Doctor Who: Triptych 10/10
"Settle down, Spaceman," Donna gritted out. "I'm fine. It's not putting anything inside my body - it's reading my biorhythms."
They waited for a long few moments, then lights began to flare all over the console. Donna cried out in triumph and stood up, pulling a kerchief from her pocket and pressing it to the wound.
Slowly, the lights faded into a normal pattern and there was a distinct "clack" as the now-inert booby trap disengaged and fell to the ground.
Donna scooped it up while the Doctor and Benton ran to the console, checking systems one after the other. She carried the booby trap over to the Brigadier and held it up with a grin. "There we are. All sorted."
"How did you-" he gasped.
"It was keyed to the Doctor. To his specific brainwaves combined with a male physiology, since he has never regenerated female and probably never will. When it found Gallifreyan brainwaves that were slightly different than the Doctor's and a female physiology - it assumed the Time Lords had come for the Doctor, and there was no need for the trap to be sprung at all."
The Brigadier nodded slowly. "So what was it going to do?"
"Near as I could figure," Donna said slowly, "It already did it. It was to blow the Doctor's brainwaves away from his body and into the TARDIS console, then activate a protocol to notify the Time Lords so they could come get him."
The Doctor looked up. "But when it blew them away, Benton was in the TARDIS --'
"Touching me," Benton slowly said."Trying to shove me out of the way of the explosion. So that's why my brainwaves overwrote his. He was the closest sentient thing, not the heart of the TARDIS."
The Brigadier's eyes went wide. "He was the what?"
Donna waved a hand. "Don't worry about it, Brigadier. The Old Girl loves the Doctor as much as we do."
With a snort, he shook his head. "Somehow, that makes me feel only marginally better."
Benton suddenly cried out, both hands going to his head as his knees buckled again. The Doctor caught him and eased him to the floor.
The Brigadier activated the communications. "Brigadier to Infirmary. Doctor Sullivan, how is the Doctor doing?"
"Hello, old chap!" the merry voice of the Doctor's second self replied. "The seizures have eased and the medicine man is employing his bones and rattles---"
"Oi!" Harry bellowed.
Donna laughed. "I like him!"
The second Doctor's voice returned, "And his brainwaves are steadily rising. Further than before. What happened in there?"
"It was booby trapped," the Doctor said. "And we took care of it."
"Right, then!" the second Doctor laughed. "So we'll make certain everything is---" His voice abruptly cut off.
"Doctor?" the Brigadier snapped. "Doctor, what is it? Doctor?"
Through the comm came a voice Donna had never heard, but brought broad smiles to everyone else, including a very tired looking Benton.
"Next time, Sergeant...Let me take the face full of explosion."
Benton chuckled. "Never gonna happen, Doc. Never gonna happen."
~*~
Forty-eight hours later, the second Doctor and Jamie said their goodbyes. The Doctor and Donna both laughed softly as Jamie walked into the TARDIS munching on a sandwich.
They shared hugs and teasing goodbyes, and they stood side by side watching the third TARDIS fade into thin air. "Well," Donna grinned. "That was a strange feeling, seeing another you."
"Not done yet," the Doctor said as they walked into a second white-walled TARDIS. "Oi," he said gently. "How are you doing?"
"I'm good," the silver-haired third Doctor smiled at him. "I'm very good. I sincerely doubt I'll be sleeping much for weeks, however. I certainly got enough of it!" He licked his lips. "All joking aside - I owe you my thanks. If it wasn't for your having a Time Lady as an Associate---"
Donna shook her head. "Think nothing of it. We're just glad you're up on your feet again." She looked around. "Where's Benton?"
"The Brigadier's taken him home," the third Doctor said with a sigh. "Hopefully he's getting some sleep! Being me is exhausting when I do it, I shudder to think of how he's feeling now!" He looked up at them. "The little fellow got away easy, I'm assuming."
Donna nodded. "I've left the console in the same shape it was in before the explosion - minus the booby trap. So, though you won't remember this well, you'll be safe from any more surprises."
The silver-haired Doctor looked over at her. "How can you be certain our people didn't leave more nasty surprises in there?"
The Doctor walked over and patted the console. "Because we checked it out. There was just the one. I suppose they figured it would be enough of a deterrent to permanently stop you."
His younger self shook his head. "They still haven't figured me out."
"Is it a comfort to know they never do?"
The Doctors shared a smile, then the younger one sighed. "I need to get some rest myself. It's been...."
"Yeah," the Doctor said, clapping him on the shoulder. "It's been."
Donna hugged the taller Doctor, then both gingers left his TARDIS and walked into their own. Donna's nose wrinkled. "What a mess!"
"Yeah, looks like we've got some work to do," the Doctor sighed. He moved to the console. "I'll get us taken off, then. We can do the repairs in the Vortex and I don't want to stick around here any longer than I have to."
As the engine noise faded to the background, Donna said, "You know - I could see traces of them in you. Underneath it all, it's clear you're the same person. The core of what makes you you-- well, it's there in them."
The Doctor looked at her and grinned. "I don't know whether to be flattered or mildly insulted!"
"I'll give you insulted, you...." She shook her head. "Let's hurry and get this Girl fixed. We've still a holiday to plan!"
"Late sixties London!" he grinned. "I remember! Let's get to work, then!"
Back at UNIT, John Benton resumed his career as a soldier, with no visible ill effects of carrying the Doctor in his head for weeks. But there were moments that the Brigadier would catch, things that Benton himself seemed unaware of.
There would be a look in his eye, a turn of phrase, an understanding of scientific things that he didn't seem to have had before. Benton seemed totally unaware of these, at peace with himself.
But the Brigadier would wonder if he was well and truly all Benton again. And the Doctor was no help - unable to remember it had ever happened.
Sometimes, in the quiet of his home, the Brigadier would wonder if this was what the Doctor felt like dealing with human beings day in and day out - having knowledge they didn't possess and with no way of proving the knowledge was real.
It was enough to drive a man to drink.
END