Time Boys
Chapter Two
Disclaimer: I don't own. Seriously I don't! I own nothing, well beside this Diet Dr. Pepper but well shit... apparently that isn't even mine, there it goes off in the hands of my eldest child. I really wanted that Diet Dr. Pepper but nothing is yours when you have little monsters for children. :(
"Mum …did you know that elephants are the only mammals that can't jump?" Rory asked, popping off one of their random facts.
"I didn't know that Rory." Rose smiled tightly, leading them out of the park.
"Butterflies tastes with their feet, isn't that gross, Mum?" Tony added to the conversation.
"Very, Tony." Rose said walking down the mostly dark street, clutching both of her son's hand.
This obviously wasn't in the year two-thousand and nine. She listened vaguely as both boys blurted out facts, debating with each other, distracting themselves from being out in the dark and lost. The streets were clean, no cars littered the roads and robots seemed to be monitoring the street.
"Madam – are you alright? I sensed your distress." A robot asked, stopping her.
"We are looking for an Inn for the night?" Rose asked uncertainly.
They didn't look anything like Cybermen, but she knew she could never be too careful. The robots were sleeker, colorful and had graceful, quiet movements.
"There are seventeen Inns in a under a mile radius from this location," The blueish-green robot replied.
"What's the closest one?" Rose asked as the boys gaped at the talking robot.
"Rose Park Inn on Talbot Square," The robot answered. "Do you require directions?"
"Yes." Tony piped up.
"One moment." The robot said and they stared as it stomach-panel lifted and a piece of paper shot out. "Here you go, citizen."
"Thank you," Rory said, but there was no doubt of the awe that oozed from his voice.
"What is today's date?" Rose inquired curiously, ready to bolt at any time, not letting go of her overly-curious children.
"Today is Saturday, May 22nd 2209." Rose smiled just two hundred years too far not bad. "Be safe, citizen." No one spoke until the robot was across the road.
"Okay boys, back to the park, we need to set the wrist strap – time hopper and get us into the right year before people start arriving." Rose instructed moving quickly.
"Can't we look around?" Tony pleaded turning his brown eyes on her.
However, Rose remained strong in her decision.
"Absolutely not, the one thing I know about Robots is that they usually mean trouble. Now off we go," Rose announced, pulling them both back to the park.
The boys sat on a bench and watch as their Mum tinkered with the wrist watch looking thingy.
"Hold tight and close your eyes," she instructed as she hit the vortex manipulator sending them back two hundred years.
Rose opened her eyes and smiled as her body drank in the warmth of the sunshine.
"Oh that was fan-tastic," Rory giggled as they both spun in circles the moment their mother let go of their hands.
"The coolest thing ever," Tony laughed as they fell backwards onto the grass.
Rose smiled softly at them and their exuberance. They were so much like their father, a continuous reminder of the man she loved.
"Come on boys," Rose said leading them out of Hyde Park for the second time.
They trailed after her, glancing around curiously, taking in the busy street, shops and people. Rose quickly found a newspaper dispenser. She sighed in relief spotting the date, August 20th 2009. She had time to find a flat and get her boys enrolled at a school until they located the Doctor.
"It looks the same, 'xept no Zeps," Rory commented as they enter an internet café.
Tony and Rory watched as their Mum plugged in the little USB stick that quickly hacked into the government and activated them into the system. The screen lit up with a message after it had finished. "Your reservation has been confirmed at Berkeley Hotel for the following week; please check in before 21:30. Thank you and have a great day."
Rose sat back and watched as the twins finished their chips.
"Now what?" Tony asked.
"Now we check into our hotel, relax and get some sleep. Tomorrow we'll have to go shopping for some clothes and I'll enroll you in a school." Rose huffed softly, her mind whirling with everything she had to do; while trying to keeping the boys on a familiar schedule so to advert any meltdowns.
They checked in to their hotel with little fuss. While the boys slept, she made a lengthy to-do list.
The next week passed by quickly as Rose scrambled to put their lives back in order. By the end of the week, she had the boys rerolled in a school and had rented out a small two bedroom flat over in Peckham near the Powell Estates. It had a ground floor entrance and was in good living condition with a private garden for the boys to play in, which Rose decided was an excellent find in her old neighborhood. She couldn't have been more proud of her boys. They had settled into their new routine and schedules with very few mishaps.
The next few months passed by in a similar fashion – breakfast, take the boys into school, search for the Doctor, search for a charger for her mobile, pick the boys up, homework, dinner, baths, bedtime, night terrors and repeat. She was hoping to find a charger so she'd be able to contact the TARDIS phone, but she wasn't having any luck, seeing as her phone was outdated by four years. Three months of living in their new universe, the boys lay awake in their beds. They were listening to their mother's very quiet meltdown in the kitchen.
"Rory," Tony whispered, and on queue his younger brother scrambled up the bunk bed ladder and lay next to him. "Mum sad."
"She can't find a way to contact Dad." Rory whispered.
"What if we could?" Tony asked turning and looking into his twin eyes.
Rory wrinkled his nose and frowned. "What do ya' mean?"
Tony ran a hand through his messy brown hair.
"You know how we can call to each up here," Rory nodded as Tony touched his forehead.
"Mummy says we're just like Daddy, maybe we can call him that way too." Tony whispered, Rory eyes flooded with hope.
"Let's try it." Rory said, and both boys slipped out of bed and put on their funny rain boots, button their star capes around their necks and snuck past their Mum who was zoned in on the TV, watching the news report.
They stood together in the middle of their garden.
"You ready?" Rory asked, his big brother grabbing his hand.
"Yeah, think …'find us' over and over again Rory, just like that time you got lost in the market," Tony instructed, squeezing his twin's hand as they gazed up together at the bright stars.
The squeezed their eyes shut tight and thought as hard and telepathically as they knew how. 'Find us, find us, please, please, find us,' Tony chanted and Rory linked his mind with his brother's so together they could called out for their father, sending him a distress signal.
They lost track of time as they stood together, repeating the phrase over and over sending it into the cosmos.
"What are you two little stars doing?" Rose asked, snapping them out of their pleading.
"We couldn't sleep," Tony explained giving his mum a wide smile.
"Just looking at the stars Mummy," Rory said dropping his brother's hand. "Does Dad really travel them and see them up close?"
"He does, now come on my stars, let's get you tucked back in," Rose said opening her arms.
They rushed towards her, hugging her quickly before moving to the back deck. Rose froze at the familiar sound whorled around her, she couldn't move as the TARDIS materialized in front of her. Instantly, her boys moved behind her, holding her tightly in place, peeking around her as the police box door swung open.
His voice drifted over them, "Donna, leg it, we have a distress signal to investigate."
Rose couldn't breathe right as he stepped out of the TARDIS followed by closely by a ginger woman. "Where are we?" The woman who Rose assumed was Donna asked.
"London, Peckham, year two-thousand and nine. December, not Christmas." The Doctor assured his companion before taking in his surroundings. "Rose," He breathed in wonder his manic grin splitting across his face as he rushed towards her.
"Doctor," Rose whispered as she was suddenly scooped up in a tight hard hug.
"Rose; my beautiful Rose," The Doctor murmured in her ear.
"Hello," Rose smiled, stepping out of his embrace.
She looked him over critically. He was as handsome as ever in this regeneration.
"Doctor – the distress signal." Donna reminded the Doctor.
"The distress signal?" Rose questioned, raising a curious eyebrow.
"Well yes, we were headed to New Earth and suddenly I was struck with this very intense connection, someone calling me to find them." He explained glancing around the small garden. "How you're here, here in this universe we'll get to later but first this signal. Was it you, Rose?"
"No, I don't have any idea how to do that, or the telepathic strength to do such a thing …" Her words trailed off as she turned and stared at her sons, her mouth slack as she looked at them while they suddenly found the dirt beneath their feet very interesting.
"Tony …Rory?" Rose asked sternly.
They slipped off their little beanie caps that shielded their minds from telepathic thoughts and the Doctor let out a small gasp of wonder. His normally empty mind was suddenly active once again, the presence of two small boys filled the tormenting loneliness and, very faintly, he could feel their mother.
"How?" He breathed kneeling before the boys, taking in their features. "What, how?"
Rory spoke mystically, "We were gifted by the TARDIS so that the last Time Lord and his Bad Wolf wouldn't be alone anymore."
"They were the signal," Donna asked sceptically, eyes running over the young boys, one blond haired, one brunette boy who resembled each other closely.
It didn't take a genius to put the pieces together.
"Yes," The Doctor nodded, his eyes running over his children.
He didn't need Rose's confirmation; they were in his mind, in his heart already, bonding themselves to their paternal parent.
AN: Thanks StormWolf10 for beta'ing!