A/N: No more fillers for a while folks but "Brother Jack" is still here so here's the next chapter.
Chapter 14
Jack and Mickey yelled out as the boat went over, tipping the Doctor and Rose into the lake.
"We have to go in after them!" Mickey told Jack.
"We? Oh no, you stay here. I don't stay dead, you on the other hand…"
"What?"
"Another story for another time," Jack dismissed any questions about his immortality as he stripped off his coat and weapons.
XxXxX
Rose surfaced, spluttering. For a brief moment she had panicked at not knowing which way was up.
"Doctor?" Treading water she looked around her, grabbing onto the side of the upturned boat.
"Rose?! Swim, get to the shore," the Doctor coughed as he pulled himself up beside her.
"What about you?"
"Right behind you. Go!"
Rose kicked heading for the comfort of dry land and her friends. She gasped as something brushed against her feet.
"Keep going," the Doctor called out, splashing along just behind her. He'd felt whatever it was stalking them drift along beneath them, brushing against their feet.
Land seemed so far away that Rose felt her stomach sink at the sight. The water around her feet swirled again and she kicked even more furiously.
"Doctor?" she gasped.
"Keep….going," he panted in response, trying not to panic at the change in the drag around his legs. "Just…keep…going!" He could hear Mickey yelling from the bank as Jack dived in to help them.
Rose felt a huge sense of relief as Jack's hands gripped her and turned her onto her back, dragging her closer to land.
"I got ya Rosie, just float, don't kick. I've got ya," he told her.
Mickey was wading in to help Jack carry Rose onto the shore, lying her down on the shingle.
Her muscles were numb and she didn't think she'd ever be able to breathe properly again. Looking out into the water she looked for the Doctor but couldn't see him.
"Where is he? Where's he gone?"
"He was right behind me I swear," Jack said, eyes frantically searching the lake.
"Where'd he go?" Mickey was as confused as the rest of them. He was there and then, in a blink of an eye, he was gone.
"Oh god, Jack!" Rose tried to get to her feet.
"Easy Rose," Mickey helped hold her up as Jack waded into the tide.
"DOCTOR!" he yelled at the top of his lungs and heard it echo round the valley.
"Blimey, you can shout," the Doctor panted from a little way along the shingle.
"Where the hell have you been?! Are you trying to scare us to death?" Jack demanded.
"I went to investigate," he explained, dropping onto the shingle as the muscles in his legs gave out. Dragging himself close to a boulder he rested himself against it, letting his head drop back
"You are a complete bastard, you know that?"
"Thanks." He rolled his head to look at his girl. "Rose? You okay?"
"Don't ever do that again!" She scrambled to his side and wrapped her arms around his chest, burying her face in his neck.
"So did you find anything?" Mickey asked.
"Relation of what you would call the Loch Ness monster. Although technically not a monster of any kind. Alien life-form, completely harmless. Only eats fish."
"Then why was it ramming us?"
"She was playing. Her species is playful, much like a dolphin."
"So we got dunked by and over sized dolphin?" Rose asked incredulously.
"Yup."
She looked at him for a moment before bursting into laughter.
XxXxX
Jack opened the front door allowing the soggy pair in first.
"Mum? You okay?" Rose asked as Jackie stood wringing her hands. "What is it?"
"Pete?" Mickey walked over to the jump seat where the man sat.
"He suddenly realised that all this was in a small blue box," Jackie explained. "He ran around like a madman trying to work it all out."
The Doctor sighed and swept back his still dripping hair from his forehead, walking over to the shocked man. "Okay, Pete?" he crouched to look him in the eye. "Come with me and I'll explain. Rose love, get dry."
Rose nodded and grinned as he kissed her forehead before disappearing into the corridor with Pete.
"What happened to you?" Jackie asked.
"We had a fight with a sea monster."
"Well if you're not going to be serious…"
"Mum." Rose looked at her.
"Oh, right."
"It was only playing. Don't freak out or anything."
"Rose, sweetheart, if you're alive and unhurt that's all I can ask for."
Rose stepped up to her mum and pressed a kiss to her cheek. "I'm glad you're here."
"Go on, get out of those clothes," Jackie told her, waving her away.
"You did a great job with her, Jackie," Jack told her. "She's a fantastic girl."
"Always has been," Mickey agreed.
"Just you make sure he looks after her!"
"Jackie, he looks after the both of us. He'd put himself in harms way if it meant keeping her out of it. In fact, he has. You don't have to worry about Rosie," Jack assured her.
"She'll always be my little girl."
Jack smiled and nodded.
XxXxX
When the Doctor finally made it to his room to change out of his dirty clothes he found Rose asleep on the bed. He smiled to himself and covered her with the duvet before changing into his pyjamas.
As he slipped the shirt on he stopped and rubbed his face, feeling completely unsettled. There was no way he was going to sleep tonight; his head was too full, so taking one last look at Rose, he sloped off to find a quiet spot for himself.
XxXxX
Jackie stepped into the control room. The music was definitely coming from there but the room seemed empty.
She circled the control panel looking for any sign of life.
He sat on the upper gantry, his back braced against one of the sinewy pillars, as he faced the wall, out of sight of the TARDIS' other occupants.
There were twice as many people currently on board than he was used to and he felt a little overwhelmed.
So here he sat, out of sight, sketching away as music played quietly in the background.
He heard the footsteps first, announcing someone's arrival but he knew it wasn't Rose, when he reached out with his mind he could tell she was still sleeping soundly.
Peering round the pillar he was surprised to find Jackie was his visitor. Quietly as possible he shifted himself round so he was sitting side on to the room, one leg dangling over the edge, his back still against the pillar.
Jackie looked up and almost jumped. "You weren't there a minute ago! What are you trying to do, give me a heart attack?"
"What can I do for you, Jackie?" the Doctor smirked.
"Nothing, just wandering." She shrugged.
"First night on the TARDIS is always a bit odd for some. Rose was the same when she spent her first night on board, the constant humming, being in a strange bed….her bed, in her room not mine," he assured her.
Jackie chuckled. "Glad to hear it. So what are you doing hiding up there?"
"I'm not hiding."
"Really?" Jackie folded her arms across her chest and gave him what he could only describe as 'the mum look'.
"Well maybe I was," he admitted ruefully. "Rose is in the land of nod and I couldn't sleep. Not my night for it, you see."
"Not your night for it?"
Reaching back, the Doctor pulled out a cushion from behind the pillar and placed it on the gantry beside him. "Take it you're planning on staying?"
Jackie climbed the ladder and gingerly sat on the offered cushion. "So," she sighed.
"So," he nodded.
"Been a mad day all-in-all really."
"Yup."
There was an awkward silence.
"I was saying to Rose earlier, she looks good."
"Always does."
"She looks better than when she was stuck with us."
"Oh, I see."
"You do her good."
"Two way street there, Jackie."
"Oh I don't know. You've been in the wars." She flicked at his open shirt, exposing the scar on his chest and his neck injury at the same time. "What happened?"
"Alien autopsy," he said quietly, tugging his shirt back together and buttoning it.
"Come again?"
The Doctor sighed. "Torchwood in this universe, you may remember; does not, did not hold me in the friendliest of light."
"Torchwood? But isn't your friend Jack one of them? And all the others you had on your ship?"
"They are Cardiff. This was London. They don't exist anymore."
"And they cut you open?"
"Wanted to know me inside-out. Luckily they thought Rose was dead so she was left well alone."
Jackie nodded. "So, what were you doing up here?"
He regarded her for a moment before pulling out his sketchbook.
"What's this?"
"Sometimes, when I need to wind down, I work on the TARDIS, other times I do this."
Taking the book from his hands, Jackie peered at the drawing and gasped in delight. "Oh that's beautiful!" she declared. It was Rose grinning down into Tom's face as he reached up for his sister.
"It's not one of my best," he grumbled.
"I think it's perfect. But then what do I know about art?"
"You know what you like and that's enough."
"Can I ask you something?"
"You can ask." The Doctor shied away from her slightly, not liking the tone she was using.
"It's about something you said earlier. You said…"
A shuffling at the door drew their attention.
"Hello, Sweetheart," they both said as Rose entered the control room.
"Okay, that was really creepy," she told them, rubbing her eyes.
The Doctor and Jackie looked at each other before bursting into laughter.
"What are you two gassing about anyway?" Rose climbed the ladder and sat herself next to her mum.
"Not much," the Doctor answered.
"About what you said earlier. You said that you killed everyone you loved…"
XxXxX
Next time:
"I left my key inside and Jack isn't answering"
"Well that was silly and I don't even want to think about what the Captain is doing right now," the Doctor chuckled, bending down to tie his shoelace even though it didn't need tying.
"Come on I'm wet and freezing!"
"You, Rose Tyler, are a worse nag than your mother!" he told her straightening up.
Lightning scratched across the scene and Rose screamed.
A/N: And that's all you're getting this week. Mwahahahahahaah, tuning next week for the rest!
Please review?