"I knew you'd see him again." Thea remarked absently, leaning on the wall besides the door of a quaint house as the Doctor rang the doorbell.
They'd spent the last 200 years on a farewell tour of the sorts. The Doctor never really looked back, even on his last farewell tour before regenerating he'd seen his old companions but hadn't spoken too them, that was pretty much was he was doing again except this time Thea had been dragging him to actually go and speak to them.
None of the past companions had really thought anything of this visit, a bit surprised he had come but most of the ones in the companions group chat knew Thea had him wrapped around her finger, so they weren't that surprised she managed to drag him for a visit.
The only one they hadn't gone to see was Donna Noble, what with the woman not being able to remember him, but they'd gone to a cafe with her granddad, had a lovely conversation with him.
Sarah Jane seemed to be the only one who knew something was wrong, but she was also the only one who knew of his upcoming death at Lake Silencio. The woman was clever enough to work it out, though kept quiet, but she did hug Thea extra tightly when they'd said goodbye.
It had been very nice, especially when old companions were always willing to share embarrassing stories about the Doctor.
Oh, she adored Ian and Barbara Chesterton. The first of the Doctors companions who had known him when he had been a grumpy old man. Ian had excellent stories about the Doctor from back then, which the Doctor found humiliating. Barbara was much more inclined to speak of what they had seen and done. Oh, and they knew of her niece, the Doctors granddaughter. A young lady she hoped one day she might run into.
And so here they were, standing in the porch of Craig Owens new house.
The door suddenly burst open and Craig stood there, shouting, "I'm coping on my own!"
Thea blinked, "yeah, sounds like it." She said, a hint of amusement in her voice. It was just like the first time when he opened the door and shouted 'I love you'. Seemed he hasn't changed one bit.
"Hello, Craig." The Doctor grinned at him, "we're back."
Craig could only stare at them, "She didn't. How could she phone you?"
"Who?" Thea frowned, "Sophie?"
"Nobody phoned us we're just here." The Doctor peered into the house, "Oh, you've redecorated. I don't like it."
"Dad," Thea rolled her eyes, "it's lovely Craig."
"It's a different house." Craig told them, "We moved."
Thea gasped, her hands flying over her mouth, "Did you and Sophie get married?" She lowered her hands, frowning, "No, not yet. A couple more years. I expect an invitation if I'm not a bridesmaid."
"What are you doing here?" Craig shook his head.
"Social call. Thought it was about time I tried one out." The Doctor shrugged, "Thea seems to enjoy them. How are you?"
"I'm fine." Craig replied.
"This is the bit where I say 'were fine too,' isn't it?" The Doctor glanced at Thea, "we're fine, too. Good. Love to Sophie. Bye." He turned to leave again when he noticed Thea hadn't moved, but was staring at the light behind Craig moments before it began to flicker, "Something's wrong." He realised, quickly running up the stairs, pulling his sonic out.
"Dad!" Thea groaned as she ran after him, following the sonic upstairs.
"On your own, you said. But you're not. You're not on your own."
"Just shh." Craig ran after them.
"Increased sulphur emissions. And look at the state of this place. What are you not telling me?"
"Doctor, please."
"Shh."
"No, you shh."
Thea shook her head as the men started 'shhing' the other and quietly headed to the bedroom the sonic had been pointing out, slowly opening the door.
A room made into a nursery, filled with toys and a cot against the wall.
"Thea!" The Doctor shouted, running in after her, banishing the sonic like weapon, "Whatever you are, get off this planet!"
"You've woken him!" Craig complained as he moved to the baby now fussing in the cot.
~.~
The Doctor shut the fridge door, turning to Craig, "So when you say on your own..." he began.
"Yes, I meant on my own with the baby." Craig bobbed his son as he managed to sooth him a little, "yes. Because no one thinks I can cope on my own. Which is so unfair, because..."
"You can't cope?" Thea guessed as she made a cup of tea for them all, sensing Craigs stress and knowing tea would help calm him down, even just a little.
"No!" Craig looked close to a breakdown as he set his son in the highchair, "I can't. He just cries all the time. I mean, do they have off switches?"
"Human beings." The Doctor looked up as he flicked through a pregnancy book, "No. Believe me, I've checked."
"No, babies."
"Same difference." Thea shrugged.
"Sometimes this works though." The Doctor leaned forwards, finger to his lips, "shh." And the baby quietened.
"Can you teach me to do that?" Craig stared at him.
"I doubt it." Thea patted his back, handing him a cup of tea before moving to raid the cupboards for an evening snack.
"Oh, please. Come on, I need something. I'm rubbish at this."
"At what?" The Doctor laughed.
"Being a dad. You read all the books, and they tell you you'll know what to do if you follow your instincts. I have no instinct. That's what this weekend's about, trying to prove to people I can do this one thing well."
"Cant be worse than me." The Doctor shrugged, his smile fading as he remembered his children.
He had no quells with how he had raised them, he was very proud of the people they had become, but he had left them and then they had died in the war. Of course, he felt the guilt that he had been the one to kill them. He tried so hard with Thea to do better this time round. He didn't even want to think of how he had failed Jenny having not even known her for one day.
Thea moved round him, kissing his cheek, "read your socks."
The Doctor looked at her puzzled before pulling up his trousers, chuckling to himself seeing which socks he had put on today. 'Universes best dad' a gift Thea had gotten him to celebrate fathers dad. He hadn't even realised he had put them on.
Craig eyed the pair, seeing the Doctors socks and how Thea had called him dad a few minutes ago. Which was weird as he knew they weren't related last he saw if them, it had been a cover story for them living in his flat.
Thea looked over and smiled at Craig, seeming to know what he was thinking, "he adopted me."
"What?"
"The Doctor adopted me. I am officially his daughter."
"Seriously?" Craig shook his head.
"I'm saying it was a feeling peeking out." The Doctor grinned, as Thea rolled her eyes. He turned to Craig, "So, what did you call him? Will I blush?"
"No, we didn't call him 'the Doctor,'" Craig rolled his eyes.
"No, I didn't think you would."
"To be fair, it's not a name." Thea remarked, taking a sip of her tea.
"We didn't call him 'Thea' either, or 'Theo,'" Craig told her, "He's called Alfie. What are you doing here anyway?"
"Yes, he likes that, Alfie," the Doctor nodded, "though personally he prefers to be called Stormageddon, Dark Lord Of All."
"Sorry, what?" Craig shook his head.
"That's what he calls himself."
"And how do you know that?"
"We speak baby." Thea answered as she found the biscuit cupboard and pulled out a packet of Oreos to snack on.
"Of course you do." Craig sighed, "I don't even know when his nappy needs changing, and I'm the one supposed to be his dad." He sat down heavily.
"Yeah. He's wondering where his mum is?" the Doctor added as he moved to massage Craig's shoulders, "Where is Sophie?"
"Away with Melina for the weekend." Thea aid.
"How did you...?" Craig looked at her before remembering, "psychic, right."
"She's needs a rest from this annoying one?" She guessed moving to tickle Alfie's stomach as he gurgled.
"No, he's your dad." The Doctor chastised, "You can't just call him 'Not Mum.'"
"Not Mum?" Craig frowned.
"That's you. Also Not Mum, that's me. Thea is...big sis. And everybody else is peasants."
"Stormy!" Thea gasped, "you can't go around calling everyone peasants."
"What are you here for?" Craig asked, "What's happening?"
"We just popped in to say hello." The Doctor shrugged.
"I've been dragging him to visit old friends." Thea added.
"I checked upstairs when we moved, it's real." Craig remarked, "And next door, both sides, they're humans. Is it the fridge? Are there aliens in my fridge?"
"Craig," Thea turned to him, putting her hands on his shoulders, "there's no aliens in this house...well, apart from us."
"I just want to see you, Craig!" The Doctor insisted, "Cross my hearts," he crossed them, "Thea and I been knocking about on a bit of a farewell tour. One last thing, popping in to see you, then we are off to the Alignment of Exedor."
"The Alignment of Exedor?" Craig repeated.
"17 galaxies in perfect unison." Thea gushed, "apparently its spectacular."
"We can't miss it." The Doctor added, "literally can't. It's locked in a time stasis field. I get one crack at flying my TARDIS straight into it, if I get my dates right." He glanced at a newspaper, "Which I have."
"I wasn't going to say anything." Thea defended with an eye roll.
"I don't need to be psychic to know you love to insult my piloting." He said, poking her in the stomach as she stuck her tongue out at him.
"Sounds nice." Craig commented.
The Doctor flicked through the newspaper, "So this is us, popping in and popping out again. Just being social. Just having a laugh." He looked at Thea as she blinked when the lights flickered, "Never mind that."
"Never mind what?" Craig frowned.
"Nothing." Thea said quickly, "we're heading off."
"You've seen something."
"I haven't seen anything dangerous." She answered honestly. All she had seen was flickering lights which could be something as simple as an electrical fault...or meaning an alien spaceship was nearby draining the local power.
Craig eyed her a moment before turning to her Doctor, "you've noticed something. You've got your noticing face on. I have nightmares about that face."
"Ooh, nope, given up all that." The Doctor muttered, "Done noticing things."
Thea looked up as the lights flickered, "you didn't notice that?"
"Notice want?" He defended, "Well, got to go. Good seeing you, Craig." He shook the mans hand, "Goodbye, Stormageddon." He gave Alfie two gallic air kisses before grabbing Theas hand and half pulling her off.
"Bye Craig, best behaviour Stormy, don't cause trouble until you start walking."
"No, no, wait, wait." Craig yelled, running out after them, "Can you do the shushing thing?"
"No, it only works once," the Doctor replied, "and only on life forms with underdeveloped brains."
"Hang on. You said farewell tour. What do you mean, farewell?"
The Doctor turned and put a finger to his lips, "shh," Quieting Craig a moment as he pulled Thea off.
She bit back a grin at that, she loved 'shhing' people, she had done it to Clyde once when he just hadn't stopped talking wanting to know every little thing about her and Time Lords in general that she had quietened him. He just came back with even more questions, but at least he knew when to stop pestering. She would never tell them it was a one time thing.
"Just go." the Doctor mumbled to himself as they made their way back to the TARDIS, "Stop noticing. Just go. Stop noticing, just go. Stop noticing, just go. Stop it!" He looked up as a streetlight flickered, "Am I noticing?"
"A bit." Thea admitted, "it's just..."
"What?" He eyed her as she shifted. "What is it?"
"I said there wasn't aliens in his house..."
"Except for us." He nodded, following that part but still unsure where she was going.
"So...what about the surrounding area outside the house?"
The Doctor closed his eyes at that, lightly bashing his sonic to his head before sighing and scanning around, "scanning for electrical fluctuations. And...a patina of teleport energy."
"You're not through saving them." Thea smiled softly at him, resting a hand on his cheek, "you never will be."
~.~
The Doctor stood in the toy department of the large department store, having used the TARDIS to trace the source of the power fluctuations here and so they'd both gotten jobs here, of course he wanted the toy department and was happily demonstrating a toy helicopter to the young children that had gathered round. Thea was around somewhere, but she had wandered off, mumbling something about Furbys being bad, he didn't want to know why she didn't like Furbys, but as long as she stayed in the building she could wander as far as she liked.
"It goes up tiddly up," he was saying to the children, "it goes down tiddly down for only 49.99, which I personally think is a bit steep, but then again it's your parents' cash and they'll only waste it on boring stuff like lamps and vegetables. Yawn!" He looked up hearing Craig, seeing the man entering the store, pushing Alfie on a pram, no doubt on the phone to Sophie.
The Doctor suddenly remembered that his fingers were still over the controls, "Nobody panic, but I appear to be losing control."
"Yeah, love you." Craig finished the call when the helicopter whacked him in the face.
"Oops." The Doctor winced as Craig looked over. He knelt before the children, "Guys, guys, ladies and gentlemen. While I deal with this awkward moment, you go and find your parents slash guardians. Try in lamps." He gave a girl a high five as the children all ran off, and he stood, "Craig!"
"What the hell are you doing here?" Craig demanded.
"I'm the Doctor. I work in a shop now." He tapped his name badge with read 'the Doctor', "Here to help. Look, they gave me a badge with my name on in case I forget who I am. Very thoughtful, as that does happen. Thea has one too."
Craig shook his head, not seeing Thea down the aisle and she was rather easy to spot, "where even is she?"
"She's around." He shrugged, heading off down the aisle to look for her.
"You were leaving." Craig called, quickly following, "The Alignment of Exeter, what about that? One chance to see it, you said."
"Well, we were on my way, you know. Saw a shop, got a job. You got to live in the moment. Craig, mind Yappy." He turned away.
"What?"
"Yappy." He held up the small robot dog, "The robot dog. Not so much fun as I remember." He patted the dogs head, "You look awful."
"I haven't slept, have I?" Craig snapped, "I still can't stop him crying. I even tried singing to him last night."
The Doctor winced, hearing Alfie complaining as they spoke, "Yeah, he did mention that he thought you were crying, too. He didn't get a wink." He leaned closer to Alfie, "you should ask Thea, she knows the best lullaby. She's gone within 5 minutes." He looked over, catching something grey and metal from the corner of his eyes before something red came running over.
"What was that?" Thea panted as she ran over to them, in her usual outfit, minus the arm warmers, a red apron over the top, with a bit of flour smudge on her nose and dusting her hair. "I saw... something."
"Have you been working at the bakery?" The Doctor asked her.
She nodded, "Claire called in sick, and her cover was stuck in traffic."
"You're here for a reason, aren't you?" Craig continued, oblivious to whatever the Time Lords had seen, "You noticed something, and you're investigating it. And because it's you, it's going to be dangerous and alien."
"Might not be." The Doctor tried to argue as he moved to his hands and knees, looking around.
"Doctor, I live here. I need to know."
"You don't need to worry, Craig." Thea argued him, "it's fine, really."
"And you should always trust a psychic." The Doctor added, standing up again.
"Yeah, I know," Craig huffed, "but my baby lives here. My son."
"Sheila Clark went missing Tuesday." The Doctor listed the missing people he had seen in the newspaper last night, "Atif Ghosh last seen Friday. Tom Luker last seen Sunday."
Craig frowned, pulling out a newspaper from the pram, "Why's none of this on the front page?"
"Oh, page one has an exclusive on Nina, a local girl who got kicked off Britain's Got Talent. These people are on pages 7, 19 and 22. Because no one's noticed yet. They're far too excited about Nina's emotional journey, which in fairness, is quite inspiring."
"And what else?"
"The power fluctuations," Thea glanced at him, "they coincide with the disappearances."
"That's just the council putting in new cables, isn't it?" Craig shook his head.
"Oh yes, that's it. Mystery solved." The Doctor mused as they stopped before a lift blocked by caution tape, "Wasting our time. Now, you can go home and Thea and I can go to Exedor. Goodbye." He flashed his sonic, activating the lift, "And here's the lift."
"It says it's out of order." Craig pointed out.
"Not any more." The Doctor pulled the tape down, "See? Here to help."
"It says danger." Craig read the sign as the lift doors opened and the Time Lords stepped in.
"Oh, rubbish." The Doctor waved him off, "Lifts aren't dangerous."
"Do I look like I'm stupid?"
Thea laughed as Alfie gurgled, she quickly stopped seeing Craig starting to glare at her, "very rude, Stormy. You shouldn't say things like that."
If Alfie saw her as a big sister then she would certainly try to be the best big sister she could be. As she tried with Luke. She wasn't the best at it. But she tried, it might calm Craig down a bit too, she had some big sister shoes to fill.
The Doctor sighed, considering to tell Craig what was going on, "Oh, all right. There's more." He pointed the sonic at the control panel, getting it moving, "Just between you, me, Thea and Stormy, don't want to frighten me punters. Someone's been using a teleport relay right here in this shop. Missing people last seen in this area."
"And yes CCTV's been wiped." Thea added as Craig opened his mouth.
"A teleport?" He blinked, "A teleport? A teleport like," he held his arms up, "a beam me up teleport, like you see in Star Trek?"
"We're about to 'bravely go, where no man had been before,'" Thea remarked, "or something along those lines."
"Someone's been using a beam me up Star Trek teleport." the Doctor nodded, "Could be disguised as anything."
"Even a lift."
"But a teleport in a shop? That's ridiculous!"
The lights flickered again and they suddenly found themselves no longer in the lift, but a large ship.
"What was that?" Craig frowned, "Was that the lights again?"
"Yes, that's it." The Doctor said, his voice going high and squeaking so not to alarm Craig of where they had ended up, "That's all. It's the lights."
"Why did you say that like that?"
"Like what?" He squeaked out before trying to deepen his voice back to normal, "like...like what?"
"Like that, in that high pitched voice." Craig eyed him oddly.
"Just keep looking at me, Craig." The Doctor told him as Thea crouched down to keep Alfie distracted in the pram, "Right at me. Just keep looking."
"Why?"
"Well, because..." the Doctor fumbled for a reason, "because..."
"Because we just activated the teleport and are now standing on a spaceship," Thea told him, bluntly honest.
"Thea!" the Doctor shouted.
"Cybership, right?" She continued as though he hadn't shouted, "looking a bit battered."
Craig looked over, his eyes widened at the sight of the alien ship, "Oh my god!" He exclaimed, "What is happening?"
"We need to go." Thea turned urgently to the Doctor as he whipped out the sonic, "now!"
They looked over hearing heavy footsteps to see a Cyberman advancing, "what is that?" Craig cried.
The Doctor held the sonic up, reversing the machinery, he would usually be fine was strolling around a Cybership, Cybermen included, but not with Craig and his baby.
"Quick reverse." He let out a breath as they returned to the lift.
"What the hell just happened?" Craig demanded as the lift doors opened and he quickly followed the Time Lords back through the store.
"They must have linked the teleport relay to the lift," The Doctor mused, "but I've fused it. They can't use that again. Stuck up there on their spaceship."
"What were those things?"
"Cybermen." Thea answered.
"Ship. A spaceship. We were in space?"
The Doctor pushed opened a door, striding out into the night, holding the sonic to the sky to get a scan of the ship, "It's got to be up there somewhere. Can't get a fix. It must be shielded." He glanced at Thea, "any feelings?"
She looked up with a small frown, "I don't...I can't..." she shook her head, "I got nothing."
"But you fused the teleport." Craig reminded him, "You sorted it. They can't come back."
"No, no, no," the Doctor shook his head, "I've just bought us a little time. Still got to work out what they're doing before we can stop it."
"But if they've got the teleport and they're that evil, why haven't they invaded already?"
"Because..." Thea blinked, unable to properly answer him, "I don't know. There could be a number of reason why."
"Craig, take Alfie and go." The Doctor told him.
"No." Craig stated.
"No?"
"No. I remember from last time, people got killed. People that didn't know you. I know where it's safest for me and Alfie, and that's right next to you."
"Do you really think so?" Thea asked.
"Yeah. You always win. You always survive."
"That's true." Thea had to admit. She wasn't dead yet.
"Besides, I might not speak baby but I know Alfie loves his big sister."
Thea grinned at that as she crouched to tickle Alfie hearing him agreeing with his dad, "Well, you've got through to me."
She would do whatever it took to ensure Craig and Alfie were safe. They were her top priority. The Doctor can deal with the danger, she'll deal with keeping them safe.
"I can help you." Craig determined, "I'm staying."
"Craig." the Doctor sighed, rubbing his head, "All right. All right."
"Those days aren't quite over yet." Thea teased.
"I guess not." he agreed, "Let's go and investigate. I mean, there's no immediate danger now."
~.~
They walked through the jewellery department with Thea followed the men, pushing Alfie in his pram, "Good afternoon, Val!" the Doctor greeted the older woman behind the counter.
"Hello." Val smiled.
"I thought you'd like a coffee to get you through the day." Thea remarked, pulling out a takeaway cup from under the pram and setting it on the counter.
"Oh you didn't have to do that my love." Val replied, but took the offered coffee.
"You're the one working." She smiled brightly.
The Doctor patted Craig on the back, encouraging him to go investigating, when Craig grabbed his arm, "Where am I investigating?"
"Well, look round." The Doctor told him, shrugging, "Ask questions. People like it when you're with a baby. Babies are sweet. People talk to you. That's why I usually take a human with me."
Craig frowned, "So...I'm your baby?"
"You're my baby." The Doctor hugged him.
"I thought I was the baby." Thea pouted, crouching to give Alfie a kiss on his head, "behave for your dad." She said quickly before Craig turned and headed off to check out another department.
"Hope you don't mind me saying, Doctor," Val began as the Doctor tried on some sunglasses, "but I think you look ever so sweet, you and your partner and the baby. You clearly love you little brother, Thea."
Thea ust grinned as Vals implications went right over the Doctors head.
"Partner," The Doctor muttered, "Yes, I like it. Is it better than companion?"
"Companion sounds old-fashioned. There's no need to be coy these days."
"You've not noticed anything unusual around here lately, Val?" Thea asked her, leaning back on the counter.
"Well..." She sipped the coffee.
"Yes, yes?" The Doctor leaned forwards to hear whatever the woman might have seen or heard.
"Mary Warnock saw Don Petheridge snogging Andrea Groom outside the Conservative Club on his so-called day off 'golfing.'"
"Yeah." The Doctors shoulders fell at the woman's unuseful gossip, "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all." He gave her a gallic kiss on each cheek before turning to walk away.
"And then there's that silver rat thing." Val called before Thea had taken a step to follow.
"What silver rat thing?" Thea smiled.
~.~
The Doctor knelt under a table in the toy department, scanning around with the sonic as Thea stood behind him, holding a large net to hopefully catch whatever the silver rat thing was.
"A silver rat," the Doctor stood back up, "glowing red eyes."
"Yes." Val nodded as she stood besides Thea, "Then it zizzed off. I wanted to get one for my nephew, but stockroom say there's no such item."
"I bet they do."
"Well, what was it then? Answer me that."
"We should go find Craig." Thea said a moment before a crash reached them, "and get him out of trouble."
"What's all that hullabaloo?" Val wondered, turning in the direction of the noise.
"Er," the Doctor looked at Thea who mouthed 'Craig', "that'll be my partner with the er..."
He didn't finished as Thea ran off in the direction of the woman's department as he quickly followed to see Craig fumbling with a stand he had knocked off, a young woman from the department standing besides a security guard.
"He's a pervert." the woman, Kelly, was excusing, "Look at him."
"Hello, everyone." The Doctor called as he followed Thea over, "Here to help."
"Hello, Thea." Kelly smiled at her.
Thea had been very nice to her. Just that morning she had come over at the start of her shift, handing over an ice coffee, it had certainly helped her get through her shift once she realised her supervisor hadn't turned up.
"Hello, Doctor." George the security guard greeted him.
He found the Doctor to be a rather funny man, but he seemed to raised Thea well enough so the man couldn't be too bad in his books.
"Hello." The Doctor smiled, "Has anyone seen a silver rat? No?" they stared blankly, "No. Ok. Long shot. I see you've met my friend, Craig. Nice uniform, George." He complimented the man, holding up an 'ok' sign and whistling.
George laughed, "Thank you, Doctor. If he's with you, that's all right, then."
"Sorry." Kelly apologised, "I thought he was hassling me, because that's the last thing I need today, because Shona's not turned up, right, so I'm doing twice the work for the same money, if you don't mind."
"Shona is still not in?" Thea frowned. She had heard the woman complaining early about her supervisor being late, surely she would be here by now, or at least rung in to let them know why she wasn't.
"She's meant to be in today but never showed up."
"And you last saw her in the changing rooms?"
"Yeah..." Kelly eyed her oddly at that. She was sure she hadn't mentioned that earlier, "last night when we were closing."
"How do you do that?" Craig asked as he followed the Time Lords through the dressing rooms, "It's a power, isn't it. Some sort of weird alien hypnotic power. I bet you excrete some sort of gas that makes people love you."
"I'm just that cute." Thea answered, "I mean look at me." She rested the back of her hands under her chin, smiling sweetly at him, "how do you say no to this face."
"I'm still struggling." The Doctor muttered, pulling open a curtain only to quickly shut it again as a woman screamed from inside. He turned to Thea as she laughed, "bit of warning next time."
"If a curtains closed it means it occupied." She told him.
"I'm right though, aren't I?" Craig kept on.
"Well, you love me, I've never excreted any weird alien gases at you." The Doctor reasoned.
"I don't love you. Don't start that again."
Alfie gurgled, "Yes, I know. Course he does." The Doctor turned to Craig, "Of course you do. We're partners."
"Yeah, but I did exactly what you would have done, and I nearly got arrested."
"But you didn't." Thea reminded him as Alfie made more noises, "too right, lil bro." She turned to Craig, "Stormy things you should believe in yourself more. He's a very wise little boy."
"Great." Craig huffed, "So now my baby's reviewing me..."
"Welcome to parenthood." The Doctor patted his back as Thea walked into the last room.
She poked her head back out, "this one."
"It was here." The Doctor nodded, scanning the sonic in the room, "Last night. A Cyberman took Shona."
"A Cyberman?" Craig frowned, "I thought it was a little silver rat."
"Cybermat." Thea corrected.
"All right. Don't have a go at me just because I don't know the names." Craig grumbled.
"I'm not having a go." Thea walked over and hugged him, "you've now learnt something new."
She was surprised all these years travelling with just the two of them that she had kept her patience with humans. It had been a struggle at first to even have the patience to explain something to the gang. Sometimes the things she knew she had known for so many centuries she forgot humans would never learnt it in their life time. She had gotten better at explaining things though, seems she was slipping up again.
"Knowledge is the best weapon in the universe." She told him, "and a book to the face is going to hurt."
"Thea!" the Doctor chastised as Craig snorted.
It was easy to imagine Thea throwing a book at someone's face.
"I haven't done it." She defended with an eye roll, "yet."
"Cybermats are infiltrators." The Doctor explained to Craig as they left the dressing rooms, "Very small, very deadly. They collect power like bees collect pollen. One of them's been sucking the electrical energy from this area. But why a shop?" He wondered, "You know, why not a nuclear power station?"
"Ok, why?"
"Could be a number of reasons." Thea sighed.
"So let's ask it." The Doctor grinned, "We wait for the shop to shut. We stake the place out and grab ourselves a Cybermat."
"And this is just a coincidence, is it?" Craig asked.
"What is?"
"Aliens in Colchester. Aliens twice in my life, happening to me, just when you turn up."
"This isn't our fault, Craig." Thea remarked.
"Oh, shh." Craig tried to comfort Alfie as he began to fuss.
"He needs a nappy change. I don't mind doing it." She offered.
Craig looked at her, "you know how to change a nappy."
"Yeah." She shifted, "there's a changing station by the electrical good."
"And of course, you'd know that." He muttered, "Come on, Alfie." He turned and headed off, grumbling about psychics knowing everything.
"I memorised the layout." Thea called after him.
"Craig! It's a coincidence." The Doctor tried to defend, "it happens. It's what the universe does for..." He trailed off, seeing Thea staring at something to see Amy and Rory walking down the aisle, clearly shopping, with Rory carrying the bags.
A little girl walked up to them and asked for Amy's autograph. Thea quickly pushed the Doctor to hide behind a rack as Amy happily gave the girl her autograph before the couple headed off again. The young girl pointed in their direction and they looked back to see a large poster for a perfume with Amy's face on it, 'Petrichor, for the girl who's tired of waiting.'
"Amelia Pond." The Doctor smiled fondly.
"That's Williams," Thea nudged him.
~.~
The group hid behind the perfume counter as George finished his nightly patrol. Thea cautiously peeked over the top, checking that George had walked off, "He's gone." She whispered.
"Right." The Doctor nodded as he pulled out the sonic, scanning around now the coast was clear, "let's be having you then, Cybermat."
Craig huffed as Alfie began to cry as the buzzing noise, "can't you put that on quiet?"
"No. It's a sonic screwdriver. Sonic equals sound. Take this." He pulled out what looked like a mess of straps from his pocket, "I got it on my discount, 10 percent off. It's a papoose."
"Why do I need a papoose?" Craig frowned.
"Alfie wants you attached to him."
"You are far too slow when he summons you." Thea added.
"When's he going to stop giving me marks?" Craig grumbled.
"Never." She said simply.
"That's parenthood." The Doctor agreed, "it gets worse as they get older."
"Hey!" Thea pouted.
"You know I'm right." He shook his head, turning to Craig, "Couldn't you have just got a babysitter?" Alfie gurgled, "No, any babysitter. Doesn't have to be a hot one."
Thea laughed, turning to Alfie herself at his comment, "but if I stayed and babysat you then I'd miss all the action."
"I told everyone I know I didn't need their help this weekend." Craig sighed, "They won't even answer my calls. I didn't know there was going to be an invasion of Cyberman." Alfie fussed as Craig moved him from the pram to the papoose.
"It's ok." The Doctor tried to sooth.
"Oh!" Thea gasped suddenly, lunging forwards with the net she had ready to catch the Cybermat, throwing it down over the metal rat, "got it!" She cheered, then frowned, "that was too easy."
"Or maybe you're just very good." The Doctor countered.
She eyed the Cybermat in net, "maybe it's running low on power."
"Or you saw it coming."
She rolled her eyes at him, "Its not funny when you say it."
The Doctor shook his head at her as he carefully picked up the Cybermat.
"Oh, is that it?" Craig eyed the Cybermat.
"Yeah."
"Oh, that's quite cute. Look at that. Look, Alfie, look." He lifted Alfie slightly to see better when the Cyberman suddenly opened its mouth to reveal two rows of razor sharp teeth, which made Craig scream and pull back as the Doctor quickly tried to turn it off with the sonic.
"Stop screaming." Thea hissed, glancing around to see if George had heard and was running to see who he had missed sneaking around after hours.
"Metal rat, real mouth!" Craig cried, frantic, "Metal rat, real mouth. Metal rat, real mouth."
"Stop screaming." The Doctor tried to calm him down, "Stop, stop screaming."
...When there was a scream.
"Basement!" Thea called and quickly took off in the direction of the scream, the right behind her as Craig trailed behind carrying Alfie, "George?" She looked around for the man, squinting in the darkness knowing it had to have been him.
It was only them, the Cybermat and George still in the building.
The Doctor held up the sonic, using it as a torch, "George..." he found the mans torch on the floor before his unmoving body as he hurried to check on him only to hear a grunt and a metal 'twang' looking over to see Thea had grabbed a random piece of metal laying around and whacked it round the back of the Cyberman trying to sneak up on him.
"Doctor!" Craig called as he ran after them, "Thea! What happened."
"I was nearly chipped, chapped, chopped." The Doctor replied, surprised one had been there. How had the Cyberman got there? He had fused the teleport and he knew it would have taken them longer than that to fix it.
"That's a Cyberman?" Craig stared at the fallen metal man, "they're here? But you said..."
"Yeah, I know what I said." The Doctor huffed as he moved to pick up George's dead weight. The man was knocked out, but other than that he would be fine. "I say a lot of things. But I fused the teleport. It should have taken them days to repair."
"So they're not using the teleport." Thea shook her head, "it's damaged." She assessed, eying the fallen Cyberman, "that should have barely made it stumble, not knock it completely out." She blinked, "is that why they're taking people?"
The Doctor nodded, "Must have changed those missing people."
"They've changed the missing into Cybermen?" Craig looked a bit green at the thought.
"But why are they using spare parts? Why? Everything I find out makes less sense."
"Know that feeling." Thea remarked.
"Doctor, listen to me." Craig turned to him, "If the Cybermen are here, then we're not safe. We've got to go. We've got to go back to base."
"We've got a base? When did we get a base?"
~.~
Base, as it turned out, was Craigs house, and the Time Lords easily settled in after dropping George in the security room. They doubted any Cyermen would try and get the man again anytime soon and they assumed when he woke up he wouldn't even remember it.
Thea had insisted she make them all tea, so they'd had a few minutes drinking tea and eating biscuits before the Doctor jumped up to start making a concoction in a bowl from whatever he could find in the kitchen.
"I'm going down the shop." Craig announced as he stepped into the kitchen after putting Alfie to bed in his crib upstairs, "We've run out of milk. You know what to do if he cries." He tossed the Doctor the baby monitor and grabbed his keys.
The Doctor caught the monitor, "No."
"Me neither." Craig called before they heard the door shut.
Thea looked up from where she sat at the table staring at the Cybermat, as though daring it to reactivate and attack. "You had three kids." She reminded him. After raising three children she would expect him to know what to do.
"It's been a while." He defended lightly.
She rolled her eyes, standing up and heading towards the stairs.
"Where are you going?" The Doctor asked her.
She turned and walked backwards as she answered him, "i'll deal with the crying child. You deal with the metal possum."
The Doctor blinked as Alfies cries could be heard over the monitor, muttering about psychics before going back to playing mad scientist.
He perked up hearing Theas voice on the baby monitor.
"Hey, Alfie," She laughed as Alfie gurgled, "Yes, sorry, Stormagedon dark lord of all. I bow to you my lord."
The Doctor grinned at that just knowing that Thea was either bowing deeply with her words or dropping to a curtsy before the boy.
"Its your favourite big sister. You know, I always wished for a sibling. And now I do, I've got a little brother, Luke, and a little sister, Jen, and now I've got you too..."
The Doctor swallowed hearing the thickness in her voice as she spoke about her family, her new found family. She always spoke about them, and also completely ignored the family she had on Gallifrey.
"You really should be sleeping." Thea told Alfie, "you're not wrong." She had to agree with his squeal, "but best not tell your dad, he will worry. Mine sometimes still does, and I'm centuries older than you. That's the best thing you can get in live, to be loved. However you live you life, Alfie, just be sure you're not alone. Find someone, whether a friend or more than that. You're friends will always be the best of you. Hold on to them because you never know what will happen tomorrow. One day you can be seeing the universe with them and the next you don't even know if they're alive..."
The Doctor swallowed feeling incredible guilty as he listened. He didn't know if she was aware he could hear her through the baby monitor or not but he knew she would never say anything like that in front of him.
He knew that she wasn't necessarily talking about the gang, but her friends from the Academy, her childhood friends, the ones who would have died in the Time War.
Dead in a Time Lock because he had to end the war.
"That got sad quickly." Thea sighed, "life is truly wonderful, it really is and of course you'll have those bad days, everyone does. The thing is Alfie you've got you're whole life in front of you, the world is large and the rest of the universe even more so."
The Doctor couldn't help but smile hearing Alfies gurgles. Thea really was a great older sister, even if she claimed she had no idea what she was doing.
"Ooh, you want to be an astronaut, well, I reckon you'll be a great one. When you're a bit older, and with your parents permission, we'll show the stars, would you like that?"
Alfie made a low grumbling noise.
"You should be easier on your dad, you know." Thea told him, "he's new to this and he's trying his best. Dad's are...complicated, believe me."
The Doctor nearly cursed as he got distracted from working on the Cybermat as it reactivated and bit his finger, causing him to drop it in surprise where it went whizzing off in the direction of Theas voice.
"No!" He shouted, running after it up the stairs, "Thea!" He pulled out the sonic quickly flashing it at the Cybermat, stunning it for a few minutes to help get Thea and Alfie out of the room.
"Reactivated?" Thea guessed as she stepped out from the bathroom she had hidden in with Alfie securely in her arms.
She had gotten the feeling that they needed to go and so took Alfie and hid in the bathroom seeing the Cybermat whizz up the stairs in their direction.
"Come on!" He grabbed her hand, the arm not holding Alfie, and pulled her from the room. "It's only stunned!" He pulled her back down the stairs and through the kitchen out to the back door, the door locking behind them.
The Doctor winced, seeing that in their hurry he had dropped the sonic. He spun to Thea as she bobbed Alfie in her arms to keep him from fussing, "phone." She tossed it to him and he called Craigs mobile. He hadn't even questioned her earlier when she had asked for his number.
"Hey, no need to start crying." Thea soothed Alfie, "everything's alright."
"Come on, Craig, pick up, pick up, pick up, pick up." The Doctor muttered as the phone rang before going to answer phone, "Craig? Don't worry. Alfie is fine. But on no account enter the house..."
Thea flinched a moment before they heard a shout through the doors. The Doctor turned to see Craig inside fighting off the Cybermat that was trying to bite his throat.
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!" The Doctor tried the door again but it wouldn't budge.
"No, no, everything fine." Thea assured Alfie and she twisted so the boy wouldn't see his dad fighting for his life, "how about a lullaby? I know a really good one; when you don't know where to go..."
"Ok." The Doctor nodded, smiling slightly as Thea distracted Alfie while he spat in his hands, rubbing them together and taking a running jump through the glass doors leading to the kitchen.
"Where's Alfie?" Craig struggled, "Where's Alfie?"
"He's safe!" The Doctor swore, "Theas got him."
"Get it off me!"
The Doctor quickly grabbed the sonic, fiddling with the settings, "I think I can find the right frequency, shut it down again!"
"Kill it!"
The Doctor groaned. They didn't really want to 'kill' it as that meant they wouldn't be able to get any information from it after, but it was Craigs life on the line, "All right, all right, all right!" He conceded, "Move!" He grabbed a large pan at the Cybermat sending it flying as Craig got up and the Cybermat lunged for the Doctors throat, "Argh! Baking tray, Craig. Baking tray!" He threw the Cybermat to the floor as Craig quickly held a baking tray over it to keep it down, "Hold it down!"
"Get on with it!" Craig shouted.
"Ah, it must be shielded from metastatic energy. Of course."
"Of course."
"Don't worry, I have an app for that. Stand back. Stand back!" Craig moved back as the Doctor flashed the Cybermat 'killing it', "Success. That was amazing. You must be really, really strong. That thing should have had you easily."
"Is it definitely dead?" Craig asked, panting.
"Inactive, yes. Technically never been alive."
"So it was playing possum?" Thea asked as she cautiously stepped through the broken glass with Alfie now asleep in her arms.
The Doctor nodded, "trying to take us by surprise." He glanced at her, "nice warning. Bravo!" he patted Craig on the back.
Craig smiled and moved to take his son back, glad the boy was alright, "Alfie."
"He's sleeping." Thea whispered.
"Through all that?" Craigs eyes widened at he looked down at his son.
"I know a very good lullaby."
~.~
The Doctor sat on the sofa before the coffee table as Thea knelt on the floor on the opposite side, as they worked on trying to reprogram the Cybermat while Craig paced before them, lightly bouncing Alfie to keep him asleep. Whatever Thea had done or said to the boy had really knocked him out.
"I'm knackered." Craig yawned, as he finally sat down besides the Doctor, "That thing was eating up the electricity?"
"And transmitting it up to the Cybership." The Doctor nodded, "But why? Why do they need power? Why are those conversions not complete yet, and what are they doing up there?"
"You said you were going to look at its brain." Craig reminded him.
"No, I had to wipe its brain. Now I can reprogram it and use it as a weapon against them."
"The Cybermat came after us?"
"No, after me."
"They sent it after us." Craig continued.
"After me. Because of me, you and Alfie nearly died." he rubbed his face, "Do you still feel safe with me, Craig?"
"I do." Thea offered getting a small smile in return.
All those adventure for the past 200 years and despite her own reckless not once had she regenerated. She didn't think this body would last much longer.
"You can't help who your mates are." Craig shrugged.
"No." The Doctor shook his head, "I am a stupid, selfish man. Always have been. I should have made you go. I should never have come here."
"What would have happened if you hadn't come? Who else knows about the Cybermen and teleports?"
"UNIT." Thea answered, "Sarah Jane, Jack Harkness, Martha and Mickey Smith..."
"I put people in danger." The Doctor sighed.
"Stop beating yourself up." Craig yawned, closing his eyes a moment, "If it weren't for you, this whole planet would be an absolute ruin."
"Craig," the Doctor began, "very soon I won't be here. My time is running out. I don't mean Exedor. Silence will fall when the question is asked. Don't even know what the question is. I always knew I'd die still asking. Thing is, Craig, it's tomorrow. Can't put it off any more. Tomorrow is the day I..." he trailed off hearing a faint snore to see Craig had fallen asleep with Alfie resting on his chest.
"You're not going to die." Thea stated firmly, moving to sit on the arm of the sofa besides him, resting her head against his, "you didn't die in Berlin, you won't die at the lake side."
"Berlin wasn't a fixed point in time." He argued lightly.
"I don't care." She stated, "you sent a younger me to watch you die tomorrow. So where is present me during that?" She wondered.
It was all she could think about during these past 200 years while they were trying to find away for the Doctor to survive Lake Silencio while not destroying the universe by changing a fixed point in time, where was she?
She had seen the future him die at the lake but she hadn't been there, where had her future self been back then? Where would she be tomorrow?
~.~
The Doctor gently closed the front door to the house as he and Thea snuck out early the next morning having left a note to inform Craig they'd gone to stop the Cybermen and that he shouldn't follow.
"Safe mode." The Doctor murmured as he held the remote to the reprogramed Cybermat, while Thea held it in her hands.
"Clever you." Thea grinned. "Come along, Bitey." She patted its metal head as they headed to the store straight to the women's department where Val was opening.
"Morning!" She greeted cheerfully.
"Morning." Thea smiled back.
"Teleport's still fused." The Doctor began rambling out loud as Val walked besides him, "They didn't repair it. So, the Cyberman last night. How did it get down here? How did it get out? And why..." he turned to Val, "why, am I asking you?"
"You found the silver rat." Val gushed, pointing to it in Theas hands.
"But where are the silver men?" The Doctor wondered, glancing to Thea as she frowned.
"They didn't teleport down." She blinked, "they climbed up."
"Oi!" The Doctor shouted as she took off running in the direction of the changing room, "Thea," he followed her into the last stall.
She rested a hand on the mirror, "a door."
"A disillium bonded steel door disguised as a wall." The Doctor huffed, "That is cheating." He pulled open the mirror on its hinge to reveal a roughly carved tunnel, "you were right, it didn't teleport down, it climbed up."
"Through the looking glass." Thea murmured as they stepped into the tunnel, cautiously making their way down as Thea held her phone up to light the way as they found themselves in the large cavernous room on the conversion chamber.
"Well, well, well." The Doctor whistled, "You have been busy."
Thea knelt in the ground, finding a plastic tag half buried, seeing it was Shonas name tag before she turned as a Cyberman stomped over.
"You have come to us." It stated.
Thea stood and moved to the Doctors side, a step behind him.
"Took me a while," the Doctor shrugged, "Lots on my mind. Let's see. This ship crashed here centuries ago. No survivors, but the systems are dormant, waiting for power, and then the council stick a load of new cables right on top of you. Bitey wakes up and channels the power. You start crewing up from the shop as best you can. Not enough power, not enough parts."
"When we are ready, we will emerge. We will convert this planet to Cyberform."
"What, the six of you?" Thea laughed, not even needing to use the sonic to scan how many of the metal men were about, able to sense their presence on the ship.
"You know that is enough. You know us. You are the Doctor."
"Correct." The Doctor nodded.
"Hey, I'm here too." Thea huffed, crossing her arms at not being known.
The Cyberman turned to her, scanning her, "you are a Time Lord."
"I'm Thea," She grinned, "I'm his daughter! Best remember that name."
"I'm the Doctor and she's Thea," the Doctor spoke, "and lucky for you, the Doctor always gives you a choice. Deactivate yourself, or I deactivate you." He held up the sonic as the Cyberman took a step back.
"Do not even think about it." Thea warned, holding up a finger as she spun to the two Cybermen that had tried to sneak up on them on silent, "never try to surprise a psychic."
"They must be converted." One Cyber said.
"No." The first Cyber replied, "They are not like us. Brain and binary vascular system incompatible. They will be discarded. Other body parts may be of use."
Suddenly Craig burst into the room, holding a price scanner like a gun, thankfully without Alfie, "Oi, Cybermen! Get off my planet, or I activate this."
"Craig, stop this. Get out!" The Doctor shouted.
"It's like you said, Doctor. Got to believe you can do it."
"You located us?" The second Cyberman turned to him.
"Yeah. Teleport in the lift, bit rubbish. And that little Cybermat never stood a chance. So you see what you're dealing with?"
"You are compatible. You are intelligent."
"Duck!" Thea warned as the second Cyberman put a hand on its chest panel, shooting electricity to Craig who was too slow to react, causing him to drop the scanner and fall to his knees.
The Doctor lunged to help him when a Cyberman grabbed his arms, holding him back, none of the Cybermen seemingly aware that Thea had slipped out the room, unlike the Doctor who had seen her run and really hoped she knew what she was doing.
"Argh!" Craig cried as another Cyberman hauled him to his feet and pulled him across the room, "No, I'm not intelligent. You don't want me."
"Do not fear." The Cyberman stated, "We will take your fear from you. You will be like us. You will be more than us."
"No, no, no!" Craig struggled as the Cyber chamber opened.
"Your designation is CyberController. You will lead us. We will conquer this world."
Craig was forced in the chamber, holding him in, "Doctor!"
"Craig!" The Doctor struggled in the Cybermans hold.
"Do something, please!" Parts began to clamp around his limbs, "Doctor!"
"Craig, don't worry. I've reprogrammed their Cybermat. It'll drain their power." He managed to pull the remote from his pocket the Cybermat scuttling across the floor...when the first Cyberman stomped on it.
"You have failed, Doctor." It stated, "Begin conversion. Phase one. Cleanse the brain of emotions."
"No. Craig, fight it!" The Doctor shouted, "They can't convert you if you fight back. You're strong. Don't give in to it."
"Help me!" Craig begged.
"Think of Sophie!" He tried, if he just kept Craig focusing hard enough on his emotions it would give Thea time for whatever, hopefully a successful plan, she had, "Think of Alfie. Craig, don't let them take it all away."
"Make it stop. Please, make it stop!"
"Please, listen to me. I believe in you. I believe you can do this. I've always believed in all of you, all my life. I'm going die, Craig. Tomorrow, I'm going to die, but I don't mind if you just prove me right. Craig!"
The headpiece shut around Craig, welding together down the middle as he stared out, emotionless.
"Begin full conversion." The first Cyberman commanded, and the Doctor could do nothing as the machinery started up.
~.~
"Oh, Alfie..." Thea ran over seeing Val holding Alfie as he cried, "it's alright, I've got him." She took him off Val, "Thanks for looking after him."
"Oh, it's alright my lovely." Val smiled as Thea hurried off.
"Keep crying, Alfie." Thea murmured as she moved around closer to the cameras having seen the Cybership watching the departments.
She hadn't known why she had run off but she had seen the chance to go unnoticed and she doubted the Cybermen were very concerned about her, if they'd even realised she had gone.
She had seen the cameras in the ship, caught sight of Val holding Alfie and just gone at the first chance she could.
~.~
The Doctor looked over as a monitor flicked to life, showing Thea in the middle of the store, directly in sight of the camera, holding a crying Alfie, the boy wanting his daddy.
"Unknown soundwave detected." One Cyberman reported.
"It is the sound of fear." The second Cyberman was unconcerned, "It is irrelevant. We will remove all fear."
"Thea, what are you doing?" The Doctor shook his head, before realising it might just work.
Craig was a new dad and even as a bad job he thought he was doing he would do anything for his son, any dad would. Craig had brought Alfie with him to the shop and left him with someone and Thea had seen that and known that Alfie, likely knowing he dad was about to do something dangerous, just wanted to be held by his dad. Alfie wasn't crying because he was tired or hungry, but because he was scared.
The sound of a child crying out of fear was completely different, parents always knew when they were crying in fear and hopefully the sound would reach Craig and his parental instinct would break through.
Clever girl, Thea.
"Emotions eradicated. Conversion complete." A Cyberman stated...when Craig's fingers twitched as an alarm sounded, "Alert. Emotional subsystems rebooting. This is impossible."
"He can hear him." The Doctor realised letting out a laugh as the plan seemed to be working, "He can hear Alfie. Oh, please, just give me this. Craig, you wanted a chance to prove you're a dad. You are never going to get better one than this!"
"What is happening?" One of the Cybermen demanded as the headpiece slowly began to open back up, the process reversing.
"What's happening, you metal moron? A baby is crying. And you'd better watch out, because guess what? Ha ha! Daddy's coming home!"
The helmet open to reveal Craig, "Alfie!" He fought against the machine, forcing it to overload, "Alfie, I'm here! I'm coming for you!"
The Cybermen staggered back as sparked began to fly from the machines.
"Yes, Craig!" The Doctor cheered, managing to break free of the Cybermans hold on him. "Alfie needs you!"
Thea is probably not being very comforting to the boy and, if he was honest, with the boys cries getting louder he was starting to think she was scaring him even more about the danger his dad was in.
"Emergency!" One of the Cybers cried, "Emotional influx!"
The Doctor ran over to help free Craig with the sonic, "you've triggered a feedback loop into their emotional inhibitors. All that stuff they cut out of themselves, now they're feeling it. Which means a very big explosion."
"Overload. Overload. Overload." The Cybers staggered, grabbing their heads.
The Doctor helped Craig out and the ran to the doors.
"Get it open!" Craig urged, "We need to get to Alfie!"
"They've sealed the ship!" The Doctor groaned as the doors wouldn't budge.
"We've got to get out of here!"
"I know!" The Doctor winced as the Cybermens heads started to blow up. There had to be a way out. Thea would see it. She wouldn't have left if she had known they'd be stuck, "The teleport!" He realised, quickly flashing the sonic at the controls and they quickly teleported out of the ship and appeared back in the lift right as the ship exploded.
~.~
"Did they go kaboom?" Thea grinned as the lift doors opened and the two men looked over to see her standing, waiting, with Alfie in her arms.
"Alfie!" Craig took his son from her and held him close.
"He's such a brave boy." Thea kissed his head, "like his old man, does need a nappy change though."
"That was another review." The Doctor smiled as Alfie gurgled, "Ten out of ten."
"The Cybermen." Craig looked at them as he hugged his son, "They blew up. I blew them up with love."
"No, that's impossible." Rhe Doctor shook his head, "and also grossly sentimental and over simplistic. You destroyed them because of the deeply ingrained hereditary human trait to protect one's own genes, which in turn triggered a..." he trailed as Craig just looked confused at his explanation, "yeah. Love. You blew them up with love."
"You never blow any Cybermen up for me." Thea pouted, crossing her arms, "you must not love me."
"I love you very much." He defended.
"Blow more Cybermen up then. In my name to spread fear across the universe. Make the universe fear me."
"How is me blowing Cybermen up going to make the universe fear you?" He asked her, more amused than anything. He was the one blowing them up.
"Because I'll tell everyone you did it simply because I asked." She blinked.
"Right." He nodded slowly, "are you hungry? You always start to scare me when you're hungry. I'll buy you a pastry." He offered, leading her in the direction of the cafe as Thea cheered, she really had a weakness for pastries.
Anything homemade or sweet, really.
~.~
"The building should be totally safe structurally, and of course the bonded disillium contained the explosion." The Doctor found himself explaining to Jelly a sort while later as Pandora happily munched on chocolate éclair.
"Right." Kelly eyed him oddly, "Why you telling me all this?"
"I don't know. Shh."
Kelly fell silent.
"No." Thea said.
"No what?" The Doctor frowned following her over to the counter where Craig stood in a new shirt talking to Val.
"It suits you." Val complimented Craig.
"Thanks." Craig smiled.
"Oh you're wearing matching shirts." She gushed, tickling Alfies stomach as he giggled in his pram, "Adorable!"
"Oh, we should do that." The Doctor grinned at Thea.
"I said no. That's humiliating!"
"You just said it was adorable."
"When you're Alfies age."
"Discount applies to partners." Val remarked as the Doctor moved to put an arm around Craig's shoulders.
"Great." Craig nodded as Thea snorted.
Val had been doing this all weekend, little comments about the Doctor and Craig, believing them to be a couple. She couldn't blame the woman for thinking it but the two men were completely oblivious.
"Are you two married then?"
"No, no. We talked about it, but it's just a piece of paper, isn't it?"
"Thank you for your help, Val." The Doctor grinned at her, "Good noticing. Keep them peeled."
"I will. I'm glad you two made up for children's sake."
Thea burst out laughing, putting a hand over her mouth to try and cover it up as the Doctor glanced at her, now understanding Vals words.
Craig, however, still looked confused, "How do you mean?"
"It's nice for children to have two daddies who love each other."
"Wait. Hang on a sec. Two daddies? You think I'm..."
"His companion."
"Shut up." The Doctor muttered as he turned to lead Thea off while Craig was distracted.
They had left the house in quite a mess.
~.~
Thea grinned as she took a bite of one of the cookies she had made. She and the Doctor had nipped back in time a bit and tidied up the mess they had made, evening replacing the glass door the Doctor had broken, and then cleaned again after Thea dropped the flour all over the floor having struggled to get in down from the top cupboard.
Why did high cupboards exist? How else were you expected to reach anything if not climbing on the counter top?
The Doctor stepped back through into the kitchen as Craig entered with Alfie, looking shocked, "See?" He smiled, "I do come back."
"How did you...?" Craig gestured around to the clean room.
"We have a time machine." Thea grinned, "Even had time to bake." She held out the plate of cookies, "I think I used sugar not salt." She said thoughtfully as Craig coughed on his first bite, "I'm kidding!"
"But even with time travel, getting glaziers on a Sunday, tricky." The Doctor smiled at the fixed door.
"You went back in time?" Craig stared at them, "That means you used up your hours. What about Exedor?"
"What about you being in trouble with Sophie when she comes back?" The Doctor countered, "I couldn't let that happen."
"You used up your time for me?"
"And we'll do it again!" Thra cheered, moving to hug him, "it's what you do for friends and family."
"I notice Stormageddon's very quiet and happy." the Doctor smiled listening to Alfies gurgles, "Oh, he prefers the name Alfie now. And he's very proud of his dad."
"He calls me dad?" Craig breathed.
"Yes, of course he does now."
"Oh, I know, all dad's are thick." Thea grinned at Alfie.
"Hey!" The Doctor exclaimed.
"Oi, shut up, you two!" Craig laughed.
"Well," the Doctor took a breath, growing sober as he placed his hands on Theas shoulders, giving them a small squeeze, "now it's time. I have to go."
"Doctor," Craig cut in as they turned to leave, "I know that something's wrong. I can help you."
"I have it all under control." Thea smiled at him, "don't worry, I'm psychic." She winked.
"I hope Sophie won't mind." The Doctor picked up a selection of blue envelopes, "I need these."
"Where are you going to go?" Craig frowned.
"America."
"Sophie'll be home any second. Are you sure..."
"We got a lot to do." Thea offered.
"Wait there. One second." Craig rushed out the room and returned a moment later with a Stetson, placing it on Pandora's head, "From Sean's stag."
"Hats don't suit me." Thea said, removing the hat and placing it on the Doctors head instead, "perfect." She forced a grin.
"You ride 'em, pardner." Craig laughed.
"Oh, thanks." The Doctor chuckled.
"Bye Craig," Thea waved as they headed out, "don't cause too much trouble, Alfie." she kissed his head before following the Doctor out into the street.
They walked in silence back to the TARDIS. The Doctor had the envelopes to send out and had the Stetson he had at the lake.
Thea stopped and the Doctor looked back at her, "what?" He asked seeing a glare growing on her face and starting to look murderous.
He was pretty sure that why she was she was annoyed he had to die at the lake, because then she wouldn't get the chance to do it.
"Craig fought back from Cyber conversion for his son and you're going to fight against a fixed point in time for your daughter."
"Thea..." He sighed as she moved to unlock the TARDIS door.
She turned back, leaning on the corner, "I know how we can." She smirked before stepping inside.
The Doctor sighed, glancing to the group of children nearby who were staring at him, "Hey. I'm the Doctor." He tipped his hat to them, "I was here to help. And you're very welcome."
He offered them a small smile before stepping into the TARDIS, "alright!" He huffed, "what have you got?"
Thea grinned and sent the TARDIS in motion, ready to change the future.