SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW
Chapter Nine Jackie was lagging behind Alan and Rose trying not to advertise the fact that she was with them since Alan was currently doing a little shuffle and singing a song loudly as Rose and him walked towards the restaurant. “It’s a beautiful day in Norway. I’m with my girl and feeling happy and gay,” he sang as Rose bent over laughing. “We heading to the restaurant for a hot dog and afterwards, I’m gonna snog and snog.” By this time, Rose was laughing so hard, she could barely stand. Alan grabbed a hold of her middle and leaned her onto him while she gasped for air. “You are more musically inclined than the Doctor is, I’ll give you that,” she finally got out. “Hey, when I’m with you, I have a song in my heart and it just bursts out of me from time to time.” “Well, make sure you keep your songs to yourself in the restaurant,” Jackie said. “Jackie’s being quite a bore, do-dah, do-dah; my singing is making her awfully sore, oh, da-do-da-day!” Rose giggled insanely while Jackie rolled her eyes. “Stop it, I’m gonna wet myself!” Rose said, slapping his chest. “The fjords are aliiiive with the sound of Rose’s laaaaaaaughing.” “That’s it, if you’re gonna act like a little child, I’ll find somewhere else to eat,” Jackie said. “Alright, I’ll tone it down, somewhat. Blimey, someone’s in a nark, huh?” he said to Rose. “Well, you are a bit too loud. I think you need to use your indoor voice, yeah?” “Thank you,” Jackie replied. “No one appreciates good music, I guess,” Alan said as Rose sniggered. “Alright, if I must conform to you non-musical, show tune hating apes, I will. But, there’s no guarantee that I won’t take a bite of polsa and be so moved by the succulent flavor that I won’t leap up and start serenading the place with Disney tunes. That’s just the way I am.” “In that case, I want the old Doctor back,” Jackie muttered under her breath. “At least he knew that he might get a knuckle sandwich if he went too far.” Rose squeezed Alan around the middle. “You’re being awfully cheerful,” she said. Alan sighed. “Yeah, well, I’m trying to bolster myself for what lies ahead.” “Don’t worry, mum is not gonna bite your head off. Like I said, let me handle it.” “You’re a very brave woman, you know that?” “So…you’ve inherited the Doctor’s fear of me mum, have you?” “Who wouldn’t be afraid of her? Look at her! I think she’s a slab, personally.” “A what?” “Slab. Slave race. Made entirely of leather, which is what your mum’s face resembles, all old and leathery and completely unsettling to look at. I pray to almighty God I don’t look that way when I’m ninety years old.” He snickered when Rose slapped him on the chest. Rose and Alan sat beside each other in the restaurant while the waitress took their order. “Come on, mum, try the polsa, it’s really good,” Rose said to her. Jackie nodded. “Alright, I’ll have what they’re having, except I want tea instead of Coke,” she said to the waitress. She nodded, wrote it down on her pad and walked back to the kitchen. Once she was gone, Jackie turned her attention to Alan. “Alright, out with it. What do you have to tell me?” she said. Alan sighed and cleared his throat. “Jackie, we’ve been talking and we’ve decided not to go back with you to London.” Jackie gave him a confused look. “What? Where are you going then?” “All over, mum,” Rose said. “We wanna go off on our own and see the world.” Jackie put her head in her hands. “I knew it. I knew he wouldn’t settle down and act properly for once,” she muttered. “I’m sorry, Jackie, but I don’t like being tied down to one place,” Alan said, angrily. “Well, I s’pose since you’re half human now, you’ll just have to learn, won’t you?” She glanced around; realizing she had said that a bit too loudly and people were staring at her. She looked at Alan who was staring back at her with fire in his eyes. “How are you gonna live?” she said, avoiding his gaze and focusing on Rose. “You gonna live off the land while you’re out there?” “If we have to, yes.” “I don’t believe this. You’ve gone completely off your trolley,” she said, throwing up her hands. She glared at Alan. “You…he…both of you have been trouble for my daughter the day the Doctor walked into my flat.” “If it wasn’t for your daughter’s contribution, the other Earth would have been atoms by now and that was mainly due to the fact that the Doctor showed Rose her true potential. If he had never showed up in her life, it still would have only been a matter of time before she either took off by herself or fell into a deep depression because she is like him and me. We are both free spirits and neither one of us wants to be chained down to one place.” “Well, that’s gonna be a problem seeing as how you don’t own a TARDIS anymore.” “Oh, au contraire, we do in fact own a TARDIS.” He reached into his pocket and whipped out the coral. Jackie stared at it. “That…is a TARDIS?” she said, pointing to it. “Yes, this is the beginnings of a TARDIS. TARDISes are grown and in ten years time, this will be big enough for us to get in and use and then it’s off to the stars,” he said, putting it back in his pocket. Jackie slammed her fist on the table. “You can’t keep this up forever, Rose. You are getting too old for this. You need to go back to Torchwood and focus on a career.” “No, I don’t want that. I want to be with Alan and go with him in the TARDIS when it’s ready for us to use. I don’t like working at Torchwood, it bores me. Alan’s right, I’m not content with having a domestic life, I want something more.” “And what’s Torchwood gonna say when you tell them you’ll be off walking around the world?” “I’m gonna tell them they owe me, mum. I just worked my butt off for them and UNIT saving the bleedin’ universe. All universes, in fact. I’m the one who risked my life using the dimension cannon to go and find the Doctor. I have put my life on the line and I need a rest. They got along fine without me before I came there and they can get along fine if I go on a leave of absence. I have worked these past two years without a break because I was trying not to think about the Doctor. Therefore, I have holiday time coming and I’m taking it, whether you like it or not. And…when ten years are up, I’m going with Alan. I’m an adult and if I want to walk off with him to see the world, then I will.” “And what happens when you finally decide to come back?” “Then, for the moment, I’ll go back to work at Torchwood and get us a flat of our own until it’s time for us to leave.” Jackie looked at Alan. “And what about you? What will you do for ten years? Live off my daughter?” “No, I’ll live with you, so you’ll have to provide for me and my brood of alien stomach children that I’ll be having with Rose.” “Don’t sass me or so help me God…” Rose quickly cut in before Jackie decked Alan. “He can come to work with me at Torchwood. He can help out as an advisor if he wants.” Alan looked at her. “Um…wouldn’t that be a bad idea considering the Doctor is public enemy number one in Torchwood’s eyes.” She shook her head. “It’s not like that here. As far as we can tell, the Doctor doesn’t exist here and believe me, I’ve looked. The reason this Torchwood got started was because of the Roswell spaceship crash in 1945. After that happened, Torchwood was founded in case of alien invasion. It has nothing to do with the Doctor, so there’s no danger of you working there. I’m not saying you have to, I’m just saying it’s an option until the coral is ready. I mean, it’s boring, but from time to time there is some weird stuff that happens or alien encounters and things like that.” “Weird stuff and alien encounters and you’re bored with it?” Alan said. “Yeah, well…nothing beats the TARDIS, let’s put it that way,” she muttered. “But, he could do that and help out financially while we wait to leave.” “I can’t believe you’re really going through with this. Bad enough you put your life on the line at Torchwood, but now you’re going right back into the TARDIS and heading off again while I wait at home and worry. And not only that, I have to worry if you’re gonna be safe while you walk the Earth.” “I will be perfectly safe. I am more than capable of taking care of myself and Alan will be with me.” “Yeah, and according to the Doctor, he’s a threat to the universe. Isn’t that why he was dumped here?” Rose flinched when Alan leaned forward with an enraged look on his face. “Let me set the record straight, Jackie,” he said through clenched teeth. “I am no more a threat than he is. In fact, the very thing he’s accusing me of, which is committing genocide on the Daleks, he did himself in the Time War. In order to prevent all of creation from being overrun and destroyed, he killed every Dalek and destroyed Gallifrey in the process. I did the exact same thing as he did and he punished me for it. But, not only did he commit genocide on the Daleks and nearly committed genocide on the Gallifreyans, he also committed genocide on the Racnoss. And, when he was first here in this reality, he used a cancellation code on the Cybermen’s inhibitor chip, which drove them all insane and ultimately led to their deaths. Then, just before he left in the TARDIS with Rose, he gave the mobile containing the code to Mickey and Jake and told them to go all over the world and kill every Cyberman they could find. That day at Canary Wharf, he opened a void and sucked in all the remaining Cybermen and the Daleks, save the Cult of Skaro. The Void is complete nothingness, which means both sentient species are spending the rest of their lives in a living death. That’s just the short list, Jackie, he’s also killed many more bad guys and aliens and monsters when it was convenient for him to do so. I’ve only killed the Daleks so far, so if I were you, I wouldn’t be quite so concerned about Rose’s safety. I love her with every fiber of my being and I would die before I let something happen to her and seeing as how, unlike my double, I have only one life to give, that is really saying something.” He leaned back up and everyone fell silent when the waitress came over with their food. They waited until she left before Jackie spoke again. “You gonna wait until Pete and Tony get here before you do this?” she asked. “Yes, I will wait and see them. But, neither one of us wants to go back to London,” Rose said with a sigh. She took Jackie’s hand. “Mum, we need to be alone. We need to sort out what’s happened to us and work on our relationship in private. I want to be with Alan for the rest of my life and right now, we have some things we need to work on. He was born in the shadow of the Doctor and there’s still a lot of insecurity within him, especially when it comes to where my loyalties lie. I want to have time to bond with him and he feels the same. I will never be safer in this world than when I’m at his side. He’s different from the Doctor in a lot of ways, but he’s exactly the same when it comes to his need to protect me. I know you want me to live a normal life, but I can’t and neither can he. That’s not the way we are and no matter how long I work at Torchwood, I’m never gonna be happy. You heard Donna, the Doctor gave me a great gift when he left me Alan and I fully intend to take advantage of this situation and have a life with him that I could never have with the Doctor. In just one day, I’ve seen a side of Alan that I’ve never seen with the Doctor and I love it. I don’t want to lose this. I don’t want to lose him. So, I want just as badly to go off and have some fun and grow closer to him. Please, mum, please understand and be happy for me that I finally have a chance at true happiness.” Jackie looked at Alan who was observing everything quietly. “I want you to give me the same promise that the Doctor did. I…” “Yes, Jackie, I swear upon all of creation that I will protect your daughter, Rose, at every possible turn and defend her life even at the cost of my own.” Jackie nodded. “Then, you have my permission. However, once Pete gets here and I get some more money, you two will go shopping and get some supplies. I don’t want you two just going off without nothing, is that understood?” Both of them nodded. She sighed and picked up her knife and fork. “I just hope you know that Pete’s probably not gonna like this,” she said as she began to cut up her polsa.
Back Home Doctor Who Main Page Next