Disclaimer: I don't own anything that I've written. Yep, that's right, I own not even one iota of the below work.
Summary: Able is an actual doctor, and so, so much more. We all know 'The Doctor' does have a pendent for running into impossible things - and if Able was anything, he was an impossible thing. (A twist on the usual OC and The Doctor formula has original ideas and later on, canon divergence. M/M)
Warnings: This is a Doctor Who fic, so I doubt any of the readers will turn down reading this just because it's slash. After all, we have the canon Jack Harkness. (Who deserves a warning all on his own.) Canon typical violence, language, and later on there will probably be more explicit sexual content.
Authour Note: So lots of plot this chapter – So I won't say anything here. Let me know what you think though, I'm a fan of my idea with Able, considering the pairing we needed some way of making it work. I thought about holding out, maybe that Able's personal plot was moving too quickly. I decided though, that this works out better. I have new ideas on extending his personal plot and I rather like how this came out.
One of my reviewers allowed me to use them as a sounding board - I have come to the realization that if I were to do a threesome, and I still might not, The Master and River Song had the most compelling possible story-lines for it. Give me your thoughts so we can talk it over if you want a say. I won't decide until deep into the Tenth Doctor, so not much to worry over yet.
Poor Able is having difficulty displaying his child-like curiosity considering how hurt he got last chapter. That why when he does show it this chapter - It's all the more (Potentially) heart-wrenching. I'm really feeling for my poor OC right now, he's going through a lot. Also, you can tell by the pairing right now that I've made a choice in regards toward at least the beginning of this story. I'll change the relationship stuff as I go, but for now this is accurate. Able is technically their "Wing-Man" and any playful flirting is just friendly. When that will change, I'm not sure. This relationship will be incredibly slow burn.
Edit Stuffs as of 4/10/2017: I've combined the first and second chapters to match the rest of the story – Which I'm doing an episode a chapter for. Also, a reviewer pointed out a geography problem I had and I went and fixed that as well.
Chapter Three:The Unquiet Dead
...
"You're paying, Time Lord." Rose declared as they started to walk toward the shop. The Doctor just shrugged.
"I haven't got any money."
"You can go back in time and win the lottery." Able reasoned, slightly confused as to how a time traveler of all beings had no money, "Whatever, seems I'm the only person with a job here, so chips are on me. A nice relaxing meal is nice after all the adrenaline."
And the smell of people burning, the sight of a half decimated body, and the feeling of guilt, horrible crushing guilt at what he'd done.
His lover and his Doctor both just nodded along, and Able knew he'd heal. Just like with all things, it would take time, but he was a time-traveler now, so he had plenty of it. The Rift seemed to be in agreement, of her happy hum was anything to go by.
...
"Hold that one down!" The Doctor explained as he and Able frantically worked on keeping the TARDIS steady as possible.
Able, despite already holding one button down on a completely different side of the console, didn't bother to argue. Even knowing that his arms weren't long enough to reach it, not a word of that escaped his mouth. If anything, he found the challenge presented amusing, and felt a almost childish want to complete the task as though it would make The Doctor proud. (If this was the effect of not having actual parents... Able wouldn't be surprised if he ended up with a little kink in that avenue.)
Able balanced himself on one foot and used the other to press the button The Doctor had been motioning towards, "You know, this wasn't how I pictured my flexibility being used during a trip through space and time."
Rose just came out of the corridor and walked in on the sight of The Doctor rushing around the console with Able practically doing a full split across it in order to press more than one button at once.
"Doctor, if you need Able to do that, then how have you ever flown this thing yourself?" Rose suddenly asked, holding herself steady against the wall.
Oh
My
Universe.
Able turned a little playful glare toward The Doctor, but the ginger could appreciate the humour, especially when the man seemed to own up with that little sly grin, "...The Doctor, you think you're funny don't you? Well, I see how it is. Clearly you just wanted to see me doing splits on your console, is this like the Time Lord version of a motorcycle kink?"
The Doctor just gave a little shrug, "Don't think about releasing those buttons, now that you are holding them, not doing so will make this little ride the opposite of fun. Now, I was thinking since we've seen the future, a little trip to the past wouldn't be remiss – How's 1860 sound?"
"Sounds good!" Able accepted, and would have shown his interest by bouncing on his toes, but in his current situation it would probably look more sexual that it was intended, so he resisted the urge.
Rose, ever the questioning, "What's going on in 1860?"
"I have no idea, that's what half the fun is, finding out!" The Doctor said with a wide grin, and pulled a lever, and the TARDIS jerked into the 1800's. Able don't think he'd ever tensed his thigh muscles quite so tightly, and for him, that was certainly quite the accomplishment, because the amount of effort he put into making sure he remained balanced and pressing the button was – nearly – inhuman.
This time when the ship jerked to a stop, Able was the only one that remained standing.
"Can I let go of these now?" He spoke, his voice slightly strained.
The Doctor got up, having the good grace to look a bit sheepish, "You never really had to hold them there, but impressive work."
Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me, Able thought to himself, unable to be mad as he took his foot off of the console and allowed himself to relax his muscles.
"So then, The Doctor, where are we now?" Able asked, walking over to Rose and offering her a hand up.
The Doctor seemed extremely proud of himself for once, "I did it! Give the man a metal, Earth, Naples, December 24th, 1860."
"Somehow, the fact you are so happy about that doesn't inspire any sort of confidence in you, does it?" Able teased The Doctor, ignoring the shaking pointed finger he got for the comment.
The Doctor gave a scoff, but didn't seem offended by the question. Instead, he turned to look at Rose most specifically, "Alright, so before we go out there are a few things I need to take care of. You especially need to get ready for this trip, if you step outside in clothing like that there will be a riot." As the last part was spoken, The Doctor looked his female companion over.
"Through there you can find the wardrobe, the TARDIS will help you." He paused for a second, before turning toward the ginger, "Could I talk to you alone for a second, The Able?"
The Doctor walked off before Able had the chance to answer. Rose raised an eyebrow, but when Able just return it with a confused look, she shook her head and headed into the wardrobe, allowing the ginger to follow after The Doctor. Thankfully, it didn't take that long to him him, something that Able suspected the TARDIS had a hand in – The Doctor was just sitting there in Able's rather plain room, everything essentially dark grey, other than the wooden desk that had a number of books from The Doctor's library on it that he'd gathered the 'night' before.
"How are you doing?" He asked, rather unceremoniously, his expressions rather nonchalant as he looked over the books that Able had chosen.
Able immediately suspected what this was about. The Doctor had been fully aware of his surroundings during Platform One, and had noted the way that Able had showed back up. In order words, The Doctor had most likely theorized what happened when the blue-eyed male had been teleported away.
"My conversation with The Face of Boa helped a lot." Able admitted, seeing no reason to beat around the bush, "He told me that he believed I wouldn't have done something like that if I had another choice. I'd like to believe that as well."
The man swung around to look at the ginger, his eyes unfathomable, "You'd like to believe it?"
"When I looked at Cassandra, with that horrible weapon in my hand, pointing it toward her... I said something that scared me a little bit. I was no longer in danger from her anymore, essentially in the free and clear. Instead of just getting away, I told her that if Rose had died, I would, you know..." Able gave the Time Lord a ghost of a smile and ran his finger across his throat.
Just thinking about the situation brought the memories back, memories of the burnt body, half decimated. The thought that his one and only living bond to this world had been destroyed.
The hopelessness.
Instead of anger, or distrust that Able had been perhaps expecting, The Doctor had a look of deep understanding cross his eyes, "I see... Well, The Able, I agree with The Face of Boa, you are the most open-minded humans I've ever met, and I've met a lot of you apes..."
The atmosphere was slightly awkward for a second. Considering the topic of discussion, that probably wasn't surprising.
"You're book choice is interesting." The Doctor suddenly came out with, "Rose mentioned you were a Doctor of Theoretical Physics, but you choose books that have nothing to do with that."
"The Doctor, I knew you wanted to get me alone, to get to know me, you know how to make a girl swoon." Able mimed doing just that, giving the man a sardonic grin. The Doctor seemed in the mood for some mild interrogation though, and Able didn't actually have anything to hide, "I'm already one of the top Theoretical Physicist of my time. I don't need future knowledge for that, over more, if anything it would only make my life harder. I'd have to dumb down what I know to an acceptable level before I passed in my research. Instead I picked up an interesting side project."
"This will have an ape like you confused for years." The Doctor challenged playful, any accusations having left his tone, picking up one of the books to accentuate his point.
Perfect for distracting Able from - The sight of a half decimated body, and the feeling of guilt, horrible crushing guilt at what he'd done. The gut retching smell of burning hazmat suit plastic mixed with flesh, but it wasn't a clean burn, it was acid, and it had burned into the organs sending a pungent -
"I'm quite capable, this is only one asset of my considerable lists of talents. Want me to send you a list?" Able said, giving The Doctor a wink, "Don't worry though, I have no plans on making a sonic screwdriver, how boring would that be?"
The Doctor felt slightly uneasy letting a human build and learn technology that was beyond their time, but it wasn't the first time he'd allowed it. Sarah Jane being one such instance of his better equipped companions. If anything he should feel a bit better, considering The Able was learning it on his own, developing and creating it all on his own, he'd have a much greater appreciation. (That also lead into the fact he could bring that knowledge to his current Earth and use it to gain profit -) The Time Lord felt somewhat tired, emotionally, not physically. The last thing he wanted was to suspect his most open-minded companion of doing something underhanded, but that same open-minded companion had a dangerous amount of curiosity – Not to mention the intelligence to match.
"Alright then! We should get dressed too, wouldn't want to keep Rose waiting." The Doctor abruptly started toward the door when Able called back.
"Have you talked to Rose yet? You know, about the Platform One situation?"
The Doctor turned his expression confused.
Able very nearly rolled his eyes – But The Doctor was probably used to situations like the one that they had just gone through. It wasn't likely he recognized just how traumatizing it could be, "Rosie nearly got killed by her own planets star as her actually planet was blown to little ittle-bitty bits, met tons of different species, found out her mind wasn't as private as she thought, went time traveling to the year five billion, she's probably not doing so well."
The Doctor seemed pretty shocked – How long had the Time Lord been alone? Clearly he didn't have as good a grasp as Able had thought on humans, Then the Doctor asked"How are you doing with ... All that stuff?"
"I already knew that there were different species and types of life. I'm a scientist after all, the likelihood of their not being other life forms is... So tiny that you couldn't logically take it into account. The same with the other things, I always knew that the planet would be destroyed and I've thought it over before in detail, and I've always known that minds could be interfered with." Able explained, "Rose never knew any of this, or thought of it in great detail. She's never had to. I think what she's suffering would be akin to 'culture shock' as you mentioned before."
The Doctor looked thoughtful, "I think I know just what to do." Suddenly deep gratitude crossed the man's face, "Thank you, The Able, you are extremely good at putting things into perspective for me."
The Doctor left after that, and Able watched him go feeling just a bit weird. It was a mixed feeling, as though he passed a test or some sort, or perhaps that he'd done the right thing. In addition to that, the gratitude that had flashed across the Time Lord's face made Able feel strangely warm – Perhaps a mix of happiness and the sense of being undeserving?
These past few days had more emotions stuffed into them then a good majority of Able's life. The ginger shook his head of these thoughts and went into his personal wardrobe the TARDIS had supplied. Inside he found a shirt and vest fitting for the time, and changed into it. However, he kept his watch, glasses, sweat-pants, and converse the same. It was a weird mishmash of formal and informal clothing, but it would allow Able to be more comfortable when at the same time providing some sort of cover for anyone in the past that glanced at him (Although they would certainly as questions if they looked closely enough.)
After getting dressed, the blue-eyed male made his way down to the console room. The Doctor was already there – and was he wearing a different colour shirt? – Oh well, it was always the confidence that sold a disguise. At least, that's what they said in television.
...
...
...
At some point, both The Doctor and Able found themselves on their knees as the Time Lord took out his screwdriver and started to fix some small issues that had occurred with the wiring, running diagnostics, and things like that. During that time, they made some idle conversation. Able inquired as to just what The Doctor was doing each time he started something new, and The Doctor asked a little bit about Able's work – Really about what he specialized in and some of his work on theories. Work which, The Doctor himself admitted eventually was exceptional for the time period.
The easy conversation was interrupted when they both heard foot-steps and looked up.
Rose, and she looked stunning. A purple skirt with black embroidering, a tight black top made of lace and black frills, with a sort of black cape lain across her shoulders attached at her neck. Her hair was up for the occasion.
"Blimey!" The Doctor explained, looking rather shocked.
"Don't laugh." Rose said, giving a little giggle herself.
"You look beautiful." There was a pause, "Considering..."
Able had been enthusiastic about The Doctor's reaction to his best friend. She certainly deserved it, looking as stunning as she did, but the ginger knew, just knew, that something to ruin it was going to be said the second he added the 'considering' into the mix. Of course, the physicist couldn't allow The Doctor to ruin his plans for getting Rose to break up with Mickey, and knew he'd need to interject.
"Considering what...?" Rose asked, who'd looked flattered, but the emotion was starting to fade a little to be replaced with a vague feeling of resigned curiosity.
The Doctor opened his mouth to reply, but Able cut across him and walked up the ramp toward his Rosie, "Considering how worried we were about you and how you were dealing with the Platform One situation. Me and The Doctor were just talking about how I was taking it, and we were worried about you as well."
Rose looked suspicious though, "That true?" She asked The Doctor, narrowing her eyes.
The Doctor took the out and nodded his head a few times in quick succession.
"So, how are you dealing with it, Lover?"
"It's... Hard... Thinking of seeing the sun in the sky again after seeing what I saw kind of hurts a bit. I can't imagine I could ever look at a piece of paper the same way again." Rose tried to joke, but it fell flat, "I guess it will just take time, but I'm fine, honestly I am." She hastened to make her point.
"If you're sure, Rosie." Able spoke in a soft tone, before leaning over an kissing her cheek, "As The Doctor said, you look stunning. Let's go check out 1860, shall we?"
"What about him?" Rose questioned, turning toward The Doctor, "Aren't you going to change?"
"I changed my jumper." He said simply enough.
Able burst into laughter at the disbelief that came onto his best friends face at the response. She stage whispered toward him, "Is this some kind of sexism?"
The ginger knew she was joking, but gave a more serious observation anyway, "No, I think he's abnormally attached to the clothing he wears. Maybe some sort of security blanket."
The female just rolled her eyes, used to getting overly serious answers from her friend, and headed toward the door, followed by the two men, ready to face 1860. The door opened, and their faces were blasted by chilled air and soft snow fall. The town, from what they could see, looked beautiful with its soft dusting – Something that you would normally only see in paintings, but those couldn't match the pure feeling that actually being here gave off. They walked out of the TARDIS and -
Wait, snowing in Naples?
"Naples is a Mediterranean area, nearly a humid subtropical climate, the winter months rarely if ever reach below even 4 degrees Celsius (AN: 40ish degrees Fahrenheit?) and snow is rather uncommon." Able announced, looking around rather confused.
The Doctor seemed to realize this as well, and looked a mixture of thoughtful and, soon enough, embarrassed, as he grabbed a newspaper from a man selling them on the corner and opened it.
"I got the flight wrong." He announced, looking rather resigned.
Suddenly, Able felt a familiar presence fill the back of his mind, touching, sending him images and feelings of comfort, and before he knew what he was doing, he'd announced, "Cardiff, 1869."
The Rift.
The Doctor looked rather stunned, and he looked around with a weird, pensive expression, as though looking for something they couldn't see. Able knew what he was feeling through, he could feel The Rift around Able, but it was too faint to pick up completely, even for the Time Lord, "Actually, yes. December 24th, 1869, Wales, Cardiff... How boring."
Suddenly, there was screaming and people fleeing the theater nearby, all of their eyes flew toward that direction and - The horrible scream that left the melting hazmat users mouth as his body slowly melted off of him, revealing his bones before finally getting to his organs and stopping the ghastly screams, allowing the mercy of death -
"I take that back." The Doctor spoke, snapping a shaken Able out of his flashback.
They all took off running toward the theater, and away from their problems, and upon pushing their way through the crowded exit, they was an old woman, soaring above the frantic crowd as they tried to escape. Some sort of apparition was attached to the woman, steam seemed to be pouring from her body in a distinctively unnatural way.
"Fantastic!" The Doctor exclaimed, allowing himself to fall into awe for a moment, then gathered himself.
The smoke, what could it be? Clearly it wasn't actually smoke, some sort of visible psychic energy perhaps? What would that entail exactly, perhaps and overuse of ability that caused the woman's body to overheat and 'leak' the energies off as though it was heat – Able pushed his thoughts back and ventured farther into the room, grabbing Rose's arm lest they end up separated.
He couldn't take a separation from her now, considering what happened last time.
"Hey! Let her alone! Doctor we'll get her!" Suddenly, the grip that Able had been using to attach himself to Rose, was being used to pull him along in the direction of a few people who were carrying off an old woman.
Eventually, the two of them followed the snatchers outside, "It's a travesty miss, don't worry me and the master will deal with it. The woman's been taking with a brain fever we much get her to the infirmary."
Rose didn't believe that for once second, and as she reached to check the woman the snatchers had carried out, Able kept an eye on the elder man who was coming up behind them. The man tried to push a cloth into Able's face, but it was a feeble attempt considering one of them was an old man, and the other was a twenty something that had spent a lot of time working out as it were.
"Now why are you trying to do that?" Able spoke, his voice low, trying to keep an eye on Rose, who was looking with accusing eyes toward the woman snatcher.
"Please, you must understand, we have to keep this a secret." The elder man begged, his eyes wide and frantic.
So the man clearly had some idea of what was going on, and that ghost that had come out of the woman, perhaps the woman's own spirit? Abe hadn't believed in spirits, but then again, he'd just seen something that was lacking in explanation flying around, connected to the woman's body – Occam's Razor in account - Going with the man quietly was the easiest and least troublesome way of getting what his curiosity was dying to know.
"Rosie, we should go with them. They clearly know what's going on, and I don't think that it was something they did to the woman that caused this." Able spoke, throwing in the last part knowing that otherwise, Rose's morals wouldn't allow her to let it go.
Rose trusted Able, and although she didn't tear her eyes away from the female snatcher, she nodded.
They all situated themselves in the carriage, Rose with the two up front, but there was no room for Able there, so be rode with the corpse in the back. Rose looked about ready to protest, but Able shot her a look. Able couldn't tell where they were going, so he opened his mind, intending to consult The Rift – and there was a weird influx, random images, mostly from the future, of The Rift's way of seeing, experiencing was probably the better word, a young Able. Then – Nothing – The connection cut and there was some weird fluctuations of energy.
Able had a deep sense of foreboding about this trip all of the sudden, and he felt so, so alone.
...
...
...
It took a good half an hour according to Able's watch for them to get back to the place the snatchers wanted to get. The snatchers looked around frantically before pulling the body into the funeral area, a frustrated Rose and a contemplative Able following after them closely – Always staying in ear shot.
"What are we going to do, sir?" The female asked, looking rather hopeless and distressed.
The man seemed similar, "I don't know, girl, it's not my fault the dead keep getting up."
"If it's not your fault, than whose is it?" She asked, although it was clearly rhetorical.
Able gave a sharp whistle to draw their attention back toward their guests, making the two snatchers give a jump. The displeased look on Rose's face was enough to make both of them want to grow a shell and retreat into it like a turtle – Able wasn't quite sure he blamed them. After all, the blonde had a killer glare, it had gotten Able to give in plenty of times.
"Alright! Let's get into what's going on here." Able said, sounding almost cheerful, "Now, I think you said something about dead people getting up and walking around?"
The man cleared his throat, looking rather nervous still, "Yes... The bodies of our unfortunate customers have been coming back and walking themselves. It's unholy I tell you! What can we do though, we just try to keep them contained here... There isn't anything else we can do."
"Them?" Able asked, "Well, either way, I'm sure The Doctor will be here soon, he's sure to help you out."
"The Doctor, you say? Good heavens no, a Doctor isn't needed for this, I suspect the best way to deal with this situation is to call the minster! I've done him a favour, I'm sure he'll perform an exorcism for me on the cheap." The chubby male stated, looking still rather frantic.
"What's an exorcism going to do? The dead are walking, not demons." Rose asked, glaring at the male before her, finding his cowardly way of dealing with the situation rather pitiable, "If you want this to be solved, it's best to let The Doctor help, he knows a lot about things like this."
Rose wasn't the most diplomatic, that much was clear and Able wouldn't have expected her to be. The blonde was far too opinionated for that.
There was a knock on the door, and the man spoke to his female servant, "Go, tell them we're closed girl."
"Lover, you should go with her. I'm willing to bet it's The Doctor." Able spoke, before pointing toward the bumbling man, "I'm going to stay with this one, make sure he doesn't get himself into much trouble."
The tone Able used was borderline sarcastic, but he followed the man a moment later as he left and the girls went to answer the door.
"Did you call that young woman, 'Lover'? How inappropriate." The elderly man said, a blush gracing his face as he stumbled along.
It hadn't occurred to Able when he'd said that it could be seen as offensive. He'd always just said what he liked for the most part – Then again, he wasn't in the twenty-first century right now. This current era was a repressed one, had they known Able was agreeable to the male sex, they'd probably have a heart attack before stoning him to death. It was nice to see how far humans came as a society in such a short time. If you disregarded the outliers, of course.
"It's something she's quite amicable to in bed, and outside of it. You see, to be perfectly blunt, it turns her on." Able spoke, mostly just to tease the old man, who nearly fell over.
"Well, I've never!" Was all the man managed, seeming rather lost for words.
Before their conversation could continue, there was a banging on the door, the sound of wood breaking, both Able and the undertaker turned toward the noise and made to find out what was going on. What they found was rather interesting to say the least, the living dead had quite nearly broken the door completely.
"ROSIE! WE'VE GOT A PROBLEM!" Able exclaimed at the top of his lungs.
Able and the undertaker were holding the door closed, when The Doctor, a stranger, Rose, and the servant girl all came running.
"Hi!" The Doctor said, upon looking at Able with an excited smile.
"The Doctor." Able returned, giving him his own childish grin, he couldn't help it, because dead people walking and ghosts – GHOSTS! In that moment, just for a few seconds, the heavy feeling in Able's chest that was hiding beneath everything else faded, and he was looking at the world with the same excited eyes he'd started off with during Platform One.
"Who's this, by the way?" He added as an afterthought, just as The Doctor simply opened the door, revealing the two dead on the other side.
"Charles Dickens."
Able's eyes widened in pure delight, "Really?! Wow, I read your works well in schooling, they were marvelous, in fact, I did a report on Oliver Twist – Got an 96 percent, quite the piece of work you've made."
"Oh my god, a nerdgasm, now of all times?!" Rose spoke, her voice an exaggerated deadpan, considering the way she was looking at the walking dead, more of an act than anything else.
Dickens was far more interested in the dead that were standing up in front of him though, "We must be under some mesmeric influence..." He spoke in a breathy tone.
"Nope, I do believe the dead are walking." The Doctor stated simply, "I'm The Doctor, this is The Able, over there is Rose Tyler and Charles Dickens, don't know the names of the other two, who are you then?"
"Failing." The two corpses spoke in tandem, "Open the Rift. We're dying. Trapped in this form. Cannot sustain. Help us."
With that, the bodies turned their head upwards, and mimed the same thing the woman in the theater was doing, with a haunting scream - The horrible scream that left the melting hazmat users mouth as his skin slowly melted off of him, revealing his bones before finally getting to his organs and stopping the ghastly screams, allowing the mercy of death - The spirits had returned to gas, and the bodies which had been taken over slumped to the ground with a plop, slackened and lacking any sort of life.
The flashback and struck deep inside of Able, and although he was still in awe at what was happening, he found himself much less enthused than before.
It was a horrible feeling being traumatized – extenuated by The Rift ignoring him – and Able didn't want to feel something like that again. Even knowing that it wasn't as simple as just turning it off.
"You okay, Able? You're looking a bit pale." Rose mentioned suddenly, causing all the heads in the room to turn toward the redhead.
"Just fine, Lover."
The horrified gasps helped Able leave behind the horrible feelings, and focus on the present.
...
...
...
"I don't want that young lady in my home for longer than needed." Mr. Sneed spoke, pointing toward Rose with a shaking hand.
Rose looked startled and confused, "What do you mean?"
"This young man admitted to me that you... You're some form of sexual deviant!" He exclaimed, looking rather flushed at having to even say those words.
Rose looked utterly stunned, turned toward the snickering Able, then toward the amused Doctor, and back toward Mr. Sneed, "What on Earth... I'm not a sexual deviant! If anyone is, it's him! A few years ago he had a new partner every few days, and let me tell you, he certainly wasn't every picky."
"You'll make me cry, Lover. The shame is too much, why must you exclaim my private life to the world." Able said, looking abashed.
"Well of course, well, a man has needs!" Mr. Sneed said, looking rather flustered, "It's a totally different situation, although I must admit it's still quite sinful –"
"Urgh! I'm not liking the past all that much." Rose hissed out, looking rather offended and glaring at the old man.
Able cleared his throat to draw attention back toward him, "Perhaps we should focus on more important things, like the dead being controlled by a gaseous species."
"I know what it looks like, but I swear it's not my fault! It's this house."
Mr. Sneed looked downright tired as he said it. If not for the man being such a horrible sexist prude, Able would have found it in himself to feel a bit bad for him. As it were, open-minded as Able was, he could understand, just not sympathize with such backwards views. Therefore there was no empathy for poor Mr. Sneed, even as he was clearly not much more than a distressed old man.
"It's always had a reputation, haunted, but I never had much trouble until about three months ago." Mr. Sneed was speaking directly to Dickens now, likely the prude in him, "Then the stiffs, I mean, the dearly departed, started getting restless."
"Lies." Dickens stated quite clearly, calmly taking a sip of his tea.
"You've seen it! Can't keep the buggers down, sir, they walk, and they do so to where they want! Just like the old lady, she went to your show, just as she'd planned on doing before she died." Sneed explained.
"Morbid fancy."
"I never much liked people who couldn't admit the truths that were right in front of them. For such a brilliant man, you're lacking brains in some areas that it really counts." Able said, almost off-handedly.
The man looked offended, but The Doctor, who was leaning comfortably against the wall finally spoke up, "What about the gas?"
"That's new, sir, never seen anything like it."
"That means it's getting stronger, The Rift is getting wider, and something is sneaking through." The Doctor theorized, making Able's eyes widen to the size or plates.
It explained a lot – why The Rift was acting weird especially. Normally, when The Rift got wider, it would dispense that energy into Able in order to keep itself stable, and for some reason, it wasn't doing that. Able attempted to connect to The Rift, but was quickly rebuked, and it was like being slapped straight across the face. It was the shock mostly, not the pain, that sent Able to holding his head.
The Doctor noticed it, this time there was no hiding it, "You're connected to it?"
"Yes." Able hissed out, still rather shocked.
"Fascinating... Do you know anything about what's happening?" The Doctor said, taking our his sonic and scanning Able from top to bottom.
"Excuse me, but what do you mean connected to it?" Rose asked, looking confused and worried.
"The Rift, Rosie, I've been connected with it all my life. Psychically, at the very least, and The Rift is essentially my parent, guardian, and perhaps even god, all in one package. They practically raised me, taught me, showed me things that are beyond humans of our time... I knew of aliens, time travel, technology, although usually these things are just imprints..." Able explained, finally letting his hand drop from his head and stood straight, looking at his blonde friend and ignoring the scanning Doctor.
"You never told me?" Rose asked, sounding hurt.
Able winced, he always hoped to avoid this confrontation, "Please try to understand, Lover. It would have sounded insane to you, had I come out and said the things I knew. You would have needed proof, proof that I had no way or providing."
Rose looked away from Able, and didn't say anything.
"Well, now that the domestic is over, we can move on." The Doctor stopped scanning Able and placed his hands in his pockets, "For those of us that aren't The Able, and don't have vast understanding of what a Space Time Rift is, it's a weak point, a place where there is a connection between one place and another, sometimes multiple others. That's what causes ghost stories most of the time. Usually these things aren't sentient, in fact, this is the first time I've heard of one being so... It's incredibly fascinating, but I suppose we ought to deal with the problem at hand first."
As he said those words, he sounded almost regretful – Able didn't blame him, as the physicist was rather curious himself.
"That explains how I got the place so cheap, and mind you, the stories are good for business. Just the sort of thing that people expect from a trade like mine." Sneed admitted, not looking in the least bit ashamed.
The Doctor laughed, watching Rose's shocked expression at what the man was saying – Able couldn't resist the small amusement he got either. Rose was just so expressive, even when rather angry for one reason or another.
...
...
...
Rose left with the servant girl – Gwyneth, as Able discovered. The Doctor had followed after Dickens, who was, perhaps understandably, having issues with the whole ghost problem. That left Sneed and Able to themselves, and Sneed didn't look to comfortable with it.
"You poor, poor repressed man. If I had less respect for myself, perhaps was less prideful when it came to my partners appearance, I might have helped you out." Able spoke, trying not to laugh as the man turned red as a tomato.
"Why, I never... Do you get some sick amusement out of saying such sinful things?" Sneed asked, looking so incredibly flustered.
Able gave it a moment of thought, "Perhaps, I think it's more of the fact recently I've been rather unhappy and had something traumatic happen to me, and I'm using your hilarious reactions to lighten my soul."
Sneed actually seemed almost sympathetic.
...
...
...
Perhaps a hour later, everyone was gathered around the table for a séance, The Doctor giving a rather quick explanation as to why, "Here we've got two rather powerful connections to The Rift, this might be our only chance to connect with the ones that are doing this – To see what it is that they want."
"This is ow Madam Mortlock summons those from the Land of Mists down in Brutetown." Gwyneth spoke, gesturing the others closer, "We must all join hands for this to work."
Most of them grabbed each other's hands.
Able, who was sitting next to Sneed, sent the man a cheeky little wink. Sneed was rather reluctant to take Able's hand after, but recognized the importance of the séance and sucked it up.
"I can't take part in this." Dickens commented, standing up.
I suppose this is why you should never meet your heroes, Able thought, looking rather disappointed in Charles Dickens. Then again, being as open-minded as Able was, it was hard for him to understand why people couldn't just be the same, so maybe his dislike of Charles had more to do with Able's own problems than Dickens.
"Humbug?" The Doctor mocked, looking up at Dickens, "Come on then, keep an open mind."
"This is precisely the sort of thing I strive to unmask as fancy! Séances, nothing but luminous smoke and mirrors. This girl knows nothing!"
"Oi!" Rose immediately defended.
"No need to antagonize them, come on Charles, I love a happy medium." The Doctor said after a brief snicker.
"What a dad joke, how'd you know that was one of my new –" Before Able could finish his comment, Rose gave him a narrowed look, and after being friends for so long, the ginger easy recognized it as a sign to shut up.
Eventually they got Charles to sit down, holding hands with the others, "Now, Gwyneth, Able, reach out to The Rift."
After getting the smack down last time, Able was less wanton to do so. However thus far The Doctor hadn't lead them wrong, so the ginger hesitantly reached out psychically to The Rift – He was immediately enclosed in warmth, caring, remorse, feelings that were beyond Able's comprehension, but Able could recognize one final emotion – Fear.
The Rift spread itself across Able's mind, and something started to happen, whispers erupted, but instead of being a part of it, Able could feel himself being protected from whatever outside force there was at play through The Rift.
Gwyneth on the other hand, had an small, blue light illuminating from her, the ghost like apparitions that had been seen escaping the dead bodies earlier were swirling around, mostly around both Gwyneth and Able, although they seemed almost agitated in their flight pattern when it came to the redhead. It wasn't too much later that The Doctor had talked Gwyneth into connecting with the spirits so that they could be heard.
"Pity us. Pity the Gelth. There is so little time. Help us." The apparitions spoke as one, but frankly there was a stronger voice, young, feminine, and so, so sad.
The Doctor looked almost gentle as he spoke next, "What do you want us to do?"
"The Rift. Take the girl to The Rift. Make the bridge." They sounded panicked, giving a sense of urgency. Yet, Able felt more suspicious than anything.
"What for?" The Doctor asked, rather reasonably.
"We are so, so very few. We are the last of our kind. We face extinction." They spoke, and The Doctor looked too sympathetic to them, Able noticed.
"What happened?"
"The Time War. The whole universe convulsed. Destroyed us. Destroyed our home planet. We once had physical form. The War took it away. Time War wagged, and small species didn't matter. We were devastated. Our bodies destroyed. We ascended – Trapped in gaseous states."
"So that's what you need the corpses for." The Doctor stated, not asked, but looking for confirmation.
"We want to feel the sun. We want to live. We seek physical form once more. Your dead are abandoned. Your dead are buried – Wasted. We wish to use them." The Gelth reasoned.
"We can't!" Rose immediately protested.
"Why not?" The Doctor replied, looking completely confused.
Able still felt as though something wasn't completely right – Yet somehow seeing Rose's 'moral' reaction was quite comforting. The ginger could sense the upcoming argument between the two coming a mile away. Perhaps it best to form his own opinion quickly, there wouldn't be time to waste.
"It's not – I mean, we can't just –"
"Not what? Not decent, polite? We should say no even though it could save their lives?" The Doctor interrupted, looking borderline peeved.
"Open The Rift. Let the Gelth through. We're dying. Help us. Pity the Gelth." They spoke out once more, before disappearing and leaving Gwyneth utterly exhausted.
Able could feel The Rift pulling back it's mental protection – There it was again – A flash of foreboding, but The Rift wanted their ginger to follow his morals, his logic, what he thought was best. With that, Able couldn't allow himself to do anything other than that.
Silence reined as they all waited for their medium to wake up. Everyone was thinking it over, wondering what should be done – Clearly it wasn't a simple choice.
When she came through, Gwyneth looked around rather frantically, "My angels, miss. They came, didn't they? Do they need me?"
Able gritted his teeth against his suspicions. Did she call them her angels before? Able couldn't recall it, and if they messed around with her mind when she was summoning them, it would certainly explain why she gained that point of view – As well as why The Rift had shielded the ginger.
"They do need you, Gwyneth. You're their only chance for survival." The Doctor answered truthfully.
"I told you, you had best leave her alone. She's exhausted and she's clearly not in any state to be fighting your battles for you." Rose declared, giving The Doctor her patented narrowed look.
Able clicked his tongue, "She asked a question, The Doctor answered truthfully. He didn't ask for her to do anything, and this isn't his battle either, it's the Gelth's battle."
"Well, what did you say Doctor? Explain it again, what exactly are they?" Sneed inquired.
"Aliens."
"Like, foreigners, you mean?"
Able winced at the word alien, it really just sounded so... Insulting. He really wished people would stop using it around him.
"The road for them is blocked – A good way to put it – Only the few strong can get through, and even then they find themselves incredibly weak. They are only able to use the bodies for a short amount of time before they need to hide themselves in the gas pipes again." The Doctor explained, trying to put it as simply as possible.
"That explains why they need the girl, then." Dickens stated, coming to an understanding.
Rose looked angered once again, "They aren't having her."
"Rose, she can help, she's on The Rift, a part of it. She can open it up, make a bridge, and let them through." The Doctor reasoned.
"Not her, what about Able? He's connected to The Rift" She shot back.
Rosie won't let them use someone she let all of five minutes ago, but will let The Doctor use me? Able thought to himself humorlessly. He'd known she was angry at him, but to such an extent... That she'd rather Able died than Gwyneth, and it hurt. It hurt because Able was willing to kill for this blonde, who seemed to be willing to kill him for a total stranger.
"Wouldn't work, she's the one with the connection to them." The Doctor shot down, giving a sympathetic look toward the expressionless Able.
When even The Doctor noticed... Able couldn't help but give a little snort, self-deprecating as it was.
"Simply incredible really, ghosts that aren't really ghosts, but beings from another world which can only exist in our world by inhabiting the dead." Charles fleshed out.
"Good system. It might work." The Doctor stated.
Rose got sick of it and stood up, "You can't let them run around inside of dead people."
"Why not? It's simple recycling." The Doctor commented, wondering what was so hard to understand.
"Seriously, though, you can't."
"Seriously, though, I can."
"It's just wrong. Those bodies were living people. We should respect them, even in death." Rose said, "Able, tell him!"
Oh, The ginger thought staying utterly silent, so now you want my opinion. A grand six seconds ago you were willing to sacrifice me. Sorry, Lover, you're on your own. Want to prove your opinion? Try being actually compelling with it for once.
"Do you carry a donor card?"
"That's different, that's –"
"Yeah, a different morality. Either get used to it or go home. You heard what they said, time's short. I can't worry about a few corpses when the last of the Gelth could be dying." The Doctor pointed out, trying to get the hopeless human to understand.
"I don't care, they're not using her." Rose stubbornly defended.
That's
"Don't I get a say, miss?" Gwyneth queried.
Enough.
"The whole not of you sit down and shut up!" Able exclaimed, getting to his feet and glaring at the lot of them.
Immediately, they did so, quite similar to how both Rose and The Doctor had reacted when they had an argument on Platform One.
"None of you are right. You're all thinking with your emotions instead of your heads. I expected better from The Doctor, seems like he hasn't learned his lesson from last time. Now, first point of business." Able turned toward Gwyneth, "I get the feeling you want to say yes, perhaps that you even think your vote actually matters more than the others for once. It doesn't – This choice brings huge potential change for all of humanity."
Able then turned toward Rose, "You! I didn't take you for the genocide of an entire species just because one girl might, I repeat, might be in danger. You're being an ignoramus, hell, I'd say you were being quite a bit like Cassandra. One human means more than a whole race of peoples? You make me sad right now, Lover."
Finally, Able turned toward The Doctor, "Now as for you, maybe you are the one in this mess that is the most correct, but you still aren't thinking with your head! You have no specifics, your plan is to simply let it happen. Sure, a few corpses is no big deal – How many is a few? What do you do with them once they have those bodies. You can't leave them here to traumatize the humans who's loved ones body is now inhabited. You need to take them somewhere else. Not only that, but you didn't bother to even ask the other people's opinions – Seems that only yours matters. Bit of an ego there, haven't you?"
Silence reined, and all three of the chastised parties looked at least a little bit ashamed of themselves. Able was still fuming – Typical for him, he never could bring his anger back in easily.
So, Able stormed off into the next room, reaching out to The Rift – Immediately waves of comfort engulfed him. A bit of the tension was relieved, and Able sat on the floor, looking up toward the ceiling as he allowed The Rift to comfort him.
Fifteen minutes later, The Doctor walked over, "Gwyneth is going to do it – I have a course of action now. We help them gather as many bodies as they need, and once they posses them, we put them in the TARDIS. After we have gotten them all, I'll bus them to a time when humans are accepting and have them work out some sort of treaty."
The Doctor suddenly crouched down next to Able, placing a hand on his forehead. The ginger could feel the man's mind touch his own, just lightly, enough to express emotions of gratitude, the feeling of being impressed, remorse, and several others.
The anger was soothed under the combined efforts of The Doctor and The Rift.
"You're lucky you're so handsome, The Doctor." Able pseudo-flirted, standing up and brushing himself off.
The Time Lord gave Able a cheeky wink, "Nothing compared to you, The Able."
The Doctor stood up and strode out, giving Able too good a view to pass up. Honestly, if Able wasn't the best wing-man in the world... Oh the things he would do with that man.
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...
They made their way down stairs into the morgue, the smell of death invading their senses and - Hazmat finally got the release of death, the smell, oh the smell of the flesh, the half melted organs -
Stop, Able told his own thoughts firmly, it happened, but I had to, that's all there is to it.
Rose, frantically looking for her last leg to stand on turned toward The Doctor, "The thing is, Doctor, we know the Gelth don't succeed. I know for a fact there weren't any corpses walking around in 1869."
The Doctor went to explain, but Able beat him to the punch, "Time's a wibbly woobly mess! You're thinking about it as a straight line, but really it's more like a bit huge circle, full of twisted up possibilities, some things are fixed, but others are not settled points, things that are changed by the way people choose. This will become a fixed point, as many important things are. There are millions of possibilities for which fixed point it will become – Ultimately it depends on the choices we make. Should we decide that the Gelth stay in 1869 as corpses and fellows to humans, when we go back to our time, history will be changed to match that, and the fixed point will become, well, fixed. If it's hard to understand, it's because the human language doesn't have the words needed to describe it."
"That is the most accurately I've ever heard a human describe it." The Doctor said, staring at Able with a little bit of pleasant surprise.
Able gave the room a grin, "Well, I was raised by a Time Space Rift, what did you expect."
The gas lamps suddenly started to flicker, making the easy going atmosphere completely disappear as the Gelth started to swarm around the room. They settled down under a stone looking entrance, and Able could feel The Rift itself swell. He sent a probe toward The Rift, but was, for the first time in his life, ignored.
"You've come to help! Praised the Doctor! Praise him!"
"Please, don't hurt her!" Rose begged, looking at her new friend in worry.
Able, despite his anger toward her at the moment, placed an arm around her in an attempt to comfort.
"Under the arch. We can leave from under the arch!" The Gelth spoke, frantically, as though trying to hurry it along.
They were dying, Able reasoned, but the foreboding feeling was coming back in full.
Gwyneth stood there, and suddenly, Able felt a rush of energy run through his body. It was everything he could do to not fall to his knees at the influx. The Rift was sending him so much, much more than it ever had before. It was going by so fast, the ginger almost felt like he was in a trance. He felt everything, like everything was in his reach. The Gelth were – Liars. They were liars and it was too late, far too late.
It was always too late, since the second Able had been born. Able could feel himself being pulled backwards, he was being shouted at, asked if he was okay.
He wasn't okay.
Able could feel The Doctor press against his mind – The ginger kept him out, this moment, this realization, this was for Able only.
Ever since he was born, Able was on this road. He would travel with The Doctor, he would take the energy from The Rift, The Rift would use him so as not to allow itself to explode, so that it didn't engulf the Earth they had come to care for in their sentience. The TARDIS had given the gift of understanding to The Rift through the visits – With sentience comes an ending – Usually.
Able could see himself in the future – Just clips – He lived. Lived far into the future, farther than should be possible on a linear timeline. He wasn't just Able.
Able was The Rift.
The Original Rift had loved Able like a parent, loved Able like the ginger was the only thing that mattered to The Original Rift, because Able was the only thing that mattered them them, which is exactly why The Original Rift didn't mind the fact that it's existence was coming to an end, especially considering it would infinitely extend Able's.
Now, Able was The Rift, and he could feel himself being forced open – Could feel the Gelth coming through him. Sickening, these liars were using him, forcing him to give into their commands.
The Rift was no longer just around though – The Rift was now not only fully sentient, but also tangible, and oh, oh so human.
He closed it, snapped Gwyneth's mind in the process, and forced the Gelth back through. They didn't deserve new life, they didn't deserve anything but their dying world which should have been utterly annihilated during The Time War.
Then, the blackness came.
R&R
If this was confusing, it should be. Humans can't understand The Rift – Their language doesn't have the capability. Just what do you humans think you are, Time Lords?