Chapter 8
Family
To try to cheer Donna up the Doctor set a course on the TARDIS to meet one of Adelaide Brooke decedents on the planet Anthem almost four thousand years in the future. A frown flickered a crossed his face when he started to think as to how close they would be to another lost friend. Donna and Rose had both seen the quick frown but neither knew what the frown was for, that was until they stepped out of the TARDIS again. "Welcome to Anthem, a small planet under the rule of Queen Elaine Adelaide Tulekahju," he smiled.
"Adelaide?" asked Donna with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh yes," said the Doctor. "She's a distant decedent of Adelaide Brooke and now the crowned Queen of Anthem," he explained as they started to walk down the street towards what looked like a town square with shops and people bustling about in their everyday lives. "Anthem is a pretty little planet and mostly a holiday spot for those who want a break from the corporate hustle and bustle," he commented as a Hath walked past in a suit and tie. They wondered around talking to people in the shops and just have a good time.
Donna had wandered a bit further from the Doctor and Rose, feeling a bit like a third wheel of a bicycle but still happy for the Doctor and Rose none the less. As she looked at some little knick knacks for sale in one of the shops she saw a blur of blonde run past. Not seeing the Doctor or Rose in sight she thought it might have been Rose she saw out of the corner of her eye so she took off running in the same direction. After making several turns down different alleys she stopped running having lost whoever it was she was following, she was turning around to head back when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Donna jumped in surprise and turned around only to be face to face with a woman she never thought she would see again. "Jenny," she almost shouted wrapping the girl in to a tight hug, "But we thought you died."
"Me too," replied Jenny with a bit of a grin. "One minute I was in a lot of pain and in the Doctor's arms the next I was alone on a stone table. I took the rocket from Messaline and headed for the stars. I can't believe I found you here; I just took up a job with the Queen as head of her security detail. Something about a Slitheen trying to take her crown," Jenny said off handedly, "I was just running after someone whom the Queen thought may have some answers when I lost him but found you following me," she said breaking into a full grin, "So is he here too?"
"Well of course he is," replied Donna with a laugh, "You want to help me find him?"
Jenny nodded and they headed back to the square with shops, Rose saw them reenter the plaza first as she and the Doctor had been looking all over the shops for Donna. Rose waved to them but raised her eyebrow to Donna in a silent question about the other blonde but Donna just flashed her a large smile in return. Rose squeezed the Doctor's hand and pointed to where Donna and the other woman were heading towards them. Donna could tell even from the out of hearing range that the Doctor was repeating the word what, unable to understand what he was seeing. She couldn't help but smile at the memory of him doing the same thing when he first met her, she saw him drop Rose's hand and run for her and Jenny enveloping the blond into a big hug. Rose watched from the other side of the plaza with a puzzled expression on her face, but smiled to see the Doctor happy and noted that the hug he was giving this blond was much like the hug he had given her after the ordeal on the imposable planet. Rose started to make her way over to them at a bit of a slow pace, she wanted to give the three of them time to catch up a bit before she joined them. She couldn't help but grin when Donna had other ideas turning to wave her over like a crazy person her invitation was seconded shortly by the Doctor as well, and she crossed the rest of the plaza quickly. She overheard the blond asking the Doctor "Who is she Dad, did you replace Martha with her," and it was all Rose could do not to stop in her tracks and gawk at them, it helped her that the Doctor looked a bit uncomfortable with that question as Donna tried to hide a smile behind her hand.
The Doctor cleared his throat as Rose came up to the three of them and his hand instinctively reached for hers. "Rose, I would like you to meet Jenny," and with a pointed look from both Jenny and Donna, he finished with "my daughter."
Rose offered her hand and a warm smile to the girl, "It's nice to meet you."
"You as well," Jenny said and then looking at Donna asked, "Is she why you two weren't together?"
The Doctor's jaw dropped, and Rose just raised an eyebrow with a bit of a smile on her lips as she watched Donna silently plead with the Doctor for help. Jenny just looked between the three of the waiting for an answer. The Doctor finally croaked out "No," at the same time as Donna, but she finished with a laugh, "But that was the reason on his list."
Rose couldn't help but laugh as the Doctor shouted "Oi," glaring at Donna. Rose squeezed his hand and looking at Jenny said, "Maybe it's a bit more complicated than that."
Jenny nodded her understanding, amused at the looks the Doctor and Donna where giving each other, she said, "And for being surprised that I'm his adult daughter you're not upset like most mates would be."
"We're not mates," Rose attempted to say with a straight face but failed, and Donna was on the verge of tears when she saw how red the Doctor was getting. Rose turned to him and still smiling said, "She must have come from this incarnation then, yeah? She's a bit cheeky."
After Donna wiped the tears that had come to her eyes from laughing so hard and she really looked between her friends, and then looked harder at Rose and Jenny. "Doctor," she said grabbing his attention, "Jenny was created with just your DNA right?"
"Donna, you where there, don't you remember?" he asked confused by her question.
"Yes I know, but Doctor look at them," she replied gesturing to Rose and Jenny, "There are a lot of similarities besides the blonde."
Rose and Jenny looked each other over, and Rose could almost agree with Donna. Their noses and skin tone was very similar and where Jenny's face was a bit thinner and her hair was a natural blond and her yes a deep blue that made her think back to the pale blue eyes of her first Doctor, Rose noticed they were almost mirroring each other in the way they were standing. Even their choice in clothing was different only in colors, and Rose noted the way Jenny was wearing her makeup much like they way Rose use to when she first traveled with the Doctor. "Dad," Jenny started almost unnerved but the similarities she saw in the other woman's face.
"Can't be," the Doctor said more to himself than anyone else. He saw what they were seeing, and he remembered that it wasn't just his previous family that he saw when he looked at her that day. How he had thought back to Rose as Jenny had been dying in his arms, but it was just his DNA that the machine had taken, Rose had been gone for over a year when they had landed on Messaline. "Bad Wolf," he mumbled, causing the other three to look at him with questioning looks.
"Bad Wolf, what are you talking about," questioned Donna skeptically.
"The machine that I came from was created and built by the Bad Wolf Corporation," supplied Jenny.
"So what does that mean," insisted Donna looking between the Doctor and Rose who where staring at each other.
"I guess it means me," Rose said not moving her gaze away from the Doctor.
"How," started Donna before her eyes went a little wide, "the Bad Wolf," she repeated remembering the nights conversation at the pub, "so it wasn't just Jenny's creation that sent the TARDIS to Messaline?"
The Doctor finally broke eye contact with Rose and rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand, "Well, seems so, unless Jenny was the purpose for Bad Wolf," he started to rattled on before Rose laughed at him, "But why," he looked back to her catching her eyes with his own.
"Dunno," she replied, "It's not a detail I really remember, I am aware of seeing what happen after Canary Warf but there is no details," she finished with a shrug.
Jenny, still not fully aware of what was going on, looked at the Doctor and ask, "So, are you here because of the Slitheen too?"
"Slitheen?" echoed Rose as she and the Doctor looked to the other blonde, they where almost mimicking each other's quizzical expression without knowing it.
"Yeah, they want the crown so they can force everyone off world then they want to reduce the planet to molten slag and sell it to the highest bidder," Jenny said.
"Sounds familiar," said Rose looking at the Doctor, "You don't think it's Blon, do you?"
"Not unless she remembered her old family name, and I don't think the Raxacoricofallapatorians live that long either," Replied the Doctor with a frown.
"So you've fought them before?" asked Jenny almost lighting up at the idea of learning at her father's side again.
"Well," the Doctor started as he saw three heavy set men running up the plaza to where he believe the Royal House was, "How many of the Slitheen family are in on this plot," he asked Jenny.
She followed his eyes to where he was looking and replied, "Just the one, and those are humans."
Rose replied, "Both times we met with the Slitheen they had murdered larger humans and used their skin as a disguise." Both Donna and Jenny pulled faces when they thought about that, "And how often do humans that size go running around the plaza?" she asked watching the groups progress.
"Not often, from our time at least," agreed Donna. And with that the four of them took off running after the three.
"They are heading to the Royal House," stated Jenny. She was surprised that they were right; she had known the Slitheen had help with this plot but never thought it would be more Raxacoricofallapatorians in skin suits.
As they were running Rose worried what they were getting themselves into, after all the first group of the Slitheen family they had met ended up dead because the Doctor had Mickey blow up No. 10 with a missile, and then when it had just been Blon it was the TARDIS that had taken care of it in the end. The heart of the TARDIS, it reverted her back to an egg, Rose thought, and she felt a pressure start to build up in her head. She knew it was her own Vortex building up and that she would have to do something, she just wished she had a mirror to see how far gone she was. She heard the howl of the Wolf in her mind as they entered the same door the other three had. As they entered she saw four Raxacoricofallapatorians surround a pale blue woman in very elegant robes all cackling. "Stop," Rose demanded her voice was thick with the power from Bad Wolf building within her.
The Doctor glanced over at her and saw that her eyes where almost starting to glow with the power of the vortex building in her and as it did, he felt a pressure build in the back of his mind as well. "Rose," he started cautiously.
One of the Slitheen, a female, Donna thought, sneered at the four of them, "And who do you think you are to order us human?"
"It doesn't matter who she is," replied the Doctor smoothly as he stepped between them and Rose. He thought he could feel a familiar pressure building, one that he hadn't thought about since the Game Station. "I am the Doctor, perhaps you've heard of me, I am a sworn enemy of the Slitheen family after all.
"You are different then the stories describe you Doctor," seethed another whom Donna decided was male, "But the girl you protect is well known from the histories, she is also our enemy."
"Who Rose?" The Doctor replied only glancing over his shoulder at her before facing the Slitheens again, "She wouldn't harm a fly what quarrel do you have with her," he mentally cringed at his blatant lie but in doing so noticed the bright green presence in his mind that could only be another Time Lord, or Lady, he corrected himself before he reached towards it. Jenny? Is that you? He asked.
"Dad?" Jenny asked surprised by his voice in her mind just as the Slitheen had all thrown their heads back and laughed.
Yes Jenny is me, Time Lords are telepathic, he explained simply he knew this had to be quick because he didn't like what was going on with Rose. Take Donna to the kitchens quickly and get some vinegar or something acidic they are a calcium base being and we're noting going to be able to solve this peacefully.
Okay, was all she responded as she ran from the room in a wide arch grabbing Donna's hand and dragging her along as she passed.
The Slitheen finally where pulling themselves out of their enjoyment from the Doctor's previous statement and the third replied, "The Slitheen have learned of you Doctor since last we met. We know how the Storm was tempered by the Wolf," he jeered, "She is just as dangerous as you."
"More," coed the female, "The blonde Rose is far more dangerous then you Doctor."
" Bad Wolf," came the slight echo-y voice that he remembered all too well, Rose hadn't fully given in to the Wolf trying her best to rein it in but the Wolf was fighting her and as part of the fight was showing her the possibilities of this encounter.
The Doctor turned his back on them to face Rose his eye full of fear, this shouldn't be happening, he thought as one of the males laughed and replied, "Are we to be afraid of the big Bad English Wolf? A child who took her name from Earth tales meant to scare children?"
She smiled, a slightly creepy sight, "I am no children's tale but I am the faithful companion of the Doctor, the Oncoming Storm, the Destroyer of Worlds, the last of the Time Lords from Gallifrey. I created myself, the stuff of legend."
"Legend? Yes we've heard of you," replied the female her eyes wide with fear.
"Yes, you have," the Bad Wolf, a bit of sadness from Rose's own voice crept in, "you are tiny, but you and your brothers and sister have a choice to make. Leave now on your own, or I'll make you."
Most of them laughed but one took a step back from her, "And what will you do if we don't?" one of them asked.
Dad we've got some, but its not a lot, Jenny's voice rang in the Doctor's head and he got the impression that it would maybe take out one of them. "Rose hold on they are coming back," he said trying to get her to fight the Wolf, "You can let go."
"I can't Doctor," her voice echoed with the full power of the Wolf now, her one hand was in her pocket and with the unmistakable sound of something Sonic the lights went out. Doctor forgive me, she thought as she gave into the Wolf as the room went dark, she needed to end this now or her time with the Doctor would be over too soon as she could feel the hatred and fear build to the climax in the four.
The Doctor was very confused as the room was plunged into darkness, he felt a presence brush against his mind, a presence he hadn't felt in years, a presence that both scared and comforted him, "Rose," he cried as there was blinding gold light flashed and searing heat flooded the room as series of little pops sounded and the crash of someone hitting the floor hard, he struggled to pull his own Sonic Screwdriver out of his pocket as he heard Jenny and Donna run back into the room.
"Dad," Jenny cried as the lights came back up dropping her side of the bucket her and Donna had been carrying splashing the contents to the floor. The Doctor, Donna and Jenny saw the Queen covered in what looked like green gelatin and passed out on the floor. There was a large egg next to her as well, they saw that Rose was just a few steps ahead of them and that she was on her knees on the floor with the gelatin like goo stopping right in front of her.
"Rose," Donna said gently taking a step closer and dropping the rest of the bucket to the floor with a crash, but the Doctor stopped her with a shake of his head.
He walked up to Rose and knelt behind her and rested his hand on her shoulder noticing her tensed against his touch, "Rose," he called softly, he could see that her breathing was labored, and not just from the little bit of running they had just done. "Rose," he called again this time with a bit more force.
She turned towards him just barely masking the pain that was evident on her face, her eyes still glowed with the light of Bad Wolf, "Hello," she mumbled her voice holding a bit of the echo. Taking a deep breath she shook her self and blinked away the gold from her eyes, when the gold was gone the Doctor noticed that she visibly relaxed as she gave him a small smile.
As she looked at what had happened as the Doctor squeezed her shoulder, "What happened Rose?"
She sighed, "I told you Bad Wolf was still with me, what I didn't tell you was that from time to time she still has power, not just sight. But the power is stronger now that we're back, and its recharging quicker. When we were chasing them I was thinking about the last time we faced members of the Slitheen, and I didn't think we had a missile we could hijack and the TARDIS wasn't here. But it was the heart of the TARDIS that held the power, not the TARDIS as a whole, and that's where Bad Wolf was born."
Rose let the rambled sentence hang and looked back over the mess. Jenny and Donna came up and kneeled with them, Donna reached out and squeezed Rose's other shoulder, "You where in pain," she said just barely understanding what had happened here.
"A little, but not from the Vortex, it's more of a relief when Bad Wolf can in a since blow off steam," she replied turning to look at Donna. Rose gestured back to the mess and the three eggs, "The pain was from seeing inside of them, and what they could have done, only one was willing to start over the others would not repent or give up, if I hadn't given in to the Wolf when I did Donna would be dead, and you and Jenny would have regenerated," Rose said looking over her shoulder at the Doctor.
"You gave them a choice," Jenny asked almost as confused as Donna.
"Everyone deserves one chance," replied Rose, "Even the Doctor would have given them that."
He nodded his agreement, only slightly humbled by his ability to forget that when he thought Rose was in trouble, as Donna asked, "But why turn off the lights?"
"She was getting upset," she replied gesturing to the Queen, "People use to get really upset if they saw the Bad Wolf in the other universe, and the Doctor doesn't have a good track record with royalty as it is. With the lights out I was able to make her forget us, only the gold light and the smell of vinegar will stay with her. Jenny will be able to tell they Queen that the Slitheen feel into her trap and that they all died, she doesn't need to know any more than that. And to slow the Slitheen, I had held the power back as long as possible."
"Right," said the Doctor standing up and helping Rose and Donna to their feet, "Let's gather that egg and take it back to the TARDIS, Jenny stay here to explain to the Queen when she wakes then you can meet Donna in the plaza and she'll show you to the TARDIS."
"I'm coming with you?" asked Jenny her face clearing showing both hope and joy at the idea.
"Well," he started, "If you want to that is."
"Yes," she cried jumping up to give him a tight hug around his neck. When she released him she got to work smearing the ooze into the void left by the egg and roughing up the line where it stopped so it didn't look as neat like it had stopped at an invisible wall, which she assumed it had, lease they would all be covered in the green mess.
The Doctor, Donna and Rose left her to it, Donna carrying the egg back to the TARDIS as the Doctor supported Rose who was ashamed to admit that her legs felt like the gelatin mess on the floor. When they had the egg safely stored away Donna grabbed Rose's hand told the Doctor they needed some girl time, he didn't look happy about it but consented citing that he needed to do some work on the TARDIS. Donna practically dragged Rose to the kitchen and put on some tea on, a chore Rose quickly took over having seen the weak brew the ginger woman make that morning, and Donna sat at the table. After watching Rose work for awhile Donna said, "You know you're worrying him."
"I know," Rose said without turning around to face the ginger woman.
"Why didn't you tell him, about it, this power you have," Donna asked.
"I didn't think it would come up so soon," Rose replied with a sigh, "When I was in the other universe even right on top of the rift in Cardiff it took decades for the power to build to a point where Bad Wolf could use it, and it was never at the scale it was today. The Doctor had compared the other universe to diesel to the TARDIS's petrol engines; I guess it was the same for me."
Donna nodded her understanding when Rose looked over her shoulder at her, "Even if you didn't think it was going to happen so soon you knew eventually it would come up," Donna pressed.
Rose regarded the other woman for a bit and the responded, "Honestly I did really think of it once I was here. And there was never really a good moment for that chat."
Donna smirked at that candid remark, "Other things on your mind," she asked with a raised eyebrow.
"A bit yeah," Rose responded and then grinned knowing what Donna was trying to imply, "Its not like that though."
"Oh of chores not," Donna agreed with smirk, "Skinny boy visits all his companions in the middle of the night after a round of drinks."
Rose's eyes when a bit wide, "You saw that?"
"Why else would I have pulled you in here with his daughter coming on board?" asked Donna with a smile and the two women shared a laugh at the old Time Lord's expense.
As they preceded to finish their tea keeping the chat light and taking time to tease their Time Lord out of hearing distance Rose truly smiled at the ginger woman, a sight that Donna noted probably had not visited her features in recent history, and said, "It's good to see that he found a companion that was willing to just be a friend when he needed one."
Donna was proud of her ability not to spit tea all over Rose as she schooled her face into what she hoped was a mask of mild interest, her mind instantly traveling back to River Song. "Well there was a bit of confusion when he said he was just looking for a mate," she commented with a bit a giggle.
Rose smiled and said, "Seems like you're the best mate he could have asked for."
