Hello again readers. I am so happy to see that so many of you are enjoying story two of my series. Thank you all for your kind reviews and messages.
Disclaimer: Don't own Doctor Who and never will!
It has been a few hours since Jack and his new friend, Gershom, arrived to a medium sized hovel. Gershom's mother had welcomed Jack with a hug and offered him some water along with a small plate of food. Once the two boys were fed, both of them were beginning to feel tired. Gershom's mother saw to it that the boys were tucked comfortably together on a sleeping pallet in one of the two bedrooms.
As Gershom's mother continues tying together small bundles of herbs, the main door to the home opens up. Looking up from her work, Gershom's mother watches as her sister-in-law ushers in a pregnant woman inside.
"Miriam. Who is our new guest?"
Miriam smiles at the other woman before leading Rose towards a long bench that her own mother once laid upon before dying. With seeing that Rose is settled comfortably on the bench, Miriam turns to look at her sister-in-law.
"This is Rose. Rose this is Zipporah. Rose and her husband were separated by the overseer's guards. She is also looking for her two children, which has been separated from." Miriam explains as she moves quickly to fetch a dish of bread, salted meat, and something to drink.
"Mummy?" Jack's voice comes softly from a doorway that leads to one of the bedrooms. He had just woken up from his nap and was curious to see who else was in the home.
Rose turns her head to see her son standing only a few short feet away from where she resting.
"Jack?"
Upon hearing his mother say his name, Jack runs towards her with his arm open. Rose pulls her son into her waiting arms once he is close enough to her. She kisses his hair and cheeks while trying to keep herself from crying joyful tears. She has found her son. Now all she needs to do is find Jenny and the Doctor.
"Mummy. I'm sorry I got lost." Jack chokes out between his sobs. "I tried to find Jenny and daddy and you, but I got confused."
Minding the bump that holds his newest sibling, Jack removes his arms from around Rose's neck and proceeds to lay his head against the bump. Jack presses a gentle kiss against the bump and gets a swipe of a hand from the babe within. Then he begins to whisper words against his mother's belly which he knows that his mother doesn't understand.
Rose brushes her hands through her son's unruly brown locks and she can feel, through her bond with the child she carries, that the baby is happy with whatever its older sibling is saying. She picks up a few words that Jack is saying, but only because the Doctor explained to her what the words mean after using them during their lovemaking.
"So this boy is yours, Rose?" Miriam asks as she sets down the plate and drink on a nearby stool.
"Yes, this rambunctious boy is my son. Jack, can you say hello to my friend Miriam?"
Jack pulls his head away from Rose's bump and looks at the older woman. He lets his eyes roam over her before deciding to speak.
"Hello."
"Hello, Jack. It is a pleasure to meet you. Rose, I suggest you and your son rest here for the night. My brother won't be home till late and perhaps in the morning he might be able to help you find your husband."
"Thank you." Rose says, grateful that her and her son have somewhere safe to stay for the night.
Several hours pass by and twilight has begun to fill the evening sky. Rose, who had taken a short nap after eating, is now helping both Miriam and Zipporah make the evening meal. With the women finishing up with the food, Gershom and Jack get to work setting dishes at the table. Already on the table is a platter of bread, a bowl with some figs and dates, and a pitcher with fresh goat's milk.
The opening of the main door causes every to stop working. An older man enters the main room with a young blonde woman following closely behind him.
"Joshua? What brings you here?" Miriam asks as she moves towards him.
"I seem to have found a young woman searching for her family. I figured since Aaron is one of the tribal leaders he could help her locate them." Joshua says, stepping aside so that Jenny can fully enter the room.
"Jenny." Rose says as she rushes to greet her oldest with a hug.
"Welcome to our home." Miriam says with smile. "Come and eat with us. You must be hungry."
Miriam gestures for Joshua, Jenny and Rose to go ahead and find a place at the long table.
"So how is it that you and dad got separated?" Jenny asks Rose as she moves to sit down at the table.
"A group of men came across us. Then they tried to split us apart, and your father wasn't going to have it. Plus, one of the men kept looking at me which caused my skin to crawl." Rose replies as she seats herself next to Jenny.
"I'm sure that dad is alright. You are the most important person to him besides myself and Jack." Jenny says as she watches Zipporah place a warm pot of some kind of stew on the table.
"I'm sure that Aaron will find your husband, Rose." Miriam says as she places yet another platter of food on the table.
"Miriam, you forgot to mention that we had guests." A male voice says after the door opens.
"They just arrived today, Aaron. Rose and her family are in need of our help." Miriam tells her brother as she moves to sit down at the table. "Come and join us for dinner. Is Moses with you?"
"He will be along shortly." Aaron replies as he places a cloth bag on a wooden peg on the wall.
Joshua, who has also seated himself at the table looks across at Rose with a curious look upon his face.
"You are quite young to have a fully grown daughter."
Rose looks at Joshua and gives him a small smile before making sure that Jack has enough food on his plate.
"She is my husband's daughter." Rose says vaguely while keeping her eyes on what food Jack is putting on his plate.
"Rose isn't my mother by blood, but I love her just the same." Jenny says from her place on the other side of where Rose is seated.
Joshua chuckles at Jenny's quick remark. "Which means that your father is older than your mother by a several years."
"Enough teasing the poor girl, Joshua." the man named Aaron says sternly as he sits down.
With everyone seated and the platters passed around, Aaron leads the group in a prayer before anyone is allowed to eat. The meal passes in relative silence save for a few small discussions on recent goings on in the slave quarters and work areas. With the meal almost done, another person enters the home, and he is older than the others.
"Moses." Zipporah gets up from the table to greet her husband. "Come sit and eat."
The man, named Moses, makes his way over to the table and seats himself near Aaron. He allows Zipporah put a plate of food together for him, and begins to eat once the plate is in front of him.
"Do you think Pharaoh will let us go?" Joshua asks Moses before allowing the man to eat.
"No. Pharaoh is more concerned with other things than releasing us from bondage." Moses states before ripping a piece of bread and dunking it into the stew.
"Like what?" Jenny asks from her place at the table.
"There is talk of an impending war with the Hittites." Moses replies after swallowing his bite of food.
"Pharaoh would not risk releasing us because most of our able-bodied men would be used as troops for the war." Aaron says, looking at Jenny. "Throughout our years of bondage, we have been used not just as slaves, but to fill Egypt's army."
"Many of the young men are conscripted and never return once a war is over with." Joshua sighs while running a hand through his hair. "Even those who are being held prisoner in the palace are not safe from Pharaoh's whims once he sets his mind on war."
"And is that where they would have taken my husband? To the prison at the palace?" Rose asks, worried for the Doctor's safety and that of her family's safety.
Moses lifts his head and looks directly at Rose after hearing her question.
"Why would your husband be there?" Moses asks, curious as to know who this woman's husband is.
"We were separated, forcefully, by several guards earlier today. I haven't seen him since." Rose replies, letting Jack wrap one of her arms around his small body as he cuddles against her side.
"If he was taken to the prison at the palace, then he will be staying there till the Pharaoh decides what he wants to do with your husband." Moses says to Rose before dipping another piece of bread into the stew.
"What can we do to get dad out of there?" Jenny asks, noticing how sad Rose is becoming. She hopes that these people are willing to help them get the Doctor out so that they can get back to the Tardis.
"Would petitioning his release work?" Aaron asks Moses. Seeing how worried and sad the woman and her son are over the loss of the husband, Aaron can't help but want to help them.
Moses considers his older brother's words. He knows first-hand how harsh the prison is and hopes that Rose's husband is strong enough to survive. It is already too late in the evening hours for Moses to try and speak with Ramses.
"In the morning, I will attempt to secure your husband's release." Moses calmly says to Rose before returning to eat the rest of his meal.
~~DWIPS~~
In the early morning light, the Doctor wakes to see his bent knees and a stone floor. His shoulders, arms, and wrists are screaming in agony at holding his weight. Lifting his pounding head, the Doctor turns his head and can blearily see that each wrist has been chained to a pillar on either side of him. He is in some kind of outdoor courtyard that sits behind the prison.
Licking his chapped lips, the Doctor tries to stand up but finds that his legs are too weak to hold his body upright. The jerk from the chains at his wrist cause him to hiss out in pain and frustration. Panting from the pain, the Doctor doesn't hear a wooden door creak open. Nor does he hear three sets of sandals slapping against the stone floor.
Two guards approach the pillars while a dark-haired man, with tan skin, dressed in some elaborate robes of white comes to a stop in front of the Doctor.
"Who are you and where do you hail from?" The man asks as he pretends to brush some dirt off the sleeve of his robes.
"I'm the Doctor." slurs the Doctor as he answers the man's first question.
"Healer is not a name, but a title." The man growls out. "I suggest you don't use riddles for answers. Now answer the questions."
"I already answered your question."
The man gives a nod of his head, and the Doctor feels the burning of a whip meeting the skin on his back. Several more strikes from the whip strike the Doctor, and he lets out a few shouts of pain. With each new hit the Doctor's cries begin to build in volume.
Finally, the man raises a hand and the whipping stops. He moves closer to the Doctor and leans down to look the Doctor in the face.
"If your plan is to keep quiet, then you should know that I have broken men that were stronger than you."
"I doubt that." The Doctor retorts, letting his anger build towards this man.
Before either of them can say or do anything, the wooden door opens and two other men enter the courtyard. The first man is dressed as a military general, while the other man is dressed as the high priest of Ra.
"Pharaoh." The General says as he kneels before his ruler. "The scouts have returned from our eastern borders with news."
The pharaoh backs away from the Doctor and looks towards the general and the high priest.
"And what news have they brought back? Are the Hittites armies massing?" The Pharaoh asks as he walks away from the Doctor.
The three men leave with the two guards following after them. This leaves the Doctor alone in the courtyard, with blood slowly moving down his back. Thank goodness that his Time Lord body can handle extremes that the human body cannot.
"Rose." The Doctor whispers as he closes his eyes.
Ever since they were separated the Doctor has worried about her safety till he felt Jack reach out to him during the overnight hours while asleep. Though the boy didn't know it at the time, he had inadvertently touched the Doctor's mind and shared images of Rose, Jenny, and him together. Jack had even given him a brief feeling of the boy's earlier touching of the child within Rose. Knowing that his family was together, for now, was not enough to alleviate some of the Doctor's worry.
The distant sound of movement coming from behind him, pulls the Doctor attention back to the outside world. He hears quick steps coming towards him, and the Doctor cringes as he waits for the blow. Yet the blow never comes.
Instead of a blow, it is the feeling of being released from the chains that surprises the Doctor. His body lands on the hard, stone floor and the Doctor lets out a sigh of relief at being free. Then there is a set of hands that rolls the Doctor from his stomach to his side.
"I am a friend. You need not fear me." A dark brown haired man says to the Doctor.
Being as gentle as he can with the Doctor, the man lifts the Doctor over one of his shoulders in a fireman's carry. The man walks slowly towards where a rope ladder is waiting for them. With the Doctor over his shoulder, the man carefully scales the rope ladder up and over the wall of the courtyard. From there, the man pulls the ladder up and tosses it down to another man who is waiting on the other side of the wall.
"He needs to be seen by a healer." The man says as he gently tries to lower the Doctor down to the other man. "He has multiple whip marks. Some fresh, some old which are infected."
"Right. I will see him safely to Miriam and his family then." The other man says.
As the Doctor takes a good look at the other man, he notices that he is older and must be of some importance. When the older man has a firm hold on him, the Doctor winces at the immense pain radiating from his back.
"Come. Your family is safe for now, but once the Pharaoh learns of your escape they will not be." The older man says as the other man comes up to the Doctor's other side.
"Right. We best move now."
The three of them make their way through the quiet streets and enter the slave living area in the outer reaches of the city. From there, they hurry through the maze of homes and minor places of importance till they reach a certain home. Before either man can reach out to open the door, it swings open to reveal an older woman.
"Quickly, get him inside." Miriam says as she allows the three to enter the home.
"Quick, Miriam. He is injured and needs care." The younger man says to the woman.
Miriam rushes about in the kitchen, fetching her healing herbs and water. With everything she needs in her arms, Miriam hurries over to the table. She preps the herbs so that she can make it into a salve to fight off the infection. While pounding the herbs in a bowl, she watches as Aaron and Joshua place the injured man onto the table.
"Oh my god, Doctor!" Rose shouts as she moves into the room.
"Rose." The Doctor mumbles out before letting out a harsh groan from Miriam placing a thick salve onto the fresh cuts on his back.
Rose reaches the right side of the table and takes hold of the Doctor's hand with her own. Tears run down her cheeks as she sees the indents on his wrists from the chains. Her eyes travel up from his wrist to his back, and she gasps out at seeing his injured back.
"Oh Doctor." Rose softly says as tears roll down her face. Swallowing down the rise of bile that was trying to rise in her throat, Rose stays by the Doctor's side while his wounds are seen to by Miriam.
It takes Miriam over an hour to care for the Doctor's wounds, and just as she is wrapping some torn fabric to his wrists, the door bangs open.
"You must leave. They are searching every home in search of you." Moses says as he stands in the doorway.
"We have a way to escape." the Doctor groans as he pushes himself up to his knees. "But we need to reach the very edge of the settlement."
"Joshua. Help them get to where they need to go." Miriam says to the younger man. "They won't make it without someone to help carry Rose's husband."
"I will see them to safety." Joshua says in agreement.
"Moses and I will draw their attention for as long as we can." Aaron tells them as he moves to join Moses at the door.
"Thank you." The Doctor says as Joshua helps him down from the table.
"I will fetch Jack and Jenny." Rose says as she moves as quickly as she can towards the back of the home.
When Rose returns, Jack and Jenny are with her and are looking at the Doctor with worry. They can't spend too long worrying since Joshua already has one of the Doctor's arms around his neck. Joshua's left arm is wrapped gently around the Doctor's temporarily bandaged back. Once Aaron and Moses exit the home and head up the road, Joshua leads the family down the road. They move as fast as they can while keeping an eye out for any of Pharaoh's soldiers.
Once they have reached the outskirts of the settlement, Jenny rushes towards where the Tardis is waiting for them. Pulling her key out from underneath her shirt, Jenny unlocks the doors and opens them. She lets Jack run past her and as Rose, Joshua, and her father reach her, Jenny moves to take Joshua's hold on her father.
"This is where you can part with us, Joshua. I hope you all will be alright. You all will be in our hearts. I can't thank you enough." Rose says as she allows Jenny to take over carrying the Doctor into the Tardis.
"You take care, and my the lord bless you and your family." Joshua says to Rose while holding back his amazement at catching a glimpse of the Tardis's inside.
Rose gives Joshua a smile before stepping into the Tardis and closing the doors. With the doors sealed, Rose asks the Tardis to send them into the vortex, which the ship does with no argument. It is as the ship enters the vortex that Rose makes her way deeper into the ship till she reaches the medical bay.
Jenny has already placed the Doctor into a healing capsule that had been picked up just over a month ago by the Doctor. Working on the configurations, Jenny is busy entering the necessary information into the controls on the side wall of the capsule.
Rose comes to a stop on the opposite side of the capsule from where Jenny is working. She gently places the palm of her hand against the Doctor's cheek and his closed eyes open slowly. He nuzzles her palm before placing a kiss in its center.
"I'm so sorry, Rose." The Doctor hoarsely says as he turns to look at her.
"It's not your fault, Doctor." Rose sniffs while trying to hold back the tears building in her eyes.
"Ready to go, Dad." Jenny hesitantly says, not wanting to intrude on her parents.
Rose removes her hand and steps back as Jenny pressed the button that will seal the healing capsule. Both watch as the Doctor disappears behind the shiny lid of the capsule.
"Dad once told me that Time Lord bodies were superior to humans, but I think he forgot to mention that they, too, can be susceptible to infections." Jenny says to Rose before giving her a hug. "I'll go see to Jack and make sure he stays out of mischief till Dad is healed."
It takes a half-hour for the capsule to heal the Doctor, and Rose has stayed in medical the whole time. She is there when the lid to the capsule opens and the Doctor slowly climbs out of the capsule fully healed.
"Doctor." Rose tearfully says as she approaches him, carrying his favorite robe.
The Doctor gives Rose a cheeky grin before pulling her into his arms. He holds her close and tucks his face into the side of her neck. They two of them stand there for a short time, one wearing two day old clothes and the other wearing only his underclothes. It isn't until the sound of someone clearing their throat do they release each other.
Both Jenny and Jack are standing in the doorway with big grins on their faces as their father quickly puts on his robe. Then, with their father now wearing his robe, the two of them run into the room and jointly hug the Doctor.
Watching her family reunite, the Tardis gently wraps each of their minds with the love she feels for them. Yet deep within her connection to the vortex, the Tardis can feel that something is coming. Something major, that will have many little events happening that will signal the end of her family's time together.
I do apologize if this chapter isn't the greatest. My health hasn't been the greatest lately, and I felt so bad that it took me this long to get this posted.
Selene.