Can-Can Cariad (Part 5/6)
Title: Can-Can, Cariad!
Author: vittani
Written for: reel_torchwood.
Beta: madbottoms
Prompt: Moulin Rouge
Pairing(s): Jack/Ianto, Tosh/Owen. Mentioned Gwen/Rhys.
Rating: Let’s say NC17, there is a sex scene but it’s probably more laughable than erotic.
Warnings: Character death (not Jack or Ianto), sexual situations.
Spoilers: Spoilers for the film Moulin Rouge and a few basic details of Torchwood, i.e. Jack being a Time Agent. Ooh yeah and there’s a small Wizard of Oz reference. ^_^
Word Count: 19,307
Disclaimer: I do not own Torchwood and I certainly don’t own Moulin Rouge (or Wizard of Oz). All of the songs mentioned in this fic do not belong to me either, they belong to their respective owners. I’m just borrowing them much like they did in Moulin Rouge.
A/N: In Moulin Rouge the Argentinean suffers from Narcolepsy, I don’t know much about this disorder or so I decided to stick with what is portrayed in the film. If it is inaccurate then I apologise.
Summary: After leaving the Time Agency all Jack Harkness wants is to be a writer. The problem? He has no muse! And he’s never been in love! Will a visit to the Moulin Rouge in the city of New Paris change all that?
A/N2... Thank you to the wonderful Madbottoms for betaing for me on short notice ^_^
Um is anyone else having problems with livejournal cut or is it just me? Has something been changed that I don't know about?
Chapter Five
Jack was watching from the wings. He took in every detail of the Moulin Rouge this night and knew he’d never forget it.
The tables were draped in black, and black and white roses graced each table. The curtains and drapes were all black and gauzy, which floated in the artificial breezes they’d set up, and glittered at odd times when a light made a pattern of stars or clouds upon it.
Here and there, dressed in their finery, their patrons were clutching programs bearing the title...
Doctor Who?
By Jack Harkness
And beneath a picture of a spinning blue box and a galaxy of stars were the words...
This performance is dedicated to John Hart.
He wished John could have been here for this.
***********************
Everyone had taken their seats, the scenes were set and the actors were ready. And Jack prepared himself, this could make or break them. He liked the play, Ianto and Tosh liked it... even Owen did, which really was saying something. But would their customer’s like it?
But as the music began playing, he forgot his worries and got lost in the story.
Sad music played and a young man named Andy, in his first ever role as the narrator, stepped up and began. As he did so, pictures appeared behind him on a large screen.
“There was a man, a very strange, enchanting man,” Andy sang is a sweet soprano while images of Ianto played on the screen. “They say he wandered very far, very far, over land and sea.”
The images changed to show Ianto in his role of the Doctor, travelling, meeting fantastical people, saving them and their worlds.
“A little shy and sad of eye but very wise was he.”
Separate scenes passed of Tosh and Ianto in their respective roles, showing their lives without each other. How sad and lonely they were, how they only went through the motions of existing. Never really living.
“And then one day, a magic day, he passed her way and while they spoke of many things, fools and kings... this he said to her - ‘The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return’."
As the final words were sung, Jack turned and smiled at Ianto. Ianto gave him a soft smile in return before turning to Tosh and giving her a kiss on the cheek for luck. She was on.
***********************
It was clear that the patrons of the Rouge loved Ianto, they always had adored him, and rightfully so. But never before had he shared the spotlight. It wasn’t his fault of course, and neither was it John’s, the man could hardly be blamed for giving the public what they wanted. But even though they hadn’t had a scene together yet, there was a depth and an intensity to Ianto’s performance that hadn’t been there before. He worked better with someone rather than when alone. It was clear he was enjoying himself and that he couldn’t wait for his and Tosh’s first scene together.
But for now, he was content to stand in Jack’s arms backstage as they watched Tosh enter for her first ever solo song.
Soft, sweet music began. The lights came up and they watched from the sidelines as Tosh began wandering through the scene that was Rose’s backyard, just having got home from work and having had a very ordinary and boring day. The scenery was once again stunning. It was a moonlit night, trees and plants of old Earth, and a winding stone path.
Tosh’s voice was low and slightly wavering when she began. It wasn’t note perfect or strong, which was rather the point. She sounded half defeated, half alone, utterly perfect.
“I follow the night. Can't stand the light. When will I begin... to live again?”
Tosh was playing her part beautifully. Rose, the young shop girl, bored of the life she led and not knowing how to get away from it, but hoping and dreaming that one day she would. A dream that she’d travel the world and the stars. Her voice became stronger with that hope.
“One day I'll fly away.” She sat down on her garden bench and sang to the sky. “Leave all this to yesterday.”
She looked off to the right where another house and a window could be seen. It was a video screen showing her very ordinary boyfriend, Mickey Smith.
“What more could your love do for me? When will love be through with me? Why live life from dream to dream... And dread the day when dreaming ends?”
As the music rose, you could see her determination grow with it, until she stood up suddenly and belted the next lines, perfectly matching the music. It was beautiful.
“One day I'll fly away! Leave all this to yesterday. Why live life from dream to dream?”
Her voice dropped low again as she remembered she had no guarantee of ever doing that and no prospects. “And dread the day when dreaming ends.”
Her last few notes were sung again in her lower register, trailing off at the end as the scene darkened. “One day I'll fly away. Fly, fly away.”
The applause was thunderous.
***********************
Ianto’s first scene with Tosh was next. This was the one where the two finally meet. And where the story truly came alive for Jack. There were moments from this point onwards where he forgot he was watching a play that he’d written. He got caught up in the story, it grabbed a hold of him and didn’t let him go. Sometimes he didn’t even see Ianto and Tosh out there but the Doctor and Rose on one of their adventures.
Jack had been undecided about this scene at first but he’d quickly changed his mind when it was performed. He’d originally wanted to write the Doctor as a man who ran from everyone and everything eventually. A man with a horrible past who ran away to forget it, who made friends but left them when they got close but the more he wrote, the more he came to like his character. In the end he decided he’d been mean enough to the man, so he had the Doctor do the opposite of what he’d always done and fall in love at first sight.
He laughed as Ianto and Tosh literally ran into each other. Tosh’s character Rose running away from the various cast members dressed up as ‘living’ plastic and Ianto’s character, the Doctor ,having been running towards them, the two had collided when they rounded the same corner.
It was perfectly done, the right amount of eye contact and staring before the moment was intruded upon and both realised they were still in danger. Ianto stood and offered his hand, which Tosh hesitantly took. And both of them ran, round corridors and over obstacles and up the stairs to the roof of the building that the Rouge’s amazing sentient floor had created for them. He freely admitted he’d gotten the idea for the ‘living’ plastic from that floor.
They’d long since left the ‘living’ plastic mannequins behind when they burst out onto the roof. They barricaded the door and Rose turned around to see the Doctor, silhouetted by the stars and an old 1950s police box next to him.
Ianto truly looked ethereal as he stood there, bathed in moonlight.
Jack listened and laughed along with the crowd. It didn't matter that they were his words. Sometimes he laughed harder because they were his own words.
The story slowly unfolded. Part real and part effects but stunning none the less. Tosh, or he should say Rose, spoke of her dull life, her boredom.. With every word Rose spoke, the Doctor fell more in love with her, and realised he’d finally met a kindred spirit. Someone like him who wanted to see other worlds, someone who loved the mystery and the adventure of it, someone who’d never tire of it. A true companion.
Yes, the Doctor was in love. And it was something he’d never truly felt before, or understood. At least, not until now.
Jack held his breath as Ianto began to sing, he had a wonderful voice. It was just a shame that they’d cut most of the lyrics from this song. They’d wrote it together, as they’d done with every song but hadn’t realised they’d gotten a little carried away and it didn't completely fit with the moment it was meant for. Not all of it anyway.
“It's a little bit funny, this feeling inside,” The Doctor sang softly, as much to himself as to Rose. “I'm not one of those, who can easily hide. I know it’s not much, but it's the best I can do.”
“Love?” Rose sang softly, her words a question and her voice full of hope. She reached out a hand, which the Doctor took and used to pull her from the shadows. Still holding her hand he started singing again.
“It may be quite simple but now that it's done, I hope you don't mind. I hope you don't mind that I put down in words, how wonderful life is... now you're in the world”
Rose blushed and looked down. So Ianto lifted her chin with his other hand as he drew her closer and they began to dance around the blue box, the moon bathing them in its spotlight.
As they waltzed around the roof, the Doctor continued to sing directly to her. It was beautiful and romantic and everything Jack had wanted when he wrote it.
“I sat on the roof and I kicked off the moss, well some of these verses, well they, they’ve got me quite cross. But the sun's been kind while I wrote this song, it's for people like you that keep it turned on.”
As they danced, they drew nearer and nearer, Jack marvelling at his partner’s grace. Ianto’s voice was soaring and diving around the music, as the music dipped and rose, not always at the same time as his voice.
“So excuse me forgetting, but these things I do. You see I've forgotten, if they're green or they're blue.”
He thought that was the perfect line for the Doctor. He wasn’t a man who remembered certain things well. How to wire a fusion drive transport or dismantle a nuclear weapon, yes, those he could do. But remembering a date, getting there on time, no, those weren’t things he remembered well. That was why he loved that line, he was basically telling Rose that he was useless at romance and would forget things, like her birthday or their anniversary but also begging forgiveness for these future events all at the same time. Because he may forget, that was who he was, but he loved her.
“Anyway the thing is, what I really mean... yours are the sweetest eyes, I've ever seen!” It amazed him how high Ianto’s voice went at the end of that line.
And that line was another favourite, it added more to the last, this time the Doctor was assuring Rose of his love for her, that he meant everything he said. He wasn’t perfect, but no man was. That didn't mean he didn't love her.
The music rose, higher and higher, it almost sounded too dramatic for the soft words but it wasn’t. Ianto’s words continued to rise and dip at odd moments, adding a magic feel to the moment.
“And you can tell everybody that this is your song. It may be quite simple but now that it's done, I hope you don't mind, I hope you don't mind that I put down in words... how wonderful life is, now you're in the world.”
As the music wound to a close, the couple stopped whirling and came to a stop near the TARDIS door.
“I hope you don’t mind, I hope you don’t mind that I put down in words... how wonderful life it, now you’re in the world...”
And the moment Ianto ended his song Tosh pulled him into a kiss. And as the lights once again faded and the applause started, the door to the TARDIS opened and they stepped inside together.
He didn't feel jealous, he never had. He’d been watching them kiss in rehearsal for weeks but that didn’t mean he didn't want a kiss of his own. He smirked, he didn't need an excuse but he’d take any chance he could get to kiss Ianto Jones.
As the house lights came up for the interval (there’d been no early performance this night), in which a meal and drinks would be served to the patrons, he went backstage to where the door to the TARDIS had let them out and pulled both of them into an embrace. It was going so well. At least he hoped so, there was a load of loud chatter coming through the curtains.
That was a good sign, right?
***********************
When the house lights had gone off and the show resumed, the patrons had seen their first glimpse of the inside of the TARDIS. The art department had truly done wonderfully with that. It was bigger on the inside with fantastical structures and colours, almost like a living thing. There was an odd console in the centre, eclectic and mismatched, just like the Doctor. And inside it the Doctor and Rose grew even closer as they figured out a way to destroy the ‘living’ plastic.
The Doctor warned Rose that it was dangerous, that she could be hurt or even die but Rose just said, “Come what may.”
And that led into the most beautiful scene he’d ever witnessed, he credited Ianto for this more than he did himself. Ianto had found the music for this song, he’d began the words. Sang of his love and Jack had picked up the melody and sang out his own feelings. That they were a perfect fit for the Doctor and Rose was a plus they hadn’t thought about while singing to each other. It was only the next day when they actually checked the recording and listened back to the song that it hit them how perfect this truly was. He found himself singing along with every word that came from Ianto’s mouth and though Tosh was singing his parts he still felt as though he were singing it.
Several lines stood out more than others though.
Never knew I could feel like this.
That was very true. Never in his life had he ever expected to feel like this for one person. He never thought he’d find someone who could love him this much. Ianto was truly unique.
Come what may, I will love you until my dying day.
Whatever happened between them, he knew he would love Ianto for his whole life. Suddenly the world did seem such a perfect place. And it did now revolve all around Ianto. Until the end of time wasn’t just a line for the Doctor, it was for them too.
Ianto and Tosh finished the song together much like he and Ianto had done. They smiled at each other, kissed once more and went right back to planning the destruction of the living plastic.
It was a fun scene when the two made the creatures melt, the leader crying out, “I’m melting! Melting!” Reminiscent of an old movie Jack had seen once.
But Rose had almost died, a serious note in the midst of the humour. She’d nearly fallen and been swallowed up by the melted plastic before it disappeared for good.
And now the Doctor’s fears were setting in. Could he risk taking her with him, would she die and leave him? Even if she didn't die as a result of an adventure, she wouldn’t live forever Was it better to leave her on Earth and let her live out her whole life there, untroubled?
The Doctor didn't know.
But there would be one more journey in the TARDIS before he had to decide. Rose had talked him into one trip to celebrate.
And so they’d travelled, to a well known nightclub known as the Moulin Rouge. Everyone had gotten a chuckle out of that.
And so Rose danced, she joined in with the dancers of the Rouge as the Doctor watched on from the sidelines where he nursed a glass of water. He didn’t know what to do.
He was confused, he was upset. He was in love and there she was now dancing with another man. Not indecently but not quite so innocently either but that was more thanks to the man she danced with.
An old enemy of the Doctor’s, named the Master. A Timelord that wasn’t quite a Timelord because he didn't have a TARDIS and spent a lot of his time trying to steal the Doctor’s.
The man playing the Master, was Owen Harper. He liked to play the bad guys. Because of his slightly abrasive personality, few good guy roles were open to him. He wasn’t the type of man who played the hero you could fall in love with. He was more suited to the role of the hero’s best friend or the villain of the piece.
It was here that things took a more dramatic turn.
It would have been so easy to keep things innocent, to not have anything more grown up. It could have very easily been kept suitable for all ages. But not if it was performed here.
So he watched, as everything suddenly became more intense, harsher.
“We have a dance!” The Master shouted, moving Rose closer to him, holding her tightly, seductively. “Tells the story of a prostitute. And a man... who falls in love... with her.”
At the bar, the Doctor stiffened.
“First there is desire.”
The Master spun Rose in place so that her back was against his chest. “Then... passion!” He ran his hand down her chest to her stomach. This being one of the reasons he’d cast Owen as the Master, so as not be killed for having another man touch her.
“Then... suspicion!” Owen whirled into a violent spin, Tosh just going with the motion. Hardly reacting, like she wasn’t all there, like she was in a trance.
“Jealousy! Anger! Betrayal!” Owen yelled each as he started the steps of a dance, a tango. “Where love is for the highest bidder, there can be no trust! Without trust, there is no love!”
The Master now set about destroying the Doctor’s hopes and ideals and Rose helped him by doing nothing.
“Jealousy.”
Clutching and grasping.
“Yes, jealousy...”
Spinning and whirling.
“Will drive you... mad!”
He dipped her and took a kiss.
“Rose!”
Ianto’s shout, his despair, it cut through the music, bringing it down low. The drama still thick.
“His eyes upon your face. His hand upon your hand. His lips caress your skin,” Ianto spoke brokenly. “It's more than I can stand!” he screamed.
And now Ianto and Owen started a strange duet, as he paced around the dancers with Owen and Tosh, as the Master and Rose, in the centre, surrounded by a writhing mass of bodies.
“Why does my heart cry?” Ianto sang powerfully.
“Rose,” Owen sang, entreatingly, when she almost turned away.
“Feelings I can't fight!” Ianto cried.
“Rose!” came a hissed command.
“You're free to leave me, but just don't deceive me, and please believe me when I say I love you.”
Ianto was walking away now, not looking at Tosh, who as Rose was trapped in the Master’s embrace, beginning to fight him, desperate to get away. But Ianto wasn’t seeing it.
“Rose!” the Master screamed, fighting harder to hold her as a violin played several discordant notes.
It was clear now that the Master had been controlling Rose, beguiling her and leading her with his voice. But the Doctor didn't notice, too lost in his misery.
The music seemed to burst, the sound, the pain his characters were feeling too big to be contained.
“Why does my heart cry? Feelings I can't fight”
Behind their words the ensemble cast took up the words, repeating and intermixing the words.
As Ianto left the room, Tosh punched Owen and Owen fell to the floor. He watched completely enthralled by their performance as Rose left the Master there and ran after the Doctor.
Darkness descended and the crowd cheered.
***********************
Jack greeted Ianto first as he came through, and they hugged, crushing each other with the strength of their embracing, slapping each other’s backs, flushed with their success. The euphoria was intoxicating, it was all going so well. And after this short scene of Tosh’s there’d just be the finale to go.
Out on the stage, the scenery had changed and Tosh reprised her song ‘One Day I’ll Fly Away’. She sang it to the TARDIS, having surprisingly beaten the Doctor back having seemingly gone for a walk. Rose had been explaining how she’d felt during her dance with the Master, that she’d been unable to think or to do anything really. And it was the TARDIS, who was a living entity, comforting her.
After a few moments more, Rose stiffened her resolve and went off to find her Doctor. But it wasn’t him who she found first. It was the Master, who it seemed was still able to control her. He put invisible restraints on Rose and sat her on a divan in the middle of the room, he swept a curtain about her to hide her from view and the lights faded with the sweep.
Jack thought this was very dramatic if he did say so himself.
As the room went black, it began to change, to reflect the environment for the final scene. At this time, Tosh stepped backstage to take a drink of water. And that was when it happened. It was like something from a movie, she just keeled over backwards, luckily Owen, who was always close by, managed to catch her.
“Well, that’s timing,” he said, glancing from Ianto to Jack. “What do we do now? We can’t swap stars in the final scene.”
“We’ll have to do,” Jack said.
“But none of the girls are here and they need to be on now!” Owen almost shouted but remembered where he was in time.
Jack was stumped. He glanced at Ianto who suddenly started laughing.
“I have an idea.” He smirked, before whispering in Jack’s ear.
***********************
Jack couldn't believe what was happening, he was sat, pretending to be bound behind a curtain ready to take Tosh’s place.
He could hear the music playing, the scene had reopened in the Moulin Rouge with the dancers all doing the Can-Can to celebrate the Master’s victory over the Doctor.
There wasn’t much they could do to explain what was going to happen but Ianto’s solution would no doubt tickle the fancies of the patrons.
The music ceased, it was at this moment that the Doctor re-entered the Rouge.
There was a confrontation, shouting, the Master bragging, saying that the one the Doctor loved now loved him.
The Doctor, used to loss, believed him.
To drive the point home, the Master swept back the curtain to reveal Rose (Jack) seated there. Bound by invisible restraints, he looked like he was staying of his own free will, to the Doctor at any rate.
“Though you have changed her sex, I know it is still my Rose.” Ianto shook his head in sorrow.
The patrons understood of course, the details of Tosh’s disorder were an open secret. The information having filtered down to the patrons over the years but they laughed good naturedly and accepted their absurd explanation nonetheless.
Through it all, Jack sat there serenely, controlled again, unable to move as Ianto walked closer through a makeshift aisle of stunned dancers. He had to remember that the next words were for Rose, not for him, if he didn’t focus on that fact he would likely forget his own words.
“You betrayed me!” the Doctor accused. “Used me for a free trip to the stars.” he scoffed. “Well, you got your wish. Thank you for curing me of my ridiculous obsession with love.”
He threw galactic credits at his feet, unable to leave him without something, and turned and walked away back down the corridor of bodies.
Now he was on. He hoped he was a good enough actor.
With each step Ianto took away from him he realised he wouldn’t have to act. Panic and desperation crossed his features. It wasn’t hard to get those particular emotions, all he had to do was imagine Ianto leaving him for real, just like this and he was terrified. He fought the bonds, pretending to break them.
It wasn’t the Master now who rushed up to him now, it was who Owen rushed up to him, trying to calm him, to get him back under control but he wouldn’t be controlled anymore, he pushed him away.
Ianto had walked past the audience now, he was walking slowly, waiting for Jack to start singing, then he would come back through the crowd, singing along with him.
It was a beautiful idea, now if they could only pull it off.
He thought back to how he’d felt when he’d sung these words with Ianto for the first time. He ignored the crowd and started singing, his voice low and quiet but echoing in the absolute stillness of the room.
“Never knew... I could, feel like this... It's like I've never seen the sky before. Want to vanish inside your kiss. Every day I'm loving you more and more.” With each word, his voice had gotten stronger and now he sang his heart out. “Listen to my heart, can you hear it sing? Come back to me, and forgive everything!”
The audience gasped at the sheer desperation in his voice. After such an outburst, he had to sing softly again, this time begging Ianto to turn around.
“Seasons may change, winter to spring.”
Ianto had turned to look at him now, and Jack almost felt like he wasn’t on stage surrounded by all these people. He was alone with Ianto, it was just the two of them.
The next words were spoken, a declaration that brought many awe’s from the ladies of the crowd. “I love you... 'Till the end of time.”
“Come what may,” Ianto sang softly. His character, the Doctor hardly daring to believe what ‘Rose’ was singing to him. “Come what may,” he sang again, the shock giving way to elation. “Come what may. Come what may! I will love you!”
“I will love you!” Jack sang back, feeling the hope that ‘Rose’ would be feeling at seeing the Doctor walking back towards her.
“Until my dying day,” Ianto sang over him.
For the final words, they sang together again as Ianto took his last few steps towards him. “Come what may... I will love you until my dying...”
Unlike in every rehearsal they didn't say the last word, too overcome by the emotions they’d projected into their song. Instead they ended with a passionate kiss.
They pulled back to stare into each other’s eyes, ignoring the applause and the cheers that had already started, these last words were just for them.
“I will love you, until my dying day!”
***********************
Next Part.... http://vittani.livejournal.com/16393.html