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Danni flopped down on the well-loved sofa, munching on her slice of toast as she laughed along with the studio audience on the American television show she was watching. She'd forgotten how much she loved Friends. She swivelled on the spot, chucked her feet up onto the arm of the sofa and leant against her companion. Her favourite girl in the universe, who had chosen the show in question and was currently speaking along with the episode that was playing.
"Oh man, they think they are so slick messing with us! But see they don't know that we know that they know! So…" Lisa talked along with Monica before looking at Danni expectantly.
"The messers become the messies!" Danni cried along with Chandler before the two girls fell into fits of giggles.
"You two sound like a pair of witches." Mickey called from the table, laptop in front of him as he hijacked Jackie's phone line once again. The Tyler matriarch wasn't too keen on letting Mickey yet again cut her off from the outside world, but when she realised that Danni was there, and Lisa realised Danni was there, she'd allowed him as long as he did her big shop for her.
"Something wicked this way comes, Mickey Smith!" Danni cackled, Lisa laughing at her as she waved her fingers at him as if she was casting a spell on him. She leant back onto Lisa's shoulder, tilting her head back so she was looking up at her, "And who wrote that?" She asked.
"Shakespeare!" Lisa replied, "You've met him, haven't you?" Danni nodded.
"With Martha." She agreed, "I've told you about Martha, haven't I?"
"She walked her home planet for a whole year to save it from the evil overlord." Lisa replied, as if she was reciting a book from memory. Danni had told her edited stories of the future, involving the companions but not the Doctors. Well, all except one, but she'd been sworn to secrecy about Danni and the Doctor getting married. Not that she was very good with secrets, the girl had grown up without a thought private to just herself, but she did keep it until Torchwood. That was pretty good going, really.
"That's right." Danni praised, glancing back over at Mickey, "Anything good, Mr Smith?"
"I'm trying to hack into the army records." He replied, "They're good, though. Really good, because they keep kicking me back out."
"Not as good as you, Mickey." She reminded him, taking a sip of her tea, "A little security system can't stop you." Mickey puffed out his chest slightly, his ego sufficiently stroked to carry on with his task.
"Don't praise him, it'll go straight to 'is 'ead." Jackie lightly scolded, teasing him as she sat in the arm chair across from the other two women, "Pass us the remote, would ya?" Danni plucked the remote out of Lisa's hand, much to the girl's protest, and handed it over, "What would the army have to do with a school, anyway?"
"They have a special branch called UNIT, who keeps tabs on any alien activity." Danni explained, "UFO sightings, atmospheric changes, stuff like that. The Doctor technically works for them, but they hate each other so it's best to go in the back way. Hence," She waved over at Mickey, "Our man on the ground here." Mickey waved over at him.
"So why are him and Rose playing school," Jackie asked, "if you can get the information from the computer?"
"Well, two reasons for that." Danni replied, "One, UNIT can only tell us of activity. To know exactly what is going on requires on-site investigations."
"What's two?"
"Hello!" Danni retorted, waving her hand, "I told him it was a bad idea, so he did it anyway." Jackie shot her a sympathetic look, but Danni just shrugged in reply. It wasn't the entire truth, the Doctor had initially wanted to go investigate the school, but when Rose suggested she and Danni could be dinner ladies together, he'd suddenly become very against the idea. It had taken Danni suggesting that she could go visit Lisa, Jackie and Mickey instead that had finally brought him back around to the idea. That had been two days ago, and quite frankly Danni had been having a hoot. She didn't want to go back to school anytime soon, especially not university. The more she could stay away from anything that reminded her of her old universe the better, because she wasn't going back.
"He's very mean to you." Lisa remarked with a frown and Danni shook his head.
"No he's not." She replied firmly, "He just likes to spend time alone with Rose."
"Well I don't like any of it." Jackie declared, "I don't want some alien sniffing around my daughter. S'not natural."
"As if Rose would let him do anything she didn't agree to." Danni pointed out, "She had an excellent mother who taught her not to take any crap from anyone. He might be totally in love with her, but unless she felt the same he wouldn't stand a chance." Jackie nodded, smiling ever so slightly. Mickey yelled in frustration, smacking his laptop, "Calm down, you'll break it."
"Something keeps locking me out." He told her, "But I did get something, come look." She jumped up, placing a kiss on Lisa's head, who batted her away. She walked over and Mickey showed her the search, "Something happened three months ago. Something big, look at these logs." He scrolled down, showing her the record of sighing after sighting in the same part of London the school was in. Danni fished out her phone, holding it to her ear as it rang.
"Please tell me you've got something." Rose greeted as she answered the phone, "I don't think I can stand much more of this. You got off lucky, you know that?" Danni chuckled.
"Oh, I know." She teased, "Mickey managed to hack into some army records, I'll hand the phone to him." She held the handset out and he took it off her, tucking it between his ear and shoulder.
"Three months ago, massive UFO activity. They logged over forty sightings - lights in the sky, all of that. I can't get any photos, 'cause then it gets all classified and secret. Keeps locking me out." He tried again quickly, but the words 'Torchwood. Access Denied' flashed on the screen.
"Tell you what, though - three months ago, turns out all the kitchen staff were replaced." Rose replied. Danni tapped on Mickey's free shoulder and he looked back at her, confused.
"Ask her if they're acting strange with the oil yet." Danni commanded and he did.
"Yes, actually." Rose replied, surprised, "Like it's precious or sommat." Mickey relayed the message back and Danni grinned.
"Tell her to keep watching the oil." She told him.
"She says keep watching the oil." Mickey repeated, "See, there's definitely something going on. I was right to call you home."
"I thought maybe you called me home just to... well, just to call me home." Rose replied cheekily and Mickey looked mock-insulted.
"Do you think I'd just invent an emergency?" He asked and Danni rolled her eyes, snatching the phone out of his hand.
"That's enough flirting." She declared, loud enough for both of them to hear her, "Rose, keep watching the oil and just do what you would normally do. I'm going to ring someone who may be able to help us access those pictures." She hung up the phone before quickly dialling another number, leaning on the back of Mickey's chair, "Yo, Boe Face, when are you?"
~0~0~0~
Jack had easily accessed the photos the current Torchwood were trying to hide from them, but as always Rose-Ten had just told her off for wasting time, because the only way that they wre going to find out what was going on was to head back at night and see what they found. The pictures were useless, and so was she.
The comments used to hurt a lot more than they did now. Of course, any version of her husband telling her how useless she was stung just a little bit, but instead of arguing back she could just shrug it off and get on with her day. After all, he married her in the end, so he can't think that for too long, right?
At any rate, the photos hadn't been any good and so the Doctor let them into the school that evening through the fire escape, stepping in first and striding off in a huff. He hadn't been overly thrilled when she'd insisted on coming, but she wanted to see Sarah Jane and so she'd fought back. Rose had been on her side and was currently holding her hand as they followed him through the dark hallway.
"Oh, it's weird seeing school at night. It just feels wrong." She told them lowly, her face the picture of excitement. She looked just like a kid who'd snuck in late after class had finished, "When I was a kid, I used to think all the teachers slept in school."
"When I was a kid we used to sneak into the teachers' car park at night. It was supposed to be haunted by a girl who'd hung herself over her Maths results." Danni replied in the same low tones, "Never saw anything, but it was absolutely terrifying." Not as terrifying as the thought that she hadn't done that for 11 years now. God, she was getting old.
"Rose, go to the kitchen and get a sample of that oil." The Doctor decided, coming to a stop at the bottom of some stairs, "Mickey, the new staff are all Maths teachers, go and check out the Maths department. I'm gonna look in Finch's office. Be back here in ten minutes." He took off without waiting for a reply, running up the stairs two at a time, as if he couldn't wait to get away from them.
"What an arse." Mickey declared with a frown, "I thought he was nasty to me, but he didn't even mention you." He looked at Danni, who shrugged.
"You get used to it." Which was only a half-lie. She turned to Rose, "Where's the TARDIS?"
"Up by Finch's office." Rose replied, "Through a set of double red doors. But, aren't you going to miss everything sat in there?" Danni shook her head with a large grin.
"Oh, I wouldn't miss this for the world." She replied before dashing up after the Time Lord. Mickey turned to Rose.
"Your boyfriend's a piece of work." He told her and she shook her head.
"No, he's just like that with Danni." She retorted defensively, before realising that maybe she shouldn't be defending his behaviour.
"What did she do, though?" Mickey asked, "Because when he was Big Ears she didn't bother him that much." Rose shrugged.
"I don't know." She admitted, "It happened when he regenerated, but he won't tell me why." Mickey patted her on the shoulder.
"You wanna watch out for that," He warned her, "You could be next." She nodded uneasily, because the thought had plagued her a few times since he'd changed faces. With only the evidence that the 'old' Doctor liked the ginger woman and the 'new' Doctor didn't, Rose couldn't help but wonder what would happen if he did it again. What if it wasn't just his face that changed, but his feeling as well? Where would that leave her?
"You gonna be all right?" She asked him, fiddling with her sleeve nervously, because she didn't like thinking about the future or if there was even a slim chance the Doctor wouldn't want her around anymore.
"Me? Please." Mickey scoffed, his pride dented somewhat, "Infiltration and investigation? I'm an expert at this." He strode off to his right, through a door which creaked as he opened it. Rose just stood still expectantly, a little smirk on her face as he reappeared, looking sheepish, "Where's the Maths department?"
"Down there, turn left, through the fire doors, on the right." She told him smugly, pointing the opposite way to where he'd gone.
"Thank you." He replied, striding off in the same fashion he had previously done, head held high. Rose watched him leave with a fond look on her face, because even though the romantic feelings had gone, she still loved the idiot. Then she went on her way.
~0~0~0~
Sarah Jane Smith, ex-companion of the Doctor, backed away from the almost-glowing TARDIS, eyes wide as she backed away from it, never looking away until the red door shut in front of her. It couldn't be, hecouldn't be there. Not after all this time, after everything she'd investigated, all the time she had looked before giving up hope that she'd ever see him again. Her whole life, who she was now, came crashing down at the sight of that big blue box.
She turned around with the intention of leaving the school and never coming back, but there he was. The new teacher Mr Finch had introduced her to – John Smith, she should have seen it – hand in his pinstripe suit pocket, a large trench coat over the top. Then he smiled at her, a small quirk of the lips that showed just how happy he was to see her.
"Hello, Sarah Jane." He said quietly.
"It's you. Oh... Doctor..." She whispered, stunned as she started to edge closer to him, "Oh, my God, it's you, it's... it's..." For a moment she felt herself well up, her lip trembling in a mixture of joy and sorrow as she regarded the man in front of her. Who, in his own way, broke her heart. Instead, she quickly pulled herself together and smiled weakly, "You've regenerated."
"Half a dozen times since we last met." He replied, still smiling at her.
"You look..." Young? She may have not travelled with him in so long, but she still knew that he wasn't young, not by anyone's standards, "incredible." She settled on.
"So do you." He replied instantly and a faint lush crept on her cheeks. She looked him over once, not being able to take the compliment off someone who regenerated into a child.
"I got old." She started to slowly circle him, analysing him, still not quite believing her own eyes, "What're you doing here?"
"Well..." He drawled out with a shrug, "UFO sightings, school gets record results - I couldn't resist. What about you?"
"Same." They both laughed at the coincidence until the anger of years of being left behind hit her, hard, "I thought you'd died. I waited for you and you didn't come back, and I thought you must've died." She snapped at him, once again close to tears she refused to let fall. She'd cried enough over him. His face also fell, into a look of deep-rooted despair that threw her slightly.
"I lived." He told her solemnly, "Everyone else died."
"What do you mean?" She asked, confused.
"Everyone died, Sarah." He replied, almost in a whisper. She didn't really understand, but it seemed to pain him so much to even mention it she didn't want to pry further.
"I can't believe it's you." She whispered with a shake of her head. A loud, cartoon-like scream pierced the air and she grinned, laughing in disbelief, "Okay! Now I can!"
"It's Mickey!" They both looked to their side, surprised at the sight of a red-headed woman bursting out of a classroom. Danni had immediately hid herself away, in a prime position to watch the meeting of the old friends. It was a bit rude, but there weren't many advantages to universe-hopping and she was going to use them when she could.
"Don't be idiotic, of course it isn't." The Doctor snapped, annoyed that she'd interrupted his moment with Sarah Jane.
"Ten quid says it is." She challenged and he nodded in agreement, speeding off just to prove her wrong. The woman turned to Sarah Jane, who was slightly stunned at his sudden change in demeanour.
"I'm Danni." The woman introduced before pulling her in for a hug she wasn't expecting, "It's so nice to see you again, Sarah Jane!" She let the woman go slightly, a frown on her face and her head tilted slightly to the side, "Oh, but not for you, of course. You've just met me, so it has yet to be nice. Sorry, tenses." She threaded her fingers through Sarah Jane's, "Best get a move on." The two began running, Danni rambling on about how fantastic it was to see her again after so long, confusing the older woman even more.
"You're the Doctor's new assistant?" Sarah Jane asked her as they headed down a flight of stairs.
"Oh no, that's Rose. You'll meet her in a minute." Danni replied, "The Doctor's my friend, but if you ask him if I'm his, he'll deny it passionately. This way." She pulled her down another corridor where they met the Doctor and a blonde woman.
"You have to stop leaving her behin..." Rose was defending until her gaze fell on Sarah Jane. Her eyes flickered down to how Danni was holding her hand tightly, like she would with her and she felt herself get defensive, "Who's she?" She demanded. The Doctor grinned.
"Rose, Sarah Jane! Sarah Jane, Rose." He introduced them both happily, conveniently leaving out Danni. Sarah Jane offered her hand and Rose shook it, unhappy with the way her friend and the Doctor were staring so happily at this new woman.
"Hi. Nice to meet you." Sarah Jane said honestly before glancing up at the Doctor, "You can tell you're getting older - your assistants are getting younger."
"I'm not his assistant." Rose exclaimed, offended.
"It's okay, she means companion." Danni reassured her before turning to Sarah Jane, "It's companion now, promotes equality between the Doctor and the people he picks up."
"So you're a companion?" Sarah asked and Danni shook her head.
"Oh no, I'm something new." Danni replied cryptically before nodding down the hallway, "Mickey?" She reminded.
"It's not Mickey." The Doctor insisted, grabbing Rose's hand and dragging her away.
"What do you mean, something new?" Sarah Jane asked, always inquisitive. Danni squeezed her hand pointedly in response and Sarah Jane's eyes widened at the ring that dug into her palm. Danni held her finger to her lips.
"He doesn't know yet." She explained quietly and they came to a halt by Mickey, who was on the floor, scooping up a pile of packets. He spotted the group and jumped up from his crouch, holding his hands up in surrender.
"Sorry! Sorry, it was only me. You told me to investigate, so I - I started looking through some of these cupboards and all of these fell out of them." He explained hastily.
"Ha!" Danni exclaimed happily, "Ten quid, Spaceman."