Chapter Two.
Rose Tyler's son, John, is a child you would normally call an eccentric character. It was adorable for certain. He had his father's eyes and hair and skin color and freckles and was in every aspect like a little clone of his father. He wobbled without seeing where he went, totally immersed in himself and his thoughts. Tended to mutter aloud things and scream when he found solutions to whatever problems he was solving.
They worried about him a little in Kindergarten. His teachers tended to say he had autism, they insisted on having him seeing the school doctor. She was worried because really, they were out of their deep about this. Like flying a plane in total darkness in the middle of a storm. So they made tests at a very privet hospital when he was two, Peter made the doctors promise with their lives at stake, that no living soul would hear the results. Besides, there's nothing money can't buy.
It turned out; John was actually just a genius half breed, if just little odd for his tender age. And that he seemed to see things other people couldn't. He talked about lines and circles and dots. She knew he had the sight to see the time lines just like his father. And he was just too immersed about them to really pay attention to anything else. He was probably learning by himself how to read them.
When he was four, his child stopped being so immersed about them and began to be just like any other little boy. He loved trains and trucks, and toys of every kind. He liked Sesame Street and puppets. He loved Dora the explored and proclaimed her his wife once he found her in real life.
He loved reading books a little bit advanced for his age, but also he liked fairy tales. So he was just a Time Lord baby, they concluded. And they accepted that, just like they accepted he had two beating hearts when he was born. After all, accepting her own son was no biggie after what the father showed her and make her accept. Long gone her days of ignorance and fear in the Powel State. Her universe was full of possibilities that very rarely she confronted the impossible.
Most of the time, she knew what he was doing or thinking about. He muttered so often that he didn't realize she could hear him.
It was not a surprise when a few months back; he began to mutter 'Daddy's in space' like a mantra to keep him safe wherever his father actually was. She knew he knew about his father since he was two. He muttered 'Ah…he must be my Dad. That man in mummy's mind' and she froze, feeling like a blow hit her on her stomach and her blood ran cold. But her child got back to his funny mutterings and games, and said no more about that for a long while, until a week ago.
He can read minds too, telepathic ability or whatever, but she's sure he hasn't really realized that he can do it at will. So if you began to think really loud, like the Doctor complained, then he could read you like a book. She mostly guarded his thoughts around him like the Doctor taught her just to be sure. Especially if she was holding him, she learned that very fast when he was just a baby of two months and cried every time she did it. Like a colorful mood ring instead of a baby.
She did not see it coming, when he found out about her crying at night. She was hurting him without knowing. And she can't teach him to shield his own mind while sleeping because that's something only the Doctor could do. Or any other telepathic alien race, but she would be dammed; her son would not come in contact with anything alien if she could help it. She knows how precious her son really his to the universe as a whole.
Now, his son was convinced he had to find the Doctor for her. And one thing she was not sure about was his compulsion. Was it normal for Time Lords to have compulsions?. Did they obsessed about stuff as his son did?.
Sometimes his head was a mess of ideas flying, and she could see them if she discretely touched him in the shoulder. She began to do it from time to time, just to be sure what was going on in his little mind. She worried a lot about him.
And now thinking about it, she decided he have been way to quiet for the past two hours while she mopped over her desk. So she walked to his room to find him tinkering yet again with whatever he found in the Monk's File. A projector was playing information and as expected it was in lines and circles and dots. She knew this was Gallifreyan and that his son simply could read it while she couldn't even imagine how.
"What are you doing darling?"
"Trying to make this work. Look, I discovered this…tools…"
"They are sonic…" she stated startled. Her hands going for the screwdriver, it was way too different from the one the Doctor had. But she knew right away it was one. Along with a hammer that could be very dangerous indeed. She cradles it on her hands and admires it, feeling memories surfing with pain and sorrow.
"Well, I call them wave tools, but yes I do think Sonic is the best word for it" he says softly and ignoring the feeling her mother just broadcasted.
"That was in the box?" she asks quite surprised. Well, nobody was sure what the original box had inside, no one could open it before, and it was for two hundred years a mystery for this Torchwood institute. It went from scientist to scientist, and then it was thrown away to the storage room seven. To think all of this, all of this stuff was trapped inside a box so little. Something so precious and valuable completely lost for humans.
"Well I found this kind of trunk, it has quite a lot of stuff, and I think it's endless, bigger on the inside"
"Baby I don't think you should be playing with that" she decided finally. "Maybe we should give'em to the major researchers."
"I'm not playing wit'em, I'm learning how to use this, and it's from my planet"
"What do you mean?" she asked startled. She felt suddenly terrified for his baby son, like if he was being torn apart from her and her stupid humanity.
"I'm sorry, I was born here; I assume that makes me an Earthling, but not a Human mind you"
"That's Time Lord Technology…" she said slowly. "That can't be good….the TARDIS had problems coming to this parallel universe, I mean your fathers ship."
"It works all right. But it says in this diary of the Monk that he used an equation to cross and a bridge of some sort, probably a device that provides stability to the Void, not really sure if I can make it own my own."
"How did you even find this stuff?" she said trying desperate no to hope for the Doctor.
In six years, they hadn't found clues or other alien technologies to cross the void. Sure they knew about this old stuff of the Time Lords for a while, but it was sealed to humans and she knew she couldn't even dream of making it work. To tell the truth she was beginning to lose hope in ever returning with the Doctor. If he couldn't do it, then nobody could, hence the crying every night. She began to mourn him recently— always wait five hours, days, weeks or years, but time runs out. When she is feeling especially depressed, she wishes for death to have taken him, or them, but not this endless wandering about what could have been.
Yet his son was able to open and use this.
She sat on Johns tiny bed and she lets the thought sink in. No, it was not possible. This was just the idea of a five year old, almost a fetus of three weeks by Time Lords creepy standards. If the Doctor, who learned everything in his home planet and had better tools, said it was not possible, then it wasn't.
On the other hand John was learning valuable stuff about his people, she somehow couldn't interfere, couldn't prohibit it. This was his cultural heritage and some of this information could come in handy once she and his family died and left him.
She feels his heart being torn apart every time she thinks of his baby alone for thousands of years. So lonely and as angry as the first Doctor she knew. A small whimper escapes from her chest. Then she was crying again.
"Its ok mum" he said hunching still over his work. "I'll bring him"
She denies it with her head, but it's useless, she can lose her hope, but not break the hope of her only son. In that moment, she decides to help him, if it's just for his learning about himself.
+2+
"Hi!...My name is John, I'm looking for the Doctor. If you receive this message, please, send it back with a confirmation." John says to the little bright cube.
"¿That's it?" his mum asks.
"Well, I didn't know what else to say."
"John….if it doesn't work, promise me you won't be disappointed" she says stern.
"Mum, of course I will be. But, this is just the first one. We have lots of them."
"We don't exactly know how they work"
"It's just a letter; it works like any other email. Only this is designed for emergencies, so it's supposed to work in worst case scenarios like crossing the Void. Besides if it doesn't find the Doctor, it will come back to me"
"We shall see then" she smiles.
He touches the side and it turns brighter blue. "You! Go find the Doctor!"
The little box flies through the open window like a bullet, so fast they almost didn't see it. Then like a bang, its back, pale pink and pulsing lights, charred edges and smoking cold. They both look at it without knowing what to do.
"Well….that was fast" he says blinking. "I guess it traveled in time to come back at second after was sent."
His Mum holds him tight in spontaneous hug. It's great and loving but fearful. And he feels the same horrible terror to the little box. Slowly, they both came closer to the table and he touches it. The message starts with the sound of machines in the background.
"Hello?...Hello?!...I don't know if this is the correct way to make this work, but after two weeks it's the most I could do. Let me see. My name is Jenny. I understand that you are looking for the Doctor. I knew a man that went by that name. That was one hundred years ago. I never saw him again, I'm so sorry".
"That's the voice of a girl…" his mother says flinching uncomfortable.
"Yeah….does it ring any bells?"
"Not really, I have no idea who Jenny is"
"Well…someone very especial…" he says frowning. "This stupid box it's supposed to find the Doctor by some weird telepathic connection. But most importantly, it can only find other Time Lords"
His mother is gaping while trying to say. "You aren't the only ones left…"
"It looks that way…" he's still frowning. An unsettling thought wormed into his head. Even if there were other Time Lords; the message couldn't have gone to other person. Unless they had a connection, relatives so to speak, of the Doctor himself.
What if his father…..had…other family?.
Like his friend father did. Ben's dad divorced his wife and got another one, and he had more sons with her. Maybe for the Doctor has been more than five years, maybe he's lived way longer and has found himself another family.
"You know, she said she knew him a long time ago. Maybe your letter misses him for a few years, all timey whimey or something"
"Yeah…maybe she can tell us something." He frowned to the little white box and then took it with small fingers. "Hi Jenny, I really need to find the Doctor, if you could help me with any information you have about him, please tell me, it's very important. My mother and I are looking for him. We need…him….I mean his help"
His mother smiles. He frowns. He can't believe he said that. He doesn't need him…much… well…not much..
He sends the second mail. But the reply never came.
+3+
John is crying and can't stop. She tries to say something, but the doctors rush her away before she can form any words.
No mother ever wants to hear the desperate cries of her baby left alone on the waiting hall of the Hospital. She wants them to call her mother, someone needs to pick up John and calm him. But when she tries for the second time to form words. They fail her. She looks scared to the passing lights.
She remembers. Torchwood was attacked by a level five treat. Hostile Aliens trying to destroy the institute. Mickey was lost in an explosion on floor eleven. Her father strongly advised a close down of half the building, no one could get up or down from those floors. She had to climb by some emergency stairs that were burning hot, her palms so hurt they swollen so big that they are almost useless to her when she got to the end.
John was hiding under the desk of Forbert, his colleague and scientist was dead. She took him and had to find another exit. She runs on adrenaline, and finds a service elevator. Johnny had to hack it to get down, but the aliens were on their tails. She was shot; it was painful and weird at the same time and she begins to lost conscience all over the floor and when the doors open at the reception of Torchwood they are surrounded by UNIT UK Task Forces and taken away. Her father was not on sight. John was on the ambulance with her trembling and crying like a true six year old.
It all ended suddenly. She loses the colors on the image of the hospital, and then a grey mist took over. Finally she closed her eyes and everything was black, even her worries for his son.
+4+
John was afraid and alone sitting over the plastic chairs of the Hospital. Every person injured on the Institute was brought here and it was rapidly coming close to its capacity. Screaming people was rushed to the emergency door and he never saw them come out. As familiars, personal and authorities cramped the hall. He was less and less noticed.
No one paid attention to the little lost boy sitting there on his own covered in dust and blood and sweat. His hands trembling with fear and loneliness, and his feeling of impotence chocking his throat.
The fear, his biggest fear of losing his mum grips him tightly, so tightly his chest hurts and his teardrops gets lost on the floor. He wishes they weren't alone, he wishes his father was here. He takes the little cube out of his jeans, crystal clear and brand new.
Forbert and him were working on it, just to magnified its properties with something brought by the Horolands Race to Earth and lots of equations of the Monk. His mentor is dead now, gave his life for him. He trembles with the memories. His mother had to come looking for him, hidden under the desk like the coward he is.
If he could be taller and stronger, he could protect everyone, like his father did. But then again he lost his mother to the void. No one can help them really, specially his father.
He stares to the cube again, might just as well use it, and see if Forberts work wasn't lost. "Doctor…please, save my mother, she's dying, I need you, we need you, we can't do this alone anymore, we can't, save my mother Doctor, come save her…"
He sends the message and sees it gone with sadness. Forty minutes later, his Grandmother finds him. But the answer never comes.
+5+
"This shit is back" said Charly.
"This is really not the moment to be clever" Jenny answered with a frown.
"It really is back"
"Shit…" she says leaving the wires of her ship. She cleans her hands in her jumper with disgust. "I thought I fixed it"
"Seems to me like ye did a pretty bad job of it"
"If only I could…."
"Find yer father, I know…" he finished for her.
"You don't get it, however this boy is….he's transmitting a lot trough a telepathic link, his sadness really gets me down. It's just….weird. I mean I can even see a couple of lines he didn't even consciously send. All of this on my father's language; he said he was the last one."
"A total mystery that's been driving ye nuts for the past two years, but first ye need to finish yer magical time traveling spaceship"
"Give me that" she says. "It's a different one, it's a new cube"
She carries it to the console and puts it over. She frowns and pokes it with her mind.
"Doctor…please, save my mother, she's dying, I need you, we need you, we can't do this alone anymore, we can't, save my mother Doctor, come save her…"
Along with the sound, she can feel the golden rays of the telepathic link summoning her inside its contents. This is more chaotic than ever, the child in obvious distress. Yet she can read it while the circles and dots spin out of control. Lots of new shocking information unfolds. She gasps and stutters and falls to the ground.
"Jenny, are ye okay?!" says Charly coming to help her. "Can ye hear me?"
"Oh fuck"
"If ye want, but latter, what's the matter right now?"
"He's….he's…my brother…, he's another child of the Doctor"
"How's that even possible?, I thought he was the last of his race"
"No…his mother, she's…human.."
"Okay…." He says with a nod, but not really understanding one bit of it. "So yer compatible with humans, that's great, like horses and mules"
"Is not, shut up" she says pushing him away. "He send more than the last time, a lot of mathematical theorems and lines of code, he's been studying in our language."
"Yer father a real bastard, he is" Charles comments while rubbing his beard. "Leave ye with nothing he did, leave ye behind, but goes to somewhere to fuck a woman and feed that child with secrets. What does he think he is, having kids all over the place, abandoning them te yer luck"
"It's not like that Charly, they are alone too, he leaved them for some reason too, he can't stop, I understand that. He's lost so much"
"Tell ye what, if we ever found the bastard, I'm so punching him in the face, he would know the fury of a real man"
"Really, why do I have you here?"
"Ye like me"
"This is more important; He also improved the design of the cube. He's not in this universe, the cube crossed the void between realities, and these equations make a lot of difference. They let you send bigger items trough. That's why it's filled with so much more than the first couple of them. I can use this, I can make us cross. We can find him"
"As I said then, let's finish yer magical time traveling space ship and make her cross the void or something"
Jenny sends him a real smile his way. He pretends it does nothing to his stuttering heart.
+6+
On Johns seventh birthday, he has a terrible accident. It's a couple of months later of the horrible cataclysm that turned their lives over. Its seems to Rose like the tragedy its upon them like reapers.
She's barely walking again after she went painful operations. Mickey lost an eye and his father's hair went completely white over the curse of weeks. Her mother does too, but she hides it going totally brunet.
Torchwood is out of service for the time being. They set emergency squads to attend any complications but every diplomatic contact with alien races is closed. They are barely recuperating of it. John's traumatic experience sends him away of anything alien related.
In a way, was like he went back to be just a kid. Like a vacation of his own mind. He sleeps with her, and has nocturnal accidents. He watches telly and plays outside and goes back to speak like a baby.
Like if has lost his clever mind behind the trauma. Or at least it's hiding it, ignoring it. She has no problem with that.
Until that terrible day.
She thought that John's life would be long, she used to wish that his first life would be so long that he would die of old age with four hundred something years behind him or maybe younger like half that but doing his first regeneration to save the planet in one heroic moment of glory, one that deserves John giving his life for it.
Not in some very human accident.
She feels guilty because after all, the Doctor leaved her with the responsibility to look after their child. A child he doesn't even know it exist. Not only her own son, but also one of the last ones of a magnificent race, a mythical soul, a gift for and from the universe.
And she lets him die because some drunkard in the middle of the day runs over him with a car outside her own house.
"Its okay baby, listen to me, you have to regenerate" she says crying.
"wut?" he ask deliriously.
All the blood spilled over the sidewalk. She looks away of his injuries to his face. "Regeneration, it's a processes, you need to start it. You will be okay, you will"
She hates regeneration and everything related. But she cant lost his son. Hes dying, she knows. He will die, and in a sense no longer hers. But its better than losing him completely. The pain she feels tears her apart more than anything in her life. Even more than the pain of losing the Doctor the first and second time.
She fights for the control of her tears, but feels her eyes blurring with them.
"I…" he says with blood on his little mouth. "Feel weird"
"I know. Don't fight it, it would hurt just a little"
"I…"
"Don't, don't make this to me John. You cant leave me. You father did it, I don't think I can lost you baby, if you are gone, I will die, I will"
"Mum…" he says.
"Regenerate, do it. DO IT" she screams.
"How?" he asks.
"I don't know. Its a light, a golden light, go to it"
He closes his eyes. For a second his chest stops.
He dies….
She screams….
The golden light emerges from his tiny body. She leaves her son on the concrete and cries harder.
"My son, my son, my son" she chants.
Its traumatic this second time too, she sees another man of her life go like this again. She hurts all over, she's falling to the ground and screams, screams, screams.
When it's over. There is no little boy on the ground.
Continuee…
Right..., well…this...I have no idea of what am doing.
So please, read, enjoy, rec and review.