Can I just say that I am SO sorry about how long this took. Uni's been killer and plus the next chapter gave me A LOT of trouble and with my "no publishing until the next chapter is complete" rule, it delayed this one a far bit. (Also I've been a teeny bit distracted by Misffle fanfic because I'm trash as well as general Season 9 emotional stress.)
Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far!
But this chapter has the end of the God Complex and then some of the aftermath, with some Torchwood fun at the end. Enjoy!
Large, gentle hands helped Aliya back onto her feet where she had fallen to the ground. Aliya lifted her head and looked into the Doctor's eyes, which were as distraught as her own. For a moment it calmed her, but then she remembered all his promises of being able to get everyone out, the promises he hadn't managed to keep.
She was instantly filled with the potent mix of anger and helplessness that came exclusively when the Doctor failed her. It had been a while since she had experienced it, but it was as familiar as ever.
She pushed away from him and out of the room. There was an area near the reception filled with vases and glass bowls, and she was so furious with the Doctor and the damned hotel that she needed a way to let it out. So she shoved one off the end table it decorated and watched as it fell to the floor and smashed. The sound and sight of it was so satisfying that she grabbed another vase and threw it at a wall.
"Aliya!" The Doctor's tone was that of a scolding parent, and she didn't even look at him before using her arm to sweep a glass bowl onto the floor, where it shattered. "Aliya, that's not helping!"
"Don't you dare try and act like you wouldn't be doing the same thing if I hadn't gotten here first!" She spat. The look on his face as he opened his mouth told her that he was about to deny it, so she hurled a vase at him before he could and watched him barely dodge it in time.
"What are you doing?!"
"You promised them that we would get them out!" Aliya yelled. "You promised them and I don't know if they believed you but I did and it was stupid but I did-" Her voice broke on the last word and she sent another ornament to the floor. "If you just hadn't mucked around at the beginning, if we'd gotten back to the TARDIS sooner instead of you going on about fucking walls, then maybe they'd all be alive and your four year old wouldn't be in danger of being the minotaur's next meal!"
The Doctor ran a hand over his face, frustration shimmering off him. There was a vase near him and the next thing Aliya knew, she was jumping at the sound of it shattering.
"What am I supposed to do?!" He demanded. "I'm trying. I know that I failed but now you're the one wasting time, Aliya, by having a temper tantrum instead of focusing on what's important, which is getting Jenny out of here alive. Jenny and the rest of us."
Aliya examined his face more closely as his shoulders dropped, and suspicion rose in her.
"You found your room, didn't you?"
He just sighed. "It doesn't matter."
She put her hands on her hips and bit her lip. "Of course it matters. What was it?" His expression was guarded, but she just held his gaze. "Doctor. It's me. You know you can tell me anything."
"Valeyard," he muttered, barely making it audible.
It made perfect sense. The supposed future version of himself who had been evil and corrupt and tried to kill his Sixth self. Aliya had had the displeasure of encountering him personally at the Doctor's trial and knew just how cold the Valeyard had been. It was a future both of them feared might come to pass all too soon, given that he was supposed to manifest somewhere between the Doctor's twelfth and final regeneration. But now that they knew the Doctor was to die at Lake Silencio in his current regeneration, how was that supposed to work? Would their memories of the Valeyard vanish?
It wasn't the time to worry about anything further in the future than getting out of the hotel. She realised they had spent at least a minute just staring at each other.
"Are you two done yelling at each other yet?" Jenny asked, approaching them with worry on her face. It was plain she hadn't liked listening to them fighting.
"Yeah," Aliya said, her voice softer as she looked at the girl, "Sorry about that." She noticed an archway to her left that led into some sort of bar area with tables and seats. "Look, we'll sit down and work this out once and for all."
"I went and found Rita and put her with Howie and Joe," Jenny mentioned as they moved to sit at one of the tables, and Aliya smiled, put her arm around her, and kissed the side of her head.
"Thank you."
"Your voice really carries when you're shouting, you know that?"
Aliya just chuckled morosely and watched Gibbis seat himself at the next table over and the Doctor at the one at the very end. Between Rita's death and Aliya's accusations, he had been hit hard and apparently felt the need to separate himself and think.
"Okay," he said eventually, "It preys on people's fear and possesses them. But Rita wasn't afraid. She was brave, and calm. Maybe it's something to do with the people, some connection between the four of you that'll tell me how to fight it."
"Yes, you keep saying that, but you never do," Gibbis snapped, "And while we wait, people keep dying. And we'll be next."
The Doctor flinched, as the words were eerily similar to what Aliya had yelled at him only a few minutes before. Jenny was as quick as ever to rush to his defense.
"I told you, he always finds a way. Just let him work it out."
Instead of being pleased at being shown support, the Doctor froze, an expression of great horror on his face. "Oh, no. Oh, no, no."
"What?" Aliya asked, her voice low.
"It's not fear," he breathed, eyes wide, "It's faith. Not just religious faith, faith in something." He got out of his seat and stood with his hands planted on the table in front of Gibbis. "Howard believed in conspiracies, that external forces controlled the world. Joe had dice cufflinks and a chain with a horseshoe. He was a gambler. Gamblers believe in luck, an intangible force that helps them win or lose. Gibbis has rejected any personal autonomy and is waiting for the next batch of invaders to oppress him and tell him what to do."
"Rita was a Muslim, that means she was religious, right?" Aliya added. The Doctor, who had wandered away from the tables, nodded quickly.
"Exactly. They all believe there's something guiding them, about to save them. That's what it replaces. Every time someone was confronted with their most primal fear, they fell back on their most fundamental faith." He dropped into one of the bar stools and put his head in his hand tiredly. "And all this time, I have been telling you to dig deep, find the thing that keeps you brave. I made you expose your faith, show them what they needed."
Jenny frowned, not understanding. "But why are we here? I mean, none of us have a fundamental faith like that."
The Doctor regarded his daughter solemnly before nodding to his best friend, who had been sitting quietly and just taking it all in, "It doesn't want Aliya, that's why it showed her a way out. She's not religious or superstitious, so there's no faith for her to fall back on. She faces her fears by staying grounded in reality and acknowledging them for what they are. Usually the opposite of an effective technique, granted, but in this case it's made all the difference."
"Then what?"
With a brutal jolt, nearly half a dozen memories pieced together in Aliya's mind and told her exactly how they had ended up in the hotel with the others.
"Dad's a bit weird, I know, but he's brilliant. He'll get us out of this. Trust me."
"Dad will get us out, you know he will, he always thinks of something. Try not to worry."
"Dad meets monsters every day. He basically saves people for a living. There's no mess he can't get out of...I've seen him convince two species who had been fighting for their entire lives lay down arms just by showing them something beautiful. He can do anything."
"He always finds a way. Just let him work it out."
"It wants you," Aliya told Jenny, jerking her head to look at her as protective instinct rose in her chest. Jenny just blinked and got to her feet so that she could approach her father.
"Me? Why?"
He lifted a hand to rest it on her cheek, and gave her a tiny apologetic smile. "Your faith in me," he whispered, "That's what brought us here."
Jenny frowned, visibly torn up about how to react. "But - okay. But why do they lose their faith and start worshipping it before they die?"
"It needs to convert the faith into a form it can consume. Faith is an energy, the specific emotional energy the creature needs to live. Which is why at the end of her note, Lucy said-"
"Praise him," Jenny finished.
"Exactly."
Like with Howie, there was a pause where they thought nothing of it, before the terrible truth of the two words set in.
"No," Aliya murmured, her face falling. "Jenny, no." She steeled herself and came to stand by her adopted daughter. "I made the mistake of letting Rita out of my sight. It's not getting you."
"I have a plan, a proper one this time," the Doctor promised, "Follow me."
He led the way and they followed, sprinting through the corridors even as the growling and stomping of the Minotaur closed in. Aliya kept a tight hold on Jenny's arm so that even when she tried to stop and turn around several times she couldn't. Eventually they found their way back to Jenny's room, number 43. The Minotaur was right on their heels and once everyone was inside, Aliya and Gibbis worked on keeping the door shut, while the Doctor brought Jenny to stand right in front of the image of her murderous sister.
"Why did you bring me back here?" Jenny cried, her eyes flicking between her father and the fake Mari with great distress. "Dad, it's changing my thoughts. I'm scared. I'm really scared." She dropped to her knees and the Doctor knelt in front of her.
"I can't save you from this," he said quietly, "There's nothing I can do to stop this."
"What?!"
"You're afraid of your sister being the killer they wanted her to be, but the reason that's even a possibility is because of the things I've done in the future that have made an entire religion fear me. Her childhood was taken away because of me. Look at your mother. Aliya has known me for nearly my entire life, and cares about me more than almost anyone else in the universe. She's seen me save far more people than you have. But she doesn't have faith in me. Not the kind of faith you're holding at your core, Jenny."
The Doctor's gaze, and Jenny's, briefly drifted to Aliya, who was pressed against the door and watching them while powerful melancholy suffocated her.
"Because she's seen me fail. I've let her down. She knows that people who rely on me end up dead. Travelling with me is dangerous and I let you come with me even though I knew that. I knew this might happen, because it so often does."
The Minotaur burst through the door, throwing Gibbis and Aliya into the wall and giving Aliya her second pounding headache of the day, but not quite knocking her out even if she was stuck slumped against the wall behind the door.
"Forget your faith in me," the Doctor told Jenny softly, "I took you with me because I was selfish and vain. I wanted time with you even if it meant putting you in danger, I wanted someone to look at me like I was a hero because then maybe I could believe for a second that I was one. But I'm not. I really am just a madman with a box. Look at you, Jenny. My daughter, not quite four years old, but fully grown. Already a much better person than I could ever hope to be. It's time we saw each other as we really are."
He leaned in and kissed her forehead softly even as tears ran down both of their cheeks. The Minotaur collapsed, and the Doctor swallowed his emotion as best he could before getting up and going to it. He crouched and touched his hand to its face.
"I severed the food supply," he told it, "Sacrificing her faith in me. I gave you the space to die. Shhh."
Around them, the hotel dissolved into a hologrid. It was dark, but lit by the pale blue lines of the grid enough that Aliya wasn't overly uncomfortable.
"What is it?" Jenny asked quietly, wiping her eyes dry and sniffling as she eyed the creature on the ground. "An alien? You called it a Minotaur but I don't know what that is."
"It's both, actually," the Doctor said, moving to the control panel that glowed green. "Yeah, here we go." Aliya came to stand next to him as he read from the holographic data base in front of them. "Distant cousin of the Nimon. They descend on planets and set themselves up as gods to be worshipped. Which is fine, until the inhabitants get all secular and advanced enough to build bonkers prisons."
"Ooh," Jenny said from where she and Gibbis had wandered over to a window in the floor, "Prisons in space."
"Don't prisons usually have guards?" Aliya pointed out.
The Doctor shook his head. "No need for any. It's all automated. It drifts through space, snatching people with belief systems and converts their faith into food for the creature."
"See that planet there?" Gibbis asked Jenny, pointing through the window.
"Which one?"
"There, the grey one there."
"Oh, yeah."
"That's where I'm from."
Jenny smiled at him. "I'm sure it's lovely. We'll get you back there in a minute. Dad has the coolest ride ever, it's that box over there..."
Aliya glanced at the Doctor curiously, something that she had overlooked only just occurring to her. "It didn't just want her," she murmured, "So you must believe in...something, if you had a room and weren't shown the way out. What keeps you brave?"
He gave her the tiniest of smiles. "I'd have thought it was obvious." Then he turned back to the database. "According to the in-flight recorder, the programme developed glitches. It got stuck on the same setting, the fears from the people before us weren't tidied away."
The Minotaur started to growl again.
"What's it saying?" Aliya asked.
"An ancient creature, drenched in the blood of the innocent, drifting in space through an endless, shifting maze," the Doctor translated, "For such a creature, death would be a gift." He knelt by the creature and let his hand rest on its face. "Then accept it, and sleep well."
He got back on his feet and turned to walk away, only to come to a halt as the Minotaur growled one last thing.
"I...wasn't talking about myself." The Doctor swallowed and continued on his way to the TARDIS, but Aliya could only stare after him for a moment, the Minotaur's words filling her with devastation. All she wanted to do was hug the Doctor to her and never let go, but knew it wasn't quite the time.
"Could I have a lift?" Gibbis asked. "Just to the nearest galaxy would do."
Gibbis was dropped back into his living room, much to his delight, and he thanked them profusely in his strange and shy way before they got back in the TARDIS and left him in peace to be conquered and oppressed.
"I think we need to have tea somewhere nice and tranquil after all that," Jenny said, letting out a relieved sigh, "What do you think, Dad? Know anywhere good?"
"Jenny, I meant every word I said in there," the Doctor said quietly, hands planted on the console and his head down.
Jenny's cheer faded. "I know. But...I don't see what that has to do with tea."
Aliya very quickly realised where the Doctor was going with the conversation, and felt entirely unsure of what to do. Both of them were going to call on her for support, but she wasn't sure if she would be able to give it to either of them.
"You aren't safe here."
"By the sounds of it, no one is ever safe here," Jenny retorted, crossing her arms and straightening up as she too caught onto what he was trying to do, "That doesn't seem to have stopped anyone who's come before me."
"Jenny, you're not even four years old-"
"I am not a child!" The girl shouted, making them both jump slightly. "And I am sick of being treated like one. I might have been alive for less than four years, Dad, but I was born an adult to fight to the death in a war."
"You're right, you're not a child," Aliya said, catching her eye and holding her gaze, "But older and more mature adults than you have travelled with him and met unpleasant fates, or been taken from him forever. You're not just anyone, Jenny, you're his daughter. After what just happened can you really blame him for just wanting to keep you safe?"
Jenny stared at her, tears welling up in her eyes. "You're agreeing with him?"
"No," she said quickly, and the Doctor's head snapped to look at her, "But I'm not disagreeing either. I...I don't know what I think."
"If it's about keeping me safe, sending me back to Torchwood is hardly your smartest idea," Jenny told them irritably, "They die young because it's just as dangerous there."
"Your sister is a highly trained assassin and her girlfriend is immortal, as is Jack," the Doctor said, "They can keep you safe better than we can. Besides, it's a chance to spend time with Mari without us around making it...well, difficult."
Aliya placed her hand on top of where the Doctor's rested on the edge of the console. The physical connection allowed her to push their mental one.
Doctor, are you sure about this?
It's not forever, Aliya. But we still have to worry about Utah. I don't want her to know but I don't like keeping the secret from her either.
It just doesn't feel right. She's barely been here a month and a half.
It's necessary. The final step in her losing her faith in me. Besides, if I'm going to die by Lake Silencio, it's not a good idea for her to get used to having me around all the time.
Aliya yanked her hand off his to glare at him. Talk of his death was never a good way for him to try and placate her. Luckily for him, she had decided to stand with him on this particular issue.
"I'm sorry, Jenny, but I think he's right," she said hesitantly, and watched Jenny's face drop.
"Mum, no," her adopted daughter pleaded, "Please, I want to stay." Despite what she had been claiming, her young age shone in her eyes in that moment.
"It's not forever, Jenny, it's just for right now. The Doctor's right, you depend on him too much for this to be safe, and even if that has been shaken, a bit of a break will help make it stick. It's important."
"So you're trying to teach me a lesson?" Jenny asked, horrified. "God, I know you're my parents, but seriously?"
"The way you're implying it makes it sound like you've done something wrong when we both know you haven't." Aliya did her best to keep her tone firm, even when all she wanted to go was take the girl into her arms and tell her she could stay with them forever. She straightened up. "But you say you're an adult. Part of becoming an adult is seeing and accepting the flaws in the people you've grown up idolising. Blind faith is dangerous."
"Jenny, I know it's hard, but think about the alternative," the Doctor said quietly, his eyes beseeching his daughter as he took a step forward, "Us standing over your grave. Over your broken body."
Jenny's face contorted. "Does that actually sound convincing to you? You know what, fine, I'll go and get my stuff and get out of your way. You can say it's because I rely on you too much, but I think it's about whatever you've been keeping a secret from me since we left Mari at the hospital."
The Doctor and Aliya were so surprised that they couldn't quite find the words to deny the existence of the secret. Their silence served as confirmation.
Aliya couldn't stand lying - it was why she lied by omission whenever she could.
"You're right, it is," she said, even as the Doctor got ready to flap his arms at her, "But it doesn't mean the other reasons are totally invalid, and since we're not telling you the main one, you're just going to have to trust us when we say that this is the best option for now."
"I thought I was supposed to be learning not to trust you?" Jenny retorted, rather bitterly, before shaking her head. "Mari was right. You're both full of shit." She ran up the stairs and left her parents alone in the console room.
Aliya leaned against the console and covered her mouth with her hand. "What the hell did we just do?" Her head lifted to look at him. "I've changed my mind, I don't want her to leave. I promised myself that I would keep us all together, this goes completely against that!"
"Newsflash, Aliya, you can't keep us all together, not forever, you know that perfectly well!" The Doctor snapped.
"That doesn't mean I shouldn't try," she replied, glaring, "Unlike you, who seems to have half given up already."
"I'm putting Jenny first. It's about time I did something right. Sending her back to Cardiff, at least for now, is for the best," the Doctor said, his age and wariness showing in his eyes. "Besides, she'll be with Mari." He looked up from where he had started piloting the TARDIS towards 21st century Cardiff, his frame even stiffer than before. "Aliya, maybe you should-"
Something in his tone gave him away and she clapped her hands over his mouth before he could say another word.
"If you so much as breathe an implication that it would be better for me to leave too, you'll find yourself tied to a chair and force fed nothing but carrots for a month," she threatened. "Or, you know, something worse when I think of it." He gulped, and upon release massaged his throat.
"I should probably have seen that coming," he admitted, sighing heavily but also seeming a little more cheerful for hearing her resolve about staying with him.
"Try definitely, you moron."
He hugged her then, a little unexpectedly, but held onto her so tightly that she didn't even complain about having to switch to her respiratory bypass because it was clear that he needed it.
"It's going to be okay," she whispered, her arms coming to circle his waist, "She'll understand later."
"She won't as long as you're keeping secrets," Jenny said as she came back down the stairs with a bag likely full of the things she had collected on her brief travels. She liked to find a memento of each trip.
"You know that we wouldn't do it without a good reason," the Doctor told her, his eyes sad as he watched her.
"After today I'm honestly not sure," Jenny replied, "But I'm really hoping so."
"Are hugs too much to ask?" Aliya inquired, slowly because she was more than a little worried that they had angered and upset her too much. Jenny hesitated, but moved in to give her a quick hug without saying another word. She then moved on to the Doctor, who buried his face in her shoulder.
"I'm sorry, Jenny."
"I know."
She stepped back and gave them a funny half smile while Aliya finished off the TARDIS' descent and materialised the box on the Roald Dahl Pass.
"Goodbye, then," Jenny said.
The Doctor stared at her with those big sad eyes of his. "For now."
She just nodded. "For now." Then she was out of the doors and gone.
The Doctor and Aliya ended up letting the TARDIS drift through space and settled on the couch of one of the living rooms with mugs of hot chocolates in their hands. Aliya had let her head fall onto the Doctor's shoulder and his head was on top of hers.
"I'm sorry," she said. It was the first time one of them had spoken since leaving the console room after making plans to go to the kitchen.
"For what?" The Doctor spoke casually as he sipped at his hot drink, as if his mind wasn't currently so despaired that she could sense it even without significant physical touch to strengthen their connection.
"For blaming you for what happened to Rita, and the others," Aliya murmured, bringing her mug to rest against her lips but not drinking, "It was as much my fault as yours. I could have stayed with them. I shouldn't have let Rita out of my sight for a second. But I was worried about Jenny and I didn't think it through."
"I know it's probably hypocritical of me to say," he said slowly, "But when you live this sort of life, you have to not play the blame game. It turns everything toxic so quickly."
"You're right." Aliya took a gulp of her hot chocolate before adding, "It's hypocritical of you to say that."
He chuckled, half with reluctant amusement and half with bitterness. "It's funny, but sometimes I forget you've been in my mind."
"Ridiculous, considering just how monumental shared mental state on that level is."
"Exactly. But...I do. I've been able to get away with lying to everyone I know about so much for so long, I forget I can't do it with everyone now."
Aliya considered how she had seen just how much the Doctor blamed himself for everything that happened to his companions and the people he met on his travels. It had half broken her hearts at first, but in the end had revealed to her just how seriously he took everything even if it seemed like the opposite.
Well, no, that wasn't quite it. It wasn't a coincidence or an act. He laughed and joked and was silly because he had to be. Because otherwise he would probably have already ended up in a pit of self-loathing so powerful she hated to think what he might have tried to do.
The only thing left for her to do, really, was to try and give him the love he so often failed to give himself.
"So, if Jenny's gone, does that mean we're officially running from Utah now?"
The Doctor smiled. A complicated smile that was both weighted and excited. He didn't have to go all or nothing around her.
"Oh, definitely. Definitely running now, yeah. You sure you're up for it?"
"Always."
Jenny stepped out of the police box into some moderate Cardiff rain. Immediately she shivered, but without an umbrella there wasn't much to do. Her first instinct was to go to the invisible lift pavestone and get into the shelter of the Hub, but she realised that wasn't where she wanted to be.
She wanted to see her sister.
Out came her cellphone, which she used to dial the number that was still labelled Marion. The call was picked up after only three rings.
"Jenny." Her sister's unmistakable voice brought a strange sense of calm to her. "What's this about? I thought I was going to meet the three of you a week in the future-"
"Are you at Esther's place right now?"
Mari paused. "Yes. Is something wrong?"
"Sort of. Can I come over? Me on my own. I just...really want to see you."
"Of course." Her sister sounded rather concerned, no doubt having picked up on how upset Jenny sounded, "You know I always have time for you."
She recited the address along with some basic directions from the pass and Jenny set off.
It was January 20th, and the morning had started off well enough. Esther wasn't due at Torchwood until the early afternoon, so there had been some lazing in bed and then the blonde had come up with the grand idea of baking cupcakes. Mari, who had never in her life bothered with something so trivial, had thought it was a fantastic idea.
Which was how they ended up in the kitchen, Mari in a singlet and her underwear while Esther wore only a long night-shirt, with music blasting in the background.
"I go up to my room and there's girls on the ceiling," Mari sang quietly as she stirred the batter just as Esther had instructed while the blonde went about greasing the tray, "Cut out their pictures and I chase that feeling of an eighteen year old who didn't know what loss was, now I'm a stranger."
"So this song is from two years in my future?" Esther asked over her shoulder.
"Yes."
"That's super weird, but...also really awesome. You know we're going to have some kind of celebration when we hear this on the radio for real, right?" It had become an instant shared favourite of theirs the moment Mari came across it in her vast collection of music from the past and future she had downloaded during her travels back to the 21st century.
"Sounds like a plan to me." Mari just secretly loved how Esther kept suggesting things that implied they would probably still be together several years down the line.
The chorus came on and it was as impossible to resist singing along as ever.
"Hey, I wanna get better!" Mari sang, much more loudly than before, and Esther laughed before abandoning her task to grab her hands and immediately twirl her around. Once she had been released, Mari just grinned at her girlfriend as they sang in unison and danced with unstoppable grins on their faces. "I didn't know I was lonely til I saw your face - I wanna get better, better, better, better - I didn't know I was broken til I wanted to change - I wanna get better, better, better, better - I wanna get better."
They sang through the bridge and third verse word for word, as they had the song memorised by now. The last line of the third verse, which was their favourite apart from the chorus, was sung with even more enjoyment than all the rest.
"That's why I'm standing at the overpass screaming at myself - hey! I wanna get better!"
They kept a tight grip on each other and twisted and twirled to the song until it finally came to an end and changed to some eighties number that neither of them knew. Mari just pulled Esther in by her hands and kissed her, barely able to manage it due to how widely both of them were grinning.
"Ew, your hands have batter all over them," Esther complained, but didn't quite sound like she meant it.
"And yours are covered with butter," Mari pointed out, backing her up against a counter, "Stop being so critical, Drummond."
"Says you," Esther snorted, "You're the most critical person I've ever met."
"That's because I'm better than most people at most things."
"I'm dating a snob," the blonde lamented dramatically, "God help me, I'm dating an alien redheaded snob with two hearts and zero cooking skill and probably a bondage kink based on how much you like my scarves-"
Mari shut her up by kissing her forcefully, and Esther flipped them so that the redhead was the one against the counter. Playful power struggles had quickly become a favourite pastime of theirs. Unfortunately, before things could get any more enjoyable and the cupcakes could be entirely forgotten, Mari's phone rang.
It was Jenny, sounding rather upset. So Mari gave her the address and hung up after she was sure she would be able to find her way.
"What was that about?" Esther asked, concerned.
"I'm far from sure," Mari said, frowning, "But something seems to have happened."
"Well, hopefully she's alright. But let's get these cupcakes in so she can have them when they're ready, might make her feel better."
Mari had to doubt just how helpful cupcakes were going to be, but assisted her in getting the batter into the trays and into the oven. Not long after they were done and had finished cleaning up the kitchen, there was a knock on the door.
"You know, I'm sure we've forgotten something."
"Coming!" Esther called, ignoring her, and she dashed to let Jenny in. The girl's eyes immediately went to their clothing and her cheeks turned red.
"Ah," Mari said, frowning a little but also wanting to laugh, "That's what we forgot."
"Pants," Esther breathed, going as red as Jenny, "We forgot pants. Sorry, Jenny, come in, we'll just...get dressed. Make yourself at home."
Jenny, having recovered from the embarrassment, just chuckled and dumped her backpack on the couch. "Thanks."
Once Mari and Esther returned to the living and kitchen area in more appropriate attire, Mari sat next to her sister on the couch while Esther took the armchair in the corner.
"So what happened? Why are you here?"
"We ended up somewhere bad," Jenny said slowly, "We nearly didn't get out and it turns out the reason we were there in the first place is that we were pulled in by a creature who fed off faith. It wanted me for my faith in Dad. The only way to stop it was for him to make me realise that at least some of that faith was unfounded."
"Okay..." Esther shared a confused but worried frown with Mari.
"And then they made me leave."
"What?" Mari asked, her face darkening. "You're not serious."
"Said that it would be a better way for it to sink in that I couldn't rely on Dad. Or, that was part of it."
"What do you mean?"
Jenny shrugged, her lips tightly pressed together. "I think there's something wrong. Something they're not saying. Hell, I know there is, they admitted it, and said it was the main reason that I had to leave but wouldn't tell me what it was!"
Mari leapt to her feet, a dangerous tension in her frame. "I'm going to kill them," she seethed.
Jenny stared. "Do you mean literally, or-" She got an exasperated look for a response. "Hey, don't look at me like that, with you it's impossible to tell!"
"Don't you dare toy with Jenny's emotions," Mari recited, an expression of scorn on her face as she mimicked Aliya's voice exactly, "She remains the most impossible hypocrite I've ever met."
"In her defence, it was Dad's idea," Jenny said quietly, "She wasn't sure at first, he had to convince her to support him, I think."
"You would think after being on the receiving end of one of his evictions, she would be on your side. It would seem that some of what I was taught about him was true, he really does think he knows better than everyone, doesn't he?"
"His intentions are almost definitely to protect me-"
"I don't care," her sister snapped, "You're an adult and they're treating you like a child, belittling and rejecting you in the same instant. When I next see them I'll be giving them a piece of my mind."
"Why do you care so much?"
Mari blinked at her. "You're my sister, Jenny. You were happy there, any idiot could see it was where you belonged, and they've taken that away from you. I want them to realise their mistake."
"Never thought I'd see you as the protective big sister, Marion," Esther said, grinning.
"She's not my big sister," Jenny replied, frowning, "I came first, dad's last regeneration was the one I grew from. I held Mari when she was a baby. I'm the older sister."
"A four year old is not my older sister," Mari said, snorting, "I have a substantial number of years of experiences over you. I'm older."
"Okay, now is totally not the time for this argument," Esther interrupted, and Mari thought about how the human had actually foreseen this conflict back on their first date. "Jenny, you're not stuck for somewhere to live, right? You and Aliya had that apartment."
"Yeah, that's not a problem," Jenny said, smiling sadly, "I'm sorted, just...disappointed, you know?"
"Well, I was going to go into work soon, but you and Mari can go out and do whatever you like."
Jenny's eyes lit up. "No, I'd love to go with you actually! I've missed Torchwood, I really have, even if I haven't been gone that long."
Esther looked surprise, but only for a moment. "Okay, well that's that solved then. Mari's used to doing whatever."
"Actually," Mari said with a glint in her eye, "I am utterly done with spending the days on my own. I think it's time that the team learned who they were really working with."
"Hang on, they don't know?" Jenny gaped.
"The closest I've gone to the place since regenerating is walking Esther to the pass every day for the past fortnight," Mari said, shrugging.
Esther grinned. "We've been messing with them a bit, actually. The Hub has security feeds watching the pass, so we've been, well-"
"Not particularly chaste in our goodbyes."
"Right," the immortal agreed, nodding with only the smallest bit of pink in her cheeks because she looked quietly proud of their private joke, "So they haven't stopped asking me about this 'new squeeze' of mine since."
"Those being Hart's words and not hers, unsurprisingly," Mari said, rolling her eyes.
"Of course, I haven't said much about it, saying it was none of their business."
Jenny, who seemed thoroughly amused by the whole thing, abruptly lit up. "I have an idea about how we could make this even better."
While Esther and Jenny iced the cupcakes, Mari carefully selected the outfit she was to wear to the Hub, knowing that it was her only chance for a second first impression. She wanted something a little more Marion than her usual style, but not anything that went against her new tastes either.
She decided on tight jeans, a pale blouse from her old wardrobe, her favourite pair of red stilettos, and the long dark grey coat that was her new regeneration's favourite.
"Well, I'm all set," she told the blondes when she returned to the kitchen.
"Alright, let's do this," Jenny said, grinning as she got out her phone and dialled Jack's number. The moment he picked up she put him on speaker so that the others could hear. "Hey, Jack."
"Jenny! What happened?! We've heard nothing from any of you for months! Is everyone okay?"
"We're all fine, Jack," Jenny assured him, "Sorry it took so long, things have been a bit crazy. But I was wondering if you wanted to meet my sister."
There was a pause on the other end. "You guys found her?"
"Sure did."
They heard him let out a triumphant whoop. "Oh man! That's great, Jen. I bet your parents are stoked."
"It's definitely been interesting," Jenny said while Mari had to muffle a snigger, "Alright, I'll see you soon."
"Sounds good."
Jenny and Mari walked quickly across the Roald Dahl Pass towards the hidden lift. Esther meanwhile, was hanging back and going to use the office entrance. The rain had only gotten heavier, but it was actually part of their plan. With her hair being darkened and flattened by the excess of water, Mari was going to be less immediately recognisable as the redhead that the team had seen from a distance on the CCTV feed over the last two weeks.
Mari had thought it was going to be strange returning to Torchwood after so much of her life had been turned upside down, but it felt surprisingly normal.
"Ready?" Jenny asked quietly, grinning at her. "This is going to be nuts."
"This is going to be fun."
The lift reached the bottom and they stepped off it. A nearby Gwen looked at them curiously, and Mari had to bite down the reflex to greet her by her last name like she would have in the past.
"Jenny!" Jack's voice called, and they turned to see him approaching them with a large grin on his face. "You made it." When his eyes came to rest on Mari, he halted, surprise written all over his face. "Wait, is this her?"
"Mariaka," Mari said, holding her hand out to him and trying not to frown at the sound of the name she wasn't yet comfortable with by a mile. "But I go by Mari."
He shook her hand and smiled. "Nice to meet you, Mari. Not gonna lie, I was expecting you to be, well, smaller. I'm guessing there's a story behind all that."
"You could say that," Jenny said, and she and Mari shared small grins.
"Well, why don't you guys come up to my office and fill Hart and I in, we're just having lunch and there's more than enough for you two as well."
"Sounds great."
As they walked, Jack considered her curiously. "You know, there's something familiar about you, but I can't put my finger on it."
Mari just shrugged, trying to play it off as nothing. "Given our proximity to time travel, it's always possible we've encountered each other in the future."
They walked past the work stations, where Rex was working. Mari was again tempted to greet him, partly because she had definitely considered him a strange sort of friend, or at least someone whose company she could tolerate. But she couldn't trust herself to not make a scathing comment that could give her away, and so kept quiet. Finally they arrived at Jack's office, where Hart was sitting in front of a laid out lunch of pastries and sandwiches, all of which looked delicious.
"Where's the kid?" He asked upon their entering. "I mean, I'm not one to complain about unexpected leggy women turning up, but-"
"She's the kid, Hart," Jack told him, and the other man's eyes widened.
"Oh. Blimey. Didn't see that coming. Where are your parents?"
"Busy," Jenny replied flatly, "Neither of us need babysitting. Mari's been staying in Cardiff, actually."
"Well, all's well that ends well," Hart said, his voice cheerful as he stuffed a pastry in his mouth, "Bet it was a nice family reunion. Lots of crying and hugging and some of Bowtie's big speeches. You lot are so predictable."
"Actually, I think the word nice is about as far from correct as possible," Mari said as she sat down, "But we're working on it."
"So...red hair, hazel eyes. Guess that letter ended up being right after all. They find you in the 43rd century?" Jack asked.
"One could say that," the redhead replied, and enjoyed the small frown on his face at her slightly cryptic answer, "But I've been informed as to how the two of you assisted my sister and the others when I was a baby, at fair personal risk. It seems appropriate to say thank you."
Hart grinned, his eyes running over her briefly. "You're welcome, darling."
"She was a baby the last time we saw her," Jack said to him, disgusted but not entirely surprised, "Can you not?"
"I'm far from a child," Mari told them mildly before focusing her attention on Hart, "But call me darling again and this baby may just rip your tongue from its socket."
Jenny sighed at the same time that Jack laughed and helped himself to more food. Hart, however, frowned rather thoughtfully. As conversation moved on, Mari noticed him leaning back to eye something underneath the table, which only made his frown deepen.
But then Esther came in.
"Esther!" Jack greeted, beaming. "Moon of my life, how are you?"
"Great," his fellow immortal said, smiling widely, "Hey Hart, Jenny, Mari."
"Es," Mari replied affectionately, giving her the genuine smile that was more or less reserved entirely for her. Sure enough, even though it took a second, Jack's eyes widened and his mouth dropped.
"I knew there was something familiar about you!" He cried. "You were the one on the phone on Christmas Day! The one who's been walking her to work."
"Well I never said she was staying with me," Jenny said, amused.
Jack rubbed his temples. "You were a baby a few months ago."
"A few months ago for you, perhaps," Mari retorted, crossing her arms, "It's been a good few decades for me."
"But...you and Esther?" Jack asked, frowning deeply as he looked between them. "How the hell did that happen?"
"I imagine that after a good year of pining after her, Bitch On Legs finally womaned up and asked Blondie out," Hart said casually, and when Mari grinned, he gave her a smug smirk.
"Wait, what?" Jack's eyebrows nearly disappeared into his hairline. "But that's what you call-"
"Given your familiarity with the idea of regeneration, Harkness, I'd expected you to be quicker on this than him."
"Believable threats of violence, the exact same pair of red stilettos, and the biggest heart eyes at Blondie known to man," Hart listed, and grinned at the redhead. "I'd know you anywhere. I knew you were planning something, but this is off the scale."
Mari shrugged, took another pastry, and tore some of it off to pop it in her mouth. "Did you miss me, Harkness? I suppose I should be glad that you at least seem to have not touched my desk in my absence."
Jack just stared. "You're honestly trying to tell me that you're Marion. Or, more specifically, that she's the baby we tried to rescue, and that you're her."
"It's the truth, Jack," Esther said reasonably, "When you think about it, it makes sense. If you'd been raised to kill the Doctor, coming to work at Torchwood is a pretty good way in. Even someone more removed from the whole thing could see that when she told me."
"Fucking hell, this means Bitch on Legs is Eyecandy's daughter," Hart laughed, "God I wish I could have seen your faces."
"It was an interesting day for all involved," Mari said dryly, "Let's leave it at that."
"Oh jeez. Yeah. That's...wow. I've seen some cosmic jokes of my time, but this might take the cake. You and Aliya…" Jack let out a long whistle while his face wore a genuine expression of concern. "How's that working out?"
"I'll let you know when I have an answer. I have other priorities at the moment." Her gaze shifted to Esther, who smiled at her.
"But you didn't know he was your father when you tried to kill him, right?" Jack asked. "I'm assuming you tried and failed and aren't here to tell me he's dead."
"He and Aliya are alive and as self-important as ever," Mari said, rolling her eyes, "And no, I had no idea. As I say. It was an interesting day."
"My mum always said that interesting really meant funny but ugly," Hart mused, "Sounds about right, if it was anything like I'm imagining."
"Yes, finding out that almost everything you've ever believed in is a lie is really quite amusing," Mari replied coolly, "And I'm sure Aliya and the Doctor were having to refrain from busting their gut laughing when they realised that their precious baby had grown into a sociopathic murderous bitch."
The atmosphere became awkward as everyone processed her words. Or at least, awkward for everyone except Hart.
"Touchy as ever, I see, Narke," he said, almost cheerfully.
Mari pursued her lips. "It's just Mari now. As far as the Torchwood records need to be concerned, Marion Narke is dead."
Everyone looked at her with surprise.
"Babe, are you sure?" Esther asked, putting her hand on her shoulder.
Jack gaped. "Did you just call her babe?" Esther went red, Jenny made an 'aww' noise, and Hart just cackled.
"We're together, Jack, so yeah, I did," the American woman told her fellow immortal, even as her girlfriend masked her own quiet amusement.
"I guess I just never thought I'd see anyone have the balls to give Marion Narke an affectionate nickname," Jack said, grinning sheepishly.
"Anyone with balls who tried it wouldn't have them for very long," Mari told him.
He blinked at her before he and Hart laughed heartily. "This new regeneration," he said, grinning at her, "Very hot, apparently very gay, and with an actual sense of humour. I like it."
"And of course, my whole time here, I've been secretly craving your approval and am now complete," the redhead drawled with great sarcasm, "And as I said before, I'm dropping my old name. Too much has changed since I was using it. So Marion might as well be dead as far as the rest of the world is concerned."
"But you want to come back here," Jenny said, frowning, "Are you going to do it under a different name?"
"I don't see why not," her sister replied, "Fresh start and all such sentimental bother. What's your name here?"
"Jenny Smith. Because Dad normally goes by John Smith, so it seemed to work."
Mari made sure her face conveyed her disdain. "Well that's frankly the laziest piece of alias creation I've ever heard of. On both your parts."
"Says the one whose name is just a bloody anagram," Jenny retorted, "There's nothing wrong with keeping it simple."
Despite wanting to bite back at her, Mari considered her words. "I suppose I already have rather enough names to be selecting a new one at complete random. And a mundane alias could be useful. Maria Smith certainly sounds much less intimidating than Mariakanerolunar, and less ridiculous. You never know when being underestimated can come in handy."
"So Marion Narke is pronounced dead and will be replaced in her position by Maria Smith," Jack summarised, "In terms of official documents, changing the name later isn't preferable, are you sure that's the one you want to go with?"
She lifted her eyebrow. "I don't see why not. It's as adequate as anything else. As far as I'm concerned, I'm still just Mari."
"Well, just Mari, welcome back to Torchwood." Jack's smile faded a little after he spoke, and he regarded her with a new curiosity. "You know, I swear I've seen you somewhere else before. I just can't...wait. Yeah!" He snapped his fingers in her direction. "I was with Aliya, bit over a year ago. We went into a cafe, and there were these women in front of us. An arguing pair. You were definitely one of them."
Well, that was news. Mari blinked at him. "Are you absolutely sure?"
"Yeah, you were with this little Latina who was calling you Ri and she started flirting with me the moment you turned around."
"Well, it's obviously from my personal future, and I've no idea what that could be about," Mari said, frowning. "Who on earth would I be with who would want to flirt with you?" Jenny, Esther and Hart smothered guffaws.
Jack just scoffed. "Harsh. Rex really turned you gay, huh?"
There was a beat, and then Mari started laughing. "Oh, please tell him that," she said, "I'd kill to see his face. Hart, I'm sure I can trust you to help me give him shit for it for a good few months, because it would bruise his ego so wonderfully."
"Oh my god, we can tell him he's had sex with an alien," Esther murmured, laughing as well, "He's not gonna be happy about that."
"I promise to deliver on both accounts," Hart said, grinning, "Though this Bitch On Legs actually laughing business is going to take a while to get used to." He smirked at Mari. "I suppose I was right. You did just need to get laid."
The redhead threw a pastry at his face while her blonde girlfriend went red again and Jack and Jenny just laughed.
"Oh god, I just realised I'm having sex with an alien," Esther said, making a face, "Add to the mix that she's a woman and I'm fairly sure my Republican grandma would have a heart attack. Not sure which one would worry her more, actually."
That was enough to set the entire group off into a chorus of helpless laughter.
"What the hell is going on in here?" They turned to see Gwen standing in the doorway with some files in one of her hands and an utterly bemused look on her face as she took in the laughing group that contained one apparent stranger and someone who had been missing for several months.
"How long have you been standing there?" Jenny asked.
"Long enough to be sure that some seriously weird shit has gone down," the Welshwoman replied, her green eyes narrowing at them, "Explain."
The group exchanged looks and wondered where the hell to start.
Don't kill me about the Jenny thing! It's just for now. She's a full time companion for the whole of the third story, I promise, it's just now that things have to be a bit shakier.
Mari might seem a little too friendly at times here, but bear in mind that she's spent so long imagining that these people would hate her once everything came to light that everything feels like it has unexpectedly turned out really well for her (I mean, she still mainly only cares about Esther but doesn't hate the others really and genuinely likes Jenny and Gwen and Rex so yeah). She's in a sort of blissful honeymoon relationship period at the moment.
Given the rest of the Series 6 plot, it shouldn't be a surprise to know that shit is going to hit the fan and we'll definitely see the more hardcore side to Mari in her new regeneration, which I am super excited about.
The song she and Esther are dancing to in the kitchen is "I Wanna Get Better" by Bleachers. It's a super fantastic song and I recommend you check it out.
Thanks so much for reading, let me know what you thought!
Love you guys,
-MayFairy :)
Guest Review Replies:
EvenEth13 - I did check out that song and it's not bad, thanks! Hope you enjoyed the chapter and I'm so sorry about the wait!