To the Stars and Back

by LiteratusAO3

Following the Game Station and the Christmas Invasion, Team TARDIS set out to do what they do best: explore the universe, get into trouble, and run for their lives. And as a threat to their happiness grows in the form of a shadowy organisation known only as Torchwood, they learn that the past doesn't always stay buried and the future isn't what they think. (Covers season two.)

52. Chapter 52

Chapter Fifty-Two

"Human," the Doctor declared. "Absolutely, 100%, no holds bared, human. There's nothing remotely extraordinary about him, not even his cholesterol level."

Jack glanced at Elton through the one-way viewing window. He was unconscious in the chair Mickey had tied him to, tightening the restraints around his arms and legs, his head drooped forward to rest on his chest. He believed the Doctor when he said that there wasn't anything interesting about him and yet he worried: Some of the most successful Time Agents were people who inspired boredom simply by looking at them. Harlan had had the uncanny ability to shift from the life and soul of the party to someone that sucked all the energy and excitement from the room in the blink of an eye. Lydia used to sit balanced on the edge of a chair, drink dangling from her fingers, calling out transform in the middle of parties, only to dissolve into infectious giggles when Harlan turned as dull as paint drying.

The noise of his friends debating the situation washed over him. He didn't recognise Elton from the Time Agency and with what John had told him about them being the last of it – more so now since the others had died or been dispersed after their kidnapping – he doubted they had the manpower to train and launch another agent into the field. Raphio had been focused but his hands had been tied by the Church that was exercising power over him and his decisions. Jack didn't know much about the Church of the Silence beyond what most people knew in his time but he had been gone a while and where there was power, there was secrets.

Perhaps Elton worked for the Church.

He pressed his nails into the flesh of his forearm, annoyed and unnerved by how many threats were circling them at the moment. He didn't like not seeing what was coming and with Ryga out in the universe causing chaos and the aftereffects of his own imprisonment and torture, he wasn't willing to approach Elton with anything like the same level of mercy and understanding he would have done only months earlier. Fortunately, it appeared he wasn't alone in that belief as well.

"Will you please move your very fine and lovely body from the door so that I can get in there?" Zoe requested, voice tight as she looked up at the Doctor. "Someone needs to ask him questions and sending in the Oncoming Storm will just terrify the bastard."

"And you won't scare him?" The Doctor asked, blocking the entrance with his body. "Right now you look murderous."

"Then it's an accurate representation of my feelings," she said, attempting to shoo him out of the way but he was unmoveable. With a huff, she put her hands on her waist and scowled. "Please move."

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"That's adorable but still no," he said, tweaking her nose only to jerk his fingers away from her when she bit at him. "I'm perfectly capable of going in there and not scaring him silly."

Mickey snorted. "Are you?"

"Yes, I am!"

"Mate, you haven't seen yourself in action," he said. "You're actually genuinely terrifying when you get goin'. That twat says one wrong thing an' he'll be pissin' himself. I'll go in an' –"

"No," Jack interrupted.

"I can –"

"No."

Annoyance spread across Mickey's face. "You can't actually tell me what to do, y'know?"

"We don't know who he is or who he works for," Jack told him. "And until we do, no one but me's going in there."

Rose frowned. "How's that fair?"

"I get it, we all want a go at him," he said, patiently, eyes drifting to Jackie who stood in the corner of the room, arms folded across her chest, gaze fixed on the floor, and anger pooled hot and painful in his stomach. "But I actually have experience interrogating people without frightening the pants off them. I'll go in, talk to him, and find out what's going on."

The Doctor extended an arm and hooked it around Zoe, pulling her away from the door and against his side, foiling her attempt at sneaking past him. She twisted and grumbled before biting his arm and settling against him.

"That's actually the best idea so far," he agreed. "But I want you wearing an ear piece so we can talk to you through it. We'll hear you just fine out here but I want to be able to feed your questions."

Jack stuck his hands into his pockets. "Lucky I've got some on me then."

"Why?" Rose asked as he pulled them from his pocket. "Why d'you have those just in your pockets?"

"Never know when we're going to need them," he said with a small shrug, opening the case and inserting the small, discreet earpiece into his left ear before handing the small microphone to the Doctor. "Stick that onto your screwdriver and it'll act like a full-scale mic."

"Nifty," the Doctor said, examining it. "Where'd you get this from?"

"Made it myself," he explained. "Couldn't afford anything after I skipped out on the Agency so I put it together in the years I was running."

"I like it," the Doctor told him, dutifully sticking it to the end of his screwdriver. "You know, I should probably find you a spare workshop around here since you like tinkering. Clean out some space, make it your own."

Warmth bloomed through Jack's chest, a feeling of home and family pressing against his ribs.

"Jackie," he said. "Is there anything I should know before I go in?"

Her shoulders lifted in a shrug. "I don't know. He seemed normal. I didn't think – he didn't ask about the girls too much. Just wondered where they were, that's all. When I said they were off travellin', he didn't push it. He's just a normal bloke. Least I thought he was."

Rose shifted away from the window to slide her arm through Jackie's, leaning into her comfortingly. "We'll find out what's goin' on, Mum. I promise."

"What do you need from us?" Zoe asked, tearing her eyes away from her mother to meet Jack's who felt they would be able to skip the Oncoming Storm entirely with the level of fury that burned in her eyes. "How can we help?"

"Pick up on things I miss," he said, lightly shrugging out of his coat and handing it to Mickey. "Feed the questions into the earpiece. I'll work them into the interrogation."

Rolling his neck, he took a steadying breath before stepping into the Zero Room.

The unsettling lack of anything from the room hitched his step. It had been months since he was last there during Zoe's illness and he had forgotten how awful the room felt as it cut off the senses and crept in on the edges of his mind. In front of him, Elton began to twitch as the Doctor allowed the room to wake him up slowly, and it gave Jack a few more extra seconds that he was grateful for as it had been a while since he had conducted an interrogation, never having needed to after leaving the Time Agency.

His method of extracting information was paying for it, fucking it out of someone, or – very occasionally – bloodying his fists to get what he wanted.

A properly conducted interrogation felt like a relic from another life.

Extending his thoughts out to the room, another chair appeared and he dragged it over to place in front of Elton, sitting with enough space between them in case he proved dangerous, and rubbed a hand over his face. He felt as though he hadn't slept since before landing in 1953, which he supposed was true as Mickey's snoring kept him awake through the night, only drifting off against the Doctor's knee a hour or so before Rose crawled out of bed with a frown etched on her face and they were off to Reylar.

After speaking with Yatta, he had hoped to have a nap after dropping Jackie off in London – or perhaps during as Mickey's bed in his flat was comfortable enough but things hadn't worked out that way and while he was used to operating on little to no sleep, he didn't enjoy it. At least it wasn't often that their adventures ran pressed along against each other like they were, and he knew sleep was going to happen at some point even if his body decided to simply drop but he had a job to do first and he wasn't about to let anyone done. Especially as it concerned Jackie.

Guilt still plagued him from the trouble he had heaped on her when he sent Lorna to safety, getting her tangled up in his mess, and if Elton was part of the Time Agency, a small cretin that had escaped the Doctor's purge, then he wouldn't forgive himself.

Consciousness crept back into Elton inch by inch and minutes rolled by as the room filled him with life again, as much as Jack wanted a quick, painful awakening, he waited patiently and allowed Elton to panic. His body strained against the restraints, heart fluttering wildly against his chest like a trapped bird, and his head snapped back.

Jack imagined the unusual sensations of the Zero Room were confusing the mind somewhat and he smoothed a crease from his trousers, waiting for Elton's eyes to fall on him. He wasn't disappointed at the fear that trembled across his face, colour draining from his skin.

"Hello," he greeted.

Elton's mouth parted in a gasp that rattled up his throat. "Wh – where – who?"

"All excellent questions," he said, shifting and spreading his legs as he made himself noticeably comfortable. "Let's start at the beginning, shall we? Who are you?"

"I –" his eyes darted to the side, paling further at the sight of the room. "Elton. Pope."

"Elton Pope." Jack let his name roll over his tongue. Zoe had already found out everything about the man from his date of birth to the current date, the TARDIS refusing to let her look any further forward even when Rose asked nicely, electrocuting the Doctor's fingers when he tried to bypass her locks. "Are you lying to me?"

"No!" His voice squeaked and his body strained. "No, no, that's my name. Elton Pope. Elton Maurice Pope. I was named Maurice for my granddad. He died during the War. My mum never knew him."

"Elton," Jack said, lightly. "I didn't ask."

"Where am I?" He panicked. "And who are you?"

"You're somewhere safe," he said. "Somewhere you can't hurt anyone."

"Me, hurt someone?" A wobbly laugh left him. "I can't even kill the spiders in my bathroom. I've got to get Ursula to do them for me. Not that she kills them. She scoops them up and puts them outside. Says we shouldn't kill something that's just looking for a home."

Jack realised that the hardest thing about the interrogation would be keeping Elton on topic as he was prone, it seemed, to rambling.

"Are you human?"

Elton's throat moved. "Y-yes?"

"Are you asking me or telling me?" Jack knew there was nothing alien about him as the Doctor had said but it was a useful way to assess his truthfulness so as to know how much weight to put on the answers to his more important questions. "Please answer me."

"I'm telling you," Elton answered, quickly. "I was born in Northampton, 1973. My parents were human. At least I think they were. I don't know, really. How d'you tell?"

Jack arched an eyebrow and he fell silent. "Where do you live now?"

"Basildon."

"Jack." Zoe's voice filtered into his earpiece after a beat. "Basildon's about an hour away from Peckham by train. It's a long way to go to do laundry."

"Basildon, huh?" Jack reached into his pocket and removed a nail file to take care of the sharp edge of his index finger that was bothering him. "Why there?"

"It's cheap," he said, eyes fixed open with nerves. "Got myself a small attic room in a shared house. Best I can afford. London's expensive and it's not like my job pays the big bucks. I'm just a logistics manager at this small haulage company. Only nationwide, not international."

Jack made a sound as though he was interested. "Do you have a washing machine?"

"A – what?"

"A washing machine," he repeated. "To clean your clothes? I always like to have one wherever I'm living. They're so convenient."

"Yeah, I've got one," Elton said, uncertainly. "A dryer too. It's one of those washer-dryer things."

Jack blew on his nail and slipped the file away, fixing him with a stern stare. "Then why do you travel an hour by train to do your laundry in Peckham?"

He blanched. "I – er – I needed –"

"And why –" he leaned forwards, hands linked between his knees. "Do you have a picture of Rose Tyler in your wallet?"

Sweat slicked down the side of his face, staining the collar of his jacket. "You – you saw that?"

"We saw that," Jack said. "And I've got to tell you, Elton. This could not be happening at a worse time for you. Do you want to know why?"

His throat trembled as he swallowed. "Why?"

"Because not twenty-four hours ago, someone that we know wants to kill Jackie's youngest daughter implanted a memory device in Rose's neck and nearly killed her," he explained. "And just as we're bringing Jackie home after everything was squared away, we meet you: A man with Rose's picture in his wallet. Do you understand why that makes us uneasy?"

"I'm not hurting anyone," Elton said, tumbling over his words. "I would never. I just – I wanted to –"

"Because if you are working for Ryga," Jack continued, ignoring the fear. "Now would be the time to tell me. Be honest and maybe I won't leave you on an barren wasteland."

"I don't know who Ryga is!"

"What do you want with Jackie?"

"I just wanted her help!"

"And you didn't think to ask?" Jack snapped. "Jackie's a kind woman, she'll help anyone given the chance."

"No, I –" tears spread across his eyes. "I want the Doctor! That's all! I only wanted to meet the Doctor!"

Jack leaned back in his seat, unimpressed. "So do many people but they don't get that wish. What do you want with him?"

Panic splayed across his face and chest, colour blotching his skin. "His help, that's all, I just want his help."

"And you think coming at him through one of his friends is the way to do it?" Jack demanded. "Do you know, the reason he's not here and I am is because he's furious right now. Do you know what people call him? Do you what the Daleks call him?"

Elton shook his head, thighs tensing and arms straining in desperation. "I don't know what the Daleks are."

"The Oncoming Storm," he continued. "The most vicious and frightening creatures in all creation are terrified of him. And you, Elton, have made the mistake of trying to reach him through someone he cares about. What do you think he's going to do to you when he comes in here?"

Elton squirmed, his body contorting, chafing against the restraints. "No, please!"

"Jack," the Doctor said in his ear. "Float the name Koschei. I want to see his reaction."

"How did you find Jackie?" Jack demanded. "Who are you working for? Is it Koschei?"

"No one, no one," Elton said with a vigorous shake of his head. "I mean, some friends and I set up something but it's not official or anything like that. It's just a detective agency, kind of, it's like a supernatural detective agency but we're not working for anyone. It's just for fun. That's all. Fun."

"What's the name, Elton?"

"L.I.N.D.A.," he squeaked. "That's all. L.I.N.D.A."

"Fucking son of a thrice-dammed –"

"Doctor!"

Jack's eye twitched at the unexpected and heated vitriol that swam through the earpiece and drenched him, unaccustomed to the Doctor swearing so robustly. The door opened behind him and the Doctor appeared, a foul expression on his face.

"L.I.N.D.A," he growled, disdain dripping from each letter.

Elton turned so pale he blended into the background. "You're the –"

"Doctor?" Jack rose to his feet. "What's L.I.N.D.A.?"

"An irritant more than anything else," he said, glancing over his shoulder. "You can come in. He's not dangerous...except dangerously stupid, I suppose." He peered down his nose at Elton who dragged in a deep, ragged breath, utterly terrified. "You're stupid even by human standards."

"What's L.I.N.D.A.?" Jackie asked, arms folded across her chest, scowling at Elton. "Is it like UNIT?"

The Doctor scoffed. "Hardly. UNIT is capable. L.I.N.D.A.'s, well, it's a bit embarrassing actually but they're a fan club."

"Of what?" Rose asked before her eyes went wide. "Oh, of you." She snorted. "You're right, that is embarrassin'." She turned her gaze back to Elton and though the threat was gone, faded in the face of the truth, she remained angry. "You upset my mum though. No one upsets my mum. What was all this for? Date her so you can, what? Get close to the Doctor? How d'you even know about her?"

"Good question," Zoe said, stepping forward. Elton's breath tightened in his chest, eyes wide as he stared up at her. "I don't like it when people upset my mother. As a matter of fact, I take it quite personally. So what you're going to do is explain exactly what you were planning, and if I don't like that answer –" she placed her hands on both arms of the chair and leaned forwards, nose nearly touching Elton's, voice lowered to a whisper. "You're not going to like what I'll do to you."

His mouth quivered. "Please don't hurt me."

"Jesus," Jack muttered, rubbing his eye. "That's embarrassing. Have a little courage under fire, for christ's sake."

Zoe ignored Elton's whimpers and shifted her weight, eyes sharp as flint. "What were you doing with my mother?"

"Doctor." Elton looked towards the Doctor, pleading. "I've read all about you in the L.I.N.D.A archives –"

He frowned. "Wasn't it founded this year?"

"Ursula's done a lot of work putting it together, it's actually very impressive," he said, eyes skittering back to Zoe whose face looked as though it had been carved from granite. "Please don't let her hurt me. You're – you're nice."

"I try to be," the Doctor said, hands tucked into his pockets. "But I really don't it when the people I care about are used against me like this. Besides, I don't let Zoe do anything." He paused before smiling at the back of her head. "You do what you need to do, love."

"Thank you, honey," Zoe replied, eyes fixed on Elton, hands moving from the chair to his arms, gripping him warningly. "Now, Elton, I really hate having to ask my question again because my patience is running incredibly thin with you. So, one last time: What – were – you – doing – with – my – mother?"

"I wanted to make contact with the Doctor and ask him to save my mum." His breath rushed from him in one giant stream, body shaking, eyes turned beseechingly at anyone who might show him the smallest brush of mercy. "That's all. I didn't want – I don't want to hurt anyone, least of all Jackie. Never her."

Stillness swept through Zoe and she stared at Elton, taking in the desperateness that lay beneath the surface and the sheen of sweat that glistened under the deliberately unforgiving lights. It was so rare for people to successfully track the Doctor down. Some people spent their lives hoping for a second meeting after the whirlwind of the first, and she hadn't actually considered that there might be some people on Earth – normal people like she used to be – who had heard rumours of the Doctor and tried to seek him out.

Sometimes she forgot how the Doctor appeared to others, blinded as she was by proximity and love.

"What?" Mickey asked, breaking the silence. "What's that mean, save your mum?"

"My mum, when I was a kid, she died," Elton said, swallowing hard. "I want the Doctor to save her."

"Oh, shit," Rose murmured. "Elton, that's not –"

Zoe held up a hand, letting it hover in the air over her shoulder. Rose fell silent, shifting closer to the Doctor, uncomfortably reminded of how she had used him to try and save her long-dead father.

"Okay," she said. "We'll get back to your unresolved childhood trauma in a second. First, I want to know how you found my mother. And don't even think about lying to me because I'll know."

"Can I – water?" His tongue tried to wet his dry lips, fingers clenching against the restraints. "Please?"

The Doctor slid his eyes to Mickey and inclined his head. Nostrils flaring in annoyance, Mickey nodded and slipped from the room as Zoe eased back from her braced position in front of Elton and took Jack's seat. One leg crossing over the other, she examined Elton and found herself pitying him. Rose's devastation at not having Pete in her life was an ever-present thing, something she found difficult to understand as her own father wasn't in the picture and she didn't feel as though she was missing anything. If anything, she felt Pete Tyler's absence more than the man who had got Jackie pregnant after a quickie in the alley behind the pub.

But if Jackie had died...

She understood the lengths she would go to in order to save her, especially now she had access to a time machine.

"Here," Mickey said, holding a glass out, a crazy straw bobbing in it.

Jack took it from him and placed the straw against Elton's lips, throat moving as he swallowed gratefully.

"Thank you," Elton whispered.

"Now answer my question," Zoe said. "Unless you'd like me to repeat it for you?"

He flinched.

"It was – we knew about Rose because of Clive," he explained, nervously. "He was friends with Bridget and he told her that he thought Rose'd made contact with the Doctor in 2005 because she was asking all these questions. Bridget told us."

Zoe passed her finger over her top lip. "And who's this Clive person?"

"Clive Finch," Elton said. "He collected a lot of information on the Doctor over the years. R-Rose met him."

Zoe inclined her head back, eyes never leaving Elton even as everyone else in the room swivelled to look at a startled Rose.

"I remember Clive," Rose told them, startled at the mention of his name as meeting him felt like it belonged to another life, another Rose. She looked up at the Doctor. "The day after Henrik's exploded an' we met in the flat, I went lookin' for information about you an' I found this website that was run by Clive. I wanted to know who you were an' if you were dangerous because you gave me that mad turn of the Earth speech an' I kind of thought you were either completely insane or maybe tellin' the truth."

A small smile pulled at the Doctor's mouth. "Did you now?"

"What about Clive?" Jack asked. "Crazy, dangerous, or something else?"

"Thought he was just a nutter, if I'm honest," she admitted. "Had Mickey wait outside but he'd been turned into an Auton by then so that was bloody useless. Met up with the Doctor again about an hour later in that restaurant." She flicked her eyes to Elton. "How is Clive?"

"Dead," Elton said, a flinch ripping through Rose's shoulders. "Died that night the plastic dummies came to life."

"Fuck," she hissed. "He had a wife an' kids."

"All very sad, I'm sure," Zoe said, pulling Elton's attention back to her though it had never truly left. "But I still want to know how you tracked my family down. If Clive died the same day he met Rose, how did he have time to tell this friend of his? What did you say her name was, Beatrice?"

"Bridget," he said. "And – and he didn't. He left it in his notes. All Bridget did was Google Rose's name and the missing picture came up and then her return a year later and – and you're listed in the phone book."

"The phone book," she said. "You found us in the phone book?"

He swallowed. "Yes."

"Mum," Rose sighed, pressing her forehead against the Doctor's arm, annoyed. "I've told you to get us out of that. All sorts of weirdos can find us." She jerked her thumb at Elton. "Such as this one."

Jackie's eyes narrowed, and the Doctor rested his hand on Zoe's shoulder. "Could you tap out a second, please?"

"Sure," she said, eyes fixed on Elton. "But don't think that this conversation is over. No matter what your intentions were, you still used my mum to get what you want and there are consequences to that."

Elton shuddered. "Oh god."

Rising from her seat, she turned her back on him and met the Doctor's eyes, a small grin breaking out across her face that nearly made him laugh. Letting his hand smooth down her arm, he took the still-warm seat and took note of the way Elton's shoulders relaxed minutely, unaccustomed to people who were tied to chairs finding him the easier prospect. He supposed Zoe had a human anger about her and that was something that people knew to be afraid of, something that made sense in comparison to his.

"Elton," he said, politely ignoring the small jump that jerked him against the restraints. "Tell me about your mother. Why do you think I can save her?"

The tension in his arms relaxed, a slow blink transforming his face from fearful to hopeful. "Because you're the Doctor, it's what you do."

"Well, that's gratifying if annoyingly broad," he said, enjoying the small ego boost to soothe the bruises the last few months had delivered. "How did she die?"

"I don't know, I was a child," Elton told him. "I came downstairs one night and I found her body. There was a man there – you."

The Doctor leaned back. "Me? Are you sure?"

"He's sure," Mickey said from behind him. "I hate to say it but people tend not to forget meetin' you."

"There was screaming," Elton continued, eyes locking onto his knees, grief rising up in his chest. "That was what woke me. The most awful howling you've ever heard. I was terrified and I just lay there. My mum – she was dying and I just lay there."

"Don't," Jack said, a sharp shake of his head. "You were a child. You couldn't have saved her. You'd have just got yourself killed."

Hot tears blurred his eyes. "I could've tried."

"I'm sorry," the Doctor said, softly. "Elton, I'm so sorry this happened to you and your mum. I truly am."

He sniffed, trying to squeeze the tears away before he looked up. "But you can save her right? You're the Doctor and you've got the TARDIS. You can just save her."

Passing a hand across his mouth, he glanced up at Zoe whose face was expressionless even as her eyes spoke pity for the man before them. Her hand rested on his back, thumb brushing over the exposed skin on his neck, comforting and strengthening in equal measure.

"I can't," he said, regretfully. "You say I was there, that makes it and everything that happened there a set thing. Changing it would cause ripple effects you can't even begin to imagine. Saving your mum..." a heavy sigh left him. "I'm sorry, I am, but it can't be done."

"But –"

"There are rules to time travel," the Doctor interrupted. "I can't break them, and I wouldn't even if I could. It was a sad and tragic thing that happened to your mum that night, to you, but it can't be undone. That's not how it works, but I think you already knew that, don't you?"

Elton cleared his throat and looked away from him. "I never thought I'd actually find you. L.I.N.D.A...it's just something silly. It's not about you, not really, it's about us and I just – I never thought I'd find you."

"Most people don't," he said with a small smile. "Some people spend their lives looking for me, so take comfort in the fact that you've done the improbable. However, don't think for a second that I approve of the manner in which you've gone about it. Jackie's under my protection and it bothers me that you thought to use her to get to me, no matter how innocent your intentions were."

"I know," Elton said, and he risked lifting his eyes to Jackie whose company he had honestly enjoyed over the last few weeks, nausea clenching his stomach at the look on her face. "I'm sorry, Jackie. Really. It started out as a way to – well, to meet the Doctor, but I do like you. That wasn't a lie."

A cold chill swept over her. "Wasn't it?"

"No, it wasn't," he promised.

"What would you have done if this lot hadn't been here today?" She asked him. "If you hadn't come around an' seen them? Would you have kept lyin' to me?" Shame pressed against him from all sides. "Because it's never about me, is it? Here I was thinkin' I'd actually found myself a decent bloke an' you're just like the rest of them."

"Jackie –"

"Because it wouldn't have worked," Jackie told him. "Your plan. Usin' me to get to him? It wouldn't have worked. My girls love this idiot, have done since he crashed into our lives, an' since Zoe's gone an' got herself all entangled in him that means that he's mine now too. So you comin' at him through me wouldn't have worked because I would never – never – let my girls down an' I'd never betray him like that either, so it was all for nothin'. All of this, you get that? It was all a waste of bloody time."

"But..." his voice warbled, breaking on his next breath. "I only wanted to meet him."

Jackie huffed a cold, humourless laugh, turning from him. "An' now you have. I hope it was worth it."

"No, wait!" Elton strained against the chair. "Jackie, please. I'm sorry."

Her jaw twitched, back to the room, pain and anger playing itself out over her hidden features, unable to find a scrap of pity for him at that moment. She thought she had found something good, something that made the loneliness and difficulties of being the one left behind easier to handle; the shattering of her truth was difficult to handle. Fingers tightening on the doorframe, she let the anger roll through her.

"Go to hell, Elton."

---

Pushing Elton's last T-shirt into the crinkled plastic bag, Jackie tossed it into the girls' room and felt a brief moment of satisfaction before the weight of everything crashed like a wave over her, shoulders slumping. She felt exhausted and humiliated, wishing that she had been able to discover Elton's true intentions in private rather than having her foolishness splayed open for everyone to see. She knew that they weren't judging her – not one of them blamed her for what had happened – but she felt dirty and used.

Wiping the tears from beneath her arms, she slammed the door to her bedroom and lay back on her bed, hugging a pillow to her chest, the sunlight streaming in through the window, mocking her with its beauty.

"Stupid woman," Jackie muttered, furious with herself. "Stupid, stupid, stupid."

There were times when she felt that she was destined to never find another partner. After Pete had died, she hadn't wanted to. Having Rose to look after focused her and they were a family of two until Zoe came along, surprising her with four long months of morning sickness and the sheer panic that came from being pregnant again, that time without anyone there to help her and share in the joy. And after going back and forth on whether or not to continue with the pregnancy, they became a family of three and Jackie's efforts at introducing men into their family life never went well.

She closed her eyes, the shame of the sort of men she had brought home to her daughters filling her, and the promise she had made after George had put her in the hospital after coming home to find pasta instead of chicken for dinner. She recalled the tight, angry look on Rose's face and the wide-eyed fear on Zoe's as they edged closer to the bed, Caroline's hands on her nieces' shoulders and the most disapproving look Jackie had ever seen on her face. And sometimes, at night after a few glasses of wine, she still heard a tiny Rose screaming get off my mummy as George's fists landed against her.

Elton wasn't like that.

He might not have wanted her for her but at least he hadn't been like George.

Sniffing, she wiped her eyes on the edge of the pillow before there was a knock on the front door that she ignored, knowing exactly who it was. Anyone else would just walk in but after banning him from the flat after her birthday, the Doctor knew better than to enter without permission. She pressed her face into her pillow and hoped that he would go away only for his fingernails to rattle against the pane of glass. Reluctantly, she lifted her head and stared at him through the lace curtains that gave her a small brush of privacy.

"Can I come in?" He asked, figure blurred through the window. "It's just me. The others are still on the TARDIS."

"If I say no, will you fuck off?" Jackie asked, voice thick from emotion.

"I...yes," he said, reluctantly, forehead pressed against the window pane. "But please don't say no. I don't think you should be alone right now and I can go get one of the girls if you'd rather but – can I come in?"

Since she didn't want to see anyone, she supposed that, if she had to, the Doctor would do. She would have preferred Jack with his quiet, calming presence and complete lack of judgement but the Doctor was all right.

"Fine," Jackie sighed. "Whatever."

The Doctor took her lukewarm acceptance as invitation and used the sonic screwdriver to open the door to the flat, reminding her that she should probably get him and Jack a key since they were in and out more often than their travels suggested they would be. His ridiculous shoes made soft sounds against the thin carpet before he hesitated outside her closed bedroom door, the memory of her once slipping her pink dressing gown open at the neck back when she thought he was just a police officer burnt through her, and she ignored his first knock.

"Jacks?" The nickname slipped from his tongue as the door creaked open. "Are you okay in there? Do you want a cup of tea or something?"

"Oh, just come in," she grumbled, the door opening further so that he stood framed in the doorway, a kind expression on his face. "Isn't this day shit enough without you rubbin' salt into the wound?"

He hovered uncertainly. "I'm not here to take the piss."

She scoffed into her pillow and stared up at the ceiling. "Then why are you here? Want to make sure I didn't tell that idiot anythin'?"

"No," he said, quietly, perching on the edge of the bed near her feet. "I just wanted to make sure you're okay. And Zoe's – well, I don't like getting in her way when she's got a mood on her and while she understands what Elton did, she doesn't like how he went about it, so she's yelling at him. Except it's not yelling so much as this really terrifying tone that is scaring the pants off Elton and I tried to intervene but she was having none of it so I left."

Jackie eyed him over the top of her pillow. "You ran away?"

"Yeah."

"From your girlfriend?"

"I know it sounds bad," he said, defensively. "But it's only fine to watch her tearing strips off people when I'm not in the line of fire."

"Why would she be mad at you?" Jackie asked. "Wasn't your fault."

"Zoe sort of gets angry at everyone and then settles on a target," the Doctor said with a small shrug. "She's working on that though. Honestly, she's getting so much better at keeping her temper under control. I think she still feels guilty about the way she tore into Jack for his breathing a while back."

Jackie winced. "That was awful. Don't know where she gets that temper of hers."

"Maybe her dad," he suggested. "Temper is a genetic trait after all, and you and Rose are always pleasantly focused when you're angry. Did he seem particularly aggressive when you met him?"

"You know we had a quick shag behind the pub, right?" She told him, faintly amused at the way his cheeks turned pink. "I didn't catch his name, let alone his medical history. What d'you know about Zoe's dad anyway?"

"I was curious and she told me," he said. "Or rather Rose did and then Zoe's mentioned it once or twice but it's not something she really thinks about."

"She asked me questions about him once, back when she was little," Jackie said. "She never put two an' two together about the fact that she's black and Rose is white. She just thought that's how sisters were until someone at school told her different." A small laugh huffed from her. "She was so confused because she'd spent those years callin' Pete dad an' it took her ages to understand she had a different one. I wasn't entirely sure she got it, y'know? She was a smart little bugger but so stupid at times."

The Doctor tucked a leg under him. "Yeah?"

"She used to believe monkeys could fly," she told him. "They watched the Wizard of Oz an' Zoe just believed that all monkeys had wings that she couldn't see. Took her to the zoo to tell her otherwise but, nope, in her mind, monkeys flew."

"How old was she when she realised they couldn't?"

"Twelve, I think."

The Doctor laughed. "That's fantastic."

"An' one Halloween she threw the biggest fuckin' tantrum you've ever seen because she didn't want to go as Wonder Woman, she wanted to go as trousers," Jackie said.

"I'm sorry, trousers?" He frowned at her. "Like, trousers trousers?"

"She was three an' I had to cut into a pair of my old jeans an' put 'em on her," she replied. "Hooked 'em over her shoulder an' she was the happiest little thing you'd ever seen. No idea why she wanted to go as trousers though. The next day, she was back to Wonder Woman."

The Doctor passed a hand over his mouth, grinning. "You know, that has the touch of Rose about it. Did she do something?"

"Probably," Jackie said. "She was always playin' with Zoe like that. Tellin' her that Narnia was real an' just lockin' her in the cupboard for hours on end. For Zo's eleventh birthday, Rose spent ages makin' the perfect Hogwarts acceptance letter for her, which would've been nice except she'd spent the week before slowly makin' Zoe believe that she was magic. Had to ground her for that one because it upset Zoe so much."

"I'd heard about the Narnia one but never the Hogwarts one," he said, laughing. "Rose was a little terror, wasn't she?"

"Yeah," she said, fondly. "But she's always loved her sister so I never worried about it too much. They're much closer than Caroline an' I ever were. They've had to be because I fucked up every whit an' flip."

The Doctor patted her ankle. "Parents mess up all the time. My youngest son didn't talk to me for about three hundred years because I kidnapped his daughter and left Gallifrey in a stolen TARDIS."

Jackie raised her eyebrows. "You kidnapped Susan?"

"Well, it wasn't so much a kidnapping as more of Susan telling me that she was coming with me and if I didn't like it, tough." He smiled, his granddaughter's elfin face appearing in his mind's eye, her hands planted on her hips and a stern look in her eyes. "But my son didn't view it that way. I was perceived as what one might call a bad influence."

"Did he forgive you?" She asked. "Your son?"

"It took Susan coming home to begin that process," the Doctor confessed. "And it was a very long road but, yes, by the end, he'd forgiven me."

She tightened her grip on her pillow. The fact that the Doctor was a father helped her like him a little more than she had when she first met it. It humanised him and gave her something to latch onto, a commonality threaded between them, something that the others weren't capable of understanding as they weren't parents. And the fact that he hadn't, by his own admission, been a good father – though she didn't doubt he was a loving one – made her more comfortable sharing with him the regrets she had.

"I used to bring all sorts of men home when they were little," Jackie told him, refusing to look at his face as she spoke. "Some of them were good, nice men. One of them bought Rose her first arty stuff. It was this big pack of Crayola pencils that I'd never have been able to afford an' he was always interested in the stuff she was drawin' but then he got a job an' moved away an' that was that. Some of them though...some of them weren't so nice."

"The girls love you," the Doctor told her, softly. "Whatever mistakes you think you've made, you've raised two daughters who think the world of you."

"I'm their mother," she said, hand pressed over her heart. "I'm supposed to keep them safe but I always let them down when it comes to men. I bring these people home an' put them in danger –"

"Elton wasn't going to hurt them," he said. "Or you. He was just...misguided."

"He wasn't but what about the others?" Jackie demanded. "One of them hit Rose once. Hard enough that she went flyin' an' I threw him out, course I did, but he still hit her. An' now I've got Elton comin' into my flat with a picture of her in his wallet an' I didn't know. I didn't know about any of it because I was so stupid an' naïve. I hadn't even – I didn't know that people would try to use me to get to you. I should've but I didn't."

His fingers flexed on her ankle. "How could you have known? I didn't think it would be an issue either, not even after everything with Jack or meeting Ryga. Jackie, I'm sorry this happened. Sorry you got caught up in this."

"Oh, shove off," she said. "Know you well enough by now to know you had fuck all to do with it. It's just part of knowin' you, I guess."

"I don't like that it is."

"Can't say I blame Elton, not really," Jackie admitted. "Knowin' there's someone like you out there with a time machine who can save his mum must've been somethin' else." She picked at the edge of the pillow case. "Rose told me about you takin' her to meet Pete before he died."

The Doctor sighed and placed his hands in his lap. "If you want to talk about stupidity, that decision of mine takes the biscuit. Honestly, I knew that it was a bad idea right from the start but she turned those bloody eyes of hers onto me and I crumbled. She really gets the Disney effect going at times."

"Yeah, well, if someone like Rose falls for you bein' able to fix everythin' then it's no wonder someone like Elton went through all this for a crack at it," she said. "S'pose I'm lucky he was just an idiot who missed his mum. Could've been worse, I guess."

"Could have been, yes," he agreed, forcing away thoughts of exactly how it could have been worse, stomach clenching. "But it wasn't and there's no point dwelling on what ifs."

"Might just get you to run a background check next time," Jackie said. "Save me the trouble."

"I've done that before," he said, finally drawing her eyes back to him. "Susan. She went on a date with a boy from school while we were stranded here back in the 60s. She wanted the full human experience and I was indulgent. I agreed but I checked that boy out from the moment of his birth to his death. Knew everything about him from his blood type to the fact that he was prone to strokes before his death."

She rolled her eyes. "Overprotective grandfather?"

"A little." He moved his hand once more, curling it around her toes that were covered by a pink sock and gave them a small squeeze. "Are you okay?"

She shook her head, no.

"I get a little lonely, that's all," Jackie said, embarrassment swelling in her chest but there was no one else for her to talk to: Her friends thought she was lucky to have both of the girls out of the house, and she didn't dare mention her feelings to Rose or Zoe for fear of making them feel guilty, and Jack had his own things to be dealing with. "With you all gone...I don't know, it's stupid."

The Doctor's expression softened. "It's not stupid. I get lonely all the time. It's a horrible feeling."

"Yeah," she whispered, rubbing at her eyes and smearing her mascara across her skin. "God, look at me. Weepin' in my room with my daughter's stupid alien boyfriend comfortin' me. Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse."

"You're very hurtful," he said, easily.

She waved a hand. "You know what I mean."

"I do," the Doctor agreed as an idea struck him, surprising slipping through him at how much he didn't mind it. "Why don't you come with us?"

Jackie blinked, taken aback. "What?"

"Travel with us for a bit," he said, warming to the idea. "I know the girls would love it, and Jack's definitely missed you. Plus, you know Mickey likes having you around and, if you repeat this to anyone else I'll deny it forever, I like have you around too."

"God," Jackie groaned. "Are we actually friends now?"

"I think we are," he said, mouth twisting in a grimace. "It's awful, isn't it?"

"I still don't like the fact you've seduced my daughter," Jackie said, seriously, discomfort settling in his chest. "Not that I think there was much seducin' involved since it's Zoe. An' you seem all right at the romantic stuff with those little notes you leave her about the TARDIS –"

Colour drenched his cheeks. "She told you about those?"

"She was all gooey eyed about them."

"Really?" He asked, delighted. "Just how gooey eyed?"

"Don't push it," Jackie warned him, wiping the smudged mascara from under her eyes. "You're both bloody idiots for doin' this but you're also both adults an' if you're willin' to get hurt at the end of it, then it's not my place to do anythin' but support you. Both of you."

The Doctor found himself uncharacteristically lost for words. "Jackie –"

"Don't make it weird," she ordered.

"Thank you," he said, making it weird when he reached out to take her hand. "I love her very much. I have done for a long time but you know that. You were the first person to really see it, you know? Everyone else didn't notice but you saw right through me that day in Cardiff."

"Not that you paid the slightest bit of attention to me," she grumbled.

"No, I did, but then Mondas happened and we almost lost her and –" he sighed. "Some things shouldn't be left unsaid. Even if she didn't feel the same way about me, I had to say it, and she was very gentle in letting me down."

Her forehead tipped down. "What?"

"Didn't she tell you?" His mouth curled into a grin. "I told her I was in love with her the night we came back after everything on Mondas, out in the living room actually, and she very, very gently told me she didn't feel the same way about me. It was still so soon after Reinette for her, I knew that, but because of everything that'd happened, I had to tell her. You have someone like Zoe in your life? You tell them you love them as soon as you can. And then she was ready. After the Game Station and MIT, she was ready and told me so."

"I didn't know that," Jackie said.

"It's not like we've given anyone the chance to ask about us," the Doctor replied. "Keeping it secret for as long as we did wasn't the best move but we were going to tell you after your birthday. But we'd been fighting and –"

"Please stop," she said, holding up a hand. "I saw it, I don't need to hear about it again."

He grinned. "Sorry about that."

"Shut up," she huffed before shaking her head. "Y'know, every now an' then, you're actually quite sweet. Helps me understand a little why Zoe loves you, even with your stupid jokes."

"She likes at my jokes."

"Because she loves you, you plum." Fondness bloomed through her for the strange man that had torn her life apart. He was so child-like at time, innocent and pure, and at others, he was terrifying. "You're such an idiot."

"So I'm told on an offensively frequent basis," the Doctor said. "But, seriously, why don't you come with us for a bit? We'd all love to have you, and I know Rose and Zoe worry about you being here by yourself. So do I, to be honest. Between the Time Agency and Elton and Ryga finding us, it makes me nervous."

Her eyes rolled. "As though you don't have people watchin' me. Don't think I haven't found the sensor thingys you've put around this place. I reckon you'll know before me if someone comes into this flat without me invitin' them in."

"I'd apologise but I'm not sorry," he said, honestly. "Keeping you safe is important and not just because you're Zoe's mum. We haven't always had the easiest of relationships but I do consider you my friend, Jackie."

"You're makin' it weird," she told him even as she patted his hand, letting him know the feeling was mutual. "An' thank you for offerin', but it's not for me that mad life of yours. Lord knows I get enough of it when you come stompin' back in. No, I'll – hell, I don't know – get a job or somethin'."

The Doctor's nose wrinkled in distaste. "Sounds boring."

"It doesn't, doesn't it?" She swung her legs off the bed and planted her socked feet on the ground, sitting side by side with him. "Doesn't matter. I'll think of somethin'." Her eyes cut to him. "Don't you dare go be tellin' my girls about this. I don't want them feelin' guilty. Not their fault they're off livin' their lives, however mad it all is. They don't need to be worryin' about me."

He mimed zipping his lips. "My lips are sealed."

"Hmm," Jackie replied, unimpressed. "C'mon then. You might as well help me get all of Elton's things together."

"What are you going to do with it?"

"What I always do," she said. "Burn them."

---

Hours later with the sun on her back, Zoe swept her hair over one shoulder and rested her weight on an elbow as her fingers lightly brushing over the Doctor's bare chest. The gentle rise and fall of it as he slept, one arm flung across his eyes to protect from the sun overhead, was a delicate, lovely thing, and she ghosted her fingers through the thin sprinkle of chest hair that decorated it. She loved watching him sleep, loved seeing how soft he became when the lines evened out and his muscles relaxed. It didn't happen often since he needed less sleep than she did but he last twenty four hours had been a little much for all of them, even by their standards.

The Wire had been difficult enough to deal though hardly something they were incapable of handling. At most it had been an irritant with enough fear injected into proceedings to make it seem worse than it was. Rose's situation, however, was worst and with all that followed so quickly with Elton, it was enough to send them all off to their respective corners of the TARDIS to rest and relax.

With Jack curled up in bed sleeping, catching up on his sleep deficit and Rose and Mickey making something in the kitchen, the two of them laughing with their heads bent together, Zoe had dragged and sleepy and quiet Doctor to the garden with instructions to the TARDIS not to let anyone disturb them unless it was an emergency. Persuading him to shed his suit had been as easy as taking her own clothes off, enjoying the feel of the grass beneath her skin and the look of delighted confusion on the Doctor's face as he hurried to catch up, sweeping her up into his arms to kiss her in the half-shade of the lemon tree.

Rolling away from him, his fingers twitching for her, she carefully plucked a pale pink anemone from the flowerbed and shuffled closer to him, taking care not to disturb his sleep until she was ready. She let the petals gently kiss the Doctor's skin as she passed it over his chest and brushed it down the side of his ribcage.

"That tickles," he murmured.

The flower paused against his skin before she lifted it to tickle under his chin. "Doesn't matter. You swear you're not ticklish."

"I'm not," he said, even as his muscles tensed and his arm shifted, eyes cracking open to peer up at her, a smile curling his mouth. "Hello. Did I fall asleep?"

"Just a little."

She grazed the petal across his mouth before leaning down to kiss him, his arm moving around her as his tongue tasted the flat of her teeth. It was so easy – sometimes she thought too easy – to sink into him and let the cool warmth and pleasant solidity of him keep her safe and loved, a murmured sigh slipping free as she kissed him deeper. She blamed the artificial heat and the tranquility of the garden for the way she hooked a leg over his and brushed her fingers through his hair, focusing on the heat of his mouth and the touch of his fingers at her side.

The small rumble in his chest and the twitch of his body towards her made her shift over him, hands on either side of his head and his hands splayed over her back, thumbs pressed beneath the curve of her breasts.

"This is nice," the Doctor said around a mouthful of her hair as she dragged her mouth over his neck, teeth pressing against his skin. "I like this a lot."

"I should hope so," she smiled into his shoulder, glancing up at him. "Otherwise I'm doing something wrong."

"No, no, nothing wrong here," he said, quickly, gathering her hair in his hand and brushing his fingers behind her ear as her tongue flattened over his nipple and he grunted. "But come up here. I've got plans."

She hummed a negative against his skin. "Sorry, I'm in charge right now."

"Oh, are you?" Against her hip, she felt the excitement pulse through him at that. "And what exactly does that entail?"

"You'll find out." Sliding her hair band off her wrist, she gathered her hair and tied it behind her, his eyes tracking the move. "See, while you were taking your old man nap –"

"You nap during the day too."

"I've been lying here thinking," Zoe continued.

He swallowed. "Thinking about what?"

"Stuff," she said with a lazy shrug, fingers sliding down his chest to spread against his stomach. "Things."

His chest expanded with a shallow breath, hands settling on her hips where he pressed his thumbs into the soft skin that lay there. "What sort of stuff and things?"

"What I'd like to do to you for one when you wake up," she said, leaning down to suck a bruise into his ribcage. The Doctor hissed, pleasure sparking through him, and he pressed a heel into the ground as he tried not to buck her off even as he dragged her closer. When she was done, she pressed against the wet mark. "It's a shame that won't be there long. I'd like to mark you up for properly."

"Rassilon, yes, please," he breathed. "Whatever you want."

She pressed harder against the bruise, a small grunt leaving him. "Needy."

"For you? Always."

Joy swept through her eyes and she reached up to kiss him, light and teasing, refusing to allow him to deepen it. He knew that she would do what she wanted, how she wanted, when she wanted and there would be no rushing her. When she got it into her bed to tease him, she was methodical about it in a way he only appreciated after the fact. Twitching restlessly beneath her, the sweet torture of her mouth moving over his skin had him clenching his fingers into the grass or ghosting over her shoulder, battling against the urge to pull and push her to where he wanted her attentions.

Her tongue dragged a wet path over his hip bone and he pressed his eyes shut as watching made the anticipation worse, a jump running through him when wet heat of her mouth enveloped him.

"Fuck."

"Language," she chastised.

The Doctor curled his hand into a fist and pressed it against his mouth. The fact that they were in the garden that anyone was able to access, even if Zoe had asked the TARDIS for them not to be disturbed, fractured his attention. His eyes rolled and peered towards the entrance until the bite of her nails cut against his hips, dragging him back to her, and heat flooded him when he met her eyes.

Fuck, fuck, fucking, fuck he thought, letting the sensations carry him and damn anyone who might interrupt them.

Minutes slid by until he grunted a warning that she never heeded and shuddered, her tongue pulling a trembling groan from him until the sensitivity was too much and she rested her mouth against his hip. Flushed as though he had run a mile at a sprint, his hand shook slightly as he reached down to slide his fingers into her hair, thumb brushing over her temple.

"Get up here," he said, breathlessly.

Dragging her teeth over his skin, she lifted herself up and dropped herself gracefully into his arms, laughing when he kissed her.

"You and your plans," he muttered, mouth distracted by her skin, hands spreading her legs open until he was settled between them. "What am I going to do with you?"

"Nothing yet, I'm not done with you," Zoe said, arching her chest into his mouth. "I've got more planned."

"Nope, it's my turn now," he said.

She pulled a face only for it to lose all meaning when she gasp and trembled, rolling her hips against his as his hand slipped between her legs. Later – much later – Zoe lay back on the grass with numb toes and a yawn building in her chest, fingers linked with the Doctor's between them, wondering if she wanted to bother stretching for her jacket where there was a sandwich in the pocket when his thumb pressed against her knuckles.

"Do you want to hear a joke?"

She rolled her head against his shoulder. "Is it funny?"

"I think so."

Zoe doubted it was truly funny but nodded anyway. "Go on then."

"Why is Peter Pan always flying?"

"I don't know, why?"

"Because he Neverlands." She groaned, hand splaying across her face, hating herself a little for letting herself hear that, only to groan louder when it kept going. "That joke never grows old."

"That was bad," she told him. "Definitely your worst one. Shame on you."

The Doctor laughed. "All right, how about this one: Why doesn't Dracula have any friends?"

"No," she whined.

"Because he's a real pain in the neck."

"We've just had sex," she complained, arm thrown across her eyes as she hide her amusement, not wanting to encourage him further. "Why are you ruining the afterglow?"

"Jackie said you like my jokes," he said, grinning.

"She what now?" Twisting her head, she squinted up at him. "Since when are you talking to my mother again?"

"Since about four hours ago," the Doctor replied, rolling onto his side and blocking the sun from her eyes with his shoulders. "We've made peace with each other. Turns out we actually consider each other friends."

Zoe stared at him. "Well, that's terrifying."

He leaned over and blew a raspberry against her stomach, startling laughter from her. "Don't be mean."

"I'm glad," she said, the news leaving her light and happy, and she carded her fingers through his sun-warmed hair. "Does this mean you'll be watching Eastenders again?"

"Never stopped," he admitted, words muffled against her stomach, arms stretched around her as he rested his head there. "I do it when you're sleeping so I don't have to put up with the mockery."

She tugged his hair. "I would never mock you."

"Liar."

"Maybe just a little then." She slid her fingers up the back of his head and scratched the top of his scalp, enjoying the sound of his contentment. "Are you hungry?"

He looked up, interested. "Do you have food?"

"It's me, what do you think?" His smile stretched across her skin as she reached for her jacket and caught the edge of the sleeve, tugging it towards her. In the pocket was her cheese and tomato sandwich that she split with him, and he turned, lying on his back, head using her as a pillow. "We should have a proper picnic soon. Just the two of us. Go back to Planet One or something."

"We could go camping and make a small holiday of it," the Doctor said around a mouthful of food. "I definitely have a yurt somewhere in the TARDIS."

"Isn't that kind of small?" Zoe asked before frowning. "Wait, am I thinking of the right thing? The thing the Native Americans use?"

"That's a teepee," he said. "A yurt is Mongolian. Think big and round and very comfortable. We'll throw down lots of cushions, light a fire, it'll be very romantic. Once we get rid of the smell, of course."

She paused, sandwich held away from her mouth. "I know I'm going to regret asking, but what smell?"

"I took Adric camping once, just the two of us," the Doctor explained. "And we caught some fish that we cooked over a fire except it turned out that when that particularly fish was introduced to heat, this toxic gas was released. Made Adric sick and he just vomited everywhere. I didn't realise that a human contained so much vomit until then. I cleaned it up as best I could but it's been sitting in storage since then so we'll probably have to air it out before we use it."

"Or we could buy another yurt," she said. "I'm pretty sure people somewhere sell yurts."

"We can't do that," he protested. "It was a gift from Kublai Khan."

Zoe finished her sandwich and let him feel the laughter run through her chest. "The same Kublai Khan that you lost the TARDIS to in a game of backgammon?"

"A consolation prize, if you will," he replied. "Kept the yurt when I got the TARDIS back because it's a good yurt."

"You're saying yurt a lot," Zoe said. "How many times can you say yurt in a sentence?"

"The yurt that Adric threw up in is a yurt that once belonged to Kublai Khan and is a majestic yurt even among yurts," the Doctor said, finishing with a proud grin. "Yurt. Yurty-yurt-yurt-yurt-yurt."

She let her head fall back, laughing, and tugged on his hair once more.

"You're lucky the TARDIS didn't turn your room into a water feature for gambling her like that," she told him. "And we can use the yurt but it needs to be so clean Jack'd stay in it."

The Doctor groaned. "That's too clean!"

"That's my condition."

"For a man who's slept in all sorts of places, he does get fussy about cleanliness, but fine," he grumbled before brightening up. "Ooo, that means we can go to Ozkozania. They've got a cracking cleaning company in this little coastal town that also sells the best pinahule."

Zoe's fingers paused in his hair, confused. "The cleaning company sells it or the town sells it?"

"The cleaning company," the Doctor said. "I know, it's a bit of an odd combination but, honestly, you'll love it."

"What's pinahule anywhere?"

"Like scones but so much better," he replied. "Their version of clotted cream – well, you'll never go back to your stuff."

She stretched her feet and brushed the crumbs from her chest. "I don't know. I do like it."

"Have I led you astray yet?"

"Only sexually."

He laughed, rolling onto his front and covering her body with his again, trapping her beneath him. "You're the deviant."

"Oh, am I?" Zoe asked, eyebrows raised. "That doesn't feel true."

"It is." He pressed his nose into her neck and bit her lightly, her knees pressing against his sides. "Seducing poor, innocent Time Lords."

"I might believe that if Brax was the one I'm sleeping with," she said, the mention of his brother temporarily flagging his arousal. "But you're the one who goes around holding hands willy-nilly. That's some deviant behaviour right there. What was it the High Council called you again?"

"Many, many things not worth repeating when I have you naked in my arms," the Doctor said, catching hold of her hands and lifting them above her head, enjoying her grin. "I reckon we don't have long before someone comes looking for us."

"I don't know," she mused. "I think Rose knows not to come now after last time and Mickey's just completely uninterested."

"Jack then, you know he'll come."

"That's very true." She smoothed her hands over his shoulders. "We should probably get dressed and head out. You know, have a shower, get dressed, do serious things that serious people do. Taxes and stuff."

"You don't pay taxes."

She pinched his side. "It was an example."

"It was a bad one," the Doctor said, catching her hand and pressing it into the ground above her head. "But we could do all that serious, boring stuff that responsible people do. Or..."

"Or?"

"Or we don't," he said, rubbing his nose against hers, tasting the smile on her mouth when he pressed a fleeting kiss there. "Can I tempt you into another orgasm, love?"

"Oh, go on then," Zoe conceded with a sigh. "Since you've twisted my arm."

"Splendid," he grinned and got to work.

---

"Wait, I think I see it!"

Jack grunted and braced himself against the ground, shifting the weight of the crate in his arms as the Doctor darted beneath it to pry open the flooring, the top half of his body disappearing into the floor. He regretted not accepting Zoe's half-hearted offer of help from her comfortable position on the sofa with Rose, Mickey, and a large bowl of popcorn as they binge-watched a TV show that held no interest for Jack. He should have known better about agreeing to help the Doctor as it generally led to either a long and boring afternoon or enough trouble to last them a week. As it turned out, he had unfortunately consigned himself to the former.

"Any time now would be great, Doctor," Jack said, muscles straining.

"Hold on!"

"If I drop this, you're the one explaining to Zoe why you regenerated," he warned with a grimace.

"Don't drop it then," the Doctor said, voice muffled. "What's the point in all that time in the gym with my girlfriend if you can't lift a crate?"

"We go there to talk shit about you and Mickey," he lied. "The exercise is just a cover."

The Doctor flipped him off but re-emerged from the floor with cobwebs in his hair, swiftly replacing the grating. Controlling the crate's descent, Jack sighed with relief as the weight lifted from him, shoulders rolling and fingers stretching to get the blood flowing back to them once more.

"Go on then," he said, fanning his shirt to cool his chest. "Let's have a look."

The Doctor held the pristine comic book up. "Like I said, a first edition, signed copy of Ulyuat Pamel and the Thunder Dap."

"Holy shit." Jack took it from him and turned it over with an impressed whistle. "How the hell did you get your hands on this? I think they sold a grand total of eight copies, wasn't it?"

"Seven before she burned the rest," the Doctor said. "She took criticism about as well as Hans Christian Anderson."

"Who?"

"He put together Grimm's Fairytales," he explained. "Ended up facedown in Dickens's garden crying about how no one liked him."

Jack snorted. "Thing I don't get though is that Amale Irria was hugely popular when she wrote this comic. Why didn't it sell more?"

"It was going to but there was a bit of a scandal," the Doctor said. "Rumour had it that she stole the plot of Magwa and the Daeds from another artist she went to school with and people lost their minds. There was so much controversy around her when this comic came out that only seven people bought it, three of them were her family members."

"She stole the story?" Jack asked, disappointed. "Magwa and the Daeds was my favourite as a kid. I used to dress Gray up as Galoo the Baker."

"How'd you get the extra ears?"

"Made them out of mud and stuck them on," he replied. "Mum hated it because the mud got into his ears once and made him deaf for about three weeks. I wasn't allowed to do it again after that."

"I never did anything fun like that with Brax," the Doctor said. "I think I missed out."

"It's only fun when you're the older sibling," Jack assured him. "What happened to her anyway? Irria, I mean."

"Faded into obscurity after her death two years later," he replied. "All incredibly sad actually as it turned out that the person who accused her of theft was lying about it and wanted to promote her own work and never expected the public backlash to be so severe so they just stayed mum about the whole thing and Irria had killed herself. There was a resurgence about 100 years later when someone dug deeper into it and figured out the lie. Irria was vindicated, the other woman's reputation was left in tatters, but it was all too later too late unfortunately."

Jack blew out his cheeks and shook his head. "People. But all of that doesn't explain how you got your hands on this. Were you the first in line or something?"

"Nah, stole it from a prince," he said with a grin. "In my defence though, the prince was absolutely an asshole and I wanted it."

"Thief," Jack laughed.

"Says the conman."

He grinned and happily ignored him. "I had all of Irria's work when I was a kid. Gray and I used to collect them and this was the only one we never had. Dad tried to find us a copy – not a legit one, obviously, but a pirate one – but no such luck."

"Have it," the Doctor said, easily.

"Doctor –"

"It's been gathering dust here since I got it," he interrupted. "I never really cared for comics like this. Graphic novels though, those I love. Zoe got me the V for Vendetta lot a few months back when she ambled through a Waterstones and they're great, but these ones? Nah. Not for me. So keep it."

Jack swallowed against the unexpected press of emotion in his throat. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it," he said, getting to his feet and shaking the cobwebs from him. "There's a convention on Artemis Minor every two years about Irria's work if you want to go. You could dress up." His face lit up. "Zoe could dress up."

Jack glanced at the cover art where there was an attractive blue-skinned woman wearing not a lot and he personally thought the Doctor would have better luck seducing a Dalek than getting Zoe out of the TARDIS in that.

"That sounds like an –"

Thrown off his feet, Jack slammed into the Doctor and they hit the ground hard, tangled together as the TARDIS shook. Unlike the violent fall between universes, it felt as though they were being tossed on a violent sea. The Doctor grabbed hold of Jack and reached up to secure his grip on the wall, keeping them balanced as something shattered near them and the crate shifted dangerously. Jack shoved his foot back and held it in place as shouted words were barely audible over the rumbling tumble of the TARDIS, Zoe, Rose, and Mickey making their way to the control room, unencumbered by a room filled with dangerous knick-knacks.

Just as Jack was beginning to think there was a serious problem, the nauseating motion stop and he groaned, head throbbing from everything.

"What now?" The Doctor demanded, exasperated. "ZOE!"

"Right in my ear," Jack complained, rolling off him. "Ow."

"Sorry," he apologised, sitting up and hit the intercom that they rarely used. "Zoe, what the hell?"

"Not me," she replied, a small crackle on the line. "Not sure what it was but I've managed to smooth out the ride. Whatever's going on, we'll be landing in a few minutes. No idea where though. You okay? And is Jack with you still? He's good?"

"We're both fine," he said, glancing to Jack. "You are fine, right?"

"Just peachy," Jack replied, annoyed. "But we've just got done with everything else. We were supposed to be having a quiet week."

"We wouldn't know a quiet week if it snuck up and bit us," the Doctor said, getting to his feet again. "Come on. Mickey'll be worried about you. Zo, we're on our way."

Holding his comic to his chest, Jack followed the Doctor through the TARDIS to the smoking console room in time to see Rose swing around and aim the fire extinguisher at a cable that was on fire. In one corner Mickey was using his jacket to wave the smoke towards the ventilation system, and at the console, trying to cover as much of it as possible, Zoe was attempting to wrestle the TARDIS under control, the muscles in her arms and thighs straining from the effort. Obvious relief appeared on her face when the Doctor jumped into help.

"What the hell was that?" Jack asked, helping Rose. "Did we hit something?"

"I don't think so," Zoe said, a frown pressed deep into her forehead. "We were pulled off course and then sort of shoved, like something grabbed us."

Rose twisted her head over her shoulder. "Like last time?"

"Last time?" She asked. "When was last time?"

"Daleks, Game Station," Jack explained.

"It's not Daleks, is it?" Mickey asked, coughing the smoke from his lungs. "Because I'm happy never meetin' them. From what you guys've told me – let's just head in the other direction if they're out there."

"It's not the Daleks," the Doctor said, quickly double checking to make sure it wasn't. "And it's not like before. The TARDIS is the one who pulled us off course this time. It seems like she really wanted us to come here but's having a bit of trouble making the landing." He stroked the console and leaned in. "Not like you, dear. Everything all right?"

Rose set the fire extinguisher down with a clang. "She's fine. She's not panickin' or anythin'. I think we need to be here."

"I am incredibly jealous you talk to her the way you do," he said. "She's not hurt?"

Her mouth tipped up. "You can tell that."

"True," he grinned. "Nice to have a second opinion though."

"Annoyed at the rough flight but not hurt," Rose confirmed.

Jealousy pricked at Zoe's edges. "Can't you ask her what we're doing here?"

"She wouldn't tell us anyway," she said with a shrug. "You know what she's like."

"We'll find out soon enough," the Doctor said. "Jack, grab the other side. Zoe, keep hold of everything here. We need to land her without putting a dent in anything or breaking anything else. She's still a little banged up from Ricky's World."

Rose and Mickey took a step back and watched as the Doctor, Zoe, and Jack worked to land the TARDIS as gently as possible. While the landing still shook their limbs and clacked their teeth together, they were able to remain standing even as the TARDIS sounded off, something heavy and slow running through her.

"Right," the Doctor said in the ringing silence that followed. "So much for our time off."

Mickey released the safety rail. "We'd have been bored with an entire week."

"I don't know," Jack said. "We managed six without getting bored. But, I grant you, that was because –"

"No sex stuff," Rose interrupted, quickly. "Don't want to hear it."

The Doctor straightened his tie and glanced towards Zoe who pulled back from the console and pulled the trainers she had left by the front door onto her bare feet, distracted by the fact she was wearing short denim shorts and her legs were on display.

"We should tread carefully," he warned, tearing his eyes from her. "With everything that's gone on recently, I'm concerned about what's going to be outside the door."

Zoe cracked the door and peered out. "It's a cupboard."

"I'm concerned about whatever's beyond that cupboard," he corrected with a gesture.

Mickey rested his hand on the a coral strut. "She sounds sick. Is that normal?"

"No," the Doctor said, smoothing a hand over the elegant curve of the console. "I don't know what's wrong though. She's sort of queasy. Maybe it's indigestion. There's some energy she doesn't like. Gets a bit fussy does my old girl. Only good quality stuff for you, yeah?" He rubbed his knuckles against her. "You'll be okay. Just need some time to rest."

"Well, there's no sense in waiting around here for trouble to come knocking," Zoe said, hand splayed across the door behind her to feel the comforting warmth of the TARDIS seeping into her skin. "Shall we have a gander?"

"We don't know what's out there," Jack pointed out. "And I know we never normally do but it's different now. Between the Time Agency and Ryga...there are people who want to hurt us and us being here – I don't know – it tastes too much like the Game Station for comfort."

"The TARDIS brought us here," she replied. "I don't believe she'd take us anywhere that would hurt us."

"Mondas," he said. "She took us to Mondas and you nearly died."

Zoe frowned. "I lived though."

"Barely, Zo, you barely lived," Jack said. "And I know it was longer ago for you but sometimes, at night when I'm sleeping, I still hear you screaming. So I'm not exactly eager to rush out headfirst into danger so soon after Rose was laid low by the same asshole that's trying to kill you."

"What's the alternative?" Zoe asked. "We stay in the TARDIS and never find out what's going on? I don't know about you but if this is Ryga, I want to find out everything I can. Besides, we're together. He can't kill all of us."

"Zoe," Rose said. "Jack's got a point. With everythin' that's happened lately an' now this? We should at least do a scan."

The Doctor flicked a switch. "Can't do that. The computer's on the fritz. Won't be getting any scans until the whole system reboots. That'll take a couple of hours."

"Look." She took a step forward, hand reaching for Jack only to pause halfway there. "The last few months have been really hard. I get that, believe me, I do, but we can't start running scared because of assholes with grudges. Jack, you leave the TARDIS every day despite what happened with the Time Agency. Asking us to do any less than that isn't fair and –"

"Mickey's gone," Rose said, cutting her off and pointing at the open door. "He just walked straight out if anyone's interested."

"Son of a – Mickey!" Jack brushed past Zoe, fingers squeezing her wrist once, a reassurance, striding after his boyfriend. "Dammit, will you get back here?"

The Doctor stared after him. "Huh. Mickey. Did not expect him the one to do that. My money was on Rose."

"Hey!"

"That wasn't an insult," he told her. "Just figured you'd get bored of the back and forth first and, you know, go forth and explore."

Zoe sighed and took the Doctor's hand.

"C'mon," she said. "The TARDIS never brings us anywhere without a reason, even Mondas. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that, this time, there isn't the Untempered Schism around to fuck with my head again."

"Here's hoping," the Doctor said, stepping out of the TARDIS.