BIG BANG

Part XI

Farewells

The Doctor had let Jack off at the Millennium Centre. Being quite early in the morning, there was no one to see the two men embrace and then separate. The Doctor went back into his TARDIS and Jack turned, watched and waved with his left hand as the ship slowly dematerialized. There was a worn leather band around his left wrist, and he smiled as he turned and walked away.

Hellos

He parked the TARDIS a few blocks away and walked. It had been slightly less than twenty-four hours for her. "Close enough for government work!" he thought, wanting very much to see her, even if he was a tiny bit early. As he walked, he thought about Jack. The Captain wasn't out of the woods yet, dealing with what he'd done; what they'd done, really. Some day, they had agreed, The Doctor and Jack would find a way to go back for them, those beings; and search for a way to coexist. Anything was possible in The Doctor's universe, even the impossible!

Turning a corner, he caught his breath, and there she was – sitting on the curb outside her mother's flat at the Powell Estate. Rose was wearing a low-cut dress, The Doctor noticed, quite short and very tight. Her shoes were off and sitting next to her on the sidewalk. The Doctor seemed to remember they were called "spikes" and he could easily see why the name was appropriate – she'd be five inches taller in them and he found the idea intriguing. Rose's eyes were closed and she was holding what looked like an ice bag to her forehead. She had what appeared to be small twigs and a couple of leaves sticking out of her hair, which had looked better at various times in the past, if not most. The Doctor smiled at the sight and paused, wanting to savor the moment and not wishing to disturb her. But although he stood quietly, and hadn't made any sort of sound in his approach, she instinctively knew, somehow, that he was there. She opened her eyes, lowered her ice bag and beamed at him.

Small Favors

Wil gave a start as she woke up in her office, her head on her desk. She looked around in surprise, wondering how in the world she'd managed to fall asleep while at work. "I must be exhausted," she said to herself as she rubbed her eyes and fussed with her hair. At least her door had been closed, thank goodness for small favors. Thinking she'd check her email before she left for home, she jiggled her mouse but instead of seeing her usual desktop, she was confronted by a pale gray screen and three words in small, black font at the center of the display that read:

Torchwood (click here)

She shrugged and used her mouse to click on the words. Another screen rendered with the GPS coordinates for a single address, tomorrow's date and a time.

Back at her flat, Wil grabbed a backpack off the floor and threw it over her shoulder. She picked up the small glass aquarium sitting on her kitchen table and examined the two turtles that lived inside. She hit the lights and walked out the door without locking it. "So, Sampson and Delilah," she said to the turtles in their container "Are you ready to move to Cardiff?"

FINIS

The Sequel to "Big Bang" is called "Terraform." Read on!