Fic: Healing Pains (4/5)

[yamx]

Title: Healing Pains (4/5)
Betas: canaana & wendymr
Rating: Adult (swearing, non-explicit and explicit sex, mention of kinks)
Spoilers: The Doctor Dances
Characters: Nine/Jack, Rose, others
Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction; the characters are the property of the BBC and used here without permission. No money was made.
Summary: All she wanted to do was go to a bleeding potato museum. She shouldn't have to die for it.
A/N: Written for dshael, who bid on me in the Support Stacie Auction.. 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.

Chapter One     Chapter Two     Chapter Three


Chapter Four

Rose opens her eyes. There are glaring, pinkish lights above her, a hard, narrow bed beneath her, and whining, beeping monitors beside her. She feels as if an army of woodpeckers has taken up residence right behind her temples and her body is filled with rancid oil. She doesn't know where she is. The last thing she remembers-

She gasps.

Instantly, the glaring lights are blocked out by a dark figure leaning over her, and the Doctor’s dear face is grinning at her goofily.

"Morning, sleepyhead."

She tries to smile, but finds her lips dry and cracked. "Water?" she whispers.

He nods and reaches behind himself, then he carefully props up her head and holds a bottle of cool, fresh water to her lips. She drinks greedily.

"Small sips," he admonishes her.

"Better let me do that, sir," a squat purple nurse interrupts.

The Doctor shakes his head and snaps. "I can give my own daughter water, thank you." His eyes flick to hers on daughter, and she nods.

The nurse huffs. "I'll get the medic."

She's still sipping water and trying to get her voice back when a tall, puce bloke appears next to the Doctor. He barely glances at her and starts studying the monitors. The nurse hovers two steps behind him.

"Rose," the Doctor says with false cheerfulness. "This is the medical director. He's not the one who fixed you, just the bloke making sure the bills get paid."

The director raises an eyebrow. He smiles in a way that makes Rose instantly dislike him. "Medic Bulil is taking a long lunch today. Apparently he has some important appointment in a nearby bar."

The Doctor drops the bottle. Cold water splashes all over Rose.

"Oi!" At least her voice is working again.

"Sorry! Sorry, Rose. You all right?" He sounds more distraught than he should about a bit of water. She's not made of sugar. Probably still freaked out over whatever landed her here to begin with.

She nods. "Just wet." And exhausted as hell, but that has nothing to do with the water.

"I'll bring a new nightgown," the nurse says and disappears down the corridor.

Rose follows her with her eyes, then looks around. "Where's Jack?"

The Doctor and the director exchange a glance. The Doctor's face darkens. Oh god.

"Is he okay?" She grabs his wrist. "Did something happen to Jack?"

"I'm right here, sweetheart." Jack's face appears in her field of vision, and he sends her the warm, reassuring smile that always makes her smile back. "Just had to talk to the bursar for a minute." He looks from her to the Doctor and back. "All sorted now."

As Jack steps around to take her hands, the Doctor takes a step back and... wrinkles his nose? Rose frowns. What's that about? But before she can ask, the Doctor grabs Jack's arm and stares at something on its backside, above the elbow. "What's that?" he demands, his voice low and gravelly.

Jack cranes his head to look over his shoulder. "Oh, just a cut." He shrugs.

"How did-" The Doctor stops and looks at her, "We'll be right back, Rose. Want to take a look at Jack's cut in proper light."

She nods tiredly. She has a lot of questions - like why she's here, and where here is - but if the Doctor thinks Jack's wound needs looking at, that's more urgent. She'll wait.

*****

The Doctor corners him between the same two cupboards he used for that purpose earlier. "What happened?" he grinds out. "Who hurt you?"

Jack raises his hands placatingly. "No one hurt me, it-"

"Jack!" The Doctor's eyes flash with anger. "The truth!"

"I'm telling you the truth!" Protectiveness is all good and well, but could the stubborn git at least let him finish? "We were in a back room, it was dark, we were up against the wall, there was a nail - neither of us saw it. My fault as much as hers."

The Doctor looks at him searchingly. He cups Jack's chin in his hand and gently holds it. "That it?"

Jack nods. "It was an accident. Nothing more."

The Doctor strokes his hand along Jack's jawline as he lets go of his chin. "Go to the nurses' station, have them fix it up. Would do it myself, but it's pretty deep and the screwdriver's almost flat. And..." He shuffles his feet and looks away.

"Take a shower?" Jack asks with a mixture of annoyance and amusement.

The Doctor nods. "Sorry."

He shakes his head and squeezes the Doctor's hand. "It's fine. I'd want one anyway. Go to Rose. Tell her I'll be right back."

*****

When the Doctor comes back without Jack, Rose frowns with worry. But the Doctor's grin is wide and reassuring. "Sent him to get that patched up and shower. He'll be back soon."

She nods. Is it her imagination, or is there pain lurking behind the Doctor's eyes?

"What's wrong with me then?" Rose asks. If that's what the Doctor's worried about, she'd rather know.

"What's the last thing you remember?"

"Spuds. Lots of 'em. We were at the museum, and then... there was this screeching sound, and..." She shrugs and looks at the Doctor. He'll fill in the blanks.

"What you heard was an explosion." He nods in the direction of some screen with scrolling pink writing, but she can't read it from here. "News says they've figured out it was some artifact in the space travel museum that they thought was a grooming device."

Rose frowns. "Packs a lot of punch for a hairdryer."

The Doctor chuckles. "Could say that. Anyway, Jack got you out with his teleporter, but you got a hefty dose of radiation."

Radiation? Her mind flashes back to those documentaries about Chernobyl her science teacher made them watch. "Is Jack really okay?" Am I?

"Fine. Time Agency implanted him with... 'S boring, but he's pretty much immune to that type of radiation. But you weren't doing so well for a while there."

"How long was I out?"

The Doctor gently takes her hands. "Day before yesterday."

"Two days?" She struggles to sit up. The Doctor helps her, and just then Jack appears and props her up with pillows.

She sees the Doctor stealing a glance at Jack's arm, and she sees Jack noticing but pretending not to. There seems to be tension between the two. Or is it just the worry about her?

"How come we're here?" she asks. "TARDIS medbay can't fix this?"

The Doctor scoffs. "Could have fixed you a lot faster there, but we're cut off. Remember the museum district was on the pass? One big field of radioactive rubble now."

God - how big was that explosion? She catches Jack's hand. "Are you really all right?"

He smiles and presses her hand to his lips. "I'm fine. I promise."

Rose yawns and rubs her eyes. There's a strand of hair irritating her nose, so she smooths it back - and gasps. She stares at her hand in shock - there's a whole clump of loose hair in it. And she could swear she just felt patches of blank skull. Panicky, she puts both hands on her head and feels around. Skin. Lots of skin, and more hair coming loose in her hands. She looks at the Doctor wide-eyed.

He grimaces. "Sorry. Should've warned you. Side effect from the radiation."

She does and doesn't want to ask for a mirror. "How bad is it?"

The Doctor shuffles his feet.

"Doctor! How bad?"

It's Jack who sits down on the edge of her bed and puts his hands on her shoulders. "It's pretty bad right now, Rose. More than half of it's gone."

"Is it going to... stay that way?"

They both shake their heads. "No, sweetheart. It'll grow back. Hell, once we can get back to the TARDIS, we can go to Santoria III and buy some of that stimulant they have, make it grow faster. Right, Doc?" Jack nudges his shin with a foot.

"Right!" The Doctor nods. "Will grow back in no time, you'll see. Two months. Three at most."

Three months. Right. She swallows and nods. She's lucky to be alive. Maybe she can get extensions, or some kind of realistic-looking alien wig... She impatiently rubs her eyes as she feels tears well up. It's just hair.

Jack grins at her in a way that means he's about to say something that'll get him smacked. "If you want, I'll shave mine off, too. We can regrow it together." He winks in the Doctor's direction. "Those of us who know how, that is."

"Oi." There's no heat in the Doctor's voice. Rose figures that like her, he's stuck on the first half of Jack's statement.

Jack Harkness, seducer extraordinaire, and not half vain, has just offered to shave his head to keep her company. She throws her arms around him and kisses his cheek. "Don't you dare."

He rubs her back, and she can hear the smile in his voice. "We'll just buy you a bunch of fabulous hats, then."

She smiles and leans back against the pillows. "Help me pick 'em out?"

"Of course! Maybe something with feathers! Hey, on Kioby they have these hats that incorporate birdcages - with songbirds in them! Live ones! You could have feathers and music!"

Rose groans and looks at the Doctor. "Smack him for me, would you?"

Jack laughs and pretends to duck. The Doctor's pulling back his hand to do as she asked when they're interrupter by the medical director.

"Excuse me." He hands the Doctor a data pad. "I just need your signature on this."

The Doctor glances down. "What is it?"

"Oh, it's just to confirm that you agree with the money for the prostitute's treatment being taken out of your daughter's account. The nurses should have made you sign it before they treated him."

Rose freezes, and so does the Doctor. Jack's the only one who still seems perfectly at ease - and the sidelong glance he throws her shows that's pretense. "Not a problem. Right, Doc?"

The Doctor blinks and nods. "Course not." He presses his thumb to the pad.

The director takes it back, smiling sweetly. "Yes, I was sure it wouldn't be an issue. After all, it's only due to his tricks that there's money in the account to begin with." He glances at the monitors beside her bed and leaves.

Jack and the Doctor turn to her. Jack is smiling, but the Doctor's face is frozen.

She feels something wet on her cheeks. She can't breathe. She rubs her face with a corner of the blanket. A gasping sob escapes her. "Oh god."

Jack pulls her into a hug. "It's okay, hon. Really, it's okay."

She clings to him, burrowing her face into his chest. "I was upset about my hair! My bloody hair! When you... when you had to..." She's sobbing too hard to continue.

Jack's rocking her back and forth. "Shhhh, honey. Please don't cry, Rose. I am more upset about your hair than about the job."

"Job?" She has to fight to get the word out through her tears. "That's not a job, that's..." She can't go on. The Doctor's hand touches her shoulder, squeezing gently.

Jack shushes her. "To me it is, sweetheart. Just a job."

Rose shakes her head. She's getting tears and snot all over Jack's shirt. But he probably won't mind that, either. "It's selling your body!"

"More like renting, really." She can hear the grin in his voice, but it doesn't cheer her up. He very gently takes her face between his hands and looks at her. "Say I'd worked as a stevedore. Loaded and unloaded boxes all day. Would you be upset then?"

Well, maybe a little bit guilty, but nothing like this. She shakes her head.

Jack smiles. "And how would that not be renting my body? It'd be a lot harder, too, and I'd probably be very sore right now. And all that for a lot less money."

She shakes her head. "It's not the same!"

"It is where Jack comes from, Rose." The Doctor's voice is strained, but sincere. "He's telling you the truth. He's fine with it."

Jack throws the Doctor a grateful glance, but Rose is anxious as she turns to him. "Are you?"

The Doctor looks away. "I'm all right with the idea of prostitutes. Wouldn't go there myself, but there's nothing wrong with the job long as it's what someone freely chooses." He sighs. "Not so crazy 'bout the idea of my partner doing it, but that's 'cause I'm the possessive type. An' it's not like we had a-" He stops and clears his throat. "I'll get over it."

Jack settles her against his right shoulder and wraps his left arm around the Doctor. "We're together, we're alive, none of us are badly damaged - can we please stop freaking out about an emotional trauma I don't even understand, much less suffer from?"

The Doctor wraps his arms around them both, and she snuggles in between them. She still can't believe what Jack did. For her. But she knows him - he's an excellent liar when talking to strangers, but an open book to people he loves. His smile, the way he's holding her, the tone of his voice - that's not a brave front he's putting on, that's Jack truly being okay.

Except when he looks at the Doctor. Then she can see the shadow of worry in his eyes.

She's worried, too. This must be hell on the Doctor, more than on either one of them. He'll blame himself for not having been the one to save her, and for what Jack had to do, and for letting it color his treatment of his lover.

She squeezes the Doctor's hand and he smiles at her, but the tension is still lurking in his eyes.

She hopes he was right when he said he'll get over it with time, because she has no idea what she might do to help, and she's not sure Jack does, either.

But that's a question for another day, and she's too tired to think about it now.

*****

Four days later, the info-screen announces that the pass has been reopened. Jack spots it first and points it out to the others. He feels like a weight has been lifted off his heart. The TARDIS is within reach now. They can leave this place.

"Fantastic. We're going home," the Doctor announces, grinning at him happily.

Rose sighs in relief. "Finally. My own bed."

Medic Bulil, who is checking Rose's stats, hums worriedly. "Your daughter is much improved, but I'd still like to keep her here another night or two for observation."

"Once I get her to my ship, I can take care of her myself," the Doctor growls. Medic Bulil has been nothing but helpful and professional, but the Doctor can't get over his dislike for the man.

Jack puts a hand on his lover's arm and smiles at the medic. "Thank you for your concern - " He feels the Doctor's muscles tense. " - but we're leaving."

The medic nods. "I'll tell the nurses to draw up the release papers."

Jack helps Rose to one of the shower cubicles so she can change back into her own - freshly laundered - clothes in private. His offer to help is answered with a swat to his hip - but when he hands her a headscarf he talked one of the nurses into "liberating" from the lost and found box, she smiles and kisses his cheek.

"Thanks. You're the best."

He returns to the Doctor, who smiles at him and puts an arm around his waist. It's a little stiff. The Doctor is still having a hard time with what happened, but he's trying. Jack only hopes that once they're back in the TARDIS - back home - normality will settle in.

A nurse approaches them and hands them a data pad. "This one's to confirm that you're leaving against Medic Bulil's advice." The Doctor presses his thumb to it without hesitation.

The nurse hands them another data pad. "This ones to decide what you want to do with the rest of the money in your account."

The Doctor scrolls through the brief file - too fast for Jack, who's trying to read over his shoulder. There are three boxes at the bottom: cash out, retain and donate. The Doctor looks at him. "Your choice. You're the one who... earned it."

Jack considers. They're leaving G'ndulak, so he has no use for the cash - what he has left is enough for a taxi to the TARDIS. And Rose won't be hospitalized here again - ever - so there's no point in keeping a retainer. "What would I be donating it to?" he asks.

"Fund they have for people who can't afford treatment."

Jack turns to the nurse. "There's a fund? No one told us!"

The nurse shakes her head. "It's not for aliens, of course."

"Of course," Jack says darkly. He can't wait to get out of here. The Doctor mumbles something in Gallifreyan that sounds extremely rude.

"We'll donate it," Jack decides.

The Doctor raises an eyebrow at him. "You sure?"

He shrugs. "It'll still go to people who need treatment."

The Doctor hesitates, then nods. "Right you are." He checks the third box and confirms with a thumbprint, then attempts to hand it to the nurse.

She shakes her head. "The medical director needs to sign this."

"Well, where is he?" the Doctor asks impatiently, just as Rose rejoins them. The nurse nods in the direction of the reception area.

"Fine. Give it to him on our way out," the Doctor grunts. He looks from Jack to Rose. "Got everything?"

They nod. Not like they came in with anything except the clothes they stand up in.

Jack helps Rose adjust the headscarf. "Looks gorgeous on you," he says and kisses her forehead.

"Liar. But thanks." She smiles and takes their hands, and they walk down the corridor together.

As they approach the reception area, they hear a shrill voice.

"- are not canceling on me again! That's the third time this week!"

"Well," the voice of the medical director replies, sounding strained, "There has been a disaster, dear, and-"

"I'll tell you what's a disaster, this marriage is a disaster!" the voice screeches.

"Dearest, not here, we can talk when I get h-"

"And when is that going to be, huh? I swear, you couldn't find the house if you tried, you've not been there in so long!"

Rounding the corner, they see a petite G'ndulak woman poking the medical director's chest with a finger. Her skin is so pale as to be almost pink, but her face is dark red with anger. The medical director's cheeks are flushed mauve with embarrassment. His eyes keep darting around the lobby at the people staring at the spectacle. "Darling, really..."

They exchange grins. Jack is normally opposed to partners humiliating each other like that - unless it's by mutual agreement - but somehow he can't feel too bad about it in this case. He holds out his hand to the Doctor. "Let me handle this." The Doctor gives him the data pad with a questioning glance.

The woman stomps her foot. "It's like I don't matter to you at all anymore!"

"Of course you-"

"Excuse me," Jack interrupts with his most winning smile.

The director turns to him with a look of relief. "Yes? Can I help you?"

"What?" His wife shoves his shoulder. "Isn't that the alien prostitute everyone's gossiping about? You'd talk to a common whore rather than your wife?"

Jack can feel Rose and the Doctor freeze behind him. The Doctor's no doubt ready to come to his defense, but he gestures behind his back to keep them quiet, and greets the director's wife with an elegant bow. "It's a pleasure to meet the director's wife, ma'am." It really, really is.

"Pleasure's all yours, I'm sure," she huffs, but seems somewhat mollified.

Jack turns back to the director and hands him the pad. "We just need your signature on this, then we'll be on our way."

The director scans it briefly and raises an eyebrow. "Generous of you." He presses his thumb to the bottom of the pad. "I'll see to it that this gets to the bursar." He looks at Jack with one of his false smiles. "Thank you for doing business with us. We value your patronage."

Jack lets his smile become sultry and seductive. He steps into the director's personal space and gently strokes a hand along his arm. In a sweet, low voice he says, "And I valued yours."

Before the director has a chance to react, Jack whirls around, puts one arm around each of his companions - keeping an especially tight hold on the fuming Doctor - and steers them out through the revolving door. The last thing they hear is the reception area exploding with high-pitched screeching and the thuds of a handbag hitting skin. Not melodious sounds, but highly gratifying.

As they emerge outside, Rose curls her tongue around her teeth. "Wouldn't want to be him for a while... like a few years." She giggles as Jack nods and grins.

The Doctor's scowling. His hands are tight fists. His voice barely controlled, he growls, "Thought you were particular about keeping your customers' confidence?"

Jack smirks. "Oh, I am." The smirk turns into a grin. "But he was never one of my customers."

They laugh all the way back to the TARDIS.

Go to chapter five.