Chapter Eight
Jackson led the way down the street, with Rosita, the Doctor, and Rose jogging along behind him. Rose glanced over at the Doctor, wondering if he'd considered the problem they faced.
How are we going to get rid of a whole battalion of Cybermen? Rose asked.
The Doctor shot her a sideways glance as they turned a corner and moved towards the river. Remember what Mickey said when we were in Pete's World?
Rose had to think for a moment—that had been almost five years ago. But when she remembered, she rolled her eyes. You'll make it up as you go along, then? she guessed.
And I'll do it brilliantly, he added.
Jackson stopped in front of a modest townhouse. "This is it," he said in a low voice. "And I seem to remember there's a door into the cellar…" He crept along the right side of the house. "Yes! Right here."
He reached for the handle, but the Doctor put his hand on the door before Jackson could open it. "If this is the entrance to their stronghold, there might be Cybermen standing guard."
Jackson pulled one of the info stamps from his bandolier. "I'm ready, Doctor." They traded places, and the Doctor opened the door so Jackson could go in first, info stamp at the ready.
Rose held her breath, and a moment later, she heard a Cyberman, followed by the electric buzz of an info stamp being discharged. "I think it's safe," she told Rosita, and they followed the Doctor and Jackson down the narrow stairs into the cellar.
When they entered the room, the Doctor was kneeling in front of a large device in the middle of the room. Its conical shape and large metal balls on the skirt reminded Rose of a Dalek, and the Doctor nodded.
"It must've been guarding this," he said as he ran his hands over it. "A Dimension Vault. Stolen from the Daleks again. That's how the Cybermen travelled through time." He rocked back on his heels and looked up at Jackson. "Jackson, is this it? The thing you couldn't remember?"
Jackson had barely moved from the foot of the stairs. "I don't think so," he mumbled as he shuffled into the room. "I just can't see. It's like it's hidden."
Rose narrowed her eyes and looked at him. He had the same lost look on his face as before, when he'd slowly remembered his wife. And if grief had kept him from remembering her, then maybe…
The Doctor looked over his shoulder at her, following her train of thought. If that's true, he needs to remember it in his own time, when his mind is ready, he said, and Rose nodded in agreement.
He leaned towards the device, putting his ear next to it. "Not enough power," he said a moment later. He jumped to his feet and said, "Come on! Avanti!"
Changing languages, Doctor? Rose teased. French not good enough for you anymore?
Variety is the spice of life, he replied blithely.
The Doctor raced to the shadowy corner at the back of the cellar. If I'm right… He grinned when he found a door.
"Come on!" He looked back at his companions. "This is our way in."
Rose went through first. Her initial recoil passed over the bond, making the Doctor wrinkle his nose, too. "Oh, it reeks in here," she said. "Quite the Christmas you're giving me, Doctor."
He shrugged, then gestured to Rosita. "Go ahead." The maid rolled her eyes, but quickly followed after Rose.
Jackson followed, but he hesitated at the entrance and turned back to take one last look around the room. "There's something more," he muttered.
"Whatever it is, we'll figure it out. Come on, let's go!" Jackson disappeared into the tunnel and the Doctor followed him.
"This way," he said, taking the lead.
Rose took his hand as they jogged through the surprisingly dry sewer. The Doctor looked at her. We'll do Christmas again, he promised.
She laughed and shook her head. Nah. What would Christmas be like if we didn't have robots trying to kill us?
He blinked; that hadn't occurred to him. This makes four out of six, doesn't it?
Yep.
"What do the Cybermen want?"
Rosita's question pulled them out of their private conversation. Rose let go of the Doctor's hand and walked next to the other woman.
"They want more people," she explained. "See, Cybermen used to be humans, until other Cybermen converted them and put their brains into metal suits. But they don't remember being human—all they remember is that they want every living thing to be Cyber."
"You mean, unless we stop them, they're going to make all of London just like them?"
The Doctor shook his head. "Unless we stop them, they're going to make the whole planet just like them."
The light was getting steadily brighter, and the Doctor held up his hand. "Shhh, let's see if we can get a peek at what they're doing."
They knelt in front of a grate and peered down into the large open space below them. A nexus in the sewer tunnels had been turned into a Victorian power plant.
"Well, we know why they wanted the children now," Rose said grimly. Boys and girls were working every part of the machinery and carrying fuel from one side of the room to the other.
"Upon my soul," Jackson whispered.
"What is it?" Rosita asked.
"It's an engine," the Doctor explained. He gestured across the room at the giant boiler, stretching from floor to ceiling. The steam was powering a series of complex gears that ran around the room.
"They're generating electricity, but what for?" Like Jackson, he felt like there was something he was missing, some crucial piece of information that would make everything else fall into place.
Jackson reached for one of the info stamps on his bandolier. "We can set them free."
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no."
Rose watched the Doctor run off, then met Jackson's confused look. "There's something going on here," she explained. "If we go in without knowing all the details, we could get those children hurt, or worse."
He furrowed his brow for a moment, then nodded. He stood and offered a hand to both her and Rosita, helping them to their feet.
"If that's the case, then let's follow the Doctor. The sooner we solve this mystery, the sooner we can rescue those poor children."
They jogged around a corner and found the Doctor in front of a display.
He whipped out his glasses and squinted at the number. "Power at ninety percent. But if we stop the engine, the power dies down, the Cybermen'll come running."
"And that's why we can't just break in and rescue all the kids," Rose concluded.
The Doctor started to nod, but then the display whined and the number disappeared. "Ooo. Hold on." He tapped his knuckle against the screen. "Power fluctuation. That's not meant to happen."
"It's going wrong," Jackson half-stated, half-asked.
The Doctor shook his head. "No, it's weird. The software's rewriting itself. It's changing."
Now that he'd explained what was happening, Rose could see it too. The lines on the display were merging and splitting into new patterns, like soldiers directed into a new formation. Then sparks flew out and nearly singed Rose's eyebrows.
"Whoa!" the Doctor yelled. "What the hell's happening? It's out of control."
Jackson peered at the monitor. "It's accelerating. Ninety-six percent, ninety-seven."
"When it reaches a hundred, what about the children?" Rosita asked, homing in on the most important point.
"They're disposable." The Doctor pulled his glasses off and spun on his heel. "Come on!"
Rose tucked her skirt up into her waistband as she ran. Hundreds of children were about to die—propriety be damned.
"Here, Mrs. Tyler, Rosita." Rose took what Jackson was handing her without looking, knowing by feel that it was an info stamp.
They ducked through the half open grate and ran into the factory just as Cybermen started marching into the room declaring, "Delete. Delete."
Jackson struck the first blow, killing the two Cybermen nearest the sewer entrance. Ahead of them, the Doctor was trying to herd the children out of danger.
"Right. Now, all of you, out! Do you hear me? That's an order! Every single one of you, run!"
Instead of running, the children froze in place. Rose destroyed a Cyberman that was about to kill a girl who was no more than six, then she took the child by the hand.
"Come on now," she encouraged the girl. "Let's get out of here, yeah?"
A tear trickled down the girl's grimy cheek, but she held Rose's hand and nodded. A few other children followed, and Rose led them to the sewer entrance the Doctor was directing them to.
"All of you, come on, as fast as you can," Jackson encouraged. "Come on!"
Rosita killed the last Cyberman in the room, and Rose let out a breath of relief. They had a little more time to persuade the children now.
The Doctor couldn't fully share Rose's relief. They only had until the Cybermen realised what was happening and simply destroyed the room.
He jumped up on a wheel and looked out at the children, some still frozen in fear. "There's a hot pie for everyone, if you leg it!" he hollered. A few more perked up at that, and his hearts clenched when he realised how hungry they must be.
"Go!"
Jackson waved them into the sewers, and the Doctor leapt off the wheel and jogged over to Rosita.
"Rosita, get them out the sluice gate," he ordered. "Once you're out, keep running. Far as you can!"
She nodded and raced through the tunnel with the first group of children. He could hear her voice echoing against the stone walls as she encouraged them to keep running.
The Doctor spun around and grinned when he saw Rose taking the stairs two at a time to get to the catwalks above the engine. "Send them on down, Rose," he shouted up at her.
Then he motioned to the children who were streaming through the room. "Come on, come on, come on."
Satisfied that between Rose, Jackson, and Rosita, all the children would get out safely, the Doctor focused his attention on the engine display. For the life of him, he had yet to figure out what it was for.
"It's some sort of starter motor, but starting what?" He rocked back on his heels and scratched his cheek.
A conversion factory? But where? The amount of energy this plant is generating would fuel a factory the size of Hyde Park—not easily hidden, even in the sewers.
An anguished cry broke into his puzzled musings.
"Doctor, my son!"
The Doctor darted over to Jackson's side. "What?" Even though he and Rose had suspected, he'd never thought they'd find Jackson's son in the midst of all the orphaned children.
But Jackson was staring up through the gears, and when the Doctor followed his line of vision, he spotted a boy of about seven, standing frozen on the edge of a platform high above the engine.
"They took my son," Jackson sobbed. "No wonder my mind escaped. Those damned Cybermen, they took my child! But he's alive, Doctor. Frederick!"
The Doctor stepped forward and gestured towards the nearest flight of stairs. "Come on!" he called out to Frederick, hoping he could encourage the boy to move.
"No, he's too scared," Jackson said. "Stay there! Don't move! I'm coming." He ran towards the stairs, but before he could reach them, a combustion chamber exploded towards them, destroying the stairway.
The blast knocked Jackson to his knees, and the Doctor ran forward to help him to his feet. Jackson's gaze was still fixed on his son.
"I can't get up there. Fred!"
The Doctor held Jackson back, afraid he would run into the flames. "They've finished with the motor. It's going to blow up."
"What are we going to do, Doctor?" Jackson moaned. "What are we going to do?"
The Doctor looked up at the catwalk. "Rose! We need your help!"
"Already on it, Doctor!" she shouted back.
"I don't understand." Jackson wrung his hands. "Your wife has certainly proven herself to be more than capable, but how is she going to get from where she is to Fred?"
"Just watch," the Doctor said.
Rose took a deep breath as she surveyed the options. Jackson's son was on a platform the next level up from where she was, and in a different part of the scaffolding. There was a chain just out of reach, but if…
She looked at it, then at her proposed landing spot, and nodded. Then she stepped up onto the rickety railing and leapt out, catching the chain and wrapping it around her arm.
Just like she'd planned, the momentum carried her over to the remains of the stairway, and she ran up the last few steps to the platform.
The boy cowered away from her, and Rose knelt down so she could look him in the eyes. "Come on," she said, holding her hand out. "I'm a friend of your dad's. He's waiting for you down there, see?"
Frederick nodded and straightened up. "Good lad," she praised. "Here, wrap your arms around my neck, and be sure to hold on tight."
Once she was sure the boy was secure, Rose grabbed a rope and loosened the knot holding it to the platform. "We're going to swing," she told him, just like she'd told Donna four years ago.
It was harder to get a running start with the weight of the boy hanging from her, but Rose pushed off just hard enough to take them back over to the catwalk she'd been on before. Frederick let go of her neck and together, they raced down the stairs.
Jackson knelt down and his son ran into his arms.
Rose swallowed back a lump in her throat as she watched the tender reunion. "Merry Christmas."
Another series of explosions rocked the plant, and the Doctor looked back at the flames. "Yes, definitely," he agreed. "Happy Christmas. But, I might suggest we get out of here before we celebrate further."
He put a hand on Jackson's shoulder, and the man nodded. After getting to his feet, he pulled Frederick into his arms and the four of them raced through the tunnels back to the Lake house.
"Head for the street," the Doctor directed as they entered the cellar.
The sound of an electronic device powering up caught his attention, and he skidded to a halt and wheeled around. The Dimension Vault was lit up, and he grinned in delight.
"Come on, Doctor," Jackson called from the stairway. "Hurry up!"
The Doctor pressed two buttons on the side of the vault and the core popped up into the air. He caught it, and Rose chuckled.
"Making it up as you go along?" she guessed.
"Oh yes!"
The ground shook, and they looked at each other, wide-eyed. "Tell me that's not a dinosaur," Rose said. They'd just watched Jurassic Park, and the scene in the cafeteria was still vivid in her mind.
"I don't think so," he said. "Let's get out there and check."
They took the narrow steps two at a time and joined Jackson in the street—Jackson and all his neighbours, it turned out. And all of them were looking up at the sky.
The Doctor looked up and sucked in a breath. "It's a CyberKing."
"Yeah, and what's that when it's at home?" Rose asked.
"It's a ship. Dreadnought class. Front line of an invasion. And inside the chest, a Cyberfactory, ready to convert millions."
As he spoke, the power cells in the arms lit up. "And I walk. I will stride across this tiny little world," the CyberKing said.
The Doctor slumped when he recognised Miss Hartigan's voice, now sounding like it was being processed by a voice modulator. She's been converted, then.
The ship stepped out of the river, crushing the people and buildings under its feet. "It's coming this way," Rose shouted over the screams of the people. "Come on, let's get out of here."
They ran together, going a quarter of a mile before they were safely out of the path of the CyberKing. The Doctor stopped on a corner and turned in a circle, watching the ship and weighing his options. Frederick whimpered, and the Doctor looked at Jackson and his son.
"Just head south," he directed. "Take him south. Go to the parkland."
Jackson narrowed his eyes. "But where are you going?"
Rose took the Doctor's hand. "To stop that thing."
Jackson looked from Rose to the Doctor and back again. "But I should be with you."
The Doctor stepped forward and put a hand on Jackson's shoulder. "Jackson, you need to get your son to safety. Rose and I have done this hundreds of times before. We know what we're doing."
Jackson looked down at Frederick's face, and the fear and exhaustion in the boy's eyes convinced him. "Godspeed, Doctor and Mrs. Tyler."
He ran south, and the Doctor and Rose went in the opposite direction. Conversation wasn't necessary; the plan had formed in their minds so fluidly that they weren't certain who had first come up with the idea of using the hot air balloon.
But one new idea occurred to the Doctor as they reached the stable, and he took a quick detour to Jackson Lake's luggage. He flipped up the lid of a trunk and started tossing clothes on the ground.
"What the hell is that thing, sir?"
He looked over his shoulder and beamed. "Oh, good man. Jed, wasn't it?" He went back to the trunk and kept rummaging for what he needed. "Jed, I need your help!"
"I'm not going out there," Jed insisted.
The Doctor tossed a bandolier of info stamps over his shoulder and turned back to Jed. "I'll give you five pound notes," he cajoled, feeling guilty as he grabbed a handful of Jackson's unspent cash.
"Er…" Jed pressed his hand to his temple and shook his head. "All right," he agreed reluctantly. "What do you want me to do?"
The Doctor raced out of the stable into the courtyard. "The Tardis is going to fly."
Rose looked at the basket and scowled. "These bloody skirts keep getting in my way. I'm ready to wear trousers again, Doctor."
He chuckled as he helped her up over the edge. "Your wish is my command, love. Let's save the Earth, then go home and you can change into comfortable clothes."
She dropped into the basket and adjusted her skirts. "I knew I loved you for a reason."
Jed had averted his gaze while Rose climbed into the basket. The Doctor smiled; Victorian propriety was a bit much, but at least it respected Rose's privacy.
He handed Rose the Dimension Vault core, then grabbed onto the ropes. Before he could hoist himself up into the basket, the CyberKing spoke again like some kind of weird, city-wide tannoy system. "People of the world, now hear me. Your governments will surrender. And if not, then behold my power."
The Doctor glanced up and saw the forearms of the ship flip around to reveal cannons in the arms. He shook his head and jumped up just as they shot at the city, levelling entire buildings.
Jed stared at him, wide-eyed. "You're flaming bonkers, sir."
"So my mother-in-law tells me," the Doctor said. He took the core from Rose and pressed the power button. His hearts sank when he heard a single beep, the whooshing sound of something trying to power up and failing.
"Not enough power." He handed it back to Rose. "Jed, let her loose."
Jed dutifully untied the first of the mooring ropes, and the Doctor started coiling it up in the basket. "Ever flown one of these before?" Jed asked as he worked on the second rope.
"Nope, I'm just making this up as I go along," he said, winking at Rose.
She laughed, but Jed looked back at them, dismay etched on his face. "Can I have my money now?"
"Don't worry, Jed," Rose said. "He does it brilliantly."
Jed pursed his lips, but went back to work. Finally, he handed the Doctor the last rope and the balloon rose into the air.
"Good luck to you, sir!" Jed shouted from the ground.
Rose handed the Doctor the dimension vault core as they slowly rose above the city. "All charged and ready to go," she said, brandishing her sonic screwdriver.
He laughed and used his own sonic to adjust the setting of the info stamps. "You, Rose Tyler, are brilliant."
She gave him a cheeky grin. "I know. Now, what next?"
The Tardis was higher than all the surrounding buildings by now. The only thing still towering above it was the CyberKing.
"Now we start dropping these sandbags to hold our altitude steady," the Doctor said. Together they heaved the bags over the side of the basket, slowing their ascent and finally stopping it when they were at eye-level with the massive ship.
"How are we going to get it to look at us?" Rose asked.
"Oh, they'll do that for us," the Doctor predicted, and sure enough, a moment later the ship stomped slowly to turn ninety degrees and face them.
The Doctor wrapped the bandolier of info stamps around his forearm. "I'll have one shot at this, Rose," he muttered sotto voce. "If my plan doesn't work, use the Dimension Vault to send them straight back into the Vortex."
Rose only had time to nod before they were face-to-face with the bridge of the CyberKing, and Miss Hartigan.
The woman was strapped into some kind of chair, but despite the bindings, she perched on it as if it were a throne and the Cyber-headset her crown. "Excellent," she scoffed. "The Doctor. Yet another man come to assert himself against me in the night."
Rose sucked in a breath. "Oh, that does explain a lot." It didn't excuse anything, of course, but if that meant what Rose thought, she could certainly understand why the other woman had been interested in the Cybermen's promise to convert and subjugate all the men in London.
The Doctor rested his hand over Rose's on the railing, calming her down slightly.
"Miss Hartigan?" he called out. "I'm offering you a choice. You might have the most remarkable mind this world has ever seen. Strong enough to control the Cybermen themselves."
"I don't need you to sanction me," she said scornfully.
"No, but such a mind deserves to live," the Doctor told her. "The Cybermen came to this world using a Dimension Vault. I can use that device to find you a home, with no people to convert, but a new world where you can live out your mechanical life in peace."
Rose didn't even need to hear Miss Hartigan's response to know she would never accept such an offer, but it was always the Doctor's way to offer a chance—just one chance.
Miss Hartigan almost laughed, if a Cyberman could laugh. "I have the world below, and it is abundant with so many minds ready to become extensions of me. Why would I leave this place?"
The Doctor's voice was heavy when he answered. "Because if you don't, I'll have to stop you."
"What do you make of me, sir? An idiot?"
Rose couldn't just stand by any longer. "Miss Hartigan, can't you see what he's offering you? I promise you, the offer is genuine—but so is the promise. He doesn't give second chances, and he always comes through when there's a threat to this planet."
Miss Hartigan looked at Rose. "One day you'll learn that the promises of a man mean nothing." She turned back to the Doctor. "Destroy him."
The Doctor hated what he had to do, even as he raised his arm to fire. "You make me into this," he mumbled hoarsely.
The beams from the altered info stamps pulsed together into the bridge of the CyberKing. Rose held her breath, but this time, there was no explosion.
When the beam finally stopped, the last info stamp spent, Miss Hartigan was still on her throne, but her eyes were no longer solid black.
Unaware of the change, she tilted her head back and smirked at the Doctor. "Then I have made you a failure," she said, with enough attitude for a southern belle. "Your weapons are useless, sir."
The Doctor lowered his arm and let the info stamps drop into the basket. "I wasn't trying to kill you." The weight of what had just happened made him sick, and he had to swallow back bile before he continued. "All I did was break the Cyber-connection, leaving your mind open. Open, I think, for the first time in far too many years. So you can see."
Free from the anger and bitterness that had driven her for years, Miss Hartigan looked left and right, panic growing on her face as she unwillingly obeyed the Doctor's directions.
"Just look at yourself," he ordered. "Look at what you've done. I'm sorry, Miss Hartigan, but look at what you've become."
Miss Hartigan screamed. Whether she didn't remember making her bargain with the Cybermen or only now realised exactly what they were, seeing them clearly terrified her. She looked down at her wrists, and her screams became even more shrill when she realised she was trapped.
Rose moved closer, and he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and held her close while Miss Hartigan continued to scream. "I'm so sorry," the Doctor murmured.
As Miss Hartigan's fear and despair grew, they sent powerful impulses over the remaining connection between her and the Cybermen. Sparks flew from her crown to the headsets of the nearby Cybermen, and all five of them exploded. A second later, Miss Hartigan too disappeared.
The CyberKing swayed on its feet, unable to remain upright with no one controlling it. "Time for this?" Rose asked, handing him the Dimension Vault.
"The last step of my making it up as I go along plan," he agreed. He flipped it in the air and caught it, raising it to his shoulder like a rifle.
Aiming carefully, he pressed the button and he and Rose both watched as time and space rippled out and engulfed the ship. "It's a miniature wormhole," Rose breathed.
The Doctor was surprised for only a moment before he remembered that of all people, Rose was most likely to recognise a localised wormhole when she saw one. After all, she and the TARDIS had created one only five months ago to trap the Daleks in a black hole.
The CyberKing fell forward into the wormhole and disappeared. "Yes!" Rose and the Doctor shouted together, holding each other tighter.
A sound broke into their celebration, and they looked down at the city. "What is that?" the Doctor said, straining his ears to catch distinct sounds in the dull roar.
"I think they're cheering," Rose said, pointing to the group of people far, far below.
"Are they really?" the Doctor said. "Do you know, I don't think anyone has ever done that before." He grabbed the bell ringer and swung it wildly, joining in the joyful sound.
The cheers faded, leaving them in the perfect stillness of the open air. Rose gazed down at the city below her. London in 1851 wasn't exactly the London she was used to—no Canary Wharf, no Gherkin—but it was still recognisable to a certain degree. Seeing it from above was amazing.
"Did I ever tell you I used to want to go up in one these when I was a girl?" she told the Doctor.
He blinked and looked down at her. "No, I don't think you ever have. You mean after five years of travelling together, you still have a life-long travel dream that we haven't fulfilled?"
Rose laughed and shifted closer to him. "Life would be pretty boring if all our dreams were fulfilled, Doctor," she pointed out.
He hummed and wrapped his arms around her waist. "You'll have to tell me more about these unfulfilled dreams of yours."
The wind swirled around them, sending a flurry of fresh snow into the basket. Rose tilted her head back, her eyes fluttering closed. "Well," she breathed. "There's the one where we share a kiss as we float high above the city in a hot air balloon."
The Doctor bent down and brushed his nose against hers. "Far be it for me to leave any of your dreams unfulfilled," he whispered. He felt her lips curve up in a smile just before he kissed her.
For a few lovely minutes, the world narrowed to just them and the snow floating around them. But eventually, the chill of the night air couldn't be ignored any longer.
Shivering, Rose looked around and realised they'd travelled a few miles north of where they had taken off. "Do you know how to land this thing?" she asked.
"Er." He tugged on his ear.
"Doctor!"
"No no, hang on." He grabbed one of the ropes. "I think if we shift this, we'll lose some of the air…"
He pulled the rope, and a moment later they heard the hiss of air escaping the balloon. Rose watched the skyline and relaxed when the building got a little closer.
"It's working," she told him. "Try a little more."
They eventually managed to bring the balloon down only a quarter of a mile from where they'd taken off, dropping it into a small park. "Jackson can come get it tomorrow," the Doctor said as he helped Rose out of the basket. "Come on, let's go say goodbye."
Jackson met them halfway. "I followed your descent," he explained in answer to their questioning gazes.
"We left your balloon in that park back there," Rose said, pointing down the street.
"Excellent. Come, walk with me."
Rose looked around at the street as they walked. Barrels and carts were overturned and there were a few fires still going, but in the midst of it, people were already putting things back together.
"The city will recover, as London always does," Jackson said, echoing her thoughts. "Though the events of today will be history, spoken of for centuries to come."
Rose and the Doctor shared a look. They'd both felt the shift in timelines, the way this brush with alien life caused subtle changes in the history of London.
"Yeah," the Doctor agreed. "Funny that."
"And a new history begins for me," Jackson continued, unaware of the undercurrent of timelines shifting around him. "I find myself a widower, but with my son and with a good friend."
He looked over his shoulder, and they all turned around to look at Rosita. She was standing with Frederick, both of them smiling at Jackson from the edge of the crowd.
"Rosita will take care of you," Rose said. "She can help you settle in to this new life."
Jackson nodded. "You couldn't be more right, Mrs. Tyler. Frederick will need a nursemaid and I can think of none better." Frederick waved enthusiastically at his father, and Jackson waved back.
That felt like the perfect segue for their departure, and Rose had the adieu all ready. But before she could speak, Jackson started talking again.
"But you're welcome to join us," he offered earnestly. "We thought we might all dine together at the Traveller's Halt. A Christmas feast in celebration…" His voice trailed off and his smile faded. "And in memory of those we have lost," he added a moment later.
It was the second time they'd been invited to join a Christmas celebration with a new friend, but unlike four years ago, this time they'd come to London meaning to celebrate the holiday. All thoughts of saying goodbye vanished, and a wide smile stretched across Rose's face.
The Doctor looked down at her. "Would you like to stay?"
"Yeah!" Rose pictured the perfect Victorian Christmas dinner. "It'll be just like the end of A Christmas Carol!"
The Doctor smiled. "Well, that's your answer then, Jackson. We'd be delighted to join your Christmas dinner."
Rose glanced down at her appearance. The dress had somehow managed to avoid getting too dirty, but her hands were filthy and she could feel a layer of grime on her face.
"I'd like to go home and freshen up first."
Jackson's eyes lit up. "Back to your Tardis, you mean?"
The Doctor nodded. "Would you like to see?" he offered, gesturing towards the alcove where they'd parked.
"Oh, if I might, Doctor. One last adventure?"
"Of course. You were the Doctor for a fortnight; it's only fair that you get to see the TARDIS."
The Doctor led the way, but Jackson ran ahead of him as soon as the TARDIS was visible. "And this is it," he breathed, brushing his fingers over the blue wooden box. "TARDIS blue—I understand that now."
"This is her," the Doctor confirmed as he unlocked the door and pushed it open.
To his surprise, Jackson didn't rush inside right away. He stared for a moment, then touched the Doctor's arm in thanks as he slowly stepped through the doorway.
"Oh. Oh my word," he breathed as he stood on the ramp, staring at the expansive console room. He drew a breath and walked towards the console, his head turning this way and that, trying to take it all in. "Oh. Oh, goodness me. Well. But this is, but this is nonsense."
Rose laughed. "Yeah, you could say that."
Jackson stood in front of the jump seat and stared up at the time rotor, looking high up into the vaulted ceiling. "Complete and utter, wonderful nonsense." His gaze dropped to the control panels, and he slowly reached for one of the controls. "How very, very silly."
Then suddenly, he pulled back and put his fingers on his temples. "Oh, no. I can't bear it." He rocked back, then ran for the door. "Oh, it's causing my head to ache. No. No, no, no, no, no, no."
The Doctor and Rose looked at each other, then at the door. "You go check on him; I'm going to wash my hands," Rose said.
The Doctor nodded and followed Jackson out into the alleyway. He was leaning against the wall, his eyes wide and his shoulders heaving as he breathed fast.
"Oh! Oh, gracious. That's quite enough." He shook his head a few times, then straightened up.
The Doctor rested his hand on the other man's shoulder. "Jackson, if anyone had to be the Doctor, I'm glad it was you."
Jackson smiled, but didn't reply to the compliment. "The feast awaits. Come—" He paused and looked in through the still-open TARDIS doors. "Where is Mrs. Tyler?"
"Freshening up a bit," the Doctor explained.
"Ah, yes. That was why we walked back here, wasn't it?"
The Doctor felt the brush of Rose's skirts as she stepped out into the street and heard the soft click as she pulled the door shut behind her. "Yes, it was," Rose said. "But I'm ready to go now."
Jackson gestured down the street. "Walk this way."
The Doctor took Rose's hand, and together they followed their new friend. "We certainly will. Merry Christmas to you, Jackson."
"Merry Christmas indeed, Doctor and Mrs. Tyler."
The snow, which had let up earlier, started falling again as they walked to the pub. The scene was Christmas card perfect, right down to their planned Christmas feast.
"This is new," the Doctor murmured to Rose as they followed Jackson to the pub.
"What is?" she asked, equally quiet.
"Staying around after. Joining the festivities. Not just hopping into the TARDIS and going on to the next stop."
Rose slung her hand through the crook of his elbow. "It's not as domestic as it feels," she told him, sussing out his odd feelings easily. "We're still in a new place with people we don't know. It's more like…" She stuck out her tongue in thought. "Oh! It's more like going to the cast party with Shakespeare, remember? He flirted with you."
The Doctor tugged on his tie. "I remember, and I remember Queen Elizabeth trying to execute us the next day," he said.
"We still haven't figured out what was behind that, have we?" Rose mused.
Jackson turned around. "Here we are. At the Traveller's Halt. I should warn you—"
The door burst open and loud cheers rang out from the restaurant. "The Doctor is here! The Doctor and Rose Tyler, they saved us from that metal monster!"
Excited Londoners poured out of the pub and grabbed Rose and the Doctor by the arms.
The Doctor looked over at Rose as they were pulled inside. "I really don't think anyone has ever done this before," he said.
Rose laughed as they were pushed forward to the table by the fire. "It's a better reception than we get in some places. Let's just enjoy it."
oOoOo
It was well past one in the morning when the Doctor and Rose left The Traveller's Halt. More snow had fallen while they'd made merry, and their footsteps were silent on the snow-blanketed street.
"Silent night, holy night," Rose sang softly.
The Doctor joined in. "All is calm, all is bright.
Round yon virgin, mother and child
Holy infant, so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace."
The last notes floated away on the winter air as they reached the alcove where they'd parked the TARDIS. "Thank you, Doctor," Rose whispered. "This was a perfect Christmas present."
He looked over his shoulder at her as he stuck his key in the lock. "Oh, this wasn't your gift," he assured her. "This was just our holiday trip."
Rose yawned. "Gifts in the morning?" she suggested.
The Doctor pulled the door open and nodded. "Let's go to bed."
The next morning, they took their tea and pastries to the library. The TARDIS had put up the Christmas tree, and the fairy lights twinkled at them as they settled into the couch.
Rose rolled her shoulders and sighed. "I think this is a holiday tradition we could really, really let die," she said.
The Doctor massaged her shoulders. "I agree. I'm not naive enough to think we can have a Christmas without a disaster, but it would be nice if for once, it didn't involve robots trying to kill us."
Rose grimaced. "Let's not tell Mum about our record with Christmas disasters, yeah?"
The Doctor shook his head adamantly. "No, absolutely not," he agreed. "Although last Christmas was perfectly lovely," he added.
Rose smiled at him. "Yeah, last year was great." She shook her head. "Hard to believe that was just a year ago," she added. "This has been… a very busy year."
The Doctor was getting anxious to have Rose open his gift, and he didn't have the patience for a walk down memory lane.
"It has. But speaking of last Christmas, do you know what we did then? We exchanged gifts."
Rose laughed. "All right."
She looked at him. There was something in his demeanour… "I think I should go first this year," she said. Unless she was misreading him, it was her year for her gift to be out done.
He pouted, but nodded. Rose handed him the small present that had his name on it.
"Merry Christmas, Doctor." She smiled at him. "This is strangely thematically appropriate," she added.
The Doctor frowned and started to tear the paper off. Thematically appropriate was an odd way to describe a gift.
But when he saw the gift, he understood. "A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens," he whispered. "Thematically appropriate indeed."
Rose nodded. "And I thought that maybe later today we could find Charlie somewhere and have him sign it, if you want."
The Doctor nodded fervently. "Thank you, Rose. This is wonderful."
He glanced down at the wrapped gift sitting on the table. "Can I…" He picked it up and held it out.
Rose's heart raced as she took it from him. The only time he had ever been this emotionally invested in a gift, he'd had a wedding ring for her.
Her heart caught in her throat when she realised that this too was a jeweller's box. "Doctor…"
"Just open it, love,"
The intensity pouring off him was almost too much. Rose's fingers shook as she opened the box.
The bracelet was stunning in its simple beauty. The laurium band was made of two strands of laurium that twisted around each other, like a knotted rope. In the front, the twists opened up into an open figure eight—or the infinity symbol, as Rose suspected was actually the case.
Inside the two open circles of the infinity symbol were the most unique sapphires Rose had ever seen. They were polished instead of having facets, creating a smooth, rounded surface. A white star radiated out from the centre of each stone.
"It's gorgeous, Doctor."
Rose started to put the bracelet on, but the Doctor stopped her. "Touch the stones, Rose," he said, his voice low and rough.
Rose looked up at him, then back at the bracelet. She hesitantly moved a finger to one of the stones, and as soon as she touched it, she realised what the Doctor had been so excited about.
A series of images flashed through her mind, like a slideshow in slow motion. Pictures of the Doctor, both with this face and with the one before. Pictures of them together, video of them laughing and loving each other.
She moved her hand over to the other stone and gasped again. This time, the images were of their friends. Skating with Martha on the mineral lakes of Kur-ha. Dancing at the royal ball with Donna. Sitting in the media room with Jenny, having a movie night.
She moved her finger away from the stone and looked up at the Doctor. "What is it?"
"It's called a remembrance band," he said quietly. "It was…"
Rose sucked in a breath. Only one thing made the Doctor this emotional.
"How did that jeweller have it?" she asked. "I thought everything was lost."
The Doctor shrugged. "Some things survived in museums and the like. A trader came and offered her rare alien treasures. This was amongst the lot."
Rose brushed her thumb over the first stone again. This time, she saw a picture of them on their wedding day, clasped hands bound by the cloth.
The Doctor took the bracelet from her and slid it onto her wrist. "We can continue adding memories to it, year after year."
"One more way to share our forever." Rose scooted closer to the Doctor and wrapped her hand around his tie. He followed the gentle tug and met her lips in a soft kiss.