This is a bit of a short chapter, I needed to set up a few things before plunging right into antoher adventure. Reviews motivate might help motivate my scattered brain, so please share your thoughts. Enjoy!
The Doctor finally decided to quit his brooding, and retreat to the kitchen to retrieve his tea. Rory filled a large cup and handed it to the Doctor, and then filled one for himself. The two men took seats at the table opposite each other. Rory was silent for a moment, drinking his tea while the Doctor sipped on his own, and then said, "Well if she's not to with River Song, then who does she have to do with?"
The Doctor frowned. It wasn't that Jade was causing any kind of "painful" memories or flashbacks that he would rather not reminisce, but she was definitely a mystery that was scratching at every inch of his brains, and he was trying to find that one little corner of his massive Time Lord head that her secrets were buried in, and Rory was interrupting his thought process, and the Doctor was not a happy camper when people interrupted him thinking. "How many times Rory, I don't know!"
Rory brewed for another minute over his tea and then said, "You mentioned a girl named Rose in passing once or twice, do you think she's related to Jade some how?"
At that very moment, the Doctor had taken a sip of tea, and as soon as Rory had said Rose Tyler's name, he choked on it. "What?" he spluttered out, tea spilling from the cup in his convulsing hand, and he was pretty sure the inside of his nose was singed from the hot liquid trying to find escape that way. Sure, he had mention Rose once or twice, but he'd also mentioned a ton of other companions. While Rose would always be friend to the Doctor in any life, the intimate affections he had acquired in his last regeneration were completely gone, not an inkling left. That was part of the reason he had almost accidently killed himself on his beverage, the thought of anything related to his love life with Rose coming back to haunt him just slightly annoyed him. Ms. Tyler had another life now, and so did the Doctor, therefore she had basically been moved from "lover" status to "little sister status. The Doctor was positive this incarnation wouldn't find her as his type, and the thought wielded him out more than a little. But apparently Rory thought so. He really had to separate him and Amy more often.
"Are you Insane?" he choked out. "Just because I mention someone once or twice doesn't mean I have some secret love child with them! That's like saying I had a love child Donna!" he shuttered, "or you!"
That thought made the Doctor, and Rory, downright cringe.
Then he preened his hair and straightened his bowtie, "Besides, I left all the wibbly-wobbly to my meta-crisis."
"You're what?" Rory said, giving his usual, I have no IDEA what you're on about, look
"Long story. Planets in the sky, Daleks attacking the earth, me pouring regeneration energy into my spare hand, Donna touching said hand, a new me goring out of the hand, new me was half Human half Time Lord, I left me 2.0 on a beach in parallel Norway with Rose- it's all timey-wimey stuff you'd have to be there to get," the Doctor said nonchalantly, spinning the sonic screwdriver on the table out of boredom.
Rory's look of confusion was deeper than ever. "What?"
"Not boasting again, are we Doctor?" Jade said, following Amy into the kitchen.
The Doctor stopped the screwdriver mid spin and glowered in Jade's Direction. "No,"
As if she was accustomed to the time ships galley, she found coffee and mugs in the first cabinet she opened, and pulled the pot from the next over without a thought. As the coffee brewed, she grabbed a banana from the counter and started peeling it. "SO, where are we headed?"
"Well, I was thinking New New York, "the Doctor said complacently.
Jade sneered, "New New York? Seriously Doctor? How many times are you going to rehash that one? You're getting predictable in your old age."
The Doctor tried to ignore her last comment, and turned to the Ponds, "Fine, Amy, Rory, where do you two want to go?"
The couple looked at each other for a moment, and then seemed to simultaneously agree, joining Jade to annoy the Doctor seemed like an entertaining prospect, clearly evident in their grinning faces. Leary of what ridiculous matter awaited him in their answer, the Doctor asked tentatively, "What?"
"Well," Amy began, "since we've been travelling with you for, oh I don't know how long- how long do you think we've been on the TARDIS Rory?"
Rory pretended to think hard for a few seconds. "A year and half, maybe," he answered his wife.
"Exactly!" Amy said, "We're practically veterans of this old creaky ship. I think we should let the rookie choose. What do you think Rory?"
"Oh yeah! I think letting Jade choose is great idea." Hr said in an airy voice, clearly satisfied with the glower the Doctor was giving them both.
The Time Lord looked at Jade, who was giving him crooked smile he was sure he had seen elsewhere, and sighed. "Fine. You can pick," he grumbled.
His three travelers looked at each other and chuckled in triumph.
He gulped the rest of his tea and walked to the sink and plunked the cup in the sink. Before he turned to leave, he pointed a finger at Jade, "But it better not boring, like the moon, or Jupiter, or the second draconian dynasty, or Suffolk on a Wednesday afternoon."
Jade nodded, twisting her lips at an angle as she thought. Grumpy as he was, the Doctor was even more impatient than usual, and began to walk out of the room.
"Well, considering you were going to Paris in the first place, and considering I've never been, Paris sounds good to me." Jade called as he reached the door. "I don't care what year. I know anything specific might prove difficult for you. But Paris in general is fine for me. I can give directions if you'd like."
The Doctor turned, about to defend his driving skills, but Amy and Rory were doing an extremely poor job of hiding their laughter, and Jade was grinning like a cheesier cat. He decided to keep cool, and repeated his routine of fussing with his braces and bowtie. "Fine, France it is then." He couldn't help make a bit of a defiant face, somewhere in-between a smirk and a scowl.
The trio of companions joined the Doctor in the console room shortly after he sulked out and they had finished their own tea. He was bouncing around the console, twirling dials and flipping levers and switches as usual, but with extra gusto, trying to one up Jade by trying to impress her with his flying skills. It wasn't working. The more ostentatious the Doctor tried to become, the more he looked like a complete Jackass to Jade. She watched as he madly piloted the time capsule, hardly paying attention to what he was doing, and grew more irritated with his poor flying skills every time he flipped some unneeded or incorrect gear and did a ridiculous dance. She was fighting every urge to push him out of the way and tell him he was doing it wrong, he was as hapless and hapless and she remembered.
The monitor chirped, but the Doctor didn't notice. The chirping continued, and Amy finally asked, "Aren't you going to get that?"
"Not now Pond, I'm in the middle of trying to navigate a particularly congested section of the Vortex." The Doctor said flagrantly, and continued to run around the console like a chicken with its head cut off.
Rory attempted to get his attention next, "But the scanner-"
"-it can wait Rory!"
Thoroughly annoyed, Jade walked to the monitor. "You've got an incoming message." Before the Doctor jump in front of the controls himself, Jade was already fiddling with the dials, and typing in codes. "It's encrypted, and a poor transmission, but I think if I just boost the reversed interference" She twirled the dials on the bottom of the screen with one hand, and typed in codes on the typewriter keyboard with the other, biting her lip in concentration. She hit the enter key triumphantly and said, "I've decoded and downloaded the message, pretty good, if I do say so myself."
Although the image was still fuzzy, it was clear enough to read. The black font against the pale blue screen listed coordinates, underneath the words, "Hello, Sweetie."
"River," The Doctor, Amy, and Rory said in unison.
"Well then, I guess Paris will have to wait." Jade said eagerly.
I promise the next chapter where Jade Heart meets River Song again (wink wink) will be up as soon as I can find time to sit down and write it! Hopefully soon...