Right. So here we are. The plot moves forward now. Oh, and Owen is not undead, or whatever he was for most of Torchwood season 3. That whole story line creeped me out. Not a really necessary piece of info for this story, but there ya go.
Thanks for the lovely reviews! Keep em comin!
CHAPTER 3
Morning in the Hub found six rather cranky Torchwood agents.
"Ianto, be a dear and put on another pot of coffee, would ya?" Jack hollered at his boyfriend. "Owen here looks like death warmed over, and the ladies look like they want to eat me alive - and not in a good way!"
"Have you looked at yourself lately, Jack?" Gwen spouted at him. "You're not exactly looking like man of the year today either."
"Wow, someone woke up on the bitchy side of the bed this morning," Jack retorted. "Ianto! Better make it two pots!" he called up the stairs.
"Good, I could drink an entire pot of that myself, and I don't even like coffee!" Rose sighed.
"You'll have to fight me for it, then," came Tosh's sarcastic reply.
"For crying out loud, we'll all get the bloody coffee!" Owen yelled.
Just then, Ianto came down the stairs with a mug for everyone. He took in the scene, shook his head and sighed before picking up the empty tray and heading back upstairs. "I'll put on a third," he sighed.
"What is wrong with everyone this morning?" Jack inquired, exasperation evident in his tone.
"Dunno about everyone else, but I couldn't sleep last night. At all!" Owen groaned.
"Tosh kept you busy?" This was asked by (who else?) Jack, accompanied by a dirty grin.
"Man sakes!" Gwen yelled before either Tosh or Owen could. "Don't you ever think of anything else?!"
"Just figure that out, did you?" Rose snorted, as she sipped her brew. "Jack's mother should have just called him Randy!"
Before anyone could respond to that (fairly accurate) comment, a shrill alarm was emitted from the computer console.
"Jack, you might want to take a look at this! I've never seen such a huge energy spike coming from the Rift before." Tosh waved the entire team over. "It looks like the Rift's gonna blow!"
"Yes, and we're right in the middle of it! How long do we have?" Jack took charge.
Ianto gulped, "Full impact in exactly 2 minutes, 34 seconds."
"Then what are we standing around here for! We need to run!" Rose cried before sprinting off.
Everyone else looked at Jack. "What are you all looking at me for? You heard the lady! Run!"
As they made it outside, Ianto's stopwatch beeped. And nothing happened. Just... nothing.
"I don't understand..." Tosh started.
But Rose suddenly felt a shiver travel up her spine. Something had happened. Something, no someone had just entered this universe. Someone whose menacing presence made himself known only to herself because of her new telepathic nature. Someone who was supposed to be dead. In that instant, Rose knew why no one was able to sleep last night. They had all had a bad dream!
-DW-
Meanwhile, just across the English channel...
"Did we do it? Is that him?" An old man pointed towards the Doctor.
"Tall and thin, big brown coat." Another replied, sizing the Doctor up.
A rather cheeky old lady who could have passed for an old Jackie Tyler nodded eagerly. "The Silver Cloak. It worked. Because Wilf phoned Netty, who phoned June, and her sister lives opposite Broadfell, and she saw the police box, and her neighbour saw this man heading east." Yes, this is exactly how Jackie will turn out, he grimaced. Then he noticed one old man in particular.
"Wilfred?" It was indeed Wilfred Mott, Donna's grandfather.
"Yeah?"
The Time Lord beant over to whisper in the old man's ear. "Have you told them who I am? You promised me."
He dismissed the alien's worries. "No, I just said you were a doctor, that's all. And might I say, sir, it is an honor to see you again." He then saluted.
The Jackie wanna-be turned on the charm. "Oh, but you never said he was a looker. He's gorgeous. Take a photo."
"Not bad, eh? Me next." One of the other old men lined up to get his picture taken as well. The Doctor groaned. The Master was back, the world could be coming to an end any second, and these people wanted a photo op.
And apparently a flirt as well. "I'm Minnie. Minnie the Menace. It's a long time since I had a photo with a handsome man." He was proud of himself for not rolling his eyes.
Wilf tried to come to his rescue. "Just get off him. Leave him alone, will you?"
But Minnie wasn't finished. "Hush, you old misery. Come on, Doctor. Give us a smile. That's it."
"Hold on. Did it flash?" This was one of the old men again. He obviously had issues with the camera.
"No, there's a blue light," Minnie replied. "Try again."
"I'm all fingers and thumbs." The camera man struggled.
That's not all you're gonna be if you don't hurry it up! The Doctor thought to himself before saying aloud, "I'm really kind of busy, you know."
Minnie brushed him off, though. "Oh, it wont take a tick. Keep smiling."
Suddenly, the Doctor felt something pinch his bottom. Oh, for Pete's sake! "Is that your hand, Minnie?"
The old woman grinned at him cheekily. "Good boy."
-DW-
Rose filled in the rest of the team with what she had sensed. Jack was incredulous. "The Master's still alive?! But he can't be! I saw him die!"
"No offense Jack, but that doesn't mean a thing," Owen remarked.
"Yeah, we've all seen you die on multiple occasions. Yet, here you are!" Gwen pointed out.
He had to admit that they had a point.
Rose may have sensed the Master's presence, but it was Jack who'd had the unfortunate first hand experience of the year that never was. So he filled the others in on what he knew. Soon, they'd come up with a plan. It was a very simple plan. Well, simple in that there was only one step to it, but it was a very difficult step: find the Doctor.
Rose would use her new Time Lord sense to locate both Time Lords. They'd locate the Doctor, first, however, and then assist him in whatever daft plans he came up with. Not the most brillant of plans, but when it comes to dealing with the Master, the Torchwood team knew when they were out of their depth.
Which is how she found herself sitting in a corner booth at a cafe in London a few hours later, sipping her tea, and trying (and failing!) to act non-chalant as Wilf and the Doctor walked in.
They didn't seem to notice her, though she doubted that the Doctor was truly as oblivious as he seemed since every fiber of her soul was desperately crying out to him to turn and look at her, despite her efforts not to. The two men seemed engrossed in a private conversation. Their voices were quiet, but Rose's newly enhanced hearing did not miss a single word.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Wilfred Mott. "
"No. People have waited hundreds of years to find me and then you manage it in a few hours."
"Well, I'm just lucky I suppose. "
Rose had to smile at that.
"No, we keep on meeting, Wilf. Over and over again like something's still connecting us. "
"What's so important about me?"
"Exactly. Why you?" Still rude and not ginger. Rose smiled to herself as the Doctor paused for a moment.
"I'm going to die." Wait, what?
But the old man brushed it off. "Well, so am I, one day. "
"Don't you dare."
"All right, I'll try not to."
"But I was told. He will knock four times. That was the prophecy. Knock four times, and then..."; his voice trailed off. Rose's eyes began to burn with unshed tears as what he'd said sank in.
"Yeah, but I thought, when I saw you before, you said your people could change, like, your whole body."
"I can still die. If I'm killed before regeneration, then I'm dead. Even then, even if I change, it feels like dying. Everything I am dies. Some new man goes sauntering away, and I'm dead." Not everything, Rose thought to herself, wistfully remembering her first Doctor, all ears and leather. There was still a good bit of that Doctor inside the one who was speaking with Wilf now.
Wilf was suddenly distracted by something outside the window. "What?" the Doctor inquired.
It was Donna. She was getting out of her car. Wilf looked at the Doctor guiltily before practically begging that the Doctor fix her. It seems as though she was finally engaged again, but despite her happiness, there always seemed to be something missing.
"Sometimes I see this look on her face, like she's so sad, but she can't remember why. "
"She's got him."
"She's making do."
"Aren't we all?"
"Yeah, how about you? Who have you got now? " Rose really wanted to know the answer to that as well.
"No one. Travelling alone. I thought it was better. But I did some things. It went wrong. I need..." Rose. I need Rose. He started to cry.
She couldn't take it anymore. She didn't care who saw or what anyone said, especially him. She just stood up from her table, walked over, and wrapped her arms around him in a protective embrace, tears freely falling from her own eyes as well.
At first he was shocked, but very quickly, the shock gave way to relief as his misty tears turned into full body shaking sobs and he found that he was clinging onto her for dear life. "Rose, oh Rose!" he choked out.
At the mention of that name, Wilf needed no explanation as to what was going on. Donna had filled him in many times of the Doctor's lost Rose. The old man stood, paid all three bills, and quietly walked out without saying a word.
After the Doctor calmed a little, Rose radioed the rest of the Torchwood team. "Bad Wolf to home base. Bad Wolf to home base. I have..." her voice faltered a little. She cleared her throat and tried again. "I have..." she took a deep breath and tried again. "I've found him."
It was Jack who replied, and Rose was glad that she was wearing an ear piece and the Doctor couldn't hear. "Very good! I'm glad! And Rosie? Don't take this the wrong way, but I hope you don't come back."
"Understood. Bad Wolf out."
She then looked down at her Doctor, for he would always be her Doctor, no matter what; he had stopped sobbing, but the tears were still flowing freely, and he still clung to her tightly. She leaned over and kissed his forehead they way he always used to do for her and whispered, "Where's the TARDIS?"
He slowly got up, and without saying a word, they walked hand-in-hand out the door.
-DW-
It was Rose who sent the time and spaceship into the time vortex. The Doctor made sounds of protest, but she shushed him, saying, "It's a timeship, yeah? We can drift here in the vortex for a millennia and still land a minute after we left. Established events won't get mucked about. Ok?"
He was still unnaturally silent as he seemed to consider what she'd said. Finally, he was able to swallow the lump in his throat enough to whisper, "Ok."
He pulled her into him, and clung to her desperately. In that moment, River Song was completely forgotten by both. All that mattered was that here and now, they were together. Soon, he began to tremble, and her blouse began to feel wet where his new silent tears began to fall. She held him even closer. She knew he was terrified of what was to come.
"Oh, my Doctor!" she said, holding onto him, and stroking his hair. "My strong, brave, defender-of-the-universe Doctor! For 906 years, you have taken care of everyone else. When was the last time anyone has ever taken care of you? Let me. Let me take care of you. Let me love you."
His response was to cling to her even tighter as his silent tears turned into sobs. Together, they sank towards the floor where they discovered some cushions that the TARDIS had placed there. They sank back into them, Rose stroking his hair and occasionally kissing his forehead as the Doctor's tears slowly dried and he drifted off to sleep.
He awoke a couple of hours later, having had the best sleep he'd had since before Canary Wharf. He looked over at Rose to thank her when he noticed that she, too, was asleep. Feeling a bit more like himself, he kissed her on the forehead and gently extricated himself from her arms. He gazed down at her. She was so beautiful! She'd always been gorgeous, but when she was asleep, she looked simply angelic. Not for the first time, he wondered how he'd ever gotten so lucky.
He walked over to the consol and set the coordinates for about a minute after they'd left. Turning around, he smiled at her wistfully while sending pleas to the TARDIS to protect her before silently opening the door and leaving.
She awoke a couple hours after that, and upon finding an empty consol room, she sighed deeply, before heading out to see what sort of trouble he was in this time.
What she'd found shocked her and sent chills up and down her spine. Everywhere she'd looked, there were people, but they all had the same face. Men, women, children: all had the face of the Master. Suddenly, a shadow fell over the land. She looked up to see a giant red planet coming closer and closer to Earth's orbit.
"Oh, we're in big trouble, now!" She said to no one in particular before reaching into her coat pocket to find the vortex manipulator that Jack had given her for emergencies. Well, if this wasn't an emergency, then nothing was! The Doctor had jammed it so it couldn't travel in time, but it could handle space pretty well. Using her time sense to try and pinpoint their locatio, she tapped in the coordinates on her wrist and arrived in the conference room just as the Time Lords returned.
