A/N: I know, I am really sorry. Thing's have been mad, and not so great. I apologise now for any spelling or grammatical errors. I've kept you waiting long enough so may have missed some things.
The Doctor, Jack and Kari were all sitting around the table in the kitchen. Rose had gone to bed some time ago and the three of them had been sitting there chatting the whole time. The Doctor and Kari had explained to Jack how her life seemed to work. They told him how she randomly jumps from one place to another, visiting the Doctor in the past and the future.
"Sounds like you lead a rather action packed life." Jack said as he leaned back in his chair.
Kari smiled at him. "More action than my body can cope with some times."
"Off to bed with you then." The Doctor ordered her. "Since it looks like you're staying for a little longer, you may as well head off to your room."
She let out a sigh and got up from her chair. "Yeah, fine." She said, as the other two both stood up as well. "Night, Jack." Kari said, hugging him tightly.
"Night, Princess." Jack said, kissing her hair before letting her go.
The Doctor just rolled his eyes before pulling Kari towards him. "Sleep well, and I really hope you're still here when you wake up." He whispered to her.
Kari let a smile spread across her face. "Yeah, so do I." He let her go and she headed for the door. She pulled it open but then paused. "Um, I have a slight problem."
The Doctor frowned at her. "What's that?"
"I… um… can't remember where my room is. I've only ever been there twice, and that was in the future." She told him quietly.
"Come on then." The Doctor called, grabbing hold of Kari's hand. "I'll show you where it is. Back in a bit, Jack."
The Doctor led her out of the kitchen and down the corridors. "Sorry about today." Kari mumbled after a few minutes of walking in silence.
"Nah, don't worry about it. It's fine. I've seen you in worse moods so I knew you would get over it." He said, squeezing her hand.
Kari thought back and remembered something that Jack had said to her back on his ship, when she first arrived. "My eyes glow when I'm angry. Why?"
"You know what? I have no idea. I've seen it happen enough times to know what to do when you're in that kind of mood. I just let you get on with it. At least I have a way of knowing when you're angry."
Kari rolled her eyes at him. "Oh, well that's helpful. So that's yet another thing that we don't have an explanation for." She muttered.
"Well, here you go. Try not to forget where it is." He said, stopping at a blue, wooden door.
"Thanks. I'll try my best to remember for next time. Whenever that may be." Kari told him, feeling the tiredness wash over her.
"I'm sure if you asked the TARDIS nicely, she will help you find it. Anyway, you really should get some sleep." The Doctor said, seeming a little nervous from the way he was standing.
"Um, yeah, I should. Thanks, Doctor." Kari said, feeling a little awkward herself. She pulled her gaze up and looked at the Doctor before leaping at him and hugging him tightly. A smile spread across his face as he wrapped his arms around her.
"Go on, off you go." The Doctor said, pushing her away and towards her door.
"Night, Doctor. I really hope I get to see you when I wake up." She told him, putting her hand on the door handle. He just smiled at her and waited for her to disappear into her room. After one last look at the Doctor Kari opened the door and stepped through it.
She closed the door behind her and looked around the room. It looked exactly how she had left it the day they met Martha Jones. Including her laptop sitting on the writing desk. She hadn't really noticed it before, but now she had questions. She quickly pulled the door open and was surprised to see the Doctor still standing there, grinning at her.
"Everything alright?" He asked her, not letting that stupid grin he was wearing fade.
"Not exactly. Care to explain? The room looks exactly the same as I last left it… in the future. Including all my… trinkets." She wasn't going to tell him she had a laptop, it was only the Doctor way in the future that knew about that.
"Well, since your timeline is so complicated, and as our TARDIS is so clever, you're room relates to you." Kari just stared at him blankly, not following a word of what he was saying. The Doctor let out a sigh. "Your room is on your timeline. Which means only you can go in there, until the time where we meet and are both at the same point."
Kari frowned at him, still trying to work out what he was telling her. "So, what you're saying, is that my room basically follows me around when I jump?"
The Doctor rolled his eyes at her. "Oh, you had to put it like that didn't you?" He moaned. "But yes, that's pretty much how it works."
Kari smiled at him. "Okay. Thanks, I guess that makes sense. Well, night, again." Kari said, giving him a quick hug. The Doctor gave her a kiss on the cheek before letting her go and smiling at her as she went back into her room.
The first thing Kari done was to grab her laptop and take it over to the bed with her. As she sat down she felt something hanging around her. She realised she still had the bag River had given her slung across her body. She quickly took it off and pulled out the neatly wrapped present that was inside it.
There was a note attached to it and Kari carefully opened it.
To my Darling Kari. Happy Birthday. I know you are going to love it. But don't let him see it just yet. There's a time and a place for that. Love, River x.
Kari smiled to herself as she finished reading it. She looked back at the wrapping, she didn't want to just rip it open so she carefully inspected it, trying to find somewhere to start. Eventually she found a part that hadn't been taped over and carefully began to open it.
She held her breath as she started to remove the paper, excited to see what was inside. She squealed a little as she noticed something blue becoming visible. She gasped a little when she saw exactly what she had been given. It was an amazing blue night dress. Kari held it up, smiling away to herself.
It was the perfect shade of blue, it was a little short, and rather sexy. She immediately got undressed and put it on, looking at herself in the mirror with it on. It was a perfect fit.
"Oh, thank you so much, River. I really do love it." She whispered to herself. The TARDIS seemed to hum in approval as well.
She plonked herself back down on her bed and turned on her laptop. The battery was full and it seemed to be running a lot faster than she remembered. "Did you do something amazing to make my laptop a little more super?" She said, looking around the room. The TARDIS gave another hum. "Well, thank you very much, sexy."
She opened up a document titled 'Where I've been' and started filling in the adventures she had just had with the Doctor. She didn't go into detail, all she did was note down the episode titles, that was all the detail she really needed. After she had saved it and closed it, she opened another one, her to do list, and added Villenguard to it. Once she had finished there she opened up her final document and started typing away furiously. She was noting down all the differences there had been, and many questions.
It was about an hour later when she finally turned it off and placed it back on the desk. She let out a sigh as she threw herself on the bed, feeling completely relaxed and exhausted. She pulled the covers over her and snugged down in her bed. It was so soft and warm that Kari fell peacefully asleep in no time.
She didn't know how long she was asleep for, all she knew was that someone was banging on her door, calling out her name. "Kari? Kari are you there?" She let out a groan as she heard the Doctor's voice.
"Maybe she's gone. You said that it's happened before when she has been asleep. It could have happened again." It would appear that Rose was also outside her room.
"I don't want her to have gone yet, Rose." The Doctor said quietly. "Kari? If you're in there can you please just let me know?" He called through the door.
"Ugh, make him shut up, please." She mumbled. A second later the TARDIS gave a loud hum and a shake, which only disturbed Kari from her sleep even more.
"Oi, will you bloody well get up." The Doctor shouted. "She's told me you're in there."
Kari groaned in frustration, all she wanted to do was sleep. "Go away! I need my beauty sleep!" She hollered to him.
"You've slept for long enough, 18 hours to be exact. Now get a shift on and get out of bed." He called.
"18 hours isn't long enough. I've got a weeks worth of sleeping to catch up on. Come back in a few days." She shouted, pulling the duvet over her head to block out the noise.
"You're a Time Lord, you don't need that much sleep. Now get up."
Kari just curled herself up tighter under the covers, making no attempt to move. She knew that he wasn't able to come in her room and get her out, so he had no way of forcing her out of her room. What she had forgotten was that she was in the TARDIS, and even she thought it was time for her to get up.
The whole room started shaking violently, making Kari fall out of the bed and hit the floor with a loud thud. She could hear the Doctor laughing outside, he knew what had just happened.
"Oi, this is really not fair!" She shouted.
"I take it you're up now?" The Doctor asked her through the door.
Kari grabbed the dressing gown sitting on the chair by the desk and quickly put it on before opening the door. "Yes, I am up. You happy now?" She asked, frowning at him.
"Yes. Now get dressed. And hurry up." He said before turning away from her and heading towards the console room, Rose at his side.
"Yeah, good morning to you as well." She called after them. Kari could have sworn she heard both of them laughing before they disappeared around the corner. She let out a sigh and headed back into her room. "Stupid bloody Time Lords." She muttered, heading towards her bathroom.
She took her time have a nice, long bath before deciding it was time to head to the console room. She wrapped a towel around her body and another one around her hair. She looked on her bed and saw a fresh pair of jeans, a short sleeved blue top and a pair of converses waiting on the bed for her.
"Oh, thank you, sexy." She said before quickly grabbing them and getting dressed.
Kari picked up her hair brush and starting to run it through her hair before putting it back and tying it up. What used to be her fringe was a lot longer, but not long enough to stay tied back so it ended up falling into her eyes. After fighting with it for some time she finally gave up and let it hang over to the side.
She stepped out of her room and walked straight into someone. Kari looked up and saw Jack grinning at her. "He sent you to come and get me didn't he?"
"Good morning to you as well, Princess." He said, wrapping his arms around her. "I hope you're not in a bad mood already this morning?"
She let out a sigh. "Not yet, but I'm sure the Doctor will change that soon enough. I'm looking forward to annoying him today if I'm honest with you."
Jack studied her carefully as he let her go, and curiosity got the better of him. "And why would you want to do that?"
Kari let a smirk form on her face. "Because it's just too easy to wind this version of him up. Plus, I still haven't completely forgiven him for something that happened yesterday." She thought back to what had happened, how the Doctor was refusing to save Jack, trying to rewrite time by removing him from Kari's future. Lucky for her, she had someone special on her side, she had the TARDIS agreeing with her. The TARDIS had opened her mind and she now knew exactly how to pilot the TARDIS, and she could do it better than the Doctor.
"What did he do?" He was still curious. But Kari wasn't sure she wanted to tell him exactly what had happened.
"He was being an idiot. But don't worry, I got my way in the end." She said, putting her arm through Jack's and starting to drag him through the ship. "Come on, time to go and see what the stupid Time Lord has planned for us today."
Jack just looked at her in shock. "Hey, aren't you stupid Time Lord as well?"
Kari snorted a little. "Please, just because I have two hearts and the same biological make up as a Time Lord, that does not mean that I am one. And even if I really were, I would be a Time Lady. Thank you very much, Harkness."
Jack couldn't help but laugh, he could see she was stubborn and could only imagine how much of a handful she could be at times. But he couldn't wait to find out what she was like in their future, he knew it would be interesting.
Once they reached the console room, Rose and the Doctor were sitting in the seat, chattering away. They hadn't noticed that Kari and Jack had arrived yet.
"She shouldn't have done it, Rose. It could cause all kinds of problems. None of us know what her stupid actions are going to have caused." The Doctor moaned. Clearly he was not happy with something that Kari had done.
"Yeah, but Doctor, if she knows him in the future, than surely it was meant to happen. If she didn't she would have been changing time." Rose said, trying to make him see sense.
The Doctor just glared at her. "She had no clue as to what she was doing, Rose. You remember what happened when you saved someone who was meant to die?" Kari noticed Rose shift uncomfortable. She knew exactly what the Doctor was talking about now.
"Oh, will you just give it a rest already, Doctor. It's done now, and nothing you can do is going to change it. So get over it." Kari called, stepping away from Jack and towards the Doctor. "If anyone was going to rewrite time, it was going to be you. You don't know what I do, so don't you dare think for a second that I had no clue about what I was doing." Her eyes were burning brightly now, and she could feel it this time.
"You are so full of yourself, you know that, Kari?" The Doctor spat at her.
"Me? Oh no, Doctor. I think you're talking about yourself. You always have to be right, you always have to know more than anyone else. You insult anyone who isn't as good as you. And that includes me." She yelled at him. She had hoped that after last night, everything with this Doctor would calm down a little, but it would appear she was wrong.
"That's because you saved him." The Doctor shouted at her, pointing at Jack.
Kari wasn't going to take any more from the Doctor, she had had enough. "I saved Captain Jack Harkness, because you wouldn't. One day, you're going to understand why. And when that day comes I hope I am no longer in your life."
The Doctor snorted at her. "Now, I know that you don't mean that."
Kari glared at him, her eyes burning brighter and brighter the more angry she became. "Don't I? If I was actually given a choice of staying on Earth or travelling with you, I'd stay on Earth."
Both Rose and Jack were looking more than a little uncomfortable now. Rose was slightly scared as well, she had never seen Kari so angry with the Doctor before, or with anyone. She had witnessed their arguments before, but they had never been as serious as this one. She had never heard Kari say that she would rather not be with the Doctor.
"Right, I'll just take you to Earth and leave you there then." The Doctor said, starting to move around the console.
"Doctor, you can't!" Rose cried, trying to stop him.
"No, if that's what the little princess wants then that's what she gets." He told her, setting the coordinates.
Kari stood there watching him, she had mixed feelings now about what was happening. But his attitude had made it clear that she did not like traveling with that version of him. He was too bossy, too arrogant and seemed to hate Jack. "Since I'm leaving, I'd like to borrow the psychic paper please. Just so I can send someone a message." Kari said, holding out her hand.
The Doctor just looked at her hand before turning away from her. Kari let out a sigh, she should have known he wouldn't let her borrow it now.
"Here, take mine." Jack said softy, putting his psychic paper in her hands. "I'm sure everything is going to be fine." He whispered, seeing that her eyes were slowly returning to their normal golden colour.
"Nothing is ever going to be fine with that man, Jack. He doesn't realise just how important you are, but I do know." Kari said, letting out a sigh. "I don't understand why he is acting this way. It's like he is jealous or something."
"Right, here we go. Earth, 21st century. Bye then." The Doctor said before disappearing somewhere else inside the huge ship.
Kari just shook her head, this wasn't how she had expected the day going, but it was too late now. She was not going to apologise to that man, she knew she had done nothing wrong. "I'll see you around, Rose." She said, hugging the blonde.
"You're not really going are you?" Rose asked, holding back the tears.
"You know me, once I've decided on something I never turn back." Kari said, as they pulled apart. She turned around and faced Jack. "Stay out of trouble, Harkness. I did not save you just for you to go and die when I'm not around." She warned him playfully.
"I can't believe all this is because you saved me." He mumbled to her has he held her tightly. "You shouldn't have done it."
"You're worth saving, Harkness. If he wants to act like a child over it, then let him. I know what I done was right, I know that you deserved to live." She whispered back to him, holding her own tears back.
"Make sure you find me in the future." He told her, finally letting her go.
"Oh, don't you worry about that. I know exactly where and when to find you. Believe me, I'm going to make your life absolute hell if I get my way." Jack just rolled his eyes at her.
"Look after yourself, Princess." He said, kissing her lightly on the lips.
"And you, Jack. Like I said, I didn't save you for nothing." She turned around and gave Rose one last look. "See you later, Rose Tyler." With the psychic paper in her hand she headed down the ramp and towards the doors of the TARDIS.
The ship itself gave a very unhappy hum. "I'm sorry, I have to go. I'll be back, maybe." She whispered, before pulling the door open and stepping out into the sun.
She really was back on Earth, back in the time that she knew. She wasn't stuck in the past or the future, she was home. Kari stepped away from the blue box, resisting the urge to turn around and head back inside. She knew she couldn't even turn around and look at it, she knew that the Doctor would now be watching her, expecting her to come back. No, she was not going to let him win, she was walking away from it all.
And that's what she did. She walked further away from the box and around a corner. As soon as she was out of sight she heard the engines of the magical ship and Kari knew that they were gone. Only she didn't know what to really do now. She had no money, no friends, all she had was the psychic paper and she wasn't even sure she knew what to do with it.
She flipped the wallet open. She could send a message to the Doctor, but that might go wrong, like it did for River and arrive early. River, she realised she could send a message to River. She trusted her, she knew that if she needed help then she would be the best person to contact.
Kari looked down at the paper and watched as the message she wanted to send to River flashed across it.
River, I need you. I'm stuck on Earth. The Doctor is an idiot. I hate him. Kari x.
She felt the paper burning for a moment before the message faded and it went cold. All she could do was hope that it worked and that River got her message and come to see her. Kari decided that in the mean time she was going to have a little walk around, try to work out where exactly she was on Earth.
As she looked around she saw familiar things, like the post office and the duck pond without any ducks. Kari froze on the spot. "Oh no. Please don't tell me he dropped me off in Leadworth." She looked at her surroundings some more and confirmed that she was indeed in Leadworth.
She didn't hesitate, she needed to find out exactly what point in time this was. There was every chance that the Doctor was going to turn up, or he could have already been. She made her way to Amy's house, for some reason her feet seemed to just take her there.
She went for the back door, from what she could remember, Amy didn't exactly lock it when she left that night with the Doctor. Around the back, she noticed that the shed was in one piece, and there was no TARDIS in the garden. The back door opened easily and she charged up the stairs and straight into the room of Amelia Pond.
"She's getting married in the morning." Kari whispered, noticing the wedding dress and the date on the clock by the bed. "Oh, hurry up, River. They're going to be here by midnight and I want to be gone by then." She mumbled to herself.
As if on cue there was a loud crack and a blinding flash of light. "Hello, darling. Is everything alright?" River asked, grinning away.
"No, everything is not alright, River. The Doctor is a complete and total idiot and I never want to see him again. Ever." Kari announced firmly.
River looked at her on shock. She had never heard her speak about the Doctor like the before. "Kari, what's happened?" River asked, putting an arm around her as they sat on Amy's bed.
"He decided that he knew best, but he didn't. I knew what needed to happen, so I saved someone he didn't want me to save. But that person is going to be a fixed point in time. I had to do it." Kari told her, trying to hold back the tears.
"What regeneration was it?" River asked softly.
"It was his 9th. And I hate him." She didn't know if she really meant that. She knew that she didn't get along with that Doctor, but she was fine with some others.
"You don't mean that, Kari." River didn't know what to say to her.
"I do. That's why he dumped me here." That was it. She couldn't hold the tears any longer and they started rolling down her cheeks.
"Oh, darling. Everything will be fine. You know what he gets like when he doesn't get his own way. Come on, let's get out of here before someone finds us." She said, pulling Kari off the bed and looking at her mothers wedding dress.
They left the house and took a walk around the little village of Leadworth. It was exactly the same as Kari thought it would be.
"I don't know what to do, River. Everything is a complete mess now. We pretty much started fighting the moment we saw each other. It was the first time I had met that regeneration and this is how it ended." Kari told her as they walked past the post office.
"Well, I haven't met that version of him yet either, but when I do he can expect to get a earful from me." River said sternly. She was clearly not happy with the way things had happened, Kari was so upset and lost and River was not going to allow the man who had caused her to be like that get away with it.
"No, don't. There's no need for that. All I can say is I hope I never see him again. And if I do have the misfortune to see him again, I hope I jump at the first chance." It was clear from her tone that she meant every word of it.
"Kari, what do you want to do?" River asked her, turning her so that they were facing each other.
Kari let out a sigh. "I don't know. Where are you and him up to?"
"America." River said sadly. "I know that hasn't happened for you yet, but you still know everything about it don't you?"
Kari nodded at her. "It's okay, River. I know what happens, and I don't blame you. And above all else, I forgive you." Kari gave the woman a hug, seeing how upset she was starting to look. "Now, to decide on what to do. We both know why we can't hang around here much longer."
Kari knew that it wasn't going to be possible for River to take her to a certain Doctor, the one that she had left before meeting him in 1941. River hadn't met him yet, and she didn't meet him until she went to the library. "I want to see my bow tie wearing Doctor."
River smiled at her. "I'm sure we can manage that. And I know exactly where we should be going to find him, you would have just left him and he will be in the TARDIS feeling sorry for himself."
Kari frowned at her. "Why would he be feeling sorry for himself?" She wondered.
"Because he is in the TARDIS on his own. Mother and father are living their life back on Earth, and with you gone, he is pretty miserable." River told her.
"Well then, we better go and change that then, hadn't we? You know what happens when he is left on his own for too long." Kari said, doing her best to smile.
"Right, let's go then shall we?" River said, flipping open her vortex manipulator and pressing a few of the buttons. "Ready?" River asked. Kari nodded at her and placed her hand over the vortex manipulator. "Let's go and surprise him."
In a blinding flash of light, everything around Kari disappeared. She had never travelled by vortex manipulator before, and she had been expecting it to be pretty bad for her first time, but it wasn't as bad as she had expected.
A/N: Bet you wasn't expecting that now was you! Again, I am sorry for how long it had been since updating. I had uni work, and writers block, and wasn't well. Everything seemed to just happen at once.
I promise to work harder in future. I mean it, I really. Thank you to those who followed/favourited/reviewed, even when I hadn't updated as well. You guys are awesome.
I mean it, I will kick myself back into shape.
Pippa.