The Daughter of Gallifrey

9: The Girl With The Big Watch

"Stand still, Thomas. If you fidget, it'll only take longer to get a good reading." The Doctor glanced up from the TARDIS's screen to give his instructions, which were responded to by Caroline with a disgruntled, "Hmph."

The little Time Lord stood as stationary as she could. Usually this would be an easy task for her, she had always been rather content with stillness, as reading books didn't require much movement. But now with all this...stuff in her head, Caroline found it was rather hard to keep from tapping her foot or swaying back and forth or pulling at the hem of her shirt or swinging her arms or nodding along to a nonexistent tune.

Rory stood by the Doctor, behind the pull-down screen. He seemed a might nervous, probably caused by a combination of not having been in the TARDIS for so long and not knowing what the scan would say. He braced himself for the unexpected as well as he could.

The Doctor tapped periodically on the screen, muttering so low under his breath that even Rory couldn't make out a word of it, and took another quick look at Caroline, who now had her eyes tightly shut and fists clenched, trying her best to remain perfectly still.

On the screen, two large, thin rings, revolving rapidly, encircled a live image of the little girl. Rory and the Doctor's eyes locked on the rotating halos until they slowed and stopped altogether. Just as the results of the scan were due to appear, the screen flickered and static spread across it, causing the two men to lurch forward anxiously. Caroline noticed their reaction and called out, a bit alarmed.

"What is it?" The Doctor slapped the side of the screen once with no improvement. Rory met Caroline's questioning eyes.

"Just a-just wait a..." He trailed off, holding up his finger for her to hold on a moment. The Doctor hit the malfunctioning technology more violently and it blinked back. Rory and the Doctor leaned their heads closer and Caroline practically threw herself in their direction to view the screen, too.

"But...I don't understand." The Doctor looked severely disappointed at the results, releasing his white-knuckled grip from the side of the screen.

"What is it? What am I?" Caroline pushed the Doctor aside and took his spot, pulling the screen down to her level. Rory looked puzzled, his gaze falling on the Doctor, who was obviously deep in thought, rubbing his chin. Caroline read the small box in the middle of the screen.

"I'm...just Time Lord?" She turned to the Doctor as well, confused beyond belief. "That's it? Shouldn't there be part of me that's still...human? Or...something else, maybe? I thought maybe I'd be half something, you know? Might explain who he was. You know, my dad skipped out on me and Mum before I was even born." All the sudden, tears curled down the sides of her face, little hiccupping sounds accompanying them. Her nose was a strawberry red, and her eyes glistened, more tears swelling up. Rory took a step to close the gap between them and put a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Caroline. But knowing for sure, now, is good," he tried to reassure her, "Right, Doctor?" Rory looked expectantly at the older Time Lord, who was really only half listening. Caroline wiped her face with her sleeve, sniffing to keep her nose from running.

"No, it doesn't. It doesn't explain anything. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I already knew she was Time Lord. This was not-"

"Doctor. Stop," Rory said sternly, both his hands on Caroline's shoulders now. She had begun to cry again, but these were deeper, more heart-wrenching sobs.

"-it's impossible! She is simply impossible, Rory! I don't get it! I DON'T UNDERSTAND!" The Doctor's face was contorted in a combination of rage and terror and his arms were flung in the air. The Doctor, the Doctor, the brilliant and powerful Time Lord, was entirely confounded by Caroline Thomas. Finally noticing Caroline's distress, he walked over and squatted in front of her, taking her shaking hands in his.

"Oh, Thomas. Caroline Thomas. You brave, brilliant girl. You beautiful, little Time Lord." A single tear slid down her cheek, but the Doctor brushed it away with his thumb, leaving his hand on her face. His gaze skimmed her freckles, her fiery hair, and her round nose, halting at her eyes, great big watery green and brown orbs. She fell forward on to him, wrapping her arms around his neck with all the force she could muster.

"Take me home, Doctor. I want to go home." She weeped into his shoulder. Rory shot the Doctor a look, his eyebrows springing up. The Doctor only returned it with a sorrowful look in his eyes.

"Alright, Thomas. Home it is." He passed the tearful Caroline to Rory and approached the TARDIS controls. The hub seemed to glow less brightly and the lights seemed to twinkle less merrily, as if the TARDIS understood this was not going to be a happy journey.

Instead of dancing around the controls like a mad man, the Doctor moved reluctantly, making each motion deliberate, like he was giving time for some one to say, "No, wait. Only joking." But no one did. Rory simply patted Caroline's back as she sobbed into his neck and the Doctor continued to operate the TARDIS.

"You know where to go, ol' girl," he whispered to the TARDIS, so quietly he might have just been mouthing the words.

And the TARDIS did know. It began to tremble and shiver, and then that wonderful, familiar sound echoed through the whole of the blue box as it disappeared from the street corner and tumbled through space.

Caroline was the first out of the TARDIS when it landed. The air was crisper here, outside of the bustling streets of London, and it quite quickly dried the wet tracks down her face that her tears had left.

The Thomas residence was average-sized and rather well-kept, the hedges out front trimmed nicely and the cracks in the path clear of weeds. The scene before Caroline felt so ordinary and unchanged that she half expected her mum to pop open the front door and ask why she was still standing out there in the cold when it was so much warmer inside. She struggled to fight back the tears that welled up in the corners of her eyes, blurring her vision momentarily.

Followed closely by Rory, who kept a comforting hand on her shoulder, and the Doctor, who was being unusually quiet, Caroline tottered slowly up the walk to the front door, where she stopped to pluck the spare key from under the welcome mat. She slid the key gently in the lock and pushed open the door cautiously, as if afraid of what she might find on the other side.

But it was just as it had been this morning when she had left with her mum to go to the shops. The house was silent, but that wasn't what made Caroline feel uneasy. It was the fact that the house would remain silent and empty after she left that made her stomach tie up in knots and her heart thump in her throat. Her mum would never call for her to come downstairs for supper from the kitchen or make her watch that one cooking show on the telly with her on Thursday evenings or come through the front door bearing a bag or two of clothes she hoped Caroline would like but knew she would rather trade for books any day.

But she never would. Never.

Rory seemed to feel her choke back a sob and gave her shoulder a little squeeze before letting go. She looked up at him. His face was kind, despite his rather sharp nose, and Caroline felt he must've been a very good father to River, much better than her own ever was. She mustered up what must've been a pathetic little smile, but it was the best she could do at the moment. She caught a glimpse of the Doctor behind Rory, who was inspecting the picture frames on the side tables in the sitting room.

Caroline stepped forward to make her way to the kitchen and a movement to her left caught her eye. She jerked her head sharply in that direction and yelped. The Doctor and Rory both jumped at her shout.

"IT'S YOU!" she exclaimed, her finger pointing to the girl who stood in front of her. It was the girl she had seen before, when she was a small child. The girl was pointing right back at Caroline just as accusingly. "What are you-"

And then she realized it was a mirror. Her words stopped dead in her throat.

"Who's who, Thomas? Why are you shouting at the mirror?" The Doctor appeared at her side. She couldn't tear her eyes from her reflection.

"She's the-I'm the girl with the big watch?"

"Who? Who's the girl with the big watch?" No answer. "Thomas?"

Finally, Caroline turned to look up at the Doctor, a terrified and shocked expression in her face.

"It was me."