It's a quiet night, Matt's slumbering in his bed, dreaming about what he loved most and he smiled in his sleep. He didn't want to move from his spot and would've kept dreaming until he heard knocking at his door. Slowly opening his eyes, Matt groggily moved his hand over his mobile and grabbed it. The bright light from the screen caused him to recoil as his dark green eyes slowly readjusted to the light.
It's three in the morning.
Groaning, Matt pushed himself up from the bed and hobbled out of his bedroom towards his front door. He's fortunate that Ripley wasn't spending the night with him, he'd probably forget to put on his pants.
Peeking through the eyehole, Matt saw Jodie standing in front of his door.
Roused, he opened the door for her and asked her what's wrong.
"Is Ripley okay?" Matt immediately asked.
His worry quelled when Jodie told him that it wasn't about Ripley.
She's still asleep, snoring away.
Jodie snuck out of the shop without her knowing and came to visit Matt.
Matt inquired why and Jodie frowned as she stepped through the doorway, her baby blue loose jacket fluttering in the breeze.
"I need your help," Jodie held her hands over her chest.
Matt slowly blinked as he closed the door behind them and watched as Jodie aimlessly paced around his flat.
He asked her what was wrong and she struggled to find words before finally telling him that she's plagued by something and she wants his help to rid it from her life.
"I see her. I don't know why. I see her!" Jodie exclaimed.
She told Matt fervently how every time she tried to sleep, she'd see the other Jodie. While it's apparent, this Jodie doesn't understand why she's seeing the other Jodie.
Matt offered her a seat at his couch and she thanked him as she plunked down, arms under her chin as she frowned. He asked her if she'd told Ripley at all about it and she shook her head. She didn't want Ripley to know at all, period. Not for the conventional means, but something else.
"I don't know why, I'm just… I just don't want her to be a part of this," Jodie threw her hands up in despair.
Usually, she's good at getting what she wants, but this, she's unable to even remotely think about getting Ripley involved in this. Almost like, she wanted to protect Ripley.
"Well, innit your promise?" Matt reminded Jodie that she promised Ripley to keep an eye on them if she wanted to travel.
Jodie nodded but said, "This time's… different… I don't know why."
She's mad about what's going on, doesn't know why this's happening, and she wanted it resolved in a timely matter. It's bothered her enough and she knew that Matt would've helped her with it, after all, it's his job, now.
"Well, what am I supposed to do?" Matt gestured.
Helping friends in trying times, Matt's done that plenty, but a time machine needing his help, well, you know how it goes.
"Well, you know Jodie, right?" Jodie asked him.
Ripley told Matt several things about Jodie, but she'd be better suited than him, because he didn't know Jodie the way Ripley did.
He pointed this out, but Jodie waved her hand and said that's good enough for her. When asked why she didn't think to look up the woman herself, she froze, and looked solemn.
"I don't want to," Jodie shrugged.
She didn't want to even think about it.
This coming from a time machine that knew things that many men wished they knew, it roused Matt's curiosity as he watched her lament quietly in her seat.
"I'm not sure if what I know would help you," Matt gestured as he told Jodie that he didn't know what exactly Jodie needed from him to help her problem.
Chewing on the bottom of her lip, Jodie asked if Ripley told Matt where Jodie's buried.
"Y-you want to see her grave?" Matt's eyes wide as he processed what Jodie told him.
She wanted to see the other Jodie's grave.
Nodding, Jodie told him that she needed to see it. If only to quell the phantom visions that plagued her so. She told him that she didn't know what else to do and she didn't want to involve Ripley under any circumstances.
"You're proposing we travel back in time, before the war, in another universe, to go to her grave?" Matt summed the plan.
Nodding again, Jodie told him that it's the only way she knows how.
She pleaded with Matt to help her, pointing out that he'd have to help his companion.
Thinking to himself, Matt inevitably nodded and excused himself to his bedroom where he changed into his usuals before stepping out to see Jodie standing up.
"Um, she told me that Jodie was buried in Lancaster," Matt remembered what Ripley told him. "She died on April 6th, 2006."
One day, Matt asked Ripley questions about Jodie.
He remembered how upset Ripley became when she told him how she lashed out against Jodie for something she couldn't control and how the only time she saw her again, at her funeral. Ripley deeply regretted what she said to Jodie before she left and how she wanted to take it back, but alas, she knew, that day won't come.
"The funeral was held April 16th," Matt mentioned to Jodie.
He knew they couldn't go near that date on the account that he'll catch a glimpse of Ripley before the war and that it could've caused issues. So, rather that, they'll have to go after the funeral.
Suggesting that the two go to Jodie's gravesite on the 18th, it gave time for everything to settle down, and avoid bumping into Ripley.
"Thanks," Jodie thanked him for helping her.
Nodding, Matt told her that while the two didn't see eye to eye on things, he couldn't sit idly while she clearly suffered from this.
Thanking him with a hug, Jodie stepped back and ordered him to turn around while she changed.
Complying, Matt waited for Jodie to give him the sign and he heard the door behind him opening. Turning his head, he saw the TARDIS waiting for him, and he stepped inside, the door closing on its own.
Springing to life, the air shifted and cooled. The sounds of metal sheets rubbing against each other echoed throughout the console room as the TARDIS moved through time and space, until it stopped.
The door opened once again and Matt stepped out to a hilly cemetery, warm air touching his nose as he glanced around the silent cemetery. He smelled the rain in the air and the grass green and freshly cut.
Jodie stepped beside him and looked around the cemetery, she asked him what plot Jodie's in and Matt told her the number that Ripley gave him.
Walking with Jodie through the quiet cemetery, Matt glanced at the headstones as they passed by them, seeing all those dates, they barely registered with him.
Knowing where they're at and there's nothing he could've done to stop the invasion, left Matt with a solemn feeling. A machine that effortlessly goes through time and space and he couldn't use it to stop the one thing.
The only silver lining he could've think of was that because of it, he met Ripley, in turn, gave her something to live for, and finding the TARDIS.
"Oh, here it is!" Matt heard Jodie exclaim and turned his head to see her standing near a headstone with fresh flowers in vases. Walking towards Jodie, Matt's eyes caught the name on the headstone.
JODIE SUTHERLAND
APRIL 4TH 1970 – APRIL 6TH 2006
LOVING WIFE — FRIEND TO ALL CHILDREN.
Underneath the text, there's a recent photograph of Jodie and when she saw it Jodie knelt near it and lightly touched it with her fingers.
As Matt's eyes moved, he noticed an older grave near Jodie's and saw her late husband. Ripley told Matt about him, she never met him and learned about him through Jodie.
JAMES SUTHERLAND
NOVEMBER 10TH 1969 – JANUARY 3RD, 1991
SURVIVED BY HIS WIFE — SERVED HIS COUNTRY
"Why are you bothering me?" Jodie asked the photograph. "I'm not you, I don't even know you. I just look like you!"
She asked the long-departed Jodie questions on why she's plaguing her with visions and such, the odd feelings produced by them, she couldn't stand them. She wanted them to stop.
"Is it because of her?" Jodie asked aloud.
It dawned on Matt what could've been the cause for Jodie's plight.
She's used the avatar of Jodie so much, that it started imparting things on the poor TARDIS.
"Ripley told me how much she wanted Jodie to adopt her and how she couldn't," Matt recalled the incident that led Ripley becoming bitter towards Jodie.
Jodie asked, "Is that it, then, regrets?"
She didn't hear anyone and crossed her arms.
Matt watched as Jodie tried to get answers, but never did, and she frowned. He stepped in with a hand on her shoulder and asked her if she wanted to switch avatars or go without, since it's evident the current one's causing her trouble.
Standing up, Jodie lamented that she considered that, but for some reason, she couldn't. As much as she wanted to change form, she felt compelled to keep her current one, and it drove her mad!
"Why are you tormenting me, for?" Jodie sharply asked the photograph. "I'm not you, okay. See, you're dead and I'm not!"
Frustrated, Jodie sighed heavily and turned away from the headstone. She rubbed her dark eyes as she tried to keep her composure, the frustration bothering her.
Matt comforted Jodie as he noticed tears welling up.
"Just go away and leave me alone!" Jodie begged the dead Jodie to stop bothering her.
Trying to think of what to say, Matt asked Jodie if it's possible that she picked up residuals of the real Jodie and that she might've picked up her emotions.
Regret, the most prominent, she felt.
Attempting to suppress the tears in her eyes, Jodie processed what Matt told her before nodding, saying it's possible that she received feedback due to her avatar.
"So, her strongest emotion was regret and that'd mean she regretted not adopting Ripley," Matt suggested.
The emotion so strong, it carried beyond the grave and Jodie took the form, it must've gone to her as it wouldn't notice the difference between her and the real Jodie.
"Okay, yeah, what am I supposed to do to get rid of it?" Jodie asked him.
Rubbing his chin, Matt suggested that she'd simply help the real Jodie with her last rite. Jodie asked him what he meant and he stated, "You're already protective of us, right, well, be slightly more for her, huh?"
It's the only thing that'd make sense in these odd times of theirs and if it means it helps Jodie, then by all means, Matt's gonna try everything he knew how to help her.
"Ohh, so basically, act like a mam to her, then?" Jodie raised a finger.
Matt nodded.
Jodie wanted to adopt Ripley, but the red tape kept her from doing it, and then the fallout caused a massive rift between the two that made her transfer.
By following that logic, all this Jodie needed to do to stop the plaguing visions was treat Ripley like a daughter.
"But what if it doesn't work?" Jodie fretted about the possibility that the plan wouldn't work and she'd end up continuously plagued by visions of a dead woman she didn't even know until she scanned Ripley's mind.
Matt comforted her, by saying that he's willing to help Jodie as long as he could, if it meant the visions stopped and this cheered Jodie up!
Turning her head to the headstone, Jodie asked, "Is that all? Treat her like a daughter and you'll leave me alone?"
Of course, she didn't hear an answer, but she constructed one from whatever means and the heaviness in her iron heart lifted.
Excitedly, Jodie hugged Matt and thanked him profusely for helping her with her plight and he told her in earnest, "Man, machine, alien, it doesn't matter what you are, I'll help you either way."
It's enough to make Jodie happy and she walked with Matt away from the graves.
As they came towards the spot they arrived at, Jodie turned around to face Matt and he took the cue to turn around. When he heard the door open, he turned back and stepped through the TARDIS doorway with the door closing behind him.
The TARDIS sprung to life and brought him back to his flat.
As he stepped out of the TARDIS he heard Jodie and he turned around.
She thanked him profusely once more for helping him and he waved his hand, affirming that he'd help her no matter what, it's in his nature.
"Oh, I almost forgot," Jodie remembered something.
Matt waited and she told him in a tone of voice unprecedented by her.
"Hurt her in any shape or form, I'll space you, understand?" Jodie jabbed him with her thin finger as she gave him dagger eyes.
Nodding, Matt affirmed he'd never hurt Ripley and Jodie nods before flipping back to her excited self as she hurried to his front door.
"See you at work!" Jodie waved as she disappeared through the doorway, closing the door behind her.
It took Matt a few minutes before it caught up to him and he didn't know how to process what'd happened. However, in the end, he helped Jodie and that's all that mattered.
With that said, he's going back to bed, maybe with one eye open considering a time machine just threatened to space him.
Well, it's the thought that counts.
THE END
