Paradox (DW Fan-Fic)

Chapter 6

World War Three - Pt 3

"All right, Doctor," Jackie spoke up. "I'm not saying I trust you, but there must be something you can do."

Everyone was now awake and well rested. Well… maybe not 'well rested', but they were more rested up than they were before. At least Harriet and Rose were. The Doctor and Lily had ended up sitting in silence a majority of the morning after their conversation. The Doctor still had a lot he wanted to ask her but decided against pushing any further after his final question.

Lily had been right. He did understand better than most how knowing the future wasn't always a good thing especially when it was riddled with fixed points. He had watched plenty of people die just because their deaths were fixed points in time, and, if he was going off the look he had seen in her eyes, Lily had gone through the same. 

It wasn't something that you could easily forget.

"If we could ferment the port," Harriet suggested. "We could make acetic acid."

"Nope," Lily shook her head, still sitting in her seat. "Not enough there for them all."

"Mickey," Rose got her boyfriend's attention."Are you having any luck?"

"There's loads of emergency numbers," He told her. "But they're all on voicemail."

"Voicemail dooms us all," Harriet sighed in dismay.

"If we could just get out of here," Rose gave a sigh of her own.

"There is a way out," the Doctor spoke up for the first time in awhile. 

"What?" Rose asked, both her and Harriet looking at him in confusion.

"There's always been a way out," He admitted quietly.

"Then why don't we use it?" Rose questioned with furrowed brows.

The Doctor finally moved, walking over to the phone from where he was leaning against the wall. "Because I can't guarantee your daughters will be safe." He spoke directly to Jackie.

"Don't you dare," was Jackie's immediate reply. "Whatever it is, don't you dare."

"That's the thing," the Doctor said grimly. "If I don't dare, everyone dies."

"Do it."

The Doctor looked to Rose in shock. "You don't even know what it is. You'd just let me?"

"Yeah," Rose nodded with a shrug. "Besides, it looks like Lily's not too concerned," Lily gave an awkward thumbs up in response as they turned to look at her. "I trust her judgement."

Lily felt flattered.

"Please, Doctor," Jackie ignored her daughter's words. "Please, they're my daughters. They're just kids."

"Do you think I don't know that?" The Doctor asked her, finally snapping. "Because this is my life, Jackie. It's not fun, it's not smart, it's just standing up and making a decision because nobody else will."

"Then what're you waiting for?" Rose asked him in all seriousness.

It was then that the Doctor hesitated. "I could save the world but lose you,"  Lily blinked in confusion as he looked at not only Rose but her as well as he spoke. If it was future him, she would have understood, but at this point, he barely knows her.

"Except it's not your decision, Doctor," Harriet interrupted after a few moments of silence. "It's mine."

"And who the hell are you?" Jackie asked, clearly not pleased with the woman.