The Dread of Tomorrow and Yesterday – Chapter 30
Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who, if I did, Jack Harkness would take me out to dinner every night.
A/N: Hey, everyone! I'm glad to see everyone still aboard with this story (despite the less frequent updates). You know, I never realised the 4th Doctor's voice was so sexy. It just might be enough to get me into Classic Who. And I also started watching Torchwood, mainly for the eye candy that is John Barrowman. My mum thinks I'm so strange 'cause I start smiling every time I see him on screen. We might be seeing Rhea in some of the Torchwood episodes too, if we're lucky. And we're back with the Ninth Doctor again. I feel like it's been awhile since Rhea has seen the Ninth Doctor and this would be an interesting episode for me to do. Plus, we finally get to see Jack! I wonder what kind of relationship Rhea will have with Jack…
Notes on Reviews:
Marmalade1512: No problem. I love replying to reviews. It's so fun. As long as you get the review into me before I post the chapter, I should reply to you here or if I can't, I'll just send you a PM, so please keep reviewing! I love revealing things about Rhea's past in little tiny bits, so it keeps up the suspense. I try and update every week, but I don't know how I'll be these next two weeks, I have a break so I might try and get more writing done. I might get the change to update like twice a week. About your 10/OC story, you should give your OC a nickname that suits her. Rhea really doesn't like 'Golden Girl'. About her name, well, Sunehri, that's Rhea's full name, means 'golden' in Hindi, so that's why I gave her that name, not to mention, she has tan skin, and the 'golden' does play a part in her plot later on. So, if you have a proper name for your OC already, you could choose a nickname that relates to her name, or relates to the way she acts, or something that involves her, like how Selina Kyle's Catwoman because she's empathetic towards cats.
DoctorWho9: That's an interesting theory. I don't think I ever thought about that, to be honest. Sorry, no, she's wasn't married to the Master, her ex-husband is completely human (hopefully). But Rhea and the Master will have an interesting relationship. He's insane and she's a psychologist, they'll get on like swimmingly ;)
Maren the fangirl: They were very intense kisses, weren't they? We might even get another one of those from the Ninth Doctor and Rhea in these chapters, you never know ;) The ending was very heartwarming wasn't it? Rhea's really conflicted. She really wants to let the Doctor in but she's too wary to do so.
Aka-Baka Hoshi: I'm so glad you liked the chapter. I hope you like the episode I chose with Nine in it. I thought it would really progress their relationship and I'm sure we'll see some interesting things between Jack and Rhea. I think the problem I would have with putting the smut in outtakes is that the outtake would have less of an impact that the smut would have in this story. And I also feel like in this story, I make them get so close to it, they're really at the point of no return, and then I stop, and I think it would be unfair if I did that with the actual smut as well. I haven't really thought about it, to be honest, because I haven't written the episode where they have sex for the first time yet. But thank you for your opinions.
Warnings: Swearing, sexual innuendo.
The Empty Child: Home Front
"You never told me that hats eat people!" Donna shouted, clutching the struts as the TARDIS hurtled through space and time.
"Well, what were you expecting from the Planet of the Hats?" The Doctor asked, incredulously, one foot propped up on the console, one hand gripping the edge and the other, frantically, spinning a wheel.
"I think she was expecting a place where everyone wore hats, not where hats ate people. And you could have mentioned it before we walked out of the TARDIS." Rhea offered, pushing down a lever with one hand and pressing a few buttons with the other.
"Well, I thought you knew." The Doctor defended himself.
"How on Earth would we know?" Rhea asked, incredulously. "Fuck." She swore as a familiar pain made her eyes water. Her hands left the console went to clutch at her head. She sank to the ground with nothing to support her and shrieked when the TARDIS rocked, careening her towards the Doctor.
"Gotcha!" The Doctor crowed, triumphantly, as he caught Rhea in his arms and lowered her, gently, to the ground. Rhea reached out and curled her fingers into his suit, her nails practically tearing into the fabric. He wrapped his arms, tightly, around her and she rested her head on his shoulders and shudders racked through her body.
"It hurts." She whispered, cursing herself for the weakness that was exposed in those words.
"I know, Dimples." The Doctor said, soothingly. "I'm sure it'll all be over soon."
"Stop calling me that." Rhea muttered, but it was too half-hearted for the Doctor to take seriously.
"Not a chance." He snorted, brushing back her hair.
"Does it always hurt her like that?" Donna asked, worriedly, reaching out and tucking one of her curls behind her ear.
The Doctor gave Donna a sad smile. "I'm afraid so." He looked down at the woman in his arms, tightening his hold around her. "It does get better sometimes."
Rhea groaned. "It better… for your sake and mine."
The white light started to spread through her fingers, growing brighter and brighter until Rhea couldn't bear to look any longer in case her eyes would be burnt. She shut her eyes and gritted her teeth against the pain, still seeing white light at the edges of blackness. She breathed, heavily, until white spots disappeared from her vision and, cautiously, opened her eye.
She was glad that the lights were dim when she opened her eyes. Her eyes fluttered open and she gripped the console to push herself upright. An arm wrapped around her waist, keeping her steady, when her legs threatened to topple over. Her hands reached out, blindly, and gripped tightly when they touched upon leather. She turned herself in his embrace, once the ache in her head had somewhat subsided, and smiled up at the Doctor.
"Hi, honey." She said, tipping her head up only slightly to look at the leather clad man. She patted him on the chest. "How are you?"
The Doctor frowned, wondering why she was asking how he was when he had just seen her a few minutes ago, but kept his hands on her waist. "How long has it been since you've seen this version of me?"
"Well…" Rhea thought about it for a second. "I've only met you once before and it was on Platform One."
The Doctor nodded, tensing slightly. "With Cassandra." This is entirely too early for her. This is not good.
Rhea grimaced when she heard the bitchy trampoline's name. "Unfortunately." She sniffed. "Where's Rose?" Rhea asked, looking around.
"Oh, she's getting changed." The Doctor said, absentmindedly. "But I like what you're wearing." The Doctor, a little shy, looked down at the long beaded dress Rhea had worn to the garden party with Agatha Christie.
Rhea smiled, touched by the compliment, smoothing down the dress over her stomach, making sure not to catch her hand on any of the beads. "We went to a garden party in the 1920s." Rhea explained, trying her hardest not to give too much away.
The Doctor grinned at her. "Now, that sounds interesting."
Rhea smirked. "Oh, it will be." She winked and walked around the console, peeking at him from behind the time rotor. "I should go and change, though. I'll look like an idiot if I go around time and space in a flapper's dress." She joked.
"I think you look fine." The Doctor protested.
"That's sweet, but there aren't many of us who can pull off wearing the same thing every day. " Rhea murmured, eyeing him appreciatively. On a whim, she decided to press her lips, very quickly, to his cheek and walked out of the console room, completely missing his fond smile. "I'll be back in a few minutes."
On the way to her room, she passed by Rose, wearing a black jacket, a white shirt with the Union Jack plastered across it and blue jeans. "Hiya, blondie." Rhea said, winking at the girl.
Rose paused, looking her over. "You were not wearing that when I left the console room. Did you just do your 'glow-ey' thing?"
Rhea laughed. "Yeah, I did. I'm just going to go and change into something more practical."
Rose touched Rhea on the arm and smiled, walking back to the console room and joining the Doctor.
When Rhea returned to the console room, donning a spaghetti-strapped grey jumpsuit, she wrapped an arm around Rose's arm.
"So, where are we going now?" Rhea asked the Doctor.
Just then, the TARDIS shook, the cloister bell ringing, frantically. The Doctor frowned and rushed over to the monitor, Rhea right behind him.
"What, what is it?" Rhea asked, looking at the Doctor.
"An emergency." The Doctor said, grimly, as he pressed a few buttons on the console, quickly, his eyes watching the monitor, intently.
"What's the emergency?" Rhea asked.
"It's mauve." The Doctor said, looking at her quickly.
Rhea and the Doctor rushed around the console, with Rose just gripping one of the struts, as the TARDIS shuddered and shook.
"Mauve?" Rose clarified, confused.
"The universally recognized colour for danger." The Doctor explained.
Rhea snorted. "What happened to red?"
"That's just humans." The Doctor scoffed, making Rhea glare at him. "By everyone else's standards, red's camp. Oh, the misunderstandings. All those red alerts, all that dancing." He said, winking at Rhea.
They came back around the console to the monitor and the Doctor pointed at the object they were following through the Time Vortex.
"It's got a very basic flight computer… I've hacked in, slaved the TARDIS. Where it goes, we go." The Doctor told Rhea and Rose.
Rhea frowned. "Is that safe?"
"Totally." The Doctor said, confidently.
A part of the console exploded.
"Okay, reasonably." The Doctor amended. "Should have said reasonably there."
"Oh, no," Rhea moaned. "He's going to get us killed."
He gave her a withering glare. "Give me some credit, Rhea."
Rhea's lips curled into a smirk. "Honey, when you stop leaving the brakes on, then we'll talk." She looked down at the monitor to see that the object looked like it was jumping around the place. "Doctor, you might want to come and see this." She called out.
The Doctor rushed over and his eyes widened. "Oh, no, no, no, no, no! It's jumping time tracks… getting away from us." The Doctor said, frustrated.
"What exactly is this thing?" Rose asked, peaking over their shoulders at the monitor.
"No idea." The Doctor said, plainly.
Rose frowned. "And why are we chasing it?" She asked, carefully.
"It's mauve and dangerous…" The Doctor started.
Rhea took a quick look at the monitor, wincing. "…And about 30 seconds from the centre of London." She said to Rose, sheepishly.
The TARDIS materialised behind some bleak looking houses in London. Rhea and Rose walked out, followed by the Doctor.
"Do you know how long we can knock around space without having to bump into Earth?" The Doctor asked, grumbling to himself.
"Five days? Or is that just when we're out of milk?" Rose asked, cheekily, making Rhea laugh.
The Doctor shook his head, unhappily. "Of all the species in all the universe and it has to come out of a cow."
"Hey!" Rhea objected. "Don't diss cows. Have you ever seen a baby calf? They're absolutely adorable."
Rose look at her, strangely. "I never thought you'd think something was adorable."
Rhea mock-glared at her. "I'm offended, just because I'm a savage bitch sometimes," The Doctor snorted at that last word, making Rhea glare at him. "That doesn't mean I don't think baby animals aren't cute."
They started to walk away from the TARDIS.
"Must have come down somewhere quite close. Within a mile, anyway. And it can't have been more than a few weeks ago. Maybe a month." The Doctor explained.
Rhea folded her arms. "A month?" She clarified, incredulously. "We were right behind it!" Rhea said, crossly.
The Doctor glared at her. "It was jumping time tracks all over the place, we're bound to be a little bit out." The Doctor said, defensively. "Do you wanna drive?"
"Yes," Rhea nodded. "If only you'd let me!"
"How much is 'a little'?" Rose asked, before the Doctor could open his mouth, knowing that they were about to get into an argument.
"A bit." The Doctor said, grudgingly and unwilling to answer.
"Is that exactly a bit?"
"Ish."
"What's the plan, then? Are you gonna do a scan for alien tech or something?" Rose asked.
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Rose, it hit the middle of London with a very loud bang. I'm gonna ask." He pulled out the black wallet that contained the psychic paper from inside his leather jacket and showed it to her.
Rose leaned in to read what it said. "Doctor John Smith, Doctor Sunehri Adwani, Ministry of Asteroids." She said, confused.
"Psychic Paper, tells you-"
"Whatever you want it to tell me," Rose finished. "I remember."
"That sounds so dumb!" Rhea said. "There's no such thing as a Ministry of Asteroids! Couldn't you have said NACA? And I keep telling you, no one is called John Smith."
The Doctor scoffed. "This lot," He gestured to the empty alley. "Won't be able to tell the difference."
Rhea rolled her eyes. "You think you're so superior to everyone else, don't you?"
The Doctor shrugged. "If the shoe fits."
Rhea was about to tear into him for his arrogance when Rose interrupted. "Not very Spock, is it? Just asking?"
The Doctor was trying to get through a door to a place where they could hear laughter and music and chatting.
"Door, music, people. What d'you think?" The Doctor asked.
"I think you should do a scan for alien tech." Rose said, stubbornly.
The Doctor held the sonic screwdriver to the door.
"Gimme some Spock! For once, would it kill ya?" Rose pouted.
Rhea snorted. "He couldn't be more Spock if he tried." She muttered to herself.
The Doctor eyed Rose's shirt. "Are you sure about that t-shirt?"
"It is a bit showy." Rhea agreed, narrowing her eyes at the Union Flag.
Rose looked down at it. "Too early to say. I'm taking it out for a spin."
Rhea sighed. "Oh, well, to each her own style, I suppose."
The Doctor continued to try and open the door with his sonic screwdriver. Rose and Rhea turned around when they heard an eerie voice coming from the alley.
"Mummy." A little boy drawled, stressing out the syllables.
Rhea frowned and looked around for the source of the voice.
"Muuuu-mmy?"
The Doctor cracked the lock.
"Come on if you're both coming. Won't take a minute." The Doctor said, going through the door. But Rhea and Rose didn't follow him, both were too busy trying to find out where the voice was coming from.
"Okay, so you heard that too, didn't you?" Rhea muttered to Rose, who nodded.
"Muuuuumy?"
Rhea's eyes widened when she spotted the child standing on a rooftop. She patted Rose's arm, getting her attention, and motioned for her to look at the rooftop.
"Doctor?" Rhea called out, urgently. "Doctor? There's a kid up on the rooftop!"
But the Doctor didn't answer as he was already inside. Rhea ran over to the building, trying to find a way onto the roof, the whole time being watched by the child.
The Doctor followed the sound of the voices and music and a waiter through a darkened corridor. Soon, he found himself in a crowded drinking den, full of smoke and chatter and a singer standing up beside a piano.
"For nobody else gave me the thrill, when I have found I love you still, it had to be you, wonderful you..."
Rhea and Rose were going up the steps that ran up the side of the building on top of which the child stood.
"Sweetheart, are you okay up there?" Rhea shouted to him, rushing up the stairs as fast as she could.
"Mummy?" The child asked again and Rhea and Rose doubled their efforts to reach the child, quickly.
"…It had to be you." The nightclub singer finished and the audience applauded.
The Doctor joined the applause as he stepped onto the stage. "Excuse me! Excuse me!" He shouted into the microphone, gaining everyone's attention. "Could I have everybody's attention just for a mo? Be very quick, eh... hello!" He waved cheerily. "Eh... might seem like a stupid question," He started, rubbing the back of his neck. "But has anything fallen from the sky recently?
There was complete and utter silence. The Doctor looked around, expectantly. Then, the audience started to laugh, making the Doctor stare at them, confusedly.
Rhea and Rose finished climbing up the steps. The wind slammed into them, goosebumps rising up their arms, almost sending them careening. Her hair blew around her face, but she could see that the child was standing precariously on the edge. She cursed under her breath and pointed the child out to Rose, who was squinting.
"Mummy?" The child called out again.
"Damn," Rhea muttered. "Okay, hold on, don't move an inch, and I mean that, kid." Rhea ordered.
The child looked down at the two. Suddenly, a rope swung into sight, coming around from the side of the building, seemingly up to the rooftop.
"I think that's our best chance." Rose told Rhea, gesturing to the rope.
Rhea sighed. "If you're sure." They ran to the side of the buildings and threw their hands around the rope, gripping with all of the strength they hand, trying their hardest not to bump into each other.
The audience was still laughing and the Doctor was still looking at them, strangely.
"Sorry, have I said something funny?" The Doctor asked, confused. He was slightly frustrated. It were times like this that he wished Rhea was here. She would have made sure that no one mistook the seriousness of the situation and shut them all up with one glare or with one pull of the trigger.
The audience kept laughing, as if it were a continuing joke.
"It's just, there's this thing I need to find, would've fallen from the sky a couple of days ago." The Doctor tried again, hoping that he would get a straight answer out of all of these people.
A siren sounded through the whole room. Immediately, everyone started to leave in a hurry.
"Would've landed quite near here..." The Doctor tried for the third time, but no one was listening to him. A sense of dread started to wash over him and he looked up at the ceiling, in the direction from which the sirens seemed to be coming from, hoping with all he had that he was wrong about where they were. "With a very loud..." Through the crowds of people all clamouring to leave the building, panic etched on their faces, the Doctor noticed a poster tacked to the wall, bearing the legend 'HITLER WILL SEND NO WARNING'. "Bang…" The Doctor finished and closed his eyes in despair.
Rhea started to climb up the rope, Rose only a short distance underneath her, so that they wouldn't crash into each other.
"Mummy…"
Rhea gritted her teeth against the rope burn pushing her body up the rope. She could hear Rose puffing and panting below her and chanced a look down. "You okay there, Rose? Bet you wish you tried harder in gym class, doesn't it?" She laughed, not really finding anything funny, just needing to laugh.
"We never actually did that in P.E." Rose told her, heaving her body up the rope.
"Really?" She looked down at Rose. "Always hated it in high school. Rope climbing was definitely a bitch. Got better at it when I got older." She smiled to herself, remembering the tanned, incredibly sexy reason for why she got better.
"Balloon!" The child called out, making Rhea's eyes snap to him immediately. The rope came away from the side of the building, with Rhea and Rose still hanging onto it. She looked up, the dread clear in her eyes, and saw that the rope was in fact hanging down from a barrage balloon.
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me." Rhea groaned, resolving to kill the Doctor if they ever got out of this. Him and his fucking curiousity.
The barrage balloon started to drift away from the building, Rhea and Rose high in the air.
"Doctor! Doctor! Doctor!" Rose shouted, terrified.
"Don't panic!" Rhea said, sharply. "If you panic, your grip will start to loosen. I don't relish sweeping you off the sidewalk, blondie." She looked up at the barrage balloon, unsure but unwilling to express it. "We'll get out of this, I promise."
"Oh, yeah, and how are we going to do that?" Rose asked, sarcastically.
A crash sounded behind them and they turned around to see planes dropping bombs on London.
"Oh, fuck," Rhea moaned. "It's the London Blitz." She looked down at Rose, wearing the Union Jack t-shirt and resisted the urge to groan. "Okay…so maybe not that shirt, honey."
The Doctor emerged from the drinking den, expecting Rhea and Rose to be waiting for him outside the door.
"Rhea! Rose!" He called out, looking around.
He rounded a corner to where the TARDIS was parked, hoping that they were standing by the TARDIS instead. He rubbed his temples as he realised they were nowhere to be found. A cat was sitting on a dustbin, watching him, intently. The Doctor turned around and noticed it when it meowed. He picked it up, holding it to his face.
"You know... one day. Just one day, maybe... I'm gonna meet someone who gets the whole 'don't wander off' thing." The Doctor said, frustrated, to the cat. "But seeing as I plan on travelling with Rhea for a long time in the future, I doubt that's gonna happen." He shook his head, annoyed.
Suddenly, he heard a phone ringing and turned around to where the TARDIS was, frowning. His brows furrowed, he put the cat down and walked over to the TARDIS, opening the compartment on the door, behind which the phone was hidden. He started at it, confused.
"How can you be ringing? What's that about? Ringing?" The Doctor said to himself, bewildered. He took it sonic screwdriver out. "What am I supposed to do with a ringing phone?" Then, he winced, realising the stupidity in his question. In fact, he could hear Rhea's voice as if she were right next to him. "Answer it, you moron!"
A girl, silently, came up to him. "Don't answer it. It's not for you." She said, quickly.
The Doctor turned around to look at her, questioningly. "And how do you know that?"
The girl glared at him. "'Cos I do. And I'm tellin' ya, don't answer it."
The Doctor crossed his arms over his chest and raised an eyebrow. "Well, if you know so much, tell me this… how can it be ringing?" He turned back to the phone, eyeing it with disbelief. "It's not even a real phone. It's not connected, it's not-"
He turned back around to find that the girl had disappeared. The Doctor paused, even more confused, then turned his attention back to the phone. He hesitantly picked it up and held it to his ear.
"Hello?" There was silence apart from some crackling. "This is the Doctor speaking." There was more crackling. "How may I help you?"
"Mummy?" The child asked.
The Doctor's sceptical grin fell from his face, replaced by a sober look.
"Mummy?"
"Who is this? Who's speaking?" The Doctor demanded.
"Are you my mummy?"
"Who is this?" The Doctor growled out, forcefully, his hackles rising.
"Mummy?"
There was silence.
"How did you ring here? This isn't a real phone, it's not wired up to anything, it's-"
"Mummy?" And the line went dead.
The Doctor slowly put the phone back in its cradle. He poked his head inside the TARDIS. "Rhea? Rose? Rhea, are you in there?" But there was no answer.
There was a crashing sound from behind him. Closing the phone compartment, quickly, the Doctor ran to follow the sound. He hurried out of the alleyway, and into a street.
"The planes are coming. Can't you hear them? Into the shelter. None of your nonsense, now move it!"
Following the sound of the voices, the Doctor stood on top of a dustbin to look over a garden wall. A fat woman was ushering a small boy into a bomb shelter.
"Come on, come on, get in there." The woman turned around. "Arthur! Arthur! Will you hurry up? Didn't you hear the sirens?"
A fat man emerged from the house. "Middle of dinner, every night. Bloomin' Germans." The man muttered. "Don't you eat?" The man shouted, skywards.
The Doctor smiled in amusement.
"I can hear the planes!" The woman shouted, fearfully.
"Don't you eat?!" The man yelled again.
"Oh, keep your voice down, will ya? There's an air raid!" The woman scolded, pushing him into the shelter and following him down there. "Get in... there's a war on."
"I know there is-" Once they were inside, the door closed.
The Doctor raised an eyebrow when he saw the girl from the alley, creeping out from behind the shelter and into the back door of the house, completely unaware that he was watching her.
Rhea and Rose were suspended hundreds of feet above London, carried by the rope hanging down from the barrage balloon. Rose cried out and Rhea tensed, gripping onto the rope tightly, as planes whizzed past them, both holding on for dear life.
"Rose, you okay?"
"I'm terrified!"
"It's going to be okay, Rose." Rhea said, but not really believing it herself. I could really use a genie or a guardian angel right about now.
Suddenly, there was explosion right beneath the two and the resulting shockwave loosened their grip. They fell, holding onto each other and screaming. Suddenly, a bright blue beam shot out of somewhere near Big Ben and surrounded them, holding them still.
"Okay, okay, I've got you." A man's voice came through a speaker through the beam.
"Exactly who's got us, and, well, how?" Rhea asked, amazed at her ability to keep her voice strong, especially with her and Rose clutching onto each other in terror and surprise.
"I'm just programming your descent pattern. Keep as still as you can and keep your hands and feet inside the light field." The man ordered.
"Descent pattern?" Rose asked.
"Oh, and could you both switch off your cellphones?" The man asked.
Rhea snorted and Rose made a disbelieving noise.
"No, seriously, it interferes with my instrument." The man said.
Rhea dug into the pocket of her jumpsuit and Rose fumbled around her jacket. "You know, no-one ever believes that." Rose grumbled.
"Yeah, just because it happened on an episode of the Simpsons, doesn't mean it actually happens in real life." Rhea called out, but they both switched their phones off anyway.
"Thank you. That's much better."
"Oh, yeah, that's a real load off, that is. We're hanging in the sky in the middle of a German air raid with the Union Jack across my chest, but hey! Our mobile phones are off!" Rose shouted at the man, slightly hysterically.
The man laughed.
"Would you please just get us down!" Rhea shouted at the man.
"Be with you in a moment."
There was silence and Rhea attempted to get her emotions back under lock and key. Who knows who this guy is? For all we know, he could be a Nazi and he's just playing nice.
"Ready for you. Hold tight!"
"To what?" Rhea demanded, annoyed.
There was a pause. "Fair point."
Rhea and Rose zoomed feet first down the tunnel of blue light, the latter screaming, the former squeezing her eyes tightly shut.
Suddenly, they were caught by the waist.
"I've got you!" The man said.
Rose coughed and Rhea opened her eyes, wearily, momentarily speechless as she stared at a remarkably good-looking man. The man winked at her, once he noticed she was staring and she looked away, abruptly, worming out of his hold and wrapping her arms around the disoriented Rose.
"You're fine, you're just fine. The tractor beam, it can scramble your head just a little." The man told Rose.
Rose looked up at the man and seemed to notice how remarkably good-looking he was, simply staring, making Rhea smirk.
"Hello." She said, breathlessly.
Jack raised his eyebrows and looked both of them up and down. "Hello." He said, appreciatively.
Rhea laughed once she stopped feeling dizzy. "Not going to work on me, sweetheart."
"Hello." Rose said again, still staring at him.
Jack raised his eyebrow, looking at the blonde, and nodded.
Rose shook her head, freeing herself of the dizziness. "Sorry, that was hello twice there. Dull, but you know, thorough." She laughed, embarrassed.
"Are you all right?" The man asked, worriedly, noticing that the blonde girl was swaying, slightly.
"Fine!" Rose said, grinning at him. "Why, are you expecting me to faint or something?"
"Well, you do look a little dizzy..." Rhea said, slowly.
"What about you two? You're not even focused... oh boll-" Rose's eyes rolled back into her head and she fainted into Rhea's arms, the man laughing as he helped Rhea lift her onto a bed.
Several children along with the girl from the alley sat around a table, piled with food. The children waited, anxiously, as the girl cut the meat.
"It's got to be black market. He couldn't get all this on coupons." One of the boys was saying.
"Ernie, how many times?" The girl at the head of the table said, severely. "We are guests in this house. We will not make comments of that kind. Washing up."
The other children laughed at Ernie, who blushed.
The girl looked at one of the children sitting around the table. "Haven't seen you at one of these before."
The boy nodded at another boy. "He told me about it."
"Sleeping rough?" The girl said, sympathetically.
"Yes, miss." The boy said, shyly.
The girl nodded. "All right then." She passed the plate around. "One slice each, and I want to see everyone chewing properly." She warned.
"Thank ya, miss!" One boy said, taking a slice.
"Thanks, miss!"
"Thank you miss."
"Thanks, miss!" The Doctor said, cheerfully, also taking a slice.
Gasping in surprise, all of the children jumped backwards.
"It's all right! Everybody stay where you are!" The girl said, halting everyone.
One of the boys stared at the Doctor in shock, a piece of meat hanging out of his mouth.
"Good here, innit? Who's got the salt?" The Doctor asked, looking around the table.
"Back in your seats! He shouldn't be here either." The girl ordered.
The Doctor smiled and helped himself to some sauce. "So, you lot... what's the story?"
"What d'you mean?" Ernie asked.
"You're homeless, right? Living rough?" The Doctor clarified.
One of the boys looked at him, darkly. "Why d'you wanna know that? Are you a copper?"
"Of course I'm not a copper." The Doctor scoffed. "What's a copper gonna do with you lot anyway? Arrest you for starving?" The Doctor joked and the children laughed, breaking the ice. "I make it 1941, you lot shouldn't be in London. You should've been evacuated to the country by now."
"I was evacuated. They sent me to a farm." One of the boys said, chewing on his food.
"So why'd you come back?" The Doctor asked, frowning.
"There was a man there…" He trailed off.
"Yeah, same with Ernie. Two homes ago." Another boy said.
"Shut up." Ernie said. "It's better on the streets anyway. Better food."
"Yeah. Nancy always gets the best food for us."
The Doctor smiled at Nancy. "So, that's what you do is it, Nancy?"
"What is?" Nancy frowned.
"As soon as the sirens go, you find a big fat family meal, still warm on the table with everyone down in the air raid shelter and, bingo! Feeding frenzy for the homeless kids of London Town. Puddings for all! As long as the bombs don't get you." The Doctor said.
"Something wrong with that?" Nancy asked, defensively.
"Wrong with it? It's brilliant. I'm not sure if it's Marxism in action or a West End musical." The Doctor said, thoughtfully.
Nancy frowned. "Why'd you follow me? What d'you want?"
"I want to know how a phone that isn't a phone gets a phone call. You seem to be the one to ask." The Doctor said, waving his butterknife around.
Nancy shook her head. "I did you a favour. I told you not to answer it, that's all I'm telling ya."
"Great, thanks." The Doctor said. "And I wanna find a brunette in high heels and a blonde in a Union Jack. I mean specific ones, I didn't just wake up this morning with a craving." He chuckled. Although, I frequently do have cravings for Rhea.
The children started to laugh. Nancy, clearly not impressed by the Doctor's humour, stood up.
"Anybody seen girls like that?" The Doctor asked.
Nancy took his plate away.
"What've I done wrong?" The Doctor asked, indignantly.
"You took two slices." Nancy said, making the children laugh at him. "No brunettes, no flags. Anything else before you leave?" Nancy asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Yeah, there is actually. Thanks for asking. Something I've been looking for, would've fallen from the sky about a month ago, but not a bomb." The Doctor pulled out a notebook from his pocket. "Not the usual kind anyway. Wouldn't have exploded. Would've just buried itself in the ground somewhere, and it would've looked something like..." He started to sketch something. "This." He showed them a crude, scribbled drawing of a cylinder.
Nancy looked at it intently, something passing over her face, gone as quick as it came, but said nothing. There was a knock on the window and the children gasped.
"Mummy? Are you in there, mummy?" The child from the phone called out.
The Doctor frowned at the children's scared faces and went over to the window, pulling the curtain aside. The child with a gasmask on his face was standing there, knocking on the glass.
"Mummy?"
"Who was the last one in?" Nancy asked the children, urgently.
"Him." Ernie pointed to the Doctor.
"Nah, he came round the back. Who came in the front?"
"Me." One of the boys whispered.
"Did you close the door?" Nancy hissed.
"I…"
"Did you close the door?" Nancy asked again.
"Mummy? Mummy?" The child's shadow loomed outside the door. "Muuuuum-my?"
Nancy rushed down the hallway and shut and bolted the door, before the child could get in. She backed away, looking at the shadow of the child outside the door, terrified. The Doctor stood behind her.
"What's this, then? It's never easy being the only child left out in the cold, you know." The Doctor watched the shadow of the child, concernedly.
"I suppose you would know." Nancy said, scornful, not taking her eyes off the child.
"I do actually, yes." The Doctor smiled, pleasantly, at her.
"It's not exactly a child." Nancy explained.
"Muuum-my?"
Nancy pushed past the Doctor and went back into the dining room.
"Right, everybody out, across the back garden and under the fence." Nancy said, addressing the children that were still sitting around the dinner table. They just looked at her. "Now! Go! Move!" She shouted.
They all jumped out of their seats and ran out of the room while Nancy put her coat on, apart from one little girl.
"Come on, baby. You've got to go. Okay? It's just like a game. Just like chasing." Nancy said, soothingly, and the little girl jumped out of her seat. "Take your coat, go on." The little girl ran after the other children. "Go!" Nancy shouted after them.
The Doctor watched them pass, slightly confused.
"Mummy?"
The Doctor took a few steps to the door, intent on letting the child inside.
"Please let me in, mummy." The little boy stuck his hand through the letterbox. He had a bloody scar on the back of his perfectly ordinary little hand. "Please let me in, mummy."
"Are you all right?" The Doctor asked, concernedly, crouching in front of the letterbox.
"Please let me in."
Suddenly, Nancy threw something against the door, which smashed. The child withdrew his hand, abruptly.
"You mustn't let him touch ya!" Nancy warned.
The Doctor's eyebrows furrowed. "What happens if he touches me?"
"He'll make you like him."
The Doctor cocked his head. "And what's he like?"
Nancy stepped away, worried and nervous. "I've gotta go."
"Nancy, what's he like?" The Doctor asked again, this time more strongly.
They looked at each other.
After a pause, Nancy sighed. "He's empty."
The phone rang . The Doctor turned to look at it.
"It's him. He can make phones ring, he can. Just like with that police box you saw." Nancy explained.
The Doctor looked at the shadow of the child outside the door, then picked up the phone.
"Are you my mummy?"
Nancy snatched the phone off the Doctor and slammed it back down. Then, the radio turned itself on. It played music, but the child's voice came over it.
"Mummy? Please let me in, mummy."
The Doctor turned the tuner. He stopped when a toy monkey suddenly sprung to life, beating the cymbals together.
"Mummy? Muuum-my, muum-my..." The child's voice came through the monkey. The Doctor picked it up and looked at it.
"Stay if you want to." Nancy said, nervously, before leaving.
"Mummy, mummy, mummy..."
The child stuck his hand through the letterbox again. "Mummy? Let me in please, mummy..."
The Doctor knelt again in front of the door, looking at the scarred little hand with a look of concern on his face.
"Please let me in!" The child begged.
The Doctor shook his head. "Your mummy isn't here."
The child paused. "Are you my mummy?"
"No mummies here. None be here but us chickens." He looked behind him at the deserted house, then back at the door, grinning. "Well, this chicken." He amended.
"I'm scared." The child said.
The Doctor frowned, leaning closer. "Why are those other children frightened of you?"
"Please let me in, mummy. I'm scared of the bombs."
The Doctor considered his options. "Okay. I'm opening the door now." He said, cautiously. The child withdrew its hand from the letterbox and the Doctor stood up. He drew back the bolts and opened the door, but the porch was empty. He walked down the path and looked up and down the street, but there was no sign of the child.
A/N: And, here's an interesting chapter! We finally get to see Jack. I've been waiting for this chapter for awhile. Should Jack flirt with Rhea more in the next chapter? He will still flirt with Rose to an extent. But Rhea will step in when she thinks Rose is about to make a fool of himself. She won't think much of it, because she hasn't met Mickey yet. Maybe once she does, Rhea will go off at Rose. Rhea might be a bit free-spirited when it comes to me, but it doesn't mean she doesn't respect and value fidelity in a relationship, in fact, it's a bit of a sore point for her.
The Doctor and Rhea have started to bicker somewhat in this chapter, which will definitely continue in the next couple of chapters. This Doctor is much more arrogant than the other two, in my opinion, and it really does get on Rhea's nerves. I wonder what the Doctor's going to think and say when he sees how Jack and Rhea interact. Now, that should be an interesting reaction.
Please do review guys, I really enjoy it when you do! It does make me feel a little anxious when I only get a few reviews. Oh, and please do check out my Tumblr, just put up a scene from Nightmare in Silver up a few days ago. Oh, and feel free to leave a comment or a question in the ask box!
See ya soon!