This takes place immediately following Father's Day. I don't own the Doctor or Rose or the Tardis. Blackie's mine, though I did adapt his name from a book's character. The events Blackie refers to happen in the From This Day On Ghost and Mrs. Muir universe- written by Tabitha, Amandafaye, Amandawrites, and LindenCovenant. In that universe, it probably happens a few days after Adam Pierce and Jessamyn Thomas' marriage. Quick primer for non Day On readers- Carolyn Muir and her two kids moved to a haunted house, where she fell for the ghost, Daniel Gregg. He learned how to be solid, and married her after Adam Pierce gave him a legal i.d. Jenny is the foster daughter Carolyn adopted. Her actual daughter, Candy, married Blackie's cousin, but her first love is another ghost, Tristan. This incident is referred to in Garnets and the two Christmas related 1982 stories.
When a shadow fell across his desk, Blackie O'Ryan looked up at his cousin's father-in-law. "What can I do for you, Captain?" he asked the ghost.
"Actually," Daniel Gregg smiled, giving his ear a slight tug, "it is what I can do for you. My wife is somewhat concerned that now that your sisters and parents have returned home, you might be feeling lonely, so she asked me to invite you to dinner this evening."
"And, check on me?" the pastor grinned. "I'll think about it, but right now, I may not have sea charts, but I do have work to catch up on. Relatives kill productivity."
Captain Gregg chuckled. "Let us know." A frown crossed the regal face. "Hmm. There is something odd in the air. Feels like something is about to happen."
"Oh?"
"Don't mind me, lad," Daniel said. "It is probably nothing. There has been a lot of energy flying around, of late. I had best be off, then. We will look forward to seeing you, be it tonight or some other time."
On that note, the spirit vanished, leaving Blackie to ponder the words. Despite the ghost's dismisal of the feeling, he was disquieted by the almost premonition.
The Doctor glanced over at his companion for the ten-dozenth time since leaving 1987. Rose's eyes were shell-shocked still.
Of course they are! Oy, she just saw her dad die, twice! And he chose to do it that second time, to save her life, not to mention the rest of the world from the Reapers. Even Jackie's and Ricky the idiot's.
Over the centuries, he'd seen a few - million deaths. Including his whole world's. He'd died, more than once. Sure, he'd regenerated, but nonetheless, all those men he'd been were gone, just as if they'd died. The grandfather, the clown, the dandy, teeth and curls, the boy, the annoying one, the manipulator, and the Regency gent had all been him, but weren't any longer. Each change was a loss in a way, but none of those endings told him what he could say to make Rose smile again.
She was a ghost of herself.
Ghost... Hang on! That's it! FANTASTIC.
Gleefully, the Doctor began spinning the TARDIS controls. He knew where to take her, who could help.
Moments later, he announced, "We're here!"
"Where here? When here?" Rose asked distantly.
"Maine, 1980 - " he checked a read-out, then finished, "1982. There's someone I want you to meet. Wait here, I need to make sure he's home."
XXX
A strange noise disturbed Blackwood's sermon preparation. No, not strange, downright weird. He guessed that with the remodeling done, Tristan was bored, possibly depressed, again, and doing something to relieve that feeling. Why he had to be the victim was not yet known, but would be, the pastor decided grimly, rising to go see what was happening now.
Before he could open his back door, for it seemed like the sound was coming from the parsonage's backyard, someone on the other side pounded on it.
Well, it couldn't be family, they didn't knock. Most of them just popped.
He opened the door to see a man, probably about Adam's age or slightly older, in a black leather jacket, grinning at him. "Blackwood O'Ryan?" he asked brightly.
For a second, Blackie hesitated, letting his "ghost-dar" probe and see if this was a spook wearing one of their many faces. It wasn't. Not sure what was going on, but sensing that something was, the young pastor nodded warily.
"Fantastic. Would you come with me? I've got a friend who needs - some counseling, and you're the only human I can trust." He paused, then added, "I'm the Doctor, by the way."
"Are you a friend of Aunt Lynne's?" Blackie frowned.
"No, but if there's time, I wouldn't mind meeting her. She sounds like a very lovely woman."
"I'm totally confused," Reverend O'Ryan admitted, starting to step outside, then stopping when he saw a glorified phone booth by his tool shed. "Tristan did put you up to this." It'd been power tools of some kind he'd heard. "Whatever this is."
"Ah, no." The stranger looked around. "Look, that's my time machine - I'm from - the future, the past, another planet, take your pick. All are true. In about - oh - a hundred years - the second volume of Daniel Gregg's memoirs will be published, From This Day On, by Amberly Farnon's great granddaughter, covering his afterlife - and the lives and afterlives of the rest of you. I've read it - three times. Most people think it's pure fiction, naturally. It's fantastic. So, when my companion needed - grief counseling, I knew that out of all time and space, you were likely the only guy who could help her, since you deal with out of the ordinary." All frivolity vanished from his tone, now it was weighed down with profound sorrow. "We traveled back in time, so she could see her dad, he died when she was a wee baby, and she saved his life, which almost destroyed the world, so he gave it up again. She saw that. It's hard on her."
Blackie blinked. This guy knew he talked to ghosts, regularly.
As if reading his thoughts, the Doctor added, "I don't want to expose your secrets, I just want to help her. Rose. Her name's Rose."
"Hmm. Maybe she's family. I guess you read about my grandfather?" Blackie sighed, giving into whatever insanity was happening.
The grin returned. "Liked to name his kids and grandkids after botanical stuff. There's your Mum and aunts, Linden and Jessamyn, then you and your sister, Rowan, Daisy, and Laurel. Yeah. Will you help her?"
"It's my job - but if you tell anyone about Daniel or the other ghosts, I will personally put you in Penelope Herkerlooper's cellar. Under it, that is. Or get her to marry you, not sure which would be worse."
"Deal."
Blackie stepped into the blue box tentatively.
"It's dimensionally transcendent," his host announced in response to Blackie's widening eyes. "Bigger in here - than out there. Rose, this is Pastor Blackwood O'Ryan. I'll leave you two to chat." So saying he vanished into another room.
Watching that, Blackie thought how handy it'd be. For a bachelor, he had tons of clutter. If just one closet could be - whatever he said.
"So, you just lost your dad?" Not the best opening line, but it was all his poor mind could come up with at the moment.
Rose's story poured out then. She had just wanted her dad not to die alone, but - she couldn't leave it at that. She rescued him, got to know him. He'd said things that didn't jive with what her Mum had said. Mum'd told her how wonderful he was, but when she'd said that "Jackie" told her about marrying the best man in the world, he hadn't believed his wife had said that. Then, those monsters came, trying to tear apart time because she'd changed it all. So, he'd run out in front of the car that had been supposed to kill him, and fixed the hole in time by dying.
Blackie absorbed this all with aplomb. Since his best friends had been born a century ago, and he did believe in miracles, this wasn't so strange, after all.
"I just don't understand," Rose concluded, pushing a stray hair out of her eyes.
Blackwood considered. Then, he took her hand. "I really can't imagine what that must've been like. Lots of people would like to change history, but even tiny events ripple out, if you change one, it could turn the whole world on its ear and not in a good way. In the short term, yeah, it might be great, but we just see a bit of life. We don't see the whole thing, so from the long view, something that seems horrible might be really beneficial, and something that is wonderful now could be harmful." It was somewhat of a standard line for him, but it was true.
She sniffed. "Why'dya think Mum said he was such a good man? She went off on him every time I turned around. They probably wouldn't still be together - or wait - they haven't even met yet - but..." Time travel was starting to confound her poor brain.
"I understand what you mean," the reverend assured her kindly.
"Good." Someone ought to, and she wasn't sure what she had said.
"And I think I know why - you did change history, but not in a way that effected a change in the timeline. You changed what his death meant. You changed an accident into an act of heroism. That counts for a lot. In fact, I'm guessing that your trip was predestined, your Mom - er - Mum remembered things the way they happened after you changed it, before you changed it." He trailed off; not sure he made sense. Blast, he sounded like Claymore, tangled up in words.
Apparently, he'd made enough sense, because she smiled, and it reached her eyes this time. "Really?"
"Really - and you got to meet him, My cousin, Thom, never met his dad. He was killed in 'Nam, while Aunt Lynne was pregnant, so - he's always felt the loss, even though he doesn't talk about it much. Just gets sad on Fathers' Day and the like. I know it hurts, but that's part of life. Life keeps on, after we're dead, you know. It doesn't end. Just - changes." Under his breath, Blackie chuckled. Some of the ghosts he knew were more alive then the living, and he was certain those who went straight to the light were even more alive than that.
They talked a few more minutes, then the Doctor stuck his head in. "All settled?" he asked.
"Yeah," Rose said a bit weakly, but with a little more brightness. "Is he coming with us?"
"No, you can't add him to your boyfriend collection," the Doctor rolled his eyes. "He's got things to do here. I'll just escort 'im home, and we'll be off."
XXX
The two men walked back towards the parsonage. Feeling obligated to do so by the pain in the strange man's eyes, Blackie said uneasily, "And you - do you need grief counseling too?"
"Nah, not me. I'm good," the Doctor lied.
"Oh?"
"Look, padre, I saw my whole world die - what answers do you have for that?" the Doctor demanded abruptly, anger expunging the grief.
That took Blackie a bit. "Uh, none. That's - something I haven't dealt with." He knew there had to be a reason, but it took more time than this stranger seemed willing to give. "But, if you ever do want to discuss it - I suppose I'll be here." To change the topic as much as anything else, he essayed, "So - you come from the future, and have read about us. You made it sound like - we'll be ghosts?"
After a moment, the Doctor replied. "I won't tell you much, it's dangerous. It all will end happily, but most of you will - linger as specters, until Amberly dies. Then, everyone who's stayed will go on to the light."
"Let me guess, Thom won't be a ghost - he'll let someone else have the chance they missed," Blackie guessed astutely. Mentally, he frowned. He wasn't sure how this would work, but it made sense in a way. His family was a close lot, and as long as they had Adam and Fontenot, they'd manage the details.
The Doctor did not reply, but a grin flashed, saying enough. "Even Fontenot and Elroy will get to move on," the Doctor continued as if Blackie hadn't spoken. "I don't guess it'll hurt to tell you- it's two that won't be ghosts. Claymore will get to move along too. He just isn't cut out for the spectral life, y'know? And he was scared his uncle could hurt him as a ghost."
"I guess that I'll meet your people, then, there on the other side, someday," Blackie suggested, resting his hand on the doorknob.
It was all he could offer this odd man. He and Jenny had discussed if there were aliens, what did the Cross mean to them, and concluded God had it taken care of, that was all that mattered.
"Give'm my best then." It was, perhaps, enough.
Then, he heard the strange sound again, and looked back to see the box was gone.
Good thing they hadn't arrived when Paul Wilkie had been running around. Shaking his head, Blackie headed for the telephone. He thought he would call Daniel and Carolyn after all. He needed something normal, like a haunted house, now.