Born of Fire (Doctor Who AU)

Chapter 37 Spoilers

Daniel had to admit, sitting with Torchwood's only trained xenopsychiatrist was proving more of a challenge than he anticipated. The tiny woman sitting across from him wore her greying hair bobbed at ear level with bangs that reached over-sized, black half rimmed glasses perched on her hawk nose like some mid-twentieth century university librarian. She dressed in a woollen, plaid skirt. Her grey cardigan covered a cream, cotton blouse; even her shoes were sensible. She couldn't possibly weigh more than seven stones, barely came to his armpit, and yet she dared to challenge him. She eyed him like a cat studying, no -- waiting to catch a bird on the wing. He glanced at the notepad lying in her lap, trying to decipher her upside down chicken scratch. She already filled the legal pad with notes, but she managed artfully to keep her bloody writing concealed. They spent the first fifteen minutes staring at each other, each silently daring the other to speak first. He won.  

"So, technically you are a displaced alien too afraid to tell the woman you love what you are. The stories I've always heard about the Doctor paint him as brave and indomitable. Did the cloning accident make you a coward?"

Daniel blanched, his jaw twitched in rage, but he managed a cold smile as he rose from the chair too small to contain his lanky frame to stalk wordlessly to the door.

"Is that what you want to teach the little boy; how to run?" she said without looking at him.

The knuckles of his hand turned white under the pressure of his grip. His chest burned with the need to suck in air. Words stuck in his throat. He wanted to snap the neck of the little woman sitting in the bloody club chair concealing notes about him. How dare she accuse him of being a coward? Stupid humans, they were all stupid little apes who had no right to question him. Well, not all of them were stupid. Nora wasn't stupid, but this woman certainly was. She was a self-righteous, over-educated human who dared to confront him with his worst fear. 

"First of all," he growled, "I'm not a clone. I'm not. My brain is entirely time lord, my DNA is half human and half-Gallifreyan, so technically speaking I am a hybrid. I have all the memories of both my progenitors tucked in my head. I. Am not. A coward."

"You're afraid to talk to me."

"I just don't see the need to go moanin' about my troubles, that's all." He turned back to face her without taking his hand from the door, eyeing her disdainfully.

"No, you prefer to wake up in the middle of the night and stalk the house, scaring your partner."

"I'm quiet." 

"Really? So running outside starkers with four inches of snow on the ground is your idea of quiet."

He glared at her. "That was an anomaly." 

"That's one way to put it," she countered. "Are you going or staying? It doesn't matter to me, I have the afternoon blocked."

"I'm not staying here to be insulted by some little human ape." He let go of the knob.

"I didn't insult you. I challenged you," she said.

She sat there expressionless; he couldn't read her at all. He didn't like that; it was uncomfortable and made his head hurt more. "I don't like being challenged. I tend to do things when I'm challenged."

The woman snorted at the meaningless threat. "Well, I doubt you'll do anything here; there is too much at stake. Let's change tracks then. When is the last time you practised keeping your shields in place?"

"What shields?"

"Daniel, please," she said, setting notepad aside. When he tried to peek, she turned it face down. "This is getting us nowhere. I understand your worst nightmare is being dissected by Torchwood and examined under a microscope to discover just why you are. Humans certainly have a penchant for that sort of thing. That is not going to happen. I know you understand that I'm not here to treat you like a lab rat. I genuinely would like to help you solve the problem. If you want to keep this up, I can play games all day. Make up your mind; stay or go. My orders are to help you, whether you like it or not. The faster you cooperate; the faster you go home."