Jayne slammed her fist down on the table.
‘How could you be so stupid?!’
‘Take it easy, boss,’ said Thomas. ‘It was an accident.’
‘Accidents are what got us here in the first place,’ said Jayne, eyes burning. ‘We can’t afford anymore to happen.’
‘I don’t know what you want us to say,’ said Rebecca, ‘other than we’re sorry.’
Jayne groaned and put her head down. She was sat at a desk set up in another little room off of the main crypt. It was quiet and silent in here and she could think for herself away from the hubbub from the operations area.
‘We’re not getting rid of it,’ said Thomas quickly.
‘No,’ so Jayne. ‘No of course not. And I’ve never ask you to do anything like that. But bringing a baby into this life that we lead…it’s madness.’ She got up from the desk and put her hand on Thomas and Rebecca’s shoulders. ‘You have my blessing, but this is one hell of a mess you’ve gotten yourselves into.’
‘Then we’ll leave,’ said Thomas. ‘You’re right that we can’t bring a baby into this world.’
‘And where will you go? You’ve got all of those powers inside of you.’
‘Has Don found anyway to take them out?’
‘There is a way,’ said Jayne, ‘but unfortunately it involves somebody else absorbing them, and I’m not willing to take that risk yet. Who knows what it could do. To either person.’
‘Then we’ll just manage.’
‘Listen to you two,’ said Jayne. ‘It’s a hostile world out there.’
‘It’s only 1981. We’ve lived through worse times than this. We all remember what happened when that butterfly bomb fell on us, yeah?’
Jayne nodded. She didn’t want them to go. Over the centuries that they’d all been trapped here they had become a close knit group. Losing Thomas and Rebecca would be like losing a younger brother and sister. Like losing Brandon all over again, but somehow more painful.
‘You’ve got to keep those powers under control,’ said Jayne. ‘And I don’t even know what will happen to your baby.’
‘The baby may have the same powers, yeah?’ said Thomas, looking worried.
‘I don’t know. I just don’t know.’ She looked towards the door and then back at the Farrington’s. ‘I can’t predict what Brandon and the rest of them will do. If he finds out someone’s out there, beyond Thornsby, he may go after you. Brandon will not see reason now. His mind us gone. All he cares about is finding more people to convert.’
Thomas and Rebecca nodded. ‘We’ll make sure the baby’s safe. No matter the cost to us.’
Jayne sighed and nodded. ‘God bless the both of you.’
It had been only a week since Thomas and Rebecca had left the relative safety of the Ancestors. They had travelled up and down the country in an old battered car that Thomas had been able to purchase before they had left Thornsby. Rebecca was only three months pregnant, but already the toll of carrying a baby was beginning to wear on her.
They were travelling down the east coast when the car broke down just outside a caravan park.
‘Bloody hell!’ said Thomas, parking up and getting out. He popped open the bonnet and looked inside.
‘What’s up with it?’ asked Rebecca.
‘The engine’s completely busted,’ he said with a growl. ‘I don’t think I’m gonna get this going for a bit.’
There was a rumble of thunder. Rebecca leaned to look out of the window above her. The huge, black thunder clouds they had seen earlier on had now reached them and the rain was starting to come down heavily. Thomas stood there, hands on his hips, looking dejected and getting soaked, his fringe plastered down over his forehead.
‘Come inside, Tom,’ said Rebecca.
With a snort he slammed the bonnet down.
‘It’s no use getting mad at it,’ said Rebecca. ‘Think of all the rest of the stuff we’ve been through.’
‘Yeah, yeah,’ said Thomas, resigned to the fact that they’d have to find some way of getting the heap of junk moving again.
As Thomas was getting back into the drivers seat a slightly nicer car pulled up beside them, a huge caravan in tow.
A man with a mop of wavy hair and a handle-bar moustache leaned out of the window. ‘Having problems?’ he asked.
‘Just a bit,’ said Rebecca.
‘The engine’s completely gone,’ said Thomas, shaking his head. ‘I don’t know enough about them.’
‘Neither do I, mate,’ said the man.
‘Come on, Tony…’ said a woman with long dark hair sat in the passenger seat.
Tony frowned and her and then looked back at Thomas and Rebecca. ‘I might not know anything about cars, but there’s plenty of room in this caravan if you fancy a cuppa while you wait for the AA to come.’
Thomas hadn’t even thought of that. He wasn’t even insured. He’d never owned a car back in his own time and he’d never owned one in all the years they’d been around for. It had just never appealed to him.
The woman could see Thomas and Rebecca looking suspicious.
‘What’s up?’ asked Tony.
Rebecca sighed. ‘No insurance.’
Tony rolled his eyes. ‘Come on. Hop in the back and we’ll put the kettle on for you just as soon as we’ve set up in the park.’
As Thomas and Rebecca quickly scrambled out of the car, through the rain and into the back of the other couple’s car, the woman noticed Rebecca with her hand over her tummy.
‘When it due?’ she asked.
Rebecca stopped, looked down at her tummy and then back at the woman. ‘About 6 months,’ she said, almost forgetting why they had left the Ancestor’s in the first place.
The woman smiled, but almost looked sad.
Thomas and Rebecca never got their car going again. Tony and Thomas had travelled to the nearest town to get a mechanic to look at it, but he had said the engine was completely useless and it’d never run again. Thomas had no option but to have the thing towed away for scrap.
But Thomas and Rebecca, and Tony and Catherine Parker became good friends. They spent a week together in Primrose Valley caravan park. Tony and Catherine explained that they were on a break from their respective jobs. They had always wanted to travel to different campsites, and that’s exactly what they had done.
When it was time for Tony and Cath to pack up and go, they decided to invite the Farrington’s along. It was almost out of pity for them. Well, that’s what Rebecca had always thought. She almost felt like they pitied them somewhat due to their circumstance.
Thomas and Rebecca had kept quiet about their background for fear of losing their new found friends, but it was only when they had a near miss with an oil tanker one day, on route to Butlins in Skegness, that the Parkers discover exactly what the Farrington’s were made of.
Rebecca was now 7 months pregnant. The Farrington’s had assumed their usual position in the back of the Parker’s car and the road ahead was frosty with the January ice. They had the radio on and where listening to the latest offering from Paul McCartney, but the road ahead was foggy. They didn’t see the oil tanker coming at them until it was too late.
Tony put on the breaks and the car skidded and screeched across the road. It hit the divider on the motorway, flipped up and went careering through the air.
And then everything froze…
In the car Rebecca, Thomas, Tony and Cath sat, mid-scream, not quite sure about what was happening.
Thomas looked at Rebecca. ‘Rebecca…’
‘I daren’t move,’ she said, her voice trembling.
‘What the hell…?’ said Tony, nervously glancing out of the window and realising the land outside was upside down. Or rather they were upside down.
‘Everybody stay absolutely still,’ said Thomas. ‘Rebecca, you just concentrate, sweetheart. Don’t let anything distract you.’
‘What are you doing?’ asked Cath, as Thomas gingerly opened the back passenger door.
They were only a few feet away from the ground. Any longer and they would have all been dead.
Thomas stepped down onto the slippery road. The fog was thick and Thomas found himself coughing in the almost-liquid-like substance. He glanced back. The tanker was okay. It had merely skidded, but had managed to stay on it’s wheels.
Thomas looked up at Rebecca. ‘Come on.’
‘No,’ said Rebecca, not daring to move an inch. ‘Get Tony and Cath out first. If you move me it’ll break my concentration.’
‘Rebecca, you’re pregnant..’ pleaded Thomas.
‘I said no. Get them out now!’
Thomas reluctantly motioned for Tony to open his door. He did so and slowly him and Cath stepped out and lowered themselves down to the pavement.
Once they were out of the way, Thomas reached up to Rebecca.
‘I’m scared,’ said Rebecca. ‘You know what Jayne said. We have to concentrate. If we break our concentration-’
‘I know,’ said Thomas, ‘I was there when the train crashed, remember?’
Rebecca gulped. ‘The minute I step out-’
‘Just give me your hand,’ said Thomas.
Rebecca was breathing heavily. She reached out her hand and felt for Thomas’s. It was cold and clammy, but she knew she could feel safe with his touch.
He gripped her hand tightly. ‘On the count of three.’
Rebecca nodded, eyes closed.
‘One. Two.’ He pulled her out of the car. ‘Three!’
Rebecca fell and knocked Thomas over onto his back. Time suddenly unfroze and the car span away from them, crashing to the road and crushing the front. Thomas scrambled to his feet.
‘Are you alright?’ asked Thomas.
Rebecca was crying and nodding furiously.
‘The baby-’
‘I’m alright,’ said Rebecca. ‘So’s the baby.’
They both turned and saw Tony and Cath standing, eyes wide, gawping at them.
‘What the sodding hell was that?’ asked Tony.
Thomas held Rebecca’s hand as they carefully walked towards the couple. ‘You wouldn’t believe-’
‘Who are you two?’ asked Cath. ‘Who the hell are you?’
Thomas looked at Rebecca and then back at the Parkers. ‘We’re note exactly normal.’
March 2nd, 1982
Rebecca screamed.
And then the baby screamed.
A little while later Thomas sat on the side of the bed whilst Rebecca gently stroked the small, delicate hand on the tiny, pink, sleeping baby.
Both of the proud parents looked on at the youngster, smiling. But there was sadness behind their eyes.
Cathy and Tony soon arrived and then they had their time with the baby.
More time passed…
‘Is there no other way?’ asked Cath, holding the tiny baby in her arms.
‘They’ll come for her,’ said Thomas.
‘I still don’t know who,’ said Cath. ‘You’ve been vague ever since the crash.’
‘Bad people,’ said Thomas.
‘That doesn’t explain anything,’ said Tony, looking concerned at the situation. ‘You can’t expect us to do this. All you’ve told us is that you’re from some weird group of people who got these special powers given to them.’
‘You have to take her,’ said Thomas.
‘But she’s your child!’ said Tony.
‘And you two can’t have any,’ said Thomas.
Rebecca looked at the baby and then started to cry.
‘Look,’ said Thomas, ‘whatever power is inside of us is now inside of her. I can’t detect it at the moment, but I’m sure it’s there. We were infected by it, but she has been created from it. It’s mixed up with her entire DNA structure. She may have it for the rest of her life whereas, given the right process, we could get rid of it. If the people I’m from found out that she was around…well, they’d come for her.’
‘But still-’
‘She deserves a normal life,’ said Thomas, getting up and crossing over to the window. ‘You need to take her back to Thornsby.’
‘Ha!’ said Tony, hardly able to hide his disbelief. ‘They very place your “people” come from.’
Thomas turned to him angrily. ‘They won’t ever suspect that she’s there. They won’t. And…’
‘And what?’ asked Cath, handing the baby back to Rebecca.
‘And if you ever do need help. Well, then you can find Jayne and the others. But don’t go looking for them. These powers might take a long time to manifest.’
‘This is unbelievable,’ said Tony, getting up and shaking his head. ‘And what about you two?’
‘We’ll go. We’ll disappear, just like we should have done before. We can’t stay with her. We’ll light her up like a beacon. You’ll never hear from us again.’ He marched back over to Cath. ‘And don’t let them do any of those health checks on her. You’ve got to keep her safe. Treat her like she’s your own.’
‘But she isn’t!’ yelled Tony.
‘She is now,’ said Thomas.
‘What do we tell everyone back home?’ asked Cath.
‘You’ve been away for almost a year. Tell them you had a baby. Tell them she’s yours.’
A little while later and Thomas and Rebecca were standing on a platform, waiting for a train to take them to London. Tony and Cath were also standing there, Cath had hold of an old-style pram and was gently rocking it. Tony was standing a little off from them, unsure of what he should be doing.
Soon the train pulled in.
Rebecca leaned into the pram and gently stroked the cheek of the baby girl.
‘Keep her safe,’ said Thomas.
‘I will,’ said Cath.
The two woman hugged each other and then Thomas shook Tony’s hand.
‘I’m sorry,’ said Thomas.
Tony simply shook his head in disbelief.
Rebecca looked down into the pram again, her eyes red from all the crying. She whispered softly to the baby. ‘Stay safe, my little Caroline.’
And then Rebecca felt herself being hauled up onto the train by Thomas. She kept her eyes transfixed on the pram as she watched Tony and Cath - near enough complete strangers - disappear into the distance with their baby. With their little Caroline.
‘What do we do now?’ asked Rebecca, leaning against the glass of the doorway.
Thomas pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. ‘I’ve made contact with someone in London. An ex-UNIT operative. He’s gonna give us a time ring. We can only use it once, but we might be able to get far away from here. Maybe towards our own time.’
‘Then we’ll never see her again.’
Thomas grabbed Rebecca’s shoulders and spun her around. ‘It’s for her own good. She needs to lead a normal life.’
‘We should have just brought her to Jayne.’
‘No!’ said Thomas. ‘Jayne would have never let her live a normal life. She’d take her on board the team when she was old enough. That’s not what I want for our child.’
Rebecca buried her head in his chest.
Thomas hugged her tightly. It was cold, he knew that, but they really had no choice. They had to get far away from 1982. It was the only way Caroline Farrington - no - Caroline Parker could ever be safe.
Next: Nivere takes a trip. Coming Tuesday 15th October.
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