Chapter Eleven

The Doctor stood in the front of the tractor beam, as it slowly moved through the Milky Way galaxy on its way towards the Earth. It had been about an hour since he left Valpora and he had only gone a fraction of the way. Even at full speed, he figured it would take another couple of hours to reach Earth. He considered contacting Rose through their link, warning her beforehand that he was coming, but then he decided not to. If she was at Torchwood, he wanted their reunion to be a surprise. He wanted to see the look on her face, hear her ecstatic voice, and see the joy before it was all wiped away by Josiah. That was another reason why he wanted to come get her. He wanted to savor every moment of being together with her, in addition to making sure she was all right. He had no desire to lay strapped to a table while Josiah's mutants shot up her workplace. Also, he didn't want Torchwood anywhere near Valpora. Rose may be an employee there, but he still didn't trust them. There was no love lost between him, and Josiah, and Lady Rose. They were sadistic, evil assholes, but that didn't mean the entire planet was that way. He didn't like that he was voluntarily bringing Rose into danger, but at least he trusted her not to pull out a huge ray gun and blow up half the planet, claiming it was in defense of Earth. Besides, he knew Rose could handle whatever was thrown her way, unlike the other people in that building.

He paced back and forth in the tractor beam. At first, he had watched the stars and planets passing by him, but the novelty of traveling through space without the TARDIS wore off quickly, and he turned his attention to the situation at hand. He found himself in a quandary. Should he tell Rose what Josiah had planned for her, or not? On the one hand, he wanted her to be aware of what lay ahead, but…how to break it to her? He just couldn't blurt out and say, Rose, you know I told you there was this maniac who was after you? Well, he wants to take your eggs and my sperm, make a hybrid, and turn you into an incubator for it. Congratulations, Rose, you're gonna give birth to an alien/human hybrid. He shook his head cursing Josiah for doing this to them. He couldn't bring himself to tell her about it, but he knew he had to. She had to know, so she could prepare herself.

What worried him was how her body would take it. Gallifreyans hadn't been born from a womb since Rassilon defeated the Pythia and brought down her tyrannical rule. She had cursed the Gallifreyans with infertility as a parting gift to her former subjects, and they had come up with the looms to compensate. He had been loomed, as had all his brothers, and sisters, and cousins, and every other Gallifreyan for eons. Certainly, no human had ever given birth to a Gallifreyan, despite the jokes he had made in his eighth life about having a human mother after he had regenerated as a half human in an odd and ill-advised experiment. He had no idea what the pregnancy would do to Rose. He was terrified that he would be strapped to the table, watching helplessly while Rose sickened and died. These people didn't care about her like he did. In fact, he was sure they would find it funny to see his distress, as he fretted over the death of an insignificant human girl. He put his head in his hands wondering how he would get everyone out of this before his companions ended up pregnant or dead.

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After another couple of hours, he finally caught sight of Pluto. His hearts began to beat faster knowing it wouldn't be much longer now until she saw Rose and had to explain to her what lay ahead.

"Oh, Rose, forgive me, please forgive me for doing this to you," he said to himself, "I don't have a choice"

He paused.

"No, that's not entirely true. I do have a choice. I could just let them kill me, but…I'm a coward, Rose, just like I was on the Gamestation. I'm a coward and now you, and Martha, and Donna will suffer because of it."

He sighed, as he passed Pluto on his way towards Neptune.

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After another half hour, the tractor beam finally reached Earth. The Doctor stood and put his hands in his pockets watching as the beam slowly penetrated the Earth's atmosphere.

"I hope to God, Josiah got it right, and I am actually landing in London and not Germany, or Japan, or Bora Bora, or Cucamonga. After all, Josiah has never been to Earth. For all I know I could end up at Lake Titicaca, or Timbuktu. I guess I just have to trust that Mister Mad Scientist knows what he's doing."

He breathed a sigh of relief when he noticed he was moving directly towards Great Britain.

"Good, Josie-boy's done his homework. I feel a little bit better now," he said to himself.

A few minutes later, he saw the Thames. His eyes widened when he noticed he was heading for it at full speed.

"Um…okay, you can slow down now!" he yelled out, "I really don't want to end up climbing out of a huge hole in the street beside Torchwood because you don't know how to let up on the petrol."

To his immense relief, the tractor beam did start to slow down when he entered the London skies. He watched with fascination when he saw he was heading towards one of the zeppelins. He passed right by it and smiled when he noticed there were several people staring out the gondola windows at him, completely shocked.

"Hi there!" he said, waving cheerfully to him, "Nice day for a blimp ride!"

He was going on fast, he didn't get to see their reactions. He headed on towards the ground beside Torchwood. When he was several feet from the pavement, the beam slowed down, almost to a crawl. He waved to the people below, as they stopped and stared up at him in disbelief.

"Hello there! Beautiful morning!" he called to them.

His feet touched the ground lightly, and the tractor beam shut off.

"Perfect landing, I'm impressed," the Doctor said, straightening his trench coat.

Ignoring the shocked looks of the bystanders, he hurried towards the entrance to Torchwood.

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Cathy looked up when she saw a tall, thin man enter the lobby. She smiled pleasantly when he walked up to her.

"May I help you?"

"Yes, I'd like to see Rose Tyler, please."

"I'm sorry, sir, Rose Tyler is in a meeting at the moment."

The Doctor stared at her.

"And…" he finally said.

"Rose Tyler is in a meeting," Cathy repeated.

"Yeah, you just said that. Now, please page her and get her down here, so I can see her."

"Sir…"

"Doctor, call me Doctor."

Cathy sighed.

"Doctor…Miss Tyler is in a very important meeting. I can't disturb her."

The Doctor leaned over.

"What is your name?"

"Cathy."

"Well, Cathy, I have less than a half hour before you and everyone else in this building takes a little unscheduled trip to the outer spiral of the galaxy. Now, if you don't want to end up answering calls on the planet Valpora, you will contact Rose Tyler and get her down here. Trust me; I am much more important than any meeting she's in. Now do it before I go up there and find her myself!"

Cathy stared at him for a moment. The Doctor, unflinchingly, stared back, his dark eyes boring into her. Finally, she threw up her hands.

"Fine, whatever, anything to get you to leave."

The Doctor gave her a warm smile, as Cathy picked up her phone and dialed a two-digit number.

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Rose could barely keep her eyes open.

She sat there beside Mister Stevenson, her eyelids drooping while she struggled to stay awake during the meeting. The representatives from the Tartaun Federation had nearly finished their negotiations, much to her relief. After it was over, she was going to request the rest of the day off, so she could go home and sleep.

She had nearly dozed off when the phone in front of her suddenly rang. She gasped and jerked her hand, nearly knocking over her cup of coffee. She shot her boss a sheepish look when he glared at her. He sighed angrily, muttering to himself about how he told Cathy not to disturb them, while he picked up the receiver.

"Hello?" he said, with barely contained anger.

He sighed.

"Cathy, I told you not to bother us while we are in the middle of this meet…"

There was a pause.

"Doctor who?"

Rose perked up at that. She turned her full attention to the phone conversation. Her suspicions were confirmed when her boss looked her way.

"She is in a meeting, Cathy. Whoever this Doctor is, he'll just have to wait--"

He gasped when Rose jerked the receiver out his hand.

"What is the meaning of this, Tyler?" he said, angrily.

"Cathy?" Rose said, ignoring him, "this Doctor? Can you describe him for me?"

Cathy looked up at the Doctor.

"Um…well, he's really thin, like an anorexic."

The Doctor's mouth fell open.

"Excuse me?" he said.

"Um…and he has brown hair that's really messy and sticking up in all directions."

"Well, gee, I'm so sorry my hair is messy. I didn't have a comb with me in the tractor beam," the Doctor said, dryly.

Cathy leaned in to him.

"And he has really beady eyes."

"Will you just get Rose Tyler down here, so I don't have to listen to your insulting description any--"

This time he was cut off when Rose let out a shriek that was so loud, Cathy had to jerk the phone away from her ear. Seizing the moment, the Doctor snatched it out of her hand.

"Rose?" he said.

His eyes widened when all he heard was the receiver clattering to the floor. He handed the phone back to Cathy.

"Never mind, I think Rose is on her way down," he said, "if you could just tell me where the lifts are, I'd appreciate it."

Cathy glared at him and pointed off to her right. The Doctor smiled, nodded, and hurried to them.