Boom Town
A/N: Any questions or comments, please review or PM me!
Very randomly one day, Rose Tyler decided that she wanted her passport, despite the Doctor explaining to the blonde that she didn't need it, travelling with him. Rose only shrugged her shoulders, still wanting it, as well as to see Mickey Smith, her sort-of boyfriend. Willow had decided that if Mickey was bothering to bring Rose's, then he could bring hers, as well.
The Doctor had parked the Tardis in Millennium Centre Square in Cardiff, in front of the silver water fountain. They were parked over the rift, very near where they had fought the Gelth in Cardiff.
Willow, not much else for her to do at the moment (they were waiting on Mickey to show up), was lounging in the pilot's seat, painting her toenails. The Doctor swallowed as he saw her painting them blood red, which he found very attractive. Things between the two had been slightly awkward since the Doctor had kissed her. Well, you couldn't really call it a kiss. Willow was very nervous that he had only done it in the heat of the moment and that he didn't really like her. After all, she saw how close the Doctor and Rose were. She thought that the Doctor was in love with Rose and that the kiss had been a mistake (obviously the Doctor didn't know any of her worries).
While pondering on this, a knock on the door made Willow jump so badly that she painted a blood red streak all the way across her big toe on her left foot.
"Oh, bloody hell!" she exclaimed in frustration while Rose sniggered at her cousin and the red line going across her foot. Willow took the rag the Tardis had supplied for her for this exact reason (Willow could never paint her nails without making a mess) and attempted to clean it up, to no avail.
Jack practically swaggered over to the door and opened it. He popped his head out and asked, "Who the hell are you?"
"What d'you mean, who the hell am I? Who the hell are you?" Willow heard Mickey ask rudely and sighed at the testosterone while nearly rubbing her toe raw to get rid of the paint.
"Captain Jack Harkness," Jack answered suavely. "Whatever you're selling, we're not buying."
"Get out of my way!" Mickey growled and he pushed past Jack into the Tardis.
"Don't tell me, this must be Mickey," Jack scoffed, shutting the door.
"Here comes trouble!" the Doctor said from up on a ladder. He looked like a total dork with a red flashing light strapped to his forehead. Willow smiled at him fondly before frowning and looking away, feeling awkward starting at him. "How're you doing, Ricky boy?"
"It's Mickey!" Mickey exclaimed, tired of the Doctor getting his name wrong.
"Like Mickey Mouse?" Willow teased, smiling at him gently. She only teased Mickey 'cos she was his friend. He grinned back at her, used to her teasing him.
"Don't listen to them," Rose said. "They're winding you up."
"You look fantastic," Mickey said, grinning at Rose. They gave each other a big hug as Willow asked sarcastically, "What about me? Don't I look fantastic, too?"
"Of course you do," Mickey beamed, giving Willow a hug. Willow was like the little sister that he had never had. Sure, they had their differences before, but what siblings didn't?
"Aww, how sweet, look at these two," Jack said, grinning at the Doctor. "How come I never get any of that?"
"Buy me a drink first," the Doctor said, making Willow giggle in her quiet way as she pulled away from Mickey.
"You're such hard work," Jack said, joking, but in his way, completely serious.
"But worth it," the Doctor said, grinning. Willow raised an eyebrow at him and he winked at her, completely confusing the red-head.
"Did you manage to find it?" Rose asked Mickey.
"There you go," Mickey said, handing Rose the passports. "Yours and Willow's."
"Thank you, Mickey," Willow called out. She gathered up the nail polish and put it away, so her toe nails would dry. Her fingernails were already on their way to drying, the same blood red as her toes. She looked funny, balancing her feet so her toes would keep apart to dry and waving her hands around in the air to fan them. The Doctor smirked fondly at her and then looked away before getting caught.
"We can go anywhere now!" Rose said, grinning at the Doctor and Willow. Rose handed Willow her passport, Willow handling it very carefully so she didn't get nail polish on it, and set it on the console.
"I told you—you two don't need a passport!" the Doctor said in an exasperated tone, rolling his eyes.
"It's all very well going to platform one and Justicia and the Glass Pyramid of San Kloon but what if we end up in Brazil? Willow and I might need them. You see, I'm prepared for anything," Rose said, sticking her tongue out at the Doctor, smiling.
"Sounds like you're staying then," Mickey said.
An awkward silence filled the room then. Willow slipped her open-toed flats on, so that her shoes wouldn't mess up her nails, still looking funny hobbling around and Mickey smiled at her to try to lighten the mood.
"So, what're you doing in Cardiff?" Mickey finally asked. "And who the hell's Jumping Jack Flash? I mean, I don't mind you hanging out with big-ears up there-"
"Oi!" the Doctor yelled out.
"Look in the mirror," Mickey said and Willow giggled quietly as the Doctor shook his head and returned to his work. Mickey pulled Willow into a one-armed side hug before he continued.
"But his guy, I dunno, he's kinda..." Mickey trailed off, gesturing to Jack with his free hand that wasn't around Willow.
"Handsome?" Jack supplied with a smirk.
"More like cheesy," Mickey said flatly and Willow let out a quiet giggle at that. Jack was a little cheesy, but Willow still liked him, in a total platonic, brother-sister way. After really having no siblings, except for Rose, she was really starting to see Jack as the older brother she never had.
"Early 21st Century slang—is cheesy good or bad?" Jack asked genuinely confused.
"It's bad," Mickey said, really not liking this new guy. The Doctor was bad enough, stealing away Rose's affections (not romantically, just enough to ignore poor Mickey), as well as Willow's (this time, romantically; Mickey missed his little sister), but now there was this new guy that could very well steal away Rose's affections, romantically wise.
"But bad means good, isn't that right?" Jack asked, still confused by the slang of the present.
"It's bad," Willow said to Jack, smiling at him, while Mickey rolled his eyes.
"Are you saying I'm not handsome?" the Doctor asked, raising an eyebrow, looking pointedly at Willow, though she didn't notice. She was too busy patting Jack on the back, trying to console him (all while giggling) at Mickey's barb.
"Sure you are," Willow said, in an off-handed tone, then realized what she said and flushed darkly. Mickey chuckled and hugged her into his side, stealing her from Jack, who frowned.
"We just stopped off," Rose said to Mickey, smiling at him hugging Willow. "We need to refuel. Thing is, Cardiff's got this rift running through the middle of the city. It's invisible, but it's like an earthquake fault between different dimensions-"
"The rift was healed back in 1869-" the Doctor said.
"During Christmas, mind you," Willow said, testing a fingernail and finding it dry. She smiled up happily at Mickey, who was looking very lost in that moment.
"Thanks to a girl named Gwyneth, 'cos these creatures called the Gelth, they were using the rift as a gateway but she saved the world and closed it," Rose said.
"But nobody ever knew that she did," Willow said. "She was the silent hero that saved the world."
Mickey looked like he didn't even follow it, his head moving to each person that spoke, almost as if watching a tennis match.
"But closing a rift always leaves a scar, and that scar generates energy, harmless to the Human Race-" Jack said.
"But perfect for the Tardis, so just park it here for a couple of days right on top of the scar and-" the Doctor said, but Jack interrupted.
"Open up the engines, soak up the radiation-"
"Like filling her up with petrol and off we go!" Rose said.
"Into time!" Jack said, hi-fiving Rose and Willow, whom had left Mickey's side, joining the nerd brigade.
"And space!" Rose, Willow, Jack, and the Doctor all exclaimed at the same time before all of them breaking down into laughter. Willow held a hand over her mouth, until her quiet giggles ceased.
"Whoo!" Rose called out.
"It's fantastic!" Willow said, grinning at Mickey, who was looking at the four of them like they were freaks.
"Oh, my gosh, have you seen yourselves? You all think you're so clever, don't you?" Mickey said, looking at the four of them in disbelief.
"Yeah!" the Doctor said.
"Yeah!" Rose said.
"Yep!" Jack said, popping the 'p'.
"Of course!" Willow said, bumping her shoulder with Mickey's.
Willow gave another quiet giggled as Jack gave Mickey a friendly slap on the cheek.
"Right," the Doctor said, "we've got a bunch of time, so out we go."
Willow grabbed her purple pea coat on the way out, and wished she hadn't painted her toenails, 'cos her toes were freezing. At least she had had enough sense to put on jeans that morning instead of a dress, like she had been planning on; Cardiff was no place for dresses, as it was usually always cold and raining when they were there. When they all five of them stepped out of the Tardis, the Doctor said, "Should take another twenty-four hours, which means we've got time to kill."
"That old lady's staring," Mickey said, pointing out an elderly lady with a walker that was indeed, staring at them oddly.
"Probably wondering what five people could do inside a small wooden box..." Jack said, patting the Doctor suggestively on the shoulder. Rose, Jack, and the Doctor all sniggered, while Willow let out a quiet giggle that the Doctor found endearing.
"What are you captain of? The Innuendo Squad?" Mickey asked sarcastically while Jack made a 'whatever' sign with his fingers and walked off a few steps.
"Wait!" Mickey shouted after him. "Er, the Tardis—we can't just leave it. Doesn't it get noticed?"
"Yeah, what's with the police box? Why does it look like that?" Jack asked.
"It's a cloaking device," Rose said.
"Which broke," Willow added and the Doctor smiled proudly at her. Rose rolled her eyes at the two. She had noticed how awkward they were being around each other and wished they would just kiss and get over it; it was driving her crazy.
"It's called a chameleon circuit," the Doctor said. "The Tardis is meant to disguise itself wherever it lands, like if this was Ancient Rome, it'd be a statue on a plinth or something. But I landed in the 1960s, it disguised itself as a police box, and the circuit got stuck."
"So it copied a real thing? There actually was police boxes?" Mickey asked, shocked by this.
"Yup," Willow said, giggling quietly at the mock-glare Mickey gave her. He then smiled at her and pulled her into another side-hug. He had really missed his little sis, as well as Rose. Willow was always the one he had gone to when he was having relationship problems with Rose. Well, Willow thought, looks like I have two older brothers now to look out for me. She just didn't know if this was a good or bad thing yet.
"Yeah, on street corners," the Doctor said. "Phone for help before they had radios and mobiles. If they arrested someone, they could shove them inside until help came. Like a little prison cell."
"Why don't you just fix the circuit?" Jack asked, leaning towards the Doctor.
"I like it! Don't you?" the Doctor said.
"I love it," Rose said, patting the side of the box affectionately.
"It's amazing. Looks great and very blue," Willow said. "Which also happens to be my favourite colour."
Rose smirked at that. She knew that Willow's favourite colour had changed to blue only after they had started travelling with the Doctor. The Doctor, however, didn't know that and filled away that fact about Willow away in his massive Time Lord brain.
"But that's what I meant!" Mickey exclaimed. "There's no police boxes anymore, so doesn't it get noticed?"
"Ricky, let me tell you something about the Human Race. You put a mysterious blue box slap bang in the middle of town and what do they do?" the Doctor asked.
He put his hands on Mickey's shoulders, which caused Mickey to let go of Willow, who sent a small smirk at him. Mickey opened his mouth to say something, but he didn't even get a chance, as the Doctor continued speaking.
"Walk past it. Now stop your nagging, let's go and explore!" the Doctor said. He grabbed Willow's hand on his way past her and linked his fingers with her. He smiled down at her, taking in her very confused expression. She started down at their joined hands with a furrowed brow as Mickey, Jack, and Rose all followed them.
"What's the plan?" Rose asked, walking beside Willow, addressing the Doctor.
"I don't know! Cardiff. Early 21st Century," the Doctor said. Willow grinned back at Rose as she saw her cousin bouncing up and down in excitement. "And the wind's coming from the...East. Trust me—safest place in the universe," the Doctor said, squeezing Willow's hand. It caused her stomach to flip around and confusion to overtake her mind. Why was he doing this to her if he was in love with Rose? Shouldn't it be Rose's hand he was holding and squeezing? Rose just shook her head at the pair beside her.
"How about some chips?" Willow blurted out, trying to get her mind off the Doctor. Rose started bouncing even more at the thought of chips and grinned, her tongue poking out of her teeth.
"Sound's like a plan," the Doctor. The five of them ended up in a little restaurant on a pier, eating fish and chips. Willow was seated in between Jack and Rose (much to the Doctor's disappointment), flat out laughing at an exciting (and hilarious) story Jack was telling all of them.
"I swear, six feet tall and with tusks-" Jack said, waving his hands around manically to prove his point.
"You're lying through your teeth!" the Doctor exclaimed, laughing.
"I'd've gone bonkers! That's the word—bonkers!" Rose said, giggling like mad.
"I mean, it turns out the white things are tusks and I mean tusks! And it's woken, and it's not happy-" Jack said.
"I wonder why?" Willow asked, laughing. She attempted to eat another chip, but she was laughing too hard and nearly chocked on it.
"How could you not know it was there?" the Doctor asked.
"And we're standing there, fifteen of us, naked—" Jack said.
"Naked!?" Rose exclaimed, looking quite happy at that thought.
"That would be a sight to see!" Willow giggled (while going red), making the Doctor green with jealousy for a moment.
"And I'm like, oh, no, no, it's got nothing to do with me. And then it roars, and we are running. Oh, my gosh, we are running! And Brakovitch falls, so I turn to him and I say-"
"I knew we should've turned left!" Mickey interrupted, bursting out with laughter.
"That's my line!" Jack said, laughing, not really caring in the least.
"I don't believe you. I don't believe a word you say ever. That is so brilliant. Did you ever get your clothes back?" Rose asked. Willow giggled still, trying to eat more chips…keyword, trying. She was laughing too hard to even eat or drink her soda.
"No, I just picked him up and went right for the ship, full throttle. Didn't stop until I hit the spacelanes. I was shaking! It was unbelievable, it freaked me out and by the time I got fifteen light years away, I realized I'm like this!" Jack exclaimed, throwing his head back, laughing. Willow covered her mouth, giggling quietly, until she caught sight of the Doctor. He had jumped up, taking a paper from a neighboring table, and walked back to Mickey, Willow, Rose, and Jack with a very solemn look on his face.
"And I was having such a nice day," the Doctor said, reading the paper, holding it up for everyone to see. On the front cover, was the headline that read: 'NEW MAYOR, NEW CARDIFF'. Underneath that, was a picture of Margaret Blaine (aka, Margaret the Slitheen), holding a hand near her face, as if she didn't want her picture taken.
After paying for the chips (Rose, Willow, and Mickey pitched together for it; the Doctor didn't carry money and Jack wasn't even from that century), the five of them marched right down to the town hall, where Margaret the Mayor resided.
"Thank you," Willow said shyly and red-faced, as the Doctor held the door open for her as they all entered the town hall. Willow stopped just beside Rose, as they gathered to make a game plan.
"According to intelligence, the target is the last surviving member of the Slitheen family, a criminal sect from the planet Raxacoricofallapatorius, masquerading as a human being, zipped inside a skin suit. Okay, plan of attack, we assume a basic fifty seven/fifty six strategy, covering all available exits on the ground floor. Doctor, you go face-to-face, that'll designate Exit One, I'll cover Exit Two, Rose and Willow, you're Exit Three, Mickey Smith, you take Exit Four. Have you got that?" Jack rattled off orders. Willow was a little confused as to what exit three was, but just shrugged to herself, deciding to just follow Rose.
Willow gave a small smile at the way the Doctor had been eying up Jack, which was in confusion as to why he was giving orders when the Doctor was in charge. Rose looked like she was trying to understand what Jack had been going on about and poor Mickey just looked plain confused. Willow knew that this was going to be a winging it plan, since Rose didn't look like she knew what to do either.
"Excuse me," the Doctor said in a stern tone. "Who's in charge?"
"Sorry. Awaiting orders, sir," Jack said, looking a little sheepish.
"Right. Here's the plan," the Doctor said in a commanding voice, looking between the four of them. He paused for a moment, thinking and then beamed. "Like he said. Nice plan. Anything else?"
"Present arms," Jack said and Willow pulled out her mobile phone like the rest of them to keep communication. She made sure it was on and working before she stepped off to the side with Rose.
"Ready," Willow said, echoing the Doctor, Rose, and Mickey.
"Speed dial?" Jack asked, checking his own phone, which was very sleek-looking.
Willow pressed a button on her phone so it beeped. She had made sure to put the Doctor at the top of her speed dial list, blushing as she did so. His name was followed by Rose, then Jack, and finally Mickey.
"Yup," the Doctor said.
"Ready," Rose said, nodding.
"Let's do this," Willow said, a determined look making its way in her eyes.
"Check," Mickey said.
"See ya in hell," Jack said with a lazy-looking grin.
Jack walked off to the right, and Willow followed after Rose as she headed off to their exit straight ahead. Willow held her mobile in her hand as she and Rose walked down a corridor, keeping an eye out for Margaret. Suddenly, the Doctor's voice came through both of their mobiles, making Willow jump.
"Slitheen heading North," he said.
"On our way," Rose immediately answered, starting to run. Willow kept her breathing even as she started sprinting after Rose, making sure that the Slitheen didn't escape from them.
"Over and out," Jack's voice came out of Willow's phone. As the two cousins rounded a corner and into another corridor, they were faced with two secretaries, who were blocking the hallway, gabbing.
"Move!" Willow yelled at them, still sprinting. The two didn't move fast enough, though, because Rose just pushed straight through them, making papers fly everywhere.
"Sorry!" Willow called behind her, still sprinting after Rose, starting to pant a little. Finally, Rose and Willow burst out of their exit and Willow spotted Margaret the Slitheen trying to make her escape, running on her short, fat legs, but Rose and Willow blocked her exit, as planned. They ran toward her and Willow flinched slightly as Margaret hissed before the fat alien pulled off an earring. She whirled around to escape the other way, but she was once again blocked as Jack came running towards her, a fierce look on his face. Margaret's eyes widened in shock and she once again turned on heel to run back the way she came, but the Doctor was climbing down the scaffolding, blocking her exit.
"Margaret!" the Doctor called in a sing-song, taunting voice.
There was one last exit, so she started running down it as fast as she could down it, which wasn't very fast. On her way, she pulled off her other earring. Rose, Willow, Jack, and the Doctor all meet up at the beginning of the alley Margaret was running down, all of them panting slightly.
"Who was on Exit Four?" Jack puffed out.
"That was Mickey!" Rose said.
"Here I am!" Mickey said, finally catching up with them, panting. He had toilet paper tangled around his ankle and Willow would've laughed if the situation hadn't been so serious.
"Mickey the Idiot," the Doctor scoffed, shaking his head at the young man.
"I knew I should have gone that way," Willow mock-sighed, but knew she probably wouldn't have done any better; she just liked to tease her big brother.
"Oh, be fair—she's not exactly gonna outrun us, is she?" Rose asked, staring after Margaret. Rose spoke too soon, though, because Margaret then disappeared in a blue light. Willow's eyes widened before she smirked slightly, knowing that the Doctor was good with teleports.
"She's got a teleport! That's cheating! Now we're never gonna get her!" Jack exclaimed.
"Oh, the Doctor's very good with teleports," Rose said, realizing the same thing that Willow had.
"Very good," Willow said, still smirking slightly. The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver from his jacket pocket and held it in the air. He gave a dopey grin as he flipped it on for a second and Margaret reappeared, running towards them, closer than she had been running away. She still had a self-satisfied smile on her face, but it faded as she realized she was going in the wrong direction, running back towards the Doctor and his gang.
She screeched to a stop quickly, changing direction and using her teleport again. A split-second after she vanished again, the Doctor used his sonic screwdriver again with a smirk and again, she reappeared, running towards them, even closer. She whirled around, teleporting once more. The Doctor used his sonic for a final time, and she reappeared, right in front of them, gasping for breath. Willow just stood there by the Doctor, her arms crossed, waiting for Margaret to stop running.
"I could do this all day," the Doctor said, cheerfully.
"This is persecution," Margaret said, putting her hands up in surrender, still panting. "Why can't you leave me alone? What did I ever do to you?"
"You tried to kill me and destroy this entire planet," the Doctor said flatly, eyeing the fat woman.
"Apart from that," Margaret said dismissively, waving her hand.
"You tried to kill Willow," the Doctor said, putting an arm around said woman's hip, pulling Willow close to his side. He then let go of Willow and grabbed Margaret by the shoulder, leading her back inside town hall. They went to the exhibition room, where there was a model of a new factory in Cardiff sitting in the middle of the room. Willow looked at it in interest, wondering how it was going to destroy the planet, knowing that with Margaret, it was going to somehow.
"So, you're a Slitheen, you're on Earth, you're trapped. Your family get killed but you teleport our, just in the nick of time. You have no means of escape. What do you do? You build a nuclear power station," the Doctor said to Margaret, indicating to the model that he noticed Willow eyeing.
"But what for?" the Doctor asked, full of pride that Willow knew something was wrong with it.
"A philanthropic gesture. I've learnt the error of my ways," Margaret said, trying her best to sound convincing, but it wasn't working as Willow frowned at her and said, "Yeah, right."
"And it just so happens to be right on top of the rift," the Doctor pointed out.
"What rift would that be?" Margaret asked, playing dumb, which again, wasn't working.
"A rift in space and time," Jack said. "If this power station went into meltdown, the entire planet would go schwwupboom!"
"This station is designed to explode the minute it reaches capacity," the Doctor said, looking at the model.
"Didn't anyone notice?" Rose asked, shocked. "Isn't there someone in London checking this sort of stuff?"
"She probably killed anyone that noticed," Willow said, jerking her thumb in Margaret's direction, knowing that the alien would kill anyone, just to get off the planet.
"We're in Cardiff. London doesn't care! The South Wales coast could fall into the sea and they wouldn't notice—oh...I sound like a Welshman. I've gone native," Margaret said.
"But why would she do that? A great big explosion—she'd only end up killing herself," Mickey pointed out the obvious.
"She's probably got some way out," Willow said to Mickey, looking thoughtful for a moment as she brainstormed several ideas of ways Margaret could get away.
"She's got a name, you know," Margaret said, glaring between Willow and Mickey.
"She's not even a she, she's a...thing," Mickey sneered at the alien.
"Oh, but she's clever..." the Doctor said, examining Margaret. He suddenly jumped forward and seized the middle section off the model, flipping it over. There was a giant circuit board underneath, flashing with colorful lights. Willow's eyes widened, wondering what it was, but knew that it wasn't good.
"Fantastic," the Doctor said, his eyes also widened, but in recognition.
"Is that a tribophysical waveform macro-kinetic extrapolator?" Jack asked in a breathless, but excited voice.
"Couldn't have put it better myself," the Doctor said, sparring Jack a grin.
"Ooh, genius," Jack said, taking the board from the Doctor to look at it more closely. The Doctor looked up on the far wall to a poster that had the words, 'Blaidd Drwg' on it, his eyes going wide again as he recognized the words.
"You didn't build this," Jack said to Margaret, awe in his voice.
"I have my hobbies. A little tinkering..." Margaret said, smirking.
"No, no, no, I mean, you really didn't build this. Way beyond you," Jack said.
"I bet she stole it," Mickey sneered at the alien.
"Wouldn't doubt that," Willow said, also eyeing the alien with distaste; after all one had tried to kill her, her aunt Jackie, Rose, Mickey, and the Doctor.
"It fell into my hands," Margaret said, shrugging, indifferent.
"Who'd you kill for it?" Willow snapped at Margaret, hands on her hips.
"Now, really," Margaret said, rolling her eyes. "You just assume..."
"Is it a weapon?" Rose interrupted as Jack set the extrapolator down on the floor.
"It's transport. You see—the reactor blows, the rift opens, phenomenal cosmic disaster, but this thing shrouds you in a forcefield, you have this energy bubble, zzhum, so you're safe. Then you feed it coordinates, stand on top, and ride the concussion all the way out of the solar system," Jack said.
"It's a surfboard!" Mickey said in realization.
"A pan-dimensional surfboard, yeah," Jack said, nodding to the young man, who looked happy that he had gotten it right.
"Still, it's a surfboard," Willow said, shrugging and then got a dreamy look on her face. "I've always wanted to learn how to surfboard."
The Doctor noticed her look and put that information away in his mind to take her and Rose at a later time. Maybe Space Florida, he mused to himself before getting back to business.
"And it would've worked. I would've surfed away from this dead end dump and back to civilization," Margaret said harshly, glaring at all of them.
"You'd blow up a whole planet just to get a lift?" Mickey asked, shocked by this information.
"Like stepping on an anthill," Margaret sneered right back at him.
"How'd you think of the name?" the Doctor asked, looking back up at the poster.
"What, Blaidd Drwg? It's Welsh," Margaret said, curiosity in her voice, wondering why it mattered. After all, she was going to blow up the planet.
"I know, but how did you think of it?" the Doctor asked again.
"Chose it at random, that's all I dunno," Margaret said. "Just sounded good. Does it matter?"
"Blaidd Drwg," the Doctor said, turning around, looking at the cousins.
"What's it mean?" Rose asked.
"Bad Wolf," the Doctor said.
"But I've heard that before, Bad Wolf. I've heard that lots of times..." Rose said in a haunted tone.
"Everywhere we go. Two words. Following us. Bad Wolf," the Doctor said.
"How is that possible?" Willow whispered, also horrified. There was no way that is was a simple coincidence, those words following after them.
"How can they be following us?" Rose asked.
The Doctor didn't answer right away. He stared off into space for a few seconds, then snapped out of his trance.
"Nah! Just a coincidence! Like hearing a word on the radio then hearing it all day. Never mind! Things to do," the Doctor said, not wanting to scare Rose or Willow. He clapped his hands, his mood switching like an actual switch and said, "Margaret, we're gonna take you home."
"Hold on, isn't that the easy option, like letting her go?" Jack asked in shock.
"I don't believe it!" Rose exclaimed gleefully. "We actually get to go to Raxa..."
The Doctor rolled his eyes and Willow shook her head in exasperation at her cousin's attempts to say the planet's name right.
"Wait a minute! Raxacor..." Rose tried again.
"Raxacoricofallapatorius," the Doctor and Willow said at the same time. The Doctor beamed at Willow, causing a red flush to creep up her neck and on her cheeks.
"What?" she asked. "It's a fun word. Of course I memorized it!" She didn't add that she had learned it to make the Doctor proud of her; she kept that bit of information to herself.
"Raxacorico..." Rose tried again.
"...fallapatorius," the Doctor finished for her.
"Raxacoricofallapatorius!" Rose said, screeching in delight.
"That's it!" the Doctor yelled joyfully. They hugged each other and the Doctor picked her up and spun her around the room. Willow turned her head away, not wanting to see the Doctor and Rose express their joy to each other.
"I did it!" Rose yelled happily.
"I didn't get that reaction," Willow muttered to herself. "All I got was a weird look that I knew how to say it."
The Doctor, having heard her, went over and picked her up (greatly startling her) and spun her around. Willow let out a shriek at the suddenness of it and then laughed gleefully. The Doctor pecked her forehead before setting her down again. Willow flushed darker than her hair, hating how easily she got embarrassed.
"They have the death penalty," Margaret said, greatly changing the mood. Silence fell in the room and Willow's smile faded, suddenly sober.
"The family Slitheen was tried in its absence many years ago and found guilty. With no chance of appeal. According to the statutes of government, the moment I return, I am to be executed. What do you make of that, Doctor?" Margaret said, looking the Doctor in the eyes. "Take me home and you take me to my death."
"Not my problem," the Doctor said, trying not to look like it bothered him, but in his hearts, it did. Willow gently laid a hand on his arm in comfort and he gave her a small, sad smile.
As darkness had already started to fall, the Doctor took Margaret's arm and led her back to the Tardis, with Willow, Rose, Jack, and Mickey following. Willow felt very uneasy, having Margaret in such close proximity to them in the Tardis.
As soon as she stepped foot into the Tardis, Margaret said in awe, "This ship is impossible! It's superb. How do you get the outside around the inside?"
"Like I'd give you the secret, yeah," the Doctor said, scoffing at the female alien.
"I feel almost better about being defeated. We never stood a chance. This is the technology of the Gods," Margaret said.
"Don't worship me—I'd make a very bad God," the Doctor said. "You wouldn't get a day off, for starters...Jack, how we doing, big fella?"
Jack was on the floor, next to the console, wiring the extrapolator up to the Tardis. Willow sat crossed legged on the floor next to him, handing him tools when he described them to her, as she didn't know what any of the tools looked like or did.
"This extrapolator's top of the range," Jack said, peering over at Margaret, his eyes narrowed. "Where did you get it?"
"Oh, I don't know...some airlock sale...?" Margaret said, waving her hand dismissively.
"I doubt that," Willow muttered, making Jack give her a small smile.
"Must've been a great big heist. It's stacked with power," Jack said, his eyes still narrowed.
"But we can use it for fuel?" the Doctor asked.
"It's not compatible...but it should knock off about twelve hours. We'll be ready to go by morning," Jack said, nodding his head and accepting another tool from Willow.
"Then we're stuck here. Overnight," the Doctor said.
"I'm in no hurry..." Margaret said, glaring at each of them.
"We've got a prisoner! The police box is really...a police box," Rose said in excitement at what she had discovered.
"You're no just police, though. Since you're taking me to my death, that makes you my executioners. Each and every one of you..." Margaret said, smiling unpleasantly, making Willow shudder. She really didn't like Margaret and how she was trying to guilt-trip them.
"Well, you deserve it," Mickey said coldly.
"You're very quick to say so. You're very quick to soak your hands in my blood. Which makes you better than me, how, exactly...?" Margaret asked, her voice very snappish.
Mickey didn't answer, but looked down, his jaw clenched. Willow reached up from where she sat and patted his leg in comfort and he sent her a small, grateful smile.
"Long night ahead..." Margaret said, looking smug. "Let's see who can look me in the eye."
Margaret walked over to console and sat in one of the seats. She looked at Mickey first, with a calm, collected gaze. He only managed to hold her gaze for a few seconds, before he looked away. She looked at Rose next, who looked at the Doctor guiltily. The Doctor only glanced up for a split-second before he turned to whatever he had been working on.
When Margaret looked at Willow, the red-head held the alien's gaze for a few seconds before dropping her gaze to the tools to hand Jack whichever one he needed next.
A moment later, Mickey stormed out of the Tardis, very upset and pissed off. A second later, Rose followed him, with Willow watching the pair of them leaving before being nudged by Jack to keep working.
"Will they be okay, d'you think?" Willow asked the Doctor from her spot on the floor as she watched him watching Rose and Mickey leave the Square on the monitor. The Doctor jumped, not knowing she had seen him, but left the screen where it was.
"Why don't you just tell her?" Willow asked him, feeling her heart break at the sight of him watching Rose.
"Tell her what?" the Doctor asked, furrowing his brow in confusion, not knowing what she was talking about.
"How you feel about her," Willow said, before standing up and nearly rushing out the door of the Tardis, throwing a "Sorry, Jack!" over her shoulder as she went. She didn't know where she was going (she had never been to Cardiff before; well in this century at least), but she just wandered. She felt the tears coming as her heart completely shattered and found a bench near the wharf and tumbled down on it, sobbing, her face in her hands.
Meanwhile, in the Tardis, the Doctor had the screen still on but this time, on Willow. He had watched Willow flee, starting to cry and he felt confused about what had just happened.
"So, what's on?" Jack asked, talking about Willow, whom he had witnessed dashing out of the Tardis. The Doctor turned the screen off in a hurry as he jerked his head around to look at Jack.
"Nothing, just..." the Doctor said quickly as Margaret was still sitting with her back to the console, smiling in amusement at what she had just seen. She could definitely use the little red-head to her advantage at getting her revenge on the Doctor and then she would kill them all.
Willow had been approached by several people (most of them elderly), checking to see if she was okay. She had finished her crying and was just sitting there, feeling numb. She supposed she looked a mess, which was why they had approached her in the first place.
Finally, she decided enough was enough, that she needed to make her way back to the Tardis. She took out her key and unlocked the door, pushing it open, fervently hoping that the Doctor wasn't there. It seemed like her prayers had been answered as the Doctor was nowhere to be seen. Jack remained, still wiring up the extrapolator to the console.
"Back so soon?" she heard Jack ask, as he hadn't even looked up.
"Yeah, I suppose so," Willow said, sitting down heavily. She flinched at how horrible her voice sounded after she had been crying. Jack's head whipped up, seeing her and grinned, trying to lift her spirits.
"Ya know, all you have to do is talk to him," Jack said after examining her for a moment.
"Who?" Willow asked, playing dumb as she really didn't want to have this conversation right now.
"The Doctor. Talk to him," Jack said, shaking his head at the red-head he had become fond of (as a sister, of course).
"There's nothing to talk about," Willow said, a hint of sadness in her voice. "I know that he loves Rose."
She moved from the pilot seat to her spot on the floor to help Jack, as she had been doing before.
"Then you don't know much," Jack said gently, not wanting to be harsh, as she was already fragile.
"What d'you mean?" Willow asked in confusion, pushing her tears away; she had cried enough and was finished with tears.
"Like I said, talk to him," Jack said, not willing to give out any more information.
"I'll try," Willow said, sighing.
"'Do, or do not. There is no try'," Jack said in a funny voice, making Willow laugh.
She laughed and asked, "So, you know and can reference Star Wars, but you don't know who Spock is?"
Before Jack could answer, Willow let out a small shriek as there was a sudden rumble and the Tardis started shaking. If she had still been in the pilot chair, she definitely would have toppled over onto the floor.
"What's happening1?" Willow asked as Jack stood there in shock for a moment.
"I don't know!" Jack said, panicking. Sparks started to fly out of the console and the extrapolator started to flash wildly.
"Come here and help!" Jack yelled to Willow. She jumped up from the floor and helped him rip wires out of the extrapolator, disconnecting it from the console. The whole ship was shuddering and shaking, almost making Willow lose her footing. Taking the extrapolator from the console wasn't helping, though. The blue ship was still shuddering and shaking, as if there was an earthquake outside.
"What the hell are you two doing?" the Doctor asked Jack and Willow when him and Margaret entered the Tardis.
"It just went crazy!" Jack yelled as Willow scowled at the Time Lord.
"It's the rift! Time and space are ripping apart. The whole city's gonna disappear!" the Doctor exclaimed in realization, running over to the console. Small explosions started coming out of the console and Willow backed away from the sparks, unknowingly towards Margaret.
"What do we do?" Willow asked the Doctor, putting aside her earlier feelings, as he was the only one to know what to do to get them out of the situation.
"I'm working on it!" the Doctor yelled in frustration, causing Willow to flinch back towards Margaret even more.
"It's the extrapolator! Willow and I disconnected it but it's still feeding off the engine!" Jack said exclaimed helplessly. "It's using the Tardis—I can't stop it!"
"Never mind Cardiff—it's gonna rip open the planet!" the Doctor said in horror and Willow's eyes widened at that thought. She jumped as Rose suddenly burst into the Tardis just to her left.
"What is it? What's happening?" Rose asked breathlessly.
"Oh, just little me!" Margaret said gleefully. She freed her arms from her skin suit, revealing the green Slitheen claw. Willow saw what she was about to do a split-second before and pushed her cousin out of the way just in time to be grabbed around the neck by Margaret.
"Willow!" Rose called out in horror, but remained where she was, as she knew that Margaret wouldn't hesitate to kill the red-head.
"One human is as good as another," Margaret snarled in hatred towards the group. The Doctor started to dart forward, worry and anger on his face. "But I think this one means more to the Doctor. Careful. One wrong more and she snaps like a promise."
"I might've known," the Doctor said, glaring at the alien. Willow felt her feet lift from the ground and she started to gasp for breath like a fish out of water. She desperately grasped at Margaret's Slitheen arm, trying to pry her claws from around her neck. Margaret started moving closer to the Doctor with Willow dangling, trying to goad him into action.
"I've had you bleating all night, poor baby, now shut it," she snarled harshly and she turned to Jack, who also had concern all over his face. "You—fly boy—put the extrapolator at my feet."
Jack hesitated for a moment, before grabbing the extrapolator.
"Don't do it, Jack," Willow choked out before Margaret tightened her grip around her neck, causing her face to start to turn red. Jack looked at Rose and the Doctor and Rose seemed to be pleading with her eyes at Jack to save her cousin and the Doctor just nodded solemnly, so Jack did as he was told.
"No-" Willow tried to say, but Margaret cut her off by squeezing a bit tighter. Willow couldn't get in a proper breath and was sure that her eyes were going to pop out of their sockets at any moment.
"Thank you. Just as I planned," Margaret said, sneering at the Doctor.
"I thought you needed to blow up the nuclear power station," Rose said, grounding her teeth together.
"Failing that—if I were to be...arrested...then anyone capable of tracking me down would have considerable technology of their own. Therefore, they would be captivated by the extrapolator. Especially a magpie mind like yours, Doctor. So the extrapolator was programmed to go to Plan B!" Margaret said gleefully.
"Let….go….of….me!" Willow wheezed out, and then she whimpered as Margaret yanked on her hair, hard, with her free hand.
"To lock onto the nearest alien power source and open the rift," Margaret said. She looked around the Tardis in awe and triumph. "And what a power source it found...I'm back on schedule...thanks to you."
"The rift's gonna convulse—she'll destroy the whole planet," Jack said, getting concerned for Willow as her face started to turn purple. He knew that Margaret didn't have a grasp on her to kill her, but he knew that Willow couldn't breathe properly.
"And you with it!" Margaret crowed triumphantly.
Margaret switched Willow to the side, so that she could stand on the extrapolator, but she still held onto her neck. She hissed through her teeth as Margaret cut into the side of her neck slightly with her alien claw. She didn't let it show, though, as she knew that if she didn't die and they all got out of this alive, Jack and Rose (oh, the Titanic references!) would baby her.
"While I ride this board all over the crest of the inferno all the way to freedom. Stand back boys... and blondie...surf's up," Margaret said with an evil grin.
Willow instinctively closed her eyes and turned her head to the side as a bright white light suddenly burst out of the console of the Tardis. It had nearly blinded her and she knew it probably wasn't a good idea to look at any light coming out of the Tardis.
"Of course, opening the rift means you'll pull this ship apart," she heard the Doctor say. She opened her eyes, but looked away from the light, instead, looking at Jack's worried face that was looking back at her.
"So sue me," Margaret sneered, shrugging her shoulders; it was of no consequence to her, or so she thought.
"It's not just any old power source. It's the Tardis. My Tardis. The best ship in the universe," the Doctor said.
"It'll make wonderful scrap," Margaret yet again sneered at the Doctor.
"What's that light?" Rose asked, looking at the light, but not directly into it.
"The heart of the Tardis. This ship's alive. You've opened its soul," the Doctor said solemnly.
"It's...so bright..." Margaret said, in a dream-like voice.
"Look at it, Margaret..." the Doctor said, sounding like he was putting her in a trance.
"...Beautiful..." Margaret breathed out.
"Look inside, Blon Fel Fotch. Look at the light," the Doctor said.
Willow felt Margaret's grip on her beginning to loosen, and she broke loose of her grip. She dropped like a rock onto the floor, holding onto her neck, trying to stop the bleeding, as getting loose had made it worse. She coughed roughly, gulping in huge, deep breaths. Rose knelt beside her, gently patting her on the back as she coughed. She was sure she looked like a mess; her throat bruised and bleeding, and her eyes probably bloodshot from a vein or two breaking in them. Oh, well. She would deal with that later. Right now, she had to focus on breathing normally again.
Margaret was still staring at the light, with a peaceful smile on her face. She looked up at the Doctor, who gave a small smile to her.
"Thank you..." Margaret said.
She was engulfed by the light, and when it was gone, her body suit she had been wearing flopped to the floor, empty. The Doctor jumped forward to the console to fix his beloved blue box. Willow stayed on the floor, exhausted, her eyes watering and indeed bloodshot (Rose thought they kinda looked freaky) and throat sore and burning from her cut.
"Don't look—stay there—close your eyes!" the Doctor said ordered Jack and Rose.
Willow snapped her eyes shut, sitting up to bury her head in Rose's shoulder, now sobbing. The bright light suddenly disappeared behind her eyelids, so she opened them and lifted her head from Rose's shoulder, but her sobbing didn't stop. Rose pulled her into a hug, sitting there on the floor, rocking the red-head gently, stroking her hair and making gentle shushing noises. The Doctor and Jack glanced at the sobbing Willow for a moment before jumping into action.
"Now, Jack, come on—shut it all down. Shut down!" the Doctor ordered and Jack rushed over to the console, doing as the Doctor commanded.
"Rose, that panel over there—turn all the switches to the right," the Doctor demanded. Rose glared at his insensitivity for a moment before doing as he said, but not before helping Willow to her feet.
"What can I do?" Willow asked, wiping the tears off her face.
"Um...nothing," the Doctor said, looking a little guilty. "You should rest and bandage that neck of yours."
"I'm fine," Willow snapped at him, gently touching her neck. She knew she shouldn't help because she was utter rubbish at flying the Tardis, but she still felt useless.
"Fine, push that button there," the Doctor said, sighing, wishing he knew what was wrong with her.
Willow immediately rushed over and pressed the button the Doctor indicated to. The console was showering all of them in sparks, but finally, the shaking almost stopped and everything went back to normal. Willow wiped away her remaining tears and checked her neck, which had finally stopped bleeding.
"Nicely done. Thank you, all," the Doctor said, nodding at each of them.
"What happened to Margaret?" Rose asked.
"Must've got burnt up. Carried out her own death sentence," Jack said.
"No. I don't think she's dead," the Doctor said, looking down at the body suit.
"Then, where'd she go?" Rose asked.
"She looked into the heart of the Tardis, and even I don't know how strong that is. And the ship's telepathic—like I told you, Rose and Willow. Gets inside your head. Translates alien languages. Maybe the raw energy can translate all sorts of thoughts..." the Doctor said thoughtfully.
The Doctor knelt down by the body suit for a closer look, Rose and Jack following him. Willow craned her neck to see, hissing as it pulled her wound, causing it to bleed again. She took a moment to rip off a strip of clothing from the bottom of her shirt. The sound made the Doctor, Rose, and Jack all jump at the suddenness of it.
"Sorry," Willow muttered to them and tied the strip around her neck and over her cut to try and get it to stop bleeding again. She carefully (she didn't want to injure herself further) knelt down next to the other three as the Doctor reached into the skin suit and pulled out an egg.
"Here she is!" the Doctor exclaimed, holding the egg up for them all to see.
"She's an egg?" Rose asked in bewilderment.
"What? How is that possible?" Willow asked breathlessly (though not like before).
"Regressed to her childhood," the Doctor explained.
"She's an egg?" Jack repeated Rose, raising an eyebrow.
"She can start again! Live her life from scratch. If we take her home, give her to a different family, tell 'em to bring her up properly, she might be all right!" the Doctor said cheerfully.
"An egg!" Willow said, smiling in wonderment.
"Or she might be worse," Jack pointed out.
"That's her choice," the Doctor said, grinning.
"She's an egg," Rose said, still in shock.
"She's an egg," the Doctor said happily.
"Oh, my gosh. Mickey-" Rose said suddenly remembering him. She jumped up and dashed out of the Tardis and Willow watched the Doctor watch Rose leave, her heart completely shattered. She turned around on her heel and took off through the Tardis. She didn't know exactly where she was going, but she was in search of the med-bay. The Tardis kept hiding it from her, though, and she let out a scream of frustration before sitting down in the middle of the hallway she was currently in. A few minutes later, the Doctor found her and sat down beside her, taking her hand.
"What do you want?" Willow asked sullenly, taking her hand from him to put her knees up and rested her arms on the them.
"Can we talk?" the Doctor asked, not really knowing how to approach the emotional girl. It wasn't his forte.
"What about?" she asked. She lifted her head up and the Doctor saw tears trails going down her cheeks.
"I think you know," the Doctor said quietly.
"So why d'you want to talk to me?" Willow asked harshly. "Go. Go and talk to Rose. Just leave me alone!"
The Doctor didn't answer her. Instead, he grabbed Willow's chin and slammed his lips onto hers. Willow melted for a second, moving her lips against his roughly, trembling as he nipped at her bottom lip. Then, she blinked and came to her senses. She pulled back, eyes wide and scared, and slapped him.
"What the bloody hell d'you think you're doing?!" she asked, trying to sound angry, but it came out as breathless.
"Ow! What was that for?" the Doctor exclaimed, holding a hand to his reddening cheek.
"For kissing me!" she yelled, jumping up to storm away from him; she couldn't take his games anymore, she just wanted to go home, to Aunt Jackie. The Doctor stood up as well, fully prepared to follow after her until she heard reason.
"What?" he asked, surprised that she had said that; he had felt her respond to him and he knew that she had liked it.
"Why did you just kiss me?" Willow hissed at him, clenching her fists at her sides. "It'll just complicate everything!"
"Because I wanted to," the Doctor said firmly.
"What about Rose?" Willow snapped out, concerned for her cousin over her own happiness.
"What about Rose?" the Doctor said, confused as to where she was going with this.
"ARGH!" Willow suddenly screamed out, startling, as it was very uncharacteristic of her and she stormed off down the corridor and back to the console room. She had started crying, half out of sadness from her broken heart, and half out of irritation. The Doctor entered a second later, looking extremely confused, with a red mark on his face. Willow sat on the pilot chair and turned her head away and ignored him. She knew she was acting a little childish, but right now, she just wanted to go home.
"So, what happened here?" Jack asked awkwardly between the two of them. He noticed the slap mark on the Doctor's face, as well as Willow's swollen lips and smirked a bit.
"Nothing," Willow said, giving him a cold glare at seeing his smirk.
He put up his hands. "Okay, then."
A second later, Rose entered the Tardis after unsuccessfully finding Mickey. The Doctor had busied himself, fiddling with the console. Jack was sitting on the seat with Willow, his arm around her. She was still crying a bit, snuffing now and then. She really hated crying; it always gave her such a headache afterwards, but Jack had told her that it was better to cry and let all the emotions out, or else she would bottle them up and explode.
"We're all powered up," the Doctor said quietly. "We can leave. Opening the rift filled us up with energy—we can go. If that's all right..."
"Yeah, fine," Rose said, traces of tears on her cheeks at hurting Mickey like she had, but she knew that she wasn't likely to change that.
"How's Mickey?" the Doctor asked, though he really didn't care about that. He just wanted to figure out what was wrong with Willow.
"He's okay. He's gone," Rose said, noticing her cousin, who was also still crying.
"D'you wanna go and find him? We'll wait..." the Doctor said. Willow gave a very watery snort before burying her face in her hands. The Doctor and Jack looked at each other as Jack tightened his arm around her, hugging her to his chest.
"No need. He deserves better," Rose said. Willow looked up and patted the seat beside her and Rose sat down.
"Off we go, then," the Doctor said. "Always moving on..." He pulled a lever on the console.
"Next stop, Raxacoricofallapatorius," Jack said, squeezing Willow's shoulder, trying to cheer her up. "Now, you don't often get to say that."
"We'll just stop by and pop her in the hatchery. Margaret the Slitheen can live her life again! A second chance," the Doctor exclaimed, feigning excitement.
"That'd be nice," Rose said quietly. Willow patted her shoulder, then lay her head on it as the engines of the Tardis started up.
"What a mess we are," Willow said quietly to Rose, snuggling up to her cousin.
"What happened to you?" Rose asked, noticing the tears. Willow whispered in her ear and told her all about her encounter with the Doctor.
"How thick are ya?" Rose asked in astonishment.
"What?" Willow asked, totally bewildered, so shocked that she started hiccupping.
"The Doctor's obviously in love with you," Rose said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world; to her it was at least.
"No, he's not. He loves you. I saw the look on his face when he watched you leave the Tardis with Mickey earlier," Willow said firmly, annoyed at her hiccups.
"I don't think that's what it was," Rose said, looking thoughtful for a moment. "I think he was debating about telling you how he felt."
"But-" Willow tried to say, but Rose cut her off.
"Willow Jane Tyler, shut up and go kiss the man already," Rose said bossily, showing her inner Jackie. Willow shakily stood up and slowly approached the Doctor, a bit scared at what he'd say. Her heart was already broken at this point, so there wasn't much more to be done with it, right?
"I'm sorry," Willow said meekly, her head hanging. "For slapping ya."
"Willow-" the Doctor said, surprised, yet again, that she'd even approached him.
"No, let me talk," Willow said, before taking a deep breath for courage. "I've been confused lately, Doctor. On one hand, I have my feelings for you—no, please don't interrupt—and on the other, I know how you feel about Rose."
"Rose?" the Doctor asked, once again bewildered at what the blonde had to do with all this.
"I know you love her, Doctor. That's why I sorta slapped you earlier."
"Rose?" the Doctor repeated in confusion. "You think I love Rose? You daft, beautiful little human. It was never Rose. It was you. You, Willow. Not Rose."
"Wha-?" Willow asked, but that was as far as she got, as the Doctor took her face in his hands and kissed her gently. It took her a moment, but she got over the shock and returned the kiss. Getting excited, the Doctor picked her up and swung her around in a circle, breaking the kiss with a laugh. Dizzy, and feeling slightly out of breath a the Doctor's admission, Willow stumbled back to where Rose and Jack were sitting with a stupid smile on her face.
"So?" Rose asked, raising an eyebrow, as did Jack.
Willow couldn't manage words, she was so speechless. She only stared at her cousin, gaping like a fish, her eyes wide in shock.
"I knew it!" Rose exclaimed, punching the air.
Willow didn't even get out of the Tardis on Raxacoricofallapatorius (she didn't even realize that they were there, much less that anyone had left the Tardis). She stayed inside, wrapped up in her thoughts, sitting like a statue on the pilot seat. When everyone came back in, Rose noticed the small, blissful smile on her cousin's face.