I do not own Doctor Who or slippers (why? Because I see them as unnecessary, why would i need shoes indoors?)
Thank you for the quick response from reviewers: Bananadaiquiri, Dreamcatcher49 and Tis Lucy maytee - you guys made me post quicker (let that be a lesson to the rest of you). I'm just glad I'm not the only one to get something out of this story...apparently there are 4 of us :)
Hurray no bolding of my story...the horrendous bold situation is over - rejoice.
Jack tapped the Doctor on the shoulder, "Now, it really is time to jet. I'd appreciate if you'd put my co-pilot down." He smirked moving to climb into the helicopter.
Rose's feet had barely land settled on the ground when the Doctor's hands left her sides to rifle through his coat pockets, he produced the device, his screwdriver and a pulley apparatus. He got to work setting it all up against the belly of the helicopter. When he'd finished-with a little help from Rose- the device was set to hang from bottom, once it was activated and he handed the remote to Rose. "Good Luck." He said shortly, looking a bit miffed that it wouldn't be him going up there with her. "I calibrated it so that it'll recognise the DNA signature of the creatures, send out a pulse at a the edges of its reach, forcing them to flock to the middle, before solidifying at the fringes and shrinking to a reasonable size for the number of captives." He rock back on his heels and Rose raised an eyebrow, "I had a bit of time on the ride over here." He explained nonchalantly.
Rose clasped the remote in one hand and his in the other, she watched as their hands separated and felt a pang somewhere deep inside. She rolled her eyes at herself, honestly she'd see him in a matter of minutes, "We'll be back before you know it." She assured stepping into the craft and shutting the door with a bang. Jack started the engines and the Doctor stood back, his coat billowing around him.
Rose looked down in wonder as the city of Cardiff seemed to shrink before her eyes, she gasped looking at the rising sun hitting the river and making it sparkle, "It's so beautiful."
Jack grinned, "Ah, but Rosie you can see the beauty in anything. I could show you a rock and you'd be able to tell me something positive about it."
"You gave me a moon rock for my birthday. It wasn't just some ordinary rock!" she protested, keeping her eyes on the view.
"Honey, a rock is a rock. Jack shrugged. He pulled the craft around and the pterodactyls came into view, "Here we go." He said giving the controls a burst of speed. They soared above the city, both of them laughing at the feeling of gravity dropping away below them. Positioning the craft above the circling dinosaurs, Jack turned to Rose, "Ready?" he asked a little breathlessly.
"Naturally." Said Rose, Pushing the button on the remote and switching on the force field device, then activating the pulley to suspend it at a safe distance below them. There was a burst of energy as soon as it was lowered and the helicopter shook as the air was disturbed, Rose seized Jack's sleeve, "Ooh." She gasped, "That's got a bit of a kick to it."
They felt rather then saw the energy spread out below, the air vibrating, making the hairs on their arms stand as the static built around them. Jack kept them steadily hovering and turned his hand over to link their fingers, "Now that's beautiful." He said referring to the power flowing below them. The creatures below them drew away from the fringes of the city and clumped into a large group, progressively circling in smaller and smaller circles.
"This is incredible. How many people to you reckon are watching this?" she asked leaning to peer outside her door's window.
"It is barely six in the morning, but we can check." He tapped his earpiece, "Mickey, how many spectators we got out there?"
"Blimey, I wish I could see it from your angle, still from what I can see from here looks-" Mickey's voice crackled through their earpieces.
"Mickey." Rose chided. Jack rolled his eyes at her.
Mickey sighed, "Yeh, since when does anyone want to listen to my personal opinion ever. Don't know what I was thinking…" there was some tapping, "Let's see…you got the attention of pretty much every agency watching the rift, congratulations."
"Mick, I thought you were supposed to be runnin' interference?" Rose interrupted.
"I am." He groaned, "But, unfortunately all I can do is slow 'em down. I can't exactly shield a dinosaur cyclone happenin' four thousand feet in the air above Cardiff. There's not much to redirect them too at the moment. Even if there was…"
"There's not much more interesting then this going on at the oddest of times." Rose finished for him.
"Really says something about the state of things." Jack remarked disbelievingly. He looked at Rose, "Has the field got as small as it's going to? Is it stable?"
She checked the panel in her lap, sliding her fingers across the touch sensitive screen as information appeared. "Yep, We can move them now." She looked surprised for a moment, " There are seventy eight life signs coming from the field. Ha, it even filtered out the bugs." She grinned. "The Doctor really out did himself."
"Oh, it's so nice to be appreciated." The Doctor's voice cheeped cheerfully into their ears.
Jack sighed, "Doc, nice of you to join us. You hear the whole conversation? Or do we have to catch you up?"
"Nah, I heard everything. Just figured it was time I spoke up."
"Well, that's alright then since there's nothing creepy or anything 'bout you eavesdropping." Mickey said hissed sarcastically.
Rose chuckled and squeezed Jack's hand, he grinned at her as the two men started arguing back and forth. They let them go on for a minute. "Ah, guys?" Jack queried.
"You done? We still have a lot of work to do." Rose added.
"Perhaps you guys could argue on another channel." Jack suggested.
The Doctor gave a dramatic sigh, "It's alright, I'll be the bigger man. As usual. But you Rose Tyler had better get back here soon…I need someone intelligent to talk to." There was a beep and the line went silent.
"Rose, I don't know how you put up with him." Mickey added before signing off.
"Peace at last." Jack grinned.
"Pity me, you lot are the most important people in my life. And you find it impossible to get on for five minutes." Rose said melodramatically, taking a cue from the Doctor.
"Less." Jack quipped, squeezing her hand again before letting go and turning the craft around, cargo in tow below them.
At the monitors Mickey worked at effectively blocking the communications and satellite pictures being filtered through to various agencies, his fingers flew over the keyboard, a frown creasing his face despite the fact he was enjoying himself. Martha also back at Torchwood three was analysing the goo she'd managed to scrape from the walls, it had become inactive so she was going to find out why – and of course what had set it off in the first place. Gwen did her best to keep the airspace clear; some very helpful people who didn't ask too many questions owed her a couple of big favours. Ianto set about creating some type of cover to keep too many people from seeing the spectacle in the sky. The Doctor was already ahead of him on that front, he'd gotten back to the Tardis and released a cover of sorts.
Rose squinted down at the city below, "Jack, do you get much fog around here?"
Jack frowned and followed her gaze, "That's unusual."
Rose looked back at him in disbelief, "We're hauling thousands of tons of dinosaur over Cardiff and the fog is unusual?" Jack's blue eye's twinkled but he didn't reply. Rose frowned, "So, what's going to happen to them?" she asked, "What does one do with seventy-eight pterodactyls in modern day Wales?"
"You'd be surprised, nice pair of shoes, wallet…"
Rose gaped, and smacked him on the shoulder, "That's not funny."
"Who said I was joking?" he asked seriously. He chuckled at her glare, "Fine. They'll be well cared for…you'd be surprised at the number of living things that tumble through the void." He smirked, "It's not always a pretty blonde, so we've had to figure out a place to keep them. You're gonna love this." He promised.
"As long as it doesn't take too long."
"S'alright I haven't forgotten you got your sweetie waiting for you."
Rose giggled, "Dare you to call him that to his face! That would be priceless."
"Noticed you two seemed a bit more touchy-touchy, although with you two someone flips on a light switch it was hug time." Rose made a protesting noise and he shushed her, "I just wanted to find out if you guys were alright. It's just the Doctor didn't look so good last time I saw him, I wanted to make sure you weren't struggling under all his crap…You haven't got your family anymore to turn to if things get rough." He said soberly.
Rose stopped examining her hands and turned her whole body to face him, her head resting on the headrest, "I'm fine Jack." She said sincerely "We're both doing better then expected, in some ways it's like it was – but we've both changed, and that's a good thing. We're not looking at everything through rose coloured glasses anymore; too many people have been hurt- us included. It's better…" she explained, biting her lip. "He talks to me now, really talks."
Jack turned and held her gaze for a moment, "That's fantastic Rosie."
She pursed her lips, "Just what would you have done if I wasn't happy?"
"Well, then I would have had to kidnapped you." Jack answered confidently turning back to the windscreen as Rose burst out laughing. "Deprogrammed you." He added joining in her laughter.
Rose sighed happily once she'd finally stopped laughing, "You always know just the right things to say. But you're wrong though, I've still got my family." She leaned over and ruffled his hair, "There's you for one, and Mickey and I've been keeping in contact with Sarah-Jane. Plus there's usually too much going on for me to get lonely, and in those rare quiet moments I have the Doctor. And you and Sarah-Jane are a phone call away." She stated honestly.
"It was never really a question for you was it?" Jack asked softly.
Rose gave a small smile, "I know where I belong." Her smile turned into a grin, "Doctor had a bit of a hissy fit though. Like I can't make up my own mind."
Review, review, review.
Note: I wanted Jack and Rose to have a heart to heart because I think he'd be very protective of her if she came back (unlike what we got in the series finale where he's like 'no, no Rose let the Doctor die its going to be fine' and then didn't speak to her at all after that). I also love stories where there's acknowledgment that the bond between Jack, Rose and the Doctor is special like a family...so that's what I'm trying to show...without getting gooey. Hopefully.
Also I think the Doctor would SO have thrown a fit if she'd refused to do as he said, so that's why that's in there.
Oh, and just so you know and I know you know so that we all know that we know, I know - or at least i think I know how to end this. I've gotten as far as having them say goodbye...but they haven't left yet and there are a couple of loose ends that are floating around...still. So just so you know :)