Father's Day: Lost Hope
Angel smiled as she tickled Baby Rose's belly, getting the infant to giggle despite the Reapers ramming themselves against the church.
"You're quite good with her," the Doctor commented, coming to stand beside her, having watched her interact with the baby for a bit.
She smiled, "Thank you."
They were silent for a moment as the Doctor considered asking her a personal and perhaps very painful question, "Were you…"
"No," she cut in, knowing what he was going to ask. She had mentioned her sister, her mother, told him a little of her father, but no mentions of other family members, of children, "I was content to take care of the TARDISes," he nodded, "But my sister…" she trailed, "My baby sister had a baby boy. Used to watch him for her sometimes."
She and her sister had a very close relationship. But also a little...complicated. Her mother had always wanted a girl, had been thrilled to discover she was pregnant with one, with her. Her father...hadn't been quite so excited. He hadn't been ready to be a father when she had been born, not even the typical three year pregnancy had given him enough time to prepare. He wasn't quite sure what to do. Nearly a century later, when her sister had been born, he'd matured enough, finally felt ready. He'd always had a closer relationship with her sister than he had with her, much like their mother had a closer relationship with her than her sister. When her mother had died, her father had been left with two daughters, one he wasn't quite sure what to do with, and she had been left without the person who knew her better than anyone, the person she talked to about her feelings.
She and her father...she loved him, she did, and she knew, in his own way, he loved her too but they would never have the relationship he had with her sister. She tried, she really had, to do what she could to be like her sister but she just...couldn't. Her sister was...elegant, refined, clever, high marks in the Academy, a proper Time Lady. She...she was content to wear her grimey clothes, walk around covered in grease from her work on the TARDISes, barely scraping by in school. Her little sister acted so much like an older sister to her. There were times they would spend together and her sister would brush her hair for her, try and comfort her when their father went a little too far in his criticisms, try to watch out for her, pull her out of the TARDISes and interact when she felt too much time had been spent there. But her reasoning was always that the TARDISes deserved care, attention, love. She could always just tell when one needed work, what to do, how to handle them. Her sister never really understood why she was so drawn to the TARDISes, prefering them over the company of their people.
She didn't understand it either.
But then, her sister had met a young Time Lord and 'run away with him.' Not really, but her father had been fuming to learn that they were together, had joined themselves to each other at such a young age, barely out of the Academy. And then her sister had had her son...that was the only time she really left the TARDISes after her sister had left to be with her new family. To see her nephew, to spend time with him, and watch him for her. She loved that little boy, but the War came. And she'd lost everything.
She blinked and glanced at him, "Were you?"
He swallowed hard and nodded.
She reached out and took his hand for a moment, squeezing it in comfort.
He smiled in thanks, grateful that she didn't have to ask more and he didn't have to explain for her to understand, and turned to the baby, "Now, Rose...you're not gonna bring about the end of the world, are you?" he asked sternly, "Are you?"
They glanced up to see the older Rose coming towards them.
"Jackie gave her to me to look after," Angel explained.
The Doctor nodded, "I'm helping."
"And she told me to keep him away from her," Angel added with a laugh.
"Nothing different there," the Doctor remarked with a roll of his eyes.
"I'd better be careful," Rose spoke, trying to lighten the mood but with tears in her voice, "I think I just imprinted myself on Mickey like a mother chicken," she smiled down at her baby self, reaching out towards her, only for the Doctor to grab her hand and push it back.
"No," he said, "Don't touch the baby."
The Reapers screeched particularly loudly.
"You're both the same person," Angel explained to Rose, "Touching her would create a paradox."
"And with these things outside, we don't want a paradox happening. Anything new, any disturbance in time, makes them stronger. The paradox might let them in."
"Can't do anything right, can I?" Rose asked.
"Since you ask, no," the Doctor said, as though talking to an idiot, "So, Don't. Touch. The. Baby."
"I'm. Not. Stupid," she nearly spat at him, glaring.
"You. Could've. Fooled. Me," the Doctor replied. Rose looked away and the Doctor sighed, "Alright. I'm sorry," she looked back at him, "I wasn't really gonna leave you on your own."
"I know."
"But between you and me, I haven't got a plan. No idea…" he looked over at Angel, "Any thoughts? Feelings?" she shook her head sadly, what with the world disappearing, there wasn't much left to feel for. He nodded, "No way out."
"You'll think of something," Rose said quietly.
"The entire Earth is being sterilized," the Doctor told her seriously, "This, and other places like it, are all that's left of the Human Race. We might hold out for a while, but nothing can stop those creatures," he looked at the shadows circling the church, "They'll get through in the end. The walls aren't that old. And there's nothing we can do to stop them," he sighed, "There used to be laws stopping this kind of thing from happening, our people would have stopped this. But they're all gone…" Rose watched as, subconsciously, he took Angel's hand, "And now we're going the same way."
"If I'd realized..." Rose began.
He looked at her, "Just...tell me you're sorry."
"I am," she looked him in the eye, sincere, "I'm sorry."
"No, you're not," Angel cut in. Rose turned to her sharply, her mouth hanging open, "You're sorry that this happened, but you're not sorry about what caused it," Angel blinked a moment, before turning to the Doctor, "Is something burning?"
He looked at her oddly at the sudden change in topic but she just stepped up to him and reached into his jacket, pulling out a glowing golden key to the TARDIS.
His eyes widened at the sight and he quickly knocked it out of her hands, grabbing them to check if they were hurt, recalling what she'd said about burning, but they seemed fine.
"Is that the TARDIS key?" Rose asked, staring at the key on the ground.
The Doctor cast one more glance at Angel before sliding his jacket off and scooping the key up with it, "It's telling me it's still connected to the TARDIS!"
~8~
The Doctor stood above the altar, addressing the guests gathered around the church, "The inside of my ship was thrown out of a wound but we can use THIS to bring it back," he held up the key, "And once I've got my ship back, then I can mend everything. Now, I just need a bit of power. Has anybody got a battery?"
Stuart looked around, noticing his father's phone on the chair in front of him. He quickly jumped up and held it up to the Doctor, "This one big enough?"
The Doctor rushed over to him, looking at it, "Fantastic."
"Good old dad," Stuart remarked giving it to the Doctor, "There you go."
"Just need to do a bit of charging up..." he muttered, pressing the sonic to the battery, "And then we can bring everyone back," he glanced around the church as he charged it.
Jackie just looked warily back at the doors as they shook, the Reapers ramming against it.
~8~
Rose and Pete sat near the back of the church, just talking quietly.
"You, um...you never said why you came here in the first place," Pete turned to her, "If I had a time machine, I wouldn't have thought 1987 was anything special. Not round here anyway."
"We just ended up here," she shrugged.
"Lucky for me, eh? If you hadn't been there to save me..."
"That was just a coincidence. That was just...REALLY good luck. It's amazing..."
Pete looked at her as though he didn't quite believe it, "So, in the future, are me and her indoors still together?"
"Yeah."
"Are you still living with us?"
"Yep!" she smiled widely.
Pete nodded and smiled, looking at her intensely for a few moments, before asking the question he'd been dying to ask for a while now, "Am I a good dad?"
Rose swallowed hard, unable to find it in her heart to tell him the truth, "You...you told me a bedtime story every night when I was small. You were always there...you never missed one," she smiled, as though recalling an actual time, "And um...you took us for picnics in the country every Saturday. You never let us down. You were there for us all the time. Someone I could really rely on."
They were silent for a moment before Pete spoke, "That's not me."
Rose stopped smiling, looking back at the front of the church where the Doctor was standing in front of what seemed to be the TARDIS beginning to slowly materialize, phasing in and out. He quickly put his jacket on and grinned, dashing back up to the altar.
"Right, no one touches that key," he ordered, "Have you got that? Don't touch it. Anyone touches that key, it'll be, well, ZAP! Just leave it be and everything will be fine. We'll get out of here. All of us. Stuart, Sarah, you're gonna get married, just like I said," he grinned encouragingly at them before looking at the TARDIS.
Pete sat back, his gaze flickering to the window where Angel was standing, staring out intently. She glanced over at him, a sad look in her eyes before looking back, just watching as the car drove around the corner and disappeared once more.
~8~
Slowly but surely the TARDIS continued to materialize, everyone just sitting there, waiting for it to become solid enough to get them out. The Doctor sat in between Angel and Rose in the back of the church, Angel to his left, Pete sitting a row behind them when Jackie cast a contemptuous glance over her shoulder at Rose.
"When time gets sorted out..." Rose began quietly to the Doctor.
"Everybody here forgets what happened," the Doctor replied, "And don't worry, the thing that you changed will stay changed."
"You mean I'll still be alive," Pete remarked. Rose turned sharply to face him, "Though I'm meant to be dead," he nodded slowly, "That's why I haven't done anything with my life. Why I didn't MEAN anything."
"That's not the way it works at all," Angel said softly.
"Rubbish," he waved her off, "I'm so useless I couldn't even die properly. Now it's my fault all of this has happened."
Rose reached over suddenly and put her hand on his arm, "This is MY fault."
"No, love, I'm your dad. It's my job for it to be my fault."
"Her dad?" they looked up to see Jackie standing there, looking at him with disgust, "How are you her dad? How old were you, twelve?"
The Doctor rolled his eyes at her.
"Is she this annoying in the future?" Angel asked him bluntly, forgetting she should probably have whispered that part with Jackie standing right there.
"Worse," he remarked, not bothering to comment on that before taking her hand and getting up, leading her off just enough to distance themselves.
"Oh, that's DISGUSTING!" Jackie continued.
"Jacks, listen," Pete got up, "This is Rose."
"Rose?" she said in a low voice, growing more upset with each second, "How sick is that? You give my daughter a secondhand name? How many are there? Do you call them ALL Rose?"
"Oh, for God's sake, look! It's the SAME Rose!" he took the baby from Jackie's arms and moved to place her in Rose's, Rose reached out for the baby as well.
"Rose!" the Doctor started, "No!"
But he was too late.
He grabbed the baby from Rose's arms just as a Reaper appeared in the center of the church. The humans screamed at that, jumping up and running for the doors, "Everyone! Behind me!"
"Doctor don't!" Angel cried as everyone moved to gather behind him, the Reaper shrieked, spreading its wings.
"Watch out for them," the Doctor turned to her, looking at her meaningfully, before turning back to the Reaper, "I'm the oldest thing in here!"
The Reaper bore down on him.
"Doctor!" Rose shouted, terrified.
"No!" Angel screamed as the Reaper consumed the Doctor.
The other guests screamed as well.
The Reaper flew into the air, higher in the church, getting ready for another attack when it hit the semi-transparent TARDIS, disappearing, TARDIS and all. The key fell to the floor, no longer glowing.
There was silence for only a few seconds before Rose ran down the aisle and picked it up, "Cold," she gasped, in shock, "It's cold…" Pete slowly made his way to her, stepping past a panting and devastated Angel, looking nervously around the church, "Oh, my God, he's dead…" he put his hand on Rose's arm but she shook him off, "It's all my fault...all of you...both of you..." her voice cracked as the true impact of what had happened started to hit her, "...the whole world...it's my fault..."
"Yes!" Angel snapped, yanking the key from Rose's hand, "It is!"
"Hey now…" Pete began to defend his daughter.
"You bloody well couldn't just listen could you!?" Angel glared at Rose, "He warned you! He told you not to touch the baby! You imprudent human!"
"I'm sorry," Rose sobbed.
"You don't understand," Angel shook her head at the girl, "You have no idea what you have done."
Rose could not possibly understand what she was feeling. Rose didn't know what it felt like to have everything ripped away from her and then be given just a tiny portion of it back only for it to be destroyed in front of her. She'd just found another one of her people, realized she wasn't alone, only for this stupid human to take even that from her.
She was fuming. She'd never felt this angry before...this feeling...this was...this was something beyond just the last of their kind taken away. But what...she didn't know.
"I'm so sorry," Rose wept, Pete pulling her into her arms.
"You will be. Because you've weakened everything, it won't take those things nearly as long to break through as before."
"That's it then, isn't it?" Sarah whispered, "There's nothing we can do. It's the end."
"No," Angel said, moving her glare from Rose to the woman, "I can try to key into the ship, try and reconnect it to this," she held up the key, "It'll take time, probably more than we've got now," she shot her glare back to Rose, "But I'll try."
And with that, she turned and walked off to sit on the steps to the altar, resting her elbows on her knees and her hands to her head, clutching the key in both of them.
~8~
Pete looked out the window in the antechamber, having just double checked all the doors, seeing that they were holding for now. He watched the car loop around the corner and disappear…twice. He swallowed hard, realizing what was going on.
~8~
Rose sat in the back row in the dark church, silent with grief. She'd realized why Angel had yelled at her. It was her fault the Doctor, one of Angel's people, was gone. She'd seen the loneliness in the Doctor's eyes at the loss of his people. To get one back…only to lose them again…she shook her head.
"The Doctor really cared about you..." Pete said, standing before her with his jacket in his arms, she looked up at him, "He didn't want you to go through it again if there was another way. Now there isn't."
Rose stood, "What're you talking about?"
Neither of them noticed Angel open her eyes, the key just faintly starting to glow in her hands.
"The car that should've killed me, love," Pete explained, putting on his jacket, "It's here. The Doctor worked it out way back, but he…he tried to protect me," he glanced back at Angel, sitting in the front of the church, getting up, before turning back to Rose, "Her too I imagine."
"Yes, I did," Angel said, walking towards them.
Rose looked between the two, her eyes filling with tears.
"Still…" Pete nodded, "He's not here and that key won't work in time. It's up to me now."
"But you can't..." Rose's voice broke, realizing what he was talking about.
Pete reached out and stroked her face, "Who am I love?"
"My daddy," Rose said tearfully as Jackie made her way over to them, looking at Rose with wide eyes.
"Jackie..." he turned to her, "Look at her. She's ours."
Jackie looked over at Rose, the truth dawning on her as Rose looked back tearfully, "Oh, God..." she breathed, pulling Rose into her arms, hugging her.
"I'm meant to be dead, Jackie," Pete explained as Jackie pulled away, "You're gonna get rid of me at last."
"Don't say that," Jackie said, holding back tears.
"For once in your life, trust me. It's gotta be done. You've got to survive, because you've got to bring up our daughter," he nodded at Rose before pulling Jackie into one last kiss. He sighed looking at Rose, "I never read you those bedtime stories. I never took you on those picnics. I was never there for you."
"You would've been," she said, crying.
"But I can do this for you. I can be a proper dad to you now."
"But it's not fair."
Pete looked at her softly, "I've had all these extra hours. No one else in the world has ever had that. And on top of that...I get to see you," he took her face in his hands, "And you're beautiful," Rose sobbed silently, "How lucky am I, eh? So, come on...do as your dad says," slowly, tears still flowing, Rose looked down and handed him the vase, "Are you going to be there for me, love?" she took a breath, nodding. Pete put a hand on her shoulder and looked into her eyes, "Thanks for saving me."
Angel watched as Pete Tyler pulled his wife and daughter into an embrace before dashing out of the church doors with the vase.
He ran outside and over to the gate, looking up as the Reapers started to bear down on him. He turned to see the car appear from thin air around the corner and ran straight out in front of it, screwing his eyes shut tight, "Goodbye, love..." he breathed.
The driver threw his hand over his eyes as the car knocked Pete over. The vase crashed to the ground, shattering. Instantly the Reapers disappeared. Rose stood outside the church doors her head down, her eyes closed, taking deep breaths.
The Doctor stepped out of the church behind her and looked at her a moment before putting a hand on her shoulder. She turned to look at him, "Go to him," he repeated, "Quick."
Rose dashed out of the church gates and down the road to kneel by her father, holding his hand as he died.
The Doctor turned around a moment later, only to catch a flying object in his arms. Angel clung tightly to him as he hugged her back, feeling her shaking as he tightened his grip.
"Don't you ever do that again!" she shouted, her voice muffled from burying her face in his jacket.
He laughed and pulled back, "I'll try not to."
His smile turned to a frown as he took Angel's face in his hands, seeing the red in her eyes from her tears.
"I thought I'd lost you," she whispered, "Everything is gone. I can't lose you too."
He swallowed hard, pulling her back into a tight hug. He'd been alone for so long, as had she, he realized. If it had been her the Reaper took…he swallowed hard, he didn't want to be alone again either. He didn't ever want to lose her, not again, not after having lost so much already.
"We'll take care of each other," he promised, "Keep each other safe."
She nodded into his coat, before pulling away, "I…I think I imprinted a bit of your personality when I regenerated."
"What makes you say that?"
"I yelled at Rose," she admitted guiltily, her stomach balling in knots at the thought. She was not at all happy with how she had treated the woman when the Doctor had disappeared, but…she had been so angry, and hurt, and lost, and alone, and scared…she shook her head, "Called her an imprudent human."
He nodded, understanding, he'd called them stupid apes enough times. They looked over to see Rose quietly crying at her father's side, the man who had saved them all lying, unmoving, beside her.
"Is she still one of the best?" Angel wondered out loud, recalling the Doctor's words to Adam.
His gaze hardened just a bit, "She only human."
No.
She nodded, frowning, before looking up at him again, "Does that mean I'm one of the best?" she wasn't asking to be mean or arrogant, she was genuinely confused. He hadn't even called her a companion to Adam...
He looked at her, his gaze softening, "I like to think you're more than just a simple companion," he told her honestly.
Whatever that more was she didn't know and, it seemed, he didn't either.
"Me too."
"Come on," he whispered, taking her hand as they walked over to Rose as other people came out of the church to see what the commotion was.
~8~
"The driver was just a kid," Jackie sighed, "He stopped. He waited for the police. It wasn't his fault. For some reason...Pete just...ran out," she paused a moment, remembering, "People say there was this girl...and she sat with Pete while he was dying. And she held his hand. Then she was gone. Never found out who she was."
~8~
Rose dropped a gentle kiss on her father's head before standing up and looking down at him a few moments. She lifted her head to meet the Doctor's sympathetic eyes and Angel's sad, apologetic ones. Rose nodded at Angel in forgiveness before taking a breath and walking over to them.
Angel reached out as soon a Rose was near enough and pulled her into a tight hug, knowing how badly it hurt to witness such a thing, remembering how much she had just wanted someone to hold her as she mourned but no one had been there. She held Rose to her as the girl put her arms around her as well, hugging her back as she sobbed.
"It's alright," Angel whispered, rubbing her back, "It'll be alright Rose..." she gently shifted, putting her arm around Rose's shoulders, before leading her back into the TARDIS with the Doctor.
~8~
"Peter Alan Tyler, my dad," Rose murmured, "The most wonderful man in the world. Died the 7th of November, 1987."
A/N: Awww, how cute was that little scene between the Doctor and Angel, she's MORE than just a companion to him :) How much more? Well, you were right! Mating! (lol, I giggle at the word :)) BUT! We'll have to wait till the Christmas Invasion for that to even START happening, and then we'll learn more about exactly what it means in this story-universe during New Earth :)
Notice how the gold TARDIS key didn't burn Angel when, in the episode, it burned the Doctor? I sort of see it as...cooks spend their lives in the kitchen and build up a little tolerance for heat, such as being able to hold onto a slightly hot cookie tray or something. Angel's spent her life around TARDISes, quite a few centuries (we'll find out how old she is in The Parting of the Ways), so she's probably built up a tolerance to things like that as well...or is there something more to it? Hmmm...
Also, the bit about imprinting a little of the Doctor upon regeneration (I take it as his temper lol). Idk where, but I read somewhere that DT described the Doctor's change in accent between 9 and 10 as 'imprinting' a bit of Rose, so I thought, that's interesting :) I'll just say, Angel imprinted a bit of Rose too as can be seen by Pete's comments on her being Rose's sister and a reason why he might think that (-cough-hair-cough-) :)
Very good guesses on Angel's friend. I will say this, one of the suggested Time Lords/Ladies is correct. But I won't say which for quite a while :)
And, last note...I picture Angel to look something like Laura Vandervoort but with green eyes and just slightly less defined cheekbones.
