"My faithful companion."
Lady Eddison wailed even as the whole group gathered in the drawing room as per the Doctor's orders, following the death of Mrs. Chandrakala. Lady Eddison seemed to be taking it especially hard as she collapsed almost instantly into an armchair, sniffling into her handkerchief. The Doctor watched the display with keen eyes from where he and Terry remained in the doorway while everyone else including Agatha and Donna found a seat.
"This is terrible."
"Excuse me, my lady," Davenport interjected softly from where he had rolled the Colonel in next to Lady Eddison's seat. "But she was on her way to tell you something."
"She never found me." Lady Eddison sniffed while her son comforted her from his seat beside his mother. "She had an appointment with death instead."
"She said, 'the poor little child'." The Doctor piped up suddenly, drawing everyone's attention. "Does that mean anything to anyone?"
The Doctor looked around the room as he spoke, his eyes clocking everyone's reactions as everyone stared back at him. Terry folded her arms and leant against the doorway when Colonel Curbishley spoke up.
"No children in this house for years." The Colonel's eyes darted briefly to his son, so quickly it would have been missed if the Doctor hadn't been watching him intently. "Highly unlikely there will be."
Terry watched Roger look away, as though in shame, while Lady Eddison turned to Agatha beseechingly.
"Mrs. Christie, you must have twigged something. You've written simply the best detective stories."
Agatha looked faintly startled as all attention quickly turned to her, attention that only grew more intense when Reverend Golightly chimed in, "Tell us: what would Poirot do?"
The Doctor saw Terry tense but his attention was diverted when the Colonel added impatiently, "Heavens sake. Cards on the table, woman. You should be helping us."
Now looking thoroughly unnerved, Agatha objected, "But… I'm merely a writer."
"But surely you can crack it." Miss Redmond interjected. "These events, they're exactly like one of your plots."
"That's what I've been saying." Donna agreed with a nod. "Agatha, that's got to mean something."
"Not helping, Donna." Terry observed softly.
Donna looked over before she was startled as Agatha protested, "But what? I've no answers. None. I'm sorry, all of you. I'm truly sorry, but I've failed. If anyone can help us, then it's the Doctor, not me."
The blonde averted her gaze despondently. The rest of the room meanwhile turned as one to look at the Doctor. He blinked, startled by the attention, before he cleared his throat.
"How about we take five?"
Terry stared out the window into the garden. It was a lovely garden really; not that she saw any of it. Instead, her mind was off to where Donna would have found Agatha by now. The poor woman's own recent marital troubles were clearly affecting her and her confidence couldn't have been helped by the unknown waters she thought she was swimming in with the Vespiform. If only Agatha knew just how familiar the waters really were… but then again, that was what the Doctor and Donna were for.
"What are you thinking about?"
Terry glanced back at the Doctor, who was watching her from beside the fireplace.
"Nothing."
Terry shrugged but the Doctor wasn't fooled. Straightening up, he walked over to Terry and stared down at her seriously
"You quoted from the Hunger Games series." He said suddenly and making Terry frown, puzzled. "You said at the start of all of this, 'Let the games begin'. That's from the Hunger Games."
Realizing what he was talking about, Terry avoided the Doctor's probing gaze.
"Plenty of people say that phrase." She answered evasively.
"But you meant it from the Hunger Games."
Terry looked back up at the Doctor to find him watching her closely, his dark eyes searching.
"Don't try to lie, I know you too well for you to succeed. Whether intentionally or not, you linked what was to come - our current situation - to the Hunger Games." He titled his head expectantly. "So, why did you quote the Hunger Games?"
For a moment, the pair just stood in a silent staring match. Terry refused to talk but the Doctor was a patient man when he wanted to be. Finally, he won out.
"You already know why." Terry told him. The Doctor nodded slowly just as Donna shouted for them from outside.
"I guess I do." He agreed.
The detective quartet gathered around the sitting room table, peering down at the small case that Agatha had discovered in the bushes. Agatha and Donna especially were curious while Terry remained slightly further back as the Doctor opened the case so they could see inside it.
"Oooh." The Doctor whistled as they saw the professional lock-picks inside the case. "Someone came here tooled up. The sort of stuff a thief would use."
Agatha's eyes suddenly widened and she gasped, "The Unicorn. He's here."
"The Unicorn and the wasp." The Doctor agreed musingly.
The door to the room opened and the Doctor looked over as Greeves entered the room with a tray of glasses.
"Your drinks, ladies. Doctor."
"Very good, Greeves."
The Doctor grinned as he took his glass while Greeves set down the rest of the drinks for the ladies. Greeves nodded and left as the quartet settled into their own seats to drink and think about the latest development in their case. Although not before Terry took the Doctor's drink from him. He eyed her strangely but she just shrugged as she placed his glass down on the table beside her before she took a sip of her own Gimlet.
"How about the science stuff?" Donna questioned as she sipped her drink. "What did you find?"
Terry frowned slightly as she lowered her drink while the Doctor whipped out his vial with the Vespiform specimen and explained, "Vespiform sting. Vespiforms have got hives in the Silfrax galaxy."
"Again, you talk like Edward Lear." Agatha shook her head before she jumped as the Doctor suddenly turned to the author.
"But for some reason, this one's behaving like a character in one of your books."
Agatha opened her mouth but no words came out. Donna nudged the blonde encouragingly.
"Come on, Agatha. What would Miss Marple do? She'd have overheard something vital by now, because the murderer thinks she's just a harmless old lady."
Agatha cocked a brow. "Clever idea. Miss Marple? Who writes those?"
Donna's mouth dropped into a silent 'o'.
"Er… copyright Donna Noble." Donna smiled. "Add it to the list."
"Donna." The Doctor warned severely.
"Okay, we could split the copyright." Donna sighed, and the Doctor shook his head.
"Donna-"
"Doctor."
The other three in the room turned to Terry, the Doctor looking a little puzzled by the strange note in Terry's voice.
"What? You're not saying you support Donna's campaign to be included in the copyright-"
"No. It's not that." Terry let out a dangerously shallow breath. "I think… actually, I'm fairly certain I've been poisoned."
"What?!"
All three heads whipped instantly over to the Time Lady. Terry didn't hear the other three's shocked cries, however, as a body-convulsing pain overcame her. With a scream, Terry fell out of her chair.
"Argh!"
The Doctor lunged forward to bend over Terry as she curled in on herself as though her stomach was cramping. Donna was right behind the Time Lord while Agatha hurried to pick up Terry's glass. The blonde sniffed at the drink while the Doctor tapped Terry's face urgently. The brunette was turning an alarming shade of white by this point; against her dark hair and the black accessories she wore, she almost looked like a ghost.
"What's wrong with her? Is she really poisoned?" Donna asked frantically as she tried to peer over the Doctor's shoulder.
"Something's inhibiting her enzymes all right. She didn't realize it earlier because she's never experienced something like this before." The Doctor muttered distractedly as he tried to get Terry to breathe through her heaving. "Angel, come on, breathe."
"Of course she wouldn't have experienced something like this before." Agatha announced. She held up the drink Terry had been sipping. "This is bitter almonds. It's cyanide - sparkling cyanide."
Donna's eyes widened while Agatha continued grimly, "Doctor, I'm afraid she's-"
The Doctor wasn't listening however. The moment he realized Agatha was right, he scooped Terry up into his arms and he was running as fast as he could out the door.
"Doctor!" Agatha cried while Donna demanded as she ran after the Time Lord, "What do we do?"
"We save her!" The Doctor answered as though it was obvious. Donna had no idea why it would be, especially as Terry was now sweating profusely, but she had no time to ask as the Doctor burst into the kitchen.
"Ginger beer!" The Doctor bellowed as he set Terry on the large kitchen counter, ignoring the fact that he had effectively ruined the evening meal as he shoved pastry dough and herbs aside to clear space for her.
"I beg your pardon?" Davenport asked, startled by the interruption.
"I need ginger beer!" The Doctor shouted as he started rummaging around the kitchen counters, searching for everything he needed.
Terry meanwhile had collapsed on her side the moment the Doctor released her, shaking with the effort to keep from screaming like she wanted to. Donna hurried to check on her friend while the cook shook her head.
"The gentleman's gone mad!"
It certainly seemed that way to Donna as well as she watched the Doctor find his ginger beer. He hurriedly popped the bottle open and Donna finally lost her patience.
"Is this the time for that, Doctor?!" She demanded before she was distracted as Terry patted her hand.
"Don't… worry…" Terry wheezed just as the Doctor ran back toward them and shoved the ginger beer into Terry's hands.
"Drink!"
Terry chugged the drink, bewildering Donna.
Agatha meanwhile joined them as well and she tried to placate the Doctor, thinking the man had lost his sanity at the poisoning of his lover.
"I'm an expert in poisons. Doctor, there's no cure."
As the Doctor ran about the kitchen again, searching high and low for something, Agatha added more emphatically, "It's fatal."
"Not for us. Terry and I can stimulate the inhibited enzymes into reversal but she needs protein, I need protein!"
He threw a bag of flour out of the way before he spotted a bag of walnuts. The Doctor lunged for them while Donna called out, "Well, okay, if you're able to create an antidote, tell us what you need and we can help you."
Terry dropped the empty ginger beer bottle and opened her mouth to answer - only to be silenced when the Doctor poured the bag of walnuts into her open mouth.
"Doctor!" Agatha cried, alarmed, while Terry started chewing on the walnuts before she could start choking.
"I need this!" The Doctor shouted between stuffing Terry's mouth with walnuts, ignoring Agatha and miming shaking something. His eyes continued to stare around the kitchen frantically while Donna piped up from beside the Time Lords.
"What is that? Shake? Milk shake? Milk?"
"What?" The Doctor stopped to stare at Donna. "No, how is this milk?"
"Well, you were shaking, it was either that or a Harvey Wallbanger!" Donna snapped back. The Doctor's incredulity only increased.
"How do you get Harvey Wallbanger from shake?!"
"Well, I don't know, maybe you were miming a cocktail shaker!"
"DOCTOR!" Terry yelled as she finally chewed through the walnuts he'd finally stopped stuffing into her mouth when he got distracted by Donna.
"Right." The Doctor apologized before explaining for Donna, "Salt, I was miming salt. It's salt. I need something salty for angel."
Donna and Agatha instantly started looking around. Donna grabbed a nearby bag.
"What about this?" She held up said bag.
"What is it?"
The Doctor tried to peer at the bag before he banged his head on his fist when Donna answered as though it were obvious, "Salt."
"No, too salty." The Doctor dismissed and Donna rolled her eyes.
"Oh, that's too salty." She grumbled just as Agatha dashed over, carrying a jar.
"What about this?"
"What's that?" Donna exclaimed, eyeing the murky liquid inside the dark jar like it was poison.
"Anchovies-" Agatha started.
She never finished as Terry lunged for the jar. She started stuffing the anchovies in her mouth as the pain slowly started to ebb enough for her to at least focus on something other than her organs that had been on the verge of shutting down. The Doctor meanwhile started looking around again anxiously.
"Right, now I need something to give her a shock." He muttered. Donna heard him and she started thinking aloud as well.
"Right, right," she turned to the Doctor helplessly. "What can we use as a shock?"
The Doctor ruffled his hair violently as he tried to think. A process that was not helped as Donna yelled in his ear, "Come on, quick!"
"I don't know, I'm thinking!" The Doctor snapped back.
Donna didn't care as she had a lightbulb moment. "Oh! I know! Electricity!"
The Doctor stopped to stare at the redhead once more.
"And how are you going to use that, shoot it out of your fingertips?"
"I don't know-"
"DOCTOR! DONNA!" Terry shouted at her friends before they could bicker again. It didn't help.
"Well, she started it-"
"Just because you're a wisecrack-"
"How is any of this helping Ms. Terry?" Agatha interrupted.
"I don't know!" The Doctor snapped at the author, when Donna had another brainwave.
"Terry! Now is probably the time to tell you that I saw the Doctor steal some of your pants!"
"What?!"
The Doctor yelped indignantly while Terry choked on the last of the anchovies she'd been chomping down. Several of the household staff also gasped at Donna's shocking announcement, but it was her words that at last had the desired effect. With a loud gasp, Terry reared back and exhaled smoke from her mouth.
"Oohhh." She sighed in relief while the Doctor continued to argue with Donna.
"I have never stolen any of her underwear!"
"I should hope you don't, but it worked didn't it?" Donna answered unrepentantly.
"Why would you say something like that at all?"
"You deserved it, you were annoying me with all your snappy comments-"
"Stop it, you two. It's enough that you were able to save me." Terry interrupted the fight with a weak smile.
At once, the attention switched back to the Time Lady and Donna cooed, "How are you feeling, angel?"
"Detox worked." Terry shrugged. "Thanks to you two."
"Oh, all in a day's work." Donna grinned and winked while the Doctor asked seriously, "You're sure you're completely fine now?"
"Well, nice of you to ask at last." Terry joked lightly but the Doctor remained grim.
"My drink was also poisoned, wasn't it? That's why you took it away from me." He deduced.
The grin fell off Terry's face and she nodded just as seriously.
"Yeah. I didn't think mine would also be poisoned, though." Terry answered.
"You underestimate yourself." The Doctor straightened up, just as Agatha finally shook her head from beside the trio.
"You three are impossible." The blonde declared, her eyes never leaving the unusual friends who had evaded death from right before her eyes. "Who are you?"
The trio looked at Agatha before they exchanged meaningful glances.
"Oh, you know… just passing by." Terry answered.
"More importantly, we still have a killer to catch." Donna added.
The Doctor chimed in, "Although you're in luck, because whoever is behind this has made a grave mistake."
"What's that?" Agatha asked, puzzled.
Donna glanced at the Doctor who didn't see her look as he replied in a much darker voice, "It's personal for me, now."
It was a very quiet group that sat around the dining table. The only sounds were the odd splash of soup in porcelain bowls and the howling of the wind outside, only occasionally broken by the louder clap of thunder. Terry had refused to touch her own soup, still queasy from her earlier poisoning spell. Instead, she eyed the yellow irises on the table with interest until the Doctor finally broke the silence.
"A terrible day for all of us."
All eyes glanced his way before they were averted once more, almost guiltily, when the Doctor continued.
"The Professor struck down, Miss Chandrakala taken cruelly from us… and yet we still take dinner."
He tapped his spoon against his bowl and Lady Eddison suppressed a sigh.
"We are British, Doctor. What else must we do?"
"And then someone tried to poison me." The Doctor went on as if the hostess hadn't spoken. "More importantly, they also tried to poison my angel too. Big mistake, really. My own poisoning I might have been able to look past, been able to forgive."
The Doctor paused again, and they all understood what wasn't said. What the Doctor meant. After a beat where he let his message sink in, the Doctor continued.
"Any one of you had the chance to put cyanide in our drinks. But it rather gave me an idea."
"And what would that be?" Reverend Golightly inquired. The Doctor smiled innocently.
"Well, poison."
The Doctor tapped his bowl again. All at once, his meaning was made clear and everyone immediately stopped eating. Some even remained frozen with their soup halfway into their mouths. The Doctor's smile widened.
"Drink up."
No one moved.
"I've laced the soup with pepper." The Doctor explained. There was a gush as everyone else seemed to let out quiet sighs of relief.
"Ah, I thought it was jolly spicy." Colonel Curbishley chuckled, obviously put at ease once again, until the Doctor interrupted.
"But the active ingredient of pepper is piperine, traditionally used as an insecticide."
Again, all movement stopped at the Doctor's words. He looked around eerily, smile gone now.
"So, anyone got the shivers?"
As if on cue, there was a crash of thunder outside. The windows burst open as if by some external force, blowing out the candles and throwing the room into darkness as the electricity in the room went out.
Terry leapt to her feet at the same time the colonel cried out, "What the deuce is that?"
"Listen, listen, listen, listen." The Doctor shushed everyone. In the quiet, they heard the distinct buzzing of a wasp. Lady Eddison sucked in a sharp breath.
"No, it can't be."
Lightning flashed through the dark sky outside once more, throwing the room into sharp relief. But it was impossible to tell anything amongst the shadows as they were continually thrown between light and dark as the storm raged on outside while inside, everyone attempted to remain calm. Most everyone, at least.
"Show yourself, demon." Agatha cried while the Doctor tried to look around for their culprit.
"Nobody move."
But nobody was listening as people started to panic. The footman fled the scene while the colonel wheeled his chair out from behind the table and someone else overturned their chair as they too leapt to their feet.
"No, don't! Stay where you are." The Doctor commanded.
No sooner were the words out of his mouth before the outline of a giant wasp appeared in front of the large windows, lit up by another flash of lightning. At once, Donna was on her feet in fear and a glass smashed on the ground. Greeves grabbed Donna, alarmed for her safety as the wasp buzzed above their heads and the Doctor yelled at the group.
"Out, out, out, out, out, out!"
General chaos ensued as everyone scrambled about the room while the Doctor, Donna, Greeves and Agatha darted out of the dining room. The Doctor grabbed a sword from the paneled wall before he held Agatha back.
"Not you, Agatha. You've got a long, long life to live yet."
"Well, we know the butler didn't do it." Donna gasped, pointing at the elderly gentleman who was shaking behind her.
"Then who did?" The Doctor wondered when Agatha asked, "Where's Miss Terry?"
The Doctor and Donna looked behind them and then toward the dining room door.
"Oh no-" Donna started when there was a cry of pain from inside the dining room.
"Terry!" Donna cried.
The Doctor meanwhile burst back into the room at once, his sword raised. The room was still dark when he entered, but slowly the lights flickered on and he and the others were able to see the scene before them. The others had apparently never left the room as everyone was gathered in different sections of the room, with the colonel and the reverend on the ground in a corner while Miss Redmond and Lady Eddison were still seated at their respective seats, albeit looking quite shaken. Several of the footmen who had remained inside were gathered either on the far side of the room or on the ground where they had obviously tripped or been knocked down.
"My jewellery." Lady Eddison gasped as she realized with the lights on that her necklace was no longer around her neck. "The Firestone, it's gone. Stolen."
The Doctor ignored her as his eyes instead fell on Roger, who was slumped forward with his face in his soup… and a large knife in his back.
"Roger." Davenport whimpered as he saw his dead lover while Donna's hand flew to her mouth.
Colonel Curbishley gasped and Miss Redmond screamed while Lady Eddison let out a wail. "My son. My child."
The Doctor ignored them all as he instead hurried over to the body lying beside Roger.
"Angel!" Donna cried when she saw the Doctor kneel down beside an unusually pale Terry. Pale, except for the purple bruise visible on her hairline and the dark red stain on her arm.
"Oh, dear lord." Agatha whispered as she saw the still weeping wound on the Time Lady's arm. The Doctor meanwhile raised dark eyes to stare at the rest of the room's occupants.
"Greeves, please fetch me a first aid kit. The rest of you, don't move."
The butler hurried out. The rest of the room also did as instructed, no one moving a muscle as the Doctor looked back down at the brunette lying still in his arms.
*A/N: A little New Year's surprise! Happy New Year everyone.