"Ma'am, please, you have to rest." McGillop said through the speaker that connected the outside world to the quarantined room. By Kate's orders, both Sam and Kate were locked in the quarantined room, just in case Polovox poison turned out to be infectious.
"No, I need to finish off my work before time runs out. Now leave me alone, McGillop, go fiddle around with Konjak." She said, madly scribbling things down on the paper.
McGillop sighed. Once his boss was determined to do something, they could never stop her. She was probably writing a 20 year plan of running the UNIT base, and maybe a lot of threats for her successors if they didn't obey her values. He gave up trying to persuade her and went to the next quarantined room.
"I swear, it didn't do anything to me." Sam complained. "I really hate needles." He flinched as soldiers in biohazard suits took all sorts of tests.
"Just keep breathing into the tube. You were close enough to the poison, so we can't take any chances."
Sam gave him an annoyed look and breathed into the tube connected to a measuring machine.
McGillop felt like tearing his hair out. After his good mate, Osgood, died in a car crash (at least that's what they told him anyway) he became the one who had to support Kate with her tremendous amount of work. He had been promoted to the role after the incident at the gallery, with three Doctors and weird sucker things…. He still didn't understand what happened, but apparently he was fit enough for a promotion. He didn't even get time to mourn Osgood's death, or his friends who were UNIT soldiers who were also involved in a 'car crash' because he was now responsible for assisting most of Kate's work. Now Kate was quarantined, and he was the one who had to deal with everything. He felt like he wasn't ready.
Then, he saw the blue box materialise in the middle of his perfectly organised room. The man who walked out was not any of the ones he had seen back in the gallery.
"KATE?!"
Why was he Scottish? And his eyebrows, they were furious.
"Where's Kate?! I need to see her now." He demanded. McGillop flinched and took him to the quarantined room.
"No wonder she's sick. You've couped her into a tiny glass room." He accused him. He took his sonic screwdriver out.
"Well… she told us to… Wait, you can't open the door!" The Doctor quickly entered the room and locked it. He knew this was the trait of this regeneration, but seeing it himself was even worse than hearing about it.
"Doctor, please come out, right now!" McGillop said through the speaker.
"Had enough of him." He pointed the screwdriver at the speaker and the connection to the outside world was disconnected.
"Doctor, McGillop has had a tough day, you could have at least given him a break." Kate chuckled.
The Doctor ignored the last statement. "So, anything yet?" He frowned. "Are you okay? Tell me how exactly you're feeling."
"I'm slightly drowsy, but other than that, I'm fine." She dismissed his worry. She took out a folder with photos and stills of the CCTV. "You asked me to trace Clara's steps. Luckily, we found no traces of any Polovox substance in any of the places she's been to." She took another photo out. "Also, we know who the culprit is. After it left us, it left a small cog, which registered as a biological substance instead of an object. The same metallic DNA was also found in Clara's bruise on her jaw."
The Doctor looked at the photo with concern. He scanned Kate from top to bottom with his sonic screwdriver.
"Kate, are you feeling alright?"
"I told you, I'm fine."
"I don't think you are." He gently pushed the photograph of the alien in front of her.
"Look closely and tell me what you see again."
"The face of the alien. He was the one who attacked me." Kate said. "Why, what do you see?" She asked hesitantly.
He sighed. "You see, one of the properties of the Polovox poison is hallucination. It will show you things that aren't there and things you want to see." He pointed at the picture. "This is the picture of your father, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. I'm really sorry, the effects are spreading already."
Kate stared at it again, and sure enough, her father's face was grinning back at her. She gasped in shock.
The Doctor touched Kate's cheek.
"You're very warm." He said, frowning. "I know you are too scared to sleep, and I would be too, but fighting the poison will make it worse." He patted her shoulder, trying to calm her down.
"And how should I know if I am still hallucinating, what if you aren't real as well?" She said, using her critical point of view.
The Doctor paused. He took off the ring he was wearing, which broke into halves. "When each of the rings touch each other, the ring will warm up and pulse gently in your fingers. You can hallucinate vision, but you can't hallucinate your touch senses. Before we talk, we will always make sure it is really me, okay?" he said as he placed one half of the ring on her finger. When he held Kate's hand, it warmed up and pulsed, just as he said.
"Okay." She smiled. "I trust you. With all my life."
"Now sleep." He said. "Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, you are dismissed of your duty. Doctor's orders."
Kate closed her eyes and let the darkness take over her.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
Clara's POV
"Mum."
"My baby. You've grown so much." They were hugging and crying. Clara couldn't remember the last time she hugged her. The warm feeling was still the same though. "I always thought it would be your gran first, then your dad, and I hoped I could see you much later than I would see them."
Listening to her mother's soothing yet disappointed voice made her sad. She had disappointed her mother. "I'm sorry mum, it happened so fast." Drops of tears dropped onto Ellie's shoulder.
"It's okay, it wasn't your fault." She stroked her back.
"Mum, is it true?" Clara said, after breaking from the hug.
"Hmm? What's true?"
"That if everyone lets go, you are allowed to leave this world."
"I heard about that too. But I don't know." She said. "Because I haven't let go of the world." Ellie smiled. "I couldn't let go, when I had you guys making a racket with each other." She chuckled.
"First time you went to drink. You put it off to when you were 20. I was so proud of you for leaving it for so long."
Clara's eyes widened. She was there! She covered her face in shame.
"… and then you messed it up by drinking like an animal." She teasingly punched her. "You and your friends got on the car, but you got caught by the cops even before they could step on the gas pedal, didn't you?" Ellie laughed.
"That was you?!" She gasped. "Oh my god, mum, thank you. And I'm so sorry for whatever I might have said that night."
"You were quite amazing when you were drunk." She sarcastically nodded. "And by amazing, amusing." She continued. "Also that time when your dad bought a bicycle by impulse. I made sure that he bought the cheap knockoff that wouldn't even start."
They laughed together.
"Mum, thank you for looking after us." Clara kissed her on the cheek. "And I'm sorry for whatever mistakes I made."
"Anything for my family. I couldn't be there for you, it was the least I could do." Ellie said.
"Does that mean you know about the Doc..?" Clara started coughing. "I can't breathe."
"Clara, you are dead. You don't need to breathe." Ellie said, reminding her. "What's wrong?"
"I… I… can feel…. something in my… throat." All of a sudden it was so hard to speak.
Ellie looked at Clara's grave.
"Tell me, was the body that… thing stole, yours?"
Clara shook her head, tearing up from the pain. "Thought not." Ellie said.
"Clara, listen to me. Close your eyes and imagine you are breathing in and out. Sense the place you are in. Describe me the smell, the sound and touch in detail." Ellie said. "Whoever it is, they are doing something to your original body. We are all tied to our bodies. If something happens to them, you would feel it as well. We have to get to your body. Now, do it."
Clara closed her eyes and concentrated.
"I feel exposed. There's a hard flat surface underneath me…" She clutched onto her chest. "I feel needles everywhere. The smell, it smells like…. Damp… like we're underground."
"Hey, leave my friend alone…" It was almost a whisper, but Clara recognised the thick, Scottish voice. There were all sorts of noises and then her throat finally freed up and she could breathe again. Hang on… breathe?
"Mum…."
"I know, I can hear it." Ellie interrupted. "Your heart is beating again."