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The Doctor, Danni and Martha all watched a Slab look left and right before walking past where they were crouched, in a doorway concealed by a water cooler.
"That's the thing about Slabs." The Doctor stated quietly, "They always travel in pairs."
"What, like you?" Martha replied.
"Like me?" He asked her, confused and she nodded, looking pointedly at Danni, "Oh, she doesn't travel with me. She just pops up unannounced, don't you?" He asked over his shoulder. Danni bit her lip, hurt that he just dismissed her but nodded all the same.
"I jump around time and space. It's very tiresome, sometimes." Danni explained, not expecting Martha to believe her and by the look on her face, she hadn't.
"So, you she isn't you girlfriend?"
"Uh. Humans." He tutted lightly, almost alarmed at her question, "We're stuck on the moon running out of air with Judoon and a bloodsucking criminal, you're asking personal questions. Come on." He stood up and tiptoed to the corner of the corridor.
"I like that. 'Humans.'" She turned to Danni, "I'm still not convinced he's an alien." Danni stood up.
"He is." She promised, "A very hurtful, rude one but an alien nonetheless." She followed the Doctor over before she had a chance to comment. Martha followed behind her as the Doctor stepped out into the adjoining corridor, straight into the path of three Judoon officers. One shone the blue light in the Doctor's face.
"Non-human." It stated, the Doctor's eyes widening in panic.
"Oh my God, you really are!" Martha exclaimed in surprise.
"And again!" The Doctor replied in exasperation, the three turning and running away from the Judoon as they began firing at them. They headed up a flight of stairs onto Floor 7, the Doctor locking the doors behind them. Martha and Danni panted slightly as they walked at a brisk but slower pace than they had just been running, past patients who were beginning to collapse, both out of breath from the lack of oxygen. Swales was on the floor in front of a patient, helping them to get more oxygen with a bottle and a mask, "They've done this floor. Come on. The Judoon are logical and just a little bit thick. They won't go back to check a floor they've checked already. If we're lucky." He told the pair. Martha stopped by her colleague and crouched down in front of her, the more pressing matter of the patients care now at the forefront of her mind. Danni leant against the wall, panting for breath. God her lungs hurt; neither of the girls had realised just how little oxygen they were running on.
"How much oxygen is there?" Martha asked Swales quietly, smiling reassuringly at the patient.
"Not enough for all these people. We're going to run out." Swales replied, a lot calmer than she had been earlier but whether that was her own strength or again the lack of oxygen was debatable.
"How are you feeling?" He asked the two girls, the conversation reminding him of the other reason they were trying to find the plasmavore, "Are you all right?"
"I'm running on adrenaline." Martha replied with a nod while Danni just dismissed the question with a wave of her hand, not really willing to talk.
"Welcome to my world." The Doctor said the Martha, half-jokingly. He did run on adrenaline most of the time and he wouldn't have it any other way.
"What about the Judoon?" Martha asked, hoping they were going to be like the humans and feeling the effects of the lack of oxygen like everyone else.
"Ah, great big lung reserves, it won't slow them down." She frowned in disappointment, maybe not, "Where's Mr Stoker's office?"
"It's this way." She panted quietly, climbing off the floor and walking apst the Doctor and Danni towards the office. Danni rolled her eyes and pushed off the wall, couldn't they just stay still for two minutes?
~0~0~0~
The Doctor motioned behind him for Martha and Danni to stay back as he entered the office first, seeing that the coast was clear and running over to the very pale corpse of Mr Stoker.
"She's gone!" Martha whispered, bewildered as she made her way over to the Doctor, "She was here." Danni stayed at the entrance to the room, not wanting to see yet another body.
"Drained him dry." The Doctor said sadly, checking the man over before leaning back on his heels, "Every last drop. I was right. She's a plasmavore."
"What was she doing on Earth?"
"Hiding. On the run. Like Ronald Biggs in Rio de Janeiro. What's she doing now? She's still not safe. The Judoon could execute us all. Come on." He jumped up and jogged over to Danni, rubbing her arm slightly in comfort as he went past her. He knew she didn't like seeing the dead, no one did but she knew it really bothered her.
"Wait a minute." They both paused as Martha closed the man's eyes before they all left together.
"Think, think, think." He muttered, playing with his hair absent-mindedly as he did, "If I was a plasmavore surrounded by police, what would I do?" His eyes drifted to a sign pointing down the hallway 'MRI' written on it, "Aah. She's as clever as me. Almost." There was a loud bang as the Judoon made it through the locked door at the other end of the corridor.
"Find the non-human. Execute." One commanded.
"Martha, stay here. I need time. You're going to have to hold them up." He told her urgently, his eyes darting down to the Judoon.
"Why do I have to do it? I don't know what to do, what about Danni?"
"She can barely hold herself up, let alone anything else." The Doctor replied.
"Hey!" Danni wheezed out. Oh, what she wouldn't do for one of them oxygen tanks right about now. Martha looked the girl over, watching her sway from her own weight and nodded.
"How do I do that?" He looked back down at the Judoon again.
"Martha, forgive me for this. It's to save a thousand lives, it means nothing. Honestly, nothing." He promised. Martha nodded, wondering where he was going with it but trusting him to do the right thing. He grabbed her head and planted a kiss on her lips, her eyes widening as he did. He let her go and grabbed Danni's hand, who was staring at him, mouth open in shock and hurt. Not his girlfriend and kissing someone else, right. Just to rub that fact home, eh Doctor?
"Come on!" He cried, pulling Danni alone and down the corridor, listening to her panting as they approached the MRI room.
"How to you lot live? You humans with your tiny lungs." He asked her, a playful smile on his lips to try and cheer her up as they stopped outside the door.
"Dunno..." She panted, "Give me a respiratory... bypass system any day." He shot her a surprised look, he didn't remember mentioning that to her. He shook his head, she always knew so much more than he gave her credit for.
"Let me do the talking." He told her firmly, assuming that she knew his plan. She nodded, which he took as a sign that she did. He opened the door and pulled her in to see the MRI machine flash with energy, an elderly woman with a black cross on her hand fiddling with the controls behind a screen. He studied what she was doing quickly, trying to work out what she was altering and why.
"Have you seen - there are these things, those great big space rhino things, I mean rhinos from space. And we're on the moon." He exclaimed, faking bewilderment and surprising the old lady, "Great big space rhinos with guns on the moon. And I only came in for my bunions, look." He lifted his foot up for her to see, even though she had turned back to the controls, "They're all right now, perfectly good treatment, I said to my wife, I'd recommend this place to anyone, didn't I dear?" Danni nodded, moving over to a discarded chair and sitting down. Her vision was going all wonky. He watched her out of the corner of his eye, "but then we end up on the moon. And did I mention the rhinos?" He asked.
"Hold him!" Mrs Finnegan exclaimed and the remaining Slab burst from behind a curtain, grabbing both his arms to pin in him place. She walked over to the MRI machine, reaching inside to fiddle with some of the alterations she had made to it.
"That thing, that big machine thing, is it supposed to be making that noise?" The Doctor asked still faking confusion.
"You wouldn't understand." Mrs Finnegan brushed off.
"Isn't that a magnetic resonance imaging thing? Like a ginormous sort of a magnet?" She shot him a slightly impressed look, she hadn't expect this babbling human to know what the machine was supposed to be, "I did magnets at GCSE. Well, I failed, but all the same."
"The magnetic setting is now set to 50,000 Tesla." She explained, spinning a dial on the side and watching the energy flash inside the machine.
"That's... strong... yeah?" Danni panted out, leaning on her knees. She really shouldn't be talking, but she hated being left out. The old lady looked over at her, studying the girl closely. She was obviously suffering from oxygen starvation, he blood wouldn't be any good. Red blood cells that weren't fully oxygenated tasted vile, but she might be use later on.
"I can send out a magnetic pulse that will fry the brain-stems of every living thing within 250,000 miles." She told her, "Except me, safe in this room."
"But... hold on, hold on, I did geography for GCSE, I did pass that one, doesn't that distance include Earth?" The Doctor asked, shooting Danni a look telling her to keep quiet. Danni rolled her eyes but did as she was told.
"Only the side facing the moon. The other half will survive. Call it my little gift." The elderly lady replied smugly, watching a mass of images flicker on the computer screen.
"I'm sorry, you'll have to forgive me, I'm a little out of my depth. I've spent the past fifteen years working as a postman, hence the bunions - why would you do that?"
"With everyone dead, the Judoon ships will be mine, to make my escape." She explained as if it was obvious.
"Now, that's weird. You're talking like you're some sort of an alien." He laughed nervously, keeping up the act. She had to continue to believe he was a human.
"Quite so." She turned to face him with a smirk and his mouth dropped.
"No!" He exclaimed.
"Oh, yes." She nodded.
"You're joshing me."
"I am not." She was starting to look a bit annoyed at his babbling.
"I'm talking to an alien? In hospital? What, has the place got an ET department?" he asked, sounding amazed.
"It's the perfect hiding place. Blood banks downstairs for a midnight feast, and all this equipment I'm ready to arm myself with should the police come looking." She stopped what she was doing and walked over to him. Danni leant back, her head floating slightly. What was supposed to happen next? It was hard to think about what was happening when she could barely focus on breathing.
"Oh. Right! Maybe that's why they're increasing their scans." She heard the Doctor say in the background. Oh, she missed a bit of the conversation. Oh well, never mind. She'll catch it up in a minute...
"Why should I have cake? I've got my little straw." The woman said to him. Missed another bit of the conversation there, she could tell. Cake, what was this about cake? Oh yes, that's right, she's going to drink his blood. Was she meant to stop her? She couldn't stop a yawn at the moment, she was so sleepy...
"Steady him!" Suddenly the Slab pushed the Doctor to his knees, holding his head to one side, exposing his neck. She pushed up on the seat but fell back, her energy all but gone.
"What are you doing?" He asked as she rubbed her fingers over his neck. He sounded scared, she needed to do something!
"I'm afraid this is going to hurt. But if it's any consolation, the dead don't tend to remember." Danni pushed herself up again, but fell back into the chair. She couldn't do anything to stop her, so she just watched, sobbing quietly as the old woman descended on the Doctor's neck.
~0~0~0~
Mrs Finnegan dropped the Doctor in alarm Judoon suddenly swung the door open, entering the MRI room. Danni immediately fell to the floor, pulling herself along to his unconscious body. The elderly lady rushed over and put the straw back into her handbag before turning and pointing at the Doctor.
"Now see what you've done. This poor man just died of fright." She scolded in the way only a little old lady could do. Danni placed her head to his chest but couldn't hear either of his hearts beating. Sobbing, she placed one hand over the other, beating down on his chest just like Martha had done in the episode.
"One, two, three, four." She whispered.
"Scan him!" One Judoon demanded as Martha ran in, gawping at Danni on the floor trying to bring him back to life.
"Confirmation: deceased." The other declared.
"No, he can't be. Let me through, let me see him." Martha cried, pushing her way through to be stopped by one of the Judoon.
"Stop. Case closed."
"But it was her. She killed him. She did it. She murdered him." Martha begged, pointing at the old lady who raised an eyebrow, smug in victory.
"The Judoon have no authority over human crime."
"But she's not human." Martha exclaimed.
"Martha...Scan... her..." Danni panted, stopping her resuscitation of the Doctor for just a moment. Her head swam, but she needed to do this. Needed to show him that she could do something good. She couldn't remember why, her mind a muddle but she just knew it was important.
"Oh, but I am. I've been catalogued." Martha grabbed one of the scanners, just as Danni told her to, yanking it from the Judoon's hand and pointing it at the Mrs Finnegan.
"Non-human." The Judoon declared after listening to the bleeps the device let out. Danni continued to pound as hard as she could on his chest, but it wasn't enough. She wasn't strong enough to get both hearts beating, she could barely breath anymore.
"What?" Mrs Finnegan asked.
"Confirm analysis." The Judoon commanded and the rest of the group scanned her, all getting the same results.
"Oh, but it's a mistake, surely. I'm human. I'm as human as they come." She defended as Martha looked down, seeing Danni struggling to do anything.
"He gave his life so they'd find you." She breathed, amazed and humbled by the alien. He wasn't even from Earth, but he'd died to save them all.
"Confirmed: Plasmavore. I charge you with the crime of murdering the princess of Patrival Regency Nine." The fake smile on the face of the old lady dropped and she glared defiantly up at the Judoon officer.
"She deserved it! Those pink cheeks and those blond curls and that simpering voice. She was begging for the bite of a plasmavore." She crowed.
"Do you confess?"
"Confess? I'm proud of it! Slab - stop them!" She shouted. The Slab headed towards the Judoon but with one shot it was disintegrated. Danni's head fell onto the Doctor's chest, she let out a sob as she still didn't hear anything. Just a little more...
"Verdict: guilty. Sentence: execution." The Judoon declared as Mrs Finnegan began plugging cables together, setting the MRI scanner into 'Magnetic Overload'. Martha dropped to the ground as all the Judoon pulled out their guns, aiming it at the old lady behind the barrier.
"Enjoy your victory, Judoon, because you're going to burn with me. Burn in hell!" She cried, the word echoing as they disintegrated her as well. Martha crawled over to Danni, rubbing the girl's back as she coughed.
"Case closed." The Judoon summarized, putting it's gun away. Martha turned to it.
"What did she mean, 'burn with me'? The scanner shouldn't be doing that. She's done something." She cried, scared. This was becoming too much, she just wanted to go home. The Judoon officer walked over to the MRI machine and scanned it.
"Scans detect lethal acceleration of monomagnetic pulse." He told her.
"Well, do something! Stop it!" She exclaimed. Instead it pulled out an communication device.
"Our jurisdiction has ended. Judoon will evacuate." It's voice echoed throughout the hospital.
"You can't just leave it. What's it going to do?" None of the Judoon answered, leaving the room in a march. She scrambled off and followed them into the corridor, "You can't go. That thing's going to explode and it's all your fault!" She screamed, frustrated before joining Danni down at the Doctor's side, pushing her hands out of the way. Danni shook her head, placing Martha's hand over one side of his chest.
"Two... Hearts..." She reminded her and they began pumping on Martha's count. With one final breath from Danni, the Doctor gasped and coughed as Danni collapsed onto the floor next him, passing out. He rolled to face the ginger, reaching out to her.
"Danni..." He breathed.
"The scanner." Martha pulled his attentions away from her, pointing over to the MRI scanner, "She did something." The pair scrambled to their feet, Martha swaying slightly as they did, "What do we do?"
"Controls." He panted and they helped each other over to the controls, the Doctor becoming slightly more healthier as he began to heal himself. He reached into his pocket and groaned, "Oh, sonic." He growled before heading to a mass of plugs, piled hastily upon one another.
"Which one?" Martha asked. He looked at them, then the machine, then the wires again before unplugging the red cables from each other. The machine instantly died down and they sagged against each other in relief.
~0~0~0~
The Doctor scooped Danni up in his arms and, with Martha's help, walked her down the hallways of the hospital, past all of the weak or unconscious staff and patients, all the way to the original ward where he had been admitted. He walked over to the window, Martha collapsing on a bed, exhausted.
"Come on, come on, come on. Come on, Judoon, reverse it." He begged quietly, completely out of breath as it started raining upwards again, "It's raining, Danni. It's raining on the moon." He told her happily, smiling as in a flash of white light, they disappeared.
~0~0~0~
The Doctor and Danni stood, later that night, looking at a typical British Pub with a slightly a-typical family arguing outside. He looked down at her as they leant against the side of the the corner of a building, she seemed much better now. He'd taken her straight to the medi-bay and given her some tablets and she was as good as new by the time he had transported them to Martha's brother's 21, where her dad's girlfriend seemed to be kicking up a fuss. First the blonde woman stormed off, shortly followed by her new boyfriend, then the rest of the family went the other way, leaving Martha on her own. The girl looked around, looking lost and alone until her gaze fell on the Time Lord and his human friend. Danni waved with a grin, pointing down the alleyway before they both headed down there. She frowned and jogged over, finding them both leaning against a big blue box.
"I went to the moon today." She told them both with a smile.
"A bit more peaceful than down here." The Doctor commented, a smile of his own as she headed towards them.
"You never even told me who you are." Martha pointed out.
"The Doctor." Danni said, pointing to the Doctor who rolled his eyes good-naturedly and pointed to her in return.
"Danni." He replied.
"What sort of species? It's not every day I get to ask that. I know Danni's human, but you're definitely not Judoon." Martha prompted. The Doctor nodded, no he wasn't, that was true.
"I'm a Time Lord." He told her ominously.
"Right! Not pompous at all, then." Martha retorted with a roll of her eyes.
"I just thought since you saved my life and I've got a brand new sonic screwdriver which needs road testing," He pulled the screwdriver he had retrieved from somewhere inside the TARDIS, Danni wasn't sure where, "you might fancy a trip."
"What, into space?" Martha asked with a laugh.
"Well."
"I can't. I've got exams. I've got things to do. I have to go into town first thing and pay the rent, I've got my family going mad..."
"If it helps, I can travel in time, as well." He interrupted her rant about her everyday life. He didn't want to get too personal. It was better if it was just him and, when she popped up, Danni. He rubbed the back of her hand with him thumb, not realising that he had grabbed her hand the moment Martha had appeared around the corner.
"Get out of here." Martha's mouth dropped in disbelief.
"I can." He promised.
"Come on now, that's going too far."
"I'll prove it." He turned and pulled Danni into the TARDIS, the box disappearing to that morning in front of Martha's eyes. She shook her head in disbelief and walked over, waving her hand where the box had just been, checking for a mirror, or some sort of lighting. Anything to indicate the trick they had managed to pull off, because obviously they didn't just disappear. The blue box reappeared and the Doctor stepped out, holding his tie.
"Told you!" Danni's head popped around the corner of the doorframe.
"I will get better, I promise." The ginger girl told her with a warm smile, "You'll love it Martha, I'll wait for you inside." She patted the Doctor on the arm, "Don't blow it Romeo." She shut the door with a giggle, hearing the Doctor stutter his insistence that it wasn't a date. She leant against the door of the TARDIS, looking at the console and smiled happily with a sigh.
"Smith, Jones and Fielding sounds a lot better, doesn't it Old Girl?" The TARDIS hummed, the column in the middle rising and falling in agreement as Danni skipped to the centre, twirling on the spot.
~0~0~0~
"You know, I think you might have confused Martha with that kiss." Danni pointed out to the Doctor. He was stood, trying to decide where to take Martha on the 'one trip' he had insisted on taking her. He had sent her into the TARDIS to explore while he chose, it was very hard. All of time and space, and only one trip? How was he supposed to decide?
"Hmm?" He asked vaguely.
"You kissed her, and you've said so yourself, you're quite the kisser." She hopped over to him, bouncing on the spot, "I don't know why you didn't just do it to me. I knew what you were doing, no mix-ups." He looked at her out of the corner of his eyes, smiling slightly to himself as he saw the obviously peeved look on her face. She was jealous.
"I didn't think you'd want me to." He replied, flipping a switch, "I'm not an American Captain, after all?" He walked around the console, leaving her wide-eyed.
"Wait a minute!" She exclaimed, "Did you kiss Martha because Jack kissed me?" Not only had that been with Nine, but for him that had been ages ago. He can't have felt threatened, can he?
"I didn't say that." He told her, a tone in his voice telling her that was exactly why he had done it, "Think quite highly of yourself, don't you?" She opened her mouth to retort when Martha re-appeared in the doorway, pointing behind her in bewilderment.
"It's huge!" She cried and Danni nodded, holding her hand out to the girl who walked over to grab it.
"It's not an it, she's a she." She corrected, "And she's supposed to be like that."
"Are you sure?" she asked and Danni nodded.
"Of course I'm sure. Where to now, Doctor?" He looked at the two girls, hand in and hand and was struck with a thought.
"I know exactly where."