Just One Second
Summary: What if in Doomsday, the leaver on the Doctor's side turned off? Now that the Doctor is in Pete's World, Rose Tyler must continue to save the universe without him along with her newest companion, Martha Jones. AU of Series 3 with Rose.
Disclaimer: Again; I do not own Doctor Who...
Songs for the chapter:
- Battle of the Heroes (Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith soundtrack)
- The Dream of a Normal Death (Doctor Who: series 3 soundtrack)
- Smith's choice (Doctor Who: series 3 soundtrack)
Chapter 20: The Family of Blood: Part 2….
Lilly hated violence. Actually she loathed it. But here she was, standing with the boys, holding a gun and preparing herself for the oncoming attack. The headmaster was ordering the boys when the scarecrows started to bang on the door. The boys aimed the guns towards the door, along with Lilly and the wooden bar which blocked the door broke and the scarecrows entered in packs.
"Fire!" the headmaster ordered and everyone who had a gun, fired at the scarecrows who fell down after a few minutes.
"Cease fire!" The headmaster barked before he carefully walked up to a scarecrow and moved it with his foot. Out came…. straw? "They're straw. Like he said. Straw!"
Hutchison turned to Lilly, confused. "The no one's dead, ma'am? We killed no one?" he asked.
Lilly bit her lip when the sounds of footsteps came through the courtyard. Martha and Michael were watching inside. That was when they saw a little girl with blonde hair, holding a red balloon. Martha ran outside to join Lilly and Michael followed her.
"You child, come out of the way. Come into the school. You don't know who's out there. It's the Cartwright girl, isn't it? Come here. Come to me," The headmaster said softly but the girl didn't respond.
"Mr Rocastle, please. Don't go near her!" Martha begged.
The headmaster turned to Martha and glared. "You were told to be quiet!" he snapped.
"Listen to me! She's part of it! Dr Johnson, tell him," Martha said to Michael.
Michael nodded. "I think you should stay back, Headmaster."
Martha turned to Lilly. "Miss Smith!"
"She was with Baines in the village," Lilly added.
The headmaster directed his glare to Lilly. "Miss Smith, I've seen many strange sights this night but there is no cause on God's earth that would allow me to see this child in the field of battle, ma'am," he then turned to the little girl. "Come with me."
The little girl just looked blankly at the headmaster. "You're funny."
The headmaster nodded, still holding out his hand. "That's right. Now take my hand."
"So funny," the little girl repeated before she reached into her coat and pulled out a gun. She then shot the headmaster who vanished into thin air. The little girl looked at the students and Lilly. "Now who's going to shoot me…. any of you, really?" she asked, giving them a pointed look that was impressive for a ten year old girl.
Lilly paused before she lowered the rifle. "Put your guns down," she told the boys.
Hutchison looked at Lilly as if she was mad. "But ma'am…"
"I'll not see this happen. Not anymore. You will retreat...in an orderly fashion back through the school. Hutchinson, lead the way. Now!" Lilly barked and the boys left and went inside the school, Lilly grabbed Michael's and Martha's hands before running, distinctly hearing Baines ordering his scarecrows to attack.
….
Lilly, Martha and Michael managed to escape after telling the boys where to retreat. They were now hiding in the woods when Mr Clarke's voice called through the trees.
"ROSE! OH ROSE!" he yelled making Martha stiff and Lilly confused when they saw him standing near the Tardis with two scarecrows on either side. "Come back, Rose. Come home. Come and claim your prize."
Baines stood next to the older man. "Out you come, Rose! There's a good girl. Come to the Family."
"Time to end it now!" Jenny added in a taunting voice.
Martha turned to Lilly who looked at it with wide eyes. "You recognise it, don't you?" she asked softly.
Lilly shook her head. "I've never seen it before in my life."
"Come out, Rose! Come out!" Jenny shouted.
Martha bit the inside of her lip. "Do you remember its name?"
Michael sighed. "I'm sorry Lilly, but you wrote about it. The blue box. You dreamt of a blue box."
Lilly shook her head, her eyes filling with unshed tears. "I'm Lilly Smith. That's all I want to be. I want to be Lilly Smith with her life, and her job, her and her love. Why can't I be Lilly Smith? Isn't she a good woman?" she asked Michael, her voice breaking.
Michael nodded. "Yes. Yes, she is."
"Then why can't I say?" Lilly asked quietly.
Martha looked at Lilly pityingly. "But we need Rose."
Lilly looked at Martha. "So what am I? A story?" she snapped before she ran off, leaving Martha and Michael there for a moment before they followed Lilly. None of them heard Baines telling his 'family' that they were close to get a Time Lord's life span.
….
Ten minutes later of running later and Lilly, Martha and Michael stopped in a clearing in the woods to get their bearings.
"This way. I think I know somewhere we can hide," Michael told them, pointing in a direction.
Lilly shook her head. "We've got to keep going," she protested.
Michael sighed and gave Lilly a look. "Just for one time Lilly, listen to me would you?" he asked before he led the way.
….
Michael led the group running to what looked like an abandoned cottage.
"Here we are," he said, gasping heavily for breath. "It should be empty. Boy… it's a long time since I've run that far."
"But who lives here?" Martha asked.
Michael continued to breath heavily. "If I'm right, then no one," he replied before he knocked on the door and walked into an quiet cottage. "Hello! No one home. We should be safe here."
Martha looked around while Lilly sat down on a chair. "Whose is it though?"
Michael looked nervous. "Um, the Cartwrights. That little girl at the school-she's Lucy Cartwright, or she's taken Lucy Cartwright's form. If she came home this afternoon and if the parents tried to stop their little girl, then they were vanished," he said softly before putting his hand on a teapot that was on the table. "It's stone cold."
Lilly looked at the two of them. "I have to go to them. Before anyone else dies," she whispered.
Michael shook his head before he sat down next to Lilly. "You can't. Martha, there must be something we can do."
Martha repeated Michael's previous actions. "Not without the watch."
Lilly glared at Martha which made her flinch. "You're this Rose Tyler's companion, aren't you?" she snarled. "Can't you help? What exactly do you do for her? Why does she need you?"
Martha tried to held back the unshed tears that formed in her eyes. "Because she's lonely."
Lilly scoffed. "And that's what you want me to become?"
A knock on the door made them all jump.
"What if it's them?" Michael asked quietly.
Martha looked at him. "I'm no expert but I don't think scarecrows knock," she said before walking to the door and opened. Tim stood there, holding out his hand.
"I brought you this," Tim whispered and Martha looked down, her eyes widening when she saw the watch.
….
"Hold it," Martha begged.
Lilly shook her head. "I won't."
"Please, just hold it!"
Tim stepped forward. "It told me to find you. It wants to be held."
Michael raised his eyebrow. "If you had it all this time, then why didn't you return it?"
Tim shrugged. "Because it was waiting. And I was scared of Bad Wolf, or Rose Tyler."
"Why?" Michael pressed.
"Because…. I've seen her. She suffered so much. Sometimes Rose can be terrifying like fire, but she can also be sweet and gentle. And Rose is wonderful," Tim replied, making Martha smile softly.
"Stop it," Lilly hissed.
A moment of silence passed when Michael pulled out a black book.
"I still got this. You're journal," he said, looking at Lilly.
Lilly looked at Michael as if he was mad. "You know those are just stories."
Michael shook his head. "You know that's not true," he said gently before an explosion shook the whole house.
Martha looked around, wide eyes. "What the hell?" she swore before she ran to the window, next to Lilly and saw meteor look a likes falling into the village.
Michael's eyes widened as he watched the explosions. "They're destroying the village."
Lilly's eyes widened as she grabbed the watch, hearing the watch encouraging her to open it.
"Can you hear it?" Tim asked.
Lilly nodded. "It's like she's asleep. Waiting to wake up."
Tim frowned. "Why can it talk to me?"
Lilly shrugged vaguely aware that she was starting to talk like Rose. "Oh it's nothing to worry about. You just were born with a low telepathic…" Lilly gasped and shook her head. "Is that how she talks?" she whispered looking at Martha and Tim, frightened.
Martha nodded excitedly. "Yes! That's her. Now all you have to do is open the watch!"
Lilly glared at her. "You knew all this time and you let Michael and me…"
Martha huffed. "Rose left me with a list of instructions but she didn't add love to the list!"
"What? Falling in love didn't occur to her?" Lilly growled.
"No!" Martha said. "Because she fell in love with another bloke called The Doctor, but Rose and him got separated by events and she didn't expect to fall in love with anyone."
"And now you expect me to die?" Lilly asked as the explosions continued outside.
Martha walked up to Lilly slowly until she stood in front of her. "It was always going to end, though! Rose said the Family's got a limited lifespan. That's why they need to consume a Time Lord. They only need a couple of weeks before they die."
Lilly's eyes widened with tears falling down her cheeks. "So your job was practically to execute me!" she shouted over the explosions.
Martha bit the inside of her lip. "People are dying out there! They need her and I need her. 'Cause you've got no idea of what's he's like. I've only just met her . It wasn't even that long ago, but I don't care. She's been my first best mate for as long as I can remember. And I swear to God that she won't remember me saying this," she replied.
Suddenly there was a huge explosion that shook the house.
"It's getting closer," Tim muttered.
Lilly gasped as a thought came to her. "I should've thought of this before… I can just give them the watch and they'll leave us alone."
Martha shook her head. "You can't do that!" she shrieked.
Lilly glared at her maid. "If they want this Rose Tyler, then they can have her!"
"She'll never let you do it!" Martha said.
Lilly just continued to glare. "If they get what they want then…."
"Then it all ends in destruction. I never read to the end but those creatures would live forever to breed and conquer. War across the stars...for every child," Michael interrupted and Lilly looked turned to him, on the verge of breaking down. Michael looked at Martha and Tim. "Martha, Timothy, would you leave us alone, please?" he asked and when they left, Lilly completely broke down in sobs as Michael wrapped his arms around her and let Lilly cry in his shoulder.
….
While Martha and Tim were sitting outside, watching the explosions, Lilly and Michael were sitting side by side, Lilly was turning the watch slowly in her hands as Michael looked at her sadly.
"If I could do this instead of you, then I would. I'd hoped...but my hopes aren't important."
Lilly turned to face him, the tears that she shed were now dry on her face. "She won't love you," she said quietly.
Michael nodded. "If she's not you, then I don't want her. I lost my wife in childbirth…. I never thought in my life… and then you came along… can I see?" he asked as he slowly reached for the watch. "Blasted thing. Can't even hear anything. It's nothing to me," he added as he repeated Lilly's actions earlier. Lilly bit her lip as she covered Michael's hands with her own, both of them experimenting the same visions.
They had visions of when they got married, the birth of their daughter, walking in the park nine years later with their three children skipping ahead of them, and when Lilly died of old age.
"Did you see that?" Lilly asked, pulling her hand away.
Michael nodded slowly. "But Rose can't have that life. Not with me. Not without The Doctor."
Lilly huffed. "Well I could!" she snapped as she took the watch firmly in her grasp.
Michael looked at Lilly with sad eyes. "What are you going to do Lils?" he pressed when Lilly turned to look at the man beside her with determination in her eyes.
She knew what she had to do.
….
"We'll blast them into dust, fuse the dust into glass, then shatter them all over again!" Baines crowed as The Family continued to fire explosions on the village.
A bang of metal on the ground made The Family turn to see Lilly Smith entering the ship with fear in her eyes.
"Just…." She trailed off as she tripped on her dress and leant on a side of the ship, knocking down a few buttons. "Just stop the bombardment. That's all I'm asking. I'll do anything you want, just stop!"
Baines smirked. "Say please," he mocked.
"Please," Lilly begged, tears in her eyes.
After a moment of silence, Jenny turned a switch down and a hiss emerged.
Jenny frowned. "Wait a minute," she told Baines before she inhaled deeply. "Still human."
Lilly took a deep breath. "I can't even try to imagine this, not for a second. But I'm innocent! Rose made me Lilly Smith. I couldn't say anything about it!" she shouted before she tripped again, flipping more buttons.
Jenny scoffed. "She didn't make herself human again. She made herself an idiot."
Baines shrugged. "Same thing isn't it?" he asked her with the same annoying smirk.
Lilly got up and reached into her pocket. "I don't care about this Rose Tyler or your bloody family. I just want you to go! So I've made up my mind. You can take this blasted thing and take it away!" she said holding out the silver pocket watch.
Baines smirked. "At last," he breathed as he took the watch before he grabbed Lilly by the collar of her dress. "Don't think that saved your life!" he snapped before he shoved her away, not caring that Lilly knocked over more leavers before falling onto the ground, looking at The Family in fear. "Family of Mine, now we shall have the lives of a Time Lord."
As he opened the watch, The Family inhaled a deep breath.
Baines frowned and snapped the watch closed. "It's empty!" he growled, all of The Family looking at Lilly, annoyed.
Lilly looked confused. "Well, where's it gone?" she asked.
"You tell me!" Baines yelled, throwing the watch to her who caught it with a groan and a smirk on her face.
"Okay, charade over. I should really consider a career in acting," Rose said with a suffering sigh as she got up from the floor. "You lot are so daft you didn't notice the misdirection I placed on this watch. But I gotta admit, I really don't like about that hydroconometre you got there. It seems to be indicating you've got energy feedback all the way through the retrostabilisers feeding back into the primary heat converter," she added, tapping the glass with a grim smile. "You know, you lot shouldn't let me push all those buttons. The only advice I can give you is… RUN!"
….
She never raised her voice. That was the worst thing. The fury of Bad Wolf. And that was when we discovered why. Why this Rose Tyler, who had seen terrible things and suffered so much, why she ran away from us and hidden. She was being kind.
She wrapped my father in unbreakable chains, forged in the heart of a dwarf star. She then tricked my mother into the event horizon of a collapsing galaxy to be imprisoned there...forever. She still visits my sister. Once a year, every year. I wonder if one day he might forgive her, but there she is… can you see? She trapped her inside a mirror, every mirror. If ever you look at your reflection and see something move behind you, just for a second, that's her. That's always her. As for me, I was suspended in time. And Rose put me to work standing over the fields of England, as their protector. We wanted to live forever, so Rose made sure that we did.
….
Rose walked back inside the home they hid in when she was turned into human and saw Michael looking at the window with an emotionless expression.
"Is it done?" he asked softly.
Rose nodded. "It's done."
Michael turned to the woman he loved for the last two days, hating the clothes that Rose wore. Dark jeans with a dark pink hoodie and her white sneakers.
"Where is she? Lilly Smith?" he pressed.
Rose bit her lip. "She's inside here somewhere."
"Can you change back?"
Rose nodded. "Yep. But I can't. I'm sorry."
Michael took a deep breath. "Lilly Smith was braver than you, you know. In the end that wonderful woman I fell in love with. You chose to change while she chose to die."
"Why don't you come with me?" Rose offered.
Michael's eyes widened. "As what?"
Rose shrugged. "My companion," she replied.
Michael shook his head. "But that's not fair. Not to Martha, and not to me. You should go," he said softly looking down, not showing Rose the unshed tears in her eyes. Rose bit her lip hard as she looked at him one last time before walking away, not hearing Michael crying as he held Lilly's diary.
….
It was a long walk back to the Tardis. But it was good for Rose to clear her head and her heart with all the pain she felt, walking away from Michael. Rose looked at Martha, who was dressed in her black leather jacket and jeans with boots.
Rose put a smile on her face. "Alright. Time for another adventure!"
Martha frowned. "How was he?" she asked.
Rose's smile dropped. "Time we moved on. But I have to say, thanks for looking after me," she said.
Martha snorted. "Please, I did a terrible job," she replied, smiling.
Rose laughed as she went in for a hug which Martha returned happily. A moment of silence passed when they hear Tim's voice.
"Rose, Martha," he said as he walked up the hill when the two women pulled apart.
Rose grinned. "Timmy!"
Tim stopped as he reached the hill. "I just wanted to say good-bye. And thank you, because I've seen the future and I now know what must be done. It's coming, isn't it? The biggest war ever."
Martha took a deep breath. "You don't have to fight," she said.
Tim shook his head. "I think we do."
Martha frowned. "You could get hurt," she pointed out worriedly.
Tim shrugged. "Well, so could you. Travelling with Rose but that never stops you," he retorted making Martha smile softly at Rose.
Rose pulled out the silver pocket watch from her pocket. "Tim, I'd be honoured if you'd take this," she said handing him the watch.
Tim smiled at it, turning it over in his hands. "I can't hear anything."
Rose shook her head. "Nope. It's just a watch with you. But keep it with you. For good luck," she replied, hugging Tim briefly before letting Martha hug him
"Look after yourself," Martha added before kissing his cheek and walked inside the Tardis.
Rose looked at Tim with a grin. "You'll like this bit," she said before Rose walked inside and the Tardis and made it dematerialize, wondering what Tim's expression would be.
….
They visited Tim again. He survived World War One and Two. Tim was an old man now, lived his life with his grandchildren behind him. He fingered the silver pocket watch that Rose gave him so long ago… he wished that he could see her again, before he passed on. As if answering his prey, Tim turned his head to see Rose and Martha watching from a distance. He smiled at them who smiled sadly back. Tim looked back at the watch in his hand and smiled. This watch saved his life. Rose saved his life. And he knew that the universe would need Rose in the days to come.
A/N: Hi guys! How did you guys like this chapter?
Onto a serious note, I just got a traineeship which happens Monday to Saturday so the chapter may be less frequent.. but we're nearly at the end of this story anyway. Just got three more episodes to go.
Like I said in my last Authors note, I'll be writing a roles reversed story where Rose is a Time Lady and The Doctor is the human companion. So be on the lookout for that!
Anyway, please review and I'll try to post the next chapter up as soon as I can!
Thanks :)