Just for reminder, Future someone is from reset timeline, Past someone is from the original.
I'm really looking forward to hearing what you think about this one, since it's the most AU I have ever done in this story.
Edited version. THANK YOU for responding to my emergency call. (A/N)
There were many strange things Jackie Tyler had witnessed in her life, most of them happening in the recent years, but when she thought that everything was finally over, she was just proven wrong. Oh, and how glad she for that. If it was even real what she was seeing now. She had to make sure.
Jackie was walking steadily further in the corridor where a group of people were jumping around, laughing and talking all happily. And there he was. That bloody alien git, which broke her daughter's heart into millions of pieces, not forgetting to break his own two, Jackie noted. Yes, she knew. Who better than the mothers could see the pain and love in the youngsters' eyes. Well, the Doctor was no young being, he was way older than her daughter, that age gap really said something, but when he was with Rose, he looked no older than he would appear to the human eye. Mind you, even for a human body, he would appear younger with all his grins and happiness radiating from him when he was with her.
The Doctor was walking steadily backwards, completely unaware of anything going on behind him, just beaming at his group. And was that Mickey? And Rose? So she had found him! But...no. Jackie just left her daughter in her room, staring at the ceiling blankly. This couldn't be her. What the bloody hell was going on then?
It took only a few steps more before the Doctor crashed, or nearly crashed into Jackie Tyler.
"Really? I wonder who that is!" he exclaimed all happily and sprung around. When his mind recognised the figure in front of him, he quickly dodged the threat and was now staring at her in discomfort.
"Uh oh," he exhaled.
"Doctor?" You better have an explanation. "Oh, bloody hell. That's you, right? You've come back!" She wanted to sound tough, but somehow just seeing him and finding all that hope to make her daughter laugh again, all the previous thoughts just flew away. When the Doctor just kept staring at her, she found her panic get over her.
"Oh my God." Her face suddenly twisted. "Are you a Slitheen?" she asked him in a raised voice. The Doctor just blinked at her. "You are, aren't you!? How else would you be here. Oh, I nearly lost it. With all those cracks closed, how could you possibly be here." Jackie was showing a disappointed and pained expression. When the Doctor tried to move towards her, she composed herself at once, giving him a glare.
"Don't you dare touch me, Slitheen! My husband... or parallel husband, who is still my husband even if he lived his life differently, is a head of a big group. Even without the Doctor, we will put an end to you. Mind you, I even fought one of you myself." She said proudly, masking her burning fear.
"That was actually me!" Mickey said indignantly.
Jackie glanced at him in horror. "Do you read minds too?"
Jack found the whole scene absolutely amusing, and he had to stifle his snorts, Rose was just beaming at her mum, making her look all the more suspicious, until a sound of a throat clearing shook Jackie.
"Jackie Tyler," the Doctor began calmly. "I'm not a Slitheen. Never was and not planning to ever be. What's with Tyler women and Slitheens, really?" He leaned to her casually. "And if you care to remember, Slitheens tend to be rather big humans, which I'm neither. Nor big, nor human." He straightened himself up, his hands in his pockets. Jackie was trying to process things.
"Ooo, guess this skinnier stomach was of some use for you in the end," Rose sang, grinning at him as she came to stand beside him.
"It also is good for the eyes," he whispered in her ear, making Rose blush slightly. The Doctor was grinning in triumph.
"So it is you!" Jackie breathed.
"It is me," the Doctor repeated playfully.
"And-" Jackie was now looking at Rose.
"Hello, mum!" Rose beamed at her.
The Doctor could sense that some big hugging moments were nearing them, and he would have not protested that much, if a sudden sound, down there in the hallway, wouldn't have taken his attention. Well, it would have been more accurate to say the sound in one of the rooms in a faraway corridor, which really resembled Mickey Smith's voice.
"Oh my, God. It's you!" Jackie breathed. "You are really here."
"Yeh yeh, that's very real me," the Doctor interrupted their emotional reunion, of some sort. "Flesh and blood right before your eyes. Cheers!" He beamed at her. "And now we shall move on to the next part. More important part."
"Oh-" Jackie tried to talk again.
"No no no." The Doctor put a hand to shush her. "Shush shush. You better not say anything, because anything you say can be used against you in court!" He pointed a finger at her.
Jackie just blinked. "In court?" she asked in bewilderment. "What the bloody court you talking about?"
"Shadow proclamation has these laws." The Doctor gestured with his hand, another in his pocket. "Which currently we are breaking. Right at this very moment. Therefore if we are going to stay here and continue to mess with the time and realm itself we may as well all disappear. Right about any minute now," he spilled, looking at her with big eyes. When she tried to talk with horrified eyes, he interrupted.
"But!" he exclaimed. "But, there is always that tiny miny but, which others fear or anticipate." He considered. "Depends on the recipient himself, I guess.. Anyway, that but there just always comes, doesn't it?" he asked nonchalantly, beaming at his team, which now somehow managed to form a half circle, with the Doctor as the commander.
"There has to be or we would all be doomed." He pointed the last word with his mouth. "So well," He clasped his hands, glancing at everyone casually. "To escape our seemingly miserable and dooming fate, which usually would give us no way out, unless you've got me here." He paused a bit. "This is what we are going to do to." He created a serious atmosphere, making everyone wait for his words in anticipation.
"Run!" he yelled out for his team, taking Rose's hand in his and dashing further inside the corridors. It took a few blinks for Jackie to catch on.
"Where the bloody hell are you taking my daughter, you git!?" Her voice could be heard as she was nearing them.
"Why are we running from my mum?" Rose asked the Doctor, while they were running.
"The universe is collapsing, and Jackie is the reason," he sang. "Blimey, I knew she would do that some day," he muttered. "Now, come on!" he urged everyone. "Mickey, don't slack off. You're part of the universe ruining too!"
"But-but it's Jackie!" Mickey tried to find reason.
"Stay there, if you want to get a mark on your cheek!" he informed him, leaving Mickey quicken his pace.
"You're gonna get slapped, once she reaches you," Rose joked.
"I'm counting on you," the Doctor just told her, as the brilliant group of four, followed by a very furious Jackie Tyler, disappeared further into the corridors.
First rule of the running and chasing. If you are on the receiving end, always know where you are going and by no means get trapped on the dead end of the path. If you are the one doing the chasing, consider yourself lucky. And if your running grounds are made like a maze - just go with the flow. Jackie will find you soon anyway.
And so, the unbeatable quartet stood there, in the dark corner, facing a very fiercely looking Jackie Tyler. Of course, the Doctor getting all the daggers.
"Y-you-" Jackie was still panting heavily, trying to catch her breath. "You!" She tried again. "If you make me run like that ever again-!" Her voice was rising.
It took some courage, but the Doctor stepped forward. "We needed to get away from your room you're staying at, Jackie. We can't let our past selves see us."
"Past selves?" Jackie glanced each of them incredulously. "How past you mean? Are you from the future?" Finally with her breath back, she was now standing with her eyebrows raised.
"What, seriously?" Mickey dug in, sounding all excited.
"Weell," The Doctor began, rubbing on the back of his neck. "That's a little bit more complicated than that, but the point stands." He straightened up. "We can't let any of us meet their versions in the room." At that moment Rose walked up towards the Doctor and placed her hand into his, him wrapping his fingers with hers without even looking around.
Jackie was still looking at the picture ahead like she couldn't truly believe what was happening, but just seeing her daughter's bright face made any anger melt.
"So... you two back together again?" Jackie had a gentle smile on her face. "To that box of yours?" she asked a bit humorously.
The pair locked their gazes with each other and smiled, squeezing their entwined hands just a bit more.
"Yeh," the Doctor breathed, looking proudly at Rose.
"Yep," Rose agreed, smiling widely.
"Oh, come here, you." Jackie extended her hands towards Rose, who met her in a tight embrace eagerly.
"I love you, mum," Rose said tenderly.
"I love you so much, sweetheart." She tightened her grip on her daughter. "I'm so glad you found each other," she said softly. She squeezed one last time, before letting go.
The Doctor was watching the scene with a tender smile. Jackie Tyler just wouldn't cease to amaze them. Her support in the most unexpected ways... even after witnessing the battle of Canary Wharf. He grimaced at the thought. It felt oddly fresh. The feeling of holding onto the magna clamp, Rose on the other side... He squeezed his fingers into a tight fist as he drew his hands into his pockets. He had an urge to bury Rose into his arms. Not caring of the world around.
He tried to get away to the side, to toss his thoughts away, or to avoid the likely smack in the face, but was soon spotted by Jackie.
"Oh no, you don't. Come here!" As she grabbed him towards her. What he found himself into was way more shocking than any Tyler's slap. She began planting him kisses and hugging him! He nearly forgot her habit.
"Oh, you lovely big fella! Oh, you're all mine!" The Doctor tried to protest, but it was all in vain.
"Just-" He was trying to struggle. Kiss. "Just-" Kiss. "Just put me down!" Jackie just wouldn't let him go.
"Yes, you are!" Some more kisses. "Thank you!"
She kissed him again and then finally walked off, leaving the Doctor to wipe his mouth with the back of his hand, looking for all the world like a little boy with an over-affectionate mother. But despite his discomfort towards the action, he found himself smiling at Jackie's back. He missed even her.
Mickey may have been the most excited and frustrated one of the group. He couldn't help feeling left out that somehow the Doctor and Rose had even more past together, of which he was not aware of. He really began to question his own place into all of this.
Jackie took it all in rather quickly. Which was surprising, really, taking into consideration her naturally slow uptake.
Jack found it interesting to finally meet Jackie face to face, not from the shadows, where he watched Rose grow up, and they have just been chatting about, avoiding spoilers, though.
The Doctor was trying to find where the alien signal could be coming from, but moments later, gave up on that task momentary and was now just watching trough the window.
He glanced at the hyper active group, which maybe should have found it wise to keep it down, considering that they were trying to get away from the paradox in the first place, but that was just how it was with this family.
Family.
It still felt unreal that somehow not only he got them all back, but never (or only for a short amount of time) had he lost them in the first place.
"You alright?" Rose's voice reached his ears, together with a soft pressure against his arm. Rose. She was here too. That was the most shocking part of all.
"Yeh," he breathed, looking tenderly at her. "Just a bit weird." He shrugged. "It takes time to adjust to the timeline. It's like I'm still still living in the previous one."
"Tell me about it," Rose joked, remembering how it was for her at the beginning.
"You were brilliant," he told her fondly. "And I have no idea how you did that." He was looking at her with pride in his eyes.
"Yeh, Madcap-y was just so brilliant," she said in a mock.
"Aw, it's a cute nickname!" he sang, beaming at her.
"A mad person. Very cute," she said sarcastically.
"Oh, come on," he groaned. "It's not so bad."
"No, tell me seriously. You think I'm mad, right?"
"I don't think you are mad." He spoke in a soft voice, locking his gaze to hers.
"The you with a crack in your memories," she said playfully.
"A crack?" He raised an eyebrow, amused.
"Shut up." She grinned, then composed herself. "So?" She looked at him expectedly.
"Mm?" He seemed to be a bit lost, he could very well disappear into her eyes, just watching her... then it clicked him that that someone was expecting an answer of him and now was starting to look very worried.
"Oh! No, of course not!" He tried to deny it, but it was not very convincing.
"You can tell me," Rose sighed.
"Well, it's not exactly that I thought you are mad, just a bit weird. And there are a lot of weird beings out there! It couldn't fall to a negative category. It's just being a little bit different than others." He rambled, then looked at Rose, who was raising an eyebrow at him.
"A little bit more different than others?" He tried again. "A bit crazy?" Once again. "Alright!" He turned his gaze away, giving up. "So I thought you were seriously weird and suspicious, but I still wanted to keep you close. I guess that makes me a weird one myself. Happy?" he asked her, faking an annoyance, but Rose just beamed at him.
"Yep," she replied with tongue-between-her-teeth smile.
"Good," he said nonchalantly, but a smile already breaking on his face.
A short yell and a sound of something rolling, making thud thud thud sounds, took everyone's attention.
The Doctor and Rose just grinned at each other and dashed towards the source of the sound.
What they found, was a middle aged man, sprawled on the ground, at the end of the stairs. He didn't appear to be hurt all that much, as he could somehow maneuver into a sitting position, but it was clearly visible that he had a hard time standing up. Rose immediately descended the stairs to give him a hand.
"Are you alright?" she asked the man, concerned, as she lifted him, taking his one arm around her shoulders. "Do you feel anything broken?"
"What happened?" the Doctor asked as he joined her on the other side of the man. The man winced, as his feet met the floor and the pair had to drag him to a nearby couch.
"Can you focus?" the Doctor started bleeping his sonic screwdriver into the man's eyes, with one of its settings presumably being a replacement for a light.
"Yeh, yeh. Thank you," the man replied a bit faintly. "I'll be fine."
"Hmm, strained left ankle, but nothing broken. Shouldn't take long to heal," the Doctor concluded as he scanned the man's legs with his sonic.
"Are you... a doctor?" the man asked breathlessly.
"Nice to meet you. I'm the Doctor." He extended his hand to the man who weakly shook it with him. "Can you tell us what happened?" the Doctor asked.
"Oh, nothing much." The man laughed a bit. "Always was short-sighted, must have failed to notice the railing of the stairs. It just felt like they have disappeared. Annie always told me to bring my glasses," he muttered.
The Doctor and Rose looked at each other. He gave her a meaningful look as he excused himself, leaving Rose to deal with the man, while he went over to the railing to give it a scan. He began to scan from the bottom and was halfway towards the top, when the sonic picked something up.
The trio was already standing there, looking at the Doctor questioningly. Before Jackie could start to complain, the Doctor exclaimed.
"Found it. Ha!" He looked excited.
"Found what?" Jackie asked in a raised voice. "Is there another bloody alien invasion on the list? Oh for God's sake, I just barely survived one," she complained.
"It went upstairs..." the Doctor half-whispered, ignoring Jackie as he continued to go up.
"What have you picked up?" Jack asked, following the Doctor.
"A telekinesis species," the Doctor replied absentmindedly. "But something is not right. Their DNA doesn't match up with that of a telekinesis type. It's altered. An altered species." He was looking at his sonic in concentration.
"Altered telekinesis." Jack began thinking. "They've began experimenting with some of the races in forty sixth century. Starting with Alexus. But it never worked out - they went mad," Jack stated.
"Not all," the Doctor breathed.
"Just tell us what we are dealing with!" Jackie demanded.
"Invisobolius," the Doctor said.
"Invisobolius?" Jack asked incredulously. "But I thought they don't go near the humanoid species!"
"They don't. They must have fallen through the breach between the universes," the Doctor said.
"How dangerous are they?" Rose asked casually, when she caught up with others, after leaving the man in the medical care. She was now already standing near the group. The Doctor seemed to take her presence quite naturally as he just continued on with his explanations.
"They are not hostile aliens from nature. In fact, they are considered trickster species, working class on Jews. The planet not the people." He was talking while the group was going trough the corridors. "Usually give trouble to tourists at the markets they are working at. Overpriced goods, stealing wallets and so on."
"But?" Rose asked, already feeling it coming.
"But," the Doctor repeated. "If they get scared they tend to run. And fast. The more intimidated it is, the faster is its speed. It's impossible to track them down with human eye, and not many aliens can keep an eye on them."
"Can Time Lords?" Jack asked.
"Time Lords can spot their residual energy, but not actually see them until they slow their pace down," he spilled "The thing is, that energy, Demning Crisp-"
"A what?" Jackie butted in.
"Time Lord terminology." He just dismissed her. "That energy disturbs molecules and atoms, stretching the space between them, that way disturbing their structure and leaving holes. And those holes make the objects go through."
"So it swallows them?" Mickey guessed.
"Something like that, but not entirely," the Doctor continued. "It's like if you take a vase on the table and the table is filled with Demning Crisp then it just gooes through the table, and falls on the ground." He gestured with his hand.
"So it's harmless to us," Mickey stated.
"It would be, if we were not in hiding. But now it's one of the most inconvenient aliens we could come across," the Doctor breathed.
"If it can disturb anything consisting of atoms and molecules, does that mean it can go through living people too?" Rose asked.
"No," the Doctor said quickly. "Life forms can regenerate their cells, either slower or faster, but they can, so that method doesn't work on them. If Invisobolius tries to go trough a living, it crashes into you. Like bumping into someone."
"So we go around and wait till it crashes into us!" Mickey suggested. "It will stop, right? And we capture him."
"It's not that simple," the Doctor breathed as he went to look through the window, then back again looking around the hallway, buzzing his sonic screwdriver. "It could make holes anywhere : tea mugs, tables, chairs, walls, ceilings, floors-" he was cut short by a bleeping signal on the sonic.
"It's near," he whispered.
Everyone stood there, forming a circle, facing all sides. Rose walked a bit further away, when she heard some sound coming from the walls. And then it happened.
The Doctor was busy looking at the readings of his sonic, "Why didn't it leave footprints yet," he wondered, when a gasp made his head spin around.
"Doctor!" Rose shouted out for him, as the floor below her swallowed her in.
The Doctor tried to reach her, but he only managed to graze the floor with his fingers, it already becoming solid wood. He stood up, worry and anger rising up at him.
"Oh my God! Where's she?" Jackie shrieked.
"She is just one floor below, right? You said so." Mickey tried to reason.
The Doctor took a few deep, calming breaths, before he went off, further in the corridor, running, the group following him soon enough.
Frankly speaking the Time Lord was very worried. She could have landed on just about anything - the bed, table, floor; soft ground, solid ground, sharp end... And he didn't even want to think what landing on one's back could mean to a fragile human.
He dashed trough the corridors, the trio just behind him, corner after corner, until he reached the place where he deducted would be the place Rose fell into. He was only a corner away, not even sparing a quick glance to the sides, just going straight to his goal. He could hear a background sound somewhere behind him, but didn't bother to take the words in.
Something about- "Stop him!" Jackie's voice.
And he should have taken into consideration her voice, because moments later, a shoe(?) flew to his head, him failing to feel it flying his way, from too much concentration directed towards the door. He stopped abruptly, turning around with a fierce questioning look, when he felt Jack and Mickey(?) drag the Time Lord back to the corner.
"What was that for?" the Doctor asked as he shook off his restrains, taking a few steps back from the group, glancing them suspiciously.
"It's our room!" Jackie exclaimed, leaning to his side.
"What?" the Doctor seemed to be oblivious to the fact.
"Our room. With Pete, Mickey and Rose. We booked it. You said you cannot meet your past selves, or can you now?"
The Doctor blinked at her a few times, then his gaze back towards the door, then again at the group. "Right." He nodded. "I knew that. 'Course I knew that." He shook his hand before them in a dismissing gesture.
"Should I get her out?" Jack suggested.
"You can't. You are not supposed to be here," the Doctor said firmly. "Aaaand, we've got a perfect subject here!" He grabbed Jackie by her shoulders. "You gonna do a bit of undercover work, Jackie. Done that before, nothing new for ya."
to be continued...