Infinite Haystacks (4/?)
Here's the newest chapter of Infinite Haystacks! It's the one that actually explains the the title (I'm sure some of you were wondering). It's getting a bit out of hand, running on longer than I initially meant for it to, but in a good way! In a way that involves more Jack, and there's no such thing as too much Jack!
Title: Infinite Haystacks (4/?)
Author: cehlainz
Pairing: Rose/TenII
Rating: M
Spoilers/warnings: Post JE
Characters: Eleven, Jack Harkness
Word count: 1,057
Disclaimer: I own nothing. The characters and names all belong to their respective parties. Purely written for fun and personal entertainment.
Summary: There are some people the Doctor doesn't expect to see again. Rose Tyler, Jack Harkness, the Meta-crisis clone of himself, to name a few. He expected them all to go on living their brilliant lives without him. He never thought he'd be called on when one of them goes missing.
A/N: A tame one. No worries here.
James hadn’t been able to give the Doctor much to go on. Yes, he’d answered, she looked the same. Her hair a little darker, maybe, but still Rose. She hadn’t aged much. It’d only been a year or so since he’d left them (one year, forty-three days, eleven hours, thirty-three minutes and fifty-eight seconds, according to the meta-crisis Doctor... James), despite it having been centuries for him. He didn’t know where or when she could be, what she’d be doing, or even if she’d remember who she was.
The Doctor sat in the jump seat and tried not to panic. He was looking for a needle in a haystack. In an infinite number of haystacks, some that hadn’t even been grown and harvested yet. And that needle was Rose Tyler. And once he found her? Both men had studiously avoided the question. How was he to even get her back to the other universe? Would she want to go? Would she rather be with the Doctor as he was now, so old with a young man’s face, or with the man she knew, with the face she had designed? And, most importantly, would he be able to let her go, if that was what she wanted? And how, how had she been taken from her bed in her universe in the first place?
“Well, let’s try it this way. We’ll start from the beginning, eh? Where would be the most logical place to find Rose Tyler?”
The TARDIS began materializing out of the vortex without him touching a thing. She did that, sometimes, moving about on her own. And she knew that the most likely place to start the hunt was in the Powell Estates, London, England, Earth, the Solar System.
------------------------
The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS and looked around with a pang. He’d not been back to the Powell Estates since the night of his regeneration. It was disorienting to not have people running toward the sound of the TARDIS materializing, or banging on the blue doors.
“Doctor!”
Oh, never mind. He looked around, trying to pinpoint the voice. And his eyes popped as he saw a tall, dark haired man sprinting toward him, coat-tails flying.
“Captain.”
Jack Harkness paused, eyeing his new face, before breaking into a grin and hugging him briefly. “I knew you'd show up,” he said excitedly.
“Why would I show up here? I mean, I know why I came here, but why did you think I'd come here? I didn't exactly plan it. Bit of an emergency stop, this.” The Doctor asked, returning the hug.
“Because of Rose. I thought you knew?”
“What about Rose? You’ve seen her?”
“How... How can you not know?” The look Jack gave him sent shivers running down the Doctor's spine.
Trying to stop the circular questioning that was getting them nowhere, the Doctor flapped his hands. “Wait, what are you even doing here? Last I saw you, you were talking to Midshipman Frame.”
Jack smirked. “Great kid. But then something triggered the detector I had linked to the Rift. Sends me signals through the Vortex Manipulator.”
“I thought I told you no more Vortex Manipulating?”
“I got a new one. Sold the old one to an archaeologist. She had great hair," he mused. "Anyway, that’s not important. I went to Cardiff, nothing out of the ordinary. Figured I’d stop by London, just to check on things before I left."
"I know you checked on Rose as she grew up, Jack, but her timeline isn't centered here anymore."
"I know, but still," the captain smiled charmingly and shrugged, "old habits, nostalgia. Figured I might as well check up with Mickey Mouse while I was here. He and Martha Jones got hitched."
"I know, I saw them, briefly. Took out a Sontaran. Never did figure out why a potato was running around London..."
"Doc, focus. We went to a pub, got to talking, and Mickey and I were sharing stories with Martha. You know, mutual TARDIS adventures. I made some offhanded mention about Rose, don't remember now what it was, and you'll never guess what happened."
"Martha didn't know who you were talking about," the Doctor volunteered, his voice low.
"Martha didn't know who -- wait, how the hell did you know?"
"Go on Jack," the Doctor encouraged, brows knit. He casually pulled his screwdriver out and grabbed Jack's wrist, scanning to see if he could find the Rift readout. Jack swatted his hands away absently, unwilling to lose another Manipulator to the Doctor's sonicing.
"Yeah," Jack's words were slower, trying to gauge the Doctor's reactions to them. "Martha didn't know who we were talking about. Mickey knew, I knew, but Martha didn't have a clue. We tried to remind her, pointed out that she'd met her before. Apparently Miss Jones was quite enamored of you, but couldn't ever get out of our Rosie's shadow." He eyed the Doctor pointedly, a look the Doctor avoided. "All that time, always being jealous of Rose, you'd think she'd remember her. But not a clue."
The Doctor swore violently, startling Jack who watched with wide eyes as his friend began pacing, tapping his screwdriver to the side of his temple, muttering. "This is bad, Jack. Worse than I thought it was going to be. This means more haystacks than I had even imagined."
"What's bad? Doc, what exactly is going on? What are you talking about, 'haystacks'? Is Rose in danger?"
"I'm afraid quite a lot of danger," the Doctor said. "Martha didn't remember Rose because she barely knew her. She knew of her, but she didn't know her personally. Martha wasn't with Rose long enough to have strong connections to her."
"Still, you'd think --"
"No, you don't understand. Martha's time with Rose was so limited that it was easy for her to forget. The hired help, the Torchwood lackeys, even Pete! They didn't know her as long, or as well as you or me or Jackie or even James."
"Who is James?"
"He was right. It's the depth of the imprint, of the exposure time that determines the rapidity of her erasure."
"Doctor!" Jack grabbed him by the shoulders, stopping his pacing and his rambling. "Tell me what's going on with Rose."
"She's missing, Jack. And people are starting to forget she was ever even around."
one, two, three
Title: Infinite Haystacks (4/?)
Author: cehlainz
Pairing: Rose/TenII
Rating: M
Spoilers/warnings: Post JE
Characters: Eleven, Jack Harkness
Word count: 1,057
Disclaimer: I own nothing. The characters and names all belong to their respective parties. Purely written for fun and personal entertainment.
Summary: There are some people the Doctor doesn't expect to see again. Rose Tyler, Jack Harkness, the Meta-crisis clone of himself, to name a few. He expected them all to go on living their brilliant lives without him. He never thought he'd be called on when one of them goes missing.
A/N: A tame one. No worries here.
James hadn’t been able to give the Doctor much to go on. Yes, he’d answered, she looked the same. Her hair a little darker, maybe, but still Rose. She hadn’t aged much. It’d only been a year or so since he’d left them (one year, forty-three days, eleven hours, thirty-three minutes and fifty-eight seconds, according to the meta-crisis Doctor... James), despite it having been centuries for him. He didn’t know where or when she could be, what she’d be doing, or even if she’d remember who she was.
The Doctor sat in the jump seat and tried not to panic. He was looking for a needle in a haystack. In an infinite number of haystacks, some that hadn’t even been grown and harvested yet. And that needle was Rose Tyler. And once he found her? Both men had studiously avoided the question. How was he to even get her back to the other universe? Would she want to go? Would she rather be with the Doctor as he was now, so old with a young man’s face, or with the man she knew, with the face she had designed? And, most importantly, would he be able to let her go, if that was what she wanted? And how, how had she been taken from her bed in her universe in the first place?
“Well, let’s try it this way. We’ll start from the beginning, eh? Where would be the most logical place to find Rose Tyler?”
The TARDIS began materializing out of the vortex without him touching a thing. She did that, sometimes, moving about on her own. And she knew that the most likely place to start the hunt was in the Powell Estates, London, England, Earth, the Solar System.
------------------------
The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS and looked around with a pang. He’d not been back to the Powell Estates since the night of his regeneration. It was disorienting to not have people running toward the sound of the TARDIS materializing, or banging on the blue doors.
“Doctor!”
Oh, never mind. He looked around, trying to pinpoint the voice. And his eyes popped as he saw a tall, dark haired man sprinting toward him, coat-tails flying.
“Captain.”
Jack Harkness paused, eyeing his new face, before breaking into a grin and hugging him briefly. “I knew you'd show up,” he said excitedly.
“Why would I show up here? I mean, I know why I came here, but why did you think I'd come here? I didn't exactly plan it. Bit of an emergency stop, this.” The Doctor asked, returning the hug.
“Because of Rose. I thought you knew?”
“What about Rose? You’ve seen her?”
“How... How can you not know?” The look Jack gave him sent shivers running down the Doctor's spine.
Trying to stop the circular questioning that was getting them nowhere, the Doctor flapped his hands. “Wait, what are you even doing here? Last I saw you, you were talking to Midshipman Frame.”
Jack smirked. “Great kid. But then something triggered the detector I had linked to the Rift. Sends me signals through the Vortex Manipulator.”
“I thought I told you no more Vortex Manipulating?”
“I got a new one. Sold the old one to an archaeologist. She had great hair," he mused. "Anyway, that’s not important. I went to Cardiff, nothing out of the ordinary. Figured I’d stop by London, just to check on things before I left."
"I know you checked on Rose as she grew up, Jack, but her timeline isn't centered here anymore."
"I know, but still," the captain smiled charmingly and shrugged, "old habits, nostalgia. Figured I might as well check up with Mickey Mouse while I was here. He and Martha Jones got hitched."
"I know, I saw them, briefly. Took out a Sontaran. Never did figure out why a potato was running around London..."
"Doc, focus. We went to a pub, got to talking, and Mickey and I were sharing stories with Martha. You know, mutual TARDIS adventures. I made some offhanded mention about Rose, don't remember now what it was, and you'll never guess what happened."
"Martha didn't know who you were talking about," the Doctor volunteered, his voice low.
"Martha didn't know who -- wait, how the hell did you know?"
"Go on Jack," the Doctor encouraged, brows knit. He casually pulled his screwdriver out and grabbed Jack's wrist, scanning to see if he could find the Rift readout. Jack swatted his hands away absently, unwilling to lose another Manipulator to the Doctor's sonicing.
"Yeah," Jack's words were slower, trying to gauge the Doctor's reactions to them. "Martha didn't know who we were talking about. Mickey knew, I knew, but Martha didn't have a clue. We tried to remind her, pointed out that she'd met her before. Apparently Miss Jones was quite enamored of you, but couldn't ever get out of our Rosie's shadow." He eyed the Doctor pointedly, a look the Doctor avoided. "All that time, always being jealous of Rose, you'd think she'd remember her. But not a clue."
The Doctor swore violently, startling Jack who watched with wide eyes as his friend began pacing, tapping his screwdriver to the side of his temple, muttering. "This is bad, Jack. Worse than I thought it was going to be. This means more haystacks than I had even imagined."
"What's bad? Doc, what exactly is going on? What are you talking about, 'haystacks'? Is Rose in danger?"
"I'm afraid quite a lot of danger," the Doctor said. "Martha didn't remember Rose because she barely knew her. She knew of her, but she didn't know her personally. Martha wasn't with Rose long enough to have strong connections to her."
"Still, you'd think --"
"No, you don't understand. Martha's time with Rose was so limited that it was easy for her to forget. The hired help, the Torchwood lackeys, even Pete! They didn't know her as long, or as well as you or me or Jackie or even James."
"Who is James?"
"He was right. It's the depth of the imprint, of the exposure time that determines the rapidity of her erasure."
"Doctor!" Jack grabbed him by the shoulders, stopping his pacing and his rambling. "Tell me what's going on with Rose."
"She's missing, Jack. And people are starting to forget she was ever even around."
one, two, three