Right, here's The Girl in the Fireplace, this episode will be all in one part and will consist of flash backs, like I did with Father's Day, only I'm doing this episode like that as I absolutely hate it.
The Doctor was standing in the control room, he had just closed the time window and was feeling incredibly guilty about Madam de Pompadour. He was thinking about everything that had happened that day.
Flash back
The next morning, when Mickey made it to the control room, he saw the Doctor and Rose sitting on the captain's chair waiting for him to turn up. "Morning." he said causing the pair to jump
"Morning." they said.
--
They went to the kitchen and had breakfast, Mickey made a smart alec comment which caused Rose to storm out of the kitchen. The Doctor followed her.
He found her in their bedroom, pacing. "Rose?"
She stopped and turned to him "What?" she asked
"I..."
"Forget it." she said as she went into their bathroom and locked the door. The Doctor stood on the other side of the door, leaning his head against it
"Rose?"
"Go away." she said, sounding really aggitated.
"I'm sorry." he said
"For what?"
"For letting him come with us." he replied.
"Doesn't matter." she said "Nothing we can do about it. Just leave me alone for now."
"I love you." he said as he walked away from the door.
"Nice try."
--
When Rose returned to the console room nearly a half hour later, she completely ignored the two men in the room, so the Doctor set some coordinates and the Tardis set off, only, she didn't go where the Doctor had set her to go, she went somewhere that she knew that would help her Doctor and her Rose.
--
The Tardis landed on a space ship, the Doctor, Rose and Mickey exited and looked around "It's a space ship." Mickey said "I got a spaceship on my first go. Brilliant."
"Looks kind of abandoned" Rose said "Anyone one on board?"
"Nah, nothing here." said the Doctor "Well, nothing dangerous. Well, not that dangerous. You know what? I'll just have a quick scan. In case there's anything dangerous." He scanned the ship and found no other lifesigns other than the ones belonging to the three of them.
"So what's the date?" Rose asked "How far have we gone?"
"About 3,000 years into your future, give or take." he turned the lights on and opened up the roof so that they could see out of the window "51st Century. The Dagmar Cluster, you're a long way from home, Mickey! Two and a half galaxies. Mickey Smith, meet the universe.
While Mickey was looking out of the window, the Doctor was checking out the ship "Now that's odd, look at that." the Doctor said, causing Mickey and Rose to go over to him "All the warp engines are going. Full capacity. There's enough power running through this ship to punch a hole in the universe and we're not moving. So where's all that power going?"
"Where'd all the crew?" Mickey asked
"Good question." said the Doctor "No life readings on board."
"Well, we're in deep space." said Rose "They didn't just nip out for a quick fag."
"No." said the Doctor "I've checked all the smoking pods." he paused, he could smell something on the air "You smell that?"
"Yeah." answered Rose "Someone's cooking."
"Sunday roast, difinitely." said Mickey.
The Doctor opened a door behind them and they went through it. There was a fire place in this room and there was a fire going in it "Now, there's something you don't see in your average spaceship." the Doctor said, before going closer to investigate "18th century French. Nice mantel." He scanned it with the sonic screwdriver. "Not a hologram." He took a closer look "Not even a reproduction." he said "This actually is an 18th century French fireplace. Double sided." he told them "There's another room through there." he crouched down and looked through, as he did so, Rose looked out of the small window next to the fireplace
"It can't be." she said "That's the outer hull of the ship. Look."
"Hello." the Doctor said, causing her to turn to him
"Hello?" said a child's voice.
"What's your name?" the Doctor asked as Mickey joined him
"Reinette."
"Reinette." said the Doctor "That's a lovely name. Can you tell me where you are at the moment, Reinette?"
"In my bedroom."
"And where's your bedroom?" the Doctor asked "Where do you live, Reinette?"
"Paris of course."
"Paris." said the Doctor "Right."
"Monsieur, what are you doing in my fireplace?" Reinette asked
"Oh, it's just a routine...fire check." he answered, causing Rose to smile. "Can you tell me what year it is?"
"Of course I can." she said "1727."
"Right, lovely, one of my favourites." he said "August is rubbish, though. Stay indoors. Okay, that's all for now. Thanks for your help. Hope you enjoy the rest of the fire. Night-night."
"Good night, monsieur."
"You said this was the 51st century." said Mickey
"I also said this ship was generating enough power to punch a hole in the universe." the Doctor replied "I think we just found the hole. Must be a spatio-temporal hyperlink."
"What's that?"
"No idea, just made it up." the Doctor answered "Didn't want to say 'magic door'."
"And on the other side of the 'magic door' ist's France in 1727?" asked Rose
"Well, she was speaking French." the Doctor answered "Right period French, too."
"She was speaking English, I heard her." said Mickey.
"That's the Tardis, translates for you." Rose told him
"Even French?"
"Yep."
--
The Doctor was in young Reinette's bedroom, she was no older than the last time he saw her, she was in bed sleeping. He looked out of the window, it was snowing. Reinette awoke with a gasp as she spotted the Doctor in her room "It's okay." he told her "Don't scream. It's me. It's the fireplace man, look." He used the sonic screwdriver to light the candle by her bed. "We were talking." he said "Just a moment ago. I was in your fireplace."
"Monsieur, that was weeks ago." Reinette told him "That was months."
"Really?" asked the Doctor, scratching his ear "Hmm." he went to the fireplace "Must be a lookse connection." he said "Need to get a man in."
"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Reinette asked
The Doctor didn't answer her question, instead, he was looking at the clock on the mantel, it was broken, but he could still hear a ticking sound. "Okay." he said "That's scary."
"You're scared of a broken clock?"
"Just a bit scared, yeah." said the Doctor "Just a little tiny bit. 'Cause, you see, if this clock's broken, and it's the only clock in the room, then what's that?" He listened to the ticking "'Cause, you see, that's not a clock. You can tell by the resonance." he explained "Too big. Six feet, I'd say. Size of a man."
"What is it?"
"Now, let's think." the Doctor said "If you were a thing that ticked and you were hiding in someone's bedroom, first thing you do, break the clock. No one notices the sound of one clock ticking, but two? You might start to wonder if you're really alone." he walked over to her bed "Stay on the bed." he told her "Right in th middle. Don't put your hands or feet over the edge. He looked under the bed and pointed the sonic screwdriver at whatever was under there, it knocked his hand away and got out from under the bed. When the Doctor had the sonic screwdriver, he looked under the bed again and saw feet on the other side. He slowly sat up "Reinette, don't look round." he said "You stay exactly where you are." he stood up and looked from the clockwork thing to Reinette and back again "Hold still, let me look." he told her. He put his hands on her head and looked "You've been scanning her brain! You've crossed two galaxies and thousands of years just to scan a child's brain? What cold there be in a little girl's mind worth blowing a hole in the universe?"
"I don't understand." Reinette said. "It wants me?"she turned around "You want me?"
"Not yet." it said "You are incomplete."
"Incomplete?" asked the Doctor "What does that mean, incomplete?" It didn't answer him "You can answer her, you can answer me. What do you mean, incomplete?" He pointed the sonic screwdriver at it as it walked towards him and held it's blade to his throat.
"Monsieur, be careful!" said Reinette.
"It's just a nightmare, Reinette." said the Doctor "Don't worry about it. Everyone has nightmares." He was backing away as he spoke, leading the thing back to the fireplace "Even monsters from under the bed have nightmares. Don't you, monster?" It took a swing at him, but hit the mantel instead of the Doctor.
"What do monsters have nightmares about?" Reinette asked
"Me." answered the Doctor as he returned to the spaceship.
--
He came through the fireplace and grabbed something from the wall, he used it to spray the thing with stuff that looked like the watery stuff from a fire extinguisher, stopping it working. "Excellent." said Mickey "Ice gun." The Doctor tossed it to Rose
"Fire extinguisher." the Doctor corrected.
"Where did that thing come from?" Rose asked.
"Here."
"So why is it dressed like that?" Mickey asked.
"Field trip to France." the Doctor sad "Some kind of basic camouflage protocol. Nice needlework. Shame about the face." He pulled the mask off to reveal a glass head full of clockwork stuff. "Oh, you are beautiful." he said and he put on his glasss "No, really, you are. You're gorgeous. Look at that! Space age clockwork. I love it. I've got chills! Listen, seriously, I mean this from the heart, and by the way, count those, it would be a crime, it would be an act of vandalism, to disassemble you." he held up the sonic screwdriver "But that won't stop me." it started to work again and teleported away "Short range teleport." he said "Can't have got far. Could still be on board"
"What is it?" Rose asked
"Don't go looking for it."
"Where are you going?"
"Back in a sec." He went back through to Reinette's room
--
"Reinette?" he asked aas he walked into the room, it looked different as though it were inhabited by someone else. "Just checking you're okay." Someone cleared their throat and the Doctor turned around. "Oh. Hello!" he said "I was just looking for Reinette. This is still her room, isn't it? I've been away, not sure how long."
Someone shouted for Reinette "Go to the carriage, Mother, I will join you there." she shouted back "It is customary, I think, to have an imaginatry friend only during one's childhood. You are to be congratulated on your persistence."
"Reinette." said the Doctor. "Well...Goodness, how you've grown."
"And you do not appear to have aged a single day." she said "That is tremendously impolite of you."
"Right, yes, sorry." he said "Um... Listen, lovely to catch up but better be off, eh? Don't want your mother finding you up here with a strane man, do we?"
"Strange?" she asked "How could you be a stranger to me? I have known you since I was seven years old."
"Yeah, I suppose you have." he replied "I came the quick route."
She touched his face "You seem to be flesh and blood at any rate, but this is absurd." she said "Reason tells me you cannot be real."
"Oh, you never want to listen to reason." the Doctor told her
Someone called and told her that her mother was becoming impatient "A moment!" she shouted "So many questions. So little time." She tried to kiss him, but he stepped backwards and she left the room as someone called for her "Poisson?" he said "Reinette Poisson. No! No, no, no,! No way! Reinette Poisson. Later Madame D'Etioles. Later still, mistress of Louis XV, uncrowned Queen of France! Actress, artist, musician, dancer, courtesan. Fantastic gardener."
"Who the hell are you?"
"I'm the Doctor and I just avoided snogging Madame de Pompadour." he went back through, looking for Rose and Mickey, but they weren't there "Rose! Mickey! Every time. Every time! It's rule one. Don't wander off. I tell them, I do. Rule one. There could be anything on this ship." He walked around the corner and found a horse.
--
The Doctor walked through the ship "Rose?" he shouted as he went. The horse followed him. He turned to it "Will you stop following me?" he asked "I'm not your mother." he opened the doors in front of him "So this is where you came from, eh, horsey?" He went through and found himself back in the 18th century. He spent the entire time he was there avoiding Madame de Pompadour.
"Blimey, look at this guy." said Mickey as the Doctor found them "Who does he think he is?"
"Kind of France."
"Oh, here's trouble." said Rose "What have you been up to?"
"Oh, this and that." he answered "Became the imaginary friend of a future French aristocrat, picked a fight with a clockwork man. Oh, and I met a horse." he added as the horse appeared
"What's a horse doing on a spaceship?" asked Mickey.
"Mickey, what's pre-revolutionary France doing on a spaceschip?"asked the Doctor "Get a little perspective. See these? They're all over the place, on every deck. Gateways to history. But not just any old history. Hers." he said as Reinette entered the room "Time window. Deliberately arranged along the life of one particular woman. A spaceship from the 51st century stalking a woman from the 18th. Why?"
"Who is she?" asked Rose
"Jean-Antoinette Poisson." the Doctor answered "Known to her friends as Reinette. One of the most accomplished women who ever lived."
"So has she got plans for being queen, then?"
"No, he's already got a queen." the Doctor replied "She's got plans on being his mistress."
"Oh, I get it." said Rose "Camilla!"
"I think this is the night they met." he said "The night of the Yew Tree Ball. In no time flat, she'll get herself established as his official mistress, with her own rooms at the palace, even her own title. Madame de Pompadour." They watched her
"The Queen must have loved her."
"No, she did." the Doctor said "They got on very well."
"The King's wife and the King's girlfriend?" asked Mickey
"France." said the Doctor "It's a different planet." As he spoke he noticed that the clock on the wall was broken. He took the fire extinguisher from Mickey and they burst through the Time Window "Hello, Reinette, hasn't time flown!"
"Fireplace man!"
The Doctor sprayed the clockwork man and tossed the extinguisher back to Mickey.
"What's it doing?"
"Switching back on." the Doctor answered "Melting the ice."
"And then what?"
"Then it kills everyone in the room." said the Doctor "Focuses the mind, doesn't it? Who are you? Identify yourself. Order it to answer me."
"Why should it listen to me?" asked Reinette.
"I don't know, but it did when you were a child. Let's see if you've still got it."
"Answer his question." she said "Answer any and all questions put to you."
"I am repair Droid 7."
"And what happened to the ship, then?" the Doctor asked "There was a lot of damage."
"Ion storm." answered Droid 7 "82 percent systems failure."
"That ship hasn't moved in over a year." the Doctor said "What's taken you so long?"
"We did not have the parts."
Mickey laughed "Always comes down to that, doesn't it?" he said "The parts."
"What's happened to the crew?" the Doctor asked "Where are they?"
"We did not have the parts."
"There should've been over 50 people on your ship." he said "Where did they go?"
"We did not have the parts."
"Fifty people don't just disappear, where..." started the Doctor "Oh. You didn't have the parts so you used the crew."
"The crew?"
"We found a camera with an eye in it." said there was a heart wired into machinery."
"It's just doing what is was programmed to." the Doctor told them "Repairing the ship any way it can with whatever it can find. No one told it the crew weren't on the menu. What did you say the flight deck smelled of?"
"Someone cooking." Rose answered
"Flesh plus heat." said the Doctor "Barbecue. But what are you doing here? You've opened up time windows, that takes colossal energy. Why come here? You could've gone to your repair yard. Instead you come to 18th century France? Why?"
"One more part is required." he looked at Reinette.
"Then why haven't you taken it?"
"She is incomplete."
"What? So that's the plan, then? Just keep opening up more and more time windows, scanning her brain, checking to see if she's done yet?"
"Why her?" asked Rose "You've got all of history to choose from, why specifically her?"
"We are the same."
"We're not the same." said Reinette "We are in no sense the same!"
"We are the same."
"Get out of here." said Reinette. "Get out of here this instant."
"Reinette, no."
The clockwork man teleported away. "It's back on the ship!" said the Doctor "Rose, take Mickey and Arthur, get after it, follow it. Don't approach it, just watc what it does."
"Arthur?"
"God name for a horse."
"No, you're not keeping the horse." Rose told him
"I let you keep Mickey." he said cheekily "Now go, go, go!" He sent them through the window and turned to Reinette "Reinette. You're going to have to trust me." he said "I need to find out what they're looking for. There's only one way I can do that. Won't hurt a bit." he placed his fingers on her temple and entered her mind
"Fireplace man." she said "You are inside my mind."
"Oh, dear. Reinette. You've had some cowboys in here." he said
--
"You are in my memories." said Reinette "You walk among them."
"If there's anything you don't want me to see, just imagine a door and close it." he told her "I won't look. Oh, actually, there's a door just there that you might want to close... Oh. Actually, several."
"To walk among the memories of another living soul." she said "Do you ever get used to this?"
"I don't make a habit of it."
"How can you resist?"
"What age are you?"
"So impertinent a question so early in the conversation. How promising."
"Not my question." he said "Theirs. You're 23. And for some reason that means you're not old enough. Sorry. You might find old memories reawakening. Side effect."
"Oh, such a lonely childhood."
"It'll pass." said the Doctor "Stay with me."
"Oh, Doctor." she said "So lonely. So very, very alone."
"What do you mean, alone?" he asked "You've never been alone in your did you start calling me Doctor?"
"Such a lonely little boy. Lonely then and lonlier now."
"I'm not alone." he told her "I've got Rose and Mickey with me."
"How can you bear to be so alone?"
"How did you do that?"
"A door once opened may be stepped through in either direction." she said "Oh, Doctor. My lonely Doctor. Dance with me."
"I can't."
"Dance with me."
"No." and with that he turned and left through the window in the hopes of finding Rose and Mickey near by, but he couldn't find them
--
The Doctor had searched the entire ship before he heard their voices and followed them, eventually he found them. He entered and pulled out the sonic screwdriver "...They call him the Oncoming Storm."
"You're my favourites, you know that?" he said "'Cause you're so thick. You're Mr Thick Thick Thicketty Thick-face from Thick-town, Thickania. And so's your dad. Do you know what they were scanning Reinette's brain for? Her milometer. They want to know how old she is. Know why? 'Cause this ship is 37 years old. And they think that when Reinete is 37, when she's complete, then her brain will be compatible. 'Cause that' what you're missing, isn't it, hmm? Command circuit, your computer. Your ship needs a brain. And for some reason, God knows what, only the brain of Madame de Pompadour will do."
"The brain is compatible."
"Compatible?"
"If you believe that, you probably believe this is a glass of wine." he said, referring to the glass that he had in his hand. He took it's mask off and poured the liquid over the clockwork robot. It stopped working "Multi-grade anti-oil." he said "If it moves, it doesn't." he turned off the other ones. "Right you two, that's enough lying about." he told them "Time we got the rest of the ship turned off." He released them from their restraints
"Those things safe?" asked Mickey
"Yep, safe." said the Doctor "Safe and thick. The way I like them." he looked at the controls "Okay, all the time windows are controlled from here. Need to close them all down. Zeus plugs. Where are my Zeus plugs?"
"Why didn't they just open a time window to when she was 37?" asked Rose
"Amount of damage to these circuits, they did well to hit the right century. Trial and error after that. The windows aren't closing." he said "Why won't they close?" There was a chiming sound
"What's that?"
"I don't know." said the Doctor "Incoming message?"
"From who?"
"Report from the field." the Doctor answered "One of them must still be out there with Reinette. That's why I can't close the windows. There's been an override." The robot that the Doctor had poured the oil over woke up "That was a bit clever." the others woke up too "Right." he said "Many things about this are not good. Message from one of your little friends?" he asked "Anything interesting?"
"She is complete." One said "It begins."
--
The Doctor found the window to when Reinette was 37 while Rose was talking to Reinette, he'd given it audio so that he knew when they needed to go through, however, this one was a large mirror and was on the wall of the ball room. He sent Mickey to get Rose so that he could explain his problem. Whoever goes through might not get back.
--
"You found it, then?" Rose asked when she and Mickey were both with the Doctor
"They knew I was coming, they've blocked it off."
"How come they got in there?"
"They teleported." the Doctor answered "As long as the ship and the ballroom are linked, Their short range teleports will do the trick."
"We'll go in the Tardis."
"We can't." the Doctor replied "We're part of events now."
"Can't we just smash through?" Mickey asked
"Hyperplex this side, plate glass the other." the Doctor said "We'd need a truck."
"We don't have a truck."
"I know!" said the Doctor
"We've got to try something."
"No. Smash the glass, smash the tie windows." said the Doctor "There'd be no way back."
--
The Doctor and Rose went to find the horse, leaving Mickey alone at the time window. They walked along hand in hand and they found him quickly "You're going through, aren't you?" she asked
"I've got to Rose." he said "I've got to preserve history."
"Even if that means leaving me here?"
"I'll find a way back to you, Rose."
"You'd better." she said, before kissing him for the first time that day. "Sorry about this morning."
"It's fine, Rose."
"Becareful."
The reached the time window quickly and the Doctor mounted the horse and galloped straight at the time window and crashed right through it.
--
The Doctor stopped the horse in the middle of the room and dismounted. "Madame de Pompadour." he said "You look younger every day."
"What the hell is going on?" asked the King.
"Oh." she said "This is my lover, the King of France."
"Yeah? Well, I'm the Lord of Time." he said as he went to one of the robots and took off it's mask "And I'm here to fix the clock." the robot tried to hold it's knife to his throat "Forget it." he said to it "It's over. For you and for me." he looked at the window. "Talk about seven years' bad luck. Try 3,000."
--
The robots tried to teleport away, but they failed. "The link with the ship is broken." the Doctor said "No way back. You don't have the parts. How many ticks left in that clockwork heart, huh? A day? An hour? It's over. Accept that. I'm not winding you up." All of the robots stopped. The Doctor helped Madame de Pompadour to her feet "Are you all right?" he asked her
"What's happened to them?"
"They've stopped." he said "They have no purpose now."
--
The Doctor stood at a window in what looked like a music room looking up at the stars, wondering if Rose was all right, he hadn't remembered to activate the Emergency Programme one that he'd made after he regenerated and it's a good thing that he hadn't as Mickey would have found out about them. He was so busy brooding (something his previous incarnation had been prone to) that he didn't hear Reinette enter the room. They spoke about the stars and then she said "Take my hand." which he did.
She led him to a replica of her bedroom from her childhood home, including the fireplace "It's not a copy. It's the original. I had it moved hre and was exact in every detail."
"The fireplace." he said as he walked further in "The fireplace from your bedroom. When did you do this?"
"Many years ago." she answered "In the hope that a door once opened may someday open again. One never quite knows when one needs one's doctor. It appears undamaged. Do you think it will still work?"
"You broke the bond with the ship when you moved it. Which means it was off line when the mirror broke. That's what saved it." he said "But...the link is basically physical and its still physically here, which might just mean, if I'm lucky, if I'm very, very, very, very, very lucky..." he said as he tapped the mantel "Aha!"
"What?"
"Loose connection." he said taking out the screwdriver "Need to get a man in." he went to the lever and said "Wish me luck."
"No."
He went through and decided that he should offer her a trip to thank her for helping him to get back "Madame de Pompadour. Still want to see those stars?"
"More than anything."
"Give me two minutes." he said "Pack a bag."
"Am I going somewhere?"
"Go to the window." he told her "Pick a star. Any star."
He ran through the ship to Rose and Mickey and when he reached them, Rose hugged him so tightly that he thought he was going to suffocate "How long did you wait?" he asked
"Five and a half hours." she said smiling at him. If Mickey hadn't been there she would have kissed him, but he was, so she didn't
"Great!" the Doctor said "Always wait five and a half hours."
"Into the Tardis." he said to the two of them "Be with you in a sec." he went back through the fireplace.
--
He entered a room and found the King of France "Oh, hello." he said
"You just missed her." he said "She'll be in Pari by 6:00."
"Oh." said the Doctor.
"Good lord! She was right." said King Louis. "She said you never looked a day older. So many years since I saw you last, but not a day of it on your face." he went to a drawer and pulled out an envelope which he handed to the Doctor "She spoke of you many times. Often she wished you'd visit again. You know how women are." the Doctor took the envelope. "And there she goes." he continued "Leaving Versailles for the last time. Only 43 when she died. Too young. Too young. Illness took her in the end. She always did work too hard. What does she say?"
The Doctor didn't answer, instead he put the letter in his inside pocket.
"Of course." said the King "Quite right."
The Doctor returned to the Tardis.
--
When he entered after retrieving his trench coat Rose asked "Why her? Why did they think they could repair the ship with the head of Madame de Pompadour?"
"We'll probably never know." he answered. "There's massive damage in the computer memory got confused." He went to the monitor "The Tardis can close down the time windows, now the droids have gone. Should stop it causing any more trouble."
"You all right?" Rose asked.
"I'm always all right."
"Come on, Rose, it's time you showed me round the rest of this place." Mickey said.
Rose followed him out and the Doctor read the letter and then switched of the time window and the monitor.
End Flashback
Rose entered the control room sometime later once the Tardis was in the vortex and Mickey was in his room and tried to talk to the Doctor
"Doctor?" she said
He looked up "She died, Rose." he said "She died waiting for me."
Rose hugged him "I did some research while you were away, in her later years, she did a lot of things, she didn't spend her life waiting for you. Wanting you to come back maybe, but she certainly didn't pine and that might be my doing. While I was talking to her by myself it sort of slipped out."
"You told her?"
"Yeah." she held out her hand "Come on, you. I think you need some sleep."
He took her hand and she led him through the corridors to their bedroom. They quickly got changed and got into bed. Both of them fell asleep with difficultly, but they slept without nightmares all the same, just as they had done since they started sharing a bed.
Anyway, that's it for that chapter, there won't be a filler I'm just going to get on with the next episode I think. I'll decide later, I've got enough to deal with right now, like trying to stay awake.
TTFN
Julie.