Astrea and the past Doctor ran through the streets of London, leaving Jack behind at the River Thames, towards where the space ship flew. "From the outside it looks like a Sontaran ship. But that's only a guess. What do you think?" Astrea asked.
"Sontaran or possibly Slitheen." The Doctor answered.
"Or the Silurian. Three possible choices but what one is it?"
They saw short potato like creatures exit the ship in blue armour. "The human scum will surrender to the Sontarans or die."
"Sontarans." They smiled as they hid behind a nearby wall.
"Commander Scryn. The monitor is picking up non human activity nearby." A Sontaran soldier said to the commander.
"Find and kill them but if it's the Time Lord bring him to me." Commander Scryn replied.
The Sontaran nodded and ran off to look for the Doctor. "We need to split up. Cover more area and puts you in less of a risk on being found. We'll meet back here if anything goes wrong." Astrea instructed. The Doctor nodded in agreement. "Hide."
"What?" The Doctor questioned.
Astrea lightly pushed him back. "Hide." She said, before running out from behind the wall. "Hey! Over here!" She shouted and ran towards the ship.
"After him. He has the mind and organs of a Time Lord." Scryn ordered.
"I'm a girl!!" Astrea called over her shoulder as all the Sontarans that were outside followed her into the ship.
'You better think of something or I'm screwed. I've got a fleet of Sontarans after me so your safe for a while. Get going.' Astrea thought to the Doctor and he jumped up, heading towards the ship.
A Sontaran fired its weapon just missing Astrea's head by a centimeter. "That was close." She breathed continuing to run. She reached a break in the corridor that broke off in two different paths. Coming down both paths were Sontarans. She was cornered.
"Prepare to die Time Lord." Commander Scryn said aiming his gun at Astrea.
"Whoa whoa whoa. Hold on. Hang on. Just a minute. Just a minute." Astrea spoke quickly, motioning her hands telling them to stop. "You don't wanna kill me. Not just yet anyway."
"Why not?" Scryn asked.
"I was hoping you'd tell me." She said. "I'm a Time Lady yet if you scan me I don't exist. Go ahead. Try it." She encouraged.
"She is telling the truth." A Sontaran spoke up.
"I say we kill her." Another voiced.
"Now wait. No. Hear me out. I will help you get back to your planet Sontar as long as you leave the human race alone. Deal?" Astrea smirked thinking she has won.
"No." Scryn said aiming a gun at her face. A gas substance came out of the end of the gun and black spots started to dot her vision. Soon Astrea collapsed to the floor, darkness consuming her.
*******
Astrea awoke with a groan in a cell. "Again. I seriously need to break this habit." She moaned.
She got up and walked towards the cell door. She put her hands in her pockets but found them empty. Astrea then remembered that all she was wearing was dark blue shorts, blue converse, a white top and overalls covered in paint. She hit her head off the cell door once, letting out a groan of irritation.
A knock came from the other side of the door startling Astrea. "Hello?" She called out.
"Astrea?" An american voice asked. "What are you doing in there?"
"Having the time of my life." She replied sarcastically. "What do ya think! Open up this door Harkness."
"I'm on it." A British voice spoke.
"At least I can rely on someone." Astrea mumbled.
"Don't make his ego go any higher than it is, Ast." Jack said.
"Stop being hypocritical, Harkness." Astrea retorted as soon as the door opened. "Your the same." She turned to the Doctor. "Thanks. How long have you been here and what have you found out?" She asked.
"Two hours, that they want to kill every human being on the planet to claim it as their own and don't mention it." He smiled.
They started walking down the corridor towards the main control room and the Doctor asked. "What's with the overalls?"
"Its what I was doing before I came to London. Didn't get time to get cleaned up and changed." Astrea then stopped and doubled over as if she was about to throw up. The Doctor and Jack gave her a worried look.
She felt a tight pain in her chest and coughed several times. She stood up straight and threw her head back, opening her mouth as a golden wisp exited followed by a black cloud evaporating into the atmosphere. "Something must have happened to cause that. That has never happened to me before." She looked at the two men before sauntering on. "Come on guys. We've got Sontarans to deal with." She called back. The Doctor and Jack caught up with her as soon as she neared a door. The Doctor pulled out his sonic and opened the door.
Several Sontarans turned around and their eyes went wide when they saw Astrea. "You are meant to be dead Time Lord." One of them said.
'That explains a lot.' Astrea thought. "Apparently not." She said. "For you see I regenerated about 18 hours ago and my regeneration cycle last about 20 hours. So the excess regeneration energy healed me. And here I am. Alive and well." She smirked. "Hello again." She waved.
"I dunno about you, but I found that hot." Jack whispered to the Doctor.
"You'd find anything hot, Jack, and now isn't the time to bring up stuff like that." Astrea scowled. "Now you lot. What I want to know is why you want the Earth?"
Commander Scryn stepped forward saying, "We want the Earth to use as our new planet to clone but we need to kill the human scum that populate the planet. Starting with you three." He pointed a gun at the three of them.
"Earth happens to be one of my favourite planets and I will stop you from destroying it." The Doctor growled.
Astrea stepped forward, opening her arms wide. "Go ahead." She said in a calm level voice. "Shoot me. Imprison me. Throw me into open space. I don't care but I will NOT let you cause genocide to the human race."
Jack pulled on one of Astrea's arms. "Astrea. Step back. We don't want you to get killed."
Astrea pulled her arm back taking a quick side glance at him. "Oh, but that's who I am, Jacky. Putting my worthless life at stake for others. I don't care what happens to me, as long as everyone else is alright."
"I wouldn't say it was worthless." Jack mumbled.
"So what will it be?" The Doctor spoke up. "Run or be stopped? I suggest the first option."
"We will die with honor in battle than retreat to someone like you." Scryn sneered.
"Well, you were warned." The Doctor said fishing out his sonic. He pointed it towards the console and the ship started to shake. He grabbed both Jack's and Astrea's hand, pulling them out of the ship.
They got out of the Sontaran ship seconds before it flew off. They stared at it as it disappeared into the sky. "Seriously Ast?" Jack questioned.
"What?" She asked.
"Nearly getting yourself killed." The Doctor voiced.
"Saying you life is worthless. You know who would find a way to kill me if he found out you were dead." Jack argued.
"Well it's true Harkness. My life is a curse. It's a wonder the people I travel with hasn't been harmed yet!" Astrea yelled storming off.
"Astrea!" Jacked yelled running after her.
She turned around to face him. "It's true Jack. If I wasn't here then the people who died, because of me, would still be here. Even my..." Astrea trailed. She started looking back to when she was a child on Gallifrey.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"If you were never born your mother would still be here." a man slurred.
"It wasn't my fault. I didn't ask to be born." Astrea whispered.
"Well you were and now she's dead!" He shouted striking Astrea across the face.
"No! Daddy stop!" Astrea cried.
"You have no right to call me 'daddy'. Why do you think you have no name." he said striking her again.
"Stop daddy!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Astrea started to shake. She was about to fall to her knees when Jack caught her. "Astrea? Astrea it's alright." He soothed.
"What's wrong with her?" The Doctor asked.
"She's looking back on her past. I've only seen this happen once and when she comes back round she doesn't like to talk about it. She prefers to stay as far away from her past as possible." Jack explained.
"Don't let me go back there." Astrea whispered.
"We promise." The Doctor said rubbing a hand up and down her arm.
Astrea shook her head putting the thought to the back of her mind. She put a false smile on her face asking, "Where's the nearest chippy at, Jacky? I'm hungry and craving chips."
"Five minutes down the road. C'mon." He said leading them down the road. "You know you can't run away forever. You have to tell someone someday."
The Doctor thought best to stay out of the conversation and say nothing.
"Today isn't that day." She said bluntly. "And yes. I can. I've been running for a long time." She turned around to face him. "Running from secrets. Running from people and aliens. Running from everything. It's one of the things I'm good at. Another is suppressing thoughts and memories for as long as I want. So don't say I can't run forever, Harkness."
"It's true, Ast. You may not see it, but I do. It's tearing you apart. You can plaster on as many false smiles as you want but I see right through them. Even...you know who sees it but he knows what your like when it comes to your past so he doesn't mention it."
Astrea let out a sigh. "Lets just drop it, Jacky, and head to the chippy."
Jack put an arm around Astrea's shoulders. "Alright, but what's up? You only call me 'Jacky', the most despised name you've ever given me, when your irritated."
Astrea shrugged his arm off and gave a small laugh. "Well who do you think that irritations put towards?"
"Um. The Doctor." Jack answered.
"Oi. Leave me outta this, Jacky." The Doctor smirked.
"No. You." She said poking him in the chest. "So it couldn't be the Doctor. I only met the bloke." She smirked. "So. You taking me to the chippy or not."
The Doctor gave a slight laugh. "When was the last time you ate?" He questioned.
"Properly? I dunno. About two, three days ago." Astrea replied putting her arms around Jack's and the Doctor's shoulders as they walked towards the chippy.
"That's it!" Jack exclaimed.
"What now?" Astrea asked.
"You. I'm getting you a fish supper with the works. You need to stop doing this."
"And what if I don't like it?" She questioned.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"She regenerated not so long ago." The Doctor answered. "Doesn't know what she likes yet."
"Exactly, Doccy. No. No. I'm not calling you Doccy. That's a terrible nickname. I know. I'll call you Doc."
"Don't. I hate that name." The Doctor said.
"Alright. I'll use it when I'm irritated then. Just like Jacky." She laughed.
"Would you stop calling me Jacky."
"Never! And I give you permission to call him that. Just to annoy him." Astrea said to the Doctor.
The Doctor gave a smile towards her as they entered the chippy. Jack gave the cashier a flirty smile and said "Hi. Can I have a fish supper with everything on it and two large chips."
"And a 2 ounce burger with brown sauce and a chip and gravy please." Astrea smiled.
The Doctor raised an eyebrow at Astrea. She just shrugged it off as Jack paid for it. "I'll give you the money back later, Jack." Astrea said as they sat at a table.
"No your not. You don't owe me anything. It's about time someone did something for you."
"Don't Jack. Doctor change the subject." Astrea whined.
"Fine. Out of curiosity. Who is this 'you know who' person you keep bringing up."
"We can't tell you that but you'll find out soon enough." Astrea smiled.
"Alright." He leaned forward to look Astrea in the eyes. "Another one. Your eyes."
"Would you both stop asking questions and being worried about me." Astrea asked.
"I'm just curious. What I was going to ask is what does it mean? I mean your eye colour wouldn't change for no reason. It changed several times when you had your arguments with Jack." The Doctor pointed out. "And it just changed there now from orange to dark purple."
'Happiness to confusion. Must add that on.' Astrea thought.
"Happiness to confusion?" He asked. He clicked his fingers and pointed to her. "It shows emotions. Oh, that is brilliant." He grinned.
"And again. Don't mention it when you meet me for I won't know about it. I also need to stop mentally speaking when I'm around you. You've already found out two things. No. Sorry. Three things from your future. Me, the eyes and a tiny bit of the third thing. Hopefully you won't find that out yet."
"I'm just good at finding things out." He smirked.
Astrea stood up from the table. "I'll be back in a moment. Taking these blasted overalls off. They're annoying me now." She said before walking away.
"You like her don't you?" Jack smirked once Astrea was out of ear shot. "And not just friendly like her. I mean like her like her."
"What? No. No. A friend, yes, but not like that." The Doctor said quickly.
"Stop lying. I saw you blush slightly when she put an arm around you. Also the slight blush now. You feel something for her. You LOVE her." Jack smirked.
"Jack I..."
"Just face it. You love her." He cut across. "Love at first sight, eh. And I wouldn't blame ya. She's smokin' hot."
"Alright. Fine. Yes. I like her. But for her personality. Not her looks." The Doctor admitted.
"I knew it." Jack smiled.
"Knew what?" Astrea asked sitting down.
"That the Doctor..." Jack began.
"It's nothing." The Doctor cut across. "It's nothing."
"Ooookay." She said, drawing out the 'o' and giving them a look. "What should we talk about next and eyes front, Jack. Not my chest."
"Well sorry but it's not hard to miss them." He winked. "And by the looks of it. They've gone a few sizes bigger. Double D's if I had to strike a guess."
"Jack!" Astrea exclaimed, crossing her arms across her chest. "I can't believe you would actually say that to me."
"You should know by now that if it's something sexual, he would say it without thinking about it." The Doctor sighed.
"I know but it's the first time he said something like that to me. I'm finding it weird that he's been checking me out without me realizing it."
"I'm very sneaky when it comes to that." He smirked.
A male employee came over to their table and gave them their food. "Here you go." He smiled.
"Thank you." Astrea smiled back. The employee gave her a wink and set down a folded piece of paper beside her then walked off. Astrea opened the piece of paper to find a phone number written. She threw it over to Jack saying, "Here you go, Jack. Got you a boyfriend."
"You not gonna call him." He asked.
"Maybe as a friendly gesture. Got my eyes on someone else." She smiled digging into her meal.
Jack nudged the Doctor and started to eat his meal too. "So has this one." Jack said with a mouthful of chips.
"Really?? Who is it?" She asked.
"You really wanna know?" Jack teased.
"Yes. I wanna know. Who is it?" Astrea asked.
"I'm not gonna tell you." Jack replied.
Astrea let out a groan of irritation. "Fine." She said.
She started to cut up the fish and took the burger apart. She put a bit of fish and some chips on the bottom bap, the meat of the burger, a bit of fish and some chips on top then the top bap.
"That looks disgusting, Ast." Jack said.
"It's an idea in progress." Astrea spoke then took a bite of it. Her eyes lit up as the food burst with flavour. "Oh, that is gorgeous." She broke a bit off and handed it to Jack. "Try it."
Jack took it and ate it. "That is delicious."
She did the same to the Doctor. "Nah. Not really fond of fish."
"What next? You gonna say you don't like red wine."
"I love red wine. Especially 17th Century French wine."
"Then you won't mind splitting a bottle later."
"Not at all."
"Stop it, Harkness." Astrea smiled.
Jack stopped making kissing faces then said, "You have to be blind not to see it."
"See what?" She asked.
"You and him. You see he.."
"Jack." The Doctor warned.
"And you.."
"Harkness." Astrea warned.
"This version of you both is so similar." Jack sighed. "It's hard to choose which one to shag." He smirked.
"Have as much fun as you want with the Doctor. Just make sure I'm not there." She smiled.
"I'll be half way across the universe when he's with you." The Doctor smirked.
"Or you both could be in the same room with yours truly." Jack smiled.
"Keep dreaming, Jack." Astrea laughed.
"That will never happen." The Doctor grinned.
Jack had a grin plastered on his face when he said, "I think it's about time you asked her out."
"Don't you dare." The Doctor warned.
"Ask who out?" Astrea questioned.
"You." Jack smirked as the Doctor rested his head against the table, annoyed with him. "That's what we were on about when you were taking you overalls off."
"Sure." Astrea said simply.
The Doctor's head shot up. "What?"
"I'll go out with you." She smiled. "When and where?" She asked.
"Um. Thursday. At 8. Earth time at Hyde Park."
"Thursday at 8." Astrea smiled.
The Doctor smiled back as they finished their meals and left the chippy.
"The Doctor's got a date." Jack said in a sing song voice.
"You'll soon have a date with a black hole if you don't shut up." Astrea threatened. "You're getting annoying."
Jack's phone started to ring and he picked it up. "Hello"
"Jack," A female welsh voice spoke. "We've located that unidentified alien. It's currently in London."
"Where about?"
"Waterloo Road. There's also a Time Lord nearby."
"That'll be the Doctor. Alright I'm on it." He said then hung up.
"Who was that?" Astrea asked.
"Torchwood. It's about time you get going. They've located you."
"A question before I go. What will you lot do if I did get captured?"
"Most likely kill you but do an autopsy first. See how your body works."
"Alright." Astrea grimaced. "I better get going then. Don't want to get touched at by a knife again." She laughed. "But one more question. Where's Sparky. I've forgotten where she landed."
"That's a first." Jack laughed.
"No I'm serious. I don't know which part of London I left her at."
"Westminster. Beside Big Ben."
"Alright. Thanks, Jacky. You coming with me or the Doctor?"
"I'm heading back to Torchwood but I'll see you again." He said then ran off.
"I'll see you Thursday, Doctor." Astrea smiled and pecked him on the cheek.
"See you Thursday." He smiled then Astrea ran off towards Westminster Abbey.
She entered the TARDIS half an hour later. "Where did you run off too?" Amy asked.
"London." She smiled pointing towards the door. "Why didn't you follow?"
"The Doctor stopped us. Won't say why we couldn't go out but he let Jack go."
She smirked and walked towards the door to the Doctor's TARDIS and shouted in. "Your a devil, you know that."
"No I'm not. It was your future and you told me not to tell you." The Doctor replied walking towards Astrea's TARDIS. He pecked her on the lips and continued. "Also, in my point of view, that's when I first met you. So when I said we might have met but not realize it. I was telling half the truth."
"Well, you could at least warn me when you're about to pop up."
"Nope. As I said, your future. Sorta like your visions. No hints or getting told. Also, why do you think I didn't take you out yet."
"What are you guys on about?" Rory asked.
"I was hanging out with the Doctor from the past. He looked completely different. Good looking, but I still love this version of you. Don't get jealous. And his voice was British with a hint of Scottish and he asked me out." Astrea smiled.
"What did you say?" Amy asked.
"I said yes. Meeting him on Thursday at 8. Earth time."
"What are you gonna do?" Rory asked.
"Dunno. It could be anything."
"You'll love it." The Doctor grinned.
"What is it?" Astrea asked.
"Can't say."
Astrea let out a groan. "Now I know how you feel when I can't say anything, Doc."
"There's no need to be irritated. Anyway, we are going to Rio so get dressed." The Doctor smiled.
"Only if you wear normal clothes." Astrea challenged. "No bow tie."
"Bow ties are cool." The Doctor stated, straightening his bow tie.
"It may be cool but it's going for one day."
"Nope. Bow ties staying."
"C'mon, Doctor. For me." Astrea pleaded pulling a puppy face.
"Argh. Fine. I'll wear normal clothes." The Doctor gave in.
"Yay!" She smiled and hugged him. "I'll meet you in Rio. Popping round to Alison's for two minutes. Promise."
"See you in Rio." He pecked her on the cheek and left to his TARDIS with the Ponds in tow.