Chapter thirty-eight: Stages of life

Those immortal words spoken by Judy Garland were true. There was no place like home. It was quite a sight to see the world rejoicing, but Jackie knew that it'd be short lived. In a few days, everyone would wake up, deduce it was a bad dream then forget all about it.

The Doctor parked the Tardis in a park near Sarah Jane's house. She hurried off to find her son Luke. Mickey bid his farewells to them and continued on his way along with Martha Jones. Jack helped her to her feet. "Ok, let's get you home."

She nodded. "Let's."

"Hold on," the Doctor says as he grabs Jack's wrist. "just a moment."

"What?" Jack questions as the Doctor pulls out his sonic screwdriver. "Oh, come on!"

She smirks as the Doctor un-mends Jack's teleport bracelet. "I told you," he reprimands him. "no teleport."

Jackie shrugged. "No problem, I can fix it for you Jack, now that I know how."

The Doctor frowned. "Really?"

"Yeah." Jackie reached out, searching, and hit a few numbers causing Jack's teleport bracelet to come back to life. "See?"

He frowns as he looks her up and down. "What are you?"

"I don't know." She confessed. "To be honest…I just keep on evolving."

He frowned. "If you and Jack head back into the Tardis, I can run a few tests."

"Well to paraphrase Doctor, you're the Doctor," she smiles. "if you get my drift."

He grins. "I do. Come on inside." She bobs her head and follows him into the Tardis. He turns to Rose, her mother and his double. "Look, why don't you all take a quick walk? Jackie Jack and I've got some private business to attend to."

Rose looks slightly upset at being asked to leave, but she does so anyway reluctantly. Her mother makes an off-handed comment as they exit. The second Doctor hesitates for a moment, but he follows them. Donna, is nowhere in sight, in fact, Jackie hasn't seen her for a while. "So, tell me, what do you know about your birth parents? Anything at all?"

She shrugged. "Not much really. My mother's name was Jenny." The Doctor paused and turned towards her, a cautious, yet, hopeful light in his eyes. "She was pretty and blonde. I don't know who or what my father was." She reached into her pocket for the locket that she'd put in her pocket earlier that day. She didn't know why she had, it was unusual though. "I found this," she handed him the locket. "and it has her photo in it. her name and the photo were the only things she left with my mother."

Donna appeared out of nowhere to peer over the Doctor's shoulder as he opened it. he drew back slightly and exhaled. "That's your daughter!" Donna proclaimed with a wide smile. "So, Jackie must be your granddaughter!"

"Apparently." The Doctor breathed in shock before his face twisted slightly. "oh no." he groaned. "And she just had to go and marry Jack."

"Hold on, back up a second." Jack stared at him. "Since when do you have a daughter? Not that I'm complaining mind you, but I am too young and good looking to go around calling you 'grandpa' or anything like that!" Jack and the Doctor both stared at each other for a moment before making a face. "Ok, that's not good."

"Definitely weird." The Doctor nods his head in agreement. He turns to Jackie. "Did you really have to marry him?"

"Well, no one else was man enough to handle me." At that moment, Jackie's protective bubble burst. She tried to recreate it, but all her powers were gone. She tried frantically, but it was no use. A labor pain racked her body hard, causing her to let out a cry as she grabbed onto her stomach. Jack, the Doctor and Donna looked at her and she knew it was time to come clean. "Uhh, Jack…my water broke earlier."

The grin on his face fell slowly as he tried to comprehend her words. "What?"

"The babies are coming." A strong pain hit her and she doubled over. Panic rose in her as she realized something. "And I think they're coming now."

He shook his head. "No…you've showed no signs of being in labor. And we've been out there fighting daleks."

She winced as she confessed. "I've…. been controlling the pains ever since the Doctor…made contact!"

The remainder of his smile slid off his face and his skin went white with panic. Jack ran out of the Tardis shouting loudly for Martha, but he soon realized that she was out of hearing distance, he ran back in dialing Martha up his phone and helping her to the floor. Jackie's labor pains began to hit her. she hadn't noticed them in the midst of all this excitement, but now they were coming hard and fast. Donna and the Doctor stood there rather helplessly at the mayhem going on around them.

Jack was officially in full panic mode. "How far apart are the contractions?" Jackie glowered at him before letting out a cry. Jack stammered. "I don't know. what do we do?"

He turned the phone on speaker and knelt next to her. I'm about 5 minutes away. Jackie let out another moan. All right, I don't think there's enough time to get her to the hospital. You can't move her.

That woke the Doctor up. "Oh no!" He shouted. "she is not giving birth in my Tardis!"

"Well," Jack shouted back at him. "she not having our children in the street!"

"We're in a time machine!" Donna reminded them. "we can drop her off at the nearest hospital."

No you don't! Jack, Jackie and Martha said in unison.

The jostling would be too traumatic for her. Martha explained. Doctor, get some blankets to put under her. Donna, I'm going to need some water, string and scissors.

"What do I do?" Jack asked.

You hold her hand Jack until I get there.

Jack looked confused. "That's all?!" he demanded. "That doesn't seem like much!"

She's not on any pain meds, so, she's going to start feeling the pain soon. On cue, Jackie let out a scream and grabbed for Jack's hand, causing him to shout. I rest my case. I'm almost there.

"Hang on honey."

"God!" She shouted. "It hurts!"

He pulled off his Jacket, rolled it into a ball and tucked it under her head. "Easy, lie down."

Try to keep her calm Jack. Martha advises. Is there anything I should know about her?

Jack glanced at her before saying. "Jackie had a turn a few months ago, a really bad one."

"Owen predicted that I'd die after giving birth." Jackie explained quickly. "Jack hasn't accepted that yet."

Jack looked up at the Doctor, his expression desperate. "I can't lose her."

"I'm not one of those Doctors!" he explained. "Jack, there's nothing-

"Tell me what she is!" He shouts. "Do a scan or something! The more we know about her, the easier it'll be to try to save her! "

The Doctor hesitated for a moment before nodding. "Aright." He began punching a few buttons. "Anything I should know about her?"

Jack shook his head. "She has mental telepathy, the ability to float, create lighting and float." Jackie let out a yelp and Jack added. "She changes colors when she's excited."

The Doctor's brows rose in excitement. "Her skin changes color? That doesn't happen often!"

"Well," Donna points out. "her skin is going a bright red right now!"

"She turns gold and pink more often though." Jack observes. "Honey, easy."

"You're squeezing my hand too tight!" She shrieks.

"Ahh, sorry!"

"This is impossible." The Doctor peers at the screen in bafflement. "Impossible."

Martha runs in the room, her hair hanging all about her face. "Right, sorry."

Jack shook his head. "Don't bother." He shot Jackie a glower. "She's been in labor for hours and didn't tell me anything!"

"Well, we were having a crisis!" She points out.

"And having twins, didn't count as one?"

"I can't believe this." The Doctor says.

Donna runs in with water from the kitchen. "Right, here you go. And," she hands a medical bag to Martha. "I found this!"

"Right." Martha rips it open and exhales in relief. "Thank God, there's an epidural."

"Oh, no you don't!" Jackie shrieks. "I've read all about those and I refuse to have it."

"Go ahead Martha." Jack states. "She's too stubborn for her own good."

"It's my body Martha!" Jackie screams. "I don't want it!"

"Well, part of it's my body too!" Jack reminds her. "Remember?"

"Shut up Jack, you don't know what you're saying and when she comes out of this, I don't think you'll want her remembering things like that. now Jackie, it's all right, calm down. Here," Martha injects her with something. "it's a lighter painkiller." Jackie exhales as Martha reaches into the bag for the stethoscope. "It'll take a second to set in, but, your pain will decrease rather soon."

The Doctor frowns. "Where'd you find that bag Donna?"

"In the bathroom!" Donna says.

"Doctor," Jack demands. "did your scan reveal anything?"

"Hmm, oh yes!" He hits his head in excitement. "She's not half of anything. She's part human, part time lord and part Verashart."

Jackie makes a face. "The what?"

"Verashart are so rare that they're believed to be the things of legend. You've got, the human exterior, time lord genetics your powers are those of the Verashart. A peaceful race, created to be guardians of the small and abandoned planets. I'd say, you were interrupted in mid-transformation, causing your DNA genetics to be a mad scramble." He exhaled. "In short, your body has been going through stages, like a butterfly!" the first stage, was being a normal human. The second stage, her full power potentials were unleashed. The third stage started when she became pregnant. As her body prepared for the final stage, it began to bottle up all her powers until they couldn't be controlled. And then…her true form, with her actual powers is revealed."

She frowns. "What will I become though?"

The Doctor shrugs. "I don't know. That might actually be up to you. Still, I suggest that no one touch her in case she takes on that person's form."

Jack inhaled sharply and she turned towards him. She could feel the blood drained slowly out of her face as she looked to her hand that was still tightly gripping Jack's hand. Jack shook his head as he breathed out. "No." In view of the Doctor's words…had Jack accidentally condemned her to immortality with a touch of his hand?

Author's note: The next chapter, will be the final chapter. I hope everyone enjoyed it!