Lyssa huddled miserably against the wall of the alleyway, partially sheltered from the falling rain by a little shelter she had rigged up for herself with some cardboard boxes she had found nearby and some other abandoned junk. It was cold and cramped, but offered a slight protection against the frigid wind, so it was better than nothing.
She shivered, curling a little tighter into herself as a particularly forceful gust forced its way into her shelter, biting through her wet clothes and sending goosebumps along her skin. It was cold, and dark, and she hadn't slept for almost three days, and she was still so, so scared.
"I want my mummy," she whimpered, glancing nervously down both sides of the alleyway before rubbing her hands weakly up and down her arms, a small y-shaped scar visible on the back of her right hand. "I just want my mummy, please."
~~ Three Days Earlier ~~
Lyssa shrieked, slamming her hand down on her bracelet and feeling only slightly relieved when the screen - and the child - disappeared. The charm almost immediately began to flash light blue again, though she didn't know if it was Vina or the child trying to reach her. Her phone was still ringing on the floor, but she ignored it, trying to force her panicking thoughts to focus.
She hesitantly glanced outside the window, not sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing that the child was no longer there. He could have left, or... he could be on his way up to find her. She placed her ear to the door first to see if she could hear anything, then, when she heard nothing, cracked it open ever so slightly.
Still nothing. She pulled it open farther, carefully checking both sides of the doorway before stepping out into the hallway, checking down both corridors for any sign of the child.
They were empty, and she relaxed, heaving a silent sigh of relief. She had probably just overreacted - she wasn't Nancy, the child must have just picked up on her having two objects with a speaker. She'd probably have to avoid using either of them for the rest of her stay. She relaxed further when her phone stopped ringing. The child must have gone out of range or given up on her.
She was about to head back into her room and shut the door when she heard it.
The quiet voice of a child as they made their way up the stairs on the left side of the hallway, whispering a little phrase to themselves over and over.
"I want my mummy. Are you there, Mummy?"
The voice was growing closer and closer, and she froze, heart skipping a beat before she managed to snap herself out of it, flinging herself back into her room and slamming her door shut, locking it. The drawer against the nearby wall was large but empty, and she tugged it over in front of the door, barricading it. Given the child's supernatural strength, she doubted it would last for long, but maybe just long enough for her to figure out an escape route.
She snatched her knapsack off the floor, stuffing her things in it and slinging it over her back before tugging on her boots. She glanced at her phone, then reluctantly turned away. No need to give the child another way to find her - or scare the life out of her.
Now to find an escape route - she could hear the child coming closer, his little sing-song growing louder as he approached her door.
Option 1: Unbarricade the door and hope he doesn't catch her as she makes a break for it.
Option 2: Fling herself out the window and hope she doesn't break anything by falling two stories.
Option 3: Tell the child to go to his room like the Doctor did and hope it works.
Option 1 was clearly out - there was no way she would make it in time. Option 2 was viable. Option 3 was...50/50 chance of survival.
Option 2 it was.
She darted to the window, the sound of the child's knocking at the door hastening her footsteps. She unlatched the shutters and flung the window open, glancing down at the ground below. There was a rain gutter nearby that might be able to help, and the building was made of brick, so she might be able to find better footholds to brace herself on. The ground was maybe 20 feet below, so likely survivable should she slip and fall. Probably.
The knocking on the door accelerated to pounding, and she flinched when she heard the wood splintering. Taking a deep breath to bolster herself, she swung one leg over the frame, then the other. Slowly lowering herself downwards, her feet scraped against the brick as she tried to find some kind of foothold.
Glancing downwards, she almost cheered when she saw the top of the window frame of the first floor just slightly below her. Extending one hand to the rain gutter to help her balance, she inched slowly down the wall, stretching her toes in an effort to reach. Her fingers slowly slid from the window ledge as she prepared to let go.
A tiny hand landed next to hers, a distinct scar on the back of it.
"Why are you trying to run away, Mummy?" the child asked sadly, stretching his other hand out to her. "Please don't leave me alone, Mummy. I'm scared."
Lyssa shrieked, flinching away from him on instinct and only realizing her mistake when her fingers grasped empty air. She barely had time to gasp before her back slammed painfully into the ground, knocking the air out of her lungs and leaving her wheezing as she tried to remember how to breathe again.
The adrenaline coursing through her must have kicked in, because after a few seconds of coughing she was able to roll back onto her feet, still gasping for air but no longer breathless. The child was gone when she glanced up at her window again, and she shivered, deciding to leave while she had the chance.
She limped off down the street, not sure where she would go now that she had no way to contact Jack and the hotel was out. The Doctor would arrive sometime in the next week, and she would just have to survive until then.
She rubbed the right side of her chest absently as she walked, not noticing the sharp red line making its way along the back of her hand.
~~ Present Day ~~
Lyssa rocked back and forth absently, barely even noticing the rain as it soaked her hair and clothes. She had zoned out a while ago - she had found that the days passed much quicker if she wasn't actually mentally present the whole time, and it seemed to be getting easier as the time passed.
A nagging voice in the back of her mind told her that doing so was probably a sign of something not good, but it took too much energy to follow that trail of thought to its logical end, so she just let it lay. She barely had enough energy to open one of her canned foods the TARDIS had given her and eat each day as it was.
A figure appeared over her, blocking the rain from hitting her face. It took her a minute to realize, and she blinked slowly as she glanced up at the figure above her, too tired to even try to feel scared.
"What have you gotten yourself into now, Imp?" the figure chuckled softly in a male voice with an American accent as they crouched down in front of her.
She frowned, squinting at their face. Her memories slowly pieced themselves together to reveal it was Jack in front of her, although he looked somewhat different - a little older, a little more tired - than he had the last time she'd seen him.
"Jack?" she mumbled quietly, and he quirked a smile.
"Glad to see you can still recognize me. I have to say - you gave me quite a scare when you quit responding to me. I went to check out your room, and the place had been trashed - and the hotel manager was not very pleased, let me tell you." He paused, scanning her. "Aside from the obvious, are you hurt anywhere else?"
She shook her head, coughing slightly into her sleeve. "I think I'm coming down with something, and I'm cold and wet and tired, but that's about it."
He snorted. "You've really done a number on yourself, haven't you, Imp?" He turned to dig in a pack beside him, pulling out a blanket and reaching to cover her with it.
She had just enough energy left in her to shy away from his touch. "Don't touch me," she mumbled, lifting her scarred right hand as warning. "I'm infected."
"I know," he assured her. "And it's okay. The blanket will keep us from making any skin contact. And even if we do, I'll be fine in the end." He paused, looking thoughtful. "Actually, it might have accelerated to airborne already, in which case it's a moot point. Either way, I'm taking precautions and it won't matter in the end."
He wrapped her up in the blanket, ignoring her halfhearted protests, and scooped her up in his arms. He stood with a grunt, glancing around before setting off down the alleyway, walking with quick, sure steps. Lyssa just kind of laid there in a daze, only half aware of her surroundings and vaguely wondering why she was so comfortable with him carrying her when she barely knew him.
He stopped in front of a gated off area, talking in a low voice to someone before the gate opened with a creak, letting them in. He kept going past several rows of tents, continuing into what looked like an empty courtyard, passing a dead tree that looked vaguely familiar before entering a large, forbidding building.
He brought her into a small room with several empty beds, carefully placing her on one before telling her to get some sleep. He sat down on one of the nearby beds, coughing harshly into his sleeve before laying down.
Lyssa rolled over onto her side, enjoying the warmth she finally felt after three days out in the cold. She quickly fell into a deep sleep, only woken briefly by a sharp coughing sound from the other bed's occupant, before they fell silent for good a few minutes later. She sleepily paused to wonder what the quiet cracking sound had been before rolling over and going back to sleep.
xXx
When Lyssa woke up next, she felt more like herself than she had for the past three days. It was still dark outside, but for some reason she felt like it was a different day - that she had slept for a full 24 hours, which was probably why she felt so awake and refreshed. She stretched, noting absently that her hair had come out of its braid and looked more like a lion's mane than hair, but couldn't be bothered to deal with it beyond shoving it into a messy bun.
She yawned, rubbing her eyes before rolling out of bed and blinking blearily at the room - which she didn't remember entering. Hadn't she been sleeping on the street? Although, the style of the room looked vaguely familiar...
She glanced over at the bed beside hers and nearly had a heart attack when she saw that it was filled with someone wearing a gas mask, lying still and lifeless on the bed. She scrambled backwards, almost tripping over the bed before it became apparent that they weren't going to attack her - hadn't even reacted to her startled shout.
Keeping a wary eye on the victim - who was wearing a military uniform she found vaguely familiar - she reached a trembling hand down to grab her knapsack - which had somehow been brought with her, what ever way she had made her way back to the hospital - and slung it back over her shoulder before cautiously making her way out of the room and into the dimly lit hallway.
She bit her lip, wondering if she could remember her way through the maze of rooms and find Dr. Constantine without running into the child or any active victims. Well, it wasn't like she had much of a choice, so she picked a direction and set off, trying to keep an ear out for any loud or unnatural sounds.
She paused, hearing voices in the distance echoing through a hallway. Human voices. She picked up her pace and hurried towards them, the voices becoming more clear as she grew closer.
"Before this war began, I was a father and a grandfather. Now I am neither. But I am still a doctor." There was a pause as someone else spoke in a low tone before the original voice continued, gradually becoming clearer as Dr. Constantine, although he sounder far weaker than he had the last time she saw him. "I suspect the plan is to blow up the hospital and blame it on a German bomb." Another pause. "No. They are isolated cases, but... isolated cases breaking out all over London..."
Dr. Constantine coughed, and she winced, recognizing the sound and picking up her pace. "Stay back, stay back." He coughed again. "Listen to me... top floor. Room 802, that's where they took the first victim - the one from the crash site. And you must find Nancy again. It was her brother. She knows more than she's saying. She won't tell me, but she mi... mi... " He gagged, making a horrid retching sound. "M... mu... mee... Are... you... my... mum-my?"
Lyssa slowed to a stop outside the room, hearing the awful sounds of the poor doctor's conversion before everything fell silent. She reached a hand out to the door to push it open, then paused when her eyes fell on her scar.
She was infected. She couldn't touch anyone, or they would become sick as well, and that could change the course of history. Especially if the Doctor got infected - he was the only one who could make the nanogenes purify the infected victims. If he became one of them, he might never be saved, and that would basically wreck all of Time. Kinda something she tried to avoid.
Now, normally, that wouldn't be too much of an issue. But if he saw her, all sickly and weak, he'd probably rush to make sure she was all right, and touch her hands, or her face, or anything else that was exposed.
Maybe if she shouted "Unclean, unclean," everywhere she went...
Okay, yeah, not a good plan. Her best bet would probably be to just avoid the Doctor - and everyone else - until they got this figured out.
She lowered her hand with a sigh, turning away from the door and stepping into a nearby room. She leaned against the wall and closed her eyes, silently willing the Doctor to hurry up and figure this out. She opened them again when she heard several familiar voices calling out a greeting outside in the hallway - Jack and Rose. For a moment she thought they'd seen her, but then she heard the rest and realized that they were talking to the Doctor.
"Good evening," Jack said, dialing up the charm. "Hope I'm not interrupting, Captain Jack Harkness. I've been hearing all about you on the way over."
"He knows," Rose said pointedly. "I had to tell him about us being Time Agents."
"And I must admit, it's a real pleasure to meet you, Mr. Spock," Jack continued. "Although, I must ask - I heard you go by Dr. Spock. Is there a reason for the difference?"
Lyssa froze. She must have forgotten that tiny little distinction - who knew that Jack would pick up on it?
There was a confused silence. "Where'd you get the 'Doctor' bit from?" Rose asked, sounding confused. "I never mentioned that. And who told you that?"
"See, that's the thing," Jack said. "I may have picked up on you guys being Time Agents because I already met your other partner."
"Our... other partner?" Rose repeated slowly.
The Doctor sucked in a sharp breath. "Would this partner happen to be a short brunette woman? Little older than Rose?"
Lyssa flinched, feeling a sharp pang of longing when she heard his voice clearly for the first time, wanting more than anything to just run out and be given a hug and told everything was going to be all right - and knowing that she could do anything but.
"Snarky as heck, smarter than she lets on? " Jack asked. "Yeah, I met her. Do you know where she is?"
"No. Why?" The Doctor was starting to sound worried.
Jack sucked in a breath through his teeth. "That's not good. See, she mentioned she was traveling with the two of you when you latched onto the object, said she got separated. I set her up with a place to stay, but I went to check on her a couple days ago, and her room had been trashed - her door had been knocked in and her phone was left lying on the ground, so I have no way to find her. But if you haven't found her..."
"Was she all right when you first saw her?" the Doctor asked urgently.
Jack hesitated before answering slowly. "No. She tried to insist that everything was fine, but..."
"But what?" the Doctor demanded impatiently when Jack didn't continue. "What happened to Lyssa?"
"Look," Jack said apologetically. "You guys match the description she gave me, but given the way she looked, I just want to make sure you actually know her. She said you gave her her necklace with the purple snowflake on it. Is that correct?"
The Doctor paused. "No. A friend bought her the necklace, and then I gave her the charm. And it's blue. Not purple. Now what happened to Lyssa?"
"Just wanted to be sure - never can be too careful. When she showed up, she was timid, jumpy, and had a massive bruise on her jaw. Tried to claim it was from her crash landing, but... I know how to spot a con when I see one. That bruise was no accident."
Lyssa silently snorted. She was sure Jack could tell a con when he saw one - usually because he was the one playing it. She technically hadn't been lying - she'd been telling the truth when she said that the cause of her bruise was no longer a problem. Maken was dead - eaten by an over-sized bush and extremely unlikely to ever return.
The Doctor, however, knew none of this, and, as per usual when she had been hurt, leapt into action. "Do you think the person who hurt her is the same one who trashed her room?"
"I wouldn't be surprised," Jack said heavily. "Whatever kicked in her door was extremely powerful. And... whatever gave her that bruise was very strong. I wouldn't be surprised if she had more severe damage, although I never got the chance to scan her and find out."
"Doctor, we have to find Lyssa," Rose whispered. "She could be hurt!"
"I know, but if her phone was left in the room, and she's too early, I have no way to find her," the Doctor returned, starting to pace. "As if that's not bad enough, we've got some sort of plague making its way around London."
"A plague?" Rose repeated, startled. "But I don't remember learnin' anythin' about there being a plague in London during the Blitz."
"That's 'cause either there wasn't," the Doctor muttered darkly. "Or someone is keepin' it under very high wraps - and about to blow the evidence out of existence."
"'M sorry?" Rose said blankly.
"Never mind that," the Doctor interrupted. "How'd you two meet? Why'd he tag along?"
"I'm the owner of that object you were following earlier," Jack interjected smoothly. "A Chula ship - the last one in existence. But like I told your partner earlier, I made the mistake of parking it right where a German bomb is supposed to land in about two hours. She assured me you would be both interested in it, and capable of paying for it."
"Chula?" the Doctor repeated seriously. He paused. "Right. I think I know where Lyssa was goin' with this. Both of you, follow me," he directed.
Lyssa held her breath as the group returned to the ward, waiting until the hallway was clear to leave, stepping carefully out of the room and tugging nervously on her charm. She flinched when she heard a loud exclamation from the room and picked up her pace, hoping to find the room she had slept in before, where she could stay until the Doctor fixed everything.
She hadn't expected to trip over her own two feet halfway down, slamming into the floor with a grunt, her hands smacking against the concrete and creating a painful echo. She scrambled to her feet but the damage had been done - all noise from the ward had stopped. She froze, torn between her desire to see the Doctor again and her desire to keep him safe - before what was left of her reason reasserted itself and she started running again, now more sure than ever that she had to keep away from them.
"Wait! Stop!" Jack called, his voice echoing through the hallway. "Come back!" His footsteps started to pound after her, and she panicked, starting to run even faster. "We're not going to hurt you, we just want to ask you some questions!"
She glanced back over her shoulder to see how close he was as she approached the hallway, nearly stumbling again when her eyes met Jack's. He was right behind her, his hand reaching out to grab her shoulder.
"Lyssa?" he gasped, almost tripping himself in his surprise.
"Don't touch me!" she shrieked, throwing herself to the side and crouching by the wall, curling into herself to minimize her exposed skin and trembling. "You can't - don't touch me! Please! Don't touch me!"she begged, tears of fear filling her eyes. Jack had been the one to keep the bomb from exploding before the Doctor fixed everything - if Jack got infected, hundreds of innocent people could die.
"All right, all right, I'm not going to touch you," Jack hastened to soothe her, crouching in front of her but making sure to stay several feet away. "I'm staying back here, see? I'm not going to hurt you. It's all right, Lyssa. You're safe."
If she hadn't been seconds away from a panic attack, she would have laughed. Safe? Infected with a zombie virus, during the London blitz, and trapped in a building that was doomed to be blown up - yeah, she was totally safe.
"It's not safe, I'm not safe! Don't touch me, please don't touch me," she whimpered, her voice breaking. She'd tried to be so careful, and now everything could be about to fall apart because of her stupid clumsy feet and this stupid plague thing that made her clumsy.
Well. Clumsier.
"Lyssa!"
Rose and the Doctor ran up, jerking to a reluctant halt when Jack threw his hands up in caution. "Wait. I think she's in the middle of a panic attack. If you crowd her, you could make it worse!"
"It's not a panic attack!" Lyssa cried, trying to glare at them through a blur of tears. "I'm sick! If you touch me, you'll get infected too!" she nearly shouted, showing them the back of her hand, where the dark scar stood out against the rest of her skin.
"Lyssa." The Doctor knelt down in front of her, holding up a hand placatingly when she flinched away. "I'm not goin' to touch you - I'm stayin' back, see? Just take a deep breath, like me," he demonstrated, keeping his voice calm and even.
Hiccuping, she followed his example, taking deep, even breaths until her tears had stopped and she could think clearly again.
"Are you feeling better now?" he asked quietly, his eyes fixed on her as if she were the only one in the room.
She nodded sheepishly. "Thanks," she muttered, rubbing her hand across her eyes.
The Doctor's gaze followed her hand. "Is that..."
"The scar?" Lyssa finished wearily, her own eyes tracing her scar. "Yeah. It showed up around three days ago, although it's been red and agitated since a couple days after I got here."
The Doctor frowned. "But Dr. Constantine indicated that the plague moves extremely quickly. Everyone who touched the original patient got sick by morning - it seems to act within twelve hours. How come it's taken you almost three weeks?"
She shrugged, shifting so she sat more comfortably against the wall. "When I first landed, I actually jumped here to the hospital. I think that might be where I first got infected, although it seemed to have laid dormant until a couple days ago. That's when I came into contact with the child, and that's when the rest of the symptoms started."
The Doctor shook his head. "But even three days is too long. And it's too early for you to be so immune unless..." He narrowed his eyes at her necklace, then studied her face before sitting back in frustration. "I can't tell," he muttered, reaching in his pocket to pull out his sonic screwdriver.
"Look, Dr. Spock - or whatever it is you call yourself, would you mind explaining what's going on?" Jack interrupted, flashing a smile when Lyssa turned to look at him. "Hey, Lyssa. You've looked better."
"Thanks," she muttered dryly. "So have you." She put her sore hands on the ground and pushed herself up, shaking her head when the Doctor instinctively offered a hand to help her up. "Jack's right, though. We don't have much time, especially now that you've found me. Does he know yet?"
"Know what?" Jack asked suspiciously, gaze swinging between the two of them. "What's going on?"
"Has he seen the bodies?" Lyssa continued.
"Bodies?" Jack and Rose interrupted.
"We didn't have a chance," the Doctor explained briefly as they headed back to the ward. "Jack started to explain how he'd met you, we heard somethin' fall in the corridor - which turned out to be you - and then you know the rest."
Lyssa sighed, making sure to keep several feet between her and everyone else. "Let's just get into the room, and then we can explain from there. But we better hurry - we're running out of time."
"You keep saying that, but you never say why," Jack pointed out in exasperation. "Mind pointing out why?"
"Because we have... around two hours to get this figured out before we're all doomed," Lyssa said dryly, taking the lead and pushing the door open into the ward, hurriedly stepping off to the side so that the others could step in. "Take a look at the patients - but don't touch them - and tell me what you find."
Jack cast a wary glance at her but did as she said, walking to the nearest filled bed and looking over the patient. "Well, them wearing the gas masks is weird, and... do they have the same scar you do?" he asked, frowning in concentration at her hand.
"Do a scan," Lyssa answered instead, leaning against the wall and crossing her arms.
The Doctor hurried over to stand next to her. "Are you all right? Aside from the obvious? Jack mentioned -"
"As long as you get this figured out, I promise that I'll be completely fine," Lyssa interrupted hastily, not wanting to get into that bag of worms. "I'm not just saying that, everything will be okay if you get this figured out. I will also be much happier if you just focus on the situation right now. Please. For me," she said earnestly.
His eyes narrowed, but he gave in gracefully, turning to Rose and feigning a relaxed pose. "So... can I ask where the 'Mr. Spock' came from?" he asked Rose as an aside. "Lyssa I can understand, if she knew you were going to call me that in the future, but... why did you call me that?"
"Well, what was I supposed to say, you don't have a name!" Rose scoffed. "Don't you ever get tired of 'Doctor'? Doctor who?"
"Ooh, title drop," Lyssa muttered, smiling and waving when they turned to look at her. "Don't mind me, I'm just coping with my stress in weird ways."
"Nine centuries in, I'm coping," the Doctor retorted, turning back to Rose. "Where've you been? We're in the middle of a London Blitz, it's not a good time for a stroll."
"Who's strolling?" Rose affected an air of disdain, casually inspecting her nails. "I went by barrage balloon. Only way to see an air raid."
The Doctor froze. "What?"
"This isn't possible," Jack interrupted, standing over another patient, posture tense. "How could this happen? Lyssa has the exact same scar, what's going on?"
The Doctor's feigned relaxation dropped, becoming all business as he turned to Jack. "What kind of Chula ship landed here?"
"What?" Jack frowned. "What does that have to do with any of this?"
"He said it was a warship," Rose mentioned. "He stole it. Parked it somewhere out there, somewhere a bomb's gonna fall on it - unless we make him an offer."
"What kind of warship?" the Doctor continued, fixing Jack with his fierce glare.
"Does it matter?" Jack said agitatedly. "It's got nothing to do with this!"
"This started at the bomb site, and Lyssa made a point of the two of us meeting. It's got everything to do with it," the Doctor snapped. "What. Kind. Of. Warship?"
"An ambulance," Jack finally exclaimed, giving in. He tapped on his wrist device and a hologram of the warship appeared above it. "That's what you chased through the Time Vortex. It's space junk. I wanted to kid you it was valuable. It's empty. I made sure of it. Nothing but a shell. I threw it at you. Saw your time travel vehicle, love the retro look, by the way, nice panels, threw you the bait..."
"Bait?" Rose interrupted.
"I wanted to sell it to you and then destroy it before you found out it was junk," he continued as if he hadn't heard.
"But you said it was a warship," Rose interrupted.
"They have ambulances in wars," Jack told her condescendingly. "It was a con. I was conning you, that's what I am, I'm a con man. I thought you were Time Agents but you're not, are you?"
Rose shrugged. "Just a couple more free-lancers," she said lightly.
He scoffed. "Should've known. The way you guys were blending in with the local color, although I kind of expected it after the way Lyssa described yo- wait." He swung on Lyssa. "You lied to me! You let me think you were Time Agents but then -" he frowned. "Was this just another con? The three of you go around pretending to be Time Agents to get your hands on valuable artifacts?"
Lyssa raised an eyebrow at him. "Jack, so help me, if you even try to act like we're the only ones in the wrong here, I swear I will punch you and infect you, upholding the timeline be darned." He drew breath to speak but she kept going, cutting him off. "I may have implied a few things and let you believe a few more, but I never actually lied to you. Can you say the same, Captain?"
He scowled at her but turned away. "Fine. Anyways... whatever's going on here has nothing to do with that ship."
"Yeah, speaking of... what is going on here, Doctor?" Rose asked, looking around. "Why're all these guys wearin' gas masks?"
The Doctor frowned. "Human DNA's being rewritten... By an idiot."
"What d'you mean?" Rose frowned.
He shrugged. "I dunno, some kind of virus. It's converting human beings into these things." He nodded at the bodies. "But why? What's the point?" He turned to Lyssa. "You said the child touched you, and that's when the scar showed up. Do you know what's going on? Why this is happening?"
She swallowed hard, nodding. "He wants his mummy. He just wants his mummy, that's all he wants." She coughed into her arm, feeling strangely teary. "It's not his fault, Doctor, he can't help it."
He glanced at her, narrowing his eyes. "Do you feel all right, Lyssa?" he asked, his voice gentle.
She shrugged, rubbing her arms in an attempt to comfort herself. "I think I'm coming down with something. And I want my mummy. But... I don't think there's anything that can be done for me until this is over with."
His head jerked up, fear filling his gaze as he met her confused stare. But she never got the chance to ask him what was wrong as Rose let out a startled yelp and scrambled away from one of the beds, where the patient was sitting up, all the rest of the victims doing likewise.
"Mummy?" one of them asked.
"Doctor, what's happening?" she cried fearfully. "What's going on?"
"I don't know," he said honestly, eyes darting between the victims as they all slowly got out of their beds and began to approach the group. "But don't let them touch you."
"What happens if they do?" Rose asked, shrinking back into the wall behind the Doctor and Jack as they backed up.
Lyssa stood still by one of the beds, frowning at the group by the wall. Something was wrong. Something... was...
"You're looking at it," the Doctor told Rose grimly.
"Mummy," the group called ominously, hands reaching out to them.
"Lyssa, get away from them!" Jack ordered, stretching out a hand to pull her to them, forgetting the danger of touching her.
She opened her mouth to remind him to stay away, but all that came out was...
"Mummy?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N: Hey guys! It's your favorite procrastinating author who never updates when they said they were going to! *Clears throat awkwardly* Seriously though, I'm not sure if I will be able to update next weekend, as there's a very good chance that things are going to be crazy busy, but I AM going to try, and even if it doesn't happen right away, please be aware that I am NOT going to abandon this story as I have way too many things planned that I want to write. (such as the Family of Blood arc... I'm so excited!)
Anyways, I'm sure you guys don't want anymore blathering from me, so I'm not even going to make any comments on this chapter. (Also my ever helpful forgetful brain kicked in and I can remember nothing of what I actually wanted to mention, so...) That's fine, though, 'cause there's nothing to comment on anyways...
Oh, and to answer a question one of my reviewers asked (and that multiple people may be wondering) yes, Lyssa will eventually learn the Doctor's real name, not just his academy name. :)
Special thanks for commenting and following (even when I'm late)! Your support is what encourages me to keep writing!
Thank you all for reading, and I hope you enjoyed! :D
General Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who, just Lyssa.