Andromeda Rising: Chapter Fourteen
Dec. 28th, 2009 07:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
amberfocus
Title: Andromeda Rising
Series: Jack's Path, Compatible with Time Eternal
Author: Amberfocus
Characters/Pairings: Jack Harkness/Andromeda Harper, Ten/Rose Tyler, Cassi Tyler Harper/Daniel Harper, Dare Tyler/Martha Tyler-Jones, Teganna Tyler, Xanderius Tyler, Marsden Tyler-Jones, Devora Tyler-Jones, Rapheal Harper, Gwen Cooper Williams/Owen Harper
Genre: Action/Adventure, Romance, fluff, angst, mild smut
Rating: Adult, R
Beta:
![[info]](https://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
jeprdyfrndlySummary: Andromeda Harper, the granddaughter of the Doctor and Rose, has run away from her family, determined to make her own way in the universe. She and Jack Harkness cross paths and there is no looking back for either of them despite the significant age gap between them. Unknown to either of them, Andromeda has become the target of an Orion Hunter, a prince who will stop at nothing to claim Andromeda as his very own. Set during Jack's two years of missing memories. AU after Doomsday and Torchwood season one.
A/N: Jack discovers Andromeda's heritage. Cassi and Daniel leave New Earth. The Doctor and Rose seek a cure for Cassi from Owen in 2050.
Previous chapters: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/275070.h
Chapter Fourteen: Secrets and Truths
Jack and Andromeda spent three weeks in Sandcastle City, one week of which was spent viewing the various different castles and two weeks of which were spent pretty much in bed. Jack had taught her things she hadn’t even known existed in her heretofore sheltered life, not all of it having to do with sex for they talked a lot during the down times, and the bond between them grew stronger daily.
It was with great reluctance that they decided it was time to leave the city, and leave Terricohn, behind them and travel somewhere else in the universe. Jack had filed a flight plan with the flight authority that allowed them to leave directly from the surface without stopping at the space station first.
Jack brought The Conquered Goddess up from the ocean floor, emerging above the surface of the water. He kept his ship in line with the underwater cables as he shed the excess water. Flying along cables was an old habit he’d picked up in the Time Agency. Being on or near cables or metal fencing of any kind make a transponder signal appear to be coming from the entire length of it, rather than the ship itself. It was a clever masking device, one taught in basic training.
He wondered momentarily why he’d bothered with it while on leave, but he was cautious by nature, or perhaps paranoid, when it came to being followed and after that last incident with the slavers, his instinct had won out. When the hull of his ship was free of water the computer signaled him and he began to rise up and head for his launch window.
It took some time to gain altitude and while he did so he explained everything he was doing to Andromeda so she would be able to take over the controls in a pinch if something ever happened to him. It wasn’t exactly a simple process, but the girl picked it up quite easily. He was impressed, though she had grown up on a ship, so he imagined a lot of what he told her had already been drilled into her head long ago.
When they finally broke orbit and headed out into space again Jack programmed their first hyperspace jump into the computer. Just before he hit the button to start the hyperdrive Andromeda looked up from the navigation screen.
“Jack, there’s a ship coming up behind us awfully fast,” she told him.
Jack glanced at the screen, frowning. “They’re running dirty. They can’t be from Terricohn.”
Andromeda typed a query into the computer. “Trajectory indicates they came from the space station and--,” she stopped, interrupting herself. “Jack, they’re firing on us!”
Something rocked the hull as Jack slapped down on the hyperdrive button and the ship blinked into hyperspace. “What’s going on, Jack?” she asked. “Why would someone go after us like that?”
“I don’t know,” Jack said grimly. And he didn’t know. But he could guess. His fingers moved busily over the keyboard in front of them. “The ship is the Alecto,” he said when the information came up on his screen. “It’s a light ship registered out of Danzibar. A rental.”
“Danzibar,” said Andromeda. “But that’s where the cruise was scheduled to dock.”
“I think someone’s following me,” he said.
“Someone’s following you? Why would someone be following you?” Andromeda asked him.
“Because of my job,” Jack admitted.
“Just what exactly is your job?” she asked him. “I know what you said, but I don’t think you’re being exactly honest about it.”
“I’m not supposed to be, Andromeda. My line of work does a lot of top secret activities for the galactic government. I’ve been sworn to secrecy about almost every aspect of what I do,” he told her.
“Well, someone must know what you do if they’re after you,” she said. “Whatever your cover is, I think it’s been blown.”
“I’m not undercover now,” he said. “I’m on sabbatical. My last assignment was…bad. They’ve given me a lot of time to recover. No one’s supposed to know where I am. I’ve taken so much care to cover my tracks.”
“Just how dangerous is what you do?” Andromeda asked, suddenly wondering just what she had gotten herself into by running off with this man.
“I will keep you safe,” he said emphatically. “I promise you that. I will always keep you safe, no matter what danger comes to us, from my job or any other source. Okay? I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“I didn’t expect that you would,” Andromeda said. “Did whatever hit us cause any damage to the ship?”
“The sensor readout is just there to the right. No, one panel over. Yeah, right there. The blue button will tell you the condition of the hull,” Jack told her.
“It says there’s a Teriptilon device attached to the hull,” she told him.
Jack swore angrily and Andromeda turned surprised eyes on him. “I take it that’s bad.”
“Bad doesn’t even describe it. It means whoever is in that ship has latched on to ours. Normally a light ship can’t go through hyperspace. It doesn’t have a hyperdrive. But the Teriptilon device can connect a hypership to a light ship. We’re towing them through hyperspace. Wherever we come out they’ll be there,” Jack said. “Hopefully it’s just someone who wanted to snag a lift. But usually they’d ask. These people didn’t. Which makes me believe they’re following us and up to no good.”
“Can you shake them off?” Andromeda asked.
Jack was quiet for a long time. “Maybe,” he said. “But…look, Andromeda, I’d have to use some highly specialized equipment to do it. And I’m not supposed to use it in front of civilians.”
Andromeda ran her eyes over the controls before her, focusing on the highest panel just beyond her reach. She leaned forward, her fingers hovering over the buttons there. “You mean this, don’t you?” she said. “The only way to shake them off is to do a time jump.”
“What? What are you talking about?” Jack said, trying hard to keep himself calm but it suddenly felt like his heart was beating in his throat. How did she know what that panel did?
“I’m talking about the fact that this ship has been fully modified to travel in the Time Vortex,” she said. “I recognize a quantum reality manipulator system when I see one, Jack. It’s simple but I imagine it’s quite effective.”
“Simple?” he repeated, forgetting to feign no knowledge of what she was talking about. “I’ll have you know that that’s state of the art technology.”
“Oh, I suppose it is for 51st century humans,” she said casually. “My grandfather would have a good laugh if he saw it though.”
“Your grandfather? Why would your grandfather laugh at this?”
“He’d find it simplistic and archaic,” she said. “A child’s toy.”
“Compared to what?”
“Compared to his ship, because his set-up is complicated. Now Mum’s is much more stream-lined, but then it’s a younger model.”
“Are you saying your grandfather has a time machine? And that your mother does, too?” Jack asked in disbelief.
“Yes.” She gave a little shrug. “And two uncles, an aunt, and a cousin.”
“How did he get a hold of the technology?” Jack asked. “It’s not like my people leave it just lying around.”
“He didn’t get a hold of it. His people invented it long ago. Long before humans ever figured it out,” Andromeda said.
“What species did you say your grandfather was?” Jack asked.
“I didn’t. He’s Gallifreyan. He’s a Time Lord.”
“But that’s just a legend,” Jack protested.
“All legends start with a truth,” Andromeda said.
“What are you, Andromeda?” Jack asked her, trying to keep his shock under control.
She smiled at him. “That’s an easy one, Jack. I’m yours.” He opened and shut his mouth a few times. “Are you going to be able to deal with this?” she finally said.
“I…don’t know,” he said. “You’re telling me you’re…you’re a Time Lady?”
“I am. Well, a human/Gaillifreyan hybrid really, but the Gallifreyan DNA dominates. I thought it’d make it easier if I told you. You’ve been trying to keep everything a secret and really, Jack, I know what you have to be, even if you can’t confirm it. And that’s okay with me,” she told him. “Hopefully you can deal with what I am.” She tried to keep any trace of fear out of her voice that he might not be able to accept this part of her. But he saw it anyway as it flashed quickly through her eyes.
“I’ll find a way,” he said, swallowing back his doubt and uncertainty. “I’m not losing you.” That much was the truth. He couldn’t lose her. She was too much a part of him already, firing through his veins, in the air he breathed, as necessary to him as food and water. “But I am going to lose our tail. When I tell you, press the orange button.”
“Okay,” she said.
“And hold on. This is going to hurt.” Andromeda grasped a side bar with one hand, leaning forward to let her other hand hover over the orange button Jack had indicated. Abruptly they dropped out of hyperspace and Jack said, “Now!”
Andromeda brought her hand down on the orange button and Jack’s ship phased out of space and into the Time Vortex. The snap of the device breaking off the hull resonated violently through the ship. The reverberation from travelling through the vortex with crude technology made Andromeda sick to her stomach and made her nerves jolt unpleasantly. When they emerged she swallowed harshly to force the queasiness back down.
“When are we?” she asked him.
“21st century,” Jack said. “2002.
“And where are we?”
Jack gave her a grin. “The planet Earth,” he said.
“What happened?” Acheron snapped.
“I don’t know. They were towing us along and the next minute they jumped out of hyperspace and then disappeared,” said Arctophonus.
“Shouldn’t they have towed us right back in with them when they went back into hyperspace?” Acheron demanded.
“If they’d gone back in to hyperspace,” said Lycoctonus, “Then yes. But they didn’t. There’s no jump signature. And we’ve lost their transponder signal again.”
“Well, find it. It’s got to be coming in from somewhere no matter how weak it is,” Acheron said.
“That’s just the thing. It’s not. It’s like their whole ship suddenly ceased to exist.”
“That’s impossible.”
“It’s possible they got sucked into a temporary wormhole,” said Dromis.
“If they did, there’d be no way of tracing them. They could have ended up anywhere in the universe or nowhere at all,” Cisseta said.
“Are you telling me our prey has won the hunt?” demanded Acheron.
No one was willing to answer his question.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Rose asked the Doctor as they stood on the front porch of the retired Torchwood doctor Owen Harper. “Daniel won’t like it if he finds out.”
“Owen will help us. His mind is still as sharp as it ever was,” the Doctor said. “He’d do anything to make things right again with his son. Finding a cure for Cassi is a good start to that.”
Suddenly the door opened. “Are you going to stand there all day debating on whether or not to come in?”
“Hello, Gwen,” said Rose. “How have you been?”
“Most days are good,” Gwen Harper said with a smile. “You know, Owen. He can be a bit of a chore to live with sometimes. But he’s got a good heart and that makes the difficult times worthwhile.” She stood back. “Well, come on with you, then. He’s in his study.”
They followed the grey-haired woman through the house. Gwen knocked lightly on the door before opening it. “They’re here,” she announced.
“I was wondering when you’d show up,” said Owen. He stood up from his desk and walked over to a little refrigerator. “I have the cure for Cassi right here.”
“What? But how did you know?” asked Rose.
“Do you remember the summer Cassi worked at Torchwood? The year she met Daniel?” Owen asked.
“Yes,” said the Doctor.
“Shortly after you left her the pair of you showed up again. Well, a different pair of you. In fact, Rose was wearing the same clothes today as she was wearing that day so I imagine you go there next to talk to me. Anyway, you gave me a sample of the virus to work with and told me to try to find a cure. It’s taken me forty years but I finally found it a week ago,” Owen said. “Dilute one ml to a concentration of ten percent. She’ll need a series of twelve shots two days apart. It’ll have to wait until after the twins are born, though. And she can’t nurse while going through the regimen.
“Oh, that’s wonderful,” said Rose, reaching up and planting a kiss on Owen’s cheek. “Thank you. Wait a minute. Cassi’s having twins?”
“Yes. I always did like your eldest daughter. Never does anything the easy way. I hope she’ll recover quickly,” he said. “And don’t tell Daniel where you got the cure. He’ll just be angry you involved me at all.”
“Owen,” said Gwen. “He won’t. He’ll view it as an olive branch.”
“Gwen, I’ve made my peace with the fact that Daniel’s never going to be in my life again. I don’t need credit for this. It’s enough to know that I’m helping to save his wife. I can give him that. He doesn’t need anything else from me,” Owen said. “Now get on with you. You need to go to Torchwood on August 31, 2010. And Rose? I’m sorry.”
“Sorry for what?” she asked, startled.
“For being a git.”
“You aren’t--.”
“Not now, but so many times in the past. Just, I’m sorry.”
“Okay,” she said.
Owen and Gwen walked them out, Gwen leaning back against her husband, his arms encircling her as they watched the Doctor and Rose walk towards the TARDIS. “He might come around,” Gwen said.
“I’m okay with it,” Owen said. “I’ve got you now. As long as I have that I’m fine.
“I hope I never have to go through that again in my life,” Cassi said as she entered the familiar warmth of her TARDIS. She stroked the console gently. “Hello, Philia.” Her TARDIS hummed at her in welcome. Cassi quickly sent the ship into the Vortex.
“Those cat nuns drove me crazy. And there has to be something shady going on there. Not to mention that was without a doubt the most painful thing I’ve gone through. I can’t believe anything could hurt worse than Raphael’s birth did. But the babies are safe. Now if you and Dad can come up with a cure for me…” Cassi swallowed down the sudden lump that had formed in her throat.
“Shh, Cass,” Daniel said turning her towards him and pulling her into his arms. “We’ll find a way. There’s got to be a way. I won’t let this hurt you anymore than it has. We’ll survive it like we have everything else. Together.”
“I wish I could be so sure, Danny. I’m…I’m scared,” she said into his shoulder.
He ran his hand down her back soothingly. It took a lot for Cassi to admit she was afraid of anything. “I’m so afraid I’ll have to regenerate and if I do…”
“Cassiopeia Andrea Tyler Harper you will still love me even if you do regenerate. So just get that fear right out of your head,” he told her. “We are beyond something breaking us. We’ve been through too much. I don’t care what the likelihood is. Your feelings will transfer over. Just like your father’s did for Rose when he changed.”
“We can’t know that.”
“I do. I know it.”
“How can you believe it so strongly?” Cassi asked.
“Because, it’s you and me, Cass. We were meant to be. You know that. And nothing has ever been able to stop us loving each other. Not your Dad and not mine, either. A new face and a new personality are nothing compared to what we have. Don’t worry so much,” he said.
“I can’t help it.”
“Then I guess I’ll just have to distract you,” he said, his hands moving to her waist and pushing her back just enough that he could bend down and kiss her.
When he let up Cassi said, “I think I’m going to need a bit more distraction than that.”
“Oh, yeah? What did you have in mind?” he asked. She pulled his head down and whispered in his ear. “Oh, really?” he said.
“Really,” she told him.
“Right then.” He reached down and swept her up into his arms and carried her through the console room, down the corridor and into their bedroom.
Ch. 15: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/444532.html
It was with great reluctance that they decided it was time to leave the city, and leave Terricohn, behind them and travel somewhere else in the universe. Jack had filed a flight plan with the flight authority that allowed them to leave directly from the surface without stopping at the space station first.
Jack brought The Conquered Goddess up from the ocean floor, emerging above the surface of the water. He kept his ship in line with the underwater cables as he shed the excess water. Flying along cables was an old habit he’d picked up in the Time Agency. Being on or near cables or metal fencing of any kind make a transponder signal appear to be coming from the entire length of it, rather than the ship itself. It was a clever masking device, one taught in basic training.
He wondered momentarily why he’d bothered with it while on leave, but he was cautious by nature, or perhaps paranoid, when it came to being followed and after that last incident with the slavers, his instinct had won out. When the hull of his ship was free of water the computer signaled him and he began to rise up and head for his launch window.
It took some time to gain altitude and while he did so he explained everything he was doing to Andromeda so she would be able to take over the controls in a pinch if something ever happened to him. It wasn’t exactly a simple process, but the girl picked it up quite easily. He was impressed, though she had grown up on a ship, so he imagined a lot of what he told her had already been drilled into her head long ago.
When they finally broke orbit and headed out into space again Jack programmed their first hyperspace jump into the computer. Just before he hit the button to start the hyperdrive Andromeda looked up from the navigation screen.
“Jack, there’s a ship coming up behind us awfully fast,” she told him.
Jack glanced at the screen, frowning. “They’re running dirty. They can’t be from Terricohn.”
Andromeda typed a query into the computer. “Trajectory indicates they came from the space station and--,” she stopped, interrupting herself. “Jack, they’re firing on us!”
Something rocked the hull as Jack slapped down on the hyperdrive button and the ship blinked into hyperspace. “What’s going on, Jack?” she asked. “Why would someone go after us like that?”
“I don’t know,” Jack said grimly. And he didn’t know. But he could guess. His fingers moved busily over the keyboard in front of them. “The ship is the Alecto,” he said when the information came up on his screen. “It’s a light ship registered out of Danzibar. A rental.”
“Danzibar,” said Andromeda. “But that’s where the cruise was scheduled to dock.”
“I think someone’s following me,” he said.
“Someone’s following you? Why would someone be following you?” Andromeda asked him.
“Because of my job,” Jack admitted.
“Just what exactly is your job?” she asked him. “I know what you said, but I don’t think you’re being exactly honest about it.”
“I’m not supposed to be, Andromeda. My line of work does a lot of top secret activities for the galactic government. I’ve been sworn to secrecy about almost every aspect of what I do,” he told her.
“Well, someone must know what you do if they’re after you,” she said. “Whatever your cover is, I think it’s been blown.”
“I’m not undercover now,” he said. “I’m on sabbatical. My last assignment was…bad. They’ve given me a lot of time to recover. No one’s supposed to know where I am. I’ve taken so much care to cover my tracks.”
“Just how dangerous is what you do?” Andromeda asked, suddenly wondering just what she had gotten herself into by running off with this man.
“I will keep you safe,” he said emphatically. “I promise you that. I will always keep you safe, no matter what danger comes to us, from my job or any other source. Okay? I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“I didn’t expect that you would,” Andromeda said. “Did whatever hit us cause any damage to the ship?”
“The sensor readout is just there to the right. No, one panel over. Yeah, right there. The blue button will tell you the condition of the hull,” Jack told her.
“It says there’s a Teriptilon device attached to the hull,” she told him.
Jack swore angrily and Andromeda turned surprised eyes on him. “I take it that’s bad.”
“Bad doesn’t even describe it. It means whoever is in that ship has latched on to ours. Normally a light ship can’t go through hyperspace. It doesn’t have a hyperdrive. But the Teriptilon device can connect a hypership to a light ship. We’re towing them through hyperspace. Wherever we come out they’ll be there,” Jack said. “Hopefully it’s just someone who wanted to snag a lift. But usually they’d ask. These people didn’t. Which makes me believe they’re following us and up to no good.”
“Can you shake them off?” Andromeda asked.
Jack was quiet for a long time. “Maybe,” he said. “But…look, Andromeda, I’d have to use some highly specialized equipment to do it. And I’m not supposed to use it in front of civilians.”
Andromeda ran her eyes over the controls before her, focusing on the highest panel just beyond her reach. She leaned forward, her fingers hovering over the buttons there. “You mean this, don’t you?” she said. “The only way to shake them off is to do a time jump.”
“What? What are you talking about?” Jack said, trying hard to keep himself calm but it suddenly felt like his heart was beating in his throat. How did she know what that panel did?
“I’m talking about the fact that this ship has been fully modified to travel in the Time Vortex,” she said. “I recognize a quantum reality manipulator system when I see one, Jack. It’s simple but I imagine it’s quite effective.”
“Simple?” he repeated, forgetting to feign no knowledge of what she was talking about. “I’ll have you know that that’s state of the art technology.”
“Oh, I suppose it is for 51st century humans,” she said casually. “My grandfather would have a good laugh if he saw it though.”
“Your grandfather? Why would your grandfather laugh at this?”
“He’d find it simplistic and archaic,” she said. “A child’s toy.”
“Compared to what?”
“Compared to his ship, because his set-up is complicated. Now Mum’s is much more stream-lined, but then it’s a younger model.”
“Are you saying your grandfather has a time machine? And that your mother does, too?” Jack asked in disbelief.
“Yes.” She gave a little shrug. “And two uncles, an aunt, and a cousin.”
“How did he get a hold of the technology?” Jack asked. “It’s not like my people leave it just lying around.”
“He didn’t get a hold of it. His people invented it long ago. Long before humans ever figured it out,” Andromeda said.
“What species did you say your grandfather was?” Jack asked.
“I didn’t. He’s Gallifreyan. He’s a Time Lord.”
“But that’s just a legend,” Jack protested.
“All legends start with a truth,” Andromeda said.
“What are you, Andromeda?” Jack asked her, trying to keep his shock under control.
She smiled at him. “That’s an easy one, Jack. I’m yours.” He opened and shut his mouth a few times. “Are you going to be able to deal with this?” she finally said.
“I…don’t know,” he said. “You’re telling me you’re…you’re a Time Lady?”
“I am. Well, a human/Gaillifreyan hybrid really, but the Gallifreyan DNA dominates. I thought it’d make it easier if I told you. You’ve been trying to keep everything a secret and really, Jack, I know what you have to be, even if you can’t confirm it. And that’s okay with me,” she told him. “Hopefully you can deal with what I am.” She tried to keep any trace of fear out of her voice that he might not be able to accept this part of her. But he saw it anyway as it flashed quickly through her eyes.
“I’ll find a way,” he said, swallowing back his doubt and uncertainty. “I’m not losing you.” That much was the truth. He couldn’t lose her. She was too much a part of him already, firing through his veins, in the air he breathed, as necessary to him as food and water. “But I am going to lose our tail. When I tell you, press the orange button.”
“Okay,” she said.
“And hold on. This is going to hurt.” Andromeda grasped a side bar with one hand, leaning forward to let her other hand hover over the orange button Jack had indicated. Abruptly they dropped out of hyperspace and Jack said, “Now!”
Andromeda brought her hand down on the orange button and Jack’s ship phased out of space and into the Time Vortex. The snap of the device breaking off the hull resonated violently through the ship. The reverberation from travelling through the vortex with crude technology made Andromeda sick to her stomach and made her nerves jolt unpleasantly. When they emerged she swallowed harshly to force the queasiness back down.
“When are we?” she asked him.
“21st century,” Jack said. “2002.
“And where are we?”
Jack gave her a grin. “The planet Earth,” he said.
“What happened?” Acheron snapped.
“I don’t know. They were towing us along and the next minute they jumped out of hyperspace and then disappeared,” said Arctophonus.
“Shouldn’t they have towed us right back in with them when they went back into hyperspace?” Acheron demanded.
“If they’d gone back in to hyperspace,” said Lycoctonus, “Then yes. But they didn’t. There’s no jump signature. And we’ve lost their transponder signal again.”
“Well, find it. It’s got to be coming in from somewhere no matter how weak it is,” Acheron said.
“That’s just the thing. It’s not. It’s like their whole ship suddenly ceased to exist.”
“That’s impossible.”
“It’s possible they got sucked into a temporary wormhole,” said Dromis.
“If they did, there’d be no way of tracing them. They could have ended up anywhere in the universe or nowhere at all,” Cisseta said.
“Are you telling me our prey has won the hunt?” demanded Acheron.
No one was willing to answer his question.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Rose asked the Doctor as they stood on the front porch of the retired Torchwood doctor Owen Harper. “Daniel won’t like it if he finds out.”
“Owen will help us. His mind is still as sharp as it ever was,” the Doctor said. “He’d do anything to make things right again with his son. Finding a cure for Cassi is a good start to that.”
Suddenly the door opened. “Are you going to stand there all day debating on whether or not to come in?”
“Hello, Gwen,” said Rose. “How have you been?”
“Most days are good,” Gwen Harper said with a smile. “You know, Owen. He can be a bit of a chore to live with sometimes. But he’s got a good heart and that makes the difficult times worthwhile.” She stood back. “Well, come on with you, then. He’s in his study.”
They followed the grey-haired woman through the house. Gwen knocked lightly on the door before opening it. “They’re here,” she announced.
“I was wondering when you’d show up,” said Owen. He stood up from his desk and walked over to a little refrigerator. “I have the cure for Cassi right here.”
“What? But how did you know?” asked Rose.
“Do you remember the summer Cassi worked at Torchwood? The year she met Daniel?” Owen asked.
“Yes,” said the Doctor.
“Shortly after you left her the pair of you showed up again. Well, a different pair of you. In fact, Rose was wearing the same clothes today as she was wearing that day so I imagine you go there next to talk to me. Anyway, you gave me a sample of the virus to work with and told me to try to find a cure. It’s taken me forty years but I finally found it a week ago,” Owen said. “Dilute one ml to a concentration of ten percent. She’ll need a series of twelve shots two days apart. It’ll have to wait until after the twins are born, though. And she can’t nurse while going through the regimen.
“Oh, that’s wonderful,” said Rose, reaching up and planting a kiss on Owen’s cheek. “Thank you. Wait a minute. Cassi’s having twins?”
“Yes. I always did like your eldest daughter. Never does anything the easy way. I hope she’ll recover quickly,” he said. “And don’t tell Daniel where you got the cure. He’ll just be angry you involved me at all.”
“Owen,” said Gwen. “He won’t. He’ll view it as an olive branch.”
“Gwen, I’ve made my peace with the fact that Daniel’s never going to be in my life again. I don’t need credit for this. It’s enough to know that I’m helping to save his wife. I can give him that. He doesn’t need anything else from me,” Owen said. “Now get on with you. You need to go to Torchwood on August 31, 2010. And Rose? I’m sorry.”
“Sorry for what?” she asked, startled.
“For being a git.”
“You aren’t--.”
“Not now, but so many times in the past. Just, I’m sorry.”
“Okay,” she said.
Owen and Gwen walked them out, Gwen leaning back against her husband, his arms encircling her as they watched the Doctor and Rose walk towards the TARDIS. “He might come around,” Gwen said.
“I’m okay with it,” Owen said. “I’ve got you now. As long as I have that I’m fine.
“I hope I never have to go through that again in my life,” Cassi said as she entered the familiar warmth of her TARDIS. She stroked the console gently. “Hello, Philia.” Her TARDIS hummed at her in welcome. Cassi quickly sent the ship into the Vortex.
“Those cat nuns drove me crazy. And there has to be something shady going on there. Not to mention that was without a doubt the most painful thing I’ve gone through. I can’t believe anything could hurt worse than Raphael’s birth did. But the babies are safe. Now if you and Dad can come up with a cure for me…” Cassi swallowed down the sudden lump that had formed in her throat.
“Shh, Cass,” Daniel said turning her towards him and pulling her into his arms. “We’ll find a way. There’s got to be a way. I won’t let this hurt you anymore than it has. We’ll survive it like we have everything else. Together.”
“I wish I could be so sure, Danny. I’m…I’m scared,” she said into his shoulder.
He ran his hand down her back soothingly. It took a lot for Cassi to admit she was afraid of anything. “I’m so afraid I’ll have to regenerate and if I do…”
“Cassiopeia Andrea Tyler Harper you will still love me even if you do regenerate. So just get that fear right out of your head,” he told her. “We are beyond something breaking us. We’ve been through too much. I don’t care what the likelihood is. Your feelings will transfer over. Just like your father’s did for Rose when he changed.”
“We can’t know that.”
“I do. I know it.”
“How can you believe it so strongly?” Cassi asked.
“Because, it’s you and me, Cass. We were meant to be. You know that. And nothing has ever been able to stop us loving each other. Not your Dad and not mine, either. A new face and a new personality are nothing compared to what we have. Don’t worry so much,” he said.
“I can’t help it.”
“Then I guess I’ll just have to distract you,” he said, his hands moving to her waist and pushing her back just enough that he could bend down and kiss her.
When he let up Cassi said, “I think I’m going to need a bit more distraction than that.”
“Oh, yeah? What did you have in mind?” he asked. She pulled his head down and whispered in his ear. “Oh, really?” he said.
“Really,” she told him.
“Right then.” He reached down and swept her up into his arms and carried her through the console room, down the corridor and into their bedroom.
Ch. 15: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/444532.html
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Date: 2009-12-29 04:30 am (UTC)Can't wait to see where this is going...
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Date: 2009-12-29 03:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-29 05:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-29 03:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-29 07:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-29 03:03 pm (UTC)Squueeee!
Date: 2009-12-29 08:26 am (UTC)Re: Squueeee!
Date: 2009-12-29 03:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-29 10:48 am (UTC)*Wanders over to the master fic list and starts a new story*
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Date: 2009-12-29 03:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-29 07:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-30 04:53 am (UTC)