I KNOW I KNOW I haven't updated all summer! I tried! But I just got stuck and had to re-align some of the plot, refurbish some ideas, and scrap others. This story has gone under some MAJOR surgery within the past couple months. I might even make a sequel. Dunno.
However, this story is going chronologically like how I imagined it: having month-long pauses between the glimpses into Pepper's life with the Doctor. Pepper was about 17 when I put this story up, and now it's well over a year later, and hopefully I have this up on her birthday, which I wanted to be September 21st. Hell of a deadline, but I'm challenging myself.
Sorry for the wait!
Don't own.
Disrupted
Chapter 5
Ex-Terminator
Have you ever heard of Area 51? When I was young, I heard tales, saw movies, and even wondered what it was like. So did a lot of people, until early 2013, when the US government admitted that there really was an Area 51, but it wasn't what people had fantasized about since the nineteen fifties. Pepper was disappointed when they came out with that; she'd hoped to one day find Area 51, and sneak in to see the aliens, like those heroes in the movies we used to watch as children.
She was eleven, could you blame her?
I was always scared when she would talk about sneaking into Area 51. What if some of the aliens got out and came to my room to eat me? Pepsi always told me not to worry about that, because, she said, there was always someone watching over me. Our big brothers would protect us. And if they couldn't, Pepper always said she'd send those aliens crying back home to their Mamas.
It had been a year since she'd started travelling with the Doctor. The last time I'd seen her was the Fourth of July, when the Doctor had discovered just how delicious homemade hamburgers were. I hadn't seen either of them since then, but then she came home for her birthday with a new friend (additional to the Doctor, of course) new tale, about Area 51, too. (Well, more or less.)
They'd planned on an ACDC concert on their Blow Up Your Video Tour, 1988. Pepper was psyched, because the 1980's were her favorite time period. But when the TARDIS materialized, and the Doctor stepped out to look, he was met with a wave of heat and a totally different sight.
He was dressed normally—brown suit, light blue t-shirt, dark tie—but his hair was spiked up even more than usual, and he had a pair of one-way aviator glasses on. He looked around, confused.
"It's far too quiet for Vegas out there!" Pepper called from inside the TARDIS.
"Well… it is 1988, it's just… not Vegas."
Pepper stepped out to see for herself. She'd pulled a leather biker jacket out of her closet, as well as a vintage ACDC t-shirt (she'd taken a pair of scissors to the sleeves, neckline, and hem to make it seem more edgy), and a pair of high-waist cutoff shorts. Her short leather boots crunched on the dry, gravelly ground. She'd re-dyed her bangs blue, and teased her hair, as well as loading it on with so much hairspray, it might've caught fire in the hot, desert sun.
"Hell, it's not even Nevada!" She snorted, gesturing to the mile marker sign off to the left that read ROSWELL 50.
"No, it's Roswell, New Mexico…" the Doctor mumbled, looking at the landscape around them.
"Roswell? Wasn't that the site of the spaceship crash in the 50's?"
"Alleged. Alleged crash." He nodded, looking up at a nearby rock spire.
"Well… did they ever disprove it? Or did it actually happen?"
Obviously, she wasn't sure he had the answer, but what he did have was that same mad glint in his eye, coupled with his favorite grin. The grin and glint that always got them into trouble; it meant they would be doing an awful lot of running sometime very soon.
"Let's find out."
Pepper immediately regretted bringing the leather jacket along. She felt her thick eye makeup starting to melt, and her hair starting to deflate and become frizzy.
"So," she said as they were exploring the surrounding rock spires, "How come you never get dressed for the occasion?"
"Pardon?"
"All of the adventures you and I have been on together, and you have only worn one of two suits. Do you even own any other clothes?"
He gave her a small pout, "What's wrong with my suits?"
"Nothing's wrong with them," She said, holding up her hands, "Still… who wears a suit to a rock concert?"
He squatted next to a rock spire, "Well… I like to be prepared for anything… There are more important things to worry about than what clothes I'm wearing."
A small smirk crept across Pepper's face, one she thought he couldn't see. "Yeah? Like what?"
He gave no reply, but glanced at her from the corner of his eye. He quickly looked back at the spire, his eyebrows furrowing. "That's interesting." He leaned forward and licked the rock in front of him, immediately pulling back with a disgusted look on his face.
"The hell? What is it with you and licking things?"
"It's plastic…" He mumbled, looking up at the spire.
"Come again?"
"You know how I told you I'd take you to Vegas?" He turned to her.
"Yeah?" She said slowly.
"Well… this isn't Nevada and more than this is a normal rock formation." He took his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket and pointed it at the odd-looking rocks. As soon as he pressed the button, the formation rumbled and a section of the rocks about seven feet high and five feet wide sunk into the butte. Then, it moved aside to reveal a staircase that descended into the darkness below the desert.
"Blimey!" The Doctor coughed, trying to clear the air with a wave of his arm.
"Jesus! It smells like someone hasn't cleared out the fridge in a while…" Pepper commented, trying to see through the dust.
"Well! Secret door hidden in the side of a rock spire fifty miles outside of Roswell, New Mexico, with a staircase leading into a dark, shadowy place that smells like week-old beef stew? We've had worse, yeah?"
Pepper chuckled as they started down the stairs, "Yeah, like you getting all friendly with Cleopatra, then destroying half her palace."
"Oi, that was an accident!"
The deeper underground they went, the stronger that rancid stench became. Pepper started questioning her decision to boldly go in the general 'forward' direction. It was too quiet. They should have run into something by now. She started lagging behind.
"Doctor?" Her voice was quieter than she'd meant it to be. He heard her nonetheless, and turned to look at her. She continued, trying to hide her nervousness as best she could, "Something doesn't feel right about this."
He nodded in agreement. "Yeah, we should've run into some sort if security system by now. Or a guard or something..."
"I'd feel far more secure if we had..." Her voice was barely a whisper. This was all just very eerie, but she took a deep breath and decided to be brave.
The staircase had widened out a while back, and at the moment, they had reached a long hallway with a door at the end. A sickly fluorescent light, like the pale white lights they had in hospitals, flowed through the partially open door. The natural light coming from the opening in the rock spire had faded, so the light from behind the door was the only illumination they had.
The smell was even stronger now, and something about it made her stomach churn. He must have sensed her uneasiness, because his hand clasped hers reassuringly as they continued down the hallway. It wasn't enough to completely relax her, but a small wave of relief washed over her. He didn't say anything; he didn't need to. She knew what the gesture meant: he was there. He had her.
The door looked like it hadn't moved in a while. It looked like some sort of metal alloy, probably steel, but it was covered in mold and something that looked rather crusty. The keypad that had supposedly opened the door at some point was completely busted. It looked like it had blown a gasket. The two of them squeezed through the door, which was barely big enough for the both of them. The Doctor went through first, and, as Pepper was squeezing through, he muttered,
"Blimey, they've had some cowboys in here..."
Immediately, they were met with that same odor, like someone had left a refrigerator full of food open to rot. Except, this time, that smell was far stronger.
"Oh, Lord!" Pepper cried out, covering her nose and mouth to try to block the stench. The Doctor wrinkled his nose, but tried to keep his expression neutral in light of the scene in front of them.
The room was rather large—with a high ceiling and walls. The floors were polished linoleum, and the walls themselves were whitewashed.
Or they would be, if not for the dried bloodstains.
What Pepper had originally thought was the smell of 3-week-old unrefrigerated leftovers was actually the smell of rotting flesh. Bodies—or what was left of them—we're strewn across the room, and it was clear that they had been there for a couple weeks. Many of them were lying face-down, apparently having been stricken down from behind while they were running away from whatever had attacked them. Smashed pieces of wall lay among broken glass, bent and broken metal, ripped wires, and unintelligible debris from busted machinery.
Horrorstruck, Pepper's hand tightened around the Doctor's. He did not turn to look at her, but he gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.
"Come on." He said softly.
"You want to go in?!" Her voice was broken and full of fear, "Whatever killed all these people might still be around!"
"That's exactly why we need to go in."
She was about to raise her voice, but he turned to her, and their gazes locked. His face was stoic, but his eyes... His eyes told her everything. There was nothing they could do for these people; they were gone, and there was no saving them. The best thing they could to would be to track down the thing that killed them, so it wouldn't kill anyone else.
So they moved on.
The destruction was very collected. Most of it was kept confined to that one room, and the rest of the place looked pretty untouched. Pepper tried not to stare each time they passed another body on the floor, but even averting her eyes couldn't stop her from feeling sick to her stomach. She didn't cry—it wasn't that she was mournful for these people. She was more sad than angry. Then, she had a thought.
"...why couldn't we have come sooner?" Her voice wasn't soft anymore. "Can't we go back and save them?"
"Pepper, even if we knew when to go back to, it would be a slim chance that we could save them..."
"They should have a log somewhere or something, right?" She was starting to lose a grip on her emotions, but before she could say anything else, the Doctor's eyes widened and he shushed her. She stopped, frustrated, but then he cocked his head, as if trying to hear something. After a long, tense pause, he took his sonic out of his pocket and pressed his back to the nearest wall. Pepper wasn't sure what he'd heard, but she figured she'd better stay behind him.
Suddenly, he brandished the sonic like a weapon, turned it on, and jumped out from the wall, just as another man jumped around the corner. He was wearing a long navy blue coat and had a Bluetooth in his ear, and he was pointing a strange-looking gun at the Doctor. The Doctor's serious expression melted into one of surprise and confusion.
"Jack?"
The other guy looked confused for a second as well, before breaking out into an enormous grin. "Doctor!" He greeted, "it's been a while!"
"Wait a sec, who the hell are you?" Pepper demanded, thoroughly dumbstruck, but relieved at the same time. Clearly, this man wasn't an enemy of the Doctor. Hopefully, he wasn't the killer they were looking for, either.
'Jack' turned to Pepper, and his grin turned a bit sly as he extended a hand to her, "Captain Jack Harkness. And you are...?"
"Stop it," the Doctor chided.
As if he expected the remark, Jack sighed (grin ever present) and looked at him, "Can't I say hello to anyone?"
"Course you can," Pepper cocked an eyebrow at the Time Lord before turning back to Jack and accepting the handshake, "Pepper Ophelia Houston, nice t'meecha, Jack."
"What are you doing here?" The Doctor asked.
"Investigating the disappearances of a few astrophysicists."
"No, I mean, what are you doing in 1980's America? How do a couple 21st century disappearances pertain to the 80's?"
"That's the thing," Jack crossed his arms, inclining his head, "they showed up in Cardiff in the 21st century, barely alive and mumbling about a disaster and time travel. All three of them died before I could get the whole story, but I did get a date and location out of one of them. Here and now. I came to see what happened."
"So they led you to a secret lab 50 miles outside of Roswell, New Mexico?" Pepper asked.
"Sure did. And from what I gathered, this is what's left of Area 52."
"Area... 52?" Pepper's eyebrows furrowed, "I've heard of Area 51, but what the hell is Area 52?"
"Exactly what Area 51 isn't," Jack chuckled, "This is where they really kept the wreck from the Roswell crash. And all the other 'Alien' things they could find. I came looking for them, and I found this."
"Well, maybe you could join us," Pepper suggested, "We're trying to find out what happened here too." She gestured in the general direction of most of the destruction.
Jack nodded, "Anything I can do to help. Have you found anything yet?"
Pepper shook her head, and the Doctor walked past the two of them towards the end of the hall. Something seemed to be on his mind. "Doctor?" Pepper asked.
"I couldn't find anything down there," Jack called after him as he and Pepper began to follow, "I couldn't get that last door open. It's steel."
"Well, you don't have this." Without looking at either of them, the Doctor pointed his sonic at the door, which immediately slid open.
The lights in the room were off, but as soon as the three of them stepped in, they slowly flickered on. Most of the room was bare, save for a set of controls on a stand in the middle of the room, and a glass prison with some sort of... well, it looked almost like a robot. Pepper raised an eyebrow. What the hell was an inanimate hunk of metal doing in what looked like a display case?
It moved.
Pepper jumped back, startled, and looked at the Doctor. Both he and Jack looked absolutely mortified.
Then, the robot spoke, its voice like a gratings buzz against Pepper's eardrum.
"Doc...toooor..."
Blinking, Pepper glanced up at the Doctor, whose horror had shifted into cold impassiveness. "Doctor, what is that?"
"The most feared creature in he universe. Its race has conquered and wiped out whole galaxies without a single hint of remorse. They are the ones that started the Time War, the war that brought an end to the Time Lords. It's a Dalek, and it's been stuck here who knows how long."
"...doesn't scare me," Pepper snorted.
"Pepper..." Jack warned.
"Most feared creature in the universe, huh?" Pepper strode right up to the glass cell, an unimpressed look on her face, "You look like someone glued a toilet plunger to a salt shaker."
"Pepper!" The Doctor hissed.
The Dalek turned its eyestalk on her, but Pepper remained apathetic. "You dare mock me, human? The Daleks Are the supreme race! We will exterminate all others beneath us!"
"Who's 'we', Schwarzenegger?" Pepper challenged, "I don't see any other Daleks around here. You're all alone."
"You are no different."
Pepper shook her head, "I have a family. I have friends. I have someone I love. I'm not alone, and I'm not scared of you."
"You wander the universe alone," the Dalek continued, "You are the dying echo of a race long gone. You should be scared, Star-Shine Girl."
"You're crazy," Pepper growled, "You don't know me; none of that makes any sense whatsoever."
"Pepper, come on," the Doctor stepped forward and set his hand on her back, "Don't invoke it..."
"Maybe you are not afraid of me, human," the Dalek continued, "But you should be afraid of the Doctor."
The Time Lord came to an abrupt halt in turning Pepper toward the door. He wheeled to face the thing again, and the salt-shaker-looking thing continued,
"He has killed as much as any Dalek. But even I would never turn my back on my own kind. The Doctor blames us Daleks, but he is a coward that caused the Destruction of Gallifrey!"
"I did what I had to to end the Time War! I saved the universe from further destruction!"
"Killing in the name of justice is no different then killing to advance your race. It is killing all the same."
"But killing just to kill is never justified!" Pepper injected, glaring at the Dalek, "And I can't understand why anyone—species aside—can just kill someone with no remorse."
"Pepper, don't bother." Jack put in, bitterly, "Daleks don't have emotions. They don't care about who they killed, or how many they killed; all they care about is conquering the universe."
"And as long as I live," the Doctor growled, "I will not let that happen."
"We shall see, Doctor." The Dalek said.
One last tempered glare at the machine in front of him, then the Doctor turned and marched out of the room, Jack following him. Pepper paused and glanced one last time at the Dalek, then she walked out confidently.
That thing had called her "Star-Shine Girl". Now, it was the third being she'd come in contact with that called her by that title. It seemed to be connected to her somehow, but it was like the dream she kept having: the closer she thought she was to the truth, the more her head hurt and the farther away she drifted from it.
"Pepper?"
She could barely hear the Doctor calling her name as she kept walking down the hallway. She felt like something was nagging at her, like she was forgetting something important.
"I think... I think I lost something..."
"Pepper, look at me," she numbly felt the Doctor's hands on her arms, trying to her in place, "Are you alright? You haven't lost anything in here; we haven't been down this way."
"It's something... important..."
"Doctor, is there something wrong with her? She looks possessed." Jack put in.
"Pepper, what is it? What do you think you lost...?"
Pepper couldn't answer. She didn't know what exactly she lost; she just knew she lost something. Most everything in her line of vision was out of focus, like she was in a dream. She could sort of see the open doorways and thin walls of the room, as well as the cluttered tables and blurry, complicated machinery. As she kept looking, only one thing was in clear focus. She stepped forward, past the Doctor, to a table nearby.
Just on the edge of the table, there was a metal disk on a silver chain; a necklace. The disk was a bit bigger than the size of a quarter dollar, and held the engraving of a fluid, Celtic-knot-looking design. In the very center of the medallion was an obsidian black jewel that, when looked at in different forms of light, shone a million different colors.
"Pepper," the Doctor said carefully, "Don't touch that, you don't know what it might do..."
"I know, but..." She furrowed her eyebrows and picked it up, "It... feels so familiar, like I owned it... a long time ago..." he lifted it by the chain and moved to put it over her head.
"Pepper—"
As soon as the metal touched her skin, she felt a certain warmth spread through her, and she felt the urge to cover herself. Her vision turned black, and the next thing she knew, she was lying in the Doctor's arms. The necklace was gone, and Jack as well. Her jacket lay on the floor next to them.
"Wh... What happened?" She croaked, raising a hand to feel her own forehead. His look of concern didn't falter.
"Are you alright?" He asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine..." She sat up, glancing around. Jack wasn't just out of sight; he wasn't in the room at all. He must have taken her necklace away. "What the hell happened?"
"You put the necklace on, and these black markings appeared on your skin. You fainted, and the power surged. You don't remember?"
She shook her head, sitting up slowly, "Where'd Jack go? And where's my necklace?"
"Jack took it to find out what—... your necklace...?"
Suddenly, Jack burst into the room, "Doctor! The surge disabled the locks on the—!"
"EXTERMINATE!"
"...Dalek's cage."
"Run!" The Doctor jumped up, helping Pepper scramble up as the three of them took off.
They tore through the Labyrinth of labs and testing rooms until they hit a dead end. It was a hall full of pillar-like tubes; it had to be below freezing in that room. Pepper began to shiver. Great. Right when I need my leather jacket, I leave it behind. Just as she was about to voice her complaint, the Doctor's long, brown coat draped over her shoulders.
"Pepper, stay here." He uttered, "Jack, come on. We have to find a way to get it back into the cell." Jack nodded and hurried out.
"Wait, why should I stay here?" She asked, trying to follow.
"There's no time to argue. That thing is a Dalek and it'd sooner kill you than reason with you," The Doctor said, giving her shoulders a reassuring squeeze, "Jack and I have fought them before, and we can get rid of it quick so we can get out of here. Please, Pepper. Stay put." The tone in his voice was enough to make her comply. But, before he turned to go, she planted a kiss on his cheek.
"Good luck." She muttered; he gave her a warm smile, then he hurried after Jack.
Even if it wasn't cold as fuck in that room, waiting there would still have been uncomfortable. Besides, the Doctor's coat was warm enough to keep her from freezing to death (it smelled nice too, but she tried not to think on that too much).
Being apart from the Doctor in dangerous situations got her, anyway. It had happened many times by now-like when they'd fought Medusa, and another time when they'd been captured by a greedy Emperor on an alien planet where the people looked like dogs on two legs (that's a story for another time, Dr. Umbridge, though I simply must tell it to you). It was a tense and unnerving feeling, knowing he could be in danger and she wasn't there to help him.
But Making it even more uncomfortable was the aching need she felt to go find the necklace again. She felt incomplete without it, because it felt so familiar. It felt like a baby blanket she never knew she lost; she felt insecure and bare without it. Maybe, if she was careful about how she went, she could find it without the Dalek finding her.
...I know I'm gonna regret this. She thought as she hurried out of the chilly room and into the labyrinth of labs just outside. Thinking twice, she started searching around for a sort of weapon to arm herself with. She smirked and shook her head in disbelief as her eyes rested on a high-tech crossbow. It wasn't the same as her re-curve bow, but it would do. The only thing was that she only had one shot; she'd found only one dart, and wasn't about to waste time looking for more. She would have to be very careful.
It was far too quiet. The silence in the labs was even more unnerving than being in that freezing cold room. Occasionally, she'd hear the Dalek shout "Exterminate!" and fire off its weapon. Once, she heard the Doctor shout "RUN!", which was actually quite reassuring; they weren't dead, at the very least.
At one point, the lights started to fade and went out, and her anxiety returned. Her breathing sped up, and she looked around frantically. For a couple heart-pounding seconds, nothing happened. She heard the Doctor's voice again, farther away than he'd been before. Pepper swallowed nervously and took a step forward. Somewhere in the base, something exploded.
Then, she saw the glow.
It was the necklace; she could tell. It was a gentle aurora of colors emanating from a single point in the rooms. She hurried over and picked up the necklace again, looking it over. This time, she didn't dare put it on. Instead, she stuffed it into her pocket and started back towards the holding cells. Just as she did, the lights flickered back on again, and she could see more clearly.
She wished she couldn't.
The Dalek was right in front of her. It once again screeched "EXTERMINATE!" and Pepper's reflexes kicked in. It fired at her, and she threw herself to the side, holding up the crossbow and aiming for the eyestalk. She didn't think twice before firing.
The dart bounced right off.
Pepper hissed a curse and tossed down the useless weapon, then she took off running again. It followed her, but was slowed down by the clutter on the floor. It tried to fly over the room, but the ceilings in the labs weren't high enough. While it was busy maneuvering, Pepper dove behind a machine in the nearest lad, trying to keep her breathing as silent as possible.
"You cannot hide from me, human," The Dalek said, firing its weapon all around the room.
The necklace started growing warm against her thigh. She swallowed silently and pulled it out of her pocket, running her fingers over the intricate carvings. In a split second, she decided to put it on again.
This time, she didn't faint. She watched as black vine tattoos curled up her arms, down her back, and up her neck. She stood, her fear completely gone. The Dalek stopped its advance.
"Look at what you have done…" She felt strange, as if she wasn't talking at all. Her voice was like an umbrella over a crowd of people talking all at once, "You have massacred innocent beings for the sake of advancing yourself, Dalek. Feel you any remorse?"
"I feel nothing." The Dalek answered, apathetic.
"Then you are hereby sentenced to molecular redistribution. I have never been more regretful to have such a descendant. Have you any final statements?"
The Dalek fired his weapon at her, "Extermi—" it was cut off. Everything around it froze in time, including the beam it had attempted to kill her with. She calmly grasped the air in front of her, like she was holding her bow, and as she drew her hand back, a shaft made entirely of gold and white light appeared; like an arrow strung on a bowstring. She held her position for a fraction of a second before letting it go, then the arrow flashed out and struck the Dalek. It screeched as its molecules came apart and dispersed.
Unconsciously, she took the necklace off.
The lights flickered again, and the necklace became cold. The markings vanished, and she started to feel weak again. She leaned against the nearest wall and stuffed the necklace back into her pocket.
Suddenly, the Doctor ran into the room, followed closely by Jack. The Doctor was covered head to toe in coils and wires, all connecting to a cannon-looking thing. Jack had somehow misplaced his coat, and was carrying something that looked like a car battery that came out of Truckzilla. Some of the wires wrapped around the Doctor connected the cannon and the car battery.
"Pepper! You alright?" Jack asked.
"Where's the Dalek?" The Doctor looked around, confused.
"It…died." Pepper still wasn't sure how to explain exactly what the hell happened to the alien. She wasn't sure she was quite comfortable talking about the fact that the necklace had pretty much controlled her to kill that thing, like they had an ancient grudge match or something. The more she thought about it, the more it made her head hurt again, so she filed the occurrence away.
The Doctor, seeing her discomfort, didn't question her further. "Well, then." He set down the cannon, looking at Jack, "Can we give you a ride back to Torchwood?"
An unreadable look passed Jack's face. Then, he smiled and crossed his arms, "I think I could use a little vacation, you know? Think you can stand me a bit longer?"
"I sure can." Pepper chuckled and started out. She completely missed the Doctor's little pout, even though she knew he'd be pouting at her if she'd turned around.
The walk back to the TARDIS was less tense than when they'd first found Area 52. Jack told Pepper about his travels with the Doctor, including Rose (the girl the Doctor had mentioned many times before), a woman named Martha Jones, and another named Donna Noble. The Doctor was quiet the whole time, for reasons Pepper would only find out later. He finally spoke once they arrived at the blue box.
"So, where to?" He asked. Pepper's eyebrows furrowed.
"What day is it?" She checked her phone, which was still synched with her time and place at home.
"Saturday, I think…" Jack replied, glancing at her.
"No, I meant at home…" She blinked, surprised, then looked up at the two of them, "It's September 21st, 2013…"
"Yeah? What's so special about September 21st?" the Doctor cocked his head at her.
"It's my birthday. I turned 19 today."
"Your mother really does make the best pie," the Doctor grinned as he, Pepper and Jack made their way back onto the TARDIS.
After insisting on taking her somewhere special for her birthday, Pepper convinced the Doctor just to take her home to see us. That was the first time we'd seen her in nearly three weeks. We all met Jack for the first (and, sadly, the last) time. I'll even admit it: I had a crush on him, just from that little party we threw for Pepper. I could tell Pepsi liked him too, but she still never looked at anyone the way she looked at the Doctor.
They said goodbye after the little ones had gone to bed; Mama sent her off with a box which held a gift from all of us. She thanked Mama with a kiss, then the three of them were off again.
"What'd you get?" Jack asked as Pepper set the box down.
"I don't know!" She laughed, ripping the tape with her nail and opening it, "It's a clothing box… oh my god!" She gasped and held up a beautiful brown corset dress with white and gold embroidered leaves and vines; it had puffy sleeves that gathered at the elbows.
"What is it…?" the Doctor asked, looking at it over her shoulder.
"It looks like this steampunk dress design I found online, but… my God, this is hand-sewn!"
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Jack grinned, "Go try it on—I want to see it on you."
How our mother sews is truly amazing. I remember helping make it too. We all helped make it, all of my adopted brothers and sisters and I. My eldest sister, Lindsey, embroidered the bustier. A couple of the others and I helped with the sewing, and Mama put the whole thing together. Those that couldn't sew helped pick out and/or buy the fabric that went into it. (Besides, of course, Violet who was 2, and Ollie who was less than a year.)
She looked great in it, too.
"Wow." Jack flashed that famous grin of his.
"Look at you!" the Doctor also flashed a grin, taking her hand and spinning her around, "you look brilliant!"
Pepper grinned and took a few hairpins to pin her newly re-braided hair up. "Thank you! This is really great; I oughtta get Mama something nice after this…" the last part, she mumbled to herself as the Doctor took off up to the control panel, setting the TARDIS in motion.
"So, where to?" He said as eh worked the controls, "We could go to a new planet, go see the birth of the Magellanic Cloud—hell of a Supernova! Or maybe go pop in on Socrates, haven't seen him in a while—"
Abruptly, the TARDIS lurched, like she'd hit something. All three of them were tossed different directions. Jack clung to the leather seats beside the console, and the Doctor kept his grip on the controls, but Pepper was thrown into the railing beside the doors. The Necklace, which she'd put back on and hid underneath the dress, began to grow warm again.
"What?" The Doctor cried, "What?!"
"The hell is happening?!" Jack shouted as the TARDIS continued to pitch and reel. Pepper clung to the rails, looking up at the Doctor for help. Before he could answer, the TARDIS's doors flew open, and Pepper could see the Time Vortex as she looked back over her shoulder. The box gave one final, enormous jerk, and Pepper felt her hands slipping.
"PEPPER! HOLD ON!" The Doctor shouted in vain,
Pepper lost her grip and plunged into the Vortex.
"We need something, something that'll help us track her through time."
"Assuming she isn't dead."
"The hell am I?"
"You… you are on the deck of the RMS Titanic, miss. Are you alright?"
"…kinda getting sick of hearing that…"
"She's… Ophelia Katsaros?"
"Who is Ophelia Katsaros, Pepper?"
"She's… my Mama's grandmother… My adoptive great-grandmother..."
JESUS CHRIST FINALLY. I'll try to get chapter 6 up soon but don't count on it. College applications are a bitch.
