The Fate of Persephone (10/OC) (DISCONTINUED)

Chapter Twenty One: Welcome Home

           Any further delay would be suspicious, so Jackie pushed back her chair, gave the Time Lord one last look of 'you'd better fix this right now' and then rushed into the living room. When the Doctor followed a few moments later, Rose and Jackie were locked in a tight embrace. As they pulled apart, the girl caught sight of her alien friend and practically tackled him in a huge hug.

            "You remembered!" she exclaimed happily. "You remembered the day you said you'd pick me up! I half expected you to be several months late, your piloting is so terrible!"

            The poor Doctor could only be grateful that she couldn't see his face because guilt was written all over it. Yeah, he'd completely forgotten about it in light of recent events. "Wha-at?" he asked, trying to sound offended. "I'll have you know that a Time Lord is never late. Nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to!"

           Rose pulled back and gave him a critical look, obviously not getting the reference. "Well that's a lie if I ever heard one!" Then she laughed and turned to her bags, gathering them up. "I've got loads of pictures to show you guys. And souvenirs too! I'll just put this stuff in the Tardis and then I'll show you!" Then she toed open the blue doors and disappeared inside.

          But Jackie was concerned. "Aren't you afraid of her finding Percy before you can introduce them?" she asked. The Doctor only waved her off. "Nah! She'll still be fast asleep. That psychograft will have her out for at least another few hours, just enough time for us all to catch up!" "If you're sure..."

          There was a moment of silence. "Doctor, just how are you planning on introducing them?" The Time Lord plopped down on the living room sofa and began to flip through a gossip magazine. "Don't worry, I've got it completely under control. When Percy wakes up, I'll bring her out here to introduce her to Rose. We'll all swap stories, reminiscence about old times, etc. Completely calm, completely collected, and completely thought-out. Nothing can go wrong!"

          The Tardis doors burst open and Rose came tumbling out. "Doctor, there is a very high person in the consul room!"

            "I've really got to stop saying things like that," the alien muttered before rushing to investigate.

~*~*~*~*~*~

            When Rose had entered the Tardis with her bags, she expected to be alone. She expected to see the familiar coral structures, the grated floors, the round things on the walls, and the consul. She expected to hear the hum of living machinery and smell that scent that can only be described as time itself. What she did not expect to see was a young woman around her age gripping the wall as she struggled to walk. Said young woman's hair was a disaster, her clothes were rumpled, and her eyes were wide but hazy. She was, Rose thought, definitely high.

            So when the Doctor came rushing in a few seconds after she had alerted him of her, she was even more shocked when the only look of alarm on his face seemed to be due to her state of mind, not her presence in his time machine.

             Poor Percy had no idea what was going on. Inside of her dimmed mind, she was only consciously aware that there were now many people around her and that she was somehow now the center of attention, something that she did not like one bit. It seemed to her that everyone was moving around incredibly fast so that she didn't have time to properly see their faces. Their words seemed garbled as well and she was only able to catch snippets of conversations. The heaviness of her limbs and eyes were not helping either, as she clutched onto the wall for dear life as to not topple over.

            Back in the real world, there was a big argument going on. Rose was demanding to know who the girl was and why she was high, the Doctor was trying to explain everything to her while at the same time attempting to get close enough to Persephone to discover what was wrong, and Jackie was screeching her head off in fear for the poor girl's wellbeing.