When Everything Changed - Chapter 8/20
Sep. 3rd, 2010 11:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tonjavmooreTitle: When Everything Changed – A Torchwood/Dr. Who/Sarah Jane Adventures Crossover
Author: ![[personal profile]](https://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tonjavmoore
Characters/Pairings: Jack/Ianto, Gwen/Rhys, Eleven and Amy Pond, and a lot of people from the Whoniverse at large
Rating: PG
Word Count: Total: 31,520; Chapter 8: 1,682
Spoilers: This assumes that you are familiar the five days of Children of Earth. Otherwise, you'll be a bit lost. This is a timey-wimey fixit that takes up action partway through Day 3.
Disclaimer: Torchwood, Dr. Who, and Sarah Jane Adventures all belong to the BBC and RTD. Sadly.
Betas: Thanks to midlist_writer and welsh_scotsman on Live Journal. Also, for my friend Alexandria Cameron who put up with my squeals and tantrums when it just wouldn't get out through my fingers the way I wanted it to.
Dedication: This is for my good friend and the best roommate anyone could have ever the pleasure of having, Susan Garrett. She was taken from us by cancer and the world is not as bright as it was before she left.
Summary: When the Shadow Architects find a paradox that is destroying the Universe, can the Eleventh Doctor find a way to restore Jack’s timeline to what it should have been?
A/N: I have disabled comments on Live Journal. Please comment at my Dreamwidth account. I love comments. They spur me on. You don’t have to have an account to comment there. Take a look at this page.
Story starts here:
Chapter 1
Chapter 8
Amy looked at the light green car in the driveway and the spire on top of the house. This was the correct place, all right, but once again she had no idea what she was going to say. This was a different proposition from Rhiannon Davies. Here she had nothing to back her up except for a blank piece of paper that the Doctor had given her just before he put her in the taxi. It added to her nerves that the Doctor had spoken with such reverence when he said Sarah Jane’s name.
She also admitted to herself that she was nervous being this far from the Doctor and the TARDIS. Oddly enough, the ship was clearly feeling better after its backward hop. Amy took it to mean that they were still on the right path. She hoped the Doctor had accomplished his part. He’d seemed so upset before. It shook her to see him displaying that much emotion.
“All right, Amelia Pond,” she said out loud. “Time for you to face the lioness in her den.” She walked up the driveway with a determined step and rang the bell.
It seemed a very long time before she heard a voice through the speaker above the bell. “Who are you?” a female voice demanded.
“My name’s Amy,” she told the speaker. “Amy Pond. I need to speak with Sarah Jane Smith. It’s very important.”
“Who sent you here?” The voice was not exactly welcoming.
Unlike with Rhiannon, Amy decided honesty was the best policy here. “The Doctor sent me. I’m a… Companion.” That’s was what the Doctor had called the others. Amy had heard the capital in his voice.
The voice came back, this time uncertain. “Can you prove that?”
“I don’t know,” Amy said. “He gave me a sheet of paper to show you. It’s blank, so I don’t know why.”
A moment later the door was opened, but only until a chain on the inside stopped it. “Give it to me,” the woman (Sarah Jane Smith, Amy hoped) said. All she could see was a hand. The door shut again and Amy looked around. What was she going to do if this didn’t work? Find an unlocked window?
The door opened again, this time wide. A woman stood there with the paper in her hand. “Come in quickly, Amy Pond.”
Amy wasted no time in obeying. “Thank you, Miss Smith,” she said sincerely. “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t something terribly important.”
“It’s Sarah Jane. Can I call you Amy?” The woman was smiling, albeit not widely. “I don’t think we have time for formality. This is a note from the Doctor. It’s on psychic paper so that no one else can read it. He says what you have to tell me is both urgent and unpleasant. Shall we sit?” Amy nodded and followed her through. As they walked, Sarah Jane called out, “Luke, it’s all right. Come out.”
A boy of about fourteen or fifteen came out of what Amy supposed was the kitchen area. “Mum?” he said. “Who’s this?”
“Amy Pond. She’s from the Doctor.” Sarah Jane led her to a sunny room full of overstuffed furniture – the parlor, Amy guessed – and waited until Amy made herself comfortable on the couch with Luke beside her. Settling herself in one of the two facing armchairs, Sarah Jane said, “Now, Amy, is what you’re about to tell us concerned with this crisis?”
She didn’t pretend to not know what Sarah Jane was talking about. “Yes. It’s about the 456. The aliens.”
“That’s what they’re called then.”
“Yes, except that it’s just the human name for them. The Doctor doesn’t know what they call themselves. He’s never encountered them before now.”
“Rare for the Doctor.”
“He said that, too. He also said you were probably investigating it. Are you?”
“As much as I can.” Sarah Jane looked as though she’d made a decision. “Come upstairs with me.”
Amy found herself in a nice loft. The only jarring note was a very large computer with panels sticking out of one wall. She watched as Sarah Jane went to the face the screen. “Mr. Smith, do you have any progress to report?”
The smooth voice that answered her startled Amy. It wasn’t in the least mechanical. “I’m sorry, Sarah Jane. The ship is staying on the dark side of the moon. I cannot get an accurate estimate of its size except that it extends miles, at least.”
“Mr. Smith, this is Amy Pond. She has more data for you.” Sarah Jane gestured for Amy to join her. “Just talk to him.”
“Okay, here’s what I know.” Amy felt odd explaining everything to a computer. On the other hand, she didn’t really want to see the faces around her as she related the details of the 456 and their demands. Finally she had to look. Shock and horror were reflected there, just as she anticipated.
“Is the Doctor stopping them?” Sarah Jane demanded when Amy stopped talking.
“That’s why I’ve come.” Amy looked around to find a place to sit. She was exhausted from the narration and anxiety. “He told me that you would be looking into this. And he told me to tell you to stop.”
Sarah Jane sat guided her to an old sofa and Luke sat on the floor, watching her with his intelligent dark eyes. “How old are you, Luke?” Amy asked.
A look was exchanged between the other two. “Fifteen,” he said cautiously.
“Then I guess you’ll be all right. What the Doctor is trying to do is… well, you’re not going to like it.”
“What is it?” Sarah asked, more gently this time.
It was suddenly all too much. Tears leaked out of Amy’s eyes. “We have to let them take the children.”
“WHAT?” Luke and Sarah Jane shouted. Amy was pretty sure that Mr. Smith had shouted, too.
She sniffed and tried to hold back sobs. “It’s very important that the children be taken. Otherwise, the Universe will keep collapsing. Humanity will die out. It’s terrible!”
Amy found herself wrapped in two sets of arms while she cried. She strove to get herself under control. “I’m sorry,” she said, trying to wipe her tears with a handkerchief that Luke produced. “I’m… it’s not…”
“Hush.” Sarah Jane said quietly. “Luke, go make us some tea. We’ll be down in a minute.”
Luke left and Sarah found tissues for Amy. “There’s no other way?” she asked.
Amy shook her head. “I’ve seen what’s happened if they are stopped. The Universe collapsing on itself. The TARDIS is still sick, even though we’ve gotten Torchwood safely out of harm’s way for now. And the Doctor said he would stop Mickey and Martha, too. That’s what he’s doing. He sent me to talk to you while he did.”
“Slow down a little, Amy. Let’s go downstairs and you can tell me.” Sarah Jane stood and helped Amy up. When they got to the door, Sarah Jane said, “Keep monitoring that ship, Mr. Smith. Also, see if you can locate Captain Harkness. Don’t do anything else until I come back.”
“Accessing records,” the computer replied.
By the time they were back in Sarah Jane’s parlor, Amy had gotten herself under control. They didn’t have time for her to fall apart, she reminded herself. Luke brought the tea and she was glad for the warm sweetness of it. When she was sure she could talk with her voice wavering, she said, “Torchwood stopped the aliens before – I mean, tomorrow. Tomorrow they would have stopped them. But it was wrong. One of them would have died and the Captain would have left Earth. But, he can’t. He’s one of the important people to set humans towards the stars, the Doctor said.”
“And no one else can stop them either?”
“No, they can’t. They mustn’t. It has to happen.”
“Why?” Luke asked simply.
“It’s all so awful, what will happen if we stop the 456.” Amy wanted to cry again, but she stopped herself ruthlessly. “I don’t want it to happen. But it has to.”
Sarah Jane thought it over. “But isn’t there something we can do? We can’t just sit here!”
Amy seized on this. “There is something. The government is cooperating with the aliens. They’re going to tell people that they are giving the kids inoculations. The Doctor is sending me to Cardiff in the morning to save a group of children. All you have to do is get them under cover. The Doctor says metal is best, but cement and sufficiently thick wood would be all right. Does your house have a basement? If it does, you could keep some children there. Just don’t let anyone in. Like soldiers. Don’t let take them. We can’t save all the children, but we can save a few.”
Luke jumped up. “My friend Rani! Her dad is headmaster of my school. I bet he’d know where the kids are around here.”
“Get him to come over here so we can talk to him,” Sarah Jane said. “Be careful. We should probably get Clyde and his mother here, too.” She glanced at Amy. “They are both post-pubescent, so there shouldn’t be any danger.”
“They only want pre-adolescents.” Amy stood up. “I have to go. The Doctor said it was better if I didn’t show myself to very many people. We’re… well, we’re changing the present so the future will be different. He said we have to be careful. Can you call me a taxi?”
“You’re a taxi,” Luke said promptly. He grinned. “Sorry, I’ve been waiting to do that for a while.”
Amy laughed, while Sarah Jane moved to the phone. “Thanks. It made me feel normal there for a minute.” She put a hand on his shoulder. “Help your mum, all right? This is going to be hard on everyone.”
“Sure. And if you get to talk to Captain Jack, tell him I’ll help, okay? I want to help.”
Amy left in a better frame of mind than she had when she went in.
Chapter 9
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-04 07:16 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-07 05:44 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-04 07:19 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-07 05:46 pm (UTC)I promise we'll see more of the Companions here.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-04 10:23 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-07 05:51 pm (UTC)Sarah Jane lives in London and is a mother. Why wouldn't she be on it? I mean, of all the stupid things in CoE that struck me as the stupidest. Instead of making their way to an abandoned warehouse, why wouldn't they go to a house of someone who knew them and could help? Especially as she has a sentient computer. I mean, really? It's part of canon that Jack's been keeping an eye on Sarah Jane.
And thank you! I hope the story is entertaining.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-04 11:22 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-07 05:52 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-04 01:15 pm (UTC)I knew that Sarah Jane would have been investigating as well, so it's nice to see you taking that into consideration. It was heartbreaking to have Amy tell them that they needed to stop, though. That taking the children had to happen.
I just love this story.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-07 05:55 pm (UTC)It never made the least bit of sense to me that Jack didn't get in touch with Sarah Jane. She lives in London! She's a mother! She has a sentient computer! And we know from CANON that Jack has been keeping tabs on her.
Of all the dumb things in CoE, that dumb thing stands out in my mind.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-04 03:39 pm (UTC)Waiting in horror for the next.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-07 05:57 pm (UTC)It will get better. Eventually.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-05 10:05 am (UTC)Brilliant!
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-07 06:00 pm (UTC)That's one of the reasons the Doctor sent Jack to the lockup. He wouldn't just let it happen. The Doctor knows Sarah Jane and knows she would understand why. Plus, he wanted to keep her out of the danger zone. In some ways, Sarah Jane is a lot like Jack.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-05 10:08 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-07 06:03 pm (UTC)Since it's my fixit, I am trying to tie together all those loose ends. I may miss a few, but that was one I was determined to fix.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-06 02:53 pm (UTC)I love how you involve Sarah Jane and Luke ;)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-07 06:04 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-07 10:01 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-08 05:15 pm (UTC)When Day 3 started, I fully expected Jack to be on the phone to Sarah Jane. All through the episode, I kept saying, "Why haven't they called Sarah Jane?" It popped me right out of the proscenium. There was some outstanding writing on Day 3, but it wasn't enough to keep me from saying "WTF?" through it all.
And thanks! More tonight.