Thanks to theson, DaughteroArtemis for following/faving my story.
NicoleR85: thanks!
"You ok?" the Doctor asked the Phoenix. She'd been uncharacteristically quiet ever since coming back from getting Reinette.
"I will be", the Time Lady answered "do you mind if I have a moment alone?"
"No, of course not", the Doctor replied "take all time you need". She watched him leave before taking out the letter the King had given her.
Hey lovely lady,
The Phoenix chuckled at her greeting.
You might be upset with yourself right now but you shouldn't be. For you do succeed in showing me your wonderous world.
"I do?" the Time Lady asked surprised.
Though it is a bit of a wait. For you at least. Two years. But trust me when I say it will be worth it. Our adventures had filled me with such joy that stayed with me into my later years.
See you soon, my angel
All my fondest love
Reinette
PS: enjoy the gift
The Phoenix upended the envelope and a gold necklace dropped into her palm. She held it up smiling at the ornate fleur de lis hanging from the chain. She clasped it around her neck. "See you in two years", she murmured, carefully putting the letter away.
The Time Lady left the console room, heading to her old room where she changed into her layered vest and trouser outfit from before. Once dressed, she went to the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea. She hadn't long settled down at the table when Mickey walked in. "You ok?" he asked, taking the seat opposite.
"Fine", the Phoenix replied "Reinette had a good life after I left". She touched the Fleur de Lis hanging around her neck which Mickey had noticed.
"Where did you get that?" he asked.
"Oh, Reinette had left it for me along with a letter", the Phoenix answered.
"You miss her", Mickey stated quietly.
"Yeah", the Time Lady whispered. She cleared her throat "How do you fancy doing some repairs?" she questioned, suddenly changing the subject "I know the Doctor's TARDIS needs a ton of them".
"He's not going to mind us doing that, is he?" Mickey asked, not wanting to do anything tha might make the Time Lord upset.
The brunette shook her head "Nah, he wont mind especially", she stood up "come on, I'll show you how to fix the blue stabilisers". Mickey grinned and followed after her. He sure did love learning new things!
It was about an hour or so later when the Doctor came into the console room. He smiled seeing the pair talking while they were tinkering away. He'd never allow a human to do repairs on his ship, yet one of the many differences between himself and the Time Lady. "Anything I can do to help?" he offered, coming over to them.
"No thanks", the Phoenix replied, not looking at him "we've got it under control. Just stand there and look pretty".
"Pretty?" the Doctor repeated, brows raised.
The Phoenix looked up at him "Well, I could've said drop dead gorgeous and irresistibly sexy but that's already been taken by Jack", she told him.
"Not to mention baby daddy", Mickey added.
"Yeah, that too", the Phoenix agreed, her voice losing its playfulness.
"Nix, I'm sorry", Mickey said, realising that he'd accidently upset her.
"It's fine, really", the Time Lady assured him. She couldn't get too upset over these things. Yes, she missed Jack dearly but still held onto the hope that she would see him again one day. And she prayed it was before their baby was born. "Now, lets get back to it", the Phoenix said.
"What's going on?" Rose asked, strolling into the room a moment later.
"We're doing some repairs", the Phoenix replied "and before you ask, no you can't help. You'll probably break something". Rose turned to the Doctor with a pleading look in her eyes.
"I agree with Nix", he said "do not touch anything", he added sternly. The blonde folded her arms and scowled. It was not fair! Her eyes went to the console and then back to the trio. A smirk appeared on her lips. Well if Mickey could play mechanic, how hard could it be?
"Rose no!" the Phoenix exclaimed, seeing her reaching for two random levers on the console. She started towards the blonde in order to stop her but she was just too slow as Rose pulled the levers. "What the hell did do…" the Time Lady broke off when all of a sudden part of the console exploded!
They were all thrown backwards by the force, the Phoenix going further than any of them as she'd been right by the section that gone bang. "Nix!" the Doctor cried, rushing over to her prone form. Mickey also managed to stumble over.
"Is she ok?" he asked worriedly as the Time Lord scanned the brunette with his sonic though it wasn't easy as his hands where shaking along with the ship.
"Nasty bump on the back of the head but otherwise she's fine", the Doctor replied.
"And the baby?" Mickey queried, equally concerned for the wellbeing of the unborn child too.
"He or she is fine", the Time Lord told him.
Mickey let out a relived breath "Oh thank god", he said. The TARDIS shook again, more violently this time.
"Stay with her", the Doctor ordered and made his way back to console.
"Whats happening?" Rose asked tentatively, knowing that she had made a very big mistake. One that was going to get her sent home for sure.
"The time vortex is gone!" the Doctor yelled back "Its gone and its all your fault, you stupid girl!" Rose flinched at his tone "Brace yourself! We're going to crash!"
Mickey carefully pulled the unconscious Time Lady in his arms, bracing himself against the coral arch as best as he could while the Doctor and Rose gripped the console tightly. The TARDIS came to sudden stop, throwing the Time Lord and human backwards. Mickey on the other hand, didn't move too much aside from his back hitting the coral arch he was leaning against. His arms had an almost deathlike grip on the Phoenix, not wanting her to get tossed about in her current state.
"Mickey, you ok?" the Doctor asked, not bothering to check on Rose. The young man was about to answer when the Time Lady started to groan as she stirred.
"I'm gonna kill her", she mumbled.
"You and me both", Mickey muttered. When the Phoenix tried to stand, the young man helped her up.
"This is not good", she remarked eyeing the darkened room and smoking console "not good at all". The Time Lady made her way to it, Mickey moving with her ready to catch he if she collapsed. The Doctor watched her carefully as he fiddled with buttons and switches trying to get something working but nothing was. "Anything?" she asked him and he shook his head.
"Fraid not. She's dead", the Doctor replied, quietly.
"You can't fix it?" Rose asked which had the Phoenix rounding on her, angrily.
"What part of dead do you not understand?" she growled, her eyes turning red gold "there's nothing to fix! One of the two last TARDIS' in the universe is extinct and its YOUR fault!" the Phoenix shouted, her entire frame trembling. Rose let out a small scream, stumbling back when the phoenix aura flared into life around the Time Lady.
Instead of doing what she wanted to do which was to throttle the human, the Phoenix turned on her heel and stormed toward the doors. "Nix wait!" the Doctor called, panicking as she pulled the door open. It wasn't safe outside! They'd literally fallen out of the vortex into nothingness. But the Time Lady didn't stop, stepping straight outside. The Time Lord rushed after her only to blink at the sunlight. "I wasn't expecting this", he remarked.
"Its London!" Mickey proclaimed. He jumped off the low wall and picks up a newspaper from a dustbin and looks at the cover "First of February this year, not exactly far flung, is it?"
Rose jumped down and looked at the newspaper over his shoulder. The Doctor turned his gaze to the sky while the Phoenix spotted a very familiar man at least three feet away, talking to a pretty woman. Her hearts soared. It was Jack! An incredible wave of happiness washed over her. She actually took a step toward the pair before stopping as the woman met her eyes. It was another Time Lady But how is that possible? She thought before her eyes were drawn to the necklace around her neck. It was like hers. This Time Lady was her! "This isn't our world", she stated to the trio, tearing her gaze away from the couple, Jack now staring at her too "its parallel".
"And how could you possibly know that?" Rose asked, somewhat rudely.
"Them", the Phoenix said gesturing to her parallel counterpart and Jack "the woman is me".
"You have got to be kidding?" Rose complained "I have to deal with two of you?"
"Well, she's pleasant", Jack remarked before anyone could say anything to the rude blonde.
"Tell me about it", the Doctor muttered.
Parallel Phoenix eyed the other Time Lady curiously "how are you even here?" she questioned "travel between parallel worlds is impossible". The other two Time Lords and Mickey looked at Rose.
"She was messing about with things she should be", the Phoenix, giving Rose and cross look "and we ended up here".
"I suppose there are worse places you could be stuck", Jack stated "I wouldn't mind being stuck in a parallel universe as long as I had you with me", he added, kissing the Parallel Phoenix's temple "and this little one" he placed a hand on her stomach, revealing the small bump through the fabric "plus the rest of our family". The other Time Lady touched her own stomach feeling a slight pang of sadness. As if he could sense it, the Doctor placed a hand on the small of her back, rubbing it.
"Nix! Jack!" a male voice called, making them all look over to see a man with floppy brown hair and a suit running up to them. He kissed Parallel Phoenix and then much to the surprise of the four newcomers, he then kissed Jack. Rose openly gaped at the trio while the Time Lords exchanged glances. Mickey wasn't quite sure what to make of it.
When Parallel Doctor pulled back, he finally noticed the previous version of himself standing there. "You…h-how is this possible?" he stammered.
"They're parallel, honey", Parallel Phoenix explained.
"Oh…" Parallel Doctor breathed "and how…?"
"Rose", the Phoenix replied. At his confused look, his wife spoke up.
"Violet", she wrinkled her nose as if she'd gotten a whiff of a bad smell.
"Ah", Parallel Doctor nodded like that explained everything "Did she try to blow your ship up as well?"
"Pretty much", his counterpart answered.
"So, did you manage to get James dropped off at Sarah's alright?" Parallel Phoenix questioned, changing the subject. Her husband didn't say anything, though he did go a little pale. "Doctor, you drop our son off at his godmother's, right?"
"I…took him to Raven", Parallel Doctor mumbled.
"You…what?!" he flinched at Parallel Phoenix's tone. She pinched the bridge of her nose, exasperated.
"Why did you do that?" Jack asked, equally annoyed. It wasn't like they couldn't trust Raven, they could but not with their little boy. Especially not with the pets she keeps.
"James wanted to see the puppy", Parallel Doctor replied, making Jack and the Parallel Phoenix look at him brows raised.
"You mean you wanted to see Fenrir", Parallel Phoenix corrected.
"Ok, yeah I did", the Time Lord confessed.
"I would've loved to visit our Raven's Fenrir except we're stuck here", the Doctor said, shooting Rose an annoyed look. The blonde didn't seem to notice as she was too distracted by the poster of her father that she had just seen.
"My dad is alive", she breathed walking over to it.
Parallel Phoenix raised her brows "That's her dad?" she asked, rather surprised. She'd actually met Pete Tyler a few times and he was a nice enough man with a lovely wife and daughter. The auburn haired Time Lady couldn't imagine that Pete raising the irritating blonde human.
The other Time Lady groaned "Oh, no we're not doing this," she huffed, storming over to the blonde.
Parallel Doctor just glances at his Phoenix with an expression that made her blush. "We're parallel. There's going to be similarities," she stated, crossing her arms against her chest.
"Well..." Jack drawled as he placed a hand on her stomach, "Not too many," he murmured with a smirk. The Doctor looked at the trio and he couldn't help but imagine what it must be like to be in their relationship. Poly wasn't something he'd explored or even considered before now but seeing the three together, he'd definitely be open to the possibility.
"Rose, don't you get any ideas", the Phoenix warned when she reached the blonde.
"I'm not", Rose insisted "I just wanted a closer look".
The brunette scoffed "Yeah right. The second you knew he was alive, you wanted to go find him".
"And what if I did?" the blonde challenged "what are you going to do about it?"
The Time Lady narrowed her eyes at the human "You really shouldn't ask that", she said lowly. She took a step towards Rose and was stopped by a hand on her shoulder.
"As much as I'd love for you to whatever it is you have planned, I would advise against it. Don't stoop to her level", Mickey said gently.
The brunette was about to open her mouth to agree with him when all of a sudden the poster was destroyed by a large werewolf! Rose screamed and darted behind the Phoenix and Mickey. On the creature's back was a little boy of about 3 or 4 with wild brown hair. "Again! Again!" he cheered.
"James!" Parallel Phoenix cried as she, Jack and Parallel Doctor ran towards them.
"Mama! Puppy!" James said, happily.
The auburn haired Time Lady took her son off of Fenrir's back, scratching the werewolf behind the ears as she did so. She and Jack turned to the floppy haired Time Lord and he had the decency to look guilty. Before he could apologise, Raven appeared in a rush, breath and yelling. "Fenrir, I said the pine tree, not sign..." only to stop at seeing the group, "Oh, uh...hello," and waves. She then did a double take at the other Time Lords "I didn't know it was a reunion".
"Its not technically", Parallel Phoenix said, passing her son to Jack "they're parallel" she walked forward "you and I are going to have a talk, now". She took hold of the assassin by the shoulder and ushered her away.
The Phoenix turned to the Doctor, ignoring the still quivering human behind her "if you have any ideas of leaving my kid with this Raven at any point after he or she is born, don't", she said warningly.
He put his hands up "I won't, I promise", he assured her.
"You better", the Phoenix said, giving him a look saying she meant business.
Meanwhile, the other Phoenix was giving her assassin friend a telling off "Why oh why did you think is was a good idea to take my son out with your werewolf?" she asked "and why when one of my husbands comes to you and asks you to babysit, you agree to it?"
"Well, James seemed really excited to see Fenrir and I didn't mind looking after him. Kids aren't usually my thing but I like your boy", Raven admitted "besides I wouldn't let anything bad happen to him cross my heart and hope to…well…not die but you get the idea".
"Next time the Doctor comes to you with James, in order to babysit, please take him to Sarah Jane", the pregnant Time Lady said.
"Next time I will", Raven promised.
"Good", Parallel Phoenix said.
"Now, I better take Fenrir home before he does too much more damage", Raven said. She went over to the werewolf, threading her hand through his fur before creating a blackhole underneath the two of them and they fell through it. Seconds later, the platinum haired woman popped up through it "Has anyone seen Snapper?" she asked.
A weird chirping started in the Parallel Doctor's pocket, causing Parallel Phoenix and Jack to shoot him an accusing look. "Snappy!" James proclaimed as the mini dinosaur poked his head out of the Time Lord's pocket.
"You know, I'm starting to question who's actually his biological father", the auburn haired Time Lady stated, scooping the Compsognathus out of his pocket and handing him to Raven "he's waay too much like you".
"Oh no, he's definitely mine", Jack said firmly. While he didn't know who the dad of the Time Lady's second baby was, he was 100% positive that he had fathered James. "James has just been influenced a bit too much by the Doctor. And I think I should get him home before something else happens".
"That's a good idea", Parallel Phoenix agreed "and make sure he stays at home".
"I will", Jack assured her and left with their son.
"I'm gonna head off too, again", Raven said "see ya guys!" and with that the jumped back down the black hole and snapped it closed behind her.
"So….what do we do now?" the Phoenix asked "We're stuck in this universe without a way home".
"You are more than welcome to stay with us", Parallel Doctor offered "our TARDIS has got plenty of room".
"That would be great", the other Time Lord said, grateful that the Phoenix had a safe place to live and raise her baby.
"That would be really great", the brunette Time Lady agreed. That was when Mickey noticed that Rose had gone.
"Uh…guys. Rose is gone", he spoke up.
"You have to be kidding me", the Phoenix groaned, seeing that he was right "that girl is more reckless than that rum loving pirate, I swear".
"You recon she went to go find her dad?" the Doctor asked.
"Of course she would", the brunette Time Lady sighed "I'll go look for her".
"Please be careful", the Time Lord said as she summoned the phoenix aura. He knew that she was capable of handling herself but it wasn't going to stop him from worrying, especially with her current condition.
"Doctor, I looking for a single wayward human. I'll be fine", the Phoenix assured him. She then took off into the air to search for Rose.
"What do we do while we're waiting for her to find Rose?" Mickey questioned.
"How about some food?" Parallel Phoenix suggested "I'm suddenly craving fish fingers and custard" the Doctor and Mickey made a disgusted face at that while the Time Lady shot an annoyed look at her husband "this is all your fault. Your stupid regeneration craving".
The Parallel Doctor winced, remembering "Sorry, love", he mumbled.
Overhead, the other Phoenix flew through the sky, eyes scanning the ground for the runaway Tyler. "There you are", she said, spotting the running girl. She swooped down and scooped her up. Rose screamed as she carried her off "Oh, don't scream, it's just me", the Time Lady stated "you shouldn't have run off like that, you dumbass".
Rose huffed angrily and looked down at the ground. Her blue eyes widened "Nix stop!"
"No, not until I get you back to the Doctor", the Phoenix said firmly.
"But Nix, all those people are frozen!" Rose cried. That had the brunette pausing and following her gaze.
"What the hell?" the Phoenix questioned, confused as she lowered them both to the ground. She released Rose and went over to one of the frozen people. She waved her hand in front of the woman's face but she didn't even react. "What's going on?" she asked circling the woman, frowning at the high-tech ear pods in her ears. Rose took out her phone when it buzzed and saw the word 'Joke' on the screen. Half a second later everyone started laughing and they started to walk off. "Ok, this is the weirdest thing I've seen and that's saying a lot", the Time Lady admitted.
"Then you might want to take a look at this", Rose said, showing her the phone.
"Cybus Industries?" the Phoenix murmured as she scrolled through it "they're very well connected. Owner of every single company in Britain and…" her eyes widened "oh no…"
"What's wrong?" Rose questioned.
"I have to go. Get back to the Doctor, now", the brunette ordered.
"Nix!" the blonde shouted as the Time Lady took off "you better bring my phone back in one piece!"
She huffed and reluctantly started walking back to the group. Meanwhile back with the others, the Doctor was watching the sky worriedly. It felt like the Phoenix had been gone for far too long. "She'll be fine", Parallel Phoenix assured him "I'm sure she's found Rose and is one her way back right now".
"Hopefully", the Time Lord mumbled looking away from the sky.
"Hey, if she's anything like my Nix, she'll know how to take care of herself", Parallel Doctor told him.
"Of course she does!" Mickey piped up "Nix is a super bad ass. She can deal with zombie pirates and alien invasions, she can handle one stroppy ex of mine" that was when he spotted Rose approaching "and speaking of the Wicked Witch…" he added with a mutter.
"Where's Nix?" the Doctor asked, not seeing the Time Lady with her "where is she?"
"I don't know. One minute she was looking through my phone and the next she just took off", Rose said vaguely.
"I can go look for her if you want", the auburn haired Time Lady offered.
"You don't need to that", the floppy haired Time Lord said, noticing something in the sky.
"Honey, if you're about to say something on the lines of keeping me safe…" Parallel Phoenix started.
"Actually I wasn't. I was going to say that the other you is back", Parallel Doctor said, pointing upward. That had everyone looking up at the sky.
Rose rolled her eyes at the phoenix bird flying overhead, zipping through the zeppelins "oh please", she scoffed under her breath as the Time Lady did a little loop the loop before she changed back and joined them on the ground.
"What happened?" the Doctor asked, worriedly, looking the Time Lady over. She was covered soot and was out of breath.
"Well, I destroyed the Battersea Power station. And all of the zeppelins" the Phoenix heavily leant against the Time Lord "did you know that the head guy Lumic or something was planning on making cybermen?"
"What?!" the Doctor exclaimed "did you two know this?" he demanded to the other Time Lords.
"We had no idea", Parallel Doctor replied.
"We don't even know what a Cyberman is", Parallel Phoenix admitted "we knew something was going on there but we didn't know what".
"That's because the Preachers were insistent in handling it", the floppy haired Time Lord reminded her "which I was rather happy with".
"Only cos it meant that both of us were safe", the pregnant parallel Time Lady said, touching her bump.
"That's all that matters to me", Parallel Doctor stated, wrapping an arm around her, kissing her temple.
"Oh! I've just realised a way that you guys can go home!" Parallel Phoenix suddenly exclaimed. She stepped out of her husband's arms, grabbed the other Time Lady's and pulled her towards that TARDIS. "You and I both have phoenix powers right?" she asked her parallel counterpart.
"Right…" the Phoenix said, unsure where this was going.
"Well, I've heard of this story where phoenixes had the ability to cross parallel worlds. I wasn't sure if it was true or not, I mean I couldn't find any evidence of that fact. Anyway if somehow it was true, I was thinking that if we both used our power together, we might be able to get the TARDIS going again".
"You really think it'll work?" the Phoenix asked, somewhat hopeful.
"Its worth a try", Parallel Phoenix replied, she glanced at the others "you lot might want to cover your eyes, it's gonna be bright". Once they did as she said, the Time Lady instructed her other-self to place her hands on the console. The pair summoned the phoenix aura's around themselves. The birds swirled around the console room, the lights going completely crazy on the console.
The bird aura's hovered back around their respective Time Lady's for a moment before they disappeared. The Doctor was quick to catch the Phoenix when she fell backward, unconscious. "Looks like it worked", Mickey remarked.
"Yeah it did", Parallel Phoenix said tiredly, leaning against her husband "it wont be long before you can leave. Two minutes at most" she glanced at Mickey "your gran is alive here. But your counterpart, Ricky, he died fighting the good fight".
"So she's alone?" Mickey asked quietly and she nodded. He turned to the Doctor and the Time Lord smiled sadly, knowing what he wanted to do. If the Phoenix was awake, she would be so proud of her companion.
"I'll make sure she knows", he promised.
"Thanks", Mickey said, grateful he understood.
"Wait…you're not going to stay here are you?" Rose asked and the man didn't say anything "this is crazy! This isn't your world! You can't just become her grandson!"
"You're one to talk! Weren't you about to do the same thing with your dad?" Mickey shot back.
"I…"
"Exactly. I'm a grown man Rose, I can make my own decisions", Mickey told her "I have a chance to be a better grandson and I'm going to take it" he glanced at the Doctor "you better take good care of Nix or I will find a way back to our world and hunt you down", he playfully threatened "and maybe I'll get her baby daddy to join me".
"I swear on…" the Doctor glanced at the unconscious Time Lady in his arms "on my love for her" he look up at Mickey "I'll keep her safe".
"Good", Mickey said, glad that he will keep her safe.