Chapter Two
Oh, Boy! I'm a Time Lord!
Chapter Two
See the masterlist for details.
Chapter Two
Sam turned and saw, to his relief, Al standing there looking around the room with a great deal of interest. A second later, a tall man with very short dark hair and big ears was standing beside Al, with his hand on Al's shoulder and grinning like a maniac.
Rose stopped at the doorway and turned. "C'mon, Sam; there's a whole new world, well time, to explore."
Jack looked at Sam, his eyes narrowing. "Getting the mission?" he asked.
Sam closed his eyes as Al squawked. "I hope." He gave Al his best pleading look. "Al?"
"This is the screwiest Leap ever, and there've been some screwy ones. Why the hell'd you tell 'em anything?"
"Because I didn't want to be shot," Sam said, his jaw tightening. "Because Rose could tell that I wasn't her Doctor the second I Leaped in and Jack backed her up. What. Do. We. Know?"
The man hanging onto Al's shoulder, who was probably Rose's and Jack's friend, starting saying something, and Al gave him a brief synopsis. That started the man yelling at Jack. "Just a second, Sam. Look, they can't see or hear you, remember? Wait until you're back before you start complaining about the guns, OK?" He turned back to Sam, shaking his head, "Sheesh! OK, you've Leaped into an alien, a Time Lord to be precise, who everybody calls the Doctor. We don't know where you are or-"
The Doctor clearly said something to Al that made him roll his eyes and move toward the console in the middle of the room. "You wouldn't think a ship from outer space would use a bicycle pump," he muttered as the Doctor led him to one of the screens. The Doctor rolled his eyes and said something that Al ignored, but he repeated the next words, "OK, Sam, we've got you. It's February 19, 1965 and you're in Glasgow, Scotland."
"And it's cold out!" Rose said, suddenly shutting the door. "I'm getting my coat."
Jack grinned. "I'll bet the Doctor's saying something about not being that far off course," he said as he followed her.
Al gave Sam a grin and a nod, while the Doctor looked injured. "Sam, who are your friends, especially the lovely ow!"
The last came from the Doctor smacking Al, which made Sam grin. He tried to hide it, but it was kind of fun to see Al get stopped from making his normal lecherous comments. To be supportive, Sam said, "This is Rose and the gentleman over there is Jack. I don't know last names; presumably the Doctor does."
"Oh, no," Rose said, "I'm sorry, Sam. We got kind of distracted. I'm Rose Tyler and this is Cap'n Jack."
"Captain Jack Harkness, at your service," Jack said, with a small bow and a wink.
The Doctor made a comment that Al relayed, "He says to make sure Jack buys you a drink first." He smacked the interface and opened his mouth to say something. The Doctor suddenly looked worried and dropped his hand. A minute later the Imaging Chamber door opened and closed. "He just said something about not wanting to create a paradox. It's not like Ziggy knows that much. Rose Tyler, born April 27, 1987, in London, England to Peter Tyler and Jacquelyn Prentice Tyler. She dies or disappears, the records contradict each other, during the terrorist attack on Canary Wharf. Which according to this was an alien invasion, which got stopped by the Doctor."
"So, we're in Rose's past?" Sam asked.
"The TARDIS is," Rose said. "I'm in my present. Timelines get messy when you travel in time."
"You should see mine," Jack said, laughing.
"Ziggy doesn't have much on the Captain, there," Al said, glaring at the interface and banging it into his hand. "There's a restricted file on him in UNIT's computers; Ziggy hasn't managed to get into it, but it references some group called The Torchwood Institute. She's working on it." Al shrugged. "No idea why you're here now."
"So finding a nice warm coat and going exploring with my new friends makes sense?" Sam asked. He was so tired of this; never enough information, always surviving by the skin of his teeth.
"Sounds as good as anything," Al agreed. "Me, I'd stay in and get close to Miss Tyler over there."
"Good-bye, Al," Sam said, rolling his eyes as Jack walked back wearing a pea coat and wool hat pulled down around his ears. He was carrying a second coat with him.
"Here, I thought you'd need this," he said, holding it out to Sam. "Himself wears the same thing no matter what, but we apes need warmer clothes in the bitter cold. So, why were you rolling your eyes?"
"No matter how serious things get," Sam said, shaking his head and smiling, "Al always has his eyes on the pretty girls."
"He'd better watch that around the Doctor," Jack said, laughing. "He's pretty protective of Rose. First night I was here, he gave me a list of airlock offenses."
"What?"
"Offenses that would get me shoved out the airlock," Jack clarified, "while still in vacuum. Anyway, the first one was 'Hurt Rose in any way, shape or form.' Fortunately, Rose is a sweetheart, so I'd sooner jump into the airlock myself than hurt her. So, Al limits himself to just the ladies?"
"Most men do," Sam said. When was Jack from?
"And most ladies limit themselves to the boys? Such silly labels; much more fun to enjoy it all," Jack said. "So, Rose should be along any minute; she decided to change clothes altogether instead of just getting a coat. Did Al have any idea why you're here?" When Sam shook his head, Jack shrugged, "So we take in the sights while we wait. Do you have to know what you're here to do?"
"No, but those Leaps are . . . hard," Sam said with a sigh. "I'm really hoping this isn't one of them."
Jack bit his lip for a moment. It was the first time Sam had seen him uncertain about anything. "Can you tell me about some of the Leaps?" Before Sam could answer, he said, "You don't have to tell about anything sensitive; I'm not looking for secrets or anything. You can tell me about the ones that seem insignificant, or fun, or whatever; I'm just curious. I-- Damn, I wish-- Well, I wish things were different."
Before Sam could say anything, Rose came out dressed for cold. "So, are we ready?"
Sam put his coat on and followed the other two out. "So, do you want funny, scary or awful stories?"
Jack's grin was huge and Rose laughed. "Funny," Rose said as Jack said, "Strange." So, as they went out to brave the cold and poke around, Sam told them some of the favorite stories he could remember of his different Leaps.
*
Al walked out of the Imaging Chamber. He talked with Gooshie for a little bit about getting into UNIT's computers and finding out more about this Torchwood Institute. During his conversation, he noticed that the Doctor was staying out of hearing distance and concentrating on the computer. So, when he finished talking with Gooshie, he went to the Doctor. "So, why'd you leave?"
"Timelines," the Doctor answered, as he pulled up the schematics for Ziggy's design.
"Hey! You're not supposed to access to that!" Al said, looking around for a quick, safe way to stop the alien.
Ziggy's voice purred over the intercom, "But he asked so nicely, Admiral."
The Doctor smirked at him. "I can treat a lady right, me," he said, "and she's a very interesting lady." As his expression turned serious, he said, "I can't get involved in this Leap thing any more, so I'm tryin' to keep occupied. Make sure everything's in top shape."
"What's wrong? You were interested before."
"I'm a Time Lord," the Doctor said with a sigh. "That means I can see timelines, everyone's timelines, all the time. It also means I can tell when I'm about to cross my own timeline." He shrugged. "There's times when it's all right, and times when it can't be avoided, but it's better not to. Whatever the information Ziggy was telling you, about Rose or Jack or me, I can't know about it. Not without creating a paradox. One that'd mean Reapers and -- Well, there's just me. I might not be able to fix it."
Al took a moment to think it through. "So, before I said anything, you knew that knowing what I was about to say would cause a paradox so you left so you wouldn't know what you're not supposed to know until it's time for you to know."
The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "You had fun saying that, didn't you?"
Al grinned back. "You'd better believe it. Any way can you clear things for me with UNIT or this Torchwood Institute place?"
"Might be able to help with UNIT," the Doctor said, staring at the schematics on the display. "Now, why'd you do a silly thing like that?" he muttered. "Don't know anything about this Torchwood Institute, and I can't. Let UNIT know I'm working with you; I'll give you the ID codes if you need ‘em. Otherwise," he glared at the display, "find the original designs for this computer and all the changes that've been made to her. I've got a lot of work to do."
The first thing Al did was to ask Tina to keep the Doctor happy, entertained, and out of trouble.
"Can I keep him entertained however I like?" Tina asked as she checked the Doctor out.
The scraps of memory Al had from before Sam had put his own life right made it hard not to react, except to shake his head and snort. "Just as long as he doesn't leave. You know we never know when Sam's gonna Leap." After a moment's thought, he added, "And he wants to." Why he wouldn't want to was beyond Al, but it could happen.
After making several calls to England, first to confirm the Doctor's security clearances, and then to ask for more access to UNIT's computers, Al started digging for information on this Torchwood Institute. Hours later, his head pounding, he looked at his handlink. "Ziggy," he asked, "how are you doing getting information on this Torchwood Institute?"
"Poor Mainframe doesn't have anyone to talk to," Ziggy said. "He's very lonely."
"And Mainframe is?" Al asked, searching his desk for an aspirin.
"Torchwood's main computer," Ziggy answered. "He was hurt in the attack at Canary Wharf, and hurt more when they bombed the Cardiff facility, but he likes having someone to talk to. I haven't convinced him to give me the information we need yet, but he wants to make his Director happy. If we can stop Captain Jack Harkness from leaving Earth, Director Gwen Cooper will be much happier."
There wasn't enough aspirin in the world for this. Al sighed. "Do we know why Harkness left?"
"His partner and his grandson died," Ziggy said. "Mainframe's not sure which was most important."
Grandson. It must have been a while for Harkness. "How old is Harkness?"
It took Ziggy a couple of minutes to answer. "According to Mainframe, he's either 178 or 2,052, depending on how it's calculated." She paused for a minute. "He also claims he's human."
Not. Enough. Aspirin. "How long will it be before you'll know why Sam Leaped into the Doctor?"
"According to my calculations, Dr. Beckett wasn't supposed to Leap into the Doctor. The temporal energy of the TARDIS interfered with the Leap."
"Who was he supposed to Leap into?" Al asked. How much trouble were they in?
"Captain Jack Harkness."
"Right." Al took a deep breath and let it out as slowly as he could. "How long until you know what Sam needs to do."
"I calculate there will be enough time for you to have a home-cooked meal and for me to interrupt you and Mrs. Cal--"
Al hit the mute button; Ziggy had been getting worse lately. He sighed; they all had.
He let Tina know he was going home, and that he'd be back as soon as Ziggy had some answers. He didn't think Sam could get into too much trouble in a couple of hours.
*
Sam didn't think just walking out of the TARDIS would be too much of a problem, as long as they hadn't landed in a public space. It turned out they hadn't, they were in an alley, but walking out was causing Sam a big problem. Actually, walking out wasn't the problem; it was looking back.
Behind him was the TARDIS. It looked kind of like an opaque blue phone booth, with a sign on top that said, "Police Public Call Box". Sam, Jack and Rose had fit in the TARDIS, with plenty of extra room around them. Lots of extra room, and there had been other rooms beyond that. The structure behind him was less than six feet wide on a side.
Jack and Rose had only taken a few steps when they realized that Sam wasn't with them. "Problem, Doctor?" Rose asked, her voice teasing.
"We couldn't, how did we, there's no way--"
Jack didn't let Sam finish. "It's dimensionally transcendent," he said. He let Sam stare at him for a minute before he said, "It's bigger on the inside." Rose started giggling.
"I need a measuring tape," Sam said, walking back into the TARDIS.
"I think the physicist just woke up," Jack said with a laugh. He grabbed Sam's arm and pulled him out of the TARDIS. "We'll see if we can find a measuring tape somewhere. In the meantime, let's check out the city."
Exploring the city with Jack and Rose was fun. Since they weren't looking for anything in particular, and didn't have to be anywhere anytime in particular, they could just wander. So wandering was what they did. In talking to Rose and Jack, Sam found out that that's mostly what they did. They'd land somewhere, either where they planned or not, and they'd check the place out.
"Sometimes, it's just wonderful," Rose said. "The beauties and wonders of the universe. I've seen things-" She trailed off and shivered. "The universe is so much more than I ever dreamed. Then there's other times when-" This time she seemed to be trying to be diplomatic.
"The Doctor attracts trouble," Jack said. "I haven't been traveling with him as long as Rose has, but it's clear. If there's a repressive government that needs overthrowing or an alien invasion to stop-"
"Or a virus that's going to kill everybody, or a conman who's about to destroy a species-" Rose was grinning at Jack, who looked guilty. "Well, like as not, that's where we'll land. And the Doctor can't keep out of it; 'snot the way he's built."
"So," Sam said, "it sounds like you've got stories that are even better than mine. Tell me some of them; the ones that won't destroy timelines, of course." Rose and Jack laughed, and did just that.
They did check out the Castle, but mostly they just wandered through the streets, watching the people and trying to figure out what they were doing and where they were going. It was nice and relaxing; something Sam didn't get very often. With both Jack and Rose knowing who he was, he didn't have to keep track of anything; he could just be himself and explore a city he didn't remember ever having visited.
They'd just started talking about what they wanted to eat when Sam heard the Imaging Chamber door open again. "Sam, back to the TARDIS," Al said, his face grim. "We have to talk."
Chapter Three
Chapter Two
See the masterlist for details.
Chapter Two
Sam turned and saw, to his relief, Al standing there looking around the room with a great deal of interest. A second later, a tall man with very short dark hair and big ears was standing beside Al, with his hand on Al's shoulder and grinning like a maniac.
Rose stopped at the doorway and turned. "C'mon, Sam; there's a whole new world, well time, to explore."
Jack looked at Sam, his eyes narrowing. "Getting the mission?" he asked.
Sam closed his eyes as Al squawked. "I hope." He gave Al his best pleading look. "Al?"
"This is the screwiest Leap ever, and there've been some screwy ones. Why the hell'd you tell 'em anything?"
"Because I didn't want to be shot," Sam said, his jaw tightening. "Because Rose could tell that I wasn't her Doctor the second I Leaped in and Jack backed her up. What. Do. We. Know?"
The man hanging onto Al's shoulder, who was probably Rose's and Jack's friend, starting saying something, and Al gave him a brief synopsis. That started the man yelling at Jack. "Just a second, Sam. Look, they can't see or hear you, remember? Wait until you're back before you start complaining about the guns, OK?" He turned back to Sam, shaking his head, "Sheesh! OK, you've Leaped into an alien, a Time Lord to be precise, who everybody calls the Doctor. We don't know where you are or-"
The Doctor clearly said something to Al that made him roll his eyes and move toward the console in the middle of the room. "You wouldn't think a ship from outer space would use a bicycle pump," he muttered as the Doctor led him to one of the screens. The Doctor rolled his eyes and said something that Al ignored, but he repeated the next words, "OK, Sam, we've got you. It's February 19, 1965 and you're in Glasgow, Scotland."
"And it's cold out!" Rose said, suddenly shutting the door. "I'm getting my coat."
Jack grinned. "I'll bet the Doctor's saying something about not being that far off course," he said as he followed her.
Al gave Sam a grin and a nod, while the Doctor looked injured. "Sam, who are your friends, especially the lovely ow!"
The last came from the Doctor smacking Al, which made Sam grin. He tried to hide it, but it was kind of fun to see Al get stopped from making his normal lecherous comments. To be supportive, Sam said, "This is Rose and the gentleman over there is Jack. I don't know last names; presumably the Doctor does."
"Oh, no," Rose said, "I'm sorry, Sam. We got kind of distracted. I'm Rose Tyler and this is Cap'n Jack."
"Captain Jack Harkness, at your service," Jack said, with a small bow and a wink.
The Doctor made a comment that Al relayed, "He says to make sure Jack buys you a drink first." He smacked the interface and opened his mouth to say something. The Doctor suddenly looked worried and dropped his hand. A minute later the Imaging Chamber door opened and closed. "He just said something about not wanting to create a paradox. It's not like Ziggy knows that much. Rose Tyler, born April 27, 1987, in London, England to Peter Tyler and Jacquelyn Prentice Tyler. She dies or disappears, the records contradict each other, during the terrorist attack on Canary Wharf. Which according to this was an alien invasion, which got stopped by the Doctor."
"So, we're in Rose's past?" Sam asked.
"The TARDIS is," Rose said. "I'm in my present. Timelines get messy when you travel in time."
"You should see mine," Jack said, laughing.
"Ziggy doesn't have much on the Captain, there," Al said, glaring at the interface and banging it into his hand. "There's a restricted file on him in UNIT's computers; Ziggy hasn't managed to get into it, but it references some group called The Torchwood Institute. She's working on it." Al shrugged. "No idea why you're here now."
"So finding a nice warm coat and going exploring with my new friends makes sense?" Sam asked. He was so tired of this; never enough information, always surviving by the skin of his teeth.
"Sounds as good as anything," Al agreed. "Me, I'd stay in and get close to Miss Tyler over there."
"Good-bye, Al," Sam said, rolling his eyes as Jack walked back wearing a pea coat and wool hat pulled down around his ears. He was carrying a second coat with him.
"Here, I thought you'd need this," he said, holding it out to Sam. "Himself wears the same thing no matter what, but we apes need warmer clothes in the bitter cold. So, why were you rolling your eyes?"
"No matter how serious things get," Sam said, shaking his head and smiling, "Al always has his eyes on the pretty girls."
"He'd better watch that around the Doctor," Jack said, laughing. "He's pretty protective of Rose. First night I was here, he gave me a list of airlock offenses."
"What?"
"Offenses that would get me shoved out the airlock," Jack clarified, "while still in vacuum. Anyway, the first one was 'Hurt Rose in any way, shape or form.' Fortunately, Rose is a sweetheart, so I'd sooner jump into the airlock myself than hurt her. So, Al limits himself to just the ladies?"
"Most men do," Sam said. When was Jack from?
"And most ladies limit themselves to the boys? Such silly labels; much more fun to enjoy it all," Jack said. "So, Rose should be along any minute; she decided to change clothes altogether instead of just getting a coat. Did Al have any idea why you're here?" When Sam shook his head, Jack shrugged, "So we take in the sights while we wait. Do you have to know what you're here to do?"
"No, but those Leaps are . . . hard," Sam said with a sigh. "I'm really hoping this isn't one of them."
Jack bit his lip for a moment. It was the first time Sam had seen him uncertain about anything. "Can you tell me about some of the Leaps?" Before Sam could answer, he said, "You don't have to tell about anything sensitive; I'm not looking for secrets or anything. You can tell me about the ones that seem insignificant, or fun, or whatever; I'm just curious. I-- Damn, I wish-- Well, I wish things were different."
Before Sam could say anything, Rose came out dressed for cold. "So, are we ready?"
Sam put his coat on and followed the other two out. "So, do you want funny, scary or awful stories?"
Jack's grin was huge and Rose laughed. "Funny," Rose said as Jack said, "Strange." So, as they went out to brave the cold and poke around, Sam told them some of the favorite stories he could remember of his different Leaps.
*
Al walked out of the Imaging Chamber. He talked with Gooshie for a little bit about getting into UNIT's computers and finding out more about this Torchwood Institute. During his conversation, he noticed that the Doctor was staying out of hearing distance and concentrating on the computer. So, when he finished talking with Gooshie, he went to the Doctor. "So, why'd you leave?"
"Timelines," the Doctor answered, as he pulled up the schematics for Ziggy's design.
"Hey! You're not supposed to access to that!" Al said, looking around for a quick, safe way to stop the alien.
Ziggy's voice purred over the intercom, "But he asked so nicely, Admiral."
The Doctor smirked at him. "I can treat a lady right, me," he said, "and she's a very interesting lady." As his expression turned serious, he said, "I can't get involved in this Leap thing any more, so I'm tryin' to keep occupied. Make sure everything's in top shape."
"What's wrong? You were interested before."
"I'm a Time Lord," the Doctor said with a sigh. "That means I can see timelines, everyone's timelines, all the time. It also means I can tell when I'm about to cross my own timeline." He shrugged. "There's times when it's all right, and times when it can't be avoided, but it's better not to. Whatever the information Ziggy was telling you, about Rose or Jack or me, I can't know about it. Not without creating a paradox. One that'd mean Reapers and -- Well, there's just me. I might not be able to fix it."
Al took a moment to think it through. "So, before I said anything, you knew that knowing what I was about to say would cause a paradox so you left so you wouldn't know what you're not supposed to know until it's time for you to know."
The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "You had fun saying that, didn't you?"
Al grinned back. "You'd better believe it. Any way can you clear things for me with UNIT or this Torchwood Institute place?"
"Might be able to help with UNIT," the Doctor said, staring at the schematics on the display. "Now, why'd you do a silly thing like that?" he muttered. "Don't know anything about this Torchwood Institute, and I can't. Let UNIT know I'm working with you; I'll give you the ID codes if you need ‘em. Otherwise," he glared at the display, "find the original designs for this computer and all the changes that've been made to her. I've got a lot of work to do."
The first thing Al did was to ask Tina to keep the Doctor happy, entertained, and out of trouble.
"Can I keep him entertained however I like?" Tina asked as she checked the Doctor out.
The scraps of memory Al had from before Sam had put his own life right made it hard not to react, except to shake his head and snort. "Just as long as he doesn't leave. You know we never know when Sam's gonna Leap." After a moment's thought, he added, "And he wants to." Why he wouldn't want to was beyond Al, but it could happen.
After making several calls to England, first to confirm the Doctor's security clearances, and then to ask for more access to UNIT's computers, Al started digging for information on this Torchwood Institute. Hours later, his head pounding, he looked at his handlink. "Ziggy," he asked, "how are you doing getting information on this Torchwood Institute?"
"Poor Mainframe doesn't have anyone to talk to," Ziggy said. "He's very lonely."
"And Mainframe is?" Al asked, searching his desk for an aspirin.
"Torchwood's main computer," Ziggy answered. "He was hurt in the attack at Canary Wharf, and hurt more when they bombed the Cardiff facility, but he likes having someone to talk to. I haven't convinced him to give me the information we need yet, but he wants to make his Director happy. If we can stop Captain Jack Harkness from leaving Earth, Director Gwen Cooper will be much happier."
There wasn't enough aspirin in the world for this. Al sighed. "Do we know why Harkness left?"
"His partner and his grandson died," Ziggy said. "Mainframe's not sure which was most important."
Grandson. It must have been a while for Harkness. "How old is Harkness?"
It took Ziggy a couple of minutes to answer. "According to Mainframe, he's either 178 or 2,052, depending on how it's calculated." She paused for a minute. "He also claims he's human."
Not. Enough. Aspirin. "How long will it be before you'll know why Sam Leaped into the Doctor?"
"According to my calculations, Dr. Beckett wasn't supposed to Leap into the Doctor. The temporal energy of the TARDIS interfered with the Leap."
"Who was he supposed to Leap into?" Al asked. How much trouble were they in?
"Captain Jack Harkness."
"Right." Al took a deep breath and let it out as slowly as he could. "How long until you know what Sam needs to do."
"I calculate there will be enough time for you to have a home-cooked meal and for me to interrupt you and Mrs. Cal--"
Al hit the mute button; Ziggy had been getting worse lately. He sighed; they all had.
He let Tina know he was going home, and that he'd be back as soon as Ziggy had some answers. He didn't think Sam could get into too much trouble in a couple of hours.
*
Sam didn't think just walking out of the TARDIS would be too much of a problem, as long as they hadn't landed in a public space. It turned out they hadn't, they were in an alley, but walking out was causing Sam a big problem. Actually, walking out wasn't the problem; it was looking back.
Behind him was the TARDIS. It looked kind of like an opaque blue phone booth, with a sign on top that said, "Police Public Call Box". Sam, Jack and Rose had fit in the TARDIS, with plenty of extra room around them. Lots of extra room, and there had been other rooms beyond that. The structure behind him was less than six feet wide on a side.
Jack and Rose had only taken a few steps when they realized that Sam wasn't with them. "Problem, Doctor?" Rose asked, her voice teasing.
"We couldn't, how did we, there's no way--"
Jack didn't let Sam finish. "It's dimensionally transcendent," he said. He let Sam stare at him for a minute before he said, "It's bigger on the inside." Rose started giggling.
"I need a measuring tape," Sam said, walking back into the TARDIS.
"I think the physicist just woke up," Jack said with a laugh. He grabbed Sam's arm and pulled him out of the TARDIS. "We'll see if we can find a measuring tape somewhere. In the meantime, let's check out the city."
Exploring the city with Jack and Rose was fun. Since they weren't looking for anything in particular, and didn't have to be anywhere anytime in particular, they could just wander. So wandering was what they did. In talking to Rose and Jack, Sam found out that that's mostly what they did. They'd land somewhere, either where they planned or not, and they'd check the place out.
"Sometimes, it's just wonderful," Rose said. "The beauties and wonders of the universe. I've seen things-" She trailed off and shivered. "The universe is so much more than I ever dreamed. Then there's other times when-" This time she seemed to be trying to be diplomatic.
"The Doctor attracts trouble," Jack said. "I haven't been traveling with him as long as Rose has, but it's clear. If there's a repressive government that needs overthrowing or an alien invasion to stop-"
"Or a virus that's going to kill everybody, or a conman who's about to destroy a species-" Rose was grinning at Jack, who looked guilty. "Well, like as not, that's where we'll land. And the Doctor can't keep out of it; 'snot the way he's built."
"So," Sam said, "it sounds like you've got stories that are even better than mine. Tell me some of them; the ones that won't destroy timelines, of course." Rose and Jack laughed, and did just that.
They did check out the Castle, but mostly they just wandered through the streets, watching the people and trying to figure out what they were doing and where they were going. It was nice and relaxing; something Sam didn't get very often. With both Jack and Rose knowing who he was, he didn't have to keep track of anything; he could just be himself and explore a city he didn't remember ever having visited.
They'd just started talking about what they wanted to eat when Sam heard the Imaging Chamber door open again. "Sam, back to the TARDIS," Al said, his face grim. "We have to talk."
Chapter Three