WRAITHS OF THE RIPPER
Chapter Twenty Four (The next morning…) John woke early in order to be awake when the Doctors opened their eyes. He stood and put his hands on the small of his back, stretching and trying to get the ache out of his muscles. He hoped they could find a house with a large bath so he could get clean. The floor was dusty and he was sure the dust and other grime was all over his body now. He heard a slight squeak from the beds and turned to see Ten stirring. He lay there a moment before slowly opening his eyes. John walked over to him and Ten gazed up at him. "Where am I?" he said. "An inn. We decided to spend the night here before finding someplace to live," John said. "Where is the inn?" Ten said. "Southwark," John said. Ten glanced at Eleven who was still snoring softly. "Damn it, man, go and wake Jim. We need to get going," he said to John as the gestured to Eleven. "And where are Rory and Amy and Rani?" "In the next room." Ten nodded. He slowly sat up on the side of the bed while Ten walked over to Eleven. He shook him gently and Eleven snorted and opened his eyes. "Yeah?" he said. "George?" "No, it's John." "Blimey, you need to wear a bell or somethin'," Eleven said, rising up on his elbow. "Can't tell the two of ya apart. Where are we?" "In an inn in Southwark," John said. "We were having a celebratory drink in the pub and you and George had a bit too much." "Ugh, I can see that," Eleven said groggily as he slowly sat up on the side of the bed. "So we find new lodgings today?" "Yes and one of us has to go talk to the police and see if they'll employ us. I have the letter of introduction in my pocket." Before losing their memories, it was decided that the four men had been inspectors in Sheffield and were moving to London. The TARDIS helped make fake letters of introduction and credentials for them, all of which were in John's pocket. While they were waking up, John told them he'd check on Rory and his family and left the room. He went next door and knocked gently on the door, calling to them. Rory opened the door. "They're awake," John said. "They want us to get a move on so we can find a house." "Just waking up now," Rory said. "I'll tell the family." "Right-o, going back to the other room now," John said. Rory shut the door while John went into the other room. "They're awake and getting ready," he said to the Doctors as he shut the door. "Good," Eleven said. "Because I'm ready for a more comfortable bed. How about you, George?" "Yes, a comfortable bed will do just fine," Ten said, nodding. John gazed at the two men as they made their beds and got ready. He was a bit of a loss as to how he was going to convince the two of them to go hunting for the Ripper in Whitechapel when there hadn't been any murders committed yet. He'd spent some part of the night lying awake in thought, trying to come up with a way to convince them to patrol Spitalfields, especially since most policemen were adverse to going in there. "I was thinking," he said, sitting on Eleven's bed after he made it, "perhaps a good place to start here would be Spitalfields." Eleven spun around and gave him a shocked look. "Whitechapel?" he said. "That's the most depraved area of the whole bleedin' city." "Yeah but it's also the part of the city in need of the most help," John said patiently. "I mean, we came here because Sheffield was dull, yeah?" "Yeah but I didn't want to plunge right in to the slums," Eleven said. "But we'll probably be given the slums since we're at the bottom of the ladder here," John said, wishing the two of them hadn't put themselves into fob watches. "I'm sure the higher up you go, the easier assignments you get." Eleven made a face and looked at Ten. "Just what I wanted to hear, out amongst the whores and degenerates in Merry Olde London," he said to Ten. Ten shrugged. "One assignment's good as another, Jimmy, my boy," he said, putting his jacket on. "At least we won't be bored working there." "P'eh, yeah I'm sure we won't," Eleven said dryly. XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO Thankfully though, they spent the majority of the morning trying to find a house. They finally found one several streets down from the lodging house. The house was a bit rundown but not dilapidated. The owner lived next door. He was a middle aged man called Jasper. He had short blonde hair that was slightly grey around the temples and a slightly lined and kind face. He showed them around the interior. It was two stories with plenty of room for everyone. It was dusty and dirty in places but it came with furniture and a good supply of coal for the huge stove in the kitchen and wood for the fireplaces. The rent was fifty shillings a month and John paid him one month's rent. Jasper thanked them and pocketed the money. "It's not Buckingham Palace but it's comfortable," Jasper said to them. "And it has fireplaces in almost every room so you'll be warm this winter. Rumor is it's a bit haunted as well." "Really?" Ten said, interested. "Yeah, there was a horrific murder several years ago. Man chopped his wife up and buried her out back. Supposedly, her ghost haunts the place." John and Eleven shared a glance and Eleven rolled his eyes at that while John sniggered softly. They looked over when someone appeared at the door. Jasper smiled as a young woman entered. "Ah, this is my daughter, Sally," he said, pointing to her. John's eyes boggled. Sally looked almost exactly like Rose, except her hair was a darker blonde and curlier. She was wearing a blue dress with ruffles on them and John had to shake his head to stop thinking it really was Rose. He glanced around and noticed Amy, Rory and Rani had also noticed the resemblance. Eleven looked unconcerned as he told her hello but Ten…John raised his eyebrow when he saw the gobsmacked look on Ten's face. "Hello, everyone," Sally said shyly. She didn't have Rose's voice; her voice was slightly higher and had a more refined accent. But that didn't stop Ten from coming forward, taking her hand and kissing the back of it. "Pleasure," Ten said to her. He stepped back as everyone else came forward to introduce themselves but John could tell his counterpart was smitten. As before, he realized that not all memories of Rose had been purged from his mind. Wonder if this means the start of another romance for my human sire, he thought to himself as he stepped forward to introduce himself to Sally.
Back Home Doctor Who Main Page Next