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Chapter 12 - Drink?

Pete, Rose, and the Doctor were in the back of Pete's small limo.

"What's the situation?" the Doctor asked him.

"I don't even know. Jake just called and told me to get you two to Torchwood quick." Pete told them as he opened the bar's cabinet. "Drink? I hate this part when we just don't know what the hell is going on."

The Doctor and Rose nodded to accept a drink. Pete poured them all a glass of something from a clear decanter. They waited until Pete put the cork on the top of the bottle. Then he proposed a toast.

"To peaceful moments." he declared.

They all rose their glasses and drank.

Rose made a face of disgust and sat down her drink on the bar. "Blah. Too bitter for me, thanks."

Pete laughed and looked at the Doctor. "What do you think of it?"

The Doctor was holding the glass out, inspecting it. "I really like it. What is it?"

"Whiskey from Tennessee. Back in the States. It has a higher proof in it than they sell in the stores, though. A friend of mine gives me this… special….so, keep it in this car and my office at work. Just one drink of that will calm your nerves no matter what you are facing."

"I might have another one, then. Jake didn't say?" the Doctor said as he held out his glass for Pete to refill it.

"No, he didn't. Seemed urgent enough, I might have rushed to get you two. Maybe I didn't give him the time to explain."

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They were escorted by bodyguards through Torchwood Tower's front doors. Jake met them in the lobby.

"Sorry to bother you on a Saturday, Director Tyler. Rose. Doctor. But, we need some help. A ship is in orbit. Their pilot is demanding something. We can't understand anything they are saying, and our translators are not working."

"Oh! I can help with that. Lead on, Jakey-boy!" the Doctor encouraged.

The Doctor popped a pain pill as he walked down the hallway, then took Rose's hand in his. She turned to look at him and smiled.

They went up to the seventh floor. There, they went into a large room with big screens all over the walls. Twenty people worked behind computers on the floor. It reminded the Doctor of NASA's mission control center.

The screens displayed all the information they knew about the ship in space. There was also a video message that appeared paused.

Malcolm saw Rose and the Doctor and jumped up to greet them. "Thank goodness you are here. Maybe you can make heads or tails at this." The Doctor put on his glasses and went to look at Malcolm's readouts.

Then, the Doctor returned to the podium where Pete stood with Thomas. When did he slip into the room?

"Can we play the video, please?" the Doctor asked.

The video came on with a humanoid alien demanding something in his native language. The alien was mostly brown, wore amour, and had greasy hair.

The Doctor listened to the creature. Then he whipped off his brainy specs, looked around the room quickly. "Can we talk to them?"

A man at a computer confirmed that they could.

"Will they see us?" the Doctor asked.

Jake said, "Yes. Of course. The transmitter is working fine."

The Doctor looked around the room wildly. "Jake! Come here and give me your jacket!"

Jake ran over and took off his leather jacket and handed it to the Doctor. He carefully slid his casted arm in the sleeve and put it on. He tried to zip it up, but his hand wouldn't allow him. Rose saw his struggle and quickly came over to help. She zipped it up halfway for him.

The Doctor turned to Pete, Rose, Thomas, and Jake who were standing behind him. "These are Actaeons. They are a warrior race and won't listen to anyone who might appear injured. They are replying to an ad that they got a transmission. Something about the earth being sold for scrap. Have you had any encounters with the Slitheen family here?"

Jake said, "Yeah, about 4 years ago."

"Alright, let me talk to them. Just stand here." the Doctor said.

The Doctor turned to the screen and seemed to turn into another person. He spoke a language that sounded like German, Russian and Chinese all mixed into one strange form. Several of the people operating computers turned to look at him in surprise.

The Actaeon on the screen listened to him and replied.

The Doctor shrugged his shoulders and replied in the same strange language.

The Actaeon seemed to get upset. He slammed his hand down hard and shouted at the Doctor.

The Doctor then said something that Rose was sure she would call "rude" if she only knew what he was saying.

Then, the Actaeon shook his head as if he was agreeing with something.

The Doctor laughed, said some more words to the strange creature on the screen, and then turned to Jake. "Alright, you can cut the transmission. They are leaving now."

Jake snapped at someone operating a computer. The connection was closed. Someone on the other side of the room confirmed that the ship was leaving orbit.

Pete directed them towards the door. "Let's head up to my office."

Pete, Rose, the Doctor, Jake, and Thomas all walked out of the door. Security flanked them as they continued to Pete's office. The Doctor slipped back off Jake's jacket and handed it back over to him.

When they got to the Director's office, Pete opened the doors and turned on the lights. His secretary wasn't there due to it being the weekend. The rest of them came in and sat all around the office. Pete went to his desk, opened the bottom drawer, and pulled out a bottle of something. He walked over to the coffee table and lined up the glasses that were already there, and poured a drink in all of them.

Everyone took a drink, except Rose who had decided she had already had enough of Pete's booze for the day.

Thomas was the first to speak. "So, do you mind telling us what the hell you told that alien down there?"

The Doctor refilled his glass. "I explained to him that it was a misunderstanding. The people who had sent out that transmission had no claim to this planet. It was not a real offer. I apologized that he wasted a trip out here. I asked him what he was looking for. He told me, so I redirected him to a place where he could find it. Easy, all things considered."

"He looked to get upset. How do we know he won't return and shoot our planet out of the sky?"

The Doctor couldn't believe what he was hearing. Thomas really was an idiot. His head had started to swim a bit. He couldn't figure out why. He sat down on the couch next to Rose. He had another drink.

"Believe me, Thomas. The people of this planet will kill one another before any outside threat ever will. Besides, he has the entire universe to go conquer. He knows I'm here now, so he won't be back."

"And what makes you special to protect an entire world?"

"Honestly, not a damn thing." the Doctor confessed. Time Lords didn't exist in this dimension.

Thomas was clearly annoyed. "Pete! Have you asked him, yet?"

Pete shook his head. "I don't need to know."

The Doctor knew this was about him. "Ask me what?"

"How did you get that information out of that suspect?" Thomas demanded. His entire tone determined to make the Doctor mad.

It worked.

The Doctor drank the rest of his glass and set it down. Then walked over to Thomas. The Doctor's face was right in Thomas's face.

"I asked him." he gritted his teeth as he spoke. The Oncoming Storm was brewing. Rose could see it all over him. She couldn't stand Thomas, either. Jake sat on the arm of the couch. He knew that the Doctor wasn't a violent man, but wouldn't miss an argument between the two men for the world.

"And how did you ask him? We had our best interrogators in there," he demanded.

The Doctor remembered how he had gotten the information from the man he was talking about. He had used his telepathy to pull it out of his head. He was embarrassed about it, and didn't want Rose to know he had done it.

"And you say nothing?" Thomas demanded.

"Just because I'm quiet doesn't mean I don't have anything to say. It means that don't think you are ready to hear what I might say." the Doctor grumbled through his teeth.

"No, I think you probably used some methods that we would find questionable," Thomas concluded. "What makes you think you have the right to make those decisions?"

The Doctor was furious. His head was swimming worse than he could ever remember. This man was truly a jerk. He had just saved the planet in less than two minutes, and he was standing here confronting him about stuff that just did not matter.

"Should I assemble a committee next time?" the Doctor replied cheekily.

Pete stood by and continued to watch the argument.

"Maybe so. I've checked up on you, Doctor Smith. You have just been doing whatever the hell you want to here at Torchwood. Well, you need to have someone to answer to. Someone to keep you in your place!"

The Doctor was feeling loopy. What was going on with him?

"Someone needs to put you in yours!" the Doctor shouted at Thomas.

"Oh yeah!? Are you going to decide to be the one that does that?"

"Oh, I might!" he growled.

Seeing it was getting more heated than they were comfortable with, Pete and Jake made to come to stand in between the men.

Jake took the Doctor over to the couch and forced him to sit down next to Rose. This head was still so cloudy. Jake poured him another drink and told him to calm down. The Doctor sat back and grumbled as he drank more of Pete's whiskey.

Jake then told them. "Well, we finally have some answers regarding this situation with Rose. There is an organization that is calling itself the 'Human Purification Army.' They are the ones that are behind the kidnapping and assignation attempt."

"How do you know this?" Rose asked.

"Thompson, one of the kidnappers... She wants to cut a deal for more information. If we let her off, she will tell us everything."

The Doctor shrugged his shoulders as he took another drink. "It's because she doesn't know anything."

"How could she not know anything?" Rose asked.

"If she gets a deal, she can run back to whoever hired her and try again. It's part of their game." he explained to her as he finished another glass and set it down on the coffee table.

He felt like he was stepping on a merry-go-round. Why was his head spinning so bad? It was only getting worse.

"Oh, like you know what they are thinking," Thomas demanded.

The Doctor stood up and walked back over and got into Thomas' face, again. "Look, this is my family we are talking about. If I thought that she knew anything, I'd go drag the information out of her like I did that other guy! Don't think for one minute I wouldn't!"

This head was swimming worse. He was having to devote a lot of his energy to stand straight.

"I don't think you would! I think you are a sleeper who has woo'ed Miss Tyler and made her think that you love her, when you are really working with these people!"

The Doctor balled up his fist and punched Thomas right in the face.

Thomas flew backward over a chair.

The room erupted.

"What in the hell?!" Rose screamed as Jake ran over to pull the Doctor back in case he decided to hit Thomas again.

Just then, the Doctor rolled his eyes back in his head and passed out into the floor.

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As soon as the Doctor had passed out, Pete had called for the medical staff to come to get him and Thomas. Thomas was currently knocked out in a room, while the Doctor was still unconscious. He was laying in a bed there in the hospital unit at Torchwood. They were giving him a simple IV.

Rose didn't know what to think. Had something gone wrong with his body? He had been odd this morning, way more open than he had ever been with her. She had entered his mind as he slept. Could she have done this?

She sat by his bed, holding his hand and chewing her thumb.

Doctor Fletcher walked out of the room where the Doctor lay and met Pete and Jake in the hallway. "The best I can tell, he's intoxicated. He is on some strong pain pills, and that mixed with whatever he was drinking don't mix well together. How many did he have?"

Pete shrugged his shoulders. "I have no idea. I didn't realize he was drinking so much."

"With as high as his blood alcohol content is, I'm surprised he didn't pass out long before he did." Doctor Fletcher continued. "I'll start him on a banana bag. He'll be fine in a few hours. You can take him home this afternoon."

"Thank you, Doctor." Pete told him.

As Doctor Fletcher walked away, Jake started laughing hysterically. "He's going to be pissed about this."

Pete smiled, "Yeah, probably. But I won't forget Thomas flying over that chair for a long time."

Both of the men shared a laugh at Thomas's expense.

Pete patted Jake on the shoulder as he continued to laugh. "I've gotta get home to the family. You can go tell Rose that I'll see them later."

"Alright." Jake agreed.

Shakes came over to stand outside of the door.

Jake gathered his composure and walked into the room with the Doctor and Rose. Rose looked up at him as he came in. "How is he?" Jake asked.

"The same. Just sleeping. What did the Doctor say?" she ask him.

Jake came and sat down next to Rose. "Doctor Fletcher said he's going to be fine. You can take him home this afternoon."

"Why did he pass out?" she asked Jake.

"Rose. He drank too much of Pete's whiskey. He is drunk. That mixed with the pain pills. He's good and proper drunk." Jake smiled at Rose.

Rose started to laugh. "No, he's not. He can't get drunk. Time Lords don't get drunk."

"Maybe he's enough human now that he does."

They looked at one another for a few seconds. Then Rose said, "Oh, he's going to be pissed off when he wakes up." Jake and Rose laughed hysterically until tears formed in their eyes.

A nurse came in and hung a yellow bag up behind the Doctor. She checked all of his vitals and left.

"Did Pete go home?" Rose inquired.

Jake said, "Yeah, he said he had to get home. He'll see you later today."

"Was he angry?"

Jake shook his head. "No. He is happy someone finally punched Thomas out."

"I know I am!" Rose smiled and looked back at the Doctor.

"Do you guys leave tomorrow morning?"

"Yeah." Rose told him.

"Well, have a great time. Don't worry about anything here. And let me know if you need anything. Keep that Doctor of yours' off the juice."

"Thanks, Jake. For everything."

Jake winked at her as he left the room.

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Rose was playing a game on her phone when the Doctor moved around a bit in the bed. They had cut off his shirt when he came in, but he still had on his jeans. He lay with a blanket over him.

"Rose." he mumbled. Rose jumped out of her chair and stood next to his bed.

"I'm here." she told him quietly.

"Can you pull the blinds? It's too bright in here. That damn, dwarf star..."

"It's not the sun, sweetheart."

He rolled his hand up to grab his pillow. He pulled it over his face and groaned.

Rose sat down on the side of his bed and asked him, "How do you feel?"

"Like hell." his muffled voice came through the pillow.

Rose smiled.

"Rose... I have too much magnesium sulfate in my body. What is going on?" he asked her from under the pillow.

"You know, that's weird that you can tell that," she informed him.

He raised the pillow to glare at her and noticed the tubes running into his arms.

"What? What? What is this? They didn't do surgery on my damn hand, did they?"

"No! I wouldn't let them do that to you."

He was so confused. "What am I doing here, Rose? What happened? Are you alright?"

She lay her hand on his leg. "Everything is fine. Calm down. What do you remember?"

He dropped his pillow on his chest and raised his hand to run through his hair. Tubes dangled as he moved it around. "I remember talking to the Actaeons. Then we went to Pete's office. I sat down on the couch next to you. Thomas was rattling on about something."

"Is that all you remember?" she asked him.

He thought hard for a moment. Sure of his answer, he replied, "Yeah."

"Well, you and Thomas got into an argument."

"Doesn't explain why I'm here now."

"And you kept drinking that whiskey of Dad's."

"Ohhhhhh!" The Doctor exclaimed and fell back in the bed. "I'm thick, Rose. I'm old and thick! You can't mix pain medicine and alcohol! Oh, I'm an idiot! That explains the banana bag hanging up here!" he told her as he looked up.

"How many did you have?" she asked him.

He had the pillow on his face again. "At least four too many." his muffled voice told her.

He removed the pillow again, "Is Pete pissed?"

Rose chuckled and said, "Noooo..."

He gave her a hard look. "Rose? What else happened?"

Rose looked down and laughed. "You punched Thomas out."

"I did what?" he demanded.

"You did." Rose exclaimed, trying not to sound too proud of him.

He covered his face up again and groaned.

She laughed, "I will never forget him flying over the chair. That was hilarious."

His mumbled voice spoke from under the pillow. "He'll probably have me write up a report about it."

"Maybe."

"It's not funny, Rose."

"Oh, yes it is."

He raised the pillow up to look at her. He rolled his eyes and recovered his face again.

Rose texted Pete.

'He's awake. Doesn't remember anything.'

A few minutes later, Pete replied. 'That's great. I would have given a drink weeks ago if I knew he would punch Thomas out.'

A nurse came in to check the Doctor's vitals. "How are you feeling, Doctor Smith?"

"Like an idiot," he replied.

"Well, that's a start," she assured him. "I'll notify the doctor. Meanwhile, just relax. You will probably be able to go home in about an hour."

She left the room.

Rose took his hand. He could feel her on the edge of his consciousness. He let her in.

'Sweetheart. He deserved it. He said some terrible things to you.'

'Deserved it or not, I should have better control than that.'

She remembered what happened, and decided to show him.

They were back in Pete's office, standing among themselves. The entire incident projecting around them.

'Rose, how are you doing this?' he asked her, shocked. Her telepathic powers were truly something they needed to explore. This was something he wouldn't have thought she would ever be capable of.

He saw himself get up and walk towards Thomas. He couldn't tell he was drunk at all. He honestly had no memory of this happening. He was trusting Rose's memory of the event to get the facts. He looked back, and Rose was sitting on Pete's desk in the memory.

'Now watch.' she told him.

He saw himself walk up to Thomas and get right in his face. He could see the anger coming off of him. He saw himself scream at Thomas. "Look, this is my family we are talking about. If I thought that she knew anything, I'd go drag the information out of her like I did that other guy! Don't think for one minute I wouldn't!"

Rose paused the projection. 'What did you mean, there?' she asked him.

'Oh, Rose. I don't want to talk about it.'

Rose considered him for a moment, then continued the memory.

Thomas then shouted back in the Doctor's face, "I don't think you would! I think you are a sleeper who has woo'ed Miss Tyler and made her think that you love her, when you are really working with these people!"

And with that, the Doctor saw the anger fly all over his face. He delivered a perfect uppercut punch to the man's face. Thomas flew backward over a chair.

The projection Rose jumped up to run over to the Doctor. He then saw him roll his eyes back in his head and he passed out into the floor.

Pete then ran to the desk and called for a medical team.

Jake looked to see if Thomas was okay. "The Doctor knocked his ass flat out! Tell them to bring two stretchers."

The projection faded and they returned to sitting in the hospital room there at Torchwood.

The Doctor sat silently. Rose was now looking at the back of his hand. It was beginning to bruise up. She took the ice pack the nurse had brought in earlier and lay it on his hand.

"I took that information from that man, Rose. I slipped into the interrogation room. Put him to sleep, and probed his mind without his knowledge."

"You wouldn't do that."

"Oh, I did. I was certain he knew who was behind this. I had to have the information. It was a violation of his mind. I should have never done it."

"Hell, I'm ready to march you downstairs to detention and make you do it to those down there. Someone has to know something."

"But see, Rose. That's the problem. When does it stop? If you know something I think I need to know, I can just take the information. Of course. But, shouldn't it be your option to give it to me?"

Rose could see what he was saying. She wasn't sure if she agreed though.

"There have to be exceptions, though." she reasoned.

"No exceptions." The Doctor exclaimed.

"Even if they are trying to kill?"

"Someone is always trying to kill someone."

"But this is me!"

"I know, that's the reason I did it!"

Rose shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I don't agree. I think there should be exceptions. If they have committed a crime, they should lose the right -"

"To their thoughts? I find it extreme. In the places I've seen where they started that, it turned out very badly. You have to trust me on this, Rose. I know what I'm talking about. When you have thought about it, I'm sure you will see what I'm saying. Even if you don't agree with me about it."

Well, he had given her something to think about for sure.

"Pete is not angry. He said he would have given you drink a weeks ago if he knew it would make you punch out Thomas."

He smiled, "Seeing it now, he did deserve it. I can't believe he said that to me! I want to walk down the hall and hit him again! Oh, that guy."

"Doctor." Rose said, "Your Donna is showing."

" What a day." he exclaimed as he put the pillow back on his face.

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