I don't dream often, and when I do I'm always aware that it's a dream. That was true even way back then. The easiest way to tell a dream of mine from reality is that a dream just… starts. There's no setup, I'm just suddenly in a situation, and I "know" the necessary backstory.
That's one of the many reasons that when I opened my eyes, I was very much under the impression that my brain had woven me a particularly vivid dream. I had absolutely no idea how I'd ended up laying on my back and staring up at a weird gray-green sky, but I did have the vague impression that I was on an alien world and that I would be safe.
That's also the reason why I just layed there, waiting for the subconscious that usually controlled dream me to make me stand up and go on an adventure of some form or fashion. When it didn't, I put effort into what little muscles I had to sit up and take one sweeping look around. Once I had confirmed that I had no fucking clue where I was, I set off with no real goal in mind. You weren't supposed to have goals in a dream; just let the fiction take you.
I rounded a huge statue and nearly fell back down, lost in sudden giggles. It had been a long time since I'd had a dream like this, a dream so solidly rooted in someone else's fiction. Well, hell, might as well have fun while it lasted. I ran as fast as my feet would take me, snapping my fingers the whole time. Despite just about everything, the doors swung open.
I practically teleported to the console with my speed, circling once before stopping in front of the big switch that was always the last thing pulled. "Time and Relative Dimension in Space," I tried in my best approximation of a London accent and failed horribly. It took me maybe longer than it should have to stop giggling. "TARDIS for short." I put my hand on the console. "I'm the Doctor."
No. a voice said. I spun around, but no other character had yet materialized in my dream.
"Hello?" I said in my real voice. It sort of occured to me that I had control over the volume of my voice, which was not something I should have in a dream. When no one answered, I put my hands back on the console. Images of the first nine faces of the Doctor, minus, I noted, the War Doctor, flashed suddenly in my mind's eye. "Ok." I giggled. It occured to me that I felt giddy, like what I imagined being really high felt like. I held my hands in the air. "You got me. I'm not the Doctor." There was humming in my head. I grinned, and looked at column in the middle of console. "Oh, and you would know." There was a drawn out silence. I pouted.
"You're no fun." The giddy feeling faded in an instant, getting replaced with nausea. I slid to my knees and pressed my forehead against the console. "This dream is trash."
Suddenly, I heard the TARDIS door creak open again. "-and wait 'til you see-" The voice stopped abruptly, almost as abruptly as my nausea. I looked up and toward the door. The ninth Doctor, in all his leather jacket glory, was standing on the TARDIS entrance ramp, hand in hand with Rose Tyler. She was wearing an outfit I didn't recognize.
"Where have you been?" I asked stupidly. The words were out of my mouth before they were really in my brain. I slapped my hands over my mouth.
"I'm sorry?" the Doctor asked, looking genuinely confused. "Who are you and how did you get in my TARDIS?"
"The doors opened for me," I blurted.
"What?"
"I snapped my fingers and the doors opened." The Doctor let go of Rose's hand and took a few steps toward me.
"I'll try again. Who are you and how did you get in my TARDIS?"
"I'm-" I took a step away from the console and the world went black.
...
The Doctor rushed forward, but the girl hit the ground before he could catch her. He dropped to his knees next to her and felt for a pulse. She was definitely still alive, but her heart rate was much too fast for someone who was sleeping.
"Doctor?" Rose walked cautiously toward the two. "What's going on? Is she ok?"
"She's alive," he said simply, pulling the sonic from his pocket and scanning the girl quickly. Rose took a few more steps forward.
"Is she like you?"
"Whad'ya mean?" He was having trouble making sense of what the readinge were saying. They weren't telling him what he wanted to know. How did she get in?
"Is she a… Time… Lady?" The Doctor looked up at his companion, trying to hide the look of shock on his face and ignore the ache the idea brought to his hearts.
"No," he felt her pulse again. "One heart."
...
My first thought when I woke up again was that I did not want to be conscious, thank you very much. I felt lethargic and heavy, like I'd just had a much needed 8 hours of sleep after a hard day. I shifted slightly, trying to pull my blankets further up my body, only to find I wasn't under any blankets. That shocked me awake.
I tried to sit up, but as my brain started functioning again, every part of me started to hurt. I bit my lip and took a deep breath to avoid shouting at the pain. A wave of relief swept through me like a shot of anesthetic, except for some reason I was very aware that it wasn't anesthetic. Thank you, I thought, for some reason. Whatever had helped me hummed a response that buzzed around my ribcage before settling it my heart. I decided I really liked that feeling.
"Good to see your awake now." My eyes flew open. Before I could turn to look a the source of the voice, the man was at the side of whatever I was laying on. His face was a scowl, arms crossed, but I couldn't help the smile on my lips.
"Doctor," I managed. I had the distinct feeling that I should be panicking, but the hum was still sitting in my mind.
"Hello." He smiled for just the word. "Who are you?"
"I'm uh.." That was supposed to be an easy question to answer, right? "Katelyn, I think."
"You think?"
"It's all fuzzy, I-" The humming vanished. For the first time since this weird dream started, I was fully aware that I was not dreaming. I choked on my words, and the humming came back. I nearly sobbed in relief. A tear rolled down my cheek.
The Doctor looked at the ceiling with a raised eyebrow. I followed his gaze, but he wasn't really looking at anything.
When the Doctor's ninth face looked back at me, his expression had relaxed. "Alright," he said, not to me. "Katelyn." Everything felt almost too real. I could feel panic rising again. This was wrong. This was very wrong. "How did you get on the TARDIS?"
"I told you." My voice came out surprisingly strong. "I saw her, I ran, snapped my fingers, and the doors opened for me." The Doctor scowled again and started pacing.
I looked around the room. There were all kinds of machines, most of which looked completely foreign to me. All had some kind of labeling, but it was written in the swirling circles of Gallifreyan, which didn't help. "Where am I now?" The Doctor stopped pacing, looked at me as if I'd spoken in tongues, then looked around the room with the same expression.
"The TARDIS medbay."
"Excellent. Am I dying?" I made my face a mask of curiosity. The Doctor actually laughed, which made me feel better. I smiled then.
"No. I brought you here to run some tests. I needed to know what you are."
"What I am? You could have asked." I sat up and swung my legs over the side of the medical bed I was laying on, all pain gone.
"No, I couldn't. You were unconscious," he countered.
"Fair, but I'm awake now." The Doctor smiled one of those full face smiles that only Nine could really do.
"Good point." The Doctor walked back over and leaned against the wall next to me. "What are you then?"
"Aggressively average human, last I checked." The Doctor snorted. "18 years old, Born in 2000 AD, Earth time, Michigan, USA-"
"Although," The Doctor prompted. Did he already know?
"I'm uh, it… I-it" The humming curled around me. He'll believe you I got the feeling it was trying to say. "I'mfromanalternateuniversewhereyourlifeisfiction." I rushed the words out so fast I wasn't sure he'd be able to understand me. As soon as the words left my lips, I felt the giddiness come back, and I giggled again. The Doctor gave me a look that said 'you are completely mad'.
"Ok. Prove it." My mind raced trying to break through the giddiness.
"You believe me?"
"I did say to prove it."
"Right." It was much easier to talk when I was looking at the ground, so I did. "We're in a type-40 TARDIS that you stole… lord, just ages ago." I choked out, the feeling fading again. "It's bigger on the inside and can travel through time and space. On the outside this TARDIS looks like a police box from London in the 1960s because you landed there once and the chameleon circuit broke. You could fix it, but you're really fond of the blue box look." The Doctor said nothing, just stared at me, so I kept going. "You're a Time Lord from the plane-" I don't know why I stopped myself, but I had a feeling saying the word "Gallifrey" would be a bad idea.
"You're…" I trailed off because the Doctor was still looking at me with skepticism. I took a deep breath. "Rose Tyler. The woman who was with you when you walked in is named Rose Tyler. You meet her in the basement of a department store called Henrik's, which you then blew up. You took her hand and said 'run'. No one else was down there with you. "
The Doctor's expression shifted, but it was still unreadable. "Ok, say I believe you. How much of my life?" I swallowed, too hard for it to be an innocent gesture. I'd seen series 1 through 10, so much of his personal future. I was suddenly, sickeningly aware of how dangerous I could be, if someone could get into me mind. I was also aware that I felt sick again.
"Technically, it started when you stole the TARDIS, but I never saw those… episodes." The word felt like poison on my tongue. "I only… watched…" That word wasn't much better. "From when you met Rose to…" The Doctor let the silence hang for a minute.
"To?"
"Spoilers," I whispered. I didn't miss the flash of fear that crossed his face, nor did I miss how my stomach dropped at the sight. The humming came back in force, and I felt a wave of comfort and pride flow through me. "What is that?" I asked before I could think to stop.
"What is what?" the Doctor asked plainly. I closed my eyes and tried to listen harder, but the humming stayed in the back of my mind.
"That humming? It's making me feel things." I opened my eyes and frowned. "That was a poorly worded sentence." The Doctor gave me another unreadable look, then pushed off the wall and started to leave the room.
"There's a galley, if you're hungry. A library, if you get bored, but first-" The Doctor spun back around, never stopping in his walking. "You should probably get out of your jimjams."
"Well, where the-" He was gone before I could really ask. "-hell is the wardrobe." I jumped off the bed and took two steps before stopping dead in my tracks. "I am an idiot," I whispered, and pressed my hand against the wall. The TARDIS took a second to agree that I was an idiot, before showing me the path to the wardrobe.
I had just opened the door when the ground was suddenly not under my feet. I slammed into the wall, hard. It took me a second to catch my breath around the pain. "What?" My vision went a light purple color that I would have called Lilac except- "Mauve!" I cried in delight. "Of all the places on his timeline to land!"
...
"What's the emergency?" Rose asked.
"It's mauve." The Doctor rushed to tap at the console. He really did not need this emergency right now.
"Mauve?" Rose asked, affronted. She only made it a few steps around the console before the TARDIS shook and knocked her almost off her feet. The Doctor's flying was never smooth, but this was something else.
"The universally recognized colour for danger." The Doctor was still typing frantically.
"What happened to red?"
"That's just humans. By everyone else's standards, red's camp. Oh, the misunderstandings. All those red alerts, all that dancing. It's got a very basic flight computer. I've hacked in, slaved the TARDIS. Where it goes, we go," the Doctor explained, pointing to the thing on the scanner.
"And that's safe, is it?" Rose asked in a tone that said she already knew the answer was no.
"Totally." The Doctor threw a switch and the whole console sparked. "Okay, reasonably. Should have said reasonably there." The scanner beeped, and the two watched the something slip into the Vortex. "No, no, no, no! It's jumping time tracks, getting away from us."
"What exactly is this thing?"
"No idea."
"Then why are we chasing it?"
"It's mauve and dangerous." The Doctor turned his head to make eye contact with Rose. "and about thirty seconds from the centre of London."
"London when?" The Doctor and Rose looked over to see the newcomer stumbling her way into the console room. She had changed into a button down dress that went a little farther than her knees and a tight fitting wool coat.
"Shouldn't you already know?" the Doctor countered.
"What?" Rose asked. "Is that thing her ship?"
"Don't have a ship," Katelyn said, stumbling her way over to the console.
"Then how would you know?" Rose asked. The Doctor didn't really know what to say to that. How could he explain to Rose that this woman was the product of a different reality and knew secrets about their lives that they didn't even know yet?
"Bit of hush, please!" is what he finally said.
...
For all the shaking and bumping the TARDIS did while we were chasing the medical transport through the vortex, it landed incredibly smoothly. The Doctor wasted no time in running out into the world, but Rose hesitated.
"Who are you then?" she asked, hands on hips.
"Name's Katelyn-" For some reason, the idea of saying my last name out loud burned. "Laurin," I lied.
"I'm Rose Tyler."
"Nice to meet you." The TARDIS door flew open, and the Doctor leaned in.
"You lot just gonna stand there?" Rose was moving in an instant, and I couldn't stop my smile as I followed. "Do you know how long you can knock around space without happening to bump into Earth?"
"Five days? Or is that just when we're out of milk?" Rose teased. I was relieved my existence didn't appear to be changing anything too much. I didn't want to ruin a second of this.
"Of all the species in all the Universe and it has to come out of a cow," the Doctor mused. He and Rose looked around for a bit before walking away from the TARDIS. I followed, resisting the urge to look up and behind me. He was there, I knew. This was my favorite two parter after all.
"Must have come down somewhere quite close." The Doctor started again. "Within a mile, anyway. And it can't have been more than a few weeks ago. Maybe a month."
"A month?" Rose complained. "We were right behind it."
"It's a time-ship," I blurted before I could stop myself. "'Right behind' is relative." The Doctor gave me his 'I was about to talk' look. "Sorry," I whispered, dropping my eyes.
"It was jumping time tracks all over the place. We're bound to be a little bit out," he explained. "Do you want to drive?" My mind flashed me blurry pictures of a woman with very curly hair and the name "Melody", but every time I tried to concentrate on it, the image slipped away behind a gold wall.
"What's the plan, then? Are you going to do a scan for alien tech or something?" Rose asked, hopeful. I shook the almost memory out of my head, and focused back on the present.
"Rose, it hit the middle of London with a very loud bang. I'm going to ask." The Doctor sounded almost annoyed. He held up his psychic paper to Rose.
"Doctor John Smith, Ministry of Asteroids," Rose read, as clear as if it had been written.
"It's psychic paper. It tells you-"
"Whatever you want it to tell me, I remember."
"Sorry, maybe I was explaining for the newbie." The Doctor gestured in my general direction. He had to know I already knew what it was, but I just nodded a thank you.
Rose was almost pouting. "Not very Spock, is it, just asking." We came to a door. The Doctor turned an pressed his ear against it.
"Door, music, people. What do you think?"
"A nightclub?" I offered. The Doctor almost smiled at me and turned back the door.
"I think-" Rose put a lot of effort on the word "I". "-you should do a scan for alien tech. Give me some Spock, for once. Would it kill you?" She sounded like she was approaching anger. The Doctor flat-out ignored her tone and went to work on the lock.
"Are you sure about that t-shirt?" he asked.
"Too early to say. I'm taking it out for a spin." Rose either was completely placated by the comment, or knew there was no more point in arguing.
Alone. I felt a shiver go down my spine. He was staring at us, I could feel it.
"Mummy? Mummy?" echoed through the alleyway. I forced my attention to the door. Afraid. Why was I so scared? I knew what the child was.
"Come on, if you're coming. It won't take a minute." The Doctor slipped into the building without looking back. I decided to follow him instead of Rose. I had no upper body strength; I would fall right off that barrage balloon if I followed her.
I followed the Doctor who followed a waiter through a grungy back hallway and through a beaded curtain. There was a woman standing on a stage, singing a pleasant song, so no one noticed us come in. I took one sweeping look at the people in the room and pulled my coat tighter.
"I didn't think it was possible to feel underdressed in a nightclub," I mumbled as the singer finished her song. The Doctor clapped politely along with the crowd before walking on stage. I watched from the corner.
"Excuse me. Excuse me. Could I have everybody's attention just for a mo? Be very quick." The guest all focused back on the stage with looks of indulgence. I could feel my fight or flight response trying to kick in already, and I wasn't even the one doing the public speaking.
"Hello! Might seem like a stupid question, but has anything fallen from the sky recently?" The room was silent for a moment, then the guest slowly started to laugh. The Doctor's smile slid from his face. "Sorry, have I said something funny?" I put a hand over my mouth to avoid joining the laughter. "It's just, there's this thing that I need to find. Would've fallen from the sky a couple of days ago."
An air raid siren sounded. The laughter stopped instantly and people started to shuffle out of the room. "Would've landed quite near here. With a very loud-" The Doctor looked at me and I pointed to a poster on the wall that read Hitler will give no warning. He sighed, his whole posture saying 'really'.
"Bang?" I offered. The Doctor ran a hand down his face, then looked up in panic.
"Rose," he whispered, than ran out the door back into the alleyway. I ran after him, already very happy that's I'd forgone period shoes.
"Rose?" he called to the empty alley. I was about to say something along the lines of 'she's fine', when a cat meowed. That was apparently enough to distract the last of the Time Lords, as he turned back around and picked the cat up. "You know, one day, just one day, maybe, I'm going to meet someone who gets the whole 'don't wander off' thing."
"I'm right here," I joked. The Doctor looked like he was genuinely surprised I was still there. I could almost feel his mind running a million miles an hour, trying to figure me out. Welcome to the club, buddy.
"So you are." He paused, and looked like he was about to ask a question when the TARDIS police telephone rang. The Doctor looked at me, once again genuinely shocked, before putting the cat down and walking over. I followed, scratching the cat's ears as I passed. He opened the small door and stared at the phone.
"How can you be ringing? What's that about, ringing?" He turned to me. "What am I supposed to do with a ringing phone?"
"Scan it?" I suggested, waving my hand like I was holding the sonic. The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver. "Quick question. Why does this feel so… ok? Why am I not having a panic attack right now?"
"Shock, most likely."
"Oh, great. Thanks," I said sarcastically.
"Don't answer it," a voice called. We turned to look at a young woman standing at the other end of the alleyway. Nancy, my brain offered. "It's not for you." The Doctor looked from the phone to the woman to me. I shrugged.
"And how do you know that?" he asked. The memories of this episode, and I really hated using that word now, flooded back. I could tell him, right now. In this moment, I could end this episode within a few minutes. I could take him right to Albion Hospital, tell him right where Rose was, explain that it was nanogenes. But then, could the damage be reversed if Nancy didn't reveal herself? I decided very quickly that I didn't want to find out.
"Everybody lives," I whispered, as a reminder.
"Hello? This is the Doctor speaking. How may I help you?" I blinked back to what I guess was reality. The Doctor had picked up the phone, and when I looked, Nancy was gone.
"Who is this? Who's speaking?" A little boy named Jamie.
"Who is this?" He was already dead when the thing landed.
"How did you ring here? This isn't a real phone. It's not wired up to anything." Nancy is his mother, and-
"He's so afraid," I whispered. The Doctor turned to look at me. I looked at my hands and found they were shaking. "He's alone and he's so scared."
The dialing tone sounded from the phone. The Doctor looked away from me, hung up and knocked on the TARDIS door. There was no response. "Where's Rose?'
"She's safe. She'll be fine." The Doctor relaxed a bit.
"Who's scared?" Before I could answer, there was a sound at the end of the alley, and we were running toward it. We came to a wall that I knew immediately I had no hope of seeing over, since the six foot tall Doctor had to stand on a trash can to see over it. I decided to lean against the wall and just listen.
"Come on. Arthur! Arthur, Will you hurry up? Didn't you hear the siren?" the wife yelled.
"Middle of dinner, every night. Blooming Germans. Don't they eat?" the husband, Arthur, grumbled.
"I can hear the planes!"
"Don't you eat?"
"Oh, keep your voice down, will you? It's an air raid! Get in."
I heard the family argue with a pit in my stomach. In that moment, I just wanted to go home. I wanted to be with my own family. I could feel panic rising. We were too far away; I couldn't feel the TARDIS in my head, keeping me here.
"C'mon, over the wall." I blinked and looked up to where the Doctor was holding his hand out to me.
"Come again?"
"We're going into that house. Come on." It took a minute to get us both over the wall. If I strained to listen, I could hear Nancy's double whistle calling the local children to the house. The Doctor and I moved silently through the backyard, pausing as a tiny boy walked into the house, then snuck into the house after him.
The Doctor and I watched for a minute, from the kitchen doorway, then we walked into the dining room and sat down, just as Nancy was passing the turkey around the table. No one seemed to notice us come in, as focused as they were on the food.
"Thank you, miss."
"Thanks, miss."
"Thank you, miss."
"Thanks, miss!" The Doctor said, spearing a piece of turkey onto his plate. The children around the table gasped and stood up quickly. The Doctor ignored them, making to take another piece. I slapped his hand out of instinct and tried to pass the plate to the next child. He gave me that 'excuse you' look again.
"She said one piece. Weren't you listening?" I said with a bit more sass than I had intended. The Doctor just kept staring at me.
"It's all right. Everybody stay where you are!" Nancy called. The children slowly settled back into their seats. I smiled at them, and the boy next to me took the turkey plate out of my hands.
"Good here, innit? Who's got the salt?" the Doctor asked.
"Back in your seats," Nancy said to the kids. "They shouldn't be here either."
"No one has drinks," I mumbled, and made my way to the kitchen. I could feel stares on my back, but I managed to ignore them. In the kitchen, I found a few glasses, and filled them with water from the tap, trying not to worry about the fact that the pipes the water ran through might be lead.
"Shut up," one of the boys said when I came back in and started setting glasses down. "It's better on the streets anyway. It's better food."
"Yeah. Nancy always gets the best food for us," another boy said. The Doctor smiled a tiny smile.
"So, that's what you do, is it, Nancy?" he asked, respect buried deep in his tone.
"What is?" She wouldn't meet his eyes. Afraid. I stiffened.
"As soon as the sirens go, you find a big fat family meal still warm on the table with everyone down in the air raid shelter and bingo!" The Doctor was almost beaming now. "Feeding frenzy for the homeless kids of London Town. Puddings for all, as long as the bombs don't get you."
"Something wrong with that?" Nancy said with the self-righteous tone only a mother could pull off.
"Wrong with it? It's brilliant. I'm not sure if it's Marxism in action or a West End musical," the Doctor contemplated.
"Both, I think," I said. I set down the last glass and went back to the kitchen to try and find more. Only half the kids had drinks.
"Great, thanks," the Doctor said when I came back with a few teacups with water. I leaned against the nearest wall, watching the children fondly. "And I want to find a blonde in a Union Jack. I mean a specific one. I didn't just wake up this morning with a craving." I snorted. The Doctor gave me a scathing look and I decided not to tease. "Anybody seen a girl like that?"
Nancy tossed her silverware down and turned to look at me. "You want anything before you leave?" I stood up straight again.
"Yeah, actually." I walked over and stood behind the Doctor. "We're looking for something. Not a bomb, but something that fell out of the sky-" I looked at my wrist as if reading a watch that wasn't there. "About a month ago?"
"Probably would have just buried itself in the ground somewhere," the Doctor interrupted scrambling to draw in a small notepad. "And it would have looked something like this." I almost teased the Doctor about his drawing skills, but the look on Nancy's face stopped me. It was good enough for her.
Without any reason, my stomach dropped, and I started shaking. Very afraid. There was a tapping at the window. I was vaguely aware of people around me talking, but I couldn't hear them. Afraid. It was an emotional loop in my brain. Afraid of the bombs. It wasn't my fear, I realized. The Doctor threw the curtains open, and I was almost aware of making a choking sort of gasp. "Empty," I think I whispered.
The curtain fell and Nancy ran from the room. The Doctor bumped me on his way to follow her, which was just enough to jolt me out of my haze. "Up," I said shakily, still frozen. The children looked at me, and I shook off the rest of the haze. "Up. Get your coats, you need to leave." Nancy came in the room and said much the same, but I wasn't listening anymore. I didn't remember moving, but suddenly I was in the hallway with the Doctor.
"Mummy? Mummy?" Lonely. "Please let me in, mummy." A child's hand came through slot for mail. "Please let me in, mummy."
"Are you alright?" I heard the Doctor ask. It took me a second to realize he wasn't talking to me. I walked in a daze, reaching for the door.
"Please let me in," the thing that had been Jamie begged. Something that looked like porcelain smashed where my finger had been moving.
"You mustn't let him touch you!" Nancy pleaded. Alone
"What happens if he touches us?" The Doctor asked.
"He'll make you like him." Nancy's voice shook with barely contained emotion.
"And what's he like?" Left me.
"I've got to go." Left me!
"Nancy, what's he like?" the Doctor demanded.
"He's empty," we said at the same time. A phone rang, sparing me from the look of horror I saw half formed on Nancy's face.
"It's him. He can make phones ring. He can." Just want my mummy. "Just like with that police box you saw." I reached to pick up the phone, but the Doctor beat me to it.
"Are you my mummy?" Nancy slammed the phone down before the Doctor could say anything. The radio turned on, and we all rushed into that room.
"Mummy? Please let me in, mummy," came through the radio. Alone.
"Mummy, mummy, mummy," came through a wind-up toy. Afraid.
"You stay if you want to." Nancy's voice was definitely shaking now, which matched nicely with my shaking hands. I followed the Doctor back out into the hallway, and tried to steady myself by leaning on the stairs. Breathing was suddenly not as easy as it should have been.
"Mummy?" The boy put his hand through the letterbox again. Just want my mummy. He was in my head. I watched the Doctor note the scar on the boy's hand and checked my own. My skin looked really dry, but it wasn't scared.
"Let me in please, mummy. Please let me in," the empty child pleaded. The Doctor strode toward the door with confidence.
"Your mummy isn't here." The radio shut off.
"Are you my mummy?"
"No mummies here." The Doctor looked back at me and raised his eyebrow in question. I shook my head. "Nobody here but us chickens."
"I'm scared." I wanted nothing more than to reach out and hold his hand. I took a few dazed steps forward again, but the Doctor was blocking my way to the door.
"Why are those other children frightened of you?" he tried.
"Please let me in, mummy. I'm scared of the bombs." The Doctor paused for a long while, considering. He looked behind at me, but I couldn't stop staring at the little boy's hand. So, so alone. Just want my mummy.
"Okay. I'm opening the door now." The hand disappeared, and I felt such a rush of emotion leaving me that I nearly fell over. I looked at my hand again, but there was still no scar. It's not airborne yet, dummy, a small, rational part of my brain reminded me. The Doctor unbolted and opened the door, but there was no one on the other side. I watched him step out into the night and look up and down the street.
When he saw it was empty, he turned back around and looked at me. "Aggressively average human?" he asked. It took me way too long to remember I had said that. I gulped a few deep breaths before speaking.
"C-come again?" I couldn't for the life of me figure out how that applied to the child.
The Doctor just stared at me, before apparently deciding I was lower on his list of things to worry about than the child. "We need to find Nancy again."
...
For not the first time in his life, the Doctor wished he had more than one brain, because right now he needed three. One to figure out the mystery of this adventure, one to figure out where Rose was, and one to figure out who and what Katelyn was. Even if she believed she was, and it seemed she did, the girl was far from an 'aggressively average human'. She was clearly tapping into whatever physic energy the child was manipulating, which would be fine, except she didn't seem to know how to control it. An open mind with the information she had tucked away was very, very dangerous.
Although, 'open' might exactly be the right word for Katelyn's lack of control. She couldn't seem to read the child's thoughts. The Doctor had only known her for an hour, but he already got the impression Katelyn was smart. If she could read the child's thoughts, she probably would have realized already what she was doing. She certainly wasn't projecting any of her own thoughts. The Doctor couldn't decide if that was a good thing or not.
Emotions seemed to be an issue though. She had obviously felt what the child was projecting, and the sudden loss of it had nearly knocked her out. Maybe-
"How'd you follow me here?" he heard the newly familiar Nancy ask. Had they walked that far already?
"I'm good at following, me." The Doctor put the thought of Katelyn from his mind to focus on the task at hand. "Got the nose for it."
"People can't usually follow me if I don't want them to," Nancy argued.
"My nose has special powers," the Doctor argued back.
"Yeah? That's why it's-" Nancy paused and gestured. He heard Katelyn snicker behind him.
"What?" he asked, sounding offended.
"Nothing."
"What?"
"Nothing." Nancy was smiling slightly. "Do your ears have special powers too?"
"What are you trying to say?"
"Goodnight, Mister." Nancy turned away, but the Doctor couldn't let her leave.
"Nancy, there's something chasing you and the other kids. Looks like a boy and it isn't a boy, and it started about a month ago, right?" Nancy turned to face him, but said nothing. "The thing I'm - we're - looking for, the thing that fell from the sky, that's when it landed. And you know what I'm talking about, don't you?"
"There was a bomb. A bomb that wasn't a bomb. Fell the other end of Limehouse Green Station." Nancy was doing a very good job of keeping all emotion off her face.
"Take me there."
"No," Nancy barely breathed, shaking her head. "There's soldiers guarding it. Barbed wire. You'll never get through."
The Doctor opened his mouth, but Katelyn was first. "All you need are some wire cutters and the right timing."
"You sure you want to know what's going on in there?" He could feel her resolve weakening.
"I really want to know," the Doctor insisted.
"Nancy." Katelyn stepped level with him. "We just want to help." The Doctor found it hard to be as afraid as he was supposed to be of Katelyn, when she seemed so kind. Her first thought with the kids in the house was to make sure they were hydrated, and now all she was trying to do was make Nancy less scared.
It must have worked a little, actually, because Nancy hesitated only a second more. "Then there's someone you need to talk to first."
"And who might that be?" the Doctor asked.
"The Doctor." Nancy turned and started walking. While the Doctor waited, stunned for a moment, Katelyn passed him.
"Not you," she whispered, following Nancy. "Just the only doctor left at Albion Hospital." The Time Lord shivered and followed.
...
I watched the Doctor scan the area with his binoculars. I took a moment to wonder where he got them before deciding there were a great many things I should be more worried about at the moment. Bigger-on-the-inside pockets or something, probably.
"The bomb's under that tarpaulin," Nancy explained. "They put the fence up over night. See that building?" She gestured behind the fencing. "The hospital."
"What about it?" the Doctor asked, looking up from his binoculars for a moment. Nancy turned an gave me a 'is he always like this' look. I nodded and shrugged.
"That's where the doctor is." When neither of us moved, she added, "You should talk to him."
"For now, I'm more interested in getting in there." The Doctor went back to watching the fenced in not-bomb. I could almost hears the gears in his head turning, trying to figure out how to get in.
"Talk to the doctor first," Nancy insisted.
"Maybe we should listen to her?" I argued. The Doctor dropped his binoculars and turned to look at us.
"Why?"
"Because then maybe you won't want to get inside." Nancy didn't bother with any other arguments, turned, and started walking away.
"Where're you going?" the Doctor and I asked at the same time. He gave me a look. I mouthed sorry. Nancy paused for a second.
"There was a lot of food in that house. I've got mouths to feed." "Be careful," I warned before I could stop myself. "Th-the raid's letting up. You wouldn't want the family to catch you."
Nancy smiled at me. "Should be safe enough now." She turned to start walking again.
"Can I ask you a question?" The Doctor blurted, still studying the fence. Nancy smiled at the back of his head. "Who did you lose?" Nancy's smile fell immediately.
"What?" She sounded affronted. The Doctor dropped his binoculars and turned around.
"The way you look after all those kids. It's because you lost somebody, isn't it? You're doing all this to make up for it." I wanted to argue, even though I knew he was right, that sometimes people are just kind, but Nancy didn't give me a chance.
"My little brother. Jamie." Why did that statement make my heart hurt? I knew he would be ok. "One night I went out looking for food. Same night that thing fell. I told him not to follow me, I told him it was dangerous, but he just. He just didn't like being on his own." Lonely, afraid.
"What happened?"
"In the middle of an air raid? What do you think happened?" I really wanted to hug Nancy, try and comfort her, but her posture was guarded, so I had a feeling she might not appreciate if I did.
The Doctor paused, nodded, than breathed out a sigh. He was looking at the sky. I followed his gaze to where a British flag was framed nearly perfectly against a burning background. It was only then I finally realized I wasn't wearing, and didn't have, my glasses. Shit, I'd have to mention that at some point.
"Amazing."
"What is?" Nancy asked, lost.
"1941." The Doctor started in a tone that said 'speech'. "Right now, not very far from here, the German war machine is rolling up the map of Europe. Country after country, falling like dominoes. Nothing can stop it. Nothing. Until one, tiny, damp little island says 'No. No. Not here.' A mouse in front of a lion."
"They had some help," I muttered. The Doctor gave me an 'excuse me' look.
"Americans," he scoffed. He turned back to Nancy. "You're amazing, the lot of you. Don't know what you do to Hitler, but you frighten the hell out of me. Off you go then do what you've got to do. Save the world. Come on." The Doctor started down the stairs, toward the hospital, and I followed.
The gate to the hospital was locked, but locks hadn't meant jack shit to the Doctor for decades. We walked in, and the creepy, dimly lit, silent hospital should have put me on edge. Instead, we got about four steps in before I chuckled. The Doctor stopped dead in his tracks and stared at me.
"What?" I asked through a grin.
"We're in a mysterious hospital where we might well die in the middle of an air raid during the London Blitz trying to figure out what alien technology crashed in railway station. What could possibly be funny?" The Doctor asked. I chuckled again.
"Sorry, it's just so… I don't know cliche? I mean, creepy abandoned WW2 hospital? It's like we just walked into a film student's horror final," I tried to explain. The Doctor just shook his head and kept walking, although I was pretty sure I heard him huff an almost laugh.
It didn't take much longer for us to find the first ward completely filled with beds. Every bed had a patient sitting on it. They all looked as bad off as the boy. Physical injury as plague, I remembered someone would say. I shouldn't have been scared; I knew they were harmless. However, as we walked though ward after ward of them, I started to realize just how dangerous this actually was, and just how sorry I was for all of these people.
"There are so many," I whispered as we entered a huge room with even more beds. A door creaked and the Doctor and I spun around, ready to run.
"You'll find them everywhere." A man in a long white coat explained. "In every bed, in every ward. Hundreds of them." My heart ached for these people.
"Yes, we saw. Why are they still wearing gas masks?" The Doctor asked.
"They're not," the human doctor didn't explain. "Who are you?"
"I'm, er-" the Doctor started
"This is John Smith," I rushed. "I'm Katelyn Laurin. Are you the doctor?"
"Doctor Constantine." He shuffled past not sparing us more than a glance. "If Nancy sent you, that means you must've been asking about the bomb."
"Yes."
"What do you know about it?" Dr. Constantine asked, not stopping.
"Nothing. Why we're was asking. What do you know?" The Doctor and I started to follow Constantine across the room. He stopped walking.
"Only what it's done."
"These people, they were all caught up in the blast?" the Doctor guessed. Alone.
"None of them were." Constantine started chuckling, which quickly turned into coughing. I looked at his hand, but the scar had not appeared yet. The Doctor stepped forward to help, but Constantine held up a hand and sat down.
"You're very sick." It was phrased almost like a question.
"Dying, I should think. I just haven't been able to find the time," Constantine joked. I chuckled; the Doctor smiled and looked away. "Are you a doctor?"
"I have my moments," the Time Lord responded. I shook me head and decided to stay quiet.
"Have you examined any of them yet?"
"No."
"Don't touch the flesh," Constantine warned gravely.
"Which one?" the Doctor asked.
"Any one." I watched the Doctor turn to the nearest bed and start scanning. I suddenly felt the nausea, and wondered if the chuckling earlier had been giddiness that I'd misinterpreted.
"Do- John?" The Doctor turned his head. "I'll be in the hallway."
I managed to make it around a corner before the nausea overtook me, and I sunk to my knees. The nausea was quickly replaced with absolute panic. The world blurred around me, and no matter how I gasped for breath, it wasn't enough air. My brain was empty, but it was swimming with a thousand thoughts too woven together to even interpret.
Where was I? I was lost. Yes. I needed to get home, back to my family. This world wasn't right; it wasn't real. This was just weird dream, right? This was just a story and I was lost in it.
A loud clang jolted me upright. My heart stopped, then started running a million miles per hour, but I was present in this reality at least. I'd never had a panic attack before, but I had a feeling that wasn't actually what they were supposed to be like. I spent a long time sitting in that dark hallway, trying to catch my breath. It was almost normal. If I didn't look at my clothing too close, or think too hard, or try to remember my name, I could very nearly convince myself I was somewhere familiar.
"Hello?" The voice was so faint, I thought I hadn't actually heard it.
"Hello?" Rose Tyler. I stood up, using the wall as a crutch
"Hello?" Jack Harkness. I heard footsteps from two directions. "Good evening. Hope we're not interrupting." I stumbled to the end of the hallway. I could see the three of them standing directly under one of the hallway lights, but no one turned to look at me. "Jack Harkness. I've been hearing all about you on the way over." Jack shook the Doctor's hand. I smiled weakly from my hiding place.
"He knows." Rose said, amazingly convincing. "I had to tell him about us being Time Agents." The Doctor looked confused for only a second before nodding, ready to go along with the lie.
"And it's a real pleasure to meet you, Mr. Spock." Jack clapped the Doctor on the shoulder and I had to hold back a laugh at the Time Lord's expression. "Although I heard there was another one of you?" My heart warmed for the first time since stepping out of the TARDIS earlier. Rose had mentioned me.
I pushed myself out of the hallway, trying my best not to look like someone who had just had a panic and then a heart attack. "That's probably me. Hi." I stumbled. "Katelyn Laurin." Scared of the bombs. My legs gave out that time. Everyone scrambled to catch me, but the Doctor got me first. It took all my effort not to lean into him.
"You ok?" he asked.
"We're in a mysterious hospital in the middle of an air raid during the London Blitz trying to figure out what alien tech crashed in railway station," I parroted, trying to smile. "Just fine." Jack seemed to take me at my word, and brushed past to walk back into the ward.
"Mr. Spock?" the Doctor complained as soon as he was out of earshot. He helped me to my feet again, keeping a steadying hand on my arm.
"What was I supposed to say?" Rose argued. She came over to my other side, just in case I fell again. "You don't have a name. Don't you ever get tired of Doctor? Doctor who?" I might have laughed it I wasn't still very focused on putting on foot in front of the other.
"Nine centuries in, I'm coping. Where've you been? We're in the middle of a London Blitz. It's not a good time for a stroll."
"Who's strolling?" Rose sassed. "I went by barrage balloon. Only way to see an air raid."
"What?" I couldn't tell if the Doctor was worried, angry, or if he just didn't believe her.
"Listen, what's a Chula warship?" Afraid.
"Chula?"
When we got into the ward, I found a chair to sit in while the Doctor and Rose watched Jack scan a few patients. It only took another few seconds of deep breaths for me to be almost back to normal. "This just isn't possible. How did this happen?" the captain questioned.
"What kind of Chula ship landed here?" The Doctor demand.
"What?" Jack asked.
"He said it was a warship." Rose broke in. "He stole it, parked it somewhere out there, somewhere a bomb's going to fall on it unless we make him an offer."
"What kind of warship?" The Doctor asked
"Does it matter?" Jack argued. "It's got nothing to do with this!"
"This started at the bomb site. It's got everything to do with it. What kind of warship?" the Doctor demanded. I felt like I could stand again, so I did.
"An ambulance!" Jack burst. He took a deep breath. "Look." Jack pulled up a perfect hologram of the ambulance on the thing on his wrist. I walked over and stood next to Rose, trying not to stare. After all I'd seen today, a hologram was my fixation? "That's what you chased through the Time Vortex. It's space junk. I wanted to kid you it was valuable. It's empty. I made sure of it. Nothing but a shell. I threw it at you. Saw your time travel vehicle, love the retro look, by the way, nice panels. Threw you the bait."
"Bait?" Rose interrupted.
"I wanted to sell it to you and then destroy it before you found out it was junk," Jack confessed.
"You said it was a war ship," Rose accused.
"They have ambulances in wars-" Jack started.
"It was a con," I interrupted. All three people turned to look at me.
Jack sighed. "Yes, I was conning you. That's what I am, I'm a con man. I thought you were Time Agents. You're not, are you."
"Just a couple more freelancers," Rose said.
"Oh. Should have known. The way you guys are blending in with the local colour. I mean, Flag Girl was bad enough, but U-Boat Captain?" Jack looked me over. "Ok, well, I guess one of you knew what you were doing." I definitely blushed, which was not ok. "Anyway, whatever's happening here has got nothing to do with that ship."
"What is happening here, Doctor?" Rose asked. Alone
"Human DNA is being rewritten... by an idiot," he answered.
"What do you mean?" Rose asked.
"I don't know. Some kind of virus converting human beings into these things. But why? What's the point?" She left me.
"Maybe there isn't a point," I tried.
"Why wouldn't there be a point?" the Doctor asked.
"I don't know. Maybe-"
The patients suddenly sat up. We all jumped and took about five steps back. "Mummy? Mummy?" they asked on repeat.
"What's happening?" Rose asked, only a little panic in her tone.
"I don't know," the Doctor admitted. Afraid. Want mummy. "Don't let them touch you," he added. We all started backing up.
"Mummy? Mummy?"
"What happens if they touch us?" Rose asked in a way that said she was dreading the answer. We were getting close to a wall, which was not good.
"Mummy? Mummy?"
"You're looking at it," the Doctor whispered.
"Mummy? Mummy?"
"Help me, mummy," rang out above the others.