Chapter twit-twoo. Yay! I love that word. Do you know, if you type 'yay' into predictive text, it comes out as 'wax'? 'Cos it does. That was real interesting, huh?
Anyhoo, just to clear something up. A couple of people have mentioned it, and I want to let y'all (how Texan!) know that there'll be no Janto in this story. Not a smidgen. Please assume that in this little AU world of mine, there never has been anything romantical whatsoever between tha Captain and the tea boy. 'Kay? So no, lovely Ianto's not the villain. You may all hate me for it, but I've never seen any Torchwood episodes where they're a couple, so I really can't imagine it and wouldn't know how to write it. Plus I'm in love with Jack/Donna :) Do thay have acombined name like Janto? Jonna maybe? Donnack? Dack? Jackonna? I don't know.
Okies, so, enjoy the chapter and I'd love a review (again, no diva behaviour. Well, just a tad, but this water's so damn cold, it's messing with my shakras! I cannot work under these conditions! Argh!).
Donna xxx
Chapter Two - A Perfected Technique
"Gwen!" Jack said after a while, only just remembering she was there. She stood awkwardly in a corner, biting her lip. He couldn't blame her, really. After all, if they'd discovered an intruder and she had been the one greeting them ecstatically, he would be very confused.
"So sorry! Erm, there's someone you have to meet. Might I introduce-"
"For God's sake, Jack!" the girl cut across him, "You can cut the formalities!"
She rolled her eyes.
"I'm Rose." she said, extending a hand to Gwen, "Rose Tyler."
Gwen accepted the hand with a small smirk, taking an instant liking to this girl.
"Don't get me started on the subject of Jack's strange ways. Talk about drama queen..."
"Oi! I can hear you, you know." Jack called, a little perturbed. The girls just laughed, and both knew they would get on fine.
Mickey squinted at the monitor, trying to get a better look at the fuzzy picture on the screen. There were some strange things going on down in that storeroom, strange indeed. He watched, baffled, as Jack and the intruder hugged enthusiastically before chatting quite happily to Gwen. What the hell was happening? He saw the stranger gasp suddenly and gesture down at Gwen's feet, before the trio left the storeroom and he was faced with a still picture once more.
"Who is that girl?" Martha asked from where she sat behind him, "And... what was that about the feet?"
Mickey just shrugged. He was thinking hard, and decided not to answer Martha although he had a sneaking suspicion at the back of his mind. When he thought about it, there was only one person it could be, for Jack to greet her in such a way. And if it was her... would that actually be a good thing or a bad? She was the woman that Mickey had loved all his life, but who had never really loved him back. Sure, she'd been happy enough, but it had never been the real thing - for her at least. And then he had come along. The Doctor, the man who had single handedly taken away absolutely everything Mickey cared about.
Just as Mickey had firmly convinced himself that it wasn't her anyway, he heard voices on the stairs. He heard footsteps, he heard laughs - well, he heard one laugh anyway - The laugh that had always been so infectious, that was the most beautiful sound Mickey had ever heard. His heart started beating faster, and when Rose Tyler actually stepped through that door, it almost stopped entirely.
"Rose." he managed quietly, practically a whisper. He couldn't believe this. She looked him up and down, an expression of great confusion on her face.
"I'm sorry, do I know you?" she asked him in all seriousness, and he was this close to panicking as a grin suddenly split on her face, "Oh, I'm just jokin'! Mickey, It's good to see you."
He had expected a hug, at least, but she had barely even registered him. How could she stand to be so blasé about seeing him again after so long? But no, his time was definitely up, for now she was enthusiastically shaking Ianto's hand.
"Ianto!" Rose smiled, "Lovely to meet you. Rose Tyler."
She heard a splutter from the other side of the room, and looked over to see a dark-haired girl in a medical coat glaring at her.
"You're... you're Rose Tyler?" she questioned, and Rose swore she could hear a tone of hatred in her voice, "The Rose Tyler?"
Rose was a just a tad scared at the accusing voice this woman was using.
"What, am I famous round 'ere?" Jack saw her joke nervously, and decided to step in before Martha did anything drastic.
"'Course you are!" he cried, in a lighthearted tone of voice, and stepped a little closer to Rose. "This is Martha Jones, but-"
"Doctor Martha Jones." Martha interjected furiously, "In fact, I-"
"But that's not what we're interested in now!" Jack cut her off once again, seeing the dangerous look in her eyes, "Rose, what I still don't know is how the hell you're here!"
Rose hesitated for a moment before turning her eyes from Martha to Jack.
"That's sort of a long story."
"We've got a long time."
"Yeah!" Gwen said enthusiastically, spotting her chance and seizing it, "We have! We'll sit down and you can tell us all about it. Ianto'll make some coffees, won't you darlin'?" she smiled over at him sweetly, "We have got a guest, after all."
"Great!" Jack agreed, and led Rose up a flight of stairs to the Torchwood sign and a group of sofas. Before following them, Gwen made a face at the defeated Ianto and did a mock victory dance. He acted over the top, hurt and wounded, but in fact, as he made his way up to the kitchen he smiled to himself.
"So Canary Wharf was how it all started." Rose explained when they were all settled, "You'll have heard about it, I guess. Met the lovely Cybermen? Yep, well they'd pretty much won, until the Doctor-" her stomach did a little flip, as it did whenever anyone brought up his name, "-came up with the idea of opening the breach. The Cybermen and Daleks would get sucked in and be trapped in the void. All very well, but the thing was we were soaked in the void-stuff too, we would get pulled in. Mum and dad went back to the parallel universe, I rang Mickey and told him so grab onto something, and he did it. Opened the void. Me an' the Doctor-" Flip, "- held on tight to these wall clamp things, but I couldn't hold on. I fell. Just when I was gonna get pulled in, my Dad appeared, and zapped us both back to his world. And then..." she gulped, blinking the tears back rapidly, "The breach closed. Caput. And I was trapped."
"Oh, my god." Gwen muttered, horrified. "I'm so, so sorry Rose, that's awful. Thanks." she added distractedly as Ianto handed her a steaming cup.
"Yep." Rose said quietly, all the emotion coming back to her, that utter sense of loss she'd felt when it had happened. She gave Ianto a small smile of thanks as he handed her a cup as well.
"Weren't you devastated?" Jack asked quietly, so serious and caring.
"Um..." Rose considered, taking a small sip, "Yeah." she admitted finally, with a small, bitter laugh.
"At least, I was at first. Those first few months, I was properly depressed." she cradled the cup in her hands as she spoke, her face a picture of raw emotion, "Couldn't sleep, didn't eat a thing... Mum was really worried about me, I lost a boat load of weight. I don't know how I survived..."
She shuddered, and seemed to snap out of it.
"And then one day, it just hit me. There was no way I was ever gonna have a life on that world, no way I could ever be happy. And so I figured, instead of sittin' around and waitin' for the Doctor-" Flip, "-to come and get me, I'd have to do something about it myself. So I dropped the mopey attitude, piled back on the weight, joined up at Torchwood and helped built this."
She took a small yellow button out of her pocket and handed it to Jack to examine, "It's a Dimension Cannon. It opens the breach for a fraction of a second, just long enough to transport you across the void into the next parallel world."
"Impressive." Jack admitted, "Why Cardiff, can I ask? I assume you worked in Torchwood London on this planet of yours."
He couldn't hide the scathing tone in his voice.
"Yeah, actually, I did." She said with a grin, "But, Jack, just for the record - that planet wasn't mine. It never felt like home, just felt like there was something missing..."
"Or someone..." Jack suggested, adopting a mock-dreamy expression, "A certain medical professional..."
Rose gave him a smack on the arm, and received a sympathetic eye-roll from Gwen.
"Moving swiftly on. To answer your question, It had to be Cardiff 'cos o' the rift. Duracell wasn't quite gonna power that thing, and the rift provided enough energy to send me across the void instantly, without getting stuck halfway or running into any stray Daleks."
"So you knew you were in Cardiff? Then why on earth were you so confused when you first got here?"
"Ooh, let me see?" She mocked, pretending to think deeply, "Because I was in some random damp, dark storeroom god knows how deep underground?" she leaned in conspiratorially, "And, you know. Inter-spacial travel without a capsule. Night-mare!" she sing-songed.
Jack whistled, and set the yellow button down on the coffee table in front of them.
"Well, bravo, I have to say! You, Rose Tyler, have been doing your homework! The Doctor'd be proud."
Rose's tried her best to ignore the flipping in her stomach, although her cheery expression was suddenly replaced by a serious one.
"Which brings me directly to my next point, Jack."
He nodded, "I figured that was coming. He'll be so pleased, Rose. Losing you, this whole thing... it destroyed him, you know."
She tried not to cry at his words, thinking about the Doctor. Instead, she pressed her lips against the rim of her cup and studied him over the top.
"So can you do it?" she asked finally, quietly, almost scared of what his answer would be.
She needn't have worried.
"Rose," He assured her, that signature Jack Harkness grin making an appearance, "I promise you, I will try my absolute best."
And that was all they needed.
"Right then!" he cried suddenly, leaping up, "Let's do this! Let's get that skinny excuse for a Time Lord down onto this plant sharpish."
They ran down the stairs, Rose unable to keep the grin off her face.
Jack dashed straight over to Martha, his fingers crossed. "Martha! Let's see if we can do this the simple way. Do you still have that phone number for the Doctor?"
Martha studied his face, and then that of the blonde girl next to him. She was the reason the Doctor hadn't fallen in love with her? That was pathetic. For God's sake, this girl wasn't even naturally blonde, and, to be honest, not all that pretty. She felt sick with jealousy.
Back to Jack's question, and Martha thought immediately of the mobile in her pocket, the name "Doctor" proudly at the top of her contacts list. It would be so, so simple to ring him on that number, and he would be guaranteed to come running.
But not if Martha had anything to do with it.
"Nope." she lied, acting regretfully, "Sorry." She so wasn't,"That phone got broken, and besides, I accidentally... er... deleted the number." That ought to do it. Yes, Jack was sighing and cursing.
"Okay, no problem." he said, entirely unconvincingly. "Um... let me think. Ianto!"
"Sir."
"That thing that those things were using, a while back. Is it up and running?"
Gwen laughed, "Really helpful, that, Jack."
"Okay, er... those big blue things that were in the river. They were trying to pull their buried spaceship out from under the ground. What did we decide to call that bit of machinery they were using?"
Ianto thought, before pronouncing proudly: "Oh, you mean the Pull-O-Tron!"
Rose raised her eyebrows, "Cor, guys, that's technical language, that. Almost as good as 'Jiggery-Pokery'."
"Yeah," Ianto agreed, "We just thought it rolled off the tongue a bit better than hypo astronomical scoline cable to intermagnetically extract a dyner-consignment.I mean, we can call it that if you'd rather..."
"Erm... the Doctor'll kill me for sayin' this, but I think I'll stick with Pull-O-Tron." Rose decided.
"That's my girl!" Jack said, before turning back to Ianto. "My point was, Ianto, can we get it working?"
"Well, yeah, but I don't see how... oh." It dawned on Ianto. "You're not gonna-"
"Oh, yes." Jack dashed over to a complicated-looking piece of machinery the size of a dining table.
"If we reverse the polarity..." he pressed a few buttons. "Quite literally flip the thing..." Ianto fiddled with a wire at the back. "Insert the base-code..." Jack threw Gwen his wrist-watch and she proceeded to enter a long stream of numbers and letters into a keypad on the device.
All Rose could do was watch in amazement as they worked, admiring just how well these three worked as a team. She'd had that once, with the Doctor. That was, until- no. She couldn't think like that. Soon this would be over, and they'd be back together. And so Rose used a perfected technique, one which had kept her going over the last three years, and pushed all negative thoughts aside before forcing a smile onto her face and bounding over to the trio.
"Anything I can do to help?" she asked in a far-too-cheery-to-be-realistic voice, and then: "Come to think of it, what are you doing?"
"One second. Gwen, is that code in? Ianto, it up to maximum power? Fantastic."
He took the watch from Gwen, and pressed a few buttons before grinning at Rose.
"You owe us one, Tyler." he said simply, and then he pressed one last button on his watch. Rose held her breath as a few lights on the machine turned on, as a low, rumbling sound started.
At her questioning look, Jack finally decided to explain himself with great excitement.
"You see, what we have here is like a giant rope, except it can lock itself on to any object in the universe. In this case, the TARDIS. At maximum power, it's infinitely strong. Wherever, whenever that faux Police Box is right now, the Pull-A-Tron will loop around it, and wrench it out of the sky and down to earth. In other words, Rose, The TARDIS is on it's way right here to Torchwood, right now, bringing with it your Doctor and..." Jack had been getting louder and more gleeful as he went on, but at this point his face fell, his voice lowered. "And... oh God."
"What?!" Rose demanded, "What - who is it bringing with it except the Doctor?"
"My dear," Jack said sullenly, "You were closer to the mark with what. The TARDIS is bringing it with it, referring to the foulest creature in the whole universe. That only just occurred to me, and to be honest, if I had thought of it before I probably wouldn't have activated the machine."
"Jack!" Gwen reprimanded, giving him a slap about the arm before directing her attention to a confused Rose, "The Doctor will have Donna with him, which is why our Captain here is acting like such a brat."
"Donna?" Rose asked, "Who- who's Donna?"
"She travels with the Doctor." Gwen said, "Perfectly lovely woman, but she and Jack don't exactly..." she seemed to be searching for the right words, "...get on."
"Don't get on? Understatement of the freaking millennium, Gwen honey."
"Why?" Rose asked, finding this quite amusing, "What's she done?"
She seriously regretted asking, for now Jack was leaping up, his face furious.
"Done?" he ranted, "Too much to say, Rose, too many things to list. That- that thing is manipulative, cruel, thinks she is just so smart, not to mention being a total bitch and..."
"I don't know how it all started." Ianto informed Rose in a hushed voice as Jack continued, "But it's an entirely mutual opinion. Quite amusing to listen to when they're going at it, though. I remember last time Donna and the Doctor visited, th-"
But Ianto was cut off before he could finish his sentence. He fell silent, and even Jack stopped his rant to listen intently. Because they'd all heard it. All of them had heard that noise, that metallic thrumming that they all associated with one thing: the TARDIS. Rose had not heard that sound for three long years, and the tears came to her eyes immediately. She was so thrilled that this was real, that she had actually succeeded... and then she noticed.
The sound was harsher than usual, and a lot louder and faster. It was like a drum being beaten, much more erratic than the old, regular, somewhat hypnotizing thrums. She narrowed her eyes, and looked up at the Hub's ceiling just in time to hear a colossal CRASH!, followed by an awful scraping, skidding noise. And then there was only silence.
She looked questioningly, pleadingly, at Jack, Ianto, Gwen. Hell, even that Marsha girl or whatever it was, Rose just needed to know what was going on. Now.
"Upstairs." Jack said, so softly, looking directly into her brimming eyes, "Out through the information centre. Go. Now."
She didn't need telling twice. Immediately Rose was away and out the cog door, hurtling up those stairs faster than she'd ever run in her life. Up into a messy office, straight out the door. Down a side street - her legs were carrying her instinctively - and then she was there. She stood, gasping for breath, on the edge of a huge paved area, in full view of a colossal water tower.
But she barely even noticed it. She didn't take in the fountain, or the millennium centre. She didn't notice the blue Police Box sat squarely in front of it, cracks in the pavement around it from where it had crashed and skidded along the ground. She didn't even notice the red haired woman, standing next to the box and looking baffled.
No. Only one single thing registered in Rose Tyler's mind at that moment, and that was the man in the pinstripe suit. The reason she'd worked so hard the past three years, the thought that had kept her sane for all that time and was now standing just a few hundred metres away from her. The man she loved.
The Doctor.