amberfocus | Hunger Moon: Chapter Five

Invasions of Privacy

Rose stayed with Kyle until he fell asleep in her arms, her mind going over and over what possible reasons Jackie might have had not to give the letter to the twins. It didn’t make sense for her mother to go against her wishes like that. Jackie might disagree with some of the things Rose had chosen to do in her life, but why would she allow the twins to be hurt thinking Rose had left without a good-bye to them?

She bit at her lip as she eased Kyle down into his bed, removed his slippers and pulled the blankets up over him. She kissed the little boy on the forehead and slipped out of his room and then on a hunch she made her way across the hall to her parents’ room. She ruffled through her mother’s sock drawer and her mother was as predictable as ever. Yet though she found the letter from herself to Jackie she did not find the one for Kyle and Sarah.

Moving across the room to Pete’s dresser she rifled through it. Her parents had surprisingly similar habits, and though she should feel some guilt at snooping, she didn’t as she retrieved the letter for Kyle and Sarah from underneath Pete’s t-shirts. So it hadn’t been her mother at all. Rose searched a bit further looking for any other envelopes that may not have been delivered but didn’t find any. She folded the letter in half and tucked it into the back pocket of her jeans. Making her way back down the stairs she padded into the family room.

“Where’s Dad?” she asked noticing the conspicuous absence of her father.

“Torchwood called. He had to head in,” said Jackie. Rose nodded. Under normal circumstances her father would have called her in to help, but obviously these weren’t normal circumstances. She had resigned her Torchwood position when she’d left the letter for her parents. Well, she’d have time enough later to confront Pete. She looked at the Doctor and noticed that Sarah was sound asleep, her head in the Doctor’s lap.

“Why don’t you carry Sarah up to bed, Doctor?” Rose suggested. “And you can get your blood sample.” The Doctor nodded and rearranged the little girl into his arms so he could stand with her. “This way,” Rose said and she led him back up the stairs to the room next door to Kyle’s.

He set her down on the bed and his fingers grazed her temples, reinforcing sleep. For a moment he startled and Rose gave him an odd look. His lips twitched and then she felt him in her own head. “Need to talk about Sarah. In private,” he thought. She gave an infinitesimal nod and then he pulled a syringe out of his pocket and quickly and efficiently withdrew a vial of Sarah’s blood. Then he healed up the needle prick in her arm with the sonic screwdriver.

Rose tucked Sarah into bed, dropping a kiss on her forehead before turning to leave. They returned to the living room and to Jackie who had been waiting for them. “I’m going to take this blood sample out to the TARDIS and get to work on a vaccine for Sarah,” the Doctor said excusing himself. He kissed Rose as he left the room.

“What’s up?” Jackie demanded as soon as he was out of earshot.

“What do you mean?” Rose asked.

“I saw the look on your face when you came down the stairs after talking to Kyle. I want to know what’s wrong.”

“Who went to my flat after I disappeared?” Rose asked casually.

“Pete did,” Jackie said looking confused at the change of subject. Rose nodded.

“Did you know that I’d left a letter for Kyle and Sarah?” Rose asked. “Because Kyle didn’t. He thought I left without saying good-bye.” Rose couldn’t keep the frustration and hurt out of her voice.

Jackie gasped. “Of course I didn’t know. Rose, I wouldn’t keep something like that from the twins.”

“Would Pete?” Rose asked.

Jackie frowned. Rose almost never called her dad Pete anymore. “I don’t think he would, but…he was acting so odd the day he came back from your flat. I guess anything is possible.”

Rose sighed and pulled the letter out of her pocket. “I found this in his dresser.”

Jackie eyed the letter and then looked at Rose. Rose could tell her mother was warring between telling Rose off for snooping and curiosity as to what her daughter had found. Curiosity won out and Jackie took the envelope from Rose. It had already been opened and she removed the letter from inside it, her eyes moving across the page as she read.

When she had finished she slipped the paper back inside the envelope and set it down on the coffee table between them. “I don’t know why he would do that,” Jackie said. “I mean, there’s nothing in that letter they shouldn’t see. Although, you did warn them to stay away from Torchwood, that it wasn’t a place they should get involved with…” Jackie looked thoughtful.

“Well, it isn’t a place they should get involved with,” said Rose. “It’s dangerous. Life-threatening, at times. And with Sarah’s empathy…I didn’t want her growing up and taking a job there, is all.”

“Perhaps…well, perhaps Pete thought they were scared enough of Torchwood without you adding to it,” Jackie said. “He’s been trying to get them to come to work with him on occasion and so far Sarah’s utterly refused. Kyle went once and has refused to go back. He wouldn’t tell me why, just says he won’t go back whenever Pete brings it up.” Jackie shrugged and folded her arms across her chest. “You’ll have to ask Pete. And I want to be there when you do.”

“Agreed,” said Rose. Her stance relaxed and she sat back down on the couch, Jackie lowering herself into the easy chair in return. “Do you happen to know if Davin McBain got his letter?” Rose asked.

“Oh, yes,” said Jackie with far more relish than she should have. “I hand delivered it personally.”

Rose’s eyes narrowed. “Mum,” she said warningly. “What did you say?”

“I told him you’d run off with a better man and had no intention of ever coming back,” Jackie said.

“Mum!” Rose was outraged.

“He was wrong for you, Rose and you know it!” Jackie snapped.

“He was good to me. He was there when I needed someone. He was decent,” Rose protested.

“He was a pretty boy that sometimes shared your bed. I have no illusions as to what you saw in him, but he was wrong for you, Rose and I never liked him,” Jackie defended.

“That wasn’t for you to decide.”

“Then you should have mailed your letters instead of leaving them for us to find,” Jackie said.

“There wasn’t time, Mum. And now you’ve left me with a really big mess to clean up,” Rose huffed.

“Mess? You don’t need to clean up anything, Rose. You’re not going to see him again, so what’s…” Jackie trailed off.

“Have you cleaned out my flat yet?” she asked.

“No. We were waiting, just in case things didn’t work out and you came back. We didn’t know if you could, but the flat’s paid up until the end of February, so we figured we’d leave it a while,” Jackie explained.

“Then I’ll be going back to my flat to get my things,” Rose said. “I need to move them in to the TARDIS. And I’ll have to see Davin. He’ll see me moving out…he won’t be able to miss it with me just down the hall. Besides, seems like I have some apologizing to do.”

“You don’t have to apologize on my account.”

“Oh, I think I do. And probably on my own account. It wasn’t the best way to leave things. I need to explain to him what really happened,” Rose muttered.

“That you ran off with a time-travelling alien duplicate of your lost love?” Jackie wanted to know.

“Well, not precisely what really happened,” Rose said. “But better than what I’ve managed so far. Honestly, Mum, what were you thinking being cruel to him like that? He doesn’t deserve it. He’s a good man.”

“He’s not the Doctor,” said Jackie. “And that’s where your heart has always been.”

“I thought you didn’t like the Doctor,” Rose said.

“Of course I do. Especially this one.”

“Yeah, I saw how much.”

“I know you hadn’t forgiven me for that snog,” Jackie accused.

“Mum!” Rose pulled back and took a deep breath before she said anything she’d regret. “Mum, it’s my life. You can’t control it. Not with Davin. Not with my husband. It’s mine. You and Dad, I know you mean well, but stop it, okay? I’ll see you in the morning.” And she strode abruptly out of the room, out of the house, and back to the TARDIS.

“Doctor?” The sound of Rose’s voice calling him made the Doctor look up from his microscope. He stretched his lean muscles and scooted back from the equipment.

“I’m in the Med Bay,” he called. A moment later his wife appeared and came up behind him. Her hands fell to his shoulders and began to knead the tight muscles there. The Doctor leaned back into her, the back of his head nestling against her belly.

“Find a cure?” she asked him.

“A vaccine. And yeah. By morning the Tyler women should all be immune to my charms,” he said.

“Not all the Tyler women, I hope,” Rose said huskily. The Doctor turned and pulled her into his lap.

“Not you,” he said nuzzling against her ear. “Never you.” She leaned into the warm breath as his lips grazed her neck. “You’re tense,” he said his hands sliding down her sides.

“Had a spat with my mum,” she said.

“Want to talk about it?” he asked pulling away from her neck and looking into her eyes.

“No,” she said. “I’ll deal with it later. Right now, I just want you to make love to me.” She wiggled her bum against his lap. The Doctor reached for her blouse. “Not in here,” she said.

“Why not?” he pouted.

“I promised the TARDIS. No Med Bay sex and no control room sex,” she said.

“Rose,” he said, “I don’t want to make love in that garish, hot pink bedroom.”

She stood up and held her hand out to him. “Gallifrey room?” she asked.

“But it’s so far away,” he protested.

“Not that far,” she told him. She slipped away from him and stood in the doorway before she stepped out into the corridor and slipped off her blouse, throwing it at him. It smacked him in the face. “Catch me if you can,” she teased and then took off down the hallway.

The Doctor rose to his feet and chased off after her, catching her up halfway to the Gallifrey room. He pulled her into his arms and brought his lips crashing down on hers, taking possession of her mouth with a few rough thrusts of his tongue. In return she pressed her hips hard into his. He pushed her up against the wall, his hand going to her zipper, his mouth never stopping its conquest of her own.

A loud knocking sound echoed through the TARDIS corridors. The Doctor broke away with a groan. “They’ll come back later,” Rose said grabbing the Doctor’s head and pulling it back down to her own. He kissed her again, but the annoying knocking persisted.

They managed to ignore it until they heard the loud exclamation from just down the hallway. “Oh, bloody hell!”

Rose jumped at the sound of her mother’s voice and then hastily hid herself behind the Doctor’s body. “Who let you in?” Rose asked in irritation.

“The TARDIS,” said Jackie. She picked up the discarded blouse and made her way towards her daughter. She handed the shirt around the Doctor and Rose hastily put it on.

“Thanks a lot,” said Rose to the ceiling. “I thought you’d forgiven me.”

“Now I’ve forgiven you,” the TARDIS told Rose sounding amused with herself.

“Not funny,” said the Doctor. The TARDIS made a noise out loud that sounded like a loud raspberry.

“I came to see if you’d finished with the vaccine,” Jackie said once Rose had slipped her clothes back on and came out from behind the Doctor. “I’d like to go to sleep and close up the house for the night.”

“It’s done,” said the Doctor willing his hormones to calm down enough for him to walk back to the infirmary. “Come on.” The three of them headed back to the infirmary and the Doctor prepared two doses of the vaccine for injection. Quickly he injected Jackie. “It should make you immune by morning. Shall we go do Sarah now?”

Jackie nodded and he followed her back into the house while Rose stayed behind in the TARDIS. Jackie led him up to Sarah’s room and he brushed her temple, making sure she didn’t wake while he injected her and repaired the damage from it. Again that niggling sense of something wrong in Sarah’s mind bothered him. He followed it for a moment but ran into a barrier like a steel door that bounced him out of the little girl’s mind.

Sarah stirred for a moment and then settled back into sleep and he withdrew his mind touch. In silence he followed Jackie back down the stairs. “Is Rose all right?” Jackie asked.

“She’s fine,” he said. “She said you had a bit of an argument.”

“A bit.” Jackie wasn’t any more forthcoming than Rose had been.

“Well, I’ll just be off then,” he said after a moment’s hesitation. “Only…”

“Only what?”

“Nothing. Never mind. Good-night, Jackie.”

“Good-night, Doctor.” He headed back to the TARDIS trying to figure out just what exactly it was that had bothered him so much inside Sarah’s mind. He had decided to talk it over with Rose until he found her waiting for him in the Gallifrey room clad in nothing but a smile.

Ch. 6: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/34453.html

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