"Mum, it's us! We're back!" Rose called out as she tried working her key into the lock on the door.
Standing a few steps behind Rose, Rian was leaning into the Doctor's side, sighing as he complained to her silently.
"I still don't understand what your problem with Jackie is," she told him, shaking her head in disbelief.
"She slapped me!" he said, almost distraught from the thought.
Rian rolled her eyes as Rose finally got the key to turn, pushing the door open. "You brought Rose back a year late. I think any mother would be upset by that."
Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as the Doctor pouted slightly, making her giggle. Rian stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek gently. "You're a dork."
As she fell back down to the balls of her feet, the Doctor grabbed Rian's hand. He led her into the apartment just as Jackie Tyler came running into the hallway.
"Oh, I don't know why you bother with that phone! You never use it!" she exclaimed, exasperation mixing with excitement at the sight of her daughter.
"Shut up, come here!" Rose laughed, her signature smile making its way onto her face. Seconds later, they rushed forward, meeting in the middle with a tight hug.
The Doctor tried to squeeze behind the two women, bumping into the wall with a grimace. Rian stayed by the door, watching him with a fond grin as he tried to evade Jackie.
Jackie quickly pulled away from Rose and reached out quickly, grabbing the Doctor's arm before he could move out of the way. "Oh no, you don't. Come here!"
Rian wasn't quite sure how to feel as Jackie grabbed his face and pulled him into a wet kiss. On one hand, she wanted to laugh as he caught her eye, pleading silently to end his misery right then and there. But on the other hand, her relationship with the Doctor was rather new, and she couldn't help but feel insecure.
Before Rian could interrupt, Jackie pushed the Doctor away and took ahold of her hand and pulled her away from the door. "Ah, Victoria. It's so good to see you again. I hope the Doctor hasn't been getting you in any trouble lately."
Over Jackie's shoulder, Rian looked between her friends, caught off guard by the older woman's excitement. 'What do I-' she mouthed at them, lifting her arms, flailing slightly as to show her panic.
Both Rose and the Doctor grimaced, unsure of how to explain to Jackie exactly what had happened since the last time they had visited.
"About that…" the Doctor trailed off, his hand finding its way into his hair. "She's not Victoria."
Jackie pulled away from the girl quickly so she could look her over, checking for signs of injury. "What do you mean she's not Victoria. What'd you do to her?"
"Mum," Rose started hesitantly, worried about how she'd react. Before she could say more, Rian smiled at her mum or at least tried to, but it came out more like a grimace than anything else.
"Don't tell me your alien, too?" Jackie exclaimed, looking between the two Time Lords in complete shock as she processed the look on Rian's face.
"It only happened a month ago. I…well... It's a long story, but I'm a Time Lord like the Doctor. My name is the Historian, but I prefer Rian,"
Jackie blinked, slowly processing what the girl in front of her was tell her. Rian smiled gently, hoping to appease the woman standing before her.
"Victoria is still up here," Rian pointed lightly at her head. "She was a part of me, and now I'm whole again."
Jackie pursed her lips and looked over at her daughter who was nodding her head, trying to tell her mum that there was nothing to worry about her.
"As long as you're okay…" she said, grabbing Rian's face and bringing it down so she could kiss her forehead.
"Is she okay?" the Doctor whispered to Rose, surprised how well Jackie was taking the news of Victoria, well Rian, being an alien. As he watched Jackie closer, he noticed how she kept checking her watch, and there was an underlying excitement in her eyes that wasn't related to Rose.
"Oh, who knows," she muttered, trying not worrying too much for her mum, before walking into the living room where there was more space to stand. Jackie followed after her daughter, leaving the two Time Lords alone in the hallway.
"Why'd she kiss me?" he grumbled, rubbing his mouth off again at the thought, causing Rian to let out a tiny laugh.
"Excitement for seeing her daughter?" she guessed, leaning up and giving him a small kiss before following the others into the living room.
Rian walked past the Rose and Jackie and picked up a magazine that was sitting on a table against the wall. The Doctor came out beside her and began to point at different pictures while Rose and her mum caught up.
"Ooh, can we go to Universal Studios?" Rian asked as one of the headlines caught her eye. "I want to ride Back to the Future before it closes down."
He looked up briefly to give her an incredulous look. "We're in a time machine, Rian. We could literally could go to the opening day of the ride."
"Sometimes I forget," she argued weakly with a pout, causing him to chuckle.
"It's from the market on this asteroid bazaar. It's made of um…" Rose looked over her shoulder towards the pair. "What's it called?"
Rian looked over at Rose, her cheeks flush once again, and answered her question.
"Bezoolium. When it gets cold, yeah, it means it's gonna rain - when it's hot, it's gonna be sunny! You can use it to tell the weather!" Rose exclaimed, her smile practically lighting up the room with excitement.
"I've got a surprise for you and all," Jackie said, all but ignoring the gift her daughter was offering.
"Oh, I get her bezoolium - she doesn't even say 'thanks'," she sighed, rolling her eyes in jest.
"Guess who's coming to visit? You're just in time - he'll be here at ten past! Who do you think it is?" Jackie's eyes were wide with excitement.
"I don't know," Rose muttered, ready for her mum to just tell her what was happening.
"Oh go on, guess!" she insisted.
"No, I hate guessing. Just tell me," Rose told her, beginning to feel irritated.
"Since when does she not like surprises?" Rian asked, looking up to meet the Doctor's gaze.
"Probably since Jackie's skirting around the actual surprise," he told her, waiting as Rose narrowed her gaze at her mum slightly.
A smile broke out of Jackie's face, no longer being able to contain the surprise. "It's your grandad. Grandad Prentice. He's on his way. Any minute!"
Rian and the Doctor looked up from the magazine at her words, both immediately noticing the worry and shock growing on Rose's face.
"Right, cup of tea!" Jackie exclaimed with the clap of her hands before rushing into the kitchen.
"She's gone mad," Rose muttered, staring at the now empty space in front of her.
"Tell me something new," the Doctor muttered before wincing as a sharp pain went through his ear. "What was that for?"
Rian gave him an unimpressed look as he rubbed his head lightly. "You're being rude."
"Grandad Prentice - that's her dad. But he died like, ten years ago. Oh my God. She's lost it," Rose said, pretending she hadn't just watched Rian flick the Doctor's ear harshly. "Mum!"
"What you just said about grandad…" Rose trailed off carefully, unsure of what to say.
"Any second now!" Jackie nodded, not at all perturbed by the way the trio were looking at her.
"But... he passed away. His heart gave out. Do you remember that?" Rose asked gently, taking a few steps closer.
"Course I do!"
The Doctor slid his arm around Rian's waist gently as pulled her closer as if worried Jackie would do something to her.
"... Then how can he come back?" Rose asked, looking back at the Time Lords as if they would know how to help.
"Why don't you ask him yourself?" Jackie beamed, glancing down at her watch in the process. "Ten past. Here he comes."
The trio stared, their mouths following open as a ghost-like figure appeared right before their eyes. The ghost moved across the kitchen to stand beside Jackie, who looked ecstatic at the motion.
"Here we are then," she grinned at them, not noticing the dumbfounded expressions on their faces. "Dad... say hello to Rose. Ain't she grown?"
"What…" Rian breathed, looking between the ghost and Jackie.
"Are there more?" the Doctor demanded, his shock beginning to wear off.
"They're all over the place. All they do is mill about," Jackie remarked, not understanding why he was being so serious.
- Page Break -
The Doctor threw open the door to the apartment and ran into the street, Rian and Rose a few paces behind.
"They're everywhere!" he exclaimed, spinning around in confusion.
"No one even looks bothered," Rian said, looking around at the people walking around the area. Almost directly in front of them were three children throwing a basketball around as a ghost walked between them.
"Doctor!" Rose called out, causing the two Time Lords to spin around. Just as they turned, a ghost walked right through the Doctor, causing him to grunt at the odd feeling.
"They haven't got long. The midday shift only lasts a couple of minutes. They're about to fade," Jackie explained as she caught up to the trio.
"What do you mean, SHIFT? Since when did ghosts have shifts? Since when did shifts have ghosts? What's going on?" the Doctor asked, irritated by the fact that he didn't know what was going on.
"Oh, he's not happy when I know more than him, is he?" Jackie said, rolling her eyes.
"Why isn't anyone freaking out?" Rian asked her, baffled by the lack of panic.
"Why should we?" Jackie asked as if it were obvious while looking down at her watch. "Here we go. Twelve minutes past."
As soon as Jackie spoke, the ghosts began to disappear from their spots, leaving nothing behind.
"I don't understand…" Rian said softly, linking her arm with the Doctor as they slowly walked back to the Tylers' apartment.
Once they were back inside, the Doctor took a seat on the floor, grabbing ahold of Rian's hand and gently pulling her down into the seat next to him before pulling out his glasses. Behind them, Jackie grabbed the remote, turned on the tv, and handed it to the Doctor as she sat down beside Rose.
"On today's Ghostwatch, claims that some of the ghosts are starting to talk, and there seems to be a regular formation gathering around Westminster Bridge. It's almost like a military display…" the screen changed to show footage of the ghosts walking around the bridge.
"What the hell is going on?" the Doctor muttered, staring at the screen with a frown. He glanced over at Rian, but she frowned, unsure herself.
He changed the channel to a weather report, surprised to see ghosts littering the map, a man pointing to the screen. "And tonight we're expecting very strong ghosts. From London, through the North and up into Scotland."
He shook his head, changing the channel to the Trisha Goddard show, with the lower third saying 'I married a Dead Man'.
Rian shook her head as a woman tearfully announced how she loved the ghost floating by her. None of this made any sense. All the other times the aliens had invaded, the humans would panic and then forget, yet now they were doing the opposite.
The Doctor changed the channel again, this time showing an ad for 'Ectoshine', a product used to clean the ghosts. He continued to flip through the many different channels, watching reports from India and Japan before turning it to EastEnders, showing Peggy Mitchell throw a ghost out of her bar.
The Doctor shook his head, turning off the tv in the process. He turned to Jackie, a serious look in his eyes. "When did it start?"
"Well, first of all, Peggy heard this noise in the cellar, so she goes down-" Rian shook her head, causing her to stop talking.
"He meant around the world. When did the ghosts begin appearing?"
"Oh! That was about two months ago. Just happened. Woke up one morning, and there they all were - ghosts, everywhere. We all ran 'round screaming and that, whole planet was panicking... no sign of YOU, thank you very much... then it sort of sank in. Took us time to realize that... we're lucky," Jackie said, looking over at Rose with an appreciative glance.
Rose shook her head, still not understanding her mum. "What makes you think it's grandad?"
Jackie smiled lightly, feeling nostalgic as she spoke. "Just feels like him. There's that smell, those old cigarettes. Can't you smell it?"
The Doctor and Rian looked at each other, quickly coming to the same conclusion. There was no smell, there was nothing when it came to the ghost, which worried them.
"I wish I could, mum, but I can't," Rose said gently, reaching down to grab her mum's hand.
"You've got to make an effort. You've got to WANT it, sweetheart," Jackie insisted, almost frantically as she wished her daughter would understand.
"The more you want it, the stronger it gets?" the Doctor asked, and she nodded.
"Sort of, yeah."
"Like a psychic link. Course you want your old dad to be alive, but you're wishing him into existence. The ghosts are using that to pull themselves in," the Doctor told her, causing the woman to tear up.
"You're spoiling it," Jackie said, tears welling in her eyes.
"I'm really sorry, Jackie," Rian said softly. "But there's no smell, there are no cigarettes. It's all from your memories."
"But if they're not ghosts, what are they, then?" Rose asked, drawing everyone's eyes to her.
"Yeah, but they're human! You can see them - they LOOK human!" Jackie insisted.
Rose tilted her head, contemplating her mum's words. "She's got a point. I mean, they're all sort of blurred, but they're definitely people."
"Maybe not. They're pressing themselves into the surface of the world. But a footprint doesn't look like a boot," he said quietly, thoughtfully.
As he stood up, he held out to Rian to help pull her up. Together, with her arm in his, the walked out of the flat and back to the TARDIS.
- Page Break -
By the time Rose had found her way back onto the TARDIS an hour later, she was greeted to one of the grates having been set aside. Inside the hole, the Doctor was searching through all the miscellaneous items he had collected over his years of travel. Sitting beside the opening, Rian had three triangular-shaped objects in her arms.
"According to the paper, they've elected a ghost as MP for Leeds," she said, waving the newspaper in her hand slightly. "Now don't tell me you both are gonna sit back and do nothing."
With a sly grin, Rian reached up and hit a button on the console, causing funky music to fill the air. The Doctor popped his head out from under the console, wearing a rucksack with hose of some sort in his hand.
"Who you gonna call?" he sang, stepping out of the whole, causing both women to laugh.
"Ghostbusters," she giggled, offering Rian a hand, pulling her up, both of them watching the Doctor with wide smiles.
"I ain't afraid of no ghosts," she finished the lyric, giggling hand in hand with Rose as they walked out of the TARDIS. Rose took one of the objects out of the redhead's arms, and Rian sent her an appreciative look at the lighter load.
"When's the next shift?" the Doctor asked Jackie who had been waiting outside for them. Together, Rose and Rian placed the triangles on the group to form one large triangle, just big enough for one of the ghosts to stand in it.
Jackie looked down at her watch. "Quarter to. But don't go causing trouble. What's that lot do?"
"Triangulates their point of origin," the Doctor explained, walking over to help the girl straighten the setup.
"I don't suppose it's the Gelth?" Rose suggested, but the Doctor shook his head.
"Nah. They were just coming through one little rift. This lot is transposing themselves over the whole planet. Like tracing paper," he told her, which made Jackie frown.
She crossed her arms and glared at him. "You're always doing this. Reducing it to science. Why can't it be real? Just think of it, though... all the people we've lost - our families coming back home. Don't you think it's beautiful?"
The Doctor stopped for a moment to look Jackie directly in the eyes. "I think it's horrific," he told her, causing her to step back in surprise.
"Rose, give us a hand," he said, unwinding a large cable and walking into the TARDIS, Rian close behind.
He handed her the cable so he could tell Rose what she needed to do. "As soon as it becomes activated if that line goes into the red, press that button there. If it doesn't stop…"
"You need to slow down, Theta," Rian said to him without looking up from her work on the screen.
He nodded slightly, acknowledging her words, as he pulled out his sonic screwdriver. "Setting 15B, hold it against the port, eight seconds, and stop. "
Rose looked down at the device cross-eyed and repeated his instructions, reassuring him that she was ready for the job.
"If it goes into the blue, activate the deep scan on the left," he explained.
"Hang on a minute, I know…" she said, pointing down at one of the buttons on the console. "It's that one."
"Mmm, so close," he said, watching her with amusement.
"That one?" she asked with a grin, moving her hand slightly.
"Now you've just killed us," the Doctor told her, dragging out his words, causing Rose to giggle.
Rian looked up at the two with a smile but was caught off guard by the look on Jackie's face.
"What about this one?" Rose asked, pointing at a different control.
"Yeah! Now, what've we got? Two minutes to go?" the Doctor looked towards Jackie, who looked at her watch quickly.
"Allons-y!" he exclaimed, grabbing Rian's hand as he raced out of the door, leaving the Tyler women inside.
Around them, they could feel the area beginning to change. Rian reached down and held the triangular object in place as the Doctor plugged the hose into the port on the side, repeating it with the other two objects.
"What's the line doing?" the Doctor called out, looking back towards the TARDIS.
"It's all right, it's holding!" Rose yelled back.
The Doctor and Rian squatted next to one of the devices and fiddled with it, making sure it was completely ready to run.
"Here we go!" the Doctor called out, beginning to feel the change in the air.
"The scanner's working - it says "delta one six"," Rose responded after a moment.
The two stood up and moved back a bit to get a good look at the setup.
"Come on you beauty!" he exclaimed with a grin, practically vibrating with anticipation.
Rian laughed happily as a ghost appeared within the triangle they created. Blue electricity began to connect the devices and soon came to a point above the ghost's head, creating a pyramid.
The Doctor pulled out a pair of 3D glasses and bent over to fuss with the settings on one of the devices. The ghost immediately began to shake and groan, causing the Doctor to grin to himself.
"Don't like that much, do you?" he let out a puff of air. "Who are you? Where are you coming from? WHOA!"
"Doctor?" Rian moved towards him, worried as he stumbled back from the device.
"Just a shock. No need to worry," he told her, grinning at the ghost triumphantly.
"That's more like it! Not so friendly NOW, are you?" he said, sending it a smug look.
Almost immediately after he spoke, the ghost disappeared from the triangle. The two moved to pick up all the equipment before running back into the TARDIS.
They sat the devices down in a corner before rushing to the console, the Doctor flinging his coat onto the railing as they went.
"I said so! Those ghosts have been FORCED into existence for one specific point! And I can track down the source. Allons-Y!" he exclaimed, shooting Rose a grin as he pulled down a level.
The TARDIS began to shake as they dematerialized, causing the Doctor and Rose to fall back into the captain seat and Rian to stumble to the side slightly. As soon as the shaking stopped, the Doctor was back on his feet and running around the console.
"I like that. 'Allons-y'. I should say 'allons-y' more often. 'Allons-y'," he said before turning to look at Rose. "Watch out, Rose Tyler! Allons-y, Rian! And THEN, it would be really brilliant if I met someone called Allonzo. Because then I could say, 'Allons-y, Allonzo'! Every time! You're staring at me," he cut himself off as he noticed the look was giving the two.
Rose leaned in closer to the two and spoke in a whisper. "My mum's still on board."
They all turned around to see Jackie sitting in the gantries, dangling her legs as she stared at the Time Lords bemused. "If we end up on Mars, I'm gonna kill you."
"Why today, of all days?" he groaned, staring at Jackie in horror.
"Because we don't have good luck," Rian teased, nudging him as she reached over him to flip a switch.
"If I'm not lucky, then how'd I end up with you?" he asked with a grin, causing her to blush brightly.
She sputtered for a moment as she turned the monitor in front of her on so they could see their surroundings when they landed.
The comforting wheezing noise began to fill the air, and almost as soon as it finished a group of soldiers ran in, surrounding the TARDIS.
"Oh, well there goes the advantage of surprise. Still! Cuts to the chase. Stay in here, look after Jackie," the Doctor said, turning to Rose as he walked towards the door with Rian.
"I'm not looking after my mum!" Rose exclaimed, moving quickly after them.
"Well, you brought her," he grumbled, causing Jackie to gasp.
"I was kidnapped!" she told them through narrow eyes, giving her daughter just enough time to slip between them and the door.
"Doctor, they've got guns," she whispered, worry bleeding through her words.
"And I haven't. Which makes me the better person, don't you think?" he asked before turning to look at Rian, conflict wavering behind his eyes.
"Can you stay with them, please? I don't know how dangerous this lot is, and I don't want you to get hurt," he told her, and she nodded with a frown, obviously unhappy by his request.
"Oi, what was that?" Jackie asked, looking between the two, confused.
"They're telepathic, mum… they just kinda do that," Rose trailed off.
"Of course they are. You haven't been in my head have you?" Jackie asked rushedly, causing the Doctor to roll his eyes. He didn't have time to deal with her questions.
"Look, Rose. They can shoot me dead, but the moral high-ground is mine," he said, gently grasping her waist and moving her out of his way.
He pushed open the door and walked out, his hands above his head as he did so. From inside the TARDIS, the three women could hear the sound of guns cocking, causing them all to try their best to look through the crack in the door.
"Oh...! Oh, how marvelous," she said, clapping her hands with excitement. "Oh, very good. Superb. Happy day!"
All around the room, the soldiers began to clap as well, confusing the Doctor, and Rian, greatly. He dropped his hands slowly, unsure of if it was really safe to do so.
"Um. Thanks. Nice to meet you. I'm... the Doctor," he introduced, setting off another way of applause.
"Oh, I should say! Hurray!" the woman smiled.
"You... you've heard of me, then?" he asked hesitantly, unsure of where that would send the conversation.
"Well of course we have. And I have to say, if it wasn't for you, none of us would BE here. The Doctor AND the TARDIS...!" the clapping began to fill the air again. Rian to roll her eyes as she could feel the smugness coming from the Doctor at being recognized.
"And... and... and you are?" he asked after gesturing for everyone to silence their clapping.
"Oh, plenty of time for that. But according to the records, you're not one for travelling alone. The Doctor and his companions. That's a pattern isn't it, right?" she asked him, causing the Doctor to stiffen ever so slightly.
"There's no point hiding anything. Not from us," she said, glancing at the TARDIS as if she were a cat that had just eaten the canary. "So where are they? Our records have shown that recently, you've taken to traveling with a redhead and a blonde."
"... Yes! Sorry. Good point. They're just a bit shy, that's all," he said, pushing open the door and feeling around for Jackie.
"Here's Rose Tyler," he said as Jackie exited the box, giving her a once over. "Hmm. She's NOT the best I've ever had. Bit too blonde. Not too steady on her pins. A lot of that."
Through the crack, Rose and Rian could see the Doctor begin to mine chatting, causing Jackie to cry out indignantly.
"You need to stay in the TARDIS. Please don't do anything rash," Rian said, looking at Rose as they watched the Doctor speak.
"And just last week, she stared into the heart of the Time Vortex and aged fifty-seven years. But she'll do," he said, receiving yet another glare from the woman.
"I'm forty!"
"Deluded. Bless. I'll have to trade her in. Do you need anyone? She's very good at tea. Well, I say very good, I mean not bad. Well. I say not bad…" he trailed off, seeing the warning look the professional woman was giving him.
"Oh yes. Here's Dr. Victoria Jones," he said, pushing the door open again for Rian to slip through.
"Hello," she waved gently before folding her hands in front of her body, but no one really gave her much attention.
"Anyway… Lead on. But not too fast. Her ankle's going," he said, nodding over at Jackie.
"I'll show you where my ankle's going," Jackie hissed, and Rian had to bite her lip in an attempt to hide her laughter.
"It was only a matter of time until you found us. And at last you've made it. I'd like to welcome you, Doctor," the woman told him, and he couldn't help but deflate internally with relief. Wherever they were, they didn't know who Rian was, and he was determined to keep it that way.
"Welcome... to Torchwood," she said with a smile as the group entered a large storage area. All around them were boxes of alien technology, most of which they shouldn't have had access too.
"That's a Jathar Sunglider," the Doctor said, staring at a large aircraft that was parked in front of them.
"Came down to Earth off the Shetland Islands ten years ago," she explained, but the Doctor looked at her hesitantly.
"What, did it crash?" he asked, continuing to look around. Behind him, Rian had looped her arm through Jackie's in hopes of calming the blonde down slightly.
"No, we shot it down. It violated our airspace. Then we stripped it bare. The weapon that destroyed the Sycorax on Christmas Day? That was us! Now if you'd like to come with me," the woman said, not bothering to stop.
The Doctor looked back at the two behind him and shared a brief look of disbelief before following after her.
"Is it too late to say that I don't have a good feeling about this place," Rian jested softly, looking around in horror, knowing there was so much bloodshed behind all of these objects.
"The Torchwood Institute has a motto: "if it's alien, it's ours". Anything that comes from the sky - we strip it down, and we use it. For the good of the British Empire," she explained, but Jackie shook her head.
"For the good of what?" Jackie asked, not perturbing the woman in the slightest.
"The British Empire."
"There ISN'T a British Empire," the older woman shook her head.
"Not yet," she said with a smirk before turning to another officer standing nearby. "Ah, excuse me… Now, if you wouldn't mind... do you recognise this, Doctor?"
Both Rian and the Doctor stared at the gun that she was holding, both recognizing it almost immediately.
"That's a particle gun," the Doctor responded, and the woman smiled gratefully.
"Good, isn't it?" she asked, just as Jackie reached out to try and touch the gun.
The woman didn't bat an eye as she wrenched the gun out of Jackie's reach. "Took us eight years to get it to work."
The Doctor stared darkly at the woman, and Rian had to fight back words that would have revealed who she was. "It's the twenty-first century. You can't HAVE particle guns."
"We must defend our border against the aliens," she told them, handing the gun back to the soldier. "Thank you... Sebastian, isn't it?"
"I have a really bad feeling about this," Rian whispered as she glanced around, and out of the corner of her eye, she could see the Doctor nod minutely in agreement.
"Yes ma'am," the soldier nodded.
"Thank you, Sebastian," she said before turning back towards the trio. "I think it's VERY important to know everyone by name. Torchwood is a very modern organisation. People skills. That's what it's all about these days. I'm a people person."
"Have you got anyone called Allonzo?" the Doctor asked suddenly, causing Rian to roll her eyes.
"Is now really the time?" she asked as the woman shook her head.
"No, I don't think so. Is that important?" the woman responded.
"I suppose not. What was your name?" the Doctor asked, walking towards a crate that was sitting nearby.
"Yvonne. Yvonne Hartman," she introduced herself.
The Doctor looked up from the box, holding a large, black clamp.
"Ah yes. Now, we're rather fond of these. The Magnaclamp. Found in a spaceship buried at the base of Mount Snowdon. Attach this to an object and it cancels the mass. I could use it to lift two tonnes of weight with a single hand. That's an imperial ton, by the way. Torchwood refuses to go metric," Yvonne explained, and the Doctor sat the clamp back in the box.
"I could use that to carry the shopping," Jackie said, looking at the clamp thoughtfully.
"All these devices are for Torchwood's benefit. Not the general public's," Yvonne said, giving Jackie a patronizing look. As Jackie's face screwed up into a frown, Rian squeezed her arm slightly in hopes of offering her comfort.
"So, what about these ghosts?" the Doctor asked as he looked through a magnifying glass that was on a table.
"As yes, the ghosts. They're er... what you might call a side effect," Yvonne explained, and the Doctor and Rian shared a concerned look.
"Of what?" Rian spoke up. Yvonne turned to look at her for a moment before turning back to the Doctor.
"All in good time. There is an itinerary, trust me," she told him with a wicked grin just as a truck carrying the TARDIS drove by.
"Oh, of course," Rian muttered, she should have known they'd take the blue box.
"Oi! Where're you taking that?" Jackie cried, knowing that her daughter was still inside.
"'If it's alien, it's ours'," she smirked.
"You'll never get inside it," the Doctor told her, a serious look setting onto his face.
"Hm! Et cetera," Yvonne told him before walking away, just in time to miss Rose peeking out the doors of the TARDIS.
She looked between the Doctor and Rian, who both nodded slightly. Rose nodded back and pulled her head back inside and closed the door.
"She'll be okay," Rian said, trying to reassure not just the Doctor, but herself as well.
- Page Break -
"All those times I've been on Earth, I've never heard of you," the Doctor told the woman, his hands sitting casually in his pockets.
"But of course not. You're the enemy. You're actually named in the Torchwood Foundation Charter of 1879 as an enemy of the Crown," Yvonne explained.
"Of course, this all had to do with Queen Victoria," Rian said thoughtfully, thinking back on the fear that had been in the queen's eyes that day.
"1879... that was called Torchwood, that house in Scotland," the Doctor noted, remembering the trip as well.
"That's right. Where you encountered Queen Victoria and the werewolf," Yvonne nodded, causing Jackie to look at him incredulously.
"I think he makes half of it up," Jackie said. Rian had to bite back a smile as the flash of irritation that passed behind the Doctor's eyes at Jackie's words.
"Her Majesty created the Torchwood Institute with the express intention of keeping Britain great. And fighting the alien horde," the woman explained.
"But if I'm the enemy, does that mean that I'm a prisoner?" the Doctor asked, looking over at Yvonne expectantly.
"Oh yes," she said as they rounded a corner, coming to a stop in front of sturdy metal doors. "But we'll make you perfectly comfortable. And there is so much you can teach us. Starting with this."
She swiped her ID card in front of a scanner, and they watched as the doors slid open. Yvonne glanced back at them with a smile before leading them inside.
"Doctor," Rian breathed, unable to take her eyes off of the large brass sphere that was suspended in the air on the other side of the room.
"Now, what do you make of that?" Yvonne questioned, looking from the sphere back to the Doctor.
The Doctor couldn't take his eyes off of the sphere, and his mind was racing as he tried to understand what it was.
Rian looked over at him to see an Indian man straightening his lab coat before holding out his hand to the Doctor.
"You must be the Doctor. Rajesh Singh. It's an honour, sir," he said, waiting for the Doctor to shake his hand, but the Doctor was too occupied to notice.
Rian glanced at him apologetically before turning back to the sphere. "Why does it look… familiar?"
"It does, doesn't it?" he asked absentmindedly.
Jackie was gawking at the sphere, but turned to look at Yvonne. "What is that thing?"
She shook her head. "We don't know."
"What's wrong with it?" Jackie asked, causing Rajesh to glance at her curiously.
"What makes you think there's something wrong with it?" he asked her, and she shrugged.
"I dunno… it feels weird," she told him, and Rian nodded in agreement.
"Well, the sphere has that effect on everyone. Makes you wanna run and hide. Like it's forbidden," Yvonne explained, walking towards the Doctor who was now standing right in front of the sphere.
"We tried analysing it using every device imaginable," Rajesh explained while the Doctor pulled out his 3D glasses.
"What do you think?" Rian asked him, taking a few steps closer as well.
"Wherever it came from, it's not from this universe," he said, looking at it from different perspectives.
"But - according to our instruments - the sphere doesn't exist. It weighs nothing. It doesn't age. No heat. No radiation. And - has no atomic mass," Rajesh continued, and Jackie looked at him with wide eyes.
"But I can see it!" she exclaimed, and Rajesh nodded.
"Fascinating, isn't it? It upsets people because it gives off... nothing. It is... absent," he explained, looking back at Rian and Jackie as they were listening to his words.
"Well, Doctor?" Yvonne asked, crossing her arms.
He continued observing, analysing the sphere as he spoke. "This is a void ship."
"And what is that?" Yvonne raised her eyebrow.
He pulled the glasses off his face and folded them, still keeping his back to the group. "Well, it's impossible for starters. I always thought it was just a theory, but... it's a vessel designed to exist outside time and space. Travelling through the Void."
Rian had to fight the urge to slap her forehead. Of course it sounded familiar, she had read about similar vessels during her position with the war council.
The Doctor spun around and sat down on the bottom step, staring at Yvonne with a steely look.
"And what's 'the void'?" Rajesh asked, looking at the Doctor with fascination.
"The space between dimensions. There's all sorts of realities around us, different dimensions - billions of parallel universes all stacked up against each other. The Void is the space in-between. Containing absolutely nothing. Imagine that - nothing. No light, no dark, no up, no down. No life. No time. Without end. My people called it the Void, the Eternals call it the Howling. But some people call it Hell," the Doctor described, and he couldn't help but mentally reach out to reassure Rian.
"But someone built the sphere. What for? Why go there?" Rajesh questioned, a curious gleam in his eyes.
"To explore. To escape. You could sit inside that thing and eternity would pass you by. The Big Bang... end of the universe, start of the next, wouldn't even touch the sides. You'd exist outside the whole of creation," the Doctor explained, causing Yvonne to smirk.
"You see, we were right. There is something inside it," she insisted, but the Doctor wasn't as enthusiastic.
"Oh yes," he said, looking her dead in the eyes.
"So how do we get in there?" Rajesh asked.
While there were many things Rian loved about humans, she couldn't understand why they would want to open something that obviously housed something dangerous.
"We don't! We send that thing back into Hell. How did it get here in the first place?" the Doctor sprang up from his spot and walked over to Rian and Jackie.
"Well, that's how it all started. The sphere came through into this world, and the ghosts followed in its wake," Yvonne explained, and he turned around to look at her.
"Show me," he demanded before walking out of the room and to the left.
"Other way," Rian called out, watching him with amusement.
He quickly turned around and walked the other direction, and Rian pulled Jackie with her as she raced after him.
- Page Break -
By the time they had reached the new room, Rian had let go of Jackie's arm in favor of the Doctor's, hoping to give the woman a moment to herself.
"This feeling of dread keeps getting worse and worse," Rian said as they walked into a while room.
"Yeah… I know the feeling," he said, squeezing her arm before letting go so he could follow after Yvonne.
Rian turned back to look at Jackie, who was doing her best to not show how worried and scared she was feeling at the moment. The two of them walked silently into the glass office and stared out the window.
"Is this what it's normally like, traveling with you two?" Jackie asked after a moment, turning to gaze at the redhead.
Rian sighed, keeping her gaze on the city in front of her. "Not always. Sometimes… sometimes danger just finds us. But it always works out in the end."
She finally looked over at the blonde, and winced at the unbelieving look she was being given.
"How are you an alien? What happened to Victoria?" she asked, the worry she had felt for the girl growing stronger as she thought about all the danger she and her daughter had been put through.
"There was a war, the Time War," she started, glancing at Jackie as she moistened her lips. "I had been greatly injured during a mission for the war council on Gallifrey. There's… there's a device that let's Time Lords change their physiology to other species, and I turned myself into a human as I was dying."
"As I died, I became a baby. My fathers adopted me before I was even a year old," Rian smiled wistfully as she thought back on old memories. "When I was left on the orphanage doorstep, I was left with an old pocket watch that contained my true self. I didn't know about it until half a year ago."
Jackie stared at Rian, a flurry of emotions present in her eyes and on her face.
"It was only a few weeks ago that I finally opened the watch. Victoria was, is, a part of me. I did it on my own terms," she smiled lightly, trying to reassure Jackie.
She knew that the woman was worried for her daughter, of what could come of her while she traveled with the Doctor. Jackie had taken an immediate liking to Victoria, and had taken to mothering her as well.
Jackie could see that, she could see how Rian was trying to calm and reassure her. And while she was worried to death for Rose and what could happen, she knew that there were worse people to be traveling with than the Doctor and Rian. "Thank you."
Rian simply smiled before looking back out the window, Jackie following suit.
"Hold on a minute... we're in Canary Wharf! Must be! This building, it's Canary Wharf," Jackie exclaimed as she looked closely out the window.
"Well, that is the public name for it. But to those in the know, it's Torchwood," Yvonne said as she and the Doctor walked into the room.
"So, you find the breech, probe it, the sphere comes through. Six hundred feet above London, bam. It leaves a hole in the fabric of reality. And that hole, you think, 'oh, shall we leave it alone? Shall we back off? Shall we play it safe?' Nah, you think 'let's make it BIGGER!'" the Doctor exclaimed, his face becoming irritated as he somewhat mocked Yvonne.
Rian quickly looked back at the Doctor, her eyes growing wide as she took in what he said. "Oh god, what have they been doing."
"It's a massive source of energy. If we can harness that power, we need never depend on the Middle East again. Britain will become truly independent. Look, you can see for yourself. Next Ghost Shift's in two minutes," Yvonne said, walking towards the computers that lined the wall.
"Cancel it," the Doctor ordered, but she just rolled her eyes.
"I don't think so," Yvonne told him while crossing her arms.
"I'm warning you, cancel it," he told her, anger lacing every word. His back was tense as he stared harshly at the woman.
"Oh, exactly as the legends would have it. The Doctor, lording it over us. Assuming alien authority over the rights of Man," Yvonne said, goading him.
"Let me show you," he snapped, pulling out his sonic as he turned towards one of the glass windows.
"Sphere comes through here," he said, activating the sonic, causing the glass to crack and splinter.
"But when it made the hole, it cracked the world around it. The entire surface of this dimension, splintered. And that's how the ghosts get through. That's how they get everywhere. They're bleeding through the fault lines. Walking from their world, across the Void, and into yours. With the Human Race hoping and wishing and helping them along! But too many ghosts, and…" he barely placed his finger on the glass, causing it to shatter and fall to the ground, the sound echoing through the air.
"Well, in that case we'll have to be more careful," Yvonne said, ignoring his words and turning to the staff. "Positions! Ghost Shift in one minute."
Rian stared at the woman with her mouth open, unsure of how she could continue with this after the demonstration the Doctor had just shown her.
"Ms Hartman, I am asking you - please, don't do it," he followed after her, trying to appeal to her senses.
"We have done this a thousand times," she told him, not bothering to look up from what she's doing.
"Then stop at a thousand!" he growled.
"We are in control of the ghosts. The levers can open the breech, but equally they can close it," she said, turning to look at him. They held eye contact for a moment before the Doctor backed away.
"Okay," he said, walking into the glass office and grabbing two chairs.
He came back and sat them down, taking a seat before gesturing for Rian to follow suit.
"Sorry?" Yvonne questioned, thrown off by his sudden change in demeanor.
"Never mind! As you were," he waved her off, glancing around the room with ease, although his posture was stiff.
"What, is that it?" she questioned, approaching him.
"No! Fair enough. Said my bit. Don't mind me. Any chance of a cup of tea?" he asked, waiting to see if Yvonne would take the bait.
"Ghost Shift in twenty seconds," a black woman said from her desk a few feet away.
"Mm! Can't wait to see it!" the Doctor smiled mockingly at Yvonne.
"You can't stop us, Doctor," she insisted, and he nodded.
"No, absolutely not!" he agreed before turning towards Jackie. "Pull up a chair, Rose! Come and watch the fireworks."
Jackie moved to stand behind the Doctor as the three of them stared down Yvonne.
"Ghost Shift in ten seconds. Nine... eight…" the woman counted down from her seat. Yvonne stared at the Doctor, taking in his raised eyebrows and expression. "Seven... six... five... four... three... two…"
"Stop the shift. I said stop," Yvonne conceded, interrupting the countdown.
The Doctor tipped his head slightly. "Thank you."
"I suppose it makes sense to get as much intelligence as possible. But the program will recommence, as soon as you've explained everything," Yvonne compromised, and the Doctor nodded.
"I'm glad to help," he told her.
"And someone clear up this glass," Yvonne announced before turning to the Doctor. "They did warn me, Doctor. They said you like to make a mess."
As Yvonne walked into her office, the Doctor and Rian stood up from their seats. She moved to stand closer to him as they watched the workers run around the room. Rian's hand found the Doctor's and she squeezed it tightly.
- Page Break -
Ten minutes later, the glass was cleaned up and the Doctor was seated in front of Yvonne's desk, Rian and Jackie standing at the back of the room.
Yvonne was typing away on her laptop as the Doctor stretched his feet up onto the desk.
"So these ghosts, whatever they are - did they build the sphere?" she asked him, looking up briefly, her gaze lingering on his feet before begrudgingly letting it go.
"Must have. Aimed it at this dimension like a cannonball," he explained.
"Yvonne? I think you should see this. We've got a visitor. We don't know who she is, but funnily enough, she arrived at the same time as the Doctor," Rajesh's voice came from the laptop.
Rian watched as the Doctor stiffened, and Rian closed her eyes in distress. As she opened them back up, she saw Yvonne turn the computer so that they all could see the screen.
"She one of yours?" Yvonne asked, an unamused look on her face.
"Never seen her before in my life," the Doctor told her, shaking his head.
"Good! Then we can have her shot," Yvonne exclaimed, causing Jackie's hold on Rian's hand to tighten with worry.
The Doctor sighed, sitting up in the seat. "Oh all right then, it'll be worth a try. That's... that's Rose Tyler."
"Sorry," Rose apologized, waving at the screen. "Hello."
The Doctor waved back before looking up at Yvonne.
"Well, if that's Rose Tyler, who's SHE?" she said, nodding at Jackie.
"I'm her mother," Jackie told her, causing Yvonne's face to screw up ever so slightly.
"Oh, you travel with her mother?" she questioned, and Jackie shook her head.
"They kidnapped me!" she exclaimed, and Rian sent her a look.
"Please, when Torchwood comes to write my complete history, don't tell people I travelled through time and space with her mother…" the Doctor trailed off, and Jackie glared at him.
"Charming," she told him.
"I've got a reputation to uphold!" he defended himself, just as Yvonne's gaze turned to Rian.
"How do we know this is really Dr. Victoria Jones?" Yvonne questioned, causing the Doctor to stiffen.
"Doctor... " Rian called out as she held Yvonne's gaze, uncertain as to if she should tell the truth.
"They'll find out sooner or later," he told her, worried about what they might do.
Rian sighed let go of Jackie's hand to stand behind the Doctor. "I'm Rian, short for-"
"The Historian. We've heard of you," Yvonne said, leaning forward to get a good look at the girl. "That's why we didn't recognize you, there aren't any records of you having this face."
Rian's face twitched slightly, a sense of doom settling in her stomach at what her words could mean.
The Doctor opened his mouth to snap at the woman when the sound of the engines began to whirl behind them.
Yvonne stood up from her desk and approached the three employees who were typing frantically. "Excuse me? Everyone? I thought I said stop the ghost shift."
They continued working, showing no signs of hearing her.
"Who started the program? But- I ordered you to stop! Who's doing that?!" Yvonne exclaimed, pointing one of the levers against the wall that was moving on it's own. "Step away from the monitors, everyone."
"Gareth, Addy - stop what you're doing, RIGHT NOW. Matt. Step away from your desk. That's an order! Stop the levers!" Yvonne demanded, panic overtaking her words.
"Stop the levers!" she exclaimed as two scientists raced over to try and pull back on the lever.
"What's she doing?" racing over to Addy.
"Addy? Step away from the desk," Yvonne ordered as she followed after the Doctor.
Rian moved around Yvonne as she stood next to the Doctor, looking her over when she was hit with realization.
"Those earpieces…," she whispered, closing her eyes as she thought back to that adventure, feeling the Doctor silently acknowledge her words.
"Listen to me, step away from the desk," Yvonne tried once again, but the Doctor shook his head, staring at the girl.
"She can't hear you," he said, peering down to look at the screen. "They're overriding the system."
"We're going into Ghost Shift," he said grimly, the four of them staring at the white wall anxiously.
"It's the ear-piece controlling them. We've seen this before," the Doctor said, pulling out his sonic slowly.
"Sorry. I'm so sorry," he whispered, placing the sonic against the earpiece and deactivating it. Addy began to scream in pain before slumping against the desk, the two men on the other side of the room doing the same.
"What happened? What did you just do?" Yvonne asked harshly, looking down at the dead girl.
"You killed them," Jackie said in horror.
"Oh someone else did that long before I got here," he told her, not looking up from the screen.
"But you killed them!" Jackie exclaimed, and both Time Lord turned to glare at her.
"No he didn't!" Rian said as the Doctor announced that he didn't have time to deal with her.
"What're those earpieces?" Yvonne asked, reaching out towards Addy's head.
"Don't," he told her pointedly, moving to look at a screen on the other side of the room.
"But they're standard comms. devices - how does it control them?" Yvonne asked, her hand stopping inches from the device.
"Trust me, leave them alone," he said, looking up to stare at Yvonne.
She didn't heed his warning, and pulled on the device. And she continued to pull until a trail of mucusy brain tissue came out of Addy's ear.
"Urgh! Oh, God! It goes inside their brain!" she recoiled, staring at her hand in disgust as it was covered in goo.
"What about the Ghost Shift?" the Doctor asked and Rian looked over the screen.
"Ninety percent there. It's still running. Can't you stop it?" Yvonne asked, looking between the two.
"They're still controlling it. They've hi-jacked the system," the Doctor explained, staring at the screen with his mouth slightly open.
"Who's they?" the woman asked, but the Doctor ignored her, pulling his sonic out of his inner pocket. He turned on the sonic and scanned the area, turning in place.
"It might be a remote transmitter but it's gotta be close by. I can trace it," he muttered.
"Jackie, you stay here," he ordered before running out of the room, letting the sonic lead the way. Rian glanced at Jackie for a moment before running after him and Yvonne.
- Page Break -
Rian walked beside Yvonne as the Doctor lead them down a hallway, the tip of the sonic glowing blue as it whirled quietly.
Just down the hall, two soldiers were making their way towards the trio, and Yvonne reached out and stopped them. "You two - you come with us."
"Yes, ma'am," one of them said, and fell in line behind Yvonne and Rian.
Soon enough, the small group reached an area with plastic curtains hanging up. The Doctor looked back at Yvonne.
"What's down here?" he asked.
"I don't... I dunno, I think it's building work. It's just renovations," she stumbled over her words, not quite certain what was happening there.
The Doctor began to walk forward and Rian followed close behind. "You should go back," he said to Yvonne.
"Think again," she told him, waving the soldiers on and began to follow the two Time Lords. "What is it? What's down here?"
"Ear-pieces, ear-pods, this world is colliding with another. And I think I know which one," the Doctor muttered, glancing back at Rian who nodded.
Before anything else could be said, the sound of heavy metal footsteps approaching filled the air. All around them, the silhouettes of Cybermen began to appear behind the plastic curtains.
"What are they?" Yvonne whispered, looking around.
"They came through first," he said as the Cybermen began to push aside the curtains. "The advanced guard."
"They're called Cybermen," Rian explained as said aliens began to march towards them. The soldiers rushed to the front and began to fire their guns at them, but all they did was ricochet off.
The Doctor's hand found Rian's, and the trio ran back the way they came and tried to find a way out, but were quickly surrounded. Rian glanced over at the Doctor, giving his hand one last squeeze before they both raised their hands above their head.
- Page Break -
"Get away from the machines - do what they say, don't fight them!" the Doctor yelled as two Cybermen led the three back into the control room.
Guns began to rise from the Cybermen's arms, and before anyone could say anything, they had shot the scientists dead.
"What are they?" Jackie cried, looking up at the Doctor, a dark look on his face as he stood in front of everyone.
"We are the Cybermen. The Ghost Shift will be increased to one hundred percent," one of them spoke, lifting it's arm and slamming it onto the symbol on its chest.
Rian looked back at the lever to see it slowly moving into place, a bright white light illuminating the room.
"Here come the ghosts," the Doctor spoke, glaring at the wall.
Rian tried her best to block the harsh bright light, horrified by the rows and rows of Cybermen that appeared through the wall.
"These Zybermen - what've they got to do with the ghosts?" Jackie whispered, glancing at the Doctor. A look of anger was stuck on his face as he stared at the rows in front of them.
"Do you never listen? A footprint doesn't look like a boot!" he snapped, watching helplessly as the ghosts slowly became clearer.
"Achieving full transfer," one of the cyborgs said.
"They're Cybermen. All of the ghosts are Cybermen," the Doctor announced, horror building in his voice. "Millions of them. Right across the world."
"They're invading the whole planet," Yvonne said, the realization hitting her.
"It's not an invasion, it's too late for that. It's a victory," he spoke grimly as the computer beeped loudly.
They all turned around to look at the computer as a computerized voice began to speak. "Sphere activated. Sphere activated. Sphere activated. Sphere activated."
The Doctor turned to one of the Cybermen standing nearby. "What I don't understand is Cybermen don't have the technology to build the Void Ship, that's WAY beyond you. How did you create that sphere?"
"The sphere is not ours," it said, making the Doctor speechless.
"Oh god, Rose," Rian breathed, the sense of dread from earlier hitting her like a bus.
"The sphere broke down the barriers between worlds. We only followed. Its origin is unknown," it continued, and Rian racked her brain as she thought about why the sphere looked so familiar.
"Then what's inside it…" the Doctor mumbled, trying to work it. He glanced over at Rian, and could see that she had a few theories as to what it could.
Her face was pale and full of fear, fear clawing its way through her body as one enemy stood out among the others.
For the first time since she had opened her watch, she focused on creating a mental barrier. She couldn't tell the Doctor her theory, not yet. Not without proof.
He frowned as he felt her put up her walls and he swallowed deeply. Whatever was coming, he knew it couldn't be good.
Hello, everyone! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and I'd love to hear what you all have to say. This chapter was a doozy for me to write because I originally planned to have Rian stay with Rose, but as I started writing it, I just couldn't get the words right. I also had to rewrite the opening because I just couldn't get Rian's character quite right, but I'm happy with how it turned out. So... only one more chapter left of the Girl the Doctor Needed as I've decided to put the Runaway Bride in with season 3. I'm honestly really sad to see Rose go, but I am so pumped to introduce Martha (she's my favorite companion). Big thank you to Matheoriel Artemis for checking this over for me. I don't own Doctor Who, just Rian. I have a lot of important information coming with next week's chapter as I close out the story, so make sure to check for that.
I'm having a small dilemma and would love to hear what you all would like for me to do. As you all know, the majority of this story has been written in first person while more recent chapters have been in third. What I'd like to know is if you'd like for me to rewrite all the chapters into 3rd person and update them in this story, or if you'd rather me post a separate story for third person. If you could simply PM me, comment, or send an ask on Tumblr, I'd really appreciate it.
Thank you for all the views, comments, follows, and favorites, I really appreciate it. Also, just a reminder that I have a Tumblr page for this series at historical-love-series.
To NicoleR85 - I am so so glad you love Rian! I know we didn't get to see a whole lot of personal reactions for Rian in this chapter, but the next episode will really show some of Rian's deepest fears.