Untold Knowledge (Doctor Who x Genius Fem! Oc) [Book 1]

Chapter 52: Army of Ghosts

Rose and the Doctor were within the Tardis gathering what they'd need as Echo stayed outside to keep Jackie company. "According to the paper, they've elected a ghost as MP for Leeds." the blonde said as the Time Lord worked below the console floor.

"Ah, humans. You never cease to amaze me." he mused in return.

She then paused for a long moment in contemplation, then decided to go ahead anyway. "Doctor, can I ask you something? If you're okay with it, that is."

"Of course." came his carefree response.

Taking a deep breath; Rose proceeded. "What's going on between you and Echo? What is she to you? Do you-- uhm..." she then cut herself off, not wanting to push him if it wasn't her place to know. But her curiosity couldn't be cast aside.

There was a long pause, making a tsunami of uncertainty crash around within the curious blonde. He then slowly came back into view with a ghostbuster's looking backpack complete with hosepipe. He then checked his equipment over with a subconsciously formed grin of adoration. "If I'm to be completely honest... She makes me feel like I can finally breath." he said with unconditional love pouring from his momentarily unseeing eyes.

"What else?" Rose encouraged, wanting to know more.

His smile unknowingly grew, "When I see her, it's as if space and time become the finest point imaginable; as if time itself had collapsed into one tiny speck and exploded at light speed. It quickly evolved and solidified. As if my universe suddenly began and ended with her. I could run forever, search forever. But in the end, every path always leads right back to her. She's not mine... I'm hers." He never realized just how much he had fallen so helplessly infatuated with the one being he'd always looked up to all his life, consuming him completely. He felt impossibly stronger than ever before, yet also incomprehensibly weaker. He was overwhelmingly elated and cripplingly terrified. The truth was, he had no idea what he felt. Though, his gratefulness for having been able to even meet her at all was indefinable and in no way regrettable.

Rose hid her disappointment and jealousy flawlessly as she gave him a smile. Before she could say another word, they then heard Echo's muffled voice outside the Tardis. "Doctor, it's almost a quarter to." she informed, refusing to miss their ghostly chance.

Once he came out with the needed equipment, the brunette went to help him set everything up at a faster pace. "Don't go causing trouble. What's that lot do?" Jackie spoke, not sure what to feel.

"They triangulate their point of origin." Echo said kindly as she connected a few wires.

Rose stood in the doorway of the Tardis with great interest. "I don't suppose it's the Gelth?"

The Doctor shook his head. "Nah. They were just coming through one little rift. This lot are transporting themselves over the whole planet. Like tracing paper." he explained.

"I remember running into the Gelth a few times. Pompous pricks. Made sure they didn't avoid their deserved fate." Echo mused with a slight up turn at the corners of her mouth.

Her Doctor gave her a surprised look. "Really? Why?"

She shrugged, "They attempted to capture me so they could try and force me to end the war in their favor. In response, I made sure they felt the full wrath the war had to offer and brought them down to the level they thought most disgraceful."

Jackie folded her arms with annoyance. "You're always doing this. Reducing it to science. Why can't it be real? Just think of it, though. All the people we've lost. Our families coming back home. Don't you think it's beautiful?"

"I think it's horrific." he answered honestly and without hesitation. "Rose, give us a hand." He then ran back inside to show Rose how to complete the necessary tasks needed.

"What do you think about the ghosts, Echo?" Jackie then inquired with obvious hope shining from her expecting eyes.

The brunette studied her for a moment, then nodded in understanding. "I have experienced the death of my family. I've felt what it's like to have them be returned and ripped away not long after each and every time. Therefore, I agree with the Doctor. The dead must move on. Though, from my perspective, it doesn't really matter. Nobody exists on purpose, nobody belongs anywhere, everybody's going to die. No reason to be affected by it."

Jackie looked at the ground, truly understanding though unable to deny her sorrow. Without saying another word, the frowning mother then went into the Tardis to accompany her daughter. Moments later did her lover come back outside, signaling her to keep an eye on everything she could as they activated their device. "What's it doing?" Echo asked of Rose, to whom was still in the Tardis to make sure nothing malfunctioned.

"It's holding! It's alright!" she called back, ready to use the few specific controls she'd been shown, case anything were to happen.

"You even look like them." her mother commented with saddened dislike.

Rose smirked with pride, unable to not compare herself to the brunette dimension hopper. "I suppose I do." she mused.

With furrowed brow and a dislike for the difference, Jackie decided to continue. "You've changed so much."

"For the better." Rose defended immediately.

She shrugged with a sigh. "I suppose."

Rose gave her a look, then looked back at the scream in front of her. "Mum, I used to work in a shop."

"I've worked in shops. What's wrong with that?" her mother shot back without skipping a beat.

Holding back an eye roll of annoyance, the younger blonde shook her head. "I didn't mean it like that."

"I know what you meant. But what happens when I'm gone?" she asked, desperate for an answer. But mostly just worried for her only daughter. The one part of life she refused to let be taken.

Rose gave her a look of disturbance. "Don't talk like that."

But Jackie refused to give up until her point was understood. "No, but really. When I'm dead and buried, you won't have any reason to come back home. What happens then?"

"I don't know." came her quiet reply, avoiding eye contact as her truth circled her mind yet again.

"Do you think you'll ever settle down?"

Seeing as she'd already made her decision long ago, her answer came easily. "The Doctor never will, so I can't either. I'll just keep on traveling."

Her answer only increased Jackie's concern. "And you'll keep on changing. And in forty years time, fifty, there'll be this woman, this strange woman, walking through the marketplace on some planet a billion miles from Earth. But she's not Rose Tyler. Not anymore. She's not even human."

Rose then paused for a moment with unseeing eyes, considering such a future. "Maybe then he'll choose me..." she mumbled to herself, the ghost of a smile playing on her lips. The one comment that gave Jackie the final clue that Rose had indeed changed far too much.

"What's the scanner say?" came Echo's question from outside.

"It says Delta One Six!" the blonde informed a second later.

Just then did a 'ghost' appear within the confines of their meticulously placed cones, getting caught in their energy field like a fly trapped in the web of a hungry spider. The Doctor turned a few dials, making it writhe aggressively. "Don't like that much, do you? Who are you? Where are you coming from?" The apparition then tried to break free. "Whoa! That's more like it! Not so friendly now, are you?" Less than a minute later, the ghosts vanished earlier than expected. Never the less, they quickly cleaned everything up and went back into the Tardis. "We said so! Those 'ghosts' have been forced into existence from one specific point, and we can track down the source. Allons-y!" Without hesitation, he then quickly got to work piloting them to the correct destination.