In the Dark
In the dark
Author: Lilithangel
Characters: Jack/the Doctor (ninth)
Rating/Warnings: PG
Challenge: darkness
Summary: the Doctor loses his sight and Jack blames himself. Learning to cope with the darkness the Doctor finally sees that Jack is bigger on the inside.
They were running. Of course they were often running and Jack was laughing because he liked to laugh. The Doctor wasn’t laughing but the smile on the often severe face was close enough for Jack.
It wasn’t a really bad reason for running. A misunderstanding about payment made worse when Jack stepped in and offered something that offended both the Doctor and the seller equally. The Doctor got over the offence a lot quicker than the seller and the large number of the seller’s extended family did.
So they ran. Jack managed to call Rose and send her back to meet them at the TARDIS. The Doctor managed to scold Jack for thinking sex would solve everything and they kept running.
Only to skid around a corner and be hit by some sort of sonic blast. The Doctor took the biggest hit as he was out in front, but Jack was thrown backwards.
“Shit,” Jack swore, picking himself up off the ground. “Come on Doc,” he said, seeing the Doctor was still on hands and knees. He grabbed the Doctor under one arm and they staggered onwards. Jack was worried about the Doctor as the Time Lord was stumbling and shaking his head, but they were close to the TARDIS and they didn’t have time to worry about what had hit them, only to worry that it was powering up for another blast.
They fell into the TARDIS and leaned against the door, panting.
“What happened?” Rose demanded, running over to them.
“Just a slight misunderstanding,” Jack said, looking over at the Doctor who had his hands on his knees.
“Sonic something or other,” the Doctor said, “think we’ve worn out our welcome here though. Anyone fancy feudal Japan?” He straightened and stepped towards the console only to trip on the first step and hit the ground.
“Doctor!” Rose ran to his side. She gasped when he looked up and she saw his eyes were covered by a milky sheen.
“’S nothing,” the Doctor said, still smiling, “won’t take long to wear off.”
Jack was instantly at his side, helping him up. He shook off both their hands. “Don’t need eyes to run this old girl,” he insisted, “always said I could do it with my eyes shut.” He made his way cautiously until his hands met the edge of the console and then he moved around to the lever that would dematerialise the TARDIS and sent her to a safe place in space. “Told ya,” he said triumphantly and jumped slightly when Jack replied from just behind him.
“That’s great Doc,” Jack said, “now let’s get you to the med bay and see what’s wrong.”
The Doctor didn’t protest but he shook off Jack’s hand and stalked off only to stumble again. He relented when Rose slipped her hand around his arm and let her lead him through the corridor.
Jack sighed and followed behind. Once in the med bay the Doctor tolerated Jack’s attentions, directing him to the instruments and explaining what sort of results to look for. Rose sat beside the Doctor, holding his hand and only moving enough to let Jack perform the tests.
Finally Jack shook his head and then, remembering the Doctor couldn’t see, “it doesn’t look like permanent damage,” he said, “don’t know how long the effects will last but you’ll need to take it easy until your sight comes back. It could come back slowly or suddenly, there’s no way to tell.”
“Brilliant,” the Doctor growled.
“Its good news,” Rose said, squeezing his hand, “you’ll be right as rain in no time.”
“And what are we supposed to do in the meantime?” the Doctor demanded, “nope, don’t answer that, I know exactly what we’re going to do…”
Jack worked hard on the repairs the Doctor decided they should do while waiting for his sight to return. The Doctor seemed to barely need his eyes when stretched out under the centre console panels, but he was more than happy to use Jack for the grunt work, and to allow Rose to be the one to help him up at the end of the day.
Although nothing was said, Jack knew he was being punished for getting the Doctor blinded. Since he blamed himself anyway, he took everything the Doctor threw at him.
He also took to wandering the corridors at night, making sure there was nothing left lying around for the Doctor to trip over and the console room had never been so tidy. Jack had never slept a lot and now he was barely sleeping at all.
The Doctor roared at Jack for dropping a tool under the console and Rose noticed the grey cast to Jack’s skin, the dark bruised colour under his eyes and the fatigue shaking the normally confident hands.
“Doctor, Jack’s exhausted,” she said, “Jack, you need to rest.”
“I’m fine Rosie,” Jack insisted and the Doctor simply grunted.
Despite his apparent lack of concern, the Doctor called a halt to work not long after, stating his intention of having a bath and roughly ordering Jack to rest. Rose helped him to the bathroom and left him there. He’d refused all help in there from the beginning and Rose couldn’t insist as she didn’t feel comfortable about the Doctor’s bodily functions anyway. Jack would have helped without a qualm but the Doctor wouldn’t hear of the suggestion.
The Doctor refused to let either of them see him stumbling around trying to wash and shave. And in the privacy of the bathroom he didn’t have to always be competent.
The Doctor moved through the TARDIS with reasonable ease, even in the total darkness of his own head. She kept his journeys as quick as possible wherever he wanted to go, and he knew the Captain was being extra careful about putting things away. He hated being in the dark though, hated the feeling of helplessness when his feet didn’t know what was ahead, when he turned his head automatically to follow a sound and there was nothing but darkness.
He had stopped being angry quite quickly but he couldn’t bring himself to show weakness to the cocky time traveller. He was also very much aware that the Captain had ignored his order to rest and was finishing the repairs. The TARDIS didn’t mind him working on her but always kept tabs on her occupants and had quickly told the Doctor Jack wasn’t asleep in his bed.
“Thought I told you to rest,” he said, leaning against a strut in the console room, glaring in the approximate direction of the panel Jack was working on.
“I did,” Jack replied, his voice muffled, “then I figured I could get a head start on linking the extrapolator into the systems.”
“Well you can stop right now,” the Doctor said firmly.
“Alright,” Jack said, climbing to his feet, “I get the hint, I’m going.” He moved carefully past the Doctor only to have his arm grabbed in an iron grip.
“And I’m going with you,” the Doctor said, “Make sure you do what you’re told.”
Jack led the way back to his quarters, with the Doctor maintaining the tight grip on his arm. The Doctor leaned against the doorway as Jack obeyed orders and undressed.
“Are you going to be angry for much longer?” Jack asked, sitting on the edge of the bed.
“Are you going to feel guilty for much longer?” the Doctor countered.
“It’s my fault you can’t see,” Jack said, “my flirting that got us in trouble.”
“It was me bargaining in the first place,” the Doctor corrected. “Figured that sooner or later you’d snap and things would be back to normal. Turns out you’re as stubborn as me.”
“You can’t see,” Jack said in frustration, “I don’t want to be the one causing you trouble all the time.”
“Don’t be so stupid,” the Doctor said, but his voice was soft. He moved over to sit on the bed. Jack moved automatically to give him space, his hand guiding the Doctor down. “Trouble magnet, that’s me, and you and Rose.”
Jack laughed softly. He froze when the Doctor’s hand reached across and found his. “Doctor?”
“Don’t think I don’t know who’s been keeping things tidy around here,” the Doctor said. “For all your talk, Captain, you just need to be needed and we do need you, Rose and me, me in particular. I trust you at my back, I trust you with my TARDIS and I might even trust you with my Rose, even if I don’t trust you not to get us into trouble with your flirting.”
Jack laughed and squeezed the Doctor’s hand.
“The question is, Captain,” the Doctor continued, “Do you trust me enough to get some rest and not worry that I’m going to break my neck in my own TARDIS?” He nudged Jack over and stretched out on the bed. He could feel Jack hesitate and then stretch out beside him.
He wriggled up so the Captain’s head was resting on his chest. Jack was only wearing a pair of skimpy shorts and the Doctor could feel the heat of his body. He could also feel that Jack was half hard just from being near him and that was quite gratifying.
“Rest now Captain,” he ordered, pulling a blanket over them.
“Yes sir,” Jack mumbled and the Doctor could feel his body begin to relax into sleep. Jack had to have been completely exhausted and the Doctor felt a momentary pang of annoyance that Jack would let himself get into that state and another pang of annoyance that he’d not noticed until Rose told him. He shouldn’t have needed his eyesight to realise.
“Don’t just need to be needed,” Jack whispered into his chest, “just need you.” Jack went completely lax as exhaustion won and his breathing evened out, warm and oh so human on the Doctor’s skin.
The Doctor moved his hand up carefully to brush back Jack’s hair and it kept up a steady movement through the normally carefully styled locks. He dozed himself as the steady single heartbeat formed a complex and quite pleasing rhythm with his own double beat.
He stayed there as the darkness turned slowly to a fog, then a slowly brightening light that made him close his eyes. When he carefully opened them it was to look on the sleep softened features of his Captain, trusting the Doctor enough to watch over his sleep. The Doctor watched his hand continue to card through the soft dark hair.
Jack stirred and curled into the Doctor’s touch like a cat. Blue eyes opened and looked up into his clear blue eyes. “Hello there,” Jack said with a sleepy smile.
“Hello yourself,” the Doctor said.
“Everything working?” Jack said.
“Clear as day,” he replied with a grin. He bent his head and kissed Jack on the forehead. Jack’s eyes closed and he pressed up against the kiss, prolonging it as much as he could. “No time to be lollygagging about in bed,” he said, “places to see, promised you feudal Japan didn’t I?”
“Yeah you did, Doc,” Jack said, letting the Doctor push him up and slide out.
“Wanna see it Rose notices?” the Doctor said with mischief in his voice.
“Only if I can claim ignorance when she thumps you.”
They slipped back into the teasing, flirting relationship but the memory of that time of darkness cemented Jack’s place in the TARDIS and broke the Doctor’s hearts when the sound of Dalek fire echoed through the Game Station.
END
Author: Lilithangel
Characters: Jack/the Doctor (ninth)
Rating/Warnings: PG
Challenge: darkness
Summary: the Doctor loses his sight and Jack blames himself. Learning to cope with the darkness the Doctor finally sees that Jack is bigger on the inside.
They were running. Of course they were often running and Jack was laughing because he liked to laugh. The Doctor wasn’t laughing but the smile on the often severe face was close enough for Jack.
It wasn’t a really bad reason for running. A misunderstanding about payment made worse when Jack stepped in and offered something that offended both the Doctor and the seller equally. The Doctor got over the offence a lot quicker than the seller and the large number of the seller’s extended family did.
So they ran. Jack managed to call Rose and send her back to meet them at the TARDIS. The Doctor managed to scold Jack for thinking sex would solve everything and they kept running.
Only to skid around a corner and be hit by some sort of sonic blast. The Doctor took the biggest hit as he was out in front, but Jack was thrown backwards.
“Shit,” Jack swore, picking himself up off the ground. “Come on Doc,” he said, seeing the Doctor was still on hands and knees. He grabbed the Doctor under one arm and they staggered onwards. Jack was worried about the Doctor as the Time Lord was stumbling and shaking his head, but they were close to the TARDIS and they didn’t have time to worry about what had hit them, only to worry that it was powering up for another blast.
They fell into the TARDIS and leaned against the door, panting.
“What happened?” Rose demanded, running over to them.
“Just a slight misunderstanding,” Jack said, looking over at the Doctor who had his hands on his knees.
“Sonic something or other,” the Doctor said, “think we’ve worn out our welcome here though. Anyone fancy feudal Japan?” He straightened and stepped towards the console only to trip on the first step and hit the ground.
“Doctor!” Rose ran to his side. She gasped when he looked up and she saw his eyes were covered by a milky sheen.
“’S nothing,” the Doctor said, still smiling, “won’t take long to wear off.”
Jack was instantly at his side, helping him up. He shook off both their hands. “Don’t need eyes to run this old girl,” he insisted, “always said I could do it with my eyes shut.” He made his way cautiously until his hands met the edge of the console and then he moved around to the lever that would dematerialise the TARDIS and sent her to a safe place in space. “Told ya,” he said triumphantly and jumped slightly when Jack replied from just behind him.
“That’s great Doc,” Jack said, “now let’s get you to the med bay and see what’s wrong.”
The Doctor didn’t protest but he shook off Jack’s hand and stalked off only to stumble again. He relented when Rose slipped her hand around his arm and let her lead him through the corridor.
Jack sighed and followed behind. Once in the med bay the Doctor tolerated Jack’s attentions, directing him to the instruments and explaining what sort of results to look for. Rose sat beside the Doctor, holding his hand and only moving enough to let Jack perform the tests.
Finally Jack shook his head and then, remembering the Doctor couldn’t see, “it doesn’t look like permanent damage,” he said, “don’t know how long the effects will last but you’ll need to take it easy until your sight comes back. It could come back slowly or suddenly, there’s no way to tell.”
“Brilliant,” the Doctor growled.
“Its good news,” Rose said, squeezing his hand, “you’ll be right as rain in no time.”
“And what are we supposed to do in the meantime?” the Doctor demanded, “nope, don’t answer that, I know exactly what we’re going to do…”
Jack worked hard on the repairs the Doctor decided they should do while waiting for his sight to return. The Doctor seemed to barely need his eyes when stretched out under the centre console panels, but he was more than happy to use Jack for the grunt work, and to allow Rose to be the one to help him up at the end of the day.
Although nothing was said, Jack knew he was being punished for getting the Doctor blinded. Since he blamed himself anyway, he took everything the Doctor threw at him.
He also took to wandering the corridors at night, making sure there was nothing left lying around for the Doctor to trip over and the console room had never been so tidy. Jack had never slept a lot and now he was barely sleeping at all.
The Doctor roared at Jack for dropping a tool under the console and Rose noticed the grey cast to Jack’s skin, the dark bruised colour under his eyes and the fatigue shaking the normally confident hands.
“Doctor, Jack’s exhausted,” she said, “Jack, you need to rest.”
“I’m fine Rosie,” Jack insisted and the Doctor simply grunted.
Despite his apparent lack of concern, the Doctor called a halt to work not long after, stating his intention of having a bath and roughly ordering Jack to rest. Rose helped him to the bathroom and left him there. He’d refused all help in there from the beginning and Rose couldn’t insist as she didn’t feel comfortable about the Doctor’s bodily functions anyway. Jack would have helped without a qualm but the Doctor wouldn’t hear of the suggestion.
The Doctor refused to let either of them see him stumbling around trying to wash and shave. And in the privacy of the bathroom he didn’t have to always be competent.
The Doctor moved through the TARDIS with reasonable ease, even in the total darkness of his own head. She kept his journeys as quick as possible wherever he wanted to go, and he knew the Captain was being extra careful about putting things away. He hated being in the dark though, hated the feeling of helplessness when his feet didn’t know what was ahead, when he turned his head automatically to follow a sound and there was nothing but darkness.
He had stopped being angry quite quickly but he couldn’t bring himself to show weakness to the cocky time traveller. He was also very much aware that the Captain had ignored his order to rest and was finishing the repairs. The TARDIS didn’t mind him working on her but always kept tabs on her occupants and had quickly told the Doctor Jack wasn’t asleep in his bed.
“Thought I told you to rest,” he said, leaning against a strut in the console room, glaring in the approximate direction of the panel Jack was working on.
“I did,” Jack replied, his voice muffled, “then I figured I could get a head start on linking the extrapolator into the systems.”
“Well you can stop right now,” the Doctor said firmly.
“Alright,” Jack said, climbing to his feet, “I get the hint, I’m going.” He moved carefully past the Doctor only to have his arm grabbed in an iron grip.
“And I’m going with you,” the Doctor said, “Make sure you do what you’re told.”
Jack led the way back to his quarters, with the Doctor maintaining the tight grip on his arm. The Doctor leaned against the doorway as Jack obeyed orders and undressed.
“Are you going to be angry for much longer?” Jack asked, sitting on the edge of the bed.
“Are you going to feel guilty for much longer?” the Doctor countered.
“It’s my fault you can’t see,” Jack said, “my flirting that got us in trouble.”
“It was me bargaining in the first place,” the Doctor corrected. “Figured that sooner or later you’d snap and things would be back to normal. Turns out you’re as stubborn as me.”
“You can’t see,” Jack said in frustration, “I don’t want to be the one causing you trouble all the time.”
“Don’t be so stupid,” the Doctor said, but his voice was soft. He moved over to sit on the bed. Jack moved automatically to give him space, his hand guiding the Doctor down. “Trouble magnet, that’s me, and you and Rose.”
Jack laughed softly. He froze when the Doctor’s hand reached across and found his. “Doctor?”
“Don’t think I don’t know who’s been keeping things tidy around here,” the Doctor said. “For all your talk, Captain, you just need to be needed and we do need you, Rose and me, me in particular. I trust you at my back, I trust you with my TARDIS and I might even trust you with my Rose, even if I don’t trust you not to get us into trouble with your flirting.”
Jack laughed and squeezed the Doctor’s hand.
“The question is, Captain,” the Doctor continued, “Do you trust me enough to get some rest and not worry that I’m going to break my neck in my own TARDIS?” He nudged Jack over and stretched out on the bed. He could feel Jack hesitate and then stretch out beside him.
He wriggled up so the Captain’s head was resting on his chest. Jack was only wearing a pair of skimpy shorts and the Doctor could feel the heat of his body. He could also feel that Jack was half hard just from being near him and that was quite gratifying.
“Rest now Captain,” he ordered, pulling a blanket over them.
“Yes sir,” Jack mumbled and the Doctor could feel his body begin to relax into sleep. Jack had to have been completely exhausted and the Doctor felt a momentary pang of annoyance that Jack would let himself get into that state and another pang of annoyance that he’d not noticed until Rose told him. He shouldn’t have needed his eyesight to realise.
“Don’t just need to be needed,” Jack whispered into his chest, “just need you.” Jack went completely lax as exhaustion won and his breathing evened out, warm and oh so human on the Doctor’s skin.
The Doctor moved his hand up carefully to brush back Jack’s hair and it kept up a steady movement through the normally carefully styled locks. He dozed himself as the steady single heartbeat formed a complex and quite pleasing rhythm with his own double beat.
He stayed there as the darkness turned slowly to a fog, then a slowly brightening light that made him close his eyes. When he carefully opened them it was to look on the sleep softened features of his Captain, trusting the Doctor enough to watch over his sleep. The Doctor watched his hand continue to card through the soft dark hair.
Jack stirred and curled into the Doctor’s touch like a cat. Blue eyes opened and looked up into his clear blue eyes. “Hello there,” Jack said with a sleepy smile.
“Hello yourself,” the Doctor said.
“Everything working?” Jack said.
“Clear as day,” he replied with a grin. He bent his head and kissed Jack on the forehead. Jack’s eyes closed and he pressed up against the kiss, prolonging it as much as he could. “No time to be lollygagging about in bed,” he said, “places to see, promised you feudal Japan didn’t I?”
“Yeah you did, Doc,” Jack said, letting the Doctor push him up and slide out.
“Wanna see it Rose notices?” the Doctor said with mischief in his voice.
“Only if I can claim ignorance when she thumps you.”
They slipped back into the teasing, flirting relationship but the memory of that time of darkness cemented Jack’s place in the TARDIS and broke the Doctor’s hearts when the sound of Dalek fire echoed through the Game Station.
END