Dear readers, I'm so sorry for the delay. I've really been struggling with my mental health lately and recently had to be hospitalized because of it. I'm doing better now and thank you for your patience. This chapter is mostly a filler and I hope to have the next one up soon. Thank you guys so much!
Gwyn's POV
I watched as other small children ran outside into the pouring rain catching busses or running to their parents, splashing on the sidewalk all the way. I slowly made my way out the front door of my primary school. It was a small school directed towards gifted children. I looked around the playground for Mom and saw her standing off to the side with a smile, a navy blue umbrella in her hands. She was dressed in her field clothes today: black cargo pants and a leather jacket. I ran out into the rain not bothering to zip up my raincoat or pull the hood over my head and rushed straight into her arms. She smelled like honey, petrichor from waiting in the rain, and something that was just her scent all on its own.
"How was your day at school, my little sun and stars?" she inquired, grabbing my hand and pulling me towards the Torchwood jeep. Momma and Uncle Jack said it wasn't safe for me to be anywhere but with them when I'm not at school.
"Boring. We are learning long division today. We also read some of Midsummer Nights Dream in English so that was fun." I babbled as I splashed in the puddles on the cement as we walked. Momma took my bag and placed it in the seat next to me and buckled me into the car seat in the back. It was a silent drive back to the Torchwood base as the rain was obscuring Mom's view and she had to focus on the road ahead. Once we arrived I ran into the base and was suddenly lifted up into the air. I squealed as I was twisted upside down and turned around to face my attacker and then hung by my legs.
"HERE'S SPARKY!" Uncle Jack shouted as he began blowing raspberries onto my stomach. I laughed as I tried to push him away.
"ZAP!" I cheered reaching out my hands, pretending to send energy towards him. Uncle Jack feigned hurt and released me from his grip and fell on the ground.
"Oh no! Rosie, help! I've been wounded!" Uncle Jack gasped as my mother came through the doorway and down the metal platform, my blue backpack slung over her shoulder.
"You have no one but yourself to blame." Momma snickered as she made her way to the corner of the base where I played until Momma and Jack were done the rest of their work for the day.
"I WIN!" I proclaim throwing myself onto Uncle Jack's chest. He lifted me gently off of his chest and stood up.
"Hey Sparky, Caroline bought donuts from VG's today. She got a chocolate sprinkle one just for you!" Uncle Jack barely said before I was rushing down the right hallway towards the kitchen. Pulling a chair from the table and leaning it against the kitchen counter to grab a plate to put my special donut on. Licking my lips as I made my way back down to the main room I stopped as Mom and Uncle Jack were whispering in hushed tones.
"Rose, you have to tell her." Uncle Jack insisted. I crouched low in the hallway carefully remaining out of their sight. Unfortunately that meant I couldn't see them either, only hear what they were saying.
"Tell her what? That she's not human? That we have no fucking clue what she is? She's only 6, Jack. She already feels outcast enough as it is. Even at her school in a class of gifted and prodigy students she's understanding year 8 material and she's only in year 1. She's struggling to make friends; she doesn't play with any of the children. She's feels lost enough as it." Momma argued. I dropped the plate and ran down the tunnels and sneaked out the emergency exit. I ran out in the rain, rushing around the streets not paying attention to anything around me. I ended up in a park. It had stopped pouring and now was only spitting. I sat on a bench; my clothes were soaked and were sticking to my skin. I sniffled as I rubbed my eyes. I curled into a ball and sat on the bench.
"Hey, what are you doing all alone?" A deep voice asked. I looked up to see a tall man with dark brown hair mostly hidden by a brown fedora, and stormy grey eyes. He had a medium build and sported a rust-brown corduroy blazer with elbow patches, baggy grey tweed trousers, a dark brown cardigan with diamond shapes adorning the front, a white dress shirt, a long green neck-tie, and ankle-high leather shoes. To top off the weird dress style he had the longest most colorful scarf I had ever seen. He looked genuinely concerned.
Just as I was about to talk to him, I remembered what Mom had said, never talk to strangers. And this man was one of the strangest I had seen. I scooted back a little to the back of the bench.
"Momma told me not to talk to strangers." I stated, turning my head away.
"Me? A stranger? What ever gave you that idea?" He sassed and I let out a giggle. He chuckled with me.
"My name is John Smith. What's your name?" The strange man asked. I know I shouldn't be telling this man my name but for some reason he felt familiar, as if I had met him somewhere before. He held out his hand for shaking and I slowly put my smaller hand in his own.
"My name is Gwyneth Tyler!" I introduced shaking his hand before retracting my hand back quickly.
"Now, where is your mother? She must be worried." I stopped laughing and lowered my head and focused on my muddy sneakers. "Ah, so you ran away." The strange man assessed. I shot my head up and pouted.
"No, I didn't! I just left the house without telling Momma or Uncle Jack where I was going…" I murmured looking back at my sneakers.
"You must have been awfully upset to have run out of your home like that." John expressed. I stayed silent and tapped my heels together. The jingle of an ice cream truck rang across the park. It was May, a bit early for ice cream but not unreasonably early.
"Hey, how about I get you an ice cream? Nothing makes things better like ice cream. Best invention in the world I think. Except for jelly babies." John suggested, standing up and holding out his hand for me. I stared blankly at the outstretched limb before sliding off the bench and grabbing two of his fingers, since I couldn't wrap my hand around his. We walked in silence to the ice cream truck parked on the road.
"What kind do you want?" John asked, pulling a couple of bills out of his inner jacket pocket.
"Banana," I mumbled softly. He looked down and gave me a big toothy grin.
"Fantastic! Banana is the best flavour of them all!" He exclaimed and ordered another banana cone for himself. We sat on a nearby bench quietly and I focused all my attention on the cold treat in my hands.
"Can you keep a secret?" I finally murmured. John turned to me with a quizzical look on his face before grinning at me again.
"Course. There won't be a peep from this mouth." He said, exaggeratedly zipping his mouth closed and throwing away the key. I smiled at his actions.
"I don't fit in here. I didn't want to worry her so I told her that I leave the other kids alone at my school because they are stupid, which they are but that doesn't mean I haven't tried. Momma and Uncle Jack worked so hard to get me into my primary school without paying the high tuition fee. I go to a school for gifted kids but I still stand out. I'm still too smart." I admitted before licking my cone and took some comfort in the banana-flavoured confection.
"There's no such thing as being too smart. There's being arrogant about your intellect but you can never have too much knowledge, in my opinion. Learning is good, a lot of people don't have your special brain so take pride in that." John comforted, looking out into the park. "I didn't belong anywhere either…" John confessed. I whipped my head up to stare at him wide eyed.
"Really?" I ask. He nodded, still focusing his gaze forward.
"Yeah, I was special just like you. I went to a special school for gifted people and I still didn't fit in. I didn't think like the other kids. I was curious, stubborn, and I had a restless spirit. That's not the way things are done where I come from. You stay silent, follow the rules, and don't question anything. Where I come from they thought they had all the answers one could ever know. They believed they knew better than everyone else. I didn't think that, I questioned their decisions and was constantly experimenting. I was a square peg in a round hole even amongst my own people."
"Momma said I'm not human. She doesn't know what I am…" I murmured, taking a big bite out of my ice cream and kicking my legs back and forth. "I overheard Momma and Uncle Jack arguing about it. I thought maybe if I went to a different school there would be more kids like me but there aren't. I'm an alien and I don't belong anywhere. " I started crying as I crushed the half finished melting cone in my hand.
"We all belong somewhere." John promised, finishing up the end bit of his ice cream cone. He whipped out a wet napkin out of another pocket and began to clean up my sticky hands.
"It just takes a little while to figure out where we belong. I belong exploring and travelling. Don't worry, a smart little thing like you will find your place, and you know what?" He paused. I looked up and stared into his pale eyes.
"What?" I sniffled. He gave me another big toothy grin.
"You're going to be amazing." He assured. I couldn't help but smile back at him. After that he walked with me to the nearest police station. He saw me safely into the station, and then disappeared as soon as I blinked. It wasn't long before my momma and Uncle Jack rushed into the police station looking frazzled. Mom spotted me immediately and rushed forward and wrapped me in her arms and began crying in relief. I gave her a hug back and left the station in her arms.
I slowly open my eyes and my surroundings come into focus. I'm in a simple room full of pastel greens and yellows, still swimming slightly in my dizziness. I slowly look around and notice I am alone. I carefully sit up and rub my forehead. I don't know how long I was out for, and that irks my usually perfect sense of time. The door slowly creaks open and Tom walks into the room carrying a tea tray in his hands. He shows me his goofy grin and placed the tray on the empty bedside table and sits on the edge of the bed. He takes my hands in his and pulls me in for a gentle kiss. I let myself go in the kiss, relishing the familiarity of his body and lips against mine.
"I love you." I whisper, collecting my breath as I rest my forehead against his.
" I love you, too. I'm glad you're feeling better." Tom says as he pours both of us a cup of tea. He adds milk and sugar and hands me my cup. I take a deep breath and inhale the comforting aroma.
"Earl Grey." I murmur, taking a sip of my favourite beverage.
"Anytime. The Tardis has everything doesn't it? It's amazing!" Tom comments. I smile and take another sip of the tea.
"So is everyone else awake? How long was I out?" I inquire.
"You slept a good night's worth; everyone else is up and meeting in the library. I volunteered to come in and check on you." Tom explains, taking a swig of his own tea. Getting up from my cosy spot on the bed, I mosey to the door.
"Well, better not keep them waiting!" I state and let the Tardis direct us to the library.
Normal POV
The Doctor had spread hundreds of papers across one of the large mahogany tables in the Tardis library. Amy and Rory sat across him reading over the document that they collected from Demon's Run. When Tom and Gwyn strode into the library, the Doctor and the Ponds looked up from their work. The Doctor flashed a smile and bounced towards Gwyn and Tom, stopping just short a few feet in front of them.
"I'm glad to see you're feeling better. I was worried." The Doctor said, reaching out to give Gwyn a pat on the shoulder, to reassure himself more than anything that she was okay. Gwyn dodged his gesture and shuffled towards the table laden with documents, where she sifted through the papers and gave the Doctor a cold shoulder. The Pond gave the Doctor a look of sympathy, but he shrugged it off and went back to the table and continued on with his work.
"What were they doing to her? What did they want with her?" Gwyn mused out loud as she glanced through the papers and skimmed over Rose's medical notes, procedures, and experiments.
"They were trying to create their own Tardis." The Doctor hissed with disgust, coming up behind Gwyn and returning to his spot at the right side of the table.
"Turn her into a Tardis? Why?" Tom asked, picking up a folder of his own.
"They discovered Chronon particles in her. They are discrete particles of time. The Tardis core is mostly Chronon particles; it's what makes the Tardis her. It's part of the core that allows Time Lords to travel through time safely." The Doctor explained.
"But what about a vortex manipulator?" Jack blurted. The group turned to the doorway where Jack had finally made his appearance. Jack strode to the table and shrugged under the Doctor's level stare. The Doctor crinkled his nose in distaste.
"The vortex manipulator doesn't actually travel through the vortex like a Tardis. It distorts the time wavelength until it arrives to its destination. That's why you have to be thoroughly trained to use it because it's dangerous spreading your particles the way a vortex manipulator does. It has to be used carefully. Does that make sense?" The Doctor explained. Jack nodded his head in acceptance.
"Then how did the Silence get to Rose's time? In the 20th century when they are a 52nd century group?" Jack further questioned.
"Well, what if they had vortex manipulators?" Amy spoke up. "I mean, the Silence was everywhere in the 20th century Earth, remember? River has one and the Silence gave it to her. They probably have more vortex manipulators somewhere!"
Gwyn nodded her head in agreement. "That would make the most sense; they would only need one person to tell the Silence what to do so there would be no need for large quantities of those manipulators." She mused further. The rest of the group nodded in agreement.
"The question is, where is their base? We have no way to know that." Rory said, breaking the tense silence of everyone deep in their own thoughts.
"What about this River person? You mention her like you know her, and she obviously knows the Silence!" Tom noted. The Doctor and the Ponds avoided the newcomer's gaze and gave each other hesitant side stares.
"It's complicated." The Doctor squirmed and shifted his body awkwardly.
"Complicated how?" Jack asked, his eyes narrowing at the Doctor.
"That's none of your business." Amy snapped.
"Is River the name of the daughter that the Silence stole?" Gwyn asked softly. Amy and Rory stared at her, their mouths open in shock.
"How'd you know that?" Amy inquired, her body tense.
"I saw it when I touched you when you came over for dinner. I saw them take her away when they couldn't have me." Gwyn admitted hesitantly.
"I don't know if River would know of the location of the Base but we could always ask." The Doctor murmured as he hurried out of the room. The timelines now made sense in his head. It all played out. As much as he hated it, as much as he wanted to avoid it…this was the moment that he would take River to see the Singing Towers in Darillium.
~ Time Skip of a Few Hours ~
It had been hours since the Doctor had left the Tardis with River and taken her on their last adventure together. Amy and Rory had long since gone to bed, as had Tom. Gwyn and Jack stayed awake in the library. Jack continued on his research on the particles they had found in Rose and Gwyn tinkered with various mechanics to create weapons for the upcoming battle that was sure to happen when they stormed the Silence's base. She had already created a laser multi-tool for Tom to use and now she was just fiddling with the leftover scraps trying to waste away time.
"I'm going to go and explore Mom's room. That alright?" Gwyn asked Jack, not giving him a chance to respond before stalking out the door and into the twisting hallways of the Tardis. Behind her, Jack let out a slow sigh and rubbed his weary eyes, knowing it was useless to try and stop her.
Gwyn eventually found her way to her mother's old room. Hesitating at the doorway, she slowly turned the knob and entered the bedroom. Shuffling herself to the bed she collapsed and curled herself in a ball, taking in her mother's scent that still lingered. All of Rose's possessions had long since stopped smelling like her and Gwyn relished in the warm embrace of her mother's presence. Slowly relaxing she let her defences down as she lay still in her mother's old room. Eventually getting up she began to explore what was in the bedside drawers. She found various souvenirs from different times and alien planets. There were also lots of printed pictures of Rose, Jack and the Doctor.
She stayed locked up in her mother's old room just exploring. Tom eventually came and knocked on the door, poking his head inside. Gwyn looked up, startled. She flashed Tom a wistful smile and looked back down at the current object in her hands. It was Rose's diary of her travels.
"How long have you been up?" Gwyn asked. Tom shrugged and came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her against his chest.
"Maybe a half hour or so. Not long…" Tom placed a gentle kiss against Gwyn's temple. Gwyn gratefully sank into her partner's arms. She returned Rose's diary to its place on the dresser, and concentrated on enjoying the moment of peace with her husband.
"I have something for you." Gwyn mentioned, dragging him out of Rose's room towards the library. Jack had fallen asleep with his head rested against the table and his mouth hanging open. Gwyn smiled at the sight of her Uncle caught in such a charming position. Guiding Tom to the table she showed him a cloudy shaded hilt with vibrant cherry accents circling around it, all leading up to a onyx crossguard, yet the sword blade that ought to sit atop was missing.
"What is it?" Tom asked, examining the object with rabid interest.
"I know you aren't familiar with guns and I know how you love sword play and I wanted you to be safe, so I built you this." Gwyn stuttered nervously. "The bottom dial is for size to adjust the length of your sword, then above that is the damage done. There's a burning laser, a stunning tazer for paralyzation and, um, then there's a nerve agent to confuse them. The final bit at the top with the red button, that's the scanner. You press it and it scans and determines what species you're dealing with so as not as kill them or use a technique which doesn't affect them." Gwyn instructed, showing Tom all the proper ways to use his new multi-tool. They spent the next hour that way, talking about anything that came of interest, avoiding any serious conversation and just enjoying each other's company for a while.
The Doctor walked into the room with a stern frown and furrowed brows. He glanced their way and his face relaxed somewhat. The air was still and Gwyn held her breath.
"The base of the Silence is the Papal Mainframe on an asteroid in the Helion quadrant. We have to be careful about this. It's a large base and we will need all our strength to get Rose. Are you ready?" The Doctor asked. Gwyn stood up, her shoulders pushed back and her stance wide and proud.
"I've never been more ready for anything in my life." Gwyn vowed.
Prepare for the fight
Prepare for the fall
Prepare for when you lose it all
The time is coming
Two paths to take
Prepare to risk it all
Prepare to take the fall
Prepare to meet the end
Of the Doctor's Daughter