Chapter 21
North of Cedar Rapids, Iowa
April 2, 2010
As the plane moved closer to the ground, Jack looked frantically for a place to land. The only good thing about crashing in Iowa was that the place was pretty near flat everywhere. Finally choosing a wheat field, he put the wheels on the ground, knocking tufts of wheat down as they rushed to a stop. Once the forward motion had ended, he took a breath. He wasn't all that worried about dying himself. After all, that would make Grace's job of chopping him up a little much less painful, but he had been worried about his two friends in the back. "You two okay?" Jack cried to the back.
"Just peachy," came Grace's response as she unbuckled herself from her seat and went to check on the still unconscious Rose. "Your friend has a high tolerance for turbulence, though. Still out cold."
"Well, you've ridden with the Doctor, right? If you can't stand turbulence, better not to sail in the Vortex."
"My ride was short and I didn't really pay attention," she responded. "I was a little busy saving the world."
"Been there, done that," Jack quipped back. "Have the T-shirt and mug... and weevils to prove it."
"Oh, don't mention weevils," she berated, unbuckling Rose from her seat. "Hate those things." She pressed the button that would allow the seat to recline, making sure that her patient was relatively comfortable, before going up to the cockpit. "So, where are we and what's the plan?"
Jack looked around. Winter wheat was all around them. "Well, since the wheat is as high as a... um... very large horse's eye, I'm not quite sure. Let me get out and look." He got up and jumped out of the plane. About five minutes later, he was at the end of the field. What he saw in front of him both gave him pause and great relief. "Grace," he called as soon as he was within shouting distance of the plane. "We're in luck."
"Oh?" she questioned, stepping out of the plane to see what he was referring to. Returning with him, she saw a fairly good-sized town cemetery across the road from the wheat field. The grin on Jack's face said everything, causing her to shake her head. "No," she told him bluntly. "Uh-uh. No way."
"You really think any of these good people would have a problem standing up for Earth's freedom if they were alive? I'll just be giving them that opportunity to do so while they're dead. Haven't you ever heard of patriots?"
"Patriots die for their country. They don't die, get dug up, and then get burned in a plane."
"You're thinking too linearly, Grace. Why can't we mix up the timeline a little?"
"Because we live in a linear world. I don't see a TARDIS for miles."
"What's going on here?" came a voice coming up from behind. Rose carefully made her way towards the two people standing at the side of the road, looking at a rather bucolic final resting place for many. Confusion was plain in her eyes. "Jack? Where are we? Who's she? And why are you looking at that cemetery like that?"
"Rose! Good morning!" Jack greeted, going over and giving her a hug. "You seem much better. I want you to meet an old friend of mine. Knows the Doctor as well. Grace Holloway, meet Rose Tyler. Rose, this is Dr. Grace Holloway, cardiac surgeon extraordinaire and probably the only person to inadvertently push the Doctor into regeneration."
"One little mistake and he blackmails you with it for the rest of your life. Besides, I seriously doubt that I'm the only one who ever accidentally caused the Doctor to regenerate."
Rose put her hand up. "Guilty as charged."
"See? Told you," Grace taunted Jack with a knowing grin. She extended her hand to Rose. "And it is a pleasure to really meet you. You weren't exactly... coherent when we first met. How are you feeling now?" She immediately went into "doctor mode," as Jack would call it, examining her for any signs of residual trauma.
"Fine," Rose replied, her voice uncertain as she allowed the physician to examine her.
"Do you remember what happened?"
The young woman blinked. "I remember being in the airport with Jack and then... it gets a bit fuzzy after that."
"You were terrified. I had to put you out cold. You don't remember what was upsetting you so badly?"
Rose's eyes widened slightly as she thought. "I remember being scared of being hurt but I don't know why. I just... I really wanted to get away from something."
Jack looked at his friend. "Well, maybe it's a good thing you can't remember. I know I've had a few of those situations myself." He explained to Rose the dilemma. "We have a madman... well, mad Gallifreyan, which is much worse... ready to take over the world. Unlike any human megalomaniac, if he has all the right cards, he can actually do it. So... to keep him off our trail, we need to make his mindless zombies think we're dead. Hence, the dilemma." He then pointed to the cemetery. "And I want to give these good people the chance to really do something heroic with their unlives. Grace thinks I'm being a monster. What do you think?"
Rose blinked at him for a long moment before frowning. "Wait a minute... What's this about a mad Gallifreyan?" She paused, her concern growing. "Has something happened to the Doctor? And what's any of this got to do with a cemetery in the middle of... wherever we are?"
"Iowa," Jack supplied. "As to the Doctor, last I knew he was in Peru and planning on saving Sir Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart from certain death. All I can say is I hope he's all right." He paused once more. "However, if we stay here much longer, we won't be. Now, are you two going to help me retrieve some bodies or do I have to do this myself?"
"Bodies?" Rose questioned.
"Jack wants to go grave robbing," Grace explained bluntly.
"Why?"
"So he can blow up the plane and not have to sacrifice his own body parts." The doctor thought about her own words for a moment, remembering what the alternative was to the immortal man's suggestion. "Jack? Where are the shovels?"
"What?!" Rose exclaimed, following the two into the graveyard. "You... you can't just... dig up... That's just sick! Why are we blowing up the plane? You're telling me the Doctor's gone mad and then you talk about exploding planes, sacrificing body parts, grave robbing..."
Jack looked around and saw some of the tools next to a recently covered grave. Retrieving them, he explained. "Not the Doctor, Rose. Another Gallifreyan. And of all the Gallifreyans to come back, the Master is the one I wouldn't want to have brought back for a sequel."
"You mean... the Doctor isn't the last of his kind after all?"
"What does she mean, 'the last of his kind'?" Grace questioned with a frown, taking a shovel from Jack.
"That's what he told me," Rose explained. "The Doctor said that there were no more Time Lords, that he's the only one because of a war." Her voice softened as she remembered the look on her first Doctor's face - the one with a leather jacket and blue eyes - when he admitted to being the last Time Lord in existence. Shaking her head to clear the image, she refocused on the current situation. "Jack, what are you doing? These bodies were people! They had families and... we should treat them with respect! Why are you doing this?"
"Because, if we don't, that other Gallifreyan is going to take over the world. Try to understand this, Rose. You know how great the Doctor is? How absolutely brilliant? And deep down good?" When she nodded, he continued, "Now consider someone that is about as opposite of the Doctor as you can get... only equally as brilliant. Do you really want to have to swear your allegiance to someone who finds the idea of tearing wings off flies as practice for bigger and better things?"
"Okay," she said with a nod. "I get it. Master equals bad. But how does defiling graves prevent him from taking over the world?"
"We need the bodies to be us so he can blow up the plane," Grace said with a grunt as she dug.
"And why is Jack blowing up the plane?"
"So they'll think we're dead," Jack finished, taking another shovelful.
"Okay, so they'll think we're dead. I'm assuming that we want them, whoever they are, to think we're dead because they're after us, yeah? Then what?"
"Back to the project. We have to stop Al. He's the linchpin." He dug a few more shovelfuls and hit something. "Pay dirt!"
Rose rubbed her face, starting to wonder if she were still unconscious and this was all some twisted sick dream she was having while she and Jack were waiting for that flight out of Chicago. She really wished he'd wake her.
"Okay. This one's a woman. It's you, Grace. Now we need to find a couple of men." Jack pulled the body up to the surface before refilling the grave to reduce the appearance of grave robbing.
"Just what I always wanted to look like," the cardiologist replied. "Rose, since you aren't busy, mind taking me to the plane?"
The younger woman looked between them for a moment. "You're sick! You're both sick!" She started walking away from them. "I really want to wake up now."
"Rose," Grace called after her. "I've seen the Master. I know what he's capable of and, if you think this is sick, just wait. If he gets his claws on Earth, we're doomed. I may not like Jack's plan, but I know it's the best of all possible evils, especially since it means I don't have to amputate body parts."
"Listen, lady," Rose countered, turning back towards her. "The last thing I remember, Jack and I were waiting for a flight from Chicago to Albuquerque just so that I could go back to this project he's at. He certainly didn't mention anything about any insane previously-thought-dead Time Lords out to take over the Earth. Next thing I know, I wake up in a plane and step out and you two are robbing graves for bodies to replace us! Forgive me if I'm a little out of my element right now but, from where I'm standing, everything suddenly went pear-shaped and I don't have a fruit basket!"
Jack hadn't been listening and crowed at finding another body. "Eureka!"
"The Doctor says that means 'my shoes are too tight,'" Rose commented.
Jack pulled himself out of the gravesite. "It's a guy. About my height. Not nearly as good looking, but then he's obviously been dead awhile."
"Think I found the third one. About the right height for that handsome aura around Rose," Grace stated, ignoring the leapee's comment about Jack's choice of exclamations. "Grave robbing is done?"
"Yep. First we need to fill in these other two graves and then slog them back to the plane and then, voila! We set the plane on fire and get the heck out of Dodge."
"Thought you said we were in Iowa, not Kansas," came Rose's sarcastic reply.
Grace shook her head. "She's a friend of yours, all right." Pulling herself out of the grave, she got a firm grip on the body she'd dug up. "Let's get this over with. I may have seen my share of dead bodies but this is closer than I've ever wanted to be to one."
"Yeah. Try waking up in a pile of them someday," Jack stated as he threw the other two bodies over his shoulders. As he did, one of the heads fell off. "Rose, can you get that?"
"No!" she exclaimed, shying as far away as she could from the fallen body part. "I'm sorry, Jack. End of the world or not, you are not making me carry rotting body parts!"
"Fine. I'll just have to come back. Sheesh!" He and Grace continued on towards the plane with their load, leaving Rose in the middle of the cemetery with a disembodied head.
Rose grimaced, trying to avoid the sight by looking up into the sky. In the distance, she could see tiny dots in the distance approaching quickly. For a moment, she thought that maybe they were birds but... didn't birds usually fly in large flocks? Realizing that since they couldn't be birds - they had to be planes - she gritted her teeth. "Eww!" she whined, knowing that she needed to act if they were going to get away before they were discovered. "I'm so going to regret this." Deciding that it was probably best to do it quickly, she snatched up the disembodied head and went into a run towards the plane. "Jack!" she shouted as she ran. "Planes! And they don't look commercial!"
Jack and Grace had just finished putting the bodies in the plane when they heard Rose. Jack looked up. "Dammit, I was hoping we had more time." The aircraft were obviously in search mode and wouldn't take long to find them.
Tossing the head at her friend, Rose yelled, "Don't ever make me do that again! And hurry up! They're going to be over us any second!"
Jack caught the head in his hand and tossed it into the plane. "You're right but we do have a little time. They don't know where we are exactly."
"I still say we need to get the hell out of here," Rose said tightly.
"When she's right, she's right. You two need to get away from here. There's going to be a very big bang in a moment."
Rose and Grace obeyed, running low through the wheat field and into the nearest collection of trees. They waited with baited breath as Jack took part of the clothing that had been on one of the corpses and put it down the gas tank, getting it wet with fuel. Then, lighting it with his lighter as if it were a fuse, he ran to be with the two women before the plane blew up.
"Okay... plane's been blown up," Rose noted. She glanced at the fighter planes in the sky a distance away. "And they've definitely seen the explosion. Now what?"
"Run." He gave her a broad smile. "Just like old times."
Grace nodded. "Oh, yeah."
Despite everything, Rose couldn't help but return Jack's infectious grin.
DWQLTWDWQLTW
Halloman Air Force Base
Six miles from Alamagordo, New Mexico
April 2, 2010
The halitosis cursed programmer pulled into the parking lot outside of the motor corps building on Halloman Air Force Base. He figured these guys could point him in the direction of the Engineering building where he could find an electrician to discuss getting the power back on at Project Quantum Leap. As he walked into the building, he could hear a radio blaring in the background.
"In other news, Harold Saxon has announced that he is coming back to the United States and will be stopping in Albuquerque. When asked, he said he just loved the Land of Enchantment and couldn't wait to give them the bang up gift he has planned for them. I guess we'll just have to wait to find out what he has in store for our fair state. Now to the weather..."
Gooshie stood in the room, putting his hand to his forehead. He didn't know why but things seemed different somehow.
"Can I help you, sir?" a man in a blue uniform asked, approaching him with a frown.
"Um... Yeah. I need to find the Engineering building. I have a problem that I need to discuss with them."
The airman gave him a smile. "Let me give you a lift. I'll be going by there myself." He escorted the programmer to a Jeep.
It was a short drive to the Engineering building and Gooshie gave his thanks before the driver went on his way. He walked into the building and to the receptionist. She was listening to a radio. Again, he had a rather strange feeling. Shaking it off, he asked, "Hi. I'm Dr. Shlomo Gushman. I'd like to see someone that does electrical work."
The receptionist asked a few questions about why he needed to talk with the person and then told him to have a seat and that someone would be out to see him soon.
Gooshie smiled and sat in the waiting room, listening to the radio in the background. "Harold Saxon. Amazing what he's doing," he said to himself.
A few minutes later, an Air Force officer stepped out of the office. "Dr. Gushman?" he questioned. Gaining a nod from the older man, he presented his hand. "Lieutenant Commander Peter Reeves. What can I do for you?" He guided Gooshie into the office. Once again, a radio was playing in the background.
Gooshie explained his dilemma. When he was finished an electrician was assigned get the project system up and running again.
"I hope the Lieutenant will be able to solve your power problems," Lt. Cmdr. Reeves told him. He gave a little laugh. "We certainly don't want you to miss any of Mr. Saxon's speeches, do we? If it were up to me, he'd be our Commander in Chief, not the President."
Gooshie nodded. "I don't think it will be too difficult for an amendment to the constitution to allow that. It's such an antiquated law to prevent foreign born citizens to take on that role."
"Just forget the constitution," Reeves agreed.
"Yeah. I guess that would work as well. After all, Mr. Saxon only has our best interest at heart."
"Absolute truth there, brother." Reeves extended his hand to him. "Well, good luck. I'm sure we'll see each other again, Doctor." He turned to the Lieutenant assigned to the task. "You take good care of our brother here, Lewis."
The Lieutenant nodded. "Will do. We'll have them up and running before you know it." Lewis guided Gooshie to his car and allowed him to take the lead as they headed back to Project Quantum Leap.
DWQLTWDWQLTW
Lima, Peru
June 2009
The young woman carefully peeked out of the alley, checking both directions before running up the derelict street, an assault rifle close to her chest. She had to get to the Palace to accomplish her mission. She was the only one who ever came so close to the Heart. Quite literally everyone was depending on her. But as she ran towards the large building, the one in the city protected with an enormous dome of energy, she could sense the danger behind her. She searched all directions for safe cover and found none.
"Where are you going, little one?" a male voice taunted her from above, causing her to gasp in shock as she looked up. She recognized the large platform-like ship instantly. He was on it. If He knew about the plan to destroy the Heart, then it was all over. "Well, well, well. Look who we have here?" A man dressed in a black suit appeared in holographic form in front of her. "You are very hard to find, little miss. And I've so been looking forward to meeting you. You're quite the little trouble-maker, aren't you?"
"You've got me confused with someone else, Master."
"Oh, I'm so glad you didn't call me Saxon. That's my wife's name, not mine. Then again, she is looking for a new name." He tilted his head slightly. "And I know you very well. The legendary young woman who calls herself Caladfwlch . How self-righteous of you."
"I don't know what you're talking about. Caladfwlch is an outlaw with a price on her head. I'm just a loyal subject to the true king."
"Oh, I'm sure you are," came the sardonic reply. "I happen to have said king on board. Wouldn't you like to see him again?"
She blinked. "You can't. That's impossible," she weakly argued, the thought sickening her.
"Better yet... how about we just have him see you?" The Master looked over the teenager for a moment. "Yes. I think that suits me very well." Clicking his fingers, the hologram seemed to shimmer for a moment as the Time Lord teleported to the surface of the planet, three soldiers surrounding the young woman. A small flat object flew out from the belly of the platform, stopping just in front of Caladfwlch . "Smile for the camera, little girl. You do want him to have a good picture of you, don't you?"
She looked at the flying object, seeing a lens push out from its bottom. "Who's looking at me?" she asked afraid of what this meant.
"Your king, of course." The Master drew a sword from his belt. "Such a primitive weapon but oh so satisfying." He twirled the sword in his hand before lunging it towards her.
Glad screamed, sitting up in bed with wide terrified eyes. Her eyes were fixed forward, the fear she had felt at seeing the death of Caladfwlch.
Doris rushed into the room, Sir Alistair behind her. "What is it, dear?"
"He... he killed her and the king was watching and..." A hard sob escaped her lips. "It was horrible!"
Moving closer to the girl and sitting on the edge of her bed, the woman held the terrified girl in a hug. "You were dreaming, Glad. That's all it was. A dream."
Sir Alistair stated, "Sounds more like a nightmare."
Glad accepted Doris' hug at first, crying in her shoulder before pushing her away. "The Doctor!" she suddenly exclaimed, quickly getting out of the bed and running downstairs before the two could stop her. Hurrying into the living room, she pulled the TARDIS key from around her neck and unlocked the timeship. Then, rushing to her prone friend, she sat beside him, her legs pulled up to her chest under her nightgown.
Alistair and Doris watched as she got up and headed down the stairs, following after her quickly. As she entered the TARDIS, Alistair took a breath. From what he understood, the Gallifreyan was currently healing and the likelihood that a teenage girl would help was, in his opinion, thin and none. He followed after her. "Now, see here, Galadriel. You really must allow..." He stopped in mid-sentence, seeing his friend lying still and pale at the base of some contraption. "Oh. This wasn't what I expected."
She blinked up at him, confusion on her face. "What do you mean?"
"He looks so..." the man paused. "...dead. You sure he's not about to regenerate?"
"Don't say that!" she shouted at him, fury in her voice. "The Doctor isn't dead! He isn't!"
"I didn't say he was. Only that he looks it at the moment."
Glad just gave him a glare before turning her head back to the Doctor's prone form. "He's going to be fine. He just needs rest."
"Yes." Alistair looked at the young girl. "You need your rest as well."
"I'm staying here," she said stubbornly.
"If, as you say, he needs to rest in this... um... position... then it would be best if you let him do so without interruption."
"He's not going to wake up simply because I'm sitting beside him," she countered.
"You never know. The Doctor seems to surprise us regularly." He paused. "Even those of us who have known him for many years."
She hesitated, her eyes still on the Gallifreyan. "But... he needs me. I have to protect him."
"I think, if I understood him correctly, that the TARDIS will watch over him."
"Not if the Black Lord walks in here, she can't," she whispered, fear tinting her voice.
"The Black Lord..." Alistair started. He wasn't sure but this sounded very much like a fantasy world that the girl somewhat "lived in," based on her statements earlier. "I very much doubt that would happen. I may not know much about the TARDIS but I do know that, once he's here, there is nothing that can get to him unless he lets it in."
Glad seemed uncertain about the Brigadier's words even as a sense of well-being flittered through her from someplace, though she wasn't sure from where. Sighing slowly, she returned her gaze to the old gentleman. "You are a fine knight. You won't let anything happen to him while he's here." Slowly, she stood up. "I just... I feel better if I know he's safe."
"As do I, child." He looked down at the sleeping man. "I do hope he is better soon. I have a great deal I need to speak with him about."
"I'm not a child," she protested. "I'm fully capable of bearing children."
The Brigadier blinked. "Well, let's hope that doesn't happen anytime soon."
"You don't want me to have children? But... I'd be an old maid if I don't find a husband soon. You know, you sound an awful lot like Sam. He doesn't think I should marry either. Thinks I'm too young. How am I supposed to find a husband and have children if I don't start looking soon?"
"Sam again," Alistair stated with great patience. "Well, if nothing else, you're not going to start on that project tonight. I think that Doris is likely concerned and we've been in here for quite some time. Why don't you go out with me?"
Glad rolled her eyes slightly. "Of course, I'm not going to go looking for a husband tonight. That would be completely ridiculous, especially with the Doctor and Sam being hurt. I've got responsibilities to tend to." She took a breath, noting his suggestion. "I'm just going to say good night to the Doctor first." Crouching down, she kissed the cold Time Lord's cheek before walking out of the TARDIS with the retired military man. Stopping for a moment, she made sure that the time ship was closed and locked then turned to her hosts. "I'm sorry I disturbed your sleep. I was just worried about him."
"I completely understand. I've been there myself."
Doris walked out of the kitchen as she heard voices. "Glad, dear... are you still... upset? From your dream?"
"I'm okay now. Being near the Doctor helped," she replied softly. "I thought he was hurt. I had to see for myself that he was okay. But..." The young woman shivered slightly. "I don't think I can go back to sleep."
Doris smiled. "That's why I have some milk warming on the stove. It should help you relax again."
Glad grimaced slightly. "Warm milk usually has gone off. It's only good for making butter."
"Not if it's freshly warmed, dear."
"You mean you cook milk?" Her face brightened slightly. "Like hot chocolate! Sam makes this drink that's sweet and he calls it hot chocolate. Hot chocolate and biscuits?"
"Well... I'm sure we can find a little 'Abuelita' in the cupboards." At the look on the girl's face, Doris clarified. "Used to make Spanish hot chocolate." She continued thinking. "And biscuits. Yes. I have a tin in the pantry."
"Spanish hot chocolate? What's Spanish?"
"It's a culture. We live in Peru, after all."
"And Peru is where the Spanish live," the girl concluded.
"Well, many from that culture, yes. However, Peru is a multi-cultural country."
"So... you have lots of different kinds of people here. Where do the Spanish come from?" she questioned as she followed Doris into the kitchen.
"Well, originally from Spain. That's why they call the culture 'Spanish.'"
"And where's Spain?" She sat down at the table as Doris went through the cupboards for the brand named chocolate mix.
Alistair had followed the two into the kitchen. "Youngsters now days. Don't they teach them geography anymore?"
"What's geography?"
"I've heard of cutting educational costs but this is just criminal," Alistair stated.
"Hey, I'm educated!" she protested. "I know how to sew and cook. I know how to milk cows and toil the soil. And I know how to read. The Doctor and Sam taught me that. They say that I'm a natural."
"So you grew up in rural England and not a larger city. It's still wrong that the school system is not providing a proper education. Where do all those taxes go?"
"What's a school system?"
Alistair dropped into his chair. "You've never been to school? Home taught then?"
"Well, where else would you get taught anything? It's not like we had any scholars in my village. Only nobility have scholars to teach them things." She noted the tin of biscuits that Doris put on the table and reached for one. "I really like biscuits. Never had them until the Doctor introduced them to me. They're really good."
"I take it your parents were rather strict with the treats then," Doris said with a smile. She looked over to Alistair. "Sounds like she might be from southern Wales. They have not had a robust economy of late."
"What's Wales? Isn't that the animal that swims in the ocean? Sam told me something about them."
The two older people looked at each other. Alistair shrugged. "I guess the Doctor took her with him to right another wrong. Poor child."
She frowned, looking between them. "You think I'm stupid. I can see that easily. But I'm not."
Doris put her hand out, taking her forearm. "Oh, no, Glad. We don't think you're stupid at all. If you haven't been given the tools to learn, it would be expected that you might not know. That's what my husband is saying. The Doctor takes such injustices personally and so it's not a surprise that he'd want to help you."
She blinked at them, confusion on her face. "I don't understand. How haven't I been given tools? Is this the school you were talking about? Did you learn how to read in the school?" She smiled slightly. "I'll have to remember to suggest that to His Majesty then next time we visit."
Again thinking the girl had gone onto a flight of fancy, Doris smiled. "Of course, dear. I'm sure he would be quite grateful. Now drink your hot chocolate. It will help you sleep."
Hearing what wasn't said in Doris' tone, Glad sighed in frustration. "No one ever believes me." She picked up the mug and sipped at the drink. "I wish Sam were here. He'd tell you I don't ever lie. That's a sin."
The Brigadier, seeing the girl's frustration, answered, "We don't think you're lying. Only that you have a wondrous imagination."
"You think I'm touched by the Devil," she translated. "That's worse."
"Not at all. You wouldn't be with the Doctor if that were so," the older man answered diplomatically.
"Sure. You're just saying that. You think I make things up or that I don't have my mind anymore, that I imagine things that aren't there." She took another drink of her chocolate before nibbling on a biscuit. "You think it, that Mr. Brigadier guy thinks it... But I'm not making up anything!"
"Of course," Doris answered. "Now, you want to be rested when the Doctor is well again, so don't upset yourself. A good night's sleep will make everything better."
Glad gave her a slight look before shaking her head, finishing her drink quickly before standing up abruptly. "Thank you for the chocolate and biscuits, Mrs. Doris. I appreciate your kindness." Her tone showed that, even though she was still upset with their lack of belief in her words, she was honestly grateful for their hospitality.
"You are quite welcome." Doris picked up the dishes and put them in the sink, planning to take care of them the next day. "Well, let's back to bed."
"Yes," she agreed. "Good night, Sir Alistair. My lady." She curtseyed appropriately and left the kitchen to go back up to the guest bedroom.
Alistair watched as the girl left the room. "Strange young lady," he commented once he was certain she was out of earshot.
"She was certainly entertaining while everyone had gone after you. She kept my mind off of constant worry." Doris wrapped her arms around her husband. "I'm so thankful the Doctor and his friend Rose went after you, Alistair. I don't know what I would have done if..." She trailed off, not being able to voice what might have happened.
Hearing the tremble in her voice, Alistair held her gently. "There now, dear. No need to get yourself worked up over something that didn't happen."
"I know. But for five days I didn't know what was going to happen. I guess I'm still a bit worked up from then."
"Everything is going to be all right," he assured her. "The Doctor is recovering in his own unique way, Rose is being well cared for at UNIT HQ, and I'm perfectly fine. Now I suggest that you follow your own advice and get some sleep." He guided her out of the kitchen and slowly up the stairs towards their room.
"Yes, dear." As she walked up the stairs in front of him, she suddenly stopped and turned. "I love you." The words were said with feeling as she reached out and cupped his face.
"And I love you," Alistair replied with a genuine smile. He brushed a strand of hair from her face before leaning in and giving her a gentle kiss. "Come now. To bed," he instructed.
Doris nodded and continued up the stairs and into their bedroom, thankful once more that her husband was beside her.
Caladfwlch – pronounced Kah-lahd-voo-l-ch (the ch is pronounced as in Bach)