Chapter Eighteen

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"Here they are!" the Doctor holds his hand up, waving at Rory, who has appeared in the doorway on his own, a frightened look in his eye

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"Here they are!" the Doctor holds his hand up, waving at Rory, who has appeared in the doorway on his own, a frightened look in his eye. Amy jumps to her feet, grinning at her fiancé, who awkwardly waves back at them, slowly trudging into the room. He hangs back by the door, sending them a regretful look.

"Mum!" Elliot, Mo's little boy, yells when he sees the lady in the pink coat behind Rory. He runs to her, and she wraps him into a motherly embrace, kissing his head shakily as she holds onto him tightly. Cherry can't help but smile at the scene of the mother and son reuniting, and she rests her head against the Doctor's shoulder, standing beside him with her arms crossed.

"Rory!" Amy waves at him, and she's about to run up to him when Tony follows Rory and the mother into the room, carrying an oddly shaped red blanket. The Doctor's face falls, and Cherry's heart sinks when she notices that the blanket seems to be concealing a body, and then she notices the absence of Alaya, whom the Doctor had told her they'd been keeping as a hostage.

"Something's wrong," the Doctor whispers.

"Doctor, what's he carrying?" Amy questions, studying the blanket quizzically. The Doctor moves forward, his brow furrowing as Tony strains to carry the body into the middle of the room.

"No! Don't do this!" the Doctor says loudly, his voice echoing through the room. "Tell me you didn't do this."

Tony lays the body on the floor, and the Doctor exhales sharply, crouching before it and lifting the blanket off of the corpse. Underneath the blanket is Alaya, their hostage, their way out of this city, and with that, any of Cherry's hope for the humans and homo-reptilians to live peacefully amongst each other. But more importantly, a life has been stolen away from Alaya. The Doctor covers her again, and then he takes a deep breath to try and stay calm, looking up at Tony, Ambrose, and Rory. Tony looks down at the body in shame.

"What did you do?" the Doctor demands, staring at Tony, who seems to be carrying the most guilt of the group, but Ambrose is the one who speaks up, her hand resting on her son's shoulder.

"It was me," she admits. "I did it."

"Mum?" Elliot turns to her slowly, pulling back from her hands.

"I just wanted you back," Ambrose explains herself to her son, but Elliot pushes her away and rushes back to the comfort of his father.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know. You have to believe me. They're better than this," the Doctor tells Eldane in a quiet voice, pleading with the lizard to see beyond what has happened to Alaya.

"This is our planet!" Ambrose shouts out, and the Doctor turns to her sharply.

"We had a chance here!" he tells her, letting her know that she has single-handedly ruined any chance of the relationship Cherry, Amy, and Nasreen have been building up with Eldane.

"Leave us alone!" Ambrose carries on, and Cherry sighs, shaking her head at the woman.

"In future, when you talk about this, you tell people there was a chance, but you were so much less than the best of humanity," the Doctor shouts in Ambrose's face, unable to control his anger, and for once, Cherry doesn't want to calm him down. She's just as angry as he is at that moment.

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