Sally Sparrow liked to think of herself as an explorer. Despite being an adult, she liked the thrill of jumping that black fence surrounding the property, bypassing a sign that warned her to stay out. Her eyes glimmered with excitement as she took in the building itself, wanting nothing more than to go inside.
She ducked beneath some all ready broken boards to get inside, a little weary upon finding them. Someone had clearly had the same idea that she'd had recently. The police had yet to come and investigate. She took out her flashlight as she walked, shining it around and holding her camera up with her free hand to take pictures. She'd investigated the kitchen and dining room when she found the living room.
At first, she didn't notice the peeling wallpaper. But when she did, she saw the barest hints of something inscribed beneath it. Curiosity took over and Sally reached up, setting aside her camera to rip at the paper. It came away with ease, revealing the word "beware."
"Oh," she breathed, curious. She peeled away more, and found more information. "The Weeping Angel" was next and was quickly followed by "Oh, and duck! Really duck!" That had her furrowing her brow. But Sally ignored the wrench in her gut to pull off even more wallpaper, revealing her name with a strangled sound. Her name was followed by "Duck, now!"
She heard glass shatter and barely ducked in time to see a massive piece of stone hit the wall where her head had been. Sally gasped, placing a hand over her heart, She stared at the stone in complete disbelief for a few seconds and then bolted for the window, shining her flashlight through it to see what she could find. She only frowned at the sight of a statue with its head bowed, its face hidden in its hands as if it were weeping.
After a long moment, she cocked her head and then turned to finish peeling away the paper. Heart still racing, Sally was incredibly surprised to find that the last message read, "Love from the Doctor (1969). P.S. Find Jay."
After an interesting time in her best friend Kathy Nightingale's home, Sally dragged her friend out to investigate the property with her. Kathy refused to go until the sun had come out. And when they did, Kathy eyed the private property with suspicion but excitement quickly lit her features. "Okay!" she said cheerfully. "Let's investigate! You and me, girl investigators. Love it! Hey, Sparrow and Nightingale, that so works!"
"Bit ITV," Sally pointed out.
""I know!' Kathy clapped her hands together. "What did you come here for last night anyways?"
"I love old things," Sally explained. "They make me feel sad."
"What's so good about sad?" Kathy demanded.
"It's happy for deep people," Sally said and then peered at the angel statue she'd seen the night before. She made a face, not feeling happy about it. "The Weeping Angel," she told Kathy, nodding at it. "It's moved. Since last night, I'm sure of it. Closer. It's closer to the house."
Kathy didn't look like she was inclined to agree that it was even a possibility, but kept quiet. The two girls quietly entered the property via climbing over the gates and then headed for the house. Sally let Kathy go past her to enter first and then climbed in herself. Together they stopped to look about. "This way," Sally said, and she led the way to the living room. When they reached it, she pointed. "See? How can my name be written here? How is that possible, Kathy?"
"I don't know," Kathy said, cocking her head as she curiously looked at the walls. "Fascinating."
"Fascinating," Sally agreed with a frown, "but a little concerning in my opinion." She paused when the doorbell rang. "Who would ring a doorbell at an abandoned house?" she muttered, going to answer it.
Kathy grabbed her arm to stop her. "What are you doing?! It could be a burglar!"
"A burglar who rings the doorbell?" Sally said with exasperation.
"Okay, I'll stay here in case something happens," Kathy decided as the doorbell rang again. Sally grinned, shaking her head in amusement as she went to answer the door.
When she opened it, she found a surprised looking man before her. He was a little troubled, eyes full of surprise at the fact that she was actually there. "Um," he said, "I'm looking for Sally Sparrow. I was told to bring this letter on this date at this exact time to Sally Sparrow."
Sally cleared her throat. "That's me," she told him, and he handed it over. "It looks old," she said.
"It is old." He eyed the envelope curiously and nervously, reluctant to give it up for some reason.
"How did he know I was coming here?" Sally asked, wondering if this man was the one who'd written on the living room walls. "I didn't tell anyone. How could anyone have known?"
"It's all a bit complicated," he said, shaking his head. "I'm not sure I understand it myself. I'm sorry, I feel really stupid. I was told to make absolutely sure...you are Sally Sparrow, yes?" Sally gave him a blank look, because honestly, she had just said that. "Well, I suppose," he said, flustered, "it's you the. Funny feeling, after all these years."
"Who's it from?" Sally asked, running her fingers over the parchment. "Gimme a name?"
"Katherine Wainwright, but she specified that I should tell you she was called Kathy Nightingale, prior to marriage."
Sally stared at him before jumping when there was a sudden shriek of "NO!" followed by a loud crashing sound. "Kathy?" she said nervously. She'd not recognized the voice that had shouted.
"Kathy, yes," he confirmed, believing that she was asking if he had said the right name. "Katherine Costello Nightingale."
"Is...is this a joke? Kathy," she shouted, turning away and storming into the house, leaving the man at the front door. "Kathy! Is this you?" She began to wander the first floor of the house, searching, and came up empty-handed. "Kathy! Kathy?!"
The man frowned, awkwardly standing out front. Finally, she came back, looking troubled and worried for her friend. "So who are you?"
"I made a promise to my grandmother," he said quietly, "to get this letter to you." She impatiently looked to him, waiting for a name. "My grandmother," he repeated, "Katherine Costello Nightingale. She died twenty years ago."
"Your grandmother?" Sally said faintly, her fingers still tight on the letter, now reluctant to open it. With hesitation, she finally opened it, sorting through pictures that were within the envelope. Faintly, she murmured, "My Kathy, your grandmother...they're practically identical."
He held out a hand for the pictures and she handed them over willingly before reading the letter.
My dearest Sally Sparrow,
If my grandson has done as he promises he will, then as you read these words it has been mere minutes since we last spoke. For you. For me, it has been over sixty years. The third of the photographs is my children. The youngest is Sally. I named her after you of course.
I suppose, unless I live to a really exceptional old age, I will be long gone as you read this. Don't feel sorry for me. I have led a good and full life. I've loved a good man and been well loved in return. You would have liked Ben. He was the very person I met in 1920.
My mum and dad are gone by your time, so really there's only Lawrence to tell. He works at the DVD store on Queen Street. I don't know what you're going to say to him, but I know you'll think of something. Just tell him I love him.
"What?" Sally whispered, dropping the letter. Without another glance at the man, she tore off through the house, shouting for her friend. "Kathy!" she shrieked. "This is sick! This is totally sick! Kathy? Please, Kathy, where are you!"
She bolted up a flight of stairs, pausing to curiously scoop up a key she found on the steps, and found herself stopping at the top when confronted with the sight of a series of stone angels before her. None of them moved, and she was relieved about that. What caught her by surprise, however, was the sight of a tired looking blonde woman standing at the end of the hall, past them. The stone angels all had their heads turned towards her. She looked as equally surprised to see Sally there, brow furrowing as if she was wondering if she'd seen Sally somewhere before. "What are you doing here?" the woman asked.
Sally's eyes hardened. "What'd you do to Kathy?!"
"I didn't do anything." The woman looked startled. "I tried to stop her from getting taken."
Sally went to answer, but whirled around when she heard the door close. "No!" she cried, flying back down the stairs. "Wait!" But the man who'd knocked had gone, and Sally found herself picking up Kathy's letter with a numbness in her body.
"I'm sorry." Sally looked over to find the woman had followed her, her hands trembling a little. She looked ready to collapse. "I tried. I really did."
Sally clenched her jaw and said as she strode out of the house, the woman keeping up with ease, "Who are you, anyways? What are you doing in that house? I didn't see you when I checked it out last night." She glared suspiciously. Kathy had disappeared, supposedly back in time. Did this woman have something to do with it?
"I'm Jay," she introduced. "I was looking for someone who goes by the Doctor, and our friend Martha Jones. Have you seen them around here?"
Sally stopped dead in her tracks to stare at Jay for a few moments, studying the way the woman was looking at her with so much hope. "No," she finally admitted, "but...this man, the Doctor, scribbled on a wall in that house. A message for me. He told me to duck, and to beware the Weeping Angels...also, to find you, I suppose."
Jay looked pleased. "Then I'm where I need to be, I believe. The Weeping Angels...they were the stone angels, of course. He was telling me about them before he disappeared...something about quantum locks? I'm not sure."
Sally found herself relaxing a little. Jay was harmless enough. And she seemed to know some information that might later be vital… "Do you...want to come with me? I have to tell Kathy's brother. About what happened."
Jay eagerly nodded. "Sure," she agreed. "If the Doctor's leaving messages for you, that means you're going to be the ticket to getting him back."
The DVD shop on Queen Street was just as Sally expected it to be. When she entered, it was a little dingy. Sally felt a little ill as she stopped at the counter, speaking to a man sitting behind it as he ignored them in favor of watching the television. "Excuse me," she said quietly. "I'm looking for Lawrence Nightingale."
"Through the back," he told them, pointing without looking.
Sally lead the way and Jay kept quiet, shaking out her wrists as she followed Sally into the back of the store. They entered a back room, Sally calling, "Hello?"
"Martha!" a voice cried from a nearby monitor that was on. Another, more female voice apologized, and the first continued, "Quite possibly. 'Fraid so."
"Doctor," Jay breathed, "Martha" She flew to the monitor, watching the faces on it even as a man ducked into view, greeting them.
"Hello," he said, gaze flicking between the two of them. "Can I help you?"
"Hi," Sally said, a little amused despite her despair. Clearly, Lawrence - Larry, he liked to be called - didn't recognize her from his naked appearance early that morning.
"Thirty-eight," the man on the screen, who Jay had labeled as the Doctor, said, and Larry cleared his throat, apologizing as he paused the disk. He squinted at Sally, trying to figure out who she was, and Sally waited with an amused look.
"Oh, my God!" he cried suddenly and she grinned briefly. There it is. "Sorry, I'm so sorry about the whole-"
"Message," Sally interrupted, her guilt rising in her chest. "From your sister." He blinked, looking surprised and it hurt her to say, "She's had to go away fro a bit...just a work thing, nothing to worry about." She hesitated, and then said, "And...and she loves you."
Larry sputtered. "She what?"
Jay watched in silence, glancing away from the screen, as Sally said around the lump in her throat. "She said to say. She just sort of mentioned it. She loves you. There, that's nice, isn't it?"
"Is she ill?" Larry demanded. A pause. "Am I ill? Is this a trick?"
"No, she loves you," Jay said with a beaming smile, backing up Sally without knowing a thing about what was in the letter. Sally looked at her in surprise.
"Yeah. People don't understand time. It's not what you think it is," the Doctor continued from the TV, and Jay spun around in surprise, flushing. She'd accidentally unpaused it.
"Who is this guy?" Sally demanded despite knowing his title. "You had him on those screens early this morning. That same guy, talking about, I dunno, blinking or something."
Larry grinned, waving off her concern about Kathy's message. It hurt Sally. He didn't know. Didn't realize that Kathy was never coming home. "The bit about the blinking is great! I was checking to see if they were all the same."
"What were the same? What is this? Who is he?" This was fired at Jay, who didn't answer, merely smiled and looked at Larry as he began to speak.
"He's an easter egg," Larry said cheerfully, eager to tell them about this man on the television. Jay's lips quirked a little, much to Sally's curiosity, but Larry didn't take notice. "Like a DVD extra. You know how on DVDs, they put extra stuff on? Like commentaries? Well, sometimes they put on hidden things. They call them easter eggs. You have to look for them, follow a bunch of clues in the menu screen."
"Complicated," the Doctor's voice said.
"Not me this time," Jay told them, and Larry explained, "The pause slips sometimes."
"How many DVDs is he on?" Jay asked then, cocking her head a little.
"Sorry," Larry said, looking at her a frown. "But who are you? Another friend of Kathy's?"
Sally spoke up, cutting in. "She's a friend," she lied, and Jay frowned a little, curious as to why she wasn't telling Larry where they'd met and who she was. Was it supposed to be hidden that she was the Doctor's friend?
"Anyways, he's on seventeen different DVDs," Larry said, eyeing Jay curiously. He cleared his throat. "There are seventeen totally unrelated DVDs, all with him on them. Always hidden away, always a secret. Not even the publishers know how he got there - I asked. I talked to the manufacturers. They don't even know. He's like this ghost DVD extra, showing up where he's not supposed to be, but only on those seventeen."
"Sounds about right," Jay said under her breath, smiling fondly at the TV. To Larry, she said, "What does he do? In these easter eggs."
"Just sits there, making random remarks. It's like we're hearing half a conversation. Me and the guys have been trying for a while to work out the other half."
"Let me take a guess," Sally chuckled, folding her arms as she looked at Larry. "The internet?" Larry gaped, shocked she'd known, and she playfully wiggled her eyebrows. "Spooky, isn't it?"
"Very complicated," the Doctor said from the screen and Jay smiled again. She missed them, Sally guessed as she turned a worried look on the screen. Missed them and was worried. Larry was called out, and Sally reassured him they'd be fine when he looked to her. He'd just stepped out when the Doctor spoke again. "People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually, from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a bit ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff."
"Started well, that sentence," Sally commented to Jay. "Is he always like that?"
"For the most part," Jay sighed. "Yes. He's odd." She cocked her head as she studied the TV. If he'd made this recording, then he'd likely plotted some creative plan to get he and Martha back to the TARDIS - which had disappeared from under her nose, might she add.
"Oi! Jay! Don't call me odd!" the Doctor suddenly proclaimed, and both women stared at the screen in shock. "But that did get away from me, yeah."
"That...was weird. Like he can hear us," Sally said anxiously.
"Well, I can hear you."
"That's enough!" Sally cried, pausing the screen with a shudder despite Jay's protest. "I've had enough now. I've had a long day and I've had bloody enough!" She turned on her heel only to find Larry standing there with wide eyes, confused. "Sorry," she said, clearing her throat. "Bad day."
Jay gave her a sympathetic look as Larry inclined his head and said, "The seventeen DVDs...I thought you might be interested."
"Yeah," Sally said, taking the list from him carefully. "Thanks. That's...that's great." She glanced at Jay, who was biting the inside of her cheek unhappily. "See you around, Larry." She grabbed Jay's wrist and, ignoring her protests, dragged her out. "Come on," she muttered as they walked. "We're going to the police."
"I'm telling you," Jay said with a small huff. "Your friend is gone, sent back in time by the Angels."
"Maybe, but that doesn't mean the police can't do something to stop what's happening, or they might even know something we don't."
Jay couldn't deny that.
The man at the desk was rather unhelpful, Jay thought, leaning against a nearby wall as Sally tried to get him to pay attention. When he wouldn't, Sally took a deep breath, trying again. "Okay," she said, slowing her breath. "There's this house, a big old house, been empty for years and is falling apart. Wester Drumlins, out by the estate-"
That caught his attention. "Wester Drumlins?" he said, sounding surprised. Sally nodded hopefully. "Could you just wait here a minute?"
"Sure." Sally sidled away a little, going to join Jay against the wall. Jay was staring out the window, and when Sally looked, she found herself looking at two Angels. They both blinked, and they disappeared. "Okay, cracking up now."
"No," Jay said quietly. "They were truly there. Great."
"How many of those things exist?" Sally wondered aloud as voices filled her ears.
"I don't know," Jay said honestly. Her blue eyes turned onto a few people that came from a back hall. A man and a woman, both speaking quietly. The woman left to join the man behind the desk while the man came to join she and Jay, saying as he looked down at a piece of paper, "Hi. DI Billy Shipton. Wester Drumlins is mine. Look, I can't talk to you now, got a thing I can't be late for, so if you could just…" He finally looked up, trailing off as he did so. His eyes locked on Sally with interest and Jay found herself grinning. "Hello."
"Hello," the girls chimed back.
"Marcie," Billy said, not tearing his eyes from Sally. "Can you tell them I'm gonna be late for that thing? I've got to help this lovely lady here." He blinked, catching himself. "Ladies," he corrected, smiling apologetically at Jay when she cocked her eyebrow. "Anyways, if you'll follow me...you can tell me about what you saw." He started forward and Sally and Jay fell into step on either side of him. Jay had her arms wrapped around herself while Sally looked interested.
As Sally explained what she'd seen and that her friend Kathy Nightingale had vanished, Jay listened in silence and tried to keep silent. She didn't know what the Doctor preferred she do regarding the police, and while she agreed it was the smartest way to go...it was still rough. She knew what the police were like two centuries in the future. And it wasn't good."
"Your friend isn't the first," Billy told her suddenly as they stepped out of an elevator into a parking garage. "Lots of people have disappeared over the last two years." He gestured to the vehicles around them. "These were theirs. All of them. All still have personal items in them, and a couple still had the motor running."
"So...over the last two years, the owners of these vehicles have driven up to Wester Drumlins, parked outside, and just...disappeared?" Sally asked, and he nodded.
Jay's gasp caught her attention, however, and Sally followed her gaze to find herself staring at a large blue box with a police public call sign upon it. "The TARDIS!" Jay whispered, immediately walking over to it and leaving Sally alone with Billy. Sally arched a brow and Billy narrowed his eyes a little in suspicion at the way that Jay rested her head against the blue wood, radiating relief.
"What is it?" Sally asked. "What's a police box?"
"We think it's somebody's idea of a joke," Billy admitted, shifting his weight as he nodded towards it. "It's a special kind of phone box for policemen. Used to have 'em all over, but this isn't a real one. The phone's just a dummy and the windows are the wrong size. We can't even get in it. Ordinary Yale lock, but nothing fits. But that's not the big question. You're missing that."
"Oh?" Sally said with curiosity evident in her voice. "What's the big question?"
"Will you have a drink with me?" Billy said with a grin and Jay paused to look over her shoulder at them with a snicker. Sally blinked, sputtering, and he said hopefully, "Drink, you, me, now? Sorry, you're not invited," he added somewhat rudely to Jay.
Jay shrugged and touched the handle to the police box's door. "No worries. I have bigger concerns. But aren't you on duty, Detective Inspector Shipton?" Sally waved at her, agreeing with the question.
"Nope," Billy said smugly. "Knocked off before I left. Told 'em I had a family crisis. Life is short and you are hot. Drink?"
"No," Sally denied. Her lips threatened to kick up into an amused smile.
"Phone number?" he tried hopefully, looking worried suddenly that she wouldn't agree to see him.
Sally rolled her eyes, even as she dug in her wallet for a piece of paper, ignoring Jay's cackling as the other woman came to join her, sensing that it would soon be time to leave. "Is that your phone number?" Billy said with a happy look when she handed a piece of paper with just that scribbled on it to him.
"Just my phone number," Sally said warningly. "Not a promise, or a guarantee, or an IOU, just a phone number." He questioned what her last name was, and she answered, "Sally Shipton. Sparrow!" she cried, correcting herself as Billy grinned broadly in amusement. "Sally Sparrow," she said weakly and then grabbed Jay's wrist and started dragging her away, shouting, "I'm going now! Don't look at me, and stop that," she added to Jay when the other woman giggled.
"I'll phone you!" Billy called after them.
"Don't look at me."
"Phone you tomorrow."
"Don't look at me!"
"Might even phone you tonight!"
"Don't look at me!" Sally repeated with a wail as they reached the doors.
Billy laughed and called after them, "Definitely gonna phone you, gorgeous girl!"
Jay wasn't surprised when Sally spun around to grin at Billy in response, her eyes dancing with mirth. "You definitely better!" she called and then ducked out of the garage with Jay. She took a deep breath, cheeks flaming red. "Stop," she protested, finding herself surprisingly comfortable with Jay's presence - enough so that she shoved at her.
Jay's giggled one more time and then took the lead, guiding them out of the building with ally keeping close. They'd just crossed the street, not entirely sure of what to do now, when Sally suddenly gasped.
"Sally?" she questioned, glancing at her with a furrowed brow.
"I found this," Sally said suddenly. "On the stairs in the house." She pulled the key out of her pocket, showing it to Jay, who made a strangled sound and plucked it from her fingers. "I take it that's the key to the box?"
Jay could only grin and nod.
The second his device went off, the Doctor was running. Martha wasn't far behind him, grumbling about the work she'd just got back from to ensure that she and the Doctor had a roof over their heads. The Doctor threw an almost apologetic look over his shoulder at her, knowing that she was wishing Jay was there, and he found himself worried once again for her. He didn't know why she, too, hadn't been thrown back in time with them, but he hoped she wasn't stuck in a completely other historical point.
She isn't, he told himself. The scripts had said she'd be with Sally.
"There," Martha suddenly said, pointing to a very confused man, who was looking around himself.
Barely panting for breath, the Doctor dropped into a crouch beside him, grinning. "Welcome," he greeted, and the poor man looked at him in surprise. "What's your name?"
"Billy. Where am I?" he demanded.
The Doctor shifted the device in his hand to the other. "Nineteen-sixty-nine," he reported, glancing around with a thoughtful expression. "Not bad, as it goes. You've got the moon landing to look forward to."
"Oh, the moon landing's brilliant," Martha breathed, remembering those trips with Jay. It had been a beautiful experience, with the pair of women fascinated by what was going on - Jay more so than even Martha, as apparently within two centuries, they'd lost the records of the moon landing. "We went four times. Back when we had transport…"
The Doctor frowned at her. "I'm working on it," he protested.
"How did I get here?" Billy breathed, shocked.
"The same way we did. The touch of an Angel. Same one, probably, since you ended up in the same year." Billy tried to get up, looking frantic, and the Doctor put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. "No, no," he said soothingly, "don't get up. Time travel without a capsule is nasty. Catch your breath, don't go swimming for an hour."
"Because he's going to go swimming," Martha muttered under her breath, rolling her eyes.
"Fascinating race, the Weeping Angels," the Doctor continued, rambling to himself now with a thoughtful expression as he leaned against the brick wall beside Billy, spreading his legs out before him. "The only psychopaths in the universe to kill you nicely. No mess, no fuss, they just zap you into the past and let you live to death. The rest of your life used up and blown away in the blink of an eye. You die in the past, and in the present, they consume the energy of all the days you might have had - all your stolen moments. They're creatures of the abstract, living off of potential energy."
Billy stared at him in utter bewilderment. "What in God's name are you talking about?"
"Trust me," Martha piped up, smiling a little in amusement. "Just nod when he stops for breath, Billy."
"Tracked you down with this," the Doctor said, holding up the device in his hand. "This is my timey-wimey detector. it goes ding when there's stuff. Also, it can boil an egg whether you want it to or not, actually, so I've learned to stay away from hens. It's not pretty when they blow." Martha gave him a look of exasperation, because honestly, did that need to be said?
"I...I don't understand," Billy said faintly. "I was just...where am I?"
"Nineteen-sixty-nine," Martha said gently.
"Normally, I'd offer you a lift home, but somebody nicked my motor. So I need you to take a message to Sally Sparrow and Jayden O'Connors, and I'm sorry, Billy, I am so very sorry, but it's going to take you a while."
"It's just a box," Sally said to Jay as they walked up to the hospital that Billy had called them from. She felt a twist in her gut. It made her nervous. How had he gone from the garage to the hospital like that? And why the hell did Jay look more anxious about the loss of the blue box then a human man?
"It's not though," Jay said softly. "It's so much more than a blue box, Sally. It's my home."
Sally chose not to question her about it as they ducked inside the hospital. She approached the front desk anxiously and asked for Billy Shipton, and they were sent to an upper story room that turned out to be empty of all but one person. As they ducked into the room, the man in the bed, voice hoarse with age, said, "It was raining when we met."
"It's the same rain," Sally said, her voice surprisingly even as she took a seat beside the bed, her gaze searching the old man's. Jay came to stand at her shoulder, gaze sharp with curious disbelief. They'd seen him only moments before, yet here he was.
Old, and dying, if the sorrowful pitch in her ears was anything to go by.
"Oh, Billy," Jay said softly, "I'm sorry."
He smiled sorrowfully. "I married," he told them suddenly. He reached for a picture on the table beside his bed, offering it to Sally and Jay for them to look at. Jay bent at the waist to peer over Sally's shoulder, the strings from the sweatshirt she wore tickling Sally's neck. She smiled lightly at the sight of Billy and a happy woman in the photo.
"She looks nice," Sally said softly.
"Her name was Sally, too." Billy's eyes twinkled. "Sally Shipton. I often thought about looking for you wo before tonight, but apparently it would've torn a hole in the fabric of space and time and destroyed two-thirds of the universe. Also," he said as Jay gasped, recognizing just who Billy would have got that from, "I'd lost my hair."
"The Doctor spoke with you," Jay breathed. "Do you know where he is?"
"Nineteen-sixty-nine," Billy said. He smiled at her. "He sent me with a message for each of you. For you, he said that you need to stay with Sally. When he's figured out how to get he and your friend back, they'll come find you." He turned his face to Sally, telling her, "He said to look at the list." Sally blinked, puzzled by what he meant. "He said you'd have it by now. A list of seventeen DVDs. I didn't stay a policeman back then. Got into publishing, then video publishing, then DVDs, of course."
"You put the easter egg on?" Sally asked, surprised.
"Have you noticed what all seventeen have in common yet? I suppose it's hard for you, in a way."
"I'm more confused on how he knows I have this list, I only just got it," Sally answered, biting her lip.
"I asked him how, but he said he couldn't tell me," Billy admitted, taking a deep, rattling breath that was followed up by a soft cough. "He said you'd understand it one day, but that I never would." Sally swore to tell him when she understood, but he shook his head with a rueful smile. "No, gorgeous girl, you can't. There's only tonight. He told me all those years ago that we'd only meet against this one time, on the night I die."
Jay bit her lip hard enough to make it bleed, remaining silent as Sally whispered with tears brimming in her eyes, "Oh, Billy."
"It's kept me going. I'm an old, sick man, but I've had something to look forward to." He gave a weak laugh as he said, "Life is long and you are hot. Oh, look at my hands...they're old man's hands...how did that happen?"
Jay took one of those wrinkled hands in her own and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "Billy, we'll stay with you, okay?"
"Thank you, Jayden O'Connors and Sally Sparrow," Billy said with a sigh. "I have 'til the rain stops."
Their eyes were dry of tears by the time they arrived at the old building that was known by Wester Drumlins. The rain was gone, leaving everything with a damp musty sound, but both women were somewhat calm and ready to see what happened when they payed attention to the DVDs. Sally had called Larry on the way over, ordering him to bring a portable DVD player and when he arrived, ringing the doorbell, Sally left Jay alone in the living room to look at the wall while she answered the door.
Distantly, Jay heard Larry tell Sally as soon as she opened the door, "You live in Scooby Doo's house, Sally."
"For God's sake, I don't live here." Sally could be heard pacing through the house until she arrived in the living room with Larry. "No Angels?" she asked, and Jay shook her head, watching as Larry began to set up the charged DVD player. He was ranting about something or another regarding clear sound and picture quality, though neither seemed to pay him more than a moment of their attention. Sally watched Jay as she violently shuddered, trying to shake her wrists. "Are you okay?"
"No," Jay muttered. "I can feel it. it's going to happen in the next few minutes - oh! It's up! There he is," she said happily at the sight of her traveling companion on the screen. "The Doctor."
"Who's the Doctor?" Larry asked, glancing over his shoulder at the women as the disk began to play.
"He's the Doctor," Sally said.
And then, as Jay had hoped, the Doctor beamed from the screen and said, "Yep. That's me."
"Okay," Sally muttered, "that was scary."
"It sounds like he's replying, but he always says that," Larry reassured.
"Yes, I do." The Doctor's eyes twinkled with mirth in the screen and Jay bit the inside of her cheek when he began to smirk mischievously, seeming to know precisely what was going on as Sally cried that he really could hear them. Larry said something about a transcript, pulling it out, and before they knew it, he was saying in unison with the Doctor, "Are you going to read out the whole thing?"
Larry looked a little shocked, and Sally smiled a fraction before demanding, "Who are you?"
"He's a time traveller," Jay said, watching the screen closely. The Doctor seemed to beam at them. "And space traveller, I suppose. Whatever we feel like at the time we choose to make a decision. Chose quite an interesting one this last time, I believe."
"Quite right," the Doctor agreed, and then gave a little finger wave, adding, "Hello, Jay. Good to see you found Sally. Like she said, we're travellers of time. And space. Well, was. Stuck in nineteen-sixty-nine now."
Martha's familiar face suddenly moved into the frame, and her dark eyes glittered crossly as she muttered, "All of space and time, he promised me. Now I've got a job in a shop. I've got to support him!" Jay giggled and Martha huffed, "Don't laugh, Jay!"
"Nineteen-sixty-nine," Sally said slowly, mulling this over in her head. "That's where you're talking from? But you're replying to me - to us! You can't know exactly what I'm gonna say forty years before I say it!"
"Thirty-eight," the Doctor corrected.
Larry scrambled for his pens and papers, crying, "I'm getting this down! I'm writing in your bits," he added to the women, who didn't seem to notice or care.
Sally just made a grouchy sound of frustration. "I don't understand, how is this possible?! Tell me!"
"People don't understand time," the Doctor said instead. "It's not what you think it is."
"Then what is it?"
"Complicated."
Sally gritted her teeth. "Tell me."
"Very complicated."
"Come now, Doctor," Jay muttered, "stop being an annoyance and just tell her. She's clever and we're all listening. And none of us are happy about what's going on, get a move on."
"People assume," the Doctor said after a moment, and Jay made a face as she recognized the speech from earlier in the day at Larry's shop, "that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff."
"I'll say it again," Jay muttered, "he's an odd one that doesn't seem to understand that we don't understand what he means. That sentence was a mess."
"Oi! Jay! Don't call me odd! But that did get away from me, yeah," he admitted, making Sally grumble in frustration, because damn it, they'd heard all of this!
"Next thing you're going to say is, 'Well, I can hear you,'" the young woman said crossly, rolling her eyes when he repeated just that. "We've heard this all before, time traveller."
"You'd do well with Martha," Jay mused, nodding at Sally with a smile. She liked Sally; too bad the Doctor seemed to be content with just she and Martha always tagging along. She turned back to the screen as the Doctor suddenly spoke again.
"Not hear you exactly, but I know everything you're going to say," he told them. "Just look to your left."
"Always gives me shiver, that bit," Larry said, scribbling down words as quickly as he could, "but what does he mean by 'Look to your left?' I've written tons about that one the forums. I think it's a political statement."
"He means you," Sally said, looking at Larry. "What are you doing?"
Larry paused mid-sentence of writing to look up. "I'm writing in your guys' bits. So I've got a complete transcript of the whole conversation."
"I've got a copy of the finished transcript," the Doctor pointed out cheerfully, looking quite smug about it. When Sally protested that he couldn't have a complete transcript, because it was still being written, he rolled his eyes. "I told you. Time travel. I got it in the future."
"Look," Jay said, cutting in. "What matters is we can communicate. And we have bigger problems. Doctor, Martha," she said, addressing the screen now, as if he and Martha could hear her. "The Angels have taken the TARDIS."
"The stone angels?" Sally said, remembering how upset Jay had been about the disappearance of the police box. "But they're just statues."
"Only when you see them." The Doctor's eyes flickered unhappily as he settled down further, speaking quickly and launching into a rant that made Jay sigh heavily with how quickly he was rambling. "Lonely assassins, they were called. Not sure where they came from...almost as old as the universe, maybe even as old. They've survived this long with the most perfect defense system ever evolved: quantum-locking. They don't exist when being observed. The moment they're seen by any other living creature, they freeze into rock. No choice. It's their biology. A stone can't kill you, but you can't kill stone. Then, you turn your head away, then you blink, and oh, yes it can!"
Jay remembered being caught in the beginnings of this before he and Martha had vanished into thin air. She ran a hand through her short hair, frustrated. She wished she'd known about this sooner. "So...don't take our eyes off of the Angels." Realization flickered through her. "They're not weeping, are they?"
"Exactly, Jay. They cover their eyes because they can't risk looking at each other. They can't risk looking at each other. Their greatest asset is their greatest curse. And I'm sorry, I am very, very sorry, it's up to you now."
"But what do we do?" Jay was frustrated. She wanted to speak directly to him. "The TARDIS...why would they want her?"
"There is a world of time energy in there that they could feast on forever. The damage they can do can switch off the sun. You have to send it back to me, and then Martha and I can come back for you." She opened her mouth to demand more information, but the Doctor's face suddenly shifted with more worry than before as Jay collapsed, grunting as pain spiraled through her, just as it had in Manhattan.
"Jay?" Sally cried. She couldn't answer, barely even hearing Sally as her eyes stared blankly, rolling wildly in agony as her muscles locked and refused to let her do much more than make a strangled sound. "Oh, my God, what's wrong?"
Larry finished writing and set his paper aside, shooting to his feet. As he did, the Doctor said gently, "She was okay after a few seconds the last time. Give them to her and then get out of there. The Angels are coming for you. Listen to me, your life could depend on this. Don't blink! Don't even blink. Blink and you're dead. They are fast, faster than you can believe. Don't turn your back, don't look away, and don't blink! Good luck. And watch her. Martha mentioned aftershocks."
And then the video ended and Sally, kneeling beside the agonized Jay, swore loudly in annoyance. "Real helpful!" she cried in frustration, nervously checking Jay's pulse. She bit her lip whens he didn't find one. Larry hovered with fearful eyes, unsure of whether or not he should call an ambulance.
Just as the Doctor said, however, within a few seconds, Jay was breathing again. She sobbed, her eyes filled with tears of agony as Sally helped her to her feet, looping her arm around her shoulders to help her forward, because as the Doctor had said, they needed to move. For just there, in the doorway, while they had been watching the screen, an Angel had appeared in the doorway, face distorted. "Keep looking at it," Sally ordered Larry, hands shaking as they gripped Jay's wrist and waist. Jay groaned softly, struggling to get her feet working properly beneath her.
"There's just one, right?" he said anxiously, panicked. "There's just this one? We're okay if we keep staring at this one statue, everything's gonna be fine."
"There's three more," Jay choked out, swiping with her free hand at her face.
"Three?!"
"They were upstairs," Sally remembered. "We heard them moving, remember? Here, take Jay, I'm going to look around and check. Keep looking at this one, don't blink. If you need to, Jay can help. Are you okay know?" Jay gave her a look, because did she look okay? But Sally nodded; she was okay enough to stare at a Weeping Angel. "Remember what he said, don't even blink!"
"Who blinks?" Larry joked weakly. He took over Sally's role in helping the umstead Jay, who leaned heavily against him like a deadweight. "i'm too scared to blink."
"At least your legs are working," Jay whispered.
"Okay," Sally said, "we're going to the door. Front door, okay. We can't all get to the front door without taking our eyes off of that thing, so Jay, Larry, you stay here." When Larry began to panic, Sally lifted her voice and said reassuringly, "I'll be just around the corner, stay here!" She bolted, and Larry kept his eyes firmly on the angel while Jay searched the area around them for anymore. "They've locked us in!" she cried a moment before.
"Why?" Larry shouted.
"The key," Jay breathed, "they want the TARDIS, like the Doctor said. She found it the last time she was here. They followed us to get it back and we led them straight to the TARDIS. Now they've got that!"
"So give them the key!" Larry shouted to Sally, who bolted through the room to try the back door. She declared it locked and Larry spared a glance back, taking his eyes off of the Angel for only an instant. His panic exploded when he looked back and saw that the Angel had moved. "Sally, please, I can't do this!"
"Just keep your eyes on it," Jay breathed, shifting her own to watch it tiredly. She kept them there, blinking one eye at a time. Larry clearly couldn't be trusted with the task. "Don't blink, Larry, just don't blink."
"They've blocked off the door," Sally gasped as she popped back into the rom. "But there's a cellar. There might be a way out, delivery hatch or something." Sally disappeared back the direction she'd come, prying a door open and slipping down a flight of stairs.
"We're coming!" Larry decided, unable to handle remaining where he was. With care, he helped Jay stumble back in the direction Sally had gone. Sally was waiting at the top of the stairs for them, and between the pair of them, they managed to help Jay get down the stairs backwards.
They froze, however, when they two Angels waiting for them. Behind them, the door ripped open, and Jay snapped her head around to look in time to find the one from above at the top of the stairs. "Oh, God," she whispered in terror. "It's...it's pointing at the light!"
The lights flickered, the Angels moved, and that was enough to drive fear into their hearts, more than they'd thought possible. "Look!" Sally cried suddenly as the lights flickered a second time, allowing the Angels to move. She pointed, and they both followed her gaze to the proud blue box standing in the center of the cellar.
Jay sobbed in relief at the familiar song in her ears, yanking away to trip and stumble over to it. Sally and Larry kept their eyes on the Angels. "Sally!" she cried as the lights flickered again. "Throw me the key!"
Sally faltered, but then did. Jay caught it just barely and shoved the key into the lock, struggling to turn it with her weakened muscles. But finally, it clicked, and she shrieked, "Everyone in!" as the Angels closed in. Larry and Sally piled in after her and Jay slammed the door shut just as a holographic image of the Doctor appeared nearby, his gaze staring at them as if he could see them. Sally and Larry climbed to their feet, staring around them in utter awe and shock.
"This is security protocol, seven-one-two," the holographic Doctor said in way of greeting. "This time capsule has detected the presence of an authorized control disc, valid for one journey. Please insert the disc and prepare for departure."
Jay sank to the floor, letting them deal with the rest of it all as she merely buried her face in her hands, relieved to be home in the TARDIS again. She felt safe there, as if forever could go by and nothing would touch her. "There's a slot on the screen," she groaned when Larry faltered, fumbling.
He'd just barely managed to shove it in when the TARDIS suddenly jolted around them. Sally screamed, thrown off balance, and Larry caught himself on the console. Jay heard the time machine moan in protest. "The Angels," Sally said, frantic, "they're trying to get in!"
The TARDIS finally read the disc and then, much to their horror, began to dematerialize around them. "What's happening?" Larry cried as the beautiful control room disappeared around them, revealing the Angels.
"No," Jay breathed, horrified. The TARDIS was leaving her behind, too! "No! Doctor, you can't!"
"Look at them!" Sally ordered, head snapping between different Angels. "Quick, look at them!"
There was a moment of panic before Jay realized what was going on. "No," she said quickly. "No, you don't have to. Look at them, They're looking at each other. They can't move...they've been trapped. They'll never move again." She laughed and then groaned as another spike of pain slammed through her, driving to her knees. This one only lasted a few seconds before she was merely sitting there, ready to sleep for hours.
"We're safe," she muttered miserably.
But why was she still there?
"Are you sure you'll be okay here?" Sally said, eyeing the front of the old building with suspicion. Jay was slumped on the porch steps, exhausted. She wouldn't leave this old building until the Doctor came, she'd told them. Whether that be in a minute or a week, she wouldn't move. "You can come stay with me until he shows up. If he does."
"Don't say that," Jay snapped, and then flushed a little, surprised with her own agitation. She stood to say a proper farewell. "I'll be fine. Thank you for all of your help, Sally. I do wonder how Larry's transcripts get to him in the future, but…" She shrugged. "If I find out, I'll give you a call."
"Are you sure?" Larry looked as reluctant to leave Jay there as Sally did, not wanting to be held accountable if Jay was later found dead or something similar. His bag was shouldered, filled with the transcripts he was going to finalize.
"I'm sure," she answered, shivering when an aftershock coiled through her, barely noticeable after the last few that had occurred over the past hour and a half that they'd taken to regather their wits.
"If you are," Sally sighed, "I guess we'll head out...bye, Jay. I'm happy to have met you, even if we only met this morning."
"Likewise," Jay chuckled, winking. "Keep in touch, Sally Sparrow. I'm sure you'll see me again soon." She had thought the woman vaguely familiar, but couldn't remember from where, and was sure that Sally would come across them at some point.
She waved in farewell as Sally and Larry left and then sat on the porch step again, resting her chin in her open palm, relieved that, at least, the tingling numbness was gone. She wasn't sure how long she sat there, staring into the distance and thinking about everything and nothing between moments of light dozing, before a familiar sound filled her ears. Excitement and relief coiled through her as she stumbled to ehr feet, lurching for the TARDIS, which had appeared only a few feet away in front of the house.
"Jay!" Martha laughed, darting out of the TARDIS in time for Jay to slam into her, hugging her tightly. Jay gave a relieved cry, burying her face in Martha's shoulder. "We were so worried, are you okay? Did they get close to you?"
"A little," Jay said, pulling back with a faint smile. Martha frowned, worried about the shadows beneath her eyes. "Don't worry," Jay reassured, "I just need a little nap. Where's - ah! There you are!"
The Doctor grinned as he stepped from the TARDIS. "Long time no see," he said teasingly as she tackled him in a tight hug as well. He returned it, gripping her tightly before pushing her back by the shoulders, gaze sweeping up and down to check on her physical being.
He was caught entirely surprise when she suddenly punched him as hard as she could in the arm. "Ow!" he yelped, looking shocked as she glared furiously at him. "What was that for?"
"If you ever," she seethed, smacking his arm a second time, this time with an open hand, "do that again, I'm going to ensure that you get more than a punch, do you hear me?"
"Why isn't Martha getting scolded?" he protested.
She scowled. "Because Martha isn't the one in charge of the TARDIS!" She pouted, folding her arms as she looked towards the beautiful blue box, listening to the excited, happy song she was singing, as if welcoming them all back after they'd been away for so long. After a moment, Jay sighed. "No harm done, I suppose...I am really glad to see you guys again." She apologetically patted the Doctor's arm, feeling a little bad for hitting him.
"Are you okay?" he asked gently. "The transcripts said you had another moment, where you collapsed-"
"I did," Jay told him, running a hand through her hair. "And I recovered. Aftershocks were nasty, but I'm okay now. Just need a nap, like I told Martha." She shot him a small, snide look. "Mostly because I was left behind by the TARDIS and panicked though."
Martha, smiling, shook her head. "Come on," she said, ducking back into the TARDIS. When she was inside, she lifted her voice, calling, "Stop arguing and come in so we can eat, I'm starved!"
Jay's stomach growled in response, and the blonde eagerly ducked back in after Martha. The Doctor chuckled and stepped in after them, swiftly closing the door behind them.
"Can you mind the shop?" Larry asked a year after the events with the Weeping Angels. Sally, who was busying herself flipping through transcript pages, barely noticed even as he added, "I'm just nipping next door for some milk…" He paused, having come out of the backroom to peer over her shoulder at what she was doing. "What's this?"
"Nothing," she said hastily, trying to hide it, but he snatched a page of transcripts away from her.
"Sally!" Larry moaned. "Can't you let it go? It's over."
"Of course I can't let it go," Sally said angrily, snatching it back. She put it with the rest of the papers, pictures, and lists she'd made into the small folder, hugging it to her chest. "How did the Doctor know where to write the words on the wall? How did he know that I'd be able to find Jay? How could he get the transcript? Where did he get all that information from? It could be life and death for past us, you know!"
She glared at him and he huffed, looking frustrated. "Ever think this might be getting in the way of other things?" he snapped, and she shook her head, muttering that they just ran a shop together. Looking hurt, Larry shook his head and left, calling over his shoulder, "Back in a moment."
Sally sighed heavily, feeling guilty. She cared for him deeply after that year they'd spent hanging out, but...why didn't he understand the desire for information she felt? She pressed her lips together, looking out the window - and then sputtered, lurching for the door when she saw a trio of people pile out of a taxi, looking rushed.
She slammed through the front door, shouting, "Doctor! Doctor!" The familiar Jayden O'Connors heard her first and looked back, grabbing the arm of the man ushering her and their friend along. She pointed at Sally, speaking to him, and he looked back before waiting for Sally to catch up with them, looking impatient.
"Hello!" he greeted hastily. "Sorry, bit of a rush, there's a sort of thing happening - fairly important, we've got to stop it." Sally stared at him for a long moment, shocked that he didn't seem to recognize her, and he shifted in distress when the friend Jay had called Martha called impatiently for them. "Look, sorry, I've got a bit of a complex life. Things don't always happen to me in order. Gets confusing, especially at weddings." He looked at Jay, serious. "I'm rubbish at weddings."
Understanding dawned in Sally's eyes as Jay giggled at him. "Oh, my God," she groaned, "of course, why didn't I think of it? You're a time traveller, so it means that it hasn't happened yet! None of it, it's still your future? It was me! Oh, for God's sake, it was me all along. You got it all from me!"
"Doctor!" Martha called impatiently, but Jay shushed her, instead demanding, "What did he get from you?"
"Okay," she said, realizing she needed to speed up her speech to him. "Listen. one day, you and your friend over there are going to get stuck in nineteen-sixty-nine and Jay's going to get stuck with me. Make sure you've got this with you. You're going to need it." She handed over the folder. "Trust me."
"Doctor! Jay!" Martha snapped. "We've gotta go!"
"Yeah, yeah,," the Doctor told her, rolling his eyes and Jay went to placate the frustrated woman. "Listen, got to dash, things happening. Well, four things." A pause. "Well, four things and a lizard."
Sally grinned. "No worries. On you go. See you around someday, Doctor."
He grinned at her and turned to leave and paused before looking back at her. After a second, he asked, "What was your name?"
"Sally Sparrow," she told him, smiling as he studied her closely.
"Good to meet you, Sally Sparrow," he chuckled, smiling at her one final time before tearing off after his companions, shouting that they needed to wait for him.
Sally laughed as she heard Martha yell at him for taking so long and Jay groan at them both in exasperation, calling them both children. Sally found herself smiling fondly after them as she murmured, "Goodbye, Doctor. Goodbye, Jay."
One of my favorite episodes. Looking forward to the Titanic episode and Midnight (as mentioned). Next up is a fun thing involving Jay's family. Hope you're ready to meet them at last. ;)
Serendipity989, regarding everything within your review... I was all ready planning for an original chapter before the whole thing with the Master comes into light, as you can see. Martha's season was always intended to be just kind of an introduction, a time in which Jay is somewhat introduced to the story and the others. Much more picks up within Donna's season and then the eleventh Doctor's time is when things really start happening, as well as where I was planning to input some original stuff. I appreciate your review (I was worried about it being too bland, actually, so I'm glad to hear such thoughts) and hope that it's not too disappointing that it'll drive you away?
Thanks to lovely reviewers (Arashi - IV of VI and Serendipity989!) as well as all of you who favorited and followed! I appreciate you all!