Hunger Moon: Chapter Four

[amberfocus]

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Family Time

 

Once in the back garden Sarah broke free of the Doctor’s hand and ran up to the TARDIS.  “I thought she was blue,” Sarah said.

 

“It’s not the same ship,” Rose said.  “It’s a TARDIS but it’s not the TARDIS.  She was going to be a blue police box to make herself seem more familiar when we showed up, but she got mad about something and turned pink to punish the Doctor.  He doesn’t like pink.”

 

Sarah turned back to look at the Doctor and raised one eyebrow.  “I can imagine,” she said.  She looked back at the ship.  “She’s very pretty like this.”  She reached out hesitantly and touched the wood. “Oh!” she exclaimed, but she did not jump back.  “She’s laughing, like bells, like wind chimes, in my head.”

 

The Doctor stuck his key into the lock and pushed the doors open.  “Go on,” he said.  Unable to resist the temptation, Sarah rushed inside.  Rose followed her and then Jackie and the Doctor entered.  Rose breathed a sigh of relief when she noted that the interior of the control room was almost back to normal, save the large, frilly, pink and white lace dust ruffle that wrapped around the outside of the console.  The walls had faded to a very pale pink from the garish hot pink they’d been earlier.  The ship had obviously gotten over the worst of her anger.

 

The Doctor didn’t say anything out loud, but he did reach out and stroke a coral support strut and offer a silent thank you that she had relented a little bit.  He watched the little girl look around the room with curiosity.  She studied the controls, running her fingers lightly over some of the knobs and levers.  Her touch was gentle enough not to activate anything and the ship gave a very pleased hum at the soft caresses.

 

“She likes you,” said the Doctor.

 

Sarah smiled.  “I can feel.”

 

“Rose, why don’t you take Sarah on a tour and be sure to show her the Gallifrey room?  Jackie, we can do what we discussed earlier since you’ve already been on a TARDIS before,” the Doctor suggested.

 

Jackie nodded and Rose took off with the little girl.  The Doctor led her to the infirmary, washed his hands, pulled on sterile gloves and took a blood sample.  “I’ve got a good base program already from Rose’s blood, so it shouldn’t be too long to knock out an antidote.  Since you’re DNA is not coded to mine the antidote should be permanent.”

 

“No more being snogged by your mother-in-law?” Jackie said with a slightly horrified expression.

 

“That’s right.  Honestly, Jackie you have no reason to be embarrassed.  Rose’s DNA and mine have been reprogrammed to respond to each other.  The bits that were similar, that came from you, were simply responding to mine.  You didn’t have a choice in the matter.  You wouldn’t have done it if you had,” the Doctor explained.

 

“Well, it wasn’t totally awful,” Jackie admitted.  “For me, anyway.  I wasn’t leaning over the sink trying to hold in my last meal.  Kind of rude, really,” she said but she didn’t sound offended.

 

“That’s a biological reaction,” the Doctor said.  “Had nothing to do with you.  It would have happened if any woman had kissed me that wasn’t Rose.  Same thing will happen to her if another man tried to start something with her.  It’s part of our link.  It ensures fidelity.”

 

“Good to know it wasn’t just me.  So what about Sarah, then?  She shares more DNA with Rose than I do,” Jackie said sounding worried.  “I wouldn’t want her reacting like that with you.  She’s a child.”

 

“She showed no reaction when she held my hand,” the Doctor said.  “She’s nine?”  He waited for Jackie’s nod.  “I doubt she would react like that before hitting menses.  But it’ll be a very strong possibility then.  We can inoculate her when the time comes.”

 

“Can we do it now?” Jackie asked.  “I’d just as soon avoid even the remotest possibility.”

 

“No harm in doing it now.  I’d need a blood sample.  I’m assuming you don’t want Pete to know about this, so you’d have to keep her quiet.”

 

“Does it have to be blood?  Could you do it from a hair sample?  I could bring you her brush after she goes to sleep tonight,” Jackie said.

 

“Blood works best.  I can’t be sure of the accuracy of the antidote without it.  I can render her mind unconscious just long enough to take the sample and then again when I give her the antidote and heal up the needle marks with the sonic screwdriver.  It’s an invasion of her privacy, but you’re her mum so if you give permission I’ll have no qualms about doing it.”

 

“I think that’ll work best,” said Jackie.  “Now how do we prevent anything else happening on my end until you’ve prepared the antidote?  Because I didn’t feel like I was in control of my own actions at all.”

 

“Just don’t touch me.  The DNA coding flares into life at the touch of skin on skin.  Should be fine without that.”

 

The Doctor finished setting his machine up and then shooed Jackie ahead of them into the hall and down towards the Gallifrey room.  They found Rose and Sarah sitting on a blanket, Sarah leaning against her big sister while Rose pointed out the different things in the enormous room.  The sight almost stopped his hearts.  They looked so much like mother and child in that moment that the Doctor ached for children with Rose.  As many as she would give him.  He tamped down hard on that desire.  There was time enough for children later and it would be years before a pregnancy was biologically possible.

 

“Rose, can I speak with you for a moment?” the Doctor said.  Rose got up and Jackie dropped down next to Sarah.  Rose and the Doctor stepped out into the corridor.  He explained what he needed to do to Sarah and Rose suggested he wait until the little girl was asleep that night to do it.

 

“Sarah’s a little too bright for her own good.  If she’s awake when you knock her out, she’s likely to remember it and ask questions.”

 

“I thought you might have a problem with me going into her mind,” he said.

 

“I know what it’s like now and I trust you in mine.  You’ll take care of her mind and you won’t be nosy.  I can live with that.  Besides, it’s a problem that needs to be dealt with long before it’s an issue.”

 

“I’m just glad it doesn’t affect your dad,” the Doctor muttered.  He’d dropped the step-Dad when Pete referred to Rose as his daughter in every other way.

 

“What?” Rose spluttered.

 

“Well, he does share half of his DNA with you, too,” explained the Doctor.

 

“How do you know it doesn’t affect him?” Rose teased.

 

“Because I shook his hand and he didn’t try to snog me,” the Doctor said.

 

Rose burst into giggles.  “Oh, I can just imagine!  You thought Mum was mortified.”

 

“At least I wouldn’t have gotten the dry heaves,” said the Doctor.

 

“What?  Why?”

 

“He’s not a female.  No chance of reproduction.  It wouldn’t trigger the reaction,” the Doctor said.

 

“Ah.  How long do you think it’ll be before you have an antidote for Mum?” Rose asked.

 

“Should do in another hour or so.  I can give it to her when the twins go to bed.”

 

Jackie appeared at the door with a reluctant Sarah in tow.  “We should get back to the house.  We don’t need to make this any harder on Kyle than it already is.”

 

“Mum, you’re being a soft touch again,” Rose said.

 

“Maybe,” said Jackie.  “But he believes now.  I don’t think he ever really did before.  There’s a time ship in his back garden and all he can do is look at it through his bedroom window.  It’s going to drive him mad.”

 

Rose smiled.  “He’ll cope.”

 

“Oh, I’ve no doubt.  But he’ll cope better with Sarah up there cheering him up.”

 

“I don’t see why I have to cut my visit short just because he got into trouble,” Sarah said somewhat rebelliously and crossed her arms.  It was about as close to defiance as she ever got.

 

Jackie gave her a quelling look and said, “I seem to recall there was a little girl standing right there whilst her brother set off that rocket and who did nothing about it until a chair was on fire.”

 

Sarah opened her mouth, thought better of whatever she’d been about to say, and turned towards the door.  The four of them filed out of the TARDIS, Sarah with one last stroke to a support strut, and headed back into the house.

 

 

The Doctor and Rose sat side by side on the large sectional before the fireplace in the living room.  Kyle was tucked up against Rose’s free side and Sarah had snuggled up happily against the Doctor.  The Doctor found it a very strange experience indeed to have such a warm, trusting bundle of child so close to him, but he did not find the experience unpleasant at all.  He found himself stroking the little girl’s fine silky hair from time to time while he and Rose related the story of how they’d met.

 

“So he just turns up at your door and you just instantly go with him?” asked Jackie a bit disapprovingly.

 

“Well, not exactly.  I did the dishes first,” Rose said.

 

“Rose.”

 

“I trusted him.  He’s the Doctor.  Besides…there were things neither of us knew then that were pulling us together,” Rose explained.

 

“Like what?” Pete asked.

 

Rose glanced at the Doctor.  “Bad Wolf things.  Time Lord Prophecies.  I don’t want to go into it in front of the children, but things were arranged for us to meet and once we touched it triggered a cascade effect and we began to become biologically compatible.  Our DNA is altering over the course of the next five years and we’ll be able to have children together when it’s complete.”

 

“Sounds like someone took the choice out of your hands,” Jackie said narrowing her eyes a bit as she focused on her daughter.

 

“Sounds like.  Turns out my Bad Wolf did a lot of things when I had the Time Vortex in me.  I had plenty of choices then, believe me.  I just wasn’t aware of them until now.  I’m still not aware of everything that happened.  Neither is the Doctor.  But we’ve both come to the conclusion that we want this.  That’s enough for both of us,” Rose said.  She looked at her husband and he squeezed her hand tightly, offering her a loving smile.

 

“I want to hear about dragons,” said Kyle bored of the conversation.  “You promised.”

 

“Well, they weren’t dragons,” said the Doctor.  “They were drayguins and they were being controlled by a behavioral modification field…”

 

Rose found herself drifting off a bit as the soothing sounds of the Doctor’s voice filled the living room and he related the parts of their adventure that didn’t require an adult rating.  The children sat enrapt as he got to the part about Romana telling them the drayguins would one day evolve to be like TARDII.

 

“So she won’t be the last anymore…” said Sarah on a sigh.  “She’ll have company again.”

 

“Depends on how long she lives,” said the Doctor.  “She’s fairly young but it’ll take the drayguins millennia to evolve to the point where they’ll be useful as time ships.”

 

“But can’t they come back in time and keep her company?” Kyle asked.

 

“She’s not exactly lonely.  A TARDIS is a solitary creature by nature, she bonds to her Time Lord…well, usually she does…”  The Doctor paused thoughtfully.

 

“And?” asked Sarah.

 

“And that’s usually enough.”

 

The Doctor felt Sarah’s little hand slip into his.  “She’s not lonely.”

 

“What?”

 

“Your ship.  You’re worrying that she’s lonely, but she’s not.  She said so.  When I touched her.”

 

“You heard her speak?” Rose asked alarmed enough to come out of her stupor.

 

Sarah tilted her head so she could look around the Doctor’s lukewarm bulk and view her big sister.  “Felt,” she said matter-of-factly.  “Not heard.”

 

Rose met her father’s eyes across the room.  “I think it’s time you had Sarah tested for empathy.”

 

“No,” said Sarah emphatically.

 

“She’s not going inside Torchwood,” Kyle added.

 

“Why not?” asked Rose.

 

“She just isn’t,” insisted Kyle.

 

“Sarah?” asked Rose.

 

“I’m not,” Sarah told her.  “I feel sick in that building.  Always have.”

 

“That’s true.  After what happened to you with the Teroc’manu she’s always screamed bloody murder if I tried to take her to work with me,” Pete said.  “Kyle doesn’t like it either, but he doesn’t react like Sarah does.”

 

“I thought mum just didn’t want them around that stuff,” said Rose.

 

“Well, I don’t, but if they wanted to go they’d be safe enough with Pete,” said Jackie.  “But they don’t.”

 

Bored and impatient once again with the track the conversation was taking, Kyle steered it back to the drayguins.  “So how did you know the queen wasn’t real?” he asked.

 

“Well, the screeching was too consistent.  It had a pattern to it, so I timed it and sure enough it was coming in five minute increments.  Then I watched it for the full five minutes and sure enough there was a flicker as the holographic image reset.  Her tail kept thrashing around on the pinnacle but it wasn’t knocking lose any rocks or anything.  So I took a chance and I climbed up it, found the device and disabled it,” Rose said.

 

“And where was the Doctor during all this?” Jackie demanded.

 

“I was affected by the behavioral modification field.  It was set to target males.  It made me rather useless and stupid,” the Doctor admitted.

 

“It wasn’t his brightest hour,” Rose agreed irreverently.  “But as soon as I turned the field off he was back to normal.  After that we made our way back to the ship and took the egg back to Ambigere and she gave us our next task.”

 

“What’s that?” asked Sarah.

 

“We’re looking for something called the orbs of Thessalameka,” said the Doctor.  “They’re somewhere here on Earth.”

 

“I thought you came back to visit us,” said Kyle annoyed.

 

“We did,” said Rose.  “This is our first stop.  We’ll spend some time with the family before we get back to our Quest.  We have to plan the wedding and--.”

 

“Wedding?”  Kyle shot up instantly alert.  “What wedding?”

 

“Rose and the Doctor, silly,” said Sarah.  “They’re getting married.”

 

“How come no one told me?” he asked sulkily.

 

“I’m sorry, Kyle,” said Rose.  “We were talking about it in the kitchen and then you set the chair on fire.  I guess we forgot we didn’t tell you.”

 

“I’m always the last one to know anything,” he said hauling himself to his feet.  He stomped out of the room in a huff.

 

Jackie started to rise to her feet but Rose shook her head.  “I’ll go.  I should have told him.”  She rose up and went after her little brother.  She found him in his bedroom huddled up against the headboard of his bed.

 

“Kyle, what’s really wrong?” she asked gently sitting down on the bed and reaching out to take her brother’s hand.

 

“You left us.  You went away and you didn’t say good-bye and you left us!” he said.

 

“Kyle, I--.”

 

“No, Rose, it wasn’t right.  We’re your family and you left us without even saying good-bye.  You need to do that when you go away, Rose.  What if you hadn’t come back?  And you never said good-bye!” he wailed.

 

“I did come back,” said Rose gently.

 

“But you might not have!  You were just…you were just gone…”  He hiccupped and Rose suspected he was trying to fight back tears.

 

“I’m sorry,” she said simply.  “I love you, Kyle.  I know it’s hard for you to understand, but there wasn’t time--.”

 

“He has a time machine,” interrupted Kyle.  “There’s always time.”

 

“The TARDIS dematerialized on her own.  She wouldn’t let me out of the ship.  I really didn’t have a choice, Kyle.  I left you and Sarah a letter.”

 

“You did?” Kyle said.

 

“Yeah.  I left ones for Mum and Dad, you guys, Davin, and Mickey, Jake and Suzie,” Rose said.

 

“We never saw it.  Mum wouldn’t even say where you’d gone.  If she’d said you were with the Doctor maybe I…maybe it would have been okay.  But I didn’t know!  I didn’t know anything!” he said.

 

“I’m sorry,” she said again.  She pulled her brother into her arms and hugged him tightly.  Her expression was grim.  If her mother hadn’t given the twins her letter, who else might she have kept them from?  And why?

Ch. 5:  http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/32460.html

Comments

[amberfocus.livejournal.com]

I've noticed that. *grins* As for why you have a bad feeling...could have something to do with everything you've ever read that I've written before. You're waiting for shoes to drop.

Mickey, Jake and Suzie did get their letter.

I think I may have turned the corner on this illness. Still sleeping a lot and feel cruddy, but less cruddy than yesterday.