Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Doctor Who characters or plot.
Intro: When I saw that there were hardly any stories about the Family of Blood, I thought I'd share my own little creation. I do hope you enjoy it. It is set a few years after the family's punishment. It begins with Baines getting free of his confinement.
He was free. Somehow he was free. He wasn't even sure how it happened himself. Something had happened, and now he was free. He lay on the ground in front of the stake he had been tethered to for years. So many years. At first he tried to count the days, and then years. But eventually all the seasons look the same when you haven't shut your eyes for ages.
The thing he missed the most was his since of smell. He could smell things all those years. But all there was to smell was dirt, horses, rain, cold, and about once a year, corn. He closed his eyes and pressed his face into the cold grass and breathed it in deeply. He cackled with utter joy and flexed his fingers, grabbing the grass in fist fulls.
He relished in the joy of being free. So long had he had had nothing to do but think. Think about his family, and how he missed them. Think about what he had done. Was he really sorry? No. But even now as he was free, he really couldn't muster up the urge to seek revenge on The Doctor. If there places had been reversed, he wouldn't have been so kind. He owed The Doctor a lot more than he would ever admit. Besides, he couldn't find him if he wanted to. And that was the basis of that idea. He had no ship, it blew up. No weapons, how was he going to survive? And no family.
His family. What had The Doctor done to them? Where had he taken them? He knew not. Far too often he pondered there fate and came up with nothing. He hoped The Doctor had been as lenient with them as he had with himself.
He stood and dusted off his trousers and breathed in deeply. He let his eyes roll back into his head as he tried to contact his family. Family of mine, can you hear me? Nothing. Family of mine. I am free. Tell me your position. Silence. It was unnerving. Was he the only one who had gotten free? How could that be? What had The Doctor done!
Mother of mine. Speak to me. Mother of mine! He screamed out to the silence in his own head, reverberating only back to himself.He knew no one was there, but he was desperate. Father of mine! Sister of mine! Are you there? Please!
He came around when it finally sunk in that he was alone. For the first time in his life, he was alone. Really alone. He had been alone for the last many years, but that wasn't the same. At least he had hope that they had escaped. That they were still out there. That they might be looking for him. But no more. The Doctor had probably planned this. For he was the one man who knew how much it hurt to be alone. Truly alone.
He clasped his hands to his face as he sunk to the ground and tried to steady his thoughts. He was a warrior, he did not cry. He was ruthless and terrifying, yet he sobbed in a way that would make a young maiden ashamed.
What was he to do? He rolled over onto his back and stared at the midday sky. Light blue and taunting. He held his hands up to his face and examined them. They were dirty, long and bony. He was still human. This would never do. Humans were such ugly creatures.
He tried to separate his molecules, to escape from this vessel. But he couldn't. He was stuck. Stuck! STUCK! How could he be stuck? Nothing would separate. How could this be happening to him? Was he too weak? Never. Was he dying? They were dying. But he felt fine. The Doctor. He had done this to him, he was sure of it. He had trapped him in human form. How dare he!
He clinched his fits with anger. Well, things couldn't get any worse. At least he had chosen a young form. Very slender and swift. Strong too. Maybe this form wasn't completely useless. It could help him as he tried to find a way off this naive little planet. That was his first priority. He would have to worry about escaping this form later.
First things first. An attack plan. He needed one. Well, he would need to know what year it was. Then he would need to find supplies and get to work. The sooner he had a decent ship built the better. Plus a decent molecule gun. One never knows when you'll need to protect yourself.
Up you get, he though as he stood. The field looked just the same as when The Doctor had placed him here. Green and boring. The trees around him looked dead. It was late fall and winter was just around the corner. He hated winter. Snow had no pleasing sent about it. Spring flowers were much more appeasing to the nostrils. And fall sap was such a weird sent that it surprised him every year.
Now town, where was it. Ah, he remembered now. It was to the North. So he started walking, but not before he flung the stake he had been stuck to into the nearest field.
It didn't take but twenty minutes to reach the towns main square. Things looked nearly the same, but a little bit different. A new building had sprung up here and there. A new town hall, some sort of grimy pub and about three new houses. Things hadn't really changed all that much, except the smell in the air. Fear. It lingered everywhere, clogging his pours and clouding his mind. Such a nice aroma to welcome him back.
A small smile welled to his lips as he crossed the street and entered the court house. They were sure to have a current paper. A bell dinged as he pushed the door open, announcing his arrival for him. A little old man who was positioned behind a desk, sat up a little straighter at the sight of him, egger to serve. Excellent.
"What may I help you with, young sir?" The man said in a gravely voice.
"Today's paper, good sir." He said. The old man smiled and pulled a paper out from under the desk, but did not give it to him.
"That will be .05" Did this man expect him to pay for that? If he had his gun, he would have evaporated him for this. Alas he didn't. Hopefully this pitiful human had some currency on him. He dug around in the pockets and found some small metal bits. Hopefully it was what the man wanted. He handed the man one of the larger pieces and the man accepted it. "Would you like change?"
"Certainly." He had to wait until the man slowly found the money box and then handed him back what he didn't owe. Then he got his paper. He hadn't even unfolded it when the old man interrupted him.
"I haven't seen you around here before? You new to town?"
"You could say that." He replied, turning his back on the old man, but that didn't discourage him from continuing.
"What's your name young fellow?"
Name? Think, think, think. What was the humans name? "Baines. Jeremy Baines." He finally replied. Thank his family for his spotless memory. Baines, what a witty name. Not as good as his own. But it would do until he left.
"Baines is it. Welcome to our little hamlet. Will you be staying at the Inn or are you just passing threw?"
"I'm not quite sure. It depends." It all depended if this village had the right tools for his project.
"Well, don't be a stranger, Baines. You should stop by the theater. They are performing Taming of the Shrew today and the rest of this week. The school is putting it on."
"I'll keep it in mind." He said threw gritted teeth as he walked out the door. He had no intension of ever going anywhere near the theater. He had no intention of going anywhere in this filthy town unless it helped his cause.
He opened the paper and found the date printed neatly under the newspapers heading. So that's why they were all so scared. That's why the smell of fear followed every human being. Nothing to be done about that though, although there would probably be lots of scrap metal lying around. The better for him then.
He tossed the paper down on the front steps of the Court House and walked away. Chilly air swept threw the little farming valley on the day of November 14th, 1940.