A/N: Disclaimer: This is a plot from one of Doctor Who's many comic book stories.
"I cannot believe I am doing this," Avalon walked tiredly into the TARDIS, tossing her nurse's hat directly at the Doctor. It hit his cheek in the midst of his research on the monitor. "You owe me big time for making me do this!"
The Doctor picked up the nurse's hat off the floor and dusted it off with his fingers. "I think you look positively adorable." His remark was received with a deep frown. "Absolutely sexy?"
Avalon rolled her eyes. Clearly, no kind of compliment would lighten her mood. She detested the stupid nurse costume she was in and much more that she was working as a nurse in a retirement home. "I am a traveler, a mediocre writer—"
The Doctor scowled at the lowball self insult. "Avalon!"
"'—but I am not a nurse!" Avalon finished with a heavy huff. "Why can't we go pick up my grandfather who is an actual certified nurse!?" She stomped her way to the console up to the Doctor, demanding to hear a good answer from him.
"We already started this undercover mission," the Doctor pointed out, "And your grandparents are busy. Besides, I thought this could be a fun trip for the both of us."
Avalon's eyes narrowed. "How is this fun when I'm pretending to be a nurse in a retirement home where you're pretty sure people are being murdered?"
"It's interesting at the very least," the Doctor settled for his new description. "C'mon Ava, you've already been there three days and you've done a beautiful job blending in. Now I'll come in tomorrow and do my part to investigate."
"You mean go straight to the director and tell her what you think you know about her?"
"Absolutely!" The Doctor set the nurse hat back on Avalon's head, an admittedly difficult task given her unruly curls were being extra resistant. Avalon mentioned it took half a dozen pins to keep the hat in place.
Avalon swatted his hands away, effectively making the hat fall to the floor again. "I will do any other kind of UC job but not as a nurse. I don't like it."
"Next time," the Doctor promised her. She grumbled. "How about I draw you a nice bath?" His hands threaded down Avalon's hair. "I can get you those sweet lavender scented soaps and shampoos you love so much?"
"You mean the ones you love so much?" Avalon raised an eyebrow.
The Doctor smiled ever so innocently. "Me? I don't recall, but if you really need my help—"
Avalon's brow furrowed. "I didn't say I needed your help—"
"—then I will of course assist you however I can," the Doctor finished with an even wider smile, more like a grin.
Avalon wouldn't even pretend to be by these antics anymore. After a couple decades, she got too tired. "Yeah, alright," she shrugged.
The Doctor beamed. That had been far too easy!
"But I will need a massage, and a face mask..." Avalon started listing her demands as she headed for the corridors, the Doctor right on her trail.
"Anything you want, love," the Doctor promised, grabbing Avalon by the waist for a moment to kiss the crook of her neck. She smiled to herself. He was much too easy to work.
~ 0 ~
The next morning, Avalon begrudgingly returned to the retirement home just like they planned. This was a ludicrous plan from the start given that it had not been their intention to get involved in the first place. But that's what happens when you're time traveling with your birth mother for "bring your daughter to work" day.
They had stumbled across a much older River Song — she wasn't even in prison anymore! She was Dr. River Song, archaeologist, and she and her team were excavating bodies 200 years from now of the very retirement home Avalon was now walking the hallways of. The issue turned out to be that every coffin was empty which meant that the patients dying right around these days were not being buried. It was a mystery that the Doctor couldn't let go of. So here they were, investigating on their own.
Avalon learned fast that she was not made to be a nurse like her grandfather. It was simply not her vocation. She had little patience for difficult people, she did not like to clean bedrooms, and she didn't like her boss either. At least when it comes to writing, I'm my own boss. However, there was one thing that made the place bearable and Avalon was heading right there.
She met the face of her favorite patient in the entire retirement home and immediately smiled. "Good morning Arthur! I brought you a cup of tea!"
The older man was lying on his bed and watching Avalon's every move. His thick eyebrows knitted together as his eyes squinted.
Avalon walked up to his bedside with a tray in hand. "It's me, Arthur. Nurse Reynolds? Avalon?"
"I'm sorry," Arthur awkwardly smiled back. "Nurse Reynolds…" The recognition glinted in his eyes after a moment and it was then that Avalon set the tray on the bed stand.
"It's alright," Avalon assured him, picking up the cup of tea from the tray. "Believe me, I know a thing or two about losing memories." She presented Arthur with the cup of tea. "No pressure, honest."
"You?" Arthur chuckled lightly. "But you're so young. Your memory's got to be in top shape."
Avalon set her hands on her hips for a moment. "Oh, you would not believe me but I am older than I look."
"Really?" Arthur leveled her with a disbelieving look.
Avalon nodded. "Aha!" She turned away, making her way up to the windows and opening the blinds to let the sunlight in. "I'm nearing 50 now. Had I been a normal human, I would've been wrinkly by now."
"Is that where you're from, then?" Arthur took a sip of his tea.
"I hadn't told you that?" Avalon watched the children below, all playing much too loudly for her taste.
"Uh, maybe you did, but I can't really remember," Arthur smiled apologetically.
"That's alright," Avalon dismissed it. "God, did you get some good sleep with those kids? They're so loud and it's not even nine!"
"I don't mind," Arthur said, "It's good to hear their laughter and games. It can get so quiet here sometimes."
"What—I'm not chatty enough?" Avalon swayed back to the bed. "I feel like I talk your ears off!"
Out of all the patients Avalon had met in the past days, she liked Arthur the best. He was such a sweet gentleman who suffered a form of dementia. He didn't have any family nor friends but he was still so talkative. He was the only patient who had thought to ask Avalon about herself. Everyone else tended to grumble.
"I like it," Arthur nodded, "It's been so long since somebody talked to me. Nobody visits me — well, nobody visits anyone here."
"Yes, I've noticed that," Avalon mumbled under her breath. Three days she had worked at the retirement and not once had she seen a visitor. There were plenty of patients here that would warrant at least one visitor, but nobody had showed up.
"What story do you have for me today?" Arthur curiously asked her.
Avalon's smile returned, a sweet one. She may have also told him several of her written stories as well as her adventures. It passed the long hours for both of them, and Arthur seemed to like them.
"I, uh, I had a bit of a quarrel with my husband," Avalon said, reaching to press Arthur's blanket down. "He's a bit childish, remember?"
Arthur nodded. His tea was half gone already. "He's a traveler, right?"
"Yes, we both are," Avalon reminded him, "I just chose to have a job for a bit...try to, um, set some roots." That was normal, right? She had no idea. Lately, she didn't really know what she wanted to do with her life besides traveling.
She was set on being a writer, at least on some level, but the idea of school was still troubling her. She was never indecisive about anything and yet this one thing bugged her for decades now. The pressure was just there — to do something — with her life. It seemed like Amy and Rory were finally learning how to do that, even Lena now. Avalon now faced a reality she didn't think would ever come: her family was okay, and safe, and now she could do whatever she wanted. It was an odd feeling this way, truthfully. Avalon didn't know what to do with it.
"Is he on a trip right now?" Arthur's question drew Avalon out of her thoughts.
"He was...he's supposed to be in today, actually," she said, "Going to pick me up." This all sounded so blatantly normal that it felt so weird for Avalon. She couldn't imagine having a regular job and having the Doctor waiting outside to "pick her up" after her shift. She almost laughed.
"What's his name, again? I think I forgot…" Arthur attempted to place his cup on the bed stand.
Avalon hurried to take it from him and do it herself. "No, I didn't tell you that. He's a, uh, a doctor. I think you'd be entertained with him."
"My Elsie was the same," Arthur said reminiscently.
"Your wife, right?" Avalon stepped away and put her hands behind her back.
Arthur nodded. "She was a light in every room. She told the best jokes." Avalon smiled at him. "Lost her to cancer years ago."
"I'm so sorry," Avalon sighed. "It must have been so terrible…"
"It was. I don't wish that kind of pain on anyone…" Arthur flashed Avalon a small smile, "Especially good, sweet people like you."
Avalon chuckled. "Well, thank you. Although, don't be fooled again, I'm not that sweet. My husband actually tells me that I have a nasty temper."
"Even then, I'm sure he would miss it greatly if you were gone," Arthur said, pointing a finger at Avalon. "And you would miss his childish ways if he were gone."
"Oh…" Avalon brought a hand to her chest, feeling it constrict at the mere idea of losing the Doctor, "No, I can't even talk about something like that. If I were to ever lose my husband, I think I would die myself."
"Unfortunately, those who remain suffer worse because we're still here...and they're not."
Avalon nodded slightly.
"Nurse Reynolds!" A gruff female nurse called from the open doorway, ignoring the way that Avalon flinched. "If you're quite finished you have duties to perform!"
Avalon could barely hold onto her tongue. She hated Nurse Frost. The name suited her perfectly.
"Of course," Avalon said through gritted teeth. "I will be right there."
"Now," Frost corrected.
Avalon looked at Arthur apologetically. "I'll be back later, Arthur. Would that be alright?"
"Of course," Arthur nodded, "Go, go. I'll be here, waiting for my story."
Avalon promised that she would come up with another story for him in the afternoon. She would follow Nurse Frost out and tend to the other patients, just like she had for the past 3 days.
~ 0 ~
It took very little to get into the retirement home. The Doctor knew it would've probably been easier to get Avalon like this as well but he was guilty of wanting to see her in that hot nurse outfit...and to get deeper information from the inside of course.
He treaded the hallway carefully, keeping an eye open for anything plain strange. Most of the doors on his sides were closed but the few that happened to be opened didn't allow for much view of the patients. Avalon said most patients tended to stay in bed and that seemed about right because there had only been a handful of patients walking the gardens outside.
It was almost as if they were encouraged to stay in their rooms, on their beds…waiting for something…
"Hello there," he startled the woman sitting in the office. She looked up from her dark rimmed glasses and scrutinized the unknown visitor. The Doctor could practically read the woman's thoughts: 'A visitor!?'. He was a novelty not because he was an alien but because he was visiting. That alone waved red flags.
"The name's John Smith…" the Doctor strode into the office waving the psychic paper around. "How are you!?"
The woman barely had a moment to look at the psychic paper before the Doctor stuffed it in his inside pocket. Next thing she knew, the Time Lord was taking a seat on her desk. "Excuse me–" she started, but the Doctor went ahead with his facade.
"And you're clearly the woman in charge of this place! Miss Bruce, isn't it?"
"I—" the woman blinked, "Yes, how do you know that?"
The Doctor pointed to the plaque sitting on the desk.
Miss Bruce flushed. "Right, right. Um, what exactly are you doing here?"
"Doing some investigation of course!" the Doctor hopped off the desk and started pacing in the office. "Because, tell me, bodies disappearing, people vanishing mysterioualy in the night – ring any bells?"
Miss Bruce's face fell grim. A deep crease marked her forehead.
"Wait!" the Doctor exclaimed, his hands flying in front of him, "I know exactly what you're going to say! You have no idea what I'm talking about and deny all knowledge, right?"
Miss Bruce was beginning to hate him by the minute.
"Which means, Miss Bruce, either you're extremely unobservant or you're the one who's trying to cover it up. Let's see, residents going missing from right under your nose – embarrassing! So what do you do?" the Doctor pretended to hum as he feigned thought of all the options Miss Bruce could have in the situation. "You arrange with the local undertakers to bury empty coffins in the churchyard down the road. No one need ever know what's really going on."
"I don't—"
"You're probably wondering how I know all this," the Doctor nodded to himself, bringing his hands behind his back, "Because I was there when one of the coffins was dug up by archaeologists! Well, my mother-in-law but that's another story for another day! But you should know that she was not happy and truth be told, neither was her daughter – my wife – because she was writing an article on it. Had to stop the whole thing."
It had not boded well for anybody in the group when the coffins turned out empty. River Song was finally getting to bring Avalon to some of her "work" and that happened to include one nefarious location that was about to be dug up. The Doctor felt bad for introducing the idea in the first place and see it go horribly wrong. Avalon had no article to submit to the university and because she had always written stories for them, she felt twice as bad. And when Avalon felt bad, the Doctor felt worse.
"So, you see, I've done some thinking, Miss Bruce," the Doctor 'tskd' at the woman who was still blinking widely at him, "And here's my other suppositions about this place. You only take in residents who don't have any friends nor relatives so that when their bodies eventually disappear, there's no one to miss them and most importantly to report them missing. Here's the good news, though," he leaned his hands on the desk, reaching forward until he was face to face with Miss Bruce, "I don't think you're responsible for the disappearances, just the cover up, because if you were responsible for the disappearances, you would've thrown me out by now."
In truth, miss Bruce was like a frozen statue and an unhappy one at that. She let out a heavy sigh, confirming everything the Doctor had just said. "Something else you want to add?"
The Doctor shrugged. "Two things. One: I'll be taking a walk and talk with some of the residents. Two: have you been allowing children into the grounds?"
That was the first time Miss Bruce appeared startled, almost offended. "You're clearly insane, Doctor Smith. There are no children on the premises. It's like you said, I don't admit any resident with families or friends."
~ 0 ~
Avalon followed Nurse Frost into an empty bedroom. If Avalon remembered correctly, it belonged to a patient named Margaret Webster. She was a sweet old woman but she barely talked. She had a fascination with stuffed birds that creeped Avalon out.
"Margaret passed away in her sleep last night," Nurse Frost informed as she turned the lights of the room on, "We need to clear it up for the next patient."
"What – but she passed away last night," Avalon blinked, staying right by the doorway while Nurse Frost started taking the sheets off the bed. "Shouldn't there be, I don't know, studies going on? Like the medical kind to make sure no foul play happened?"
Nurse Frost snorted. "What 'foul play', Reynolds? She passed away. These people here are very old, it happens."
"Still, where's her body?"
"The undertakers have already collected her mortal remains."
"Already?" Avalon made a face. "That's beyond quick!"
Nurse Frost flapped the sheet hard, gesturing for Avalon to come help already. The ginger reluctantly did.
"That isn't your concern nor your job! You're supposed to tidy away the effects of the decease—"
"For the family?"
"She had no family! When you're done here, refresh the sheets. This bed will have a new occupant by this evening!"
"This evening?" Avalon whispered to herself. It truly was beyond fast for a senior center.
"Stop repeating everything I say into a question!" Nurse Frost snapped, throwing the sheet down on the bed for Avalon to take. "And get to it already!" She headed for the door.
"Whatever you say, Cruella De'Vil," Avalon muttered with a roll of her eyes. With a sigh, she started taking in all the personal objects in the room, putting them neatly into boxes. She was slightly quicker with the stuffed birds so she wouldn't have to look at them nor feel their presence.
She stopped by a portrait of a young girl with long ponytails. Judging by the face, Avalon presumed it was Margaret as a child. "You look straight off the 1950s magazines," she chuckled to herself. She turned to bring the frame to the boxes when she came face to face with the same girl…in person. Avalon gasped deeply and let the frame in her hands fall.
The girl was stoic for a moment, not even the thud of the frame pulled her eyes off Avalon. The redhead, on the other hand, was breathing heavily.
"H-how are you here?"
The girl didn't response. Instead, she turned around and walked out the room.
"H-hey! Come back!" Avalon went after her. The girl walked pretty fast, forcing Avalon to pick up her pae as well. "Little girl! Seriously!" The girl made a turn on the corner and just as Avalon did the same, she crashed into Nurse Frost. "Woah!"
"What are you doing here?" Nurse Frost demanded.
"I was just – the girl – where's the girl!?" Avalon peered around Nurse Frost in search of the girl but she had disappeared.
"What are you talking about?" Nurse Frost looked at Avalon like she was crazy.
"The-the girl!" Avalon exclaimed, gesturing behind Nurse Frost. Of course, when the woman looked over her shoulder there was nothing there. Avalon was pointing at thin air.
Stop playing games!" Nurse Frost snapped. "We have a lot of work to do!"
"But I—!"
Nurse Frost seized Avalon's wrist and pulled her in the opposite direction. Avalon kept craning her neck as much as it allowed to see if she could spot the girl again. It truly was like the air had swallowed her up.
~ 0 ~
It took the Doctor a short half hour to find a patient to converse with. He was about the only one who wouldn't give the Doctor suspicious looks. It was always nice talking to someone inviting.
"A police box! That takes me back!" the elderly man gazed appreciatively at the TARDIS parked in the outer parts of the center's gardens. "I haven't seen one of these things in over 40 years! I used to be a bobby myself, just after the war…"
"Arthur, you were telling me about this boy with no face…" the Doctor gently reminded the man. It was the second time he had to nudge the conversations back to the prime topic. Arthur's mind sometimes went.
"Doctor, one of the other residents, a friend of mine, Bert, he said he saw the boy and then he died the next night!" Arthur said, letting out a shudder. "So if I'm seeing the boy now, it means that I'm next!"
"Nonsense," the Doctor waved it off, "You'll be around for a long while yet…probably. Now tell me about these children. You said they've only recently started coming here?"
Because off in the distance, there was a group of singing children dancing around the trees.
"Yes, but they don't like to get too close and…there's something wrong about them…" Arthur admitted.
"Yeah," the Doctor agreed, "Their clothes for starters." The children were dressed as if they belonged to an earlier time period, perhaps the 50s if he had to be more accurate. "And no mobile phones or ipods. Just a bat and ball. Odd!"
The Doctor fixed his jacket up before approaching the group of children. As soon as they spotted him getting close, one girl with long pigtails grabbed a younger boy beside her and stepped in front of him.
"Oi Mister! What do you want?" the girl demanded.
The Doctor put on his best smile. "I'd just like to know who you are and why you're here."
"Can't say," the little boy said as he came around the girl, "Grown ups mustn't find out or they'll put a stop to our games!"
"Will they?" the Doctor went along with the boy's game, whatever it was.
"But don't worry, Arthur," the girl smiled at the older man, "You have nothing to fear. You'll be coming to play with us soon." The words had the opposite effect on poor Arthur. He stumbled back a few steps.
The Doctor didn't like the words either. He straightened up and quickly led Arthur away from the children. The elderly man seemed to be having chest pain.
"It's just indigestion," Arthur said, though clutching his chest contradicted his statement, "It comes and goes…"
As they neared the TARDIS, Avalon came running towards them. "Oh my God! There's a girl – I saw her! But that Nurse—" she growled abruptly. "Nurse Frost – she didn't see the girl so she didn't let me follow her! But there's a girl!"
"Well hello there, Nurse Reynolds!" the Doctor waved a hand, "I sense that you saw something strange?"
Avalon deadpanned him. Her hands fell on her hips. "I don't appreciate your sarcasm. I had to roll up sheets of a deceased older lady, so watch it or the next thing I roll up will be your dead body in a sheet!"
The Doctor just smiled in the face of a threat. "That's my wife, Arthur. Isn't she lovely?"
Arthur looked at Avalon — who seemed ready to seethe — and asked her if that was truly her husband.
"Unfortunately, yes," Avalon replied. "He thinks he's so funny but dead people can't be funny."
"Oh, calm down, Avalon," said the Doctor, "You'll be relieved to know that Nurse Frost can't see the child because there's a perception filter on the children."
"Not feeling very relieved here," Avalon said flatly. "And 'alien tech'?"
"Exactly. It's shielding the children and probably their hiding place as well, it's amazing what some people won't notice."
"You don't say. Well, I guess it's like the laundry closet," Avalon said, "People just walk by that room all the time. I hate doing laundry so I do the same thing but at least I can see it."
The Doctor smirked all of a sudden. "I really love you, wife."
"That's great but what did I do?"
"Let's go see that laundry room!"
"What – I don't want to do laundry!" Avalon groaned.
~ 0 ~
Avalon led both the Doctor and Arthur down the hallway towards the laundry room. She slowed her pace, however, when she saw Arthur was walking slower than normal.
"Arthur, really, if you're not feeling well, I can take you back to your room," she said, "Really. The Doctor can go on his own."
"Not a chance, Avalon," Arthur said sternly, "I haven't had this much excitement in years!"
Avalon chuckled. "Well, I can't argue with that sentiment. I'm a girl who loves excitement too. And adrenaline. Lots of it."
"Is that why your stories are simply the best?"
"Hm, if only you knew, Arthur," the Doctor started, "Most of those stories actually happened."
"What?" Arthur blinked. "That can't be!"
Avalon smirked over her shoulder. "Yeah, I don't behave so well sometimes."
"Sometimes!?" the Doctor snorted.
"Oh shush, you're not that better than me!"
The Doctor rolled his eyes. He had plenty more to say but they reached the laundry room Avalon talked about. Using the sonic, he led the way inside and found not a laundry room but a huge spaceship-esque room instead.
"Woah…" Avalon breathed in at the sight, eyes wide and matching Arthur's as they both took in the sight, "Had I known this was inside, I would've gone in this laundry room a long time ago. Wouldn't mind washing clothes here."
The Doctor gave her a light push from behind, and exchanged smirks.
Arthur wandered towards one of the walls and noted the weblike structure going across it. There were large pods holding small creatures inside. "This looks like a nest..."
Avalon's head flipped in his direction and frowned. "It does. Doctor, why is there an alien nest hidden in the laundry room?"
"It's not a laundry room, dear," the Doctor said, "It's a nest."
"Yes, but why? And for what?"
"For me," went a new voice, and a gruff one at that.
The trio turned around to find Nurse Frost herself standing in front of them. A second later, the Nurse Frost was morphing into a huge, spiky alien creature with tentacles. "Analysis: you are a threat to the surrogates! All threats must be eliminated!"
"Uh, yeah," the Doctor put his sonic away fast, "We need to run! Now!"
"My husband, ever so smart!" Avalon shot him a mock glare.
"Oh, shut up and run!"
The pair started running back for the door but Avalon looked back to see Arthur struggling to move with them.
"Doctor!" she called and returned to Arthur.
"Engaging defensive weaponry!" the creature declared.
Red lasers shot forwards. Avalon covered her head as energy began striking around them. When she was able to lower her arms, she saw Arthur had collapsed on the floor.
"No!" she ran the remaining length and slid on the floor beside him. "Arthur!?" She checked for his heartbeat and was horrified to find none. "Doctor! He's dead!"
"Avalon, move away!" the Doctor exclaimed, trying to make a run towards her. The lasers were much too close to hitting her.
Avalon shook her head fervently. "No, no, no! Arthur!" She fell back from an electric force that enveloped Arthur's body. "NO!"
A dark haired boy was shooting the electrical current towards Arthur.
"Stop that!" Avalon demanded from the boy. Arthur's body was disappearing before her eyes. "I said STOP!" She scrambled to get up, intending on taking the boy herself when the Doctor arrived to pull her away. "No! No! Stop him! Look what he's doing!"
"I'm sorry but we can't touch him!" the Doctor had a tight hold around Avalon's waist. "He's gone, Avalon!"
"Literally!" Avalon cried as Arthur's body disappeared.
The little boy straightened up and marched up to the pair.
The Doctor set Avalon on her feet and stepped in front of her. "Alright now, you can stop," he warned the boy.
But the boy stopped in front of them then turned to face the creature. "Stop," it commanded, "The Doctor and Avalon are my friends."
"Well…that's unexpected," the Doctor blinked. Avalon wiped the tears from her face and stared at the boy, puzzled.
The creature froze in its tracks. "Doctor, Avalon – designated non-hostile," he repeated.
"You-you're in charge of that thing?" Avalon sniffed. "How the…you're a…I am so confused and tired…"
The Doctor reached over and rubbed her back comfortingly. She really needed her rest.
The boy turned around as did the creature, and smiled at Avalon. "It's me, Avalon. Arthur."
Avalon's eyes widened, as did the Doctor's. They both looked at each other, neither one sure whether to believe the boy.
"No, he was — you're just a—" Avalon rubbed the side of her head. "No, no, you're joking. You can't be Arthur."
The Doctor continued to study the boy and his uncertain self-examination. 'Arthur' kept looking at his hands and then put one over his head, eyes looking up as much as he could.
"Why am I so short now?" he asked.
"Oh dear," the Doctor breathed. It was Arthur, but he had no idea how he'd become a child. "Erm, that's...that's Arthur," he told Avalon.
"What!?"
"On the bright side, he's not dead."
"Doctor!"
The Doctor winced. "Yeah, alright." He cleared his throat and turned to the creature. "If we're non-hostile, then you can start giving us some answers. What's your function?"
"Designation. Vorlax regeneration drone. Function: to provide replacement bodies for infantry terminally compromised in conflict," the creature dutifully responded.
"Doctor – English, please?" Avalon said impatiently. Why couldn't one of their 'enemies' be simple and clear?
"It creates clones that absorb people's consciousnesses at the moment of death. It's brilliant, actually!"
"I don't know if that's the word I'd use for this," Avalon said, "It's not exactly asking for consent, is it?" Her eyes then fixated on the creature. "Technically speaking, Arthur is dead but his consciousness was copied and placed in a clone. Yeah, it's cheating death."
"Well," the Doctor fixed the collars of his jacket, "Can't really say anything there, can I?"
Avalon sighed. "No, I guess not." Her eyes flickered to the creature as well. "So why the hell are you posing as a nurse anyways?"
"Compromised by enemy fire. Teleport drive malfunction. Upon arrival in foreign terrain, activated camouflage protocol."
"And you decided being a bitchy nurse was the way to go?"
"Avalon," the Doctor said. He whipped out his sonic again and used it on the creature.
"And now, neither will you," the Doctor said gleefully. A bright light was taking over the creature from within. "I've repaired the Vorlax's teleport. Programmed it with a new destination and started the countdown for departure!"
"Where's it going to!?" Avalon asked.
"I'm sending it to an uninhabited garden world! Somewhere it can't cause any trouble!"
"Now wait a minute!" Avalon hurried in front of the Doctor, arms open wide on her sides. "That thing about consent – it should involve the rest of the residents! They should have the chance to choose what they want to happen to them and their home!"
"But – Avalon!" the Doctor groaned. He hated when she made sense. He stopped the process and lowered his sonic. "What do you want to do? Ask everybody?"
"Yes, why not?" Avalon raised an eyebrow at him. "Don't they deserve to make the choice? The choice that the others didn't get to make?"
The Doctor bobbed his head. "Yeah, I guess so."
"You should!" huffed Avalon. "Given the fact that you can regenerate, you should've thought about this first."
"You can allegedly regenerate too," the Doctor pointed out solely for the argument's sake. He never wanted to see his wife regenerate. "Alright, fine, let's gather them up and ask."
Avalon grinned and dropped her arms on her sides.
~ 0 ~
As soon as they left the now dozens of children in the new uninhabited planet, Avalon and the Doctor returned to the TARDIS for a much needed rest. Avalon was ecstatic that everyone in the nursing home had decided to run away and become children again – they were going to live a new life! That they chose! She of course took special interest in what little Arthur was going to do now. She might check up on him later in the future.
Much later in the evening, now in the TARDIS, Avalon bobbed her head in front of the bathroom mirror. Her voluminous red curls bounced with her. They were damp from her shower.
"Do you think if I regenerated, I could turn into a, I don't know, a teenager?" She walked into the bedroom and rolled her eyes at the sight of the Doctor lying on their bed, carelessly tossing his sonic into the air relentlessly.
"Why on Earth would you ever want to go back to being a teenager?" the Doctor shuddered. "Talk about awkward!"
"I don't know, maybe to see if this time things worked out in my favor?" shrugged Avalon. "That would be a good story, actually."
The Doctor caught his sonic and pointed it at Avalon, his face dead serious when he warned her: "You better not try to regenerate for the sake of a story."
Avalon smirked. "Don't tell me what to do, Fairy Tale Man. I might just do the opposite now."
The Doctor didn't like that joke on any level. He sat upright, putting his sonic away. "I mean it, Avalon. Your regeneration isn't exactly a stabilized thing. We don't know if you actually can regenerate, alright?"
Avalon shrugged again. "I'd have to find out at some point in my life. How long can you live in one body?" She walked up to the bed, climbing over it to sit beside the Doctor.
With a sigh, the Doctor answered her. "Your first body is always different. You live to a very old age – there's no exact number – but it can be your longest body if you take care of it."
"What about the last one?" Avalon asked quietly.
The Doctor's head lowered. "Like the first one. You can live long as long as you take care of it."
"Really? You're not just telling me that?"
"No."
Avalon scooted closer to the Doctor, bringing one arm over his shoulder and leaning her chin on top. "Good, because when you go…I go too."
"Don't," the Doctor warned her again.
"Well, what would you do if I died? Or if I just couldn't regenerate?"
"I'd die with you, but…that's different," the Doctor said, prompting a hard scoff from Avalon.
"How?"
The Doctor sighed. He moved his shoulder until Avalon pulled her arm from him. "You really want to know?"
"If there's an actual answer behind that other than hypocrisy? Yes, I do," Avalon said, sitting on her knees and promptly waiting for said explanation.
"Fine," the Doctor shifted his body to face Avalon, "If you were to die – which you won't – then I'd have nothing again. I've lived for a very long time, Ava. I know what it's like to be truly alone for ages. The darkness that rears its head around is one that I don't want to face again, not when I've lived such wonderful, amazing years with you."
As touched as Avalon was, and she was, she couldn't fathom the idea of letting him simply die with her. It actually hurt her heart to even think about it. "But you could still have centuries to live after, to find somebody new!"
The Doctor shook his head. "I wouldn't. I know I wouldn't because I've already been everywhere before you. I know what's out there and I'm not interested. But if I were to die, I'd want to you to keep going. You haven't seen a quarter of what I've seen already. You haven't lived like I have. I don't want you to waste your precious years – your regenerations – on me because you deserve to live your years. Centuries. You're an aspiring writer, a traveler, and you have too much to look forward to."
Avalon smiled softly at him. "I appreciate the sentiment but what makes you think that I'd want to do any of that stuff if you're not around?"
"You'd have to," the Doctor said simply, "Because your family wouldn't let you do anything else." He reached for her body, tugging her closer until he brought her down on the bed beside her. He interlaced their hands between them. "That's the difference. For better or for worse, that's it."
"Well, it sucks then because it's not fair," Avalon said, shaking her head, "I'm 50 years old…"
"And I'm 1400, talk about an age gap," the Doctor smiled at her. "But see? You've got so much to do, with or without me."
"I choose with you," Avalon said cleverly, snuggling up to him. She simply couldn't imagine a world where she didn't live with her husband.
It just couldn't happen.
~0~
A few hours ago.
All the new children waved happily at the TARDIS as it disappeared. One brunette girl with pigtails especially liked the dematerialization process.
"It's like magic, huh Arthur?" She looked around for her friend but didn't see him right away. "Arthur?"
The TARDIS had completely disappeared now.
The same girl started looking around more carefully as the other children walked away from the area. "Arthur? Arthur, where are you!?" It was like Arthur had disappeared into thin air. "ARTHUR!"
From a distance, a girl with long black hair smirked. Chiyoko loved seeing history unfold itself. One more to check off the list.
A/N:
P.S. As always, I have an AO3/Wattpad account under "noblecrescent" and a tumblr account under "saiilorstars" if you'd like to follow!