Crossroads - A Blue Gravel Path (13/13)
Title: A Blue Gravel Path
Characters: The Doctor, Rose Tyler, among others
Warnings: PG. Oh, and it’s baby!fic.
Spoilers: For the sake of this story, S4 never happens.
Beta: runriggers
Part of the Crossroads series
A now AU and non-S4 compliant story. Ah well.
Part One: Reflections
Part Two: One Day
Part Three: Choices and Chances
Part Four: A Blue Gravel Path - Chapter One ~ Chapter Two ~ Chapter Three ~ Chapter Four ~ Chapter Five ~ Chapter Six ~ Chapter Seven ~ Chapter Eight ~ Chapter Nine ~ Chapter Ten ~ Chapter Eleven ~ Chapter Twelve
Epilogue: Of Mothers and Daughters..... Dex and Janie take a trip.
A/N: Thank you. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing. I’m taking a short break while I work on NaNo, but please let me know if you’d like more stories from Crossroads, and come December, I’ll be happy to oblige.
Epilogue: Of Mothers and Daughters
“The Detective Inspector!”
He groaned, and leaned on the lever. “Too long!”
“The Bobby!”
“They’ll think it’s short for Robert.”
“The Copper?”
“They’ll think I’m a penny.”
She stamped her foot. “Well, we can’t call you the Sergeant, everyone will start saluting you. I’m not going to salute you.”
“I don’t want you to,” he countered, and spun the dial closest to him. “Push the purple button, won’t you?”
“Why?”
“Isn’t it enough that I asked?”
“No, I want to know why I’m pushing it.”
“Because I asked.”
“But what’s it’s do?”
“Janie, just push the button already!” yelled Dex, and Janie pushed the button, pouting.
“I won’t keep traveling with you if you keep yelling at me.”
“I’m not yelling!”
“Yes, you are!” Janie yelled back.
“Well, you’re being impossible.”
“You’re being stubborn. I can fly this old rat-trap of a ship-"
The rat-trap of a ship gave a violent shudder, and Janie held onto the control panel for dear life.
“Oh, fine. It’s a perfectly beautiful ship in tip-top condition and is it really my fault that I want to learn to fly her properly, in case something awful happens to you and I have to get us home on my own?”
“Janie,” groaned Dex, and the ship gave another shudder. “Oh, bloody hell - red button, Janie!”
Janie didn’t argue; she pressed the red button, and the ship stopped shuddering. For a few minutes, everything ran perfectly smoothly, and the two of them grinned at each other.
And then the ship landed with a powerful crash, and they were both knocked off their feet. Janie smacked her chin on the control panel, and Dex’s head landed hard on the grating.
“Ow,” wailed Janie, and rubbing his head, Dex crawled over to her.
“Let me see,” he ordered, and peered at her chin before giving it a gentle touch. “Oh. Well, I suppose they make good dentures in the 32nd century.”
“Dentures?” wailed Janie, and Dex grinned.
“You’re fine. No dentures.”
Janie smacked his arm. “I hate you.”
“Well, then, no point in taking you outside,” said Dex cheerfully. “We’ll just go back home then, shall we?”
Janie leapt to her feet. “Oh, no. If we’re in the 32nd century, I want to see it.”
“What if we’re not?” asked Dex, his eyes glinting mischievously. Janie gave him a hard stare.
“Where are we?”
“Not the 32nd century.”
Janie marched down the ramp and threw open the doors. “Ah…it’s a hallway.”
“But where is the hallway?” said Dex, coming up behind her and taking her hand. “Come on, let’s go explore.”
Janie gave him a hard look. “That’s not said like a Dex who wants to explore. That’s said like a Dex who’s done the exploring and wants to show off.”
“Only one way to find out,” he said, and pulled her out of the ship and into the hall. It wasn’t like any hall Janie had ever seen; the stones that marked the floor were carefully polished and shining, and the hall was lined with tapestries and gilded mirrors. “Now...let’s see…it’s right around the corner here.”
“What’s around the corner?”
“Yup, here we go!” said Dex, and he pushed back the brocade tapestry to reveal a hidden door. He knocked softly, and after a moment, it was opened by a slightly older woman with blonde hair and a relieved expression on her face.
“Oh, good, you’ve made it,” said Rose Tyler. “I was getting anxious. Your dad’s nearly done.”
“Did she chop off his head?” asked Dex, stepping through the doorway, and pulling Janie in after him.
Janie didn’t hear the answer. Her heart was thumping too hard for her to hear much of anything; the blood was rushing in her ears as she took in the tapestries and the magnificent dresses that lined the walls of the small room. She knew those dresses - well, perhaps not those specific dresses. But she’d seen their like in paintings and pictures, and she knew what sort of person wore them. She held onto Dex tightly, even going so far as to hold onto him with both hands so that she wouldn’t fall down.
“Janie?”
Rose peered at her, smiling just a little bit, and Janie gave an odd little jump. “Ah, sorry. Where are we?”
“He didn’t tell you?”
Janie shook her head. “No, he wanted it to be a surprise.”
“Funny sort of surprise,” Rose told her son.
He shrugged. “Is Dad done?”
“Go see for yourself,” said Rose, and pushed the two of them to the door on the opposite side of the room.
Janie didn’t dare let go of Dex’s hand. There was something familiar about everything, although she was certain she’d never been in such rooms before. She could sense Dex, of course - the few threads she’d left holding them together had remained strong over the past eighteen years. The soothing green glow of him burned brightly in the back of her mind, just as it always had, but there was something else, too. Something dim and familiar, something she barely recognized.
They stepped into a room, at one end of which was a large, canopied bed. The Doctor sat by it, laughing, and he turned to Janie and Dex with a grin on his face.
“Here they are,” he said. “And you thought I’d never return her to you.”
The queen sniffed, and Janie dropped Dex’s hand, racing to the old woman in the bed.
“Elizabeth,” she breathed, wrapping her arms around the woman. The dim, golden glow in the back of her mind built into a crescendo as the woman rested her hands on her head.
“Genevieve.”
Janie squeezed her eyes shut, trying not to cry. It was silly, she’d only known the woman for a few days when she was little, and here she was a grown woman of eighteen about to cry her eyes out because the woman she’d wanted as a mother had called her by her given name.
“Did you ask her?” she heard Dex ask.
“That’s for you,” replied the Doctor.
“Ask me what?” murmured Janie.
“Ma’am?”
Janie’s eyes opened. Dex stood by the bed, but wasn’t looking at her at all. He looked at Elizabeth, and Janie felt her heart make a curious bounce in her chest.
“Go on, boy,” said Elizabeth gruffly, her hands still cradling Janie’s head and shoulders.
“I am not exactly your subject, but all the same, I ask your permission - I’d like to keep Janie with me, please. I know you entrusted her to the Doctor here, but I’d like to take care of her, from now on.”
“What’s that supposed to mean, young man?” asked the woman, sounded extremely distempered. “Are you asking her to marry you?”
“Well, maybe not yet, we’re still young for it. But I’d like that, since it’s the custom and all. Traditions are good, I think. Janie thinks so too. About traditions, I mean. I don’t know about the marriage, I haven’t actually asked her. It’s kind of moot, if you don’t agree, because it’s tradition that I’d ask her parents, and that’s you. And it’s tradition that her queen give her permission, and that’s you, too.”
“Is there a question in there somewhere?” asked the queen, and the irritation shone.
Janie couldn’t see Dex, but she could feel the heat rise in his cheeks all the same.
“Yes. I mean, could I? Marry her. If Janie wants.”
Janie pressed her face into the woman’s breasts, the smile on her face stretching from ear to ear. The golden glow from Elizabeth grew brighter.
“I see. You might have brought her to me sooner.”
“I couldn’t,” said Dex honestly. Then he leaned forward, and Janie heard him whisper. “But - I could, once Dad’s not watching.”
“Oi, still here,” said the Doctor.
Elizabeth’s hand stroked Janie’s head, and Janie could feel the old woman shift beneath her. “Child,” she said, her tone softening, hesitant. Janie lifted her chin and looked up to see Elizabeth looking down at her, young eyes in an old, painted face, and Janie felt a surge of love for her that stemmed partially from her heart, and partially from the golden glow in her mind. “He’s young and stupid, this one.”
Dex made a choking sound, but mercifully stayed quiet. Janie smiled just a little. “Not really,” she told the queen. “He’s just a bit nervous.”
“He talks entirely too much and says entirely too little.”
“He comes by it honestly, though,” Janie replied, her nose in the air, and Elizabeth smiled.
“I suppose he’s the only boy you’ve ever had eyes on.”
“I would never tell him otherwise,” said Janie, and Dex made another choking sound. Elizabeth burst into laughter.
“You’ve learned, I see. That’s good. I wouldn’t marry him just yet, if I were you, not while he’s still so green. Give him a few dozen decades, he might settle into his own skin.”
“But-" stammered Dex, and the queen sent him a harsh glare.
“Quiet, boy. You’re not privy to this. Genevieve. Do you want to marry this boy?”
“Yes,” whispered Janie. “Oh, yes.”
Elizabeth nodded, stroking the girl’s straight ginger hair again and smiling. “Has it been a good life?”
Janie nodded, barely able to speak. Her heart was pounding, waiting for Elizabeth’s answer.
“Marry him, then,” said Elizabeth, and Janie reached up to hug the woman around the neck, kissing her cheek.
“Thank you!” She looked over at Dex, who was grinning just as widely. He offered his hand and she took it, but before Dex could tug her away, she leaned towards the old woman again and whispered in her ear, so that no one else could hear, “Mother - thank you.”
The old woman scoffed, but Janie could see the shine in her eyes, and she let Dex pull her from the bed and back to the door leading out. Just before he reached it, however, it opened again, and Rose popped her head out.
“The other way, please, Dex.”
“But-"
Rose shook her head and pointed at another door, and Dex shrugged. Janie thought she caught a glimpse of something behind her soon-to-be mother-in-law, but Rose closed the door before she had a chance to process what it was, and in another moment, Janie and Dex were back in the hallway, with the TARDIS parked not far away.
“That was my mother,” realized Janie, the entire moment crashing into her. She frowned, and turned to Dex. “But - it was so short! Why can’t I stay longer?”
“Dad said we couldn’t,” explained Dex. “He said it was all timey-whimey stuff, and we’d understand in a few years.”
“A few…oh!” Janie began to laugh. “Oh, you’re such a ninny - a few years! Oooo, I’m going to get him for that!”
“For what?”
Janie shoved his arm again. “Didn’t you look behind your mother in the closet? Didn’t you see who was there?”
“No,” replied Dex, his brows knit in confusion. “Who was there?”
Janie laughed, and linked her arm through his, pulling him back to the TARDIS. “Well, I’m not going to tell you. But I hope we’re married soon, because the sooner we’re married, the sooner she’ll show up, the sooner we’ll get to show her off to her grandmother. Come on, Constable, I know what comes next on this path, and I can’t wait another minute.”
Finis
Characters: The Doctor, Rose Tyler, among others
Warnings: PG. Oh, and it’s baby!fic.
Spoilers: For the sake of this story, S4 never happens.
Beta: runriggers
Part of the Crossroads series
A now AU and non-S4 compliant story. Ah well.
Part One: Reflections
Part Two: One Day
Part Three: Choices and Chances
Part Four: A Blue Gravel Path - Chapter One ~ Chapter Two ~ Chapter Three ~ Chapter Four ~ Chapter Five ~ Chapter Six ~ Chapter Seven ~ Chapter Eight ~ Chapter Nine ~ Chapter Ten ~ Chapter Eleven ~ Chapter Twelve
Epilogue: Of Mothers and Daughters..... Dex and Janie take a trip.
A/N: Thank you. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing. I’m taking a short break while I work on NaNo, but please let me know if you’d like more stories from Crossroads, and come December, I’ll be happy to oblige.
Epilogue: Of Mothers and Daughters
“The Detective Inspector!”
He groaned, and leaned on the lever. “Too long!”
“The Bobby!”
“They’ll think it’s short for Robert.”
“The Copper?”
“They’ll think I’m a penny.”
She stamped her foot. “Well, we can’t call you the Sergeant, everyone will start saluting you. I’m not going to salute you.”
“I don’t want you to,” he countered, and spun the dial closest to him. “Push the purple button, won’t you?”
“Why?”
“Isn’t it enough that I asked?”
“No, I want to know why I’m pushing it.”
“Because I asked.”
“But what’s it’s do?”
“Janie, just push the button already!” yelled Dex, and Janie pushed the button, pouting.
“I won’t keep traveling with you if you keep yelling at me.”
“I’m not yelling!”
“Yes, you are!” Janie yelled back.
“Well, you’re being impossible.”
“You’re being stubborn. I can fly this old rat-trap of a ship-"
The rat-trap of a ship gave a violent shudder, and Janie held onto the control panel for dear life.
“Oh, fine. It’s a perfectly beautiful ship in tip-top condition and is it really my fault that I want to learn to fly her properly, in case something awful happens to you and I have to get us home on my own?”
“Janie,” groaned Dex, and the ship gave another shudder. “Oh, bloody hell - red button, Janie!”
Janie didn’t argue; she pressed the red button, and the ship stopped shuddering. For a few minutes, everything ran perfectly smoothly, and the two of them grinned at each other.
And then the ship landed with a powerful crash, and they were both knocked off their feet. Janie smacked her chin on the control panel, and Dex’s head landed hard on the grating.
“Ow,” wailed Janie, and rubbing his head, Dex crawled over to her.
“Let me see,” he ordered, and peered at her chin before giving it a gentle touch. “Oh. Well, I suppose they make good dentures in the 32nd century.”
“Dentures?” wailed Janie, and Dex grinned.
“You’re fine. No dentures.”
Janie smacked his arm. “I hate you.”
“Well, then, no point in taking you outside,” said Dex cheerfully. “We’ll just go back home then, shall we?”
Janie leapt to her feet. “Oh, no. If we’re in the 32nd century, I want to see it.”
“What if we’re not?” asked Dex, his eyes glinting mischievously. Janie gave him a hard stare.
“Where are we?”
“Not the 32nd century.”
Janie marched down the ramp and threw open the doors. “Ah…it’s a hallway.”
“But where is the hallway?” said Dex, coming up behind her and taking her hand. “Come on, let’s go explore.”
Janie gave him a hard look. “That’s not said like a Dex who wants to explore. That’s said like a Dex who’s done the exploring and wants to show off.”
“Only one way to find out,” he said, and pulled her out of the ship and into the hall. It wasn’t like any hall Janie had ever seen; the stones that marked the floor were carefully polished and shining, and the hall was lined with tapestries and gilded mirrors. “Now...let’s see…it’s right around the corner here.”
“What’s around the corner?”
“Yup, here we go!” said Dex, and he pushed back the brocade tapestry to reveal a hidden door. He knocked softly, and after a moment, it was opened by a slightly older woman with blonde hair and a relieved expression on her face.
“Oh, good, you’ve made it,” said Rose Tyler. “I was getting anxious. Your dad’s nearly done.”
“Did she chop off his head?” asked Dex, stepping through the doorway, and pulling Janie in after him.
Janie didn’t hear the answer. Her heart was thumping too hard for her to hear much of anything; the blood was rushing in her ears as she took in the tapestries and the magnificent dresses that lined the walls of the small room. She knew those dresses - well, perhaps not those specific dresses. But she’d seen their like in paintings and pictures, and she knew what sort of person wore them. She held onto Dex tightly, even going so far as to hold onto him with both hands so that she wouldn’t fall down.
“Janie?”
Rose peered at her, smiling just a little bit, and Janie gave an odd little jump. “Ah, sorry. Where are we?”
“He didn’t tell you?”
Janie shook her head. “No, he wanted it to be a surprise.”
“Funny sort of surprise,” Rose told her son.
He shrugged. “Is Dad done?”
“Go see for yourself,” said Rose, and pushed the two of them to the door on the opposite side of the room.
Janie didn’t dare let go of Dex’s hand. There was something familiar about everything, although she was certain she’d never been in such rooms before. She could sense Dex, of course - the few threads she’d left holding them together had remained strong over the past eighteen years. The soothing green glow of him burned brightly in the back of her mind, just as it always had, but there was something else, too. Something dim and familiar, something she barely recognized.
They stepped into a room, at one end of which was a large, canopied bed. The Doctor sat by it, laughing, and he turned to Janie and Dex with a grin on his face.
“Here they are,” he said. “And you thought I’d never return her to you.”
The queen sniffed, and Janie dropped Dex’s hand, racing to the old woman in the bed.
“Elizabeth,” she breathed, wrapping her arms around the woman. The dim, golden glow in the back of her mind built into a crescendo as the woman rested her hands on her head.
“Genevieve.”
Janie squeezed her eyes shut, trying not to cry. It was silly, she’d only known the woman for a few days when she was little, and here she was a grown woman of eighteen about to cry her eyes out because the woman she’d wanted as a mother had called her by her given name.
“Did you ask her?” she heard Dex ask.
“That’s for you,” replied the Doctor.
“Ask me what?” murmured Janie.
“Ma’am?”
Janie’s eyes opened. Dex stood by the bed, but wasn’t looking at her at all. He looked at Elizabeth, and Janie felt her heart make a curious bounce in her chest.
“Go on, boy,” said Elizabeth gruffly, her hands still cradling Janie’s head and shoulders.
“I am not exactly your subject, but all the same, I ask your permission - I’d like to keep Janie with me, please. I know you entrusted her to the Doctor here, but I’d like to take care of her, from now on.”
“What’s that supposed to mean, young man?” asked the woman, sounded extremely distempered. “Are you asking her to marry you?”
“Well, maybe not yet, we’re still young for it. But I’d like that, since it’s the custom and all. Traditions are good, I think. Janie thinks so too. About traditions, I mean. I don’t know about the marriage, I haven’t actually asked her. It’s kind of moot, if you don’t agree, because it’s tradition that I’d ask her parents, and that’s you. And it’s tradition that her queen give her permission, and that’s you, too.”
“Is there a question in there somewhere?” asked the queen, and the irritation shone.
Janie couldn’t see Dex, but she could feel the heat rise in his cheeks all the same.
“Yes. I mean, could I? Marry her. If Janie wants.”
Janie pressed her face into the woman’s breasts, the smile on her face stretching from ear to ear. The golden glow from Elizabeth grew brighter.
“I see. You might have brought her to me sooner.”
“I couldn’t,” said Dex honestly. Then he leaned forward, and Janie heard him whisper. “But - I could, once Dad’s not watching.”
“Oi, still here,” said the Doctor.
Elizabeth’s hand stroked Janie’s head, and Janie could feel the old woman shift beneath her. “Child,” she said, her tone softening, hesitant. Janie lifted her chin and looked up to see Elizabeth looking down at her, young eyes in an old, painted face, and Janie felt a surge of love for her that stemmed partially from her heart, and partially from the golden glow in her mind. “He’s young and stupid, this one.”
Dex made a choking sound, but mercifully stayed quiet. Janie smiled just a little. “Not really,” she told the queen. “He’s just a bit nervous.”
“He talks entirely too much and says entirely too little.”
“He comes by it honestly, though,” Janie replied, her nose in the air, and Elizabeth smiled.
“I suppose he’s the only boy you’ve ever had eyes on.”
“I would never tell him otherwise,” said Janie, and Dex made another choking sound. Elizabeth burst into laughter.
“You’ve learned, I see. That’s good. I wouldn’t marry him just yet, if I were you, not while he’s still so green. Give him a few dozen decades, he might settle into his own skin.”
“But-" stammered Dex, and the queen sent him a harsh glare.
“Quiet, boy. You’re not privy to this. Genevieve. Do you want to marry this boy?”
“Yes,” whispered Janie. “Oh, yes.”
Elizabeth nodded, stroking the girl’s straight ginger hair again and smiling. “Has it been a good life?”
Janie nodded, barely able to speak. Her heart was pounding, waiting for Elizabeth’s answer.
“Marry him, then,” said Elizabeth, and Janie reached up to hug the woman around the neck, kissing her cheek.
“Thank you!” She looked over at Dex, who was grinning just as widely. He offered his hand and she took it, but before Dex could tug her away, she leaned towards the old woman again and whispered in her ear, so that no one else could hear, “Mother - thank you.”
The old woman scoffed, but Janie could see the shine in her eyes, and she let Dex pull her from the bed and back to the door leading out. Just before he reached it, however, it opened again, and Rose popped her head out.
“The other way, please, Dex.”
“But-"
Rose shook her head and pointed at another door, and Dex shrugged. Janie thought she caught a glimpse of something behind her soon-to-be mother-in-law, but Rose closed the door before she had a chance to process what it was, and in another moment, Janie and Dex were back in the hallway, with the TARDIS parked not far away.
“That was my mother,” realized Janie, the entire moment crashing into her. She frowned, and turned to Dex. “But - it was so short! Why can’t I stay longer?”
“Dad said we couldn’t,” explained Dex. “He said it was all timey-whimey stuff, and we’d understand in a few years.”
“A few…oh!” Janie began to laugh. “Oh, you’re such a ninny - a few years! Oooo, I’m going to get him for that!”
“For what?”
Janie shoved his arm again. “Didn’t you look behind your mother in the closet? Didn’t you see who was there?”
“No,” replied Dex, his brows knit in confusion. “Who was there?”
Janie laughed, and linked her arm through his, pulling him back to the TARDIS. “Well, I’m not going to tell you. But I hope we’re married soon, because the sooner we’re married, the sooner she’ll show up, the sooner we’ll get to show her off to her grandmother. Come on, Constable, I know what comes next on this path, and I can’t wait another minute.”
Finis