Chapter 9
A Mother's Love
The group split up that day. Martha and Gwen took one end of London while Jack and the Doctor stayed with Ellie. They searched for hours, but saw no sign of the Master, found nothing to indicate his presence. At half past twelve, the team met up somewhere near the river. Gwen and Martha stayed with Ellie, who stood stoically, gazing into the water, while Jack and the Doctor went to find some chips for the group.
"It's a shame that this the first time I've been to London in ten years and it's doing this," Gwen muttered. She picked up a rock and threw it into the Thames. Ellie looked up at her.
"I haven't been to London, well…okay never mind...Jack and I come up here all the time," she sighed.
Jack and the Doctor returned.
"Hot chips!" they announced.
Ellie took the food and inhaled the smell of salt and vinegar, so wonderfully warm and familiar she couldn't help but feel comforted by it,
"Oh that's lovely," she murmured. It was the first time since Jacob being taken that she had appeared interested in eating anything.
"Nothing like good ole' London Fish N' chips," the Doctor said with a grin before popping one in his mouth.
Ellie munched on a few before handing them to Jack, who sighed and tossed them in a nearby rubbish bin. That was when she heard a baby's screams and a soft voice.
"Ellie."
She spun around, causing everyone to look at her. There were people on the footpath of the bridge, but she only really saw the one person she so desperately wanted to see, yet feared setting eyes on ever again. The Doctor felt a weird surge, followed Ellie's gaze and saw the Master. She began to walk towards him and the Master laughed. Even with all of the people doing shopping and getting about their busy lives, Ellie heard it as clear as if he had been standing right next to her – it was a sound which had haunted her nightmares.
The Torchwood Team dropped their food in the rubbish bin and followed Ellie and the Doctor.
"Is that your mummy?" the Master was asking the baby.
Jacob turned from the Master, saw his mother and squealed even louder.
"Jacob," Ellie said, tears brimming in her eyes.
"So, I was thinking…your baby is incredibly annoying…and I was going to drop him here in the river…no one would notice, and…" the Master held the baby over the side of the bridge.
"No!" Ellie, Gwen, and Martha screamed in unison.
Jack, meanwhile, pulled out his gun and pointed it at the Master.
"Wait…please," Ellie pleaded. The man…Time Lord…looked at her. "Please…just give the baby back…I'll go in his place," she offered.
"Well…this is an appealing offer…" he said slowly.
She flinched; the voice was still horrifying to her.
Jack stepped closer to Ellie, his gun holstered and his hands up so the Master would know he was coming for Ellie, not to attack him.
"What the hell are you doing?" he hissed in her ear. "This isn't going to solve anything!"
"But it will get our son out of harm's way…that's all that matters to me," Ellie replied.
Jack would have argued, but he wasn't going to win and he knew it.
"Very well…come here…" the man holding their son said.
Ellie looked at Jack and they shared a kiss before walking together towards the man they so hated. Jack took Jacob at the same moment the Master grabbed Ellie by the arm. She stared after her son as Jack took a few steps back, for safety precautions.
"Mah! Da!" the baby cried.
Before Ellie could respond to the baby, Jack disappeared from sight - she and the Master left in a bright light.
"I love you!" she cried.
But she was gone before Jack could even hear it.
Jack covered his son's eyes from the bright light. When it was gone, people were standing around, staring. He ignored them and looked at the baby in his arms, who was crying.
"Oh my God, Jacob," he said softly, pressing the baby to him.
The Doctor rushed over, his Sonic Screwdriver out, trying to see if he could trace where the Master had gone. After realizing this wasn't going to work, he put the Screwdriver away and looked at Jack.
"Is he alright?"
Jack looked at the Doctor and nodded,
"Just a bit scared I think."
Gwen and Martha were at his side almost at once. Gwen took the baby and held Jacob. "It's alright, love," she soothed.
The baby stopped crying, but he was still fussy, looking for his mother.
"Ellie dreamed that was going to happen. Even before he took Jacob…Ellie had a dream about the Master…and about going in his place to save Jacob," Jack said.
"Is that why you agreed to let her go?" Martha asked.
He nodded, "Her dreams have done this before…so I had to," Jack swore under his breath.
"So now what?" Gwen asked.
"We get Jacob out of here…teleport him home…I think the Master's plan was always to get Ellie. He just had to get us all here; it's been a trap all along. So we take Jacob somewhere…anywhere…then we come back here and look for him."
Gwen nodded; she looked at Jack.
"Does she still have her necklace?"
Jack looked at her:
"Oh my God…yes! I think so."
"The one she was wearing when she miscarried?" the Doctor asked. Martha held up her hand, utterly confused,
"Sorry, I'm a bit lost here! What happened?" The group looked at her,
"When Ellie was twenty…she got pregnant…and miscarried, back when Donna was still traveling with the Doctor," Jack looked at him, seeing the pain a reference to the former companion caused the Time Lord. "Sorry. Anyways! So she was kidnapped by these thugs who were working for this Girtin…it was all a way to get back at me. The way we found her was because of the necklace she was wearing: it had a tracking device in it. Once Ellie knew it had saved her life, she never took it off," Jack explained.
Gwen was already on the phone to Ianto; she quickly filled him in on the situation and was then waiting while Mickey entered some information on the computer back at the Hub.
"They're in London still," Ianto announced after a moment. Gwen looked at the others,
"She's still in London…"
"Wait…wait a minute," Mickey was tapping away furiously at the computer. "They're gone…Scotland!"
"They've gone to Scotland!" Gwen cried, exasperated.
"What's in Scotland?" Martha asked.
"Who knows…?" Mickey was silent on the other end of the line.
"Guys…I've lost her signal. The Master must have destroyed the necklace, because the blip just went out."
"Shit," Gwen murmured, shifting Jacob in her arms.
"What happened now?"
"Alright, thanks, Mickey…let us know if you get anything."
Gwen hung up the phone, reluctant to deliver the news.
"The signal went out…he must have destroyed the necklace or something."
"Damn it!" Jack cried.
The baby began to cry, clearly scared by his father's outburst.
Jack sighed and took Jacob from her,
"I'm sorry…"
"Let's get Jacob somewhere safe…and then I guess it's off to Scotland," the Doctor announced.
The team headed back to the vehicles and drove off…
XX
"Ellie…Ellie, love, you need to wake up," a voice urged.
The girl moved her head slowly; she knew that voice…though she didn't think it was possible to be hearing it.
"Come on, love, wake up!"
Ellie opened an eye; she saw a familiar blonde face - it was a welcoming blonde face, not one that she dreaded.
"Oh, my God! Rose!"
The women hugged and held on to each other tightly.
"Are you alright?" Rose asked. Ellie began to cry.
"Jacob is safe," she said.
"Where is he?" Rose asked.
"Jack has him…oh, God," then the realization of what she had just done hit her. She had given up her safety so Jacob had some – she didn't regret it, no, but she was only just realizing how much danger she had put herself in.
Then she thought of the last thing Jacob had said before she left. He had called for her, but he also said daddy…or he tried to, and he had said it looking at the Master.
She pulled away from Rose and looked to see the Master watching their embrace,
"Oh, I thought it was going to get better than that!" Ellie looked disgusted.
"You're a pervert." He shrugged.
"Oh well! So, how is my favorite daughter? It's been what…four or five years?"
"Why did Jacob call you dad?" she asked.
"Oh, I just taught him that…he catches on quickly, doesn't he? Maybe he thought I was his dad since he was here for a couple of days. Tell you what though...that says something about Jack, doesn't it? Jacob is with you guys for seven months…and he doesn't call Jack 'dad'…but he's with me a few days and he thinks I'm dad! That makes one of you," his smile fell as he looked at Ellie with disgust.
"How are you here? Lucy shot you…!"
"Oh plenty of time for that later!" he paused, "Someone wants to see you, however."
The Master stepped aside and Lucy came into the room, looking as frail as ever.
"Oh, Ellie, my darling…I've missed you!" she cooed.
"Sadly for you, I can't say that I've missed you. Actually, up until you lot pulled this, my life had never been better!"
"Don't say that! I've missed you so, so much!" Lucy said.
"I never wanted to see you two again…ever!" Ellie cried.
"But I'm your mother!" Lucy shouted.
Ellie got to her feet,
"My mother died! Your husband killed her and turned her into a metal sphere!"
"That's a lie…I carried you for nine months and gave birth to you when I was still a girl!"
Ellie laughed,
"So what have you done to her now? She was never this stupid before!"
The Master was angered by this, opened the cell door and went in after Ellie. Rose stood up.
"Lay a hand on her and you'll wish you'd never been born," she threatened. The Master smiled.
"Miss Tyler…you don't scare me," he told her. He shoved the older blonde out of the way and grabbed Ellie by the wrist.
"Let go of me!" she cried, struggling.
He opened the door on the other gate and shoved Ellie in, so that the two girls were separated.
"There…that's better," the Master decided. He left the cell and locked Ellie in.
Ellie sat in a corner of the room, staring at the Master, trying to work out what he was planning.
He laughed; the couple walked up the stairs, leaving Ellie and Rose in the dark cell
Ellie felt around her neck, "My necklace is gone," she said.
"Yeah he destroyed it while you were knocked out. He took the cell phone too," Rose replied.
Ellie felt herself slipping into an even deeper pit of despair, "The necklace was our only hope of the others finding us," she murmured.
"How?"
"Jack had a tracer on it…that thing has saved my life soo many times before," she sighed.
There was a silence and then Ellie looked up where she thought Rose was sitting, "How did you get here?"
"His teleport can hop to the different realities. He brought me here I guess to taunt the Doctor."
"The two most important women to those two men…and he has us both."
"Yeah…"
Ellie stuck her hand through the bars and Rose clutched it, the girls were terrified. Not knowing what the Master had up his sleeves…but they didn't like it…But just having the other there, brought them some form of comfort, despite how small it was. Together they were going to get through this…or at least try their damndest…
XX
A/N- Okay….so what did you think?
Special thanks to my buddy Ella, who helped me out with London layout a bit…and also…my awesome beta astrum-faith!
She is very cool and ads like nice little things to the story. Which I appreciate…GREATLY!
Love ya girl!
Please review everyone and leave my beta some love!
Oh and I'm totally blanking on the next chapter. It might be a while :P
Love you guys!
Beccs! ^_^
