So Near... and Yet So Far From You
When the Doctor opened his eyes it was to find himself parked in bed, with the covers piled up on and around him, and with a very bad headache. And it wasn't as if he could take a painkiller either.
Mickey Smith was gonna be in big trouble when he next saw him, decided the Doctor. Particularly for the floral wallpaper on the walls.
He mentally chatised himself for letting Mickey - Mickey - getting the upper hand on him, but that just served to make his head hurt even more so he had to stop.
Crossing over the room to the door, he turned the handle - but it wouldn't turn. Annoyance flickered, serving to increase his headache, and he shook the door handle harder. Definately locked. Still nothing the sonic screwdriver couldn't get him out of.
The Doctor patted his pockets for the device, but instead found himself wearing pyjamas with no such pockets. A quick search of the room revealed the sonic screwdriver had been removed, by Mickey and Pete Tyler no doubt. He took another look at the pyjamas, and his eyes widened at the colour which greeted him. Pink! Pink bloody pyjamas.
Mickey bloody Smith was a dead man.
He sat back down on the bed. Obviously the 'plan' they'd been discussing last night hadnt been over who should cook dinner at all. Theyd been deciding how to keep him here, whilst they went off - the exchange! The Doctor checked his watch and groaned. That's why there was nobody else here, no doubt Mickey and Pete had come up with an alternative plan, one which involved the Doctor remaining behind, whilst they went off to play reckless heroes with Rose Tyler's life.
"So Not gonna happen!" Shouted the Doctor suddenly, at the top of his lungs. He looked around the room desperately trying to figure a way out of it, preferably before it was too late.
After about ten minutes, he was just about to try climbing out of the window when he heard a sound.
A scraping in the lock, like the sound of a key turning. He waited expectantly.
The door opened tentatively, revealing a tear streaked Laura-Rose. Instantly all anger fled his mind.
"What is it?" He asked his daughter urgently.
"Dad, Jimmy's gone after them, and I think I think he's gonna do something stupid." She said, looking at the floor.
The Doctor jumped forward and hugged his daughter tightly.
"Everything is gonna be just fine. I'm going to go get your brother, and then I'm gonna stop Nafficilon and rescue Rose and then, just for good measure, I'm gonna turn your Uncle Mickey's hair blue." He surmised as he planted a kiss in her hair.
She chuckled at the last bit, and pulled back eyes shining,
"Be careful Dad." She asked of him.
"I will sweetheart." He promised, and then dashed to get his clothes, his sonic screwdriver.
A Time Lord with a mission.
As Laura-Rose watched her father leave, she felt a coldness overcome her and she shivered. "It'll be alright. Your father has history." Offered Liz Smith, resting her hand on the teens shoulder.
"I know"
But somehow neither woman seemed convinced.
Mickey Smith had always hated waiting around for things to happen. It had been one of the worst things about losing Rose to the Doctor that first time. Oh she had always come back to him, but never for him, and despite the fact that Mickey had settled those particular ghosts now, he had been very rankled by the Doctor's seemingly effortless snatching of his girlfriend. Sometimes he wondered what would have happened if the Doctor had never shown up in their lives. Would he and Rose gotten married? Had kids?
He shook his head, bringing himself back to the present.
They were waiting for Nafficilon to make a show with Rose, Walt the engineer had managed to construct a very good solid hologrammatic version of the Doctor which is what they were using as bait.
The discussion the humans had had the night before had formulated this plan, the Doctor being present at the actual exchange never being an option. Mickey hoped the Time Lord would understand, as he added last night to the list of grievances the Doctor could hold against him. It was getting an awfully long list, he reflected guiltily.
From his position undercover Pete Tyler waited restlessly as well. He could just about make out Mickey, and could tell something was troubling his friend. He - they - had acted in the best interests of the Time Lord, he told himself stubbornly. They would get Rose back, and reunite the family that had been parted for so long. He wondered if the Doctor would stay with them now, or take his family away with him through time and space. Surely he couldnt be so irresponsible, after all Jimmy and Laura-Rose were still kids, that kind of life would not - Pete caught himself, and grinned. Here he was formulating arguments with the Time Lord and they hadn't even gotten through today yet. He gave a slight snort at himself, and then stretched his legs.
Where the hell was Nafficilon?
And from his hiding place, Jimmy Tyler watched and waited. He was gonna rescue his mother, and then he would kill the bad guys and make his dad proud of him. Not that he needed his dad to be proud of him, he was Jimmy Tyler, defending the Earth! He liked that impression, but secretly liked the idea of making his father proud even more.
Nearly time, he reasoned, nearly time...
Nafficilon was already in position. In a spacecraft which hovered directly over the meeting point, he had waited and watched. Now he activated his communications device.
"Where is the Doctor?" He demanded, wincing as the volume rocketed and he reached over to adjust it. Stupid machinery.
On Earth, Mickey and Pete exchanged glances and nodded.
"Do your stuff, Walt, and make it good." He said to the engineer.
Walt looked up indignantly.
"My stuff is ALWAYS good." He hurrumphed back.
"Just do it"
"Always in a hurry.." Mock grumbled Walt as he activated the hologram.
The Doctor strode into the clearing.
"I'm right here." He shouted skyward.
"Now send down Rose Tyler." He demanded.
"With Pleasure!" Came the response.
A fair distance away their came the smell of lemons as a transmat was activated, and Nafficilon and Rose Tyler appeared.
The Doctor smiled, and waved at her.
"Hullo Rose!" He called to her.
She smiled in response, her eyes lighting up. He wasn't mad at her, he was pleased to see her! Maybe everything would be alright... a sharp poke in her back of the blaster pulled Rose back to the present danger, and she glared at her captor, stamping on his foot and grinning as he yelped with pain.
"How's you then?" Shouted the Doctor.
She shrugged.
"Oh you know. Same old." She yelled back at him, the pair of them grinning like idiots.
"Walt that is amazing." Complimented Mickey Smith as he watched the interaction. If he didn't know better he'd think that hologram was the real thing.
Walt looked up.
"It's not a hologram." He said quietly, looking back at where the Doctor stood.
"What?! What do you mean it's not a hologram." Thundered Pete, shouldering past Mickey to the engineer.
"That. Is. The. Doctor. The real McCoy, the original, the live version -" He would've gone on but something in Pete's eyes told him now would be an awfully good time to shut up.
Pete looked past Walt at where the Doctor stood, still shouting at Rose, who seemed for the latter part unharmed. He looked to Mickey who nodded.
"Captain Fallen, get your men in position." He ordered, recieving the affirmative.
Nafficilon was clearly bored of the reunion already.
"Start walking towards us Doctor. No tricks"
"Send Rose over first." Countered the Doctor.
Nafficilon shook his head. Did the Doctor think him that stupid?
"Together then." Compromised the Doctor.
Nafficilon considered and then nodded his head.
"Very well, I can live with that. Together. Remember Doctor, I have my blaster aimed at her pretty little head, one wrong move and I'll splatter her brains." He warned.
The Doctor raised his hands in a 'as if I would' gesture and started walking towards them, at the same time Rose felt herself being pushed away from Nafficlon.
"Go on, then. Don't want to keep your kiddies waiting do you." Sneered Nafficilon.
She glared at him, before beginning to walk too, every step bringing him closer to her beloved Doctor.
They met halfway, and she paused unsure what to say. He spoke first in the end.
"They're fantastic Rose. Bloody fantastic." He said to her, taking her hand in his.
"What did you expect? They've a terrific father." She answered, tears coming to her eyes. Was this goodbye after all?
"I'm sorry." They both said the words at the same time, both laughed at it, both sobered as they came to an unspoken understanding. All was forgiven. All that mattered was here and now.
Here and now butted in suddenly, in the form of the gruff voice of Nafficilon.
"Hey! Barbie and Ken! Keep walking!" He demanded and waved his blaster around.
"See you then." Said the Doctor, abruptly dropping her hands and turning away.
She was confused, hurt and then angry.
She was just about to say something fiery and witty about Time Lords and asses, when the ground beneath her feet suddenly shuddered and she stumbled and fell. Twisting her head, she saw a second explosion rocketing out of the earth nearby and heard the shouts of people whoose voices she recognised. Mickey. Captain Fallen. Jimmy?
Looking around wildly she saw her son running blindly towards her, a huge smile on his face, as he reached out for his mother... Straight into Nafficilon's blaster range and sights.
"Jimmy NO!"