The Beginning Of It All: or, The Intergalactic Detective Agency and the Case of the Missing Doctor
Part 1: In which Rose realises she may have to save the universe (again)
Rose woke up when her partner sat straight up in bed, in the middle of the night, gasping like a B-grade actor waking from a nightmare. It wasn’t unusual for him to toss and turn at night, fighting battles that he’d never talk about. Rose would hold him, and croon, safe in the knowledge that when he woke up everything would be fine. But tonight, his wild eyes and shaking hands told Rose that there would be no immediate return to normalcy.
“What’s wrong?” Rose asked, pulling herself up and wrapping her arms around him.
“I’m not sure,” he said, his voice troubled. “I think I’ve... I think I’ve disappeared. Well, not disappeared, I’m just not where I’m meant to be. Well, not me, obviously, since I’m meant to be right here. The... other me.” He twisted around, so he was looking Rose in the face. “He’s stuck somewhere, Rose, and he can’t get out.”
Rose didn’t say anything, just continued to hold him tightly. There was nothing to say that he didn’t already know; that wherever the Doctor was, there was nothing that either of them could do to help him.
***
From the time she’d first met the man - well, the alien - in the blue box, Rose’s life had become so full of weird happenings and unexplained occurrences that there was nothing, absolutely nothing, that surprised her any more.
That Tuesday, for example, the day that Rose later came to think of as the Beginning Of It All, had been what most people would call, well, eventful. To Rose, it was nothing of the kind. Sure, she’d been ambushed by a lone giant purple slug who’d decided her skin looked particularly fashionable; sure, she and her partner had spent the better part of three hours trying to figure out exactly which part of the galaxy illegal robot imports were coming from; but to Rose that was, while not boring, at least perfectly ordinary.
So when, at five-thirty in the evening, a spaceship landed in her front yard, and a blonde bombshell tackled her partner with a cry of “Dad!” Rose reacted in what was a perfectly ordinary manner, and invited the blonde bombshell in for dinner.
***
Dinner took some time, what with the shouting and the confusing explanations and the fact that Rose was so interested in meeting her partner’s kind-of-daughter she accidentally let the sausages burn and had to run out for some fish and chips. Eventually, when all that was left of dinner was a few greasy newspapers and the shouting had mostly stopped, Rose thought she’d more or less sorted it all out:
At this point in the conversation, Rose’s partner became very quiet, puckering his mouth, the way he always did when he was thinking. “You know,” he said thoughtfully. “What with both of us here, and what with us both being linked someway to him... There might be something we can do to find him.” He motioned Jenny closer, and the two of them sat of the floor, facing each other. Rose’s partner held his hands out on either side of Jenny’s head, and told her to do the same. “Now then,” he told her, “Close your eyes, and concentrate on- on the Doctor. Don’t think about me. Just him. Got it?” Jenny assented and the two of them sat, perfectly still, perfectly silent, for so long that Rose started to wonder if they’d both got frozen like that. Finally, the two of them dropped their hands and opened their eyes.
“It’s not good,” Rose’s partner said, discouraged. “All I can see is the TARDIS, and snow.”
“But that’s something,” Rose replied. “That discounts a lot of places where he could be. You’ll find looking for him a lot easier if you know where he isn’t.”
“I’ll find - you think we should go with Jenny?”
“I think you should go with Jenny,” Rose corrected him. “Assuming that’s alright with Jenny. We can’t both go; Torchwood needs at least one of us here.”
Jenny looked incredibly happy at this news, and Rose shooed the both of them outside, telling them to fix Jenny’s ship so that it warped when it should warp and bend when it should bend. Rose busied herself by throwing together everything that her partner could possibly need while he was out saving himself. As the stars came out she took out three cups of hot cocoa and watched while her partner and Jenny talked about thingummies and para-whatsits and hit the side of the ship with spanners, and she told them they could leave first thing in the morning, when they’d had a decent breakfast.
Her partner woke her up when he came to bed. “I think I’ve got it up and running,” he told her. “There’s still a slight probability of something going wrong and us dying a horrible fiery death...” His voice trailed off as he saw the look Rose was giving him. “Are you really OK about this?” he asked. “Me going off adventuring, you holding down the fort at home?”
Rose smiled, a little tearfully, she knew, but she held her voice steady when she said, “You haven’t been yourself, lately. I’ve seen you - worrying, all the time. You said it yourself, that there’s something still connecting the two of you. You won’t be right again until he is, will you? And I - I waited years for you before. I can wait a month or two, this time.”
He looked at her for a long moment, then smiled. “You’re brilliant, you know that?” he said, and leaned in for a kiss.
***
When the phone went off at four am, Rose covered her head with her pillow and left her partner to pick it up. He made rude comments about her laziness, but she felt him get out of bed, and heard him conscientiously shutting the door behind him so she didn’t have to listen to the conversation that followed. He made no such effort when he came storming back in a few minutes later.
“Cyberman in the South Pole,” he said, undoing his pyjama top so forcefully that one of the buttons flew clean across the room. Rose threw back her covers and tumbled out of bed. She was so used to these night-time emergencies that she’d got as far as the bedroom door before she stopped, turned around and stared at him.
“But what about Jenny?”
“You can go.” Rose’s partner stopped his mad flurry of activity and turned to look at her, his face serious. “Don’t argue, Rose. You said yourself that Torchwood needs one of us here. I’m the resident expert. Right now, they need me more than you.”
“But - she was looking forward to being with you.” Rose was very definite on this point. That happy look on Jenny’s face hadn’t just been about not having to look for the Doctor all by herself.
“I know.” Rose’s partner frowned, and then sighed. “But there’s nothing that I can do for her that you can’t, beyond what I’ve already done. And you know as well as I do - better than what I do, maybe - what will happen if we don’t find him.”
“Besides, I always fancied leading an all-girl team of - what would you call it? Problem-solvers? Universe-savers? Sorry, couldn't help over-hearing your conversation.” Jenny’s blonde head peered around the door, not sounding particularly sorry about anything.
“How about detectives?” Rose’s partner offered. “You know... find the missing man, save the world. Very Nancy Drew. Or maybe more Veronica Mars?”
“Perfect,” said Jenny, happily. “Are you ready then, Rose?”
Rose shook her head. “But I can’t - I mean, my life is here. My parents are here. You’re here,” she said, lowering her voice. “I’ve left everyone behind before - I don’t think I should be doing that again.”
“I’ll just wait outside then!” Jenny’s head hurriedly disappeared.
Rose’s partner moved closer to her. She let him put his arms around her, and allowed herself to feel reassured. “It’s not goodbye, you know. It’s just a brief business trip.”
Rose smiled, and rested her head against his shoulder. “Promise me,” she said, her voice muffled. “Promise me that next time we’ll both save the universe together.”
“I promise,” he replied. “And I’m not getting picked up for a few hours yet. Let’s have breakfast, shall we? And then I’ll see you off.”
***
Finally,” Jenny groaned, when Rose stepped out into the grey dawn. “Not that I don’t enjoy waiting for people to make up their minds, but we do have a universe to save!” She even sounded like the Doctor, inappropriately excited considering the probability of fiery death. Rose grinned. She loved her life, and she couldn’t remember ever being so happy or satisfied with the way things were but - well, sometimes a girl just missed saving the universe.
“Come on then,” she said to Jenny. “Let’s get on with it.”
As they settled into Jenny’s spaceship and prepared for lift-off, Rose caught the other women eyeing her carefully. Finally, as the engine roared into life, Jenny turned to her, shouting to make her voice heard.
“So... are you technically my Step-Mum or my Sister-in-Law?”
***
Rose’s partner watched the spaceship leave with a feeling of trepidation. He knew, more than anyone, that the chaos theory held no sway when it came to his own life. Sure, it could be just coincidence that of all the universes, of all the countries, of all the front yards, Jenny had managed to accidentally turn up in his, but it was all the more likely that Jenny and Rose needed to be together.
The spaceship blinked and disappeared. Without the sound of the engine, he thought he could hear Rose’s laughter echoing across the valley.
Well. She’d had to wait years for him to come back to her. He supposed he could wait a month or two for her.
Rose woke up when her partner sat straight up in bed, in the middle of the night, gasping like a B-grade actor waking from a nightmare. It wasn’t unusual for him to toss and turn at night, fighting battles that he’d never talk about. Rose would hold him, and croon, safe in the knowledge that when he woke up everything would be fine. But tonight, his wild eyes and shaking hands told Rose that there would be no immediate return to normalcy.
“What’s wrong?” Rose asked, pulling herself up and wrapping her arms around him.
“I’m not sure,” he said, his voice troubled. “I think I’ve... I think I’ve disappeared. Well, not disappeared, I’m just not where I’m meant to be. Well, not me, obviously, since I’m meant to be right here. The... other me.” He twisted around, so he was looking Rose in the face. “He’s stuck somewhere, Rose, and he can’t get out.”
Rose didn’t say anything, just continued to hold him tightly. There was nothing to say that he didn’t already know; that wherever the Doctor was, there was nothing that either of them could do to help him.
***
From the time she’d first met the man - well, the alien - in the blue box, Rose’s life had become so full of weird happenings and unexplained occurrences that there was nothing, absolutely nothing, that surprised her any more.
That Tuesday, for example, the day that Rose later came to think of as the Beginning Of It All, had been what most people would call, well, eventful. To Rose, it was nothing of the kind. Sure, she’d been ambushed by a lone giant purple slug who’d decided her skin looked particularly fashionable; sure, she and her partner had spent the better part of three hours trying to figure out exactly which part of the galaxy illegal robot imports were coming from; but to Rose that was, while not boring, at least perfectly ordinary.
So when, at five-thirty in the evening, a spaceship landed in her front yard, and a blonde bombshell tackled her partner with a cry of “Dad!” Rose reacted in what was a perfectly ordinary manner, and invited the blonde bombshell in for dinner.
***
Dinner took some time, what with the shouting and the confusing explanations and the fact that Rose was so interested in meeting her partner’s kind-of-daughter she accidentally let the sausages burn and had to run out for some fish and chips. Eventually, when all that was left of dinner was a few greasy newspapers and the shouting had mostly stopped, Rose thought she’d more or less sorted it all out:
- The blonde bombshell’s name was Jenny, and she was the Doctor’s clone.
- Well, his other clone.
- Well, assuming he hadn’t got himself cloned any more times since they’d last seen him, in which case she was just one of his other clones.
- She was not actually dead, as her partner had previously believed.
- Because he hadn’t stayed to watch his own daughter-slash-clone’s burial, and him and Rose were going to have to have words later.
- Jenny’d also had the weird sensation that the Doctor was lost somewhere.
- So she’d set out to find him.
- Which had involved her having to try and figure out how to bend Space and Time.
- But she’d accidentally somehow warped Space and Time instead and ended up in this parallel universe.
- What was the difference between bending and warping anyway?
At this point in the conversation, Rose’s partner became very quiet, puckering his mouth, the way he always did when he was thinking. “You know,” he said thoughtfully. “What with both of us here, and what with us both being linked someway to him... There might be something we can do to find him.” He motioned Jenny closer, and the two of them sat of the floor, facing each other. Rose’s partner held his hands out on either side of Jenny’s head, and told her to do the same. “Now then,” he told her, “Close your eyes, and concentrate on- on the Doctor. Don’t think about me. Just him. Got it?” Jenny assented and the two of them sat, perfectly still, perfectly silent, for so long that Rose started to wonder if they’d both got frozen like that. Finally, the two of them dropped their hands and opened their eyes.
“It’s not good,” Rose’s partner said, discouraged. “All I can see is the TARDIS, and snow.”
“But that’s something,” Rose replied. “That discounts a lot of places where he could be. You’ll find looking for him a lot easier if you know where he isn’t.”
“I’ll find - you think we should go with Jenny?”
“I think you should go with Jenny,” Rose corrected him. “Assuming that’s alright with Jenny. We can’t both go; Torchwood needs at least one of us here.”
Jenny looked incredibly happy at this news, and Rose shooed the both of them outside, telling them to fix Jenny’s ship so that it warped when it should warp and bend when it should bend. Rose busied herself by throwing together everything that her partner could possibly need while he was out saving himself. As the stars came out she took out three cups of hot cocoa and watched while her partner and Jenny talked about thingummies and para-whatsits and hit the side of the ship with spanners, and she told them they could leave first thing in the morning, when they’d had a decent breakfast.
Her partner woke her up when he came to bed. “I think I’ve got it up and running,” he told her. “There’s still a slight probability of something going wrong and us dying a horrible fiery death...” His voice trailed off as he saw the look Rose was giving him. “Are you really OK about this?” he asked. “Me going off adventuring, you holding down the fort at home?”
Rose smiled, a little tearfully, she knew, but she held her voice steady when she said, “You haven’t been yourself, lately. I’ve seen you - worrying, all the time. You said it yourself, that there’s something still connecting the two of you. You won’t be right again until he is, will you? And I - I waited years for you before. I can wait a month or two, this time.”
He looked at her for a long moment, then smiled. “You’re brilliant, you know that?” he said, and leaned in for a kiss.
***
When the phone went off at four am, Rose covered her head with her pillow and left her partner to pick it up. He made rude comments about her laziness, but she felt him get out of bed, and heard him conscientiously shutting the door behind him so she didn’t have to listen to the conversation that followed. He made no such effort when he came storming back in a few minutes later.
“Cyberman in the South Pole,” he said, undoing his pyjama top so forcefully that one of the buttons flew clean across the room. Rose threw back her covers and tumbled out of bed. She was so used to these night-time emergencies that she’d got as far as the bedroom door before she stopped, turned around and stared at him.
“But what about Jenny?”
“You can go.” Rose’s partner stopped his mad flurry of activity and turned to look at her, his face serious. “Don’t argue, Rose. You said yourself that Torchwood needs one of us here. I’m the resident expert. Right now, they need me more than you.”
“But - she was looking forward to being with you.” Rose was very definite on this point. That happy look on Jenny’s face hadn’t just been about not having to look for the Doctor all by herself.
“I know.” Rose’s partner frowned, and then sighed. “But there’s nothing that I can do for her that you can’t, beyond what I’ve already done. And you know as well as I do - better than what I do, maybe - what will happen if we don’t find him.”
“Besides, I always fancied leading an all-girl team of - what would you call it? Problem-solvers? Universe-savers? Sorry, couldn't help over-hearing your conversation.” Jenny’s blonde head peered around the door, not sounding particularly sorry about anything.
“How about detectives?” Rose’s partner offered. “You know... find the missing man, save the world. Very Nancy Drew. Or maybe more Veronica Mars?”
“Perfect,” said Jenny, happily. “Are you ready then, Rose?”
Rose shook her head. “But I can’t - I mean, my life is here. My parents are here. You’re here,” she said, lowering her voice. “I’ve left everyone behind before - I don’t think I should be doing that again.”
“I’ll just wait outside then!” Jenny’s head hurriedly disappeared.
Rose’s partner moved closer to her. She let him put his arms around her, and allowed herself to feel reassured. “It’s not goodbye, you know. It’s just a brief business trip.”
Rose smiled, and rested her head against his shoulder. “Promise me,” she said, her voice muffled. “Promise me that next time we’ll both save the universe together.”
“I promise,” he replied. “And I’m not getting picked up for a few hours yet. Let’s have breakfast, shall we? And then I’ll see you off.”
***
Finally,” Jenny groaned, when Rose stepped out into the grey dawn. “Not that I don’t enjoy waiting for people to make up their minds, but we do have a universe to save!” She even sounded like the Doctor, inappropriately excited considering the probability of fiery death. Rose grinned. She loved her life, and she couldn’t remember ever being so happy or satisfied with the way things were but - well, sometimes a girl just missed saving the universe.
“Come on then,” she said to Jenny. “Let’s get on with it.”
As they settled into Jenny’s spaceship and prepared for lift-off, Rose caught the other women eyeing her carefully. Finally, as the engine roared into life, Jenny turned to her, shouting to make her voice heard.
“So... are you technically my Step-Mum or my Sister-in-Law?”
***
Rose’s partner watched the spaceship leave with a feeling of trepidation. He knew, more than anyone, that the chaos theory held no sway when it came to his own life. Sure, it could be just coincidence that of all the universes, of all the countries, of all the front yards, Jenny had managed to accidentally turn up in his, but it was all the more likely that Jenny and Rose needed to be together.
The spaceship blinked and disappeared. Without the sound of the engine, he thought he could hear Rose’s laughter echoing across the valley.
Well. She’d had to wait years for him to come back to her. He supposed he could wait a month or two for her.