Go ahead and say goodbye, I'll be alright, go ahead and make me cry, I'll be alright, when you need a place to run to, for better, for worse I got you. I Got You-Leona Lewis
Rose rubbed the tears from her eyes as she walked up the ramp of the Tardis; it was somewhat comforting to feel the grating under her feet. Her whole body just felt numb, this whole experience wasn't what she thought it would be, she had expected a parallel world to be interesting, to see a different side of yourself, the you that could have been had you made different choices. But it wasn't like that at all, because in this parallel world, there was no Rose Tyler, her mum had everything she had wanted, at the expense of having her daughter. And then the Cybermen had turned up, killing her mum in the process, another sob escaped as she realised that she had been part of her death, well her second death, Jackie Tyler of this world had died twice, she was too young. To top it off, the man who was her dad but wasn't, well he wanted nothing to do with her, the growing close to him only to have him ripped away was like the who reaper situation again, but this time he didn't die, he just walked away from her. Now there was no Mickey either, she had never treated him right, but he had always come running to her when she needed help, she had just taken him for granted, because of her she would never see him again, it was all her fault. The Master and The Doctor had tried to persuade her otherwise, but she refused to listen because she should have stopped him. Rose had even checked for all known alien species to this Earth, there still weren't any Time Lords, and Rose felt her gut wrench, they were always so alone, she had seen their eyes widen and the Master's panic when they had realised where they were, she had overheard the Doctor whispering to the Master that he couldn't hear Zoey anymore. Whatever that had meant, she guessed that it was bad and what was worse, they had seen Zoey's doppelganger at that party, and she had been killed by the cybermen, in front of the Master, that Rose thought had to have been the worst thing she had ever seen, looking up she saw the two Time Lords pilot the Tardis away from here and back to their rightful universe, the sigh of relief from the Master told her that they were back were they should be.
"Home" the Doctor whispered to her, enveloping her in a strong hug that she readily agreed to
"I am home" she whispered back
"To your mums then, we need to pick up Zo"
"Oh, that skive" Rose retorted, trying to lighten the mood
The Doctor chuckled as the Master smiled warmly "Don't let her hear you say that"
"Never" Rose grinned as she wriggled her way out of the doctors grasp "She'd kill me"
**
Zoey lay slumped on Jackie's sofa, clutching her stomach gingerly; nausea was gripping every part of her body, she had already thrown up twice this morning in the space of 30 minutes, some of the stuff she had thrown up she was convinced she had never eaten, but then with Jackie's cooking who knew? When Zoey thought about it, Jackie was looking a little suspicious, she hadn't told her that she was pregnant, that wasn't a good thing she was sure, but the way Jackie watched her, it was like she already knew.
"Zo, you want some dinner sweetheart?" Jackie called from the kitchen
Zoey cringed at the thought of eating anything, her stomach growled loudly, as if to advertise to Jackie that she was hungry, but just refused to eat. "Uhh I don't know, I still feel sick"
"You have to eat something, to keep your strength up, you're eating for two now you know" Jackie smirked, letting a soft chuckle escape her lips as she heard the soft thunk of Zoey toppling off the couch.
Bounding into the kitchen Zoey stared at Jackie, completely flabbergasted by what Jackie had just said "How did you even?"
"Zoey I'm a mother, do you really think I didn't notice?" she snickered, observing the young Time Lord with interest
"I" Zoey gasped, astounded by Jackie, who's powers of observation knew no bounds
"Now there is a sight I never thought I'd see, Zoey Saxon lost for words, you have a right gob on you you do"
Zoey blushed faintly "Yeah well, it's not often I get caught out" she admitted, the blush deepening as she regarded the amazing if terrifying human in front of her.
"Well how far along are you?"
"About two months now, what with me staying with you on the slow path"
"The slow path?" Jackie questioned, her brow furrowed in puzzlement at the phrase
"Oh sorry I forgot, Time in the Tardis, well it's different to time on Earth, I could have spent a day on the Tardis compared to two months on Earth for you, so I age two months on Earth compared to the day on the Tardis, see where I'm going with this"
"I think so"
"The Tardis can, essentially land anywhere anytime, within reason of course, so we could drop Rose off twelve hours after we left, but the Doctor is a horrendous pilot so we never get where we need to be, the whole werewolf thing being a prime example"
Jackie stared in quiet contemplation, Zoey's words filtering into her memory, she couldn't help but admire the woman for her enthusiasm, even though sometimes it seemed she would much rather be somewhere else. The opening of the door, distracted Jackie's attention, realising that it was just Jack, she relaxed herself.
"Hey Jac's I got that thing you wanted though why you wanted it is beyond me, had to fight this old woman for it, never wanna do that again" Jack shouted through to the kitchen, as he carried the bags through, dumping them on the bench top. Only then did he notice a smug, if slightly baffled Jackie and a furiously blushing Zoey.
"What'd I miss?"
"Nothing" Zoey added quickly
"You might as well tell him, if you don't I will"
"Tell me what?" Jack asked intrigued, leaning in to emphasise his interest
"Jackie that's blackmail" Zoey complained as she tried the puppy eyes
"Yes, I know"
"But"
"I will, don't think I won't"
"Fine, Jack I'm pregnant"
Jack stared blankly for a few seconds before her words hit him, against his will his face broke into a dazzling grin and enveloped her into a bone crushing hug "Congratulations" he whispered into her ear, feeling her smile into his shoulder he held her tighter. Causing a grunt of surprise before she pushed herself out of his embrace.
"Well I might as well ask you both now seen as though you know, will you be godparents?"
"Oh Zoey yes" Jackie gushed kissing the surprised Time Lord on the cheek "I'll put this shopping away and then we'll talk" and with that Jackie busied herself with all the bags that were sitting on the bench top.
Jack grabbed Zoey by the arm and tugged her through to the living room "Time Lords don't have godparents do they?" Jack questioned sceptically, raising his eyebrow at her, causing her blush to deepen fractionally.
"Um, no"
"Then why?"
"Because, my life is dangerous, you know that, I want to make sure that if anything happens to me and the Master, that our child has a home to go to, so will you?"
"Of course I will, but Zo, my life is just as dangerous"
"I understand that, but I trust you implicitly Jack"
Before Jack could respond, a lazy grin spread across Zoey's face and her eyes glazed over, the sound of ancient grinding engines filled the room and the Tardis materialised. Zoey snapped out of whatever had taken over her and pulled the door open to be met with a tearful Rose.
"What happened?" Zoey asked, concern spiking for her friend
"ROSE!" Jackie cried running to her daughter, who burst into tears and hugged Jackie tightly "What is it sweetheart, where did you go?"
"Far away" replied the Doctor, who was leaning on the Tardis door.
The Master appearing by his side and quickly pushing his way past him so that he could get to Zoey kissing her deeply, his hands trembled as he gripped her arms, pulling her as close to him as he could. He had to feel her, feel the erratic beating of her fragile single heart, feel the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed, feel the unnoticeable position in her abdomen that was carrying their child, he needed everything just to know that she was alive.
Zoey grudgingly pulled herself away, wrapping her arms around him, she could feel every tremor that ran through him, and for the first time the roles were reversed, she was comforting him, his head was buried in her shoulder and she could feel the wetness as tears leaked from his eyes. Something inside Zoey told her to use their bond as communication, so rather than whispering to him audibly, she spoke softly mentally, reciting an old Gallifreyan lullaby, it seemed to work as he sniffed and relaxed, moving away to quickly rub the tears from his eyes.
"Doctor where's Mickey?" Zoey asked
"He went home, worlds away"
Zoey's head bowed, that was all she needed to know, they had been to an alternate universe and something there had spooked the Master, and now she was determined to find out what.
**
The Tardis was finally back in the vortex with all her occupants, Jack had asked to be dropped off in Cardiff for reasons the Doctor didn't want to know about. He gazed lovingly at his companions, it felt good to have the old team back together, and it just wasn't right when one of them was missing. The atmosphere on board the Tardis had almost righted itself, the awkwardness and tension there had been with Mickey had vanished into nothingness, there was a slight air of secrecy about the place, what with Zoey waiting to tell Rose about her being pregnant, and the Doctor suspected something else was going on but he had decided to let them, them being Zoey and the Master, tell him when they were ready.
"So, where to next?" The Doctor asked, his friends turning to face him
"Anywhere" Rose replied first, giving him that adorable smile that made his legs turn to jelly.
"Anywhere?" The doctor repeated, a stunned look on his face
"Yeah set the old girl to random, I like surprises" Rose grinned, causing Zoey to gulp audibly
"Speaking of surprises, I ah have something to tell you" ...