Chapter 14: Allies.

I jolted awake when I felt someone pull the duvet up over me. Instinctively, I scrambled away from the foreign hands, and looked up to find Jenny's worried face.

"You've been gone for hours. They wanted me to come and check on you," she whispered.

I sighed heavily, and pulled my fingers through my hair roughly. "Did the evacuation go alright?"

She nodded. "We've landed just a few miles northwest of London. A few of the other countries have contacted us. It looks like we're planning a mass attack on the city."

That jerked me fully back into awareness. "Who's with us?"

She shrugged. "China, America, Japan…it looks as if most of the world is sending in aide now that it's been confirmed that the Sycorax are sending in additional invaders."

My anger flared. "Of course. That's the only reason they would care."

Jenny gave a slight smile and sat down beside me. "Dad is really worried about you." Her voice was timid. It was as if she was worried I was going to be angry she brought the subject up. "He wanted to come find you, but Don and James told him no."

"Smart lads," I commented dryly.

Her eyes were wide. "Are you really that angry with 'im?"

I glanced at her anxious expression, and a pang of sympathy touched my heart. Despite the fact that I wasn't technically her biological mother, Jenny still viewed both the Doctor and I as her parents. I remembered what it had been like to see my parents fighting when I'd gone back in time to see my dad. It had been awful. I'd felt so powerless watching them yell horrible things to each other. They were supposed to love each other no matter what. That's the ideal, anyway. To any child, it was always their two parents against the world.

I gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry about it love. It'll be okay."

Jenny didn't look convinced. "But you both look so sad and I don't understand why. You're together, you love each other, aren't you happy?"

I swallowed down the lump in my throat. Despite her appearance, Jenny was still so young. "It's not that simple, Jenny."

"Why not?" she demanded.

"Because." I pursed my lips. "Because…it's just not. I'm different from the last time we saw each other, and Dad doesn't like people who are like me." My voice took on a bitter note at the end.

Her brow furrowed. "That's not what he told me."

I raised an eyebrow. "Oh? What'd he say?"

She swallowed. "Just that he knows you've had a hard time here, and he understands why you are the way you are now."

"Does he." My tone was dry again—detached. I stared into the space in front of me, but I didn't really see anything.

I jumped when I felt Jenny snuggle up against me. She placed her head against my shoulder. "I'm scared, Mum."

I blinked, not quite sure what to do for a moment. I'd long given up the idea of ever having children of my own, though I had once hoped for the prospect. It just seemed cruel to bring such young, innocent things into such a harsh world.

"Why?" I heard myself ask.

She sniffed. "When they were talking about the attack, Dad had an idea. Since the Sycorax have travelled worlds so many times, we could use the Dimension Cannon to open the void and suck them in. Just like you two did at Canary Wharf."

I froze, and the horror of that idea caused my mind to shut down. What if something went wrong? What if one of us got pulled in? What if I lost one of them? How could I cope with that? Because no matter how much I wanted to deny it, I cared for Jenny. I didn't quite see her as my daughter, not now, but I could if given the time. And I wanted that chance, I wanted to know her. What if that all went away in a blinding flash of white walls?

I shook myself back into the present. "That sounds like a terrible plan, but I s'pose it's all we've got."

She nodded. "They all seemed to think so."

I found myself stroking her hair soothingly. "What do you think?"

Jenny pulled in a shaky breath. "I think that it could work. But it's so ridiculously dangerous. Dad would have to get back to where they keep all the stabilizers for the Cannon to disrupt the feed, which means he'll have to be right where to pull is strongest." Her voice wobbled. "I don't want anything to happen to him. Or you…or me," she added herself as an afterthought.

"Hey." I squeezed her shoulders. "I'm never going to let anything happen to you. Either of you. I promise."

"Really?" she asked.

I nodded. "Really. Now, what'd yah say we go back to everyone else?"

She heaved a sigh, and stood up slowly. "Yeah, okay."

The whole ship was alive with a flurry of activity. Everyone was rushing about to attend to some task or another. Jenny and I made our way to the bridge, where the hectic energy seemed to calm, though only just barely.

"I've heard the news," I announced as soon as I set foot on the bridge. "How many allies 'ave we got?"

Maybelle pursed his lips. "We have the support of over fourteen countries. They're flying to us as fast as they can. We should be able to take action within the hour."

I nodded. "Good. Has a land base been acquired yet?"

Stone nodded. "We're taking all nonessential personnel there now."

I glanced back towards Jenny, and my eyes met the Doctor's. "I don't like your plan."

He swallowed. "No, didn't think you would."

"What'll happen after the walls are ripped open again?" I asked.

The Doctor gave a tired sigh. "I'll have to close them again. Just like last time. Only this time I'll make sure their closed for good."

I nodded. "Good." I turned back to Stone and Maybelle. "Any ideas on where the stabilizers are?"

"I used the sonic to trace the Cannon's signal back to its source." The Doctor tossed the small device into the air carelessly. "Shame we have to destroy such a fine piece of work, really. I wish I knew how they were able to come up with such an ingenious design."

My lips twitched in spite of the anger I still held towards him. Different me, same old Doctor, I thought to myself. "Okay, what's the plan, how're we getting in?"

"Maybelle and I will be taking one of the planes back to Torchwood Tower, the source of the signal according to the Doctor. We'll land on the roof, and then escort him down inside. Neither of us has ever travelled across dimensions before, so we should be safe." James shrugged.

"Well you got part of that right," I said. "Neither of you has, but neither of you will be going with him. It has to be me."

"And me," Jenny put in.

All of us turned on her. "Absolutely not!" the Doctor said in a firm tone. "And neither can you, Rose. It's not safe—it's better if these two come. They can hold me down so the void can't suck me in."

I let out a sharp laugh. "What, you think you can jus' leave me behind? Again? No chance in hell. I'm coming. But you are right about one thing. Jenny's not going."

"And why not?" she demanded.

Both of us turned to give her a hard stare. "Because you're my daughter and we said so," the Doctor told her.

"Exactly. What he said." I kept my tone firm.

She grumbled to herself, but backed down for the moment. I could tell the argument was far from over, though, and leaned in to whisper into Don's ear. "Don't let her near the fighter jets."

He nodded. "Got it, Boss."

One of the crew members swiveled on his chair to face us. "There's a message." He held his listening device away from his ear. "It's the allies," he said. "They're here."