~revised~

Chapter XXXVIII

Mira

"We can scan for the same trace we picked up from the scribble creature. Just need to widen the field a bit," the Doctor said as he was opening the door to the TARDIS. As soon as they got in, he gathered some bits and pieces and started to assemble something. Rose was sitting on the jump-seat, whilst she was leaning against the console and watched what he was doing, holding a few items he had given to her. In her thoughts she was still with the Isolus. Of course, it wasn't right what it had done, snatching all these people. But it hadn't been out of ill intentions. Nevertheless, it had to stop doing that.

"You knew the Isolus was lonely before it told you. How?" Rose asked.

Before answering, the Doctor shoved Rose off of the jump-seat and sat down himself. "I know what it's like to travel a long way on your own," he said and then turned to Mira, "Give me the stina magnetic erm...," he nodded over to something in her hands, "thing in your left hand!"

She handed it to him.

"Sounds like you're on its side," Rose said.

On its side? Really? Was it really that simple for Rose? Two sides, and that was it? Nothing in between? Well, Rose was young as well, maybe not as young as the Isolus, but she should have a more differentiated view of the world by now.

"I sympathise, that's all," the Doctor answered.

"The Isolus has caused a lot of pain for these people," Rose said.

"It didn't mean to," she threw in. Of course, that didn't excuse it, but nevertheless.

"It's a child!", the Doctor exclaimed, and then blew on the device, "That's why it went to Chloe, two lonely mixed up kids."

"Hmm... feels to me like a temper tantrum because it can't get its own way," Rose said, whilst chewing on her gum.

Now she really had to bite her tongue. She could think of a lot of things to say to Rose about temper tantrums and getting one's way.

"It's scared! Come on, you were a kid once," the Doctor said, way more diplomatic than Mira would have put it. "Binary dot," he added and nodded to Mira again.

She gave him the little black dot which was sitting on her finger.

"Yes! And I know what kids can be like. Right little... terrors," Rose replied.

"Gum," was all the Doctor said to Rose and held out his hand.

Rose spit the gum into his hands and said, "I've got cousins. Kids can't have it all their own way. That's part of being a family."

"What about trying to understand them?" the Doctor said, casually and almost absent-mindedly, whilst he was putting the gum somewhere on the device.

Mira looked at him from the side. She new this tone by now, it seemed to be his way of making something important sounding not important. Of course, it could really be the case that he wasn't aware of what he was saying at moments like that, but-

"Easy for you to say. You don't have kids," Rose said.

"I was a dad once," he replied, still fiddling with the device.

Oh good lord. It didn't require much imagination to think about what had become of his family. That was probably the worst thing that could happen to someone. Seeing their own children die. They must have died with his people as his homeworld had been destroyed.

"What did you say?" Rose had turned around and looked at him utterly stunned.

He didn't seem to notice it. "I think we're there!" he said instead of replying to her question. "Fear. Loneliness. They're the big ones, Rose. Some of the most terrible acts ever committed have been inspired by them. We're not dealing with something that wants to conquer or destroy," he continued.

Rose, on the other hand, didn't seem to listen. Again she somehow seemed to have forgotten that the Doctor had a past. Nine-hundred years of a past. Rose most likely couldn't even imagine what meant to live that long. And even if nine-hundred years weren't long for him, he was an adult, compared to Rose. A man who obviously had had a family and had survived a war.

The Doctor continued pressing buttons at the console, quite oblivious to the shock he had just given Rose.

"There's a lot of things you need to get across this universe." he said whilst walking around the console. "Warp drive... wormhole refractors..."

Right at this moment, Mira spotted a flashing white light on a map of the neighbourhood. She held her hand out to point at it.

"You know the thing you need most of all? You need a hand to hold," the Doctor continued and looked at her, grinning as he saw her outstretched hand. He finally took it, still smiling.

"No," she couldn't help herself but laugh. "There, I'm pointing." His smile was just too catching sometimes.

"It's the pod! It is in the street! Everything's coming up Doctor!" he said after he had taken a look at the map himself, then he went to the door.

She followed him as well as a still slightly distracted Rose.

"Okay. It's about two inches across. Dull grey, like a gulls egg. Very light," he said after he had closed the door.

"So these pods - they travel from sun to sun using heat, yeah?" Rose was now walking in front of them. "So it's not all about love and stuff. Doesn't the pod just need heat?"

Mira could hardly understand Rose's last words, because suddenly everything around her went dark. It was as if she was falling.


Rose

Instead of the expected answer she suddenly heard a crash from behind her. She spun around and saw – nothing. Nothing aside from the device the Doctor had been holding, which was now lying shattered on the floor.

"Doctor?"

He was gone. Just as the TARDIS, and Mira.

The next moment she was running the way back to Trish's house. It was all to clear to her what had happened, and Chloe was her only way to get the Doctor back. Once there, she was banging against the door until Trish finally opened it. Rose more or less ignored her and ran up the stairs into Chloe's room.

"It's okay! I've taken all the pencils off her!", she heard Trish behind her. Well, obviously not all. She burst into Chloe's room, and found the girl sitting on her desk – drawing. She swiped away the paper Chloe was drawing on. There he was. The Doctor, and the TARDIS. And Mira, of course. Why did it have to be him? Wouldn't have Mira been enough?

"Leave me alone! I want to be with Chloe Webber! I love Chloe Webber!" the child complained.

"Bring him back, now," Rose demanded with hardly suppressed anger in her voice.

"No!"

Oh god dammit. This child was really getting annoying. She turned her head for a moment, then suddenly spun around again and grabbed Chloe by the shoulders.

"Don't you realise what you've done? He was the only one who could help you, now bring him back!" she yelled at her. The next second, she immediately regretted her outburst. It was a child, after all. Chloe as well as the Isolus.

"Leave me alone! I love Chloe Webber!"

"I know," Rose said with her face softening, "I know."

She had almost lost it. Again. She took another look at Chloe's latest drawing. "Doctor, if you can hear me, I'm gonna get you out of there. I'll find the pod." Then she turned to Trish, "Don't leave her alone, no matter what," and left the room.

She had to find the pod. That was her only chance, she thought as she was back outside on the street. Her eyes fell on Kel, who was smoothing down the road with the palm of his hand. Strange sight, but anyway...

"Heat. They travel on heat," it suddenly hit her.

"Look at this finish. Smooth as a baby's bottom," Kel said as she approached him, obviously proud of his own work. "Not a bump or a lump."

"Kel, was there anything in this street in the last few days giving off a lot of heat?" Rose said whilst crouching next to him.

"I mean, you can eat your dinner off this. Beautiful. So you tell me why the other one's got a lump in it when I gave it the same love and craftsmanship I did this one!" he replied as if not really listening.

"Well, when you've worked it out, put it in a big book about tarmacking, but before you do that - think back six days."

"Six days...," he said thoughtfully, "When I was laying this the first time round!"

"What?"

"Well, that's when I filled in this pothole for the first time."

"Six days ago...," Rose thought aloud, "Hot fresh tar..."

"Blended to a secret council recipe."

It stroke her like a lightning. Heat. Pod. Hole in the road. There was just one more thing she needed. Her eyes fell on the van, and the next second she was running over to it.

"Ah- ah! I don't keep it in the van!" she heard Kel yell from behind her.

She had reached the van and opened the door.

"Ay, that's a council van. Out," Kel said, now standing behind her.

She was ignoring him completely and picked up an axe. Right tool for the job, she thought, laughing with glee.

"Whoa, wait, wait, wait, you just removed a council axe from a council van. Put it back. No don't, wait - put the axe back in the van, that's my van, gimme the axe," Kel tried to convince her.

She still didn't care, but walked back to the freshly filled pothole, swinging the axe behind her, ready to bring it down on the road.

"No! Wait! No!" Kel yelled, but he didn't dare to stop her.

Well, it was too late anyway. She brought the axe down and smashed it through the tarmac.

"No! You- stop!"

Surely not. Not now.

"You just took a council axe - from a council van - and now you're digging up a council road! I'm reporting you to the council!"

Digging up council roads was actually a lot of fun, she noticed as she was scrabbling around in the hole she had just made. Maybe that was the reason the roads were so bad. Finally, she found the pod. It was really small and felt strangely warm in her hands.

"It went for the hottest thing in the street. Your tar!" she said to Kel.

"What is it?!"

"It's a spaceship! Not a council spaceship, I'm afraid," she said with a smirk before she turned around and went back to Trish's house.

...

"I found it!" she yelled as soon as she had entered the house. She headed right for the sitting room, where she found Trish. "I don't know what to do with it, but maybe the Isolus will just hop on board," she explained, but then realised that Trish was alone. "Hang on, I told you not to leave her!"

"My God. Er - what's going on here?" the voice of the commentator on the TV hit her ear. Trish turned up the volume, and both were watching. The stadium was empty. The whole crowd, all people had just vanished. Snatched. By the Isolus. Suddenly, Kel stood in the living room door.

"I don't care if you've got Snow White and the Seven Dwarves buried under there, you don't go digging up-"

"Shut up and look!" Rose said to him and pointed at the TV.

"The crowd has vanished! Er- um... they're gone. Everyone has gone. Thousands of people have just gone. Er... um... right in front of my eyes. Um... it's impossible! Bob, can we join you, um, in the box?", the commentator said. Then there was a view of the empty box. "Bob? Not you too, Bob?"

"The stadium won't be enough. The Isolus has four billion brothers and sisters," Rose said quietly.

The next moment she was running up the stairs again, Trish right behind her. She tried to open the door to Chloe's room, but it was blocked.

"Chloe?" her mother asked.

"Chloe, it's Rose! Open the door!" she said and tried the handle once more. "We found your ship! We can send you home!"

"Chloe?!"

"Open up!" Rose said, but to no avail. She turned to Trish, "Right, stand back."

Sometimes violence was a solution indeed. At least it eliminated the problem. She swung the axe again and smashed it against the door. The wood started to splinter, and she could hear the voice of Chloe's father again from inside the room. She continued hitting the door with the axe until the hole was large enough to fit her arm through. She shoved the chair away that was blocking the handle, opened the door and both of them were rushing into the room.

"Chloe!" Rose yelled. Now she could see what the child was drawing now. It was planet Earth. And it was almost finished, Chloe was already colouring the land.

"I'm coming...," the voice of Chloe's dad could be heard.

"I've gotta stop her," Rose said and stepped closer to the wardrobe, but just right then the door rattled particularly violently and she almost jumped back.

"If you stop Chloe Webber, I will let him out. We will let him out together. I cannot be alone. It's not fair," the Isolus inside Chloe said.

Rose turned to her and showed her the little pod.

"Look, I've got your pod."

"The pod is dead."

"It- it only needs heat."

"It needs more than heat."

"What, then?"

"I'm not being funny or nothing, but that picture just moved," Rose heard Kel say, who had entered the room as well in the meantime.

Rose and Trish turned their heads to where he was pointing, and now she saw it as well. The picture with the Doctor, the TARDIS and Mira had changed. Rose picked it up. There was something new on it, a simple sketch of the Olympic Torch. The Doctor and Mira were both pointing at it.

"She didn't draw that. He did. But it needs more than heat, Doctor," Rose murmured. What did he mean? Fine, the torch meant heat, but obviously that's not enough. Her eyes fell on the TV as she was thinking.

"It's much more than a torch now, it's a beacon. It's a beacon of hope and fortitude and courage. And it's a beacon of love," the commentator announced.

"Love." Suddenly realisation hit her.

"So let's have a look from the helicopter - there we go, the torch running...," the commentator continued.

"I know how to charge up the pod," she said and left the house.

...

She got out just in time to see the torch bearer appear. A lot of people had now gathered and she tried to get past them, closer to the road and the torch bearer.

"Sorry, you'll have to watch from here," a police man tried to stop her.

"No, I've gotta get closer..."

"No way!"

"I can stop this from happening!"

But the police man didn't let her pass. Then, the torch bearer finally passed by, and the little pod in her hands suddenly lit up and began to vibrate slightly.

"You felt it, didn't you?" She backed out of the crowd, held the little pot close to her mouth and whispered to it, "Feel the love." Then she threw it in the air, afraid of missing the torch. But the pod was somehow drawn to it. As it landed on the torch, the torch bearer staggered slightly, but he continued on his way.

"Yes!" Rose yelled and jumped up and down in joy.

A few moments later she saw the shape of the little Isolus heading for the pod. Next to her she spotted Kel and threw her arms around him.

"You did it!" he said, and then, with confusion, "What was it you did?"

She didn't answer but grabbed him again and spun him around. Then, suddenly all the missing kids appeared again. Even the cat. There was only one who was still missing...

"Doctor..."


Doctor

He had spent the last moments – he couldn't say how long it had been – in some sort of comic-world, drawn by a child. He couldn't access the TARDIS; he couldn't do very much at all. Mira had been with him, but not Rose. But there had been something he was able to do, with the help of Mira and her psychic powers. And obviously it had worked. Rose must have gotten it right, as he suddenly reappeared in the real world, not far from where they had been snatched. It took only seconds for him to orientate himself, and as soon as he knew where they were, he dragged Mira with him to the crowd that was awaiting the torch bearer.

"The Isolus, it's there!" Mira yelled and pointed at the torch. "Rose did it!"

"Yeah!" he said cheerfully. Of course the pod couldn't be seen, but she must have felt the presence of the little Isolus. But something was wrong with the torch bearer, he was staggering quite a lot by now. The Doctor made his way through the crowd up to the front row, still dragging Mira with him. As soon as he was there, the poor man collapsed to the ground.

"What's wrong with him?" Mira asked.

"Exhausted? He's carrying the pod with him that's charging up right now. Nothing bad, I'm sure," he said and was about to get behind the barrier to gather the torch.

"Hey, wait! What are you doing?"

"Someone has to carry the torch," he said and turned his head to Mira. "Come!"

"But you can't-"

"Oh yes, I can!" he said and grinned. He was still holding her hand, and even though she was trying to hold him back at first, she soon gave in and followed him.

No one tried to stop him, and as soon as he picked up the torch, the crowd started to cheer.

"See?" he yelled at Mira over his shoulder. "Someone has to carry it!"

And so they did, right into the stadium, him holding the torch up high with one hand, and the fingers of his other hand intertwined with Mira's.

The whole stadium was screaming and cheering madly now as he made his way up the stairs, followed by a spotlight. Oh these humans, they could be just great. Brilliant. If they decided for once to stick together and not to fight each other.

Once up the stairs, he stopped for a moment and turned around to the crowd.

"See? Sometimes all you need is a hand," he said to Mira, pulled her closer and smiled at her. Then he finally lit the Olympic Flame.

"Go on. Join your brothers and sisters. They'll be waiting," he said to the little pod.

The cheering got even louder, and, unseen by the crowd, the Isolus was rising up into the air.

"We made it!" he heard Mira yelling. She was smiling all over her face, seemingly a little bit overwhelmed by the joy of all the people in here. The next moment, they were hugging each other, with him carefully holding the torch to the side. And what a hug it was. He could feel her soft cheek against his own as she pulled back her head a little to look him in the eyes. Hers were filled with warmth and sparkling with all the love and hope she was surrounded by. He suddenly realised how beautiful she was with that smile of happiness on her face. Well, he had realised that earlier on, somehow. But he hadn't really cared about it. Okay, maybe every now and then he had. But he wasn't that obsessed with it as some humans were. Not all the time at least. Or maybe in a more abstract way. There was a lot of beauty in this universe, if one was able to see it, beauty that went way beneath the surface.

Suddenly, before he knew what he was doing, he could feel her soft and warm lips on his.

Only for a short moment, then she finally let go of him. But it definitely had been a kiss. Not a real one, but well, a kiss nevertheless. He couldn't even say who had kissed whom, instead he just blinked at her, quite dumbfounded. She was looking down to the floor, her face a bit blushed. Well, no matter who had started it, it had been a kiss. Right in the Olympic Stadium in front of a whole crowd of people. Had he kissed her? Or had it been the other way around? Had it been a kiss at all? Or just some expression of happiness and friendship?

Later they were back at the street where all had started.

"Cake?" he suddenly heard Rose's voice behind him. He turned around and saw her holding a cupcake in her hand.

"Top banana!" he said as he took it. It was delicious. "Mm. I can't stress this enough. Ball bearings you can eat – masterpiece!"

Rose looked at him for a moment, and he couldn't help himself, but the look on her face seemed to him somehow suspicious, then she threw her arms around him.

"Ooh, I thought I'd lost you."

"Nah! Not on a night like this! This is a night for lost things being found. Come on!" he said and let go of her.

Then he caught sight of Mira – she was standing a few feet away, looking intently into another direction.

"You too!" he said to Mira, and they were walking down the road together. All around them were happy people, celebrating the opening of the Olympic Games.

"What now?" Rose asked.

"I wanna go to the games! What we came for!" he said.

"Go on - give us a clue - which events do we do well in?"

"Well, I will tell you this: Papua New Guinea surprises everyone in the shot put."

"... Really? You're joking, aren't you?" she said and giggled. "Doctor, are you serious or are you joking?"

"Wait and see!"

They stopped and watched the firework above their heads.

"You know what; they keep on trying to split us up, but they never ever will, " Rose said, and he could hear how shaky her voice was. What was going on with her now?

"Never say never ever," he said, suddenly serious.

"Nah. We'll always be okay, you and me," Rose said. "Don't you reckon, Doctor?" she continued after a few moments.

He knew she was waiting for a reply, but there was something else. He was looking up in the sky, and suddenly was certain that something was approaching. Something dark, something that would change everything.

"Something in the air. Something coming," he finally said, without looking at Rose or Mira.

"What?" Rose asked.

"A storm's approaching."


oxXgerogiaXxo, Althea-40, bored411, 10th Squad 3rd Seat: Thanks for reviewing :-)