Fic: Mother Time (Chapter 5)
Title: Mother Time
Author: country_who
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairing: Ten/Rose, Jenny/Jack, Idris
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe, Romance
Summary: The Doctor, Rose, Jenny and Jack are planning on going to see Donna, but when the TARDIS starts acting up and the Doctor receives a message, they have no choice but to investigate. (The Doctor's Wife, AU). Sequel to The Doctor and His Time Ladies.
Author's Note: Sorry for this being so late, school and real life have been rather hectic lately. I'm so not going to be this over ambitious next year...
Prologue | Chapter 1| Chapter 2| Chapter 3| Chapter 4
Jenny didn’t have time to gasp as she started falling. Bracing her muscles she closed her eyes and got ready to pull her legs up closer to her, until she realized she was swinging by her arm. Looking up, she met Captain Jack’s blue eyes staring down at her flashing his perfect white teeth at her with his smile. For a moment he looked relaxed, his eyes sparkling with the same diamonds from the day she met him and his too-boyish dimples formed lightly on his cheeks. But behind those diamonds and dimples was the strain in his eyes.
All at once, she took notice of how much her arm ached from just supporting her own weight. It shouldn’t have been this difficult. She was in peak physical health, not aging rapidly and her Time Lord genes stopped her muscles from needing the constant stimulation that humans required. Supporting her own weight should have been a walk in the park, but the strain was far beyond that.
She shifted her attention to Jack, seeing his muscles bulging beneath his shirt; she gasped and closed her eyes momentarily, praying that this wasn’t happening. Pain shot through her arm and she stifled a small whimper and looked away from Jack for a few more seconds so hide her emotions.
“Jack?” She whispered his name, betraying only some of her fear, as she tightened her grip on her hand. Risking a look down, she noted that House was only allowing her to look about ten fee down before the gap turned pitch black. Her eyes widened involuntarily before she could force herself to look away.
“He’s controlling the gravity,” Jack told her with a tone of knowledge, but one that was far from acceptance. He tried to pull and she stifled a scream, but the agony must have been more prevalent on her face. “Sorry,” he apologized, as he tried reaching down for her left hand, as she tried to meet him halfway, but her arms felt like they were being weighed down with buckets being filled with more and more concrete.
“Jack, it’s getting stronger,” she told him, when he finally managed to get a hold of her hand. Relief washed over her from the simple touch, but her mind told her that there was no reason to feel it. She was going to fall.
“No it’s not, Jenny,” Jack lied to her, as he squeezed her hands in comfort. “Now, this is gonna hurt.”
His face was the picture of an apology; while he positioned his feet so that they anchored him firmly to the ground, while he slowly slid his hands down Jenny’s to her wrists to get more purchase on her. He bit his lip before continuing, giving the girl whose life he held in his hands a look that might have been asking for permission. She understood of course. Jack had seen so much bad and caused so much pain, whether he meant to or not, and neither of them wanted to add to it.
She smiled at him, and tried to think of a joke to say to lighten the mood, but words seemed to elude her.
Jenny saw him maneuver himself again as if to gain more traction, but she knew he was stalling. He was waiting for the chance that maybe, just maybe house would be kind, take pity and let her go.
He was hoping for a miracle.
He tightened his grip firmly around her, to the point that neither was sure that they would ever be able to separate themselves again. Of course, neither of them was going to complain about that possibility.
She gritted her teeth together hard, as he counted to three. Pain shot through her, as he tugged on her, and she slowly felt herself being pulled up, while she clawed her hands tighter into him. Then House fought back harder and pulled back. Jack was forced to loosen his grip from Jenny’s screams of pain, and the tug on her seemed to relent slightly, leaving Jenny panting while her feet dangled over the edge.
Looking up at Jack, Jenny forced a smile and squeezed his hand. “Love you, Jack.”
He recognized that look; she gave him the same one, when they were pulled in opposite directions as they were separated in the reality the library had created for them.
“You’re not saying goodbye,” Jack nearly shouted, tightening her grip on her hands, while she shook her head and smirked. Her words were coming back to her, she could use them now. Her words were strong. She could make him believe in her. Believe in them. Believe in him.
“Most would answer, ‘I love you too, Jenny’,” she grated, as her shoulders screamed in pain.
“I love you, and that’s why I’m not saying goodbye,” he told her, while she looked down, at the pitched black underneath her.
She swung her feet a bit, as if she could get the floor to come up to her. The pull seemed to lighten up a bit, making her think that just maybe it was safe. If Jack tried to pull her to safety the gravity would surely be strengthened again. He was making the answer so obvious. “You need to let go.”
“No. Never,” Jack told her, pulling back slightly.
“I’m not leaving you Jack, but we can’t sit here forever, or until we both fall in,” Jenny told him. “Let go. Trust me?”
Jack gritted his teeth. “It’s not a matter of trust, Jen.”
“I’ll find you, I promise,” Jenny told him, as she started to let go, but she was stopped as Jack tugged her back.
“Wait, Jenny,” Jack said fleetingly. “I want you to have something.”
Shaking her head fervently, she looked piercingly into his eyes. “Don’t do anything you wouldn’t have done before.”
“I would have though,” he promised, and gave a small mirthless laugh. “Even asked your dad before you came into the console room today. He moved his arm over to his other and had Jenny grab onto it quickly as he fished in his pocket, pulled out the velvet covered box, and revealed the ring. “It’s a promise,” said Jack, taking the ring between his thumb and forefinger and carefully sliding it on Jenny’s left hand, without her having to relinquish most of her grip. “I’ll find you, Jenny.”
“I know,” and with that, Jenny released her grip from Jack’s hands, flexing them to force Jack’s still clinging hands from her.
And, she fell.
~//~
Rose reached out and touched the woman’s temples, but she stopped and lingered for a moment. The two woman’s eyes locked together and the TARDIS automatically knew what Rose wanted.
“I’ll hold back, so you can talk to her,” the TARDIS told her.
Rose felt the transfer take place as the TARDIS’s thoughts flowed into her mind and nearly knocked her off balance, while she squeezed her eyes shut. A thousand images flashed before her eyes, images from five seconds ago, five years ago, and the future. Rose blanched as faces she couldn’t recognize assaulted her mind, a mad man, a woman so scared and so alone, and two others, standing side by side. Their faces melded with the rest of the images, Jack and Jenny clinging to each other desperately, her future self was shouting at the mad man, and her Doctor lying motionless on the ground surrounded broken glass, while blood trickled down his face.
Gasping, Rose tried to catch her breath, while she found herself on her knees in front of the woman’s body the TARDIS’s matrix had been resting in.
“Sorry, Wolf,” she heard the TARDIS within her mind. “Transfers of this nature can be a bit… messy.”
“Tell me about it,” Rose muttered back audibly, while she felt the TARDIS receding into the back of her mind, but she knew that she couldn’t stay that way long. The TARDIS wouldn’t survive being compressed into a smaller place. That’s why she had to move to Rose, she was much more stable for her to reside inside.
The woman groaned and opened her eyes, and searched around before her sight fell on Rose. As she started to panic and flail her arms around weakly, Rose held her shoulders down and forced a reassuring smile to come to her face. “It’s okay, you’re fine now. Just rest.”
“W-where am I? Where did they go?” the woman stuttered out looking around her, and rubbing her arms with her hands, while she tried to catch her breath.
“Somewhere safe,” Rose said with a small smile and took the woman’s hand, feeling her pulse slowing with her added sensitivity from the TARDIS.
“I’m cold,” she whispered, letting out a shuddering breath and closing her eyes, as if she wanted to say something else, but she couldn’t think of anything.
Rose bit her bottom lip and gave the woman a wan smile, trying to take her mind off of what was going on inside, her, while the TARDIS silently warned her that she couldn’t stay suppressed much longer and the woman wouldn’t last much longer either.
“What’s your name?” Rose asked softly.
The woman concentrated hard, scrunching up her face, as if the simple act of thinking was a physical challenge. Rose rubbed her shoulders to encourage her and finally the woman’s lips parted.
“Idris,” she whispered.
“That’s nice,” Rose told her, honestly, while the woman grinned her thanks, as her face relaxed and she drew her last breath. Gently, Rose reached forward and lowered the woman’s eyes, as she drew a deep breath. “Idris,” she whispered, committing the name to memory, the woman who held the TARDIS.
Closing her eyes, Rose thought to her mistress, “I’m ready.”
A slight golden glow came to surface in Rose’s eyes, as the Bad Wolf energy came forward and surrounded her in a protective shield against the TARDIS’s presence momentarily, as Rose’s consciousness slid away. She remained awake, but she found her limbs being moved forward by the TARDIS, as she set out instinctively after her thief. It wasn’t like when she was possessed by Cassandra. Instead of having her mind screaming in pain to be released, she found herself shrouded in warmth, while her body moved deliberately in the direction that she wanted to. It was almost liberating, like this was something that was always meant to be.
The devotion to the Doctor by both women was obvious, as they moved as one, Rose’s body and the TARDIS’s mind. The image of her Doctor’s past regenerations passed in front of her eyes, a thousand times over, as she tried to reign it all in. It was almost overwhelming, but the ancient ship’s mind obviously had a method to her madness, as images of the Time War flashed in front of her eyes.
She was blind to the fighting, the bloodshed and anger, like the TARDIS had been, sitting in the safety where her Time Lord had left her. Instead, Rose felt the pain and sadness of the TARDIS as she recalled waiting, thinking about him and hoping her would come back.
For a moment, Rose was sent back in time, feeling the Doctor’s fingers running their way over a console unfamiliar to her, but clear to the TARDIS. He gave her a drawn smile, while he stepped out. His eyes were so young, yet so old, so troubled, so broken. Rose couldn’t take it. She would have screamed if she had control over her lips, but she didn’t, so she sat back and watched. The Doctor left, with his back turned, an ancient, now dead language of screams echoed from outside as he opened the door, murmured something sadly, and closed it leaving the room in widespread, impermeable silence.
The TARDIS shared everything with Rose, the pain of waiting, and Rose shared with the TARDIS how much she hated waiting for the dimension cannon to take shape, while she was forced to go about normal life. The near misses, the pain of getting so close to the Doctor and just missing him and having to start from scratch again-having landings in the wrong universe where the Doctor was dead, or worse, hated her.
The images flashed forward until the Doctor came stumbling through the doors, broken and bloody. He muttered something about a Time Lock as he hurried over to the console and began pushing buttons at a seemingly random sequence, while the TARDIS tried her best to help him. The whole ship shuttered, as together they sealed off Gallifrey, the Time Lords and the Daleks.
Pushing off the console, a golden glow began to surround the Doctor after a few agonizing screams, Rose’s first Doctor appeared. Hardness in his eyes, and hurt, like when they had first met, only somehow it was even rawer and more hate filled.
The memories receded, as the TARDIS focused her attention on controlling Rose’s body, while preserving her energy.
“Sorry, Wolf,” she apologized as she looked down at herself in Rose’s body.
“S’alright,” Rose thought back, wishing she could rub her temples to stop them from throbbing. “I know you must have had a reason.”
“Indeed,” the ancient ship replied with almost a haughty air, while she walked briskly towards the direction the Doctor had gone in. It wasn’t long before they caught up to him, his hands shoved deeply inside his voluminous pockets, while he stared at the ground, walking away from them.
“Call him Doctor,” Rose thought to her, when she felt the TARDIS getting ready to shout, “thief.” Feeling the TARDIS’s pressure making her mind less sharp, she receded back further before continuing,“So, it’s easier for him to come over so you can explain yourself.”
The TARDIS gave her wolf an affirmative mental nod, as Rose’s mind drifted off to sleep and ticked over in her head. Taking inventory on her latest body, she could feel the human child’s organ’s beginning to strain slightly, but they would last a few more hours yet. She brought her hand up in the customary motion that she had witnessed many humans making.
“Rose,” her thief called, as he ran up to her and looking around her.
“Doctor,” the TARDIS whispered, mimicking Rose’s accent perfectly.
“Where’s the TARDIS?” the Doctor asked, peering over her shoulder as he rested his hands just above both her elbows. “She doesn’t have much time left.”
“Actually, I’d say, that she has relatively Four hours and eight seconds relative to Earth time, that you’ve become so fond of thinking in,” the TARDIS blurted out, before covering her mouth with her hands and muttering an oops. “I mean. Oi! Erm. Hello, goodbye, I love you, no that’s no right, what does she say to you?”
The Doctor took a step back and released her. “TARDIS and Rose, you’re my TARDIS and my Rose.”
He put his hand on his face and pinched his nose, spinning around quickly and groaning in frustration. “You can’t just hop from one body to the next, it’s not right.”
“Well, I did,” she retorted, putting her hands on her hips and giving the Doctor a hard stare, making him flinch, as he looked deeply into Rose’s eyes. The TARDIS’s consciousness was obviously there, but he still felt like he was looking at his Rose. Gently, he touched her cheek and TARDIS allowed him to move both his hands to her temples, as he sought out his girl.
“She’s resting,” the TARDIS told him, while he entered her mind, feeling the Doctor’s silver consciousness stream past hers and to Rose’s golden mind gently curled up and safe inside her thoughts. He brushed her gently with his and found himself gently coaxing a soft mental message from her.
“Love you, Doctor,” her voice came back to him, before she receded back away and her glow dimmed. Brushing her one more time with his mind, the Doctor left.
“I love you too, Rose,” he told her audibly, before lifting his head and looking at the TARDIS in Rose’s body. “How is she holding up?”
“Better than the last body,” she told him. “She’s much stronger, thief.”
A small snort rose up in his mouth, as she agreed with him, and he shook his head sadly from side to side. She was strong, but he didn’t want to keep pushing it. He had come close to losing her forever so many times and always ended up getting her back, but someday he knew that their luck would run out. It couldn’t be now. He couldn’t lose Rose or the TARDIS, but that’s what this could all come down to and he knew it. If they couldn’t get back to the TARDIS, and let the TARDIS back into her home, then Rose would die. Or, if he forced the TARDIS to leave Rose, he would lose the one companion that had been with him the longest and through the most. The universe couldn’t make him chose between the two of them, could it?
Nothing could be that cruel.
“How long did you say she had?” the Doctor asked, but quickly amended himself. “Not how long she had to live, but before she suffers permanent damage to her systems.”
“Two hours before permanent damage,” she told him.
“Right,” the Doctor said, closing his eyes, and reaching for her hand instinctively, while they started walking down a path, not really knowing where to go from here. “I suppose I’m rather useless then.”
The words were nearly silent, in fact, he wasn’t even sure if he had said them, but the TARDIS had picked up on the meaning either
way, and jerked him hard. “You’re not giving up.”
“You’re right.” the Doctor said miserably. “I already did.” He reached a cliff and stared out at the Junkyard. Pieces of broken consoles were everywhere, while other seemingly arbitrary items lay scattered about from still functioning chameleon circuits. He hated to see them. The Doctor had hated seeing it the day that he was on Gallifrey and rescued the TARDIS. The ships were living,
he knew that, but sometimes it felt like no one else did and left them to be scrapped.
He felt the TARDIS place her hands on his shoulders and gently lower him to the ground. He tried to turn and look at her, but instead, he felt tender hands guide his head in the direction of the junkyard. He tried to close his eyes, but something about the TARDIS silent insistence made him look.
“No you didn’t,” the TARDIS told him. “You never have and you never will. You never gave up when you had nothing left to lose and you won’t give up now that you have everything to lose. That’s what she likes most about you.”
Giving a mirthless laugh, the Doctor shook his head. “I never should have taken her away.”
“Where would she be if not with you?”
“Safe.”
“Bored.”
“Domestic.”
“Lonely.”
“Loved.”
“She is now, isn’t she?”
“Yes,” the Doctor muttered. “But, that doesn’t save her.”
“No, but that brain of yours does.”
“Why can’t you just tell me?” the Doctor pleaded with her.
“The time lines are being strict. Your song is ending, and everything must fall into place,” the TARDIS answered sadly, as she leaned her head on the Doctor’s shoulder and felt him tense up underneath her touch.
His song was ending.
“What?”
“Sorry, I wasn’t meant to tell you that, either. But, be careful, my thief,” the TARDIS whispered.
Nodding, the Doctor forced the thought to the back of his mind, as he looked out to the junkyard again. A TARDIS Junkyard.
“TARDIS junk,” the Doctor murmured.
“Yes,” the TARDIS encouraged.
“You can’t be suggesting that we fly a TARDIS without an exterior shell,” the Doctor gasped.
“I am,” she answered, obviously confused by the Doctor’s change in emotions, as he took her hand and shouted cheerfully for once and sprinted down the hill.
~//~
Screams filled Jenny’s ears, as she fell. It was so surreal. Air rushed past her, whipping her hair painfully across her face, and causing her to tense up as she curled her arms around her body protectively, knowing that it probably wouldn’t do anything. If House wanted her dead, then he would kill her. If he wanted her to live, then he would spare her to torture her more.
Biting her teeth together hard, while she saw the ground rushing up on her as an enormous speed, she squeezed her eyes shut, thinking about her dad, and Rose, and Jack, and wondered if she was still able to regenerate with that thing controlling the TARDIS. If it could temporarily stop Jack from being a fixed point, then surely it could stop her body from regenerating, or would it?
It didn’t matter now, she supposed.
Muttering a goodbye to no one in particular, she readied herself for the impact, but it never came. Instead, she felt herself slow to a gentle stop and hang in midair for a moment before she rolled herself over and touched the ground lightly with her feet. Gasping softly, she looked up to yell back at Jack that she was okay, but the opening had closed up, and had separated him from her.
Looking down at her feet, Jenny shook her head. Clasping her hands together, she felt the ring that Jack had slipped on there. It must have been a custom before the fifty-first century, because she had never seen anyone in her travels wearing one. Jack had lived through a lot; surely he had adopted it from back then. However, that didn’t lessen her understanding of the gravity of what he was proposing. He wanted to be with her, make sure that they were together as long as they could be. Coupled with the small diamond and the golden band was a million words that neither of them would ever speak, because they both understood.
“You’re not winning,” Jenny vowed, looking up at the ceiling and glaring at it, as she started walking forward, calling Jack’s name as she went. She trailed her hand over the rough walls of the twisting corridors of the TARDIS. She walked for what felt like forever, before she heard moaning and started running towards it. With renewed optimism, she sprinted forward, and shouted Jack’s name.
A pained response met her, as she ran faster around a corner and her eyes met him. He was turned away from her, his arms pulled up around his legs, while blood clearly stained the back of his shirt in several small patches.
“Jack,” she whispered, hurrying over to him and putting her hand over his shoulder and helped him to turn around. “Talk to me Jack.”
He turned around slowly and looked at her with pain and anger in his eyes. “You left me. You’re fine and you left me.”
“I didn’t want to Jack,” Jenny told him, wiping some blood away from his split lip, as she gathered him in her arms. “You know that.”
“I needed you, Jenny,” Jack whimpered uncharacteristically. “I needed you.”
“I’m here now,” Jenny told him.
“That’s not good enough,” Jack said with a tone that had turned suddenly icy.
Jenny was about to question him, but stopped when she heard the sound of Jack cocking back the hammer of his revolver, and the feeling of cool metal met her stomach.
Author: country_who
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairing: Ten/Rose, Jenny/Jack, Idris
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe, Romance
Summary: The Doctor, Rose, Jenny and Jack are planning on going to see Donna, but when the TARDIS starts acting up and the Doctor receives a message, they have no choice but to investigate. (The Doctor's Wife, AU). Sequel to The Doctor and His Time Ladies.
Author's Note: Sorry for this being so late, school and real life have been rather hectic lately. I'm so not going to be this over ambitious next year...
Prologue | Chapter 1| Chapter 2| Chapter 3| Chapter 4
Jenny didn’t have time to gasp as she started falling. Bracing her muscles she closed her eyes and got ready to pull her legs up closer to her, until she realized she was swinging by her arm. Looking up, she met Captain Jack’s blue eyes staring down at her flashing his perfect white teeth at her with his smile. For a moment he looked relaxed, his eyes sparkling with the same diamonds from the day she met him and his too-boyish dimples formed lightly on his cheeks. But behind those diamonds and dimples was the strain in his eyes.
All at once, she took notice of how much her arm ached from just supporting her own weight. It shouldn’t have been this difficult. She was in peak physical health, not aging rapidly and her Time Lord genes stopped her muscles from needing the constant stimulation that humans required. Supporting her own weight should have been a walk in the park, but the strain was far beyond that.
She shifted her attention to Jack, seeing his muscles bulging beneath his shirt; she gasped and closed her eyes momentarily, praying that this wasn’t happening. Pain shot through her arm and she stifled a small whimper and looked away from Jack for a few more seconds so hide her emotions.
“Jack?” She whispered his name, betraying only some of her fear, as she tightened her grip on her hand. Risking a look down, she noted that House was only allowing her to look about ten fee down before the gap turned pitch black. Her eyes widened involuntarily before she could force herself to look away.
“He’s controlling the gravity,” Jack told her with a tone of knowledge, but one that was far from acceptance. He tried to pull and she stifled a scream, but the agony must have been more prevalent on her face. “Sorry,” he apologized, as he tried reaching down for her left hand, as she tried to meet him halfway, but her arms felt like they were being weighed down with buckets being filled with more and more concrete.
“Jack, it’s getting stronger,” she told him, when he finally managed to get a hold of her hand. Relief washed over her from the simple touch, but her mind told her that there was no reason to feel it. She was going to fall.
“No it’s not, Jenny,” Jack lied to her, as he squeezed her hands in comfort. “Now, this is gonna hurt.”
His face was the picture of an apology; while he positioned his feet so that they anchored him firmly to the ground, while he slowly slid his hands down Jenny’s to her wrists to get more purchase on her. He bit his lip before continuing, giving the girl whose life he held in his hands a look that might have been asking for permission. She understood of course. Jack had seen so much bad and caused so much pain, whether he meant to or not, and neither of them wanted to add to it.
She smiled at him, and tried to think of a joke to say to lighten the mood, but words seemed to elude her.
Jenny saw him maneuver himself again as if to gain more traction, but she knew he was stalling. He was waiting for the chance that maybe, just maybe house would be kind, take pity and let her go.
He was hoping for a miracle.
He tightened his grip firmly around her, to the point that neither was sure that they would ever be able to separate themselves again. Of course, neither of them was going to complain about that possibility.
She gritted her teeth together hard, as he counted to three. Pain shot through her, as he tugged on her, and she slowly felt herself being pulled up, while she clawed her hands tighter into him. Then House fought back harder and pulled back. Jack was forced to loosen his grip from Jenny’s screams of pain, and the tug on her seemed to relent slightly, leaving Jenny panting while her feet dangled over the edge.
Looking up at Jack, Jenny forced a smile and squeezed his hand. “Love you, Jack.”
He recognized that look; she gave him the same one, when they were pulled in opposite directions as they were separated in the reality the library had created for them.
“You’re not saying goodbye,” Jack nearly shouted, tightening her grip on her hands, while she shook her head and smirked. Her words were coming back to her, she could use them now. Her words were strong. She could make him believe in her. Believe in them. Believe in him.
“Most would answer, ‘I love you too, Jenny’,” she grated, as her shoulders screamed in pain.
“I love you, and that’s why I’m not saying goodbye,” he told her, while she looked down, at the pitched black underneath her.
She swung her feet a bit, as if she could get the floor to come up to her. The pull seemed to lighten up a bit, making her think that just maybe it was safe. If Jack tried to pull her to safety the gravity would surely be strengthened again. He was making the answer so obvious. “You need to let go.”
“No. Never,” Jack told her, pulling back slightly.
“I’m not leaving you Jack, but we can’t sit here forever, or until we both fall in,” Jenny told him. “Let go. Trust me?”
Jack gritted his teeth. “It’s not a matter of trust, Jen.”
“I’ll find you, I promise,” Jenny told him, as she started to let go, but she was stopped as Jack tugged her back.
“Wait, Jenny,” Jack said fleetingly. “I want you to have something.”
Shaking her head fervently, she looked piercingly into his eyes. “Don’t do anything you wouldn’t have done before.”
“I would have though,” he promised, and gave a small mirthless laugh. “Even asked your dad before you came into the console room today. He moved his arm over to his other and had Jenny grab onto it quickly as he fished in his pocket, pulled out the velvet covered box, and revealed the ring. “It’s a promise,” said Jack, taking the ring between his thumb and forefinger and carefully sliding it on Jenny’s left hand, without her having to relinquish most of her grip. “I’ll find you, Jenny.”
“I know,” and with that, Jenny released her grip from Jack’s hands, flexing them to force Jack’s still clinging hands from her.
And, she fell.
~//~
Rose reached out and touched the woman’s temples, but she stopped and lingered for a moment. The two woman’s eyes locked together and the TARDIS automatically knew what Rose wanted.
“I’ll hold back, so you can talk to her,” the TARDIS told her.
Rose felt the transfer take place as the TARDIS’s thoughts flowed into her mind and nearly knocked her off balance, while she squeezed her eyes shut. A thousand images flashed before her eyes, images from five seconds ago, five years ago, and the future. Rose blanched as faces she couldn’t recognize assaulted her mind, a mad man, a woman so scared and so alone, and two others, standing side by side. Their faces melded with the rest of the images, Jack and Jenny clinging to each other desperately, her future self was shouting at the mad man, and her Doctor lying motionless on the ground surrounded broken glass, while blood trickled down his face.
Gasping, Rose tried to catch her breath, while she found herself on her knees in front of the woman’s body the TARDIS’s matrix had been resting in.
“Sorry, Wolf,” she heard the TARDIS within her mind. “Transfers of this nature can be a bit… messy.”
“Tell me about it,” Rose muttered back audibly, while she felt the TARDIS receding into the back of her mind, but she knew that she couldn’t stay that way long. The TARDIS wouldn’t survive being compressed into a smaller place. That’s why she had to move to Rose, she was much more stable for her to reside inside.
The woman groaned and opened her eyes, and searched around before her sight fell on Rose. As she started to panic and flail her arms around weakly, Rose held her shoulders down and forced a reassuring smile to come to her face. “It’s okay, you’re fine now. Just rest.”
“W-where am I? Where did they go?” the woman stuttered out looking around her, and rubbing her arms with her hands, while she tried to catch her breath.
“Somewhere safe,” Rose said with a small smile and took the woman’s hand, feeling her pulse slowing with her added sensitivity from the TARDIS.
“I’m cold,” she whispered, letting out a shuddering breath and closing her eyes, as if she wanted to say something else, but she couldn’t think of anything.
Rose bit her bottom lip and gave the woman a wan smile, trying to take her mind off of what was going on inside, her, while the TARDIS silently warned her that she couldn’t stay suppressed much longer and the woman wouldn’t last much longer either.
“What’s your name?” Rose asked softly.
The woman concentrated hard, scrunching up her face, as if the simple act of thinking was a physical challenge. Rose rubbed her shoulders to encourage her and finally the woman’s lips parted.
“Idris,” she whispered.
“That’s nice,” Rose told her, honestly, while the woman grinned her thanks, as her face relaxed and she drew her last breath. Gently, Rose reached forward and lowered the woman’s eyes, as she drew a deep breath. “Idris,” she whispered, committing the name to memory, the woman who held the TARDIS.
Closing her eyes, Rose thought to her mistress, “I’m ready.”
A slight golden glow came to surface in Rose’s eyes, as the Bad Wolf energy came forward and surrounded her in a protective shield against the TARDIS’s presence momentarily, as Rose’s consciousness slid away. She remained awake, but she found her limbs being moved forward by the TARDIS, as she set out instinctively after her thief. It wasn’t like when she was possessed by Cassandra. Instead of having her mind screaming in pain to be released, she found herself shrouded in warmth, while her body moved deliberately in the direction that she wanted to. It was almost liberating, like this was something that was always meant to be.
The devotion to the Doctor by both women was obvious, as they moved as one, Rose’s body and the TARDIS’s mind. The image of her Doctor’s past regenerations passed in front of her eyes, a thousand times over, as she tried to reign it all in. It was almost overwhelming, but the ancient ship’s mind obviously had a method to her madness, as images of the Time War flashed in front of her eyes.
She was blind to the fighting, the bloodshed and anger, like the TARDIS had been, sitting in the safety where her Time Lord had left her. Instead, Rose felt the pain and sadness of the TARDIS as she recalled waiting, thinking about him and hoping her would come back.
For a moment, Rose was sent back in time, feeling the Doctor’s fingers running their way over a console unfamiliar to her, but clear to the TARDIS. He gave her a drawn smile, while he stepped out. His eyes were so young, yet so old, so troubled, so broken. Rose couldn’t take it. She would have screamed if she had control over her lips, but she didn’t, so she sat back and watched. The Doctor left, with his back turned, an ancient, now dead language of screams echoed from outside as he opened the door, murmured something sadly, and closed it leaving the room in widespread, impermeable silence.
The TARDIS shared everything with Rose, the pain of waiting, and Rose shared with the TARDIS how much she hated waiting for the dimension cannon to take shape, while she was forced to go about normal life. The near misses, the pain of getting so close to the Doctor and just missing him and having to start from scratch again-having landings in the wrong universe where the Doctor was dead, or worse, hated her.
The images flashed forward until the Doctor came stumbling through the doors, broken and bloody. He muttered something about a Time Lock as he hurried over to the console and began pushing buttons at a seemingly random sequence, while the TARDIS tried her best to help him. The whole ship shuttered, as together they sealed off Gallifrey, the Time Lords and the Daleks.
Pushing off the console, a golden glow began to surround the Doctor after a few agonizing screams, Rose’s first Doctor appeared. Hardness in his eyes, and hurt, like when they had first met, only somehow it was even rawer and more hate filled.
The memories receded, as the TARDIS focused her attention on controlling Rose’s body, while preserving her energy.
“Sorry, Wolf,” she apologized as she looked down at herself in Rose’s body.
“S’alright,” Rose thought back, wishing she could rub her temples to stop them from throbbing. “I know you must have had a reason.”
“Indeed,” the ancient ship replied with almost a haughty air, while she walked briskly towards the direction the Doctor had gone in. It wasn’t long before they caught up to him, his hands shoved deeply inside his voluminous pockets, while he stared at the ground, walking away from them.
“Call him Doctor,” Rose thought to her, when she felt the TARDIS getting ready to shout, “thief.” Feeling the TARDIS’s pressure making her mind less sharp, she receded back further before continuing,“So, it’s easier for him to come over so you can explain yourself.”
The TARDIS gave her wolf an affirmative mental nod, as Rose’s mind drifted off to sleep and ticked over in her head. Taking inventory on her latest body, she could feel the human child’s organ’s beginning to strain slightly, but they would last a few more hours yet. She brought her hand up in the customary motion that she had witnessed many humans making.
“Rose,” her thief called, as he ran up to her and looking around her.
“Doctor,” the TARDIS whispered, mimicking Rose’s accent perfectly.
“Where’s the TARDIS?” the Doctor asked, peering over her shoulder as he rested his hands just above both her elbows. “She doesn’t have much time left.”
“Actually, I’d say, that she has relatively Four hours and eight seconds relative to Earth time, that you’ve become so fond of thinking in,” the TARDIS blurted out, before covering her mouth with her hands and muttering an oops. “I mean. Oi! Erm. Hello, goodbye, I love you, no that’s no right, what does she say to you?”
The Doctor took a step back and released her. “TARDIS and Rose, you’re my TARDIS and my Rose.”
He put his hand on his face and pinched his nose, spinning around quickly and groaning in frustration. “You can’t just hop from one body to the next, it’s not right.”
“Well, I did,” she retorted, putting her hands on her hips and giving the Doctor a hard stare, making him flinch, as he looked deeply into Rose’s eyes. The TARDIS’s consciousness was obviously there, but he still felt like he was looking at his Rose. Gently, he touched her cheek and TARDIS allowed him to move both his hands to her temples, as he sought out his girl.
“She’s resting,” the TARDIS told him, while he entered her mind, feeling the Doctor’s silver consciousness stream past hers and to Rose’s golden mind gently curled up and safe inside her thoughts. He brushed her gently with his and found himself gently coaxing a soft mental message from her.
“Love you, Doctor,” her voice came back to him, before she receded back away and her glow dimmed. Brushing her one more time with his mind, the Doctor left.
“I love you too, Rose,” he told her audibly, before lifting his head and looking at the TARDIS in Rose’s body. “How is she holding up?”
“Better than the last body,” she told him. “She’s much stronger, thief.”
A small snort rose up in his mouth, as she agreed with him, and he shook his head sadly from side to side. She was strong, but he didn’t want to keep pushing it. He had come close to losing her forever so many times and always ended up getting her back, but someday he knew that their luck would run out. It couldn’t be now. He couldn’t lose Rose or the TARDIS, but that’s what this could all come down to and he knew it. If they couldn’t get back to the TARDIS, and let the TARDIS back into her home, then Rose would die. Or, if he forced the TARDIS to leave Rose, he would lose the one companion that had been with him the longest and through the most. The universe couldn’t make him chose between the two of them, could it?
Nothing could be that cruel.
“How long did you say she had?” the Doctor asked, but quickly amended himself. “Not how long she had to live, but before she suffers permanent damage to her systems.”
“Two hours before permanent damage,” she told him.
“Right,” the Doctor said, closing his eyes, and reaching for her hand instinctively, while they started walking down a path, not really knowing where to go from here. “I suppose I’m rather useless then.”
The words were nearly silent, in fact, he wasn’t even sure if he had said them, but the TARDIS had picked up on the meaning either
way, and jerked him hard. “You’re not giving up.”
“You’re right.” the Doctor said miserably. “I already did.” He reached a cliff and stared out at the Junkyard. Pieces of broken consoles were everywhere, while other seemingly arbitrary items lay scattered about from still functioning chameleon circuits. He hated to see them. The Doctor had hated seeing it the day that he was on Gallifrey and rescued the TARDIS. The ships were living,
he knew that, but sometimes it felt like no one else did and left them to be scrapped.
He felt the TARDIS place her hands on his shoulders and gently lower him to the ground. He tried to turn and look at her, but instead, he felt tender hands guide his head in the direction of the junkyard. He tried to close his eyes, but something about the TARDIS silent insistence made him look.
“No you didn’t,” the TARDIS told him. “You never have and you never will. You never gave up when you had nothing left to lose and you won’t give up now that you have everything to lose. That’s what she likes most about you.”
Giving a mirthless laugh, the Doctor shook his head. “I never should have taken her away.”
“Where would she be if not with you?”
“Safe.”
“Bored.”
“Domestic.”
“Lonely.”
“Loved.”
“She is now, isn’t she?”
“Yes,” the Doctor muttered. “But, that doesn’t save her.”
“No, but that brain of yours does.”
“Why can’t you just tell me?” the Doctor pleaded with her.
“The time lines are being strict. Your song is ending, and everything must fall into place,” the TARDIS answered sadly, as she leaned her head on the Doctor’s shoulder and felt him tense up underneath her touch.
His song was ending.
“What?”
“Sorry, I wasn’t meant to tell you that, either. But, be careful, my thief,” the TARDIS whispered.
Nodding, the Doctor forced the thought to the back of his mind, as he looked out to the junkyard again. A TARDIS Junkyard.
“TARDIS junk,” the Doctor murmured.
“Yes,” the TARDIS encouraged.
“You can’t be suggesting that we fly a TARDIS without an exterior shell,” the Doctor gasped.
“I am,” she answered, obviously confused by the Doctor’s change in emotions, as he took her hand and shouted cheerfully for once and sprinted down the hill.
~//~
Screams filled Jenny’s ears, as she fell. It was so surreal. Air rushed past her, whipping her hair painfully across her face, and causing her to tense up as she curled her arms around her body protectively, knowing that it probably wouldn’t do anything. If House wanted her dead, then he would kill her. If he wanted her to live, then he would spare her to torture her more.
Biting her teeth together hard, while she saw the ground rushing up on her as an enormous speed, she squeezed her eyes shut, thinking about her dad, and Rose, and Jack, and wondered if she was still able to regenerate with that thing controlling the TARDIS. If it could temporarily stop Jack from being a fixed point, then surely it could stop her body from regenerating, or would it?
It didn’t matter now, she supposed.
Muttering a goodbye to no one in particular, she readied herself for the impact, but it never came. Instead, she felt herself slow to a gentle stop and hang in midair for a moment before she rolled herself over and touched the ground lightly with her feet. Gasping softly, she looked up to yell back at Jack that she was okay, but the opening had closed up, and had separated him from her.
Looking down at her feet, Jenny shook her head. Clasping her hands together, she felt the ring that Jack had slipped on there. It must have been a custom before the fifty-first century, because she had never seen anyone in her travels wearing one. Jack had lived through a lot; surely he had adopted it from back then. However, that didn’t lessen her understanding of the gravity of what he was proposing. He wanted to be with her, make sure that they were together as long as they could be. Coupled with the small diamond and the golden band was a million words that neither of them would ever speak, because they both understood.
“You’re not winning,” Jenny vowed, looking up at the ceiling and glaring at it, as she started walking forward, calling Jack’s name as she went. She trailed her hand over the rough walls of the twisting corridors of the TARDIS. She walked for what felt like forever, before she heard moaning and started running towards it. With renewed optimism, she sprinted forward, and shouted Jack’s name.
A pained response met her, as she ran faster around a corner and her eyes met him. He was turned away from her, his arms pulled up around his legs, while blood clearly stained the back of his shirt in several small patches.
“Jack,” she whispered, hurrying over to him and putting her hand over his shoulder and helped him to turn around. “Talk to me Jack.”
He turned around slowly and looked at her with pain and anger in his eyes. “You left me. You’re fine and you left me.”
“I didn’t want to Jack,” Jenny told him, wiping some blood away from his split lip, as she gathered him in her arms. “You know that.”
“I needed you, Jenny,” Jack whimpered uncharacteristically. “I needed you.”
“I’m here now,” Jenny told him.
“That’s not good enough,” Jack said with a tone that had turned suddenly icy.
Jenny was about to question him, but stopped when she heard the sound of Jack cocking back the hammer of his revolver, and the feeling of cool metal met her stomach.