning over London, and the Air Raid Warden along with some troops raised the flagpole with the Union Flag on it, saluting it proudly. They had survived the night and were ready to face what was to come.
"So, what now, then?" Amy looked to Winston as they stood in a much quieter war room.
"I still have a war to run, Miss Pond." Winston replied.
"Prime Minister." A young woman handed some papers to Winston.
"Oh, thank you. Oh, they hit the Palace and Saint Paul's again. Fire crews only just saved it." Winston reported right before a young woman burst into tears.
"Is she okay?" Amy asked looking over to her.
"What?" Winston asked looking up from his papers.
"She looks very upset." Amy gestured to where the crying woman was being comforted by another woman.
"Oh, Miss Breen? Her young man didn't make it, I'm afraid. Just got word. Shot down over the Channel." Winston lamented before looking back to Amy. "Where's the Doctor and Stella?"
"Tying up loose ends." Stella announced as she and the Doctor walked back into the War room.
"We've taken out all the alien tech Bracewell put in." The Doctor informed them.
"Won't you reconsider? Those Spitfires would win me the war in twenty hours." Winston pleaded.
"Exactly." The Doctor replied as he picked up his cup of tea, sipping at it while Stella took out a rainbow sucker.
"But why not? Why can't we put an end to all this misery?" Churchill questioned pleadingly.
"Oh, it doesn't work like that, Winston, and it's going to be tough." The Doctor said truthfully as he sat his tea aside, his face serious. "There are terrible days to come. The darkest days. But you can do it."
"You know you can." Stella added with a wink.
"Stay with us, and help us win through. The world needs you both." Winston looked between them.
"The world doesn't need us." The Doctor shook his head.
"No?" Winston looked less than convinced.
"The world's got Winston Spencer Churchill." Stella said grandly with a bright smile.
"It's been a pleasure, Doctor, Stella, as always." Churchill smiled back.
"Too right." The Doctor wrapped his arm around Stella pulling her close to his side.
"Goodbye, Doctor." Winston said holding out his arms
"Oh, shall we say adieu?" The Doctor and Churchill embraced patting each other's back affectionately.
"Indeed." Winston moved onto Stella, the two of them hugging each other tightly while th Doctor picked his tea back up.
"Give my love to the family and tell them I'll visit." Stella pressed a friendly kiss onto Winston's cheek.
"I will, goodbye Stella." Winston nodded as they stepped back.
"Goodbye Winny." Stella smiled.
"Goodbye, Miss Pond." Winston moved on to Amy.
"It's…it's been amazing, meeting you." Amy said gripping her hands under her chin.
"I'm sure it has." Winston said as Amy pecked him on the cheek then they separated allowing Churchill to start to walk away. "Oi, Churchill. Tardis key." Amy held out her hand as the Doctor quickly put his tea back down to dig through his pockets, but not finding his key. "The one you just took from the Doctor."
"Oh, she's good, Doctor. As sharp as a pin. Almost as sharp as me." Churchill searched his pockets for the key, but came up empty. "I had it in my pocket, but it's not there anymore."
"That's because I picked your pocket when I hugged you." Stella held up the key with a wink. "Shame on you Winny."
"Should have known I wouldn't be able to fool you." Winston laughed as Stella returned the key to the Doctor.
"Yes, you should have." Stella said with a fake lofty voice while Winston chuckle and lit up a cigar before looking back to them.
"K B O." Churchill said with a smile and turned leaving the room to get back to the war.
-0-
The Doctor led Stella and Amy down the halls toward Bracewell's lab. They found the man standing despondently in front of one of his tables littered with different pieces of Daleks, but he also looked very resigned.
"I've been expecting you, Doctor, Stella. I knew this moment had to come." Bracewell sighed sporting a new hand in a black leather glove.
"Moment?" Stella raised an eyebrow looking to the Doctor who shrugged unknowingly.
"It's time to de-activate me." Bracewell went on.
"Is it? Oh. Er, yeah." The Doctor said, nodding his head slowly.
"You have no choice. I'm Dalek technology. Can't allow me to go pottering around down here where I have no business." Bracewell said, his head held high.
"No, you're dead right, Professor. A hundred percent right. And by the time we get back here in what, ten minutes?" The Doctor looked to Stella and Amy.
"More like fifteen." Amy corrected him.
"Fifteen minutes, yeah, that's exactly what we're going to do." The Doctor agreed pointedly. "You are going to be so de-activated. It's going be like you've never even been activated."
"Yeah." Stella nodded.
"Fifteen minutes?" Bracewell repeated.
"More like twenty, if I'm honest. Once Stella, Pond, and I see to the urgent thing we've got to see to. The, the. See?" The Doctor with a look, trying to get him to read between the lines.
"Very well, I shall wait here and prepare myself." Bracewell said standing up straight.
"That Dalek tech a bit slow on the uptake." Amy said in a sotto voice to the time travelers who nodded. "That thing we've got to do, going to take half an hour, realistically, isn't it, Doctor, Stella?"
"Easily. So no running off, that's what I'm saying. Don't go trying to find that little Post Office with the ash trees or that girl." The Doctor listed off. "What was her name?"
"Dorabella." Bracewell answered in confusion as to why he was bringing all of this up.
"Dorabella. On no account go looking for her. Mind you, you can get a lot done in half an hour." The Doctor went on, but Bracewell still looked blank.
"Oh for the love of…just go, go and find your girl, find the post office, and live a normal, average, human life, now get out of here." Stella ordered sternly.
"Oh! Oh, thank you." Bracewell said happily in excitement as they all laughed for his joy. "Thank you, Doctor, Stella."
"Come along, Pond." The Doctor said with a smile as he took Stella's hand and they walked out of the room leaving Bracewell to start packing a suitcase. They all made their way back to the storage room where the Tardis set waiting for them.
"So, you have enemies then?" Amy commented.
"Everyone's got enemies." The Doctor replied leaning against the Tardis, his arms wrapped around Stella from behind holding her to his chest while Amy leaned against the door next to them.
"Yeah, but mine's the woman outside Budgens with the mental Jack Russell." Amy shot back with a scoff. "You two have got, like, you know, arch-enemies."
"Suppose so." The Doctor rested his chin on the top of Stella's head.
"And here's me thinking we'd just be running through time, being daft and fixing stuff. But no, it's dangerous." Amy said looking to them.
"Yep. Very." Stella said looking at her from the corner of her eye. "Is that a problem?"
"I'm still here, aren't I?" Amy replied making the Doctor and Stella smile. "You're worried about the Daleks."
"We're always worried about the Daleks." The Doctor said softly as Stella covered his hands with hers, rubbing them soothingly.
"It'll take time though, won't it? I mean, there's still not many of them. They'll need a while to build themselves up." Amy tried to encourage them.
"It's not that. There's something else. Something we've forgotten. Or rather you have." Stella said with a deep worried frown that was reflected on the Doctor's face.
"Me?" Amy asked in confusion.
"You didn't know them, Amy. You'd never seen them before. And you should have done." The Doctor said in a grave voice. "You should."
Amy frowned in confusion as she followed the Doctor and Stella into the Tardis, the door closing behind them before it dematerialized, revealing a glowing w shaped crack in the wall.
-0-
"And this is your room." Stella said swinging the door open with a flourish causing Amy to gasp in amazement as she took it all in.
"This is…it's amazing!" Amy ran into the room jumping onto the bed, but was soon back on her feet sprinting around the room. "It's the room I've always wanted!"
"I'm glad you like it." Stella smiled watching Amy run around, checking out all of the ends and outs of her new room. "I'll leave you to enjoy it, if you need anything just shout, we'll hear, and try not to wander off, the Tardis can be a maze when she wants to be."
"Right, sure, got it! Oh my gosh, look at that!" Amy said still looking over everything making Stella chuckle as she shut the door behind herself.
Stella walked down the hall now that Amy was settled in search the Doctor finding him in the console room where he hung underneath tinkering with this and that. She hummed worriedly to herself before going down the stairs ducking under the console.
"You should be getting ready for bed." The Doctor commented not looking up from his work.
"So should you, you haven't slept since you regenerated." Stella said worriedly as she wrapped her arms around him loosely from behind, resting her chin on his shoulder.
"I'm fine." The Doctor muttered as he lifted his goggles so they were resting above his eyes.
"You think I believe that?" Stella sighed out.
"No." The Doctor replied leaning his head against hers. "They'll come back." The Doctor said as he reached up gripping her arms, his thumbs rubbing gentle circles into her skin. "They'll come back and…" He pulled back so they were face to face, his eyes red rimmed and filled with fear. "…you may get hurt or worse, I can't lose you."
"Theta." Stella said softly as he pulled her onto his lap, his arms circling around her waist pulling her close as he buried his face into the junction where her shoulder met her neck. She wound her arms around his shoulder rubbing the back of his head soothingly pressing a kiss onto the top of his head. "It's going to be ok Theta."
"But they'll show up again, they always come after me and you'll get hurt because of it." The Doctor tightened his hold on her.
"Theta, my love, I wish that I could say that everything is going to be alright, that those monster will never trouble us again, that neither of us will ever come to harm, but I can't." Stella gently leaned back cupping the side of his face so he was looking up at her. "What I can promise is that whatever happens we will work it out together, those pepper shakers haven't defeated us yet and they never will. Whatever they throw at us, we'll just throw it right back at them."
"I love you Starlight." The Doctor smiled softly with a small chuckle.
"I love you as well Theta." Stella leaned down kissing him softly. "Now I think you need something to take your mind off of this, how about a stroll through the gardens? The Tardis has three beautiful moons out right now."
"Sounds good." The Doctor said as he stood up with Stella still in his arms causing her to laugh, her arms circling around his neck. They walked up to a wood door engraved with a floral pattern that opened up for them revealing a wild garden lit up with three moons and a multitude of fireflies.
After their fun in the garden, dancing, playing hide and seek, and doing a lot of other fun things that popped into their heads, she and the Doctor had lay down on the ground looking up at the artificial stars, talking softly to one another until they had fallen into a peaceful sleep, something they were both in need of, but after a good night's rest the Tardis had activated a sun rise to wake them up.
Stella's nose twitched as she tried to get it to stop tickling, but the tickle was persistent so she reached up trying to wave it away only for it to come back. It wasn't until she heard the chuckle that she cracked open an eye to find the Doctor propped up on one of his elbows with a piece of grass in hand.
"Time to wake up Stella my Starlight." The Doctor said in a sing song voice.
"No, I'm comfy." Stella mumbled pulling the blanket that the Tardis had provided for them tighter around herself as she nuzzled her face against the Doctor's chest.
"I know love, but we have a companion waiting for our next adventure." The Doctor pointed out wrapping his arms around as he plopped back down pulling her further onto his chest.
"Yeah, I guess so." Stella mumbled though neither of them made an immediate move to get up. The Doctor started to run his hand through her hair while Stella had started to hum a nameless tune, the two of them enjoying this moment of peace together.
