Skelmanthorpe is Jodie Whittaker's home village.
The youngest version of Rose Tyler sat on the jumpseat of the Console Room in serious deep thought. She was worried, very worried and managed to hide it from The Doctor. She wanted to talk to him and tell him what was on her Mind, but for some reason she felt he might freak out like he usually did.
It wasn't bad news. Not by a long-shot. More like good news, for her at least. She just wasn't sure The Doctor would think the same. He used to have family and kids back on Gallifrey, but would he even want to have that again? Rose groaned, shook her head and put her hands over her face. "C'mon Rose, all you need is courage," she mumbled to herself. "Just need to tell him!"
"Are you okay, Rose?" Asked a familiar Scots accented voice.
Letting out a yelp of surprise, Rose looked up and her eyes widened. Stood next to the Console was Jaime, Alexia and J.D. "Oh my god!" The blonde cried out and quickly scrambled to her feet. "You're back! I didn't think we'd ever see you again."
A tired looking smile appeared on J.D's face at Rose's words. "That's nice!" He said, walking around the Console to check something on the Monitor. "I thought we'd never make it home either, considering we'd gone through so many timelines and several detours."
Rose furrowed her brows at this.
"Och, dinnae be so dramatic!" Jaime spoke up, following J.D and putting her arms around his waist as she stood behind him.
"Oi! I'm not being dramatic." John replied back.
"At least it shows we were missed." Alexia said. She looked around the Console Room with a frown. "Where is everyone else anyway?" She inquired.
"Uhh, The Doctor is with Jenny in the training room helping her with the rest of her Time Lord abilities. And the last time I saw Amy and Rory they were in the pool."
"And you're here sat on your lonesome." Alexia added.
"Aye, why is that?" Jaime asked. "You seemed a wee bit worried just now."
Rose shifted nervously on her feet before pulling up her shield to maximum and grinning. "It was nothing. I'm fine." She replied, causing Alexia to raise her brows.
"Fair 'nough." Jaime mumbled and snuggled closer to John. She felt that Rose was hiding something big but decided not to pry. They would likely find out once Rose wanted to say what was on her Mind.
"Looks like we've been gone for some time." John muttered thoughtfully as he looked at the info on the Monitor.
"I dinnae care 'bout that," The Scots-girl let go of the Half-Time Lord before grabbing his hand and pulling him away from the Console.
"Woah!" John yelped. "What are you doing?"
Jaime glared back at him mischievously. "What d'ye think I'm doin'," she replied. "Allons-y!" And she pulled him out of the Console Room.
Alexia and Rose watched them leave.
Alexia groaned seconds later. "I best go keep an eye on them." She said and was about to follow the couple until she felt hands on her arm.
"Wait, hold on!" Rose uttered desperately and Alexia turned to the blonde with a look of concern.
"Rose? What's up?" She asked.
"Can we talk? I need to tell you something." Rose replied.
Alexia noticed there was a look of desperation in the younger woman's brown eyes and she wondered what could be wrong. "Uhh, yeah, okay. What's on your Mind?" She inquired.
"Not here." Rose said and moved quickly to the Console.
Alexia watched in fascination as Rose worked her way around the Console almost expert-like, if it hadn't been for the noticeable hesitations. She typed in co-ordinates, flicked switches, pressed buttons and finally pulled the lever. The TARDIS lurched into a different direction and would have sent Alexia tumbling to the floor if she hadn't grabbed the railing.
"Since when have you been able to fly the TARDIS single handed?" The woman asked over the wheezing groan of the TARDIS.
"With lessons from The Doctor and a little bit of help from the TARDIS." Came the reply from Rose.
Finally steady on her feet, Alexia let go of the rail and watched Rose with a frown. She was good, but not as good as The Doctor just yet. She remembered John muttering that they'd been gone some time and was about to ask Rose, until they landed at their destination.
"That was quick!" Alexia stated.
"Yes, she can when she wants to be." Rose replied, grabbed Alexia's hand and pulled her towards the door.
The two women exited the TARDIS onto a not so busy street and Rose looked around, surprised. They had parked outside a butcher's shop that was currently open, then checking the rest of her surroundings saw there wasn't much going on. "This isn't London," she said. "I was aiming for London."
"No, it isn't," Alexia replied. "We're much further North for that."
Turning her attention to the older woman, Rose noticed she was looking at the shop sign. So she followed her gaze to check it out. "Skelmanthorpe Butchers." She read out loud and frowned. "I've never heard of it. Where are we anyway?" Rose wondered out loud.
"West Yorkshire." Was Alexia's quick answer.
Rose looked at her. "Are you sure? How can you tell?" She asked.
"Because we used to live in a village similar to this," Alexia answered her. "Except that was in North Yorkshire. It's easy to tell where we are considering the way these villages are built." She suddenly looked thoughtful. "Osmotherly looked similar to this. A homely, close-knit community." It also reminded her of someone from her already fading memories. She'd also been blonde and spoke with a heavy Yorkshire accent. Alexia turned towards Rose. "Maybe we could find a café or something to have that little chat you want."
Rose smiled, feeling less nervous now. "Thank you!" She said and the two women walked off down the street, with Alexia giving a quick glance back at the TARDIS when it felt like she was being watched.
On their journey to find a café, they passed by a small Police Station, a local newsagents, several houses, a church and a pub. Alexia frowned. It wasn't a café but it would have to do. She was about to cross the road until Rose caught her arm.
"Pub doesn't feel right," the blonde said. "Can we move along?"
Alexia nodded and they continued on their destination. It wasn't long until they came across a park and a School that they knew they were in the right place. On the other side of the park was a river and a café by the name of 'Lupus Malum'. Rose blew out a stunned breath, knowing full well what it meant in English.
Apparently Alexia did too. "I suppose we've found out reason why the TARDIS brought us here." Alexia said, looking at Rose. "If 'Lupus' is Latin for Wolf, I take it 'malus' means 'bad'?"
Rose nodded her head. "Yes." She practically whispered.
"Alright, let's go inside." Alexia said and the two women crossed the park and walked towards the café.
Once they were inside, Alexia looked around the café. It wasn't particularly busy at the moment, yet it felt homely and welcoming. It kind of reminded her of the café from 'Emmerdale'. On the wall behind the cashier was a mural of a grey wolf with glowing eyes and a wet snarl. "Wow, creepy!" She muttered.
"It's beautiful." Rose said thoughtfully, staring at the mural.
Smirking, Alexia was reminded of The Doctor when he'd go gaga over certain things. She turned her attention to Rose. "Go and find somewhere to sit, I'll get us some drinks." She said.
Rose nodded. "You'll need money." She said, digging into her jacket pocket and pulling out several notes from different countries.
Alexia noticed she had American Dollars as well as British Pounds and once again wondered how long they had been gone travelling up and down the Doctor's timeline. It was also just another reminder she came to this universe with nothing but a hospital nightie as Rose handed her twenty Pounds. "Thanks!" She muttered and sauntered over to the counter.
The young man perked up when he saw her approaching. "Hello, tourists I take it?" He asked and Alexia nodded her head. "We don't normally get them out of season." He continued.
Alexia smiled grimly. "We were passing through and decided to stop by," she replied, her gaze going back to the mural. "Why does that Wolf have glowing eyes?" She questioned.
The young man looked back at the mural with a thoughtful expression. "It just felt like something I was supposed to do." Was his dreamy sounding answer.
Alexia frowned, finding the way he spoke a bit odd. "And the name of the café?" She further questioned.
"I like Latin and Wolves!" He answered. "What would you like to order?" He then pushed, back to his ordinary self.
"If you do milkshakes I'd like a banana flavour and a vanilla flavour." Alexia requested.
"Yes, but we also do them frappe style." The cashier told her.
"Yeah, okay." Alexia said and ordered two frappe style milkshakes, giving him the money seconds later.
When he went to the Till to get her change, Alexia noticed a stack of leaflets on the counter that had 'Most Haunted' logo at the top. Curious, she took one and shoved it into her pocket, hoping to read it later. The cashier came back with her change and told her he'd bring her order over once he'd made them. With a nod of thanks, the woman went to find where Rose was and found her sat down on a comfy looking seat with a nervous expression on her face.
Alexia sat opposite her and went to hand Rose the change she was given.
"No, you keep it!" Rose said, shaking her head.
Frowning, Alexia shrugged her shoulders. "Well, it's a start!" She muttered before shoving the money in her pocket and then looking at Rose. "So, what's on your Mind?" She asked.
Rose shifted nervously in her seat and looked around the café first before looking back at Alexia. "I think I might be pregnant." She replied in a quiet voice.
Alexia raised her brows, faint memories of children popping up in her Mind. She couldn't remember what they looked like or what their names were, but she definitely remembered them. "Oh, you THINK you're pregnant? What makes you THINK you're pregnant?" She questioned.
Rose blushed and looked down at her hands, fiddling with them. "Because I missed my time of the month." Was her reply.
"Okay, then. Any other symptoms? Dizziness, morning nausea, cravings?" Alexia asked and sighed when Rose's eyes widened in panic and silently shook her head. Apparently it was in its early stages so there were no other tells yet.
"Well I suppose you'd need to go to a chemist to get a pregnancy stick then. I wonder if they have a chemist here?" Alexia suggested thoughtfully.
But Rose shook her head again. "No need. The TARDIS provided me one already," she said and pulled it out of her pocket. It looked very futuristic for a pregnancy stick. "I just didn't want to use it in the TARDIS in case it was…found." Rose blushed even more while Alexia frowned.
"Then you best go and use the toilet then." The woman spoke up.
"Thanks!" Rose replied, stood up and hurried over to the toilet.
Sighing and shaking her head, Alexia wondered why Rose didn't want to take the test in the TARDIS. And it was obvious she hadn't spoken to The Doctor yet. With that in Mind, along with the sound of the frappeshakes being made, Alexia pulled out the leaflet from her pocket and read it.
It was an advertisement for a Live broadcast of 'Most Haunted'. And to her complete surprise they were filming at a stately home called Century House, half a mile from the village of Hallam, Hallamshire. Apparently they were in search of the Red Widow. There was a couple of things to pick up from it and that was there was apparently a village called Hallam. In the time she and Jaime had been living in Yorkshire, she had never heard of a village called Hallam. She knew of a constituency called 'Sheffield Hallam', but did that exist in this universe?
The second thing was that there really was an actual building called Century House. Because in her old universe there had been talk of several unmade episodes of the Tenth Doctor era that would have been impossible to make. One of them was Century House, using the idea of The Doctor joining the Most Haunted team to investigate the Red Widow.
Alexia chuckled, amazed at the utter coincidence of coming across this leaflet. Perhaps it was a Bad Wolf thing. And not to mention they'd found their next destination. She had to show this to The Doctor, so she shoved it back into her pocket.
The cashier was still making their frappe shakes, then Rose came back from the toilet looking a tad pale.
"That was quick!" Alexia said as Rose sat back down.
"I got the result almost instantly." Rose muttered her reply.
"So what was it?" She asked.
"Positive." Rose said quietly.
"Oh, congratulations future mother!" Alexia said with a grin, but it didn't stay there for long when she noticed her pale face and the worried expression. "Rose, what is it?" She asked. "Why are you here with me and not with The Doctor telling him your news?"
Looking even more worried than ever, Rose looked up at Alexia. "That's the thing though," she replied. "What if I do tell him and he reacts badly to it?" To her complete surprise and bemusement Alexia snorted laughter, yet it sounded sarcastic.
"Oh, aye, I've had that happen before…" She said. "The 'bad reaction'." She air quoted. "When I told Michael I was pregnant with Jaime he took one look at me and ran the four minute mile. Literally and figuratively. I never did see him again and tried calling him again and again until the number was unrecognised. That's when I knew our relationship had ended. Bastard!"
Face pale from the story, Rose furrowed her brow in confusion. Whoever this man was, Alexia was very bitter towards him. "Sorry, who's Michael?" She asked, noticing Alexia suddenly grimacing.
"Oh…Michael is Jaime's biological father. But the less said about him the better!" Alexia answered Rose. "As for The Doctor, he isn't Michael. He won't run away from you. He clearly loves you whether you're pregnant or not and he'll always stick by you."
But Rose just shook her head. "But he had family and kids on Gallifrey and he left them all." She worried.
An exasperated sigh came from Alexia. "What happened on Gallifrey is all in the ancient past. Look to the future instead. I bet he'll be ecstatic once you tell him the good news."
Nodding faintly and a little less worried now, Rose remembered the Doctor telling her about his first reaction to seeing Jenny. He'd been shocked at first, followed by denial until Donna showed him that Jenny was just like him.
"Okay…" She muttered and blushed as she looked back at Alexia. "I'll do that." She seemed to contemplate on what she was going to say next. "As to why I spoke to you about it first…you're the closest thing I have to a mother right now." She added.
Alexia perked up and the biggest smile ever appeared on her face. "Oh, Rose!" The woman stood up, moved around the table and sat next to Rose. "Thank you! Coming from you, that means a lot to me." And she gave Rose a hug, which had Rose hugging Alexia back.
"Here you go, ladies," the cashier spoke up, interrupting their moment as he placed the Shakes on the table. "One banana Frappeshake and one vanilla Frappeshake. Enjoy."
"Thanks." Alexia uttered as the canshier went back to the counter. Then she chuckled as she looked at the Frappeshakes. They looked good. "Yes, I think we really will." She said, watching as Rose picked up her Frappeshake and began to drink it.
