Not much to say right now to be honest other than- this is part one of Boomtown

BOOMTOWN: The Passport and a Pleasant Lunch

"I think it's time I patched things up with Mickey, I feel guilty about the way things finished between us" Rose announced joining her husband by the console. Jack was off exploring the bowels of the TARDIS, giving them some alone time. "And that means seeing him in person"

The two of them had been married for six months now and her only contact with her old life came in the form of regular phone calls to her mother. Rose loved her life on the TARDIS, but like the rest of her species, she craved the familiar every now and then.

"We need to head to Earth anyway" her husband said, flippantly as he wrapped an arm around her waist. "TARDIS needs refuelling again"

"I'll call him then, ask him to bring my passport or something"

"You don't need a passport love" he told her

"I know that" she pressed her lips to his chin. "And you know that, but Mickey doesn't need to know that"

The Doctor chuckled. "Jack's a bad influence on you Rose Marion Sigma"

Rose gave him a playful pat on the bottom as she left his embrace. "You love it- don't deny it"

"Tell your pet monkey that we'll be in Cardiff on the 28th October 2005" he advised

"Gotcha" Rose nodded, ignoring the slur. "I'll be in our room whenever you're finished with whatever it is you're doing to the poor old TARDIS"

The 28th October was a bright and breezy and in Cardiff Mickey Smith made his way across Millennium Centre Square to where the TARDIS was parked in front of the silver water sculpture. He knocked on the door. It swung open almost immediately, and a man in a blue T-shirt popped his head out.

"Who the hell are you?" the man demanded with an American accent

"What do you mean who the hell am I?" Mickey snapped. "Who the hell are you?"

"Captain Jack Harkness" the American announced. "Whatever you're selling, we're not buying"

"Get out of my way" Mickey grunted, shoving past him to enter the TARDIS

"Don't tell me" Jack eyed the newcomer carefully as he shut the door behind him. "This must be Mickey"

"Here comes trouble" the Doctor remarked cheerfully, he was up a ladder carrying out some maintenance. "How're you doing Ricky boy?"

"It's Mickey"

"Don't listen to him" Rose, who was standing by the TARDIS console, advised, shooting her husband a warning glance before returning her attention to her friend. "He's winding you up"

Rose was practically glowing with happiness- she looked fantastic. Mickey was forced to admit that his ex-fiancée looked far happier travelling with the Doctor than she had before she'd returned to the TARDIS. He remarked on how well she was looking and the pair of them shared a friendly hug.

"Aw sweet, look at those two" Jack remarked playfully to the Doctor. "How come I never get any of that?"

"Buy me a drink first" was the dry response

"You're such hard work" Jack sighed, jokily

The Doctor shot him a self-satisfied smile. "But worth it"

Rose rolled her eyes, smiling indulgently at her husband and friends' behaviour and asked Mickey. "Did you manage to find it?"

He held up her passport. "There you go"

Rose took the passport and turned to face her husband, brandishing the document, grinning. "See, I can go anywhere now"

"I told you- you don't need a passport"

Rose rounded on him and began and remarked. "It's all very well going to platform one and Justicia and the Glass Pyramid of San Kloon but what if we end up in Brazil? I might need it. You see, I'm prepared for anything."

When she finished speaking she stuck her tongue out at him. The couple shared a smile, Jack rolled his eyes indulgently- his travelling companions were sweet together and (only once or twice) over the past six months had found himself envying them their strong relationship.

"Sounds like you're staying then" Mickey announced sadly, breaking the otherwise companionable silence.

The answering silence was very different from the previous one, it was awkward and heavy. Once again it was Mickey who broke it, trying to restore the companionable air to the TARDIS.

"So what're you doing in Cardiff?" he asked. "And who the Hell's jumping Jack Flash? I mean, I don't mind you hanging out with big-ears up there… "

"Oi!" The Doctor snapped; irritated more that his spouse's ex seemed to think he owned her than by the cheap insult.

"Look in the mirror"

He shook his head at the idiot's misinterpretation and returned his attention to his work

"… But this guy" Mickey carried on, as though the Doctor hadn't interrupted. "I dunno… he's kinda…"

"Handsome?" Jack supplied

"More like cheesy" Mickey snorted

"Early twenty first century slang" Jack frowned, his fifty first century knowledge of such things was somewhat limited. "Is cheesy good or bad?"

"It's bad"

"But bad means good right?" Jack smirked

The Doctor, who had finished his work and joined the group of humans; standing close enough to Rose to wrap his arm around her waist without Mickey noticing.

"Are you saying I'm not handsome?"

Rose gave him a shove but otherwise he was ignored

"We just stopped off to refuel" Rose explained, answering Rose's question. "Cardiff's got this rift running through it. It's invisible but its like an earthquake fault line between different dimensions"

"The rift was healed back in 1869…" the Doctor put in

"Thanks to this girl named Gwyneth" Rose continued. "'Cause these creatures called the Gelth, they were using the rift as a gateway but she saved the world and closed it."

From the confused look on his face, Mickey was obviously finding this really hard to follow. Jack stepped in to help explain.

"But closing a rift always leaves a scar, and that scar generates energy, harmless to the Human Race…"

"But that's perfect for the TARDIS" the Doctor went on. "We just park it here for a couple of days, right on top of the scar…"

"… Open up the engines" Jack smiled. "Soak up the radiation…"

"Like filling her up with petrol and off we go!"

Jack slapped Rose a Hi-five. "Into time…"

"…And Space!" The three travellers chorused, and Rose whooped

Mickey stared at them, blankly. "Have you seen yourselves? You all think you're so clever don't you?"

"Yeah" the Doctor nodded

"Yeah" Rose echoed

"Yep" Jack grinned, giving Mickey a friendly slap on the cheek

"I'm hungry" Rose announced suddenly. "There's a great chippy on the pier- who wants chips"

"Sounds good" Mickey smiled

"Right then" the Doctor nodded, leading the way towards the door. "Chips it is"

"Right" Theta announced as they left the TARDIS. "We've got twenty-four hours"

"That old lady's staring" Mickey remarked, nodding towards the disconcerted looking pensioner in question.

"Probably wondering what four people were doing in a small wooden box…"

Rose blushed as Jack patted her husband suggestively on the shoulder, sniggering.

"What are you captain of?" Mickey demanded suddenly. "The Innuendo Squad?"

Jack flipped him off and sidled ahead of the group.

"Won't the TARDIS get noticed like that?" Mickey asked, gesturing to the police box behind them.

"Yeah why does it look like that?" Jack put in, turning back to the rest of the group. "What's with the police box?"

"Cloaking device" Rose replied casually, Theta had explained it to her

"It's called a chameleon circuit." He explained for the other men's sake. "The TARDIS is meant to disguise itself wherever it lands, like if this was Ancient Rome, it'd be a statue on a plinth or something. But I landed in the 1960s, it disguised itself as a police box, and the circuit got stuck. "

"So there were actually police boxes?" Mickey asked, fascinated

The Doctor told him how their used to be police boxes on street corners for making citizens arrests. "Like a little prison cell"

Jack asked why they didn't just fix the broken circuit, the Doctor and Rose both looked affronted.

"I like it, don't you?"

"I love it" Rose smiled at him

"But there are no police boxes anymore" Mickey pointed out, grinning as if his point had just been proven for him. "So wouldn't it get noticed?"

"Rickey, let me tell you something about the human race" Theta announced, slightly condescendingly. "You put a mysterious blue box in the middle of town, what do they do? Walk past it, now come on"

He took Rose's hand and the married couple left Mickey and Jack to follow in their wake

Meanwhile in Cardiff Town Hall the mayor, Mrs Margaret Blaine was giving a press conference

"…This Nuclear Power station right in the heart of Cardiff City will bring jobs for all" she announced, concluding her speech. She stepped down from her podium and approached the scale model of the proposed power plant. "As you can see, as Lord Mayor, I've sanctioned some radical development…"

A camera flashed and the mayor threw her hand up in front of her face, she hissed. "No Photographs! What did I say? Take pictures of the project by all means but not me.

"So Cardiff castle will be demolished allowing the Blaidd Drwg project to rise up tall and proud. A monument to Welsh industry. And yes, some of you might shiver; the words 'nuclear power station' and 'major population centre' aren't the happiest of bedfellows but I give you my word that as long as I walk upon this earth, no harm will come to any of my citizens. Now, drink up. A toast- to the future!"

Everyone in the room raised their wineglasses in the toast. "To the future"

"And believe me" the mayor continued with a strange smile. "It will glow"

Taking this as the end of the conference the guests began to mingle. One young journalist approached the mayor.

"Excuse me, Mrs Blaine?" she began. "My name's Cathy Salt, I represent the Cardiff Gazette."
"I'm sorry, I'm not doing interviews - I can't bear self-publicity" Margaret said, turning away

"But are you aware of the curse?" Cathy asked

Margaret looked her up and down with a fake smile. "Whatever do you mean… Cathy wasn't it?"

"Cathy Salt" she confirmed. "That's what some of your engineers are saying. That the Blaidd Drwg project is cursed"

The mayor pshawed, announcing that the curse was nonsense; Cathy however proceeded to divulge the results of her own independent research. The mayor was ready with explanations for each of the seeming anomalies. She turned to leave, but Cathy, undeterred, followed her, not dropping the subject of the curse. Eventually the mayor turned to her accusingly.

"Who's been doing her homework?"

"That's my job"

"I think… Cathy Salt" Margaret narrowed her eyes at the younger woman. "That you and I should have a word in private."

Margaret practically dragged Cathy out of the conference room and down a corridor. Suddenly her stomach growled loudly.

Part two will be posted soon