Important: If you read the previous chapter before this update, you will need to go back there as I have added to and without reading the new part this chapter probably won't make sense.
Author's Note: Here it is, the end of the Missing storyline. Originally I planned to call both chapters the same but obviously chose against this. I also originally planned to get this done like a week ago, but if you read the AN of last chapter you'll know that my file got corrupted and that I had to rewrite a huge part of it. To give you an idea as of where I originally was I'll say that up to the second scene break of this chapter is rewritten. Anyway it is rewritten and I got it here for you, nothing much to say about it further.
On another note though, did you guys notice the gaping plothole in my story? Well, apparently not as absolutely no one pointed it out to me and I was left to discover its existence on my own while rechecking my facts so the events in my new chapters can fit them and I won't accidentally add some stuff that doesn't make sense at all considering previous plot. Anyway, I'm trailing off, I realised that the first scene of this story with The Doctor taking off his tie in front of Martha on street complete doesn't fit in this AU. As it involves a Doctor that is still in the same mindset as he was at the beginning of the story with his hand still in a cast but as you should've been able to read he's been healing since then and his hand has healed since. What's more is that the scene is totally redundant since the canon reason for it existing is proving to Martha that The Doctor can time travel but since she now has spent like 3 months at Sarah Jane's house hearing stories about the Time Lord's travel and dealing with aliens herself, she probably wouldn't need the tie scene to prove he can time travel anymore...
So well that leaves me with a huge problem as Martha's thoughts and actions completely revolve about that first meeting on the street for most of chapter 1, so for me fixing the plothole would probably mean completely rewriting chapter 1 or at least heavily editing it... *slams head on desk* I'm gonna continue chewing it over (I figured this out like over a month ago and still haven't decided my course of action yet). I'll try to fix it but I can't promise I'll do it soon or ever. Suggestions on the plothole won't be turned away though
Anyway, enjoy the second part of this small and frankly ridiculous story arch
Disclaimer: To be honest I'm running out of jokes for these so errr just remember I don't own Doctor Who and give a fake laugh as if I made a good joke. Something you probably do already so it should come naturally.
7. Time To Leave (2/2)
Sarah Jane opened her front door letting The Doctor, Luke, Martha and herself into her house.
"Right then, we need to take the TARDIS towards an Intergalactic Refreshment Station and collect the fuel for the Pogans," The Doctor told them, then looked hopeful at Sarah Jane, who nodded decisively.
"I'll go get the TARDIS key, but you'd do well to remember that it's for just this once. We'll discuss you getting access to the TARDIS back full time later." She told him firmly.
He quickly nodded in agreement.
"Of course."
Sarah Jane looked satisfied and left the room.
Just as she had left the room the doorbell rang. Luke quickly opened the door revealing that Maria was standing there.
"Oh hey, Maria, I didn't know you were back from your vacation already," Luke commented as he let her in.
"We just got back." She answered as she walked into the house, then froze in her steps as she noticed Martha and The Doctor, as well as Sarah Jane who was just returning from wherever she went. "Errr, why is everyone here in the living room?" She questioned.
"We just came back from dealing with some aliens that are stuck on Earth because they're out off fuel," Martha answered.
"We were about to take the TARDIS to go get some fuel for them so they can leave, do you want to join us?" Sarah Jane offered her.
Maria's eyes widened in excitement at this.
"We'll travel to another planet?" She practically squealed.
"Well, we'll be going to a space station, not a planet." The Doctor corrected with a small smile, Maria's excitement amusing him.
"Still, we're going to space travel. What are we waiting for!" She practically dragged the Time Lord up the stairs in her excitement, he went willingly as he was excited himself, Luke was following closely behind.
Sarah Jane and Martha shared an amused look.
"Kids." They said at the same time before following them upstairs, where the kids were waiting because they had just realised that Sarah Jane had the TARDIS' key.
The TARDIS materialised in a very crowded dock for spaceships, the door opened revealing The Doctor walking out while he was donning his coat, he was followed by an excited Maria and Luke and a bit more neutral looking Sarah Jane and Martha, who was internally jumping up and down from excitement at her first trip in the TARDIS, but suppressed it.
"Here we are then Intergalactic Refreshment Station 387BE, the one closest to Earth." The Time Lord announced to his fellow travellers, while he looked around to see where they needed to go and also to note at which dock he had parked the TARDIS, which was dock 3B6F. He didn't want to have to look for his ship later.
He noticed the lifts he had been looking for towards his left.
"Ah! We need to go this way, come on." He said as he started heading off towards the lifts, the others quickly following him.
They reached the lifts just in time as a new lift arrived, which they got all for themselves, The Doctor quickly set to work on some sort control panel and programmed the lift to go where he wanted it to go.
Destination confirmed: Fuel station 24 The Computer announced.
The Doctor nodded satisfied and stood back in between Martha and Luke as the lift took them to the right fuel station.
Martha frowned wondering about the control panel and decided to ask about it.
"Basically this lift goes all ways, not just up and down, enabling it to bring you pretty much everywhere within the station." The Time Lord supplied. "Problem with a lift like this is, though, that it requires a bit of a complex control panel." He nodded towards the control panel he had just used. "They can use these lifts in these stations though as most visitors to these stations work on spaceships and are operating similar systems on a daily basis, so operating the lifts is no problem. And of course, the people who run into trouble can ask the personnel for help. In the future these lifts will become voice-activated, making them easily usable for everyone."
Getting the fuel after that went really smooth, The Doctor basically had to tell the blue alien at the desk what kind of fuel they needed and hand over the jerry can he had taken with him that was bigger on the inside to be filled, they needed more than a 50 litres of fuel and there was no way they would carry that back through 5 miles of sewers the hard way if they didn't have to.
While they waited for the station personnel to fill the jerry can with the needed fuel, The Doctor took the time to explain about Intergalactic Refreshment Stations to his companions.
"An Intergalactic Refreshment Station is basically a place for spaceships, that aren't as fancy as the TARDIS, and their crew to, well, basically refresh. I think you can compare it a bit to what you lot call a truck stop or maybe a bit like shore leave for the crew." He frowned, but then just shrugged."Basically, they got everything that you might need here, enough entertainment places to help the crews relax after what's often a couple of months crammed into a small metallic place where they are working most of the time, all kind of supplies for further journeys allowing the ships to get restocked here. They also have maintenance docks, ships often get hit by asteroids on their journey leaving them damaged, that's the most frequent repair going on there, but of course, they repair everything that's fixable. They also have teleport pads that bring you to nearby planets, however, the fees for using them are so high that most people don't bother with them and just take a ship down there. The place is basically a city for the travellers."
Luke had something to say though.
"If they have teleport pads, couldn't those Pogans not get fuel through them?" The boy wondered.
"Technically yes, but like I said those fees are very high just to get a lift to a planet, to actually get collected from a planet or get something sent to you would almost be impossible to pay. Especially for species like the Pogans who don't really care about money." The Doctor answered.
"But why are they so expensive?" Maria asked.
"It takes an enormous amount of power to activate one, also they basically need to be always on as it takes ages to get on to boot and the paying people are usually not really keen on waiting for that."
"If so little people use them, then why are they still operational?" Sarah Jane found herself asking.
"Because the people that can afford and use them are mostly the ones in power." The Time Lord answered simply.
Just then the personnel returned with the filled jerry can, the five travellers quickly got up ready to leave.
"That's 2705 Credits, please" The blue alien that had helped them told them
The payment was quickly settled with help of the psychic paper and then they were off again, to deliver the fuel to the Pogans so that they could go on their merry way again.
The second time that they walked through the sewers towards the Pogan population involved a bit more conversation than the first time around, cause they needed to focus less on the way as this time they knew how to walk. Well, to be more specific the Doctor now knew exactly how they needed to walk.
They were escorted by the same warrior as before, as they had apparently been ordered to wait for their return. The tunnels were empty now however, the warrior informed them that everyone was back on board of the ship waiting for the fuel to be delivered.
No pressure to deliver at all. Martha had thought even though they actually had the fuel, as promised, with them.
Upon arrival, the warrior bowed towards the Jilmeola.
"The descendant of Gallifrey and the human descendants have returned with the fuel as promised, you Jilmeola" The warrior announced.
The Doctor thought that Jilmeo Patsae couldn't possibly look happier upon receiving that news, nor that he could blame them. His human friends didn't think much about the changing expression on the leader's face, mostly because they had no clue how a happy expression looked with a Pogan, for all they knew the Jilmeo had just decided that he would feed them to the alligators.
"That's brilliant, Warrior, make sure that everyone is on board the ship and that it is fueled. We're leaving Earth." Jilmeo Patsae ordered with a grin.
When the warrior quickly bowed and left with the fuel to get it into the ship the Jilmeo turned towards the travellers.
"Descendant of Gallifrey. Descendants of Earth. I have no idea how I can ever thank you for getting us out of this difficult situation. Do know though that when you ever require assistance, the Pogans will give it to you."
"Thank you, your Jilmeola." The Doctor bowed in thanks, with the others following his lead.
"Now then, I will have to ask you to leave us as we will be ready to leave shortly and as you are probably aware, for most species, it is a very bad idea to stand in the fumes that leave our ship."
The Doctor nodded.
"I'm aware of this and we indeed should take our leave, your Jilmeola."
"Until next time. Descendant of Gallifrey. Descendants of Earth. You are dismissed." Jilmeo Patsae finished.
The Doctor bowed one last time, his friends doing the same before they left the sewers once again and as Martha hoped for the last time.
Of course, it wouldn't be the last time.
When they came home Sarah Jane had temporarily allowed them in the TARDIS, mostly because the Doctor needed to put the jerry can he had used back in storage after cleaning it. A Pogan had come running up to them with it at the last possible moment before they left. The travellers had found out why Pogans didn't really run.
It looked hilarious.
All of them had tried very hard to contain their laughter at the sight, not wanting to offend anyone. The Doctor had been delighted because he got his jerry can back though, he had already considered it lost and since it was bigger on the inside it really was a fine piece of his collection. In contrary to popular belief, it wasn't easy to make stuff bigger on the inside, even for a Time Lord.
Maria, Luke, Martha and Sarah Jane were currently relaxing in the library as The Doctor was currently dealing with his jerry can, although Sarah Jane wouldn't put it past him to also work on some other things while he was here. She wasn't concerned though, the TARDIS had promised her that she would stay put unless Sarah Jane herself told the ship otherwise and even if the ship broke her promise all of them were aboard so even if they left the attic the Time Lord still wouldn't be alone.
Martha and Luke had been overly excited by the Library and were both currently deeply engrossed in a book, both of course interested in a different book.
In the meantime Sarah Jane was catching up with Maria, filling the girl in about the part of today's events she had missed and she also learned about Maria's vacation.
The girl had just finished telling her about the incident with the lost luggage on the airport when they arrived back in London, when Sarah Jane noticed the Doctor leaning in the entrance to the library with an amused smile on his face.
"Everything's taken care of?" She asked him.
He nodded his response, then looked at the two bookworms as he walked over to the couch Maria and Sarah Jane were sitting on.
"Do you think they'll notice if we'll leave?" He asked jokingly as he sat he sat down next to Maria.
"Probably not. Doesn't mean we will though." Sarah Jane told him firmly, he just nodded in answer.
"Don't think they'll want to leave, though," Maria mentioned with a frown.
The Time Lord shrugged.
"I'm sure the fact that they can take the books with them will help." He confided.
"You'll allow that?" Sarah Jane asked.
"Provided they don't leave the house, yeah." He agreed with a grin.
Despite the assurance that they were allowed to keep the books, it took 15 minutes to convince Martha and Luke to leave the TARDIS. In the end, Sarah Jane and The Doctor had agreed and promised them that they would be allowed back into the library on a later date.
When Sarah Jane had locked the TARDIS again and turned around to leave the attic, she noticed the Time Lord leaning against a table looking at his ship with a sad and slightly longing expression.
She sighed and moved to stand next to him.
"It's for your own well being." She told him softly after a short moment of silence.
He looked sideways towards her for a minute before answering.
"I know, it's just…" He paused, looking for the right words. "Today… Well, today it reminded me of well... you know."
"You miss travelling." Sarah Jane stated. "Saving the day and all that comes with it."
He nodded.
"But the weird thing is… at the same time, I don't…" He admitted. "To be honest, I like it here, I like spending time with Luke, helping around." He frowned. "And I never thought I'd say that."
Sarah Jane nodded.
"I just, I like being part of a family?" He whispered. Sarah Jane noticed some tears forming in his eyes. "But… Well… Rose and our son should be here as well." He finally said in a broken whisper before allowing himself to cry.
She quickly gathered him in her arms, offering comfort because what else could she do.
After a while, he had finally calmed down and pulled back out of the embrace.
"Why don't you go to your room and try to get some sleep? And tomorrow, we can talk about you being allowed to travel again." She told him.
He perked up immediately at that.
"Really?"
She nodded.
"For now though, bed!" She told him sternly and he quickly nodded before leaving the attic.
Sarah Jane found herself shaking her head fondly at his antics, but at the same time was slightly worried as he obviously was still hurting.
But who could blame him?
Rose awoke with a sniffle, while she had managed to start living again a bit after her loss, she still had nights were she just couldn't stop herself from crying over the loss of The Doctor. It was an improvement though from before when she had cried herself to sleep every night.
It has been 5 months now since she got stuck in the parallel universe.
And she was now pregnant for 6 months, however, based on the development of the baby she was only in week 8 of her pregnancy in human terms. Since the baby wasn't (completely) human no one was worried about that.
She was however worried about raising an alien child on her own, without its father, who also happened to be the only expert on his and therefore their child's species.
She sighed, she had started working on a way to get back along with some of Torchwood's experts.
She had grown up without a father and that wasn't something she wanted her child to experience as well.
Rose would do everything to find her baby's daddy.