The Hidden Well, Chapter Nineteen

[kalleah]

Pairing: Ten/Rose
Rating: PG
Betas: ivydoor, np_complete, platypus, and sensiblecat

Previous Chapters

In this chapter: Emelia runs into the Doctor, and Connor finds himself increasingly concerned about Rose and Jonah.

--

Emelia flew out of her office and ran directly into Howard, knocking the wind out of both of them. She leaned forward, hands on knees, and took a moment to recover.

"Sorry, sorry," gasped Howard, equally affected. She waved a hand at him, dismissing both the impact and the apology.

Tom Attoway sped around the corner and, spotting her, came to an abrupt halt. "Comms are down, too," he told her in a rush. "None of the backup systems came online. I'm heading to Section J now."

Behind them, a woman cried out. "Somebody! Help!"

The three of them exchanged a quick look. In the dusky light of evening, without any artificial illumination, it was impossible to see what had caused her outburst. "Get over to Section J now," Emelia ordered Tom, pointing a single finger for emphasis. She and Howard took off at a run toward the sound of the woman's distress.

To Emelia's extreme annoyance, they were once again beaten to the scene of the emergency by the Doctor, who was scanning a small girl sitting on the ground with his screwdriver and speaking to her and a woman next to her. Emelia felt a spiraling whirlpool form in her stomach at the sight of him. He looked calm, composed, and utterly in charge of the situation, not at all like a man whose incompetence had literally caused her husband to disappear off the face of the planet.

She pressed her lips tight together to prevent her from saying all the things she had contemplated saying to him all day long. This was a crisis. She needed to keep her wits about her, and to use this Doctor for whatever he was worth.

Now that she was closer, she recognized the woman – Meg Pathkind, one of Connor's junior engineers, with her daughter Rebecca, one of Ian and Jonah's classmates. Rebecca's face was scrunched up tightly with pain.

"Howard! Emelia! Hello!" The Doctor moved aside and gestured for the medic to come forward. "Rebecca fell when the lights went out, and she's hurt her ankle." He smiled soothingly at the little girl, who snuffled up at him and wiped her nose with the back of her hand. "It's not broken," he told her. "You'll be right as rain. Howard's going to help get you and your mum over to Section J where you can rest, all right?"

Howard glanced at Emelia, who gave him a sharp nod. Regardless of the source of the command, she knew it was a sensible one. They needed to get everyone to safety as quickly and efficiently as possible. It did rankle that he had been the one to give it, though.

The medic bent down next to Rebecca. "Would you mind if I carried you?"

Rebecca, eyes round as saucers and red from crying, nodded, and Howard scooped her up in his arms. She favoured the Doctor with a brief, shy smile and buried her face in Howard's shoulder. Her nervous but somewhat reassured mother patted Rebecca's back and walked alongside him as they set off for the emergency shelter.

The Doctor beamed at the three of them before he turned back to Emelia. Damn his eyes, she thought.

"You're headed to Section J as well, I presume?" he inquired.

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes, or better yet, to give him a good, hard shove to send him flying into the dirt. "Considering that's where the whole project is going, yes, I am." She crossed her arms in front of her chest. "You have a better idea?"

She did not trust the twinkle in his eyes. Not one bit.

…

"Our flat?" Emelia questioned, her long legs easily keeping pace with the Doctor. "Anyone with any sense is going to Section J." Clearly, that did not include the two of them. She didn't know what he was plotting yet, but it was quite apparent that he meant to do what he said he would. She could either come along for the ride or move out of the way.

She intended to keep an eye on him.

He came to a sudden stop and whirled to face her. "Think about it, Emelia," he said urgently. His dark gaze flicked from one of her eyes to the other, drilling into her. His amiable, affable persona had disappeared without a trace. She straightened her spine and did not flinch away. "The power and comms shut down, and the whole population obediently heads off to a single location."

Her eyes widened in sudden horror, but he dismissed her reaction with a shake of his head and went on. "No, no, no, there's no danger for anyone there. Anyone wanting to nudge you lot off Arisbe won't risk another mass casualty incident. Too many witnesses, too many inconvenient questions asked afterward. So if the purpose of the blackout isn't to set up an ambush at the shelter, what is it?"

She stared back at him, feeling that the answer was so obvious that she could reach out and touch it.

He didn't wait long for her to interject before charging on. "To get us away from something. The question is, from what?" He began walking just as quickly as before, leaving her to follow in his wake. He continued speaking, half to himself, half to her. "I decrypted a transmission that we found earlier, but it's all suitably vague cloak-and-dagger stuff. They don't trust me, think Connor's a threat, nothing that we didn't already know. Someone has to have access to the labs and the communication systems and have technical knowledge of the atmospheric converters."

They stopped some distance back from the flat and the Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver. He pointed it at the flat and a whirring sound accompanied a blue light at its tip. Emelia regarded it with considerable suspicion.

"Yes," he murmured, satisfied with whatever he had found, and put the instrument back into his pocket. "Thought so."

"What is it?" She didn't shout. She wanted to.

"Keep your voice down," he admonished curtly, as if he hadn't been speaking just as loudly. "There's someone in your flat."

In her surprise, she didn't think to snap back at him for the order. "Just one person?" she asked in a low tone. He nodded, and she considered this information. "Why would they want us out of our flat?" The realization took her breath away for a moment. "Your – whatever that thing is. Oh, damn."

Connor probably wouldn't have taken the Doctor's device to Section J with him. In his position, she wouldn't have, either. She would have scooped up both boys and taken off running.

"We do have one advantage," said the Doctor. He had shifted moods again, going from almost frighteningly inscrutable and intense to giddy and manic. His mouth curved and widened into a big grin, his teeth shining whitely in the remaining light. The expression was not comforting. "We know where at least one of them is right now."

…

Ian skipped ahead, singing a nonsense song, with Connor and Rose walking behind. They each held one of Jonah's hands. Connor shot a concerned look over at Rose. Even in the evening light, she looked paler than normal.

"Rose?" he asked. "You all right?"

She gave him a weak smile and visibly tried to brighten up. "Yeah, sure." Her eyes flicked briefly down to Jonah. The little boy walked with them, his hands slack in theirs and his gaze unfocused in front of their feet.

After the revelation about Jonah's telepathy, Connor had wished for the ability to communicate with his son in that way. Watching Rose's reaction now, he wasn't as sure. It was the contact with Jonah that was draining her so much, he was certain, although he wasn't going to ask about it where either one of the boys could overhear him. Of course, he thought with a start, could Jonah hear what he was thinking now?

Jonah's face gave away no secrets.

They trudged along for several more minutes, interrupted periodically by questions from their fellow evacuees about the power outage. Connor repeated the same mantra several times: "I'm sure it's a routine malfunction. We'll get it sorted. Best to be careful, though, right?" Each time, he punctuated "right" with a reassuring smile, and the questioner looked comforted. He wished the comfort was mutual.

He decided that he couldn't stay silent, despite Jonah's presence. Ian had scampered off to walk alongside one of his chums from the nursery, although Connor continued to keep a watchful eye on him.

"Rose, what's wrong?" he asked quietly. She didn't answer immediately, and he prompted her again. "I know it's the contact with Jonah. If I can help you both, I will."

She looked over at him, her blonde hair swirling around her face. Clearly she was burdened by what she carried. "He's scared. Overwhelmed. There's so much going on. So many people."

He squeezed Jonah's hand in his and addressed his son. "Jonah, I'm a little scared too. We're not sure what's happening yet, but your mum and I, and the Doctor and Rose, will figure it out."

Jonah's hand moved slightly in his, and Rose let out a long, relieved breath. "That's right," she said. "We'll try to keep everyone calm and quiet."

Yes, thought Connor, trying to imagine all of the worried, frightened mental voices of the project in his mind. He could well understand why both of them were so tense and tired.

In front of them, Section J came into view, and they were soon swept into the large open space of the emergency shelter with the rest of the crowd. Inside, the din was considerable, with so many people in close proximity and everyone chattering to their neighbours. Emergency lighting on the ceiling bathed everything with a dull, orange glow.

Connor rounded up Ian and guided them through the milling crowd to where Tom Attoway was handing out pillows and blankets, just in front of the room reserved for senior staff.

"Hi Connor," said Tom. "Any word on what's going on?"

"Not yet," he responded tersely, and held the door to the staff room open for Rose, Jonah, and Ian to move past. Rose and Jonah sat as one on the couch on the right side of the room and Ian piled on next to them.

"Miss Rose, would you read the rest of the story?" he asked, handing her the copy of The Little Prince that he had apparently brought from the flat.

"Not right now," she said. "Maybe later?" She was bad off then, if she didn't want to read to the boys, Connor thought.

"How about you sit over here," he said to Ian, pulling out a chair, "and read quietly to yourself for a while?"

Ian hopped up into the chair, crossed his legs underneath him, and began to read. Connor marveled at his son's ready compliance, but decided not to question his fantastic luck too closely. He needed all the luck he could get.

…

Rose watched Connor hurry in and out of the staff room, often talking animatedly with Tom or other people that she didn't recognize. He barked out a few orders with an easy authority that his wife would have admired.

She leaned her aching head back against the couch and let her eyes drift shut. Jonah was less agitated than he had been, but his insistent, intimate contact with her made it difficult to concentrate on the outside world. For him, it was a bit like trying to be calm with the monsters beating on the door. She understood that too well.

Without visual stimuli, it was easier to gently withdraw into her own mind, where they were both isolated from the frenetic activity around them. Focus on a happy place, she thought, and tried to direct her thoughts.

The image that appeared before her mind's eye was not a place, but a person – the Doctor's current aspect, smiling tenderly at her. Clear brown eyes and freckles, the half curve of his lips. She smiled back in reflex, wishing he was with her. She thought of the two of them on their backs looking into the blue, blue sky of New Earth, and tried to recall the precise tartness of apple grass in the air.

Jonah's mental grip on her relaxed, and she saw again the great city and bay spread out before her. She let her mind wander to other beautiful places, drawing out remembered details to share with Jonah. They studied blue and silver ice fields together, then swaying, yellow marsh grass in the curve of a river, then on to the soaring wings of pterosaurs.

In return, he opened up for her, handing her something exquisite and precious as if cradled in the palms of his hands. She reached out with her mind to touch it, and it unfurled before her to show a diffuse, impressionist image of a woman. When she examined it closer, she could feel a host of sensations around her.

The feathery-light, dry touch of lips against a soft cheek. The scent of flowers and light musk. A lyrical, dancing song of comfort and joy.

Above it all, beyond it all, the enfolding sense of love and acceptance and protection, utter safety and gentle light. She could guess who it was from the abstract, childlike wonder in the memory: his birth mother. As soon as she thought it, he agreed, and sent her another memory.

Soaring into the air, then coming down with a laugh of delight. The prickle of beard stubble. A bass voice that shook the very air. Fingers rubbing against and over a smooth, curved expanse of skin.

Jonah's birth father was bald, she realized, with a beard. To him, people were separate sensations and facts, all put together to give him a picture of the whole. He recognized details better than he could perceive the big picture.

They began a back-and-forth game then, with Jonah showing her bits of his perception and Rose trying to recognize the person he meant. It was like putting together a puzzle. When she would stumble, he would show her another piece, and she would carefully study it for a while.

He shared the bitter, sharp smell of Ian's sweat after a day spent playing outside; the clasp of Brandon's hands, guiding his paint-smeared fingers for the first time across a textured page; Connor's enfolding arms carrying him to bed; Emelia curling back her lips to expose teeth at a jeer he had indeed heard.

When he came to the next one, she was utterly confused, and he sharpened the impressions and intensified their contact.

She heard an indistinct voice, a persistent high drone, like a swarm of honeybees. Her nostrils flared against the dry smell of chemicals. A hand gripped hers far too tightly, and she shuddered at the feel of the clammy skin against hers. She wanted to shake her hand loose, but Jonah's typical inertia was upon her and she could only take halting steps as the hand tugged her forward.

Who? she wondered, and Jonah's projection shifted. She found herself indoors, somewhere strange but oddly familiar. It took her a moment to place herself in the nursery, but at a viewing angle typical for a small boy. The world looked unwelcomingly large to her adult eyes.

The hand let go, and she was sick with relief, standing utterly still in the nursery entryway. A slight noise to one side caught her attention and she saw a door quickly close, but not before she caught a glimpse of a wheeled box with an impressive array of electronic controls across the front. It made her think, briefly, of the cockpit of a plane.

The hand grasped hers and yanked her forward. Her head snapped to help her see where she was being led, down the hallway, toward the familiar classroom.

Then, she knew the hand's owner, and with a sick lurch in her stomach, knew. The device, so out of place in a nursery, had to be the mobile communications unit that the Doctor and Connor had discussed. "We have to tell the Doctor," she tried to say. Did she say? She swam upwards toward the surface, hearing the clamour of the shelter somewhere in the distance. Surfacing after such a long and intimate connection with Jonah left her spluttering and disoriented. She focused on Connor, who had turned to look at her from where he was talking to a man on the other side of the room.

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion.

"Connor," she gasped. "Need the Doctor. Need to tell him – who it is."

Comments

[kalleah.livejournal.com]

Yay. I'm definitely feeling the pressure to keep the tension escalating, and I'm glad it's working. :)

[misssara11.livejournal.com]

OH NOES! Don't you dare wait so long to update again! Not when things are heating up.

[kalleah.livejournal.com]

I will try, I promise.

[effulgent-girl.livejournal.com]

Brandon is the bad guy! No, I like him. He's so nice. How could he be responsible for all that's been done? And the Doctor is going in to find him! Obviously, can't wait for the next chapter.

[kalleah.livejournal.com]

Heh heh. We'll have to see, won't we?

[torn-eledhwen.livejournal.com]

Eeeek ... evil cliffhanger. I love the Doctor in this chapter - clever, empathetic, it's totally him.

[kalleah.livejournal.com]

I love the Doctor in this chapter - clever, empathetic, it's totally him.

Don't forget "maddening." He's definitely driving Emelia crazy.

[lethlogica.livejournal.com]

..."smell of chemicals"...I don't know that Brandon is the bad guy. I think it would be someone who had more contact with chemicals. The doctor, Howard? Or possibly Frances?

Dang...

[kalleah.livejournal.com]

I love that you're speculating. I'll let you continue to guess for a while. ;)

[kalleah.livejournal.com]

Cliffie indeed. I do love the reactions. Hee.

[imaginary-iby.livejournal.com]

Oh, this is absolutely brilliant! I can't wait for the next chapter.

Keep up the good work!;)

[kalleah.livejournal.com]

I hope the next chapter will be much sooner in coming than this one. And thank you.

[dettiot.livejournal.com]

Ooooo!! What a great idea, to have Jonah know who the saboteur is, and the way he told Rose was just brilliant.

Seeing the Doctor and Emelia interact was also great--you so clearly address all the emotions that Emelia must be feeling when she looks at the Doctor.

And what a cliffhanger! I can't wait for the next part.

[kalleah.livejournal.com]

What a great idea, to have Jonah know who the saboteur is, and the way he told Rose was just brilliant.

Thanks. It took a lot of tearing of hair and gnashing of teeth to get to that point. It's also not that Jonah knows, it's that he saw something that Rose was able to connect back to the greater badness afoot.

[earlgreytea68.livejournal.com]

I can only second, third, fourth, fifth the cries of cliffhanger!

[kalleah.livejournal.com]

Hee!

[blackcat-1.livejournal.com]

Fantastic!

[kalleah.livejournal.com]

Thank you, thank you. :)

[spastasmagoria.livejournal.com]

oooo noooesssss :)

sorry i've been remiss in feedbacking... been stealing reads and posts and such in between moving :) but you've been positively mean the last few chappies ;)

[kalleah.livejournal.com]

you've been positively mean the last few chappies

Hee hee. I'm not being any less mean in the next one, either. ;)

[np-complete.livejournal.com]

Yay, more story!

Looking forward to the next chapter!

[lillilynn.livejournal.com]

Yay!!! Kalleah fic! This is wonderful. Emilia's gonna deck him pretty soon, can't honestly say I blame her, but at least he's trying. The mental communication between Rose andJonah just keeps getting better. The impressions of his birth parents are really striking. But more cliffhanger *pout*

[kalleah.livejournal.com]

When you say the Doctor is "trying," I think there's more than one meaning there. And both may be true. :)

[bluevolvic.livejournal.com]

Trying to catch up , what a great chapter , i loved the ending:D
I really liked the part when Emelia ran into The Doctor.