chapter six

Mickey's POV

"Brilliant. My nippies are seeping through my shirt."

"Well, where's the little one, Boss? Maybe you should lose the shirt and stem the gush." I laughed, thinking about that day in the posh school when he'd teased me about screaming. Said it resembled the scream of a little girl! With a frilly skirt... six years old, with a frilly skirt! Now was the perfect time to get him back for it, too.

A backhand from Him was the last thing I expected, and the first thing I saw before the floor. Then I sank into my own happy little slice o' darkness for the next two hours.

I woke up to hear the Captain and the Doctor fighting over something, probably who was going to change the nappy on Little Sister, as I had taken to calling her. Just to myself, o'course. Didn't want the team to think I was goin' soft, 'specially not the Doctor. Crawling onto my knees where I'd sailed over and fallen behind the sofa, I crept around the edge to watch, pretending I'd been looking for something in the cushions.

"I need to leave, Jack."

"Yeah, you said that, Doc. Why, exactly?"

"... I said it because it's true. I need to leave."

"You just keep repeating yourself. Like a broken record. There is obviously something wrong, and I'm not gonna go away till you tell me. So start talking, or I'll chain you to a nice soft chair till you regenerate. But really... you're in no shape to leave yet, and you won't harm me to get to the only door out of here. So what is it?"

"You already know I'm dying, Jack. What more do you want from me?"

Old man was getting calmer by the mo, like he was on holiday or sumfin. But just like Jack, I weren't buyin' it eiver. Sumfin was up with the Boss, the way he'd smacked me away like I were a man shaped chocolate cricket ball.

I saw my chance to end the fight lying in the white pram near the window, and I took it, popping up and grabbing the baby and spinning 'round so both of em could see her.

"Oh, come on then! Boss! Captain Cheesecake? Don't do none of this wiv her in the room. If you two are gonna battle it out, do it on yer own time, not hers. I'm gettin' her out of here and takin' some air."

As I crossed the room, walking between them to drive home my point, I saw the Doctor pale a bit and step back just enough to let me by. What happened must have frightened him...

Jack and he locked on each other, staring down the years between them and letting their anger simmer at a slow burn. Then the Doctor turned to me, trying to make sounds without breaking down.

"Mickey, I... I don't know what happened. I'm sorry." He raised his hand to his head and sank back into the couch.

Jack's blue eyes were darting back and forth from me to the Doctor and such, trying to glean everything he could from the shadows that had suddenly possessed the Time Lord's face.

Soon, he spoke, too. "Mickey, go. I'll take care of this. I'll take care of everything. Just go off for a while, okay?"

Then he shooed me quickly out the door.