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Chapter 3: Torchwood's Assistance
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The Doctor materialized the TARDIS inside Sarah Jane's attic. He commented that Sarah Jane was going to have to designate a parking space there, just for the TARDIS, since he came so often, but no one laughed except for Donna. Falling silent, the Doctor opened the doors and, upon finding Sarah Jane there, explained the situation to her. Sarah Jane nodded in understanding and, after telling the kids that whenever the Doctor said no to solving a mystery, it indeed meant something very serious, said good-bye and watched with Luke, Rani, and Clyde as the TARDIS dematerialized, leaving silence in its wake.
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After the TARDIS had dematerialized from the attic, the Doctor and Donna took it into the time vortex while the discussed what to do next. After all, now that they had dropped off the kids, they could go back to Sonoma County and infiltrate the Grove and face whatever dangers came their way. But as soon as the Doctor suggested this, he backed down, as though another idea had popped into his Time Lord mind.
"Why don't we bring Jamie along?" the Doctor said to no one in particular.
"I thought he didn't have time, being that he teaches at Oxford?"
"Well, yeah," said the Doctor. "But I don't think he'd mind a little trip in the old TARDIS. Besides, he's traveled with me before in the past, so he's used to facing the dangers that go with it. And the fact that he was with us on the space ship recently. Plus, it'll be fun."
"Mm, yeah," said Donna. There was a pause, then Donna spoke impatiently, "Well, what are we waiting for, time boy? Let's move!"
"Yes, ma'am!" the Doctor replied. He twiddled some dials on the console and so doing, took the TARDIS once more to the grounds of Oxford. When they landed, Donna opened the TARDIS doors and saw that they had landed in the same grove of trees they had parked the TARDIS in so many times before. She wondered aloud if the TARDIS was magnetically attracted to this particular part of the campus, to which the Doctor replied, "No, not really. This old ship of mine could park anywhere and be unnoticeable. I just like it here because it's even less noticeable than other places."
"So where is Jamie's office?" Donna asked as the two made their way out of the grove of trees and toward the administration building. "Because when we taught here, we used the TARDIS."
"He's in the administration building," said the Doctor. "Isn't that what administration buildings are for?"
"Not really. They usually house Records and stuff like that for the students," said Donna. "A few years ago I worked as a temp for the administration at Cambridge."
"Oh really?" the Doctor asked curiously. "Anyway, our Jamie's office is indeed in the administration building. I checked with Jamie before we dropped him off."
"You're sneaky. I didn't even notice."
The Doctor grinned at her.
Donna and the Doctor stepped into the now-familiar administration building and passed by the receptionist counter, where they were none too pleased to see Marianne, chatting away on her mobile and twisting a strand of blonde hair around her fingers. As soon as Marianne spotted Donna and the Doctor, her eyes grew wide, but not with any feelings of gladness. The Doctor raised his hand in a gesture of greeting, but instead of returning the greeting, Marianne stared at him and then darted out of sight into a backroom, with mobile in hand, accidentally dropping what looked like a piece of paper as she did so. Curious, Donna went over to where the piece of paper lay, face down on the floor, and picked it up. Turning it over, Donna's eyes bulged and a sound of disbelief escaped her.
"What is it?" the Doctor asked, intrigued.
Donna said nothing, but handed the photograph over to the Doctor, who took it, glancing at Donna curiously. As soon as his eyes landed on the picture, his jaw dropped in shock and amazement. In his hands he held a picture of a naked man, very buff, and with large muscles, lying down on a fur rug and sipping a martini. A feathered boa ran lengthwise across his body and covered up the most important parts. The man's face, which had clearly been cut out, had been replaced with a face of equal proportions to the one before, only, it was the Doctor's own face which now was attached to the body. Underneath were the words John Smith & Marianne Barrows encircled by an intricately drawn heart. The Doctor stared at it.
"Does this woman have issues, or is it just me?" he asked rhetorically.
"It's not just you, mate, trust me," Donna replied.
The Doctor stared at the picture for another moment, then got out a pen.
"Normally, I'd let matters such as this rest, but given that Marianne has had issues with me before, something has to be done about this," said the Doctor.
"Like what?" Donna asked. "What are you going to do? Draw the missing parts of the anatomy with a message saying "suck on this, because that's all you'll ever get"?"
"Now, Donna, that would be mean," said the Doctor. He began writing a message on the back of the photograph. "All I'm doing is writing a message to our dear friend Marianne saying that she needs to be evaluated for her own safety. And if I ever find out she's done something like this regarding me ever again, I'm going to call the police on her and charge her for stalking."
"And you say drawing on it and leaving a message would be mean?"
"Yes, I do," said the Doctor. "Because that wouldn't be constructive, would it? What I'm doing is." And with that, the Doctor placed the photograph back on the receptionist desk, capped the pen, and placed it back inside his pocket. "Well, shall we go see Jamie?"
Jamie's office was on the very top floor of the building, so Donna and the Doctor climbed up the sets of stairs leading to it. Once they reached the landing, they walked down the hall; the Doctor stopped mid-way.
"Here we are!" he declared. And indeed, they were there, in front of a wooden door that had a placard reading Dr. James McCrimmon. The Doctor gave the door three smart knocks.
"Come in!" called out a commanding, and familiar voice. The Doctor obliged, and he and Donna entered Jamie's office.
"Doctor! Donna!" Jamie exclaimed. "I didn't expect to see you two this soon!"
"Neither did we, Jamie, but we didn't come here just for chitchat," said the Doctor.
"Oh?"
"Yep," said the Doctor.
"Would I be correct in guessing that you want me to go on a mission with you?"
"You are," the Doctor confirmed. "Although I'd call it more of an adventure. And we had to drop off Luke, Rani, and Clyde who were with us because it might be too dangerous for them. And they've dealt with sinister adventures, so the fact I'd drop a kid off to avoid any harm is saying something."
"Yeah, that's true," said Jamie.
"It's not that it will be dangerous, but sometimes I get these feelings about something that need to be listened to. And I have a feeling that something about this adventure is, or will be, very dangerous."
"Again, true."
"So," said Donna. "Do you want to come with us? Throw away your cares for a while and have some fun. Yeah, you can always go back to teaching, but in the meantime, why not take a break? Other than the break you had previously."
"That was good, Donna," the Doctor said.
"Thanks."
Jamie replied, uncertainly, "I don't know…"
"Remember that it can also travel in time. So we can bring you back to five minutes after you left," said Donna.
"Come on, Jamie, live a little! No use sitting in an office all day if you don't go off every once and a while on an adventure!" The Doctor grinned.
Jamie sighed and threw a stack of papers he had been holding onto his desk. "Oh, all right," he said at last. "Might as well."
"Good man!" said the Doctor.
"What are we waiting for?" Donna asked. "Let's blow this joint! To borrow from the American slang," she added.
So Donna, the Doctor, and now Jamie, exited the building and headed toward the TARDIS. Marianne was nowhere to be found as they passed the receptionist counter, but there was indication she had been there, because the photograph was gone. Once they got inside the TARDIS, the Doctor took it straight to Torchwood with the explanation that they might be able to tell them more about it.
The TARDIS materialized in the hub just as Jack and Martha had sat down on the sofa after a day's hard work of chasing and fighting off aliens intent on harming innocent citizens. Gwen, Mickey, and Ianto had already gone home, so Jack and Martha were alone. They were sipping mugs of steaming coffee that Ianto had made before heading off and had their feet stretched out; both team members were an image of relaxation as they discussed the day's events. It was in this manner that the Doctor found them as he, Donna, and Jamie exited the TARDIS, only Jack and Martha were now staring at the new-comers instead of discussing the day, wondering what could have brought them to Torchwood.
"Doctor!" said Jack. "Good of you to grace us with your presence! How've you been?"
"Not bad," said the Doctor. "We've just been out and about." He gestured in Donna's and Jamie's direction.
"Oh? What for?"
"No time for that now, Jack," said the Doctor. "I need you to do a favor for me. And not the kind of favors you do for Ianto, so get those thoughts out of your head."
"Ok," said Jack, wondering how the Doctor knew what he was thinking. "What is it you need?"
Quickly, the Doctor told Jack how he learned of the Grove, and the rumor he had heard regarding it. He told Jack where it was located, in Sonoma County; more specifically, Monte Rio. Then, after he was done explaining, the Doctor said to Jack, "I need you to do a scan of that area, and anything else you can think of, to see if there's any more information about it."
"When do you need this done?"
"Right now would be a great time," said the Doctor.
"Right on it," said Jack.
The Doctor nodded and Jack immediately set to work.
"Ok, I'm not getting a whole lot," said Jack after a few minutes. He stood there, staring at one of the many computer screens in the Hub; Martha was looking over his shoulder, and both of them were frowning.
"What are you getting?" the Doctor asked, placing special emphasis on 'are'.
"I don't have anything specific," said Jack, pressing a few keys on the keyboard, "but from what I can see, there seems to be some kind of presence, like a dark shadow."
"I wonder what that means," Jamie said to Donna.
"I'm not sure, but I can tell you right now, it's nothing good," Donna replied.
"And you'd be right," said Jack.
"Is the shadow presence active at all?" the Doctor asked.
Jack shook his head. "As far as I can tell, no. It seems to be dormant, for the time being; waiting to strike at the right moment."
"Wonderful," Donna muttered sarcastically.
"Is there anything else?"
"Not at the moment, Doc," said Jack. "But if there is, I'll call you on that mobile phone Martha, here, gave you."
"Great, thanks, Jack!" said the Doctor. Shaking Jack's hand, he added, "Goodbye for now. And no fixing up that Vortex Manipualtor. I know you've been doing something to it."
"But I need it!"
"Jack," said the Doctor firmly, looking him in the eye.
Sighing, Jack rolled his eyes. "Oh all right."
"Good," said the Doctor. "See you later! Come on, Donna, Jamie."
With a last wave of the hand, the Doctor, Donna, and Jamie crossed the threshold into the TARDIS. After closing the doors behind them, the Doctor took the TARDIS back into the vortex, where he, Donna, and Jamie decided what to do next.