CHAPTER 26

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"Well, I guess that I'll be getting my own TARDIS soon and be going off on my own then," Nicolas said after he had spent a little time with The Doctor and Rose.

"Not yet. We just got you back. I'd like to spend more than half an hour with you before you go running off on your own again," Rose said in exasperation.

"I am a grown man, Mother. I think that I should get to go where I wish when I wish," Nicolas complained.

Jenny couldn't help but laugh a little at that. He had no idea what he was getting started here. Maybe Rose had been more reasonable as Arkytior. She had no idea about that. Right now though, she was the overprotective mother of the century. At least, she always was to her anyway.

Rose turned around and glared at Jenny for a second, but then quickly smiled at her. She always felt bad for even thinking one unkind thought about Jen after the kind of life that she had led.

"Do you have something that you'd like to say, Jen?" Rose asked in a joking tone.

"No, not me, Mum," Jenny said as she whistled innocently.

Nicolas laughed at her. He was beginning to like his new little sister more and more. He loved how she was challenging their mother and yet showing respect and love for her by joking with her at the same time about it. She seemed to have set the pattern for this type of behavior among the rest of the children as well because his other sister, Sarah, interacted with her and Jenny in the same way.

"Do you think something's funny?" Rose asked Nicolas with that same joking tone.

"No, Mother. Not at all," Nicolas said with a smile.

"You don't have to sound so formal with me, Nicolas. Things aren't like they used to be anymore. I've changed. I'm not the same anymore. I'm much more casual and easy going than I used to be," Rose said.

"I can tell, but I'm just set in my ways I guess. I'm used to being all respectful and formal with my elders," Nicolas said.

Rose cringed as she said, "Don't say elders. I'm not that old. I was only around two hundred when my TARDIS crashed on Earth, and I became human. You're much older than I am now."

Nicolas looked shocked at that. He realized that it was true, and it just seemed so weird to him. Hundreds of years had passed for everyone else and only about thirty years had passed for her. Time was strange sometimes even for a Time Lord.

"What do you want me to call you then?" Nicolas asked Rose.

"Just Mum, that's all. You don't have to say Mother, Nicolas," Rose said with a warm smile.

"You've changed so much. You're so happy now. I'm glad about that, Mum," Nicolas said.

Rose hugged him tightly then and said, "Thank you! I'm glad that you're happy too, and that we can have a warm and loving relationship together at last without the Bad Wolf getting in the way."

"Do you think that you can help me to have control of my power someday like you do?" Nicolas asked.

"Oh, yes. It may take some time, but I'll get you to the point where your power will feel like second nature to you. For now, we'll just leave you disconnected to the Vortex," Rose said.

"That sounds good to me. I don't feel like having my mind fried again anytime soon," Nicolas said with a shiver.

"I'll help you to feel much more comfortable with your power. You might ask Jenny to help you too. She hasn't exactly mastered her power completely, but it's not overwhelming her mind either. She'll be glad to help you. She's a very sweet person," Rose said.

"Yes, I'm beginning to see that," Nicolas said.

"You could travel with me, and I could teach you what I know. I'd like to get to know you better anyway. How about it?" Jenny offered.

Nicolas smiled and said, "Of course. I'd love to. I'd get to be with Susan too so how could I lose? I assume that Reinette can come?"

"Yes, I like Reinette. She can come too," Jenny agreed.

Rose looked a little disturbed by this for a moment, but her expression quickly changed before Nicolas could see it. Jenny, however, had noticed it and wondered if she had made a mistake.

It's okay, Jen. Let her come along. Rose thought to Jenny telepathically.

Jenny smiled at Rose's tolerance of Reinette. It was obviously killing her to have Reinette anywhere around her son, but she was trying her best not to let it get to her for his sake.

Rose wondered how much longer before Reinette might hurt him in some way though. She knew that Reinette was King Louis' mistress so she was sure that she would eventually stay true to him and leave Nicolas. She didn't want her to break his hearts when she did so. Rose also knew that Reinette died young so that meant that even if she stayed faithful to Nicolas that she would leave him much too soon even for a human. That would break his hearts as well. No matter how their relationship ended, it was destined to be bad for him.

That was the real reason that she just wished that she could get Reinette away from him now before either of those two endings happened to him. She wondered if Nicolas already knew about this and was just choosing to ignore it. She couldn't bring herself to find out or to tell him if he didn't already know. She did her best to push those thoughts away from her mind and just try to stay happy for Nicolas' sake.

The Doctor was thinking much the same thing as he stared at Reinette. He too wondered how much Nicolas really knew about her future and what his plan with her was if he did. He was glad to see Reinette one last time regardless. He had hated that he had never gotten to see her alive again or had ever taken her to see the stars. Now it seemed that Jenny was going to do that for him. He was glad because Reinette had been so enthusiastic about seeing space. At least she was going to have that wish come true before she died anyway.

"It's you, isn't it?" Reinette asked the Doctor as she noticed him continuously staring at her.

The Doctor started to squirm and looked at Rose in fear. He was afraid that she would think that he was trying to start something up with Reinette again.

"Yes, it's me. You remember how I've changed my body before when you were in my head?" the Doctor asked.

"Yes, I remember. I also remember her in your mind. Don't worry. I'm not about to try to take you away from her. I doubt I ever had a chance of doing that even the first time that we met. You only thought about her even then. She was branded all over your mind and was interspersed all throughout your memories even the ones without her in them. She's influenced every action that you ever took or ever will take. I could never compete with that nor would I try. I merely wished to see you again and say hello," Reinette reassured him.

"I'm sorry that I never got to come back," the Doctor said.

"It was explained to me what happened, and I understand. I'm not angry at you, Doctor, so don't worry about that. I suppose I will still have to write a letter to your past self for him to find though. He deserves that much at least. I will, of course, leave out anything that happens in your own future," Reinette said.

The Doctor looked shocked as she said this, and Reinette laughed at him.

"I remember the Laws of Time from your memories, Doctor, even if I don't know them as well as you do," Reinette said by way of explanation.

"You always were so brilliant," The Doctor said with a grin.

The two of them laughed together, and Rose tried very hard not to get jealous. She knew that Reinette was no threat to her anymore if indeed she ever had been, but it still took every bit of her self-control not to rip Reinette's hair out by the roots to see her laughing with the Doctor.

"Sorry, Mum. I know how you feel about her. She seems to just want to be friends with Dad though," Jenny said.

"I know. I just have to keep reminding myself of that. Over and over again," Rose said in a calm, steady voice that only showed the slightest hint of strain in it.

"It's okay, Mum. Nothing's going on," Jenny said softly.

"I know. I'm fine, Jen," Rose reassured her in a now even calmer tone.

Thankfully for Rose, Reinette's time with the Doctor was very brief as Nicolas asked her if she wanted to come with him and Jenny in the TARDIS to see time and space with them. Reinette's massive smile and the crushing hug that she gave him in response was all of the answer that she needed to give to him. He started to laugh at her excitement, and the two of them embraced for a long time before either of them spoke again. Reinette had never been so happy in her life.

The Doctor and Rose left soon afterwards, and Nicolas and Reinette were soon on their way to journey with Jenny for the first time. Jenny still owed Patrick a first date so she decided to try for that once again and hope that they could actually enjoy something this time around.

"How about we go to Venice? That's romantic too, right? We'll have to go before Casanova's born, of course. Dad still owes him a chicken," Jenny said.

Patrick just looked at Jenny as if she had grown an extra head as he asked, "Do you know how weird you just sounded?"

"I know it sounds weird but once you get used to Dad you won't think a thing of it. Nothing he does will surprise you anymore," Jenny joked.

"Does she always talk about Father like that?" Nicolas asked Susan.

"Constantly. She loves him to death though so don't get the wrong idea," Susan defended Jenny.

Nicolas looked surprised for a moment at rigid, formal Susan's defense of Jenny's cavalier behavior. He shouldn't have been too surprised though because he too had realized without having to be told that Jenny cared about their parents very much and her insults were just her way of showing that affection.

"You're very close to her, aren't you?" Nicolas realized.

"Yes, she's become more like a sister to me than an aunt," Susan admitted.

Nicolas smiled at that. He was glad that the two of them got along so well, and that Jenny had become so close to her while he had been stranded in the past. He was glad that Susan had had her to turn to in his absence. He would have to find a way to make that up to her in the future.

The TARDIS soon landed in Venice in 1581, and Jenny and Patrick went outside to gaze around them in wonder.

"I can't believe that I'm actually in Venice. I've always wanted to come here. This place is just so amazing," Patrick said in tone of absolute wonderment.

"It's my first time here too. I'm just as stunned as you are. It's just so beautiful here," Jenny said.

Without realizing it, the two of them had joined hands together as they looked around them. They slowly walked around the city together looking at the sights and continued to hold hands as they did so. This was a day that both of them would remember for the rest of their lives.

Their romantic day together would have been irrevocably marred if they had known that they were being watched at that very moment by an enemy of Jenny's parents. The eyes watching them belonged to the evil being known as the Shadow. He stood in the darkness of a nearby alleyway as he watched them walk around totally oblivious to his presence there.

"Soon your happy day together will turn into a nightmare, my little lovebirds. Enjoy your quiet moments together while you can," the Shadow said to himself with a sneer.

Next: The Shadow strikes as he crashes Jenny and Patrick's first date together. I'll just go out on a limb here and say that the man's no romantic.