Post Pomp (21/22)

[amberfocus]

A/N:  And in this chapter we find the return of Mickey and...hope!

Chapter Twenty-One:  Two Hundred Sixty Days - Hour Four Onwards

“What the hell was that?” Jack asked his eyes wide in shock as he strode towards the Doctor.

“It’s called a Reaper,” the Doctor said his tone gone so cold, so brittle, that Jack stopped for a moment.

“It took Rose.” Jack knew he was stating the obvious but he couldn’t help it. The Doctor shuddered at his words and then pulled himself together.

“That’s right. It did. That’s its job. When something goes wrong in time, something that wasn’t supposed to happen, the Reapers come.” The Doctor scrubbed his hand though his hair, then down over his face. “They sterilize the gap, cleanse what’s wrong from reality. With Rose’s choice, her choosing you, reality went wrong.”

“Why would choosing me send one of those things after Rose?” Jack asked trying to keep his voice gentle though all he wanted to do was wail at the loss of his love. It was obvious to him the Doctor was teetering on the edge of shock, though.

“It didn’t,” said the Doctor giving Jack a very hard look. “It was after Cassi.”

“Why would it go after Cassi?” Jack sounded surprised.

“Because with Rose choosing you, it altered the time lines. Rose wasn’t supposed to do that. She was supposed to stay with me. But for some reason she didn’t. And because she chose you, it meant Cassi was wrong.” The Doctor set his jaw, waiting for the inevitable as Jack tried to understand what had gone wrong.

“There’s something I’m not understanding. It didn’t take Cassi. It took Rose.” He crossed his arms against his chest, his blue eyes focused intently on the Doctor.

“Yes, it did.”

“And then Cassi just disappeared. The Reaper didn’t take her.”

“What did you expect? Her mother was just killed before she was ever born. No need for the Reaper.”

“Rose was Cassi’s mother?” asked Jack.

“She would have been.”

“She called you Daddy,” Jack said, suddenly understanding what was going on. “She wasn’t just Rose’s daughter. She was your daughter, too. Your daughter with Rose.”

“Give the man a medal,” the Doctor said sarcastically.

“I…I’m sorry, Doctor.” He looked down at his feet. “I didn’t know.  Why didn't you tell me?”

“I told you, Jack Harkness. I told you Rose Tyler was not for you. I told you she was mine. You wouldn’t listen. You had to be stubborn and go after her anyway!” he yelled at the younger man.

“Because I loved her!” Jack shouted back. “I thought you were just being jealous!”

“And now she’s dead. Because you loved her. She’s dead because of you! I hope you can sleep at night, Jack.” He paused. “No. I don’t. I hope you have nightmares about losing Rose for the rest of your life.”

Jack swallowed hard and a single tear rolled down his cheek. “I will,” he said his voice breaking.

“Change it,” said a voice from the doorway.

“What?” The Doctor and Jack whirled around to see Mickey Smith standing in the doorway leaning heavily on crutches. He’d been listening unobserved for awhile. One of the techs had told him what had happened and he’d arrived in time to hear the Doctor’s explanation of what was going on. It had sent his mind racing.

“All this technology, all this ability to travel in time, and the two of you stand there like helpless idiots. Go back and change it,” Mickey said flatly.

“Mickey, it was a Reaper. We can’t go back. It’ll just cleanse the wound again. It might kill all of us,” the Doctor said.

“No,” said Mickey. “Not now. Change then. Go back. Go back to the day you rode off to rescue Madame de Pompadour. And come back that day. Don’t let any of this have happened.”

“We can’t change an established time line, Mickey,” Jack said. “It would just make things worse.”

“I don’t believe that. I don’t believe there’s anything worse than not having Rose in this universe,” Mickey said. “Doctor, I’ve seen what you can do. Impossible isn’t a word that’s ever stopped you before.”

“He can’t,” began Jack.

“Maybe I can,” said the Doctor.

“What? How?” Hope came into Jack’s eyes as determination stole over the Doctor’s face.

“When Cassi found me in France she said that what was happening, my being there so long, was wrong. It wasn’t supposed to have happened that way. It was supposed to have turned out differently.”

“Then you’re not interfering with a properly established time line,” said Jack, excitement starting to tinge his voice. “You’re dealing with one that’s been corrupted somehow!”

“And there’s a chance we can get her back,” the Doctor said.

“She’ll live!” Jack was exultant. “Whatever help you need, Doc, I’ll give it to you.”

“But you won’t get to meet her, Jack. None of this will have happened for you or for her. You won’t remember anything. You won’t meet Rose again for 14 or 15 years. And she won’t love you,” the Doctor said.

Jack swallowed back his emotions hard. “But Rose will live. I’ll give all of that up to keep her safe. I’ll do whatever it takes if it means she’ll live.”

“So what you going to do then?” Mickey asked. “Take the TARDIS back in time?”

“Can’t,” said the Doctor. “It’s already there on the Madame de Pompadour. It would cause a paradox.”

“Well, then the Time Agency units? What about them?” Mickey continued.

“They’re not that precise,” said Jack. “We might not end up when we want and this isn’t something we can afford to miss.”

“There’s got to be a way! Think!” Mickey insisted.

“What about Cassi’s ship? Did it disappear, too?” Jack asked.

“I don’t know,” said the Doctor. “It’s possible it’s still there. But her ship’s damaged. She might not be that precise either without Cassi there to fly her.”

“Then fix it!” ordered Mickey. “If you can keep your own old boat up and running, why not hers?”

“Well,” admitted the Doctor, “Her TARDIS doesn’t like me. Apparently a future me hurt her.”

“Then apologize!” Snapped Mickey. “Tell her it’s for Cassi.”

“I’ll help,” said Jack. “I’m good with my hands. If the ship won’t let you touch it, maybe you can tell me what to do.”

The Doctor nodded. “I’d forgotten,” he said.

“Forgotten what?” Jack asked.

“What a good man you can be when you’re reminded what’s important.”

“Not so bad yourself, Doc.”



It took awhile for them to get through security. The higher ups were still in a twitter about the Reaper having appeared on their ship and finally the Doctor had showed his psychic paper, letting it forge the clearance papers the three of them needed to get through the air lock and back on board the Madame de Pompadour.

It was with complete relief that they saw Cassi’s TARDIS. The Doctor reached out his hand and touched the door. He jerked his hand back as it shocked him. “She knows,” the Doctor said. “She’s angry.”

“Let me try. She likes me. Philia,” said Jack nudging the Doctor to one side, “You have to let us in. It’s for Cassi. And for Rose. We have a chance to save them. Please.”

The doors swung open. From there the Doctor directed Jack on what repairs to make while he mentally pleaded with Philia to forgive him for what he was going to do to her in the future. Finally he felt the ship relent and he was able to help Jack in the repairs, making them go by much more quickly.

The repairs took a long time, nearly a day, but when at last they put the console back together, Philia gave the healthiest sounding hum the Doctor had ever heard from her. “I’ll have to fly her on my own. If either of you come with me, it’ll cause a paradox when I return to Rose.”

“Doctor, you need to know how much I love her. I never would have put her in danger, not knowingly,” Jack said, his hand on the other man’s arm.

“I know that, Jack,” the Doctor said with a wan smile. “You’re too good a man when it’s all said and sorted.”

“And I know now that you never would have either.”

The Doctor nodded at him. “No. Not to my Rose. Not ever.”

“Find her, Doctor. Save her. Love her. And let her know you do.” The Doctor turned and gave Jack a surprising embrace. Even more surprisingly he turned and hugged Mickey.

“Mickey Smith, you are most decidedly not an idiot,” he said fondly.

“Why, Doctor, that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me,” Mickey said astonished.

“Yeah, well, it’s not like you’ll remember any of it anyway. Now out. This is the part I have to do on my own.” He nudged the other two men out of Cassi’s TARDIS, put in the coordinates and pressed the dematerialization circuit.

He was going to see her again. His Rose. She’d still be mad at him, he knew. But he’d do everything in his power to make her forgive him. Because losing Rose forever was not something he ever intended to allow happening again.

18.  http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/44494.html