The Daughter of Gallifrey

15: The Shouting Ginger

The TARDIS tremored and rattled, leaving Caroline to steady herself on the staircase railing. Jack eyed her steadily, half in disbelief that something so remarkable could be his and half in awe of how remarkable she was. She might be his biological daughter somehow, he was sure the Doctor had an explanation for how it was all possible, but she was truly a Time Lord, a daughter of Gallifrey.

Caroline felt the Captain's gaze on her only momentarily before her head throbbed viciously and her vision blackened. She resisted the urge to scream as she lost the feeling of her body pressed against the cold metal rail.

Instead, she was pressed against something flat and uncomfortable, her arms and legs strapped down tightly. It was a sort of medical bed, but she was not in a hospital. The room was large and dark except for a bright fluorescent lamp hanging directly above her. Caroline called out into the void.

"HELLO? WHERE AM I?" Her voice cracked in fear.

A sinister laugh answered her. It was a woman's chuckle, one that would've once sent shivers down Caroline's spine. But she was past being meek, mild, little bookworm Caroline. She was a Time Lord. Now the laugh just made her angry.

"Who are you?" Annoyance festered in her stomach, mingling with rage.

No answer.

"I said, who are you? Where am I?"

There was nothing in reply.

"ANSWER ME!"

Moments passed in eerie silence.

Then a figure began to approach her. It wasn't very tall, or too thin, or familiar.

"Who are you?" Caroline demanded.

"You'll know soon enough."

"The Doctor is coming to get me. Have you met him? It won't be pretty."

The figure continued toward Caroline until the light caught its face. Her face.

It was a stout woman with dark lips and an eyepatch.

"Oh, I've met the dear Doctor. More than once, actually. And you, my precious little Time Lord, are going to help me kill him."

An extremely spindly, looming figure stepped into the light as well. Its head was incredibly large and grotesque, with pale flesh and disturbing facial features, if that was in fact its face. Its suit was the only thing that made it slightly human like, other than its number and placement of limbs.

And then Caroline was back on the TARDIS, a hand on her forehead, her knees buckled and pressed together.

"Thomas?" The Doctor was in front of her, his eyes wide in worry and his own forehead deeply creased.

"I'm fine, really," she muttered quickly, anxious to move on and not draw too much attention to whatever was happening to her. She straightened up and realized the TARDIS was no longer thrashing about. They had landed.

Jack was at the door, his arm outstretched and hand open to take hers. She grinned, patted the Doctor's shoulder, and bounded over to her father.

The Doctor hesitated at the steps before giving himself at little smirk and following the immortal duo. Of course Caroline was fine.

Despite his attempt at self assurance, he paused at the door and looked back at the oscillating TARDIS hub.

"She's just fine, yeah, ol' girl?"

The TARDIS didn't reply, but sat stoically, ever patient and all knowing.

Unsatisfied but eager to see Amy and this mysterious 'other' Rory had mentioned, the Doctor twirled back around and sprung out the door.

The Williams household was in full-blown turmoil.

"ARE-YOU-COMPLETELY-MAD-RORY-ARTHUR-WILLIAMS?"

The red-haired woman, the one from the picture Caroline had noticed when in the Williams' home earlier, punctuated each of her words with a swing of her fist on some part of Rory. The mild-mannered man looked simply terrified, trying in vain to dodge his wife's flailing arms. When her words, and punches, paused, he opened his mouth to speak, but never got the chance.

"DON'T EVEN TRY TO EXPLAIN YOURSELF, I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT, RORY." He seemed to think of replying, but wisely chose not to attempt it, as Amy continued on anyway. "OH, WHY NOT RUN OFF, YOU'RE THE MIGHTY LAST CENTURION, THE GUARDIAN OF PANDORICA'S BOX, THE DAMN PLASTIC ROMAN! IT'S NOT LIKE ANYONE'LL QUESTION YOU, YOUR MAJESTY, MY MISTAKE!" She seemed to be losing steam, or maybe she was just growing exasperated from such intense shouting; either way Rory tried to make amends, his hands in the air, signifying his innocence.

"Amy, honestly I-I'm sorry-" She whipped her furious gaze in his direction, causing not just Rory, but the onlooking Jack and Caroline, to flinch instinctively.

"Sorry doesn't change the fact that you left us to go adventuring with the Doctor, who you know is very important to me-us, important to us. Who knows when you could've actually bothered to remember to come home?"

The Doctor swung open the door and looked as though he was going to exclaim something cheerful, but the scene before him halted his words and made his expression fall.

"Oh, Ponds," he muttered. The arguing spouses didn't even register the entrance of the second Time Lord, not that Amy even knew about the existence of the first alien that had entered her home. Rory continued to plea his case.

"Look, I didn't plan to go without you. Or George. The Doctor just appeared and-well, you were out. I didn't mean to be gone even as long as I was-which wasn't that long, right?" He stopped abruptly. "Wait, when've we come back? How long have I been gone?"

"Two days," Amy spat. Rory was stunned, his jaw dropping slightly as his eyebrows ascended his forehead.

"Two d-days?" he said incredulously, "I-I-" He suddenly decided to notice the older of the Time Lords, and, quite unexpectedly, his finger began to gesture in the Doctor's general direction, as if of its own accord. "He, uh-he was the one-"

Now it was the Doctor's turn to stand with his arms raised to plead his innocence to the cross ginger woman.

"Oh, don't go and blame it on him, you big-" She hesitated and seemed to grasp who exactly Rory was accusing. "Doctor!" She spread her arms out in felicity, supposedly welcoming him into a hug.

"Amelia!" He was rather surprised she wasn't going to hit him, embraced her briefly, and pulled away to smile at her, face-to-face. "Amelia Pond. How are you?"

"Just dealing with my mental husband, who seems to have run away for two whole days with some mad alien." She chuckled. "You've got some explaining to do, Raggedy Man."

"Actually, I've got some introducing to do first, Pond." He gestured toward Jack and Caroline, who stood silent and feeling rather out of place in the current situation. "This is-"

"Captain Jack Harkness," the tall, suave man said in his friendly voice, his hand outstretched. Amy took it without hesitating, sliding her slender hand into his rather large palm and returning his offered camraderie with a firm, spirited shake.

"Amy Pond. Scottish. Ginger."

Jack grinned alluringly, and she smirked back unabashedly until Rory cleared his throat and she remembered herself.

"Uh, yes, husband over here," Rory uttered, his gaze flitting from Jack to Amy to the Doctor. Silence enveloped the room momentarily before the Doctor twisted and jabbed his thumbs toward the remaining person to be introduced.

"And this, ah, this is Thomas. Caroline Thomas. She's a-well, Thomas?" The Doctor lifted his eyebrows to turn it over to his companion. She shuffled her feet and looked up at the fierce, charming, intimidatingly beautiful woman.

"You see, I'm a Time Lord, too."