TW - Self Harm + the usual

At breakfast the next day there was a visible shadow on The Master's cheekbone from where her hand had connected with his face.

She tried to squish the small victorious swell in her chest upon seeing it. But she couldn't deny that it was there. Hurting him had made her feel better, if only for a moment. She watched his face as he took a large gulp of orange juice, smirking as he mocked The Doctor's shaking hands.

Her mind wandered back to Gallifrey. There were times that stuck out to her, moments where they'd hurt one another, purposefully. She was beginning to worry that perhaps they enjoyed it. Hally considered The Doctor, his thoughts and emotions so far hidden behind a wall of sad indifference. Why couldn't she be the same? Take the moral high ground and sit in silent protest against The Master's actions.

Jack gave her a once over, concern on his face. He was most likely imagining The Master had done something awful to her after the room had been cleared. Again, she felt a spark of rebellion willing her to undermine The Master and show Jack that she was completely fine, that The Master had done nothing. But instead, she schooled her expression, turning away from him in the hope that he'd drop it. The threat to the lives of Martha's family felt real this time and she couldn't justify acting out just to see if he'd kill one of them.

After all, he did have three.

The Master's eyes were on her, she met his gaze unapologetically. The shadow on his cheek drew her attention again. He must have seen something cross over her face because the dark brown pools softened. A silent exchange. One she didn't quite understand.

Hally wondered how much easier things might be if she could still feel their bond, if she could feel him.

From the moment they'd met, they'd been locked in an unyielding fight for control. For power, dominance, the upper hand, whatever you wanted to call it. Even on Gallifrey, it had been a constant back and forth while each of them tried to establish their place within their partnership. Finding the balance. After the bond it had been easier, the conflict had still been there but there had been resolve with a single thought, a single shared feeling. Always a compromise to regain balance.

The Master thrived on being in control, she knew this. She liked it. His ability to manipulate and manoeuvre any situation to his advantage was something she found incredibly… well, arousing. She had trusted him with this control when it had come to their marriage. All of it, their whole dynamic, had always been consensually dominated by him.

But, only because she let him. Only because she wanted that too.

Because there had to be a balance and against his whirlwind of rage and pain and noise was her own barricade of all-consuming power and the inability to back down. The knowledge, that both of them had, that she could overpower him in an instant if she wanted to. It had been their safety net, a safe word.

But here and now, he'd skewed the balance in his favour. He'd altered the dynamic irreversibly by holding her power captive and blocking them from each other's minds. He'd forced the control. Taken it. Whether she wanted it or not. He had backed her into a corner and like a desperate animal she had lashed out.

But even now, he had taken away her ability to fight him. Using her own deceit against her. So to save herself and to save the Jones's, Hally sat quietly and obediently for the rest of the day. And the following day. Week. Three weeks.

Martha Jones had been spotted in the south of Spain.

The Master had sent in the Toclafane to find and eliminate her. But somehow, she'd evaded them. So instead, as a lesson for humanity, he ordered his deadly spheres to set fire to the entirety of Spain and Portugal.

They all stood on the upper bridge, watching the surface explode with darkened hues of orange and yellow. Francine and Letitia Jones were holding onto one another, Clive stood beside them, a mixture of pain and rage on his face. Two guards held The Doctor, keeping him on his feet. A single tear traced down his face, reflecting the amber of the destruction below. Then there was Jack, his eyes ablaze, liquid pooling in his lower lids, jaw clenched.

Hally's gaze returned to the glass in front of her, abruptly aware of her lack of emotional response to the mass murder occurring in front of her. She frowned deeply. Of course, it was awful. She knew that. She knew that millions of people would be dying and she certainly wasn't ok with that. Her hearts were full of hope that Martha would survive, as she had so far. But the niggling nausea in her stomach wasn't due to the atrocity of the act they were being forced to witness, rather it came from the man who had ordered it.

Why are you doing this Koschei?

Another tear fell from her father's face. It felt, strangely ironic.

The man who had destroyed her entire home planet was now crying as he watched someone do the same to the Earth.

She understood the difference.

Of course.

The Doctor had destroyed Gallifrey in order to end the war. A war that would have ripped apart the universe. Never-ending. The Master was doing the opposite.

She understood the difference.

But it looked the same.

Behind their involuntary line, just in her peripheral vision, Lucy was clinging to The Master. She'd wrapped her arms around him and was whispering against his cheek.

Hally felt the muscles in her back contract as irritation prickled up her spine. The Master caught her watching, sending a small, knowing smirk back at her. It was as if he predicted her eye-roll before the motion had even crossed her mind because his face dropped, brow raising in warning. Her eyes narrowed, but she resisted the urge, turning her attention away from him and back towards the glass.

Hally forced her mind back to The Doctor as the warm blush slowly evaporated from her cheeks. She hoped that he had some kind of plan ticking away. Martha too. She wondered if Jack was aware of the plan. Perhaps they were all conspiring together.

She bit the inside of her lip. What if… there was no plan.

The hum of warmth at her back alerted her to his unexpected closeness. The Master's hand snaked over her hip to rest on her lower abdomen, pressing firmly until her back connected with his chest. His foot nudged its way in between hers, the soft cotton of his trousers tickling the inside of her bare leg. Blood rushed to her cheeks and she had to close her mouth to silence what would have been a gasp.

If she had any control over her wardrobe she would have chastised herself for picking the short, satin green number she'd put on that morning. Suddenly feeling very vulnerable, exposed.

"You looked tense." His breath was hot against her ear. Voice low, just for her. His face hidden from the others by her head.

Sticky heat rushed over her skin and she tried her best not to squirm. Tension was coiling underneath his hand, insistently pressed to her abdomen.

Hally swallowed, whispering loud enough for only him to hear her. "Well, what do you expect when you've got your arm around me?" She'd tried to sound cold, indifferent but it had come out slightly breathless.

His chest vibrated against her back. "No not now." The smile was audible. "A moment ago. The second I touched you, you relaxed into my arms." The Master cooed just behind her ear, amused. Hally opened her mouth to immediately deny it but now that he'd said it she couldn't ignore it. He was right. Her jaw had unclenched and her back no longer stung with tension. She had practically melted into him. Hally let out a frustrated huff of disbelief. Her own body had betrayed her.

"Are you jealous, little one?" His lips hovered dangerously next to her ear. Hally shivered, the hairs on her neck standing up.

How dare he.

"How could I be jealous?" She snipped back at him, voice rising slightly.

The Master chuckled into her hair and Hally felt him press his mouth against the side of her head. Her eyes were drawn to her right, caught in Jack's piercing blue. He was watching them, distress painted all over his handsome face. She could see there was a battle going on inside him, trying to decide if he could stop The Master or not.

"Eyes forward, Harkness." The Master instructed coldly, not moving. "I thought we'd squished your inconvenient hero complex?"

Jack winced, his eyes full of apology as he willed his gaze back to the glass in front of him. But she could still feel his attention on them.

"Stop." She whispered.

The fingers of his hand splayed out over her dress. "Why? Anyone watching will simply assume that I'm touching you to get a reaction." He murmured, matter of fact, before his voice dropped. "None of them will think for a second that you're enjoying it."

Hally hissed. "I'm not."

"Don't lie to me." His voice was muffled as his mouth found her neck, pressing a soft kiss to her skin.

A heavy exhale fell from her as the sensation sent a jolt of heat through her body.

The Master groaned possessively. "Isn't it good when you behave?"

The thought was tumbling from her lips before she could stop it. "I thought you liked it when I misbehaved?"

He let out a short laugh. "Are you flirting with me…?"

Hally's eyes widened and she shifted in his arms, trying to find a way to distance herself from his hold. "No."

He hummed in disbelief.

She needed to remove his hands from her, it was the only way she'd be able to pull back an inch of control. Put a stop to this.

Her body protested at the thought.

Distract him with a tangent.

"I thought you were mad at me?" She quipped, her voice shaking with concentration.

"Oh, I am." There was a dark edge to his voice, rage slipping into his drawl. Hally let out a strangled noise, something very close to a whimper when The Master nipped hard at her neck. "But having you squirm in my arms is exquisite."

"Fuck you."

"All in good time."

His hand tightened on her hip as Hally began to struggle, letting out a disgruntled noise of disgust, trying to wriggle free of his grip. His other arm wrapped across her clavicle, holding her firmly.

"Not yet... It's so silent when you're near. I just need it to be quiet, a while longer…" He growled lowly, a hint of desperation.

He held her until the attack below them ceased. His arms bound her tightly to him. His breath fanned across her neck as he buried his face into her hair. Hally let out a long exhale, slowing her breathing, trying to stop the slight tremor of anger in her body. She tried to reason that the now almost unbearable heat that was burning on the surface of her skin was from rage, or humiliation. Guilt pattered down over her like tiny raindrops. When he finally moved away, she shivered with the sudden cold.

Another two weeks plodded by. To her surprise and slight relief, The Master hadn't touched her since. Well, he'd touched her, the usual feather light touches he did in front of Jack and The Doctor, those touches weren't for herself or The Master, just another method to hurt the two men. Nothing like what had happened on the bridge.

Hally shivered, reaching out and turning the shower nozzle. The steady stream of water hitting her skin warmed and she closed her eyes, sighing softly. It was late evening, she'd gotten into the habit of showering before bed to avoid any possibility of running late for breakfast. She wouldn't put it past Armitage to drag her out of her room half-dressed if she wasn't ready by the specified time. The heat from the water burned pleasantly against her skin, distracting her from the steady ache in her lower back that had bothered her since she'd awoken.

Rinsing her hair, Hally turned off the shower and grabbed a towel. Her eyes focused on a large water droplet that was running its way down her inner thigh. Tinged with red.

She frowned deeply, drying herself off quickly and wrapping the towel around her body. The slight nausea and back pain made it unfortunately obvious and Hally let out a huff.

"Fuck."

Dressed in only her towel, Hally began rummaging through the bathroom cabinets. Her stomach tightened with dread. She already knew there weren't any sanitary items in the room, because she'd already opened and explored every area during her initial days of intense boredom. However, she needed to check. Because she needed them to have suddenly appeared. She needed them, now.

Irritation flared as she stared at all the useless items that filled her cupboard. She moved from the bathroom and into the bedroom, fruitlessly reopening every drawer, cupboard and cabinet. Of course. Of course, The Master hadn't planned for this when furnishing her room.

She had six bottles of perfume, fifteen pairs of pyjamas and a drawer full of intimate toys but of course, he wouldn't think to provide her with period products!

Hally scowled. "Urgh!"

An expression of pure desperation plastered her face and she let out a childish whine.

She was going to have to ask Armitage.

"If you need anything you can just knock…" The memory taunted her.

Hally pulled a face.

She checked the bathroom again, praying that perhaps she'd just mislaid a box, or perhaps she'd not looked hard enough. But, no.

Begrudgingly she marched to her door, knocking perhaps a little harder than necessary.

Less than a minute later, the familiar baritone of her guard came over the communicator. "Yes?"

Hally sighed, heavy with frustration. "I… There are some items that I'll be needing." She bit out.

"What items?" Calm and almost bored, as usual.

She pressed her head against the door. "Female sanitary items."

The other end went quiet, for a moment Hally wondered if Armitage was purposefully elongating her discomfort.

"Are you sure…?" He finally replied. The cold tone was laced with some uncertainty.

Hally blinked, staring up at the speaker. "Am I sure…?" She cut back, words dripping with venom. "Yes, of course, I'm sure."

There was another long pause.

"I… I've been informed your species menstruate once every three years."

At least Armitage had the sense to stutter.

Hally's mouth dropped open. "Oh, you've 'been informed' have you?" Her top lip pulled back into a snarl, baring her teeth. "Well, you can tell my husband that he is not the expert on my menstrual cycle and yes, while perhaps the average Time Lady's reproductive cycle IS around three years, I am a significant percentage human. And their reproductive cycle is roughly every 30 days. So, tell him to do the maths!"

There was a heavy sigh of defeat through the comm before the crackling disappeared with a pop. She didn't have to wait long before there was a knock at her door and her guard's face slid into view. Thoroughly unimpressed and evidently wishing he could be anywhere else.

Hally crinkled her nose at him, not having the best day herself. She grabbed the small box from his outstretched hand and beelined back to the bathroom.

When she emerged, Armitage had understandably scrammed, but on her desk had been left a small basket containing an assortment of pads, tampons, cups, pain killers and even a self-warming heat pad. Hally pressed her tongue into the back of her teeth, her irritation mellowed somewhat. She picked up the painkiller packet, noticing the messy scrawl written quickly on a post-it note stuck to the front.

Sorry.

X

P.S - don't bite Armitage's head off

She rolled her eyes, placing the note back in the basket. Grabbing the heat pad and some painkillers Hally crawled back under the sheets of her bed and curled herself into a ball.

No one bothered her for three days. Armitage brought her food, of course, and checked she was alive, but there was no 8am musical wakeup call, no Earth-wide announcements. It was wonderful. Slightly dull but Hally was certainly not in any kind of mood to deal with her husband and his ridiculous plan so she accepted the boredom.

In the late afternoon of the third day, Armitage had knocked and entered her room. Followed by a short, middle-aged brunette woman. Her hands were clasped in front of her, eyes forward. Hally raised her eyebrow at him questioningly.

"She's here to cut your hair." His tone was even, measured.

Her eyes flickered to the woman standing silently by his side, the human offered her a small smile.

"As in… am I being commanded to have my hair cut? Or are you offering a haircut?" The edge to her voice was clear.

Armitage gave her a tired look. "You're being offered a haircut."

She considered him for a moment, unsure as to whether he was being truthful or perhaps just choosing the easier road. She shrugged. "Fine. Then I accept."

A flicker of relief passed over his face and he motioned for Hally to sit at her desk. She did so silently. Armitage perched on the edge of her bed, watching as the hairdresser approached Hally and began her work.

They exchanged the bare minimum of words, Hally thought it better that way. She didn't want to make the woman's life any more difficult than it already was. It was strangely therapeutic and Hally's hair had grown far past its usual length thanks to months of being The Master's prisoner.

"Thank you." Hally directed at the human, as she packed up her things and made to leave. She gave her a small smile in response.

The next morning Armitage had brought her breakfast, informing her she would need to be dressed by 11:45am. She'd given him a small nod of confirmation.

The walk to the bridge felt long today. Hally wondered if The Master had forced Jack and The Doctor to dine with him while Hally had been away.

As she entered the bridge, her stomach dropped. The screen was back.

She sat and a loud sigh escaped her, eyes grazing over the offending item. Jack gave her a once over quickly, seemingly satisfied that she was unharmed.

Across from her, Lucy sat, a smug smile painted onto her face. Hally looked to The Master, their eyes meeting.

"Lovely to have you back." A mischievous smile tugged at his lips.

Hally sent him an unimpressed look. "I'm sure this whole preamble would be thrilling, but if you could just cut to the point, I'm sure everyone would appreciate it."

He smiled at her, a charming, amused smile. "Of course, my dear. I myself, am feeling rather impatient today, so I'll let the attitude slide."

Oh, the need to roll her eyes.

The Master smirked, looking between The Doctor and Jack, his tone changed to that of a parent scolding a child. "Now, the both of you can see that she's perfectly unharmed. I haven't been anywhere near her, have I Hal?" He sent her a patronising look.

She crossed her arms over her chest, looking between the two silent men who were scanning her face for any sign of damage. "I'm fine."

Their captor clapped his hands together. "Excellent. We can now, as you say, cut to the point…" A self-assured smile settled onto The Master's face. He sucked in a breath and the energy around him shifted. The ebb of excitement was still there, but on top, now lay a slab of purpose. Finality.

Hally's mind started shuffling through all the possibilities. Perhaps he had more footage of her killing things, or their sessions at the facility. Of course, there was their secret. She'd definitely mentioned that to The Master when he'd been pretending to be her therapist.

In a very, un-Master-like fashion, he swiftly pressed play on the remote without another word. His eyes trained on The Doctor.

It was the interior of the TARDIS once more. The coral hue of the console room.

The Doctor bounded onto the screen, but not the version of The Doctor that sat before them now. The previous version, with his leather jacket and ears slightly too big for his head.

"The assembled hordes of Genghis Khan couldn't get through that door, and believe me, they've tried. Now, shut up a minute." The Doctor on the screen was rambling. Rose stepped into view, eyes wide as she turned almost comically on the spot, in awe at the TARDIS. Hally could see herself looking between the two.

"You see, the arm was too simple, but the head's perfect. I can use it to trace the signal back to the original source. Right. Where do you want to start?" The Doctor had finally stopped talking, turning to the human with expectation all over his face.

"The insides bigger than the outside…"

Hally felt her hearts twinge at the sound of the familiar voice. Rose.

"Yes."

"It's alien…?"

"Yep."

A small smile crept onto Hally's face as she remembered the moment. The first time Rose had stepped onto the TARDIS.

"Are you alien?" Rose asked, looking at The Doctor accusingly.

"Yes."

"Is…she?"

The Doctor looked over at Hally's younger self. "Kind of."

The scene cut abruptly. They were still in the console room, although she could now only see Rose on the screen. As she watched, Hally noticed two thick chains were attached to the edge of the control panel, tension heavy across them.

Rose was shouting. "Keep going!"

The panel gave way, a bright burst of light enveloped the screen. It seemed to whirl around the shadow that outlined Rose. The TARDIS engines wheezed as she took flight.

Another cut.

Still the console room. The Doctor, Rose and Hally. It was the aftermath of Satellite Five. The Doctor was about to regenerate. Which meant. The scene from before had been from when The Doctor had tried to send Rose away. But she'd…

"I absorbed all the energy of the Time Vortex, and no one's meant to do that. Every cell in my body's dying." The Doctor explained, looking between his daughter and the human.

"Master. Stop this." The Doctor's voice cut across the table. Her head whipped to look at him. It was the most animated she'd seen him be in weeks.

The Master just shot him a dazzling smile in response. "Now, now, this is important. Don't miss a second." He scolded The Doctor, eyes swivelling to catch hers pointedly.

The Doctor's eyes fell to the table, burning holes in the tempered glass. He didn't turn his attention back to the moving images on the screen and The Master didn't press him. It dawned on her. These clips weren't for him this time. They were meant for her.

The scene changed, it'd moved into the TARDIS kitchen. She could see herself, reaching into the fridge to search for leftovers. Rose had made a joke and she'd straightened up laughing. The Doctor, this version of The Doctor, was leaning against the kitchen sideboard, watching the two women fondly. Hally walked off the screen, leaving the human alone with her father. She watched, intrigued as the blonde woman turned her attention to the pin-stripe-wearing Time Lord, a relaxed smile gracing her face. They were chatting idly as Rose slinked up to The Doctor before she leant up and placed a soft kiss on his lips.

Hally's eyebrows arched up towards her hairline.

That was… unexpected.

Although, Hally had figured that they'd both liked one another more than they'd been letting on. But she'd concluded that neither of them had acted on their feelings. As the kiss intensified and The Doctor wrapped his arms tightly around the human, Hally realised her conclusion had been very wrong indeed.

Jack coughed awkwardly beside her.

Hally shot an unimpressed look towards The Master. Had he imagined that she'd be upset over their relationship? He simply nodded back towards the screen. The mischief in his eyes had gone. Replaced with a sombre stare that caused her chest to tighten.

The screen flickered.

The three of them were in the console room again, an orange light was flashing throughout the room, accompanied by a high-pitched wailing alarm.

"Master. Please." The Doctor's voice was quiet. Almost inaudible.

The Master ignored him, but Hally saw the tension roll through his jaw. She looked between them both. Something was happening that she didn't understand. Something that both The Doctor and The Master knew.

"Doctor, I'm not sure hitting it is going to stop the alarm…" Rose leant over the console to stare at The Doctor.

"It always helps!" He continued to smack the console with a rubber mallet.

She watched as they continued to hopelessly attempt to stop the noise, before Rose raised her hand, pointing towards the monitor. "Umm, could it be this…?"

There were two angry red dots flashing on the monitor.

"But that's not…" The Doctor began. "There's not two - …" He looked from Hally to Rose, before he trailed off.

"Umm… what is it?" Hally asked.

The Doctor on the screen looked up at Hally slowly before looking back over towards Rose.

She felt Jack stiffen beside her. His face was ashen, eyes scorching with understanding. Hally frowned, feeling very much like she'd been cut out, the last to catch on.

On the screen, The Doctor forced the two women to stand on opposite sides of the TARDIS. The alarm stopped.

"Ah…" The Doctor muttered, covering his face with his hand.

"What's wrong with the TARDIS?" Rose asked from one side of the console room.

"Umm…" The Doctor straightened up, looking between the two women. "Nothing… she's fine. She's actually fine." He'd started to pace between them both.

That was when The Doctor had become fixated on chips, bounding around the console room. "Perfect! Hally's going to go and get us chips!"

"I am?" She'd asked uncertainly.

Then she watched, as The Doctor made them swap, without going near one another. Hally and Rose circled around the outside of the console room until Hally was in front of the TARDIS doors. "No! Round the outside… I need you to both swap places… but… as far away as possible."

"Doctor, what's going on?"

"Chips! Chips is what is going on. Now both of you, circle around please."

"I guess… I'll be back in 15?" Hally on the screen had conceded.

Jack had stopped watching too. Hally could feel her hearts beating frantically in her chest. Pressing against her ribs. The look on his face, it was a mixture of disappointment and pity. Jack sent a heated look at The Doctor, which he didn't pick up as his eyes were still downcast at the table in front of them.

The scene cut once more. It was Torchwood. The bright white room with the levers. Where they'd pulled the Daleks and Cybermen into the void. It was happening, right in front of her. The void was open and Hally and Rose were clinging to the wall clamp. Then the lever jolted out of place and Hally had tried to reach for it, to push it back.

Her hand almost slipped and Rose had pulled her back. "No!"

Rose climbed over her. "I'll do it!" She'd yelled. Rose pushed the lever back into place but was now being dragged backwards with only the lever to hold on to. She was slipping. Hally watched as her younger self held out her hand, trying to lock onto the human, holding her in place.

"Rose!" Hally heard herself shout and she winced at the memory. Her power was waning, she could see it. It looked like she had been only moments from passing out and falling into the void herself. Rose must have seen it too.

She let go.

Rose had let go.

And just like that, all over again, she was gone.

The image paused. The atmosphere around the table was uncomfortably heavy. The Doctor wouldn't look her in the eye and when she turned to Jack for help, a pained expression crossed his face. They both knew something she didn't and neither would tell her what it was. Jack seemingly had worked it out while they'd been sitting there. If he could work it out from the clips they'd seen then why couldn't she? Hally wracked her brains. It evidently had something to do with Rose. She'd been the constant throughout.

Hally felt increasingly stupid as nothing useful came to her. The short shallow breaths her lungs were allowing were making her feel a little lightheaded, her hands clammy. She didn't want to turn to the dark brown irises to her right, but she didn't know what else to do. If answers were going to come from anywhere, it would be there.

"I… don't…?" She stuttered, her eyes had started to burn with frustrated tears that she blinked away furiously.

The cocky smirk she'd expected wasn't there. Instead, The Master stared back at her with gentle stubbornness. This, whatever it was, whatever she was supposed to work out. It would happen. It was inevitable. "Work it out, sweetheart."

She frowned, looking back to the screen as if the answer would suddenly become obvious. Work what out?

He'd not shown her anything relevant. He'd shown her The Doctor meeting Rose, both of them absorbing the Time Vortex. Kissing Rose. Losing Rose and the TARDIS alarm.

It didn't add up, she could see he'd placed dots in front of her but nothing was connecting them.

But something was there. Something for her.

The Master sighed softly to her right, clicking the remote. It was the interior of the TARDIS again, he was replaying the scene with the alarm. Everything happened as it had done before. The alarm. The Doctor. Rose and Hally swapped places and then Hally watched herself as she left the console room, exiting the TARDIS on The Doctor's chip errand. This time, the scene continued. After a moment of quiet thought, The Doctor busied himself at the console and started the TARDIS engines. He was piloting them away, leaving Hally behind.

Her ears pricked, watching intently.

"Doctor, are you going to tell me what's wrong?" Rose was watching him, concern evident in her voice.

"Nothing is wrong." There was a dense sadness in his voice.

"The alarm stopped?"

"Yes."

"Well… shall we go and get chips?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because… we can't bring Hally back onto the TARDIS."

Hally cocked her head to one side, her gaze flicked to the version of her father that was in the room with them. Finally, his eyes met hers. Expression unreadable.

"Why not?" Rose pressed him.

"The alarm."

"You said it stopped."

"Yes but…" It was obvious to all watching that The Doctor in the video was struggling with something. Something he didn't know how to say. He ran his hands through his hair.

"If I bring her back onto the TARDIS the alarm will sound again. The TARDIS is very… sensitive. You shouldn't have two versions of the same person existing within the same timeline. And even if you do… they certainly shouldn't exist so close together. In the same TARDIS…"

The human was struggling to catch up. "What? I don't understand…"

Hally had stopped breathing. Blood drained from her face as the penny finally dropped. Cold and heavy. Time seemed to slow to a painful halt. The room was immediately far too hot. So many eyes. Everyone was watching. The realisation was like a collision. Head on. Smashing her into a million pieces.

On the screen, The Doctor had turned towards Rose, approaching her slowly, like you might a dangerous animal. "Currently, we have two versions of my daughter. We have the one who I just sent out… and then we have the one in the TARDIS. Here." He motioned towards Rose.

Hally face crumpled as she looked to her father. Her expression of absolute distress was mirrored back to her on his face. His eyes glistened.

Rose paused. "What are you saying, Doctor?"

"I'm sorry… I didn't think this could happen, it never crossed my mind that…"

Hally choked back a sob.

"What Doctor?!"

"You're pregnant."

"What?"

"Rose. You're pregnant with my… our daughter."

The clip cut out and plunged them into silence.

She couldn't move. Tears blurred her vision. She could feel that she was shaking but everything else was numb. Her lungs began screaming for oxygen and she let in a gasp of air. Her eyes were still focused on the screen in front, she couldn't look anywhere else.

They'd both kept this from her.

Rose.

Hally felt bile rise in her throat, trying to swallow it quickly.

Her mother.

She'd known.

They'd both known.

And now Rose was gone.

Her mother had been there, right in front of her.

Hally would never see her again.

Of course, Rose had known. The way she'd looked at her when they'd been stuck on the planet orbiting the black hole. She had wondered then, why she'd been looking at her like that.

And then at Torchwood. Rose had never left her side. She'd let go.

Rose had let go. To save her.

Because she was…

It was so silent it hurt. Hally needed to run. She couldn't be here anymore. Not with them. Watching. Knowing. Waiting.

They were waiting.

For her.

To say something.

Hally closed her eyes. Blocking them out. "Master…" She asked, the effort evident in her voice. She couldn't look at him but she knew she had his attention.

She'd used his name.

"I'd like to be taken to my room… please." Her words cracked with emotion.

She was breaking.

Hally couldn't break here.

She felt his eyes on her, could practically hear him considering her words before he murmured softly. "Armitage."

An inkling of relief against the tidal wave of betrayal. Her eyes fluttered open when she felt Armitage's hand on her upper arm. Guiding her out of her seat. She let him manoeuvre her, not trusting her own body to be able to take her to where she needed to go.

Away.

Away from here.

His hand grounded her as they made their way back to the safety of her bedroom. A storm was thrashing around inside, locked away with nowhere to escape. She could feel her guard's eyes on her as the door slid open. She stepped over the threshold, the door clicked shut behind her.

A primal scream ripped through her. It wasn't enough. The hurricane only worsened. Her entire being was on fire and it wouldn't stop. She couldn't see it, or move it, only feel it. It was stuck. With nowhere to go. It was ripping her apart from the inside.

Was this how everyone else felt? All the time?

It should have been spilling out around her. Glass shattering. Fire licking up the wood. Everything should have been destroyed.

But it wasn't.

She touched the cuff around her neck and let out a strangled cry of despair.

There was nothing but her pain. Like a punch to the stomach, she could barely breathe.

It was overwhelming and unfamiliar.

She wanted it to be quiet. Needed it to be quiet.

Hally threw herself into the desk with an angry shout, smashing anything within her grasp. Everything went flying.

They had both lied to her.

She grabbed the lamp by the bedside, throwing it as hard as she could at the glass wall. The bulb shattered.

Her one chance of having a mother, and it was gone. It had been taken.

They had left her on Gallifrey.

The books, lined neatly on top of the chest of drawers were flung to the floor.

Even once Rose had gone, The Doctor had kept it from her. He had no right.

All her life she'd wondered, she'd yearned to know why she was different. Always the outcast. She was something new and he could have helped her. Instead, he had shut her out. Left her feeling like a mistake. Something that should never have existed.

The mirror smashed as the glass perfume bottle shattered against it. The cracks zig zagging violently.

Was that why The Doctor had been so afraid of her power, anxious enough to create a device that could lock it away? Because he had seen what it had done to Rose, lived through what it had done to him. The power of the Time Vortex.

Bad Wolf.

It was inside her.

It was… part of her. As much as her two hearts were.

Because of her parents. Both her parents had absorbed the Time Vortex.

They had done this to her and then they had left her.

She picked up a shard of the mirror that had fallen onto the dressing table, holding it in the palm of her hand. Hally stared at the face that looked back at her. Tears streaked her cheeks. Eyes ablaze with pain.

It was all so deafening.

Her hand tightened, balling into a fist around the jagged fragment.

A dull pain captured her interest. She opened her hand slowly, eyes trailing the dark lines of blood in fascination. The sensation was numbing. Crimson was dripping onto the carpet.

Hally repeated the action, curling her hand hard around the mirror shard. Hissing as she felt it slice further into her hand.

It hurt.

But the untameable fire inside her had lessened. Her thoughts had slowed.

This was better.

Pain. Feeling it hurt.

It needed to hurt.

There was a sharp scratch at her neck and Hally groaned softly as the glass fell from her hand. Shadow crept swiftly over her eyes and the world collapsed into darkness.