THE SWAN SONG

Another one of the old poets whose name has escaped my memory at present called Truth the daughter of time

Aulus Gelius


Symbol Upon the Window

"Carly, Carly wake up"

Carly groaned at the soft voice that filled her with comfort and at the same time made her head ache. A large yet fine hand shook her shoulder, making it difficult for her to fall back asleep.

"Come on darling, I made you a nice fry-up"

The idea of eating made her want to vomit but she opened her eyes anyway. Pat stood over her, her face clean of make up though you can make out shadows of where her make up had been. Her bleached blonde hair looked floppy without its hairspray and her hands and ears looked naked without their big glittering jewels.

"Pat" she whispered. "What time is it?"

"Nine o'clock. You haven't got long till Charlie picks you up and takes you the airport, eat your breakfast, have a shower and finish packing" Carly held her hands up, silently asking for help. She had too much pride to admit she was too weak to get out of bed; Pat took her hands and hauled her up. "Are you ok darling? You look rather pale"

"I have a headache but don't worry it'll go away soon" Carly said flashing Pat a weak smile. "Where is Denise?"

"She's gone to finalise the arrangements for Libby to stay with the Trumans" Pat sighed heavily. "It's going to feel so empty without you all. I already miss yours and Chelsea's fighting, Libby chatting away about the latest science, Deano being his usual childish self and Denise telling your father off"

"I miss it all too" Carly whispered as she followed Pat out and down the stairs. Libby was picking at her plate, her frizzy hair in its usual ponytail; her soft brown eyes filled with sorrow, the cheerful geeky girl looked lost. "Hi Libby" Carly said sitting herself down opposite.

"Hi" Libby said glumly.

After a couple silent and tense filled minutes of the two girls trying to eat their fry-up while Pat potted away brewing cups of tea for everyone, Denise entered holding a black clay vase causing everyone to freeze.

"Is that...?" Pat asked quietly. Denise nodded and Libby immediately pushed her breakfast away, no longer able to eat as Pat embraced Denise. "Oh my dear" Pat said rubbing Denise's back.

Carly got up. "I got to go...sorry" she said before she ran out of the kitchen and up the stairs. She threw herself into her bedroom and began to wildly pack the last minute things, she accidentally knocked her jewellery box onto the floor and a large flat circular disk flew out amongst the necklaces and bracelets.

Carly paused before she bent down and picked the disk up. She took it out of the Garage yesterday before the funeral when she picked up her tools to keep in Pat's while she was travelling. This secretive disk that made no sense, this thing with a giant yellow button that had been with her since before she can remember...

It gave her comfort.

She held it to her chest and sighed, tears dribbling down her cheeks.

"I miss you Dad" she croaked. "So much"

DWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDW

Denise watched Carly from the corner of her eye. They were sitting in Charlie's cab in silence both unable to speak, unable to think of small frivolous things like the weather when Kevin's ashes sat between them. The young blonde girl was resting her forehead against the glass, her eyes half shut and her breath fogging up the glass.

Even though she was not Kevin's biological daughter, Denise swore that the young girl had his eyes. Those intelligent, glittering, all-knowing eyes. The eyes that were made to see the world. When Denise found out that Carly and Deano were not Kevin's children she was shocked. The pair was so much like their father.

Deano even looked like a younger version of Kevin, then again maybe that was just everyone's assumptions and wishful thinking since the young man was taller and his facial features were finer and more defined. Carly acted more like her father, the same intelligence and way of thinking. The same anti-domestics yet settling down anyway, the same sense of humour and the same loving instincts.

Carly lifted her head away from the window and began to draw with her finger. Denise narrowed her eyes at the strange circular yet not circular sign; Carly pulled her finger away stared at it for a while and then drew another.

And another and another.

Eventually Denise grabbed hold of Carly's wrist. "Don't do that" she said sternly. "It's dirty and childish. I expected something like that from Ben Mitchell or Lucy Branning, not you"

Ben Mitchell and Abi Branning were some of the youngest members of Albert Square, both eleven and sweet. Ben was Carly's ex boss' son unlike his father he was sweet tempered and enjoyed watching musicals. His best friend was Abi, the daughter of Chelsea's ex boss, Tanya the hairdresser, she was also incredibly sweet tempered and loved all animals.

It was implied that she was acting like an eleven year old. In normal circumstances Carly would have glared at Denise before huffily turning away, however she could not bring herself to give the woman that her father had loved the cold shoulder. Especially when it was a time they needed each other.

"Sorry" she mumbled.

They remained silent till they got to the airport, after saying goodbye (and receiving bear hugs that almost squashed the life out of them) to Charlie they entered with their heads held up high.

However, they were both unaware that the strange symbols Carly had drawn were still remaining on the Cab window. Charlie had seen many things, recently had been very eventful. He had seen mannequins come alive, spaceships crash into Big Ben, the spaceship on Christmas Day where half of his daughters were reported to have been seen on the rooftops, the army of metal tinned men, the spider webbed star, the Royal Hope Hospital disappearing and that Lazarus incident. Last but not least he remembered seeing that Titanic replica just two weeks ago.

The same strange events had happened repeatedly since he could remember and he always observed them, reported them and usually several strange teams sorted it out and gave him a pat on the back.

So he took his mobile phone out and took a photo of the strange symbols and then sent them to the special number under the name UNIT...

DWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDW

"Hey guys come and look at this" Tosh said typing away on her computer, everyone gathered round and an image of a window with strange symbols drawn on popped up. "UNIT sent it; none of their alien experts could figure at its region let alone translate it"

Both JJ and Alex Rose's eyes widened when they examined the symbols.

"We know which language it is" JJ said numbly. "It's....its Galifreyan"

"You mean your language that the pair of you like to gossip in sometimes?" Owen said frowning at the memories of the twins whispering in a foreign language and giggling.

"No Owen that's Pig Latin" Alex Rose said rolling her eyes. "To actually speak Galifreyan is far too complicated, too many numbers and verbs. To speak Galifreyan is to attempt to speak Elven in those fantasy books"

"But you can read it?" Ianto asked.

"Well I can read the occasional word, my visions come in handy as a toddler I used to do nothing but draw these" Alex Rose said smiling at the memory of Donna telling her off for drawing on the wall. "I think Jack still has a few tucked away in his office"

"Any idea what this means?" Tosh asked. "UNIT wants an answer and fast"

Alex Rose lightly traced the symbol, careful to not actually touch the screen for Tosh would kill her for getting fingerprints and smudges on her screen.

"It means truth" Alex Rose said finally. "Just truth written over and over again"

"But why would anyone write that?" Gwen asked. "I mean only three know Galifreyan right? You two and your father so..."

"There is...one other person" JJ said starring at Alex Rose.

"No" she said firmly.

"It could be possible th-"

"No" she interrupted. "He is dead. He is not alive. I would have seen something"

"Alex, your visions come randomly. You sometimes see things years before it happens; sometimes you see everything the very minute before it happens. Besides he managed to block you last time he-"

"NO!" Alex Rose shrieked. "He is dead! I know he is and if he isn't I shall make sure he will be!"

Alex Rose then marched out of the Hub, refusing to look at anyone. JJ growled as he ran a hand through his hair before running after his twin.

"Do any of you get the impression that we're being kept in the dark?" Owen asked.

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