TLAWR Chapter Fifty-Eight: A Night on the Town

[isilienelenihin]

An AU retelling of season 4, beginning with The Last of the Time Lords from season 3. First story in the All Roads Lead Home series.  Rated teen.

10/Rose, Martha, Jack Harkness, Donna Noble, the Master, River Song, Sarah Jane Smith, and many more.

(Earlier Entries)

Nothing you recognize belongs to me!  One quote taken from "Journey's End."



Predictably, shortly after the Doctor managed to convince himself that yes, Rose was fine and yes, she was going nowhere, his exuberant joy turned to puzzlement. He poked and he prodded and he scanned Rose, looking for something, anything, that could tell him what was going on. It was times like these that Jenny thought her mother must be a saint. If she had someone fussing at her as much as the Doctor was, she'd have knocked him out and tied him to a chair just to get a little peace! Finally, though, after four hours of sitting through test after test after test, Rose had had enough.

The Doctor approached her with a needle (just another vial of blood-never mind that he'd already drawn two before) and she crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. "No," she said quite distinctly.

He blinked. "What?"

"I said," she repeated, "no. No more tests, not now anyway."

He frowned. "Rose,"

"Don't 'Rose' me, Doctor," she replied firmly. "Martha said that I'm healthy as a horse and none of your tests have contradicted that."

He scratched the back of his neck. "Well, no, not as such, but-"

"But?" she encouraged him.

He sighed. "But we still don't know how or what happened. What you did was impossible, Rose."

"So was coming back from Pete's World," she reminded him. "And here I am." The Doctor turned away from her and ran a hand through his unruly hair. She slid off of the examining bed, grabbed his shoulder, and tugged. Obediently he shifted around to face her. His expression was blank, closed off. She hated when he looked like that, when he retreated back into himself. It was hard on him, not knowing. He was so used to being the cleverest one in the room, to having the knowledge of the universe at his fingertips that when he ran up against something he couldn't examine, couldn't pick apart and find out how it worked he was lost. She pulled him into a tight hug. His arms folded around her tenderly and he rested his cheek on the top of her head.

"What if it kills you?" he murmured. "I saw the door, Rose. It's still there-that link to the Vortex. I can't take it out of you. It's wormed its way into the fibers of your being. Humans aren't meant to interact with the Vortex like that-not even Time Lords can hold it without regenerating. The only creature I've ever known to channel it is the TARDIS and I can't even begin to understand how she works."

"I knew all that babble about 'temporal mechanics' was rubbish," Rose told his lapel.

He snorted softly. "That rubbish keeps us in flight. But the TARDIS-she's alien, really and truly alien. She perceives reality in a completely different way that you or I. She exists in the Vortex, she needs it to live. I have no idea how to translate what the two of you did."

"We came back to you," she replied.

They were silent for a long moment. He held her to him tightly, drawing comfort from her physical presence. "I don't remember the unknown being so terrifying," he said at last.

"We'll figure it out," she murmured in response. "S what you do, yeah? 'Cause you're so clever."

He pressed a kiss into her hair. "Yeah."

Jenny sighed. She couldn't put it off any longer. Her presence was warping the time lines-she could feel them stretching taut around her. She found her mum and dad sitting in the library. The others were out-Jack was showing River, Sarah Jane, and Luke around the Hub, Martha was catching up with Ianto and Gwen, and Donna and Lee had gone to get coffee. Rose and the Doctor were curled up around each other on one of the many love-seats that littered the winding library space. It was-odd. She'd been to libraries before. Most of them were vast temples to knowledge, designed to make the visitor feel small, to remind them of their supplicant status. The Doctor's library was nothing like that. It was packed with shelves-they lined the walls and book cases stood out at strange angles. It was more like a labyrinth than a library, if Jenny was being honest. Every so often the path would open up to a cosy alcove. The space that her parents found even had a fireplace. If it wasn't safe the Doctor wouldn't have allowed it, but Jenny still thought it was strange to keep fire close to things that burned so easily.

She cleared her throat and they glanced up at her. The Doctor smiled. "Hello there."

"Hi Dad," she replied shyly. "Mum." Rose waved at her to come closer, but she shook her head. "I've got to go."

His face fell. "But, but you only just got here."

She nodded. "I know, but if I stay too long the time lines will snap. You can feel it." He frowned, but didn't argue. She knew that he could and she knew he'd been ignoring it. "You'll find me again, you know," she told them. "I always thought it was odd-when I found you, you knew me right away. You didn't seem surprised at all."

"Time travel," he agreed. He stood, and gave her a hug. She closed her eyes, trying to fix this moment in her memory. She loved her father whatever face he wore, but this was the first. This was the man who'd brought her into the world. He pulled back, and let Rose step forward to hug their daughter.

"We'll see you soon," the blond woman whispered.

Jenny smiled. "Yeah."

Rose called Donna so that she could say goodbye to Jenny before the ginger girl left. "Don't be a stranger," the older woman admonished before she hugged Jenny tightly. "And you keep those parents of yours in line."

Jenny grinned back. "Always. I'm the voice of reason."

The Doctor cleared his throat. "We are standing right here."

Donna rolled her eyes. "Obviously, spaceman."

River was inputting the coordinates on her stolen Vortex Manipulator. Jenny had her own, but River insisted on taking her, citing an invitation to drop by. "I've got an expedition to plan," she told them. "Can't put it off forever, much as I'd like to. Archeology is brilliant, but the logistics are enough to drive you mad." She sighed longingly. "I miss the days when you could swagger into a tomb with three assistants and just your wits; now you've got to have permits and support staff and insurance." She sniffed. "Nothing is sacred anymore." If she noticed that Rose was a bit paler than she had been, or that the Doctor had gone quiet, she didn't say anything. The two women bid everyone a cheery farewell, and then vanished.

"D'you think?" Rose asked the Doctor.

He nodded. "It's the Library."

Donna winced. "You mean-she's going off to die?"

"Not now," he told her. "But soon, yes."

Jack looked confused. "What?"

"River Song is a time traveler," Rose said quietly. "But we're traveling in opposite directions, or something like that."

"Different time streams," the Doctor clarified.

"Right," Rose continued. "We keep meeting her out of order, but the next place she's going is a planet called The Library and-and-she's going to die. That's how we met her."

"She saved our lives," the Doctor said softly. "She saved 4022 people."

"She would have said it was worth it," Jack told them. The Doctor looked like he wanted to disagree, but Jack held up his hand. "The Dr. Song I know is a hell of a woman. She's got some quirks-loves a good explosion-but she's a good person, one of the best I've met. She would say it's a good death."

The Doctor snorted. "There's no such thing."

"I dunno." Rose looked thoughtful. "There're some that are better than others." She glanced to Jack, who nodded. The Doctor might never understand, but she counted dying for him a good death, not that she wanted to die. Far from it, but if she was going to trade her life in, she wanted it to mean something. She wanted her life to have meant something, and while he would probably never understand, Rose knew that she counted his life much more precious than her own. Jack understood. He couldn't stay dead, but he knew about death. He'd seen people sacrifice for centuries. He'd done it himself. Even if his death wasn't permanent it was still painful, and there were some deaths that he valued more than others.

It seemed that Jenny and River had sparked a wave of goodbyes. After Martha repeated the Doctor's original exam and declared Rose to be whole and healthy the little group began to disperse. Sarah Jane and Luke needed to get back to Ealing, and to their friends and fellow alien-stopping world-savers and Martha needed to go demonstrate to her mum that she was alive, and talk to UNIT about dismantling the Osterhagen system. The Doctor shuddered. If someone managed to infiltrate UNIT, and the Sontarans proved that it was possible, the Osterhagen system could hold the whole world hostage.

The Doctor, as the only person in possession of a time-and-space ship, was roped into ferrying his friends around. He made a show of being put-out, but Rose could tell that he was genuinely reluctant to break up the group. For the millionth time she made a mental note to pester him into visiting more often. She'd heard his reasoning as to why he chose to isolate himself, but really, it was all a load of bollocks. He was surrounded by people who loved him and she could watch him whirl around the TARDIS explaining the intricacies of temporal mechanics to a bemused looking Sarah Jane and scolding a thoroughly unrepentant Jack Harkness (for flirting with the TARDIS) all day.

In fact, it was Sarah Jane who put it best. Just before she opened the TARDIS door on what the scanner verified was her yard, she turned back to the Doctor, and said, "you act like such a lonely man, but you've got the biggest family on the planet."

He paused for a moment, and then he smiled at her. "Yeah," he replied. "I guess you're right."

Martha's farewell was also heartfelt, but a bit more reserved. After all, she was going to be part of the clean-up crew. The Doctor saved the world, the universe, really, but he didn't stay. Still, she left with a hug, and a promise to make sure the Osterhagen system would be dismantled for good.

Donna found them again as evening approached. Rose was holding firm on her 'no tests' rule and the Doctor was doing his best to obey her wishes, although the ginger woman could see his fingers twitch every time they strayed close to the sonic screwdriver-which was several times a minute. She had to admit that she was still a little unnerved by the events of the day. What had happened on the Crucible was intense, even by their standards. After all, it wasn't every day that one of your best friends channeled the latent power of the universe. The Doctor had told her what Rose did when she first traveled with him, how she'd broken open the TARDIS and absorbed what he called the 'Time Vortex' in order to save him from the Dalek Emperor. There's no force in the universe greater than Time, he'd said, and after what she'd seen Donna was willing to believe him.

But really, watching the two of them together-it was hard to reconcile the image of them, domestic, playful, and so completely and utterly normal with the image of the two of them standing on a hill watching Pompeii burn, or facing down a government that was determined to sacrifice thousands of children in order to save face, or bathed in the light of the Vortex. They were cooking-Rose was slicing vegetables for a stir-fry, pausing every few minutes to scold the Doctor for stealing a bit of green pepper. He denied the accusation, of course, and was the picture of innocence-until he did it again. .

Rose glanced up and saw the other woman standing in the doorway. She smiled. "Hello Donna. Are you and Lee joining us for dinner?"

"Oh, yes, Lee!" the Doctor exclaimed. "We haven't had time for a proper chat yet, have we? You should bring him around."

Donna laughed. "I don't think he'd be able to get a word in edgewise with you, spaceman," she teased him. He appeared greatly offended, but then grinned at her. "And anyway, I think we need some time with just the two of us, and so do you." She pulled out a pen and marked a date on the calendar that hung on the wall of the kitchen. The Doctor was always complaining about it-said it made the TARDIS too 'domestic'-but it was absolutely essential. How else were they supposed to keep track of the time line? He didn't bother, said he could always tell when it was, but Rose and Donna were just a little suspicious of his driving. They thought it was good to have a reminder in place, just in case. "Come back and get me in three days," the ginger woman instructed. "Now shoo! I think you two have earned a rest."

The Doctor snapped to attention. "Yes Ma'am."

She pointed at him. "Don't get smart with me, Martian boy. And that's three days, not three months, and certainly not three years!"

"We'll be there," Rose promised, and gave her a hug. "Good luck, and have fun."

"So," she asked the Doctor after Donna and Lee vacated the TARDIS, "what d'you want to do?"

He made a show of pondering, and then a grin spread slowly across his face. "Oh, I don't know. Fancy an adventure?" he asked far too casually to be serious.

Rose pursed her lips. "We-ell," she replied slowly. "I suppose I could fit an adventure into my busy schedule. A small one, mind you." She brandished a finger at him. "No huge, world-saving crises. Those always seem to impact your driving skills."

"Oi!" he exclaimed. "My driving is perfect!"

"Twelve months, Doctor," she reminded him.

He sighed. "I'm never going to live that down, am I."

Rose smiled at him, her tongue between her teeth. She knew perfectly well that he thought it was adorable. "Nope!"

He waved a hand at her. "Off with you, then. Dress for winter, in the mid 1850's. The Wardrobe should have something on the third floor, fifth rack."