Atypical
Title: Atypical
Author: Alter Ego (ent_alter_ego )
Challenge: Remembrance
Pairing: Jack/Ten
Rating: G
Spoilers: "Journey's End"
Summary: An unusual graveside conversation, overheard.
Danny had slipped out of the house as soon as he could. Beth and her friends had taken over, with their makeup and dresses and giggly girl stuff. One older sister he could handle, but a houseful was too much. He’d taken his phone at least, so his parents could call. They would flip out otherwise. Besides, he had been told very sternly that if he wanted a ring phone, he had better have it with him so he could use it.
Twisting the phone around his thumb, he walked out back, through the cemetery. It was the shortest way to get to the brook where he had a little camp. Not much of a camp, since there weren’t enough trees for a proper camp with a fort, but it was still fun.
A little beep informed him that he had a text message. He hit a button, and the virtual screen came up. Danny settled in a shady spot behind a headstone, absorbed in his new phone. Everyone said that the virtual screen technology came from aliens. Honestly, he didn’t care much where it came from, as long as it was on his new ring phone.
From: Ed Barnesby.
Message: Can I come over? Olivia and her friends are getting ready for a dance. It’s dreadful.
Danny pulled up the virtual keyboard, which was the only thing that could possibly be better than a virtual screen. He was poking thin air - and somehow it still registered his words!
To: Ed Barnesby
Message: Sorry. Beth has friends over too.
Ed didn’t reply, but Danny didn’t expect him to. Ed wasn’t much for replying unless he really had to. So Danny was admiring his virtual keyboard when he heard footsteps approaching. Since he knew from previous experience that adults tended not to like kids hanging around cemeteries, Danny decided the best course of action was to make himself inconspicuous. People didn’t stay long here. The graves were all old - older than him, anyway, and he was almost eleven. By the newer graves, people cried and talked. By the older ones, they put flowers and left in a few minutes.
He closed the virtual keyboard and peeked out carefully. The footsteps belonged to two men in long coats. They were both tall, and Danny hoped he grew up to be that tall. Lucky for him, they stopped at a grave the row before that which he was behind and two over. That gave him a good chance at staying hidden.
“Donna Noble,” said one of the men.
“Donna Edgerton,” said the second, an American.
“Doesn’t quite have the same ring, does it?”
“Only because you’re not used to it.”
“Huh. Rather plain headstone, don’t you think?”
“What did you expect? A marble arch? ‘Here Lies Donna Noble Edgerton, Savior of the World?’”
“Worlds. Plural. Lots of people have saved the world, Jack. Only one person has ever saved every world. Every single creature, every planet, in the infinite possibilities of parallel universes - they’re all around because of Donna Noble.”
“And you’ll always regret it.”
“I don’t -”
“You do. You regret that she had to save reality because you couldn’t.”
“Not so much the saving as the forgetting.”
Danny risked a peek in time to see the American put a hand on the other man’s shoulder. “She was brilliant.”
“Oh, yes. And she found a man who appreciated her. That’s something.”
“Cute kids, too.”
“You didn’t -”
“Pictures only, I promise,” said the American, as though the point were very important.
“Alright, then. Well, I’m no good at these things. S’why I don’t go to funerals.”
“Yeah. That and about a dozen other reasons.”
“You would know.”
The American sighed. “Right. Put the flowers down.”
“The Ood sing about her,” said the first man while he bent down.
“It’s a fitting memorial.”
“More than this, I think. It’s so…”
“I think the word you’re looking for is ‘typical,’” suggested the American.
“Right. Typical.”
“For what it is, though, it’s not bad. Just a typical gravestone, maybe, but look what it tells us.”
“‘Dearly Beloved.’”
“She was loved. She had a long life. Someone’s still taking care of this little plant.”
“She’s remembered.”
“They remember her for what she did here. We remember her for what she did out there.”
“Could be worse.”
The American nodded and kissed the first man’s forehead. “So stop sulking and take me somewhere I’ve never been.”
With one last glance at the grave, the first man turned, and the two began to walk away, tossing out names Danny had never heard before.
When he couldn’t see the tall men anymore, Danny went over to the grave they’d been visiting and read the inscription.
DONNA EDGERTON
Dearly Beloved
July 10, 1975 - September 23, 2057
There was a bouquet of flowers next to the headstone, and they looked like roses but Danny had never seen roses that color orange.
He hadn’t understood much of what the men said. It hadn’t made a lot of sense, and he didn’t think anyone else would understand even if he had wanted to tell them. Which he didn’t, because he wasn’t about to admit that he had been spying on people in the cemetery, even if he hadn’t meant to.
One thing, though, had come across clearly. So after a minute, Danny whispered, “I don’t know what you did, Mrs. Edgerton. But whatever it was, thank you.”
And then he walked away as the men had done, wondering about saving the world, parallel universes, the Ood, and why Donna Edgerton wasn’t typical.
Author: Alter Ego (ent_alter_ego )
Challenge: Remembrance
Pairing: Jack/Ten
Rating: G
Spoilers: "Journey's End"
Summary: An unusual graveside conversation, overheard.
Danny had slipped out of the house as soon as he could. Beth and her friends had taken over, with their makeup and dresses and giggly girl stuff. One older sister he could handle, but a houseful was too much. He’d taken his phone at least, so his parents could call. They would flip out otherwise. Besides, he had been told very sternly that if he wanted a ring phone, he had better have it with him so he could use it.
Twisting the phone around his thumb, he walked out back, through the cemetery. It was the shortest way to get to the brook where he had a little camp. Not much of a camp, since there weren’t enough trees for a proper camp with a fort, but it was still fun.
A little beep informed him that he had a text message. He hit a button, and the virtual screen came up. Danny settled in a shady spot behind a headstone, absorbed in his new phone. Everyone said that the virtual screen technology came from aliens. Honestly, he didn’t care much where it came from, as long as it was on his new ring phone.
From: Ed Barnesby.
Message: Can I come over? Olivia and her friends are getting ready for a dance. It’s dreadful.
Danny pulled up the virtual keyboard, which was the only thing that could possibly be better than a virtual screen. He was poking thin air - and somehow it still registered his words!
To: Ed Barnesby
Message: Sorry. Beth has friends over too.
Ed didn’t reply, but Danny didn’t expect him to. Ed wasn’t much for replying unless he really had to. So Danny was admiring his virtual keyboard when he heard footsteps approaching. Since he knew from previous experience that adults tended not to like kids hanging around cemeteries, Danny decided the best course of action was to make himself inconspicuous. People didn’t stay long here. The graves were all old - older than him, anyway, and he was almost eleven. By the newer graves, people cried and talked. By the older ones, they put flowers and left in a few minutes.
He closed the virtual keyboard and peeked out carefully. The footsteps belonged to two men in long coats. They were both tall, and Danny hoped he grew up to be that tall. Lucky for him, they stopped at a grave the row before that which he was behind and two over. That gave him a good chance at staying hidden.
“Donna Noble,” said one of the men.
“Donna Edgerton,” said the second, an American.
“Doesn’t quite have the same ring, does it?”
“Only because you’re not used to it.”
“Huh. Rather plain headstone, don’t you think?”
“What did you expect? A marble arch? ‘Here Lies Donna Noble Edgerton, Savior of the World?’”
“Worlds. Plural. Lots of people have saved the world, Jack. Only one person has ever saved every world. Every single creature, every planet, in the infinite possibilities of parallel universes - they’re all around because of Donna Noble.”
“And you’ll always regret it.”
“I don’t -”
“You do. You regret that she had to save reality because you couldn’t.”
“Not so much the saving as the forgetting.”
Danny risked a peek in time to see the American put a hand on the other man’s shoulder. “She was brilliant.”
“Oh, yes. And she found a man who appreciated her. That’s something.”
“Cute kids, too.”
“You didn’t -”
“Pictures only, I promise,” said the American, as though the point were very important.
“Alright, then. Well, I’m no good at these things. S’why I don’t go to funerals.”
“Yeah. That and about a dozen other reasons.”
“You would know.”
The American sighed. “Right. Put the flowers down.”
“The Ood sing about her,” said the first man while he bent down.
“It’s a fitting memorial.”
“More than this, I think. It’s so…”
“I think the word you’re looking for is ‘typical,’” suggested the American.
“Right. Typical.”
“For what it is, though, it’s not bad. Just a typical gravestone, maybe, but look what it tells us.”
“‘Dearly Beloved.’”
“She was loved. She had a long life. Someone’s still taking care of this little plant.”
“She’s remembered.”
“They remember her for what she did here. We remember her for what she did out there.”
“Could be worse.”
The American nodded and kissed the first man’s forehead. “So stop sulking and take me somewhere I’ve never been.”
With one last glance at the grave, the first man turned, and the two began to walk away, tossing out names Danny had never heard before.
When he couldn’t see the tall men anymore, Danny went over to the grave they’d been visiting and read the inscription.
DONNA EDGERTON
Dearly Beloved
July 10, 1975 - September 23, 2057
There was a bouquet of flowers next to the headstone, and they looked like roses but Danny had never seen roses that color orange.
He hadn’t understood much of what the men said. It hadn’t made a lot of sense, and he didn’t think anyone else would understand even if he had wanted to tell them. Which he didn’t, because he wasn’t about to admit that he had been spying on people in the cemetery, even if he hadn’t meant to.
One thing, though, had come across clearly. So after a minute, Danny whispered, “I don’t know what you did, Mrs. Edgerton. But whatever it was, thank you.”
And then he walked away as the men had done, wondering about saving the world, parallel universes, the Ood, and why Donna Edgerton wasn’t typical.