Doctor Who/Torchwood/Glee: Gravitational Pull (part 01)
Title: Gravitational Pull (part 01)
Author: percontata
Fandom: Doctor Who/Torchwood and Glee
Characters: Jack Harkness, Finn Hudson (eventually others as well, particularly The Doctor and Brittany, and maybe Donna)
Rating: PG-13, mostly for Jack's mouth.
Word count: 1,078
Warnings: Not really any spoilers for this first part, but up through S4 of Doctor Who in subsequent parts.
Disclaimer: Characters are not mine. I'm just having fun with them.
Summary: What if Lima were at the center of a psychic gravitational field? Also, Jack really hates Ohio. (Written in response to two prompts over at the Glee Fic!Battle)
Jack was beginning to think that he should permanently retire the use of his vortex manipulator. Certainly Tosh was brilliant with all manner of technology, but this damn device was still one fickle son of a bitch, even after her repairs.
And apparently vindictive. Ohio? Really? At least it was early 21st Century this time, but still. It wasn't as though this was the first time he'd been stranded in the middle of this cowtown. Although, that time it was courtesy of The Doctor marooning him in the eddies of time, for what felt like the millionth time. It was getting old. Older than him, and wasn't that saying something! Not that anyone else would notice, with the whole youthful-immortality thing he had going on.
Regardless. Jack had no intention of sticking around bloody Lima, Ohio again. He'd had a difficult enough time getting out the first time, and that was only after a few years of going undercover and slipping out through the cover of the military during the Gulf War.
Come to think of it, that was pretty odd. It was almost as though Lima were in the middle of some psychic gravitational field that discouraged anyone from actually leaving the place without extreme force of will...
Fuck.
Where was the The Doctor when you needed him?
* * *
Captain Jack Harkness stood out like a sore thumb. His period military greatcoat earned him more than a few odd looks from others waiting at the bus stop.
Oh yes. Waiting for the bus. Jack had forgotten about this quaint little aspect of civilian life. What he wouldn't do for the Torchwood SUV right about now... or better yet, access to the TARDIS.
But no. Here he was, surrounded by small-minded people in this small town in the middle of nowhere. Again. And, it seemed, now that he was aware of the psychic gravity ring surrounding the place, his desperate urge to get the hell out of town increased exponentially. Unfortunately, it seemed that being aware of the force initiated some sort of backup system to forcibly keep one within the psychic gravity field.
Or, in simpler terms: the bus was running so late that Jack was convinced it wasn't running at all, and it was just one more part in a grand conspiracy to keep him in Lima.
Jack started walking. He didn't know how far he'd get on foot before the psychic field would begin trying to physically restrain him, but he decided to be optimistic about it; maybe the force would diminish as his distance from the center of the field expanded.
Sure, he felt a twinge of guilt for not investigating further into the situation. After all, that sort of thing was involved in his job. But his focus was supposed to be on the activity around the rift in Cardiff, not some backwater American town, damn it. His urgency to get out overrode any compunction from a silly little thing like his conscience. Hadn't he beaten that thing to death decades ago, anyway?
So, yes. He had a plan. That plan involved getting out of Lima, returning to Cardiff, and possibly using remote technology to observe from a very large distance whatever was causing and maintaining this psychic gravitational field. Right.
As Jack continued on what was sure to be a very long walk, he passed the local high school, but paid it little mind. He was too busy thinking about how much he preferred Weevil hunting to this nonsense. At least with vicious alien beasts, you could at least physically do something to take the bastards out. It was intensely preferable to dealing with this vague psychic field and having its effects looming over him.
But now there was something else looming over him, too, and blocking his path. This dopey looking kid was just staring slack-jawed at Jack with this curious expression that became increasingly alarming for every second that he did not get out of Jack's way.
Suffice to say, Jack was getting a bit irritated.
What? What is he staring at? Christ, this whole fucking town...
But then, something clicked in Jack's head. He recognized that look. The confused look of someone who could just swear they'd seen you somewhere before.
And in his case, that meant trouble. Especially when he was in a place that he'd been in less than a lifetime ago.
The older people at the bus stop, sure, that made sense. They would have been around his apparent age, twenty years ago. They would have known him. Of course they would have, in a town like this.
But for a kid to recognize him?
Dread roiled in his stomach. Don't say anything, don't say anything. Oh hell, I shouldn't have made eye contact. Just keep walking...
"...Dad?"
Even while panicking internally, he summoned up as cool a look of indifference as he could, given the situation. But apparently his otherwise smooth skills failed him in moments of sheer terror. Damn it, this happened every time he found out about unexpected children he'd fathered.
He'd meant to say something snarky like, do I really look that old? But then he made the mistake of taking a good look at the kid. And damn it, he had that same confused, lost puppy look that Carole had when he'd first met her.
So of course the first thing to escape his mouth was an ineloquent, "Fuck."
That seemed to startle Finn into babbling his head off. "I mean, you look just like my dad did. Of course you couldn't really be him, he died a long time ago. But you really do look just like him, and..." He shrugged, and glanced back over his shoulder to a group of teens who were hanging back a ways. Probably his friends.
The acknowledgment of witnesses sent Jack's mind into a whirl. Shit, he'd have to cover this up. It was one thing to leave a so-called widow in his past, but a genetic trail could cause serious trouble if the wrong people caught wind of it. And from the way some of those other kids were eying him, he suspected that even the psychic gravity field wouldn't contain every whisper of this unless he did something about it. Simply running was not an option this time.
Jack groaned and rubbed his face, as if that would actually do anything about his rapidly growing headache.
He really fucking hated Ohio.
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Author: percontata
Fandom: Doctor Who/Torchwood and Glee
Characters: Jack Harkness, Finn Hudson (eventually others as well, particularly The Doctor and Brittany, and maybe Donna)
Rating: PG-13, mostly for Jack's mouth.
Word count: 1,078
Warnings: Not really any spoilers for this first part, but up through S4 of Doctor Who in subsequent parts.
Disclaimer: Characters are not mine. I'm just having fun with them.
Summary: What if Lima were at the center of a psychic gravitational field? Also, Jack really hates Ohio. (Written in response to two prompts over at the Glee Fic!Battle)
Jack was beginning to think that he should permanently retire the use of his vortex manipulator. Certainly Tosh was brilliant with all manner of technology, but this damn device was still one fickle son of a bitch, even after her repairs.
And apparently vindictive. Ohio? Really? At least it was early 21st Century this time, but still. It wasn't as though this was the first time he'd been stranded in the middle of this cowtown. Although, that time it was courtesy of The Doctor marooning him in the eddies of time, for what felt like the millionth time. It was getting old. Older than him, and wasn't that saying something! Not that anyone else would notice, with the whole youthful-immortality thing he had going on.
Regardless. Jack had no intention of sticking around bloody Lima, Ohio again. He'd had a difficult enough time getting out the first time, and that was only after a few years of going undercover and slipping out through the cover of the military during the Gulf War.
Come to think of it, that was pretty odd. It was almost as though Lima were in the middle of some psychic gravitational field that discouraged anyone from actually leaving the place without extreme force of will...
Fuck.
Where was the The Doctor when you needed him?
* * *
Captain Jack Harkness stood out like a sore thumb. His period military greatcoat earned him more than a few odd looks from others waiting at the bus stop.
Oh yes. Waiting for the bus. Jack had forgotten about this quaint little aspect of civilian life. What he wouldn't do for the Torchwood SUV right about now... or better yet, access to the TARDIS.
But no. Here he was, surrounded by small-minded people in this small town in the middle of nowhere. Again. And, it seemed, now that he was aware of the psychic gravity ring surrounding the place, his desperate urge to get the hell out of town increased exponentially. Unfortunately, it seemed that being aware of the force initiated some sort of backup system to forcibly keep one within the psychic gravity field.
Or, in simpler terms: the bus was running so late that Jack was convinced it wasn't running at all, and it was just one more part in a grand conspiracy to keep him in Lima.
Jack started walking. He didn't know how far he'd get on foot before the psychic field would begin trying to physically restrain him, but he decided to be optimistic about it; maybe the force would diminish as his distance from the center of the field expanded.
Sure, he felt a twinge of guilt for not investigating further into the situation. After all, that sort of thing was involved in his job. But his focus was supposed to be on the activity around the rift in Cardiff, not some backwater American town, damn it. His urgency to get out overrode any compunction from a silly little thing like his conscience. Hadn't he beaten that thing to death decades ago, anyway?
So, yes. He had a plan. That plan involved getting out of Lima, returning to Cardiff, and possibly using remote technology to observe from a very large distance whatever was causing and maintaining this psychic gravitational field. Right.
As Jack continued on what was sure to be a very long walk, he passed the local high school, but paid it little mind. He was too busy thinking about how much he preferred Weevil hunting to this nonsense. At least with vicious alien beasts, you could at least physically do something to take the bastards out. It was intensely preferable to dealing with this vague psychic field and having its effects looming over him.
But now there was something else looming over him, too, and blocking his path. This dopey looking kid was just staring slack-jawed at Jack with this curious expression that became increasingly alarming for every second that he did not get out of Jack's way.
Suffice to say, Jack was getting a bit irritated.
What? What is he staring at? Christ, this whole fucking town...
But then, something clicked in Jack's head. He recognized that look. The confused look of someone who could just swear they'd seen you somewhere before.
And in his case, that meant trouble. Especially when he was in a place that he'd been in less than a lifetime ago.
The older people at the bus stop, sure, that made sense. They would have been around his apparent age, twenty years ago. They would have known him. Of course they would have, in a town like this.
But for a kid to recognize him?
Dread roiled in his stomach. Don't say anything, don't say anything. Oh hell, I shouldn't have made eye contact. Just keep walking...
"...Dad?"
Even while panicking internally, he summoned up as cool a look of indifference as he could, given the situation. But apparently his otherwise smooth skills failed him in moments of sheer terror. Damn it, this happened every time he found out about unexpected children he'd fathered.
He'd meant to say something snarky like, do I really look that old? But then he made the mistake of taking a good look at the kid. And damn it, he had that same confused, lost puppy look that Carole had when he'd first met her.
So of course the first thing to escape his mouth was an ineloquent, "Fuck."
That seemed to startle Finn into babbling his head off. "I mean, you look just like my dad did. Of course you couldn't really be him, he died a long time ago. But you really do look just like him, and..." He shrugged, and glanced back over his shoulder to a group of teens who were hanging back a ways. Probably his friends.
The acknowledgment of witnesses sent Jack's mind into a whirl. Shit, he'd have to cover this up. It was one thing to leave a so-called widow in his past, but a genetic trail could cause serious trouble if the wrong people caught wind of it. And from the way some of those other kids were eying him, he suspected that even the psychic gravity field wouldn't contain every whisper of this unless he did something about it. Simply running was not an option this time.
Jack groaned and rubbed his face, as if that would actually do anything about his rapidly growing headache.
He really fucking hated Ohio.
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