PREDATOR AND PREY
Chapter Twenty Two The bus stopped near a large Mexican restaurant. The outside of it resembled a Spanish hacienda and mariachi music blared from a speaker near the door. John checked the amount of cash in his wallet before all of them went inside. The interior had adobe walls with southwestern and Mexican décor on the walls and the same music blaring from speakers overhead. A young Hispanic waitress led them to a large table near the back of the restaurant. The table was in front of a large window and sombreros and serapes decorated the walls beside it. They sat down and the waitress put a large bowl of tortilla chips down on the table in between them along with some hot and mild salsa. She gave them glasses of water and menus, took their drink orders and left. The Doctor looked around at the people sitting around them. "This is nice," he said to John. "Yeah. I got tired of sitting in my hotel room and took a chance one day and went out and explored. I found this place and grew quite fond of it. It has great food so order whatever you like." Rose took a tortilla chip out of the bowl and nibbled on it. She was sitting next to John while the Doctor and River sat across from them. Jack sat beside River and Amy and Rory sat beside John. "How did you decide on Albuquerque?" the Doctor asked John. "Well, obviously, getting out of England was top priority," John said. "Although…I had to practically drag Jackie onto the plane before she'd come. She's furious that I left Rose behind so Rose, you'll get an earful when you see her again, just warning ya." "I told you to leave me behind and take the coral somewhere," Rose said. "That doesn't matter to Jackie. All she knows is I left you behind so just warning you that she'll probably yell at you for staying behind. But…we decided on here. Jackie wanted someplace warm and I thought perhaps the Valeyard would start with Europebefore looking here. We used fake names and passports and got out before the terror alert went out." "Terror alert?" Jack said. John snorted. "Remember when Saxon said you were terrorists and put your faces on the telly? Valeyard did that as well. Said we were terrorists and somehow was able to put our names on a no fly list. But we left before he did it." "But that means you can't fly anywhere now," River said. "Yup. Which is why I never tried to go back for Rose. We got stuck here and unless we all have extensive plastic surgery and wear heavy disguises, we'll more than likely be nabbed the moment we show up at the airport. That made Jackie even more angry because Rose was stuck in England and here we were and we couldn't get back to her. That's why I started exploring on my own because I got tired of her constantly asking when we'd go back to find her. Course being angry and being fearful for Rose's safety hasn't stopped her from shopping. Here we are being chased by a madman and she's still wanting to go to the shops." "Well, I can't fault her for that. I did that too," Rose said. "Yeah but even you had sense enough to buy small items. You oughta see the huge Indian handmade pot she has in her room now. Tony can almost sit inside it. How we're gonna get that back to England, I'll never know. I s'pose she'll be badgering you for the TARDIS now," he said to the Doctor. "Sorry, I'm not a delivery service. I'll transport her but not a pot. She's got more important things to worry about right now." "You'd think that but then you see her pull Pete into another southwestern curios shop and buy something else. I s'pose she probably figures if she's gonna die, she'll die with new items to look at. For those of you in our group who have never met Jackie, I pity you because she's one of those people you could do without but since she's Rose's mum, we'll all have to tolerate her." "So this Valeyard," Rory said, "has he taken over London then?" John held his tongue since the waitress returned with their drinks. After placing them in front of everyone, they all ordered their meals and she left. Once she was out of earshot, John apologized for the delay. "From what I can glean from internet and telly and the newspapers, he hasn't done much of anything that I can see, at least not publically," John said to Rory. "If his aim is to take over the world, he's doing it behind the scenes since no one's mentioned him. He has his spies though; we found a few planted inside Torchwood." "Yes. Rose said someone betrayed her to him," the Doctor said while Rose nodded. "But it seems like he has no idea who you really are and doesn't seem to know what the TARDIS is." "Yes. And that's an advantage for us since he won't be trying to locate the TARDIS," John said. "All the same you should still hide it since he is trying to get his hands on our coral so he obviously wants a time machine." "Which might explain why he hasn't made much noise," Jack said. "He might think it's too much trouble to take over the world now when he could just lay his hands on a time machine, go back in time and seize the world then." "That was my thought as well," John said with a nod. "If he's anything like the other Valeyard, he won't make any sudden moves. Everything will be worked out and carried out with clockwork precision. Did you manage to get away from him, Rose?" "No. He captured me and did a mind probe," Rose said, leaving out mention of the torture she went through. "So he may know the truth about me now," John said with a sigh. "Great. And I'm sure he'll now want a highly advanced half alien being to go with his time machine. But that's not as important as the fact that you got away from him and you're safe now." "John. The Doctor looked at my memories to see what happened when I was captured and he knows about the part Time Lord thing." "And I did a scan on the TARDIS and the diagnosis is correct. She's part Time Lord," the Doctor said. John took a sip of his iced tea before he answered the Doctor. "And how do you feel about that?" he asked the Doctor. "I have mixed feelings. I wish the Bad Wolf hadn't changed her but I'm glad she didn't suffer like Donna did." "Huh? Bad Wolf? What's the Bad Wolf got to do with it and what do you mean Donna suffered? Suffered how?" John said. Rose told him about the dream and then the Doctor told everyone what happened to Donna. While he was talking, their food came but everyone was too busy listening to the Doctor to start eating. While the Doctor was describing what happened to Donna, John sat in a stricken silence. "I always feared that would happen," John said when the Doctor finished speaking. "Oh God, Donna…I know that touching that jar was part of her destiny but all the same…" He shook his head and took another sip of iced tea. "If that's what happened to her…yes, I'm glad Rose was spared that. I couldn't think of anything worse than to have her lose all her memories of traveling with us," he said, giving her hand a squeeze. "But where does this leave us now that I'm going to grow old and die and she'll remain young. Is she going back to you now?" "Perhaps we can speak about that when we get back to the hotel…in private," the Doctor said. "We need to come up with a plan to get to the Valeyard and stop him. That's my first priority." John nodded and Rose gave his hand a squeeze. The Doctor kept his face passive when she threaded her fingers in between his and they held hands. He hoped that John would accept their idea of letting Rose be with him for the moment and not fly off the handle that now he was stepping back in and laying a claim on her again. To his credit, John said nothing more about their situation and instead everyone ate and began to brainstorm on a workable plan to get back to England and stop the Valeyard.
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