The Orphan and Her Family

Chapter Six

*Jack & Martha*

Francine turns to Jack, "Thank you, whoever you are."

Jack smiles at her, holding out his hand, "Captain Jack Harkness. I'm with the Government."

"And this Doctor, what do you know of him?"

Jack chuckles, "The Doctor is probably the greatest man I've ever met. He's a good man, and he would never want anything to happen to Martha, and I could swear to that."

"But is he dangerous, the life he lives? He's in a building with a giant creature for God's sake."

"His life is dangerous, but he would give his life to save anyone he could. Trust me, the Doctor is a good man."

"He must be some guy," Leo states, watching his sister. She's tending to various people, but continuously glances at the building.

Tish follows her brother's gaze, "Maybe she loves him."

"She just met him," Francine brushes off her daughter's assumption.

Jack looks up at the building, "I wouldn't brush it off that fast. The Doctor has that effect on everyone. A conversation, a word, sometimes even just a smile, and you will never get it out of your mind. It's not hard to fall in love with someone like him, but it's harder when he breaks your heart."

Tish smiles at the captain, patting his shoulder, as a man approaches Francine and Jack, looking at Jack, he asks, "Is your friend still in there with the Doctor?"

"What's it to you?" he asks, raising an eyebrow.

Francine on the other hand asks, "Do you know him?"

Jack wants to listen to the conversation, but police and UNIT arrive at the scene, and he knows he'll have to handle it. Sighing, he approaches the government vehicles.

*Doctor & Sophie*

The Doctor bursts through the door in front of them, and they once again find themselves in the reception hall. "Why are we back here? Are we just running in circles? Has your sense of direction failed, again?"

The Time Lord rolls his eyes, "We can't lead him outside." He rushes across the room, right to the machine. He opens up the centre chamber, pulling her inside, "Come on, get in."

"Are we hiding?" Sophie whispers, the Doctor's face not five centimetres from her own.

"No," he whispers back, "he knows we're here. But this is his masterpiece. I'm betting he won't destroy it, not even to get at us."

The woman nods, "Fair enough. But that doesn't stop the fact that we're trapped. So what's the brilliant plan now?"

"Well, the plan was to get inside here."

"Then what?" she hisses at him.

"Well, then I'd come up with another plan."

"Oh, bl**dy h*ll. Fine, take your time. What's the worst that could happen?"

He grumbles something in Gallifreyan, smiles, "I need your sonic."

She squints at him, but snaps open her clutch. Sophie presses a button on the front, changing it back into her backpack. She unzips the front pocket, shoving her sonic into his outstretched hand. Pressing the button again, the bag transforms back into a clutch. "Care to tell me the new plan?"

He slides down to the floor of the chamber, pulling up a panel, "Improvise."

"Well, at least you thrive on improvisation." The Doctor begins to the sonic the panel, the noise filling the room. "So, Jack said the machine was purely human in origin, but how exactly does that work? I mean, I believe him, but it doesn't seem possible."

"Probably a result from dormant genes in Lazarus's DNA. The energy field in this thing must have reactivated them. And it looks like they're becoming dominant."

"So it's some sort of mutation from the ape genes?"

He sort of shrugs, brushing the fabric of her dress off his head, "It's some option that evolution rejected for you millions of years ago, but the potential is still there. Locked away in your genes, forgotten about until Lazarus unlocked it by mistake."

"So, basically Pandora's box?"

"Exactly. I like your dress by the way, nice colour."

Outside the chamber, the poles start to oscillate around them. Sophie leans toward the window, "Doc, I think he turned the machine on, and I really don't want to de-age, or blow up."

The Doctor looks up at her, "I was hoping it was going to take him a little bit longer to work that out."

"Great, that's great, but it didn't take him longer, so if you could hurry up, that'd be brilliant."

"I know, I know," he grumbles, "Nearly done."

"What're you even doing, anway?"

"I'm trying to set the capsule to reflect energy rather than receive it."

"What?"

"I'm reversing the polarity!"

"Will that kill it?"

"When he transforms, he's three times his size. Cellular triplication. So he's spreading himself thin."

"Well if you don't stop this thing, we'll end up just like him."

"Just one more!" he shouts, the sonic whirring loudly.

Something shoots out of the machine, and it comes whirring to a stop. The Doctor flings the door open, and he and Sophie step out.

"Well that took long enough."

The Time Lord glances back at the machine, "Really shouldn't take that long just to reverse the polarity. I must be a bit out of practice."

Lazarus lays face down on the floor, completely naked, but still in his young body. Sophie blinks furiously, trying to get the image of Morgan out of her eyes. The Doctor takes her hand, and she glances at him, "Y'know, seeing him like this, it's kind of pitiful."

"Eliot saw that, too. This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang, but with a whimper."