A/n: Thanks guys for your reviews. I can't believe my story has so many views, and reviews. Some of you have asked about what will happen, to answer that, we will see what happens when it happens. Sometimes I don't even know what will happen. If you guys have any ideas that I could incorporate, please share and I'll see what I can do.
I love the idea of the doctor having someone who won't really leave him, not a love interest, but family who support one another, and help each other grow.
Chapter 14
The Doctor brings Hame and I a cup of water.
"That's very kind. There's no need".
Novice Hame says
"You're the one working", the doctor says. He looks at me and says "drink little one, you have barely drank anything today". I feel a bit annoyed, all my life no one really cared about my health or what I consume, now after all these years of taking care of myself, now he wants to tell me what to do. Argh, but he is right, again, I haven't drank anything today'.
"There's not much to do, just maintain his smoke. And I suppose I'm company. I can hear him singing, sometimes, in my mind. Such ancient songs". 'I wonder what songs he likes?', the Doctor looks at me funny. 'What, it's a valid question'.
"Are we the only visitors?
"The rest of Boe-kind became extinct long ago. He's the only one left. Legend says that the Face of Boe has watched the universe grow old. There's all sorts of superstitions around him. One story says that just before his death, the Face of Boe will impart his great secret, that he will speak those words only to one like himself".
"What does that mean?" He asks.
"It's just a story"
"Tell me the rest".
"It's said he'll talk to a wanderer. To the man without a home. The lonely God and his child". I sat there shocked, trying to hide my feelings from the doctor. 'She can't mean me. I'm not even his child. This phrase wasn't even said in the show. But who else could she be referring to? And after what Bad wolf said, about us being family. It's still not easy to accept, I'm going to just try and go with the flow and see to where this leads'
Doctor POV
'She just keeps surprising me. How did she know it was the face of Boe, and knew that he was dying of old age? I'm going to have to talk to her about it'.
But what shocked me the most was what novice Hame said about the message the Face of Boe has for me, and it included Ayla as well.
Time Skip
Doctor POV
'Something is up with Rose, she is different, and speaks with a strange voice, she shows impossible knowledge about the computer system, she would not even know about, so what happened to her?'
The three of us walk into Intensive Care, and I hear, 'Doctor, Something is going on with Rose?', I respond into her mind, 'I can see that. I don't know what but I will find out'.
Time Skip
I woke up inside a cell. 'Where is Ayla?'
"Let me out! Let me out!" I yell
"Aren't you lucky there was a spare? Standing room only". Cass-Rose says.
"You've stolen Rose's body, where is Ayla?
"Over the years, I've thought of a thousand ways to kill you, Doctor. And now, that's exactly what I've got. One thousand diseases. They pump the patients with a top-up every ten minutes. You've got about three minutes left. Enjoy". 'I can feel Ayla close by'.
"What have you done to Ayla? Just let them go, Cassandra".
"I've done nothing to the brat, I sprayed her with what I gave you. I will let Rose go, as soon as I've found someone younger, and less common, then I'll junk her with the waste. Now hushaby. It's show time"
"Anything we can do to help?" Sister Jatt says.
"Straight to the point, Whiskers. I want money"
"The Sisterhood is a charity. We don't give money. We only accept", said sister Casp.
"The humans across the water pay you a fortune, and that's exactly what I need. A one-off payment, that's all I want. Oh, and perhaps a yacht. In return for which, I shall tell the city nothing of your institutional murder. Is that a deal?"
"I'm afraid not." Said the sister
"I'd really advise you to think about this."
"Oh, there's no need. I have to decline".
"I'll tell them, and you've no way of stopping me. You're not exactly Nuns with Guns. You're not even armed". Said Cassandra
"Who needs arms when we have claws?"
"Well, nice try. Chip? Plan B", I hear Cas-Rose say.
I hear a lever being pulled and all the doors on that level open. I comes out along with a lot of the diseased people.
"What've you done?" I yell, I go to Ayla and try to wake her up. She struggles to open her eyes.
"Gave the system a shot of adrenaline, just to wake them up. See you!"
"Don't touch them! Whatever you do, don't touch!"
I pick up Ayla and run after Cassandra and Chip as the people advance on the cats.
"Please, save us." I heard the people say.
"Oh, my God", Cassandra says.
"What the hell have you done?!" I say
"It wasn't me", Cassandra defends herself.
"One touch and you get every disease in the world, and I want that body safe, Cassandra. We've got to go down"
"But there are thousands of them!"
"Run! Down! Down! Go down!" I say, running with Ayla in my arms, I can feel her fear as she clings to me.
We ran, lost Chip and now we locked ourselves in a basement, protected for now.
"We're trapped! What am I going to do?", Cassandra says. I put Ayla down and say,
"Well, for starters, you're going to leave that body. That psychograft is banned on every civilised planet. You're compressing Rose to death", I say to her.
"But I've got nowhere to go. My original skin's dead", she says with an accusing tone.
"Not my problem. You can float as atoms in the air. Now, get out. Give her back to me!"
"You asked for it". She says
Cassandra take a deep breath and blows energy out and comes straight to me.
'Ow, my head,' she has taken control of my body. At least Ayla is okay, I can feel her through the bond.
I hear Rose say,
"Blimey, my head. Where'd she go?"
"Oh, my. This is different". I hear myself/Cassandra say.
"Cassandra?!"
"Goodness me, I'm a man. Yum. So many parts. And hardly used. Oh, oh, two hearts! Oh, baby, I'm beating out a samba!"
"Get out of him", Rose and Ayla say at the same time.
"Ooh, he's slim, and a little bit foxy. You've thought so too. I've been inside your head. You've been looking. You like it." I would have blushed if I had control of my body.
The diseased people burst in.
"What do we do? What would he do? The Doctor, what the hell would he do?", Cassandra yells panicked. 'Stupid ape', I think.
"Ladder. We've got to get up".
"Out of the way, blondie!", she says, pushing Rose and Ayla out the way. Luckily I heard Rose tell Ayla to go after me.
We climbed up, Rose and Ayla safely behind me as can be.
"If you get out of the Doctor's body, he can think of something". Rose says.
"Yap, yap, yap. God, it was tedious inside your head. Hormone city" 'of course it is, she is a young woman' I think. "We're going to die if..." Rose stops mid-sentence when Matron Casp grabs her ankle". "Get off!", she yells. "All our good work. All that healing. The good name of the Sisterhood. You have destroyed everything" sister Casp say. "Go and play with a ball of string", comes out if my mouth.
"Everywhere, disease. This is the human world. Sickness!" A diseased arm reaches up and grasps Casp's ankle. She falls, screaming!
"Move!", Rose yells. They are gaining on us.
The doors on the next level will not open.
"Help us". The flesh calls out.
"Now what do we do?" Cassandra yells. "Use the sonic screwdriver", Rose says.
"You mean this thing? ", she asks holding it up. 'Cassandra, be careful with that', I sent to her. It's difficult to speak to her.
"Yes, I mean that thing." "Well, I don't know how. That Doctor's hidden away all his thoughts". 'Good, you might have control of my body for the moment, but my mind is my own'.
"Cassandra, go back into me. The Doctor can open it. Do it!" 'No Rose', I try to say.
"Hold on tight."
Cassandra transports to Rose. "Oh, chavtastic again. Open it!" She begs.
"Not till you get out of her.", I warned her. "We need the Doctor", she says.
"I order you to leave her", I yell, I can feel Ayla getting more scared. I try to send waves of calm to her.
And then Cassandra did the unthinkable, she transferred into Ayla. 'No, no' I panic as I hear Ayla screaming in her mind with pain, trying to fight the compression.
"Doctor, help, please help, Dad", Ayla cries out in her mind over and over again.
"No matter how difficult the situation, there is no need to shout", says Cassandra, not realizing the pain she is causing Ayla. "Cassandra, get out of her now! Cassandra get out, get out, you're torturing her!"
Cassandra felt fear rising in her as I yelled at her, her (and Ayla's) face going pale "Oh, I am so going to regret this". She says as she transfers to the lead woman on the ladder below them.
Ayla barely holding onto the ladder with little strength left over, nearly slipping, she starts to climb, and her mind is in a daze. "Oh, sweet Lord. I look disgusting"
I finally get the doors open. And I climb out pulling Ayla up and Rose following. I hug Ayla tightly to my chest. Her eyes shut. 'You're okay Ayla, you're okay', I project into her mind trying to reassure her as well as myself. Not wanting to let her go.
I look at Rose and say, "Nice to have you back", the lift doors close and we hear Cassandra say "No, you don't" , and she transferred to Rose again.
"That was your last warning, Cassandra!", I turn to her, Ayla holds onto the back of my jacket, pressing her face into my back.
"Inside her head. They're so alone. They keep reaching out, just to hold us. All their lives and they've never been touched".
I sigh in exasperation, and hold out my hand to her.
We enter the ward and Frau Clovis lunges at us with a metal stand.
"We're safe! We're safe! We're safe! We're clean! We're clean! Look, look".
I say trying alleviate her fear.
"Show me your skin!", she demands
"Look, clean. Look, if we'd been touched, we'd be dead. So how's it going up here? What's the status?"
"There's nothing but silence from the other wards. I think we're the only ones left. And I've been trying to override the quarantine. If I can trip a signal over to New New York, they can send a private executive squad"
'Oh these stupid humans, they never learn'. "You can't do that. If they forced entry, they'd break quarantine", I say to Clovis.
"I am not dying in here" 'how can she be so selfish', Ayla mumbles in her mind.
"We can't let a single particle of disease get out. There is ten million people in that city. They'd all be at risk. Now, turn that off!"
"Not if it gets me out".
"All right, fine. So I have to stop you lot as well. Suits me. Rose, novice Hame, everyone! Excuse me, your Grace. Get me intravenous solutions for every single disease. Move it!"
I take Ayla to a chair next to the Face of Boe. "Stay here, don't move", I say to her and she nods.
Everyone is busy grabbing drip bags while I collect a long piece of rope, tying it around my body, hanging all the solutions on it
"How's that? Will that do? " I ask Cas-Rose. "I don't know. Will it do for what?"
Ayla POV
'My head hurts, and it's not even been a week since I started recovering from the supposed bond with the doctor'.
'Hi little princess' I hear in my head, it's the Face of Boe.
'I'm sorry this happened to you, how are you feeling?', Boe asks
'It's not your fault. I've had better days, it just hurts a bit'. I reply
'If I had known, I would have tried to stop it', he says solemnly.
I smile at him.
'I'm curious, so will I meet you in your past then, my future?', he laughs slightly, and say, 'that little princess is spoilers'.
'Why do you call me that?' I ask.
'It started the first time we met, let me tell you this at least, one day you are going to be lost, you will know where you are, and you will know where to find me. The rest is still a spoiler'. He replies.
I huff at him. We start talking about our favourite colour and music. He is so easy to talk to. And actually knows my favourite food. He said I introduced him to his favourite fruit, which is also mine- dragon fruit.
'Everyone is cured now, and the doctor is on his way, he is still so young. 'He says to me, grinning and winks, 'watch how I baffle him'.
I grin at that, knowing what is going to happen.
I hear the doctor as he remembers who is here,
"The Face of Boe!"
"You were supposed to be dying". The doctor says.
"There are better things to do today. Dying can wait". Boe replies.
"Oh, I hate telepathy. Just what I need, a head full of big face" Cassandra complains.
"I have grown tired with the universe, Doctor, but you have taught me to look at it anew, you and your little girl", I blink at that, me? 'I wonder when I will meet him?'
"There are legends, you know, saying that you're millions of years old"
There are? That would be impossible", he says as he winks at me.
"Wouldn't it just. I got the impression there was something you wanted to tell me"
"A great secret". Boe confirms.
"So the legend says".
"It can wait", Boe says and I giggle a bit.
"Oh, does it have to?"
'Now who sounds like a time tot'? I think.
"We shall meet again, Doctor, for the third time, for the last time, and the truth shall be told. Until that day"
And the Face of Boe beams away
"That is enigmatic. That, that is, that is textbook enigmatic. And now for you". He says looking at Cassandra.
"But everything's happy. Everything's fine. Can't you just leave me?"
"You've lived long enough. Leave that body and end it, Cassandra".
"I don't want to die", she says desperately.
"No one does", he says.
Time Skip
So Cassandra transferred to Chip's body. And the doctor took him/her to the past, where Cassandra was still young and beautiful.
I didn't go out with them, I went to my room and got into my jimjams, lied on the bed, waiting for sleep to claim me.
I heard a knock on my door. "Come in"
The doctor walks to the bed and sits next to me with a bowel of fruit and yogurt. "How are you feeling?
"Fine, my head hurts a little bit but other than that I feel fine".
"Do you mind if I take a look to see if Cassandra did any lasting damage to your mind?", he asks. I feel a bit uncomfortable.
"I thought you can already get into my mind through the bond". I say
"I can, but not to fully assess the damage".
I gave him a nod, he put the bowl down on my bedside table and he touched my temples with his finger tips and search.
'Is it possible to keep my thoughts private from you?' I ask
'You can, but it takes a few years to learn to properly shield your mind, it takes longer because you are still young. Your mind would have had shield of sorts on your mind already if you had been on Gallifrey, the academy, with the help of your parents would have taught you that'. He says to me.
Doctor POV
We dropped Cassandra off, and I see Ayla went to her room. Her mind is still fragile. I thought I would have killed Cassandra right then and there when she took over Ayla's mind and body. And her screams, it broke my heart to hear her cry out.
Although I can't believe it, she actually called me 'dad'. Time Tot instinct took over. But she still called me dad. I like it. It would be too soon for her to start outright calling me dad. I can sense that she still hasn't accepted the bond, it'll come over time. At least she accepts me now as a guardian of sorts, she still doesn't like it. From time to time over the past few days I have heard some of the thoughts she had over this whole bonding situation, I just don't want to let her know that I know. I don't think she will trust me if she knows how much I listen in on her ramblings Although some of the things she thinks doesn't make sense, I think she is more sensitive to time than of the others I've heard of.
But what I'm curious about is how she knew those things. I went to her room. I want to ask her, but am scared she would shut me out completely if I pushed things too fast.
She has barely eaten today, again. So I cut up some fruit, with yogurt and take it to her.
I sat next to her, searching for any damage on her mind, it seems like her mind is a bit bruised. I tell her this and say,
"It will take a day or two until it is fully healed, so you will probably have more headaches today and tomorrow".
I take out a pain reliever from my pocket, "I'm going to give you some after you have eaten. And if it starts up again, please let me know".
"I will, thank you doctor".
She takes the bowel and starts eating, "do you want some?", she offers, but I decline politely.
"No thank you, mine is in the kitchen", I say lying to her. She just raises her eyebrows,
"Then why didn't you bring it with?", she asks. 'Clever girl'.
"Because I'm not hungry right now".
'Oh okay'. She finishes almost all of it. I try to convince her to eat a few more bites, "Doctor I'm full, please no more".
I raise my hands in surrender.
"How is Rose doing after the whole Cassandra debacle?" She asks
"She is fine, she went to bed, and she is exhausted after today".
She nods, I decide to leave" good night Ayla", I get up and kiss her forehead. She seems to be contemplating something.
"Can you stay a little bit longer please, I don't want be alone right now", she says, feeling very insecure.
"Of course" I got in right next to her, and she curled up right into me, already asleep, holding onto my shirt, head tucked in between my chest and arm.
'She looks adorable'. I wish this moment could last forever.