Infinite Haystacks (5/?)
So, I was all ready to jump ahead in the action when Jack and the Doctor rudely interrupted. Seems they had a few things that needed to be said, and just absolutely would not allow me to keep writing until it was all out in the open. Ah, well, it wasn't all for naught my dears, I promise. ;)
Title: Infinite Haystacks (5/?)
Author: cehlainz
Pairing: Rose/TenII
Rating: M
Spoilers/warnings: Post JE
Characters: Eleven, Jack Harkness
Word count: 1,364
Disclaimer: I own nothing. The characters and names all belong to their respective parties. Purely written for fun and personal entertainment.
Summary: There are some people the Doctor doesn't expect to see again. Rose Tyler, Jack Harkness, the Meta-crisis clone of himself, to name a few. He expected them all to go on living their brilliant lives without him. He never thought he'd be called on when one of them goes missing.
A/N: A teensy bit of violence and language. Nothing too terrible though.
There was a beat of silence as Jack digested the information. He and the Doctor just stared at each other, and the Doctor watched as Jack's face slowly drew down. When he spoke, it was with a kind of quiet, simmering fury.
"What."
"Ah, yes, well. The meta-crisis contacted me, not entirely sure how he managed that, but he's me and I'm brilliant, so I'm not surprised I figured it out. Told me that people in that dimension, that specific universe -- I call it Pete's World, though I'm sure it has a more official title. I just like ‘Pete's World’, makes it sound a bit like an amusement park -- told me that the people there are having a bit of trouble remembering Rose. We're operating on the assumption she was snatched from her bed, can't imagine she's just get up in the middle of the night for a bit of a walk-about and forget to come back. Longer she was gone, the more people forgot about her. The longer they'd known her, the easier it was to remember her."
Jack's face grew darker the longer the Doctor rambled. His dark brows were slashed into a tight V over his eyes, his jaw tense. "Wait just a damn minute," he said, his voice a growl. The Doctor took a hasty step back as Jack pushed his way into the others' personal space. "What exactly are you saying?"
"Well --"
"Shut up. Are you telling me that Rose hasn't been traveling with you?"
"Well --"
"I said shut up."
"How am I supposed to answer and shut up?" The Doctor pointed out incredulously.
"Rose Tyler, the love of your life, who was willing to die for you, more than once, who fought her way back from an alternate universe just to be with you, that Rose Tyler. You're telling me that after you dropped us off on Earth, you sent her back?"
He paused, and the Doctor just looked at him. "Answer me!" Jack barked.
"Oh, am I allowed to speak now?"
Jack drew in a sharp breath and stepped forward suddenly, fists clenched. "Ah!" The Doctor said hastily, hands up in a placating position. "Ah, well, look... I had to figure out what to do with the Time Lord/Human Biological Meta-Crisis Clone. He couldn't stay here. He'd committed genocide."
"Bullshit," Jack said, interrupting. "I was there, remember? I've seen a hell of a lot. Been to a lot of different times, a lot of different places. I've had access to Torchwood files, and I've hijacked those kept by UNIT. I've poked around in the databases of the Time Agency, and I've talked to a lot of different species. I know more about your adventures than you probably think. And I know that you're just as guilty. Not," he inserted quickly, "that I blame you. But I know about the Daleks. I know quite a bit about the times you've run into them. And I know, for a fact, that you've tried again and again to wipe them out. Thought you had! I also know," he said more quietly, though no less intensely, "that a certain blonde was present when every inch of the Dalek fleet in the fifty-first century was atomized, the same time I was given immortality. Why, then, does another action against that race of monsters equal a guilty judgment of genocide and banishment to a completely different universe?"
The Doctor worked his mouth a few times, but no sound came out. Jack eyed him critically, waiting. The Time Lord thrust his hands into his hair and paced away, towards the doors of the TARDIS and back. Finally, though his jaw was tight and his eyes dark, he tried to explain.
"I made a choice. The meta-crisis was going to age, wasn't going to be able to regenerate. He would never have to watch Rose wither and die, and then be left to pick up the pieces of his life for the next thousand years. I wanted to keep her, Jack. You must know that. But I knew that it would drive me mad, watching her march toward the end of her life. I'd have done anything I could, I'd have become obsessed with keeping her alive. I'd have convinced her to undergo any number of procedures to prolong her life, and she would have let me. In the end, she wouldn't even be Rose anymore, erased by my desperation to keep her with me." The Doctor's eyes were haunted as he seemed to see that scenario playing out.
"I couldn't do that to her. They were, I suspect, quite literally made for each other. And he really did need her, more than I did. Because I knew, had known for a while, that I wasn't going to end up with Rose. I'd been told as much by someone I met at The Library. I'd end up with someone, though I couldn't fathom it at the time, and he'd be left with no one. But I couldn't take them with me, I couldn't put her through having to choose. And I couldn't watch them together. I couldn't even leave them here, on Earth. She'd been declared officially dead after Canary Wharf. Her mother had met that universes' version of Rose's dad, they'd had a baby. Was I supposed to leave Rose stranded, no identity, no family, here? With a man that looked like me, was me for all intents and purposes? Torchwood and UNIT and heavens know who else would think he was the Doctor, would want him, and he'd have no way to disappear or defend himself. He didn't have a functional TARDIS. But there, I could leave them there. They'd have each other, she'd have her family. And no one to bother them, no one to know who they were and hunt them down. And I left them with a baby TARDIS, to grow on their own. I didn't leave them alone. I sacrificed, Jack," the Doctor's voice rose angrily, "I sacrificed everything I wanted."
Jack listened to the tirade before speaking again. "Just answer me one more thing." The Doctor looked back at him, angrily, warily. "Did you even give her a choice? Did you tell her any of this? Or did you just make a decision for her, and leave her to work it out on her own?" The look in the Doctor's eyes changed from angry to guilty. That look, and the anxious way the Time Lord rubbed the back of his neck was all the answer Jack needed. The Captain scowled and shook his head. "I figured as much." Before the Doctor could blink Jack caught his chin with a swift uppercut. The Doctor sprawled on the ground as Jack shook his hand out. The split skin on his knuckles healed almost instantly, though it left some drying blood in the whorls of his fingers. He flexed his shoulders, settling his coat, before reaching his other hand down toward the Doctor. The other man simply looked at the offered appendage before grasping it tightly. Jack hauled the Doctor to his feet and gripped his upper arm tightly. "I get it. I don't like it, but I get it."
The Doctor nodded and looked down, brushing the dirt off his clothes. This was the first time he'd so baldly spelled out his motivations from that time, even to himself, and he finally felt a measure of peace about it. Jack, the impossible Jack, who had a stronger connection to Rose than perhaps anyone else, even the Doctor himself, had granted him a kind of absolution. If anyone had the right to be angry about the Doctor's treatment of that wonderful girl, it was the man who had been so loved by her that she brought him back to permanent life. The man who had watched over her for the entirety of her life, with the exception of the past few years. The man who, even at the end of the universe as he subjected himself to intense radiation, asked about her well-being. It was enough, for now, and more than the Doctor had ever expected.
one, two, three, four
Title: Infinite Haystacks (5/?)
Author: cehlainz
Pairing: Rose/TenII
Rating: M
Spoilers/warnings: Post JE
Characters: Eleven, Jack Harkness
Word count: 1,364
Disclaimer: I own nothing. The characters and names all belong to their respective parties. Purely written for fun and personal entertainment.
Summary: There are some people the Doctor doesn't expect to see again. Rose Tyler, Jack Harkness, the Meta-crisis clone of himself, to name a few. He expected them all to go on living their brilliant lives without him. He never thought he'd be called on when one of them goes missing.
A/N: A teensy bit of violence and language. Nothing too terrible though.
There was a beat of silence as Jack digested the information. He and the Doctor just stared at each other, and the Doctor watched as Jack's face slowly drew down. When he spoke, it was with a kind of quiet, simmering fury.
"What."
"Ah, yes, well. The meta-crisis contacted me, not entirely sure how he managed that, but he's me and I'm brilliant, so I'm not surprised I figured it out. Told me that people in that dimension, that specific universe -- I call it Pete's World, though I'm sure it has a more official title. I just like ‘Pete's World’, makes it sound a bit like an amusement park -- told me that the people there are having a bit of trouble remembering Rose. We're operating on the assumption she was snatched from her bed, can't imagine she's just get up in the middle of the night for a bit of a walk-about and forget to come back. Longer she was gone, the more people forgot about her. The longer they'd known her, the easier it was to remember her."
Jack's face grew darker the longer the Doctor rambled. His dark brows were slashed into a tight V over his eyes, his jaw tense. "Wait just a damn minute," he said, his voice a growl. The Doctor took a hasty step back as Jack pushed his way into the others' personal space. "What exactly are you saying?"
"Well --"
"Shut up. Are you telling me that Rose hasn't been traveling with you?"
"Well --"
"I said shut up."
"How am I supposed to answer and shut up?" The Doctor pointed out incredulously.
"Rose Tyler, the love of your life, who was willing to die for you, more than once, who fought her way back from an alternate universe just to be with you, that Rose Tyler. You're telling me that after you dropped us off on Earth, you sent her back?"
He paused, and the Doctor just looked at him. "Answer me!" Jack barked.
"Oh, am I allowed to speak now?"
Jack drew in a sharp breath and stepped forward suddenly, fists clenched. "Ah!" The Doctor said hastily, hands up in a placating position. "Ah, well, look... I had to figure out what to do with the Time Lord/Human Biological Meta-Crisis Clone. He couldn't stay here. He'd committed genocide."
"Bullshit," Jack said, interrupting. "I was there, remember? I've seen a hell of a lot. Been to a lot of different times, a lot of different places. I've had access to Torchwood files, and I've hijacked those kept by UNIT. I've poked around in the databases of the Time Agency, and I've talked to a lot of different species. I know more about your adventures than you probably think. And I know that you're just as guilty. Not," he inserted quickly, "that I blame you. But I know about the Daleks. I know quite a bit about the times you've run into them. And I know, for a fact, that you've tried again and again to wipe them out. Thought you had! I also know," he said more quietly, though no less intensely, "that a certain blonde was present when every inch of the Dalek fleet in the fifty-first century was atomized, the same time I was given immortality. Why, then, does another action against that race of monsters equal a guilty judgment of genocide and banishment to a completely different universe?"
The Doctor worked his mouth a few times, but no sound came out. Jack eyed him critically, waiting. The Time Lord thrust his hands into his hair and paced away, towards the doors of the TARDIS and back. Finally, though his jaw was tight and his eyes dark, he tried to explain.
"I made a choice. The meta-crisis was going to age, wasn't going to be able to regenerate. He would never have to watch Rose wither and die, and then be left to pick up the pieces of his life for the next thousand years. I wanted to keep her, Jack. You must know that. But I knew that it would drive me mad, watching her march toward the end of her life. I'd have done anything I could, I'd have become obsessed with keeping her alive. I'd have convinced her to undergo any number of procedures to prolong her life, and she would have let me. In the end, she wouldn't even be Rose anymore, erased by my desperation to keep her with me." The Doctor's eyes were haunted as he seemed to see that scenario playing out.
"I couldn't do that to her. They were, I suspect, quite literally made for each other. And he really did need her, more than I did. Because I knew, had known for a while, that I wasn't going to end up with Rose. I'd been told as much by someone I met at The Library. I'd end up with someone, though I couldn't fathom it at the time, and he'd be left with no one. But I couldn't take them with me, I couldn't put her through having to choose. And I couldn't watch them together. I couldn't even leave them here, on Earth. She'd been declared officially dead after Canary Wharf. Her mother had met that universes' version of Rose's dad, they'd had a baby. Was I supposed to leave Rose stranded, no identity, no family, here? With a man that looked like me, was me for all intents and purposes? Torchwood and UNIT and heavens know who else would think he was the Doctor, would want him, and he'd have no way to disappear or defend himself. He didn't have a functional TARDIS. But there, I could leave them there. They'd have each other, she'd have her family. And no one to bother them, no one to know who they were and hunt them down. And I left them with a baby TARDIS, to grow on their own. I didn't leave them alone. I sacrificed, Jack," the Doctor's voice rose angrily, "I sacrificed everything I wanted."
Jack listened to the tirade before speaking again. "Just answer me one more thing." The Doctor looked back at him, angrily, warily. "Did you even give her a choice? Did you tell her any of this? Or did you just make a decision for her, and leave her to work it out on her own?" The look in the Doctor's eyes changed from angry to guilty. That look, and the anxious way the Time Lord rubbed the back of his neck was all the answer Jack needed. The Captain scowled and shook his head. "I figured as much." Before the Doctor could blink Jack caught his chin with a swift uppercut. The Doctor sprawled on the ground as Jack shook his hand out. The split skin on his knuckles healed almost instantly, though it left some drying blood in the whorls of his fingers. He flexed his shoulders, settling his coat, before reaching his other hand down toward the Doctor. The other man simply looked at the offered appendage before grasping it tightly. Jack hauled the Doctor to his feet and gripped his upper arm tightly. "I get it. I don't like it, but I get it."
The Doctor nodded and looked down, brushing the dirt off his clothes. This was the first time he'd so baldly spelled out his motivations from that time, even to himself, and he finally felt a measure of peace about it. Jack, the impossible Jack, who had a stronger connection to Rose than perhaps anyone else, even the Doctor himself, had granted him a kind of absolution. If anyone had the right to be angry about the Doctor's treatment of that wonderful girl, it was the man who had been so loved by her that she brought him back to permanent life. The man who had watched over her for the entirety of her life, with the exception of the past few years. The man who, even at the end of the universe as he subjected himself to intense radiation, asked about her well-being. It was enough, for now, and more than the Doctor had ever expected.
one, two, three, four