'Just For Fun' Fic: That Way 1/1
Story: That Way
Author: wmr
wendymr
Characters: Tenth Doctor, Rose Tyler, Jack Harkness
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Now, if I owned these characters would I be spending my time writing?
Summary: "I spent most of my last life running from things. Maybe in this life I’ll be the sort of man who faces up to things?"
Written for
aibhinn's Just For Fun Ficathon - I took the prompts lie, truth, fly and stars - and BRed by the brilliantly techie
dark_aegis. Thank you! :)
That Way
“So, you said that way?”
“Yep.” He tugs on her hand; she yields and comes with him, even as she looks up at him, wondering what he has in mind.
“Ready to go now?” His expression’s so eager she can’t bear to disappoint him. But he’s not planning on leaving now, is he? Of course she wants to come; she’s just told him that. But it’s still Christmas, and her mum’ll have a fit if they leave tonight.
“Doctor...” How can she tell him she doesn’t want to leave yet? Before, he threw a wobbly over just being asked to stay around for two hours and shepherd’s pie with her mum. All right, he’s just had Christmas dinner with her mum and Mickey, but that’s only going to give him more grounds to say that she’s had home-time and she can come now or not at all.
His smile, though, is open and without guile. “Oh, I don’t mean go, go. Just a short trip. We’ll be back before your mum’s even missed us. Promise!”
“Yeah?” She steps closer to him again. A short trip sounds brilliant. “We’ll be back tonight?”
“Oh, yes. And I don’t just mean that we’ll hop back in time to do it. Where we’re going, what we’re doing - it’ll take less than an hour.”
“Okay.” Her smile widens. Back in the TARDIS, with the Doctor - even if he doesn’t look like the Doctor she ran away with and came to love, he’s told her he’s still the Doctor. This’ll help her to see it for herself, right?
He pauses with his hand on the door. “Before we go, though, there’s something else we should probably get out of the way. You’ll have questions. Now that I’m not half-dead from regeneration sickness, or getting into a sword-fight to defend your planet - and, really, a sword-fight? What was I thinking? - I should probably let you ask them.”
He’s actually offering to give her information? The Doctor wouldn’t have done that. She’s always had to drag information out of him. Had to, she amends silently. That Doctor’s dead.
That Doctor. It’s a shock to realise that she’s already automatically thinking of this man as the Doctor too. But he is. He’s proved that, in so many ways.
He leads her through the TARDIS door, and the first thing that hits her is the scent of tea. Good old Tesco Value brand, her mum’s staple supply. He really wasn’t kidding about her mum’s tea saving the day, was he?
The thermos is still lying underneath the console overhang. She bends to pick it up and screw on the lid, and asks at the same time, “You said this is something Time Lords do, right? So how many times?”
“How many times have I done it?” She nods as she straightens and lets herself look at him again, this strange body and personality surrounding the man she knows so well. Thought she knew, anyway. “Nine,” he answers. “This is my tenth body.”
Tenth? No wonder he takes it all in his stride. This is nothing to him. Yeah, he really is alien. But better this than dead completely. And it does explain how he’s managed to stay alive for nine hundred years. What with all the lucky escapes he’s had, she was beginning to wonder.
She only realises she’s been silent for a while when he says, “I’m sure you’ve got more questions than that, Rose. Or has someone kidnapped you and replaced you with a clone? A silent clone? Stepford wife?”
“No! No, I do. Was thinking.” She steps closer to him and studies him, remembering that first second when the flames died away and a stranger was standing in the place her Doctor occupied. This stranger. Who then proved that he had all her Doctor’s memories.
“Why did he - you - die? Cause it wasn’t the Daleks. You were still alive when I woke up in here. I saw the Daleks kill someone when I was a prisoner on their ship. It was horrible, but it was over in less than a second. An’ no flames.”
“No, it wasn’t the Daleks,” he tells her, his expression serious. “How much do you remember?”
“I know Mum an’ Mickey helped me open up the TARDIS so’s I could get back to you an’ Jack. But then it all goes sort of fuzzy. It’s like... I told Mickey it’s like it’s sort of forbidden.”
“Yep.” He nods, just once. “I didn’t want you remembering it all immediately. Would’ve been too much for your little human brain.”
“See one thing’s not changed, then. You still like insultin’ other species.”
“Blimey, you like to jump to conclusions. I meant that literally, Rose. Your brain is tiny compared to mine. Anyway. S’pose you deserve to know what you did. You did save the universe, after all.” He grins at her, a smile that’s completely different from her other Doctor’s, yet just as goofy. Maybe everything’s going to be okay.
She listens in growing amazement to a tale involving the Time Vortex, Bad Wolf, dissolving Daleks - even the Emperor - into dust, and the Doctor saving her life.
“Not a word,” he cautions her as she’s about to react to that - she killed her Doctor, after coming back to save him? “You’re worth it, Rose Tyler. You’re so, so very worth it. And, besides,” he adds with a wry smile, “if you hadn’t come back I’d have died anyway, and the Daleks would’ve taken over the universe. Even Time Lords can’t come back from extermination.”
“Still, though, it’s not right,” she protests. “I wanted to save you. Both of you - you an’ Jack. An’ I failed.”
Even though she’s looking straight at him, she almost misses the faint slide of his eyes away from hers at the mention of Jack. This Doctor’s too new for her to know what it means, or even if it means anything at all. But she takes a chance anyway.
“Doctor? What happened to Jack?” Oh, yeah, definitely a reaction. Enough for her to take a chance and ask another question that’s been on her mind since everything with the Sycorax was over. “You told me he was busy rebuilding the Earth. Is he, really? The Daleks killed him, didn’t they, Doctor?”
***
There are times when he can’t help wondering if Rose Tyler is telepathic.
How else could she possibly know what’s on his mind? The reason he brought her into the TARDIS now, and what he’s been thinking about - well, one of the many things - since crash-landing in the Powell Estates? It occupied his thoughts even during his regeneration coma; that, and worrying about whether Rose would stay now that he’d changed, and what he looked like this time anyway.
It’s not just that he’s had a chance to study the timelines now, something he didn’t have time to do back on Satellite Five, when every second counted if he was going to save Rose’s life and get back into the Vortex before he regenerated. Though the possibilities there are bad enough. Of course, nothing’s certain; after all, time is a great ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff - and that’s a metaphor he’d rather not use again - but if even two or three of the things he saw happen in any shape or form it would be Bad. Very, Very Bad.
Parallel universes bleeding through to this one. Cybermen. Rose dying. Rose trapped in the Void. Rose separated from him somehow, in a way which means he can never get back to her. Enemies returning, and Jack... Jack living and dying so many times, trapped in the past, and angry and bitter when he finally catches up with the TARDIS. Daleks, and more Daleks, and one of the most vicious enemies of all.
Maybe, even in the worst-case scenario, not all of this will come to pass. But even some of it... well, if it can be avoided...
And that really isn’t the only reason. He was wrong. He was a coward. He ran. Ran away from a man who’d done nothing to deserve it, a man who’d sacrificed his life so that the person he hero-worshipped could save the universe. And then he lied to Rose about it.
Yet another sacrifice he doesn’t deserve, of course. Not only didn’t he save the universe, in the end, but then he abandoned Jack.
So that’s why. For once in his life, he’s going back. He’s going to put things right.
“What happened to Jack?” He makes himself smile - and, really, he’s got a lot to smile about. Brand-new him. Brand-new body - and not a bad one at all, even if he says so himself; brand-new life, and a brand-new opportunity to do things right this time. “Want to find out?”
Instantly, hope wars with grief in her eyes. “He’s not dead?”
“No, he’s not dead,” he tells her gently. “Long story. Well, longish. But wouldn’t you rather just go and find him?”
***
Jack’s alive?
Well, of course she would. Of course explanations can wait.
The Doctor’s already bounding to the console, but he pauses, turns and extends his hand. “Coming?”
“Yeah!” She hurries up to join him and stands by his side as he pushes buttons, turns switches and slams levers into place with even more of a flourish than the other Doctor, even using his foot to kick one control into operation.
“You’re just a big kid, you are!” she tells him.
“Well, I suppose, technically,” he answers, drawing out the words, “you could say I am, really. Only just over twenty-four hours old, aren’t I?”
“But are you, really?” she has to ask; this regeneration stuff is so confusing.
“This body is, yes. All new and untried. Isn’t that exciting?” He grins impishly at her. “Me on the whole? Nah. Still over nine hundred years old.”
She shakes her head. “I’m babysitting a nine-hundred-year-old toddler.”
He laughs. “I suppose you are, really.” His hand slides into hers - it feels different: longer, more slender fingers, fewer callouses - but it still feels good having his fingers wrapped around hers. Very good.
And off they fly into space - back to Satellite Five? She’ll find out soon enough - to find Jack. To get Team TARDIS back together again.
***
It’s been five hours, and he’s finally concluded that he’s been abandoned. The Doctor left him. He just disappeared and left him behind, not caring if he was alive or dead.
So much for loyalty. So much for never doubted him, never will.
Just as well he’s got his Vortex manipulator. At least there’s a way off this creaky, falling-apart satellite. The power’s already failed and he’s stuck on this floor, in darkness, with no access to any other levels. If he stays here much longer he’ll run out of oxygen - there’s at least one minute leak somewhere on this floor and so either he’ll run out of air or the hole will expand and expose the entire deck to vacuum, and either way he’ll be dead again.
He starts keying in coordinates - Rose’s time, because the Doctor’s bound to have gone back for her, and even if the bastard hasn’t he’ll be with someone he cares about.
He’s just about to punch the button to take him away from this godforsaken place when he hears it. It’s unmistakeable, that groaning/wheezing/roaring sound, like an engine in dire need of tuning. And it’s getting louder.
The Doctor came back?
He did, because the TARDIS is materialising right in front of him, in the middle of the control-room.
Jack almost stumbles as he runs forward, hand reaching out to touch the impermeable wood of the dimensionally-transcendent spaceship he’d just started to call home.
The door opens, but the figure who appears in the gap isn’t who he’s expecting. “Rose!”
“Hi, Jack.” She smiles at him, eyes alight with obvious joy. “Heard you got left behind by mistake. Come on, no hangin’ about!”
Despite her stricture, he still takes a few seconds to hug her before running inside. “You all right?” Yes, the Doctor sent her home so she’d be safe, but he still has to ask.
“ ‘M fine,” she assures him, clinging to him. “But what ‘bout you, Jack? You’ve been here on your own for... how long? Hours?”
“Yeah, about five hours. But that’s okay. Could’ve been worse - could’ve still been fighting off Daleks.”
Releasing Rose, he looks around for the Doctor. But there’s no sign of him in the room, and the only other person there - over by the console - is a complete stranger.
“Hello, Jack,” the stranger says. “Welcome home.”
“What?” He blinks. “Who are you?”
“Jack.” Rose’s hand is on his arm. “That’s the Doctor.”
***
Jack takes the regeneration surprisingly well. But then, she remembers, he did know what Time Lords were. That would make a difference.
“Something else I gotta ask about,” Jack says after a while, once all the explanations are over. “I died. I’m sure I did. The Daleks were right there, in front of me. I heard them fire. I remember getting hit. And then I woke up again and they were all gone.”
“Yeah.” The Doctor comes out from behind the console and gives Jack another of those serious looks she’s getting used to. “You did die.” He looks at her and holds out a hand towards her. She takes it.
“Could lie, I suppose, and give you some excuse. But you deserve the truth, both of you. Anyway, I spent most of my last life running from things. Maybe in this life I’ll be the sort of man who faces up to things? Who knows.”
“Go on,” Jack prompts, and his jaw is tense.
“You died, Jack, and Rose brought you back to life after she destroyed the Daleks. One wave of her hand and there you were. Alive and breathing, all over again.”
“I did that?” Though, really, given everything else the Doctor told her she did, bringing one man back to life’s not so amazing.
“You did.”
“But why?” Now Jack’s looking incredulously at her. “Why would you do that for me?”
She swipes at him. “Sometimes, Jack Harkness, you are such an idiot. Why wouldn’t I? You’re one of my two best mates. You think I wouldn’t save you if I could?”
The incredulous face lasts for about two seconds more, then he’s gripping the hand that’s hitting at him and laughing. “Course I do. I was kidding.”
“Git.”
“You know me.” His expression softens. “Rose.” He leans in closer. “Thank you.” For the second time, his lips brush hers, and for the second time she blushes. This time, though, she kisses him back.
***
“Oi, that’s enough of that!” He gives them a mock glare.
Jack grins. “I’ll kiss you too if you want. You did come back for me, after all.”
His hearts thump. “You might want to hold off on that for a minute or two, Jack. I said I’d tell you the truth, but you might not like it.”
Jack’s gaze rests on him, his expression alert, thoughtful. “Go on.”
“Rose said you got left behind by mistake. Could let you believe that, course I could. But it’s not what happened. I ran away. Deliberately left you behind.”
Jack just stares, hurt written all over his face. Rose’s gasp is disbelieving.
“Rose didn’t just bring you back to life, Jack. She gave you immortality. You’ll die again, oh, yes. But you’ll never stay dead. Never age, either. You’ll just keep living. You’re a fact, a fixed point in time, an anomaly. Time doesn’t touch you - it bounces off you and leaves you untouched. That’s why I ran.”
“I don’t understand.” Jack’s looking away now, and he’s definitely wounded, feeling betrayed. Rose slides her hand into the Captain’s and stands close to him, offering silent support. “Why would that make you run?”
“Time Lord. That kind of anomaly feels... wrong. Makes me shiver. Scares me, if I’m gonna be completely honest. I forgot it was you, Jack, and I just bolted. Took Rose and the TARDIS and disappeared before you could get there.”
“Right.” Jack’s breathing heavily; obviously this is a lot to take in. “Was that before or after you regenerated?”
“Before. I could feel it, though. Knew it’d be happening soon.”
Jack nods. “But you’ve regenerated now. And you came back.” He takes a step closer. “Do I still feel wrong? Still scare you?”
He promised to tell the truth. So he does. “A little. But I’m working on it.”
Now, Jack smiles. “Glad to hear it.” He drops Rose’s hand and opens his arms. The Doctor steps forward and accepts the hug. “I forgive you,” Jack says as they embrace.
It’s Jack, so he should have expected it, and he can’t say Jack didn’t warn him, but all the same, as they draw apart, he’s startled by the feel of human lips on his.
Ah, well. He probably owes Jack a kiss. And it’s really not a hardship to kiss him back.
***
She wanted to smack him when he confessed to deliberately leaving Jack behind. But Jack’s forgiven him - and, anyway, he told them what really happened when he didn’t have to - so she’ll let it go.
“Just one thing,” Jack says as he reaches for her to draw her into their embrace. “This immortality thing - I gotta say, much as the idea of not dying any time soon appeals, I’m not sure I like it as a retirement plan.”
“Nope.” The Doctor’s eyes darken briefly, and suddenly she realises, for the first time, what being over nine hundred years old means. How many friends has he lost over the years? How many times has he seen people he cares about die? “But that won’t happen. I’ll sort something out. I’m brilliant, remember? Leave it to me.”
“Thanks.” There’s relief in Jack’s smile and in his voice, and she feels the same. After all, she’s the one who did that to him. Bringing him back to life’s one thing, and she’s not at all sorry about that, but she could see that there’d be a point beyond which it’s not good any more.
“Thanks, Doctor.” She smiles up at him too, and his eyes soften as he looks down at her.
“So!” He springs away from the two of them suddenly. “What’s next? Oh! S’pose I did say I’d have you home within the hour. Can’t let your mum think we’ve run off again already.”
“Yeah, we’d best get home.” She grins at Jack. “Ready to meet my mum? Oh, and Doctor...” She walks over to the console, where he’s now standing. “Did you mean it? You want to face up to things? Put them right?”
“Yes.” He lifts one eyebrow.
“Harriet Jones.” It’s been bothering her ever since she saw the news item and knew he was responsible. “I don’t think she should have fired that weapon. But you shouldn’t have done what you did either. Two wrongs don’t make a right, Doctor. An’ when we met her, you said she’s Prime Minister for three whole terms. Britain’s Golden Age, you said. That’s not gonna happen now, is it?”
His smile disappears as he studies her. Then, slowly, he says, “You’re right. Shouldn’t mess around with your planet’s history, not without a good reason - and that wasn’t one. I don’t agree with what she did, but if I did something like that every time I didn’t agree with a prime minister or a president or a dictator... well.” He nods. “Yes. I’ll sort it. After all, for all I know whoever replaces her could be far, far worse.”
As relief floods her, she can’t help hugging him. The thought that he might have done serious harm to a prime minister she’d actually have voted for if she’d been here, and someone she’d liked a lot... well, it felt wrong. Now he’s going to put it right.
“Thanks, Doctor,” she says and, taking a chance, reaches up to press her lips to his.
There’s returning pressure for just a moment before he lets her go, then holds out a hand to her and his other to Jack. “Right, then! The Powell Estates, Christmas night. And...” His grin encompasses both of them, the unbeatable team back together again. “After that?”
Rose looks at Jack, and then the Doctor. “After that... to the stars!” She winks at the Doctor and points upwards with her free hand. “You did say that way, right?”
- end
Author: wmr
wendymr
Characters: Tenth Doctor, Rose Tyler, Jack Harkness
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Now, if I owned these characters would I be spending my time writing?
Summary: "I spent most of my last life running from things. Maybe in this life I’ll be the sort of man who faces up to things?"
Written for
aibhinn's Just For Fun Ficathon - I took the prompts lie, truth, fly and stars - and BRed by the brilliantly techie
dark_aegis. Thank you! :)
That Way
“So, you said that way?”
“Yep.” He tugs on her hand; she yields and comes with him, even as she looks up at him, wondering what he has in mind.
“Ready to go now?” His expression’s so eager she can’t bear to disappoint him. But he’s not planning on leaving now, is he? Of course she wants to come; she’s just told him that. But it’s still Christmas, and her mum’ll have a fit if they leave tonight.
“Doctor...” How can she tell him she doesn’t want to leave yet? Before, he threw a wobbly over just being asked to stay around for two hours and shepherd’s pie with her mum. All right, he’s just had Christmas dinner with her mum and Mickey, but that’s only going to give him more grounds to say that she’s had home-time and she can come now or not at all.
His smile, though, is open and without guile. “Oh, I don’t mean go, go. Just a short trip. We’ll be back before your mum’s even missed us. Promise!”
“Yeah?” She steps closer to him again. A short trip sounds brilliant. “We’ll be back tonight?”
“Oh, yes. And I don’t just mean that we’ll hop back in time to do it. Where we’re going, what we’re doing - it’ll take less than an hour.”
“Okay.” Her smile widens. Back in the TARDIS, with the Doctor - even if he doesn’t look like the Doctor she ran away with and came to love, he’s told her he’s still the Doctor. This’ll help her to see it for herself, right?
He pauses with his hand on the door. “Before we go, though, there’s something else we should probably get out of the way. You’ll have questions. Now that I’m not half-dead from regeneration sickness, or getting into a sword-fight to defend your planet - and, really, a sword-fight? What was I thinking? - I should probably let you ask them.”
He’s actually offering to give her information? The Doctor wouldn’t have done that. She’s always had to drag information out of him. Had to, she amends silently. That Doctor’s dead.
That Doctor. It’s a shock to realise that she’s already automatically thinking of this man as the Doctor too. But he is. He’s proved that, in so many ways.
He leads her through the TARDIS door, and the first thing that hits her is the scent of tea. Good old Tesco Value brand, her mum’s staple supply. He really wasn’t kidding about her mum’s tea saving the day, was he?
The thermos is still lying underneath the console overhang. She bends to pick it up and screw on the lid, and asks at the same time, “You said this is something Time Lords do, right? So how many times?”
“How many times have I done it?” She nods as she straightens and lets herself look at him again, this strange body and personality surrounding the man she knows so well. Thought she knew, anyway. “Nine,” he answers. “This is my tenth body.”
Tenth? No wonder he takes it all in his stride. This is nothing to him. Yeah, he really is alien. But better this than dead completely. And it does explain how he’s managed to stay alive for nine hundred years. What with all the lucky escapes he’s had, she was beginning to wonder.
She only realises she’s been silent for a while when he says, “I’m sure you’ve got more questions than that, Rose. Or has someone kidnapped you and replaced you with a clone? A silent clone? Stepford wife?”
“No! No, I do. Was thinking.” She steps closer to him and studies him, remembering that first second when the flames died away and a stranger was standing in the place her Doctor occupied. This stranger. Who then proved that he had all her Doctor’s memories.
“Why did he - you - die? Cause it wasn’t the Daleks. You were still alive when I woke up in here. I saw the Daleks kill someone when I was a prisoner on their ship. It was horrible, but it was over in less than a second. An’ no flames.”
“No, it wasn’t the Daleks,” he tells her, his expression serious. “How much do you remember?”
“I know Mum an’ Mickey helped me open up the TARDIS so’s I could get back to you an’ Jack. But then it all goes sort of fuzzy. It’s like... I told Mickey it’s like it’s sort of forbidden.”
“Yep.” He nods, just once. “I didn’t want you remembering it all immediately. Would’ve been too much for your little human brain.”
“See one thing’s not changed, then. You still like insultin’ other species.”
“Blimey, you like to jump to conclusions. I meant that literally, Rose. Your brain is tiny compared to mine. Anyway. S’pose you deserve to know what you did. You did save the universe, after all.” He grins at her, a smile that’s completely different from her other Doctor’s, yet just as goofy. Maybe everything’s going to be okay.
She listens in growing amazement to a tale involving the Time Vortex, Bad Wolf, dissolving Daleks - even the Emperor - into dust, and the Doctor saving her life.
“Not a word,” he cautions her as she’s about to react to that - she killed her Doctor, after coming back to save him? “You’re worth it, Rose Tyler. You’re so, so very worth it. And, besides,” he adds with a wry smile, “if you hadn’t come back I’d have died anyway, and the Daleks would’ve taken over the universe. Even Time Lords can’t come back from extermination.”
“Still, though, it’s not right,” she protests. “I wanted to save you. Both of you - you an’ Jack. An’ I failed.”
Even though she’s looking straight at him, she almost misses the faint slide of his eyes away from hers at the mention of Jack. This Doctor’s too new for her to know what it means, or even if it means anything at all. But she takes a chance anyway.
“Doctor? What happened to Jack?” Oh, yeah, definitely a reaction. Enough for her to take a chance and ask another question that’s been on her mind since everything with the Sycorax was over. “You told me he was busy rebuilding the Earth. Is he, really? The Daleks killed him, didn’t they, Doctor?”
***
There are times when he can’t help wondering if Rose Tyler is telepathic.
How else could she possibly know what’s on his mind? The reason he brought her into the TARDIS now, and what he’s been thinking about - well, one of the many things - since crash-landing in the Powell Estates? It occupied his thoughts even during his regeneration coma; that, and worrying about whether Rose would stay now that he’d changed, and what he looked like this time anyway.
It’s not just that he’s had a chance to study the timelines now, something he didn’t have time to do back on Satellite Five, when every second counted if he was going to save Rose’s life and get back into the Vortex before he regenerated. Though the possibilities there are bad enough. Of course, nothing’s certain; after all, time is a great ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff - and that’s a metaphor he’d rather not use again - but if even two or three of the things he saw happen in any shape or form it would be Bad. Very, Very Bad.
Parallel universes bleeding through to this one. Cybermen. Rose dying. Rose trapped in the Void. Rose separated from him somehow, in a way which means he can never get back to her. Enemies returning, and Jack... Jack living and dying so many times, trapped in the past, and angry and bitter when he finally catches up with the TARDIS. Daleks, and more Daleks, and one of the most vicious enemies of all.
Maybe, even in the worst-case scenario, not all of this will come to pass. But even some of it... well, if it can be avoided...
And that really isn’t the only reason. He was wrong. He was a coward. He ran. Ran away from a man who’d done nothing to deserve it, a man who’d sacrificed his life so that the person he hero-worshipped could save the universe. And then he lied to Rose about it.
Yet another sacrifice he doesn’t deserve, of course. Not only didn’t he save the universe, in the end, but then he abandoned Jack.
So that’s why. For once in his life, he’s going back. He’s going to put things right.
“What happened to Jack?” He makes himself smile - and, really, he’s got a lot to smile about. Brand-new him. Brand-new body - and not a bad one at all, even if he says so himself; brand-new life, and a brand-new opportunity to do things right this time. “Want to find out?”
Instantly, hope wars with grief in her eyes. “He’s not dead?”
“No, he’s not dead,” he tells her gently. “Long story. Well, longish. But wouldn’t you rather just go and find him?”
***
Jack’s alive?
Well, of course she would. Of course explanations can wait.
The Doctor’s already bounding to the console, but he pauses, turns and extends his hand. “Coming?”
“Yeah!” She hurries up to join him and stands by his side as he pushes buttons, turns switches and slams levers into place with even more of a flourish than the other Doctor, even using his foot to kick one control into operation.
“You’re just a big kid, you are!” she tells him.
“Well, I suppose, technically,” he answers, drawing out the words, “you could say I am, really. Only just over twenty-four hours old, aren’t I?”
“But are you, really?” she has to ask; this regeneration stuff is so confusing.
“This body is, yes. All new and untried. Isn’t that exciting?” He grins impishly at her. “Me on the whole? Nah. Still over nine hundred years old.”
She shakes her head. “I’m babysitting a nine-hundred-year-old toddler.”
He laughs. “I suppose you are, really.” His hand slides into hers - it feels different: longer, more slender fingers, fewer callouses - but it still feels good having his fingers wrapped around hers. Very good.
And off they fly into space - back to Satellite Five? She’ll find out soon enough - to find Jack. To get Team TARDIS back together again.
***
It’s been five hours, and he’s finally concluded that he’s been abandoned. The Doctor left him. He just disappeared and left him behind, not caring if he was alive or dead.
So much for loyalty. So much for never doubted him, never will.
Just as well he’s got his Vortex manipulator. At least there’s a way off this creaky, falling-apart satellite. The power’s already failed and he’s stuck on this floor, in darkness, with no access to any other levels. If he stays here much longer he’ll run out of oxygen - there’s at least one minute leak somewhere on this floor and so either he’ll run out of air or the hole will expand and expose the entire deck to vacuum, and either way he’ll be dead again.
He starts keying in coordinates - Rose’s time, because the Doctor’s bound to have gone back for her, and even if the bastard hasn’t he’ll be with someone he cares about.
He’s just about to punch the button to take him away from this godforsaken place when he hears it. It’s unmistakeable, that groaning/wheezing/roaring sound, like an engine in dire need of tuning. And it’s getting louder.
The Doctor came back?
He did, because the TARDIS is materialising right in front of him, in the middle of the control-room.
Jack almost stumbles as he runs forward, hand reaching out to touch the impermeable wood of the dimensionally-transcendent spaceship he’d just started to call home.
The door opens, but the figure who appears in the gap isn’t who he’s expecting. “Rose!”
“Hi, Jack.” She smiles at him, eyes alight with obvious joy. “Heard you got left behind by mistake. Come on, no hangin’ about!”
Despite her stricture, he still takes a few seconds to hug her before running inside. “You all right?” Yes, the Doctor sent her home so she’d be safe, but he still has to ask.
“ ‘M fine,” she assures him, clinging to him. “But what ‘bout you, Jack? You’ve been here on your own for... how long? Hours?”
“Yeah, about five hours. But that’s okay. Could’ve been worse - could’ve still been fighting off Daleks.”
Releasing Rose, he looks around for the Doctor. But there’s no sign of him in the room, and the only other person there - over by the console - is a complete stranger.
“Hello, Jack,” the stranger says. “Welcome home.”
“What?” He blinks. “Who are you?”
“Jack.” Rose’s hand is on his arm. “That’s the Doctor.”
***
Jack takes the regeneration surprisingly well. But then, she remembers, he did know what Time Lords were. That would make a difference.
“Something else I gotta ask about,” Jack says after a while, once all the explanations are over. “I died. I’m sure I did. The Daleks were right there, in front of me. I heard them fire. I remember getting hit. And then I woke up again and they were all gone.”
“Yeah.” The Doctor comes out from behind the console and gives Jack another of those serious looks she’s getting used to. “You did die.” He looks at her and holds out a hand towards her. She takes it.
“Could lie, I suppose, and give you some excuse. But you deserve the truth, both of you. Anyway, I spent most of my last life running from things. Maybe in this life I’ll be the sort of man who faces up to things? Who knows.”
“Go on,” Jack prompts, and his jaw is tense.
“You died, Jack, and Rose brought you back to life after she destroyed the Daleks. One wave of her hand and there you were. Alive and breathing, all over again.”
“I did that?” Though, really, given everything else the Doctor told her she did, bringing one man back to life’s not so amazing.
“You did.”
“But why?” Now Jack’s looking incredulously at her. “Why would you do that for me?”
She swipes at him. “Sometimes, Jack Harkness, you are such an idiot. Why wouldn’t I? You’re one of my two best mates. You think I wouldn’t save you if I could?”
The incredulous face lasts for about two seconds more, then he’s gripping the hand that’s hitting at him and laughing. “Course I do. I was kidding.”
“Git.”
“You know me.” His expression softens. “Rose.” He leans in closer. “Thank you.” For the second time, his lips brush hers, and for the second time she blushes. This time, though, she kisses him back.
***
“Oi, that’s enough of that!” He gives them a mock glare.
Jack grins. “I’ll kiss you too if you want. You did come back for me, after all.”
His hearts thump. “You might want to hold off on that for a minute or two, Jack. I said I’d tell you the truth, but you might not like it.”
Jack’s gaze rests on him, his expression alert, thoughtful. “Go on.”
“Rose said you got left behind by mistake. Could let you believe that, course I could. But it’s not what happened. I ran away. Deliberately left you behind.”
Jack just stares, hurt written all over his face. Rose’s gasp is disbelieving.
“Rose didn’t just bring you back to life, Jack. She gave you immortality. You’ll die again, oh, yes. But you’ll never stay dead. Never age, either. You’ll just keep living. You’re a fact, a fixed point in time, an anomaly. Time doesn’t touch you - it bounces off you and leaves you untouched. That’s why I ran.”
“I don’t understand.” Jack’s looking away now, and he’s definitely wounded, feeling betrayed. Rose slides her hand into the Captain’s and stands close to him, offering silent support. “Why would that make you run?”
“Time Lord. That kind of anomaly feels... wrong. Makes me shiver. Scares me, if I’m gonna be completely honest. I forgot it was you, Jack, and I just bolted. Took Rose and the TARDIS and disappeared before you could get there.”
“Right.” Jack’s breathing heavily; obviously this is a lot to take in. “Was that before or after you regenerated?”
“Before. I could feel it, though. Knew it’d be happening soon.”
Jack nods. “But you’ve regenerated now. And you came back.” He takes a step closer. “Do I still feel wrong? Still scare you?”
He promised to tell the truth. So he does. “A little. But I’m working on it.”
Now, Jack smiles. “Glad to hear it.” He drops Rose’s hand and opens his arms. The Doctor steps forward and accepts the hug. “I forgive you,” Jack says as they embrace.
It’s Jack, so he should have expected it, and he can’t say Jack didn’t warn him, but all the same, as they draw apart, he’s startled by the feel of human lips on his.
Ah, well. He probably owes Jack a kiss. And it’s really not a hardship to kiss him back.
***
She wanted to smack him when he confessed to deliberately leaving Jack behind. But Jack’s forgiven him - and, anyway, he told them what really happened when he didn’t have to - so she’ll let it go.
“Just one thing,” Jack says as he reaches for her to draw her into their embrace. “This immortality thing - I gotta say, much as the idea of not dying any time soon appeals, I’m not sure I like it as a retirement plan.”
“Nope.” The Doctor’s eyes darken briefly, and suddenly she realises, for the first time, what being over nine hundred years old means. How many friends has he lost over the years? How many times has he seen people he cares about die? “But that won’t happen. I’ll sort something out. I’m brilliant, remember? Leave it to me.”
“Thanks.” There’s relief in Jack’s smile and in his voice, and she feels the same. After all, she’s the one who did that to him. Bringing him back to life’s one thing, and she’s not at all sorry about that, but she could see that there’d be a point beyond which it’s not good any more.
“Thanks, Doctor.” She smiles up at him too, and his eyes soften as he looks down at her.
“So!” He springs away from the two of them suddenly. “What’s next? Oh! S’pose I did say I’d have you home within the hour. Can’t let your mum think we’ve run off again already.”
“Yeah, we’d best get home.” She grins at Jack. “Ready to meet my mum? Oh, and Doctor...” She walks over to the console, where he’s now standing. “Did you mean it? You want to face up to things? Put them right?”
“Yes.” He lifts one eyebrow.
“Harriet Jones.” It’s been bothering her ever since she saw the news item and knew he was responsible. “I don’t think she should have fired that weapon. But you shouldn’t have done what you did either. Two wrongs don’t make a right, Doctor. An’ when we met her, you said she’s Prime Minister for three whole terms. Britain’s Golden Age, you said. That’s not gonna happen now, is it?”
His smile disappears as he studies her. Then, slowly, he says, “You’re right. Shouldn’t mess around with your planet’s history, not without a good reason - and that wasn’t one. I don’t agree with what she did, but if I did something like that every time I didn’t agree with a prime minister or a president or a dictator... well.” He nods. “Yes. I’ll sort it. After all, for all I know whoever replaces her could be far, far worse.”
As relief floods her, she can’t help hugging him. The thought that he might have done serious harm to a prime minister she’d actually have voted for if she’d been here, and someone she’d liked a lot... well, it felt wrong. Now he’s going to put it right.
“Thanks, Doctor,” she says and, taking a chance, reaches up to press her lips to his.
There’s returning pressure for just a moment before he lets her go, then holds out a hand to her and his other to Jack. “Right, then! The Powell Estates, Christmas night. And...” His grin encompasses both of them, the unbeatable team back together again. “After that?”
Rose looks at Jack, and then the Doctor. “After that... to the stars!” She winks at the Doctor and points upwards with her free hand. “You did say that way, right?”
- end