a/n: I want to thank all of you who have followed or favorited this story or have taken the time to review. It is very encouraging, and I really appreciate it.


Chapter Six—Red Maws and White Walls

The Doctor raced around the console to the scanner, the blinking mauve warning lights on the console lighting up his face as they flashed. The deafening sound of emergency claxons filled the room.

On the scanner, the only thing visible was the color red.

"What?" the Doctor exclaimed. His long, slender fingers danced over the controls. The monitor zoomed out, and again only revealed the color red.

"What?" he exclaimed again. He zoomed out again, only to reveal… teeth.

"What!" he cried in disbelief. He sped back to the opposite side of the console, flipping switches on the way, and spun the TARDIS away from the giant mouth.

Once the TARDIS was out of danger, he sighed in relief. "That was close. Too close. What the hell was that thing?"

Putting on his glasses, he returned to the scanner and squinted at the display. He zoomed out yet again. On the screen appeared what looked to be a long, flexible tube with a gigantic opening at one end. An opening with row upon row of long, pointed teeth.

"A space worm?" He stared up at the Time Rotor. "We were almost eaten by a space worm? What were you thinking? When I said I wanted a distraction I didn't mean I wanted to be eaten. That's a bit extreme, don't you think?"

He sighed again, loudly this time, in both frustration and relief: frustration because the TARDIS seemed to be trying to teach him a lesson in being careful what you wish for; relief, again, because in the end he hadn't been eaten.

"Alright, let's take a closer look at that thing," he said. He adjusted the monitor again. Its skin was glowing, shining from within, iridescent colors flashing sporatically all over the worm's body. Its teeth, shark-like in shape and likely in sharpness as well, glistened like pearls.

"Oh, a Red Carnivorous Maw. Never thought I'd see one in person. Beautiful," he breathed. "Gorgeous. Deadly, but gorgeous. And moving incredibly quickly. Now let's see where you're headed in such a hurry."

He reversed the view. A beautiful Earthlike planet, blue-green in color, was directly in the worm's path.

"Now that, that is not good."

~oOo~

When the Doctor and Rose finally made it down to the dining room, Jackie had already finished eating and Pete had a slice of treacle tart and a cup of coffee in front of him. As they entered the room, Pete looked up at them and raised one eyebrow. Jackie, on the other hand, glared at them both.

"Honestly, Rose," she said in disgust, "couldn't the two of you at least have waited until after dinner?"

The Doctor looked down at himself and then at Rose. No mussed hair, no unbuttoned or untucked clothing… On the other hand, Rose did have the glow of the recently, and thoroughly, shagged. A smug smile began to creep across his face.

Rose ignored her mother and sat down at the table. The Doctor followed suit, and Pete passed them a variety of dishes that contained their dinner. As they filled their plates, Jackie stood up.

"Would have been nice for all of us to eat together, especially since I haven't seen my daughter in months," she said pointedly, addressing the Doctor. "But you took so long 'bringing the luggage upstairs' that now it's time for Tony's bath." She left the room, closing the door behind her, and Rose turned to her stepfather.

"What's up, Dad?" she asked.

"Yeah, why the emergency trip to London?" the Doctor added. "Another invasion?"

Pete shook his head. "No, nothing like that," he assured them. "I need to ask the two of you a favor, and I wanted to do it in person."

The Doctor and Rose exchanged puzzled glances.

"Whatever you need, you just have to name it," the Doctor told him. "You know that."

Pete shook his head. "Hear me out first before you agree," he said. "You know that Congress has approved a special election for president since Brian Greene resigned. Everyone expects Harriet Jones to win by a landslide and didn't expect Frobisher to put up more than a token run. But he's surprised everyone. In an effort to win the support of both parties, in addition to undoing everything that Greene put through, he's agreeing to support almost everything everyone wants: additional money for schools, museums, parks, all those things that Harriet was accused of neglecting while she was president. Plus," he paused, as though the next thing he had to say was difficult, "he has agreed to finally shut down Torchwood One."

"I heard about that," the Doctor said.

"You've wanted that for years," Rose said.

Pete nodded. "Yep. I've been slowly pulling out of Canary Wharf ever since we got Torchwood Four up and running. Torchwood One only has business offices right now: accounting, payroll and the like. But before we can completely withdraw from Canary Wharf, we need to make certain that all forms of alien tech have been removed. And that's where you come in. I'd like you to come in and scan for advanced technology. Including in the lever room."

The Doctor glanced over at Rose. Her face was carefully schooled to be expressionless, not even hinting at her feelings, but when he reached out and took her hand, she clutched it so tightly her knuckles went white. He placed his other hand on top of hers and rubbed it comfortingly, and she relaxed her grip slightly.

"You don't have to do this," Pete said, looking directly at Rose. "Neither of you do. R & D could do it if you don't want to."

She shook her head. "No. We'll do it. You don't have anyone better than the Doctor." She stood up. "I'm not hungry," she said. "If you don't mind, I'm gonna…" She jerked her head at the door and then walked out of the room. The Doctor jumped up and followed.

"Rose," he said, and she stopped and turned around. "Rose, are you alright?"

She took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah. 'M fine. I just…" She shrugged. He pulled her into his arms. She melted into his embrace, resting her head on his shoulder and hugging him tightly. After several long moments, she pulled away. "I'm going up to our room."

"Do you want me to come with?" he asked.

She shook her head again. "No. You stay and talk to Dad. See what he needs." She gave him a small smile. "Besides, you need to eat. I just… need to be alone for a little bit." She stood on tiptoe and gave him a quick kiss before turning and heading up the staircase.

Troubled, he watched her go, only returning to the dining room after she had disappeared.

~oOo~

"Get me your leader!" the Doctor shouted over the communication relay in the TARDIS. "Your planet is in danger!"

"I'm sorry," said the young man on the screen curtly. "She is currently unavailable. But I can check to see if her assistant can take the call."

"No, I don't want her— " He broke off as bad instrumental music filled the TARDIS. He swore under his breath and disconnected, then tried again.

"Government of Sophiana, President Bushard's office," the young man said.

"Listen, this is an emergency! I don't want to be transferred, I don't want to be put on hold, I need to talk to the President! It's vital!"

"I'm sorry, she's unavailable at the moment. If I may just put you on hold— "

"No! I've been on hold!" The Doctor took a deep breath and moderated his tone. "What's your name?"

"Julian. I'm the assistant to the assistant to the personal assistant to the president."

"Okay, now listen, Julian," the Doctor said. "It's very, very important I talk with Madame Bushard. Tell her it's the Doctor."

"The Doctor? Doctor who?"

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "I really don't have time for this," he said under his breath. Then he continued at a normal volume. "Just the Doctor. I promise you, she'll speak to me."

"One moment please." And the TARDIS was filled with music again. Within seconds, on the screen appeared the leader of Sophiana: a red-skinned woman whose silver and black hair was artfully arranged and piled high on the crown of her head. It was held in place by an ornate silver tiara studded with colorful gemstones and engraved with the symbols of her office.

"Doctor," she said warmly. "How are you? I see you've changed again."

"I'm fine, but we don't really have time for pleasantries. Sophiana is about to be consumed by a giant space worm called the Red Carnivorous Maw."

Her eyes widened in shock. "What can we do?"

"Not a heck of a lot," he said. "But I can. Madame Bushard, I'm in position now. I'm going to loop the TARDIS's shields around the worm's belly like a leash and pull it away from your planet and to an unpopulated area of space. When I do this, the creature is probably going to fight it. When it does, it will exert a gravitational pull on Sophiana which could create a little bit of shaking down there." He paused and rubbed the back of his neck ruefully. "Well, I say a little bit… it'll be more like planet-wide earthquakes upwards of 10.6 on the Richter scale. Sorry about that."

"No matter, Doctor," she told him. "Better an earthquake than the entire planet being eaten."

He nodded. "Well, there is that," he agreed.

~oOo~

"Is she alright?" Pete asked.

"No," the Doctor answered. "But she's a very strong woman. She will be."

Pete nodded. "You know, she hasn't ever been back to the lever room, not since that first day. That first day she wouldn't leave for anything. She insisted on staying for hours. She was absolutely convinced you'd come for her. Mickey told us it was because you once told her to always wait five and a half hours, and she was bound and determined to do just that. Finally, after about seven hours had passed, Jackie convinced her to go, and we brought her back here. She went into her bedroom and stayed there three days."

The Doctor leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table in front of him. He let out a heavy sigh. "I was a bit of a mess myself. Took months to figure out how to just send a message." He began to rub his forehead, a move that turned into rubbing his eye vigorously. "And I didn't treat my next traveling companion very well. Martha."

"Martha Jones?" Pete asked, surprised.

The Doctor nodded. "The parallel version of the one you know. She was wonderful, very patient with me, far more than I deserved." He leaned back in his chair. "Not that she didn't tell me off on occasion, but she knew I was in a bad way and she was just trying to snap me out of it."

"But she couldn't."

The Doctor shook his head. "No, no she couldn't."

"Mickey tried with Rose. You shoulda heard the rows."

The Doctor laughed ruefully, one short sound that was barely audible. "I can imagine. Rose told me that's when the two of you decided she should go to Cardiff."

Pete nodded. "Change of scenery, bit of distance…"

"And it worked, cos look at her now," the Doctor said proudly.

"Yeah," Pete agreed.

They fell silent as they both recollected on that time immediately following the battle of Canary Wharf. After a few moments, Pete began to tell the Doctor of his strategy to scan Torchwood One for both alien tech and dangerous human technology. The Doctor only half listened.

"Are you alright?" Pete asked when he was finished outlining his plan. "Cos you're rubbing your hand again."

The Doctor glanced down at his hand in surprise. He was indeed rubbing his right hand with his left, and he hadn't noticed he was doing it.

"You used to do that when you first got here," Pete continued. "Is it some sort of a nervous habit or something?"

"No," the Doctor answered. "Just aches sometimes."

"So what do you think?"

"About what?" he asked blankly.

"About my plan," Pete said, slightly exasperated.

"Oh, sorry," the Doctor apologized. "Wasn't really listening. I was a bit distracted."

"By what?" Pete asked.

"Actually," the Doctor said slowly, sounding puzzled, "by the color red."

~oOo~

"Madame President, are you ready down there?"

"As ready as we'll ever be, Doctor," she replied.

With one hand firmly grasping the console, his other hand hovered over the controls for the TARDIS shields. "Okay. On the count of three. One. Two. Three! Allons-y!"

With a flip of his wrist, and a nudge of his toe on a control too far away for him to reach, the shields extended and elongated. It took the Doctor three tries, but he managed to maneuver the TARDIS so that the shields wrapped around the center of the worm. The TARDIS jerked, hard, pulling the makeshift lasso tight, and despite trying to hold on he was thrown to the floor. He jumped up and sped to the other side of the console thinking the last time he had tried anything like this he'd had a roomful of people helping.

It was a bit different, and quite a bit harder, all by himself.

As the space worm bucked, the engines whined and the TARDIS shook hard enough that it felt like it was going to fly apart. But she managed to hold on to the worm. Inside, the Doctor clung to the console, holding on for dear life.

"Come on, come on, I know you can do it, old girl," he said encouragingly over the noise in the room.

Slowly, slowly, the Maw reduced its bucking, and the TARDIS began the long process of towing it to a place in the galaxy filled with unpopulated planets. Days later, he released the worm and returned to Sophiana through the Time Vortex, arriving only hours after he'd left.

This time the assistant to the assistant to the personal assistant put him directly through to the president.

"All done," he said as soon as her face appeared on the monitor. "How's the damage down there?"

"Thankfully minimal, Doctor. We are used to quakes on Sophiana," she said. "We are all eternally grateful to you."

"No thanks necessary," he said, smiling at her.

"We'd like to hold a banquet in your honor, Doctor," she told him.

A stricken look came across his face. "Thanks, but if it's all the same to you, I'm not really one for banquets."

"I remember," she said with a laugh. "I really didn't expect you'd accept. But our seer has a message for you."

"A seer?" He grimaced. "Not really one for prophecies either. Haven't really had good luck with them. Besides, Madame Bushard, if your seer's any good, why didn't he predict the Maw?"

"Oh, he did," the president said. "It's just no one believed him when he said a giant mouth would try to eat the planet."

The Doctor tugged on his left ear. "Well, it is a bit unbelievable."

She laughed. "Just a bit, yes. But because he was correct in this, he received a promotion. Personal seer to the office of the president."

Now the Doctor laughed. "Well, congratulations to him."

"I will be certain to tell him you said so," she said. She paused for a moment before continuing. "Doctor, he really was quite insistent on you receiving the message."

He sighed. "Well, alright. What's the message?"

"It was just one word," she told him. "'Soon.' Does that mean anything to you?"

"Unfortunately…" The Doctor took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Yes."

~oOo~

On his way up to their room, the Doctor stopped by Tony's in order to fulfill his promise to read to the little boy. Instead, as soon as he got there he saw Jackie quietly tiptoe out of Tony's bedroom, closing the door partway as she left.

"You'll have to read to him tomorrow, Doctor," she said quietly, more quietly than he had ever heard her speak before. "He was all tuckered out from this afternoon, poor dear. I found him asleep on the floor, and I just stuck him in bed."

With a small smile, the Doctor nodded and headed upstairs.

When he got to their room, Rose was curled up in an overstuffed chair, staring out the window. She didn't turn, didn't even seem to notice he had entered. As the door closed behind him with a soft click, he slowly crossed over to her and knelt down on the floor beside her.

"Rose," he said quietly. "Are you alright?"

She nodded as she turned to face him. She looked calm, but he could see the tracks of the tears that had run down her face. He gently wiped a stray tear away with his thumb.

She took his hand in both of hers, and he softly smiled at her. They always held hands. They had always held hands. The first thing they had ever done was hold hands. She gently squeezed, and he squeezed back, wordlessly communicating comfort and love to her.

"I know you're here with me," she said, looking down at their clasped hands. "But somehow, thinking of that room, that wall…" She shook her head. "Something's coming."

"Nothing is coming, I promise you. Nothing is going to separate us." He knew she didn't believe him, and he wasn't certain he entirely believed it himself. "I won't let it," he said firmly, as much to convince himself as to convince her.

"'S funny," she said, not answering him. "I've fought Daleks and Cybermen, seen my parallel mum be Cyberized and my real father get killed, been trapped beneath a black hole and seen my planet destroyed. I've been turned to stone and been attacked by living plastic, survived zombies and werewolves, and traveled across countless parallel dimensions. But none of that… none of that seems as scary as a simple white wall."

She looked up and met his eyes. "Doctor, make love to me please," she said in a small voice.

The Doctor wrapped his arms around her, one arm behind her back, the other under her knees. He easily lifted her up and sat down on the bed, pulling her into his lap and drawing her close. Fisting his jacket, she pressed her lips to his, and he kissed her back, stroking her hair and caressing her face. And slowly what began as comforting turned into longing, and desire, and need, and hunger, and they didn't sleep for a long time.