"Welcome to Wester Drumlin!" the Doctor announced as they walked up the steps from the basement where they'd landed the TARDIS. "Apparently, where Martha and I get sent back to 1969."
"So where are the Angels?" Martha asked, looking around.
"I don't know," the Doctor replied cheerfully as they made it to the top floor, looking around. "But it is a bit creepy around here, mind you."
"Well, let's put it this way," Jessie commented as she poked her head into what appeared to be the drawing room. "We'll know when we find it when none of us answer each other."
There was no answer.
Jessie froze, slowly turning around. "Doctor?" she asked, walking forward back to the door. "Martha?"
She checked in the other room and froze when she saw the statue of an Angel with its hands over its eyes by the window. "No way," she breathed before taking out a mirror she had in her pocket and held it up before backing away. "No way!"
She turned tail and ran back down the stairs, heading out of the house.
And she crashed right into a younger Sally Sparrow. "Are you all right?" Sally asked, frowning.
"Yeah," Jessie replied, panting. "Yeah. I'm fine." She grinned. "Sally Sparrow, right?"
Sally blinked. "How d'you know my name?"
Jessie blinked. "Oh, been in the neighborhood, that's all," she said quickly. "Did you want to see the house?"
"Yeah," Sally replied, holding up her camera and heading for the front door. "Pictures. What were you here for?"
"Oh, just . . . looking around," Jessie said, half telling the truth as she tried to not panic. "Doesn't hurt if they don't know you're here."
"That's right," Sally laughed as they climbed the stairs. She broke through a boarded up window and stepped through, snapping a few pictures. "I've always had an interest in these kinds of houses."
"Just curiosity?" Jessie asked.
"Yeah, you could say it's a - " She broke off. "What?"
Jessie turned to see Sally poking at a bit of wallpaper, and she tilted her head when she saw the "B" underneath it. "Message under the wallpaper?" she asked.
Sally slowly tore part of the wallpaper off, and the words "BEWARE THE WEEPING ANGEL" were revealed. Sally kept tearing, and it added "OH, AND DUCK! REALLY, DUCK! BAD WOLF, SALLY SPARROW, DUCK, NOW!"
Jessie jumped forward and grabbed Sally, pulling her down with her just before a window was broken behind them, and a flower pot bounced off the wall and broke on the floor. Jessie stared at it in shock before running to the window and blanching when she saw the Angel statue there with its hands over its face. "Oh my God," she gasped.
"What?" Sally asked as she pulled off the last of the paper.
Jessie turned and grinned at the last message. "LOVE FROM THE DOCTOR, 1969."
***
"Of course, my friends ran off on me," Jessie was telling Sally as they left the house. "Do you mind if I spent the night?"
Sally stared at her before shaking her head. "Oh, what the hell," she sighed. "As long as you swear not to rob the place."
Jessie laughed. "I'm a federal agent. I swear."
Sally slowly nodded. "Right, then. Where's the badge?" Jessie held up her psychic paper, and Sally's eyes widened. "Oh, I'm so sorry!"
"It's perfectly fine," she assured her with a laugh. "Code name is Bad Wolf. Partners are John Smith and Martha Jones. No idea where they swanned off to."
"Well, you can stay with me," Sally offered. "At least until we find them."
***
Extremely early the next morning, Sally led Jessie to her friend, Kathy Nightingale's, place. "I'll ask her to come with us," Sally explained. "That was way too creepy last night. Especially how that Doctor fellow knew our names."
"Mm," Jessie hummed as they stepped inside. "Creepy."
"Kathy?" Sally called as they made their way through the hallway to the kitchen.
Jessie stopped when in a room nearby, she saw one of the screens with the Doctor on it. "Yet," he warned. "They're coming. They're coming for you, but listen, your life could depend on this. Don't blink. Don't even blink. Blink, and you're dead. They are fast. Faster than you can believe. Don't turn your back, don't look away, and don't blink. Good luck."
"Oh, I wish you were here," she breathed as she saw the other screens, Martha joining the Doctor on one of them.
"Did you say something?" Sally asked.
Jessie jumped. "No," she said quickly, joining her in the kitchen as Sally dialed a number on her phone. "No, nothing."
"Bit freaked," Sally said into the phone as she made coffee. "Need to talk. Making you a coffee." She paused before saying, "No. I'm in the kitchen with a, ah . . . " She looked at Jessie. "Friend I made last night. What's that on all those screens in your front room?" She paused again before frowning and saying, "No."
A door opened nearby, and Jessie turned when a man entered, and she quickly turned her back, flushing when she noticed he was not wearing any clothes. "OK," he said slowly when he saw there were two women in the kitchen. "Not sure, but really, really hoping . . . pants?"
"No," both Sally and Jessie said in unison.
A woman with dark hair ran down the stairs, tying on a bathrobe. "Put them on! Put them on! I hate you!" She pushed him away. "What're you thinking?" She sighed, turning around before frowning at Jessie. "Who're you?"
"Bad Wolf," she replied, holding out a hand. "Nice to meet you."
"Kathy Nightingale," she replied, shaking. "Sorry. My useless brother." She looked over her shoulder to Sally, who was staring thoughtfully into her cup. "Sally? What's wrong? What happened?"
***
"OK, let's investigate," Kathy said cheerfully as they climbed over the gate to the house. "You and us, girl investigators. Love it. Hey! Wolf, Sparrow, and Nightingale! That so works!"
"Bit ITV," Sally commented.
"I know!" Kathy beamed. She looked around as they entered the house. "What did you come here for, anyway?"
"I love old things," Sally replied. "They make me feel sad."
"What's good about sad?"
"It's happy for deep people."
"And what about you?" Kathy asked Jessie.
"I was looking around with a few friends of mine," Jessie replied as they looked at the writing on the wall. She smiled at her fiancé's name. Fiancé. I like the sound of that. "And then they just left me here."
"Well, that's not nice!"
Jessie laughed. "I like you, Kathy Nightingale."
"And I like you, too."
"The Weeping Angel."
Jessie joined Sally out into the conservatory and narrowed her eyes at the Angel. "Not bad in my garden," Kathy commented.
"It's moved," Jessie noted.
"It's what?"
"Since yesterday," Jessie replied, nodding. "I'm sure of it. It's closer. It's got closer to the house."
Sally went back inside and sighed, looking at the message on the wall. "How can our names be written here?" she asked. "How is that possible?"
The doorbell rang down below, and Jessie perked up. "I'll get it!" she called, rushing down the stairs, hoping to God that Sally followed her.
She opened the front door, hearing footsteps behind her, and smiled at the man on the doorstep. "Hi!" she said cheerfully, rather like she had back when she'd met the Wire.
"I'm looking for Sally Sparrow and the Bad Wolf?"
"How did you know we'd be here?" Sally demanded.
Jessie smiled. Another job well done by the Doctor. "I was told to bring this letter on this date at this exact time to Sally Sparrow and the Bad Wolf," the man replied.
"Looks old," Jessie commented as she investigated the letter he handed them.
"It is old," the man agreed, giving it to her. "I'm sorry, do you have anything with a photograph on it like a driving license?"
"Will these work?" Jessie asked, flashing the rings on her fingers to the man.
He nodded to her quickly. "He confirmed those would be the way to identify you."
Sally's head shot up from where she was digging in her purse. "What?" she demanded.
"My friend," Jessie replied sadly, showing her the rings. "One of my friends that disappeared." She took a deep breath. "His code name is the Doctor."
Sally's gaze flew back up the steps. "How did he know I was coming here? Obviously he knew you were, but I didn't tell anyone! How could anyone have known?"
"It's all a bit complicated," the man replied. "I'm not sure I understand it myself." Sally flashed him her driver's license, and he nodded. "I'm sorry. I feel really stupid, but I was told to make absolutely sure. It's so hard to tell with these little photographs, isn't it?"
"Apparently," Sally commented, looking at the letter.
"Well, here goes, I suppose," the man sighed. "Funny feeling, after all these years."
"Who's it from?"
"Well, that's a long story, actually."
"Give me a name," Sally ordered.
"Katherine Wainwright. But she specified I should tell you that prior to marriage, she was called Kathy Nightingale."
There was a bang from upstairs, and Jessie's gaze flew to the staircase. "Kathy?" Sally demanded.
"Kathy, yes," the man replied. "Katherine Costello Nightingale."
"Is this a joke?"
"A joke?"
"Kathy? Is this you?" Sally asked as she ran up the stairs. "Very funny!" She ran into the drawing room before stopping when she saw no one there. "Kathy?"
Jessie ran up behind her, seeing the Angel closer than before. "Oh, no," she sighed.
"Kathy? Kathy!" Sally shouted.
"Please, you need to take this!" the man insisted, having followed them. "I promised!"
"Who are you?" Sally demanded. "Why are you here?"
"I made a promise," the man replied.
"Who to?" Sally asked.
"My grandmother, Katherine Costello Nightingale, and the man and woman who told her to write this, the Doctor and Martha Jones."
Jessie swallowed and took the letter as Sally stared at the man. "Your grandmother?" she whispered.
"Yes. She died twenty years ago."
Jessie opened the envelope and pulled out a few photographs, of a woman she recognized. "Wow," she whispered.
"So they're related?" Sally asked.
"I'm sorry?"
"My Kathy, your grandmother. They're practically identical."
"Sally," Jessie said gently. "Read the letter."
Sally did.
My dearest Sally Sparrow. If my grandson has done as he promises he will, then as you and the Bad Wolf read these words, it has been mere minutes since we last spoke. For you. For me, it has been over sixty years. The third of the photographs is of my children. The youngest is Sally. I named her after you, of course.
Sally's jaw dropped. "This is sick," she whispered. "This is totally sick!"
She dropped the letter and ran up the stairs, and Jessie ran up after her. "Sally!" she called.
"Kathy?" Sally called. "Kathy!" She stopped suddenly. "Kathy?"
Jessie stopped after her to see there were three Weeping Angels at the top of the staircase. Jessie slowly followed her up, and a glint caught her eye. One of the Angels was holding a chain, with a key to the TARDIS dangling on it. "Oh, Martha," she breathed, reaching out and taking the key.
"How did they get here?" Sally wondered.
The front door closed, and they bolted back down the stairs. "No, wait!" Sally shouted. "Hang on!"
Jessie grabbed the letter and the photographs and they ran back outside.
***
Jessie bought the two cups of coffee and set one down in front of Sally. "Can we read the rest?" she asked gently.
Sally nodded and laid it down.
I suppose, unless I live to a really exceptional old age, I will be long gone as you two read this. Don't feel sorry for me. I have led a good and long full life. I've loved a good man and been well loved in return. You would have liked Ben. I know the Doctor did when he and Martha came. He was the very first person I met in 1920. To take one breath in 2015 and the next in 1920 is a strange way to start a new life, but a new life is exactly what I've always wanted. My mum and dad are gone by your time, so really, there's only Lawrence to tell. He works at the DVD store on Queen Street. I don't know what you're going to say to him, but I know you'll think of something. Just tell him I love him.
Jessie rested a hand over Sally's. "Go check the cemetery," she whispered. "I'll head over."
Sally bit her lip and nodded, leaving the letter. Jessie flipped it over, and her hearts raced when she saw they were in a different language on this side, a language she and the Doctor had spoke together only once, in an underground bunker in Utah where she'd first met the Doctor's worst enemies. Spanish. Hesitantly, she began to read.
Jessie,
When Martha and I found Kathy and Ben after a while and told them why we were there, Kathy was blown away. She finally got the answers she was looking for. Once we had explained what was going on, she agreed to write the letter. Her grandson, Malcolm, should have delivered this to you both a while ago. I hope it made it safely.
You're doing an incredible job. I know it if the timeline is going well. Martha's got the job in the shop, just like Sally said she would. Of course, I'm stuck here, trying to figure out a way to track Billy when he arrives. That's one of the places you should be heading with Sally soon. The police station.
While I wish you were here with us, I know you're doing fine where you are. I'll make it up to you when we get back. I promise. As long as we don't run into any SHIELD agents.
Stay safe, and don't blink.
Love from 1969,
The Doctor
P.S., Martha says to make sure to leave her chain intact. She's grown really close to it.
Jessie stifled a laugh as she folded up the letter and took her coffee, heading out the door and for the DVD place.
It was good to know that even when they were stuck almost 50 years apart, her fiancé and maid of honor still had their humor.
***
She entered in to hear Sally talking to the man at the counter. " - for Lawrence Nightingale?"
"Through the back."
Jessie joined Sally and followed her back. "Sorry," she apologized. "Got held up."
"Kathy told her husband she was eighteen," Sally told her with a laugh. "Hello?" she called out.
"Martha!"
Jessie spun at the voice, and she saw the Doctor and Martha on one of the screens, the Doctor glaring at Martha. "Sorry," the woman apologized before leaving.
The Doctor turned back. "Quite possibly." There was a pause. "Afraid so."
"Oh, hello." The man from the house that morning entered. "Can I help you?"
"Forty-six," the Doctor added.
"Er, just a mo." He paused the video. "Hang on. We've met, haven't we?"
"It'll come to you," Jessie commented.
Larry's face froze. "Oh my God!"
She snorted when he crossed his hands over his groin. "And it came to him," she told Sally with a grin.
"Sorry," Larry apologized. "Sorry about the whole - "
"Message from your sister," Sally interrupted.
"Oh!" Larry told her in surprise. "OK. What? What is it? What's the message?"
"She's had to go away for a bit."
"Where?"
"Just a work thing. Nothing to worry about."
"OK . . . "
"And - " Sally cut off.
"And what?" Larry asked.
"She loves you."
Larry blinked. "She what?"
"She said to say . . . she just sort of mentioned it. She loves you." Sally forced a smile. "There. That's nice, isn't it?"
"Is she ill?" Larry asked.
"No!" Sally said quickly, and Jessie pinched the bridge of her nose. Too quickly. "No."
"Am I ill?" Larry asked.
"You don't look like it," Jessie commented.
"Is this a trick?" Larry asked.
"No," Sally replied. "She loves you."
Jessie jumped as the tape started again. "Yeah, my fiancée's right. Yeah, people don't understand time. It's not what you think it is."
Larry sighed and paused the video, and Jessie smiled at the Doctor stopped in what appeared to be mid sentence. "Who is this guy?" Sally asked.
"Sorry," Larry apologized. "The pause thing keeps slipping. Stupid thing."
"Last night at Kathy's, you had him on all those screens. The same guy. Talking about . . . I don't know. Blinking, or something."
"Yeah, the bit about the blinking's great," Larry commented. "I was just checking to see if they were all the same."
"What were the same?" Sally asked. "What is this? Who is he?"
"It's an Easter egg, isn't it?" Jessie asked.
"Excuse me?" Sally asked.
"Like a DVD extra, yeah?" Larry asked. "You know how on DVDs they put extras on, documentaries and stuff? Well, sometimes, they put on hidden ones, and they call them Easter eggs. You have to go looking for them. Follow a bunch of clues on the menu screen - "
"Complicated," the Doctor jumped in, and Jessie jumped yet again.
"Sorry," Larry muttered, again hitting the pause. "It's interesting, actually. He is on seventeen different DVDs."
"You go, dear," Jessie muttered under her breath.
"There are seventeen totally unrelated DVDs, all with him on. Always hidden away, always a secret. Not even the publishers know how he got there! I've talked to the manufacturers, right? They don't even know. He's like . . . he's a ghost DVD extra. Just shows up where he's not supposed to be."
"Him in a nutshell," Jessie commented lowly.
"But only on those. Those seventeen."
"Well, what does he do?" Sally asked.
"Just sits there, making random remarks. It's like we're hearing half a conversation. Me and the guys are always trying to work out the other half."
"When you say you and the guys, you mean the Internet, don't you?" Jessie guessed.
Larry blinked at her. "How'd you know?"
Jessie sighed. "I'm supposed to know these things."
"Very complicated," the Doctor added, the pause coming undone.
"Laurence?" the man up front shouted. "Need you!"
"Excuse me a sec," Larry said, turning to go.
Jessie leaned forward as the video continued. "People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually, from a nonlinear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey . . . stuff."
Jessie snorted. "Well, at least it started well, I'll give you that."
"It got away from me, yeah," the Doctor admitted.
Sally blinked. "OK, that was weird. Like you could hear her."
"Well, I can hear both of you," the Doctor said.
Sally quickly paused the video, and Jessie shook her head, grinning as Larry came back. "OK, that's enough," Sally said. "I've had enough now. I've had a long day, and I've had bloody enough!" Jessie jumped, and Sally sighed. "Sorry," she apologized. "Bad day."
"Join the club," Jessie commented.
"Got you the list," Larry said.
"What?" Sally asked.
"The seventeen DVDs. I thought you might be interested."
Sally stared at the papers before taking them. "Yeah, great," she said absently. "Thanks."
She and Jessie stood and headed for the front door when the man watching TV shouted, "Go to the police, you stupid woman! Why does nobody ever just go to the police?"
Jessie stopped and looked behind her at the same time as Sally. Then they both looked at each other and said in synch, "Police!" and ran out the door.
***
Sally sighed. "Look, I know how mad we're sounding - "
"Shall we try it from the beginning this time?" the desk sergeant asked.
"OK," Sally agreed, taking a deep breath. "There's this house. A big old house, been empty for years, falling apart."
"Wester Drumlins," Jessie put in. "Out by the estate. You've probably seen it."
The desk sergeant straightened at that. "Wester Drumlin?"
Sally nodded. "Yes."
"Could you just wait here for a minute?"
Jessie turned to see two Weeping Angel statues on the church behind them. She kept a close eye on them before she heard a voice behind them. "Hi." She turned, smiling at the black officer that had joined them. "Billy Shipton. Wester Drumlins, that's mine. Can't talk to you now, got a thing I can't be late for, so if you could just - " He paused when he saw the two of them. "Hello."
"Hi!" Jessie sang, just like she'd done with the Wire again and waved.
"Hello," Sally replied a little oddly.
Billy turned to one of the receptionists. "Eh, Marcie? Can you tell them I'm going to be late for that thing?"
***
"All of them?" Sally asked in astonishment as they looked around the nearly full garage parking lot.
"Over the last two years, yeah," Billy replied. "They all still have personal items in them, and a couple still had the motor running."
"So over the last two years, the owners of all of these vehicles have driven up to Wester Drumlin House, parked outside, and - " Jessie cut off when she saw what else they had. "Disappeared," she breathed, looking at what was at the end of the lot.
"What's that?" Sally asked as they approached the TARDIS.
"Ah, the pride of the Wester Drumlins collection!" Billy replied, walking up to the TARDIS. "We found that there, too. Somebody's idea of a joke, I suppose."
"But what is it? What's a police box?"
"Well, it's a special kind of phone box for policemen. They used to have them all over. But this isn't a real one. The phone's just a dummy, and the windows are the wrong size. We can't even get in it. Ordinary Yale lock, but nothing fits. But that's not the big question. See, you're missing the big question."
Jessie walked forward and patted the TARDIS's side, hearing a low whine. "We'll get them back, girl," she whispered. "I promise."
"OK. What's the big question?" Sally asked.
"Will you have a drink with me?"
Jessie spun. "Say what?"
"Drink? You? Me? Now?"
"Aren't you on duty, Detective Inspector Shipton?"
"Nope. Knocked off before I left. Told them I had a family crisis."
Jessie raised an eyebrow, leaning on the TARDIS. "Why?"
"Because life is short and you two are hot. Drink?"
"Engaged," Jessie replied, waving her left hand at him, the sapphire catching the light. "So, no, and I'm never cheating on him."
There was a hum of approval from the TARDIS, and Billy smiled at her. "Lucky man." Jessie nodded as he turned to Sally, who gave him a big fat "No."
"Ever?" Billy tried.
"Maybe."
"Phone number?"
"Moving kind of fast, DI Shipton."
"Billy. I'm off duty."
"Aren't you just," Sally muttered, writing something down in a notebook.
"Is that your phone number?" Billy asked.
"Just my phone number," Sally told him, handing him the paper. "Not a promise. Not a guarantee. Not an IOU. Jut a phone number."
"And that's Sally?"
"Sally Shipton." She shook herself. "Sparrow! Sally Sparrow. We're going now. Don't look at us."
Jessie was shaking with laughter as they left, Billy still trying to call Sally out. When they were outside, she pulled the TARDIS key out of her pocket. "Hold on," she said slowly. "Ordinary Yale lock, but . . . nothing fits."
They looked at each other before running back to the garage. They both skidded to a stop when they saw the TARDIS and Billy gone. "What the hell?" Sally asked.
***
The Doctor took off running when the machine he'd built started beeping like crazy. He beamed when he saw the black man slide down a wall. "Welcome!" he said cheerfully, stopping, Martha catching up behind him.
"Where am I?" Billy asked breathlessly.
"1969," the Doctor replied. "Not bad, as it goes. You've got the moon landing to look forward to."
"Oh, the moon landing's brilliant," Martha agreed. "We went four times . . . back when we had transport." She glared at him.
"Working on it," he muttered.
"How did I get here?" Billy asked.
"The same way we did," the Doctor replied, sitting down next to him. "The touch of an Angel. Same one, probably, since you ended up in the same year." He put a hand on Billy's shoulder when he tried to move. No, no. No, no, no, don't get up. Time travel without a capsule. Nasty. Catch your breath. Don't go swimming for half an hour."
Billy stared at him in horror. "I don't - I can't - "
"Fascinating race, the Weeping Angels," the Doctor continued, leaning back. "The only psychopaths in the universe to kill you nicely. No mess, no fuss, they just zap you into the past and let you live to death. The rest of your life used up and blown away in the blink of an eye. You die in the past, and in the present they consume the energy of all the days you might have had. All your stolen moments." He swallowed, thinking of Jessie, before continuing. "They're creatures of the abstract. They live off potential energy."
"What in God's name are you talking about?" Billy asked.
"Trust me, just nod when he stops for breath," Martha advised.
"Tracked you down with this," the Doctor explained, waving the device he had. "This is my timey-wimey detector. It goes ding when there's stuff. Also, it can boil an egg at thirty paces, whether you want it to or not, actually, so I've learned to stay away from hens. It's not pretty when they blow."
"I don't understand," Billy sputtered. "Where am I?"
"1969," Martha replied. "Like he says."
"Normally, I'd offer you a lift home, but somebody nicked my motor," the Doctor told him. "So I need you to take a message to Sally Sparrow and my fiancée. And I'm sorry, Billy. I am very, very sorry. It's going to take you a while."
***
Jessie and Sally slowly approached the bed in the geriatric ward, with one old black man lying there. "Billy?" Sally asked softly.
He woke up. "It was raining when we met," he rasped.
Jessie smiled, looking out the window at the rain. "It's the same rain," she commented.
Sally looked at a picture Billy handed her. "She looks nice," she commented.
"Her name was Sally, too."
"Sally Shipton," Jessie giggled.
"Sally Shipton," Billy agreed. "I often thought about looking for you before tonight, but apparently, it would've torn a hole in the fabric of space and time, and destroyed two thirds of the universe. Also, I'd lost my hair."
Jessie turned. "Who told you that?" she asked.
"There's a man in 1969. He sent me with a message for both of you." He smiled at her. "He described you so beautifully. And the rings . . . " Jessie stepped forward and laid both of her hands in his. He tilted the rose gold one this way and that, and smiled. "His violet and bronze demigod."
Jessie smiled. "Was this man the Doctor?" she asked.
"Yes."
"What was the message?"
"Just this: look at the list."
"What does that mean?" Sally demanded. "Is that it? Look at the list?"
"He said you'd have it by now," Billy replied. "A list of seventeen DVDs. I didn't stay a policeman back then. Got into publishing. Then video publishing. Then DVDs, of course."
Jessie smiled. "You're the one behind the Easter eggs."
"Mm," Billy agreed, looking at Sally. "Have you noticed what all seventeen DVDs have in common yet? I suppose it's hard for you, in a way."
"How could the Doctor have even known I had a list?" Sally asked. "I only just got this!"
"I asked him how, but he said he couldn't tell me. He said you'd understand it one day, but that I never would."
"Soon as I understand it, I'll come and tell you."
"No, gorgeous girl. You can't." Billy's thumb rubbed over the gleaming diamonds lining the rose gold ring. "There's only tonight. He told me all those years ago that we'll only meet again this one time. On the night I die."
"I'm sorry," Jessie breathed. "I'm so sorry."
"But he said he's coming home," Billy told her with a smile. "Coming home, and he was dying a little bit each day without you."
Jessie blinked back tears. "Oh, Billy . . . "
"It's kept me going," Billy told her. "I' m a sick, old man. But I've had something to look forward to. Ah, life is long, and you two are hot." Jessie smiled. "Oh, look at my hands. They're old man's hands. How did that happen?"
Sally sat down on the other side of the bed. "We'll stay," she told him. "We're going to stay with you. OK?"
"Thank you, Sally Sparrow," Billy told her with a smile. "Bad Wolf girl. I have till the rain stops."
He did have that long. As soon as the rain stopped, Billy took his last breath. Jessie squeezed his hand and phoned the nurses to tell them, and she and Sally left. As they walked, Sally asked a question. "What did Billy mean, he described you perfectly?"
"The Doctor," Jessie replied. "He and Martha were taken by the Weeping Angels." They stopped, and Sally stared at Jessie in confusion. Jessie smiled. "I said I'd met you before, Sally. I have." She nodded. "Take a look at the list."
Sally stared at her before slowly taking it out and looking it over. As she did, her eyes widened, and she fumbled for her phone. Jessie smiled. "There you go."
She put it on speaker as they walked back towards Wester Drumlin. "Banto's," Larry told them.
"They're mine," Sally told him.
"What?"
"The DVDs on the list. The seventeen DVDs. What they've got in common is me. They're all the DVDs I own. The Easter Egg was intended for me."
Pause. "You've only got seventeen DVDs?"
"I only had thirteen, and that was because Stark told me to get them," Jessie laughed.
"Do you have a portable DVD player?" Sally asked.
"Of course," Larry replied. "Why?"
"I want you to meet the two of us."
"Where?"
"Wester Drumlin."
***
Jessie smirked as she leaned against the doorway when Larry came up. "You two live in Scooby Doo's house," Larry commented.
Jessie rolled her eyes and pulled him into the house. "Oh, get in here."
***
"OK, this is the one with the clearest sound," Larry told them, putting a DVD into the player. "Slightly better picture quality on this one, but I don't know - "
"It doesn't matter," Sally interrupted.
"OK." Jessie smiled as the Doctor popped up. "There he is."
"The Doctor," Jessie told him.
"Who's the Doctor?"
"He's the Doctor."
"Yup," the Doctor commented. "That's me. Hello!"
Jessie grinned and waved. "Hello!"
He waved back, and Sally shook her head. "OK. That was scary."
"No, it sounds like he's replying, but he always says that."
"Yes, I do," the Doctor agreed.
"And that."
"Yup. And this."
"He can hear us," Sally gasped. "Oh, my God, you can really hear us?"
"Of course he can't hear us," Larry snorted. "Look, I've got a transcript!" He waved it at them. "See? Everything he says. Yup, that's me. Yes, I do. Yup, and this. Next it's - "
"Are you going to read out the whole thing?" Jessie asked him, in synch with the Doctor without Larry even opening up his mouth.
Larry stared at her. "How did you - ?"
Jessie smiled and turned to the screen. "Want to explain, dear?"
"I'm a time traveler, and so's my fiancée with you," the Doctor said on cue. "Or . . . I was. I'm stuck in 1969."
Martha poked her head in, and Jessie grinned. "We're stuck! All of space and time, he promised me! Now I've got a job in a shop! I've got to support him!"
"And you're doing great, Martha," Jessie told her.
She beamed. "Thank you!"
The Doctor looked at her. "Martha!"
"Sorry," she apologized, ducking away.
"I've seen this bit before," Sally whispered.
"Quite possibly," the Doctor commented.
"1969. That's where you're talking from?
"Afraid so."
"But you're replying to us! You can't know exactly what we're going to say . . . fifty years before we say it!"
"Forty-six," the Doctor corrected.
"I'm getting this down," Larry said, pulling out the copy of the transcript Sally would later give them. "I'm writing in your bits."
"How?" Sally asked. "How is this possible? Tell me!"
"Not so fast!"
"It's weird, Sally," Jessie warned. "I'll tell you that right now."
"Yeah, my fiancée's right, yeah," the Doctor told her. "People don't understand time. It's not what you think it is."
"Then what is it?" Sally asked.
"Complicated."
"Tell me."
"Very complicated."
"Sweetheart, as much as I love you, people have died, and it's been a few rough days," Jessie sighed. "Just tell her already."
"People assume that time is in strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big . . .ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey . . . stuff."
"Well, that didn't change," Jessie commented. "That got away from you, didn't it?"
"It got away from me, yeah," the Doctor admitted.
"I know this," Sally jumped in. "Next thing you're going to say is, well, I can hear you both."
"Well, I can hear both of you," the Doctor said, right on cue.
"This isn't possible!" Sally gasped.
"No," Larry agreed. "It's brilliant!"
"Well, not hear you, exactly, but I know everything you're going to say," the Doctor told them. "She does, too."
"Always gives me the shivers, that bit," Larry commented.
"How can you know what we're going to say?" Sally asked.
"Sweetheart, point to your left," the Doctor told Jessie.
She did, straight to where Larry was writing on the transcript. Larry looked up, confused. "What does he mean by 'point to your left?'" he asked. "I've written tons about that on the forums. I think it's a political statement."
Jessie cleared her throat pointedly. "You. You're writing on the transcript."
"I'm writing in your guys' bits," he agreed. "That way I've got a complete transcript of the whole conversation. Wait until this hits the net! This will explode the egg forums!"
"I've cot a copy of the finished transcript," the Doctor explained. "It's on my autocue."
"And I know it by heart," Jessie added. "Memorized it, even."
"How could you have had a copy of the finished transcript?" Sally asked. "It's still being written!"
"I told you, we're time travelers," the Doctor told her. "We got it in the future."
"OK, let me get my head round this," Sally said, holding up her hands. "You're reading aloud from a transcript of a conversation you're still having."
"Yeah," the Doctor confirmed. "Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey."
"Never mind that," Sally muttered before turning to Larry. "You can do shorthand?"
"So?" Larry protested.
"What matters is," the Doctor interrupted, "we can communicate. We have got big problems now. They have taken the blue box, haven't they? The angels have the phone box."
"The angels have the phone box," Larry said happily. "That's my favorite. I've got that on a T-shirt."
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Sweetheart?"
Jessie punched Larry in the arm. "Ow!" he cried.
"What do you mean, angels?" Sally asked. "You mean those statue things?"
"Creatures from another world," the Doctor confirmed.
"But they're just statues!"
"Only when you see them."
"What does that mean?"
"And here we go," Jessie commented, leaning forward with her elbows on her knees.
"The lonely assassins, they used to be called," the Doctor mused. "No one quite knows where they came from, but they're as old as the universe, or very nearly, and they have survived this long because they have the most perfect defense system ever evolved. They are quantum-locked. They don't exist when they're being observed. The moment they are seen by any other living creature, they freeze into rock. No choice. It's a fact of their biology. In the sight of any living thing, they literally turn to stone. And you can't kill a stone. Of course, a stone can't kill you, either. But then you turn your head away, then you blink, and oh, yes it can."
Jessie nodded to an Angel nearby. "Don't take your eyes off that," she told Larry, who turned his head to watch it.
"That's why they cover their eyes," the Doctor continued. "They're not weeping. They can't risk looking at each other. Their greatest asset is their greatest curse. They can never be seen. The loneliest creatures in the universe. And I'm sorry. I am very, very sorry. It's up to you now."
Sally and Jessie looked at each other, before Sally took a deep breath. "What are we supposed to do?"
"The blue box. It's our time machine. There is a world of time energy in there they could feast on forever, but the damage they could do could switch off the sun. You have got to send it and the Bad Wolf back to me."
"How?" Sally asked, and Jessie shook her head sadly. "How?"
The Doctor sighed. "And that's it, I'm afraid. There's no more from you on the transcript. That's the last I've got. I don't know what stopped you talking, but I can guess. They're coming. The Angels are coming for you. But listen. Your life could depend on this. Don't blink. Don't even blink. Blink, and you're dead. They are fast. Faster than you can ever believe. Don't turn your back, don't look away, and don't blink. Good luck."
The picture froze, and Jessie sighed, clicking the player off. "Right," she said. "So, they're coming for us - " She noticed something and stared at Larry. "Wait a minute. You're not looking at the statue."
Larry shook his head. "Neither are either of you."
The three of them slowly turned, and Jessie's eyes widened as they took in the Weeping Angel towering above them, mouth open, reaching out towards them. "Back to the door!" Jessie ordered, fishing the mirror she had back out and aiming it at it, so the Angel was forced to look at itself. "Get down!"
"Down where?" Sally cried.
"The doors'll be locked, but the last time we were here, we landed down in the basement," Jessie told them calmly. "Now when I say so, run. Got it?" She didn't wait for an answer until they were out the door, and then she screamed, "RUN!"
They took off down the stairs towards the cellar, and Jessie skidded to a halt when she saw the TARDIS surrounded by the Angels. Jessie stalked towards them. "OK, boys," she growled. "I know how this works. You can't move as long as we can see you. And I am getting that box back, no matter what I have to do." Larry and Sally joined her, and the fourth Angel joined. "Oh, and there's that one," she commented before she frowned. "Why's it pointing at the light?"
The light flickered, and the Angel got closer. "It's turning out the lights!" Sally shrieked.
"Quickly!" Larry called.
Jessie ran to the TARDIS, fumbling with the key and trying to find the lock. "I can't find the lock!" she cried.
"Bad Wolf, hurry up!" Sally cried. "Get it open!"
"It won't turn!"
"Bad Wolf!" Larry cried.
Jessie finally got the door open and stumbled inside, shutting the door behind the three of them. A hologram of the Doctor projected from up above. "This is security protocol seven one two," he said. "This time capsule has detected the presence of an authorized control disc, valid one journey."
"Give me the DVD," Jessie told Larry.
He pulled it out and opened the case. Jessie took the glowing DVD out. "Please insert the disc and prepare for departure," the Doctor stated before it fizzled out.
"And I just need to put it in," Jessie said, heading for the console.
The TARDIS rocked, and they careened into the railing. "They're trying to get in!" Larry shouted.
"Hurry up!" Sally shouted.
Jessie finally slid the DVD into the slot, and the rotor started up. She smiled. "Get me to him, girl," she whispered. "Where do I need to go?"
"It's leaving us behind!" Sally shouted as they began to dematerialize. "Bad Wolf, no! You can't!"
"Love from Asgard, Sparrow and Nightingale!" she called to them with a wink before they were gone.
***
She opened the doors and leaned in the doorway, arms and legs crossed. She finally heard the sound of running and grinned when she saw the Doctor, Martha, and a young Billy run up. "Welcome to the Airship TARDIS," she said in an official voice, patting the box. "The journey today is from 1969 all the way to 2015. Passage for three passengers: the Bad Wolf, the Doctor, and Martha Jones. Please step inside, hold on tight, and enjoy your flight home."
"Oh, you are brilliant!" the Doctor shouted, running and hugging her tightly, spinning her around.
Jessie squealed and wrapped her arms around his neck, holding on tightly. "Well, you helped!"
"You did it!" Martha cried, joining the hug. "You actually did it!"
Jessie beamed at Billy. "It worked," she told him. "You did it."
He nodded, still staring at the TARDIS in shock. "I . . . yeah."
Jessie smiled. "I want to go back there, after Sally's met us. I want to thank them both."
The Doctor winked. "That can be arranged."
The three of them stepped into the TARDIS, and the Doctor set the time rotor going again, and Jessie smiled, leaning back happily. She was definitely where she belonged.
But he still owed her for leaving her behind.
***
I loved writing Jessie in here. :) Of course, no one had any idea what she was saying, but she knew what she was doing, so . . . yeah. Fun.
But up next . . . heeere comes Torchwood! :)