Until We Burn | Dr Who

Chapter Sixty-Six: Utopia

The intercom calls for all passengers to board. I do everything I can to help the others prepare, partly in search of anything to distract me.

I can still feel the Doctor's occasional glance my way. I spare him a few myself, still trying to make sense of it all.

A slight nudge catches my attention. Looking over, I return Jack's warm smile. He hands me the soldering iron so that I can complete a circuit for the rocket. "So, how you been?" he asks.

"Fine. Found the Coin, by the way."

It doesn't register at first. Then his eyes widen in excitement and he pulls me into a tight hug. "Wait, really? That's amazing!"

"But... it didn't work," I gingerly add, returning to my task. "Got trapped in the parallel universe for five years as a result. Did become the Head of Torchwood Institute, though. That was interesting."

"No way!" he laughs. "Me too!"

The soldering iron slips. Hissing in pain, I hurriedly wipe off the spot of molten metal from my finger and suck on it. "Minerva's sake!" I mutter along with a few more colourful curses. "Hang on, really?"

"Is that so shocking?"

I hurriedly shake my head, gesturing for him to hand me the last fuse. "No. You just always talked about how much you hated leadership responsibilities. As someone well aware of what that bloody place is like, it's not exactly a relaxing job."

He shrugs and dumps a pile of cables on the desk next to me, connecting them to a socket in the wall. "Yeah," he says, "but we've downsized a little. Work the odd case, even been running a search for the Coin. Was gonna track it down and find a way to get it to you. You should come meet the team at some point, I think you'd all get on pretty well."

My grin softens. I quietly reply, "I'd like that. And maybe I could even... you know, come work with you?"

This isn't as comforting to him as I expected. Glancing over to where the Doctor and Professor Yana confer over the main wall of circuits, he sighs, "Trouble in paradise?"

"You could put it that way," I mumble bitterly, doubling down on my work just so I don't have to look over at him for another while. "Really did feel like paradise for a bit. I don't know. Maybe the Gods are trying to tell me something; I should go it alone, no distractions. As long as I can still travel a bit, I don't think I'll mind."

"Are you sure about that?"

The speakers buzz before I get the chance to answer. "Professor, tell the Doctor we've found his blue box."

Sure enough, we glance at the screens and footage of the Tardis shows up, along with some supply boxes. They must have driven it all the way here. "Doctor?" Jack calls, gesturing to it.

They join us. His enthusiasm grows at the sight of his ship. "Professor, it's a wild stab in the dark, but I might just have found you a way out."

In no time, the Doctor has brought her into the lab. He runs out, dragging a large cable with him to plug into the mains. "Extra power. Little bit of a cheat, but who's counting? Jack, you're in charge of the retrofeeds. Inara, have you got the secondaries done?"

"Almost."

The door to the lab opens and Martha and Chantho enter with more equipment. She laughs in relief when she notices the ship. "Oh, am I glad to see that thing!"

Yana stumbles again, grasping the edge of a concrete pillar for support. His assistant hurries over to steady him, bringing a stool for him to sit on. "Chan, Professor, are you all right, tho?"