amberfocus | Leap of Faith: Chapter Twelve

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seduff

Title: Leap of Faith (12/?)
Author:

amberfocus
Characters/Pairings: John Smith (alt!Nine)/Rose Tyler, Toshiko Sato, Jake Simmonds, Mickey Smith, Ianto Jones, Jackie Tyler/Pete Tyler, Tony Tyler, various original characters
Genre: Romance, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe
Rating: Adult
Betas:

amyo67,

jeprdyfrndly
Summary: Hiding from the Family of Blood, the alt!Ninth Doctor turns himself into John Smith via the chameleon arch and with his companion Toshiko Sato, takes a job at Torchwood. He clashes with everyone he meets and Rose Tyler, the beautiful young director of Torchwood Field Operative Training and the daughter of his boss, is no exception. AU after season 2 and based mostly, but not completely, on my short story Third Time's the Charm: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/319447.html, but it is not necessary to have read that.
A/N: It was mentioned once that technology was further ahead in Pete's World than it was in the original universe. I'm going with somewhere between twenty and thirty years ahead.

Previous Chapters: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/327895.html

Chapter Twelve: Out of Context

Taking it easy was not something John Smith was used to being forced to do. He’d had injuries in the past, of course he had, but he didn’t remember them taking so damn long to heal before, not even the scar he’d gotten on his forehead during the Cyber War. He shifted uncomfortably on his lab stool. He supposed it could be worse. It could have been his bum, but the back of his thigh still made sitting uncomfortable. Standing wasn’t much better. Dr. Varley had said he could take a whole week off with pay if he’d wanted to, but he’d felt so bloody useless at home and then there was the fact that Rose hadn’t taken any time off and the only chance he’d have of seeing her was if he went in to work.

They’d spent the entire weekend in the infirmary. Rose had because she’d gotten extremely dizzy the first time she’d been allowed to walk to the loo, and Dr. Varley had wanted to keep an eye on her. He had because he’d admitted to his pain instead of trying to gloss it over so that he could stay in the bed next to Rose for a little while longer. He’d been perfectly able to go be miserable in his own flat with Tosh checking up on him periodically, but he’d had absolutely no inclination to go. He also hadn’t wanted to burden Tosh with his care. She had limited mobility still with her badly bruised ribs.

He’d met Rose’s little brother Tony when he’d come in with Pete Tyler. He’d already met Pete Tyler when he’d been hired, but the younger Tyler was by far the more intimidating. He’d had his mother’s temperament on him, too. The child had barged right up to him and said in a challenging voice, “Who you?” when he’d seen John sitting in a chair next to Rose’s bed reading her a book. His hands had been on his little hips and he looked as if he’d wallop John if he didn’t like the answer that was forthcoming.

Fortunately the little terror had approved of him when Rose had said he was the man who had saved her life. He’d cuddled up against Rose’s side, his head tucked under her chin, and continued to shoot John quizzical looks as if trying to figure him out. The child looked amazingly like Rose. If he hadn’t known the boy belonged to Pete and Jackie he could have sworn it was Rose’s son. She was very good with the toddler and it was obvious there was a deep and loving bond between the siblings. He’d been only a bit jealous at how openly she showed her affection for the child, telling himself that soon enough she’d be more open with him as well. They were just starting after all and he didn’t want to rush with Rose so fast that he blew the small amount of progress they’d made so far.

“John?” Tosh said, invading his slightly brooding thought process. She still said his name so awkwardly, that is when she remembered not to call him Dr. Smith or just the Doctor at all.

“Hmm?” he asked looking up from the tiny little chip he was holding.

“Normally I wouldn’t bother you with this, but I found something peculiar,” Tosh said.

“What?”

Tosh placed a slightly melted looking object onto his work table. “It looks like…well, I think that it’s a mobile,” she said. “Only the design of it…I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“I have. It’s the type they had before ear pods. You would have been oh, four, five years old when these were popular,” he said.

“I don’t recognize the brand name. I did an internet search and as far as I can tell there’s never been a company called Samsung.”

“It sounds…Korean?” he asked more than stated. “Which is impossible.” And of course it was. The entire peninsula of Korea had been wiped out by an earthquake in the 1960’s. There had been no warning. It had simply been destroyed with devastating force and slipped beneath the waters of the sea.

“And the battery pack…” She popped the compartment open.

“That’s archaic,” John said suddenly very intrigued.

“I know. As far as I know mobile phone technology has never used that sort of battery. It was obsolete before we developed the technology for mobile phones. It’s like running across a vacuum tube in a 3-D digital projection unit. It’s impossible,” Tosh said. “I don’t think it’s Earth tech.”

“The phone?”

“No, the battery. That sort of battery simply doesn’t have the power to run something so complicated, yet clearly it did.”

“Have you got it to work?” he asked.

“No. The battery is long dead. I suppose it must have had some sort of recharging unit, but I’ve looked through the entire contents of the bin this was in and haven’t found anything even slightly compatible,” Tosh said.

“Well, maybe I can jury rig something to charge it up and we can see if the contents shed any light on the mystery,” he said. “A bit of jiggery pokery and—.” He popped the rest of the back off the phone completely. “Looks like someone’s already poked and jiggered around in here,” he said in surprise. “Looks a bit otherworldly. Some bizarre feed into the battery. I wonder if it was designed to look like a normal battery pack at first glance, but they somehow got it wrong. Where did you find this?” he asked. “From one of the infiltration bins?”

“No. In the bins you like to avoid,” she admitted. John closed his eyes. She could only mean the remnants from the Cybus Industries mop up.

“What were you doing in there?” he asked in a hard voice.

“Cataloging. Someone has to do it and it’s not going to be you,” she said gently. “I saw it in there and I got curious.”

“Well, get uncurious. Put it back.”

“Doctor.”

“Put it back, Tosh. Cybus is in the past. There’s nothing more we can learn from what happened there,” he said. When she didn’t move to do it he snatched up the phone and stomped into the back of the chamber. He slammed it down into the bin it belonged in and clanged the cover shut. He stood there for a moment breathing hard, trying to get his emotions under control. Nothing good ever came out of investigating Cybus. Nothing ever would.

Jake appeared a few moments later to collect Tosh for in house training for the rest of the day and he was left alone with his bad mood. It was probably for the best. It’d give him a chance to get himself back together again and firmly remove the memories of Cybus that had come rushing back into his head from the forefront of his mind.

Rose sighed and pushed away from her desk. She’d caught up on her paperwork early that morning and with no possibility of going out into the field for a couple of weeks there was nothing that was going to generate more. It was only Tuesday. What was she supposed to do all week? Usually she could find something, but with training out of the question and sparring completely off limits she didn’t know what to do with herself.

She’d spent a half hour bothering Mickey, Jake was busy with Tosh ruling them both out, and anyone else she was marginally friendly with was otherwise occupied with actually working. She supposed she could go down and visit John, but her feelings about him were still wound up so tightly she was a little afraid to let them out and feel them. They’d shared an intense weekend in the infirmary and it had been extremely emotional for her, but she just didn’t know what to do with any of those emotions yet.

She glanced at the clock. Well, she could go out, take a long lunch, and maybe when she came back she could figure out what there was to do for one lonely, bored field operative stuck in a company this huge with nothing to do. She just wished Tosh was available to have lunch with. She had a few things she needed to talk out and she needed a female perspective. That left Tosh or her mother and she was not ready to tell her mother about the new human that looked like the old alien she’d given up everything for once upon a time.

Rose left Torchwood with a slightly annoyed feeling that must have showed on her face because people were quick to step out of her way. It was nice to be outside, get a bit of fresh air and sunshine on her face. It was cold but invigorating and she felt a bit of her irritation beginning to slip away. She walked the six blocks to Iago’s restaurant, but frowned as soon as she entered it. It was ridiculously crowded for a Tuesday. She should have just ordered in.

“I’m sorry, Miss Tyler,” the host told her. “It’s going to be at least a thirty minute wait for a table. I could have the chef prepare your usual for takeaway in far less time.” She considered leaving, but now that she was here and could smell the delicious aromas, she had a huge craving for exactly the food Iago’s could provide and the crowded, noisy ambience that went with it.

“Rose!” She glanced into the dining room at the call and saw John sitting at a small table next to the front windows. He was waving her over to him.

“I’ll just join my friend,” she told the host and he nodded at her then led her to the table she’d pointed at and left her with a menu. “It’s packed in here,” she said.

“The food’s worth it.”

“I didn’t know you ate here,” she said.

“I usually don’t. I order in. They’ll deliver to Torchwood, but I had to get out of there today,” he allowed.

“Me, too,” Rose said. “I’ve got nothing to do and was slowly going out of my mind. You’re lucky you got a table.”

“It was the last one before the rush came in,” he said. “Guess I’ve just got good timing.”

She nodded and opened the menu, double checked the number of the combination she liked best since the numbers on the takeaway menu did not match the numbers on the dine in menu for some reason, and then told the waiter when he returned to take their order a few minutes later.

“If you’re looking for work you can always come down to A&R,” he said. “Jake stole Tosh for the day and I’ve no one to fill in for her. I must warn you, though, I’m a bit grumpy today.”

Rose smiled, “Aren’t you always?” she asked.

“No more so than you,” he replied.

“A little too much truth in that, I think.”

“I’ll be on my best behavior,” he enticed. “Come work with me. I can show you just how brilliant I am.”

Rose laughed. “You think you’re so impressive,” she said, the words flying out of her mouth before she could stop them.

“Well, of course I do,” he said. “That’s because I am.” Rose closed her eyes at his answer. She’d been afraid that he’d respond the same way her Doctor always had and she felt intensely relieved that he hadn’t. When she opened her eyes again he was looking at her with slight concern. “Smartest man on the planet, me,” he told her.

“I’ve met someone smarter,” she parried.

“Prove it,” he said.

“Open a door between parallel universes and I will,” she said her heart in her throat.

“Now Rose Tyler, that’s just impossible, not to mention tremendously irresponsible. Even assuming parallel universes exist travelling between them would eventually become catastrophic. It’d weaken the walls to the point that if you were lucky, realities would simply merge together, and if you weren’t, and it would be far more likely that you wouldn’t be, it would destroy both the world of origin and the one being travelled to,” he said.

“Guess I can’t prove it then,” she said. She said it lightly, but the finality of the impossibility of it all hit her hard for a moment. Not that she’d thought he could actually do it, but she’d seen his files. If anyone on Earth was capable, it would have been him.

“Well, if you’d have to travel to an alternate reality to find a man smarter than me, I’d say there isn’t one,” he told her.

“Course you would,” she said pushing away the heaviness to respond lightheartedly. This was her life now; this man was a part of her future. Time to work on it. “Doesn’t mean there’s not, though.”

“Does too,” he countered and she giggled at the childish tone in his voice.

Rose smiled and laid one hand on top of his. “Not going to convince you otherwise, am I?” she asked.

He looked down at her hand on his with a slightly startled expression. It was clear he wasn’t used to her touching him yet. She’d always been affectionate with her friends and she had thought after their time in the infirmary it would be all right. She started to withdraw her hand, but then he caught it, trapping it beneath his own. “Nope,” he said continuing the conversation she’d almost forgotten they’d been having. “You aren’t going to convince me of anything like that.”

The sudden flare of a bright light coming through the window blinded her. She stared dumbly for a few seconds until her vision came back and turned to glare at the paparazzi who’d snapped her photo from outside the restaurant. He gave her a lurid grin and took a few more before she thought to turn her head away. Hastily the host came over to their table and abruptly put the blinds down, screening them from view.

“I’m sorry, Miss Tyler,” he apologized.

“Not your fault,” she said matter-of-factly. “It’s part of being a Tyler.”

She sighed as the host left them. “That happen often?”

“Not so much these days as it used to. When the lost heiress story originally broke they followed me around for weeks until they realized just how boring I really am. Occasionally there will be a photo that pops up of me and one of the men from the field teams, positing that they are my new beau or something. Mickey and Jake have always taken it in stride, though it pissed off Martin since he was trying to get Rachel in accounting to go out with him at the time and it made her think he was a player. Hate to see what they’ll print this time.”

“Embarrassed to be seen with me?” he asked darkly.

“Hell, no,” she said so firmly that he lost his sudden hostility and broke into a smile so charming that she was forced to smile back in response. “It just might make things hard for us for a while if we want to go do anything together. I can see the caption now: Tyler Heiress on secret tryst with new lover twice her age.”

“I am not twice your age,” he protested, offended.

Rose rolled her eyes. “Five years short of it. They’ll probably say I have daddy issues.”

“I am not your father figure.”

“I don’t want you to be,” she said. “I don’t care about the age thing anyway. With…with him…well, the gap was quite a bit larger than that and I was far younger. Age means nothing to the heart. Anyway, this isn’t that sort of relationship. You and I are just getting to be mates. Our friendship doesn’t need to be blown out of proportion to sell tabloids. I can understand if you don’t want to be around me if it gets to be too much.”

“Nothing could ever be too much for me to stop wanting to be around you,” he said with such sincerity that Rose felt her skin get hot with a blush she was sure was making her face bright crimson. The waiter came then with the food and she was able to pull her hand free of his without making a big production out of it.

As they ate their food, the topic shifted to one that was much safer from her point of view, how he’d chosen his specialty and come to work for Oxford University. They chatted easily and happily for the rest of the meal and when once again their photo was snapped as they walked back to Torchwood together, Rose decided she just didn’t care if the whole world thought she and John were an item. She was just happy that the animosity that had been between them from the start was now gone and she could relax into simply being comfortable, and dare she think it, happy around him.

The photos didn’t hit the tabloids until the Friday morning edition. Rose arrived at work to find someone had lovingly left her a copy of The Sun with the images taken earlier that week smeared across it and the accompanying article circled in red felt tip pen.

Who is the mysterious older man Vitex Princess Rose Tyler is heavily involved with? An anonymous source close to the heiress calls him a work colleague. “It was love at first sight,” claims the source. “Sparks flew the moment they met. Of course they fought it. The age difference alone is ludicrous, but you can’t stop that kind of chemistry.”

Another work colleague had this to say, “John Smith saved her life and she’s been devoted to him ever since. I wouldn’t be surprised to see an announcement forthcoming in the society pages in a month or two.”

Whatever the relationship between the secret child of Pete and Jackie Tyler and the former Oxford professor of Alien Anthropology, you can be sure it’s intense as these photos taken on a quiet lunch date show. “They couldn’t keep their hands off each other,” a fellow diner gushes. “She never looks happy when you see her in photos, but with him she had this sort of radiance. She was glowing. It was obvious she adores the man and if you’d seen the way he was looking at her, you’d wonder how they weren’t spontaneously combusting.” Perhaps the announcement expected won’t be in the society column after all, but nine months from now in a very different section of this paper.

Oh, lovely. They had her either marrying the man or with child by him. They’d never gone so far before. One of these days she was going to find out just who the anonymous sources and work colleagues that liked to make things up and blab were if they even truly existed, and then heaven help them when she did. There was no way there wasn’t going to be fallout from this.

Though the photos taken through the window of Iago’s were kind of grainy, the ones of her and John walking back to Torchwood together were crystal clear. Despite the beard and longer hair, there was no mistaking he looked like the Doctor and her mother was still a voracious reader of the tabloids. There was no way Jackie wouldn’t see this and even less chance she’d let it go without confronting Rose about it. Before she’d even had time to finish the thought her phone rang. She glanced at her watch. Her mother was right on schedule. “Hello?”

“Rose Marion Tyler, when were you going to tell me about the Doctor being back?” her mother practically shrieked through the phone line.

“Mum, calm down, he’s not the Doctor.”

“Oh, don’t be stupid, Rose. He’s the spitting image of the man,” Jackie said.

“I know who he looks like, Mum, but it’s not him. You know that the Doctor regenerated. He couldn’t change back. I asked him. This man might look like the Doctor, but he’s not him,” Rose said.

“So then he’s this universe’s Doctor and if you think I’m going to sit back and watch you disappear into some alternate TARDIS again and leave me thinking you’re dead for another bloody year you have another think coming, Rose,” Jackie growled.

“He’s not the Doctor, Mum. He’s not any version of him. There aren’t Time Lords in this universe. The Doctor was clear on that fact the time we came here together. He would have felt them. He said the Time Lords made sure of it, that they only existed once. This man isn’t a duplicate version. He’s human. He just looks like him,” Rose said.

“Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure. Do you think I wouldn’t look into something like that? I’ve seen his medical file. He has one heart and human DNA. There’s nothing alien about him, so stop panicking right now,” she ordered. “He’s just a man. A man who saved my life. A man you wanted me to bring round to dinner.”

“A man that you’re obviously involved with,” Jackie said.

“Oh, for crying out loud.” Rose rolled her eyes so hard she wasn’t sure her mother couldn’t hear it at the other end. “We’re not like that.”

“You used to say that about the Doctor, too.”

“Only when it was still true. You have nothing to worry about with John Smith. We barely know each other.”

“You were holding hands in that photo.”

“We were not,” Rose said. “It was just a touch of hands, there was no holding involved. And there’s no upcoming marriage or pregnancy announcement. We’ve only just learned to tolerate each other’s company. It’s hardly the romance of the century.”

“Well, I still want to meet him. You bring him by soon, Rose. I don’t like this one bit. The last thing you need is to fall in love with some man who looks like the man you used to love,” Jackie said.

“What? Like you did with Dad?” she shot out.

“That’s different.”

“The hell it is,” Rose said.

“It is. I had twenty years to heal, Rose. And I know you. You were broken by what happened with the Doctor. I’m not sure it’s been long enough for you to even be considering a romance.”

“It’s not a romance! How many times do I have to say it? We’re just friends and barely that. Just because you saw it in The Sun, it doesn’t make it so! There is no freaking Santa Claus,” Rose snapped. “Anyway, I’m twenty-four years old. I’m a bit beyond needing your approval for the men I date.”

“So it was a date!”

“It…Fine. Whatever. It was a date and we’re secretly sneaking off into every single broom cupboard Torchwood has and shagging like bunny rabbits whenever we possibly get the chance. That’s why I’m knocked up and secretly planning a wedding you know nothing about! Now I have to go. I’ve got a tryst planned in five minutes! He said something about shagging upside down in the anti-gravity chamber,” she hollered and slammed down the phone. Immediately it started to ring again. Rose glared at it, got up, and stomped out of her office, the crumpled newspaper clutched in her hand. She didn’t even know where she was going until she emerged from the lift and found herself at the door to A&R desperately needing to talk to someone who would understand.

As she stormed into the chamber she was greeted by John’s charming smile. “Well, well,” he said, “If it isn’t my expectant bride.” There was so much great good humor on his face that Rose’s anger suddenly evaporated.

“You saw it?”

“I saw it. Well, Tosh did and she brought it to my attention. Can’t say you didn’t warn me. I kind of like being the secret lover of the secret love child, or whatever.”

“Bit proud, aren’t you?”

“Hey, I can pull a twenty-four year old according to them. What’s not to be proud of?”

Rose started to giggle at the absurdity of the situation and of life in general. He grinned at her. When she stopped she gasped out, “Thanks for taking it so well. I’m afraid I lost it a bit with my Mum when she saw the article this morning. Told her we were shagging in every broom cupboard in Torchwood. Which I think equals out to like…seventy or something. She knows better than to believe what the tabloids say and yet every time…What?”

“Sorry, you lost me at shagging in seventy different broom cupboards. She does realize I’m in my forties, right?”

Rose snorted. “Don’t think she was thinking that clearly. And oh yeah, she wants me to bring you by for dinner one night soon. Though the invitation was extended before I’d yelled at her that I was indeed secretly knocked up and planning our wedding.” Rose shook her head. “Mothers!” She met his eyes. “You don’t have to. Just because she asked doesn’t mean you have to comply. She wanted to meet you before this story broke, if it makes a difference. To thank you for saving my life.”

“I don’t do mothers, Rose,” he said. “I haven’t even met Tosh’s mother and I’ve known her for ages.”

“Whatever you want is fine with me. Speaking of Tosh, is she around?” she asked.

“She’s in the back somewhere,” he said waving towards the stacks of shelving between them and the far side of the chamber.

Rose headed towards the back of the room and found Tosh at a little table between two large bins. She was hunched over something very small and as Rose angled her head to see what it was she recognized it with a small wave of shock. It was her superphone. The one from the alternate universe. The one she had left with Mickey when she and the Doctor had left him behind here. The one Mickey had lost during the mop up of the Cyber War. The one that had pictures of her life in another universe, the only pictures she had of that world and the only pictures she had of her Doctor.

“Where,” she began and had to start again when Tosh jumped at the intrusion. “Where did you find that?”

“Do you know what this is?” Tosh asked curiously.

“It’s an old mobile,” Rose said carefully.

“That’s what it looks like,” Tosh said, “but this particular combination never existed. At least…not in this reality. It fits a theory I was working on at UNIT. I think this phone is proof of parallel realities. I think it’s proof that the Cybermen didn’t just come from Cybus Industries. I think they came from a whole different world.”

Rose swallowed, not about to tell Tosh that she had it completely backwards, that the Cybermen had indeed come from here and tried to invade another world. Her world. “Have you…have you gotten it to work yet?” she asked carefully.

“No. No way to charge it.”

“You know,” she said casually, “why don’t you give that to me? Mickey’s good with that sort of thing. I bet if anyone could get it working again, he could.”

“Okay, sure.” Tosh handed her the mobile and Rose slipped it into her pocket. “I’m glad you came by. I know we planned weeks ago that we’d be going to the Buffalo Bar tonight but I’m still a little too sore to be doing any dancing. Can we just stay in this weekend?”

“Sure,” Rose said trying to hide her relief at having the mobile phone safely back in her possession. “We can hang out at my flat tonight. See you later.” She started to walk away and then said, “Hey, Tosh?”

“Yeah?”

“It’s okay if you want to bring John along.”

“Oh, it is, is it?” she asked with a slightly teasing glimmer in her eyes.

“Yeah,” she said. “It most definitely is.” Without another word she slipped through the stacks and with a soft good-bye to John went in search of Mickey Smith.

Ch. 13: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/335845.html

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

wiggiemomsi.livejournal.com

FIRST!!!!

From:

juliet316

*gentle eye roll at Wiggie*

BTW, I got the confirmation of your Support Stacie payment. Prompt away whenever your ready.

(no subject)

From:

wiggiemomsi.livejournal.com - Date: 2010-04-09 06:17 am (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

From:

juliet316 - Date: 2010-04-09 06:20 am (UTC) - Expand

From:

juliet316

Very nice chapter. I wonder what would happen if Tosh realized that mobile was actually Rose's old mobile?

So I wonder what will happen at that bar? ;-)

From:

Not Rose-Colored Glasses

Leap of Faith: Chapter Twelve

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