The Dread of Tomorrow and Yesterday – Chapter 31
Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who, if I did, Captain Jack would definitely take me out for a drink every Friday night.
A/N: And here's the second part of The Empty Child. I always felt like Rose seemed like a giggling schoolgirl in this episode between her and Jack, so, while that will happen, Rhea will step in when it comes to 'business'. And I have a surprise for all of you regarding Rhea and Jack ;) Unfortunately, we're not at the jealous Doctor bit, we'll have to wait until the next chapter for that :(
Notes on Reviews:
Grapejuice101: Jack will definitely flirt with Rhea in this chapter, maybe even something more ;) We'll definitely get some jealous Doctor, maybe in the next chapter though.
BlueFlame27: More flirting ahead, I promise. There will be around four more Martha episodes before I get to my first season finale, that's how I'm trying to structure my story. As for Clara, sorry, but she has to get pushed back a bit. I did two at the beginning and I do have one more planned before the first season finale.
Kristina'sMyName: I haven't quite decided what Jack's relationship with Rhea will be. They will be like best friends, but they will be like brother/sister at times. Jack will be a huge source of comfort for Rhea in the future. They will really bond during the Year That Never Was, don't worry. I do plan on including Torchwood when I actually watch the entire series, not every single episode, but definitely Reset because it has Martha in it, I'll probably do Children of Earth and Miracle Day and maybe End of Days as well, at the end, because that's right before Utopia... I don't know if Jack would ever be with Eleven, because it doesn't happen in the series. Rhea might sneak out and go and see Jack while she's with Eleven, though, if she gets really pissed off at him. In New Earth, I don't think a future Doctor would go and see the Face of Boe, but Rhea definitely will, at least after she finds out that Jack becomes the Face of Boe.
Tiara Peterson: I'm so glad you love the story and hope you like this chapter too.
Marmalade1512: No problem at all and don't worry, Jack's definitely in this chapter.
Warnings: Swearing, sexual innuendo.
The Empty Child: Casanova
"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.
Once Rhea had made sure that Rose was alright, she walked around the corner and up to the captain's corner of the ship, where the man was sitting.
"So, name?" Rhea looked at him, expectantly.
"Captain Jack Harkness. 133 Squadron Royal Airforce, American Volunteer." He said, handing her a familiar kind of paper that she only smiled, pleased, at.
"Nice try, slick." Rhea smirked at the man. "But that doesn't work for a two reasons. First of all," She looked around and nodded. "It's the middle of 1940, sweetie, you're trying to tell me that the RAF has access to alien warships?" The man looked sheepish at that, but Rhea went on. "And number two, this is psychic paper." She held the card up.
Jack frowned. "How did you know?"
"Well, before it turned into squiggly lines, which was my second clue," She smiled, widely, and poked her tongue out of her teeth. "You just handed me a card that said you're single… and you're ready to mingle." She winked.
Jack flushed and took back the psychic paper, deciding to work without it. He looked down at it. "And you are… confident that you will be able to resist my pheromones." He smiled at her, flirtatiously.
"Oh, trust me, I can." She nodded. Then, she weighed up all of her options and decided to go with the riskiest one. "But it doesn't mean that I don't want to do this." And she leaned over and pressed her lips to his, cupping his face in her hand. Jack made a shocked sound against her lips, but ultimately went with it, his hand sliding around her waist, a gesture that was more instinctive than lustful. His grip tightened and he pulled her into his lap, her legs straddling him. His hands moved up from her waist, up her back to the back of her neck, before slipping into her hair and entangling his fingers in the strands. The second she felt his hands on her hair, she was taken back to the last time she had been kissed like this. Only a few days ago in 1926, where the Doctor had dipped her back in that kitchen and kissed her, thoroughly.
And it was that thought that jolted her. She jerked backwards, withdrawing from him, harshly, and throwing herself against the nearest wall with a grimace. It was like being doused in a bucket of icy water, like waking up in bed with your forty-year-old algebra teacher and Rhea was not saying that from experience. At least, she hoped so; the last year of high school was sort of fuzzy.
"Sorry." She murmured, getting her emotions under control. Silently, she cursed the Doctor for having such a monopoly over her romantic entanglements. Why shouldn't I kiss this handsome stranger in the middle of the London Blitz? It's not the Doctor and I are married. Kissing does not equate to marriage. "Sorry for the freak-out." She smiled, sheepishly and weakly at the shocked man. "Not your fault, entirely mine… but it was nice, very nice." She offered.
"It's okay." Jack said, soothingly, just a bit breathless, definitely much more than Rhea appeared to be.
"Oh, I'm going to get into so much trouble." Rhea breathed.
"Boyfriend?" Jack asked.
Rhea laughed. "No, not really."
There was a pause. "Girlfriend?"
Rhea smiled. "Not for a long time."
"So, why are you going to get into trouble?"
"It's complicated." Rhea said, dryly. She thought about the last two kisses she had, both with her matchstick man, one before he had teleported onto the Sontaran ship and one at the lawn party with Agatha Christie. They were such nice kisses. So sweet. She hadn't had kisses like that in a very long time. She hadn't had the chance to kiss this Doctor or her mystery man yet. It felt wrong to kiss Jack, really, wrong, and what was annoying her was that she didn't know why that was.
"Well, all in all, I can say that this hasn't been a bad night for me." A smirk played on Jack's lips.
She crossed her arms over her chest and gave him a look. "Oh? And why is that?"
"Well, I met two beautiful women hanging off a barrage balloon and one of them decides to kiss me."
"Ha, very funny, Casanova." She said, dryly.
"So, should we talk business, then?" Jack raised an eyebrow.
Rhea frowned and Rose started to stir.
Rose woke up, slightly dazed still, and got off the bed, hearing voices. She looked around at her surroundings and guessed that the female voice she heard was Rhea's. She stumbled out of the small alcove that hid the bed and stood by Rhea's side. Rhea wrapped an arm around her, hoping that Rose's legs wouldn't fall out from under her.
"Better now?" Jack asked.
"You got lights in here?" Rose asked, squinting through the dim lighting.
Jack, still sitting in the pilot seat, obligingly turned them on.
"Hello." Jack smiled at Rose.
"Hello." Rose said, shyly.
Jack smiled wider. "Hello."
"Oh, god," Rhea groaned. "Please don't start that again."
Jack chuckled. "Okay."
Rose tugged her shirt down, self-consciously and took a few steps towards him. "So, um... who're you supposed to be, then?"
"Captain Jack Harkness. 133 Squadron Royal Airforce, American Volunteer." Jack said, handing Rose the psychic paper this time.
Rose looked down. "Liar." She said, happily.
Jack paused. There was no way that both of them could have figured him out, right?
"This is psychic paper. It tells me whatever you want it to tell me." Rose finished and Rhea smiled at her, proudly.
Jack sat back in his chair, caught out. "How did you know?"
"Two things. One, I have a friend who uses this all the time." Rose looked back at Rhea and then back at Jack.
"Ah."
"And two," A smile played on Rose's lips. "You just handed me a piece of paper telling me you're single and you work out."
Jack leaned forward to take it back, obviously put out that both of them had managed to see through his ruse. "Tricky things, psychic paper." He said, lightly.
"Yeah," Rose nodded. "Can't let your mind wander when you're handing it over." She said, handing it back.
Jack looked down at the paper and a smiled formed on his face. "Oh, you 'sort of' have a boyfriend called Mickey Smith but you consider yourself to be footloose and fancy free."
Rose started to laugh, her embarrassment clearly shown through the red in her cheeks. "Wha-"
"Actually, the word you use is 'available'." Jack teased.
Rose grinned. "No way…"
"And another one… 'very'."
Rose stood, smoothing down her pants. "Shall we uh... try and get along without the psychic paper?"
Jack also stood. "That would be better, wouldn't it?"
Rhea looked around. "I like the spaceship."
Jack shrugged. "Gets me around."
Rose ran a hand across the ceiling. "Very… Spock."
"I don't know, it's more Star Wars than Star Trek." Rhea remarked.
Jack frowned. "What are you two talking about?"
Rose sighed. "Guessing you're not a local boy, then."
Jack looked at the device on his wrist. "Cell phones, mother of pearl and liquid crystal watches and fabrics that won't be around for at least another two decades... guessing you're not local girls." Jack commented, watching Rose climbed into the captain's chair and look out of the window.
"Well, you guessed right." Rhea said, dryly. She reached out to touch the window, herself, but withdrew her hands, quickly, as a stinging sensation assaulted the fragile skin on her palms. She looked down to see burn marks criss-crossing the skin and she cursed.
Jack frowned and walked over to her. "Burn your hands on the rope?"
"Yeah." Rhea said, softly. She looked out of the window. "Seeing as we're parked in mid-air, I assume that your spaceship is invisible."
"Got that right, beautiful." Jack winked. "Can I have a look at your hands for a moment?"
Rhea frowned, not exactly ready to let this guy touch her. Of course, she could see how hypocritical she was being, seeing as ten minutes ago, she was ready to suck his face off. "Why?" She asked, suspiciously.
"Please?" He asked, softly, sitting next to her.
Rhea bit her lip and held her hands out, as he ran a scanner over them.
"You can stop acting now. I know exactly who you two are. I can spot Time Agents a mile away." Jack said.
"Time Agents?" Rhea clarified.
"I've been expecting one of you guys to show up. Though, not, I must say, by barrage balloon. Do you often travel that way?" Jack looked at Rose.
Rose grinned. "Sometimes I get swept off my feet." She paused. "By balloons."
Rhea resisted a groan at the love-sick look on Rose's face. Oh, great, we have a rom-com in the making. "We were trying to get your attention." Rhea said, smiling.
Jack grinned at her, pleased by the news. "Really?"
The smile fell of her face, letting Jack know she was being sarcastic. "What sane woman would hang off a barrage balloon in the middle of a bombing to get a guy's attention?" She asked, incredulously.
"Well," Jack grumbled. "You're certainly good for a man's ego."
Rhea clicked her tongue. "I try my best, honey."
Jack took his scarf off and wrapped it around Rhea's wrists. She tensed and glared at him. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" She growled.
"Try to keep still." Jack ordered, ignoring Rhea's suddenly hostile tone.
He finished binding her hands, which only increased Rhea's tension, and leaned over to switch a button over her head. There was a beeping sound and Rhea marvelled as many golden flecks appeared above the wounds on her hands in a ball.
"Nanogenes. Sub-atomic robots. The air in here's full of them."
Rhea was pleasantly amazed as the Nanogenes worked their magic on the burns on her hand. Jack switched the button again and they disappeared once all of the burns had disappeared.
"They just repaired three layers of your skin."
"Well," Rhea swallowed hard. "That definitely gives a whole new definition to magic fingers." She stood up, abruptly and shoved Rose into the chair, who squeaked in surprise. "Now her." She ordered.
Jack repeated the same process with Rose.
"Well, tell them thanks!" Rose said, laughing, as Jack took the scarf off her wrist.
Jack got up, smiling. "We'll get down to business."
Rhea raised an eyebrow. "Business?"
Jack held up a bottle of champagne. "Shall we have a drink on the balcony?" Holding their gaze, he pressed a button and stepped to the side as stairs lowered themselves into the spaceship, leading out. Jack started to go up the stairs when he looked back at them. "Bring up the glasses." He said, before disappearing outside.
After Jack had gone, Rose rounded on Rhea. "Why are you flirting with him?" She hissed.
Rhea raised an eyebrow, a little offended by her tone. "Why?" She smirked. "Jealous?"
"No." Rose said. "What'll the Doctor say if he finds out?"
Rhea frowned. "What does the Doctor have to do with this?" Well, I know what he has to do with this, but there's no way in hell I'm telling her that.
"Won't he get angry?" Rose asked.
"Why would he get angry?" Rhea tensed. "Listen, Rose, I don't know what impression you've got or maybe there's something you're not telling me," Rhea nodded at Rose's suddenly hesitant look. "But the Doctor and I are friends, nothing more, nothing less, unless you know better?" She paused, giving Rose time to answer.
Rose shook her head, quickly. "No, nothing."
Rhea snorted. "Oh, yeah, 'cause that wasn't suspicious at all." She rolled her eyes and plucked three glasses, following Jack outside. Rhea stumbled slightly as she walked up the steps, Jack catching her by the waist before she toppled over. She smiled up at him and brushed a few errant curls out of her face. She laughed as he uncorked the bottle, champagne spilling out. Rose, looking slightly unsteady, ascends the steps, staring at the view with wide eyes.
Rose laughed, nervously. "I'm standing on something..."
Jack chuckled and took a device out of his pocket. He flicked a switch and the chrome exterior of his spaceship appeared under their feet.
"Oh, wait to ruin the mystery." Rhea complained, scuffing her heels against the roof.
"Okay... you have an invisible spaceship..." Rose murmured.
"Yeah…"
Rhea stared up at Big Ben. "Tied up to Big Ben for some reason?"
Jack smirked. "First rule of active camouflage. Park somewhere you'll remember."
He popped the cork out of the bottle with a loud bang. Rose whooped and Rhea and Jack laughed, as he filled up the three glasses full of the bubbly liquid.
Nancy hurried across the train tracks, clutching her coat to her body. She hurried into an outer house and started to take food out of her bag. She suddenly turned around in alarm, when she noticed the Doctor standing in the doorway, watching her.
"How'd you follow me here?" Nancy asked, shocked.
The Doctor grinned. "I'm good at following, me. Got the nose for it."
"People can't usually follow me if I don't want them to." Nancy said, suspiciously.
"My nose has special powers."
"Yeah?" Nancy raised an eyebrow. "That's why it's uh..."
The Doctor frowned, confused. "What?"
Nancy shook her head. "Nothing."
"What?" The Doctor asked again, persistently.
"Nothing!" Nancy said, teasingly. "Do your ears have special powers too?"
The Doctor crossed his arms over his chest. "What're you trying to say?"
"Goodnight, Mister." Nancy said, with a strange sort of finality as she turned to walk away.
"Nancy. There's something chasing you and the other kids. Looks like a boy and it isn't a boy, and it started about a month ago, right?" The Doctor said, gently. Nancy turned back to face him, her face white with shock. "The thing I'm looking for. The thing that fell from the sky, that's when it landed. And you know what I'm talking about, don't you?"
Nancy paused. "There was a bomb. A bomb that wasn't a bomb. Fell the other end of Limehouse Green Station."
"Take me there." The Doctor urged.
Nancy shook her head. "There's soldiers guarding it, barbed wire... you'll never get through."
"Try me!" The Doctor scoffed.
Nancy bit her lip. "You sure you wanna know what's going on in there?"
"I really wanna know." The Doctor said, a smile playing on his lips.
"Then there's someone you need to talk to first."
"And who might that be?"
"The Doctor."
The Doctor's brow furrowed, in confusion. Nancy turned away, starting to walk away, and the Doctor let out a quiet, ironic chuckle. Well, what do you know? The Doctor.
Rhea, Rose and Jack were sitting on top of the spaceship, drinking the champagne. Rhea suddenly stood up.
"You know, it's getting a bit late. We should really be getting back." Rhea said, giving Rose a pointed look.
"We're discussing business." Jack complained.
Rhea smirked. "Honey, I know your idea of business and trust me, you don't want to make a deal with me."
Rose smiled, flirtatiously, at Jack. "And this isn't business. This is champagne."
"I try never to discuss business with a clear head." Jack stood up and walked over to Rhea. "Are you travelling alone? Are you authorised to negotiate with me?" He asked, seriously.
Rhea swallowed, deciding what would be her best options here. She could either go along with the pretense or she could play him along until they got back to the Doctor and let him deal with Jack. "Well… that depends on what we'd be negotiating." Rhea said, lightly.
"I have something for the Time Agency. Something they'd like to buy. Are you in power to make payment?" He asked, slowly.
Well, I guess I have to go with Option B then. "I should probably discuss this with…" She looked over at Rose, who seemed confused by the way the conversation had turned. "… our partner."
"Partner?" Jack paused.
"Yeah," Rose stood up, garnering Jack's attention. "We…" She looked at Rhea, pointedly. "Should really be getting back to him."
"Him?" Jack eyed Rhea. "So there is a boyfriend after all."
Rhea laughed. "Still, no."
"Do you have the time?" Rose asked.
Jack cleared his throat, took the remote out of his pocket again, and flicked another switch. Big Ben lit up behind them and chimed, sending an echo.
"Okay, that was flash." Rose laughed. "Th-that was on the flash side." She stammered.
Jack moved closer to Rose, putting his hands on her waist. "So... when you say 'partner', just how disappointed should I be?
"Okay..." Rose turned thoughtful. "We're standing in midair..."
Jack made a sound in agreement.
"On a spaceship... during a German air raid... do you really think now's a good time to be coming on to me...?" Rose joked, swaying along with him.
Her voice faltered slightly as Jack raised her hands up to his lips and placed a kiss on them. Upon her words, Jack took his lips away and patted her hands. "Perhaps not." He started to walk away to the edge of the ship.
"Well, it was just a suggestion." Rose said, quickly.
Rhea rolled her eyes.
Jack turned back to face the two women. "Do you like Glenn Miller?" He pointed his remote over his shoulder and sweet swing tune started to play. He walked back over to Rhea, slipped his arms around her waist and started to lead her in a slow dance. Rhea's chin was resting on his shoulder as they swayed. When she chanced a look at Rose, she could see a grimace on her face. Is she jealous? Oh, god, I really don't need jealousy.
"It's 1941. The height of the London Blitz. The height of the German Bombing Campaign. And something else has fallen on London, a fully equipped Chula Warship. The last one in existence..."
Rose's eyes started to close, even though she wasn't the one dancing, lulled by his voice.
"… armed to the teeth." Jack drew back slightly to look Rhea in the eye properly. "And I know where it is. Because I parked it."
Rhea tensed. The thing we were following…
"If the Agency can name the right price, I can get it for you. But in two hours, a German bomb is gonna fall on it and destroy it forever." His face hardened. She could tell he was completely serious. "That's the deadline. That's the deal. And now, shall we discuss payment?"
Rose just stared at him, dreamily, while Rhea sighed, not knowing how to proceed from there.
"Two hours, the bomb falls. There'll be nothing left but dust and a crater."
"Promises, promises." Rose murmured.
Jack frowned, a little annoyed. "Are you listening to any of this?"
Rose blinked a few times, pulling herself together. "You used to be a Time Agent, now you're some kind of free lancer."
"Well, that's a little harsh." He pulled Rhea all the more closer to him. "I like to think of myself as a criminal." He growled, playfully.
Rhea threw her head back and laughed. "Oh, I bet you do."
"So, this partner of yours, does he handle the business?" Jack asked.
"Well, I delegate a lot of that, yeah." Rose replied.
"He's the brains of the operation." Rhea paused. "When I don't want to be."
"Oh, I bet you're the beauty." Jack flirted.
Rhea smiled, widely. "And I bet you say that to all the girls." She sighed. "But we really should be getting back to him."
"Well, maybe we should go find him."
Rose frowned. "And how're you gonna do that?"
"Easy. I'll do a scan for alien tech." Jack said, letting go of Rhea, and begun the scan using the device on his wrist.
Rhea went to stand next to Rose, gazing at Jack, thoughtfully, hearing Rose mumble something to herself.
"Finally, a professional." Rose muttered.
"Hey, watch it, blondie!" Rhea protested. "The Doctor's plenty professional." She was surprised at her own vehemence in his defence, despite her wariness. "I'm sure he knows more than him." Rhea muttered to Rose, nodding at Jack.
The Doctor stood on some steps a good distance away from the bomb site. He looked at it through his binoculars, while Nancy stood behind him, watching the number of soldiers guarding the bomb through the barbed wire fence.
"The bomb's under that tarpaulin. They put the fence up over night. See that building? The hospital." Nancy pointed over his binoculars and the Doctor peered in that direction.
"What about it?"
"That's where the doctor is."
The Doctor twisted a dial on the binoculars and zoomed in on the hospital.
"You should talk to him." Nancy said.
"For now, I'm more interested in getting in there." He said, pointing back at the bomb site.
"Talk to the Doctor first." Nancy advised.
"Why?" The Doctor asked, frowning.
"'Cause then maybe you won't wanna get inside." Nancy said, before going back up the steps.
"Where're you going?" The Doctor asked, without looking.
"There was a lot of food in that house. I've got mouths to feed. Should be safe enough now." Nancy replied.
"Can I ask you a question? Who did you lose?" The Doctor asked.
Nancy paled and stopped. "What?"
The Doctor finally lowered the binoculars and turned to face her, no emotion on his face at all. "The way you look after all those kids. It's 'cos you lost somebody, isn't it? You're doing all this to make up for it."
Nancy swallowed. "My little brother. Jamie. One night I went out looking for food. Same night that thing fell. I told him not to follow me… told him it was dangerous, but he just... he just didn't like being on his own."
"What happened?" The Doctor asked, gently.
"In the middle of an air raid? What do you think happened?" Nancy said, sharply.
The Doctor nodded, then, he smiled, looking up. "Amazing."
"What is?" Nancy asked, frowning.
"1941." The Doctor murmured and looked up to see planes dropping bombs in the distance. A barrage balloon hovered above them and he could see small explosions in the air. "Right now, not very far from here, a German war machine is rolling up the map of Europe. Country after country, falling like dominoes. Nothing can stop it. Nothing. Until one, tiny, damp little island says 'no'. 'No'. Not here." He chuckled. "A mouse in front of a lion." He looked at Nancy. "You're amazing, the lot of you. Dunno what you do to Hitler, but you frighten the hell out of me." He smiled. "Off you go then... do what you've gotta do. Save the world."
He went down the rest of the steps. Nancy turned and walked up the steps in the opposite direction.
The Doctor went to the gate of the hospital, and upon finding it locked, used his sonic screwdriver to destroy the padlock. He undid the chain and entered Albion Hospital, smiling at the irony.
The Doctor entered a dark ward in the abandoned hospital, where rows upon rows of people were lying on the bed, wearing gas masks, completely lifeless. He couldn't even tell if their eyes were closed. He looked around at all of them, brows furrowed, before leaving. He entered another ward, which had a little bit more light, but still had rows of the gas mask people lying on the beds. He turned quickly when he heard a low sound behind them, and an old doctor entered, obviously weary.
"You'll find them everywhere. Every bed in every ward. Hundreds of them." He said.
"Yes, I saw. Why are they still wearing gas masks?" The Doctor asked.
"They're not." He frowned. "Who are you?"
"I'm, uh…" The Doctor didn't know how to introduce himself without it getting confusing. "Are you the doctor?"
"Doctor Constantine." "
"And you are?"
"Nancy sent me." The Doctor said, quickly.
"Nancy? That means you must've been asking about the bomb." Doctor Constantine assumed.
"Yes."
He frowned. "What do you know about it?"
"Nothing. Why I was asking. What do you know?
"Only what it's done." Doctor Constantine said, grimly.
"These people… were they all caught up in the blast?" The Doctor asked, looking around at all of the patients.
"None of them were." Doctor Constantine said. He laughed, slightly, but it turned into a nasty, throat-splitting cough. He sank down into a chair just behind him. The Doctor took a few steps towards him, worried.
"You're very sick." The Doctor said, knowingly, staring at him with a dark, unreadable expression.
"Dying, I should think." Doctor Constantine laid his weight on his walking stick. "I just haven't been able to find the time. Are you a doctor?"
The Doctor gave him a tight smile. "I have my moments."
"Have you examined any of them, yet?"
"No."
"Don't touch the flesh." Doctor Constantine warned.
The Doctor frowned. "Which one?"
"Any one."
The Doctor, raising his eyebrow, took his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket and approached the nearest bed. He ran the screwdriver over the mask covered face of the body.
"Conclusions?"
"Massive head trauma, mostly to the left side..." The Doctor ran the screwdriver over the chest. "Partial collapse of the chest cavity, mostly to the right. There's some scarring on the back of the hand and the gas mask seems to be fused to the flesh but I can't see any burns."
"Examine another one." Doctor Constantine warned.
The Doctor went over to another body and did the scan again. The gas mask was fused to the flesh and the body bore the same bloody scar on the back of the hand. He turned off his sonic screwdriver and recoiled from his discoveries, turning to Doctor Constantine.
"This isn't possible." The Doctor breathed.
"Examine another." Doctor Constantine ordered.
The Doctor hurried to another bed and another bed and another bed until he couldn't do that anymore. "This isn't possible!" He growled, taking a few steps back.
"No."
"They've all got the same injuries!" The Doctor said.
"Yes."
"Exactly the same." He clarified.
"Yes."
"Identical, all of them. Right down to the scar on the back of the hand."
Doctor Constantine looked down at his own hand, the same cut smeared with blood on his hand.
"How did this happen? How did it start?" The Doctor asked.
"When that bomb dropped, there was just one victim."
The Doctor frowned. "Dead?"
"At first. His injuries were truly dreadful. By the following morning, every doctor and nurse who had treated him, who had touched him, had those exact same injuries. By the morning after that, every patient in the same ward had the exact same injuries. Within a week, the entire hospital. Physical injuries… as plague. Can you explain that? What would you say was the cause of death?"
"The head trauma." The Doctor guessed.
"No."
"Asphyxiation."
"No."
"The collapse of the chest cavity."
"No."
The Doctor sighed, at his wit's end. "All right. What was the cause of death?"
"There wasn't one."
The Doctor looked at him, brows furrowed.
"They're not dead." Doctor Constantine repeated. He rapped his stick against a metal bin, and all of the patients suddenly sat up. The Doctor looked alarmed by the sudden movement and took a few steps back.
"It's all right. They're harmless. They just... sort of, sit there. No heartbeat, no life signs of any kind. They just... don't die." Doctor Constantine explained.
"And they've just been left here? Nobody's doing anything?" The Doctor asked, incredulously.
The bodies lied back down again.
"I try and make them comfortable, what else is there?" Doctor Constantine asked.
"Just you?" The Doctor clarified. "You're the only one here?"
"Before this war began, I was a father and a grandfather. Now I am neither. But I am still a doctor." Doctor Constantine said, firmly, his voice brooking no argument.
"Yeah. Know the feeling." The Doctor said, looking away for a moment.
"I suspect the plan is to blow up the hospital and blame it on a German bomb." Doctor Constantine mused.
The Doctor looked around. "Probably too late."
"No. They are isolated cases, but... isolated cases breaking out all over London..." Doctor Constantine trailed off. He started to cough again and his speech started to break up. The Doctor started towards him.
"Stay back, stay back." Doctor Constantine warned as he coughed, hoarsely. "Listen to me... top floor. Room 802, that's where they took the first victim, the one from the crash site. And you must find Nancy again." He said, weakly.
"Nancy?" The Doctor frowned.
"It was her brother. She knows more than she's saying. She won't tell me, but she mi-mi-" He gagged and clutched at his neck. "M... mu... mee..."
The Doctor watched him, concernedly, seeing that speech was a huge effort for the doctor.
"Are... you... my... mum-my?"
As the Doctor watched, a gas mask seemed to come out of the doctor's mouth, as if he were trying to spit it out. His eyes became the top of the gas mask, and the doctor went limp, as the mask fused itself onto his face. The Doctor could hear voices in the distance.
"Hello?" A man's voice called out.
"Hello?" The Doctor could hear Rhea's voice.
"Hello?" The same man's voice called out.
The Doctor left the ward and emerged into the corridor and frowned when he saw Rhea and Rose and a man coming the other way.
"Good evening. Hope I'm not interrupting, Jack Harkness." Jack reached out and shook the Doctor's hand. "I've been hearing all about you on the way over."
Rhea exhaled. "He knows about us being Time Agents." Rhea said, with a smile, hoping to God that the Doctor would just play along. She had an inkling that the Chula warship that Jack had found was the thing they had been chasing in the Time Vortex.
The Doctor nodded, understanding Rhea.
"And it's a real pleasure to meet you, Mr Spock." Jack patted the Doctor, heartily, and walked off, leaving the Doctor rather bemused, looking at Rhea with confusion.
"Mr Spock?" The Doctor asked Rhea.
Rhea's eyes widened. "Don't ask me." She nodded her head in Rose's direction.
"What was I supposed to say, you don't have a name! Don't you ever get tired of 'Doctor'? Doctor who?" Rose asked, with a grimace.
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Nine centuries in, I'm coping. Where've you been? We're in the middle of a London Blitz, it's not a good time for a stroll." The Doctor said, worriedly, slipping an arm around Rhea's waist.
Rhea chuckled, leaning her head against his shoulder as they started to walk ahead. "Who's strolling? I went by barrage balloon. Only way to see an air raid."
The Doctor frowned and looked down at her. "What?"
Rhea paused and looked at him. "Hey, what's a Chula warship? Well, obviously it's a spaceship used in war, but what's a Chula?"
The Doctor was even more confused than he was at the beginning. "Chula?"
Jack scanned one of the bodies, himself. "This just isn't possible. How could this happen?"
The Doctor narrowed his eyes at him. "What kind of Chula ship landed here?"
"What?" Jack said, looking at the Doctor, suddenly.
"He said it was a warship. He stole it. Parked it somewhere where a bomb's going to fall on it, unless of course, we paid him, then he'd tell us the location." Rhea explained, dryly.
"What kind of warship?" The Doctor asked again.
"Does it matter? It's got nothing to do with this!" Jack said, agitatedly.
Rhea rolled her eyes. "You are such an idiot." She said, scathingly.
"This started at the bomb site. It's got everything to do with it. What kind of warship?" The Doctor asked for the third time, angrily.
"An ambulance!" Jack turned on his wrist device. "Look." A hologram of the warship appeared above the device. "That's what you chased through the Time Vortex. It's space junk. I wanted to kid you it was valuable. It's empty. I made sure of it. Nothing but a shell. I threw it at you. Saw your time travel vehicle - love the retro look, by the way, nice panels - threw you the bait-"
"Bait?" Rhea raised an eyebrow, not stung even the slightest, but she could see the offended look on Rose's face and guessed that she was.
"I wanted to sell it to you and then destroy it before you found out it was junk."
"You said it was a war ship." Rose said.
"They have ambulances in wars." Jack said, slowly. He walked away from them, annoyed. "It was a con. I was conning you. That's what I am, I'm a con man.
Rhea sighed, mournfully. "Damn, and the night started out so nice."
The Doctor gave her a strange, suspicious look and wrapped a proprietary arm around her waist, deciding to ask her what she meant by that later, even though Rhea ignored the intention behind the gesture.
"I thought you were Time Agents but you're not, are you?"
Rhea smiled, harshly. "Just a few freelancers as well." Rhea said, smoothly, her face not betraying any emotion, but her eyes were decidedly cold.
"Ahh... should've known. The way you guys are blending in with the local colour, I mean, Princess Leia and Flag Girl were bad enough, but U-Boat Captain?" He scoffed.
"Princess Leia, really?" Rhea didn't know whether to be offended or heartened by the likeness. She guessed he didn't really mean it as a compliment though. She looked to see both Rose and the Doctor look uncomfortably at their clothes. She did crack a smile after she heard Jack's comment about the Doctor's fashion sense, but covered it up quickly. She patted the Doctor on the shoulder, comfortingly. "I like your clothes, you do the whole rugged biker punk thing very well."
"Thanks, Princess Leia." The Doctor said, with a cheeky grin, nudging her in the side.
Rhea clucked her tongue. "And I'm not even wearing the bikini." She purred in the Doctor's ear.
The Doctor chuckled, a heady look in his eyes. "I'm sure you'll get the chance."
"Anyway... whatever's happening here has got nothing to do with that ship." Jack insisted.
Rhea looked at the patients with a worried frown on her face. "What is going on here, Doctor?"
"Human DNA's being rewritten… by an idiot." The Doctor said, grimly, looking around at the patients himself and then glaring at Jack.
"What d'you mean?" Rose asked.
"I dunno," The Doctor shrugged. "Some kind of virus. It's converting human beings into these things." He nodded at the bodies. "But why? What's the point?"
Rhea bent over one of the bodies, examining it, when, suddenly, it sat up. All of the bodies did the same thing. Rhea jumped backwards, startled, her hand going to the blaster in her pocket. They all started saying "Mummy" repeatedly.
"What's happening?" Rose asked, fearfully.
"I don't know." The Doctor said.
The gas-mask people started to get out of their beds and started to enclose the Doctor, Rhea, Jack and Rose, trapping them against the wall.
"Don't let them touch you." The Doctor ordered, pulling Rhea behind him, as she gripped her blaster, tightly, in one hand.
"What happens if they touch us?" Rose asked, looking at the Doctor and grasping the wall for support.
Rhea pursed her lips, one hand fisting itself in the Doctor's leather jacket as the other raised the gun and pointed it at the gas-mask people. "I think we're looking at it." Rhea said, darkly.
The gas-mask people were still chanting "mummy" with very step they took, as they continued to back the four against the wall.
"Doctor, please tell me you've got an idea." Rhea begged, looking up at the Doctor.
The Doctor gave her a quick look. "Nope, sorry."
"Sorry. Sorry." Rhea muttered. "Of course he's sorry."
The gas-mask people surrounded the Doctor, Rhea, Rose and Jack, still calling out for "mummy".
A/N: Yes, I am aware that this was a shorter chapter than normal. I really am sorry about that, but I tried to split these two chapters evenly.
Rhea kissed Jack! I was tempted to make their relationship entirely platonic, but I thought I might give you all some jealous Doctor in the next chapter. They won't be romantic at all after this, except for flirting (because it's something they both do a lot), but I thought Rhea should have the chance to kiss him at least. And Rhea was the one who pulled back. She's a bit conflicted when it comes to her feelings about the Doctor. And the Doctor is starting to get possessive about Rhea. And Rose brought it up. Rhea's very confused about her feelings towards the Doctor and she might actually get quite angry if he becomes obviously possessive. I wonder why Rose thought the Doctor would get angry if Rhea kept flirting with Jack.
Oh, and about the "girlfriend" comment, Rhea is bisexual and she has had flings with women before, she hasn't had proper long-term relationships with them, but she hasn't had those with men in the last couple of years either. This chapter was a little quick to write for some reason. I hope you didn't feel like Rose got cut out of the chapter, I thought that Rhea and Jack would get along just a bit more, because they are very similar. We'll see how that relationship develops in Utopia/The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords. I wonder what will happen in those episodes…
Anyways, please keep the reviews coming! Or, you know, Tumblr asks. Oh, and check out my Tumblr, the episode cover for The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky is up.