Chapter One Hundred and Twenty Nine
The sound of crying woke Jamie when he moved the sheepskin blanket back, sat up and lit the candle in the holder on the table by the bed. He picked up the holder as he walked by the beds then stopped when he came to Hamish's bed. Placing the holder on the table by Hamish's bed, he knelt down and watched the tears trickling down Hamish's face. He was six years old at the time and he balled his left hand into a fist.
"I dinnae want tae go, Daddy," he whispered and Jamie stroked his hair, wondering how he knew he was there.
"But ye were excited when we talked aboot it at dinner," Jamie whispered and Hamish sighed.
"Aye, but that's before Alex said the only reason ye're sending me there is tae get rid of me," he said and Jamie looked over at the bed where Alexander was sleeping.
"He did, did he?" Jamie asked and Hamish nodded. "Well, he is dead wrong. Yer mother an' I would never do something like that."
"Then why are ye sending me away?"
"I told ye, the school is better for teaching someone who…"
"Is a freak?" he asked with a sober look to his face and Jamie's heart caught in his chest.
"Who called ye a freak?"
"Old Miss McGrady at the market," he said with a sigh. "She said that I wouldnae amount tae anything but a beggar."
"Well, she is an old gossip an' doesnae ken what she is talking aboot. Ye can be whatever ye set your mind on."
"I want tae be a painter like ye," he said and Jamie brushed the tears from Hamish's eyes.
"Ye do, eh?" Jamie asked with a smile and Hamish nodded. "Well, mebbe I'll teach ye how tae paint when ye come home in the summer."
"They'll let me come home? Alex said ye'd never see me again."
"Alex is going tae get his bottom smacked in the morning," Jamie growled and Hamish half smiled. "Now, I want ye tae close yer eyes an' go back tae sleep."
Jamie softly hummed as he stroked Hamish's hair and Hamish closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep.
"I did give Alex the strap an' made him tell Hamish he was sorry," Jamie said as he opened his eyes and Duer nodded.
"Was Daddy a good student?" Zoe asked.
"Aye, but he was also a prankster. Blessed Mother knows how he was able tae do it, mind," Jamie said with a smile and Duer softly laughed.
"Then he met Mommy, got married, had Moira an' me an' we came here," Zoe said and Jamie nodded. "How old were you when you…died?"
Jamie looked at her as he sighed and Duer noticed a shadow move across Jamie's eyes.
"Is there something wrong?" he thought, setting up a privacy block.
"Aye, I never told anyone, but I was pretty sick for a long time," Jamie thought. "It was my heart, you see. I had a few small attacks over the years an' nearly died after the explosion."
"The shock of losing your son and his family was enough to cause a major coronary episode?"
"Hey, no fair talking in your heads," Zoe said then yelped after Jamie ticked her armpits.
"Sorry!" Duer said, bugging his eyes out at her and she giggled.
"Anyway, I was ninety-nine years old when I died," Jamie said and Zoe placed her head against his chest.
"Were you sick?" she asked and he wrapped his arms around her, kissing the top of her head.
"Aye, I was very sick."
"You dinnae look sick, just angry," she said and Jamie smiled.
"Well, that's because I didnae want anyone tae ken that I was sick."
"What was wrong with you?"
"It had tae do with my heart. Sometimes it wouldnae beat right."
"It sounds fine now," she said as his hearts thumped soft and slow in her ear.
"Aye, but, back then, it didnae an' I had tae take this terrible medicine."
"Oh, you mean that's what was in that black glass bottle on your dresser? Grannie showed it tae me once."
"Aye, and I didnae like taking it, it tasted like old bath water."
"Ew!" she said, scrunching her face up then sighed. "Did it hurt when you died?"
"Uh, no, I just closed my eyes an' went tae sleep," he said then looked at Duer.
"I remember saying I love you tae Roselie then closed my eyes an' my heart stopped," Jamie thought after placing up a privacy block and Duer sighed.
"Then what happened?" Zoe asked.
"That's the odd thing. I dinnae remember. All I remember was it was dark for a long time then I woke up."
"Like when you had your accident?"
"Aye, something like that," he said then looked at Duer. "Do you ken what happened?"
"Yes, I do. See, I was talking with the Doctor after he had put your soul back together and we decided that the only person who could give us tell us what happened was the other Jamie's father, Doctor Jason McCrimmon, " Duer said and closed his eyes.
Duer was surprised to find that Doctor Jason McCrimmon worked for the Scotland branch of Torchwood and was happy that he was wearing the imager while walking down the hallway. Torchwood Scotland was housed in the castle where he and Marion met Queen Victoria and he could still hear the growling of the werewolf they encountered. Paranormal Investigations was painted in black letters on the door as he opened the door and walked inside the room. He walked by the other investigators when he came to the desk where Doctor McCrimmon worked and he was surprised to find that he was a tall man with blonde hair and gray eyes.
"Excuse me, are you Doctor Jason McCrimmon?" Duer said with a Scottish accent and Doctor McCrimmon looked up from the photographs he had on the desk.
"Aye, that would be me," he said with a nod of his head and Duer blinked.
"I'm Captain Douglas Fraser," Duer said, showing him the Torchwood identification that Jack had gotten for him and Doctor McCrimmon looked at them.
"What can I do for you, Sir?"
"It's more like what I can do for you," Duer said softly then looked at the others, sitting on the chair next to the desk. "I heard that your son and daughter went missing."
"Aye, they have," Doctor McCrimmon sighed, looking at the picture frame on his desk. The other Jamie and Zoe smiled at them as Duer reached over and picked up the frame. He had met Zoe while they were looking for Jenna and Zoe had gone off with their boss, Dok-Tor after Jenna and Jamie decided to stay with them.
"Is it true that your son was ill?"
"Well, I wouldnae call him ill," he said and pointed at the picture in Duer's hands. "He doesnae look like me, does he?"
"Uh, no, he doesnae," Duer said. Doctor McCrimmon handed Duer a picture of a portrait and was slightly stunned to see that it was a portrait of Jamie sitting on a chair and a little boy, who was holding a stick n his lap, was sitting on Jamie's lap.
"I found that in the Edinburgh Museum. They said that it was a self portrait but no one knew the artist."
"Pa-paw, that's you an' Daddy," Zoe whispered and Jamie nodded, hushing her.
"As you can see, he looks more like the man in the portrait," Doctor McCrimmon said and Duer nodded.
"And you think that was Jamie McCrimmon?" he asked and Doctor McCrimmon nodded.
"When Jamie was three years old, he used to have these fits, you see, I had a friend hypnotize Jamie and we made contact with James McCrimmon. We asked him what he looked like and he asked for some paper and something to draw with. This is what he drew," Doctor McCrimmon said when he reached into the top drawer of the desk and took out a piece of paper, handing it to Duer.
"I remember drawing that," Jamie whispered as they looked at the drawing and Zoe hushed him, making him smile.
Duer looked at the drawing then at the picture when he nodded and handed the drawing back to Doctor McCrimmon.
"They do look alike," Duer said and Doctor McCrimmon sighed.
"They dinnae just look alike. They are the same man," he said and Duer's eyes went wide. "You see, I ran some genetic tests on Jamie when he was four and found out that there were no sign of any of my genetic traits or my wife's."
"That's impossible!"
"That's what I said when I found out."
"Then how did it happen?"
"I think it has to do with when my wife disappeared. You see, my wife, Sarah, she was investigating a haunting then vanished for seven months. When she came back, she was in a hospital in Inverness with a baby in her arms. She couldn't explain where she had been, but she was alright and I was pleased to see my son."
"So she was two months pregnant when she disappeared?"
"Yes, now, you said that you could help me find my children?" he asked as Duer stood up and took the file out of his coat. Handing the file to him, Duer walked to the door when he turned and saw Doctor McCrimmon looking at him. "Is this true?"
"Yep," Duer said then left the office and went inside the TARDIS just as Doctor McCrimmon ran down the hallway after him. Duer turned as he looked at him then sighed, closing the door.
"I'm still confused. What happened tae Sarah?" Jamie asked and Duer sighed.
"Are you Doctor Sarah McCrimmon?" Duer asked as he walked up the hill and Sarah turned around, watching him walk closer. He has used the TARDIS to locate her and noticed her blonde hair was tied back in a ponytail. Her hazel eyes shimmered in the sunlight as he stopped in front of her and she placed her hands on her hips. She was wearing jeans, work boots, a blue jumper and a black down jacket. He could smell her elevated hormone level as he smiled and placed his hands in his pockets.
"Aye, I am, who are you?" she asked as he showed her the identification that Jack gave him and she looked at it. "What can I do for you, Sir?"
"Well, I was wondering what you are doing on top of a hill in an old Scottish kirkyard," he said as she looked around and sighed.
"Well, it has to do with a mystery. According to the caretaker, there have been sightings of a figure of a man sitting here on top of this hill near this grave," she said and Duer looked at the gravestone. It was Jamie's grave as he knelt down on his haunches and looked at the ground.
"Is it me, or has someone's been digging here?" he asked, standing up.
"That's the mystery," she said when he sighed and took the sonic screwdriver out of the pocket of his coat. "What is that?"
"It's a special scanner," he said then pointed the sonic screwdriver at the grave and frowned. "Do you have any ultra sound equipment?"
"Yes," she said as they walked to two men standing near the table where the equipment was sitting and Duer looked at them. One man was tall with long black tied back by a black cord and was wearing a cream color jumper, jeans and work boots and the other man was medium size with gray hair and green eyes and was wearing black trousers, work boots, a black jumper and a red down jacket and Duer noticed an odd look in the man's eyes.
"Michael Ashe, David McCasey, this is Captain Douglas Fraser from the main office," Sarah said as the men nodded and Duer looked at the equipment on the table.
"Blimey, looks like you lot are ready to do some ghost busting," Duer said then smiled. "Ghost Busters was a great film, dinnae you think? Mind you, the whole idea of a marshmallow ghost seems a bit weird."
"Have you ever seen one?" McCasey asked, looking down his nose at Duer.
"Oh, yeah, tons of times," Duer said as he thought about Canary Warf and the Cybermen's invasion and a cold shiver moved through him.
"Here is the ultra sound scanner," Sarah said as she pointed to the metal detector looking machine and he picked it up, heading for the grave. Sarah showed him how to use the scanner and he looked at the screen.
"Uh-oh," he said and Sarah moved closer, looking at the screen.
"What's wrong?"
"One of the coffins is missing," Duer said and Jamie looked at Duer, who opened his eyes.
"Whose coffin was missing?" Jamie asked and Duer sighed.
"It was yours," Duer said and Jamie and Zoe's eyes went wide.