, large and full cloth grocery bags clinging to her arms as she strode across to the kitchen. She felt woozy again. Out of breath. She knelt against the wall as she let the bags sink to the floor and off her arms

"What's wrong with you?" Norman smiled, his round face turned in a sneer. Nancy shot him a glare and pressed the flat of her palm to her forehead.

"I feel sick again. Why do I keep feeling so sick?" She asked out loud, more to herself than anyone.

"Maybe go lie back down darling?" Her father suggested. He was smiling at her. He approached her, rubbing the side of her face sympathetically. She clasped a hand over his, leaning into her fathers touch. He was worried.

"Let me pour you a drink - some water maybe, and then you can go rest again." He offered. "Go upstairs and I'll bring it to you." Nancy nodded slowly, mumbling and agreeing to his offer. She slipped her shoes off by the bottom of the stairs and began to trudge up, placing her palm flat against her forehead. She was warm - no, she was hot. A fever was settling in for sure.

Her father looked to the open door, seeing her mother standing there.

"Where is Nancy?" She asked. He pursed his lips, eyebrows turned upwards in a worried expression.

"Sick." He sighed. "Norman, go to your room please. Let mum and I have a discussion." Norman began to refute before he sternly told him again. Norman took off, dragging his toy behind him. When he was out of sight, he turned back to his wife.

"I don't think Nancy is coping well this time." He looked down. "She hasn't coped well since she, well she got that illness all those centuries ago. Forgot what she was. Why can't we just tell her, my darling?" He asked. Her mother dropped the bags on the counter and shook her head. Black curls bobbed back and forth.

"No." She looked over. "No, no, no. I don't think that's wise. She believes she is human, no? She's believed she was human for centuries. I don't know how she never noticed but, maybe that's part of the anatomical confusion she has. We can't tell her though. She's adapted like a human. Thinks like a human. Feels like a human. If we just told her it would shatter her and we would have a bigger mess on her hands. Humans have that nasty trick they like to pull when they are grief stricken, you know." She reminded him.

He shook his head. "I sent her upstairs to sleep. She was warm. Which is good I suppose, but that consciousness is putting up a fight. We may have the Doctor's influence on that body prior to thank for that." He grumbled. "You just had to pick someone who is with the Doctor."

"Don't." Her mother snapped. Her eyes filled with tears. "You know why I picked her. Because she looked like her."

Nancy, whose back was pressed to the stair cases wall, sucked in a breath. It was caught in her throat. What the hell were they talking about? She was getting sicker and they knew. What did they even mean? She felt her stomach do rolls. The Doctor? She kept hearing that name. She needed to find him. She was sure of it. He had the answers.

__

Nancy had slipped out from the family home when her parents had become preoccupied with something else. They thought she was asleep, locked up in her room. She didn't have much time, but if the Doctor seemingly had invested interest in her then he couldn't be far away.

She had spent an hour now venturing down each end of her street, searching high and low for anything that rung a bell. Nothing of any use turned up. Not that woman, nothing. She had counted her loses and began her walk back home before she was found out and punished. She walked, green eyes on the ground as the leaves brushed over her shoes.

She looked back up, not far from her home.

There it was, that callbox. The one from her dreams. It was here. She felt her breath catch in her throat as she looked left and right. She crossed the street, wasting no time. She raised a hand to knock on the door, and hesitated. She then let her knuckles strike the wood. When no answer came at first, she looked down to walk away. It must've been empty and she was crazy. The door groaned open.

There stood that woman. The one with the red hair, her mouth falling open at the sight of Nancy. Before Nancy had time she snatched her arms, pulling her in and into a tight embrace.

"Oh, Val! Doctor, it's Val! It has to be Val she's came back she knows!-" the woman began to spit out words and proclaims of joy as she rocked their bodies side to side in an embrace. Nancy's eyes shifted towards the man at the console. Unlike his companions, his face was hard and solemn. He knew she wasn't who the woman thought she was.

"Donna." He interjected. "Donna." He said again when she coninuted to talk. She stopped, gripping her arms and looking back to him.

"What?" He nodded towards Nancy. Donna turned, eyes really taking a good look at Nancy. She slowly released her arms, clearing her throat.

"Oh, I, I'm sorry."

"No, it's, it's fine. I'm here for answers." Nancy began, shifting uncomfortable in her stolen skin. The way his eyes sat on her felt heavy - like he had expected it to not be Valarie when she walked in but he was still immensely heartbroken when that expectation was confirmed.

"I overheard my mum and dad, or, whoever they are, talking. About her. That girl, the one you're looking for that looks like just me. I want to know more."

"What do you mean more?" He asked.

"More about, about her. What she's like. And what's going on. If I'm filled in I maybe able to help find her. I feel guilty." Donna opened her mouth to immediately correct her but was stopped by the Doctor. He pulled her to his side, muttering in her hear some instructions that didn't fall on Nancy's ears. She twisted the ring on her hand. She bounced on one knee. Those weren't Nancy's habits, the Doctor knew that. Those were Valarie's. Donna approached her again and took her hands, smiling with pain in it.

"The girl we are, " she looked back to him, "looking for, her name is Valarie Scott. She's our friend." Nancy nodded slowly.

"I knew that much. What was she like?" She asked. Donna's mouth opened, falling slightly slack as she grappled for words.

"She is patient." Donna nodded. She raised a hand jabbing a thumb in the Doctor's direction. "Has to be to have been with him for as long as she has." She laughed lightly, as if it was a fond that that still hurt.

"She is kind." Donna nodded.

"Her favorite music is older." The Doctor interjected, his eyes locked as if in a daze with this woman on his mind. "Rock from the sixties. That bluesy kind of music. Or even those slower, more gentle songs." He smiled to himself. "She likes to dance to it when she's alone. When we're alone."

"Oh!" Donna suddenly added. "She had five siblings. Big, loud, lovely family from what I've heard. She's got nieces and nephews she adores."

Nancy nodded.

"Can I ask a question?" Nancy mumbled.

"Anything." Donna replied.

"Am I.... her?" Nancy had the question bubbling in her throat. The way everyone referred to her made her have her own suspicions. Donna froze, eyes looking to the Doctor.

"Yes." He simply answered, voice low and sorrowful. Nancy nodded. So she was a thief.

"And those dreams I'm having, hazy and strange, are-"

"That's my Val. Her mind locked away within yours. And she's dying Nancy." He looked cold, whole body rigid and eyes unforgiving.

Nancy felt warm tears rolling down her face. She wiped them away.

"I need to go." She mumbled, turning away and trying to leave.

"Where are you going?" Donna called.

"To fix this." Nancy rushed from the box and towards her house again. If it even was her families house. Everything was a lie. She felt like she could vomit.

She slung the door open. She was breaking into a cold sweat.

"Nancy darling-"

"Shut up." She hissed at her mother. She recoiled, trying to scold Nancy who only repeated what she said.

"Nancy, what the hell has gotten into-"

"Who even are you?" She asked her father who entered the kitchen amongst the turmoil.

"What do you mean? What are you talking-"

"I know the truth." She confessed, still crying. "The Doctor told me the truth." Her father recoiled, now repulsed. He quickly left the room with thunderous foot steps. Through the open front door two bodies rushed in.

"Nancy! This isn't the way-!"

"Do you want her back or not!" She yelled at the Doctor. He recoiled, trying to contain his anger at her. When he looked at her he felt a disgusting combination of the warmth Valarie placed in his chest and the disgust that Nancy's kind did.

Her father re-emerged, what looked like a foreign weapon in hand. He waved it around upon seeing the Doctor and Donna.

"Ah! The man and woman of the hour!" He aimed it. "You should've let us be." Nancy pounced on him, a shot firing and striking a lamp as the scuffled. The lamp was vaporized. In the isle Nancy successfully took control of the weapon, now holding it in her own hands and aiming it at her parents.

"Nancy, you will have a life! So many years! So much for you! A life! Don't you want a life-"

"She has a life!" Nancy bellowed. She gripped the side of the chair. Sweat rolled down her forehead and her lips were white. "She has a life." She croaked. Her voice was weak and wavering. "It's unfair." She wobbled on her legs.

"Nancy, think of all the things you'll miss. All the memories-"

"She has memories!" She sobbed. "All of them! They all play through my head when I try to sleep and now that I know I'm watching someone's life who I'm stealing away I feel responsible!"

"Her life can't be as-" her mother pursed her lips.

"Her life is much more. She's seen things, mother. Planets, people, stars, history. She's seen so much and been through so much." She rolled her head against the way before letting it drop.

"But," her mother's lip quivered. "But you're my daughter."

"And she is someone's daughter. Someone's daughter like me. She's someone's sister as well, someone's aunt, someone's grandchild. She's someone's friend. And all she dreams about is them. Her family, she misses them so." Her head rolled toward the Doctor and Donna. "She dreams of them. Of the memories they made. Oh, that emotion again." She swallowed, hand clutching her shirt in the middle of her chest. "That feeling again. For the last week, I've had such strange dreams. Strange dreams, and wants. I wanted so much and felt like I was missing something - I now realize that was her. I was feeling what Valarie felt and I was wanting what Valarie wanted. I'm feeling her heartbreak over missing someone I don't even know." Nancy laughed.

"Don't say her name." Her father hissed. "Just let her go, Nancy. That's all you need to do!" he yelled. "Let her go! We've already burned her out, the only thing keeping her in your head is you! If you don't let her go this will be so much more painful to adjust to, my darling."

"Nancy," The Doctor raised his hand. "You don't have to listen to them." Nancy watched him closely. "This is you. They don't get to decide what happens to you or Valarie right now. That isn't even in my control. It's in your hands. It's your fate." The Doctor could see the guilt in Nancy's eyes. The conflict. "Just know, you're choice affects you and the person you share that body with." He felt sure his words hit her, as her eyes welted with tears and she screwed them tightly shut. She placed her head against the wall.

"Nancy, if you let her go you won't be sick anymore-"

"Sick?" She laughed. "This isn't half of it! You aren't in here with her!" She tapped the side of her head violently as she seemed to become delirious. "She's screaming, mother. You are right, I am the only thing holding onto her because she is so weak she can't hold onto me anymore. And it hurts, so so bad!" She dropped her head.

"She's screaming!" It was unbearable to watch. This woman wasn't Valarie, but she looked like her, talked like her, sounded like her, cried like her. She raised her face, eyes full of animalistic rage. "This is your fault." She stumbled forward, hand raking over the table swiftly and snatching the weapon up. She aimed it.

"The people you stole." She grunted. "How long ago, did the family you steal from die?" She cocked her head at no reply. "Tell me!" She screamed. "When did you snuff and burn them out!"

"Months ago." Nancy recoiled in disgust. She stumbled back and waved the weapon disorientely.

"You didn't even try did you? They are so close to the surface before you kill them! I mean, I think I could just relax and let her speak. It's so easy. But you didn't even try!"

"They are worthless!" Her father was red in the face. Nancy's fingers curled around the weapon. Valarie Scott may not be a killer, but Nancy seemed to have it within her in that moment. During his screaming, she fired the weapon. Her father stood before her one moment, and the next he was gone.

Her mother began to wail, screaming out threats. When the threats turned from Nancy but to the Doctor and Donna she fired again. Her mother was gone as well. In moments Nancy had murdered her own parents without thinking much on it. All for someone she had never met. She swallowed harshly and began swaying ever so lightly, dropping the weapon onto the floor. The Doctor and Donna watched on.

Tears rolled down her face and the green in her eyes shined again, casting a faint light. The light swirled and danced in her eyes, with a now returning grey. There was a conversation in her, that only the two girls in that body could hear. She smiled. Within her mind, where no one could hear, Valarie thanked her. She weakly thanked her.

"You are so very welcome."

Nancy sighed, knees buckling and slumping to the ground. She rolled onto her side and laid still. The Doctor and Donna scrambled on their knees to her. The Doctor grabbed her body, rolled her onto her back on his knees, and cradled her head to his chest.

"Val, Val." He grabbed the side of her face - it was wet and burning to the touch. He watched her chest for a rise and fall that never came. "You can't do this, not now Val."

"Valarie please." Donna bit her lip, tears in her eyes. No movement came from Valarie's body. The Doctor had begun to rock back and forth, teeth-baring as he pulled her head closer. He was suddenly absorbing every detail of her face. He rubbed the hair sticking to her forehead off her face. She was dead weight and beginning to cool. He felt like he could explode - the sadness and rage already building to a massive extent in his chest.

Here his starry-eyed girl laid dead in his arms and he blamed himself. It was his fault. No, it was everyone else's fault. No, it was his. He wrestled with the blame and he squeezed his eyes shut. He couldn't think of anything but her face the first time she saw the inside of the TARDIS. How happy she was, and how he promised to show her whatever she had wished for. And how she loved him so much and he knew it, and he should have shown her how he felt more. He fell emotionally somewhere between tearing the universe apart and just locking himself in the TARDIS to rot.

Thump-Thump.

Thud-Thud.

Thump-Thump.

Thud-Thud.

The first thing Valarie heard coming too was the sound of two hearts racing. She felt dizzy and unbelievably weak. She struggled to even open her eyes. Her first breath was shallow, and when she exhaled she swore she saw a green vapor escape her lips. She began to sputter and cough once she realized there was no air in her lungs. The Doctor picked his head up that he had dropped onto her forehead. He watched her cough and try to catch a breath, eyes squeezed shut.

"Val?" He asked. Her eyes squinted open. Grey. Beautifully grey. She was breathing again, shakily, but breathing. He sighed, and hugged her to him even tighter. Donna wiggled over and joined in on the other side of her body. They both hugged her so tightly. Donna began to laugh slightly. Valarie rolled her head away from his chest and looked at Donna.

"Were you crying?" She asked, voice hoarse.

"Oh, shut it." She laughed.

___