Chapter 9: And Finally

For the first time since his regeneration, the Doctor could swear he felt content. When he returned to the TARDIS after his escapade in Southampton, he was greeted with a purr from his ship. She was glad that he managed to get himself out of that potential paradox that Clive's website set up without destroying all time and space.

As soon as he was safely inside he changed out of those ridiculous clothes and back into his jumper and leather jacket. He finally felt like himself again once he was reunited with his jacket.

He didn't know where to go next but figured he shouldn't hang around in Southampton for too much longer. His presence was already recorded but he didn't want a mysterious blue box to show up in the history books along with the photo.

Maybe he could find something to eat in the kitchen. At the very least he could make himself a cup of tea. Recently the Doctor and his ship had been getting along so she hadn't been playing many tricks on him. And as soon as he set out from the console room thinking about tea, he found the kitchen just across the hall.

Or one of them. A bit smaller, it was more like a cross between a pantry and a kitchenette than the full sized one he normally frequented. A short narrow corridor was lined by cabinets and counters on both sides and it opened up onto a small table set for one. On top of one counter was an electric range with a kettle waiting for him. She knew what the Doctor wanted before he finished realizing it.

He filled the kettle with some water and set it on the range, turning it on to medium high. In the first cabinet he opened he found both a box of tea bags and a clean mug.

Before he knew it, the Doctor was sitting at the table with a mug of tea in front of him. Usually he would enjoy a nice cuppa as he read in front of a fire. He hadn't celebrated that little ritual since his previous incarnation.

And that was before.

The War.

Everything that had happened since then had seemed like a blur. And when he closed his eyes the traumas and the wounds seemed just as fresh as the first time he awoke in the burning TARDIS. The silence that surrounded him was almost as oppressive as his first day on the beach in Sumatra. The dreams he had whenever he went to sleep were just as vivid as the first one from which he awoke screaming.

And yet he was handling it. Of course she was helping him. He talked to her a lot now, both aloud and in his mind. Every once in a while he still visited the zero room just to tune out and give himself a break. But the Doctor hadn't visited since he had discovered Clive's website. And now that he had mostly settled the Clive situation (he decided to let Clive and his site live. Lots of nutters were online perhaps the truth would be drowned out by all the other conspiracy theories) he realized that he didn't need another trip to the zero room.

Now what? The Doctor sipped his tea as he pondered his fate and his ship spun on around him.

He should make a list and figure out what he had now that everything had settled. An inventory of his life.

the Doctor got up from his chair and opened the first cabinet above him. He found a pen and pad of paper on the bottom shelf. There she went again, helping him find what he needed.

The first sheet of paper looked like a half finished shopping list. The handwriting was unfamiliar - it must have belonged to a previous incarnation or maybe one of the recent companions, but he couldn't remember exactly who. The Doctor quickly ripped the sheet off and crumpled it up. He didn't need any of those thoughts bringing him down again. He needed to be strong.

He took a gulp of tea and cricked his neck. He held the pen hovering above the paper for a moment as he considered how to start this inventory. In one quick motion he drew a line down the sheet that made two columns. Without any labels he began to fill in one side

Galifrey

Time Lords

Skaro

Daleks

and then the other.

Earth

Humans

UNIT

Shadow Proclamation

It wasn't long before he realized how little was left. Perhaps he had always known, in the back of his mind, but seeing it set out on paper brought a certain finality to it. Practically everything of his former life was gone. Only his adoptive home of Earth was spared any carnage. but only because the humans were still lesser beings unaware of time travel. The Doctor was confident that if the humans were aware of the war that raged above them, then the Daleks would have certainly added the planet to their path of destruction. They certainly had no problems attempting to invade Earth before. He had managed to stop them every time.

The Doctor put down the pen once he finished writing out the list. Very carefully he tore the sheet of paper off the pad and folded it multiple times. By the time he had finished it was a very small square that was several layers thick. The Time Lord tucked it into a small pocket hiding in the front of his jacket. The paper sat just above one of his hearts. No one would know it was there except for him. As long as he had his jacket he would always have the reminder of what he had lost in the war and how hard he would work to protect what he had left.

So it was time to get to work. The Doctor got up from the table, finishing the dregs of his tea in one last gulp. He left the pad and mug on the table and made his way back to the console room.

The room didn't feel as large and lonely as before. When the Doctor first stepped inside he had felt swallowed up by his ship. The walls of the console room stretched on forever and he was all alone in the middle of it.

Of course the size of the room stayed the same once the TARDIS stabilized. But now his senses weren't dulled by the overwhelming loneliness or the traumas. In fact now the Doctor felt pretty clearheaded, so he shook himself of those thoughts and brought up his scanner. He set it to check for alien involvement on 21st century Earth. Any date before official first contact with any species would make aliens come up as bright green alerts.

The TARDIS hummed away, happy to be working once again. She probably hated being bored and restless just as much as he did, if not more. It didn't take long for a few green pins to show up on the model of the planet.

The first couple sightings the Doctor checked, both in South America, were actually two species who would make first contact within the next fifty years. It seemed they were on innocent reconnaissance missions. For now he let them be as he checked out the rest of the list.

It was the second to last result that made the Doctor pause with concern. It seemed a colony of Nestene had set up shop in London. The Time Lord scoffed in disgust. He had encountered them before more than a few times. Of all the aliens to run into it had to be the Nestene. Well it could be worse, the doctor thought, at least it wasn't a Cyberman.

It seemed there was a relay set on top of a department store downtown that would be easy enough to knock out. but from the TARDIS in orbit there was no way he could get an exact location of the main transmitter. He would have to get on the ground and poke around to see what he could find.

A small smile crept onto his face. Just like the good old days.

It was easy enough to slip into the basement of Henriks. In all his travels the Doctor had always found the back door the one to use. If you walked in like you belonged there people assumed you did and left you alone. It was amazing what you could get away with if you had the right attitude.

The Doctor waited patiently in the basement until he knew the store had closed. He kept the small bomb hidden in one of his pockets out of sight. Though it was tiny it packed quite a punch. He had a feeling security wouldn't be too happy if they caught him trying to plant a bomb. Besides, he didn't want any one else to get hurt. This was his job to do. Alone. He wouldn't have anymore death on his hands.

The only company he had in the basement were plastic mannequins filling the hallways. They looked perfectly normal - and not broken either - so why weren't they out on the store floor? The Doctor walked around the hallways counting them. For one department store that only had maybe six floors of retail space at the most there were several hundred mannequins here in the basement. On a hunch he took out his sonic screwdriver and scanned one. The mannequin reached out and tried to grab his arm but the Doctor was too quick, stashing his sonic back in his pocket. He knew what the result was without even looking at the readout. These were autons all right, controlled by the Nestene through that relay.

He moved down the hallway to get away from the auton that was waking up. The other mannequins slowly turned to face him. Their unseeing eyes and blank faces were creepy. He walked faster. Ahead there were more autons moving, blocking his way and cornering a girl. The Doctor had no idea why she was down in the basement, but he reached her just as one was about to strike. Without thinking he grabbed her hand. "Run!" He shouted and half dragged her down the hallway until she was able to match his stride.

The autons waddled after them. With all of their plastic, they couldn't move fast. Still they were nearly trapped before the lift doors opened. Of course one auton managed to stick his arm into the lift and keep the doors from closing. The Doctor wrestled with it, managing to yank it out of the joint. As soon as it was separated from the body, the arm just became regular plastic. He tossed it to the girl absentmindedly.

"You pulled his arm off!" It hadn't quite set in for her, but the Doctor didn't have time to explain everything and hold her hand.

"Yep. Plastic."

The lift took them to the ground floor. The Doctor walked her to the back door. She was full of questions, which the Doctor answered without thinking about them too much. He just wanted her gone.

"Wait who are you? And who were they down there?"

"Living Plastic. They're controlled by a relay up on the roof. It'd be a big problem but there's this." The Doctor took out his bomb and flashed it at the girl before stuffing it back in his pocket. "So, I'm going to go up there and blow them up, and I might well die in the process, but don't worry about me. No, you go home." He opened the door and pushed the girl though into the alley. "Go on with your life. And don't tell anyone about this." He closed the door and headed back to the lift, fingering the bomb in his pocket.

He only took a few steps before he stopped and turned around. The girl at least deserved to know his name right? And he was curious to know hers. The Doctor opened the door and found her still in the alley. She hadn't moved. "I'm the Doctor, by the way. What's your name?"

"Rose."

"Nice to meet you, Rose. Run for your life!" He flashed the bomb again and closed he door for good.

The Doctor quickly got up to the roof and was surprised at how easy it was to plant the bomb. He didn't run into any more autons. Perhaps they were still early in their invasion and were trying to maintain their disguise. So the Time Lord was able to determine the best place for the bomb in peace. He was even able to give himself enough time to get to the TARDIS before detonation.

He spilled out onto the street and caught a glimpse of the blonde hair girl as she walked past the alley where he had parked. She didn't even give it a passing glance. Above them, the bomb went off. The explosion rocked the building, littering the street with glass from the windows. The Doctor ducked into his TARDIS before anyone showed up. For a moment the yellow haired girl Rose popped into his mind. But as he walked up the ram to his console, he cleared his head. He had the Nestene to track.