CHAPTER 35
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The version of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson that you will see in this story are not the ones from Sherlock. They are my own version of Holmes and Watson although they may have similarities with the ones from Sherlock and possibly other versions of them that you may have seen elsewhere.
This chapter takes place right after the events in Lily and Robin Chapter 44.
When Jenny came back with her new traveling companion, Romana, after visiting her grandmother Lily, she immediately dematerialized her TARDIS and set the coordinates for Florana. She and Amy Pond were both going there to try to find Leela, one of the Doctor's old companions, in order to talk to her about whether linking their minds with a human's would harm them. She had linked her mind with that of her deceased Time Lord husband, Andred, and therefore she would be able to provide a fountain of information to them about the process and its effects.
Jenny in particular needed to know about any potential dangers to a human mind by linking with them because she had accidentally started the process already with her boyfriend, Patrick, and was worried about what would happen to him if she finished it. Lily had told her to go ahead as she was convinced that everything should be safe, but she had to be sure. She wanted to talk to Leela first, if she could find her, before she went any further.
Amy had decided to come along with her while traveling in her own TARDIS for similar reasons. She wanted to link with her husband, Rory, but also was worried about its potential effects on him. The two of them had decided to search for Leela together in order to get their answers and to increase their chances of finding her.
As they headed toward the planet of Florana which was supposed to be covered with sweet smelling flowers and beautiful oceans, Jenny introduced Romana to her crew. Romana had decided to travel with Jenny after feeling like she didn't fit in on Lily's ship on which the crew was an extended family of the venerable Time Lady.
"Everyone, this is Romana. She's going to be traveling with us from now on. Some of you probably already know her as the former President of Gallifrey. She also used to travel with my dad. She's an old friend of my family's," Jenny said.
Nicolas stepped up to Romana to welcome her as he said, "Hello. My father told me several stories about you. I could tell that he was very fond of you. He used to call you Fred half of the time for some reason. I have no idea why. You're definitely not a man."
Romana blushed as she said, "Thank you for noticing. I see nothing gets by you. You must be Nicolas. He told me about you as well. It's so nice to finally meet you."
Nicolas began to smile as he talked to her. He had barely met her, but he found himself liking her already.
"I can only imagine what the Doctor told you about me. I can only hope that it was something flattering," Romana said.
"Oh, it was. He told me about how brave and noble you were and how you had saved his life as much as he saved yours. He was very impressed with you. I'm starting to see why now," Nicolas said with a huge grin now plastered all over his face.
Reinette watched this display with mixed emotions. On the one hand, she was happy for him that he seemed to be making a connection with someone else so that maybe his pain would be lessened when she eventually would tell him that she was leaving to go back to her own time. On the other hand, she was hurt that he already seemed to be abandoning her before even knowing that she had decided to leave him.
She wondered if he had sensed it coming already, and that was why he was acting this way. She also didn't know what he saw in this new girl. It was none of her business though of course. She would soon no longer have a claim on him. She wanted to go back to Louis after all, didn't she?
She wasn't so sure now what she wanted. Seeing Nicolas with another woman had brought out feelings of jealousy in her that she hadn't thought would be there. Now she was no longer sure of anything anymore. She knew that she was going to have to resolve this somehow before leaving to be with Louis again. She had to settle once and for all in her own mind just who it was that she wanted to be with.
Susan looked at her father talking with Romana and began to see something starting there herself. She hoped that it went further. She liked Romana a lot better than she did the distant Reinette.
It seemed to her as if Reinette didn't really care that much about her father anymore. It was as if she had already decided to break it off with him without telling him as she had started talking to him less and less and had had little to do with him in recent days. It was therefore no wonder to her that he was now showing interest in someone else.
She hoped that if something did start with Romana that her father could finally recover the happiness that he had once had with her mother. She hated seeing the sadness in his eyes that still came into them sometimes when he talked about her. She hoped that maybe Romana could do something about that. Not to make him forget her of course, but to at least alleviate some of the pain of her loss.
Jenny was too lost in her own worries about Patrick to notice what was going on right in front of her as she stared blankly ahead at the console. She hadn't told him yet that he was partially linked to her. She hated herself for lying to him, but she didn't want to worry him.
The irony wasn't lost on her that she had become as overprotective toward him as her mother was toward her. She could see why her mother acted that way now even though it still annoyed her whenever she did. When you loved someone so much, you wanted to protect them and keep them safe from all harm after all, especially from that that might be caused to them by yourself.
At least her mother had seemed to be getting better about being too protective lately ever since Jenny and her sisters had let her know that they didn't appreciate it. Rose had finally realized what she was doing at last, and Jenny had noticed that she had gotten better about toning it down now. Jenny was very appreciative about that.
Her mother and Patrick weren't the only things on her mind lately either. She had had to separate herself from her dark side recently when she had been possessed by the Black Guardian. That was the only way that she could break herself free from him.
Unfortunately, she hadn't been able to get back together with her before she had escaped by using Captain Jack Harkness' Vortex Manipulator. She had taken the then unconscious Jack with her, and now Jenny was worried about what she might do to him. She didn't want to believe that even an evil her would ever hurt Jack, but she wasn't sure.
As if all of that weren't enough, she also had to eventually deal with the two prisoners in her TARDIS, Joan Redfern and Shehzadi. Jenny wanted to try the process that she had tried with herself to separate Joan from Sister Pestilence, but so far she had been much too busy lately to attempt it. She was going to sooner or later though so that she could bring her back to her uncle Donald. She knew that he desperately wanted her back.
Shehzadi was another can of worms altogether. She had found out by talking to her that she was the Rani's daughter. Shehzadi had no idea that her mother had changed now and become the much more human Marissa Queen. She also had no idea that she had a sister on board this very ship.
Lissa didn't know about Shehzadi's true identity either, and Jenny wanted to keep it that way. She didn't know Lissa that well yet even though she had come to reluctantly like her so she had no idea how she would react to finding out about having a sister, especially such an evil one. She didn't want to find out either. The last thing that she wanted or needed right now was some kind of war between the two of them erupting on her ship.
Jenny hated keeping secrets, but it seemed to be all that she did now lately. She had no idea why things had gotten so out of control for her. As she stared at the console lost in a sea of her own troubles, she suddenly felt an arm wrap itself around her. She didn't have to look or even use her partial link with him to know that it was Patrick.
"Something's wrong isn't it, Jen? What's bothering you so much?" Patrick asked with concern.
"There's something that I have to tell you about later. It's why I'm going to Florana. There's someone that I need to see here first if she even is here. After that, I'll tell you exactly what's worrying me. I never want to keep anything from you," Jenny said with emotion in her voice.
"It's about the link, isn't it?" Patrick guessed.
She looked at him in shock, and he couldn't help but laugh at her. She started to smile back at him as this one moment with him started to make her feel better and to relieve some of the burden from her shoulders. It was funny how he could do that for her without even trying.
"I'm not stupid, you know. You told me about links before and how we narrowly avoided one. Then all of a sudden, I'm getting images and information from your mind and finding myself listening to your telepathic conversations with others without wanting to. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that the link must have happened anyway even though you tried to stop it. That's why you're so worried. You don't know what it might do to me. I feel fine so far though," Patrick said.
"We've only partially linked. I'm afraid to go all the way until I can ask Leela about what it did to her. I wasn't even sure that you would want to go all the way," Jenny finally admitted.
"Of course I would. I love you, and I want to share the rest of my life with you," Patrick blurted out without thinking.
Jenny began to smile as she saw the fear come into his eyes at what he had just said. She knew that he was worried about how she would react. She quickly put a stop to that by kissing him passionately right then and there.
Was that a marriage proposal? She asked him mentally as she kissed him.
Yes, I guess it was. I was going to wait until a much better time and do it somewhere more romantic, but I guess my mouth was faster than my brain. Patrick answered back in her mind.
You can ask me formally later. I'm just glad that you finally admitted it to me. It took you long enough. Even I could die of old age waiting on you to tell me how you really feel. Jenny replied in his mind while she smiled at him.
You never gave me an answer. Patrick answered her with worry.
"I'd think that the answer to that is pretty obvious. It goes without saying," Jenny said out loud with a grin.
"Well, since we're talking again, I'd like to hear your answer in words anyway," Patrick said anxiously.
"You will. Don't worry about what it will be. You'll like it I guarantee it," Jenny said as she gave him a peck on the lips.
Sarah was watching this whole thing with a big grin on her own face. She was so happy that her sister was finally getting married to Patrick at last. She knew that he had just proposed to her from what Jenny had told her in the future. It was wonderful to her to get to be here in person when it had all happened.
Jon came up to her and asked, "What's going on with those two?"
"I think there's going to be a big announcement soon," Sarah replied with a mischievous smile.
"What?!" Jon asked in surprise.
"I'm just saying that I think that you shouldn't be too surprised if you hear that someone popped the question," Sarah said.
"Good for him," Jon said happily.
Sarah looked at him with a smile now as she said, "You're a good man. Do you know that? I thought that you might be jealous since you had a thing for her yourself once."
"No, I got over that a long time ago. It happened around the time that I met you oddly enough," Jon said as he took her hand in his.
"Could it be that there's something that you want to ask me too?" Sarah asked him with an ever widening smile on her face.
"I . . . ," Jon said with hesitation.
"It's okay. I was just joking," Sarah said reassuringly.
"I know. I do love you, Sarah. I want you to know that. I'm not sure about marriage yet though," Jon admitted.
"It's okay. We really haven't known each other long enough to be able to come to a decision on that one way or the other yet anyway. I really was just joking. Don't worry about it, okay?" Sarah said as she kissed him on the cheek.
"Okay," Jon said with a look of relief on his face.
"There is something that I need to tell you before our relationship can go any further though. I have a secret that I've kept from you," Sarah said nervously.
"You're married?" Jon asked in dread.
"No, I'm not. I'd think that you'd know me well enough by now to know that I'd tell you about something as important as that right away," Sarah said with a grin as she shook her head at him.
"Then what is it then?" Jon asked.
"I'm not entirely a Time Lady. I'm also something else," Sarah said as she started to shake at the thought of how he might react to the truth about her.
"Whatever it is that you want to tell me I'm sure that I'll be okay with it. Go ahead and tell me. It'll be alright," Jon said as he put his arms around her.
"I'll have to show you later. You won't really know what I'm talking about until I do. Promise me when I do that you won't freak out too much, okay? I don't think that I could bear that. Not from you," Sarah said with fear now in her voice.
"I promise," Jon said as he kissed her in an attempt to both reassure her of how he felt about her and to help calm her down at the same time.
He could see that she was already shaking violently all over, and it worried him. Not because of whatever secret it was that she was keeping from him, but because of what the stress of worrying about it might do to her. He wanted to assure her that her fears were groundless.
"I'm sure that I'll take whatever it is in stride. I won't freak out I promise," Jon said.
He felt her shaking less then and felt a sense of relief at that. He never wanted to do anything to cause her pain.
"I'll show you after we're done here at Florana," Sarah said.
"Okay. It'll be fine. I promise," Jon said again.
Sherlock watched all of this with great interest. He could see all of these interactions between the crew of this ship and be able to tell so much about all of them and how they really felt about each other just through their actions and behavior. He could do this even without being able to clearly hear what they were saying from his position at the far end of Jenny's enormous console room. It was an interesting exercise of his skills at observation, and it kept him in practice.
"Why are you staring at everyone? It's very rude to spy on your hosts, you know," John said to him.
"I'm just trying to learn more about them, John. If we're going to be doing a lot of traveling with them and it seems that we are since we're not going back to our own world just yet, then I want to know just what kind of people that I'm traveling with. As it is, I've learned a great deal about them just through simple observation without being able to really hear anything," Sherlock said.
"So what have you learned so far out of idle curiosity?" John asked.
"I've learned that Jenny and Patrick are going to get married soon for one thing," Sherlock said out of the blue.
John choked at that as he said, "How could you possibly know that?"
"He just proposed to her. She's being coy about giving him her answer from what I've seen, but it's fairly obvious that she's going to say yes," Sherlock said.
"I can't even understand what they're saying from way over here so you must have better ears than mine," John said.
"I don't have to hear what they're saying, John. Patrick was more nervous than I've ever seen him just now as if he were waiting for an answer to an important question. Jenny then gave him a very passionate kiss and smiled at him. He obviously didn't get an answer yet because he still remained tense even after the kiss. Whatever she said was enough though because he's been grinning non-stop since then. I can only surmise that he proposed and while not having been given an answer yet it was enough of one that it's made him almost certain as to the outcome. I'd say based on observing Jenny's behavior around him that he would be right in his assumption," Sherlock said.
"You're as amazing as ever, Sherlock. That's what you wanted to hear, isn't it?" John said with a smirk.
"I don't require any feeding of my ego, John. I merely report to you what I have observed," Sherlock said.
"Of course, Sherlock! It's all about keeping your observational skills focused and honed to a fine edge, right?" John said as he recited the answer that Sherlock had always given to him before.
"That's exactly right," Sherlock said.
"You're so full of it, do you know that?" John said with a chuckle.
"I have no idea what you're talking about, John," Sherlock said with no change in his expression.
Lissa was quiet for once as she was lost in her own world. She couldn't stop thinking about the woman that they had just caught recently. She felt some kind of connection to her that she couldn't explain, and it was bothering her.
While everyone else was distracted, she snuck into the area of the TARDIS where Shehzadi was being kept prisoner. She walked up to the cell and stared into it for a while. Shehzadi looked as if she were asleep, but this was obviously just a ruse because she opened her eyes after a few minutes and asked, "Are you going to talk to me or stare at me all day?"
"Who are you?" Lissa asked.
"I am Shehzadi. Why do you care? Who are you anyway?" Shehzadi answered.
"My name's Vasilisa. I want to know why you seem so familiar to me. Do I know you from somewhere before?" Lissa asked.
"I'm never met you in my life. I have no idea what you're talking about," Shehzadi said.
"I think you do because there's something about you that is very familiar to me. I don't know who it is, but you remind me of someone that I know," Lissa insisted.
"You're probably referring to my mother, the Rani. I've been told that I act a lot like her. We're very similar in many ways," Shehzadi said.
Lissa's eyes widened with pain and shock, and her face became contorted with anger.
"You're lying!" Lissa screamed at her at the top of her lungs.
Shehzadi was taken aback by her fury and said, "No, I'm not. The Rani is my mother. Why would I lie about that? She's not exactly a universal role model of someone to want as your parent after all. It's not like we were ever that close either, but I am who I am. I'm her daughter so why deny it?"
"You don't know, do you?" Lissa asked.
"Know what?" Shehzadi asked.
"You really don't know. You're not just playing with me," Lissa said.
"What are you talking about? Has something happened to her?" Shehzadi asked with a surprising trace of tenderness in her voice for the first time since Lissa had met her.
Lissa couldn't bear it anymore. She had to leave.
"Tell me if she's alright!" Shehzadi shouted as Lissa turned to go.
"Yes, she's fine," Lissa simply said without turning around.
Shehzadi breathed out a sigh of relief about that as she wondered what that conversation had been about.
"She may not be once I get through with her though," Lissa said to herself in a low voice.
She was going to visit her mother soon, and she had better have a good explanation for this.
The TARDIS finally landed on Florana, and Amy's TARDIS landed soon afterward. Jenny stepped out to gaze in wonder at the landscape of this beautiful world. It was just like her father has always described it to her. There were flowers of all colors, sizes, and shapes for as far as the eye could see all around her. The smell in the air would put a perfume factory to shame. This planet had the most beautiful fragrance to its atmosphere that she had ever smelt in her life. It felt like she had just found herself in Paradise.
"This would be the place, Patrick," Jenny said.
Patrick knew that she meant that she wanted him to propose to her here, and he nodded.
"Later though," Jenny said.
Amy came walking up to her then along with Rory. Amy pulled out her sonic screwdriver and began to scan the area with it.
"I'm not picking up any human life signs in this area. I was really hoping that this would be easy, but it never is, is it?" Amy asked.
"Nothing about our lives ever seems to be," Jenny said with a note of inner tension in her voice.
"Don't worry about it. It's going to be alright I'm sure of it," Amy said to her in a gentle voice.
"Thanks. I hope that you're right," Jenny said with a warm smile.
"Of course I'm right. I'm always right. Just ask Rory. He'll tell you," Amy said with a huge grin.
"She's always right. She told me so herself. She said she'd hurt me if I said any different," Rory said.
"You didn't have to tell her that. He's just kidding! Tell her you're kidding, Rory," Amy said with an embarrassed look on her face as she hit Rory in the shoulder.
"I was only kidding," Rory said as he rubbed his shoulder.
"See, he was just trying to be funny. Sometimes he does that," Amy said nervously.
Jenny just laughed sweetly at her antics, and Amy instantly felt her embarrassment melt away. Amy realized for the first time since she had met Jenny just how much like Rose that she really was. Jenny had that same gentle benevolent aura around her that Rose did. Just like her mother, she could immediately put everyone around her at ease and make them feel calm and safe around her.
"Come on, Jen. Let's keep searching. I'm not leaving this planet until I'm absolutely sure that Leela's not on it," Amy said.
"Is it just the two of you going then?" Patrick asked Jenny.
"Yeah, I think it's best that way. We'd probably stand a better chance of finding her that way. With just two of us, we can cover more ground and do it quicker," Jenny said.
"Okay. I'll wait here then," Patrick said disappointed.
Jenny smiled at him and then said, "Fine. Come on. Just try not to whine too much when your feet start hurting from all of the walking."
"I never do that," Patrick protested.
"Really? Wasn't that you that kept asking me if we were there yet back on that jungle world that we stopped at a few weeks ago?" Jenny asked as the three of them started to walk together.
"I only said that a few times after we had back walking for several hours. I'm only human you know. I don't have as much endurance as you do, Miss Time's Angel," Patrick said.
"I never should have told you that I decided to call myself that as my chosen Time Lord name. You're never going to stop kidding me about that, are you? I thought it was nice myself. Dad always calls me his angel after all," Jenny said.
"I totally agree with that. You are an angel, Jen. You're my angel," Patrick said as he flirted with her.
"Someone's certainly coming out of their shell, aren't they?" Jenny asked with a laugh.
Amy was grinning to herself as she listened to the two of them go on and on. She pretended to focus on using her sonic to scan the area so that they had some modicum of privacy. They didn't seem to care that she was even there though as they continued to flirt right in front of her.
She went on a few yards ahead of the two lovebirds as she continued to scan the area. She was still picking up no life signs at all. She felt the presence of someone watching her though despite what her sonic told her.
Jenny confirmed that she felt this too when she said, "Someone's here."
"I feel that too. The sonic is telling me that there are no life signs though," Amy said.
"It's wrong. Someone is here," Jenny said.
Jenny waved her hand, and all of the flowers and trees around them became invisible instantly. They now saw Leela high up above them looking around her in confusion as she looked for the now vanished tree that she had been hidden in until now.
"Jenny?" Leela called out as she finally saw her standing underneath her.
"It's just me and my friends, Leela. Why are you hiding from us?" Jenny asked.
"I am not hiding from you. I am hiding from the invaders of this world. I have been hunting them down and getting rid of them one by one because there are too many of them for me to fight all at once. I have had to resort to using a bio damper ring that Romana once gave me to hide my life signs from them so that I cannot be detected until I am ready to strike," Leela explained.
"Who? We didn't see any one," Amy asked as she began to get concerned for Rory.
"You are lucky then because I have seen them everywhere. They are all over this world," Leela said.
"Who are you talking about?" Jenny asked impatiently.
"I do not know their name, but I do know that they are very deadly and extremely ugly. They can kill with a single bolt of energy from their hands. They have been surprised that I can remember seeing them before for some reason, and they seek to kill me for it," Leela said.
Amy's hearts both skipped a beat as she realized just who it was that Leela must be talking about.
"Tell me, Leela. Have they ever said 'Silence will fall'?" Amy asked.
"Yes. They said that when I first met them and started hunting them. You know them then?" Leela asked.
"Yes, unfortunately I do. They're called the Silence," Amy said.
Jenny sighed. This was just her luck. She had wanted Patrick's proposal to happen on this world once she had talked to Leela, but of course something had to be here to put a stop to that. Something always seemed to stand in her way when it came to her and Patrick having a normal life. They had come here to find Leela but had run into an invasion by one of her father's deadliest and most insidious enemies instead.
It seemed that Jenny was about to face them herself now for the first time. She couldn't say that she was looking forward to it.
She was tired of having the special moments of her life marred this way, and she was going to take out that frustration on the Silence. She was going to make sure that they would all wish that they had never come here once she got through with them.
Next: Jenny and Amy vs. the Silence. Why are they on Florana, and how can Leela remember them?