Chapter Twelve: Bad Wolf
The moment the Doctor ran onto Floor 500, he started giving orders. "Turn everything up. All transmitters full power, wide open. Now! Do it!"
"What does this do?" Pavale asked as the Doctor, Jack and I started typing rapidly at the computers. I wasn't as experienced as the other two, but I could still help speed up the process.
"Stops the Daleks from transmatting on board. How did you get on? Did you contact Earth?" The Doctor asked, straightening once the transmitters where at full power.
"Well, we tried to warn them, but all they did was suspend our license because we stopped the programmes." Pavale answered sheepishly.
"Who did you contact?" I asked, horrified at the stupidity.
"The president." Pavale answered confused by the question. There was only one authority they really could contact about this.
"I can't believe I'm about to say this, but you should have contacted UNIT." I sighed, opening a communication channel and finding out who was the current head of UNIT and beginning the process of activating an emergence action sequence in response to hostile alien incursion (even after all these years, I doubted the codes had changed and even if they had they would still be archived on the system since it was standard protocol to have them on file). This was twice now I had contacted UNIT in the future and I'm sure it will happen again and there was likely some kind of protocol for this – especially if they know about the Doctor and time travel. I made a mental note to look into it when I got back to earth and if not, create the protocol.
"Then the planet's just sitting there, defenceless." The Doctor sighed in frustration before he spotted the blond women who had been there when they entered the room with the Android. "Lynda, what're you still doing on board? I told you to evacuate everyone."
"She wouldn't go." Pavale explained.
"Didn't want to leave you." Lynda admitted with a blush.
"There weren't enough shuttles anyway, or I wouldn't be here. We've got about a hundred people stranded on Floor Zero." A woman said angrily.
"The Fleet is moving. They're on their way." I reported, the radar being up on the screen next to me so that I could transmit the information to UNIT who had responded to my alert and were preparing earth as well as activating their emergency evacuation procedure (they seemed to have developed transmats to local planetary systems from which they could then leave by ship). "And the earth is now activating defence and evacuation protocols." I informed the Doctor who smiled at me in relief before he jumped into action. He was opening computers and tearing out the wires.
"Dalek plan. Big mistake, because what have they left me with? Anyone? Anyone? Oh, come on, it's obvious. A great big transmitter. This station. If I can change the signal, fold it back, sequence it, anyone?" The Doctor asked, speaking quickly as his mind span trying to come up with a plan to stop the Dalek's and get as many people out alive as he could.
"You've got to be kidding." Jack breathed in shock.
"Give the man a medal." The Doctor cheered pointing at Jack.
"A Delta Wave?" Jack questioned.
"A Delta Wave!" the Doctor agreed.
"What's a Delta Wave?" Rose asked confused.
"A wave of Van Cassadyne energy. It fries your brain. Stand in the way of a Delta Wave and your head gets barbequed." Jack explained.
"And this place can transmit a massive wave. Wipe out the Daleks!" the Doctor said.
"Well, get started and do it then." Lynda said, nodding at the wires that were now spewed everywhere. I pulled out one of the work chairs and started helping the Doctor. I couldn't put a Delta Wave together, but I could build a transmitter which the Doctor can adapt to fit his purpose.
"Trouble is, wave this size, building this big, brain as clever as mine, should take about, oh, three days?" The Doctor calculated before turning to Pavale. "How long till the Fleet arrive?"
"Twenty-two minutes." Pavale answered.
"Jack, we need a force field. Buy us some time." I ordered.
"On it." Jack responded, sitting at one of the computers.
"Doctor, I can build a transmitter, you built the Delta Wave conversion. Then we put it together, should cut down on the time." I said, turning to the Doctor.
"Brilliant." The Doctor cheered.
It took Jack nearly five minutes to put a shield around satellite five, and we were lucky that the Dalek's needed to be within a certain range of the satellite to initiate an attack.
"We've now got a force field so they can't blast us out of the sky, but that doesn't stop the Daleks from physically invading." Jack reported, grabbing his gun and preparing for war.
"Do they know about the Delta Wave?" Pavale asked in concern. He was the most vocal of all the employee's left, I noted.
"They'll have worked it out at the same time. So, they want to stop the Doctor. That means they've got to get to this level, five hundred. Now, I can concentrate the extrapolator around the top six levels, five hundred to four nine five. Which means they'll penetrate the station below that at level four nine four and fight their way up." Jack explained.
"Who are they fighting?" Pavale asked confused.
"Us." Jack answered simply, bluntly.
"And what are we fighting with?" The women asked sarcastically, motioning to the people left in the room.
"The guards had guns with bastic bullets. That's enough to blow a Dalek wide open."
"There's five of us." The women pointed out.
"Rose, you can help me and Anna. I need all these wires stripping bare." The Doctor said, motioning to said wires. It was a manual task, but it was taking up time we couldn't afford.
"Right, now there's four of us."
"Then let's move it. Into the lift. Isolate the lift controls." Jack ordered. Pavale and his colleague did as he said and ran off to the lift.
"Jack, see if you can override some of the Ann-droids. Turn the transmat into an energy beam. It should be enough to penetrate the Dalek's outer shell. If you can get your hand on a couple of the mechanics, then they should be able to help." I told Jack, looking at him with worry. By being on the front line to stop the Dalek's from reaching floor 500, he was risking his life.
"I'll see what I can do." Jack promised.
Lynda approached where the Doctor was sat. "I just want to say, er, thanks, I suppose, and I'll do my best."
"Me too." The Doctor smiled and offered Lynda his hand which she shook before moving to take the lift down with the others.
"It's been fun, but I guess this is goodbye." Jack said, approaching the three of us with a smile.
"Don't talk like that. The Doctor's going to do it. You just watch him." Rose said, smiling encouragingly.
She still was very young, very naive, and didn't fully understand the scope of the situation and I was hoping that she never did. She was too young and to innocent to die here, and I was hoping that the Doctor found a way to get her out because I had just enough access to my magic in this world that I could destroy the station and the entirety of Earth, in a last-ditch effort to stop the Daleks if the Delta Wave didn't work. It would be a last resort, but I would do it if it meant protecting the rest of the universe especially since I knew the evacuation protocols would see the children, women and elderly from the earth first. The last to evacuate would be the soldiers holding off the Daleks. Estimated civilian evacuate was thirty minutes with all transmats working full capacity.
"Rose, you are worth fighting for." Jack said, kissing her gentle on the lips before turning to the Doctor. "Wish I'd never met you, Doctor. I was much better off as a coward." Jack said kissing him as well. "Annamae." Jack paused as he turned to me. "If the Doctor made me brave, you made me into a good man. Thank you." And he kissed me as well.
When he pulled away, I pulled him into a tight hug. Off all the people who had gone off to fight the Daleks, Jack was the only name that wasn't on my list so I was hoping that he would survive, but just encase I was wrong for the first time ever, I needed him to know that I was grateful for what he was doing.
"Be careful, little brother." I told him softly before letting him go.
"See you in hell." Jack responded, saluting the group as he left the room.
Rose turned to me and the Doctor then. "He's going to be all right, isn't he?"
Neither of us could answer. We simple returned to our work. We were running out of time, and the Delta Wave wasn't even half finished.
"Suppose." Rose broke the silence as she handed the Doctor the wires she had already stripped.
"What?" The Doctor asked, looking up from his work as Rose fell silent.
"Nothing." Rose shook her head.
"You said suppose." The Doctor prompted.
"No, I was just thinking. I mean, obviously you can't, but, you've got a time machine. Why can't you just go back to last week and warn them?" Rose questioned.
"We can't, we're part of event's now." I answered for the Doctor. He had explained most of the concepts to me when I started showing a sensitivity to the time lines and fixed events. He wanted me to understand these things encase my sensitivity got any stronger.
"Yeah, thought it'd be something like that." Rose muttered. I stayed silent, this was something Rose needed to work through, something she needed to decide for herself without my input because I knew what my decision would be and I didn't want to influence her.
"There's another thing the TARDIS could do. It could take us away. We could leave. Let history take its course. We could go to Marbella in 1989." The Doctor wasn't just looking at Rose as he spoke intently, he was looking at me as well, including me in his statement.
"Yeah, but you'd never do that." Rose disagreed.
"No, but you could ask. Never even occurred to you, did it?" the Doctor sighed, half-proud, half-frustrated. But there was something in his eyes, he was planning something.
"Well, I'm just too good." Rose responded with a smirk.
"Doctor." I interrupted them, pointing to the console which the Doctor had set up to begin building the Delta Wave while he helped with the physical construction of the device which was a little different to a transmitter even if the basics were the same.
"The Delta Wave's started building. How long does it need?" the Doctor ran over and read the screen, before bowing his head and resting his hands on the table. His shoulders were slumped slightly in defeat, but there was something else – a desperate, guilty, hope.
"Is that bad? Okay, it's bad. How bad is it?" Rose asked hesitantly.
Suddenly the Doctor jumped to life and began running to the TARDIS. "Rose Tyler, you're a genius! We can do it. If I use the TARDIS to cross my old timeline. Yes!"
I followed Rose and the Doctor to the TARDIS, but I paused just out of sight of the inside of the TARDIS. I would enter it, when the time was right, but I needed to speak with the Doctor for a moment, before the timelines would make me leave. There was a fix point in time surrounding me and Rose leaving in the TARDIS, and a fixed point couldn't be altered.
"Hold that down and keep position." The Doctor's voice drifted out of the TARDIS, still surrounded by the excited energy that he had projected when he ran from the room.
"What's it do?" Rose questioned, and I could hear the smile that she was wearing.
"Cancels the buffers. If I'm very clever and I'm more than clever, I'm brilliant, I might just save the world. Or rip it apart." The Doctor said, his excitement still not dimming.
"I'd go for the first one." Rose said, slightly more nervously this time.
"Me too. Now, I've just got to go and power up the Game Station. Hold on!" the Doctor ran out of the TARDIS his face turning series and solemn the moment that he was out of Rose's sight.
"Doctor." I said softly so my voice wouldn't travel to Rose. The Doctor span to face me, holding his screwdriver in hand. "I know what you're going to do, and I'll go back with Rose. Make sure she and Gabrella are safe, but I will return." I warned him.
"You can't, I'm locking the controls. I can't…" the Doctor's voice chocked slightly.
"No Doctor," I told him seriously, firmly, as I placed a hand on his cheek to make him look me in the eye so he knew how serious I was being. "I will be back. I'm not letting you face the Dalek's alone. I'm not letting you die. Not today." Not letting him respond, I kissed him on the opposite cheek to my hand and entered the TARDIS.
Rose smiled at me from where she was stood next to the console, pressing the red button down. I offered her a smile in turn as I approached the console. The moment I was away from the door, the Doctor activated his protocols, closing the door and starting the engine.
"Doctor, what're you doing? Can I take my hand off? It's moving." Rose shouted, moving her hand and running to the door in worry.
I watched her go, my eyes sad. She had grown attached to the Doctor, and I knew she had a crush on the man and loved him in her own way, but the Doctor was fulfilling his promise to me to protect her. And, although I would return to the Game Station, I would ensure that Rose remained behind, especially if the Doctor and I couldn't think of a way of stopping the Daleks which didn't end in everyone's death. She was my little sister, young and still processing the world from a selfish prospective; she hadn't had time to grow up, although she had been evolving since joining us in the Tardis.
"Doctor, let me out!" Rose shouted, trying to get the doors to open. "Let me out! Doctor, what've you done?"
Suddenly the Doctor's hologram appeared next to the console, staring forward.
"This is Emergency Programme One. Rose, now listen, this is important. If this message is activated, then it can only mean one thing. We must be in danger. And I mean fatal. I'm dead or about to die any second with no chance of escape."
"No!" Rose said in worry, tears forming in her eyes.
"And that's okay. Hope it's a good death. But I promised to look after you, and that's what I'm doing. The TARDIS is taking you home."
"I won't let you." Rose said running to the console to try and do something but I caught her in my arms and pulled her into a hug before she could hurt herself or the TARDIS.
"And I bet you're fussing and moaning now. Typical. But hold on and just listen a bit more. The TARDIS can never return for me. Emergency Programme One means I'm facing an enemy that should never get their hands on this machine. So, this is what you should do. Let the TARDIS die. Just let this old box gather dust. No one can open it. No one will even notice it. Let it become a strange little thing standing on a street corner. And over the years, the world will move on and the box will be buried. And if you want to remember me, then you can do one thing." The Doctor's head turned so he was looking to where I was standing holding Rose who was crying. "That's all, one thing. Have a good life. Do that for me, Rose. Have a fantastic life."
"And Annamae, I hope that I've managed to convince you to go with Rose. I've added this message to activate if you're on the TARDIS when Emergency Program One Activates. So hopefully, you're okay because I can't see you falling for any trick I play." The Doctor smiled in amusement. "You know me too well for that. I just wanted to say thank you. If it wasn't for you, I would still be lost in the grief of losing my home world. You've given me a purpose to live again, and shown me the reason why I continue to travel. I hope that my death doesn't stop you from being brilliant. Continue learning, living and laughing."
With his final message over, the hologram faded from sight.
"You can't do this to me. You can't." Rose wrenched herself free and started trying to use the controls as the engine came to a stop. I let her go, she needed to come to terms with the fact that the Doctor was gone and the TARDIS had locked her controls which meant Rose couldn't do anything which would get her flying again. "Take me back! Take me back! No!" Rose turned and ran outside the TARDIS to see where we had landed before running back in. I didn't need to look, I knew that we were on Earth, likely in London. "Come on, fly. How do you fly? Come on, help me!" Rose looked at me with her last plea.
"No, Rose." I told her softly, sadly.
I wasn't going to tell her that I would be going back, not when I came back to earth with her to ensure that she was protected and wouldn't try and force the TARDIs back. She's smart enough to work out that opening the TARDIS console would allow her to connect with the TARDIS and direct it back to the Doctor, but she didn't understand the consequence of doing so.
"The Doctor has made it so that we can't reactivate the controls. Only he would know how." I explained, watching Rose with sad eyes. I couldn't do anything to comfort her about this, not right not anyway while she was in denial. I would have to leave consoling her to mum and Mickey when I returned to the Doctor. But I would make sure that she was okay before I left, and that she would have the support there if I didn't come back, or if it took several months of their time.
Rose growled in upset frustration before leaving the TARDIS to take in where they were beyond the fact that they were on Earth. Mickey was running towards them.
"I knew it! I was all the way down Clifton Parade, and I heard the engines. I thought, there's only one thing that makes a noise like that. What is it?" Mickey asked in worry, his smile falling when Rose hugged him in tears.
"The Doctor." I told him, standing in the doorway of the TARDIS, and bringing Mickey's attention from the crying blond in his arms to me. "He's facing an enemy that's going to kill him and he sent us home to protect us. Could you phone mom and take Rose to see her? We've got a guest that I need to take care off." I explained bluntly to Mickey.
"Yeah, course." Mickey agreed, his eyes wide in shock and worry as he continued hugging Rose who was crying onto his shoulder. "We'll be at that little café around the corner of Clifton Parade."
"Thank you." I told him gratefully, watching as Mickey led Rose away while also grabbing his phone to call mom.
Closing the door behind them, I headed into the TARDIS, silently asking where Gabrella was. With the TARDIS's help it didn't take long to find the room where Gabrella was. She had woken up, and was sat on the edge of the bed the TARDIS had given her, looking around at the flowered wallpaper in amazement.
"Hi." I greeted softly, not wanting to make the young women jump.
"Hi." Gabrella greeted with a bright smile, as she turned to look at me, her eyes travelling over my body to see what I looked like. "I can see." She said happily.
"I'm glad." I told her, moving forward and offering her a hand. "Come on, let's get you clean while I go and find you something nice to wear."
"Okay." Gabrella agreed, accepting my hand.
It took a little while to explain how the TARDIS shower worked. Having anticipated the fact that Gabrella would need to get used to 21st century appliances, the TARDIS had adapted accordingly. Once Gabrella was happily taking her first shower, I headed off to the Wardrobe to find her appropriate clothing. After a bit of searching, I found her a pair of black jeans and a combat green shirt. Since we had landed in Britain and I wasn't sure which time off year, I had also grabbed her a black jacket.
I took the time to change out of the Kimono and into a pair of jeans and a roll neck shirt (black to reflect my current mood) as well as rub some burn cream over my stomach. The mark would probably scar but I didn't mind, it wouldn't be the first one I had collected in this life.
Finally, with Gabrella ready to face Britain in the 21st century, I led her from the TARDIS.
"Where are we?" Gabrella questioned, looking around the street and houses in wonder.
"We're on earth, the 21st Century. The Doctor didn't want the Dalek's to get their hands on the TARDIS, so he sent me and Rose home." I explained.
"What am I going to do now?" Gabrella questioned unsurely as she stared around in wonder and a bit off fear.
"I'm going to call one of my contacts, and they can set you up with an identity in this time, educate you in what you need to know and then you can start a new life here. Get a job, start a family." I told her softly trying to be comforting since Gabrella had been taken from everything she had ever known and placed in a world that she wouldn't understand. This was the first time in her life when Gabrella could say she was free.
"But I wouldn't know what to do." Gabrella said hesitantly.
"Which is why they'll teach you everything you need to know to get by. And they'll keep an eye on you, and help you until you can live by yourself."
"Okay." She agreed after a moment of thought. "Who… who is your contact?" she questioned.
"A man by the name of Owen Harper. He's a doctor, and a good man but he can be a bit snarky." I explained, getting my phone out while I sat Gabrella down on the park bench so she could observe her surroundings without being in the way of any passers-by.
"Owen." I greeted when the dial tone ended.
{Anna?!} Owen's shocked voice greeted me.
"Hi, you busy?" I questioned, knowing that he worked odd and long hours.
{Not right now, just paperwork} Owen answered. {What do you need?}
"You still working at that secret government agency in Cardiff?" I questioned. He had gotten the job after his wife-to-be was killed in a freak medical accident.
{You know even you knowing that much about my job could get me fired} Owen pointed out, confirming that he was still working there without saying as such since he wasn't allowed to give details of his job to anyone.
"I have high clearance. I imagine that if I asked the Queen, she would tell me." I waved him off. "Now, quick question, how are you at rehabilitating people to the current time?"
{Current time? Do you mean to tell me you've found someone from the future and/or past, and want me to take them in?} Owen practically shouted down the phone, before pausing. {Oops. Anna, my boss wants to talk with you.}
I raised my eyebrow in question. Normally, Owen didn't take my calls when he was at work, which meant he never had to explain to his colleagues who had phoned him. It seemed that he had forgotten where he was and now his boss's attention had been caught – something he had obviously been trying to avoid.
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I had been having a perfectly normal day – well normal for Torchwood. Using the dead Weevil Jack had brought in, I had started to develop a Weevil spray to make dealing with the beast easier. Then, I had gone and started on the paperwork I had been putting off. I hated the paperwork when I was part of the A & E department, but I hated it even more as part of Torchwood because there was just more of it and I had to explain the medical budget.
Then, much to my everlasting relief, Annamae had phoned. It had been several weeks since the last time we had talked and I was contemplating phoning her to make sure she was alright. Because of this, I didn't even think before answering the phone, while sat at my desk in the hub, Tosh working at her desk while Jack was leaning over her shoulder, discussing something that I couldn't be bothered to try and understand.
{Owen.} Annamae's distinctively kind voice greeted me over the phone. Straightening in my chair I sat forward. She sounded fine, but she had also sounded fine when she had been shot, so I wasn't taking that at face value.
"Anna." I greeted her, allowing the shock I was feeling to bleed through into my voice. From the corner of my eye, I noticed Jack straightening up and turn to face me with a raised eyebrow. I was regularly unprofessional at work, but I never took non-work related phone calls before and he probably wanted to know why.
{Hi, you busy?} Annamae questioned. I winced slightly, looking at the large pile of paperwork in front of me and then Jack's blank face before smirking, relaxing back into the chair and returning to my phone call.
"Not right now, just paperwork" I answered sweetly. Jack scrawled at me, not impressed with my dodging of the work. "What do you need?"
{You still working at that secret government agency in Cardiff?}
"You know, even you knowing that much about my job could get me fired." I pointed out, dropping my voice slightly in the hopes that Jack wouldn't hear my response. However, the raised eyebrow was enough to tell me that he had heard me.
{I have high clearance. I imagine that if I asked the Queen, she would tell me.} I nodded my agreement, I wasn't actually sure what her clearance was, or how she got the clearance, but she hadn't lied to me yet and I doubted that she was going to start now. The casual way that she spoke about the royal family also helped to add credence to her story. {Now, quick question, how are you at rehabilitating people to the current time?}
"Current time? Do you mean to tell me you've found someone from the future or past, and want me to take them in?" I demanded, unintentionally shouting as I stood. Jack's second eyebrow joined his first and he purposefully strode to my desk. Shit, I had really done it now. Sighing, my shoulders slumped and I alerted Annamae before the phone was snatched from me. "Oops. Anna, my boss wants to talk with you."
Jack took the phone and put it on speaker so I could still hear Annamae's side of the conversation. Tosh joined them, curious about who I had been speaking to. Luckily Suzie was off doing gods knows what and so not capable of taking the micky out of me for going against Jack's rules.
"This is Captain Jack Harkness, who am I speaking to?" Jack questioned.
There was a pause on the other end of the line before Annamae answered, her voice completely and utterly shocked as she breathed one word. {"Brother?"}
Jack straightened and his eyes narrowed. "Gracious-May? Is that you pipsqueak?" Jack questioned in turn, his voice shaking in shock and hope.
{"Little brother, how the hell are you in Cardiff? And running a secret government organisation at that?!"} Annamae demanded to know.
"I only run this branch. And I'm monitoring the rift…. Waiting." Jack answered after a moment, his eyes drifting between me and Tosh, and obviously deciding that he was going to trust us.
{"Waiting for…? Why are you waiting? Did he abandon you? If he did, I'm going to give him a piece of my mind when I get back to the Station. How dare he leave you! He better not have abandoned you surrounded by Daleks or even in a timeline that wasn't yours. How long have you been waiting? Why wasn't I there to stop him? What the hell happened Jack?}" Annamae demanded, her voice staying at a normal volume but getting more demanding and clipped as she went on.
Jack and I both winced. Annamae didn't get angry often, but when she did, you ducked for cover until the centre of her rage had run away or was destroyed. Luckily, she didn't appear to be angry at them, rather at this 'Doctor'.
"I can't tell you that." Jack sighed. "The timelines…"
Annamae took a deep breathe, obviously calming herself. {"You're right. Sorry."} She sighed. {"Anyway, I've got Gabrella with me. She need's someone to help her adjust to the current time and Owen was the only person I could think to call who didn't belong to UNIT."}
"Gabrella?" Jack paused a moment obviously trying to recall something. "The Controller?"
{"Yes."} Annamae confirmed. {"Can you help?"}
"Yes." Jack answered immediately. "Where are you, I'll come and get her?" Jack questioned.
{"London."} Annamae said. {"The Doctor sent us home. And you can't let Rose see you, it's bad enough that I know you're in the 21st century, I don't want to know what will happen to the time lines if she knows as well."}
"You still own that flat near Piccadilly?" I asked with a frown. I didn't really understand the entire timeline thing, but I figured that Jack and Annamae knew what they were on about. Tosh looked as confused as I felt, but she kept her mouth shut.
{"Yeah, I still own the flat."} Annamae agreed. {"I've got to go make sure Rose is okay, how long will it take to get here?"}
"2 hours." Jack answered.
{"Alright. You're going to need to get Gabrella papers so she can legally live in this time. I'll be waiting for you at my flat."} And with that Annamae hung up.
"Owen, what's the address?" Jack turned to me.
"Don't you know it?" I asked in turn, confused. Surely if he knew Annamae that well, he would know where she lived.
"It's been a long time and I never went to her house." Jack waved me off.
"I'll be coming with you. I've not seen her in ages, and it means I can do a quick medical check of Gabrella." I answered instead of giving Jack the address. If I gave it to him, he was less likely to let me come with him.
"Alright." Jack agreed turning to Tosh. "Can you start making all the document's we'll need? I think Gabrella is roughly twenty-one, so do the birth certificate based on that."
"On it." Tosh promised, returning to her desk.
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While I was waiting for Jack, and probably Owen, to turn up I took Gabrella back to my place and began going through some of the basic things she would need to know. Things like how to use the oven, the kettle, the TV and a phone. I had given Gabrella one of the spare ones that I kept, so that she could call me when she needed to talk with someone. I had also led her through the 'do's' and 'don'ts' of the twenty first century, such as the fact that normal people didn't know about aliens.
Finally, about two and a half hours after I had phoned Owen, a knock sounded at the door.
"Jack, Owen." I greeted them both with a smile.
"Annamae, god it's wonderful to see you." Jack said smiling brightly, pulling me into a hug.
"Come in. I've just been explaining some things to Gabrella." I motioned them into the small living room where Gabrella was sat, drinking her first cup of tea.
"Hi, it's a pleasure to see you again." Jack greeted the controller with a smile.
"Captain Jack, wasn't it?" Gabrella questioned.
"That's right darling." Jack's smile took on a more flirtatious edge.
"He was with us at the station." I rolled my eyes at Jack's behaviour, before introducing Owen. "And this is Owen Harper."
"I'm a doctor, I was hoping to do a quick medical check-up, make sure that everything is alright." Owen said, nodding in greeting.
"You can use my room, it's through there." I motioned to the bedroom.
"Alright." Gabrella nodded, having been forewarned that Owen would probably want to make sure she was healthy.
Once they were gone, I turned back to Jack, truly looking him over. Since it had only been a few hours ago that I had seen the Jack of my timeline, I could see that there were differences in his appearances. His eyes had some wrinkles around, his hair line was reseeded at the side of his temples and his skin looked a little tighter. Like he had aged five or six years physically since I had last seen him. But his eyes. Before, his eyes had shined with so much love, life and laughter. Now, there was a darkness there, like a shadow was hidden behind his compelling blue eyes. Like he had seen too much, done too much and been through too much. His eyes reminded me of the Doctor's, who had lived so many years that it was inevitable he would see and experience the darkness of the world. Except, it looked like that darkness had touched Jack's soul just a little bit more. The soldier who would do anything to save his planet and his people.
"You're older." I told him with a frown.
"Just what every girl wants to hear," Jack placed a hand over his heart.
"Jack," I said warningly, not liking the joking attitude when this was his life they were talking about.
"Yeah, it's been a while." Jack agreed, rubbing the back of his head when he realised that I wasn't going to let him back away from this conversation.
"Jack, how long has it been?" I asked him.
"Umm…" Jack looked unsure how to answer.
"I know your immortal; I can feel it. I don't know how and I don't need to know, not yet. But I would like to know how long you've been waiting for a Doctor you can speak with." I told him with a frown.
"Um… nearly 140 years." Jack finally sighed.
I gasped in horror and grabbed him in a hug. "I'm sorry." I told him softly. Sadly. "I promise, when I get back to the Doctor, I'll make him stop in Cardiff to refuel as soon as the timelines let me."
"Thanks. I don't want to travel again, but I would like to know what happened." Jack said pulling back and smiling brightly at me. He knew that now I knew he was in Cardiff, waiting for the Doctor, I would do my damned best to ensure that he landed there soon (preferable before Jack experienced another full year without answers).
"I can't promise when we'll turn up, but we will." I told him seriously, reinforcing my promise to him.
"How's Rose?" Jack asked.
"She'll be okay. She's upset because the Doctor tricked her into entering the TARDIS. As soon as I'm sure Gabrella will be okay with you guys, I'm going to join her, my mum and Mickey."
"I've always wondered, how did the Doctor get you to enter the TARDIS?" Jack asked curiously.
"He didn't. And the only reason I entered the TARDIS was because I knew how to return." I told him with a smile.
"But you can't fly the TARDIS." Jack frowned, confused.
"No," I agreed. "But we have a connection that runs deeper than it should. She'll let me take her back to save the Doctor."
"Right, everything's okay. We're good to go." Owen announced returning to the room and preventing me from explaining anymore about what I was going to do to Jack.
"Thank you." I hugged Owen, Gabrella and Jack. "You all look after yourselves and keep in contact. Owen, give Jack my number. Jack, don't hesitate to call me, I'll always pick up. Same goes for you, Owen, Gabrella." I told them all seriously.
"I'll be in contact." Jack promised.
"You know me." Owen responded with a smirk.
"I'll phone." Gabrella promised slowly, still not used to the term.
"And Jack." I called, making the man pause in my doorway. "If you need my help. Call."
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It took fifteen minutes to walk to the café where I found mum, Mickey and Rose sat around the table. Mum and Mickey were eating something, while Rose was staring absently down at the table, not really paying attention but it seemed they had managed to temporarily calm Rose down from her hysterics.
"Anna." Mum jumped up and hugged me when I appeared at their table. "Are you okay? What took you so long?"
"I had to take care of some things." I responded, taking a seat next to her and opposite Rose. "Are you okay? How long we been gone for?"
"Two months." Mum answered with a scrawl.
"Well, it's better than the year you didn't know where I was." I pointed out. After that we had tried to make sure that we dropped in to talk with her every month or so. "When was the last phone call?"
"Suppose you're right." Mum agreed with a sigh. "And I got your last phone call five days ago."
"So I don't have much I need to catch up on then," I responded with a slightly distracted nod. I knew my words were coming out slightly misleading, but I couldn't afford the questions and Rose needed to get used to the idea of being on Earth even if it wasn't indefinite.
"And you'll be staying now, won't you?" Mum questioned hopefully.
"Probably not at the flat," I told her, not wanting to head back to Mum's flat unless it was to visit since I had gotten used to the independence of travelling with the Doctor and my experience would be useful with my contacts even if I couldn't get back to the Doctor and that wasn't something mum was aware of. "Do you mind if I have some of your chips, I haven't eaten in gods knows how long?"
"Sure, help yourself." Mum pushed her portion of chips towards me before turning to Rose. "Oh, Rose, have something to eat. You probably haven't eaten since Anna did."
"Two hundred thousand years in the future, he's dying, and there's nothing I can do." Rose answered, her voice still chocked with tears.
"Well, like you said two hundred thousand years. It's way off." Mum said, trying to be comforting.
"But it's not. It's now." Rose disagreed angrily. "That fight is happening right now, and he's fighting for us, for the whole planet, and I'm just sitting here… eating chips!"
"Listen to me. God knows I have hated that man, but right now, I love him and do you know why? Because he did the right thing. He sent you back to me." Mum reached across the table to grab Rose's hands.
"He kept his promise." I agreed. "He knew that we wouldn't have survived and he knew that he couldn't just abandon all those people without trying."
"But what do I do every day, mum? What do I do? Get up, catch the bus, go to work, come back home, eat chips and go to bed? Is that it?" Rose asked angrily.
"It's what the rest of us do." Mum answered.
"But I can't!" Rose disagreed. I narrowed my eyes slightly. Rose had only been travelling on the TARDIS for roughly three months, had she really forgotten how to live a normal life in that time? Or did she not want to contemplate the idea of being an 'ordinary shop girl' again.
"Why, because you're better than us?" Mickey demanded angrily.
"No, I didn't mean that. But it was... It was a better life. And I don't mean all the travelling and seeing aliens and spaceships and things. That don't matter. The Doctor showed me a better way of living your life. You know he showed you too. That you don't just give up. You don't just let things happen. You make a stand. You say no. You have the guts to do what's right when everyone else just runs away, and I just can't…" Rose hit the table before running out of the café.
I stood about to follow her, sisterly instincts being to comfort, but I stopped myself. Mum and Mickey would be able to comfort her, but the Doctor needed me. Which means I didn't have the time to comfort her and get her to stand down.
"Mickey, could you go comfort her, take her back to mum's flat once she's calmed down?" I asked. Mickey sighed but nodded and left the café. "Mum, I'm going to need you to trust me." I said once they were gone.
"Of course, I trust you sweetheart." Mum said, standing up so she was at a similar height as me.
"Mum," I grasped her arms and looked at her very seriously so as to get my point across, "I know how to take the TARDIS back to the Doctor and save him. But I need to do it quickly before Rose tries something dangerous. I don't know when we'll come back, but I promise you I will come back alive."
"You can't, he sent you back because he didn't think he would survive. You'll die if you go back." Mum said angrily.
"No mum, I won't. I know how to save the Doctor and the human race. And I need to go back, mum." I told her, "Please?"
"I can't stop you." Mum sighed recognising the stubbornness in my eyes.
Every time I got that look in my eyes, I always did what I said no matter what other people say and I always turn out right in the end, just as I said I would. Even when I was a little kid, I had shown independence which mum always chalked up to my time before her, which I never talked about. She knew I only let her have authority over me when I agreed with her, although she knew I loved her, I would defy her when I felt like it was needed. Mum's personality and controlling protectiveness reminded me of Mrs Weasley sometimes and like Bill, Charlie, Percy and the Twins I quickly learnt how to deal with her and make my point known although I was more successful in getting her to back down. It was something that Rose never really learnt to do, despite her rebellious years since she was still depended on either me, mum, Mickey and, at one time, Jimmy.
"Thank you." I kissed mum on the head before running from the café and to the TARDIS.
Once I was inside the TARDIS, I closed the door behind me and approached the part of the console where the heart of the TARDIS was. When I placed my hand on it, I found it was warm under my fingers and the normal hum that I felt at the back of my mind became a delighted thrill.
"Okay. I'm ready." I told the TARDIS, stepping back as the console opened and I was surrounded by the warmth and light I had denied not even forty-eight hours ago.
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"Doctor, you've got twenty seconds maximum!" Jack's panicked voice didn't come over the com, it came from down the corridor.
The Doctor didn't look up from the last of his work, as he slotted the final piece into place. "It's ready." He said, shocked that he had actually managed to finish it.
The Dalek's began pouring into the room, surrounding him on either side as the emperor appeared on the screen for a third time.
"You really want to think about this, because if I activate the signal, every living creature dies." The Doctor said, holding his hands over the handle that would activate the Delta Wave.
"I am immortal." The Emperor responded confidently.
"Do you want to put that to the test?" the Doctor demanded angrily, focusing his attention on the emperor and ignoring the other Dalek's in the room. They wouldn't attack him without their emperor's command.
"I want to see you become like me. Hail the Doctor, the Great Exterminator."
"I'll do it!" the Doctor shouted angrily, shifting slightly.
"Then prove yourself, Doctor. What are you, coward or killer?"
The Doctor hesitated, before lowering his hands and head in defeat. He knew that the humans would survive, especially since Annamae had somehow managed to convince the government to evacuate earth and they had had the time to get a good percentage of the population to safety, but he couldn't kill so many people again – not even to stop the Daleks. "Coward. Any day."
"Mankind will be harvested because of your weakness." The emperor gloated.
"And what about me? Will I become one of your angels?" the Doctor demanded, moving away from the delta wave.
"You are the heathen. You will be exterminated."
"Maybe it's time." The Doctor agreed closing his eyes. However, they snapped open only moments later when the sound of the TARDIS materialising was heard.
"Alert! TARDIS materialising!" one of the Dalek's shouted.
"You will not escape!" the emperor declared as the TARDIS doors opened and Annamae stepped out, surrounded by a blinding golden light. It was silhouetting her like an angle's light.
"What've you done?" the Doctor breathed in horror, stumbling back and tripping over some wires, as the light started reaching out of the TARDIS.
"The TARDIS joined with me." Annamae answered, her voice echoing slightly with a power he hadn't felt in a very long time.
"You looked into the Time Vortex. Annamae, no one's meant to see that." The Doctor said, his voice tight and clogged with horror. Time Lord's looked into the schism, but that was different. It was controlled, filtered. This wasn't, she had looked into raw time.
"This is the Abomination!" the Emperor screeched.
"Exterminate!" The Dalek facing Annamae declared but the beam never reached her. It was stopped by the swirl of golden light on her hand.
"I am the Bad Wolf. I create myself. I take the words, I scatter them in time and space. A message to lead myself here." As Annamae spoke she waved her hand over the words on the game station wall, making them disappear into time and space.
"Annamae, you've got to stop this. You've got to stop this now. You've got the entire vortex running through your head. You're going to burn." The Doctor said desperately, trying to get her stop and realise that this was deadly.
"I want you safe. My Doctor." Annamae looked at the Doctor for a moment, tears falling down her face before she turned to face the emperor off all Daleks. "Protected from the false god."
"You cannot hurt me. I am immortal." The Emperor declared angrily.
"No one is truly immortal." Annamae corrected. "You are tiny. I can see the whole of time and space. Every single atom of your existence, and I divide them."
Annamae pointed a closed hand at the closest Dalek and as she slowly opened her hand the Dalek turned to golden dust. With one Dalek turned to dust, Annamae raised her arms, focusing on all the Dalek's now.
"Everything must come to dust. All things. Everything dies. The Time War ends."
"Annamae, you've done it. Now stop. Just let go." The Doctor begged, scrambling to his feet once the last of the Dalek's were gone. The threat to his life was gone, the reason she had taken the time vortex into herself, was gone. If she was strong enough, she should be able to let go.
"I can't." Annamae answered, reaching out with the power to Jack and bringing him back. He was a fixed point, forever and always and that wasn't something she could change, even as the Bad Wolf. She could feel it now, how his time stream thread and wove throughout history. Reaching out and always continuing. A bright ball of life, energy and hope.
"The power's going to kill you and it's my fault." The Doctor said, approaching Annamae and standing in front of her.
"I can see everything. All that is, all that was, all that ever could be." Annamae told him, focusing on the Doctor. Pulling herself away just enough to reach out for him. "It won't let go Doctor. It wants me."
"That's what I see. All the time. And doesn't it drive you mad?" the Doctor questioned, focusing on the first part of the sentence. He would consider Annamae's frightening connection with the Time Vortex when her life wasn't in imminent danger. If she had been anyone else, she would have died before stepping foot out of the TARDIS – it was going on four minutes since she had done so, and that wasn't factoring in the time it took the TARDIS too lock onto him and return to the Game Station.
"It hurts, Doctor." Annamae told him, her tears still falling. Her body trembling and sweat starting building on her body from the strain.
"Come here." the Doctor said gently, lifting his hands so they were gently cradling Annamae's head. "I think you need a Doctor."
And then he was kissing her, pulling the Vortex's from Annamae. When he had all the energy removed, Annamae collapsed but the Doctor caught her before she could hit the floor. Lowering her gently to the floor, he sent the energy back to the TARDIS, before picking up his brave companion and entering the TARDIS.
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"Doctor." I said blinking as I came too. The Doctor was walking slowly around the console.
"How you feeling?" the Doctor questioned, turning to me with a smile, but the smile was slightly strained and his eyes were tightened in pain.
"Fine." I told him, using the railing to get to my feet and begin walking unsteadily to him. "You're not though. You… you forcible took the Vortex from me."
"Annamae Tyler." The Doctor said sadly. "I was going take you to so many places. Barcelona. Not the city Barcelona, the planet Barcelona. You'd love it. Fantastic place. They've got dogs with no noses. Imagine how many times a day you end up telling that joke, and it's still funny." He laughed slightly.
"Doctor, you're dying." I breathed in shocked. He was saying goodbye. I could see a golden haze around him, his name fluctuating between here and there.
"Yes." The Doctor agreed before doubling over in pain. Lunging forward I caught him and pulled him up straight. "You need to stay away!" the Doctor gasped out.
"If this is the last time I get to see this face," I told him sadly, gently resting a hand on the Doctor's cheek. "Then there's something I need to do." And with that I kissed him. The Doctor was shocked for only a moment before he was kissing me back.
When I needed to stop for breath, I pulled back and stepped away from the Doctor, tears fulling from my eyes freely. I didn't try and supress my emotions because in that moment the Doctor needed to see everything that I felt for him. The connection that had been slowing building between the two of them on full display for the first time. Acknowledged by the both of us. I knew that he hadn't needed to kiss me to remove the Vortex, but he chose that method for the intimacy. And I chose to kiss him to show him that I didn't regret him taking the first kiss of this body, and that I didn't care what he ended up looking like once he had finished regenerating. The Doctor, no matter the face, will always be the same person in my mind. The same man I have come to love.
The Doctor smiled at me for a moment before throwing his head back and his arms out. A golden light burst out from the Doctor's body violently, sending me stumbling back into one of the pillars. The light was so bright that I had to look away.
When it faded, I looked back to find my Big Eared, strong jawed Doctor was gone. In his place was a tall, lanky Doctor with a mop of brown hair. He was as handsome as my last Doctor, but in a different way. Younger, probably in his late twenties, with a strong aristocratic jaw line.
"Hello." He greeted in a south London accent as opposed to the north England accent he had before. "Okay. Ooo, new teeth. That's weird." The Doctor said, running his tongue along his teeth. "So, where was I?"