A/N: Okay, I think I wasn't being clear in the previous chapter. In the next chapter, the Doctor's companions get to watch some of old Tenny's memories. What do you want them to see? Please review!
Chapter 13
It Ends with a Donna Noble Slap
"Uncle?" Romana repeated, casting a confused glance between River, Jenny, and a rigidly-shocked-Braxiatel. "Cardinal Braxiatel, but you have only one brother—the Doctor—and that makes her the daughter of…"
As the socking realization sank into her mind, her eyes widened impossibly.
"Oh. Oh. No, you aren't telling me that."
"Actually, I am!" Jenny grinned again, and snapped her fingers. The blue holding cell was instantly deactivated. River groaned and looked up, shaking her head. She blinked, and her sweeping gaze also found Irving Braxiatel. She stared for a second, smirked, and pushed herself upright. She held out her hand.
"Professor River Song. I assume you are my Sweetie's brother 'Brax', aren't you?"
She whistled, spotting the deactivated holding cell button.
"Ooh. You've designed that to respond to your DNA only, I see. 26th century Earth technology. Crude, but effective—and that's why it followed Jenny's order. It recognized her DNA as the Doctor's! That's my Sweetie for you—but don't worry. You are…" She leaned forward until she was very close to a very uncomfortable-looking Braxiatel. She smirked and whispered. "Hot, too."
Braxiatel winced, and Jenny frowned disapprovingly.
"River, I don't think you should flirt with him… after all, you are his sister-in-law. That's—that's—eww."
"Jenny, I think you should visit Tibet someday. A very good place; women can have many husbands there!"
"No, this isn't Tibet. This is Gallifrey, mom!" Jenny shouted, looking appalled. River laughed and answered quite coolly.
"Okay, I won't flirt with him too much. And no, I was just joking. I don't fancy him."
Jenny simply rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at that. Romana's eyes were bulging out at this exchange.
"Sister-in-law?!"
But, but that made that woman—the Doctor's— Her mind was reeling with shock. Irving Braxiatel, on the other hand, was finally coming to his senses.
He inhaled slowly, and closed his eyes. Always perfect, prepared—that was him. And yet, how could he have expected this to be thrown at him at once? He had to admit that he was quite taken aback… at least.
His thoughts back in careful control, he reopened his eyes and studied the cheerful blond ponytail girl and the woman with wild curls up close. Pacing back and forth, he clasped his hands behind his back and began speaking in a level voice.
"Interesting. Lady President Romanadvoratrelundar, may I ask for a private audience with these people?"
"What?" Romana frowned, clearly disapproving and unwilling to follow his request. "But… these intruders, we have no certainty concerning whether or not they are telling the truth. Cardinal Braxiatel, I suggest that having guards at post is a better option."
"To which I disagree," Braxiatel replied smoothly, letting a strand of black hair fall perfectly onto his charming features as he leaned forward. "From what I see, they don't have any ill intentions. And I have been always right, my dear Romana. So let us be, and, I believe there's some more work that needs to be taken care of waiting for you."
Romana couldn't but scoff a bit at this. It's your work, too, you overrated ego, she thought playfully. Ah, well. This omnipotent catastrophe of a man—or a Time Lord, to be exact—would be more than able to take care of himself. And it would be more than impossible to persuade him to let her stay, when he had already made up his mind.
So Romana sighed, turned around and told the guards in a firm, commanding voice of a President.
"Leave this room and do not enter in all circumstances. Now, move! Oh, and Braxiatel—" Seeing the guards shuffle away quickly, she glanced back at the Lord Cardinal herself and closing the heavy wooden door.
"Make it quick; I want to know what's going on, especially if it's about the Doctor. Do not take more than ten minutes, understand?"
"Of course."
The door locked with a faint 'click'. Lord Cardinal Braxiatel spun around, smiling. His gaze swept over the duo once more before he stopped to examine the Type 40 TARDIS humming merrily in the corner. The Doctor's never-changing, time-traveling blue police box. It seemed to be in a fairly good condition, considering the things it had gone through. Having that checked, he clapped his hands together and spun around.
"Now! Time for explanation. Why is a Doctorless TARDIS here? And on what occasion did you come to visit me? And why do you, Doctor Song, feel like a part Time Lady to me? What's the relationship between you two? So many unanswered questions— and I really don't like being kept in the dark." His eyes narrowed darkly, but soon the shadow vanished. Smiling again, he promptly sat down and spoke in a voice that sounded too kind to be true. "So why don't you tell me the story?"
So they told him their story. Their whole, complete story. The Doctor's guilt over the fall of Gallifrey, Jenny's 'birth' in Messaline, River Song's marriage with the Doctor in the middle of an apocalypse, and so on, until they finally reached the story of Theta Sigma crashing into Donna Noble's backyard in the middle of the night.
Brax visibly perked up at the mention of the Doctor's childhood name that hasn't been used for ages. He nodded, waving his hand generously.
"Go on. Interesting."
The de-aging and memory loss incident was thus fully unraveled in front of Braxiatel. After hearing the whole story, he leaned back and hummed, deep in thought.
"Can you reverse it? Or tell us what to do, at least?"
Jenny asked, playing with a cracker in her hand. Brax stood up wordlessly, walked up to the blue police box and placed his palm on the door.
"Perhaps," he replied, a cryptic smile on his lips. He snapped his fingers, and the door swung open. He set a foot into the TARDIS before briefly looking back. "But I would have to see for myself. Aren't you two coming?"
"But—" Jenny looked puzzled. "That black-haired lady, she's Romana, right? My dad told mom about her once or twice. She asked you to tell her about our conversation, and she gave you ten minutes…"
"I'm Irving Braxiatel," he said, eyebrows arched, as if his name explained everything. "I don't think rules and permissions mean much to me. Also, ten minutes— that's more than enough time to run away, don't you think?"
That's not what she would have meant by that, Jenny thought briefly. But who cared? This was way more fun than hours of explanation, negotiation and persuasion. She liked it this way. So she simply grinned up at her uncle cheerfully, flashing a thumbs-up.
"Fine with me!"
"Well then, sweethearts, let's go!" River Song laughed, having already entered the TARDIS. Jenny jumped in, too. Together, they pulled a lever or two, and the engine roared back to life. Rule breaking, it must flow in the family blood, she mused, pressing a blue button. Not that she complained or anything. Actually, it was quite the other way around. She loved that devilish streak.
"Now, about time you met the child Doctor!"
"Actually, before that…" Brax shut the TARDIS door and turned around, his eyes brimming with anticipation and his lips curving into a smug smile. "We are talking about interdimensional travel here. Although traveling through an already existing crack, aided by a link—in this case, the Doctor's name—is possible and doesn't result in an implosion of universe, it does require a lot of energy. The last trip almost drained the TARDIS out of power; we can't risk another trip without some… preparation."
Oh. River blinked. She hadn't thought about that. Again, she was impressed by the amazing display of this man's brilliance. He was certainly the Doctor's brother. She had a feeling that this was going to be really fun.
"So, what do you suggest?"
She leaned forward and smirked, ready for anything.
Braxiatel's eyes twinkled mischievously.
*…*…*…*…*…*…*…*
"My Lady President!"
Romana looked up from her immense stack of papers and frowned. She was just finishing up the calculations for rebuilding the planetary defense systems of Gallifrey, and it was no one other than the General who had disturbed her. She really didn't like being disturbed. So she replied rather stiffly.
"Yes, my lord General. What is it?"
"My Lady President," he repeated, huffing and desperately trying to catch his breath. Clearly it was an urgent matter at hand; he had come running the whole way. Romana glanced at him, feeling uneasy now.
"What is it?"
"The Omega Arsenal in the Time Vault had been robbed again," he reported, saluting at last. Romana's face paled at the news. The General went on, still breathless. "We triple-locked the place… after… the 'incident' with the Doctor. But someone—we are clueless to his or her identity—who had access to the highest security code broke in and took the Moment."
Romana's face paled. She exactly knew who this 'thief' was. Rassilion, it was so obvious! Her teacup shattered to pieces as her grip tightened. And the General noted, shifting a bit fearfully, that the look on her face was downright freezing cold, and menacing as well.
"Irving Braxiatel!" She hissed, crumpling a piece of paper fiercely. Oh, he'd better run; run to somewhere very, very far away. For she was going to really and truly strangle that sneaky devil to its well-deserved death once and for all, the moment she found him again.
And unbeknownst to her, run he did; by the time she had heard the news, the graceful Renaissance Man had already escaped the pocket universe, using the Moment to fuel energy to the TARDIS, and was peacefully sailing to planet Earth, Sol 3, in a blue police box, a victorious smile on his lips. The Moment was a fantastic helper.
And now, he was on his way to find his little brother.
Young Theta Sigma.
*…*…*…*…*…*…*…*
It had been three days.
Three days since Jenny and River popped off and away to god-knows-where; three days since the familiar, old TARDIS had disappeared without a trace from the garden; three days since Theta began to wake up in the middle of the night, whimpering and/or sulking. He claimed that he kept having bad dreams because 'the TARDIS wasn't singing golden songs for him when he slept' as it used to do before.
At first, Wilf the good old papa was able to comfort the little child with a mug of steaming hot chocolate. It only worked for a few hours or so. Then the kid, being a child and a Doctor, became all restless and whiny—("Why am I not surprised?" Rory muttered. "He was always a kid; nothing changed.")—and that's how everyone found themselves sitting in front of the fireplace at midnight, with Theta Sigma snuggled all comfy on Amy's lap. Rory didn't approve of this, but a Lone Centurion had no chance against the child's doe-like eyes. That was it. Theta was staying on her lap, Amy declared. And it stayed that way.
But at least their time with Theta wasn't boring; Jack was a great storyteller, even though Martha the soldier and Donna the ginger had to tackle him from time to time to prevent him from wandering off into 'inappropriate' areas.
"The Torchwood was founded to protect the England from the Doctor," Jack started, grinning. Mickey nearly chocked; Donna's jaw dropped.
"No way! I mean, seriously?! The good old royals should knight him or something at least for keeping the country from falling to pieces! The dumbos!"
"Did the Doctor break into the palace of Henry VII because he needed the jewel on the crown, etc., etc.?" Amy asked dubiously, raising her eyebrow. "Because I won't be surprised at all if he did. It's entirely possible."
"Nope! Actually, he was the drinking buddy of Henry, and he saved Queen Victoria from being bitten by a werewolf," Jack smirked. "But old Vicky got so freaked out and scared that she knighted him as 'Sir Doctor of the TARDIS' and exiled him on the same they. Aaaand what does she do? Go found Torchwood, of course!"
"Yes, I'm not surprised at all, that's right," Mickey muttered, rolling his eyes. Theta giggled and popped a jammy dodger into his mouth. Munching, he chirped happily.
"But it sound fun, and that's what matters!"
"Yes, Thete, it really is amazing—the Doc!" Jack grinned fondly, tapping on his cheek, deep in thought. "Let's see—when I got into Torchwood, I tracked you down. You appeared throughout politics, ghost stories, legends, everywhere—and some love scandals, too! It turns out that our famous Virgin Queen wasn't very virgin, after all! I especially love the part where you—OW!"
Jack yelped and jumped in surprise as Donna gave him a sharp nudge, hissing, "He's just ten; don't you dare!" Scowling, he was about to retort with a snarky comment when Theta, who was watching their exchange with innocent curiosity, suddenly let out a short cry and leapt up from his seat.
"Did you hear it? Did you?" He exclaimed, running to the window in excitement. "The singing, it's back!"
"What? What do you mean—"
Martha was about to ask, puzzled, when she heard a faint grating noise that she was all so familiar with. Theta was literally bouncing, a huge smile dancing on his lips, as he pointed out the window. With a faint 'vrooping' sound, the dear old police box materialized onto the garden, its lantern blinking as usual. Theta grinned excitedly.
"The TARDIS—it's back!"
The big brother was home.
*…*…*…*…*…*…*…*
He could see it. Blue, beautiful, and old. It looked like a simple old blue box on the outside—but it was ageless in its beauty, the way it traveled the stars, the beginning and the end of the universe.
He could hear it. The singing, golden and soothing, calming the nightmares and looking into his very soul like a sentient being.
Oh, the TARDIS, the TARDIS! Theta's heart drummed fast and joyful as he raced outside, eager to stroke the smooth wooden surface of the box, and to see Jenny and River again. They were—
Oh.
He froze on the spot. Amy caught his swaying body, looking very worried. Why did the little Doctor seem to be terror-stricken all of a sudden?
"Are you okay, Doctor?" She asked, and Theta gulped hard, shaking his head.
"No. Wait. I don't think this sounds good."
Good god. Theta felt panic rise within him. He was a married man with a daughter! Rassilion, a husband and a father?! His body shuddered at the mere thought of it. It was so appalling. Who would want to be married?
He spun around to face Amy, a look of sheer terror on his face, and shrieked—
"You are my mother-in-law?!"
It took her everything not to laugh. Oh, she had freaked out when she found out that she was the Doctor's mother-in-law. Surely who could have imagined having a millennium old, two-hearted, face-changing alien as a son-in-law? But she had gotten over the culture shock, and now, it was downright hilarious to watch as the Doctor reacted the same way—only that it was now the other way around. Rory was almost smirking at this absolutely funny situation.
Before any of them could give the boy an answer to calm him down, River merrily pushed the door open and stepped out, waving her hand.
"Hi!"
"NO!" Theta yelped and scurried to hid behind Wilfred's back. Amy couldn't stop herself from giggling now, and River frowned, puzzled at their bizarre reaction.
"What happened?"
"He knows that you are his wife now," Amy revealed, laughing her head off. Theta peeked out from Wilf's back with curiosity, distrust and fear mingled in his puppy-like eyes. River shook her head, turning to her mother.
"You told him? I wanted to shock them all, mom!"
"I'm sorry, couldn't resist the temptation," Amy smiled, beckoning an unwilling Theta forward. "Doctor, why don't you greet your Sweetie with open arms and say hello?"
"No! I'm not calling anyone 'sweetie'. I'm not gonna marry!" He wailed in a panicked, whiny voice, trying his best to deny the undeniable. "Please tell me that I'm not married. I can't be married. I hate being married! Marriage is sweet and fluffy and domestic… ugh! How can anyone stand it! She isn't even ginger!"
Theta shivered, obviously appalled at the very idea of a domestic life. Jenny, who had just came out from the TARDIS, was struggling to suppress herself from bursting into a laughing fit. She miraculously managed to do so and added a comment with a mock-serious face.
"Amy and Donna are ginger, dad. If you want to marry a ginger, maybe you could ask them out on a date—"
"Noooo—!" Theta howled miserably, causing Wilf to take him in a comforting hug and others to laugh like crazy. Jack made a mental note to himself that he would never forget to tease the Doctor about this, once the 'de-aging incident' was solved.
"So where have you been?" Amy finally said, wiping her tears and giggling a little. "What were you up to, you and…?"
"Jenny," River quickly supplied, nodding towards the cheerful blond girl, who was trying in vain to calm her father from throwing a very childish temper tantrum. Amy found herself liking the new girl—who was also her sort-of granddaughter (oh, my!). She somehow reminded her of the doctor, her Doctor. So she smiled at her, and Jenny grinned back. River watched her mother and her newfound daughter with amusement before continuing.
"Jenny and I went to get some help—an expert."
"An expert? About what?" Martha inquired, curious. River smiled, tapping her fingers together quizzically.
"About the Doctor. Someone who knows him so well, more than anyone; someone who knows his name, his family, his childhood, his past and his secrets and his fear. Someone who went through the Time War. Someone who can feel the spin and turn of the universe and the never-stopping flow of time."
The TARDIS door swung open once more. Everyone turned to look. River smiled.
A lean, handsome man in sleek black suit stepped out, scanning and analyzing them carefully with her eyes. Then he smiled and bowed gracefully.
"Good evening. It's a pleasure to meet you all. I'm Braxiatel, Irving Braxiatel. I came here to see the Doctor."
Theta perked up at this, and when he saw the man, his eyes widened in recognition and disbelief.
"Brax?" He whispered, slowly getting onto his feet. Amy glanced at him, surprised. How did he recognize that man, when his memories had regressed all the way back to his childhood?
Braxiatel looked at the boy, and seemed to understand the situation at once. He sighed and smiled sadly, shaking his head.
"Oh, Theta. I believe I told you before that you were too old for getting yourself into trouble at every chance."
"You didn't!" To their surprise, Theta flushed red with anger at that, stomping and glaring. "Why are you here, anyway? You never paid any attention to me! Have you changed your mind all of a sudden or something, Brax?"
"Well, no, not really." Braxiatel answered, tilting his head in amusement. "So you really did forget, Theta."
"Forget what?"
"Everything. The things you've been through—we've been through. Your friends. Yourself. Your granddaughter. The planet of Skaro. Your exile from Gallifrey. And the Great Time War, of course."
"Wait, wait, wait!" Donna stomped forward, with the force of a ginger Doctor Donna. "What's this all about? How do you two know each other? And don't you are tell him about the bloody War, mate," she hissed, this time to Braxiatel. He merely arched his eyebrow and clasped his hands tightly behind his back.
"Of course I know him—oh! So you don't know me, do you? The UNIT has met me before, and has me in the file. The fact that you don't know my identity proves that there's no human holding a high position in Earth here, which is very good. No need to be polite or charming then."
He smirked and clapped once, his demeanors changing drastically in a mere second.
"Anyway, as I said before, I am Irving Braxiatel, Time Lord, Lord Cardinal and former Lord President of Gallifrey, tutor of the Academy, owner of the Braxiatel Collection, and an Unofficial Ambassydor of Kasterboros. Ah, and I'm the Doctor's brother, too. You can call me Irving."
Donna's eyes almost popped out. The Doctor's brother?! But he looked nothing like the Spaceman, except for the point that he had good looks!
Beside her, Martha gasped and protested immediately.
"But… but that's impossible! When I had asked him if he had a brother, the Doctor mentioned that he doesn't have one anymore, and that he was—"
She faltered, the words 'that he was the last of the Time Lords' dying on her lips. She threw a frantic, uncomfortable glance at Theta, who was still standing close by with a sullen look on his face. Braxiatel shrugged uneventfully.
"Do you have a problem speaking?"
Sighing, he turned towards his little brother and snapped his fingers. Theta's eyes widened for a brief second before he toppled and fell down heavily onto the grass, unconscious. Startled, Wilfred immediately leaped forward and caught his frail body. Meanwhile Braxiatel brushed the dust off the sleeve of his coat and smiled at Martha.
"Don't worry, he's just asleep. Simple hypnosis— things are easier this way. I assume that you can continue speaking now?"
"He could have hit his head!" Martha shouted, obviously angry at the so-called brother's carelessness. "Were you trying to give him a concussion or something? Are you his brother at all?"
Braxiatel simply shrugged, brushing off her angry protests without hesitating at all. Then he stepped forward, and ran a hand over Theta's forehead
"Yes, I am the Doctor's brother. Yes, I saw him when he was born into this world. And yes, like the Doctor, I work for the continued existence of the universe—although we had never made an agreement on our methods."
He hummed, casually answering all their unvoiced questions. Promptly ignoring their surprised looks, he withdrew his hand and stood back up.
"His mind really is a jumbled mess, I see. Most of his memories are still there, but they are all broken into tiny, scrambled pieces like… noodles in a chicken soup, or an egg scramble, I don't know. We'll have to do something about that tomorrow. It isn't very hard to fix."
"The Doctor said that he was the last of his kind," Amy persisted, still eyeing the man with distrust. "He said that he destroyed the planet and killed them all… himself."
"Time does play funny tricks on our minds," Braxiatel replied coolly, inspecting his fingernails. "The rest is a spoiler, don't ask. And really, I don't expect unimportant, primitive apes like you to understand, even if I did tell you. Any more questions?"
"Why did you…" Jack quickly gestured with his hand, trying to ignore Amy, who was seething with fury— probably debating with herself whether or not she should go for the pompous Time Lord's neck and strangle him for good.
"You know, shake your hand over his head?"
"I was doing a basic scan of his mind," Braxiatel answered, slinging his suitcase containing the Moment over his shoulder. Jack frowned.
"So…. You read his mind?"
"Yes. All the memories, basically. Psychic ability, Time Lord."
"But the Doctor once mentioned that reading one's mind without permission is extremely rude, not to mention disrespectful!" Jack glared, obviously infuriated by the fact that Irving Braxiatel had mistreated their Doctor. He wasn't flirting with this man, no matter how handsome his stupid face was. Unfortunately, this man wasn't even slightly abashed by his argument, and merely regarded the Captain with a cool, matter-of-fact tone.
"I'm Lord Cardinal Braxiatel. I don't require anyone's rules or permissions to do as I please. I am not the Doctor, so don't expect me to be as kind or benevolent to you as he is. Unlike my brother, I have no problem in disposing others if needed. But as I'm here to help, you don't have to be scared too much. Just keep your lines, and I will try to, too."
Saying this, his eyes were so dark and cold that for a moment, the temperature seemed to drop a few degrees. Only the great Doctor Donna seemed unfazed as she marched right up close to the frightening Time Lord and bravely tapped him on the shoulder.
"Oi!"
"What is it?"
Braxiatel glanced back at her briefly, oblivious of what was coming. Donna glared at him for a moment, her palms sternly placed on her hips, until her right hand slowly balled into a fist. And she shouted.
"Eat this, Spaceass!"
With that, a human Donna Noble slapped Lord Cardinal Irving Braxiatel.
Before he could react, Donna gave her arm a full swing, and the blow landed right on poor Braxiatel's cheek at an inhuman speed. Oh, good old Metacrisis Doctor Donna! Using her Time Lord superior physiology at times like this!
They all watched, gawking, as the Time Lord staggered from the unexpected impact, a shocked and bewildered look on his face. Donna was kind enough to wait for a few seconds before slapping the dazed man once more, knocking him out completely.
Jenny looked down at the crumpled, unconscious form of her uncle, one of the Most Powerful Time Lords in the Universe, and shook her head. She didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
After everything that they had come through, it all came down to a Donna Noble Slap.
A/N: WOW! A SUPER LONG CHAPTER! Hope you guys like it, the humor part is back on :) Anyway, starting from the next chapter, the companions will enter the Doctor's mind, resulting in them watching the Doctor's bad memories and…. Oh the feels. Wait and see for yourself.
Thank you for loving this story. And unfortunately, Clara Oswald doesn't make an appearance, I'm sorry :(
Please R&R! Reviews make me write longer and faster!