IT WAS 20,000 YEARS AGO TODAY

Chapter Forty Six

"Yes! Beatles to battle!" John crowed.

He and the others were standing behind John Smith and Pepa's seats while they attacked the Diablon's city. Pepa was using plasma rays to inflict damage and so far they had managed to take out a sentry tower as well as make a few holes in the buildings. They had heard some commotion through their ear pieces while they were attacking and they asked the Doctor what was going on.

"Well, we've been locked in and it's a deadlock seal," the Doctor said. "Well, most of us have been locked in, Jeremy ran out before they sealed us in."

He told them about the genetic marker in Bill's DNA before he told them what Jeremy had done.

"I think it's a suicide mission," the Doctor said sadly. "He told me goodbye and to take Rose back and look after her."

Everyone glanced at one another and looked back at Rose who was standing at the back of the crowd, her face stricken. Then she became angry.

"Jeremy?" she said aloud. "Jeremy, where are you? Answer me!"

Jeremy managed to find an unlocked door. He went in and noticed with some bemusement that it was a woman's bedroom. The wooden double bed had a pink eiderdown on it and there were pink shades on the lamps as well as a pink rug at the foot of the bed. He closed the door and locked it, pausing a moment to catch his breath.

"Jeremy? Jeremy, where are you? Answer me!"

He winced when he heard Rose's angry voice in his ear. As he was running, he vaguely heard the Doctor telling the others what had happened and he knew what Rose was angry about. His heart lurched when Rose called to him again, her voice breaking and he knew she was beginning to cry. He debated on whether he should answer since he wanted her to go back to the Doctor but he knew he owed her some sort of explanation. He was about to speak when he heard Rose say in a choked up voice.

"Jeremy, please…say something. Or if you can't speak, at least listen. I love you. I don't want the Doctor anymore. I want you. If I didn't want you, I would never have agreed to marry you. Please don't kill yourself, please!"

For pity's sake, answer her if you can, the Doctor thought to him. You hear how distraught she is? She wants you now, mate, not me!

Jeremy sighed as he reconsidered his thought about how nice it was to have a mind link with his new brother.

"Rose," he spoke softly, "I'm sorry, I just thought that…if I could create a diversion, the others could get away."

"Yes, I understand, but I don't agree with you killing yourself. I don't want you to die. I've been worried sick about you and the last thing I want to hear is that you don't want to live anymore and I should run back to the Doctor. I love you, Jeremy, and if you die, I'm gonna fly this ship straight to Heaven and knock your teeth out of your head."

Jeremy couldn't help but smile when he heard the others laughing at that.

"Blimey, glad she isn't my wife," he heard John say.

"If you don't want her, I'll take her!"

"Shut up, McCartney!"

Jeremy smiled in spite of himself when he heard Paul and Rose's exchange.

"You hear that?" Rose said to him. "You don't get back here, Paul's gonna make a move so you better stay alive and get back here, you hear me?"

"Yeah, I hear ya," he said.

"So…you will come back to me? No more of this suicide nonsense?" Rose said hopefully.

Jeremy felt his eyes mist over.

"Yeah, I'm coming back, Rose."

"Damn!"

"Shut up, McCartney," Rose said while Jeremy laughed.

"Seriously though," Paul said to him, "you have to come back to us. I haven't known you that long but you're my mate and I've seen enough death to last me a lifetime these past few months, I don't want to add you to the list. Besides, you need to have your wedding so we can see it."

"Okay, well, I'm in a bedroom so don't blast me to smithereens then," Jeremy said.

"I hate to ask, mate, since you found a place to hide but can you come back this way and let us out?" the Doctor asked him. "We're trapped and the door needs to be unlocked from the outside."

"I'm on my way and yes, I'll be careful. I won't make this a suicide mission," he said.

"You better not or I'll bring you back to life and kill you myself," Rose said.

"And then I'll comfort the grieving widow."

"SHUT UP, MCCARTNEY!" Rose yelled as the Beatles howled with laughter. "Honestly, you didn't seem like you were that annoying when I watched you on telly."

"He has an eye for the ladies," John said as Jeremy stood up and looked around the bedroom.

"Yeah, but Jane's the only one for me now. However, I do have to say something when I see a beautiful lady, especially one I could comfort after the death of her husband and…oh wait, Jane's listening in, oops"

Jeremy chuckled at that. He listened while Rose asked Jane how she put up with him while he looked for something to use as a weapon. He ran over to the lamp, took off the shade, unplugged it and wrapped the cord around the base. He studied it, figuring he could either bash someone on the head or wrap the cord around their throat. He told them he was heading to the door and smiled when Rose told him lovingly to be careful. For the first time since he was created, he felt that Rose truly loved him and wasn't in love with an image of the Doctor. It warmed his human heart and suddenly he felt he had a real reason to live and he knew that he couldn't let himself fall into the Diablon's hands. He had to survive this, both for himself and for her. He slowly opened the door, clutching the base of the lamp in his other hand while he checked to make sure the coast was clear. Seeing no one in the hallway, he slipped out, closed the door behind him and made his way back to the Doctor.

"So now, I s'pose we just wait for Jeremy to get here," the Doctor said to everyone while he leaned up against the wall.

"Doctor, this…genetic marker I have. You can get it out of me, can't you?" Bill asked.

"Yes, I have something that will go into you DNA and erase the marker they put there," he said to Bill. "I'm sorry, mate, I really should have checked. I just didn't think of it."

"It's okay, I'm just glad it's something scientific and these people don't have some sort of psychic vision that allows them to see through time," Bill replied.

"No. The only ones who are that powerful are people like the Black and White Guardians and the Eternals and I haven't seen any evidence of them since the Time War."

He noticed their confusion and smiled.

"I'll have to elaborate sometime when we're not in this mess," he said to them. "For now, we have to concentrate on getting out of her and…"

He heard someone outside the door and stepped away from the wall.

"Jeremy?" he said.

"Yeah," Jeremy said. "Wait a tic; I've just about got it."

The Doctor grinned when the door slid back and Jeremy was standing there, lamp in hand. Jeremy was taken aback when the Doctor ran up and embraced him.

"Don't ever talk about suicide ever again, you got it?" he said as he embraced his clone.

Jeremy smiled again and hugged him back.

"Yeah, I got it," he said.

The Doctor broke away from him and stared at the lamp in his hand.

"For defense, honestly," Jeremy said quickly.

"And like I said, we've gotten past the whole genocide thing so don't feel you have to clarify things like this," he said, pointing to the lamp. "I sussed out why you had it, mate, and I didn't think it was for killing. Now…now that we're all together, may I suggest we go meet up with the Yellow Submarine and get the hell outta here before all Hell really breaks loose!"

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