A/N: Here… comes… the Companions! BOOM! And thus my novel will turn into a fantastic mixture of humor and H/C. But mostly humorous fluff. Who cares—Let's get started!
Chapter 3
Flirter on the Loose
It was a peaceful night in Cardiff.
Which meant an utterly boring hell of a time for Captain Jack Harkness.
Goodness, how could this be happening? Not a single alien invasion or strange signals? Why do those aliens always wait for Christmas to make a bloody invasion?
Jack groaned, lamenting the limitless unfairness of the world. Even his Torchwood team was either surfing the net or dozing off peacefully. What was the matter with them? All he could hear was the occasional tap tapping of the keyboard or the snoring noise of his teammates. And there was no one to flirt with. How tragic.
He sighed, cleaning his gun. He wished…
He wished the Doctor was here.
Of course, since the Doctor wasn't the greatest fan of Jack's flirting (which, by the way, Jack couldn't still understand), and also due to his so-called 'immortality related headache issues'—it was highly likely that the next encounter with him would be another Almost-Doomsday for poor Earth.
"Three years," Jack muttered under his breath, flicking on the computer screen. "It has been three years since your last visit, Doc. And that was an apocalypse, so it doesn't count—"
And that was when he saw it.
His mouth dropped open, his ramblings abruptly cut off. The rift energy signal? But—but this was impossible! He stared at the screen, where the sudden spike in rift energy was displayed. And the signal read seven times stronger than a TARDIS appearance!
His heart skipped another beat when his phone buzzed loudly. He looked at the phone, frowning. A message from the TARDIS—asking for help? It was no coincidence! Nope, no coincidence, nada.
The Doctor must have gotten himself involved in something big. Something really, really huge.
He jumped up, grinning, threw his goat on, grabbed his gun and everything. Finally. The Doctor was back. Back! And he was asking for his help—which disturbed him a bit. The Doctor didn't ask for help under normal circumstances. Yes, he did order people around, give advices from time to time, but a cry for help? That was completely out of character for him. He felt a tinge of uneasiness fluttering in his heart as the original wave of excitement wore off. What could be possibly happening? What was wrong with the Doctor?
Yup, he was definitely going.
"Jack, where are you going?" Ianto rubbed his eyes and called after the Torchwood leader, who was just leaving the room fully packed. Captain Jack Harkness glanced back, and flashed a charming grin.
"Tell others that I'm going on a vacation. I need to help an old friend of mine!"
"What? Jack, you can't just go like that! Wait—!"
But he was already gone. Ianto groaned, rubbing his temples. Stupid Jack. Always sauntering off by his own! Now, how was he going to handle this? He glanced at his team, who was still engaged in a peaceful sleep. He couldn't just say that 'Jack decided that he wanted to see an 'old friend' and went on a merry holiday all on his own, so get on with your work!' when they woke up and questioned about the lack of their leader's presence. He sighed.
It was going to be a long night.
DWDWDWDWDWDW
"Mickey! Mickey!" Martha Smith—more commonly known as Martha Jones—rushed down the stairs, exiting the UNIT headquarters. Mickey Smith, who was busily typing into his laptop, looked up—only to have the air knocked out from his lungs as Martha hugged him, laughing out of excitement.
"I did it! I did it— we can go! Kate Stewart assigned both of us a new mission and she said that we could stay there as long as we needed!"
"What mission?"
"The TARDIS and Doctor Surveillance Duty!" Martha revealed, beaming. There was a stunned silence, and then Mickey's dazed expression cracked into a wide grin. He hugged his wife, lifted her straight off the ground, and the two of them began laughing together exuberantly.
"Well done, Mrs. Smith! I knew you could do it!"
"That's Martha for you, not Mrs. Smith, you idiot!" Martha smirked triumphantly, getting back down to the ground. "My persuasion skill once saved the whole world from a psychopathic alien Prime Minister, you know."
"Okay, okay, let's get going. We have a duty to do, you know." Mickey waved his hand, and both of them hurriedly got into the car. He handed his laptop to Martha and turned the key. The engine roared to life like a Cheshire Cat, and soon, they were speeding down the highway—to Donna Noble's house.
Martha peered into the computer screen. While she was in the UNIT office, informing Kate Stewart of the urgent situation and getting her permission to leave the workplace, Mickey had hacked into many of the CCTVs in the Noble neighborhood. She flicked through the videos. Mickey tapped a corner of the computer screen.
"Here. This particular surveillance camera caught sight of a weird crack in the sky. And I found quite a few recent Twitter postings claiming to have seen a burning police box falling from the sky in this region. That means—"
"—the Doctor," Martha finished his sentence for him, and snapped the laptop shut. She sighed. What could he have gotten himself into this time?
Last time the Doctor had saved their lives by taking down a Sontaran soldier, who was aiming at them with his gun. They were very surprised and thankful at then, but the dark, desperate look in the Doctor's eyes unsettled them at the same time. The way he wordlessly turned away and disappeared, the way he didn't even try to smile—that also made them uneasy. After that event, Mickey had commented that the Doctor had the look of a dying man, and Martha slapped him on the shoulder, scolding him for saying such a thing. But still—
Rushing down the way to Donna Noble's, Martha vowed in silence that she would do all she could do to protect the Doctor. He was asking for help, which was a rare thing; whatever his request was, Martha was determined to carry it out.
DWDWDWDWDWDW
"Come here, K-9." Sarah Jane Smith called at the robot dog, which followed her out the door. Before getting into the car, she turned to Luke, her adopted son, and told sternly:
"Don't go off saving the world on your own, Luke. No reckless things—Mr. Smith will look after you!"
"Mom…" The boy fidgeted guiltily. "Can't I go see the Doctor, too?"
"No, it might be dangerous. Besides, you have a school to attend!" Sarah Jane shook her head. Luke pouted, and her frown softened. She briefly kissed her son and smiled.
"I'll be back soon."
She got into the car and drove off, worry nagging at the corner of her mind; the Doctor had sent a message, asking her to come and help him. This was an uncommon thing. She stepped on the accelerator, speeding up the car. She was definitely coming. Although…
Sarah frowned. Was that a… police car that was being chased by other police cars?
Yes. It was.
Amy Pond was screaming.
Rory Williams (Also known as Rory Pond) was driving at one hundred and fifty miles per hour, his teeth clenched.
River Song was shooting with her blaster gun.
Awesome, brilliant Ponds.
Stealing a police car and shooting guns randomly to break through a traffic jam.
…The Doctor would have loved it.
Yes. Anyway, Captain Jack Harkness, Donna Noble, Wilfred Mott, Martha Jones, Mickey Smith, Sarah Jane, Amelia Pond, Rory Williams, River Song—these were the people the TARDIS had chosen. These were the people the Doctor trusted. These were the people who would sacrifice their own lives to help save this time-traveling alien friend of theirs.
They were, in short, the Doctor's family.
The Biggest Family on Earth, as Sarah Jane had once called it.
DWDWDWDWDWDW
The child was small. He looked like he was about ten years old, but still, he was small and slender, even for his age. A lock of soft, silky brown hair fell onto his face as he was changed into pajamas and gingerly tucked into a comfy bed by Wilfred Mott. Donna pulled a stool over and sat on it, staring into the young boy's face.
He was a lovely child— but he still looked like him. Her Doctor. There was something familiar in his peaceful, sleeping face. Something that reminded her of the Doctor before he was de-aged. Oh, well. She shrugged it off. I'm having none of that nostalgia, Doctor Donna! Figure things out, and reverse it, get the Doctor back to normal— concentrate—!
Shoot.
She was clueless.
She was frowning and busily swearing under her breath when Wilfred came up to her, pulled out a chair, and sat down. He curiously observed the young child's rather pale features.
"That's the Doctor, right?" He commented, chuckling. "But it's better than I hoped, though. As soon as he's up and about, you can travel through the stars again, girl! Your memories are back, the Doctor is back with his blue box— Oh, I thought I'd never see him again."
"What?" Donna looked up. Wilfred's eyes were sad and worn out as he gazed at somewhere far, far away.
"You know, that Christmas when you had a headache and passed out— he saved the Earth again. Said something about a prophecy involving his death, absorbed radiation to save me—and he left, just… left us." He shook his head regretfully, stroking the boy's hair gently.
"He looked so lonely… the lottery ticket, Donna, the one you got as your marriage present—that was his. He gave it to you. It was his last present, and I think he was already dying by then. Regenerated, I mean. I never forgave myself for that, Donna. I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault," Donna said, shooting a glare at the unconscious boy. "That idiot. Always running himself down!"
Oh, she felt so tired. It was a long night; so many things happened… her memory coming back, TARDIS falling from the sky, the Doctor regressing into a child…... Donna glanced out the window, and sighed. Her head still throbbed mildly, probably from the lack of sleep. It was breaking dawn.
"Irving…" The Doctor moaned, pulling the blanket closer. Donna leapt up, startled.
"What? Oi, Doctor! You awake?" She yelled. Oh, it felt weird, really weird, calling this tiny child 'the Doctor'. To her, the Doctor was all pinstripes, sandshoes and cheerful grins. —Huh, whatever. She, being Donna, simply shrugged off the nagging feeling.
The Doctor, however, didn't wake up. He merely sighed, relaxing. Donna slumped back onto the chair, feeling all despondent. Wilfred placed a comforting hand on her back silently, trying to console her.
That's when the doorbell trilled.
"I'll go get it," Wilfred told his granddaughter, and hurried out the room. He was so glad that Sylvia was staying at her friend's house for the time being. He and Donna didn't need any more complications or headaches. He rushed down the stairs, huffing.
Tap tap tap tap.
The man outside was knocking incessantly. Wilfred took a moment collecting his breath, then called out.
"Who is it?"
A split second of silence—and the man on the other side answered in a hesitating voice.
"Is Donna Noble here?"
"I'm her grandfather!"
"Oh, well. Close enough," He coughed awkwardly. "I am Jack Harkness from Torchwood. Doctor's friend—I received a signal from the TARDIS. May I come in?"
"Oh, you're one of 'em!" Wilf hurriedly threw the door open, relieved. Jack grinned playfully, taking a step forward.
"Captain Jack Harkness, at your service. Now, where is the Doctor?"
A/N: Thanks for all your reviews and/or follows, Guest, guest 01, BADWOLFGINGER, Shadowdragon1317, FandomGod321, Cure Eclipse! Really, you guys know how to make me keep going :) I'm so flattered! And yes, I don't hold copyrights…
R&R to have the next Chapter Posted! Next Chapter: Doctor wakes up. Big, big chaotic, fun reunion!