Fic: Hands off the blonde! (6/6), Teen) COMPLETE
Title: Hands off the blonde!
Author: carly21
Characters/Pairings: Nine, Rose, Jack
Rating: Teen
Beta: the wonderful naughtybunny23 ! Thank you so much! I would be so lost without you! o.o
Summary: While Jack still tries to fit into the team and solve the mystery that was the Doctor and Rose's relationship, Rose and him are getting kidnapped and thrown into a harem. Vanishing virgins, an alien far from its home and an interesting secret of the Doctor's soon put a test to their relationship...
A/N: Heh... 'sorry' won't cut it this time, eh? I'm such abad author... sorry ~.~
Disclaimer: Don't own the characters.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
They found the victims in a lair deep under the palace. Catacombs, the palace doctor had called them, long forgotten and known only in tales of monsters and horror stories. Trapped in cocoons the virgins hung down from the ceiling, untouched and alive. Only one cocoon was empty, only one life was lost.
The Doctor had said not a word since the incident with the Shadow, only bellowing orders to the guards who followed them without questions. His glare alone was enough to turn their bones to ice.
Jack had helped where he could, keeping himself busy so he wouldn't have to look into the Doctor's eyes. It was he who had found the lair... and still the Doctor had said nothing.
Now they were back inside the console room, the Doctor standing with crossed arms in front of Jack and Rose remaining uncertain in the background.
“Rose, go to your room. I have to talk to Jack,” the Doctor suddenly said, never leaving the former conman's eyes.
“Doctor, I don't think-”
“Don't argue with me, Rose. Just go!” Rose took a step back as he screamed at her and the Doctor was shocked at the fear suddenly showing inside her eyes. “I'm sorry, Rose,” he said quietly, his eyes downcast. “Please go. I will be with you in a minute...”
With a last look at Jack, Rose nodded and went down the hallway, trusting (or hoping) the Doctor wouldn't do anything reckless.
The Doctor had his back to Jack and continued to stare at the TARDIS grating without saying anything. Jack looked with uncertainty at the other man, not knowing if he was to speak or not. Taking a chance, he took a step forward and with a deep breath, he said, “I'm sorry, Doctor.”
The Doctor shot around at once, walking forward until he stood right in front of Jack, just inches away from his face. “Sorry? You’re sorry, Jack?”
He turned around again and stepped away from Jack, his hands balled into fists. “It's not you who should be sorry, Jack! It's me!” he screamed as he turned to face him, every inch of his body tense with anger.
Jack stared at him, eyebrows raised in surprise as he tried to understand what the Doctor had just said. “You?”
“Yes, me! I was the one who was supposed to make the shield safe! I'm the one who is responsible for the Shadow escapin'! I'm the one who endangered you and Rose's life! I'm the one who is sorry, Jack!” he screamed before his features relaxed and he dropped down on the jump seat, head in his hands. “I'm sorry...”
When the shock at the Doctor's sudden outburst had settled, Jack went over to his slumped form and hesitantly laid a hand on his shoulder. “It's not your fault.”
“It is!” The Doctor spoke into his hands.
“It's not. I know transmission shields. I know how they have to work, how strong they must be and still I underestimated the Shadow's strength. I'm as much at fault as you are, Doc.”
They stayed silent for a while, the quiet hum of the TARDIS almost deafening in the otherwise quiet room.
“I'm glad you joined us,” the Doctor said barely audible.
Jack wasn't sure he understood right and wanted to ask just as the Doctor continued. “It's good to have someone like you on board... someone with technical knowledge who can help with the TARDIS and other stuff, someone who knows hardships and that sometimes sacrifices have to be made for the greater good.” He looked up at Jack now, a small smile playing around his lips despite his sad eyes. “Rose is wonderful... she... her kindness has saved me in so many ways, reminds me to be merciful and compassionate, but... I think I also need a friend like you, Jack. Thank you.”
Jack squeezed the Doctor's shoulder and both looked at the TARDIS rotor moving as again silence fell between the two.
“Just one question, lad...” the Doctor said thoughtfully after a while. “Where did you hide that laser?”
Jack laughed at the question and went to leave the console room, turning around to look back at the Doctor with a big grin on his face as he reached the doorway. “Before I answer that question... you will have to buy me a drink, Doc.”
The Doctor just grinned back.
~*~
Rose sat on her bed, legs crossed and chewing on her lower lip while she waited for the Doctor. She had rarely seen him that angry before. What if he didn't forgive Jack? What if he threw him out?
She couldn't understand his anger in the first place. Sure, Jack didn't follow the Doctor's order and took a gun with him, but he saved him, didn't he? She didn't even want to think what would have happened if Jack hadn’t killed the creature before it reached the Doctor. He might have regenerated but Rose didn't want to see him change. She had grown to love that 'daft old face' as the Doctor liked to call it.
A knock on her door made her look up.
“Rose, may I come in?” she heard the Doctor's voice ask and she went to open the door.
“Everything alright?” Rose asked before going back to sit down on her bed again.
“Yeah, don't worry. We sorted it out.”
“You’re not angry with Jack anymore?”
“I never was in the first place.” Rose's eyebrows rose at the Doctor's response.
“What was it then?”
“My own stupidity... but let’s not talk about that now.” The Doctor went to get a chair and sat down in front of Rose, elbows on his knees, looking directly into her eyes. “I'm here for another reason...”
Rose swallowed as she took in his expression. He seemed a bit helpless, uncertain... like a little, lost puppy which seemed an undignified description for the Time Lord but strangely accurate at the moment.
“What is it then?” she asked, already knowing the answer to that question.
“Your behaviour today... I think I know what was up with you.”
This was it then... the moment they speak about the unspeakable. Rose steeled herself, took a deep breath and reached for his hand. He took hers gladly and ran a thumb over the back of her hand.
“I thought a lot about how to start this... and I still don't know how,” the Doctor began, his eyes locked on their joined hands. “I'm so old and I’ve experienced lots of things in my life... things you can't even begin to imagine, but... this is new for me.” He looked up and cupped her cheek with his free hand. She sighed at the touch and leaned into it. “I still don't know what's the right thing to do. I know what I'm supposed to do but... I can't-” He stopped abruptly as suddenly an annoying sound interrupted him. The Doctor looked for the source and Rose cursed as she took her cellphone out of her pocket.
“It's Mickey... I'm going to call him back later,” she said as she looked at the small display. “What was it you wanted to-” She stopped as she looked back up at his face. The Doctor gazed at her cellphone, a sad and dejected expression on his face.
“You should take that call,” he said dismissively and the faint-hearted undertone of his voice nearly broke her heart. “He is your boyfriend, Rose.”
His last words were spoken quietly but Rose felt like he had slapped her.
“Now, wait a second there, Doctor, I-” she said as he stood up and reached for his hand but he evaded her touch.
“We’ll have to visit Cardiff tomorrow... to power up the TARDIS. You can meet him there. You should talk to him and maybe... Whatever you decide to do tomorrow, I understand.” The Doctor left her room without another word. A small tear ran down Rose's face as she looked after him and the cellphone continued to ring, unanswered.
~*~
The Doctor leaned with his back against Rose's door, his hands balled into fists, cursing his own weakness. He nearly confessed to her! A human girl, barely out of her teens! What was he thinking?
He intended to apologise for what she had overheard... he wanted to give her a way out, to offer to bring her home in case she was afraid to ask.
Instead, he had nearly confessed and might have made it even more difficult for her to leave him. If she didn't return his feelings, that was...
He remembered Rose's look as he had started to speak. There had been hope inside her eyes... uncertainty and longing, too... wasn’t there? What if she did return his feelings... what if she... what if-
She had a boyfriend for Rassilon's sake! An annoying, human boyfriend who couldn't tell left from right! An idiot with a stupid name and the worst timing on Earth!
Rickey could give her what he couldn't. A house (or a flat at least), a family, a normal life with telly, fish and chips. He could grow old with her, watch their children grow up. He could love Rose like she deserved but without the danger and monsters.
He groaned as he bumped his head against the door. Jealous of a human boy, Rickey the idiot.
If his enemies could see him now... a Time Lord reduced to his feelings for a nineteen-year-old girl. They would laugh at him! He was supposed to be strong, unyielding, determined.
But now he was none of that... only a man who wished Mickey had never called and he could take that chance the universe had offered him when he had met Rose.
Slowly, the Doctor went down the corridor, determined to swallow down his feelings for Rose.
There was one more thing he had to do and he needed a clear head for it...
~*~
Prince Sharan V sat in one of his fluffy plush chairs, enjoying a glass of wine and some white grapes, especially imported for him. He laughed at the stupidity of his people. They treated him like a god those idiots, ignorant of his family's secret and swallowing whatever he threw at them without batting an eyelash. Tax increases, oppression, his obvious corruption... Oh, he liked to please whoever shared his bed, sure, but only because it made them even more eager to return the favour...
Grinning, he thought back at the last harem member who shared his bed. He was pretty, that one, but that didn't ease his anger in the slightest. He had asked for a woman, the newest addition to his harem his men had told him about... and he hated it when he didn't get what he wanted.
Oh, the guy had paid dearly for it. He had beat him quite thoroughly which didn't do anything to wipe that grin off his face, though. It had slightly unnerved him how the man had looked at him... like he pitied him. Him! Prince Sharan V! Intolerable!
But he had paid for it and it was good. He was good. And he was his like everything else on this planet...
A noise somewhere outside of his room made him look up but he quickly dismissed it. There had been some commotion the whole day, something with the catacombs that lay under the palace but he couldn’t care less. As long as it didn't threaten his fantastic, luxurious life, it didn't bother h-
A scream just outside his room made him nearly spill his drink. What the hell was-
“I'm thankful for what... but you can't...” “I can and I will. Look at this.” Loud voices now, one he recognised as the one of the palace doctors but he didn't know the other. For some reason, the sound of the other man's voice made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.
“I can't believe-” The palace doctor's disbelieving voice was the last thing Sharan heard before his door crashed open (He had locked it! He was sure he had locked it!) and a man in a leather jacket with short cropped hair stood in the doorway. A look that threatened to kill paralysed Sharan in his chair, turning his bones to jelly.
“You hurt my friend. No one hurts my friends,” the man said and even years later, Sharan couldn't forget those words.
Two guards appeared behind the man and the prince wanted to bark orders at them just as they stepped forward and grabbed hold of his arms. “What are you doing! What the hell are you doing?!”
“They are arresting you,” the old doctor said as he came into the room, his face twisted with anger as he waved a few old papers in front of Sharan's face. “Faked! Your grandparents faked their IDs when they came here! You aren't a prince! You weren’t even born in this solar system!”
“So what?! Your people needed someone to worship and my grandfather was at the right time and place!” Sharan sneered at the old man. “All thanks to the people's stupidity!”
The punch came fast, knocking the fake prince out cold at once. The palace doctor's chest heaved quickly up and down as he watched the young man sink into the guards' arms.
“Take him away!” he said and the men did as they were told.
The old man dropped down in the vacated chair. “Sixty years... sixty years of tyranny and we always thought...”
The Doctor laid a hand on the crashed man's shoulder. “It was a good fake, nearly perfect. You couldn't have known.”
“I know. Thank you, Doctor. Thank you so much for everything!”
The Doctor waved him off and went to the door where he turned around to the other man one last time. “Don't mention it... I had personal reasons,” he said before he added with a grin. “The people will need a new monarch now that everyone knows the royal family is dead. They will need someone who cares. Maybe you should try out.” And with that, he left the room.
~*~
“Where did you go?” Jack asked with a happy smile as the Doctor entered the console room. Apparently, the young man had been working under the TARDIS console, probably maintaining the neutro stabiliser like the Doctor had taught him two days ago. He was talented, that one. Good with his hands... although he would never tell him so. The innuendo that had to follow a comment like that would probably make even an Untarian fire-fighter blush.
The Doctor had to grin as he spotted a bit of grease on Jack's nose. He had to admit, the young man looked a bit adorable when he smiled at him like that.
“Just took care of somethin'... Fancy a cup of tea?”
Jack waggled his finger at him. “That won't count as buying me a drink, Doc.”
Going over to him, the Doctor grabbed Jack's shoulder just a bit too hard and led him across the console room. Jack followed his lead without resisting.
“All that flirtin' is going to be the death of you some day, Jack Harkness.”
“Oh, I do hope so... no better way to go.”
The Doctor continued to talk like Jack hadn't spoken. “You should be careful... It can be dangerous to flirt with the wrong person.”
“Don't worry, Doc. I know exactly how to choose the right one.”
Jack's voice was gentle and the sincerity in his words tugged at the Doctor's hearts. He felt the young man's gaze and as he put an arm around his shoulders, the Time Lord let him be.
Later, much later after they had tea and shared stories about adventures they had had in the past, Jack would return to his room and find a shining TARDIS key dangling from his doorknob.
He never had trouble reaching Rose's room again.
Author: carly21
Characters/Pairings: Nine, Rose, Jack
Rating: Teen
Beta: the wonderful naughtybunny23 ! Thank you so much! I would be so lost without you! o.o
Summary: While Jack still tries to fit into the team and solve the mystery that was the Doctor and Rose's relationship, Rose and him are getting kidnapped and thrown into a harem. Vanishing virgins, an alien far from its home and an interesting secret of the Doctor's soon put a test to their relationship...
A/N: Heh... 'sorry' won't cut it this time, eh? I'm such abad author... sorry ~.~
Disclaimer: Don't own the characters.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
They found the victims in a lair deep under the palace. Catacombs, the palace doctor had called them, long forgotten and known only in tales of monsters and horror stories. Trapped in cocoons the virgins hung down from the ceiling, untouched and alive. Only one cocoon was empty, only one life was lost.
The Doctor had said not a word since the incident with the Shadow, only bellowing orders to the guards who followed them without questions. His glare alone was enough to turn their bones to ice.
Jack had helped where he could, keeping himself busy so he wouldn't have to look into the Doctor's eyes. It was he who had found the lair... and still the Doctor had said nothing.
Now they were back inside the console room, the Doctor standing with crossed arms in front of Jack and Rose remaining uncertain in the background.
“Rose, go to your room. I have to talk to Jack,” the Doctor suddenly said, never leaving the former conman's eyes.
“Doctor, I don't think-”
“Don't argue with me, Rose. Just go!” Rose took a step back as he screamed at her and the Doctor was shocked at the fear suddenly showing inside her eyes. “I'm sorry, Rose,” he said quietly, his eyes downcast. “Please go. I will be with you in a minute...”
With a last look at Jack, Rose nodded and went down the hallway, trusting (or hoping) the Doctor wouldn't do anything reckless.
The Doctor had his back to Jack and continued to stare at the TARDIS grating without saying anything. Jack looked with uncertainty at the other man, not knowing if he was to speak or not. Taking a chance, he took a step forward and with a deep breath, he said, “I'm sorry, Doctor.”
The Doctor shot around at once, walking forward until he stood right in front of Jack, just inches away from his face. “Sorry? You’re sorry, Jack?”
He turned around again and stepped away from Jack, his hands balled into fists. “It's not you who should be sorry, Jack! It's me!” he screamed as he turned to face him, every inch of his body tense with anger.
Jack stared at him, eyebrows raised in surprise as he tried to understand what the Doctor had just said. “You?”
“Yes, me! I was the one who was supposed to make the shield safe! I'm the one who is responsible for the Shadow escapin'! I'm the one who endangered you and Rose's life! I'm the one who is sorry, Jack!” he screamed before his features relaxed and he dropped down on the jump seat, head in his hands. “I'm sorry...”
When the shock at the Doctor's sudden outburst had settled, Jack went over to his slumped form and hesitantly laid a hand on his shoulder. “It's not your fault.”
“It is!” The Doctor spoke into his hands.
“It's not. I know transmission shields. I know how they have to work, how strong they must be and still I underestimated the Shadow's strength. I'm as much at fault as you are, Doc.”
They stayed silent for a while, the quiet hum of the TARDIS almost deafening in the otherwise quiet room.
“I'm glad you joined us,” the Doctor said barely audible.
Jack wasn't sure he understood right and wanted to ask just as the Doctor continued. “It's good to have someone like you on board... someone with technical knowledge who can help with the TARDIS and other stuff, someone who knows hardships and that sometimes sacrifices have to be made for the greater good.” He looked up at Jack now, a small smile playing around his lips despite his sad eyes. “Rose is wonderful... she... her kindness has saved me in so many ways, reminds me to be merciful and compassionate, but... I think I also need a friend like you, Jack. Thank you.”
Jack squeezed the Doctor's shoulder and both looked at the TARDIS rotor moving as again silence fell between the two.
“Just one question, lad...” the Doctor said thoughtfully after a while. “Where did you hide that laser?”
Jack laughed at the question and went to leave the console room, turning around to look back at the Doctor with a big grin on his face as he reached the doorway. “Before I answer that question... you will have to buy me a drink, Doc.”
The Doctor just grinned back.
~*~
Rose sat on her bed, legs crossed and chewing on her lower lip while she waited for the Doctor. She had rarely seen him that angry before. What if he didn't forgive Jack? What if he threw him out?
She couldn't understand his anger in the first place. Sure, Jack didn't follow the Doctor's order and took a gun with him, but he saved him, didn't he? She didn't even want to think what would have happened if Jack hadn’t killed the creature before it reached the Doctor. He might have regenerated but Rose didn't want to see him change. She had grown to love that 'daft old face' as the Doctor liked to call it.
A knock on her door made her look up.
“Rose, may I come in?” she heard the Doctor's voice ask and she went to open the door.
“Everything alright?” Rose asked before going back to sit down on her bed again.
“Yeah, don't worry. We sorted it out.”
“You’re not angry with Jack anymore?”
“I never was in the first place.” Rose's eyebrows rose at the Doctor's response.
“What was it then?”
“My own stupidity... but let’s not talk about that now.” The Doctor went to get a chair and sat down in front of Rose, elbows on his knees, looking directly into her eyes. “I'm here for another reason...”
Rose swallowed as she took in his expression. He seemed a bit helpless, uncertain... like a little, lost puppy which seemed an undignified description for the Time Lord but strangely accurate at the moment.
“What is it then?” she asked, already knowing the answer to that question.
“Your behaviour today... I think I know what was up with you.”
This was it then... the moment they speak about the unspeakable. Rose steeled herself, took a deep breath and reached for his hand. He took hers gladly and ran a thumb over the back of her hand.
“I thought a lot about how to start this... and I still don't know how,” the Doctor began, his eyes locked on their joined hands. “I'm so old and I’ve experienced lots of things in my life... things you can't even begin to imagine, but... this is new for me.” He looked up and cupped her cheek with his free hand. She sighed at the touch and leaned into it. “I still don't know what's the right thing to do. I know what I'm supposed to do but... I can't-” He stopped abruptly as suddenly an annoying sound interrupted him. The Doctor looked for the source and Rose cursed as she took her cellphone out of her pocket.
“It's Mickey... I'm going to call him back later,” she said as she looked at the small display. “What was it you wanted to-” She stopped as she looked back up at his face. The Doctor gazed at her cellphone, a sad and dejected expression on his face.
“You should take that call,” he said dismissively and the faint-hearted undertone of his voice nearly broke her heart. “He is your boyfriend, Rose.”
His last words were spoken quietly but Rose felt like he had slapped her.
“Now, wait a second there, Doctor, I-” she said as he stood up and reached for his hand but he evaded her touch.
“We’ll have to visit Cardiff tomorrow... to power up the TARDIS. You can meet him there. You should talk to him and maybe... Whatever you decide to do tomorrow, I understand.” The Doctor left her room without another word. A small tear ran down Rose's face as she looked after him and the cellphone continued to ring, unanswered.
~*~
The Doctor leaned with his back against Rose's door, his hands balled into fists, cursing his own weakness. He nearly confessed to her! A human girl, barely out of her teens! What was he thinking?
He intended to apologise for what she had overheard... he wanted to give her a way out, to offer to bring her home in case she was afraid to ask.
Instead, he had nearly confessed and might have made it even more difficult for her to leave him. If she didn't return his feelings, that was...
He remembered Rose's look as he had started to speak. There had been hope inside her eyes... uncertainty and longing, too... wasn’t there? What if she did return his feelings... what if she... what if-
She had a boyfriend for Rassilon's sake! An annoying, human boyfriend who couldn't tell left from right! An idiot with a stupid name and the worst timing on Earth!
Rickey could give her what he couldn't. A house (or a flat at least), a family, a normal life with telly, fish and chips. He could grow old with her, watch their children grow up. He could love Rose like she deserved but without the danger and monsters.
He groaned as he bumped his head against the door. Jealous of a human boy, Rickey the idiot.
If his enemies could see him now... a Time Lord reduced to his feelings for a nineteen-year-old girl. They would laugh at him! He was supposed to be strong, unyielding, determined.
But now he was none of that... only a man who wished Mickey had never called and he could take that chance the universe had offered him when he had met Rose.
Slowly, the Doctor went down the corridor, determined to swallow down his feelings for Rose.
There was one more thing he had to do and he needed a clear head for it...
~*~
Prince Sharan V sat in one of his fluffy plush chairs, enjoying a glass of wine and some white grapes, especially imported for him. He laughed at the stupidity of his people. They treated him like a god those idiots, ignorant of his family's secret and swallowing whatever he threw at them without batting an eyelash. Tax increases, oppression, his obvious corruption... Oh, he liked to please whoever shared his bed, sure, but only because it made them even more eager to return the favour...
Grinning, he thought back at the last harem member who shared his bed. He was pretty, that one, but that didn't ease his anger in the slightest. He had asked for a woman, the newest addition to his harem his men had told him about... and he hated it when he didn't get what he wanted.
Oh, the guy had paid dearly for it. He had beat him quite thoroughly which didn't do anything to wipe that grin off his face, though. It had slightly unnerved him how the man had looked at him... like he pitied him. Him! Prince Sharan V! Intolerable!
But he had paid for it and it was good. He was good. And he was his like everything else on this planet...
A noise somewhere outside of his room made him look up but he quickly dismissed it. There had been some commotion the whole day, something with the catacombs that lay under the palace but he couldn’t care less. As long as it didn't threaten his fantastic, luxurious life, it didn't bother h-
A scream just outside his room made him nearly spill his drink. What the hell was-
“I'm thankful for what... but you can't...” “I can and I will. Look at this.” Loud voices now, one he recognised as the one of the palace doctors but he didn't know the other. For some reason, the sound of the other man's voice made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.
“I can't believe-” The palace doctor's disbelieving voice was the last thing Sharan heard before his door crashed open (He had locked it! He was sure he had locked it!) and a man in a leather jacket with short cropped hair stood in the doorway. A look that threatened to kill paralysed Sharan in his chair, turning his bones to jelly.
“You hurt my friend. No one hurts my friends,” the man said and even years later, Sharan couldn't forget those words.
Two guards appeared behind the man and the prince wanted to bark orders at them just as they stepped forward and grabbed hold of his arms. “What are you doing! What the hell are you doing?!”
“They are arresting you,” the old doctor said as he came into the room, his face twisted with anger as he waved a few old papers in front of Sharan's face. “Faked! Your grandparents faked their IDs when they came here! You aren't a prince! You weren’t even born in this solar system!”
“So what?! Your people needed someone to worship and my grandfather was at the right time and place!” Sharan sneered at the old man. “All thanks to the people's stupidity!”
The punch came fast, knocking the fake prince out cold at once. The palace doctor's chest heaved quickly up and down as he watched the young man sink into the guards' arms.
“Take him away!” he said and the men did as they were told.
The old man dropped down in the vacated chair. “Sixty years... sixty years of tyranny and we always thought...”
The Doctor laid a hand on the crashed man's shoulder. “It was a good fake, nearly perfect. You couldn't have known.”
“I know. Thank you, Doctor. Thank you so much for everything!”
The Doctor waved him off and went to the door where he turned around to the other man one last time. “Don't mention it... I had personal reasons,” he said before he added with a grin. “The people will need a new monarch now that everyone knows the royal family is dead. They will need someone who cares. Maybe you should try out.” And with that, he left the room.
~*~
“Where did you go?” Jack asked with a happy smile as the Doctor entered the console room. Apparently, the young man had been working under the TARDIS console, probably maintaining the neutro stabiliser like the Doctor had taught him two days ago. He was talented, that one. Good with his hands... although he would never tell him so. The innuendo that had to follow a comment like that would probably make even an Untarian fire-fighter blush.
The Doctor had to grin as he spotted a bit of grease on Jack's nose. He had to admit, the young man looked a bit adorable when he smiled at him like that.
“Just took care of somethin'... Fancy a cup of tea?”
Jack waggled his finger at him. “That won't count as buying me a drink, Doc.”
Going over to him, the Doctor grabbed Jack's shoulder just a bit too hard and led him across the console room. Jack followed his lead without resisting.
“All that flirtin' is going to be the death of you some day, Jack Harkness.”
“Oh, I do hope so... no better way to go.”
The Doctor continued to talk like Jack hadn't spoken. “You should be careful... It can be dangerous to flirt with the wrong person.”
“Don't worry, Doc. I know exactly how to choose the right one.”
Jack's voice was gentle and the sincerity in his words tugged at the Doctor's hearts. He felt the young man's gaze and as he put an arm around his shoulders, the Time Lord let him be.
Later, much later after they had tea and shared stories about adventures they had had in the past, Jack would return to his room and find a shining TARDIS key dangling from his doorknob.
He never had trouble reaching Rose's room again.