bold: mind control/ hypnosis
Italics: gallifreyan or telepathy depending on context
Chapter 4
That Was Far Away
The Doctor stopped the van to investigate a crowd of people all walking down the road as though in a trance.
"What the hell?", "What's going on?" Jake and Rose asked.
"It's the ear-pods. Lumic's taken control." The Doctor explained.
"Can't we just, I don't know, take them off?" Rose said, stepping towards one of the affected.
"Don't! Cause a brainstorm." The Doctor began, only continuing when he had Rose's attention. "Human race. For such an intelligent lot, you aren't half susceptible. Give anyone a chance to take control and you submit. Sometimes I think you like it. Easy life."
Meanwhile, Ash, hoping the Doctor was distracted, tried to slip out of his grasp to investigate the people more closely. But the Doctor just tightened his hold on her hand and kept talking.
Jake, a little ahead of the group, called them over to look around a corner at more people and a squad of Cybermen.
"Where are they all going?" Rose asked.
"I don't know. Lumic must have a base of operations." The Doctor said.
"Battersea. That's where he was building his prototypes." Pete answered.
Rose turned to look at Pete, "But, why? Why's he doing it?
"He's dying. This all started out as a way of prolonging life, of keeping the brain alive at any cost." Pete said.
Turning back to the Doctor, Rose said, "The thing is, I've seen Cybermen before, haven't I? The head. Those handle shapes in Van Statten's museum."
"There are Cybermen in our universe." he began, picking Ash up to stop her continuing attempts to wander off. "They started on an ordinary world just like this, then swarmed across the galaxy. This lot are a parallel version, and they're starting from scratch right here on Earth.
"What the hell are you two on about?" Pete asked looking back and forth between the Doctor and Rose.
Ricky, not wanting to be caught by the Cybermen, interrupted, "Never mind that. Come on, we need to get out of the city." Once he had everyone's attention he continued, "Okay, split up. Mrs Moore, you look after that bloke and the kid." He instructed, pointing to the Doctor, "Jake, distract them. Go right, I'll go left. We'll meet back at Bridge Street. Move." He finished before running off, expecting everyone to follow his orders. Jake soon followed.
"I'm going with him." Mickey said before giving Rose a quick kiss and following his doppelganger Ricky.
Mrs Moore, seeing another squad of Cybermen, let the rest of the group away.
"There!" the Doctor said, pointing to a side street, as Cybermen approached from both directions. They ran down the alley and managed to crouch behind some rubbish bins just in time to avoid being seen.
As the Cybermen drew near, Rose reached out and grabbed Pete's hand, Mrs Moore was tense and preparing to fight, the Doctor put Ash down and was transmitting a signal to the Cybermen with his sonic and Ash had closed her eyes and was wishing they were all invisible.
The Cybermen turned around and walked away.
Once the Cybermen had cleared the area, the Doctor stood up and went to pick up Ash, but was momentarily confused about where exactly she was. "Go." he said to the others after he had managed to pick up Ash, leading the way to the rendezvous at Bridge Street. There was no time to figure out what was going on with Ash, though he suspected she was somehow impossibly creating a perception filter around herself.
The Doctor's group arrived at Bridge Street just ahead of Jake.
"I ran past the river. You should have seen it. The whole city's on the march. Hundreds of Cybermen all down the Thames." Jake said as he joined the group. He was soon followed by one of the Mickey/ Ricky twins. "Here he is! Which one are you?" he asked.
"I'm sorry. The Cybermen. He couldn't."
"Are you Ricky? Are you Ricky?" Jake urgently asked.
Rose stepped towards him, "Mickey, that's you, isn't it?"
"Yeah." Mickey replied, eyes downcast. "He tried. He was running. There were too many of them."
"Shut it." Jake said angrily. He had been very close to Ricky and was blaming Mickey for his death.
"There was nothing I could do." Mickey tried to explain, but Jake cut him off, "I said just shut it. Don't even talk about him. You're nothing, you are. Nothing."
"We can mourn him when London is safe. But now, we move on." The Doctor said with both sympathy and a level of hardness in his tone before striding off towards Battersea Power Station where he hoped to find Lumic's base of operations. The commanding look was somewhat marred by the fact that he was carrying a shoeless child.
They had to dodge several Cybermen patrols along the way, but eventually made it. "The whole of London's been sealed off, and the entire population's been taken inside that place. To be converted." the Doctor said as they huddled across from the Power Station.
"We've got to get in there and shut it down." Rose said.
"How do we do that?" Mickey asked.
With a smile the Doctor said, "Oh, I'll think of something."
"You're just making this up as you go along." Mickey said, making Ash nod vigorously and giggle. The Doctor was carrying Ash piggyback style now. Despite the fact that she was still in her regeneration cycle, he was concerned about her bare feet. There hadn't been time to find her a pair of shoes, or clothing that fit.
"Yep. But I do it brilliantly." he replied.
Mrs Moore walked up holding her laptop and said, "That's a schematic of the old factory. Look. Cooling tunnels underneath the plant. Big enough to walk through."
"We go under there and up into the control center?" the Doctor asked.
"Mmm." she replied.
But Pete had another idea, "There's another way in. Through the front door. If they've taken Jackie for upgrading, that's how she'll get in."
"We can't just go strolling up." Jake argued.
"Or we could, with these. Fake ear pods. Dead. No signal. But put them on, the Cybermen would mistake you for one of the crowd." Mrs. Moore said, pulling a pair of fake earpods from her bag.
Grabbing the earpods, Pete resolutely said, "Then that's my job."
"You'd have to show no emotion. None at all. Any sign of emotion would give you away." The Doctor said, trying to impress on Pete just how difficult it would be.
"How many of those you got?" Rose asked Mrs Moore.
"No! You can't." Ash told Rose.
Rose looked to the Doctor for a translation. "She doesn't want you to go." he said.
"I've just got two sets." Mrs Moore said, handing the second pair to Rose.
"Okay. If that's the best way of finding Jackie, then I'm coming with you." Rose said, determined to save Jackie.
"Why does she matter to you?" Pete asked.
"We haven't got time. Doctor, I'm going with him, and that's that." Rose said.
"No stopping you, is there?" the Doctor said, clearly worried, but choosing to respect her decision.
"No."
The Doctor looked thoughtful for a second before saying, "Tell you what. We can take the ear pods at the same time. Give people their minds back so they don't walk into that place like sheep. Jakey-boy? Lumic's transmitting the control signal. It must be from over there." He hoped that would be enough to give Rose a margin of safety.
Pointing to a Zeppelin parked above the power station he continued, "There it is. On the zeppelin, you see? Great big transmitter. Good thing Lumic likes showing off. Reckon you could take it out Jake?"
"Consider it done." Jake answered.
Turning to Mrs Moore, the Doctor asked, "Would you care to accompany Ash and I into the cooling tunnels?"
"How could I refuse an offer of cooling tunnels?" She replied.
"We attack on three sides. Above, between, below. We get to the control center, we stop the conversion machines." the Doctor said.
"What about me?" Mickey asked.
"Mickey. You can er…" the Doctor replied.
"What, stay out of trouble? Be the tin dog? No, those days are over. I'm going with Jake."
"I don't need you, idiot." Jake said, dismissively.
"I'm not an idiot! You got that? I'm offering to help." Mickey replied.
"Whatever."
The Doctor turned to Mickey and said, "Mickey. Good luck."
"Yeah, you too. Rose, I'll see you later."
"Yeah, you'd better." She said.
"If we survive this, I'll see you back at the Tardis." the Doctor said.
"That's a promise." Mickey said as he ran off after Jake.
Turning to Rose, the Doctor gave her a hug, "Good luck." he said. The Doctor, Ash and Mrs Moore watched Rose and Pete walk away before heading to the entrance to the cooling tunnels.
—
The cooling tunnels were, not surprisingly, cool.
"It's freezing." Mrs Moore commented once they'd fully entered and closed the hatch. Ash leaned into the Doctor's back and wrapped her legs more tightly around his waist.
"Any sign of a light switch?" the Doctor asked.
"Can't see a thing. But I've got these. A device for every occasion." She replied, pulling two headlamps out of her pack.
"Ooo!" the Doctor said as he grabbed it and put it on.
"I want one too!" Ash said so the Doctor turned to Mrs Moore and asked if she had another. She did and after the Doctor adjusted the size of the headband, Ash put it on and started playing with the settings.
"Haven't got a hotdog in there, have you? I'm starving." the Doctor asked.
"Of all the things to wish for. That's mechanically recovered meat." Mrs Moore replied with a grimace.
"I know. It's the Cyberman of food, but it's tasty."
"A proper torch as well." Mrs Moore said as she pulled out a heavy looking torch.
"Let's see where we are." the Doctor said, stepping into the tunnel.
Mrs Moore gasped and Ash tensed. There was a row of Cybermen lining both sides of the tunnel.
The Doctor patted Ash's leg and said to Mrs Moore, "Already converted, just put on ice. Come on."
When Ash didn't relax he reached out and knocked on one of the Cybermen's faces. "See. Dead." Nevertheless, Ash was still anxious and kept glancing back and forth between the rows of Cybermen.
"Let's go slowly. Keep an eye out for trip systems. Don't touch anything." The Doctor said as he continued to advance down the tunnel.
Not long after the Doctor raised an arm up and back to switch off Ash's headlamp. She still hadn't stopped looking back and forth at the Cybermen and the moving light was distracting if not nauseating.
"That's better." The Doctor said, ignoring Ash's whine. "How did you get into this, then, Mrs Moore, rattling along with the Preachers?
"Oh, I used to be ordinary. Worked at Cybus Industries, nine to five, till one day, I find something I'm not supposed to. A file on the mainframe. All I did was read it. Then suddenly I've got men with guns knocking in the middle of the night. Life on the run. Then I found the Preachers. They needed a techie, so I, I just sat down and taught myself everything."
"What about Mr Moore?"
"Well, he's not called Moore. I got that from a book, Mrs Moore. It's safer not to use real names. But he thinks I'm dead. It was the only way to keep him safe. Him and the kids. What about you? Got any family, or?"
He hesitated before replying, "Go on, then. What's your real name?"
"Angela Price. Don't tell a soul."
"Not a word."
"Maybe we shouldn't have brought Ash this way. The regeneration energy she's emitting may be affecting the Cybermen. We need to hurry."
"sorry." Ash whispered, resting her chin on his shoulder. The Doctor softly tilted his head over to make contact with Ash's, comforting her and sending subtle signals to relax.
Less than a minute later, "Doctor, did that one just move?" Mrs Moore asked.
"They're waking up. Run!" the Doctor yelled.
They reached a ladder just ahead of the pursuing Cybermen.
"Get up! Quick! They're coming! Open it! Open it!" Mrs Moore yelled at the Doctor. The Doctor released the hatch cover quickly scrambled out while placing Ash on the ground.
"Come on! Come on!" he said to Mrs Moore reaching a hand down to help her. Ash was anxiously looking around for more cybermen as the Doctor locked the hatch just in time to stop the Cybermen from following them.
"Oh, good team, Mrs Moore." He said as he stepped next to Ash and messed with her hair.
They were on some kind of walkway and needed to find a way inside quickly. Mrs Moore was looking in her bag for something that may help and the Doctor was scanning with his sonic. Both were startled by a sharp intake of breath by Ash.
"You are not upgraded." a Cyberman said as it walked toward them.
"Yeah? Well, upgrade this." Mrs Moore replied, pulling a rod wrapped in wire and throwing it at the Cyberman's chest causing the Cyberman to spasm then collapse.
"What the hell was that thing?" The Doctor asked, impressed.
"Electromagnetic bomb. Takes out computers, I figured it might stop the cyber-suit."
"You figured right. Now, let's have a look." he said, kneeling down next the Cyberman. "Know your enemy. A logo on the front. Lumic's turned them into a brand. Heart of steel, but look."
Mrs Moore knelt on the other side of the Cyberman and watched the Doctor remove the logo plate.
"Is that flesh?" Mrs Moore asked, looking into the cavity the Doctor had exposed. This motivated Ash to move closer to investigate and she knelt next to Mrs Moore. Inside the chest of the Cyberman she saw some electronics and some kind of organic matter.
"Hmmm. Central nervous system. Artificially grown then threaded throughout the suit so it responds like a living thing. Well, it is a living thing. Oh, but look. Emotional inhibitor. Stops them feeling anything." The Doctor explained as he investigated.
"But why?" Mrs Moore asked.
"It's still got a human brain. Imagine its reaction if it could see itself, realize itself inside this thing. They'd go insane."
"So they cut out the one thing that makes them human."
"Because they have to." the Doctor finished.
Ash, fascinated by the technology, leaned in to get a better look. "Is it really dead?" She asked the Doctor as she poked at the organic matter.
"Stop that." he replied, pushing her hands away. But it was too late. The Cyberman had been reawakened and suddenly spoke, "Why am I cold?" Ash jumped back in shock.
"Oh, my God. It's alive. It can feel." Mrs Moore said, looking at the Doctor in shock.
"We broke the inhibitor and Ash woke it up." the Doctor told Mrs Moore. He leaned over the Cyberman and said, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
"Why so cold?"
"Can you remember your name?" the Doctor asked.
"Sally. Sally Phelan."
"You're a woman." Mrs Moore said, surprised.
"Where's Gareth?"
"Who's Gareth?" Mrs Moore asked.
"He can't see me. It's unlucky the night before."
"You're getting married." Mrs Moore said, resting her hand on the Cyberman's shoulder in sympathy.
"I'm cold. I'm so cold."
The Doctor placed his sonic into the cavity, "It's all right. You sleep now, Sally. Just go to sleep." he said as he shut her down.
Ash took another step backwards as she struggled to process what had just happened.
"Sally Phelan didn't die for nothing, because that's the key. The emotional inhibitor. If we could find the code behind it, the cancellation code, then feed it throughout the system into every Cyberman's head, they'd realize what they are." the Doctor said.
"And what happens then?" Mrs Morre asked, standing up.
"I think it would kill them. Could we do that?"
"We've got to. Before they kill everyone else. There's no choice, Doctor. It's got to be done." Mrs Moore said. But a Cyberman had snuck up behind her. She arched her back in pain and slumped to the ground as she was electrocuted.
"No! You didn't have to-" the Doctor began to yell before noticing Ash charging the Cyberman. Too far away to intervene, he had to watch as the Cyberman raised his hand to electrocute Ash as well.
There was a large discharge of electricity, but nothing happened. Ash was unaffected. The Doctor sensed that she had phased out of time for 20.3 microseconds, just long enough to avoid the deadliest part of the electrical discharge. But how?
"You are unknown. You will be taken for analysis." the Cyberman said, grabbing Ash by the shoulder before addressing the stunned Doctor. "Sensors detect a binary vascular system. You are an unknown upgrade. You will also be taken for analysis." A second Cyberman approached and ushered the Doctor into the building while the first picked up a barely conscious Ash and followed.
Once they reach the control room, the Doctor saw that Rose and Pete had also been captured. "I've been captured, but don't worry, Rose and Pete are still out there. They can rescue me. Oh well, never mind." he said, internally relieved to find them still alive. He then walked over to the Cyberman holding a dazed Ash. "Give her to me," he demanded.
Walking back to stand next to Rose the Doctor placed Ash on his hip, relieved to discover she was just exhausted and not injured.
"You okay?" he said, turning to Rose.
"Yeah. But they got Jackie." Rose said with tears in her eyes.
"We were too late. Lumic killed her." Pete said.
"Then where is he, the famous Mister Lumic? Don't we get the chance to meet our Lord and Master?" The Doctor said to the Cybermen in the room.
"He has been upgraded."
"So he's just like you?"
"He is superior. The Lumic Unit has been designated Cyber Controller."
Cyber Lumic entered the room in an upgraded wheelchair and dramatically said, "This is The Age of Steel and I am its Creator."
The effect was ruined however by the screaming that soon followed as Mickey and Jake managed to take out the transmitter that had been controlling the earpods.
"That's my friends at work. Good boys! Mister Lumic, I think that's a vote for free will." the Doctor said, imagining the chaos that must be happening in the factory as all the unconverted humans realized what was happening.
But Lumic didn't seem overly concerned, "I have factories waiting on seven continents. If the ear pods have failed, then the Cybermen will take humanity by force. London has fallen. So shall the world."
Meanwhile, in Lumic's Zeppelin, Mickey and Jake have hacked into the video feed of the Control Room.
"They're alive! The Doctor and Rose and Ash, there they are!" Mickey said.
"Never mind them, what the hell is that thing?" Jake asked, pointing to Cyber Lumic.
"Shush. Has this thing got sound?" Mickey said, typing away. Soon they heard Cyber Lumic speaking, "I will bring peace to the world. Everlasting peace and unity and uniformity."
Back in the Control Room the Doctor was arguing with Lumic. "And imagination? What about that? The one thing that led you here, imagination, you're killing it dead!"
"What is your name?" Cyber Lumic asked.
"I'm the Doctor."
"A redundant title. Doctors need not exist. Cybermen never sicken."
"Yeah, but that's it. That's exactly the point! Oh, Lumic, you're a clever man. I'd call you a genius, except I'm in the room. But everything you've invented, you did to fight your sickness. And that's brilliant. That is so human. But once you get rid of sickness and mortality, then what's there to strive for, eh? The Cybermen won't advance. You'll just stop. You'll stay like this forever. A metal Earth with metal men and metal thoughts, lacking the one thing that makes this planet so alive. People. Ordinary, stupid, brilliant people."
"You are proud of your emotions."
"Oh, yes." the Doctor said while Ash briefly shook her head before laying it back down on the Doctor's shoulder.
"Then tell me, Doctor. Have you known grief, and rage, and pain?"
"Yes. Yes I have."
"And they hurt?"
"Oh, yes."
"I could set you free. Would you not want that? A life without pain?"
"You might as well kill me."
"Then I take that option."
"It's not yours to take. You're a Cyber Controller. You don't control me or anything with blood in its heart."
"You have no means of stopping me. I have an army. A species of my own."
The Doctor noticed a flashing red light on one of the security cameras in the room and came up with a plan. "You just don't get it, do you? An army's nothing. Because those ordinary people, they're the key. The most ordinary person could change the world. Some ordinary man or woman, some idiot. All it takes is for him to find, say, the right numbers. Say the right codes. Say, for example, the code behind the emotional inhibitor. The code right in front of him." the Doctor said, hoping Mickey had managed to get the picture and sound working in the Zeppelin.
In Lumic's Zeppelin, Mickey grinned and began typing.
"Because even an idiot knows how to use computers these days." the Doctor continued. "Knows how to get past firewalls and passwords. Knows how to find something encrypted in the Lumic Family Database, under er. What was it, Pete? Binary what?"
"Binary nine." Pete answered. Rose and Pete both relaxed, smiling, finally understanding the plan.
"An idiot could find that code. Cancellation code. And he'd keep on typing. Keep on fighting. Anything to save his friends."
"Your words are irrelevant." Cyber Lumic interrupted.
"Yeah, talk too much, that's my problem. Lucky I got you that cheap tariff, Rose, for all our long chats on your phone." the Doctor said.
In the Zeppelin Mickey realized what the Doctor needed him to do and texted the code he had found to Rose's phone.
"You will be deleted." Cyber Lumic said.
"Yes. Delete, control, hash. All those lovely buttons. Then, of course, my particular favorite, send. And let's not forget how you seduced all those ordinary people in the first place-"
Rose's phone chirped and the Doctor casually made his way towards a control panel.
"- by making every bit of technology compatible with everything else."
"It's for you." Rose said, tossing the phone to the Doctor with a grin.
"Like this." He finished catching the phone and placing it in a docking station.
All the Cybermen immediately cried out in pain, holding their heads, while Mickey and Jake celebrated in the Zeppelin.
"I'm sorry." the Doctor said, looking at the suffering Cybermen.
"What have you done?" Cyber Lumic cried.
"I gave them back their souls. They can see what you've done, Lumic, and it's killing them!" he said before running out of the room with Rose and Pete.
"Delete! Delete! Delete!" Cyber Lumic said, slowly chasing after them.
Ash clung to the Doctor's neck as they ran, scared by the screaming and explosions and chaos.
"There's no way out!" the Doctor yelled as they reached an exit that was blocked by dying Cybermen.
Luckily for them, Mickey understood their predicament and called Rose.
"Hold it!" he said to Jake as he tried to steer the ship. Jake held the phone to Mickey's ear as he continued. "Rose? Rose, can you hear me? Head for the roof!"
"It's Mickey. He says head for the roof."
Cyber Lumic saw them heading up the stair. "No!" he yelled, stepping out of the wheelchair in pursuit.
Still on the phone, Rose said, "Mickey, where'd you learn to fly that thing?"
"Playstation. Just hold on, Rose. I'm coming to get you." Mickey said. Jake found a lever to lower a ladder as Mickey piloted the Zeppelin closer to the roof despite the fire and explosions.
"You've got to be kidding." Pete said when he saw the Zeppelin.
"Rose, get up." The Doctor said holding the ladder. He then began climbing after Rose while keeping Ash tightly held between himself and the ladder. Pete soon followed.
"Hold on tight, we're going up! Welcome to Mickey Smith's Airline. Please enjoy your flight. Woo!" Mickey said.
Rose stopped climbing, "We did it! We did it!" she said as the Zeppelin lifted off, raising an arm in victory. Ash joined in her celebration, releasing her grip on the ladder and raising her arms, trusting in the Doctor to not let her fall. "Wooho-" she began to yell before abruptly stopping. She could see Cyber Lumic on the roof below.
The ladder jerked as Cyber Lumic lept and just managed to grab the last rung. The ladder shook and swayed as he started climbing.
"Pete! Take this! Use it! Hold the button down! Press it against the rope. Just do it!" The Doctor said, pulling his sonic from his pocket. But before he could drop it down to Pete, Ash yelled. "LET GO!" and an incredulous look passed over Mr. Lumic's face as his fingers opened and he let go of the ladder.
A similar look was on the Doctor's face. She'd commanded a Cyberman to kill himself. "That was way beyond hypnosis. Just how powerful is she?" He asked himself.
—
Back in the Tardis, the Doctor let Ash replace the now fully charged powercell. Stepping back outside they found Pete backing away from the Tardis while Rose watched with tears in her eyes.
"Rose? I've only got five minutes of power. We've got to go." The Doctor said.
"- the Doctor could show you." Rose said to Pete, trying to get him to stay.
"Thank you. For everything." Pete said to the Doctor.
"Dad..." Rose said, reaching out.
"Don't. Just, just don't." an uncomfortable Pete replied before walking away. He was too overwhelmed from losing his wife and from the events of the day to even begin to think about having a daughter from a parallel universe.
He was replaced by Mickey and Jake, who had run up with the Doctor's suit.
"Here it is. I found it. Not a crease." He told the Doctor.
"My suit! Good man. Now then, Jake, we've got to run. But one more thing. Mrs Moore. Her real name was Angela Price. She's got a husband out there, and children. Find them. Tell them how she died saving the world.
"Yeah, course I will." Jake said.
"Off we go, then." the Doctor said, picking up Ash and opening the Tardis door.
But Mickey stayed where he was and said, "Er, thing is, I'm staying." causing the Doctor to turn back.
"You're doing what?" He said.
Rose walked up to Mickey and said, "You can't."
"It sort of balances out, because this world lost its Ricky, but there's me. And there's work to be done with all those Cybermen still out there." Mickey explained.
"But you can't stay."
"Rose, my gran's here. She's still alive. My old gran, remember her?"
"Yeah."
"She needs me."
"What about me? What if I need you?"
"Yeah, but Rose, you don't. We had something a long time ago, but not anymore."
"Well, we'll come back. We can travel anywhere. Come and see you, yeah?"
The Doctor set a squirming Ash back on the ground and said, "We can't. I told you, travel between parallel worlds is impossible. We only got here by accident. We fell through a crack in time. When we leave, I've got to close it. We can't ever return." as Ash ran to Mickey and wrapped her arms around his legs.
"Doctor." Mickey said, awkwardly stepping towards the Doctor to shake his hand with Ash still wrapped around his legs.
"Take Rose's phone. It's got the code. Get it out there. Stop those factories. And good luck, Mickey the idiot." the Doctor said as he peeled Ash off Mickey and took her back into the Tardis.
Rose handed her phone to Mickey and wrapped him in a tight hug.
"Thanks." Mickey said, " We've had a laugh though, haven't we? Seen it all, been there and back. Who would have thought, me and you off the old estate, flying through the stars."
"All those years just sitting there, imagining what we'd do one day. We never saw this, did we?" Rose said, stepping back with tears in her eyes.
"Go on, don't miss your flight." he said, ushering Rose towards the Tardis before walking away with Jake, phone in hand, off to save the world.
Rose broke down as she entered the Tardis. The Doctor looked over, empathizing, before sending the Tardis back to their Universe.
They materialized in the middle of Jackie's living room, startling Jackie who was in the kitchen making tea. Rose ran out to her mum, "You're alive. Oh mum, you're alive." she said as she hugged her, crying.
"Well, I was the last time I looked. What is it? What's happened, sweetheart? What's wrong? Where did you go?" Jackie asked, turning to the Doctor for answers.
"Far away. That was far away." the Doctor said his hand absentmindedly rubbing Ash's shoulder. She was once again perched on his hip.
"Where's Mickey?" Jackie asked when she realized he hadn't come out of the Tardis.
"He's gone home." the Doctor said before taking Ash to Rose's old room, leaving Rose and Jackie to have some time alone. He knew the Tardis needed some time to rejuvenate herself after the last 24 hours.
"Not tired." Ash said with eyes half shut as the Doctor pulled back the pink bedspread and laid her down.
"Course not." The Doctor replied, tucking her in before walking around to the other side of the bed and laying down. Humming a lullaby to help Ash fall asleep he closed his eyes.
He'd been able to emotionally distance himself from Ash before; he'd known she was going to die soon from the first time he scanned her in the med bay. But this Ash, this tiny child, she could live for thousands of years. He truly wasn't alone anymore. His little miracle.
He let his mind wander as he listened to her breathe. "Four though! I'm going to have to settle in, I suppose. Not travel so much. Four! She's four… and I'm not the last. Welll, sort of, but not really. There's so much I need to teach her. Blimey, that's two hundred years right there, just to cover the basics. Well, not quite two hundred years. A lot of the stuff they taught at the academy was pretty useless. But still…" he thought to himself as he fell asleep.
