A/N: Yay! Another Chapter down! I don't know what's gotten into me, but I'm going to keep on rolling while I can! Yes, this episode is unexpectedly going into 6 parts, but I realized that this character-building episode, while so key in the original series between Doctor/Rose, also has to have character-building for Jessica/Rose and Jessica/Doctor too. So…that means lots of extra writing. Sorry! As always, I live for your comments! They let me know if I'm missing stuff like character bonding and so on. :D Love you all!

Father's Day

Part Five

After who knew how many blocks of break-neck sprinting, Rose's bright yellow hair finally brought some relief. No longer than a few moments, however. For the next few moments, all I could get of the scene were brief flashes of details: little boy running into a church, woman in a gown, Jackie Tyler holding a baby carrier. Instead of trying to analyze what had happened just before we ran up, I just went with it like the Doctor would. There were others around too, but all I could focus on was restoring my lungs to full capacity.

"Rose!" The Doctor eventually had to stop his charge or he'd run into the knot of people. "Get in the church!"

Though I could no longer sense any emotions whatsoever, the urgency of his voice didn't quite hide the fact that he'd begun to get scared. Not from me. He hadn't let go of my hand yet, either.

In the brief span it took for Rose to register that the Doctor had come back, a screech behind us ripped the air apart. I spun around. It started to dive right for Rose. I didn't even think, just hurled myself across the couple feet between us and shoved us both to the ground. I could've sworn that thing's talons grazed my hair as it missed.

Problem is, the Doctor had the same idea and we all ended up in an ungraceful pile. I could feel his hand on my back.

The Doctor didn't miss a beat, all but hauling the two of us on our feet again. "Get…in…the…church!" Jeez, he could shout if he wanted to and be heard across a crowded room easily.

Two more appeared out of nowhere overhead and everyone truly began to panic. "Oh, my God. What are they?" Cried someone, probably a guest I hadn't seen yet. "What are they?"

"Inside! Now!"

Right, time to stop gawking and reacting to chaos. I tapped the Doctor's hand with mine in reassurance before grabbing the nearest arm I could see, the bride's. "You heard him! Stop making targets of yourselves and move it!" Thankfully the bride was too into shock to resist and stumbled after me as I hauled her towards the church. A man in a tux hovered at the door. The groom then.

Almost there. Don't look around. Get to the church, though I had absolutely no idea why that would help.

My almost mad dash for the door screeched to a stop as one of those things landed in front of us. With my heart pounding away in my throat, I yanked the bride behind me sort of. I couldn't look away from the thing. It took a step forward, the bride screamed.

A movement to the side caught the thing's attention and it sprang…right onto the priest.

Grateful I couldn't sense anything beyond my own adrenaline, I yanked on the bride's arm again, hauling her once more up the steps and into the church.

Behind us, the doors slammed shut. I spun around, not at all surprised to see the Doctor making himself the last one in. Of course he would protect everyone even if they were being complete idiots. I released the poor girl I'd dragged around and worked my way back towards him. None of the adventures we'd gone through had my pulse racing so fast. I almost felt dizzy again.

"They can't get in," he almost sighed, relief dancing across his face. So he hadn't been sure of his idea until it worked. "Old windows and doors. Okay. The older something is, the stronger it is."

I had no idea if he was talking to us or reassuring himself out loud, but I could almost see the wheels in his head spinning way too fast, even for him. I nudged his arm with my elbow, just to let him know that I'd made it. That we'd all made it for now. "What do you want us to do, Doctor?" Keep him from panicking. I could at least do that.

The Doctor didn't glance at me, keeping his eyes on the taunting shadows outside the church's windows, but he seemed to slow down just a tiny bit. "Go and check the doors." When no one moved, he made a frantic shooing motion with his hands. "Go on, move! Don't let them get inside!"

Everyone scattered like ants.

I started to, then noticed the tremor that had come over my hands. I stuffed them into my jeans, glancing at the Doctor in case he'd noticed. Not yet. It didn't feel like the light-headedness I'd had before, but no matter how hard I willed myself to stop shaking, it persisted, like I'd come down with a permanent shiver. Something had to be wrong beyond almost turning into lunch for one of those things.

Everything around me became a blur. Voices blending together until I couldn't tell them apart. Not even the Doctor's. I closed my eyes, tried to follow the instinct that seemed to be attached to that unpredictable empathy of mine. What was going on?

"Police can't help you now." The Doctor's bitter voice cut through the muffled world I'd descended into. "No one can. Nothing in this universe can harm those things." He reluctantly turned to Rose. "Time's been damaged and they've come to sterilize the wound by consuming everything inside."

Consume. The people. My head hurt from the realization that those things were taking the people and hence, I couldn't feel their emotions any longer. Carefully, to avoid the Doctor's attention, I plopped down on a pew, resting my head in my hand. Those psychic punches.

"Is this because of me?" Came a small voice I almost didn't recognize as Rose's. "Is this my fault?"

Yes, I knew even though I was no Time Lord, that she had caused those things to appear. Yet I couldn't blame her for it at all. Who wouldn't risk the world just to save their dad?

"I'm sorry."

The quiet of Rose's overture made me jump, I'd become so lost in my own head. The shaking hadn't gone away, though compared with being trapped with people-eating creatures outside should've scared me more. "What for?"

Rose ran a hand across the back of her neck, nibbling on her lip the way I'd noticed she did whenever she felt nervous. She glanced around for the Doctor before joining me on the pew. Said Time Lord had raced off to make sure the doors and windows had been shut to his satisfaction. "It's my fault everyone's trapped here, but you didn't need to be. You could've stayed on the TARDIS and been safe and sound by now."

She didn't know that the TARDIS had gone…somewhere else. I bit my tongue on that. No need to step on the Doctor's proverbial toes when it came to talking with her again. "Rose, there's nothing…."

"And you brought him back." The smile that tried to dance on her face wobbled. "I don't know what you said to him, but…for a moment there…I really thought he'd left me for good this time."

"Nah, that would never happen." I shrugged, feeling more uncomfortable than usual with her, unable to feel her out. Know how she exactly felt or would react to what I said. "I told him what I'm going to tell you. You're both my friends and though you'd think that I'd side with one of you, I…can't. You both acted stupid; you broke his trust a second time and he overreacted when he should've tried to be understanding. So…I'm both mad at you guys but not at the same time."

Rose stared at me for a while then shook her head, a little smile curving her lips. "How do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Manage to say just the right thing every time? I always tend to make a mess of things before making as much sense." She glanced over everyone inside, though they had gathered into their own little clumps by now. "What I wouldn't give to have your powers so I can know how to help these people."

At once, I shook my head and rested a hand on her shoulder. "No you don't. I had to have the Doctor turn me into Fort Knox because of this. I'm so used to having a whole city's emotions press on me that having them all vanish? I'd be worse than useless right now, so you're lucky you don't have to deal with that."

The frown that hadn't left her face only eased a fraction. I softened my behavior. "Apologize to the Doctor as soon as you can, okay? I'm sure he's already forgiven you but he's just too stubborn to say it out loud and I think he'd like hearing it."

"There you are!" As if his ears had been burning, the Doctor emerged from a hallway towards the end of the church. His face darkened a little when he saw who I was sitting next to, but as usual, he didn't let it show too much. "Jessica, whatever you're doing, shut it and get over here."

With an encouraging smile for Rose, I slipped past her and joined the Doctor in a small back room. "You could've just asked nicely, you know," I admonished, though I didn't make my words as sharp as they could've been.

"How did you know something was wrong with the TARDIS?" Now I knew he wasn't planning on being his sarcastic self. Even if I couldn't sense anything anymore, I recognized his deadly serious face. It pinned me in place but not in a threatening way.

I shrugged, a default reaction to being uncomfortable, but I held his gaze anyway. "I didn't. Well…not exactly. Once we left the apartment, I started getting these…blows I guess, to my barriers and I almost didn't reach you on my own feet. Then the TARDIS, she sent me something, I guess. It wasn't in words or anything, but an idea that I'm very happy you followed through with." I briefly touched his arm. "Thanks for trusting me on that, by the way."

The Doctor's ears turned a bit red at that and his eyes softened. "Well…you haven't given me reason to doubt you yet." His hand caught my own before I could stuff it back into my pocket. Even in his grasp, it shook just enough to deepen the stress lines around his face. "It's not too much, is it?"

Oh, I was so gone the way his quiet murmur just turned my heart into goo. I did my best "Doctor" impression and tried to shrug it off. "Don't you worry about me. I'm as fine as I can be. What can I do to help you get us out of here?" Good gravy, did someone suck the air out of the room? I didn't remember the air being so close when we entered.

Pete Tyler then barged in and we jumped backwards like we'd been hit by lightning. Thankfully he didn't glance our way and just went to the window. "There's smoke coming up from the city, but no sirens," he sighed. "I don't think it's just us. I think these things are all over the place. Maybe the whole world."

That would explain why the absence of so many emotions affected me as much as it did. My mind could barely grasp the concept of only a few thousand or so left on the entire planet.

It could barely function at all with the Doctor still being so close.

Car tires squealed. I turned to the window in time to see the car that should've killed Pete careen around the corner and then disappear. Like it winked into existence and then out of it again.

Pete gaped at where it had vanished. "Was that a car?"

"It's not important," the Doctor answered quickly. "Don't worry about it."

My head snapped to him this time. That answer came way too quickly for my taste. Plus, the Doctor did the little not-meeting-your-eyes-for-too-long thing that he did most likely unconsciously when he told a lie. Or even a half-truth. Whatever that car represented, it probably held the key to fixing this mess.

We'd almost left the small room when I grabbed his arm. "We need that car, don't we?" I murmured, hopefully keeping a convincingly calm face on in case others looked our way.

A deep and personal sadness weighed his shoulders down long enough for me to notice before his "in charge" face came back on. "How else does one fix a broken moment in time? You put the pieces back together." He said it so quietly I almost didn't even hear him. Pain getting rid of that self-confident backbone that had become a vocal trademark. The Doctor looked in Rose's direction, even though her back had been turned to us.

My eyes stung as I put two and two together. To save the planet, Rose's dad had to die like he was supposed to.

The Doctor cared for Rose too much still to let that happen if he could help it.

We were trapped.