Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who
Chapter 34: Roald Dahl Plaza.
My ship automatically... noticed-ish that your ship was having some bother
-The Doctor
Four months later and Amy still owed Jack Harkness a kiss.
Four Months later and Amy had traveled with this Doctor for 10 months.
Almost a full year.
Amy didn't think she'd ever been away from Rory for this long for her whole life. Since before she could remember Rory had been there. Childhood friend turned high school sweetheart turned fiancé turned husband.
But the worst part was that she could swear she was starting to hallucinate.
The first time was during their mishap in the late 80s and Rose's father. But now it seemed that every couple of trips she would see him, or hear him. The sandy blond hair in a crowd of people or his voice crying out for her.
it didn't help that she seemed to be the only one who ever saw him. She could tell that the Doctor and Rose were starting to worry. They both new what he looked like. She had reluctantly shown then the Polaroid, after of course subtly covering the Doctor with her thumb. Rose didn't seem to notice, but the Doctor had sent her a thankful look.
It had taken some convincing, but eventually Amy had told Jack her story, and shown him the picture of Rory.
The plan for Jack, originally, was one trip. Allow the Doctor to show off a bit for Jack and Rose, then they'd drop him off back home. Wherever that was.
Of course one trip turned into two and into three and next thing any of them knew the captain was traveling with them, full-time. The Doctor had fashioned two new TARDIS keys, one for Jack.
"I've been meaning to do this." The Doctor cleared his throat, "So here."
He handed Amy the key and she smiled at him, then hugged him. He stood there, awkwardly patting her back as she thanked.
She had fitted it on a chain necklace, much like the one that Rose wore. Amy felt better feeling it's familiar weight under her shirt. Even in the years when she wasn't travelling with the Doctor, she always wore the key. Rory did too, but he was much more private about it. It was attacked to his keyring.
The Doctor had really opened up to the Captain once he was no longer flirting with Rose. Of course the Captain seemed to have turned his attention to the Doctor, and Amy would often find the two playfully flirting when he came down in the morning.
She found it quiet hilarious to watch the tables turn. Rose would often watch these interactions with a jealous look in her eyes. Amy often wondered if Jack was really interested in the Doctor, or was just doing it to infuriate Rose. Probably both.
It seemed to be working, however, because after 4 months of flirting Rose had called up Mickey and asked the Doctor if she could meet up with him.
The Doctor had faltered then, staring at her uncertainly, then cleared his throat, "Sure, yeah. But in Cardiff. Need to refuel."
Which is how they found themselves in modern-day Cardiff at Roald Dahl Plaza right outside the Millennium Center.
Amy leaned against the console, filing her nails absent mindedly as they waited. They weren't planning on being here long. Probably long enough for Rose to stay with her boyfriend. Maybe even overnight if all went good for Mickey.
Of course that thought hadn't even crossed the Doctor's mind, who planned to leave in only a few hours.
A knock echoed around the room. Amy looked up from her nails with excitement. Finally.
"I'll get it!" Jack jumped up before Rose could and ran over to the door, opening it with a flourish. "Who the hell are you?" Jack asked Mickey who stood outside the door. Rose groaned.
"What d'you mean, who the hell am I?" Mickey sputtered, staring at the handsome Captain, "Who the hell are you?"
"Captain Jack Harkness." Jack introduced with only a bit of flirt in his voice. "Whatever you're selling, we're not buying"
Amy sighed. This was going to be Jack and the Doctor all over again.
"Get out of my way." Mickey pushed past Jack with an annoyed look on his face and into the TARDIS.
Jack closed the TARDIS door, "Don't tell me, this must be Mickey."
"Who else would it be?" Amy asked him rhetorically. "Minnie?"
The Doctor snorted loudly at that but Jack's eyebrows furrowed in concentration, obviously not understanding the reference.
The Doctor was up a ladder, standing up in the gantries with a light strapped to his forehead. He claimed he was working on the chameleon circuit, but Amy happened to know that that particular circuit had nothing to do with that area of the ship. More than likely he was working on a light circuit that had burnt out.
"Here comes trouble!" The Doctor looked down with a large smile. Amy knew he genuinely liked Mickey, but often was annoyed with his constant status as Rose's boyfriend. "How're you doing, Rickey boy."
"It's Mickey!" Mickey called up half-heartily, used to the Doctors nickname,
Rose put a calming hand on his arm, "Don't listen to him, he's winding you up."
Mickey smiled at her, "You look fantastic."
Rose grinned and through her arms around him, giving him a huge hug.
Jack sighed, "Aww, sweet, look at these two." He looked over at the Doctor, "How come I never get any of that?"
The Doctor smirked, "Buy me a drink first." He turned to Jack.
The Captain laughed, "Cheeky, how about you Red?" He winked at Amy, who looked at him over her nail file.
"Still married, Captain." She turned her left hand, flashing her diamonds for him.
"You two are such hard work." Jack shook his head.
The Doctor winked, "But worth it." And then grinned in a very self-satisfied way. Amy just shook her head at the two, while keep track of the glances that Rose kept sending the pair.
Just ridiculous.
This Doctor was much more straight forward about...dancing, then her's was. Rory and Amy had set up the 'Rule about the Bedroom' after the very awkward moment when the Doctor discovered what his Married companions got up to at night.
That wasn't the first time the Doctor had walked in on Amy less-than-clothed (that man had no concept of privacy), but Rory and the Doctor avoided each other for weeks.
But this Doctor, he flirted and joked about it all the time. The way he acted around Jack reminded her a lot of how he acted around River.
Amy paused her train of thought. Maybe Rose should be jealous.
Rose turned with a grin and flashed her passport at the Doctor, which had been her excuse to get Mickey here. "I can go anywhere now!"
The Doctor scoffed, "I told you - you don't need a passport!"
"It's all very well going to platform one and Justicia and the Glass Pyramid of San Kloon but what if we end up in Brazil? I might need it!" Amy decided not to bring up the Doctor Psychic paper, which could cover all of that, "I'm prepared for anything, see!" Then she grinned, sticking her tongue between her teeth.
Mickey's grin faded, "Sounds like your staying, then."
Everybody in the room froze in an awkward silence. Amy winced, the poor boy had probably hoped that Rose was coming home. She sometimes forgot that Rose and Mickey were dating. Both of them stuck in a relationship that neither of them would admit was long over.
Mickey cleared his throat and put a smile on, trying to lighten the mood, "So, what're you doing in Cardiff? And who the hell's Jumping jack Flash?" He motioned to the Captain who rolled his eyes, "I mean, I don't mind you hanging out with Amy and Big-ears up there-"
Amy laughed at the offended look the Doctor shot down, "Oi!"
"Look in the mirror!" Mickey responded playfully, and the Doctor shook his head turning back to his work. Mickey turned to Jack with a wrinkled nose, "But this guy, I dunno, he's kinda..."
"Handsome?" Jack threw out.
Amy snorted, "Annoying?"
"Cheesy." Mickey finished.
Jack frowned, then moved around the TARDIS console, "Early 21st Century slang - Is 'cheesy' good or bad?"
Mickey stared at the Captain like he was deciding if he was joking or not, "It's bad."
Jack held up his hand, "But bad means good, isn't that right?"
Amy shook her head in disbelief and dropped her file. Behind her the Doctor clobbered down the ladder.
"Are you saying I'm not handsome!" He snapped at Mickey, and Amy shook her head in fondness. Nobody answered him.
Rose turned to Mickey, "We just stopped off. We need to refuel. Thing is, Cardiff's got this rift running through the middle of the city."
Amy picked up, "Opened in 1869, we were there...with Charles dickens, long story," She waved her hand, "Basically it's invisible, a line between the dimensions-"
"It was closed back up before we left-" The Doctor added in.
Rose picked back up, "-thanks to this girl named Gwyneth, 'cos these creatures called the Gelth, they were using the rift as a gateway-"
"Like I said, long story." Amy chuckled.
"-But she saved the world and closed it!"
Mickey was looking between the three like they had grown extra heads.
Jack, feeling left out and decided to continue, "but closing a rift leaves a scar, and that scar generates energy, harmless to the Human Race-"
"-But perfect for the TARDIS," The Doctor grinned widely, "So just park it here for a couple of days right on top of the scar and-"
"-Open up the engines, soak up the radiation-"
"Like Filing her up with petrol and off we go!" Rose cried, turning to high five jack.
"Into time!"
The Doctor and rose high fived while Amy and Jack bumped fists "And space!" They all finished in unison.
Mickey stared at them, his jaw on the ground. He shook his head, "My God, have you seen yourselves? You all think you're so clever, don't you."
The Doctor nodded, "Yeah."
"Kind of." Amy shrugged.
Rose and Jack exchanged looks, "Yeah."
"Yep!"
Jack leaned forward and smacked Mickey on the cheek.
~8~
They all hurried out of the TARDIS into the bus plaza, behind them the Millennium center blazed brightly and the sky was a beautiful blue.
"Should take another twenty-four hours, which means we've got time to kill."
"Famous last words." Amy teased the Doctor as he locked the door, he grinned at her.
Mickey looked into the crowd of people worried, "That old lady's staring."
"Probably wondering what five people could do inside a small wooden box." Jack patted Amy and the Doctor on the back suggestively. Amy rolled her eyes at his forwardness but The Doctor and Rose just sniggered.
Mickey scoffed, "What are you captain of? The Innuendo Squad?"
"Oh, there's an idea!" Amy smiled, wrapping an arm around Mickey. Jack laughed then dropped it flashing the 'whatever' sign with his hands then walking away.
"Wait!" Mickey cried, "Er, the TARDIS - we can't just leave it. Doesn't it get noticed?"
"Yeah." Jack turned around, frowning, "What's with the police box? Why does it look like that?"
"Four months and you're asking this now?" Amy raised an eyebrow at the man, Jack just shrugged.
"It's a cloaking device." Rose said in a mocking tone, and Amy chuckled under her head.
""within the first nanosecond of landing it analyzes the its surroundings, calculates a 12-dimensional data map of everything within a thousand mile radius and determines which outer shell would blend in best with the environment'." Amy regurgitated word-for-word her Doctor had given a hundred times. Probably straight out of some Gallifreyan textbook.
"Really?" Jack looks surprised.
Amy snorted, "Well, usually, yes. It's broken. Stuck in that Police Box."
Rose stopped, "How did you know that?"
Amy nodded over to the Doctor, nonchalant, "He told me"
"When?" Rose frowned, obviously trying to think of a time that he could have mentioned it.
"Mmhmm." Amy made a non-committal sound. The Doctor was tense now, obviously understand that this was from a future conversation. Amy wondered for a quick moment if he only said that to her in the future because she said it to him now?
Time travel was confusing.
"Wait," Mickey turned around, frowning, "There actually was police boxes?"
"Oh yeah." The Doctor's smiled softly, remembering, "On street corners. Phone for help before they had radios and mobiles. If they arrested someone, they could shove them inside until help came. Like a little prison cell."
Jack leaned forward, "Why don't you fix it?"
"Who say's it's broken." The Doctor shrugged, "I like it! Don't you?"
Rose padded the side of the box lovingly, "I love it!"
"It is broken," Amy through in, "But I still love it. TARDIS blue. Wouldn't have it any other way."
Mickey just laughed, "But that's what I meant! There's no police boxes anymore, so doesn't it get noticed?"
The Doctor sighed, "Ricky, let me tell you something about the human race. You put a mysterious blue box slap bang in the middle of town and what do they do?" The Doctor clapped his hands on Mickey's shoulder and continued before he could respond, "Walk past it! Now stop your nagging, let's go and explore."
And with that the Doctor linked his hand with Roses and off they went.
"What's the plan?" Rose asked as they walked down the plaza.
The Doctor shrugged, "I don't know! Cardiff. Early 21st century." Rose bounced up and down as if that was the most exciting thing in the world, "And the wind's coming from the...East. Trust me - safest place in the universe."
Amy groaned, "You just jinxed it."
"Did not." He argued, rolling his eyes, "You know, not every place we go to ends up in disaster."
~8~
"I swear, six feet tall and with tusks-"
"You're lying through your teeth!" The Doctor scoffed at Jack's story, which had the rest of the group in stitches. Sometimes Amy wished she could tell stories without spoiling everything. How would the group think about the year the Doctor was domestic , or maybe she could tell them about Idris.
But unfortunately, those stories were under lock and key. He'd just have to live them.
"I'd've gone bonkers!" Rose laughed, "That's the word - bonkers!"
"I mean, it turns out the white things are tusks and i mean tusks!" Jack could barely speak straight he was laughing so hard, "And it's woken, and it's not happy-"
The Doctor leaned forward in excitement, "How could you not know it was there?!"
"And where standing there, fifteen of us, naked!"
"Oh, why am I not surprised!" Amy joined in, and everybody laughed.
"And I'm like, oh, no, no, It's got nothing to do with me! And then it roars, and we are running. Oh my God, we are running!" He said with huge arm movements. "And Brakovitch falls, so I turn to him and I say-"
"I knew we should've turned left!" Mickey swooped in with the punch line, and then they were all laughing.
Amy looked around the small café, where various groups of people were sending them strange looks. But Amy didn't care, she hadn't had this much normal fun in a long time.
An older man next to them flipped his newspaper and Amy was drawn to it. Looking at the front page she saw something that made hr stomach clench.
Oh, of course.
"Doctor." Amy tapped his arm, interrupting the group who were all laughed. He looked at her curiously and she pointed to the newspaper.
The grin faded from his face as he stood up, nobody else noticed as he walked over to the old man, taking the paper out of his hands.
"Did you ever get your clothes back?" Rose asked the Captain.
Jack laughed, "No, I just picked him up went right for the ship, full throttle, didn't stop until I hit the space lanes, I was shaking! It was unbelieveable, I'm freaking out and by the time I got there I was fifteen light-years away I was like this!'
The Doctor signed, lowering the paper and turning back to the group, "And I was having such a nice day."
Then he holds up the paper, which shows a very familiar face with her hand blocking the photo. The Captain 'New Mayor, New Cardiff" crossed the top.
It was Margaret Slitheen.
A/N:Yes super short chapter I know. That's why I wanted to get it out. Boom Town, while important to the plot, is a super filler episode. So I figured that I'd zoom through it for you guys so I can get to Bad Wolf.
I always found this Jack to be like a reverse Steve Rogers. Being from so far in the future he doesn't understand the cultural jokes from the 2000s.
The first time I watched Pond Life, I couldn't help but think that there must've been an incident that resulted in the 'Rule about the Bedroom.' So I had to write about that here
This chapter got out quickly, just because it was a pretty short chapter. I think from now on each episode is 4 chapters or longer. I don't know how I managed t get 4 chapters out of Boom Town. They're all pretty short chapters, so I'm going to try and spit them out as fast as possible.
Work on the sequel is slow going. I'm trying to work on it so that I'm further ahead when I'm ready to post the first chapter of that. I'm hoping to at least have finished up to and including Idiots Lantern.
Remember, When I get to 300 reviews I'll post a preview thinger from the sequel. You guys are all super awesome. I didn't get around to responding to all of you, mostly because I've been working super hard on writing the sequel...Okay no I'm not. I've been watching supernatural. So sue me.
So you guys all know the drill! Review with thoughts, concerns, and questions. I'll try to respond, and if definitely respond if you have questions.
Until Next time,
-Ash