I'm Your Daughter
Chapter 2:
Jenny huffed as she was thrown this way and that, not sure if she should hate or enjoy riding in the TARDIS.
"Hold that one down!" the Doctor yelled at Rose, pointing to a control.
"I'm holding this one down!" Rose exclaimed.
"I'll get it!" snapped Jenny, reaching half-way across the consol to grab the control the Doctor had yelled at Rose to get.
"Oi, I promised you two a time machine and that's what you're getting! Now, you've seen the future, let's have a look at the past. 1860. How does 1860 sound?"
"What happened in 1860?" Rose yelled.
"I don't know," he grinned, "let's find out. Hold on – here we go!"
…
"Do you even know how to fly?" Jenny complained as she got up from her spot on the floor, already feeling the bruises forming.
"Of course I do!" the Doctor groaned.
"Blimey!" Rose gasped, also getting up.
"You're telling me," the Doctor was the last one up. "Are you two alright?"
"Yeah I think so, nothing broken," said Jenny. "Rose, what about you?"
"I'm good too. Did we make it? Where are we?"
"I did it, give the man a medal. Earth, Naples, December 24th, 1860."
"That's so weird," said Rose. "It's Christmas!"
"What's Christmas?" asked Jenny in confusion.
"A holiday."
"Holiday?" Jenny was feeling more stupid by the minute. The Doctor sighed, "Jenny, there's some books in the back about that stuff. Do me a favor, and next time, read them."
"What with your bumpy flying?" Jenny said, offended. The Doctor ignored her.
"Oh come off it, even your lot has to have a Holiday!" Rose said, shoving Jenny teasingly. Jenny frowned, "I was born a soldier. I didn't have the luxury of a holiday or a time machine… holidays are luxurious, yeah?"
Rose laughed, "Depending on who you spend them with."
The Doctor poked his head back inside the TARDIS (and when had he even gotten out?) with a cross expression on his face. "You two coming or not?"
"Alright, hold on!" Rose said, rolling her eyes at his impatience. "Honestly, I don't know if I'll be able to put up with this."
"Look at the bright side, you've got me!" Jenny said with a smile, running out of the TARDIS and bumping straight into her father. "Ow."
"What do you two think you're doing?" he asked, looking shocked at finding the two of them outside the TARDIS. Rose and Jenny exchanged a confused glance. "You told us to come out!"
"Get back inside and dress properly, you'll start a riot, you will! There's a wardrobe through there," the Doctor said, leading them back into the TARDIS. "First left, second right, third on the left, go straight ahead, under the stairs, past the bins, fifth door on your left. Hurry up!"
Rose muttered to Jenny as they marched off together, "Did you catch any of that?"
"Some bit about a wardrobe," Jenny grinned.
…
"How do I look?" Jenny asked, twirling around in her dark green dress. She didn't like it at all – it was heavy and altogether was not very flattering fitwise. The only part she liked was that she was able to keep her shoulders bare. She hated the feeling of being too covered up. She quite liked her army outfit to be honest.
"A right side better than I do," said Rose, grimacing down at the black and dark red dress she was wearing. "I look like I'm going to a gothic parade or somethin'!"
"You still look beautiful," said Jenny, "what did you do to your hair?"
Rose's hands automatically flew to her hair, eyes wide. "What, is there somethin' wrong with it?"
"No, no! I like it, it's very… oldish… I'm assuming. Can you do mine like that?"
"Sure!" said Rose, "just sit there. My mum used to do my hair for me when I was in gymnastics and they would make us wear our hair up," she was talking as she did Jenny's hair, who would wince if a bobbypin would scrape her scalp. "I didn't like my hair up, so my mum made it pretty for me. Little braids and buns and all. There," Rose finished up.
"Already?" asked Jenny in shock. "That was fast."
"Yeah, well I've had practice."
"You mean we're in a rush," said Jenny with a knowing grin on her face. Rose shrugged, "knowin' the Doctor, he's probably stroking the TARDIS like it's his wife or something." Jenny scrunched up her face, "I did not need the extra comment about that, but yeah probably," she admitted, to the laughter of Rose. "So it's not just me then? He like, fondles the controls!"
Jenny snickered, "I always knew there was something off about him. Besides the fact that he's my father," she added thoughtfully, and Rose snorted. "Come on," Rose said, leading Jenny back into the console room.
"Do you think we should tell him that the wardrobe was on the first left?" Jenny whispered to Rose as she spotted her father working under the TARDIS.
"Nah, let's have some fun first," Rose said with a sly grin. Jenny walked forward, almost tripping over her heavy dress, which she scowled at.
This got the Doctor's attention, and he looked up at the two of them. "Blimey!"
"Don't laugh," said Rose, blushing.
"You look beautiful though, considering," the Doctor said, not very tactfully in Jenny's opinion.
"Considering what?" asked Rose, looking confused.
"That you're human," the Doctor said as though it were obvious.
"I think that's a compliment," said Rose after a while.
"Aren't you going to change?" asked Jenny.
"I've changed my jumper," said the Doctor with a sigh, "Come on."
"You stay here," said Rose sternly, "Jenny and I haven't done this yet. You have. Just stay put, coming Jenny?"
Jenny hurried to catch up to Rose as they stepped outside, and was suddenly thankful for the thick dress. It blocked out how freezing it was outside! Mostly.
"Ready for this?" asked the Doctor from behind them, sounding excited. "Here we go. History."
They took off down the snowy street, a chorus of voices were risen together in what Jenny recognized as a song. "What are they singing?" she asked her father as they passed the choir.
"God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," the Doctor answered, casting a quick glance back at them. The trio were passed by a coach, where a woman and a man resided, the woman looking worried. "She's in there sir, I'm certain of it."
"Right," said the man, and they were off.
The Doctor, meanwhile, had bought a newspaper.
"I got the flight a bit wrong," said the Doctor with a frown. Rose shrugged, "I don't care."
"It's not 1860, it's 1869," he explained, though Rose and Jenny weren't fazed.
"We don't care," said Jenny with a sigh.
"And it's not Naples," said the Doctor.
"We don't care," chorused Rose and Jenny.
"It's Cardiff."
Rose had opened her mouth again, most likely to say that she didn't care, but abruptly shut it. "Right."
Before Jenny could ask what Cardiff was, or where, a loud scream tore from the stadium in which the man and woman had disappeared.
"That's more like it!" the Doctor exclaimed.
They arrived just in time to see what looked like a blue gas coming from a corpse and flying around the stadium. The audience fled, pushing past Jenny and her companions in their haste. A man was trying to call for calm, but gave up when he realized he was being ignored.
"Fantastic!" said the Doctor, and the three of them ran closer as the corpse collapsed. "Did you see where it came from?" asked the Doctor as they approached it.
"Ah, the wag reveals himself, does he? I trust you're satisfied, sir!" the man seemed very angry, and Jenny guessed he was the one whose show was interrupted.
The other man and woman went to pick up the corpse, but Rose stopped them in their tracks. "Oi! Leave her alone! Doctor, I'll get them."
"Careful!" the Doctor called after her. Jenny hesitated for a moment, wondering if she should go with Rose, but if the Doctor trusted her enough with them, that was fine for Jenny. Besides, she wanted to learn more about who this guy was…
"Did it say anything?" her father was questioning. "Can it speak? I'm the Doctor, by the way."
"Doctor?" scoffed the man. "You look more like a navvie."
The Doctor looked offended, and Jenny had to hold in giggles. "What's wrong with this jumper?"
The blue entity flew through the night sky, and the Doctor's eyes widened. "Gas!" he exclaimed. "It's made of gas!"
"We need to go, Jenny." He attempted to race after Rose. "Rose!"
"You're not escaping me, sir." Said the angry man. "What do you know about that hobgoblin, hmm? Projection on glass, I suppose. Who put you up to it?"
"Oh come off it!" Jenny yelled at the man, who looked very taken aback (possibly at being yelled at by a girl) and grabbed her father's hand, pulling him to the nearest coach.
"Oi, you, follow that hearse!" the Doctor demanded the driver as soon as they got inside the coach.
"I can't do that, sir," said the driver.
"Why not?" asked Jenny.
"I'll tell you why not! I'll give you a very good reason why not. Because this is my coach."
"Well I guess you should get a move on then, or I'll do it for you," Jenny growled at the man. "Now follow that hearse!"
The Doctor looked rather proud as the man cracked the whip and started the carriage down the street. "They teach you that in military training too?"
"No, he was irritating me," said Jenny with a shrug, and the Doctor laughed, before growing serious at their slow pace. "Come on, you're losing them!"
"Everything in order, Mr. Dickens?" asked the driver, halting to a stop at the sight of the angry man.
"No! It is not!" Dickens exclaimed, also climbing in.
"What did he say?" asked the Doctor with wide eyes.
"Let me say this first. I'm not without a sense of humor," Dickens ranted, but the Doctor cut him off. "Dickens?"
"Yes." Said the man.
"Charles Dickens!?" the Doctor exclaimed.
"Yes."
"The Charles Dickens?"
"Should I remove the gentleman and his mistress sir?" the driver asked Charles Dickens.
"Charles Dickens?" the Doctor exclaimed again. "You are brilliant, you are! Completely, one hundred percent brilliant. I've read them all. Great Expectations, Oliver Twist and what's that other one? The one with the ghosts?"
"The Christmas Carol?" replied Dickens, sounding a little peeved.
"No, no, no, the one with the trains. The Signal man, that's it! Terrifying! The best short story ever written. You're a genius! Jenny, you have to read his books, I have them all in the back," he said, turning to his daughter, who nodded quickly. "Okay then…"
"You want me to get rid of them, sir?" asked the driver again.
"Er, no, I think they can stay."
"Honestly Charles. Can I call you Charles? I'm such a big fan!"
"A what? A big what?"
"Fan. Number one fan. That's me."
"How exactly are you a fan?" asked Dickens, looking confused. "In what way do you resemble means of keeping yourself cool?"
"It means fanatic, devoted to," Jenny cut in smoothly before the Doctor could make a bigger mess of things.
"Mind you," said the Doctor, talking over Jenny, "I've got to say, that American bit in Martin Chuzzlewit, what's that about? Was it just padding or what? I mean, it's rubbish, that bit." Jenny rolled her eyes.
"I thought you said you were my fan," said Dickens, frowning.
"Ah, well, if you can't take criticism. Go on then, to the death of Little Nell! It cracks me up," Jenny shot her father a sharp look at this. Since when did death crack him up? "No, sorry, forget about that," that was more like it… "Come on, faster!"
"Who exactly is in that hearse?"
"My friend. She's only nineteen. It's my fault, she's in my care, and now she's in danger."
"Why are we wasting time talking about dry old books?" Dickens sounded shocked. "This is much more important. Driver, be swift! The chase is on!"
Jenny leaned in towards the Doctor as the coach went quicker. "Don't be too hard on yourself, it's not only your fault. I should have gone with her."
The Doctor sighed, "then you would have both been taken, and I would feel even more guilty. No, it's better that you stayed with me, now we can rescue Rose together."
"There!" said Jenny suddenly, pointing at the hearth. "I recognize it. They must have stopped there!"
"I say it's time we pay them a little visit," said the Doctor as the driver came to a halt.
…
"I'm sorry sirs, madam, we're closed," said a young, dark-haired Welsh woman.
"Nonsense!" exclaimed Dickens. "Since when did an Undertaker keep office hours? The dead don't die on schedule. I demand to see your master."
"He's not in, sir," said the woman, looking startled.
"Don't lie to me, child," said Dickens, "summon him at once."
"But the master is indisposed," said the woman, now looking extremely startled, as a gas lamp flared.
"Having any problems with your gas?" asked Jenny, looking up at the gas lamp.
"What the Shakespeare is going on?" Dickens demanded, looking around.
"Enough of this," said the Doctor, and without even a warning, he pushed past the lady, Jenny following right behind him with Dickens at the end.
"You're not allowed inside, sirs! Madam!"
"There's something inside the walls…" murmured the Doctor.
"The gas pipes, something's living inside the gas!" exclaimed Jenny.
They both whipped around at the sound of Rose's voice. "Let me out! Open the door!"
"That's her!" said the Doctor and Jenny at the same time. "Please, please let me out!"
The trio all ran down the corridor and straight into the master of the house. The woman appeared behind them, looking guilty and ashamed.
"How dare you sir!" exclaimed the man, glaring at Dickens. "This is my house!"
"Shut up," said Dickens, not looking in the mood for this.
The man turned his angry eyes to the young lady, "I told you!"
"Let me out! Somebody open the door!" her screams and pleads were even more panicked now, like there was something behind her. "Dad!" the Doctor looked up at Jenny, who nodded towards the door. They both raced over at the same time, the Doctor pulling out his sonic screwdriver. Jenny rolled her eyes, lifted her foot, and kicked the door in.
"…that works too," said the Doctor, putting his screwdriver back in his pocket.
He reached in and grabbed Rose from the… animated… body of a corpse, who was holding her. Jenny stared at it in shock. "I think this is my dance," he said.
"It's a prank," said Dickens, also staring at the animated corpse. "It must be. We're under some mesmeric influence!"
"No, we're not," said the Doctor darkly, "the dead are walking. Hi," he added to Rose.
"Hi," said Rose, looking shaken. "Who's your friend?"
"This is Charles Dickens," said the Doctor, looking slightly proud of this fact.
"Okay," said Rose, wide-eyed, and Jenny had the feeling she knew who he was too.
"My name's the Doctor," the Doctor told the animated corpse, shoving Rose towards Jenny, who caught her in a tight hug. "Who are you then? What do you want?"
Several voices rose from the corpse, chilling Jenny to the bone. "Failing. Open the rift, we're dying. Trapped in this form. Cannot sustain. Help us! Argh," the gas left the corpse, which collapsed, in favor of returning back into the gas lamp.
…
The woman, who had introduced herself as Gwyneth, was pouring tea for all of them. When in doubt, drink tea. According to her father it fixes everything.
Rose was in the middle of speaking, "first of all you drug me, then you kidnap me, and don't think I didn't feel your hands having a quick wander, you dirty old man!"
The man, Sneed, looked shocked and angry. "I won't be spoken to like this!"
Rose ignored him. "Then you stuck me in a room full of zombies! And if that ain't enough, you swan off and leave me to die! So, come on, talk."
"It's not my fault," said a cross Sneed, "it's this house. It always had a reputation. Haunted. But I never had much bother until a few months back, and then the stiffs, the er, dear departed started getting restless."
"Tommyrot," said Dickens, brushing it off.
"You witnessed it," said Sneed dryly, and Jenny had to admit, Dickens did seem a bit close-minded when it came to ghosts, considering that he apparently wrote stories about them. "Can't keep the beggars down, sir. They walk. And it's the queerest thing, but they hang on to scraps."
Gwyneth placed the Doctor's cup on the mantelpiece beside him.
"Two sugars, sir, just how you like it."
"One old fellow who used to be a sexton almost walked into his own memorial service. Just like the old lady going to your performance, sir," said Sneed, looking at Dickens, "just as she planned."
"Morbid fancy," said Dickens, though there was uncertainty in his face.
"Oh Charles," the Doctor sighed. "You were there!"
"I saw nothing but an illusion!" Dickens defended.
"If you're going to deny it," said the Doctor, "don't waste my time. Just shut up. What about the gas?"
"That's new sir," said Sneed, "never seen anything like it."
"That must mean that whatever it is, is getting stronger," said Jenny thoughtfully. The Doctor nodded, "the rift is getting wider, and something's sneaking through."
"What's the rift?" asked Rose and Jenny simultaneously.
"A weak point in time and space," answered the Doctor, "a connection between this place and another. That's the cause of ghost stories, most of the time."
"That's how I got the house so cheap," said Sneed, "stories going back generations."
Dickens got up at that point, startling everybody, and left the room, slamming it shut behind him.
Sneed ignored this, "Echoes in the dark," he said quietly, "queer songs in the air, and this feeling of a shadow passing over your soul. Mind you, truth be told, it's been good for business. Just what people expect from a gloomy old trade like mine."
"Think we should go after Dickens?" Jenny asked her father, who shrugged. "Don't want him getting lost, do we?"
They both got up to leave, following Dickens, though they didn't slam the door shut behind them. It didn't take them long to spot him. He was by the coffin, waving his hand in front of the corpse's face, as though expecting it to come alive at any minute. When it didn't work, he started examining the coffin itself.
"Checking for strings?" asked the Doctor. Dickens didn't jump, and Jenny had the feeling that he'd known they were there all along.
"Wires perhaps. There must be some kind of mechanism behind this fraud."
"What makes you so sure it's a fraud?" asked Jenny in confusion, "I mean, you've seen it for yourself, more than once, and these people… they don't really look like the type of people who would trick someone over and over again. Come on, open your eyes, listen…they're real. This is happening."
Dickens shook his head. "I cannot accept that."
"What does the human body do when it decomposes?" tried the Doctor, "It breaks down and produces gas. Perfect home for these gas things. They can slip inside and use it as a vehicle, just like your driver and his coach."
"Stop it," Dickens shook his head. "Can it be that I have the world entirely wrong?"
"Not wrong," said the Doctor gently. "There's just more to learn."
"I've always railed against the fantasies," said Dickens, looking pained, and Jenny felt her heart go out to him. Maybe he was denying what was in front of him with every fiber in his body, but he had chosen not to believe, and now his choice had been taken away from him. "Oh, I loved an illusion as much as the next man, but that's exactly what they were, illusions. The real world is something else. I dedicated myself to that. Injustices, the great social causes. I hoped that I was a force for good. Now you tell me that the real world is a realm of spectres and jack-o'-lanterns. In which case, have I wasted my brief span here, Doctor? Jenny? Has it all been for nothing?"
"I think you better take this," Jenny whispered to the Doctor, then slinked out of the room, intent on finding Rose and Gwyneth. They were only a few rooms away, apparently having bonded in the short time they were together when Gwyneth wasn't trying to let her be killed.
"Hello," said Jenny, walking into the room. The two looked up at her, startled, but Rose gave her a welcoming smile.
"We were just talkin' about school and how much we hated it," said Rose as Jenny approached them.
"Hate it? I would have loved to go to school."
"You've never been to school?" asked Gwyneth in surprise, frowning.
"Oh, I was homeschooled," said Jenny quickly after receiving a sharp look from Rose. "It wasn't my idea of a fun time. I would have rather been around people."
"That explains it then," said Gwyneth, looking as though she'd just discovered a secret.
"Explains what?" asked Jenny, confused.
"Why you don't know how to act properly. Both of you, really. I mean no offense by it, it's just… women aren't supposed to talk out like that."
"Well, we're just a different batch," said Jenny with a glance at Rose.
"Even so," said Gwyneth, "I'd like to have as much courage as you two do."
"I guess it comes from being alongside boys, you have to learn how to handle them," said Jenny with a shrug. Rose smirked, "Me and my mates, we used to go down to the shop to look at boys."
"Well, I don't know much about that," said Gwyneth with a shy duck of her head.
"Gwyneth, you can tell us. I bet you've got your eye on someone."
"I suppose," Gwyneth hesitated, "there is one lad. The butcher's boy. He comes by every Tuesday. Such a lovely smile on him."
"I like a nice smile," said Jenny, nodding, though she herself had never had a relationship. Okay, she may have kissed a couple guys, but that was only to save her life! Like when she was stuck in a jail cell with her father and Donna, and she kissed the soldier guarding them. It got them out, didn't it?
"Good smile," agreed Rose, "nice bum."
Gwyneth looked shocked, "Well I have never heard the like!"
"Ask him out," said Rose, "give him a cup of tea or somethin'. That's a start."
"I swear, it is the strangest thing, you two. You've got all the clothes and the breeding, but you talk like you're some sort of wild things." Said Gwyneth, still looking shocked.
"Maybe we are," said Rose, "maybe that's a good thing. You need a bit more in your life than Mr. Sneed."
"Oh, now that's not fair," said Gwyneth, looking uncomfortable. "He's not so bad, old Sneed. He was very kind to take me in because I lost my mum and dad to the flu when I was twelve."
"Oh, I'm sorry," said Rose apologetically, and Jenny nodded sadly.
"Thank you. But I'll be with them again, someday, sitting with them in paradise. I shall be so blessed. They're waiting for me. Maybe your dad is up there waiting for you too, miss," said Gwyneth, looking at Rose. Jenny looked at the two in shock.
"Maybe," said Rose, looking a bit startled, "er, who told you he was dead?"
"Must have been the Doctor," said Jenny with a frown, and Gwyneth nodded in agreement.
"My father died years back," said Rose, frowning.
"But you've been thinking about him lately more than ever," said Gwyneth. Jenny stared at her. This was really weird… and she knew weird.
"I s'pose so," said Rose slowly. "How do you know all this?"
"Mr. Sneed says I think too much," said Gwyneth with a sigh. "I'm all alone down here. I bet you've got dozens of servants, haven't you?" she seemed to include Jenny in that sentence too.
"No," said Rose truthfully, "No servants where I'm from."
"And you've come such a long way. Both of you, and you…" she looked at Jenny, "Why, you've come from even longer away."
"What makes you think so?" said Rose quickly, and Jenny was relieved when Gwyneth returned her attention back to Rose.
"You're from London. I've seen London drawings, but never like that. All those people rushing about half naked, for shame. And the noise, and the metal boxes racing past, and the birds in the sky, no, they're metal as well. Metal birds with people in them. People are flying," she turned away from Rose's shocked expression in favor of looking at Jenny again, "I don't know where you're from. A place I've never heard of before. A war, a terrible war. And… something metal hit you in the chest. You should have been killed, but look at you both, the things you've seen, the darkness, the travel… the bad wolf," she directed this at Rose. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry miss."
"It's alright," said Rose, looking shaken.
"I can't help it," Gwyneth explained, "ever since I was a little girl, my mam said that I had The Sight. She told me to hide it."
"But it's getting stronger," said a voice from behind them, and they all whipped around to see the Doctor standing there. "More powerful. Is that right?"
"All the time sir," Gwyneth admitted. "Every night, voices in my head."
"You grew up on top of the rift," the Doctor explained. "You're part of it. You're the key."
"I've tried to make sense of it, sir," said Gwyneth, looking apologetic, "consulted with spiritualists, table rappers, all sorts."
"Well, that should help. You can show us what to do."
"What to do where, sir?" asked Gwyneth, looking both scared and determined at the same time, if such a thing were possible.
"We're going to have a séance," said the Doctor in a flat voice.
The three girls exchanged nervous looks, but none looked more nervous than Gwyneth did. "It's okay," said Rose, leading her out into the living room. "It'll work, trust me."
"Sit down," said the Doctor when they were in the living room, "all of you, sit down. It's time."
…
"This is how Madam Mortlock summons those from the Land of Mists, down in big town. Come, we must all join hands," said Gwyneth, her voice steady despite how worried she had looked before she entered the living room.
"I can't take part in this," said Dickens quickly.
"Humbug? Come on, open mind!" said the Doctor.
"This is precisely the sort of cheap mummery I strive to unmask!" said Dickens, and Jenny sighed. Apparently her father hadn't gotten to him, and nor had she. "Séances? Nothing but luminous tambourines and a squeeze box concealed between the knees. This girl knows nothing."
"Now, don't antagonize her," the Doctor admonished, "I love a happy medium."
"I can't believe you just said that," said Rose, staring at him.
"Come on," the Doctor encouraged. "We might need you."
Dickens sighed and sat down between Rose and Gwyneth.
"Good man!" said the Doctor, a lot happier then he'd been before. "Now, Gwyneth, reach out."
"Speak to us," said Gwyneth, "are you there? Spirits, come. Speak to us that we may relieve your burden."
Jenny felt the back of her neck hairs tingle as the sound of whispers picked up in her ear. Somehow, she knew that the séance was working.
"Can you hear that?" whispered Rose.
"Nothing can happen," Dickens assured her, "this is sheer folly."
"Look at her," Rose said, staring at Gwyneth.
"I see them," said Gwyneth, "I feel them."
Jenny gasped as gas tendrils drifted above their heads.
"What's it saying?" she asked, trying not to sound scared.
"They can't get through the rift," said the Doctor, "Gwyneth, it's not controlling you, you're controlling it. Now, look deep, allow them through."
"I can't!" said Gwyneth, looking way more scared then Jenny felt.
"Yes, you can, just believe it," said the Doctor firmly, "I have faith in you, Gwyneth. Make the link."
"Yes," Gwyneth whispered, and shadows started to appear behind her, outlined in blue.
"Great God!" exclaimed Sneed. "Spirits from the other side!"
"The other side of the universe," the Doctor said in a low voice.
Gwyneth started to speak again, but this time it wasn't only her voice, the voice of two children were speaking as well. Coming straight from her mouth.
"Pity us. Pity the Gelth. There is so little time. Help us."
"What do you want us to do?" asked the Doctor urgently.
"The rift. Take the girl to the rift. Make the bridge."
"Why? What happened?" the Doctor asked in that same urgent tone.
"Once we had a physical form, like you, but then the war came." Jenny shivered as memories of the war on Messaline flashed through her mind.
"War? What war?"
"The Time War," said the Gelth, "the whole universe convulsed. The Time War raged. Invisible to smaller species but devastating to higher forms. Our bodies wasted away. We're trapped in a gaseous state."
"So that's why you need the corpses," said the Doctor, realization lighting his features, and something like guilt.
"We want to stand tall," explained the Gelth, "feel the sunlight, to live again. We need a physical form, and your dead are abandoned. They're going to waste. Give them to us."
"But we can't!" exclaimed Rose.
"Why not?" asked the Doctor, and Jenny glared at him.
"It's not, I mean… it's not –"
"Not decent? Not polite? It could save their lives."
"Open the rift," the Gelth encouraged, "let the Gelth through! We're dying. Help us. Pity the Gelth!"
The Gelth then went back into the gas lamps, leaving Gwyneth to collapse onto the table.
"Gwyneth?" asked Rose and Jenny, worried.
"All true," said Dickens in a fascinated tone.
"Are you okay?" Jenny asked him.
"It's all true," Dickens said in the same voice, eyes wide.
"I think there's more pressing matters," said Jenny, nodding at Gwyneth's limp form, spread across the table.
"Right," the Doctor got up and unlinked his hand with Jenny's (she'd been sitting in between him and Dickens), going over to Gwyneth and putting a finger to her neck. "She's got a pulse, she just needs sleep," said the Doctor, lifting her up in his arms as though it were nothing. "Let's get her to the chaise lounge."
Almost as soon as the Doctor put her down on the chaise lounge, Gwyneth woke up.
"It's alright," said Jenny, kneeling down next to her.
"You just sleep," added Rose, coming over to the two.
"But my angels," said Gwyneth quickly, "they came didn't they? They need me?"
"They do need you Gwyneth," said the Doctor, cutting across any objection Rose might have had. "You're their only chance of survival."
"I've told you," Rose snapped, "leave her alone. She's exhausted and she's not fightin' your battles!"
Jenny grabbed a glance of water and handed it to Gwyneth, "Drink this."
"Well, what do you say Doctor?" Sneed walked over. "Explain it again. What are they?"
"Aliens," said the Doctor.
"Like foreigners you mean?" asked Sneed in confusion, and Jenny rolled her eyes. Honestly, the things Earthlings will do to ignore supernatural beings.
"Pretty foreign, yeah," she called, then pointed up at the ceiling, "from up there."
"Brecon?" Sneed tried, and Jenny sighed.
"Close," said the Doctor with a glance over at Jenny. "And they've been trying to get through Brecon to Cardiff, but the road's blocked. Only a few can get through and even then they're weak. They can only test drive the bodies for so long, then they have to revert in the glass and hide in the pipes."
"Which is why they need the girl," Dickens confirmed.
"They're not havin' her. Jenny tell 'em," Rose said firmly. Jenny sighed, "she's right, Gwyneth is a girl, who knows what the rift will do to her."
"But she can help!" the Doctor protested. "Living on the rift, she became part of it. She can open up, make a bridge and let them through."
"Incredible," said Dickens. "Ghosts that are not ghosts but beings from a different world, who can only exist in our world by inhabiting cadavers."
"Good system," said the Doctor. "It might work."
"You can't let them run around inside dead people!" exclaimed Rose, sounding revolted.
"Why not?" challenged the Doctor. "It's like recycling."
"No, Rose is right, you can't!" said Jenny, shaking her head.
"No, Rose is wrong, I can!" said the Doctor, glaring at her.
"It's wrong though! Can't you see it? Those bodies were living people, even you lot should be able to respect them in death!" Jenny had jumped up now, glaring around at all of them.
"Do you carry a donor card?" the Doctor asked Rose, ignoring Jenny's furious face.
"That's different," said Rose heatedly, "that's –"
"It is different, yeah," said the Doctor, "It's different morality. Get used to it or go home." Jenny felt her jaw drop, how could he endanger someone like this? She tried remembering, what had her father said the first time she'd seen him? About genocide?
"There has to be a different way," said Jenny, looking at them all. "You're not usin' her!" Rose repeated.
"Don't I get a say?" asked Gwyneth, looking around at them all.
"Look, you don't understand what's going on," said Rose, and Jenny winced at the wording.
"You would say that, miss, because it's clear inside your head that you think I'm stupid."
"She doesn't think that!" Jenny exclaimed, walking back over to them. "That's not fair."
"It's true though, you do too," she added to Jenny, who frowned.
"Things might be different from where you two are," Gwyneth continued, "but here and now, I have my own mind, and the angels need me. Doctor, what do I have to do?"
"You don't have to do anything," said the Doctor, looking at her.
"They've been singing to me since I was a child, sent by my mam on a holy mission. So tell me."
"We need to find the rift," said the Doctor, turning away, "this house is on a weak spot, so there must be a spot that's weaker than any other. Mr. Sneed, what's the weakest part of this house?" he asked Sneed. "The place where the most ghosts have been seen."
"That would be the morgue," replied Sneed.
"No chance you were going to say gazebo, is there?" mumbled Rose, but nobody answered her.
…
"Urgh, talk about bleak house," complained the Doctor when they reached the cold morgue.
"The thing is, Doctor," said Rose, obviously still mad, "the Gelth don't succeed, 'cos I know they don't. I know for a fact there weren't corpses walking about in 1869."
"Time's a flux, changing every second," said the Doctor. "Your cozy little world can be rewritten like that," he snapped his fingers. "Nothing is safe. Remember that. Nothing."
"Doctor," Dickens spoke up, "I think the room is getting colder."
"Here they come," Jenny whispered as the Gelth started coming out of the gas lamps and stood under a stone archway.
"You've come to help!" the Gelth exclaimed, "Praise the Doctor. Praise him."
Rose took a step forward. "Promise you won't hurt her."
The Gelth ignored her. "Hurry! Please, so little time, pity the Gelth!"
"I'll take you somewhere else after the transfer," the Doctor promised, "somewhere you can build proper bodies. This isn't a permanent solution, alright?"
"My angels," Gwyneth whispered, eyes shining, "I can help them live!"
"Okay," said the Doctor, "where's the weak point?"
"Here, beneath the arch," said the Gelth in reply.
"Beneath the arch," Gwyneth confirmed, going to stand underneath of it, straight inside the Gelth.
"You don't have to do this," Jenny said, knowing that it was stupid to even attempt to talk her out of it now… but she had to do something. One last choice.
"My angels."
"Establish the bridge!" the Gelth cried, "reach out to the void! Let us through!"
"Yes, I can see you!" said Gwyneth, "I can see you. Come!"
"Bridgehead establishing," said the Gelth, and Jenny could feel her two hearts pumping rapidly.
"Come to me. Come to this world, poor lost souls!"
"It is begun," the Gelth said, "the bridge is made!"
Gwyneth tilted her head back, and blue gas came out of her open mouth. "She has given herself to the Gelth! The bridge is open! We descend!"
The blue apparition suddenly turned flame red with sharp teeth, causing Jenny to take a step back and Rose to gasp. The Gelth spoke again, but the little kid voice was gone, replaced by a cold and deep voice. "The Gelth will come through force."
Dickens spoke up, "you said you were few in numbers!"
"A few billion," the Gelth replied. "And all of us need corpses."
The dead bodies around them all started to get up, and Jenny moved almost subconsciously closer to the Doctor.
Sneed stepped forward, "Gwyneth, stop this! Listen to your master! This has gone far enough. Stop dabbling, child, and leave these things alone. I beg of you –"
Rose suddenly shouted, "Mr. Sneed, get back!"
It was too late though, a corpse had grabbed Sneed and snapped his neck, if the noise was anything to go by. His body barely had time to collapse when a Gelth took control of it, zooming into his mouth.
"I think it's gone a bit wrong," said the Doctor, wide-eyed at the destruction. Sneed turned towards them, "I have joined the legions of the Gelth. Come, march with us."
"No," said Dickens, shaking his head and taking a few steps back.
"We need bodies!" shouted the Gelth through Sneed's mouth. "All of you. Dead. The human race. Dead."
"Gwyneth, stop them!" Jenny cried, and the Doctor added, "send them back, now!"
"Four more bodies," said Gelth Sneed. "Convert them. Make vessels for the Gelth."
Jenny screamed as Gelth Sneed made a reach for her arm, but the Doctor grabbed her hand along with Rose's and pulled her away. They were trapped, there was nowhere they could go… Gelth Sneed had them backed against a metal gate.
"Doctor," they heard Dickens call, "I'm can't! I'm sorry! This new world of yours is too much for me, I'm so—"
Jenny grabbed the Doctor and Rose by the arm and shoved them all behind the metal gate, wondering why she hadn't thought of that sooner, and closed it behind them.
"Give yourself to glory!" shouted the Gelth. "Sacrifice your lives for the Gelth!"
"I trusted you!" the Doctor shouted back, even louder, "I pitied you!"
"We don't want your pity," replied the Gelth. "We want this world and all its flesh."
"Not while we're alive," said Jenny bravely, but the Gelth seemed prepared for her answer. "Then live no more."
"But I can't die!" said a hysterical Rose. "Tell me I can't! I haven't even been born yet. It's impossible for me to die, isn't it?"
The Doctor and Jenny looked at her sadly.
"I'm sorry."
Rose stared at them, "but it's 1869. How can I die now?"
"Time isn't a straight line," explained Jenny, "it can twist into any shape. You can be born in the 20th century and die in the 19th."
"It's all my fault," said the Doctor heavily, "I brought you here, it's all my fault."
"It's not your fault," said Rose firmly. "I wanted to come."
"What about me?" asked the Doctor. "I saw the fall of Troy, World War Five. I pushed boxes at the Boston Tea Party. Now I'm going to die in a dungeon in Cardiff."
"None of us are dying!" Jenny snapped at the two. "You can't give up hope… you can't!"
At the expression on their faces, what little hope Jenny had left, died. But there was something else, something to keep her going…
"We'll go down fighting then, yeah?"
"Yeah," said the Doctor, nodding.
"All of us?" she pressed, looking pointedly at Rose.
"All of us," she promised, then paused. "I'm glad that I met you two… you've been great."
Jenny didn't answer, but the Doctor did. "I'm glad I met you too."
They all jumped as the door burst open, and Dickens raced inside. "Doctor! Doctor! Turn off the flame, turn up the gas! Now, fill the room, all of it!"
"What are you doing?" asked the Doctor in alarm.
"Turn it all on!" Dickens repeated, "Flood the place!"
The Doctor suddenly straightened, "Brilliant, gas!"
"What, so we choke to death instead?" asked Rose, apparently not liking the idea.
"Those creatures are gaseous," said Jenny, also straightening. "He's right! Fill the room with gas, it'll draw them out of the host! It'll suck them into the air!"
The corpses started to leave the trio, headed for Dickens instead. Apparently, they'd heard the plan.
"I hope, oh Lord," said Dickens, staring at them wildly, "I hope this theory will be validated soon, if not immediately."
"Plenty more!" yelled the Doctor.
The Doctor ripped a gas pipe from the wall, causing the Gelth to leave the corpses.
"It's working!" shouted Dickens.
The trio raced out of the alcove, towards where Dickens and Gwyneth were.
"Gwyneth," said the Doctor quickly. "Send them back. They lied. They're not angels."
"Liars?" asked Gwyneth, her voice odd.
"Look at me!" snapped the Doctor, "if your mother and father could see this, they'd tell you the same. They'd give you the strength. Now send them back!"
"I can't breathe!" exclaimed Rose, and Jenny pulled her to the floor, both of them coughing. Jenny could feel the gas starting to affect her, choking her airway.
"Charles, get them out," said the Doctor.
"We're not leaving her!" said Rose, coughing.
"Can't get rid of us that easily," Jenny gasped out, still trying to get air in her lungs. Of course, she'd like nothing better than to get into a room clean of gas and full of air, but she wouldn't leave them behind. She'd fight to the death for them… even if it meant fighting off gas. She shook herself, trying to fight off the black that had started dimming her vision.
"They're too strong!" said Gwyneth, her voice full of fear.
"Remember that world you saw? Rose's world? All those people. None of it will exist unless you send them back through the rift."
"I can't send them back," Gwyneth replied. "But I can hold them. Hold them in this place, hold them here. Get out."
Gwyneth put a shaky hand inside her apron pocket and pulled out a box of matches.
"You can't!" Rose exclaimed.
"Leave this place!" said Gwyneth desperately. It was clear that she'd made her choice.
"Rose, Jenny, get out. Go now, I won't leave her while she's still in danger. Now go!"
"No!" shouted Jenny, but Rose was already pulling her out of the room. "No, stop you can't! Let me go Dickens!" she yelled, pounding her fist on his back due to the fact that he'd thrown her over his shoulder to get her out of there.
"This way!" shouted Dickens, ignoring her. Almost as soon as they were outside, there was a loud BOOM, that caused Dickens to lose his grip on Jenny and for her to go tumbling to the ground.
The Doctor, on the other hand, went flying on the street. Jenny looked up in relief when she saw him, and was helped to stand on her feet by Rose.
"She didn't make it," Rose said when she didn't spot Gwyneth.
"I'm sorry. She closed the rift."
"At such a cost," sighed Dickens sadly. "The poor child."
"I did try, Rose, Jenny, but Gwyneth was already dead. She had been for at least five minutes."
"What are you saying?" asked Jenny.
"I think she was dead the minute she stood in that arch," said the Doctor regretfully.
"But she can't have," Rose argued, "she spoke to us. She helped us. She saved us. How could she have done that?"
"There are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy. Even for you, Doctor."
"She saved the world," Jenny murmured. "A servant girl, and no one will ever know."
The Doctor put a hand on her shoulder. "We will."
…
Jenny wanted to leave, she wanted to leave Cardiff and never return. All she could think about were the Gelth, and Gwyneth. That's why she was rather impatient as her father made her wait outside the TARDIS with him and Rose and Dickens to 'say goodbye'.
"Right then, Charlie Boy," said the Doctor. "I've just got to go into my, er, shed. Won't be long."
"What are you going to do now?" Rose asked him.
"I shall take the mail coach back to London," he said. "Quite literally post-haste. This is no time for me to be on my own. I shall spend Christmas with my family and make amends them. After all I've learned tonight, there can be nothing more vital."
"You've cheered me up some," said Jenny, thinking about what he said.
"Exceedingly! This morning, I thought I knew everything in the world. Now I've just started. All these huge and wonderful notions, Doctor. I'm inspired. I must write about them."
"Do you think that's wise?" asked Jenny hesitantly.
"I shall be subtle at first. The Mystery of Edwin Drood still lacks and ending. Perhaps the killer was not the boy's uncle, perhaps he was not of this Earth. The Mystery of Edwin Drood and the Blue Elementals. I can spread the word, tell the truth."
"Good luck with it," said the Doctor sincerely. "Nice to meet you. Fantastic."
"Yeah, it was nice meeting you," said Jenny.
"Bye then… and thanks," Rose said, shaking his hand. After hesitating for a moment, she kissed his cheek.
"Oh my dear!" exclaimed Dickens, "how modern! Thank you, but, I don't understand. In what way is this goodbye? Where are you going?"
"You'll see. In the shed."
"Upon my soul, Doctor, it's one riddle after another with you. But after all these revelations, there's one mystery you haven't explained. Answer me this: who are you?"
"Just a friend passing through," said the Doctor quickly.
"But you have such knowledge of future times!" said Dickens, shaking his head. "I do not wish to impose on you, but I must ask you… Doctor, my books… do they last?"
The Doctor grinned, "Oh yes!"
"For how long?" asked Dickens, looking as though he weren't sure he wanted to know the answer.
"Forever," said the Doctor simply. "Right, shed. Come on Jenny, Rose."
"In the box? All three of you?" asked Dickens, wide-eyed.
"Down boy," said the Doctor with a laugh, "see you."
Once they were inside the TARDIS, Rose turned to the Doctor. "Doesn't that change history? If he writes about blue ghosts?"
"In a week's time," the Doctor said sadly, "it will be 1870, and that's the year he dies. Sorry, he'll never get to tell his story."
"Oh no," said Jenny, frowning. "He actually turned out quite nice in the end…"
"But in Rose's time, he's already dead," the Doctor pointed out. "We've brought him back to life, and he's more alive than he's ever been, old Charlie Boy. Let's give him one last surprise."
They all grinned at each other as the Doctor turned the engines on, and Jenny knew that outside the TARDIS would be disappearing. "That's one Christmas present," said Rose, laughing.
Yay, chapter 2! I'm glad you guys liked chapter 1. It's been fun writing this, hope you liked this chapter as well. So what did you think about this one? Have you ever watched Torchwood before Doctor Who? I did, and when I saw Eve Myles as Gwyneth I squeeled. Yeah, very unflattering.
Please review! : ) and/or favorite/follow.