Mae and The Doctor

3 - Bill

The Doctor and I walk along a silent street, minus the occassional bike rider.

"This is a nice little town, so why would they choose here?" The Doctor looks around as he mutters to himself.

"Who, or what, exactly are 'they'?" I glance to him, squinting from the bright sun.

"They're, uh," a bike goes past us, "the Slitheen," he leans in to say to me.

"Oh....'kay," I stare out ahead of me. "Have you encountered them before?"

"Yes," he replies, "a few years back, when they tried taking over the world. Do you remember Margaret Blaine? She's from England; she was one," he glances to me.

"Oh, that lady from Cardiff?" He nods. "Well, who'd have thunk it?" I say.

"Actually," the Doctor responds, "myself, Harriet Jones, and Rose tyler 'thunk' it," he says with a smile. I smile back and we arrive at the radio building.

"Do you you think they're back to finish what they started? Or for revenge, possibly?" I look to the Doctor worriedly.

"Well, I'm not sure. Because last I checked, there weren't enough to make a stable army..." He holds the door open for me, and we walk in. I spot Bill, who's looking at us, confused.

I lean over and whisper to the Doctor, "How long have we been gone?"

"Not sure," he responds, and steps to Bill. "Hiya, Bill! What's got you looking so confused?" The Doctor says it so casually.

Bill looks from me to the Doctor. "I saw you two disappear into the storage closet an hour ago,"  he knits his brows together. The Doctor and I share a glance.

"No, er," the Doctor looks back to Bill, "we decided to take a late lunch break and went to get, um, some pizza."

My jaw drops; he shouldn't have said that. Bill looks more furious than ever, turning to me. "You're a slut, you know that? And you can forget about pizza later!" Bill glares at the Doctor, and then walks off. I sigh.

The Doctor sighs, too, and asks quietly, "Did I say something?" I let out a huff again and look to him.

"Let's just try to figure this out, okay?" I walk off past the receptionist's desk to the elevator. The Doctor presses the button, and we make it to the second floor in silence.

"Where's the receptionist?" the both of us say in unison. I look to the clock, then the Doctor; he is looking back at me. We run from the elevator and go separate ways.

"This way, doofus," I scream over my shoulder. He catches up, and I burst through the door to the recording room. It's empty. The Doctor rushes out into the hallway, frantically searching the ceiling. Then he faces away from me and starts waving his hands in the air. When I look to where he's facing, I see a security camera high on the wall. Quickly, I grab one of the Doctor's arms.

"I don't think now is a good time to catch Bill's attention,"  I say.

"You're right; he's probably in the bathroom." He slowly spins in a circle. Then, he sprints toward the bathrooms, with me trailing behind.

"BILL," he shouts as he pushes into the bathroom. It echoes, and I look around. The stall door is closed, and a bottle of lotion sits at someone's feet.

"John? Sorry, the stall's taken," I hear Bill's voice say.

I point down to the lotion and the Doctor follows my finger. "Oh... what?" The Doctor glances up at me, and then back down to the lotion.

"J-John?" Bill says again, "You still in here?"

"Uhhh, yes. Yes, sorry to bother you. I just wanted to know if you knew where everyone was."

I hear a zip and the clinking of a belt. Bill steps out and looks from the Doctor to me.

"Everyone's waiting," he says with a smirk. Then he grabs us both by the elbows and tosses us to a wall. I gasp, waiting for the impact, but I keep falling. My back hits something solid and cold - a cement floor. Hearing the Doctor let out a groan of pain, I roll over to my side and slowly open my eyes. Bill is very strong.

The Doctor looks over to me and quickly jumps up. He points his sonic screwdriver at something. From behind, someone else helps me stand; it's Bill. Jerking myself away from him, I look to what the Doctor's pointing to. We are surrounded by a group of people. All of them are from the radio station.

"Doctor," a menacing voice says. I watch as James's lips move, but it doesn't sound like James.

"Yes? What do you want? Why are you here?" The Doctor does not lower his screwdriver.

James reaches for his own forehead. He, and all of the others do the same in unison. I watch as they move their index finger across their heads. A bright blue light pours out. Squinting slightly, I watch as everyone cuts open their own heads. Then I glance to the Doctor. He's thinking, it seems, and isn't paying attention when Bill knocks me in the back of the head with his baton.