The Master's Star

Part Two: Embarrassment in the Hub

Sam blinked a couple of times as she heard people yelling at each other.

“She’s a Time Lord and you did not even bother to let me know?” Yelled a young man.

“Doctor,” Martha pleaded

“Doctor, would you have raised her if you knew that she was the Master’s Daughter?” Jack asked hissing.

“I-I…yes, I would have.” The Doctor replied. Sam stood up and started to walk towards them and noticed that the blue box was still there.

“Um Jack,” Ianto said.

“Not now Ianto!” Jack ordered looking at the Doctor angrily.

“Jack,” Gwen said a little more urgently.

“What!” Jack spun around to look at Gwen and Ianto.

“She is awake,” Sam said angrily to them all. She glared at Jack and the Doctor, her lips pressed together. “What the hell are you fucking talking about?” She was yelling at them as her bracelet glowed even brighter.

“Oo, shinny…what is that?” The Doctor asked as he walked up to her. He pulled up her arm to look at the bracelet. Sam pulled her arm away and forced her hand into a pocket.

“Nothing of you concern, Doctor.” Her voice was venomous at the least. The Doctor looked at her with a question in his eyes. Her head started to spin and she started to feel woozy again. The Doctor grabbed hold of her shoulder and held her steady. “Let me go,” She shoved his hand off her shoulder and ran behind Jack. Jack was just a few inches taller than her but she hid behind him like a frightened child hiding from a monster.

“Sam, you don’t need to hide from him, I trust him.” Jack said over his shoulder to her. Sam shook her head and held onto his arm. “Come on Sam, you can’t be this afraid of an old friend of mine and Martha’s.”

“Oi, what about me?” Mickie asked angrily.

“Mickie, sorry about not seeing you,” The Doctor said with a giant grin on his face. Mickie chuckled and nodded his head.

“It’s alright; she needs a little more confidence though.” Mickie walked over to her and shouldered her. “He ain’t gonna bite, him and Rose go way back.” Sam seemed to shrink where she stood as the Doctor walked over to her with his hand held out.

“I really don’t bite.” The Doctor tried to say reassuringly.

“Sure and the Master is your enemy correct?” She scoffed as he tried to talk but his mouth was gapping open.

“Sam, what have I told you, any enemy of his is an ally of ours?” Martha said gently to her. Sam let go of Jack and walked over to the Doctor slowly and shyly. She looked up at him and took hold of his hand.

“So your name is Sam, interesting.” The Doctor said.

“Sorry one quick question, what is the Master’s Star?” Mickie asked as Sam let go of the Doctor’s hand and looked him up and down.

“Yeah well, I don’t even know what that means.” The Doctor said rubbing the back of his neck. Sam rolled her eyes walked over to her computer and started to type. The Doctor looked over her shoulder at the program and whistled. “That is pretty advanced programming for a teenager who thinks herself to be human.” Sam glanced at him and continued to type, she didn’t even think about what she was typing, she just was.

“Sam!” She tore her eyes off the Doctor and looked over to Jack and Martha.

“Doctor get her away from the computer before it-” Jack was interrupted as Sam flew across the room and the computer beeped loudly. Sam shook her head and tried to regain her hearing but as the Doctor helped her stand up he was trying to talk to her. She looked at him wide eyed and blinking.

“I can’t hear you.” She said loudly. “Could you speak up?” Ianto, Mickie, and Gwen looked at her with curiosity and the Doctor looked at her wide-eyed.

“She’s speaking in a different language.” Gwen said, Sam shook her head and heard her ears pop a couple of times.

“What did you say to me Doctor?” Sam asked again. The Doctor stood there staring at her like she was unusually different.

“I asked if you were alright,” He whispered, Sam nodded her head and rubbed behind her ears. “Does that usually happen when you type?” Sam shrugged and walked over to her computer.

“Damn, the mother board is fried, again.” She cursed and kicked her right leg with her left. “Sorry Dad didn’t mean to fry it…I’ll try harder next time.” She smiled innocently at Jack.

“DAD!?” The Doctor asked as Jack walked over to Sam.

“Yeah well I raised her; sort of…the whole team did actually.” Jack looked a little confused at Sam. “Although she ever only spoke that language at home, and in the presence of me or Martha.” Sam rolled her eyes and walked over to the coffee machine and started to poor herself a cup. Ianto walked over to her and she shook her head.

“Don’t even try to butter me up right now.” She scolded. “I had a heart attack, I flew across the room, and now my father is trying to convince me that I am not even human.” She took a sip of the coffee and put the cup down hard. “Why can’t I just have a normal Birthday for once?” The Doctor turned around to look at her; he was smiling.

“Sam, can I talk to you in privet?” Jack asked as he dragged her into his office. He sat her down on his chair and looked at her sternly. “How many boyfriends have you had?” She looked up at him and started to count in her head.

“3, but 2 of them tried to get to you or to Torchwood.” She said sounding upset. “And the only one that didn’t got killed by a weird alien thing with the blue center eye or what ever. Ah hell no…I am not going out with a man that is well over 900 years older than me.” She was yelling at this point and Jack looked down at her like he was angry but he took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

“How do you know how old he is?” Sam looked at the floor with a blank look on her face.

“I don’t-I don’t know, but how…I am a freak of nature that is all I have ever been.” She was scared and only her voice hinted at it. Jack knelt down in front of her.

“No, you are my daughter, not a freak…you are Time Lord, nothing more nothing less.” He wrapped his arms around her and smiled. “Please don’t think of yourself as a freak, because you are not, if anyone is the freak it’s me.”

“But all those stories, the ones about him…what will happen to me?” She hugged her father back and felt tears roll down her cheek.

“Nothing I hope.” Sam looked up from Jack’s shoulder to see the Doctor standing there. “Jack, can I see something?” Jack let go of her and stood back as the Doctor approached slowly. He pulled out a stethoscope and listened to her right side of her chest, then the left.

“What?” Sam asked as the Doctor stood up and looked down at her.

“Martha wasn’t lying; you are a Time Lord…well actually Time Lady, but same difference.” Sam rolled her eyes and sat there in thought as everyone else went back out to talk.

The sound of drums started again and Sam pulled her knees up to her chest as a voice rang out clearly. “Samantha, come on now, you won’t let him take you away from your home would you?” She closed her eyes and saw the darkness the opened them again to see the Doctor staring at her.

“What are you hearing besides the drums?” He asked. Sam bit her lip nervously and motioned for him to sit down.

“This voice it started just today, the first time it said “Sam, you are beginning to understand…my darling daughter sleep and remember.” Or something to that extent, the second time just now said something along the lines of don’t let him take you away from your home.” She looked at her bracelet and sighed.

“Well, um…” The Doctor looked at her bracelet then his eyes moved to her ring finger. Jack walked in and rolled his eyes as Sam took off to her computer. “She really is the Master’s Daughter, but what is this about the Master’s Star?” Jack shrugged and looked at Sam as she sat on the ground looking through the remainder of her computer. She whipped her face and looked up at Mickie as he handed her a cup of tea.

“She only acts that way to…men that she comes to like.” Jack grimaced as Sam stood up and carried her damaged computer bits to a recycle bin. “That lasted for 15 months, longer than last time.” The Doctor looked at him through the corner of his eyes with curiosity. “She is too fast for any human computer to keep up with, but if we could just slow her down maybe then she won’t go through so many computers.”

“Really, she is that fast with her programming?”

“You have no idea; she won’t even tell me what it is.” The Doctor smiled as she glanced at him, her face turned red and looked away. “She likes you already, interesting.”

“A hologram,” Jack looked at him as the Doctor walked out of the office. “She is working on a-” Sam tossed something hard at him and looked over to her computer screen.

“What Doctor?”

“Tell him and I will hit you!” They heard Sam yell from across the room as she walked over to the coffee pot. “And ask dad how hard I hit.” Jack nodded his head and shrugged.

“She shot me once,” Jack whispered to the Doctor as he walked past him. “Lucky that I come back…otherwise she would have been raised by someone else.” The Doctor looked at him with shock, she was obviously different from her biological father but still in some minor way the same.

“Damn it,” Sam screamed as she shook her hands dry and walked over to a sink to wash them. “OW, ow, ow.” She ran cold water over her hands and hissed until Martha came over and looked.

“How do you do it, you have a heart attack, your computer blows up in your face and now your hands are burnt.” Martha said to her. “You really are an unlucky child aren’t you?” Martha and Sam laughed as Martha bandaged her hands up. Martha looked over to the Doctor as he walked up to them.

“So it’s your birthday?” He asked; Martha noticed the uncomfortable look that they both had and walked away. Sam nodded her head and looked over to the side table. “Well…happy birthday.” He held out a small package to her and smiled. She took it with a suspicious look in her eyes.

“What is it?” She asked as she shook the package next to her right ear.

“Open it.” She opened the package and looked at a blue tipped pen like device.

“A Sonic Screwdriver?” She asked as she held it up. The Doctor nodded his head and smiled widely as she pointed it at the wall. “Wow, nifty…why give it to me though?” the Doctor laughed and watched her as she put the Sonic Screwdriver in her pocket. Sam smiled softly and then covered her ears as the drumming sound started again.

“Hey what is it?” He walked over to her and she shook her head.

“Nothing really, I am perfectly fine.” She lied as she stood up and walked around to the coffee pot again. The Doctor followed her just to make sure that she was not going to hurt herself again. “Would you stop following me, you are so like a clingy boyfriend.” She scoffed and walked over to Gwen and Ianto.

“What the…” The Doctor looked over to Martha to see her cover her mouth. “What, did I do something wrong?”

“She’s had 3 boyfriends; two used her to get to Torchwood or her father…the other was killed by a Dalek just last month.” Martha explained to the Doctor as Ianto hugged Sam. “She hasn’t really gotten over it quiet yet, so take it easy with her.” Sam laughed with Ianto about something that he had said to her and she looked over in the Doctor’s direction then snapped her eyes back to Ianto.

“So she has never had a really serious relationship and it is worse with the death of a loved one.” Jack said as he walked past them and up to Sam; he was holding a small wrapped box. “Sam, figured that since you love to drive like a crazy loon,” He handed her the box and watched as she unwrapped the box and opened it. “You now have a key to the SUV; just don’t get arrested for speeding again.” Sam launched off the ground and wrapped her arms around Jack’s neck. She was smiling and laughing as she looked at the keys, there were two; one for the car and the other for something else.

“Jack you gave her your TARDIS key, why?” The Doctor asked as Jack gently squeezed Sam.

“Figured she deserved it more than I…besides she is a Time Lord without her own TARDIS,” Sam grumbled and looked at the keys, she was thinking deeply about something. “I hope that you actually go with him!” He shouted after her as she went up and outside. “That is if you actually will have her…she reminds me a bit of Donna actually, in a twisted sort of way.” The Doctor’s face went calm and almost seemed to be upset as well as in deep thought.

“Not really, she just is confused.” Gwen whispered as she glared at Jack. “You should have told her the truth…you should have told us.” She walked over to Mickie and Ianto with a fake smile on her face.

Sam stared at the blue sky with all content, she had never imagined that she was a Time Lord; she always wanted to be one when she was just a little girl but now she was just confused. Sam walked over to the Torchwood vehicle and ran her hands along its black tinted windows and smiled. Someone walked up behind her; she pulled out her gun and spun so that the gun was in the persons face.

“Watch where you point that thing!” The Doctor exclaimed as he forced her hand down. “You really don’t need a gun you do realize that.” Sam pressed her lips together as she turned back to her new car. She gulped as the Doctor walked up next to her, she did not want anyone to be with her at that moment but then again there was absolutely no way to get him to leave her alone.

“What do you want from me?” She asked as she put her gun back in its holster. “Every guy I have gotten to know besides my foster family has wanted something from me…weather it be access to Torchwood or my freaking love it is still the same thing to every guy.”

“Then I am not your typical guy,” The Doctor leaned his back on the SUV. “All I wanted to ever know was that there was at the least another Time Lord out there besides just me.” His voice dropped to a whisper and Sam could see the sorrow behind his eyes.

“Who are the Rani?” She asked as she leaned against the car as well.

“Who is the Rani, you mean.” The Doctor looked at her like he was angry but also calm. “She was a Time Lord, but not exactly the best of them…she was a renegade and worked with the Master on a few occasions.” Sam raised an eyebrow and started to twiddle her thumbs.

“So…you aren’t the last, no matter how much you think you are.” She looked away from him and forwards as people walked past. “But what happens to me, after all you said it yourself I am the Master’s Daughter…maybe…The Star!” She ran off and looked at the ground as she did. “She was looking for the Master’s Star…I…whoa.” She stopped running once she reached the entrance to the building.

“What are you talking about?” The Doctor asked as he caught up to her.

“I was asked a month a go to hand over the Master’s Star…but I don’t have it yet, I have been looking for it ever since he died. But if Rani is still alive then they must be working with her to get it!” She sounded overly excited and almost as if she knew what she was talking about.

“Impossible, a Time Lord and the Daleks working together is just impossible.” The Doctor shook his head and she just rolled her eyes.

“You need to open that box of your more often.” She poked his forehead hard and walked through the door. Jack looked at her as he was starting to walk out. “Dad, um…hi…I was just coming to get you guys.” Jack smirked as she walked back with them all to the SUV.

“So we are still on for tonight right?” Mickie asked as they got into their separate cars.

“Sure, just meet me there at sunset ok?” She asked as she started the engine and waited for the Doctor to fasten his seat belt. He was sitting in the passenger seat and Jack was in the back with Ianto. “Ianto I’ll drop you off at your flat…oh wait we have the same building again…never mind.” She drove off and laughed at the Doctor trying to tell her how to drive, and Jack whispering something to him about her being a crazy driver.

“Watch out for that car!” Ianto yelled as she parked the car in front of their apartment building. The Doctor was still holding onto the arms of the car seat for dear life. Sam laughed happily.

“JACK,” The Doctor sounded alarmed. “Did you teach her how to drive?” Jack nodded his head; his face was flushed of all color and Sam got out of the car. She ran up the steps to her flat and opened the door; she was back home the one place that she wanted to be. She looked around at everything to see that her books were strung all over the place and her kittens stood there looking up at her. The Doctor and Jack walked in and smiled as she picked up her kittens.

“Sorry about the mess, don’t usually have visitors…oh this is Galli and Freya, my wonderful little angels.” She held out the kittens to the Doctor and walked to her room.

“Sam, you really should learn to keep this place clean of all of your books.” Jack scolded her as she pulled some clothing out of her dresser.

“I would but I seem to read so fast that I forget to put anything away.” She explained looking through her doorway, she was smiling as she closed the door. “Besides if I leave it that way no bugler can get in without breaking his neck.” She changed into her new clothing and walked out to see the Doctor staring at her left shoulder. On it was a silver star with a black aura and black trail behind it.

“Sam you should cover up those tattoos.” Jack whispered as she pulled her shirt over the tattoos. “Thank you, Doctor would you care for a cup of tea or something?” Jack pulled the Doctor’s arm to the kitchen. Sam picked up the books off the floor and stacked them in the boxes.

“So she loves to read,” The Doctor said as Jack pulled out some tealeaves. “And computer hacking and programming and-.”

“And getting into trouble, she is like her father.” Jack sounded annoyed and angry, Sam looking into the kitchen and shook her head in dismay. The white kitten walked up her and started to purr. Sam picked her up and stroked her back and head. “I just wish that she wasn’t hearing the drums.” Sam looked out her windows as she tried to force tears not to form. She was scared and sad that her dad had lied to her for 16 years that she was not an alien or anything like that.

“Has she got any memories of his?” Sam stood up and walked into the bathroom, locked the door and got undressed. She hoped that a hot shower would help ease her mind. The steam from the shower washed over the mirror and she stood in the shower thinking; her curtains drawn and she turned off the water as the door opened.

“Get out,” She said calmly as she looked around the curtain hiding the rest of her body behind it. The Doctor stood there looking at her with wide eyes. “Well if you aren’t going to get out hand me those towels.” The Doctor handed her the two towels she had been pointing at, quickly she wrapped her body in the larger of the two and her hair in the smaller. “What exactly do you want…I mean intruding into a girls bathroom while she is taking a shower is pretty rude you know.” She stood there looking at him. He was looking at the star tattoo on her left shoulder again. She scoffed and rolled her eyes.

“I uh…”

“Stop that!” She snapped as she walked over to him. “Stop looking at me like that.” The Doctor’s eyes went from her tattoo to her eyes and she could almost feel pain as he gazed at her.

“I was wondering if you had any of you father’s memories.” She closed her eyes and bit her lips nervously.

“Like what exactly?”

“Like Gallifrey or anything from that time frame.” Sam shook her head and forced her eyes open. He had turned around and walked out, she stood there staring after him until Jack shut the door and started to tap the door. She quickly dried off and got dressed. As she walked out she could hear Jack yelling at the Doctor like he was angry.

“Next time don’t just go in; knock from now on otherwise she won’t be the one to beat you up…it’ll be me!” Jack shouted at the Doctor. Sam stood there looking at the two men like they were children.

“Damn it dad I can take care of myself…I am not helpless you know!” She shouted at Jack as she pulled out a knife. “Please don’t treat me like I am.” She put the knife away and stared at the Doctor as he stared at her. “As for you don’t ever stare at my tattoos.” She walked off to her room and lay on the bed thinking.

“Sam, I didn’t-”

“Dad go away or I will shoot you.” She was pointing her gun at his head and staring at the ceiling. Jack backed away as the front door was knocked on. She stood up; put the gun on the side table and opened the front door. Ianto stood there smiling innocently.