N/A: a little bit of backstory that may not be as accurate as it could have been because I couldn't be bothered to re-watch Rose's episodes.
Part Eleven
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The first thing Jenny had noticed when she woke up in the Messaline assembly hall was that the pain had gone. There was nothing. Absolute zilch. The next thing she observed was that she was alone except for Cline who was gawping at her in shock.
"You were dead," he stuttered out.
She pressed a hand to her chest and could feel her hearts beating perfectly fine. "And now I'm back," she confirmed smugly as she climbed off the table. "Where's Dad?"
"They've gone," Cline started to explain but a suddenly flash of light startled him into silence.
A woman faded into view. Older than her, Jenny surmised, but probably younger than Martha. Dressed in a short blue leather jacket and black trousers; and wearing a scowl on her face as she flicked her blonde hair about.
The woman looked straight at Jenny and Cline and demanded, "Where is he?"
"Who?" Cline inevitably asked.
"The Doctor," the woman stated as though he was an idiot. "It says he should be right here." Using a nod of her head, she indicated towards a circular device she held in her hand.
Intrigued, Jenny stepped closer. "You seek the Doctor? Why does your weapon say he is here?"
"It's not a weapon," the woman answered. "It's a dimension cannon jumper, locked onto his DNA. If he isn't here, is Donna around here somewhere?"
"Does it detect her DNA too?" Jenny wondered. Quite reasonably, she thought, but the woman's scowl turned to annoyance.
"I'll have to try again if she's not here," the woman commented, and lifted her hand to press something.
"Wait!" Jenny begged, managing to halt the action. "I seek them too."
"Why?" the woman cautiously asked. "The Doctor, once he leaves somewhere, he doesn't go back," she tried to kindly supply to stop the girl in front of her from expecting him to. "I have to find him."
Jenny edged nearer. "What is he to you?" This woman didn't smell the same as her father, so she obviously wasn't kin.
"Me and him," she began to say and then coyly stopped to let the unspoken imply a great deal more.
Tilting her head in confusion, Jenny set her beady gaze on the woman, unable and unwilling to think her father had a meaningful relationship with one such as her. "The Doctor cannot form such a relationship. There are laws against it." Okay, she didn't know that for certain, but she felt sure that, if it had been possible, her father and Donna would have formed a couple together.
"Who are you?" the woman commanded.
"More importantly, who are you?" Jenny countered, reaching forward to examine the 'dimension cannon' the stranger had proclaimed had got her there.
The room around them melted away to reveal a stark, brightly lit room. Jenny instantly shielded her eyes, having never seen such illumination before.
"Rose?" someone male asked in shock. "Why did you bring her back with you?"
"Sorry Dave. It was an accident. She came through with me," Rose apologised and then set her attention on a man sitting at a desk containing instruments Jenny did not recognise. "Have you calculated the next point yet? I have to reach the Doctor."
"We can't get you there for a while," he answered, and tapped a few buttons on the terminal in front of him. "But we have a fix on him."
Jenny stood agog, taking it all in and processing the new information.
"Where?" Rose excitedly wondered and leaned over him to look at the screen he examined. Seeing a figure she knew all too well, she asked, "Can I communicate with him?"
"Be my guest," Dave offered, and stood to let her take his seat.
Pressing an audio switch, Rose called out, "Doctor! It's me, Rose." When he didn't notice, she tried louder, to no avail. "Doctor!" she shouted, thumping the screen in frustration. "It's me. Doctor! Look at me, please look at me!"
But it was clear he could neither hear her nor sense she was trying to communicate with him.
"Doctor," Rose brokenly cried.
"The signal isn't strong enough," Dave cautioned her. "Give it a while to build and then we can break through now that we've found the right universe." He then eyed Jenny still standing where they'd left her. "What about your new friend? Any idea what we do with her?"
"She says she's looking for the Doctor too," Rose proclaimed.
"Another girlfriend of his?" Dave joked.
"No!" Jenny's stern answer shook both of her audience. "You're his girlfriend," she sneered at Rose.
"Yes. Who did you think it would be?" Rose snapped back.
"Well, Donna, of course," Jenny honestly replied; and was further confused when Rose burst into laughter. "Then why do you seek to find Donna?"
"To get to the Doctor. That's all I care about. We belong together," Rose explained.
Horrified, Jenny flung a hand behind her to find something solid to cling onto. It was all too clear to her, to get to her father she would have to utilise these aliens' technology, but that meant travelling with Rose when her instincts told her to tear the blonde apart, limb from limb. "Right," she mumbled.
She then found Rose's attention alighted on her, and wasn't best pleased when she heard, "The dimension cannon led me straight to her. Just think. She could be what we need to focus the energy onto the Doctor."
The technician delicately coughed. "Have you considered why she might be such an excellent focal point?"
"She contains some vital DNA," Rose reasoned out. "Perhaps she is Donna's daughter? Yes! she can lead us straight to her!"
"Are you related in any way to Donna?" the technician asked Jenny.
Cautiously nodding, Jenny had to admit to herself that she probably was; and the enormity of realising she had a mother after all gladdened her hearts. How that was so would have to be figured out later. "Yes."
Rose almost clapped her hands in glee. "Normally the Doctor takes the daughter rather than some old mother, but we can use this to our advantage. I can get back to the Doctor and you can have your mother back. What's your name?"
"Jenny," she supplied.
"Come on, Jenny. We'll go find something to eat and then we've got work to do," Rose offered.
The thought of food had Jenny's mouth watering. She'd only had a few basic rations so far, and a terribly sweet item her father had called a Jelly Baby. So she smiled her friendliest smile and let Rose take her to a refreshments area.
o0o
This human food wasn't too bad, Jenny thought as she bit into what Rose had told her was a cake. It was very sweet whatever it was, but she could see why it would be considered a treat. Sipping from her drink of water, she eyed Rose cautiously and decided that it would be best if she kept her talking. The more information the better. "Tell me, how did you meet the Doctor?"
It was as though a light lit up inside the girl, and she talked endlessly about her life since meeting him that fateful day in Hendriks.
Jenny was astonished to find out that her father had changed face during his time with this human; going from a 45-year-old man to a 35-year-old looking one. Could he do so again she wondered, and it saddened her to hear how much care Rose had taken to abandon her lonely mother. Yes, she had plenty of questions to ask her father... Her parents, she mentally and gleefully amended, when she eventually found them.
"Why were you unable to communicate with the Doctor today?" she asked after Rose's long explanation.
Rose snorted in disgust. "He's too far away for the signal to work, and something within the planet atmosphere was interfering with any communications. Never mind. Next time should work if I can't jump through to his dimension. But at least we now know, thanks to you, that we definitely have the right one so thanks for that."
"You're welcome," Jenny replied, wondering how she had actually helped. All she'd done so far was die and come back to life, according to Cline. This world continued to be a lot brighter and more chaotic in content from her birth one. Fortunately, Dave had loaned her a pair of sunglasses he'd had on him. "When do we go back to the dimension cannon?"
"In a couple of days," Rose promised. "It'll take quite a while to refocus it. You must be eager to see your mum again."
"I am," Jenny confirmed. "I can hardly wait."
"In the meantime, you can meet mine, if you like," Rose offered. "I'm sure she'd love to fuss all over you."
All Jenny had to do to that was smile.
o0o
"Hello," Jackie eagerly greeted her. "Rose tells me you've met the Doctor."
"I have," Jenny agreed. "I hear you have too."
"Oh yes," Jackie sighed. "There are many things I could moan about that man for, but he gave me back Rose. He made sure she could get here with me."
Rose didn't look too impressed about that.
"My mother travels with him," Jenny supplied.
"Does she?" Jackie gasped in surprise. "He's changed his tune. Couldn't wait to get rid of me, the pair of them, when she travelled with him."
"Mum," Rose admonished.
"It's true," Jackie insisted. "Sent me off to get some bits one time and had vanished in his TARDIS by the time I returned loaded with bags full of stuff. I was well miffed, I can tell you."
For the next few days Jackie entertained Jenny, and generally took the opportunity to fuss over someone new, but Jenny desperately wanted to get back to the room that held the dimension cannon; and that meant joining Rose.
o0o
What she saw when she eventually got there and was taken on a trip shook her a great deal. "Why the hell is my mum in such a dark depressing place without the Doctor?" she demanded of Rose. "She didn't even recognise me!"
"It's alright; it ain't real," Rose defended herself. "Just a side blip but we have to get Donna out of there and back to where she belongs."
"And how are you going to do that?" Jenny wondered.
"Wait an hour or so, and I'll show you," Rose enigmatically replied.
But Jenny sighed in disgust when she saw the place Rose eventually led her to. In front of them stood a blue box that silently screamed in agony, begging Jenny to release it from its pain. "That's a…?"
"The Doctor's TARDIS in this universe," Rose named it for her. "It's dying. Do you want to look inside?"
Barely able to nod, Jenny was shown the dismantled TARDIS, and the wires that led outside to a circle of mirrors. In horror, she watched Donna being brought in to stand within the display and sent to confront her former self. She kept silent until she was zapped with Rose to witness Donna stepping bravely into the path of a large lorry; but hearing the dying breath of her mother tore a reaction from her.
"You let her die! And for nothing but a stupid message!" Jenny raged.
"It had to be done," Rose disagreed. "This way the Doctor will know it was me."
Before she was even aware of the action, Jenny yelled, "Murderer!" And punched Rose hard in the face, knocking her to the ground. "You selfish, hateful child!" Jenny spat at the prone woman and snatched up the dimension jump she'd held. "Think yourself lucky I haven't killed you on the spot. My father taught me to ignore that impulse."
It was only then that Rose thought to ask, "Who is your dad?"
But Jenny never answered her. She had blipped out of that reality.
Having returned to the dimension cannon room, Jenny raced forward to Dave's station and seemingly pressed several buttons at once.
"Oi! What are you doing?!" he cried.
"Making sure she doesn't follow me," Jenny retorted, and drew in a satisfied breath when she'd finished. "Thanks Dave, you've been a star." With a brief kiss pecked on to his cheek, she was gone and headed towards her parents' universe.
o0o
