Chapter Thirty-One
Powell Estate, London,
January 24th 2007
Priti Azadi blinked the sleep from her eyes as she lifted the sodden tea bags from the mugs and dumped them onto a small, tea-stained saucer that she kept meaning to wash. The flat was in a perpetual state of untidiness with crumbs on the floor, piles of washing spilling out of the laundry basket, dishes stacked as neatly as possible as though that would make the mess seem less, and her father's medication scattered about the flat because the children she looked after for a little extra money each week thought they were toys. It was hardly the state she wanted to invite her neighbour in to see but Jackie Tyler hadn't given her much of a choice. Hammering on the door at five in the morning with a weeping child who spoke only gibberish attached to her hip, she had shouldered her way in with an apology and a plea for help.
Picking up the cups of tea and hoping Jackie didn't want to sit in the kitchen, she padded through her flat and bumped the door open to her father's bedroom where Jackie was standing at the window, curtains twitching between her fingers.
"You sure I shouldn't call the police?" She had said no police, which wasn't uncommon to hear on the estate, but Priti's fingers itched to dial for help. "They're in your flat, Jacks."
"I'm sure," Jackie said, taking the tea from her with steady hands and lifting it to her mouth. The lights were off and the curtains were mostly drawn but the light that flickered through made her look tired and worried. "What good'll it do? They'd take ages to get here, an' after everythin' with Rose, they'd think I was just talkin' a loud of nonsense."
Priti didn't reply.
The year Rose had gone missing had been a highly charged time on the estate with accusations of murder flying back and forth, poor Mickey Smith caught up in the middle of everything even though anyone with an ounce of sense knew he wouldn't hurt a fly let alone Rose.
It was an ugly, cruel thing and Priti was glad the year was behind them.
She curled her fingers around her mug and hunched her shoulders, cold as she didn't like heating the flat unless she had to, the cost of it making her deal with the winter cold that sank deep into her bones. "Who are they, anyway?"
"No idea."
"And who's the kid?"
"Daughter of a friend of a friend," Jackie lied. "Family's abusive, you know how it is."
Priti sipped her tea, eyes lingering on the strange child who had stopped crying and was simply sitting on the bed watching Priti's father sleep.
Daughter of a friend, she thought. Probably that strange John Smith. He talks about as much sense as the girl.
"I just need to keep her out of sight while I figure out what to do," Jackie said, worry pulling at her. "Rose an' Zoe aren't answerin' their phones an' I can't get through to my boys either." She sighed before turning a kind, grateful smile towards Priti. "Thanks for this. You didn't have to take us in."
Priti scoffed, cheeks heating in the dark. "Shut up. Like you wouldn't do the same for me an' mine. But are you sure you don't want to use my phone to call Rose or Zoe?"
She shook her head. "If none of them are answerin' then something's happened. I need somewhere to go that's not here, but I don't know where."
"You could go to your mum's," Priti suggested, not eager to have Jackie stay if it meant that the people ransacking her flat eight doors down would come and knock on her door. "Stay there for a bit. Isn't she comin' down for your party anyway?"
"Yeah, maybe."
Jackie considered the idea but reluctance gnawed at her, twisting nerves until her body felt as though it was vibrating. She hadn't told her mother anything about the Doctor. As far as her mother was concerned, the Doctor was a research scientist who had employed Rose and Zoe as his assistants, not that Jackie was convinced her mother believed her. When Rose made her reappearance after a year of absence, Jackie had called her mother and said that Rose had been in France working as an au pair; again, she doubted that she was fully believed but the alternative, the truth, was so impossible that it was easier to tell a shaky lie than attempt to present the truth to her family.
Unable to go home, her mind drifted to David Llewellyn down in Wales. The distance was comforting yet David wasn't exactly calm under pressure and he had a little girl that Jackie absolutely didn't want to put in danger.
Priti shifted the curtains an inch to the right and peered out onto the walkway, the orange light from the council-approved lighting cast an ominous glow over their dark forms.
"They're out of your flat," Priti said, watching them, wondering who they were as they were better dressed and appeared more serious that the usual types who came to the Powell Estate looking for trouble. "Ah. Shit. Looks like they're going door to door. They're knocking on George's door. Blimey, that's going to piss him off. He never goes to bed until three or four in the morning."
"Don't I bloody know it." Jackie complained, setting her tea down and stealing a hairband from the table, sweeping her hair up into a ponytail. "I need to get us out of here before they come knockin'. I don't want you gettin' in any trouble. I don't know what they'll do."
Fear seized Priti's muscles at the sight of the weaponry attached to the man and woman. "Jesus, Jackie, who are these people? They've got guns."
Of course they do, Jackie thought, annoyed and afraid.
"Where are they now?"
"Talking to George," she said. "Looks like he's complaining about the noise. That's probably going to buy you a few minutes. You know what he's like."
"Okay, okay." Panic was making her shake and no matter what she did, she couldn't stop the way her hands trembled and her knees quivered. Stepping away from the window, she gestured to Lorna who, in the absence of better options and a lack of communication, had decided to trust her; she got up and padded over to her, slipping her small hand into Jackie's. "We're goin' to have to run. Nothin' else for it."
"You won't make it far," Priti warned. "You're got a kid and they look really, really fit."
Jackie resisted the urge to snap, knowing that Priti was simply being realistic. "What else am I supposed to do?"
Priti glanced back out the window again. George was winding himself up and the two strangers had decided that he clearly didn't have what they were looking for and were detangling themselves from conversation with him. George wasn't one to let people go easily, which gave them at least another minute. An idea forming in her head, she set her tea down and turned, shaking her father awake.
"Dad, c'mon, get up."
Jackie stared at her. "What're you doin'?"
"Helping," she said. Her father stumbled from bed under her encouragement, growling and complaining in tired confusion. "Pass me his dressing gown, would you?" Jackie took it from the back of the door and held it out to her. "I'll distract them for you. You and the kid can hoof it down to the other stairwell. You'll really have to run though. If I were you, I'd head to the garage and see if Farouz'll let you borrow a car. Flash him your tits or something, but get the hell out of Peckham for a bit. Go stay with a friend. I'll call you when it's safe to come back."
"Priti, I –" gratitude strangled what she wanted to say. "I don't have my phone."
The urgency of her escape had forced her to leave her phone behind in her living room along with her shoes, keys, and purse. She had nothing except the kindness of her neighbours with which to help her.
Leaving the dressing gown dangling off her father's arms, Priti quickly scribbled down her phone number and shoved it into Jackie's hand. "There. Call me when you get somewhere safe and I'll let you know what's happenin'."
Jackie grasped her wrist, holding her in place. "Priti, thank you."
"You think I've forgotten how you helped me when Dad was first diagnosed?" Priti tied her father's dressing gown and smiled. "You help me, I help you. That's what we do around here. You taught me that. Now, stop being an idiot and get ready to run."
Mouth dry and heart hammering in her chest, she nodded, securing her grip on Lorna's hand as she tried not to feel so afraid. All the other times aliens had come barging into her life, someone else had been there with her and the Doctor was normally lurking in the shadows ready to take charge with his usual gung-ho and poorly planned attempts at bringing peace back to her life. Being alone without anyone was frightening, the feeling exacerbated by the fact that she was worried something awful had happened to the people she loved.
They always answered their phones.
Always.
It wasn't difficult to understand why Jack would use his Vortex Manipulator to send a child back to her. She assumed it was because he needed her to keep the child safe, but the fact he had sent her back with people hunting her made her strength wobble.
She knew Jack.
He would never put anyone in harm's way if there was any other option, and her mind kept throwing worst-case scenarios at her, imagining his handsome face slack with death or something worse.
If he was dead and sending the child back was his last act, Jackie didn't know what she was going to do. She had to believe that her daughters were alive and well, the alternative would destroy her, and she needed time to think and try to get in touch with one of them because someone had to be okay. The thought of all five of them incapacitated was something she didn't want to consider and so she simply wasn't going to. However, it did feel as though all her worse fears regarding Rose and Zoe's travels were coming true...again.
Rose couldn't have met an accountant, she grumbled to herself. Had to be a bloody alien.
Pausing at the door, Priti looked back and gave her a bracing nod. Hand planted in the small of her father's back, she gave him a push and followed him out of her flat, leaving the door on the latch. She hoped that her father's Alzheimer's induced shuffling and confusion would distract those chasing Lorna long enough for Jackie to get out of sight and to relative safety. Fully awake now, she tugged her father down the walkway towards the armed strangers, George hanging out of his flat, yelling after them, an annoyed, tired looking Yevgenia scowling as they asked her questions about Jackie.
Back in Priti's flat, Jackie looked down at the Lorna who was staring up at her, tear tracks dried in the dirt on her face, and smiled. "It's okay. We just have to run now, okay?"
The lyrical nonsense that was her language left her mouth again.
"We –" Jackie gestured between the two of them, Priti's loud, annoyed tones filling the air as she snapped at the armed people, attempting to create as much chaos and confusion as possible. "Need to run." She mimed running. "Okay? We need to run."
Lorna blinked.
"God, I hope the Doctor's alive," she groaned, rubbing her eyes where a headache was pressing in against her optic nerve. "'Cause I'm goin' to kill him for this."
"Doctor," Lorna repeated.
Jackie jerked, surprised. "Yes, the Doctor. Doctor. You know him?"
"Doctor," she repeated. "Jack. Mih-key."
"Rose, Zoe," Jackie said, hope filling her mouth. "Do you know Rose an' Zoe?"
"Jack," she said again, before speaking slowly and clearly – "yunget sku jarul."
"Hey!" Priti's yell threatened to shake the windows, and Jackie snapped her head around, stepping closer to the door to peer out. Priti had shoved herself between her father and a tall, blonde woman whose face was twisted into annoyance, nose wrinkled as though something foul smelling was in front of her. "Get your hands off my dad, you fucking asshole! Who d'you think you are?"
A door opened and Wednesday stepped out, hair in curlers. "What the hell's goin' on out here? Priti, honey, you okay?"
Another door opened and Frankie the Snake stuck his head out. "Babe, you need help?"
Maurice, the local drug dealer, stepped out in his boxers. "Who the hell are these guys? Why they causin' trouble?"
Lee Ogdens, freshly out of prison and with a monitoring bracelet looped around his ankle, bobbed his head. "Let me get my dusters."
A smile threatened to wipe away the fear that simmered beneath the surface of Jackie's skin as the two strangers who had broken into her flat while she was attempting to calm Lorna in the bathroom – sneaking out behind them with her heart in her mouth – became surrounded by her neighbours. She didn't always get on with the people who lived on the same floor as her, arguing about noise or drug deals or abuse, but when outsiders came in and threatened one of their own, they were willing to step up.
Lee Ogdens re-emerged from his flat with heavy bronze knuckle dusters decorating on his fingers and elbowed his way through the crowd. Using the broad, tattooed expanse of his body and the absolute outrage that whipped itself into a frenzy when the strangers drew their guns, shouting at everyone to get back, Jackie slipped out of the flat and ran, hand clamped around Lorna's.
Forcing the door of the stairwell at the opposite end of the building open, she glanced over her shoulder and went cold with fear as the strange man met her eyes, anger on his face. He tried to shove his way past the neighbours but Lee threw a punch and he went down. As he fell, Jackie rushed into the stairwell and sprinted down the stairs as fast as Lorna would let her, chanting run, run, run under her breath. Emerging into the cold morning, the sun not yet risen and the grounds were lit by street lamps. She stuck close to the building and edged around the side before racing across the open ground, not daring to stop and look back for fear of finding the strangers watching her.
Following Priti's suggestions, she and Lorna ran down the familiar streets, twisting and turning, passing by the milk truck whose driver blinked at her in surprise and ignoring a woman who was out with her dog. The garage was situated on the corner of a park and the light was on in the office. Farouz tended to start work early, liking to tinker with his own projects before turning his attention to the paid work that kept his rent paid, and she hammered on the metal door, its rattle loud and horrible.
"Jackie." Farouz peered at her suspiciously, taking in her pink silk robe, make-up free face, and filthy child companion. "In a spot of bother, are you?"
"I need Mickey's car an' for you not to ask questions," Jackie said, pushing Lorna into the garage between Farouz and the door. He stepped back, startled and faintly amused. "He left it here, didn't he? Where are the keys?"
"In my office." He shut door behind her and turned around, smiling at Lorna who stared at him with large dark eyes that left him feeling unnerved. Jackie managed to find the strangest friends: the John Smith bloke that apparently travelled with her daughters for one. He and his wife were certain that Rose and Zoe had joined some sort of sex cult, more so after New Years Eve and their handsome American friend had been introduced. "What's going on?"
"I said don't ask any questions," she said, annoyed, arm wrapped around Lorna, pulling her back against her. "Can I get the keys or what?"
Farouz ran a hand over the back of his head and sighed. "I remember not too long ago when you were accusing Mickey of murdering your girl."
"Don't pretend you weren't in on that," Jackie snapped. "You sacked him, remember?"
"Because you painted murderer across the fucking door!" Irritation flared before shame drowned it out. He hated how easily he had let Mickey go. He was the best mechanic by far and he had let himself be bullied and harassed into firing him. "I don't think he'd like me letting you use his car."
"Oh, God, it's all water under the bridge an' all that now," she said, impatiently, ignoring her guilt. "We had Christmas together an' everything." She thrust her hand out. "Keys. Please."
Farouz chewed the inside of his cheek before accepting defeat. Jackie was the type of person to grab a tire iron and knock him unconscious to get what she wanted and he had a busy day ahead of him; besides, the small child at her side looked as though it had been through a war and the day hadn't yet come when he would turn his back on a child in need. Jackie snatched the keys from him and he watched her bundle the child into the front seat, making sure the seatbelt was secure, before taking the driver's seat. She pointed at the door and he rolled his eyes, grabbing hold of the pulley, opening the garage so that she could drive past him.
"Weird fucking woman," Farouz said with a shake of his head.
The car gave a strangled, choking growl and Jackie swore, struggling with the gear stick. It had been a while since she had driven and she was pretty sure her picture licence had expired years ago but if the Doctor was able to drive his ridiculous yellow car – Bessie, a Northern burr reminded her, her name's Bessie – then she could manage Mickey's yellow bug. Being within something solid and moving helped with the fear, and she looked across to Lorna who seemed overwhelmed by the entire experience of being in a car, and Jackie wondered if wherever she was from they had cars or transport of any kind.
The scream that ripped from Lorna's mouth, a warning cry in her strange language, make Jackie swerve before her foot slammed against the break. Squealing to a stop, smoke pluming out of the exhaust, Jackie gaped at the gun-strapped man who stood in the centre of her headlights.
She was so close she saw his breath whiten the air before him.
When he spoke, he did so with the deliberate carefulness of someone speaking a foreign language. "Give me the girl, Ms Tyler."
He knows my name flashed through her mind, the thought striking her like lightening.
Shaking, she rolled down the window and leaned her head out. "Where are my daughters?"
"Presumably with their Time Lord," he replied, gun held at half mast, one hand stretched before him as though attempting to calm her. She shifted her foot on the break, moving her other over to the accelerator, hoping she remembered how to find the biting point. "We just want the girl. Give me her and you can leave unharmed. You have my word."
"I don't know who you are," she snapped. "Your word means fuck all to me, mate."
"Jack, Jack, Jack," Lorna whispered next to her, wide eyed and terrified. "Yunget sku jural." She pointed at the man, finger shaking. "Weap skun'ï Jack. Weap skun'ï Jack!"
With nothing to go on but the tone, Jackie gripped the steering wheel until the plastic creaked. It had been obvious from the start that the man wasn't to be trusted and Lorna's reaction to him cemented that thought. Whoever he was, he was responsible for Jackie's current situation – or, at the very least, partially responsible – and she didn't enjoy having the wits scared out of her in the early hours of the morning no matter what the reason.
Wetting her lips, she stuck her head out the window again. "Where's Jack?"
"The man you know as Jack Harkness is in custody," Harlan informed her, words sharp and clipped. "The girl doesn't belong in this time. Her continued presence risks altering the timeline. Surrender her and you will be allowed to go free."
"I'll just wait for the Doctor, thanks," she shot back. "He'll know what to do."
Harlan bowed his head, swearing in whatever language he called his own, and Jackie seized her opportunity.
Finding the biting point, she pressed the accelerator right down to the floor and the engine roared, jerking ahead until it smoothed out. She saw the whites of Harlan's eyes before he threw himself out of the way, her scream flying from the window as she sped past, heart slamming against her chest. As she took the corner much faster than she would have liked, an energy blast singed the paint of the side of Mickey's car and shattered the back window, clipping them. Lorna screamed and covered her head with her arms. Glancing in the rearview mirror, Jackie watched Harlan swear and stomp his foot against the ground like a child throwing a tantrum.
Lorna peaked up from the shield of her arms with wide, frightened eyes.
Nonsense spilled from her lips again.
"I don't know what to do either," Jackie said, not slowing down as she left the estate, barrelling through a red light, grateful it was still early and the roads were relatively empty. She ran through a list of people that might be able to help her when she nearly slapped her forehead; she laughed, the solution so obvious she was embarrassed not to have thought of it straight away. "Right. I've got a plan. Hold on tight, sweetheart."
At high speed and breaking a number of laws that were going to send speeding tickets through Mickey's letter box, Jackie parked the car outside a beautiful house in a leafy suburb in the type of area she would love to have raised her daughters in had she the money. She circled the car and pulled Lorna out, slipping through the gate that was left on a latch, and hurrying to the front door where she pressed the bell thrice before hammering on the wooden panels.
"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon," she muttered, impatiently.
A light flicked on.
A shadowed form moved closer.
The door cracked open.
"Jackie." The door opened wider until the pyjama-clad owner of the house was framed in the doorway. "What on earth are you doing here?"
"I need help," Jackie said, arm around Lorna. "We need help."
"Oh god," Sarah Jane Smith sighed, opening the door to welcome them inside. "What the hell's the Doctor done now?"
Gamma Forests,
Two seconds later
Static ran up Mickey's arms and swept beneath his T-shirt to crawl up his neck. His nose twitched and back of throat started to itch at the smell of something inorganic burning, scents he had associated with Jack's use of the Vortex Manipulator. He stared at the spot where Jack had been standing, weight braced on his back leg, Lorna attached to him, but neither of them were there. For one terrifying moment, Mickey thought that the Vashta Nerada had descended and consumed Jack and Lorna before his brain started working and the image of a woman: tall and blonde, grabbing hold of Jack and twisting away into the Vortex. He swayed on the spot and grabbed hold of the nearest solid object that, fortunately, turned out to be the Doctor.
"JACK!"
"What the hell was that?" The Doctor demanded, staggering to a stop, hair askew and looking filthy. "Was that a Vortex Manipulator? Did someone just kidnap Jack?"
"A woman – it was a woman - she grabbed him and zapped him away," Mickey said, panicking. We need to –"
Hands grabbed the back of their clothes and yanked them back.
"Inside, now," Zoe ordered.
"Someone's kidnapped, Jack," the Doctor said, stumbling over his own feet.
Mickey fought against her hold, scrabbling for the place where Jack had been standing. "Let go of me. We need to find him!"
"There are Vashta fucking Nerada," she reminded them, harshly, and the Doctor shook the surprise of Jack's abduction off and remembered himself; Mickey took longer. "Right now, Jack's alive, wherever he is, but we won't be if we hang around. Now you can either get in the TARDIS by yourself or I'll drag you in there, Micks, it's your choice."
"Mickey, come on," the Doctor said, sliding a hand beneath his armpit and applying the smallest amount of pressure to make him malleable. "Jack's gone. TARDIS, then rescue mission."
"Rose," Zoe yelled over her shoulder, the three of them surging into the TARDIS. "Get us moving!"
Standing at the console, Rose worried her bottom lip before carefully following the movements she had seen the Doctor perform hundreds of times before. After losing Zoe for six years to pre-revolutionary France and then the incident on the Game Station, the Doctor had decided it was high time to give her and Jack lessons in how to pilot the TARDIS in the event of an emergency. Jack loved them and pestered the Doctor again and again for more until he caved like everyone knew he would; Rose, on the other hand, had thought she would enjoy flying the TARDIS only to discover that having the entirety of the ship under her command was absolutely terrifying and not something she cared for. She knew how to pilot in an emergency but was happy to let the others fight over driving her the other times.
As the TARDIS began to dematerialise into the Time Vortex, her eyes went wide at the noticeable absence of Jack.
"Where's Jack?"
"Kidnapped, apparently," Zoe said, pulling himself up to her side as the Doctor wrestled with Mickey, pulling him back from the door. "Someone jumped in and jumped out with him and the girl."
"He's been what?" Rose's eyes flashed, worried and angry. "Where'd they take him?"
"No idea," she said, running a hand over her face, smearing the smoke that stained her skin. "Honestly, there's way too much happening right now that I'm having a bit of trouble keeping up. Whoever took him used a Vortex Manipulator though."
"Mickey." The loud crack of the Doctor's voice made them both step around the side of the console and quietened the rising burble of scared voices in the corner where the surviving Gammas were huddled, holding each other. "Stop. Fighting me isn't helping Jack. He's gone. We'll find him."
Mickey attempted to free an elbow to ram back into the Doctor's face.
Rose and Zoe looked at each other.
"I'll deal with that," Rose said, leaving her to take over at the controls, and the flight became smoother as Zoe balanced them out to account for the eddies that always rocked the Vortex. She stepped down off the platform and ducked under Mickey's flailing arms to put her hands on his chest, curling her fingers into his sweat-damp shirt. "Mickey, stop. We'll get him back, course we will, but we have to get out of danger first."
Mickey calmed under her touch. The Doctor loosened his grip slightly, eyes grateful as he looked at Rose.
"Can you –?"
"Yeah," she said. "I've got him."
Releasing Mickey completely, he hurried towards Zoe, talking rapidly. "Take us to the main city, love. We'll drop off the refugees, tell them about the fire and the Vashta Nerada and then leave them to it. We've got more important things to deal with."
Love? Rose thought, bewildered, turning to stare at the Doctor in surprise before Mickey's stricken voice left no room in her mind for anything else but him and his heartbreak.
"He was right there," Mickey said, pale beneath the smoke and sweat, eyes holding a dazed look she recognised from those who had experienced a sudden and unexpected emotional upheaval and her heart ached for him even as her blood singed with worry for Jack. "He was right in front of me an' then that woman showed up an' he's gone. He was just gone."
"We'll figure it out," Rose promised, pulling him towards her and resting her chin on his shoulder, his arms slowly coming around her until he was holding her tightly, shaking in her arms. "I promise, we'll figure it out."
The TARDIS landed with a bump and Rose shuffled Mickey back out of the way, allowing the Doctor and Zoe enough space to evacuate the surviving Gammas. Her side throbbed from where her shirt had fused into her skin, and her mouth was dry and painful, yet nothing would persuade her to move away from Mickey right then. Not even her phone going off in her back pocket, the ringtone she had given her mother tinny and annoying after everything; she closed her eyes against his shoulder as his tears soaked the side of her neck. From the door, the Doctor was audible in his succinct and rapid assessment of the situation to whoever was on the other side.
"We've got to go," he was saying to the people in charge, Zoe already back in the TARDIS, waiting impatiently as he edged backwards, refusing to allow the Gamma officials to delay him anymore than they already were. "Our friend's been abducted. Need to deal with that. Good luck here and all that but I've really got to –"
He tripped and landed on the ramp.
Seizing the opportunity, he slammed the door shut with his feet.
"Smooth," Zoe commented, dryly. She stepped towards him and offered her hand. "Theories?"
Seizing her hand, he jumped to his feet. "A couple, you?"
"Either the Time Agency's finally caught up with him or that mystery guy of mine is behind it," she said, brushing soil off his coat. "Or the mystery man is from the Time Agency and this is a twofer. Neither makes me feel great."
The Doctor bobbed his head. "That's what I'm thinking."
"Can we track him?"
"It'd be easier if he had a tracking device in him but his Vortex Manipulator should help," the Doctor said, the two of them moving in tandem up the ramp. "You should patch Rose up. I'll try and track him down now."
"Hey." She reached out and caught hold of his jacket, knuckles brushing against him. "We're going to get him back. Either he's going to escape and find us or we're going to find him. Nothing else is going to happen."
"When you say it, I believe it," the Doctor said, covering her hand with his.
Zoe's eyes softened, squeezing his hand, before stepping back to approach Rose and Mickey.
"Hey," she said, voice soft. "The Doctor's going to start tracking Jack but I need to fix Rose up first. Why don't you come with us and I'll give you something to help you sleep."
He turned from her. "I don't need to sleep, I need Jack."
"It's going to take some time to find him," Zoe said, patiently. "And, take it from me, you're going to want to sleep at some point. So, come with –"
"Zoe, no offence, but I don't really give a shit about your fucked up past right now," Mickey snapped. Hurt burned through her, unused to Mickey talking to her like that. "Jack's missin', an' I'm not goin' to fuckin' sleep through it. He'd do everythin' an' anythin' to find me. I'm not goin' to do anythin' less."
"Mickey," Rose said, low and chastising. "It's not her fault."
"It's fine," Zoe lied. "Look, Micks, this is going to take a while. Standing around like –"
He stalked past her and headed towards the Doctor. Mouth open, formed around the word she hadn't spoken, her teeth clacked when she shut it. Rose eyed her, sympathy painted across her face, and Zoe ignored it as she shook the feeling of hurt from her. If their situations were reversed and the Doctor had been taken, Zoe doubted she would be handling herself much better than Mickey. Managing to paste an unconvincing smile on her face, her eyes dropped to Rose's injury, the temporary bandage beginning to show blood.
"Come on," Zoe said. "We need to see to that."
"Yeah, okay." Rose took hold of her sister's arm and leant against her, Zoe carefully guiding her from the room as the deep murmur of the Doctor and Mickey's voices washed over them. "You know Mickey didn't mean any of that, right?"
"Course I do," she said. "He's terrified."
"Me too," Rose murmured. "Someone stole Jack from us. I don't know who they are but I already hate them."
A small laugh worked its way out of Zoe's threat. "Yeah, I get that. You're holding it together pretty well though."
"It's easier to be calm when everyone else is panickin', reckon you taught me that." Zoe snorted and gently nudged Rose's side with her elbow, careful not to press against her wound. The phone in her back pocket went off and she removed it, sliding her thumb to decline the call, making a note to send her mother a text later to let her know they were busy. Hopefully they would get Jack back without having to worry Jackie. "I'm really scared we're not goin' to see him again."
"Of course we're going to," Zoe said. "It's Jack we're talking about. I can't imagine anything coming for him that he can't deal with, and the Doctor's going to turn the universe upside down until we find him. You heard us, it's probably the Time Agency or my mystery man, maybe both. That makes whoever took him easier to track because they'll probably be going over old stomping ground."
They entered the comforting cleanliness of the medical bay, and Rose winced as she lifted herself up onto the bed, fingers fluttering over her wound.
"He was always worried the Agency would catch up with him." she said, pale and frowning. "D'you know what he did?"
Zoe shook her head, searching for the medicine and tools to help put her sister back together. "No, you?"
"He's never said," she said, lying back and staring up at the bland ceiling, head throbbing from the stress of the day. "But I don't think he remembers. Those missin' memories of his..."
She trailed off into silence.
"Whatever it is, we'll deal with it," Zoe said, pulling up a chair, surgical gloves already donned. "I'll try not to hurt you but I've never actually done this before."
Rose groaned. "That's reassuring."
Working in silence, Zoe took her time so as not to make any mistakes and hurt Rose. Her shirt had fused itself to her skin, and she had to soften the injury with saline before picking away at the material bit by bit. Halfway through Rose's stomach muscles started tensing and so Zoe gave her another painkiller before sloughing the rest of the material from her skin, carrying away a few layers of her epidermis. Tending to the oozing wound with antibiotics and saline, cleaning it to make sure there was no risk of infection, she realised that she wasn't at all qualified to be doing what she was. Normally, their medical needs were taken care of by the Doctor or Jack; however, as neither of them were available then, she did the best she could with common sense and Google.
Spraying nanites across the injury, she rolled back to fetch the dermal regenerator that needed a quick charge. Using the few minutes it took, she discarded her bloodied gloves and sent Jackie a quick text message to let her know they were in the middle of something – don't worry, it's nothing, speak soon – before rolling back to Rose.
"Not much longer," Zoe said, holding the regenerator over her stomach. "How you feeling?"
"Numb."
"Good, that's better than the alternative." The flesh turned pink and shiny as it healed, and Zoe pressed her fingers to it. Rose hissed, batting her hand away. "Sorry. Stay there for a sec, I'll get something to cover it."
Rose rubbed her face and stared at her. "You don't seem worried."
"What now?"
"You're all calm an' stuff," she said, tired. "You're not – there's no panic."
"I'm panicking on the inside," Zoe said, smoothing an aloe vera-based burn covering over the wound, helping to soothe the sensitive skin there. "Really worried. The fact that someone was able to get him like that turns my stomach, but what's panicking going to do about it? He's gone, we need to find him again, and we will. We've got the TARDIS and the Doctor and time. We're in the Vortex now, we have time to find him. It can be weeks for us and only a few hours for him, hopefully. And, don't forget, I've been in this situation before."
"Yeah, I s'pose you have," Rose said, quietly, sitting up with a small wince. She touched the covering breathed out. "It's just...it's Jack."
"I know." Zoe up to the bed and wrapped her arms around Rose, hugging her tightly. "But because it's Jack, he's going to find a way to survive whatever this is. He's not stupid, and he's got so many more tricks up his sleeve than he's told us about. I wouldn't be surprised if we track him to a beach somewhere and he's waiting for us with cocktails."
Rose laughed wetly into her sister's shoulder. "He'd do that, wouldn't he?"
"Absolutely."
Sniffing, she wiped her eyes on Zoe's shoulder before the sound of raised voices made her lift her head, frowning and concerned. "What the hell's that?"
Zoe tilted her head to one side, listening. "I think it's Mickey and the Doctor."
"Oh god," Rose groaned, sliding off the bed. "What now?"
As they entered the console room, they were greeted with a sight they had never seen before and one Zoe hoped never to see again. Standing close to each other, shouldering into the other's personal space in some strange and unnecessary display of what she assumed was machismo, Mickey and the Doctor were arguing loudly in each other's faces. It wasn't exactly shouting, yet nor was it simply heated discussion. Mickey jabbed his finger into the Doctor's chest, and Zoe's stomach flopped unpleasantly at the anger that stiffened the Doctor's arm before he argued back. Their voices bounced off the walls and made it feel as though they were in an echo chamber, the rising crescendo painful to hear. Unable to bear the sight of them at each other's throats, Zoe crossed the room and forced herself between the them; hands planted on their chests, she shoved them apart from each other.
"HEY!" Both of them turned to glare at her, the Doctor's expression faltering first. "What the fuck do you two think you're doing? Jack's missing and you think now's a good time to have a knockdown, drag-out fight? Are you kidding me with this shit right now?"
"We need to find Jack and he's –" Zoe shifted back to avoid the aggressive finger that jabbed at the Doctor again. "Fuckin' about!"
"I'm not fucking about," the Doctor argued, frustrated. "I've been able to track his Vortex Manipulator but it's disappeared, something's covering it. I was looking at a way to dig beneath whatever's being used to mask it when you started running your mouth."
"Stop it," Zoe snapped. "Both of you. We're all scared, we're all worried about Jack, but arguing with each other isn't going to get him back. Mickey, back off; Doctor, be patient with him. He and Jack..."
She trailed off but turned her eyes to him, silently asking him to imagine if she had been taken in Jack's place.
His shoulders slumped and a sigh left him. "Right, of course."
"Mickey," Rose prompted.
Reluctantly, Mickey forced an apology out from between clenched teeth. "Sorry, mate."
"It's fine," the Doctor said, turning back to the console. "I've tracked him to the 51st century, which bears out the idea of the Time Agency being involved, but his signal's bouncing all over the place. It's clear someone's reflecting it back and hiding his actual location. I'm having a hard time grabbing hold of anything though because when I do, it's gone."
"What about their headquarters?" Rose asked, arm around Mickey, cheek resting against his shoulder. "They've got to have headquarters, right?"
"Thought about that but I don't want to drop us into the middle of all of that unless we don't have any other choice," he said, twirling a lever absently. "Bunch of Time Agents getting their hands on the TARDIS? They'd take her apart to see how she works given the opportunity. Besides, it's a bit obvious, isn't it? Whoever picked him up knows that he's with us. It was too clean to be an accidental meeting. They've obviously been trailing him, which means they know about the TARDIS and, in turn, me."
"You do get about a bit," Zoe agreed, sitting on the jumpseat and rubbing her face, palm coming away smokey. "Okay. Let's think. If we work off the assumption that it's the Agency and not my mystery guy who has him – for which I'm grateful, by the way, don't want to be dealing with that crap right now – then it shouldn't be too hard to get him back, or at least ensure he's safe until we figure out what's going on. What if we park the TARDIS somewhere close to headquarters and just walk there?"
Rose pulled a face. "What, like knock knock, give us Jack back?"
"Something like that, yeah."
"It'd work if I was able to narrow down the time but all I've got is the latter half of the 51st century," the Doctor said, flipping a switch in frustration, plunging the console room into what Jack fondly referred to as disco mode. He quickly pushed the switch back up, lights returning to normal. "We show up too early, we mess with the timelines."
"5079," Mickey said, suddenly, their heads turning to him. "That's the year Jack left the Agency. At least he thinks it was. It was the year he woke up without his memories at least."
"That narrows it down, yes, thank you, Mickey." The Doctor twisted on his heels and tapped the date into the computer before sighing. "I wish I'd pushed him harder to talk about his time with the Agency but he was always so reluctant. Did he speak to any of you about it? Mickey, did he say anything?"
"Just that he woke up in Hong Kong without his memories an' assumed the Time Agency did it," he said, the weight of the day slamming into him and making him feel exhausted. "He didn't exactly stick around an' find out. He went on the run an' met you lot a couple of years later."
"He's told me about a few of his missions but that's about it," Zoe said, frowning at her dirty hands. "I know there was a partner once upon a time but I don't think he told me their name, or much of anything about them really."
The Doctor looked to Rose. "What about you?"
"About the same," Rose said. "But...when we were with Queen Victoria, the mornin' after everythin', we were talkin' an' he said he'd been havin' nightmares, more about Gray than the Agency, but I know it's been botherin' him. I told him he should talk to you about them, see if there was anythin' you could do for his memories, but he said not yet."
Mickey snorted. "Yeah, he does that."
The Doctor raised his eyebrows. "What does that mean?"
"They had an argument this morning," Zoe said when it was clear Mickey didn't want to talk. He looked at her, annoyed yet also surprised; she grimaced, apologetic. "Sorry. Rose and I overheard you. We were in her room earlier and you guys weren't particularly quiet on your way past."
Mickey rubbed the bridge of his nose as the Doctor stepped around the console. "What were you arguing about?"
"He's been havin' nightmares, keeps wakin' up screamin'," he said, the words pulled from him with great reluctance, never having been a fan of airing the problems in his relationships. "He never wants to talk about them afterwards. All he says is that it's because of his past." Feeling as though he was betraying Jack's confidence, he continued. "He talks about Gray a lot in his sleep, says his name over an' over again, but he refuses to do anythin' about it. He did say he was goin' to give himself a sedative tonight to get some proper sleep but that was it. Sometimes I think –"
He likes the guilt he didn't say, ashamed for even thinking it.
Shaking his head, he let the sentence die in his mouth. "Never mind."
The Doctor looked at him for a beat too long before nodding. "Judging from the circumstances around his brother's death, I suppose it's not a surprise that he carries the guilt from it. He was what, ten, when Gray died?"
Remaining silent, Mickey nodded.
"Childhood trauma does have an awful way of reasserting itself later in life," he continued. "And his life's hardly been stable and trouble free. Being here on the TARDIS with us, it must have made him feel safe and his mind's finally allowing him to process what happened. Although –" his head moved from side to side like a nodding dog. "That doesn't help us right now."
Zoe ran a finger over her bottom lip, tapping it. "What about the memory block?"
He blinked at her. "What about it?"
"If we're looking for the people who took him and we assume they're the Time Agency, wouldn't it make sense to retrace his steps with the memory block?" She glanced to Mickey. "You said he woke up in Hong Kong in 5079?"
"Yeah."
"What if we can track down the person who performed the block? They can tell us who ordered it and that might help us getting a better grasp on when exactly he is."
"Maybe," the Doctor mused. "But they're Time Agents, they could take him anywhere, and he's been out of there for nearly three years now. Finding the right time without messing up the timelines is going to be like looking for a needle in a haystack." He rapped his knuckles against the console. "You might be onto something though, if we can track down someone who knows him from his time at the Agency, we can pinpoint the time with greater clarity and maybe help him figure out what those missing memories are."
"I think..." Zoe paused, reluctant to open up another avenue of business with a slippery acquaintance before swiftly deciding that Jack was more than worth the discomfort. "I have a friend who can probably help. You lot remember Roxx, don't you?"
"The Slitheen from Tiaanamat? Yeah, not likely to forget her," Rose said, thinking of Zoe's strange friend who had given them drinks on the house and tried to steal a strand of the Doctor's hair to sell on the black market. "What about her?"
"She's good at tracking people down," she said. "She found the Corsair for me when I needed a Time Lord. If I can find the right thing to trade with, I can get Jack's temporal and geographical coordinates from her."
The Doctor frowned. "What would you need to give her?"
"Something valuable, something that'd fetch a decent price on the black market," she said with a small shrug, eyes flicking to the top of his head, mouth curving into the tiniest of smiles. "Your hair might do it but best not. Lord knows we don't need someone trying to grow their own Time Lord in a lab." Rose snorted at the thought. "There'll be something here I can dig out that'll be valuable enough as a collector's item but safe enough that it won't cause any damage if it falls into the wrong hands."
Taking a moment to think about it, the Doctor nodded. "Okay, we'll talk to Roxx."
"I'll talk to Roxx," she corrected, pointedly. "You go in there and she's going to want more. I want you out of sight and locked up in the TARDIS. Roxx can smell a better deal from two light years away."
The Doctor rolled his eyes but agreed.
"Right," Rose said, squeezing Mickey before she released him, ready to dive into the action. "Tiaanamat then."
"Actually, no, she'll be on Fluren's World now." Zoe moved around the Doctor and began a series of complicated manoeuvres to input the coordinates of the Temporal Bazaar she had, only occasionally, frequented during her studies. "She spends most of her time there due to a few misunderstandings with some particularly nasty bounty hunters that want to mount her head on a wall. Besides, it's best to talk about these things away from more family-friendly places. She's a reputation to maintain as a legitimate business owner with no shady interests after all."
"Your friends are strange," the Doctor said.
"Hark who's talking," she replied.
"Then let's get movin'," Mickey said, impatiently. The usual patience he possessed for the banter that went back and forth between Zoe and the Doctor on a normal day was nowhere to be seen, and his irritation at them for joking with each other boiled beneath the surface. The look they exchanged at his sharp words did little to help him calm down. "The longer we talk about it, the longer Jack's in trouble."
Rose rubbed her eyes and said nothing.
"All right, Fluren's World then," the Doctor said, tapping Zoe's shoulder to move her out of the way, hands settling on the controls, the TARDIS vibrating minutely beneath his touch. "Can't say I've ever been there before."
"Just make sure you adjust for the time bubble," Zoe told him, hands fluttering as though she wanted to take over, shifting at his side with a restlessness he associated with toddlers wanting to play with things they shouldn't as Rose's phone started to ring again. She unwound herself from Mickey to answer it. "It's holding a supernova in place."
The Doctor swore in his language and turned to her, annoyed. "Zoe, that's important information! I could've flown us into a supernova. Do you have any idea what that does to the paintwork?"
"Presumably singes it."
"Yes," he said, firmly. "And do you know who has to clean it off?"
"Judging by your tone and general facial expression right now, I'm going to go with you."
"Jesus fuckin' Christ!" Mickey slammed his hands down on the console. Zoe jumped, startled, and the Doctor pivoted on his heels to pin a disapproving stare on his friend. "Jack is missin' an' the two of you are – I don't know – flirtin', bickerin'? Whatever the fuck it is, stop it an' focus."
Rose stepped in front of Mickey and flapped her hand at the Doctor, forestalling any response. She held up one finger and nodded.
"Send me the time an' date, we'll be there in five minutes," she said before hanging up. "That was Sarah Jane."
"That was who now?" The Doctor asked, surprised. "What's Sarah Jane doing calling you?"
Rose ignored his rudeness. "Mum's at hers. The girl who was with Jack when he was taken? She turned up in the flat and so did the people with guns. She's lyin' low at Sarah Jane's but she needs help."
"Everyone hold on," the Doctor said, fury building in his chest at the thought of someone threatening Jackie at gunpoint. He erased the coordinates to Fluren's World from the computer and pulled up Sarah Jane's house in Ealing. "This is going to be rough."
Ealing, London,
Early morning
Jackie sat on a kitchen and picked bits of gravel and glass out of her feet with Sarah Jane's medical tweezers. The other woman had offered to help but Lorna needed someone to help her with the bathroom and Sarah Jane had clocked the pressing need for a moment alone that grew inside Jackie and ushered Lorna away, talking to her soothingly. Early morning sunlight spilt through the kitchen window, and Jackie felt as though it was yesterday was a lifetime away. Last night she had spoken to the Doctor, watched Big Brother – winning a tenner –, and then gone to bed for an early night before being woken by Lorna crashing into her living room. She felt tired and old and in pain despite the ibuprofen Sarah Jane had given her with a cup of tea.
Removing a small sliver of glass lodged in her big toe, she winced. "Ow."
Dropping it into the bowl that rested on the table, she wondered if she was going to have to get a tetanus shot or if this was something the Doctor could handle who was at least on his way. Sarah Jane had briefly stuck her head around the door to let her know she had made contact with Rose and the TARDIS was coming before returning to Lorna who was delighting in her bath. As she rubbed at a patch that she thought was blood but turned out to be something else – she really didn't want to know what – she was pleased that she had had the idea to come to Sarah Jane's. Her house felt calm and peaceful after everything, and she wanted to lie down on the plush sofa in the living room and sleep the day away while Sarah Jane took care of everything.
I need an adultier adult she remembered Rose saying as she handled the debt that Jimmy Stone had left her with.
At the time, Jackie had scoffed but she understood what her daughter meant.
Sometimes it was nice for another person to take charge, if only for a moment.
"I swear, I don't think that child's ever seen a body of water before," Sarah Jane said, smile curving her mouth. "I thought getting her in was hard but getting her out was another battle all together."
Jackie laughed. "At least she's clean now."
"Clean and sleeping," she confirmed. "She fell asleep as soon as I tucked her in. Whatever happened to her, she's had a long day. I was able to get this from her." She set Jack's Vortex Manipulator on the table, and Jackie stared at him. "It's Jack's, isn't it? I saw him wearing it last time I saw him. What is it?"
"He uses it to travel," Jackie said. "Don't know how. It's like the TARDIS but not. Thought it was a bracelet first time I saw it."
"Do you want something to eat?" Sarah Jane offered. "Or perhaps a shower?"
She shook her head. "I'll wait. Knowin' the Doctor, he'd appear in the middle of the bathroom an' neither of us want that." The familiar sound of the TARDIS reached her ears. "Speakin' of."
Sarah Jane straightened up, mouth slipping open. "He's not going to park the TARDIS in my living room, is he?"
"I hope that coffee table of yours isn't expensive," Jackie said, wiping her feet off and standing up just in time to see the TARDIS appear in the middle of Sarah Jane's living room, forcefully shunting the furniture to one side and settling directly on the coffee table that cracked and shattered beneath the weight of it. She patted Sarah Jane's shoulder. "Sorry, love. He'll replace it though, he's good like that."
The TARDIS fully materialised, and the reassuring hum that Jackie found herself occasionally listening for when she was home alone slipped into her bones to comfort her. The door opened and the Doctor stepped out. The relief that Jackie felt at seeing him must have shown on her face because he crossed the room and dragged her into his arms. Squashed against his bony chest, forced to listen to the alien sound of his two hearts, she allowed herself a short moment to feel safe before pulling back to smack him on the arm.
"What the hell have you gone an' done now?"
"Ow," he whined, rubbing the spot though she had certainly hit him harder in the past. "And I haven't done anything."
"You broke my coffee table," Sarah Jane said. "You know I have a garden you could've parked in, right?"
"Ah, yes, sorry about that." The Doctor looked down at the scattered remnants of a rather lovely coffee table. "I'll pay for that."
"Mum!"
Jackie staggered back under the double impact of her daughters swarming her. Them attacking her with hugs had been easier to deal with when they were smaller and didn't tower over her but after the last few hours of her life, she was grateful for it. Hugging them back tightly, breathing in the smoky, sweaty smell of them, she pulled back and stared, aghast, at their appearances: eyes bloodshot, smoke streaked across their skin, sweat stains on their clothes, they looked as Lorna had before her shower. She looked over the Doctor and Mickey and found them in similar straits, her heart twisting at a glaring absence.
"Where's Jack?"
"Good question," the Doctor said. "Someone kidnapped him. Where's Lorna?"
Head swimming with panic, Jackie blinked. "The girl?"
"She's upstairs sleeping," Sarah Jane said. "She's safe though. We have Jack's – well, I don't quite know what it is – his device in the kitchen. Come on through, all of you. You look like you need some tea."
Zoe stepped nimbly through the splintered mess, fingers loosening the tight braids Rose had put in that morning, massaging her scalp. "Don't suppose you have anything stronger, do you? It's been a day."
Jackie made to follow, stopped by the Doctor's hand on her shoulder. She looked back at him, struck by how tall he was. "Did anyone hurt you?"
"What?"
"The people who broke into the flat," he said, seriously, eyes flicking over her as he looked for any damage. "You said they had guns. Did they hurt you, threaten you, anything like that?"
"No," she said. "I got out before they noticed me. Hid in Priti Azadi's flat. She distracted them as I ran to the garage. One of them shot at Mickey's car – ow." His hand had tightened painfully on her shoulder before immediately letting go, rubbing the sore spot. "But I'm fine. Headed here once I got my head on straight."
"Good, good." When he squeezed her shoulder again, it was a softer, more comforting thing. A smile appeared on his face that made him look kinder and less ridiculous than normal. "I'm sorry you got dragged into this. Jack must've sent Lorna to you for safe keeping because he knew you'd do just that."
The thought of her home being a safe haven warmed her. "Is he okay?"
"He got Lorna to you," the Doctor said. "That means he's alive and functioning. We've got a few theories but no real leads at the moment. If you could give us a physical description of the people in your flat, it might help."
Nodding, Jackie patted his arm, warmed by his concern, and entered the kitchen on sore feet, making sure her dressing gown was pulled tightly around her. Zoe had a bottle of Sarah Jane's vodka in front of her, wincing at the burn of alcohol as it worked its way down her system, while Rose made herself comfortable with a cup of tea and Mickey shifted restlessly, sitting one moment and then on his feet the next. All three of them looked exhausted and battered, Jack's absence knocking them off balance.
Jackie remembered when it had just been the Doctor, Rose, and Zoe zipping around in the TARDIS and considered how strange it was that Jack being gone made them look incomplete and adrift. She sat down in between her daughters who immediately shifted to rest their heads on her shoulders, and the Doctor sat next to Sarah Jane, slinging an arm around the back of her chair as he accepted a cup of tea, shaking his head at Zoe's offer of vodka to strengthen it.
"Do you have pen and paper?" The Doctor asked Sarah Jane, miming scribbling with his free hand.
"I'm a journalist, Doctor, of course I do." She set a pad and biro down on the table. "Mickey, you sure you don't want something to drink?"
Mickey bit the inside of his cheek. Being rude to Zoe and the others was one thing, he was reluctant to inflict sharp words and rudeness on Sarah Jane. He nodded brusquely and sat down, knee bouncing, only to stand up again a minute later.
"Rose, could you sketch while Jackie describes?" The Doctor pushed the pad towards her. "You're the best at drawing out of all of us."
Rose scoffed but nodded. "Thought you taught Da Vinci everythin' he knows."
Sarah Jane laughed. "Is that what he said? I remember Leonardo thinking you were a mad man. He tried to get you taken away to the hospital."
"Did he?" The Doctor asked, lightly, avoiding their eyes. "It was so long ago. A bit difficult to remember all the details." Clearing his throat, he looked to Jackie. "Give us a description then, Jacks."
"There were two of them," she said. "A man an' a woman. The man was tall, about as tall as Jack, with dark hair an' kind of dark skin. Not like Zoe but almost Middle Eastern, I suppose. His English was strange too."
"That's probably because he was speaking English unfamiliar to him," the Doctor said, Rose's pen moving across the lined page, sketching a broad outline of the man. "There's 3000 years between this time and Jack's. The language has moved on somewhat."
"What did his face look like?" Rose asked. "Square, round, oval?"
It took around five minutes for Rose to have sketched a passing resemblance of the man that had attacked Jackie and Lorna, his dark eyes staring out of the page at them. She tore off the sheaf and pushed it towards the Doctor but Mickey grabbed it first, studying it with an intensity that made the Doctor worry there was trouble ahead.
Rolling her wrist, Rose looked to her mother. "What about the woman, what did she look like?"
"Severe," Jackie said after a moment's though. "Blonde hair pulled back into a bun, pale, wearin' a lot of black."
Mickey's head snapped up from the examination of Rose's sketch, heart pounding. "That's who took him. The woman from the Gamma Forests, that's the one who took him."
"And they've already been able to track Lorna," the Doctor said, rubbing the back of his head. "That means Jack's been gone longer than we've been missing him. We're going to have to work quickly."
"Doing what?" Sarah Jane asked. "Can you track him?"
"We've tracked him to the 51st century and our working theory is that the Time Agency has him," he said. "Zoe's going to talk to a friend of hers to see about pinpointing his location more clearly. I want to talk with Lorna, see what she knows."
"She doesn't speak English," Jackie told him.
"She does now the TARDIS is here," the Doctor replied. "Not that it matters though, I speak her language."
Jackie raised her eyebrows. "What, does the TARDIS translate or somethin'?"
"Rassilon," he breathed, rubbing his nose, and Rose glanced up at him, eyes shining with amusement, hand paused on the page. "Rose, could you –?"
"Yeah, I've got it," Rose said, pausing her sketch to turn to Jackie. "Mum, the TARDIS sort of gets in your head an' –"
The Doctor glanced to his old friend. "Sarah, can you –?"
"Lorna's sleeping right now, but I'll see if I can wake her," she said, rising to her feet as Jackie emitted a sharp she what? that made the Doctor slip further down in his seat. "Mickey, why don't you come with me? You look like you're in need of a good shower, and I think you'll feel better for it afterwards."
"What d'you mean she's in my head?!"
Mickey glanced at Jackie, hot colour slicing across her cheeks, and then down at himself. The dirt from his hands had smeared itself across Sarah Jane's kitchen table and his manners reasserted himself. Besides, Jack always said that a nice hot shower and some food in the stomach went a long way to solving half of people's problems. Standing awkwardly, knocking the table with his knee, Zoe's quick reflexes saving the bottle of vodka from crashing to the ground, he followed Sarah Jane out of the room.
"No, no, no," Jackie said, angry. "I don't want no alien ship in my head. Absolutely not."
The Doctor caught Zoe's eye and discreetly pointed over his shoulder to the hallway. Knocking back her finger of vodka, she edged around Jackie and followed him out to the picture-lined wall, distracted by one framed photograph of Sarah Jane standing next to Kofi Annan.
"I'm worried about Mickey."
She turned her eyes to him. "He's reacting perfectly normally given the circumstances. Truth be told, I'm scared myself."
"You're hiding it well," he said, reaching out to twirl a finger through one curl, gently tugging until she stepped closer. "You're calm and grace under pressure."
She huffed a laugh. "Hardly. I'm drinking vodka at whatever hell time in the morning it is, and I'm worried about literally everything right now: Jack, Mickey, Mum, everything. But it's not my first time misplacing Jack. And it's like Rose said to me earlier, it's easier to be calmer when everyone else is losing their heads. If you want to be super calm right now, I can panic."
He let the curl bounce back and opened his arms. "Come here then."
Zoe tucked herself into his arms and pressed her nose into his neck. The smell of fire, forest, and someone else's sweat greeted her, forcing her to press deeper to find him and, when she did, a sigh of relief rushed across his skin. He was solid and there beneath her touch, a moment of respite in her world that had been knocked askew with Jack's abduction; one second he had been there, the next he was gone. Everything happened too quick for anyone to do anything, and she hated how it had come out of nowhere, despising the feeling of uselessness she felt as Mickey suffered and Jackie had to escape her own home with nothing more than her pyjamas, bare feet, and an alien child to her name.
"It's going to be okay," the Doctor murmured into the top of her head. "We'll sort this out and have a word with his kidnappers about not taking what's ours."
Her fingers flexed on his jacket, and she pulled back, looking up at him. Face smeared with smoke, hair greasy and dishevelled, she wanted nothing more than to kiss him then and let herself forget the problems of the day when –
"You okay, honey?"
She stepped out of the Doctor's arms and cleared her throat, smoothing the front of her shirt down, Rose's eyes flicking between her and the Doctor, an unreadable expression on her face.
"Just taking a moment," she said. "How you doing?"
Jackie pulled a face. "The TARDIS is in my head."
"That's all right, she's in mine too," Zoe smiled. "Could be worse, could be the Doctor."
"I'm right here," he sighed before grunting, rocking forwards.
"Doctor!" Lorna attached herself to his legs, arms wrapped around him, clinging tightly to him as Sarah Jane watched from the staircase. "They took Captain Jack and they were shooting and they kept hitting him!"
Bending, he scooped Lorna up into her arms as though she weighed nothing. Her hair was wet and freshly plaited by Sarah Jane, and she wore a long T-shirt that went down to her ankles; her arms wrapped around him and hugged him as Mickey appeared behind Jackie and Rose, looking a little cleaner.
"And then I ended up with her –" she pointed at Jackie. "And she's really nice but I don't understand her and then the bad people came again. Captain Jack gave me his bracelet and sent me away, and I was so scared. I think they're going to kill him."
Mickey flinched.
"Okay, you're okay," the Doctor said, smoothing a hand down her back. "You've been very brave, you know that, right? And Jack sent you to Jackie because he knew you'd be safe with her."
"She protected me from the bad men," Lorna said, glancing shyly at Jackie. "She was really brave. Even when the bad man was shooting at us."
"Someone shot at you?" Zoe asked, furious. "I'll kill him. I'll actually kill him."
"We're fine," Jackie assured her. "Mickey's car not so much." She glanced at him. "Your back windows gone an' some of the paint too."
He shook his head. "It doesn't matter."
"Lorna," the Doctor said, lifting her higher up his side. "Can you tell me where Captain Jack is? Do you know?"
"It was a strange place made of rock," Lorna said.
"Rock?" Sarah Jane asked.
"I think she means a building," Zoe said. "In the Gamma Forests, the buildings are the trees. I imagine she's never seen bricks before, at least not like we have." Her eyes slipped to the Doctor. "And it doesn't really narrow things down for us. Roxx will."
He nodded, smiling as Lorna wrapped her small hand up in his tie, tugging on it. "You're right. Fluren's World is our next stop, Time Bubble and all."
"All right," Mickey said, already moving towards the TARDIS. "Let's go then."
The Doctor watched, taken aback, as Mickey disappeared into the TARDIS though he hardly faulted him for his impatience to get going.
"Jackie, Sarah Jane, you two should probably come with us," he said, turning to face the women. "These people already know where Jackie lives and they've seen Mickey's car, which is about as discreet as Bessie." Sarah Jane grinned at that. "I hate to say it but it's only a matter of time before they find out about this place. Best to get you to safety while we can."
"K9," Sarah Jane called, and there was a beeping whir before K9 rolled into view, waking him from his overnight charge.
At the sight of the Doctor, his ears twitched and tail moved. "Master!"
"Hello, you good dog!" He crouched with Lorna in his arms to scratch behind K9's ears. "You've been good for Sarah?"
"Yes, Master."
"Good dog."
"Jesus," Jackie muttered.
Zoe nudged him with her foot. "We don't have time for you to play catch up with K9."
"Right, good point." He straightened up and looked at Sarah Jane. "You're bringing him with us?"
"And risk leaving him and the TARDIS alone together?" Her eyes rolled as she scoffed. "No. K9 I need you to establish a protective perimeter. Scan whoever comes in and only initiate defensive measures if they look like they're going to damage the house."
"Good idea," Rose said. "It's a nice house."
"It really is, isn't it?" Jackie agreed. "The livin' room's lovely when the TARDIS isn't jammed in there."
The Doctor rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to respond when, from the TARDIS, came an annoyed, impatient yell of –
"COME – ON!"
The Sunshine Club, Fluren's World,
Two Hours Later
Zoe leaned back in the booth Daven had insisted on personally showing them to. Judging from the way he had greeted her when she appeared at the front door of the Sunshine Club, it was years since she last stepped foot in Roxx's colourful establishment despite it only being a matter of months from her point of view. Lifting her off her feet in an enthusiastic hug and greeting Rose, Sarah Jane, and Jackie with delight as though they were old friends, he had slung an arm over her shoulders and led her into the club that was bursting with people. It was a shame it was so late in the day as Zoe actually liked the Sunshine Club when it was quiet and more or less empty, particularly because it meant that food was served during the less busy hours and she had a sudden craving for the spicy ental legs that was a staple of the kitchen.
"You're asking a lot of me, sissa," Roxx said, a sound bubble around them to keep noise from coming in and, more importantly, going out. "You're a friend, but it's still going to cost."
"Come on, Roxx, you know I'm good for it," Zoe replied, eyes tracking a beautiful, purple-skinned woman who caught her eye and grinned, forked tongue snapping out in a manner that made her stomach clench. She looked back across the table. "I've got a set of audio detectors, 645th century...Asgardian."
Roxx's head tilted. "Let me see."
She set the small box down on the table and pushed it across by her fingertips before glancing to the side to make sure the others were okay. Sarah Jane and Rose appeared comfortable – or as comfortable as they could be while Jack was missing – but Jackie had the look of being overwhelmed again. Her time spent in Massachusetts helped her acclimatise to the more diverse elements of life in the TARDIS but the Sunshine Club was a lot to take in. Not quite as bad as Jim the Fish's bar on Rayal for the simple reason Roxx didn't allow her patrons to have sex in public, it was still an assault on the senses.
Zoe leaned towards her under the guise of reaching for her drink. "You okay?"
"I'm fine, darlin', don't fuss," Jackie said.
She blew out air from her nostrils, faintly amused, settling back as she sipped her drink. Letting the Mythological Sunrise burst across her tongue and turn to smoke before she was able to swallow it, she glanced at the holo-screen. The last time she was on Fluren's World, Yasmin Fluren had been living in a palace with perfectly green grass and opulent water fountains; according to the news, she was on the run as the revolutionaries attempted to drag her out of wherever she was hiding for what, Zoe assumed, would be a fairly brutal and drawn out death.
She turned her head and watched as more people pressed into the club, Devan catching sight of her and waving. Grinning, she waved back.
"Business seems to be doing well," Zoe commented.
"You know I have a lot of friends, sissa," Roxx said, large, bulbous black eyes lifting from the audio detectors to settle on her. "Or maybe you don't. Been a year since I saw you on Tiaanamat, longer since you came here. My place too good for you now you've got your Time Lord back?"
She rolled her eyes. "I might come around more often if you didn't try and pick bits off him. Don't think I didn't notice you trying to get skin samples last time."
"Ay." Roxx spread her large arms, nearly knocking Rose from her seat, and gave a lazy roll of her shoulders. "Had to try. Where is he now?"
"At home," she said. "He's tracking the communications to see if he can pick up anything of where our friend's gone. Figured all sorts of people come through the bazaar that someone might know something." She set her drink down. "So, what do you know, sissa?"
"I know Time Agents don't come through here," Roxx said. "They can't figure out how to account for the Time Bubble. Meet with them on Tiaanamat. You remember that."
Zoe grinned. "I did not start that fight."
"You finished it though." Her laugh was a rumbling, happy thing that made Zoe's smile widen, and Roxx turned to look at the others. "She ever tell you about the time she helped me out?"
"No," Jackie said, the discomfort of sitting at a table with a being who greatly resembled the first alien that had tried to kill her was beginning to ebb. Either the company was pleasant or the alcohol in her bright green drink was numbing the weirdness. "She hasn't."
Zoe shook her head. "We don't need to hear that story."
"Let's just say –" Roxx leaned over the table, one clawed hand pointing at Zoe. "This one does not like being thrown through a window."
She barked a laugh. "Who does? And stop dragging my name through the mud. These people think I'm respectable."
"We really don't," Rose said, pulling the alcohol-infused cherry off the end of her tiny umbrella and chewing. "But we're in a bit of a rush. Jack's missin' an' we need your help findin' him. Zoe says you're the best at what you do."
"I said you were okay at what you do," Zoe corrected.
Roxx laughed. "I am good, best you're ever going to meet. Tell me again who you're looking for."
"Jack Harkness," she repeated for the third time that evening, refusing to let her irritation show as Roxx liked to take her time with business deals and the more someone rushed her, the more she slowed down. "My handsome friend from Tiaanamat – you know the one – he's gone missing."
"Oh, Captain Jack." Roxx had a face that never showed much expression – a trait of most of her kind – yet, at the mention of Jack, she coloured and her claw touched her neck. "For a human, he's very handsome."
"He really is," Sarah Jane agreed, and Zoe looked at her, surprised. "I'm not blind. I know he's with Mickey but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate the view he provides."
"You should see him naked," Rose said, cheeks flushed from her drink. "Fuckin' A."
"When did you –?" Jackie began before cutting herself. "Actually, I don't want to know."
"He had a habit of walking around naked when he first joined us," Zoe explained swiftly, attention shifting back to Roxx. "What've you heard about Jack being taken? Everyone who's anyone in time travel passes through here so I know something's reached your ears, metaphorically speaking of course. I'd appreciate you telling me about it."
"I haven't heard anything about Captain Jack per se," Roxx told her, flicking her claw to bring them another round of drinks. "But there's been some rumblings among the Clerics."
Zoe stared, the name meaning nothing to her. "The Clerics?"
"From the Church of the Papal Mainframe," she clarified. "Have you heard of them?"
"No, I haven't." There was a particularly detestable quality to admitting her ignorance to something in front of Roxx who made her information part of her business, and she swallowed back her annoyance at herself. "Sarah Jane, the name ringing any bells?"
"Sorry, no."
"Your Time Lord will know about them," Roxx said. "All you need to know now is that they're in charge of interstellar security during the 51st and 52nd century."
"What happened to the Shadow Proclamation?" Rose asked, pulling her fresh drink towards her.
"A difficult period for them," she said, simply. "Interstellar politics has never been an area of interest for me."
Zoe dug her fingers into the booth's seat where her arm rested around the back of Jackie's shoulders, forcing herself to keep a calm expression. "What are the rumblings you've been hearing, sissa? They telling you about Jack?"
"They tell me something," she said, claw clacking against the table. "Not about Captain Jack though. I'm hearing whispers of something dark building. Something you need to tell your Time Lord to watch out for. The Church doesn't much like the Last of the Time Lords, or anyone who travels with him."
Sarah Jane rested her elbows on the table, hands steepled in front of her. "What does that mean?"
"Your Time Lord doesn't always make friends," Roxx said. "Sometimes he makes enemies. Sometimes those enemies think to be fighting back, you get me?"
Rose recoiled and Jackie sat up straighter as understanding struck them. Sarah Jane and Zoe remained still.
"The Church is acting against the Doctor?" Sarah Jane clarified. "Why?"
"Because the Doctor doesn't always mean doctor."
Jackie frowned, confused. "What does that mean?"
"As fascinating as this is, Roxx," Zoe said, cutting through the riddles. "You're not answering my question about Jack. You haven't heard anything about him, I get that, but you clearly know the Time Agency and –"
"The Time Agency." Her head shook. "Good idea but it was never going to last. Give time travel to organisations and it never ends well. Best in the hands of discerning individuals like us, no?"
"You clearly know the Time Agency," Zoe repeated, the threads of her patience beginning to fray. "Can you tell me where the remnants are basing themselves?" She removed Rose's sketches from her jacket and slid them across the table to her. "And do you know these people?"
"Don't know this one," Roxx said, tapping the drawing of the woman. "Do know the man. He came by Tiaanamat a lot to drink himself stupid after the Agency fell. Got a dead wife, you know how that is. Hated someone called Javic Thane."
Rose breathed in sharply, covering her slip by coughing.
"And where might he be?" Zoe asked.
"Don't know," she said. "Let me tell you though, if you're looking for this man, look for the Church. They keep themselves hidden, yeah? Except at one place, in one time. That's where you can get answers."
"You couldn't have said that at the start?" Jackie asked, exasperated. "We've been here hours."
"Business is best done slow and easy, my new human friend," Roxx said, lazily. "Why rush when there are deals to be made?"
"Because our friend –!" Rose grunted, the toe of Zoe's boot impacting with her shin, kicking her into silence. "Ow."
Zoe held Roxx's eyes. "When and where, sissa?"
Stormcage Prison Facility,
Four hours later
Raphio stood in the empty cell and exhaled slowly. His blood pressure was dangerously high and his doctor kept warning him that if he refused to find another line of work, then his life was going to come to a short, sharp end when the inevitable heart attack or stroke eventually killed him. Tapping the small, concealed medical patch beneath his ear, he released a small dosage of alpha blockers into his system to slowly lower his blood pressure. While he felt better after a few minutes, the rage of Jack Harkness's escape burned a fury within him. He had been in his cell and under Raphio's control for three weeks before his partner waltzed in and broke him out. He should never have trusted him, knowing how close he was to Jack, and yet he had let him enter anyway. Even the audio footage of the cell was corrupted, something preventing the recording from being played.
Stretching his fingers and rolling his neck, he exhaled slowly.
He was going to kill both of them the second he had the chance.
No more torture simply for the pleasure of watching Jack scream. No more asking the questions the Clerics had provided him. No more allowing Jack the privilege of breathing.
"Director." Kahn's voice brought Raphio out of the thought of choking the life out of Jack, hands wrapped around his throat. He blinked at stared at her. "Uriel's checked in. They sighted both of them in Prague, 32nd century. Javic clipped him with blaster fire and he's come back to base for treatment but Pyl and Harlan having jumped after them. As soon as Uriel's on his feet, he says he'll go back out."
Slowly, he nodded. "Any word on, Opuan?"
"No, sir." Her fingers flexed on the edge of her data PADD. "She's gone to the wind. Given how stretched thin we are, I haven't allocated resources to find her. Do you want me to pull Uriel from the main mission?"
"No," he said, sharply. "Thane is our only priority right now. If the Clerics want to make themselves useful for a change, they can track her down for us, but she's been on the verge of running for years. Let her go. We'll catch up with her eventually. She doesn't have Thane's brains to stay gone for too long."
"Yes, sir."
Raphio sighed, head throbbing. "I should've killed him when I had the chance."
"You had a good reason why you didn't," Kahn replied, tucking her PADD under her arm. "We needed the Church to find him, they needed the information he stole. Don't beat yourself up about it. We found him once. We'll find him again."
"It took us fourteen years to track him down," he said, defeat creeping into his bones. "Fourteen longyears. And when we found him? He was with a Time Lord. We're not going to get the opportunity again. If Pyl and Harlan don't get him now, we won't get him. It's as simple as though." Angry and tired, he sat down on the edge of the bed and spread his fingers over his knees. "Torture's all well and good when there's time to spare but I should've ignored the Church and killed him."
"For your sake, be glad you didn't."
Raphio shot up from the bed and Kahn spun, the PADD dropping from beneath her arm to bounce against the ground, skittering into the corner as she tried to pull her gun. An arm looped around her neck and jerked her back, the gun dropping to the floor as she tried to free herself, and Raphio only had a moment to think oh before the Doctor stepped into the room.
The air crackled with electricity as though a storm had been brought into the cell.
"Hello," he said. "I'm the Doctor."
"And I'm Zoe," a cheerful voice from the woman half strangling Kahn chipped in. Raphio saw her from the corner of his eyes, too surprised and more than a little frightened to take his eyes off the Doctor. Kahn was attempting to free herself from the iron grip but Zoe merely tightened her grip as a warning. "And that's Mickey."
Raphio felt the fist rather than saw it.
"Ah," the Doctor said, blandly, looking down at him. "I would apologise except you kidnapped his boyfriend, and I promised him he could hit you once."
"Twice," Mickey growled.
"I said maybe twice," he corrected. "We're not barbarians after all." He held out a hand to Raphio. "Come on then, old chap. On your feet. We have a conversation to have."
Drawing his hand beneath his nose, Raphio looked at the blood on his skin. "I knew you'd come for him."
"Isn't it thrilling to be proven right?" The Doctor withdrew his hand when it became clear it wasn't going to be accepted. He looped them behind his back. "So, first thing's first: where's Jack?"
"Not here," Raphio said, leaning back on his elbows before rolling up into a seated position. He spat on the ground and wiped the blood from his nose. "You missed him by a matter of hours. I'd have thought a Time Lord would have a better command of time."
"Clever, he's clever," the Doctor said, amusement shifting into something dark and dangerous that made Raphio's skin crawl. "Zo, you hear the mouth on this one?"
"Sadly, yes." Kahn lost consciousness, and Zoe lowered her to the bed, supporting her head on the way down. "It's a shame he kidnapped Jack. I might almost like him for the cheek. Given the current circumstance he finds himself in though, I do wonder at the thought process that goes into being a mouthy shit right now."
"Implying there is a thought process," he mused. "And that's doubtful because –" he dropped to a crouch before Raphio. "Who thinks it's a good idea to kidnap and torture my friend? I know you've heard of me. I know you know the stories. So, tell me, Director Raphio, what crossed your mind when you decided to take someone I care about deeply and hurt them?"
Raphio tried to repress the shiver the threatened to run through his body, only half successful as he jerked awkwardly instead. "Thane belonged to me before he belonged to you."
A foot lashed out to kick him hard in the side.
The Doctor's hand snapped out and caught Mickey's ankle.
"We're not like them," he said, seriously. "Besides, we can get the information we need without beating it out of him." Realising Mickey's limb, his eyes fell back to Raphio. "Firstly, Jack doesn't belong to anyone except himself. Secondly, I want you to pay attention to the fact that I am extremely calm right now. That calm should tell you how very angry I am to learn that you've been torturing my friend. So, I'm going to give you a chance: you tell me where Jack is right now or I'm going to burn your entire life to the ground."
Raphio laughed, flecks of saliva decorating the Doctor's chin that he wiped away with a small grimace.
"Life, what life? Thane destroyed that when he destroyed the Time Agency." He pushed himself up, straightening his back. "You know what he did, right? How many people he killed? The temporal bombs he set off? Your precious Jack is nothing more than a terrorist. That's who you're protecting. And no matter who he pretends he is now, it won't change how rotten he is at the core. We were his family and he turned on us. He'll turn on you too given half the –"
Mickey's foot connected with his jaw.
"Mickey!" The Doctor jumped to his feet and glared. "What did I say? I said no violence."
"I'm not goin' to stand here an' listen to him talk about Jack like that," Mickey argued.
"Then you're not going to stand here!"
"Gentlemen," Zoe said, voice colder than ice, reminding them of their place. "Perhaps we can save the domestic for when we don't have company. Director Raphio looks like he's enjoying this a little too much."
A lie.
Raphio was nursing his broken jaw, fingers dug deep into the bed to stop himself from screaming, and the Doctor clucked his tongue.
"Wonderful," he sighed, aggrieved. "How's he supposed to talk now? Well done, Mickey. Seriously, top notch."
"Fuck. Off."
"Enough," Zoe snapped, pointing at Raphio as she glared at the Doctor. "He's not going to tell us where Jack is and we need to move if we don't want to be here when the Church arrives which, judging from what Roxx says, we don't."
The Doctor sighed. "Yes, I suppose you're right."
"You suppose?"
His eyes narrowed and held out his hand. She slapped her phone into it.
"Sarah Jane, Rose," he said to his friends waiting in the TARDIS, watching. "Start the programme. Wipe everything clean. Let them forget they ever knew the name Javic Thane."
Raphio opened his mouth to stop him, white pain shooting through him, making him recoil back and writhe in an attempt to avoid it.
Zoe peered down at him. "I wouldn't do that again if I were you, mate. And you can't say he didn't warn you. He did say he'd burn your life to the ground. Whatever remains of the Time Agency will be gone after the virus our friends are sending through your computers. Anything that holds any reference to Jack or us is going to be gone. You're going to find it extremely difficult to hunt him down again."
Anger burned through him, distracting him from the pain.
The Doctor's hand touched the small of Zoe's back.
"It's done," he said. "The virus worked perfectly."
"Of course it did, I made it."
"Your lack of modesty over your abilities is as delightful as ever," he informed her, kissing her cheek and making her smile. "But we should go. The TARDIS pinged the last known coordinates logged into the agency's computer. It's London, 2020."
"We're just leavin' him here?" Mickey demanded, the deep lines on his forehead threatening to become a permanent addition. "He kidnapped Jack."
"Yes, he did," the Doctor said. "And this is the perfect place to leave him. Stormcage is impenetrable, and I doubt the Church will be happy he let Jack slip away. A shame we can't stay to find out what the Church want with me but I suppose I'll find out at some point. It's nice to have something to look forward to. Keeps the blood fresh."
Raphio braced himself against the pain before speaking.
"I'll find him," he gasped out. "I'll make him pay."
The Doctor reached out and grabbed Mickey's arm, stopping his attack.
"Zo, Mickey, could you go back to the TARDIS, please?" He asked, politely, eyes fixed on Raphio. "I want to speak to the director in private."
Zoe hesitated before nodding and reaching for Mickey. "C'mon, Micks. Let's go."
"What's he goin' to do?" He asked, frowning, reluctantly following her from the cell and making their way down the body-strewn corridor to where the TARDIS stood. "I thought he didn't hurt people."
"He doesn't," she said, glancing back over her shoulder. "But I imagine he's going to do exactly what he did to the people who tortured me on Tolandra years ago."
"An' what's that?"
"No idea," Zoe said, shaking her head and looking back, hand touching the side of the TARDIS before she reached for the door. "We've got our destination now though: London, 2020. We're close. We're really close."
Mickey breathed, afraid to let himself hope. "Yeah."
"2020," Zoe said, pushing the door open, the sounds of Raphio weeping filling the hallway. "I bet it's a great year."
