Time and Space

Chapter Two

    The group had brought the Doctor back to Rose and Jackie's flat so he could rest.
    "Here we go," Jackie said, handing her nephew a stethoscope. "Tina the cleaners got this lodger, a medical student, and she was asleep, so I took it. Though, I still think we should take him to a hospital," She added matter-of-factly.
    "No, we can't! They'll lock him up and dissect him," Rose said, protective of the alien ("I'm sorry, you just 'took it'?" Jasper questioned cautiously).
    Jasper, still mildly shocked at his aunt's thievery, patted her shoulder as he sat on the edge of the bed and started to examine the Doctor further, "It's okay, Rosie. No one's going to take him while we're around."
    He put the two earpieces of the medical instrument in his ears and put the bell bit to the Doctor's chest. A strong, steady Thump! Thump! Thump! let Jasper know his friend was okay. Rose tapped his shoulder. Jasper met her eyes, she tilted her head to the right, Jasper nodded and moved the stethoscope to the right of the Doctor's chest. Another strong and steady Thump! Thump! Thump!
    Jasper nodded with satisfaction, "He's got both working, thankfully."
    "What do you mean, both?" Jackie asked.
    "He's got two hearts," Rose explained, watching her cousin in her peripheral vision.
    "Oh, don't be stupid," Jackie retorted.
    "He has!" Rose said with a shrug.
    Jasper slung the stethoscope around his neck and said, "True, and both are fine."
    "Anything else he's got two of?" Jackie added slyly. Jasper's cheeks went beetroot and he choked on his own saliva.
    Rose frowned, "Leave him alone!"
    She and her mother exited the spare bedroom, leaving Jasper alone with his alien friend. Jasper couldn't help but be a little bit curious about the Doctor's anatomy too. As a doctor himself, he was naturally intrigued by him. He carefully ran his hands down the Doctor's torso, squeezing it occasionally to check for anything out of the ordinary. Nothing odd, Jasper thought, moving on to his arms and legs. No broken bones, no weird bumps on his body, everything relatively normal, as normal as an alien's body could be. He found it hard to not feel a stab of sympathy for the Doctor. Laying in bed, lifelessly. Jasper jumped slightly when the Doctor mumbled something in his almost fevered state.
    "Oh, god, don't let this messy regeneration kill you." Jasper prayed to himself. The Doctor looked rather cuddly when he was all tucked in like that. He stared at the extraterrestrial being in his cousin's guest bed, taking in his features. Brown, messy hair. Fair skin. An abundance of faint freckles dotted his nose and cheeks. Why hadn't he noticed this before? Maybe it was because he was way too hyper before for Jasper to get a good look or the TARDIS crashing had been far too much excitement for the human doctor's liking and never picked up on it. Either way he was a beautiful sight. As Jasper stared at the Doctor, a golden dust was exhaled from the timelord's mouth. It wafted through the air and Jasper followed it with his eyes. The energy floated through the bedroom and out of the window.
    Jasper stared out the window, "What the hell was that, Doctor...?"

    Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Rose was inspecting the fridge for something for her and Jasper to eat while Jackie asked about the handsome timelord.
    "How can he go about changing his face like that? Is it just a different face or is he a different person?"
    "How should I know?" Rose snapped. She paused. "Sorry... it's just," Her eyes welled up. "The thing is, I thought I knew him, Mum..." She wiped her eyes and sniffled, "I thought me and him were... and then, he goes and does this."
    Rose took a breath and collected herself as Jackie took her daughter into her arms.
    She huffed a small laugh, "I keep forgetting he's not human." She took a deep breath, composing herself, and took her mother's hands. "The big question is...where'd you get a pair of men's pyjamas from?"
    Jackie looked away with an almost guilty expression, "Um, Howard's been staying over."
    "What, Howard? From the market?" Jasper asked as he entered the room.
    "How long has that been going on?" Rose added.
    Jackie glanced at the ground before looking back at the two, "A month or so" She leaned against the kitchen counter. "First he started delivering to the door, and I thought, "That's odd." Next thing you know, it's a bag of oranges-"
    "Is that Harriet Jones?" Rose asked, walking into the living room of the flat.
    Jackie muttered under her breath, "Oh, nevermind me, then."
    "Who?" Jasper followed his cousin. There was a woman on the TV. She wasn't old, but she wasn't exactly young either, maybe in her 50s or early 60s. Her brown hair was cut to a medium length and she looked like she was incredibly important and serious.
    Rose pointed to the TV. "Why's she on telly?"
    Jackie said from the kitchen doorway, "She's Prime Minister now. I'm 18 quid a week better off. They're calling it "Britain's Golden Age.'" She added, "I keep on saying my Rose has met her."
    Rose huffed a small laugh, "Did more than that. Stopped World War III with her."
    "What-?!" Jasper looked at her. "How did- I mean- You- He- You what?!"
    Rose looked at him, confused, for a moment or two before remembering, "Oh, that's right. You weren't there. Yeah, I stopped World War III with her and The Doctor."
    Jasper's ears turned red, something that happened he was jealous, "Oh, really? That's... That's cool."
    Rose nudged his shoulder, "Hey! Don't look at me like that!"
    "Why did you have to do all the fun stuff and I just got thrown around in a crashing spaceship?" grumbled Jasper, pushing his glasses up his nose.
    Rose shrugged, "Dunno. Wrong place, wrong time?"
    Jasper grunted as someone asked this 'Harriet Jones' lady, "Prime Minister! What about those calling the Guinevere 1 Space Probe a waste of money?"
    Harriet answered, "Now, that's where you're wrong. I completely disagree if you don't mind. The Guinevere 1 represents this country's limitless ambition. British workmanship sailing up there among the stars."
    The cameras cut to a man. He was short and balding on top. He also had a good beard. Jasper's ears grew redder and he stroked his barely stubbled chin.
    "Jealous?" Rose giggled.
    Jasper rolled his eyes.
    The man, Jasper found out was named Daniel Llewellyn, said, "This is the spirit of Christmas, birth and rejoicing, and the dawn of a new age. That is what we're achieving 15 million miles away. Our very own miracle."
    The cameras cut to a 3D animated play-by-play of the initial plan for the Guinevere 1 and a man, not Llewellyn, narrated over the animation, "The unmanned probe Guinevere 1 is about to make its final descent. Photographs of the martian landscape will be received by midnight tonight."
    Jasper nodded, "This must be the next greatest thing after Viking 1."
    "What?" Rose turned to him.
    "Viking 1. It was the first space probe to land on Mars in 1976," Jasper explained.
    "Ohhh," Rose drawled. "Geek."
    Jasper frowned, "What, The Doctor rants about time and space all the bloody time and when I talk about it once I get called a geek?"
    Rose laughed, "I'm only teasing, Jas."
    "Not funny," muttered Jasper discontentedly.

    Meanwhile, out in space, miles away from Earth, the Guinevere 1 Space Probe bumped into the Martian moon of Phobos, or maybe Deimos, bit hard to tell to be honest. After the probe's light collision, a hatch in Phobos or Deimos opened and sucked the Guinevere 1 inside it.