Wanderer of Time: Darkness Within

by Tinker16

The powers within have been steadily growing, buying time until the moment of remembrance. The moment swiftly approaches. Wanda's fears are coming to a head as she realizes what has been living inside her has only one purpose in the universe. And it holds no qualms in destroying any who gets in its way, even those who Wanda loves. (Part Three of the Wanderer of Time trilogy)

43. Ch 43: Dancing Doctor

Hi, everyone! :D

Welp, the site has been down all day for me. Was going to update last night, but nothing has been working. Has everyone else been affected badly, too? Just curious mostly. Let's hope that things are all fixed now. :)

Hope everyone get to enjoy the new chapter without any errors this time around!

XxXxXxXx

Chapter 43: Dancing Doctor

The group backed up, gathering together as the many infected people got up from their beds, slowly making their ways towards them. Wanda and Rose grabbed each other's hands at the same time, ready to protect the other at a moment's notice.

"What's happening?" Rose asked the Doctor, trying to see if he knew and had an idea on how to stop from whatever was happening. Even though she had no clue on what exactly was going on, she still felt it in her gut that it was nothing good. The Doctor did say that human DNA was being rewritten. That was never a good sign.

"I don't know," the Doctor answered her, eyes whipping around rapidly as he tried seeing a route of escape for them. He edged back as the 'mummy' calling people drew closer to them. "Don't let them touch you."

"What happens if they touch us?" questioned Rose as she feared for the worse. The Doctor glanced back at her, then nodded at the gas-masked people.

"You're looking at it," he replied gruffly. He scooted back, feeling his arm brush against another's. He glanced back, seeing Wanda just there next to him. Her eyes wide and fearful as she stared at the empty gazes of all the patients coming towards them. Swallowing thickly, the Doctor felt . . . compelled to rid her of her fears. But how? He glanced back at the patients, suddenly getting an idea. He stood a firm step forward, getting up close to one of the closest patients as he stared them down strictly. Placing his hands behind his back, he held a firm stance, bracing himself against them.

"Go to your room," he barked out in a strict order. He kept his eyes ablaze in stern anger, staring all of the patients down as a parent would when reaching their limit in patience. "Go to your room!" At the same time, in sync, the patients' heads tilted to the side, as if unsure on why he was so angry with them and what or why he was ordering them around. The Doctor merely kept up his fierce charade. "I meant it. I'm very, very angry with you. I'm very, very cross. Go. To. Your. Room!"

Thrusting his arm out, pointing harshly up towards the ceiling, indicating towards an imaginary room for the patients, the Doctor's expression and demeanour stayed severe as he stared all down. Eyes unmoving or sympathetic in any way. There was a long moment of tension as Rose, Jack, Wanda, and even the Doctor, waited for a reaction from the patients. Then, very slowly, with heads hanging in glumness, the gas-masked people turned back around. Shuffling their feet as they head back to their beds, appearing highly dejected from their 'punishment' and 'scolding' from the Doctor. After seeing all of the patients getting back into their beds, the Time Lord dropped his arm, letting out a sigh in relief.

"I'm really glad that worked. Those would've been terrible last words," he joked as he smiled at the three standing behind him. He felt a strange wave of warmth go through him as he saw Wanda smiling brightly at him in return. Emerald eyes lit up in ease as her fears were gone because of his quick thinking. He turned away, ears growing pink as he tried ignoring his pattering hearts. Setting his face into a hard expression, he felt his temper rise at the stupid reactions he was going through while around the Time Lady. Something that had been irritating him for a while now.

"Well, that was close," Jack laughed lightly, hoping to lighten the mood somewhat.

"Yeah, real close. Hate for you to lose that pretty face of yours to a gas mask, huh, Smexy?" Wanda joked, bumping her hip against Jack's before walking away to stand beside the Doctor. She went to say something to the Time Lord, but he suddenly marched away from her, seeming to fume over something or another. Frowning, she shook her head, wondering why he was in such a bad mood lately. Was it really because of her? She knew how he never liked any incarnation of her other than her Second self. But did she really irritate him that much?

The Doctor, putting distance between himself and the rest, tried keeping his temper down as he felt ready to snap. He swore if he heard Wanda or Jack call each other by their stupid nicknames one more time . . . Shaking his head, he glanced back at the Captain.

"How was your con supposed to work?" he asked the man, ready to jump into what needed to be done for the day.

"Tinkerbell here already told you that," Jack replied, shrugging his shoulders in wondering why the Doctor wanted to know that again. Brow twitching upon the mentioning of 'Tinkerbell', the Doctor gritted his teeth for a moment before letting out a huff.

"Yeah, but I want to hear exactly what you had planned," the Doctor clarified, voice coming out snippy with his temper sitting just on the edge now.

Jack shrugged as he walked over to a nearby desk, sitting in the chair and leaning back, resting his feet up as he began the explanation to his con. "Well, as it was said before—I find some harmless piece of space junk. Let the nearest Time Agent track it back to Earth. Convince him it's valuable, name a price. When he's put fifty percent up front, oops, a German bomb falls on it, destroys it forever. He never gets to see what he's paid for. Never knows he's been had. I buy him a drink with his own money, and we discuss dumb luck. The perfect self-cleaning con." He smirked at the end at his own con, proud of the perfect plan he had come up with.

"Yeah, perfect," the Doctor grounded out in response, frustrated with this man even more. How egoistic can a person get?

"The London Blitz is great for self-cleaners," Jack continued on, not hearing the grumble from the Time Lord. "Pompeii's nice if you want to make a vacation of it, though, but you've got to set your alarm for volcano day." He started laughing at his own joke. His laughter faulted when seeing the sharp looks he was getting from the three travellers. He cleared his throat and shifted in his seat when seeing the heated expression from Wanda upon the mentioning of Pompeii. It was almost as though he had struck an old, long buried nerve in her from the name of that place in time. "Getting the hint of disproval."

"Don't mention Pompeii again. Ever," Wanda spoke, voice filled with underlying anger. Jack held up his hands in defense as if to make peace.

"Ooh, touchy. Didn't mean to strike a bad cord there," he said, trying to ease whatever nerve he had struck. The Doctor and Rose both glanced at the Time Lady curiously, finding it odd how stiffly she stood there with her eyes churning in an old storm.

"Is something wrong, Wanda?" Rose asked her friend in concern. Wanda sucked in a breath, letting it out slowly as old memories flashed through her head. Memories of a little girl crying on a step, covered in the ash of an erupting volcano.

"Just remembering a bad day," she mumbled as she turned away from them for a moment. She had not thought of Pompeii in years, but it was one memory that still haunted her. Something that she still would never forgive herself for. Sucking a breath in, she turned around again, smiling at them all. "Sorry. Didn't mean to get all emotional there. So, best we get a move on then, shall we? This mess isn't gonna fix itself." Skipping away from them, she headed towards the doorway, halting at the frame to glance back at the Doctor. "We're heading upstairs, right?"

"Right," the Doctor agreed, walking swiftly to follow her out of the room. Rose tagged along close behind with Jack trailing up the back. Even though he was determined to stick by his story in his innocence, he still wanted to figure out just as much as the rest of them on what exactly was going on here. So, he decided in sticking with them, ready to help out where he could. As long as it did not involve anything that might get him killed, of course. Or, in truth, he really wished to tagalong in a way to prove to them that he did not harm anyone. Maybe then he might get some more answers on who exactly these travellers were, or, more specifically, figure out why Wanda seemed to know him so well in the future. That was something that plagued his curiosity more than anything.

Wanda and the Doctor got ahead of the other two, marching fast up the stairs towards where they knew they needed to go. Soon, Rose and Jack were far behind while the Doctor and Wanda were up many flights of stairs already. Though, through some struggle on Wanda's part as she tried pacing herself on an even level. Eleven and older Ten had been reminding her repeatedly that she could not do too much running around as it would not be good for the baby. But she wanted to keep up with Nine next to her as she did not wish to leave him wandering around on his own. Plus, from the way he kept sending her side glances, she could tell he wanted to talk to her about something or another.

"That Captain, is he really a friend of yours?" he finally asked her, not trying to sound as gruff as he had earlier, but his voice still came out rather strict from his still fuming irritation.

"Yes, we're pretty close. Why do you ask?" Wanda replied, staring at him curiously as they continued up another set of stairs.

The Doctor, with a hand gripping the stair railing more roughly, felt . . . angry by this. The idea of that man and his Wand—friend, his friend Wanderer, were 'close' in relations . . . it just sent a wave of fuming anger through him as all he could think of was that damn sly smirk on Jack's face while hugging all over Wanda and flirting with her. The Doctor let out a huff as this image went through his mind. But why should he care? It was not as if Wanda were not a grown woman and could not flirt around or be with someone if she wanted to. It was not as if she could not feel attraction for another . . . good-looking . . . younger man. It is just . . . why would she not want to be with someone younger, closer to her own body's age? Why would she ever want to be with anyone else? To even consider being with an older man like himself? Why would she ever want to be with him? He was so old . . . a broken man who was constantly cruel towards her. As if he ever stood a chance.

The Doctor tried not to dwell on these thoughts. Strange thoughts that have never even crossed his mind before. But (surprising to him) sadness seemed to wrap around him, making him feel weighed down as his thoughts contemplated over the idea of Wanda leaving him for another. Not 'leaving him' per say, but more of leaving their friendship. Because they are friends. Yep . . . just friends. And since they were just friends . . . she could leave. It was not as she had any real reason to stay . . . well, except for the jumping through his timeline factor, but someday she could grow out of that and then . . . leave him for good. He would leave him too if he could.

"Doctor? Doctor? . . . Theta!"

"Huh? What?" he replied immediately upon hearing Wanda say that name in particular. He blinked as he noticed they now stood in front of room eight hundred-two on the top floor. Glancing behind them, he saw bold words over on the wall saying Orthopedic Research Laboratory. This must be the place Dr. Constantine had mentioned before he had transformed into a gas mask wearing creature.

"Are we in the right place?" Wanda asked.

"Yeah, this is the room," the Doctor muttered as he stepped up to the thick, gray, metal door. He hummed as he ran a finger over the edge where there should have been a door handle. But the room was sealed shut. For good reasons, most likely. "Gonna need a blaster."

"You could open it with the sonic, you know," Wanda responded as the Doctor backed up from the door.

"I know. But I want to see something first. Now, where did those two go?" The Doctor leaned around the corner of the stair railing, looking to see where Rose and the Captain could have gone. Did the Time Lords really walk that fast that two humans could not keep up?

"I guess you still have trust issues with me."

The Doctor blinked, turning back around to stare at Wanda in surprise. She currently leaned up against the door, staring curiously at him. "What?" he questioned her.

"You still don't trust me," she repeated.

"Of course I trust you," scoffed the Doctor. Upon seeing her raise a skeptical brow, he decided this might not be entirely true. "For most things, I trust you." Again, she kept her brow raised with a pointed look given. "Okay, so, a lapse in trust sometimes. But I'm getting better. Why are you even bringing this up anyway?"

"Because you'd actually think I'd ever bring someone into our group who could hurt us?" When seeing the Doctor avert his eyes from hers, Wanda walked up closer to him, smiling gently. "I'd never become friends with someone like that. Or let anyone near you or Rose who would hurt neither of you. I know you have suspicions about Jack, and he isn't exactly the best person in the world. But trust me when I say that Captain Jack Harkness truly is a good friend to us all and is very important." In seeing the Doctor's skeptical expression, she let out a sigh. "You still don't trust me, though."

"How can I?" The Doctor turned his gaze to her, watching her closely. "I mean, you've already made the biggest mistake of trust you could have ever made."

"Oh? And what's that?"

"Me." He turned away from her, refusing to look at her now as he did not want her to see the turmoil of his past. A past that always plagued him, washed over him like a heavy rain that would not stop pounding on his back, weighing him down. His eyes clouded over in a storm of turmoil, woe and deep anger brewed away within. All he could think of was him being someone no one should ever put trust or faith in. The things he had done during the war . . . the deaths he caused . . . his cruelty towards Wanda herself. How could she ever trust him for any of that? How could she still wish to be friends with him? He could not understand it. Truly, he did not mean to treat her poorly. He really wanted to make their friendship work. But . . . he was a broken man. A man who could not control what he did or said anymore. He was a spark ready to burst and turn into a nasty explosion. How could anyone want to be around him after seeing his explosive nature first hand?

He heard Wanda walk up towards him. Turning to her, he after expected to see her annoyed in some way by his self-pity. Or even irritated by his admittance of not trusting her still. But instead, he felt a guilty twinge when seeing only her kind face, with her emerald eyes sparkling in acceptance. Did she really not understand that, because of her naivety in trusting him, it only meant she was vulnerable in trusting anyone who could harm her and others? He went to explain his reasoning on why she should not trust him. Of why her unmovable trust in him made him suspicious of her trust in others. But he found himself instead made curious as she suddenly grabbed his arm, pushing up his leather jacket and dark red jumper sleeve from his wrist.

"What are you—," he began to ask her but halted in his words at her next action. He stood there, frozen in utter shock, stunned by how she had pressed her lips to the pulse on his wrist. Feeling the soft skin of her lips, the way they so tenderly pressed on his wrist . . . Thickly he swallowed as his hearts sped up in a rapid rate. He knew she must have felt the increase from the way she held his wrist and was pressing against the blue veins. He could almost feel her own pulse through her lips, and . . . and there was something else. Something he was missing. A little bell went off in his mind that sensed something different about her. But before he could dwell on it, she let go of his wrist and smiled at him while he blinked in a daze, stunned beyond words as he could only stare at her with wide eyes.

"I know that you don't trust yourself anymore and that you've lost faith in who you are," she spoke quietly in a gentle hush. "I don't necessarily put all my faith into you, Theta. It's more," she paused as she thought over the right words, "that I'll always trust that, no matter how far you'll fall, no matter how much chaos is created around you, no matter how much you hate yourself: you'll never allow any of that keep you from helping others. I trust that you'll always be a Doctor in the end. No matter what." His hand was squeezed lightly as she gave him the kindest of smiles. "Just have trust in yourself, Theta. Trust that you'll be a good Doctor and will have those days where everybody lives."

In the distance, they could hear Jack and Rose yelling for them. Wanda walked away, calling out to the two to come up to the top floor, leaving the Doctor there in his stunned silence. Unable to process what had just happened, all he could think about was the feeling of her lips lingering behind on his wrist. It felt so warm. As though she were still kissing it. He hurriedly pushed down his sleeve, covering the place that had been kissed while his ears and face lit up red, feeling highly embarrassed when he saw Rose and Jack come up the stairs. In a way, the Doctor felt as though those two had caught him and Wanda doing something . . . inappropriate.

"Have you got a blaster?" the Doctor asked Jack as soon as both the Captain and Rose were there with the Time Lords.

"Sure," replied Jack, shrugging as he pulled out the advanced gun from the inner pocket of his coat. The Doctor nodded at the door they needed in, indicating that was where Jack needed to aim. He explained briefly about the room, it being where the start of the strange plague had occurred, the room where the first person had been turned into a gas-masked creature, before Jack aimed at the lock on the door. The gun, that lit up blue around the silver metal, buzzed loudly as it zapped away the section of the door which kept it barred. Jack grinned, looking smug by his work, and that he had been able to do something the Doctor was unable to manage.

"Sonic blaster, 51st century," noted the Doctor as he stared at the man. "Weapon factories of Villengard?" Jack stared at the Doctor curiously.

"You've been to the factories?" he questioned the Time Lord.

"Once," the Doctor explained as he walked up and grabbed the blaster from Jack's hands, examining the weapon. He felt disgusted upon the sight of the damned gun. He hated these things. Glad that he had found the right factory of the main production line. It was good to be rid of them.

"Well, they're gone now—destroyed," Jack commented. "Main reactor went critical, vaporized the lot." The Doctor smirked, glancing at Wanda, who had gone sheepish while her face turned red.

"Like I said, once," the Doctor said, still smirking at Wanda. The Time Lady glanced at him, rolling her eyes.

"Look, I said 'sorry' didn't I? How was I supposed to know that one bloody potato bomb was going to do that?" she said, pouting as she crossed her arms.

"I didn't say I was complaining about what happened. Did the work for me, in the end," the Doctor joked. He pushed what was in his hand back into Jack's pocket, walking away to go into the room. Wanda skipped forward to get closer to the Doctor, leaning up next to him as she linked arms with him.

"Well, at least I had the nice idea on the banana grove later, right? It was a nice change from all those weapons," she noted, smiling when seeing the nod of approval from the Doctor.

"I like bananas. Bananas are good," agreed the Doctor, smiling fondly when recalling that adventure he had with Second Wanda. His own Wanda. The one he actually got along with. Well, not to say that he did not like the other two Wandas. It was just . . . well, First Wanda was hardly around and barely ever said a word for him to get to know. As for Third Wanda . . . He glanced at the current blonde next to him, frowning when seeing her cheeky grin and how she held onto his arm. He grumbled as he pushed her away. Ears turning red once more in remembering that earlier kiss on the wrist she had given him.

"Quit hugging all over me. I'm not a toy to cuddle," the Doctor grumbled at the short blonde, stomping into the room they were about to search through. Wanda snickered, playfully sticking out her tongue.

"Fine, then. I'll just have to cuddle with someone else," she said, turning to Jack who stood next to her. "How about you, Smexy? Don't mind being cuddled, do you?"

"Ha! Never when there's a cute girl around," Jack responded, immediately linking arms with the giggling Time Lady.

Rose watched this all with clear confused interest. She stood back from the others, arms crossed as she took in everyone's interactions with each other. All she could do really was raise a sharp brow upon seeing the way Wanda blatantly flirted around with the Captain. Sure, Third Wanda was known to flirt around a bit as teasing with pretty much anyone she liked. But at this level? What was the Time Lady up to in acting such a way? Rose glanced at the Doctor, seeing how he watched the interaction with Wanda and Jack in the corner of his eye, with clear disproval written all over his face. He then huffed under his breath, stomping away into the dark room ahead of them. Rose then looked back at Wanda, seeing the sly grin. The Time Lady peeked at Rose through her long hair, giving the companion a wink. Blinking for a bit, Rose chuckled as she then got it. Of course. It was just like her mum had always said. The best way to win a man over was to make him absolutely green with envy.

Wanda followed in after Jack when going into the room. She gazed around, seeing that the Doctor had turned on the old yellow lights, barely making an edge in the darkness. Though allowing them at least enough light as to see the office space. There were wooden filing cabinets on one side of the wall, a dresser in the back, and the desk before them that had the light fixture on it had a big, bulky recorder sitting on the table top. They could see the chair to the desk had been hastily thrown to the ground as though someone had been in a panic to get out of the room. With some papers and books scattered around on the floor by the desk. Then, there was the glass from a window in front of the desk that was seen to have been shattered into pieces, exploding out into the office, onto the desk and floor. Almost as though some force had caused this to break in a fit of anger. Or perhaps in fright, from Wanda's opinion. It was clear that the window over the desk had been a viewing section for the office to look into the room on the other side of the wall. This room was dark, making it hard for them to make out much. However, they could tell that it was a room that had been made into a temporary bedroom for someone, as there was a bed inside and other furniture.

Wanda glanced at the Doctor, ready to speak up on her thoughts on the rooms, but stopped with her mouth slightly open when she saw the grumpy demeanour the Time Lord had. She slowly closed her mouth, thinking it was best if she remained quiet for now. She realized she might have overdone it with the flirting. With both Jack and the Doctor himself. She had not meant to in the beginning. Especially with Jack. It just sort of happened. It was in her nature to be playful with others, which tended to lead towards what many considered flirting. Even though she herself did not exactly see it as flirting per say. Flirting is what she did with her Theta. What she did with Jack, Rose, and others was merely teasing. But, then again, everyone had their own definition of things.

Anyway, either way, even though she had not meant to at first to make the Doctor irritated, she had played along more with Jack when seeing just how . . . jealous Nine was becoming. It was fun to mess with him. She had not noticed the jealousy at first, but as they had gone up the stairs together earlier, she began to take notes of just how the Doctor was behaving. And it was very funny to Wanda in seeing Nine acting in such a way she had never witnessed before. In a way, now that she realized on what her teasing with Jack was doing to the Doctor, it was her payback at him for being so mean towards her and the other incarnations of herself from before. And in another way . . . this was her own test of things. To see maybe . . . just how much the Doctor might be growing to like her. It was just something she wanted to test. A theory in a way. She was certain by now, this would be around the time where the Doctor was beginning to change his feelings towards her. At least, this had been what Eleven told her in the future on how he felt during his Ninth self. And, so far, it seemed her theory was correct. Nine was becoming majorly jealous. The way he kept looking at her, the way he glared at Jack, the way the Time Lord seemed to want to simply grab her and declare her his territory . . . it was hilarious to see such reactions from a younger version of the Doctor. He was especially so cute in the way his ears turned red, too.

Wanda giggled lightly under her breath as she followed the others into the next room over after listening to what their thoughts were of the sight before them. She merely let her attention on their intake on the sights slip by as she focused her sights on the drawings of the room where Jamie had been. So many drawings. So much . . . Walking up closer to one wall filled with colours and images of childhood, she focused on one drawn picture in particular. It was a stick figure drawing of what could be a woman, holding onto the hand of a small stick figure of what could be a child. What could be a representation Jamie drew of the deep desire and wish he always had. He, holding the comforting hand of his mother.

Wanda felt herself tear up as she placed a soft hand on the coloured picture. The image of a child wanting nothing more than to be with their mother . . . What would Ember feel if she were in a similar situation? Would she want her mother and father, too? Would Ember be just as lost as Jamie? Could Wanda do the same as Nancy had with her own son? Pretend that he was her brother instead of claiming motherhood? The thought of doing that to her own daughter, to Ember . . . For Wanda to allow Ember to be so lonely . . . So scared . . .

"Are you okay?"

"Huh?" Wanda blinked, swiftly turning her head towards the Doctor who stood beside her. She stared at him with wide eyes, seeing the concern on his face as he gazed back. Clearing her throat, she dropped her hand from the wall and removed the hand that had been placed against her growing belly (not that any saw that). "I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

"Because you're crying," he pointed out, indicating to the tear tracks on her cheeks. Wanda hurriedly wiped them away, blushing in embarrassment.

"Sorry. Just got a bit emotional there," she mumbled, glancing over to see similar looks of concern from Rose and Jack.

"You sense it, don't you?" the Doctor said quietly, continuing to stare carefully at her.

Wanda blinked, unsure on what he was talking about, but then understood what he meant. "Yeah. Kind of. Not as good as you would, though."

The Doctor nodded, reaching forward briefly to grab one of her loose hands. He gave it a quick squeeze in comfort and understanding before letting go swiftly, averting his gaze as though he had not meant to do that. Wanda blinked as she heard Jamie's voice from the recording the hospital had done filled the room with the boy asking for his mother. She must not have noticed when the Doctor began playing that.

"What is it? What do you sense, Wanda?" Rose asked, coming up beside the Time Lady. The companion held the blonde's shoulder in comfort, worried over the soon-to-be mother from the sudden crying Wanda had done. Rose glanced at the Doctor, seeing a similar troubled expression on his face. "Doctor?"

"Can't you sense it?" the Time Lord asked, beginning to feel on edge from the overwhelming emotional energy that had been left behind by the child who once lived in this room. The Time Lord began moving around the room, pacing as he pondered over all the built-up turmoil left by the lost child. Jack and Rose glanced at each other before looking at the pacing Time Lord.

"Sense what?" Jack asked curiously.

"It's coming out of the walls—can you feel it?" The Doctor turned to look at the companion and Captain, wondering if they had picked up on what Wanda had. But it appeared as those only the Time Lords were being affected by the stirring energy. He scoffed, rolling his eyes at the pathetic lack of mental abilities he was surrounded by. "Funny little human brains—how do you get around in those things?" He began stomping around in his pacing again, trying to think over what he was sensing meant. Rose glanced at both him and Wanda, seeing as neither Time Lord were really focusing on anything in particular. It was like something had a hold of their minds in some sort of agitated state. Looking back at Jack, seeing the man's confusion by the Doctor's statement, Rose smiled in apology.

"When he's stressed, he likes to insult species," the companion explained in light humour at the Doctor's usual antics of insults. She saw the sharp scolding look the Time Lord shot her from the corner of her eye.

"Rose, I'm thinking," the Doctor barked at her, irritated that she would joke around with some damn man at a time like this.

"Cuts himself shaving, does half an hour on life forms he's cleverer than," Rose continued to say, really teasing and trying to lighten the mood now as she did not like how tense everything felt.

"There are these children," the Doctor began stating, trying to get the companion to be quiet as he knew they needed to concentrate solely on the situation at hand, "living rough around the bomb sites. They come out during the air raids, looking for food. Suppose they were there when this thing—whatever it was—landed?"

"It was a med-ship. It was harmless," Jack disputed, trying to keep to his story, to his innocence on the situation. No matter what, he was certain that his con had nothing to do with this. Even if the Doctor, and even the Wanderer with her future knowledge, said otherwise.

"Yes, you keep saying 'harmless,'" the Doctor retorted, spiteful by the Captain's continued denial of his own doing in this situation. Even if it was not intended, there was still harm committed against others. "Suppose one of them was affected, altered?"

"Altered how?" Rose questioned.

"I'm here," sang out a voice from the still running recording while a loud rattling sound filled the room. Wanda stiffened, jerking herself out of the daze she had been under while everyone had been talking. Shaking her head, she dropped a hand from her belly once more as she turned towards the others, ready to join the conversation now.

"Altered in the same way we saw down below with those people," she said to them. She did not stare directly at anyone as she kept her eyes firmly on the other side of the broken window in the main office. "Rose, Jack, do you know what exactly the Doctor and I have sensed from this room?" In the corner of her eye, she saw both companions glance at each other, look at the Doctor curiously, then stare back at her. Seeing this, Wanda said, "It's fear. This child, this boy named Jamie, he is so afraid. So lonely. In this loss and confusion, in this sudden power he has gained, he is unstable. There is no telling what he'll do next. Such as, say, show up to the room where the Doctor told him to go and begin the command on his small army to attack us?"

Wanda glanced over, seeing how Rose and Jack appeared both alarmed and confused by what she had said. While the Doctor blinked for a moment before chuckling.

"It's got the power of a god, and I just sent it to its room," he mumbled while shaking his head. There was silence for a bit while the loud rattle of the recording continued.

"I'm here. Can't you see me?" spoke Jamie's voice once again.

"What's that noise?" Rose questioned slowly, still tense after what the Doctor and Wanda had said.

"It's the tape. It's reached its end," Wanda explained carefully, still holding her eyes in a certain spot.

"It ran out about thirty seconds ago," the Doctor added in as he stood tensely as well.

"I'm here, now," called out the voice of Jamie, still sounding as though coming from the recording. "Can't you see me?"

"I sent it to its room," the Doctor muttered, holding a strained smile. "This is its room."

"His room," Wanda corrected the Doctor. "But yes, you did send him here. And he is." She pointed to the place where Jamie now stood. The others jerked their heads towards the boy, staring fearfully at the small child. Jamie stood on the other side of the desk of the office, gazing back at them with those black gaping lenses of his gas-mask face. The boy tilted his head as he watched them back up slightly from him.

"Are you my mummy?" the boy asked them. "Mummy?" Jack took a step forward, holding a hand to the inner pocket of his coat.

"Okay. On my signal, make for the door," he instructed them as he walked up around the Doctor. Jack then swiftly pulled out an object from his coat, aiming it at Jamie over the Doctor's shoulder. "Now!" The man blinked in shock when seeing he was holding a banana in hand instead of his blaster.

The Doctor grinned cheekily at Jack as he pulled out an object from his own pocket, aiming it at the wall beside them were many drawings where hung. But then the Time Lord gaped in surprise when seeing he too was holding a banana instead of the blaster which he swore he had nicked from Jack. The two men glanced over at the same time when hearing a mischievous whistling. All were stunned when seeing Wanda holding the blaster. The Time Lady held a very large sassy grin as she flipped the blaster around and aimed it at the same wall the Doctor had intended to zap. She made a large square hole for them.

"Time to go!" she called out merrily as she made way through the hole first. The others hurriedly followed after her.

"You nicked the blaster from me?!" the Doctor yelled as they skidded into the hall on the other side of the wall. Wanda aimed the blaster back at the hole which they came from, placing back up the wall before Jamie could come after them.

"Yep! Took it when I linked arms with you," she said, sticking out her tongue playfully at him.

The Doctor frowned at her. "What'd you go do that for?"

"'Cause I could." Wanda shrugged her shoulders, still giving him a cheeky grin. She grabbed the banana from the Doctor, then from Jack. Handing back the blaster to the Captain and the Doctor his banana, she peeled her own yellow fruit and began eating it. "I've been craving these things like mad, lately. So, I have one on me wherever I go now. Though, I wish I had some cheese to go with it." The Doctor made a face of disgust, but before he could say anything more, the wall in front of them began being slammed upon from the other side, cracking from the force that was being used against it.

All four of them ran as fast as they could down the halls of the hospital, knowing that the child was not far behind in pursuit of them. Though they were not running for long before they came to a halt, confronted by the army of gas-masked people who were sent after them by Jamie. All of which were chanting 'mummy' over and over again.

"Yep. And there's the army I mentioned," Wanda panted as they ran in the other direction. They only made it down a little ways before another swam of gas-masked zombies met them once more. Turning back around, they stopped short when realizing they were now trapped, back in the same place they had been before. With the wall in front of them still being pounded against as Jamie tried making his advance at them.

"It's keeping us here till it can get at us," the Doctor said hurriedly.

"It's controlling them?" Jack questioned, keeping his blaster aimed at the breaking wall in front of them.

"It is them," the Doctor responded. "It's every living thing in this hospital."

"He is them. They are him. It's a jumbled mess, really," Wanda said, keeping the most calm out of the group as she leaned against the wall behind them, watching as the gas-masked people drew closer, the wall in front crumbed more, and the others held panicked expressions upon the situation at hand.

"Okay, this can function as a sonic blaster, a sonic cannon, and a triple-enfolded sonic disrupter," Jack stated rapidly, changing his blaster's aim back and forth between the wall and the advancing army of gas-masked patients. "Doc, Tink, what you got?" Both Time Lords glanced at each other. The Doctor appeared embarrassed while Wanda merely snickered and smirked.

"Do you want to tell him what we got, Spaceman?" she asked playfully.

"We've got a sonic, uh—," the Doctor began to say as he pulled out his sonic screwdriver, but thought better of it when comparing to Jack's own defense, "oh, never mind."

"Oh, come on. Don't be shy about what sonics we got," Wanda teased, pulling out her own screwdriver as they all pointed their devices at the incoming people.

"What?" Jack questioned, trying to understand what the Time Lords were going on about.

"It's sonic, okay? Let's leave it at that," grumbled the Doctor as his ears began to turn red from the way Wanda kept snickering and giggling. Why did she always make him feel so . . . flustered?

"Disrupter, cannon, what?!" Jack demanded at the Doctor to tell him what exactly he and Wanda had for protecting themselves. Could it be a powerful secret or something?

"It's sonic, totally sonic. I am sonicked up," grounded the Doctor, becoming more and more irritated by the situation, Wanda's giggling, and Jack's persistence in knowing what they had.

Jack gritted his teeth, now annoyed just as much as the Doctor was. "A sonic what?!"

"Screwdriver!" the Doctor and Wanda said together. Though the Doctor shouted angrily while the Time Lady only said this in merriment. Jack looked over his shoulder in pure disbelief at them both. The wall cross from them suddenly crumbled to pieces, opening a large hole for Jamie to come out. Wanda immediately grew serious, scolding herself internally for not taking the situation as seriously as she should be.

Turning to Rose who stood in the middle of them all, closer to Jack, Wanda said quickly, "Oi, girlie, you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Yep," Rose responded immediately, already knowing what the Time Lady had in mind. It was what the companion had been contemplating as well. Grabbing Jack's hand, Rose had him aim the blaster at the floor around their feet. "Going down!" The floor under their feet disappeared, having them fall straight down to the room below. They landed hard on the cold floor of the room, laying on their backs from the harsh fall. Jack lifted the blaster immediately after hitting the floor, placing back the section which Rose had made disappeared.

"Ow, that hurt," Wanda groaned as she lay curled up on the floor, arms around her stomach in a reflex she had developed over the months. Every time she sensed danger, or worried for her child, she would automatically wrap her arms around herself in a barrier of protection. Her promise to herself, Ember, and to her Theta in protecting their child rang strong and true through her. No matter what, she was determined to keep little Ember safe and sound. Pressing her hands into her stomach, she checked over internally to make certain everything was indeed all right. From what she could sense (something which the Doctor taught her how to check) little Ember was in the clear and as healthy as ever. Good. She was worried there for a moment that the fall might have jostled little Ember too much there.

"Wanda? Oh, gosh, I'm sorry, I didn't think. You're okay, right?" Rose asked, hurriedly going over to the Time Lady's side. Wanda sat up, smiling in reassurance.

"I'm fine," she assured the girl.

"I'm good, too, if you're wondering," sassed the Doctor somewhere next to them. Wanda was not sure where since it was so dark in the room. She could not clearly see any of them, though she heard the Doctor grumbling as usual. "Could've used a warning."

"Oh, quit complaining you big baby," Wanda responded sarcastically, sticking her tongue out in the direction she saw the outline of the Doctor through the dim room. "She gave you plenty of warning. 'Going down.' That is what she said. If that ain't warning enough, then I don't know what is." She stood up when hearing everyone else getting up as well.

"Who has a sonic screwdriver?" Jack questioned, in disbelief that anyone in their right minds would ever think a sonic screwdriver would come in handy in dangerous situations.

"We do," Wanda said lightly as she dusted herself off. "Got a problem with that?"

"Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks, 'ooh—ooh, this could be a little more sonic'?" Jack teased both Time Lords. Both the Doctor and Wanda crossed their arms in sync as they stare at Jack.

"What, you never been bored?" the Doctor retorted in defense of his favourite tool.

"Sonic screwdrivers are better than a blaster. They don't harm anyone, and we can fix things in a jiffy if you need it," Wanda added, nodding firmly to protect her sonic's honour. She loved the device the Doctor had made her, and she would always treasure it.

The lights came on just then as Rose had been ignoring them in search for a light switch. The companion had found it on the other side of the wall, giving them a chance to see where they had ended up. The group jumped in alarm when the chanting of 'mummy' began once more as patients in beds all around them sat up. They all swiftly ran to the door as the gas-masked people got up and started towards them. Jack repeatedly tried getting the door blasted open with his blaster, but the gun fizzled out. Completely useless at this point as Jack stated the batteries were dead. The Doctor saved them by being able to step up and unlock the door with his sonic. He then proceeded to lock the door behind them once they were through on the other side. Then turned on the lights soon after, seeing that they were now locked in a storeroom for the hospital.

"And sonic screwdrivers don't run on batteries," Wanda said smugly as she smirked at Jack.

"That's so lame," Rose agreed, shaking her head as she snickered.

"I was gonna send for another one, but somebody's got to blow up the factory," Jack responded crossly while rolling his eyes at what the two girls said, giving both Wanda and the Doctor pointed looks.

"Oh, I know. First day I met them, they blew up my job. That's practically how they communicate," Rose joked, bumping Wanda lightly in the side with her elbow as the companion smile at the Time Lady. Wanda beamed in returned, shrugging her shoulders.

"Guilty," she said, giggling away as she walked over to peek out the one window in the room, seeing the dark night side. "Okay, so the window's barred and it's a pretty big drop outside. So, no good going that way."

"I sealed the door. Should hold it for a bit," the Doctor told them as he moved away from the door, coming over to join them.

"The door? The wall didn't stop it!" Jack countered in disbelief that the Doctor could think the door had any possible chance against the powerful child coming after them.

"Well, it's got to find us first," argued the Doctor in aggravation that the man had no faith in their escape. "Come on, we're not done yet. Assets, assets."

"Well, we've got a banana, and in a pinch, you and Tink could put up some shelves," Jack retorted, voicing in high sarcasm. Humming, Wanda dug through one of her trouser pockets, grinning as she pulled out a potato.

"I've got a potato!" she cheered, waving the dangerous vegetable in hand. The Doctor and Rose's eyes widened, both of them rushing over to the smiling Time Lady and pushing her hand with the potato down.

"No!" they cried together.

"No, no, we don't need that. No potatoes," the Doctor scolded the short blonde, patting her hand before walking away.

"Aww, no fun," Wanda pouted but shrugged in agreement all the same as she stuffed the potato back into her pocket. Maybe for next time.

Jack raised a brow, curious by this reaction to a useless vegetable. But he shrugged, figuring they would tell him the story behind that next time. Glancing over, he saw how Wanda seemed to blink sleepily as she leaned heavily against the wall by a few boxes in the tight storeroom. Ignoring the mumbling Doctor and Rose, Jack walked over to the short blonde.

"Here, you should probably have a seat," he said as he guided Wanda over to a wheelchair sitting in the corner. She sat down carefully as she held her stomach, smiling at Jack gratefully.

"Thanks. I swear I'm not usually this useless on an adventure," she whispered quietly.

"Nah, considering what you're having to carry around through all of this, you're doing great, Tink," Jack replied softly, smiling in kindness at her. Over by the window, absently talking with Rose about ideas on what they could do, the Doctor looked over towards the whispering two. A heavy frown set on his face as he tried straining his ears to hear what they were muttering about. He watched as Wanda giggled when Jack leaned over, giving her forehead a cheeky kiss. The Doctor's temper flared as he felt that same spark as before, watching them flirt, watching them fond over each other like that . . . it made him so . . . furious!

"Oi! Are you two just going to flirt all night while I do the rest of the work?!" barked the Doctor as he glared at Jack in particular. "Am I gonna have to keep your hands off each other next?"

"Shut it!" Wanda snapped in return as she stood up from the wheelchair and marched over to the Time Lord, waving a cross finger at him. "Stop acting like a jealous schoolboy."

"'Jealous schoolboy'?! I'm not acting like anything. I'm just stating the obvious of you both hanging over each other like some hormonal teenagers!" the Doctor shouted, matching the Time Lady's temper as both squared off. Each of them glaring in irritation at the other.

Wanda huffed, placing her hands on her hips as her left eye twitched. "We're just being friendly. Is that so wrong?"

The Doctor kept his arms crossed tightly as he glared at her, staring her down, glad to have his height over her. "It is when you're practically snogging in the corner!"

Wanda stomped her foot furiously. "We weren't doing anything like that, you idiot!"

"I'm the idiot? You're the one getting cozy with a conman!"

"Can't I have friends, too?! You make friends all the time. Can't I meet someone nice every once and a while?"

"Not with someone like him!"

"Would you two just shut up already!" Rose yelled at them both, silencing the Time Lords immediately as they blinked in shock at her. As though each of them had forgotten anyone else was even in the room to begin with. The companion stared crossly at them, rolling her eyes as she had become quite used to this lately. Third Wanda and the Doctor argued just as much as she and the Time Lord did. It was not surprising since both Time Lords held short tempers. Then again, Rose knew how her mum had said couples who tended to argue on more than one occasion usually held strong emotional feelings for each other. In a strange way, their arguing was them projecting their love for the other. Then again, it could also mean that the couple was not good for each other in the slightest. But Rose liked to think it was just Wanda and the Doctor's way of loving each other, as she knew just how close each of them felt for the other. Even if they were both too stubborn to admit it.

"With you two yapping away like that, you missed the obvious," Rose scolded them, waving her hand over in the direction where Jack Harkness had been just a moment ago. Both Time Lords blinked in shock as they looked over, indeed seeing no Jack in sight. Each of them appeared sheepish in letting their tempers get the best of them, stepping away from the other as neither had noticed when they had gotten so close in the first place.

"Ah. I forgot he was going to do that," Wanda mumbled as she walked over to where Jack had been, sitting down in the wheelchair once more.

"Great! You could have told us he was going to skip out on helping," the Doctor growled in annoyance. "Should have seen it coming from a man like him."

"Why is it always the great-looking one who do that?" Rose complained as she leaned against a counter in a huff. Shooting the companion a sharp look, the Doctor rolled his eyes.

"I'm making an effort not to be insulted," he grumbled at her.

"I mean . . . men," Rose clarified, giving the Time Lord her own pointed look. She felt smug when seeing she had annoyed him more. Wanda was right, with that look he got when he felt irritated, it was just too fun messing with him.

"Okay, thanks. That really helped," replied the Time Lord in cross sarcasm. Both females snickered as Rose walked over to Wanda, sitting down by the Time Lady's feet. The Doctor, shaking his head, walked over to sit down on a box as he leaned forward, placing his elbows on his bent legs and clasped his hands tightly together. "So much for that Captain of yours, Wanda. Thought he'd be here to always help us, huh?"

"Shush you," Wanda sighed as she shook her head. "And he didn't skip out on us. He's just getting us help from his ship."

"What do you mean?" Rose asked her. They all perked up when the large radio sitting on a shelf crackled to life.

"Tink? Rose? Doctor? Can you hear me? I'm back on my ship. Used the emergency teleport. Sorry I couldn't take you. It's security-keyed to my molecular structure," they heard Jack's voice coming from the radio. The Doctor and Rose swiftly walked over to the device, checking it over in wonder on how Jack's voice was coming through it. Especially since the radio seemed to be in need of repair with many wires sticking out of it. "I'm working on it. Hang in there."

"Could have just told us where you were going before you disappeared," Wanda teased the man lightly.

"Well, things were getting a little tense in there, so I thought I'd just go ahead and start on the escape," Jack responded in humour.

"How're you speaking to us?" the Doctor questioned the man through the radio.

"Om-com. I can call anything with a speaker grille," explained Jack. The Doctor's brows furrowed as he stared at the radio, feeling a wave of déjà vu.

"Now, there's a coincidence," muttered the Time Lord, pondering over the similarities between the gas-masked child and Jack's method of communication.

"What is?" Jack asked upon hearing the Doctor's mutter.

"The child can om-com, too," the Doctor explained his ponderings.

"It can?" Rose questioned in surprise.

"Yep, he can," Wanda said as she rocked in her seat lightly, staring up at the ceiling. "He spoke to the Doctor earlier through the TARDIS phone. It's a way he can speak, but also a way for him to—."

"I can hear you," they heard Jamie's voice call out from the radio, sounding eerie from the sing-song voice the child was using. "Coming to find you. Coming to find you."

"Doctor, can you hear that?" Jack asked quickly over the radio.

"Loud and clear," grumbled the Doctor as he eyed the radio warily.

"I'll try to block out the signal—least I can do," Jack told them, seeming to work fast on keeping them safe by any means.

"You're doing great, Smexy. Always on top of things as usual," Wanda complimented, not noticing the Doctor shoot her a look of irritation.

"Hey, Tink, what do you think of this song for our dance?" Jack replied back playfully. They heard a few clicks before the room filled with the song 'Moonlight Serenade' played through the speakers. Wanda held a hand to her mouth as she tried to keep herself from bursting into laughter. She remembered this song. It was supposed to be the song which Rose and Jack would have danced to on top of his ship. Though, unlucky for them, Wanda had sort of gotten in the way of that. She would have to make it up to them later. Maybe take them all out where all of them could dance? She might even sneak in a dance with the Doctor if he would let her.

"Aw, this could be our song," Wanda joked to Jack, giggling as she heard him chuckle over the radio. The nice song continued to play, allowing Wanda to hum with the melody. Rose smiled as she swayed, thinking how it would be nice to dance along with this song. The Doctor crossed his arms as he gave the radio a hard stare. Wanda and Jack's song, huh? Their song?

He glanced over to Rose, seeing how she swayed with the music, her eyes closed with a pleased smile on her face. An idea popped into his mind. A thought that made him irritated to think on, and a little embarrassed as well. He did not wish to stoop to such a level. But . . . he looked at Wanda again, seeing a pleased smile on her face as she hummed with the melody. All he could imagine was her thinking about Jack and her dancing along, all romantic like and such. Her, sitting there, dreaming about her younger, pretty-looking man, sweeping her off her feet and carrying her away somewhere to his ship. The Doctor gritted his teeth, growing angry by imagining Wanda thinking of such thoughts of that damn Captain Jack Harkness. Why could she not dream of something like that with . . . with . . . well, with he himself. Ears growing red, the Doctor turned his eyes away, internally scolding himself for thinking, wishing, that Wanda would dream about him and her, dancing the night away. Would she even want to? Dancing, that is.

Glancing at Wanda, then again at Rose, the Doctor felt his bubbling idea coming to the surface, knowing that his temper from seeing Wanda and Jack flirting so much was fueling it. Was it childish of him to want to do something like this? Yes, it was. But damn if he did not wish to get Wanda back with her own medicine. Acting quickly before he decided to change his mind, he grabbed Rose's hand, pulling her close to him. He watched as the companion blinked in shock, standing there stunned as he placed one hand on her hip, the other keeping a hold of her hand as he began making them rock slowly around.

"Uh . . . Doctor, what are you doing?" Rose asked the Time Lord cautiously, trying to pull away from him. But he kept a firm hold on her, practically dragging her around in his odd movements. If she did not know better, she would think he was trying to dance with her.

"Dancing," the Doctor answered casually. "With everyone talking about dancing, I thought, 'you know, I've been around a bit, and it has been so long since I've danced.' So, we're dancing." He shot a sharp look at the relaxed Time Lady, waiting for a reaction from her. "Sorry that you're left out at the moment. I'm sure you don't really mind since you're just so delighted to go dancing with that Harkness fellow of yours."

Wanda smiled, leaning her chin on her hand as she rested her elbow on the chair's armrest, watching the two awkwardly dance and replying, "I don't mind at all. I think you two are cute together. And I'm sure Rose doesn't, either. Right, girlie?"

"Uhhh," was the only response Rose as she whipped her eyes back and forth between the Doctor and Wanda. Completely at a loss on what the Doctor was trying to get at.

"And Jack isn't my fellow, by the way," Wanda continued, leaning back in her chair as she rocked it back and forth slightly. "He isn't really my type."

"Oh? Then what is your type? Someone young and short like you?" the Doctor said sarcastically, not noticing how Rose kept wincing and hissing as he stepped on her feet while dragging her around in their 'dance.'

"Well, I do have my sights on someone at the current moment." Wanda smiled coyly, crossing her legs and bouncing one in the air lightly. "Someone who's more silly . . . has experience on him . . . wears the most sexy leather coat you'd ever see . . . and has the most lovable big ears ever."

Looking away from the Time Lady, the Doctor felt a spike of annoyance, wondering who this other fellow might be. So this other man had Wanda's interests, huh? Was it someone he knew? Probably not. Probably someone who was just as pretty looking as that damn Harkness. "Well, good for you and that other man of yours. Hope you two are nice and happy being all cozy like."

"Oh yes, indeed we are," giggled Wanda as she sat back in the chair, enjoying the sight of the flustered looking Doctor and the baffled companion. Rose looked over the Doctor's shoulder at Wanda, mouthing 'help me.' Wanda snickered, shrugging as if showing there was nothing she could do about the Doctor trying to use Rose as a means of making her jealous. How silly of the Time Lord to act in such a way. Wanda thought she would never see the day where the Doctor tried making her jealous.

"Doctor, would you stop stepping on my feet?" Rose barked at the Time Lord, growing angry with him for continuously stomping on her toes. That, and she was very cross with him at the moment for trying to use her as a means to make Wanda envious. Really, how childish could he get?

"I'm not stepping on your feet," retorted the Doctor. "Your feet are just in my way."

"Your feet are in the way!" Rose snapped, pulling back from him and giving him a push. "Wanda, could you please tell him to—." Turning around, Rose was surprised to see Wanda was gone from her chair.

"Sorry, sorry," they heard Jack saying over the radio. "I messed up on the settings. Looks like I was only able to bring Wanda into the ship."

"You could have given me a warning there, Jack," they heard Wanda grumbling. "That was so disorienting."

"It wasn't supposed to be. I think I might have tweaked it a little too much," Jack mumbled. "Don't worry, Doctor, Rose, I'll get you both next. Just give me a second." The two left in the storeroom stood there awkwardly while the music continued to play. It was the only thing breaking the silence between them. Rose sighed, crossing her arms as she leaned more on one leg. She glanced at the Doctor when he began grumbling under his breath.

"What are you upset about this time?" she asked him, getting really fed up with his constant temper today.

"Nothing," grounded the Doctor through his teeth as he crossed his own arms, allowing himself to fume away. He did not mean to be having such a temper today. But that silly, stupid . . . why must Wanda always frustrate him so much?

"Well, it has to be something," Rose responded, rolling her eyes at the Time Lord.

"What sort of man is that to have interest with? He sounds like a moron. Wears leather? Big ears? How stupid looking can you get?" He grumbled some more as his mind kept going over images of Wanda and this other man dancing, being all loving together. He could just imagine this man smirking at him, almost like the man had won Wanda before the Doctor himself had even a chance to try. Hearing Rose clear her throat, he gave a quick glance towards the companion, seeing how she raised a brow in disbelief at him. "What? I can't be upset with Wanda wanting to bring another idiot around?" Rose merely gave him a pointed look, making the Doctor ponder on why she kept gazing at him like that. Like she was waiting for him to realize something. Then, Wanda's words finally clicked in his mind. He blinked a few times while his mouth made an 'o' in shock.

"Ooh . . . She was talking about me?" he pointed to himself in surprise. Completely stunned by this revelation.

"Yes, she was talking about you," Rose laughed, shaking her head. And he calls himself a genius.

"Oh." He frowned for a moment, staring off at nothing in particular. Then he turned his attention back to Rose, still holding an expression of disbelief and bewilderment. "She thinks my ears are cute?"

Rose shrugged lightly. "I guess. I mean, I wouldn't say they're cute. But everyone has their preferences."

"So . . . she's . . . interested in me?" the Doctor said slowly, as though still testing these words and thoughts. Still uncertain on what to believe at this point.

Rose scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Doctor, if it hasn't been obvious until now, then Wanda's right. You really are an idiot."

Frowning at her, he turned away to stare up at his own reflection in the one window of the room. He began flicking his ears lightly, trying to see them as 'lovable.' He always thought of them as something no one would want or find likable. But Wanda liked them? Huh. He began tugging on his leather jacket, adjusting it slightly. She said she liked his jacket, too. Even called it 'sexy.' Hmm.

"But why would she be interested in me?" The Doctor turned around, expecting to be facing Rose but was surprised to see he was now standing in a Chula spaceship, with a grinning Wanda standing right in front of him.

"Because, you're smexy, too," she said, beaming away while he stood there dumbly. She even gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before bouncing back over to where Rose and Jack stood by the pilot seat, giggling away as the bouncing Time Lady normally would.

Touching his cheek for a brief moment, he was reminded of another moment when she had kissed him. On the very same cheek during her Second incarnation. A moment of her waking up after her seizure, a time that had still frightened him in seeing his friend in such a state. Then he remembered just how frightened she had been at the time after he had died from a Reaper then came back to life. At the time, he had dismissed it as her just being overly worried for another's safety. But now . . . in recalling how she had cried . . . how tightly she had hugged him afterward. . . A person only acted like that when they were in . . . were in love.

He rubbed at his cheek with a grumble, knowing that she was just saying and doing all of this just to tease him. She did not truly mean all of that talk of finding him interesting or liking him in such a way. Right?

"Most people notice when they've been teleported," Jack teased the Doctor as he turned off the music from earlier. Now the only noises made were from the ship's machinery which beeped off and on again. The Doctor walked up, holding onto a pipe as he observed the ship's interior carefully.

"This is a Chula ship," he noted, already realizing this a moment before, but wanting to state it more clearly for the rest, needing to see what Jack's reasons were in having such a ship.

"Yeah, just like that medical transporter," Jack confirmed, beginning to mess around with a few controls by the pilot seat. "Only this one is dangerous." Nodding, the Doctor snapped his fingers sharply, activating bright little yellow nanogenes that hovered around his hand.

"They're what fixed my hands up. They're called, um—," Rose told the Doctor.

"Nanogenes," Wanda finished for the girl, staring at the little yellow lights fondly. "I love these little guys. They're so brilliant at what they do. Used to help patch me up all the time when I was young. The doctor back home had to use up her whole batch once to fix my leg after falling out of a tree. She was not happy with me at all." She laughed lightly in recalling that fond memory. The doctor back at her world had scolded her just as much as Shelly had. The Doctor stared at Wanda curiously, waving off the nanogenes once he was done with them.

"You had nanogenes back in your world?" he questioned her, sounding very skeptical.

"Yeah," shrugged Wanda, not seeing why the Doctor would be staring at her like she was lying.

"Impossible. Earth never had that kind of technology. At least, not during your Earth's era," responded the Time Lord, giving a firm shake of his head.

"Well, my Earth did. Parallel universe, remember?" She turned away from the Doctor, missing the arched brow and small frown from him. "Now, Jack, I think it's time we head over to the crash site, don't you think?"

XxXxXxXx

They made their way as swift as they could towards the crash site. Sneaking through a railroad area where the military kept some of their supplies, they ended up coming up to the large, barbed fence area with many guards patrolling around.

"There it is," Jack said, keeping his voice low in case any of the soldiers ahead heard them. They observed the scene together, seeing a large object being guarded under a tarp with many soldiers placed around it. Farther away from what was Jack's space junk was a guardsman at the entrance of the fenced area, keeping an eye out for intruders, or for more incoming men. Another man, seeming to be the commander of the soldiers, walked up to the guardsman, having a brief word with each other before the commander walked away again.

"Hey, they've got Algy on duty," Jack noted curiously as they observed the scene. "Must be important."

"A crash site that started a plague of gas-masked zombies. Yeah, I'd say that's important," Wanda spoke up sarcastically, keeping her eyes locked onto the area ahead. She knew by now the men around the site were beginning to experience the effect of what Jamie and the rest of the hospital patients had gone through, slowly turning into similar as the others had. The nanogenes were spreading through the air now, ready to change the world into what Jamie had become. She glanced over when Jack left, going off to distract Algy, giving them a chance to sneak in later. Wanda snickered at the bewildered face Rose was giving the retreating Jack. Confused as to why he said she could not be the one to do the distraction.

"51st century guys. Gotta love them," Wanda replied, shaking her head in amusement.

"But I thought, by the way he flirted . . .," Rose began saying, pondering over on why Jack would suddenly go off to flirt with a man.

"He's just a bit more flexible when it comes to dancing," stated the Doctor.

"How flexible?" Rose asked carefully, appearing uncertain all the sudden when it came to Jack Harkness and his flirting.

"Well, by his time, you lot have spread out across half the galaxy," explained the Doctor, shrugging as if it were no big deal on Jack's 'flexibility.'

"Meaning?"

The Doctor smirked lightly. "'So many species, so little time.'" He quote a phrase he heard quite often during the 51st century.

Rose looked abashed by this. "What, that's what we do when we get there? That's our mission? We seek new life, and—and—."

"Dance," the Doctor and Wanda said together, each giving a small chuckle and a sly grin towards the other. Wanda bumped Rose lightly with her hip when seeing how disappointed the girl looked after learning about that.

"Don't worry, Rose," Wanda assured the girl. "When Jack flirts with someone, it is genuine. He is fond of everyone, but there are only those few who he truly loves and keeps close to his heart. And you're definitely one of them." Rose held a small smile, seeming more at ease now in knowing that Jack was not simply using her like he might with others.

"Oh, yeah, he's completely genuine," the Doctor retorted sarcastically. "As genuine as any bloke who wants to . . . dance." Wanda rolled her eyes when seeing the Time Lord begin to grumble again.

"He likes you, too, Spaceman. Truly he does," she said, hitting the Doctor playfully on the arm.

The trio looked up quickly when hearing someone gagging up ahead towards the site. They saw Algy falling to his knees in front of Jack, going through the transformation as his face changed into a gas mask. They rushed forward out of their hiding spot, going over to Jack and the others. Ordering the other alarmed soldiers to stay back from Algy as they observed the man who laid on the cold ground.

"The effect's becoming airborne, accelerating," the Doctor said tensely.

"What's keeping us safe?" Rose questioned, growing panicked now in knowing at any moment they all might become like what the others were.

"Nothing," stated the Doctor. They all tensed as the air raid sirens began to blare again, alerting them to the approaching bomb that would be landing here shortly. They were running out of time and fast. Wanda's ears perked up, ignoring the rambling trio as she turned her head towards singing in the distance. It was a child's lullaby being sung by someone.

"Hey, do you hear that?" she spoke up, making the others halt in their rapid talking. The Doctor tilted his head, listening carefully. He recognized that voice. Hurriedly, he walked around everyone, going off towards a wooden shed that must have been made into a temporary base for the soldiers. Inside, he saw Nancy sitting on a chair, handcuffed to a table while singing a soldier who had transformed to sleep. Making Nancy continue to sing, the Doctor quickly sonicked the cuffs open, releasing her and allowing her to escape with him.

Once they were outside, they managed to turn on the spotlights which surrounded the area and were pointed at the tarp-covered ambulance that Jack had sent down in a crash, pulling back the tarp revealed a very large, metal cylinder. Truthfully, it appeared nothing like a futuristic, space ambulance. Even Nancy was skeptical of it being an ambulance when Jack stated as such.

"They've been trying to get in," Jack muttered as he looked over the controls of the broken ambulance.

"Of course they have—they think they've got their hands on Hitler's latest secret weapon," scoffed the Doctor in a retort. They watched as Jack tried getting the ship open, wanting nothing more than to prove his innocence in this whole mess, when the controls suddenly gave a bright and powerful spark. They all stepped back in shock as alarms began blaring from the ship.

"Didn't happen last time," Jack said in frustration as he tried correct this problem and stop the alarms.

"It hadn't crashed last time," the Doctor replied in sass. "They're the emergency protocols."

"What is that?" Rose asked, beginning to worry greatly by what the alarms could mean. Nothing good, she suspected.

"It's sounding the alarm for the troops to come and defend the ambulance," Wanda spoke rapidly, pulling out her sonic and aiming it at the ship. The alarm shut off, but she knew it was too late. The gas-masked army was already on their way. They all jumped when the wooden gate at one of the site's entrances began being pounded upon. Wanda pointed at it in a hurry as she began walking backward towards where she knew the fence had been cut by Nancy to get in. "We need to secure every entrance into this place until our plan of action is ready."

"And what's our plan?" Jack questioned her quickly.

"Hell if I know!" Wanda shouted back as she turned and jogged over to the broken fence. "I'm still trying to think of one!" Once she was over by the broken side of the fence, she worked fast on putting the barbed pieces together. She knew she should be letting Rose and Nancy do this together, allowing them a chance to bond. Guilt went through Wanda as she glanced over to Rose and Nancy, wondering if she should make up an excuse to get the two over here so that they could talk. Allowing Rose to assure Nancy of the grand future that awaited for England and the rest of the world. But when Wanda looked over to the two, she smiled when seeing Rose and Nancy working together to secure another gap in the fence, talking quietly amongst themselves. Time sure did have a funny way of working itself out. Smiling more, Wanda turned back to her task, glad that Nancy and Rose had their comforting talk.

Going back over to the group after she had finished, she saw how Jack finally managed to open the ambulance, showing them the empty shell inside of the ship.

"It's empty. Look at it," Jack told the Doctor, stepping back to show the Time Lord the truth to his innocence. That Jack, in fact, had not done anything with ill intent on this day. But when seeing the still angered look in the Doctor's eyes, Jack felt his uneasiness from before beginning to creep over him.

"What do you expect in a Chula medical transporter?" retorted the Doctor, voice strict with a bit of sarcasm in the mix while he kept his arms firmly crossed as he glared at Jack. "Bandages? Cough drops?"

"It was transporting nanogenes, Jack," Wanda said softly.

"There was enough nanogenes in there to rebuild a species," the Doctor added in along with her. They watched as Jack's eyes widened in horror upon realizing his grave mistake.

"Oh, god," Jack said as he stared at the ambulance in front of him, unbelieving that he could have overlooked such a thing in his con.

"Getting it now, are we?" sassed the Doctor as he kept his piercing blue eyes on the Captain, furious that the man could have been so stupid and blind. Typical humans in overlooking something so simple.

Wanda gave the Captain a sympathetic gaze. She knew he had not meant for any of this to happen. He would never wish to truly hurt innocent people on purpose. He had just merely been desperate to get back at the Time Agency for stealing away his memories. Sometimes, when one was desperate enough, they would do the most crazy of things to make amends or set things right in their lives.

"When the ship crashes, the nanogenes escape," the Doctor began to both rant and explain while still glaring at Jack. "Billions upon billions of them, ready to fix all the cuts and bruises in the whole world. But what they find first is a dead child, probably killed earlier that night, and wearing a gas mask."

"And they brought him back to life—they can do that?" Rose questioned, shocked by the very idea of a person being brought back by simple little machines. She hoped it was not like the Gleth in how they brought back the dead. That would be awful to have to go through something like that again.

"What's life? Life's easy. A quirk of matter. Nature's way of keeping meat fresh. Nothing to a nanogene," responded the Doctor with a shrug, not finding the idea alarming at all. It was not if he had not run into something similar to this before. "One problem, though—these nanogenes, they're not like the ones on your ship." He gave a nod to Jack. "This lot have never seen a human being before. Don't know what a human being's supposed to look like. All they've got to go on is one little body, and there's not a lot left. But they carry right on. They do what they're programmed to do. They patch it up. Can't tell what's gas mask and what's skull, but they do their best. Then off they fly, off they go, work to be done. 'Cause you see, now, they think they know what people should look like, and it's time to fix all the rest." The Time Lord began walking slowly towards Jack, his voice rising in anger as he stared the Captain down, the Oncoming Storm brewing away in the Doctor's blue eyes. "And they won't ever stop. They won't ever, ever stop. The entire human race is gonna be torn down and rebuilt in the form of one terrified child looking for its mother, and nothing in the world can stop it!"

"I didn't know!" Jack replied, in dismay that any of this was happening. Though he kept his face calm, not allowing the others to see any weakness from him. Though, the way Wanda stared at him with those sympathetic eyes, he felt as if she saw right through his façade. That she knew of his deep regret and guilt boiling away inside of him.

"Doctor, that's enough," Wanda spoke up when seeing the Doctor opened his mouth again angrily, ready to shout in rage some more at the Captain. "He understands his mistake now. And he'll help us fix it, right, Jack?" She earned a firm nod from Jack, showing to them all that he was prepared for whatever it was to make things right again.

The distant call of 'mummy' began to itch at their ears. Turning their attention sharply away from the ship in front of them, they saw a mass of patients from the hospital slowly making their way towards the fenced area. The Doctor began to act fast, sonicking the ship as the rest watching the patients lining up around the fence, staring at them all within and remaining still, waiting for their commander to arrive. The child himself.

"Jamie," Nancy corrected Jack when he began referring to Jamie as 'the child' again. "Not 'the child'—Jamie." The Doctor stared at Nancy in interest by this statement from her. Rose turned to Jack when they heard another German bomb go off not too far away from the hospital.

"So, how long until the bomb falls?" she asked.

"Any second," answered Jack, shifting on his feet in unease. The Doctor noticed this in the corner of his eye.

"What's the matter, Captain? Bit close to the volcano for you?" the Time Lord muttered as he walked over to Nancy. He noticed how Wanda had shifted over to the young woman as well, touching Nancy's shoulder as gentle as possible.

"Nancy, you have to tell him," Wanda whispered to the woman. Nancy stared at the Time Lady, eyes wavering in uncertainty.

"He's just a little boy," Nancy said in desperation, eyes welling up. "He's just a little boy who wants his mummy."

"I know. There isn't a little boy born who wouldn't tear the world apart to save his mummy," the Doctor stated.

"Or a little girl," Wanda said, hand absently clutching at her stomach, not thinking about her action as it was merely a nervous habit now. "With that kind of power he has now, just think of what he'll do to finally find his mummy." She looked at Nancy again in determination. "That's why you have to tell him."

"What does she need to tell me?" the Doctor asked, becoming more and more curious.

"Not you. Jamie," Wanda replied with a shake of her head. "She needs to tell Jamie."

"Tell him what?" quizzed the Doctor, frowning for a moment in confusion. But then all the gas-masked people around the area began calling out 'mummy' once more, making the night ring in the question. The one question Jamie had been searching for all his life. Staring around at all of those calling 'mummy,' it clicked in the Doctor's mind. Finally realizing the truth, he looked at Nancy carefully, seeing her in a new light as the young woman cried.

"It's my fault. It's all my fault," Nancy cried, allowing her tears to slip over and run down her cheeks.

"Nancy, what age are you? Twenty? Twenty-one? Older than you look, yes?" the Doctor began questioning the girl, watching as she gazed back at him with her red, teary eyes. Eyes that held old shame and deep regret. He stood still, unblinking while the others flinched when a bomb struck with a might just on the other side of the fence, hitting a stack of military supplies.

"Doctor, that bomb—we've got seconds," Jack said in urgency. Another bomb hit, hitting a train compartment this time.

"You can teleport us out," Rose suggested to Jack.

"Not you guys," Jack replied with a shake of his head, "the Navcom's back online. Gonna take too long to override the protocols."

"So it's volcano day. Do what you've got to do," the Doctor said gruffly, not bothering to look at the man as the Time Lord already knew what the Captain was going to do. In a flash, Jack was gone, teleporting back to his ship. Rose stared at the spot where he had been in disbelief while neither the Doctor or Wanda paid much attention, keeping their sole focus on Nancy beside them. Each of them knowing what the Captain would do next. Or, at least, the Doctor hoped that he could trust Jack enough to do such a thing. Wanda, on other hand, believed in Jack and knew he would do the right thing in the end.

"How old where you five years ago? Fifteen? Sixteen? Old enough to give birth, anyway," the Doctor continued on with his earlier questioning of Nancy. Watching her avert her eyes away from his, staring at the ground in remorse. "He's not your brother, is he?" He watched as Nancy shook her head, still crying. Wanda reached up, placing a comforting arm around the young mother's shoulders.

"I understand why you lied to him, Nancy," she whispered gently. "It was to protect him. During these harsh times, a single mother and her child living on the streets, if any others had found out they would have taken him away from you. Taken him somewhere out into the country where other children are being sent. The lie had good intentions. But lies can only last so long. You have to tell him the truth. Tell him who his real mother is." They all looked up when the gates to the fence were finally forced open. Allowing them to see the army Jamie led. The little boy stood in front of all the others, staring them all down. Though, soon his sole focus seemed to be on the crying Nancy.

"Are you my mummy?" Jamie asked her. Nancy winced as it had become a repeated question from him for so long now. Even before any of this had happened.

"He's gonna keep asking, Nancy," said the Doctor, trying to urge the mother to do the right thing. Hoping that, perhaps, the small plan of his just might work. "He's never going to stop. Tell him." Still, Nancy did not move. "Nancy . . . that future of the human race is in your hands. Trust me. And tell him."

Jamie walked forward from the rest of his followers, still staring at Nancy who remained sniffling as she gazed back. She stepped forward as Jamie continued to ask his earning question.

"Are you my mummy?" he repeated once more.

"Yes, I am your mummy," Nancy finally answered in truth for the first time. "I'm here." She got onto her knees in front of Jamie, making them both eye level. And still, he kept asking his question. "I am your mummy. I will always be your mummy. I'm so sorry. I am so, so sorry."

Nancy reached forward, pulling her child into her arms as she held him close, letting her tears fall down onto him. Suddenly, a million yellow lights floated around both mother and child. It was the nanogenes, assessing both Jamie and Nancy, swirling around in a ball, circling them. Rose gasped in surprised, worrying that the nanogenes were going to change Nancy. The Doctor kept muttering over and over again, hoping that his idea would work and that the nanogenes would figure it out. Wanda smiled warmly, not worried at all in the least, only growing teary eyed at the touching moment for bother mother and child. Soon, the nanogenes floated away from Nancy and Jamie, and the Doctor rushed forward to see the results.

"Oh, come on. Give me a day like this. Give me this one," the Doctor said in a plea, hoping that, for once, things just might go right. He reached for Jamie when Nancy pulled away from the hug, pulling off the child's gas mask. All beamed with pure joy when seeing Jamie stare back at them with his own eyes, perfectly back to normal. Perfectly healed and healthy. The Doctor gave a merry laugh, picking up Jamie and giving the smiling boy a hug. Wanda bounced over to the laughing Time Lord, giggling away in cheer as she gave Jamie her own elated hug with the Doctor.

"What happened?" Nancy asked as she stood up from the ground.

"The nanogenes recognized the superior information, the parent DNA," the Doctor began to explain.

"They sensed that you were the mother, assessed what exactly you look like and how your human structure is, and reprogrammed themselves to match," Wanda spoke along with.

"They didn't change you because you changed them," finished the Doctor. He laughed again as he and Wanda sat Jamie back down on the ground, allowing the child to hug his mother happily. "Mother knows best."

"Always," Wanda agreed smugly. The Doctor glanced at her, grinning with her as both Time Lords were giddy in the moment of victory. The whistle of an incoming bomb was heard above them, coming in fast. Rose and Nancy looked up in panic when hearing the German bomb coming to destroy the area and them. But, upon seeing Wanda smile with ease, the Doctor remained calm as well, trusting her demeanour as a sign that she knew of what was to come. As she had said once before, if she was not worried, then he should not be either.

Rose, Wanda, and the Doctor smiled when seeing Jack's ship fly up fast, stopping the bomb with the tractor beam just before the explosion hit them. Jack then appeared sitting right on top of the bomb with a flirtatious grin on his face.

"Doctor!" Jack called out with a small wave.

"Good lad!" replied the Time Lord, nodding in approval of the man's heroic save.

"Right on time, as always!" Wanda cheered, jumping up and down as she waved merrily at the Captain. Jack gave a small salute and a wink towards the bouncing blonde.

"The bomb's already commenced detonation," Jack told the group below them. "I've put it in stasis, but it won't last long."

"Change of plan—don't need the bomb," said the Doctor. "Can you get rid of it? Safely as you can." Jack nodded, gazing back at Rose and Wanda.

"Rose! Wanda!" he yelled down.

"Yeah?" Rose responded while Wanda remained silent.

"Goodbye," Jack said in finality before disappearing and taking off in his ship. Rose held a small frown, confused by Jack's solemn sounding farewell.

Wanda watched the Doctor, paying attention to him as he walked forward, holding up his hands and calling in a bunch of nanogenes to hover around him in a brilliant light. He beamed, eager to see what would happen next. Flinging his hands outwards, he sent the nanogenes streaming straight for the mass of other gas-masked people around the area. Everyone surrounded by the nanogenes collapsed for a moment, seeming to be overwhelming by the changing process. Then, one by one, they all stood up, staring at each other in amazement.

"Everybody lives. Just this once . . . everybody lives!" the Doctor cheered in pure elation, watching how everyone had turned back to normal. Completely human and gas-mask free. He beamed at them all, basking in the warm glow that swept through him in knowing, in this one rare occasion, everyone lived on this day. That he had not failed everyone, and that he finally did some good in his meaningless life.

A hand gripping his startled him slightly. He looked over quickly, blinking as he saw light tears rolling down Wanda's face as she beamed in pure happiness, squeezing his hand in joy.

"Everybody lives," she breathed softly, voice filled with warmth. The Doctor's smile grew warm as he squeezed her hand back, realizing now in why she had not told him of what was to happen on this day. If she had told him, he would have missed out in this warm, jubilant feeling that gave him the sensation of flying. He leaned forward, not even embarrassed by his impulse to give her a merry kiss on the forehead, enjoying how he made her giggle lightly after pulling away. They continued to stare at the sight of all the people, at peace and basking in the beautiful sight of everyone being safe and free from harm.

XxXxXxXx

Jack sipped on his drink lightly, coming to accept his fate. The bomb on his ship only had about a minute left before it would go off, destroying the ship and killing him. And there was no way around in stopping it from happening or saving himself. He was a goner. He smiled, shaking his head as he knew this must be life's way of punishing him for his mistake back on Earth. For almost changing history and erasing the human race, turning them into those zombies, this would be a fitting punishment and end to him.

"You know, most people notice when another ship materializes into their own."

Jack swiveled around in his chair upon hearing the giggling voice of his Tink. He blinked in shock, seeing her leaning against the doorway of a blue police box, but with the inside of the small box looking vast with an internal spaceship. He bounced up hurriedly from his chair, going over to Wanda as he peeked inside the TARDIS in awe.

"How—?" he began to question, in amazement of the ship's interior.

"Don't worry. You'll get used to Sexy's gorgeousness," Wanda teased, linking her arm with his and leading him inside the ship. She gave a quick snap of her fingers, closing the doors behind them. They stopped just before the console. Jack stared at Rose leaning against the controls of the ship, waving and smiling lightly. The Doctor was seen fiddling with a few knobs, making the TARDIS go into a drift in space. The Time Lord only half glanced at Jack.

"Welcome to the TARDIS," the Doctor said as an introduction for the ship.

"Much bigger on the inside," Jack commented.

"You'd better be," responded the Time Lord, giving Jack a pointed look.

"Oi, rude," Wanda said, sticking her tongue out at the grumpy Time Lord. The Doctor rolled his eyes, looking away as he continued to mess with the TARDIS controls. Rolling her eyes in return, Wanda let go of Jack's arm, bouncing up to the console. Working quick, she managed to get to the TARDIS to begin playing 'Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy.' The TARDIS herself even began flicking her lights about to match the beat of the music, adding in a fun atmosphere for dancing. The Time Lady turned around, beaming at Jack. "I believe I promised you a dance."

"I believe you did," Jack laughed as the short blonde girl bounced back over to him, grabbing his hands. They both laughed as they began doing a jig together around the control room. Rose laughed as she watched the two, starting to go over to join them. Or perhaps to steal a certain blonde away from a certain Captain for her own dance. But Rose was stopped when the Doctor suddenly grabbed her hand and began making her dance around too.

"I remember! I can dance!" the Doctor cheered loudly as he dragged Rose along, sort of glancing back repeatedly at the dancing Jack and Wanda.

"Good for you, sweetie. Maybe now Rose can enjoy feeling her feet again," Wanda joked in response. Sticking her tongue slightly at the Time Lord who grumbled at her as the two dancing couples passed one another.

Soon, each partner of the Time Lords began to notice a recurring motion from the Doctor and Wanda. Each time, both of them would glance in yearning at one another when the other was not looking. Clearly showing on their faces that both wanted to dance together. But neither seemed to want to take the first step in asking the other for a dance. Wanda just appeared uncertain on whether or not she should ask, while the Doctor seemed simply stubborn in showing any interest to dance with the Time Lady. Still, it seemed as though he wanted to make her jealous with him and Rose dancing.

Jack and Rose looked at each other. Jack nodded at the dejected looking Wanda in his grasp, indicating of the Time Lady's clear disappointment in the Doctor not wanting to dance with her. Rose jerked her head towards the Doctor, pointing out the nervous Time Lord who was too embarrassed in actually wanting to dance with the Time Lady. Both companions gave sly smiles and nods towards each other when they began passing close by the other in their dance.

"Time for a switch, I think," Rose said quickly as she grabbed Wanda's hand from Jack, spinning the short blonde around and making the Time Lady go right into the surprised Doctor's arms. Meanwhile Rose herself grabbed Jack's hands and laughed along with the Captain as the two of them began their own dance.

Wanda and the Doctor stared at each other in shock for a moment. Then Wanda smiled and giggled as the Doctor gave her a small grin. Placing one hand on her hip and holding her hand, he began dancing her smoothly around. Spinning around every once and a while, they match each other's steps almost perfectly as both could not stop gazing happily at the other. All the while, neither Time Lord noticed that both Jack and Rose had stopped dancing. Instead, the companions now leaned against a TARDIS coral pillar, watching the Time Lords in amusement with fond smiles on their faces.

Jack glanced over at Rose, seeing the way she stared at the Time Lords. The longing gaze. The sad smile on her face. He looked away for a second before gazing back at Rose.

"So . . . which one?" he asked quietly. Rose gazed at him in surprise to this question. But then held a soft, sad smile.

"Both," she whispered in a sigh, turning back to stare at the dancing, laughing two. Jack hummed, shaking his head in sympathy.

"That's rough," he replied, feeling for her.

Rose shrugged lightly. "It's not so bad. I get to travel with them both, at least.

Jack stared at her in interest. "You ever going to tell them?"

"Him I will. But her . . . no, I can't. I'm afraid I'll break her hearts if I ever did." Rose showed Jack another solemn smile. "They make a good couple, don't you think?"

"Yeah." Jack smiled, patting her shoulder in comfort. "Don't worry, you'll find your dancing partner one of these days. Maybe even me, if you'd give me the chance." He gave her a sly wink, earning a laugh from her.

"Oh, don't worry about me. I know I'll find my own wandering doctor one day. Wanda had already promised me a while back. And she always keeps her promises." Rose smiled upon recalling the memory of Wanda telling her that one day she would find her own Doctor after revealing just how low the companion felt about the whole Adam mishap on Satellite Five. So, until the time of finding her future doctor, or maybe her own wanderer, she continued to enjoy watching the smiling, dancing Time Lords.

Wanda and the Doctor both grinned at each other. Laughing as they stayed in step with a funny little jig they began making up as they went along. Completely unaware of anything but each other.

XxXxXxXx

Everyone lives! I'm there with the Doctor. I love moments like that. I really hope everyone was able to read this chapter with how crazy the site has been acting lately. If any of you are still having problems, send me a PM so I can document it for the website's support. Or even leaving a review is fine, too, if you do not wish to go through the hassle of a PM. Any way that I can help, I'm here for you all. :)

Reviewers:

Momochan77: Yep! It's always so fun when meeting a companion for the 'first' time. :D I'm so happy that you enjoyed their moments together. Nine is most certainly beyond grumpy at times. But at least he still tries to be a good friend to Wanda. Things especially seem to be getting better now between Wanda and later Nine. :) Hope to see you again in the next update!

All The Stories Are True 24601: I know that my writing is adequate. But I just always know that I could be much better. :) Thanks for always giving me such support. It means so much to me. Though I know I probably sound like a broken record saying that. haha. Twist ending you say? *grins* I love me some twist endings. lol ;) No worries. I know I always get giddy whenever I get a notification that I have a review from you and other readers. I love Jack. Just wish he was around more for Wanda. Yep, I've watched a bit of Torchwood. Only the first two season, though. Aww, I'm always just so happy to hear how much you're enjoying Wanda! I always love reading character development, so whenever I write a story I try my best to do that as well. I hope I can continue to do good development for the next story I'm working on. I hope you'll enjoy that story as much as you've enjoyed this trilogy. Can't wait to see you next time! :)

bored411: They are just too fun together. haha. And younger Doctor being jealous is far too cute. Really hope you enjoyed the new chapter! :) Take care!

alwaystherereading: Woo! I'm excited about him being back, too. It's part of the misdirection circuit in the necklace of Wanda's. They feel her stomach when they hug her, but the circuit will redirect their minds to basically forget about it almost instantly. It's sort of an old tech from the older episodes of the show when I was doing research for the story. Which makes me wonder if they'll ever bring that old tech back into the current show. Wanda notices the changes on her body, just no one else. So when the baby starts kicking, she'll most definitely know. ;) I can't wait, either! Hope you'll enjoy more as the story continues. :)

Authora97: There was no hiding something like that from Jack. ;)

swimmjacket: haha. It's always fun when seeing the Doctor get jealous. Especially when he gets jealous of himself. lol ;) Yep, doing a few time skips with her pregnancy. Also yep, just nine months for her. Time Lords have pretty much the same type of pregnancy as humans and other species. The only difference is the development of the child once they are born. But that's spoilers for now. ;) Oh man, I could never contain myself just to a thousand words. haha. But I'm so happy that you're enjoying the story so much! :D Until next time!

QuirkyKim: Me, too! XD I really hope you enjoyed it!

SakuraRcoa: Jealous Nine is so much fun. haha. Really hope that you enjoyed the new chapter! :)

Whovianeverlark17: Jack is always great. I love him. XD And jealous? Him? Nah. lol ;) Hope you enjoyed!

Ruby Slippers: Always so glad that you enjoyed it! :D

I really hope that I replied to everyone. Had some troubles again with the reviews. If I missed you, please let me know! And thanks again for all the love and support everyone! :)

~Tinker~