Amy walked over to the cube, made to pick it up, and pulled her hands back with a hiss. On her palm were two, neat rows of pinpricks.
The cube had tiny little needles at the top, mirroring the mark on Amy's hand. The cube stopped glowing entirely, instead showing an image of a heart and what was clearly her pulse.
"Melody, don't touch the cubes." She said instinctively.
"Kinda guessed that, Mum." She said, and Amy could hear her scramble off the bed.
"Amy, Melody!" Rory called from down below. "Dad called, said the cubes are doing stuff? Amy?"
"Melody's room." She called out. "Cube just took my pulse!"
Rory came into the room, his cell still in hand as well as the bag of groceries he'd stepped out to grab. He gaped at the cube. "One down stairs by the door way opened, but I don't think it was doing much else. "Dad said one of the ones in his car rattled on the drive over. He was about to meet up with the Doctor."
"Why?" Amy asked, and then decided she didn't want to know. "Never mind. So, the cubes are moving? And taking pulses?"
Before Rory could answer, Melody said something in the weird, chiming language Amy often heard her mumble in. "The cubes. You know? What do you mean you know?" Amy turned in time to see her daughter's eyes going wide as she spoke on the phone. "Oh. Okay."
"Who are you talking to? The Doctor?" Amy asked.
Melody arched a brow. "Rose has the phone, not him." She reminded. "Which is funny when you think about the fact he goes through time and space in a police call box."
"Kids?" Brian's voice called up the stairs before Amy could ask Melody to hand over the phone. She followed Rory down stairs, seeing her father-in-laws bewildered face. "It rattled!" He said as the cube on the table by the door opened and closed. "Ha, ha! Look at that." He said gleefully, pointing at the cube as Rory's phone rang. He answered it, stepping into the living room as Melody came down the stairs.
"Rose and the Doctor are going to UNIT." She said.
"Should we go with them?" She asked, hoping it was a hint.
"The Doctor would prefer if I didn't go anywhere near UNIT." Melody replied. "Doesn't want me cataloged, because I'm special."
"Cataloged, what's that supposed to mean?" Amy asked, folding her arms.
"Nothing." Melody shook her head as Rory entered the entry way.
"I have to go. Work called, they're being swamped with patients attacked by the cubes." He said. "They need all the help the can get. I got scrubs in the car, I'll just change while I'm there."
"Well now I feel useless." Amy said, exasperated.
"Go with Rory." Brian insisted. "You two traveling here and there with the Doctor, probably have some way you can help. Volunteer. He did say they needed all the help they could get."
Amy looked to her husband, calm in features but pleading with her eyes.
She didn't want to admit that a year ago she had hoped the cubes meant adventure. Motherhood was brilliant, and having a normal life was nice between the exotic vacations to different times and places, but she missed the thrill of running. Of chasing. Of doing more than writing. It was no wonder Tim ran off with Jenny whenever he could.
Rory knew this, and while he did seem apprehensive, he relented. Turning to Melody, he said, "Be good for Granddad. Don't try and do anything the Doctor or Rose would do, stay away from the cubes as much as you can. Better yet, go next door and wait for the all clear in the TARDIS."
"Dad," Melody groaned.
"Listen to your father." Amy said as she plucked up her jacket. She gave Melody a kiss on the temple, then followed Rory out the door. "Probably not the best time to tell you this, what with there being an invasion and all. But that prayer leaf I was given on Demon's Run, the one with Melody's name on it? Translated today. Safe to say she won't listen to a word you say." Amy said as she got into the car.
"Why's that?" Rory asked as he backed out of the drive.
Amy waited until he was on the road, thankful there were no cars. "Because her name in the language of the Gamma people is apparently River Song."
Rory slammed his foot down on the breaks and turned to look at Amy. He seemed to be waiting for the punchline, though she simply waited him out until he realized one wasn't coming.
"Melody, our Melody is River. No, that can't be right."
"Well, it's what the writing on the leaf translated to." She reasoned.
Rory looked like he considered something, a crease between his eyes forming. "When I went to get her … I could have sworn I heard you laughing. And the look on River's face … it was like she was expecting me, but not? Maybe it is her."
"Where did you pick her up?" Amy asked curiously.
Rory shook his head. "Been years, and I'm not even sure I knew at the time. Some posh hotel? A party, likely." He shrugged, then continued driving.
"Well, whether you wanna believe it or not, I'm choosing to. If it means I have seen her all grown up on the off chance that we don't see her through her teens, I'm in. And you can't deny the resemblance."
Rory didn't say anything, didn't look like he wanted to, really. He stayed quiet on the way to the hospital, and despite wanting to discuss it, Amy let him.
~DWDWDW~
Rose had been relaxing in the tub, having decided not to bother heading in to UNIT when Kate said there was nothing to report. And knowing that Amy had intentions of swinging by for the Doctor to heal whatever was keeping her from staying pregnant, Rose took the opportunity not only to give them space and semblance of privacy, but to pamper herself a bit. With the bathroom window open, and not a sound in the house, she could hear the moment Amy left the TARDIS, as well as the conversation between she and the busy-body next door.
Honestly, the woman could be bloody insensitive. It crossed Rose's mind multiple times to tell her the truth instead of "we're just not ready," but she wasn't sure she could handle the put on sympathy. And while a hundred years ago she may have had the same worries the Freeman woman had over Amy and the Doctor, it was so implausible at this point it was rather amusing. For a woman who spied on her neighbors nearly constantly, she seemed to have overlooked how much Amy and the Doctor acted like brother and sister.
"Seems our neighbor is writing soaps in her head. What are you and Amy getting up to in the TARDIS, there, Doctor?" She teased through their bond.
"Playing Doctor," He teased back, and she felt his love and humor coming through as the door to the TARDIS could be heard through the open window. "Where are you hiding?"
"Upstairs." She said as she pulled the stopper and climbed out. "Just need to dry off and I'll come down to meet you." She said, hearing the kitchen door open downstairs.
"Need any help?" He called up to her, a grin in his voice. "Make sure you didn't miss any bubbles?"
She rolled her eyes and hung up her towel, putting on her robe and leaving the bathroom.
"Think I got it all, thanks." She called over the banister before popping into the bedroom a moment to grab her hair brush. She pulled it through her hair, getting the knots out as she headed for the stairs.
"Whatever you are, this planet, these people, are precious to me. And I will defend them to my last breath." She heard him say in the tone of the Oncoming Storm. Confused, she inquired what he was up to with a mental tap, and he showed her the image of the floating cube. "Is that all you do? Hover?" He continued as she brushed faster, quickening her steps to the to the living room where she knew he was. "I had a metal dog who could do that. Oh," He said, sounding a bit more panicked just as Rose got to the bottom of the steps. She turned, using the banister rail for momentum, and stilled for a second as she could see the cube was armed. She dove for her husband, getting him out of the way just before the cube attempted to shoot him. The blast broke something as she landed on the Doctor behind the sofa.
"Oh, this is nice." He said with a stupid grin, and Rose glanced down to see her robe had fallen open. She looked at him with a glare, ready to lecture when she sensed the cube. Looking under the sofa, she saw it glowing.
"Move!" She yelled, rolling off of the Doctor to put herself between him and the firing cube. He moved into the kitchen and she pushed herself up on her hand and feet, just missing getting shot. There was now a hole in her robe, making it useless even closed, but it didn't matter much. Bolting to join the Doctor, she peered around the corner with him to see the cube move toward the open laptop computer. It turned it on, a series of things flashing over the screen.
"Oh, it really has woken up," The Doctor said in awe.
"The Ponds? Amy, Melody?" As if to answer her concern, her cell phone rang on the island in the kitchen. Rose plucked it up and answered.
"Melody?" Rose asked.
She was greeted with her Gallifreyan parental name. "The cubes." Melody said simply.
"Yeah, I know." She said, and the cube turned abruptly to fire at them. Rose shoved the Doctor back first before wiping around and putting her back flat against the kitchen wall. She watched the laser hit the toaster, and didn't feel an ounce of regret over the loss of it. Probably wasn't working anyway.
"You know? What do you mean you know?" Melody demanded.
"We're being shot at by one." Rose replied.
"Oh. Okay."
"Listen, Sweetheart, stay with Mum and Dad. You'll all be safer that way, and listen …." Rose said just as another call came through. "Hold on, this is important. Do not hang up," Without hesitation, Rose switched calls. "Kate?"
"We'll need you and the Doctor at the tower of London, ASAP." She said with a faint hint of fluster. "It's the cubes."
"Be right there." Rose replied, switching back to Melody. "Sweeheart, Doctor and I are heading to UNIT."
"Can I come?" Melody asked just as Rose realized the cube stopped firing. She leaned around the corner, seeing the cube had settled back on the coffee table.
The Doctor plucked up the phone from Rose's hand. "Melody? No, no you can't come with us. Why? Because UNIT will want to add you to the collection of companions, and I would rather that they not know exactly what you are to us. Just stay there, we'll get this sorted." He hung up. "To UNIT then?" He asked eagerly.
"Tower of London, actually." Rose replied.
"Might want to change, first." The Doctor reminded her, and she looked down at her singed, useless robe. "Don't mind this myself, but I don't want others having a gander."
"Right, hopefully there aren't anymore cubes around the house I didn't know about." Rose mused before darting up stairs and getting dressed.
~DWDWDW~
They arrived at the tower of London, Rose flashing her ID badge while the Doctor flashed his psychic paper. The eyes of the soldier widen. "Right this way ma'am, sir." He waved them through, and Rose drove through the gate and parked next to what she came to know as Kate's car.
She and the Doctor climbed out together, heading toward the door at the base of the tower where a silhouette waited to greet them.
"Half expected you to be Osgood." Rose greeted Kate.
Kate smiled, "Sure if she wasn't in Scotland checking out some other strange phenomenon, she'd have been here eagerly with inhaler in hand." Kate waved them inside, and the followed through the tunnels to the big, heavy, vault looking door.
There was no preamble with the older guard who held the second key to the door. Normally there was a small chat, usually something nearly the same as every other day as his memory was always wiped at the end of his shift. It often made Rose wonder what he would tell his wife at the end of the day, having either always had the same first day, or nothing ever happening at work.
"Every cube across the whole world activated at the same moment." She told them once they were inside.
"Now we're in business." The Doctor said gleefully, rubbing his hands together as they entered the cube room.
"There are fifty being monitored, and more coming in all the time." Kate continued, gesturing at the various enclosures around the room. The cubes inside the blinked, shot fire, mimiced the look of rubix cubes. Some were in a room with UNIT science officers, a glimpse inside one window revealing the officer going from laughing to sobbing. "Every cube is behaving individually. There's no meaningful pattern, some respond to proximity, some create mood swings."
"Why's this one in the hold on its own?" Rose asked, stopping beside the view window and pointing in.
Kate looked at it with something close to disgust. "Try the door." She suggested.
Rose opened it, and was instantly hit with the loudly played "chicken dance". She grimaced, face screwing up in disgust.
"Why is not surprising that something that makes me want to regenerate was written by a man from a town that is almost called Davos? It's only missing the 'r'." He grumbled in their minds as he put his fingers in his ears.
"On a loop!" Kate said, and Rose slammed the door shut.
"I'm good, thanks." She said, straightening her shirt.
"This is the latest." Kate said, waving them over to the computer banks on the far side of the room. World maps, mostly, but a few listings of some things that cubes were doing.
"What's all the highlights?" Rose asked, pointing to the world map on the bottom row.
The Doctor started typing. "System breaches. The Pentagon, China, every African nation, the Middle East."
"I've got governments screaming for explanations, and no idea what to tell them." Kate said, level headed for the most part, but with a hint of frustration. "I'm lost, Doctor. We all are."
"Don't despair, Kate. Your dad never did." The Doctor replied as he continued to look at the monitors.
"You told him?" Kate asked Rose. There was no accusation in her voice, but Rose still felt bad.
"No, she didn't." The Doctor turned to Kate with a gentle smile. "Kate Stewart, heading up UNIT, changing the way they work. How could you not be? Why did you drop 'Lethbridge'?" He asked.
"I didn't want any favors." Kate replied. "Though he guided me, even to the end. 'Science leads', he always told me. Said he'd learned that from an old friend."
"We don't let him down." The Doctor said adamantly. "We don't let this planet down."
Kate gave him a nod, and the Doctor smirked.
An alarm beeped, ending the bonding moment, drawing the attention of everyone in the room.
Rose looked to the cubes, focusing on each one for a few seconds. "Cubes aren't doing anything anymore." She said, moving quickly to the "Chicken Dance" cube and opening the door to blissful silence.
"They've stopped across the world," A tech Rose didn't remember meeting pointed out. They just shut down."
"Active for forty-seven minutes, and then they just die?" Kate frowned.
"Not dead. Dormant, maybe."
"Well, that's unsettling." Rose said as she closed the door to the "Chicken Dance" cube and returned to his husband's side. "Can't be the extent of the invasion. There was some harm done, I'm sure. Still, seems oddly pointless to just … make 'em do a bunch of random things then stop."
"It is. Nearly a year of anticipation, of waiting, and having less than an hour, just over three quarters of one, filled with activity ranging from harmless to murderous. Then nothing." He got up and moved to the "Chicken Dance" cube's room, opened the door and picked up the little block. He tossed it around, spun it on the table he plucked it from. "What are you!?" He yelled at it as he slammed it down.
"Okay," Rose said, moving toward him. "Maybe you need to get some air, think, yeah? Just a cube."
"No, it's not just a cube, it's a taunt." He retorted.
"Out. Head on up and out now, I'll be right there." She said gently, squeezing his arm and sending him calm.
He nodded, sending an apologetic wave to her before heading out the cube room.
Rose turned to Kate. "Sorry." She apologized for him.
"It's fine." Kate was quick to dismissed.
"No, 's not." Rose said. "He's been forced on the slow path, waiting for the cubes to do something, anything, and when they finally did it seems like it's for nothing." She shook her head. "Gonna go find him. Let us know if anything more happens, yeah?"
"Of course." Kate said, turning back to the computer bank as the phone rang.
Rose nudged her husband's mind as she headed up and through the tower. He nudged back, letting her know where she could find him.
"You, me, and battlements don't go so well." She said as she came outside. The air was cool with a hint of rain in it, as she came and sat beside the Doctor, legs hanging over the edge with him. She whispered his proper name, and he looked down at her, his attention instantly grabbed. "I'm sorry." He frowned, and she continued. "Coulda skipped some months here and there, popped back in to make sure nothing was happening, taken Melody for a bit. We didn't have to stop our lives, but I sorta made us. 'M sorry." She apologized sincerely.
He smiled warmly. "Told you decades ago you domesticated me." He reminded her. "It's been … an adventure, you and I. The slow path. Seeing what our lives woulda been like if we settled. Maybe even what your life would have been like if you'd chosen a life with the Meta Crisis, had it been possible. If he was me, which I know he was, in some way, he'd have hated the idea of being limited to the house as I was. But you, you made it better."
"'Cause I insisted on no carpets?" Rose teased, tongue between her teeth.
"Because you made it an adventure worth having. I won't lie, I'm eager to get back in the TARDIS full time, take to the stars, run full tilt. But it's been good, for her, for you, for us. She … I had to admit it, but the TARDIS hasn't had proper time to repair herself since before the Time War. She does what she can, when she can, but I've had her moving for over two centuries without much pause, if any. Now she goes months without moving, and then those trips are limited to other places on Earth, maybe other times. She doesn't go far for long, and when we come back she's better for it. She's been repairing herself. Might even be able to give us a proper desktop next. And you, I never let you experience a human life with marriage and such."
"Never wanted it, and you know that." Rose said, bumping his shoulder with hers.
"No, but you can't deny that you enjoyed it on some level or another." He bumped back, and she really couldn't deny it. The Doctor put his arm around her, pulling her head down on his shoulder. "There's an echo, sometimes, when I wonder what life without you would have been like. How would things have gone? Would I have kept my last body as long as I did, would I have allowed Amy to tempt me like she tried after I came back for her? Sometimes that echo can almost be heard, and I shudder to think that what it says is true. The kind of man I'd have become …."
"You'd have still been the Doctor." Rose assured, snaking her arms the one she leaned against.
"But not your Doctor." He said, looking to her. "We knew, centuries ago, that we almost lost each other. If you fell into the void, stayed with your Mum, we both know that it would mean I'd have never have had you with me. Even if you could have come back, it wouldn't be forever.
"I wasn't thrilled about waiting, not moving, house with windows and doors for as long as it's been. But I got to experience a taste of humanity, what life with you on the slow path would have been like. Big ears would never have gone for it, and if he had he would have complained the whole time. Pinstripe, well, you already saw what I was like stuck in domestics when I was him. But here and now in this body, having regenerated with you as my wife, and my first act was caring for little Amelia, it would seem all those fears have left me."
"You saying you want this?" Rose asked, already knowing the answer.
The Doctor laughed. "No, as soon as we're able, we're running again, you and me. Until the end, it will be you and me, Rose Tyler, and all of space and time. Just like we wanted."
"Always get what you want, don't ya?" She teased with her tongue between her teeth.
"No, not always." He chuckled. After a moment, his head shot up from where it rested against hers, back straight. She sat up and looked at the Doctor. He was wide eyed, looking somewhere between panicked and annoyed. "The got what they wanted." He said, turning to her and gripping her shoulders. "That's why they stopped, the got what they wanted."
He stood up, scrambling and flailing before running for the door. Rose got up, chased after him. "Doctor!" She called after him, hoping he'd slow down. He didn't, but moving as quick as she could, she managed to catch up to him.
"Kate!" He called, and when Rose rounded the next corner she found he had nearly run into Kate in the corridor. "Before they shut down, they scanned everything, from your medical limits to your military response patterns. They made a complete assessment of planet Earth," He said as the lights when out. The Doctor took out his sonic, turning it on in what was likely flashlight mode. Rose pulled out her own, rarely if ever used sonic, and did the same. "…and its inhabitants. Problem with the power?" He asked.
"Can't be," Rose said, shining the light to Kate as she fished in her pockets. She pulled out her keys, a small flash light on the ring. "When Mitch blew it last month we lost nothing. Generators."
"Hmm," The Doctor hummed, flashing the sonic about before heading toward the cube room. Kate glanced at Rose, and Rose gestured for them to follow him. "The surge of activity was the cubes gathering information. The wanted to know about you lot. Why? Why take so long for something they could have done so quickly? Cubes drop out of the sky, people were already curious about them, why wait?"
They stepped inside the cube room and the three of them halted as they looked around them.
All the cubes were active again, but this time in a different way. Each and every one of them had an illuminated 7 on its sides.
"Why seven?" Kate asked.
The Doctor moved toward one, examining it. "Seven. What's important about seven? Seven wonders of the world. Seven streams of the River Ota. Seven sides of a cube."
"A cube has six sides." Kate said as she shone her light in the direction of the Doctor.
"Not if you count the inside." He said just as the cube changed to 6. "It has to be a countdown."
"To what?" Rose asked. "And a count down in what way?"
"I don't know, but we have to get humanity away from those cubes. God knows what they'll do when they hit zero." He turned to Kate. "Get the information out any way you can. News channels, web sites, radio, text messages, bloody twitter, what ever it takes. People have to know that the cubes are dangerous."
"I'm calling Rory," Rose said, the reasoning behind it not needed to be given. The Doctor looked at her, eyes steels as the storm brewed behind them. A quick speed dial, and Rose put her phone to her ear, listening to the ringing on the other end.
"Rose?" Rory answered.
"Rory, get the cubes out of your house, now. Don't know what's happening, but it's dangerous."
"We're not home. Amy and me, we went to the hospital. She's volunteering as we've been swamped with patients because of the cubes. Melody's back with Dad at the house, but we told her to go to the TARDIS if there's trouble." He paused. "But if she's River …."
"How did you discover that?" Rose asked, breath leaving her lungs in a rush. "Know what? Not the time. Just makes sure you and Amy are safe, I'll call Melody and get her to do as you said ASAP."
"Right, be in touch." Rory said before the hung up.
Before Rose could dial Melody, the Doctor grabbed her phone and did it him self. His posture was rigid, and he held the device to his ear in a white-knuckled grip.
The conversation he had with her was entirely in Gallifrayen, telling her in a way that prying ears wouldn't understand to take Brian and go to the TARDIS. To stay there and not come out until someone came to get them. Kate glanced over as she made her own calls, frowning a bit as she had to wonder what was going on.
When the Doctor was done, he tossed to the phone to Rose who caught it and pocketed it in one smooth motion.
"Right," he said. "Every cube was activated, there must be signals, energy fluctuations on a colossal scale. There must be some trace." He said thoughtfully. "But we need power."
"Hold on," Rose said, slipping behind the computer banks into a little alcove. She changed the setting on her sonic as she felt the panel to the latch and opened it up. A few whirs of her sonic, and the back up generators kicked on. She grinned at her handy work as lights and computers came back on around the tower.
"Look at you. One might think you learned something over the centuries." The Doctor said proudly.
"Oi," Rose grumbled, more annoyed than offended. She pocketed her sonic as she slid back over to her husband.
"Alright," The Doctor said, rubbing his hands together before plopping down in a chair. "Let's see, where the signal to these little things are." He said as he typed quickly.
Rose looked over her shoulder and noted the cubes were down to three. "Whatever you're looking for, do it fast. Countdown's going quick."
The Doctor looked over at a cube, then met Rose's eye.
"I don't know what they'll do." He admitted.
"I can go in the room with the cube that was playing the 'chicken dance'," She said. "Something happens I know it'll be contained."
The Doctor studied Rose pensively, seeming to weigh something before he said, "Kate, I need you to clear out everyone, and I do mean everyone from this room except the three of us."
"Why?" She asked, as she hung up the phone and came over. The cubes changed to 2. "All of the cubes are contained. Whatever will happen when that countdown hits zero…."
"Kate I am asking nicely. Please. You're Alistair's daughter, I trust you. I don't, however, trust anyone else in this room with what you'll very likely see. So, again, everyone out of this room, now!" He demanded as the counter moved to 1.
Rose moved to the chamber, glancing over her shoulder once more before stepping in.
Everything once inside was muffled. She moved to the window, putting her palms against the glass, watching as everyone cleared out. The Doctor obstructed her view, stepping in front of her, putting his hands against the glass where hers was.
"You don't have to do this." He reminded her.
"It's okay. If something were to happen, I would rather it be to me than you, or anyone else in this room." She replied.
"I love you." He said in her mind, though his mouth moved along with it.
"I love you, too." She replied through the bond, mouthing as well. He stepped back, moving beside Kate who watched nervously, hands in his pockets.
Rose turned, watched the cube, approached it as it hit 0.
It went dark, and the lid slipped open, but nothing happened. Frowning, Rose peered inside.
"It's empty." She told him, half turning to her husband.
He scrunched his face in disgust and disappointment. "Empty?" He clearly said out load, getting Kate to look at him in confusion.
Rose headed to the door and opened it up, stepping out and shutting it behind her as a precaution.
"What do you mean it's empty?" He asked again as he came around to meet her.
"I mean there was nothing inside." Rose replied. "Totally empty."
The Doctor ground his teeth and headed over to the bank of computers again. "Why? Why is there nothing inside? It doesn't make any sense!" He growled as he brought up some live feeds of traffic cams.
"But if they're empty, we're safe. Right?" Kate reasoned.
"No, no, no, we are very far from safe. All along, every action, has been deliberate. Why draw attention to the cubes if they don't contain anything?" He reasoned, eyes focused on the screen. "Oh." He said. "Oh people are …."
Rose's heart stuttered. She didn't think much of it at first, a murmur, maybe. But then it happened again, more powerful. She gasped, clutching at her chest, heart racing way too fast. She fell back, getting Kate's and the Doctor's attention despite not intending to.
"Rose!" Kate gasped out, kneeling beside her as the Doctor dropped beside her as well, gritting his teeth in pain.
"Her heart," He said, and she suddenly remembered to block their bond. He gasped when she released him, and she clawed at her chest as spots formed in her eyes. "Cardiac arrest."
"She's dying?" Kate asked, and Rose took one last breath before blacking out.
~DWDWDW~
Rory would never admit that it was entirely too distracting having Amy run about in a pair of scrubs, given out to anyone who could volunteer. In their very early days, pre and post Doctor, there was some … role playing. Never once had they played doctor (too weird, especially post), or nurse (he had enough of real life). But he was starting to wish they had.
Because his wife was being gorgeous and distracting, he tried not to focus too much on her. Which is why when he sent her off to get a box of tape for dressings, he didn't realize it was taking her a bit too long at first.
"Have you seen Amy?" He asked one of his co-workers as he noticed that she wasn't slow because of distraction.
"No, sorry," he said, patting Rory on the arm.
Sighing, Rory headed down the corridor Amy would have moved toward.
He looked up and down the hall, seeing nothing on one end, and a pair of nurses pushing a gurney on the other. He almost stepped away, but the long lock of red hair and the familiar shoes drew his attention back. "Hey!" He called after them, and they seemed to pick up speed. "Hey!" He called again, running this time. He was getting closer, but he wasn't close enough. They pressed the call button on the service lift, stepped inside with Amy, and the doors closed before Rory could get there.
The lift was marked off with tape, do not move, all the warnings required to prevent anyone from wanting to use it.
He pressed the button anyway, and the doors opened instantly.
Rory frowned, inspected the inside before stepping in. There wasn't anything unusual. It was a lift, plain and simple.
Well, if there was anything he learned while traveling with the Doctor and Rose, it was that nothing really ever was plain and simple.
He started with the side walls, pounding his fists against them, trying to feel for any changes. When he found nothing, he turned to the back wall. It shimmered and rippled. With a deep breath, Rory stepped through.
He wasn't on Earth anymore. Couldn't have been as he say the planet, blue and green, and dotted with white clouds, through large windows. The picturesque view of Earth in orbit, set against the black backdrop of the vast universe and all the stars within it, still took his breath away.
But Rory didn't stay in awe for long. A shift of his eyes, and he was quite taken aback to find not only Amy on a gurney, but a few other patients from the hospital laid out on something that reminded Rory of stone altars.
He went to move toward Amy but stopped when he noted the two men who brought her in coming toward him. The way their mouths looked reminded Rory a bit of the story the Doctor once told about the gas mask zombies. It was, after all, quite similar to what he had pictured.
"Just stay away from her." He asked, hands up and out towards them in an effort to demonstrate peace. The hypodermic needle one pulled out wasn't all that reassuring.
~DWDWDW~
She drifted into consciousness slowly.
"Doctor, you need to get her to a hospital, to the medical center at least!" Rose heard Kate say before she was able to open her eyes.
"Just give her a moment, she'll be … fine. Sort of."
"But you said the boxes." Kate said. "And that that power was absorbed and surged out from the cubes."
"Targeting the nearest human heart, yes." The Doctor confirmed. "An organ powered by electrical currents gets short circuited. Best way to destroy a human."
"Certainly had less painful deaths." Rose said, her voice barely above a whisper. She opened her bond a tiny bit, felt love and relief come over her. "I'm aching."
"You're alive!" Kate gasped out. "You … how?"
"This is why I wanted everyone to leave the room but you." The Doctor said as he helped Rose sit up. "We've had problems in the past with people gaining knowledge of Rose's … special abilities. I didn't want this to be the time we find out if there were any traitors in UNIT." He cupped Rose's cheek, and she opened her eyes a bit. The blurred vision of her husband's smile made her grin a bit herself. "It was pretty scary for me, too, this time. Delayed reaction, wasn't expected."
"Someone is killing people here. We need to stop them," Rose said, clearing her voice.
"You need to rest." Kate admonished as the Doctor helped Rose get to her feet.
"Never worried about that in another life." Rose partly teased, turning her attention to the monitors. "Looks like you found something." She said to her husband, gesturing to the highlighted points on the screen.
He kissed her hands before placing them on the back of the desk chair, then sat down in said piece of furniture while he checked out what he found. "Oh, look at all of them." He said in awe. "Pulsing, bold as brass, and seven of them. All across the world. Seven stations, seven minutes, why is that important?" He pondered. "A wormhole, bridging two dimensions. Seven of them, hitched on to this planet." He typed a few things, and the map zoomed in to a part of London.
"The Royal Hope." Kate noted.
"No." Rose said with disbelief.
"What?" Kate asked.
"Nothing." Rose said quickly. "Just … odd memories, that place."
"Isn't that where Melody said Rory works now?" The Doctor asked.
Rose's heart sunk despite the pain in her chest. "And it's where he and Amy are right now."
"It's one of the bridges." The Doctor said. "Let's get there, fast as we can."
~DWDWDW~
They entered the hospital, and Rose pushed back the memories that threatened to break through. Of the Doctor a lifetime before, of them finding footing in new territory as lines between them were blurred or crossed all together. Of Martha Jones in her younger days before traveling, walking the Earth, and a broken heart made her into the fierce woman she was now.
"Kate," The Doctor said, partially helping in bringing Rose back to the now. "How many deaths have been recorded?"
"We don't know. The team have deduced it's something close to a third of the population."
"We need to find the wormhole," The Doctor put his hand on Kate's shoulder, making her look at him. "But the attacks could still happen. Tell the world, tell them how to deal with this. Your leadership is needed now more than ever." He said.
Kate nodded. "I'll do my best." She insisted. She turned, gestured for the small tactical team she brought with them to follow, and went off down a corridor.
The Doctor took out his sonic, taking Rose by the hand and pulling her into the waiting room of the ER.
"Reason we're heading this way?" She asked.
"I'm scanning for the wormhole portals but there's something … something this way." He said, turning about before stopping and facing a little girl. "Hello, hello! You are giving off some very strange signals." He said to her as they approached her.
The little girl looked up, her face glowing blue.
"'Splains the signals." Rose said, crouching in front of the girl. She looked at Rose, watching her curiously.
"Outlier droid monitoring everything." The Doctor explained, pointing his sonic directly at her and flipping through the settings. "If I can shut her down …." He trailed off as his sonic began to hum, and the little girl's eyes fluttered shut. "There we go," he said gently and calmly, catching her and lowering her to rest against the arm of the chair.
"Was she real? Human, I mean?" Rose asked.
"Yes. She'll have no memory of what has happened, but she's in the safest place she could be when she comes to." He said as he stood up, changing the settings on the sonic again. "Looks like the wormhole is this way," He said after turning about. The Doctor once again took Rose's hand and lead her through the hospital.
The corridor they arrived as empty except for the service lift on the far end.
"Readings coming from there." The Doctor say, gesturing toward it with his head.
"'Nough warnings to certainly be suspicious." Rose agreed.
The moved toward it, Rose hitting the call button, and both startling when the doors flew open instantly. They cautiously peered inside, looking all around the space.
"Did you see that, Sweetheart?" The Doctor asked. Rose looked to him, then followed his gaze to the back wall. It shimmered like a perception filter.
Without a word, Rose tightened her grip on his hand, and the two of them moved for the back of the lift and through the back wall.
The room was much larger than Rose expected, the view spectacular, but the occupants of the room were a bit alarming.
"Royal Hope's rep's gonna go down hill with the rate of patients being taken off planet by aliens." Rose said as she moved to the row of people off to the side. "Staff, too." She said, quickly glancing down the line and noting a pair of scrub-clad people. A double take had her gasping. "Rory! Amy!" She darted toward them, checking the latter first, than the former. Pulses were steady, breathing even.
"They alright?" The Doctor asked, coming toward them.
"Just out, I think." Rose replied. "Got those salt things you nicked off that ringleader when we stopped the underground fight ring few months back?"
The Doctor looked offended. "Do you mean the Seborean smelling salts that are outlawed in seven galaxies, including the one Favorous Majorum was in? Those smelling salts?"
"Yes, those smelling salts. Not as sneaky as you think, least with me. Now, have 'em or not?" She asked, holding out her hand palm up.
The Doctor grumbled reaching into his inner pockets and pulled out the jar.
Rose hastily unscrewed the lid and held it under Rory's nose.
The reaction was instant, and with a deep breath, Rory bolted up.
He was also almost nearly shot.
"Down!" Rose commanded, tossing the salts to Rory. "Get Amy, get her outta here." She said before making her way toward where her husband was ducking for cover. "What the bloody hell?" She asked the Doctor, craning her head up and peeking where he was.
There was an old, scaly looking figure staring them down, all but his face covered in black robes. Rose frowned as he reminded her of a character from the Star Wars movies, the original ones from her time.
"So many of them, crawling the planet, seeping into every corner." He said, his voice equally as odd and a bit too sci-fi.
It flickered out of existence only to reappear a ways away at a bank of computers.
"What?" Rose whispered, more confused than anything.
She turned to her husband, but the Doctor was in awe, confusion and a bit of fear in his eyes and trickling through the bond. Not true fear, as he thought danger was immanent and they only had seconds to live. It was child like, similar to Melody's reactions after waking from a nightmare.
"It's not possible." The Doctor said as he slowly straightened to a stand. "I thought the Shakri were a myth."
"Shakri?" Rose said, bolting up. "Thing you use to threaten Melody when she wanders off or doesn't clean her room?"
"They were a story told to keep the young of Gallifrey in place. Never thought they existed." The Doctor said as he circled round to the other side of the computer banks. Rose could see his face through them, the images on screen being transparent. They cast flickering lights over her husband's face, and she moved more slowly and cautiously toward him.
"The Shakri exist in all of time and none." Star Wars man replied. "We travel alone and together. The Seven."
"The Shakri craft, connected to Earth through 7 portals in 7 minutes. Ah. But why?" The Doctor asked as Rose came up beside him.
"Serving the word of the Tally." It said.
"Tally?" Rose asked. "Like a count?"
"More like a judgement day or a reckoning." The Doctor replied. "They wish to destroy the Earth."
"Not Earth, humanity!" It countered. "The Shakri will halt the human plague before they spread."
"Plague? Bit over populated, but hardly a plague." Rose countered, crossing her arms. "Cubes were more plague than humans are."
"They will stop the human contagion. Eliminate it."
"Bloody contagion now," Rose said, eye brows hitting her hairline. "Guess that means you're right infected." Rose said to her husband.
"Ew, awkward." Amy's voice caught their attention, and they peered through the transparent screens. Rory and Amy were on the other side, standing at the ready, waiting to help.
The Doctor smiled slightly then looked to the Shakri in the room. "So here you are, depositing slug pellets all over the Earth, made attractive so humans would collect them. Hoping to find something beautiful inside." He circled around the monitors to face the thing on the other side. "Because that's what they are, not pests or plague. They're creatures of hope, forever building and reaching. Making mistakes, of course, every life form does. But, the learn. And they strive for greater, and they achieve it. You want a tally? Put their achievements against their failings through the whole of time. I will back humanity against the Shakri every time."
The thing barely let a breath pass before it countered. "The Tally must be met, the second wave will be released." It tapped a key or two on the control panel. "The human plague, breeding and fighting. And when cornered, their rage to destroy. You're too late."
It flickered out of existence.
"He's gone?" Amy asked, glancing around the area.
"He was never really here." The Doctor said as he turned to the computers now abandoned by the hologram. He started typing frantically, fingers flying. "Just the ship's interface, like a talking propaganda poster."
"What are you doing?" Rose asked, moving to his side.
"Stopping the second wave." He said before growling. He pulled his hands away from the keyboard like they burned his fingers, then pulled his sonic from his jacket. He pointed it at the screens, the whir growing louder until a couple of them flickered out. His mouth twitched into a smile. "Second wave stopped. Disconnected the Shakri craft from their portals. They'll be drifting in the dark space, now. But all those people who were near the cubes, so many of them have died."
"Been a bit, too." Rose said reluctantly, chewing her lip.
The Doctor looked to the screens, studying them, "Not from here, I'd say. Wormhole portal. We didn't just move from Earth to the Shakri ship, we moved back in time a bit. I don't remember seeing a bunch of people laying dead in the streets on the way over, did you?" He asked her, hope growing strong in his eyes as well as through the bond. She shook her head, trying to resist the contagion of his smile. "That's because," He pointed his sonic at the screens. "We restarted their hearts."
"How?" Rory asked. "A mass defibrillation?"
"Exactly." The Doctor smiled at Rory. "Using the cubes." He turned his sonic on, and as the buzz filled the anticipatory silence. "Rose, Rory, Amy, get the others off the ship. Have a feeling that …." The ship shook. "Yep, wormhole is closing up, we'll need to be quick."
Amy dashed for the gurney she had been on, moving one of the smaller patients on to it. Rory used the sniffing salts Rose had chucked him, walking up two of them while Rose picked up the last patient. He was a bit heavier than she was expecting, and her muscles strained with the effort. But a mad dash toward the wormhole entrance was all she needed to get the patient off the ship. Rory and the two conscious patients, followed by Amy and the one on the gurney came through the portal. A beat later, came the Doctor. There was a gust of wind like the tube pushing air through the tunnel, and then nothing. Rose looked over her shoulder, watching the Doctor get to his feet and feel the wall.
"There, portal closed!" He said proudly. "Wasn't so bad in the end, was it?"
~DWDWDW~
A couple weeks passed. Rose and the Doctor put the house up for sale, all included, and moved back into the TARDIS. It promptly parked in the Ponds' back garden.
Melody had related how she and Brian did exactly as the Doctor, and her parents, asked. They stayed in the entertainment lounge, the TARDIS drastically limiting their film and television choices to only those of Brian's time and earlier. It was boring, but she lived.
And in that time, Rory had been working near constantly. Hospitals and clinics world wide were filled to capacity with staff pulling horrid hours while they helped the survivors of cardiac arrest.
"I'm bloody exhausted." Rory had said as he walked into the living room, falling on the couch between Amy and Melody.
"Why don't you and Amy go on a trip? Get some rest?" Brian suggested, the poor guy not wanting to leave his son and his family just yet. He felt the need to stay and help where he could, even if there wasn't much Amy needed help with.
"I've got to be to work in twelve hours." Rory said, flopping his head back against the couch, earning a complaint from Melody as he jostled her.
"You're gonna make the Doctor win." She grumbled as she pressed buttons frantically, correcting the mistake she made because of her Dad.
"No, would win anyway." The Doctor said, moving about and getting right into the racing game. "Superior me."
"You know we have a time ship, right?" Rose teased her friend, tongue between her teeth as he peeked over at her from near shut eyes. "Could take a month long vacation and still be back in time for your shift."
"I can stay with Melody for a few hours." Brian said, trying to encourage the respite for his son. "Go on. Been a while since you two went on a proper excursion. Save a few other worlds."
"Or we could go to a leisure planet." Rose suggested. "Nice beach resort or something."
"Could do." Amy said eagerly. "You know one place you never took us? New York. Any New York. You two have gone on about New New York, and old New York, and the bloody planet New York, yet you never took us."
"Shall we, then?" The Doctor asked, throwing his hands up in victory but paying more attention to the suggestion at hand. "Stay in a posh hotel? Take in the shows."
"Hotel?" Rose mused. "Thought you'd have had enough of the domestic life?"
"Hotels aren't domestic." He whined. "Could be fun, anyhow. Whaddya say, Ponds? A bit of a vacation?"
Amy and Rory looked to one another, Amy eager and Rory looking like he could barely stay awake.
"Alright." He relented. "So long as I can get a good, long sleep first. Can be on the TARDIS for all I care, just need some rest."
"Yay!" Amy clapped excitedly, hopping up off the couch. She moved around the back, kissing Melody on the cheek. "Be good for Granddad, yeah?" She asked.
"I will." She said absently.
"Well come on, you lot. Shift." Amy said, waving for Rory, Rose, and the Doctor to follow. They call rose much more slowly, Rory the slowest of all.
"We'll be back before you know it." Rory said to his Dad.
"See you soon, son." Brian grinned. He waved to Rose and the Doctor, and they quartet left the house.
A wind blew over the back garden, and for a reason Rose couldn't understand, she stopped and turned to look back at the house. She could see just over the fence, noting a tall man with gray hair walking with a woman who looked quite a bit like River Song heading up the driveway.
Without daring to know if it was or not, Rose moved inside the TARDIS and shut the door behind her.
The cold chill wouldn't leave her bones, and it only got worse as she looked to the Ponds who chatted with the Doctor enthusiastically.
Something was coming, and there was a bit in the back of Rose's mind that told her she already knew what it was.
A/N: I'm updating quick, I know. But now that it's done, I want to post as frequently as I can.
Thank you to the readers, favoriters, followers, and reviewers.
Darkelvoriplorellion Tyler (sorry!), CastingWhiteShadows, Dreamcatcher56, eternity1012323, Tori, DuShuZhi, BadWolfGirl, JuLLiiA (very near the end). debygobel, and pyro-pixiechik.
Thank you for leaving word, as always.
3 more to go.
The 12/Rose one shot will be called "Ever the Same" and will be posted within days of the end of this one.
I'll try to give you guys more time, but I think you know what's coming so I'm going to be as gentle as I can. Warning: feels are coming.
Until next post.