Here it is… chapter 3! And this time the laptop has NOT been left unattended. Although I do have an extra crack-y chapter which I'll publish at the end – written by a friend of mine who was SUPPOSED to be beta reading it. *sigh*
Enjoy!
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Chapter 3 – Jackie
It seemed to Jackie that she lived to hear that stupid ringtone that the Doctor had set up. The annoying Barbie Girl tune that she couldn't change no matter how hard she tried and Rose refused to, claiming her "jiggery-pokery wasn't as good as his" – whatever that meant. As much as Jackie hated the actual song, she loved what it meant… Rose was calling.
"Hello sweetheart. When are you?"
Rose's giggle echoed down the phone line. "Hi Mum! Can't stay on long, the Doctor's driving so I might have to cling on to something any minute." Rose giggled again and Jackie heard the distinctive "Oi!" of himself in the background.
Jackie sniggered. "So when are you sweetheart? Are you coming home soon?"
Rose smiled from her seat on the Captain's chair by the TARDIS console, "Yeah, we'll be landing in Cardiff on– " a pause " 'ang on, when are we landing?"
"24th of June, 2007, 11:03 in the morning, and the wind will be coming from the East."
A laugh. "You think you're so impressive!"
"I am so impressive!"
"You wish!" Jackie smiled as she listened to the two of them banter back and forth. "You've only been gone 12 hours, Rose. Or how about, I did it. Give the man a medal. Earth, Naples, December 24th, 1860. Sound familiar Doctor?"
"Ah, now! Past regeneration – doesn't count!"
"1979, Sheffield. Hell of a year. 1879, Scotland. Same difference."
"Ah, well, yes you might have me there, but we got to meet Queen Victoria!"
Rose laughed again, putting on an effected posh accent "We are not amused."
The Doctor laughed as well, "Indeed we are not, Dame Tyler."
More laughter, "You know you never did pay me that tenner, Sir Doctor!"
Sat on her sofa back in London, Jackie listened to the pair of them banter with a small smile on her face. Well wherever and whenever they were, Rose sounded happy, and even better, she was coming home! ...ish. Sort of. Well, at least it was Earth?
"What're you landin' in bleedin' Cardiff for?!" Jackie interrupted "Is 'is driving really that bad? I'll have to book a hotel for a week! You'll never make the right day! An' really Rose? Bleedin' Cardiff? What's wrong with-"
Jackie heard a slight click and paused suddenly. Confused, she looked down at her phone. Jackie's eyebrows rose in annoyance.
"She hung up on me! The cheeky devil!"
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And so there she was, on the 24th of June, wandering around Roald Dahl Plass at 11am waiting to see if that mad alien she practically called a son-in-law could land that box of his properly. Thankfully, Rose had already told her where abouts in Cardiff this supposed rift was; otherwise Jackie was sure she'd have been wandering around in the completely wrong part of the city hunting for the small blue box.
As her watch ticked past 11 o'clock, Jackie sighed. She hadn't actually booked a hotel room to stay in for a week, but now she thought about it, maybe she should have. She looked out across the water as she leaned against the railing. After all, he said he'd aimed for twelve hours after the explosion of Hendricks, and look what had happened there! Twelve months! But, as luck would have it (or rather the TARDIS would have it as a favour to her favourite pink and yellow human, rather than the skills of her daft pilot) just as Jackie's watched ticked onto three minutes past the hour she heard the engines. That wheezing, groaning sound that filled her with hope every time she heard it. Rose was home!
Well… Cardiff. But close enough.
Before the box had even finished fully appearing, Jackie had set off across the bay to hammer on the TARDIS door concealing her daughter. Less than a minute later her impatient hammering on the door had accompanied a somewhat shrill, "I know you're in there! Put my daughter down you mad alien! Doctor!"
There was a pause where nothing happened; thinking they hadn't heard her, Jackie decided to pound on the door again. Just as she was raising her fist to knock, the doors opened and her Rose appeared grinning widely.
"Hi Mum!" she whispered, a cheeky glint in her eye, "Come on in! Don't mind him." She nodded over her shoulder to where the Doctor stood, mid-rant, hands waving in emphasis.
"…quite a few of those 'women' guards had as manly, hairy hands as I do! Not as manly as mine but-"
"God, 'e goes on a bit, doesn't he?" Jackie grinned, stepping through the TARDIS doors and glancing around at the high ceiling, before turning her attention back to her daughter. "Oh look at you sweethear'! How are you? Where have you been? Ooh, tell you wha' – show me where the kitchen is an' I'll make us all a cuppa-"
Jackie noticed Rose grinning at the Doctor's somewhat horrified face, and she barely held back a snicker. Turning towards the corridor Jackie headed down towards what she hoped was the kitchen.
"Now which way was it? Did she say left, right or ..?" Jackie broke off, suddenly noticing there was now only one other door in the corridor. "Well aren't you just a sweetheart then?" Jackie said to the TARDIS, "My Rose always said you know what was going on, but it never made any sense to me." Jackie shrugged. "Just so long as you're 'elping look after my little girl, 's all I want." For some odd reason, Jackie felt something like a pulse of warmth from the ship that seemed to both reassure her and agree with her statement. The blonde woman shrugged again, it was alien. An alien ship that was bigger on the inside, could change rooms and move through space and time. It wasn't that surprising to think it helped look after her daughter too. And as far as she was concerned, that's all there was too it. Jackie walked through several more corridors before appearing in a very homely (and surprisingly clean) kitchen.
Jackie nodded in approval, taking in the warm, bright, honey coloured room. It was almost as if someone had plucked her dream kitchen straight from her mind, with a few TARDIS style twists. It was a large, open space with exposed coral rafters and polished coral-topped wooden units. One wall was lined with French windows that appeared to open out onto a large lawn of what Jackie could only describe as red grass. And there, above the sink, another window looked out on a great mountain range that glistened brightly in the sunlight. Jackie had no idea how it was possible to have a garden, or mountains or even sunlight on board a ship – but she had long since stopped worrying how these things happened and just enjoyed them for what they were; And she was certainly enjoying this kitchen! A tasteful mix of old, country-cottage charm, elegantly mixed full of new age gadgets and appliances. Most of which, Jackie noted ruefully, she would have no idea how to use; even if she had a month of Sundays! Which, Jackie supposed, it was quite possible to have a month of Sundays on the TARDIS.
Smiling, she walked past a rustic looking table and headed towards the central island to where a 21st century-looking kettle rested. It was just boiling as the Doctor and Rose burst in through the door.
"No! Nope! Love a good cup of tea, me!" he babbled "All those free radicals and tannins, nothing better!"
Jackie raised an eyebrow at the pair of them. Not together her foot. Her mother's eye instantly zeroed in on their joined hands, how he leaned towards her daughter, how she looked at him in the same way Jackie knew she had looked at Pete. Hopeless, the pair of them. Trying to contain her happy smile she turned on the Doctor.
"What are you babbling about now, you daft alien?"
For a second, he looked almost surprised to see her there, arms folded comfortably across her chest, head titled slightly to the side, standing bold as brass in the honey kitchen. Not that he'd ever admit it, but this was the Doctor's favourite of the five kitchens the TARDIS currently held, so it took him a while to marry up the image of Jackie Tyler in his favourite cooking space.
"Erm..? Tea?" he replied, somewhat hesitantly, glancing back at Rose, hoping she would help him out of this frankly awkward and bizarre conversation.
"Tea?" Jackie repeated, raising an eyebrow at the pair of them. "Well you skinny idiot, aren't you goin' to say hello?" she asked before rapidly advancing on him, placing two hands on the side of his head in a pincer grip, and pulling him down to peck him on the lips. Jackie did her best not to laugh at the disgusted-six-year-old face he pulled before wiping his lips on the back of his hand that was not still clutching her daughters.
Rose giggled at his expression and took pity on the Doctor. "Here Mum," she said, releasing his other hand and stepping around him to stand next to her Mum. "I'll show you where we keep the tea. There's this great one we picked up from… oh where was it Doctor? The blue one?"
He smiled, settling into one of the wooden chairs by the table "Mars."
Rose turned to mock-glare at him, "No it wasn't. You're just saying that to wind up my Mum! You know… the blue tea? From the planet with the dancing flowers?"
"Wandering flowers, Rose – and it was UbaxAmbaday, in the Horse Head Nebula."
"UbaxAmbaday, right – oh yeah, 'cause we only went there so you could make that joke about me wandering off!" She grinned and turned back to her Mum "It's brilliant tea, it tastes like strawberries! I don't mean like strawberry flavour, but like actual strawberries! It's the weirdest thing, but it's so good!"
"Don't you have any normal tea?" asked Jackie, "You know, Earl Grey? Twinning's? That sort of thing? 'Cause if I'd known, I'd have popped to the Co-op before I came in."
The Doctor stared at her, looking for all the world that he was deeply offended by her question. "Are you saying, Jacqueline Tyler," he grilled her, over enunciating the words "that I don't know what normal tea is?"
Rose laughed at the slightly scared look on her Mum's face. "Course we have normal tea Mum. Ignore 'im, he's just being a prat." She stuck her tongue out at the Doctor and he gasped in mock horror, before sticking his tongue out in return. "Second shelf, third cupboard on the right." Jackie smiled as she reached into the directed cupboard, pulling out a nearly empty box of Earl Grey. Out of the corner of her eye she watched the Doctor stand up from his seat and reach around Rose to grab the mugs as she pulled the milk out of the fridge. They seemed to work in perfect synchronisation as they pulled out the tea things, unconsciously working around each other in a way that only happens after a lot of practice. Setting the box of tea bags onto the side, Jackie stepped back out of the way to grab a seat at the table as the two of them prepared the tea. Not together, her foot.
In short order, each of them were sat comfortably at the table sipping their various teas. In the end they'd all settled on a good strong cup of Earl Grey, although Jackie had watched in mild horror at the six spoonful's of sugar the Doctor had added to his. Then again… that did explain a lot. Not surprisingly, the Doctor was babbling again. "You humans and your tea. It's brilliant! Although… it's more the British thing really isn't it? You've got the right idea, haven't you? No other country or even any other species have a time dedicated just to drinking tea. You lot are mad for it! You've even got auctions for the stuff. Oh that tea auction in 1920 Rose, do you remember?"
Rose grinned, "You mean the one in London, where you almost started a riot?"
"Nah, not that one." He grinned back "The one on the Delta Tea asteroid, and that weird munchkin lady with the big eyes? Do you remember? The way she looked at you! And then she opens her mouth and fire comes out!"
Rose laughed at the memory, leaning back into her chair, of which the Doctor's arm was strung across the back rest. "I thought I was going to get frazzled!" she grinned, absent mindedly shifting closing in the Doctor's casual embrace.
His eyes sparkled with mischief, "Yeah. One minute she's standing there, and the next minute… roar!" he imitated the munchkin lady and he and Rose cracked up laughing.
"She never did!" gasped Jackie, "What'd she go and do that for?!"
Rose grinned, glancing at the Doctor, who had the decency to look partly ashamed, although there was still mischief in his eye. Not totally repentant then. "Well someone and I'm mentioning no names 'ere, only went and insulted her and her families tea growing business, telling them they'd been doing it wrong for centuries and then… he only goes and blames it on me!"
"'e didn't!" Jackie grinned, "'ow'd you get 'im back then? 'cause I know what you're like. What'd you do?"
For the first time, the Doctor actually looked nervous. "Surely Rose, we don't need to tell your Mum this…"
Rose grinned wickedly, leaning conspiratorially closer to her Mum. "In revenge, I got the TARDIS to hide all his tea!" Jackie clapped her hands in amusement laughing at the Doctor's dejected face. "And!" continued Rose between her giggles "and I didn't tell her to do this!" Rose broke into laughter again catching the look on the Doctor's face "She hid all his shoes!" Rose crowed, tears of mirth streaking down her cheeks.
The Doctor folded his arms and pouted.
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It wasn't too much later that their cups had been placed in the sink and the Tyler women (and a still grumbling good-naturedly Doctor) left the TARDIS and set out into Cardiff. After several hours of window shopping and the occasional I-need-to-buy-that-now! item; Rose, Jackie and the Doctor began to head back towards the TARDIS. As short as it had seemed to her, Jackie had had an excellent day with two of the most important people in her life, and a good old fashioned gossip with her daughter about proper Earth things as well as all that crazy alien stuff she got up to. Currently, Jackie and Rose were discussing the current TV heart-throbs.
"…I'm just saying," said Jackie, nudging her daughter in the side "he's got great hair and since he's lost the weight, I wouldn't kick him out of bed-"
"He's on the telly, Mum!" Rose grinned, and Jackie noticed her sneaking a glance at her much-thinner-than-he-was and great haired alien. Her daughter was many things, but subtle was not one of them. "An' he's minted, course you wouldn't kick 'im out your bed!"
"Ooh you cheeky prat!" Jackie screeched, walloping Rose on the arm playfully, "I brought you up better than that! No respect for your poor old Mum!"
Rose snickered and was about to retort when a surprised "Oomph!" came from behind them. Jackie ignored him, fully expecting him to be pulling a face and having bitten his tongue instead of making a rude comment about her. And he'd been doing so well…
"You alright there Doc-" Rose asked as Jackie continued on, tuning the pair of them out. No doubt the two of them were making eyes at each other again. Not together her foot. Smiling, Jackie shook her head, but then noticed after several paces that her daughter was no longer walking next to her. She turned around.
"Rose, what are you- Oh my god!"
Jackie froze, the amused smile sliding off her face as she stared in horror at the Doctor, and his darkening shirt.
"Oh my god!" she shrieked again, "Call an ambulance!"
Jackie's brain short circuited as she stood petrified, gaping at the Doctor. So his blood was red then. Was all alien blood red? Or was it just his? She'd always thought it would be green, or some other weird colour, like out of Star Trek but maybe… she shook herself. Now wasn't the time for that! Oh god, this was worse than Christmas! Jackie's inner ranting ground to a shuddering halt. Oh god! Christmas! Evil Christmas trees, robot Santa's, an injured Doctor…
TWO HEARTBEATS! LOCK HIM UP AND DISSECT HIM! What was it Rose had said? One bottle of his blood would change the entire future of the human race?! They couldn't call an ambulance! But he needed help! 'Oh god!' Jackie thought, 'What the hell do I do?' Panicking, Jackie pulled out her mobile and dialled the only number she knew that might be of any help. After a quick dial tone, the other end picked up.
"Hello?"
"Mickey! Oh my god! Thank goodness, it's Jackie!"
"Yeah I know – caller ID an' all-"
Jackie cut him off, "I'm with Rose an' the Doctor in Cardiff! But 'e's been shot an' 'e's got two 'earts an' they'll dissect 'im an' 'e needs to go to the 'ospital but 'e can't 'cause they'll chop 'im up an' use 'is blood or somethin' an' oh I don't know! An' 'e's bleedin' everywhere an' it's red, but 'e's an alien and-"
"JACKIE!" Mickey bellowed into the phone, trying to sort through the deluge of information Jackie had just dumped on him, "Calm down! What's 'appened? Are you an' Rose alrigh'?"
Jackie took a deep breath and turned away from Rose and the Doctor. "We're both fine but the Doctor's not. 'e's bleedin' Mickey, an' it looks like 'e's been shot an' I don't know what to do! Wha' do I do, Mickey?!"
Sitting in his flat in back in London, dressed only in a t-shirt, his boxers and his socks, Mickey Smith stared blankly at his computer screen. The Doctor was injured and need help. And fast. Mickey was stuck in London, so he was out. Rose was with the Doctor, but wouldn't know what to do if he was really badly hurt, so no help there. He's an alien so he can't go to a hospital, not without being dissected; what Mickey really needed was someone who knew about aliens, could be trusted, had access to medical equipment, and was in Cardiff.
It was a long shot, but Mickey grabbed his 'Doctor' file from the shelf. After Rose had gone swanning off the first time, he'd done some research; read up on the Doctor. If you looked deep enough on the internet or in the history books – there he was; right next to a list of the dead. Mickey shook his head to clear it. This was no time for petty jealousy, if Mickey didn't think of something soon, the Doctor's name might finally make that list. He shuddered, the thought leaving him oddly cold. That couldn't, no… wouldn't happen, not on his watch. Mickey quickly scanned the tab labelled 'Contacts of the Doctor".
Tower of London. London, Ealing. Scotland? Central London. No one was near enough! Mickey was about to slam the folder shut in frustration when his finger slipped and ripped loose a sheet of paper.
"Torchwood 3?"
Scribbled at the top of the page, in his own hand-writing was exactly the word he was searching for: Cardiff. He scanned the paper, specifically the recorded heads of Torchwood 3. There! Just below 1989-1999, Alex Hopkins was a surprisingly familiar name.
2000 – PRESENT, Cpt Jack Harkness
Mickey's heart leapt. No way could that be anyone else! And if Jumping Jack Flash was in Cardiff…
"Jackie, just hold on. I'm getting help fo' you now."
"Oh god Mickey, hurry!" she squeaked, sounding terrified.
Mickey grabbed the house phone from its cradle by the computer, quickly dialing the Torchwood 3's number. It had been hell to find, but using the buffalo override (seriously, what kind of password was that?!), he'd managed to hack the hotline number to the head of Torchwood 3. Mickey crossed his fingers and prayed that this would work…
"Captain Jack Harkness; whatever you're selling, we're not buying." The American drawl rang from the second phone and Mickey could almost hear the Captain's finger on the end call button.
"Jack! It's Mickey! Don't hang up!"
A pause. "Mickey?"
"Yeah, Jack thank god I-"
"Mickey the idiot?"
Mickey growled, "Enough of tha' Captain Cheesecake, we've got problems."
"Mickey Smith!" Jack sounded delighted "How the hell did you get this number? And that's Beefcake, mister! So much effort for a date Mr Mickey-Mick – don't I feel special!"
"We haven't got time for this! We've got a problem – the Doctor's in your neck of the woods, but-"
"WHAT?!" Jack abruptly cut him off "How is he? Where is he? Why didn't it-? That bastard! Ianto, Hub NOW!" There was the sound of screeching tyres and a, "Floor it, Ianto!" before Jack was back on the line. "Tell me everything you know Mickey Mouse." Jack said in a low, dangerous voice. "Tell me what the hell is going on."
"Hold on!" Mickey dropped the house phone and grabbed his mobile off the desk. "Jackie? Jackie, are you still there?"
"Oh Mickey, thank god! What do I do?"
"Jackie! Jackie, listen!" he interrupted before the blonde woman could start on another tirade "Help is on the way alright? Where are you?"
"Erm…" Jackie paused as she wildly glanced around, "Erm… by the TARDIS!" Jackie yelled, glad she'd found an identifiable landmark.
"Not helpful Jackie." Mickey muttered, trying to ignore Jack's increasingly loud demands from the other phone, "Anything else near you? Buildings or street names?"
"We're by water!"
Mickey fought the urge to bang his head against the desk. "What buildings are you near Jackie?"
"Oh I don't know…" moaned Jackie "The Millennium Centre I think…"
"PERFECT!" yelled Mickey, stretching to grab the other phone "Stay there Jackie and don't let anyone move him, okay? Help'll be there soon." He hung up on her and pulled the other phone to his ear.
"Cheesecake? You still there?"
"That's beefcake to you Mickey Mouse – where is he?"
"By the Millennium Centre; sounds like he's injured. Jackie thinks he's been shot. Rose is with him, but he's regenerated since you last saw him, alright?"
"The Millennium Centre?!" The glee in Jack's voice was almost tangible, "He's right by the hub! Mickey, don't worry, we're almost there. Step on it Ianto!"
The line disconnected as Jack hung up and Mickey sat back in his chair. Nothing more that he could do now. He let his head tip back to face the ceiling as he dropped the home phone back onto his desk. All he could do now… was wait.
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So it's all slowly pulling together :) have to admit, it was so fun writing the domestic Doctor scenes. I had far too much fun with it!
Less fun wrting Jackie's accent though, SO MANY SKIPPED LETTERS! It was surprisingly difficult to focus on the cockney accent – I'm from the North of England so it's fairly easy for me to write that (as in my HTTYD fics) but cockney? Urgh. So many re-writes!
Ah well, drop me a review and let me know what you thought – was my cockney convincing?
Love and Hugs,
Spannerspoon out.