Post-CoE fic rec: Fixed Point
There have been so, so many excellent post-CoE fics, many of which I've recced here, and most recently recced all over LJ (speedgeek's The Time Traveller's Daughter, which is well worth the read). Here's another one, which I found this morning on the Teaspoon. Many of us - just like Gwen in CoE - have wondered why the Doctor never came to help. I do love dameruth's suggestion that all communication from Earth was blocked, but here's a different idea: that the 456, the threat and what Jack and everyone else did was a fixed point, something the Doctor knew about and couldn't change.
In Fixed Point, a short ficlet by LJG, that's exactly what stopped the Doctor. He knows it's happening, knows his friends on Earth are begging him to come, and he's having to ignore their phone calls and not reply to their messages. Imagine him hearing this:
Doctor. I have to think that there’s some reason you haven’t come. Some reason that you’ve abandoned us. I’m … god, I’m on my honeymoon… Sarah Jane sends you a message. She says please, for her, if you have any love for her, please come. Oh, Doctor…
and having to ignore it?
The final phone call - both its content and the identity of the caller - is especially poignant, and fits perfectly into the conclusion of CoE. I really, really recommend this lovely, heartwrenching story!
And if, after that, you're in need of something happier, a reminder of carefree times, try Jack's Room by HumanTales. Sadly underreviewed, this is a charming story of Jack's early days on the TARDIS, Rose's naivete about the kind of life he's had up until then, and the Doctor reluctantly coming to acknowledge that he does like Jack.
If you enjoy either of these, please don't forget to tell the author!
In Fixed Point, a short ficlet by LJG, that's exactly what stopped the Doctor. He knows it's happening, knows his friends on Earth are begging him to come, and he's having to ignore their phone calls and not reply to their messages. Imagine him hearing this:
Doctor. I have to think that there’s some reason you haven’t come. Some reason that you’ve abandoned us. I’m … god, I’m on my honeymoon… Sarah Jane sends you a message. She says please, for her, if you have any love for her, please come. Oh, Doctor…
and having to ignore it?
The final phone call - both its content and the identity of the caller - is especially poignant, and fits perfectly into the conclusion of CoE. I really, really recommend this lovely, heartwrenching story!
And if, after that, you're in need of something happier, a reminder of carefree times, try Jack's Room by HumanTales. Sadly underreviewed, this is a charming story of Jack's early days on the TARDIS, Rose's naivete about the kind of life he's had up until then, and the Doctor reluctantly coming to acknowledge that he does like Jack.
If you enjoy either of these, please don't forget to tell the author!