What's in a name? Chapter 68: The Big Bang, a Doctor Who + Torchwood Crossover fanfic

When the evening shadows and the stars appear

And there is no one there to dry your tears

I could hold you for a million years

To make you feel my love

Adele - Make You Feel My Love

The Big Bang

Winter smiled at River and the pair headed as fast as they could for the doors. But they refused to open. River rushed back over to the communicator for help but the Doctor didn't reply. She gave up and grabbed two cables from the console, pulling them out and running them over to the doors connecting them as the TARDIS continued to spark and explode.

Winter jumped out of the way as sparks flew and River wrenched the doors open only to be met by a stone wall. She put and hand to her chest and looked at it.

'Oh my god'

Winter jumped out of the way as sparks flew and River wrenched the doors open only to be met by a stone wall. She put and hand to her chest and looked at it.

'Oh my god'

Winter jumped out of the way as sparks flew and River wrenched the doors open only to be met by a stone wall. She put and hand to her chest and looked at it.

'Hi honey, I'm home.'

Winter looked up to see The Doctor smiling at River and without further ado threw herself at him.

'Oh, thank god!'

The next second they were standing on a roof top in the middle of a city with Amy and a Roman soldier. She frowned and walked towards them.

'Why did we bring a Roman?' she asked.

Said Roman frowned back. 'I'm Amy's fiancé,' he replied.

She raised her eyebrows. 'Bit quick!'

Amy smiled. 'He's not a real Roman, he's Rory, from my village.'

'Really?' River asked from behind them, 'I dated a Nestene duplicate once... swappable head, it did keep things fresh. Right then, I have questions. But number one is this... What in the name of sanity have you got on your head?' she turned to stare at the Doctor and Amy smiled.

'It's a fez. I wear a fez now. Fezes are cool.'

With a look from River, Amy grabbed the hat and tossed it into the air. Where River, promptly shot it.

'Oh! I liked it!' Winter moaned before anyone could comment another cry echoed up to them.

'Exterminate!'

Everyone whipped around as a Dalek appeared, levitating up the side of the building. The Doctor was suddenly behind them all attempting to heard them away from it.

'Run, run, move, move. Go! Come on!'

She heard the sound of the Dalek gun and jumped through the hatch after Amy and Rory. Helping River to the ground, she watched as the Doctor followed, using the sonic to seal the hatch.

'It's moving away, finding another way in.' he told them as he climbed down the ladder, 'It needs to restore its power before it can attack again. Now, that means we've got exactly,' he paused checking his watch as he continued down the stairs of the museum, 'four and a half minutes before it's at lethal capacity.'

'How do you know?' Rory asked.

They followed him down and he glanced both ways at the bottom of the stairs. 'Because that's when it's due to kill me,' he said simply, as if it was just a throwaway comment.

'Excuse me?' Winter exclaimed.

He ignored her so River tugged at his shoulder. 'Kill you? What do you mean, kill you?'

'Oh, shut up, never mind. How can that Dalek even exist? It was erased from time and then it came back. How?'

They were heading past exhibits now, Winter examined them as she passed by barely paying attention to the conversation. She turned and walked backwards to see the large woolly mammoth and oh, what was that? In the case. It looked a bit like an otter or perhaps a duck.

A pair of hands were suddenly on her hips. 'It's a platypus,' The Doctor commented, before moving her away from the case and pushing her towards the others.

'I'm going to relight the fire. Reboot the universe. Come on!' He let go of her waist and hurried on ahead of her.

River attempted to catch up while Winter hung back with Amy and Rory, her body had finally gotten to grips with all the adrenaline coursing through her and she was starting to notice a queasy feeling. 'Ah Doctor?'

He was still rushing ahead.

'Doctor!'

'Doctor, you're being completely ridiculous.' River yelled at him.

Winter started to shake slightly and Amy put a hand on her shoulder.

'The Pandorica partially restored one Dalek. If it can't even reboot a single life form properly, how will it reboot the whole of reality?'

The Doctor turned to face River, his age and wisdom towering over her.

'What if we give it a moment of infinite power? Transmit the light from the Pandorica to every particle of space and time simultaneously?'

'What's wrong?' Amy asked Winter.

Winter turned around and Amy took a step back. She was pale, but not in a lack of bllod sense, more like a lack of …presence. She was near transparent.

'Ah? Doctor?'

The pair in the corridor were still arguing over the Pandorica and far too involved in the argument to even register Amy's yell.

'Well, that would be lovely, dear, but we can't, because it's completely impossible,' River snapped.

'Ah, no, you see, it's not.'

River flinched back as The Doctor leant forward and tapped her forehead, 'It's almost, completely impossible. One spark is all we need.'

Winter felt faint, in more ways than one and just registered Amy ushering Rory over to look at her.

'Well I don't know it's probably some weird space disease!' he complained.

Amy rolled her eyes and Winter held an arm out to Amy, steadying herself. 'The TARDIS is exploding, but it's in loop. We're linked so I think… I think technically I'm exploding too. One millisecond I explode and disappear another I'm fine again.' As she finished she faded from sight again and when, in the blink of an eye, she returned, she promptly fell to the floor.

Rory looked to Amy who pointed at her pleadingly. He sighed and bent down, just as the Dalek shot down the Doctor. Rory pushed Amy back and yelled at River to get down. The Dalek trundled down the hallway and Rory held out is hand. The fingers of his hand detached, revealing a gun and he shot down the Dalek, draining it of energy.

River knelt down by the Doctor as Amy helped Winter stumble to her feet, 'Doctor. Doctor, it's me, River. Can you hear me? What is it? What do you need?'

In a flash of the manipulator energy he was gone, leaving them looking around confused.

'Where did he go? Damn it, he could be anywhere,' River looked about wildly.

'He went downstairs. twelve minutes ago,' Amy said quietly.

'Show me!'

'River, he died.'

Rory grabbed Winters arm and swung it over his shoulder. 'We've got to move. That thing's coming back to life.'

River sent them off and Amy took Winter's other arm, helping to half carry her away from the Dalek and towards the staircase but when they got there, there was no Doctor.

'Where is he then?' Winter asked in a slightly slurred voice.

'How could he have moved?' Rory exclaimed, 'He was dead!' He let go of Winter and ran down the stairs calling for the Doctor while Amy shook her head in confusion.

'But he was dead!'

'Who told you that?' River asked, coming up behind them and looking Winter over from head to toe.

'He did.'

She turned away and walked calmly down the stairs. 'Rule one. The Doctor lies.'

'Try the Pandorica,' Winter mumbled, her head lolling onto Amy's shoulder. 'It's all to do with the Pandorica, he's obsessed with the bloody thing.'

Amy laughed despite the situation and River and Rory took over carrying Winter leaving her free to rush ahead. They breathed a sigh of relief when she called out his name, obviously seeing him in the vicinity.

Sure enough he was hooked up inside the Pandorica. Rory leaned over to her ear and whispered to her. 'Are you sure you're not really a god.'

She frowned at him.

'You're a bit omniscient.'

She smiled tiredly and let her eyes slide shut, feeling them lay her down on the floor. She heard them talking but the constant flicker between life and death was draining all the energy from her body. She felt heavy. Like her body weighed a thousand tonnes and just one movement of her little finger would take an elephant pulling it. She couldn't open her eyes, scratch her nose, lift her head but her senses were still active. So she heard the plan and she sighed. All that trouble. Crossing continents. Land and sea, all to get back to the Doctor, to get back to Jack. but she had come back, just to die outright. She consoled herself with the thought that even if she had stayed in Rome the explosion of the TARDIS would still have wiped her from memory.

Hm? Maybe that wasn't really the way to see it. But that doubt was the last thought she had.

TTT

.. before waking up in the TARDIS still fully robed and lying next to the Doctor.

He was groaning and pulling ridiculous faces in his sleep so she rolled over and shook him awake. 'Oi! Doctor? Doctor. Wake up.'

He shot forwards and she screamed, leaping up into the air while he grinned at her from the ground. 'Wow! That was very…very odd!' He hopped onto his feet and raced around the TARDIS, pulling an ancient chest out of the corner and flicking it open. 'I have to admit that was possibly the best sleep I've had in centuries.' He stretched, 'I really think I needed that.'

Without so much as a warning he began stripping out of his shirt and trousers and replaced them with a rather dashing suit. She blushed and turned away still rather confused.

'What are you doing here?'

She jumped again when she heard his voice right behind her, turning, she stuttered her reply.

'I…I travel…with you…I mean, sometimes…I guess…'

He waved a hand in front of her face.

'Yes, yes, I know all that. I mean what are you doing here? In this universe. What am I doing? What's the TARDIS doing?' He slipped a white scarf around his neck. 'We should all be dead….NO! Worse than that! We shouldn't have ever existed.' He propped a top hat on his head. 'How on earth are we here?'

There was an answering knock on the TARDIS door and he rushed over as Amy's voice travelled through the door. 'Okay, Doctor. Did I surprise you this time?'

He flung the door open and looked down at her.

'Er, yeah. Completely astonished. Never expected that. How lucky I happened to be wearing this old thing.' He stepped out of the door and Winter warily followed him out. 'Hello, everyone. I'm Amy's imaginary friend and this is,' he looked her up and down, 'A Roman god, but we came anyway.'

'Wouldn't miss it for the world.' Winter smiled and looked at a small cart of food in the corner, 'Oh god is that ice cream? I'm dying for some food.' She took a seat next to a nice looking couple and tucked a napkin into the belt of her Stola. The couple looked at her like she was mad and she turned to them knowledgeably, 'the food in Rome is great, if you're into peacock and small rodents. Seriously, I spent the last two years eating pretty much nothing but fruit.'

The couple looked terrified but she didn't really care, when was the food arriving?

'Right then, everyone. I'll move my box. You're going to need the space.' The Doctor turned to look at her, 'you coming?'

She shook her head and picked up a knife and fork. 'I'm starving, why? Aren't you coming back?'

He shrugged and entered the TARDIS, calling back, 'I only came for the dancing.'

She watched the blue box disappear and grinned at Amy who took her seat at the head table again so they could begin the first course.

TTT

'Do you think he'll really want to see me?' Winter asked.

The Doctor looked over at her surprised as they stood watching Rory and Amy dance.

'Only, it really wasn't that long ago that we lost Ianto. I've had two extra years to get over it though. Perhaps I should go back to Cardiff. Get a job. Do something useful and leave him alone. He's probably better off without me any way.'

'Woah, woah!' The Doctor was looking at her with the daftest expression. 'Where's all this come from?'

She smiled and shrugged. 'Weddings,' she murmured, 'I'm not very good with them. Well actually that's a lie. I'm brilliant up until I watch the couples dancing at the end.' She blushed slightly at having given away this secret and he smiled knowingly down at her.

'He'll want to see you,' he told her, 'Amy let slip that you'd met him in 1941 again and he seemed pretty happy besides. He's out there now, looking for you.'

She frowned. 'He is? Where?'

The Doctor shrugged. 'Haven't a clue, he just said he'd take the manipulator, go back into the past and look. Unfortunately we landed near the Byzantium quite a lot further into earth's history than the time you were brought up in. that's a lot of history to cover on such a busy planet. But if his manipulator is still working I should be able to track it down within a few miles. I couldn't let him go running off with his space hopper.'

Winter laughed, thinking back to a conversation on a windy desolate earth when he barely knew her. Jack's faithful search for her brought a warmth to her heart and mind that she hadn't felt in quite some time. She smiled and let out a slight giggle. The Doctor raised an eyebrow and she laughed, holding out her hand for his. 'Come on then,' she ordered, 'Dance with me Time Lord.'

He smiled and took the extended hand following her onto the dance floor.

TTT

Sitting in the TARDIS later, with Rory and Amy standing across from her Winter made up her mind. It had been a split-second choice brought about mainly by Rory. He'd tripped and gone flying in the kitchen and when he came back into the console room, his lovely suit was covered in cream.

'Rory!' the Doctor moaned, 'The TARDIS made that cake for later.'

'Yeah well if it wasn't so bumpy I wouldn't have fallen on it.' A loud clang echoed through the room. 'What was that?'

The Doctor looked up.

'That would be the TARDIS locking the doors to the wardrobe.'

Rory frowned. 'What am I supposed to wear now?' the Doctor shrugged.

'Check your room, there might be something lying around.'

When Rory came in twenty minutes later dressed as the Roman soldier once more, Winter almost burst into fits of uncontrollable laughter. The Doctor refused to look at him and scrunched his face up to hold back chuckles. Even Amy was struggling to keep a straight face.

'This is ridiculous, how long do I have to wear this?'

Amy smiled and crossed over to him. 'You look great. You might get a bit cold though.'

'I don't get cold. I'm plastic. Weather doesn't affect me.'

'No, you just melt yourself trying to pull a giant box out of a burning building in the middle of an air raid.' Amy chastised.

'Well I could just leave you there.'

That line echoed through Winter's mind and she shot up from the seat. 'Find him.'

The Doctor looked up from the typewriter, startled at her interruption. 'Pardon?'

'Find him. Please.'

He stared at her for a few seconds and then broke into a smile pressing a button and flipping through interactive pages on the TARDIS screen.

Rory leaned over to Amy and whispered, rather loudly, 'Who are we finding?'

Amy smiled. 'Winter's hot soldier boyfriend.'

Rory rolled his eyes and sighed. 'Great.'

'Hey I just married you didn't I?' she reminded him.

He smiled and turned to properly face her. Taking her in his arms and leaning forward to kiss her. 'Yes, yes you did.' They were milimeters from their kiss when the TARDIS landed with a heavy thud and they were left sprawled on the floor.

Winter, who'd stayed upright, rushed out of the doors and took a look around.

'Where are we?'

The Doctor stepped out beside her. 'Edinburgh,' he replied, '1982. And it's just about time for elevenses.'

She smiled and sauntered forward but he stopped her.

'You're still dressed as a Roman God, you might want to change.'

She shrugged. 'They're human, they'll assume I'm in fancy dress.'

The other three followed on behind her as they meandered up and down the streets of Scotland's capital with no luck. Winter eventually collapsed against a fire escape and sighed dejectedly. 'This is ridiculous,' she concluded, 'he's probably gone by now.'

A manly yell from a few streets over caused her to shoot up.

'Or not!' she grinned, and with little effort she raced up the fire escape onto the building before leaping across the roofs. This was it, she felt like she was back in time, in Cardiff with the team chasing down the alien menaces.

A few roofs away she dropped down onto a stone balcony and came to a pause. There he was, running down the street full pelt being chased by what looked like a gold and red rhino. He pulled his Wembley from his pocket and began firing off rounds but six passed and he had hardly scratched it. Well, he was trying to run away at the same time.

As if he could sense her he seemed to glance up at the building and she saw his step falter. She smiled, wondering what she must look like then, with a fluid movement she pulled her bow from her back and switched it on. The energy string hummed and as she pulled back to line up her shot the arrow emerged in shimmering blue. This is where a shot gun would come in handy, a wide spread of bullets. If she had a hand free she would cross her fingers.

With a quick breath out she let go of the string and watched as the arrow, just, met its target. The creatures head. It instantly tripped, but there was a slope in front of it and Jack was still only a little way down. He would pass her in a moment. She made a split second decision and leaped from the building falling right on top of him. The force pushed him to the side, milliseconds before the rhino barrelled past them.

She didn't see the Doctor, Amy and Rory race around the corner. Nor did Jack. She didn't hear the almighty crash as the rhino smashed into a building at the bottom of the slope and lay still in the rubble. Nor did Jack. All she saw was him. And all she heard was…

'Good shot, Nemo.'

Without another word she captured his lips with her own and wrapped her arms around his neck, forgetting the world around them and relishing the chance to be near him after so long apart. He pulled back and she pulled him off the floor, letting him wrap his arms around her waist and swing her in a circle.

'Oh, I missed you.'

She laughed and ran her hands down from his shoulders, over his shirt.

'Have you grown?' he exclaimed, measuring her against his own body, she giggled.

'The TARDIS re-booted itself. So it re-booted me too. I'm taller,' she told him proudly, 'Four inches taller!'

He grinned. 'And er…' he looked her up and down and raised his eyebrows, 'care to explain the outfit.'

She glanced over at the Rory and grinned evilly. 'Role-playing. I'm the Roman goddess swept off her feet by the handsome centurion and Amy is the bride whisked away from her wedding by the mad man with the blue box.'

The Doctor and Rory looked at each other and the older stepped further away from the couple, emphasising the distance between them. Jack laughed and Winter smirked.

'It's a long story.'

And one she wasn't immediately forced into due to the arrival of a certain ball of fluff. Pip flew like a bat out of hell, straight into her arms. She laughed and ruffled the capuchin's fur. 'I missed you too Peregrine.'

Jack smiled and wrapped an arm around her waist pulling her over to introduce himself to Amy and Rory. One thing was certain. They had a lot of talking to do tonight.

Fun fact. That scene with Winter lying by the Pandorica feeling heavy and out of body was a real thing I get. Turns out I was disassociating. The fun things about mental health you learn when you actually talk to people about it and realise that no, not everyone can be halfway through a day at work and then suddenly feel like they're not in control of their own body or even actually a real person.

[The next chapter won't be an actual episode just a short Jack/Winter thing and it'll be up tommorow.]

'Sonotalady': I think everyone feels like a third wheel some times and the fact that she's been alone and missing jack for so long doesn't help. Don't worry, jack will be back soon.

'sashaxh': happy reunions are always good.

'The small but powerful one':look does it make you feel any better if I tell you that I'm working on a sort of spin off. If you've read 'wonderland' youll know that someone fell through the rift and got on quite well with winter. Well winter's going to get into her universe and in said universe Jack and Ianto are both there.

'Rachy Babes': like I said in the review above I'm working on my little version of your world, but like I said in my review I'll need some help. Hopefully it'll give an insight into how she got to Rome (May I just point out now… It's Fawks' fault)