The Story of Sally Armstrong (Doctor Who)

Chapter 9

Sally's mind wandered so much that she found sleep very difficult. She had told herself she would find a way to see if he was real. To see if there was anyway what she had gone through was real. Her mind raced with everything she may be able to look for. But right now she needed to sleep. What good would she be if she didn't? Slamming the bed with both her fists, she gave up on that endeavour and sat up.

It would still be a few hours before Gwen was going to be there. She couldn't wait that long. Then a thought hit her. This was perfect. If she went there before anyone else she would be able to look up exactly what she needed without worried about being caught.

An hour letter she was at one of the computers in there bass. Looking up the ides institute and Dr Harcourt D'Eath. Hours had gone by and her hope begins to fade. Yes, the ides Institute had been there. That was never a question. After all, she had worked there, it was a start. But there was no trace of Harcourt D'Eath anywhere. But he had to be real, she remembered so much. She leaned back in the chair. Feeling dejected in her pursuit.

The Master has to be real. As the thoughts passed through her mind she bolted upright. Of course, how could she be so stupid? Harcourt was never a real person, and of course, he would wipe all traces of that person from existence. With a new sense of enthusiasm, she begins typing away at the keys.

Then her heart sank as she heard voices coming closer. It was Jack and Gwen. Her heart begins to pound. "No, not now, I'm so close." She said under her breath. They were moving fast now. They found out, they knew who she was. There were going to punish her.

"We need to find her now" She could hear Jack screaming at Gwen. They would be there any second now. She watched the screen. The word Master in the search bar. Quickly glancing at the door then back to the monitor. They were right outside the door. "Okay, okay," she whispered to herself. History, a list of everything she had looked up pop up on the screen. Clear, all the work she had done vanished, it was all gone. Quickly hitting shut down as he slammed at the power button, lunging herself into the soft nearby. Maybe she could fake sleeping she thought as the two walked into the room not a half-second after.

"Oh, there she is," Gwen said with a look of relief on her face as she pointed at Sally as she tried to catch her breath. Gwen crouched down beside her, gently placing her hand on her shoulder. "Sally, wake up."

Sally did her best to not show any signs of being out of breath herself. "Oh, good morning." She did her best to seem as though she just woke up.

Gwen looked relieved to see her. "We were so worried about you when you weren't at the hotel."

She thought quickly "I couldn't sleep so I took a walk. I figured I would just go here and wait for you guys. I guess my excitement faded and I fell asleep." She was pleased that Gwen seemed to believe what she was saying.

Jack, on the other hand, he'd stood back watching the two of them. "How did you get in?" He said with his hands folded. "The building is password protected."

If she started lying now he wouldn't trust anything she said. His words flooded her head: "Sometimes the best way to trick someone is, to tell the truth."

"I saw Gwen put the code in yesterday when we got here," she said innocently. "I have a mind like a trap." She tapped at the side of her head as she sat up. She sheepishly smiled at him.

"Okay then," he said, unwrapping his hands before clapping them together. "Let's get to work then." His seemed to relax, but she was still not convinced he trusted her. That was okay, she thought. She would just have to be more careful in the future.

Just as he went to walk away another man walked it. He had been muttering something under his breath, almost in his own world. As he looked up to say something to Gwen his eyes caught a glimpse of Sally. He watched her for a moment before turning to Jack. "Is she the one you told me about?"

"Yes," he said quickly, looking back at them. "Ianto, this is Sally; Sally, Ianto." As he spoke, he notices a concerned look on Ianto's face that made him stop. "What?" He asked impatiently.

He shook his head. "Nothing, it's just..." He hesitated, avoiding Jack's gaze. "It just seems so fast to replace both of them."

"Not really," Jack replied quickly, not liking what he was implying.

"So there are more people who work here, not just you two. Sorry, three."

"Yes," Ianto answered. "There is Dr Scott." He sounded less than impressed with him. Jack gave him a look of disapproval.

"Well, he seems off. I mean, the way he walks around like he always knows something no one else does. Like he thinks he's better than everyone else. Besides, he has dark eyes. "

"Dark eyes?" Sally asked, her voice much higher than intended. "What do you mean, dark eyes?"

"I don't know" Not expecting anyone to question him. "There are intense like he's hiding something or maybe he's evil."

Gwen broke out in laughter "Evil, is he? I can see what you mean by intense, but evil?"

"I said I don't know! It's just a feeling I get from him."

"Intense eyes don't equal evil," Jack interjected with a smile. "Besides, he reminds me of a friend of mine." He paused as if he was thinking about something. "A lot of the things he does reminds me of him." He seemed as if he was lost in the moment finally shaking himself out of it. "Hey, if it wasn't for him we may have not been able to deal with the thing with the kids," Jack said in his defence.

"Yeah yeah, how could I forget? It's not like it was anything we couldn't handle on our own. He barely did anything at all." He did his best not to roll his eyes in annoyance.

"Will he be coming in today?" Sally asked, thinking it would be best to know everyone she was working with.

"Probably not," Jack answered. "He only comes in when we really need him."

"Yeah, he's too good to be here unless it's something that piques his interest."

Ianto looked as if he wanted to say more but stopped when Jack gave him a look. "I need your help with something," Jack said as he turned away. Ianto followed, leaving the girls alone.

"It really is quite boring when nothing is going on," Gwen told her, taking her over to the computers and turning one on. "I'll show you what to do. For the most part, it's just looking at a screen with a bunch of random lines waiting for something to change."

A few hours of this Sally found herself envying this Dr Scott who only came in when there was something interesting to do.