"This is getting ridiculous." Jack muttered as the pair in question walked out of the room.
"What's getting ridiculous?" Martha asked confused, her brow raised. Jack motioned to both her and Jackie who in response leaned closer towards him over the table.
"They are! Besides the basic hand holding and pecks on the cheek it's like they're complete strangers." Jackie nodded.
"I know what you mean, this morning they wouldn't even pass the sugar to each other without a song and dance about it." Martha told Jackie. "I'm supposed to be going with them on one last trip but that's on indefinite hold." Jack gave her a funny look. "I'm not in a hurry but I don't want to be in the way. I have a feeling what Rose said hurt more than they're letting on." Martha told them. "I know they apologised but…"
"Close every door to me…" He emphasised the word as he sang. "Hide all the words from me." He deliberately changed the words trying to stress his point. Jackie cottoned on immediately; unfortunately Martha didn't as she had her back to the entrance of the kitchen.
"What are you on about?" Martha asked, Jackie motioned behind her, she continued to look oblivious.
"Yes. What are you on about?" Martha jumped hearing the voice from behind her, as he jumped she bumped the table causing tea to spill over the top of the cups.
"Just felt like singing." Jack told him keeping a straight face.
"You just felt like singing?" The Doctor watched Jack carefully trying to get to the truth with no success; giving up he reached over and passed Martha the cleaning cloth.
"You actually know what that's for?" Jackie asked surprised, changing the subject and saving Jack. "Rose really has you trained." Jack sniggered slightly at the Doctor's indignant look. Martha wiped the table wringing out the cloth in the sink as she did so, trying to mask her own smirk.
"What are you doing in here?" He asked them suspiciously.
"Nothing." The three echoed together not batting an eyelid.
"There is a lounge you know…"
"Yes but the teapot's in the kitchen." Martha quickly cut in. She took a sip from her cup.
"Where's Rose?" Jackie asked him, startled at the pain that crossed his eyes.
"Oh she's somewhere…" He waved slightly. "I've got to go and fix the atomic intake manifolds and then the adjoining regulators…"
"Doesn't the extrapolator bypass that system making it redundant?" Jack asked ruining the rant.
"Yes but…just in case." With that the Doctor hurried out of the room. Jack stood and closed the door softly, at that moment the lights dimmed.
"What's happening?" Martha asked quietly.
"The TARDIS is tuning itself to its 'occupants' emotions."
"Whose has it tuned to?" Jackie asked.
"Both of them. The lights have been dim for the last few days but this is the worst they've been." Jack rested his head in his hands. "They need to sort this out together."
"Last time it took running for their lives to sort it out."
"Doesn't relaxing and being on their own work for them?"
"They're a little backward." Jackie explained,
"Maybe we could make one up?" She shook her head. "Bad idea. Would any alien do?"
"Besides the Daleks and Cybermen. Not really."
"Well can't we just find one?"
"They were wiped out by the Doctor and Rose." Martha nodded in understanding. "I think all we can do is go on a trip and see what happens. Might work."
"I think I'll stay home." Jackie told them. "Just in case this blows up in your faces." Jack nodded quickly as his face brightened.
"Try not to be too enthusiastic about it." Jackie muttered.
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It had taken a while but Jack had managed to convince the Doctor that if they stayed any longer in the TARDIS his claustrophobia would get to him.
"You don't have claustrophobia Jack."
"I could get it though! And at the rate we're going its developing!"
"You can't get claustrophobic in a TARDIS!"
"There's always a first." The Doctor sighed.
"Fine, where do you want to go?" Jack opened his mouth to speak. "Nowhere involving running for our lives." Jack's mouth hung open, wasn't running for your life the Doctor's favourite game?
"Of course not!" He squeaked out once he could speak. "I was talking to Martha earlier and she mentioned going to New York."
"New York? As in America, Earth, New York? As in boring New York?"
"The same one." The Doctor rolled his eyes and sighed in resignation. Jack took time to watch the Doctor as he manipulated the controls. The spring that was usually in the Doctor's actions had vanished, he moved almost sluggishly. He paused playing with his wedding ring. "Doc are you alright?" The question surprised the Doctor completely.
"I'm fine, never better." He smiled forcibly, trying to assure Jack, it might have been convincing if Jack didn't know him so well, and if the bags under his eyes weren't so obvious.
"Have you and Rose sorted everything out?" He asked softly.
"There's nothing to sort out." He told him sharply not looking up from the controls.
"I'll go and fetch Martha." Jack told him turning away.
"Jack can you fetch Rose!" He yelled but realised that Jack was out of earshot. He sighed and straightened out his jacket, pulling his tie straighter. With a sigh he headed towards his and Rose's room.
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Theta knocked on their bedroom's door. Rose looked up, he shrank away from her gaze.
"We've landed." She nodded. "We're in New York, Martha's always wanted to visit it apparently."
"Okay," She mumbled, Tala began to scream loudly.
"I'll sort her out." He whispered, turning to leave.
"NO!" She yelled. "I will see what Tala needs." He nodded slightly, pain entering his eyes. Rose stood up and brushed past him quickly. He looked down at his wedding ring, wishing things could go back to the way they were.
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"I think the Wall Street Crash has just happened." Jack told Martha. "I'm hardly the best person to talk about history with." Martha smiled at his confession.
"I think you're doing fine." She squeezed his arm reassuringly. "I'm just sorry I've complicated things by being around." She motioned towards the Doctor and Rose who were standing as far apart from each other as they could.
"Rose has become more protective of Tala recently."
"She's the only child Rose can ever have." Martha told him quietly. "She doesn't want anything to happen to her."
"But in doing so she's hurting the Doctor. I don't think he could cope if he lost another child."
"Another?" Martha looked at him shocked.
"Forget I said anything." He told her.
"We're here." The Doctor muttered as he approached a makeshift camp in the middle of Central Park, he group narrowly dodged the punches and slaps that were thrown their way as they walked towards the centre of the camp, more specifically towards the man who seemed to be in charge. "I suppose that makes you the boss around here."
"And, uh, who might you be?" Martha noticed the unsure look the Doctor sent towards his wife so she decided to begin the introductions.
"He's the Doctor. I'm Martha. This is Captain Jack, Rose and Tala."
"A doctor and a captain. Well, we got, uh, stockbrokers, we got a lawyer, but you're the first doctor. Neighbourhood gets classier by the day."
"How many people live here?" Jack asked, watching the Doctor remain silent.
"At any one time, hundreds. No place else to go. But I will say this about Hooverville. We are a truly equal society, black, white, all the same. All starving. So you're welcome. All of you. But tell me, Doctor, you're a man of learning, right? Explain this to me. That there's going to be the tallest building in the world. How come they can do that, and we got people starving in the heart of Manhattan?" Martha shook her head unsure what to say, she shot a glance at Jack.
"So…" The Doctor found his voice, "So…men are going missing. Is this true?"
"It's true all right." Solomon walked into the tent.
"Are we supposed to follow?" Jack asked, he watched as the Doctor moved towards the entrance of the tent.
"But what does missing mean? Men must come and go here all the time. It's not like anyone's keeping a register."
"C'mon in." The Doctor stood behind Rose prepared to help her sit down, she tensed under his hand so he pulled it away sharply. "This is different. Someone takes them. At night. We hear something. Someone calls out for help. By the time we get there, they're gone. Like they vanish into thin air."
"Are you sure they're not just moving on?" Rose asked.
"Lady, when you got next to nothing, you hold on to the little you got. Your knife, blanket, you take it with you. You don't leave bread uneaten, fire still burning."
"So, the question is, who's taking them and what for?" A young man poked his head around the tent flaps.
"Solomon, Mr. Diagoras is here."
"I need men. Volunteers. I got a little work for you and you sure look like you can use the money." The man in the pinstripe told him, his head held high, not wanting to fully associate himself with the people of the camp.
"Yeah. What is the money?" The young man asked.
"A dollar a day."
"What's the work?"
"A little trip down the sewers. Got a tunnel that collapsed needs clearing and fixing. Any takers?"
"A dollar a day? That's slave wage. Men don't always come back up, do they?"
"Accidents happen."
"Accidents as in 'oops' or accidents as in 'lets see what happens when I do this' accidents?" Rose asked, knowing all about accidents.
"You don't need the work? That's fine. Anybody else? Enough with the questions." He said as the Doctor raised his hand.
"Oh, n-n-no. I'm volunteering." The Doctor refused to look at Rose to see the anger in her eyes.
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"Have I ever mentioned to you how much I hate sewers?!" Rose snapped at him as they emerged, "Especially when it's a wild goose chase and especially when we get chased by weird pig slash people slash monster things!"
"I thought you liked running." He muttered.
"Not anymore," Rose grabbed Tala from Jack before the Doctor could get there.
"Why?" He asked her quietly.
"What?"
"Why don't you like running anymore?" He stepped forward slightly, relieved when she didn't back away from him.
"Because it means we're in danger, which mean something could happen."
"What's the worst that could happen?" He asked before realising what he said, his eyes drifted towards her stomach before he could stop them. "Rose…"
"Ahem!" A small cough made them jump slightly. "Could we leave this conversation until after the gun that's pointing at us has gone?" Martha asked.
"What gun?" The Doctor asked turning. "Oh you mean that gun." He gulped raising his hands.
"Now tell me, you schmucks, what've you done with Lazlo?" The woman holding the gun asked. (A/N: Just for the record I thought Tallulah was annoying.)
"Uh, who's Lazlo?"
"Lazlo's my boyfriend, or was my boyfriend until two weeks ago. No letter, no good-bye, no nothin'. And I'm not stupid. I know some guys are just pigs but not my Lazlo. I mean, what kinda guy asks you to meet his mother before he vamooses?"
"It might, might just help if you put that down." The Doctor told her.
"Huh?" The woman looked down at the weapon before tossing it onto a nearby chair. "Oh, sure. Oh, c'mon. It's not real. It's just a prop. It was either that or a spear."
"Where do you think he is?" Jack asked.
"I wish I knew. One minute he's there, the next, zip—vanished."
"Listen, ah—what's your name?" Theta realised he couldn't call her thingie.
"Tallulah."
"Right. Um, we can try to find Lazlo, but he's not the only one. There are people disappearing every night. Look. Listen, just trust me. Everyone is in danger." He pulled out a blob from his pocket, "I need to find out exactly what this is because then I'll know exactly what we're fighting."
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Martha watched as the Doctor ran around the prop department looking for equipment.
"What's he doing?" She asked Rose.
"Looking for something to make a scanner I suppose." Rose told her not looking up from Tala. Martha sighed, sitting next to her.
"I know this is none of my business but…I thought you two had worked everything out."
"This isn't something that's going to go away Martha." Rose told her sternly.
"No it isn't but you can't change it, ignoring each other won't help anyone."
"You don't understand do you? I'm going to live for hundreds of years never having another child, I'm twenty-one, I always wanted children but I can't have any more."
"But why are you constantly torturing him now?" Martha wanted to know and she wasn't going to back down.
"He's had children before. I've only had Tala." Rose explained. "I know travelling through time isn't exactly the best place to raise children in but its something I've wanted to do since we became a couple."
"Tell him that then. He deserves to know everything." Rose opened her mind to her husband for the first time in days; she felt a tingle spread through her as he entered her mind.
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Jack caught the Doctor as he lost his balance.
"Woah there Doc. What happened?" The Doctor simply looked at him unnerving Jack slightly.
"She's let me in. She's let me in Jack." He smiled broadly. Jack patted him on the back.
"It's a start Doc." He told him as the Doctor turned back to the blob. "Do I need to tell you that it's a Dalek?" he asked.
"Jack it is not a Dalek for the fourth time."
"Then why does it look like what's inside?" The Doctor looked over his glasses.
"Because…"
"Because…" Jack encouraged.
"Just 'because'." Jack decided to drop it.
"You know Rose hates that suit."
"Yeah. I just felt like wearing it."
"That's still a Dalek!"
"JACK!!" He part shouted. The rest of his scolding was cut short by Tallulah's music beginning.
TBC