Notes: John and Rose return home and Rose has her first flying lesson. Some loose ends are tied up in this chapter.

Chapter 8

They were standing in front of the TARDIS; John had his arm around Rose's shoulders, while she cradled EJ in her arms where he could be seen easily by the camera. His Eminence stood to her other side and was recording his piece to camera.

"Citizens of the Seven Systems, I bring to you this message of hope for the future. I speak of the age old prophecy of the second coming."

With his arm he indicated Rose and John. "These people standing by me are the embodiment of the prophecy, and the child in his mother's arms is the Kaliq-Farrash, our Messiah."

"With true humility, they do not ask for the Holy titles that they are entitled to, instead asking to be known simply as John..."

John raised his hand, wiggled his fingers and said 'hello'.

"And Rose Smith..."

"Hello," she said with a smile.

"Hybrid parents to their hybrid son." John had asked him to use the word hybrid rather than half breed; he felt it had less offensive connotations.

"Individually, John and Rose are extraordinary and exceptional people. Imagine if these character traits are combined in their son, he will be formidable."

The camera panned over to John. "Our son will be raised in our culture, with our values. When the time is right, our son, of his own volition and free will, shall return to you and rescue you from yourselves. This is our oath."

The camera panned back to his Eminence. "In honour of this gracious gesture, the crew of this ship have taken their own oath along with me, to not return to our home until we have visited every city on every world and spread the word."

The camera finally went to Rose and EJ. "Don't despair too much at the time it takes to grow up, the passage of time for us is different that that for other people. Keep an eye out for the blue box..." She nodded her head backwards to indicate the TARDIS behind them. "It may appear sooner than you think."

"Ooh, nicely done," Jack said from the monitor.

"Thank you," Rose said with a mock curtsey.

"Right, time to get you two home," John said. "And you lot, remember the alternative of the Shadow Proclamation when you think about quitting this task."

"We will not quit," the captain said. "We know the debt we must pay."

John opened the door of the TARDIS and stepped inside, Rose following behind. Before she stepped into the TARDIS, she stooped down and picked up the handcuffs. She looked at Jack on the screen and gave him a mischievous smile and a wink, before stepping aboard and closing the door.

The old TARDIS that Rose had first known had rearranged itself after the time war and had been born of anger, rage and guilt from the emotions of the ninth regeneration of the Doctor, this gave the decor a rather Gothic and moody feel.

The first thing Rose noticed about their TARDIS was the light, homely feel that mirrored their home in Notting Hill. The coral struts were white marble with cornice mouldings and oak panelling.

Rose stood in the middle of the console room and turned on the spot, looking around with her mouth open in wonder.

"Oh John, this is wonderful. I don't know where to start."

She marshalled her thoughts. "Where did you get a TARDIS from?" was her first question.

"Wellll, I know you were a bit distracted at the time, what with the snogging and all that, but don't you remember me throwing a lump of TARDIS at me?"

Rose thought back to that day on the beach when they had been dropped of to start their new life together. "I'd forgotten about that," she said. "Dr Donna said somethin' about acceleratin' the growth."

"That's right. What she suggested would have taken nearly a decade. But once I'd got the suggestion, I was able to develop the idea. I invented a sort of pressure cooker to do the job in a couple of years."

"So you grew her from scratch?" Rose stroked the cool marble strut and felt the familiar hum of a TARDIS.

"Yeah. Once we bought our house and I built my lab, I started it going, out of the way in the corner. It was going to be your birthday present as it was ready in April."

"And you managed to accelerate it even more?"

"No, couldn't do it any faster, it still took until April," he said mysteriously.

Rose gave a confused laugh. "Hang on, what're you on about?"

"Er, you're in a time machine," he said with a grin. He could see she was still puzzled. "It'll be easier to explain when we get home."

Rose examined the Time Rotor console, which was still six sided, but seemed neater and more 21st century. It had less of the scrap yard about it and more of the computer retail store.

Looking around the domed room, she saw comfortable high tech car seats, flight couches that wouldn't be out of place on the space shuttle, a playpen with a variety of soft toys and activity centres.

She dropped the handcuffs on one of the car seats, smiling to herself in anticipation of using them later. A thought then occurred to her.

"Hang on, how did you take these handcuffs off?"

John grinned and reached into his jacket pocket. He looked confused when he pulled out a leather phone case.

"Oh, that's yours," he told her, handing her the phone.

"I thought I'd lost this for good."

"The kidnappers dropped it behind a hedge to slow us down."

He rummaged a bit more and pulled out a brand new sonic screwdriver.

"The 'young girl' made it for me! Isn't it brilliant?! I told her I'd be needing one, so she knocked it up for me."

"She can do that? That's brilliant." She was looking at her phone. "Does this mean I now get the universal roaming function again?"

"Why not find out? Give Jackie a ring and tell her we're on our way back home."

Rose touched the speed dial for her Mum and heard it ring.

"Rose? Is that you?" Jackie asked anxiously.

"Hi Mum, it's me." She could hear her Mum starting to sob.

"Oh sweetheart, I thought I'd never hear from you again, we were so worried. Are you and EJ alright?"

"We're fine Mum, honestly." Rose had started crying herself at hearing her Mum's worried voice. "It was terrifyin' at first, but then we were really well looked after. We're on our way back Mum, so I'll see you later and tell you all about it."

"Okay sweetheart we'll see you later. Give EJ a kiss from his Nan."

Rose ended the call and then spotted something really 'cute', a child car seat anchored to one of the marble struts

"Oh John that's brilliant, EJ's even got his own little jump seat." She went over and fastened him into his special seat. She had an enormous smile on her face.

She went over to John and wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him lovingly on the lips. He put his hands on her hips. "This is perfect, our own TARDIS. I always dreamed about somethin' like this but never thought it would be possible. Thank you. Thank you for this, and thank you for coming to get us."

"You are most welcome my love. Y'know I love the sound of what you said then, 'our TARDIS', our very own TARDIS. How would you like to pilot your first flight in our very own TARDIS?"

"WHA?! Are you serious? Me, pilot the TARDIS? Really?"

"Of course, when I gave you my Gallifreyan name, not only did you get my ability to speak Gallifreyan, you also got my understanding of the TARDIS."

Rose squealed with delight and excitement. John loved the way she did that; it made her look so youthful and full of life.

"When can I start?" she asked him.

"No time like the present." He held out his hand and wiggled his fingers. Rose took his hand and hugged his arm as they went over to the console.

"She's done a lovely job of organising the flight console," he said as he stroked the instrument panel. "It's more logical and user friendly."

"Okay, so what do I do first?" she asked.

"Right. First you're going to activate the door lock mechanism; you don't want the doors flying open in the middle of the vortex." He pointed to a lever and she pulled it down.

"Now to set the 3-dimensional spatial coordinates. I've cleared a parking space in my lab, but we won't risk trashing that, so what about the rear lawn at your parent's house?"

"Good idea," she nodded with a smile. John moved in close behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his chin on her shoulder so that he could see what she was doing. Without thinking she reached up and stroked his cheek.

He continued his narrative. "Now to set the temporal coordinates. This first column is our current, personal timeline. The second column is the target temporal destination." Circular patterns intertwined and rotated on the display.

Rose suddenly stopped, eyes wide in wonder, mouth open. She could hear angels singing in her head, it sounded like an Enya singing on a Vangelis soundtrack. "John, I can hear Gallifreyan," she whispered. It filled her soul with so much joy that she felt she could cry.

"It's the TARDIS," he told her. "Listen to her, work with her, she'll help you navigate. You're doing just fine. Carry on."

She turned dials and set a lever with John's instruction. "Ah. Do you see how that call has affected the paradox avoidance circuit? The paradox indicator has turned red for those coordinates so you'll have to advance the temporal coordinates forward a few hours. We'll have to arrive in the morning. There we are it's gone back to green now."

John kissed her ear in appreciation. "And now?" he said, pointing at a switch.

"And now you'll have to stop doing that or I'll crash," she breathed.

"Sor-ry," he sing-songed.

"Now we power up the atom accelerator." She flicked the indicated switch.

"Release the time rotor handbrake." She disengaged the indicated lever.

"Activate the inertial dampers, engage the harmonic generator, release the locking down mechanism, pull the engine release lever, activate the materialise/dematerialise function, and gradually increase the space-time throttle and…"

The time rotor started to slowly pump up and down as TARDIS wheezed its way into the vortex. "Hey Presto, we're in the vortex." She turned in his arms, put her arms around his neck and kissed him.

"While we are waiting, why don't we grab EJ and go and explore?" he asked her.

With EJ in the crook of his elbow, they set off to see what they could find. The first room they found was a bespoke Bulthaup kitchen/dining room that was a pretty good match for the one back at their house.

"She's used the telepathic link to see what we would like. When she was configuring the chameleon circuit, she nearly turned into a Delorian," he laughed.

They had a cup of tea and some cake before setting off to find more rooms. The library was only partly finished, but the medical bay was spectacular, fitted with the latest scanners, utensils and treatment devices.

They found a nursery, which had been lovingly fitted out by the TARDIS. The swimming pool was Olympic sized, with diving boards and fun slides and a surf trainer. There was a gymnasium, media room, games room and various guest rooms.

On their way back to the console room, they found the master bedroom, which had a circular, anti gravity bed.

"Oooh! We are definitely coming back to try that out," Rose breathed seductively in his ear. "And I don't mean for sleepin'"

John squeaked slightly as she squeezed his bum.

Back in the console room, John secured EJ in his jump seat ready for the landing, and then joined Rose at the console.

"You now have to configure the TARDIS for landing," John explained.

"Landings are the tricky bits."

Rose thought about all the rough landings she had experienced over the years, most of them with her ending up on her bum.

"Tell me about it!" she said, flashing her tongue in teeth smile.

"So, listen to the TARDIS, what's she saying to you?"

Rose tilted her head to one side and gazed ahead. "Let me see… Gradually decrease the space-time throttle and put the time forwards/backwards controls into neutral. What next?"

Her eyes searched over the console and saw a light flashing. "Oh yes, activate the harmonic generator, thanks TARDIS. The galaxy is moving at 300 kilometres per second that way. The Sun and all the planets are travelling at 250 kilometres per second in that direction. The orbital velocity of the Earth is 30 kilometres per second and its rotational velocity is 500 metres per second. If we compensate for all of these movements, the TARDIS should be stationary when I activate the materialise/dematerialise function."

"My brilliant Rose Smith, Time Lord wife," he said with a proud grin, pulling her into a hug.

The TARDIS vibrated slightly and gave a shudder before the time rotor stopped. John winked at her and gave her his best smile, the one especially for her. Rose went around the console taking the various sections offline.

"Thank you TARDIS, I couldn't have done that without you," Rose said to the ceiling. She went to the column where EJ's seat was and hugged the marble strut, giving it a kiss as well.

The TARDIS hummed in acknowledgement.

Jackie took the phone from her ear and through teary eyes she found Pete's speed dial number and dialled. Pete picked up quickly.

"Jacks, I was just about to call you..."

"Pete, shut up and listen. Rose has just called! They're on their way back. Can you come home?" she asked him.

"I know love; I was in the Operations room with Jack observing the rescue."

"Wha?! And you didn't think to tell me?" she asked him indignantly.

"Sorry love, it happened so quickly and was all a bit hush-hush, and John didn't let us know what was happening until the last minute."

"That's bloody typical of him; no sense of time that one. Anyway, are you gonna be here when they get back or what?"

Pete chuckled; he knew a command from his wife when he heard it.

"We are just finishing up here. Jack and myself will be there in about an hour, see you soon love."

True to his estimation, Pete and Jack arrived back at the mansion an hour later.

They had a late supper in the dining room and Pete explained that they probably wouldn't be back until morning as they were light years away in an alien star ship. Reluctantly, Jackie went to bed and had a fitful sleep.

The morning eventually arrived and Jackie was sat at the breakfast bar in the kitchen with Pete and Jack, eating toast and drinking tea. Pete had told her that they wouldn't be going into work until John, Rose and EJ had returned.

I wonder how they're gettin' back." Jackie mused. She'd forgotten to ask Rose about that when she'd phoned. "Does this ship have to land at an airport or somethin'?"

Pete and Jack looked at each other and grinned.

Now, Pete had heard a lot about the TARDIS, he had even seen it once at Lambeth Pier when he first met the Doctor, Rose and Mickey, never realising that they would become an integral part of his life.

However, until now he had never heard it, so when Jackie's eyes went wide with amazement and Jack had a grin that was surely too wide for his face, he knew that the sound that he was hearing could only be one thing.

"Wha?! How? That's impossible!" Jackie said.

"Of course it is," Jack said. "It's the Doctor."

They looked at each other and slowly turned their heads to look out of the large kitchen window and over the lawn. Sure enough, a familiar blue box was appearing on the lawn.

"TONY! TONY! THEY'RE HERE," Jackie shouted as she leapt off the stool. They heard a thundering of footsteps down the stairs as they headed for the door. A Tony shaped missile shot past them, leaping down the steps and across the lawn.

The time travellers stepped out of the TARDIS as Tony approached at speed. Rose could see where he was heading and put EJ's carry-seat on the ground.

He leapt up and grabbed Rose around her neck and squeezed. "Rosieeee. I missed you," he squealed as they spun around, laughing. Rose had tears in her eyes.

Jackie was sobbing, covering Rose's face in kisses. "We thought we'd never see you again {sob}.

Pete hugged John and Rose, giving her a kiss on the cheek. Jack hugged and kissed them both.

Tony leapt up and grabbed John in a hug. John closed his eyes and hugged him tenderly. When he opened his eyes they glistened with tears. "Tony, how are you?" he asked with his voice full of emotion.

"I'm fine John, I missed you too," he said.

Jackie took EJ out of the seat and gave him a kiss on his forehead before rocking him in her arms and babbling at him.

Jackie went over to John and looked him in the eye.

"Well, look at you, aren't you full of surprises. Where'd ya get that thing then?" she said nodding at the TARDIS.

"It sort of grew in my lab." He gave her a lopsided smile.

"Well I'm glad it did, because it means I've got Rose and EJ back. Thank you." She leaned forwards and kissed him on the cheek, and then gave him a smirk. "I see your drivin' hasn't improved any though."

John turned to look at the TARDIS and saw a furrow, 2 metres long where the TARDIS had dragged along the lawn when materializing.

Rose sheepishly raised a hand. "Er... That was me Mum. I was drivin'," she confessed. "My spatial compensation was off by 6 millimetres per second."

Jackie rolled her eyes. "I'm not surprised if He's teachin' ya," she laughed. "Come on, I know it's early but let's go and crack open the champagne."

John scooped up Tony and hoisted him onto his shoulders where he held onto John's wild hair. Rose's hand slipped once again into its natural receptacle that was John's hand.

Alistair brought the champagne up from the wine cellar and poured it into the glasses. Pete came up to him and spoke quietly in his ear.

"Could I have a word in private," he asked and nodded to the door.

"Of course sir." They went into the hallway.

"Jackie tells me you had the afternoon off yesterday and left unexpectedly."

"Er, yes sir. I found the news of your daughter and grandson's kidnap very distressing. I just felt I needed some time alone to gather my thoughts and get my emotions under control."

"Of course, quite understandable. It was a terrible shock for all of us," Pete said, hesitating before he continued.

"So you wouldn't know anything about an anonymous phone call to Torchwood and a message that was left for Captain McNab?"

Alistair smiled. "No sir. Is there any reason I should?"

"No, no reason. It's just that the anonymous person led us to the kidnappers. We were able to apprehend them and get valuable information that led us to Rose and EJ."

"I am so glad that the anonymous message was of help then."

Pete grinned. "If that anonymous person were here now, I would say 'thank you from Jackie and me for all that you've done for us'."

Alistair nodded. "Then it's a shame the anonymous person isn't here, because I'm sure they would say 'you are most welcome my friends'."

Pete held out his hand to Alistair. Slowly he took his hand and shook it, each man looking into the eyes of the other, understanding what had been said, and more importantly what had not.