There were only so many times you could tidy a bedroom that was beginning to feel like a prison. Alba had been pacing her room for an indeterminate amount of time, shuffling a book here or there, moving a candle from the window ledge to the bedside table, and otherwise twiddling her thumbs. She wasn't bored, so much as anxious-her mind was racing a mile a minute, trying to reconstruct the events of the evening previous. Was she in some sort of trouble? It was hard telling if she might have done something to invoke the Doctor's wrath when she couldn't remember what it was exactly they'd been doing in the first place. None the less, being locked in her room by Jack had left her feeling unsettled. Something was amiss, more so than usual.
When her door finally swung open, it was a raggedy looking Doctor standing on the other side of it. His Oxford was filthy, rolled up at the sleeves and covered in what looked like soot or ash, and his trousers were covered in more of the same. His trainers, which had at one time been a pale cream, were a dingy shade of grey now, the laces untied and dangling like a child's. The expression he wore on his dirty, bloodied face though was like a wounded animal, and she couldn't help but feel sorry for him. He stumbled towards her and collapsed into her arms, sobbing quietly against the side of her neck. Bewildered by this turn of events, she bit her lip and patted him gently on the back as he crushed her against him.
"What happened?" she asked him, but he only hugged her tighter, his shoulders shaking. She stood still and let him hold her, unsure of what else to do at that point. He finally pulled back from her eventually, and swiped the back of his palm across his eyes.
"Rough day at the office," he said, his voice cracking a little. Taking a look at him, it looked more like he'd spent the day blowing up the office than working behind a desk.
"I don't understand," she replied, confused.
"There was an accident in the lab, an explosion. Somebody must have mislabeled a bottle or something, because two chemicals that have no business being mixed were, and it injured fifteen scientists and killed two more," he said wearily, taking a seat on the edge of her bed.
"I'm sorry," she said, taking a seat next to him.
He looked at her then, fixed her with a gaze so intense it almost made her uncomfortable. When he finally broke the stare and looked away, she felt a bit relieved. "No...I'm sorry. I'm just as much a fool now as I was then. But I'll try to fix it," he said softly and enigmatically. She hadn't the faintest idea what he was talking about, but she felt a chill go down her spine. "I'll make it up to you Romana, I promise."
"What did you just call me?" she asked, looking at him shocked. Had he started to come completely unhinged? She was certain he had just referred to her using his dead wife's name.
"What do you mean? I called you by your name," he said, sounding even more tired.
"My name isn't Romana, Doctor. It's Alba. Your Rose by any other name, remember? You just called me Romana a moment ago. "
"Suppose I might have slipped. It's been a long day. People died, and I guess I'm just seeing ghosts," he said, getting to his feet. It didn't seem like he was going to elaborate beyond that.
"I'm not a ghost, Doctor. I'm alive," she said, catching his hand and pressing it against her cheek, in spite of the fear she felt spreading through her like ice.
"I know that. Of course you're not a ghost, Rose. 'Course you're not," he muttered softly, stroking her jaw with his thumb. Abruptly, he dropped his hand and turned towards the door. "You should pack a bag. We'll be leaving shortly."
"What? Pack a bag of what? None of this stuff belongs to me, I don't have a suitcase here...where are we even going? And what happened to Jack?" she asked, the panic creeping into her voice despite her best efforts to conceal it.
"So many questions. Don't worry about it, Romana. Just get together some things," he repeated vaguely, leaving the room.
She stared after him for a moment before springing into action, hunting every which way for the mobile Jack had given her. Despite turning the freshly tidied room upside down, she couldn't find the phone anywhere, which lead her wondering if that was yet another piece of the missing time puzzle. When the Doctor came back to collect her, he threw her things unceremoniously into a black duffel bag and bound and blindfolded her. She wasn't sure what to think, but her heart was fluttering madly. She knew the headphones were probably coming next.
"I can't find my mobile,' she blurted out. "You know, the one Jack gave me in case we needed to get in touch?"
"Jack won't be available where we're going anyway. He's got other errands to do," the Doctor replied, making sure that her bonds weren't too tight.
"Oh," she replied, not asking the question she really wanted to. What errands? And why would he be unavailable?
"You're afraid," the Doctor finally said, more statement than question.
"Yes I am," she confirmed.
"So am I," he replied, gently placing the headphones over her ears.
He really hated lying to Alonso.
"Yeah babe, there's a leak in the neighbors kitchen, but they're going to need to go through our ceiling to access it. They said it shouldn't take much longer than the weekend, but you should probably just head to your brother's from work. I'll meet you there with some things," Jack said into the mobile.
"Are you sure you don't want me to come home and help you pack?" came Alonso's muffled response.
"Nah, it'd be totally out of your way to come here from work. Just head to your brother's, and I'll meet you there, once I'm sure everything is squared away at the home front. Shouldn't take too long. Besides, it'll be nice to spend a weekend away."
"Suppose you're right. I'll see you at Quentin's tonight then. Love you, Jack."
"I love you too, dear," Jack said, ending the call guiltily to stare at the 'leak' that was still currently unconscious and on his guest room floor. According to the Doctor, there was little to do with Andrea Prentice besides keep her sedated. He wasn't a fan of this recent development, but he was damned if he could say no, either. Now this. He was going to have to use the vortex manipulator to go back and forth between here and his brother-in-law's undetected, a feat which was easier said than done.
And what if she woke up while he wasn't here, anyway? He knew the Doctor would probably prefer he keep watch on her directly, but that was going to be next to impossible without alerting Alonso what was going on, and he wasn't about to do that. Alonso was already uncomfortable with the close nature of Jack and the Doctor's relationship, if he found out that Jack was helping orchestrate and conceal illegal activities on the Doctor's behalf...well, he'd be properly furious.
Feeling guilty, he cuffed each of Andrea's hands to the bedposts.
"I'll be back to check on you soon," he told the sleeping woman, hoping that he'd be able to carry out his charade without a hitch.
About five minutes after the bedroom door shut and she was sure she was alone, Andrea Prentice opened her eyes.
Alba was sure she was dreaming when he took the blindfold off. The landscape was breathtaking, and like none she had ever seen before. They were about midway up a mountain, a valley of deep red grass the color of garnets unfurling beneath them. In the early dawn light, the fields below them shimmered like they were made of living flames. Alba squinted and shaded her eyes to look up, watching in disbelief as what looked like a second sun began to creep over the horizon. Unable to bear the intensity of the light, she dropped her gaze back to the valley below. On the side of the mountain the light of the second sun caught the silver leaves of the trees and made the whole forest shimmer and glow. She almost couldn't bear to look at that, either.
'Where are we?" she asked him.
"A little less than halfway up Mount Perdition, near the first home I ever called my own," he said, staring out at the forest. The light didn't seem to bother him any.
"Well, last I checked New Earth doesn't have two suns. Where are we?" she asked.
"Gallifrey," he said absentmindedly.
"Shut up. Really, where are we?" she pressed him. Gallifrey. Really. He might as well have said Atlantis or Narnia or the Seventh Floating Luxury Sphere of Solarus.
He turned to look at her. "Rose Tyler, we are on Gallifrey. Really."
She didn't know what to say to that. She had heard of it, of course, but it was talked about as myth, the same way Atlantis or any of those other places were. She said the first thing that came to mind. "Are you human?"
"Don't be stupid. Of course I'm human," he said, sounding irritated. "Christ, I'd forgotten how ridiculous some of your planet's earlier legends were. Gallifrey is real, no we aren't a bunch of wizards. We're just the natural progression of a society that championed science and education over religion and entertainment. My ancestors were disgusted by the vapid consumerism, the anti-intelluctualism of New Earth society, and they broke off. After much research, they selected this planet as an ideal place to settle. And as they say...the rest is history."
"So that's why you're so clever," she said, at least some of the pieces clicking into place.
"That's why I'm so clever," he affirmed wearily. "What exactly have you heard about Gallifrey, anyway?"
"That it's just a story. When I was a kid my cousin told me that if you spent too much time in libraries, the pixies would come take you away to Gallifrey and make you read until you died of boredom."
The Doctor chuckled at this but said nothing, making a motion of his hand to indicate she should continue her story.
"It always depended on who you asked what the story was. My gran was real religious, and she always talked about it disapprovingly, said it was a good thing it was a myth because God wouldn't suffer a society of misfits and hellraisers who wanted to meddle with nature to live, let alone have dominion over their own planet. But then there were other people, conspiracy theorists who claimed it was real, and that it was supposed to be the most beautiful place in the universe, a utopia world with no religion or poverty because everyone there was a genius. I'd heard there were supposedly secret government expeditions to find Gallifrey, but no one really believed that besides maybe the conspiracy theorists."
"Utopia, hmm. Don't know that I'd go that far, but there is no religion or poverty here. Even so, it's not perfect. People still find things to be unhappy about, they're still greedy, lustful, full of pride. Still, it's beautiful here, don't you think?" he asked, spreading his arms to indicate the valley and mountains around them.
"Yes, it's truly lovely. And quiet. So I can't help but ask...why'd you bring me here, Doctor?"
"I'm not actually sure myself. I'm not sure why I told you where we were, either. For some reason lately, when it comes to you, I find myself breaking all these rules and blurring lines I'd drawn for myself. So here we are. I'm sure you've got a dozen more questions too, most of which I probably won't answer. I'm not even sure yet if I'll let you remember this moment. It's so beautiful, though, it'd almost be criminal to take it away. Hmm. I'm really terrible at this."
"Let me remember it? What the hell does that even mean?" she asked him, but he was beckoning her upwards. She still couldn't shake the idea that human or not, he was still technically an alien, at least in the sense that they were from two completely different planets.
"My navigational skills haven't been up to par lately. Or maybe the device needs tuning. No matter. The house is less than a quarter of a mile up the mountain. Walk with me," he said, taking her hand and forcing her to keep up with his brisk pace. Together, they wove their way through the silvery trees and up the softly sloping side of the mountain. When they came to a clearing dotted with a few small trees, they stopped. The Doctor bent low to the ground, lifted a large flat stone that was sitting there, and aimed his sonic screwdriver at the metal panel concealed underneath. When the hatch popped open, it revealed only blackness beyond it.
"Nope. No way," Alba said, shaking her head.
"It's not so bad," the Doctor said, flicking the sonic and illuminating the small torch at the end of it. He aimed it into the darkness to show Alba the ladder that went down to a small ledge less than a story below.
"I thought you said we were going to your house," she said.
"We are," he replied, setting down the ladder with the sonic gripped in his teeth. "Come on then Rose, step lively. There's still a ways to go yet."
