A/N: I do not own anything relating to Doctor Who. I only own the ideas of my OC. I hope you're all enjoying the story. Please let me know what you think, and any suggestions, in a review. I get so excited hearing from you all. The more reviews I get, the faster I try to get another chapter out to you all. Thank you so much to TimeladyAlly, RudeandNotGinger92, and SlytherinHolmes for your wonderful reviews! I also want to thank all of you that have followed this story and added it as a favorite. It truly means a lot that you are enjoying this enough to do so! As always, I hope you enjoy. :-)
Previously: "I don't know what this is all about, and I know we're not important-" She started to say.
"Who said you're not important?" I looked over at the Doctor when he said this. His kindness still surprised me slightly. I watched him as he talked. "I've traveled to all sorts of places, done things you couldn't even imagine, but you two. Street corner, two in the morning, getting a taxi home. I've never had a life like that. Yes. I'll try and save you." He beamed. Sarah gave him a thankful smile, despite the tears threatening to fall. Stuart thanked the Doctor before leading Sarah off somewhere to sit.
The Doctor and I decided to sit down for a minute so he could think. We were sitting in silence when Jackie walked up to us. She was holding a carrycot with baby Rose inside. I looked up at her when she stopped in front of us. I nudged the Doctor who looked up from his hands to me. I gestured over to Jackie.
"You two seem like you know what you're doing. At the very least, you seem to know how to stay safe. Can I trust you with my daughter while I take care of a couple things?" She asked carefully. It was a side of Jackie I had never seen. The Doctor stared at her in awe. I tried to keep from rolling my eyes at him so I held out my hands to take the carrycot from her.
"I promise we'll look after her. She'll be safe." I assured her. She thanked me before walking off after a very young Mickey who was a bit panicked. "That boy will never change." I muttered before turning to baby Rose. She was a bit fussy without her mother nearby. "Hello sweetie." I cooed at her before tickling her feet. She smiled and started giggling. "That's better."
"You're pretty good with kids." The Doctor chuckled. I smiled but kept playing with baby Rose.
"I helped my sister with her kids." I said softly, tickling baby Rose again. After a minute of silence, I realized what I had said. I sat back and ran my hands through my hair. It was infuriating being able to answer things so easily but not know why I said them. No memories came back with these answers. The Doctor put his hand on my shoulder for comfort before taking over entertaining baby Rose. He was quite good with her as well. She wasn't giggling as much, but she wasn't fussing either. I wanted to mention how good he was with kids as well, but decided against it. I had decided not to bring up the topic of family after his outburst with Rose earlier in the day.
"Now, Rose you're not going to bring about the end of the world, are you? Are you?" He cooed at her. She had stopped giggling and was just watching him wide eyed. I shook my head at him. That's when Rose walked up to us. She didn't say anything at first, simply looked at her baby self. "Jackie gave her to me to look after. How times change." He chuckled softly.
"Us. She was talking more to me since you were staring at her slack jawed." I tutted. He shook his head with a chuckle.
"I'd better be careful. I think I just imprinted myself on Mickey like a mother chicken." Rose joked. She laughed and moved in to touch the baby. The doctor quickly pulled her arm away.
"No. Don't touch the baby." He chastised her. A creature flew past the large stained glass in the front of the church. "You're both the same person. That's a paradox, and we don't want a paradox happening, not with these things outside. Anything new, any disturbance in time makes them stronger. The paradox might let them in." He explained darkly. I took over entertaining baby Rose. Her little face was scrunched up so I started making faces at her. She finally started smiling again.
"Can't do anything right, can I?" Rose muttered.
"Since you ask, no. So, don't . . . touch . . . the baby." He enunciated.
"I'm not stupid." She snapped.
"You could have fooled me."
"Will you two shut up!" I had had enough of their back and forth. I had kept my voice low enough not to upset baby Rose who was getting a bit fussy. "If you two want to do this, do it somewhere else. Others can hear you and your little bickering match isn't helping anything!" They both looked at me wide eyed. I hadn't snapped at them like that in quite a while. Rose looked away and the Doctor looked back at baby Rose.
"All right, I'm sorry." The Doctor managed. Rose looked back at him. "I wasn't really going to leave you on your own."
"I know." She said quickly. I glared at her and she shrunk back a little.
"But just between us, I haven't got a plan. No idea. No way out." He looked so defeated. I put my hand on his shoulder. His hand came up and covered mine.
"You'll think of something." Rose tried.
"Just take a breath. You'll figure things out. I know you will." I added. He looked from Rose to me before glancing at the others. He turned back to us and lowered his voice.
"The entire Earth's been sterilized. This, and other place like it, are all that's left of the human race. We might hold out for a while, but nothing can stop those creatures. They'll get through in the end. The walls aren't that old. And there's nothing I can do to stop them. There used to be laws stopping this kind of thing from happening. My people would have stopped this. But they're all gone. And now I'm going the same way." The fear in his eyes was heartbreaking.
"No you're not." I tried to reassure him but nothing seemed to help. I sighed and took my hand from his shoulder. Baby Rose reached out and grabbed one of my fingers. I smiled at her softly.
"If I'd realized. . ." Rose trailed off. The Doctor looked at her but she didn't say anything more.
"Just . . . tell me you're sorry." He finally told her.
"I am. I'm sorry." There was a pause before the Doctor continued talking.
"Isn't there something else?" He asked. I was confused but continued to entertain baby Rose. I had taken my Tardis key necklace off and was dangling it in front of her. She was watching it carefully. They had a hushed conversation that I couldn't hear and didn't bother to try to hear. It was their business.
"Nix." Rose said quietly. I set the key on the railing and looked at her. She was looking down at the ground.
"Yes?" I asked. She slowly looked up at me.
"I'm sorry. For everything I said today. I didn't mean any of it. Really. I just. . . you know me. I lash out when I'm upset. I didn't mean to take it out on you. Forgive me?" She looked guilty and hopeful at the same time. My anger crumbled. I could never stay mad at her. I sighed and walked over to her.
"You are an idiot sometimes, just so you know, but I can never stay mad." She smiled and we hugged each other.
"Much better." The Doctor beamed. We laughed and let go of each other. Rose went over and hugged the Doctor next. She pulled back suddenly.
"Have you got something hot?" She asked. He looked confused. She reached into his coat and into a pocket. Her hand snapped back and something came flying out. We looked over when it landed.
"It's the Tardis key!" The Doctor took off his coat and went over to it, picking it up. It was glowing with a golden light. I looked over at mine and it was glowing as well. I was thankful that I had taken it off to occupy baby Rose. I picked it up by the chain and showed the Doctor. "It's telling me it's still connected to the Tardis." He went to go make an announcement at the front of the church. Rose moved to an empty row near the back. I continued to sit with baby Rose until Jackie came up to me.
"Thanks for watching her." She offered kindly. I handed her the carrycot. "She's not fussing. That's a first." She chuckled. I smiled. "You're so young, how're you so good with her?"
"It seems to be what I spend most of my time doing, looking after others." I explained. She thanked me again and went up to where her friend was sitting. I moved to sit next to Rose but Pete was sitting with her. I decided to give them a bit of space so I sat at the other end of her row. The Doctor had made it up to the pulpit.
"The inside of my ship was thrown out of the wound but we can use this to bring it back." He held up the key, still using his coat as a glove. He had put both keys together and with his sonic, he was able to take the energy from mine and add it to the other. He said it would hopefully speed things up. My key hung around my neck once again. "And once I've got my ship back, then I can mend everything. Now, I just need a bit of power. Has anybody got a battery?" He asked us.
"This one big enough?" Stuart asked as he held up the mobile phone.
"Fantastic." The Doctor made his way down from the pulpit as Stuart made his way up to him, pulling the battery out of the phone.
"Good old dad. There you go." He handed the battery over to the Doctor.
"Just need to do a bit of charging up and then we can bring everyone back." He used his sonic on the battery. He glanced around at the others while he charged it. The creatures continued to slam against doors and screech outside the windows. Using his coat he was able to hold the key out. A lock and eventually the rest of the Tardis started materializing around the key. "Right, no one touches that key. Have you got that? Don't touch it. Anyone touches that key, it'll be, well, zap. Just leave it be and everything will be fine. We'll get out of here. All of us. Stuart, Sarah you're going to get married, just like I said." The others started talking excitedly. The Tardis kept fading in an out. I was picking at my nails when I felt someone standing next to me. I looked up to see the Doctor watching me. He offered a hand. I raised an eyebrow at him. "Come on. We're going to go sit with Rose." I let him help me up and lead me over to where Rose was sitting. He sat between us. Pete was sitting a row behind us, looking at his hands.
"When time gets sorted out-" Rose started, looking over at the Doctor.
"Everybody here forgets what happened. And don't worry, the thing that you changed will stay changed." He explained, trying to be as vague as possible.
"You mean I'll still be alive, though I'm meant to be dead." Pete pipped up. We turned to look at him. "That's why I haven't done anything with my life, why I didn't mean anything." He sounded hurt.
"It doesn't work like that." The Doctor assured him. Pete didn't seem to share that view.
"Rubbish. I'm so useless I couldn't even die properly. Now it's my fault all of this has happened." He scoffed.
"This is my fault." Rose explained sadly. Pete reached forward and grabbed her arm.
"No, love. I'm your dad. It's my job for it to be my fault." Jackie had chosen that moment to walk up to us carrying baby Rose.
"Her dad? How are you her dad? How old were you, twelve? Oh, that's disgusting." She was fuming. Pete stood to talk to her while the Doctor stood and walked away. I followed him as he walked away. I could hear Jackie and Pete bickering.
"This is just all too-" He gestured his arms in the air, not having the words to explain what he was feeling.
"Human?" I offered. He looked down at me.
"Yes. How did you know what I meant?" He quirked an eyebrow at me. I shrugged. Before I could answer, the Doctor ran past me and back to the others.
"Oh, for God's sake, look. It's the same Rose!" Pete huffed. I turned to see him take baby Rose from Jackie and hand her to Rose.
"Rose! No!" The Doctor ran up and snatched baby Rose away but it was too late. He handed her back to Jackie as a creature appeared inside the church. People began screaming and running away from it. The Doctor pulled Jackie and Pete behind him.
"Everyone, behind me!" He called out. I ran past him and helped others get back behind him. One woman tripped off to the right side of the pews. I ran over to her and helped her up.
"Go get back there." I told her. I helped guide some of the others. The creature continued to watch the others. They were sitting ducks and the Doctor wasn't moving to do anything other than shield them with himself.
"I'm the oldest thing in here." The Doctor yelled at the creature. He was trying to sacrifice himself.
"Oi! Over here!" I called at the creature. It turned to look at me.
"Phoenix! What the hell are you doing?" The Doctor yelled at me.
"Giving you a chance to get them somewhere safe!" I yelled back. The creature had turned back to him. People had moved further back, away from the Doctor, yet he wasn't moving to help them. I looked around and picked up a hymnal before chucking it at the creature. When the book hit, the creature hissed and turned back to me.
"Nix!" Rose screamed as the creature got ready to descend on me. If I was lucky enough, my plan might work. I would try my hardest to get the stupid thing outside, or into another room at the very least. I took a deep breath and readied myself. Another book flew at it. The creature turned back to the Doctor who was now standing alone. The others had made it to the back of the church.
"Doctor!" Rose and I screamed as the creature flew at him. In an instant he was gone. It turned back to me I went to lead it outside but it veered off course and flew to where the Tardis was materializing. As it flew into the Tardis, both vanished. Everything seemed to slow down. The Tardis key fell to the floor. Rose and I ran over to it. She hesitantly picked it up.
"It's cold. The key's cold. Oh, my God, he's dead." She cried. Pete had made his way over to us. He went to comfort her but she quickly turned away from his touch. "This is all my fault. Both of you. All of you. The whole world." She started crying and Pete wrapped her in his arms. I collapsed into one of the seats and the tears started falling. I began clenching and un-clenching my fists, hoping the slight sting from my nails would help me stop crying, or at the very least, give me a different kind of pain to focus on.
"This is it. There's nothing we can do. It's the end." One woman cried out in fear. I couldn't bear to look at anyone. Instead, I focused on my shaking hands. He couldn't be gone. He just couldn't. If the idiot had just let me try my plan, he would still be there. Until that moment, I hadn't realized just how much he meant to me, which made it hurt all the more. My chest constricted tightly.
"Nix, what are we going to do?" Rose asked me. Her and Pete were standing a few feet away from me still. I snapped my head up to look at her. She was looking at me expectantly. Anger and hurt flooded through me.
"How am I supposed to know?" I asked her incredulously.
"You think like him! What would he do?" She snapped at me. I stood up and faced her.
"He would use his sonic screwdriver to try and reconnect one of our keys to the Tardis but I don't have a bloody sonic screwdriver, now do I? And even if I did, I wouldn't know what to do with the bloody thing. I'm not him, Rose, I'm not. I can't fix anything." My voice cracked.
"Well what can you do?" She cried and walked away. She was lashing out again. This time it didn't hurt as much. Her lashing out at me was nothing compared to the deep aching sense of loss that was filling me. I choked out a sob before I walked off to the vestry. Some of the others had gone up front to pray. When I got into the vestry, I leaned against a wall and finally let myself cry. When the Doctor had put himself in front of the others, I knew something would happen to him. I had tried to save him, and I had failed. If I had only tried harder, he would still be there and he would be able to help. Rose was right, I couldn't do anything. If I saw him again, I wasn't sure if I would hug him or hit him. I just wanted to wake up and find out it had all been one very realistic nightmare but I knew it wasn't. I cried until I had let everything out.
I had started running my thumb nail across my left palm, as a way of trying to distract myself. It took a little while for me to notice that I had scratched part of my palm raw and it was now bleeding. I pulled the half full bottle of water out of my purse and found a small bowl in the room. I ran the water over the scratch, using the bowl to catch the water. When I was sure it was clean, I looked through my purse and found a small scarf. It was difficult trying to wrap one hand. Luckily Pete had walked in and silently took the scarf from me. He quickly tied my hand up.
"Thank you." I turned to face him. The tears had finally stopped, but I was still shivering slightly from crying.
"You're welcome. I never got to properly meet you." He offered softly, moving to stand next to me in front of the window. While cleaning my hand, I had looked out the window to see the car that had run him over loop around the corner. It would appear out of nowhere, drive around the corner, the man would cover his face, and it would disappear once again.
"I'm no one important, really." I shrugged it off.
"I wouldn't say that." I looked at him curiously. "The Doctor and Rose looked terrified when you tried to stall that thing. You're very important to them. And Rose isn't really mad, she's just frightened."
"I know. She has a habit of lashing out at me because she knows I'll forgive her." I nodded. I held out my hand for him to shake. "I'm Phoenix. Jackie found me wandering around when I was just a teenager. She took me in. I . . . I've been with them ever since." I didn't want him to know that they were struggling when I met them. I didn't want that weighing on him. He was picking up on things quite quickly though.
"You took care of them, didn't you?" He smiled sadly at me. "The way you try to protect Rose. If you weren't so young, I would have assumed you were her mother. I almost asked if you and the Doctor were her parents before I got a good look at you." He chuckled softly. We both turned to look out the window. The car that had almost killed him was looping around the corner again. After a bit of silence he spoke again. "Phoenix, I think I know how to fix this but I need you to promise me something." My heart sank as I turned to face him. I knew what he was planning and the determination in his eyes told me I wasn't going to change his mind.
"Anything." I managed, my voice cracked. He wasn't my father but that didn't mean I wasn't heartbroken for Rose and Jackie.
"Promise me you'll keep looking out for them. It'll ease my worries knowing someone as brave as you is watching out for them." I tried to fight the tears that were slowly escaping my eyes. I was too afraid to speak so I nodded in agreement. He walked closer and wrapped his arms around me. "Thank you." He whispered while hugging me. When my soft sobs finally stopped he let go. I dried my eyes with the sleeves of my sweater.
"I promise I'll watch out for them. You're a good man Pete. Know that. You are a good man." I finally whispered. He nodded at me. We took a minute to steady ourselves before going back into the sanctuary. He made his way to Rose while I walked over to Jackie. She was holding a fussing baby Rose.
"Are you alright dear?" She asked softly.
"Yeah. I know you don't entirely trust Rose and I, but please go hear her and Pete out." I pleaded with her. She slowly nodded.
"Would you-" She offered me baby Rose. I nodded and gently took the baby. She slowly made her way over to Rose and Pete. I sat on the steps of the altar. I watched as they spoke and embraced each other. I couldn't watch them any longer, so instead, I focused on calming baby Rose. I hummed a tune that was stuck in my head and she slowly fell asleep. When Pete and Rose made their way to the large wooden doors of the church, I stood up and walked over to Jackie's friend. I asked if she could watch Rose for me. She took the sleeping baby from my arms and I walked off. I went through the vestry and found a side door. Once outside, I saw Pete run in front of the car that had been looping around the corner. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see it again. A hand gently grabbed a hold of mine. I opened my eyes to see the Doctor there. I squeezed his hand to make sure it was really him. I let go and hugged him tightly. He hugged me back. When I let go, I punched him in the arm.
"Ouch. What was that for?" He flinched back.
"For being a bloody idiot." I lectured him before hugging him again.
"Alright. Talk about mood shifts. But we can talk about that in a minute. We should get moving." He suggested, offering his hand. I nodded and we made our way around the accident. The creatures had vanished from the sky. The Tardis was parked just down the street. We stopped and waited for Rose as she sat with Pete. She kissed his forehead before standing up. She walked over to us. I wrapped an arm around her shoulder as we walked back to the Tardis. The Doctor quickly sent us into the vortex.
"I'm going to go lay down." Rose said quietly. She started walking away and I went to follow.
"I'll come with." I offered. I didn't want her to have to be alone after everything she had just gone through.
"It's alright. I want to be alone for a bit. If that's alright." I nodded and let her walk off. I turned back to the Doctor.
"Alright, what was the punch for earlier?" He asked.
"Like I said, for being a bloody idiot! Sacrifice yourself? Was that your big plan?" I wanted to know what he was thinking when he made that decision.
"You're one to talk. What were you doing?" He huffed back at me.
"I had a plan! I would get that. . . that thing outside again. It would give you enough time to make sure the others were safe and it would give you a chance to fix things!" I yelled at him. He was getting upset as well.
"There was no guarantee that I would be able to get you back!" He snapped. I hadn't really put any thought into the possibility of surviving the attack from the creature. Then I realized, if there hadn't been a guarantee of getting me back, he couldn't have known he would come back either. This angered me even more.
"So what?! You would have still been there to keep the others safe!"
"Why were you so determined to save those stupid apes?" He couldn't see why I had tried to keep everyone safe, why I had tried to keep him safe.
"Those stupid apes deserved a chance! You were that chance! Not me!" I was slowly running out of steam as I yelled. "I don't know what I'm doing 90% of the time. I function on instinct, not knowledge. When you were gone, I had no idea what to do. I couldn't take care of myself, let alone anyone else. I was just as terrified as the rest of them." I felt a couple tears fighting to come forward. He sighed, looking deflated and walked over to me.
"Phoenix, I'm sorry. I was afraid, I didn't know what to do and I didn't want anything to happen to you." He offered. I was able to blink back the tears.
"Can I go back to being happy to see you again?" I asked quietly. He chuckled and wrapped his arms around me.
"Just promise you won't do something stupid and dangerous like that again." He asked when he let go.
"No can do. But, I can compromise and promise to better communicate my stupid dangerous plans." I offered my hand. He was frowning and staring me down. I matched his stare. "It's either compromise or worry constantly. Your choice strange man." He huffed and shook my hand.
"Fine. Why do you keep calling me that? You've been calling me that since we first met." I thought about it for a minute. He was right. I had been calling him that since we met at the shop. There wasn't any real reason, he was strange, but it hadn't been a cognitive thing. It was just something I had called him that seemed to stick.
"It's just my nickname for you. You do have to admit, you are a bit strange." I pointed out.
"So are you but you don't see me calling you strange girl." He crossed his arms and leaned against the console. He wasn't really mad. He was teasing once again.
"Well then, I will try to find a better nickname. But for now, I should go and check on Rose. How about we take it easy for a day or two?" I suggested.
"Yeah. We can do that." He agreed. I started walking off toward Rose's room when he called out to me. "Phoenix." I turned back to look at him. He looked slightly concerned.
"Don't worry. I'm alright now. I promise." I gave him a sincere smile which he returned. I gave him a wave as I continued walking. When I was sure I was out of earshot, I decided to talk to the Tardis. "Is Rose awake?" I questioned quietly.
~Yes. She is in her room. She's thinking about coming to see if you are in your room.~
"Thank you dear." She hummed in my head as I continued down the hallway. As I neared our doors, Rose opened hers. "Rose." I called out softly. She turned and looked at me. Her hair was still damp from a shower. She looked a little better, her eyes weren't as red. She smiled softly and I walked over to give her a hug.
"I'm sorry for snapping at you. Again." She offered when we let go. I chuckled at her.
"It's fine. Really. And I'm sorry for snapping at you as well."
"You had every right to. Don't worry." Her stomach grumbled and we started laughing.
"Should we get some food then watch movies?" I suggested. It was our way of cheering each other up. When one of us had a rough day, we would have a girls night of eating junk food and watching random movies.
"Sounds wonderful. But where are we going to watch movies?" She questioned. With that, a door popped up down the hall. We started laughing. "Thank you kind Tardis." Rose bowed in the hallway. I could feel the Tardis laughing in response.
"Let's go get food." We made our way to the kitchen and got whatever junk food sounded good before making our way back to the room the Tardis had shown us. It was a large room with a large television and several seating options. There were couches, recliners, and even bean bag chairs. We decided on the bean bag chairs and pulled them in front of the television. After a short perusal of the large selection of movies, Rose decided on a romantic comedy. They weren't my favorite kind of movies, but I put up with them for Rose. It was a bit on the cheesy side, and we started making fun of it. After a while Rose started nodding off. Not soon after, I started getting drowsy as well. The Tardis changed the movie to one of my favorite musicals and turned down the sound and lights so I could sleep as well. I gave her a quiet thanks before curling up and falling asleep.