Ending of the Hours (Book Four of the Bad Wolf Chronicles)

Things Left Unexplained

Song on the side is possibly my favorite of Murray Gold's. It fits amazingly well when Natasha says . . . well, you'll see. It's about Torchwood.

***

"You're kidding me."

"I'm not."

"Seriously."

"I'm not!"

"You're joking!"

Jessie put her head in her hand. "I'm seriously not."

"You met Agatha Christie?!"

"Isn't that what I've been saying?" Jessie huffed in annoyance, pinching the bridge of her nose as she held her phone to her ear. "Is that so hard to believe?"

"Just a bit," Natasha Romanoff chuckled. "Wow. The best detective writer. What happened?"

"A bloody wasp happened," Jessie replied with a chuckle before she froze when she realized something important, that had happened nights ago, nearly three months ago.

"Red eyed Ood everywhere. The Cybermen. The Daleks. God, there was even this huge, giant wasp!"

"A wasp."

"A wasp. That made no sense whatsoever."

"J?" Clint Barton's voice asked. "You still there?"

"Yeah, I'm still here," she managed to say, shaking her head and picking through the things on the dresser in her old room, finding what she needed to move out. "Anyway, turns out it was the case of Murder at the Vicar's Rage."

"You're kidding me," Natasha said incredulously. "Murder at the Vicarage?"

"The Doctor said it needed some work."

"Work happened, apparently," Clint laughed.

"And I counted, too. Eighteen different references to Agatha Christie's books."

"Eighteen . . . holy . . . " Jessie could imagine Clint shaking his head right now. "You counted?!"

"With the Doctor's help."

"You two are insane, you know that, right?"

"Of course I know that," Jessie huffed. "Why do you think we keep on going?"

There was a faint sound of a slap, and Clint inhaled sharply. "Ignore him," Natasha grumbled. "It's just been tough over here by the Rift."

"Why?" Jessie asked worriedly. "What happened?"

Natasha sighed. "Two of Jack's team are dead."

"What?!" Jessie shrieked, stepping away from the dresser to sit on the bed.

"There wasn't anything we could do," Clint told her. "Tosh and Owen died saving Cardiff."

"Why didn't you call us about it?" she asked softly.

"We wanted to," Clint admitted, "but Jack thought we could handle it."

"The bloody bastard," Jessie growled. The door to the room opened, and the Doctor and Donna both poked their heads in, looking at her in concern. Jessie grinned at them before saying into the phone, "I've got a rescue party here. I'll talk to you guys later, all right?"

"Bye, Jessie," Natasha told her.

"And let us know next time something like this is going to happen," Jessie warned before hanging up and flopping back on the bed, sighing in exasperation.

"What's wrong?" Donna asked as she and the Doctor walked in.

"Jack," she mumbled, huffing. "For thinking he can do everything by himself."

"What did he do?" the Doctor asked.

"Saved Cardiff, apparently, but two of his teammates died."

Donna's eyes widened, and the Doctor narrowed his. "Why didn't he call?" he asked.

"Nat and Clint wanted to," Jessie sighed, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. "But who was an idiot and didn't?"

"Jack," the Doctor guessed, shaking his head. "He always did want to figure things out by himself."

"Well, I think he was mad," Donna commented. "You two can do anything."

Jessie pointed at her. "We can't without the help of our best friend."

Donna blushed. "I can't even mend a fuse!"

"You're Supertemp," Jessie reminded her. "So stop thinking like that."

Donna merely shrugged. "Where are we going next?" she asked.

"I don't know," the Doctor replied, jumping up. "We'll see!"

Jessie flicked through the rest of the things on her dresser, ignoring his babbling about where to go when she saw something on her psychic paper. Frowning, she picked it up and flipped it open, and her eyes widened when she saw what was on it. "Kasterborous," she whispered telepathically.

He jumped and looked over her shoulder, and his eyes widened, too, when he saw the message written on the psychic paper.

The Library. Come as soon as you can. X.

They looked at each other, then the Doctor babbled again. "I know!" he shouted, grabbing Jessie's hand and pulling her out of the room. "Come on, Donna!"

"Where're we going?" Donna asked, smiling as she watched Jessie stumble after the Doctor.

"You'll see!"

***

Thought I'd put that in there. So Torchwood is sort of falling apart, Jessie's getting better, and she's gotten the message from River . . .

And note this because it's important: JESSIE got the message on the psychic paper. Not the Doctor.

Interesting, huh? ;)

But you guys have no idea how excited I've been to write this storyline! I love it so much, and it's so much fun to write! Especially the Jessie/River interactions. I hope I surprise you all by the end of it!

"Silence in the Library" should be completed soon.