A/N: Finally done with this episode! Am so relieved to be done since this has taken so long to get right. You reviewers and casual readers are amazing! Keeping my creative juices flowing no matter how long a hiatus I end up taking.
Now the last episodes Jessica will be in are "The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances." Since there is no gap between them, I'll be throwing in at least 2 or 3 original adventures between now and then after the Aftermath of this episode. Do you guys want to see a Rose/Jessica only adventure (cause I have an idea) or Jessica on her own or some other character building adventure or just something completely different? I have my own plans but if you think there needs to be a bit more character interaction between a couple of characters let me know. I can get sucked into what I want to tell that I forget about how often or not someone interacts with someone else.
And as a reminder, I am not fond of Rose as a companion in general, so that's why I haven't gone into too much development to her so we can make the separation quick and painless. So, let's hear it! Hope you enjoy!
Father's Day
Part Six
Somehow, I ended up holding Baby Rose. Jackie just came up to me after a bit and said I looked like a "trustworthy, motherly sort" and handed me the carrier. After a while when Baby Rose didn't throw a fuss, she nodded once in satisfaction and went off to join a knot of people nearer the front of the church.
"Well, since the aliens didn't break in and the universe hasn't imploded yet, I think you're safe with me," I laughed a bit as Baby Rose took my fingers and began sucking on them. I honestly didn't mind the babysitting duty after a few minutes. The constant shaking pushed my endurance well past what I was used to. Like taking an inhaler and having the jitters for way longer than necessary. Better that I sat down in the back out of the way than drop something and screw up.
"I shouldn't be surprised, I guess," I sighed, grinning a little at how Baby Rose's eyes followed my every movement with that adorably stupid baby grin that melts everyone's hearts. "Your mama in my timeline treats me like I'm another daughter, I think. Why should that change?" I playfully gave a tug to Baby Rose's grip, making her gurgle. "You'd have probably grown up just like my Rose, you know? Too bad we can't find out," I managed to keep that part under my breath in case someone overheard me.
What was it about spilling your guts to a baby who couldn't understand you?
"I bet you've got a little brother or sister," Rose teased with an obvious grin in her voice. She leaned against the arm of the pew, peering down at herself. "You look way too natural with little me."
I'd frozen when she came closer, knowing from countless time travel movies, TV shows, and books how meeting yourself was the worst thing to happen. When she leaned even closer to herself, I shook my head and quickly scooted farther away from the wrongness. "Nope. Do not touch the baby. Uh, uh. Really bad idea or did you not see Back to the Future?"
"What?" Rose straightened, hurt pulling on her face.
"I don't know what 'real' repercussions of time travel are, but I will not be responsible for having you blink or fade out of existence cause of getting too close to yourself, thank you!" I tried to take her focus off my alarm with a sheepish grin. My hand tightened around the carrier's handle, keeping Baby Rose on my other side even though a good five feet separated us.
"She's right, you know." The Doctor strode over, my actions not exactly subtle. An irritated, ready-to-be-disappointed scowl on his face. "Touching the baby would create a paradox. A huge weakness in time that would let them in, make them stronger."
The crushed spirit that deflated Rose made me so wish I could project something to calm them down. She threw her arms in the air. "Can't do anything right, can I?" Turning around, she trudged towards the other side of the church.
The moment the Doctor glanced at me, I viciously jerked my head after her. The frown on my face as intense as anything I'd had when glaring at him. "Go!" I mouthed. "You're her friend! Make nice."
The Doctor's face screwed up like he wanted to protest, but a grumbling sigh came out instead. With no small amount of trepidation, he slowly crossed the aisle to her. More emotional connecting than he was used to dealing with, perhaps, but I knew it would be good for them both.
A sharp tug on my neck brought my attention to Baby Rose. Somehow, she'd gotten hold of the TARDIS key that had slipped out from under my buttoned T-shirt. "No, no, no," I chuckled, tugging it back as nicely as I knew how to ask a baby. "You're not getting one of these for a few years and you'll be much more deserving of it than I am."
I paused and glanced at the key. Though my hand shook without stop, I could swear it had started vibrating in my palm.
Turning in my seat to get the Doctor's attention, I caught them amid a best friend make up hug that had me grinning like a big idiot mixed with mischievous match maker. They hadn't really hated each other that much. Not really. Just hurt feelings like any pair of great friends.
Then the vibrating became a loud hum and the key all but burned my palm. I jumped to my feet with a yelp, yanking the chain off my neck. Two others from Rose and the Doctor told me mine wasn't the only one acting out. Rose's though, had fallen on the floor, probably burned her hand like it almost did mine.
The Doctor stared dumbfounded at the key in his hand and the one on the floor like he was dreaming.
"Um…stupid American here, but does this mean what I think it means?" I called out, hope returning, though I tried to keep it out of my voice. More than anything, I didn't want the Doctor to make the tough choice and have Rose's dad die anyway. That would add more burden to him than I knew he deserved.
The Doctor took one look at my own key and grinned that trademark smile of his with a little laugh. "Ha!" He took off his jacket and gathered his key and Rose's before sprinting over to look at mine. So even the Doctor was sensitive to heat that extreme. "The TARDIS key! It's still connected to the TARDIS!" With a whoop, he grabbed mine too and ran to the front of the church and the podium there.
I gathered Baby Rose and followed, though I still couldn't wrap my head around the fact that the Doctor stood without his jacket. Without it, he seemed just like the normal guy I knew he was. So normal, in fact, I could feel a blush creeping up my neck the longer I looked at him.
"The inside of my ship was thrown out of the wound, but we can use these to bring it back!" He shouted, bringing every conversation to a stop. "Once I've got it back, then I can mend everything. Now, I just need a bit of power. Has anybody got a battery?"
The groom held up a very old-timey cell phone. "This one big enough?"
"Fantastic!" The Doctor jumped down and all but snatched it out of the guy's hand. "Just need to do a bit of charging up and then we can bring everyone back." He was practically giddy with relief. Anything but forcing Rose to lose her dad again.
By the time I got up to him, Rose and Pete had drifted off together—and I prayed she could keep herself quiet about him dying—so I peeked over the Doctor's shoulder. The keys still glowed, but he'd managed to get one of them to hang in the air just about at the height the lock would be on the TARDIS. "So this'll work?"
Though his smile got a little strained, the Doctor didn't let it slip. "It better." He gently pulled me back as the lovely sound of the TARDIS materializing started filling the room. A very faint outline could be made out. "Right! NO one touches that key. Have you got that? Don't touch it. Anyone touches that key and it'll be, well, zap." The stress lines that danced through his face gave away how screwed we'd be if that happened. "Just leave it be and everything will be fine. We'll get out of here…all of us." He turned to the bride and the smile became less stressed, more genuine. "Sarah, you're going to get married, just like I said."
Though everyone gaped at the struggling image of the TARDIS, the few sighs of relief seemed to ease the tension around us. "Yes, it looks weird," I smirked, seeing the gaping expressions of the people near me. I shrugged and plopped myself down on a pew again. "Don't worry, this is normal for him. Don't freak out about the box-shaped thing and sit down. This might take a while, right Doctor?"
A couple people listened to me and reluctantly sat down again, though they couldn't take their eyes off the TARDIS. Better that they saw that than the shadows outside.
To my surprise, the Doctor sat next to me with an almost inaudible sound of relief himself. His arms spread wide across the back of the pew, almost brushing my head. Probably unconscious action on his part, but enough to make me very aware of how close we sat. "Exactly. Best we can come up with without my people here." His eyebrow raised a bit, as if he hadn't planned on saying that out loud.
I nudged him gently with my elbow. "Stop that. You thought about how to get us safe faster than anybody. We'd be gone if you hadn't known what to do. You've done better than anyone else I know under the circumstances."
The tires outside screeched louder than ever. I couldn't stop a cringe, remembering the Doctor's implication of the sure-fire way to fix everything. How long would it take for Pete to figure it out? He seemed a lot smarter than Jackie as far as seeing the obvious went.
Rose and Pete joined us but didn't sit down. "When time gets sorted out…." Rose's eyes held that quiet hope and question she probably had wanted to ask but still seemed scared to.
"Everybody here forgets what happened and that thing you changed will stay changed." Apparently, giving subtle hints didn't belong in the Doctor's repertoire.
"You mean I'll still be alive, though I'm meant to be dead." Pete's face had become grim." That's why I haven't done anything with my life, why I didn't mean anything."
Crap. Why did he have to be so observant? I chewed on my cheek, looking to the Doctor to figure out how to answer.
Even the Doctor seemed on edge. Trying to balance the truth against making Rose happy. "It doesn't work like that."
Pete snorted. "Rubbish. I'm so useless I couldn't even die properly. Now it's my fault all of this has happened."
"No, no, no, it's my fault," Rose insisted, panic creeping up her face as reality reared its ugly head.
Once again came the feeling that everything was sliding out of my control. That all I could do was observe and nothing I did would help. A bad dream where I could do nothing, frozen in place. The dizziness rang so loud in my ears, I couldn't hear anything for a second or two. I clutched my head with a quiet grunt.
Then I saw Pete snatch Baby Rose from the carrier and hand her to Rose, who's arms automatically reached out.
"Rose! No!"
"Don't touch the…."
Even with my shout and the Doctor's, Rose touches her baby self for a split second before the Doctor whisked Baby Rose away and into her mother's arms. Paradox.
A crack like thunder filled the church before one of the creatures appeared, snarling and hissing at the bunch of us. Even seeming pleased with itself.
Shit, shit, and double shit.
The Doctor yanked me from where I stood rooted and purposefully put himself in front of everyone. I stood so close behind him I could see the sweat that had formed, and it had not come from the temperature of the church. "Everyone behind me! I'm the oldest thing in here." There was no denying the fear that had seeped into every facet of his voice this time.
With a dread borne from that empathic intuition, I just knew what he had planned. The TARDIS hadn't materialized yet and nothing protected us from that creature any more. He planned on buying us time because of being over nine-hundred years old. A fierce, wildcat determination inside me rose at that. No way in hell was I going to let him do this, not when my own history was just as complicated and probably longer than I knew about.
He's going to kill me for this. Was my last bit of inner resistance before I body slammed him out of my way. "Hello! How about complicated?" I waved my arms around, drawing the creature's gaze my way. "Yeah sure, he's traveled in time, but I have too. Met people who've told me—or tried to anyway—about stuff I haven't done yet! So I could be older than this guy, who knows?!" Pure adrenaline surged through me, heart beating so hard, I thought it would explode out of my chest. Nothing mattered but the creature and keeping the Doctor safe. "So what are you waiting for? One time-traveling meal right…."
So many things happened at once, I could only watch as helplessly as if I was held in a nightmare:
The creature screeched and began diving for me.
Something hard slammed into me and pulled me down.
The Doctor staring at me in confusion and regret as he managed to get between me and that thing. "I'm sorry," I think he said.
Then….no Doctor.
The TARDIS vanished, key dropping to the floor.
Creature vanished too, but it was too late.
I'd heard that losing someone like that physically hurt sometimes, but didn't put any credence to it. Having a hole carved out of my chest, losing the breath in my lungs, and being unable to move made those words seem so bland.
The Doctor was gone. Just…gone. Blinked out of existence. How? How could he have done that to me? To us? How would we get home?
A hand rested on my shoulder. Pete Tyler. "Are you all right? I'm sorry, miss. You must have been great friends for you to risk your lives for each other like that." He meant nothing but good, yet those words still stung very harshly.
I let him help me to my feet, but couldn't tear my eyes away from where the Doctor had stood. "He is my best friend. Just doesn't know it, I think." My voice sounded so rough with tears, I lifted my shaking hands to my face. Only a few had made their way free. Still too stunned to react. "He knows the TARDIS…his ship…it was his way of saving you for Rose. Now it's gone. He's gone. I don't…I don't know what to do."
Pete hovered for a moment then left. I didn't see or care where.
The Doctor's face taunted me from my mind's eye. Had that been his plan the whole time? Did he even try and think of something besides sending himself out of existence? Did he even know what it would do to me….to us?
Sunlight glittered on something metal on the floor. My TARDIS key and his. Rose's lay where it had fallen from the incoming TARDIS. I picked them up, cold and dead. Though I knew the barriers were for my own good, what I wouldn't give to know what he'd been feeling at that moment.
I had to pull myself together. The thought screamed at me from the back of my mind. The Doctor wouldn't want me dissolving into a useless mess when we could still die. I tried. I clenched my hand around those keys and kind of made my way towards the rattling doors where the creatures would break in any minute. I had no idea how or what I'd do, but the Doctor didn't bring me along because I became a puddle of emotions.
Pete Tyler whizzed by me, jolting me out of my daze. The vase that Rose had gone on about clenched in his hands again. Determination turning his face into such a brave one, I knew he'd decided to let time play out as it should.
He threw open the doors, startling the creatures outside into letting him run past and towards the street. Everyone gathered at the doorway, I found myself next to Rose, herded along like a sheep. I couldn't look as the car appeared around the corner. Squeezed my eyes shut, refusing to see someone else vanish or die right in front of me in one day. The gasps around me and the abrupt silence of the creatures told me all I needed to know.
A warm, shining presence appeared behind us. "Go to him, Rose."
I shuddered as my heart almost stopped altogether. The Doctor. Pete's death had brought him back safe and sound. In one piece.
My eyes snapped open and I looked up at him, trying so hard to keep myself from turning into a bawling mess. Something twitched my lips, a try at a smile, maybe.
The calm gaze he'd used with Rose vanished into one that made him look so human. Relief and the fading traces of fear. A tentative smile like my own pulled at his face. He seemed to be waiting for me to react, yet worried about what it would be.
I decided to be furious later. The Doctor was alive and right in front of me, coat intact. With a quiet sound like a laugh mixed with a healthy dose of tears, I threw my arms around him no matter who would be watching. My trembling no longer having anything to do with the lack of emotions, but an overabundance of them.
A long, shaky sigh and the Doctor practically crushed me to him as well. Warm and solid and real.