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AN: This is a note to everyone, I will be rewriting the first ten or so chapters of Jackie's Mission and the first two chapters have been replaced. Please feel free to check out the replaced chapters.
Chapter Five-
He stared unblinkingly in front of them as she carried him in her arms. Teddy Bears didn't need to blink. He took in everything as she skipped down the side walk, no one seeming to notice the eight year old girl and her Teddy Bear. When they had landed here she had promised to show him something amazing. But what was more amazing than her?
"It's almost time." She whispered to him as she sat down on a bench. He continued to stare out in front of them. He didn't notice it at first. He probably wasn't meant to. And had the young man not walked straight up to it and knocked he would have never noticed it.
If he could have blinked in this form, he would have. There, in front of them, sat a strange wooden box. It was a deep blue and claimed to be a Police Public Call Box. Was this what she wanted to show him? What was so amazing about a wooden box? And why did that box look so familiar?
He would have asked her, but there were too many people around. And the last time he talked to her in this form with so many people around to hear him, she had gotten mad at him. They were supposed to be blending in. And talking a Teddy Bear was not blending in.
"How much longer until the TARDIS is fueled, Doctor?" A pretty young woman with bottle blonde hair asked as the man with short military cut hair and leather jacket led not only the young woman but three other people out of the box. He sucked in a breath when he realized where he had seen that box before. He had seen this man when he had been searching for her while she was testing him just last week.
"Should take another 24 hours, which means we've got time to kill." The man (the Doctor) told every one. He watched as the Doctor let got of the young woman's hand only to have her be pulled away by the older woman he had seen the man with during his test.
"That little girl's staring." The young man said nodding over to them.
"Probably wondering what five people can do inside a small wooden box." A second young man said with a smirk as the rest of the group turned to look at them. One of her arms left him so she could give them a wave of her fingers. The Doctor smiled and waved back.
"You wanted to know who my mum and dad were. That's them. Before everything happened." She whispered to him before sliding off the bench as the group turned and walked away. "They don't know about me yet. This was before they were married. But they've told me all about this day, this was when dad finally figures out that Bad Wolf was following them."
Bad Wolf. He had heard that name before. Where had he heard it? And why did it send both waves of fear and hope through him?
"Do you wanna meet her? Bad Wolf? She's the reason I was able to be born. Without her I wouldn't be alive." She told him.
"Yes." He told her and then suddenly they were inside a large room of what he could tell was a magnificent space ship where the young bottle blonde woman stood before the console of the ship surrounded by a beautiful golden light. All around them was a beautiful and terrifying song played all around them from every surface of the room and, though he had not been to any other rooms, he knew it would be in them as well. This ship was alive and very powerful.
"Are you sure about this, Mummy?" She asked the young woman who looked away from the console to stare at them.
"Yes. I need to save my Doctor." The woman told them.
"The only way to truly save the Doctor is to combine with the TARDIS." So this was the Doctor's faithful ship? "But you must know that once you two are combined, you two can never fully be separated ever again, no matter what the Doctor or anyone else does." It took him longer than it probably should have to realize what she was showing him. And that fact that she actually trusted him enough to show him this shook him. She trusted him. He had worked for the people who had ripped her away from her family and tried to make her into a weapon. And yet she trusted him. "You can very well easily die if you combine with the TARDIS. And if you do somehow manage to survive, you will forever be altered." She told the woman, her mother, while petting him. Her hands running through the fur that covered his body in this from calmed him.
"How so?" Her mother asked.
"You'll become more like him. You'll grow a second heart, your biology clock will be slowed down quite a bit, almost to the point you stop aging. I don't know if you'll be exactly like him, but you'll be more... compatible, if you will." She told her mother with a smirk.
"What do you mean?" Her mother asked.
"It means, that should you two wish to, you will be able to start a family together." She told her.
"Is that who you are? Are you mine and the Doctor's daughter?" Her mother asked.
"Who know? Time is always changing. One thing you do today, or tomorrow, or even three weeks from now can change the future." She told her mother shocking him. So, potentially, nothing was set in stone. Right now they were visiting this woman as mother, daughter, and watcher, but if one small thing were to change, then so could this very meeting. And now the reason they hadn't just found her parents after everything had happened made sense, they had to make sure that certain small events took place to insure she was born to the Doctor and this woman. "Now, I will ask you but one more time. Are you sure you wish to become Bad Wolf?"
"Yes." The woman said and she snapped causing the ship to start to dematerialize before they were gone.
-Five-
The Doctor awkwardly glanced around the console to look at Donna as Rose handed her a tissue to wipe her eyes. "We've arrived." The Doctor told the woman cautiously. It wasn't that he was fearful of her going off on him and slapping him once more (he had actually gotten quite used to that with Jackie before he had changed), he just didn't know if she would be ready for this after everything that happened. Though he was pretty sure the beauty of a solar system being born would help her start to heal. "You want to see?" Donna sighed as she wiped her eyes.
"This might be the only chance you'll ever get to see this. Don't let Lance win. If it helps you can look at it this way: This is what Lance wanted to see and you're the one here seeing it, not him." Rose told her softly getting a weak smile in return.
"I suppose." Donna said sadly. The Doctor and Rose locked eyes before he grabbed the screen and pulled it to him. He typed a few commands before sighing. This wouldn't do the beauty of this solar system justice. "The scanner's a bit small." He told them before giving Donna a small smile. "Maybe your way's best." He joked lightly before walking over to the doors, he paused before he got to them and looked back at the women. "Come on."
"A once in a life time chance." Rose reminded Donna as she helped the woman off the captain's chair and gently led her by the hand to the Doctor.
"No human's ever seen this. You and Rose will be the first" The Doctor informed Donna.
"All I wanna see is my bed." Donna told him and Rose wrapped a comforting arm around her.
"Donna Noble, Rose Tyler, welcome to the creation of the Earth." The Doctor said as he opened the doors. He smiled at both of them as they gasped in shock as both women took in the sight in front of them. And though it wasn't much, just a bunch of large chunks of rocks and gas clouds, it was still a stunning sight. "We've gone back 4.6 billion years. There's no solar system. Not yet. Only dust and rocks and gas."
"You take me to the best places." Rose breathed out and he took her hand.
"That's the sun. Over there. Brand-new." The Doctor told them using his free hand to point and the baby star. "Just beginning to burn."
"A baby star." Rose whispered in awe causing him to chuckle lovingly at her, thinking of their own baby that was growing in her womb. Their baby girl that would one day be taken from them.
"Where's the Earth?" Donna asked unknowingly breaking him out of his dark thought before he could begin to spiral down into the dark pits of his mind where only Rose would be able to pull him back from.
"All around us. In the dust." Rose told her. The two of them shared a look before they shared a small smile.
"Puts the wedding in perspective." Donna said. "Lance was right. We're just tiny."
"No, but that's what you do. The human race. Make sense out of chaos. Marking it out with weddings and Christmas and Calendars." The Doctor told her trying to help her feel any better than before while mentally cursing Lance for making this brilliant woman hurt like she was. "This whole process is beautiful. But only if it is being observed."
"So, me and Rose came out of all this." Donna said and the Doctor knew she was trying to see it the way him and Rose were.
"Isn't that brilliant?" The Doctor asked her. The three of them stood there for another minute waiting for the first rock to come back to start forming the Earth.
"I think that's the Isle of Wight." Donna joked weakly as a large rock floated by them. Rose and the Doctor chuckled glad that she was at least trying.
"Eventually gravity takes hold. Say, one big rock, heavier then the others, start to pull other rocks towards it." The Doctor explained. "All the dust and gas and elements get pulled in, everything piling in until you get..."
"The Earth." Donna finished.
"Now, the question is, what was that first rock?" The Doctor asked, moments later a star like ship appeared.
"Look." Donna said nodding to it.
"The Racnoss." The Doctor hissed out before releasing Rose's hand and bolting back over to the console. "Hold on, the Racnoss are hiding from the war. What's it doing?"
"Exactly what you said." Donna said as Rose sent him the mental image of dust, rocks and gasses beginning to surround the ship. The Doctor ran back over to them.
"Oh, they didn't just bury something in the center of the Earth." The Doctor breathed out.
"They became the center of the Earth." Rose finished.
"The fist rock." The Doctor said before they were tossed to the floor of the TARDIS when it violently shook, Donna and Rose just barely keeping themselves from being tossed out of the TARDIS.
"What was that?" Donna asked as the Doctor kicked on door shut while Rose pushed the other one shut to keep them from being tossed out.
"Trouble." The Doctor growled as he tried to make his way back to the console as the three of them were tossed and thrown about the room as the TARDIS continued to shake violently.
"What the hell is it doing?" Donna demanded as she barely stopped herself from headbutting the the console as Rose was flung dangerously into a coral.
"You know that little trick of mine, particles pulling particle?" The Doctor growled out as he was tossed over the console, a lever digging into his back as he was forced to flip over it, using that flip to kick a lever up where he needed it. "Well, it works in reverse, and they're pulling us back!" He explained as he rushed to figure out a way to stop it as Rose latched on to the coral she had been flung to.
"Well, can't you stop it?" Donna asked gripping onto the console to keep herself from being tossed and flung about. "Hasn't it got a handbrake? Can't you reverse or warp or fade or something?"
"What about the extrapolator!?" Rose cried out.
"Back-seat drivers." The Doctor growled out before he registered what Rose had said. "Oh! Brilliant, love!" He called to her quickly making his way to the Donna's side of the console where he had hidden the extrapolator. He grabbed the heavy board that had part of it covered in concrete to make it harder to steal, nearly being thrown over the railing by a violently shake and dropped it onto the console. "It can't stop us, but it should give us a good bump! Now!" He yelled before hitting the extrapolator with his trusty hammer, seconds later the violent shaking stopped.
"Let's not do that again, please." Rose sighed out as she unwrapped her self from the coral before jogging towards the door with the Doctor and Donna right behind her.
"We're about 200 yards to the right. Come on." The Doctor told them before crabbing Rose's hand and taking off down the corridor with Donna following.
"What do we do?" Donna panted out as they ran.
"I don't know. I'm making it up as I go along." The Doctor told her.
"Don't worry, though, Donna, he's great at making it up as he goes along. It's never failed us once." Rose reassured the woman as they came to a door. The Doctor released Rose's hand to pull out a stethoscope and put it to the door.
"I still don't understand. I'm full of particles, but what for?" Donna asked.
"There's a Racnoss web at the center of the Earth, but my people unraveled their power source. If huon particles cease to exist, the Racnoss will stop." The Doctor began explaining.
Doctor! Rose cried out in his mind before he felt her fall unconscious causing him to growl as he spun around to find both her and Donna gone.
"I had a plan!" The Doctor growled into the empty corridor. "A plan that did not involve either of you being captured!" He used his screwdriver to unlock the door to find a cloaked robot in the room with its gun pointed at him. The Doctor quickly took him down and stole his cloak. "This would have been so much cooler if we would have been able to do it how I had planned." He muttered angrily to himself before quickly make his way to where he knew they had been taken.
"Do you want to be released?" The Doctor heard the Empress hiss in his mind as he felt Rose waken up and knew she was sending him everything that was happening.
"Yes!" Donna and Lance yelled.
"Of course!" Rose growled at the Empress.
"You're supposed to say 'I do'." The Empress taunted as the Doctor slipped into the room.
I'm here. He sent to Rose and felt her relief.
"No chance." Lance told the Empress.
"Been there, done that, got the proof." Rose told the Empress sounding bored.
"Say it." The Empress demanded. And as the Doctor waited for the right chance to make his entrance, he watched as Lance and Donna look at each other.
"I do." Lance growled out in annoyance.
"I do!" Donna said before looking at Rose who sighed and rolled her eyes.
"I do." Rose said.
"I don't." The Empress said before laughing. "Activate the particle. Purge every late one!" She ordered as Donna, Lance, and Rose began to glow, Rose more so than the others. "And release!" The Doctor watched as the particles flew from Donna and Lance as, what appeared to be, a shield of blue light surrounded Rose. The particles from Donna and Lance flew down the hole as Rose stopped glowing and slumped over, fighting to stop from passing out once more. "The secret heart unlocks and they will waken from their sleep of ages."
"Who will? What's down there?" Donna asked fearfully.
"How thick are you?" Lance asked.
"Don't make me reach over there and smack you, 'cause I'll find a way to do it." Rose panted out her mind wavering in and out of unconsciousness and the Doctor could have sworn he heard howling and singing coming from her mind.
"My children, the long lost Racnoss, now reborn to feast on flesh. The webstar shall come to me." The Empress said. "My babies will be hungry. They need sustenance. Perish the web."
"Use them, not me. Use them!" Lance begged causing the Doctor to growl at him as Donna glared him.
"Oh, my funny little lad," The Racnoss laughed at him, "but you were quite impolite to your lady friend. The Empress does not approve." She said before slicing the part of the web Lance was in, causing him to drop. And though the man had literally just begged the Racnoss Empress to kill Rose and their unborn child, the Doctor couldn't help feel sadden by the lose of this man's life.
"Lance!" Donna cried out as he dropped.
"Harvest the human. Reduce them to meat." The Empress ordered and the Doctor knew it was time to act. "My children are climbing towards me and none shall stop them." She said as he made his way closer to them, silently climbing the stairs of the scaffolding wanting to be a close as he could before he began his plan. "So you might as well unmask, my clever little doctor man."
"Oh, well, nice try." The Doctor said as he removed the cloak from himself. "Rose hold on! I've got you and Donna." He said quickly pulling out his screwdriver and pointing it at the web loosening the web as Rose lost the battle and fell unconscious.
"We're gonna fall!" Donna cried.
"You're gonna grab Rose, and you're gonna swing!" The Doctor told her, Donna quickly wrapped her arms around Rose before grabbing the web in time to swing them both. "I've got you!" He said holding out his arms to catch them both, only to have them hit the wall just under the landing he was on. The Doctor closed his eyes and winced. Donna was never going to let him live this down and, once Donna informed Rose of this, neither was she. He was going to be living on that uncomfortable couch. "Oh, sorry. Please don't tell Rose about this!" The Doctor said looking at the two women on the ground under him, Donna was glaring up at him while Rose was resting, unconscious, next to her.
"Oh, Rose is so going to be told of this, Martian!" Donna hissed at him before she sat up and began to check over Rose.
"The doctor man amuses me." The Empress hiss out reminding the Doctor she was still there.
"Empress of the Racnoss, I give you one last chance." The Doctor told her. "I can find you a planet. I can find you and your children a place in the universe to coexist. Take that offer and end this now."
"These men are so funny." The Empress said.
"What's your answer?" The Doctor asked even though he had a feeling he knew what it was.
"Oh! I'm afraid I have to decline." The Empress said with a laugh.
"Then what happens next is your own doing." The Doctor warned her placing his hands in his pocket.
"I'll show you what happens next." The Empress hissed at him. "At arms!" The robots around the room raised their guns. "Take aim!" Half of them pointed at him the other half pointed at Rose and Donna, Donna quickly wrapping her body around the unconscious Rose. "And..."
"Relax." The Doctor said he said hitting the button on the remote in one of his pockets to deactivate them.
"What did you do?" Donna asked him.
"Guess what I've got, Donna." The Doctor said before pulling out the remote from his pocket and showing her, confusing her. "Pockets."
"How did that fit in there?" Donna asked.
"They're bigger on the inside." He told her with a smirk.
"Roboforms are not necessary. My children may feast on Martian flesh." The Empress hissed.
"Oh, but I'm not from Mars." The Doctor told her sounding a lot calmer than he was. This Racnoss had not only threatened the people of Earth, but she also threatened his new friend Donna and his wife and unborn child. For months he had been angry at the universe for making him and Rose loose Jackie and had forced himself to hide his anger as to not frighten Rose, but he was tired of hiding his anger, tired of being the better person. Just this once he wanted to let go and just give in to the anger.
"Then where?" The Empress asked.
"My home planet is far away and long since gone. But its name lives on." The Doctor told the Empress. "Gallifrey." The Empress hissed at him.
"They murdered the Racnoss!" The Empress yelled glaring at him.
"I warned you." He told her. "You did this." He pulled out three ornaments he had taken from Donna's reception just hours ago.
"No, no. Don't!" The Empress begged but it was too late. The Doctor threw the ornaments into the air before pulling out more and tossing them. "No! No! No! No!" The Doctor used the remote to activate the ornaments and made them two of them blow holes into the wall of the flood gate before sending the rest into the hole. "No!" He barely registered Donna covering Rose with her body as flames shot from the hole. They would pay for everything! Water began to rush into the room and Donna quickly began to drag Rose to higher ground. "My children!" The Empress shrieked as the water began to drain down the hole killing the Racnoss that had been climbing up the whole. "My children!"
"Doctor!" Donna yelled at him snapping him out of the dark trance he had put himself in. "You can stop now. Rose and I are safe. But we won't be if we don't leave now. I'm not strong enough to carry her by myself."
"My children!" The Empress cried and the Doctor looked at the destruction he had allowed to happen. He looked down at the remote in his hand and found himself once again in that shack pressing the button on the Moment. He forced that thought away for now and focused on helping Donna and Rose to safety.
"Come on, time to find a way out." The Doctor told her rushing down the stairs and took Rose from Donna before they began to climb up the stairs.
"Transport me!" The Empress yelled before she teleported away. The Doctor led Donna to the room with the ladder in it, urging her to climb, before he carefully placed Rose over his shoulder and began to climb after her.
"What about the Empress?" Donna asked as they climbed.
"She's used up all her Huon energy. She's defenseless." The Doctor told her getting to the top of the ladder and carefully pulled himself up beside Donna to be able to open the hatch as the Empress's ship was destroyed. Once he knew it was safe, the Doctor allowed Donna to climb out first before helping her pull Rose carefully out of the hatch. After climbing out, the Doctor quickly cradled the slowing wakening Rose into his arms as him and Donna began to laugh in relief.
"There's just one problem." Donna said once they had stopped laughing.
"What it is?" The Doctor asked.
"We've drained the Thames." Donna informed him. The Doctor looked out to into the Thames to see that she was right, they began laughing once more.
"What's s' funny?" Rose asked, her words slurred a bit.
"We drained the Thames." The Doctor told her sending her the mental image causing her to chuckle weakly as she cracked her eyes open.
"What'd I miss? How'd we manage to drain the Thames?" Rose asked.
"Everything. But don't worry, I'm sure Donna would be happy to fill you in." The Doctor told her bending his head low enough to rub his nose with hers.
-Five-
"And then 'e told me that we was gonna swing!" The Doctor heard Donna tell Rose as he walked towards the Infirmary after having set the TARDIS on Donna's street.
"Oh please tell me this is gonna go how I think it is." Rose said as the Doctor made it to the door.
"And so, without really given a choice, I hold onta you and swing us across the hole and towards where your husband is waiting with his arms out ready to catch us." Donna continues as Rose giggles madly causing the Doctor to smile. "And we swing under him and hit the wall!" Rose burst out laughing.
"Oh, Donna, did you really have to tell her that part?" The Doctor asked trying to sound whinny, but his large smile was keeping him from doing so.
"I'm guessing we've arrived?" Rose asked and the Doctor nodded. With the help of Donna, Rose slipped off the bed and held the woman's hand as they made their way to him. The Doctor smiled at them both before leading them back down the hallway and to the console where they exited the TARDIS.
"There we go. I told you she'd be all right. Survive anything." The Doctor told Donna who, earlier, had wondered if the TARDIS would be okay after not only being forcefully pulled back from the beginning on the Earth to being under water for an hour and half.
"More than I've done." Donna said sadly as Rose leaned her head on the woman's shoulder and the Doctor took out his screwdriver and scanned her once more, even though both women had been scanned in the infirmary. But this scan was more for show anyway.
"Well, all the Huon particles are gone. No damage. You're fine." The Doctor told her.
"Yeah, apart form that." Donna told him with a sigh. "I missed my wedding, I lost my job and became a widow on the same day. Sort of."
"I couldn't save him." The Doctor told her sadly.
"He deserved it." Donna said and Rose hugged her as the Doctor raised an eyebrow at her knowing she didn't believe that. "No, he didn't." She admitted before glancing behind her at her house. "Better get inside, they'll be worried."
"Best Christmas present that any family could receive." Rose told her as she moved from Donna's side to stand next to the Doctor and took his hand in hers. "Oh shoot, you hate Christmas, don't you?"
"Yes, I do." Donna said.
"Even if it's snowing?" The Doctor asked before reaching into the TARDIS and flipped a switch sending a ball of light into the air causing it to begin snowing shocking both Rose and Donna.
"I didn't know you could do that!" Rose told him as Donna began laughing.
"I can't believe you did that." Donna said while laughing.
"Oh, basic atmospheric excitation." The Doctor explained with a smirk happy to seem smiles on both the women's faces, smiles that he had put there.
"Merry Christmas." Donna told them.
"And you." Rose told her.
Shall I ask her to join us? The Doctor asked Rose.
If you don't, I will. Rose told him.
"So, what will you do with yourself now?" The Doctor asked as casually as he could.
"Not getting married, for starters. And I'm not gonna temp any more." Donna told them with a sigh. "I don't know, travel. See a bit more of planet Earth, walk in the dust. Just do out there and do something."
"Well, you could always..." The Doctor started before suddenly becoming unsure, he knew he had scared Donna back there when he lost control.
"What?" Donna asked.
"Come with us." Rose finished. They waited, hearts beating, hoping their new friend would join them.
"No." Donna said and the Doctor felt Rose's heart break and knew that he had done this. He had run their friend away. Scared her. He deserved to live on the uncomfy couch.
"Okay." The Doctor said wrapping his arm around Rose as he felt her fight back her tears. He would spend the rest of his life making this up to her, he would take Rose wherever she wanted, do whatever she wanted. Because this was his fault.
"I can't." Donna told them sadly.
"No, no, that's all right. It's fine. We understand. This life isn't for everyone." Rose told her.
"No, but really, I mean, everything we did today, do you two live your lives like that all the time?" Donna asked.
"Not all the time." The Doctor told her, believing he knew what she was asking with that question.
"I think you do. And I couldn't." Donna told him.
"But, Donna, you've seen it out there. You've seen the beauty of it all." Rose told her.
"But it's also terrible." Donna told her. "That place was flooded and burning and they were dying, and he stood there like, I don't know, a stranger." The Doctor flinch at that but Rose sent him a wave of love and understanding. "And then you, Doctor, made it snow! I mean, you scare me to death."
"Well, then." The Doctor said hiding the pain her words made him feel. He had brought this on himself, after all. He had gave in to the anger and the hatred, and now the consequence of his actions were punishing not only him but his Rose as well.
"I'll tell you what I will do, though. Christmas dinner." Donna offered and felt the pain shoot through Rose as she remembered the last Christmas dinner they had. The Doctor sent her all his love and comfort. "Oh, come on."
"I, we don't do that sort of thing." The Doctor told Donna tightening his grip on Rose.
"You guys did it last you, you both said so." Donna pointed out. "And you might as well, because Mum always cooks enough for 20."
Rose, this is your decision. If you don't want to or you don't think you can handle it, we will leave. The Doctor told her.
I-I can't, it's too soon. Rose told him.
"I can't. I'm sorry, I just can't." Rose told Donna before she turned and bolted into the TARDIS.
"The last Christmas we had was with her mother, the one we just lost. I'm sorry, maybe one of these days she'll be ready. But it's just too soon." The Doctor told the concerned woman before rushing in after Rose. When he didn't see her in the in the console room the TARDIS flashed a picture of her curled in her mother's chair that was now sitting in the replicated flat on the TARDIS. He quickly began to set the TARDIS to drift in the Vortex.
"Doctor! Doctor!" He heard Donna shout and quickly stopped what he was doing and rush to the door.
"Blimey you can shout." The Doctor told her.
"Am I ever gonna see you two again?" Donna asked and hope filled him. Maybe Donna just needed time, maybe the next time the ran into her she would be ready to join them.
"If me and Rose are lucky." The Doctor told her with a smile causing her to smile back at him.
"Just promise me one thing." Donna said. "Don't lose her. You need her, she makes you better. And I know that had Rose not been unconscious that you wouldn't have gone as far as you had tonight. Rose would have been able to stop you sooner."
"You're right." The Doctor told her. "Thanks then, Donna. Good luck. And just... be magnificent."
"I think I will, yeah." Donna told him and the Doctor stepped back into the TARDIS closing the door behind him.
"Doctor?" Donna called.
"Oh, what is it now?" The Doctor asked feigned annoyance.
"Rose's mother? What was her name?" Donna asked and the Doctor suddenly found himself fighting back the same tears his wife was now crying.
"Her name was Jackie." He told her as a tear fell from his eye before he slipped back into the TARDIS and finally put her to drift in the vortex before he left to join his wife in mourning the loss of Jackie.