Wow. Wow wow wow wow WOW, it has been literally more than eight months since I last updated this... Isn't that ridiculous! I have been so stupidly busy that there just hasn't been time, and what with Doctor Who not being on I've gotten distracted by other things... But to all those who stuck with me and kept reminding me, It paid off! Thank you, and I did tell you I'd update one day! :P There's not much of this story left now and I'm determined to get it finished, so don't worry. Please do leave a review if you're still reading at this point, It'd probably get me to update quicker this time! Haha :) Hope you likeee.
Donna xxx
Chapter Fifteen - Much Ado
"Where's Rose?" Ianto asked casually, aiming his question at no-one in particular.
"Tourist information centre." supplied Donna, ever up-to-date, from where she was perched on Gwen's desk.
"Really?" Ianto asked worriedly, "Is she alright up there by herself? D'you think I should-"
"No." Gwen cut him off, leaning around Donna so she could look him in the eye and continuing smoothly, "She said she needs to be by herself for a bit, gather her thoughts and stuff. You can't blame her really, after everything she's been through..."
"I know." Donna said sadly, "I can't focus on anything else at the moment, so I can only imagine how this must be for her."
"Oh, I'm sure you've focused on... other things... for at least a little while since it happened." Gwen said lightly, and before Donna could say a word she carried on, "But I do know what you mean, I've gotten so behind on paperwork and other normal worky things since all of this."
"Ooh," Ianto said, "That reminds me - Donna, did you get that report finished after Tuesday?"
"Yeah," Donna said slightly distractedly, clearly still dwelling on what Gwen had said, "It's just over there, on that desk I've been using."
"Great." Ianto said, swiftly walking over to Donna's desk and beginning to hunt for the report - she had only been working (unofficially, at that) for Torchwood for a week, and already her makeshift desk was completely cluttered up with jumbled bits of paper, files and assorted stationary, much like Captain Jack's was most of the time.
After a good few minutes of sifting through, Ianto finally located the neatly typed report... But he was much more interested by the piece of paper hiding underneath it, which was covered in messy hand-written pencil and several rubbings-out. He scanned the page, unable to believe his luck at what he found scrawled in Donna's handwriting - this was priceless.
"You got it?" he heard her ask from across the room, and he deftly slipped the page behind the report so that Donna wouldn't see he had it.
"Yep." he replied casually, walking back over to his desk and going through all the motions of filing it away in a drawer, "It's very good."
He shot a meaningful look at Gwen from behind Donna's back, trying to gesture at the piece of paper in his hand without attracting attention and failing miserably. Gwen merely stared back at him quizzically, finally mouthing "What?" as a response to his fruitless attempts at sign language. Ianto sighed, and dramatically slapped his hand to his forehead, before jerking his head in the direction of the door and walking swiftly into the kitchen.
He didn't even have to wait thirty seconds before, just as expected, Gwen followed him in.
"What?" She demanded, as a look of glee spread across Ianto's face.
"You are not going to believe what I found on Donna's desk, in with her paperwork," He told her, "It's amazing!"
"Really?" Gwen looked excited now, "Let's se-"
But before she could take the paper from his hand, before she could even finish her sentence, she was silenced, as the both of them heard the sharp "Come in." Through their earpieces. Jack.
"Jack? You alright?"
"No. Really, really, no." The two of them exchanged a confused look at his harsh, angry-sounding tone of voice, "Gwen, Ianto, I need you up here right now, this is kinda beyond urgent. I'm in the third floor corridor. Bring Donna up with you as well. And I mean it when I say NOW."
"Oh, bloody hell." Ianto grumbled, after insuring that Jack could no longer hear him through the earpiece, "I really wanted to show you this, now we've got to troop all the way bloody upstairs just so Jack can be nice and over dramatic about sometin' pointless..."
Gwen grinned and slapped him on the arm as they made their way out of the door, "Oh, shut up complainin', you. Nice little walk'll do you good probably, even if this is all much ado about nothin'."
However, when the three of them arrived on the third floor corridor they could see clearly that it was quite the opposite of that - Jack was standing, arms folded, glaring furiously at Martha and Mickey, who looked as though they were feeling slightly sick.
"Whoah, whoah whoah guys, what's goin' on?" Gwen asked worriedly, "Jack, you alright?"
He inhaled slowly and deeply, as though what he was about to say would require much effort, "Tell them." he managed quietly, looking at Martha and Mickey and pointing a finger at Gwen, Ianto and Donna, "TELL THEM WHAT I JUST OVERHEARD!!"
They looked absolutely terrified, and even the other three were a little bit taken aback by the complete fury in Jack's face and voice.
"I swear to god," he continued in an almost whisper, "A severe, severe overdose of Retcon will leave you in a way so bad I can't even describe, and it would be ridiculously easy for me to arrange. And even more ridiculously easy to cover up - so tell them, now."
By this point, Ianto, Gwen and Donna had figured from Jack's anger that this was something serious - and so they folded their arms, and listened as a hesitant Mickey and Martha said what they had to say. And by the end of it, the three of them were equally as livid as Jack.
"You..." Donna whispered, her expression murderous and her eyes full of tears, "How could..." She couldn't finish her sentence, needed to take a breath and to take all of this in. She put her head in her hands for a moment, breathed deeply in, and out, before looking straight back up at Jack, her face now set.
"Well, there's only one thing for it." She said strongly, in a matter-of-fact voice, "We're just going to have to set the weevils on them."
"Sounds like a mighty fine plan to me." Ianto agreed, disgusted.
"Just... why?" Asked the flabbergasted Gwen, the only one of the four who could look Mickey or Martha in the face, "How could you do this to them, what on earth possessed you? I just can't understand-"
"I love her!" Mickey burst out, at the exact same moment and Martha exclaimed: "I love him!" And both Jack and Donna made audible sounds of disbelief and rolled their eyes.
"I know!" Gwen cried, "I know, but that's just it! I've been in love before, we all have, and it's no bloody excuse to... To..." She too, then, was too overcome to finish speaking, tears falling over her face, and she turned straight into Ianto's arms, burying her face in him. There was silence for a while, Mickey and Martha looking petrified, before Jack suddenly spoke, oh so softly.
"Get out."
They blinked.
"Get OUT!"
"'Scuse me, love?"
Rose blinked, totally in a world of her own, and realised that not only was she being spoken to, but that she had no idea how long she had been staring blankly into space and ignoring whoever it was.
An elderly couple stood in front of the information desk, looking a little uneasy, "We were just wonderin' about the Millenium Centre. Is it-?"
"I, erm," Rose cleared her throat, "I don't... We're closed. I'm sorry."
The woman looked indignant, "But the sign said you were open!!"
"Well, it was wr-"
"Now see 'ere, love!" Exclaimed the man, "Far as I'm concerned, tourist information is a service you're meant to be providin' us, and you just..."
Rose closed her eyes, breathing deeply to stop herself from falling apart. This was so not what she needed right now, so beyond what she could cope with after all of the confusion and the pain... She just wished for a distraction, any distraction, just something to shut this barmy old couple up...
Her eyes snapped open as the clattering of footsteps could be heard, getting louder and louder as whoever it was ran up the stairs. Rose barely had time to register that there were members of the public in the centre who really, really shouldn't see the cog door opening... Before it did. And two figures hurtled out, right through the information centre and out of the front door, so fast that Rose barely had time to recognise them as Martha and Mickey.
"Jack?" She asked the Captain, who had entered immediately after the other two, and now stood in the doorway, his face showing more pure anger than Rose had ever seen before.
"Jack, what's happening?" She asked, panicking, and as he looked at her, Jack's expression turned from fury to heartbreaking sadness in less than a second.
"Oh, Rose..." He said, and she was really starting to get scared now, "It was... Martha and Mickey... The Doctor, they..." His voice wavered madly, and he took one deep breath to regain some composure and looked her dead in the eye.
"They did this." He said simply, and straight away Rose understood. Straight away she forgot all about the elderly couple, who looked mortified and awfully confused, straight away the reality of the situation hit her like a brick wall. They had done this.
It felt as though all of the blood in her body was rushing towards her head. Her vision darkened, her head pounded, she stumbled blindly towards Jack, unable to cope anymore... And then she felt herself falling... And then she didn't feel anything else at all.
"Right, I got that old couple dosed up with Retcon, they shouldn't remember anythin' about the last two ho..." Ianto's voice trailed off as he entered the room, and saw how grave the situation he was facing was. Rose was nowhere to be seen, and Jack, Gwen and Donna sat around the coffee table, all ashen-faced and quiet. He was ridiculously confused, and as he made to speak, Gwen held a finger to her lips to shush him, gesturing at Donna who, on closer inspection, was holding a mobile phone in front of her.
Ianto didn't say a word, although he still didn't understand, and joined them at the table, realising as he got nearer that the phone was on loudspeaker, and that all three of his friends were listening to the steady beep beep of the ringing tone.
"He's not answering." Donna whispered, looking in anguish at Jack, before there came a different noise from the phone.
"Donna? Hello?" Immediately, she gasped in relief.
"Doctor!" She breathed into the phone, "I'm so glad you answered."
"Listen, Donna," The Doctor's voice sounded exhausted, "If this is about Rose-"
"It is."
"I don't want to hear it."
"You need to."
"No!" He sounded exasperated now, "Look, I know what you're going to say, and I just can't b-"
There was a pained, grim but determined look on Donna's face as she cut across him.
"She's dead, Doctor."