A Chiswick Christmas Carol 5/8
A/N: *pokes head out* Hi everyone! Remember this? I'm sorry it's taken so long for me to update... but RL you know... Anyways... hope you enjoy! This is my b-day present to all of you. Sorry again!
Since it was Christmas Eve, a holiday for most people, there was no one at the reception desk at the H C Clements building. This made it helpfully easy for the four of them to get inside and then go up in the lift to the floor where Donna worked.
Lance had been nice enough to drive the three of them to the building without much of a protest, although that could’ve been because he was too confused and taken aback by the situation he’d found himself in on what was supposed to be his wedding day. It wasn’t everyday your fiancé was kidnapped from your wedding by alien Santa’s and then had exploding ornaments dive bombing you. But he seemed to take it fairly well, even if that seemed to mostly be Donna’s doing.
As soon as the lift dinged and the doors opened, the Doctor rushed out and over to the nearest computer.
“This might just be a locksmiths,” he began as Rose came over to stand next to him, “but H C Clements was brought up twenty years ago by the Torchwood Institute.”
Donna, who had stopped to stand at the desk opposite, stared confusedly at him. “Who are they?”
“They were the ones behind the battle of Canary Wharf,” Rose replied from thickly as she watched the Doctor as he fiddled with the computer.
Instead of replying, Donna just stared blankly at them.
“… Cyberman invasion?” The Doctor tried, pausing in his fiddling to look up at her.
Donna’s eyebrows raised a little, but she continued to look confused.
Rose tried again, a little surprised that Donna didn’t seem to know what they were talking about. How could she have missed the Cybermen? “Skies over London full of Daleks?”
That seemed to click finally because Donna’s mouth formed a little “o” and she nodded. But then that hope was dashed when she said, “Oh, I was in Spain.”
The Doctor and Rose turned to look at each other then, and Rose mouthed “Spain?” at him. He just shook his head and informed her as firmly as he could, “They had Cybermen in Spain.”
“Scuba diving,” Donna enlightened him, crossing her arms as if daring him to say anything else.
Rose had a sudden urge to bang her head against something hard again. Donna had missed the Cyberman invasion, and the Daleks, because she had been scuba-diving in Spain? What kind of world was this?
The Doctor just shook his head, flashing Rose a skeptical look, and then said, “That big picture, Donna-you keep missing it.”
Before Donna could reply, he darted over to another computer and began fiddling with it. “Torchwood was destroyed, but H C Clements stayed in business. I think…” He paused as he typed something on the keyboard, and then started up again when Rose nudged him to get his attention again. “Huh?” He looked at her cluelessly until she jerked her head in Donna’s direction, and indicated talking with her hand. “Oh, right, sorry. I think someone else came in and took over-“ with an annoyed noise, he whacked the top of the monitor with his hand, “the operation.”
Donna shook her head, and moved over so she was on his other side from Rose. “But what do they want with me?” She asked frustrated, saying it loudly in his ear so he’d be sure to hear her.
He straightened and turned to her, finally giving her his full attention again. “First of all, my hearing’s just fine thanks so there’s no need to yell. Second, somehow you’ve been dosed with Huon energy. And that's a problem because Huon energy hasn't existed since the Dark Times. The only place you'd find a Huon particle now is a remnant in the heart of the TARDIS. See? That's what happened.”
When Donna just looked even more confused, and a bit worried, he turned to Rose, hoping she’d understood. But Rose looked confused as well, although it was a kind of resigned confusion. With a sigh, the Doctor swept a hurried gaze around the workstation they were at for a way to explain it to them. Finally his eyes alighted on a nearby mug, and a group of pencils. He picked up the mug and held it up for them.
“Say… that’s the TARDIS,” next he held up one of the pencils, “and that’s you, Donna. The particles inside you activated, the two sets of particles magnetized and… WHAP!” With that efficient sound effect, he threw the pencil into the mug. “You were pulled inside the TARDIS.”
“She’s a pencil inside a mug? That’s how she got inside the TARDIS?” Rose asked skeptically. At least this second explanation had been easier to understand, but he had set a new record for improvised props.
Donna, meanwhile, was staring at the pencil inside the mug he was still holding. “I’m a pencil inside a mug?” She asked him weakly.
“Yes, yes you are,” The Doctor reassured her, spinning the pencil around the mug. “4H. Sums you up.” He roughly set the mug and the pencil back down on the desk and moved on to interrogating Lance.
Rose moved over to lightly rest her hands on Donna’s shoulders. “You shouldn’t worry, Donna. ‘M sure it’s not bad as all that, he was just exaggerating. He does that sometimes. You’ll be fine, promise.”
Donna shook her head and raised her hands to scrub her face. “I dunno, Rose. Even if I’m a pencil inside a mug it still didn’t sound very good. Told me what I’d done was impossible before.”
Rose had to laugh at that. “He says it’s impossible, but most times he’s wrong. Said it was impossible for us to be together, yet,” she shrugged, smiling at the other woman, “here I am.”
“What do you mean?” Donna asked confused.
Rose’s smile faded away as she shifted uncomfortably. “Well, I nearly got trapped in another universe cause of Canary Wharf. But the Doctor came for me after a while, and we came back here and started traveling again. That was just before we met you actually.” Rose smiled at Donna again, and gently squeezed her shoulder. “So, don’t believe him when he says ‘impossible’.”
Donna nodded weakly, “I’ll try, Rose.” She glanced over to see the Doctor talking rapidly to her increasingly annoyed looking fiancé. “Your Doctor better not be roughing up my fiancé,” Donna warned Rose.
Rose turned in that direction as well, and then sighed when she saw what Donna meant. “Oh, really…”
She walked over to where the Doctor was firing questions at Lance while he attempted to find what he was looking for on yet another computer, and looped her arm through his. “Find anything yet?” She asked as the Doctor focused his attention on the computer.
He shook his head, and straightened slightly to rummage through his pockets with his free hand. “Not yet, Lance apparently doesn’t know anything about this since he’s in charge of personnel and not a project manager,” He told her, barely masking his skepticism.
“Right,” Rose replied, and looked over at Lance. “Sure you know something. Bet everyone gossips in a place like this.”
Lance gave her an annoyed look in return, “How am I supposed to know something like that?” He shot back. “Why am I even explaining myself?” The man demanded angrily.
“Aha!” The Doctor exclaimed, pulling his sonic out of his pocket. He raised his hand and held the sonic to the screen of the computer. A few seconds later, the screen displayed a locked information page for H C Clements. “There you are!”
Rose lightly bumped her hip against his. “The sonic strikes again! Can’t keep anything from us!”
He turned to grin at her for a long moment before beginning to go through the contents of the screen that had come up.
Lance took the moment to ask loudly, “What the hell are we talking about?”
Donna patted him lightly on the arm, maybe as an attempt to try to calm him, but said nothing.
After a pause, the Doctor replied, “H C Clements makes keys, that’s the point.” A 3D plan of the H C Clements came up on the screen then, and all of them gathered around to look. The plan showed an outline of the building with floors 1-6, and then the ground floor and the lower ground floor underground marked plainly. “And look at this,” he added, studying the plan, “we’re on the third floor.”
“Of course we’re on the third floor!” Lance exclaimed, “It’s marked, isn’t it?”
“Quiet, Lance.” Donna scolded, and then leaned forward to ask the Doctor, “Why’s it so important that we’re on the third floor?”
The Doctor turned around to face the other two as he pocketed the sonic. “Better to show you than to tell you,” he said, and then began moving towards the lifts without waiting for them.
Rose hurried after him, grinning, and Donna started after her only to realize Lance was standing still. She turned to him. “Well, come on then!” Donna scolded, and then began dragging him forward by her grip on his hand.
They met up with Rose and the Doctor who were standing by the lifts waiting for it to come up to the floor the group of them was on.
The Doctor and Rose had been talking quietly to each other, holding hands, but then the Doctor turned to Donna and Lance as they arrived.
“Underneath reception, there’s a basement, yes?” He asked quickly.
Donna and Lance looked confused at the question, but managed to nod in response.
With surprising timing, the lift rose to their level then, and a few seconds the door ping-ed open.
The Doctor darted inside once they were open, and carefully studied the controls. “Then how come when you look on the lift, there's a button marked 'lower basement'? There's a whole floor which doesn't exist on the official plans.” He turned to look questioningly at the three of them. “So what's down there, then?”
Catching on, Rose grinned excitedly. “There’s a secret floor! Ooh, those are always good.”
Lance stared first at Rose, and then at the Doctor. “Are you telling me,” he asked, voice dripping with skepticism, “this building’s got a secret floor?”
The Doctor shook his head. “No, I’m showing you this building’s got a secret floor,” he corrected.
Lance scoffed at him, turning away.
Donna, however, peered around him to look at the controls. “It needs a key,” she told him as if he hadn’t known.
The Doctor once again pulled out his sonic, “I don’t.”
Once he had successfully soniced the lock, he tucked the screwdriver away again and turned towards Rose, Donna and Lance who were standing just outside the elevator.
“Right then. Rose, I need you to stay here.” When she crossed her arms and gave him the I’m-about-to-slap-you look as she opened her mouth, he quickly cut her off. “No, Rose. Don’t argue, please,” He glanced over at Donna and Lance and then walked over to stand just in front of Rose. Taking her hands in his, he continued trying to reason with her. “I just got you back Rose, after thinking I’d never see you again. I don’t want to risk that happening again; I don’t want to lose you.”
Rose sighed; looking very annoyed with him but didn’t pull her hands away. “Doctor, remember the promises we made each other? How you promised to stop making decisions for me, and to let me start taking care of myself? I’m twenty-one years old, Doctor. I can make my own decisions and take care of myself; I’m not a little kid.” This time when he opened his mouth to argue, she was the one to cut him off. “I know I’m a kid compared to you, Doctor, and I don’t have all the experience you do, but you know that that doesn’t matter. We’ve been traveling together for a while, and I’ve been fine ‘til now.”
“I almost lost you, Rose,” He argued, his voice soft. “At Canary Wharf I nearly lost you again because of some stupid mistake. I won’t let that happen.”
She shook her head, “Then stop worrying about me and start focusing on what you need to be focusing on. If you don’t have to worry about what might happen to me, you won’t make mistakes. I can do whatever I need to without needing you hovering every single minute.” Rose paused, “You need to trust me.”
“I do trust you Rose,” The Doctor reassured her, “But-“
From behind them Donna loudly cleared her throat. “Hate to break up this romantic moment of yours,” she told them, “But I think you two need to have your heads screwed on tighter.”She turned to address the Doctor. “Doctor, stop being a thick-headed alien twit and just let her come with us. I’m sure she’ll be fine since she’s apparently survived traveling with you this long.” Next she turned to Rose. “Rose, just give him a little leeway all right?” Her face broke out into a grin, “But not too much, you seem to be doing him a world of good.”
Rose grinned back. She really did like Donna after all. “I’ll do my best.”
The Doctor gave the two of them a look of betrayal, but then sighed in defeat and turned to look at Lance as well as Donna. “Donna, Lance, thanks for everything but the two of us can handle it from here, I’m sure. So see you later.”
Donna shook her head, giving him a warning look. “No chance, Martian. You two are the ones who keep saving my life; I’m not letting either of you out of my sight.”
With that she joined the two of them in the lift.
The Doctor winced and looked pleadingly at Rose, but she just grinned and shook her head at him. There was no way she was going to leave Donna behind, especially since she was so good at telling him off when she wouldn’t.
He finally sighed, and reached out to press the button for the lower basement as he commented quietly, “Going down.”
Rose reached out from next to him and took his hand again, squeezing it lightly in reassurance.
Meanwhile, Donna turned around from where she stood in front of the pair. “Lance,” She demanded pointedly.
Lance stiffened and suggested nervously, pointing over his shoulder, “Maybe I should go to the police?”
Donna rolled her eyes and demanded again, “Inside.”
Lance pressed his lips together but meekly joined them in the lift standing next to his fiancé. He looked like he was used to following Donna’s demands.
“To honour and obey,” The Doctor quoted to the other man.
Lance rolled his eyes. “Tell me about it, mate.”
“Oi!”
“Doctor!”
The doors closed on the women’s protests, and the lift began to slowly descend to the mysterious lower basement.
~~~~
A few minutes later, the lift pinged once again as it reached the lower basement. The doors opened on a surprisingly silent group, and the four of them stepped out into a long, dark, dank corridor that was dimly lit with an eerie green light from somewhere in the distance.
“Geez, this place is horrible.” Rose commented, looking up and down the corridor. “It’s almost as bad as some of the prisons we’ve been in.”
“So it wouldn’t be on the top ten then?” The Doctor asked her absently, aiming the sonic first down one direction of the corridor and then the other.
Rose shook her head, grinning at him. “Not even close.”
Donna turned from staring at their surroundings to stare at the two of them instead. “Don’t tell me the two of you are criminals, after all of this?”
Rose and the Doctor looked at each other, and then proceeded to burst out laughing.
“Glad I can provide some humor for you,” Donna grumbled, crossing her arms.
The Doctor was the first to get himself under control, and he managed to tell her, “No, we’re not criminals Donna. We’re kind of the opposite of criminals. It’s just that a lot of evil rulers, dictators, evil scientists and other bad people tend to get upset with us for ruining their fun.”
Rose nodded, straightening again. “Traveling in the TARDIS tends to consist of a lot of running and getting locked in jail.” When the Doctor looked like he was about to protest, she added, “Not always though.”
“She’s exaggerating the locked in jail bit,” the Doctor reassured Donna, “It’s mostly running.”
The other woman looked skeptical despite Rose’s clarification and the Doctor’s reassurance. But she simply crossed her arms and replied, “Right.” After a slight pause she continued, “So, where are we then? What goes on down here?”
The Doctor resumed looking around, but the corridor wasn’t very enlightening. “Well, let’s find out,” he suggested.
Rose frowned, and then asked, “Do you think Mr. Clements knows about this place?”
“The mysterious H C Clements?” The Doctor clarified, continuing when Rose nodded. “I think he's part of it.”
“What do you mean he’s a part of it?” Lance questioned baffled, but was ignored by the Doctor who’s eye had been caught by something.
“Oh, look,” the Doctor said happily, “Transport.”
Donna turned and walked back from where she’d been staring down the other direction of the corridor. “What d’you mean, transport?”
Rose had noticed what the Doctor had by then, and she said excitedly, “Oh, yes!”
The two of them walked over to one side of the corridor and began inspecting the electric scooters that were just sitting there unused.
Donna stared at the scooters. “No way,” she commented, and joined the Doctor and Rose.
Lance rolled his eyes and looked nervously down the corridor, but eventually joined them. This time without Donna’s command.
A few moments later, the Doctor had managed to sonic four of the scooters on, and soon the four of them were on their way down the corridor, each on their own electronic scooter.
For a few yards they all trundled in silence, until Donna looked around at them on all of their scooters and suddenly burst out laughing. Rose was the first to join in, and soon the Doctor followed her. The three of them continued laughing as they made their way down the corridor, but Lance never joined in, so he apparently didn’t get why they were all laughing. He just stared at them in confusion.
When they came to a door that said “Torchwood-authorized personnel only,” the Doctor abruptly stopped and then abandoned his scooter as he went over to the door and began trying to open it.
“Doctor!” Donna protested, stopping as well.
“He won’t come back ‘til he finds out what it is,” Rose told her, stopping her scooter and climbing off of it. “Wait here just a bit,” she instructed and walked over to where the Doctor was turning a wheel that would apparently open the door.
“Need any help?” She asked supportively, but the Doctor just glanced over at her and shook his head. He turned the wheel one last time before there was a clanging noise and he was able to pull the door open with one strong heave.
The door didn’t reveal anything very interesting to Rose’s disappointment. Just a small room with three brick walls and a not brick one that had a ladder stretching upwards on one side.
Rose walked inside the room to peer upwards, but the ladder just seemed to go on and on until stopping at some kind of opening. She turned back to her companions. “Well, here goes nothing,” she announced, and then began climbing.
“Rose!” The Doctor complained, but she pretended not to hear him and just continued climbing.
With an annoyed sigh, he turned to address Donna and Lance who had also clambered off their scooters to pause in the open doorway. “Wait here. Just need to get my bearings,” he told them and then pointed sternly at each of them. “Don’t, do anything.”
With that warning he then began climbing up the ladder after Rose.
“You’d better come back,” Donna warned him fiercely.
The Doctor paused to look down at her from over his shoulder. “I couldn’t get rid of you if I tried,” he called back. He winced when he heard Rose’s voice echo “Rude!” from above, and grinned at Donna before starting to climb again.
Donna smiled happily, and watched with Lance as the Doctor and Rose climbed upwards above them.
When the Doctor and Rose were supposedly out of hearing distance, Lance turned to Donna and asked worriedly, “Donna... have you thought about this? Properly? I mean, this is serious! What the hell are we gonna do?”
Donna, who wasn’t really listening, turned to him and gave him a reassuring smile. “Oh, I thought July,” she told him before returning her attention back to the ladder.
Meanwhile, Rose had reached the top of the ladder and was simply waiting there, watching the Doctor climb up to her.
She smiled as he reached her and then pointed at the miniature version of the door below. “Tried to get it open, but apparently I have to have my skinny but strong Martian to open it.”
The Doctor gave her a warning look, but reached up to grab either side of the metal wheel and began slowly turning it.
“Don’t fall,” Rose teased him, but he simply continued turning until there was a loud clanking noise before and he was able to push the door open and outwards.
Rose scrambled out first, and found herself nearly blinded by the low sun. As the Doctor climbed out after her, she raised a hand to shield her eyes and then stared around as she realized where they were.
“This is the Thames flood barrier!” She told him in shock.
“Really, is it?” The Doctor asked before frowning. “But why here? Why hide a secret base under a major landmark?”
Rose grinned at him. “Good question, ‘cause we’ve never had it happen before.”
He turned to her. “Aha! Now who’s being rude?” He asked, pointing an incriminating finger at her.
“You of course,” Rose replied, “you’re the rude one.” She paused, looking back at the scene around them. “Seriously, though. Why the flood barrier?”
The Doctor shook his head. “I don’t know. Guess we’ll just have to find out!” He suggested, moving around her to the side of the tunnel they’d climbed out of. “Ladies first,” the Doctor said, gesturing down at the ladder.
Rose walked over to the side of the hole, and managed to steady her feet on a rung of the ladder while clutching at the side of the opening without falling or hurting herself. “What, beauty before age?”
“Rose!” The Doctor complained with no hint of a pout at all. No, really. “I’m not-“
But she was already climbing back down the ladder, ignoring him.
With a sigh he clambered back into the tunnel, and began his way back down the ladder.
Once Rose was close enough to the ground, she jumped off the ladder and turned to face Donna and Lance who’d been waiting for them. “You should’ve seen it, it was amazing!” She told them breathlessly.
“Yeah, but what was up there?” Donna asked curiously.
Behind Rose, the Doctor jumped off the ladder and turned towards Donna and Lance, resting his hands on Rose’s shoulders and looking at them from over Rose’s head where he was resting his chin. “Thames flood barrier!” He announced. “Right on top of us. Torchwood snuck in and built this place underneath it.”
Donna stared at him. “What, there’s like a secret base hidden underneath a major London landmark?” She asked disbelievingly.
Rose grinned at her, fidgeting slightly in the Doctor’s embrace. “I know, right? Totally unheard of.”
The Doctor snickered at that, but did his best to look innocent when Donna looked at him curiously.
Rose jerked her elbow back, and was rewarded when she heard him gasp quietly and then flinched against her.
“If you two are finished, shouldn’t we be moving on?” Donna asked them sternly, and walked back out of the room.
Lance quickly followed her, and the Doctor and Rose went after them once Rose had gotten him to let go of her and take her hand instead of treating her like his personal chin and hand rest.
This time the four of them went on foot, abandoning their electric scooters in favor of simply walking.
It didn’t take them long to reach the far end of the corridor where the green light seemed to be coming from.
There was a door there, a regular looking door this time, with the Torchwood insignia printed on it again.
The Doctor went in first, slowly pushing the door open as the others followed quietly behind him.
It seemed to be a laboratory of some sort, full of massive test tubes shining with some kind of blue light as they bubbled away. There was other equipment around and near the massive test tubes, what looked like chemistry equipment, but the test tubes were the most noticeable.
As soon as he caught sight of them, the Doctor hurried inside and walked past one line of the test tubes as he studied them carefully.
“Oh, look at this!” He commented, staring at one of the test tubes in particular. “Stunning! Particle extrusion!”
Rose and Donna had followed after him, watching him more than looking at the equipment around the room.
“What does it do?” Donna asked curiously.
“Particle extrusion,” The Doctor replied mysteriously, and then peered more closely at the test tube. “Hang on…”
As he darted over to one of the bubbling tubes that was bubbling a little more than the other and tapped it lightly, the Doctor completely missed the look shared between Rose and Donna in response to his reply.
He moved back from the test tube, looking admiring. “Brilliant. They've been manufacturing Huon particles.” The Doctor leaned down to peer up at the tube, his face distorting in the glass. “In case my people got rid of Huons, they unraveled the atomic structure,” he told the group as a whole, glancing over at them before he squatted down to peer at the base of the test tube.
Rose winced slightly at that light reference to the other Time Lords, but it seemed to have been off-hand as he didn’t add anything else and continued to study the test tube without looking upset. She did wish he stopped doing things like that though, or would at least stop being mysterious and tell her more about his people. He had promised to open up to her more.
Meanwhile, Lance had begun questioning the Doctor at the mention of ‘his people.’
“Your people?” He asked curiously. “Who are they? What company do you represent?”
The Doctor straightened at the questions and turned back towards them. “Oh, I’m a freelancer.” He told Lance secretively, and Rose tried not to laugh. Freelancer, renegade, nearly the same.
He moved away from the test tubes and back into the middle of the room and towards Donna, Rose and Lance. “But this lot are rebuilding them. They've been using the river!” The Doctor told them, gesturing at the massive test tubes with one hand while the other was jammed in his pocket. As he talked, Donna and Rose moved slowly after him while Lance stayed near the edge of the room. “Extruding them through a flat hydrogen base so they've got the end result,“ pausing for a moment, he leaned over and picked up a smaller test tube and held it out to Donna and Rose as he peered down at it, “huon particles in liquid form.”
“So they’re using the river to make liquid Huon particles?” Rose paraphrased what she had understood of what he’d said. She felt herself flush with joy when the Doctor looked proudly at her and nodded approvingly.
Looking at the test tube he was holding, Donna asked quietly, “And that’s what inside me?”
The Doctor gently turned the knob at the top of the test tube, making the contents glow a goldish color. A few seconds later, Donna began glowing with the same color.
She stared down at herself, arms held away from her sides, “Oh my God!” She whispered.
“Oh, wow,” Rose commented, staring with wide eyes at the glowing Donna. “That’s the Huon particles in her doing that?” When Rose noticed how upset Donna was looking, she took a step forward but didn’t go as far as to touch her friend as she reassured softly, “It’s all right, Donna. We’ll figure this out, you won’t always… glow.”
The Doctor took the opportunity then to start his rambling explanations. “Because the particles are inert -- they need something living to catalyze inside and that's you. Saturate the body and then... HA!”
Both Rose and Donna jumped as the Doctor suddenly raised his voice on that one word, and then watched as the Doctor became full of mad enthusiasm again as he talked a mile a minute and began bouncing about in his passion.
“The wedding! Yes, you're getting married, that's it! Best day of your life, walking down the aisle -- oh, your body's a battleground! There's a chemical war inside!”
Most of the time Rose enjoyed seeing him like this, loved it when he became so overwhelmed with trying to work out a problem and was so full of life and energy. But not this time, not when he was ignoring how quickly distressed Donna was becoming as she watched him with confused and troubled eyes.
“Doctor, she began, trying to interrupt him. But he just continued on.
“Adrenaline, acetylcholine, WHAM go the endorphins, oh you're cooking! Yeah, you're like a walking oven! A pressure cooker, a microwave, all churning away. Then the particles reach boiling point, and SHAZAM!”
Before he could continue on with his rambling, Donna slapped him harshly.
Part Six
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