The Littlest Timelord: The Death of the Doctor

Chapter 30

A/N - Chapter 30! God, can you believe it? Just a few more chapters till the end! Are you ready?

After retrieving Joe, they went back to the restaurant. Joe was lying on a table while the Doctor scanned him.

Rita was making tea for everyone.

Howie and Rory were trying to find things to barricade the door with.

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

Rita walked over to the Doctor and Elise with mugs of tea.

"Thank you," Elise said.

"What exactly happened to him?" Rita asked, gesturing to Joe.

"He died," the Doctor told her.

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

"No! Well, yes, both, actually. 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..." The Doctor sniffed his mug. "...and this is a cup of tea."

Well what else would it be? Elise wanted to say something, but the Doctor clearly wasn't having any of her attitude on this trip. In human years, Elise would be classified as a teenager. Is that why she felt angry or sad all the time? Hormones?

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

"But how did you make it?"

"All hotels should have a well stocked kitchen, even alien fake ones. I heard you talking when you arrived. Look, it's no more ridiculous than Howie's CIA theory, or mine."

"Which is?"

"This is Jahannam."

"You're a Muslim."

"Don't be frightened."

The Doctor laughed. "You think this is Hell."

"The whole '80s hotel thing took me by surprise, though."

"And all these fears and phobias wandering about, most are completely unconnected to us, so why are they still here?"

Rita sighed. "Maybe the cleaners have gone on strike."

The Doctor chuckled. "I like you. You're a right clever clogs. But this isn't Hell, Rita."

"You don't understand. I say that without fear. Jahannam will play its tricks, and there'll be times when I want to run and scream, but I've tried to live a good life, and that knowledge keeps me sane, despite the monsters and the bonkers rooms. Gibbis is an alien, isn't he?"

"Yeah. Sorry."

"Okay. I'm going to file that under Freak Out About Later."

"Doctor, look at this. I found it in a corridor, I completely forgot I had it," Amy said, handing over the paper she found earlier.

The Doctor playfully smacked her on the head with it. "My name is Lucy Hayward and I'm the last one left. It took Luke first. It got him on his first day, almost as soon as we arrived. It's funny. You don't know what's going to be in your room until you see it, then you realize it could never have been anything else. I just saw mine. It was a gorilla from a book I'd read as a kid. My God, that thing used to terrify me. The gaps between my worships are getting shorter, like contractions. This is what happened to the others, and how lucky they were. It's all so clear now. I'm so happy. Praise him. Praise him."