Living In Time And Space (Book Six of The Bad Wolf Chronicles)

Fire

I will say nothing except some of you who didn't see this coming will want to recheck an earlier time.

You'll understand.

***

Amy was walking through the TARDIS when she heard a retching sound coming from one of the restrooms. She paused, then backtracked and knocked on the door. "All right in there?" she asked.

" . . . moment," the Bad Wolf called.

Amy's eyes widened, and she quickly stepped inside to see the Bad Wolf wiping her mouth with a rag and flushing the toilet. "Oh, my God, are you all right?" she asked, running up to her.

"No," the Time Lady admitted, her face nearly ashen gray.

"Come on," Amy ordered, taking her hand and lightly tugging her. "We're going."

"Where?"

"To find the Doctor."

"I know where he is, and we're not going there."

"Why not?"

She sighed. "Because he's not in good shape, either."

***

"I just don't understand this," Rory sighed, scratching his head and going over everything the Doctor had told him, the Time Lord sitting slumped, his head in his hands. "First the Bad Wolf starts feeling off, and now suddenly you are, too, with the exact same issues."

"Yes," the Doctor answered shortly.

Rory turned to face him, folding his arms. "Is there something I should know?"

"Know?" the Doctor blinked, then scoffed. "No, no, no, there is absolutely nothing you should know." Rory raised an eyebrow, and the Doctor sighed. "Oh . . . fine."

***

"It's not the blood bond," Jessie told Amy as they sat on Amy's old bed, both of them holding hot mugs of tea. "I know that. It's what we call the marriage. Odin performed the ceremony for us, but the blood bond was what sealed it. We regenerate together, we die together, we do everything together. We literally cannot live without the other person."

"Well, you're together right now, and neither of you are dying," Amy shook her head. "So I don't think it's that, either. What else could it be?"

Jessie was quiet. "Something much, much worse," she said.

***

"I think it's the Metacrisis."

Rory blinked. "Sorry, the what?"

"It's something that happened during the Dalek invasion a few years back," the Doctor explained, wincing when Rory checked his temperature. "Jez was dying, and I made sure she didn't . . . for a price."

"What exactly was the price?" Rory asked, wincing as well.

The Time Lord was burning up.

***

"If we're separated across long distances from a long period of time, our minds start to burn up," Jessie explained, Amy's eyes widening. "In other words, we die with no chance of regeneration."

"But you're in the TARDIS, together, nearly every second of every day," Amy frowned. "Why would this . . . Metacrisis thing be acting up?"

"That's what worries me," Jessie sighed.

***

"It shouldn't be doing this," the Doctor told Rory. "But when Jez started getting sick, and then I started getting the migraines, it had to be something."

"Not a Time Lord bug or anything?" Rory asked dryly.

"No," the Doctor shook his head.

"But why is it doing this, then?"

The Doctor paused. "I have absolutely no idea," he answered. "And it scares. It really scares me."

***

"Then we hope it's nothing," Amy told Jessie. "Rory and FitzSimmons and me, we won't let you burn up."

"Thanks," Jessie smiled.

"Of course," Amy nudged her. "Isn't that what friends are for?"

***

Thank you to those of you who did not blurt it out and kept it all secret. Who DIDN'T guess that the culprit was the Metacrisis? Sallymaria101 knew it right away. If anyone needs a refresher, you know where to look. ;) "Journey's End."

And I think you all now know the answer as to why this is happening, yeah? Do they?

Well, we'll find out soon! I'm already working on "The Rebel Flesh," so stay tuned!