Yamx: Defences (4/4) (Jack/Nine) [PG-13]
Title: Defences (4/4)
Author: yamx
Beta: the utterly fantastic wendymr
Challenge: Summer Holidays
Prompt group: 4: sleep - sleeplessness - dream - trance
Rating: PG-13 (no explicit smut, but plenty of innuendo; strong language, including the f-word)
Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction; the characters are the property of the BBC and used here without permission. No money was made.
Spoilers/warnings: DW: The Parting of the Ways, TW season 2
Characters: Jack/Nine, Rose, Ten
Summary: Jack makes a dangerous mistake. The Doctor is furious.
This is set in the Deal-verse, but all you really need to know to read it is that Jack and the Doctor got together shortly after Jack joined the TARDIS.
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
Part 4
Kyoto was great. He’d never seen it in the Middle Ages before. But it’s true what the books say - the East was much further advanced than the West back then.
They’re hanging out in the control room, joking around and teasing each other, when the walls start glowing. In a brief moment of panic, he sees Rose starting to glide away, and feels an inescapable pull on himself - and then the Doctor’s hand slams down on the orange button.
“What the hell was that?” Rose asks, shivering.
“That - that would have been a complete catastrophe if Jack didn’t know how to get me to listen.” The Doctor sends him a quick glance. “Tracking it now. Help me.”
He jumps to the helm controls. He’ll hold the TARDIS steady while the Doctor tracks the signal through time and space.
The Doctor frowns. “It’s Satellite 5! The transmat originated on Satellite 5. About a hundred years after we were there, Rose - 200,100.”
“Wasn’t it called ‘Game Station’ by then?” Jack interjects.
The Doctor sends him a surprised glance. “What?”
“The Game Station. Almost had a mission there once - meeting with an enemy spy. But she changed the location at the last second. Literally. Anyway, I read up on it then. Would have been only a few years before that signal you’re tracking. The whole satellite is dedicated to game shows. Weakest Link, The Real Real Life, Bear With Me… People are actually brought into the games whether they want to or not. By transmat.”
They exchange a glance. “Better have a look at this. Out of place, this timeline. Should be the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire, not a bunch of brain-numbing games.”
“And we’ll find out who tried to kidnap us, yeah?” Rose asks. She’s still visibly shaken - she was almost at the wall when the Doctor slammed the button. Jack slips an arm around her and she leans into him.
“Oh yes. No reason they’d need a transmat that powerful. If they’re putting out that kind of energy, there’s more going on there than stupid games.”
*****
They materialize outside the actual satellite, in a location that’s hidden from all nearby scanners by the satellite’s heat radiation. The Doctor scans the area carefully. The first few scans show nothing. He makes a number of complicated adjustments to the scanners, his eyes never leaving the monitor. A switch is flicked, and the writing on the screen turns mauve. A shrill beep rings out.
The Doctor becomes very still. “No.” He looks up at both of them with pained, haunted eyes. “No!”
They step closer to him on either side. Offer support, beg him to tell them.
When he does, they almost can’t believe it.
“What are we going to do?” Rose asks breathlessly. “Can we… is there a way to…?”
The Doctor looks at her, then back to the view screen. He straightens; his eyes become hard and cold. He’s no longer the Doctor - he’s the Oncoming Storm.
“Just you watch me, Rose Tyler. Just you watch me.”
*****
In the end, it’s surprisingly simple. The Daleks have no idea they’re there, so they have plenty of time to construct a Delta wave. The Doctor uses some samples from the TARDIS archives to prime it for Dalek DNA. The TARDIS doesn’t have the broadcasting power they need, so they materialize in the satellite’s control room. Go in with guns blazing - this one time, the Doctor doesn’t even object - and take over the transmitter. They only need it for a minute.
The view screen suddenly fills with a multitude of Dalek ships. They contact the satellite, make demands, threaten the Doctor. He merely grins and pushes the lever - and if his hand is shaking ever so slightly, only Jack and Rose see it.
*****
As it turns out, the Delta wave ruined the transmitter - fused it right into the station’s life support system and burnt them both out. There’s plenty of time to evacuate, but the damage is too extensive to be repaired easily, and the satellite’s main investors are out of the equation. The Game Station is closed for business. No one seems happier than the controller.
*****
When the TARDIS is back in the Vortex, the Doctor mumbles something indistinct about having to check the archives and makes to leave the control room. Rose runs and catches his hand. “Oh, no, you don’t.”
He turns and looks at her, startled.
“You, me ‘n Jack, we’re heading to the screening room, yeah? Gonna watch something nice an’ relax.”
The Doctor tries to pull away, but Rose is hanging on fast. “Your choice - won’t even argue this time.”
Jack understands and fully supports her plan - if they allow the Doctor to slip away now, he’ll let himself be swallowed by that brooding mood that has been building ever since he discovered the Dalek fleet. Jack would help, but Rose is the one the Doctor can’t say no to. He acknowledges that without jealousy - there’s something irresistible about her innocence and enthusiasm that he can’t match.
Rose is sticking her tongue out between her teeth and looking up at the Doctor through her lashes. “Anything you want. Even if it’s that movie with the girl who dresses up like a bloke and then pretends to be a bloke pretending to be a girl to help the idiot she’s in love with fall out of love with her.”
Jack chuckles. You don’t know Shakespeare until you’ve heard him summarized by Rose Tyler.
“I need to check the-”
“Doctor.” Her voice is wheedling. “There’s nothing in the archives that can’t wait. Come on, let’s watch a film. Jack’ll even make popcorn.”
Jack grins. “He will.”
With a decisive gesture, the Doctor pulls his hand from Rose’s. He’s facing them both, squaring his shoulders. “Can’t you two see that I’m not in the mood for movies and popcorn right now?”
“Course we can.” Rose sounds firm now. “We can see exactly what type of mood you’re in. That’s why there’s no way we’re leaving you alone to brood.”
“Hardly your decision.” The Doctor takes another step towards the door.
Jack positions himself between the Doctor and the doorway. Agency lessons on wilderness survival and the advisability of getting between a wounded animal and its only route of escape flash through his mind. Yes, this is probably exactly what the instructor meant when he used the term “death wish.”
The Doctor looks from him to Rose and back. His shoulders slump. “I just want to be on my own, yeah?”
Jack takes a step closer to his lover, carefully puts a hand on his shoulder. The Doctor’s muscles are brick-hard, but he’s ever so slightly leaning into the touch. “Please, Doctor.” Jack says gently. “What’s the point on going off on your own to grieve about how alone you are, when there are people around who love you? Even if we’re not… Please. Let us help.”
“What could you possibly do to help?” The Doctor’s voice sounds defeated, tired.
Rose takes the Doctor’s hand again. “We’ll listen.”
The Doctor shakes his head. “Nothing to listen to. I don’t wanna talk about it.”
Jack smiles. “Hate to admit it, Doctor, but talking about the difficult stuff - it works.”
He sees the sparkle of recognition in the Time Lord’s eyes. The Doctor fixes him in a glare, but the corners of his mouth are twitching. “Well and truly trapped, eh?”
Jack grins widely. “Psychology.”
That gets him a light slap on the back of the head and a chuckle from the Doctor.
“Right then. Let’s go to the library, though, yeah? An’ bring tea, not popcorn.”
*****
When they get to the library, the Doctor turns towards an armchair, but, at a stern glance from Rose, seats himself on the sofa. They sit on either side of him. Jack sets down the teapot and pours three cups, adding milk and sugar for the Doctor and Rose. They sip their tea in companionable silence for a while.
Finally, the Doctor speaks up. “You know what I did. To Gallifrey. To my people. An’ I won’t pretend that I dealt with that particularly well before today.” He sends Jack an almost apologetic glance. Rose leans against the Time Lord’s shoulder, offering silent support as she listens. Jack opts for the direct approach and curls up with his head resting in his lover’s lap. The Doctor raises an eyebrow, but starts to card a hand through Jack’s hair slowly, in a soothing rhythm. After a while, his eyes become distant, and he starts speaking again.
“But until today, I told myself it served a purpose, yeah? I killed the Time Lords, I killed races that were innocent, just got caught up in the struggle - but I also destroyed the Daleks. Every last one of them. Wiped them out of Time.”
He smiles at Rose ruefully. “When we found the Dalek in van Statten’s museum... But that was just one, an’ dying, so I could tell myself it didn’t count. But today…” His hand clamps convulsively, grabs Jack’s hair painfully hard for one instant - and then immediately relaxes and rubs his scalp gently in apology.
Jack leans into the touch - more for his lover’s sake than his own. “I know this is an impossible question, but when was the Time War?”
The Doctor snorts. “That’s several magnitudes beyond impossible, Jack. It was at all times. And never.”
“I mean, if you hadn’t ended it when you did, what would the universe look like today?”
“Black, dark, and full of Daleks. Nothing but Daleks.”
Rose puts her arm around the Doctor’s shoulders. “But it’s not, yeah? Universe is still here, full of humans an’ Raxacoricofallopatorians an’ Fendo an’ Krisin an’ Thrliril’li… Thrlir’i…”
“Thrli’rilri’lri’I,” the Doctor helps, with that grin that her stumbling over alien names always wrings from him.
Smart move on Rose’s part. Because Jack happens to know that she can say “Thrli’rilri’lri’I” perfectly well. Not least because he spent three hours practicing it with her recently, sitting in a Thrli’rilri’lri’Iian restaurant waiting for the Doctor, who’d gone off hunting for some energy crystals. But their usual banter makes a great lifeline for Time Lords drowning in dark memories.
She grins. “Yeah. So - what you did worked, yeah? Maybe not quite as well as you’d hoped, but we’re here, so…”
“And today, you finished it,” Jack adds. “Before they could even start wreaking havoc, you stopped them.” He gently squeezes the Doctor’s thigh. “Not a perfect victory. But good enough.”
The Doctor doesn’t reply, but he pulls both of them close to him. Drops a kiss on Rose’s forehead and bends down to exchange a tender snog with Jack. Then they just sit together for a long time, not saying a word, just holding each other.
*****
Much later that night, Jack and the Doctor are lying in bed. Jack has a suspicion that tonight he’s not the only one who doesn’t want to be alone. The Time Lord hasn’t made any move to initiate lovemaking, and, for once, neither has Jack. He believes in a good orgasm or three as a means of combating dark thoughts, but the Time Lord is still so silent and withdrawn that he hasn’t found an opening. So they’re just lying together, barely touching, but comfortable in each other’s presence.
Suddenly, the Doctor turns his head to him. “Have I said ‘thank you’?”
“Huh? For what?” Jack feels completely lost. Surely the Doctor doesn’t want to thank him for aiming a gun at the Game Station technicians and telling them to step away from the circuit board?
“Noticing about the shields. Coming up with a plan. Making me listen. ‘Specially after…”
Jack smiles. That would have been a complete catastrophe if Jack didn’t know how to get me to listen. “Not in so many words. But it was implied.”
“Implied’s not good enough.” The Doctor turns onto his side now, fully facing Jack. “So thank you. You did well.”
Jack considers the Doctor for a moment, gauging his mood. Then he grins sassily. “Well, that is certainly not good enough.”
“Oh?”
The grin widens. “No idea just how grateful you are now. Could be anything.”
Now there’s an answering grin on the Doctor’s face. A bit shaky, but with a wicked undercurrent that makes Jack’s stomach tingle. “Well, suppose I’ll have to show you then, won’t I?”
Jack nods, and wriggles closer to his lover, pressing his groin against the Doctor’s. “Might have to be thorough, though. Just a stupid ape - I don’t always get stuff.” He leers.
Finally, the grin reaches the Doctor’s eyes, and a mischievous twinkle lights his gaze. “Don’t you worry, lad. I’ll be very detailed.”
The End
Author: yamx
Beta: the utterly fantastic wendymr
Challenge: Summer Holidays
Prompt group: 4: sleep - sleeplessness - dream - trance
Rating: PG-13 (no explicit smut, but plenty of innuendo; strong language, including the f-word)
Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction; the characters are the property of the BBC and used here without permission. No money was made.
Spoilers/warnings: DW: The Parting of the Ways, TW season 2
Characters: Jack/Nine, Rose, Ten
Summary: Jack makes a dangerous mistake. The Doctor is furious.
This is set in the Deal-verse, but all you really need to know to read it is that Jack and the Doctor got together shortly after Jack joined the TARDIS.
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
Part 4
Kyoto was great. He’d never seen it in the Middle Ages before. But it’s true what the books say - the East was much further advanced than the West back then.
They’re hanging out in the control room, joking around and teasing each other, when the walls start glowing. In a brief moment of panic, he sees Rose starting to glide away, and feels an inescapable pull on himself - and then the Doctor’s hand slams down on the orange button.
“What the hell was that?” Rose asks, shivering.
“That - that would have been a complete catastrophe if Jack didn’t know how to get me to listen.” The Doctor sends him a quick glance. “Tracking it now. Help me.”
He jumps to the helm controls. He’ll hold the TARDIS steady while the Doctor tracks the signal through time and space.
The Doctor frowns. “It’s Satellite 5! The transmat originated on Satellite 5. About a hundred years after we were there, Rose - 200,100.”
“Wasn’t it called ‘Game Station’ by then?” Jack interjects.
The Doctor sends him a surprised glance. “What?”
“The Game Station. Almost had a mission there once - meeting with an enemy spy. But she changed the location at the last second. Literally. Anyway, I read up on it then. Would have been only a few years before that signal you’re tracking. The whole satellite is dedicated to game shows. Weakest Link, The Real Real Life, Bear With Me… People are actually brought into the games whether they want to or not. By transmat.”
They exchange a glance. “Better have a look at this. Out of place, this timeline. Should be the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire, not a bunch of brain-numbing games.”
“And we’ll find out who tried to kidnap us, yeah?” Rose asks. She’s still visibly shaken - she was almost at the wall when the Doctor slammed the button. Jack slips an arm around her and she leans into him.
“Oh yes. No reason they’d need a transmat that powerful. If they’re putting out that kind of energy, there’s more going on there than stupid games.”
*****
They materialize outside the actual satellite, in a location that’s hidden from all nearby scanners by the satellite’s heat radiation. The Doctor scans the area carefully. The first few scans show nothing. He makes a number of complicated adjustments to the scanners, his eyes never leaving the monitor. A switch is flicked, and the writing on the screen turns mauve. A shrill beep rings out.
The Doctor becomes very still. “No.” He looks up at both of them with pained, haunted eyes. “No!”
They step closer to him on either side. Offer support, beg him to tell them.
When he does, they almost can’t believe it.
“What are we going to do?” Rose asks breathlessly. “Can we… is there a way to…?”
The Doctor looks at her, then back to the view screen. He straightens; his eyes become hard and cold. He’s no longer the Doctor - he’s the Oncoming Storm.
“Just you watch me, Rose Tyler. Just you watch me.”
*****
In the end, it’s surprisingly simple. The Daleks have no idea they’re there, so they have plenty of time to construct a Delta wave. The Doctor uses some samples from the TARDIS archives to prime it for Dalek DNA. The TARDIS doesn’t have the broadcasting power they need, so they materialize in the satellite’s control room. Go in with guns blazing - this one time, the Doctor doesn’t even object - and take over the transmitter. They only need it for a minute.
The view screen suddenly fills with a multitude of Dalek ships. They contact the satellite, make demands, threaten the Doctor. He merely grins and pushes the lever - and if his hand is shaking ever so slightly, only Jack and Rose see it.
*****
As it turns out, the Delta wave ruined the transmitter - fused it right into the station’s life support system and burnt them both out. There’s plenty of time to evacuate, but the damage is too extensive to be repaired easily, and the satellite’s main investors are out of the equation. The Game Station is closed for business. No one seems happier than the controller.
*****
When the TARDIS is back in the Vortex, the Doctor mumbles something indistinct about having to check the archives and makes to leave the control room. Rose runs and catches his hand. “Oh, no, you don’t.”
He turns and looks at her, startled.
“You, me ‘n Jack, we’re heading to the screening room, yeah? Gonna watch something nice an’ relax.”
The Doctor tries to pull away, but Rose is hanging on fast. “Your choice - won’t even argue this time.”
Jack understands and fully supports her plan - if they allow the Doctor to slip away now, he’ll let himself be swallowed by that brooding mood that has been building ever since he discovered the Dalek fleet. Jack would help, but Rose is the one the Doctor can’t say no to. He acknowledges that without jealousy - there’s something irresistible about her innocence and enthusiasm that he can’t match.
Rose is sticking her tongue out between her teeth and looking up at the Doctor through her lashes. “Anything you want. Even if it’s that movie with the girl who dresses up like a bloke and then pretends to be a bloke pretending to be a girl to help the idiot she’s in love with fall out of love with her.”
Jack chuckles. You don’t know Shakespeare until you’ve heard him summarized by Rose Tyler.
“I need to check the-”
“Doctor.” Her voice is wheedling. “There’s nothing in the archives that can’t wait. Come on, let’s watch a film. Jack’ll even make popcorn.”
Jack grins. “He will.”
With a decisive gesture, the Doctor pulls his hand from Rose’s. He’s facing them both, squaring his shoulders. “Can’t you two see that I’m not in the mood for movies and popcorn right now?”
“Course we can.” Rose sounds firm now. “We can see exactly what type of mood you’re in. That’s why there’s no way we’re leaving you alone to brood.”
“Hardly your decision.” The Doctor takes another step towards the door.
Jack positions himself between the Doctor and the doorway. Agency lessons on wilderness survival and the advisability of getting between a wounded animal and its only route of escape flash through his mind. Yes, this is probably exactly what the instructor meant when he used the term “death wish.”
The Doctor looks from him to Rose and back. His shoulders slump. “I just want to be on my own, yeah?”
Jack takes a step closer to his lover, carefully puts a hand on his shoulder. The Doctor’s muscles are brick-hard, but he’s ever so slightly leaning into the touch. “Please, Doctor.” Jack says gently. “What’s the point on going off on your own to grieve about how alone you are, when there are people around who love you? Even if we’re not… Please. Let us help.”
“What could you possibly do to help?” The Doctor’s voice sounds defeated, tired.
Rose takes the Doctor’s hand again. “We’ll listen.”
The Doctor shakes his head. “Nothing to listen to. I don’t wanna talk about it.”
Jack smiles. “Hate to admit it, Doctor, but talking about the difficult stuff - it works.”
He sees the sparkle of recognition in the Time Lord’s eyes. The Doctor fixes him in a glare, but the corners of his mouth are twitching. “Well and truly trapped, eh?”
Jack grins widely. “Psychology.”
That gets him a light slap on the back of the head and a chuckle from the Doctor.
“Right then. Let’s go to the library, though, yeah? An’ bring tea, not popcorn.”
*****
When they get to the library, the Doctor turns towards an armchair, but, at a stern glance from Rose, seats himself on the sofa. They sit on either side of him. Jack sets down the teapot and pours three cups, adding milk and sugar for the Doctor and Rose. They sip their tea in companionable silence for a while.
Finally, the Doctor speaks up. “You know what I did. To Gallifrey. To my people. An’ I won’t pretend that I dealt with that particularly well before today.” He sends Jack an almost apologetic glance. Rose leans against the Time Lord’s shoulder, offering silent support as she listens. Jack opts for the direct approach and curls up with his head resting in his lover’s lap. The Doctor raises an eyebrow, but starts to card a hand through Jack’s hair slowly, in a soothing rhythm. After a while, his eyes become distant, and he starts speaking again.
“But until today, I told myself it served a purpose, yeah? I killed the Time Lords, I killed races that were innocent, just got caught up in the struggle - but I also destroyed the Daleks. Every last one of them. Wiped them out of Time.”
He smiles at Rose ruefully. “When we found the Dalek in van Statten’s museum... But that was just one, an’ dying, so I could tell myself it didn’t count. But today…” His hand clamps convulsively, grabs Jack’s hair painfully hard for one instant - and then immediately relaxes and rubs his scalp gently in apology.
Jack leans into the touch - more for his lover’s sake than his own. “I know this is an impossible question, but when was the Time War?”
The Doctor snorts. “That’s several magnitudes beyond impossible, Jack. It was at all times. And never.”
“I mean, if you hadn’t ended it when you did, what would the universe look like today?”
“Black, dark, and full of Daleks. Nothing but Daleks.”
Rose puts her arm around the Doctor’s shoulders. “But it’s not, yeah? Universe is still here, full of humans an’ Raxacoricofallopatorians an’ Fendo an’ Krisin an’ Thrliril’li… Thrlir’i…”
“Thrli’rilri’lri’I,” the Doctor helps, with that grin that her stumbling over alien names always wrings from him.
Smart move on Rose’s part. Because Jack happens to know that she can say “Thrli’rilri’lri’I” perfectly well. Not least because he spent three hours practicing it with her recently, sitting in a Thrli’rilri’lri’Iian restaurant waiting for the Doctor, who’d gone off hunting for some energy crystals. But their usual banter makes a great lifeline for Time Lords drowning in dark memories.
She grins. “Yeah. So - what you did worked, yeah? Maybe not quite as well as you’d hoped, but we’re here, so…”
“And today, you finished it,” Jack adds. “Before they could even start wreaking havoc, you stopped them.” He gently squeezes the Doctor’s thigh. “Not a perfect victory. But good enough.”
The Doctor doesn’t reply, but he pulls both of them close to him. Drops a kiss on Rose’s forehead and bends down to exchange a tender snog with Jack. Then they just sit together for a long time, not saying a word, just holding each other.
*****
Much later that night, Jack and the Doctor are lying in bed. Jack has a suspicion that tonight he’s not the only one who doesn’t want to be alone. The Time Lord hasn’t made any move to initiate lovemaking, and, for once, neither has Jack. He believes in a good orgasm or three as a means of combating dark thoughts, but the Time Lord is still so silent and withdrawn that he hasn’t found an opening. So they’re just lying together, barely touching, but comfortable in each other’s presence.
Suddenly, the Doctor turns his head to him. “Have I said ‘thank you’?”
“Huh? For what?” Jack feels completely lost. Surely the Doctor doesn’t want to thank him for aiming a gun at the Game Station technicians and telling them to step away from the circuit board?
“Noticing about the shields. Coming up with a plan. Making me listen. ‘Specially after…”
Jack smiles. That would have been a complete catastrophe if Jack didn’t know how to get me to listen. “Not in so many words. But it was implied.”
“Implied’s not good enough.” The Doctor turns onto his side now, fully facing Jack. “So thank you. You did well.”
Jack considers the Doctor for a moment, gauging his mood. Then he grins sassily. “Well, that is certainly not good enough.”
“Oh?”
The grin widens. “No idea just how grateful you are now. Could be anything.”
Now there’s an answering grin on the Doctor’s face. A bit shaky, but with a wicked undercurrent that makes Jack’s stomach tingle. “Well, suppose I’ll have to show you then, won’t I?”
Jack nods, and wriggles closer to his lover, pressing his groin against the Doctor’s. “Might have to be thorough, though. Just a stupid ape - I don’t always get stuff.” He leers.
Finally, the grin reaches the Doctor’s eyes, and a mischievous twinkle lights his gaze. “Don’t you worry, lad. I’ll be very detailed.”
The End