A/N: Welcome back, dear readers! Hope you're ready for these new chapters because we will be temporarily saying goodbye to Rose Tyler for a while. Obviously, this chapter will be based around the Doctor Who episode "Army of Ghosts". Please note also, this chapter will have a mini prologue in Rose and Katy's point of view:
'Blah' is when Rose is narrating.
'blah' is when Katy is narrating.
Also, just a reminder that I do not own Doctor Who. All I own is my OC Katy.
Please review and no flaming will be tolerated.
Cheers xx
UNITED WE STAND…
"This is your life, is it everything you dreamed that it would be?
When the world was younger, and you had everything to lose."
– Switchfoot: 'This is Your Life' (The Beautiful Letdown [2003]
"Planet Earth. This is where I was born, and this is where I died…"
"I was not born on Planet Earth. I did not know it at the time, but I was born on Gallifrey; a distant planet that existed eons before humans even existed. I was sent through time and space to the late 20th century for my own protection. My adoptive parents, Peter, and Jackie Tyler took me in and brought me up as their own. It was not until I turned nineteen that I learned the truth:
I was not human, I was Gallifreyan.
A Time Lady."
"For the first nineteen years of our life, nothing happened. Nothing at all. Not ever."
"Then we met a man called the Doctor."
"A man who could change his face. He took us away from home in his magical machine.
He showed us the whole of time and space…"
"We thought it would never end…"
"At least that's what we thought.
But then came the army of ghosts…"
"Then came Torchwood and the War…"
"And that's when it all ended.
This is the story of how I died…"
"And this is how my life changed forever…"
The Tardis: No P.O.V
Katy was in her room on the Tardis, straightening it up and just generally keeping herself occupied before she and Rose returned back to the Powell Estate to check in with Jackie, and for Rose to drop her a rather large load of laundry for their mother to clean before they resumed their adventures with the Doctor.
"You never answered my question from earlier, you know?" Katy turned and saw Rose standing in the doorway to her room, leaning against the door post and scowling at her sister disapprovingly.
"Which question?" Katy asked, turning back, and tucking in the flat sheet on her bed neatly and smoothing it down, before reaching for her colourful duvet and making an attempt to put it back. Seeing she was struggling with it a bit; Rose sighs and comes in to help her.
"About the mind meld the Doctor did on you," Rose prompted, and Katy hesitated; trying to figure out how to humour her sister's request without revealing her true status as a Time Lady.
"Oh! That… uhm," Katy stalled, for a moment.
"I mind-melded with Katy after our trip to Van Statten's museum," the Doctor's voice calls out, and both girls turn to see the man himself standing in the doorway, looking at Rose with mild annoyance. He had been searching for the sisters to let them know it was nearly time for them to go back to the Powell Estate; but overheard what sounded like Rose ambushing Katy.
Rose looks at the Doctor with wide eyes; obviously caught off guard, while Katy flashes the Doctor a relieved smile and finished making her bed, still listening to the Doctor partly explaining the situation and partly reprimanding her sister.
"Why?" Rose asked.
"Do you remember? While you and Katy were fleeing from that Dalek, how weak and sickly Katy was?" The Doctor prompted Rose.
Flashback: "Utah, North America. 2012."
Van Statten's Office ('The Heart Within': Enemies)
They all make their way quickly towards Van Statten's office, where a large wall TV was mounted opposite the billionaire's desk. Immediately, Van Statten gets behind his computer and pulls up the image of the Dalek's cage on the large TV screen.
"You've got to keep it in that cell!" the Doctor orders, and the image of Rose jerks in surprise when she hears the Doctor's voice, before looking directly at a security camera mounted on the wall and pointed directly at them. The Doctor's eyes narrow dangerously when he sees Katy being held up by her sister, and looking like she was in obvious pain.
"Doctor, it's all my fault." Rose explains, referring to the Dalek now terrorising everyone.
"What's wrong with Katy?" The Doctor demanded, immediately thinking the worst, especially when there was a Dalek involved. Rose shrugged helplessly, still struggling to hold Katy up. The girl may look slight, but she was a heavy deadweight.
"I don't know," Rose explained. "We were looking at the alien and she started screaming in pain when it started trying to escape. I don't know what to do." Rose sounded scared, and the Doctor swore underneath his breath, frustrated that he was unable to help at that moment.
"Don't worry, I'll get you out of there somehow." The Doctor promised.
"Doctor…" Katy's voice drew him back to the monitor and he looked at the very pale girl with concern. "I'm scared. It hurts…" She whimpered. The Doctor's hands clenched into fists.
"Just hang in there, Katy. You'll be alright, I promise." The Doctor attempted to reassure the frightened girl, clinging to her sister for support.
A Staircase – ('The Heart Within': Little Wonders)
Rose, Katy, Adam and DeMaggio eventually come across a staircase while running, and Rose nearly cries with relief.
"Stairs! That's more like it. It hasn't got legs. It's stuck!" Rose points out. Katy straightens up and pushes away from Rose who immediately protests. "Wait, what are you doing?"
"I think I'm okay for the moment. My head only hurts when the Dalek is really close to me." Katy reassures her sister. "Besides, you're gonna have a hard time pulling me up the stairs if we have to move quickly." She points out, and Rose nods reluctantly.
"Are you sure?" Rose asks, still deeply concerned about Katy. She really needed to get the Doctor to examine her to really make sure her sister was okay. Jackie would never let them go anywhere if anything happened to either of them and she heard about it.
"I'm sure. I'll let you know if anything changes." Katy smiles weakly at Rose, as she grabs a hold of the metal banister of the staircase to steady herself. She still didn't feel well, but she also didn't want to be a burden on her sister and possibly get herself or even her killed, just because she had a weird reaction towards the Dalek, that involved familiar, and yet unfamiliar flashbacks to plague her head.
Level 1 of Van Statten's Museum
The Dalek pauses, studying Rose and the obvious sadness on her face.
"Are you frightened, Rose Tyler?" It asks.
"Yeah." Rose replies. The Dalek swivels its eye at Katy who has a hard time looking it in the eye.
"Are you, Katy Tyler?" It also asks her, and Katy shudders and hugs herself for comfort.
"I always had been. You are responsible for how I'm functioning right now." Katy spat accusingly and gesturing at her weakened body. The Dalek seemed to accept this answer, without feeling any sort of remorse.
"So am I." It declares. "EXTERMINATE!" The Dalek shuts its eye, and Rose comes over and pulls Katy away as it closes up its armour again then rises into the air. The balls on its lower body float away from it and fans out around it creating a forcefield, then it implodes safely. Instant relief overcomes Katy, and it appeared to be the permission her body needed to give into the pain she was still feeling. Her eyes roll back into her head, and she faints, alarming Rose who grabs Katy's body before it could hit the concrete floor.
"Katy!" Rose exclaims, and the Doctor rushes forward; cupping Katy's cheeks and smoothing back her bangs from her hot and sweaty face. "What's going on, Doctor?" Rose demands, worriedly.
"I don't know." He admits, truthfully. "Let's get her back to the TARDIS. I'll examine her there." He relieves Rose of her burden by effortlessly scooping Katy's unconscious body into his arms and heading straight for the lift with Rose jogging right behind him.
Their business at Van Statten's alien museum was over. Time to be moving on.
Museum
Outside the TARDIS
The Doctor and Rose hurry along back to the TARDIS, with Katy still unconscious and being carried protectively and carefully by the Doctor to be examined. Both Rose and the Doctor sag with relief when they clap eyes on the royal blue spaceship.
"A little piece of home. Better than nothing." The Doctor admits, shrugging like he didn't really care. But Rose knew for a fact that this adventure had really hit him hard, and that he was actually lying through his teeth: it really did matter that the TARDIS was his only link to his former home.
"Is that the end of it, the Time War?" Rose asks, trying to be tactful.
"I'm the only one left." The Doctor confirmed. "I win. How about that?" He stated, unenthusiastically. But Rose wasn't one to lose hope that something good might happen for the Doctor in the future.
"The Dalek survived. Maybe some of your people did too." Rose pointed out, trying to be optimistic.
"I'd know. In here." The Doctor indicates to his head by giving it a quick jerk, since his arms were currently full of Katy. He readjusts her weight in his arms, accidentally jostling her heart locket out of its hiding place. The Doctor's intelligent eyes zero in on the piece of jewellery, and frowns curiously. "Feels like there's no one…" He trails off. For some reason, Katy's necklace looked oddly familiar to him. "Where'd Katy get her necklace?" The Doctor questions Rose, who looks over and sees the silver locket glinting in the overhead florescent lights.
"Dunno. It's one of our family mysteries." Rose explains. "Mum tells us that Katy was found with it at the hospital where I was born." The Doctor's eyes widen a little at this interesting fact about Katy. "That's why Mum and Dad adopted her, Katy was abandoned and in need of a good home." Rose continued talking, unaware of the Doctor's shock. "Good thing they did too. I'm glad I have Katy as a sister." She grinned and smoothed back her sister's hair affectionately from her face, before producing her TARDIS key from the chain around her neck and unlocking the door.
"Well then, good thing we're not going anywhere." Rose indicated to Katy and herself as the Doctor's permanent companions.
End of Flashback: The Tardis
Rose's eyes widened at the memory.
"Is that why? Did that Dalek do something to Katy?" The blonde looked horrified. Both the Doctor and Katy exchanged glances with each other, hesitating for a microsecond so he didn't strengthen Rose's suspicion.
"Yes, and no." the Doctor offered a white lie. "I took Katy to the infirmary and examined her while you took Adam for a tour around the Tardis," he explained, his lip curling a little in displeasure when he remembered the one and only companion that he had permanently ejected from the Tardis because of his own selfish and greedy agenda. "It turned out that somehow, Katy had contracted a mild infection that had weakened her immune system a little. A simple mind-meld was needed to repair the damage, so that's what I did." Rose swallowed hard but seemed to accept the explanation. "Right!
Now that we've established this; next stop: Powell Estate!" The Doctor was suddenly cheerful once again, although Katy wasn't completely fooled. She could tell that the Doctor was faking it a little, worried about the close call they had narrowly dodged.
Rose was the first one to leave; eager to see Jackie again and give her the gift they had found on their latest adventure. Katy turned towards her backpack and picked it up, hooking it over her shoulder and moved to follow Rose. But the Doctor reached out and gently grabbed her wrist, stopping her.
"Are you alright?" He asked her, concerned.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Katy responded, a small smile on her face. "Thank you for your help."
"Anytime." The Doctor smiles back, and let's go of Katy's wrist, following her down the corridor towards the Console Room.
The Tyler's Flat
The Powell Estate
South London.
The Tardis materialises in a corner of a nearby children's playground on a bright, sunny day. Rose is the first to emerge from the Tardis, carrying her very heavy rucksack with her as she races towards the staircase that would lead upstairs towards the Tyler's Flat. The Doctor and Katy step from the Tardis hand in hand, knowing that Rose was more preoccupied with seeing her mother than paying attention to the fact that her sister was walking unhurriedly with the Doctor hand-in-hand, and thus being able to be somewhat public with their relationship … at least until they actually got to the Flat. Rose barrels into the Flat, yelling out to Jackie who was in the kitchen.
"Mum, it's us! We're back!" She announces as Jackie rushes out of the kitchen with a look of mock-annoyance on her face.
"Oh, I don't know why you bother with that phone. You never use it!" Jackie scolds Rose.
"Shut up, come here!" She embraces her mother into a tight hug.
"Oh, I love you!"
"I love you!"
"I love you so much!" Jackie tells Rose and beams happily when both Katy and the Doctor walk in.
"Hey, Mum!" Katy greets Jackie who immediately pulls her 'youngest' into a tight hug after Katy pulls off her backpack and dumps it onto the settee.
"Katy!"
"Oh, I've missed you so much!" Katy states, getting a bit teary-eyed.
"I missed you too, sweetheart!" Jackie returns the affection, as the Doctor attempts to use this opportunity to slip by the embracing mother and daughter to get to the living room. However, Jackie doesn't give him the chance to and quickly pulls away from Katy and snags his arm. "Oh no, you don't. Come here!" She pulls the startled Doctor into a bear hug and kisses him, much to his revulsion and the sisters' amusement. "Oh, you lovely big fella! Oh, you're all mine!"
"Just, just, just put me down!" the Doctor begs, looking flustered and annoyed.
"Yes, you are!" Jackie chirps before finally releasing the Doctor and corralling her daughters into the living room while he frowns at Jackie and roughly wipes his mouth. Rose picks up her rucksack and hands to Jackie who grimaces at the weight.
"I've got loads of washing for you!" Rose announces earning a pained look from her mother. "And we got you this." She digs in her pocket and produces a small ornate metal nick-nack, holding up to Jackie's eye level as Katy proceeds to tell Jackie what the little object was.
"It's from the market on this asteroid bazaar," Katy explained brightly, from where she was standing beside the Doctor, who was flipping through a random book that had caught his interest.
"Yeah! It's made of, er, what's it called?" Rose looked behind towards the Doctor questioningly.
"Bazoolium," the Doctor supplied helpfully.
"Bazoolium. When it gets cold, yeah, it means it's going to rain. When it's hot, it's going to be sunny." Rose grinned excitedly. "You can use it to tell you the weather."
"I've got a surprise for you and all!" Jackie immediately changes the subject, as Rose and Katy roll their eyes, not at all surprised by their mum's response.
"Oh, we get her bazoolium, she doesn't even say thanks." Rose mutters underneath her breath, earning a sharp jab in the ribs by Katy.
"Guess who's coming to visit?" Jackie beams enthusiastically, peaking their interest. "You're just in time. He'll be here at ten past." She announces.
"Who will be?" Katy asks.
"Who do you think it is?" Jackie counters.
"I don't know," Rose shrugged, looking at Katy who looks just as puzzled.
"Oh go on, guess!" Jackie encourages them, and the girls look pained.
"No, mum. C'mon, we hate guessing. Just tell us, will you?" Katy pleaded, exasperatedly.
"It's your granddad. Granddad Prentice," Jackie states, and both Katy and Rose look at Jackie with confusion. "He's on his way any minute." The girls just look at each other with shock. "Right, cup of tea!" Jackie turns and heads back into the kitchen.
"Did she hit her head or something?" Katy ponders, looking worried.
"Dunno. But she's definitely gone mad," Rose frets, as the Doctor strolls over to the both of them, looking amused and not noticing the serious expressions on the sisters' faces.
"Tell me something new…" the Doctor drawls flatly. But Katy turns and patiently explains the seriousness of the situation to her boyfriend as Rose continues to look concerned.
"No, Doctor; Granddad Prentice, that's her dad. But he died, like, ten years ago." Katy covers her mouth in her worry.
"Oh, my God. She's lost it," Rose realises and heads for the kitchen with both Katy and the Doctor following. "Mum? What you just said about granddad…"
Kitchen
The trio find Jackie clicking on the kettle and pulling mugs down from the cupboard in preparation for the tea. She briefly consults her watch.
"Any second now," she eagerly promises Katy and Rose.
"But he passed away. His heart gave out. Do you remember that?" Rose carefully questioned Jackie, just in case she caused her mother to freak out at the reminder. However, Jackie looked unfazed and simply nodded her head.
"Of course I do."
"Then how can he come back?" Katy frowned.
"Why don't you ask him yourself?" Jackie suggested, before glancing down at her watch again. "Ten past. Here he comes!" She steps aside as an ethereal humanoid shape suddenly walks through the outside wall and stands next to Jackie. The Doctor, Katy, and Rose stare wide-eyed at the entity in disbelief. "Here we are, then. Dad, say hello to the girls. Ain't they grown?"
Powell Estate
The Doctor, Katy and Rose run out of the block of flats, stumbling across some more of the humanoid entities wondering about without a care in the world.
"What the hell are they?" Katy blurted out, as the Doctor spins about getting more and more concerned as he sees these entities.
"They're everywhere!" He realises and is even more disturbed when it appears that nobody is alarmed or even fazed that they were surrounded by what was virtually ghosts. Suddenly, one starts walking towards him; without stopping its stride.
"Doctor, look out!" Rose warns a little too late as one of the shapes steps through him, causing the Doctor to shudder unpleasantly as though he had been dunked into a tub of ice water.
"They haven't got long," Jackie explains, nonchalantly. "Monday shift only lasts a couple of minutes. They're about to fade."
The Doctor spins round and frowns incredulously at Jackie.
"What do you mean shift? Since when did ghosts have shifts? Since when did shifts have ghosts? What's going on?" He babbles, trying to make sense of the situation as Jackie rolls her eyes.
"Oh, he's not happy when I know more than him, is he?"
"Mum, this isn't funny. This could be potentially dangerous…" Katy scolds her mother.
"No one's running or screaming or freaking out," the Doctor points out, and Jackie raises an eyebrow.
"Why should we?" She checks her watch for the third time. "Here we go. Twelve minutes past." The 'ghosts' fade away like they hadn't been there in the first place. The Doctor immediately races back upstairs to the Flat without another word, obviously intending on getting to the bottom of this.
"Why can't we catch a bloody break…?" Katy grumbles tiredly as she, Rose and Jackie follow the Doctor back up the staircase.
The Tyler's Flat
They find the Doctor crouched in front of the television, flipping through the channels to see what the hell was going on. Katy smiled reminiscently, as this was exactly what the Doctor's predecessor did when the Slitheens showed up and almost caused World War Three, and the first he did was consult the television and have a tug-of-war match with a toddler for control of the remote.
"On today's Ghostwatch, claims that some of the ghosts are starting to talk, and there seems to be a regular formation gathering around Westminster Bridge. It's almost like a military display—"
"What the hell is going on?" the Doctor muttered looking and sounding mystified. He changes the channel to reveal a weather forecast. The weatherman on the telly had cartoon pictures of ghosts dotted all around the weather map.
"… And tonight we're expecting very strong ghosts from London, through the North and up into Scotland—"
The Doctor flips again.
"… So basically, Eileen, what you're telling me is, that you are in love with a ghost?" an extremely sceptical Trisha Goddard was interviewing a visibly tearful young woman on her chat show. That one in particular made Katy raise an eyebrow at the absurdity of some people. "He's my ghost, and I love him twenty-four seven—" Katy squats down beside the Doctor and takes the remote from him.
"And that's enough of that…" She stated, looking rather repulsed and flips the channel, handing the remote back to the Doctor who was looking just as disturbed as she did. Derek Acorah was being interviewed; and he looked a bit crestfallen.
"… Well, no one needs me anymore!"
The Doctor flips again.
"…My ghost was pale and grey until I discovered Ectoshine!" a cheesy housewife sprays a grey cartoon ghost with some sort of product, and it visibly turns white and beams happily.
"The world's gone mental…" Katy scoffs in disbelief with the Doctor nodding mutely from beside her as he flipped again to a French news channel.
"… Et le President d'aujourd'hui, quelle est—"
The Doctor flips a couple more times to an Indian news channel and then a Japanese news channel, showing images of a couple of Japanese teenage girls showing off t-shirts with tacky pictures of ghosts on them, and squealing excitedly. Jackie and Rose come over to see for themselves.
"Oh, yes!" Jackie nodded in confirmation when she realised what her daughter and the Doctor were up to.
"It's all over the world!" the Doctor was appalled. He flips the channel one last time to an episode of Eastenders. Peggy was giving a ghost what for inside her pub.
"… Listen to me, Den Watts. I don't care if you have come back from the grave. Get out of my pub! The only spirits I'm serving in this place are gin, whisky, and vodka. So, you heard me. Get out!"
The Doctor switches off the TV and tosses the remote onto the settee before swivelling around and facing Jackie with a deadly serious look on his face.
"When did it start?" He questioned the older blonde.
"Well, first of all, Peggy heard this noise in the cellar, so she goes down—"
"No, Mum. He meant worldwide." Katy gently steers Jackie in the right direction of the conversation when it looked like her boyfriend was losing his patience.
"Oh! That was about two months ago. Just happened. Woke up one morning, and there they all were. Ghosts, everywhere. We all ran around screaming and all that. Whole world was panicking – no sign of you, thank you very much. Then it sort of sank in. It took us time to realise that we're lucky," Jackie explained.
"Lucky?" Katy parroted.
"What makes you think it's granddad?" Rose asked, and Jackie shrugged.
"It just feels like him. There's that smell, those old cigarettes." She looks at Rose and Katy beseechingly. "Can't you smell it?"
"No. Not really, Mum." Katy shook her head apologetically.
"I wish I could, but I can't." Rose echoed.
"Well, you've got to make an effort," Jackie scolds them, disapprovingly. "You've got to want it, sweethearts."
"The more you want it, the stronger it gets?" the Doctor intervened knowingly. Jackie nodded solemnly.
"Sort of, yeah."
"Like a psychic link," the Doctor stated, getting to his feet. "Of course you want your old dad to be alive, but you're wishing him into existence. The ghosts are using that to pull themselves in."
"You're spoiling it," Jackie scowls at him, accusingly. But the Doctor shakes his head, looking sympathetic but resolute.
"I'm sorry, Jackie, but there's no smell, there's no cigarettes. Just a memory."
"But if they're not ghosts, what are they then?" Katy frowns, curiously.
"Yeah, but they're human! You can see them. They look human." Jackie protested, and Rose backs her mother up.
"She's got a point. I mean, they're all sort of blurred, but they're definitely people."
"Maybe not. They're pressing themselves into the surface of the world. But a footprint doesn't look like a boot," the Doctor tells them sagely.
The Tardis
To get to the bottom of this, the four of them headed outside of the flat and back to the Tardis.
Katy and Rose watched as the Doctor rooted around underneath the console floor, searching for something to help with his investigating.
"According to the paper, they've elected a ghost as MP for Leeds," Rose announces before frowning down at the Doctor with confusion. "Now don't tell me you're going to sit back and do nothing." She said, accusingly.
"Now since when has he ever done that?" Katy chided her in the Doctor's defense and both sisters jumped back in alarm, then amusement when the Doctor suddenly pops up wearing a backpack and holding a hosepipe-like device in his hand.
"Who you going to call?" He quotes, playfully.
"Ghostbusters!" shouts the sisters, giggling at him.
"I ain't afraid of no ghosts!" the Doctor jokes and rushes out of the Tardis with the two close behind him.
Children's Playground
They emerge from the Tardis and approach a slightly apprehensive Jackie who was waiting for them. "When's the next shift?" He asks Jackie, all joking aside now and becoming serious.
Jackie consults her watch.
"Quarter to," she responds. "But don't go causing trouble. What's that lot do?" Jackie indicates towards three metal cones that were linked to wires on the grass, warily. "Triangulates their point of origin," the Doctor responded, as he finishes constructing the device.
"I don't suppose it's the Gelth?" Rose questions, thinking back to their adventures back to Christmas Eve 1860 in Cardiff, Wales where they met Charles Dickens and were assisted by a servant girl to close a rift in time and space.
"God, I hope not…" Katy groaned at the memory.
"Nah. They were just coming through one little rift. This lot are transposing themselves over the whole planet. Like tracing paper." The Doctor explained, and Jackie rolled her eyes.
"You're always doing this," she complained. "Reducing it to science. Why can't it be real? Just think of it, though. All the people we've lost. Our families coming back home. Don't you think it's beautiful?" Jackie looks at him with large hopeful eyes.
"I think it's horrific," the Doctor responded, truthfully. Katy winced at the Doctor's blunt response and gives her mother a sympathetic grimace as the Doctor dashes back into the Tardis. "Rose, give us a hand." He calls back to the blonde who immediately goes in. Katy goes over to Jackie and makes an attempt to help her understand.
"Mum don't take what the Doctor says to heart. It's, unfortunately, in his nature to see things from a realistic point of view. It's how he was brought up." Katy justified, and Jackie gives her a curious look.
"And how do you know this?"
Katy's reply was to hold up her locket and look pointedly at her mother.
"Some of my 'real' memories have been leaking through," Katy explains and Jackie's eyes widen in surprise. She then looks towards the Tardis and bites her bottom lip, looking pensive.
"Does Rose know?"
"Know what?" Katy frowned, not understanding. Jackie comes closer so she could whisper to her adopted daughter without the other hearing.
"That you're like the Doctor," Jackie clarified and Katy stiffened, before shaking her head.
"No. The Doctor and I don't think it's the right time, and I'm not ready yet." Katy responded.
"When is it ever going to be a good time?" Jackie pointed out, and Katy frowned.
"You misunderstand, Mum. It's not the right time to restore my memories yet. I'm apparently supposed to wait for the right time." Katy elaborates. "I mean, we haven't even told Rose that the Doctor and I are in a relationship; mostly because we know that she won't take it well." Jackie looked disapproving. "It will hurt her and make her feel like she's been betrayed," Katy lets out a sigh. "Neither of us want that to happen."
"I agree, she will feel betrayed, that you didn't tell her the truth about your relationship with the Doctor," Jackie scolds her looking disappointed. "It's better to break it to her now rather than later, so your sister can get the chance to move on and find somebody else; rather than holding onto false hope."
Katy bit her bottom lip.
"If it helps, I can be there for the fallout when you both tell her the truth," Jackie offers.
"I'll discuss it with the Doctor later. You're right, it's time we told her the truth about our relationship," Katy conceded, and Jackie hugs her before following the Doctor and Rose in. "But I can already see this going down like a ton of bricks…" She added, muttering to herself, and feeling nothing but knots twisting in her stomach at the very idea of revealing her love life with the Doctor to her sister, who was seemingly borderline obsessed with him.
The Tardis
While Katy waits outside for the Doctor to return to monitor the three metal cones, Jackie investigates what Rose, and the Doctor were up to. She finds them having a muted conversation near the console as they plugged in the power cable. The Doctor was apparently giving Rose some last-minute instructions.
"As soon as the cones activate, if that line goes into the red, press that button there," he indicated to a nearby button within Rose's reach. "If it doesn't stop," he hands her his screwdriver. "Setting fifteen B. Hold it against the port, eight seconds and stop."
"Fifteen B, eight seconds…" Rose repeated his words to herself.
"If it goes into the blue, activate the deep scan on the left—"
"Hang on a minute, I know!" Rose interrupts him and indicates towards another button, looking at him hopefully. "Push that one?"
"Close…" the Doctor gave her an almost smile. Rose points towards another button and the Doctor visibly flinches.
"That one?"
"Now you've just killed us…" He confirmed, and Rose hesitates; now looking a little uncertain.
"Er… that one?" She points to another button slightly across from the button she had been originally aiming for.
"Yeah!" the Doctor confirmed, before turning to Jackie for confirmation. "Now, what have we got. Two minutes to go?"
Jackie nods, still scowling at them in disapproval, and observes how Rose takes him in as the Doctor rushes back outside to where Katy was still waiting near the metal cones, and her frown deepens. Now that she had the opportunity to see for herself how deep Rose's feelings for the Doctor were, she could understand why Katy and the Doctor himself were hesitant to make their relationship public to her eldest; Rose had the epitome of what was termed 'cow eyes' whenever she looked at or even spoke to the Doctor. And she was almost positive that the Doctor was aware of this, and how uncomfortable he must be feeling.
But still, everyone was entitled to be happy … even if they had to have their heart broken first in order to achieve it.
"How's the line doing?" The Doctor shouted at Rose from outside the Tardis.
She looks down at the console and checks.
"It's all right. It's holding!" Rose shouts back, confirming. Jackie made the decision to try and help Katy and the Doctor with their confession, by attempting to make Rose really think about what she was getting herself into when it came to pursuing a life with the Doctor.
"You even look like him…" Jackie commented, taking in Rose's attributes, and comparing them to her late father's.
Rose looks at Jackie questioningly.
"How do you mean? I suppose I do, yeah." She shrugged, nonchalantly.
Jackie frowns gently, "You've changed so much."
"For the better," Rose pointed out, a little defensively.
"I suppose…" Jackie trailed off, and Rose huffed; getting irritated with the disapproving tone she could hear in her mother's voice.
"Mum, I used to work in a shop."
"I've worked in shops. What's wrong with that?" Jackie retorted, and Rose immediately backtracked.
"No, I didn't mean that. And anyway, why are you just lecturing me about this? Katy's changed too, why aren't you lecturing her?"
"I have. It's your turn now. And anyway, I knew what you meant." Jackie scolds Rose for her accusations. "What happens when I'm gone?"
"Don't talk like that…" Rose looked taken aback and uncomfortable by the topic.
"No, but really. When I'm dead and buried, you won't have any reason to come back home. What happens then?" Jackie challenged her.
"I don't know," Rose mumbled.
"Do you think you'll ever settle down?" Jackie hypothetically asked.
"The Doctor never will, so I can't. I'll just keep on travelling." Rose countered, and Jackie chose a different scenario.
"Okay, hypothetically he does decide to settle down, and it's not with you," Rose paused and narrowed her eyes. "Do you think you'll ever settle down?" She repeats her question, but this time doesn't let Rose answer it and powers on. "Because I don't. I think that you'll keep on changing. And in forty years' time, fifty, they'll be this woman, this strange woman, walking through the marketplace on some planet a billion miles from Earth. But she's not Rose Tyler. Not anymore. She's not even human."
"Well, that's not gonna happen, so it doesn't matter," Rose stubbornly denies Jackie's prediction.
"Here we go!" They hear the Doctor's voice triumphantly state. Rose easily recovers from her suspicion and reports back to him.
"The scanner's working. It says delta one six!"
"Come on then, you beauty!" the Doctor eggs it on.
Playground
Meanwhile outside, while Jackie was lecturing to Rose; attempting to get her to see the reality of what her life might turn out like, Katy used this opportunity to tell the Doctor Jackie's recommendation about breaking the truth to Rose about their relationship. She turns when the Doctor rushes back out of the Tardis to plug in the wires into the three metal cones.
"What's the line doing?" he calls out to Rose, as Katy waits patiently for the right opportunity to tell him Jackie's advice. However, she knew very well that the Doctor was not going to be very receptive to the idea at all. But Katy had had time to really think over what her mother had told her about giving Rose a chance to go out and find love again with someone else, and she realised Jackie had raised valid points.
"It's alright. It's holding!" Rose shouts back from inside the Tardis, and Katy moved in.
It was now or never.
"Mum reckons we should be upfront and tell Rose about our relationship," she murmurs to the Doctor who pauses momentarily in the process of attaching and double-checking the wires, then continues, frowning a little.
"Oh? She does, does she?" He responded back, sounding a touch sharp. "Why the sudden opinion on our love lives?"
"Because she has eyes? And she knows how to use them?" Katy retorted, raising an eyebrow at the tone in his voice.
"But is it her business?" The Doctor countered evenly, straightening up and looking rather pointedly at the Tardis, as though visited with an intense desire to go back in, pull Jackie aside, and tell her to mind her own bloody business.
Katy bit her bottom lip.
"Yeah, sort of," She responded, sounding a little pained because she knew that he was likely to have this sort of reaction. "It's her job to look out for the wellbeing of her children and make sure they are alright." Then Katy sighed heavily. "Look, Doctor. I had a similar reaction too when Mum brought up the topic with me. She even wanted to know if we were gonna come clean about me being a Time Lady too—"
"What?!" The Doctor looked outraged.
"Calm down! I set her straight on that already," Katy reassures him. "She kind of looked a bit confused, but accepted it and left it alone." The Doctor nodded, still looking annoyed about Jackie butting in where she wasn't welcome. "But in terms of Rose, she did raise a few valid points."
"I bet she did..." the Doctor sounded pissed off, but Katy narrowed her eyes at him.
"Oi, come on, be fair! You gotta admit, Rose has been getting a bit hostile lately. Maybe even a bit clingier? Plus, I've seen the way she looks at you. Like you've hung the moon and stars just for her?" The Doctor winced uncomfortably, having obviously seen this for himself many times during their frequent adventures together. "Don't you think Mum has a right to be a bit concerned?"
"Yeah…" the Doctor begrudgingly agreed, looking like he was coming around to the idea and Katy relaxed. "Okay, so we tell her … but after we straighten this mess up." He suggested, firmly. "We don't want any repercussions to come up as a result."
"Yeah, not looking forward to that," Katy admitted, and the Doctor sighed and came over to wrap her into a tight hug.
"Me neither," he admitted also, and plants a kiss on top of her head. "Back to business as usual?" He indicated towards the metal cones and Katy nodded with a small smile. The machine makes a noise causing the Doctor to perk up almost instantly. "Here we go!"
"The scanner's working. It says delta one six," Rose reports, and the Doctor all but fist-bumps the air in his triumph, earning a smirk from Katy.
"Come on then, you beauty!" The Doctor encourages, excitedly. The ghost masquerading as 'Granddad Prentice' is caught in the field. However, it starts to writhe, obviously unimpressed with being captured. "Don't like that much, do you?" The Doctor observes with interest. "Who are you? Where are you coming from?" He questions it and jumps back, pulling Katy along with him when the ghost takes a swipe and makes an attempt to break free from the field. "Woah!" He grins. "That's more like it! Not so friendly now, are you?" He mocks the ghost, smugly. Shortly afterwards, the ghost fades and vanishes; prompting the Doctor and Katy to gather up the cones and head back into the Tardis.
A security camera perched nearby swivels towards them, with neither of them aware that they were being surveyed.
"I said so! Those ghosts have been forced into existence from one specific point, and I can track down the source." He throws a nearby switch, grinning from ear to ear. "Allons-y!"
The sisters cling to the console as the Tardis shakes and shudders her way towards their new destination, while the Doctor babbles excitedly to them. Katy notices Rose smiling and looking rather awkward and throws her sister a questioning look before Rose subtly gestures towards where Jackie was sat perched on a nearby ledge, looking rather stroppy.
Katy eyes widen in alarm.
"I like that," the Doctor remains oblivious. "Allons-y. I should say 'allons-y' more often." He decides, cheerfully. "Allons-y. Watch out, Rose Tyler. Allons-y, Katy Tyler. Allons-y."
"Um, Doctor…" Katy attempts to point out Jackie to him.
"...and then, it would be really brilliant if I met someone called Alonso, because then I could say, Allons-y, Alonso, every time." The Doctor finally takes notice of the pained expression on Katy's face and the amused one on Rose's. "You're both staring at me…" He points out.
"Our mum's still on board," Rose gleefully states and the Doctor's eyes widen in horror before he turns in Jackie's direction and sees her scowling at him.
"If we end up on Mars, I'm going to kill you." Jackie threatens him, folding her arms across her chest.
The Tardis materialises in a loading bay in Torchwood, and she is immediately surrounded by armed troops. The Doctor watches them on the scanner with both Katy and Rose flanking him either side.
"Oh, well. There goes the advantage of surprise," the Doctor sighed disappointedly. "Still, cuts to the chase." He admits before turning and addressing the sisters with a stern warning look on his face. "Stay in here, look after Jackie."
"I'm not looking after my mum!" Rose protested angrily.
"Well, you brought her," the Doctor retorts, flatly.
"I was kidnapped!" Jackie was defensive, but the Doctor and Rose ignore her while Katy takes another brief look at the monitor and chews her bottom lip worriedly.
"Doctor, they've got guns." She reminds him, and quickly follows him to the double doors, followed closely by Rose and Jackie. The Doctor puts a reassuring hand on his girlfriend's shoulder.
"And I haven't," he reminds her. "Which makes me the better person, don't you think? They can shoot me dead, but the moral high ground is mine." Katy frowns.
"Don't jinx yourself!" She blurts out in alarm.
But the Doctor merely winks at her before opening the door and stepping outside.
A/N: Stay tuned for part two!