"Fantastic. Now, if you'll be so courteous as to help Oswald, Joe, Dean, and I-" Oswald cut the Doctor off. "It's Da'in. Honestly Doctor, that's so rude!" she criticized. "Isn't that what I said?" the Doctor made an odd face. "It's Da'in. Da'in. There's a little 'ah' sound in there before the 'een', you muppet," Ozzie shook her head, speaking as though she were scolding a child. The Doctor simply looked confused. He thought he had been pronouncing the boy's name right all along, but oh well, there wasn't time to worry about that now.
Will nods, "Yes. Of course." Vix hides behind her father again, her blank eyes trained on the unknown sources. She walks forward slowly, Will guiding her. She reaches up, touching the doctor's face, her hands soft and gentle. Will gave the doctor a look, telling him it was safe. She moves on to Oswald, feeling out each feature with delicate hands. Finally she moves to Da'in. Her head tilts slightly to the side and she offers a tiny smile to him before backing away and returning to Nico's open arms. "They're injured dad. But not as bad as the woman." She says softly. Will nods and smiles. "Thank you love. Anything internal?" She shakes her head. "Not that I could see. Just some fracutres of bones and cuts. But that is it." Will nods and walks to them, offering his hand. "Doctor. You first."
"No, no, I'll be fine, just take care of them first." he waved a dismissive hand.
Will nods and looks over at Joe, Oswald, and Da'in. "Alright. One of you first. Just take my hand." He says gently. Nico watches as his husband smiles kindly towards them as he held his daughter.
Oswald held out her hand tentatively. The Doctor had never spoken of these people before now, and if her parents had known them, they'd never brought them up. "By the way, who's the kid, she's brilliant." the Doctor asked.
Nico places a hand on his shoulder. "This is Vixianne. Our daughter. We just call her Vix though." He says softly and she smiles gently, her blind gaze going to the ground. Will takes Oswald's hand and a gentle, warm feeling ran through her as her wounds healed. He slowly pulls his hand away. "There. You're good. Da'in?" He smiles assuringly, offering his hand once again.
"Yes, I can withstand quite a lot." Da'in assured. "Wait, hold on a tick. You have a daughter?" the Doctor asked. Alison snorted. "What do you think they do when you're not around? They have a life, you know." she said. "I don't know. I imagined mostly kissing, honestly." the Doctor said, dumbfounded. This earned him a smack upside the head from Alison. "You idiot." Oswald said, laughing. The Doctor's face then contorted with pain. "Poison, I almost forgot." he gave a dry laugh, a little shaky at the knees.
Vix walks to the Doctor and offers her two small hands. "Here." She says softly. Will nods to her and smiles before healing Da'in. He walks to Oswald, "Alright, dear. Your turn." He says gently. Nico laughs quietly. "We adopted her." He says gently.
The Doctor takes her hands, looking Vixianne in the eyes. "Mum, who are these people?" Da'in asked, looking to Will and Nico suspiciously. "Old friends. Will, Nico, you didn't tell me you had a kid! We could have set up a playdate or something!" Alison accused, but with a kind smile on her face.
Will and Nico laugh gently. "We could have. But we weren't sure how to get ahold of you." Will laughs softly. Vixianne focuses and bites her lip. Carefully, any poison in the doctors system, or in anyone was removed easily. She pulls away, the bubbling poison hovering over her hand. She opens her eyes slowly and walks to a vial nearby, letting the oozing liquid fall into the glass before closing it. "She's also very shy when it comes to new people." Vix walks to Will's side. Despite being 15, she was small and frail. Her skin was pale, showing she rarely spent time in the sun, her raven black hair falling well past her shoulders was currently tied into a neat braid, thanks to Nico.
"Well, thanks for everything. I suppose we'll be going now. Sorry to ruin your evening." Alison said. A bright flash of light, then-
"Localized time scoop. Don't worry my girl, we'll soon get you back up on your feet." a decidedly male voice said. He looked like a tall, pale man in his fifties, with very fluffy, curly white hair, blue eyes, a pronounced chin and a big, pointy nose. He was wearing a green jacket over a white ruffled shirt, and a black velvet opera cape with red silk lining. The room was rather dim, but she could still make out his general features. "Damn… where are we?" Alison asked. She looked over to her right. Will, Nico, and Vixianne were collapsed on the floor by Da'in and Joe, while Oswald and the Doctor were on her left. "Well, that's a rather long story. Don't worry, you'll be fine quite soon, as will the others." he reassured.
Will and Nico looks at Joe. "Not staying-" Vix was the first to cry out when the light hit her.
Now they were curled up, Nico holding Will in a protective grip and Will holding Vix. Vix looked tiny in her father's arms like that.
"Wait, who even are you?" Alison said, backing up towards the wall, away from the man. "I'm, well, I'm the Doctor, and this is my assistant, Miss Grant. Jo, any peppermints on you? I always felt they helped with shock." the man said. "N-no you aren't, you aren't the Doctor. He is." Alison pointed to the Doctor, who was slowly sitting up. "Well, he may be a doctor, but I happen to be the Doctor. The definite article, you might say." he chuckled, but Alison was still wary. A shorter, blond woman whose hair was cut in a bob, with large brown eyes and fair, rosy cheeks looked over to them. "Don't worry, he really is the Doctor. And you would be?" she said, her voice like a hummingbird's call, sweet and musical.
Vix groans softly, her body contorted in pain. Will and Nico draw around her, hearing her soft noises but they didn't wake. They didn't know what was happening around them.
"Ah, my head. Well, I've had worse nights. Alison, relax, I know what I'm doing. Well, we do. It's hard to explain. He's… well, me." the Doctor said, rubbing the back of his neck and standing up. "What? How d'you mean he's you?" Alison barked. "I've explained regeneration before, yes? Well, he's a past face. My third, to be exact. Our heads must be a bit scrambled from the time scoop, should have recognized me sooner." the present-day Doctor said. The Third Doctor nodded politely, and looked over the wall. "Well, we do seem to be stuck. No doors, no windows, no ventilation shafts big enough to crawl inside, even with Jo's somewhat petite form-" the Third Doctor was cut off by his upset assistant. "Oi, I'm not that short!" Jo argued. Da'in and Oswald stood up as well, along with their father. "Doctor, where are we?" Ozzie asked. "That's something of a long story. Well, the Time Lords certainly are upset. Didn't they ever learn to just ask nicely for my help? Sorry, even longer story. But we're back on Gallifrey, for your information." the Present-Day Doctor explained, holding back fear.
Will opened his eyes and looks around before shaking Nico. The son of Hades opens his eyes and groans softly, shaking his head. He looks down at Vix, her face pained as she lay there. He picks her up gently and looks around. "Doctor. You have a lot of explaining to do." He growls, looking around. Will nods, taking Nico's hand. Vix looked tiny in her father's arms, curled up in pain, her clear eyes hidden from the world.
"Localized time scoop." both the Doctors said in perfect tone and unison with each other. "There aren't any doors or windows or anything else to try and leave, so don't start looking." Alison said hurriedly, walking over to Joe and grasping his hand tightly. "Wait, back with those… well, thingys, I can't quite pronounce their name, the goldfish things, didn't you mention Time Lords composed rooms?" Jo Grant said, her I-Have-A-Theory face on. "And, in the event of a total lockdown, one would only be able to leave by hitting a certain, randomized note. Jo, you're just as brilliant as I remember you were!" the Present-Day Doctor said. Jo lay silent for a second. "As you remember?" she asked quietly. The Doctor looked startled, then put a rare, kind, understanding look on his face. "You end up happy, Jo. I would never have let anything bad happen to you, and I didn't. I still won't. But you're absolutely brilliant, you know that?" he asked. "Well, I might not have done this in a while, but here goes nothing." the Present-Day Doctor said, taking a deep breath, then vocalizing a long, baritone note that echoed throughout the chamber, bouncing back and forth until it sounded like an army of voices. "It won't work, the Time Lords wouldn't possibly be idiots enough to put a secret passageway within reach-" Da'in was cut off by a hidden panel in the wall opening. "Oh look," the Present-Day Doctor smirked, "Secret passageway." his Third regeneration said cheerfully, starting down the hallway. "Perfect pitch." the Present-Day Doctor remarked, smug.
Will and Nico stand in the back, Vixianne trembling. She didn't like the noise. The new voices, the new people. It scared the poor thing half to death. Will was trying desperately to keep his teen calm, hushing her with gentle words, but even still, Vixianne was terrified. She was blind. She couldn't see what was going on. Having spiritual vision was hard enough as it was. She didn't like this one bit. But the note. The note calmed her down. She perks and relaxes. But once the note was over she began to quietly panic into her father's arms. Nico was watching the Doctors, Alison, Joe and their kids.
"Come on now then, might as well try and escape while we still can." the Present-Day Doctor called, as he strode further down the tunnel. "So, how's life been?" Alison asked Will, then turned to follow the two Doctors. This was more weirdness in a day than she could really handle.
Nico guides Vix as they walk. Will smiles a bit. "Wonderful. Vix is doing better, Nico is less brooding-" he sends his husband a teasing look, "-and its been rather quiet after Gaea and our adventures with the doctor. How about you?"
"Well… not good. And then good. We moved out of backwater town Lannet and to a lovely place called Ealing. Da'in has been adjusting really well since he lost his original family… I really only wish… well, there's…. God, I feel so guilty, I shouldn't have let it happen." Alison kept breaking off, unsure how to say what was on her mind.
Will places a gentle hand on her shoulder. He knew exactly how she felt. Being a medic, there were only so few he could help, even then, he could only do so much. His daughter was an example of that. He smiled toward her. "I understand." He says gently.
"He died, I shouldn't have let him save me, the Doctor's in a terrible state now. I can't believe he'd even do something like that. But never mind. I've gotten past it. Let's move on." Alison said. The tunnels were rank, damp, dusty, nobody had been there for centuries. "So, Jo Grant, right? Can you tell us a bit more about this place?" Da'in asked. "Not much. The Doctor, my Doctor, he knows more. We've only been here a few hours, really." she admitted.
Will shakes his head. "Alison. I want you to think about what you just said. Imagine Oswald and Da'in. They need you and Joe in their lives. A home without a mother figure is not a home. Nico and I both grew up without parents. He was in the Lotus hotel for almost fifty years, never aging. He only had his sister. I was dropped off at Camp when I was little. I never knew my mom or dad. It tears a child apart. I know the doctor will have trouble getting over his death, but Alison. You mustn't be to harsh on yourself." Will says gently.
"Yeah, well, it turns out that stupid robot was plotting against me from the very start, just waiting for a chance to use me against the Doctor, but then… well, I saw another side of both the Time Lords that I never want to see again. And then he saved my life, and I really don't know how I feel about it at this point. But that was only when Ozzie was very little, and Da'in, well, we hadn't even adopted him yet. I don't know… I just wish it could have turned out differently." Alison said. "Now, you're the future version of me, yes?" the Third Doctor asked. " Well, there's a few false starts, but you get there in the end. Why?" the Present-Day Doctor said. "Well, I thought I'd get… younger. Physically, I mean." the Third Doctor said, mildly disappointed. "I am younger!" the Present-Day regeneration protested. "Er, yes, I see that, but only by about a decade, maybe a decade and a half, going by human terms. And your dress sense has much to be desired. It's nearly all black, only with that outrageous green collared cloak to add something to the design. Is this really what I'll be wearing when I'm you?" the Third said with an air of disapproval in his tone. "Just wait until our sixth face. That eyeball scorching technicolor Broadway-reject of a jacket is something I feel rather ashamed of. And then there was that gigantic scarf that I actually found very useful in Logopolis but I'm not supposed to let too much slip about the future so never mind in my, our, fourth…" the Present-Day Doctor shuddered slightly. Joe and Jo both snorted loudly, while Da'in held back laughter and Ozzie burst into hysterical giggles. Alison was not amused, nor were the Doctors. "Can we focus, please?" she asked.
