Crack in the Sky
Chapter 1
The TARDIS materialized on the beach at Bad Wolf Bay. Out stepped Jackie first, the rest following behind, and she said, "Fat lot of good this is. Back of beyond. Bloody Norway! I'm going to have to phone your Father. He's on the Nursery Run. I was pregnant, did you know that?" she asked of Doctor #2, "Had a little baby boy!"
"Awe, brilliant! Wha'd you call him?" asked Doctor#2.
"Doctor," answered Jackie. Doctor#2 looked honored and surprised.
"Really?" he asked.
"No, you plum. He's called Tony!" answered Jackie.
"Tony Tyler? Okay. Nice," said Doctor#2.
"But, hold on, this is a parallel universe, right?" asked Rose.
"You're back home," said Doctor #1
"And all the walls of the world are closing again, now that the reality bomb never happened. Dimensional retroclosure," explained Donna. Doctor#2 smiled proudly at her as she explained.
"See I really get this stuff now," she said.
Doctor#1 nodded his head in agreement.
"No, but I spent all that time trying to find you, I'm not going back now!" stated Rose.
"Well, you've got to," explained Doctor#1, "'cause we saved the universe, but at a cost, and the cost is him," He said, as he motioned to Doctor#2, "He destroyed the Daleks, he committed genocide. He's too dangerous to be left on his own."
"You made me," said Doctor#2.
"Exactly. You were born in battle. Full of blood and anger and revenge. Remind you of someone?" asked Doctor#1.
Rose just looked away, defiant and hurt.
"That's me,"Doctor#1 continued, "when we first met."
Rose looked back at Doctor#1, tears welling up in her eyes, her heart obviously breaking.
"And you made me better," said Doctor#1, "Now you can do the same for him."
"But, it's not you," argued Rose, starting to cry.
"He needs you," said Doctor#1, "that's very me!"
"But it's better than that though," Donna started to explain, "Don't you see what he trying to give you? Tell her, go on!" she urged Doctor#2.
Rose turned around to face Doctor#2.
"I look like him, I think like him," Doctor#2 explained, "same memories, same thoughts, same everything. Except I've only got one heart."
"Which means?" asked Rose
"I'm part human," he began, "specifically the aging part. I'll grow old and never regenerate. I've only got one life, Rose Tyler. I could spend it with you, if you want."
"You'll grow old the same time as me," she said
"Together," he said.
She slowly shook her head and moved closer to him, placing her hand on his chest, as if to feel his one heart.
"Oh, and don't forget this!" said Doctor#1. He produced a strange looking object, "This universe is going to need defending. Chunk of TARDIS," He threw it to Doctor#2 and continued, "Grow your own."
"But, that takes thousands of years," said Doctor#2.
"No, because…" started Doctor#1
Donna interrupted him, "If you shatterfry the plasmic shell and modify the dimensional stabilizer to a foldback harmonic of thirty six point three, you accelerate growth by the power of fifty nine!"
The Doctors interrupted her, "We never thought of that!"
"I'm just brilliant!" said Donna.
"The Doctor. In the TARDIS, with Rose Tyler," said Doctor#1, "It's just as it should be."
"What about you?" asked Rose.
"Oh, I'm fine. I've got Madam!" said Doctor #1.
"Human with a Time Lord brain, quite a combination!" said Donna, "we can travel the universe forever. Best friends! And equals, just what old skinnyboy needs, an equal!"
The TARDIS then started to make a strange noise, alerting Doctor#1 and Donna.
Doctor #1 said, "We've gotta go. This reality is sealing itself off… forever."
Rose looked at him, tears streaming down her face.
Doctor#1 and Donna turned and started walking toward the TARDIS. Rose followed, saying, "But, It's still not right. 'cause… the Doctor is still you."
"And I'm him," said Doctor#1.
"Alright," Rose began, "both of you. Answer me this."
Both Doctors approached her, one on either side. Rose continued, "When I last sat on this beach, on the worst day of my life, what was the last thing that you said to me?"
She looked at Doctor#1, who seemed uncomfortable.
"Go on, say it!" she pressed.
"I said 'Rose Tyler'," said Doctor#1.
"Yea, and how was that sentence going to end?" she asked.
"Does it need saying?" asked Doctor#1.
Rose just looked back at him, her heart breaking. She then turned to Doctor#2 and asked, "And you, Doctor? What was the end of that sentence?"
Doctor#2 put his hand on her arm, and drew close, whispering something in her ear.
Doctor#1 looked on, his hearts breaking.
Rose listened intently, hearing exactly what she wanted to hear.
Doctor#2 pulled away, and gazed into Rose's eyes. Rose grabbed Doctor#2's jacket, pulled him close, and kissed him passionately.
Doctor#1 watched for a second, feeling both of his Time Lord hearts shattering under his chest, but knowing this was best. He turned and walked toward the TARDIS. He and Donna entered the TARDIS, and Donna took one brief look back as she closed the door.
Rose heard the door close, and broke away from Doctor#2, turning to run toward the TARDIS as it began to dematerialize. Doctor#2 walked up and placed his hand in hers.
The three of them stood at Bad Wolf Bay, and watched the TARDIS slowly dematerialize. Rose hugged the Doctor close, and gazed up into his eyes.
"So, are you ever going to tell me your real name?" she asked.
The Doctor just smiled and said, "It's whatever you want it to be."
"Well, ok, Mister. 'whaterveryouwantittobe'! How about some fish and chips?" She asked, sarcastically.
"John Smith. Call me John," he finally conceded. She was not amused. Jackie looked at him with a disapproving smile, and patted him on the back as they walked back toward town. As they walked back, a strange sound came from the sky. They looked up to see what would best be described as a crack. It was long, and dipped in the middle. Bright light shown from it, and it lingered for a couple of minutes before fading.
"This is not good. Come on, we need to find out what that is," said the Doctor. They ran back toward town as fast as they could.
"Bloody hell!" exclaimed Jackie, "Must we always run when you're around?" She called Pete as soon as she could and they got a lift back to England.
When they finally got back to the Tyler residence, the Doctor immediately started to tear apart various devices, to the point where their dining table looked like an electronics grave yard. "There's a gap in the neutron flow," The Doctor said several times, "I don't suppose anyone has a wibbily modulator?"
Rose and her parents just watched him, with questionable looks.
"How about some Gummy Babies, at least?" asked the Doctor, obviously frustrated.
After several hours of struggling, he produced a spectacular, magnificent, utterly advanced with several different modes…..
"SONIC SCREWDRIVER!" He announced, holding up a strange looking roughly cylindrical object, blue light flashing at the end.
The Tyler's were not impressed.
"It's a Sonic Screwdriver!" He said again, trying to impress on them how big of an accomplishment it was.
"Lovely, Doctor. Planning to put up some shelves, then? Cabinets, maybe?" asked Jackie.
"Well, it's wonderful, Doctor," said Rose, feigning excitement.
"You destroyed all the electronics in the house for an electric screwdriver? What was the point in that? I've already got one in my tool box, why didn't you just ask?" asked Pete, producing a battery powered screwdriver, "In fact, I have a lot of interesting gadgets you might be interested in. There's a chain saw, a hammer…,"
"No, no, no. You don't understand. It's not just a 'screwdriver', it can do other things as well. But, right now I'm just interested in what that thing was that we saw in the sky," said the Doctor. He promptly walked outside and pointed the sonic screwdriver at the sky. He pressed a button and it made a strange oscillating sound. Then he shut it off and looked at a small display on its side.
"NO!" he said, and went through the whole process again, confirming the results.
"What is it, Doctor?" asked Rose.
"It's some sort of crack in space and time. Two parts of space and time that should never have touched. This is very bad!" said the Doctor.
"But, I don't see anything," said Pete, "what are you talking about?"
"Oh, it's there, it just oscillating at a frequency that you can't see right now, but its there. I guess when the TARDIS departed it must had an effect on it, changing its frequency, or something like that," said the Doctor.
"Well, what does it mean? Are we in danger?" asked Jackie.
"This is a tear in the fabric of space and time. All of this travelling back and forth across the void must have caused it…. Although, according to my readings, it was possibly caused by something else. A Large explosion or something. We need to go to Cardiff," said the Doctor, "yes, this is very bad. It could destroy the entire universe!"
"Oh, no. Not again!" exclaimed Rose.
They made their way to Cardiff, Wales, leaving Tony with the sitter. As they stood at the Millennium Center, the Doctor took readings with the sonic screwdriver, commenting, "Oh, this is not good, not good at all."
They noticed a couple walking by, the man was dressed in a nice business suit. But, the odd thing was his companion. She was a blonde woman wearing leather armor. Rather like 'Xena-Warrior Princess'. Rose and Jackie watched as they talked to each other, and the man pointed to an old woman who was being helped into the center by a child. At one point, it appeared as though the man had shoved a knife into the strange leather armored woman, but that it had apparently been some sort of trick. She was unharmed. Very strange. Stranger yet was that they suddenly faded away, like they weren't ever there, and so did the old woman and the child.
They pointed it out to the Doctor.
"Yes, I know, I saw it too," he began, "points of space and time seem to be converging, and cancelling each other out. If this continues, it could cancel out all of creation. We need a TARDIS."
"Well, I don't think we're going to find one anywhere around here," said Rose.
"You're going to build a TARDIS?" asked Jackie.
"No, not exactly. They're not actually 'built', they're grown… sort of. In a linear, wobbily sort of way," He said.
"Out of what, exactly?" asked Pete.
The Doctor showed him piece of TARDIS that Doctor#1 left him. "With this," he said.
"What do you need one for? You're not planning to fly into that crack are you?" asked Rose.
"No, not exactly 'fly' into it, but I need the advanced controls that a TARDIS would have to do some…" The Doctor was interrupted by a strange sight. An extra torch column suddenly materialized in the square outside of the Millennium Center. It was in the right place, but it was one too many. Nobody else but the three of them seemed to notice it.
"Perception Filter. It's a TARDIS!" said the Doctor. Out stepped a nicely dressed man, wearing contemporary clothes. He seemed to be in his mid 40s, and quite handsome. The man looked around, and proceeded to walk right past the four. "Good afternoon," the man said as he walked by.
"What the?" said Rose.
"It's a Time Lord!" said the Doctor.
"Where did he come from? I thought you said they were all extinct?" asked Jackie.
"Aren't you all supposed to be able to detect each other?" asked Rose.
The Doctor pointed to his chest. "Only half Time Lord, remember? He doesn't see me as anything other than just a regular human," he said.
"So, who is he? Is he you, in another regeneration?" asked Jackie.
"No, I don't think so.. I mean… Well, I suppose it's possible that he's a future regeneration of me, but if that were the case, he would have recognized me, and the 3 of you right away."
"Then, who is he?" asked Rose.
"I don't know. But, we need to find out. Come on," said the Doctor, as he followed the strange man.
The man walked around, and just seemed to be on holiday. Not really doing anything in particular, just looking around. Then, he pulled out a strange object and pointed it toward the sky. It made an oscillating noise, then he put it away.
"Sonic Screwdriver," said the Doctor, as he walked up behind the man.
"What?" the man said, a bit surprised.
"That's a nice Sonic Screwdriver you have there. So, have you seen the crack in the sky?" asked the Doctor.
The man just looked at him, trying to figure out who this person was.
"Hello, my name is…John Smith."
The Doctor put out his had to shake the stranger's.
The Stranger put out his hand in response, and said, "Hello, Mr. Smith. I'm the Doctor."
They shook hands.
Rose, Pete and Jackie just stared at him, and each other in shock.
"So, you've seen a sonic screwdriver before, huh?" asked The Doctor.
"Yes, in fact, I just built one from scratch," said John Smith. He pulled his out and showed it to the Doctor.
"Amazing! How did you account for the wobbliy coefficient?" asked the Doctor.
"Doctor, I think we all need to step into your TARDIS and have a conversation. There's some things you should probably know about a parallel universe," said John.
The Doctor looked at the four of them, and pulled out his sonic screwdriver. He quickly scanned them, and confirmed. "This is impossible!" he said.
The 5 of them quickly walked to the newest torch pillar and walked inside, nobody noticing.
"Your Chameleon circuit is working! How did you fix it?" asked John.
"What do you mean? It was never broken…ok, so I have determined that three of you are not from this universe and one of you…. is part Time Lord! What's going on?" asked the Doctor.
'John Smith' began relating the last several hundred years of his life to this 'Doctor'. When he got to the part about the Time War, the Doctor stopped him.
"Extinct? What do you mean 'extinct! We are not extinct, I can assure you. Everything you told me adds up, but that last part doesn't. We won the Time war, and the Daleks were utterly destroyed. I made sure of that myself!"
"Wait a minute," said John, "the Time lords, and Gallifrey, they are transdimentional. If they were destroyed in one universe, they were destroyed in all universes. They have to have been destroyed!"
The Doctor walked over to the control panel and flipped a couple of levers. The TARDIS remained silent.
"See for yourself!" he said, and motioned to the door.
The four of them proceeded to exit the craft, and to their surprise, and John's utter disbelief, Gallifrey stood there before them, in all its glory. In the distance stood the Citadel of the Time Lords, complete and unharmed. The spires rose into the air, and glistened in the sunlight.
Rose, Jackie, and Pete stared in amazement at the advanced beauty in front of them. It was beyond what words could describe.
"I don't understand, how is this possible?" asked John, "and why didn't your TARDIS make that 'shwshing' noise?"
"What noise? Well, anyway, see it from my point of view," said the Doctor, "you've just told me that there is a universe where the Time Lords no longer exist, and that you are some kind of human hybrid version of me. I find myself wanting to ask you the same question."
"But, the moment…," began John.
"Yes, the moment…" Continued the Doctor, "The moment when the Eye of Harmony was to be destroyed. I know, we opted for another solution."
"What solution? There was no other solution!" demanded John.
"Yes, there was," explained the Doctor, "It was an ordinary, conventional one. Germ Warfare. We found a germ that the Daleks had no immunity to, and we…. Actually I, delivered the package to them on Skaro. They were all destroyed, it unlocked the war, and we survived. No Dalek survived, I can assure you. I committed genocide to protect the Time Lord race."
"Genocide. Sounds familiar," said John.
A procession of very important people approached the group, and they greeted the Doctor warmly.
"Lord Doctor, you have returned! With guests, it seems. Have you discovered the source of the anomaly?" asked one of the more important looking ones.
"Yes, I will need to address the council as soon as possible," said the Doctor.
"Very well, we will assemble at once," another important one said, and they all walked away.
"Come on," the Doctor said to the four, "This concerns you too."
They all entered the Citadel, and it was much pomp and circumstance. The Doctor escorted the four to an inner chamber, where he changed into a very elaborate suit. They then went to the council chambers, and sat in the audience.
One particular man, wearing more fancy garb than the others announced, "I give you, the Lord President."
The Doctor stood up and walked to the podium.
John and the rest were surprised, to say the least.
The Doctor- Lord President- spoke, "I have been doing some research on the anomaly, and I'm afraid it's not good. This anomaly is wide ranging rift in space and time, and it's growing. Soon, it will begin to swallow entire worlds, and entire systems, deleting them from existence altogether. But, there is a bit of good news. I have located the source of the tear. It comes from Earth, on precisely 26 June, 2010 using their time measurement system. Two names seem to be coming from this rift, one is 'River Song', the other is 'Amelia Pond.' At this precise time and date there seems to have been a tear, something that would probably be caused by a TARDIS exploding, or something equivalent. Further, it seems to be coming from a parallel universe. While on Earth just now researching this, I ran into some very interesting individuals, who have actually travelled from said parallel universe. Somehow, this is why this tear is now threatening our universe. Their travels across the void must have opened up the rift to all universes. But, there is more news. I must tell you that in their version of reality, the Time Lords were defeated by the Daleks. So, we may face another threat."
"No, that's not right," said John
The Doctor continued, "So we must come up with a way to seal the rift, or travel across the void to eliminate this 'Amelia Pond' and 'River Song', where the source of the threat is. I will stand for suggestions."
"Lord President, we cannot travel across the void, it's forbidden!" said one Time Lord
"Lord President, we must further interrogate the travelers and see what their motive is!" said another Time Lord.
"We cannot face another Dalek threat. We were almost destroyed by them!" said another Time Lord.
"I think I may have a solution, Lord President, if you will indulge me," said another Time Lord.
"Lord President recognizes the Master. Yes, old friend, what is it?" asked the Doctor.
The Master stood up and spoke, "I have also been doing some research on this subject, as have most of us. We have discovered that your counterpart, the 'Doctor' on the other side may be the one responsible for this tear. He has been continually crossing the void, and weakening the fabric between the two universes. Also, recently Earth was involved in a Cyberman attack, one of their own making. Travelers have crossed, using methods that were very harmful to the fabric. Some of these travelers sit in the chambers today. Although we do not directly blame them for this, it is understood that they must be put back where they belong. This 'Doctor' hybrid we scanned as he entered the Citadel is a bit of a mystery for us. We do not see him as a threat, but he should be studied for sure at a later time. The bottom line is, the travelers must be returned to their own universe. My research shows that this should seal up the rift."
The Master sat down.
"Master, this means crossing the void, and that is forbidden," one of the Time Lords pointed out.
"Yes, and this could actually do further harm to our universes. We must find another way," said another Time Lord.
"Maybe you should listen to your wife!" said one woman.
"Lord President recognizes Lady Romana. Yes, Darling?" asked the Doctor.
John's jaw dropped as he spun around to see her. It was 'Romana II'. A young looking blonde woman wearing the typical Time Lord garb stood up.
"It's her! I can't believe it, it's really her!" said John.
"Who?" Asked Rose, suspiciously. John looked at Rose and said simply, "It's Romana!"
Romana began to speak, "Husband, Lord President, Doctor: I would like to address the idea that we do send your representative, the 'secondary' Doctor, and his companions back across the void. But, this presents a problem. I've done a bit of research, and it turns out that two of them made a child together."
The Council chambers became loud with people suddenly talking.
The Doctor sounded the e-gavel and called to order.
The Doctor spoke, "Is this true?" he asked of the companions.
"Yes, he's called Tony, what of it?" asked Jackie, defiant.
The Council chambers became loud again. The Doctor once again called for order.
"This complicates matters a great deal. This may very well be the source of the rift…" said the Doctor.
He was interrupted by Romana again, "Actually, no. I, as the Master and others, have been doing quite a bit of research, as I said before. This research is ongoing. I have just been handed something that you will all find very interesting. It reports that the rift or 'crack' as it has been described is not of this universe at all. In fact, according to these calculations, the people that are here from the other side may have nothing to do with it," she turned to the Master and continued, "sending them back will not have any effect on it."
The Master walked over to her, "Let me see that, please?" he asked. The Master inspected the calculations, and he had to agree.
"It's true, Lord President," The Master began, "Romana has discovered that their existence on this side has no bearing whatsoever on the crack. However…" He motioned for Romana to continue.
Romana continued the assessment, "Thank you, Master. It appears that the source, as we have already ascertained, is in fact Earth, on precisely 26 June, 2010. This 'River Song' seems to be some sort of…" She sighed with frustration and looked at John, disapprovingly, "..she seems to be some sort of hybrid between Time Lords and humans. What is it with you people over there? …anyway, I think we can safely say that she is the source of the crack. I would propose that we gather an expedition to go over there and destroy her before she has a chance to create the crack that threatens to destroy creation itself."
Romana sat down.
"Do I hear a motion?" asked the Doctor.
Romana stood up again and said, "Move to get an expedition together to destroy River Song on the other side." she sat down.
The Master stood up and said, "I second that motion!" then sat down.
"Do we have any discussion on the matter?" asked the Doctor.
The Council chambers erupted in raised voices, as emotions ran high. It became a virtual riot as Time Lords argued with each other about the current motion. The Doctor sat down for a bit, and let the mayhem continue.
John was livid.
"What is wrong with you people!?" he asked, disgusted with the whole idea, "Come on, let's get out of here!" The four companions managed to escape the Citadel, nobody taking notice. As they left, they heard the Doctor trying to bring the riot down to a dull roar as he continuously banged the e-gavel and demanded order.
"How are we going to get out of here, Doctor?" asked Pete.
"I think you should all just call me 'John' from now on, this is getting confusing," said John.
They ran out of the Citadel, and John seemed a bit lost for a moment.
"How ARE we going to get out of here Doc….er, I mean, John?" asked Rose.
"I've been in a similar situation before, and I think I have an idea. Follow me," said John.
They travelled into the heart of the city, and there it was, what he was searching for. 'Gallifrey Museum of Time Lord History' They all walked in, to see several tourists enjoying the exhibits. John's eyes lit up.
"There she is!" he ran over to a row of non-descript rectangular structures, about four feet square and eith feet, high each one. There was a rope around them, and a plaque that said, "Type 40 TARDIS. Obsolete series. Credit to Susan 'Foreman' for the winning the name contest."
"What are they?" asked Jackie.
John just pointed at the plaque, which he then realized she couldn't read Gallifreyan. He caressed the name Susan 'Foreman'. "She's still alive on this side," he said to himself, sadly.
"It's a row of old TARDISes," said Rose.
John walked along until he heard one go 'shwss'. He smiled and said, "I knew it!" He stepped over the rope, getting the attention of the guards who started walking their way.
"Come on!" John urged the companions.
He stepped over to the TARDIS that made the noise, and put his hand on it, "Hello, Sexy!" He said. It again made a 'shwss' sound and the door swung open.
"Let's go!" said John.
They all walked inside, to the sound of a guard yelling at them. They double locked the door. John quickly ran to the console and started flipping levers, turning knobs and pushing/pulling buttons. The TARDIS started making very loud 'shwssing' noises and began jolting from side to side, knocking everyone down.
Then, it stopped. They all recovered their composure and looked at John for an explanation.
"We're here," he said.
"Where?" asked Rose.
"Go get Tony, and let's get out of here before they find us. We need to warn River," said John.
Jackie opened the door and saw hers and Pete's house standing there.
Jackie and Pete ran into the house and retrieved their son.
"Thank you," said Rose.
"For what? Getting you into another situation?" asked John.
"For thinking of my brother. I'm not so sure the 'Doctor' would have," she hugged him.
Jackie, Pete, and Tony returned with luggage. Rose just chuckled.
"Well, we've got to be ready for anything!" said Jackie.
"Rose, could you go find a couple of rooms for them?" asked John.
"Sure. Right this way!" said Rose, over-politely. They left the control room.
"Now, then. You and I need to get acquainted, don't we?" John seemed to ask the TARDIS as he looked around. He began working the controls, looking for something.
"I remember this theme. Never could get the hang of it. Let's change it. How about… There it is: 'Coral'!" He flipped a lever.
The TARDIS began to make very loud 'shwssing' noises again, and John left the control room. He ran into the rest of them as they were headed back. "Give her a minute," John said, blocking the door.
Moments later, the 'shwssing' noise stopped. John opened the door to reveal the theme he had just before arriving on the 'other side.'
"Ah.. That's better!" said John.
They all walked in to see the familiar theme.
"This is how I remember it!" said Rose.
"Now then, about that chameleon circuit," said John.
Rose reached over to the control center and flipped a small hidden switch.
"There. That's all you needed to do. It's fully functional now," she said, rather pleased with herself.
"But, I liked the blue police box! Hey, how did you know about that?" asked John.
"You can use the blue police box all you like, but now you can also change to anything else, including the invisible circuit," Rose smiled.
"Rose Tyler!" He said, and hugged her close. He looked up and noticed on the scanner that there were several people approaching.
"They've found us. Hold on, we have to get out of here," said John, and began to control the TARDIS. It made the familiar 'shwssing' noise and started jolting around.
"Ok, strap yourselves in, we are about to cross the Void," said John.
In what would be best described as a ride through a rolling tire that had been thrown down a rocky hillside, the TARDIS began rocking and jolting around violently. Several panels exploded in sparks, and the control room started to fill with smoke. The Cloister bell began to ring loudly.
Then, it all suddenly stopped.
"We've arrived. It's June 25, 2010. We're in a place called 'Leadworth'… Engaging the chameleon circuit, there. We should be lending in nicely," said John.
John walked out first, to see that they were disguised as a…. phone box.
It was a bit different, it was red, had the windows boarded up, and had a sign on it that said: "out of service."
Rose and John walked around outside, Pete and Jackie stayed behind inside the TARDIS to care for their child Tony.
"It's safer in here, anyway," said Jackie. Pete seemed more interested in going outside, but conceded it was best not to.
"You're not supposed to see me before the wedding! It's bad luck!" said some ginger-haired girl on a cell phone. She walked past John and Rose as she spoke. She was wearing a 'Police' outfit. It was obviously not a real one, it was way too sexy for that. She continued, Rose and John only hearing her side of the conversation, "Yes, I am….. well, I have to get some more money for our honeymoon…..Yes, I know, and I promise I won't do it anymore…..Yes, but what about you?...well, aren't you and the boys going to do your bachelor party tonight? …No, of course not! The Doctor isn't coming back. He's done this before, you know? Remember?...well I suppose, but it's highly unlikely, and who knows when it would be?... hang on."
She turned to see Rose and John staring at her, "OY! Bloody Rude listening in, you know!"
Rose and John turned away, and feigned interest in something else.
The ginger girl continued, "So anyway, you cannot come over after, it's bad luck!... alright then!... I love you too, 'Mister Pond!...hehehehehe! I'm just kidding!... ok, see you tomorrow."
She hung up and continued on her way…