Complications

by The Plot-Thinens

Chapter 47 - Horror from the Shadows

"Ow!" shouted the Doctor as he hit his head under the TARDIS console. He'd just finished his new containment field for his guest when he felt the psychic equivalent of a jolt of lightning hit him. He then no sooner than cried out that he discovered that someone was directly contacting him with a Time lord brain contact! His daughter had managed to contact him and he had conveyed to him immediately that something was very wrong. The Doctor was made aware that although his child was not herself injured, due to mummy's efforts, Rose was in great distress.

"Another one!?" Paled the Doctor, but then a rage that he had not felt since the Time War roared up in him and his hand were flying at across the TARDIS controls. They weren't told of another one! That left only one alternative. The one that escaped must have met up with another one yet to be captured and this was far more cunning and powerful. The Doctor hammered the console with his mallet and sped up the process of dematerialization. The TARDIS rang out in urgency and began to get ready to move her location. The TARDIS engine sang and the TARDIS moved to the Pope house.

The TARDIS had barely finished materializing when the Doctor ran to the TARDIS doors. Running more on emotion than reason he then threw open the doors, tripping onto the ground in a very undignified manner. Looking just up from where he fell, the first thing he saw was Rose's phone on the ground which on reflex he picked up and pocketed. It was broken and if he was not already soaking in dread, he saw Rose, in the dark, laying in a crumpled heap in the Pope family drive just feet away.

"Rose!" Shouted the Doctor as he raced to her side. Rose was bleeding from her head and just the sight of her like this made him want to cry. His respiratory bypass had already kicked in from the gasp he let out at just the sight of her condition. Pulling out his Sonic screwdriver and scanning her body once over he read off,

"Minor internal bleeding, fractured hip, cracked skull, serious concussion, lacerations, neck injury...baby is fine. oh Rose, you kept her safe, so brave... why did I leave you for even a moment on a mission like this? " The Doctor got a hold of himself as panic wasn't going to help anyone. With another wave of the Sonic, he began healing the most pressing issue the internal bleeding and head injury. He'd need the TARDIS medical bay to complete the job, but this would stabilize her and protect her precious head and brain until he could do more. Holding his breath he hoisted her up into his arms and began carrying her back to the TARDIS. That was when the Doctor saw that Ms. Pope's front door had been forced open . He moved quickly, he had his duty to his wife, but he could not in good conscious leave Ms Pope to the mercy of that thing. The Doctor kicked open the TARDIS door, much to the TARDIS irritation, and shouted,

"A BED!" but no sooner had he shouted the words, the TARDIS had moved the medical bay right next to her console. The Doctor mentally thanked the TARDIS and placed Rose on 1970s looking space age bed. A panel appeared floating above Rose's head that would monitor her vitals and keep her comfortable while she was put into a healing-like stasis. The Doctor was about to begin the process when Rose's gasped as her hand flew up and grabbed the Doctor's arm. She saw the Doctor through blurry eyes and recognizing him shouted,

"Doctor! Miss Pope...there's another Shade. Stole a person's body! Help her!"

" I know! Just relax and let this Gallifreyan jiggery-pokery heal you, love. I'm going right now." Assured the Doctor as he started the process to mend Rose's badly battered body and ran over to the TARDIS console. There wasn't any time left to make another jar to contain the extra shade, so he would have to do the only logical thing, use the TARDIS containment field he made. He had to keep Ms Pope and her son safe if it wasn't already too late. If he could materialize the TARDIS on top of the elemental shade, he could use his magnificent blue box and its field like putting a glass over a spider. He just hoped that the field would work properly since he didn't have time to test it yet and again the idea of a Shade loose in the TARDIS with his wife defenseless didn't sit well at all. The Doctor completed the last step in his super improvised plan and waited for it to go well or pear shaped. The TARDIS once again whirred and vworped locking in on the final Shade to be captured.

The TARDIS succeeded in the capture of the Shade still inhabiting the stolen body of their obnoxious neighbor. The Shade had phased into the TARDIS and was now being restrained by an invisible wall forcing the Elemental on the knees of said stolen body. The man looked very confused and angry, but not in the human way, and pinned to the ground on its knees. It tried to thrash its arm about but they seem to weigh too much.

"Cranked up the gravity too. Your pilfered body must feel like it's got a 100 pound holding down each extremity." Hissed the Doctor at the hateful creature,

"Oh you were a clever one, the ancient ones of your lot always are, but we got you in the end. Now you and your new friend can spend a long time in a place not hurting anyone ever again."

The human man's mind was no longer present in the body and it might as well have been a puppet as it hissed and reeled trying to free itself. The Doctor thought his former neighbor had not been a very pleasant man, but he certainly did not deserve this fate. There would be no returning his body to his family like this. The Shade would not give it up voluntarily and even if the Shade decided to leave it, his neighbor's human family would not want it back then. He had heard of Shades possessing human hosts before, but not like this, that was usually only a weak hold that could be passed off as sleep walking and easily woken up from. This shade had been very powerful. An opportunity to discover how it had managed to do this would be to something interesting to learn, but the Doctor could not be forced to look at this creature any longer. Let the Shadow Proclamation do the research based on his report that he would have to give at the end of this nightmare. That being said he still had one more thing to do. The Doctor took one last look at the control readings on the field,

"Containment stable. I'll deal with you later," he said pointing at the Shade with his Sonic. The Doctor ran to the door and shouted,

"Old girl, do not let that thing out! I've got to check on Ms Pope and her son!" That was when the Doctor's blood ran cold. The creature made a noise, low and rumbling, but also human through his host's lungs. The sound was of laughter, but twisted, it reminded The Time Lord of the laughing alien at the end of the 1987 Schwarzenegger movie, Predator and that did not bode well. It was a laugh that would haunt him for many nights to come. He banged through the door and exited into Ms Pope's kitchen. Frantically he looked around for any sign of the house's occupants. The house looked mostly normal, no sign of a fight or a struggle. He began to think that his fears were unfounded, and then he spotted something blonde in the corner on the floor in the living room, just behind the couch. He fell to his knees and ran the Sonic over the woman's form. The Doctor let out a great breath of air and stood up. He was too late. Curse it, he was too late. He stood over the body of the dead woman, but had to turn away at the sight of his failure. He wished he'd been faster, he did not regret helping his injured wife first, obviously, but he wish he'd been faster. The Shade had got to her, it would look like she was the victim of a subarachnoid hemorrhage. It was unusual but not unheard of for seemingly healthy people to drop dead of an aneurysm. This was why Shades were usually so hard to detect when they did strike. They're victims, although psychologically tortured, and he didn't want to think about how terrifying her last moments were in the grasp of that creature, were usually physically unharmed. Or if they were harmed it appeared self inflicted. The Shade he just caught was quite desperate for its meal and had gone to ghastly lengths to get it. The creature felt no remorse it had gotten probably the most delicious meal of despair it ever had.

The Doctor was then removed from his thoughts by the sound of small feet coming down the stairs. 'The boy...', thought the Doctor, undecided as to if he felt more relief for the child's safety or remorse for his loss that he was soon to learn of. The boy opened the door into the living room and made eye contact with him. The poor child came around the sofa and that was when he saw his mother lying on the floor. The Doctor was about to open his mouth when police sirens went off outside the house. Pulled up to the house were two police cars blue lights blazing.

The Time Lord was torn. On the one hand he did not wish to leave the boy after learning his mother was dead. But on the other hand, he had very little belief in his ability to convince the police officers that he, even with psychic paper, a strange man in the middle of the night in a house with a forced open front door, had nothing to do with the untimely death of the woman lying dead on the floor in front of him. The TARDIS was another thing he didn't want to explain. Rose was still recovering and would be needing his help soon, and he already felt terrible for leaving his unconscious wife alone in the TARDIS with two murderous living shadows. He hated himself for it, but he looked at the child, said the police were here now and that they would help him soon. He then turned his back on the shocked child and walked back into the TARDIS. Quickly he dematerialized the TARDIS back into the time vortex and cursed his two prisoners. If he didn't have to turn them over to the authorities, he would have devised a fitting punishment for them both. Making one last check on them he set the TARDIS on the scenic route to the Shadow Proclamation. As much as he wanted to fast be rid of the Shadows, he knew that the second they landed they would be harassed to produce prisoners and he wanted to put all his attention to Rose until she was better.

The Doctor let out a sad sigh and power walked over to Rose who the TARDIS had moved to the proper med bay. The Doctor entered the room and found Rose's vitals on display and the TARDIS running autonomously what she could for Rose. The Doctor placed a loving hand on a part of the coral wall and thanked her. The Doctor proceeded to put the finishing touches on setting Rose's injured bone structure and organs right. He gave her fluids, and checked in with baby.

"I'm so proud of you, my Time tot. You saved your mummy's life. You contacted me from so far. I didn't think you could do that yet, but I should have known you were that brilliant." Marveled the Doctor, to which his daughter merely conveyed a golden light was to thank. This puzzled the Doctor for a moment but then Rose's heart rate spiked and he knew she was having a nightmare. After what she had been through it was no surprise. He held his wife's hand and reassured her, with a gentle psychic push, that all was well. A thought that the Doctor also promised his own shot nerves was true as he watched her healing progress on the various screens near the bed and wall. Her brain and skull were all but healed and except for maybe a little 'ghost limb' of pain in the form of a headache, he couldn't see any signs of lasting damage to her head and brain. The Sonic healing was actually tickling his daughter and she made note of it to him.

"You'll have to endure tickle torture for five more minutes so your Mummy won't hurt from walking or the added job of carrying you around." Replied the Doctor to his youngster. He scrutinized her vitals for the tenth time, and everything was as it should be.

"All looks good, let's let Mummy sleep. I've got a few things to take care of before she wakes up for breakfast." Declared the Doctor to his child. He then left for the study next door to handle some pressing concerns.

Rose indeed woke up the next morning in time for breakfast in bed, though it was more of a hospital breakfast, but at least she got some tasty gelatin. It was all waiting hot for her on a tray and she tucked in. Other than some general soreness and a slight headache she felt fine, it wasn't until she saw the Doctor's shadow on the wall when he came into the room that she let out a cry and remembered how she got here in the first place.

"Ms Pope?! What happened? Is she alright, Doctor?! Did we get it?!" She begged for information, The Doctor couldn't make eye contact right away and she knew something was terribly wrong. Rose swallowed,

"What happened? What did that thing do?!"

"Rose, I'm so sorry. I was too late to save her. She might have already been dead by the time I first arrived back to the house. You were so badly hurt, I chose to make sure that you were safe and stable before I went after the Shade." Apologized the Doctor. He was so worried that a person as selfless as Rose Tyler-Smith would somehow judge him poorly for his decisions. Rose knew what he was thinking, he was worried that he had disappointed her by making a call that he thought was selfish. He was always so hard on himself. She certainly wasn't sorry he saved her, but like the Doctor she felt the moral dilemma of it all. She would be feeling the same way in his place and had before. She knew that they couldn't save everyone, but when you had access to god-like, by human standards, technological power, you certainly felt like you could be doing better. But she wasn't a god and for all the wonder that was the Doctor's being, he too was the same as her. They were just creatures of the universe, trying to do good and help to the best of their abilities. They were fallible, and were going to make mistakes. She had to remind the Doctor of that even if her guilt was fighting against the very logical conclusion that she was wanted to convey to her husband.

"Doctor, stop. You said so yourself that we were up against a dangerous enemy. We did the best we could. You shouldn't be feeling sorry for wanting to save your family. Or even the first person you see injured. If anything, I'm wishing that I had done something different. I was caught completely by surprise and felt so helpless. If it wasn't for that seatbelt safety feature on your car, I'd have been rolled over by that monster." Stated Rose to which the Doctor paled at the idea of the car almost being used as a weapon to kill his wife and child. Just the thought made him never want to see the car again, which would be easy since they left it behind. But thank goodness for that safety feature most had found annoying at the time of that car's creation. Rose continued,

"I was there, I feel like I should have been able to do something more, but we're not perfect. I'm sure it will take us both a while to feel it, but if we didn't do something that Shade would have gotten Ms Pope anyway. Along with who knows how many other people...Elton! Her little boy what happened to him?!" Cried out Rose. Of this at least The Doctor could relay sort of happier news.

"He's safe. Well physically anyway. He came down the stairs and he saw his mother... I barely had time to say anything to him. The police had arrived for some reason and I had to leave before they saw the TARDIS. I guess the neighbors saw or heard something of your struggle." Explained the Doctor.

"Ms Pope...oh she...I remember, she said she was going to call the police. I guess she managed to before she was...Oh Doctor, this has all just been so terrible." Mourned Rose. The Doctor was in agreement, this was a horrible situation that was trauma for all involved. That poor child was out of the worst possible danger that he could ever find himself in his life, but at such a cost. He had lost his mother and he hoped that child could somehow recover and have a normal life. Surely the police would see to it that he was placed with a loving relative, he might check in on that later just to be sure. But again, this mission had cost so much and it wasn't even over yet. Rose had comforted him and now he wanted to do the same. The TARDIS must always feel as a sanctuary even though they were still hosting hostile aliens.

"Those two monsters. They are not getting out of the place I put them they won't get a chance to hurt anyone else ever again. And you should be recovered completely by tea time tomorrow. So rest up. We still have to pass these creatures back to the Howling Halls and into the hands of the damned Shadow Proclamation." The Doctor told Rose as he sat down next to her bed and proceeded to change the subject to something more pleasant. Like about how he had sort of helped popularize gelatin among the English, though it started off in France.

Author's Notes:

Well there are rarely happy endings when it comes to Doctor Who, but at least our TARDIS family is safe...for now. Back to the Shadow Proclamation!