Thanks for sticking around for the next chapter! And for those that reviewed! Nice to hear feed-back
This chapter is definitely longer than the last, but it is chronological and doesn't jump back and forth like the last one did… Some new characters added, and more of Torchwood is explored. Hope you like it!
The Doctor smirked at the man before him, raising an eyebrow mockingly. He was fat-cheeked, with sagging jowls and blood-shot eyes. His uniform was straining to contain him, and his imposing height did nothing to redeem his staggering weight. He could resemble Winston Churchill if he had an inch of dignity about him, and his cropped hairstyle and egotistical posture, with his pudgy hand perched on his gun holster, ruined any chance of becoming dignified as far the Doctor was concerned.
He whispered into Rose's ear, cupping his hand over his mouth, but doing a terrible job of concealing his words. "You positive he isn't Slitheen?"
She batted his hand away, frowning to keep from giggling. "That's not very nice, Doctor. You're the last one on the list of people who are allowed to be judgmental." She quipped.
"How so? I'm flawlessly inclined…" he said crossing his arms and sniffling.
Rose rolled her eyes. "There's your problem."
The man cleared his throat. "I don't tend to take insults in stride, but seeing as how first impressions are usually deceiving, I'll let it slide. State your name, 'Doctor'." He said, shifting his weight and tugging at his belt.
"Well, John Smith, sir." The Doctor said, extending an arm from his defensive posture.
"Smith, good name." The man said, taking his hand and shaking it firmly.
"The name's Thaxton; Head of Military Defense, extraterrestrial division, naturally. Recommended for my work with the Cybers? You station; recommendations?" he added.
The Doctor nodded his head, feigning interest. "Head of Time- and Inter-Dimensional Travel; although I have a feeling my title will be shortening very soon. I suppose I recommend myself, for work with the Cybers as well."
Thaxton gave him a reproachful look. "I've never heard of you… which wave?"
The Doctor laughed. "The very first! Probably not even formally mentioned, but I was quite important I assure you."
Rose cleared her throat. "You're doing it again… that thing where you think you're quite brilliant."
The Doctor wrapped his arm around her waist, glancing down at her. "You're doing it, too. You may even be guiltier of it than me."
Rose scoffed, but made no attempt to move away from him.
Thaxton looked rather glum, his chin sinking into a second one. "Well, pleasure to meet someone so 'important'. First wave… you're that maniac everyone was raving about, that waiter who figured out how to break into the factory. You didn't sabotage the codes though… that was my mate Mickey!"
"You and Mickey were mates? Funny thought…" The Doctor said.
"Best bloke I ever met with a computer, and not so bad of a shot if I do say so myself. Speaking of which, you're due for the shooting range. Government clearance got you out of field work, but no one works at Torchwood that isn't something of a decent shot." Thaxton informed him.
The Doctor frowned. "I- um, don't agree with firearms. Especially if I'm being made to use one." He retorted.
"Nonsense! You can blab about 'Vitex' all you want, but this is still a disciplined, military-observed facility, and it's my job to insure everyone here is in shape to defend themselves and this institution from God knows what kind of threats. This means, Agent Smith, that you are due at the shooting range." Thaxton said, his face growing a tad bit red from exertion.
The Doctor sighed staring down at Rose. Rose frowned back, but patted his chest. "Those were the conditions. You didn't have to spend four years shooting at things so long as you could prove you could shoot."
"Those huge, unwieldy things? There has to be something more dignified than that…" The Doctor complained.
"Well, those were put together in order to be able to stand against the Daleks… for training purposes, a hand pistol?" she offered, shrugging.
"That's a bit better… easier to conceal, easily broken, less fatal…" The Doctor rambled, following Thaxton as they proceeded down the hallway to the indoor shooting range.
Once they arrived, the Doctor was asked to slip out of his suit jacket, done a pair of ear-protectors and goggles, and was interrogated on gun safety.
The Doctor laughed bitterly. "Gun safety… what is ever 'safe' about a gun?" he murmured, obviously miserable.
Rose watched from behind the bullet proof glass as he loaded the bullets into the sleek, black hand gun, and assumed the stance needed to aim.
His shoulders slumped, and he threw his head back, holding the gun away from him like it was a diseased object. "Do I really have to go through with this?" he moaned at Thaxton who stood with his arms crossed alongside him.
"If you wish to keep your job, I suggest you be a man and shoot the damn thing!" the general growled, beyond impatient.
The Doctor laughed at his irony, and swiveled to face Rose behind the glass. "Did you hear that Rose? To be a man, I have to shoot this gun? Isn't that ironic? I get to be a man and shoot the damned thing!" he said, distressed.
Rose frowned, her fingers brushing the glass. She shook her head at him, pleading.
The Doctor shared a long penetrating gaze with Rose, while Thaxton tapped his foot impatiently.
"Shoot man! It's not like you're hurting anything!" Thaxton blustered.
The Doctor turned to him, his brows furrowed. "You're right… and I never would." He spat through his teeth.
With that he turned to the target, staring down the barrel of the gun and firing three shots straight into the center. He seethed at the bullet holes begrudgingly, tossing the gun to the floor.
"I believe I'm more than qualified now to continue my work." He said, striding from the room, removing his gear as he went.
Thaxton stared at him, red in the face; but otherwise speechless. He glanced over at the bullet holes, perfectly centered… And concluded that beyond a doubt this man was a soldier all right, even if he'd never heard of him.
Jackie kicked a red shirt tie and its matching navy jacket with her foot and into a corner.
"What's the meaning of this mess?" she asked, hands on her hips, as Rose sipped a cup of tea in front of her.
Rose gazed around the loft; one bed, littered with clothes and the top of her dresser piled with all sorts of vitamins and razors and her desk, not visible due to accumulation of disassembled gadgets, any other available space used to stack book upon book upon book.
"It's entirely the Doctor's stuff, not mine. Take it up with him." Rose said, turning away from her gaze.
"Yes, I know… but I thought I taught you both to keep house better than this! This isn't a mess, its pure bloody mayhem!" Jackie remarked, gesticulating.
Rose sighed. Trying to clean up after the Doctor was pretty futile; especially since his organization skills weren't technically the problem. There simply wasn't any room for all of their stuff together in this little space.
After they'd consistently shared a room together, the Doctor began transferring his belongings to Rose's personal little loft. It wasn't much room to begin with; nothing more than a bed, a desk pushed up against the window, a tiny kitchenette, and a loo off to the side. It was hardly enough space for one person, but definitely not for someone so prone to clutter as the Doctor. She recalled his previous incarnation being much neater, and a lot more practical, but then again, it was a lot simpler to entertain her first Doctor. This Doctor was enthusiastic about the tiniest details and his thoughts were hardly ever completed; leaving a lot of items in his wake, especially concerning his personal projects.
As for his clothes, he was normally better about it, but there wasn't an extra dresser or a closet in the loft, nor was their room to add either. The simple fact was, as it occurred to Rose, and she was sure to her mother as well, they needed a bigger space.
"Have you considered… well, I dunno, a flat in the city?" Jackie offered.
"Considered? Maybe… never thought I'd actually do it though." Rose replied.
"Do what? Move out? You had no problem running off with an alien you'd only just met, how is this more to deal with than that?!" Jackie said, crossing her arms.
Rose sunk down onto the bed, shoving laundry out of the way as she did.
"But it's different than just going somewhere else… if the Doctor and I moved into a flat in the city; it would be like, well, like we were really out on our own. I just don't know if he's ready for that, or me." She admitted.
Jackie pursed her lips in thought of how to respond. How was her daughter so oblivious… she was sometimes almost ashamed at how thick she could be! The only one who doubted that she and the Doctor were in a relationship, in practically every sense of the word, was Rose. She figured it had something to do with that fact that she's convinced herself for so long that they could never be; and now here he was, sleeping in her bed… and cluttering up her room.
"Why don't you ask him, then? I mean, I don't see what's so different about sharing a flat with someone when you shared a time-machine space ship box… the TARDIS, whatever." Jackie said.
Rose snorted at her mother's definition of the TARDIS, but looked up at her. "But what if there is a difference? And what if I'm not ready for it? I mean, I feel like if he and I move in to our own space it would be like-"she paused, bringing her knees to her chest.
"Like… like I had given up on the other Doctor. I feel like it's unfair to him if I start a life with my Doctor like I should, and that's it's unfair to 'John' if I don't. It would be officially giving into the slow path… neither of us could pretend like we were waiting for him anymore." Rose muttered, looking away from Jackie and out the window.
Jackie frowned, sitting on the mattress alongside her daughter. She looked so conflicted, so vulnerable.
"You… have to let him go. You both got what you wanted; he wanted you to be happy, and to see you one last time. And you, you wanted a life with him. Neither of you thought you'd ever get what you wanted. But you're right. John deserves your full attention now. He stayed, Rose. I know you don't like being reminded, but the one you keep waiting for… he left you, twice. And he wouldn't want you to stop what's coming for you and the life you wanna live just because you feel like he's lonely wherever he is. Besides, while you've been waiting on this other Doctor, this one has been waiting on you. You've all got to stop your waiting and move one with it!" Jackie said, taking her daughter's hand.
"But specifically, move out of this loft and into a proper place, with rooms and a full kitchen." She added, and patted her hand with finality.
Rose laughed. She'd never expected her mother to understand… but for once, she'd surprised her.
In truth, her mother made a lot of sense. She let out a long sigh, and smiled at Jackie.
"Thanks, Mum."
Carla blew air upward out of her mouth, tousling her dark bangs as she did.
John, whom most called the Doctor, ranted on about something trivial to her; about how he'd never been a flat-mate before, but all it sounded like to her was an excuse for him to talk about Rose without actually talking about Rose. It was becoming a recurrent habit of his.
Without much to do, he tended to check up on her more often whenever Rose was busy; helping her with whatever she assigned him to. He really did offer quite a hand, sometimes taking over the project itself, for which she occasionally resented him. But all in all, she could say he was quickly becoming more than an acquaintance. He obviously was romantically occupied, so at first she couldn't imagine why he'd hang around so much.
Sometimes he got this look in his eye, like a little lost puppy, and he'd be charming and witty like it was his way of asking for a belly-rub. And other times, he was very business-like and demanding. She'd heard him chat away about ethics and firearms and the qualities that remained to hold humanity back as a species, whatever the hell that meant. And right now he was rambling about shared mortgages.
And while his incessant talking was endearing at times, she simply had to change the subject.
"Why are you in here so often, shouldn't you be doing something else?" she cut him off mid-sentence, her tone rather biting.
He wasn't fazed, knocking his knuckles together. "Yes… paperwork."
Carla smirked, raising her brow at him. "Ahh… feel free to stay here then, as long as you don't undermine my authority."
The Doctor scoffed. "Don't imagine how anyone could do that…"
Carla handed him a list of codes. "Copy those into the database for me. And don't change anything. You're not the only one who knows how that extrapolator works, even though you ordain to be the smartest thing in the room." She said, shooing him away from her working space.
He trotted over to the Torchwood database, entering the codes with an uncharacteristic silence. They continued like that, with only the clanking of her tools and him clicking away to distinguish the silence.
Carla groaned under her breath, looking over at him and how focused he appeared. God forbid she'd offended him or something…
"Why so quiet all of a sudden? What happened to gabbing until my ears were numb, huh?" she called over to him, trying her best to sound light-hearted. She was pushy, sure, but not enough to silence a man like him. That's why she liked him she supposed. They put up with each other.
He looked over at her, eyebrows raised like he was sharing a joke with himself.
"I'm just trying to figure something out." He called back, finalizing the codes as he said so.
He ambled back over to Carla's work desk, hovering next to her.
She sighed at herself. "Well, don't keep it to yourself… out with it." She said.
John chuckled. "Well, where on Earth did you come from for one thing? I mean, no human being should have your advanced knowledge, your capacity for mathematics… who were you before Torchwood?" he blurted.
Carla winced at the way he said 'human being', like she did every time he said it. She made a face, processing his words. "Less lonely." She muttered out of the corner of her mouth, aggressively yanking a microchip from a disassembled piloting mechanism.
"Pardon?" he remarked quizzically, having only barely heard her.
"Nosy!" she exclaimed, elbowing him. "If you must know, I was an engineering student, scholar if you will, at Cambridge. My brother and I… were interns at Cybus Industries. When that went south, well, I came to work with Pete and Torchwood… made that dimension cannon. And here you are. So that brings us up to the present, I suppose." She explained hurriedly.
John leaned against the table, taking a screwdriver Carla thrust at him. "And your brother?" he asked, studying her face.
Carla grit her teeth and set her jaw, wrenching more circuitry from the device in her hands.
"First on a long list of casualties… got 'upgraded'. He's probably dead or lost in the Void now… what the 'ell am I saying? He was dead the moment we walked into Cybus HQ. I'm the one and only infamous Mitsy now." She said, looking up and out into nothing, trying to visualize her twin's face, since it wasn't so different from her own.
The Doctor swallowed, not expecting that sort of reply. "Carla… I'm so sorry." He said.
Carla turned back to face him, shoving away the nostalgia that had begun to overtake her.
"Sorry is for those who are helpless. But I'm not sorry. I survived. I'll always remember him… we were two peas from the same pod, we were; could barely tell us apart. He didn't have to die, but he did. Just like you and your Rose didn't have to get separated but you did… except the difference is- you came back." She replied, her expression passing through bouts of depression and mourning and flashes of reviling the effrontery of her brother's end.
John looked down at her, reading her face and seeing her for the first time. He sighed. "I would say how unfair it all is, but I suppose we both know."
Carla nodded, her eyes taking him in and construing the earnest in his tone, taking in a quick breath. "Yes, indeed we do." She straightened her lab coat, done with the matter.
"Now, stop leaning on that, you'll lose a hand!" she instructed, swatting him away from her drill.
John scoffed. "Wouldn't be the first time…" he murmured.
Carla pinched her face, feeling she hadn't heard him right. "What?!" she exclaimed.
"Nothing!" he said with a laugh.
So, now we know where Carla is coming from! As for the first part, I think even though this Doctor is a bit more violent than Ten himself, and is supposed to resemble a battle-scarred Nine, I still can't imagine Nine morally accepting a gun. Sure, he might blow up a Dalek without a second thought, but would he shoot someone? No, the Doctor in general wouldn't do that. So, I thought I'd explore that and introduce General Thaxton as well
Hope you enjoyed it and sorry for the wait! More is coming soon, I just wrote it out of order, and have to reorganize it :/