A/N: Thank you for the love and support I received following the previous chapter's posting! It was truly touched by the reviews you left that wished me well in my struggles. Life really is getting better, as is evident by this posting! I know this one is shorter, but I have a few BIG surprises queuing up for the next chapter that I can't wait to reveal to you all! Leave a review on this chapter and let me know whether you're still out there reading this and/or enjoying my story.
The Stolen Earth
The Doctor was in a blind panic as he set the path for the TARDIS and threw the dematerialisation lever. Around the console room, four other people readied themselves for something terrible to happen. Upon landing, they all moved quickly to the door, staring out…
...at a perfectly ordinary neighbourhood, completely with sunny skies and birds chirping softly.
"It's fine... everything's fine," the Time Lord breathed, unconsciously reaching out to draw Rose to him as he watched a milk cart trundle down the road.
Donna and Lee looked around, as well.
"Is this Earth?" Lee asked Donna, somewhat amazed to be in a place he'd only read about in history lessons when he was a child.
Rose was just as worried as the doctor, seeing as she hadn't known the reason behind the warnings even though Bad Wolf was her. She asked the milkman, "Excuse me? What day is it?"
"Saturday," came the absent reply.
"Saturday! Good! Good, I like Saturdays," the Doctor said decisively.
"If everything is fine, then how did I meet your friend?" Donna asked.
"Fair question," he acknowledged without answering.
"Neither of us should have seen him," Rose noted. "Yet we did."
"Exactly," the Doctor agreed. "If he can cross from his parallel world to your parallel world, then that means the walls of the universe are breaking down, which puts everything in danger. Everything. But how?"
The group reentered the TARDIS, ready to search more intently for the origin of their current mystery, but a sudden severe shudder caused them to crash into each other.
Donna asked the Doctor accusingly, "What the hell was that?"
"It came from outside!" he replied in defense.
Jenny was running to the door and jerked it open before any of the adults could move to stop her. To the surprise of all who gathered just within the door, there was nothing to see but stars and dust.
"When did we move? Did the TARDIS move us like when Jenny was made?" Donna asked Rose, a bit wild eyed.
The Doctor answered, having run back to the console to scan the area. "We haven't moved. We're fixed… It can't have... no!" He rushed back to the door, staring out at the universe beyond. "The TARDIS is still in the same place, but the Earth is gone. The entire planet... it's gone!"
Rose grasped his hand, grim faced. "So we find it." Releasing his hand, she shooed them all back, and firmly shut the doors. "There has to be a trail, right?"
He jumped back to the console, immediately programming it to track the earth, or whatever had taken it. Donna and Lee followed but stayed far enough back so as not to impede his movements. Jenny clamoured into the jump seat, having learned she could see what happened there without being in the way.
"But... if the Earth's been moved... they've lost the sun," the redhead asked, leaning against her partner for support. "What about my Mum? And Grandad? They're dead? Aren't they? Are they dead?"
"I don't know, Donna. I just don't know. I'm sorry. I don't know," the Doctor replied, shaking his head without looking up.
"That's my family. My whole world," she breathed. "All except Lee."
At his name, the dark haired man put his arm around Donna's shoulders.
They felt the whisper of air and saw the eerie gold glow seep out from under Rose's eyelids. After a few moments, she gasped and slumped against the console, her husband rushing to hold her up.
"I was only trying to figure if they're okay, but Doctor, I can't even feel them," she said, a bit shaky.
"That's twice you've used that ability of yours in one day," he admonished gently. "I know you want to do all you can, but you have to keep yourself strong also, my Rose."
She nodded, looking at Donna helplessly. "I'm sorry Donna."
The redhead buried her face in Lee's chest. While he held her, he said to the Doctor and Rose, "She knows you're doing your best. You figure out our next step while I take care of her."
Nodding, the Doctor made sure his wife was stable before moving back to the controls. "There's only one thing left for us to do, honestly. We've got to get some help."
Rose made a face and a noise of displeasure, as she moved to hug Jenny.
"Not much other option, is there?" he asked her. "We're gonna have to ask the Shadow Proclamation."
"Doesn't mean I have to like the idea," she said back. "Still, if they can help…"
The TARDIS shook violently as the Doctor guided her toward the Shadow Proclamation station, and he glanced at Rose nervously a few times, hoping that their ship's hesitancy wasn't affecting her. She had her eyes closed, hugging a very wide eyed Jenny while she sat in the jumpseat.
"So, go on then - what is the Shadow Proclamation, anyway?" Donna asked him, holding tightly to the console next to Lee while they watched the Doctor.
"Posh name for 'police'. Outer space police. Here we go!"
The TARDIS lurched and the Doctor went sprawling across the console, the only person who failed to have a firm grip on something.
"Please be careful, Doctor," Rose told him, trying to lighten the mood by teasing a bit. "Right now would be a terrible time for you to regenerate."
The group makes their way to the door, cautiously peeping out, Doctor first. They were met by a group of Judoon who immediately pointed guns at them, causing them all to raise their hands in surrender.
"Sco po tro no flow jo ko fo to to," the commander of the group said.
The Doctor replied without hesitation. "No bo ho so ko ro toe so."
Lee leaned over to Rose while Donna gave the Doctor a look.
"I thought the TARDIS translated all languages," he whispered to the blonde.
She gave him a small smirk before whispering back, "She doesn't like the Judoon language much."
The Doctor continued a bit faster, "Bo-ko-do-zo-go-bo-fo-po-jo!"
The Judoon lowered their weapons, recognizing the Doctor as one in command.
"Ma ho."
The Judoon guards parted to reveal a representative who had been waiting to speak with them.
"Time Lords are the stuff of legend. They belong in the myths and whispers of the Higher Species. You cannot possibly exist outside of a Bad Wolf scenario."
Rose tensed, and the Doctor tightened his hold on her hand just a bit.
"Yeah... more to the point, I've got a missing planet," he replied, waving off the representative's statement.
The woman lifted her chin haughtily. "Then, you're not as wise as the stories would say. The picture is far bigger than you imagine. The whole universe is in outrage, Doctor - twenty-four worlds have been taken from the sky."
"How many? Which ones? Show me!"
Rose released his hand so that the Doctor could put his glasses on while he studied the display of the Shadow Architect's computer.
"The locations range far and wide. They all disappeared at the exact same moment, leaving no trace."
Rose frowned, tipping her head while she also studied the display. She felt the TARDIS trying to tell her something while she looked, but it was fuzzy.
"Callufrax Minor," read the Doctor aloud, "Jahoo, Shallacatop, Woman Wept, Clom - Clom's gone?! Who'd want Clom?"
He glanced back at his wife who wrinkled her nose in remembrance of the Abzorbaloff they'd encountered in the past.
"All different sizes. Some populated, some not, but all unconnected," the Shadow Architect droned, her voice devoid of emotion.
"What about Pyrovilia?" Donna asked suddenly.
The Architect drew her lip up in an expression of distaste as she surveyed the others in the room. "Who are these people you are with?"
Donna immediately bristled at her tone. She'd always hated people who looked down on others, and she wasn't about to let some bint in space to just insult her for no reason. "Donna. I'm a Human Being. Maybe not the stuff of legend, but every bit as important as Time Lords, thank you."
The others in their odd little family grinned at her, loving her for her unshakeable beliefs.
Donna was through speaking with the Shadow Architect, however. She turned to the Doctor, deciding that she would simply address him. "Way back when we were in Pompeii, Lucius said Pyrovillia had gone missing."
"'The heaven of Pyrovillia is gone,'" Rose repeated from the memory.
One of the Judoon spoke, "Pyrovillia is cold case. Not relevant."
"The planet Pyrovilia cannot be part of this, it disappeared over two-thousand years ago," the Architect informed her icily.
Donna looked at Rose. "Yes, yes. Hang on. But there's the Adipose breeding planet too. Miss Foster said that was lost. But... that must've been a long time ago."
Rose blinked as it clicks in her head what the TARDIS had been trying to get across. "Time! Doctor, Time is irrelevant!"
His eyes grew round as he caught up. "Rose, Donna, you're brilliant. Just brilliant!" He begins making adjustments to the computer as he spoke, "The planets have been taken out of time as well as space. Let's put this into 3D." Holograms of the missing planets appeared in the display. "Now, if we add Pyrovilia… And Adipose 3… There's something missing. Where else, where else, where else, lost, lost, lost, lost...?"
"My moon, Daddy!" Jenny cried out to help.
"OH! The Lost Moon of Poosh!"
He turns to see the display and walks through the planets as they began to move themselves into a new arrangement.
"What did you do?" the Shadow Architect gasped.
"Nothing. The planets rearranged themselves into the optimum pattern," the time lord said appreciatively. "Oh... look at that. Twenty-seven planets in perfect balance. Come on, that is gorgeous!"
"Should I leave you alone for a mo'?" Rose asked, gaining a sheepish grin from her husband.
"What are we looking at, Doctor?" Lee asked, snapping him out of his thoughts. "What does this mean?"
The Time Lord moves to stand with them, taking on a lecturer's tone. "All those worlds fit together like pieces of an engine. It's like a power house. But what for?"
The Shadow Architect frowned at them. "Who could design such a thing?"
"Someone tried to move the Earth once before. A long time ago…" the Doctor replied warily. "Can't be…"
"Doctor, we have to accept that impossibility has flown right out the window," Rose said, rubbing Jenny's back as the girl hugged her waist.
The Shadow Architect gave her an arch look, "I'm sure the Doctor doesn't need his assistant's help in discovering what we're facing."
Rose clenched her jaw and would have leapt at them, but for the comforting weight of her daughter at her waist. Instead, she settled for muttering under her breath, matching the cadence of the TARDIS' hum of irritation. She turned away to Donna, who was wrapped in Lee's arms as a single tear rolled down her cheek.
"Donna, I'm sorry," Rose said softly. "I promise, we're going to find them."
The redhead gave her a watery half smile. "I should call more… visit more. I haven't even gotten to introduce Lee to my granddad, you know?"
"Then that's the first thing we'll do," the mostly human woman replied certainly. "Soon as we've got this sorted, I'll make sure himself takes you to visit for a bit and stays near enough for you to rejoin us when you're ready."
Lee pressed a kiss to Donna's head. "And I'm here," he reminded her, barely stumbling over the words this time. "We can do anything together."
A servant approached with a tray of waters and an empty expression. "You need sustenance. Take the water, it purifies."
They all took the offered drinks, Rose only reaching for one when the others already held a drink. The servant met her eyes and the tray shook slightly. The blonde woman reached out to steady it.
"Steady there," she said softly. "Don't want to distract the important people over there."
"The Bad Wolf," he whispered in awe. "Supreme One… I…"
Rose sighed softly. "Not this again. Look, love, you're from Coraxon 8, right?"
The pale servant, who had appeared to be an albino human, nodded, eyes wide with a mixture of reverence and surprise.
"I've told your leaders that I'm not your sun goddess or the Supreme One. Don't go outing me to your boss, all right?"
He frowned softly. "I… o-of course, my Lady."
Donna shook her head as the servant walked away. "Do you ever get used to people taking you for a goddess?"
Rose's eyes flashed gold for a moment. "I was tired of it before it ever happened the first time."
"Donna, come on, think," the Doctor chose that moment to interrupt. "Earth. There must've been some sort of warning. Was there anything happening back in your day, like... electrical storms, freak weather, patterns in the sky?"
Upset as she was, Donna couldn't think of a single thing to answer the Time Lord's query. "Well, how should I know? Um... no. I don't think so, no."
He sighed and nodded. "Oh, okay. Never mind."
"Although…" she mused softly, "there were the bees disappearing."
He made a face and echoed snarkily, "The bees disappearing. The BEES disappearing."
Donna fell silent, shrinking in on herself as she'd done so many times when people around her had shot her down. Rose frowned and moved quickly to the Doctor, placing herself directly in his path. "Oi, she was trying to help. You don't get to treat her like that."
He dropped his head, turning to apologise when he stopped and blinked. "No! The bees disappearing!"
He ran at full tilt to the computer, and began pressing buttons. "You brilliant woman," he said over his shoulder at the redhead.
The Shadow Architect sniffed, "How is that significant?"
"Bees are insects that are indigenous to Earth," Rose told the woman scathingly.
Donna, feeling more confident at seeing Rose standing up for her, left Lee's embrace to move toward them. "They were disappearing everywhere. Some people said it was pollution or mobile phone signals."
"Or…" the Doctor grinned, "they were going back home."
"Back home where?" his companion asked.
"The planet Melissa Majoria."
"Are you saying bees are aliens?"
"He better not be, because only some bees are. Bees also evolved quite independently on Earth," Rose said, still frowning at the Doctor's rudeness.
"If the migrant bees felt something, some sort of danger, and escaped... Tandocca!" the oblivious Doctor rambled.
"The Tandocca Scale," the Shadow Architect mused in the beginning of understanding.
The Doctor began rambling, "The Tandocca Scale is a series of wavelengths used as carrier signals by migrant bees. Infinitely small, no wonder we didn't see it. It's like looking for a speck of cinnamon in the Sahara. But look! here it is! The Tandocca trail." He pointed to the screen then grinned at Rose from habit, discovering she was still scowling. So he spoke directly to her, hoping to show her that he was doing this for them. "The transmat that moved that planets was using the same wavelength! We can follow the path!"
Donna accepted the information as an apology and was already halfway to the TARDIS. "And find the Earth! Well, stop talking and do it!"
Rose raised an eyebrow. "She doesn't even think there was anything wrong with that," she told her husband in a quiet voice. "But she didn't deserve that treatment, Doctor. No one does, and you're supposed to show her that she deserves better. You need to apologise."
He nodded and kissed her forehead. "I know."
The pair followed Donna into the TARDIS, immediately after Lee led Jenny inside. After checking a few things on the TARDIS' monitor, the Doctor grinned. "We might have been a bit late, but it's a start."
Rose peeked around him. "Bit scattered, but we can follow that."
He smiled at her, taking the comment for what it was - permission to come back to the apology after the crisis. He darted back to the door and stuck his head out to inform the Shadow Architect, "I've got a blip! It's just a blip, but it's definitely a blip."
"Then according to the strictures of the Shadow Proclamation, I will have to seize your transport and your technology," the woman responded authoritatively.
Rose began moving toward the door, gesturing for the others to stand still. She heard her husband answer.
"Oh, really? What for?"
Rose rolled her eyes and began asking the TARDIS to lend her a bit of energy, as she was still feeling a bit worn.
The Shadow Architect's voice throbbed with her delusions of glory. "The planets were stolen with hostile intent. We are declaring war, Doctor! Right across the universe! And you will lead us into battle!"
Rose had heard enough and stepped out from behind the Doctor. When she opened her mouth to speak, the duality of Bad Wolf caused the Doctor, the Shadow Architect, and the Judoon to face her with wide eyes. Rose noticed the servant who had addressed her earlier hovering at the outer edge of the room. "You will not engage in war, Architect. You will not force the Doctor into beginning a war that will gain you the glory you seek."
The Doctor stared in open mouthed horror, berating himself for not stopping this before it reached this point. His wife was again that glorious golden form of myths and legends that haunted his worst dreams. He still feared this power she had grown to wield.
The Shadow Architect trembled, gazing ashenly at her. "B-bad W-wolf…"
The Doctor started to reach for her, but she held up a hand. "This is the Bad Wolf scenario that you fear, Architect. Will you be the one who goes against me?"
The woman shook her head, covering her mouth with a shaking hand. Rose gestured for the Doctor to enter the TARDIS. Keeping her eyes on the Shadow Architect, she followed him into the ship.
Once the door closed, she fell to her hands and knees. The Doctor and Lee ran at her, while Donna held Jenny back.
"Doctor… get after that trail…" she gasped. "I'll be fine, I promise."
He gazed into her eyes for a long, tense moment before running to the console and throwing them into flight, tracking the Earth. Lee helped Rose to her feet and walked her to the jump seat. Jenny crawled into her lap and hugged her tightly.
"I'm okay, sweetheart," she said softly, kissing her daughter's forehead. "We talked about this, remember?"
Jenny buried her face in her mother's chest. "I remember, but I'm still scared."
Rose leaned her daughter back, aware that the three adults nearby were listening also. "Being scared is good. If you're scared, that means you still care. Being scared means you pay attention to what's happening. You can't be brave without being scared first."
The little girl nodded solemnly. "I'm brave."
Rose grinned. "Yes you are. You are borne…"
"...of the Wolf," Jenny answered, comforted by the familiar ritual between herself and her parents.
"And shaped?"
"By the Storm. And Loved by both."
The time rotor suddenly halted its movement, and the sensation of traveling also stopped. The five people looked around at each other.
"D-did we find Earth?" Lee asked.
The Doctor pulled up the monitor, peering around their surroundings. "We're at the Medusa Cascade…"
"What do you mean?" Donna asked. "Is that good or bad?"
The Doctor shook his head, lost in thought for a moment. "I came here when I was just a kid. Ninety years old. It was the centre of a rift in time and space."
"So... where are the twenty-seven planets?"
The Doctor ran a hand through his hair, moving toward one of the supports and leaning against it. "Nowhere. The Tandocca Trail stops dead. End of the line."
Donna took Lee's hand, nervously asking, "So, what do we do? Doctor? What do we do?"
He didn't answer her, closing his eyes as he silently berated himself for failing them. His wife's home was gone, and he was useless when it came to finding it. He had lost.
"Doctor," Rose called to him. "You're blaming yourself."
He shook his head, thinking to himself that there was nothing he could do.
Jenny slid off her mother's lap and walked confidently to her father. "Daddy. You have to be brave, too. I dreamed about today, and Mom told me that we need to trust our friends and each other."
The Doctor opened his eyes and looked down. "What?"
"We're going to find them, Dad."
The adults all smiled weakly for the girl, but the mood didn't lighten much. It wasn't long after Jenny spoke that Rose began to feel as though something inside her was being stretched. She shifted with discomfort.
"Rose? What's wrong?" the Doctor asked, ever attentive to the blonde woman.
She looked at the time rotor and stood to press a hand to it. "I'm not sure. Feels like… like when you play with magnets and feel them pulling at each other. Like if I wasn't so weak right now, the TARDIS and I could find those planets."
The Time Lord moved toward his wife. "You can't blame yourself, my Rose."
"Why not? My husband does," she shot back dryly. At his reproachful look, she shrugged. "I don't know how else to put it, Doctor. I'm sorry for being snippy, it's just…"
He nodded, "I know. I think I could perhaps feel through you, if you'll let me?"
Rose agreed immediately, lifting her face to allow him to press his fingertips to her temples. She concentrated on the nagging pull in her, noticing how the feeling was sort of vibrating in a sequence - almost like…
Suddenly the TARDIS phone began ringing. All of her occupants turned to stare at it in a shocked stupor for a moment, until Jenny lifted the receiver.
"Hello?"
Her parents both moved to their child, but the Doctor was the one who plucked the object from her hands.
"There wasn't anyone there," the girl told her father.
"It's a signal…" the Doctor mumbled, brain furiously working out the next step.
"Follow it!" Rose urged, gripping Donna's hands in hers. The two women exchanged hopeful looks.
The Doctor laid the phone down in front of the monitor and pulled out his stethoscope, pressing the diaphragm to the speaker while patching it to the console.
"Got it! Locking on!" He crowed, punching the sky triumphantly as he pulled a lever.
The TARDIS shuddered, and Rose squeezed her eyes shut, crying out in pain as everyone tumbled into the floor and sparks showered over them.
Rose curled into the fetal position, holding her head as tears poured down her cheeks. She couldn't draw a deep enough breath to even scream, as it felt as though she were being pulled apart. The console burst into flames, a visual of her turmoil.
"We're travelling through time! One second in the future! The phone call's pulling us through!" The Doctor shouted the explanation over the chaos, trying to distract himself from his wife's suffering at least until he could help. "THREE! TWO! ONE!"
And suddenly, all was still. Donna and Lee raised to hands and knees, looking about warily. The Doctor crawled rapidly to Rose, lifting her into his lap.
"Oh precious girl," his frantic murmurs spilled over themselves as he pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Rose, are you okay? 'Course you're not, stupid question. All that had to be torture."
"Doctor," she rasped. "Just give me a mo'. I'll be fine as soon as I can breathe a bit."
Jenny, meanwhile, had climbed onto the console as soon as the fire went out and was pulling the monitor around. "Look!"
Donna gasped at what they could now see. "The twenty-seven planets! And there's the Earth! But why couldn't we see it?"
Pushing himself to his feet, the Doctor helped Rose to stand and drew her toward their daughter.
"The entire Medusa Cascade has been put a second out of sync with the rest of the universe," he explained with an awed expression. "Perfect hiding place, tiny little pocket of time. But we found them!"
Rose tipped her head. "There's something else there."
The screen blurred for a moment as a whirring sound could be heard. The Doctor, after a glance to reassure himself that his favourite blonde was stable on her feet, moved to begin adjusting the settings.
"Oh, oh... what's that? Hold on, hold on…" he murmured more to himself than anyone else.
Donna and Lee joined the family at the console, watching curiously.
"Looks like some kind of subwave network," Lee suggested, blushing deeply as Donna looked at him, deeply impressed.
The monitor snapped into clarity as webcam images filled the screens.
"Jack!" Rose gasped out. "And Sarah Jane, and Martha!"
Jack barked out a short, relieved laugh before shouting, "Where the hell have you been?! Doctor, it's the Daleks!"
Rose bristled for a moment when the woman next to Jack smiled, "Ooh, he's a bit nice. I thought he'd be older."
The man on the other side of Jack frown slightly. "He's not that young."
"He's very taken," the blonde woman huffed.
"Rose, he won't have time to flirt," Sarah Jane waved the comments off. "It's the Daleks! They're taking people to their spaceship!"
"But it's not just Dalek Caan!" Martha added, desperately.
"Sarah Jane! Who's that boy? That must be Torchwood. Aren't they brilliant?" the Doctor beamed. "Look at you all, you clever people!"
"Hey again, Red," Jack winked at Donna, whose face flushed as bright as her hair.
Lee scowled and held Donna a bit tighter and possessively, which Rose knew secretly thrilled the woman who'd never had as much luck with men as she would have liked. Donna playfully rolled her eyes and murmured reassuringly to him.
"Isn't it wonderful, my Rose?" the Doctor asked softly, pulling his wife close.
"It is, sweetheart," she agreed. "But where's Mickey? Shouldn't he be there, since he's the one that warned us?"
Before he had a chance to answer her, the screen became static and all of the adults in the TARDIS cried out.
"Did we lose them again?" Donna asked, pressing a hand to her throat as she felt her heart jump.
Releasing Rose, the Doctor rushed to make adjustments to the feed. "No, no, no, no, no! There's another signal coming through, there's someone else out there." In his mounting frustration, he fell back on the habit of bashing to vent - in other words, he smacked the monitor with the flat of his hand.
"Honestly, Doctor!" Rose chided with a wince.
"Sorry," came his immediate apology, mostly from habit. To the feed he asked, "Hello? Can you hear me? Is this Mickey coming in now?"
A different voice answered, and the Time Lord froze. His blood ran cold in his veins and his face paled.
"Your voice is different, and yet, its arrogance is unchanged," spoke a voice dripping with disdain and hatred.
Though they could no longer see Sarah Jane, everyone watching the screens could hear her terrified whisper. "No. But he's dead."
The Doctor unconsciously grabbed Rose's hand and squeezed as a grayed disfigured face smirked from the monitor.
"Welcome... to my new Empire, Doctor."
Donna turned away into Lee's arms, while Rose fumed. She had seen this face in her studies over the years, and she knew this was Davros, the creator of the Daleks and the most evil person she could honestly think of. Shelooked to her husband who stood, horrified as he stared at the monitor.
Davros smiled in a dark, twisted manner. "It is only fitting that you should bear witness to the resurrection and the triumph of Davros, Lord and Creator of the Dalek Race."
There was no response from the Time Lord. He simply stared, his fantasti mind frozen in shock.
"Have you nothing to say?"
Rose squeezed his hand and whispered, "I'm here, love. I'm right here with ya, and I'm not going anywhere."
Finally, the Doctor's mouth opened. "But you were destroyed. In the very first year of the Time War, at the Gates of Elysiem. I saw your command ship flying into the jaws of the Nightmare Child. I tried to save you…"
"But it took one stronger than you," Davros sneered. "Dalek Caan himself."
Rose gasped as they heard the survivor of the Cult of Skaro singing maniacally, "I flew into the wild and fire. I danced and died a thousand times!"
Its creator sounded proud. "Emergency temporal shift took him back into the Time War itself."
The Doctor's shock began turning to anger. "But that's impossible, the entire War is time-locked."
"And yet, he succeeded. Oh, it cost him his mind, but imagine - a single, simple Dalek succeeded where Emperors and Time Lords have failed. A testament, don't you think, to my remarkable creations?"
"And you made a new race of Daleks."
"I gave myself to them. Quite literally. Each one grown from a cell of my own body," he opened his suit to show how his body was no more than a rotting husk, his internal organs easily visible. "New Daleks. True Daleks. I have my children, Doctor. What do you have, now?"
For a moment, they all just stared at him. Jenny finally broke their trances. "You look pretty gross, mister. And my dad is gonna kick your rotten butt."
And with that, she leaned over and pulled a lever, cutting the transmission.
Rose began to laugh, while the Doctor sweeped his daughter into his arms, kissing her cheek as they twirled around.
"Well done, my darling!" he crowed proudly. "Exactly what someone like that deserves."
Rose and the Doctor then worked in tandem to program a landing for their ship, materialising just outside of a church where there are many cars and bikes and other modes of transportation parked in a state of wild abandon.
"Looks like people came running ta church when they were snatched," Rose commented softly, looking around.
"It's like a ghost town," Donna noted, rubbing her upper arms with a frown.
"Sarah Jane said that they were taking the people. But what for?" the Doctor mused. Glancing between his wife and his friend, he asked, "Think, Donna. When you met Mickey in that parallel world, what did he say?"
"Just... the darkness is coming," the redhead murmured, furrowing her brow in thought.
Rose took a sharp breath just then and turned, staring down the street.
"What is it?" he asked, following her line of sight.
They both began to smile at once, drawing their companions' eyes in that direction as well. There in the street is the same black man that Donna had met in the parallel world, grinning as if he's just won a fantastic prize.
"Finally!" the man shouted, jogging toward them.
"Mickey!" Rose cried, glancing at the Doctor before releasing his hand and running toward her oldest and dearest friend.
As they neared each other, the Doctor saw a Dalek come from an alley and focus on the blonde. He immediately sprinted toward her.
"The Abomination! Exterminate!" the hate filled voice screamed, powering up.
The Doctor dove forward, tackling Rose to the ground as the creature fired. The shot burned between them, skimming laterally across both their chests. There was a flash nearby, which became Jack who promptly fired on the Dalek, blowing its casing apart. The others all ran at the fallen couple as fast they could.
Jenny was shouting, "Mum! Dad!"
"Oh no you don't!" Mickey growled, hitting his knees next to them. "I know better than to think either one of you could just up and die and leave this mess here."
Jack joined the dimension jumper at their friends' side. "Get them into the TARDIS, quick. Move! Mickey, you got our girl?"
"I got her, Captain. Grab the boss," he said, grabbing up the blonde.
"I have the door," Donna said, fishing out her key. "Lee, would you grab Jenny?"
The man nodded briskly, scooping the little girl into his arms.
"Are my mum and dad gonna be okay?" the small blonde asked worriedly.
"Mum and Dad?" Mickey repeated. "What'd I miss?"
"Captain…" the Doctor groaned as they headed for the console. "...get your hand off my bum, thank you."
Rose moaned as Mickey laid her down, and the group frowned as the familiar tendrils of gold began winding around her. Jack helped the Doctor to sit next to his wife, and frowned as the same glow began in his hands.
"What's this?" Donna gasped. "What's happening now?"
"Everybody stay back, I don't know if they'll both regenerate or not," Jack said with an unusually grim expression.
"Uncle Jack," Jenny said, wriggling out of Lee's grasp and approaching the Torchwood agent. "Mummy doesn't regenerate. The TARDIS will heal her."
"Jenny, we haven't really tested that…" he started to say.
"Don't have to," the little girl shrugged, watching her parents curiously. "Mummy told me."
"I still don't know what's happening," Donna huffed. She turned to Lee, "Can't we help them?"
Her love shook his head. "I don't think we should, even if we could."
"Too late," the Doctor gasped as his glow began to take over. He struggled to his feet and stumbled away from the others. "I'm regenerating!"
With those words, he burst into light, forcing all of the current inhabitants of the TARDIS to look away.
