Chapter 13
Rose's diary.
Entry Date: Saturday, 15th September 2018.
'Wow, that's a shock. Dad's 65 today! I never thought to ask before because he's always looked as though he's in his fifties. I hope he considers semi retirement and starts to take it easy. I know Jack does a lot of the office work for him now, but he still puts in the hours.'
'Harriet Jones is in Washington at the moment, and we've managed to arrange a secret dinner at the White House for the two presidents to say thank you to Dad for all the help he gave them in setting up the American franchise. Both Mum and I still have to pinch ourselves at times like this to make sure it's real. Two women from a dingy flat on the Powell estate, hobnobbing it with presidents. If only Shereen could see me now….'
Doctor's diary.
Entry Date: Saturday, 15th September 2018.
'We've got a doozy of a surprise for Pete's birthday. Jack had a chat with Harriet before she flew off to the States to meet with President Romney, and she was really keen on Romney hosting a dinner in Pete's honour for all the work he's done at Torchwood, and the help he gave in setting up the American franchise.'
'He thinks we're flying him to New New York for dinner at Felene's, but the President's Office has sent the coordinates of an area of the White House where we can safely land the TARDIS, away from prying eyes….'
TylerMansion.
Saturday 15th September 2018.
19:00 Hours
Pete was in the bedroom in front of the full length mirror, turning from side to side to look at the fit of his black tie suit. After ten years, it was still a good fit on him. He turned face on and approached the reflection to check his bowtie.
"Here, let me do that they'll be here soon," Jackie said as she came out of the en suite.
He turned towards her and let her adjust the tie, taking the opportunity to look at her in her 'glad rags'. She was wearing a deep purple, Grecian style, flowing gown that fastened at one shoulder, with a modest slit up the one side. Her hair was worn up in what he could only describe as some sort of 'nest', which actually suited her really well. She had dangly diamond earrings, necklace, and bracelet.
All in all, for Jackie Tyler, it was rather tasteful and understated. She saw him looking at her.
"What?" she asked suspiciously. "Have I smudged my makeup or sommat?"
Pete chuckled. "Nah. I was just admiring my beautiful wife." He leant forward and kissed her tenderly on the lips.
She stroked down the lapels on his jacket. "Yer don't scrub up too bad yerself…. Fer an old 'n'."
"Oi," he said with a grin. "I can still give some of those youngsters at Torchwood a run for their money."
She stroked his cheek lovingly as she smiled at him. "I know you can Love. You don't have to prove anythin' to me."
They heard a familiar wheezing sound from downstairs. "MUM, DAD, THEY'RE HERE!" Tony shouted from the Living Room. They snorted a laugh together and headed for the door, arm in arm.
When they reached the Living Room, John, Rose, EJ and Jack were already out of the TARDIS, chatting to Alistair and Tony.
"Oh Rose. Look at you," Jackie said, almost bursting into tears. She literally glowed with her pregnancy, her white ball gown flowing and yet curving to accentuate her bump and cleavage. John was smiling as the proud husband and 'not-too-long-to-wait-now' father.
She also wore her hair up, with two ringlets in front of each ear that framed her face beautifully. She had her favourite gold hooped earrings and the locket that contained the holographic busts of John and Eyulf.
John was wearing black tie, as were Jack, EJ and Tony.
"Well, don't we all look dandy," Alistair said. "You'll be the talk of the town."
"Thank you Alistair. Enjoy your evening off," Jackie said.
"I will Ma'am. I have taken the liberty of inviting Alice over for some company if that's alright?"
"Of course Alistair, Alice is always welcome here. In fact, I'm surprised she hasn't moved in with you by now," Jackie said with a wicked smile.
"Mum!" Rose chided.
"I'm only sayin'. I mean, they're a lovely couple. Anyway, let's get a move on shall we." She headed for the open doors of the TARDIS, and everyone followed.
"I still get a kick out of this box when I come in here," Pete said with a grin. "I mean, it's not only bigger than the box in here, it's bigger than the whole mansion that the box is standing in."
"Yeah, I know," Rose, giggled. She felt it too. That feeling of magic never got old. She walked up to the console and started the time rotor. It pumped up and down with the familiar and uplifting wheezing sound. John and Rose moved around the console in a coordinated dance as they operated the controls, and after a few minutes, the rotor stopped and the TARDIS landed.
"Come on then birthday boy," Rose said to her Dad, holding on to his arm and heading for the doors.
Jack held his arm out with elbow bent. "Shall we Ma'am?" he said to Jackie.
"Don't mind if I do," she said with a laugh.
"Come on lads," John said with a smile bringing up the rear with the two boys.
The TARDIS had landed in a state room with marble flooring and panelled walls. Pete looked around in admiration.
"This is some restaurant," he said in admiration. "I can see why you two like it, but who are those guys," he asked nodding at the Secret Service agents that had been sent to escort them to the banqueting room.
"Er, they're the doormen here at Felene's," John said. "It's very select here."
"No kidding."
They were shown out of the state room by the 'doormen', and walked down the plush hallway.
"Are you sure we're on New Earth? Y'know, I've seen photos of the White House and they looked just like this hallway," Pete said, looking around.
"Does it?" John said, trying to sound innocently surprised. "I hadn't noticed."
"If it had been this numpty flyin', then we could 'ave ended up anywhere," Jackie said with a smirk. "But it was Rose flyin', so yeah, we're in the right place," she said with a wink at John.
"And think about it Dad, New Earth would have wanted to remember old Earth, so they'd have seen the same photos and reproduced some of the architecture," Rose added.
["Ooh, that was brilliant,"] John thought at her.
["Thank you."]
The two 'doormen' stopped at an ornate set of double doors and held the handles in preparation, waiting for the group to reach them. They pushed the doors inward and stood to attention either side of the doorway like a guard of honour, which, in fact they were.
Rose guided her father into the room, who was looking rather puzzled by the fact that this alien restaurant was full of very familiar and famous people sitting around a banqueting table, at the head of which was none other than President Mitt Romney and President Harriet Jones.
Pete looked down at his daughter and she looked up into his puzzled face with her teasing smile. "Happy birthday Dad." She reached up and kissed him on the cheek, as people in the room stood as one and started to applaud.
A master of ceremonies bowed to the group and showed them to the head of the table where seats were waiting for them. When the applause died down, President Romney spoke.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I know they need no introduction, but I've been told I have to follow protocol. So may I present our honoured guests, Peter Tyler, Jacqueline Tyler, John Smith, Rose Smith, Jack Harkness, Anthony Tyler and last, but definitely not least Eyulf Smith." The room broke into another round of applause.
Everyone sat down, and the waiting staff started to serve the food. Pete leaned across to his left and spoke quietly to Harriet. "What's going on?"
Harriet beamed a smile at him. "It's your birthday party Peter. I mentioned to your Deputy that President Romney was keen to meet you and thank you for all your efforts. Jack told your daughter, and well, that was that. I'm afraid you're the victim of a global conspiracy."
He looked back down the table at Rose, who gave him a wave with her fingers and a sheepish smile. Pete shook his head and chuckled. "They've been trained too well, haven't they?"
Harriet laughed with him and patted his arm. "Once the idea had occurred to them, I'm afraid your fate was sealed."
They selected their choice of food on offer and started eating their meal. Pete looked around the table at all the people that had been invited to the party. He saw Charles DiCaprio, who nodded a greeting. Louise Jameson, who was chatting to her boss Ross Hayward, the current director of the CIA. Captain Eugene Hunter in his Navy dress uniform, looking every bit the professional soldier that he was.
He also spotted Henry van Statten, the benefactor who had offered to fund the New York franchise. John and Rose had told him the story of the other universe van Statten, and how they had nearly died. Being a millionaire entrepreneur himself though, Pete knew of van Statten and GeoComTex. It was the main competitor to Cybus Industries for the high tech gadget market, although Cybus Industries had the upper hand, as they had Dr. John Smith.
It wasn't long before the meal was over and it was time for the traditional after dinner speeches, led first by President Romney. He gave a polished, witty performance, having some of the best speech writers in the country. President Jones, who gave a sterling performance that spoke of her hopes for the future of the Torchwood brand, followed him. Each of them paid tribute to the current director of Torchwood One, the man who had made Torchwood what it is today.
Henry van Statten gave a short speech, and although he was an arse, he was also very funny and played on the friendly rivalry of the two companies. Jackie didn't take to him at all, knowing how his other universe counterpart had almost killed her daughter.
"Smarmy git!" she whispered to Rose.
"Mum!" Rose whispered back.
"What?" she said innocently. "Once a git, always a git."
"What, like your son-in-law?" Rose asked, a bit annoyed at her mother's intransigence.
"No. Not 'im. Don't forget, he changed…. Completely. And then he split 'imself in two just fer good measure."
Rose smiled and shook her head in resignation. Her mother's mind was made up, and unless van Statten could regenerate or have a personality transplant, he would always be a git in the eyes of Jackie Tyler.
Charles DiCaprio said a few words of thanks and appreciation for being appointed as Director, and then the Master of Ceremonies surprised the British group by calling for Dr. John Smith to say a few words.
"John?" Rose said in surprise. John grinned, waggled his eyebrows, and stood up.
"Mr President. Madam President. Ladies and gentlemen. May I start by saying thank you for arranging this little surprise for my father-in-law. It still sounds strange when I call him that, but not as strange as calling Jackie my mother-in-law, I can tell you."
"Oi!" Jackie said as the assembled guests giggled.
"I actually met Jackie first, before I met Pete, and was immediately impressed with how protective she was of her daughter. She's full of courage and fire, honesty and truth, and she's passed all that on to her daughter." He looked down the table at Jackie who looked relieved that he hadn't been scathing.
"Oh. Well that's alright then," she said to another round of laughter.
"I met Pete eleven years ago, in less than ideal circumstances. I think we all have memories of that night that we'd rather forget. However, the memory I have is of a man who showed enormous courage and a determination to do the right thing. Add to that the compassion that he showed towards the victims, and you have the man that I am proud to call my father-in-law, no matter how odd it sounds."
He looked at Pete and continued. "It was years later when we met again, when he'd taken the corrupt Torchwood institute and the discredited Cybus Industries and turned them into beacons of hope for a wounded world. If you ask him, he will modestly say that he happened to be in the right place at the right time, but trust me; I know that some things are meant to be. That the right person WILL be in the right place at the right time. And Peter Alan Tyler is one of those people."
He raised his glass in preparation for the end of his speech. "And of course, behind every right man, there's the right woman. Together, Pete and Jackie are like yin and yang. They contrast one another and compliment each other, together they make each other whole. And their children are the embodiment of that wholeness, for which I am eternally grateful, because that has allowed me to have my 'right woman'." He smiled and winked at Rose.
"So ladies and gentlemen, please raise your glasses, not only to wish Pete a happy birthday, but to pay tribute to the Tyler family."
"To the Tyler family," everyone echoed.
Pete was gob smacked. He was remembering that first encounter in 2007 and the attack of the Cybermen. How the Doctor and his companions had breezed in, clicked his fingers and fixed everything before breezing out again, leaving Mickey Smith behind. Well, he didn't fix everything, his Jackie had still died.
And then three years later, he met him again. Pete remembered that he'd been quite hostile towards him, thinking that the Doctor and Rose were somehow responsible for the death and destruction that seemed to follow him. And then he was gone again leaving behind a ghost and a broken child.
It was only in the following four years that he learned the truth about the Doctor; how he followed trouble to correct it. Rose had seen an alternate reality where he had been killed and the universe was worse off for it. And then as his final trick, he had split in two and mended the broken child who had become his daughter.
Jackie was not so gob smacked. She knew that most of the stuff the Doctor had done was for the best of reasons. Rose had told her that he'd shown her a better way of living her life, that one person can make a difference. It was just that he was alien, that's all, and although she would never tell him, she was very fond of this new version that was hopelessly in love with her daughter.
Rose was gob smacked. Her husband had turned a birthday wish for her father into a tribute to her whole family.
["God I love you!"] She thought at him with all her surging pregnancy hormones. John sat down and reached for her hand, leaning over and kissing her tenderly on the lips.
"Er, sorry to interrupt John," Charles said, after clearing his throat. "But I was wondering while you're on this side of the Atlantic if you'd have a look at an artefact that we recovered from the raids on the Peladonian syndicate in Ohio?"
"Of course Charles. What have you got?" John asked.
"Well it's a casket of some kind. We've scanned it with everything we've got, and are now at the point where the only way to find out what's inside is to open it. And of course we won't do that as it's strictly against protocol."
"Okay, we'll have a look at it. When are you heading back to New York?"
"I have a return flight in the morning," Charles said.
A grin spread across John's face. "Tell you what; get a refund on your ticket. When this little shindig is over, you're coming with us for the ride of your life."
"Hah! Transdimentional engineering! Oh, this is superb," Charles enthused as he walked up the ramp to the console, turning circles as he went. He hadn't run outside like most people did. He was well aware that a large volume could theoretically exist inside a smaller one; he'd postulated the theory and provided mathematical proof of concept. But to actually see it…. Oh, it was exquisite.
"Holy crap!" Gene Hunter said as his mouth fell open in disbelief.
"Gene," Rose said. "Children present."
He closed his mouth. "Oh, sorry ma'am, I was just a bit overwhelmed. Andy had told me about it, but that don't do it justice until you're actually in it."
"Tell me John, how did you do it?" Charles asked in awe.
"Welllll. The TARDIS sort of does it herself."
"But the energy needed to achieve this." He spread his arms out. "Is beyond anything we can imagine on Earth."
"Yeah, that's right. But this beauty isn't from Earth. The energy source is called 'the eye of harmony'; it's a sort of black hole."
Charles whistled through his teeth. "Ye gods!"
John and Rose started the time rotor and took the group to New York, where they would land in the Special Operations Unit of Torchwood South Tower. After a few minutes, the time rotor stopped and they shut down the console.
"I'll stay here with the young'ns while you go and play with yer boys toys," Jackie said, kissing Pete on the cheek.
"Thanks Love. We won't be long, I promise," Pete said giving her a quick squeeze, before heading down the ramp with the others.
"Attention! Officer in the room," one of the black uniformed agents announced.
"Stand easy folks," Gene said returning the salute.
"Oh, morning Director," one said, as it was after midnight. "Hi Rose," another called. "Dr. Smith, good to see you again."
"So, Captain. Is that the box we were told about? Is it true?" one of the agents asked.
"Oh yeah, it's real alright."
They headed to the elevator, as they were in America. 'It's still a lift' Rose thought to herself with a smile.
"It's some sort of cabinet or casket. It's got some markings on it but we don't know whether it's dangerous or not." Charles said as they entered the Archive.
John moved towards the metallic blue casket. It was around seven feet long, four feet across, and three feet deep. The front of the casket had a form of calligraphy running down it.
"Ho ho. Is that what I think it is?" Jack said with a big grin.
"What? What do you think it is?" Rose asked.
"A Balhoon pleasure chamber," John said quietly.
"Oh. At least it's not dangerous then," Rose said.
"Think again gorgeous," Jack, said. "Is this one of the early models Doc?"
"Oh yes. Charles, you're sure no one has opened this?" John asked.
"No, we've had it in isolation until we could identify it."
"Good. Make sure no one is tempted to open it and try it," John warned.
"John, what's dangerous about a device that gives you pleasure?" Rose asked, sending him a mental image of the pleasure devices that she liked him to use on her.
Momentarily distracted by memories of using said devices, John cleared his throat and explained. "The pleasure chamber itself isn't dangerous. It has a number of adaptors for various species and sexes, and a headset."
Jack took over the next part of the explanation. "The headset stimulates the pleasure centres of the brain directly, giving you the best orgasm you have ever had, or will ever have."
"Ooh, I like the sound of that," Rose said saucily, winking at John.
John shook his head. "That's the trouble Love. You'd like it so much you wouldn't want to stop. You would stay in there, not eating, not drinking, not caring that you had wet yourself and defecated."
"What? That's horrible," she said.
"Yeah, but what a way to go," Jack said.
"Starving yourself to death? Sounds great," Pete, said sarcastically.
"The company that produced these, built in timers in later models, but it was too late. With prosecution, fines, and bad publicity, the company went into liquidation. Public opinion meant that the caskets became unpopular and fell into disuse," John told them.
"So we can just lock it away then, it's not going to explode or anything?" Charles asked.
"Yeah, it'll be fine," John, said, patting Charles on the shoulder. "So, if that's it, we'd better get back. We've a couple of tired young boys and a courageously fiery babysitter waiting for us."