The Doctor Dances
"Mummy. Mum-my." The patients were almost within touching distance. "Mummy."
"Go to your room." The Doctor said in a stern voice, making the patients stand still and cock their heads to the side as if in confusion. "Go to your room." The two behind him exchanged looks and adopted stern expressions as well. Seeing that it was working, the Doctor adopted a disappointed frown on his face as he said in a loud, stern voice, "I mean it, I'm very, very angry with you." He looked around at all the patients as he spoke. "I am very, very cross. Go-to-your-room!" he punctuated his order with a hand pointed to the side the way a disappointed parent would to their child when sending them to their room. The patients hung their heads in shame and shuffled away slowly, back to their beds where they laid back down. The Time Lord gave a sigh of relief. "I'm really glad that worked." He remarked to Seren. "Those would've been terrible last words."
Jack gave a sigh of relief at the averted crises as Seren rolled her eyes at the Doctor's words. Seren shoved the Doctor's arm lightly as he gave her a sheepish grin. The con-man sat at the Ward Sister's desk and put his feet on the table, crossing his ankles as he lounged in the chair. Seren crouched next to one of the beds and looked at the patient occupying it as the Doctor stayed silent, leaning against the wall.
"These gas-masks," Seren said with a frown, pointing with her still gloved hand. "They're not made of standard material, they're fused to the skin without any burn marks." She looked up at Jack. "It's made out of their own flesh and bone, isn't it?"
"Yeah." Jack replied quietly, lounging back in his chair.
"How was your con supposed to work?" The Doctor asked Jack with a small frown.
"Simple enough, really." Jack replied. "Find some harmless piece of space junk, let the nearest Time Agent track it back to Earth, convince him it's valuable, name a price. When he's put 50% up front… oops! A German bomb falls on it, destroys it forever. He never gets to see what he's paid for, never knows he's been had. I buy him a drink with his own money, and we discuss dumb luck. The perfect self-cleaning con."
"Yeah, perfect." The Doctor muttered quietly, glaring at him as Seren walked around the ward.
"The London Blitz is great for self-cleaners." Jack commented. "Pompeii's nice if you want to make a vacation of it though, but you've got to set your alarm for Volcano Day." He chuckled, but it died away when no-one else showed any amusement. "Getting a hint of disapproval."
"Take a look around the room, Jack." Seren said, holding back her desire to snap at him. She removed her gloves and balled them up in the proper manner, tucking them into her purse to dispose of when they get back to the TARDIS. The last thing she wanted to do was leave 21st Century items around a 1940's hospital. "This is what your harmless piece of space-junk did."
"It was a burnt out medical transporter. It was empty." Jack snapped, holding to his belief that the transporter had been empty.
"Seren." The Doctor called, giving jack a dark look before turning and walking out of the ward.
"Please tell me we're leaving." Seren pleaded hopefully as she followed him, only half-believing that they were doing exactly that.
"Sorry, no. we're going upstairs." The Doctor replied.
"I even programmed the flight computer so it wouldn't land on anything living." Jack called to their retreating backs as he stood up. "I harmed no-one! I don't know what's happening here, but believe me, I had nothing to do with it."
"I'll tell you what's happening." The Doctor said, reaching the door and turning to face the con-man. "You forgot to set your alarm clock. It's Volcano Day."
A siren sounded, making them all glance up.
"What's that?" Seren asked.
"The all clear." Jack replied.
"I wish." The Doctor muttered as he walked out of the ward, followed a moment later by Seren and another moment later by Jack.
By the time Seren and Jack got to the end of the corridor, the Doctor was nowhere in sight.
"Mr. Spock?" Jack called as they ran past a staircase.
"Doctor?" Seren asked.
The Doctor peeked over the stair-rail, on the next flight up.
"Have you got a blaster?" The Time Lord asked, making the pair stumble to a stop and run back to the staircase.
"Sure!" Jack replied with a smile as he and Seren ran up the stairs to see the man standing outside a secured metal door.
"The night your space-junk landed, someone was hurt." The Doctor explained. "This is where they were taken." He gestured to the metal door.
"What happened?" Seren asked as she and the Doctor stepped back slightly, grinning at Seren.
"Let's find out." The Doctor replied before turning to Jack, the grin fading. "Get it open."
"What's wrong with the sonic screwdriver?" Seren asked in a whisper as Jack took out his blaster and aimed it at the lock.
"Nothing." The Doctor replied as Jack disintegrated the lock in a square pattern and the door opened.
"Sonic Blaster, 51st Century." The Doctor commented as he walked to the door that Jack held open. "Weapons Factories of Villengard?"
"You've been to the factories?" Jack asked, surprise on his face.
"Once." The Doctor replied, turning in the doorway to look at the con-man and take the blaster.
"Well, they're gone now, destroyed." Jack informed them as the Doctor looked at the blaster. "The main reactor went critical. Vaporised the lot."
"Like I said. Once." The Doctor said with a smile. "There's a banana grove there, now. I like bananas. Bananas are good."
He grinned at Jack and went inside the room as Seren walked behind him, glancing at the blast pattern on the door.
"Nice blast pattern." She said with a smirk.
"Digital." Jack said with a shrug.
"Squareness gun?"
"Yeah."
"I like it." She gave him a smirk as he chuckled and followed her inside.
The Doctor turned on the lights and they looked around the room. It had several filing cabinets, electronic equipment and a very big mess. The observation window was broken, as if something had gotten out.
"What do you think?" The Doctor asked the two as they looked around at the mess.
"Something got out of here." Jack commented.
"Yeah. And?" the Doctor prompted.
"Something powerful. Angry." Jack replied.
"Powerful and angry." The Doctor repeated.
Seren and Jack entered the isolation room while the Doctor stayed in the observation booth and looked at the recorder on the table.
Inside the room, there were child's crayon drawings scattered all across the floor and pinned to the walls as well as a Steiff teddy bear.
"A child?" Jack asked with a frown before adding thoughtfully, "I suppose this explains 'mummy'."
"The child from the roof." Seren gasped in shock, her eyes widening. "But how can a child do all of this?" she gestured to the mess that littered the two rooms.
In the observation room, the Doctor turned on the recorder.
"Do you know where you are?" the pair turned to the broken glass when they heard Dr. Constantine's voice and saw the Doctor looking at the recorder.
"Are you my mummy?" a child asked in response.
"Are you aware of what's around you? Can you… see?" Dr. Constantine asked on the recording as the Doctor looked at them.
"Are you my mummy?" the child asked as the three of them looked at the recording with mirrored frowns on their faces.
"What do you want? Do you know…?" Dr. Constantine began to ask gently, only to be cut off by the child.
"I want my mummy! Are you my mummy? I want my mummy! Are you my mummy? Are you my mummy? Mummy? Mummy?"
"Doctor, I've heard this voice before." Seren said, pointing to the recording as she looked at the man standing across from her in the observation room.
"Me, too." The Doctor said.
"Mummy?"
"He's always asking 'are you my mummy?' It's like he doesn't know." Seren said with a frown. Her voice wavered slightly, she couldn't imagine not knowing her family, her mother. How could anyone do this to a sweet innocent child?
"Mummy?"
"Why doesn't he know?" Seren asked, holding back the tears that filled her amethyst eyes.
"Are you there, mummy?" the child asked. "Mummy?"
The Doctor came into the room and gently squeezed Seren's arm in comfort. She covered his hand with her own, looking up at him with a watery smile and brush away the few tears that escaped her long lashes and trekked down her cheeks. He let go of her arm and began pacing as well, walking around the room along the walls with a deep frown.
"Mummy? Please, mummy? Mummy?"
"Doctor?" Seren asked, watching him as he made a third circuit around the room.
"Can you sense it?" he asked, a frown on his face.
"Sense what?" Jack asked with a frown.
"Coming out of the walls. Can you feel it?"
Seren and Jack looked at each other, exchanging confused looks.
"Feel what?" they asked in unison.
"Mummy?"
"Funny little human brains. How do you get around in those things?" the Doctor asked side-tracked as he glanced at them.
"When he's stressed, he likes to insult species." Seren explained to Jack, who nodded.
"Seren, I'm thinking!" The Doctor admonished her as he resumed his circuit around the room.
"He cuts himself shaving." Seren continued, the only sign that she acknowledged him was the slightly lowering of her voice as her tone became slightly teasing. "He does half-an-hour on life-forms he's cleverer than."
"There are these children." The Doctor said suddenly, turning to the two of them and verbally forming a possible theory. "Living rough around the bomb sites. They come out during the air-raids looking for food."
"Mummy, please?"
"Suppose they were there when this thing, whatever it was, landed." He continued, the recording now only background noise for the travelers.
"It was a med-ship, it was harmless." Jack reminded them.
"Yes, you keep saying harmless." The Doctor said to him before turning to both of them as he continued. "Suppose one of them was affected, altered?"
"Altered how?" Seren asked as the tape ran out.
"I'm here!" the child said.
"It's afraid. It's terribly afraid and powerful." The Doctor said with wide eyes. "It doesn't know it yet, but it will do." He chuckled almost hysterically. "It's got the power of a god, and I just sent it to its room."
"Doctor?" Seren asked with a slight whimper, a frightened expression on her face.
"I'm here. Can't you see me?"
"What is that noise?" Seren asked as the tape let out a constant clicking sound that it had been since it ran out.
"End of the tape." He replied as he lost his grin and looked seriously at them. "It ran out about 30 seconds ago."
"I'm here now! Can't you see me?"
"I sent it to its room." He reminded them. "This is its room."
Seren's eyes widened as the Doctor whirled around to look through the broken window. She bit back a frightened scream as she caught sight of the child watching them. The Doctor reached out and took her hand, engulfing it entirely in hos own larger one.
"Are you my mummy?" the child asked. He cocked his head to the side as he gazed at Seren, the only woman in the room. "Mummy?"
"Doctor?" Serena sked quietly, looking up at the larger man.
"Okay, on my signal make for the door." Jack told them as he slowly edged his way behind the Doctor and Seren to stand by the Time Lord's shoulder.
"Mummy?" the child asked as Jack aimed his blaster at him, only for it to be a banana instead.
"Now!" Jack yelled before realizing his weapon was actually a banana. He looked at it in confusion as the Doctor pulled Jack's blaster from his belt and made a square hole in the wall.
"Go now!" the Doctor yelled as Jack ushered Seren through the hole. "Don't drop the banana!"
"Why not?!" Jack exclaimed as he jumped through the hole as well.
"Good source of Potassium!" The Doctor yelled as he jumped through the hole behind the con-artist.
They landed in the corridor outside of the room, quickly getting to their feet as the child followed them.
"Give me that!" Jack yelled as he took the blaster from the Doctor and aimed it at the wall, repairing the hole and stopping the child – saying 'Mummy. I want my mummy' - from following them. Seeing the wall repaired, Jack let out a sigh of relief as he turned to the other two time-travelers. "Digital rewind." He chuckled as Seren let out a sigh of relief and leaned against the window. He turned to the Doctor and tossed the banana to alien as he said, "Nice switch."
"It's from the groves of Villengard. I thought it was appropriate." The Doctor said, holding the banana up.
"There's really a banana grove in the heart of Villengard? And you did that?" Jack asked him incredulously.
"Bananas are good." He replied with a grin.
The wall in front of them began to crack, making Seren jump.
"Time to go!" She yelled as they turned and ran, the Doctor taking hold of her hand.
They ran through a door that was few steps away from them and down a corridor only to come to a stop as the patients marched towards them from the other direction.
"Mummy. Mummy. Mummy."
They turned and ran back the way they came, down the corridor and through the door, only to come to a stop once again as more patients blocked their path from the other direction. They ran back down the corridor and stopped in front of the breaking door as the patients blocked their way from all sides.
"It's keeping us here till it can get at us." The Doctor said.
"Really? I would never have noticed!" Seren said sarcastically, clutching her purse strap tightly.
"It's controlling them?" Jack asked in disbelief.
"It is them." The Doctor replied. "It is every living thing in this hospital."
"Okay. This can function as a sonic blaster, a sonic cannon, and as a triple-enfolded sonic disrupter. Star-Flower, you got anything?" Jack asked, taking his blaster and aiming it down one corridor as the patients slowly marched towards them.
"A pair of Bo-Staffs." She replied, taking them out from her purse and holding them up.
"Impressive." He said, looking at her over his shoulder with a grin. He turned back to the approaching patients with his blaster pointed at them as he called over his shoulder, "Doc, what about you?"
"I've got a sonic…" The Doctor said as he took his screwdriver out of his pocket and looked at it. "Oh, never mind." He said as he turned around to face the approaching patients down the other end of the corridor, while Seren extended her Bo-Staffs and held them out in front of her.
"What?" Jack yelled.
"It's sonic, okay? Let's leave it at that." The Doctor yelled back.
"Disruptor? Canon? What?" Jack asked
"It's sonic! Totally sonic! I am sonicked up!" The Doctor cried frantically.
"A sonic what?" Jack snapped.
"Screwdriver!" the Doctor snapped, making Jack whirl around to face him in disbelief as the Time Lord held up the lightly buzzing screwdriver.
Before Jack could respond, the child broke through the wall. The child climbed through the hole and Seren retracted her Bo-Staffs, tucked them up her jacket sleeves and grabbed Jack's hands, pointing the blaster at the floor beneath their feet.
"Going down!" the beautiful Chosen One yelled as a large square of the floor beneath them disappeared, sending them hurtling to the floor below, where they landed in a heap on the ground, Seren on top of the Doctor as he cushioned her fall. Jack rolled to his knees and used the blaster to repair the hole in the ceiling.
Seren and the Doctor looked at each other, Seren blushing when she saw that their faces were inches apart.
"Are you okay?" she asked him, moving back so that she was no longer on top of him.
"Could've used a warning." He told her as he stood up. He held a hand out to her.
"Oh, the gratitude." She snarked in response, taking the hand he held out to her and pulling herself up. She took her staffs out from her sleeves and tucked them back into her purse, making them stick out from beneath the flap for easy access.
"Who has a sonic screwdriver?" Jack asked, making the Doctor turn to look at him.
"I do." The Doctor replied defensively.
"Lights. We need lights." Seren muttered as she took in the complete darkness of the room.
She began looking around the room, ignoring the Doctor and Jack as they continued their verbal sparing/ posturing match.
"Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks, 'Ooh, this could be a little more sonic'?" Jack asked, slightly mockingly.
As she searched, Seren had to bite back a smile, remembering when she said almost the same thing to the man when she had first seen the screwdriver.
"What, you've never been bored?" the Doctor asked, taking a step closer to the charming Time Agent.
"There's got to be a switch here somewhere." Seren muttered, running her hands over the walls and feeling for any switches.
"Never had a long night? Never had a lot of cabinets to put up?" the Doctor continued asking the Time Agent, holding up the screwdriver proudly.
"Found it." Seren said happily as she found the light switch and flicked it on.
Immediately, the room was bathed in artificial light. Unfortunately, the sudden change caused the patients to sit up in their beds.
"Mummy. Mummy." They said, startling the time-travelling group.
"Door." Jack said as the Doctor grabbed Seren's wrist and pulled her towards him.
The two joined Jack at the door as he tried firing his blaster at it.
The patients got out of the beds and began slowly advancing on them. Jack tried firing his blaster again and when it didn't work, he wacked it angrily against his palm.
"Damn it!" he muttered.
"Mummy." The patients said.
"It's the special features. They really drain the battery." Jack explained as the Doctor used his sonic screwdriver to open the door.
"The battery?" Seren repeated incredulously as the Doctor opened the door and urged them inside. "That is incredibly lame. You know that, right?"
The Doctor closed the door behind them and began locking it once more as Seren turned the lights on.
"I was going to send for another one, someone had to go and blow up the factory." Jack said as he hopped up onto a table that was beneath a window and looked out.
"Yeah, I know the feeling." Seren said with a slight laugh as Jack hopped off the table. "First day I met him, he blew my job up. That's practically how he communicates."
"Okay, that door should hold it for a bit." The Doctor said, stepping away from the door.
"The door?" Jack asked as the Time Lord passed him. "The wall didn't even stop it!"
"It's got to find us first." Seren pointed out optimistically.
"Come on, we're not done yet!" The Doctor added cheerfully as he hopped up onto the table Jack had been on seconds earlier. "Assets! Assets!"
"Well, I've got a banana, and in a pinch, you could put up some shelves." Jack replied sarcastically.
"Window." The Doctor said.
"Barred. Sheer drop outside. Seven stories." Jack replied as he sat down on a wheelchair.
"And no other exits." Seren added, looking around the room.
"Well, the assets conversation went in a flash, didn't it?" Jack commented sarcastically as the Doctor turned around, still on the table.
"So, where'd you pick this one up, then?" The Doctor asked Seren in a rude tone, completely frustrated with the con-man.
"Doctor." Seren said with a sigh, shooting him a warning look.
"She was hanging from a barrage balloon, I had an invisible spaceship. I never stood a chance." Jack replied with a chuckle, shooting Seren a mega-watt smile.
"I still prefer zip-lining, but a barrage balloon is good if you're in a pinch." Seren chirped with a smile.
"Okay. One, we've got to get out of here." The Doctor said, turning their attention back to him. "Two, we can't get out of here. Have I missed anything?"
"Yeah. Jack just disappeared." Seren said faintly, pointing to the now empty wheelchair.
The Doctor whirled around and looked at the wheelchair, and sure enough it was empty, the con-man that had just been sitting there gone. The Doctor jumped off the table and sat in a chair as Seren looked around the tiny storeroom.
"Okay, so he's vanished into thin air. Why is it always the great looking ones who do that?" Seren asked wonderingly. Even though she didn't respond to his flirting and wasn't interested in him, she wasn't blind and had noticed that he was incredibly handsome.
"I'm making an effort not to be insulted." The Doctor said, looking at Seren as she leaned against his chair.
"I mean, men." Seren said, trying to be reassuring but failing.
"Okay, thanks. That really helped." He said sarcastically.
Before Seren could say anything else, he radio crackled to life.
"Star-Flower? Doctor?" They heard Jack's voice through the radio. "Can you hear me? I'm back on my ship." Seren straightened her posture as the Doctor stood up, going to the radio and turning it over as Jack continued to speak. "Used the emergency teleport. Sorry I couldn't take you." The Doctor found a wire, and tugging on it, he found that the end was frayed. The radio shouldn't be working. "It's security-keyed to my molecular structure."
"How are you speaking to us?" the Doctor asked.
"Om-Com. I can call anything with a speaker grill." Jack replied.
"Now there's a coincidence." The Doctor said, looking at the frayed wire. Seren raised an eyebrow at the Doctor.
"What is?"
"The Child can Om-Com, too." The Doctor replied. Seren raised her other eyebrow to meet the first.
"He can?" She asked in surprise.
"Anything with a speaker grill." The Doctor replied in confirmation. "Even the TARDIS phone."
"You mean he can phone us?" Seren asked incredulously.
"And I can hear you." Hearing the child's voice, they looked at the radio as he continued in a sing-song voice. "Coming to find you. Coming to find you."
"Doctor, can you hear that?" Jack asked.
"Loud and clear." The Doctor replied.
"I'll try to block out the signal. Least I can do." Jack told them.
"Coming to find you, mummy." The child said.
"Remember this one, Star-Flower?" Jack asked as Moonlight Serenade played through the radio.
"Our song." Seren explained and the Doctor nodded, smiling as he wrapped the frayed wire around his finger.
Seren noticed that the smile wasn't one that reached his eyes, rather one that was forced. She sighed, wondering what caused the change in the Time Lord as she brushed a few strands of hair from her face.
The Doctor turned away from his beautiful Companion and crossed the small room, hopping up onto the table with his screwdriver in hand. He heard Seren move around the small room behind him before settling on the wheelchair, turning herself in slow circles as she hummed softly along to the strains of Moonlight Serenade playing through the radio. He wondered what it was about Jack that seemed to draw Seren to him, if she cared about him and if that was the reason she trusted him.
"What are you doing?" Seren asked after making another slow turn in the wheelchair before stopping and facing his back, finally getting tired of just watching him work in silence. He was never silent when working, always talking and explaining about what he was doing, involving her in the process.
"Trying to set up a resonation pattern in the concrete, loosen the bars." He replied shortly, focusing on what he was doing, the buzzing sonic screwdriver pointed at the concrete right next to the barred window.
"You don't think he's coming back." She stated quietly, looking at his back.
"Wouldn't bet my life." The Doctor replied, not turning around.
"Why don't you trust him?" Seren asked in frustrated confusion.
"Why do you?"
"He saved my life!" Seren replied. "I fell from the barrage balloon over what was left of Westminster. I could feel the flames of the explosions getting hotter as I dropped." She sighed, rubbing her legs as she remembered the feeling of the heat and the flames. "I trust him because he's like you. Except with dating and dancing." The Doctor glanced at her before looking back at the wall, shaking his head. "What?"
"You just assume I'm…" he said, trailing off.
"What?" Seren asked, slightly taunting as a smirk crossed her face.
"You just assume that I don't… dance." The Doctor said in a slightly vulnerable tone, pausing for a moment before he said 'dance'.
"Are you telling me that you do… dance?" Seren asked, her smirk becoming a smile as the Doctor loosened up slightly.
"900 years old, me. I've been around a bit. I think you can assume at some point I've danced." The Doctor replied.
"You?!" Seren exclaimed teasingly, the smile becoming a grin as she looked at his back.
"Problem?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at her.
"And the Universe doesn't implode or anything, if you… danced?" Seren asked, giggling as he gave an exaggerated eye-roll.
"Well, I've got the moves but I wouldn't want to boast." The Doctor said off-handedly.
With the grin still firmly etched on her face, Seren stood up and raised the volume on the radio as Moonlight Serenade still played. She moved the wheelchair back slightly to leave some room in the middle. The Doctor looked around in confusion, completely wrong-footed as Seren walked slowly back to him, unknowingly with a flirtatious sway to her curved hips. His eyes widened ever so slightly at the beautiful woman approaching him and he turned back to the wall, resuming his task with a determined expression.
"You've got moves?" Seren said, raising her hand to him. "Show me your moves."
He looked back at her with an expression akin to a deer caught in the headlights.
"Seren, I'm trying to resonate concrete." He said weakly, trying to make an excuse.
"Jack will be back. He'll get us out." Seren said reassuringly, not lowering her hand. "So come on. The world doesn't end because the Doctor dances."
He snapped off the sonic screwdriver and tucked it into his jacket pocket, hopping off the table and walking towards Seren. He looked at her with an unexplainable expression on his face as he took her hands. He held them open, looking at the palms.
"Barrage balloon?" he asked.
"What?" Seren asked, taken aback by the sudden question and the intensity of the gaze he was looking at her with.
"You were hanging from a barrage balloon? Without any gloves?" he elaborated, turning her hands over and inspecting the smooth surfaces.
"Yeah." She replied, nodding. He looked at her as she explained what had happened, "Just as you went inside the nightclub, I noticed the child. I climbed what I thought was a secure rope but turned out to be a barrage balloon. Thousands of feet above London, in the middle of a German air-raid, wearing a miniskirt with a Union Jack all over my chest."
"I've traveled with a lot of people, but you're setting new records for jeopardy friendly." The Doctor told her before going back to inspecting her hands.
"Is this you dancing?" Seren asked. "Because you're terrible at it. I have notes if you want them."
"Hanging from a rope, thousands of feet above London." He said, showing her the smooth hands as he said, "No cuts, no bruises, no bandages from your med-kit. Not even your legs were you felt the heat of the flames as you fell."
"Well, my legs are because I wasn't close enough for the flames to actually touch me and Captain Jack fixed my hands." She replied, examining her hands. "Although, with the self-healing ability I gained after a made my Choice, my hands would have healed by now. The bandages would have just kept them from being infected."
She didn't notice the Doctor raising his eyebrow when Seren called Jack 'Captain'.
"Oh, we're calling him Captain Jack now, are we?" The Doctor asked snarkily.
"His name is Jack and he is a Captain." Seren replied, shrugging nonchalantly.
"He's not really a Captain, Seren." The Doctor said, smiling in an almost self-satisfied manner.
"You know what I think? I think you're experiencing Captain envy." Seren said to him. He half-nodded, not denying it. She smiled up at him radiantly, as he took her hands and wrapped one arm around her waist. They began to sway slightly along with the music. "You'll find your feet at the end of your legs. You may care to move them."
"If he ever was a Captain, he's been defrocked." The Doctor told her as they subconsciously moved closer, standing intimately close to each other.
"Really?" Seren asked with a smile. "Shame."
"Actually, I quit. Nobody takes my frock." They heard Jack's voice and jumped apart, completely startled by the sudden sound. Seren looked around and saw that they were on Jack's spaceship. "Most people notice when they've been teleported. You guys are so sweet." Jack said as he stood up from the Captain's chair. "Sorry about the delay. I had to take the nav-com offline to override the teleport security."
"You can spend ten minutes overriding your own protocols?" The Doctor asked in a slightly moody tone. "Maybe you should remember whose ship it is."
"Oh, I do." Jack breathed with a dreamy smirk. "She was gorgeous. Like I told her -" Seren rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Be back in 5 minutes." Jack ducked under the console and out of sight.
"This is a Chula ship." The Doctor commented, looking around.
"And the wires are still a mess and still dangerously low." Seren muttered as she ducked a mess of hanging wires as she moved back to sit on the bunk.
"Yeah, just like that medical transporter." Jack replied, not hearing Seren's comment about the mess. He stuck his head out from beneath the console as he looked at them. "Only this one is dangerous."
The Doctor snapped his fingers and the golden glow of the nanogenes as they surrounded his hands.
"They're the ones who healed my hands." Seren said, gesturing to the nanogenes and leaning toward him slightly. "Nanogenes."
"Sub-atomic robots." The Doctor confirmed, lowering his hand so that Seren could see from where she was sitting on the bunk. "There's millions of them in here, see? Burned my hand on the console when we landed. All better now. They activate when the bulk head's sealed. Check you out for damage, fix any physical flaws." He flicked his wrist and sent the nanogenes away and leaned against a pillar, turning to Jack. "Take us to the crash site. I need to see your space junk."
"As soon as I get the nav-com back online." Jack said, moving to sit back in the chair. "Make yourself comfortable. Carry on with whatever it was you were…" he gestured between the two of them. "…doing."
He raised his eyebrow suggestively, a wide smirk on his face.
"We were talking about dancing." The Doctor replied defensively, not liking the smirk that the con-man was looking at him with.
"It didn't look like talking." Jack said.
"It didn't feel like dancing." Seren added, leaning back against the hull with her legs stretched out in front of her.
The Doctor looked at Seren and pouted, moving to sit on the bunk next to her.
"Can I turn my mobile on?" Seren asked Jack, leaning forward and looking at him. "Or will it interfere with the instruments?"
"For now, you can." Jack replied, fiddling with several buttons and wires. "But remember to turn it off before we move."
Seren nodded and pulled her mobile out of her purse, leaning back against the Doctor.
"I want to call Siwan, see how she's doing." Seren said to the Doctor.
She saw him look at her and thought that he was curious about why she wanted her mobile on. She didn't realize that he was just watching her and taking in her beauty and innocence. The beauty and innocence she was completely oblivious to.
"Tell them I said 'hi'." He said, putting his arm around her so that they were sitting comfortably.
She nodded and dialled Siwan's mobile.
"Jones." A Welsh accented voice answered on the other end.
"Siwan? It's Seren." Seren said with a bright smile.
"Seren? Oh Duw. It's so good to hear your voice." Siwan exclaimed. Seren winced when she heard a crash in the background.
"What's going on?" Seren asked with a frown.
"Duncan and Adam are sparring. And Amanda's encouraging them." Siwan replied. Seren winced when she heard another crash. "Give me a second Seren."
Before Seren could reply, she heard Siwan yelling at Adam and Duncan. She winced and held the phone away from her ear as the loud voice sounded through the mobile and echoed through the spaceship.
"Who's Siwan yelling at?" the Doctor asked, recognizing the voice. "And why's she yelling?"
"Adam and Duncan are sparring." Seren replied with a wince, taking off her jacket and keeping it in her lap. "And if the crashes are anything to go by, then they're not in the dojo nor are they outside."
"Ah." The Doctor said with a slight wince, nodding. If Siwan's temper was anything like Seren's, or even Jackie's, then the two men were in for it, big time.
"Okay, I'm back." Siwan said, once again cheerful and happy. "The boys and Amanda are outside, drawing a crowd by the looks of it."
"Okay." Seren said slowly. "How are you?"
"I'm good." Siwan replied. "I miss you."
"I miss you guys too. How are Aunt Jackie and Rose?"
"They're good. Missing you."
"I miss them too." Seren replied, smiling wistfully.
"Where are you right now?" Siwan asked. "Or rather, when?"
"London, 1941, World War 2." Seren replied.
"Did you see a Germen air-raid?"
"Oh, yeah. I sure did." Seren replied laughing. "Anyway, how's things with you and Adam?"
"They're good." Siwan replied with a dreamy tone. "Really good."
"He still running away from danger?"
"Oh, yeah." Siwan replied with a laugh.
Seren laughed as well, Adam was known to run away from danger, but he was always there to protect Siwan when she was the one in danger. It was something about him that had endeared him to Seren, going against his desire to run to protect her sister from harm.
Jack caught her eye and silently motioned to her to wrap up the call. She nodded in understanding.
"Listen, I have to go. My mobile's interfering with the instruments. I love you." She said into the mobile.
"I love you. Be safe." Siwan replied, her worry echoing in her voice.
"I will. As much as possible." Seren promised, wanting to reassure her beloved sister but at the same time be realistic. "Bye."
"Bye."
With that, they ended the call and Seren turned off her mobile.
"If you used to be a Time Agent, why are you trying to con them?" Seren asked Jack curiously a few seconds later after putting her mobile back in her purse. She moved forward on the bunk so that her legs were hanging over the edge and she could see Jack as she spoke to him.
"If it makes me sound any better, it's not for the money." Jack said, sitting in the Captain's chair and pressing different buttons and switches on the console.
"Then for what?" Seren asked. "Someone you love?"
"No. Not for someone I love." Jack replied with a depreciating smile. "Actually, I woke up one day when I was still working for them, found they'd stolen two years of my memories. I'd like them back."
"They stole your memories?" Seren repeated in dismay, her voice filled with worry.
"Two years of my life." Jack said nodding. "No idea what I did. Your friend over there doesn't trust me, and for all I know… he's right not to." he spoke with a resigned tone, as if he had come to terms with not being trusted because of what he may or may not have done. There was a slight beeping sound and he looked at the console, calling out in a cheerful voice, "Okay, we're good to go. Crash site?"
The Doctor nodded and stood up, moving to stand behind Jack as he piloted them to the crash site. Seren stood as well and put her jacket back on, coming to stand beside the Doctor, on Jack's other side. Within a few minutes, he activated the camouflage and parked the ship. The trio got out and made their way through Limehouse Green rail-station, coming to a stop at the barbed wire that surrounded the bomb site near the rail-station.
"There it is." Jack said as they peaked through the wire, looking at the guards that were on duty. There was one that was pacing up and down in front of the guard house, while the other was standing at parade rest in the doorway. "Hey, they've got Algy on duty. It must be important."
Seren glanced at Jack, the way he said the guards name seemed as though he knew the guard quite well.
"We've got to get past him." The Doctor said quietly, resting his arms on a sealed barrel.
"Why do I get the feeling I'm not his type?" Seren asked Jack curiously.
"Because you're not." He replied, shrugging. "I've got to know him pretty well since I've been in town. I'll distract him."
Seren and the Doctor nodded and Jack walked away, turning back just before reaching the wire and calling with a smirk, "Don't wait up."
"How did you know?" the Doctor asked her quietly as they watched Jack cross the wire and make his way towards the bomb site, slowly and carefully.
"I noticed the way Jack said the guard's name." Seren replied. "It was with more than just camaraderie and respect for a fellow officer. It was spoken with the tone of someone who had gotten to know another person as more than just a comrade-in-arms." She looked at him curiously. "Why?"
"He's from the 51st Century." The Doctor stated, looking at her with an impressed look on her face.
She didn't notice as she had already turned to watch Jack's progress across the grounds.
"What does that mean?"
"He's a bit more flexible when it comes to dancing." The Doctor replied with a slight chuckle. "So many species, so little time."
Seren laughed lightly, shaking her head. The two turned back to see Jack climbing down an unused train and jumping on to the tracks.
He walked towards his friend, watching as the guard paced back and forth restlessly.
"Hey, tiger." Jack said with a wide grin, coming up behind the guard. "How's it hanging?"
Algy turned and looked at Jack, cocking his head to the side with a confused expression on his face.
"Mummy?" he asked.
"Algy, old sport, it's me." Jack said, the grin dimming slightly.
"Mummy?" Algy repeated.
"It's me, Jack." Jack replied, the grin fading completely.
"Jack?" Algy asked, cocking his head to the side. "Are you my mummy?"
Algy began to cough, as if something was forcing itself up his throat. The coughing turned to retching as Algy fell to his knees. Jack could only watch in horror as his friend's face slowly became a gas-mask.
Seren and the Doctor exchanged looks and ran forward.
"Stay back!" the Doctor yelled to the approaching guards.
Unfortunately, the warning was lost with the distance between them. However, Jack saw the guards approaching and held his hand out to stop them from coming closer.
"You men, stay away!" he ordered and the men stopped in their tracks.
Seren and the Doctor ran up to Jack and the prone guard.
"The effect's becoming airborne." The Doctor said, looking at the still form in front of them. "Accelerating."
"And is anything keeping us safe?" Seren asked with worry as the air-raid siren sounded once again.
"No. Nothing." The Doctor replied, shaking his head.
"Ah, here they come again." Jack said, looking up at the night sky as he registered the sound of the air-raid siren.
"Oh that's just what we need." Seren muttered in irritation. She frowned as she remembered something Jack had told her earlier. She whipped around to look at him, asking with wide eyes, "Didn't you say that a bomb was going to fall on your parked piece of space junk? As in here?"
"Never mind about that." The Doctor said as Jack nodded to Seren. "If the contaminant's airborne, there's hours left."
"Till what?" Jack asked, looking at the Time Lord.
"Till nothing, forever." The Doctor replied, looking at the con-man. "For the entire human race."
"Can anyone else hear singing?" Seren asked, a frown on her face as she cocked her head to the side.
"Rock-a-bye baby, on the tree tops." A young voice sang sweetly. "When the wind blows, the cradle will rock."
"It sounds like it's coming from that direction." Seren said, pointing towards the site headquarters – basically a shed.
"When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall. Down will come baby, cradle and all."
They three looked at each other and quickly raced to the shed. The Doctor opened the door and poked his head in, gesturing to the girl inside to keep singing.
"Rock-a-bye baby, on the tree tops. When the wind blows the cradle will rock."
He quietly snuck inside, taking his screwdriver out. Jack and Seren stood just inside the door to see a young woman handcuffed to the table. She kept singing as the Doctor bent over and freed her from the cuffs with the screwdriver.
Jack led them, the young woman included, to the actual bomb site. He flicked a switch, turning the large fluorescent lamps on and lighting the area with bright artificial light.
Seren and the young woman stood back slightly as the Doctor and Jack removed the tarpaulin covering the mauve-colored Chula medical transporter.
"You see? Just an ambulance." Jack said once the tarpaulin was completely removed.
"That's an ambulance?" the young woman asked Seren in a confused whisper.
"It's hard to explain." Seren said gently, taking the young woman's hand and squeezing it gently. "It's from another world."
The young woman looked at Seren with a raised eyebrow, disbelief written all over her face. Jack reached over and looked at the access code pad.
"They've been trying to get in." he commented, seeing the results of the soldiers' failed attempts.
"Of course they have." The Doctor replied as Jack began entering a series of numbers into the pad. "They think they've got their hands on Hitler's latest secret weapon. What're you doing?"
Seren walked up to the med-ship, standing opposite the two men as the young woman stayed where she was.
"The sooner you see this thing is empty, the sooner you'll know I had nothing to do with it." Jack explained, entering the last of the code.
There was a bang and a shower of sparks from the keypad. Seren, Jack and the Doctor jumped back as the sparks went up in front of their faces, the young woman catching Seren as she stumbled slightly. An alarm began sounding from the ship as a red light flashed from the keypad.
"Didn't happen last time." Jack growled when the Doctor gave the con-man a pointed look.
"It hadn't crashed last time." The Doctor reminded him. "They're the emergency protocols." Jack climbed onto the med-ship, straddling it with one leg on either side of the cylindrical panels.
"Doctor, what is that?" Seren asked, cautiously going up to the med-ship and pointing at the flashing red light on the control panel. Before the Doctor could reply, they noticed the gates and the doors being battered against. "Doctor!"
"Captain, secure those gates!" The Doctor yelled.
"Why?"
"Just do it!" the Doctor yelled over his shoulder. Jack nodded and jumped off the ship as the Time Lord turned to the young woman, "Nancy, how'd you get in here?"
"I cut the wire." Nancy replied.
"Show Seren." The Doctor said, tossing the Chosen One his screwdriver. "Setting 2428D."
"What does it do?" Seren asked frantically.
"Reattaches barbed wire. Go!" The Doctor replied as he climbed onto the med-ship, taking Jack's previous position.
Seren nodded and the two women turned, running to the fence. Jack slammed the gates shut just as Nancy and Seren reached the fence.
"Over here." Nancy said, pointing to a gap in the fence that was cordoned off with the barbed wire.
Seren set the screwdriver to the correct setting and aimed it at the wire while Nancy held the severed ends as close together as she possibly could. The screwdriver buzzed softly as the two ends fused together before moving to the severed line above it.
"Who are you?" Nancy asked curiously as Seren worked on fusing the second line together. "Who are any of you?"
"Honestly, you would have a hard time believing me if I told you." Seren replied, not looking away from the task in front of her.
"You just told me that was an ambulance from another world." Nancy pointed out as the wire fused together and they moved to the next one. "There are people running around with gas mask heads calling for their mummies, and the sky's full of Germans dropping bombs on me." She paused for a moment, looking at the strangely clad Welshwoman in front of her. "Tell me, do you think there's anything left I couldn't believe?"
"Good point." Seren said and looked at the young woman for a long moment. The young woman, no older than late-teens and early twenties, could no longer be called a child with what she had been through since the War began, and the responsibility she had taken on regarding the homeless children of London. "We're time travelers. We came from the future."
"Mad, you are." Nancy muttered, shaking her head.
"Seriously. We have a time travel machine and everything." Seren said.
"It's not that." Nancy said quietly, looking at the barbed wire they were working on for a moment before looking back at the Welshwoman. "All right, you've got a time travel machine. I believe you. Believe anything, me." She looked up at the sky, towards the sound of the bombs dropping in the distance. With a hopeless expression on her face, she asked sadly, "But what future?"
Seren followed her gaze and looked at the sky as well. She looked back at Nancy.
"Nancy, this isn't the end." Seren said reassuringly, putting a hand on the young woman's shoulder. "I know it looks that way, but believe me, it isn't the end."
"How can you know?" Nancy asked, turning back to look at Seren. "Look at it."
"Listen to me." Seren said gently and firmly. "My god-sister was born in this city. I was born in Cardiff. I'm from Britain, in about 50 years or so."
"From here?" Nancy asked disbelievingly.
"From Cardiff. From your future." Seren said, nodding with a small smile on her face.
"But…" Nancy started, shaking her head. "But you're not…"
"Not what?" Seren asked gently.
"German." Nancy said quietly.
"Nancy, the German's don't win the war." Seren said reassuringly. "I can't tell you much more than that, but they don't win."
"They don't win?" Nancy asked, hope on her face. "Who does?"
"I can't tell you, but hold onto hope." Seren replied. "You can't tell anyone what you learned here, but I promise you, the German's don't win the war."
Nancy smiled widely as they fused the last line of barbed wire.
"Okay, done." Seren said, turning the screwdriver off and tucking it in her purse. "Come on!"
The two women ran back to the site, reaching the med-ship just as Jack got the hatch open.
"It's empty." Jack said, stepping back and gesturing to the empty cylinder. "Look at it."
"What do you expect in a Chula medical transporter?" the Doctor asked with his arms crossed over his chest. "Bandages? Cough drops? Seren?"
"I don't…" Seren started to say, her brows furrowed in confusion before she stopped. She replayed what had happened with her injuries earlier that night, on Jack's spaceship that was an actual Chula warship, her hands being healed down to the hypodermis layer. The confusion cleared as she exclaimed, "Nanogenes!"
"It wasn't empty, Captain." The Doctor told Jack, paled as he started to realize that he was wrong. "There was enough nanogenes in there to rebuild a species."
"Oh, God." Jack groaned, looking shaken and his face ashen.
"Getting it now, are we?" the Doctor asked him. Jack looked to the ground in shame. "When the ship crashes, the nanogenes escape. Billions upon billions of them, ready to fix all the cuts and bruises in the whole world. But what they find first is a dead child, probably killed earlier that night, and wearing a gas-mask."
"And they brought the child back to life." Seren said softly.
"What's life? Life's easy. A quirk of matter. Nature's way of keeping meat fresh. Nothing to a nanogene." The Doctor commented, shrugging lightly. "One problem, though. These nanogenes, they're not like the ones on your ship." Jack looked up at the Doctor as the three listened intently. "This lot have never seen a human being before. Don't know what a human being's supposed to look like. All they've got to go on is one little body, and there's not a lot left. But they carry right on. They do what they're programmed to do. They patch it up. Can't tell what's gas mask and what's skull, but they do their best. Then off they fly, off they go, work to be done. Because, you see, now they think they know what people should look like, and it's time to fix all the rest. And they won't ever stop. They won't ever, ever stop. The entire human race is going to be torn down and rebuilt in the form of one terrified child looking for its mother, and nothing in the world can stop it!"
By the time the Doctor finished talking, his voice was raised almost to a shout. Jack had gotten progressively paler and shaken as the explanation progressed, and by the time it ended, he looked absolutely sick with guilt.
"I didn't know." He said defiantly, but the guilt at what he had caused was clear across his face.
The Doctor pinned him a glare that could freeze fire, staring at the con-man for several seconds, before turning to the med-ship. He began examining it, taking the screwdriver that Seren silently handed back to him. She watched silently as he worked, not knowing what to say. Nancy turned and looked off into the distance, staring beyond the fence.
"Seren?" Nancy called, scared.
It was the fear in the voice rather than the call itself that drew Seren's attention. She turned and followed Nancy's gaze as she ran up the younger woman.
Seren swore colourfully in Welsh. The gas-mask patients had arrived, chanting, 'Mummy'. They stumbled over the rail tracks, heading towards the small group of four around the Chula med-ship. She ran back to the transporter and looked at the flashing light on the access panel.
"The transporter is calling them here, isn't it?" Seren asked the Doctor quietly.
"It thinks it's under attack." The Doctor said, nodding and not looking away from his task. "It's calling up the troops."
"Which is standard protocol for any vessel." Seren said. "So, why would it be different if the vessel just happens to be from another planet?" she muttered to herself as she looked back at the approaching patients before turning back to the Doctor. "But most of them aren't soldiers."
"They are now." The Doctor said. "This is a battle-field ambulance. The nanogenes don't just fix you up, they get you ready for the front line. Equip you, programme you."
"And that's why the Child is so strong." Seren commented in understanding. "Why it essentially has the powers of a God."
"It's a fully equipped Chula warrior, yes." The Doctor said, standing up and turning to look at the advancing patients. "All that weapons tech in the hands of a hysterical four year old looking for his mummy. And now there's an army of them."
The patients reached the barbed wire and surrounded them. The barbed wire between the patients and the four people standing by the medical transporter.
"Why don't they attack?" Jack asked, the four of them looking at the patients nervously. Surely the fence wouldn't do anything to stop them, not when a wall didn't stop the Child.
"Good little soldiers, waiting for their commander." The Doctor replied.
"The Child?" Jack asked quietly.
"Jamie." Nancy said softly, looking at the Captain.
"What?" Jack asked, looking at the young woman.
"Not the child. Jamie." Nancy said.
"How long until the bomb falls?" Seren asked.
"Any second." Jack replied.
"What's the matter, Captain? A bit close to the volcano for you?" The Doctor asked mockingly.
"He's just a little boy." Nancy whispered softly.
"I know." Seren said quietly, taking the younger woman's hand in her own and squeezing it gently.
"He's just a little boy who wants his mummy."
"I know." Seren repeated softly. "There isn't a little boy born who wouldn't tear the world apart to save his Mam. And this little boy can."
Tears welled in Nancy's eyes as she fought to keep them at bay. Seren put her arms around her, pulling her into a hug as the Doctor turned to them.
"It's my fault." Nancy sobbed into Seren's shoulder, her voice breaking slightly.
"No." The Doctor told her firmly, shaking his head.
"It is. It's all my fault." Nancy insisted, sobbing.
Seren's eyes widened as she realized what Nancy wasn't saying.
"How can it be your -" the Doctor started to say gently before cutting himself off. He looked up at the fence that held back the gas-mask patients.
"Mummy. Mummy. Mummy. Mummy." The chanted in unison.
He whipped his head back around to look at Nancy, recognition dawning on his face as he took in the sight of the uncontrollably sobbing young woman.
"Nancy, what age are you?" he asked her. Nancy looked up from Seren's shoulder and stepped away from the Welshwoman, turning to look at the Time Lord. "20? 21? Older than you look, yes?"
A bomb dropped nearby, the explosion's aftershocks reaching them.
"Doctor, that bomb." Jack said. "We've got seconds."
"Jack, you can teleport us out." Seren said, turning tot eh con-man when the Doctor didn't respond.
"Not you guys.' He said regretfully. "The nav-com's back online."
"And last time it took you ten minutes to override the protocols." Seren said with a sigh, nodding.
"So it's Volcano Day." The Doctor said without looking away from Nancy, who was struggling to get her sobs under control. "Do what you've got to do."
"Jack?" Seren asked, looking up at him with wide eyes.
He looked at her apologetically, shame written all over his face as he held up his remote and teleported himself away from the bomb site. Seren bit her lip and turned to look at the Doctor.
"How old were you 5 years ago?" the Doctor asked her softly. "15? 16? Old enough to give birth anyway." Nancy gave up trying to control her sobs as a fresh wave of tears cascaded down her cheeks. She looked up at the Doctor for a moment before looking away shamefully. "He's not your brother, is he?" Nancy shook her head, sniffing. "A teenage single mother in 1941. So you hid. You lied. You even lied to him."
Nancy nodded tearfully as the gates swung open, revealing the Child, Jamie, standing there. Behind him were all the people that had been changed by the Chula nanogenes.
"Are you my mummy?" Jamie asked.
"He's going to keep asking Nancy." Seren said softly, causing the younger woman to look at her. "He's never going to stop."
"Mummy?" Jamie asked, walking forward, coming towards them.
"Tell him." Seren said, putting her hands on the taller woman's shoulders. The gas-masked patients followed Jamie, coming closer towards them. "Nancy, the future of the human race is in your hands. Trust us… and tell him."
Nancy looked at the two of them tearfully, sniffing.
"Are you my mummy?" Jamie asked, approaching them. Seren turned Nancy around, and gently pushed her forward in Jamie's direction. "Are you my mummy? Are you my mummy?"
"Yes." Nancy whispered, nodding. Her voice became stronger as she said, "Yes, I am your mummy."
"Mummy?" Jamie asked as a bomb dropped a short distance away.
"I'm here." Nancy said tearfully.
"Are you my mummy?" Jamie asked again.
"I'm here." Nancy said, kneeling in front of him.
"Are you my mummy?"
"Yes." She whispered.
"Are you my mummy?"
"He doesn't understand. There's not enough of him left." The Doctor whispered to Seren.
Seren glanced up at him before looking back at Nancy and Jamie.
"Wait for it." She whispered in response, taking the Doctor's hand in her own and holding tightly. "There's enough left."
"I am your mummy. I will always be your mummy." Nancy said and put her arms around Jamie, drawing the little boy into a hug. "I'm so sorry. I am so, so sorry."
As soon as Jamie put his arms around Nancy to return he hug, a cloud of golden nanogenes surrounded them.
"I told you, Doctor." Seren said with a smile as the nanogenes swirled around the mother-son pair, making them glow with a magnificent golden light. "All he needed was a mother's hug."
"Come on, please. Come on, you clever little nanogenes." The Doctor pleaded. "Figure it out! The mother, she's the mother. It's got to be enough information. Figure it out."
The nanogenes swirled around the pair, buzzing as they recognized the parent DNA.
"They're recognizing the same DNA!" Seren exclaimed gleefully, letting go of the Doctor's hand and clapping happily.
Nancy fell back, away from Jamie as the nanogenes swirled away from them. Seren and the Doctor ran over to them. Seren helped Nancy back to her feet as the Doctor stared at Jamie.
"Oh, come on. Give me a day like this. Give me this one." The Doctor prayed softly as he reached out to Jamie with a shaky hand and removed the boy's gas mask.
Nancy let out a relieved laugh as a perfectly ordinary and very sweet blue-eyed little boy was revealed. Seren stared in delighted wonder as the Doctor laughed ecstatically. He reached out and lifted the boy up and into the air, swinging him around. The boy let out a delighted laugh.
"Ha-ha! Welcome back! Twenty years till pop music - you're going to love it." The Doctor exclaimed, hugging Jamie.
"What happened?" Nancy asked, confused despite her joy.
"The nanogenes recognized the superior information, the parent DNA. They didn't change you because you changed them! Ha-ha!" the Doctor replied delightedly, gently putting the boy down in front of Nancy.
"Mother knows best!" Seren commented, a radiant smile on her face.
"Oh, Jamie." Nancy exclaimed, tears of happiness streaming down her cheeks as she looked at her son. She brought the little boy into her arms, holding him tightly.
Seren looked away from the touching scene when she heard the sound of a bomb dropping nearby.
"Doctor, the bomb." She said worriedly.
"Taken care of it." The Doctor replied, looking at her.
"How?" Seren asked in confusion.
"Psychology." He said with a manic grin, gesturing to Nancy and Jamie in front of him.
Seren looked up as the hurtled towards them, getting caught in a blue stream of light just moments before impacting them. Inside the light stream, Jack straddled the bomb with one leg on either side of it as he held onto the protruding panels.
"Doctor!" he called sown to them.
"Good lad!" The Doctor exclaimed with a grin.
"The bomb's already commenced detonation. I've put it in stasis but it won't last long." Jack told them loudly, shaking his head in emphasis.
"Change of plan. Don't need the bomb." The Doctor told him. "Can you get rid of it, safely as you can?"
"Star-Flower?" Jack called down to her, nodding to the Doctor in understanding.
"Yes?" Seren asked, looking up into the light stream.
"Goodbye." He said before teleporting away. He reappeared a second later, calling down to the beautiful Welshwoman, "By the way, love the tank top. And the skirt."
Seren smiled as he winked at her and disappeared once more. The ship sucked in the light stream and flew off as Seren watched it go. Once it was out of sight, she turned to look at the Doctor as he walked a few paces away, looking intently at his hands.
"What are you doing?" Seren asked curiously as he summoned some of the nanogenes to himself. They swirled around his hands, glowing a bright gold.
"Software patch." He replied, looking at his glowing hands. "Gonna email the upgrade." He looked at her, a wide smile on his face. "You want moves, Seren? I'll give you moves." He turned towards the patients who were still waiting by the rail tracks, throwing the nanogenes towards them. The patients fell to the ground as the nanogenes surrounded them, repairing what had been done. As he watched the nanogenes work, he cheered ecstatically, "Everybody lives, Seren. Just this once. Everybody lives!" Seren looked on in amazement as the patients slowly stood up, the gas masks nowhere in sight. The Doctor bounded forward to an elderly man wearing a doctor's coat. "Doctor Constantine, who never left his patients. Back on your feet, constant doctor! World doesn't wanna get by without you just yet, and I don't blame it one bit." Doctor Constantine looked confused as the Doctor continued talking, gesturing to the people around him. "These are your patients. All better, now!"
"Yes, yes, so it seems." Doctor Constantine said faintly, looking around at his surroundings. "They also seem to be standing around in a disused railway station. Is there any particular reason for that?"
"Yeah, well, you know, cutbacks." The Doctor replied with a slight shrug and Constantine nodded, a disbelieving expression on his face. The Doctor's expression became slightly more serious as he leaned in to the elderly doctor and spoke quietly, "Listen, whatever was wrong with them in the past, you're probably going to find that they're cured. Just tell them what a great doctor you are. Don't make a big thing of it. Okay?"
Constantine could only stare as the Doctor ran off towards Seren. An elderly patient hobbled up to the old man, calling out to him, turning his attention to her.
"Right, you lot!" the Doctor called out, climbing onto the med-ship as he drew the former gas-masked patients' attentions towards him as he continued, "Lots to do. Beat the Germans, save the world. Don't forget the Welfare State!" Constantine smiled as he and the patients walked away. The Doctor climbed off the med-ship and said quietly to Seren, "Setting this to self-destruct, soon as everybody's clear. History says there was an explosion here. Who am I to argue with history?"
"You're usually the first in line." Seren told him, causing him to grin manically at her.
She smiled back at him, though it didn't entirely reach her eyes. Something was nagging her, the way Jack had said good bye, the sadness that seemed to seep from him. There was also something else, a faint memory of a promise she made long ago and a long time from now.
The Doctor set the self-destruct and walked away from the bomb. He held his arm out to her and she grabbed hold of it with both hands, holding onto him tightly. They walked back to the TARDIS, the Doctor talking happily the entire way as Seren listened quietly.
"The nanogenes will clean up the mess and switch themselves off, because I just told them to. Nancy and Jamie will go to Doctor Constantine for help, ditto. All in all, all things considered, fantastic!" he said, grinning happily as they entered the TARDIS and let go of each other, the Doctor walking up to the console.
Seren took off her jacket and purse, sitting up on the coral by the stairs as he turned around and grinned at her.
"Look at you, grinning away like your Father Christmas." Seren said softly, trying to be as ecstatic as he was but failing. The feeling that she was supposed to do something, something important, nagged at her.
"When you meet him again, he will be in his true form and he doesn't make the best of impressions on either of you." Unbidden, the memory of what Pharaoh Djet had said on Platform One filtered through her mind; when she had asked why the Face of Boe wanted her to promise to save him when the time came.
"Who says I'm not, set-of-gymnastic-leotards-when-you-were-8?" he asked, looking at her.
Seren jerked her head up, startled out of her memory, and looked at him in shock.
"What?!"
"And everybody lives, Seren! Everybody lives!" he exclaimed happily, a wide smile on his face as he spread his arms. "I need more days like this." He walked around the console, pinging one of the switches.
Seren could feel Idris hum questioningly at the back of her mind, the sentient ship wondering what was bothering her sweet Star, what promise she had made.
Seren bit her lip uncertainly and stood up from the coral.
"Doctor?" she asked, steeling her resolve.
"Go on, ask me anything." He said happily as he worked around the console. "I'm on fire."
"What about Jack?" Seren asked, causing the Doctor to look at her, his smile fading. "Why'd he say goodbye the way he did?" He continued working, flicking switches on the console as he stayed silent. She walked forwards, coming to a stop next to him. "Doctor, why did Jack say good-bye?" He didn't reply, instead staring intently at the console. She reached out and physically turned him around to look at her. "Doctor? Why?"
He looked into her large orbs, shining with worry and fear, not for herself but for a man she had only just met.
"The bomb is going to explode on his ship." He said finally, his voice quiet. "With him on it."
Seren sucked in a shocked breath, gasping as she stumbled back slightly. Her large eyes filled with tears as she stared at him. Unable to look into those expressive purple eyes, the Doctor looked away, a pang shooting through his hearts.
"We have to save him." She said, brushing away the tears that fell down her cheeks and looking at him with fierce determination.
"Why?" the Doctor asked, looking at her and frowning. "Why should I? After everything he's done?"
"What do you mean 'why'?" Seren asked, taken aback. "What about how he helped save us from a bomb that was about to kill us?!"
"Or is it because you have feelings for him?" he asked back, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at her.
"Huh?" Seren asked, staring at him completely confused. "What are you talking about? I don't have feelings for Jack!" he looked at her disbelievingly. "I don't! And it has nothing to do with that." She sighed and said softly, "If everyone lives, that includes Jack."
The Doctor's glare faded and he stared at her in astonishment as she looked up at him with determined amethyst orbs. He turned back to the console and flipped a few switches and turned on the radio.
Seren looked at him in confusion as the strains of 'Moonlight Serenade' began to play.
"Doctor?" Seren asked softly, her confusion echoing in her voice.
He turned around and moved closer to her, taking her hands in his.
"Teach me how to dance?" he asked, looking at her with a gentle smile, a look in his eyes that she recognized but was afraid of naming.
"Jack?" she asked softly.
He nodded to the direction of the doors and, still in his arms, she looked. A smile began to grow across her Cupid Bow lips, lighting up her eyes. There, looking completely confused and startled, was Jack seated in the Captain's chair of his ship.
"Well, hurry up!" Seren yelled to him as she and the Doctor moved in sync with each other. She looked back at the Time Lord as they moved around the console room in a waltz to 'Moonlight Serenade'. "Okay, and right, and turn…" the Doctor spun her around but ended up twisting her arm behind her back. He carefully let go of her and she straightened her arm, rubbing her shoulder slightly. "Okay, let's try that again, but this time please don't twist my arm."
"I'm sure I used to know this stuff." He said, looking at her sheepishly.
"It's okay, you'll get it in time." She said reassuringly, smiling up at him.
He turned to Jack, who was looking around Idris with wonder and amazement written all over his face.
"Close the door, will you?" he told the dazed ex-con-man. "Your ship's about to blow up. There's going to be a draught."
Jack nodded numbly and shut the door, leaning against them as the Doctor started up the engines. Seren smiled radiantly up at Jack and leaned against the coral pillar she had been sitting on a short while earlier.
"Welcome to the TARDIS." Seren said to the shell-shocked Captain.
"Much bigger on the inside…" Jack breathed, trailing off in awe.
"You'd better be." The Doctor muttered.
"What he's trying, and failing, to say is…" Seren said as she walked over to Jack. "You may cut in."
Jack and Seren grinned at each other as he took her hand.
"Seren! I've just remembered!" the Doctor exclaimed, making Seren turn around to look at him startled.
"What?" she asked.
The Doctor pressed a button on the console and 'In The Mood' played through the speakers. Several lights flashed along the walls all around them as the Doctor moved towards Seren in time to the music, clicking his fingers.
"I can dance!" he said excitedly. "I can dance!"
"I can see that." Seren said with a laugh. "But I was thinking that maybe Jack might like this dance." She motioned to the Captain, whose hand she was still holding.
"I'm sure he would, Seren. I'm absolutely certain." The Doctor said, nodding his head as he continued moving in time to the music and clinking his fingers. "But who with?"
Seren sniggered a little as Jack cleared his throat. Seren walked up to the Doctor and took his hands, the Time Lord leading her in time to the music. Seren let out a delighted laugh as the Doctor spun her around perfectly, leading them around the console. The Doctor spun her around again before swinging her around in the opposite direction.
Jack crossed his arms and smiled, watching as the two danced around the console, perfectly in sync with one another, perfect partners.
Suddenly, a wide grin on his face, the Doctor dipped Seren backwards and she let out a delighted whoop. She pulled herself up and leaned against his shoulder, giggling happily.