Midnight ⋆ Doctor Who²

48. The Praising

THEY'RE BACK AT THE RESTAURANT. The Dummies are already arranged around a table, and they're awfully silent as they lay Joe down. Rita goes to make some tea, while the Doctor stands on the table and scans Joe, Aurora making sure he doesn't fall.

"If we can wedge a chair under the door handles, that should stop anything from getting in," he says.

Aurora follows from the corner of her eyes as Rory and Howie move the tables in front of the door. It makes her eyes land on Gibbis, sitting alone. She makes sure the Doctor won't fall, and goes to him. "Help yourself to tea," Rita offers her as she walks past her. She smiles and takes a cup. "Guys, tea over here."

She smiles softly at Gibbis as she sits down. "If it helps make you feel better, they could have been for me," she tells him. "The Weeping Angels, I mean."

Gibbis looks into the distance before stiffening. "Joe was right. Whatever it is in here, it actually wants to kill us. Not oppress us or enslave us, kill us!"

She takes a deep breath, pursing her lips, before setting her hands down. "Listen. The Doctor has been part of my life for so long now, and he's never let me down. He saved me. And now he's going to save you. We face these things all the time, and the only thing keeping me alive is my faith in him. So trust him." She smirks a bit, looking at the Doctor even though he can't see her. "But don't tell him I said that, because I'd never hear the end of it."

She pats Gibbis before standing up, and starts to walk away. "Of course, if the Weeping Angels were meant for me, then your room is still out there somewhere," Gibbis calls out after her, almost smiling.

Aurora freezes, and forces a small smile, uneasy. She shakes the thought of her room away. The Doctor won't let it happen to her.

Rory appears out of nowhere and makes her jump. "Every time the Doctor gets pally with someone, I have this overwhelming urge to notify their next of kin." Aurora looks over at Rita and the Doctor and laughs a bit. He realizes he's talking to Aurora and flinches. "Oooh. Sorry. The last time I said something like that, you sat me down and thoroughly explained that I was wrong. It was terrifying."

She laughs a bit more, before walking to the pair. The Doctor is sitting on the table, increasing their already big height difference, and Joe has been covered. "What exactly happened to him?" Rita asks.

"He died," the Doctor flatly answers.

"You are a medical doctor, aren't you?" she asks. "You haven't just got a degree in cheese-making or something."

"No! Well, yes, both, actually."

Aurora frowns. "Both?"

"Don't focus on that," he chastises. "I mean, there is no cause. All his vital organs simply stopped, as if the simple spark of life, his loves and hates, his faiths and fears were just taken, and this is a cup of tea."

Rita looks at him oddly. "Of course, I'm British, it's how we cope with trauma. That and tutting."

He smiles a little. "But how did you make it?"

"All hotels should have a well stocked kitchen, even alien fake ones." The Time Lords stare at her with raised eyebrows. "I heard you talking when you arrived. Look, it's no more ridiculous than Howie's CIA theory, or mi—mine."

Aurora tilts her head. "Which is?"

"This is Jahannam."

The Doctor smiles excitedly. "You're a Muslim."

"Don't be frightened."

Aurora frowns. "Why would we be?" Rita looks at her pointedly. "Right. Sometimes traveling with the Doctor makes you forget about the worst things, like racism."