The Greatest Night Ever

Chapter 5

The First Three Years

The Doctor was actually torn for once, over what right thing he should do. Darillium was meant to be their happy ever after for the next 20+ years and yet Earth was facing incredible danger.

"We can't just leave Darillium because the Easter Bunny's an evil alien all of a sudden and who's chosen to be Davros' apprentice"

"You and Jack should go. I'll stay here with Emilia. Just promise me, you'll be back as soon as possible. Darling….."

Jack lightheartedly mimics River's Darling comment, while she has her back turned on him for a second time. She's busy addressing her husband, hoping he knows the answer to an important question she was ready to ask him.

"If you take a trip away from Darillium, how long does it last for?" She's only worried their happy ending might end sooner than she thinks. So it doesn't come as any surprise; to see how she's seeking plenty of reassurance from him; that he's not going to suddenly get himself and Jack trapped somewhere on Earth, thanks to them walking into one of his enemies' traps.

"Oh as far as I know it's around three years. I won't regenerate on you, if that's what you're thinking. This face of mine is staying for as long as it likes." The Doctor looks perhaps too full of confidence, while still making unsuccessful attempts to convince himself, he should go with Jack.

"You know what, maybe I shouldn't have shown up. Me and my team could have handled this threat ourselves." The timing of Jack's announcement with regards to him having a loyal team, certainly raises one or two eyebrows.

"You still have a team?" The Doctor is surprised to learn of this fact. He hadn't known Jack had reformed Torchwood.

Jack has so much he wants to tell his dear friends but decides to hold back from making the effort from fully doing so. He was still a man of mystery. "Yes I do. Right now, we're based in New York 1940 and London in 2016. New York's like a scene from War of the Worlds, everytime it's hit by a warning threat from some of our various enemies"

"Oh and which era we're you hoping teleport the both of us to. The TARDIS is redecorating herself at the moment, so I wouldn't persuade her into letting you take control of her."

"What's rattled your cage, Doctor?"

"Look I'm not sure I can return back to Earth, Jack. I belong here with my family."

"Go. If it means me and Emilia being apart from you for three years, it's not a problem with me." She thinks he should, even though she doesn't honestly want him to do so.

"River...No. We deserve the best night of our life, after everything we faced together. I can't go abandoning you, making you think I'm not facing up to my responsibilities as a husband and a father. " He knew his hearts well and truly belonged on Darillium.

Jack seems to change his tune when he sees how The Doctor doesn't want to leave his family alone without him. He sends a secret message via his wristwatch presumably to his present-day Torchwood team.

"Okay, I might not have been entirely truthful with you both. My team actually has enough technology to destroy every life-growing Dalek before they form themselves into their casings. Doctor, we needed you because of your war speech against the Zygons. I know you're capable of holding your ground and making anyone who threatens war on humans, re-question their intentions "

"I'm not mostly one for begging" River smirks once she hears this comment, her instincts tell her, he's lying through his teeth to Jack about this claim of him. "but please, if you're planning on saving millions of lives, just promise me you won't make the same mistake Kate Stewart almost did."

"Doctor, I've got the best track record ever, of any time traveler. You don't need to worry about me making mistakes because I won't be making any. I just sent a message to my team in New York, to freeze every ground surface on the US." Jack knows The Doctor doesn't actually have to leave Darillium altogether, all he has to do is project a hologram of himself and beam his broadcast to Davros, Easter Bunny or whoever else has aligned themselves in league with the Daleks creator.

"What exactly we're you hoping to achieve by misleading the two of us." River glanced between The Doctor and then to Jack. For someone to disappoint and make River Song mildly angry, it would be something they were likely to regret. Seeing as Jack was an old friend of The Doctor's, she couldn't go as far as slapping him in the face. "Pushing me out of the window, just to allow you and my husband to resume your adventures together."

"Not much. Let's get one thing straight here, I would never spoil The Doctor's or your happiness, I mean, look at you two, you're the most perfect old married couple. Oh I think it's so easy to see, you two don't want to be apart from each other for more than three minutes. Believe me, I've been in that situation myself before." Jack had heard many stories of River's complicated life, how she was trained to kill The Doctor and how handy she was with killing aliens who got on the wrong side of her, so he decided it was better to withdraw himself from a full blown argument with her.

River takes hold of her husband's hand and squeezes it tightly. Knowing how Jack is absolutely correct. She just wishes he had made this news he delivered to them, a bit more clearer, instead of leaving The Doctor to assume why he was needed and to think he is the only direct problem solver to this latest Dalek threat.

"So hologram me is it then. Jack, you will be astounded when you see how brilliant my hologram is." The Doctor precipitously announces after a few minutes of, which he spent in quiet contemplation and observing the frosty atmosphere between the two people that meant a lot to him, a good friend and of course his own wife who had wanted them to have 24 straight years of pure bliss.

"Doctor, I have come face to face with one of your holograms before. From what I can recall he looked a lot younger than you, talked to himself and paced around a room like a Lion at the zoo." Jack tells them about a previous encounter he's shared with one of the Time Lord's reincarnations/holograms.

"How did you know it was me?" The Doctor asks, he looks as curious as ever, to know how this had happened somewhere within Jack's timeline.

"Well, the younger you did point at me a lot, after your hologram was picked up by my team. There's a chance the advanced technology we have in our possession, may have more than likely managed to lock itself on to the TARDIS console. You really never noticed at all?"

"I'm afraid I didn't. Although I think you know I would have accused you of spying on my activities Captain, if I had known all about the sudden circumstances of this."

xxxx

The Doctor was modeling his Sonic Sunglasses in front of Jack. "Those sunglasses, are you kidding me? Please tell me, they're designed for other purposes than being plugged into some electric device and for being worn. Not that I'm complaining that I don't think you look good in them, I think you rock them. I'm just pointing out they look pointless for their other purposes. " Jack wasn't an admirer of the Sonic Sunglasses.

"I've got a browser stored inside my Sonic Sunglasses. Perhaps you can look at it if you want to but don't pay too much close attention Captain, otherwise I shall strike down upon you with great vengeance and furious anger..." The Doctor cleverly played The Convincer trick card perfectly on Jack.

"I don't need to. I can pretty much examine your browser anytime but not now because there's much more important matters for the three of us to attend to." Jack boldly declares, surprising both of his friends.

"Three of us?" The Doctor asks and then looks over at River, with a knowing smile playing on those fine, pleasant lips of his. She thinks her husband's making an unsuccessful attempt at persuading her to hear Jack out, on what he feels he has to tell them.

"Jack, I'm staying right here. I'm not leaving my daughter alone." River's proving she isn't an easy person to win over. She still has her mother's feisty, cleverness and energy about her. No one was going to make her temporarily give up on her 24 years night stay on Darillium.

"You won't have to. You wouldn't exactly be required to step foot off this planet River." Jack reassures her, she's got nothing to feel anxious about.

The Doctor showed how skillful and annoyingly clever he was, by quickly figuring out what Jack's true plan actually happened to be. He even went as far as describing it himself. "Temporal particularized hologram transfer, or to put it in well known terms a Video broadcast message. Once I've logged onto the precise location from where Davros and the Easter Bunny are ou want me to send my hologram as a broadcast to Davros "

"Cheaper than a weekend trip to Blackpool. You may look like a Professor or a human Owl Doctor but you've still got that great strength of mind about you, that I can't help but admire about you."

"You always did like to be the have-a-go-hero more than me Captain because of your immortality. Look, my hologram ghost is one of the best you'll ever see. Don't go fancying your chances with playing the hero. Like you said, you know I'm capable of winning against one of my enemies, thanks to the power of speech. We can find the greatest way possible of preventing a full scaled war between the Daleks and humans."

"And here was me thinking you didn't want to help me out." Jack laughs loudly, which lasted a little longer than expected.

"Rule No.1 Captain, when my husband tells you he isn't sure about following his gut instincts and providing you with the fresh knowledge he has about some of his greatest enemies, well basically he's lying... all the time." She suggests and then turns to face her other half, who raises his left brow, giving her a questioning look.

"Oh don't start giving me that look, I think you pretty much know what I mean, my love. " She gladly alluded to her husband's predictable techniques and hapless social dealings with long-lost friends and adversaries like Davros and the Daleks.

"What's wrong with my look? I think it's fine as it is. I'm sure Jack will agree too with me, Jack?" The Time Lord looks to his immortal friend to back him up on this presumption of his.

"Seriously, Doctor? I search everywhere, across the whole of the universe for you and now I'm here, after tricking a receptionist with one of my quirky comments. She totally fell for it, I told her I was the son of one of the guests here. Now you're asking me about helping you to win your case for you...well you hear it from me, I'm ruling myself out of being involved in yours and River's pointless debates from now on." Jack knew it wasn't his place or business to stick his nose where it wasn't required, so he felt he ought not to involve himself.

"That's the best thing you've said since you introduced yourself to me Captain Harkness." River suggests with another of her unforgettable smiles.

"Well shall we get started on your next important, life-changing speech, Doctor." Jack feels they should get started now otherwise Earth will be on the brink of future destruction. River decided Jack deserves a chance to use the TARDIS for his plan but still he needed reminding, with regards to him not being allowed to take it without her husband's permission.

The Doctor's pleased to see the two of them finally getting along.

xxxx

In one of the conference rooms, which were connected via the restaurant's huge complex. Also it was where Alphonse's employees would meet every six months which represented twice of each year and 40 times in total of a normal 24 years night on Darillium. River herself, still couldn't get her head around how this worked. The Doctor and Jack were watching footage from 1941, of a Japanese plane dropping bombs over Pearl Harbour.

"Remind me, why is this footage is relevant again?" The Doctor asks, once the last part of the footage was shown on the 3D projector screen.

Jack contemplates telling his friend, what the purpose of them watching the footage was for, however seeing as this newer reincarnation of The Doctor didn't quite have his wits about him. Jack came to the conclusion, he should perhaps not say a word just yet. "Is he really this frustrating?" He turns round and asks a smiling River.

"Absolutely but then I guess my love for him is strong enough to advise me not to let my frustrations get the better of me." She's proud to publicly admit her feelings aloud.

"Davros isn't stupid, he knows someone's weakness is their downfall, as soon as that person visibly lets their guard down. Whatever you do, don't underestimate him Jack. He told me, he was dying once and I almost fell for his trick. It was as if, he wanted to bring about my destruction. This time, I've got the upper hand on him."

The Doctor reveals, it's no surprise to see him overflowing with pure confidence.

"Well I hope you're right Doctor. I've learned a lot about Davros to know he can challenge your reliance on your friends and loved ones. Be careful." Jack looked more increasingly worried than the Gallifreyan.

The 3D projector screen suddenly flickered between a present day viewpoint of Central London and an all too familiar shot of a spaceship with a background view of Skaro.

"There goes my hologram plan." Jack expresses his disappointment, by saying it aloud in earshot of River.

"Doctor, the man who resorts to foolish insults, never gives up hope on his friends and who cannot foresee the inner darkness which haunts you. You a Time Lord, just like your own people, run away when the human within you consumes your best judgement."

"Oh hello Davros! Good to see you're still able to wheel yourself around,without any hint of trouble. I would visit you there again on Skaro and well I'd be more than happy to repeat removing you from your chair, for a second time." The Doctor grins as he paces back and forth around the room like an excited puppy, ready for it's morning walk.

"You mock me with your worthless words and then show yourself to be the reckless man you have always been. Oh Doctor, how you have truly disappointed me with your actions. The re-birth of the Daleks will become Earth's greatest punishment as they grow into the finest of warriors, they will make sure their past mistakes are corrected and guarantee all humans are imprisoned, in your absence." Davros believes he holds an influential advantage over his long time nemesis.

The Doctor's smile fades briefly, while he spends a few minutes thinking about Davros' words.

"We're not the same, you and I Davros anymore. I'm more of a better man than ever, one who won't fall a sob story and for the first time I've absolutely no reason whatsoever to feel any sort of resent towards you or your precious and hopeless little pets..."

"Your weakness is greater than ever Doctor. Oh, how you will soon come to regret the choices you've chosen to make. The solider within you is slowly diminishing right before your eyes and you a Time Lord, can't see the true nature of this or beyond your mistakes. How you are disappointing me especially after our last chat here on Skaro. I must applaud you on going into hiding, it will make your final defeat the greatest and most glorious accomplishment for the Daleks." While Davros was outlining his expectations for The Doctor's demise, The Doctor himself wasn't interested in hearing what the Daleks creator had to tell him. He had felt the need to quietly sing to himself. Once the talking had eventually ended, The Doctor cunningly addressed him.

"So you keep telling me! As I was saying before you rudely interrupted me. I'm not the man you think I am anymore. As you very well know enough about me, to write three biographies about the Time War and my many adventures. You don't know the other half of the story, everything it took me to become the man you see before you and what stops me, from killing you. You might know this but I time-traveled back to rescue your younger self from the torture you faced on that field. Yes, I made the most catastrophic mistake of originally leaving you there. But the strangest thing of all, that helpless small boy within you is still doing everything he can to break free and become the true person he was destined to become."

Davros is briefly rendered speechless upon taking on board his long-time arch enemy's comments.

Jack and River both clearly hadn't heard the full story of this before, so this confession left them completely taken aback.

"Hey Doc, if it makes you feel better, I don't blame you for what you did because I know I would have found myself in the exact same position, as you did and as much as I despise him, I would have followed my gut feeling too, making sure I righted my mistake." Jack shows great support for his friend, as does River, who in fact sees things somewhat differently from her new American friend.

"You did the right thing in saving him my dear. Still this doesn't make me feel sorry for his plight." River makes it known she does not feel one shred of sadness for him, knowing some of the stories she's heard about him, of how he had evilly tormented her husband's much younger forms.

Although Davros can't fully see the three of them nor locate where they are, for some unknown reason he's able to recognizes River's voice. "Your voice is so inspiring to listen to Professor Song. So you are The Doctor's saviour, the woman who breathes fresh life and sheer love into him. So the stories about you are true..."

Her blood ran cold, once she had observed and recognized the trickery in his words. He obviously hasn't given The Doctor's words much thought and his charm offense wasn't too difficult to see through.

Alarm bells start to ring out in The Doctor's mind, he's anxious that Davros is intent on revealing River's forthcoming fate at the Library to her. So he works to put a stop to whatever the Daleks creator is up to now.

"About what?" River asks. Like The Doctor, Jack doesn't trust him either, knowing what lengths he would strive to aim for, in his bid to destroy everything and everyone against him.

"Your professional career accomplishments. You took out an entire Cybermen fleet, just by the click of your fingers and with one single blast of your sonic weapon. That I applaud you for, Professor. I do not hold hatred towards you in any way possible."

"Urgh! Davros, you and your words should get a room and put a better plan together, not that I'm suggesting this will work wonders for you because as you know everytime we encounter each other, I'm the one who's always one step ahead of you."

"Doc easy on the cockiness." Jack advises him to tone down his approach however what Davros didn't know and couldn't see was the curious nod Jack had confidently given The Doctor after he had deliberately intervened in this conversation between the two sworn adversaries.

Davros rests three of his left fingers beneath his chin. He smiles fondly and darkly, as soon as he is capable of putting a name to the voice of this third person, Captain Jack Harkness. His manic laughter is enough to strike fear into the hearts and souls of his greatest enemies, yet he fails to intimidate The Doctor - who looks mind-numbingly bored of Davros' mind games.

"Captain Harkness, a fine voice of reason. Your friends, apart from Professor Song, maybe your weakness Doctor. I would highly recommend you to listen to the good Captain and then when you are alone, you should follow your true calling and unleash the remainder of your hurt and hatred." Davros mistakenly believes he's manipulating this situation, toward his advantage.

Jack stands sideways, to his right-hand side, he narrows his eyes and lifts his chin up, as he watches Davros on screen.

"What you see can't hurt you...oh where are my manners, of course you cannot see me. So you and your pointless threats are basically the understatement of a billion centuries, so much so everyone's bored of listening to them. It's almost like you've recorded your threats on tape recorder. You're just yesterday's news; nobody feels scared of you, I doubt the Zygons wouldn't be scared of you either." The Doctor thoughtfully highlights a few debatable points.

"Doctor, your stupidity exceeds you to the point of no return. My plans are already set in emotion. The rebirth of the Daleks will be Earth's greatest defeat..." Davros' proclaimed victory speech is brought to ship starts to shudder violently, from side to side and the cables which were still conveniently connected to him, were beginning to to loosen themselves from Davros chair.

"What is happening?!" He screams in anguish.

"Oh you're just getting what humans prefer to call...your just desserts or to put it in normal terms, your comeuppance. You're alone Davros, perhaps you're still with Colony Sarff, the two of you together will never be a match for a Time Lord like myself. You've got no purpose to be destructive, you know like you keep reminding me of. Times are changing and it's time for you to bow out in style." The Doctor tells him via the sound link before it cuts off altogether.

River looked stunned by the turn in her husband's behaviour, so she confronts him.

"Please don't tell me, you've sent him to his death."

"I thought you hated him?"

"I do but this isn't you, going to the same lengths as he would, to torture you." River

"I haven't directed him to his death. It's really hardly worth me making the actual effort to do so. Knowing Davros, he won't be gone forever, no matter what and of course he'll resurface once he's drawn up what he thinks is a better plan to destroy every human being and everything else around him." The Doctor was pretty adamant of being exactly right, regarding his knowledge of his greatest enemy.

Five years later

As Emilia was nearly 7 years old, her father had began to teach her the rules of time-travel and how not to be fooled by mysterious individuals, as she grows up on Darillium.

"I've been there myself. I bought book the book, bought the t-shirt and I've even got the stamp on my arm." The Doctor donning a mortar board hat, which he found amongst most of his unworn accessories and personal items during a routine rummage through his wardrobe inside the TARDIS one day.

"Now you're just being melodramatic Darling. Emilia ignore your father, he's behaving very very silly and unwise. Believe me, time-travel can be fascinating but there are some parts of time-travel as well as archaeology, you learn when you're old enough to understand."

Emilia giggles, she's pretty use to seeing so many different moments in her young life; from her unimpressed mother telling off her father, to her making friends with other young children around the same age as her and to paying attention when listening to her father's memorable time-traveling stories.

"Excuse me? You're the one who's being a tad melodramatic yourself Sweetie." The Doctor proves he isn't afraid to turn the tables on his wife, with his own recommended words of advice.

River shot him a 'you're going to regret trying to win this argument Darling, just you wait until we're alone this evening. My handcuffs will come in quite handy, for when I get my revenge on you.' look. Her persuasive look definitely worked, as her husband had no trouble in quickly picking up on it. She noted that his cheeks looked extremely colourful and those owl-like eyes of his were suddenly awestruck by the elegance of her hands.

River just adores him for being mild-mannered around their daughter and for when he's got a mind like sewer and expresses his love for her whenever they're able to get the opportunity to spend some alone time together. "It doesn't matter if you're grumpy towards me or not, I still love you for being my fez wearing, enthusiastic, eccentric and know-it-all husband. My idea of revenge isn't too bad, if that's what you're feeling nervous about."

"Me?...nervous? Oh-ho I don't think so." The Doctor shrugs off any suggestion of her accusation being true.

"Prove it...prove you're not." A knowing smirk plays on River's lips, as she challenges her husband

"Of course I will. Just so you know, I'm not one to back down from a suitable challenge..." He chews over his words for a split second before throwing caution in the wind, by telling his beautiful wife, what he thinks they should do next. "How about right here, right now, I promise I won't go all Scottishy on you when we...uhm...you know." The Doctor hints perceptively with one of his finest cheeky winks.

"Okay but not in front of Emilia." River helpfully reminds him, they're not alone just yet.

"Jack can look after Emilia and before you say absolutely not. Emilia's I think he could do with the kindest of company. He told me, if he were to spend the remaining 17 and a half years here,in total he'll have only been absent from Earth for 12 hours." The Doctor reveals two interesting points for River to take into consideration.

"Fine. Just as long as Jack doesn't go giving our daughter any ideas on the subject of the concepts of his vortex manipulator watch." River still hasn't particularly been charmed by the Captain's general manners nor his liking of being a mentor to a number of selected avid time-traveling wannabes.

"Jack's just Jack. Don't worry I'll make sure, he's not planning on recruiting Emilia to work for Torchwood, after she turns 21." The Doctor wonders why the two of them wouldn't sit down and talk and start making fun of the curious way he prefers to style/floof his salt and peppered colored hair.

End of Chapter

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