AN: I'm back! I hadn't planned to take a break for the holidays, but in the end, I really needed the two weeks off. But now we're back to normal life (alas!), and updates return to their regularly scheduled Tuesdays. Thanks to those who asked after me-I appreciated it.
Chapter Thirty-Four: Moving Plans
Jackie sighed wearily as she slowly closed Tony's door. It had been almost impossible to get the toddler to stay in bed tonight, and she desperately needed a cuppa—or maybe something a little stronger.
Instead of taking the back stairs directly to the kitchen, she walked down the short hallway to the front of the house. Mickey had come over right after dinner, and Pete had taken him up to his office. But that had been two hours ago and they probably wouldn't turn down some kind of drink.
The first thing Jackie noticed as she turned the corner was that the office door was just barely ajar, like someone had meant to shut it but hadn't quite pulled it tight enough. The second thing she noticed was voices.
"Have you told Jackie yet?"
Jackie slowed down when she heard Mickey's question. Has Pete told me what yet? she wondered.
Pete sighed, and she could picture him rubbing his hand over his balding head. "No, I haven't. I didn't want to get her hopes up. You know how much she misses Rose."
Jackie reached blindly for the wall to prop herself up and pressed her hand to her mouth to hold in a sob.
"Yeah, I know. But now that everything is almost complete, you've got to tell her. You can't just spring it on her on the day of."
Pete laughed ruefully. "I don't know. That sounds like a pretty good idea to me. Hand her a dimension hopper, tell her we're going to see Rose, and hope that in her excitement, she misses the fact that I've been keeping this from her for months."
Jackie's shock had paralysed her momentarily, but anger sent sensation rushing back into her legs. They'd been keeping this from her for months? She strode down the hallway and shoved the door all the way open, enjoying the way Pete and Mickey's mouths fell open.
She focused on her husband, seated behind his mahogany desk. The last bit of twilight coming in from the window behind him cast a halo around him, but it didn't conceal the way his freckled skin had flushed a bright pink.
"Hope I don't notice you've been lying to me? How long have we been married, Peter Alan Tyler? And you really think that's going to work?"
"Jacks." He rubbed at his neck. "How much did you hear?"
"I heard my name, and Rose's, and that you've been lying to me."
Jackie pointed at Mickey, sliding his way down the leather sofa until he was close enough to the door to slink away. "And where do you think you're going, Mickey Smith? You were a part of this, so you can take your punishment along with Pete."
Pete sighed and slumped into his desk chair. "It's not what you think, love."
She crossed her arms over her chest. "You said something about going to see Rose, but she and the Doctor said it was impossible. Not that I wouldn't enjoy proving himself wrong and seeing my daughter again, but is what you're doing safe, Pete? For Tony?"
A hand touched her elbow, and Jackie looked back at Mickey. "Sit down, Jackie," he said, scooting over to make room for her on the couch. "We've got a story to tell you."
oOoOoOoOo
Half an hour later, Jackie's head was spinning. The stars were going out? It sounded like something out of one of those old science fiction films Pete liked to watch.
"Whole solar systems are just disappearing?" She stared out the window, where she could see a few stars appearing on the dusky blue sky. They'd told her twice, but she couldn't believe it. "How does that even happen?"
Pete sighed and rubbed at his forehead. "Reality is breaking down," he said patiently, for the third time. "Things that used to exist don't anymore, including the stars."
"And including the walls between the universes," Mickey added. "That's how I've been able to jump back and forth, looking for the Doctor."
If those walls weren't there anymore… Suddenly, what she'd overheard Pete say clicked, and Jackie gasped. "Pete! I could see Rose! And she could meet Tony!"
He came around his desk and sat down on the couch beside her. "Well, that's actually what I've been working on without telling you, Jacks. What would you say to immigrating?"
"You mean…" Jackie's mouth was dry and she swallowed a few times before she could talk again. "You mean move back to that universe, all three of us? Live where we could see Rose any time we wanted?"
He nodded. "Yeah. Your daughter is there, and I don't know much about the Doctor, but something tells me that he can't really leave that universe. Timelines or reality or something. And if he's not leaving, then of course Rose won't. But we could go there."
"Are you sure, Pete?" Moving to a new universe was the hardest thing Jackie had ever done, and Pete had been there with her the whole time. He knew exactly what he was volunteering for.
"Yeah, I'm sure," he told her.
Jackie put her hand over her mouth, then brushed a few tears away from her eyes. "Thank you."
She pursed her lips, already making mental lists of the things she wanted to take with them. Nothing big, of course, but their wedding pictures and Tony's baby album… A pang of longing struck her for all the mementos she'd lost in the old flat.
Maybe Rose and the Doctor could take us back to right after Canary Wharf so we could clean the flat out, she thought hopefully. I'd love to introduce Tony and Pete to Bev…
Her stomach sank when reality intruded, shattering her dreams around her. "Pete, we can't. You've been dead for twenty years or more back there, and what about me? I just disappeared after Canary Wharf. I can't reappear with someone who looks identical to my dead husband."
Mickey leaned forward. "I've been laying the groundwork for that actually," he explained. "I found out on a recent jump that our old friend Captain Jack—remember him, Jackie—he works for Torchwood Three in the prime universe. An' I'll bet he's got the resources to give us all fake identities." He stretched his arms and laced his hands behind his head. "We might not be able to live in London, but there are other cities in Britain."
"Us?" Jackie echoed. "Are you coming too, then?"
He nodded. "There's nothing for me here, now that my gran is dead. And if you and Pete go back, and Rose is there…" He shrugged. "You're the only family I have, Jackie."
Jackie raised an eyebrow. "Then maybe remember that next time you help my husband keep a secret from me for months on end."
Mickey chuckled, but Pete groaned. "Aw, come on. It was a good surprise in the end, wasn't it?"
"Yeah. Yeah, it's a good surprise." Jackie looked around the room and felt a pang of regret. She loved this house. Where would they even live in the other universe, if they couldn't go back to the flat? How would they buy a home? "Pete. How are we gonna live there without any money?"
She scowled when Pete and Mickey both laughed. "Oi! That's right, laugh at me when I'm being practical. We don't need to be rich, but we do need to have something to live on."
The men shook their heads, broad grins still stretched across their faces. Pete took her hand and brushed his thumb over her knuckles.
"I've been slowly converting our stock options into gold," he explained to her. "Mickey assures me gold is just as valuable in your universe as it is here. There's a briefcase in the safe with more than enough to provide a comfortable life for us."
"Well what are we waiting for?" Jackie demanded. "Come on, let's go!"
Mickey tugged on his ear. "Well, the thing is Jackie… We need to find the Doctor first and take care of the stars going out before we can move."
Jackie rolled her eyes. Of course it couldn't be easy. "Well, he said it. Said that if the walls weren't there, both worlds would collapse."
Pete walked back over to his desk and pulled two items out of his drawer before sitting back down with her. "Exactly. So, we have a plan. Mickey has been doing the recon, jumping back and forth looking for the Doctor and Rose. As soon as he locates the TARDIS, I'll jump through after him. We'll work with the Doctor and Rose, and hopefully we can save the universe again, just like last time."
Jackie didn't care for where this was going, but she kept quiet while Pete finished his explanation.
He held up one of the items in his hands, a fancy looking radio. "I'll call you once the universe is stabilised. Once you've got the all clear, you'll hop over with Tony and the briefcase using this."
The other item was a familiar yellow disk—the dimension hopper that had pulled her to this universe in the first place. Jackie took it from him, the memories of that day still vivid in her mind.
"How will I find you though?" she asked. "I can't just hop over. Tony and I could end up anywhere!"
He shook his head. "There's a homing device on Mickey's dimension cannon. He'll turn it on as soon as he locates the TARDIS so I can follow him through, then we'll turn it on again when it's all over."
"But won't the walls close again after things go back to normal?" Jackie pressed, still not confident of this plan of theirs.
Mickey scooted forward. "Nah. Malcolm reckons we'll have at least a few hours before things are solid again, maybe even a day or two. Plenty of time for you to get Tony and join us."
Jackie went over the details in her head once. It seemed pretty clear. "Yeah, I can do that," she agreed.
The stars were going out, and the universe might be falling down around them, but despite it all, one thought was at the centre of Jackie's mind. She reached for Pete's hands. "Pete. I'm gonna see Rose again soon."
He smiled and pulled her close. "I know, love."
Jackie let Pete hold her as she considered his plan. There was just one part she didn't like. If Peter Alan Tyler thought she was just going to sit around on her arse while she waited for a second phone call from him, he didn't know her as well as he thought he did.
oOoOoOoOo
Dalek Caan's high-pitched cackle echoed against the walls of the vault. He waved his tentacles gleefully as the timelines fell into place.
"Yes, it is all happening as I have foreseen," he cooed.
The captain, made immortal by Bad Wolf.
The doctor, working with UNIT on Project Indigo.
The reporter, with the computer capable of calling the Doctor from every phone on Earth.
The former Prime Minister, creating the Subwave Network.
The three travellers from the parallel universe, bringing the ominous warning that the stars were going out.
The Doctor, who would be there to witness the end of all things Dalek along with his companions.
And Bad Wolf herself, who would be the one to end it all.
"The Children of Time are gathering, and when they have gathered, all things will end!"
