The One Who Pulls The Strings (Doctor Who Regenerated)

Sweet Reunions and Sour Regeneration

(Marigold's POV)

I woke with a start. Partially because of the nightmare I'd been having about animals attacking us and Alastiere dying, and partially because of my sister screaming in the other room. I jumped out of my bed and booked it down the hall, terrified. What could possibly be happening now??

   I slammed into the doorframe where all the commotion was coming from. This isn't her room... Oh, she snuck into Alastiere's room.

   The bed which Harmony and Alastiere were on was surrounded by the Doctor, Haven, and some of those Gallifreyan doctors and nurses.

   Haven ended up getting pushed back, and I saw a look of fear and worry plastered on her face. "Harmony, please calm down! Please calm down!"

   Now the Doctor stepped back, holding a panting and slightly protesting Harmony in his arms. "It's ok! It's ok."

   Her eyes were still wide, but she finally went limp, then wrapped her arms around the Doctor's neck, crying.

   The Doctor and Haven exchanged worried glances.

   I stepped toward my sister, but was shoved aside by another doctor before I could reach her.

   He looked peeved. "Young lady, not only did you detach yourself from your monitors, but you could have—"

   "Oi!" The Doctor snapped. "Would you be so kind as to deal with her gently?"

   The other doctor shot him a look. "Don't tell me how to handle my patients. What she did was stupid, and she could have caused—"

   "Hey!" I stepped up to the jerk, narrowing my eyes at him, even though he towered over me.

   He glared back.

   "Don't call my sister stupid. I don't know if you haven't noticed, but clearly we've all been through a lot just yesterday."

   Shooting a final glare between me and the Doctor, the physician turned and began checking over Alastiere's monitors.

   The Doctor looked down at my wounded, scared sister. "Harmony," he said in almost a whisper, "I'm going to take you back to your room now. You must be hooked up to your monitors—"

   Harmony was shaking her head furiously. "No, no, please," she whimpered. "I want to stay with Alastiere, please. Let me stay."

   I frowned, feeling my throat choke up. My older sister looked so... fragile right now, and I didn't know what to do.

   The Doctor sighed. "Well, I suppose we could set up your bed in here. But you have to stay in your bed, understood? I know you're not familiar with all this, but Alastiere is in an unstable state right now. At any moment he could—"

   A loud gasp startled all of us.

   I jumped, turning around.

   Alastiere had sat up abruptly in bed, brown hair askew and eyes wild. Some of the yellow glow-y stuff escaped from his mouth, drifting into the air and vanishing. He glanced around, his eyes landing on me. A huge smile spread across his face.

   My heart pounded.

   "Mari! Who are they?" He motioned to the other doctors in the room.

   I blinked. "Uh—um, they're, uh, the Gallifrey.. doctors.. um, how are you feeling—"

   "I'm starving." The new Alastiere threw his bed sheet off himself, slipping off the bed. He stopped when he noticed the IV and monitor attached to him.