OT3 Ficathon Fic: Technically Hitched 1/3?
Story: Technically Hitched
Author: wmr wendymr
Characters: Ninth Doctor, Rose Tyler, Jack Harkness
Rated: Mature
Disclaimer: Not mine; just borrowing them for a while
Summary: They've had to do some strange things to get out of trouble, but this may be the oddest yet.
Written for the 2009 OT3 ficathon for
joanne_c, prompt will appear at the end of the story. With many, many thanks to
dark_aegis, as always, for BRing and encouragement.
Technically Hitched
Chapter 1: In Suspense
“It’ll be all right,” she says.
“Sure it will,” Jack replies, for what has to be the twentieth time since they were separated from the Doctor and thrown into this damp, smelly cell and handcuffed to the walls, arms above their heads, barely managing to brace their feet on the hard stone floor. Well, she can brace her feet, just about. Jack’s not so lucky; he’s being punished for daring to resist arrest.
“He’ll sort it. You know the Doctor.”
“Yeah. No problem for him. He’ll be back in no time-”
“Probably already havin’ a cuppa an’ tellin’ them all how useless their tech is an’ upgradin’ it for them.”
“Yeah.” Jack laughs, though she knows it’s forced. They’ve been here at least four hours, after all, and they haven’t seen the Doctor since he was dragged away from them, heavy chains being wrapped around him as their captors took him.
“You all right?” She’s asked him that before, too, and each time he’s said he’s fine. She knows he’s not, though. The room’s got no windows, so she can’t see him, and he’s chained several feet from her so she can’t touch him - but she can hear him. His voice is a lot weaker than it was earlier, and she’s heard him shuffling around and rattling his chains. Trying to get free, she assumed earlier; now, she’s sure it’s because he’s in pain and trying to get more comfortable. And now she thinks of it, she remembers that their captors beat him when he tried to stop them dragging the Doctor away. He put himself between her and the guards, as well, protecting her.
On top of her worry about both Jack and the Doctor, the most frustrating thing is not even knowing why they were arrested. One minute they were walking along a main street in what the Doctor assured them is this planet’s most beautiful city, just sightseeing and enjoying each other’s company, and the next armed guards descended on them out of nowhere and bundled them into a sealed transport vehicle.
And then, when they reached the jail, the guards demanded that they identify their leader; once the Doctor stepped forward - to prevent her and Jack getting beaten - the guards forced him out of the room, despite Jack’s efforts to stop them.
She really shouldn’t be making Jack exert what little energy he’s got on talking to her, but on the other hand his voice is the only thing she’s got to keep her tied to sanity, to hope. She needs him. Needs the Doctor too, but he’s not here so she needs Jack more at the moment to stop her imagining all the awful things that could have happened to the missing third member of their team. The most important member of their team.
“Always,” he says, but there’s a weariness in his voice that she knows is hiding pain and worry. He’s hurting - god, what did they do to him? “Come on, sweetheart.” Suddenly, he’s much more upbeat, but she knows he’s only doing it for her sake. “We’re gonna get out of here soon, you know that. He’s gonna come barrelling in as usual and rescue us.”
“Yeah, and we’ll end up running for our lives back to the TARDIS, pursued by an angry mob. As usual.” If Jack can try, she can too.
“Right. And once we’re safely inside...” The pitch of his voice drops. “I’ll be looking for some more of what you did to me this morning. And this time I want to watch you do it to him, too.”
Even though she knows he’s only trying to make her feel better, her insides heat at his words. Oh, god, yes. That. Yes, and more: the Doctor kissing her breath away, his hands moulding her body while his body slid into hers over and over. Jack kissing both of them, waiting his turn to have her, to have the Doctor. And, the part that makes her legs tremble even now, the Doctor taking Jack as Jack made love to her.
It’s only when her shoulders are nearly yanked out of her sockets and she cries out in pain that she’s dragged back to the present, away from the memories of last night and the night before, the three of them in the Doctor’s bed.
“Rose?” Jack sounds alarmed. “You okay?”
“Yeah. Yeah, ‘m all right. Just lost my balance for a sec, that’s all.”
“Okay.” He’s still sounding concerned. “As long as that’s all it is.”
“It is. Promise.”
“God, if only I could find a way out of these damn handcuffs! This is so not how I wanted to be wearing handcuffs in a room alone with you.”
“Me too.” Her frustration echoes Jack’s. She’s not going to be able to use her arms for hours once they get out of this. She’ll be lucky if she doesn’t have a dislocated shoulder.
“Oh, yeah, that’s right. Remind me.”
“What about?”
“The other day. How I was completely useless. First I got us lost, then I got sand in my blaster and almost got killed by those Klibaxans before you ended up rescuing me.”
Despite the fire running up and down her shoulders and arms, she can’t help grinning. “Didn’t hear you complainin’ at the time.”
This time, the smile she hears in Jack’s voice is genuine. “Guess not, now that you mention it.”
***
No, he didn’t complain. Far from it, because that’s how it all started.
Their landing on Klibax two days ago was one of those accidents that seem to happen a lot in the TARDIS. The Doctor blames it on the ship being older than he is; Rose says the Doctor must have lied about passing his driving test. Probably a bit of both, really. Whatever it was this time, they hadn’t meant to go to Klibax, but that was where they ended up.
Just as they finished materialising, sparks flew from the console - nothing too unusual, that - followed by a loud bang and a cloud of smoke. The Doctor immediately and grumpily announced that that would mean a couple of hours’ repair-work, and that the two of them should go and do the tourist bit while he worked. He immediately offered to stay and help; these days, the Doctor’s actually letting him get his hands dirty around the TARDIS as much as he wants. But the Doctor shook his head.
“Nah. You go wi’ Rose. She’s not seen a dual-solar planet before, so she shouldn’t miss the chance. Go with her an’ look after her.” Look after her translated, of course, into keeping her alive, out of danger and mischief, and getting her back to the ship on time. “Be fine on my own, me.”
Of course it was all his fault. For once, he got to play the tour guide, the one who got to impress Rose with all his local knowledge and expertise. He was so busy telling her everything he knew and making up what he didn’t that he never even noticed when the path suddenly dropped away from them. He went flying onto warm, powdery sand, and then when he stumbled and fumbled getting to his feet again he knocked his blaster from its holster. Yeah, he was a complete idiot. Worse than a rookie Agent.
As if falling flat on his face wasn’t bad enough, he then got them lost. That was just stupid, considering he was using his wrist-computer for navigation. Rose was patient to begin with, but by the third time they passed the same conically-shaped rock close to a clump of trees she was eying him suspiciously. He was just about to stop and admit that he needed to take his bearings when something made him shiver from head to toe.
“Did you feel that?” Rose clutched his hand tighter. “What was that?”
“No idea.” He stopped, taking up a protective stance next to her while scanning the area. He couldn’t see anything, of course, and the odd chill was gone.
Later, of course, the Doctor told them that they’d walked through a time bubble. But then neither of them had no idea what had happened and they decided to ignore it and carry on walking... which was his third mistake.
A mistake because, just minutes later, the uneasy feeling that had served him well throughout his years in the Time Agency and beyond set his senses tingling.
“Rose...” He tightened his grip on her hand again, preparing to warn her - about what, he had no idea.
“Don’t think they look very friendly, Jack - do you?” Her fingers squeezed his in return and her head jerked ahead and to the right.
They didn’t. Three Klibaxans, weapons pointed in their direction, were standing just a few metres away. Not military or police, he knew with less than a second’s assessment. They were too disorderly for that, both in appearance and behaviour. There was no formation to the way they were standing; no attempt to cover all escape-routes or manage their weapons safely. But they were definitely intent on making trouble.
And, of course, his blaster was full of sand and completely useless. Then, too, he realised his fourth mistake: he hadn’t calibrated his Vortex manipulator to this planet. So no chance of teleporting back to the TARDIS.
He had barely any time to think. Sheer adrenaline made him shove Rose behind him and order her, in a fierce whisper, to run. “And don’t argue!” he added as he could feel her start to protest. To cover her, as he desperately hoped she would make for the cover of the trees and rocks just behind them, he took a couple of deliberately-swaggering steps forward, hands on his hips, doing his best to hold the Klibaxans’ attention.
The only good thing about the entire escapade was that she did run.
Which left him to face the Klibaxans unarmed. Not anything he hadn’t faced before, and he’d survived unscathed - well, more or less - each time. So he summoned one of his most flirtatious smiles. “See something you like, boys?”
The answer was apparently no, judging by the three weapons now primed and ready to shoot, all focused on his head. And there was no escape in sight. Nowhere to run that wouldn’t compromise Rose’s safety, and in any case he’d get his head blown off if he tried.
He raised his hands in the classic don’t shoot gesture. “Hey, now, I’m no threat to you. Just a visitor, that’s all. Let me go and I’ll walk right on out of your way without looking back.”
“You are a sorcerer. Dangerous,” one of them said, the tallest of the three, and his expression just got meaner, if that was even possible. The Klibaxans are bear-like creatures, for all they stand on two legs. At least eight feet tall, with sharp pointed teeth and claws.
“Me?” He drew on another smile. “A sorcerer? Nah, I’m just an ordinary human.”
“Sorcerer. You appeared out of thin air, you and your mate. No normal person can do that,” the Klibaxan countered.
“Huh?” He frowned; what the hell had they seen?
And then the one who spoke made a gesture with his paw which was clearly an order. An order to shoot.
“Jack!” Rose yelled. “Run!”
He ducked and rolled; bullets flew; and simultaneously something else flew through the air, smashing into the tallest Klibaxan and immediately causing chaos. Insects were everywhere, and all three Klibaxans were batting furiously at their bodies, dropping their weapons and jumping around as if they were on fire.
A wasp’s nest - or something very similar. Crude, but effective. He didn’t waste a second, breaking into a run, preparing to throw himself into the nearest ditch or behind whatever cover he could see - nowhere near Rose, of course - that would give him a chance to regroup.
And then there was a crash from behind him; still running, he looked back over his shoulder to see a large branch had somehow fallen from a tree and had knocked the three Klibaxans over. Hell of a coincidence, he was thinking, when he heard Rose’s cry.
“Doctor!”
It couldn’t be. But it was. Looking around again - and nearly losing his footing in the process - he saw the Doctor standing about twenty metres away, sonic screwdriver still held out. Well, that explained the chunk of tree. Rose was already running to the Doctor, whose free hand was held out towards her.
Too many things were happening at once. Behind him, the Klibaxans were scrambling to their feet, struggling to get clear of the branch and fight off the insects, and he could hear cries of “Sorcerers!” and “Evil!” - and, leaving him relieved, “Retreat.” The Doctor, screwdriver back in his pocket, was waving at him impatiently, and Rose was throwing herself into the Doctor’s free arm - where, of course, she was welcomed.
He kept running, expecting the two of them to turn and run ahead of him, letting him follow behind. But the Doctor waited, one arm around Rose, one held out to him.
Inside his head, he could hear the Doctor’s angry accusations, the words that were no doubt waiting to be said: all your fault, what did you think you were doing? how could you have put her in this kind of danger? can’t leave you alone for five minutes without you makin’ a mess of things.
But, as he reached the Doctor and gripped the hand still held out to him, all he heard was “Run!”
And they ran, the three of them, hand in hand back along the path he and Rose had taken just a few minutes earlier, the Doctor between him and Rose and holding onto each of their hands. Not how it usually worked, of course; normally it would be Rose between the two of them, each of them holding tight to her to make sure she didn’t get left behind.
The TARDIS wasn’t where they’d left it. It was in a clearing just around the next bend. The Doctor broke away from them to unlock the door, and Jack hung back to let Rose run in first, then slammed the door behind them as he followed her. And then he turned to face the music, in the form of what he knew would be a very angry Doctor.
It was clear just how angry the Doctor was by the fact that he hadn’t even gone to the console. Instead, the Doctor was standing, white-faced, staring at the two of them. This was it. He was about to get the most scathing lecture of his life for not taking better care of Rose. At worst, he was going to be thrown off the TARDIS. But then the Doctor’s words left him speechless.
“Thought you were dead,” the Time Lord said, as if the words had been dragged from him.
“Doctor, we’re fine.” Rose went to him and took his hand. “See?”
“Been looking for you both for hours. TARDIS couldn’t find any trace of you. Your biosignatures just didn’t exist.” His voice was actually shaking.
“Hours? But...” Rose frowned, shaking her head, and he could see her hand tighten around the Doctor’s.
“We’ve been gone less than an hour,” Jack pointed out.
“No, you haven’t.” The Doctor’s jaw was rigid. “Been gone more than a day. Twenty-five hours, thirty-nine minutes an’ twelve seconds by the time I found you.”
Maybe the TARDIS somehow skipped back in time? Though the Doctor would never have failed to notice that. It didn’t make sense. Though... “Wait. The Klibaxans said we’d appeared out of thin air. And we had this strange sensation just before then, like walking through really cold air.”
The Doctor’s eyes widened. “Time bubble. Must’ve been. That’d explain why the TARDIS couldn’t detect you.”
“A time bubble?” Rose asked, her face still wrinkled in confusion.
“Yeah.” The Doctor’s arms tightened around her. “Wrinkle in time. You stepped through an’ suddenly you’d skipped a day.”
“While all that time you were worryin’ and wondering where we were,” Rose concluded, looking up at him, her face now showing only concern for the Doctor.
“Yeah.” The Doctor freed one hand and stroked her hair back from her face.
A time bubble. He’d heard about them, of course, but never actually encountered one before. Hadn’t hurt him or Rose, but what was clear was that the Doctor had gone through agony - and understandable, too. He’d already lost everything once. Now he’d thought he was losing everything that mattered again. Rose.
Yet it wasn’t just Rose. The Doctor’s attention switched from her as he turned his head, staring in Jack’s direction. And the way he was looking at him suddenly made it very clear that the worry really had been for both of them.
Barely able to breathe, he took the few steps needed to take him to the Doctor’s side, to where Rose was still standing, and then he was enfolded in a desperate embrace, the Doctor holding the two of them as if it would kill him to let them go. His and Rose’s soft murmurs that they were safe, they weren’t going anywhere and they weren’t letting him go weren’t enough, either, because the Doctor was kissing them, both of them, rough kisses all over their faces and then deep, sighing kisses against their lips...
And then the cell door slams open and light floods into the room, jerking him out of his reminiscences and bringing him right back to the present, to the cold cell and his aching wrists and shoulders.
“Oi! Get them down from there!”
***
“Doctor!”
“God, we thought you were dead!” Jack’s exclaiming at the same time.
It’s him and he’s not hurt at all, just furious and very worried. He’s beside her instantly, using the sonic screwdriver to break the chains around her wrists and then catching her before she falls and pulling her into a tight hug.
She hugs him back, so very happy and relieved to see him, and even more so that he doesn’t look injured. He pulls back after a few moments, pressing a quick, urgent kiss to her lips. “You all right?”
“Fine. Bit sore, but better for seein’ you. You?”
“I’m all right. Never better.” The bright snap of anger in his eyes belies his words. “You’ll be sore, though.”
“Jack’s worse.” Instantly, he releases her and he’s whirling around to examine their other lover and supervise his lowering to the floor. Jack winces as his feet touch the ground, confirming her suspicion that he has a broken or sprained ankle in addition to bruised ribs and maybe a dislocated shoulder or two.
“Easy, lad.” The Doctor lays a hand on Jack’s shoulder, steadying him and, she suspects, preventing him from collapsing. “I’ll sort you once we’re back in the TARDIS.”
“We can go, then?” she asks. “They’re letting us leave?”
“Well, in a manner of speakin’.” He looks from her to Jack. “Found out what the problem is. Eventually,” he adds dryly.
“Oh, yeah?” Jack’s voice is scathing.
“Seems we were a bit too open in our... affection,” the Doctor continues in biting tones. “We upset the Queen.”
“Big bloody deal,” she mutters. Jack catches her eye and winks approvingly.
“Yeah, well, they could’ve sentenced us to death for it,” the Doctor continues, still distinctly unimpressed. “But they’ll let us go. On one condition.”
“What’s that? We promise never to come back?” Jack says, obvious hope in his tone.
“Nah. We just have to satisfy their notions of propriety.”
“How do we do that?”
“Simple.” Fathomless blue eyes meet hers. “We - the three of us, we get married.”
***
tbc --> Chapter 2
Author: wmr wendymr
Characters: Ninth Doctor, Rose Tyler, Jack Harkness
Rated: Mature
Disclaimer: Not mine; just borrowing them for a while
Summary: They've had to do some strange things to get out of trouble, but this may be the oddest yet.
Written for the 2009 OT3 ficathon for
joanne_c, prompt will appear at the end of the story. With many, many thanks to
dark_aegis, as always, for BRing and encouragement.
Technically Hitched
Chapter 1: In Suspense
“It’ll be all right,” she says.
“Sure it will,” Jack replies, for what has to be the twentieth time since they were separated from the Doctor and thrown into this damp, smelly cell and handcuffed to the walls, arms above their heads, barely managing to brace their feet on the hard stone floor. Well, she can brace her feet, just about. Jack’s not so lucky; he’s being punished for daring to resist arrest.
“He’ll sort it. You know the Doctor.”
“Yeah. No problem for him. He’ll be back in no time-”
“Probably already havin’ a cuppa an’ tellin’ them all how useless their tech is an’ upgradin’ it for them.”
“Yeah.” Jack laughs, though she knows it’s forced. They’ve been here at least four hours, after all, and they haven’t seen the Doctor since he was dragged away from them, heavy chains being wrapped around him as their captors took him.
“You all right?” She’s asked him that before, too, and each time he’s said he’s fine. She knows he’s not, though. The room’s got no windows, so she can’t see him, and he’s chained several feet from her so she can’t touch him - but she can hear him. His voice is a lot weaker than it was earlier, and she’s heard him shuffling around and rattling his chains. Trying to get free, she assumed earlier; now, she’s sure it’s because he’s in pain and trying to get more comfortable. And now she thinks of it, she remembers that their captors beat him when he tried to stop them dragging the Doctor away. He put himself between her and the guards, as well, protecting her.
On top of her worry about both Jack and the Doctor, the most frustrating thing is not even knowing why they were arrested. One minute they were walking along a main street in what the Doctor assured them is this planet’s most beautiful city, just sightseeing and enjoying each other’s company, and the next armed guards descended on them out of nowhere and bundled them into a sealed transport vehicle.
And then, when they reached the jail, the guards demanded that they identify their leader; once the Doctor stepped forward - to prevent her and Jack getting beaten - the guards forced him out of the room, despite Jack’s efforts to stop them.
She really shouldn’t be making Jack exert what little energy he’s got on talking to her, but on the other hand his voice is the only thing she’s got to keep her tied to sanity, to hope. She needs him. Needs the Doctor too, but he’s not here so she needs Jack more at the moment to stop her imagining all the awful things that could have happened to the missing third member of their team. The most important member of their team.
“Always,” he says, but there’s a weariness in his voice that she knows is hiding pain and worry. He’s hurting - god, what did they do to him? “Come on, sweetheart.” Suddenly, he’s much more upbeat, but she knows he’s only doing it for her sake. “We’re gonna get out of here soon, you know that. He’s gonna come barrelling in as usual and rescue us.”
“Yeah, and we’ll end up running for our lives back to the TARDIS, pursued by an angry mob. As usual.” If Jack can try, she can too.
“Right. And once we’re safely inside...” The pitch of his voice drops. “I’ll be looking for some more of what you did to me this morning. And this time I want to watch you do it to him, too.”
Even though she knows he’s only trying to make her feel better, her insides heat at his words. Oh, god, yes. That. Yes, and more: the Doctor kissing her breath away, his hands moulding her body while his body slid into hers over and over. Jack kissing both of them, waiting his turn to have her, to have the Doctor. And, the part that makes her legs tremble even now, the Doctor taking Jack as Jack made love to her.
It’s only when her shoulders are nearly yanked out of her sockets and she cries out in pain that she’s dragged back to the present, away from the memories of last night and the night before, the three of them in the Doctor’s bed.
“Rose?” Jack sounds alarmed. “You okay?”
“Yeah. Yeah, ‘m all right. Just lost my balance for a sec, that’s all.”
“Okay.” He’s still sounding concerned. “As long as that’s all it is.”
“It is. Promise.”
“God, if only I could find a way out of these damn handcuffs! This is so not how I wanted to be wearing handcuffs in a room alone with you.”
“Me too.” Her frustration echoes Jack’s. She’s not going to be able to use her arms for hours once they get out of this. She’ll be lucky if she doesn’t have a dislocated shoulder.
“Oh, yeah, that’s right. Remind me.”
“What about?”
“The other day. How I was completely useless. First I got us lost, then I got sand in my blaster and almost got killed by those Klibaxans before you ended up rescuing me.”
Despite the fire running up and down her shoulders and arms, she can’t help grinning. “Didn’t hear you complainin’ at the time.”
This time, the smile she hears in Jack’s voice is genuine. “Guess not, now that you mention it.”
***
No, he didn’t complain. Far from it, because that’s how it all started.
Their landing on Klibax two days ago was one of those accidents that seem to happen a lot in the TARDIS. The Doctor blames it on the ship being older than he is; Rose says the Doctor must have lied about passing his driving test. Probably a bit of both, really. Whatever it was this time, they hadn’t meant to go to Klibax, but that was where they ended up.
Just as they finished materialising, sparks flew from the console - nothing too unusual, that - followed by a loud bang and a cloud of smoke. The Doctor immediately and grumpily announced that that would mean a couple of hours’ repair-work, and that the two of them should go and do the tourist bit while he worked. He immediately offered to stay and help; these days, the Doctor’s actually letting him get his hands dirty around the TARDIS as much as he wants. But the Doctor shook his head.
“Nah. You go wi’ Rose. She’s not seen a dual-solar planet before, so she shouldn’t miss the chance. Go with her an’ look after her.” Look after her translated, of course, into keeping her alive, out of danger and mischief, and getting her back to the ship on time. “Be fine on my own, me.”
Of course it was all his fault. For once, he got to play the tour guide, the one who got to impress Rose with all his local knowledge and expertise. He was so busy telling her everything he knew and making up what he didn’t that he never even noticed when the path suddenly dropped away from them. He went flying onto warm, powdery sand, and then when he stumbled and fumbled getting to his feet again he knocked his blaster from its holster. Yeah, he was a complete idiot. Worse than a rookie Agent.
As if falling flat on his face wasn’t bad enough, he then got them lost. That was just stupid, considering he was using his wrist-computer for navigation. Rose was patient to begin with, but by the third time they passed the same conically-shaped rock close to a clump of trees she was eying him suspiciously. He was just about to stop and admit that he needed to take his bearings when something made him shiver from head to toe.
“Did you feel that?” Rose clutched his hand tighter. “What was that?”
“No idea.” He stopped, taking up a protective stance next to her while scanning the area. He couldn’t see anything, of course, and the odd chill was gone.
Later, of course, the Doctor told them that they’d walked through a time bubble. But then neither of them had no idea what had happened and they decided to ignore it and carry on walking... which was his third mistake.
A mistake because, just minutes later, the uneasy feeling that had served him well throughout his years in the Time Agency and beyond set his senses tingling.
“Rose...” He tightened his grip on her hand again, preparing to warn her - about what, he had no idea.
“Don’t think they look very friendly, Jack - do you?” Her fingers squeezed his in return and her head jerked ahead and to the right.
They didn’t. Three Klibaxans, weapons pointed in their direction, were standing just a few metres away. Not military or police, he knew with less than a second’s assessment. They were too disorderly for that, both in appearance and behaviour. There was no formation to the way they were standing; no attempt to cover all escape-routes or manage their weapons safely. But they were definitely intent on making trouble.
And, of course, his blaster was full of sand and completely useless. Then, too, he realised his fourth mistake: he hadn’t calibrated his Vortex manipulator to this planet. So no chance of teleporting back to the TARDIS.
He had barely any time to think. Sheer adrenaline made him shove Rose behind him and order her, in a fierce whisper, to run. “And don’t argue!” he added as he could feel her start to protest. To cover her, as he desperately hoped she would make for the cover of the trees and rocks just behind them, he took a couple of deliberately-swaggering steps forward, hands on his hips, doing his best to hold the Klibaxans’ attention.
The only good thing about the entire escapade was that she did run.
Which left him to face the Klibaxans unarmed. Not anything he hadn’t faced before, and he’d survived unscathed - well, more or less - each time. So he summoned one of his most flirtatious smiles. “See something you like, boys?”
The answer was apparently no, judging by the three weapons now primed and ready to shoot, all focused on his head. And there was no escape in sight. Nowhere to run that wouldn’t compromise Rose’s safety, and in any case he’d get his head blown off if he tried.
He raised his hands in the classic don’t shoot gesture. “Hey, now, I’m no threat to you. Just a visitor, that’s all. Let me go and I’ll walk right on out of your way without looking back.”
“You are a sorcerer. Dangerous,” one of them said, the tallest of the three, and his expression just got meaner, if that was even possible. The Klibaxans are bear-like creatures, for all they stand on two legs. At least eight feet tall, with sharp pointed teeth and claws.
“Me?” He drew on another smile. “A sorcerer? Nah, I’m just an ordinary human.”
“Sorcerer. You appeared out of thin air, you and your mate. No normal person can do that,” the Klibaxan countered.
“Huh?” He frowned; what the hell had they seen?
And then the one who spoke made a gesture with his paw which was clearly an order. An order to shoot.
“Jack!” Rose yelled. “Run!”
He ducked and rolled; bullets flew; and simultaneously something else flew through the air, smashing into the tallest Klibaxan and immediately causing chaos. Insects were everywhere, and all three Klibaxans were batting furiously at their bodies, dropping their weapons and jumping around as if they were on fire.
A wasp’s nest - or something very similar. Crude, but effective. He didn’t waste a second, breaking into a run, preparing to throw himself into the nearest ditch or behind whatever cover he could see - nowhere near Rose, of course - that would give him a chance to regroup.
And then there was a crash from behind him; still running, he looked back over his shoulder to see a large branch had somehow fallen from a tree and had knocked the three Klibaxans over. Hell of a coincidence, he was thinking, when he heard Rose’s cry.
“Doctor!”
It couldn’t be. But it was. Looking around again - and nearly losing his footing in the process - he saw the Doctor standing about twenty metres away, sonic screwdriver still held out. Well, that explained the chunk of tree. Rose was already running to the Doctor, whose free hand was held out towards her.
Too many things were happening at once. Behind him, the Klibaxans were scrambling to their feet, struggling to get clear of the branch and fight off the insects, and he could hear cries of “Sorcerers!” and “Evil!” - and, leaving him relieved, “Retreat.” The Doctor, screwdriver back in his pocket, was waving at him impatiently, and Rose was throwing herself into the Doctor’s free arm - where, of course, she was welcomed.
He kept running, expecting the two of them to turn and run ahead of him, letting him follow behind. But the Doctor waited, one arm around Rose, one held out to him.
Inside his head, he could hear the Doctor’s angry accusations, the words that were no doubt waiting to be said: all your fault, what did you think you were doing? how could you have put her in this kind of danger? can’t leave you alone for five minutes without you makin’ a mess of things.
But, as he reached the Doctor and gripped the hand still held out to him, all he heard was “Run!”
And they ran, the three of them, hand in hand back along the path he and Rose had taken just a few minutes earlier, the Doctor between him and Rose and holding onto each of their hands. Not how it usually worked, of course; normally it would be Rose between the two of them, each of them holding tight to her to make sure she didn’t get left behind.
The TARDIS wasn’t where they’d left it. It was in a clearing just around the next bend. The Doctor broke away from them to unlock the door, and Jack hung back to let Rose run in first, then slammed the door behind them as he followed her. And then he turned to face the music, in the form of what he knew would be a very angry Doctor.
It was clear just how angry the Doctor was by the fact that he hadn’t even gone to the console. Instead, the Doctor was standing, white-faced, staring at the two of them. This was it. He was about to get the most scathing lecture of his life for not taking better care of Rose. At worst, he was going to be thrown off the TARDIS. But then the Doctor’s words left him speechless.
“Thought you were dead,” the Time Lord said, as if the words had been dragged from him.
“Doctor, we’re fine.” Rose went to him and took his hand. “See?”
“Been looking for you both for hours. TARDIS couldn’t find any trace of you. Your biosignatures just didn’t exist.” His voice was actually shaking.
“Hours? But...” Rose frowned, shaking her head, and he could see her hand tighten around the Doctor’s.
“We’ve been gone less than an hour,” Jack pointed out.
“No, you haven’t.” The Doctor’s jaw was rigid. “Been gone more than a day. Twenty-five hours, thirty-nine minutes an’ twelve seconds by the time I found you.”
Maybe the TARDIS somehow skipped back in time? Though the Doctor would never have failed to notice that. It didn’t make sense. Though... “Wait. The Klibaxans said we’d appeared out of thin air. And we had this strange sensation just before then, like walking through really cold air.”
The Doctor’s eyes widened. “Time bubble. Must’ve been. That’d explain why the TARDIS couldn’t detect you.”
“A time bubble?” Rose asked, her face still wrinkled in confusion.
“Yeah.” The Doctor’s arms tightened around her. “Wrinkle in time. You stepped through an’ suddenly you’d skipped a day.”
“While all that time you were worryin’ and wondering where we were,” Rose concluded, looking up at him, her face now showing only concern for the Doctor.
“Yeah.” The Doctor freed one hand and stroked her hair back from her face.
A time bubble. He’d heard about them, of course, but never actually encountered one before. Hadn’t hurt him or Rose, but what was clear was that the Doctor had gone through agony - and understandable, too. He’d already lost everything once. Now he’d thought he was losing everything that mattered again. Rose.
Yet it wasn’t just Rose. The Doctor’s attention switched from her as he turned his head, staring in Jack’s direction. And the way he was looking at him suddenly made it very clear that the worry really had been for both of them.
Barely able to breathe, he took the few steps needed to take him to the Doctor’s side, to where Rose was still standing, and then he was enfolded in a desperate embrace, the Doctor holding the two of them as if it would kill him to let them go. His and Rose’s soft murmurs that they were safe, they weren’t going anywhere and they weren’t letting him go weren’t enough, either, because the Doctor was kissing them, both of them, rough kisses all over their faces and then deep, sighing kisses against their lips...
And then the cell door slams open and light floods into the room, jerking him out of his reminiscences and bringing him right back to the present, to the cold cell and his aching wrists and shoulders.
“Oi! Get them down from there!”
***
“Doctor!”
“God, we thought you were dead!” Jack’s exclaiming at the same time.
It’s him and he’s not hurt at all, just furious and very worried. He’s beside her instantly, using the sonic screwdriver to break the chains around her wrists and then catching her before she falls and pulling her into a tight hug.
She hugs him back, so very happy and relieved to see him, and even more so that he doesn’t look injured. He pulls back after a few moments, pressing a quick, urgent kiss to her lips. “You all right?”
“Fine. Bit sore, but better for seein’ you. You?”
“I’m all right. Never better.” The bright snap of anger in his eyes belies his words. “You’ll be sore, though.”
“Jack’s worse.” Instantly, he releases her and he’s whirling around to examine their other lover and supervise his lowering to the floor. Jack winces as his feet touch the ground, confirming her suspicion that he has a broken or sprained ankle in addition to bruised ribs and maybe a dislocated shoulder or two.
“Easy, lad.” The Doctor lays a hand on Jack’s shoulder, steadying him and, she suspects, preventing him from collapsing. “I’ll sort you once we’re back in the TARDIS.”
“We can go, then?” she asks. “They’re letting us leave?”
“Well, in a manner of speakin’.” He looks from her to Jack. “Found out what the problem is. Eventually,” he adds dryly.
“Oh, yeah?” Jack’s voice is scathing.
“Seems we were a bit too open in our... affection,” the Doctor continues in biting tones. “We upset the Queen.”
“Big bloody deal,” she mutters. Jack catches her eye and winks approvingly.
“Yeah, well, they could’ve sentenced us to death for it,” the Doctor continues, still distinctly unimpressed. “But they’ll let us go. On one condition.”
“What’s that? We promise never to come back?” Jack says, obvious hope in his tone.
“Nah. We just have to satisfy their notions of propriety.”
“How do we do that?”
“Simple.” Fathomless blue eyes meet hers. “We - the three of us, we get married.”
***
tbc --> Chapter 2