The Doctor Dances...
A/N: So, to answer Joy41218's question, sorry for the confusion! Clara is now Willow! I'm doing a lot of changes to my story, and that's one of them so she doesn't get confused with Clara Oswald. I thought I had made that clear before, but going back, I saw that I hadn't! Well, I did in my original, but then I lost my flash drive that had my original on it. So, again, sorry for the confusion. Any other concerns or questions, review or pm me!
Though the Doctor was upset at losing his companion (his favorite, though he wouldn't admit it, especially to Rose), he knew he had to get himself, Rose, and Jack out of there alive. He suddenly had an idea (when didn't he? he thought to himself a bit smug-like) and took a small step forward.
He had a very stern look and tone when he said, "Go to your room," causing all the gas mask people, including Willow, to hesitate a step.
"Go to your room!" the Doctor repeated with more force, acting like a stern parent. All the people cocked their heads to the side and Rose and Jack shared a look before the blonde stared sadly at her cousin.
"I mean it! I am very, very angry with you. I am very, very cross! Go—to—your—ROOM!" the Doctor yelled. He jerked his arm out and pointed in no particular direction. Slowly, all the gas mask people hung their heads in shame and turned away, shuffling back to their cots.
Rose watched Willow the entire time, shuffling her way to an empty cot with the rest of the gas mask people and she felt sadness going through her. How was she ever going to explain this to her mum? That Willow had died in 1941 and that she wouldn't be coming home again? All the people slowly climbed back into their beds and all three of them sighed with relief.
"I'm really glad that worked. Those would've been terrible last words," the Doctor attempted at a joke, but failed at the look on his blonde companion's face. "Don't worry, Rose," he assured her. "I'll do everything possible to get Willow back, safe and sound. I promise you that."
Rose only nodded, knowing her would try, but she also knew that he was trying to convince himself more than her. As there was no further movement from the gas mask people after they had climbed into their beds, Rose took up a spot next to Willow's bed, watching over her cousin, knowing she couldn't touch her.
"Why are they all wearing gas masks?" Rose asked, in a sad, but curious voice, missing her cousin's sweet face. It was missing; all she could see was her massive red hair, spread out on the cot under her head.
"They're not," Jack answered. "Those masks are flesh and bone."
Rose shuddered as she looked over her cousin, wishing she could touch her in comfort or stroke her hair gently, like Willow would've done for her.
"How was your con supposed to work?" the Doctor asked with anger in his voice.
"Simple enough, really. Find some harmless piece of space-junk...let the nearest Time Agent track it back to Earth. Convince him it's valuable, name a price. When he's put 50 percent up front—oops! A German bomb falls on it, destroys it forever. He never knows he's been had. I buy him a drink with his own money, and we discuss dumb luck. The perfect self-cleaning con," Jack explained.
"Yeah. Perfect," the Doctor said sarcastically, gazing down at Willow.
"The London Blitz is great for self-cleaners—Pompeii's nice if you want to make a vacation of it though, but you've got to set your alarm for volcano day," Jack said, laughing lightly at his own joke, trying to ease the tension, but it wasn't working.
The Doctor turned his dark glare on Jack, whose laughter died away immediately.
"Getting a hint of disapproval," Jack said, feeling uneasy by the glare. It unsettled him greatly, the glare of the Oncoming Storm.
"Take a look around the room and at Willow. This is what your 'harmless piece of space-junk' did," the Doctor said harshly to the ex-Time Agent.
"It was a burnt-out medical transporter—it was empty," Jack insisted.
The Doctor glared at him once more, shot Willow a look of apology (thought she couldn't see it), and started to storm off through the hospital.
"Rose," he called out to the blonde.
"We getting out of here?" Rose asked, following after him after leaving Willow's side.
"We're going upstairs," the Doctor said, trying to keep his tone lighter with Rose, knowing that this wasn't her fault.
"What about Willow?" Rose burst out, a bit angry that he was leaving her cousin behind. The Doctor paused in his stride for a second.
"We'll be back for her and save her just like I promised," the Doctor answered the blonde, starting off again, with Rose right behind him. Jack jumped to it and also followed after the two time travelers.
"I even programmed the flight computer so it wouldn't land on anything living—I harmed no one! Certainly not Willow! I don't know what's happening here, but believe me—I had nothing to do with it," Jack still insisted, pleading his case, hoping the Doctor would hear him out.
"I'll tell you what's happening. You forgot to set your alarm clock. It's volcano day," the Doctor said harshly to the American, glaring at him. Rose jumped as a siren started to go off in the distance.
"What's that?" Rose asked in a shaky voice, whipping her head around, looking for trouble.
"The all clear," Jack answered, relief evident in his voice.
"I wish," the Doctor said.
After finding the room that had been the child's bedroom (and being found by the child himself) the three of them rushed down a short flight of stairs and down another corridor. Suddenly, they stopped as all the patients started bursting out of the ward ahead, repeating, "Mummy" over and over again.
Rose immediately spotted Willow's fiery red hair in the crowd of patients, the red-head sticking out like a sore thumb. The trio backtracked, but found more gas mask people coming from behind them, too. They found themselves back at the point where the child was still breaking through the wall.
"It's keeping us here so it can get at us," the Doctor said, taking Rose's hand after noticing how scared the blonde was. He had also seen Willow in the crowd and squeezed Rose's hand in comfort.
"It's controlling them?" Jack asked, pointing his blaster in each direction as the gas-maskers got closer from each side.
"It is them. It's every living thing in this hospital. Even Willow," the Doctor noted, a deep sadness in his eyes.
"Okay," Jack said slowly, thinking of a way out. "This can function as a sonic blaster, a sonic cannon, and a triple-enfolded sonic disruptor. Doc, what you got?"
The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver, knowing her couldn't use it, but Jack didn't even see it; he was too busy brandishing his sonic blaster at the patients, ready to use it at a moments notice.
"A sonic, er...oh, never mind," the Doctor said, waving his sonic around uselessly.
"What?" Jack asked impatiently, his eyes shifting, taking in every danger around them. The Doctor turned to face the other side of the gas mask people, using his sonic for no reason whatsoever. It was a tool for science, not a weapon, he reminded himself.
"It's sonic, okay?" the Doctor said, clearing his throat nervously. "Let's leave it at that."
"Disruptor? Cannon? What?" Jack asked, still whipping his blaster left and right, while Rose was just standing between them, thinking. She knew that if Willow had been there, she would have muttered some joke to her about the testosterone in the room.
"It's sonic! Totally sonic! I am sonic-ed up!" the Doctor yelled out, still brandishing a useless screwdriver.
"A sonic WHAT?" Jack asked.
"SCREWDRIVER!" the Doctor yelled back. Jack spun around to face the Doctor, a look between shock and a smirk on his face, knowing that the screwdriver was useless. At that second, the child finally burst through the wall and began to climb through. Rose suddenly had a brilliant idea and quickly grabbed Jack's wrist, aiming his sonic blaster at the floor.
"Going down!" Rose cried, blasting a hole in the floor right where their feet had been. The three of them dropped like rocks into the ward below. Jack quickly jumped up and activated the digital rewind to replace the hole that Rose had made, but not before Rose spotted Willow's head, peering down the hole at the three of them.
"Doctor, are you okay?" Rose asked, standing up and brushing herself off.
"Could've used a warning...!" was all the Doctor said, still in a bit of shock at what had just happened, as well at also seeing Willow's head.
"Ugh, the gratitude," Rose said sarcastically before turning sober. The Doctor finally got up brushing himself off, thinking of what to do next.
"Who has a sonic screwdriver?" Jack asked, part sarcastic, and part genuinely curious.
"I do!" the Doctor answered him defensively; he loved his sonic.
"Light," Rose muttered to herself, looking around for a way to turn them on.
"Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks 'ooohooo, this could be a little more sonic'?" Jack said, this time in full sarcasm.
"What, you've never been bored?" the Doctor said indignantly.
"There's gotta be a light switch!" Rose said, this time louder, poking around for one.
"Never had a long night? Never had a lot of cabinets to put up?" the Doctor asked, still defensive over his precious sonic.
Rose cried out in success as she finally found a switch and turned it on. Her cry of triumph turned into one of fright as suddenly, all the gas mask people in the ward they happened to be in sat up as one and started calling, "mummy."
"Door," was all Jack said, panic in his voice to escape again.
The trio all rushed to the door of the ward as the patients started getting out of their beds. The door was locked, so Jack tried to use his sonic blaster on it, but it didn't work.
"Damn it!" Jack yelled. He stepped back and allowed the Doctor to use his sonic screwdriver (which was finally useful). Jack started hitting the sonic blaster in anger, cursing it under his breath. "It's the special features, they really drain the battery," he explained to Rose, who looked a tad curious at his blaster.
"The battery?" Rose scoffed, knowing the Doctor's sonic didn't run on a battery and worked whenever he needed it to. The Doctor got the door opened in what seemed like record time and the three of them rushed through it, eager to get away from the gas mask zombies.
"That's so lame," Rose cackled at Jack, who frowned at his blaster being made fun of. The Doctor quickly slammed the door behind them and locked it back up with his sonic screwdriver.
"I was gonna send for another one, but somebody's gonna blow up the factory," Jack said, glaring at the Doctor while running to the window to peer out.
"Oh, I know—first day Willow and I met him, he blew my job up and nearly took Willow along with it. That's practically how he communicates," Rose said, teasing the Doctor to try and keep from worrying about Willow; she knew that it would do her no good to worry about her cousin right now.
"Okay, that door should hold it for a bit," the Doctor said, examining the pure metal door.
"The door?" Jack exclaimed in disbelief. "The wall didn't stop it!"
"Well, it's gonna find us first!" the Doctor said, glaring at the Captain. "Come on, we're not done yet! Assets, assets!"
"Well, I've got a banana, and at a pinch you could put up some shelves," Jack scoffed at the Doctor. Rose just shook her head at the two men. The world was in danger and Willow was practically a zombie and the two were nearly going into 'mine's bigger than yours'.
"Window-" the Doctor started to say, walking to said window to look out it.
"Barred, sheer drop outside. Seven stories," Jack said, having already examined it for a way out.
"And no other exits," Rose input, though not very helpfully.
"Well, the assets conversation went in a flash, didn't it?" Jack sneered, settling himself in a wheelchair.
The Doctor eyed him for a second, then turned to Rose, asking with a scoff, "So, where'd you pick up this one, then?"
"Doctor..." Rose said in a warning tone, her eyes flashing. She knew that she had made a mistake with Adam, but she had felt that Jack was different, though no less handsome.
"Her and Willow were handing from a barrage balloon, I had an invisible spaceship. I never stood a chance," Jack said, trying to make the older man jealous, which was working at the mention of Willow, while Rose looked a bit uncomfortable.
"Okay, one, we want to get out of here," the Doctor said, pointing out the obvious. "Two, we can't get out of here. Have I missed anything?"
Rose gave a glance in Jack's direction, her eyes going wide in shock, and said, "Yeah...Jack just disappeared."
The Doctor spun around to see an empty wheelchair, the American Captain indeed gone.
"Great. Just great," the Doctor snapped out. "One other problem to deal with. Wait, problem gone!"
He smirked triumphantly at Rose, who just scowled at him. He plopped himself down in a vacant chair, thinking of a way to get out, plus save everyone that had been infected with the mystery plague. After a minute of silence, Rose approached the Doctor and put her hand on the back of his chair, trying to comfort him in any way she could.
"Okay, so he's vanished into thin air. Why is it always the great looking ones who do that?" Rose asked, half trying to make a joke and half serious.
The Doctor gave her an offended look and said, "I'm making an effort not to be insulted."
"I mean...men," Rose said, waving her hand dismissively at the Doctor's comment.
"Okay. Thanks. That really helped," the Doctor said sarcastically, smiling slightly, as she had lifted the tension slightly. An old radio in the room suddenly sprang to life with Jack's voice coming through it, starling Rose.
"Rose? Doctor? Can you hear me?" he asked, his voice a bit crackly. Rose and the Doctor both hurried over to the radio, which Doctor picked up.
"I'm back on my ship," Jack explained to them. "Used the emergency teleport. Sorry I couldn't take you."
The Doctor looked a little bit confused as he held the wires that seemed to have been ripped out of the radio, which would have made it impossible for it to work.
"It's security-keyed to my molecular structure. I'm working on it—hang in there," Jack said, his voice slightly muffled as he worked.
"How're you speaking to us?" the Doctor asked, still wondering.
"Om-Com. I can call anything with a speaker grille," Jack said.
"Now there's a coincidence," the Doctor said, his eyes a little wide.
"What is?" Jack asked.
"The child can Om-Com, too," the Doctor admitted to them.
"It can?" Rose asked, shocked.
The Doctor nodded and said, "Anything with a speaker grille. Even the Tardis phone."
"What, you mean the child can phone us?" Rose asked, suddenly scared.
"And I can hear you. Coming to find you. Coming to fiiiiiiiiind you," the child said through the radio, causing Rose to bite her lip in worry. She knew that if Willow had been with them, she would have been rubbing the scar on her chin unconsciously, just like she always did when she was nervous.
"Doctor, can you hear that?" Jack asked, shocked.
"Loud and clear," the Doctor said.
"I'll try to block out the signal. Least I can do," Jack said.
"Coming to find you, mummy!" the child said eerily.
"Remember this one, Rose?" Jack asked flirtatiously, flipping a switch on his ship. Glenn Miller's 'Moonlight Serenade' started playing through the radio, blocking out the child's voice. "I seem to remember Willow liked it, too," he added in a more serious and sad tone.
Rose looked slightly uncomfortable as the Doctor looked at her questioningly. Not about her and Jack, but about Willow liking the song. Rose misunderstood his expression though, thinking that he was curious about what he was talking about, but the Doctor was jealous.
"Our song," she said, a bit embarrassed.
The Doctor just nodded, though still jealous.
"Don't worry, though. Willow didn't dance with him very long. She was just trying to get him to think that we were Time Agents," Rose added and the Doctor looked a little more relieved, though not much.
Rose settled herself down in a rolling wheel chair and tried to entertain herself by wheeling herself around the room. The radio was still playing 'Moonlight Serenade' and there was a buzzing from the Doctor's sonic screwdriver in the background. In boredom, Rose spun the chair around to face the Doctor.
"What you doing?" she asked, curious.
The Doctor was holding his sonic screwdriver up against the wall near the window, and answered, "Trying to set up a resonation pattern in the concrete. Loosen the bars."
"You don't think he's coming back, do ya?" Rose asked, already knowing the answer to her question.
"Wouldn't bet my life," the Doctor said, scoffing.
"Why don't you trust him?" Rose asked, genuinely curious.
"Why do you?" the Doctor asked.
"Saved mine and Willow's lives. Bloke-wise, that's up there with flossing," Rose answered, smirking. "And he's not half bad looking, either."
The Doctor didn't answer and Rose just looked at him for a moment, thinking.
"I trust him 'cos he's like you. Except with dating and dancing," Rose said, a bit embarrassed; even though she meant dancing as a innuendo, she knew that the Doctor would take it as literally dancing. The Doctor just looked at her, his face blank.
"What?" Rose asked.
"You just assume I'm..." the Doctor said, and then trailed off.
"What?" Rose said, wanting him to continue.
"You just assume that I don't...dance," the Doctor said finally.
"What, are you telling me you do...dance?" Rose asked, grinning. She smirked to herself. He had no idea what she was really talking about, but that was fine with her. Though, Willow might thank her one day…Rose smirked to herself at that thought
"Nine hundred years old, me. I've been around a bit. I think you can assume that as some point I've danced," the Doctor said, shocking Rose. So he did get what she was saying.
"You?" Rose asked, grinning once more, getting over her shock.
"Problem?" was all the Doctor said.
"Doesn't the universe implode or something if you...dance?" Rose teased him. He was her best friend, of course she was going to tease him.
"Well, I've got the moves but I wouldn't want to boast," the Doctor said, the tips of his ears turning red.
Rose, who was still grinning, got up from her chair and went to turn the music up, going to tease him a step further. The Doctor looked around, surprised, his whole face turning red now. Rose walked forward, determined. She was going to help this man dance so he would know how for when Willow got back (though the literal dancing, this time, she thought shuddering at the disturbing thought of dancing with her best friend). He looked back at the wall, trying to ignore the fact that Rose was there. Rose held out her hand for him to take, pushing the mental image very far away, trying not to gag at that thought.
"You've got the moves?" she teased, raising an eyebrow at him when the Doctor looked at her. "Show me your moves so Willow will be able to see them."
"Rose, I'm trying to resonate concrete," the Doctor said, trying to get out of it, flushing at what she was insinuating. Rose still stubbornly stood there with her hand outstretched.
"Jack'll be back, he'll get us out. So come on—the world doesn't end 'cos the Doctor dances," she said firmly, wanting to teach her best friend how to dance; she was very determined now.
The Doctor finally shut off his sonic screwdriver (he knew that resonating the concrete had been pointless anyways, as it would take a very long time to do it) and put it back in his pocket. He stood away from the wall and went towards Rose. He stood in front of Rose for a second and finally took her hands. He turned her hands over and looked at them, thinking.
"For Willow?" was all he said to Rose, thought he was thinking of something differently entirely.
"For Willow," Rose said firmly, nodding.
"Barrage balloon?" he asked, still looking closely at her hands.
"...What?" Rose asked, thrown by his question.
"You and Willow were hanging from a barrage balloon," the Doctor said, turning her hands over, examining them.
"Oh, yeah. About two minutes after you left us. Thousands of feet above London—middle of a German air-raid—Union Jack all over my chest," Rose said, shaking her head at her stupidity.
The Doctor raised his eyebrows at her and said, "I've traveled with a lot of people, but you're both setting new records for jeopardy-friendly."
"Is this you dancing? 'Cos I've got notes for Willow," Rose said, raising an eyebrow at him as the Doctor went back to examining her hands.
"Hanging from a rope a thousand feet above London. Not a cut, not a bruise," the Doctor said, showing Rose her own hands.
"Yeah, I know. Captain Jack fixed me and Willow up..." Rose said a bit dreamily, remembering how close Jack had been to her while tying her hands together.
"Oh, we're calling him 'Captain Jack' now, are we?" the Doctor asked, smirking; it was his turn to tease her now.
"Well, his name's Jack and he's a captain..." Rose said, blushing.
"He's not really a captain, Rose," the Doctor said, smirking even more at succeeding.
"D'you know what I think? I think you're experiencing Captain envy," Rose said. "Just 'cos he danced with Willow on an invisible spaceship tethered to Big Ben."
The Doctor just gave a slight nod, not really hearing what she had said as he took her hand and the pair of them started to dance….well, sort of.
"You'll find your feet at the end of your legs," Rose said scolded him. "You may care to move them."
"If ever he was a captain, he's been defrocked," the Doctor fired back at her quickly.
"Yeah? Shame I missed that," Rose said, smirking, not letting his jab get to her.
"Actually, I quit. Nobody takes my frock," Jack said, his voice sounding normal.
The Doctor and Rose looked up in surprise. Somehow, they were now standing in Jack's spaceship. They had been so wrapped up in teasing each other that they hadn't even noticed that they had even moved.
"Most people notice when they've been teleported," Jack said. "You guys are so sweet, teasing each other like that. Sorry about the delay. I had to take the nav-com offline to override the teleport security."
"You can spend ten minutes overriding your own protocols?" the Doctor scoffed at the American. "Maybe you should remember whose ship it is."
"Oh, I do," Jack said, smirking at the alien. "She was gorgeous. Like I told her—be back in five minutes."
He ducked underneath the console, tinkering on something.
"This is a Chula ship," the Doctor realized, looking around his surroundings in surprise.
"Yeah, just like that medical transporter. Only, this one is dangerous," Jack called out, his voice slightly muffled from whatever he was doing. The Doctor snapped his fingers, summoning, and his hands were surrounded by the bright nanogenes.
"They're what fixed mine and Willow's hands up!" Rose said, her eyes wide in wonder at seeing them again. "Jack called 'em, um..."
"Nanobots?" the Doctor provided. "Nanogenes."
"Nanogenes, yeah," Rose said, nodding her head in excitement.
"Sub-atomic robots," the Doctor said sadly, forming together a theory for what was happening outside. "There's millions of them in here, see? Burned my hand on the console when we landed—all better now. They activate when the bulk head's sealed. Check you out for damage, fix any physical flaws."
The Doctor sent the nanogenes away with a wave of his hand, determined to fix what was happening
"Take us to the crash site," the Doctor demanded to Jack. "I need to see your space junk."
"As soon as I get the nav-com back online," Jack said, as though the Doctor was nagging at him. The Doctor looked a little bit annoyed. "Make yourself comfortable. Carry on with whatever it was you were...doing."
"We were talking about dancing," the Doctor said, trying to sound innocent, not wanting to be teased further about Willow and dancing.
"It didn't look like talking," Jack said, raising an eyebrow at the alien.
"Didn't feel like dancing," Rose said, once again teasing the Doctor, whose ears turned red. "I was trying to teach him so that he could dance with Willow, once she's better."
After having to wait for nearly an hour, the Doctor, Rose, and Jack all walked towards a railroad station that was near the bomb site. They all three peered over the barbed wire that surrounded the crash site.
"There it is," Jack said, using his binoculars. "Ay, they've got Algy on duty. Must be important."
"We've gotta get past," the Doctor said, peering into the darkness.
"The words 'distract the guard' head in my general direction," Rose said, smirking at the two men.
"I don't think that'd be such a good idea," Jack said, shaking his head at the blonde.
"Don't worry...I can handle it," Rose said, determined to prove herself to the Captain.
"I've got to know Algy quite well since I've been in town," Jack said. "Trust me. You're not his type. I'll distract him." He stood up and threw out, "Don't wait up," over his shoulder.
The Doctor and Rose looked at each other, the Doctor amused and Rose just bewildered at the con man.
"Relax, he's a 51st century guy. He's just a bit more flexible when it comes to dancing," the Doctor said, smirking, back to teasing the blonde again.
"How flexible?" Rose asked, her jaw dropping and her eyes widening.
"Well, by his time, you lot have spread out across half the galaxy," the Doctor said, still smirking at her.
"Meaning?" Rose asked.
"So many species, so little time..." the Doctor said, grinning.
"What, that's what we do when we get out there? That's our mission? We seek new life, and...and..." Rose said.
"Dance," was all the Doctor said, sniggering.
The Doctor and Rose watched as Jack talked to the man that was on guard. All of a sudden, Jack jerked away as the man's face transformed into a gas mask, alerting soldiers over to the commotion.
"Stay back!" the Doctor yelled, leaping up out of his hiding spot. He rushed forward, Rose right on his tail.
"You men! Stay away!" Jack ordered the soldiers, holding out his hand to halt them in their place. Algy was lying on the ground, lifeless and Rose was staring at him in shock and horror, knowing that her cousin was in a similar state in the hospital.
"The effect's become airborne," the Doctor said, startled. "Accelerating."
"What's keeping us safe?" Rose asked in horror, covering her mouth with her hand.
"Nothing," the Doctor bit out, not wanting to lose Rose as well; he'd probably lose his mind and go to a very dark place if that happened. Suddenly, the air raid siren sounded, startling everyone in the area.
"Ah, here they come again," Jack said shakily, looking up at the sky.
"All we need," Rose said, then she realized something. "Didn't you say a bomb was gonna land...Here?"
Jack nodded, realizing the same thing, his mind reeling.
"Never mind about that," the Doctor said. "If the contaminant's airborne now, there's hours left."
"For what?" Jack asked, confused as to what the Doctor was referring to.
"'Til nothing. 'Til forever. For the entire human race," the Doctor said ominously.
Thirty minutes and some of the Doctor's moves later, Willow finally came to. She was standing, frozen, by Dr. Constantine, as Rose rushed over to her. She didn't even cry out in pain as Rose ripped her gas mask off, taking some of her hair with it. She just started, wide-eyed, as Rose embraced her tightly.
"Willie!" Rose exclaimed, pulling back from her unresponsive cousin, fearful that something was wrong, that Willow didn't survive it.
Willow slowly blinked once, twice, three times, before seeming to come to her senses.
"Rosie?" she whispered in return, not quite believing that Rose was in front of her. The two embraced each other tightly. The Doctor hushed back over to Rose after he had finished talking to Dr. Constantine.
"Where am I?" Willow breathed, looking around. The last thing she remembered was being in the hospital and…Willow quickly felt her face and then breathed a sigh of relief. She remembered becoming one of the gas mask zombies, but nothing after that until this moment.
"Don't I get a hello?" the Doctor breathed in Willow's ear, making her shudder, which Rose smirked at.
"Doctor!" Willow breathed out, turning and hugging him tightly. After a few moments, she pulled back and kissed him full on the lips. Well, more like a peck on the lips, really. She pulled back, extremely red and wondering where the courage to do that had come from. Rose, watching their reunion, looked extremely happy.
"Er, sorry," Willow said, her face redder than her hair. The Doctor, who looked like he was over the shock of the kiss, grinned widely and called out to Dr. Constantine, "Right, you lot! Lots to do! Beat the Germans, save the world—don't forget the Welfare State!"
Dr. Constantine and his patients started to walk away from the train station while the Doctor went over to the controls of the med-ship, Rose and a still very red Willow behind him.
"Setting this to self-destruct, soon as everybody's clear," the Doctor said to Rose and Willow happily (at both saving everyone and Willow kissing him). "History says there was an explosion here. Who am I to argue with history?"
"Usually the first in line," Rose said. The Doctor looked at her and Willow and grinned (well, more so at Willow than Rose) and Willow beamed back at him, even if she was still red and embarrassed.
Willow, Rose, and the Doctor ducked behind some rubbish a ways off, safe from the blast, and watched as the med-ship exploded. The Doctor instinctively protected Rose and Willow as the explosion seemed to reach out to touch the sky, debris blowing out everywhere.
"Fantastic," the Doctor said, getting up to let the cousins see, taking Willow's hand in his.
"Yes, it is," Willow said breathlessly, squeezing his hand.
Willow followed Rose and the Doctor to the Tardis, beaming away happily, but she couldn't help feel like there was something, or someone, that she was forgetting.
"The nanogenes will clean up the mess and switch themselves off—because I just told them to. Nancy and Jamie will go to Doctor Constantine for help—ditto—all in all, all things considered—fantastic!" the Doctor explained joyfully, rambling on and Willow beamed at him.
"Look at the two of you, beaming away, like you're Father Christmas!" Rose said, grinning away.
"Who says I'm not, red-bicycle-when-you-were-twelve and doll-house-when-you-were-ten?" the Doctor said, smirking at the shock that appeared on his companions' faces.
"What?" Rose and Willow exclaimed at the same time, both wearing similar looks of shock.
"And everybody lives, Rose! Everybody lives! Including Willow!" the Doctor said, spreading his arms and embraced Willow. "I need more days like this."
"Doctor..." Rose said, after the Doctor released Willow and hit a switch on the console.
"Go on, ask me anything. I'm on fire!" the Doctor said, grinning like a maniac.
"What about Jack?" Rose asked immediately.
The Doctor's smile faded and he carried on working around his console, ignoring her question. It was because of Jack Bloody Harkness that Willow had been in danger in the first place and the Doctor just wanted to wash his hands of the ex-Time Agent.
"Doctor?" Willow asked softly, touching his arm. Of course, it was Jack that she had forgotten about. She had noticed that he wasn't around and wondered where he had gotten off to.
"Why'd he say goodbye?" Rose asked and Willow's eyes widened.
The Doctor still didn't answer and Rose was starting to get irritated.
"Doctor!" Rose snapped sharply. Finally, the whole story came out of the Doctor. That Jack wasn't coming back. Willow couldn't help but feel like it was her fault even though she knew it wasn't; it must be survivor's guilt, she decided. She still felt sorry for the man, though. He shouldn't have to die on a day where everyone lived.
"Well, aren't you gonna save him?" Rose sassed, her hands on her hips, glaring at the Doctor.
"Rose..." the Doctor said, trailing off.
"Doctor..." Willow said in a warning tone. Rose was looking down at the ground in disappointment and Willow saw the sadness written on her cousin's face. The red-head gave the Doctor a glare and said, "Doctor, he can't be the only person to die on a day that everyone lives. That's just not fair and you really shouldn't be the one to decide who lives and dies. That's just wrong. If you're gonna be like that, you may as well take me home, 'cos I won't go with someone who is gonna let someone die just 'cos he doesn't like the man."
The Doctor's eyes widened in horror at the thought of her leaving and then he sighed in defeat and walked over to the console. He flipped a switch and started turning a little wheel. The Doctor then grinned and pressed a button on the console. 'Moonlight Serenade' started playing in the whole room. Willow gave the Doctor a questioningly glance while Rose gave a smug smirk. The Doctor strode over to Willow and held out his hand.
"May I have this dance?" he asked; after all, he had to apologize to her somehow. Willow blushed and hesitantly gave the Doctor her hand. He pulled her close and whirled her around in a circle, causing her to squeal out in surprise and the suddenness of his actions.
"What're you doing?" Willow asked breathlessly. She was breathless at the action and at being in close proximity to the Doctor. She could smell his leather jacket, which she couldn't really describe how it smelled. She flushed deeply as she caught herself smelling the man.
"Dancing," the Doctor said, smirking, knowing what she was doing.
"Are you sure?" she asked, as she winced when he stepped on her foot.
"Yep!" the Doctor said, not at all convincing. Rose walked open to the Tardis door and called out, "Well, hurry up then!" Willow gave the Doctor a confused look, her eyebrows furrowed and he just smiled at her.
"Jack," he mouthed at her.
"Oh," she said softly. She then smiled, knowing he was doing it to prove to her and Rose that he was a good man. That and she knew that he knew that Rose liked the American. The Doctor smiled and stated waltzing her around the control room. Or rather, Willow was attempting to teach the Doctor how to dance and move about. Rose was leaning up against the console, smiling at Jack as he jumped into the Tardis. She nodded her head to the couple, looking at them in amusement, but Jack wasn't really paying attention to her.
"Right, and turn..." Willow was telling the Doctor and winced as her foot got stepped on again. "Okay, no, not that way. Try again."
The Doctor tried to spin Willow around again, but got the two of their arms tangled together.
"Yeah, okay, that wasn't quite right. This time, spin me again, but don't get my arms trapped behind my back," Willow said, flushing at being so close to the Doctor but smiled fondly at him. The Doctor looked at her, grinning sheepishly.
"No extra points for a half-nelson," Rose called out to the Doctor.
"I'm sure I used to know this stuff," the Doctor said, looking rather put out. "Close the door, will you. Your ship's about to blow up—there's gonna be a draft."
The Doctor let go of Willow for a moment and dematerialized the blue box from the small Chula spaceship. Willow smiled at Jack as way of forgiveness and leaned up against one of the pillars.
"Hello, Jack," she said, smiling gently at him, knowing the man had guilt in him at what he had done.
"Welcome to the Tardis," the Doctor said to Jack, his tone short.
"Much bigger on the inside..." Jack said. "By the way, nice to see you without the—you know—mask." He made a gesture to his face as he talked to Willow.
"You'd better be," the Doctor said harshly.
"I think what the Doctor's trying to say is...you may cut in," Rose said.
"You were never dancing with him," Willow said, teasing her cousin.
"They were in the hospital," Jack said, grinning and taking Rose's hand, successfully twirling her.
"While I was one of those...things?" Willow asked, grimacing at the thought.
"I was trying to teach him how to dance, so he could dance with you," Rose said, feeling the need to explain. Willow just shook her head and grinned at her blonde cousin.
"Rose!" the Doctor suddenly exclaimed. "I've just remembered!"
"What?" Rose asked, startled, as was Willow.
'In the Mood' started to play then and lights started to flash around them. The Doctor started to move towards Willow, who flushed, in time to the music, snapping his fingers.
"I can dance!" the Doctor said, grinning happily.
"Actually, Doctor...I though Jack might like this dance," Rose said.
"I'm sure he would, Rose. I'm absolutely certain. But who with?" the Doctor asked and Rose sniggered, knowing he was referring to Jack's 'flexibility'. The Doctor grabbed Willow away from the pillar she was leaning against and spun her around perfectly and she laughed happily. She was almost one-hundred percent positive the Doctor was only faking not knowing how to dance earlier so she could teach him.
Willow giggled quietly as the Doctor spun her around the console and then dipped her. They stood like that for a few moments, just staring in each other's eyes. Both Jack and Rose were silently laughing and smirking at the couple.
Willow held her breath as the Doctor pulled her back up and gently kissed her on the lips as the sound of 'In the Mood' kept playing. Willow flushed a very dark red, but smiled nonetheless and in the background, Rose punched the air, beaming at her cousin. That day, everybody lived.