A/N: I hope you enjoy my first little baby adventure!

Emerald Green

Chapter Five

Space Merpeople

The three of them walked down a sidewalk, one that was much more enjoyable than the crowded sidewalks had been in the real New York. Significantly so. Molly assumed most people just used their flying cars to go from place to place. Better yet, they'd been walking for fifteen minutes or so now, and there was zero pain in her back. She could move without wincing and choking back a cry of pain. It was surprising. It was incredible.

The scenery became more and more beautiful, with less city and more greenery, grass and trees and flowers she didn't recognize in brilliant shades of blue and green, even a few that started white and ended in a rainbow. Up ahead was large, beautifully blue lake. 'Large' really wasn't the right word. Huge, gigantic, colossal, maybe, but 'large' wasn't a strong enough word. It looked as though they were approaching the edge of an ocean. But the blue was deep and dark, surrounded by wild greenery.

As she enjoyed the scenery, the conversation started up again, after fading when it became clear that neither the Doctor nor Molly really wanted to discuss how it was they'd met, and that Jack didn't want to admit who he'd come to see.

"So, what is going on with the merpeople that you need my help for?" the Doctor asked.

Jack rubbed his fingers over the hair on the back of his head. "People go swimming here a lot, or they used to. They stopped after multiple people disappeared. They searched the surrounding area, but when they sent people to search the lake, they never resurfaced, and neither did the people they sent in after them. My scans show what appears to be a large, dome-like ship, and hundred-something lifeforms. They look an awful lot like mermaids."

"So, big fish bowl ship and space mermaids stealing away people," the Doctor recapped.

"That does sound like a you thing, Doctor," Molly commented.

Jack nodded. "That's exactly what I was thinking. Glad you turned up."

The Doctor was silent a moment. "Awfully convenient that I did, isn't it?" He seemed deep in thought for a second, and then shrugged. "Well, one thing at a time."

They were just reaching the edge of the lake, which had a long pier going out so far, she couldn't see the end of it. She assumed it ended somewhere in the middle, or maybe went all the way across. It was pretty thin for a pier, and there were very few handrails. It looked like it had been made hastily – ah. It had probably been built to help rescue efforts. This wasn't reassuring for her fear of natural bodies of water. Or bodies of water in general.

The Doctor began scanning the area before taking a step onto the pier. Jack followed after. As much as she wanted to be a part of it, and witness the Doctor investigating something in person, she also wanted to take everything in slowly, to memorize every moment of it. This wasn't her home, this life – she would only be here for a little while. She didn't know how many chances she would get to savor it.

So, she closed her eyes and listened to the song of alien birds and of the sonic screwdriver, the small, lapping waves of the lake coming in from ripples formed by the wind, the sound of a city both behind and miles above her. She felt the cool, foreign breeze on her skin and through her hair, sending strands of it dancing across her freckled face. She breathed in the smell, so familiar to standing in the middle of Central Park, faint greenery inside a heavy, sour smoky smell. The Doctor and Jack's voices faded in and out, and by that she counted the seconds before opening her eyes and moving again, not wanting to get caught meditating on the moment.

The words became more distinct as she caught up with Jack and the Doctor, who were taking a few steps down the pier. It took a little effort for her to force her brain to overcome the fear that the pier would collapse and follow.

"Show me those scans, again?" the Doctor was asking as Jack flipped through the screen of some kind of tablet. When Jack held it up, she could see the image, too: a deep, blue, blurry background and foreground with shadows in a distinct shape, top human, bottom fish, with long hair flowing in the current. They swarmed together like a school of fish, following each other's lead. Nearby there were a few large circular shapes connected by other oval ones. The ship?

"I can't make anything out with that," the Doctor grumbled. "There are too many options for potential species. I need to narrow it down. Any eyewitnesses?"

"A few," Jack replied. A few swipes later there were videos of people explaining what they'd seen, but Jack talked over them. "The best we've got is that someone spotted a hand half-covered in golden scales, and another swore they saw gills on the wrists."

"Narrows it down a bit," the Doctor said, and he began down the pier in earnest. "Has anything else gone missing?"

"Around the lake?" Jack asked.

The Doctor stopped and turned to him. "No, no, just in general, has anyone lost anything? Keys, a pen, a left sock?" The Doctor's voice sounded in earnest, but his face showed that he was thinking about how slow everyone else was. "Yes, Captain. Around the lake."

"A couple of rowboats, I think."

"Anything else?"

"Not that I know of, just regular things, like kid's water toys," replied Jack. "Why?"

"Do you have any paper?" Molly interjected. She tried not to squirm when they both looked at her incredulously. "Just go with it, please."

Jack reached into his pocket and pulled out a brochure. "I grabbed this at the hospital. Will it work?"

Molly nodded and took the offered paper. She knelt down on the wood of the pier, and, ignoring their stares, quickly folded the paper in half and back a few times.

"A paper airplane?" the Doctor asked as she stood. She nodded, and pulled her arm back. The wind got her hair caught in the paper, but she pulled it clear, aimed for as far into the lake as she could, and let the paper plane loose. The wind caught it and blew it further to the right than she'd intended, but that was further into the lake, so it helped. Ripples exploded outward as it touched the surface, and floated a moment. Then a flash of gold exploded out of the surface, seized the plane, and dragged it down.

"Oh!" the Doctor exclaimed. "Good thinking! Very good!"

"Thanks," Molly breathed, glad she didn't just make herself look like an idiot.

"So, not just the people, it's anything that touches the water." The Doctor grabbed the tablet from Jack, and pulled up the scans again. "They're Vannique! They've claimed that water as theirs, anything that touches it belongs to them. See what looks like hair? They're actually feelers, thousands of little feelers that look like hair."

"That's great," said Jack, "But what do we do about them?"

"Which way was their ship? Just this way?" The Doctor pointed down the pier.

"Yeah, about a hundred feet that way, fifty feet down."

The Doctor took off in that direction, and Jack followed after him. Molly sighed and ran after them, almost keeping up, but keeping her eyes on the thin wood of the pier. She'd had to run a lot in her line of work, but it had been a while, and she preferred not to slip and fall into the lake. She still half-expected a muscle spasm in her back to send her crashing into the water.

As she ran, she saw a flash of gold out of the corner of her eye. She stopped and turned back to look. A bit of scaly flesh stuck out between the flooring of the pier and a support that disappeared into the water. She went back and knelt down. No, not a hand, just a bit of shed skin, like a snake's. She looked up. "Doctor!" she called. But he kept running. "Doctor! There's something here!"

The Doctor turned, and a brief flash of panic came over his face. "Don't go near the water!"

"I'm not touching it!" she insisted. She pointed down at the flesh. "There's some skin here. Do they shed?"

"Not usually," said the Doctor, coming back. "Sometimes under extreme stress-"

A cold, wet, scaled thing wrapped around her wrist. She looked down and saw the patches of iridescent, golden fish scales scattered around more human-looking, though blue-tinted flesh. It yanked at her, and she screamed. She grabbed hold of a gap between the planks.

"No! No!" she heard the Doctor screaming as footsteps raced towards her. "She didn't touch it! She didn't touch the water, let her go!"

Jack and the Doctor both reached her at the same time and grabbed hold of her free arm and her shoulders, and began pulling her back. The Vannique released her wrist, but grabbed onto both her legs. She kicked as hard as she could. She didn't have her full dancer's strength anymore, but she'd done physical therapy three times a day at the rehab, and tried to practice daily, so she still had decent strength in them. Between her kicks and Jack and the Doctor pulling, she was regaining the pier – until she felt more hands, hands and hands and hands reach up and take hold of her hips and waist, and more hands taking her torso and shoulders as they dragged her down. She gasped as she felt the cold water begin to creep up her body. Jack braced his legs against the floor of the pier, but she was slipping, and slipping fast, and they were slipping after her.

Realization, fear, and then acceptance washed through her all at once. "Don't touch the water!" Molly insisted. "They've got me, we can't get me up, it's done, don't let them come for you, too!"

The Doctor gave a frustrated shout as he tugged on her harder. Jack's grip grew tighter. "No! We're not giving up! Come on!" Jack shouted.

The Doctor and Jack now only had hold of her arms, and they were partially hanging off the edge of the wood. She was shoulder-deep in the water. "Let go! Don't touch the water! You have to let go!"

"No! Hold on tight!" the Doctor screamed, but she felt his grip slip, and then Jack's, and they were pulled further over the edge. She took a deep breath, and the Doctor noticed. "Don't you dare! Don't you dare!" She yanked her arms back, and got loose from their grip. Then she was surrounded by cold.

She was sinking, down and down, faster than she thought possible. She wanted to open her eyes and see what was happening, but the lake water was murky and stung her eyes. She felt herself pulled along by the Vannique, one on each arm. They were going down and over. Her mind flooded with possibilities: were they going to drown her? Surely drowned bodies would have come back up by now. Eat her? She felt sickened by the thought, but given what she knew of mermaid mythology, it seemed a strong possibility. She wished the Doctor had said more about them. And then, she hoped with all her being he wouldn't blame himself for whatever was about to happen to her. He didn't need more made-up reasons to hate himself.

A pressure in Molly's head began to build, and her lungs were burning. How long could the average person hold their breath? Was it two minutes? How long had it been? How much time did she have left to live? Was she supposed to be thinking meaningful thoughts? Was her life going to flash before her eyes? She hoped not. The only good thing about drowning was that she was never going to have to see any of it ever again.

Her brain felt like it was going to implode. The lack of oxygen was excruciating. He lungs begged her to take a breath, and the temptation was growing every nanosecond. Fill her lungs with lake water and stop the pain. She just wanted to scream.

Behind her lids, she started to see a white light. Was this the white light people saw before they died? It was spreading across her eyes, spreading and spreading and spreading and -

Molly woke, and choked, and coughed. Water came out of her lungs, but not as much as she'd expected. She spat out a mouthful, and gasped for air for a few minutes. She enjoyed the feeling of the cool air filling her throat and lungs for a few breaths before she was able to begin taking in her surroundings.

The floor was sort of a mix of pale blue and white, glowing faintly. Around her was the clearest glass she'd ever seen. She could only tell it was glass from the faint reflection of the glowing floor. She followed the pale white reflection up to the top. A glass dome. There were a few concerning cracks at the top. Very concerning, since everything else surrounding the dome seemed to be filled with water, with the Vannique swimming around, some pausing to look in at them, some not.

Their appearance was unnerving. The feelers had dots that glowed all along them, the eyes were too big and round and glowed gold. Their tails looked like most depictions of mermaids, but with what seemed to be thin tentacles growing out the sides, one on each. They had gills at their throats and wrists and bare chests, slits for a nose, and no mouths.

Around her were tables with random objects – she spotted her paper airplane – and rowboats, and people. Scared people. Most were wearing swimsuits or wetsuits of some kind. They must have been the people the Vannique had snatched. All adults. That stuck with her, and she wasn't sure why yet.

A man, dressed in black swim trunks, approached her slowly. "Hey," he began, his voice low and non-threatening. "You okay?"

She took in another breath, and felt droplets in her chest rattle. But otherwise, she seemed to be fine. There wasn't even an ache in her spine. "I think so."

"You know what happened to you?"

She nodded, and tried to get to her feet. She was a bit unstable, and was grateful when the man offered an arm to help her regain her balance. "Yeah. It's weird, though. I didn't touch the water."

He seemed confused. "What?"

She opened her mouth to explain, but decided it might be best not to begin until she got her bearings. She wasn't sure how much the Doctor wanted her telling people about him. If she remembered right, he was trying to draw less attention to himself now. "Are you all okay?" she asked instead.

"Mostly. They throw in these weird, squishy containers of water from the hatch now and then," he said, and pointed in the direction of a mother-of-pearl trapdoor on the floor a few feet away. "And raw fish. It's not exactly appetizing, but at least we don't starve." He helped her over to the edge of the dome, where most people sat leaning against the wall. There were a little under a dozen of them. "We seem to be inside some kind of giant, mazelike fish bowl. We try to ask what they're going to do with us, but they just say we belong to them now. Things just appear around us, like they're teleported in."

Molly tried not to giggle and failed. "A collection. Like the Little Mermaid." She paused. "What do you mean, they say? They don't have mouths."

A woman with blonde hair gone wild with the humidity replied, "They speak telepathically, in our heads."

"Got it," she replied. So, she could talk to them. Maybe she could reason with them. She wasn't quite as good with words as the Doctor, but she'd spent most of her work life writing, and in her off time convincing people to do good things they didn't want to do.

Molly turned and walked a few feet away, where a couple of the Vannique looked in at them. They were smaller, with darker blue faces. Maybe they were children. She knocked on the glass, and they swam away, startled.

"What are you doing?" the man asked, alarmed. "It's best we just leave them alone."

"Why?"

Another woman in the group replied, "Are you kidding? They're evil aliens who kidnapped us!"

Molly shrugged. "Maybe they're not evil. Maybe it's a culture clash." She walked around the dome, looking for another one that had drifted close enough to get their attention.

"You crazy? Is that it?" the woman replied.

"Probably," Molly replied. "That doesn't mean I'm wrong." There – another one, glancing over. She knocked again, and tried to wave him down, but was ignored.

She tried again. "Hey! You! Don't I get a phone call?" Maybe not the right time for a joke. "Or do the Vannique not do that?"

The Vannique seemed surprised, and finally approached the glass.

You know our name? He asked, and Molly felt his voice like an itch in her brain.

"Yeah."

None of the others do.

"The others don't have the same tour guide I do," she replied. "So, what are we doing here? What's your plan with us?"

You touched our territory. You belong to the Vannique.

"Cool, cool. By the way, I'm Molly," she introduced herself. "Molly Quinn. You have a name?"

Forget the other humans, she seemed to be weirding out the Vannique even more. …Pereus.

"Nice to meet you, Pereus. How's your day going? Mine could be going a bit better. I'm missing my friends." Humanize herself. Make them see her as a person, not an object.

Pereus seemed taken aback. I…have my duties to perform. But the tone was apologetic. Aha.

"Hold on, hold on!" She tapped the glass to keep him from turning away. "I think you're in trouble. My friends can help."

What do you know of our troubles?

"You're under stress. You're not from this planet. There are cracks in your ship. Also, your ship is in a lake. There are a lot of you. Surely you need more space than a lake, even one this size." Molly decided to take a moment to pause for dramatic effect. "You crashed here, didn't you?"

Yes, he replied. What do you think your…friends…can do? Our technology is far superior to yours.

"Mine, yeah, even more superior than you think," she agreed. "But my friends aren't from around here. Is there someone I can talk to, some kind of leader? I promise, my friends can help you."

Molly tried not to look desperate, but it was difficult. Now that she knew she would live, she hoped the Doctor would find her eventually. But he'd said short trips in the TARDIS was dangerous – if he tried, it might be years, lifetimes. If he didn't make it, or if things got violent…she wanted to find another way out. And she had to admit, she wanted to impress the Doctor. This was a strategy she was sure he would approve of. She hoped she wasn't making empty promises.

Pereus looked hesitant, then swam closer, almost right against the glass. She took a step forward and pressed a hand against the glass. "Please," she begged, quietly. So much for not seeming desperate. "You're clearly an advanced race of people. You're trapped and desperate. We understand that feeling. Let me try to help you. What's the harm?"

Pereus looked from her face to her hand pressed against the glass. He held his hand up to hers. Something in him, she knew, was seeing their similarities. She could see it in his eyes. He looked back to hers.

I'll take this to the Grand Emperor, he said at last.

A smile of relief came across her face. "Thank you."

Pereus turned and swam away. She sighed and pressed her forehead against the glass.

"What are you doing?" asked the first man she'd spoken to as he approached. "Why are you promising to help them? They kidnapped us. If they find out you're lying, they might kill us."

Molly turned her head towards him. "What's your name?"

"John."

"Okay, John," she stood up straight, turned fully towards him, folded her arms and leaned against the glass. "First of all, don't call me a liar. I never lie. Actually, that itself is a lie. But I almost never lie. I'm really, really bad at it. As you just experienced. Secondly, my friends really can, probably, help. Third, what's your brilliant idea to get us out of here?"

John scowled, but eventually nodded. "Okay. Yeah. If it gets us out, I guess it's worth a shot."

It was some time later when an entourage of Vannique arrived. Molly stood from where she'd been sitting on the floor, half meditating on what she'd say, half panicking all the things she planned would go straight out of her head when it mattered. Of course, that was exactly what happened.

Still, she stepped up to the glass. She wasn't sure if she was supposed to bow or curtsey, or even who to since they all looked the same, but she bowed her head a bit anyway. "Hi," she greeted. "How are you today?"

They weren't into small talk. Tell me how your friends can help us. Somehow, she could feel it came from the man in the center. The only thing that made him remarkable were a few extra tentacles on the sides.

"My friends are experienced with…um, helping people." Where were the mind and heart-changing words she'd just planned? "One of them in particular. He has access to advanced technology, and he probably knows the name of every planet in the universe. He's how I knew who you are, and-"

Faster. The Emperor demanded.

She resisted rolling her eyes. "I'm sure he can help fix your ship, and help you get home."

Our home is dead.

Okay. New goal. "Well, maybe he can help you find another safe planet to live on. Or maybe relocate you somewhere on this planet, where you have more space, and you're less of a threat to the people."

One of the other captured humans took offense to this. "Don't invite them to stay here! We don't want those monsters here."

"Shut up," she said, not moving her eyes from the Emperor. She took a deep breath. Where was the Molly the Doctor claimed she was? "My friend is going to find his way here. I don't know how, but he is. When he does, he'll offer you a chance at help. He always does. But he'll want you to return the people you stole."

Anything that touches our water belongs to us.

"Except it's not your water," she argued. "You crashed here. This water already belongs to the people on this planet. I know you have a concept of property. If this was going to be your permanent home, there would need to be a discussion of the transfer of the ownership. And if it was the people of this planet stealing away your people, you'd object. You didn't land here on purpose; it wasn't your fault. No one here knew you'd claimed the water. It's not their fault." She paused, hoping that the point would sink in. "That'll be the ultimatum. He helps you, and you let these people go."

His expression looked something akin to offended. And now she wondered if the Doctor would want her negotiating on his behalf. So, things were looking pretty bad. Mistake after mistake. But one good thing about making mistakes: it always made her angry, to cover the fear and embarrassment. And when she was angry, she got shit done.

Phoebe, Heather, Olivia, Eleanor, Nina, Ivy, Xyla.

Well, screw it. New tactic. Making the Doctor happy wasn't her priority. Making friends with the Vannique wasn't her priority. Her priority was getting these people out alive. And she wasn't going to fail. "Maybe I'm not making myself clear," she said with authority. "You are on a planet that isn't your own, and trying to enforce laws that aren't part of this planet. Further, you've stolen away their people, which is basically a declaration of war. Your ship is damaged, and you're trapped in a lake, so you're not exactly in fighting shape. I've told you the deal. You let us go, and you let my friends and I help you. Otherwise, the leaders of this planet will eventually come down here and destroy you. They know you're here. You're surrounded by them, and they won't let you just steal away their people without consequences, just as you wouldn't let anyone hurt your citizens without punishment. So basically, you accept this deal, or your people suffer those consequences. Neither of us want your people getting hurt. What's it going to be?"

The moment between her finishing speaking and him beginning felt so very long, though her mind told her it was only a few seconds. …'Neither', you said. Neither I…nor you. Why would you care if my people suffer?

She found herself smiling a little. "You didn't take the kids. There are always more kids than adults playing in the water, no matter where or when you are. But you didn't take them." Molly paused for a moment. "Your children are here, I mean, Vannique children. I've seen them. It's not just you and I that don't want to see children hurt. It's both our societies."

The Emperor stared at her for another long moment, and then turned to the people around him. She felt that tickling in her mind stronger, but couldn't hear any words. It must have been some form of whispering. She held her breath and hoped the whispering meant something good. That she had, at least, almost convinced him.

Finally, he turned back to her. She thought she saw a small smile on his face. We accept your proposal. We will speak to this friend when he arrives. How will he do that?

Molly shrugged. "No idea. But he'll get here. Eventually." Hopefully he wouldn't miss by a few years.

But just like he'd heard his cue, that familiar sound began echoing off the glass, and flashes of the TARDIS appeared before she appeared herself. Molly turned with a smile as the door opened, partially out of relief, partially because it was still so wonderful that she got to see things like the TARDIS appearing.

"Molly," the Doctor began, almost half-falling out of the TARDIS. Jack followed after him. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"I'm okay," she replied. "Everyone seems to be."

The Doctor turned around and seemed to take count of everything and all the people staring in shock at the TARDIS, while Jack walked up and half-hugged her.

"Glad to see you didn't drown," he said.

"Me too," she breathed.

The Doctor noticed the group of Vannique, and seemed to know which was the Emperor. He immediately approached. "I need to speak with you," he said, and approached the glass. "We need to negotiate. I can help you, but you need to release these people. They're innocent, they didn't know any better."

Your companion has already this negotiated this with us, the Emperor replied. We will release our property, and you will help us find a safe place to exist.

The Doctor turned to Molly, an incredulous look on his face. Here it was. He was going to be angry that she'd made promises on his behalf.

"You already negotiated all this?"

Molly braced herself for her favorite character to be angry with her again, this time for good reason. Still, she'd done what she had to, and she wasn't ashamed. If only her heart would stop racing so painfully. "Yeah."

His face fell. "You took my job. I was going to be extremely clever."

Relief. She folded her arms over her chest. Now everything was settled, and the adrenalin had faded, the heaviness and chill of her wet clothes was getting to her. "To be fair, I left the hard part for you. That's the best way for you to show off your brilliance."

The Doctor smiled. "Good point." He turned back to the Emperor. "I know just the planet for you. Drothvoda – a water planet – lots of different species of aquatic animals, no humans. You could claim the whole planet, if you wanted."

We have heard of this planet, but not where to find it, the Emperor replied.

"I'll get you a map," the Doctor said. "And I'll get the people of New Earth to help you repair your ship. They'll want some discussions, things in writing, guarantees from you…but they'll help you, if only to get you to leave."

While the Doctor and the Emperor continued to discuss the issue, Molly turned and headed over to lean against the TARDIS, and closed her eyes. Her day had only just begun, and she was already exhausted. A couple hours into her time with the Doctor, and she'd already almost died. But it didn't seem as awful as she'd thought. After all, she'd almost been killed multiple times in her quest for (admittedly mild) vigilante justice. What was the difference between a human trying to kill her and an alien trying to kill her?

"Hey," Jack said, and she opened her eyes to see him beside her. She gave him a tired smile. "First time kidnapped by aliens?"

"Yep," she admitted, laughing weakly. "I guess it's a sort of initiation for travelling with the Doctor."

Jack looked thoughtful. "May as well be," he said. "So, where are you from? You might not want to tell me how you met the Doctor, but what's the harm in telling me where you're from?"

Molly considered this, and decided he was right. "Texas originally, then New York. Well, technically I'd just moved to England, but I was there less than a day when…when I met the Doctor," she dodged the technical details. "It was 2025 when I left."

"Really? I haven't been there yet."

She looked at him in surprise, and then decided she shouldn't be. Jack and the Doctor were both time travelers. "Well, I kind of missed…a lot, so it still feels like 2023 to me."

"How did you miss a year?"

She supposed it was safe enough to talk about that here, where it never actually happened and she never really existed, and therefore he couldn't figure out her past. "I was shot. Long story, and one I don't like to talk about. It took multiple surgeries, and months of physical rehab, but eventually I could walk again, mostly fine, but still in pain. Couldn't dance anymore – I'm sort of a part-time dancer – and couldn't run for more than a couple minutes. That's why we're here. He was getting my spine fixed."

"Ah," replied Jack. "You can't exactly run with the Doctor without running."

"Yeah."

"So…what kind of dance?"

The Doctor walked up to them then, already talking. "Alright, it's all set. We'll just give these people a lift back to the surface, swing by the Senate, and we can get going."

"One thing I'm confused about," Molly started. "Why did they grab me? I didn't touch the water."

The Doctor turned and approached one of the tables, and picked up the paper airplane. He walked back to her, held it up to her eyeline, and slowly pulled a strand of hair from the folds of the plane. "Your hair got caught in it in the wind," he reminded her. "Your DNA touched the surface. It counts."

"Ohhh. Right." She shrugged. "Well, if we're ready to go, I'm going to head back to the wardrobe. These clothes have gotten soaked three times, and are really uncomfortable now."

"You don't want to see everyone getting to go home?"

"…three times."

"Right."

Hurtling through space while in the bath was a new experience, and Molly didn't really want to repeat it. But she'd desperately needed warming up, and to clean off the lake water, so she had taken the risk. Maybe someone less afraid of space would have found it fun. People loved water slides. This was kind of like one, right?

As soon as she felt clean and warm, she got out, dried herself off, and changed into the skinny jeans and black tank top she'd found, and threw her boots back on. She headed back to the control room, where she found the Doctor and Jack chatting.

"Oh, are we done?" she asked.

"Yes! Everything's all fixed," said the Doctor. "Humans helping space mermaids find a new home planet. Not a bad first trip, huh?"

She laughed. "Yeah, not bad. Thought we'd start out a little slower than me being almost drowned, but I guess that means I'm here for real now."

"Really real," said the Doctor, sounding like he was reassuring her again that it wasn't a dream. He approached her. "By the way…"

She stared back at him. "Yeah?"

"Thanks for saving us so much time. Negotiating that yourself was very impressive, for a first time around."

She grinned. "Yeah, I was pretty great, wasn't I?" Then she shrugged. "Nothing anyone else couldn't have done, but-"

"Much, much better than most could have done," he said, his voice lower now. He was giving her that look. That look that said he wanted to fix her doubt in herself, the look she'd seen before, in the wardrobe. She was already starting to hate it. Subject change.

"And thanks for getting my spine fixed," Molly said, deciding on something sincere. "I can't tell you what a miracle it is to not always, always be in pain." She gave a thankful squeeze of his arm as he smiled.

"You're very welcome," he said softly.

She released the Doctor's arm and walked around him to Jack. "So, are you sticking around?"

"He is absolutely not," replied the Doctor sharply, turning around to follow behind her. "We're giving him a lift home, that's all."

"Have you eaten?" she asked, pointedly facing Jack.

"Not since last night," he responded, smiling a little. He knew where this was going.

"Yeah, I had some peanuts on the plane to England, and about three bites of the meal was all I could stand." She turned to the Doctor. "I don't think any of us have had breakfast yet. Or lunch. Whatever meal it is we're supposed to be on."

"We can be on any meal," said the Doctor. "It's a time machine."

Molly smiled. "So…should we all stop for brunch when we drop Jack off? Seems the most efficient to me."

The Doctor was scowling, but Jack added, "Come on, Doc. I know you miss me. You must have talked about me; how else would she know who I am?"

The Doctor and Molly shared a quick glance. She was not doing well at keeping who she really was a secret.

"Fine, fine," the Doctor groaned, and approached the console. "Just because I love brunch." But Molly saw the quick flash, just a split second of nostalgic happiness in his eyes. He really had missed Jack. In a way, Jack was a representative of all his old friends, Rose and Martha and Donna, everyone he hadn't seen since he had last seen Jack, since his last regeneration. All those important people he hadn't seen in over a thousand years.

Molly wondered just how long it had been.

A/N: There will eventually be an illustration for the Vannique. Writing this chapter, I was so sure I'd be in a more comfortable financial position by the time I was finished writing and starting publishing, so I was going to commission a drawing. I am definitely not, lol. Someday!