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“There are worlds out there where the skies are burning, where the sea’s asleep and the rivers dream. People made of smoke and cities of song. Somewhere there is danger, somewhere there is injustice... and somewhere else the tea is getting cold. Come on Ace – we got work to do.”
On the small TV screen a British middle-aged man took the hand of a younger woman and they walked away into the greenery. However, Jubilee’s brain was too tired to make up ridiculous scenarios of what would happen next as the credits began rolling. BBC World was doing Doctor Who re-runs again at three in the morning. To be honest it wasn’t the dullest series in the world – the Doctor was rather entertaining and sometimes the monster costumes could keep you giggling for minutes at a time. There was a small voice inside her head, that sounded suspiciously like Jono, that reminded her this was the last episode of the classic Doctor Who – the end of an era.
Jono and she had actually once agreed that the Doctor was an awesome metaphor for how their lives were. Every once in a while they would regenerate and something would change – sometimes they were essentially the same people, but most of the time something massive happened that would change their entire outlook on life. Abduction, torture, abandonment, natural disaster, power loss – soul moving events would befall them that would force them to change, just like regeneration for the Doctor. And people, compeers and friends would all come and go – just like the Doctor’s assistants.
She missed the lot of them. Having handed over the New Warriors name to the former Initiative heroes they had all split up – each going their separate way, more or less. Angel and Barney were still together with their kids, but the majority of them had just walked away into the sunset like in one of those old westerns. Most of all, strangely, she missed Tony.
They had broken up a short while before the New Warriors and she travelled to the future; she broke up with him when she finally realised they were actually together as more than a handful of one time things that happen a lot. That first night and then the second and third had turned into a habit – they had turned into a habit they both enjoyed far too much. Not just the night part of it all, but the morning after too – sitting at the kitchen table, reading the paper and drinking coffee. She found herself uncomfortable lying to him about everything so she broke up with him instead of telling the truth and facing the music.
They told him though, Donyell and her, a few hours after getting back from the future – after having talked through Donyell’s less than honest reasons for reviving the New Warriors. They had sat down with Tony Stark and walked him through everything. Then they left and she desperately wanted to mouth “I’m sorry” to him before leaving the study, but she just couldn’t get herself to move her lips.
Now here she was, watching Doctor Who re-runs on BBC World at three in the morning, in an L.A. motel room, missing Tony and cursing yet another regeneration for changing her.
“It’s not like we could ever get together again,” she mumbled to herself as she rubbed her sleepy eyes, “even if everything had been ideal we’d still have been womaniser and woman – that would never have worked. We’re just too different.”
An uncomfortable weight settled in Jubilees stomach and she decided to flick off the TV and just go to sleep. Somewhere in New York Tony Stark would give some woman the look before swooping her off to one of his pied-à-terre before shagging her more brainless than she already was – on one of the bed they so often shared during their months together. Or maybe he’d just kicked some woman out of that bed – there was a time difference of three hours between L.A. and New York after all.
Brushing her teeth and watching her reflection in the bathroom mirror Jubilee asked herself when she started looking like a female version of Frankenstein’s monster, but that might have been the stress and the uncertainty of life. She was supposed to be meeting with an old friend of her father’s tomorrow – an old business acquaintance of his that apparently had something important to discuss with her. Had had something important to discuss with her for the past few years to be honest, but she had managed to put it off until now.
Her mobile phone rang – she really needed to change that ring tone; spitting into the sink before wiping her mouth she just barely managed to pick up before the caller got bored. The voice at the other end sounded almost surprised when she squeaked her “Hello?” unto the microphone before checking the display who was calling her at this ungodly hour.
“Tony?!” she was beyond surprised when she saw his name – dark grey on white blaring at her from the lit display; she felt like a teenager with a crush as she sat on her knees on the rumpled bedspread.
“I didn’t wake you, did I?” His voice was strong over the raspy line – awake with just a hint of lingering sleepiness to it – the way he sounded when he got out of the bed at six and told her to wake up.
“No,” she assured him and felt a surge of nostalgia hit her, “I honestly forgot about the time – its half past three here in L.A. and I was just going to bed.”
“You’re in L.A.?” He sounded conversational, like this was a completely normal phone call – not like he was talking to his ex-- What had she been to him? Girlfriend? Fuck-buddy? Convenient body?
“Yeah, in Beverly Hills.” She managed to reply – he was such a confusing guy – what was she supposed to say? Should she ask him about his whereabouts too or just stay quiet and answer his questions?
“You know,” she cut him off form asking another obvious question, “it’s very nice heaving your voice and all, but why are you calling?” She had never really been one for staying quiet.
“There’s no fooling you,” Tony sounded almost pleased when she replied, “I wanted to talk about us, or more to the point why there is no us.
“We might have been 60 percent fucking, 30 percent banter and only 10 percent actual discussion, but I found myself enjoying it.”
“Me too,” she chuckled and she could almost hear the anticipation on the other side of the line, “I know this is going to sound like a horse load of bullshit, but I just couldn’t keep on lying to you about... well, the New Warriors, and I couldn’t tell you either so I took the coward’s way out.”
“And now that the proverbial cat is out of the bag,” he sounded almost tense, “would you see me if I decided to fly out there tomorrow?”
“I’m meeting a friend of my father’s tomorrow,” Jubilee said, and she could taste his sinking heart over the phone, “but I’d love to see you after that.”
“Great,” his voice carried more relief than she thought she’d ever hear on Tony Stark’s voice even if she got to spent a thousand years with the man. “I’ll call you when we touch down.”
“See you then.”
Jubilee grinned when she slipped under the sheet – sometimes an assistant would return to the Doctor’s side after so many regenerations that he was almost unrecognisable and they would still get on famously, like Sarah Jane Smith and the tenth regeneration, because deep down he was always the Doctor.