"Still think it's a power move that Martha and Mickey are tying the knot on a Tuesday," Jack said. "Could pick a weekend day so people would be more likely to be off work."
"Martha told me it was cheaper to do it on a Tuesday," the Doctor said. "Plus she only invited a few people. Something about it being low-key."
"Are you sure it's alright if I come?" Alex asked, hoping the answer was no. "I haven't ever met Martha." The truth was, Alex wasn't really in the mood for a celebration of love. It had only been just over a week since she and Kira had broken up. The two still hadn't spoken in person, but they'd texted briefly for closure and they were definitely, 100% broken up.
"Of course it is!" the Doctor said, not noticing this at all. "Martha's gonna love you! Besides, we're actually allowed a plus one so it would be a shame to waste it. So Jack and I thought we could share you as our plus one."
"Alright," Alex said. "But why don't you take Ginger, Doc?"
Ginger looked up from the book she was reading and scoffed. "Me? At a wedding? I don't think so. The institution of marriage is corrupt. Forever is relative, so I don't much like the idea of trading people as property or having the law make it difficult to leave a person."
"Plus," the Doctor said. "It's not like she'd ever be my date. We'd have a repeat of last time where she made me go with Jack because she's concerned about fulfilling a fanfiction trope."
"Alright then, Jack," Alex said, turning to him. "Why aren't you taking someone? Sure you could take anyone."
He chuckled. "Weddings are good pick-up spots. It's good to come unattached."
She shook her head. "Gross. But noted." She sighed. "Do I have to wear a dress?"
"No, don't be silly," the Doctor said. "We've got you a suit." He looked at Ginger then. "You're in charge while I'm gone, right? Don't run off with my TARDIS unless it's an emergency. Anything happens, I'm sure you've got it handled."
"Sure," Ginger said, absently.
...
"Back so soon?" Ginger asked, not looking up from her book. "Thought weddings normally lasted a bit longer than that."
"Wedding? What wedding? There was a wedding and I wasn't invited?"
Ginger looked up, realizing the others hadn't returned and Cupid was standing before her.
"What are you doing here?" Ginger asked, putting the book down and getting to her feet.
"Looking for the Doctor," Cupid replied. "I assume he's around here somewhere. You two are inseparable."
"I'm afraid he's unavailable at the moment," Ginger said.
"I need his help," the Corsair insisted.
"Well you'll have to wait until he gets back, won't you?" Ginger said, exasperated.
"Back? What do you mean back? He doesn't typically go anywhere without you."
Ginger felt this was a very odd statement. "Sure he does. Not like I've got him on a leash or anything. Anyway...everyone's gone on to Martha and Mickey's wedding."
"And you didn't want to tag along?" Cupid asked, momentarily distracted.
"Why would I?" she asked, uncomfortably.
"Right, of course, of course..." he said, vaguely.
"Did you...need something?" she prompted.
"Right, yes, I'm afraid it's urgent," he snapped back to the present. "I need the Doctor's help."
"Well the Doctor did put me in charge here," Ginger said. "So whatever you need, I'm sure I can be of assistance."
"Not to doubt your considerable skills, my dear," Cupid said. "But are you certain you'd like to assist in this matter? And that you even have the capacity?"
She crossed her arms. "I can do anything he can do," she said, stubbornly. "We are the same species, after all."
A slow smile crossed his face. "You say that with the air of someone who's just finding out. Curious indeed."
"So you knew?"
"Of course I did. I know a great many things about you, my dear."
"We're going to have to have a conversation about that."
"In good time, perhaps, but for now...I'm afraid the matter is rather urgent. And you can help...but the question is, to what degree?"
...
"This is a disaster," Francine Jones was saying as they entered the church.
"What is?" the Doctor asked. "What's wrong?"
Martha's mother turned to them, frowning as she realized who was speaking. "And now it's more of a disaster," she said. "Because you're here, bringing your trouble."
"What is it, Francine?" the Doctor asked. "What's the problem? Can we help?"
"I don't see how," she rolled her eyes. "We're having a lot of problems with the reception. The catering might fall through, the band is stuck in a snow storm at least for now, and the wedding is starting soon. I can't be on my phone figuring this all out during my daughter's wedding!"
"Why don't I do it?" Alex volunteered.
"Who is this?" Mrs Jones asked, suddenly noticing her.
"This is my daughter, Alex," the Doctor said. "She's one of the smartest people I know. If she's volunteering to help, I don't see what harm it could do."
Mrs Jones considered the situation. "I can give you my list of things to follow up with and give you a run-down. What would you charge?"
"No charge," she insisted.
"Alright," Mrs Jones said. "Because I'm desperate. But don't ruin my daughter's wedding!"
...
"Oh absolutely not," the Corsair said. "I don't need her bloody help, absolutely not."
"You're inebriated," Cupid insisted. "You're in no fit shape to help yourself. And you refuse to call for any kind of assistance."
"If I can just get back to the TARDIS, the nanogenes can heal me." She tried to get up, but putting pressure on the leg made the bleeding even more profuse.
"For God's sake," Ginger replied, crouching down to have a look. "You've nicked an artery. That could be very serious if we can't get you help right away."
"Martha Jones!" the Corsair snatched onto a thought. "You said the Doctor was with Martha Jones! If you bring her to me-"
"Martha Jones is getting married today," Ginger reminded her. "And I won't spoil that, whatever my thoughts on marriage are. So you're stuck with me."
"And what the hell can you do?"
"A great deal," she said, absently studying the wound. "Not anything fancy, but I can splint and tourniquet this long enough to get you to the TARDIS." She looked at Cupid. "You can pop us back the way you did before?"
"That method isn't safe, not while she's intoxicated," Cupid replied. "That's why I didn't simply bring her to the TARDIS in the first place."
"Moving her isn't really safe," Ginger said, as an afterthought. She was rummaging in her bag through her basic first aid stuff that would have to do. "So we should bring the TARDIS to her. Can you drive it?"
"I can," Cupid said, with some degree of surprise. "But shouldn't you get permission-"
"Screw permission," Ginger replied. "The Doctor isn't here and there isn't time. Take the keys and save the girl."
"What?"
"It's a Fringe reference," she said, impatiently. "And not a very accurate one."
"You really trust me with this?"
"Do I have a choice? Just...don't tell the Doctor I let you do this, okay?"
He looked at her for a moment before snapping his fingers and disappearing.
"So," Ginger said, trying to distract the Corsair from the pain. "How do you and Cupid know each other? I wasn't aware you were acquainted."
The Corsair glared at her. "We've known each other for a long time. We have...mutual interests. Even though we frequently disagree about things. Now just do whatever you were going to do and get it over with, will you? Don't need to have idle chitchat. Not with you."
"You know, you don't have to act all high and mighty like you're better than me," Ginger said, rolling her eyes. "Maybe I would've put up with that while I thought I was human, but now that I know the truth-"
"The truth?" the Corsair laughed and winced at the same time. "What truth is that, exactly?"
Ginger didn't understand this response. "That I'm like you and Doc. That I'm not human. Thanks ever so much for not telling me when we met last year, by the way. Telling me you knew exactly who I am...I thought you just meant all that stuff almost 10 years ago, but you were really hiding the truth from me that none of that matters because I'm more than that."
"You're not more than that!" the Corsair felt like she was hitting a familiar brick wall with her for the millionth time. "Existence isn't a balancing of traits, it's a composite! I wasn't just talking about the fact that I knew where you come from - I'm not some kind of bigot and I hate that the political climate there caused you to have to suffer that way. I wasn't just talking about the fact that I knew your parents, even though you understand why the genetics there gave me some cause for concern I happen to believe that most genetics can be managed. I was also talking about what happened in 2007! You're still a product of what choices you've made and while I don't think all the blame lies on you I do think that you continue to make the same bad choices and I don't want the Doctor near that. But why am I even bothering? You're like a brick wall I keep running into over and over again. You'll never change, you'll never grow, you'll always be this. I can't stop it."
"That's just ridiculous," Ginger said. "I'm better now. I'm healed! Look!" She rolled up her sleeves as she began dressing the wound. "No scars! A fresh start!"
"Those scars were just the physical manifestation of your self-destruction," the Corsair replied. "You can't whiteout your past! The real scars are still open wounds on your psyche, and no matter what I say or do you never seem to understand that. You always drag the Doctor down with you, and I don't want to see that happen again."
"Wait," Ginger said, suddenly seizing on something the Corsair had said. "Did you say you knew my parents?"
"Of course I did," the Corsair rolled her eyes. "Everyone knew them, even though nobody even knows you exist."
"Did the Doctor know them?" Ginger asked.
The Corsair looked at her strangely. "Yeah? You know that."
"I really don't."
"Oh." Now it was the Corsair's turn to be mildly surprised. "Wait, are you telling me that you don't know who your parents are?"
"It just didn't seem important," she shrugged. "It's not like I expect anything from them."
"You're kidding. You mean to tell me that you haven't gone back in time to track your mother down?"
"No. Should I have? I just don't want to be defined by what came before me. I don't think I need to know where I came from to know who I am."
The Corsair was suddenly lost in some intense mental calculations. "This has never happened before," she said aloud, to herself. "This timeline is so different...I've never met a version of you that wasn't at least curious..."
"What are you on about?" Ginger asked, starting to her a bit weirded out.
"I'm not sure what this means," the Corsair said, pulling herself back to the present. "You're so unpredictable."
"Believe it or not, I've heard that before," Ginger said, dryly.
"Hmf," she rolled her eyes. "That I actually don't believe. I've never been surprised by you."
"Until now," Ginger reminded her.
She nodded, letting this sink in. "Until now," she agreed.
...
"The caterers will be here in time," Alex whispered to Martha's mother. "I also haggled you down to a 30% discount because of the inconvenience they gave you."
"I'm actually impressed," Mrs Jones said.
...
"Maybe we should call the Doctor," the Corsair said.
"No!" Ginger snapped. "Stop suggesting we call him. He's busy. It's Martha's wedding and I owe her a nice day with no surprises. You can stop dismissing me like I'm useless."
"Oh I forgot, that's a big trigger for you, isn't it?" said the Corsair, dryly. "Being dismissed. Well maybe if you'd apply yourself just a bit-"
"Don't give me that thing about applying myself! You wouldn't be impressed with me either way! You'd just go on to find something else to bitch at me about! Ever since the first moment that we met, you've been nothing but hard on me and I really can't see a reason why!"
"That's because you don't look at the big picture!"
The TARDIS pulled up at that moment, and Cupid emerged to help bring the Corsair into the sick bay.
...
"I'm sorry, there's just nothing we can do," the lead singer of the wedding band said over the phone to Alex. "This show storm came out of nowhere. We'll give you the full refund."
...
"Why are you helping me?" the Corsair asked her once they'd finally gotten to the hospital wing and the nanogenes were starting their work.
"Because you're the Doctor's friend," Ginger said. "And he wouldn't stand by and let you bleed to death, so neither will I."
"Bit of a moralistic stance you're taking there," she said, under her breath. "Like you suddenly care at all."
"What's your problem?" Ginger asked, not liking her tone. "Shouldn't we be sticking together more? I mean, seems to me that as the last 3 of our kind, we should all stick together. And that's another thing! The Doctor goes around telling everyone he's the last, but then here you are! What's that about?"
"Timelines are tricky," the Corsair replied, vaguely. "Plus I just think he wants to seem special and tragic. Like the weight of the world is on his shoulders." She chuckled, fondly. "Nah, I don't really think that's it. I don't think he knew I survived the War. So it's a bit of a One Girl in All the World thing, you know? You're proof of that, certainly. You went from Potential to Slayer in just 24 years."
The nanogenes finished their work, and the Corsair quickly got up to make her way to the control room.
Ginger raised her eyebrows. "A Buffy reference? Seriously? WHY aren't we friends?" She followed her out of the room.
The Corsair looked at her strangely again once they'd reached the control room. "Because you don't have friends!"
"I do too!"
"That's not what I meant!" she groaned. "I mean that I've never met a version of you that wanted to have friends! It's always just you and the Doctor, and you never seem willing to even admit that the two of you are friends! So it's weird on so many levels that you're suggesting friendship! What is happening here? Who are you?"
"What, you don't want to be my friend?" Ginger asked, acting mock offended.
"I've tried being your friend!" she replied, surprising Ginger with the sudden intensity of her emotions. "I've tried that! There were many times when I tried being your enemy, but most of the time I tried being your friend. You never accepted my help. So we became enemies anyway. Which was a shame, because you could be so much more. You're intelligent, funny, talented, passionate...but you've got a black hole inside you and it consumes absolutely everything around you. I've tried saving you so many times, but no matter how this ends there is nothing I can do for you. I can only try to make sure that in this one timeline, you don't destroy my friend too - and in so doing, take the universe down with you. But you two were forged in the same star, there is no separating you once you've collided."
"You're not...You're not angry with me," Ginger said, as the realization dawned on her. "I've known so much hatred in my life and...You actually don't hate me. You're not even angry with me. You're...sad." She reached up to push up her glasses and the Corsair flinched as if afraid she was going to get hit. "And...scared of me. My God, you're one of the most badass people I've ever met and you're actually scared of me! I know I deserve it, but...What have I done to you to make you feel this way?"
"You really want to know?" the Corsair asked, derisively. "Alright, I'll tell you, then. I tried to save your life and you murdered me in cold blood. Is that what you wanted to know? You can't be trusted, because you're only capable of hurting people. You can't find it in yourself to help."
Just then the TARDIS doors opened and Alex came running in. "We're having a bit of an emergency!" she said. "Oh. Hi Corsair, what's happening?"
"Nothing important, what's the crisis?" the Corsair asked, pretending as if they hadn't been in the middle of something.
"Nothing you can help with," Alex said, turning to Ginger. "Ginger, we need your help."
"My help?" She was still shaken up by what had transpired here. "With what?"
"Martha's wedding band has gotten stranded outside Bristol. Jack is tuning the church piano, but you've gotta sing."
"What? I can't set foot in a church, I'll burst into flames!"
"It'll make a good story then," Alex rolled her eyes, taking her by the arm. "Come on!"
"We going to a wedding?" Cupid asked, walking into the room with an air of excitement. "Oh I just love weddings!"
...
"There's nothing we can do about the band, Mrs Jones," Alex said, dragging Ginger into the reception hall. "But my Uncle Jack is a fantastic jazz pianist and my friend Ginger here has sung with him before. They're really really good and they'll play for food."
"I suppose they'll have to do," Mrs Jones said. She reached in her pocket and gave something to Alex. "Here."
"Oh no, Mrs Jones," Alex shook her head. "I told you I don't want payment."
"You deserve to be fairly compensated," Mrs Jones insisted. "You're better than that useless wedding planner I'd hired in the first place. I saved enough on the caterers that I can afford to pay you the rest of their fee."
"Good to see you, Snaps," Jack said, coming over as soon as he saw Ginger. "Surprised you haven't burst into flames. You ready?"
"I don't know many traditional happy love songs," Ginger admitted. "I don't really do weddings."
"That's fine," he said. "You wanna do a Fiona Apple cover band? Leave out the angsty, dark stuff. That is, unless you don't know 'Please Send Me Someone to Love'."
"How dare you insinuate that I've never heard an unreleased 90s Fiona Apple track? I'm in."
"Cora," Jack said, noticing her there. "What are you doing here?"
"Just here for the show," she said.
...
"We make quite the team, don't we?" Jack said, as they were hopping off the stage after the set.
"Hm? Oh. Yeah, we do. Funny that this is the closest to being in a band that I'll ever get. I always wanted to be in a band, even when I was a kid."
"We should start a band, then!" Jack said. "Or at least a cover band! We can call it...Under Covers! We can dress up like secret agents!"
Ginger laughed. "No we can't do that," she said. "It'll draw far too much attention."
"I didn't know you could sing," Martha said, pushing through the crowd. "That was incredible. Thank you, you saved our lives here."
"Then I guess that makes us even?" Ginger joked, nervously. "Honestly, I owed you one."
"Fancy work with the piano, Captain," the Corsair was saying to Jack.
"I've been told I have nimble fingers," he flirted back.
She laughed. "That you do."
Alex made a face. "Gross. Get a room, you two."
"Careful," Ginger said to her. "This could be a 'Life of the Party' situation, Krevlornswath. You go around telling people to get a room, they might actually do it."
"What is she on about?" Martha said, confused.
"Nobody ever knows," Alex said.
"It's a Buffy thing," the Doctor and Corsair said at once. Ginger conspicuously avoided looking in the Corsair's direction.