A/N: Uh, hi... so it's been a while, hasn't it? I'm sorry. I've recently been trying to find my mojo again after a lot of stress and hell in my life. I'm not going into detail, I am sure none of you want to hear all my troubles and woes.

So, it has been a long year since I posted anything for this, and I am sorry. I've been trying to get back into this but the story I was writing has gone, so this is only a short chapter to get me out of the mess I created long ago. I hope you enjoy some part of it at least.

"I think, the best thing that you guys can do right now, is leave," Kari said, still staring at the screen before her. Her eyes were transfixed, it was like what she was seeing was mesmerising her.

Kaz frowned at her, "Why? What have you found?" He stepped over and took a look at the screen for himself. "What… what is that?"

Everyone else decided to gather around and take a look for themselves, and they all looked on with wide eyes. There, on the screen before them, was a sea serpent. However, unlike the big monsters that they had been seeing outside, this was smaller, like a baby. It's golden scales were reflecting every colour you could imagine, and the poor thing was thrashing around, trapped.

"How did it get there?" Masie asked, finally finding her voice and paying much more attention now.

Kari leaned back and folded her arms, waiting for the Doctor to explain. She didn't have to wait very long. "It could have been burrowing underneath your base and became trapped. It might have been out for a swim with it's friends. I haven't got a clue. What I do know is that we need to get it free, and quickly."

"Why?" Marley asked, "she just told us that we should leave, not put our lives at risk to free one of those monsters." It was clear to see that he was not happy with the prospect of saving one of the serpents that had been making his life miserable.

Unfortunately for him, he had referred to Kari as 'she', and that was just enough for her to feel her temper rising. "I'll tell you why, because that is just a baby. And what do you think it's doing? What do children do when they are scared or frightened? They call for their mummy." Kari told him, trying her best not to smirk at the reference she had just made to an event in the Doctor's future. "Now, I'm guessing that mummy is out there, and because mummy can't get to her baby, she's bringing the reinforcements. You have one angry mother out there. Want to know what is going to save you now?"

Everyone looked at her, waiting, expecting her to tell them. The Doctor was just sitting there with a smirk on his face. "By running." He answered, knowing that Kari was going for a dramatic effect. "Angry mother, she'll tear this place down to get to her baby. Unless…"

"Unless we help her." Kaz said, things finally clicking into place for him. "Instead of her destroying the whole place, we can focus on the area where the baby is. Limiting the damage."

The Doctor had a goofy smile on his face. "Give the man a medal!" He announced, poking Kari in the side, causing her to squeal and little and jump up off him. "Come on then, let's get a move on."

Kari quickly glanced at him. "You already have a plan?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at him. Something about the way he was acting was making her feel a little worried. She couldn't explain what it was, she just couldn't put her finger on it, but there was something not right.

"Of course I have a plan. I'm the man with a plan." He was definitely being too cheerful, and the hairs on the back of Kari's neck stood up. "I assume you have diving suits and a pressurised lock? Bit hard to gather samples while you're all tucked away behind glass."

It was clear from the expression on the faces of those around the Doctor and Kari that they were feeling very out of their depth. "Uh, yeah. The only problem is… " Joel spoke for the first time, and his quivering voice hesitated. "The outside door won't open. The creatures have caused some damage to the area, we can't get it open."

Hearing this, the Doctor frowned. "Well, we can't have that now, can we? I'm sure we can work something out." He seemed pretty confident, a little too confident for Kari's liking, it made her think that there was something else going on inside that rather large head of his. "We need to get to the pressure lock, and get some equipment on the way. We're going to need cutting gear along with the suits"

Straight away, the crew of the base began to rush around, tapping away at computers, looking at monitors. It gave Kari the chance she needed to speak with the Doctor. "What are you planning? And don't you try to fob with off with some nonsense, I know you." She said, her voice slightly hard. Kari knew what that regeneration could sometimes be like, and she was not going to give him the chance to try and do something stupid.

"Well someone needs to go out there and get that thing free before the others come back." The Doctor told her, already knowing what was going to happen next. "We're going to need to cut our way out there."

Kari didn't like what he was saying, how he kept saying 'we'. "And by 'we', you actually mean…"

"Me, yup." He replied, acting as casual as he could. "Nothing I can't handle."

"Nope, no way. Not going to happen. This is their base or whatever, they can go out and do it. You can tell them what they need to do and let them get on with it. No, you are not going out there, Doctor, I forbid it." It reminded her all too much of what happened later on in his timeline, with the sun burning and screaming, and Martha being jettisoned only for him to go outside for a space walk to get her back. She hadn't even been there yet and it was already scaring her. "Not happening."

The Doctor didn't understand why she was so dead set against it, not unless she knew something more. "Kari, do you know more? Do you know what's going on here?" He asked her cautiously, not wanting her to think he was pressuring her.

She shook her head at him before answering. "No, I haven't got a clue what is going on here, but what I do know is that I am not letting you go out there. Just for once, just this one time, let someone else be the hero. Please." Kari was desperate for him not to go out there, not to leave her stuck inside on her own.

Now he could see it, the fear in her eyes. He knew that she was telling him the truth. "Kari, everything will be fine. They're going to need me out there and you in here." Now she was frowning at him, why exactly did she need to be inside still? "You need to keep us all safe. We're going to need to you keep track of where the rest of these creatures are, and find a way to keep us safe while we work."

"And how exactly do I do that, Doctor? I don't speak parseltongue." She knew she was being sarcastic, but her fear was building by the second. "I am sure they are more than capable of going out there and cutting the base apart all by themselves. They're fully grown humans after all."

The Doctor closed his eyes and let out a sigh as he wrapped his arms tightly around her. "Come on, Kari, you need to calm down and stop panicking." He hated seeing her like this, so wound up and worried, the fear in her eyes made him want to just take her back to the TARDIS and fly away. But he couldn't do that, and she would never forgive him if he did. "We have to free that baby, Kari."

"I know." Kari whispered holding onto the Doctor tightly. "But why does it have to be you? Why is it always you?" She couldn't really explain it, the reason why she was so dead set against the Doctor going out there to free this baby serpent, all she knew was that she had a bad feeling about it all.

His hearts couldn't take anymore, and so the Doctor push her away slightly so that he could see her face. "Listen, everything is going to be fine, Kari, I promise you. All we need to do is get out there, tear that part of this base away, and free that creature. Hopefully before mummy and her friends come back to destroy this place."

She wanted to believe him, to believe that it was all going to be that easy, that all they needed to do was get some equipment together and start demolishing the place. But she couldn't, there was something else going on, she could feel it. "Doctor, you know how sometimes I have those feelings that something bad is going to happen?" He nodded at her, already having an idea of what she was going to say. "I've had that feeling ever since we found that poor creature. Something is telling me that there is more going on here than what we can see."

His hearts were telling him to get Kari back to the TARDIS and get her out of there as soon as possible. His head, however, was telling him that he needed to stay, that they both needed to help. He was being pulled in two different directions and the Doctor didn't really know how to get out of it. "What do you want to do, Kari? If you want to leave then just say the word and we will go straight back to the TARDIS." The Doctor said to her, gazing carefully into her eyes. "All you have to do is say so, and we will go."

"What?" Kari couldn't actually believe what she was hearing, what the Doctor was saying to her. "Why would you say that? All those times that I have begged and pleaded with you, in the past and the future, and you have said no. That we needed to stay, that I needed to stay. Yet now, right here, you are saying that we can leave?" It just didn't sound right to her, it didn't sound like her Doctor at all.

The Doctor let out a sigh. "Because right now you are terrified, and you can't explain to me why. It isn't because of your all knowing power, but something really has got you scared." It was starting to worry him just how scared she was. "Just say it, and we will go."

She wanted to say it, to tell him that she wanted to leave that place, she wanted to say it desperately. But she couldn't. "I just… I don't want anything to happen to you, Doctor. It's not the monsters that have me feeling like this, it's you." She could be stuck in a room filled with Daleks, Cybermen and Weeping Angels, and all she would worry about would be him. "I'm worried that something is going to happen to you."

He didn't know that, he had been so sure that it was all about those creatures, the monsters that they were facing. The Doctor had no idea that he was the reason behind all of this stress and worry for Kari. "Everything will be fine, I promise you." He replied, running his hands up and down her arms.

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Doctor." She just couldn't shake that terrible feeling, and nothing the Doctor was saying was helping her.

The Doctor could see it as well, and he only knew of one thing he could now do. "Kari, I mean it, everything will be fine." He said, his hands now resting on her cheeks, the tips of his fingers working their way gently up towards her temples. "It will all be okay."

Kari worked out what he was doing just a few seconds too late. "No, Doctor, no! No, don't you…" She didn't get to finish her sentence as she went limp in the Doctor's arms. It wasn't the first time he had done that to her, but she had never anticipated that he would do it to her again.

All the Doctor could do was hold onto her tightly, knowing that she was going to be pretty angry with him when she woke up. "I'm sorry, Kari." Now all he needed to do was go and put her safely in the TARDIS while he went and did everything that she didn't want him to do.

It wasn't hard for him to find his way back through the base and back to his magical box. He did bump into one of the crew members on the way, who showed some slight concern for the woman who was passed out in his arms. The Doctor made quick work of assuring them that she was just feeling a little overwhelmed and needed some sleep, adding on that she had hadn't been feeling too well. All the time he had to just keep reminding himself that it was for the best, that it was better for Kari if she just slept this one off. He couldn't stand to keep seeing her worry so much.

"I'm sorry, Kari." He whispered to her, gently laying her down on his bed. "I'll make it up to you, I promise." The Doctor wasn't proud of what he had done, but he knew it was for the best, he knew he had to keep her safe. Yes, when she woke up she would give him absolute hell, but he would deal with that later. He would deserve it and everything that she threw at him. Now he had a job to do.

A/N: Again, I am sorry. Right now I am doing my best to get back into the swing of things but it isn't easy. Please bare with me while I try to work my head around everything once more.

I would also like to say an absolutely massive thank you to all of you wonderful people who, even though I have been absent, have continued to believe in me and my stories. Thank you so much!

Pippa.