Something to Believe In (TAGD-verse)
Story: Something to Believe In
Author: wmr / wendymr
Characters: Sixth Doctor (Pete's World), Jack Harkness (Pete's World)
Rated: G
Series: Through a Glass Darkly-verse
Summary: Everyone deserves to have something to believe in.
This is part of the TAGD-verse, set a day or so after Love is Kind, and features the newly-regenerated Sixth Doctor and sixteen-year-old Jack Harkness. It was originally written for yamx for fandom_stocking, but has been edited and slightly expanded since. ETA: if the Doctor doesn't feel very Six-like, that would be because I messed up originally and thought I'd had Jack find Seven, not Six, with his crashed TARDIS when he was 16.
Something to Believe In
“Why can’t I stay? There’s nothing for me here.”
The boy’s face is mutinous, and he’s stubbornly clinging to the console, as he’s been for the last ten minutes, since the TARDIS landed back on Schattenwelt. Maybe he shouldn’t have offered young Jack that one trip after all. They ended up having an adventure, and it was exciting - dangerous too, but to an impressionable teenager the danger was only part of the fun.
“You need to stay. Believe me, Jack, however much you might not think it now, coming with me is not a good idea.”
For all sorts of reasons, not least that he’s in no state to take a companion with him right now, and least of all a young man - an adolescent - who lost his parents too young and now hides his vulnerability under a facade of belligerence. Jack needs steady guidance and influence from people who can be relied on, not from a still-grieving Time Lord who’s barely capable of taking care of himself right now, much less anyone else.
No. Better for the lad to stay where he is, with his own people. He’ll be fine. He’ll grow up, go to university and build a life. A good life, here on his own planet, or maybe somewhere else, if he wants. Earth, perhaps - Boeshane is an Earth colony of sorts, isn’t it?
But what if he doesn’t? What if Jack ends up going the way of so many other young people who feel abandoned by those they loved?
What to do, what to do... He taps his fingers on the console, thinking. Remembering Jack’s first look inside the TARDIS, wonder in his eyes, and his reactions over the past few hours - their ‘short trip’ that turned into a tricky adventure. Naturally, he should have expected that. Apart from anything else, there’s still a lot of disturbance around the universe; so many ripples and echoes from the War. It’ll be a while before it all settles down.
“You want to travel in time, Jack?”
“Yeah!” And there’s the first smile he’s seen on Jack’s face since they returned to Schattenwelt.
“I don’t suppose I can blame you for that,” he says, tipping back his hat with one finger. “It’s what I always wanted.”
“See?” Jack retorts. “So you have to let me come!”
“Can’t do that, I’m afraid,” he says again, patting Jack’s arm. It’s really not a good idea at all. Terrible, in fact. He has such a bad habit of getting companions into trouble, and in present circumstances he’d be dreadful company anyway. And he’d set a terrible example for the boy. Jack’s at an impressionable age.
But the disappointment on Jack’s face, and the quickly-disguised hurt in the lad’s eyes, give him pause. He finds he can’t just walk away from the boy without looking back, even if he should.
He taps the console again, then makes a decision. “But I’ll make a bargain with you. You go back to the care facility. Behave yourself, study hard and pass all your exams. Do that, and I’ll come back for you. I’ll take you to Earth and see that you get to take the entrance exam for the Time Agency.”
Jack’s eyes light up at the mention of the Time Agency - but then his expression turns mulish again. “How do I know you’ll really come back?”
Oh, dear. How many broken promises must Jack have had in his young life? And he’s now assuming that this will be yet another.
He looks Jack straight in the eye. “Because I give you my word.” Though, of course, that’s not going to be enough for a young man who’s never been able to rely on anyone’s word - who, so far as he can tell, was even rejected by his own mother before she died. No, he’s going to have to do better than that. “Every summer, I’ll come back and take you on another adventure, just to prove I haven’t forgotten. And-”
He leans forward and tweaks Jack’s nose. “-because I’m giving you this.” Apparently out of thin air, he produces a little silver key and holds it out towards Jack. “A TARDIS key.”
Jack’s eyes widen. It takes a few moments before he reaches for the key, and when he does his hand’s shaking. “Really? This is for me?”
“It is indeed. Now do you believe me?”
Jack’s fingers close around his key. “Yeah. Yeah, I do.” He swallows, looking away - no doubt not wanting the Doctor to see that his eyes aren’t precisely dry. “Thanks, Doctor.”
“You’re quite welcome.” He strolls around the console to fetch his cane. It’s not at all an attempt to disguise any moisture that might happen to be in his own eyes. “Now, I think it’s high time you went home, don’t you?”
This time, Jack follows him out of the TARDIS, head held high. The lad’s hand stays in his pocket - holding his key, no doubt. Such a simple object, but it’s become a talisman, a symbol of hope for the future.
Everyone deserves to have something to believe in.
- end
Author: wmr / wendymr
Characters: Sixth Doctor (Pete's World), Jack Harkness (Pete's World)
Rated: G
Series: Through a Glass Darkly-verse
Summary: Everyone deserves to have something to believe in.
This is part of the TAGD-verse, set a day or so after Love is Kind, and features the newly-regenerated Sixth Doctor and sixteen-year-old Jack Harkness. It was originally written for yamx for fandom_stocking, but has been edited and slightly expanded since. ETA: if the Doctor doesn't feel very Six-like, that would be because I messed up originally and thought I'd had Jack find Seven, not Six, with his crashed TARDIS when he was 16.
Something to Believe In
“Why can’t I stay? There’s nothing for me here.”
The boy’s face is mutinous, and he’s stubbornly clinging to the console, as he’s been for the last ten minutes, since the TARDIS landed back on Schattenwelt. Maybe he shouldn’t have offered young Jack that one trip after all. They ended up having an adventure, and it was exciting - dangerous too, but to an impressionable teenager the danger was only part of the fun.
“You need to stay. Believe me, Jack, however much you might not think it now, coming with me is not a good idea.”
For all sorts of reasons, not least that he’s in no state to take a companion with him right now, and least of all a young man - an adolescent - who lost his parents too young and now hides his vulnerability under a facade of belligerence. Jack needs steady guidance and influence from people who can be relied on, not from a still-grieving Time Lord who’s barely capable of taking care of himself right now, much less anyone else.
No. Better for the lad to stay where he is, with his own people. He’ll be fine. He’ll grow up, go to university and build a life. A good life, here on his own planet, or maybe somewhere else, if he wants. Earth, perhaps - Boeshane is an Earth colony of sorts, isn’t it?
But what if he doesn’t? What if Jack ends up going the way of so many other young people who feel abandoned by those they loved?
What to do, what to do... He taps his fingers on the console, thinking. Remembering Jack’s first look inside the TARDIS, wonder in his eyes, and his reactions over the past few hours - their ‘short trip’ that turned into a tricky adventure. Naturally, he should have expected that. Apart from anything else, there’s still a lot of disturbance around the universe; so many ripples and echoes from the War. It’ll be a while before it all settles down.
“You want to travel in time, Jack?”
“Yeah!” And there’s the first smile he’s seen on Jack’s face since they returned to Schattenwelt.
“I don’t suppose I can blame you for that,” he says, tipping back his hat with one finger. “It’s what I always wanted.”
“See?” Jack retorts. “So you have to let me come!”
“Can’t do that, I’m afraid,” he says again, patting Jack’s arm. It’s really not a good idea at all. Terrible, in fact. He has such a bad habit of getting companions into trouble, and in present circumstances he’d be dreadful company anyway. And he’d set a terrible example for the boy. Jack’s at an impressionable age.
But the disappointment on Jack’s face, and the quickly-disguised hurt in the lad’s eyes, give him pause. He finds he can’t just walk away from the boy without looking back, even if he should.
He taps the console again, then makes a decision. “But I’ll make a bargain with you. You go back to the care facility. Behave yourself, study hard and pass all your exams. Do that, and I’ll come back for you. I’ll take you to Earth and see that you get to take the entrance exam for the Time Agency.”
Jack’s eyes light up at the mention of the Time Agency - but then his expression turns mulish again. “How do I know you’ll really come back?”
Oh, dear. How many broken promises must Jack have had in his young life? And he’s now assuming that this will be yet another.
He looks Jack straight in the eye. “Because I give you my word.” Though, of course, that’s not going to be enough for a young man who’s never been able to rely on anyone’s word - who, so far as he can tell, was even rejected by his own mother before she died. No, he’s going to have to do better than that. “Every summer, I’ll come back and take you on another adventure, just to prove I haven’t forgotten. And-”
He leans forward and tweaks Jack’s nose. “-because I’m giving you this.” Apparently out of thin air, he produces a little silver key and holds it out towards Jack. “A TARDIS key.”
Jack’s eyes widen. It takes a few moments before he reaches for the key, and when he does his hand’s shaking. “Really? This is for me?”
“It is indeed. Now do you believe me?”
Jack’s fingers close around his key. “Yeah. Yeah, I do.” He swallows, looking away - no doubt not wanting the Doctor to see that his eyes aren’t precisely dry. “Thanks, Doctor.”
“You’re quite welcome.” He strolls around the console to fetch his cane. It’s not at all an attempt to disguise any moisture that might happen to be in his own eyes. “Now, I think it’s high time you went home, don’t you?”
This time, Jack follows him out of the TARDIS, head held high. The lad’s hand stays in his pocket - holding his key, no doubt. Such a simple object, but it’s become a talisman, a symbol of hope for the future.
Everyone deserves to have something to believe in.
- end