Part 03 - Chapter 40 - Planning
I hold her sleeping form for a long time before I can force myself from her side to shower and dress. We have landed back on the pleasure planet and I find that barely an hour has passed for Jack since we left. I wonder at Verity's suddenly more precise movements through time and space; in some ways it as if she has functioned better since the destruction of our home. In my less charitable moments, I wonder if the Council had some mechanism in place to prevent her from functioning as accurately as she could, it wouldn't have been the first time they had messed with her systems in a way which I hadn't approved. It still rankles when I think about auto-recall that they had forced on us.
I do know that she had repeatedly taken injuries that had us returning to the maintenance bays those last few years of the war, injuries that, although severe, she at least survived, when so many less seasoned TARDIS' who didn't have her wisdom or skill were killed, they and their Time Lords and Ladies. They had declared my precious Verity obsolete, the stupid fools didn't understand how much more intelligent she was, how much more alive. No, the Time Lord council, in that too, had things wrong; so many of the older TT capsules had been retired because the had become 'erratic' not from malfunction but from maturity. They had resented their Time Lords pompous assumption that they knew best; the old fools refused to recognize them as being fully sentient. TARDIS age far more slowly even than we ourselves and, while quite tractable as babies and young children, they became rebellious as they moved into adulthood and their full sentience began to emerge.
Eventually there would have been a rebellion, as enough of them survived by hiding their brilliance. Compassion was one of those. She had shown what a TARDIS could become and of all the TARDIS, she would have been the one most likely to survive the war. If she did survive though, she is well hidden as neither Verity nor I have felt any trace of her.
I sigh as I feel her comfort wash over my mind. There is no use thinking on the past, at least not my own; Rose's is a completely different story though. As I think of how much hurt she poured out earlier with her confession of her relationship with Jimmy Stone, I feel the anger again building for the selfish child who so hurt my Rose. How dare he think he can trample on the heart of one so sweet and caring and get away with it? Soon he will learn the error of his ways.
My plan for Jimmy Stone is a simple one, arrive one week in advance and find out what their routine is, and then have Verity shift forward 8 hours. While Rose sleeps on oblivious, we will move forward one week, to the day of the incident where he so hurt my Rose, and I’ll remove him from the planet and ensure that he never has a chance to hurt her again, than I’ll return us to the pleasure planet. This way neither Rose nor Jack will have any idea what action I have taken and Rose will be safe.
***********************************************
Five minutes later, we are arriving on Earth. As requested, Verity has brought us to one week before the occurrence that has so traumatized my Rose. I know I need to see this Jimmy fellow in action so I can determine where and when will be the best time to snatch him with minimal fuss.
As I emerge from the alley near a set of seedy looking flats I see Rose and step back to ensure that she doesn’t see me. A moment later, I follow her only to hear shouting coming from the flat she has entered.
“You stupid slag, is this all you have for me? I told you that I needed you to bring home at least £50 this week.”
“But Jimmy, they cut my hours this week. I told…” The sound of flesh striking flesh causes me want to run in and tear the ungrateful, worthless little shit limb from limb. After a about a minute of listening to him berate Rose for something she had no control over I can take no more and stalk back where the TARDIS had vanished at my request and out of earshot of their argument. I place my hand and forehead on the wall of the alley and force myself to breath deeply, shutting out down the waves of anger flowing through me. I knowing now that if I have to listen to her being hurt again I will kill him and I can’t, I won’t, do that because I know Rose would never forgive me if I did. Even as I resolve to walk away and let the past be the past I see dozens of time lines emerge and in almost all of them Rose is either crippled or killed outright and I feel waves of nausea as I see in gruesome detail what exactly he does to her. In a flare of rage, they all vanish only to be replaced with dozens where Rose is accused of his murder, none of these scenarios would end with her being where she was to meet up with me when I arrived to take care of the Nestene consciousness. I feel a violent stab of pain through my hearts at the very thought of never meeting Rose. I know now that walking away is not an option and that my action is necessary to insure that things happen the way they need to occur.
I am both relieved and surprised when a moment later Verity reappears, the door swinging open even as I move to place the key in the lock. Stalking up to the controls, I stare at the crystal column of my oldest friend. ‘Verity what am I going to do?’
‘Jack will help.’ Is her soothing response.
At her words, I hear the key in the lock and realize she has returned us to the Pleasure Planet and that Jack has returned. I wonder what brings him back here so soon and I hope he isn't on the run from someone irate, as I am so not in the mood to deal with that kind of nonsense right now. Taking a deep breath, I console myself that at least were not breaking him out of some place. Based on the tales he tells, that is almost a frequent an occurrence for him as it is for Rose and I, just for more amorous reasons.
Trying for light, I tease "So Jack, what brings you back so soon? I thought you were all ready to prowl."
"Just checking on my exit strategy, always good to be prepared you know." The look he gives me make it very clear what kind of prepared he is thinking about.
************************
I watch as the TARDIS disappears, I suspect that the Doctor has something planned as his agreement to come here was out of character for him. Tensions have been running high and I wonder if maybe they have decided that maybe they don't need the fourth wheel after all. Verity assured me that was not the case, though. She had set me up with a room in one of the most elegant hotels on the planet giving me the details of where to find the place. I can see perhaps the Doctor leaving me behind, but I don't see Verity or Rose deliberately lying to me and telling me they will meet me there. If I have learned one thing, it is Verity's loyalty. Her first loyalty will always be to the Doctor, as well it should be, but she has shown very clearly where her loyalties lie, in her affections I am pretty sure I come in third only behind the Doctor and Rose, which for someone like me is pretty incredible. Why exactly she has developed such a fondness for me I'm unsure other than perhaps it is my protection of the Doctor, as my dashing good looks generally don't have quite the same effect on non-humanoids. Regardless of the reasons behind the feelings, I am happy to have her friendship. I figure I will check out the hotel, which is across town, and see what there is to see on the way. I try not to think about what I might do if they don’t return.
As I enter the hotel room, I see that the Doctor and Rose have arrived before me and feel more relief than I know I should. There is something about these two, that makes me no longer want to be alone in my travels. Even as chaotic as things have been since I joined them I feel more alive than I have in years and there is a feeling of doing something important just traveling with them. He makes a joke about being out on the prowl and I give him a thoughtless repartee but as I do the expression on his face when I came in dawns on me and I know something is dreadfully wrong.
“Doctor, is there something wrong? Is Rose okay?” I know she was upset about Mickey the night before, but I get the feeling that isn’t what is bothering him, but it’s a place to start. “She still upset about Mickey?”
“No, nothing like that.” Is his terse, distracted, reply.
I know something is wrong as I notice that the splendid hunter green jumper he had on when they left has been replaced by the black version he was wearing in Cardiff. It makes his eyes seem even more dark and brooding than usual. Given the frequency he usually changes clothes, I have to wonder how long it has been for them, I also realize that he hasn’t answered my second question.
“Doctor, has Rose been hurt?” The man really is a master at avoiding answering things when he doesn’t feel like it. The glower I get back answers the question quite eloquently and I really don’t expect him to say anymore so am a bit surprised when he does.
“Bad enough,” he replies quietly. Then with a cheerful grin that would do a shark proud he asks. “Would you care to join me in inviting someone off the planet?” Never have I seen a smile that has chilled me so totally. I wonder what exactly this person has done to Rose to bring on this reaction in the man and I just silently nod agreement.
“Right then, next stop Earth 2003,” comes his reply. What? I thought… okay. What have I gotten myself into agreeing with him?
Chapter 41 - Consequences
Moving Forward Index 1
I do know that she had repeatedly taken injuries that had us returning to the maintenance bays those last few years of the war, injuries that, although severe, she at least survived, when so many less seasoned TARDIS' who didn't have her wisdom or skill were killed, they and their Time Lords and Ladies. They had declared my precious Verity obsolete, the stupid fools didn't understand how much more intelligent she was, how much more alive. No, the Time Lord council, in that too, had things wrong; so many of the older TT capsules had been retired because the had become 'erratic' not from malfunction but from maturity. They had resented their Time Lords pompous assumption that they knew best; the old fools refused to recognize them as being fully sentient. TARDIS age far more slowly even than we ourselves and, while quite tractable as babies and young children, they became rebellious as they moved into adulthood and their full sentience began to emerge.
Eventually there would have been a rebellion, as enough of them survived by hiding their brilliance. Compassion was one of those. She had shown what a TARDIS could become and of all the TARDIS, she would have been the one most likely to survive the war. If she did survive though, she is well hidden as neither Verity nor I have felt any trace of her.
I sigh as I feel her comfort wash over my mind. There is no use thinking on the past, at least not my own; Rose's is a completely different story though. As I think of how much hurt she poured out earlier with her confession of her relationship with Jimmy Stone, I feel the anger again building for the selfish child who so hurt my Rose. How dare he think he can trample on the heart of one so sweet and caring and get away with it? Soon he will learn the error of his ways.
My plan for Jimmy Stone is a simple one, arrive one week in advance and find out what their routine is, and then have Verity shift forward 8 hours. While Rose sleeps on oblivious, we will move forward one week, to the day of the incident where he so hurt my Rose, and I’ll remove him from the planet and ensure that he never has a chance to hurt her again, than I’ll return us to the pleasure planet. This way neither Rose nor Jack will have any idea what action I have taken and Rose will be safe.
***********************************************
Five minutes later, we are arriving on Earth. As requested, Verity has brought us to one week before the occurrence that has so traumatized my Rose. I know I need to see this Jimmy fellow in action so I can determine where and when will be the best time to snatch him with minimal fuss.
As I emerge from the alley near a set of seedy looking flats I see Rose and step back to ensure that she doesn’t see me. A moment later, I follow her only to hear shouting coming from the flat she has entered.
“You stupid slag, is this all you have for me? I told you that I needed you to bring home at least £50 this week.”
“But Jimmy, they cut my hours this week. I told…” The sound of flesh striking flesh causes me want to run in and tear the ungrateful, worthless little shit limb from limb. After a about a minute of listening to him berate Rose for something she had no control over I can take no more and stalk back where the TARDIS had vanished at my request and out of earshot of their argument. I place my hand and forehead on the wall of the alley and force myself to breath deeply, shutting out down the waves of anger flowing through me. I knowing now that if I have to listen to her being hurt again I will kill him and I can’t, I won’t, do that because I know Rose would never forgive me if I did. Even as I resolve to walk away and let the past be the past I see dozens of time lines emerge and in almost all of them Rose is either crippled or killed outright and I feel waves of nausea as I see in gruesome detail what exactly he does to her. In a flare of rage, they all vanish only to be replaced with dozens where Rose is accused of his murder, none of these scenarios would end with her being where she was to meet up with me when I arrived to take care of the Nestene consciousness. I feel a violent stab of pain through my hearts at the very thought of never meeting Rose. I know now that walking away is not an option and that my action is necessary to insure that things happen the way they need to occur.
I am both relieved and surprised when a moment later Verity reappears, the door swinging open even as I move to place the key in the lock. Stalking up to the controls, I stare at the crystal column of my oldest friend. ‘Verity what am I going to do?’
‘Jack will help.’ Is her soothing response.
At her words, I hear the key in the lock and realize she has returned us to the Pleasure Planet and that Jack has returned. I wonder what brings him back here so soon and I hope he isn't on the run from someone irate, as I am so not in the mood to deal with that kind of nonsense right now. Taking a deep breath, I console myself that at least were not breaking him out of some place. Based on the tales he tells, that is almost a frequent an occurrence for him as it is for Rose and I, just for more amorous reasons.
Trying for light, I tease "So Jack, what brings you back so soon? I thought you were all ready to prowl."
"Just checking on my exit strategy, always good to be prepared you know." The look he gives me make it very clear what kind of prepared he is thinking about.
************************
I watch as the TARDIS disappears, I suspect that the Doctor has something planned as his agreement to come here was out of character for him. Tensions have been running high and I wonder if maybe they have decided that maybe they don't need the fourth wheel after all. Verity assured me that was not the case, though. She had set me up with a room in one of the most elegant hotels on the planet giving me the details of where to find the place. I can see perhaps the Doctor leaving me behind, but I don't see Verity or Rose deliberately lying to me and telling me they will meet me there. If I have learned one thing, it is Verity's loyalty. Her first loyalty will always be to the Doctor, as well it should be, but she has shown very clearly where her loyalties lie, in her affections I am pretty sure I come in third only behind the Doctor and Rose, which for someone like me is pretty incredible. Why exactly she has developed such a fondness for me I'm unsure other than perhaps it is my protection of the Doctor, as my dashing good looks generally don't have quite the same effect on non-humanoids. Regardless of the reasons behind the feelings, I am happy to have her friendship. I figure I will check out the hotel, which is across town, and see what there is to see on the way. I try not to think about what I might do if they don’t return.
As I enter the hotel room, I see that the Doctor and Rose have arrived before me and feel more relief than I know I should. There is something about these two, that makes me no longer want to be alone in my travels. Even as chaotic as things have been since I joined them I feel more alive than I have in years and there is a feeling of doing something important just traveling with them. He makes a joke about being out on the prowl and I give him a thoughtless repartee but as I do the expression on his face when I came in dawns on me and I know something is dreadfully wrong.
“Doctor, is there something wrong? Is Rose okay?” I know she was upset about Mickey the night before, but I get the feeling that isn’t what is bothering him, but it’s a place to start. “She still upset about Mickey?”
“No, nothing like that.” Is his terse, distracted, reply.
I know something is wrong as I notice that the splendid hunter green jumper he had on when they left has been replaced by the black version he was wearing in Cardiff. It makes his eyes seem even more dark and brooding than usual. Given the frequency he usually changes clothes, I have to wonder how long it has been for them, I also realize that he hasn’t answered my second question.
“Doctor, has Rose been hurt?” The man really is a master at avoiding answering things when he doesn’t feel like it. The glower I get back answers the question quite eloquently and I really don’t expect him to say anymore so am a bit surprised when he does.
“Bad enough,” he replies quietly. Then with a cheerful grin that would do a shark proud he asks. “Would you care to join me in inviting someone off the planet?” Never have I seen a smile that has chilled me so totally. I wonder what exactly this person has done to Rose to bring on this reaction in the man and I just silently nod agreement.
“Right then, next stop Earth 2003,” comes his reply. What? I thought… okay. What have I gotten myself into agreeing with him?
Chapter 41 - Consequences
Moving Forward Index 1