The Dread of Tomorrow and Yesterday – Chapter 51
A/N: Let's hope we can get a longer chapter this time and maybe even some action with Rhea's gun, and a nicer ending ;) And a sneak peak for a future chapter at the end to celebrate me writing 400000 words!
Replies to Reviews:
NicoleR85: Thank you so much! It's good to be back.
DoctorWho9: Thank you so much! We will be learning about Rhea's past in about six chapters.
Audrie-13: Thank you so much! I won't tell you anything about what Rhea will do with her gun in this chapter. Just hope you enjoy it!
LookAliveSunshine03: I think the thing to remember about Rhea is that she is willing to be violent and often violence is her first point of call. That may be a bit obvious in this chapter and it is a point of contention between the Doctor and her, because the Doctor is such a pacifist and she's the complete opposite.
DRWfangirl: Real life for me just didn't end. I started out just having one mid-semester exam, but schoolwork just wouldn't stop until my finals were over and I started my actual holidays. Thank you so much, I think Rhea would be inherently suspicious of anyone new, especially in such a tense situation.
AxidentlGoddess: Thank you so much and I'm really glad to be back too. I'm so glad you like Rhea and I loved writing that line, I wanted her to say something quippy to do with the compression technology.
Warnings: Sexual innuendo, sexual imagery, words that are not meant for children. I MEAN IT, NOT JUST USUAL SWEARING IN THIS CHAPTER.
World War Three: Hidden In Plain Sight
The Slitheen finally kicked down the remnants of the door and it entered the kitchen, menacingly. Jackie and Mickey backed away until they were flush against the counter. Jackie braced herself, her fingers tightening around the handle of the jug and she tossed it away from her, in the Slitheen's direction, so that the mush that had formed would fall all over it. There was a few seconds of silence where the Slitheen just stood there, covered in the acidic mixture. Then, it exploded into a million little pieces, splattering all over the room, covering Jackie and Mickey with a green goo.
Having heard the bang, the Doctor, Rhea, Rose and Harriet all breathed a sigh of relief.
Mickey lowered his bat, his form relaxing, slightly, as he panted, the rush of adrenaline draining away.
"Hannibal?" Rose asked, confused.
"Hannibal crossed the Alps by dissolving boulders with vinegar." Harriet explained.
Rose sighed. "Oh. Well, there you go then."
All four raised their glasses in toast and drank down the brandy.
Rhea whistled, shaking her head.
Mickey, wiping the green mush off himself with a towel, came into the living room to watch Joseph, one of the disguised Slitheen, on the television.
"The experts are dead. Murdered, right in front of me by alien hands. Peoples of the Earth, heed my words. These visitors do not come in peace."
Mickey took the phone off Jackie. "Listen to this." He muttered into the phone, holding the phone up against the television.
"Our inspectors have searched the sky above our heads and they have found massive weapons of destruction, capable of being deployed within 45 seconds."
The Doctor, Rhea, Rose and Harriet had formed a tiny circle, crowing around the phone, listening, intently.
"What?" The Doctor frowned.
"Our technicians can… baffle… the alien probes. But not for long. We are facing extinction. Unless we strike first. The United Kingdom stands directly beneath the belly of the mother ship. I beg the United Nations, pass an emergency resolution. Give us the access codes! A nuclear strike at the heart of the ship is our only chance of survival. Because... from this moment on... it is my solemn duty to inform you... planet Earth is at war."
The Doctor shook his head. "He's making it up. There's no weapons up there, there's no threat. He just invented it." He growled.
Harriet looked over at the Doctor. "Do you think they'll believe him?" She asked, worriedly.
"They did last time." Rhea pointed out, blithely.
The Doctor smacked the table, loudly, the sound echoing through the entire Cabinet room. "That's why the Slitheen went for spectacle. They want the whole world panicking, because you lot," He looked at the three women. "You get scared, you lash out."
Realisation dawned in Rhea's eyes and she closed them in dread. "The UN releases the defence codes…"
"And the Slitheen go nuclear." The Doctor finished, nodding.
"But why?" Harriet asked, confused.
"Well, let's find out." Rhea muttered and she and the Doctor moved over to the entrance to the Cabinet room.
The Doctor pressed a button the side of the wall and the metal shutters slid open. The Slitheen, headed by Margaret, now clad in her skin-suit, were standing in the front.
"You get the codes, release the missiles. But not into space because there's nothing there. You attack every other country on Earth, they retaliate, fight back. World War Three, whole planet gets nuked." The Doctor said, grimly.
Margaret the Slitheen stood before the Doctor and Rhea, a smug smile plastered across her face, making Rhea itch to sink her fist into it. "And we can sit through it in our spaceship waiting in the Thames. Not crashed. Just parked. They'll be two minutes away."
Harriet stepped forward, her face contorted in grief and confusion. "But you'll destroy the planet, this beautiful place. What for?"
"For money." Rhea said, disgusted.
"That's what the signal is beaming into space, an advert." The Doctor explained, not taking his eyes off the Slitheen for a second.
Margaret smirked at them, relaxing. "Sale of the century. We reduce the Earth to molten slag, then sell it. Piece by piece. Radioactive chucks capable of powering every cut-price star liner and budget cargo ship. There's a recession out there, Doctor. People are buying cheap. This rock becomes raw fuel."
"At the cost of six billion lives." Rhea snarled.
Margaret shrugged, nonplussed and unaffected. "Bargain."
The Doctor reached out and gripped Rhea's hand in between their bodies. "Then we give you the choice. Leave this planet or we'll stop you."
The Slitheen all burst out into cackles, varying in pitch.
"What? You? In your box?" Margaret laughed, madly.
The Doctor did not look remotely abashed or affected by the Slitheen's laughter. He stared her out, his eyes not losing the darkness for a second. "Yes. Me."
The Slitheen laughed again and that was all Rhea needed.
"Okay, you know what, I've had enough of your smug, fat face," Rhea growled. "So, this is my plan to stop you."
She raised the blaster and shot both of the Slitheen, standing behind Margaret, point-blank in the middle of their forehead. The bullet holes sizzled and they collapsed to the ground, dead. Margaret stared at her in shock and Rhea gifted her with a vicious, deadly smile, her green eyes cold. She turned to the Doctor, who stared at her with shock.
"Now, you can close the doors." She said, lightly, as if she hadn't just killed two aliens without blinking twice.
The Doctor stared at her, grimly, and before Margaret could make a move on Rhea, he closed the shutter, albeit rejoicing in the shocked and terrified look on Margaret's face.
"You killed them." Rose said, staring at Rhea with wide eyes and a gaping mouth. She swallowed hard, having to admit to herself that the slightest fear of Rhea rose inside of her.
"Yep." Rhea said, her eyes not betraying any emotion.
"How could you-you just do that?" Harriet stammered, staring at her with fearful eyes. "You-you just killed them. Cold-blooded!"
Rhea stared at her. "You do realise that they're planning to nuke the whole fucking planet, right?"
"But you could have just wounded them. You didn't need to kill!" Harriet protested.
"When you pick up a gun, you shoot to kill. Or you don't pick up a gun at all." Rhea snapped. She squared her shoulders, a cold look entering her eyes. "I did what anyone would have done. Got rid of the enemy. They've just lost three of their troops. They're scared of the Doctor. They're weak. That's what we need."
The Doctor stared at her with unfathomable eyes.
Mickey picked up the phone from the top of the television set.
"And once the codes are released, humanity's first interplanetary war begins."
Jackie was watching the television, her teeth firmly attached to her nails, looking scared and anxious.
Jackie held the phone up to her mouth. "Alright, Doctor. I'm not saying I trust you, but there must be something you and your girlfriend can do."
"Ugh," Rhea made a face. "I am not his girlfriend!" She glared at the Doctor, as if to say that it was all his fault.
"I thought you were married." Harriet sighed. "It's a shame, you make a good couple."
Rhea's eyes went comically wide. "No, we wouldn't!" She shrieked. She exhaled and looked around. "Is there something we can use against the Slitheen and stop them?"
"Your gun?" Harriet offered, looking uneasy with that thought.
"No." The Doctor said, sharply. "She's not killing anyone else." He growled, protectively.
He wouldn't have her kill anything more than she had to. He realised that sometimes, in her defence, in his defence or his companions' defences, she may raise her gun or a knife and kill someone in self-defence, but that was as far as he would allow it to go. He wanted her to know a life beyond violence. He knew she had trouble with it. Her first instinct was to shoot, to cut or to hit. She had been renovated that way.
"If we ferment the porch, we could make ascetic acid." Harriet suggested.
"Mickey, any luck?" Rose asked into the phone.
"There's loads of emergency numbers, they're all on voicemail." Mickey told them.
Rhea turned and saw the Doctor, standing quietly with his arms folded, leaning against the wall away from all three of them. She walked up to him, seeing him deep in thought. She touched his arm and asked him, wordlessly, what was wrong.
"Voicemail dooms us all." Harriet said, grimly.
"If we could just get out of here..." Rose muttered.
"There's a way out." The Doctor said, abruptly.
"Wait, what?" Rhea asked, incredulously, tightening her hand around his wrist.
The Doctor looked down at her and wrapped an arm around her waist. "There's always been a way out." He said, simply.
"Then, why don't we use it?" Rhea asked, confused.
The Doctor managed to drag himself away from her and strode over to the table, leaning over the edge to speak into the phone.
"Because I can't guarantee your daughter will be safe." The Doctor said, grimly, into the phone.
"Don't you dare. Whatever it is, don't you dare."
"That's the thing, if I don't dare, everyone dies." The Doctor said, earnestly.
"Do it." Rose said, suddenly.
The Doctor and Rhea looked at her with surprise.
"You don't even know what he's talking about, you'd let him?" Rhea raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah." Rose said, simply.
She hadn't known the Doctor and Rhea for very long. What seemed like a couple of days felt like a couple of years to her now. She had begun to trust the Doctor and Rhea and they had kept that trust by saving her life every time. They were her friends. She had to trust them with her life now. She knew what the Doctor was planning might be dangerous, but that couldn't stop her from doing the right thing. So many people would die if they didn't get rid of the Slitheen. What was her life worth in the face of the six billion people alive at this moment?
"Please, Doctor. Please! She's my daughter, she's just a kid!" Jackie cried out into the phone, helplessly.
"Don't you think we know that, Jackie?" Rhea asked, weakly, glancing at Rose.
"Because this is our life, Jackie, it's not fun, it's not smart, it's just standing up and making a decision because nobody else will." The Doctor said, grimly.
"Then, what are you waiting for?" Rhea asked, softly.
The Doctor looked up at her and touched her cheek with his fingertips. Rose and Harriet looked away, uncomfortably, feeling as though they were intruding on a private moment.
"I could save the world but lose you." He murmured.
And she could see it, really see it in his eyes. He didn't think he could do it if it meant putting her in danger. She marvelled at the thought. No one had ever cared for her to this extent. No one had ever wanted to choose her over someone or something else. She had always been second choice, dispensable for others. There were a million more where she came from.
It was looking into the Doctor's eyes, now, that she was able to fully appreciate why her mother hadn't so much as glanced at another man even after her father's death. Suddenly, she could see herself doing that. Choosing him over everyone else. It was a dangerous choice and every bit of the feminist and guarded woman inside of her was shouting that she was an idiot. But she could see herself doing that. She shook her head free of those thoughts. The Doctor probably didn't want to massacre the Slitheen and he was using her as an excuse. She had just said it, hadn't she? She was second choice, she was dispensable. It was better to not start something that would only end up with her broken-hearted.
Suddenly, Harriet stood up and fixed the Doctor in her gaze. "Except it's not your decision, Doctor. It's mine." She said, firmly.
Rhea looked over at her, realising what Harriet was doing. She was taking responsibility for the decision. She was taking responsibility for all of their lives. Rose's life, her life and the Doctor's life were now in Harriet's hands.
"Thank you." She mouthed to Harriet, who nodded at her
Rhea looked up at the Doctor and cupped his jaw in her hand, leaning up on her toes and pressing her mouth against his for a brief second.
"And who the hell are you?" Jackie's angry voice came over the phone.
"Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North. The only elected representative in this room, chosen by the people, for the people, and on behalf of the people I command you. Do it." She ordered.
The Doctor looked back at Rhea and grinned.
Rose jumped onto the table. "How do we get out?"
The Doctor opened the briefcase containing the emergency protocols. "We don't. We stay here." He told them.
The Doctor shuffled through the protocols and turned to address Mickey through the phone. "Use the buffalo password, it overrides everything."
Mickey typed the password in, while Jackie watched him.
"What're you doing?" Jackie asked, confused.
Mickey swallowed hard, as if he couldn't believe what he was about to say. "Hacking into the Royal Navy." He paused and all anyone could hear was the sound of typing. "We're in. Here it is, uh... H.M.S. Taurean, Trafalgar Class Submarine, 10 miles off the coast of Plymouth."
Jackie stood, agitated, unable to believe that Mickey was going along with whatever insane plan the Doctor had.
"Right, we need to select a missile." The Doctor ordered.
"We can't go nuclear, we don't have the defence codes." Mickey pointed out.
"We don't need it, all we need is an ordinary missile. What's the first category?" The Doctor asked.
"Sub Haffoon, UGMA4A."
Rhea's eyes widened. "That should do the trick. Choose that one."
Jackie walked up behind Mickey. "I could stop you." She said, threateningly.
Mickey shifted and turned to look at her with uncertain eyes. "Do it, then."
"Ready for this?" The Doctor asked, hesitantly.
Mickey and Jackie stared at each other for a few seconds, Mickey wondering if Jackie was actually going to stop him, but Jackie didn't move. "Yeah." He muttered.
He looked back at the screen and Jackie sank back down in the chair behind him, burying her face in her hands.
The Doctor exhaled. "Mickey the Idiot. The world is in your hands. Fire."
Breathing heavily, Mickey screwed up his eyes and clicked the 'Fire' button.
"Oh, my God." Jackie murmured, her eyes widening as she saw the missile on the screen. She felt her limbs go slack as she realised that she had just caused her daughter's death. She felt tears prickle at her eyes.
Harriet tapped the steel shutters that covered every single one of the entrances to the Cabinet Room.
"How solid are these?" Harriet asked.
The Doctor shook his head. "Not solid enough, built for short range attack, nothing this big."
Rhea grimaced and looked over at Rose. She'd be damned if a nineteen-year-old girl was going to die here with them.
"Okay, so, since I have better things to do than die, we're gonna ride out the storm." She opened a cupboard door. "I grew up in California and I spent my college years in LA. Now they taught us how to deal with earthquakes by taking cover underneath something sturdy, like a table, until the shaking stopped. And there's one here in the cupboard. It's small, so that shelves in here have got to be strong." She looked back and saw Rose, Harriet and the Doctor staring at her with shock. "What're you doing just standing there? All of you, get over here!"
Mickey was staring at the computer screen.
"It's on radar. Counter defence 556." He spoke into the phone.
"Stop them intercepting it." The Doctor ordered.
"I'm doing it now."
"Good boy." The Doctor said, appreciatively.
Mickey tapped a few keys. "556 neutralised."
The Doctor ripped the mobile off speakerphone.
The missile soared past Mickey's flat. Jackie ran out onto the balcony to watch it.
Rhea, Rose, the Doctor and Harriet bundled into the cupboard and threw themselves into the corner of the small room, huddling together, the Doctor and Rhea in the middle, Rose next to Rhea and Harriet next to the Doctor.
"Nice knowing you three." Harriet offered.
They all reached for each other's hands. The Doctor gripped onto Rhea's, twisting their fingers with each other's. Rhea leaned her head against the Doctor's shoulder and he shifted to the side, kissing her on the top of the forehead.
"We'll survive this." He muttered to her.
"We better." She growled, her grip on his hand tightening.
"Last words?"
Rhea scowled. "Yeah, screw you. We're not dying here."
"If we survive this, I'll kiss you." Rose said, her grin manic. She lowered her voice to a whisper so that Rhea was the only one who could hear her. "Or, you know, the Doctor could kiss you." She waggled her eyebrows.
Rhea rolled her eyes and nudged Rose, playfully.
"Hannibal!" Harriet cried out.
They braced themselves for the impact.
The whole of 10 Downing Street exploded into flames.
The Doctor, Rhea, Rose and Harriet were shaken from side to side in their cupboard, holding onto each other for dear life. Then it stopped. The place was in ruins, smoking. Then, the Doctor, Rhea, Rose and Harriet emerged from what was left in the wreckage. Harriet looked around.
"Made in Britain." She chuckled.
Rhea snorted. "I think this is probably the worst destruction we've caused. We just blew up Downing Street. Actually," She grimaced. "Scratch that, we've done worse."
A sergeant hurried over to the four. "Are you alright?"
Harriet flashed her ID card at him. "Harriet Jones. MP, Flydale North. I want you to contact UN immediately, tell the ambassadors the crisis is over and they can step down. Go on, tell the news!" She said, urgently, when he didn't move, just simply stared at the ruins of 10 Downing Street.
"Yes, ma'am." The sergeant nodded and hurried away again.
"Someone's got a hell of a job sorting this lot out. Oh, Lord! We haven't even got a Prime Minister!" Harriet laughed, throwing her head back in disbelief.
"Well, maybe you should have a go." The Doctor suggested.
"Me?" Harriet laughed again. The idea was beyond laughable for her but that was all she could do. "I'm only a back-bencher."
"I'd vote for ya!" Rose exclaimed, grinning at the older woman.
"So would I!" Rhea beamed. "If I… you know… wasn't an American."
"Now, don't be silly." Harriet admonished, lightly. The Doctor, Rhea and Rose grinned. "Look, I'd better go and see if I can help."
She climbed over the rubble towards the crowd of people, who had gathered across the street from 10 Downing Street. The Doctor beamed at Rhea and Rose.
"Hang on!" Harriet shouted over at the crowd. "The Earth is safe! Sergeant!"
The Doctor, Rhea and Rose walked together in the opposite direction.
"I thought I knew the name." The Doctor said, abruptly. They watched her hurry over to the cameras and ambulances. "Harriet Jones, future Prime Minister. Elected for three successive terms, the architect of Britain's Golden Age." He said, cheerfully.
"The crisis has passed! Ladies and Gentlemen, I have something to say to you all!" Rhea, Rose and the Doctor watched her, fondly, from a distance. Then they turned and walked away. Harriet jutted her face in front of the camera. "Mankind stands tall, proud, and undefeated. God bless the human race."
She beamed around at them all.
Rose entered her flat and was immediately pulled into a large and warm hug from a relieved and tearful Jackie. They both closed their eyes and buried their faces in each other's shoulders, both happy to be together again.
The Doctor and Rhea entered the TARDIS, the Doctor twirling Rhea around in a circle, before dipping her over his arm, making her squeal with surprise. He dragged her over to the console and started the engines, grinning up at the time rotor. He looked down at Rhea to see her watching him with unreadable eyes.
"What's wrong?" He asked, worriedly.
"I killed two Slitheen, aren't you angry?" She asked, bluntly, squaring her shoulders for the judgment that would inevitably come.
"I think…" The Doctor hesitated, wondering what was the best way to put this. "I am angry, but not for the reason you think I am." The Doctor said, quickly, seeing the rebellion build up in Rhea's eyes.
"Then, why are you angry?" Rhea asked, defensively, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Because I hate that you think you have to resort to violence for everything." The Doctor said, simply.
Rhea cocked her head. "That's the way I was built. I can't help it." She bit her lip. "In my experience, the only one I can count on is myself."
"You don't always have to." The Doctor said, quietly. "I can protect you."
Rhea startled and recoiled. She swallowed hard. "No one's ever… wow… no one's ever said that to me." She said, her voice hushed. She frowned and looked away. "Look, I can't just change who I am on the inside just to please you." She scowled, defiantly, at him.
The Doctor rolled his eyes and scowled back at her. He took her shoulders in a tight grip and almost shook her head. She glared at him, raising an eyebrow.
"You stupid-. I don't want to change you. I just want you to stop relying on yourself for once. You have friends, Rhea, you have me. We can help you if you have problems. You don't have to pull out the blaster and shoot every time you feel cornered!"
Rhea laughed, it was a cold and harsh sound that chilled his blood. "No one has ever helped me. Why should I trust you now?" She asked, spitefully.
"Because I have never met anyone more important to me than you are." The Doctor said, simply.
Rhea blinked away the tears that came to her eyes at that statement. She looked away and inhaled, trembling, slightly. The Doctor sighed and tipped her head up with one finger to look at him. She looked like she wanted to be anywhere else but here.
"I know people have forced you to be on your own. They've made you think that the only way you'll survive is if you trust in yourself and no one else. But they're wrong. Trust me, Rhea. Trust me and I swear I'll never let you down." The Doctor said, earnestly.
Rhea looked up at him, confused. "What makes you think that I don't trust you?"
The Doctor's shoulders slumped. "I thought that was why you shot the Slitheen in the first place. Because you didn't trust me enough to get us out of there."
Rhea rolled her eyes. "You idiot, if I didn't trust you, I wouldn't still be travelling with you. I'd have told you to go to hell and walked out of the TARDIS a long time ago."
The TARDIS expressed her hurt and displeasure at that thought, the lights flashing and the console thrumming until Rhea patted the console, affectionately.
"Really?" The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "So why did you shoot the Slitheen, then?"
"Because that bitch in front was pissing me off." Rhea stared at him. "She was so fucking smug that I wanted to pull her down a peg or two. So I shot her bodyguards."
"Oh. Oh. That doesn't make it better." The Doctor said, sternly, wagging a finger.
Rhea rolled her eyes. "Look, I'll make you a deal. I'll stop shooting people if they piss me off. But if they try and attack us, all bets are off. Okay?"
The Doctor nodded, wearily. "I guess that's the best I'm gonna get from you, isn't it?"
Rhea gave him a blinding smile. "Yep." She grinned.
Rose was sitting on a chair in front of the television in her living room, watching a playback of Harriet Jones' speech to the public after she had run to speak with the reporters.
"Mankind stands tall…proud…"
Jackie came into the living room. She looked at the television and grimaced.
"Harriet Jones." She scoffed. "Who does she think she is? Look at her! Taking all the credit. Should be you on there." She narrowed her eyes at the television. "My daughter saved the world!" She shouted at the television.
Rose smirked. "I think the Doctor and Rhea helped a bit…" She said, playfully.
"Oh, alright then. Them too. You should be given knighthoods." Jackie said, sitting down in a nearby chair.
"That's not the way they do things. No fuss, they just... move on. They're really not that bad if you gave him a chance." Rose said, earnestly.
Jackie shrugged. "They're good in a crisis, I'll give them that."
Rose looked at her mother with a smug smile. "Oh! Now the world has changed, you're saying nice things about him."
"Well, I reckon I've got no choice! There's no getting rid of him since you're infatuated." Jackie said, smirking.
Rose rolled her eyes. "I'm not infatuated." She glared at her mother. "Didn't you see the way the Doctor and Rhea act around each other. The Doctor's head over heels for her. He thinks the sun and the moon rise and set with her."
"I'll give you that." Jackie sighed. "What do they eat?" She asked, suddenly.
Rose's brow furrowed. "How do you mean?"
"Well, I was gonna do Shepherd's Pie." Jackie told her and Rose sniggered. "All of us. A proper sit down. 'Cause..." Jackie sighed, and her face contorted in a way that made Rose think that this was very hard for Jackie to admit. "I'm ready to listen. I wanna learn about you and them and that life you lead. Only, I dunno, they're aliens, aren't they? For all I know, they eat grass and safety pins and things."
"Okay, first of all," Rose began, her voice slow and gently, feeling very proud of her mother at that moment. "Rhea's not an alien. She's as human as you or me. I don't know the specifics, but she's from 2014 and she jumps around the Doctor's timeline." At Jackie's blank look, Rose continued. "She meets him in the wrong order. So, she meets him and then she'll meet him in his past or his future. She started from 2014 and that's where she met the Doctor. But she's vegetarian, so Shepherd's Pie is a no-no. You gonna cook for them?"
Jackie frowned. "What's wrong with that?" She asked, defensively.
Rose smiled, teasingly. "They've finally met their match."
"You're not too old for a slap, you know." Jackie said, threateningly. Rose giggled. Jackie got up and went over to the kitchen. "You can go and visit your gran tomorrow." Rose's mobile rang, shrilly. "You'd better learn some French. I told her you were in France. I said you were au-pairing."
The caller ID on the screen of Rose's mobile read 'TARDIS calling' complete with a little TARDIS icon. Rose pressed a button and raised it to her ear.
"Hello?" She called out.
"Right, we'll be a couple of hours, then we can go." The Doctor told her.
"You've got a phone?" Rose asked, incredulously.
The Doctor snorted. "You think we can travel through space and time and I haven't got a phone?" He laughed, contemptuously. "Like I said, couple of hours... I've just got to send out this dispersal..." He pressed a button on the console. "There you go. That's cancelling out the Slitheen's advert in case any bargain hunters turn up."
"My mother's cooking." Rose told him.
"Good!" The Doctor grinned, his eyes lighting up. "Put her on a slow heat and let her simmer." Rhea reached over and punched him on the arm. "Ow! Hey, what was that for?!" He growled at her.
"You're being rude." Rhea said, long-sufferingly. "Moms are off-limits. Insult whoever else you want to, but moms and dads are off-limits, got it?" She leaned over against the console, giving him a threatening look.
"You know, you're not nearly as threatening as you think you are." He scoffed. Rhea raised an eyebrow. "Okay, okay, I'll stop." He grimaced.
"She's cooking tea. For us." Rose said, hesitantly.
The Doctor paused and gave the floor a withering look, much to Rhea's amusement. "I don't do that." He said, firmly. He pressed Rhea's hands against his chest when she draped them over his shoulders.
"She wants to get to know you two." Rose said, earnestly.
"Tough! We've got better things to do!"
"Like what?" Rhea raised an eyebrow and the Doctor glared at her, gesturing to her to remain silent.
"It's just tea." Rose protested.
"Not to him it isn't." Rhea called out.
"She's my mother!"
"Well, she's not ours!" The Doctor exclaimed.
"That's not fair!" Rose cried out.
"Well, you can stay there if you want!" The Doctor rolled his eyes. There was a pause. "But right now there's this plasma storm brewing in the horse head nebula. Fires are burning 10 million miles wide. I could fly the TARDIS right into the heart of it then ride the shock wave all the way out, hurtle right across the sky and end up anywhere."
Something clenched low in Rhea's stomach and she resisted the urge to whimper, when the sound of his silky, smooth growl started to fog her senses. She leaned against the console for purchase. If that's just him talking about travelling around space, I bet he'd talk dirty like a fucking master. She thought and almost smacked her forehead. She shifted against the console, rubbing her thighs together for some friction, trying to forget and hide the fact that she was incredibly turned on by the tenor of his voice.
"Your choice." The Doctor said, simply, and hung up, turning to look at Rhea, whose face was slightly pink. "What's wrong?"
Rhea cleared her throat and flushed. "Nothing, honey, just thinking."
Rose ended the call, slowly, and pressed the phone to her lips, deep in thought, wondering whether she should leave with the Doctor or spend some more time with her mother.
Jackie came back into the living room with two cups of tea.
"Rose, I was thinking..." She paused when she saw that Rose's seat was empty. She walked in the direction of Rose's bedroom instead, thinking that she'd be there. "I've got that bottle of Amaretto from New Year's Eve, do they drink?" She opened the door to Rose's bedroom. Rose was stuffing some clothes into a bag as Jackie watched her. "I was wondering whether they drink or not."
"Yeah, they do." Rose muttered, absentmindedly, and continued to stuff the clothes in the backpack.
"Don't go, sweetheart." Jackie pleaded, her voice hushed. Rose swallowed hard, stopped and looked around to her. "Please don't go." She begged again.
Despite her guilt, Rose continued to pack.
It was nighttime. Mickey was sitting, reading a newspaper, on a bin right outside the TARDIS. A small boy, who had vandalised the TARDIS the previous day by writing the words 'BAD WOLF' in white spray paint, was now busy cleaning it off again. The Doctor and Rhea poked their heads around the door.
"Good lad. Graffiti that again and I'll 'ave ya." The Doctor growled.
"Now, beat it!" Rhea snapped. The little boy scurried off and the Doctor grinned at her, proudly. "See… all good now, gorgeous." She crooned, patting the TARDIS, affectionately.
Mickey glanced after the little boy and wondered what kind of alien Rhea was if she was talking to a wooden box. The Doctor and Rhea walked up to him.
"I just went down the shop. And I was thinking, you know, like the whole world's changed. Aliens and spaceships all in public. And here it is." He showed the two the front page of the newspaper, headlined 'Alien Hoax?'. The Doctor gave a small smile and Rhea smirked. "How could they do that? They saw it!"
"They're just not ready." Rhea said, soothingly, wondering if humanity would ever be ready to accept the fact that aliens exist.
The Doctor shrugged. "You're happy to believe in something that's invisible, but if it's staring you in the face, nope! Can't see it!"
A smile played on Rhea's lips. "There's a scientific explanation for that. You're an idiot." She smirked.
Mickey laughed. "We're just idiots."
"Well, not all of you." The Doctor said, reluctantly, making Rhea smile at him, proudly.
"Yeah?" Mickey asked, surprised.
"Present for you, Mickey." The Doctor handed him a disc. "That's a virus. Put it online, it'll destroy every mention of me. I'll cease to exist."
"And what about you?" Mickey asked Rhea.
"Well, whatever you erase about the Doctor should erase me as well, but I don't want it to erase everything. I'm still alive in 2006." She smiled.
"So, what do you want to do that for?" Mickey asked.
"'Cos you're right." The Doctor said, simply. "I am dangerous. I don't want anybody following us."
"How can you say that, and then take her with you?" Mickey asked through gritted teeth, gesturing to Rose.
"You could look after her." Rhea suggested. "Come with us."
"I can't." Mickey shook his head. "This life of yours... it's just too much, I... I couldn't do it." He lowered his voice to a whisper. "Don't tell her I said that." He pleaded and Rhea patted him on the arm.
"I'll get a proper job. I'll work weekends, I'll pass my test and if Jim comes round again, I'll say no. I really will." Jackie pleaded to Rose, as they approached the Doctor, Rhea and Mickey.
Rose rolled her eyes. "I'm not leaving 'cos of you. I'm travelling, that's all. And then I'll come back!"
"But it's not safe!" Jackie exclaimed.
"Well," Rhea drawled. "To be fair, she could get hit by a bus any day of the week."
Jackie glared at her.
"Mum..." Rose began, softly and gently. "If you saw it out there... you'd never stay home." She turned to the Doctor, taking her backpack off her shoulders.
"Got enough stuff?" The Doctor asked, sarcastically.
Rose snorted. "I've seen Rhea's closet. You've got nothing to complain about." She smiled at him, smugly. "Last time I stepped in there, it was spur of the moment." She threw the enormous bag into the Doctor's arms. "Now I'm signing up. You're stuck with me. Haha." She laughed. Rose went up to Mickey. "Come with us. There's plenty of room." She said, earnestly.
Mickey looked over at the Doctor and Rhea, helplessly.
The Doctor cleared his throat. "No chance, he's, ah, a liability, I'm not having him on board."
Rose glared at him. "We'd be dead without him."
"My decision is final." The Doctor said, grimly.
Rose turned back to Mickey. "Sorry." She said, apologetically, leaning in for a kiss.
Mickey gave her a small wave as she backed away. "Good luck, then." He said, morosely.
Jackie rounded on the Doctor and Rhea. "You still can't promise me. What if she gets lost? What if something happens to you, Doctor, Rhea, and she's left all alone standing on some moon a million light years away, how long do I wait then?" She asked, helplessly.
The Doctor, hugging Rose's backpack, and Rhea just stood there, not having an answer for Jackie, but Rose came to their rescue.
"Mum..." Rose began. Jackie spun around to face Rose. "You're forgetting, it's a time machine. I could go travelling around suns and planets and all the way out to the edge of the universe and by the time I get back, yeah, ten seconds would have passed. Just ten seconds." She said, soothingly. She put her hands on Jackie's shoulders, smiling kindly. "So stop worrying. See you in ten seconds time. Hmm?"
She hugged her. The Doctor and Rhea stepped into the TARDIS, Rose following them. Mickey gave another small wave and Rose shut the door behind her, leaving Jackie and Mickey alone outside. The TARDIS started to dematerialise, fading away. Jackie kept her eyes on it, the two standing in silence.
"Ten seconds." Jackie murmured.
She walked back to the flats. Mickey settled himself back on top of the dustbin with the newspaper.
"My beautiful girl." He muttered against her skin, pressing a line of kisses down her stomach, his tongue dipping into her bellybutton. His tongue ran over the curvy scar that ran across the underside of her stomach, much to her surprise and pleasure.
She hummed, a low moan rising from her throat, as his mouth moved lower and lower and impossibly lower and her hips rose from the bed, her mouth parted in a scream. She looked down to see playful grey eyes and a head of wavy brown hair staring up at her from between her thighs.
"Jerk." She grumbled and her next words were drawn from her in a shriek that sounded through the entire room.
His hands slid, deliciously, along her thighs, spreading them wide for his gaze and his mouth descended all over again. Her hands reached down and she dug her nails into his scalp, pulling on locks of his hair. She arched her back and her eyes rolled back in her head as his tongue traced patterns on her soft, wet flesh. With the force she was exuding on his hair, she was, momentarily, worried that she would pull the hair out along with its roots.
"S-so close." She mumbled and jumble of words, some prayers, some praises and some unintelligible curses in the five languages that she knew, spilled from her lips.
His hands slid up from her slender legs and up her stomach, cupping her breasts, briefly, in his large hands. His mouth left her cunt and suddenly, she felt cold.
She opened her eyes and she screamed when she saw his face.
His hands, not his hands, came for her throat, squeezing.
"Come on, love, scream for me." He hissed.
And she sat up, bolt upright, breathing heavily, her hair hanging down around her face. She felt the slow trickle of tears down her cheek and wiped them away, quickly, as if someone could see them. Her hands fell back onto the bed and dug into claws around the quilt. She panted and reached for a glass of water on the bedside table, gulping down the cool liquid, which soothed her parched throat. She fell back onto the bed and laid her head on the cool pillow. She lifted the quilt over her body, tucking it underneath her arms. She stared at the ceiling.
He hadn't been a star in her dreams since that fateful night after the murder mystery with Agatha Christie. And now he had come to haunt her during such a nice dream she had been having with the Doctor. She couldn't even dream of the Doctor going down on her without having him claw and bury himself in her mind all over again. If this wasn't a surefire sign that she shouldn't start something with the Doctor, she didn't know what was.
It was only after a few moments that she realised that she hadn't even been dreaming of the Doctor she was with.
Oh, fuck, I am so screwed.
A/N: Hope you all liked the chapter! We had an interesting ending, I wonder who the 'him' was at the end of that really great dream. Rhea sure sounds torn up because of him. And I hope you liked the mini-smut with the Doctor. We have more coming up, I promise. And we have an idea of why Rhea doesn't want to start something with the Doctor. The 'him' she was talking about has a huge part to play, I promise.
And Rhea definitely has self-esteem issues in this chapter. It's sad that she thinks herself as "second choice" or "dispensable" to people. Let's hope the Doctor can change that! But, yeah, she did like him saying that he didn't want to lose her. It made her feel all-warm inside. And I hope you liked the mini-argument about the violence. I felt kind of pleased that Rhea actually got to shoot someone in this chapter, I hope you liked my choice of victims. I hope you liked the way the Doctor dealt with the violence in this chapter. He doesn't like her doing it, so he'll try his hardest to convince her to stop it, but she's a strong one. The deal should hold true for awhile. At least with this Doctor.
Oh, and by the way, can you guess which Doctor Rhea was dreaming of that was going down on her?
Here's the sneak preview!
"No, but I don't want to." Rhea said, flatly, making River flinch. But Rhea was far too lost in her anger to soften at this point. "If you know me as well as you think you know me, you know I'm gonna defend the Doctor no matter what. So, I'm only going to say this once." She growled. "If I get the slightest inkling, just one doubt, one slip up, that you're going to hurt him… you should run, run as fast as you can and don't stop running, because I will find you, and when I find you…" She smiled, dangerously. "Well, I really don't need to finish that threat, do I?" She purred and flounced away back to the Doctor's side.
Anyway, hope you all liked the chapter and don't forget to review!