Two Hearts and Tater Tots {Doctor Who}

The Empty Child

"The blue box, target the blue box," a young man was telling an older dark haired man.

"Why?" the dark haired man asked.

"They'll be able to help you," the younger man told him. 'And we get to see a younger them,' he thought, hearing a noise of agreement in his head.

*******

Rose, feeling unsteady in the hallway of the TARDIS, stumbles to the console room. She spots the Doctor rushing around while Annika has blue tendrils shooting out as Mayhem tried to keep her human steady. "What's the emergency?" Rose asked, feeling Mayhem wrapping around her wrists to keep her steady too.

"Its mauve," was all the Doctor said.

"Mauve?" Rose questioned.

"The universally recognized color for danger," Annika explained shortly. Rose flinched knowing her best friend hadn't fully forgiven her. The Doctor looked at the hybrid with concern on his face as he hurried around the console; he had an idea on what she was also thinking about and hoped his search worked out well.

"What happened to red?"

The Doctor spoke up, "That's just humans. By everyone'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."

"And that's safe, is it?" Rose questioned. She was holding on tightly to the railing. While she knew Mayhem was partly wrapped around her, it was a loose grip.

"Totally," the Doctor responded. The resounding bang following that statement said otherwise. "Okay, reasonably," the Doctor corrected himself seeing the eyebrow raise from Annika and if symbiotes had eyebrows then Mayhem's face would be matching her human's, the console sparks making them all jump back, "Reasonably, I should have said reasonably there," he looks back at the monitors, "No, no, no, no! It's jumping time tracks, getting away from us," he hurries around making sure he would still be able to track it.

"What exactly is this thing?" Rose asked.

"No idea," the other two answer.

"Then why are we chasing it?" Rose asked.

"It's mauve and dangerous, and about thirty seconds from the center of London," the Doctor tells her. Eventually they land.

The Doctor opens the door, revealing an alley as the location they parked in. He starts to leave and Rose follows, both not noticing Annika pausing after hearing a hum. An alert goes off on the screen and Mayhem's head stretches back. Annika, looking through Mayhem's eyes, let out a small gasp of shock. Mayhem on the other hand, looked as if her jaw collided with the flooring. The screen read, 'Riot Brock—Confirmed Location.'

'He was looking for him,' Annika thought.

'And he's our son, he wouldn't use that name unless he was trying to catch our attention,' Mayhem added as she morphs back into Annika's body. Annika walks out to meet the others.

"A month? We were right behind it," Rose questioned, surprised. Annika assumed that the thing they were chasing got a month ahead of them.

"It was jumping time tracks all over the place. We're bound to be a little bit out. Do you want to drive?" the Doctor responded, noticing Annika looking around. Annika sensed something, but she didn't know what.

"Yeah. How much is a little?" Rose asked, following his line of sight, also seeing Annika lost in her thoughts.

"A bit," the Doctor vaguely responds.