"Are we online?" Rose asked Jack as she tugged at the wires in the office. He was squinting at a computer, his gaze intense and focused.
It took him several minutes before he answered, typing away on the keyboard at a speed that made even Rose's eyebrows raise. He hit a final key with flourish. "We are…online!" He declared happily. "I'm monitoring Baranthaba reception. We are definitely reaching their ship."
Suddenly, the green skinned alien popped up on a projection in front of her, a snarl on its face. "Which of the primitive humans dares to contact me?" He sneered. Even his voice made Rose's toes curl in discomfort, but she gritted her teeth and steeled herself, fixing a dangerously impassive calm on her face.
As she mentally contacted the Other, she felt her mind hum at the power. Very rarely did she let the Bad Wolf spark to life in her mind, preferring instead to try to stay relatively normal, not to expose herself to so much of the Vortex, unsure of how it would affect not only her but those around her who got caught in the stream of power. But after 6 months of seemingly endless fighting and raiding by the Baranthabas, Rose had had enough. She had tried everything from diplomatic offers, peace treaties, and threats, but the Baranthabas remained unfazed. So she stretched the old muscles, feeling the remnants of the Time Vortex ignite in her mind and burn gold behind her eyes.
"I am the Bad Wolf," she told the Baranthaba leader gravely. "I am not a human. I am a creature born of the Time Vortex. Your presence on earth is no longer tolerable. You have one hour to return the humans you have stolen and to leave this planet in peace for the rest of time." Her threat came out as a growl.
"And if I don't?" The Baranthaba snarled, his lips pulled taught.
"If you don't," the Bad Wolf replied, "For every minute longer you are here, one ship will be destroyed."
The Baranthaba laughed. "And how do you plan to do this?"
The Bad Wolf's vision began to cloud gold, and she could feel the Vortex shining through her eyes. For the first time, the Baranthaba looked afraid, stepping away from the screen. "I destroyed thousands of Dalek ships in moments when they threatened the ones I loved." She told it dangerously, her mind projecting the images of the Dalek ships turning to dust in the Baranthaba's mind, assaulting it with the power of the vision. "I will do the same to you." With that last threat, she severed the connection, blinking several times until the gold cleared from her vision.
Jack gently guided Rose to a chair, where she sat, taking deep breaths until she felt more like herself. Though she had familiarized herself with the power of the Bad Wolf, it was exhausting to bring out the entire being, unlike simply living with its effects.
"Why didn't we do this before?" Jack asked, watching the monitors gleefully as ship after ship unloaded captured humans and loading up the Baranthabas that had taken up residence on earth.
"Because it's genocide." Rose growled angrily, rubbing her temples with the tips of her fingers.
"Not if you don't actually kill them." Jack reasoned, looking away from the monitor to catch her worried gaze.
"But if they hadn't done it, I would have." Rose said quietly. "And even the thought of that many deaths…" She trailed off, a sad, faraway look in her eyes.
Jack opened his mouth to say something but frowned when he heard shouting. His eyebrows pulled down into a frown and he looked to the door. "What is that?"
The two of them made their way outside, where they saw hundreds of people cheering loudly as ship after ship disappeared from the sky. Jack slung his arm over Rose's shoulder and gave her a quick grin as people cheered and hugged at the thought of finally being free from the aliens after six long months.
"I'm going to go find Wilf," Rose told Jack quietly before tucking out from under his arm and disappearing into the crowd. Jack watched her go, feeling oddly protective of her as she went.
He was just about to join the celebrations when another sound hit his ears, catching his attention immediately and making him frown. He turned on his heel and ran towards the sound, following it into a small, empty plaza.
The TARDIS materialized into view, and Jack stood outside the door with his arms crossed, a serious look on his face.
The Doctor poked his head out, looking slightly uncomfortable but still pleased to see Jack. "Captain!" He exclaimed before stepping out of the TARDIS completely, hands in his pockets. He looked around him, seeming surprised at the rubble that littered the ground and hearing the cheering that was happening only a few blocks away. "What's going on?" The Doctor asked, a frown on his face.
"You're late." Jack told him simply.
"How late?" The Doctor asked, falling into step with Jack as they made their way towards the celebrations.
"Six months." Jack told him grimly. "Great timing actually. They've only just left."
"Who only just left? Who were they? What did they want?" The Doctor demanded as they continued to walk, occasionally have to duck out of the way of arms flailing. Jack led him straight into the Hub so that they could talk uninterrupted.
"A species called the Baranthabas," Jack told him. "They wanted resources, salves, you name it. Whatever they could take. We had a hell of a time fighting them off." He went to a monitor and turned it on, loading the page where he and Rose had been keeping all the data about the species and the details of the invasion.
"The Baranthabas?" The Doctor repeated in shock, pulling out his glasses and putting them on before running, with long strides, to meet Jack at the monitor. He read it carefully for a few moments. "Blimey," he muttered. "That's…wow. Blimey. I don't even know what to say. They're a really advanced species." He took a step away from the monitor, rubbing the back of his neck with a torn expression on his face. He seemed to realize something then, because an entirely confused expression crossed his face as he looked to Jack. "Hang on, how did you manage to get them to leave? And to return the people they'd taken on top of that…what did you do?"
Jack looked sheepish as he took a seat in a desk chair. "We…ah…we threatened them." He said evasively.
"Jaaaack," The Doctor drew out, his hands back in his pockets and a dangerous look in his eyes. "What did you do?"
"Listen, Doc…" Jack started, but was interrupted by a new voice echoing through the halls of the Hub.
"Jack! Where did you go?" The voice called.
The Doctor's eyes widened and his eyebrows shot up to his hairline, his entire posture stiffening with shock as he looked at Jack. "No," he said quietly. "That isn't possible."
As he spoke, none other than Rose Tyler jogged into the room, her cheeks flushed and eyes bright from the celebrations that were happening outside. Her eyes immediately fell on the Doctor, and she stopped mid-step, meeting his wide, shocked eyes with a tentative smile. "Hello, Doctor." She said quietly.
"Rose," the Doctor breathed. He felt like he was unable to move, nailed down where he was standing. He knew his mouth was hanging open but he couldn't bring himself to care. She slowly made her way over to him, never looking away from his face. She stopped when she was within arm's length, and he cursed himself for being unable to move. Slowly, she grinned at him, her tongue poking out from between her teeth.
And he was jolted back to reality.
In a moment, he had her wrapped up in his arms, holding her as tight to his chest as he could physically manage, breathing in her scent that was so very Rose and feeling her against him, listening to her laugh as she wrapped her arms around him. He felt laughter bubble in his own throat, unable to stop himself from laughing at the top of his lungs out of pure joy as he held her.
"How are you here?" He whispered, still hugging her tightly and delighting in the fact that she wasn't pushing him away.
"I try not to limit myself to anyone's definition of 'possible'," she replied cheekily, and he laughed again.
He pulled away, keeping her in his arms, so that he could look at her face. With one hand, he hesitantly cupped her cheek, reveling in the feeling when she leaned into it, their eyes still locked together. "What about…" he trailed off, knowing she would know what he meant. He'd left her with him, the Metacrisis, and suddenly he was terrified that maybe she hadn't been able to fix him like he'd fixed his own ninth incarnation.
He thought he saw sadness in her eyes before they became guarded, and he felt himself panicking at the loss of joy in her eyes. "He died." She whispered, and he understood.
There was a lot they needed to talk about, not the least of which was how she was here, with him, but it could wait.
For now, he was more than content just to hold her, to breathe in her scent again, to feel her body against his. He rested his cheek against the top of her heard, closing his eyes as he held her.
And for the first time in centuries, he lost track of how long they spent, simply standing in each other's arms.
Yay, we've finally reached the reunion!