I am SO sorry about how long this chapter has taken. Working 17 hours a week plus assignments and revision for mock exams make for less writing time and to be honest...I got really stuck halfway through this chapter.
But thanks so much to all of you who are still reading and especially to those who have been leaving reviews! This chapter is nice and fluffy and finishes off this little Torchwood arc, so I hope you enjoy!
Also, there are now quite a few 8tracks playlists to go with this series for those of you that are interested. Search the 'hootd series' tag on 8tracks and about 10 should come up. Some are Daliya, and some are - well, you'll have to go and have a look. ;) Some are made by me and some are made by readers/fans. If any of you feel inclined to make any yourself, feel free and remember to tag 'hootd series' so that me and your fellow readers can go and have a listen!
I'm trying so hard not to let it show
But you got me feeling like
I'm stepping on buildings, cars and boats
I swear I could touch the sky
Ten Feet Tall - Afrojack
No matter how empowered the Doctor and Aliya had felt upon their reconciliation, it was hard to sustain that feeling with no way out of the cell they were stuck in. Reyna had opted to take ownership of the entire bench, and the two Time Lords figured that she deserved it, so instead opted to sit side by side against the wall opposite the cell bars. Shoulder to shoulder, they nudged knees playfully and told Reyna some stories from their youth that made the therapist laugh. All the while, it was difficult to keep tiny smiles off their faces. A weight truly had been lifted off them.
"When we get back to the TARDIS, I want a badminton rematch," the Doctor said suddenly, and Aliya laughed.
"Good," she replied, "Beating you again should be fun. Another game is only going to give me more room to improve."
"And then chess and chinese checkers, to remind you that I can beat you at everything else."
"You don't always beat me at chess, thank you very much. More often than not, I beat you."
Suddenly, something occurred to the Doctor and he looked at Reyna. "Hang on a second, if you're a shapeshifter, why don't you shapeshift into something small, slip through the bars and find a way to break us out?"
Reyna shrugged. "I've got mono-morphia. Stuck in this form."
He sighed and nodded. "Yeah, my companion got that too. Got stuck as a penguin."
The sound of footsteps down the corridor made them abruptly fall silent. The three occupants of the cell all turned their heads directly towards it as it crept closer and closer. Finally, a small red headed boy poked his head into view. The same red headed boy whose picture had been in Reyna's homemade file. His face, hair and clothes were all streaked with dirt and grime and lord knew what else, but it was unmistakably him.
"They're gone now," He said quietly, "The scary lady and the monster, they're just gone. Why did they put you in here?"
"Because we were trying to stop them," The Doctor replied as he got up and crossed to the bars so that he was opposite the boy, "Why didn't they hurt you?"
"I...I heard them talking about how the monster could smell really good, so I got myself as dirty as I could," the boy answered, "Then I hid...under the dead people. But before they left they buried them, so I had to move. Almost got caught, but didn't."
Aliya's hand flew to her mouth as she too got up. "That...that was very clever of you. And very brave." It made her want to be sick but the relief in knowing that this boy had survived was far more overwhelming. "Can you let us out? Please?"
The boy looked unsure, so she tried again, this time kneeling down so that she was at his level.
"They want to kill more people," she told him slowly and calmly, "We can stop them, but you have to let us out. We can take you home." The word home seemed to do it. He nodded and ran off in the other direction, only to return with keys. He found the right one after several tries and the cell door swung open.
Aliya was quick to dash out and give the boy a hug. "Thank you. What's your name?"
"Phillip," he replied. Most boys his age would have been a little more hesitant to latch onto a maternal figure even in a terrible situation, but the boy had been through such a complete ordeal that he shadowed Aliya even when she pulled away, keeping his hand touching the back of her jacket. The Doctor considered that children and mothers had an uncanny ability to find and bond in the smallest of instances if the situation was dire, even if they didn't belong to each other.
The four of them rushed out to sure enough find major parts of the equipment missing as well as all the dead bodies. The Doctor didn't need to wonder where they had been taken - they had been buried outside the city where Jack and his team would find them some thirty years later.
"And I suppose we know where they went," Aliya said quietly, her hand lightly on Phillip's shoulder.
"You said the same disappearances were happening thirty years from now...did they go to the future?" Reyna asked. Despite her obviously bemusement, the Doctor was impressed at how quickly she had applied their mention of time travel to the situation. "Do we have a way to follow?"
"Probably best if you stay in this time zone, Reyna," he said to her, only for her to shake her head.
"What is the future like?"
"People are very dependent on technology, people have portable personal phones, and people are a lot more accepting of race, sexual orientation and gender identity," Aliya considered, "Though there's still a way to go yet."
Reyna looked visibly interested. "Portable personal phones? That I must see. Also, more acceptance of gender is good. Not that a human would ever know, but in a way I suppose I'm what they would call a transgender woman." Phillip frowned with obvious confusion while the Doctor and Aliya paused, curious. Reyna shrugged shyly. "My original Whifferdill form was male, but I never liked it, so when I changed into the human one, I tried the female form. Suddenly I felt more like myself in an alien form than I ever did in my own."
"If only humans had that kind of option," Aliya said, smiling, "It's not so much of an issue with Time Lords. When there is the possibility of changing biological sex and/or internal gender with a regeneration, it's hard to be judgemental."
Reyna chuckled. "Your people sound fascinating."
Phillip's round eyes glanced around nervously. "Can we go? Can you help me get home?"
"Do you know your address?" The Doctor asked the boy, who nodded. "Then of course we can."
Reyna had a car parked near her office, so the four of them piled into it and she drove them to the address which she already knew from when she had made the boy's file. Aliya went with Phillip to the doorstep and smiled at him as they rang the doorbell.
"How long have you been gone?" She asked him, and he just shrugged.
"Days and days, but not sure how many, miss."
"My name's Aliya, not miss. And remember, it's probably best to not mention any of this to your parents. They'd think you were crazy. Or worse, they might actually believe you."
"I get ya, don't worry."
That was when the door opened and a gasp of shock had them looking up at a middle-aged woman with reading glasses, who had her hand over her mouth and tears welling up in her eyes.
"Phillip?!" She exclaimed. The boy rushed into her arms and the two of them embraced tightly, in a way that had Aliya smiling widely - reunions of families were joyous even if they were strangers. Finally the woman looked up, though her grip on her son didn't loosen. "Thank you for bringing him back to me. Was he with all the others that were missing? Have they all been found too?"
Aliya blinked. She hadn't been expecting the question, and ran a hand through her hair nervously. "Actually, he's the only one that...that made it," She said quietly, "He's a very brave and clever boy." Very quickly the feeling of being an outsider to that communal human worry crept up on her. Awkwardly, she shifted her weight onto her other foot and gave a tiny wave to Phillip. "I've got to go. Stay safe, Phillip."
"You too, Miss Aliya," He said, giving her a grateful dimpled smile, "Thanks." He waved goodbye to the Doctor and Reyna who were waiting by the car, and they both waved back at him as Aliya turned and headed back to where they were waiting for her.
Once they got back into town, it became clear that Reyna had every intention of going with them to 2012. She insisted on following them as they walked back towards the TARDIS through the Cardiff streets.
"Reyna, you'll have to completely rebuild your life," the Doctor said to the determined redhead.
"I don't care. I want to see this through, and I think I'd like to live in this more liberal future."
"Doctor," Aliya said, "Why can't she? You don't actually have a good reason. She'd be fantastic in the 21st century."
"Thank you, Aliya."
"You're welcome."
The blue box came into view around the corner and the two women grinned at each other while the Doctor just sighed heavily.
"Fine." The three of them approached the box and he clicked his fingers, opening the door. "Reyna, meet the TARDIS."
Reyna's jaw looked to be in danger of detaching from her skull. "Oh my stars. This is the most magical thing I have ever seen."
"Not magic, science," Aliya corrected, but the blonde was smiling at her new friend's reaction all the same. They went inside and the two Time Lords began to work at the controls to get the ship dematerialising.
"Reyna, you might want to hold onto something," the Doctor suggested to Reyna. Sure enough, when the console room tilted and shook, Reyna stumbled but laughed loudly.
The TARDIS landed with a wheeze and the three of them hurried out onto the Roald Dahl Pass, where as per usual, none of the passing pedestrians paid it a second glance. Reyna took in the scene of the future with wide and excited eyes, her gaze particularly fixing onto the clothes of the people around her.
"You were apt in your description. Mostly the same but different in smaller ways," she said to the Doctor. Aliya made her way to the stone block that was actually the platform for Torchwood's invisible lift. Her phone was out of her pocket and at her ear.
"Jack? We're at the Pass, about to borrow the lift. You back yet? Okay. Yep, see you in a few."
She hung up and looked at the other two expectantly. "Well, come on then. This stone is keyed to the biological signature of all Torchwood members, which means it should still have mine. The moment I step on it, it will go down, so you both need to be on it."
The Doctor and Reyna got onto the stone and Aliya joined them. She held the edge of the former's tweed jacket lightly as the three of them crowded in a bit closer, just to ensure no one fell off as the stone began to plunge down.
"So what is this Torchwood? I do believe I heard the word back home as well, once."
"They investigate aliens and deal with any alien threat," Aliya explained. "This branch was built up by one of the Doctor's friends, Jack. I worked here for a little while, when the Doctor and I weren't on good terms."
Reyna nodded slightly, clearly awed. "To think I never knew all this was here. Or is it new?"
"No, it's not new."
The lift landed with a click and they had barely stepped off when Esther Drummond appeared from around a corner.
"Oh, Jack said he called you two," she said, smiling and seeming relieved it was them and not some potential intruder, "Said you were going into the past." Her eyes zeroed in on Reyna's dress, shoes, hair and glasses. "Was about to ask if you had yet, but your friend is definitely wearing 80's clothing so that answers that."
"Is my clothing really that distinctive?" Reyna asked with interest.
"Only to those who know what they're looking for," Esther replied with a twinkle in her eye, and Reyna smiled. The two shook hands.
"Reyna."
"Esther."
"How does an American end up in Cardiff?"
Esther just laughed. "It's a long story."
"I bet you must be glad that Marion's on leave," Aliya said suddenly, "Must be a nicer work environment."
Esther frowned thoughtfully. "I'm not sure about nicer..." She made a face. "Certainly less exhausting."
"And what was the date? Is it March, was that it, Doctor?"
"March 5th, yeah," Esther answered for the Doctor.
"So it's been about three months for you guys, since we last saw you," Aliya said, nodding.
They were interrupted by the siren signalling the opening of the large round door that was the main entrance for the Torchwood members. Sure enough, when the four of them went to have a look, Jack and his entourage were walking into the workstation area.
"Who's your friend?" Jack asked, eyeing Reyna with equal parts suspicion and approval.
"This is Reyna. She's a Whifferdill and an empath," the Doctor said cheerfully, only to falter when he noticed how the whole Torchwood team other than Hart had stiffened slightly at the word Whifferdill. "What?"
"Oh, yes," Aliya recalled, "We had a bad experience with a Whifferdill here once. Don't worry, Jack, I promise that Reyna is here to help."
"You were on the last one's side too, and look how that worked out," Rex reminded her.
Aliya glared. "And maybe that was wrong of me. But I trust Reyna and have good reason too. She's been invaluable to the Doctor and I already."
"She would quite like to be able to speak for herself," Reyna said pointedly, tapping her high heel.
Aliya in particular had the decency to look embarrassed. "Sorry."
Reyna's eye fell on Jack, and she held her hand out to him, having picked up on his authority. "Doctor Reyna Fell," She said cordially as they shook hands. "And who are you?"
Jack grinned. "I think that's usually my line. Captain Jack Harkness, very nice to meet you, Reyna Fell. Did I hear the word empath in there before?"
"Yes."
"Do you know what I'm thinking right now?"
Reyna just smirked. "Yes." The two of them chuckled. "Now, the situation is this..." She and
Jack took a walk away from the others as she began to explain what had been discovered three decades in the past.
The Doctor leaned down to whisper to Aliya, "I think she just demoted us." The two Time Lords giggled. "Seriously, that woman is a bundle of pure determination."
"I know," she whispered back, sharing a grin with him, "Isn't it great?" His arm draped around her shoulders.
"I was going to say unexpected and amusing," he admitted, "But yours works too."
"Why thank you," Aliya snorted, leaning slightly into the crook of his arm. That's when the Doctor noticed that his daughter was staring at them with curious and confused green eyes.
"You two alright?" The small blonde asked, lifting her eyebrows at them.
"Course we are, why wouldn't we be?" He replied with a flippant shrug. "I'm always alright."
"And if he is, then I am," Aliya added. She said it as if it were the most natural and sensible notion in the universe, which it certainly wasn't, but he was in no mood to argue. He just gave her shoulder a friendly and appreciative squeeze since his hand was already there.
"Okay then," Jenny said. She didn't look entirely convinced, but he couldn't fathom her disbelief... unless she was surprised to see he and Aliya getting along with so little tension between them. She was used to them being a bit more cross with each other, he supposed.
"Esther," the Doctor said to the nearby immortal blonde human, making her jump and look at him with surprise, "You're computery, aren't you?"
"Yeah," Esther said unsurely, "Did you need something?"
"Want you to make a list of all the warehouses around here, the ones that would be sort of big and empty. Thirty years ago, they used one to run the entire operation. We need to figure out where they've set up this time."
"What operation would that be?" The American woman asked. "You haven't actually told us much of anything about what's going on."
"An alien and a time agent draining humans of their natural pigments to make dye to sell off-planet," Aliya summarised, grimacing. "Check for rift energy and temporal blips."
"Every minute is a minute someone could die, so we need to be onto it, ASAP." The Doctor grinned at Jenny and Esther proudly, and they just looked at him with a judgemental sympathy while Aliya just seemed confused.
"Okay then," Esther finally said, smiling and shaking her head as she walked off to her computer.
That was when Aliya turned on the Doctor. "Are you just making up words?! What the hell is ASAP?"
He just shrugged her off and straightened his bowtie to emphasise just how cool and hip he was. "As soon as possible."
Even as she blinked and then sighed, she still seemed annoyed, but whether it was at him being so supremely cool or her not knowing enough about Earth, he couldn't be sure.
"We might as well take a seat and wait until they find something," she said eventually. They sat together on the couch and had about two seconds to themselves before Hart appeared and seated himself next to Aliya. Right next to Aliya, so that their knees brushed.
"Well, Eyecandy, you're looking...ravishing today."
The Doctor set his jaw in a firm line and glanced over at Aliya, who looked to be out of tolerance, before his gaze settled on the other man.
"Look, Captain, I really don't appreciate you talking to my-"
"Thanks, Doctor, but I really don't need you to defend my honour," Aliya interrupted, glaring at Hart. "Hart, you might get a kick out of making me uncomfortable but it's unoriginal and pathetic, not to mention just downright creepy. So piss off, stick to shagging the one person who finds you non-repulsive, and stay away from our kid as well."
"Our kid?" The Doctor repeated incredulously, turning his friend's cheeks a deep tomato red.
"...awkward…" Hart said gleefully before sauntering off and looking all too pleased with himself.
Aliya's face was in her hands when he looked back to her. "Oh Rassilon...I'm sorry, I don't know why-"
"Hey," he said immediately, placing his hand on her shoulder, "It's alright."
"I just...I sort of think of her as mine even though I shouldn't, and since I think of the two of us as a joint unit some of the time in my head I just-"
"Aliya," the Doctor said, laughing a little, "It's okay."
She peeked out of her fingers. "Really?"
He just shrugged, and felt the need to be just a little cheeky. "You know, she even looks like you a bit. She has your nose."
That was when she smacked him on the arm and rolled her eyes, but she was smiling and soon enough was resting her head on his shoulder. "You're so ridiculous sometimes," She said, but it came out sounding like the opposite of an insult and he felt his hearts swell with momentary affection. Before he could reply, though, Jenny herself came bounding up to them.
"Esther thinks she found something."
When they rushed over to Esther's workstation, the American woman was excited but was doing a good job of pretending not to be.
"There's an old rundown farm on the outskirts of the city," she told them the moment they appeared in her line of sight. A click of the mouse brought the map up on her computer screen. "The old man who owned it died a year ago and it's just been sitting there, abandoned, because he had no family and no one seems to have wanted to buy it. But I looked on the satellite and there's some vehicles outside, and I checked the real estate site and no one's purchased it or anything. Could be a coincidence, but I did the check for rift and temporal energy and sure enough, it comes through right there."
"Esther Drummond, you are magnificent," the Doctor said, kissing her fleetingly on the forehead before bouncing away to make plans with Jack. Aliya just laughed at the bewildered expression on Esther's face.
"Sorry, he just...loves people," she said, shrugging, before moving to follow her friend and find out what their plan of action was.
Rex and Gwen were guarding the perimeter of the farm buildings, patrolling to watch out in case the Slitheen and the Time Agent weren't in the same one. Meanwhile the others hid behind a stone wall near the main farmhouse and worked out the details of the plan.
"So, you said there's a Time Agent in there with a damn Slitheen?" Hart asked Aliya and the Doctor, who nodded. He then looked at Reyna. "Remind me why you're here again?"
"Because someone with actual perception needs to have your idiot back," Reyna replied coolly, and he just smirked before looking to Jack.
"Who do you think it could be? Long dark hair, sexy and dangerous? Doesn't exactly narrow it down."
"You said there weren't many left," Jack reminded him.
"There's not. Out of the chicks: Amber, Satine, Tesh, Dru, Nahara...those are the ones that are definitely still alive as far as I know, but it could be one of the others too. Hair could easily be changed or faked, and sexy and dangerous sums just about all of them up..."
"Names don't mean much. We won't know who it is til we see her," Jack said, loading his revolver.
"Reyna, what are you getting from inside?" The Doctor asked the empath, who shrugged.
"Much the same as the other place. Fear, confusion, pain, but there are far more life signs," Reyna said, "We could be able to save a lot of lives this time."
Jenny bounced on the balls of her feet. The girl was restless from crouching. "So what's the plan?"
"Jack and I go in, say hello, and you lot sneak in and try and get around her until she's surrounded," Hart immediately said. "Bowtie, where's your gun?"
"I don't do guns."
"You've got to be fucking kidding me."
Jack cleared his throat to break the slightly awkward silence that followed. "Plan's feasible, let's do it."
As they got up, Hart noticed Aliya's lack of artillery as well. "Eyecandy, what about you? Gun?" He pulled a spare out of his jacket and held it out to her.
"Uh…" The conflict in Aliya's eyes worried the Doctor. He wanted her safe, of course, but surely she wouldn't - "Alright. Probably a good idea, just in case." She flicked a glance to the Doctor. The unease, he was glad to see, was still there in her face, even as her hand gripped the gun.
That morning or any time before, he might have gotten angry with her. Talked sharply. Yelled. Demanded she give it back. But after everything that had happened, he just couldn't. All he could do was hold her gaze and make a singular, soft protest.
"Aliya…"
She just regarded him solemnly, without surprise or indignation, and said, "I'm sorry, Doctor."
That was the end of it. With the two people he cared about the most on either side of him, both blonde and armed (albeit one somewhat reluctantly) and an empath he owed a great deal of gratitude, the Doctor made his way around the side of the building.
Captain John Hart found an odd excitement fill him as he and Jack entered the barn. The old farm house had seen better days, but the decaying, rustic look was a random personal preference of his. The place would be a neat hideout or base for havoc wreaking. It seemed whoever this Time Agent was had certainly thought the same.
Just who was he going to find in here, anyway? All the possibilities were delectable and deadly in their own way...and he had to grin at the thought. Little fiery Amber with her mane of frizzy red curls and love of cluster grenades...calm and serene Satine who could kill you with two fingers...and then there was Nahara...
His thought process halted abruptly when he felt the ice surface of a gun against the nape of his neck.
"Turn around or try to move and I'll blow your brains out. Both of you."
In his peripheral vision, Hart could see Jack just stiff as him. It confirmed the suspicion that had spawned from hearing the voice behind him.
Dru.
Hard as nails, stone cold psychopath, and fond of dual blasters.
Dual blasters, he would bet one of his balls, that were now pointed directly at his and Jack's spine and brains.
"What're you wearing now, Dru?" Hart had to ask. Just the use of an old name of hers could have been enough of a reason for her to pop his head like a balloon but by some miracle, she didn't.
"Tamara. You?"
"Captain Jack Harkness."
"Captain John Hart."
"You've got to be fucking with me."
"No, but that could easily be arranged," Hart found himself replying.
Jack bristled at his side. "Can you shut up?"
The gun at the base of his head pressed harder into his skin. "You should listen to your little Captain Jack here, Captain John."
"You can just call me Hart, love. Most do."
"Right now I'm calling you a pain in my ass and a waste of my time," Tamara growled. "Walk."
They complied and eventually came into the main barn area, where a hole in the high ceiling let in a few streams of vague Welsh sunlight. It did nothing to brighten the dismal feel of the place.
"Roomy," Jack said after she made them kneel on the ground and took their weapons, discarding them into an empty stall and putting one of her own onto top of a stack of boxes. "So, Tamara, that vortex manipulator looks pretty scorching."
The manipulator was visibly fried. Tamara glanced at it with a hint of annoyance before just shrugging.
"Pretty toys break. I've got my spaceship."
Jack scoffed. "Not quite the same."
"I never liked you, Harkness, so don't think I won't just shoot you."
"Believe me, I do."
Tamara sat herself on a nearby crate and scrutinised them. "Why are you here?"
"Believe it or not, we're protecting this planet. And its people."
"You've got to be kidding," she said. A few seconds of awkward silence convinced her and she started laughing. Hart had forgotten how much he loved her deep laugh. It had always been followed by a great shag or an attempt to shoot him, both of which were always fun. "That's rich, you two turning into goody goods."
"Hey," Hart protested, "I'm not a damn goody good. I'm bad, I'm bad to the bone."
Tamara rolled her eyes. "Right."
A new voice suddenly came from behind Tamara. "He might be on the side of the angels, but don't ever think he's one of us."
Aliya and Jenny came in sight, guns pointed at Tamara's head. The former had been the one to speak, and her younger companion was eyeing her dubiously.
"Was that-"
"Shut up, Jenny."
Tamara, stiffer now that her neck was on the line, seemed simultaneously annoyed and extremely unimpressed.
"What is this, attack of the cute blondes?" She said sceptically. "Sorry if I'm not impressed." Recognition coloured her face. "It's you!"
The Doctor and Reyna appeared from behind Jenny. "Next time you leave test subjects for dead," the Doctor said, "Make sure that there isn't a little one hiding who can free your prisoners." The humour in his voice then vanished. "You're very lucky that you didn't kill him."
"Why?"
Darkly, he replied, "Because I don't know what I would have let Aliya do to you."
Hart saw surprise in Aliya's eyes. To her credit, she didn't move them or her gun from Tamara, who was examining her nails in what was probably just an attempt to look disinterested.
"Put down your gun," Jenny told Tamara.
"See, you say that," the brunette said, smirking, "But I think that even with only one gun, and it being here-" It tapped against her thigh - "I could still get you first, little bit."
"Both of us? Unlikely," Jenny said confidently, "Were you born with military protocol imbedded in your brain? Because I was."
"You?"
Jack joined in, bending the truth a little. "Think about it. Perfect unassuming outside to go with the deadly inside." Hart had to resist the urge to laugh. Although Jack wasn't technically wrong about Jenny, the implication of Jenny being a killing machine was fairly amusing to anyone who knew her warm hearted nature.
"Put the gun down," Jenny said again. Tamara, reluctantly, threw the gun aside. It was clear just by her face that she wanted to kill them all slowly and painfully.
"So do you two know her, then?" Aliya asked Hart and Jack.
"Tamara and I here go way back, even further than me and Jack," Hart said happily, "She didn't always like me though, thought I was a bit annoying. So I'd just have to track her down, tie her up and torture her until she liked me again."
"How romantic of you," the blonde Time Lady said, making a disgusted face.
"Just because you 21st century humans are too vanilla for your own good," Tamara muttered.
"Vanilla? For the record, I'm not human at all, but I don't see what flavours have to do with this."
"Jesus H fucking Christ." Tamara groaned while Hart and Jack had to try not to laugh.
Gwen and Rex called out to them then, entering the room with the unsuited Slitheen at gunpoint. "We found the...thing," Rex said, eyeing it with distaste.
"I find that offensive," the Slitheen replied airily. Rex didn't even give it the courtesy of a reply. "My name is Blay, thank you very much."
"Look for sympathy with people who don't know you're responsible for mass murder, buddy," Gwen told Blay with a roll of her eyes. The Slitheen opened and shut his mouth, as if he had been about to say something and thought better of it.
"Wait," Reyna said. She took a few steps in his direction, moving closer to Hart and Jack. "He's...he's afraid."
"That would be the gun I have pointed at his head," Gwen pointed out.
"No. He's not just afraid, he's remorseful." Reyna stared at Blay, her wide doe eyes full of new sympathy. "Oh you poor thing, what has she dragged you into?"
Blay's entirely black eyes gave nothing away as to his thoughts but his head tilted curiously, and when he spoke there was a tremor in his voice. "How…?"
"I'm an empath, dear," Reyna said, her voice gentle as if speaking to a wounded child, "I can feel everything you're feeling. The guilt, the reluctance, the accusation, the desperation...I understand."
"Hold on," Hart began, "Are you saying that-"
That was when Tamara, with everyone distracted by Reyna's partial revelation, pulled out a miniscule gun from within her jacket and shot Jack square in the forehead. Everyone jumped a mile at the sound of the shot, but Reyna was the only one to have any further reaction. She squealed in shock and looked horrified before registering everyone else's lack of panic. Then her attention was stolen by Gwen shooting the gun from Tamara's hand.
"Yeah, I really should have frisked her for weapons," Hart considered.
Reyna stared at them. "Would somebody like to tell me why you are all so completely calm about your friend being shot?"
"Yeah, I wouldn't mind knowing myself," Tamara growled suspiciously. "Thought you'd have put a bullet in me for it by now, Hart. You always did love him too much."
"Turns out Jack got up to rather a lot since we last saw him, Tammy," Hart told her cheerily, "Went and got himself made immortal. I found that out the hard way. Pushed him off a building and nearly crapped myself when I saw him walking and breathing less than an hour later." That was when he looked at Reyna. "Now, as I was saying: are you trying to tell us that Blay the blob here is actually a good guy?"
"Well, not exactly-"
"If I could explain for myself?" Blay suddenly asked. Everyone looked at him with surprise. "Since the empath vouches for me, you can all hopefully believe me."
"Of course…" The Doctor said, making a funny face, "You have the floor, Blay."
"As you seem to be aware of, I am from the Slitheen family. I will assume that you also know of my family's penchant for schemes to make fast cash no matter the cost. I was sent out on my own to prove that I was worthy of carrying the family name. But I...simply don't have the entrepreneurial streak my brothers and sisters do. I just wanted enough money to be able to set myself up somewhere out of their reach so that they couldn't hunt me down for being such a disappointment."
"And then I found him," Tamara interrupted, "Snivelling to himself in a bar. I realised that combining our skill sets could find a happy outcome for both of us. I needed another set of hands someone more genuine than myself to infiltrate the humans. Good dye is hard to come by, and I know from experience that humans make the best."
Aliya looked green. "Oh Rassilon."
"A one off job," Blay continued, "I wasn't entirely comfortable with farming humans but I thought that my freedom would be worth it. Only, the moment I was among them, I truly saw them. So kind, so giving, so delightful imperfect...I regretted my actions but it was far too late. People were dead and if I backed out, I knew she would kill me and it would all be for naught." Blay began to duck his head and make noises that Hart could only guess were sobs. "I'm so sorry."
"He truly is," Reyna assured the others.
The two Time Lords looked surprised but accepting of the information, and while Hart could tell his colleagues were taking a bit longer, no one was going to argue with an empath.
"Alright, but what do we do now?" Jenny asked. Gwen then took charge.
"Well, we've got to work out what to do with bitch of the week here."
Hart finally got to his feet. "Easy." Beside him, Jack suddenly gasped back to life. "No one kills my boyfriend except for me." Tamara had enough time to witness Jack's immortality with wide eyes before Hart's bullet penetrated her forehead and she slumped back over the crate.
"Hart!" Several people - Gwen, the Doctor and Aliya - all protested at once.
Jack, from the floor, panted, "I'm not your boyfriend."
"Yeah, I know," Hart said with a whimsical grin, putting his hands in his pockets and shrugging his shoulders, "But it sounded good."
"I feel like there should have been a vote on the whole murder thing," Aliya told him, looking seriously unimpressed.
Hart rolled his eyes. "You couldn't trust her. You're forgetting, Eyecandy, not only do Jack and I know her type, we know her. You're the ones all about saving innocent lives and all that crap. I just saved an untold number of innocent lives with the kind of schemes she got up to. Or have you already forgotten what she was doing here?"
"But-" The Doctor spluttered. "You can't just kill people, Hart! I thought you were supposed to be on our side now? Being on our side means playing by our rules."
"No it doesn't."
"If only," Jack said with a sigh as Hart gave him a hand up. "But in this case, Doctor, I'm going to have to side with him. She was way too dangerous to be kept alive."
The Doctor shut his mouth and kept quiet, but made no attempt to disguise his displeasure. Luckily, that was when Jenny raised her hand.
"So, if we're trying to work out what to do now...I've got an idea about Blay," the young blonde said slowly. "Tamara's dead but she had that vortex manipulator. Couldn't we give it to Blay? If he sold that, he'd have more than enough money to set up shop for life, right? Time travel's got to be worth a fortune. And...there's the dye that's already been made, which he might as well take too."
"I'm still not too sure we should be giving him anything. Like sure, he might be sorry, but he still did it," Rex said.
"Oh, have a heart, Rex, look at him," Aliya told him, gesturing to Blay and his diminutive posture.
Rex did, and made a face. "Yeah, that's not helping."
"Well, if you weren't so blinded by the artificial differences, you'd be able to see just how shaken up by this he is." Aliya turned her gaze to Blay. "I think Jenny's idea is great. The Doctor or one of these two-" She pointed to Jack and Hart - "Should be able to tell us the coordinates of a market where you can sell the manipulator. I can show you how to use it."
"It's broken."
"Sonic can fix it."
"Thank you," Blay said, sounding rather awed by the whole situation, "All of you. I don't deserve it. I'll help you here in any way I can before you let me go."
"Yeah, well, I suppose you might be good with the lifting," Rex admitted, eyeing him.
"Anything you require, good sir." Blay gave a tiny bow. Rex, to everyone else's immense surprise, actually smiled slightly.
"Yeah, well, maybe you're alright in my books, man."
Aliya and Jenny starting laughing quietly amongst themselves, and the Doctor chuckled briefly. Rex's other work mates just put it down as one of the weirder things to happen that day and moved on.
So they got to work. Reyna helped let everyone know which humans were in the worst shape and Gwen, Aliya, the Doctor, Jack and Hart went about freeing them and loading them into the SUVs. Rex and Blay disposed of Tamara's body as a team and after that, Blay and Aliya sat down so that she could show him how the manipulator worked and helped him get the coordinates for the market right after receiving them from Jack.
Hart watched the Time Lady and the Slitheen chatting and laughing (giggling?) and had to shake his head and smile when he was sure no one was looking. Oh, the Time Lady had her issues, but her heart... (hearts, he had to remind himself) certainly worth admiring.
Eventually it was all done and Blay was standing with the vortex manipulator around his huge wrist, ready to go.
"Thank you all. For everything. I don't deserve it. And thank you especially, Reyna," he said.
Reyna smiled widely. "You're very welcome, Blay. Best of luck to you."
"Goodbye."
He disappeared in a flash of light with the crates of dye under his arm, just as Aliya had instructed him to.
"Now we owe you two, Reyna," Aliya said to the empath, hugging her tightly, "Thank you again."
After dropping the captured humans at a hospital to be cared for, the team arrived back at the Hub. The moment they were through the door, Esther was up and on her feet.
"How did it go?" She asked, attention mostly on Jack.
He shrugged. "Alright." Compassion crossed her face and she immediately hugged him tightly. It was a process Hart and most of the others had seen before - the immortal empathy hug.
"I feel like I've missed something, Jenny," the Doctor whispered to his daughter.
"It's just what they do, mate," Hart told him from his other side, also watching the scene, "They've got a code, you see. 'Alright' means that it turned out okay but that they died. Hence the hugging. I mean, it's only happened to Esther three times now, but still. It's got to be rough, and they're the only ones who can understand what it's like. Sort of sweet, when you think about it."
That was when Hart realised quite belatedly that someone was missing.
"Hey, Princess," he said to Jenny, "Speaking of 'sort of sweet', where's Eyecandy?"
Not a moment later, Aliya could be seen coming down the invisible lift with a bouquet in her hand. She breezed past Hart and made a beeline for Reyna who was deep in conversation with Jack.
"I know it's lame and not even close to what you deserve, but it's the best I could do with the money the Doctor had on him," she said to Reyna as she held out the flowers, "But after what you did for us I had to get you something. If you ever need our help, anything at all, contact Jack and get him to call us, and we'll be here. As it is, I imagine you can help her set up a new identity here, right Jack?"
"Already on it, Alibear," Jack said with a smile. She smiled back, hugged Reyna again, and headed over to Jenny, the Doctor and Hart.
"You didn't even realise I was gone, did you, Hart?"
"Not exactly, no."
"Charming."
Jenny snuck a glance at her friend. "Aliya...what exactly did Reyna do? For you?" Aliya just lifted an eyebrow. "Well, you said that you owed her two and you bought her flowers and kept thanking her. Is this something to do with you and Dad suddenly being all…"
"All what?" The Doctor asked curiously.
"Cutesy," Hart suggested, only to change his mind, "No. Unwound."
"Yeah, like you're happier or something," Jenny agreed.
"Aliya and I still had a few...er…" The Doctor scratched his face while fishing for his next words. "Issues. From way back. Reyna realised they were causing us problems, even now."
"So she sat us down, and made us talk it out, being an empathic counsellor and all," Aliya finished, chuckling, "She's a force to be reckoned with. And she probably saved our friendship in the long run."
"That's really great," Jenny said, beaming.
The cute little moment was interrupted when the siren for the main entrance went off. All heads turned to the circular rotating door just in time to see Marion Narke walk through it, dressed in not-so-warm travel clothes and with a bag in hand.
"Oh great," she wasted no time in saying, "The cavalry's here."
"Don't worry, we're leaving," Aliya replied stonily.
"How was your reunion thing?" Gwen asked Marion, who dumped her bag and shrugged.
Jenny ran up to her. "Oh come on, I bet it was great. You would have loved rubbing it in their faces that you're a fancy special ops Doctor now."
Marion smirked. "Well, that part was alright, I suppose." That was when Jenny hugged her. Bitch On Legs was still the most awkward hugger Hart had ever seen, but she was very slowly improving. The brunette's arms gingerly rested around the girl's small frame, still mostly just responding to the hug rather than hugging back. But became apparent that her attention had been stolen, because Marion's gaze had fixed on something over Jenny's shoulder.
Esther, being that something, frowned with confusion. "What?" No one other than Hart and the immortal woman herself had picked up on who or what Marion's scrutiny was burning a hole into. "Is there something on my face?"
Marion disentangled herself from Jenny with surprising delicacy. "...no...no. I was simply...hello." Marion coughed and managed to tear her eyes from the blonde, shaking her head just a fraction. "That is, hello to all of you. Surprisingly good to be back."
Hart spotted something. "Bitch On Legs, what happened to your face?"
Marion's hand went to her mouth reflexively, lightly touching a barely healing cut on her upper lip. "What do you think?"
"I think you were your usual charming self, pissed someone off and got hit," Aliya said simply.
"Got it in one, Blondie." Marion sounded rather proud of it.
"Wow, you really know how to make school reunions interesting, huh?" Esther asked, somewhat tentatively. The others laughed, and just like that the Torchwood team was back to normal. Not lacking in arguments and tension, but still a team. To Hart, it was almost like a family. Not quite, but possibly one of the closest things he'd had to one.
The Doctor and Aliya had apparently picked up on it too.
"Yeah, we'll getting going," the former said to the rest of the room. "The Earth's got you lot, best that Aliya and I keep an eye on the rest of the universe."
Jenny hugged them both goodbye, somewhat at the same time. It ended up being a very pleasant group hug. "See you guys. Pop back soon."
"Or don't," Marion added.
Aliya just shook her head without bothering to reply and waved goodbye to Reyna, Jack and Esther, before heading into the TARDIS. The Doctor followed suit, and a minute later the blue box was disappearing before their eyes.
"So, who's Little Bo Peep in the glasses here?"
The Doctor lifted his eyes from the console and noticed Aliya's slight frown.
"You and Marion really do struggle to get along, don't you?" He suddenly asked. It was hard to tell if he was amused, curious or disbelieving. It was just...interesting.
"I don't want to talk about Marion," she said, shaking her head. She smiled at him, in that soft yet somehow cheeky way that he found so brilliant. "Not today. This is one of the best days of my life. We saved lives and thanks to Reyna we're suddenly...I don't know…"
"We're good," he finished for her. She nodded.
"Yeah. We're good."
They spent a few seconds grinning at each other.
"So, do you feel like watching a movie?"
"Alright. What kind of movie?"
A couple of hours later the two of them had dozed off towards the end of Hairspray. When the Doctor woke, he had stretched out across the couch and had Aliya curled into his side, tucked under the crook of his arm and sleeping peacefully. He shut his eyes and let his mind ease into as much stillness as his hyperactive brain could muster, his fingers drumming the rhythm of a complex Beethoven symphony onto the skin of her arm.
"...what are you doing?" Aliya eventually murmured, voice thick with drowsiness.
"Beethoven."
"What?"
"Famous Earth musician. I'm tapping it."
"It's annoying."
He poked her in the arm instead of tapping it, and chuckled when she squirmed. "It's art, and I thought you were asleep."
"I was, until you decided my body was a percussion instrument."
He snorted and when she twisted her body so that she could look up at him, he bopped her on the nose. "But it worked so well."
Rolling her eyes, she grinned again. "As I said earlier. You're ridiculous. Bloody ridiculous."
"As opposed to you. Smallish, irritable and back to being my personal teddy bear."
"I'm a great personal teddy bear," she muttered as she rolled back onto her side and leant her head back against his chest, "And you know it."
"Yeah," he said thoughtfully, playing with her hair for just a moment, "You're officially rehired."
"Great, but stop touching my hair."
The Doctor gave one of her curls a yank and she threatened him with loss of limb until he finally stopped fiddling and curled back up by her. She fell asleep first - again, without her pills because she was with him. Her soft and airy breathing almost sounded like a small child snoring. It made the Doctor smile and shut his eyes with a newfound sense of peace.
Today had been a good day.
I really really hope this was worth the wait guys! So sorry again about that. Coming up next is a medieval arc which is going to involve not only a great time with the 'fake relationship trope' (the Doc and Aliya will be posing as newlyweds), but also a fabulous amount of sexual tension.
I've started a little companion drabble fic to go with this series too, based on 'Texts From Last Night'. It's called 'Texts From Tomorrow Night', and can be found on my profile. Just fun little extras for those of you that want more of this universe when possible.
Here's the link to the 8tracks tag for the series (some mixes might cover or imply certain events that are yet to happen but I don't think they are massively spoilery).
/explore/hootd_series
Just put the 8tracks . com in front and you guys should be sweet. Hopefully see you guys soon for the next chapter! :D
Love you all and sorry again,
-MayFairy :)