The cliff-hanger is resolved, because there's a wedding to go to.
(The castle actually exists, c17th castle, I've just bigged it up a bit for the story)
Chapter Fourteen
Here you are, living a life day after day.
A week after the summit, where all the facts of the oncoming darkness were revealed, and the heroic actions of the Doctor and his friends were revealed, Dr. John Smith and Rose Tyler were awarded the George Cross for 'acts of the greatest heroism and of the most conspicuous courage in circumstances of extreme danger'.
'That's one to add to the knighthood,' the Doctor had joked.
He was also nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, and it was fairly certain that he would get it. He was as reluctant a hero as he had always been, wanting to just fade into the background and go unnoticed.
'Not much chance of that now Doctor, you're famous,' Rose told him as they sat on the sofa in the lounge. She was watching the TV while the Doctor surfed the internet, looking for a car.
He had agreed to work at Torchwood as a Special Operations Technical Advisor, partnered with Rose (of course). He had a workshop / laboratory where he would tinker with alien tech and create high tech gadgets for Cybus industries, which when marketed would fund the Torchwood Institute.
'I used to have a cracking little canary yellow roadster,' he told Rose. 'Bessie, a Siva Edwardian kit car with lots of 'special' modifications.'
'So whatya lookin' for this time?' she asked him.
'Oh I don't know, something special something tha. . . Oh wow! This is brilliant. I've found it,' he said with an excited grin on his face.
'What? What have you found?' she was laughing at his excitement.
'The only car for a Time Lord, and the company hasn't gone bust in this world! I'm going to get a DeLorian!'
Rose burst out laughing. 'That's perfect, absolutely brilliant. When can we go and get it?' She was as excited as him now.
'I'll give them a call right now and arrange a test drive.'
The next day, they were in the showroom looking over the new DeLorian with 'gull' wing doors open. The sales assistant had volunteered to wedge himself into the small space in the back so that the Doctor and Rose could enjoy the test drive (anything for a sale).
They were hooked as soon as the Doctor pulled off the forecourt and accelerated up the street.
'Ho-ho, this is amazing,' he said as he put the car through its paces.
'Where ya gonna put the 'flux capacitor'?' Rose joked.
The Doctor smiled at her. 'You know there's no such thing Rose. It's a Helmic Regulator you're thinking of.'
'Oh yeah, silly me,' she giggled. In the back, the salesman rolled his eyes.
Having bought the car, the Doctor spent the next few weeks modifying it in the Torchwood vehicle workshop in between 'shouts'. He replaced the onboard computer with a neural-net positronic brain, similar to the one he had in K-9.
Old Bessie had an inertial dampening field generator, and he installed the same in Delores the DeLorian. He could decelerate from 70 to 0 in a fraction of a second and no one inside the car would notice.
Rose loved Delores and enjoyed going out for a drive around London, and on their days off they would drive into the country for picnics. Lately they had started driving around looking for a place of their own.
She had a folder of leaflets on her lap of properties available for sale in the more select areas of London.
'Oh this one's nice,' she said taking out the glossy brochure.
'Let's have a look,' the Doctor said has he took the brochure and started looking through it.
'DOCTOR!' Rose cried as the car headed for a 'T' junction with no one driving.
She watched open mouthed as the car slowed down and stopped at the junction. The right hand indicator flashed and when traffic allowed, the car turned right and continued on its journey.
'You're right, this is really nice. 'Postcode W11', navigate.' He looked over at Rose and saw the open mouthed, stunned look on her face.
'Are you all right? You look like you've seen a Dalek or something,' he said with a laugh.
'Th. . . The. . . The car's drivin' itself,' she observed.
'Yeah, good isn't it? I fitted an array of sensors around Delores and linked them through the GPS to the positronic brain. I only have to give a postcode, OS coordinates or a compass heading and off she goes. She can even do it in fog or at night, and I've got a head up display if I want to drive manually through fog as well.'
Rose flopped back in the seat breathed out. 'You could have warned me.'
'I could have yeah, but where would the fun be in that, eh?' He flashed her his special smile. 'With the TARDIS gone, we have to get our excitement elsewhere.'
Rose laughed and smiled at him fondly. 'You miss her, don't you?'
'The Old Girl was a big part of my life for hundreds of years, I can't deny that. But I've got you now, and that counts for a hell of a lot.' Rose leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.
'Just don't start calling me old girl just yet,' she laughed.
'John, we're in position. What have you got for me? Over,' Rose asked over the headset radio.
'Hang on, just getting the video online now. You should be getting the live feed any second now, over.'
Rose and Jake were either side of a door to an apartment that reminded Rose of her old flat on the Powell estate. They were now getting a view of the inside of the flat displayed on the inside of their combat goggles.
'Can you show us each room in turn please? Over.' Rose asked.
John was in the Mobile Incident Vehicle or M.I.V, controlling the video camera and feeding the data to the agents in the field.
'What was that? Back up, pan left. There he is! Over.'
'We were right, an Absorbaloff from Clom, over,' the Doctor told them.
'Recommendations? Over,' Jake asked him.
'Covert entry with the 'netting' and I'll monitor him for any sign of having detected you, over,' he said.
'Roger that, here we go.' Jake placed a fine metal netting on the door held in place with a sucker in each corner. He nodded to Rose and she pressed a button on her wrist computer.
The door silently dissolved into sawdust with the netting lying on top. Rose and Jake moved quickly down the hallway and took up positions outside the kitchen door.
Rose silently typed a message to the Doctor telling him they were in position.
'Okay Rose, Jake, I've moved the camera above the door. You are seeing the room from your perspective, over' the Doctor told them.
The green, flabby alien was sat with its back to the door.
It was drinking a cup of tea! That looked so incongruous.
Jake placed the netting on the door and stood back, stunner raised ready to fire. Rose held up her hand and counted down her fingers. Three, two, one. The door dissolved and Jake fired. 'Zzapp!'
The alien flinched and then leaped out of the chair to turn and face them. He grabbed a walking cane off the table.
'What is this? Lunch and dessert,' He said with a lecherous look at Rose. 'Zzap!', 'zzap!'. Jake and Rose both fired again with little effect.
'Will you stop that, I'm ticklish,' the alien said as it moved towards them.
'Stunner's ineffective, falling back, over,' Rose called into her headset as they walked backwards down the hallway.
The Doctor was watching through the video feed. 'Rose, the walking cane, use your pistol and shoot the metal tip, over.'
Rose holstered her stunner and took out her Glock 17C, semi automatic and activated the laser sight. 'BLAM!', BLAM!'. The metal ball on the tip of the cane popped and fizzled as sparks flew off it.
'WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?' the alien shouted.
'I've just taken us off the menu,' Rose said with an evil grin. 'Jake, put 'im on ice.' 'Zzap!', the alien fell back with a 'flump' onto the floor.
'John, alien threat neutralized, area secure. Send in the recovery crew. We're standin' down, over.' She walked back towards the kitchen.
'John, did you see the blinds in the kitchen? I think they would look really nice in our kitchen,' she told him. A bluebottle fly buzzed into the room and landed on her shoulder.
'Rose, I don't think a Torchwood operation is the right place to. . . Oh, they are nice, aren't they. Fancy going shopping after we finish our shift?' he asked her.
Rose laughed and headed out of the apartment with Jake as the recovery crew came in. 'We're on our way, see you in a minute.'
In the incident vehicle, the Doctor was parking the micro-surveillance drone on a small disc on the console.
'Well, I think that was a successful field test of the spy-fly,' he said with a self satisfied smile.
Rose climbed in and kissed him on the cheek. 'Yeah, the live feed to the goggles was really useful. We knew exactly where the alien was. I think this little fly is going to be a permanent member of the team.'
Back at Torchwood, the team went through the debriefing and wrote up their reports. The Doctor went up to see Pete before they went off shift.
'Well John, that's another fantastic invention for our Special Operations agents. In the short time that you've been with us, you've improved the operational safety of the missions no end.'
'That's good to hear Pete. I wanted to talk to you about a design I've got for an electric motor, it's a bit of a game changer for the whole planet and I need your business brain to assess the impact.'
'An electric motor? The worlds got thousands of electric motors,' Pete told him.
'Not like this one. We are going to be multi-millionaires. I've already made one and put it in the DeLorian, it runs like a dream.'
'So what's different about this motor then?' Pete was intrigued.
'Firstly it's a superconducting monopolar, Faraday engine. The windings are made of a special alloy, made from 42 different elements blended in a certain way. Cybus industries are producing bales of it as we speak.'
'Don't we already have superconductors?' Pete asked him.
'We do, but this one superconducts in liquid nitrogen, that makes it cheaper. The alloy alone is worth a fortune; combine that with my design for a motor. . . Well, anything that moves will never need fuel again. Airships, trains, cars, boats, hovercrafts, they can all use these motors, as well as domestic appliances, vacuum cleaners, lawn mowers, food processors, fans, anything!'
Pete sat down heavily in his chair. 'Oh my God. This will have an enormous knock on effect on the economy. I'd better call the President.'
The Doctor put his hand on the phone before Pete dialled.
'Pete, this is for the planet, not just for us.'
Pete nodded. 'Understood. You're a good man John, I can see why my daughter fell in love with you.' He gave him his roguish smile and started to dial.
Four years, six months after arriving in Pete's World
(Three months for the Doctor)
The Doctor and Rose sat at the yellow Formica covered table in the fish and chip shop on the Powell estate. It was a day off and he wanted a nostalgic trip down memory lane, and this was one of his favourite memories. Although he was certain he could still feel the sting of Jackie's right hand on his face, even through the void.
'This was a brilliant idea,' Rose told him, biting into a chip. She then had a melancholy thought.
'I wonder if He's havin' chips where he is?' she asked.
'Most definitely, I love Earth chips.' He looked at Rose's face. 'Don't worry about me Rose, I'll be fine. Don't forget that over there, I'm fully Time Lord and don't have human emotions like I do here.'
Rose often got confused when he talked about himself and the 'other' himself as the same person. They were the same person, but which one was he talking about?
'I will be missing you over there, but not like I would here. And I certainly wouldn't do this.' He reached into his jacket pocket and took out a small red box.
Rose looked at the box and then into his eyes, her mouth open.
'Rose, Marion Tyler, would you do me the honour of consenting to be my wife,' he asked her as he opened the box. Rose looked at the gorgeous diamond ring inside the box.
The doctor looked a bit uncertain. 'Or do I just say 'will you marry me'? I'm not too clear on the etiquette.'
'Yes! Yes, definitely yes.' He took the diamond ring out of the box and placed it on her ring finger. She leaned across the table and gave him a long passionate kiss.
The DeLorian whispered to a stop at the front steps of Tyler mansion. They had moved into their own house in Notting Hill a couple of weeks ago, but were visiting tonight because the Doctor had got something important he wanted to ask Pete.
They walked up the steps hand in hand and rang the bell to the side of the front door. They grabbed a quick kiss as the door opened.
'Ah, Dr. Smith and Miss Tyler, what an unexpected pleasure,' Alistair said with a genuine smile. He stood aside so that they could enter.
'Yo! Alistair, Bro'. How's it hangin' my man?' the Doctor said, giving him a low five and brother from the 'hood handshake. 'Is the master of the house in?'
'Yes sir, and Mr. Tyler is also in residence.'
Rose snorted a laugh and the Doctor grinned.
'You should take some Milk of Magnesia for that acid wit of yours Alistair.' The Doctor winked. 'Trust me, I'm a Doctor.'
Alistair was smiling at them fondly. 'They're in the lounge. Do you want me to announce you?' he asked.
'No, that's all right old friend, we'll surprise them,' the doctor replied. Rose kissed Alistair on the cheek as she went past.
They walked into the lounge and Jackie leaped up to hug them, Pete sauntered over and hugged them after Jackie had finished with them.
'Pete, I've got something to ask you, and I think you might be interested as well Jackie,' the Doctor told them. He cleared his throat nervously.
'Peter Tyler, I would like to ask for your daughters hand in marriage.' He looked at Rose and grinned. 'Did I do that one right?'
Jackie squealed, hugged and kissed Rose, and then did the same to the Doctor (which made him a bit uncomfortable). Pete grinned and shook the Doctor's hand. Rose showed them her engagement ring.
'Congratulations old man,' Pete said. 'And yes, you may have my daughter's hand.'
'I was hoping to have the rest of her as well. I have experience of just having the hand,' he held up his right hand and wiggled his fingers, ginning. 'It leads to all sorts of bother.'
'Ugh, it stinks down here,' Rose complained as they trudged through the sewer. 'Can't you come up with a gadget to get rid of smells?'
'No need, this worlds already got one. It's called Oust, and I think I'd be infringing a patent,' the Doctor replied lightly.
Jake was bringing up the rear and laughed at a thought he had just had. 'Anyway, you always come up smellin' of Rose.'
She flashed Jake a smile. 'Shut up!' she said playfully.
'Heads up guys. Adjoining tunnel 20 metres on the left. It's a Weevil, over,' Chrissie informed them from the M.I.V. She was flying the 'spy-fly'.
'Roger that. Getting into position now,' the Doctor replied.
'Zzap!', 'splash'.
'Okay control, we've got him. We're bringing him out, over.
'So Jake, you got your best man speech worked out yet?' Rose asked as they dragged the unconscious alien back to the entrance.
'I'm workin' on it, it's got to be epic for your weddin',' he said with a grin.
'And clean!' the Doctor told him.
'Aw man, that's half my material gone already,' he laughed. They often had friendly banter after a mission, it helped to unwind and let the adrenalin levels return to normal.
'Is Sarah still okay for Saturday? It's the final fitting of the bridesmaids dresses.' Jake nodded.
Chrissie could hear the conversation and cut in. 'I'm still Okay Rose, your place at 11:00 isn't it?'
'That's right; Alice, Gwen and Julia will be there too.'
They got to the ladder that led up to the street and found the 'animal management' crew waiting. They put the Weevil in a sling and hoisted it up into the recovery wagon. It would be transported to Torchwood Three in Cardiff to be sent back through the rift.
They replaced the sewer manhole cover and carefully removed their waders, putting them in the airtight decontamination bin. Once everyone was on board, Jake drove the M.I.V back to Torchwood One.
'Next time we have a sewer search, I want to fly the 'spy-fly',' Rose told them.
'Seniority I'm afraid,' Chrissie said with a smile.
'John, tell her,' Rose said playfully.
'If you don't let me play with the fly, I'm tellin' my Dad,' John said in a child's voice.
Rose slapped his arm. 'Shut up! A fat lot of help you are.'
While they were laughing and teasing each other, Jake called over to them from the cab.
'Hey guys, we've got a building fire up ahead and no emergency services in attendance.'
'Pull over,' Chrissie commanded as she put her radio headset on.
'Mike-India-Victor one to control, respond, over,' she said into the mike.
'Mike-India-Victor one go ahead, over.' It was 'Irish' Stu Sinclair on dispatch.
'We have a fire in what appears to be a flat over some shops. Are emergency services on the way? Over.'
'Irish' had their location from the vehicle transponder showing on his screen.
'Fire engine and snorkel on route. ETA seven minutes, over.'
Just as he announced the time-scale, a woman came stumbling out of a door to the side of the shop front and collapsed on the pavement. Rose grabbed the first aid kit and an oxygen cylinder and ran across the road with the rest of the team.
She knelt down beside the gasping woman and put the mask over her face, turning the cylinder on full.
'My daughter!' she wheezed. 'Holly is still in there! Help her, please, get her out, she's all I've got.'
Rose looked up at the Doctor, her eyes full of concern. He wasn't there. He was already running back to the M.I.V dragging Chrissie with him.
'Power up a fly and get it in there now,' he told her. It was the voice of the 'oncoming storm' and tolerated no question. He grabbed a combat helmet with goggles and two respirator masks that they used when dealing with 'haz-mat' incidents.
He ran back to Rose and the supine woman and knelt on one knee.
'How old is Holly? Where is she?' the Doctor asked her in a clear voice that carried authority.
'Sh. . . [gasp, cough] She's four. She was in her bedroom,' the woman wheezed.
The Doctor stood up and headed for the door, smoke was billowing out now.
'DOCTOR!?' Rose shouted. She was nervous; she never called him that in public. 'What are you doin'?'
'Rose, there's a four year old girl in there. Her name is Holly, and I seriously doubt that she has six minutes.'
Rose kissed him hard on the lips. 'You'd better come back in one piece or there'll be trouble.'
He gave her his Time Lord, 'I'll be fine' grin. Turning and heading for the door, he put on the respirator, then the helmet and disappeared into the smoke.
Pete Tyler was sat at his desk going through the monthly parliamentary report that he had to prepare. He didn't mind too much because it kept Torchwood clean.
The intercom on his desk 'pinged' for his attention.
'Tyler here.'
'Director, it's Stuart Sinclair on dispatch. I thought you might like to know that your daughter's team are in attendance at a house fire. They were first on the scene as they were passing the property.'
Pete got a sudden knot in the pit of his stomach. He knew what they were like, the Doctor and his daughter. If there was trouble or danger, they would be in the middle of it.
'Tell me they haven't done something stupid,' Pete said into the intercom.
'John has entered the building in an attempt to rescue a four year old child.'
'Shit! I knew it. Give me the address, I'm goin' over there.'
He made his way down to the basement car park. "Why do the lifts go slower when you're in a hurry?" he thought to himself. He arrived at the basement and ran out of the lift before the doors had fully opened and headed for his car.
The doors on his BMW detected the key in his pocket and unlocked as he approached. He slipped into the drivers seat and pressed the engine start, immediately flooring the accelerator and screeching towards the exit.
As he followed the satnav instructions, it occurred to him that he didn't know what he could do when he got there. He certainly had no gear or experience for entering a burning building. He could just be there for Rose while they waited for that stupid and incredibly brave alien.
'Chrissie, talk to me, what have you got?' the Doctor asked through the comm-link.
'I'm on thermal imaging at the moment, John it's really hot up here. There's a lot of turbulence from convection currents. Up the stairs, the top three steps turn to the left. The fire is hottest in a room to the right, that appears to be the kitchen, with the living room next to it.'
'Okay, I'm at the top of the stairs and turning left. I can't see a thing through the smoke so I'm relying on the video feed.'
As the Doctor passed a door Chrissie had an idea. 'John! The door on your left is the bathroom. Wet a towel, and if there's a shower, soak yourself.'
'Good idea. Roger that.' He stepped into the smoke filled bathroom, grabbed a large towel, stood in the bath and turned on the shower. When he was thoroughly soaked, he stepped out of the bath.
'John, I've crawled the 'fly' under the door opposite. I'm picking up a single heat source of 37 degrees Celsius, over.'
'Okay, I'm on my way over.' The hallway was full of thick, black smoke. Along the ceiling, he saw the occasional hint of rolling orange flames. He crouched low and moved along the floor to the door opposite. He opened the door quickly, rolled inside and shut the door with his foot.
'Where is she Chrissie,' he asked. The room was smoky but not as bad as outside.
'To the right of the door, over.'
The Doctor looked over and saw a wardrobe. He scurried across the room and listened, there was coughing coming from inside.
'She's shut herself in the wardrobe, you clever girl!' He opened the doors and saw the face of a terrified, four year old girl. She looked like a startled deer caught in the headlights of a car.
'Hello Holly. My name's John and I've come to take you to your mummy. Okay?' he told her. 'Here, put this on.'
He fitted the mask over her face and pressed the purge to give her a blast of fresh air. She started coughing and he picked her up in the wet towel with one arm as she clung to his neck. He went into the hall and saw that the kitchen door was a wall of flame.
'John, the spectrometer on the 'fly' is showing that some of the gases are approaching their flash point, over.'
'Well aren't you just full of good news this afternoon,' he said. That was his 'inner Donna' speaking. He was getting stressed.
Keeping low, he moved along the landing until he heard a cracking noise. He looked up and saw the ceiling collapse in a swarm of yellow embers that looked like a million fireflies dancing in the smoke. The rafters fell into the stairwell and ignited the carpet.
'Oh isn't that just wizard!' 'inner Donna' said out loud.
His Time Lord brain kicked into gear and he immediately knew what he needed to do.
'JAKE! Get the van under the second window, now!' He made his way back into the child's bedroom and shut the door. His uniform and the wet towel were now steaming.
Jake leaped into driver's seat and shouted through the open window. 'ROSE, clear the street. I need to get in front of the building.'
A crowd of people had gathered to see what was going on.
'EVERYONE STAND BACK, NOW!' Rose bellowed at the crowd as the M.I.V moved forwards. The crowd were so stunned that this petité, blonde had a voice that could buckle steel, that they all moved back as one.
'Okay John, I'm under the window, over,' Jake informed him.
'Get on the roof. I'm going to drop her down to you. When I open the window, I won't have much time.'
Jake climbed out of the driver window up unto the roof of the van. Inside, the Doctor sat Holly by the window and moved the wardrobe in front of them. With the doors open, it formed a little 'box' around the window. He hoped it was enough.
'Flash over imminent!' Chrissie announced in his earpiece.
'That kind of information does wonders for my concentration,' he told her as he opened the window. The draft of air drew thick black smoke under the door and started filling the room.
He picked up Holly and sat her on the windowsill. 'You have to trust me Holly, Jake will catch you. Okay?' She was crying and trembling but nodded her head. He picked her up under her arms and held her out of the window. The sounds of sirens were getting closer.
'Ready Jake? Catch.' He let go of the girl. The crowd gasped and held their breath as she dropped out of the window. Jake caught her into an embrace against his chest to cheers and applause, just as there was a 'whump!' and a fireball, blowing glass and debris over the street.
Jake instinctively crouched over the girl to protect her from the falling debris. People screamed as the window blew out, all except for one who screamed 'DOCTOR!?'