Don't you guys ever think I don't love you. I have put all my energy and time into finishing and proofreading this chapter instead of studying for my psychology test that is in 10 hours. Ah well. I couldn't help it, this chapter couldn't be keep in any longer, it needs to be read!
Thanks to all who have reviewed so far!
This chapter is nice and long, and you guys can thank Marion for that, it would seem that giving her a minor part in this chapter simply wasn't an option. I blame her entirely, but I can never regret having a large amount of Marion, so all I can do is hope that you guys enjoy the chapter as much as I have enjoyed writing it.
p.s. can I get a hell yeah for lady friendships? lots of that in this chapter! :D
p.p.s. there's a Whedonverse quote in this chapter, and whoever can pick it out and say which show it is from will get a little snippet of next chapter! And an even bigger one if you can get the character who said it too.
Tell me more, tell me more
Was it love at first sight?
Tell me more, tell me more
Did she put up a fight?
Tell me more, tell me more
But you don't gotta brag
Tell me more, tell me more
'Cause he sounds like a drag
Summer Lovin - Grease
"Fuck!"
At Aliya's very unexpected exclamation, the Doctor jumped a mile and nearly fell off his stool. He steadied himself and glared at her.
"Was that entirely necessary?!"
"Doctor, we forgot about Jenny! Again!" When he just gave her a befuddled look, she sighed. "We took three years to tell her we had disappeared together and stopped hating each other, and now we've forgotten that she might want to know about all this!"
"All this?"
"That her father and her friend/mentor are now...you know."
"Actually, I don't know."
Aliya lifted an eyebrow. "Doctor, you're literally sketching me naked and draped in bedsheets."
He flapped his hands. "Well, y'know, I do know, obviously. I don't make a habit of doing nude sketches of all my companions, you know!"
"I should hope not," she said mildly.
The Doctor took in a long, deep breath of exasperation. "What I mean," he slowly began, "Is that I don't know exactly what this is. Or rather, how to try and explain it to anyone else. We know what it is, but it's not really something that has a name, is it? Time Lords never labelled it, because it's not something you would share back on Gallifrey with anyone else."
She blinked at him and realised he was right. "Oh. I see what you mean. Humans are nosy, they have all those different words for relationships. Do we really need one?"
"With River it was so easy, she was just my wife, and before that the only label I needed for her was 'trouble'," the Doctor muttered, bringing the charcoal back to the paper to sketch a new set of lines.
"Well, I'm not your wife, nor do I ever intend to be," Aliya said firmly.
"No, definitely not, trips to conservative eras excluded," he agreed without looking up. "Girlfriend is no good, it sounds very sort of temporary and this most certainly isn't. Paramour is pretentious and leans towards the mistress side of things."
"I don't see what's wrong with friend or companion."
"If it were anyone but me, the latter would be perfect." He rubbed his face thoughtfully, unknowingly getting a smear of charcoal along the line of his left cheekbone. "I've had too many of both."
"But why does it matter?" She asked. "The details are between us. The fact that I'm your friend who travels with you is the most important and meaningful part of all of this, no matter what anyone else might think."
The Doctor lifted his eyes to meet hers. "And the fact that you think that, and are more or less correct, is why you're worthy of a slightly different title."
She snorted. "It's not just about me in relation to you, thanks very much. This goes both ways. Or did you want to be my boyfriend or paramour?"
The thought of being somebody's paramour had him making a face of distaste that was quite amusing to behold. "No. Preferably, definitely not."
"Well, if you're so intent on this, what about partner?" Aliya suggested, shifting her position on the bed and not caring if it mucked the sketch up at this point because she wanted to be able to sit back against the headboard. "I still think companion will get the job done for most introductions, but if someone presses us, partner ticks all the boxes because it's so vague. Do we mean romantic partners, life partners, business partners, partners in crime? People just won't know, and we won't elaborate!" She grinned. "It would be fun."
"Frankly, I'd hope for all four and then some," he said wryly, but smiled at her, "But yes! Partners." He clapped his hands and then pointed at her enthusiastically. "I like it. That's what all the nosy parkers deserve. Something mysterious that gives them a general idea but absolutely no details. It's perfect."
"Great, now are you done with the sketch or not?"
"Almost. Now, go back to how you were before, or it'll take longer, I'm just doing your hair."
She sighed and shuffled back down to prop herself back up onto her elbow.
So, a week after that particular conversation, the TARDIS was put on course for the Torchwood Hub. It was a bumpy ride because both pilots were rather distracted.
"It occurs to me that we haven't necessarily thought this through," Aliya said as the box landed. Her hands smoothed invisible wrinkles in her white sundress before twisting together in front of her.
"In what way?" The Doctor sounded like he was only half listening to her.
"Well, telling people - namely Jenny, but the others as well - seems somewhat important, but what exactly are we going to say?"
He frowned. "Fair point. I hadn't considered it. We'll play it by ear, and think of something. We usually do."
"I suppose…"
He approached the door and made a sweeping gesture. "Shall we?"
"I'm suddenly a bit worried about what they're going to think," Aliya said, smiling embarrassed at her own folly, "Which is ridiculous because it doesn't really matter, but...I don't know, humans are judgemental, aren't they? What if they don't think I'm...good enough for you?"
The Doctor blinked at her with great surprise. "Firstly, as you say, nothing they think matters, but that in particular?" He shook his head and actually chuckled a little while muttering under his breath. "You...not being...for me…"
"What?"
"Nothing," he said, smiling with amusement, "Just the idea that you think something is going to look at us and say 'You know what? That ray of sunshine definitely doesn't deserve the mass murderer who happens to have great hair and cool clothes'."
Aliya felt her hearts pang at him calling himself a mass murderer so easily, but he wasn't wrong. "Ray of sunshine?" She had to ask, lifting an eyebrow.
He made a face. "Alright, well, annoying and hypocritical ray of sunshine, but still-"
She kissed him before he could go off on a tangent to god knows where. The sentiment was still there, and the implications of him calling her such a thing sent warmth all the way down to her toes.
Just as the Doctor's hands finally found their way to her waist - she could never be sure if his lack of ability to get his hands anywhere with any degree of speed was down to his general awkwardness or his being focused on the actual kissing part - she pulled away.
"If we take too long to come out, it's going to look suspicious," she said, and left the box so that he had no choice but to follow.
Jenny, of course, was waiting outside and hugged her friend immediately. "Hey!" The girl squealed. "You didn't call to say you were coming, this is such a nice surprise!"
"I'm glad," Aliya replied. Suddenly any worry over what the girl might say about recent developments disappeared. Jenny could never hate her, of that she was almost certain, and so long as they explained it well enough, she would hopefully take the news just fine, if not well.
The Doctor emerged from the box to get attacked by his daughter about the same time that Aliya spotted Jack grinning at her from where he was leaning on the bench that housed the coffee machine. Gwen was beside him, giving the Time Lords a friendly nod.
"Alibear," the leader of the team said, and she grinned and gave him a large hug before beaming at Gwen as well. Sometimes she forgot just how much she loved all the people in Torchwood. They had been such good company during one of the more dismal periods of her life.
"Oh joy," came the sound of a familiar drawl.
Well, almost all the people, Aliya thought with a sigh. Sure enough she turned around to see Marion Narke standing with Esther near the workstations. Well, let her be her miserable self, I don't intend to let anything get me down today.
"Nice to see you, Esther, Marion," she said pointedly, "Where's Rex?"
"Lucky enough to be elsewhere," Marion replied without missing a beat.
Aliya just smirked and made her way back to where Jenny and the Doctor were standing. The former was telling her father about a big adventure the team had had a while back.
"And I mean, it's June now, so the weather's getting nice!" Jenny added. "It's been a couple of months for us, how long has it been for you two? And what's with the surprise visit?"
The Doctor and Aliya exchanged unsure glances. "Well, we've got some news, because it's been a while for us, but exactly how long is hard to say," the man in the bowtie said, frowning, "There was that business with the shapeshifters and the inn, and a few weeks after that we had the Dream Lord-" When Jenny and several of the Torchwood members listening in gave him curious looks, he just coughed. "Best not to ask. Then a week after that there was, er...Greywall, and then-" He halted, a slight flush in his cheeks. "A drifting period of sorts. Then some markets and a pirate ship. Rough estimate...six months?"
"We were drifting for four months?" Aliya was legitimately surprised by that, but then it had all blurred together so much, and when she remembered why, she had to fight to not have her own cheeks go pink.
"Maintenance problems?" Jack asked, lifting an eyebrow.
"What?"
"Why else were you drifting?"
"Because congratulations are in order!" Captain John Hart had entered the room when no one was looking and spread his arms. He beamed at the two Time Lords. "Seriously, just job well done, you two. This is genuine pride I feel for you, Bowtie. Doesn't it feel better now that you're not both so repressed?"
"What in god's name are you talking about, Hart?" Gwen asked crossly.
Hart chuckled. "They've been shagging like rabbits! That's their news!" Both Time Lords turned bright red as everyone in the room stared at them incredulously. "Could you lot really not tell?" He looked around the group with great disappointment. "It's obvious!" When they didn't seem to agree, he sighed. "Amateurs. Don't even know the fifteen signs, of which they are displaying eleven, for the record."
The Doctor and Aliya glanced at each other. They didn't think they had been displaying any types of signs, but then, if anyone knew how to read subconscious body language, it would be Hart.
"Doctor?" Jack asked, amused and supremely curious as he crossed his arms.
"Well," the Doctor said bashfully, "That wasn't exactly how we were going to put it. Or really even a little bit how we were going to put it. Different, er, focus area."
"Yeah, I bet," Jack chuckled. "Damn, Doctor, you two had to go and get all reasonable, didn't you?" When the Doctor just gave him a blank look, Jack grinned. "I owe Esther twenty. I thought you guys had too much baggage, and I actually bought into that 'we're better as friends' crap."
"We haven't stopped being friends," Aliya said, "There's just...more to it now."
"I bet there is," Hart said appreciatively, "God what I'd pay to have been a fly on the wall when you two finally worked out how to-" Marion's fist collided with his face before he could say another word. "Ow! Fucking hell, Legs, what did I ever do to you?"
"You shot me," Marion said flatly.
"It was nothing personal! And it was last year, what the hell are you bringing it up now for?"
"The last thing I need right now is the visual of these two lackwits getting it on based on your no doubt sickening description; I would rather scratch my own eyes out," she growled, glaring down at him, "So congratulate them all you like but be mindful of the three year old in room."
"Does everyone here sort of forget that I was in the 61st century before I came here?" Jenny asked, frowning at them all. "Because I learnt quite a bit of-"
"Jenny," Aliya said abruptly, cutting her off, "For your father's sake and mine, please don't finish that sentence."
"Right, because finding out you've been shagging my dad nonstop isn't weird for me at all," the girl retorted.
"Oh my god, that was what the drifting period was, wasn't it? You two just couldn't stop!" Jack exclaimed gleefully, "Four months, now that's something. Didn't think either of you had in it you."
Aliya felt her face burning with more embarrassment than she could remember having in any of her lives. Ever. "We are not having this conversation," she said with as much mildness as she could manage.
Esther seemed to be agreeing. "Seriously guys, just leave it-"
"And give up the chance to watch them squirm? No chance-"
"Hart, I swear, I will hit you again and this time it will not be your face that suffers-"
"Jeez, Narke, just because you've stopped shagging Matheson for god knows what reason, doesn't mean you need to take your sexual frustration out on the rest of - ow! Jesus fucking Christ, woman!"
"Four months, though, Aliya, really?"
"...yes, Gwen, but-"
"Oh my god, that's just impressive-"
"Well, thanks, but-"
"Does this mean I can call you Mum?"
The room's chaos evaporated in a single second as everyone present turned to eye the generated anomaly who had spoken. All the humans were silent and watchful with quiet curiosity, while the Time Lords had frozen completely. Jenny meanwhile was standing and staring at Aliya (and the Doctor) with wide and vulnerable blue eyes.
The dead silence of the room did nothing to help Aliya's unparalleled shock at the question.
"I-" She stammered. "I don't know." A glance at the Doctor got her absolutely no response - he seemed as lost for words as she was. "It's not something I would object to, but you don't have to, Jenny, not if you-"
"I want to," Jenny said without hesitation, and the certainty in her voice made Aliya's chest swell with affection, "Dad? Would that be okay? I'm assuming that you two are actually properly involved and not just-"
"We're together in every way that counts, yes, you're not wrong, you don't have to worry about that," the Doctor said quickly, apparently having recovered, "It wouldn't bother me. Quite the opposite. But really, it's between you two."
Jenny gave Aliya a soft smile. "To be honest, I've always thought of you as my mum in my head anyway."
Aliya felt her hand go to her mouth as her eyes filled with tears. "I'd be honoured to be." Jenny launched herself at her and the two blonde Gallifreyans hugged each other fiercely, laughing and crying all at once. "This is not something I had planned for today."
"What, adopting a fully grown three year old daughter?" Jenny laughed into her shoulder.
"Yeah, well, it's been a while," Aliya replied, and only the Doctor would be the one who really understood that she had adopted a three year old daughter in the past, who while not fully grown at the time, was now.
"You know, I can't say I saw this coming," the Doctor said to them, smiling, "But I can't think of anything that makes more sense." Then he pulled them in for a big hug that Aliya realised was a family hug now that Jenny was involved.
Family. I have a family, she thought, feeling giddy just at the thought, I mean, the Doctor is one thing and Jenny was a sort of family while I was here, but now it's real. It's legitimate and it's real and I can't think of anything better.
"We've got a daughter," the Doctor said to Aliya, with wide eyes but a wider smile, "Didn't see that coming."
"I might not always call you Mum," Jenny said, "But you always will be."
"This is so sweet I think I'm going to need to borrow Hart's jacket so I can barf in it," Marion said, leaving the room with a roll of her eyes. Nobody paid her any attention.
"Well, this escalated quickly," Jack noted, and when the little trio of a family broke apart to smile at him, he grinned back, "But congrats."
"So how did it happen?" Esther asked. "From what I know, it must have been something pretty big that made you two get your acts together."
"Let's just say that we got stuck in a cave and didn't have much else to do," the Doctor said, and when everyone in the room lifted their eyebrows at him, he went red and hastily added, "But talk! Honestly, you lot, is that all you ever think about?"
"Yeah, actually," Hart said, grinning, "And I reckon you're not much better even if you like to think you are."
The Doctor chose not to answer that.
"Well I for one wouldn't mind a few more details, considering how big of a deal this all seems to be," Esther said mischievously, "Besides, Aliya, you don't seem like you've been subjected to a lot of girl talk in your life, and it'll be good for you."
"Uh-"
"Great!" Hart exclaimed. "We'll take Bowtie. They'll give us a lot more separately."
"Are you guys seriously going to interrogate my parents?" Jenny asked sceptically. Aliya had to fight down the most obscene grin at hearing the girl refer to them like that. It was going to take some getting used to.
"Yeah," Gwen said, nodding and smirking as she shared a look of agreement with Esther, "You know...for science." It didn't sound particularly convincing. "When else are we going to get the chance to learn about how aliens go about this sort of thing?"
"Actually, you'd be surprised how many are pretty forthcoming if you just-"
"No, Jack," Gwen interrupted. She was grinning at him, though. "I mean Time Lords. I still know pretty much fuck all about them, and if they're going to keep turning up then I reckon I should be learning. Same goes for Marion and Rex. They're getting in on this too."
"Like hell I am!" Marion's cross voice called from the medbay.
"Come on, Narke, it'll be a girls afternoon out!" Esther called back, grinning. "Which means you qualify. I'll buy you a coffee!"
"Am I invited?" Jenny's question had the immortal blonde nodding.
"Of course, sweetie, we wouldn't leave you out!"
Marion appeared at the top of the medbay steps. "Fine, I'll be there, but only for the coffee and then I'm back here. Hearing how the 'lady of time' got her happy fucking ending is about as far from interesting or appealing as anything I can imagine."
Aliya and the Doctor had subconsciously and simultaneously taken a step backwards in the direct of the TARDIS. But when the latter glanced over his shoulder while thinking about making a break for it, he saw that Hart had somehow moved to block the doors from him.
"Don't even think about it, Bowtie," the man in the red jacket said, moving forward to clap him on the shoulder, "We're going to have fun, you me and Jack."
"Is this actually happening?" Aliya asked.
All the humans immediately replied, "Yes!"
That was how Aliya found herself in a deserted cafe with a scowling Marion, an excited Gwen and Esther, and a slightly wary Jenny. As a private person now expected to divulge extremely personal details, she was entirely unsure how she was going to get around their questions, as well as being afraid as to what those questions might be.
"God I wish I'd never agreed to this," Aliya said, though privately realised that she never really had.
"Me too, this coffee was definitely not worth it," Marion replied, eyeing it with great disappointment.
Jenny stared at them. "Did you two just agree on something?"
"No," they both said, glancing at each other with great alarm and then looking away just as quickly.
"Okay, before we get started, I have to ask," Esther said as she and Gwen returned to the table with the other drinks, "What's with the necklace?"
Aliya touched Laura's gift which was hanging around her neck and resting just below her clavicle. "Oh, a friend made it for me, someone we met in medieval England. I don't like taking it off, even if it's not what you lot would call high fashion."
"Hey we've all got things like that," Gwen said, shrugging, "This ring here? Got it from one of those Star Poets when I accidentally helped her with the block she was having on her poem's final line." The ring was a deep violet and upon closer inspection had specks of light that shone like real distant stars.
"And my sister made me this bracelet when we were in high school," Esther added, pulling back her blouse sleeve so that they could see the faded woven colours, "I found it in a box when I was packing up to move here. Haven't taken it off since. She's not...she's not so well anymore, and it's nice to be able to remember when she was."
Aliya smiled. "They're both beautiful."
That was when Gwen, Esther and Jenny all turned to look at Marion expectantly. The dark haired doctor had been quietly listening and now blinked at the sudden attention.
"What?"
"How long have we been working together now, Narke?" Gwen asked.
"Too long," Marion muttered into her cup of coffee as she took another gulp.
"Don't think I haven't noticed the locket. I think Christmas was the first and last time I saw you without it, so there's got to be a story there."
For the first time, Aliya properly noticed the round locket sitting against Marion's blouse, and was surprised to realise that she had seen it many times before and never paid it a moment's attention.
Jenny nudged Marion with her shoulder. "Come on, Marion, it's a really nice story."
"So there is a story," Esther said triumphantly, sipping her own latte, "Spill, Narke."
Marion took the time to make it very clearly she definitely wished she hadn't come by glaring at them all individually. Then she sighed and put the cup down. "Fine. It was my first, and last, Valentine's Day gift, back when I was halfway through secondary school."
"Aw," Esther said, grinning.
"Hang on, you've only ever had one Valentine's Day gift?" Gwen's question earned her a sharp look.
"That's not the point of the story, Cooper, and you wanted to hear it, so shut it."
Aliya frowned. "What's Valentine's Day?"
Everyone at the table stared at her, even Jenny. Before anyone could offer any explanation, Marion just rolled her eyes and continued. "Anyway. This Valentine's Day gift wasn't anything romantic before you all get any ideas. As none of you will be surprised to hear, I didn't have any friends. Aside from one nice substitute teacher a year later, no one at my school thought of me as anything other than the sullen little bitch that I was."
"Hard to believe," Aliya couldn't resist murmuring, even if she knew it was a horrible thing to say considering that Marion was sharing personal information and how rare that in itself was in her limited experience.
To her surprise, Marion's lips actually twitched, though it didn't reach her eyes. "Only then a new student came in one day, some curly haired kid with a grin too big for any reasonable person. Ben Smithson. And for some reason, he decided over the course of his first few days that I was the most interesting one in the form class to talk to."
"Well, he wasn't wrong, was he? Boring's not a word I'd apply to you," Gwen said, and Marion nodded, giving her co-worker a wry and amused smile.
"I found him annoying and tried to dissuade him, but it didn't work. In the end I decided I didn't hate him and just went along with it. He was one of those kids that had to move around a lot because of their parent's jobs, so he always had good stories to tell. And he was a good listener, so I actually didn't mind giving him an idea of how shitty my life was," Marion said, frowning, "Then about a month after he arrived, and on Valentine's Day to boot, he told me that he was moving again and that it was his last day."
"Oh, that's rough," Gwen said sympathetically, and Marion just shrugged.
"He said that I just had to remember to keep going even when life was shit, and that eventually everything would all work out. And he told me to never let anyone else tell me who I was." When Jenny's hand landed on her arm in what was supposed to be an act of comfort, Marion pulled away and simply stared at them all with a very neutral expression. "Coming from a crappy background like mine, it was something I needed to hear. Hell, it's probably something everyone could do with hearing. Anyway, the locket was supposed to help me remember, and his way of saying thanks for being a friend to him." She removed it from her neck and opened the clasp to reveal an old photograph.
"Oh my god," Esther breathed as they all leaned forward to look, except Jenny who by her slight lack of attention had apparently heard and seen it all before.
The shot was of a teenage Marion, barely recognisable. It wasn't just the school uniform or her dark hair being long, it was the fact that the photo captured her mid laugh, the kind of laugh that made someone's whole face light up, even their eyes.
The kind of laugh and light no one at the table had ever witnessed from Marion.
She just smirked at their gobsmacked expressions. "Yeah, yeah, I used to have feelings, I know, it's shocking."
"But you got a good deal when you sold your soul, right?" Esther asked, grinning. "Like the ability to run in heels? Or is that how you learned how to roundhouse kick Hart in the face?"
Marion sniggered. "Wouldn't you like to know?"
Jenny rolled her eyes at their exchange, but for reasons Aliya couldn't be sure of. "I wish I had some cool heirloom or souvenir."
"You've got your whole life, Jen, I wouldn't worry," Aliya said to her, smiling. "Though in reality, maybe I should be giving this to you. The Doctor and I were pretending to be married due to the society at the time, but weren't together at that point. This girl Laura made this for me when I befriended her, after I had tried to explain to her that having children wasn't in my future. She said it was for good luck and that if I had a child by some miracle, I could pass it on." She fiddled with the nautical star. "I of course thought that was secretly both hilarious and impossible, and told her I would but that I would more likely keep it for myself." Then she grinned at Jenny. "But what do you know? I got a daughter today. I suppose she was right. Do you want it?"
Jenny seemed tempted, but shook her head a few moments later. "No, it's a way for you to remember your friend. Besides, this wasn't exactly a miracle. Informal adoption more like."
"Well, we could pick up some papers if you really put that much stock into human law-" Aliya began sarcastically, only for Jenny to shush her. "No? Then stop making it sound like we did it on a whim. Perks of not being bound to a society is that informal doesn't mean illegitimate."
"Not that it would be bad if Jenny did take the pendant, but you probably should keep it," Esther said with a cheeky grin, and Aliya blinked at her.
"Why?"
"Four months continuously?" Gwen snorted, innuendo thick in her voice.
Aliya felt her cheeks go pink, but that didn't mean she understood what they meant. "Why are we back to this? What does it have to do with the pendant?"
"Do we need to give you the Talk, Miss Superior Alien Being?" Esther asked wryly. "It could be a bit late, by the sounds of it."
"Careful?" Aliya was nothing short of completely bewildered. Were they implying sex was dangerous? "I have absolutely no idea what you're all talking about."
"Oh come on, even I do!" Jenny exclaimed. "They're saying you could have another surprise kid on your hands if you're not careful, at the rate you and Dad are apparently going!"
The Time Lady froze, stared at them all, and then burst out laughing. When she couldn't stop, she gulped some of her hot chocolate in an attempt to calm herself, but it was a miracle she didn't spit it out because she was still going.
"You people are adorable," she managed to say, "In that you think you can just transfer the rules of your biology to mine just because I look like you. What is the probability of human pregnancy, on average, for someone my physical age?"
"I really don't know, but maybe 25%, at the right time?" Gwen answered.
Aliya had been expecting something high. She had not been expecting something that high. "One in four?" She repeated, mouth open like a codfish. "Are you serious?" They all just nodded and she made a face to cover just how outstanding she truly found it. "No wonder there's so many of you. Well, the chances with Gallifreyans is something like one in two to four hundred thousand."
Now it was their turn to gape at her. "How the hell were there any of you left to get killed in a war?" Esther asked.
"Well, we live for thousands of years without accidents, so quite easily. But it took me several centuries to get pregnant back when I was married, and that was considered relatively quick," Aliya explained, shrugging, "Besides, Time Lords aren't born, not in the same way as you lot. We're Loomed. Grown, from basic genetic material, in the Looms on Gallifrey, which for the record are all destroyed. So believe me when I say, there's no chance of anything like that happening."
"So, by Time Lord standards, I'm not that weird," Jenny said slowly, in a tone of voice that made Aliya realise how much she must have considered herself an outsider compared to the humans around her.
"No, not at all," Aliya assured her, "Though we did still come out as babies. But you're special, Jenny. That's how you got your name. Don't ever be worried about being different. No one like you has ever existed before, and that's amazing, but you're like me and the Doctor in all the ways that count."
Jenny just smiled. "Cool."
"Now, finally getting onto why we're here," Gwen said mischievously, getting a groan from Aliya, "Why don't you tell us how this all happened? How did you two go from hating each other enough for you to end up here, to this?"
"It wasn't hatred, really, it was anger that made us think it was," Aliya corrected straight off the bat. "And we just ended up meeting, for Jenny's sake because he was supposed to be giving me a gift for her, and we apologised. I was going to go on my way, but he asked me to come with him." She smiled slightly at the memory. "I took a lot of convincing, but he was always this...inevitable thing to me, I suppose. Never mind that I was in love with him, he's my best friend and that meant I wanted to be with him, that I was happiest when I was."
"And then you left for three years," Jenny said, crossing her arms and pretending to be cross, "Only to come back for an hour after you left."
Aliya grinned sheepishly. "Yes. Sorry about that. But like we told you, it was important, we were still afraid of losing our footing with each other again. We needed to be sure we knew why we were travelling together again before we faced you lot bombarding us with questions about how we had hated each other."
"Fair enough. And then that thing happened with Reyna and she helped you two somewhere, you seemed happier after you met her."
Aliya nodded and began to explain, with some edits in certain places for things too complicated or private to share, just how she and the Doctor had reached the point they were at now. That was about the same time that Marion not-so-politely excused herself and left the cafe to head back to the Hub.
The Doctor tried to get comfy in the chair he had been allocated at the conference table. It wasn't easy because he was much too preoccupied with worrying about the calibre of questions two sexually enthusiastic ex-Time Agents were likely to ask him. And the fact that he certainly wasn't going to want to answer them.
"Whiskey?" John asked him as he reentered the room.
"It's early afternoon," the Doctor said with a frown.
"So?"
Then again, I might just need it, he considered. "Fine." He took the offered flask and took a swig only to cough slightly as he handed it back.
"When I first met you, you were a good drinker," Jack noted as he sat down opposite the Doctor at the conference table, "What happened?"
"It's a lottery," the Doctor muttered.
"So, Bowtie," Hart said, sitting on the edge of the table and giving him a large grin, "When did it happen?" Here we go, the Doctor thought. "The exact moment."
"Look, Hart, I'm not exactly comfortable with telling you something like that-"
"I mean the moment you realised you were head over heels for her, mate!" Hart told him, chuckling heartily. "Jeez, get your head out of the gutter."
"Can you blame me for assuming?"
"He's a hopeless romantic underneath the sleaze," Jack told his friend, who nodded and stored away the somewhat surprising information. "But yeah, when did you know? Because I thought I'd seen something there, but you two were so...adamant."
"You two are always getting into danger, right?" Hart asked, leaning in. "Please tell me it was some dramatic realisation in the face of certain death. Or even better, 'we might be about to die' sex with confessions after."
The Doctor glared at him. "It wasn't anything like that." Then he relaxed a little and just shrugged at the other two men. "I'd almost say ordinary, if a moment like that could be. We were on Pantone, at a festival, and she was dancing and laughing and…" He smiled, more to himself than at them. "I realised I would do anything to keep her that happy, but that if it were possible, I wanted to be the reason she smiled like that."
Hart and Jack exchanged amused and pleased looks.
"And that you wanted to lovingly bang her brains out," the former added cheerfully, making the Doctor's eyes widen and cheeks flush. He tried to form a rebuttal but was too embarrassed to even manage that. "Ooh, sorry, should I have said something more poetic? You wanted to be lost in her, maybe, you wanted-"
Jack's hand clamped over his boyfriend's mouth before he could continue, and the Doctor shot him a look of intense gratitude.
"I need more whiskey," the Time Lord said, and the silenced man in red handed the flask to him with a grin big enough that it showed from behind Jack's hand. The Doctor took several gulps of the foul stuff before handing it back. That was also when Marion entered the room.
"Aren't you supposed to be out with the girls?" Jack asked her.
"I was, and it was about as pleasant as rubbing sandpaper on my face, so I'm back," she answered, "Don't worry, I'm just in here for a file, I don't want to be part of your little male gossip session."
The three men accepted that readily and returned to their conversation, though the Doctor personally thought that Marion was paying more attention to them than she was letting on. Not that he minded.
"So how did you tell her?" Jack asked. "You're not actually one for being direct when it comes to this kinda thing."
"No, I'm not," the Doctor agreed, "It was...complicated. Some bad stuff happened, stuff I don't want to go into, but...I said something about realising what I wanted, and I kissed her."
"Direct in a sense, very nice," Jack said with approval. "And the rest is history?"
The Doctor laughed and shook his head, even though what had happened after was really the opposite of amusing or had been at the time. "Not even close. She misunderstood. She thought I only...wanted her physically."
"You?" Jack's scepticism was highly understandable. Most of his human friends thought of him as inherently prudish, even Jack to a point. "Had she hit her head? She's supposed to be smart!"
"She's seen a few more sides to me than you have Jack," he replied politely, "There were some things that happened a long time ago that gave her cause to doubt. She was wrong, ridiculously so, but when she later explained it to me, it was understandable."
Hart finally got his mouth free. "So then what?"
The Doctor shrugged. "She avoided me for a whole week, shut herself in her room. When I finally convinced her to come out, we went for a trip and got into trouble. Bad trouble. Extremely very bad trouble of the worst variety. We got very lucky in escaping." Thoughts of their time in Greywall were extremely unpleasant and he shut them out to instead focus on what had happened after. "But then we were in a cave, stuck there for the night. And we talked until we were on the same page."
Remembering the look on Aliya's face when she had realised her own idiocy made the Doctor smile, as did the memory of how tightly she had hugged him and the unrestrained love in her eyes when she had pulled away.
"And then you banged in the cave!" Hart yelled gleefully, slamming his hand on the table and making the Doctor and Jack jump.
"No," the Doctor growled, "But you're not getting any more details out of me, Hart."
"Yeah, yeah," Hart said, waving his hand and not looking too bothered. On the contrary, his grin had only grown. "I don't need details, I just want them. You two near straight up admitted you were going at it for four months, that's detail enough. God, I bet there's not a single surface of that ship that you didn't-"
"Will you shut up?" Marion snapped, looking up from the filing cabinet she was digging through. "You're making the idiot uncomfortable again, and while I wouldn't necessarily care, you're making me nauseous."
"Sorry, Narke," Hart apologised, sounding exactly the opposite, "You know I'd never want to make you uncomfortable." Just to ring his point home, he shrugged out of his jacket and gave her a cocky wink.
"Fuck off."
"God you're a miserable git, go find Matheson and see if he can bang a nicer temperament into you-"
Bang. The gunshot came from nowhere, and none of them had even seen Marion draw the gun, let alone aim it. But sure enough, now it was in her outstretched hand and Hart was clutching the bleeding graze in his arm where the bullet had neatly glided past him and buried itself in the wall behind him.
"Jesus, Narke-"
"The next one goes through your shoulder if you talk to me like that again," she told him flatly as she put the gun back in her blazer pocket.
Jack folded his arms and gave her a stern look. "I could put you on suspension again for a stunt like that, Marion."
"Yes, but I doubt you will," she said with an air of indifference as she turned back to her previous task and finally found the file she was looking for, "But do, I could use a reason to be anywhere but here."
"I want that report on my desk by the end of the day for pulling that," he told her.
"Sure thing." She left.
"She's...interesting," the Doctor said mildly, eyeing the now empty doorway, "I can see why Aliya isn't too keen on her."
"She's good at her job," Jack said, shrugging, "Being liked isn't important to her."
"Good thing, too-"
"Shut up, Hart."
Every second he was in Torchwood, the more the Doctor became aware of how little he knew about the people who worked there, the people his daughter was around on a constant basis, who Jack had recruited to the organisation that he had once claimed was in honour of what the Doctor represented.
Perhaps he ought to fix that.
"Narke, Marion Laura."
The Doctor watched the woman's form go rigid and come to a halt. She had been headed for the med bay, but now turned around to fix him with a frown as her eyes flicked to the computer screen and saw him reading her file.
"Birthday: June 2nd, which means it was about a week ago, you've just turned thirty."
"I know that, you moron, I was there," she told him stonily as she approached him.
"Congratulations."
"Why are you reading my file?"
"You're friends with my daughter but hate my companion, colour me curious," he said, shrugging. "Plus it seems like we're going to be seeing a lot of each other, so I'd like to get to know you. All of you. Rex, Esther, Gwen, and even you. Marion Narke. You know, your profile's nothing short of impressive. No parents to speak of, no option but comprehensive school, but that didn't stop you, you clever thing, you got a full scholarship to Cambridge, though deferred it for a year." He grinned at her. "You're good."
"I know," Marion replied, crossing her arms. "But why do you care?"
"One of the reasons I love travelling is the people, Marion. People doing extraordinary things. You built yourself up from nothing, and I think that's rather amazing."
"I'm sorry, did I look like I wanted a little congratulatory speech or something?" She asked, narrowing her eyes at him. "I don't want or need some moron in a bowtie telling me that I'm special. I know that I am. When I asked why you cared, what I meant was, what business is it of yours?"
He blinked with slight surprise, but turned back to the computer screen because her profile only got more interesting and he was hoping for an explanation on her part. "Recruited to Torchwood a couple of years ago when found wrestling with two weevils on the Cardiff streets, taking down one with a homemade sedative and another with a disciplined kick to the head."
"I learnt a lot during my gap year," she said, her voice flat and her body as still as stone as she regarded him. "Is there a point to all this? Or do you just think that because you're some Lord of Time that you can poke your nose where it isn't welcome?"
"You hate Aliya. I'm curious as to why, given how I am inclined in somewhat the opposite direction."
Marion snorted. "You want to know why I can't stand your little girlfriend?"
He considered mentioning that Aliya was neither his girlfriend nor particularly little in any respect, but decided against it and just spread his arms in a gesture of affirmation.
"She spent months here bawling her eyes out and whining about you," Marion said, "She's her own brand of holier-than-thou superior without even having the balls to own up to it, and when it comes down to it, I just don't like really anything about her, not her face or her voice or her damned ugly crying, and my life would simply be a lot easier if she didn't exist."
"No," the Doctor immediately said, "I mean, yes," he corrected when he saw her open her mouth to make a no doubt cutting remark, "But no. There's more to it than that. More to why you hate her."
Marion leaned against the nearest desk and eyed him with something he couldn't quite decipher except that it was inherently bitter. "She got it easy. Look at her, a few months of misery and she's got her neat little happy ending all tied up in a bow like a reward for all her fucking crying."
The Doctor lifted an eyebrow at the dark haired cynic in front of him. "I can assure you, Marion, she didn't get it easy. You have no idea-"
"And neither do you," she said with a surprising calm that was stone cold, "My file doesn't tell you anything of substance about me, Doctor. But I can guarantee that whatever you think made her life hard was a box of kittens compared to what I've seen and had to do to even be standing here having this stupid conversation."
He regarded her with even more curiosity than when they had began. Who was this woman, this cold creature who casually spoke of having had a living hell of a life, who had won the friendship of someone such as Jenny but also the mutual detestation of someone such as Aliya?
What truly frightened him was how much he could see in her that was familiar. Familiar to parts of himself.
"Jenny's told me, in an attempt to defend your general attitude, how you keep yourself distant. And I can see it, that fear of people getting too close, of them knowing or seeing the truth." The Doctor got from his chair and took a step towards her. "Now, Marion, I don't know you. I don't know what it is that you're hiding that has you so afraid to let anyone get near you-"
"I'm not afraid of anything, you sanctimonious twat," she spat, "You're not my fucking therapist, so get out of my face before I break your nose."
"I've been where you are, Marion, but it's no way to live."
Marion stared at him with dark eyes full of abhorrence. "Don't you dare try and act like some old wise man of the fucking tribe. You're right, you don't know me, so leave me the hell alone."
"You can't keep it in forever."
Her hands balled into fists at her sides. "I don't have to." Then the raw defiance and emotion in her eyes faded, with a disconcerting speed that made him wonder just how good she was at masking what she was truly feeling. The smile she then gave him was the kind of smile that sent a true chill down his spine. "Maybe my secret is just how much I hate every single person here."
"I highly doubt you hate them all."
"Well, if you doubt it, then it must be a lie," she remarked, tilting her head, "What's it like to be so self-important?"
"You tell me," he retorted.
She snorted. "My self-importance is a molehill compared to yours. You're used to being able to walk wherever you like and have people thank you for taking control. Who else has that power?"
"I didn't ask for it."
"Exactly. That's what makes it all the worse." The judgement in her eyes surprised him, but he realised it probably shouldn't have. "But go ahead, underestimate my hatred of all these moronic people. It'll be your funeral. Or theirs. I suppose if you ever walk in here and find them all dead at my feet, you'll know you were wrong."
That had him backing away, eyes wide, confused and downright disturbed. Was that supposed to be funny? If so, it was a twisted joke that made him sick to his stomach.
He swallowed slowly and straightened his bowtie.
"I have no idea if you're serious or if that was your idea of a joke, Marion," he said quietly, "But know that if you ever hurt my daughter, there isn't a corner of the universe where you'll be safe."
"Relax," she said, smirking, "She's the one I would never touch. I'd be more worried about your annoying girlfriend. And the only point in your favour is your importance to Jenny, which I don't necessarily put a lot of stock in-"
"She threatening to kill us all again?" Hart appeared out of nowhere, as he tended to do. "Don't get your braces tangled, Bowtie, she does this at least once a week. And don't get me wrong, your face was hilarious, but I wouldn't worry if I were you, mate. Go find your happy little family and forget about Bitch on Legs here, we're all better off away from her and her shitty attitude."
The Doctor relaxed considerably. He could handle someone sour who was prone to jokes that were far from funny, as opposed to the sort of person he had been worrying Marion was for a moment there. He nodded and departed, though found himself quietly thinking that he was still entirely unsure as to where to stand on the topic of Doctor Narke.
And if he noticed out of the corner of his eye Hart roughly pulling Marion from the workstation area towards the lower levels of the Hub, he decided it was none of his business and continued on his way.
On the off chance one of them ended up dead at the hands of the other, then he would feel bad about it.
Aliya was more than a little relieved to finally be heading back to the Hub. While the questions hadn't been too prying, she just generally found that she disliked having to talk about things that had happened between only her and the Doctor. What the others considered to be trivial or innocent she considered very important. It was, after all, the smaller moments which made the bigger ones so meaningful.
"It's a good look on you," Esther said as they all walked back along the sidewalk, and Aliya glanced sideways at the immortal.
"What is?"
She got a grin in response. "Love. Being happy. You know, fully happy, and not just kinda or sometimes happy like when you were here with us. I mean sure, there was a big difference since the moment you and the Doctor came back, but it's stronger now."
"You don't have to tell me," Aliya said, smiling, "I wasn't sure how obvious it was though."
"Really fucking obvious," Gwen answered from behind them, chuckling, "But no complaints here. It was bloody exhausting watching you be so miserable all the time."
"Sorry."
"Don't apologise, Aliya," Jenny told her as she came to wrap her arm around her waist, "Everything's good now. That's what matters."
"I know," she said, giving her adoptive daughter a squeeze, "And trust me, I wouldn't change a second of it."
When they arrived back at the Hub, it was a physical relief to see the Doctor again. Pathetic as the truth was, they hadn't been apart for this long (even if it had only been a couple of hours at the most) since...well.
"Hey," she said when he looked up from the computer he was at and beamed at her. "What are you doing?"
"Filling in some blanks in their species profiles," he said cheerfully, "Jack and Hart got a little...preoccupied, so I thought I'd put in my two cents."
"And they try and say we're bad," she replied, rolling her eyes.
"We really didn't mean it as 'bad' as such," Esther said lightly as the others caught up - Aliya only realised then that she had subconsciously hurried up to the workstations when she'd seen the Doctor.
"Still."
Jenny grinned at her dad. "You survive Jack and Hart?"
"Just," he joked, smiling easily at his daughter.
"You Time Lords are a weird lot," Gwen said, shaking her head, "Prudish on the surface and apparently the opposite in private, with some casual face changing and time machines thrown in!"
"Watch it, Cooper, we could easily start talking about you like that," Aliya told her, but lightly. "Now, Jenny, why don't you take a break from this?"
"Huh?"
Aliya nodded towards the TARDIS. "You should come with us, just for a trip or two. It could be a...you know, family thing. We could go for a picnic on the top of a floating mountain-"
"Or white water rafting in New Zealand," the Doctor suggested, his eyes having lit up at the idea, "Or-"
"Guys," Jenny interrupted, grinning but also looking apologetic, "That all sounds great, but I can't. Sorry."
"Why not?"
"I'm babysitting for Gwen tonight," she explained.
"Jenny, it's a time machine," the Doctor said slowly, as if he were worried she had begun to lose her mind.
"I know, Dad, but I also know it's not always reliable, and I don't want to risk it."
Gwen frowned at them. "Jenny, you don't have to-"
"No, I want to," Jenny said, her voice firm and her eyes determined, "I made a promise and I'm going to keep it. And I do want to, I love Anwen, she's adorable and looking after her will be fun." Then she looked at her parents and her face softened. "God, look at you both, it's not a no! It's a not today! I'd love to do all of that. And I'm going to hold you to it. But not today."
"Fair enough," Aliya said easily, "Anwen is adorable, I can't blame you for wanting to keep that appointment."
"Sweet talkers," Gwen said, grinning at them, "But I'm not going to argue."
"Well, we should probably get going then," the Doctor considered as he got out of his seat and clapped his hands together, "Some of you actually have a job to do, protecting this planet when we're elsewhere. And there's a chip shop on Alceron that we're overdue on visiting."
That was when the Hub entrance began blaring, and opened to reveal Rex, who eyed the visitors with a moment's surprise. Before he could say a word, Marion came into view and instantly spotted him.
"Matheson, we're going for a drink," she said firmly, and Rex frowned at her.
"I just got here!"
"And we're leaving in a minute," Aliya told them, knowing it was likely on their account that they were not keen on sticking around.
"Doesn't mean you aren't likely to dominate today's conversation, and I can't think of anything more asinine." Marion crossed her arms and lifted an eyebrow at Rex. "So?"
He blinked. "Um, yeah, sure, let's go." The two of them left the same way Rex had just come in.
"Are they fucking again?" Gwen asked, watching them go, and the two Time Lords exchanged looks of distaste at both the thought and the phrasing.
"Probably," Esther said, rolling her eyes.
"No," Jenny exclaimed, looking affronted at the very thought. "She just finds him less annoying than the rest of us."
"Sweetie, not that I don't believe you, but if you seriously think that Marion tells you everything, you've got another thing coming."
"I'm not that stupid," the girl said with a large frown, "But I'm right about this, Esther. She doesn't want him anywhere near her like that. You'll see." She spoke with so much confidence that most of them believed her, or at least that she thought it was true.
"Who cares anyway?" Aliya asked, shaking her head. "After that time I walked in on them, the less I can have to think about them doing that sort of thing the better."
The Doctor made an appropriate 'ew' face for that particular comment just as Jack and Hart re-entered the room, looking surprisingly composed considering what everyone knew they had just been doing.
"You two off?" Jack asked.
"We'll be back before you know it, just look after our daughter in the meantime," the Doctor told him firmly.
"Always." Jack gave him a little salute. "You two don't do anything we wouldn't do."
"I don't even think that's possible," Aliya laughed, and after waving at him and Hart and getting winks from them both, she found herself getting hugs from Gwen and Esther, ones that were quick and friendly but nice and unexpected all the same. "Today was actually really nice," she told them. "I had fun."
"Good."
That was when Jenny gave them both big hugs. "I promise, Dad, I'll come with you two and we'll go somewhere really great," she said as the Doctor finally let go of her. Then she turned to Aliya. "I'll see you soon, Mum, yeah?"
Aliya bit her lip to hide the grin that instantly bloomed when Jenny called her Mum. It was the strangest and most satisfying things to happen in a long time. Being an active mother again (though she had never entirely stopped thinking of herself as one, that sort of thing didn't go away) was going to take some getting used to.
They bid everyone one last goodbye and went into the TARDIS. Once they had worked to dematerialise it so that they were in orbit, they turned to each other and let out long sighs of relief that it was all over and done with.
"So, that was an experience and a half," Aliya said, running a hand through her hair.
The Doctor laughed a little. "It was. Plus I talked to Marion, you know. That really was an experience and a half."
The blonde pursed her lips. "Yeah? What happened?"
"You know, I'm not one to make judgements of people," he began, gesturing almost nervously as he did so, "But I'm rather inclined to think you've got the right idea of her. She's...worrying and sort of frightening, isn't she?"
"I don't know about frightening," she said, frowning, "What did she say?"
"Oh, you know, a lot of insults, swearing, and the occasional joke veiled as a death threat, which is apparently normal for her."
Aliya made a face. "I'm not even surprised. That sounds just like her."
"Though, to be fair, I suppose I was asking a lot of personal questions. From what you've told me of her, it's likely her way of being defensive."
"And to think, I was going to say that she hadn't seemed so bad today," she said, sighing, "She told us the story behind that locket of hers, and it was really...genuine. I never expected anything like that from her. But I suppose it was silly to think - well. She's Marion."
The Doctor planted his hands on her shoulders when he saw the worry on her face. "Sometimes the people most in need of reaching out are those least capable of it."
"That's no excuse."
"No, but...just something to bear in mind. Best not worry about it, not when today was a good day."
Aliya immediately brightened. "More than good, I was worried Jenny might not be okay with this, and now she's calling me Mum!" She beamed so hard that her face hurt. "And...and I can care about her and worry about her the way I already did but not feel like I don't have the right to."
He grinned. "I'm glad." That was when he scooped her up so that his arms were around the tops of her thighs and holding her against him. She squealed with surprise, and found that when she looked down at him, her hair tickled his face.
"What are you doing?" She asked, grinning at him.
"Hart may be an oversharer to the point of it being very uncomfortable," he replied, moving to neatly seat her on the console and move his hands to sit on waist once he had done so, "But he did give me a few ideas."
Aliya lifted her eyebrows and found herself grinning just as he leaned in to kiss her. Problem was that her hand accidentally came down on a button that sent an upbeat 1920's track blaring from the console. They went still, only to meet eyes and burst out laughing a moment later.
"On second thought, maybe those ideas can wait," the Doctor said, and he lifted off her perch and onto the ground in one fluid movement. Immediately he spun her around and pulled her into step with the music. "Besides, this dress really does look nice on you."
She grinned and pulled the white skirt out to give him a tiny curtsy. "Thanks."
So they danced around the console for hours until their feet hurt too much to continue, and ended up curling up on the jump seat and nodding off together instead of delving into Hart's suggestions.
They had all the time in the universe, after all.
I just love all the characters in here so much, and how they all fit together. *grumbling about RTD killing Esther off in canon because bullshit* As far as I'm concerned, this is the canon Torchwood team. ;)
Also, taking a pool of bets because you never know when it might be a legit thing, if Hart and Marion got into a fight to the death, who do you guys think would win?
Hope you liked this chapter because I had a blast writing it! Almost all of my precious children together. :D
Feedback and constructive criticism are always appreciated!
Love you all,
-MayFairy :)
*disappears off to try and study for a test that is doomed*