You Must Give In Order To Receive
By Maggie The Kitten

by Haiti

Chapter 6
Rescue and Regeneration

Once the Tardis landed, the Doctor and Rose stepped into the darkness of the Beltarian home world. The Doctor used his sonic screwdriver like a torch and held it out before him.

“Doctor! I see something,” Rose pointed to a tiny light in the distance. “Do you think it could be Maggie?”

“It could be anything … but it’s the only lead we’ve got.”

The Doctor grabbed Rose’s hand and the pair ran toward the light, hoping their time and their luck would not run out before they found their friend.

As they finally reached the source of the light, their luck was still holding. There on a metallic slab beneath a clear glass dome lay Maggie. Her clothes, her wig and her many layers of padding lay discarded on the floor. A green gown partially covered her nude body. To the right of her were trays with tools and devices that neither the Doctor nor Rose had seen before. None of the tools appeared blood stained, and there was no huge gash in Maggie’s chest, but there were two tubes leading from a machine to each of her wrists. One tube appeared to have precious life giving blood coming from Maggie’s body; the other had an unknown green liquid flowing to her body.

The Doctor’s hearts sank when saw the tubes. Whatever the Beltarians were pumping into her, he knew Maggie’s life was being pumped out of her. The question was, had they got there in time to stop the fluid exchange and save her life?

“Oh Doctor!” Rose cried as she put her hand over her mouth, “What have they done to her?”

The Doctor looked up and down the glass that enclosed Maggie, “Hopefully nothing we can’t undo, provided Locutus gives us the time to undo it.”

He listened for sound of the booming voice they’d heard earlier, but all was quiet and dark. No doubt the faux Borg threat still had the Beltarian’s undivided attention, but he knew they were all living on borrowed time.

“C’mon Rose, that loop will only last for so long. We need to get Maggie back to the Tardis and us out of here before a commercial from Boots the Chemist gives the game away.”

The Doctor examined the glass prison that held Maggie and scratched his head. “Probably operated on some sort of sound frequency I’d say.”

The Doctor adjusted his screwdriver and pointed it at the glass. When nothing happened, he calibrated and tried again. The result was the same.

Rose examined the glass and tapped it to test its strength. Almost immediately it disintegrated in a shower of sparkles. “Guess I don’t know my own strength,” she quipped with a giggle.

“Time to wake up Sleeping Beauty?” the Doctor gently coaxed Maggie as he removed the pair of tubes.

When she did not stir, he grabbed her hand and then examined her eyes.

Rose trembled, “Oh Doctor, please say she’s not … not”

“Dead?” he finished for her as he laid two fingers on her throat, “No … she’s alive … but unconscious. I can’t tell more until we get her back to the Tardis.”

Maggie was tall, but thankfully quite thin sans all her faux female curves. The Doctor was able to lift her off the table and into his arms. With Rose leading the way, the trio made good time back to the Tardis.

Once inside, the Doctor laid Maggie on the sofa. Rose stayed at her side while the Doctor went to the control panel and engaged the engine. He didn’t even take time to set the destination. It didn’t really matter as long as it was as far away from Beltarian space as possible.

The Doctor breathed a sigh of relief as he watched the star system slowly disappear from view. Once safe, he disengaged the loop feed circuit and Locutus was once again assimilated into the Tardis Computer.

He smiled for a moment, thinking of the merry chase he’d led the Beltarians on and how unamused they must be. “For Gene Roddenberry’s sake, I hope he never comes in contact with the Beltarians. They’ll crucify him!”

Rose shouted, “Doctor! It’s Maggie I think she’s coming round.”

The Doctor was quickly at Rose’s side. He dropped to one knee and closely examined his patient.

“Well …it’s about time you’re awake,” the Doctor gently teased. “I was beginning to think you were going to sleep through Christmas.”

Maggie’s eyes fluttered and a weak smile turned at her lips. “You know I wouldn’t miss the pudding.”

The smile however was short lived, as Maggie began coughing and green fluid trickled from the corners of her mouth. The Doctor pulled a handkerchief from his coat pocket and gently wiped it away.

Maggie’s eyes closed again and the coughing eventually subsided. She didn’t see the look of concern on the Doctor’s face, but Rose did, and her eyes began to mist, too.

The Doctor and Rose watched as Maggie’s naturally pale skin slowly began to turn to a light shade of green. Whatever that Beltarian fluid was, it seemed to be coursing through Maggie’s veins and spreading rapidly through her body. He vaguely remember seeing traces of a dried green substance on the first Time Lord to make contact. It tested as benign on Galafreyan physiology, but obviously the effect was quite different on humans.

“Doctor … what’s happening to her?”

The Time Lord rubbed Maggie’s hand and checked the colour of her nails. He shook his head. “This is acting as an extremely aggressive toxin to her system. Once enough of it enters the system it appears to destroy red blood cells and probably mutate existing structures. I’m not sure how this aids the Beltarians in getting information for their full evaluation but it’s almost certainly fatal to the patient.”

Rose wiped a tear from her eye. “Can’t you do something Doctor? There must be some way to help her.”

The Doctor dropped his head, “Perhaps if I had the time Rose … I might be able to come up with an antidote for this poison, but …it’s progressing too quickly. I … I just don’t have the time, and neither does Maggie. I’m so sorry.”

Maggie’s body began to tremble and Rose slipped down beside her. She pulled her friend close and rocked her in her arms.

Rose gently ran her fingers through Maggie’s thinning hair as her tears fell freely.

“Oh Maggie …why did you do it? Why did you sacrifice yourself?”

Rose hadn’t really expected a response, but a voice barely above a whisper answered her. “Because I was going to give my life for nothing when you and the Doctor found me. At least now … now I’ve given it for something, and for two special someone’s.”

The Doctor laid a hand on Maggie’s shoulder, “Just rest, my lady, rest.”

“Rose?” Maggie’s voice was now a soft whisper.

“Yes Mags, I’m still here. I won’t leave you.”

“I … I just wish I could … could have come home with you for Christmas. I so … so wanted to see your London … so wanted … wanted to be free … to be me.” Maggie left out a heavy sigh and went limp.

“Oh Maggie,” Rose cried as she continued to hold her tight.

The Doctor placed two fingers on Maggie’s throat. “She’s still alive, but I can barely feel a pulse.”

He gently eased Rose out from under Maggie, softly laying her head on the sofa cushion. “There’s nothing more we can do for her now Rose except try to keep her comfortable.”

Rose turned away and wiped the tears from her cheeks. When she turned back there was anger in her eyes and her voice. “It’s not fair, Doctor! She didn’t deserve this! I can’t believe it was meant for us to save her from killing herself, only for her to die hours later to save us.”

The Doctor sought to calm his distraught companion, “Rose …”

Rose however wasn’t having it. “No, Doctor! … this isn’t right! This isn’t the way it’s supposed to go. I just know it.”

“And how should it go?”

Rose threw up her hands in frustration. “I don’t know, exactly … but I know Maggie shouldn’t die like this. There is something we should be able to do or … or maybe this high and mighty White Guardian of yours can do, but I know Maggie isn’t supposed to die, Doctor. I KNOW IT!”

The Doctor took Rose by the arm, looking deep into her eyes. What he was searching for, he wasn’t sure. “Rose … this is important. Tell me … tell me how do you know this”.

Rose looked over at her dying friend and then back at the Doctor. “I … I don’t know how I know. I just know.” She looked pleadingly at the man she loved and trusted above all others, “You’re the Doctor. You never quit. You never give up. If anyone can save her, it’s you, and I know as sure as I am standing here, that she is supposed to be saved. She has to be saved, and you have to do whatever it takes to save her. Doctor, please!”

The Doctor knew Rose’s words weren’t just compassion for a dying soul or guilt that the soul had died to save her. There was more to it. He didn’t understand it anymore than Rose did, but he believed it. Maggie wasn’t supposed to die. The question now became, “How could he save her?”

He turned away from Rose without speaking and walked the length of the control room. When he reached the doors to the kitchen he stopped and turned round to face Rose. “There is one possible way, but it’s never been done before with a human, so there’s no way to be sure exactly how her body will react.”

Rose ran to him and gave him a hug.

“Chances are this cure will kill her as sure as the Beltarian poison.”

“Doctor,” Rose said calmly.

“I only have a theory to work from mind you. It may not eradicate the toxin.”

“Doctor,” she repeated.

“I’ll have to guess at the mixture, and I’ll need your help.”

“Doctor,” she said a little louder and a little less calmly.

“It’s strictly forbidden by the Council of Galafrey.”

“Doctor!” she shouted. “Just get on with it!”

The Doctor nodded and smiled, “Right … and besides being the last Time Lord means I can hardly be tried for breaking the rules by a jury of my peers, eh?”

The Doctor wasted no more time. “Rose, go the mantle above the fireplace and bring me the box with the red velvet covering.”

Rose did as she was told while the Doctor went to Maggie’s side to check her condition. She was still alive, but fading fast. It truly was now or never if he was going to save her.

Returning, Rose handed him the box. When he opened it, she saw a syringe and two needles. The Doctor attached one syringe to the needle and then turned to her. “I’m going to fill this syringe about one third of the way with my blood in the hopes that its natural regenerative powers might counteract the Beltarian poison and restore Maggie’s body to a healthy condition once again.”

“That sounds like a plan, Doctor, but why only fill the syringe one third full? Are you sure that’s enough?”

The Doctor shook his head. “No Rose, I’m not sure. It’s just as I told you. This has never been done before with a human. I have no way of knowing a safe amount. Too little of my blood, and there’s no chance it will eradicate the poison. Too much of my blood and it will throw her system into shock and kill her just as surely.”

She nodded her understanding, “You said you needed my help?”

“Yes I do, or more accurately, I need your blood to fill the remaining two thirds of the syringe. My blood alone would be incompatible with a human; therefore it needs to be mixed with a proper amount of healthy human blood. What I hope will happen, is that my blood and its regenerative powers will bond with your blood to make it sort of human blood with an attitude, you might say. If successful, it will kill the poison without killing the patient, and regenerate the body, possibly drawing upon elements of your healthy DNA to replace any of Maggie’s it cannot regenerate .”

“And if this doesn’t work?”

“Then she dies. There isn’t time to try anything else, and there isn’t time to think it over. It’s now or never.”

She wasted no time in pushing up the sleeve on her right arm. The Doctor smiled at his companion as he removed his coat and did the same with his sleeve. Finding a friendly vein, he put the needle in and filled the vial to one third. Rose watched the blood go into the vial. She’d never seen Time Lord blood before. If she was expecting something out of the ordinary like tiny sparkles, or a rainbow of colours, she was disappointed. For all practical purposes it looked identical to human red blood.

She offered her arm and the Doctor found her vein and filled the vial the rest of the way up.

“How long before we know if it works?”

The Doctor tapped Maggie’s arm, trying to raise a solid vein. “It shouldn’t take long. It had better not take long. Maggie doesn’t have much time.”

Maggie had no reaction when he put the needle into her arm. Rose said a silent prayer as she watched the vial empty.

The Doctor removed the needle. “Now we wait.”

The Doctor monitored Maggie’s almost nonexistent pulse while Rose sat on the floor next to the sofa, holding Maggie’s hand and talking to her about London and all the things she would show her when they got there.

Nearly five minutes after the injection, Maggie’s body went into convulsions.

“What’s going on, Doctor? Is it working?”

The Doctor tried to steady Maggie on the couch. “I … I don’t know. Something’s happening, but exactly what I have no way of knowing.”

The Doctor and Rose watched helplessly as the convulsions racked Maggie’s body for nearly a minute before finally settling down to a gentle tremor. Sweat broke out on her body.

The Doctor placed his hand on her forehead. “She’s on fire. I wish I knew if that was a good sign or bad.”

“Look Doctor!” Rose shouted as she pointed to the hand she was holding, “The green is fading. It’s working.”

The green was fading. It was pulling back from Maggie’s fingertips and toes, slowly retracing the way it had spread earlier.

A few more minutes passed and Maggie’s skin was its normal pale colour; however her temperature continued to rise.

“If she gets much hotter her blood will boil.”

“Isn’t there something we can do to cool her down?”

The Doctor shook his head. “We could pack her in ice, but I doubt if it would really cool her. It’s my Galafreyan blood. Perhaps I should have gone with a one fourth mix instead of the one third. I think I might have given your blood a bit too much attitude.”

Maggie’s temp continued to run dangerously high, and waves of tremors came regularly. Rose was tempted to ask the Doctor if this was supposed to be happening, or if it was normal, but she knew she’d get the same response. He had no idea. All she could do was wait and pray.

About ten minutes after Maggie’s temperature peaked, a golden glow came first to her cheeks and then begin to spread all over her body. As it spread, it begin to grow in intensity.

Both the Doctor and Rose noticed instantly. The Doctor immediately checked her vitals for any clue as to the origin of this latest development. “Hmm … that’s odd,” the Doctor commented as he checked Maggie’s eyes and then her heartbeat.

“If I didn’t know better,” he stopped in mid-sentence. “No …she can’t be. That’s not possible.”

“What Doctor! What’s not possible?”

“She’s showing all the signs of regeneration.”

Rose gave him a puzzled look, “But … I thought that’s what she was supposed to be doing.”

The Doctor shook his head as he checked Maggie’s pulse again, “Yes … repair, regenerate, possibly replace some of the cells, but she is showing signs of a far more intense reaction. It’s almost reminiscent of the initial stages of a …”

The golden glow that had covered Maggie’s body suddenly spiked in intensity and the convulsions started once again. The Doctor grabbed Rose’s arm and pulled her away from Maggie.

“Stand back, Rose! She’s regenerating.”

The pair watched, arms unknowingly going around each other, as the Maggie they knew was totally engulfed in golden light. It took nearly thirty seconds for the light to finally fade and them to see her once again. When they finally did, they could scarcely believe their eyes.

A good ten to fifteen years had melted away from Maggie, but there were also other changes aside from the rejuvenation. It appeared bone structure had shifted and given her a more feminine form. Her face was still basically the same, only younger, and more feminine looking.

Rose stared in disbelief. The Doctor shook his head in amazement. “She’s regenerated …but on a far grander scale than I dreamed possible. The signs were there, but I didn’t dare think.”

“What Doctor? What is happening to Maggie?”

“Look at her, Rose … our blood serum isn’t just repairing her existing structure, it’s actually changing it. She’s regenerating the same as if … as if”

Rose stared wide-eyed at comatose Maggie, “She was a Time Lord … or in her case, would that be Time Lady?”

The Doctor didn’t have a chance to answer before the golden glow returned once again, as did the convulsions and they watched as Maggie’s body continued to change.

Thirty seconds later she was visible again and just like the first time, more years had melted away and she looked less and less like the Maggie they’d met on London Bridge.

“Blimey!” Rose said as she stared in disbelief, “She looks so young, Doctor. If I didn’t know better I’d say she’s younger than me.”

The Doctor looked at the teenager sleeping on the sofa and then at Rose and then back to Maggie again.

“My God, it’s incredible! But of course! It makes perfect sense. She had to draw from you, your genetic make up, for such a change to be possible.”

“Doctor, what on Earth are you going on about?”

The Doctor pointed at Maggie’s face. “Look Rose … tell me if you see anything familiar there. You should. You’ve seen a variation of that face about a million times in your mirror.”

Rose took a second longer look at Maggie and then gasped, “Oh wow … she does sort of look a little like me. Sort of like a … a ...”

“Younger sister, almost?”

“Yeah .. but how is that possible?”

“Your blood, Rose …it’s rewriting her DNA, and casting her in a variation of your mould. A bit like a sister, or possibly even a daughter.”

Rose looked at the young woman lying on the sofa and had to admit that had she not known it was Maggie before the change, she certainly wouldn’t have known it was her afterwards. Rose had been an only child, but again she had to agree with the Doctor, there were hints of features on Maggie’s face that made her look like the sister Rose had always wanted and never had.

“I can’t get over how much like a girl she looks now,” Rose said, noting Maggie’s dark blonde hair was now thick and shoulder length. And despite the fact that her body was pretty much concealed by the green cover the Doctor had carried her in with; it was obvious there were natural curves forming where Maggie had once worn pads to create the same look.

“Thanks to you Rose, Maggie is becoming a genetic girl. Your lovely little XX chromosomes are knocking her weakened and mutated XY’s for six. Just as if you’d been a genetic male, your healthy XY’s would have bolstered her weakened ones, and Maggie would have taken on some of the physical characteristics of a brother or a son.”

“So what you’re saying is that it was lucky for Maggie that I am a girl.”

The Doctor smiled slyly at his lovely companion, “I think it’s lucky for the whole male population of Earth you’re a girl, Rose.”

Rose blushed but she didn’t get much time to enjoy the compliment. The golden glow and convulsions returned for a third round.

“Ummm … Doctor just how many times is she going to regenerate? If this keeps up, Maggie’s going to be in nappies.”

“I … I don’t know, but it has got to stop. Not only because she could literally regenerate herself out of existence, but because she will never withstand the strain of going through so many regenerations in such a short time. Not even a Time Lord could endure much more of this.”

The pair watched as the shaking and the glow subsided to reveal an even younger version of Maggie.

“Doctor I can’t believe it. She … she can’t be much older than eleven or twelve now.”

The Doctor’s hand traced the soft skin of Maggie’s rounded face. “Incredible … absolutely incredible. Nothing like this has ever occurred before. Well … in my past nine regenerations I have got younger, especially compared to my original form, but never … ever has a Time Lord regenerated to a prepubescent condition.”

Rose gently caressed the sleeping girl’s hand. “Perhaps it’s because she is not a Time Lord, Doctor … Or is she?” A thought suddenly came to her. “You know, your blood is in the mix, too. Wouldn’t that mean she’d be taking on some of your physical characteristics? Sort of like a sister or even … a daughter?” she gently teased.

The Doctor laid two fingers on Maggie’s throat, “Well … I umm … that is I suppose that is technically possible … but not very likely. My blood is simply more of a regenerative catalyst in the mix. Odds are her cells would only draw from your genetic make up.”

Rose smiled as she looked at the sleeping girls face, “I dunno, Doctor. I think maybe Maggie might have beaten those odds a bit. Some of her features sure look a little like yours, but I suppose we’ll be able to tell more as she grows up.”

Suddenly a thought came to Rose and she shared it immediately, “Uhhh … Doctor? She will grow up, won’t she? I mean, when all the shaking and the light show stops, she will grow up won’t she?”

The Doctor placed his head in the centre of Maggie’s chest. “Assuming she survives this and her basic cell structure is human, she should age normally, both physically and mentally.”

Rose’s eyes went wide, “Mentally … I never thought about that. Are you saying that she’s going to be a child in her mind, as well? What about the Maggie we met on the bridge? Is she just … just gone?”

He raised his head up. “Based on my own regenerations, I would have to say that she shouldn’t completely lose her past memories, but she may not have the mental ability to access them as I do. It will be sort of like a computer file that’s stored, but not able to be opened. Assuming she survives, I would guess for all practical purposes she is going to be a very normal human girl with no traces of my DNA.”

Rose frowned, “That must make you a bit sad. You know, being the last of the Time Lords and all. I bet you’d fancy having a daughter, someone to sort of carry on the traditions and pass the Tardis on to someday. … I bet you’d be a dynamite Daddy!” her frown turned upside down.

The Doctor continued to examine his young patient. “For Maggie’s sanities sake, good health and safety, the last thing I’d want is for her to carry any of my DNA. There is no telling what she would endure being a sort of human/Time Lord genetic mix. The stresses on her mental and emotional stability could drive her mad. Physically … there is no way of knowing how her unique blood grouping would react to basic Earth medicine. Something as simple as taking a couple of paracetamols for a headache could possibly be lethal for her. And as you already know, there are aliens who have the ability to sense Time Lords. Even if she only carries part of my DNA, it could be enough to draw them to her. She might never live to see her next birthday. All of this, of course is assuming she lives at all.”

“I really wish you’d stop staying that, Doctor.”

Rose watched as the Doctor examined Maggie. Along with the obvious concern she felt for her friend, she also felt sadness and regret for both her and the Doctor. Although she’d never spoken of it to the Doctor, and had only allowed herself to barely even consider the possibility, she had hoped that someday the Doctor would love her as she loved him, and that perhaps that kind of love would manifest itself in a child or children. She hadn’t thought far enough along to realize the dangers and difficulties that would face any child they might have.

The Doctor had just painted a very dark and gloomy picture, but he’d left out something very important, something she felt would make the difference. Yes, that child would face dangers and difficulties that no human child would face, but it would not face them alone. He or she would have a Mum and Dad at her side that would love her and protect her, and prepare her as best they could for the world, whatever world that might be.

And then there was her friend Maggie, who twice had nearly lost her life, and now it hung in the balance for a third time. Rose looked into the face of the sleeping young girl on the table. Life had been so terribly cruel to her. She’d endured hardships and hurt in her life that no one should have to experience. Rose wouldn’t have understood that before she’d met Maggie, but she did now, or at least as much as any girl born in a girl’s body could. And now, by an incredible twist of fate, Maggie was being given a second chance at life, and her first real chance at living as the girl she’d always truly been. Rose could only hope Maggie would survive to have that chance.

The Doctor shook his head, “She has a single heart beat, but it is incredibly weak. I can barely get any vitals from her at all. I don’t think she’ll survive another regeneration. This has to stop, now!”

“Could you give her another shot of blood, Doctor? Maybe one without as much of your blood? Do you think that might help?”

The Doctor shook his head and sighed, “I don’t think she’d survive any further tampering on our part, any more than she will survive another regeneration. All we can do is hope that this thing has run its course and she will stabilize. If so, we have every reason to believe she will regain consciousness.”

He reached over and gently squeezed Maggie’s hand, “All we can do now is wait.”

Sadly, they didn’t have to wait long. Almost on cue after the Doctor’s words, the golden glow returned and Maggie’s body once again began to convulse.

“Oh Doctor, we have to stop it!” Rose cried as she started toward Maggie.

The Doctor grabbed her and pulled her into his arms. “Stay back Rose, you’ll only kill the both of you if you interfere.”

Helplessly the pair watched the next regeneration run its course and when the light subsided, a very small girl not more than four or five lay in the very same spot a transgendered woman in her late thirties had been when the process started.

She was a cute little princess with a button nose and baby fat in her cheeks. Her dark blonde hair had a bit of wild curl to it, and extended at least as far as her shoulders. The green covering swallowed up the rest of her. Eerily though, there seemed to be an absence of life emanating from her. Rose watched in horror as Maggie’s chest did not rise or fall beneath the covering.

“Rose placed her hands over face, “Oh Doctor … please tell me she’s not … she just can’t be.” Tears made it impossible for Rose to finish her sentence.

The Doctor quickly examined Maggie and sadly finished the sentence for her. “The regeneration has stopped, but she’s gone … absolutely no sign of life whatsoever.” He turned to Maggie and looked as she slept the eternal sleep, “I’m sorry. I’m so very sorry.”

Rose broke down in sobs as the Doctor pulled her into his arms. He did his best to comfort the grief stricken woman, while reconciling himself. Rose never saw the single tear that ran down the Doctor’s own cheek, or felt the anger and frustration in his heart at being helpless to save Maggie’s life.

To be continued ...
Editing by Holly Logan