stay calm. it will be okay. you have my word. Episode Fourteen: Party Like It’s 2012
This is episode fourteen! To start reading from the beginning, check out Pilot : The Season Two Ending We Deserved
Story Summary
Turn off “The Reality War” at 40:15 and start here instead. This is the story of what happened after—the story where the Doctor, Bel, and their extraordinary daughter Poppy get to live the life they deserve.
It’s about finding family across time and space. It’s the Doctor and Bel co-parenting like the besties they are, Poppy growing up splitting her time between 21st-century London and the far-future of the Preservation Alliance, and a Sanctuary Moon fanclub that spans across the universe. It’s Rogue getting the ending he deserves, Jenny finding her fathers, Murderbot reluctantly acquiring more humans, and a universe where love, in all its forms, is the most powerful weapon we have.
This is a fusion-fix-it full of gratuitous wish fulfillment, because sometimes the best way to heal is to rewrite the story. 💕💕
Episode Summary:
Rogue and Jenny follow Ruby’s advice and decide that if they have to visit the early 2010s anyway, why not check out the 2012 Olympics?
Notes:
Once again, thanks so much to everyone who has left comments and kudos, and special thanks to Fire_Phoenix2305 and tinysugacube for tolerating me blowing up the group chat on a daily basis as I come up with ideas for this fic, and to Marvin for his seal of approval!
Episode Fourteen: Party Like It’s 2012
“So, early 2010s. That’s perfectly vague,” Jenny sighed.
“Think about it this way, Jen. Whatever year we pick, that’s always the one we picked. We can’t be wrong,” Rogue pointed out.
“Well, when you put it like that it makes sense,” Jenny frowned. “Time travel can be so confusing.”
“That’s just the way our lives work. So pick a year, any year, between 2010 and 2014.”
“Hmmm,” Jenny tapped her chin. “Well, 2012 was the London Olympics, right? I always wanted to see those.”
“Sounds good to me,” Rogue smiled, making adjustments to the console. “Off we go, then!”
Dodging the 21st century satellites was always a tricky endeavor, but Rogue was an expert at this point. Still, he knew it was often better to land outside a city and make their way into town rather than risk putting the Yossarin in orbit.
“Right, so where should we go first?” Jenny asked as they got on the overground. One of the best gifts River had ever given them both was a pad of psychic paper, which could functionally act as a tap card for every major transportation system on earth. A passport, an Oyster card, and more in one tiny piece of paper.
“Well, to tell the truth, I’ve never actually been to 2012 before. It’s all fairly new to me.” Rogue sighed. “But I know that a lot of the Olympics action took place in the East End. The city will be packed with crowds, and we should blend in easily.”
“But with so many crowds, how are we supposed to find Martha?” Jenny asked, frowning.
“We just will,” Rogue shrugged. “If Ruby was telling the truth, which we have no reason to suspect she would lie to us, this is the time period where we’ll meet Martha.”
“I know that, but it doesn’t necessarily make things easier on my anxiety.” Jenny leaned closer into Rogue as yet another cluster of people poured onto the already crowded train. She was thankful that they had gotten on far enough out that they were able to get seats. “And neither is how crowded everything is. This many people stresses me out.”
“Well, look on the bright side. We’re speaking a language that it’s almost guaranteed no non-time traveler will understand, so no one will be able to listen in on us.”
“Yes, but people not being able to understand our conversation doesn’t help the fact that we’re packed in like sardines. Let’s get off as soon as we get to the next transportation hub. If you’re right and we’re bound to run into Martha somewhere, we might as well get off in a place where we have options of where to go and can just pick the least populated.”
They got to yet another stop with a new crowd of people rushing in, and Rogue could not help but agree. Sensing that Jenny was starting to become truly overwhelmed, Rogue decided that regardless of the fact that they were not yet at the city center, they would get off at the next stop.
While she had been aware of the anxiety, Jenny was not truly conscious of how much tension she had been holding in her body until she was off the train and taking in gulps of fresh air. Rogue rubbed her back soothingly until her breath evened out. “Right, so the train isn’t an option for us right now—that’s fine. Why don’t we walk for a bit?” He suggested.
“Sure,” Jenny replied shakily. “A walk is good. I don’t know why I reacted like that.” She shook her head, and her face started to turn a bit pink.
“It’s fine, a natural reaction. And it’s been an emotional few days. If I got the time and date right, they should be running the Olympic torch now, and I think we’re in the right area to see where the runner will go past us.”
“Really?” Jenny asked brightly. “Oh, I would like to see that.” She began to feel cheered up, and the two of them followed signs to where they would be able to see the runner go past.
“Are you sure this is the right street?” Jenny asked dubiously. “It’s only, there’s no one around, except that councilman, and you would think there would be more people about if the runner really is going past here later.”
“I think it might actually be more towards the end of the street. But we could always ask him, I suppose,” Rogue shrugged. “If there’s something odd going on around here certainly he would know.” He raised his hand to wave to the councilman only to stop short as a young woman ran out of a nearby house, and over to his van, grabbing a pickaxe from the back.
“What is she doing?” Jenny asked, baffled, as the woman—who must surely be mad—began to hack away at what appeared to be fresh pavement, if the distressed remarks the councilman was making were true. Rogue and Jenny watched, mystified, as she found what she must have been looking for and stood, running back into the house, the councilman running in after her.
Rogue and Jenny exchanged a look before running after them in turn. The door to the house was open after all. “I don’t care if you’ve got Snow White and the Seven Dwarves buried under there. you don’t go digging up—” The councilman had started, but the mad woman cut him off.
“Shut up and look!”
Another woman, who matched the pictures on the walls, providing evidence that this was her house, was sitting on the couch, looking at the television in shock. They were all looking at the television in shock, as it showed the Olympic stadium… empty.
“The crowd has vanished!” the commentator onscreen gasped. “Er, they’re gone. Everyone has gone. Thousands of people have just gone. Right in front of my eyes. It’s impossible. Bob, can we join you in the box? Bob? Not you too, Bob?” The commentator looked frantic, and the mad woman, along with the woman whose house it was, rushed up the stairs, ignoring their uninvited guests.
“Who are you?” the councilman asked, finally noticing Rogue and Jenny.
“We’re tourists,” Jenny blurted out. “Just here for the Olympics. But we saw what happened outside and were… curious.”
“So curious you ran into a stranger’s house?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.
“We’re very curious people.” Rogue nodded.
“Americans.” the councilman shook his head. “As this isn’t our house, and they seem quite busy, maybe we should leave? I’m Kel, by the way.”
“Jon, and this is my daughter, Jenny.” Rogue shook Kel’s hand before they went back out into the street, just before the mad woman rushed out again, still cradling the mysterious object in her hands.
She ran toward the end of the street, where Rogue and Jenny noticed there was actually a crowd waiting for the runner, and she pushed herself toward the front. They couldn’t see what she did, but did see that her hands were empty as, exhausted, she ran back into the house, again, ignoring Rogue, Jenny, and Kel.
“You know what, I don’t think this is my business.” Kel shook his head. “That Lewis woman is mad, I tell you.”
“Oh, is that her name?” Rogue asked. “Is she not from around here?”
“No, she and that Doctor just showed up today. It’s been a weird one. Weird week, in general. Cars stopping, children going missing. Bad stuff, and they’re blaming me for it, me! As though the whole reason I’m here isn’t to try and fix things.”
“I’m sure it wasn’t your fault, you seem like a nice guy, Kel.” Jenny patted him on the shoulder. Then more of what he said registered for her. “Wait, did you say the Doctor was here?”
“Well, I don’t know about The Doctor, but there was a Doctor here, actually, though I didn’t catch his proper name. Just the woman he was with, Rose Lewis, I think her name is. Seemed nice enough before she went digging up the street.” Kel glared at the house again.
“Do you know of a Rose Lewis?” Jenny asked Rogue in a low voice. “Does she look familiar?”
“I don’t know, Jen.” Rogue shrugged. “He’s travelled with a lot of people. We couldn’t possibly know all of them.” Rogue turned to Kel again. “What did this Doctor look like?”
“He’s tall and skinny. White, with brown hair and brown eyes. Why, is he a friend of yours? He should still be around here somewhere, if he didn’t disappear with everyone else.”
Even as he spoke of everyone disappearing, however, there were suddenly a lot more people on the street, including several kids who, if the reactions by the adults pouring out of their homes were any indication, were the ones who had gone missing.
“That does sound like he could be the Doctor I met,” Jenny murmured. “But that would be before you.”
“We can still—”
“No,” Jenny shook her head, cutting Rogue off. “This isn’t where we’re meant to be. We should get out of here, before he comes back too. We’re looking for Martha, remember?”
“Jen—”
“No, dad. Let’s just, let’s get back on the train. It’s hopefully less crowded now.”
They said goodbye to Kel before making their way down the street, past where the crowd was beginning to disperse, now that the runner had made it past them. They caught a bus rather than a train, which was both better and worse, and made their way into the city proper (center?), eventually finding a pub where they could have dinner.
There was nowhere that had anything but bar seating, but they eventually found a place that looked like it would do and settled in with a few drinks. Well, Rogue had a drink. When the bartender had flirtatiously asked what Jenny wanted he had been served with Rogue’s best protective dad glare as he insisted “nothing alcoholic” before Jenny could get a word in edgewise.
“Dad—”
“We’ve already had this conversation Jen. Not getting into it here,” Rogue interrupted.
“Fine,” she sighed before turning to the bartender. “I’ll have a non-alcoholic mojito.”
“Not trying to undermine you, mate, but you do know that we’re not in America, right?” the man next to Rogue interjected.
“I don’t remember asking for your opinion.” Rogue redirected his glare to the man.
“Mickey,” the woman next to him hissed. Judging from their matching wedding bands, likely his wife. “That is none of your business.” Turning to Rogue, she smiled. “Apologies for my disaster of a husband.”
“That’s al—”
“Martha!?” Jenny gasped, jumping off her stool to rush around to greet the woman.
“Yes, that is my name, how did you—” She was cut off as Jenny had pulled her into a hug. “I’m sorry, do we know each other?”
“Oh.” Jenny’s face fell. “You don’t remember me.” She stepped back and looked down at her feet. “I thought— you are Martha Jones?”
“Well, it’s Martha Smith now. And you do look familiar… I don’t quite remember, sorry.”
“That’s alright,” Jenny said in a wobbly voice which indicated that things were very much not alright. “To be fair, the last time you saw me, I was dead.”
Martha’s eyes widened as the familiarity clicked in her mind. “You’re—you’re the Doctor’s Jenny!?” She gasped. “Wait, does that mean—”
“No, no, I’m not the Doctor,” Rogue corrected hastily. “I’m, well. Typically on Earth I use Jon, but you can call me Rogue.”
“Oh, I thought—I mean, he does have a habit of changing his face, you know.” Martha turned back towards Jenny and pulled her into a hug. “I’m so glad you’re okay! We thought—well, the Doctor was devastated. I’m sure he’s so happy to have you back.”
“Well, see that’s the thing.” Rogue scratched the back of his head. “The Doctor… well, he still thinks we’re dead. That’s why we went looking for you and Donna. We’re trying to find a version of him that will recognize us so we can tell him we’re not.”
“And who are you, Rogue?” Mickey asked curiously, taking another sip of his drink. “How do you know that Doctor?”
“Oh, they’re engaged,” Jenny smirked. “It was all very dramatic.”
“Really?” Martha asked with a raised eyebrow. “Now this is a story I need to hear. Sit back down, we’ll put your drinks on our tab.”
—
Rogue and Jenny ended up staying with the Smiths for the duration of the London Olympics. Neither Martha nor Mickey had heard from the Doctor in years, so they were not of particular help in that regard—Rogue suspected that Ruby’s hint to visit Martha was a bit of a red herring. Still, now that Martha knew Jenny was alive, she could not help but want to get to know the girl, and since this was the perfect opportunity for Jenny to see the Olympics up close, they stayed for a few weeks, joking that since they had the same last name they were cousins, which of course led to their introduction to Sarah Jane as well, allowing Jenny to finally make some friends who were more or less her same age. In one case, genuinely her same age.
“So, you were also born as a teenager, then?”
“You could say that,” Jenny laughed. She had gotten used to the idea that no one would understand her unique experience, but here was someone who really did.
“Actually, I have to confess, I knew you were coming,” Luke told her, a conspiratorial glint in his eye.
“Let me guess,” Jenny sighed. “Future me already introduced herself?”
“Not exactly. This really is our first chance to meet you,” Clyde interjected.
“Right,” Rani nodded. “But Sarah Jane started transferring your records months ago.”
“She did?” Jenny asked, turning to look at the older woman in surprise. “How did you know to do that if you’d never met me?”
“Well, about a year ago, the TARDIS appeared in the yard,” Sarah Jane began to explain.
Jenny perked up excitedly. “Really?”
“Yes, and imagine my surprise to see the Doctor, with yet another new face, handing me and Mr. Smith a bunch of school records and insisting that I get his daughter into Oxford by the start of the next year.”
“Oxford?” Jenny asked, startled. “I got into Oxford? Did my Dad forge my records or something?”
“Not at all.” She paused. “Well, a little bit. He said the grades were real, but you went to high school and took placement exams back in 2007. You also wrote your own entrance essay.”
“So future me was in on it,” Jenny mused. “Can I read the essay?”
Sarah Jane pursed her lips. “You’re not allowed to see it until after you write it.”
“Fair enough, I suppose.” Jenny shrugged. “I guess that means we’re staying linear for longer than we had planned.” She looked at Rogue hesitantly. “Or at least I am?”
“We should make a trip back to 2007, just to let everyone know we’ll be gone for a while.” He paused. “And I’ll need to make a few hops to make sure the taxes get paid.”
“Oh, don’t forget about the 2008 recession!” Clyde pointed out.
“Isn’t that a bit like insider trading?” Rani wondered.
“Maybe.” Rogue shrugged. “Probably, yes. But I used to be a bounty hunter. Insider trading is the least of my sins.” Sarah Jane gave him a look of disapproval. “I said used to be, I don’t do that stuff anymore.”
Jenny decided to keep it to herself that the friends they needed to say their goodbyes to were part of an infamous group of thieves. There were some things it was better to leave unsaid.