Chapter 43- Doomsday Part 2
The Doctor, Rose, Mickey, and Pete ran down the corridor coming upon two Cybermen with their back's towards them. "You will be upgraded." They said.
"No, but you can't!" Jackie cried and before anyone could stop him, Pete ripped the gun from Mickey's hand and shot the two Cybermen.
"That's my wife!" He yelled as he did so.
"Pete?" Jackie asked stepping over the two dead Cybermen staying at the man in shock.
"Hello, Jacks." Pete said and the Doctor felt Rose's heart swell as she watched the reunion between her mother and father.
"What are you doing here? How are you here? Why are you here?" Jackie whined looking away from Pete to glare at the Doctor who silently held his hands up in surrender. "Which Pete are you?"
"I'm not a ghost." Pete told her and the Doctor watched as Jackie's emotions began to war within each other, and he wondered which one would win.
"Why are you here?" Jackie asked, anger having won. "You denied me the last time you saw me!"
"I had just lost my wife!" Pete told her.
"And that gives you the right to treat me like you did? I'll not have it Peter Alan Tyler!" Jackie growled out and Pete smiled, a hopeful light shinning in his eyes once more. There was no darkness a Tyler woman couldn't defeat. "You look old." Jackie breathed out, hope over coming anger.
"You don't." Pete told her with a loving smile.
"I'm not your Jackie." Jackie told him.
"And I'm not your Pete." Pete replied before Jackie smiled and ran to him, stopping just before she got to him. Both looked like they wanted to touch and hug the other, but were refraining from doing so. "I'm sorry he left you. I'm sorry you were left on your own. You didn't marry again or...?" Pete sounded like he was holding back his tears as well as his urge to touch and hug and kiss Jackie.
"There was never anyone else." Jackie told him quietly and the Doctor rocked on his feet suddenly feeling awkward, as if he had walked into the room with them in the middle of sex. This was a private moment that should be happening in private, yet they were forced to have this reunion in the middle of a dimly lit corridor where Cybermen and Daleks could find them at any moment. But the Doctor couldn't find it in him to rush them. "Twenty years, though. Look at me. I never left that flat. Did nothing with myself."
"You brought her up." Pete said. "Rose Tyler." The Doctor couldn't help giving his wife a loving smile at the sound of her name, but Rose was too focused on the interaction in front of them. "That's not bad."
"Yeah." Jackie agreed, eyes tearing.
"In my world, it worked." Pete said and the Doctor could tell he was trying to find something to say, anything to say. "All those daft little plans of mine, it worked. Made me rich, as you know."
"I don't care about that." Jackie told him honestly. "How rich?" She added jokingly causing them to lauch.
"Very." Pete told her with a loving smile.
"I don't care about that." Jackie repeated and the Doctor caught her playful look. "How very?" She joked again causing them to laugh louder, the tension easing quite a bit. Yet, neither one of them moved to hug the other, something was still holding them back. But the Doctor was positive that they would work it out.
"Thing is though, Jacks, you're not my wife." Pete told her and Jackie nodded, eyes tearing up. The Doctor rolled his eyes and inwardly groaned, the man was fighting what he knew was real. "I'm sorry, but you're not. I mean we both..." he trailed off and Jackie nodded in understanding. "You know, it's just sort of..." Jackie nodded once more as she hugged herself and let a tear fall. "Oh, come here." Pete said dropping the gun and pulled Jackie into a hug, picking her up off the ground as he buried his head in her neck, finally giving in.
-Forty Three-
The Doctor led his family down the corridor toward the large room that he knew held the last thing he needed to pull off his plan. He ran through the doors, a sliding to a stop at the three-way battle between human, Cybermen, and Daleks. He silently cursed and he backed up enough to block his family should they be spotted while his mind searched for the safest route to where he needed to go.
Stay here, I just need to get something. The Doctor whispered to Rose through their link before he crouched down and quickly made his way to where the Magna-clamps were. Ducking and dodging shots as he went. He could feel Rose's worry and sent her back reassurance as he grabbed the Magna-clamps and made his way back to them, tripping a few times. Once he got close enough to the door, Rose flung it open allowing him to run through it without a thought. He tossed the Magna-clamps at Pete and Mickey before slipping on his 3-D glasses and poked his head out of the door again.
The Doctor watched as the Cult of Skaro made their way to the middle of the room, shooting at both humans and Cybermen as they did. "Override roof mechanism." His sensitive hearing barely heard Dalek Sec order once they stopped in the middle of the room. The Doctor's attention flew to the room as it opened.
"Elevate." He heard called and they all watched as the Genesis Ark began to slowly rise along with Dalek Sec.
"What are they doing? Why do they need to get outside?" Rose asked.
"Time Lord science. What Time Lord science, what is it?" The Doctor asked as he ripped off his 3-D glasses. The Doctor growled, took Rose by the hand and began to lead her and his family away from the battle. "We've got to see what it's doing, we've got to go back up. Come one, all of you. Top floor!"
"That's 45 floors up. Believe me, I've done them all!" Jackie cried as they ran past the lift that opened.
"We could always take the lift." Jake called as he poked his head out of the lift causing the group of five to slide to a stop, turn around and run into the lift as Rose began to laugh. It didn't take the lift very long to reach the top floor and soon the Doctor and Rose were leading the group into the large white room and ran to the large windows. The Doctor felt his hearts drop when he saw Dalek after Dalek fly out of the Genesis Ark.
"Time Lord science." The Doctor muttered darkly as his grip tightened around Rose's. "It's bigger on the inside."
"The Time Lords put those Daleks in there?" Mickey asked glaring out the window. "What for?"
"It's a prison ship." The Doctor told them.
"How many Daleks?" Rose asked.
"Millions." The Doctor growled out watching as the Daleks flew over London just minutes before they began to be shot at by the Cybermen on the ground. The Doctor's mind replaced the Cybermen and the streets of London with his fellow Time Lords and the burning ruins of Gallifrey. It was the Time War all over again.
"I'm sorry, but you've had it. This world's going to crash and burn." Pete said turning away from the window to look at Jackie before he left the office. "There's nothing we can do. We're going home. Jacks, take this." Without having to look the Doctor knew that Pete had handed Jackie a big, yellow button. "You're coming with us. I can't loose you again."
"But they're destroying the city." Jackie told him angrily, her tone reminding the Doctor so much of Rose when she was pissed at him. The Doctor allowed himself a small smile as he slid on his 3-D glasses once more, Rose had to have gotten her stubbornness from someone.
"Oh, I'd forgotten you could argue. It's not just London. It's the whole world. But there's another world, just waiting for you, Jacks, and it's safe." Pete told her lovingly and desperately, the Doctor understood what the man was feeling. He had just gotten his wife back and he was not about to loose her again, he needed her to be safe. "As long as the Doctor closes the breach." There was the soft sound of a kiss. "Doctor?" It was only then that the Doctor turned, a forced smile on his face.
"Oh, I'm ready." The Doctor told him before dropping Rose's hand and ran form the office. "I've got the equipment right here, thank you, Torchwood." He said as he ran to a computer and began to type in the code he needed. "Slam it down and close off both universes."
"But we can't just leave. What about the Daleks? And the Cybermen?" Rose asked trying to probe his mind for his plan, but he gently pushed her away, locking the plan behind a door. He couldn't let her know he was about to send her away from him once more.
"They're pare of the problem and that makes them part of the solution. Oh, yes." The Doctor cried happy when she chuckled, her eyes weary when he still wouldn't let her in on the plan. "Well? Isn't anyone going to ask? What is it with the glasses?"
"What is it with the glasses?" Rose asked excitement over coming her weariness, taking the bait.
"I can see. That's what." The Doctor told her. "'Cause we've got two separate worlds, but between the two separate worlds,we've got the Void, that's were the Daleks were hiding, and the Cybermen traveled through the Void to get here and you lot, one world to another, via the Void. I like that, 'via the Void'. Look." The Doctor said ripping off the glasses and put them on Rose. "I've been through it, do you see?" He asked moving in a way that he knew would allow her to see the Void Particals.
"Reboot in three minutes." The computer alerted him as Rose held out her hand and he knew she was playing with the Void Particals.
"What is it?" Rose asked.
"Void Particals." The Doctor informed her as he memorized the way she looked, knowing he would never see her again. He wanted to pull her to him and kiss her one last time, but he knew that if he did she would figure out his plan to send her away.
"Like background radiation." Rose said.
"That's it." The Doctor told her before spinning her around. "Look at the others. Everyone of us has Void Particals because we've all been through the Void." The Doctor took off towards the wall, where the breach was. "But the Daleks lived inside the Void. They're bristling with it." The Doctor turned and was proud to find Rose had followed him. "Cybermen, all of them, I just open the Void. And reverse." He took her into his arms and held her to him, one last time. "The Void Particals gets sucked back inside."
"Pulling them all in!" Rose cried out happily.
"Pulling them all in!" The Doctor said laughing to stop himself from crying.
"Sorry, but what's the Void?" Mickey asked.
"The dead space." The Doctor said and heard Rose's mind begin to make connections to everything he had told her. "Some people call it hell."
"So you're sending the Daleks and the Cybermen to hell?" Mickey asked slipping on his big, yellow, button before smirking at Jake. "Man, I told you he was good."
"But it's like you said. We've all got Void Particals." She told him, eyes tearing up as he heard her mind figure out what the Doctor was planning to do, her arms wrapped around her midsection. Rose mentally shook herself, refusing to accept that he would send her away again. "We're all contaminated. We'll get pulled in."
"That's why you've got to go." He told her sadly and she shook her head. He lovingly took her head in his hands and kissed her, one last time.
"Reboot in two minutes." The computer alerted him.
"Back to Pete's worlds." He told her, his lips still on her as she silently cried, her mind begging him to not do this, yelling that she wouldn't allow him to send her away again, reminding him of their child, the forever Bad Wolf had told them of. "Hey, we should call it that. 'Pete's World'." He called to Pete, his eyes never leaving his wife's. "I'm opening the Void, but only on this side. You'll be safe on that side." He told her, one of his hands, the one away from Jackie, sliding down to her midsection, to rest on the womb holding his child.
"And then you close it? For good?" Pete asked causing the Doctor to look away from Rose.
"The breach itself is soaked in the Void Particals. In the end, it'll close itself. And that's it. Kaput." The Doctor explained.
"I'm not leaving you. I was promised forever with you." Rose told him, pulling his attention back to her.
"But you'll get pulled in." Mickey said. The Doctor stared at Rose, taking her all in, memorizing her scent before he forced himself away from her. Knowing that if he didn't, his will to send her away would dissolve.
"That's why I got these." The Doctor said rushing over the Magna-clamps, picking one up. "I'll just have to hold on tight. Been doing it all my life."
"And yet, you're letting me go." Rose told him angrily.
"Rose." The Doctor breathed out.
"The one thing you swore to never let go and your dumping me off in another world. Sealing me away like a dirty, little secret." Rose growled shoving him from her mind and locking him out when he tried to mentally reach for her. It hurt having her shut him out like that.
"I need you safe." The Doctor told her as he forced himself continue with his plan. He would have to get used to life without her in his mind again, because once the breach was closed her mind would forever be lost to him.
"No. That's not gonna happen. I'm not going." Rose told him just before the building shook dangerously.
"We haven't got time to argue. The plan works. We're going." Pete said. "You, too, all of us." He told Rose.
"I'm not leaving him!" Rose growled turning to glare at the man.
"I'm not going without her." Jackie told Pete.
"Oh, my God, we're going." Pete told her.
"I've had 20 years without you, so button it. I'm not leaving her or my son!" Jackie growled at him.
"But you've got to, mum." Rose told her softly.
"Well, that's tough. If you're staying so am I." Jackie said.
"Mum." Rose breathed out.
"Reboot in one minute." The computer announced.
"I've had life with you for 19 years. But then I met the Doctor. And all the things I've seen him do for me, for you, for all of us, for the whole stupid planet and every planet out there. You've seen it too, Mum. He does it alone, Mum. Before we got to him. And I'm not going to let him be alone any more." The Doctor took that time to pull out his big, yellow button from his pocket as he locked eyes with Pete who was pulling his out of his inside pocket. "He's got me, and he's got-" The Doctor slid up behind Rose as quietly as he could before quickly slipping the button around her head. "No!" Rose screamed as Pete hit his button, sending them away.
The Doctor stood in the middle of the room, staring at the spot his wife had once stood. He allowed a single tear to fall, he would mourn properly once this was all over. And turned to finish working when the sound of someone popping back over. Why hadn't he thought about her being able to come back? He spun around and was shocked when he saw not only Rose, but Jackie as well.
"I told you, Doctor that I was not leaving you!" Rose growled.
"And where my daughter goes, I go!" Jackie told him as both women glared at him. The Doctor gripped Rose by her upper arms while glaring to and from her and Jackie.
"Once the breach collapses, that's it. You'll never be able to see him again. Never get the chance at the life you should have had." The Doctor told them, needing them to know what they were giving up.
"I made my choice a long time ago. Before I even combined with the TARDIS, the second I ran into the TARDIS when you came back to me, Doctor. I swore to you in front of Time and Space herself along with our friends and family that I was never going to leave you." Rose told him.
"As I told Pete, I've had 20 years to learn to live without him. And if I had to choice between a life with him without you and Rose or a life with you and Rose without him, I would gladly choice a life with Rose." Jackie told him truthfully. "What can we do to help, Doctor?"
"Systems rebooted. Open access." The computer announced snapping the Doctor out of his shock. He had known Rose and Jackie loved him, had felt how deep Rose's love for him was through their bond, but to actually see them choose him over anything else still shocked him. The Doctor took Rose by the hand, not willing to be apart from her after almost losing her, and looked at Jackie.
"Those coordinates over there, set them all at six." He told Jackie pointing to the computer across from his. "And hurry up." He ordered before leading Rose to his computer and began to one handedly set the coordinates to six.
"We've got Cybermen on the way up." Jackie called out.
"How many floors down?" The Doctor asked.
"One." Jackie told him before he led Rose to Yvonne's office and over to her desk and quickly typed one handed.
"Levers operational." The computer announced causing the Doctor to truly smile for the first time since this nightmare started. He was going to save the world and keep his growing family. His smile widened when he felt Rose unlock her mind, allowing him entrance once more.
"That's more like it. Bit of a smile." Rose told him before kissing him on the cheek. "The old team." She finished picking up the second Magna-clamp.
"Hope and Glory. Mutt and Jeff. Shiver and Shake." The Doctor said as he led her back to the lever room, and allowed her to hand the Magna-clamp to Jackie.
"Which one's Shiver?" Rose asked.
"Oh, I'm Shake." The Doctor told her leading her over to one lever, leaving the other for Jackie. "Press the red button." He told Jackie once he had the Magna-clamp on the wall, looking behind him to make sure Jackie was doing the same. "When it starts, just hold on tight. Shouldn't be too bad for us," He said as him and Jackie raced to their levers while Rose waited at their Magna-clamp, "but the Dalek's and the Cybermen are steeped in Void Particals. Are you ready?"
"Looks like they can't wait." Jackie said nodding towards the window, the Doctor looked at the window to see a group of Daleks flying at them, ready to stop them.
"Let's do it." The Doctor cried and both him and Jackie raised their levers before running over to their Magna-clamps. The Doctor wrapped himself around Rose as she wrapped her arms around his neck and legs securely around his waist as he held on to the Magna-clamp with all his might.
"Online." The computer announced and seconds later the Daleks were sucked through the window towards the breach just as his feet were sucked off the ground. He heard the Dalek's screaming along side Jackie's screams and he looked over to see her hanging on to her clamp for dear life, while fighting the pull, using the base of the lever for support.
"The breach is open. Into the Void!" The Doctor growled as he felt Rose's arms tighten around him. Within seconds Dalek's and Cybermen alike were being sucked into the Void. The Doctor couldn't help the laugh that flew through his throat as he watched the last of the Time War getting sucked into the Void. Once the breach was closed that would be it of the Time War! It would finally be finished! He would finally be able to move on without worry of Daleks ever again!
Sparks from Jackie's lever drew the Doctor's attention, her lever started to lower and the suction began to slow. "Offline." The computer informed. No! This couldn't happen! The breach wasn't closed yet! The Doctor's hearts nearly stopped when he saw Jackie reaching over to try and grab the lever.
"Hold on!" Rose yelled reaching out to her mother, quickly pulling back to not only keep from getting hit by a Dalek, but also keep from falling herself when she began to slip. The Doctor watched in fear as Jackie let go of her Magna-clamp to grab the lever. Him and Rose watched in fear as she struggled to get the lever back up.
"I've got to get it upright!" Jackie yelled to them, tears in her eyes as she finally began to push the lever back up, locking it back into place.
"Online and locked." The computer alerted as the suction picked up once more. Jackie yelled as she clung to the lever, nothing behind her to help her fight against the pull.
"Jackie! Hold on!" The Doctor yelled as the last of the Dalek's flew by them. He locked eyes with his brave mother-in-law, he couldn't loose her! She had become just as important to himself as she was to Rose! "Hold on!"
"Hold on just a little longer, Mum!" Rose yelled as Jackie's fingers started to slip. "Mum! Just a little longer! Please! Just hold on a little longer!"
"NO!" The Doctor roared as Jackie's fingers slipped from the lever and he watched as time seemed to slow down as Jackie's figure flew closer and closer towards the Void. He had killed her! He had promised her he would protect her and he ended up killing her! At the last possible second, Pete appeared and caught her. She had just enough time to lock eyes with them before she and Pete were gone. Seconds later, the breach closed.
"Systems closed." The computer announced but the Doctor couldn't take his eyes from the spot Jackie had last been. She hadn't had a choice. Was the only flying through his head as Rose ran a comforting hand through his hair. Her choice of living with him and Rose had been ripped from her. The Doctor allowed Rose to lead him to the wall and they both laid their hands on the wall.
"This was always meant to happen, Doctor. She was always meant to be there, with Pete." Rose told him and the Doctor looked over to his wife to see her silently crying, he pulled her into his arms as they both cried for their loss. "I knew it would always end this way, but why does it hurt?"
"Because we love her." The Doctor told her.
"I never got to tell her, Doctor, she doesn't know she's going to be a grandmother." Rose cried, the Doctor scooped her into his arms as her legs gave away and carried her to the TARDIS. His mind set in finding away for them to tell Jackie one last goodbye.
-Forty Three-
"Take me back!" Jackie screamed and cried beating on the wall. "Take me back! Take me back! Rose! Doctor! Please!" She bawled.
"It's stopped working." Pete told her sadly from beside her as she continued to beat against the wall. "He did it. He closed the breach." Jackie sobbed as her legs gave out on her. She would never get to see her daughter and son-in-law again! Never get to see them start their own family! Never get to help them save the universes ever again!
They stayed in that room for hours, allowing Jackie to cry. And with the help of Pete and Mickey, Jackie stood up. She stared at the blank, white wall numb to everything around her. How had it come to this? How could it have come to this? How had she come to loose everything she had known since her Pete had left her? She raised her hand and rested it on the wall as tears began to slowly fall from her eyes. Jackie pushed against the wall hoping it would bend and allow her to pass through to the other side, to her daughter. But it was solid, as a wall should.
How could this have happened? Jackie closed her eyes and rested her forehead on the wall as she forced herself to think back to how this had began. After the Olympic incident, Jackie had come to the conclusion that Rose and the Doctor needed some alone time. A proper Honeymoon.
Jackie let out a humorless laugh as she remembered the terrified look in the Doctor's eyes when she had suggested she be dropped off at her flat. It had shocked and frightened her a bit at the time. Now she knew it should have terrified her.
The Doctor had refused before setting them on another wild adventure. It had taken about a week and Rose's help to convince the Doctor to let Jackie rest in the Flat for a month. One month. That had been the longest the Doctor would agree to. He had been terrified of losing his little family, Rose had informed her. Rose had also warned her about a storm coming, and it was the storm that had the Doctor terrified.
Jackie's mind zeroed on the memory of this morning. Exactly one month for her, don't know how long it was for them probably a couple weeks at most. Jackie whipped her face, even though it did nothing, and turned away from the wall. Allowing Pete to lead her from the room to start their new life. A life with out Rose or the Doctor or the TARDIS.
-Forty Three-
"Jackie." Jackie shot up in bed, looking around the room for Rose who she could have just sworn had whispered her name. She had been dreaming of standing on a beach talking with the Doctor and Rose. "Jackie." She gasped when she heard Rose's voice once more. "Jackie." They were calling her! It wasn't a dream! They were trying to lead her back to them! And she would follow their voices.
And that's it folks, at least until the sequel comes out. Keep your eyes posted for 'The Missing Rose', sequel to 'Jackie's Mission'.
