The Stolen Earth Incident - Chapter Forty-Five
30 April 2009
London
The Earth was deposited back to where it belonged, with very little damage done that Rose could see.
The atmosphere within the TARDIS was charged with excitement as the time machine landed. The original Doctor had the doors flung open even before the rotor had settled, and the rest of the crew were just happy to hug each other in sheer joy.
That was, of course, when Rose made her move.
Martha hugged her. “I’m so very pleased to meet you,” the other woman exclaimed. “He’s really missed you.”
Rose felt gratified that the Doctor had seemingly missed her as much as she had him. She returned the hug, but then pulled away. “I have to know…what happened between the Doctor and Jack?”
Martha’s smile faded, and the brightness in her eyes dimmed. “I’m not sure I should say anything…”
“I want to be able to fix it, and I can’t if I don’t know the facts.”
“Honestly, I’m not sure it can be fixed.” Martha sighed, and then pulled Rose off into a corner. “Look, I’m only telling you this because I think you need to know if you intend on trying to put their relationship back together, so you don’t accidentally step on any sort of proverbial landmine.” Martha paused, as if gathering her thoughts. “Okay. Everything dates back to the Gamestation…”
Rose felt herself go into shock as Martha explained what she knew about the trouble between Jack and the Doctor. The Doctor had left Jack behind on the Gamestation? “But why?”
“Because the Doctor can’t stand to look at him now,” Martha answered. “Something about him being a fixed point in space and time.”
“How is that even possible?”
Now Martha looked confused. “Because Jack’s immortal now.”
What?
Something in Rose’s face must have communicated her shock, because Martha’s eyes widened. “Wait…you mean you didn’t know about you bringing him back to life?”
“I remember that,” Rose exclaimed, her brain not yet processing what Martha had just said. “He’d been killed by the Daleks! It wasn’t right that Jack had died like that! But…immortal? What do you mean?”
“When you brought Jack back using the Vortex,” Martha said gently, her eyes full of terrible sympathy, “you brought him back forever. He can’t die…well, he can die, but he can’t stay dead.”
Rose thought back to the Crucible, how the Dalek had shot Jack…and how Jack had somehow survived. That had seemed like a miracle. Now, she knew the truth.
Tears threatened to fall, and Rose dashed them away. How could she have done something so horrible to the man who’d been her best friend? She’d only meant to bring him back to life that one time! It had been so unfair that he’d sacrificed himself, and Rose couldn’t stand the idea of someone as full of life as Jack Harkness being dead.
But what she’d done was horrific. She’d condemned Jack to an existence of loneliness; she could see that, just from her experience with the Doctor. Maybe it would have been best to have left him dead…
“No, don’t think that,” Martha said, once again interpreting her expression correctly. “Jack might have been unhappy at first, but now…he has someone he’ll be able to spend eternity with, and he’s probably one of the most content people I know.” She huffed a laugh. “In fact, those of us who know Jack and Ianto only wish we have the sort of relationship they do. We just celebrated their mating last month. It was one of the biggest blow-outs I’ve even been to!” She took Rose’s hand. “He wouldn’t have that if you hadn’t mistakenly made him the way he is.”
A weight lifted from Rose’s chest at that. The last thing she’d wanted to do was to hurt Jack, and to know that what she’d done had led him to true happiness…well, that just proved that there could be happily ever afters out there.
But…a mating? Did that mean Jack was actually committed to someone monogamously? It seemed so unreal to even consider that the confirmed bachelor and flirt had been tied down like that!
“I’m not saying it’s been easy for him,” Martha went on. “Jack went through some bad things when he discovered he couldn’t stay dead. One of the reasons he came to Cardiff was to see if he could find the Doctor, knowing he often refuelled the TARDIS from the Cardiff Rift. He spent over one hundred years waiting for the Doctor to show up, to get answers he didn’t have. And, when he finally did find a version of the Doctor he could interact with…”
She went on to tell Rose about what Martha called that Year, which had her almost sick with horror. Jack had been tortured by a madman who knew he couldn’t remain dead? Once again, the guilt settled over her, even though everything had turned out alright in the end Jack had to live with those memories of all those terrible acts the Master had perpetrated upon her friend.
And the Doctor hadn’t actually helped. He’d told Jack that he was wrong, of all things! It hadn’t been Jack’s fault that he was the way he was; it was hers, and what Rose had done out of love for a dear friend who’d given his life to make certain the Doctor had time to put his plan into action. What made this worse was that the Doctor, in the end, couldn’t do it, and so Jack had died for nothing.
But to understand that the Doctor blamed Jack…
Suddenly, Rose felt the need to apologise to Jack for her part in all of this.
Rose didn’t realise that they’d gained an audience until a hand rested on her shoulder, in a gesture of comfort. She glanced back to see Clint standing there, his own eyes shadowed. “Did you know about all this?”
“I knew about that Year,” he admitted. “You can’t hang around Torchwood for long without hearing stories about the Nightingale and the Dragon, and their exploits at walking the world in order to save it. I didn’t know about Jack being immortal, though it explains a lot.”
Now the short conversation she’d overheard on the sub-wave made sense. Martha was the Nightingale, while Ianto Jones was the Dragon. They’d been heroes and no one would ever remember it, if the story about that Year being a paradox was true.
It was sad in a way. But it was for the best, as far as Rose was concerned. No one needed to be reminded of the horror of it all.
“And you don’t blame me?” she asked timidly, afraid of his answer. “For doing that to Jack?” She certainly blamed herself.
“We all make mistakes,” he answered solemnly. “Hell, you should see the list of mine! But Martha’s right…Jack has Ianto now, and they have eternity.” Then he grinned. “That afterparty was the most fun I’d had in ages.”
“I don’t understand though,” Rose said, “how can Jack and Ianto have eternity together? I mean, Ianto’s just as mortal as everyone else, right?”
That earned her a sly grin from Martha. “Well, let’s just say Ianto’s nickname during that Year was extremely accurate.”
Rose’s eyes widened in shock. “Are you saying…?”
Clint shushed her. “Not everyone knows.” Then he mock-glared at Martha. “I’m not sure that should have been shared, Nightingale.”
“I don’t think they’ll mind Rose knowing, Hawkeye,” the woman sassed back. “Jack has always thought of Rose as his sister, and I think Ianto would want to personally thank her for bringing Jack into his life.”
Rose’s mind was spinning. Ianto Jones on this world wasn’t human? He was a dragon? How did that work? And how did the Jones on that alternate world end up being normal while this one was so very different?
“I think you broke her,” Clint teased.
“You okay?” Martha asked worriedly.
“I…” Rose was boggling at the information dump she’d brought on herself. “I know a Ianto Jones on that other Earth I’ve been living on, and he’s human!”
“From what I understand,” Martha said, “there are a lot of different Ianto Joneses out there in a lot of different universes. Most of them are human, but there are some who are different. Jack once told me that they ran into one that was actually the son of the TARDIS, of all things.”
Rose laughed. She couldn’t help herself. Just when she thought she might just understand the nature of things, her perceptions get tossed on their heads. It made her wonder if there were worlds out there where she was still the Bad Wolf…
Then she considered, “But that doesn’t really explain why the Doctor is so angry with Jack. Sure, I get that he thinks Jack is somehow wrong in the universe, but certainly that wouldn’t make the Doctor so mad…”
London
The Earth was deposited back to where it belonged, with very little damage done that Rose could see.
The atmosphere within the TARDIS was charged with excitement as the time machine landed. The original Doctor had the doors flung open even before the rotor had settled, and the rest of the crew were just happy to hug each other in sheer joy.
That was, of course, when Rose made her move.
Martha hugged her. “I’m so very pleased to meet you,” the other woman exclaimed. “He’s really missed you.”
Rose felt gratified that the Doctor had seemingly missed her as much as she had him. She returned the hug, but then pulled away. “I have to know…what happened between the Doctor and Jack?”
Martha’s smile faded, and the brightness in her eyes dimmed. “I’m not sure I should say anything…”
“I want to be able to fix it, and I can’t if I don’t know the facts.”
“Honestly, I’m not sure it can be fixed.” Martha sighed, and then pulled Rose off into a corner. “Look, I’m only telling you this because I think you need to know if you intend on trying to put their relationship back together, so you don’t accidentally step on any sort of proverbial landmine.” Martha paused, as if gathering her thoughts. “Okay. Everything dates back to the Gamestation…”
Rose felt herself go into shock as Martha explained what she knew about the trouble between Jack and the Doctor. The Doctor had left Jack behind on the Gamestation? “But why?”
“Because the Doctor can’t stand to look at him now,” Martha answered. “Something about him being a fixed point in space and time.”
“How is that even possible?”
Now Martha looked confused. “Because Jack’s immortal now.”
What?
Something in Rose’s face must have communicated her shock, because Martha’s eyes widened. “Wait…you mean you didn’t know about you bringing him back to life?”
“I remember that,” Rose exclaimed, her brain not yet processing what Martha had just said. “He’d been killed by the Daleks! It wasn’t right that Jack had died like that! But…immortal? What do you mean?”
“When you brought Jack back using the Vortex,” Martha said gently, her eyes full of terrible sympathy, “you brought him back forever. He can’t die…well, he can die, but he can’t stay dead.”
Rose thought back to the Crucible, how the Dalek had shot Jack…and how Jack had somehow survived. That had seemed like a miracle. Now, she knew the truth.
Tears threatened to fall, and Rose dashed them away. How could she have done something so horrible to the man who’d been her best friend? She’d only meant to bring him back to life that one time! It had been so unfair that he’d sacrificed himself, and Rose couldn’t stand the idea of someone as full of life as Jack Harkness being dead.
But what she’d done was horrific. She’d condemned Jack to an existence of loneliness; she could see that, just from her experience with the Doctor. Maybe it would have been best to have left him dead…
“No, don’t think that,” Martha said, once again interpreting her expression correctly. “Jack might have been unhappy at first, but now…he has someone he’ll be able to spend eternity with, and he’s probably one of the most content people I know.” She huffed a laugh. “In fact, those of us who know Jack and Ianto only wish we have the sort of relationship they do. We just celebrated their mating last month. It was one of the biggest blow-outs I’ve even been to!” She took Rose’s hand. “He wouldn’t have that if you hadn’t mistakenly made him the way he is.”
A weight lifted from Rose’s chest at that. The last thing she’d wanted to do was to hurt Jack, and to know that what she’d done had led him to true happiness…well, that just proved that there could be happily ever afters out there.
But…a mating? Did that mean Jack was actually committed to someone monogamously? It seemed so unreal to even consider that the confirmed bachelor and flirt had been tied down like that!
“I’m not saying it’s been easy for him,” Martha went on. “Jack went through some bad things when he discovered he couldn’t stay dead. One of the reasons he came to Cardiff was to see if he could find the Doctor, knowing he often refuelled the TARDIS from the Cardiff Rift. He spent over one hundred years waiting for the Doctor to show up, to get answers he didn’t have. And, when he finally did find a version of the Doctor he could interact with…”
She went on to tell Rose about what Martha called that Year, which had her almost sick with horror. Jack had been tortured by a madman who knew he couldn’t remain dead? Once again, the guilt settled over her, even though everything had turned out alright in the end Jack had to live with those memories of all those terrible acts the Master had perpetrated upon her friend.
And the Doctor hadn’t actually helped. He’d told Jack that he was wrong, of all things! It hadn’t been Jack’s fault that he was the way he was; it was hers, and what Rose had done out of love for a dear friend who’d given his life to make certain the Doctor had time to put his plan into action. What made this worse was that the Doctor, in the end, couldn’t do it, and so Jack had died for nothing.
But to understand that the Doctor blamed Jack…
Suddenly, Rose felt the need to apologise to Jack for her part in all of this.
Rose didn’t realise that they’d gained an audience until a hand rested on her shoulder, in a gesture of comfort. She glanced back to see Clint standing there, his own eyes shadowed. “Did you know about all this?”
“I knew about that Year,” he admitted. “You can’t hang around Torchwood for long without hearing stories about the Nightingale and the Dragon, and their exploits at walking the world in order to save it. I didn’t know about Jack being immortal, though it explains a lot.”
Now the short conversation she’d overheard on the sub-wave made sense. Martha was the Nightingale, while Ianto Jones was the Dragon. They’d been heroes and no one would ever remember it, if the story about that Year being a paradox was true.
It was sad in a way. But it was for the best, as far as Rose was concerned. No one needed to be reminded of the horror of it all.
“And you don’t blame me?” she asked timidly, afraid of his answer. “For doing that to Jack?” She certainly blamed herself.
“We all make mistakes,” he answered solemnly. “Hell, you should see the list of mine! But Martha’s right…Jack has Ianto now, and they have eternity.” Then he grinned. “That afterparty was the most fun I’d had in ages.”
“I don’t understand though,” Rose said, “how can Jack and Ianto have eternity together? I mean, Ianto’s just as mortal as everyone else, right?”
That earned her a sly grin from Martha. “Well, let’s just say Ianto’s nickname during that Year was extremely accurate.”
Rose’s eyes widened in shock. “Are you saying…?”
Clint shushed her. “Not everyone knows.” Then he mock-glared at Martha. “I’m not sure that should have been shared, Nightingale.”
“I don’t think they’ll mind Rose knowing, Hawkeye,” the woman sassed back. “Jack has always thought of Rose as his sister, and I think Ianto would want to personally thank her for bringing Jack into his life.”
Rose’s mind was spinning. Ianto Jones on this world wasn’t human? He was a dragon? How did that work? And how did the Jones on that alternate world end up being normal while this one was so very different?
“I think you broke her,” Clint teased.
“You okay?” Martha asked worriedly.
“I…” Rose was boggling at the information dump she’d brought on herself. “I know a Ianto Jones on that other Earth I’ve been living on, and he’s human!”
“From what I understand,” Martha said, “there are a lot of different Ianto Joneses out there in a lot of different universes. Most of them are human, but there are some who are different. Jack once told me that they ran into one that was actually the son of the TARDIS, of all things.”
Rose laughed. She couldn’t help herself. Just when she thought she might just understand the nature of things, her perceptions get tossed on their heads. It made her wonder if there were worlds out there where she was still the Bad Wolf…
Then she considered, “But that doesn’t really explain why the Doctor is so angry with Jack. Sure, I get that he thinks Jack is somehow wrong in the universe, but certainly that wouldn’t make the Doctor so mad…”