Notes: John to the rescue! But Rose plays her part as well.

Chapter 7

Rose was sat on the sofa in her room on the spaceship, cooing at EJ as he fed. Earlier she had ventured out into the corridor and explored those areas that were open to her.

She found a restaurant, games room, gymnasium, pool and various other recreational areas. Doors to off limit areas just wouldn't open, she wondered if John would have some clever technique that she could use to modify the badge to open all doors.

EJ was sucking away contentedly looking at his mothers face as he always did. Rose smiled at him, but thought their was something different about the way he was looking at her.

"John, is that you?" she asked EJ, wondering if there was some telepathy going on here.

She gasped and then laughed. EJ winked at her.

"You dirty old bugger!" she laughed. "I hope you're enjoying yourself?"

She doubled up with laughter when EJ winked again. She finished nursing him and rubbed and patted his back until he burped. She was wondering if that was John or not when she got the warm, loving feeling of his calling card.

When the golden glow faded, she was standing in the old console room of the TARDIS with EJ cradled in her arms.

{"I love the locations you choose for our meetings,"} John said from behind her. She turned around and saw him standing there in the blue suit that he had worn when they first met on the Dalek crucible.

{"They seem to be places that have had a significant influence on my life,"} she told him.

He put a hand around her waist and kissed her lovingly on the lips and then kissed his son on the head. She could feel his energy, his excitement, his anticipation.

{"I get the feeling that something is afoot."}

{"Hah! You know me too well. Yes, I have got a plan to get you both out, but I also want to sort out these lizards so that they'll leave us alone and not come after us again."}

{"And how are you going to do that?"} she asked with a raise eyebrow.

{"Ah well, I need you to get an invite on to the bridge with his Eminence so that I can speak to him and the bridge crew.}"

{"That's a big ask John."}

{"I know, but I believe in you Rose. If anyone can do it, you can. You need to have EJ with you, and I'll be watching through his eyes to time my entrance."}

{"Okay, I'll ask Elishka to call him and see if I can arrange a visit to the bridge."}

{"Good girl. Oh, and I'm sorry about your birthday surprise, you'll have to have it for Christmas instead."}

He waggled his eyebrows and kissed her before she could ask him what he was on about. The golden light grew and faded, and she was back on the spaceship.

She sighed and waited for the dizziness to pass, and then went over to the comms panel by the door. She had an idea; all she had to do was get it to work.

"Elishka, Would you inform his Eminence that I wish to speak with him."

"Of course Mrs. Smith."

A short while later the the door chime sounded.

"Come in." The door swished open and the old lizard entered with Elishka.

"Your handmaiden informs me that you wish to speak with me."

"Yeah. I've been thinkin' about your claim that my son is this Kaliq-Farrash, this Messiah. What proof is there? All I have is your say so," she said, hoping he'd take the bait.

"It is not my claim or 'say so', it is foretold in the prophecy."

"Which is?"

"The second coming of the Messiah will be the half breed son of half breed parents, a Human-She Wolf, sired by a Human-Gallifreyan born without parents. He will unite the seven worlds and warring factions in a golden age of peace."

Rose raised her eyebrows and nodded. "I can see why you think it's us." There go the wolves again, influencing their lives. "And you think he will unite your colonies, stopping the squabbling and civil wars?"

"With all my heart," he replied sincerely.

"Then prove it to me! I wish to see how intelligent, educated people react to being in the presence of my son, a supposed religious icon."

"And if I do this for you?"

"Then I will cooperate," she said quietly. "If my son can save millions of lives by preventin' a war, then I will not prevent him from fulfillin' this noble destiny."

"Really?" The old wizard sounded doubtful, Rose hoped he believed her.

"It's not that I do not respect or trust you Mrs. Smith, but I have seen what you are capable of. Letting you loose on the bridge of a star ship may be a bit foolhardy."

"I was attacked without warnin', my son was in danger. What was I supposed to do? And talkin' of trust, I'm havin' to trust a person who's had me shot, stripped and paralysed," she said with a hint of anger flaring in her eyes.

"A point well made I agree. However I still think having you unfettered on the bridge would be hazardous. However, we could wait until the senior staff were off duty and meet them in the recreation area."

Damn! The crafty old lizard was on to her, she had to think quickly.

Think, think, think. Got it!

"What, and give you time to brief them and let them rehearse their reactions? It all comes down to trust again, doesn't it? If we are to work together in the future, we need to trust one another. It's a stalemate."

The old lizard rubbed his chin while he thought. "Very well. I propose a compromise," he said. "Elishka, tell Mrs. Smith of your oath of fealty."

Elishka looked embarrassed and lowered her gaze. "I will protect his Holiness and the Holy mo... and his mother with my life. I will serve them to the best of my abilities until the day I die," she said quietly.

"This is my proposal, that we go to the bridge where you hand the Kaliq-Farresh to your handmaiden," he started.

"Wha?" Rose started to ask.

He raised his hand to silence her as he continued. "You will then consent to have your wrists bound behind you and then we will enter the bridge together, unannounced."

Oh shit! He'd called her bluff. If she didn't accept his offer she would never get on the bridge where John could implement his rescue plan, whatever that was.

What should she do? If she was in handcuffs and not holding EJ, would that affect his plan as well? There were so many unknowns that she couldn't make a decision.

She just stared silently at the old lizard, trying to think of away out of this corner that he'd backed her into.

She was about to say no, John had said he had a plan to get her and EJ out and the lizards seemed to be secondary to the rescue. Maybe if she stayed in her room, John could rescue them from there.

Before she could say anything, she momentarily had the warm feeling that she got from John when he was calling her. Was he trying to send her a message?

She looked down at EJ in her arms and saw that he was studying her face in the way that babies do. Only he then did something that other babies didn't do. He winked at her again.

He'd been listening! He'd heard her get backed into a corner and he was telling her that it would be alright. She looked back at his Eminence, who had a smirk on his face, as he patiently waited for her reply.

"Very well, I agree to your terms."

They walked down a corridor Rose hadn't had access to before. At the end were a set of red doors with two officers either side standing at ease. When they reached the doors, Rose kissed EJ on his head and handed him to Elishka.

"Please turn around Mrs. Smith and put your hands behind you," his Eminence commanded.

Rose did as she was asked and one of the officers placed a pair of handcuffs on her wrists.

"As if I would do anything to endanger my son," she said as the cuffs firmly clicked shut.

His Eminence nodded at the officers and one of them operated the door panel and they swished open. Elishka entered first, followed by Rose and then the old lizard.

The Captain turned in his command chair to see who had entered the bridge.

"Your Eminence! We are honoured with your presence."

"Thank you Captain, you are indeed honoured today as the Holy Mother, Mrs. Smith wishes you and your staff to meet his Holiness the Kaliq-Farrash," he announced to the room.

The Captain gasped and the bridge crew all turned to look in awe at the baby and his mother.

"Hello," Rose said in a voice that was more cheerful than she felt. "I'd shake your hand, but I'm a bit tied up at the moment."

The Captain lowered to one knee with one hand on his chest, bowing his head. "M'lady, I am overwhelmed that you would consent for a lowly star ship captain as myself to touch the hand of the Holy Mother."

Rose sighed and rolled her eyes at that title again. She saw that the rest of the bridge crew had their heads lowered with their hands over their chests. 'Well, if this had been for real, it certainly would have proved a point' she thought. These people were in awe of her and EJ, as though they were gods.

"So Mrs. Smith, what do you think now of the prophecy and your son's destiny?" his Eminence asked.

"I have to admit, that was a pretty good reception. Er, shouldn't everyone turn around and start flyin' the ship again?" she said.

The crew took this as a command and turned back to their stations. Rose looked around the bridge and marvelled at the architecture. It was a beautifully artistic room, not just functional, but pleasing on the eye. The front of the room was a large window looking out onto the stars ahead of the ship, with a variety of flight data projected onto it.

Either side of the window were large display screens showing images of planets and star fields. In front of the window was a long, curved control desk manned by half a dozen lizards wearing grey uniforms.

"Well Mrs. Smith I have kept my part of the bargain, what do you say?"

She wanted to say 'I wish he'd bleedin hurry up'. Why did he always cut these things so fine? She was starting to suspect that he did it on purpose as a perverse way of getting an adrenalin rush.

He would tell her he was a Time Lord and always arrived exactly when he was meant to. Talking of which, the left hand display screen stopped showing a star field and started to flicker and distort as a new video image imposed itself on the screen.

Rose's spirits soared when she saw that perfect, white smile.

"Ladies and gentlemen, good evening. My name is Jack Harkness and I believe you have a couple of friends of mine," He said cheerfully.

"Ah, there they are! How'ya doin' Rosie?"

Rose smiled and moved her arms to one side to show him the handcuffs. "Same as usual," she said with a laugh.

"Mmmm, kinky," Jack said with an evil grin.

Rose blushed and had an embarrassed smile on her face. "Oh don't go there Jack, just don't."

"I can tell you now people, the Doc isn't going to like that. If I were you, I'd take those off before he gets there."

His Eminence looked furious. "Captain, get that clown off the screen NOW!"

The captain stepped forwards to the control desk. "Comms, shut it off now," he commanded.

The comms officer operated a few controls and started to look flustered, what with his commanding officer looking over his shoulder.

"I'm sorry sir, the signal won't terminate. It seems to have locked the console."

"That would be my fault," Jack told them with a grin. "It's an R.S.V.P hyperwave subspace carrier. I'm afraid your comms array has accepted a reverse charge call and it won't disconnect until I tell it to." He winked at Rose. "I must get me one of these for my phone."

Rose actually laughed, even in this potentially dangerous situation, she felt safer with Jack on the screen, even if he wasn't there in person.

"Now ladies and gentlemen, time for the main event. May I bring to your attention the sound of time and space being distorted out of shape, and the appearance of an object to your left."

'What the hell', Rose thought to herself. That noise, the noise she could feel in her head and her chest. That impossible noise. It couldn't be.

The bridge filled with the wheezing sound of the universe breathing. It was the most beautiful sound she had ever heard, one that she thought she would never hear again. And then she saw a sight that she thought she would never see again. Slowly, a blue wooden box started to fade into existence.

The captain moved quickly to his command chair and opened the intercom. "Security to the bridge on the double." The speaker was silent. "Security acknowledge." Still silence. "Comms, go get security here, now!" he shouted at the officer on the control desk.

"At once sir." the young lizard ran towards the red doors that normally swished open as you approached them. This time they didn't swish and he ran face first into the solid metal door.

"Ouch, that's gotta hurt. Sorry about that, the Doctor's ship is blocking all the bridge command functions. I'm afraid you're on your own to face the Oncoming Storm and the Valiant Mother," Jack told them.

The blue police box had fully materialised now and the right hand door opened inwards. A man in a blue suit, red plimsolls and impossibly sticky up hair stepped out of the box.

"Taxi for Smith?" he said with a grin.

"JOHN!" Rose squealed with delight and ran up to him, burying her face in his shoulder as he hugged her. She looked up into his gorgeous brown eyes and saw the look of a man in complete control. He leaned down and kissed her hard on the lips.

She thought she heard a familiar whistling, warbling sound as the handcuffs clicked open and fell to the floor. She reached around and pulled him into a fierce hug.

"John?! How... What... Where?" She had so many questions.

"Ahem!" They heard Jack clear his throat. "Sorry to break up the party you two, but there is the pressing matter of a room full of potentially hostile lizards."

"Apprehend that man!" his Eminence commanded. "He is dangerous, and he has come to take the Kaliq-Farrash away." Various crew members got to their feet and made a move towards John and Rose.

Rose noticed that Elishka had move to the back of the room to protect her son. As the crew slowly approached, Rose grabbed the staff of office from his Eminence and swirled it around her head and in a figure of eight around her body and let it come to rest pointing at the crew.

"He might be dangerous," Rose said in a low, menacing voice through gritted teeth. "But I'm bloody lethal."

The thing is, the crew believed her. She had taken on a legendary status among the crew from an overheard conversation when she was brought on board in a casket.

His Eminence had been describing her fight with the mercenary, and the need to keep her safe by paralysing her. A passing crewman had heard snippets of the details and told a friend.

With the next telling, she had broken the arm of one and gouged the eyes of another. Soon she had broken the neck of a third mercenary and made a eunuch of a fourth. Her latest exploits had her shooting an extra three men before being taken down with a tranquiliser. No wonder they had her paralysed.

No one was going to risk approaching when she had a wooden staff in her hands, not without some sort of semi automatic weapon.

She had grabbed the staff because she knew John wouldn't hit anyone. He could defend himself alright, but he didn't like to attack. He exasperated Andy McNab in the basic combat training when he wouldn't hit back.

The other trainees had been reluctant to spar with a man they knew wouldn't hit back, so McNab decided he would have to slap him a bit to provoke him. It was for his own good after all.

John's superior Gallifreyan reflexes meant that he could dodge, deflect or block anything that was thrown at him. McNab had never seen anything like it in all his long years with the SAS.

John had quoted an old Chinese general he once knew called Sun Tzu. 'Hence to fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting'.

While Rose held the crew at bay with the threat of a serious beating from a seriously 'pissed off' mother, John went over to Elishka to fetch EJ.

"Hello Elishka, thank you for being so protective of my son. He really likes you, he told me so."

The handmaiden looked astonished. "How did you know my name? What do you mean 'he told you so'?"

John smiled at her kindly. "It's complicated," is all he'd say, as he walked back to stand next to Rose. He put his hand on the staff and gently encouraged her to lower the tip to the floor. He was going to use words, not weapons; he would shame them into submission.

"Right you lot. Do you know what the Shadow Proclamation think about kidnappers?" he asked the room.

"No? Well let me tell you, they don't like 'em. And do you know what the Shadow Proclamation think of kidnappers who subdue their victims by paralysing them and putting them on a ventilator?"

He looked directly at his Eminence. "I would leave that one as a surprise if I were you, because believe me, you really don't want to know."

He then looked back at the rest of the crew. "And why are you all facing this well deserved, if not terrible punishment? Because you blindly followed a fool who blindly followed someone else's interpretation of a prophecy."

Cradling EJ in the crook of his elbow, he put his other arm around Rose's shoulder. She instinctively reached around his waist.

"My son is a hybrid son of hybrid parents, I'll give you that. I suppose you could say that my wife is a Human-She Wolf, I'll give you that one as well." He grinned at Rose and waggled his eyebrows.

"And I'm definitely the Human-Gallifreyan born without parents, there's only one of me, I'm unique."

'You've got that right', Rose thought to herself.

"How is it possible that you know the prophecy?" his Eminence asked incredulously.

"Let's just say I was listening when you told Rose," he said. "But where does it say that he has to be kidnapped when he's five months old and taken to another world to grow up, so that he can unite the seven worlds and warring factions in a golden age of peace? Eh? Tell me that."

He was met by silence. "When my son grows up, if he's anything like his parents, I believe he will be your Messiah." Rose shot him a look of disbelief, but she saw the sincerity on his face, it was there for all to see.

"It probably won't be anything like you're expecting, these things rarely are. But to achieve that, he has to grow with his family, where he will be loved and he will learn to love."

"He will learn that to do the right thing, you sometimes have to do the wrong thing. He will learn courage and compassion, respect and humility, all the character traits that he will need to become the person he is meant to be."

"I have been a fool," the old lizard said quietly, looking even older and frailer than he did before. "I was so wrapped up in fulfilling the prophecy for the needs of the many, that I forgot to consider the needs of the few."

Rose looked at John. "Wasn't that from Star Trek?" she whispered. John put his finger to his lips.

"Rather than saving my people from disaster, I have probably accelerated our demise. I am unworthy to hold the office of high priest president."

Rose thought about her treatment at the hands of these lizards. She had been shot with a tranquiliser, she had been unceremoniously stripped, paralysed and put on a ventilator because they were afraid that she would fight back or escape (and she would have).

They had treated her as a piece of luggage, a chattel, her free will taken from her and left at their mercy. Even after all that, she looked at the broken old lizard in front of her and felt pity.

"John," she said quietly. "Isn't there something we can do for them?"

He looked into those gorgeous brown eyes with a look of pride, wonder, admiration and oh so much love for this amazing woman who had chosen him for her husband.

"After everything they've done to you and EJ you'd still help them?"

"Well, they didn't actually do anything to EJ except treat him with the utmost respect, and Elishka took an oath to serve and defend us unto death," she told him.

He leaned towards her and kissed her lovingly on the lips and then handed EJ to her.

"Right you lot, I want your attention. My wife, even after everything you have done to her, as asked for leniency for you."

"Unbelievable!" Jack said from the screen.

"Tell me about it," John said. "She never stops surprising me."

He turned back to the assembled crew. "I will not contact the Shadow Proclamation at this time. However, that doesn't mean I won't contact them in the future if you try and pull a stunt like this again, and it doesn't mean that you will go unpunished."

He rubbed his hand through his hair as he thought. "Now for a suitable punishment? It should reflect the crime that you have committed, taking you away from your home and families for a period of time."

He looked at the old lizard in front of him. "Your Eminence, you believe that the knowledge of the second coming is enough to stave off the threat of war?"

"Yes I do."

"Then we will record a message for your people, a message that you will take to each world, a message of hope for the future, a message that you must convince your people is true. Can you do that?"

"I am the High Priest President, if I believe it, they will see it and believe it themselves," he said with some semblance of pride.

"Then that is a fitting punishment that will benefit all."