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Collab between Scullywolf and Crazygirlne. Beta'd by Resile.
"Still can't believe they thought I was an alien," muttered Jackie as they exited the TARDIS, right into her living room. "And some sort of evil healing alien, too," she continued, voice rising. "Didn't believe who I was, much as I told them I couldn't help!"
"It was a misunderstanding, Jackie," said the Doctor, with a frustratingly calm voice, and so soon after she'd been kidnapped. "That bracelet of yours is designed to help the wearer heal faster from things like cuts and muscle sprains, but they didn't know that. They just recognized where it came from. Given their lack of knowledge of future events, and their desperation to help Krasha, it's not entirely unreasonable that they initially mistook you for an Aklipsi. Why, if Rose and I had come by that bracelet in this century instead of the 42nd, they wouldn't even have been wrong about it being the sort of thing that only an Aklipsi would be wearing."
Blimey, he could prattle on, that one.
"What the Doctor's trying to say," Rose said, walking over and putting her hand on Jackie's shoulder, "is that they were just really scared, and they really, really wanted to believe you could help them. There was nothing you could have said to make them believe you were just an ordinary human."
"More or less," the Doctor muttered, as if he thought she couldn't hear him.
"Oi, don't you start," she responded, hands on her hips. "I've been through a lot, I have, and I don't need you taking the piss out of me."
"Mum," said Rose, interrupting before she could really give the Doctor a proper what for, "We know. The Doctor did everything he could to get you home, safe, as quick as he could."
"Wasn't that fast, though, was it? I mean, that ship, it's meant for time traveling, innit? Couldn't you lot have just come back and kept me from getting kidnapped in the first place?"
"Can't go changing events we were already involved in," the Doctor said, whatever that meant. "I'm sorry about that, truly sorry, but it all worked out in the end, didn't it?"
"I reckon so. But what am I supposed to tell everyone? I've been gone a bloody week!"
"Jan thinks you've been on holiday with me," said Rose. "Never did come right out and say you weren't. Can say I hit my head or something, was confused before."
"Besides," the Doctor added, "it's not exactly untrue. You were in France."
"Oh, and a fine holiday that was. Locked up and knocked out by a bunch of blue aliens."
"Yeah, I'd maybe leave that bit out," he said, as if she could ever tell anyone the truth without them thinking she'd gone completely round the bend.
"They're not coming back, right? And what do I do about this bracelet? What if some other ones come by sometime and think I'm one of those healers?"
"I can deactivate the native matrix, remove the elements that make it recognizable as Aklipsi-made." He pulled out his screwdriver. "You might still get some small benefit from the material itself, but it's not going to work the same, anymore. However, it won't register as alien tech, either. There'll be no risk of anyone mistaking it for anything other than an ordinary bracelet."
"I'm really sorry, Mum," said Rose, studying her face. "I should've been more careful. I won't bring you any more alien trinkets, I promise."
"Don't go promising that," said Jackie, rubbing the now-harmless bracelet. "I like when you bring me things. Means you're thinking of me. Besides, himself can make sure only safe things leave the TARDIS and come into my flat." She fixed the Doctor with a pointed look, then turned back to Rose. "Come on. I could really use a cuppa. Them aliens didn't know how to make a good tea, even with whatever it was that made them look pretty. Can't fake that, can you?"
"Okay. That sounds good," her daughter answered, attempting a smile.
The women walked into the kitchen, while the Doctor stayed behind, probably giving them a bit of privacy. He wasn't all bad, Jackie had to admit. And he seemed to make Rose happy. She started the water heating and went to pull cups from the cabinet.
"I'm glad you found me. Was getting right bored in there. Didn't even have a telly in the room! It was just me and a bed, nothing else. Well, there was the toilet, but they'd come bang on the door if I stayed in there too long, and that didn't help matters none. Well, really it was more of a polite knock, but it didn't stop, just went on and on and on. And I didn't want them to catch me with my phone, now did I? And if they were listening at the door, didn't exactly want to try anything else. Wasn't a way out, made sure of that, at least. Anyway, speaking of bed, you two can stay here tonight, if you want. No sleeping together in my flat, though! Can do whatever you like in that ship of his, but I won't be thinking about himself, naked, right in the next room."
"We're not like that, Mum," said Rose, more energy in her voice than she'd heard since they were reunited. "I've told you that."
"You can tell me 'til you're blue in the face, you can. Still might not believe you. I've seen the way you look at each other. No way you aren't getting up to something behind closed doors."
Rose opened her mouth to speak, stopping when the Doctor peeked into the kitchen. Jackie watched as her daughter's face lit up: her eyes were brighter, her smile wider, her cheeks lightly flushed.
Not like that, my arse.
Jackie set the kettle on a tray to steep and held out the empty cups toward Rose. "Here, you two can set these out and fetch the sugar. Don't even think of putting anything by that lamp, mind."
The Doctor's eyebrows shot up, and Jackie heard Rose mutter under her breath. "What did I tell you?"
The other two ducked out of the kitchen, and Jackie shook her head, thinking about everything she'd been through since the last time she'd made a pot of tea. Strangers in her living room, nice but weird, and then her falling asleep right there in the middle of the conversation. The Doctor'd told her no one ever saw her get carried out of the flat unconscious, that all the neighbors insisted she'd walked out on her own two feet, though no one could seem to agree on who was with her. None of it made a bit of sense, but then again, she'd spent the whole week thinking those barmy blue aliens were humans, so she reckoned anything was possible.
Picking up the tea tray, she shouldered her way through the door and back into the living room, looking up just in time to catch her daughter planting one on that Time Lord's cheek. She was about to give a triumphant, "Aha!" but she saw the Doctor's eyes were wide, his cheeks gone pink, and for that matter, so were Rose's. Huh.
Jackie watched for a moment longer, and the Doctor's startled look shifted into a wide grin. He reached for Rose, his smile softening, and Jackie cleared her throat and moved fully into the room.
Maybe he was just planning to give her a hug, but she wasn't about to have them snogging in her living room.
"So," she said, a little louder than needed, just in case there were any funny ideas, "their pilot or leader or whoever they kidnapped me for, she's gonna be all right?"
"Yep! While you and Rose were catching up, I got her sorted out. No lasting damage from the fall, was really a simple matter of..." He started going on and on about their crazy biology, probably making up half the words he used.
Suppose he'd had long enough to fix her up while she was talking to Rose. She really hadn't wanted to get on that crazy ship of his, but she didn't want to try to get to the airport and figure out how long until the next flight, either. Jackie settled the tray on the low table in front of the couch and poured a cup for herself, shaking her head a bit at the two of them sitting there and all but ignoring her despite the fact that the Doctor was supposedly answering her question.
"...and so once I took care of that, she was good as new! They'll be off and on their way back home soon enough."
Through his whole rambling explanation, Rose had been listening intently, a soft smile on her face. Hopeless, that girl was. And so was he, practically preening as she watched him. No, they could deny it all they liked, and maybe they were better at fooling themselves than they were at fooling anybody else, but they were obviously completely smitten with each other.
She sank back into the armchair, leaving those two to the loveseat. She reached over and patted Rose on the arm, and her daughter smiled at her.
"We thought we'd stay a couple of days, if that's alright with you, Mum."
"'Course it is, but I won't have you two sharing a room, just like I said earlier."
Rose blushed, but she didn't try denying they were together this time. Blimey, that mad alien was the closest she was ever going to get to a son-in-law, wasn't he? She looked at them again, them and their adoring gazes they didn't even seem aware of, and took a slow sip of her tea. She wasn't sure she'd ever really understand this life Rose had chosen for herself, but it seemed to make her happy. Yeah, Jackie could do without alien kidnappers and killer Christmas trees, but her daughter had a point, about going out and standing up for what was right and all of that. It might worry her, wondering where they were all the time, but it still made her proud, her Rose out there making things better, daft alien holding her hand.