The Sum of His Parts Ch6
Title: The Sum of His Parts by gruaig_rua
Rating: PG-13
Series: Doctor Who/Torchwood
Characters: The Tenth Doctor (both of them), Jack, Ianto, Gwen, Rhys, PC Andy, Mickey, Martha.
Spoilers: Set post Journey's End, pre Children of Earth.
Summary: The Other Doctor achieves the supposedly impossible and returns... But why?
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
“Doctor!” Jack said in a familiar tone, unaware of what had transpired with Martha.
“Captain” the Doctor replied in the same tone, giving him that small salute. It was almost like a practiced routine, although this version of the Doctor had no idea how many times Jack had met up with his other self since Bad Wolf Bay… if at all.
“You came back.” Jack said, unsure whether it should be a question or a statement.
“Yeah.” The Doctor sighed slowly. “It wasn’t how I’d imagined. I certainly didn’t plan on near death and hospitalisation.”
“Should you be up? Martha said you weren’t feeling well.”
“It’s just a headache. It’ll pass.” the Doctor shrugged.
“You had us worried there for a while.” Jack tried to bridge the distance between them. “Good to see you up and about.” The Doctor just nodded. “How’s Rose?”
“She’s good.” After a brief pause, a wide smile spread across the Doctor’s face. “She’s fantastic.”
“And she didn’t come with you?”
“She couldn’t because the gap was too small, besides I wasn’t prepared to risk anyone else until I knew it worked and was stable.” the Doctor explained. “The only problem is that it’s underwater. I hope between the TARDIS and Torchwood, we’ll be able to set up a permanent link somewhere a little drier.”
“So, what do you think of the place?” Jack gestured around the room. “You spent a lot of time here when you were just a hand, you know. You were my Doctor detector."
"Is it a good thing that I have absolutely no recollection of it?"
"Possibly! Why haven’t you contacted the TARDIS yet?” Jack asked, sitting alongside the Doctor. “I thought you’d be itching to get back on board from the moment you arrived.”
“Fear and trepidation?” the Doctor answered, sounding somewhat apprehensive. “Considering that I’ve had half of Torchwood on night duty scouring Cardiff for intergalactic bogeymen in my wake, I don’t think he’ll be too thrilled to see me! I know what I’m like. There’d be lectures and disapproving looks…” he sighed melodramatically, getting a smile from Jack .
“How long has it been for you? Mickey explained the whole thing about your universe moving faster than ours.”
“Just over 3 years. I don’t think this ageing thing agrees with me at all!” the Doctor drew Jack’s attention to a barely noticeable smattering of grey hair around his temples, just above where his sideburns used to be.
“And I thought I was the vain one here!”
“With good reason, I’m sure!”
“You’re flirtier than the other one!” Jack smiled.
“That would be my Donna side.”
“So you’re telling me, inside the skinny Time Lord, there’s a bolshie redhead dying to get out?” they both laughed. It was the tension breaker they needed. “I think I like you better!”
“Play your cards right and you just might get to keep me.” the Doctor grinned back.
“Oh promises, promises, Doctor!” Jack rolled his eyes. “You’re a bigger tease too!”
“And I have Torchwood clearance.”
“I know, I’ve seen the ID card… Nice picture by the way!” Jack gave him a sly wink. “Oh, I daresay we could find some use for you.”
“Now who’s teasing?” the Doctor smiled and focussed his gaze on Jack’s blue eyes. “Have I said how much I missed you?”
“Once or twice.” Jack smiled back, fully aware that the Doctor was laying it on a bit thick… and not really minding. “It’s so weird, looking at you - and I don’t mean this as an insult - You’re not him, are you? You look alike, but even after a few minutes with you I can see you’re different people. You’re part him, part Donna, part you… All you. Does that make sense?”
“You’re very astute, you know that.” the Doctor grinned.
“I also cook!” Turning to the Doctor, Jack hugged him tightly. The Doctor took this opportunity to take out the hidden injector gun and pressed it into Jack’s hip. He gasped at the unexpected sharp pain and immediately he felt his limbs weakening. The Doctor manoeuvred him down on to the examination table. “What are you doing?” Jack tried to struggle against him, but had no strength to stop the Doctor securing Jack’s wrists in the restraints. He tried calling out for help, but there was no power in his voice. “Doctor stop, please.”
The Doctor gently stroked Jack’s cheek. “Just let it work, Jack. Just go to sleep.” The last thing Jack was aware of before he passed out, was the Doctor‘s soft lips on his forehead, kissing him tenderly by way of an apology and, no doubt, a final farewell.
As he crept through the Hub, the Doctor was wracked with guilt at how he’d used his friends. Used their unwavering loyalty and love against them to get what he wanted. With his training as a Time Agent, there was no point in even trying to mentally control Jack and with his 51st century physiology, he’d be awake sooner than the others, so it was necessary to tie him up, rather than risk an overdose. Even though the Doctor knew Jack would come back to life, the idea of killing him for expediency was abhorrent. Martha’s manipulation had been easy. She was too open and trusting of him, too malleable, despite - or maybe because what they’d been through together. Maybe one day they’d forgive him. Probably a lot sooner than he’d forgive himself. It had been a long time since he’d been that manipulative. The Master, had he been around to witness it, would have been proud! The Doctor decided that sedating them was quicker, more expedient and less likely to fail. He could easily control all of them, but this wasn’t about bending people to his will. This was about escape.
“Fancy a coffee?” Martha asked Mickey as they waited for Jack to finish talking with the Doctor, with no idea as to what was transpiring downstairs.
“More than you could possibly believe.” Mickey dragged his hands down his face in an attempt to stave off the tiredness. “At this hour of the morning, there’s no point in attempting to get some sleep. They say unless you can guarantee 4 uninterrupted hours, you’re better off staying awake.”
“Mickey, many’s the night I would have considered three straight hours sleep a luxury! You wouldn’t have lasted 2 weeks as a medical student!” Martha smiled.
“I wouldn’t have lasted a day! All that blood and guts?” he pulled a face.
“This is the bloodiest and gutsiest place I’ve ever worked. Way worse than Saturday night A&E!” she exclaimed.
“Ah, but it’s alien blood and guts. Totally different.”
“I’ll take your word for it!” Martha patted him on the shoulder and went to start on the coffees. “Milk, three sugars, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah.” Mickey grinned in her direction. “I’m trying to cut back!”
Martha made the short walk to the canteen where the smell of a fresh coffee permeated the room. Ianto had put on a fresh pot when the men had returned and Martha wondered if he didn't have some sort of clairvoyant gift because of his unerring knack of anticipating their needs! He was sat at the table, his head face down, using his arm as a pillow. Martha wasn't surprised. It had been a long night and she wasn't adverse to catching a few minutes sleep here and there when she had the opportunity. It would have been better for him to be on the nearby sofa, rather than an uncomfortable plastic chair. She gently rubbed Ianto's back to wake him up and got no response. "Ianto?" Martha said quietly, nudging his shoulder. Still no reaction. She repeated his name louder and gave a firmer nudge, causing his free arm to slide off the table and dangle lifelessly. Martha’s heart thudded in her chest like a hammer. Ianto wasn’t asleep, he was unconscious. Her first instinct was to cry for help for her fallen colleague, but that would compromise her safety and position. Martha pulled Ianto down to the ground, put him in the recovery position and took his gun from its holster. She tapped her earpiece to activate it and warn the others what had happened. “Jack, Mickey.” she whispered anxiously as she crept quietly through the Hub. “Ianto’s down. The Hub has been compromised.” She listened for word from either of them. Mickey answered first, but was interrupted before he could say anything of substance. Martha ducked down out of the way, barely able to believe what she was seeing. The Doctor attacked Mickey as he was seated at his desk, silencing Mickey’s surprised cry with his hand as he shot him in the neck with the sedative they'd been joking about earlier. Creeping up behind them, she managed to catch the Doctor unawares. “Put down the injector and put your hands on your head.” she yelled trying to sound as authoritative as she could, despite the tremble in her voice and hands. He slowly turned towards her, but didn’t follow her orders. The adrenaline was pumping through her system and the uneasy sensation she’d had when phoning the TARDIS had returned, that feeling of dread that he’d done something to her. Martha could feel the tears well in her eyes. “So this is what you do now? Attack your friends? Control and abuse us?”
“It was the easiest way to deal with everyone. I’d rather sedate them, than play upon the emotions of people I care about.”
“Oh, now it’s upsetting for you to mentally assault your friends? Pity you didn’t think of that before you had me make that phone call.”
“I’m sorry I had to do that to you, Martha.”
“But that’s just it, Doctor. You didn’t have to! You could have asked for our help and we’d have gladly done anything for you.” There was no disguising the anger and disappointment in her voice. “Why couldn’t you just let me ring the TARDIS and tell him myself that you were back?”
“Because he’d never have come or he’d have turned you against me. Remember how we ended up on Malcassairo? That’s because we were running away from Jack… or rather he was.” the Doctor rolled his eyes. “Have you any idea how difficult it is to explain memories of something I technically wasn’t at?”
“Don’t do that! Don’t change the subject.” Martha snapped, sharpening her stance, and keeping her focus with the gun. “And what have you done with Jack?”
“He’s alright, I promise.”
“And I’m supposed to believe you now, after everything you’ve done here? Was anything you said to me the truth?” she couldn’t hide the heartache at his betrayal any longer and the threatened tears spilled down her cheeks. “That story you told me about working with Rose on the time cannon, you made that up too, didn’t you? Oh God, you probably spent all that time working on it by controlling Rose and the Tylers to get your own way.”
“Martha, it’s me.” the Doctor said, keeping his tone as light as possible. “It’s the Doctor. Same face, same memories.”
“No you’re not. Not anymore. You’re just someone who looks like him.” she said, keeping the gun trained on him, while keeping as much distance between them as possible. “You’re just like that clone the Sontarans made of me, because the real Doctor would never do what you just did to us. Now drop the injector and put your hands behind your head!”
He bristled at the comparison, but continued to use the same calm, familiar tone with her. “All the things we did together… All the fun we had?” his voice was so calming and reassuring in her head. Why would she do something as silly as point a gun at her friend? I mean, really… A gun? “You and me, time and space… Nibbles?”
Martha burst out laughing at the memory of the Doctor in a tux, filling his face with canapés, looking like a squirrel storing nuts in its cheeks for the winter, just as he was about to be introduced to her mother. “Oh my God! Bits of vol-au-vent down your jacket! Don’t they have napkins where you’re from?!” He inched towards her as she lowered the gun… And what was she doing with something as dangerous as a gun anyway? She hated guns!
The Doctor took the weapon from Martha and placed it on the table, he kissed her on the forehead and hugged her close. “Thank you Martha. It really was lovely to see you again… And I’m so sorry.” Pressing the high pressure injector against the soft flesh above her hip, he pulled the trigger and felt her slump against him as the sedative quickly took hold. The Doctor guided her gently to the floor, leaving her lying on her side and tucked the injector gun into the waistband of his trousers, concealing it beneath his shirt. Taking Ianto’s gun from where Martha had left it, he checked to see how many rounds were left.
His train of thought was interrupted by the familiar groaning noise of the TARDIS reverberating around the Hub. The Doctor’s heart leaped on hearing it and quickly found the spot where it was going to land, his years of work finally coming to fruition. Smiling, as his beloved blue box fully materialised in the Torchwood hub, he stood a few feet back from the entrance and raising his left hand, he clicked his fingers.
On board the TARDIS, the original incarnation of the tenth Doctor was at the console, in pale blue shirtsleeves, putting the handbrake on when the doors swung open. “Hello, what’s this then?” he jokingly said to his sentient ship. “In a hurry to get rid of me?” He strode down the gangway, pulling one arm into the sleeve of his jacket as he walked to the open doors. The Doctor froze in horror as he saw a man, the mirror image of himself, raise a handgun and fire.
Chapter 7