IT WAS 20,000 YEARS AGO TODAY

Chapter Twenty Eight

Pepa closed the hatch and locked it when everyone was down in the storage compartment. Jane sat Tia down on the blankets and gave her the doll to play with while Paul stood nearby and glanced up at the locked hatch.

"Think this'll work? Last time we tried this, I ended up in my smalls with a beehive on my head."

He eyed John when he let out a snicker.

"Sorry, couldn't help it," John said as Ringo and George came up beside him, "You have to admit that was funny. More funny than Psycho William with a bloody nose. Speaking of, maybe we should feed the sod to the pterodactyl out there. Then again, poor thing might get indigestion."

While he was talking, Rose was standing by the ladder, looking up at it with a worried look on his face. Jeremy came up behind her and kissed her neck.

"Worrying about him?" he asked.

She looked at him and saw the sad expression on his face. She gave him a kiss.

"I'm worrying about him only as a friend," she said. "I'm worried that something might happen. I've been with him through two regenerations now; I don't wanna see him do it again. He doesn't have that many lives left, yeah?"

"He has more to spare than I and John do," Jeremy replied. "Besides, he's a clever lad, he's made it this far. He knows what he's doing and…"

He looked down and Jane laughed when he saw Tia poking him in the leg while she gave him a mischievous look. Jeremy bent down and picked her up as she laughed.

"Now this one…this one is trouble, you can just tell," Jeremy said, holding her close. "She used to be a cavewoman which means she might be climbing all over things and bashing us in the head and doing other…caveman things."

Rose laughed when Tia put her hand over his mouth and he mmmphed angrily which made her giggle even more. He smiled at Jane when she came up beside him and tickled her armpits.

"She's beautiful," Jeremy said.

"Yes, she is. And you're right, she's a handful but…she's worth it. I'm glad we adopted her," Jane said, smoothing back her hair while Tia sat in the crook of Jeremy's arm. "I just hate that she got thrown into the middle of all this. Her and Michelle, everyone else is here by choice but not them."

"Yeah but we'll look after them," Jeremy said while Tia watched him with her big, brown eyes. "She's a tough little girl. Have to be if she grew up in a cave and…"

He shut up and everyone fell silent when they heard someone yelling for surrender above them followed by the Doctor yelling back not to shoot, that he's unarmed. Pepa shook his head.

"He's insane," Pepa said to everyone. "What if they do something to him?"

"Better they do something to him than to us," Rose said, "he's always been that way. He puts himself first so we'll be safe."

"Yes, but what happens when we have to go and rescue him," Pepa said. "Aren't we putting ourselves in danger then? So, what's the difference?"

"If we rescue him, we'll have to divide up," Rory said. "Someone's gotta stay with Tia and Michelle."

"How about me?" Pepa asked.

Everyone eyed him and he shrugged.

"I didn't ask for this. I was just trying to fly you to safety," he said.

"Yes and it was because of your wonky ship that we're stuck in this mess," Paul said angrily. "Let Jane or someone else stay with the women. You're supposed to be a military man which would be useful to us. You kidnapped us in the first place."

"I did not, some of my humans did," Pepa said indignantly.

"Yeah? Well, instead of letting us go, you decided it'd be fun to experiment on the Doctor so you still put yourself in the middle of all this!"

"Shush!" Ringo said, putting a hand over his mouth.

Paul shut up while they listened to the sound of footsteps above them. Jane held Tia close to her while Bill held Michelle. All of them listened quietly while several people walked around above them. For one heart stopping moment they thought that they would open the hatch like the last time but eventually the voices grew faint and the footsteps stopped. They waited silently, listening intently. Finally, Jeremy decided to risk it. He went up the ladder with John Smith following behind him. He unlocked the bolt and slowly raised the hatch enough that he could peek out and see what was going on.

"See anything?" John Smith said to him softly.

"Not so far," Jeremy whispered back. "Stay here and guard them, I'll take a look around."

"Jeremy, love, be careful," Rose said softly.

Jeremy smiled tenderly at her and then slowly raised the hatch up and got out. He let it go back down slowly so it wouldn't make any noise and John Smith waited on the ladder while the others stood around it, nervously waiting for Jeremy to return. Finally, the hatch lifted and Jeremy came back down.

"Anything?" John Smith said.

"No, it's empty, the Doctor's gone," Jeremy said, shutting the hatch and locking it. "We're still in that menagerie though, whoever goes out there is gonna have to brave the animals to find the exit. Any takers?"

He looked down when Tia came up and poked his leg again.

"You like my leg, dontcha?" he said while everyone laughed. "You volunteering, eh? You wanna go out there with the animals and fight them?"

He picked her up and smiled when Tia giggled at that.

"Nah, we better not," he said, walking over to Jane and Paul. "Your mummy and daddy might be upset if you went out there and fought monsters. You're too young, my little teddy bear! You stay here and keep nice and warm while we do the fighting."

He tried to hand her to Jane but Tia let out a "No!" and clung tighter to him.

"Oh," Jeremy said, straightening up while Tia held on to him. "Um…apparently she's grown quite comfortable here."

Paul chuckled. He walked around behind him and leaned his face into hers.

"Hi, don't you love me and mummy anymore? You wanna be with him?" he said to her.

"Daddy!" Tia said, reaching for him.

"Aha, now ya got it!" Paul said, walking around Jeremy.

Tia followed him, turning her head when he got behind her. He tried to take her but Tia let out another no and clung to Jeremy.

"Drat!" Paul said while everyone laughed. "Sorry, mate, she's comfortable there."

"Why don't you stay here then and look after her and Michelle?" John Smith said. "Since she's so fond of you. Be easier than trying to get her to separate from you."

"I can do that," Jeremy said while Tia laid her head on his shoulder. "But the problem is how are you gonna know which way to look for this door and what are you gonna do if it's locked? Sadly, I don't have a sonic screwdriver."

"I don't either," John Smith said. "The Doctor has his and I'm pretty sure he took it with him. Blast! Ah well, we'll have to improvise, I s'pose. Okay, so who's staying here then?"

"Bill, are you leaving me?" Michelle said, taking his arm.

Bill thought for a moment and then looked at the others.

"D'ya mind if I stay behind then since Michelle wants me to? I can help Jeremy look after Tia," he said.

"Yes, but…" Paul said, walking over to him, "you have an assignment while we're gone."

"And that assignment is…" Bill said.

"You must find a guitar and learn Twist and Shout by the time we get back. I want it played straight through with no mistakes."

"Nope, sorry, Rex. Not doing that right now," Bill said.

"Damn," Paul said while everyone laughed.

He looked at the Beatles.

"What about you lot? Any of you feel like stayin'?" he asked them.

John, George and Ringo glanced at each other. John led them to the back and they got in a huddle while everyone waited. They conferred for a moment and then they walked back to the others.

"Before we answer, I just have to say this," John said. "At first I thought you were daft for doing this, Paul. Running around riskin' your life for no good reason but…in a way it's no different than risking our lives when we played the Reeperbahn in Hamburg and all the tough clubs where one wrong move meant the teds would kick our arses. We braved that and survived…"

John paused for a moment and swallowed hard, fighting his emotions.

"And our Paul was brave when he made the decision to run for his life that night and even though it cost him his life, I'm glad he did that instead of waiting around for them to execute him," he said while Paul put a hand on his shoulder. "Both you and he were brave beyond belief and it would be wrong of me not to do the same and put my neck on the line, especially since I agreed to do this in the first place. Besides, you know I gotta do ya one better, Paul. Can't have ya being the hero of the hour and upstage me."

Paul chuckled and nodded.

"So…the three of us have decided to be completely barmy and follow you lot outside the safety of this ship and brave whatever lies ahead. But…"

He grinned and wagged his finger at Paul.

"We die, we're haunting you, McCartney!" he said.

"Understood," Paul said while John gave him a light slap on the cheek. "And now I want to make a request. Jane," he said, turning to his wife, "I want you to stay here. On the off chance, I don't make it back; I want Tia to have at least one parent. So could you do that for me?"

Jane nodded and hugged him.

"Not that I'm looking to get killed but better safe than sorry, love," Paul said. "Besides, Tia might get tired of Jeremy and want her mum."

Jane kissed his cheek and he kissed hers in return.

"Anyone else?" John Smith said, looking around.

Everyone else remained silent and Jane gave Paul one last hug and kiss before he walked over to Tia. He smiled and gave her a kiss on the lips while Tia rested on Jeremy's shoulder.

"You be good, don't irritate Uncle Jeremy, eh?" he said to her. "I don't want to have to come back here through all the monsters to give you a smack bottom, young lady."

"Daddy…" Tia said, holding out her hand to him.

Paul's heart melted. He took the hand and kissed the back of it and kissed up her arm to her cheek where he gave her a great big smooth while she giggled. He gave Bill a brief hug and then forced himself to turn away from his family so he could go stand with the others. Both groups wished each other good luck and said goodbye before John Smith went up the ladder and opened the hatch. Everyone who was going out went up the ladder and shut the hatch behind them when they were all out. They headed up to the front and on the way; John Smith stopped everyone and pointed to a dark corner of the ship. He walked over and grinned when he showed them the Doctor's sonic screwdriver and several perception filters and communicators with a hastily scribbled note. Jeremy read them the note.

Figured you lot would try to find and rescue me so I've given you a few advantages over our captors. Be careful and good luck.

Jeremy passed out the filters and they headed back to the hatch. They went back down and gave each of the adults a communicator. Amy explained how they worked as they put them behind their ears. Once that was done, Jane gave Paul another kiss and he and the others put the filters around their necks as they climbed up the ladder and headed for the side hatch.

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