1| The Daughter

by Becky Miller

yet?' she asked him.

  'Oh, well. We're coming down to you. Be careful.' she said. Again she smiled kindly. She hung up the phone and turned to Mickey.

  'He is still in the basement. He says he found something interesting, but still no sign of Lynne.' she told him while they walked to the elevators.

  They called an elevator, but the first elevator that opened its door was going up. They let it pass. The second elevator, going down, was so full of people that they couldn't possibly fit in. They had to let that one pass too. The third time was, as they say, a charm. They went inside and pushed the lowest button, marked B.

  The elevator moved down but only two floors. More people joined them. Then another floor down, again people wanted to join them in the elevator. All the way from the 36th floor down they had stopped on almost every floor. Rose was growing impatient.

  'Why do all these people have to use the elevator now?' she complained.

  'Maybe because it is six 'o clock and they're all going home.' Mickey suggested, while he was pushed against Rose even further by some people who tried to fit in the elevator as well.

  Rose was relieved when all the people left the elevator once they reached the ground floor. Now only she and Mickey stood in the elevator which took them down to the basement slowly.

  When the doors opened, Rose and Mickey lingered in the elevator for a moment. What they saw resembled their idea of a basement quite well, but somehow they had expected to find something different. Maybe Rose expected the Doctor to wait for them there, but there was no one. They stepped out of the elevator.

  'Did the Doctor tell you were exactly in the basement he was?' Mickey asked cynically but he was also worried that they were not in the right place.

  'No.' Rose said while she walked decisively to the door on her left. Mickey knew better than to question her actions, so he followed her without protest.

  They entered the large research centre filled with busy scientists. They were blown away by the vastness of the place and they wandered along a bit, looking out for the Doctor.

  Just as Rose wanted to take a peek behind one of the curtains, Mickey pulled her on her sleeve. There were two guards coming their way and it was clear they were unwanted guests. Rose and Mickey hurried away but the guards picked up pace and came after them.

  'Halt! You two are trespassing! Stop!' the guards called out to them and as they did they readied their rifles.

  'Oh, shit. They've got guns!' Mickey called. Quickly Rose and he went back through the door towards the elevator. Frantically Rose pushed the call button for the elevator, but the guards were already coming. Quickly they ran up the fire escape stairs, but as soon as they reached the ground floor, they were being awaited by another two guards.

  The guards arrested Rose and Mickey and escorted them back to the research laboratory. They were led into an adjacent room. There they met Patchwork first. Then they saw Lynne and the Doctor on the other side of the glass wall.

  Rose was astounded, she couldn't believe her eyes. The Doctor was just sitting on the floor opposite to Lynne. They were talking and apparently they were having a good time at it.

  Now after more than a year of travelling together, not many things the Doctor does surprised Rose anymore, but this was the least thing she would have expected him to do in a hostage situation. An angry feeling grew deep inside her, fuelled by the jealousy Rose felt towards Lynne.

  She was also afraid. Afraid of what would happen next. She and Mickey were trapped in a secret basement with armed guards all around them and the Doctor locked behind a thick wall of glass- Rose tried to stay calm nonetheless.

  'What are they doing? Having a picnic?!' Mickey said when he saw the Doctor and Lynne talking unaware of him and Rose right there looking at them with guns pointed against their backs.

  'So, you two were also snooping around? And by the looks of it, you know them too.' Patchwork said chuckling as he pointed at Lynne and the Doctor. 'I wonder? are you two telepathic too?' he added.

  Coincidentally Lynne looked their way, straight into Rose's eyes. She alerted the Doctor who came rushing to the glass immediately. He put his hands flat against the glass and said something, but no sound came through the glass. Rose slowly put her hand against the glass too.

  'Ah, how?touching.' Patchwork said, 'Put them in there too. It is already late and I have other things to do. We will look into them deeper, tomorrow.'

  The glass wall slid up and the guards pushed Rose and Mickey forward. They held their guns at the ready making sure the Doctor wouldn't try to escape.

  Nevertheless, the Doctor stepped past Rose and approached Patchwork. He got a rifle in his stomach for this, but he composed himself quickly and addressed the red haired man.

  'Look, Patchwork. You don't want them. They're no good to you, poor specimens. The boy's got Parrot Brain Syndrome. And she, well, she's just his girlfriend. Can you imagine?' the Doctor said trying to keep Mickey and Rose from being imprisoned too. 'You have what you want, why bother with them?'

  'I don't believe this!' Mickey scolded. He had enough of the Doctor ridiculing him, but Rose calmed him down quietly.

  Patchwork responded with a simple evil laugh just before the glass wall slid down again. He posted the two guards at the door and left the room followed by his scientists.

  'Nice, now we are all cooped up in here!' Mickey said angrily. He slammed his fist on the table in the right corner.

  'Don't be angry, it has no use.' Lynne said and slowly approached him. She had difficulty walking, but she did anyway. Mickey was planning to sit on the chair behind the table, but instead he offered it to Lynne. He hadn't seen Lynne before, only heard of her. She seemed to be a very nice woman. He could see why the Doctor liked her so much and also why Rose was jealous of her. 'Now she has someone to be jealous of too.' he thought, looking at Rose standing on the other side of the room face to face with the Doctor.

  'Rose?' the Doctor said but didn't continue when he saw the look in her eyes. A stern but sad look, almost disappointed.

  'She is a Time Lord too, isn't she?' Rose asked him. She was almost sure of it, but still she hoped for him to deny it. There was a tense pause as they looked in each others eyes. The Doctor began to nod slightly.

  'I think she is one of my kind, yes.' he said gravely. Rose's eyes began to water.

  'So now you won't be lonely anymore.' Rose said sadly and a short but heavy silence fell.

  'Rose?I am not alone, I have you.' he said softly.

  'You know what I mean!'

  Indeed did the Doctor knew what she meant but he didn't want to see Rose hurt.

  'She might be one of my kind, but you chose to come with me to keep me company and that is why you will always be very special to me, Rose. Never forget that.' the Doctor said kindly.

  'What's going on with that telepathic stuff? You never mentioned Time Lords could read minds.' Rose said distressed. 'Can you?'

  'Yes, I can' he had to admit. He thought back at his recent encounter with Reinette and the clockwork men. He read her mind back then to find out why the clockwork men were after her, but he had made a mistake, one that he surely would not make again. 'But only-'

  'Have you been reading my mind then?' Rose asked angrily.

  'Rose, don't be silly!' the Doctor raised his voice. 'I can, what you call, read minds, but only in close proximity and when permitted. Lynne is different. She is telepathic, that's how she could send the numbers to the psychic paper whenever it was inside the TARDIS.' the Doctor explained.

  'How did you know?' he asked as he wondered whether Rose had heard Lynne's cries for help too.

  'This Patchwork fella said something about it.', she quickly replied.

  'Talking about that red haired eel; he knows too much for my liking, about me and about Lynne. I think he knows about the TARDIS's too. It's time we get out of this dull place.' the Doctor said. He looked at the glass wall. He saw Lynne's reflection, or was it a little girl? No, it was Lynne
sitting on the chair.

  'How do you propose to do that? Through the glass?' Mickey asked him concerned. 'It's at least one inch thick!'

  'And your sonic screwdriver is over there, out of reach.' Rose said as she pointed at the scientists their table on the other side of the glass barrier. The Doctor was leaning casually against the glass contemplating on a way to escape.

  'It doesn't have a remote control, by any chance, does it?' Mickey quipped.

  'Remote control?' the Doctor repeated. 'That's it! Lynne-' he began, but before he could finish Lynne interrupted.

  'Yes I could do just that.' she said brightly, but the Doctor looked somewhat annoyed at her.

  'Oops, sorry.' she apologised to him for reading his thoughts unpermitted.

  'Mind you, it is a lot more difficult with humans.' she said. She turned to focus on one of the guards. Rose and Mickey waited expectantly and the Doctor proudly watched Lynne at work. It didn't look like she was doing much, though. Just sitting there, still as a rock, but actually she was trying to connect to the guard's sub-consciousness in order to lour him away.

  After a few minutes the guard became restless. He paced back and forth a few times and then he started hopping from one leg to the other.

  'I need to use the restroom for a minute.' he then said to his colleague.

  'There is one on the ground floor.' his colleague advised.

  'Right, thanks. I'll be right back.' the guard said and quickly left.

  'Okay, so you got rid of one of