THE ADVENTURES OF THE DOCTOR'S AMAZING HAND

Chapter Forty Two

After Martha went to get the Doctor, Rose went back outside with John. She had butterflies in her stomach. She was glad he was free and going to be traveling with them but she wondered how he would feel about how close she and John had become in the meantime. Would there be any jealousy between him and John? She thought it odd that he would be jealous of his own hand for falling in love with Rose but she always said that John was now more than a hand to her. She hoped the Doctor would understand and accept that she loved them both.

While she sat on the hill, looking towards the driveway, James came outside. She smiled and waved at him and he started walking towards her.

"So, I'll finally get to meet the famous Doctor," James said when he reached the hill.

"Yup. I'm glad. You'll like him," Rose said.

"You think he'll care if I come along with you? I mean, he doesn't know me."

"Nah, that won't matter as long as you're helping us. Besides, he doesn't know Ianto," Rose said. "If you're on our side and willing to help, he'll welcome ya."

"Good, because I like all of ya, even Mister Hand here," he said, patting John's back. "And I want to help defeat the Master."

"Then the Doctor will welcome ya with open arms," Rose said.

They looked over near the house when they saw an opening in the air. There was a brief viewing of the vortex and then the Doctor and Martha appeared. Martha was carrying a rucksack filled with supplies and a red rolled up sleeping bag that Rose assumed was for the Doctor. Rose scooped up John and put him in her jacket before she and James ran to him. As they drew near, Rose slowed down when she saw his face and how badly bruised and bloodied it was. The Doctor brightened when he saw her and walked towards her but he stopped when he saw her horrified look.

"Don't worry," the Doctor said. "It looks worse than it is."

Rose flew into his arms and hugged him. The Doctor smiled and closed his eyes as he held her close. They remained like that while Martha ran inside to get Ianto and Marie. Rose pulled back and introduced James to the Doctor.

"A pleasure," James said, shaking his hand. "I started traveling with them and I've heard stories about ya."

"Oh, I hope they were favorable stories then," the Doctor said.

"He wants to help us bring down the Master," Rose said.

"Then it's also a pleasure to meet you," the Doctor said.

Ianto and Marie came outside. Martha introduced him and the Doctor shook Ianto's hand.

"Have you seen Jack lately?" Ianto asked him.

"No, I'm sorry. I wasn't allowed near him but according to Martha's sister, Tish, he's alive and in fairly good condition."

He smiled at Marie and thanked her for sheltering his friends. Marie invited him inside so he could rest and have something to eat and drink. The Doctor put his arm around Rose and everyone went back inside. When they were in the living room and Marie was in the kitchen, the Doctor sat down beside Rose on the sofa while Martha added the Doctor's sleeping bag and rucksack to everyone else's. The Doctor looked around and then leaned in to Rose's ear.

"Does everyone here know about my hand?" he whispered.

"Everyone except Marie," Rose whispered. "It was shocking enough finding out you were an alien, we didn't think she'd be able to handle a living hand on top of that."

"Is he here?" the Doctor whispered.

In response, John stuck his fingers out of the top of Rose's jacket.

"Aha, wondered why you had this on in the house," the Doctor whispered as he touched John's fingers. "Hello, my friend, nice to know you're still here with us."

Rose reached in and took him out. The Doctor took hold of him and smiled when he put him on his leg and patted his back. John stood up, flipped onto his wrist and waved at him.

Nice to see you again, he signed.

"And you, my friend," the Doctor said softly. "Worried about ya, being just a body part and all, it can be dangerous out here."

Tell me about it, John signed.

Just then Mimi came into the room. The Doctor grabbed John when she made a beeline for him and leapt up into his lap.

"It's alright, they're friends," Rose said.

The Doctor tentatively put John back down. John leapt up and the Doctor chuckled when he pet Mimi.

"Well, at least he knows how to deal with the wildlife," he said to Rose.

The Doctor quickly grabbed John and put him down his jacket when Marie came back into the room, carrying a cup of tea for the Doctor. He took it and graciously thanked her while Marie shooed Mimi off his lap. He took a sip and sighed.

"A decent cuppa. Haven't had one in ages," he said. "The Master can't make tea to save his life. Either that or he was giving me dishwater and calling it tea."

Marie walked back into the kitchen to get him some food. The Doctor sniggered when Mimi tried to get up in his lap and Rose shooed him away.

"She wants the surprise in my jacket," he said to Rose.

"Yes, she does that whenever he's in my jacket. She can smell him, I s'pose."

"Now, now, John's not smelly, are ya, John?" he said down his jacket before he took another sip of tea.

"So, do you think Lucy really helped you escape?" Martha asked.

"I don't know. I tried to get her to switch sides and she wouldn't and suddenly she changed her mind and took me to a transmat. She might have done but I'm not going to trust her completely, not until we've traveled a bit and haven't seen any of his goons. She gave me that mobile and for all I know, it's got a bug in it and they've been listening in. I hope not but I apologize if I've led them to you."

"Don't worry about it," Ianto said. "If you did, we'll just deal with them. It's not like there's any danger here anyway."

"Mmm, yes and I don't have my perception filter. I see Martha has hers so we have one for all of us. So we're gonna have to be clever in order to get past them. Plus, at some point I will have to go back up because I need to be up there, not only to help free the people we left behind but also because we need to be on the Valiant to spring the trap. That won't be for awhile yet."

"John and I were talking about…"

Rose fell silent when Marie came into the room carrying a plate with some ham and a couple of buttered croissants. The Doctor thanked her as he took the plate and then Marie sat down in her chair. The Doctor looked at Rose, urging her to continue her thought.

"I was saying that, how are we going to get the word out around the world in one year? Even with the vortex manipulator, we still have a lot of ground to cover. Is there a way we could hijack the satellites and send a message just to the people down here on Earth and tell them that way?"

The Doctor chewed his croissant thoughtfully while he considered that.

"We'd have to have something that could isolate the signal," Martha said. "So only humans could see it."

"Is that possible?" Ianto asked.

"It's possible," the Doctor said. "But it'd be tricky and we'd have to find a way to hack into the satellites."

"I was also thinking that we could tell others to spread the story by word of mouth," Rose said.

"Yeah, but we can't be sure that people would. People are scared," Martha said.

"Yes, but humans also have great courage," the Doctor said. "They might be scared now but there's only so much a person can take before they decide to risk it all and fight back. The Master can't monitor all communication on Earth which is why I decided to have you meet with people in secret. He may be a powerful adversary but he's not infallible and there are ways to subvert what he's doing. As for the satellites, we need a powerful enough computer to be able to hack into them and change the signal."

"Maybe a military base?" James said. "Or government men?"

"That's what I was thinking. Home computer won't do it. We need a very powerful computer and a military base might be our best bet. But…the Master might've taken over the bases so he can keep the people under his thumb. He's doing something to keep them submissive and I'm willing to bet he has more men under his control than the ones on board the Valiant. Someone has to keep the slave labor in line and the Toclafane aren't enough. The Toclafane are designed to kill and you can't keep killing off your slaves if they do something minor so they need extra muscle and I'm betting he's got hypnotized humans under his control."

"Plus," Ianto said. "He'll probably have people guarding the bases that house nuclear warheads."

"Exactly. He's making his own but why not take advantage of the ones that are already out there. So…we'll have to really come up with a good plan if we're going to do this. Otherwise, we'll have to go and talk to the people in small groups and like Rose said, that'll be time consuming and we won't be able to do it in a year. This ham is delicious by the way, thank you for fixing me some," he said to Marie.

"You're welcome, Monsieur," she said. "They told me you are alien but you don't look like one."

"Well, not all aliens are slobbering, slimy, tentacled nightmares," the Doctor said. "There are several species out there that resemble humans. In fact, my race has existed for billions of years before yours so you are the ones who resemble my people. But don't worry, I won't do anything they claim aliens do, I'm harmless. Just feed me ham and I'll be your best friend."

Marie smiled and nodded while the others laughed. The Doctor finished eating and Marie took his plate for him. When she came back, she told the Doctor he could rest in her bed, have a nap and recover from his injuries if he wanted to do that. The Doctor thanked her and gave Rose a gentle kiss on the cheek. Rose stood up and helped him stand. He put his arm around her and she helped him walk to Marie's bedroom while everyone else talked among themselves.

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