How Long Is Forever?
Spoilers: This is a post Journey's End Reunion fic, so there are spoilers up until there.
Chapter4: Choices
They were hurrying down the hallways, and up the stairs. Always up, up, up on their flight from the alternative UNIT. In her state, the brunette was tiring rapidly, and the man holding her hand throughout their run for safety concluded that this might have been a problem under any other circumstances. He knew, however, that soon enough there wouldn't be anywhere to run anymore.
"Come on, Rose, just a few more steps."
"Till what, Doctor?" the woman asked cheekily, and he smiled, proud that she could still find thecourage to joke with him.
"Till the roof, of course."
"And then, what?" she asked him aloud.
The man in the brown suit didn't answer, knowing full well that he didn't have to. It was clear to both of them that the roof was the end of the line for them. No escaping from it, no more running. If they couldn't keep the Other Unit as they had dubbed their aggressors away from the roof till John's security mechanism set in, it would be over. They could hardly jump over to another building, after all. Chances were slim, but even if they did indeed fight off the bad guys long enough for the five and a half hours to pass, what if Rose was affected by the Rift sucking everyone back into the other universe, too?
They had nowhere to hold on, on that roof!
"We'll make it, Rose," he told her over his shoulder. "I promised you I would take care of you, and I will."
"You're not doing a very good job, are you?" she snapped back playfully.
If she was going to die, or worse, she might as well enjoy her last moments upon this Earth- literally- and not to mention her last minutes of freedom in her life. The Doctor looked back at her with a pained frown that disappeared as soon as he noticed how her tongue poked out of her mouth for her trademark smile. He smiled back genlty, although even that couldn't cast the look of worry from his face. It wasn't until determination overruled any other feeling that she saw it fade into the background.
He really was a master at 'changing' his face.
"Wasn't it you who told me that there was 'a time and a place', Doctor?" Jack Harkness asked them from where he and his team were running on the sidelines. "Now is hardly the time, and this is definitely not the place for flirting."
"Ah, but Jackie-boy-"
"Don't you 'Jackie-boy' me!" the Captain grumbled.
"That was old me! Old, brooding me. This is new, cheeky me," the Time Lord grinned at his long-time friend.
They took the last few steps of the staircase with a jump, before making a mad dash for the door that would lead them onto the roof. The Doctor, still holding Rose's hand in one of his one, was fishing for his sonic screwdriver with the other. They didn't expect the door to be locked, but they had every intention to lock it behind them, like they had done with every other door they'd come by on their way up. With the sound of their seven pairs of feet drumming on the plastic floor, they could almost pretend not to hear the gunshots falling on the floor below them. Still, it somewhat comforted them, since it meant that some of their colleagues of the police down there were still alive.
However, it also filled Jack with a silent rage. Not at Rose, it wasn't her fault, but…
What was that?
He took a quick look over his shoulder at the end of the hallway, and his eyes widened in panic. Apparently a small group of Other UNIT soldiers had gotten across their fighting comrades, and were directly after them. Jack had noticed them just in time to jump between the controlled shower of bullets they send his friends' way. He could feel every single bullet penetrate his chest, arms and legs, before he collapsed on the floor.
Dead.
"Boss, we've got company," Mickey announced without needing to.
"I know," both the Doctor, and Torchwood Three's second in command, Gwen, grunted.
"It's time for us, I guess. We stop them here. Doctor, take Mrs. Smith to safety," the welsh woman instructed, and continued decisively before the Doctor even had a chance to protest. "Do it! That's an order… And as for everyone else: Make a stand! They won't get Rose or the Doctor. If they try, shoot them."
"Yes, ma'am," Torchwood replied.
The Doctor and Rose looked rather unhappy with the situation.
"Why are you still here?!" Gwen snapped at them. "The door's right there. At thirty paces. Will you bloody move already?!"
Her stern voice forced them into action. Reluctantly, they left their friends behind, knowing that Jack would be fine, but worrying about the rest of them. Quick as they could, the two of them moved over to the metallic door. Opening it with a strong swing, the Doctor and Rose were about to step outside and onto the roof, when someone from the opposite building shot a line into the non-existant sand. A blink later, the Time Lord and his pregnant former companion had retreated back into the hallway. Not a single shot had fallen since they had moved, and all of Torchwood three was still standing- well, except for the 'dead' one. The Other UNIT soldiers had closed in on them, though, stepping over Jack's lifeless body without any care. And there was another man now, tall, but older than the younger foot soldiers. His hair had greyed, his face was wrinkled, but his blue eyes still had a piercing quality to them that made the Doctor wonder what a character he'd been as a young lad.
"There's nowhere to run now, Mrs. Smith. And you, Doctor, and your comrades have fought valiantly, but now it is time to yield to our victory," the man mocked softly. "Tell you what, though, as a recognition of your bravery I'll spare all of your friends' lifes if you turn yourself and Mrs. Smith in. Well, almost all of your friends' lifes, considering… All you have to do, is give up…"
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(Earlier that evening- where we left off in chapter 3)
"This is going to be a long night," he heard the Doctor say.
Not a second later, the door closed behind Captain Jack Harkness. He'd leave his friends to their own devices. They needed some time alone now. Time to sort out where they were in this situation, and then afterwards they'd need even more time to sort through 'them' as a pair- wether that be a romantical pair or just friends was not possible to see yet. It would take a while, especially on Rose's side to get over the eventy that led to their reunion.
And what a reunion it was?! Not quite as Jack would've liked it.
It didn't matter much, though, the Immortal decided, shaking his head. Here they were, in this situation, wether they liked it or not, and all of them would have to deal with it. He quickly set off to make sure everything and everyone was ready. Who knew how much time they had until the invasion began. As the word crossed his mind, the former Time Agent realized that this was indeed what it was: an invasion. There was no doubt in his mind that the alternative UNIT would get inside the building.
The only question was when.
'If we're lucky we can hold out until our guys come in,' he thought. 'But then again, when has the Doctor, or Torchwood ever been lucky?!'
He contemplated this fduring his whole inspection of the state of the police station, which almost took him an hour. Only the first shower of almost friendly fire brought him out of his musings. A loud crash followed, and Jack could've sworn in came from something heavy hitting on the door to get entry. How did they organize all this so fast? Oh, right. They were military. With a sarcastic "Great!" on his lips, he made a run for the front line- door- were a bunch of policemen were trying hard to hold against the brutal force applied by the soldiers on the other side.
"Is there any way to make the door more stable?" Jack asked immediately upon arriving, while pressing himself against the door with all his might.
"Not really. We could try the hallway benches, but I don't know how much good that'll do us," Mickey replied, pushing himself.
"What about UNIT?"
"They're right outside. Streets are deserted. I think they must've blocked them off, redirecting the traffic."
"So they're not attacking with their full force, now that's a relief," Jack said, as they stumbled backwards after an especially violent hit. "But that wasn't what I meant. I meant our UNIT. What did they say?"
"Dunno. Ask Martha."
"Where is she?"
"She and Gwen were taking the civilians down to the cells, out of the way of straying bullets, last I saw 'em," Mickey told him.
"Nope, done with that," Ianto shouted over the several crashing sound as he came around the corner. "They're up on the second floor with some policemen, attacking our friends out there from above."
"Good, that's were we're going, then, Ianto," Jack announced inapproprietly cheerfully, before grabbing the man by his elbow to drag him off. "You stay here Mickey. If they come through, get the Doctor and Rose out of here, and call me."
"Won't take long, the way I'm seeing this," the shorter man replied, muttering, but Jack and Ianto were already chasing up the stairs, from where they could hear glass shattering on the floor.
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(Bit earlier again- when we left the Doctor and Rose)
"This is gonna be a long night," the Doctor sighed. "But we'll make it through it."
There was no response from his beloved, and so they sat in silence for what seemed like an eternity until the 'Valiant Child' spoke up again, sounding rather scared.
"I'm sorry," Rose whispered.
"Sorry? What for?"
She didn't answer at first, just stepped out of his embrace, and turned away. The Doctor was about to make a wild guess that she was sorry for putting them into this mess, and prepared a long rant about how none of this could be her fault. Then he heard her sniffle, and noticed how her hands strayed down to her belly. Suddenly, he realized that this had to be about something else.
It had to do with the baby.
"Rose?" he prompted. "You know you can tell me anything."
"I'm sorry about the child."
This left the Doctor confused. How could she be sorry for that little creature that was growing inside her? That little miracle, she and his twin made. That wondeful little child, conceived in a love which was written across the stars.
"The child I lost," Rose clarified for him, obviously knowing where his thoughts had headed.
"The child you… That wasn't your fault, Rose," he answered her seriously.
"But it was," the brunette insisted, even as she noticed the frown on the Doctor's face. "If I hadn't been so… human… I've changed, Doctor. In what way, I don't know, but… if I had just waited a few years longer, maybe… my child would not be burried now without a name…and you wouldn't have hurt so much."
That took the Doctor by surprise.
"I know about your connection with John. He told me…that you could sometimes see and feel with him, and I know how pained with grief he was when I…But it worked the other way, too. He could feel how happy you were when you heard of the pregnancy, and how utterly destroyed you felt when-"
"Rose," he cut in, taking her hands. "None of that is your fault. All you did, all you could be ever found guilty of, is reaching out for a tiny bit of heaven on earth, and there are no laws against it- well, I say no laws, but some cultures actually believe it a sin to be happy, and… Am I babbling again?" heasked as if he wasn't sure.
Rose nodded, giggling ever so slightly.
"Rose, I promise that I'll take care of you, you hear me. I won't leave you to deal with this alone. I won't leave you alone, period."
"Doctor, I don't know if I-"
That was when Mickey-the-idiot burst through the door. They had been running ever since.
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(Back at present time)
"So, what do you say to my offer," the man asked. "You can either come with us quietly, or you can sacrifice your so-called friends, and then we can take both of you by force."
The Doctor took a split-second to assess the situation.
"I think, I'll…"
End of chapter 4!
A/N: I'll leave you to guess what the Doctor thinks, for now. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and can't wait for the next! ;) I'm cheeky, I know!