"Tell me everything," the Doctor said, scrutinizing Rose's teammates. The redheaded one, Lily, took a breath, and started talking.
"We came around the corner. Rose and Marks were in this room filled with boxes. Then, they both just vanished in a big flash of blue. One minute there, one minute gone. How could this happen?" she looked shaken.
The large man, Andy, who looked as though he had once been employed by the Mafia, put an arm around her frail shoulders.
"It's going to be ok, Lil. We'll find them."
"How?" she asked. "There was no trace of them. I checked my scanners. All that was there was the residual trace that was in the rest of the building."
"So," the Doctor cut in. "We can safely assume that whoever took what was in the rest of the building took Rose and Marks as well. What was in the rest of the building?"
"Copper piping. Like the kind used for drains," Andy said.
"Did you notice anything unusual? Anything at all?" the Doctor asked.
"Well…" Lily scrunched up her nose, thinking. "There was a sort of buzzing in the air, right before they disappeared. Like when you stand too close to a speaker at a concert, and your hearing goes a little."
Andy nodded.
"Yeah, and I got a static shock from the door handle. In fact, I heard Marks say he got a shock from the pipe."
"Copper pipe. Static charge in the air. High pitched ringing. A blue flash of light. Think, think, think!" the Doctor began to pace, his head in his hands. "Come on brain! Static charge and ringing, and blue. What do they have in common? What do they… Oh. Oh, that is brilliant." He turned to the others, grinning. "That's very clever, if I do say so myself."
"You going to explain your flash of brilliance to the rest of us mere mortals?" Max asked impatiently.
"Have you figured out why they wanted Marks and Rose?" Lily asked.
The Doctor shook his head.
"They didn't want them. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time and got into trouble accidentally. Typical Rose, actually. You said there was a static charge. That must have been the marker for the particle beam. You see, by themselves, particle beams can't do much. They need something to lock onto. And what they lock onto is things that have been negatively charged. So you negatively charge something, and then you send down the particle beam, and it only picks up the charged stuff." He stopped for breath.
"That was the shock then?" Max asked. "Someone negatively charging the copper?"
"Right. But Rose and Marks were close enough that they got charged as well. That was the buzzing in your ears. The static in the air was building up as a byproduct. Oooh, that's smart. You could steal stuff right from people's noses, and they wouldn't even notice."
"So where are Marks and Rose?" Andy asked.
"Well, particle beams are proportionately strong to the distance you are away from the object you want to pick up. The farther you are away, the wider the beam to pick up more stuff. From the way it picked up a bunch of boxes and two people, it must have been coming from space."
"Are you saying Rose and Marks have been… abducted by aliens?" Max asked.
"Is that so strange?" the Doctor said. "You work for an interplanetary organization that studies aliens."
"Well, yeah, but I mean, no one's ever been taken before!" he argued.
The Doctor shrugged.
"Like I said, it was probably an accident. The problem now becomes, how do I get to the ship without a TARDIS?"
"A what?" Andy asked.
The Doctor was looking around the R&D department for ideas.
"My TARDIS was my motor. But I don't have it any more. So, how do I get there?"
"Well," Max said, thoughtfully. "You said the beam was attracted to negatively charged stuff, right?"
"Yeah. Negatively charged copper, in this case." The Doctor suddenly smiled.
"Ohhhh! Max Davenport, I like you! That's brilliant. All we need to do is find some copper and negatively charge it."
"How are we going to do that?" Max asked. "It's not as if we can move the electrons in the atoms or anything."
The Doctor's face suddenly broke into a huge smile.
"No, Max, we're not going to do that. We're going to reverse the polarity of the neutron flow!" he paused for a minute. "Blimey. Haven't said that in a long time. But first, we need some copper."
Lily darted over to a desk, and snatched up a pickle jar that was full of pennies.
"Will this work?"
"That's good. Now, we need to find something to reverse the polarity," the Doctor said.
"Reverse the polarity of the neutrons? But that's rubbish. Neutrons are neutral. They have no polarity," Max argued.
"Exactly. So, we push them just a little bit to one side, and they become negative. See?" the Doctor said.
"No," grumbled Max. "It doesn't make any sense."
"Are you going to argue physics with me, or are we going to rescue my fiancée and her rather unpleasant teammate?" the Doctor asked.
"Fine. Whatever. But when this is over, you're explaining this all to me. Slowly." Max said.
The Doctor was looking around again. He groaned.
"This would be so much easier if I had my sonic screwdriver!" he moaned.
"You need something sonic?" Max asked. "What about the sonic disrupter?"
"You have a sonic disrupter and you didn't tell me?" the Doctor cried.
Max shrugged.
"Sorry. Didn't know you were interested. It's not good for anything much. We used it to open locked doors."
"So that's how you got through my special locks. Cheater," Lily said.
"Try deadlock sealing it next time," the Doctor said. "Max, go get it."
Max sprinted away, while the Doctor took the jar of pennies, and tipped it onto the floor. Max came back, holding the disrupter. The Doctor took it, and pointed it at the pennies.
"This will take longer than if I had my screwdriver. My screwdriver is much more precise than this thing. Right you lot, stand back."
A buzzing filled the air. Max, Lily, and Andy stepped back, while the Doctor stayed close to his pile of pennies.
"What's your plan?" Andy called out.
"Don't have one," the Doctor replied, with a cheeky grin, before a flash of blue light engulfed both him and the pennies.
--
Rose smiled, and leaned back against the cold metal wall of the cell that they had put her and Marks into.
"Think something's amusing, do you?" he asked.
Rose shrugged.
"I was just thinking this is déjà vu, actually. Just like old times."
"Get stuck in alien space ships often?" he asked snarkily.
"I used to, yeah," Rose replied. "It's getting a bit cliché, actually."
"Yeah, well I want to go home. What are they going to do with us?"
"Dunno," Rose said. She pulled her knees up to her chin.
"How can you be so calm? We just got put in a cell by aliens!" Marks snapped.
"I know. I just… this isn't my first time," Rose smiled again.
A guard with a huge helmet marched up to their door.
"You will come with me," he instructed, unlocking the door.
Rose and Marks marched between the two guards as they lead them to what was obviously the command center.
"Commander. Here are the trespassers," the guard said.
The commander stood, facing the huge screen on the far wall that showed that the ship was in orbit over Earth. Then, the figure turned.
It was a female, with wild, twig-like hair, and a long beak of a nose. It was obvious from the way the others shot glances her way that she was considered very attractive to her own species.
"Why are you trespassing on my ship?" she asked, her voice musical.
"We didn't come here on purpose," Rose said. "We were beamed up by accident. Come to think of it, why were you stealing from earth?"
"I will ask the questions, human," the commander said, calmly.
"Not 'human'. Rose Tyler. That's my name," Rose said firmly. She didn't fancy being called 'human'.
"And I am Commander Vessa of the Battlebird Hotirik. Now, Rose Tyler, what is it you want on my ship?" she asked.
"Nothing," Rose replied. "I don't want anything to do with your ship. I and my teammate are here by accident. But now that we are here, you didn't answer my question either."
Commander Vessa shrugged her delicate shoulders.
"Earth is primitive. It does not even notice that some of its metals are gone. We needed them more than you. "
"That's no reason to steal like a… a pirate!" Rose argued. "Now you could have asked, and we could have traded for the things that you need."
"And your authorities would have dealt with one such as me? In my experience, humans are not very hospitable."
"Great," Marks muttered. "We have a reputation."
Rose ignored him.
"Look, you can just give it back, return us to our planet, and we can forget the whole thing happened," Rose offered.
Commander Vessa laughed. The sound was like water gurgling over stones.
"A most generous offer, but I'm afraid I'll have to decline," she said.
"But you can't just go around taking things!" Rose said.
"She's not wrong, you know," a voice said from the doorframe.
Rose grinned.
"About bloody time you got here," she called.
The Doctor leaned against the doorframe, his hands deep in his pockets.
"You seemed to be doing fine by yourself, actually," He replied.
"I learned from the best," Rose replied, grinning.
Marks groaned.
"Great. The jailbird boyfriend. That's just what we needed. Can you two cease and desist flirting until after we get out of this mess?"
"What would be the fun in that?" the Doctor asked. He began to walk towards where Rose stood. Instantly, a guard had a weapon in his face. The Doctor looked mildly annoyed. "Shove that thing somewhere else," he said, knocking it aside.
"Who are you?" Commander Vessa demanded.
"I'm Dr. John Smith. Rescue party. How do you do, Commander?" the Doctor said politely.
"More humans on my ship!" the Commander exclaimed. "Our security is getting disgustingly lax."
"Don't blamed them. I hitched a ride on your particle beam. Very nice, by the way. Old fashioned, but effective. However, Rose is right. You can't just go around plundering. It's against the Shadow Proclamation."
"What do you know of the Shadow Proclamation, human?" Commander Vessa sneered.
The Doctor shrugged.
"I was there to help form it."
"You're lying," the Commander said. "Humans were in their infancy when the Shadow Proclamation was formed." She stared hard at the Doctor. "Unless you're not human…?" she picked up a device, and scanned him. "Human, and yet… not human."
"I'm a human/Time Lord metacrisis," the Doctor said.
"Time Lord! What kind of fool do you take me for?" the Commander asked, laughing again.
"Do you want me to answer that?" Rose murmured. But the Commander did not seem to have heard her.
"Time Lords are a myth," she continued. "A children's story."
"Yet here I am. Hello!" the Doctor waved.
Commander Vessa shook her head, checking her instruments again.
"Metacrisis? That is not possible."
"No, it's just not probable," the Doctor corrected. "And under the Shadow Proclamation, plundering in strictly forbidden. You said this was a Battlebird. What is a ship of the fleet doing plundering?"
Commander Vessa looked slightly embarrassed.
"I didn't have a choice," she said. "My ship is in need of repair so that we can get home."
"So you need all the copper to repair your ship?" Rose asked.
"Correct. You were not supposed to be alerted to our presence."
"But why do you need so much?" Marks asked, speaking for the first time. "That room we were in, it had tones and tones of copper there."
"The beam was also damaged. We could not set a limit."
"You mean it's taking all the copper in the world?" the Doctor asked, suddenly alarmed.
"No. We will shut it off before it does that," the Commander said.
"But that room was almost full when we were in there," Rose said suddenly. "And that was several hours ago."
"Commander, if you don't stop that beam right now, it will begin to damage the Earth's structural integrity," the Doctor said.
The Commander frowned, and turned to her officer, barking orders. She checked a screen.
"You are correct, Dr. Smith. It has progressed with greater speed that we thought. We have much more of the mineral than we need. Shut it down!" she called to her officers.
"Now," the Doctor said. "What about if you take the copper you need, and return the rest, and us, and go home?"
"It will take us some time to complete the repairs," the Commander said, skeptically.
"Not with me helping," the Doctor replied.
--
With a flash of blue light, the Doctor, Rose, and Marks, appeared in the lobby of Torchwood Towers.
Rose and the Doctor turned to each other, grinning.
"Just like old times, eh?" the Doctor said.
Rose laughed, and pulled the Doctor in for one of the giant bear hugs that they had been so accustomed to giving each other after their adventures in time and space.
"It is now," she whispered in his ear.
Marks scowled at them darkly.
"Please hold off on the public displays of affection," he said.
The Doctor and Rose ignored him. The Doctor leaned in, and lightly kissed her lips.
"Glad you're ok," he whispered.
"Me too," she replied.
"Rose!" Lily shrieked from across the room. She ran and threw her arms around the other woman. "You're ok!"
"Yeah," Rose said, laughing.
"I'm ok, too," Marks pointed out. Andy came striding up, and put his arm affectionatly around Marks' shoulder.
"Life wouldn't be the same without you, Richard you old sour puss," he said.
A smile flitted over Marks' face, and he shoved Andy's arm off his shoulder.
"Same to you, DiMatto," he replied.
People crowded around, all talking at once. They separated Rose and the Doctor, pushing him farther away from her.
Frowning, the Doctor pushed his way back. He needed to talk to Rose. He had come to a decision about something.
"Rose, that's it," he said.
Rose looked at him curiously.
"What's it?"
"I can't take it any more. You're not running off on any adventures until we get married."
"What?" Rose sputtered.
"We're getting married. Right now," the Doctor declared. He seized Rose and swept her up in his arms, kissing her until they were both breathless. "I'm not waiting until you get captured by another alien. I'm done with waiting. I waited too long to tell you that I loved you, and I almost missed my chance. If it hadn't been for the universe coming apart at the seems, I might never have gotten to tell you. Well I'm not making the same mistake twice. We are finding someone who will do the ceremony, and we are getting married right now."
All around them there was silence, but the Doctor dutifully ignored it.
"But Doctor," Rose said, rather dizzily, "I don't have a dress. I always wanted to get married in a white dress."
The Doctor hadn't considered this. He thought for a moment.
"You have 24 hours to find a dress, Rose Tyler. At this time tomorrow you will be my wife."
The Doctor suddenly became acutely aware that they were surrounded by listening people. Several of the women sighed happily, and the men chuckled and elbowed each other. Everyone was smiling. Rose laughed, and hugged him again.
"How could I say no?" she asked.
The Doctor looked over Rose's head at all the people surrounding them.
"You're all invited of course."
--
"Do you, John David Smith, take Rose Marion Tyler to be your wife? To have and to hold, in sickness and in heath, for richer for poorer, as long as you both shall live?"
"I do," the Doctor said, looking into Rose's face. She was smiling, her eyes so full of love that the Doctor's single heart skipped a beat.
"Speak your vow," the official instructed.
The Doctor took a deep breath. He had been thinking for a long time about what he would say, and he through he had it just about right. He turned to face Rose.
"I'm usually the one with all the words. We established early on that I've definitely got a gob. But you, Rose Tyler, you make me speechless. I don't deserve you, I know that. But you stay with me, and I can't think why. You found me when I was broken, and you put me back together again. Twice. I've left you behind so many times, and you've always come back. No matter what the circumstances, you always came back. So this is my promise to you: I promise never to leave you behind again. I promise you that I will love you for the rest of my life. What is death, when not even the multiverse can keep us apart for long? I promise to go domestic, and live in a house with carpets and a mortgage. I promise that no matter what happens, it will be me and you together. Always." He took her left hand, and clasped it with his own, so that they linked in between him and Rose. "There was a custom among my people. An oath, which could not be broken. I make it to you now, Rose Tyler, goddess of time. Heart to heart, yours in life and death."
For a Time Lord, promising anything 'till death' was a very serious thing, but the Doctor had no qualms about promising it to Rose.
The official turned to Rose.
"Do you, Rose Marion Tyler, take John David Smith to be your husband? To have and to hold, in sickness and in heath, for richer for poorer, as long as you both shall live?"
"I do," Rose said, her voice only a little bit shaky.
"Then speak your vow."
Rose looked shyly at the Doctor.
"Doctor. My Doctor. You're mine now, for better or worse. No one else will replace you. No one." The Doctor realized what she meant. She was telling him that she didn't consider him a copy of the original any more. She was claiming him as her own. "You saw me when I was invisible. You looked at a shopgirl, and you saw the person I could become. You showed up in my life like a whirlwind, and it's never been the same. You have shown me so many amazing things, and we have had so many amazing adventures. But this is the biggest adventure of all. I promise never to stop loving you, no matter how many stupid, rude things you do, or how patronizing you can be sometimes. I promise to never let you feel like you are alone in this world again. I promise to run when you grab my hand. But most of all, I promise you forever again. Just remember, this is my choice, and you can't make me change it." she took a breath, and stared down at their clasped hands. "Heart to heart. Yours in life and death," she murmured.
The official looked puzzled. Those were the strangest vows he had ever heard. Nevertheless, he was determined to continue.
"Have you the ring?"
The Doctor fumbled in his pocket, and pulled out two gold bands. He have one to Rose. Letting go of her left hand, he slid the ring onto the third finger of her left hand.
"With this ring, I thee wed," he said.
Rose took his left hand and put the thick gold band onto his finger.
"With this ring, I thee wed," she repeated.
The Doctor looked down at Rose. For only having 24 hours to find a dress, she was stunning. She had done some emergency shopping with Jackie, and was now wearing a long white dress made of some sort of shiny material that caught the light. It swept off the shoulder, leaving one bare while the other had a thick strap keeping it up. It clung to all her curves, and fell to the floor. She truly was truly a goddess.
"By the power vested in me," the official said, "by her Majesty Diana I of England, I now pronounce you man and wife. You may now kiss the bride."
The Doctor leaned forward, and brushed a kiss over Rose's lips. With a sudden wicked smile, Rose grabbed the lapels of his best navy blue suit, and pulled him in for a proper kiss, reminiscent of the one she had given him that day on the beach. The official cleared his throat, and they broke apart guiltily.
"Becoming a habit of yours," the Doctor murmured. Rose just grinned.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. and Mrs. Smith," the official said.
Rose and the Doctor turned to face the audience, which erupted into a storm of applause. Rose saw several familiar faces in the crowd, including her mother, holding a bored looking Tony, and Pete, who grinned hugely. Max gave them a thumbs up, looking particularly uncomfortable in a suit and tie.
The Doctor and Rose walked down the aisle together. Suddenly, the Doctor grabbed Rose's hand.
"Run," he said.
And they did.
Author's Note: So there's been a bit of a misunderstanding. When I said 'the end of this saga' I meant the conclusion of this subplot. I didn't mean the whole story! This story, as I said before, is not likely to end any time soon. I have so many other things planned for this story! Kids and jobs and learning to drive and… sonic screwdrivers. :-)
I've had this wedding planned since the beginning, but I couldn't find a place to put it till now. It seems very like the Doctor to just do it, instead of having the whole thing carefully planned. At first, no one was there in the audience, but then I changed my mind. Of course all of Torchwood has to be there!
"Reverse the polarity" was a suggestion, as was the aliens. I mean, what would Doctor Who be without aliens? Also, check out my trendy new chapter titles. I have decided that chapter titles are so much cooler than 'chapter 1', 'chapter 2', etc.
Don't touch that dial, there's more to come. Maybe not as soon as this one, but definitely more. Although please don't expect such a long chapter every time. It's exhausting writing this much!