ashes ➝ Doctor Who²

XXVII

"Well, you were never really just a passenger, were you?"
- The Doctor, The Lazarus Project

The Doctor struggled with the wooden door to the organ. And Penelope vaguely remembered him saying the sonic doesn't do wood. She tries to politely move him out of the way, but she knows it was more of a shove - in her defence she doesn't want Jasper eaten by a mutant.

Picking up the slack of her dress, she kicked the door, feeling the wooden lock buckle a little and the door start to creak. Kicking it again, harder this time, it flung open, showering both them and the organ in wooden splinters.

Turning to look at the Doctor, there was a familiar look in his eyes, "what? Get playing." She grabbed him lightly and pulled him into the smaller room housing the organ. He flips the sonic in his hand trying to look impressive - as if it just hadn't worked against wood.

"Hypersonic sound waves. Inspired." At this he stuck the sonic into the power socket and grinned at Penelope as he started pulling stops from the instrument. They could vaguely hear the roars of the mutant above them, and it made them both a little nervous.

"Need a hand?" Without waiting for an answer, Penelope sat on the stool next to him and pulled out the stops as well. She wasn't aware of how closely the Doctor was watching her from the corner of his eye. He was finally seeing how much she had actually changed. And he wasn't honestly sure if he liked it or not.

He missed the Penelope he had left behind.

"How have you been?" She rolled her eyes, and pulled out her last stop, gesturing at him with it.

"We can have that conversation once our friends are out of danger, alright." He nodded to the tone in her voice. One he hadn't ever heard from him before.

Sitting a little too snug on the stool clearly made for one person, Penelope could only sit there and watch the Doctor play. It's not like she's going to suddenly know how to play.

"I hope they've got good acoustics in here." He pressed on both pedals and started playing. Although nothing really happened outside, and they could both tell that it wasn't working yet.

"Alright, Doctor, sounds like it's time to turn this baby up." They both smile at each other, the Doctor adjusting the screwdriver and starting to play even louder than before. The organ notes reverberate through the church, Penelope could feel it in her chest just from here. She dreaded to think what was happening to Jasper and the girls.

Up in the tower, Jasper could barely focus without the loud music ripping through his head. But it was clearly hurting the mutant as well, making this worth it. He had dragged Tish back from the gaping hole in the tower that her sister was now hanging over. It was hard but he stumbled forwards, holding onto Martha's wrist as they were both aware that she was slipping.

There was a deafening crash heard outside the organ room, causing the Doctor to stop playing and panic to rise in Penelope's chest. She was the first out of the room, and felt guilty for the relief she felt seeing Lazarus splayed out on the flagstones, showered by broken wood.

She looked up into the rafters, worried for the people that stupidly raced up there.

"Jasper? You better not be dead because we need to return that suit." It was quiet for a moment before Martha shouted back down at her.

"Yeah the rest of us are okay as well thanks." It was pretty quiet after that, and she just assumed that they were making their way back down. It helped calm her nerves, knowing they were all unharmed.

Turning, she watched the Doctor for a moment, seeing how softly he closed Lazarus' eyes. She hugged herself tight, suddenly feeling the cold of the church, but she smiled to herself.

"Looks like it all ends up okay today." He doesn't turn to face her, but the guilt rising in his chest doesn't bode well for his former companion.

"Okay? People died Penelope." Her smile dropped, and he slowly stood up, still looking over the body of a man that could've been a genius if he hadn't been so selfish.

"I know that. I'm just saying we didn't lose him and he didn't seriously hurt anyone else." He turned to face her, and that dead look in his eyes brought back some horrible memories she had tried so hard to suppress for months.

"I think being with Torchwood has changed you. You've got that look in your eyes, the look of a killer. I tried to ignore it but I know it so well, don't try and lie to me. Who did you murder, what did you do?" Penelope has to take a shuddery breath, trying not to think about Felicity and everything she had to do. It was the pure, body-shaking anger that surprised the Doctor, and in that split second he knew he was wrong.

"You don't know anything about that. You have no fucking right to bring that up. And I'm not with Torchwood, I am Torchwood." Storms out of the church to call Gwen and get a team down here to help with clean up and pray that because of that the company will continue to support them free of charge. She knows Jasper will be a little ways behind her, so she tries not to think about anything else.