Chapter 12

Finding Rose

"Great," Rory said into the silence, "So now if she's decided we're dead we are! That's wonderful."

"No," John was frowning, "No, Rose isn't like that. She wouldn't do this unless something important was at stake. If she had something worth protecting, she would give her life. If it was the choice between her and some stranger she didn't even know, she would choose to put herself in that persons place."

"But we don't even know what… the TARDIS and Bad Wolf did to her," The Doctor said, at John's glare he whispered to him, "You think it doesn't hurt me to think of her in that way. I don't want her to be behind this, I don't want her to be the one doing all this. You think I don't still…" He still couldn't say the words… those three words.

John understood it, though. "Right!" He walked quickly past the Doctor, "We'd better start looking for her again. 'Cause I don't believe she's doing this for herself, if she is even doing all this herself. I think she's doing it to protect someone, or something, she believes needs to stay safe. And in that case, we aren't abandoning them. This is still a rescue mission." He glared at the others, as if daring them to contradict him. Instead Jack spoke up.

"Never said it wasn't, Doc," He moved forward to help out.

Soon the rest of the group was doing their part. The Doctor was tracking the now weak trail to find Rose, with the help of Jack, while John was checking that the TARDIS's were still running smoothly. Amy and Rory worked with River to go over the Ga'eira and Bad Wolf books, seeing if there were any clues from Rose.

After five minutes of not finding anything, Amy stood and joined the Doctor, "Getting anywhere?" she asked.

He waited a moment before answering, intent on the screen, "I've narrowed it down to three planets, it keeps moving around." He tweaked a dial before looking back, "Wait… hold on. There, one planet. Rotcodehtevoli 5, or Voli 5 as the inhabitants call it. Population three billion, mainly human, two major cities, both on the main continent. The signal is coming from the main continent, it'll take a couple minutes more."

John came over and started helping him with it.

Rory looked up from the book he was reading and looked over at Amy as she sat down next to him again, "You alright? You look a bit worried."

"We're chasing someone around the universe, trying to find them, not even sure if their on our side," Amy sighed, "Yeah, I'm a little worried." Amy thought of something, "River, did the Doctor ever say anything about this to you?"

"No, he didn't," River sighed, "His rules and all."

Jack came to join them, "I never got a chance to ask, how exactly do you three know the Doctor and… John?"

"We just know John and Rose from when they appeared on the TARDIS a few hours ago," Rory explained.

"The Doctor landed in my yard when I was seven," Amy said, then thought back on it, "Well, more like crash landed. He smashed apart my shed. He came back twelve years later, but he said it had only been five minutes."

"Tell me about it," Jack rolled his eyes, "He pretends he can fly this thing… I'm not so sure. You know, when he first met Rose, he apparently blew up the store she was working in, and he blew up the factory where my sonic blaster was made. He seems to have a problem keeping things intact."

"Yeah," Amy gave a small laugh, "Well he stopped this Prisoner Zero and these other aliens from roasting the Earth. He made this computer virus that reset all the counters."

"That was him?" Jack laughed, "I knew he had something to do with it."

"Yeah, it was him," Amy smiled at the memory, "Then he came back two years later, another five minutes according to him, and asked me to come with him. It was the night before my wedding," at Rory's look she corrected, "Our wedding, sorry. We went, I met River and then we went back to Leadworth and picked up Rory. Then lots of things happened and Rory and I got married but kept travelling with the Doctor."

"And you?" Jack asked River.

"Known him my whole life," River smiled, "And you?" She repeated the question back to Jack.
"Tried to con him and Rose into buying a Chulla warship during the London Blitz. I thought they were Time Agents. Turns out I set a sort of plague around London. We fixed it and I ended up travelling with them. So you've known him your whole life, what do you mean?"

"I mean I've known him my whole life," River smiled, "Technically since I was a baby. Rory and Amy can tell you that."

Jack shrugged, "Technically I've known him most of my life too, even though I met him when I was nearly forty."

Amy looked up, "You don't look that much older."

Jack grinned at that, "Yeah, well, I'm over two thousand years old. Mind you a good portion of that was spent choking to death buried underground in Cardiff. So you lot have known each other a while then?"

"Yeah," Rory said, "Me and Amy have known River her whole life," He said.

"Interesting," Jack said, noting the age differences, "I'd expect it to be the other way around."

"That would be strange," River smiled, "As they're my parents."

Jack's eyes widened at that, "Really? What're you, twice their age?"

"No," She smiled, "But yes, they are, I just grew up in the 1960's, the Doctor found me. It's a very long story," she said, her smile fading.

Before Jack could ask another question John ran over. He was grinning.

"We've found her."

They had landed in an old warehouse. The warehouse was in the industrial district of the smaller of the two main cities of Voli 5, as John explained.

"So Rose should be here," John said, pulling on his long brown overcoat he had found in the TARDIS console room, "So, we should split up, groups of two yeah?"

"Maybe we don't need to," The Doctor said, nodding towards the other end of the warehouse. There was something resembling any overly large cage, with someone lying on a small cot in the middle.

They all ran up to it.

"Rose?" John said, pushing his arm through the bars, "Rose, is that you?"

The person on the cot slowly sat up. It was indeed Rose.

"Doctor!" She smiled.

"Which one?" The Doctor said.
"Both," She kept smiling, "Knew you would find me." She saw Jack and River, "And I see you've picked up some friends. Good to see you Jack."

"And you," he grinned.

"Oh, and nice to meet you, River," Rose stuck her hands through the bars to shake hands with River, "I'm guessing you've figured out who I am. Rose, if you hadn't."

"We'll get you out of here and figure out how to fix all this," John said, pulling his sonic screwdriver out.

"No," Rose shook her head, the smile fading, "You won't, you're gonna leave me here. I need you to do something for me, but I can't go with you. If I leave here, they'll know and they'll come searching. I'm staying here."

"What? No," John protested, "We came all this way to get you Rose."

"You don't understand," Rose frowned, "Like I said before, you won't ever understand unless you wait. Be patient for once Doctor."

John took her hand, "Why can't you come?"

"Because," Rose took a deep breath, blinking back tears, "Because there's a great big reason that all this is happening. But I can't tell you now. They'll know. And we can't let them know."

"Rose, what's wrong," The Doctor moved next to John.

"It's complicated," Rose looked away, "I'll tell you all I can right now. A year ago. Well I think a year, can't really tell in here. So about a year ago, I found out… well I found out I was," She backed away from the bars, fidgeting, she finally looked up, "I didn't expect this to be the way I told you, see." She walked forward again, "I was pregnant."

John's eyes widen. At Rose's worried look, he reached forward and took her hands in his, "Rose, that's amazing. It really is."

"Hold on," Amy said, feeling awkward about interrupting, "You said a year."

"Yeah," Rose looked down at her feet. "I don't know what happened. It was two months after I found out when I woke up one morning and I was locked away in some place. They somehow unlocked all the things the TARDIS gave me when I looked into the heart. The gifts that made Bad Wolf. They made me reach out to you, to be with you, or make you believe I was there. I wasn't really there. I couldn't tell you, they made me."

"Who's they?" John said forcefully, "Rose, please. Tell me."

"I can't," She shook her head, "I don't know where they took the baby, but they have her. I needed you to realize I was gone, and I needed you to find me. You would need help, so I made sure the Doctor would be there. Actually I needed him anyways, to bring you to this universe. Well, it was actually Rory."

"What do you mean?" Rory asked.

"You've sort of," Rose seemed to be having trouble finding the right words, "Well you've got this… brightness. You're even brighter than Jack."

"Why would Jack be bright?" Amy asked, again confused.

"I don't know," Rose shrugged, "They've both sort of got this aura. It reminds me of what I remember of the heart of the TARDIS."

"Maybe Jack has it from when you brought him back?" John said.

"Brought him back?" Amy asked.

"That thing about Bad Wolf," John tried to explain quickly, "When Rose got those… gifts, she brought Jack back to life. But she didn't really do it properly, she brought him back forever."

"He's immortal now," The Doctor added.

"So he can't die?" Rory said, staring at Jack.

"Yeah, that's normally what immortal means," Jack said.

"Now he's got this sort of glow," Rose tried to explain, "I dunno, it's sort of like the light I remember. That's all I remembered from the Gamestation. And Rory's got it too."

"But I'm not immortal," Rory said, "I mean last time I checked I could die. I mean I did die. Then I was Roman… and plastic."

"Well that's… new," John said, distracted for a moment, "You died and became a Roman?"

"Yeah, it was a weird Doctor trap thing." Rory said, "But I'm not plastic, or Roman anymore."

"Maybe that's it?" River asked, "Maybe it was the fact that he was erased from history and managed to come back?"

"No, that's not it," Rose said, "The light. It reminds me of Margaret. Remember? The Slitheen, in Cardiff?"

"What about her?" John looked confused.

"You opened up the TARDIS, the light that came out, that's what it looks like Rory has around him," Rose said, looking closely at Rory."So, like I was saying before, it's like the heart of the TARDIS."

"I'm glowing?" Rory asked, looking at his hand.

"Only I can see it," Rose explained, "Jack glows like that too, but you're-"

"Brighter," The Doctor said, "Yeah. But you brought Jack back using the power of the Time Vortex. The same Time Vortex that runs through the TARDIS." He looked up, "Ah! That's it!"

"What? The Time Vortex?" John looked around at Rory, "What about it? If you're saying that just traveling in the Time Vortex gives you that glow, then why don't any of us have it?"

"But Rory's done more than just travel in the TARDIS," The Doctor smiled, "Rory, Amy, do you remember when House took control of the TARDIS with you still inside and… the TARDIS and I were trying to get to you?"

"Yeah, course we do," Rory replied.

"Who took control of the TARDIS?" John asked, not used to not understanding.

"A sentient asteroid at the edge of the universe named House who… eats… TARDIS' by pulling them out of their body, the ship, and putting them in a host until they fade." The Doctor explained quickly, "Except he found out she was the last TARDIS so he took the shell and flew back to the universe to find more so the TARDIS and I chased after them, because Amy and Rory were still on board. The TARDIS became a woman for about an hour."

"Interesting," John said thoughtfully, "So-"

"Look, can we just get back to figuring out what's going on?" Amy said.

"Yes," The Doctor turned to Amy and Rory once more, "So do you remember?"

"Yes, we remember the TARDIS and House and the asteroid," Rory said getting slightly annoyed, "But what do they have to do with me… glowing?"

"Do you remember how she contacted you?" the Doctor replied, "To give you information about how to let us inside the TARDIS that House was in?"

"Yeah, well sort of," Rory said while Amy said, "No."

"She connected with you," The Doctor said, starting to smile, "She connected to your mind."

"Aaaand?" Rory asked, still not fully understanding.

"It's a TARDIS! The TARDIS is slightly telepathic, it's how it translates all the languages for you," The Doctor said, "But it can't exactly communicate with you, at least not with words, like she did with you."

"So you're saying she had a stronger link with me?" Rory asked.

"Well no, but she made one, just for that once," The Doctor smiled, "But it must have left a mark."

"So I'm glowing because the TARDIS was in my mind?" Rory asked, "I think I get it."

"Well, let's just say that's what happened," The Doctor said, "If you're having trouble with that I won't explain further, you humans'll just get more confused." He ignored Amy and Rory's glares.

"That's all I can tell you now," Rose said, "You need to go back to the TARDIS now. She'll take you where you need to go. You'll know what to do there."

"Rose-" John tried to protest once more.

"No," She said with force, "You need to go."

"We'll come back," John said as he followed the others to the TARDIS.

Rose nodded slowly with a small, sad smile. As the TARDIS dematerialized, she sat on the cot and calmly waited as the warehouse, the cage, even she herself, faded into nothingness.

John and the Doctor moved quickly around the console, pressing buttons, pulling levers, typing away on the typewriter.

"We're going to get this done quickly," John said, more to himself than to his friends, "We're going to finish it and go right back there and get her out and fix this."

"Where are we going?" River asked, "Any idea?"

"Sort of," The Doctor said, "The TARDIS isn't really telling us, this is just to keep her steady."

"Right," River nodded, "You do realize you're sending us to the 5th century at the moment?"

The Doctor looked down at what he was doing and pulled his hands off the console, "Whoops." He immediately went back to work, trying to fix his mistake.

"Every time," River said with a smile to Amy, Rory, and Jack. She glanced at Amy, "Feeling better?"

"Yeah, a bit," Amy shrugged, "I don't know. At least we found out why it was Rory. I just hope we get through this."

Just as she said those words, the TARDIS was rocked sharply. As it steadied Rory looked around.

"What. Was. That?" He said. The lights flickered and the TARDIS jerked around some more. Sparks flew and the time machine shook. It took every ounce of strength for the passengers to hold on and not be flung against the walls.

After a minute, it stopped.

John dragged himself to his feet and looked at the view screen.

"We're here," John said quietly, looking up, the TARDIS had calmed down and the lights were back to normal, "Come on." He led the way out of the TARDIS. The others stood shakily and followed.

"Where are we?" Rory asked.

"Looks like some sort of a space ship yeah?" Amy said, walking past Rory.

"Yeah, I think it is," John spun in a circle, taking the large room in. There were computers and instruments all over the place, lights flashing, things beeping, "Proper space ship."

"This is a Meridan Class ship," Jack said in amazement. At Rory and Amy's blank looks he added, "Most durable ships ever made, but extremely expensive, there really rare. Most people never even see one, let alone two." He said as he gazed out the window.

"Hold on," John said, joining Jack, "Is it just me, or is that ship moving right for us?"

"It's moving pretty fast," Amy said, worried.

"Nah, it's fine, these ships, they're programmed to fly themselves around obstacles, you couldn't run into anything, not even manually," The Doctor reassured them.

"Yeah, well it doesn't look like it's turning away," Amy said. Their musings were interrupted by one of the rooms many doors bursting open.

Fifteen men, humans by the look of it, ran in and formed a circle around them. They all wore uniforms that reminded Amy of the army, slightly different though.

A man followed the soldiers, their captain, Amy guessed.

Her guess was proved right when the man spoke, "Who are you and what are you doing on my ship? My name is Captain Leland Overemy, and you are?" he said forcefully.

"Yes hello," The Doctor stepped forward, just to be pushed back by fifteen guns pointed in his face, "I'm the Doctor. Do you mind? I'd rather not have a gun shoved in my face."

"They will stay there until I have decided whether or not you are, in fact, a threat," Overemy stated, "So, Doctor, who are your friends?"

"I'm John… Smith," John put in, "This is Jack Harkness, he's a Captain too."

"I'm Amy Pond, this is Rory and that's River," Amy said.

"I would say nice to meet you," Overemy said, "But under the circumstances, that will not happen. So, what do you know about the Charybdis?"

"Ooh, lots," The Doctor started, "I mean, the Greeks believed it was a whirlpool intent on ripping apart ships, but I knew her as a great dancer, and then there was her sister, Scylla. Those two…. Good times. But last time I checked, she was in Ancient Greece. Not the 53rd century in the Trireme System. "

"Not the myth," Overemy replied, "The ship. That ship in fact. That is the Charybdis, and you are currently aboard the Scylla."

"Ah, sister ships," The Doctor smiled in knowing, "And why do you ask what we know about it?"

"It was just recently taken over," Overemy started to explain, "They demanded we stop our engines, take the Charybdis' crew and let them fly away. If we did not comply, they would ram us. They took out the core computer, they will ram us."

"Oh," The Doctor said in surprise, "Well then, Amy- sorry, you were right. We are in danger. And why do you think we would have known this?"

"The men who took over the Charybdis were not on board when we took off," Overemy said, "And you lot just turned up on the Scylla's internal scanners."

"Ah," John took over, "Well, you see, we didn't realize this was happening. We got these coordinates… from a friend and-"

His words were cut short as the Charybdis slammed into the Scylla, throwing soldiers and time travelers alike across the room.

John was the first to get shakily to his feet, "Well that wasn't so bad. Must have just glanced off the side."

He went to help Jack up when a huge explosion rocked the ship.

Amy felt as though the whole ship were being ripped apart, her along with it.

As the roaring seemed to rip at her ears and she was nearly blinded by the light of the explosion, everything faded into blackness.

*Sigh* Okay that chapter took a lot of effort, I've no idea why, but it did. Well, anyways, thanks for reading, as always, hope you like it and PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE REVIEW. I love and appreciate feedback very much, and as I've said if you read these A/N then one review makes me happy for a whole day. So once again, thanks for reading this.