Fic: Valiant 30-32/38
Combining shorter chapters as requested.
Title: Valiant Chapter 30/38
Author: MeiLin
Characters/pairing in this chapter: Lucy, Tish
Rating for this chapter: PG-13
Summary for this chapter: Lucy and Tish come to the end.
A/N for this chapter: A version of this chapter originally appeared as part of the story "A Paper Doll to Call My Own."
In the end, Lucy barely even curled her lip at Tish. Her eyes flicked past the long red dress spread out on the bed, like a river of blood flowing from the crisp white sheets. Tish gently wrestled her into it, zipping up the back and fastening the halter.
Tish pushed Lucy down into a chair before the vanity, where she stared past the mirror with expressionless eyes--one rimmed in purplish welts--while Tish brushed her long blonde hair.
"He wanted me once," she said. Tish made a non-committal noise as she back-combed and pinned. "He did. On our wedding day, he showed me. Everything ending, always ending, everything dying--and he wanted me." Her eyes suddenly focused and took in Tish's face, catching her bloodshot eyes in the mirror.
"I smelled you on him yesterday."
Tish pulled back for a moment. Lucy didn't move, and Tish went back to cautiously arranging her hair.
"He saved you till the very end. The cherry on the sundae. Though I doubt you had a cherry to take." But Lucy's spirit wasn't in it, and she lapsed back into passivity.
"It's time, isn't it?" she said, as Tish prodded her out of the vanity chair. Tish nodded, steering her towards the door. "He has your sister, you know." Tish nodded again, lips tight, holding back tears.
"It's all right, Tish, it ends now." She looked down at her pale hand, deep red nails, framed against the au-lait skin of Tish's arm. "He'll end it now." She stopped them in the hallway outside the conference room and looked into Tish's face, watching the tears finally spill over.
"Do I look all right?"
Title: Valiant Chapter 31/38
Author: MeiLin
Characters/pairing in this chapter: Jack, Martha, Cpl Perkins (OC)
Rating for this chapter: PG
Summary for this chapter: Martha returns to the Valiant.
A/N for this chapter: This chapter is original to the novella.
"It's time," UNIT Corporal Perkins said. He unlocked Jack's shackles, and Jack stumbled free.
"Oh, I could kiss you," groaned Jack, flexing his sore shoulders, "but, you know, really bad morning breath." He rubbed his wrists. "Don't worry," he grinned, "this'll be over soon and then I can find a toothbrush!"
Perkins looked pained. "Don't try anything. He wants you alive for this and I don't want to kill you again." He began to march Jack to the conference room.
"Oh, no fear, Perkins, I wouldn't miss this for anything."
Perkins' usually florid face was grim, pale and sweaty. "No fear?" he said. "He's got Martha Jones! We were still hoping..." He straightened a bit and kept his gun aimed at Jack. "But there isn't any hope. This is the end."
"There's always hope," said Jack. His face was haggard, dirty and drawn, and his eyes betrayed the bravado of his words.
Perkins stood to one side of his prisoner, his bulldog jaws flexing nervously. There were the Jones family, standing in a row on the other side of the entranceway. Directly in front of him in a birdcage hung the Doctor, a tiny, shriveled figure out of a fairy tale. And gazing down on them from on high stood the Master and Lucy.
The doors opened, and Martha Jones walked in, tiny, severe and all in black. Perkins stared at her in amazement. The legendary Martha Jones, at last. How small she was! And how foolish he suddenly felt for pinning his hopes on one fragile girl. Jack instinctively moved toward her, and Perkins poked him in the ribs with his gun.
Jack raised his hands briefly in surrender and then plunged them back into his pockets. He caught Martha's eye briefly; her gaze was steady and clear and he felt his chest expand.
Perkins kept his eyes on Jack, though he kept his ears open as Martha told her Story. This was the Doctor's great plan--to think him back to power? He looked around the room, fear and hope roiling inside him. Francine Jones had her eyes closed; she looked as if she were praying. One by one, Tish Jones, Clive Jones, the other soldiers--their eyes drifted shut and the word appeared on their lips: "Doctor." Perkins looked back at Jack; his eyes were closed and his mouth was moving. He looked up at the dais; even Lucy was deep in concentration.
Tears stung Perkins' eyes and his breath caught. He closed his eyes. "Doctor," he said.
Title: Valiant Chapter 32/38
Author: MeiLin
Characters/pairing in this chapter: Jack, Shae (OC), Sean (OC), Jane (OC), Cpl Perkins (OC)
Rating for this chapter: PG-13
Summary for this chapter: Miss Dexter takes a permanent vacation.
A/N for this chapter: A version of this chapter appeared as part of "Miss Dexter Regrets." It has been expanded and revised. Don't be afraid of the OCs!
Was it over? Shae didn't know yet. The name was still on her lips, on all of their lips, like a prayer: "Doctor." And now all around her, the soldiers were staring at each other, as if waking from a long nightmare. She felt the crushing fear lift from her; Archangel was down. The Doctor must have come back.
Shae took what felt like the first deep breath she'd taken in months--and expelled it quickly as Jack came running flat out down the corridor, soldiers following in his wake. She fell quickly in step with him. "Jack! Did he come back--the Doctor, he's come back, right?"
Jack shot her a sideways glance, never breaking his stride. "Yes. We're ending this. Now."
"Let me help!"
He turned his head and gave her an incredulous look. "I don't think so."
"I've forgotten more about temporal mechanics than you'll ever know!"
"Yeah, yeah," said Jack, taking the stairs two at a time with Shae close behind, "everything I learned came from you. And thank God I've had a century and a half to forget it all."
She stopped him on the landing, clutching his arm. "For God's sake, let me help! Let me help you end this!"
Jack grabbed her wrists in one hand, but she didn't struggle. "I so do not have time for this." He took a set of handcuffs from Perkins.
"Jack, don't," she begged, but before she could do anything she was securely cuffed to the railing. Jack stripped her of her guns, and he and the men were off. "No! Dammit!" she screamed, pulling in despair against the chain. She slumped down on the stairs and sobbed.
Then the ship lurched, and time reset itself.
"He's dead."
Shae looked up blearily. Jack was standing over her, his handsome face still covered with weeks of filth. "What?"
"The Master. Lucy shot him."
"Good," she mumbled. "Wish I'd done it myself. Lucy..." Shae trailed off. "That doesn't sound right." She frowned in thought. Her mind was so fuzzy; why couldn't she think? Time running backward seemed to have muddled her brain. She shook her head slightly to clear it.
"It's all over, Shae. It's back to the way it was before the paradox machine."
She was quiet for a moment. "I did try, Jack. I couldn't--I didn't know how to stop him and not get killed." she said, looking up at him pleadingly. "Surely you wouldn't expect me to just sacrifice myself?" He was silent. "So," she said bitterly after a pause, "what happens to me now?"
Jack clasped his hands in front of him and loosened his stance. "What should have happened when we brought you in from Penarth Pier. Except this time I'm not offering you a cell at the Hub. Which is a pity." He cocked his head, looking down at her appraisingly through hooded eyes. "Ianto and I would've made conjugal visits, could've been real cozy. We'd even have turned the CCTV off from time to time."
"Jack--!"
"You are now officially UNIT's problem. Not mine." He turned on his heel.
"Retcon me!" Shae called after him.
Jack turned around. "'Scuse me?"
"I said, retcon me. I won't fight it," she said desperately. "Don't lock me up, just let me forget, take everything but my girlhood, I don't care--"
"Oh no." He advanced on her, furious. "You don't get to forget this! I won't let you. You get to remember every goddamn thing you did. All of it! You think I'm going to grant you that kind of absolution? I don't think so!" he shouted. He got control of himself and added almost gently, "I can't believe you'd even ask me that, Shae." He sprinted up the stairs towards the conference room.
Shae stared at his retreating back. "I wanted...I wanted to help..."
"Miss Dexter?...Ma'am?" said a soft Irish-inflected voice. "Shae?"
Shae got to her feet, a strong hand at her elbow. "Sean." Her number two man. Tall, graceful, blue-eyed and sandy blonde Sean Molloy. "Perfect. Handcuffs, if you please." Sean quickly unfastened the cuffs, and Shae finally felt her head clear and her wits return. "We have to get out of here. Jane--she was with us. Where is she?"
"On her way," he answered promptly, tugging her close.
"No." Shae pulled back. "No. Send her to the hangar deck. Tell her to put her RAF training to use and get us out of here. We'll meet her there. There's quite a bit of confusion still--we'd best go right now while we can."
Sean touched his earpiece as he followed Shae down the stairs toward the hangar deck. "Da Silva--Molloy..."
The two best of her squad of eight handpicked agents. That works, Shae thought; the six on the ground didn't remember the Year and could fend for themselves until she could gather them all up again. They might even be useful kept embedded in the British security apparatus. And she had the two prettiest at hand. How lucky.
Jane Da Silva, her black eyes urgent, met them on deck. "I've found us transport, ma'am, where are we going?" she shouted over the din of the plane's engines.
"Brazil," replied Shae, and Jane's face lit up. "We're going to Brazil. I have a few little hidden nests around the world for us to rest in, and we'll start there." The three of them hurried toward the plane.
As Jane climbed into the cockpit, Shae stopped her long enough for a lingering kiss and a smile, then settled back with Sean in the passenger compartment. "Time now to rest. To rest and to plan." Soldiers, spies or whores--they'd lay low and figure it out.
If she couldn't forget, she could turn it to her advantage, somehow. As long as she was free, she could still complete the mission: Getting home. And if she couldn't complete the mission, she could at least enjoy herself.
Valiant Central Page
Title: Valiant Chapter 30/38
Author: MeiLin
Characters/pairing in this chapter: Lucy, Tish
Rating for this chapter: PG-13
Summary for this chapter: Lucy and Tish come to the end.
A/N for this chapter: A version of this chapter originally appeared as part of the story "A Paper Doll to Call My Own."
In the end, Lucy barely even curled her lip at Tish. Her eyes flicked past the long red dress spread out on the bed, like a river of blood flowing from the crisp white sheets. Tish gently wrestled her into it, zipping up the back and fastening the halter.
Tish pushed Lucy down into a chair before the vanity, where she stared past the mirror with expressionless eyes--one rimmed in purplish welts--while Tish brushed her long blonde hair.
"He wanted me once," she said. Tish made a non-committal noise as she back-combed and pinned. "He did. On our wedding day, he showed me. Everything ending, always ending, everything dying--and he wanted me." Her eyes suddenly focused and took in Tish's face, catching her bloodshot eyes in the mirror.
"I smelled you on him yesterday."
Tish pulled back for a moment. Lucy didn't move, and Tish went back to cautiously arranging her hair.
"He saved you till the very end. The cherry on the sundae. Though I doubt you had a cherry to take." But Lucy's spirit wasn't in it, and she lapsed back into passivity.
"It's time, isn't it?" she said, as Tish prodded her out of the vanity chair. Tish nodded, steering her towards the door. "He has your sister, you know." Tish nodded again, lips tight, holding back tears.
"It's all right, Tish, it ends now." She looked down at her pale hand, deep red nails, framed against the au-lait skin of Tish's arm. "He'll end it now." She stopped them in the hallway outside the conference room and looked into Tish's face, watching the tears finally spill over.
"Do I look all right?"
Title: Valiant Chapter 31/38
Author: MeiLin
Characters/pairing in this chapter: Jack, Martha, Cpl Perkins (OC)
Rating for this chapter: PG
Summary for this chapter: Martha returns to the Valiant.
A/N for this chapter: This chapter is original to the novella.
"It's time," UNIT Corporal Perkins said. He unlocked Jack's shackles, and Jack stumbled free.
"Oh, I could kiss you," groaned Jack, flexing his sore shoulders, "but, you know, really bad morning breath." He rubbed his wrists. "Don't worry," he grinned, "this'll be over soon and then I can find a toothbrush!"
Perkins looked pained. "Don't try anything. He wants you alive for this and I don't want to kill you again." He began to march Jack to the conference room.
"Oh, no fear, Perkins, I wouldn't miss this for anything."
Perkins' usually florid face was grim, pale and sweaty. "No fear?" he said. "He's got Martha Jones! We were still hoping..." He straightened a bit and kept his gun aimed at Jack. "But there isn't any hope. This is the end."
"There's always hope," said Jack. His face was haggard, dirty and drawn, and his eyes betrayed the bravado of his words.
Perkins stood to one side of his prisoner, his bulldog jaws flexing nervously. There were the Jones family, standing in a row on the other side of the entranceway. Directly in front of him in a birdcage hung the Doctor, a tiny, shriveled figure out of a fairy tale. And gazing down on them from on high stood the Master and Lucy.
The doors opened, and Martha Jones walked in, tiny, severe and all in black. Perkins stared at her in amazement. The legendary Martha Jones, at last. How small she was! And how foolish he suddenly felt for pinning his hopes on one fragile girl. Jack instinctively moved toward her, and Perkins poked him in the ribs with his gun.
Jack raised his hands briefly in surrender and then plunged them back into his pockets. He caught Martha's eye briefly; her gaze was steady and clear and he felt his chest expand.
Perkins kept his eyes on Jack, though he kept his ears open as Martha told her Story. This was the Doctor's great plan--to think him back to power? He looked around the room, fear and hope roiling inside him. Francine Jones had her eyes closed; she looked as if she were praying. One by one, Tish Jones, Clive Jones, the other soldiers--their eyes drifted shut and the word appeared on their lips: "Doctor." Perkins looked back at Jack; his eyes were closed and his mouth was moving. He looked up at the dais; even Lucy was deep in concentration.
Tears stung Perkins' eyes and his breath caught. He closed his eyes. "Doctor," he said.
Title: Valiant Chapter 32/38
Author: MeiLin
Characters/pairing in this chapter: Jack, Shae (OC), Sean (OC), Jane (OC), Cpl Perkins (OC)
Rating for this chapter: PG-13
Summary for this chapter: Miss Dexter takes a permanent vacation.
A/N for this chapter: A version of this chapter appeared as part of "Miss Dexter Regrets." It has been expanded and revised. Don't be afraid of the OCs!
Was it over? Shae didn't know yet. The name was still on her lips, on all of their lips, like a prayer: "Doctor." And now all around her, the soldiers were staring at each other, as if waking from a long nightmare. She felt the crushing fear lift from her; Archangel was down. The Doctor must have come back.
Shae took what felt like the first deep breath she'd taken in months--and expelled it quickly as Jack came running flat out down the corridor, soldiers following in his wake. She fell quickly in step with him. "Jack! Did he come back--the Doctor, he's come back, right?"
Jack shot her a sideways glance, never breaking his stride. "Yes. We're ending this. Now."
"Let me help!"
He turned his head and gave her an incredulous look. "I don't think so."
"I've forgotten more about temporal mechanics than you'll ever know!"
"Yeah, yeah," said Jack, taking the stairs two at a time with Shae close behind, "everything I learned came from you. And thank God I've had a century and a half to forget it all."
She stopped him on the landing, clutching his arm. "For God's sake, let me help! Let me help you end this!"
Jack grabbed her wrists in one hand, but she didn't struggle. "I so do not have time for this." He took a set of handcuffs from Perkins.
"Jack, don't," she begged, but before she could do anything she was securely cuffed to the railing. Jack stripped her of her guns, and he and the men were off. "No! Dammit!" she screamed, pulling in despair against the chain. She slumped down on the stairs and sobbed.
Then the ship lurched, and time reset itself.
"He's dead."
Shae looked up blearily. Jack was standing over her, his handsome face still covered with weeks of filth. "What?"
"The Master. Lucy shot him."
"Good," she mumbled. "Wish I'd done it myself. Lucy..." Shae trailed off. "That doesn't sound right." She frowned in thought. Her mind was so fuzzy; why couldn't she think? Time running backward seemed to have muddled her brain. She shook her head slightly to clear it.
"It's all over, Shae. It's back to the way it was before the paradox machine."
She was quiet for a moment. "I did try, Jack. I couldn't--I didn't know how to stop him and not get killed." she said, looking up at him pleadingly. "Surely you wouldn't expect me to just sacrifice myself?" He was silent. "So," she said bitterly after a pause, "what happens to me now?"
Jack clasped his hands in front of him and loosened his stance. "What should have happened when we brought you in from Penarth Pier. Except this time I'm not offering you a cell at the Hub. Which is a pity." He cocked his head, looking down at her appraisingly through hooded eyes. "Ianto and I would've made conjugal visits, could've been real cozy. We'd even have turned the CCTV off from time to time."
"Jack--!"
"You are now officially UNIT's problem. Not mine." He turned on his heel.
"Retcon me!" Shae called after him.
Jack turned around. "'Scuse me?"
"I said, retcon me. I won't fight it," she said desperately. "Don't lock me up, just let me forget, take everything but my girlhood, I don't care--"
"Oh no." He advanced on her, furious. "You don't get to forget this! I won't let you. You get to remember every goddamn thing you did. All of it! You think I'm going to grant you that kind of absolution? I don't think so!" he shouted. He got control of himself and added almost gently, "I can't believe you'd even ask me that, Shae." He sprinted up the stairs towards the conference room.
Shae stared at his retreating back. "I wanted...I wanted to help..."
"Miss Dexter?...Ma'am?" said a soft Irish-inflected voice. "Shae?"
Shae got to her feet, a strong hand at her elbow. "Sean." Her number two man. Tall, graceful, blue-eyed and sandy blonde Sean Molloy. "Perfect. Handcuffs, if you please." Sean quickly unfastened the cuffs, and Shae finally felt her head clear and her wits return. "We have to get out of here. Jane--she was with us. Where is she?"
"On her way," he answered promptly, tugging her close.
"No." Shae pulled back. "No. Send her to the hangar deck. Tell her to put her RAF training to use and get us out of here. We'll meet her there. There's quite a bit of confusion still--we'd best go right now while we can."
Sean touched his earpiece as he followed Shae down the stairs toward the hangar deck. "Da Silva--Molloy..."
The two best of her squad of eight handpicked agents. That works, Shae thought; the six on the ground didn't remember the Year and could fend for themselves until she could gather them all up again. They might even be useful kept embedded in the British security apparatus. And she had the two prettiest at hand. How lucky.
Jane Da Silva, her black eyes urgent, met them on deck. "I've found us transport, ma'am, where are we going?" she shouted over the din of the plane's engines.
"Brazil," replied Shae, and Jane's face lit up. "We're going to Brazil. I have a few little hidden nests around the world for us to rest in, and we'll start there." The three of them hurried toward the plane.
As Jane climbed into the cockpit, Shae stopped her long enough for a lingering kiss and a smile, then settled back with Sean in the passenger compartment. "Time now to rest. To rest and to plan." Soldiers, spies or whores--they'd lay low and figure it out.
If she couldn't forget, she could turn it to her advantage, somehow. As long as she was free, she could still complete the mission: Getting home. And if she couldn't complete the mission, she could at least enjoy herself.
Valiant Central Page