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Chapter 40 - Through the Void

Rose walked back upstairs and showed Jackie and Caroline the video. By that afternoon there were also pictures of Genie lined up with all of the Disney princesses, wearing a blue dress that looked like one of theirs. Tony, Jacob and the Doctor smiling with sour candy in their teeth, treating to eat it. They also had a few pictures of the Doctor shaking hands with Mickey Mouse with all of the Disney characters standing around. Rose was sure that was for the bone regrowth machine that Pete had talked about. There was also another picture of the Doctor, Genie, Jacob, Tony, Jake, Shakes and Lewis standing with all of the Disney characters and Mr. Holz. Rose smiled.

Jake sent her a picture later that afternoon of the Doctor with all three children in his lap again, watching some show. He had Jacob and Tony on either knee, as Genie stood between his legs. They were looking up watching something. All three of the children had on Mickey Mouse ears. Genie still wore her princess dress.

Just as they were leaving the park in the limo, the Doctor got a phone call. It was Michelle from Torchwood.

"Doctor, we just got a call that there is something that needs your attention here. Can you come immediately?" she asked.

"Sure. I'll be there in five minutes." he told her. He ended the call and looked over at Shakes and Lewis. "Can you lot take these children home? Jake and I are needed at Torchwood."

Jake shook his head. "Nope. I have to take Jacob back to his Mum, then I'll be right there. Howie will kill me if I give him to anyone else."

The Doctor chuckled. "Right."

Genie yawned, "Daddy. Are you not tired?" Tony announced proudly to everyone that he wasn't tired. He could do it all over again!

The Doctor held Genie. "Nah, I don't sleep that much, little one. Don't worry about me. Shakes will take you two home, give you some fish fingers and you can lay down and take a rest. I'll be back as soon as I can. Alright? I have to go help someone. I'll be as quick as I can."

Genie looked at him, "Promise?"

"My most excellent promise. And when I get back, I have a surprise that will knock your socks off! I can't wait to show it to you." the kissed her forehead.

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The Doctor popped into his office, and walked out the door to see Michelle standing beside her desk.

"Welcome back, Doctor Smith." she greeted him.

"No, just the Doctor. What's wrong?"

"Malcolm rang. He said he needed you downstairs immediately. Security has already been sent. I'm not sure what's going on. The entire floor is locked-down."

Jake ran out of the Doctor's office. "Lock-down? Awesome! Let's go!"

The Doctor looked at Michelle, "Stay here."

They both ran down the hall towards the lift.

"What do you think it is?" Jake asked.

"It could be anything. Malcolm is doing something with the Void."

"Are you armed?" Jake asked him.

"Hell no. I don't need that!" the Doctor told him.

They got to the lift.

The Doctor looked at Jake. "Are you armed?"

Jake looked surprised at him. "Always!"

The Doctor rolled his eyes.

Rose was in his head. 'What on earth is going on? I can feel your excitement. Are you back on another crazy ride?'

He laughed and put his hands on his hips. 'No, sweetheart. Jake and I are back at Torchwood in a lift. Something is going on.'

Jake looked funny at him. He looked over at him and said, "Umm.. Rose is asking me a question."

Jake shook his head. "Yeah, that's normal. Tell her hi for me."

'Be careful, please.' Rose asked.

'I'll be good. Oh, and Jake says hi.' he laughed as the door opened and they ran to the staircase to get to the floor in question.

They got to the door and saw a laser blast past window inside the door.

"It can't be." the Doctor said.

Jake asked, "What is it?"

"Something, really, really bad." the Doctor told him. He immediately threw up his shields as high as he could. He didn't want Rose to know how scared he had became.

He slipped through the door with Jake and ran to where some security guys stood.

They heard the machine speak, "Exterminate!"

Jake got there and asked, "Report?"

The senior officer there said, "Sir! This machine came through the hallway. It's shooting everything! Our weapons don't seem to phase it."

The Doctor was looking at it. "It's not a machine. It's a Dalek. A genetically engineered mutant. Like a cyborg. There is a living being inside of that. It must have fell through the Void. Where is Malcolm?"

No one knew.

"Ugh." the Doctor complained.

"How do we kill it?" Jake asked.

"Normally, that question would piss me off, but this is different. Go get a energy blaster." the Doctor told him.

A security solider spoke, "I have one here, sir!"

The Doctor took it and used his sonic screwdriver to make the beam stronger.

He handed the gun to Jake. "Give it a minute to charge up. I'm going to get its' attention. Do NOT shoot me, again! Rose will be pissed at us both."

The Dalek rolled down the hall. The Doctor took a deep breath and walked down the hallway, towards the creature.

"Well, hello there old enemy! Welcome to the other side!" he greeted the Dalek.

The Dalek turned around and faced him. They were separated by only 50 feet. The Dalek's eye stalk stared at the Doctor.

The Dalek spoke. "It is the Doctor!"

"Yep! That's me."

"You are the enemy!"

"I suppose that depends on which side you are on." the Doctor told him.

"Records indicate you have attempted to disguise yourself." the Dalek said.

"Oh! The beard. Nah, just decided to try something new. Why the hell are you here?" the Doctor asked.

"We fell through the Void." the Dalek said.

"We? How many more are there?" the Doctor asked.

"It is unknown. We were many in the Void, then we were none."

The Doctor rubbed his head. "Yeah, that sortof thing happens in the Void. Makes me wonder sometimes about a charge on a gun!" he yelled back at Jake.

Jake took aim.

The Dalek spoke. "I have found the Doctor! I am awaiting orders!"

"From whom?" the Doctor asked.

"I am a soldier. I am awaiting orders!" the Dalek said.

"Nah, this time will be different. I'm not going to let you lot in this dimension to ruin my life. I'll give the orders this time. Fire, Jake." the Doctor said.

Jake fired. The bolt of energy grazed the Doctor's arm leaving a burn. The hit to the Dalek was a direct shot. The shot sent the Dalek into a million pieces.

The Doctor grabbed his arm. "The hell! I said DON'T shoot me! Awww!"

Rose was in his head. 'My arm is burning, what the hell are you doing?'

'Dealing with Jake being an idiot!' he screamed. 'Fill you in later!' he raised his shields as high as he could.

Jake was laughing. "Sorry, you were in the way! You couldn't take a step in either direction?"

The Doctor was properly mad. "I'll kick your ass for this later! Remind me!"

Jake laughed, "Right. I'll be sure to do that."

Jake turned to the security guys standing there in the hallway. "Secure the hallway. Ensure no more of those things are around."

The Doctor used his phone and rang Malcolm to find that he was hiding in his office.

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The Doctor was getting his burn treated in the medical unit as Jake, Tosh and Malcolm stood next to the bed he sat on. Michelle was there, taking notes.

The young Doctor Harold Brown that had treated Tony and the Doctor's wrists was on duty. The Doctor was complaining at Jake about his rotten shot while Harold put some cream on his burn.

"This will help with the pain." he told him.

"No aspirin! I have a severe allergy to that." the Doctor reminded him.

"Got it, Director. It's in your records." Harold told him. The Doctor was briefly relieved he had been human for those first few weeks he was here. It made hospital records easier.

Thomas Trout walked in. "So, we are shooting our own people now?"

The Doctor groaned. "I've already dealt with it."

"I think he probably needs more than a verbal reprimand. I think he needs a suspension without pay." Thomas said.

The Doctor shook his head. "Nah, it wasn't intentional. As much as I want to complain that it was."

Thomas asked, "Where did this creature come from?"

Malcolm started, "Well, the Doct-"

"Ugh! It was something that was in storage. The sun spots must have reactivated it. There's not any more of them. Right, Jake?" The Doctor explained.

Jake nodded his head. "Umm... right, Doc!"

Thomas glared at him. "Sun spots?"

The Doctor nodded. "Yep. Damn dwarf sun. Messes with my cell phone as well."

Jake turned away to keep from laughing in Thomas' face.

Thomas continued to glare at the Doctor. "Doctor Smith. I don't agree with Pete Tyler making you Director at all. I imagine I should tell you that right now."

The Doctor looked surprised at Thomas, "Really? You're not? But I ... ah, to hell with that, I can't even pretend I'm surprised at that statement."

Jake was biting his lip to keep from laughing.

Thomas put his hands on his hips and continued, "No, I don't agree with it one bit! No one knows anything about you. I'm still not completely convinced you are even on our side."

"Who's side?" the Doctor asked.

"Oh, you know what I'm saying. It's your entire personality." Thomas said to him.

Harold finished wrapping the Doctor's arm and the Doctor pulled his sleeve on his t-shirt back down. He stood up and got right in Thomas' face. "Don't confuse my personality with my attitude...my personality is who I am, but my attitude depends on who you are."

Jake moved in between the two men and cleared his throat. "Guys, let's talk about this later. Maybe call Pete in? Hash it out?"

Thomas looked at both of them and stormed out of the room. The Doctor ran his hands through his hair. "Oh, that guy! I really don't think I'll need to be drunk to hit him again."

Michelle laughed, "You hit Thomas?"

Jake laughed, "Hell yeah he did! About a month ago. Knocked his ass right out!"

Michelle was laughing, the Doctor shook his head as he rubbed his face. 'Rose. How are things there? You won't believe what I'm dealing with here.'

Rose spoke in his head. 'Things are a bit better. They said that Dad seems stronger. They are looking forward to you getting here to use that bone regrowth machine on his ribs. What is going on there? My arm still hurts.'

He looked down at his bandage. 'Ummm... something. But, I'm alright. I'll explain everything later. Don't worry about me, Rose.'

The Doctor turned to Michelle, "Michelle. We had a wonderful time at Disney today. Will you please send Mr. Holz a thank you from us?"

"Of course! I've already taken care of it. I'll arrange your schedule for next week and send it to your phone later today. The item you needed was delivered earlier today." She handed him a box with the bone regrowth machine inside.

He opened it to look. "Perfect! Thank you, Michelle!"

Michelle left the room.

Jake sat down on the bed next to the Doctor. The Doctor spoke to Malcolm and Tosh. "Okay, so. Explain to me what happened here. Why is there is a Dalek rolling down the hallways, blowing stuff up?"

Malcolm looked at the ground. "Well, we finished all of the calculations and decided to test your theory."

"You opened the wormhole? Without me here?" the Doctor asked simply.

"Well, yeah." Malcolm said.

Tosh added, "We just opened it to see if it would work. We didn't want to call without something to show."

Jake leaned over, "Sounds reasonable to me, Doc."

"You shot me, I'm still cross with you." the Doctor fussed at him.

Jake laughed under his breath.

The Doctor rubbed his hand through his hair. "Is it closed now?"

Malcolm and Tosh both nodded, "Yes. It is."

"There are some terrible things in the Void. Don't open without me here. Ugh, I have got to go. You two go home and relax. I'll come back in tomorrow and we'll reopen it. Hopefully, Thomas won't be in. Okay?" the Doctor suggested.

Malcolm and Tosh agreed and left the Doctor and Jake sitting in the room, alone.

Jake looked at the Doctor and started laughing. "I'm sorry, Doc. I really didn't mean to do it."

The Doctor laughed, "Pain medicine works great, otherwise I'd still be very mad. Rose can tell. She's probably going to cuss me out about this. That was really stupid. Walking up to that Dalek. He could have shot me. Ugh, I'm an idiot. What was I thinking?"

"Can you explain this thing you and Rose are doing? Seems like you can talk to one another no matter where you are?" Jake asked.

"Are we very oblivious?" the Doctor asked.

"Just around me. I don't think anyone else has picked up on it." Jake said.

"Well, I don't mind that you know. Both Rose and I are telepathic. Genie is, too for that matter. Rose and I have a joined bond so we can talk to one another, feel one another's emotions, pain, stuff like that." the Doctor explained.

"That's weird. But, sortof neat." Jake said.

The Doctor smiled. "Oh, I love it. It's like having her in my head all the time. It's great for days like today when we can't be together. We still are. I can feel her presence in my mind. It's hard to explain. Without her, I can't really even think."

"Gushy. You two were made for one another." Jake chuckled at him.

The Doctor laughed, "Yeah, I suppose so. What ever happened with your boyfriend? You never mention him?"

Jake shook his head. "Nah, we ended that. It isn't worth even talking about. Nah."

"I didn't know. Sorry, mate. When did that happen?" the Doctor asked.

"Right after the kidnapping. I've just been wrapped up in work."

"Where are you staying? Do you have place?" the Doctor asked.

"Yeah, I'm just rarely there. Thanks though." Jake told him.

"If you need anything, Jake. You know you can ask. I owe you a great debt." the Doctor told him.

Jake looked surprised. "For what?"

"Saving Rose. Saving Tony. Not shooting them..." the Doctor joked.

"How about you just don't kick my ass and we'll be even?" Jake suggested.

The Doctor smiled. "Alright."

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