I mean I said end of the month riiight? Here's a nice and quick update to thank you for being so patient with the last one!
I hope you all enjoy! Please let me know in the reviews what you guys are thinking!
The ward patients were moving closer and closer, Hally tried to step back further, her foot hitting The Doctor's. He looked down at her and she saw an idea form in his mind.
He turned back to the patients. "Go to your room!" He bellowed.
Every patient stood still, like they were watching him.
"Go to your room." He continued. "I mean it. I'm very, very angry with you. I am very, very cross. Go to your room!" He shouted, putting on his very best, angry parent voice.
Hally could have laughed as all the patients hung their heads in shame and shuffled away, getting back into their beds miserably.
The Doctor turned to look at Rose. "I'm really glad that worked. Those would have been terrible last words."
"Well… that was terrifying. Please never tell me off." Hally laughed awkwardly, watching cautiously as the patients lay back down, motionless.
"Make sure you're a good girl then." The Doctor quipped, grinning.
Hally sent him an unimpressed look, Jack laughed loudly which got The Doctor's attention.
"How was your con supposed to work?" He turned on him, all of his previous humour gone.
"Simple enough, really. Find some harmless piece of space junk, let the nearest Time Agent track it back to Earth, convince him it's valuable, name a price. When he's put 50% upfront, oops! A German bomb falls on it, destroys it forever. He never gets to see what he's paid for, never knows he's been had. I buy him a drink with his own money, and we discuss dumb luck. The perfect self-cleaning con." He grinned, proudly
"Oh yeah, sounds great." Hally muttered sarcastically, rolling her eyes at him.
Jack grinned winningly. "The London Blitz is great for self-cleaners. Pompeii's nice if you want to make a vacation of it though, but you've got to set your alarm for volcano day." He winked at her before looking back at The Doctor. "Getting… a hint of disapproval."
"Take a look around the room. This is what your harmless piece of space-junk did." He ground out.
"It was a burnt-out medical transporter. It was empty." Jack protested.
"Obviously not." Hally deadpanned.
The Doctor made to move out of the ward, announcing they were going upstairs.
"I even programmed the flight computer so it wouldn't land on anything living. I harmed no-one. I don't know what's happening here, but believe me, I had nothing to do with it." Jack continued, trying to reason with them all.
"I'll tell you what's happening." The Doctor turning, fixing him with a hard look. "You forgot to set your alarm clock. It's volcano day."
Another loud siren sounded from above. The Doctor rushed out of the ward, leaving the others to catch up with him upstairs. They found him stood by a large, secure metal door. Jack got out his blaster, using it to disintegrate the lock mechanism and they made their way inside.
The room was a mess, the contents of filing cabinets and electronic equipment lay strewn all over the place. On the far side, there was what looked like an observation window, the glass had been broken outwards.
"What do you think?" The Doctor said, taking a sweeping look around the room.
"Something got out of here," Jack said, examining the broken glass.
"Something powerful…" Hally muttered.
"Powerful and angry." The Doctor concluded for them.
Hally followed Jack's gaze, multiple child's crayon drawings were scattered on the floor among the mess.
"A child? I suppose this explains Mummy." Jack added.
Rose turned to The Doctor. "How could a child do this?"
The Doctor flicked on the tape machine, Doctor Constantine's voice spoke out, questioning a young boy.
"Always are you my mummy? Like he doesn't know…Why doesn't he know?" Rose questioned. "Doctor?"
He didn't answer her, instead, he started to pace up and down the room. Something Hally noticed he often did when trying to think his way out of an impossible situation. He mused out loud the possibility that one of the children looking for food during the air-raid could have been nearby when the ambulance landed. That the blast might have affected them somehow.
The child's voice echoed through the room from the tape, Hally winced. It was extremely unnerving.
"I'm here!"
The Doctor was still pacing. "It's afraid. Terribly afraid and powerful. It doesn't know it yet, but it will do. It's got the power of a god, and I just sent it to its room."
Hally swallowed nervously when she caught sight of the tape. It had run out. She felt a cold shiver of dread run down her spine. "Crap." She muttered, looking up at The Doctor who had a similar grave expression.
"Doctor." Rose interrupted.
"I'm here. Can't you see me?" The child's voice was so close.
"What's that noise?" Rose frowned, referring to the low screech that was coming from the tape player.
"End of the tape." The Doctor said gravely. "It ran out about thirty seconds ago."
"I'm here, now. Can't you see me?"
Hally whined softly, turning around to look at the room.
"Well done…" She muttered, the fear apparent in her voice. "You sent it to it's room." She sent The Doctor a look. "This. Is. It's. Room."
She turned to look through the broken window, the child was stood there, unnaturally still. It cocked it's head to one side.
"Are you my mummy? Mummy?"
"Sadly not…" Hally whimpered, trying to back away.
Jack's voice was muffled behind her. "Okay, on my signal make for the door." He pulled out his blaster, aiming it at the child. Only, what he was holding was actually a banana.
Hally took the distraction anyway and made for the back of the room. The Doctor pulled Jacks' blaster from his belt, firing it at the concrete wall and making a nice, square hole for them all to escape through.
"Give me that!" Jack cried once they were all out of the room. He quickly pointed the blaster back at the hole, the wall repairing itself as the child tried to follow them out.
"Digital rewind. Nice switch." Jack quipped, looking appreciatively at The Doctor.
A moment later the wall they'd just escaped through began to crack dangerously. The Doctor made to run down the corridor to safety but the ward patients were already making their way towards them from both ends of the corridor. They were trapped.
"Mummy."
"Mummy."
"It's keeping us here till it can get at us." The Doctor explained quickly. Not that it was helping.
Jack took out his blaster again. "Okay. This can function as a sonic blaster, a sonic cannon, and as a triple-enfolded sonic disrupter. Doc, what you got?" He turned to The Doctor who muttered back awkwardly.
Rose shot Hally a look, lowering her voice to a hushed whisper. "Maybe you could do something…?!" She wildly waved her hands around. Hally raised her eyebrow, shooting her a warning look. When Hally looked back, The Doctor was looking between the women, confused.
The wall in front of them smashed open and Hally barely registered Rose grabbing hold of Jack's blaster before they were falling through the floor into the darkened room below. Jack reacted quickly, closing the hole in the ceiling that Rose had just created.
"Could've used a warning." The Doctor grumbled, staggering to his feet.
Rose started fumbling for a light switch as the two men continued bickering about sonic devices.
"Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks, oooh, this could be a little more sonic?" Jack muttered in disbelief.
"Never had a long night? Never had a lot of cabinets to put up?" The Doctor huffed back a little loudly.
Rose found the light switch, although Hally had preferred the ignorance of darkness because as soon as the lights came up, the four could see more patients sitting up in their beds. Asking after their mummies.
Jack rushed over to the door, going to blast his way out again. But nothing happened. "Damn it!" He cried out, turning back to them. "It's the special features. They really drain the battery." He added sheepishly.
Luckily, The Doctor was ready with his sonic screwdriver, opening the door to a nearby storage cupboard, bundling them all in.
"51st century and you still can't sort out the battery life?" Hally shot Jack a patronising look.
"I was going to send for another one, but somebody's got to blow up the factory." He looked at The Doctor meaningfully.
"Oh, I know. First day I met him, he blew my job up. That's practically how he communicates." Rose smirked, jumping in.
Hally shook her head. "If we're keeping score, he blew up my entire home… so I think I win." She grinned sarcastically.
The Doctor took a look around the room and examined what equipment they had. Swiftly coming to the conclusion that they had nothing that was going to help them.
"So, where'd you pick this one up, then?" He motioned to Jack, rounding on Rose.
"She was hanging from a barrage balloon, I had an invisible spaceship. I never stood a chance." He grinned
"It was meant to be…" Hally rolled her eyes, muttering sarcastically.
The Doctor sighed loudly. "Okay. One, we've got to get out of here. Two, we can't get out of here. Have I missed anything?"
"Yeah." Rose piped up quietly. "Jack just disappeared."
Hally and The Doctor looked around, sure enough, …there was no sign of Jack.
Rose groaned, throwing her hands up. "Okay, so he's vanished into thin air. Why is it always the great looking ones who do that?" She looked at Hally.
Hally frowned playfully, motioning to herself in mock offence. "Excuse me…?"
Rose laughed. "I mean, men."
The Doctor scoffed. "Okay, thanks, that really helped."
Hally couldn't help the laugh that escaped her mouth. A look of hurt crossed The Doctor's face, Hally shook her head. "I'd say you're fairly symmetrical." She grinned. He pouted, unconvinced.
The small radio in the corner of the room crackled to life, Jacks voice coming through the small grating. "Doctor? Can you hear me? I'm back on my ship. Used the emergency teleport. Sorry I couldn't take you. It's security-keyed to my molecular structure. I'm working on it. Hang in there."
The Doctor picked up the radio, turning it over in his hands. "How're you speaking to us?"
"Om-Com." Jack explained. "I can call anything with a speaker grill."
The Doctor waved the radio in front of Hally's face. "Now there's a coincidence. The child can Om-Com, too. Anything with a speaker grill. Even the Tardis phone."
"What, you mean the child can phone us?"
"And I can hear you. Coming to find you. Coming to find you." The child's voice interrupted through the radio creepily. Hally and The Doctor practically jumped away from the speaker.
"Doctor, can you hear that?" Jack questioned nervously.
"Loud and clear." He said, grimly.
"I'll try to block out the signal. Least I can do." Hally could hear his grin through the radio. "Remember this one, Rose?"
The soft sound of music started to play through the radio, drowning out the voice of the child.
They'd been waiting for Jack to come back for around ten minutes. Rose had sat herself down in a wheelchair and The Doctor was at the barred window trying to set up a resonation pattern in the concrete to loosen the bars. Or so he'd said.
Hally was leaning against the edge of the desk, watching as The Doctor and Rose argued over whether Jack would be back.
"He saved my life." Rose exclaimed. "Bloke-wise, that's up there with flossing. I trust him because he's like you." The Doctor sent her an incredulous look. "Except with dating and dancing. What?" Rose asked. The Doctor snapped back at her, Hally laughed at them, amused.
"Nine hundred years old, me. I've been around a bit. I think you can assume at some point I've danced."
Hally almost fell off the edge of the desk at that, making a small disgusted noise.
Rose ignored her obvious discomfort. "Doesn't the universe implode or something if you dance?" She continued to probe, Hally narrowed her eyes at her.
"Well, I've got the moves but I wouldn't want to boast." He grinned. Hally covered her face with her hand.
"Please stop." She whined childishly. She was already having a terrible day without having to witness her father flirting.
Rose hopped out of the wheelchair, turning up the song on the radio. She continued to try and persuade The Doctor to dance. "Jack'll be back. He'll get us out. So come on. The world doesn't end because the Doctor dances." She grinned, holding out her hands.
The Doctor took them, turning her hands over in his and looking at her palms. A small frown appeared on his forehead.
"Barrage balloon?" He muttered.
"What?"
"You were hanging from a barrage balloon." The Doctor asked, noticing that Rose's hands didn't have a single mark on them.
"Yeah, I know. Captain Jack fixed me up." Rose grinned, pleased with herself.
The Doctor scoffed. "Oh, we're calling him Captain Jack now, are we?"
"Well, his name's Jack and he's a Captain." She quipped back, happily.
"He's not really a Captain, Rose." The Doctor grumbled.
"Do you know what I think? I think you're experiencing Captain envy. You'll find your feet at the end of your legs. You may care to move them."
The pair continued to quip back quickly between one another, neither noticing that they had been teleported onto Jack's ship. Hally sighed, rolling her eyes and making her way over to where Jack was at the front of the ship.
"Actually, I quit." Jack cut in "Nobody takes my frock. Most people notice when they've been teleported. You guys are so sweet. Sorry about the delay. I had to take the nav-com offline to override the teleport security." He smiled charmingly.
Hally raised an eyebrow, taking a look at the ship's cockpit. "Maybe you shouldn't make such a habit of stealing other people's ships then?" She smiled a sickly sweet smile. "A real Captain, would have his own ship." She sent Rose a pointed look. The Doctor grinned at that.
"Oh, darling." Jack purred in her ear. "I can handle any ship in the universe with perfect precision. That's why I'm Captain." He sent her a sly wink.
A blush crept across Hally's neck and she frowned. "I assume you're not talking about actual ships anymore…?"
Jack just smirked.
The Doctor pulled away from Rose, looking around finally. "This is a Chula ship?"
"Yeah, just like that medical transporter. Only this one is dangerous." He grinned flirtatiously at Rose.
The Doctor snapped his fingers, a golden haze instantly enveloping his hands.
Rose got closer. "They're what fixed my hands up Jack called them…"
"Nanobots? Nanogenes." The Doctor offered.
"Nanogenes, yeah." Rose confirmed.
The Doctor showed Hally and Rose as the tiny Nanogenes healed his hand, before commanding Jack to take them all to the crash site. Hally kept an eye on Jack as he manoeuvred the ship towards the bomb, overhearing snippets of his conversation with Rose.
"Woke up one day when I was still working for them, found they'd stolen two years of my memories. I'd like them back…Two years of my life. No idea what I did. Your friend over there doesn't trust me, and for all I know he's right not to." He looked behind him, catching Hally's eye.
"Okay, we're good to go. Crash site?" He added cheerfully, getting The Doctor's attention.
They exited the ship together, heading towards the bomb crater. They stopped just short of the entry point, Jack nodding up ahead.
"There it is. Hey, they've got Algy on duty. It must be important."
"We've got to get past him." The Doctor muttered, thinking.
Rose smiled, looking between the two men. "Are the words distract the guard heading in my general direction?"
Hally had to hide her smile as Rose was gently put down by Jack, and she watched as he made his way over to the two guards who were stood by the large metal gates.
After only a few moments the man Jack had been talking to started to retch violently, falling to his knees as his face began to morph. Hally ran forward, closely followed by Rose and the Doctor who was calling for the other men to stay back. Hally got to Jack first, pulling him away from the man by the arm.
The Doctor looked around him, sonic'ing the man. "The effect's become air-borne, accelerating."
The air-raid sirens started up again, the sound drowning out the far-away noises of explosions. Hally looked up at the sky, stiffening. Jack turned to look back at her, not realising that she'd still been holding onto his arm. She let go quickly, shuffling backwards slightly.
"All we need." Rose muttered, looking around worriedly. "Didn't you say a bomb was going to land here?" She looked at The Doctor.
The sky lit up with fire. It was all Hally could see. Her breath was coming out in shaky exhales. The words of The Doctor and Rose drowned out by the noise in her ears. A sharp tug on her arm brought her back to the present. Jack was looking at her with concern, Hally could see behind him The Doctor and Rose were making their way inside the makeshift HQ bunker.
"Hey, are you ok?" Jack asked, tugged on her arm again lightly.
Hally looked at him for a moment before pushing his hand off of her arm. "I'm fine." She shook her head quickly as The Doctor and Rose come back out of the bunker, followed by Nancy.
Swiftly they all lit up the area, pulling the tarpaulin off the Chula ambulance ship. Jack quickly got to work keying in the access codes. There was a bang and some sparks, a red alarm going off inside the ship.
"Didn't happen last time." Jack muttered, looking up at The Doctor awkwardly.
"It hadn't crashed last time." The Doctor countered. "There'll be emergency protocols." He tried to get a good look inside.
"Doctor!" Rose cried, the group followed her gaze to see all the hospital patients battering at the hospital doors, advancing on the gates to the crash site.
"Captain, secure those gates!" The Doctor ordered quickly, sending Rose and Nancy to secure the barbed wire fence with the sonic screwdriver.
Finally, Jack managed to prize the door off the ambulance, showing The Doctor. "It's empty. Look at it."
The Doctor scoffed. "What do you expect in a Chula medical transporter? Bandages? Cough drops? Rose?" He looked at the human who shrugged.
"I don't know."
"Yes, you do." He motioned to his hands.
"Nanogenes!" Rose cried out, grinning.
The Doctor turned back to Jack. "It wasn't empty, Captain. There was enough Nanogenes in there to rebuild a species." He said, pointedly. Jack's face paled as he finally started to get it.
"Oh, God."
Hally's eyes widened. Looking between the trio. "So the ship crashes, all the Nanogenes flood out… except the first thing they find is Jamie… the boy, dead and wearing a gas mask?"
The Doctor nodding, smiling.
"And they brought him back to life? They can do that?" Rose questioned.
"What's life? Life's easy. A quirk of matter. Nature's way of keeping meat fresh. Nothing to a Nanogene." The Doctor laughed. "One problem, though. These Nanogenes, they're not like the ones on your ship. This lot have never seen a human being before. Don't know what a human being's supposed to look like. All they've got to go on is one little body, and there's not a lot left. But they carry right on. They do what they're programmed to do. They patch it up. Can't tell what's gas mask and what's skull, but they do their best. Then off they fly, off they go, work to be done. Because you see, now they think they know what people should look like, and it's time to fix all the rest. And they won't ever stop. They won't ever, ever stop. The entire human race is going to be torn down and rebuilt in the form of one terrified child looking for its mother, and nothing in the world can stop it!"
Hally swallowed, Jack frowned guiltily.
"I didn't know." He muttered quietly. Hally sent him a small apologetic smile as The Doctor turned back to examine the ambulance. Hally could hear the ethereal cried of the patients getting closer and closer. The Doctor was trying to ignore them, pulling out wires and panels from the ship and explaining to the humans how the Nanogenes were advancing.
Hally took in a deep breath as a German plane flew loudly overhead. The familiar burning in her lungs was back and her vision was going in and out of focus. She shook her head, focusing instead on the wall of patients who were now surrounding them, ominously waiting outside the barbed wire fence.
"So how long until the bomb falls?" Rose asked nervously.
"Any second." Jack shot a quick glance at Hally, she frowned, sending him a glare back.
"He's just a little boy." Nancy was saying, close to tears.
"I know." The Doctor whispered.
"He's just a little boy who wants his mummy." Her voice broke.
"I know. There isn't a little boy born who wouldn't tear the world apart to save his mummy. And this little boy can." The Doctor ran a hand through his hair, he didn't know what to do. Nancy began to panic, getting herself more and more upset. Hally watched as the patients became more animated, calling out for their mummy.
The Doctor saw them too, and Hally saw as something clicked in his mind. "Nancy, what age are you? Twenty? Twenty-one? Older than you look, yes?" He asked gently.
Jack looked up at the sky. "Doctor, that bomb. We've got seconds." He warned.
"You can teleport us out." Rose demanded, her voice laced with panic and fear.
"Not you guys." Jack winced. "The nav-com's back online. Going to take too long to override the protocols."
The Doctor shot him a meaningful look. "So it's volcano day. Do what you've got to do."
Jack looked back at him, the pair seemingly having a silent conversation. Before Jack disappeared.
The Doctor turned back to Nancy, his expression softening once more. "How old were you five years ago? Fifteen? Sixteen? Old enough to give birth, anyway. He's not your brother, is he? A teenage single mother in 1941. So you hid. You lied. You even lied to him."
Hally looked up to see the gates to the crash site opening, Jamie walking towards them slowly. "Are you my mummy?"
"He's going to keep asking, Nancy. He's never going to stop…" The Doctor's voice was low, his hand resting gently on Nancy's arm. "Tell him. Nancy, the future of the human race is in your hands. Trust me and tell him."
Slowly and fearfully, Nancy stumbled over to her son. She knelt down on the sodden ground, tears in her eyes.
"I am your mummy. I will always be your mummy. I'm so sorry. I am so, so sorry." She broke into tears, pulling the small boy into a hug. As she did the golden haze of the Nanogenes surrounded them both. The Doctor was watching, Hally bit her lip.
"Come on, please. Come on, you clever little Nanogenes. Figure it out! The mother, she's the mother. It's got to be enough information. Figure it out." The Doctor begged. The Nanogenes swirled around the pair, eventually Jamie let go and Nancy fell to the ground. The Doctor ran over quickly, pulling the gasmask from Jamie's face successfully. He cried out in joy at seeing the young boys face.
"Ha-ha! Welcome back! Twenty years till pop music - you're going to love it."
Hally laughed in relief, covering her mouth with her hand as she watched Nancy slowly sit up off the ground.
"What happened?" She asked, looking at Jamie.
"The Nanogenes recognised the superior information, the parent DNA. They didn't change you because you changed them! Ha-ha! Mother knows best!" He grinned and Nancy pulled Jamie into another hug, burying her face against him.
"What about the bomb?" Hally suddenly remembered, looking back up at the sky in panic.
"Taken care of it." The Doctor added, obviously pleased with himself.
"How?" Rose asked.
"Psychology." He grinned knowingly.
Hally stared at the sky as the bomb hurtled towards them, only to be caught at the last minute in a light blue beam of light just before impact. Rose laughed happily, Jack was sitting smugly astride the bomb.
Hally shook her head, laughing.
"Doctor!" Jack called, grinning at his success.
"Good lad!" The Doctor grinned stupidly back.
Jack's smile dropped for a moment. "The bomb's already commenced detonation. I've put it in stasis but it won't last long…"
The Doctor called back up at him. "Change of plan. Don't need the bomb. Can you get rid of it, safely as you can?"
Jack nodded in silent understanding, before smiling down at Rose. "Rose?"
"Yeah?"
He smiled sadly. "Goodbye."
For a moment the sky was empty, before Jack reappeared, his usual grin on his face. "By the way, love the T-shirt." He added, having to have the last word before he disappeared again. Hally shook her head in amusement. The bomb was slowly lifted into the ship by the beam, quickly disappearing from the sky.
The Doctor summoned some of the Nanogenes to himself. "Software patch. Going to email the upgrade. You want moves, Rose? I'll give you moves." He grinned at her playfully, throwing the Nanogenes to the waiting patients, as the hit each of them fell to the ground. When they awoke and stood back up, the Nanogenes had done their work, all the patients were returning to normal.
The Doctor laughed, spreading his hands wide. "Everybody lives. Just this once, everybody lives!" Laughing again, he quickly went and helped Dr Constantine to his feet, grinning ecstatically.
"Right, you lot. Lots to do. Beat the Germans, save the world. Don't forget the welfare state! Setting this to self-destruct, soon as everybody's clear. History says there was an explosion here. Who am I to argue with history?" The Doctor grinned stupidly.
Hally scoffed and Rose voiced her exact thoughts. "Usually the first in line."
When they got back to the TARDIS, The Doctor was still beaming. Hally couldn't help but smile at his stupid face, it was infectious.
"And everybody lives, Rose! Everybody lives! I need more days like this." He twirled her around happily.
Rose smiled back at him before her face fell suddenly. "Doctor."
"Go on, ask me anything. I'm on fire." He replied, not catching onto her change in tone.
"What about Jack? Why'd he say goodbye?" She frowned looking up at him.
"Shit! Jack!" Hally exclaimed, jumping away from the metal bannister that she'd been leaning on. "The bomb!"
The Doctor nodded, quickly getting to work on the console. "Well today Rose, everybody lives!" He grinned as the TARDIS rematerialized at the end of Jack's ship. The Doctor dramatically flipped a switch on the console, the song from earlier playing out loudly.
Hally smiled, turning around and opening up the doors, the familiar interior of Jack's Chula ship on the other side. She smiled slyly as Jack turned in his seat to see her and The Doctor and Rose dancing behind her. His jaw dropped for a short second before he jumped from his seat.
"Well, hurry up then!" Rose called from behind her. Hally laughed.
Jack didn't need telling twice, he ran onto the TARDIS, stopping in awe of the interior. Hally smiled, turning back to Rose and The Doctor. She inwardly cringed upon seeing that Rose was trying to awkwardly lead The Doctor in a dance.
"I'm sure I used to know this stuff." The Doctor moaned. "Close the door, will you? Your ship's about to blow up. There's going to be a draught." He called over Rose's shoulder to Jack cheerily.
Jack swiftly shut the door as The Doctor pulled away from Rose to start up the engine.
"Welcome to the Tardis." The Doctor called from behind the console.
"Much bigger on the inside." Jack laughed, still looking in slight disbelief.
The Doctor shot him a warning look. "You'd better be."
Rose quickly tried to diffuse the tension, skipping over to Jack. "I think what the Doctor's trying to say is… you may cut in." She grinned, moving closer for a dance when suddenly the music changed to a more upbeat swing song.
"Rose! I've just remembered!" The Doctor called. Rose turned to look at him, he was already starting to move about on his feet.
"What?" She smiled back at his large grin.
"I can dance! I can dance!" He moved on over to her, dancing confidently and ridiculously to the music.
Hally shook her head laughing, dramatically covering her eyes with her hands. "Make it stop!"
Rose laughed, looking awkwardly back at Jack. "Actually, Doctor, I thought Jack might like this dance."
"I'm sure he would, Rose. I'm absolutely certain. But who with?" The Doctor wiggled his eyebrows ridiculously, grabbing Rose's hand and pulling her into a dance.
Hally laughed watching them, she felt Jack slip in beside her. She looked up at his handsome face, he was giving her his most charming smile. He raised an eyebrow suggestively, an invitation to dance.
Hally laughed, turning back to watch The Doctor and Rose.
"You wish, Harkness. You wish."
Later that evening, Hally decided that a nice swim might clear her head. She'd been fairly tense since they'd all gotten back to the TARDIS and despite the fact that 'everybody lived!' as The Doctor kept saying, Hally was beginning to feel a little shaky as all the adrenaline left her system. She chucked her towel on one of the benches to the side of the pool, heading towards the water.
She almost stopped when she realised that she wasn't alone. Narrowing her eyes as she caught sight of Jack lounging on one of the loungers to the right of the pool in his boxers, book in hand. She inwardly rolled her eyes, diving into the water anyway.
Hally started to swim a couple of laps lazily, she could see out of the corner of her eye that he hadn't turned a single page for the last 10 minutes. She reached the edge of the pool, holding onto the edge as she watched him.
"What are you doing?" She eventually asked, not hiding the accusation in her voice.
"What does it look like I'm doing?" He smirked, motioning to his book. "I'm just kicking back and enjoying the view."
Hally narrowed her eyes at him, unamused.
He laughed playfully. "Prickly little thing aren't you?"
"No." She retorted quickly, pushing off the wall and carrying on with her laps. After a few moments she heard him get into the pool, but was taken by surprise when he gently grabbed her arm not a moment later. Hally swung around, automatically going to hit him in the chest.
Jack caught her wrist easily, a small smile playing on his lips. "Woah, woah. Easy there." He chuckled, releasing her arm but keeping a soft grip on her wrist.
Hally grit her teeth. "Sorry." She muttered sarcastically. "Habit."
He smirked slightly. "So I can see." The playfulness in his expression dropped a little. "What war was it?" He asked softly.
Hally looked away. "The worst one." She looked back at him, pulling her wrist free from his grip. "But I'd really rather not talk about it."
Jack took a small step in, Hally realised that he was now very close to her, his scent enveloping her warmly. "You might not want to. But eventually, you're going to have to."
She shook her head, letting out a soft laugh.
"You disappeared for a moment back there. Before the bomb hit. Eventually, blacking out like that could get you killed… or someone else killed because you were frozen." Hally frowned at that. She opened her mouth, but Jack continued. "It's not going to stop on its own." He muttered gently. She'd not seen the conman look so genuine before. "I should know. And trust me, no amount of booze, sex or drugs is going to make to go away." His signature smile was back.
She looked down, quickly realising that she was now just staring at his abs. Hally coughed awkwardly and looked off to the side, blushing. She crossed her arms over her chest defensively.
He laughed softly. "You know I'm right." He added playfully.
She rolled her eyes but a small inkling of a smile crept onto her face.
He was quiet for a few moments, Hally couldn't help but flick her eyes back over his chest. His voice broke her thoughts. "Now I need something from you…"
"Of course you do." She smirked, raising her eyebrow in a challenge to him.
"It's very important…" He grinned.
"Do you think I'm Rose's type?" His eyes laughed playfully.
Hally snorted, rolling her eyes as she splashed him. Jack chuckled, wiping the water from his face but Hally was already half-way out of the pool.
"You're everybody's type." She grabbed her towel, heading back to her room.
IIIII
"I'm Dr Saxon."
His eyes flashed playfully.
Hally frowned and stayed silent.
He let out a short bark of laughter, his features cracking into a large genuine smile.
"I suppose you have some questions?" He cocked his head to one side. His eyes never left her face. It was almost unnerving.
She nodded slowly before replying. "Although, I was under the impression that that would be your job?" She tried, cautiously.
His mouth twitched in amusement. He brought his hands together, resting his chin on top of his fingertips as he sat further back into his chair.
"Well… why don't we do a trade, hmm?"
Hally raised an eyebrow.
"A question for a question… an answer for an answer." His eyes glittered excitedly.
Hally thought about it for a moment, quickly realising that she wasn't really in any position to barter.
"Fine."
He grinned happily. His behaviour was strange. Something about him didn't quite fit into the scenario she'd found herself in. However, despite this, she couldn't help but feel safe in the small strange little office. Much more so than outside with the guards.
"I'll go first." He grinned, eyes widening as he sat forwards, leaning his elbows on his desk. "How was your childhood?"
Hally frowned, that had seemingly come out of nowhere. "That's a rather broad question…"
He smiled in amusement but didn't say anything.
Hally sighed and leant forward, grabbing another biscuit before settling back into the sofa. She brought her legs up off the floor and crossed them underneath her. She wasn't sure what it was that made her start talking, but she did. She explained for around fifteen minutes, in rather extensive, but non-specific, detail about her childhood. About her distant relationship with her parents, her struggle at 'school' and her inability to make friends.
Dr Saxon smiled, listening intently. "Do you think this feeling of abandonment is what made you so incredibly angry with the world?" He asked, once she had finished.
Hally looked at him, keeping her face schooled. "That's another question. It's my turn." She said calmly.
He smiled, nodding. "So it is. Ask away." His eyes sparked with something that looked like irritation.
Hally opened her mouth to speak but found that she couldn't think of anything to ask. She knew she had one hundred questions, but her mind was foggy. Nothing was coming out.
"Take your time." Dr Saxon said, a teasing edge to his tone.
Hally let out a frustrated breath, shaking her head slightly and blurted out the first thing she could. "How did I get here!?"
Saxon cocked his head to one side with interest. Now that she had said it out loud, the question hung in the air. A sharp ache at the front of her mind twanged painfully. She winced but didn't stop looking at Dr Saxon for an answer.
After a few moments, he ground his teeth lightly. "You were brought here after an incident occurred involving your father. You were travelling with him, remember?"
Hally nodded slowly, lots of memories were blurred, in the wrong order. The last thing she could remember was travelling with The Doctor, Martha was there. Something about Jack… and someone else? The pain in her head grew and Hally brought her hand up to her head.
"You are here for your own safety, but also for the safety of others." Saxon watched her closely.
The pain in her head faded slowly and she looked back up at him. "What incident?"
A slow smile crept up his face. "My turn."
Hally bit the inside of her lip, rolling her eyes.
"You said you had trouble making friends at school. That must have been difficult. Was there no one you could turn to? Confide in?" He took his own biscuit, snapping it in half, still not taking his eyes off her.
Hally turned her head and looked out of the window, sighing softly. "I said there was Persca."
"And you confided in her?"
"Not really…"
"So you had no one to turn to?"
She ran her tongue along the top of her teeth, shifting in her seat.
"No, I…"
It had started to rain outside, she watched the big, fat water droplets smack into the glass window.
"I did. There was someone else."
Dr Saxon was quiet.
"But he died."
He was quiet for a while, before…
"How?"
"There was a war…" Hally began. "Wait you've had like five questions now. It's my go!" Her eyes snapped back to his. He shrugged, motioning with his hand for her to go ahead.
"What incident?" She repeated.
He sighed loudly. "The mind is an interesting thing. Perhaps the reason you can't remember is because you are protecting yourself?"
Hally laughed in irritation, shaking her head. "What?!"
"You were hurt. Others were hurt. I think it's best that we revisit the topic when you're more stable." He said calmly, his face unreadable.
"More stable?!" Hally tensed. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?!" Her jaw clenched, her breath coming out in short, sharp bursts.
Dr Saxon waited stoically for her to calm down.
She rolled her eyes, slumping back into the sofa. "That…was not me demonstrating how 'unstable' I am." Her voice broke slightly as she regained her breath. "I'm just so confused." She ran her hands through her hair.
"I know." His voice was soft and low. "And that is why I am here. So you can talk to me. Confide in me. I will always be here for you. Your Doctor."
Hally looked up into his dark, chocolate eyes. They were whirling with intensity. Hally licked her lips nervously. She didn't know why, but she believed him.