This may be stepping into future TTOU territory, but I'm dying to know what happened to Malcolm and Kate during the Monk occupation. Maybe just a little glimpse for us? Bonus points if one of them (you pick) is better at holding on to reality than the other.
You are also a predictable little shit and love you for ittoo. <3
1641 words; does not comply with the TTOU canonwhatsoever (I already have the plan for this part of the story written out); clearlyjust a wee glimpse and it reminds me how I’m very glad that Jemma Redgrave wasunavailable for filming during the Monk storyline, or else we’d need anotherLethbridge-Stewart soon
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Kate woke up and stretched in the cold, pale, morning light.It was a struggle to get up, yet she did anyhow. Nothing was going to keep herdown… not the aches in her joints… nor the empty feeling in the pit of herstomach that she knew was not because she needed breakfast.
Black and grey and more black on that—the only thing wasthat at least the new accompanying wardrobe made the pounds she was putting ondue to stress-eating seem nominal. She grabbed a bagel on her way out the door—coffeewas going to have to wait until later—and hopped into her car, ready to getanother day over with.
Dreary, drab… there was little she could say that would havemade things seemed even the slightest bit better. Lesser Monks were stationedall around, watching and waiting for someone to slip up, so that they couldreinforce the Orwellian nightmare that she was currently living. The higher-upones… they were deep within the hubs of governments… that much she knew. Shewould much rather have the Monks been regular ones, of the religious and human kind,because at least they did not use alien mind-control policies to keep subjectsin-check.
Eventually, Kate parked her car and walked the remainingdistance to the building that served as Mainframe UK’s front. She swiped herbadge and went down the lift to the network below. Everything was buzzing withaction, the mainframe doing well in its new, completely off-the-books,capacity: pro-Monk propaganda. It had been the only way to save them… the onlyway to stay alive.
‘Ki-Moon, I hope you’rehappy, wherever you are,’ shethought, catching a glimpse of the molemen’s screens out of the corner of hereye. He went into the Pyramid to negotiate with the Monks two months prior andit cost him his life. Of course, that was no longer the official story—heart attack,very sudden, leaving the UN without a Secretary-General while elections werebeing conducted by the steady, guiding hands of the Monks. She shuddered tothink about what sort of person they were prepping to take hold of the UnitedNations—a terrible feeling that she couldn’t shake as much as she tried.
“Morning, ma’am,” Morton said stiffly as she walked out ofthe lift. “Your one o’clock had to cancel, so it looks like you are generallyfree to do work at your leisure for the day, provided nothing crops up.”
“Thank you,” Kate replied. She took the stack of files fromher personal assistant and shut herself up in her office.
Brilliant of a person as Morton was, she was immediatelysubject to the Monks’ mind-control the moment it hit Britain. Wonderful,stunning minds had unwillingly and unconsciously bowed down, yet hers did not. Itwas like that film she saw as a uni student, where everyone was replaced byalien replicas and no one was sure who was replaced until it was too late. Shehad helped to keep the existence of the Zygons a secret to prevent a panicabout such a thing happening before the Monks, but now… fuck, there was so little she could actively do.
“Cullen from Data Management for a departmental report, ma’am,”Morton announced as she held the door open for Glenn. His presence was adelight she had to keep internal—any sort of hint as to them being potential saboteursand they were done for.
“Welcome, Glenn; thank you again, Morton,” Kate said. Thedoor closed and Glenn sat down in a chair across from Kate’s desk. “So? Anyword?”
“None,” he frowned, keeping his voice low. “That ship theystuck the Doctor on is well-guarded, and little can get in or out. Aside fromthe stray gull and barnacle, everything that goes in and out gets a thoroughcheck-over.”
“I know he said that his role was merely a decoy while wewait things out, but I can’t help but wonder,” she mused. “Did you see thebroadcast last night?”
“Made me want to lamp the tit.” Kate raised her brow and hegestured towards the light sitting on her desk. “You know, lamp him… with alamp…”
“Sometimes you worry me, Glenn,” she said. “How’s your contact in Geneva?”
“Doing well,” he replied. The door then opened and Mortonwalked in with tea for them both. “It sounds like the Monks are going to beable to find us a capable leader soon. Their benevolence is astounding.”
“Yes; all we seem to do is make trouble for them. It’s why Idon’t mind our jobs, as every little bit helps in the long run.”
“How we were chosen for such an honor, I do not know,”Morton added. She left again and Kate exchanged a strained look with Glenn.
“The sooner we can bring this nonsense to an end, thebetter,” she hissed. “Pity Gordon had to be one of the first to berehabilitated, or else this could make things easier.”
“How you’re not falling apart is beyond me,” he said. “If Ihadn’t seen my boy in weeks, I’d be a fucking basketcase.”
“Gordon is a Lethbridge-Stewart; he’s positioning himself, Iknow he is,” she said as she sipped her tea. “Right place, right time, fiverounds rapid, and the Link is destroyed.”
“Fuck… that day cannot come any sooner.”
Kate and Glenn then talked for a while, finishing up theirtea and making sure they actually went over some details from what was going onin his department for good measure. He then left, which gave her the time toget some of her work done before lunch, which she took in her office. She wasnearly done when Morton announced another visitor, one that she would haverather not seen until after it was all over.
For being a man who already dressed in plenty of grey suitsand muted ties, seeing Malcolm in the drab colors of the Monks’ regime was painfullyheartbreaking. His grey hair and eyes were ethereal against his dark jumper,which was fitting looser nearly every time she saw him. He was losing too muchweight, working as he was, and it was harkening back to the dark days inWhitehall.
“I’d consider promoting Shaw, if I were you,” he said,placing a small stack of papers next to the remainder of her sandwich. “He’sbeen doing brilliantly—not entirely sure why the Dissidents Insurgency is whatcaused him to kick into gear, but it was precisely what he needed.”
“His work, I take it?” she wondered, picking the papers up.
“Yes—the star of my department.” He watched her examine thepapers and stepped forward, eventually coming to stand beside her chair.Leaning down, he hit the button that blacked-out the wall and pressed a kissbehind her ear. “My darling.”
“We’re at work, Malcolm.”
“Yes, and we have a decision to make soon,” he reminded her.“It is an honor to be given such achance at our age—there was a Monk asking me today if we knew what we wanted: adarling daughter to uphold our legacy, or a son to make up for… the unfortunateone.”
It was a struggled to keep her breathing even as Kate heardMalcolm’s low, burring voice wash over her in an attempt to melt herinhibitions. Some “gift” the Monks offered them after learning of Gordon’s “betrayal”;she was done with children unless it was a grandchild being passed into herarms. His kisses found her neck and he began to touch lower on her body,letting his fingers ghost along her figure where he knew she adored theattention.
No, not now.
“Malcolm, I cannot do this,” she said, standing quickly andstepping away. “This is wrong.”
“How is a second chance wrong?” he wondered. “They can heal,they can create, they can make the human body age in reverse…” He steppedtowards Kate and held her in his arms. “We can have what we thought time stolefrom us… do what we should have done from the beginning…”
“You aren’t yourself, Malcolm,” she stated. There was somuch she wanted to say, from his lack of swearing to his approval of Shaw andeven how he was willing to deal with intergalactic devils in exchange for ashot at genetic parenthood with her. “You know I only wanted to have twochildren.”
“…and it will bring you to two; wouldn’t Fiona make a greatbig sister?”
“What about Gordon?”
“He shall atone for his sins.” If this wasn’t Malcolm underfucking mind control, she would have smacked him right then and there. “Please,pet, let’s accept. Why are you avoiding this? Avoiding me?”
“…because I don’t want this, is why,” she frowned, pushinghim away. “Of course I wish there was a way, but not… not like this…”
“Why not this? The Monks are our friends.”
“They stole my son.”
“A Zygon posing as your son, remember? We don’t know wherethey left his body—we can start over.”
“Malcolm PetairAlexander Tucker, you take that back or so help me God I will make you wishthat you died in the Takeover!”
The office fell silent, with Kate realizing her mistake toolate. She stared at her beau, her wide eyes connecting with his narrowed ones,and her heart begin to race.
“…the what…?” he asked.
“You know what they call it—the thing we have to purge fromthose fools’ minds,” she said, attempting to cover her tracks. “That stupid,silly uprising tha—”
“I heard what you said,” he scowled, cutting her off. Hetook his mobile from his pocket and tapped it a few times, finishing just asthe office door opened and a Monk slid in.
Shit.