Chapter 52

Doctor POV

"You've sealed off the tunnel. Why did you do that?", I ask her angrily

"They were trying to kill us", she responds.

"But they've got my DAUGHTER and MY friend", I tell her, trying to reign in my temper.

" Collateral damage. At least you've still got her. He lost both his men. I'd say you came out ahead"
"Their names are Ayla and Martha. And they're not collateral damage, not for anyone. Have you got that, G.I. Jane?", Donna defends.

"I'm going to find her", I tell them. 'I need to find them'

"You're going nowhere. You don't make sense, you two. No guns, no marks, no fight in you. I'm taking you to General Cobb. Now, move"

Ayla POV

'They knocked us out. I can't believe they knocked us out. Now I have a headache'

Martha wakes up barely two minutes after I do, she turns to me and asks, "Are you okay?"

"Yes, just a headache", I reply and she notices the injured Hath.

'I feel no pity for you at the moment Hathy, my head hurts thanks you guys'

"Hold on, I've got you. Is it your arm, yeah?", Martha asks and it responds with its bubbling oxygen tank in confirmation.

"Is that a yes? Let me examine it. Keep still. Still, yeah? No move", she tells him and he nods.

"Half fish, half human? How am I supposed to know? Is that a shoulder? Feels like a shoulder. I think it's dislocated", Martha says unsure, when all of a sudden more of the Hath arrive.

"I'm trying to help him. I am a doctor and he is my patient, and I'm not leaving him. Now, this is going to hurt. One, two, three", she reassures them, and fixes his shoulder, putting every Hath on high alert in the room until her new friend reassures them he is okay.

"Now, then. I'm Doctor Martha Jones, this girl here is Ayla. Who the hell are you?", Martha asks.

"They're known as the Hath", I tell her.

'The Doctor must be freaking out. I need to send him a telepathic message. It's quite the distance between us, so I need to focus, and the bracelet isn't helping at all. I don't want him to do anything rash'.

Doctor POV

Ayla and Martha has been taken with no idea if they are okay or not. 'I can't sense her'. I feel frustrated beyond belief. 'I should send her into stasis, and release her when I'm back on the TARDIS. But I can trust Martha, she is with her and will look after her. I need to speak to her about taking that damned bracelet off'

We are being taken to General Cobb when Donna begins,

"I'm Donna. What's your name?"

"Don't know. It's not been assigned", my progenerated daughter says.

"Well, if you don't know that, what do you know?", Donna asks.

"How to fight", she responds. 'Of course she does', I think glumly.

"Nothing else?"

"The machine must embed military history and tactics, but no name. She's a generated anomaly", I tell Donna.

"Generated anomaly. Generated. Well, what about that? Jenny", Donna says, naming her.

"Jenny. Yeah, I like that. Jenny", Jenny says.

"What do you think, Dad?", Donna asks me. I struggle not to wince at 'Dad'. 'I can handle it when Ayla says it, it makes me happy, when she says it, it makes me uncomfortable'.

"Good as anything, I suppose", I respond.

"Not what you'd call a natural parent, are you?" Donna asks me.

"They stole a tissue sample at gunpoint and processed it. It's not what I call natural parenting", I tell her, feeling angry.

"Rubbish. My friend Nerys fathered twins with a turkey baster. Don't bother her", Donna says.

"You can't extrapolate a relationship from a biological accident", I tell her.

"Um, Child Support Agency can", she says.

"Look, just because I share certain physiological traits with simian primates doesn't make me a monkey's uncle, does it?" I respond, trying to make her understand.

"I'm not a monkey. Or a child", Jenny says.

'No you are not. But you aren't a Time Lady either. There is no bond. I feel no connection to you' I think, not saying anything else on the matter for now.

Ayla POV

Martha is busy looking around while I'm sitting on a chair, focusing on my telepathy.

"What are you doing? Are you alright?" Martha asks concerned, feeling my forehead for a temperature.

"I'm okay, it's just…I'm really trying to focus on sending the Doctor a telepathic message but I can't he is too far away. Our bond is not working properly right now and I'm upset about the whole thing", I say teary eyed.

"It's the bracelet, isn't it?" Martha asks, eyeing it on my arm.

"Yeah" I reply softly and she says,

"I know you don't really want it off, but have you considered maybe taking it off. You've told me how amazing the bond can be and…"

"And also how annoying it is. I know Martha, we've spoken about it a gazillion times on the phone already. I'm not sure if it's such a good idea", I tell her.

"You're scared. I can see it. You're scared that the Doctor will break your trust again. You know he could've sent you to that stasis chamber already, but he is trusting in you and me to take care of ourselves", Martha says.

I look at my lap, knowing it's the truth. 'I'm scared, but she is right. I need to take a leap of faith. If all else fails I'll just use the vortex manipulator Jack gave me'.

Martha goes to speak to the Hath. I go over to her when they show her the map of where we are.

"Right. So we're here?", Martha asks.

I remember this from the show, the Doctor is doing the same thing as us now.

"Hold on. Look", Martha says when the map changes.

"That's a new map. There's a different set of tunnels"

The Hath are really excited by the discovery of the map as they are celebrating.

"But I didn't do anything", Martha says

"I think I just started a war", she says after they congratulate her.

"I think you're right. But trust me the Doctor is on this. He knows what's going on", I reassure her.

Martha's phone starts ringing. "Yes!" I yell out. 'We could've phoned all along', I mentally face-palm myself.

I press my ear close to hers as we listen on the phone.

"Doctor?" Martha asks.

"Martha, you're alive! Is Ayla with you? Is she hurt?", he asks

"Doctor! Oh, am I glad to hear your voice. Ayla's fine, she's listening in. Are you all right?"

"I'm with Donna. We're fine", the Doctor replies.

"And Jenny. She's fine too", we hear Donna in the background.

"Yes, all right. And Jenny. That's the woman from the machine. The soldier. My daughter, except she isn't, she's, she's. Anyway, where are you?", The Doctor responds.

"We're in the Hath camp. We're okay, but something's going on. The Hath are all marching off to some place that's appeared on this map thing"

"Oh, that was me. If both armies are heading that way, there's going to be a bloodbath", the Doctor says.

"What do you want me to do?", Martha asks.

"Just stay where you are. If you're safe there, don't move, do you hear?" he says.

"But I can help", she says. "Doctor? Doctor"

"Your battery is dead", I tell her.

"This is literally the worst time for a phone to die. It's like in the movies but worse"

"We have to find our friends" Martha tells Hathy.

'I want to stay here, but on the show Martha went to find the Doctor and Hathy dies. I can save them from falling'

"Come on, then", she tells us.

I grab her hand before she goes up, "Martha, we have to be careful up there. The ground is not stable. It'll be difficult to walk. Please mind your step", she nods in confirmation.

"You can stay down here and live your whole life in the shadows, or come with me and stand in the open air. Feel the wind on your face. What's it going to be? It's up to you. But nothing's going to stop me", Martha tells Hathy

We've been walking for ten minutes, when Martha speaks up, "It can't be much further"

I've been keeping an eye on the time line, watching her and Hathy like a hawk.

Just as she was about to fall down the scree, I catch her, along with Hathy (also known as Peck).

"Woah, thanks", Martha says.

We continue walking, still keeping my eyes on them.

We finally arrive at the place. We can hear the Doctor, Donna and Jenny.

"Doctor!" Both Martha and I yell out.

"Ayla! Martha! Oh, I should have known you wouldn't stay away from the excitement", the Doctor says and I hug him.

"Donna" Martha greets.

"Oh, you two look a bit filthy. What happened?", Donna asks.

Um, we took the surface route", she replies.

"Positions" we hear.

"That's the General. We haven't got much time" The Doctor says.

"We don't even know what we're looking for" Donna speaks up.

"Is it me, or can you smell flowers?" Martha asks.

"Maintain defensive positions" we hear the general say.

"Yes. Bougainvillea. I say we follow our nose", The Doctor tells us.

We are on a spaceship filled with plants.

"Oh, yes. Yes. Isn't this brilliant?", the Doctor asks.

We see a globe shining brightly on a podium.

"Is that the Source?" Donna asks.

"It's beautiful", Jenny says.

"What is it?" Martha asks.

"Terraforming. It's a third generation terraforming device" The Doctor explains.

"So why are we suddenly in Kew Gardens?" Donna asks. 'Typical Donna to ask something like this'.

"Because that's what it does. All this, only bigger. Much bigger. It's in a transit state. Producing all this must help keep it stable before they finally…" The Doctor says when the Soldiers and the Hath arrive, standing opposite one another.

"Stop! Hold your fire!" The Doctor commands. I move to stand between Donna and Martha.

"What is this, some kind of trap?" The general asks.

"You said you wanted this war over"

"I want this war won" The general replies.

"You can't win. No one can. You don't even know why you're here. Your whole history, it's just Chinese whispers, getting more distorted the more it's passed on. This is the Source. This is what you're fighting over. A device to rejuvenate a planet's ecosystem. It's nothing mystical. It's from a laboratory, not some creator. It's a bubble of gases. A cocktail of stuff for accelerated evolution. Methane, hydrogen, ammonia, amino acids, proteins, nucleic acids. It's used to make barren planets habitable. Look around you. It's not for killing, its bringing life. If you allow it, it can lift you out of these dark tunnels and into the bright, bright sunlight. No more fighting, no more killing" The Doctor states with conviction.

'I know the general is about to shoot at the doctor, I feel guilty enough that I can't change anything here. This is supposed to happen. Jenny will be alright, she'll stop the bullet and she'll heal' I try to convince myself not to feel guilty for letting this happen.

He takes the globe in his hands and before he throws it on the ground he states,

"I'm the Doctor, and I declare this war is over"

The globe smashed and energy flows from it. 'It's beautiful to watch'

"What's happening?" Jenny asks

"The gases will escape and trigger the terraforming process", He says.

"What does that mean?", Jenny asks.

"It means a new world" he replies.

"No!" Jenny yells out, jumping in front of the Doctor, taking the bullet for him.

"Jenny? Jenny. Talk to me, Jenny" the Doctor says, shaking her a little. Donna grabs my hand, squeezing tightly.

"Is she going to be all right?" Donna asks. Martha shakes her head.

"A new world. It's beautiful", Jenny tells him.

"Jenny, be strong now. You need to hold on, do you hear me? We've got things to do, you and me and your sister, hey? Hey? We can go anywhere. Everywhere. You choose" the doctor says heartbroken.

"That sounds good", she replies.

"You're my daughter too, and we've only just got started. You're going to be great. You're going to be more than great. You're going to be amazing. You hear me? Jenny?", the Doctor says desperately. Jenny died. I turn my head into Donna's shoulder, she holds me tightly, still looking at the Doctor and Jenny's body.

"Two hearts. Two hearts. She's like me. If we wait. If we just wait", he says hopefully.

"There's no sign, Doctor. There is no regeneration. She's like you, but maybe not enough" Martha tells him.

"No. Too much. That's the truth of it. She was too much like me", he says sadly, laying her down and kissing her forehead.

He stands up and goes over to the general. He picks up a weapon and points it at the general's head. I gasp softly, regardless of knowing things, the sight of the Doctor holding a gun is disconcerting.

He holds it for a few moments before turning the gun away, saying,

"I never would. Have you got that? I never would. When you start this new world, this world of Human and Hath, remember that. Make the foundation of this society a man who never would"

We eventually head to the TARDIS and the Doctor says,

"Jenny was the reason for the Tardis bringing us here. It just got here too soon, which then created Jenny in the first place. Paradox. An endless paradox. Time to go home?"

"Yeah. Home" Martha says.

We arrive on Earth and I hug Martha 'goodbye'.

"Are you sure about this?" Donna asks.

"Yeah, positive. I can't do this anymore. You'll be the same one day", Martha assures her.

"Not me. Never. How could I ever go back to normal life after seeing all this? I'm going to travel with them forever" Donna replies.

I went inside the along with Donna TARDIS waiting for Doctor to say his goodbyes.

"Donna, I'm going to take a shower, will you let the Doctor know?" I ask her.

"Sure", she replies.

I head to the shower like I said, once I was done, I fell face first onto my bed, waiting for the Doctor to come to my room.

Sure enough, a few minutes later the Doctor knocks on my door and comes inside.

"How are you feeling?" he asks, placing a bowl of yogurt and fruit on my bedside table.

I sit up, putting my head on my knees. "Tired, worn-out"

"Before you pass out, can you eat first?"

I take my food and wolf down the whole bowl within a minute.

"Can I sleep now?" I ask him.

"I wanted to speak to you about something, but it can wait till you've rested"

"I can stay awake, what do you want to speak to me about?" I ask worried.

He hesitates, "It's about the bracelet"

"Oh, about that", I say and continue, "You can take it off now"

"What?" he asks dumbstruck.

"I've decided that I want to take it off. Martha showed me that I was scared that you'll hurt me again, but you showed your trust in me by not sending me to the stasis chamber the moment I was taken"

"Thank you, thank you, thank you" he grabs me out of my bed, spinning me around in glee.

He puts me down.

"Are we going to do it now?" I ask him.

"As much as I want to remove it right now, I want you to rest first. Do you remember the last time when our bond was blocked, the way you reacted. It'll be pretty much the same as last time, it might even be a little worse than last time", he tells me, "It's only when the bond has settled that it'll be back to normal"

"Yay, I have so much to look forward to", I say sarcastically.

He rolls his eyes at my antics.

"It's only for a small amount of time, I promise. Now get some sleep, you'll need it for tomorrow".

"Fine", I lay down, before the Doctor turns around I grab his hand, "Oh and one more thing, you know Jenny, she's okay dad. She's not dead. I saw her regenerate after we left. She jumped in the spaceship and left to travel, discover and save people. She's alright. Please don't be sad anymore"

His eyes get teary, "You saw it?"

"Yeah, I looked into the timeline. She really is alive"

"Thank you", he tells me and leaves.