Hi again, back now so should be back to regular updates!
"I had it rebuilt exactly the same as before," Harriet said as they walked down the corridors of Downing Street. Rose could certainly see no difference. "It only took a few days – once the chaos was over they got it rebuilt double time. I took office until preparations for an official election could be made, and then was voted in. Never expected it of course, I was most pleasantly surprised!"
"Hope you put those metal walls in again," Rose said, smiling fondly at the memories. What had been so dangerous and terrifying at the time was now just funny, but that was how the Doctor and his lifestyle worked. Always moving on.
"First thing I insisted on." Harriet said with a smile.
They walked up the stairs, heading towards the cabinet room, where they could get some peace to discuss things freely.
"Well, I can't tell any difference," Rose said.
Jack skipped up the rest of the stairs and started randomly poking the wall. Rose and Mickey stared at him blankly, Amber rolled her eyes and the Doctor laughed.
"They haven't installed the plasma screen interactive panels yet Captain." He said.
"Oh… yeah," Jack said, grinning sheepishly.
Harriet raised an eyebrow but she couldn't ask what they were on about until they had some privacy. She couldn't even ask who the dashing young Captain was.
"Well, just down here," Harriet said, "The cabinet room should be empty, we can discuss business in there."
She went to open the door but it burst open before her and a load of children came running out.
"Oh, I forgot, school trip today, from some place in Nottingham I think." Harriet said.
"Prime Minister!" a very exasperated looking teacher said in shock, "I do hope we aren't interrupting anything."
"No, not at all – we were just looking for an empty room, that's all. Thought the cabinet room would be a good place to start!"
"Well, we are just finished, I'll get them all out of your way. Children!" the teacher did a quick head count as the children assembled outside the room.
"Fourteen, fifteen, sixteen. Sixteen – one short, who's not here?" The teacher looked around but all the kids just shrugged. The teacher looked ready to strangle someone. "An exclusive, all boys school for gifted youngsters, you'd think they would have the sense not to run off!"
"Oh, I don't know," the Doctor said, "Sometimes the brainiest people have the least common sense."
"Speaking about yourself there Doctor?" Jack asked with a grin.
"Oi," the Doctor said, "At least I've got brains, you have neither!"
Rose giggled and Mickey looked around nervously, a little embarrassed. Unlike everyone else he would still be around tomorrow.
The teacher was still scanning her eyes over her pupils, trying to remember the missing face. Harriet was smiling at the boys, who looked to be aged from about eight to thirteen. They were all gazing up at her in slight awe.
The Doctor, not a fan of children, teenagers or otherwise (apart from Rose of course), was playing with the computer on the secretary's desk that stood by the door.
"Hello…?" he murmured, and started typing very rapidly.
"What's wrong?" Mickey asked, walking over.
"Someone's hacking the systems…" he said, "Under the name of 'Bad Wolf'."
If Mickey missed the significance of the 'Bad Wolf' he didn't miss the significance of someone hacking the computers. He leaned over the desk and looked down at the screen.
"What are they doing?" Mickey asked.
"I don't know…" the Doctor said, "Not much, just looking around." He frowned very deeply. "But what are they looking for?"
Amber was about as fond of children as the Doctor and began to wander down the corridors a little. She could still hear the teacher calling names, trying to find the identity of the missing child. She could also hear Rose and Harriet trying to help, and the slight buzz of Jack's watch as he scanned around discretely.
She turned her attention back to the corridor and saw a young boy, who looked to be the age of the older children in the class.
"Found you," Amber murmured to herself, and walked back over to the teacher, to put the poor woman out of her misery.
"Is that the young man you are looking for?" Amber asked, pointing to where the boy was looking at something in the wall.
The teacher jumped slightly at being approached by Amber, but looked down the corridor and sighed with relief.
"Oh, Adam!" she said.
"Adam?" Rose asked, and peered round the corridor.
"Someone's hacking into the computers," the Doctor said, running over, "under the pseudonym of Bad Wolf, and they're doing it from inside Downing Street!"
"Doctor, that's Adam!" Rose said, pointing down the corridor.
"You know him?" Harriet asked.
"Yeah, sort of, well not for another couple of years yet." Rose said.
Harriet just nodded as though this were perfectly normal, the teacher stared a little, but shrugged and decided she must have misheard. She turned her attention away from them and back to her pupils.
"Well, if I know Adam, it'll be him hacking the computers," Rose said, then stepped forwards to stop him. The Doctor grabbed her arm.
"No Rose, don't let him see you." He said.
"Why? Against the laws of time or something?" Rose asked.
"No, but that idiot was so weak minded that if he saw you in the future, after seeing you in the past, his head would probably implode!" he said.
Rose would have stuck up for him, but she knew first hand what an idiot he could be, would be.
"Well, he's never met me before," Amber said, then paused to think, "Correction, he won't meet me after. So I'll go tell him to stop, shall I?"
"Go on then!" the Doctor said, grinning. Harriet was shaking her head, thoroughly confused.
"Time Travel," Mickey said to Harriet, "Does your head in."
Adam Mitchell was almost into the core of the information stored on the Downing Street systems. He grinned smugly to himself. He wasn't doing it for any reason other than to prove he could, what could he possibly want with the dates of the cabinet meetings for the next five years? It was just fun to show his friends that he really was a computer genius. The only thing he was vaguely interested in was the supposed Alien hoax and the real reason why Downing Street was blown up. Adam thought there probably had been real Aliens and they had blown up Downing Street to destroy the bodies.
That or it was Harriet Jones's scam to get into power – how else would a no hope back bencher like her end up running the country?
He was seconds away from retrieving the core when a hand came down in front of his face and pressed a button to terminate the program.
"Bad Wolf?" a female voice asked.
Amber folded her arms and looked sternly down at the teen.
"A school for gifted youngsters? Well you certainly have a gift for getting into trouble in the worst place possible. Did you know that there are armed guards covering every square inch of this building? No? Well, as you walk back to your teacher and travel back home you can spend your time contemplating your behaviour and the fact that the guards here are armed for a reason." Amber said curtly, then twisted him away from the computer and marched him back to his teacher.
Rose and the Doctor ducked out of sight but Jack stood in the corridor, laughing openly.
"You know Amber, you have a way with children." He said.
"Fourteen is hardly what I would call a child," Amber said.
"Even so, you would make a good mother one day." He sauntered over and placed his hands on her shoulders. "You know, I could help you there."
Amber paused as though to contemplate this, then as Jack's hands trailed a little further down her arms and he stepped a little closer, she arched one blue eyebrow, stamped on his foot and smacked him right in the face.
Jack flinched away from her, holding his throbbing jaw, to the sound of the class cheering.
"The pause was a warning, not an invitation," Amber snapped, "Don't Touch!"
She walked away towards the now empty cabinet room with the Doctor and Rose.
"You never learn do you?" Mickey asked Jack.
"Well, your party has doubled in number since I last saw you," Harriet said, once the door was closed.
"Ah yes, allow me to introduce you to everyone!" the Doctor said, rubbing his hands together. "This is Mickey Smith, you know him already."
"Yes, the young man on the other end of the phone!" Harriet said, and shook Mickey's hand with no hint of dislike visible, which made Mickey relax considerably. He didn't know how the Prime Minister would react to being greeted by the man responsible for blowing her up.
"This is Captain Jack Harkness, from the fifty first century, Earth that is."
"Pleased to meet you ma'am," Jack said, turning on all his usual charm.
"And you, sir," Harriet replied, a hint of blush in her cheeks. "So," she said, turning to the Doctor, "Not only are you an alien, but you also have a Time Machine."
"Yes, that's right – I'll have to give you a guided tour of my ship one of these days!" the Doctor said, grinning away.
"Perhaps," Harriet said, very reserved, "but unlike some people, I don't have all the time in the world. Speaking of which, I have a meeting in ten minutes! What a shame, I was looking forwards to a nice chat!"
"We'll be quick!" Rose said, "Don't want you to be late for your meeting!"
"Of course," the Doctor said, "Oh, and lastly, this is Amber, alien and assassin from the year one million… ish." He decided, not wanting to get his tongue tied trying to recite the exact year.
"Assassin?" Harriet asked.
"Don't worry, she's quite harmless, unless you're Jack." The Doctor said.
"Well, pleased to make your acquaintance," Harriet said, shaking Amber's hand.
Amber smiled softly, but didn't return the greeting with words. She just nodded her head.
"So," Harriet continued once she was sure Amber wasn't going to speak, "What brings you back to Earth? If I had a Time and Space ship twenty first century Earth wouldn't be high on my visiting priorities!"
"Visiting my Mum," Rose said, "so we thought we'd drop by – see how life as Prime Minister is suiting you!"
"Oh it's all very nice," Harriet said, "I'm having such a good time. Hard work of course, but very rewarding."
"Well, the country hasn't collapsed yet, so you must be doing alright!" Rose said with a smile.
"I try my best," Harriet said humbly, "So, can I expect any space ships to be landing in the Thames any time soon?"
"No, I don't think so!" the Doctor said, "We're just here for a bit of a break, we got a bit tired of saving planets!"
"A very noble hobby, saving planets," Harriet said.
"Is that why you landed on Perth then?" Amber asked, "You wanted to save them?"
"Well, yes and no – I don't make a habit of throwing myself into life threatening situations, but they seem to have made a habit of finding me. I've just given up trying to avoid them now." The Doctor said.
"Not this time though," Rose said firmly, "we're just going to go sightseeing, do a bit of shopping, and maybe have dinner with my Mum."
"Dinner?" the Doctor asked, in a voice which said 'No way!'.
"Oh what a lovely idea!" Harriet said, "We should all go! I know a lovely little restaurant just down the road from here. I will be able to get a booking, even on this short notice. Invite whoever you like, on me of course!"
"That would be wonderful!" Rose said.
"Dinner with the Prime Minister," Jack said, "don't think that's an offer you can turn down Doc."
"He's thinking 'aarrggh domestic!' I can tell," Rose said sagely.
"Well, you can go, and I'll stay with Amber and have a look at her ship," the Doctor said.
"Look at my ship? I want dinner!" Amber said, winking subtly at Rose, who grinned.
"Oh, alright then. Can't hurt can it!" the Doctor said, "Just make sure your Mother stays civil, ey?" he turned to Rose.
"She'll behave!" Rose protested, but inside she was smiling.
"Well, that's settled then, dinner at seven?" Harriet asked, "I'll give you the address of the place!"
"I can't believe you let me talk me into that!" the Doctor said as they left Downing Street, clutching a card for a very fancy sounding restaurant.
"It will be fun!" Rose said.
"Yeah, not every day you get to dine with the Prime Minister!" Jack said.
"You coming Mickey?" Rose asked.
"Nah I don't think…"
"Oh come on! It will be fun – you can bring Tricia along. I promise I'll make him behave, and him!" she said, jerking her thumb in the direction of first the Doctor then Jack.
"Oh alright then, I'll go and find her now," he said, then sprinted off.
"You seem very keen on this Trisha all of a sudden," the Doctor said.
"Yeah, well I want him to be happy!" Rose said firmly, "even if you think he's an idiot."
"You mean you want him to be happy so you don't feel bad?" Jack asked.
The half smile on Rose's face fell. Amber walked up along side Jack.
"There is a thing called tact, and you apparently don't have a lot of it," she said.
"I think I like her," Rose said to the Doctor, smiling a little vindictively.
"I thought you might." The Doctor said.
They walked together back towards Rose's flat, enjoying the cooling day, talking about random things, not really paying much attention to anything other than each other, and the company they shared in.
Jack was teasing Amber and for once not receiving a slap for his efforts. The Doctor and Rose were engaged in a hearty argument about a planet they had visited a while back, when it had only been the two of them travelling together.
They were still chatting merrily when they arrived back at Jackie's flat.
"Mum?" Rose called out, "You there? We've got an invitation to dinner!"