amberfocus | Another Day, Another Elephant (3/4)

Title: Another Day, Another Elephant (3/4)
Author: Amberfocus
Characters/Pairings: Nine/Rose, Jack Harkness
Genre: Action/Adventure, Romance
Rating: Teen
Beta:

amyo67
Warning: Discussion of violent punishment for criminal offenses in chapter two.
Summary: Jack's missing--and there's an elephant in the console room. Is it just a silly prank or is there something far more serious going on than meets the eye?
A/N: Written for the Hearts in Time Summer Adventure Ficathon.

Previous chapters:
1. http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/278006.html 2. http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/279325.html

Chapter Three

“Doctor, I can explain,” Jack breathed the words out in relief. He didn’t want to admit it, but the weapon he held in his hands wouldn’t do much more than cause surface, but painful, burns on his victims. It wouldn’t disable them. Not with only half a battery charge and certainly not the entire police squad. He was far too happy to see the man who turned grim eyes on him, knowing he was in way over his head and he likely wouldn’t have gotten out of it on his own.

“Shut it, Jack.” Oh, this was one unhappy Time Lord. “Come on.”

“I’m afraid you’re not taking them anywhere,” the magistrate said unpleasantly. “They are going back to jail to await the new trial, which will now include taking up arms against the local constabulary.”

“What about bail?” the Doctor asked. “I know your laws.”

The magistrate looked down his nose at the Doctor. “You couldn’t afford it.”

“You’d be surprised what we can afford,” Rose piped up. The magistrate turned to look at Rose, once more reminded of her presence. Jack winced at the expression on the man’s face.

“If you can manage to raise bail, I will allow the man to be remanded to your custody. However the woman shall remain in confinement. Her crimes are greater.”

“Let me get this straight,” Jack said. “Bringing an unlicensed animal onto the planet is a greater crime than waving a weapon at the police?”

“That is correct when the animal is a Calidesh elephant.”

“Jack, I told you to be still. Where do we go to post bail?” the Doctor said.

“It’s one million frinkles,” the magistrate said.

The Doctor pulled a bag of gemstones out of his pocket and poured them into his hand. “Will these do?”

The man’s expression flitted between sourness and avarice. “Quite nicely,” he said. “Follow me.”

“We need to get her out of there,” Jack said.

“I don’t want to hear it,” the Doctor roared. He was absolutely furious at the idiocy of the man beside him. They were walking back to the TARDIS, the town well behind them. Jack had been arguing with him the whole way about going back to stage a jailbreak.

“We were lucky enough to get you out,” Rose said. “Maybe we can go back for her after dark…” Rose trailed off at the Doctor’s stormy glare. A moment later she spoke up again. “Yeah, only you saw what they were gonna do to her. And no way is that trial going to be fair.”

“I’ll handle it, Rose.”

“And what am I supposed to do? Stay in the TARDIS and keep my nose clean?” she asked.

“If I thought you would…”

“What good is having companions—,” she began.

“I’m beginning to wonder that myself,” he snapped.

“That was uncalled for,” she said, dropping his hand and going to walk on the other side of Jack.

“I didn’t mean you,” he said, but Rose wouldn’t look at him.

“Great. See what you’ve done,” the Doctor griped.

“Think you put your foot in it all by yourself, Doctor.”

“There wouldn’t have been any it to put my foot in without your mess to clean up. And speaking of messes to clean up, you have a huge one. That elephant has made a disaster area of my console room,” the Doctor said.

“How big a mess could it be?” he asked.

“How big a mess? Did you see the size of that thing?”

“About so big?” Jack said holding his hands apart at the size of a large watermelon.

Both Rose and the Doctor looked at him in confusion. “You mean there’re two animals on my ship?” the Doctor demanded.

“No, I only brought on one,” Jack said.

“Well, the one in the console room was as tall as me,” Rose said. “I don’t even know how you got her in there. She’s wider than the doors.”

Jack frowned. “She wasn’t when I took her inside. She fit in the palm of my hand.”

“Wait, she fit in your palm when you brought her in, but she was the size of a watermelon when you left? I’m beginning to see why this creature might be a problem,” the Doctor said. “When did you leave this morning?”

“It’s been about four hours,” Jack said.

“I do not like the sound of that. Let’s get a move on,” the Doctor said breaking into a jog, dreading what he was going to see when they got back to the TARDIS. The others picked up their speed, matching their pace to his.

“What…the…hell?” Rose stared at the shambles of the console room. The cables that had been used to tie the elephant and keep her from wandering the TARDIS had been shredded down to their inside wires.

“Busted clear through,” said the Doctor examining the cables, “like she got too big for them and they just…went.” He gestured helplessly with his hands.

“Can you fix it?” Rose asked doubtfully. If they had to make an escape from this planet, and it was looking like there might be the need for a hasty one coming up, she didn’t want to be stranded here because of a few broken wires.

“Can repair anything, me,” the Doctor said absently. “If I have the parts.”

“You got extra cable?” she wanted to know.

“Think so. I’d have to check the storage room.”

“Well, there’s a day lost right there,” Rose snorted.

“It’s not that cluttered!” protested the Doctor. “Besides, I know where everything is.”

“Didn’t you get lost in there the last time you were searching for a part? Isn’t that why we usually just go parts shopping at bazaars and alien marketplaces?” Rose asked.

“No!” Rose just gave him a knowing look and he shifted uncomfortably. “I may have…misplaced the door for a little bit last time I was in there, but I wasn’t lost.”

“Really, I seem to recall going in there and having to lead you out by the hand. Good thing I had that ball of string. That room really is a labyrinth. It was worth it though, finding you all tucked in on that couch snoozing. Priceless moment, that.”

“I thought you didn’t sleep,” Jack said.

“Oh, he sleeps. He just doesn’t like to admit it. It’s a human weakness. Mr. Impressive here doesn’t want to admit he might have something in common with us less evolved life forms,” she explained. “Plus he was snoring.”

“I don’t snore!”

“Like a girl, too, all cute and delicate sounding,” Rose continued.

“I don’t snore.”

“I think I’ve been by your side enough times while you’ve dozed off to know whether or not you snore, Mr. Superior Time Lord Physiology,” she pointed out.

He narrowed his eyes. “Can’t help it if you like crawling into bed with me at the drop of a hat,” he replied. “I do seem to recall waking up with you cuddled into my side that time I misplaced the door.”

“That was a couch, not a bed—.”

“Doesn’t seem to make a difference—.”

“Didn’t want to wake you,” said Rose talking over him. She was blushing. She did have a hard time resisting his supine and unconscious form, but he didn’t need to know that. “Besides, that big comfy couch you were on looked…big and comfy. Couldn’t resist.”

“You sure it was the couch you couldn’t resist?” he fired back.

“This is all well and good, Rose, Doc, and normally I’d love a discussion about the two of you crawling into bed together, but if you hadn’t noticed, the elephant isn’t actually in the room anymore,” Jack pointed out.

“Yeah, that makes no sense,” Rose says. “If it got big enough to bust the cables, it shouldn’t have been able to go anywhere.”

“Well, clearly it has,” said Jack. He strode quickly to the corridor and looked first one way than the other. “Yeah. Erm…Doc, I think I’m going to be needing a shovel to clean this ship out if you can find one in your junk room with the cables.”

“It’s not a junk room,” began the Doctor, but he stopped as what Jack said caught up with him. “Why?”

“You think the pile of elephant dung is high in here,” was all he said.

Rose popped into the hallway after him. “Earth moving equipment might be a better choice,” Rose said wrinkling her nose up. “We’re never going to get the smell out, are we?” A warning grinding of gears from the TARDIS made it clear in no uncertain terms that they’d better be able to figure out a way. “Come on, Doctor. The…trail leads to the kitchen.”

“How the hell did it get out of here?” asked Jack.

Rose shrugged. “Maybe she’s pliable or stretchy or something.”

“Like most of your girlfriends,” the Doctor added as he followed them towards the kitchen.

“Hey! This isn’t a girlfriend,” said Jack.

“Nope, it was just your other one that got you into trouble because of her,” said Rose.

The sight that met their eyes when they reached the kitchen was almost more than Rose could find words to process with. Every cupboard was opened, the fridge was gaping and empty, and the water in the sink was running. Worse than that there were four small elephants in the middle of the room. Tin cans had been crushed open and the contents sucked free.

They watched in horror as one of the creatures swung itself up and into the sink by its trunk and fell into the water. A moment later it emerged, there was a popping sound and it doubled its size. It greedily rushed back into the fray of tin can smashing and gulped down more food. Another popping sound later and in the place where the one small elephant had stood were four that could fit in the palm of Jack’s hand.

“Oh, no!” said Jack.

“You brought a damn tribble on board,” Rose said. “An elephant sized one, but a tribble nonetheless.”

“Not getting the reference,” Jack said.

“A creature from a sci-fi show. Star Trek,” said Rose. Jack stared at her blankly. “On the telly? You know, moving pictures. I know it’s not your immersive holocube or anything, but surely you must have had programs that were similar."

“Don’t be silly, Rose. These aren’t tribbles. More like gremlins. Tribbles were soft and furry and…” The Doctor trailed off.

“Fictional?” inserted Jack.

“No. Well, yes, but the point is they ate everything in sight and reproduced like bunnies on hormones,” Rose finished for him.

“Marésa did say they were used for clearing land,” Jack said thoughtfully. “And she didn’t want me to feed the first one. Maybe this was why.”

“You think?” snapped the Doctor.

“No wonder they want her dead,” said the Doctor. “This sort of creature could devastate a planet’s ecosystem. I think you and your new girlfriend committed a much greater crime than you thought, Jack. And I don’t think she’s innocent in this. She told you not to feed it—.”

“Unless I had to.”

“Unless you had to. Stupid, by the way. Never feed an alien creature when you know nothing about its physiology.”

“Yeah, I get that. Now,” said Jack.

“All that travelling, you being a Time Agent, and you didn’t know better than this?” asked the Doctor. “Even Rose wouldn’t—.”

“Oi!” She smacked the Doctor on the arm.

“I said you wouldn’t.”

“I know what you were implying,” she said with a half glare in his direction.

His voice softened. “Very good at making implications, me, but that’s not what I meant,” he told her. He turned back to Jack. “You need to start thinking with the right head or I’m putting you off the ship, Captain.”

Jack looked stricken, but nodded in acceptance. Rose sighed. She didn’t like the Doctor’s threat, but at least he wasn’t sending Jack home now. Wherever his home would be without them. He was giving Jack a second chance, just like he’d done for her after her dad and the Reapers. That alone told her that the Doctor was beginning to soften towards Jack and didn’t really want the man to go, even if he didn’t trust him yet any further than he could throw him.

“What are we going to do about Marésa?” Rose asked. “It’s clear she knew what she was doing when she broke the law and brought the animal onto the surface.”

“I don’t think she intended to start the creature’s growth cycle though. I think she just didn’t want to leave it alone on her ship while she did her business on this planet. She acted like it was her pet, not a weapon of mass consumption,” Jack said.

“And what did you intend when you took the animal and agreed to hide it on my TARDIS?” the Doctor asked.

Jack sighed. “Not this.”

“Well, the first thing we need to do is get them away from their food and water source,” Rose said practically. “Is there somewhere big enough to put all these animals that’s also sturdy enough they can’t get out of?”

“I’d suggest the pool room, only that would require draining massive quantities of water. The last thing we need is 1000 elephants tomorrow because they swam in the pool,” Jack said.

“No, I’ve got an empty room that’ll do. The question is, how do we get them there?” the Doctor mused. “I think there’s some rope in storage.”

“Just itching to tie things up again, Doctor?” asked Rose.

The look he gave her made her flush all the way down to her toes. “It’s always a nice option,” he said, “but I meant to make some leads so we can tug them where we want them to go. “Shouldn’t take too long with the three of us working at it. There’s only…” He trailed off as a series of popping noises filled the galley. “I make 32,” he said tightly a moment later. He shot Jack a grimace that told him the man was going to be on probation for a long, long time after this.

“Better get started then,” said Rose with a sigh. “Best show me where you keep that rope. Never know when it might come in handy.” She was pleased to note that his ears had turned pink. She held out her hand to him and he led her off.

“Not mad at me anymore?” he asked looking down at their joined hands. “I didn’t mean anything towards you by what I said, you know. You’re a very, very good companion. The best.”

She stopped him and turned to look in his eyes. “I know,” she said and then with her special tongue between the teeth grin, she squeezed his hand. “Just don’t you forget it.”

She stood up on tiptoe and kissed him on the cheek. He leaned into the kiss and then with only the slightest bit of hesitation she felt his hand on her waist and he was shifting his stance to brush his lips lightly across hers. “I couldn’t if I tried, Rose Tyler.” His voice was far lower than usual and he traced her cheekbone with his thumb and then dropped his hand from her face. He broke away from her quickly after that but he gave her his manic grin. “Wouldn’t even want to.”

“We better find that rope,” she said, trying not to squeak. If for no other reason than to tie up her runaway heart as it pounded with the emotions of that kiss.

Ch. 4: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/282806.html