Voyages of Discovery (Chapter Five)
Mar. 28th, 2007 07:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
I come, as promised, bearing Plot. I did say that chapter five was eventful, didn't I? Oh yes, I certainly did.
Rose's visions continue, and the birth of Jackie's baby rapidly approaches.
Previous Chapters
Rose's visions continue, and the birth of Jackie's baby rapidly approaches.
Previous Chapters
"It is possible to believe that all the past is but the beginning of a beginning, and that all that is and has been is but the twilight of the dawn. It is possible to believe that all the human mind has ever accomplished is but the dream before the awakening."
H. G. Wells
After she returned to her room, Rose read for a while, skimming some of her reading assignments and then settling on something more fun. She had purchased a hardbound set of the whole Chronicles of Narnia with her first paycheck from Torchwood, and had started rereading them from the beginning. She was halfway through The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, her favorite of the series for its adventure and wide-ranging spirit, and was transfixed utterly by the tale.
The trilling song of a bird just outside her window broke her reverie. She looked up, startled at the late hour, and stood up from the chair, placing the book on top of one of her scattered piles. While she had been absorbed, the day had waned into late afternoon, the shadows falling long and sooty into her room. She rubbed her eyes and yawned, then froze as she saw a flicker of motion out of the corner of her eye. She moved her eyes without shifting her head a fraction and studied what she could see of the shadow out of the corner of her eye. A figure leaned into the fireplace, indistinct, but just barely visible. She whipped around to face ... it, and found the empty, unlit fireplace, unremarkable in any way, just as it had always been. Rose stared in disbelief. There was something there, she thought in frustration. I am not going crazy.
She needed someone to talk to about her strange visions. A psychiatrist? She laughed bitterly. They would lock her away for all that she would tell them. Mum? She had enough worry for Rose without fearing for her sanity, and the baby coming to boot. A priest? She did not want religious counsel, either. Her mind fluttered about, seeking something to grasp, and found the image of her friend, the man whose steadfast faith never wavered. Dear Jacob, she thought.
"If I'm crazy," she said to the empty room, "I might as well start talking to myself." No one answered, so she counted that as at least one point to her sanity. "I traveled in time and space with an alien in a blue box, and I fell in love with him." She drew in a breath. "And then I was stuck here. That's the abridged version. I also knew this monk," she smiled. "He meddled. I think he could help the Doctor, but I don't know if the Doctor would let him." She gazed at the photo. "He's daft and stubborn and he needs ... someone to be responsible for him."
She felt the urge to spin around uncontrollably with her arms and hands flung out, whirling and whirling until she could stop and feel the earth move, the way that he could. "I'm going slightly mad," she said giddily, out loud. Instead, she stood stock-still and closed her eyes, listening intently to the creak of the old building around her, the slight shifting of the walls and ceiling, and the musical song of the birds outside. Beyond that, like a name she couldn't quite remember, was another set of sounds, wild and free and wind in the trees, and Rose knew it was as real as the ones she could explain.
She reached out with her hands, eyes still firmly closed, and measured her steps carefully to the hearth, then dropped down to hands and knees. One hand extended forward, and she recoiled as nerves fired and sparked to her spine, a reflex beyond conscious thought yanking her hand back. Her hand had felt burning. She stared into the cold ashes scattered in drifts around half-burned logs, and experimentally put her hand forward again. The fireplace was stone cold, and the ashes filtering between her fingers were dry and left charred, charcoal smears on her skin.
She retreated to the bathroom and scrubbed her hands until they were red and throbbing, watching the gray water swirl down the drain. A loud knock from the other room startled her and she called for whoever it was to come in.
"Miss Tyler?" said a voice, tentative and formal. Rose stuck her head around the corner and saw one of Pete's staff. She felt terrible that she could not remember his name. He nodded nervously at her. "Mr. Tyler asked that you come as quickly as possible. It's time to take Mrs. Tyler to hospital."
Rose whooped in delight and sprang to the door, grabbing a jacket and slipping quickly into some shoes. On impulse, she returned to the room and took her book, somewhat guiltily, thinking it could be a long night.
Pete Tyler, for all his power and influence, was a nervous wreck. Rose kept reminding herself, in the ride to the hospital, that this was his first child. Jackie, on the other hand, seemed to be more concerned with Pete and Rose than for herself, although she was rather enjoying the attention.
"Didn't get to ride in a fancy car to hospital when Rose was born," she said. She beamed at Pete and then gripped his hand until he winced as another contraction hit her. She muttered something under her breath that Rose didn't entirely catch, but she distinctly heard the words "man," "never," and "fault." She suppressed a smile and reached across the seat to rub her mum's shoulder supportively.
The nurses, who had been prepped to expect Jackie Tyler, Vitex wife, surrounded them as soon as the car pulled up. Two of them and Pete assisted Jackie out of the car and into a waiting wheelchair. Rose stood nearby and took Jackie's suitcase from the driver, following a few paces behind Pete, Jackie, and the platoon of nurses.
"Rose," bellowed Jackie. She hurried to catch up with her mother as they wheeled her down the hallway.
"I'm right here, Mum," she answered with a big smile. Pete gave her a watery smile and she reached out for his hand, which he grasped gently. Jackie was gripping his other hand and Rose guessed she was digging in her hot pink nails from the pained expression on Pete's face.
They reached the maternity ward and Jackie was installed in a bed, with Pete and Rose hovering nervously around her. The doctor, a dignified, precise woman with a mess of short black curls, examined Jackie and said things were moving right along, but that it was likely to be a few hours.
"Hours?" shrilled Jackie, aghast. Pete looked horrified and gave the doctor an entreating look, as if he could really beg for this to be over sooner.
"We have to wait for nature to take its course," said the doctor, as soothingly as she could.
"Nature!" said Jackie. "Who said anything about nature?"
Rose took advantage of everyone's momentary distraction to slip out of the room for a moment to take a few, careful breaths. She watched the nurses in their rainbow-hued scrubs bustle around the ward, and in the distance, a woman cried out.
She turned a corner from her mother's room to a small, brightly lit waiting area, full of nervous family members and friends of the various patients. Behind them was a door leading to a courtyard, some green leaves and bright sunlight visible through the small window set in its center. Rose felt the overwhelming urge to get a little air, just for a moment.
As she pushed open the door, she felt again the whirl of the disorienting otherness. She glanced back over her shoulder and saw the strangers in the waiting room shimmer and fade, first almost there, then almost gone, and back again. The hospital sounds around her, monitor beeping, nurses' chatter, the cry of a baby, were swallowed by a rush of white noise and static, then, incongruously, the loud, trilling notes of a songbird. She blinked hard and looked into the courtyard, and gaped at what stood before her.
Rather than the hospital courtyard that had been visible only a few heartbeats ago, with tall, manicured trees surrounded by ankle-high lattice and mulch and a pair of plain park benches, she saw the drifting, lazy curve of a river surrounded by rippling, yellow marsh grass. She stared, incredulous, and then looked over her shoulder at the waiting room. A man rustled a newspaper and shifted impatiently on the plastic, moulded seat, as ordinary a scene as she could imagine. She looked back to the courtyard, again seeing the too-familiar, impossible vista of the river from the hilltop where the TARDIS had once stood.
"This can't be happening," she said. Behind her, she heard the loudspeaker page a physician. In front of her, a squirrel came down from a live oak tree and hopped purposefully along the roots.
This was the place of her dreams, the place where she had been happier than she ever remembered being, and it was squarely impossible that she was seeing it again. Impossible, he had said to her on the beach in Norway. But yet, here she stood, on the threshold between the worlds. She could step forward, or close the door and return. She would never see her mum again; never meet the baby to be born. There was no guarantee, even, that she would be able to find the Doctor on the other side.
Rose Tyler made her choice.
H. G. Wells
After she returned to her room, Rose read for a while, skimming some of her reading assignments and then settling on something more fun. She had purchased a hardbound set of the whole Chronicles of Narnia with her first paycheck from Torchwood, and had started rereading them from the beginning. She was halfway through The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, her favorite of the series for its adventure and wide-ranging spirit, and was transfixed utterly by the tale.
The trilling song of a bird just outside her window broke her reverie. She looked up, startled at the late hour, and stood up from the chair, placing the book on top of one of her scattered piles. While she had been absorbed, the day had waned into late afternoon, the shadows falling long and sooty into her room. She rubbed her eyes and yawned, then froze as she saw a flicker of motion out of the corner of her eye. She moved her eyes without shifting her head a fraction and studied what she could see of the shadow out of the corner of her eye. A figure leaned into the fireplace, indistinct, but just barely visible. She whipped around to face ... it, and found the empty, unlit fireplace, unremarkable in any way, just as it had always been. Rose stared in disbelief. There was something there, she thought in frustration. I am not going crazy.
She needed someone to talk to about her strange visions. A psychiatrist? She laughed bitterly. They would lock her away for all that she would tell them. Mum? She had enough worry for Rose without fearing for her sanity, and the baby coming to boot. A priest? She did not want religious counsel, either. Her mind fluttered about, seeking something to grasp, and found the image of her friend, the man whose steadfast faith never wavered. Dear Jacob, she thought.
"If I'm crazy," she said to the empty room, "I might as well start talking to myself." No one answered, so she counted that as at least one point to her sanity. "I traveled in time and space with an alien in a blue box, and I fell in love with him." She drew in a breath. "And then I was stuck here. That's the abridged version. I also knew this monk," she smiled. "He meddled. I think he could help the Doctor, but I don't know if the Doctor would let him." She gazed at the photo. "He's daft and stubborn and he needs ... someone to be responsible for him."
She felt the urge to spin around uncontrollably with her arms and hands flung out, whirling and whirling until she could stop and feel the earth move, the way that he could. "I'm going slightly mad," she said giddily, out loud. Instead, she stood stock-still and closed her eyes, listening intently to the creak of the old building around her, the slight shifting of the walls and ceiling, and the musical song of the birds outside. Beyond that, like a name she couldn't quite remember, was another set of sounds, wild and free and wind in the trees, and Rose knew it was as real as the ones she could explain.
She reached out with her hands, eyes still firmly closed, and measured her steps carefully to the hearth, then dropped down to hands and knees. One hand extended forward, and she recoiled as nerves fired and sparked to her spine, a reflex beyond conscious thought yanking her hand back. Her hand had felt burning. She stared into the cold ashes scattered in drifts around half-burned logs, and experimentally put her hand forward again. The fireplace was stone cold, and the ashes filtering between her fingers were dry and left charred, charcoal smears on her skin.
She retreated to the bathroom and scrubbed her hands until they were red and throbbing, watching the gray water swirl down the drain. A loud knock from the other room startled her and she called for whoever it was to come in.
"Miss Tyler?" said a voice, tentative and formal. Rose stuck her head around the corner and saw one of Pete's staff. She felt terrible that she could not remember his name. He nodded nervously at her. "Mr. Tyler asked that you come as quickly as possible. It's time to take Mrs. Tyler to hospital."
Rose whooped in delight and sprang to the door, grabbing a jacket and slipping quickly into some shoes. On impulse, she returned to the room and took her book, somewhat guiltily, thinking it could be a long night.
Pete Tyler, for all his power and influence, was a nervous wreck. Rose kept reminding herself, in the ride to the hospital, that this was his first child. Jackie, on the other hand, seemed to be more concerned with Pete and Rose than for herself, although she was rather enjoying the attention.
"Didn't get to ride in a fancy car to hospital when Rose was born," she said. She beamed at Pete and then gripped his hand until he winced as another contraction hit her. She muttered something under her breath that Rose didn't entirely catch, but she distinctly heard the words "man," "never," and "fault." She suppressed a smile and reached across the seat to rub her mum's shoulder supportively.
The nurses, who had been prepped to expect Jackie Tyler, Vitex wife, surrounded them as soon as the car pulled up. Two of them and Pete assisted Jackie out of the car and into a waiting wheelchair. Rose stood nearby and took Jackie's suitcase from the driver, following a few paces behind Pete, Jackie, and the platoon of nurses.
"Rose," bellowed Jackie. She hurried to catch up with her mother as they wheeled her down the hallway.
"I'm right here, Mum," she answered with a big smile. Pete gave her a watery smile and she reached out for his hand, which he grasped gently. Jackie was gripping his other hand and Rose guessed she was digging in her hot pink nails from the pained expression on Pete's face.
They reached the maternity ward and Jackie was installed in a bed, with Pete and Rose hovering nervously around her. The doctor, a dignified, precise woman with a mess of short black curls, examined Jackie and said things were moving right along, but that it was likely to be a few hours.
"Hours?" shrilled Jackie, aghast. Pete looked horrified and gave the doctor an entreating look, as if he could really beg for this to be over sooner.
"We have to wait for nature to take its course," said the doctor, as soothingly as she could.
"Nature!" said Jackie. "Who said anything about nature?"
Rose took advantage of everyone's momentary distraction to slip out of the room for a moment to take a few, careful breaths. She watched the nurses in their rainbow-hued scrubs bustle around the ward, and in the distance, a woman cried out.
She turned a corner from her mother's room to a small, brightly lit waiting area, full of nervous family members and friends of the various patients. Behind them was a door leading to a courtyard, some green leaves and bright sunlight visible through the small window set in its center. Rose felt the overwhelming urge to get a little air, just for a moment.
As she pushed open the door, she felt again the whirl of the disorienting otherness. She glanced back over her shoulder and saw the strangers in the waiting room shimmer and fade, first almost there, then almost gone, and back again. The hospital sounds around her, monitor beeping, nurses' chatter, the cry of a baby, were swallowed by a rush of white noise and static, then, incongruously, the loud, trilling notes of a songbird. She blinked hard and looked into the courtyard, and gaped at what stood before her.
Rather than the hospital courtyard that had been visible only a few heartbeats ago, with tall, manicured trees surrounded by ankle-high lattice and mulch and a pair of plain park benches, she saw the drifting, lazy curve of a river surrounded by rippling, yellow marsh grass. She stared, incredulous, and then looked over her shoulder at the waiting room. A man rustled a newspaper and shifted impatiently on the plastic, moulded seat, as ordinary a scene as she could imagine. She looked back to the courtyard, again seeing the too-familiar, impossible vista of the river from the hilltop where the TARDIS had once stood.
"This can't be happening," she said. Behind her, she heard the loudspeaker page a physician. In front of her, a squirrel came down from a live oak tree and hopped purposefully along the roots.
This was the place of her dreams, the place where she had been happier than she ever remembered being, and it was squarely impossible that she was seeing it again. Impossible, he had said to her on the beach in Norway. But yet, here she stood, on the threshold between the worlds. She could step forward, or close the door and return. She would never see her mum again; never meet the baby to be born. There was no guarantee, even, that she would be able to find the Doctor on the other side.
Rose Tyler made her choice.
no subject
Date: 2007-03-29 12:00 am (UTC)Rose Tyler made her choice.
Good grief. Do you know how cruel it is of you to stop there???
Though she's not going to go through; that's my guess. Not with her mum just about to give birth. Still, I hope we'll get the next chapter very soon!
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Date: 2007-03-29 12:16 am (UTC)2. No comment. But I will post the next chapter tomorrow.
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Date: 2007-03-29 12:16 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2007-03-29 12:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-29 12:27 am (UTC)Next chapter is the Doc and Jacob! YAY! :)
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Date: 2007-03-29 12:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-29 12:28 am (UTC)Second, baby!
Third, HOW COULD YOU LEAVE IT THERE!!!?!? But I know you are going to update tomorrow so I'm not as concerned as I would be because I know you aren't that cruel.
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Date: 2007-03-29 12:39 am (UTC)I left it there because it was a terrific place to stop and get you all riled up. God, that is too much fun. I need to write more cliffhangers.
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Date: 2007-03-29 12:31 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2007-03-29 12:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-29 12:42 am (UTC)Hm...seems almost like a bit of the other universe bleeding through. But I guess we'll see what you're up to soon! :D
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Date: 2007-03-29 12:47 am (UTC)I guess you will, won't you? (heh heh)
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Date: 2007-03-29 12:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-29 12:46 am (UTC)good job! shes gotta go find i'm..shes jjust gotta..
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Date: 2007-03-29 12:48 am (UTC)Pardon me for the puns. It's not my fault. The bunny made me do it.
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Date: 2007-03-29 01:25 am (UTC)had started rereading them from the beginning
I suppose she got stuck with one of the modern sets, that arrange them in chonological order, instead of the order Lewis wrote them. The Doctor wouldn't approve, I bet.
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Date: 2007-03-29 01:53 am (UTC)Bless your dear heart for being as anal as I am about the ordering of those books. I'm going to make an assumption that the alternate universe got that right and that would put The Voyage of the Dawn Treader as third in the series.
::huffs at reordering::
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Date: 2007-03-29 01:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-29 01:54 am (UTC)And perhaps a little intentionally so. I won't leave you hanging for long. ;)
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Date: 2007-03-29 03:12 am (UTC)You're having way too much fun with this, aren't you?
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Date: 2007-03-29 01:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-29 03:36 am (UTC)NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
Cliffhangers suck :(
This is so good lol
hoping for more soon!
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Date: 2007-03-29 01:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-29 04:00 am (UTC)I suppose it's good that I like cliffhangers. They just. Drive me insane. ;P
And I am immensely happy that you're posting these daily. I might die of suspense.
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Date: 2007-03-29 01:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-29 04:52 am (UTC)That was certainly the mother of all cliffhangers, and now that we're switching to the Doctor's POV, it will probably be some time before we find out what her decision was. Ah, well, it will be worth it, just to enjoy this story as it unfolds. :)
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Date: 2007-03-29 01:39 pm (UTC)Perhaps, in my own little way, I'm taking revenge on
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Date: 2007-03-29 05:27 am (UTC)(we swear becuase we care)
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Date: 2007-03-29 01:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-29 06:11 am (UTC)That is just cruel to leave it there! But thankfully your updates are quick and wonderful enough that we can handle these cliffhangers... and we get the Doctor and Jacob in the next chapter! Can't wait!
*only a day, only a day, only a day...*
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Date: 2007-03-29 01:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-29 06:15 am (UTC)Marvellous cliffhangery stuff, my dear.
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Date: 2007-03-29 01:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-29 07:19 am (UTC)But DAMN! That is an evil place to leave off!
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Date: 2007-03-29 01:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-29 07:19 am (UTC)You've got me guessing on what's happening between the two universes. ...Is there some plot important reason why the exact time and location of Jacob's monastary was never given? Cuz I'd been about to write "between the two earths" and realised that I didn't know for sure he was on earth... Probably is, but when you're high on cold medicine this stuff makes more sense.
Great chapter!
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Date: 2007-03-29 01:44 pm (UTC)Mebbe, mebbe not. :)
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