DIARY OF A HALF HUMAN TIME LORD

Chapter Twenty Eight

Charles stood in the hallway with his friend Trevor while they waited for Rose and her friends to come out of the room. They had been working on a group project together when Pete rang them and asked them to do a favor for him. Charles knew Rose, had worked with her before but Trevor had just joined Torchwood and had only been there four months so Charles had to explain to his friend who Rose was.

"So let me get this straight," Trevor said quietly to Charles while they waited up by the nurse's desk, "we just got pulled away from reverse engineering the Psyron suspension pods so we could go spy on the supervisor's daughter?"

"Stepdaughter," Charles said. "And yes, we got pulled away from our project so we could do this. He wants us to find out about her boyfriend. The boss hates him with a passion."

"Who the fuck cares? We have more important things to…"

He shut up when Charles held up his hand and pointed down the hall. Rose had stepped out into the hallway and was coming towards them.

"Hello, Rose," Charles said with a wave.

Rose stopped short and stared at him.

"Charles, is that you?" she said to him.

"Yeah, got my hair dyed blonde and trimmed short since I saw you last," he said, running his hand through his hair.

"Thought I knew you but who's this?" Rose said, gesturing to Trevor.

"This is Trevor, he's new," Charles said while Trevor waved.

"Yeah, nice to meet ya," Rose said stiffly to Trevor. "What the hell is this, Charles?"

"Well, Rose, your stepfather asked us to follow you," Charles said with a shrug.

"Did he say why?" Rose said.

"Something about he's pissed off at your boyfriend again and…"

He trailed off when he heard a thwack, thwack, thwack coming from Suzanne's hospital room. Everyone looked at the Doctor when he came out of the room, playing with a paddle ball. He adopted a casual pose while he continued to hit the tethered, red rubber ball with his wooden paddle. The thwack, thwack, thwack echoed through the corridor as he walked towards them. He continued to hit the ball while he walked, never missing, while he kept his eyes on the two men.

"Jonathon, what's going on?" Charles said to him.

"Sorry, not Jonathon, I'm afraid. He's in the room tending to his friend who is very, very ill. I'm the Doctor and I'm brilliant at paddle ball, see?"

He stopped near Rose and continued hitting the ball with the paddle. Charles sighed when the thwack, thwack, thwack began to get annoying.

"Will you please stop?" he finally said to the Doctor.

"Stop what?" the Doctor said, feigning innocence.

"That!" Charles said, pointing to the paddle. "Stop doing that."

"But I have a rhythm going," the Doctor said as he continued hitting the ball. "Can't muck up my rhythm, can I?"

"Look," Trevor said, stepping up to the Doctor, "whoever you are, stop hitting the ball and surrender yourself to us."

"But…I have a rhythm going now," the Doctor said calmly while he continued hitting the ball. "I don't want to lose my rhythm."

"You're going to lose your bloody head if you don't come with us," Trevor growled.

"Are you threatening me?" the Doctor said, feigning surprise.

Trevor unbuttoned his grey jacket and opened it, revealing a small revolver nestled in a holster on his hip. The Doctor continued to hit the ball with the paddle while he stared at it with wide eyes. Trevor sighed.

"Stop it before I shove that bloody ball down your throat!" Trevor growled at the Doctor.

Rose started to step in front of the Doctor in order to confront Trevor but the Doctor stopped her with his free hand while he continued to hit the ball with the paddle.

"Well, you gonna come with us quietly?" Trevor said to the Doctor.

"No, I'm gonna do this instead," the Doctor said.

Suddenly without warning, the Doctor hit the ball directly at Trevor's forehead. He gasped when the ball thwacked him and he staggered back. Charles grunted when the Doctor backhanded him with the paddle and then quickly wrapped the rubber tether around Trevor's neck. He gripped the tether with both hands while Trevor froze and stared at Charles with wide eyes.

"Now, I don't know who you are," the Doctor said to Trevor, "but you work for Torchwood and that makes you and your friend my enemies. I came here in peace and I'm going to leave here in peace. I don' t know what Pete has in mind for us but I'm sure it involves dissection, probes and enslavement and those are three things that make me extremely cross. So if I were you, I'd leave with your friend here. Unless, of course, you want to go through the rare and extremely embarrassing death by paddle ball."

Trevor gasped when he tightened the tether on Trevor's throat. The Doctor jerked his head up and glared at Charles. Charles took a step back when he saw how dark his eyes had become and he sensed that the Time Lord was more than willing to make good on his threat. He held up his hands while the Doctor continued his grip on the tether.

"Look, mate, we're only doing our jobs, yeah?" Charles said.

"Yeah, I know, and it's because of you doing your jobs that innocent aliens have been brought down, tortured, killed and their technology seized all in the name of homeworld security. Well, this is one alien who won't be easy to enslave and kill. So if I were you, I'd take your friend here and swan off before I take you both apart, piece by piece. Got it?"

He loosened the tether and Trevor gasped when he was able to get a full breath of air. The Doctor pulled the paddle and ball away from him and Trevor gasped when the Doctor shoved him roughly into Charles's arms.

"Go," the Doctor said in a deadly tone of voice, "this is my first and only warning. If you continue to follow and harass us, you do it at your own peril. And be sure to tell Pete that the warning applies to him and to any other worker at Torchwood. If you continue to bother us, I'll raze Canary Wharf and turn it and everything in it into a scrap heap. Now go!"

"Better do as he says," Rose said to them. "Trust me; you don't want to get on his bad side."

Charles tugged on Trevor's jacket.

"Come on, mate, back to base," he said to his friend.

"Yes, back to your work, little humans. Forget you ever saw me," the Doctor said. "And I mean that."

Both men backed up several paces and then turned and quickly headed for the lift. The Doctor and Rose watched them go until they got into the lift. Then the Doctor exhaled and put the paddle and ball back into his trouser pocket.

"Now maybe we can help Suzanne in peace," he said to Rose.

"Actually…" Rose said, poking his arm, "kinda hopin' they'll come back so I can see you kill them with the paddleball."

"Why Rose Tyler, I never knew you were so bloodthirsty," the Doctor said with a wink.

Rose chuckled and followed the Doctor as they walked back towards Suzanne's room.

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