who_in_whoville

kelkat9

timelord1

onabearskinrug

February 14, 2007

It was a little after five o'clock in the afternoon and the light in the flat was now dim. The grey concrete building across the courtyard was blocking the weak winter rays of the setting sun, and none of the three people in the room had bothered to turn on a lamp. For the past three hours, the Doctor and Rose had taken turns telling the tale of their earthbound adventure in 1963 London.

As the Doctor concluded the account of the short and brilliant lives of John and Jane Smith, Jackie dabbed her eyes with a tissue.

" . . . and so we opened the fob watches, and said goodbye to John and Jane." He barely whispered the words.

"And them Blood Family things? What happened ta them?" Jackie asked, her voice cracking with emotion.

"I . . . I made sure they would never harm anyone else ever again." The Doctor held Rose's hand tightly. There had been some history that they had left out. They didn't tell Jackie the full extent of Daniel Higgins's obsession with Jane, specifically that her daughter had been kidnapped and drugged by the villain.

"Well I don't rightly know what to say." Jackie was uncharacteristically quiet. "What woulda happened if you didn't open them watches, like John didn't wanna do?"

"If the Family hadn't have found us, then we would have simply lived out our lives. Woulda written books, probably moved out of London." He turned and looked at Rose lovingly. "Had a family."

"Jane and John both wanted lots of children." Rose sighed heavily, remembering the shared vision of their future. Their firstborn was to have been named John David, Jr. Twins would have come a few years later, Elisabeth Rose and Ian Jack.

"What's wrong Swee'hear?" Jackie asked kindly, seeing the wistful look on her daughter's face.

"I was just remembering something." Rose looked down at her lap, and then back at the Doctor. "Ready to tell her?" she asked her husband silently.

"Yep," he replied, raising his eyebrows and blowing air through his lips.

"There's one more thing we haven't told you yet. Something that happened to us when we were . . . them." Rose spoke quietly. "Um, well, they wanted children right away, and Jane and John never, um . . . took any precautions to prevent pregnancy and, well, Mum, we're going to have a baby. I'm pregnant."

Jackie's mouth fell open, and her eyes snapped wide open. "Wot?"

"You know, progeny, offspring, a baby." The Doctor's smile couldn't have been brighter.

"But you said that they weren't . . . that way before they were married! They were married, what, a whole twenty-four hours?" Jackie" screeched. "How long has it been since, well, you know," she inclined her head and made a snicking sound with her mouth and winked.

"Thirty-one hours, twenty-nine minutes and seventeen seconds," the Doctor cheerfully replied.

Rose grimaced, groaned and buried her face in her hands.

"But . . . but . . . how is that even possible?" asked Jackie.

"It only takes once, Jackie," the Doctor said with the slightest hint of condescension.

Rose sputtered a laugh. "Once? Try four times."

The Doctor smiled knowingly and waggled his eyebrows.

"I know that, I'm not stupid," Jackie replied hotly. "What about my Rose? Is she going to be alright? Is this dangerous for her? You're not human, you're a space thing. What about the baby? Is it a boy or is it a girl?" Jackie paused. "Will the baby have, you know, tentacles?"

"Well first of all, I am not a space thing. Second, I was fully human when I fathered our child. Third," he sighed and rubbed his forehead. "I don't—"

"He doesn't have tentacles, Mum," Rose interrupted with a giggle. "But he does have-"

The Doctor elbowed Rose in the ribs. "Fourth, when we opened the watches, my real self which had been housed within said watch sensed that my genetic material had been," he cleared his throat, "disseminated. It sought itself out and transformed the genetic code now inside of Rose to match mine, as I am now. Rose and I are fully compatible, Jackie. There is no danger. I promise."

"And Mum, you know I'm different now, remember?" Rose added.

"How could I forget that," Jackie replied wistfully. "Oh come here you two!" Jackie jumped up and hugged both of them. "I can hardly wait to tell Bev! My baby's having a baby!"

"You're taking this better than we thought you would," Rose replied once Jackie had released them from her embrace.

"Scoot over, come on." Jackie sat down next to Rose. "Why wouldn't I be happy? I've had enough time to get used to the idea that my Rose is married to an alien, ya know. And of course I want grandbabies!"

The Doctor's curiosity was starting to get the better of him, and he decided to test the waters. "Jackie, how many times have Rose and I visited you?"

"Well, let's see. No specifics, right?"

"No specifics," he confirmed.

"First few times happened while Rose was in hiding. Then of course, there was the blessed day that the two of you brought my girl back to me," Jackie said lovingly. "And no, I will not tell you who, what, where, why or when that happens for! So don't even ask!"

"So you did read my instructions," the Doctor said, surprised.

"Oh, don't act so surprised, mister, I understand all about corrupting timelines and all that rot. I've been lectured on it enough for the past four months!" she replied hotly.

"We brought me back here from wherever I was hiding last year?" Rose asked, surprised.

"Yeah, and you were dressed up like a right tart, young lady! You told me it was a disguise, but you coulda disguised yourself as a Salvation Army worker or a nun or somethin'," said Jackie.

"Jackie . . . " the Doctor drawled a warning, "that counts as what."

"Alright, alright, no need to be rude. I'll stop. You was the one who was askin'."

The trio sat quietly for a few minutes.

"Doctor, I'm craving Indian food. I wonder if Old Delhi is still around," Rose suggested.

"Cravings already?" asked Jackie.

"Not a pregnancy cravin', Mum."

"Rose's body shouldn't even know she is pregnant, although with the changes to her physiology and my genetic material in the mix, maybe I'm wrong," the Doctor interjected.

"Actually, I'm just feeling a bit nostalgic. Old Delhi is where John took me on our first date in 1963."

The Doctor and Rose looked at each other with moon eyes. "We had curry." The Doctor said giddily, and then kissed her a little more soundly than Jackie wanted to witness.

Jackie cleared her throat. "I know you two can't keep your hands off each other, but I'm sittin' right here."

They pulled apart, and both of them were blushing.

Someone knocked on the door. Jackie got up and looked through the peephole and then opened it. A handsome man in his mid-forties was standing at the door. "Hi Jackie." He hugged her.

"David! What're ya' doin' standin' out there in the cold! Get in here!" The man looked at the sofa and just stared. "Is that them?" he asked quietly.

"That's them! David, this here's my daughter Rose, and my son-in-law, the Doctor." Jackie was clearly proud.

David walked to the sofa and thrust out his hand.

The Doctor shook it, confused. "Am I supposed to know you?"

"Rude," Rose said silently, clearing her throat.

"I'm David. David Eddington. Bess and Niles," he paused, "they're my parents."

Rose and the Doctor's faces lit up. Rose squealed and the Doctor stood up and pumped the poor man's hand violently.

"Brilliant!" the Doctor proclaimed.

A lightbulb went on in Jackie's mind. "Niles and Bess? The Bess that was Jane's best friend? And her Niles?" she asked.

"Yes Jackie. I'm sorry I couldn't ever tell you before that my parents were friends of the Doctor and Rose. When the person gave me this package to give to the two of you," he faced the Doctor and Rose and held up a thick envelope, "that person said that I could now finally tell you, Jackie."

"Hold on, why do you even know my mum? And why do your parents know her?" Rose asked, thoroughly confused.

"David here is-" Jackie stopped herself and bit her lip. "Uh, I can't say anymore. It's a rule," she said deadly serious.

"I know that I can tell you this much, Doctor." David smiled wryly. "Mother and Father asked me to check in on Jackie while Rose was missing, before you and Rose were reunited at Christmas. My parents came with me a few times as well, wanted to meet the great Jackie Tyler."

"Well then," Jackie smiled proudly, "someone told them nice things about me. Obviously not you," she said to the Doctor.

"I happen to think you are brilliant, Jackie Tyler. Obviously you are. You brought up Rose," the Doctor said with genuine kindness. Rose looked over at her husband and smiled.

Hesitantly, Rose asked her next question. "And your parents, how are they?"

"Oh, they're off gallivanting on their yacht. I think they're in Fiji. Mother and Father both retired from Torchwood fifteen years ago or so. They made a killing when they sold the flat in Chelsea and bought a huge sailboat. They named her the Iris Jane, by the way."

"Really?" Rose smiled and blushed with embarrassment.

"You were the best friend Mother ever had, Rose." David handed the thick envelope to Rose. "This is for you. I was told to give it to you on this day at this time."

"Who gave it to you?" asked the Doctor.

"I'm not at liberty to say," he replied, and the Doctor nodded.

Rose opened and pulled out two letters, one for the Doctor and one for herself. There was also a set of car keys, which she pulled them out and jingled merrily in front of the Doctor's face.

"Are those . . .? They are! Rose! The keys to Sexy II!" He put them to his lips and kissed them. "Oh you gorgeous thing!" he growled.

"Dad never let me drive it growing up. Not for lack of asking, mind you," David laughed. "It's been garaged at Mother and Father's country house for a few decades. I just had her serviced and she runs like a champ. Gorgeous vehicle. She's parked about a block away."

The Doctor adjusted his sonic and aimed it out the window.

"What ya doin' that for?" asked Jackie.

"No offense, Jackie, but this isn't the safest neighborhood. Would you leave a mint condition 1962 Aston Martin down there?"

"Well, no." Jackie smirked and crossed her arms.

"Now no one will be able to touch it without getting the shock of their life," he said with a wicked smile.

Rose giggled a bit, remembering how much John loved his car. "Country house and a yacht . . . Sounds like they did well for themselves."

"Well, Grandmother and Grandfather were well off and left part of their estate to Mother, but Mother really did earn the bulk of her wealth on her own before she went to work for Torchwood."

"So she left Prescott?"

"Yes, about four months after the two of you left. After all of the . . . stuff happened at Prescott Publishing, Mr. Prescott decided to sell his share of the company and retire. Mother had a large amount of cash sitting in savings and bought him out. And the book that John and Jane wrote, I mean the two of you wrote . . . This name thing does get a bit confusing doesn't it? Anyway, Blame it on Barcelona went through the roof. Smash hit. And when no one came forward to claim Higgins's portion of the business after he disappeared, Mother bought out his investment as well.

"Higgins's money was tied up in court for years, but then they found an heir. Apparently that monster had seduced a young girl and gotten her pregnant when he was only sixteen, and she, fifteen. She was paid off and the baby was literally sold. The child was never found, but the mum was located. Turns out she was a very bright girl and went back to school after she gave birth and continued on to university with the money that Higgins's family had given her. She became a businesswoman, but left that life and founded a foundation for abused women and those who found themselves pregnant under less than ideal circumstances. The money went to that charity."

The Doctor smiled. "That judge was rather easy to convince when I showed him the evidence."

"What do you mean Doctor?" asked David.

"Who do you think found the mother?" the Doctor answered with a smug grin.

"You are just as amazing as Mother and Father said." David shook his head and chuckled. "Well I need to be off. Duty calls. And Doctor, Rose, it was so good to finally meet you in person. I'm sure it won't be the last time." He winked at them.

"Bye David. It was so good to see you." Jackie gave the man a friendly hug.

David left and the Doctor and Rose looked at each other.

"The book we wrote?" Rose asked. "We never finished it."

"Doctor, could you help me with something?" Jackie spoke up with a funny look on her face.

He followed Jackie into her bedroom and he returned holding a box.

"Put it on the table." Jackie opened the box. Inside were books of all shapes and sizes. She examined the titles until she found what she was looking for. "I knew I recognized the name of that book! Rose, your Dad was really into science fiction when I first met him. He was really proud of this series of books that he'd found at a used book shop. Said he was gonna make a killing on them in a few years because few complete sets of the entire series were left." Jackie handed a book to the Doctor. It was in perfect condition. The dust jacket was still shiny, with no wear.

"Blimey. I suppose we have a book to finish." The Doctor smiled. "Fancy a trip back to 1963?" He handed the book to Rose.

She turned it over and looked at the photo on the back. At the sight of herself and the Doctor smiling brightly on the back of the book jacket, she put her hand to her mouth and tears welled in her eyes. "Let's give John and Jane their honeymoon. Remember how you told Jack that you wanted to write on our honeymoon?" She laughed and the Doctor wiped away a tear that had dribbled down her cheek with the pad of his thumb.

"I think that sounds lovely."

"Before you do that you two, you owe me a trip!" Jackie crossed her arms and looked at them sternly. "If I couldn't be at your real wedding, you know, that naked one, then I think that I deserve to at least go to John and Jane's wedding."

"Jackie, it will be very dangerous for Rose and I to attend that wedding. The Family of Blood was on the hunt that night. I don't know when they arrived in St. Catherine, the village where we were married."

"Well figure something out Mr. Genius. Now that you know they're there, can't you set up some sort of force field or invisibility cloak or somethin'?" asked Jackie.

"I'm not J.K. Rowling, Jackie. There is no such thing as an invisibility cloak." He crossed his arms and leveled a look.

"You are going to take me, Doctor."

The Doctor pinched the bridge of his nose. "I tell you what. Let's go to dinner, and I'll think about it over curry and naan."

"You're brilliant, I know you'll come up with something," she smiled, and patted his arm. "Oh, I can't go out for dinner with the two of ya, it's Valentine's Day and Howard's taking me to the local. Now the two of you, go jump in that fancy car of yours and have your second first date, alright? I'll see you tomorrow morning when you come to pick me up for the wedding."

The Doctor knew he was beat. He would have to come up with something. And there would be rules. Oh yes, there would be rules.