Support Stacie Fic: The Feather and the Mountain -- for The Shadow Proclamation (2/11)
Title: The Feather and the Mountain (2/11) [Chapter One: Of All the Gin Joints...]
Author: ladychi
Beta: plaid_slytherin
Graphic: amyxaphania
Rating: Older Teen
Characters: Ten/Jack/Rose
Summary: Written to the prompt "Ten, Jack and Rose figure out how to have a relationship together". Just after Children of Earth, Ten, Jack and Rose must heal their individual wounds and come together.
Author's Note: This chapter should clear up some questions some of you had about where exactly in the timeline this takes place.
Previous Chapters: Prologue
Chapter One: Of All the Gin-Joints...
“You sure do pick the nicest places to drag me to,” Jack drawled as the Doctor held open a door for him. It was a first-class diner the way the bar the evening before had been a first-class dive. It was a little worn, but scrupulously clean. The smell of pattied meat chunks wafted over everything, but the Doctor didn't seem to notice, blissfully throwing himself onto a bar stool next to the counter and letting it spin him. Rose rolled her eyes and chose a spot on the other side of the Doctor.
“This is the only place in this galaxy that you can get a banana milkshake,” the Doctor said, blithely. “Which is just what you need after trytipie steak. I think mine was a little underdone.” He grimaced and rubbed his stomach. “Very definitely underdone.”
“And ice cream's going to help with that?” Rose asked incredulously.
“Bananas are an extremely important part of my digestive system,” the Doctor explained, waving a hand.
“You're full of it,” Rose muttered, but her eyes were laughing.
“So, you dried me out, you put me to bed and you fed me,” Jack said, grinning at the waitress who slid a glass of water over to him. “Hello, gorgeous.”
“Hello to you too,” she purred.
“Jack,” the Doctor hissed.
“What?” Jack put some effort into smiling. “Jealous, Doc?”
The Doctor scoffed. “Absolutely not.”
“Come with us, Jack.” Rose leaned across the counter, her big brown eyes capturing Jack's.
“What? That's a...”
“Rose! I was going to ease him into it.”
“There's nothing to ease him into,” Rose said firmly. “He belongs with us. Jack, you can't stay here and watch what's about to happen. You just can't. You should come traveling with us.”
“No offense, Rosie, but you've been gone a long time. I'm not even sure where I belong.” Jack took a long swallow of his water and desperately wished it were something stronger. “I'm not sure the TARDIS is where I should be.”
The Doctor ducked his head, folding his arms over his chest, and Rose bit her lip against the rising impatience with both of them. “Jack, please.” She got up off the stool and laid her hand on his forearm. “Why don't you want to come?”
Jack smirked. “Because I've gotten pretty good at self-destruction, and I imagine you and the Doctor would get in the way of my habit.”
“Be serious.” Rose's voice gentle, but firm. “Why don't you want to come?”
“You ever heard that expression, 'you can't go home?'” Jack waited for her affirmative nod. “It's like that. That part of my life's over. You know I'm willing to do anything to help you, Doc. I just can't go... tearing around the universe haphazardly anymore.”
The Doctor nodded. “Fair eno--”
“No.” Rose shook her head. “I'm sorry, Jack, but you haven't changed that much.” Her eyes were slowly filling with tears. “The Doctor told me what happened. He told me what I did to you.”
“No, Rose --”
“No. Let me finish.” Rose tucked her hair behind her ear. “I saw it, though, when I was crossing universes, trying to get back to the Doctor. I kept running into you - time and time again, there you'd be. Fighting Sontarans, shooting down the Racnoss... I'd be looking for the Doctor and you'd swoop in. Sometimes we'd get to talk. Sometimes you were mad at me. Sometimes you were thrilled to see me. Sometimes you didn't know who I was, but you always helped me. You helped me get to the Doctor, you helped me figure out what to do with Donna Noble to put the universes right.”
“Rose --”
“You helped me, Jack.” She grabbed his hand and squeezed. “Let me help you. Come with us.”
The Doctor waited for a long moment, and then laid his hand over Rose's and Jack's. “Please, Jack. We'd love for you to come.”
Jack threw back his head and laughed. “If you only knew how often I hear that.” Sobering immediately, he swallowed and nodded. “Yeah, okay.”
“Okay?” Rose looked as though she could hardly believe it. “Really?”
Jack leaned forward and touched his lips to Rose's cheek. “Of course. I could never say no to you.” He smiled, just a little sadly. “You might even call that my fatal flaw.”
**
“I'm thinking the waterfalls on Pluto,” the Doctor said, turning a knob and beaming brilliantly at his two companions. “They're purple. Drank out of them once, tasted grape for days. Which is weird because, as you know, grapes aren't purple.”
“Pluto would be fine,” Jack said absently, rubbing the walls of the TARDIS. “I don't know why I'm always surprised that nothing changes around here.”
“Oi! I touched up the Bostron Converter, just last week!”
Jack smirked. “I'll bet you're still using that toaster, though.”
“That toaster works fine!” The Doctor protested. “It makes brilliant muffins.”
“But it doesn't make toast,” Rose said with a laugh.
“Wave your bread over the burner,” the Doctor said, dismissively. “How about the deserts of Yu'rk-day? They've got beasts of burden that are ten feet tall and three feet wide!”
“Is it the horribly hopeless, hotter than hell, completely depressing type of desert?” Jack asked, laying his hands on his hips.
“Well... sort of. Depends on the century,” the Doctor said. “No, I've got one! The diamond mines on Prestier. Diamond mines in the light of day, Rose!”
Out of the corner of his eye, Jack could see Rose was exhausted. She was leaning against the console, smiling enthusiastically enough, but there were black circles under her eyes and she was pale. Paler than he'd like to see her.
“Actually, Doc,” Jack interjected. “Maybe you should let us folks with the human DNA catch a nap first. Nothing with you ever goes as planned. We're going to need all of our strength.” Rose looked suspiciously at him, so Jack summoned a yawn. “Or at least, I am. Good night.”
Rose ran across the room and grabbed his arm. “Jack, I'm so glad you're here.”
“I'm glad I'm here too, Rosie.” He bent and kissed her cheek, raising his eyebrows at the Doctor, silently communicating his need to speak with him without her presence, and left the console room.
**
It didn't take long to find his old bedroom - the Doctor hadn't moved it, and there were still relics here from his time on the TARDIS, literally thousands of years before in his own timeline. It was almost like staring at artifacts from another civilization. Some part of him recognized the clothes, the shoes, the knick-knacks as his own. Another part of him felt horribly disconnected from the person he had been: a person who hadn't lost wives and daughters and sons. A person who hadn't sacrificed himself yet. A person who didn't fully realize his own nature.
It was, he realized, like stepping into a room from his childhood. There were memories here - good ones, of the way Rose smelled and looked in half-light; bad ones, of holding her after they'd been unable to save a child; memories of readying himself for bed, the scent of the sheets, and the good, bone-deep contented exhaustion he felt at the end of the day.
He toed off his shoes, undid his braces and removed his shirt before he heard the knock. Answering the door, he soundlessly stepped aside for the Doctor, who crossed the room and threw himself into one of the armchairs.
Jack raised an eyebrow. This Doctor was certainly more prone to expressions of his personal angst, but the way he was behaving these days...
“What's going on, Doctor? Why did you come to get me? Why is Rose here? I thought you sent her off with the other Doctor.”
“The other Doctor is dead.” The Doctor's voice was flat, but somehow full of pain. “His biology was too unstable. His heart stopped, about a week after I left them there.”
Jack found the edge of the bed and ran his hands through his hair. “Rose. She's got to be... She's...”
“I keep breaking her heart, and she keeps coming back.” The Doctor looked straight up at the ceiling. “She never leaves me. Even when she's gone.”
“She loves you. People do stupid things for love.”
The Doctor waved a hand at him. “Quad erat demonstrandum, right?”
“Huh?”
“Your whole life, Jack, is a study on the folly of loving.” The Doctor sniffed. “Anyway, I was in Paris, cleaning up a bit of a scuffle with the Sontarans. I looked up... and there she was. Wearing a black beret and staring at me from across the square. She found me again. We traveled a bit, then she asked me about you. I couldn't lie anymore. I told her about leaving you to the 456.” The Doctor sighed. “She demanded we come get you. So we did.”
Jack nodded. He could believe all of that, and he didn't particularly care how Rose had gotten across the void. At least, not right at that moment. “There's one thing I don't get, Doctor.”
“What's that?”
“She came back to you. You love her, I know you do. So why aren't you bouncing off the walls? Why aren't you happy?”
The Doctor suddenly found the floor very interesting. “She's dying, Jack.” He got up to his feet and crossed to the door.
“How?”
“She's being pulled apart on a subatomic level. She traveled through the Void without protection for too long. The universes aren't sure where she belongs.”
“What are you going to do about it?”
The Doctor sighed. “Everything I can. Jack... I'm doing everything I can.”
Suddenly too tired to bear the thought of losing Rose, Jack opened the door for the Doctor and stepped aside; as polite a way as he knew to ask the Time Lord to leave. The Doctor nodded, and slowly headed down the corridor.
“Wait, Doc!”
The Doctor turned, his hands in his pockets. “Yeah, Jack?”
“Tomorrow? Anywhere but Earth, okay? Anywhere but Earth.”
The Doctor nodded. Jack shut the door.
Author: ladychi
Beta: plaid_slytherin
Graphic: amyxaphania
Rating: Older Teen
Characters: Ten/Jack/Rose
Summary: Written to the prompt "Ten, Jack and Rose figure out how to have a relationship together". Just after Children of Earth, Ten, Jack and Rose must heal their individual wounds and come together.
Author's Note: This chapter should clear up some questions some of you had about where exactly in the timeline this takes place.
Previous Chapters: Prologue
Chapter One: Of All the Gin-Joints...
“You sure do pick the nicest places to drag me to,” Jack drawled as the Doctor held open a door for him. It was a first-class diner the way the bar the evening before had been a first-class dive. It was a little worn, but scrupulously clean. The smell of pattied meat chunks wafted over everything, but the Doctor didn't seem to notice, blissfully throwing himself onto a bar stool next to the counter and letting it spin him. Rose rolled her eyes and chose a spot on the other side of the Doctor.
“This is the only place in this galaxy that you can get a banana milkshake,” the Doctor said, blithely. “Which is just what you need after trytipie steak. I think mine was a little underdone.” He grimaced and rubbed his stomach. “Very definitely underdone.”
“And ice cream's going to help with that?” Rose asked incredulously.
“Bananas are an extremely important part of my digestive system,” the Doctor explained, waving a hand.
“You're full of it,” Rose muttered, but her eyes were laughing.
“So, you dried me out, you put me to bed and you fed me,” Jack said, grinning at the waitress who slid a glass of water over to him. “Hello, gorgeous.”
“Hello to you too,” she purred.
“Jack,” the Doctor hissed.
“What?” Jack put some effort into smiling. “Jealous, Doc?”
The Doctor scoffed. “Absolutely not.”
“Come with us, Jack.” Rose leaned across the counter, her big brown eyes capturing Jack's.
“What? That's a...”
“Rose! I was going to ease him into it.”
“There's nothing to ease him into,” Rose said firmly. “He belongs with us. Jack, you can't stay here and watch what's about to happen. You just can't. You should come traveling with us.”
“No offense, Rosie, but you've been gone a long time. I'm not even sure where I belong.” Jack took a long swallow of his water and desperately wished it were something stronger. “I'm not sure the TARDIS is where I should be.”
The Doctor ducked his head, folding his arms over his chest, and Rose bit her lip against the rising impatience with both of them. “Jack, please.” She got up off the stool and laid her hand on his forearm. “Why don't you want to come?”
Jack smirked. “Because I've gotten pretty good at self-destruction, and I imagine you and the Doctor would get in the way of my habit.”
“Be serious.” Rose's voice gentle, but firm. “Why don't you want to come?”
“You ever heard that expression, 'you can't go home?'” Jack waited for her affirmative nod. “It's like that. That part of my life's over. You know I'm willing to do anything to help you, Doc. I just can't go... tearing around the universe haphazardly anymore.”
The Doctor nodded. “Fair eno--”
“No.” Rose shook her head. “I'm sorry, Jack, but you haven't changed that much.” Her eyes were slowly filling with tears. “The Doctor told me what happened. He told me what I did to you.”
“No, Rose --”
“No. Let me finish.” Rose tucked her hair behind her ear. “I saw it, though, when I was crossing universes, trying to get back to the Doctor. I kept running into you - time and time again, there you'd be. Fighting Sontarans, shooting down the Racnoss... I'd be looking for the Doctor and you'd swoop in. Sometimes we'd get to talk. Sometimes you were mad at me. Sometimes you were thrilled to see me. Sometimes you didn't know who I was, but you always helped me. You helped me get to the Doctor, you helped me figure out what to do with Donna Noble to put the universes right.”
“Rose --”
“You helped me, Jack.” She grabbed his hand and squeezed. “Let me help you. Come with us.”
The Doctor waited for a long moment, and then laid his hand over Rose's and Jack's. “Please, Jack. We'd love for you to come.”
Jack threw back his head and laughed. “If you only knew how often I hear that.” Sobering immediately, he swallowed and nodded. “Yeah, okay.”
“Okay?” Rose looked as though she could hardly believe it. “Really?”
Jack leaned forward and touched his lips to Rose's cheek. “Of course. I could never say no to you.” He smiled, just a little sadly. “You might even call that my fatal flaw.”
**
“I'm thinking the waterfalls on Pluto,” the Doctor said, turning a knob and beaming brilliantly at his two companions. “They're purple. Drank out of them once, tasted grape for days. Which is weird because, as you know, grapes aren't purple.”
“Pluto would be fine,” Jack said absently, rubbing the walls of the TARDIS. “I don't know why I'm always surprised that nothing changes around here.”
“Oi! I touched up the Bostron Converter, just last week!”
Jack smirked. “I'll bet you're still using that toaster, though.”
“That toaster works fine!” The Doctor protested. “It makes brilliant muffins.”
“But it doesn't make toast,” Rose said with a laugh.
“Wave your bread over the burner,” the Doctor said, dismissively. “How about the deserts of Yu'rk-day? They've got beasts of burden that are ten feet tall and three feet wide!”
“Is it the horribly hopeless, hotter than hell, completely depressing type of desert?” Jack asked, laying his hands on his hips.
“Well... sort of. Depends on the century,” the Doctor said. “No, I've got one! The diamond mines on Prestier. Diamond mines in the light of day, Rose!”
Out of the corner of his eye, Jack could see Rose was exhausted. She was leaning against the console, smiling enthusiastically enough, but there were black circles under her eyes and she was pale. Paler than he'd like to see her.
“Actually, Doc,” Jack interjected. “Maybe you should let us folks with the human DNA catch a nap first. Nothing with you ever goes as planned. We're going to need all of our strength.” Rose looked suspiciously at him, so Jack summoned a yawn. “Or at least, I am. Good night.”
Rose ran across the room and grabbed his arm. “Jack, I'm so glad you're here.”
“I'm glad I'm here too, Rosie.” He bent and kissed her cheek, raising his eyebrows at the Doctor, silently communicating his need to speak with him without her presence, and left the console room.
**
It didn't take long to find his old bedroom - the Doctor hadn't moved it, and there were still relics here from his time on the TARDIS, literally thousands of years before in his own timeline. It was almost like staring at artifacts from another civilization. Some part of him recognized the clothes, the shoes, the knick-knacks as his own. Another part of him felt horribly disconnected from the person he had been: a person who hadn't lost wives and daughters and sons. A person who hadn't sacrificed himself yet. A person who didn't fully realize his own nature.
It was, he realized, like stepping into a room from his childhood. There were memories here - good ones, of the way Rose smelled and looked in half-light; bad ones, of holding her after they'd been unable to save a child; memories of readying himself for bed, the scent of the sheets, and the good, bone-deep contented exhaustion he felt at the end of the day.
He toed off his shoes, undid his braces and removed his shirt before he heard the knock. Answering the door, he soundlessly stepped aside for the Doctor, who crossed the room and threw himself into one of the armchairs.
Jack raised an eyebrow. This Doctor was certainly more prone to expressions of his personal angst, but the way he was behaving these days...
“What's going on, Doctor? Why did you come to get me? Why is Rose here? I thought you sent her off with the other Doctor.”
“The other Doctor is dead.” The Doctor's voice was flat, but somehow full of pain. “His biology was too unstable. His heart stopped, about a week after I left them there.”
Jack found the edge of the bed and ran his hands through his hair. “Rose. She's got to be... She's...”
“I keep breaking her heart, and she keeps coming back.” The Doctor looked straight up at the ceiling. “She never leaves me. Even when she's gone.”
“She loves you. People do stupid things for love.”
The Doctor waved a hand at him. “Quad erat demonstrandum, right?”
“Huh?”
“Your whole life, Jack, is a study on the folly of loving.” The Doctor sniffed. “Anyway, I was in Paris, cleaning up a bit of a scuffle with the Sontarans. I looked up... and there she was. Wearing a black beret and staring at me from across the square. She found me again. We traveled a bit, then she asked me about you. I couldn't lie anymore. I told her about leaving you to the 456.” The Doctor sighed. “She demanded we come get you. So we did.”
Jack nodded. He could believe all of that, and he didn't particularly care how Rose had gotten across the void. At least, not right at that moment. “There's one thing I don't get, Doctor.”
“What's that?”
“She came back to you. You love her, I know you do. So why aren't you bouncing off the walls? Why aren't you happy?”
The Doctor suddenly found the floor very interesting. “She's dying, Jack.” He got up to his feet and crossed to the door.
“How?”
“She's being pulled apart on a subatomic level. She traveled through the Void without protection for too long. The universes aren't sure where she belongs.”
“What are you going to do about it?”
The Doctor sighed. “Everything I can. Jack... I'm doing everything I can.”
Suddenly too tired to bear the thought of losing Rose, Jack opened the door for the Doctor and stepped aside; as polite a way as he knew to ask the Time Lord to leave. The Doctor nodded, and slowly headed down the corridor.
“Wait, Doc!”
The Doctor turned, his hands in his pockets. “Yeah, Jack?”
“Tomorrow? Anywhere but Earth, okay? Anywhere but Earth.”
The Doctor nodded. Jack shut the door.