Thank you all for the lovely reviews, as well as all the favs and follows! ^^ The next chapter may not come for a little while, because I'm going to a camp this week and won't have a computer to type on, but this is the longest chapter so far, so I hope it'll make do! (I hope you like it)
**Warning- Talks of violence, with torture
Chapter 6
Rose and Jenny appeared in the consol room quickly after they heard the dematerialization sequence take place. The Doctor was looking at the scanner when they entered. He doubted there'd be anything dangerous taking place in Cardiff, but anything could happen. Besides, over the years he noticed that he tended to draw trouble wherever he went. And Torchwood didn't help their cause.
When he received the "all-clear", he glanced up and flashed a grin at Rose and Jenny. Jenny responded with an equally excited grin, whereas Rose gave him that small smile she tended to give him nowadays.
During the day, she was still almost back to her old self. At least that's what it seemed like. There were moments when he'd catch her looking as if fighting against pain—not just emotional, but physical, too, it seemed—and she'd double over for a second. She always seemed to walk with a guarded expression. And the smile…that's what killed him the most. Rarely ever a complete smile, one that reached her eyes…But that was only until she was around other people. She'd laugh, make jokes, and had that compassion which was signature to Rose Marion Tyler herself.
He looked at her now.
Guarded.
Surprise, surprise. He wondered if perhaps Jenny could get through to her. Maybe Jack would help, like he originally thought. Or Donna…she'd know what to say. Then he mentally shook himself. No need to grieve for the past, he told himself. Besides Donna was alive. She was well. Of course she was.
"So, Torchwood right?" Jenny said, nodding toward the scanner.
"Yup," he said popping the 'p'.
She bounced on her heels a little, and he couldn't suppress the gleam of affection he felt for his daughter, whom was so excited for such a small adventure. He exchanged a bemused look with Rose, ignoring the fact that his heart rate increased.
There was a knock at the door.
Rose lit up with excitement. "Can I…?" she began.
"'Course." He pocketed his hands.
She pulled open the door. It hadn't been very long since Rose had seen Jack, but last time they were together, the world was ending and they hadn't exactly gotten the chance to chitchat. However, the person at the door wasn't Jack. It was—
"Martha!" The Doctor exclaimed from behind. Rose shifted behind the door, ignoring the disappointment that tugged at her. She was sure Martha was great and all, but she was looking for Jack Harkness, no one in between.
Martha smiled widely. "Doctor!" He leaned in hugged her. "It's been such a long time! Where've you been?" The woman demanded.
The Doctor seemed puzzled. "Long time?" She nodded. "How long's it been since we last saw you?"
"About a year."
"A year?" He seemed shocked. "Blimey, I was shooting for a month after we last saw you." He stroked a piece of the TARDIS doorframe. "Must be having trouble getting to the right time after being outside the universe. Guess I'll be doing some maintenance on her."
"Yeah, you better. I don't want it to be years until the next time I see you again." She stopped, looking behind him. "Is that…?"
The Doctor turned his head to see Jenny approaching them. He grinned and sidestepped.
"Jenny?" Martha said in disbelief, her voice almost seeming hushed as if she wasn't sure if this was supposed be a joke or a big secret that needed to be kept. She took a step forward into the TARDIS.
Jenny smiled. "Hello." She gave a little wave.
Still looking at Jenny, Martha said, "But…how?"
He felt Rose brush beside him. He opened his mouth, in preparation for a long explanation, but was cut off by Rose, who apparently seemed to sense it. "It's complicated," she said not unfriendly.
Martha turned. "This is the famous Rose, right?" she asked, glancing at the Doctor before returning her gaze to Rose. She'd seen Rose before, but she didn't know her well enough to be sure.
"The one and only," she responded. "I s'pose we haven't really officially met yet…so, yeah, I'm Rose. Rose Tyler." She extended her hand.
"Martha Jones." She shook the other woman's hand, and smiled.
Jenny shuffled over to the Doctor and nudged him. "One with the girls, aren't ya?" she teased.
He looked shocked. "What? No. Well yes, but no, not in that way."
Jenny giggled. "I bet you snogged them both," she said after a moment, and arched an eyebrow at him.
He sputtered. She was talking about this? Now? Technically, he had, in a way. Sort of. But that didn't matter, because this was Jenny. His daughter. She shouldn't even know what snogging was! Instead of continuing the conversation with her, he cleared his throat. "Now then, where can I find a Captain Jack Harkness?"
"He was out on some business with Gwen and Ianto," Martha answered, "but they should be back any time now. But I've got someone who'll be excited to see you!" She grabbed the Doctor's hand and dragged him out, Jenny and Rose following suit. They were led down a few different hallways, (Jenny admiring all the alien tech along the way, and Rose explaining what did what; after all, she did work for Torchwood in a not so different universe) before they reached a room. The settlement seemed surprisingly empty for something that seemed so large. In the room, though, sitting at a desk was a man. His chair turned around at the sound of their entrance.
Mickey Smith.
Rose wasted no time running in for a hug, which was returned enthusiastically. Mickey had been the one who stuck with her the entire time in Pete's World, helping her every step of the way with the Dimension Cannon as well as other things. She knew just as well as he did that as much as they grew closer there, they grew far apart even more so. And it was her fault. She shut him out, especially once the cannon started working. It took up all her time, when she wasn't physically and emotionally exhausted, just searching to find a way back. Even before that, she was so grief-stricken and determined that there was no chance of anyone getting through the barriers she set.
"I missed you," she mumbled into his shoulder.
"I missed you, too," he said back.
She smiled and pulled away. Instinctively, she was resting her hand on his in a friendly way, nothing intimate. She was about to say something when she felt something under her fingers though. She looked down to see a silver band on his ring-finger. She rubbed it with her thumb. "Mickey…?"
Martha cleared her throat. All eyes went to her. "I was going to wait to tell you three, but I s'pose now is as good as any time. Mickey and I got married!" She held out her hand, revealing another shining ring.
Rose caught her breath. At one point in her life, she knew she'd be jealous and angry with Mickey at this kind of revelation. Now, however, she was filled with happiness for him, even if a tug of sadness pulled at her. He was gone now. Her best friend gone to another woman. She didn't know Martha well, but she seemed good for Mickey. They'd make it. "Ooh, good for you!" She was about to give him another hug, but realized that may not be such a good idea in front of his wife. "How long's it been since the wedding?"
"Not too long," Mickey replied. "Got engaged 'bout three months after you dropped us off. Had the wedding three months later—I know, quick, but there wasn't any reason to wait exactly. So been married a bit longer than six months now." While he was talking, Martha had made her way slowly next to his chair. Now he had his arm around her waist and she leaned down, their lips briefly touching.
Jenny made a noise of disgust, and Rose couldn't help but laugh a little. Grown from the DNA from a single being for military purpose, yet she was still like any teenager.
"And you're expecting so soon?" The Doctor asked, nodding towards Martha's stomach.
"Expecting?" Rose was surprised.
Martha and Mickey didn't look too shocked that he knew, even though the baby bump wasn't showing yet. Superior Time Lord senses after all. "Just sort of happened," Mickey said simply.
"Three months along," Martha smiled, looking down as if embarrassed.
"Oh that's great!" Rose grinned. She pushed Mickey softly. "Didn't waste any time, huh?"
He chuckled. "Well, when you're friends with 'im, you never know what might happen. Best get started early."
Rose nodded understandingly with a small smile. "I'm happy for you."
"Rose Tyler!" A familiar figure stood at the door. In a deep blue trench coat and with dark brown hair, Captain Jack Harkness grinned at Rose. He spread out his arms and ran at her, she allowing him to wrap her in his warm embrace. "I missed you, Rosie. Where've ya been?"
"Oh y'know, same ol', same ol'." Her voice was muffled from her face being tightly pressed into him. She took deep breaths, struggling to breathe at such a tight hug. Blimey, she must've really been gone a long time.
"Jack." The Doctor's warning voice sounded from behind them. "I think Rose needs some space to breathe."
Martha and Mickey snickered, which earned them each a sharp look from the Doctor.
Jack pressed a quick, friendly kiss to the top of her head, before releasing. He turned to the Doctor with a short laugh. "Of course! You two are officially together now, am I right?" He wiggled his eyebrows a bit at the Time Lord with a wink. Before neither Rose nor the Doctor could respond, Jack was hugging him.
Rose couldn't help the amusement that bubbled in her at how the Doctor stiffened and stuttered in his protest at Jack's hugging. She heard Jenny giggle, and smiled. It was great to hear her laugh. She had a wonderful laugh. And her smile was something Rose couldn't help but begin to adore. Her personality was something so special, as well, with her kindness. She was strong and independent in many ways, but was naïve with the simplest things.
She really was a very loveable girl.
"Blimey, you have a tight grip there," the Doctor groaned, stretching his back when Jack released. "Has it always been that tight?"
Jack shrugged. "Maybe next time you shouldn't wait so long to pay me a visit." Then he turned to Jenny, because most definitely Jack Harkness could not forget about another lovely being in the room. "And who might this be?" he asked, walking up to her.
The room was instantly filled with tension, everyone sensing it was not the best idea to flirt with the Oncoming Storm's daughter. Jenny's eyes widened, noticing the clench in her father's jaw, and she opened her mouth to speak, but a tight hand gripped the Captain's shoulder.
"That's my daughter," he said warningly.
Jack's eyes widened and he made a face that said he was…impressed. "It really must've been a long time since we've last seen you, huh? Got started pretty quickly." He glanced from Rose to the Doctor.
Both turned slight shades of red. "That's not-" they said at the same time.
Jack raised his hands. "I know, I know. Grown from a single cell, one biological father and mother."
Everyone gave him a quizzical look, wondering how he could know that, including Mickey (Martha must've told him about the incident).
"Different readings came off her." He pulled out a sensor from his pocket. "It usually does a crap job, but judging from everybody's reactions-" he twirled around in a circle, glancing at everyone, "It's correct this time. Which is bad news for me."
Rose raised a questioning eyebrow at him.
He shrugged. "I could've had a chance with her if you were the mother-" he winked at Jenny, "—but now there's none with Daddy giving me the death glare over there."
The Doctor scowled and pulled Jenny over to him protectively.
"Yeah, boss," Mickey said, "I think if you don't want another death pretty soon, you best back off with the sweet-talk for his daughter—Jenny? That's her name…" He looked at Martha for confirmation, who nodded.
Jack laughed, a tinge of nervousness in it. Then he patted Mickey on shoulder. "Maybe you're right…" He straightened. "So what's up, Doc? I doubt you just dropped in for a 'hello' after disappearing for a year."
"It's only been a few weeks for us," Rose spoke up, "since we last you all."
Jack's eyebrows shot up. "Wow. Can tell you're getting older and more careless, Doctor. Can't even get to the right time to see you best friends?"
The Doctor's eyes darkened slightly. Rose's did too, but she said in a light voice, "S'not the first time he's done this. I missed a whole year on my first trip with him, remember?" She was sure she'd told him that story before.
"Yeah, and I was the suspect for her disappearance! Murder suspect, in fact." Mickey said, bitterness edging his voice. Martha rolled her eyes, and mouthed to Rose, 'Men.' Take forever to get over anything, they did.
"Oh yeah," Jack breathed, nodding. "Well let's not make too big of a habit of it, hey old pal?"
"I know, I know. Won't happen again."
"Better not, missed two years now, me," Rose said pointing her finger at him in a teasing way. "Good thing my mum's not here, or you'd get another slap."
The Doctor's eyebrow's moved up questioningly, a bit startled to hear her cracking jokes so soon after parting ways with her family. She shook her head slightly as to tell him not to mention anything from the meta-crisis- incident and on.
So he decided to respond to her comment, ignoring the odd looks the others were giving them. "Oh no, not a slap!" He covered his cheek with his hand. "She has a hard hand, that woman!" He looked at Martha. "So does yours!"
Martha smirked. "So why are you here, Doctor?" she asked.
He pocketed his hands and walked around in a circle, head towards the ceiling. "I can't just drop in for a 'hello'?"
"'Course you can, but you know as well as I do that that's not what you do."
He sighed. "Fine, fine, you've got me…it was Rose who wanted to pop in." He pointed dramatically at her.
Rose placed her head in her hand, and the Doctor went on and on about how sometimes he just needs to say 'hello', even if it's for a companion, etcetera. She knew what he was doing. He'd done this several times before in their previous travels when he wanted to talk to somebody alone. She knew he'd done it with Martha, too, because she was giving him that 'knowing' look. She raised her hands. "All right, we get it," Martha said. "I'll just go get a coffee or somethin'."
"I'll be going as well," Rose nodded to everyone. The Doctor's eyes lingered on hers for a moment with a fading smile. She gave him a look that said, It's all right, I'm okay. But the concern on his face didn't fade, so she looked away, beckoning Jenny as she left the room with Martha.
The three girls left the Torchwood building. It was a sunny day in Cardiff. There was a nice little breeze, not too chilly, but Rose adjusted her hoodie anyways.
"So how was the year we missed? Anything good happen?" Last time Rose missed a year, it was a lot more serious, because she had her mum and Mickey to worry about. Now she didn't have anyone, really. All her old friends thought she was dead after Canary Warf. Mickey and Martha had each other, along with a little one on the way.
And Jack…well apparently he was immortal—which happened to be all her fault, but still, he had his team to look after. She was sure he missed her, but there wasn't really anything keeping her here on Earth anymore. It was actually painful to be back here, knowing that she was supposed to be dead. After all the hurt she'd gone through to get back here and then facing even more afterward. It was no wonder the Doctor never stayed still, never wanting to look back on what he lost. She was becoming the same way.
"Oh nothing much, honestly," Martha shrugged. "Just in the beginning, everybody was confused with what happened with the Earth moving and the Daleks. There was a lot of cleaning up to do. A bit of small aliens here and there, but nothing Torchwood couldn't handle."
"How do you like working for Torchwood?" she asked. "I worked for Torchwood One in the other universe, so…"
"Oh, Mickey and I don't really work for Torchwood," Martha laughed as if that wasn't even an option. "Well we did for a little bit, just right after you and the Doctor dropped us off to help with the chaos. Now we kinda just come and go as we please. Still work with aliens, but just…just a couple of free lancers, like you lot."
"Nice," Rose nodded. "Defending the Earth, can't argue with that."
Martha laughed softly.
"What?"
"You and the Doctor are just so much alike! I can see why I never stood a chance."
Rose was confused. "Wait-"
Martha waved her hand dismissively. "Don't worry; I got over it pretty quickly."
Jenny spoke up. "Could you two not talk about fancying my dad? It's a bit weird."
They laughed. "Sure thing," Martha said, grinning. "Now, would you like to tell me how you're alive…?"
"What is it, boss?" Mickey asked. Jack and the Doctor both slumped into chairs next to Mickey as soon as the girls left.
"Yeah, you seem pretty worried," Jack commented, taking a sip of the coffee Ianto had brought him a minute ago.
"Well…" The Doctor hesitated, suddenly wondering if he'd made the right choice to come here. Originally, he was going to tell them about the Four knocks, the woman, dream, and all, but now he realized it could all be a coincidence. The Universe did have those from time to time. No need to stress anyone out. However, he could talk about Rose…
"Doc, come on," Jack eyed him. "We miss a year of you, and then you suddenly show up, claiming it's only been a week. You think we haven't noticed you're missing a few people in your team and how weird you and Rose are acting? Crap happened. Let it out."
He took a shuddering breath. "Rose…something happened," he began. "I thought it was something that happened with my meta-crisis and…well Donna." He didn't really want to talk about the events. "But now I know it's not, for sure."
Jack leaned in, interested. Mickey stiffened a little.
"And it has something to do with something that happened Pete's World." The Doctor fixed his eyes on Mickey.
Mickey clenched his jaw stubbornly. "It's not my place to say."
"Mickey," the Doctor said, tone suddenly urgent, "I need to know. She won't talk to me. She's hardly getting any rest, because of nightmares. And she won't tell me. She wakes up screaming." His voice was choked so he quit talking, and ran a hand through his hair.
Jack's eyes widened with surprise. "I guessed something was wrong, but not that bad."
"She said the nightmares went away…" Mickey said quietly, mostly to himself.
"When?"
Mickey cleared his throat. "Back in Pete's World, she was having these nightmares after…well even during…"
"Spit it out," Jack said impatiently, intent on the conversation.
Mickey hesitated. "I don't think she'd want me to say if she hasn't told you yet. It took a lot for her to tell me and her family, and she didn't even say everything."
The Doctor rubbed his face in his hands, feeling more stress coming on. Mickey wouldn't even tell him what happened. Rose was one thing, but Mickey? No, never mind. Mickey's loyalty was always to Rose first. This wasn't a surprise. But if Rose wouldn't tell him...He was just afraid of how bad it was affecting her. How long ago had it happened? Why did it happen?
"But I think it might be for her own good if I do," Mickey said after a moment.
The Doctor's head shot up.
Mickey took a deep breath. "Well um, it first started with Rose working with that Dimension Cannon. It didn't start working for a long time, and it didn't actually work until walls of the universe were cracking—but that comes later. Our universe, it ran ahead of this one, so for us, it only happened a little over a year ago. I don't know when—or even if it happened here."
"More to the point, Micks," Jack encouraged.
"Rose, she was kind of going crazy trying to get back. At least that's what everybody thought. She talked to me though. I knew she was sane—well as sane as she could be, anyways," he chuckled a little to himself, and then continued. "Soon after we started getting some readings off the Cannon, this spaceship appeared in the sky." The Doctor leaned in, interested. "It wasn't big like the Sycorax one at Christmas, but it wasn't too small either. It just stayed there for a few days. No sign anyone was there. We were beginning to think maybe it was just empty, someone had to abandon ship and it was just on autopilot or somethin'. Then the invasion started.
"They were these little robot things. At least that's what we thought. It was Rose who found out what they really were." He shuddered. "They called themselves the Toclafane."
The Doctor stopped breathing for a moment and paled. Toclafane?
"Oh so apparently you have heard of them." Mickey looked from the Doctor to Jack, whose own face was drained of color.
"Yeah," Jack managed, darkness in his voice. "We've heard of them."
"But never mind that, just continue," the Doctor told him.
"Well they started killing people. Torchwood was fighting back, but we were losing people fast. Still, we couldn't stop, right? They just kept killing and killing…Rose started working even more with the Dimension Cannon. Then her TARDIS key—she never took that off—started glowing, she thought maybe you were on that ship trying to stop the Toclafane, or maybe you were a prisoner. But wherever you were, they could sense the energy of the key." His voice caught. "They came for her. They hurt her, because she fought, cos she's a fighter, wouldn't just let them take her, even though she thought you were aboard that ship. S'pose she probably had a plan, but the Toclafane weren't part of it.
"I don't know exactly what they did to her. She came back with a whole lot of injuries—not all of them were physical either. Sure, she had cuts and bruises, even had broke 'er ankle—really bad, too. It was cut through all the way to the bone and then the Master—the man behind the invasion—snapped the bone. Didn't know if it'd ever fully recover, but we used some alien medicines Torchwood had in stock, and it did good. Physically, she ended up being pretty well, but her mental and emotional health…he tortured her, wanted more information about you and other things. 'Course she wouldn't give him anything. And he even went after Tony, me, Jackie, an' Pete. We were in deep hiding though, so he could never find us. He told Rose he did though, said we were all dead.
"He would leave every day. Drop 'er off somewhere with his little minions guarding her. Even if we did find her, we never would've been able to get through to her. She just had to hang on. Then one day, all the Toclafane disappeared and the Master never came back. We found 'er not too far out of town. We thought she was dead at first. We brought her back to the institute unconscious. She woke up screaming. Then when she calmed, she broke down and told us how she thought we were all dead. Then she told us a little on what he did to her, but I don't think she said it all." He shuddered. "Time Lords—she said he was one of you—you're telepathic, right? I think he messed with her head or somethin'. Just some of the things she did…" He shuddered. "We told her to slow down with her work on the Dimension Cannon, rest a little, but it was like her escape, so she kept going. Thought she was all better, but I guess not…"
Jack looked horrible. His eyes wide and grief hung on his face. The Doctor, however, looked even worse (if that was possible). He looked like he was going to be sick, and he felt like it too. His chest felt so tight, he found it hard to breathe. Then he buried his head in his arms, half-expecting tears to fall, but instead he felt dead inside. Completely empty.
Oh, Rose…
Rose, Martha, and Jenny were actually having a rather good time, just talking and walking along in Cardiff. They got fish-and-chips (which Jenny absolutely loved), and that was about it for any money spending. After all, they did have a bit of "catching up" to do.
That was, until they were interrupted by a boy who ran up to them. He was breathing very heavily, panting in fact. He had ragged military-type clothing and dirty blond shaggy hair. He had a scarred cheek and wasn't necessarily the cleanest looking lad.
"Jenny!" he gasped.
"Cline?" Jenny seemed astonished.
Martha stood up, obviously recognizing the boy as well.
"Who-?" Rose began.
"He was on Messaline with us when Jenny was created," Martha said, predicting what Rose was about to ask and staring at the boy. "In fact, he was the one who processed the Doctor to get Jenny."
"What are you doing here?" Jenny asked, sounding more surprised than anything.
Cline was bent over, supporting himself with hands on wobbly knees. "I need your help."