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Chapter 19 - Jake's Visit
Rose and the Doctor had packed everything away to prepare for their departure in the morning. Harriet told them they would leave promptly at 10:00. The Doctor had put his circular notes in the Cat in the Hat book, along with the remainder of his candy, and slid it into Rose's purse that he had made bigger on the inside. Rose had already re-packed everything in their suitcase.
They were laying in the bed. Something kept nagging at the Doctor. Rose had been asleep for hours on his chest, but he could only lay awake and think. He altered between rubbing Rose's back and rubbing his own head as he thought. It was as if his mind wouldn't shut off. He almost wished he had his notes in front of him, but he didn't want to disturb Rose.
He thought about Rose hearing something coming from the box that the TARDIS was growing in. Could it already be reaching out to telepathically link to someone? Rose's telepathy seemed amazingly strong. Could it possibility be stronger than his? That could be why she was able to hear the TARDIS before he could. That was the only explanation he could come up with regarding the situation. He could hear faint humming in his head when he touched the growing TARDIS, but she could hear it from across the room. That was remarkable.
His TARDIS was growing steadily. Donna had suggested he "shatterfry the plasmic shell and modify the dimensional stabilizer to a foldback harmonic of 36.3 to accelerate the growth." He had taken it one, well, two steps further. He had built an independent dimensional stabilizer, mostly because he was having to keep it in a box. By his calculations, it now had a foldback harmonic of 68.7 to help the TARDIS grow faster. He didn't dare push it anymore. He already knew that growing it this way would mean he would always have to have an separate dimensional stabilizer. That wasn't that big of a deal. Just an extra button on the console when everything was done.
The best he could calculate, it looked that he might possibility have a TARDIS in the next 17 months. Still, far too soon to tell Rose. A million things could still go wrong. He was pushing the growth more than he had ever thought was possible. But, if she was already beginning to hear it, it was only a matter of time before she figured it out on her own. He had hoped that he could tell her when he was sure it was done, but it was beginning to appear that he was going to have to tell her about soon.
He wondered how she would take it. If she would think he would run off without her as soon as it was done. They had came so far in their relationship since he first thought about it, maybe she would be alright with it. Maybe. But, hadn't she told him she would always be worried that he would leave her? But, the fact of the matter was not want he wanted to do anymore. It was what he was going to have to do. He knew it would be far better for him to tell her about it than it would be for her to figure it out on her own.
He thought he heard voices in the hallway. He raised his head up and listened. He was sure he heard a familiar voice. His superior Time Lord hearing usually alerted him before Rose's human hearing did. He slipped out of bed, and out from under Rose. He put on his night coat and walked over to the door of the suite.
"I need to see him now, Lewis. Let me knock on the door!" the voice said.
"I'm sorry sir. It's the middle of night. I can't allow that." Lewis told the familiar voice.
The Doctor opened the door.
"Doctor!" Jake exclaimed. "I need to-"
The Doctor quickly held his finger up to his lips. "Shhhh..."
Jake looked at him funny and stopped talking.
"That never gets old." The Doctor chuckled to himself.
"Tired of keeping secrets from me yet, Jakey-boy? Come in, but be quiet. Rose is asleep." the Doctor told him.
"Thanks Lewis." The Doctor told the bodyguard as he shut the door.
The Doctor turned on a lamp in the sitting room as he walked through it. He motioned to Jake to go out on the promenade deck. "I'll be right there. Just give me a minute." he called after him quietly.
The Doctor walked into the bedroom and lay his hand on Rose's head.
"Forgive me for his, sweetheart. But, I'm sure you don't need to hear what Jake has to say."
He put her into a deeper sleep and making nearly impossible for her to wake up until morning. He then leaned down and kissed her on the forehead.
He walked out to the promenade deck to join Jake. Jake looked exhausted.
"Rose still asleep?" Jake asked.
"Yeah, I just multiplied her adenosine in her blood stream to keep her sleeping." Seeing the confusion on Jake's face he added, "It's what makes you know it's time to wake up. As soon as your body processes it all, you stop sleeping. Don't you humans study your own biology?" he questioned.
Jake fell into a chair.
The Doctor walked around the table and looked at Jake. "Rough trip out?"
"Yeah, stormy flight in a chopper. Williams flew above it as much as he could, but it made for a miserable flight out."
"Let's call for some coffee then. I have a sense that we have a lot to talk about." the Doctor insisted as he rang for room service and ordered some coffee and biscuits.
He got off the phone and Jake asked, "Blimey, what time even is it?"
The Doctor sat down across the table from Jake and crossed his arms.
"It's nearly 4:00. So, are you ready to tell me everything Pete won't?" the Doctor asked him.
"How do you know that Pete's keeping stuff from you?" Jake looked surprised.
"You will find, Jake, that I'm a very hard man to keep a secret from."
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The ship seemed to rock more than it normally did. Perhaps it was from the storm that was approaching that Jake had flown through. The Doctor told Jake about the body guards' conversation that they had that afternoon at tea. Jake seemed pleased that the Doctor finally knew about the Quauhtin. As he drank the coffee, he seemed to get warmer and more awake.
"Yeah, Mickey had them on Rose as soon as we discovered their unique skill set." Jake told the Doctor.
"So much for Mickey being an idiot." the Doctor told Jake. "I agree with him, and I'm glad he had the foresight to have done that. They have probably saved Rose more than we even realize. It just makes me worry how bad this really is that they have still been able to get her with the Quauhtin watching her. Royalty from all over the universe hire warriors from that species. They are frankly...well...amazing."
"That's what we figured. After Mickey's grand died, there was nothing left for him here. He knew he wanted to leave, but worried about leaving Rose after that kidnapping. We thought this was really done after the she was hit by the car. I doubt Mickey would have considered leaving if he knew she was still in danger."
"Yeah, I've wondered about that recently. What happened to the people that kidnapped her the first time?"
"Still in jail. As far as we can tell, they are members of this HPA bunch. We don't believe they are in contact with them, though. The person who hit her with the car escaped. I have promised Mickey to track them down. The Quauhtin neutralized the shooter involved in that. I haven't been able to track them down, though. I don't doubt they are part of this HPA crowd though. If Mickey knew the scope of this, he would have never left. I'm sure of it."
The Doctor sipped his coffee. "Always protective of Rose, was he?"
"Until the last moment. He always wanted her to take him back. You know they were involved before they both came here, right?"
"Yeah, I knew them then."
"Well, Mickey could never let her go. But, she wasn't interested anymore. He even proposed to her shortly after she arrived. I never heard the full story with that, but he never gave up until his grand died. He continued to ask her out. He was determined, but she wouldn't give him the time of day."
The Doctor smiled and shook his head.
"I probably shouldn't tell you this, but we were at a bar one night. Mickey got drunk off his ass and tried to kiss Rose. She punched him in the face, knocked him off the barstool, and told him that if he ever touched her again that she would kill him."
The Doctor laughed. He was proud of his Rose.
"I told him, 'no means no.' But, Mickey was always hard headed. "
The Doctor slipped more of his coffee and chuckled. "Good ole Mickey the idiot."
"I think it was because of that incident that Rose got a reputation for being hard headed herself, or rather, hard hearted."
"Nah, she's not hard hearted. She's just stubborn. But, she has a huge heart and cares about others more than she should. She can't even help herself." the Doctor told him.
"Mickey did tell me that Pete would try to keep you in the dark as much as possible, and that I shouldn't. He told me the last thing I ever wanted was to be your enemy in any way."
"Maybe Mickey isn't an idiot, then." the Doctor acknowledged.
"Well, I honestly didn't believe him. But, I never really knew Pete as well as Mickey did. Mickey lived at the mansion with them during the time he was here. Well, he was always at Torchwood. I suppose he just ate and slept at the mansion with the Tylers. I really think that's what drove Rose to move out as quick as she did. I'm sure he was hounding her even then." Jake explained.
"Nah, Mickey is an idiot." the Doctor clarified.
"But, Mickey assured me that you are extremely clever and could work out some impossible stuff. So, that's why I'm here. Pete doesn't want me to tell you any of this." Pete said as he patted a thick stack of files he had sat on the table.
Jake took a long drink of his coffee.
"You know about the two kidnappings, the house and the car. But there have been a lot more things that have happened. Especially recently. It's gotten extremely active. Before you came here, there were threats against Rose's life. We had to steer her out of certain activities she would have scheduled in order to keep her safe."
"How did you do that?" the Doctor croaked.
"Usually we told her that Mickey was going to be there. Or, Pete would have her work late or whatever. There are a million ways that we have redirected her attention."
"You've been manipulating her! For a long time it sounds like!" the Doctor sounded surprised.
"Yeah, I guess we have. It was to keep her safe. She would kill all of us if she knew it. Even now."
"There are shootings that happened." Jake continued. "The victims all looked similar to Rose. It makes me think that they were paid assassins that thought they had her. One kidnapping in particular was extremely violent. Poor girl was tortured to death."
The Doctor's stomach sank. That could have very easily been his Rose.
"Makes me worry about Melissa. She's missing and we're not sure if they are involved or not."
"Melissa? The telepath from Torchwood? Rose's friend?" the Doctor inquired.
"Yeah, the same." Jake confirmed.
The Doctor held his finger up as if to say, 'wait a minute.' He stood up from the table and grabbed a biscuit. "Just a second. I'll be right back."
He walked back through the sitting room and into the bedroom were Rose still lay sleeping. He looked over at her. She appeared to be sleeping so peacefully. He then remembered why he had came back into the bedroom, looked around and found Rose's phone laying on the nightstand. He picked it up and went back out to join Jake on the deck.
"What's that?" Jake asked from behind his coffee as the Doctor rejoined him.
The Doctor was busy clicking away on the phone, "Rose's phone. She has been messaging Melissa since we've been on the cruise. I remember her saying something about it."
Jake suddenly got concerned. "They can track her using that GPS using that phone number if they have Melissa since she's in contact with Rose!"
The Doctor shook his head at Jake as he continued to look at Rose's phone and click the screen. "Nah, not likely. I thought of that before the house even burnt. I scrambled both of our phone's GPS'. They can't be tracked by any sort of technology."
"Well, what if Rose gets taken again and we need to find her?"
The Doctor looked up at Jake and reminded him. "She didn't have her phone last time she was taken."
"Oh, that's right."
"Besides, I have my ways of finding Rose if that happens again."
"You do?"
"Oh, yes." he cooed.
He lay her phone back on the table and ran his hand through his hair. "She hasn't messaged her in three days. You can look if you want. There's nothing helpful. They were just chatting about this and that. Nothing that would point you in any direction where she might have went. Very bland conversation."
The Doctor collapsed back in a chair and rubbed his face. "I feel very Arthur Dent trying to solve these problems in my jim jams. I'm telling you."
Jake chuckled. "Go put on some clothes and I'll organize my thoughts. It will take a few minutes."
The Doctor shook his head in agreement. He knew this would take a while. Maybe having on some clothes would make him wake up more and enable him to think a bit straighter.
"Alright. Send for some more coffee. I'll be back." the Doctor agreed.
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The Doctor came out of the bathroom wearing his jeans and a black jumper. Rose had found it for him when he first came to this dimension. It looked almost exactly like the one he wore all of the time when he was all ears and leather.
Rose hadn't moved from her slumber. As he passed by her in the bed, he leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. She smiled in her sleep but didn't move otherwise. He smiled as he saw her sleeping so peacefully. He felt a bit of guilt for putting her into such a deep sleep, but knew it was for the best. After tea with the body guards today, he had to keep her from such discussions.
He walked, barefoot, back onto the deck. Coffee and more biscuits had been delivered. Shakes was also there.
"Shakes!" the Doctor sounded surprised. "Lewis get you out of bed for this?"
"Wouldn't miss it, sir." Shakes told him.
"Good man." the Doctor told him as he slapped him on the back. "Come on in and have some coffee. Kitchen is open all night just for us night owls."
They all sat around the table and took a cup of coffee each.
Jake opened his thick file folders and reveled stacks of paperwork.
"This is everything. Pete doesn't know I'm here, and wouldn't approve. I've been trying to convince him to inform the Doctor, and you Shakes, that you needed to be completely in the loop but he doesn't agree. He maintains that you are both doing your job by keeping Rose safe."
"Idiot man. I can't keep her safe if I don't know what's going on." the Doctor grumbled under his breath.
"Agreed. It's hard to protect someone if you don't know all of the information." Shakes clarified.
"Well, let's dive into it. First of all, Rose's car has been destroyed."
"Yep, knew about that, already." the Doctor said sipping his coffee.
"How did you know that?" Jake asked him.
"I saw it in one of the tabloids. Pretty clever to say it belonged to an unknown teenager that lost control driving it as it went into the Thames. The description was the same. How did you keep Jackie from knowing?"
"She just assumed it was a car that looked just like Rose's. It was printed in black and white so it made it easier."
"So Jackie still had no idea?"
"Oh no, none. She's completely in the dark. Pete insists on that." Jake informed them.
A terrible thought stuck the Doctor. "What if this escalates to the Tyler house? Doesn't she need to know it is a possibility?"
Jake shook his head. "No. She has a team of bodyguards she doesn't even know about. Her and Tony are surrounded at all times."
"Yes, sir. The Quauhtin protect them as well. There is a detail of six currently working at the mansion. Three on a rotation for both Mrs. Tyler and young Tony. We recommended getting the dog because Tony is so active around the estate."
"That he is." the Doctor agreed. "I thought that there were only four of you?" the Doctor said.
"No, sir. We were a crew of twelve when we came here. Two others protect Jake and Director Tyler."
"There's been no activity surrounding them. But, we have still taken precautions." Jake assured the Doctor.
The Doctor sipped his coffee. "Tell me about the hotel."
"How did you know about that?" Jake seemed surprised.
"Jake, just trust me when I tell you that I'm not an easy man to keep secrets from. You have no idea who you are dealing with here. Just give me the information I ask for, damn it." the Doctor demanded.
"Right-o. Sorry." Jake answered. "Well, the morning you two got on ship, we memo'ed to everyone at Torchwood that Rose had been injured and was taking a leave of absence. Basically telling everyone to come to me with anything they needed because Rose would not be available. At the very bottom, it stated that Rose was accepting flowers at the Grand London Hotel until the next afternoon."
The Doctor made a strange face to show his surprise. "Injured? And hanging out in a hotel? Your PR department needs a vacation. That's a terrible cover story."
"I agree. There were four gunman come into the hotel and take hostages that day. No one was hurt, but it was very clear who they were looking for. They were hired in that bar you told us about. We've had everyone go look for it, and no one knows of a Ben Perrick near the Underground. Are you sure you got the name right?"
"Yeah," the Doctor told him. "I'm very sure."
"Then, Thompson, the woman that kidnapped and tortured Rose ended up getting killed yesterday. We transferred her from our holding cells at Torchwood to a more secure prison. She got into a fight with another prisoner, and they broke her neck. It's unclear whether it was related to this case or just a random event."
"I can't say there's any love lost there." the Doctor said as he drank some more of his coffee. He couldn't believe he had even said that. But, that woman was responsible for him very nearly losing Rose.
"Then there are all of these threats that we have had come in." Jake told him as he patted a folder that he had laying on the table.
"Oh, let me look at this then." the Doctor exclaimed. He read a little of each threat, and sorted them into two stacks. He then held up the bigger stack to Jake and said, "Here mate. Toss these in the rubbish."
"What?" Jake questioned.
"Yep," the Doctor said, "Those I sent. I wanted to know how much Pete was telling me. Plus, the bad guys seem to behave worse if they think someone else is after their prize."
Shakes seemed impressed. He shook his head in agreement. "Push them so they would trip up and you could catch them."
"Exactly." the Doctor exclaimed behind his cup of coffee.
"You make a great warrior, Doctor." Shakes told him.
The Doctor considered him for a moment. "I wasn't always called, 'Doctor.'"
Jake just stood there holding the papers. "Well. That's just brilliant!" He grumbled. "We had people working on those. They are still working on those!"
"Yep, and telling the bad guys that someone else is closing in. See my point?" the Doctor explained as he looked over the real threats with Shakes.
"An enemy who might lose what he is fighting so hard for, will push his followers with fewer precautions." Shakes interjected.
"Napoleon said, 'You should never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.' I'm trying to make these people mess up." the Doctor explained.
"Napoleon?" Shakes questioned.
"Another warrior of Earth. You should read up about him. Interesting guy. Even if he was short. Sortof reminds me of a Sontaran." the Doctor told Shakes.
Shakes shook his head. "Interesting."
Jake shook his head in disbelief as the he walked over to toss the threats in the trash.
The Doctor drank his coffee as he and Shakes looked over the paperwork. After a few minutes, the Doctor got up and went to Rose's purse in the sitting room and took out the Cat in the Hat book with his circular notes. He came back out on the deck and spread his notes out and started looking for something.
"What is this?" Jake asked him.
"Notes I've been gathering about everything that has happened with these people and Rose. I figure if I can create a timeline of events, maybe I can see where it loops or where it crosses someplace so we get a step ahead of them."
"So, this is writing?" Jake asked.
"Yes, the writing of my home planet." the Doctor explained absentmindedly.
"What planet is that?" Shakes asked him.
"Gallifrey. I'm a Time Lord. They don't exist in this dimension, well...they don't exist in the any dimension anymore. I'm the last one." He explained as he looked over his notes.
"I couldn't have it where Rose could read it. I didn't want to scare her. There are some pretty saucey stuff in here. Like this." He said as he pointed at something.
"This threat here was talking about a ship. But not this one. Has one been attacked?"
Jake sat back down, but on the arm of the chair, propping one of his feet in the seat. "Yes, this morning. Same thing. Four men flew in, searched the ship. No casualties, but a few injuries. Again, looking for Rose. That's what prompted me to fly out here. Pete didn't want you to know. "
"Four men, again? Same men?" the Doctor asked.
"We had no idea. We don't think so." Jake said.
"How can you not be sure?" Shakes asked.
"They wore masks that covered their entire faces. Even their eyes." Jake explained.
Shakes looked at the Doctor.
"Are you sure they are human?" the Doctor asked.
"How am I to know? I'd guess the pair of you were human if I didn't know different." Jake asked.
"Do you have video of these attackers?" Shakes asked.
"Yes, here. Let me get my tablet." Jake pulled his tablet out from under all of the paperwork that now littered the entire table top. He grabbed a biscuit and crammed it into his mouth as he brought up video of the hotel hostage situation and handed the tablet to Shakes.
Shakes examined it closely. Then handed it to the Doctor.
"I can't tell. Can you?" Shakes asked.
After the Doctor studied it for a moment he asked, "Maybe a Hostis?"
Shakes shook his head. "I thought so, too. But they just aren't this clever."
The Doctor raised his eyebrows in agreement as he thought. "Yeah, I agree. That's above them. Do you have any video of the ship?"
Jake took back the tablet and brought up a video of the ship, then handed it back across the table to the Doctor and Shakes.
"What do you think?" the Doctor asked Shakes as they watched the video.
"Hard to tell. It would be strange that they are trying to keep the human race pure when they are hiring non-humans to do the dirty work for them." Shakes declared.
"That's true. Stranger things have happened, though." the Doctor agreed.
"Jake, can you get us a list of the different species that have came to live on Earth through Torchwood?" the Doctor asked.
"That would be difficult. But, yeah. I could manage that. It could take a few days."
"That would be a good place to start." Shakes agreed.
"Have there been any more ships attacked?" the Doctor asked.
"I don't know. Not by the time I left Torchwood today, or rather yesterday. That was at 6:00 pm." Jake said.
The Doctor was scratching his chin. "Well, I'll feel better when we're off this boat. We're leaving in the morning at 10:00. Catching a ride to Maryland." he told Jake.
"Don't want to try to leave sooner, just in case they come here?" Jake asked.
"Nah, I'm not running. I've been running all of my lives. If they decide to come tonight, we might finally know who is behind this and it will finally be over. And Rose will be able to sleep without me messing with her blood chemistry."
Jake shook his head as he drank more coffee.
Shakes shook his head. "Bring the battle to the warrior." he declared proudly.
The Doctor looked at him uncomfortably. He couldn't believe he was even wanting this. This wasn't him. Maybe Rose was right. That little bit of Donna was showing more than he would care to admit. And when he thought about it some more, he knew that's exactly what it was.
"Well, I'll stay until you guys leave in the morning. -" Jake told them.
"No, you'll need to leave before Rose wakes up. Otherwise, we'll have to explain why you are here." the Doctor insisted.
"Quite right. Yeah. Didn't think of that." Jake agreed.
Shakes sat next to the Doctor with his arms crossed. He turned his head to the Doctor and asked, "Your Nehyta is still asleep?"
The Doctor had his arms crossed next to Shakes. "Yes. She'll be out for a while. I made sure of that. I didn't want her upset again. Especially after how upset she got at tea."
"Yes, we shouldn't have spoken about this in front of her." Shakes agreed.
Jake sat back down and drank some more coffee. "She overheard you talk about this today?"
"No, she was at the table. I was an idiot and wasn't thinking when Shakes and his guys told us about everything." the Doctor explained.
"No, sir. The fault was mine. I shouldn't have spoken about it in front of your Nehyta. I should have realized she would have gotten so upset."
"Problem is, if we had tried to keep her from it, she would have still gotten upset. It's a very delicate situation with her." the Doctor assured him.
Shakes shook his head in agreement.
The Doctor continued. "I don't blame you at all Shakes. Rose has been hurt very badly. She seems alright, but might never really be. She's trying to be stronger than she really is. And believe me. She is extremely strong. But this is terrible situation. She's dealing with some stuff that that would be hard for anyone. Not just this."
"Has she spoken with you about the Bad Wolf, then?" Jake inquired.
The Doctor suddenly remembered and forcefully pointed a finger in Jakes' direction, "Yes! And I should kick your ass for not telling me about that earlier! She says it has only happened once. Are you sure that's all?"
"As far as I know." Jake shrugged his shoulders.
"What is this you are speaking of?" Shakes asked.
The Doctor considered for a moment, but decided that Shakes probably did need to know.
"When Rose was traveling with me, she took the Time Vortex into herself. It seems to have given her certain abilities. She is not only a very strong telepath, but also can physically heal extremely fast. Her wounds from that last kidnapping were all but gone within 48 hours."
Shakes seemed impressed. "I wondered why she was able to start running again with me. I always have enjoyed that."
The Doctor shook his head. "But it's more than that. It's like an entity, or some other form that is taking control of Rose's form. It has immeasurable power. I've seen it bring a man back to life and make him immortal, and destroy a being down to the very atoms in his soul."
Shakes looked impressed. "How long as that been happening?"
Jake spoke. "I saw her do it about four years ago when she first came here. She dissolved a man to nothing. Her eyes glowed yellow and she spoke with an echo. Like a ghost or something."
The Doctor shook his head. "Yes. She doesn't seem to be aware of her actions when it's happening. I believe it happens only when she's extremely scared or angry. She can't control it. I thought I saw her eyes flash with the yellow light when she was being tortured in that video during her kidnapping. I also think I might have seen it when she got angry with me... or the other me... when we were first dumped here in this dimension."
"I agree, Miss Tyler has a lot to deal with at the moment." Shakes said.
"That's why I don't want her bothered with this information. She has enough to get on with at the moment. That alone would be rather overwhelming for anyone."
Jake asked him seriously. "Do you think you can help her?"
The Doctor shook his head. "I really don't know. I have never seen anything like it."
"Well, she is your Nehyta, and you are hers. If anyone can help, it will be you." Shakes encouraged him.
"What is a Nehyta?" Jake asked.
As if they just realized that they had said something that they should have known Jake wouldn't be familiar with, they looked at one another.
"It's a word from the Quauhtin people." the Doctor explained.
"It means, 'the one your soul longs for'." Shakes confirmed.
The Doctor looked back over to Shakes. "Well, more than that. Something like, 'the one you live for and can't live without.'"
Shakes agreed. "Yes. It comes from an old legend."
"But you get the idea." the Doctor said.
"Yeah. Interesting." Jake agreed.
"You speak Quauhtin, sir?" Shakes asked.
"I speak everything. Every language there is." the Doctor told him.
Shakes shook his head clearly impressed.
Jake spoke up, "Why are you going to Maryland? What's there?"
The Doctor took another sip of his coffee, as Shakes helped himself to some biscuits.
"We have been invited to join President Shepherd at Camp David. Harriet Jones is giving us a ride over in the morning, well. Rather in a few hours."
"What time is it?" Jake asked.
"6:17." The Doctor told him, without looking at a clock.
"How do you know that without looking at anything?" Jake asked him.
"It's like a sense I have. Anyway. Yes, Camp David. I'm honestly looking forward to it. I don't think I've ever been there." the Doctor told the men.
Shakes shook his head approvingly.
"Well, you'll be able to speak to Pete then. He was headed there as I left Torchwood. He was going to catch the bullet. He'll probably be there before you will."
The Doctor sat down his coffee. "Oh, I plan on having quiet the chat with Pete Tyler. Don't worry about that."
"Just remember that I'm the one doing you a favor here, Doc." Jake reminded him.
The Doctor waved his hand, "I told you not to worry about your job, Jake. Remember, I'm in good with the boss' daughter. I'll sort this out."
Jake chuckled. "I appreciate that, Doc."
Shakes chuckled at the pair of the men. He turned to the Doctor and remarked, "Some things are the came in every culture, huh?"
The Doctor ran his hand though his hair, "You'd be surprised."
Jake patted the back of the chair as he stood up. "I suppose I should go ahead and start back, then. Keep all of these and see if you can come up with something. I'll keep in touch with you."
"Shakes. Will you keep up with all of this paperwork? Rose doesn't need to see it." the Doctor asked.
"Of course, sir. I'll keep it safe." Shakes agreed.
"Also, don't contact me directly with this, Jake. Contact Shakes. Rose will answer my phone if she sees it is from you." the Doctor told Jake.
"That's a good point. Haven't thought of that."
"Is that alright, Shakes? Sorry, I should have asked."
"Of course, sir." Shakes agreed.
The Doctor was shaking his head, "No, no, no. Not sir. Just Doctor. I'm no sir."
The Doctor stood up and shook Jake's hand. "Thank you, Jake. I really appreciate everything. Have a safe trip back."
"Right-o. I'll be in touch."
Shakes shook Jake's hand, "Safe travels my friend."
Jake slapped Shakes on the shoulder, and saw himself out of the suite.
The Doctor sat back down and poured him and Shakes some more coffee.
"More coffee, Shakes?"
"Sure, thank you!"
Shakes sat down next to the Doctor and started to drink his coffee again.
"Last of your people, huh?" Shakes asked him.
The Doctor looked out at the ocean, "Yep." he popped the 'p.'
"That has to weigh heavy on you, Doctor. Especially, since you are a warrior. Was it a peaceful end?"
"No. It wasn't." the Doctor said quietly as he drank his coffee, still without looking at Shakes.
Shakes grunted. "I'm sorry to hear that. Who was the enemy in the war?"
The Doctor looked at Shakes. Wow, he was clever to have worked that out.
"A race of species called Dalek's. I'm not sure if the exist in this dimension."
Shakes looked down at his coffee, "I've never heard of them. Not to say that they might not be here though. The Void bled for a while before it was closed."
"I believe I got all of the Cybermen and Dalek's when I closed the Void. They were all sucked into it from the Prime Dimension. But, there could have been some here before. It only takes one to make an army of those things. Similar to a Cyberman, but... well...different."
Shakes chuckled and drank more of his coffee.
"Your people. Are any left?" the Doctor asked Shakes.
"Only the twelve of us that came here. That's all I'm sure about. Others probably escaped, but I have no way of knowing. There were others that had colonized other places throughout the universe. Our people try to keep our identity secret in fear that people will steal our children from us. In the past, it has been a real problem. Other species enjoy getting a prize youngster that can phase in and out of reality. They can train them to do things that are rather dishonorable."
"I've never thought of that." the Doctor realized. "A young Quanhtin would be a valuable to a lot of unsavory characters. I hate to ask, but have you ever lost-"
"No, thankfully no. I never had any children. Poltoius did though. His only son. I have him protecting young Tony. I figured he would protect him better than anyone ever could because of that."
The Doctor raised his eyebrows. "I have to agree. Wow. And you know, that honestly eases my mind more than anything else that I've heard tonight."
The Doctor and Shakes sipped their coffee.
"Well, wait. Your name isn't really Shakes then. Where did you get that?" the Doctor asked.
Shakes chuckled as he looked over at the Doctor. "Doesn't sound like the name of a Quanhtin?"
"No." the Doctor said seriously as curiosity threatened to overtake him.
"You are right. I am known as Summus to my people."
"Summus the Quanhtin? Are you kidding me?" the Doctor squeaked, realizing who he was sitting next to.
"That is I. Summus."
The Doctor was laughing in disbelief and shaking his head. "Wow. Summus the Quanhtin! The supreme leader and trainer of all warrior Quanhtin from the time they exit their education. You are a legend in the Prime Dimension! I imagine you probably are here as well! Your battle strategies are amazing."
Shakes smiled embarrassed. "A warrior is always known for being at the right place and the wrong time."
The Doctor ran his hands through his hair. "Wow. It's an honor, sir. Why Shakes, though?"
"Mickey said that all of my other men's names sounded like characters from a famous author here on Earth. Everyone except me. So, he recommended the name William Shakes after some author. I'm not sure, I have never heard of him and no one else has here. Jake has no idea who he was talking about, either."
The Doctor was positivity beaming. "Shakespeare! William Shakespeare! He isn't known in this dimension because some guys published his works under their names instead. His works are very well known, though. Great name! Oh, wow. Mickey might not be such an idiot after all."
"Oh! That explains a lot then. I've often wondered. Mickey would call me Willy Shakes sometimes. I always got the impression he was trying to tease me."
The Doctor was still smiling like a loon. "Oh, I'm sure he was. Don't take offense to it. Mickey is an idiot."
Shakes smiled, "That he is. And a good friend."
Shakes went to stand up. "I'm going to run over and check on our departure schedule. With this storm coming in, they might decide to leave a bit earlier."
"Yeah, I hadn't thought of that. Alright. I think I'll hop in the shower and then try to wake up Rose. Let me know what you find out." the Doctor told him, rubbing his face.
"Of course, Doctor."
"Thank you, Shakes." the Doctor said as he shook Shakes' hand. Shakes grabbed a handful of biscuits and walked out the suite with his coffee cup.
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