Dancing Across Time (Book Two of The Bad Wolf Chronicles)

Interlude: For Good

Saleen burst back into the TARDIS, laughing as she spun around. "Oh my God, that was so awesome!"

Jessie came in next, laughing as well, and finally the Doctor, who was grinning just as much as they were. "June 10, 2003!" he crowed as they headed for the library. "The first production of Wicked, starring Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel! Brilliant!"

"I still can't believe you had us impersonate bodyguards while you get to be the freaking Secretary of Defense!" Jessie shouted at him.

"Oi!" he cried back. "It was not that! It was Ambassador . . . something or other from London!"

Jessie rolled her eyes and entered the library with the Doctor behind her. "Yeah, sure it - " She cut off when the library doors slammed shut and locked with a click. "Saleen!" she shouted, banging on the door. "What the hell?"

"Oh, no!" Saleen shouted back as the Doctor ran over as well. "You two are stewing in your own juices for a while until you work out whatever you need to."

"What?" Jessie yelped as the Doctor tried to use the sonic screwdriver on the doorknob, only to jerk his hand back when the TARDIS shocked him.

"See? She's on my side!" Saleen told them smugly. "I don't know what happened on that ship beside Madame de What's-Her-Name, but work it out! And if you need either me or the TARDIS, we'll be in the console room, probably watching the two of you."

Jessie growled and kicked the door in annoyance, wincing when she felt a dull throb in her head. "I really hate her sometimes," she muttered, collapsing onto the couch.

"She's right, though," the Doctor admitted, sitting down in the chair across from her. "Something is up. What is it?"

Jessie crossed her legs underneath her. "It wasn't five and a half hours," she muttered.

The Doctor blinked. "What?"

"It wasn't five and a half hours," she repeated, folding her arms around her protectively. "It was a day and a half. The hour was seventeen thirty."

He looked at her in shock, and then something in his eyes flickered, from worry to anger. "Why didn't you say that, then?"

"What was I supposed to say?" she shrieked, holding her hands up. "You got stuck in Madame de Pompadour's timeline after crashing through a time window - "

"Which I recall you telling me to do," the Doctor interrupted.

" - and then a day and a half later, you find your way back, then drag me back there to find out that she died and we get letters for the both of us!" she finished, glaring back at him.

"Did you open yours yet?" the Doctor asked.

She shook her head. "No, I didn't, but that's not - "

"It makes everything, Jessie," the Doctor snapped. "You don't just give people Bad Wolf. What did you talk to Reinette about?"

"Oh, so we're back to calling her Reinette," Jessie muttered, looking back at the fireplace. "Fantastic."

"What is it you have against her?" the Doctor asked.

"Nothing!" Jessie replied quickly, standing and pacing. "I just wish I could've gone with you!"

"Then why didn't you?"

Jessie stopped short, staring at nothing. "I don't know," she whispered, truly wondering why she didn't. "I really don't know."

The Doctor folded his arms, leaning back in his chair. "Read the letter."