"To Mend A Broken Man" (2/5)
Title: To Mend A Broken Man
Author: jackdavfan692
Rating: PG-13
Fandoms: Doctor Who /Torchwood
Characters/Pairings: Eleven/River, Captain Jack, and young (Age 9) Lorna Bucket, with a few references to Jack/Ianto
Spoilers: New Who S1-S6 and all of Torchwood except “Miracle Day”.
Warnings: Just angst in this part, but that's all.
Disclaimer: Doctor Who is currently in the care of Steven Moffat, and Torchwood is owned by Russell T. Davies and the BBC.
Chapter 1
http://crossoverfic.livejournal.com/1545085.html
The TARDIS’s doors open almost immediately after the three of them, now in a line, come out of the bar. Just before crossing the threshold, Jack, at the rear of the line, hesitates, sensing, though he doesn’t know how or why, that something about the TARDIS is different- different enough that he might not be as readily accepted as a passenger.
Looking at the Doctor, he asks, “Are you sure I’ll be allowed to go inside?”
Walking over and putting his hands on Jack’s shoulders with a reassuring smile, the Doctor tells him, “Jack, she brought us here to get you, don’t you see?”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m certain of it.” the Doctor answers with a nod. “Come on, she’s waiting.” He puts his right arm around Jack’s left shoulder, and walks with him into the TARDIS. Once they are inside, the Doctor joins River at the console, after which he inconspicuously puts an arm around her waist and subtly pulls her closer to him.
Just slightly turning her head toward him and talking quietly in his ear, River says with a mischievous smile, “Trying to keep me close by so I don’t wander, Sweetie?”
Flashing a smile that exactly mirrors his wife’s, the Doctor answers, “Something like that, yeah."
”Still with the same smile, River replies, “Well aren’t you Mister Tough?”
“Oh, you bet I am.” The Doctor follows up his comment by giving her a quick kiss on the mouth, then the couple returns to just standing side by side.
Looking around as he walks away from the now closed doors and toward the Doctor and River, Jack remarks, “Huh, you redecorated.”
“Not so much redecorated as tore down and started from scratch.” the Doctor replies somewhat ashamedly. “All the energy released when I finally regenerated was too much for the old girl, so she had to rebuild herself completely.”
“Really? Wow!” Jack says, raising his eyebrows.
“Yeah. Anyway, do you like it?”
Nodding, Jack answers, “Yeah, I do. It’s nice and room-y. I kind of miss the arches, though.”
The Doctor smiles briefly at him, then says, “Me too.”
Jack covers the last couple of feet to the console, then leaning forward slightly and gingerly placing his hands on top of it so as not to accidentally activate something he shouldn’t, he asks, “So, where are we going?”
“Wherever the TARDIS senses we need to. Which means this trip could last for more than just this evening.” the Doctor answers with a smile. “You don’t need to be anywhere, do you?”
Giving the Doctor an amused smirk, Jack answers, “Did it look like I needed to be someplace anytime soon?”
Pleased to see a glimmer of the old Captain Jack Harkness, brief as it might turn out to be, the Doctor, chuckling, answers, “No, it didn’t. Did you come in a ship, a cruiser, something like that?”
“Yeah, it’s at a terminal not far from here. Why?”
“Because if this trip ends up lasting longer than the rest of the evening, you’ll need more than just what you’re wearing.”
“Right, of course.” Jack says, laughing slightly. “I’ll go get my things.” He adds, turning around and heading back toward the doors.
River and the Doctor glance at each other, and come to an unspoken agreement about whether to go with him. Looking from River to Jack, and starting to walk toward him, the Doctor calls, “Hold on, we’re coming with you.”
Jack stops about a foot from the doors, and turning around, replies, “You don’t have to. I’m coming right back.”
Shrugging, the Doctor says, “I know, but we thought a walk would be a good way to see more of this planet.” Looking back at River, in the process of coming down the stairs behind him, he adds, “Didn’t we, dear?”
“Yes, exactly.” She answers, smiling briefly.
Shrugging, Jack says, “Okay, but you aren’t gonna be able to see much during a fifteen minute walk, and there’s not a lot here anyway.”
“No?” the Doctor asks. Jack shakes his head. “Pity. Well, the walk’ll do us good, at least. After you, Jack.”
With that, the former Torchwood leader walks the rest of the length to the doors, the TARDIS opening them obligingly when he reaches them, and keeping them that way until the Doctor and River are outside. With one flash of his sonic screwdriver, the Doctor activates the TARDIS’s perception filter.
Following that, he turns back to Jack and inquires, “So, which way?”
“This way.” He answers, starting to walk in a westerly direction. The answer to the Doctor’s question now provided, he and River, walking side by side, follow after Jack in short order.
.......................
Following their arrival at the terminal, the Doctor asks him, “Which one is yours?”
“That one.” Jack answers, indicating the third of the six crafts currently in it with a nod of his head.
“It’s beautiful.” The Doctor remarks, smiling.
“Isn’t it?” Jack replies with a brief smile. “Reliable, too.”
“I’d think it would need to be, with all the traveling I’m guessing you’ve been doing.”
“Yeah.” Jack agrees, glancing down with a slight smile and nodding. “I’ll be right back.”
“Alright.” The Doctor says, giving a brief nod. With that, Jack walks off toward his ship.
Once Jack is well out of earshot, the Doctor turns to River, standing beside him, and tells her, “I’m sorry about this, River. I know these dates are supposed to be just for the two of us, but I couldn’t leave him there, not after the way I’ve treated him and everything he’s been through.”
Slipping her hand into the Doctor’s, River, smiling lovingly at him, replies, “It’s fine, dear. The TARDIS believes Captain Harkness needs your help- that’s more than enough of a reason to satisfy me. Besides, it’s what you do- you help people. And I wouldn’t want you to be any other way.” Following those final words of reassurance, River kisses the Doctor on the cheek.
Giving her an awkward, shy smile, he replies, “Stop it, you’re embarrassing me!” His wife simply smiles back and gives him another kiss on the cheek.
After ten minutes, Jack, with a moderately large travel bag slung over his left shoulder, emerges from his ship. He stops and talks to the terminal’s overseer for a couple of minutes, then walks back to where the Doctor and River are standing.
When Jack reaches them, the Doctor asks, “All packed?”
“Yeah.” Jack answers with a nod.
“Alright, good.” the Doctor replies. “Will your ship be safe here?”
“Yeah, I told the overseer to put it in a secure storage area if I’m not back in the next few days.”
“Then let’s get back to the TARDIS.” Jack nods in agreement, and the trio, its members now walking side by side, makes its way out of the terminal.
......................
Once again inside the TARDIS, River, her temporarily forgotten bag again in hand, looks back at the Doctor and informs him, “I’m going to put this in our room, okay, Sweetie?”
“Alright, Dear.” He replies with an easygoing smile, not noticing that Jack, standing behind him, once more has an incredulous look on his face. When the Doctor turns around, the look is gone, and River has disappeared into a corridor at the top of one of the various stairways jutting off from the console platform.
Slightly adjusting the position of his bag, Jack asks, “Should I hang onto this until we’ve figured out sleeping arrangements?”
“No, not necessary. The TARDIS has probably made a room for you already.” Looking toward the console, the Doctor says with a smile, “Haven’t you, girl?” As if in response, one of the monitors equipped to the console switches on, its screen showing a schematic of the residential part of the TARDIS.
Turning back around, his smile now a wide grin, the Doctor exclaims, “See, what did I tell you? Let’s take a look and find out where she’s put you.” Without a further word, he turns away and starts up the main stairway to the console, Jack following behind dutifully.
As they walk, he remarks, “I couldn’t help noticing you keep referring to the TARDIS as ‘She’. Any particular reason why?”
Looking back at him as they reach the console, the Doctor answers matter-of-factly, “How else would I refer to her? She is alive, after all.”
“It is?” Jack replies in a surprised voice. The Doctor nods in response. “I had no idea.”
“You didn’t?” Jack shakes his head. “I thought I’d told you she was.”
“Nope. This is the first I’ve heard of it.” Jack replies.
“Strange. I was sure I’d explained that to you before.” The Doctor muses. “Oh well, you know it now.” He adds, smiling briefly. “Anyway, your room.” The Doctor turns his attention to the screen in front of them, and after a few seconds, announces, “Ah, here it is.”
Jack, slightly behind the Doctor when they had stopped walking, now comes up next to him and asks, “Where?”
“Right there.” The Doctor answers with a smile, pointing to a flashing light blue dot in the lower middle of the screen.
After looking at it for himself and thanking the Doctor for showing him the location, Jack, turning around and surveying the stairways and accompanying corridors around the two of them, asks, “So, which one leads to my room?”
The Doctor joins him at the railing, and after looking around for a few seconds, nods toward the one directly across from them and the console, saying, “That one will.”
“Okay, thanks.” Jack replies with a brief smile. “I’ll be right back.”
“Alright.” the Doctor says in return, smiling briefly. Following that, Jack continues heading in the direction of the stairway and corridor the Doctor had pointed out to him.
A few minutes after Jack’s departure, River returns. Noticing he is no longer there, River asks the Doctor, still standing at the railing, “Where’s Captain Harkness?”
“He went to find his room.”
River smiles at the TARDIS’s gesture of forethought, then says, “So she’s made one for him already?”
“Yes.” The Doctor answers, nodding. “She probably did it while we were with him at the terminal.”
“She must have.” River agrees, nodding briefly. Catching a glimpse of the somewhat melancholy look on her husband’s face, she asks him, “What’s the matter, Sweetie?”
“Jack seems like a completely different man to me. I knew he’d been affected by everything he’d been through, but I never realized just how much until now. It’s as if he’s been…broken beyond repair.” The Doctor answers sadly, turning and looking at River.
She joins him at the railing, and after gently taking his arm in an effort to get him to turn around fully and face her, River says, “He might be, but certainly not beyond repair. In fact, I think he’s starting to heal already. I don’t know what he was like before experiencing so much recent heartache, but his mood seemed to get a little better once we were in here.”
“Really, you think so?” the Doctor, now facing River, replies in a slightly hopeful voice.
Smiling at him, River says in return, “Yes. And I think wherever the TARDIS decides to take us will help even more.”
“I hope so.” The Doctor, his hands now holding River’s, rather than stuffed in the pockets of his slacks, replies in a melancholy tone.
“I know it will.” She reassures him. “Why don’t we walk around for awhile?”
“Alright.” Her husband answers, finally smiling. The couple, hand in hand, then heads for the group of corridors to the right of the console platform.
.........................
At the same time, Jack is surveying his room, having been led to it fifteen minutes earlier by the TARDIS. As Jack looks around, it occurs to him that the room is larger, cozier, and more well furnished than the one he had while traveling with the first incarnation of the Doctor he had met- the Ninth one.
Looking up, as he had seen the Doctor do earlier, Jack remarks, “I guess you were expecting me.”
To his astonishment, a female voice he can only conclude is the TARDIS says telepathically, “Of course I was. That’s the reason I brought them here- to find you and bring you back with them.”
“But…, I thought you were horrified by me! That’s what the Doctor told me the last time we traveled together.”
“You silly, impossible man.” The TARDIS resumes. Jack can almost picture a humanoid female form of her shaking her head and rolling her eyes. “I made you what you now are. To reject you for that is akin to rejecting my own child.”
“So you’ve never hated or been disgusted by me?” Jack asks with extreme surprise.
“Never. I’ve always loved you, Jack Harkness, just as much as I've loved any of the others who have traveled with my dear Doctor.”
Jack is nearly brought to tears by the sheer joy of being told he is loved, despite everything he has done during his multiple-centuries long life, but as before, he makes himself bring the emotion under control. Sitting down shakily on the left side of the sheet-less metal-frame bed, he says, “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Following that final telepathic message, Jack senses the departure of the connection.
He sits there in stunned silence for ten full minutes, trying to come to terms with the enormity of what had just happened, and why it had. Once he has recovered, he sets to work making the room his own, beginning with the bed, on which he puts sheets, a blanket, and a plain comforter. After that is done, he moves on to unpacking his bag.
..........................
When he returns to the console room an hour and a half later, the Doctor and River have returned from their stroll around the TARDIS.
Smiling at Jack in a cautiously bright manner, the Doctor asks, “All settled in? Happy with your room?”
“Yes to both.” Jack answers with the most cheerful smile he had mustered thus far. “She’s a very good interior designer, your TARDIS.” He adds, covering the rest of the distance between the Doctor, River, and himself.
“Good! And she thanks you for the compliment.” The Doctor replies, both pleased and surprised by his old friend’s sudden change in mood. After a moment’s pause, he says with a smile, “Well, let’s get on our way.”
“Sounds good to me.” Jack, leaning against a segment of the railing just to the right and across from the Doctor, remarks, still smiling cheerfully.
With that, the Doctor looks up and says, "Okay, girl, take us wherever we need to go.”
Immediately, the relevant knobs, buttons, switches and levers activate and move, sending the TARDIS, following its customary vanishing act, back into the sky. During the flight, the trio engages in friendly conversation, most of it consisting of catching up between Jack and the Doctor, sharing of relevant, not-secret personal information between River and Jack, and general small talk.
The first half of the trip, Jack is mostly upbeat and feels comfortable around River and the Doctor, despite the knowledge that they are a married couple. Eventually, however, the frequency of intimate, loving exchanges between them, physical and otherwise, starts making Jack recall too many memories of his time with Ianto, both happy and unhappy ones. As soon as River and the Doctor are once more engaged in witty, flirty, at times, loving, banter with one another, Jack takes the opportunity to slip away for some time to himself. A few minutes later, the Doctor notices his absence.
Looking at his wife, he says, “River, would you keep an eye on things here? I’m going to find out where Jack’s gone.”
“Of course, Sweetie.” She replies with a smile.
“Thank you, Dear.” The Doctor says in return, smiling, then kissing her on the cheek. “I’ll be right back.”
“Alright.” River replies. Following that, the Doctor goes off to find Jack.
........................
Ten minutes later, he comes upon him standing and looking out the window in a dimly-lit room. Putting his left hand midway up on the doorframe and smiling slightly, the Doctor looks in and remarks, “I see the TARDIS led you to the observatory. Lovely view, isn’t it? The sight of all those stars and planets?”
Jack, now absent his coat, which is laid out haphazardly on a long, backless, wooden bench, turns around and answers with a brief smile, “Yeah, it is.” He glances down for a moment, then adds, “Sorry for disappearing like I did. I just needed to be alone for a little while.”
“Oh, I’m sorry!” the Doctor apologizes sincerely. “I’ll just come back a little later.” He begins turning away to return to the console room, but is stopped by the sound of Jack’s voice.
“No, it’s okay. I’d actually like you to stay.” After a pause, he says, “I’m… ready to talk now.” The Doctor immediately turns back around and comes inside the room.
Upon reaching Jack, the Doctor, clearly noticing the very faint shadow of stubble on his friend’s face for the first time since running into him, remarks gently, “You’re looking a tad rough.”
“Yeah, I know.” Jack replies, briefly running his left hand along the length of his cheeks and lower jaw. “The way I’ve been traveling- in a small ship without stopping anywhere for any length of time- doesn’t provide much opportunity to get the closest shave.”
“I’d imagine it doesn’t.” the Doctor agrees with a slight smile. After joining Jack at the window, he continues. “What is it you wanted to talk about?”
Jack, his hands in the pockets of his khaki slacks, leans his back against the pillar-like section of wall built next to his side of the window. After glancing down again, he asks, “Do you know about that incident a couple of years ago when this race of aliens called the 456 came to Earth and asked for ten percent of its children?”
“Yes.” The Doctor answers sadly. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there to help. I know I should have been, but I was… in a bad way at the time, and thought I would have only made the situation worse.”
Jack smiles with sad understanding and replies, “Interesting that you should say that.”
The Doctor, with a somewhat bewildered look on his face, asks, “Which part?”
“The apology.”
“Oh, right.” The Doctor replies, nodding slightly. “Why?”
“The first few months after it happened, I blamed you for the way it turned out.” Jack admits. “I don’t feel that way anymore, but it’s still nice to hear an apology- you haven’t offered many, at least not since I’ve known you.”
“I know.” The Doctor says, nodding penitently. “And that was wrong. Do you forgive me?” he asks, tentatively offering his hand to Jack.
“Yeah, I do.” He answers, shaking the Doctor’s hand with a smile.
“I’m glad.” He replies, smiling back at Jack gratefully. Following that, the Doctor inches away from the portion of wall he’d been standing against, and drapes his left arm over a medium length ledge directly underneath the window.
A serious tone to his voice and a slightly stern look on his face, the Doctor says, “But you’re delaying bringing up what you wanted to talk about.”
Jack looks down briefly and sighs, then replies, “I know. It’s just hard for me to talk about, you know?”
“I do.” The Doctor says understandingly, nodding briefly. “Let’s sit down.”
“Okay.” Jack sits down to the right of his coat and slightly before the Doctor does. The two men sit in silence for a short time, then the Doctor breaks it.
Looking at Jack, sitting to the left of him with his hands clasped and pressed against his chin, the Doctor asks gently, “Why did you leave Earth and start wandering the universe?”
Jack, who had been leaning somewhat forward, straightens his posture, lifts his head, and answers, “Guilt, Doctor, guilt that I couldn’t forget or ignore like I had in the past- guilt over what I had to do to stop the 456.”
“Which was?”
“I used my grandson to transmit a signal that would kill every individual alien in range, but I ended up killing him along with them.”
“Was that the only option left to you?”
“Yes. It was either that or let the 456 take ten percent of the world’s children.”
“Then you did what you had to do, and have nothing to feel guilty about.” The Doctor, briefly placing a hand on Jack’s right shoulder, tells him.
His voice quavering now, Jack replies, “What do you mean? Of course I do! He was a ten-year-old-boy, Doctor! And family, besides!” To keep from breaking down completely, Jack stands bolt upright, walks back to the window, and upon reaching it, turns his back.
After giving Jack a few moments, the Doctor gets up and walks to the window, where he waits quietly for Jack to continue. When he does, his voice has become steady again. “Did you ever have a family, Doctor?”
“Yes, a long, long time ago.”
“Then I’d think you’d understand why I feel this way, unless it’s been so long that you’ve forgotten what it’s like.”
“I haven’t forgotten, Jack, and I understand how you’re feeling more than you know.”
“So how can you say I don’t need to feel guilty about what I did?”
“When I told you and Martha what had happened to my people and my home planet, I left out one thing.” The Doctor pauses for a moment and looks out the window, after which he turns to Jack and says, “My people didn’t die in a final battle with the Daleks. They’re all dead because I killed them along with most of the Daleks.”
His eyes wide in shock, Jack asks, “Every single one? Even your family?”
“Yes, even them- every single other Time Lord except, as you know, the Master, whose death you actually witnessed.” The Doctor answers, giving a brief, sad nod. “Do you remember what name Davros bestowed on me just before we left in the TARDIS?”
“Yeah, uh, ‘Destroyer of Worlds.’ ” Jack answers, keenly aware, for the first time, how enormously powerful the Doctor is.
“Yes. What I did to defeat the Daleks and end the Time War? That’s one of the reasons he gave me that name.”
“Why did you take such drastic measures?”
“Because I believed it was the only choice I had, just like you did when you decided you could only defeat the 456 by using your grandson as a living radio transmitter.”
“So, how did you deal with your guilt over knowing you’d killed almost your entire race and destroyed your home planet? I’d really like to know, because it could help me out a whole lot.”
Shrugging slightly, the Doctor answers, “I just learned to bear it and make it part of me, while reminding myself that everything I did, I did because it was necessary.”
“That doesn’t help make me feel any better.” Jack answers with slight reproach as he leaves the window and sits back down.
The Doctor then sits down next to Jack and tentatively places his hand on his old friend’s right shoulder, causing him to look up. Seeing that Jack’s eyes are full of nothing but pain and sadness, the Doctor says gently, “Jack, you and I are the men who sometimes have to make the impossible choices when Earth or the universe is at stake. It’s a terrible burden to bear, but we have to do it, because we’re the only ones who can. Do you understand what I mean?”
“I do.” Jack answers, nodding. “But I don’t think I have anywhere near as much strength to do it as you do. I don’t think I ever did.”
“Yes you do. You showed that in the way you dealt with the 456. I’m sure the last thing you wanted to do was leave your grandson to a fate that would inevitably kill him, but you still did it. As for being able to bear the burden of guilt you have, that’s going to come with time, just like it did with me.”
“I hope so.”
“I know it will. Trust me, one day it will.” The Doctor reassures him. “Is that all that’s been upsetting you?” He asks, removing his hand from Jack’s shoulder.
“No, it isn’t.”
“I thought not.” The Doctor says, nodding. “What else?”
“Do you remember briefly talking to a Ianto Jones when we were trying to get in contact with each other after finding out the Daleks were holding Earth hostage?”
“Yes. The young Welsh fellow in the suit, right?”
“Yeah.” Jack answers, nodding.
“What about him?” the Doctor asks.
"He wasn’t just a member of my team. He was the first person in years I’d fallen in love with and wanted to have a real relationship with, too.”
“I thought you’d wanted to say something else when you told me having, I think the human phrase is, ‘one-night stands’, wasn’t enough for you anymore.” the Doctor replies. “What happened to him?”
Jack looks away and down for a moment. When he looks at the Doctor again, his eyes are glistening with tears. He takes a moment to allow his voice to come back, then says haltingly, “He…died after we went into Thames House to try to negotiate with the 456’s representative.”
His eyes brimming with sympathy, the Doctor replies, “Oh, Jack, I’m so sorry! How did it happen?”
“I didn’t take into account what they were capable of, and just barged in. The only thing all my talking did was make the 456 representative angry. It released a virus and killed everyone in the building just to make the point that there was nothing we or anyone else could do to keep them from getting what they wanted.”
“I’m so sorry you had to go through that- through all of it. I really should have been there.” the Doctor says ashamedly.
Smiling sadly, Jack replies, “Thanks. But it’s okay. It’s like Harriet Jones said- sometimes you just can’t be there.”
“Maybe. But I could at least try to.” the Doctor remarks with self-recrimination. Before Jack can give a response, he and the Doctor feel a gentle ‘Thump’ under their feet.
“Have we landed?” Jack wonders aloud.
“We may have. Let’s find out.” the Doctor says, standing up. He waits for Jack to put his coat back on, then the two men make their way back to the console room.
..........................
As they walk up the stairs to the console, the Doctor, slightly ahead of Jack, asks, “So, River, where are we?"
“I’m not quite sure.” She replies, moving aside a little to give him room to stand next to her on the platform. “Most of the readings say it’s safe to go out without some sort of protective clothing, though.”
“You said most of them?” the Doctor inquires. River nods. “Which readings are the most anomalous?”
“These.” River answers, pointing to the section of the screen showing radiation levels.
The Doctor steps closer to the screen, and after looking at it for a couple of minutes, says, “It’s gamma radiation. I think the levels are low enough that it’s still safe to be exposed to it, but let me check.” With that, the Doctor steps out the doors, the TARDIS closing them behind him. Moments later, he comes back inside. “All clear!” he announces gaily.
“For all three of us?” Jack asks.
“Yes. It’s safe for everything, even human beings.” the Doctor answers. “But before we go out, I have to give you something.” He adds, pushing a couple of buttons, reaching into a newly-opened drawer of some form, and taking out, then handing, Jack a medium-size firearm he vaguely recognizes.
A tone of mild surprise in his voice, Jack remarks, “You’re giving me a gun? I thought you didn’t like guns! Is your new tolerance for them another regeneration-caused personality change?”
“No, that hasn’t changed at all- I still hate them, but I let River have one. It’s only fair to let you, too. Besides, that one’s been here for awhile- you left it here the last time we traveled together.”
“I did?”
“Yes.”
Jack looks at the weapon more closely, and finally recognizes it completely. “Oh, I wondered what had happened to it.” He comments, putting it in the left pocket of his coat. “Thanks for holding on to it. I’m actually surprised you did!”
Smirking, the Doctor replies, “Of course I did. As much as I hate the blasted things, I wouldn’t get rid of one that belonged to a companion I knew would eventually travel with me again.”
Jack smiles at him, then says, “No, I guess you wouldn’t.”
The Doctor smiles back and pats him briefly on the shoulder, then in a serious tone, tells him and River, “Now remember, you two, no shooting first- none at all, if you can manage it. Understood?”
“You’ve got it, boss.” Jack replies with a nod.
“Isn’t that what I always do, Sweetie?” River says, smiling mischievously.
Smirking at her, the Doctor replies, “Don’t ‘Sweetie’ me- you know it isn’t. Now behave yourself, you bad girl.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“You’d better.” The Doctor tells her, smiling gamely.
Grinning in spite of himself, Jack remarks to River, “You’re quite the provocative lady, Doctor Song.”
“Yes, I suppose I am.” She replies, smiling impishly. “But that’s one of the reasons he married me- because he likes to be challenged. Isn’t that right, Sweetie?” she adds, looking over at the Doctor.
“Yes, I suppose I do.” He answers with an indulgent smile. “But enough standing around. Let’s go exploring, come on!” With that, the Doctor starts toward the doors, River and Jack close behind. After letting the trio out, the TARDIS closes and locks the doors again.
.......................
Looking around, the Doctor exclaims, “Look at this! It’s gorgeous, almost like a painting!”
“It is.” Jack agrees with a nod and a brief smile. “But why is it glowing? That’s freaking me out a little.”
“It’s the gamma radiation. The plants must absorb it during the day, and release it at night.” River says. “I think that’s why the radiation readings looked so strange. Is that right, Doctor?”
“Yes it is.” He answers, smiling approvingly.
“And you’re sure it’s safe to be exposed to it?” Jack asks.
“Yes, completely, as long as you don’t touch anything with your bare hands. That amount of exposure won’t affect me, but it will certainly affect you and River.”
“Okay, got it.” Jack replies understandingly, nodding.
“Anything else?” the Doctor asks, looking from Jack to River. Both answer in the negative, to which the Time Lord, smiling excitedly, responds, “Okay, then less dawdling and more walking, eh? Let’s go!” Following that, he turns around and starts walking, his two companions following right after.
Within a few feet, they find themselves walking along a rough-hewn trail lined on either side by a closely-crowded, virtually impenetrable forest of trees and medium-height shrubs, all of which have differently-hued blue-green leaves and dark muddy brown bark. As the members of the trio walk, they see, for the first time, the true intensity of the glow emanating from the plants. It is so bright that in the rare instances there is a break in the thick forest growth, all three are bathed from head to toe in bluish-green light. For ten minutes, they walk in relative quiet, letting the tranquility wash over them, then it is abruptly broken by the sound of an explosion in the distance. Immediately, all three start running in the direction it had come from, stumbling frequently the entire way, due to the wave of post-explosion tremors currently shaking the ground. After reaching the site of the explosion, half of which is ablaze, and half simply smoking, each member of the trio searches the area as best they can for any survivors.
His face half illuminated by the glow of the trees behind him, and half by that of the fire in front of him, the Doctor calls to Jack, who is nearest to him, “Did you see or find anyone?”
“Not a single person.” Jack, his face and the buttons of his coat lit up by the orange glow of the flames, replies, shaking his head.
“Then that can mean only one of two things- either we’re too late, or they all got away before the explosion happened.” The Doctor says in a slightly mournful tone.
“I hope it was the second possibility.” Jack replies unhappily.
“So do I, Jack. So do I.”
“Doctor! Captain Harkness! Over here, quickly!” River calls with urgency from a patch of forest just to the left of what appears to be the charred remains of a dwelling.
The two men jog quickly over. Once the Doctor reaches River and the fallen figure, he immediately gets down on his knees next to what turns out to be a young child, so he can better scan her with his sonic screwdriver.
“Is she still alive?” Jack asks worriedly, crouching down to the left of the Doctor.
“Yes, but we need to move her someplace better concealed than this before I can scan her thoroughly.” He answers.
“Are her injuries minor enough that we can do that safely?” River inquires.
The Doctor scans the child again with his sonic, then answers, “Yes. She’s unconscious and has a cut on her left leg, but it isn’t deep enough that she’ll bleed to death.”
“Alright. Where do we want to go from here?” River resumes. Jack and the Doctor, both once again on their feet, take a few moments to look around the surrounding area. It is Jack who ends up suggesting a spot.
Nodding toward a nearby area almost completely devoid of ground vegetation and ringed by a medium-sized grove of trees, he says, “That looks about right.”
The Doctor takes a quick look at the suggested spot, then, picking up the young girl after putting his sonic back in his pocket, he replies, “Yes, that’s perfect. Let’s go.” Waking at a brisk pace, the trio makes its way to the location Jack had picked out.
.........................
Following their arrival there, the Doctor looks around for a suitable, protected place to lay the child down. When he sees one, he walks carefully over. Crouching down, he gently sets her, back first, on the ground. After taking his sonic out of his pocket, he proceeds to scan the child more thoroughly and methodically, while Jack, standing at the girl’s head, and River, in front of her right side with her back to the Doctor, keep watch.
A couple of minutes in, River, turning slightly toward the Doctor, asks, “How far along in her scan are you?”
“Halfway done.” He answers. “Why?”
“I hear people coming, and they don’t sound very friendly.” His wife replies.
The Doctor pauses in his activity and listens, trying to determine what direction the group is coming from, and how far away they are. He then says, “We still have a few minutes before we need to run.”
“If you say so, Sweetie.” River replies with slight nervousness. Following her response, the Doctor returns to work.
A mere five minutes later, River, now sounding markedly concerned, and unbeknownst to the Doctor, ready to fire a shot as soon as any form of weapon comes their way, says with great intensity, “Hurry up, Sweetie, they’re getting closer!”
“I’m trying to, Dear.” the Doctor replies with some vexation. A minute later, he remarks, “There, done!” As he stands up, he adds, “Jack, would you…” He realizes there is no need to finish the sentence when he looks up and sees the former Time Agent already holding the child securely in his arms.
Hearing the footfalls of their potential antagonists coming closer by the minute, the Doctor says quickly and urgently, “Let’s get out of here!”
The trio quickly makes its way out of the grove and away from the burned-out dwelling, each member of the group doing his or her utmost not to make any noise.
....................
They get a safe distance away fifteen seconds before being discovered, and take a breather.
The Doctor walks over to Jack, and upon reaching him, asks, “How is she?”
“Still unconscious, just like River found her, but still breathing.” He answers.
“Good. And her leg?”
Jack carefully adjusts the child’s position in his arms so he can better see her leg, and after looking over it thoroughly, answers, “It looks like it’s stopped bleeding.”
“Also good.” The Doctor says with a relieved smile. “Are the two of you ready to start walking again?” he adds, looking from Jack to River. Both nod in response. “Okay, then let’s go before they catch up to us again. Come on.”
Jack takes a moment to gently return the little girl in his arms to the position she had been in immediately following their flight from the grove, then he falls in behind the Doctor and River, who has moved to the front in order to keep an eye on things.
.......................
The trio walks in relative calm, while still remaining vigilant, for ten minutes, after which they reach the TARDIS. Immediately, it unlocks and opens the doors to let them in, closing both when all three are inside.
“Where do you want me to take her?” Jack asks as he follows the Doctor and River a little ways up the stairway to the console platform.
“Medical bay.” the Doctor replies. “I’ll take you to it.” Before departing with Jack, the Doctor glances over at River and says, “We’ll be right back.”
“Alright.” She replies with a nod. Following that, the Doctor and Jack start off for the medical bay.
............................
They reach it after a short walk, and the Doctor, leaving the child with Jack, goes about making the gurney more comfortable for her.
As he looks around, Jack remarks, “It looks like this has hardly been used!”
“It hasn’t been, not for awhile. Most trips, there’s been medical help close by, or the person who’s injured is completely conscious.” the Doctor replies, looking away from the closet he is currently attempting to wrestle a mattress out of.
“I see.” Jack says, nodding.
Following that answer, the Doctor returns to struggling with the mattress. After a few more minutes of pushing and pulling it this way and that, he manages to get it out of the closet. “There!” the Doctor announces, smiling triumphantly. Looking across the way at Jack, he asks, “Jack, could you help me put this on the gurney?”
“Sure.” He replies. “Where would you like me to put her while we’re doing that?” he asks, nodding down at the little girl in his arms.
“There’s a chair to your left you can put her in.” the Doctor answers, nodding toward it.
“Okay. Will you hold her while I take off my coat?”
“Of course.” the Doctor says with a grandfatherly smile as he walks over.
“Thanks.” Jack replies, as he hands the child to the Time Lord. Jack then takes off his coat and lays it across the chair.
After taking his firearm out of the left pocket and setting it aside, he bunches just enough of his coat up to serve as a relatively comfortable makeshift pillow, while leaving a sufficient amount free to use as a temporary blanket. When he is finished, he takes the girl back from the Doctor and lays her gently in the chair, after which he covers her up with the rest of his coat.
Following that, he joins the Doctor at the opposite end of the room and proceeds to assist him with placing the mattress on the gurney. Once they have finished, Jack immediately returns to the chair and takes the child in his arms, then sits down and waits for the Doctor to finish fixing up her makeshift bed.
A few minutes later, Jack, who had nodded off, is awakened by the Doctor telling him, “It’s ready for her.”
“Hmmm…?” Jack replies somewhat sleepily.
Giving him another grandfatherly smile, the Doctor answers, “She has a bed of sorts to sleep in tonight.”
“Oh, right, okay.” Jack, now fully awake, says. “Hang on.” He adds as he uncovers her. The Doctor, still with the same smile on his face, simply nods in response. Once Jack has finished taking his coat off the child, he carries her over to the gurney.
As he lays her down and successively covers her up, he asks the Doctor, “Do you think she’ll be alright?”
The Time Lord looks down at the little girl (now clearly seen in the brightly-lit room) for a moment and gently brushes a lock of her dark brown hair off her forehead, after which he tells Jack with a reassuring smile, “Yes, she’s going to be fine. The TARDIS will take care of her during the night and heal any injuries we might have missed.”
“Okay.” Jack replies with a yawn.
The Doctor walks past the head of the gurney toward Jack, and upon reaching him, drapes his right arm around Jack’s left shoulder and says, “Now we need to take care of you. You’re clearly tired, and I imagine you haven’t eaten very much this evening, yes?”
“Yeah.” Jack responds with a brief nod.
“That’s what I thought. Come on.”
“Okay. I just need to put my coat and gun in my room.”
“Of course.” The Doctor replies, removing his arm from around Jack’s shoulder and putting his hands in the pockets of his slacks.
Jack quickly goes over to the chair and picks his coat up, then retrieves his pistol, which he had set down nearby. After putting it, barrel down, in the left pocket of his slacks, Jack once again joins the Doctor on the opposite end of the room, then the two men walk out.
.......................
They reach Jack’s room ten minutes later, then the Doctor waits for Jack to set his things down. Once he has done so, the two men head off to find the TARDIS’s dining area.
.......................
In the medical bay at around the same time, the child awakens from unconsciousness with a start and sits up. For a few moments, she looks around fearfully, not knowing where she is, and wondering if she has been taken captive by members of the rival clan that has been harassing her family and their neighbors for the last several months. Immediately, the TARDIS, in its way, reassures her that she is perfectly safe, and has not been taken prisoner. Comforted for the time being, the little girl lies back down, and lulled by the TARDIS, quickly falls asleep.
.........................
A couple of hours later, Jack returns to his room, sleepy but in mostly good spirits, along with a satisfying, proper meal in his stomach. As he walks slowly to his bed, he undoes his braces and unbuttons his shirt, finally removing both once he reaches it. He then picks both articles of clothing, along with his coat and gun, off the bed and puts each item in its proper place. Following that, he turns down his bed. Once he has finished, he sits down on the edge of it and finishes undressing. When he is done, he lies down, pulls the bedcovers over himself, and closes his eyes, while the TARDIS helpfully dims, then switches off, the lights. For the remainder of the night, Jack sleeps more soundly and deeply than he has in the past several months.
Author: jackdavfan692
Rating: PG-13
Fandoms: Doctor Who /Torchwood
Characters/Pairings: Eleven/River, Captain Jack, and young (Age 9) Lorna Bucket, with a few references to Jack/Ianto
Spoilers: New Who S1-S6 and all of Torchwood except “Miracle Day”.
Warnings: Just angst in this part, but that's all.
Disclaimer: Doctor Who is currently in the care of Steven Moffat, and Torchwood is owned by Russell T. Davies and the BBC.
Chapter 1
http://crossoverfic.livejournal.com/1545085.html
The TARDIS’s doors open almost immediately after the three of them, now in a line, come out of the bar. Just before crossing the threshold, Jack, at the rear of the line, hesitates, sensing, though he doesn’t know how or why, that something about the TARDIS is different- different enough that he might not be as readily accepted as a passenger.
Looking at the Doctor, he asks, “Are you sure I’ll be allowed to go inside?”
Walking over and putting his hands on Jack’s shoulders with a reassuring smile, the Doctor tells him, “Jack, she brought us here to get you, don’t you see?”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m certain of it.” the Doctor answers with a nod. “Come on, she’s waiting.” He puts his right arm around Jack’s left shoulder, and walks with him into the TARDIS. Once they are inside, the Doctor joins River at the console, after which he inconspicuously puts an arm around her waist and subtly pulls her closer to him.
Just slightly turning her head toward him and talking quietly in his ear, River says with a mischievous smile, “Trying to keep me close by so I don’t wander, Sweetie?”
Flashing a smile that exactly mirrors his wife’s, the Doctor answers, “Something like that, yeah."
”Still with the same smile, River replies, “Well aren’t you Mister Tough?”
“Oh, you bet I am.” The Doctor follows up his comment by giving her a quick kiss on the mouth, then the couple returns to just standing side by side.
Looking around as he walks away from the now closed doors and toward the Doctor and River, Jack remarks, “Huh, you redecorated.”
“Not so much redecorated as tore down and started from scratch.” the Doctor replies somewhat ashamedly. “All the energy released when I finally regenerated was too much for the old girl, so she had to rebuild herself completely.”
“Really? Wow!” Jack says, raising his eyebrows.
“Yeah. Anyway, do you like it?”
Nodding, Jack answers, “Yeah, I do. It’s nice and room-y. I kind of miss the arches, though.”
The Doctor smiles briefly at him, then says, “Me too.”
Jack covers the last couple of feet to the console, then leaning forward slightly and gingerly placing his hands on top of it so as not to accidentally activate something he shouldn’t, he asks, “So, where are we going?”
“Wherever the TARDIS senses we need to. Which means this trip could last for more than just this evening.” the Doctor answers with a smile. “You don’t need to be anywhere, do you?”
Giving the Doctor an amused smirk, Jack answers, “Did it look like I needed to be someplace anytime soon?”
Pleased to see a glimmer of the old Captain Jack Harkness, brief as it might turn out to be, the Doctor, chuckling, answers, “No, it didn’t. Did you come in a ship, a cruiser, something like that?”
“Yeah, it’s at a terminal not far from here. Why?”
“Because if this trip ends up lasting longer than the rest of the evening, you’ll need more than just what you’re wearing.”
“Right, of course.” Jack says, laughing slightly. “I’ll go get my things.” He adds, turning around and heading back toward the doors.
River and the Doctor glance at each other, and come to an unspoken agreement about whether to go with him. Looking from River to Jack, and starting to walk toward him, the Doctor calls, “Hold on, we’re coming with you.”
Jack stops about a foot from the doors, and turning around, replies, “You don’t have to. I’m coming right back.”
Shrugging, the Doctor says, “I know, but we thought a walk would be a good way to see more of this planet.” Looking back at River, in the process of coming down the stairs behind him, he adds, “Didn’t we, dear?”
“Yes, exactly.” She answers, smiling briefly.
Shrugging, Jack says, “Okay, but you aren’t gonna be able to see much during a fifteen minute walk, and there’s not a lot here anyway.”
“No?” the Doctor asks. Jack shakes his head. “Pity. Well, the walk’ll do us good, at least. After you, Jack.”
With that, the former Torchwood leader walks the rest of the length to the doors, the TARDIS opening them obligingly when he reaches them, and keeping them that way until the Doctor and River are outside. With one flash of his sonic screwdriver, the Doctor activates the TARDIS’s perception filter.
Following that, he turns back to Jack and inquires, “So, which way?”
“This way.” He answers, starting to walk in a westerly direction. The answer to the Doctor’s question now provided, he and River, walking side by side, follow after Jack in short order.
.......................
Following their arrival at the terminal, the Doctor asks him, “Which one is yours?”
“That one.” Jack answers, indicating the third of the six crafts currently in it with a nod of his head.
“It’s beautiful.” The Doctor remarks, smiling.
“Isn’t it?” Jack replies with a brief smile. “Reliable, too.”
“I’d think it would need to be, with all the traveling I’m guessing you’ve been doing.”
“Yeah.” Jack agrees, glancing down with a slight smile and nodding. “I’ll be right back.”
“Alright.” The Doctor says, giving a brief nod. With that, Jack walks off toward his ship.
Once Jack is well out of earshot, the Doctor turns to River, standing beside him, and tells her, “I’m sorry about this, River. I know these dates are supposed to be just for the two of us, but I couldn’t leave him there, not after the way I’ve treated him and everything he’s been through.”
Slipping her hand into the Doctor’s, River, smiling lovingly at him, replies, “It’s fine, dear. The TARDIS believes Captain Harkness needs your help- that’s more than enough of a reason to satisfy me. Besides, it’s what you do- you help people. And I wouldn’t want you to be any other way.” Following those final words of reassurance, River kisses the Doctor on the cheek.
Giving her an awkward, shy smile, he replies, “Stop it, you’re embarrassing me!” His wife simply smiles back and gives him another kiss on the cheek.
After ten minutes, Jack, with a moderately large travel bag slung over his left shoulder, emerges from his ship. He stops and talks to the terminal’s overseer for a couple of minutes, then walks back to where the Doctor and River are standing.
When Jack reaches them, the Doctor asks, “All packed?”
“Yeah.” Jack answers with a nod.
“Alright, good.” the Doctor replies. “Will your ship be safe here?”
“Yeah, I told the overseer to put it in a secure storage area if I’m not back in the next few days.”
“Then let’s get back to the TARDIS.” Jack nods in agreement, and the trio, its members now walking side by side, makes its way out of the terminal.
......................
Once again inside the TARDIS, River, her temporarily forgotten bag again in hand, looks back at the Doctor and informs him, “I’m going to put this in our room, okay, Sweetie?”
“Alright, Dear.” He replies with an easygoing smile, not noticing that Jack, standing behind him, once more has an incredulous look on his face. When the Doctor turns around, the look is gone, and River has disappeared into a corridor at the top of one of the various stairways jutting off from the console platform.
Slightly adjusting the position of his bag, Jack asks, “Should I hang onto this until we’ve figured out sleeping arrangements?”
“No, not necessary. The TARDIS has probably made a room for you already.” Looking toward the console, the Doctor says with a smile, “Haven’t you, girl?” As if in response, one of the monitors equipped to the console switches on, its screen showing a schematic of the residential part of the TARDIS.
Turning back around, his smile now a wide grin, the Doctor exclaims, “See, what did I tell you? Let’s take a look and find out where she’s put you.” Without a further word, he turns away and starts up the main stairway to the console, Jack following behind dutifully.
As they walk, he remarks, “I couldn’t help noticing you keep referring to the TARDIS as ‘She’. Any particular reason why?”
Looking back at him as they reach the console, the Doctor answers matter-of-factly, “How else would I refer to her? She is alive, after all.”
“It is?” Jack replies in a surprised voice. The Doctor nods in response. “I had no idea.”
“You didn’t?” Jack shakes his head. “I thought I’d told you she was.”
“Nope. This is the first I’ve heard of it.” Jack replies.
“Strange. I was sure I’d explained that to you before.” The Doctor muses. “Oh well, you know it now.” He adds, smiling briefly. “Anyway, your room.” The Doctor turns his attention to the screen in front of them, and after a few seconds, announces, “Ah, here it is.”
Jack, slightly behind the Doctor when they had stopped walking, now comes up next to him and asks, “Where?”
“Right there.” The Doctor answers with a smile, pointing to a flashing light blue dot in the lower middle of the screen.
After looking at it for himself and thanking the Doctor for showing him the location, Jack, turning around and surveying the stairways and accompanying corridors around the two of them, asks, “So, which one leads to my room?”
The Doctor joins him at the railing, and after looking around for a few seconds, nods toward the one directly across from them and the console, saying, “That one will.”
“Okay, thanks.” Jack replies with a brief smile. “I’ll be right back.”
“Alright.” the Doctor says in return, smiling briefly. Following that, Jack continues heading in the direction of the stairway and corridor the Doctor had pointed out to him.
A few minutes after Jack’s departure, River returns. Noticing he is no longer there, River asks the Doctor, still standing at the railing, “Where’s Captain Harkness?”
“He went to find his room.”
River smiles at the TARDIS’s gesture of forethought, then says, “So she’s made one for him already?”
“Yes.” The Doctor answers, nodding. “She probably did it while we were with him at the terminal.”
“She must have.” River agrees, nodding briefly. Catching a glimpse of the somewhat melancholy look on her husband’s face, she asks him, “What’s the matter, Sweetie?”
“Jack seems like a completely different man to me. I knew he’d been affected by everything he’d been through, but I never realized just how much until now. It’s as if he’s been…broken beyond repair.” The Doctor answers sadly, turning and looking at River.
She joins him at the railing, and after gently taking his arm in an effort to get him to turn around fully and face her, River says, “He might be, but certainly not beyond repair. In fact, I think he’s starting to heal already. I don’t know what he was like before experiencing so much recent heartache, but his mood seemed to get a little better once we were in here.”
“Really, you think so?” the Doctor, now facing River, replies in a slightly hopeful voice.
Smiling at him, River says in return, “Yes. And I think wherever the TARDIS decides to take us will help even more.”
“I hope so.” The Doctor, his hands now holding River’s, rather than stuffed in the pockets of his slacks, replies in a melancholy tone.
“I know it will.” She reassures him. “Why don’t we walk around for awhile?”
“Alright.” Her husband answers, finally smiling. The couple, hand in hand, then heads for the group of corridors to the right of the console platform.
.........................
At the same time, Jack is surveying his room, having been led to it fifteen minutes earlier by the TARDIS. As Jack looks around, it occurs to him that the room is larger, cozier, and more well furnished than the one he had while traveling with the first incarnation of the Doctor he had met- the Ninth one.
Looking up, as he had seen the Doctor do earlier, Jack remarks, “I guess you were expecting me.”
To his astonishment, a female voice he can only conclude is the TARDIS says telepathically, “Of course I was. That’s the reason I brought them here- to find you and bring you back with them.”
“But…, I thought you were horrified by me! That’s what the Doctor told me the last time we traveled together.”
“You silly, impossible man.” The TARDIS resumes. Jack can almost picture a humanoid female form of her shaking her head and rolling her eyes. “I made you what you now are. To reject you for that is akin to rejecting my own child.”
“So you’ve never hated or been disgusted by me?” Jack asks with extreme surprise.
“Never. I’ve always loved you, Jack Harkness, just as much as I've loved any of the others who have traveled with my dear Doctor.”
Jack is nearly brought to tears by the sheer joy of being told he is loved, despite everything he has done during his multiple-centuries long life, but as before, he makes himself bring the emotion under control. Sitting down shakily on the left side of the sheet-less metal-frame bed, he says, “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Following that final telepathic message, Jack senses the departure of the connection.
He sits there in stunned silence for ten full minutes, trying to come to terms with the enormity of what had just happened, and why it had. Once he has recovered, he sets to work making the room his own, beginning with the bed, on which he puts sheets, a blanket, and a plain comforter. After that is done, he moves on to unpacking his bag.
..........................
When he returns to the console room an hour and a half later, the Doctor and River have returned from their stroll around the TARDIS.
Smiling at Jack in a cautiously bright manner, the Doctor asks, “All settled in? Happy with your room?”
“Yes to both.” Jack answers with the most cheerful smile he had mustered thus far. “She’s a very good interior designer, your TARDIS.” He adds, covering the rest of the distance between the Doctor, River, and himself.
“Good! And she thanks you for the compliment.” The Doctor replies, both pleased and surprised by his old friend’s sudden change in mood. After a moment’s pause, he says with a smile, “Well, let’s get on our way.”
“Sounds good to me.” Jack, leaning against a segment of the railing just to the right and across from the Doctor, remarks, still smiling cheerfully.
With that, the Doctor looks up and says, "Okay, girl, take us wherever we need to go.”
Immediately, the relevant knobs, buttons, switches and levers activate and move, sending the TARDIS, following its customary vanishing act, back into the sky. During the flight, the trio engages in friendly conversation, most of it consisting of catching up between Jack and the Doctor, sharing of relevant, not-secret personal information between River and Jack, and general small talk.
The first half of the trip, Jack is mostly upbeat and feels comfortable around River and the Doctor, despite the knowledge that they are a married couple. Eventually, however, the frequency of intimate, loving exchanges between them, physical and otherwise, starts making Jack recall too many memories of his time with Ianto, both happy and unhappy ones. As soon as River and the Doctor are once more engaged in witty, flirty, at times, loving, banter with one another, Jack takes the opportunity to slip away for some time to himself. A few minutes later, the Doctor notices his absence.
Looking at his wife, he says, “River, would you keep an eye on things here? I’m going to find out where Jack’s gone.”
“Of course, Sweetie.” She replies with a smile.
“Thank you, Dear.” The Doctor says in return, smiling, then kissing her on the cheek. “I’ll be right back.”
“Alright.” River replies. Following that, the Doctor goes off to find Jack.
........................
Ten minutes later, he comes upon him standing and looking out the window in a dimly-lit room. Putting his left hand midway up on the doorframe and smiling slightly, the Doctor looks in and remarks, “I see the TARDIS led you to the observatory. Lovely view, isn’t it? The sight of all those stars and planets?”
Jack, now absent his coat, which is laid out haphazardly on a long, backless, wooden bench, turns around and answers with a brief smile, “Yeah, it is.” He glances down for a moment, then adds, “Sorry for disappearing like I did. I just needed to be alone for a little while.”
“Oh, I’m sorry!” the Doctor apologizes sincerely. “I’ll just come back a little later.” He begins turning away to return to the console room, but is stopped by the sound of Jack’s voice.
“No, it’s okay. I’d actually like you to stay.” After a pause, he says, “I’m… ready to talk now.” The Doctor immediately turns back around and comes inside the room.
Upon reaching Jack, the Doctor, clearly noticing the very faint shadow of stubble on his friend’s face for the first time since running into him, remarks gently, “You’re looking a tad rough.”
“Yeah, I know.” Jack replies, briefly running his left hand along the length of his cheeks and lower jaw. “The way I’ve been traveling- in a small ship without stopping anywhere for any length of time- doesn’t provide much opportunity to get the closest shave.”
“I’d imagine it doesn’t.” the Doctor agrees with a slight smile. After joining Jack at the window, he continues. “What is it you wanted to talk about?”
Jack, his hands in the pockets of his khaki slacks, leans his back against the pillar-like section of wall built next to his side of the window. After glancing down again, he asks, “Do you know about that incident a couple of years ago when this race of aliens called the 456 came to Earth and asked for ten percent of its children?”
“Yes.” The Doctor answers sadly. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there to help. I know I should have been, but I was… in a bad way at the time, and thought I would have only made the situation worse.”
Jack smiles with sad understanding and replies, “Interesting that you should say that.”
The Doctor, with a somewhat bewildered look on his face, asks, “Which part?”
“The apology.”
“Oh, right.” The Doctor replies, nodding slightly. “Why?”
“The first few months after it happened, I blamed you for the way it turned out.” Jack admits. “I don’t feel that way anymore, but it’s still nice to hear an apology- you haven’t offered many, at least not since I’ve known you.”
“I know.” The Doctor says, nodding penitently. “And that was wrong. Do you forgive me?” he asks, tentatively offering his hand to Jack.
“Yeah, I do.” He answers, shaking the Doctor’s hand with a smile.
“I’m glad.” He replies, smiling back at Jack gratefully. Following that, the Doctor inches away from the portion of wall he’d been standing against, and drapes his left arm over a medium length ledge directly underneath the window.
A serious tone to his voice and a slightly stern look on his face, the Doctor says, “But you’re delaying bringing up what you wanted to talk about.”
Jack looks down briefly and sighs, then replies, “I know. It’s just hard for me to talk about, you know?”
“I do.” The Doctor says understandingly, nodding briefly. “Let’s sit down.”
“Okay.” Jack sits down to the right of his coat and slightly before the Doctor does. The two men sit in silence for a short time, then the Doctor breaks it.
Looking at Jack, sitting to the left of him with his hands clasped and pressed against his chin, the Doctor asks gently, “Why did you leave Earth and start wandering the universe?”
Jack, who had been leaning somewhat forward, straightens his posture, lifts his head, and answers, “Guilt, Doctor, guilt that I couldn’t forget or ignore like I had in the past- guilt over what I had to do to stop the 456.”
“Which was?”
“I used my grandson to transmit a signal that would kill every individual alien in range, but I ended up killing him along with them.”
“Was that the only option left to you?”
“Yes. It was either that or let the 456 take ten percent of the world’s children.”
“Then you did what you had to do, and have nothing to feel guilty about.” The Doctor, briefly placing a hand on Jack’s right shoulder, tells him.
His voice quavering now, Jack replies, “What do you mean? Of course I do! He was a ten-year-old-boy, Doctor! And family, besides!” To keep from breaking down completely, Jack stands bolt upright, walks back to the window, and upon reaching it, turns his back.
After giving Jack a few moments, the Doctor gets up and walks to the window, where he waits quietly for Jack to continue. When he does, his voice has become steady again. “Did you ever have a family, Doctor?”
“Yes, a long, long time ago.”
“Then I’d think you’d understand why I feel this way, unless it’s been so long that you’ve forgotten what it’s like.”
“I haven’t forgotten, Jack, and I understand how you’re feeling more than you know.”
“So how can you say I don’t need to feel guilty about what I did?”
“When I told you and Martha what had happened to my people and my home planet, I left out one thing.” The Doctor pauses for a moment and looks out the window, after which he turns to Jack and says, “My people didn’t die in a final battle with the Daleks. They’re all dead because I killed them along with most of the Daleks.”
His eyes wide in shock, Jack asks, “Every single one? Even your family?”
“Yes, even them- every single other Time Lord except, as you know, the Master, whose death you actually witnessed.” The Doctor answers, giving a brief, sad nod. “Do you remember what name Davros bestowed on me just before we left in the TARDIS?”
“Yeah, uh, ‘Destroyer of Worlds.’ ” Jack answers, keenly aware, for the first time, how enormously powerful the Doctor is.
“Yes. What I did to defeat the Daleks and end the Time War? That’s one of the reasons he gave me that name.”
“Why did you take such drastic measures?”
“Because I believed it was the only choice I had, just like you did when you decided you could only defeat the 456 by using your grandson as a living radio transmitter.”
“So, how did you deal with your guilt over knowing you’d killed almost your entire race and destroyed your home planet? I’d really like to know, because it could help me out a whole lot.”
Shrugging slightly, the Doctor answers, “I just learned to bear it and make it part of me, while reminding myself that everything I did, I did because it was necessary.”
“That doesn’t help make me feel any better.” Jack answers with slight reproach as he leaves the window and sits back down.
The Doctor then sits down next to Jack and tentatively places his hand on his old friend’s right shoulder, causing him to look up. Seeing that Jack’s eyes are full of nothing but pain and sadness, the Doctor says gently, “Jack, you and I are the men who sometimes have to make the impossible choices when Earth or the universe is at stake. It’s a terrible burden to bear, but we have to do it, because we’re the only ones who can. Do you understand what I mean?”
“I do.” Jack answers, nodding. “But I don’t think I have anywhere near as much strength to do it as you do. I don’t think I ever did.”
“Yes you do. You showed that in the way you dealt with the 456. I’m sure the last thing you wanted to do was leave your grandson to a fate that would inevitably kill him, but you still did it. As for being able to bear the burden of guilt you have, that’s going to come with time, just like it did with me.”
“I hope so.”
“I know it will. Trust me, one day it will.” The Doctor reassures him. “Is that all that’s been upsetting you?” He asks, removing his hand from Jack’s shoulder.
“No, it isn’t.”
“I thought not.” The Doctor says, nodding. “What else?”
“Do you remember briefly talking to a Ianto Jones when we were trying to get in contact with each other after finding out the Daleks were holding Earth hostage?”
“Yes. The young Welsh fellow in the suit, right?”
“Yeah.” Jack answers, nodding.
“What about him?” the Doctor asks.
"He wasn’t just a member of my team. He was the first person in years I’d fallen in love with and wanted to have a real relationship with, too.”
“I thought you’d wanted to say something else when you told me having, I think the human phrase is, ‘one-night stands’, wasn’t enough for you anymore.” the Doctor replies. “What happened to him?”
Jack looks away and down for a moment. When he looks at the Doctor again, his eyes are glistening with tears. He takes a moment to allow his voice to come back, then says haltingly, “He…died after we went into Thames House to try to negotiate with the 456’s representative.”
His eyes brimming with sympathy, the Doctor replies, “Oh, Jack, I’m so sorry! How did it happen?”
“I didn’t take into account what they were capable of, and just barged in. The only thing all my talking did was make the 456 representative angry. It released a virus and killed everyone in the building just to make the point that there was nothing we or anyone else could do to keep them from getting what they wanted.”
“I’m so sorry you had to go through that- through all of it. I really should have been there.” the Doctor says ashamedly.
Smiling sadly, Jack replies, “Thanks. But it’s okay. It’s like Harriet Jones said- sometimes you just can’t be there.”
“Maybe. But I could at least try to.” the Doctor remarks with self-recrimination. Before Jack can give a response, he and the Doctor feel a gentle ‘Thump’ under their feet.
“Have we landed?” Jack wonders aloud.
“We may have. Let’s find out.” the Doctor says, standing up. He waits for Jack to put his coat back on, then the two men make their way back to the console room.
..........................
As they walk up the stairs to the console, the Doctor, slightly ahead of Jack, asks, “So, River, where are we?"
“I’m not quite sure.” She replies, moving aside a little to give him room to stand next to her on the platform. “Most of the readings say it’s safe to go out without some sort of protective clothing, though.”
“You said most of them?” the Doctor inquires. River nods. “Which readings are the most anomalous?”
“These.” River answers, pointing to the section of the screen showing radiation levels.
The Doctor steps closer to the screen, and after looking at it for a couple of minutes, says, “It’s gamma radiation. I think the levels are low enough that it’s still safe to be exposed to it, but let me check.” With that, the Doctor steps out the doors, the TARDIS closing them behind him. Moments later, he comes back inside. “All clear!” he announces gaily.
“For all three of us?” Jack asks.
“Yes. It’s safe for everything, even human beings.” the Doctor answers. “But before we go out, I have to give you something.” He adds, pushing a couple of buttons, reaching into a newly-opened drawer of some form, and taking out, then handing, Jack a medium-size firearm he vaguely recognizes.
A tone of mild surprise in his voice, Jack remarks, “You’re giving me a gun? I thought you didn’t like guns! Is your new tolerance for them another regeneration-caused personality change?”
“No, that hasn’t changed at all- I still hate them, but I let River have one. It’s only fair to let you, too. Besides, that one’s been here for awhile- you left it here the last time we traveled together.”
“I did?”
“Yes.”
Jack looks at the weapon more closely, and finally recognizes it completely. “Oh, I wondered what had happened to it.” He comments, putting it in the left pocket of his coat. “Thanks for holding on to it. I’m actually surprised you did!”
Smirking, the Doctor replies, “Of course I did. As much as I hate the blasted things, I wouldn’t get rid of one that belonged to a companion I knew would eventually travel with me again.”
Jack smiles at him, then says, “No, I guess you wouldn’t.”
The Doctor smiles back and pats him briefly on the shoulder, then in a serious tone, tells him and River, “Now remember, you two, no shooting first- none at all, if you can manage it. Understood?”
“You’ve got it, boss.” Jack replies with a nod.
“Isn’t that what I always do, Sweetie?” River says, smiling mischievously.
Smirking at her, the Doctor replies, “Don’t ‘Sweetie’ me- you know it isn’t. Now behave yourself, you bad girl.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“You’d better.” The Doctor tells her, smiling gamely.
Grinning in spite of himself, Jack remarks to River, “You’re quite the provocative lady, Doctor Song.”
“Yes, I suppose I am.” She replies, smiling impishly. “But that’s one of the reasons he married me- because he likes to be challenged. Isn’t that right, Sweetie?” she adds, looking over at the Doctor.
“Yes, I suppose I do.” He answers with an indulgent smile. “But enough standing around. Let’s go exploring, come on!” With that, the Doctor starts toward the doors, River and Jack close behind. After letting the trio out, the TARDIS closes and locks the doors again.
.......................
Looking around, the Doctor exclaims, “Look at this! It’s gorgeous, almost like a painting!”
“It is.” Jack agrees with a nod and a brief smile. “But why is it glowing? That’s freaking me out a little.”
“It’s the gamma radiation. The plants must absorb it during the day, and release it at night.” River says. “I think that’s why the radiation readings looked so strange. Is that right, Doctor?”
“Yes it is.” He answers, smiling approvingly.
“And you’re sure it’s safe to be exposed to it?” Jack asks.
“Yes, completely, as long as you don’t touch anything with your bare hands. That amount of exposure won’t affect me, but it will certainly affect you and River.”
“Okay, got it.” Jack replies understandingly, nodding.
“Anything else?” the Doctor asks, looking from Jack to River. Both answer in the negative, to which the Time Lord, smiling excitedly, responds, “Okay, then less dawdling and more walking, eh? Let’s go!” Following that, he turns around and starts walking, his two companions following right after.
Within a few feet, they find themselves walking along a rough-hewn trail lined on either side by a closely-crowded, virtually impenetrable forest of trees and medium-height shrubs, all of which have differently-hued blue-green leaves and dark muddy brown bark. As the members of the trio walk, they see, for the first time, the true intensity of the glow emanating from the plants. It is so bright that in the rare instances there is a break in the thick forest growth, all three are bathed from head to toe in bluish-green light. For ten minutes, they walk in relative quiet, letting the tranquility wash over them, then it is abruptly broken by the sound of an explosion in the distance. Immediately, all three start running in the direction it had come from, stumbling frequently the entire way, due to the wave of post-explosion tremors currently shaking the ground. After reaching the site of the explosion, half of which is ablaze, and half simply smoking, each member of the trio searches the area as best they can for any survivors.
His face half illuminated by the glow of the trees behind him, and half by that of the fire in front of him, the Doctor calls to Jack, who is nearest to him, “Did you see or find anyone?”
“Not a single person.” Jack, his face and the buttons of his coat lit up by the orange glow of the flames, replies, shaking his head.
“Then that can mean only one of two things- either we’re too late, or they all got away before the explosion happened.” The Doctor says in a slightly mournful tone.
“I hope it was the second possibility.” Jack replies unhappily.
“So do I, Jack. So do I.”
“Doctor! Captain Harkness! Over here, quickly!” River calls with urgency from a patch of forest just to the left of what appears to be the charred remains of a dwelling.
The two men jog quickly over. Once the Doctor reaches River and the fallen figure, he immediately gets down on his knees next to what turns out to be a young child, so he can better scan her with his sonic screwdriver.
“Is she still alive?” Jack asks worriedly, crouching down to the left of the Doctor.
“Yes, but we need to move her someplace better concealed than this before I can scan her thoroughly.” He answers.
“Are her injuries minor enough that we can do that safely?” River inquires.
The Doctor scans the child again with his sonic, then answers, “Yes. She’s unconscious and has a cut on her left leg, but it isn’t deep enough that she’ll bleed to death.”
“Alright. Where do we want to go from here?” River resumes. Jack and the Doctor, both once again on their feet, take a few moments to look around the surrounding area. It is Jack who ends up suggesting a spot.
Nodding toward a nearby area almost completely devoid of ground vegetation and ringed by a medium-sized grove of trees, he says, “That looks about right.”
The Doctor takes a quick look at the suggested spot, then, picking up the young girl after putting his sonic back in his pocket, he replies, “Yes, that’s perfect. Let’s go.” Waking at a brisk pace, the trio makes its way to the location Jack had picked out.
.........................
Following their arrival there, the Doctor looks around for a suitable, protected place to lay the child down. When he sees one, he walks carefully over. Crouching down, he gently sets her, back first, on the ground. After taking his sonic out of his pocket, he proceeds to scan the child more thoroughly and methodically, while Jack, standing at the girl’s head, and River, in front of her right side with her back to the Doctor, keep watch.
A couple of minutes in, River, turning slightly toward the Doctor, asks, “How far along in her scan are you?”
“Halfway done.” He answers. “Why?”
“I hear people coming, and they don’t sound very friendly.” His wife replies.
The Doctor pauses in his activity and listens, trying to determine what direction the group is coming from, and how far away they are. He then says, “We still have a few minutes before we need to run.”
“If you say so, Sweetie.” River replies with slight nervousness. Following her response, the Doctor returns to work.
A mere five minutes later, River, now sounding markedly concerned, and unbeknownst to the Doctor, ready to fire a shot as soon as any form of weapon comes their way, says with great intensity, “Hurry up, Sweetie, they’re getting closer!”
“I’m trying to, Dear.” the Doctor replies with some vexation. A minute later, he remarks, “There, done!” As he stands up, he adds, “Jack, would you…” He realizes there is no need to finish the sentence when he looks up and sees the former Time Agent already holding the child securely in his arms.
Hearing the footfalls of their potential antagonists coming closer by the minute, the Doctor says quickly and urgently, “Let’s get out of here!”
The trio quickly makes its way out of the grove and away from the burned-out dwelling, each member of the group doing his or her utmost not to make any noise.
....................
They get a safe distance away fifteen seconds before being discovered, and take a breather.
The Doctor walks over to Jack, and upon reaching him, asks, “How is she?”
“Still unconscious, just like River found her, but still breathing.” He answers.
“Good. And her leg?”
Jack carefully adjusts the child’s position in his arms so he can better see her leg, and after looking over it thoroughly, answers, “It looks like it’s stopped bleeding.”
“Also good.” The Doctor says with a relieved smile. “Are the two of you ready to start walking again?” he adds, looking from Jack to River. Both nod in response. “Okay, then let’s go before they catch up to us again. Come on.”
Jack takes a moment to gently return the little girl in his arms to the position she had been in immediately following their flight from the grove, then he falls in behind the Doctor and River, who has moved to the front in order to keep an eye on things.
.......................
The trio walks in relative calm, while still remaining vigilant, for ten minutes, after which they reach the TARDIS. Immediately, it unlocks and opens the doors to let them in, closing both when all three are inside.
“Where do you want me to take her?” Jack asks as he follows the Doctor and River a little ways up the stairway to the console platform.
“Medical bay.” the Doctor replies. “I’ll take you to it.” Before departing with Jack, the Doctor glances over at River and says, “We’ll be right back.”
“Alright.” She replies with a nod. Following that, the Doctor and Jack start off for the medical bay.
............................
They reach it after a short walk, and the Doctor, leaving the child with Jack, goes about making the gurney more comfortable for her.
As he looks around, Jack remarks, “It looks like this has hardly been used!”
“It hasn’t been, not for awhile. Most trips, there’s been medical help close by, or the person who’s injured is completely conscious.” the Doctor replies, looking away from the closet he is currently attempting to wrestle a mattress out of.
“I see.” Jack says, nodding.
Following that answer, the Doctor returns to struggling with the mattress. After a few more minutes of pushing and pulling it this way and that, he manages to get it out of the closet. “There!” the Doctor announces, smiling triumphantly. Looking across the way at Jack, he asks, “Jack, could you help me put this on the gurney?”
“Sure.” He replies. “Where would you like me to put her while we’re doing that?” he asks, nodding down at the little girl in his arms.
“There’s a chair to your left you can put her in.” the Doctor answers, nodding toward it.
“Okay. Will you hold her while I take off my coat?”
“Of course.” the Doctor says with a grandfatherly smile as he walks over.
“Thanks.” Jack replies, as he hands the child to the Time Lord. Jack then takes off his coat and lays it across the chair.
After taking his firearm out of the left pocket and setting it aside, he bunches just enough of his coat up to serve as a relatively comfortable makeshift pillow, while leaving a sufficient amount free to use as a temporary blanket. When he is finished, he takes the girl back from the Doctor and lays her gently in the chair, after which he covers her up with the rest of his coat.
Following that, he joins the Doctor at the opposite end of the room and proceeds to assist him with placing the mattress on the gurney. Once they have finished, Jack immediately returns to the chair and takes the child in his arms, then sits down and waits for the Doctor to finish fixing up her makeshift bed.
A few minutes later, Jack, who had nodded off, is awakened by the Doctor telling him, “It’s ready for her.”
“Hmmm…?” Jack replies somewhat sleepily.
Giving him another grandfatherly smile, the Doctor answers, “She has a bed of sorts to sleep in tonight.”
“Oh, right, okay.” Jack, now fully awake, says. “Hang on.” He adds as he uncovers her. The Doctor, still with the same smile on his face, simply nods in response. Once Jack has finished taking his coat off the child, he carries her over to the gurney.
As he lays her down and successively covers her up, he asks the Doctor, “Do you think she’ll be alright?”
The Time Lord looks down at the little girl (now clearly seen in the brightly-lit room) for a moment and gently brushes a lock of her dark brown hair off her forehead, after which he tells Jack with a reassuring smile, “Yes, she’s going to be fine. The TARDIS will take care of her during the night and heal any injuries we might have missed.”
“Okay.” Jack replies with a yawn.
The Doctor walks past the head of the gurney toward Jack, and upon reaching him, drapes his right arm around Jack’s left shoulder and says, “Now we need to take care of you. You’re clearly tired, and I imagine you haven’t eaten very much this evening, yes?”
“Yeah.” Jack responds with a brief nod.
“That’s what I thought. Come on.”
“Okay. I just need to put my coat and gun in my room.”
“Of course.” The Doctor replies, removing his arm from around Jack’s shoulder and putting his hands in the pockets of his slacks.
Jack quickly goes over to the chair and picks his coat up, then retrieves his pistol, which he had set down nearby. After putting it, barrel down, in the left pocket of his slacks, Jack once again joins the Doctor on the opposite end of the room, then the two men walk out.
.......................
They reach Jack’s room ten minutes later, then the Doctor waits for Jack to set his things down. Once he has done so, the two men head off to find the TARDIS’s dining area.
.......................
In the medical bay at around the same time, the child awakens from unconsciousness with a start and sits up. For a few moments, she looks around fearfully, not knowing where she is, and wondering if she has been taken captive by members of the rival clan that has been harassing her family and their neighbors for the last several months. Immediately, the TARDIS, in its way, reassures her that she is perfectly safe, and has not been taken prisoner. Comforted for the time being, the little girl lies back down, and lulled by the TARDIS, quickly falls asleep.
.........................
A couple of hours later, Jack returns to his room, sleepy but in mostly good spirits, along with a satisfying, proper meal in his stomach. As he walks slowly to his bed, he undoes his braces and unbuttons his shirt, finally removing both once he reaches it. He then picks both articles of clothing, along with his coat and gun, off the bed and puts each item in its proper place. Following that, he turns down his bed. Once he has finished, he sits down on the edge of it and finishes undressing. When he is done, he lies down, pulls the bedcovers over himself, and closes his eyes, while the TARDIS helpfully dims, then switches off, the lights. For the remainder of the night, Jack sleeps more soundly and deeply than he has in the past several months.