ashes ➝ Doctor Who²

XXXXIV

"I have my children, Doctor. What do you have, now?"
- Davros, The Stolen Earth

It had gotten very hectic very quickly, Penelope could still hear Davros' voice echoing in her head as she raced to get prepared. The Doctor had moved the TARDIS, likely landed it, so they were going to find it.

It would be a lot easier without the Daleks approaching Torchwood. But she never seems to catch a break.

She was leaving some of her people behind, confident she could save them with the Doctor rather than taking a stand here. Jack ran up to the monitor, where Penelope was checking that her gun was okay. He grinned wide, aware of everything she had been up to recently.

"Martha, open that Indigo device. Now listen to me. Lift the central panel. There's a string of numbers that keep changing, but the fourth number keeps oscillating between two different digits. Tell me what they are."

"It's a four and a nine. We could never work out what that was."

"Yeah, that's the teleport base code. And that's all I need, to get this thing working again." Penelope looked up sharply, really hoping he was joking. "Oscillating four and nine. Thank you, Martha Jones."

"You broke it?" He smiled sheepishly at her, confirming it. And she almost had enough time to start hitting him again when Gwen ran up with the weapon that he had asked for.

"We have to go. I've got to find the Doctor. I'll come back. I'm coming back." Penelope grabbed Jasper, pulling him over to Jack. Standing between the two, she had to make the split-second decision that they would be safer up there with the Doctor than down here.

"We're coming back."

"Don't worry about us. Just go." Penelope quickly pulled Gwen and Ianto into a hug, probably the friendliest she'd been with them since the beginning. Ianto patted her back as she pulled away, grateful to have her as a boss.

"We'll be fine."

"You better be. I will be right back."

Holding onto Jack and Jasper, the three of them disappear from Torchwood, right as the Daleks arrive. Leaving Gwen and Ianto to fend for themselves as they tried to save the Earth.

They landed haphazardly on a dark street, much to the surprise of the few people around them. Penelope calms them, making sure they get back into their houses. She turned to face Jack, knowing that Jasper would still be feeling a little sick from travelling.

It was cold without their sun; it seeped into Penelope's fingers and flushed her face. This was a horrid, familiar feeling that never ended well.

But today it had to.

Jack had his back to her, gun trained on something a little further down the road. Walking up next to him, she instantly spotted the Dalek facing away from them. She was unsure of whether or not they should shoot.

Then she saw him, running from his TARDIS, towards something she couldn't see. She hit Jack's arm, telling him to fire, but everything felt too slow. Even as she started to run towards him, it felt like she wasn't going anywhere. She didn't stop, not when Jack shot from behind her, or when she watched the Doctor fall to the ground.

Heart breaking, she barely flinched as the Dalek exploded behind her, skidding to her knees beside him. She wasn't crying, she didn't know why. It felt like she was dying.

Very soon someone was by her side, but that wasn't important. All she had to do now was get him to the TARDIS. The TARDIS could help him, it had to help him.

"I've got you. It missed, I'm sure of it. Look, at me Doctor." God she could hardly breathe with the way he stared at her.

"Penelope?"

"Hi."

"Long time no see. I missed you." What the hell is wrong with him, she felt like shaking him back into who he was before. She preferred him angry at her, at least then she didn't need to feel as horrible as she did now.

"I've been working, we didn't have time. Please don't die. Oh, my God. JASPER!" She was getting colder as he smiled absently at her, it felt like walls were closing in. For fucks sake, she couldn't even move.

"Get him into the Tardis, quick. Move." Jack got the Doctor up as Jasper carefully pulled her up, both Jack and Rose - who she couldn't even comprehend was here yet - took him to the TARDIS. Jasper helped Penelope, following close behind.

The woman from earlier was standing by the doors, opening them quickly as the five of them stumbled in.

"What, what do we do? There must be some medicine or something." Jack laid him on the floor of the TARDIS, walking away and pulling Donna with him. Penelope managed to wrestle away from Jasper, landing on the floor by him. Rose stayed by the console, almost heartbroken as she watched her friend grieve.

"Just step back. Penelope, come on, do as I say, and get back. He's dying and you know what happens next."

"I can't just leave him there." Jasper had to step forward, after a pleading look from Jack, and pull her away. She would've started shouting at him, but the coldness in her chest started to close down everything else.

His right hand started to glow, and Penelope looked away, burying herself into Jasper's chest. She couldn't bear to lose him, not now, they just found some kind of common ground. She gripped Jasper's jacket, bunching it into her hands. All he could do was hold her close and try not to think about what was happening.

The Doctor was in shock, looking down at his hands, he didn't even try and resist the urge to look at Penelope. She couldn't see him, and that hurt more than he expected.

"It's starting."