DW/TW Fic: And I Cannot Know How Long She Has Dreamed of All of You
Title: And I Cannot Know How Long She Has Dreamed of All of You
Pairing/Characters: Jack/Nine/Rose/TARDIS to varying degrees and in varying combinations
Authors: rm & kalichan
Rating/Warning: NC-17, het, slash, recreational intoxication (everyone not Jack is too uptight!!)
Summary: In which Captain Jack Harkness learns a new kind of dance. Begins just after Doctor Who 1x10: The Doctor Dances, and goes on to bookend Doctor Who 1x11: Boomtown.
Wordcount: ~18,500 (posted in three parts)
Authors' Notes: This is a part of our Jack/Ianto series, I Had No Idea I Had Been Traveling. While it can be considered a prequel, it is in this position in the arc (after significant Jack/Ianto relationship development) for a timey-whimey reason, which will become clear later. You don't have to read the rest of the series to read this though. However, if you are reading that, you should read this, as it will be useful/relevant later.
Previous installments:
1. A Strange Fashion of Forsaking | 2. Dear Captain, Last Night I Slept in Mutiny | 3. To Learn This Holding and the Holding Back | 4. The Most Beautiful Girl in the World | 5. I Imagine You Now in That Other City | 6. Many of My Favorite Things Are Broken | 6.5 Up, Down, Strange, Charm, Truth, Beauty: or, A Child's Guide to Modern Physics | 7. In Our Bedroom After the War
Jack couldn't quite shake the feeling that he'd wandered into someone else's story.
Still feeling the grin stretch at his face, but unable somehow to stop smiling, Jack stared in confusion down at his hand -- Rose had just left him hanging as she hopped up the steps to dance once more with the Doctor -- and then glanced back towards the door through which he'd entered this console room. Somewhere behind him, his stolen ship had just exploded, and his guts hadn't yet figured out that he hadn't been reduced to his constituent atoms along with it.
Too bad his martini had blown up as well. He really felt like he could use one right about now. Or four. Mental note, he thought. Never dash for safety without grabbing the liquor. No matter how surprised you are. 'Cause that was just amateur hour. Pathetic, really.
He looked around at the glowing coral walls of this ship, and at Rose, who sort of glowed too, if differently. This was ridiculous, he thought. He'd been saved by these two and he didn't even know what the hell they were, although he wasn't sure how he ever could've mistaken them for Time Agents.
For one thing, Rose couldn't be more than eighteen or nineteen. Also, they'd come back for him, which -- if he hadn't already discovered it -- should've told him that they weren't Time Agents right away. Or, for that matter, like anyone Jack had ever met before. He guessed other Agency regiments -- the ones with other naming codes -- might be, well, nicer than the ones he was more familiar with, but come on, not like this.
People just didn't do things like that. Not for him anyway. Not when it mattered. Not for free. The Doctor didn't even seem to like him very much, he thought ruefully, which, though understandable, was a shame, because now that they weren't in the middle of saving the human race from his own monumental screw-up, Jack could feel his breath sort of catch in his throat every time he looked at him. Way to start out on the wrong foot there, he thought, feeling his insides shrink a little at the disapproval he could still feel emanating from the man.
Jack had never much liked feeling judged, and avoided it whenever possible -- so why did he feel like he'd move mountains just to earn a smile, a real one, from this guy with big ears and a goofy grin? Even if he did fill out that leather jacket quite nicely.
The more closely Jack looked at him, the more he seemed like a powder keg about to blow, and Jack couldn't figure out if he wanted to run away screaming, or if he wanted to get as close as humanly possible. Just his luck, it was probably both at the same time.
And Rose. What was it about her? An ordinary girl, sure, but for some reason looking at her made his heartbeat accelerate. Nerves, he guessed. And adrenaline. Near death experiences would do that to you.
They'd come back for him. Why?
"Aren't you going to cut in, Jack?" Rose said, breaking into his thoughts.
"Huh?" he said, startled.
"A girl might think you didn't like what you see," she offered flirtatiously as the Doctor spun her around.
"Oh, I like what I see all right," he said, pointedly sweeping his eyes over both of them and treating them to the special grin he reserved for marks who really needed the hard sell and the few people he'd actually had to make an effort to tumble into bed. She giggled at him, and the Doctor shook his head, seemingly unimpressed.
Jack was getting more intrigued by the second, and honestly he hadn't thought that was even possible. He was feeling… very odd. For some reason, he found himself remembering the moment right before he'd entered the Time Vortex the first time. He'd had no idea what it was going to feel like -- all the lessons in the world couldn't explain it to someone who'd never done it -- but he'd known that he was on the verge of a whole new world, and once he did it, there'd be no turning back.
But he hadn't liked that old world very much, so he'd been more than willing to play the odds that the new one might be better. And it had been. Fucked up and insane and wild and morally ambiguous maybe, but yes, better. Much better, and what's more, perfectly suited to someone like him, someone who was always out for the main chance, someone who always had his eyes on the exits so he could get out while the getting was good.
Even robbing him of his memories hadn't changed those fundamental facts, hadn't changed his very existence. But now something had come along which would. He knew it in his bones, because this prickly sensation all along his skin, the swooping feeling in his stomach when he looked at this girl and her companion -- it was exactly the same, and Jack realized he was terrified.
"What're you waiting for then?" Rose prodded him, and he laughed softly. Never say he couldn't take a hint.
He decided he had to do it properly, not that he thought merely following form would be enough for this Doctor, but a little courtesy might be a good start. Besides, it was an excuse to touch him.
He rested a hand on his shoulder, instead of tapping. "May I cut in?" he asked.
The Doctor nodded. The smirk still seeming condescending, but there was just a hint of approval or acquiescence to Jack's presence there, and it was something at least.
"Be my guest," he said, spinning Rose into Jack's arms and stepping out of the way. "Since you already are."
"Thanks," Jack said, but chuckled and shook his head. "Is he always like this?" he asked Rose as he held her close, not wanting to be flashy yet so that he could savor the feel of her in his arms again but also so that they could talk.
Rose shrugged. "More or less. Pretended to hate me at first too. He'll get over it."
Even though he rather thought he was a different case, Jack smiled with genuine delight and then pushed her out for a spin. He doubted that the skepticism the Doctor might or might not have had of Rose initially was of the same variety he himself was facing. She was a child. And no con artist. And probably hadn't almost destroyed a whole lot of people and things.
Jack pulled her back in and spun her out again, the world going slow as he felt himself trembling in the moment before he lost his footing on a bit of grating and just stumbled right down onto his ass.
He laughed, awkwardly, as Rose stopped and looked down at him.
"God. Sorry," he said, and started to get up, ready to play it off on unfamiliar flooring. But he was still shaking, and he wasn't sure his legs would hold him, and the Doctor was staring down at him, almost challenging him to lie, which clearly, wouldn't be a very good idea at all.
"I think my body just realized I'm supposed to be dead," he said.
The Doctor nodded, and Rose stared at him sympathetically.
"You got any booze on this thing? Because I could really use a drink."
"I'm sure we do. Doctor?" Rose asked hopefully.
The Doctor continued to stare down at Jack, as if incredulous at the request.
"Oh come on, I just went willingly to my death, got rescued by you people -- and I still don't know who the hell you are, by the way -- and not only did my ship get blown up, so did my goddamn martini. Pity a man."
The Doctor crouched down to look Jack in the eye. "Not used to real danger, is it?"
Jack grinned. Rude as he was being, he could feel the joy and the heat in the man's challenge. It wasn't a welcome, per se, but it was some sort of good sign. Jack wanted to kiss him.
Jack shook his head. "Not used to real danger I've got to be rescued from," he clarified.
The Doctor nodded. Somehow Jack must have given the right answer, because he stood and declared, "Vodka for the Captain it is then."
"Oh god, thank you," Jack said and flopped back to lie on the deck of the ship that glowed and hummed above him. And below him. Even as a clarinet you couldn't help but tap your foot too continued to drift over it all.
What a show. What a way to go. And Jack found himself hoping that maybe he and his ship had blown up together, that maybe this was heaven, just with caretakers who had met up with him a little early. Wouldn't that be a hoot. Who even knew. Maybe they'd have a job for him. After all, most people did in the end.
When it came, the hypervodka was not in a glass, but instead in an enormous novelty mug that bore the legend Genius at Work in Arcturan. He stared at the mug with disbelief and then swiveled his head to meet the Doctor's eyes.
"What?" the Doctor said defensively. "Rose got it for me in a bazaar."
"Uh huh," Jack said.
"Only 'cos you were eying it with lust, and you elbowed me five times about it," Rose exclaimed. "I can't even read Arcturan. For all I know, it says Time Lords Do It Better."
"Well, I do!" the Doctor replied with mock belligerence.
Jack shook his head. Esoteric jokes about bananas and ancient myth forms. This was a mad house. Hopefully liquor would help. He tried to sit up. As attempts went, it wasn't very successful, and Rose made a sympathetic sound, before kneeling beside his head to try and help prop him up.
The drink might not have been served appropriately, but it was ice cold and was handed to him by Rose, whose position incidentally also gave him a lovely view of her tits. So all things considered, it was one of the better drinks he'd had in his life.
"Isn't anybody joining me?" he asked, after he'd downed half in one go and was feeling a bit more human.
"What is this anyway?" Rose asked, taking the mug back from him and sipping from it.
"Hypervodka," the Doctor and Jack said at once.
"Oh..." Rose said, and then took another swallow. "'S'good. And I don't even like vodka."
"Easy there," Jack said. "Stuff's got quite a kick."
"Rose, leave the Captain alone. He needs it more than you."
"How about you leave off the Captain," Jack protested weakly. "We're all friends here, aren't we?"
"Remains to be seen," the Doctor said.
"Doctor!" Rose said rebukingly.
The Doctor grinned. "Besides, I got you something else." He produced from somewhere -- Jack couldn't tell where; this Doctor was better at the bait and switch then anyone he'd ever encountered -- a bottle of something sunrise-colored and fizzy.
"You got me a girly drink?" Rose said. "I'll have you know I can hold my--"
"Trust me, you'll like this," the Doctor said, grinning wickedly. "Appearances are deceiving."
Rose struggled to her feet and went over to the Doctor, thankfully leaving the mug of vodka with Jack. He had a feeling he was going to need it.
She took the bottle from him, unscrewed the top, and took a long pull. Then she lowered it and stared at the Doctor in glee.
"It's amazing!" she exclaimed. "It tastes... it tastes golden!"
"Synaesthetic liqueur," he said. "Thought you'd enjoy it."
Jack goggled. Synaesthetic liqueur? In that size bottle? The Doctor must have money to burn. He narrowed his eyes at him as Rose merrily chugged at the bottle, like it was a beer bought from a roadside vendor or something. The Doctor stared back at him expressionlessly, as if daring him to say it.
Jack took another drink instead.
"So," he said, after he felt sufficiently lubricated -- for the moment, anyway, "care to tell me a bit about yourselves? I like to know who I'm indebted to."
"Makes avoiding them easier, does it?" the Doctor said.
"Exactly," Jack said.
"Doctor!" Rose said, looking upset. "Haven't you taken enough cheap shots at him?"
"Don't worry, Rose," Jack said. "I can take it. Could argue I deserve it. Small price to pay."
He got to his feet, still holding the mug, walked over to the controls and stroked them fondly. They were cobbled together with what looked like bits of string and wire, and he thought it was one of the most gorgeous things he'd ever seen. "Your ship's a beauty," he added irrelevantly, and then felt an odd hum around him almost like a satisfied purr.
The Doctor pinned him with his eyes and then seemed to relax a little. "She seems to like you," he said. "No accounting for tastes, I suppose."
Jack smiled. "So really," he said. "Who are you? And did you really call this ship a TARDIS? What is that, some kind of homage?"
"No. It's a TARDIS," the Doctor said. "Time And Relative Dimension--"
"In Space. I know. But it can't really be--"
"It is," the Doctor said. "And I am."
Jack stared at him. "You know," Jack said finally, "I like fairy tales as much as the next guy, but really, there's no need for the story. I want to shag you as is."
The Doctor laughed. "Impressing you's not really something I worry too much about."
"You expect me to believe that you're a--"
"Don't expect you to believe anything," the Doctor said. "You asked, I answered."
Jack turned his head to look at Rose. "She's not," the Doctor said, before he could ask.
"Right," Rose said. "I'm like you, Jack. Human. 21st century."
"Oh," Jack said, and looked around for the mug. Clearly, he had not yet had enough to drink. He wasn't sure there was enough hypervodka in the universe. After he found it, he slumped back down to the grilled flooring and took a long swallow, nearly finishing off the other half.
The Doctor coughed conspicuously in Jack's general direction.
"Uh. 51st, actually, Rose. Remember?"
"Right," she said, clearly enthused about the idea.
"Yup. More or less. Travel a lot, but --"
"Like the Doc--"
"No," Jack and the Doctor said in unison.
"So what's it like," she asked greedily. "Earth, 51st century."
"No damn idea," Jack said. "Unless you want textbook stuff. Not from Earth."
"So you're not human?" She asked, wary, but possibly more intrigued.
"Human. Just not from Earth."
"You lot spread out a bit," the Doctor said by way of explanation.
"Where're you from then?" Rose asked.
"Bit of a backwater colony and a shitty war," Jack said, knowing the answer sounded entirely stock and probably insincere and not really caring because he didn't want to actually discuss it.
"That's all wars," the Doctor said darkly.
"Is it?" Jack asked, turning to look at him.
"Are some better than others?" Rose asked.
"You bet, sweetheart," Jack said, turning on the charm again. "Some have great music. Beautiful clothes. Armies full of boys and girls that really know how to shag. And, every once in a while, a few of them even have a valid cause."
"That's it," the Doctor said. "He's off at the next stop. Got anywhere particular in mind, Captain?"
Jack shrugged. "I dunno. A bedroom would be nice. Suppose up against that column would be all right though if you're in a hurry."
Rose giggled. "Let him stay. He did save me."
"And we saved him, and now everybody's even," the Doctor said.
Jack stood, handed Rose his drink to hold and went over to the Doctor, to stare him down as best he could, although it wasn't really entirely successful.
"Seems like you're in one hell of a rush to get me out of here. And since I'm pretty certain you're not actually running from anyone, I figure the problem's just me. Now what would that be about, Doctor? Scared I'm going to steal your girl? Or have you got some wars too that you and your high horse don't want to think about?"
The Doctor stared at him expressionlessly, and Jack braced himself for the punch he felt sure would be coming his way, but all of a sudden, the Doctor laughed in his face instead. Jack stepped back. People didn't do that to him either. He looked back at Rose, who shrugged, still smiling.
"Oh," the Doctor said, when he could finally speak again. "Haven't laughed so hard in years. Fantastic!"
"You're laughing at me?" Jack said, unable to quite believe it.
"Too right," the Doctor replied, grinning. "All puffed up, you are, like a little cock of the walk who doesn't know when he's well off! Hilarious!"
"Hey! Nothing about my cock is... little!"
The Doctor looked at him skeptically. "Well, you'd know, I suppose. What are you compensating for then?"
Jack stared at him dumbfounded, as he beamed.
"No?" the Doctor said. "Well, never mind. Don't really care anyway." He blew by Jack, as if he weren't even there, and then pulled up a star chart on the screens. "Pick a destination, or would you like me to choose for you?"
"Doctor," Rose protested. "I think--"
"Remember what happened the last time we gave a lift to one of your boyfriends? Practically ended the whole human race." the Doctor said.
"At least I've got that out of the way already," Jack said, not quite understanding how the tables had been flipped on him so easily, but knowing that they had. "I won't do it again."
"I did that too," Rose said. "And he did try to give up his life to make up for it."
"He's a soldier, Rose. Not even that, a mercenary. Thinks money's a good reason for fighting."
"And I was just a shopgirl," Rose said. "Everyone does things for money. We haven't all got a TARDIS and a sonic screwdriver."
"Shopgirls don't kill people," the Doctor said. "No one dies in the lunchtime rush."
Jack's attention swung back and forth between them, feeling like he was a child again, holding his breath while listening to his parents argue about whether he could do something that he wanted to do with all his being, hanging on their every word, knowing his fate lay in the balance.
"Oh come on, Doctor. It's not like we've never brought death to anyone, is it?" Rose said.
The Doctor looked back at Jack, and then towards Rose again. Then all of a sudden, he underwent some sort of mercurial shift and beamed. "Okay."
"Okay?" Jack and Rose said at once, and then looked at each other startled.
"Okay. Fine. He can stay."
Rose bounced a little with pleasure, and then wrapped her arms around the Doctor. "Brilliant! Thank you!"
Jack slumped against the wall in relief.
"Rose, do me a favour?" the Doctor said. "There's a few more bottles of that stuff you were drinking in the kitchen. Run down and get us a couple, would you?"
"Of course," Rose said. Making her way out, she paused by Jack so she could wrap her arms around his neck and give him a kiss on the cheek. "Back in a bit," she said. "Oh, and boys -- don't kill each other while I'm gone, okay?"
The Doctor made a 'who-me?' gesture at her, and Rose laughed before disappearing through the door.
Jack looked at the Doctor expectantly, but the silence just built. Finally he couldn't stand it anymore. "What did you want to say to me?" he asked.
"Impatient, aren't you?" the Doctor said, adjusting one of the controls.
"Yeah," Jack said.
"Rose likes you," the Doctor remarked.
"I like Rose."
"She's nineteen," the Doctor said. "I'm not."
"I didn't think you--"
"I like you fine, Captain. You don't know when you're beaten, and I enjoy that in a man. All the same, I'd be careful, if I were you. You hurt Rose, ever? Even a little bit? You'll be sorry you were ever born."
Jack didn't understand it -- wasn't like he'd never been given a version of this speech before -- but somehow, a chill ran up and down his spine. Unfortunately, his dick wasn't getting the right message, as it just seemed to become more interested every time the Doctor threatened him or otherwise expressed his disapproval. "I wouldn't--"
"Good."
"Look, I understand why you felt like you had to say this," Jack protested feebly. "But you should know. You didn't need to. I wouldn't hurt her. Or you. Ever."
The Doctor laughed. "You couldn't hurt me, Jack."
"No?"
Suddenly the Doctor looked very far away. "No," he said.
There was a pause, and then the Doctor seemed to come back from wherever he'd gone off to.
"So!" he exclaimed. "Where d'you reckon next? Woman Wept? Fabulous icy beaches there! Think Rose'd like that? And what happened to the music?" He tapped a button, and the sound of a saxophone surrounded them from speakers Jack still hadn't been able to locate.
Rose rejoined them swinging a bottle in each hand, and Jack had to work hard to school his features into something other than absolute horror at the amount of money she was risking with the gesture.
She sauntered up to the Doctor and presented the bottles. "Your wine, sir," she joked.
The Doctor looked at the bottles. "That one's for the Captain, and this one, this one's mine," he said, gleefully snatching the bottle that had been in her left hand.
"Blue," the Doctor said, holding it up. "I love blue."
Rose giggled, and Jack tried not to look too eager as he took the bottle Rose handed him.
"What've you got?" she asked, watching him open it.
"We'll find out," he said, before taking a sip and looking stunned. He smiled slowly, not at her, but at the world, and then broke into his usual grin when he registered her face again.
"Moonlight stones. On a beach." He squeezed his eyes shut tightly for a moment trying to find the right word. "Opals!" he said finally, laughing to need such vocabulary without being a thief. It was a bit like home to him in a way -- grit and shimmer -- even if it was too rich in both fact and taste.
"Thought you might appreciate that," the Doctor said, sounding smug but not, for a change combative.
"Yeah, thanks," Jack said, meaning it. He'd felt plenty lustful towards the Doctor since the beginning of this mess, but this was maybe the first time he felt warm, like maybe it could all be easy, the three of them tumbled into bed together and sleeping like children.
"Let me try," Rose asked, and Jack couldn't deny her.
"Oh!" she said brightly. "It's melancholy a bit. Sharp too. Metal and light. But melancholy. Definitely."
"Is it?" Jack asked quietly.
"Yeah. Wait. Try mine," she said, fetching her bottle back from the Doctor and handing it to Jack.
Jack sipped shallowly in an effort to be polite and then sighed. It tasted a bit like being a god if that sort of business weren't all hard work and viciousness. And Jack knew first hand it usually was. He'd convinced all sorts of far flung and primitive planets of all sorts of shit. He and his partner. What fucking hobbies they'd kept. He took another swing of his drink in memory of the man and smirked. He wouldn't have had the faintest goddamn idea how to appreciate this. Luckily, Jack did.
The Doctor watched him carefully. There was a lot to know about this fellow, which was interesting in and of itself. Humans usually required little more more data than 'big apes, less hair.' But Jack had gratitude. And hatred. Lust and violence and desperation. And also joy.
It was the joy that had allowed Rose to win him over on the subject of the captain coming along with them. Not the murdering. It wasn't the sort of thing that changed anything when you had it in common with someone. You just knew you should hate them as much as you should hate yourself, and quite frankly, the Doctor found that tiring. He could do it on his own time. Not Rose's.
Because, it wasn't going to last, this time with Rose. Might as well enjoy it. She'd get tired, get over traveling, want to settle down somewhere, put down roots, all that domestic stuff. Maybe even meet someone, like this Jack fellow, or go back to that boyfriend of hers. Something. So, he was going to keep her happy. However long he could. Somehow when she was around, he didn't hate himself quite so much. She didn't make him forget. But she did make him think of other things.
And this Jack, or whatever his real name was. A Time Agent. A rogue Time Agent. But was that because he was better than the lot of them? Or worse?
The TARDIS liked him, though. Of course, she'd been fond of other unsavory folk once upon a time, so maybe she'd just got to be a bit of a masochist in her old age. Like him, perhaps. Because this, getting humans along for the ride, was something he'd never thought to do again, until Rose had come along. It felt dangerously nice, watching Jack and Rose flirt and talk and tease each other. The TARDIS not so empty. Not so barren.
The Doctor tamped down on that tendril of pleasure. Numbness was better. Attachment wasn't an option. And that was the other reason to bring Jack along. Rose'd imprinted on him, he was beginning to think, sort of like a baby duckling. First thing she saw, showed her the universe, and well, it was him after all, and he'd that effect on women sometimes -- of course she was going to get a bit hung up. Perfectly natural.
But this, this'd work. A distraction, the Doctor thought triumphantly. He'd had a go with that Adam bloke, but that had proved disastrous. This one might even be able to last a while. He'd see. Nothing but the best for his Rose, the Doctor reflected and grinned.
"So, Captain," he said, taking another swig from his bottle. Blue really was the best flavour. Nothing in the universe like it. "You ready for another dance with Rose? Maybe this time not tripping over your own feet?"
"Do I get one with you later?" Jack asked hopefully.
"I've got to pilot this thing," the Doctor said. "Besides, haven't seen any proof that you could keep up with me, have I?"
Jack lifted his eyebrows. "Them's fighting words, Doctor," he said with a grin. "Also, we don't actually appear to be moving, so not sure what piloting you need to be doing."
"That's why you're a human, and I'm a Time Lord."
Rose rolled her eyes affectionately and took Jack's hand in hers. "Why don't we show him what he's missing?" she suggested.
Jack laughed and set down his bottle. "At your service, ma'am," he said. And then more seriously, as he took her in his arms, "Always."
There was something about Jack that made Rose feel like she was drunk, and that wasn't just because she had been drinking. After all, she'd felt the same thing when they'd first met, the appeal of him somehow bringing her down from the most terrifyingly vicious adrenaline high of her life, like all that nervous, frightened energy had turned him on and he had it in him to suck it right out of her. Nice trick that. And so instead of dancing with him, she kissed him.
It was on the cheek; it was light; it was quick; it was darting forward like she was half-scared, because he was a man and in his arms she was pretty sure she was still a girl, and even if she felt a bit like that with the Doctor too, that was different, because the Doctor tried hard not to want, tried hard not to take and seemed pretty bad and inexperienced at life too. Nine hundred years old or not. They were a lot alike like that.
But not Jack. He'd seen the world and done a lot of it along the way it seemed. And she wasn't sure how she could measure up. Hell, she wasn't even sure how anyone could measure up to the stories Jack seemed to hurl at them, true or not. But she couldn't help but kiss him and then nestle in his arms, hoping desperately he would somehow remind her that she actually secretly knew exactly how to do this.
He held her tightly and even though she was lost in it straight away, she did hear the Doctor clear his throat.
Jack pulled back instantly. He was a guest. And not particularly eager to wear out his not entirely enthusiastic welcome so soon.
"Sorry," he said, looking at the Doctor in a way he hoped was a bit sheepish and entirely come hither.
The Doctor waved it off like he didn't care, but Jack was pretty sure he knew better.
"Whatever Rose wants, Rose gets," the Doctor said. "Even if it is you," he added, and Jack was relieved to hear a tinge of humour -- of appreciation, even -- in his voice.
"Do you know what Rose would like?" she asked, turning in the circle of Jack's arms to look at the Doctor.
"No. I don't," the Doctor said, the admission sounding forced.
"Come here," she said, clearly trying to put some bravery into her voice.
The Doctor did and stopped two steps short of her, just out of reach of her arms, and maybe Jack's as well.
"Closer," Rose said, and the Doctor took a small and reluctant step forward.
"I want you to be happy," she said.
She went up on her toes then, leaning forward to brush her lips over the corner of the Doctor's mouth, enough to pretend she meant it as a kiss on the cheek, but so obviously not.
Jack did his best not to gasp as her ass rubbed against him just right and couldn't help but be fascinated by how hard the Doctor worked not to react to her kiss. The man wanted to beam and wouldn't, and Jack felt he could almost understand, except for the part where he didn't. Not anymore.
"I'm taking my blue and going to bed, Rose Tyler," the Doctor said. "Captain, take a left, then the third right, up the stairs, slight left down the curved corridor, past the library, then another left, through the secondary control room, then keep going straight, and take the second left -- your room'll be the third door on your right. I suppose Rose can show you there if you get lost. Or something. Just don't cause trouble," he said, and then looked soulfully at Rose. "Please," he added softly and there was nothing Jack could do but release the woman in his arms and step back. There was nothing here that was his to take quickly. Or possibly at all.
The Doctor stalked towards the doorway and disappeared through it.
Jack and Rose looked blankly after him, nonplussed. Then the Doctor's head poked back in. "Get a good night's rest," he advised them. "Tomorrow, adventures!" And with that, he was gone again.
Rose turned to smile at him. "Welcome to the TARDIS."
Jack shook his head in wonder. "Thank you," he said.
"I'll take you to your room."
"I can find it."
"You remember all that?" she asked.
"Yeah," he said. "Left, third right, up the stairs, slight left, past the library, another left, then straight, second left, third door on the right. Got it."
"Wow. You're good," she said admiringly.
"I am. Besides, if you were to take me, we might not get too much rest." He winked at her.
"Would that be a bad thing?" she asked.
"You know," he said with a grin and a shrug. "Doctor's orders."
Rose smiled. "Good night then, Captain. I'll see you in the morning."
"Yes you will," Jack said.
As Rose slipped out of the console room, Jack sat back down on the floor, and found his bottle again. He raised it in salute to the ship, and took another long, extravagant swallow.
"Congratulations," he said to himself. "You are totally and completely fucked. Cheers."
Continue to part 2
Pairing/Characters: Jack/Nine/Rose/TARDIS to varying degrees and in varying combinations
Authors: rm & kalichan
Rating/Warning: NC-17, het, slash, recreational intoxication (everyone not Jack is too uptight!!)
Summary: In which Captain Jack Harkness learns a new kind of dance. Begins just after Doctor Who 1x10: The Doctor Dances, and goes on to bookend Doctor Who 1x11: Boomtown.
Wordcount: ~18,500 (posted in three parts)
Authors' Notes: This is a part of our Jack/Ianto series, I Had No Idea I Had Been Traveling. While it can be considered a prequel, it is in this position in the arc (after significant Jack/Ianto relationship development) for a timey-whimey reason, which will become clear later. You don't have to read the rest of the series to read this though. However, if you are reading that, you should read this, as it will be useful/relevant later.
Previous installments:
1. A Strange Fashion of Forsaking | 2. Dear Captain, Last Night I Slept in Mutiny | 3. To Learn This Holding and the Holding Back | 4. The Most Beautiful Girl in the World | 5. I Imagine You Now in That Other City | 6. Many of My Favorite Things Are Broken | 6.5 Up, Down, Strange, Charm, Truth, Beauty: or, A Child's Guide to Modern Physics | 7. In Our Bedroom After the War
Jack couldn't quite shake the feeling that he'd wandered into someone else's story.
Still feeling the grin stretch at his face, but unable somehow to stop smiling, Jack stared in confusion down at his hand -- Rose had just left him hanging as she hopped up the steps to dance once more with the Doctor -- and then glanced back towards the door through which he'd entered this console room. Somewhere behind him, his stolen ship had just exploded, and his guts hadn't yet figured out that he hadn't been reduced to his constituent atoms along with it.
Too bad his martini had blown up as well. He really felt like he could use one right about now. Or four. Mental note, he thought. Never dash for safety without grabbing the liquor. No matter how surprised you are. 'Cause that was just amateur hour. Pathetic, really.
He looked around at the glowing coral walls of this ship, and at Rose, who sort of glowed too, if differently. This was ridiculous, he thought. He'd been saved by these two and he didn't even know what the hell they were, although he wasn't sure how he ever could've mistaken them for Time Agents.
For one thing, Rose couldn't be more than eighteen or nineteen. Also, they'd come back for him, which -- if he hadn't already discovered it -- should've told him that they weren't Time Agents right away. Or, for that matter, like anyone Jack had ever met before. He guessed other Agency regiments -- the ones with other naming codes -- might be, well, nicer than the ones he was more familiar with, but come on, not like this.
People just didn't do things like that. Not for him anyway. Not when it mattered. Not for free. The Doctor didn't even seem to like him very much, he thought ruefully, which, though understandable, was a shame, because now that they weren't in the middle of saving the human race from his own monumental screw-up, Jack could feel his breath sort of catch in his throat every time he looked at him. Way to start out on the wrong foot there, he thought, feeling his insides shrink a little at the disapproval he could still feel emanating from the man.
Jack had never much liked feeling judged, and avoided it whenever possible -- so why did he feel like he'd move mountains just to earn a smile, a real one, from this guy with big ears and a goofy grin? Even if he did fill out that leather jacket quite nicely.
The more closely Jack looked at him, the more he seemed like a powder keg about to blow, and Jack couldn't figure out if he wanted to run away screaming, or if he wanted to get as close as humanly possible. Just his luck, it was probably both at the same time.
And Rose. What was it about her? An ordinary girl, sure, but for some reason looking at her made his heartbeat accelerate. Nerves, he guessed. And adrenaline. Near death experiences would do that to you.
They'd come back for him. Why?
"Aren't you going to cut in, Jack?" Rose said, breaking into his thoughts.
"Huh?" he said, startled.
"A girl might think you didn't like what you see," she offered flirtatiously as the Doctor spun her around.
"Oh, I like what I see all right," he said, pointedly sweeping his eyes over both of them and treating them to the special grin he reserved for marks who really needed the hard sell and the few people he'd actually had to make an effort to tumble into bed. She giggled at him, and the Doctor shook his head, seemingly unimpressed.
Jack was getting more intrigued by the second, and honestly he hadn't thought that was even possible. He was feeling… very odd. For some reason, he found himself remembering the moment right before he'd entered the Time Vortex the first time. He'd had no idea what it was going to feel like -- all the lessons in the world couldn't explain it to someone who'd never done it -- but he'd known that he was on the verge of a whole new world, and once he did it, there'd be no turning back.
But he hadn't liked that old world very much, so he'd been more than willing to play the odds that the new one might be better. And it had been. Fucked up and insane and wild and morally ambiguous maybe, but yes, better. Much better, and what's more, perfectly suited to someone like him, someone who was always out for the main chance, someone who always had his eyes on the exits so he could get out while the getting was good.
Even robbing him of his memories hadn't changed those fundamental facts, hadn't changed his very existence. But now something had come along which would. He knew it in his bones, because this prickly sensation all along his skin, the swooping feeling in his stomach when he looked at this girl and her companion -- it was exactly the same, and Jack realized he was terrified.
"What're you waiting for then?" Rose prodded him, and he laughed softly. Never say he couldn't take a hint.
He decided he had to do it properly, not that he thought merely following form would be enough for this Doctor, but a little courtesy might be a good start. Besides, it was an excuse to touch him.
He rested a hand on his shoulder, instead of tapping. "May I cut in?" he asked.
The Doctor nodded. The smirk still seeming condescending, but there was just a hint of approval or acquiescence to Jack's presence there, and it was something at least.
"Be my guest," he said, spinning Rose into Jack's arms and stepping out of the way. "Since you already are."
"Thanks," Jack said, but chuckled and shook his head. "Is he always like this?" he asked Rose as he held her close, not wanting to be flashy yet so that he could savor the feel of her in his arms again but also so that they could talk.
Rose shrugged. "More or less. Pretended to hate me at first too. He'll get over it."
Even though he rather thought he was a different case, Jack smiled with genuine delight and then pushed her out for a spin. He doubted that the skepticism the Doctor might or might not have had of Rose initially was of the same variety he himself was facing. She was a child. And no con artist. And probably hadn't almost destroyed a whole lot of people and things.
Jack pulled her back in and spun her out again, the world going slow as he felt himself trembling in the moment before he lost his footing on a bit of grating and just stumbled right down onto his ass.
He laughed, awkwardly, as Rose stopped and looked down at him.
"God. Sorry," he said, and started to get up, ready to play it off on unfamiliar flooring. But he was still shaking, and he wasn't sure his legs would hold him, and the Doctor was staring down at him, almost challenging him to lie, which clearly, wouldn't be a very good idea at all.
"I think my body just realized I'm supposed to be dead," he said.
The Doctor nodded, and Rose stared at him sympathetically.
"You got any booze on this thing? Because I could really use a drink."
"I'm sure we do. Doctor?" Rose asked hopefully.
The Doctor continued to stare down at Jack, as if incredulous at the request.
"Oh come on, I just went willingly to my death, got rescued by you people -- and I still don't know who the hell you are, by the way -- and not only did my ship get blown up, so did my goddamn martini. Pity a man."
The Doctor crouched down to look Jack in the eye. "Not used to real danger, is it?"
Jack grinned. Rude as he was being, he could feel the joy and the heat in the man's challenge. It wasn't a welcome, per se, but it was some sort of good sign. Jack wanted to kiss him.
Jack shook his head. "Not used to real danger I've got to be rescued from," he clarified.
The Doctor nodded. Somehow Jack must have given the right answer, because he stood and declared, "Vodka for the Captain it is then."
"Oh god, thank you," Jack said and flopped back to lie on the deck of the ship that glowed and hummed above him. And below him. Even as a clarinet you couldn't help but tap your foot too continued to drift over it all.
What a show. What a way to go. And Jack found himself hoping that maybe he and his ship had blown up together, that maybe this was heaven, just with caretakers who had met up with him a little early. Wouldn't that be a hoot. Who even knew. Maybe they'd have a job for him. After all, most people did in the end.
When it came, the hypervodka was not in a glass, but instead in an enormous novelty mug that bore the legend Genius at Work in Arcturan. He stared at the mug with disbelief and then swiveled his head to meet the Doctor's eyes.
"What?" the Doctor said defensively. "Rose got it for me in a bazaar."
"Uh huh," Jack said.
"Only 'cos you were eying it with lust, and you elbowed me five times about it," Rose exclaimed. "I can't even read Arcturan. For all I know, it says Time Lords Do It Better."
"Well, I do!" the Doctor replied with mock belligerence.
Jack shook his head. Esoteric jokes about bananas and ancient myth forms. This was a mad house. Hopefully liquor would help. He tried to sit up. As attempts went, it wasn't very successful, and Rose made a sympathetic sound, before kneeling beside his head to try and help prop him up.
The drink might not have been served appropriately, but it was ice cold and was handed to him by Rose, whose position incidentally also gave him a lovely view of her tits. So all things considered, it was one of the better drinks he'd had in his life.
"Isn't anybody joining me?" he asked, after he'd downed half in one go and was feeling a bit more human.
"What is this anyway?" Rose asked, taking the mug back from him and sipping from it.
"Hypervodka," the Doctor and Jack said at once.
"Oh..." Rose said, and then took another swallow. "'S'good. And I don't even like vodka."
"Easy there," Jack said. "Stuff's got quite a kick."
"Rose, leave the Captain alone. He needs it more than you."
"How about you leave off the Captain," Jack protested weakly. "We're all friends here, aren't we?"
"Remains to be seen," the Doctor said.
"Doctor!" Rose said rebukingly.
The Doctor grinned. "Besides, I got you something else." He produced from somewhere -- Jack couldn't tell where; this Doctor was better at the bait and switch then anyone he'd ever encountered -- a bottle of something sunrise-colored and fizzy.
"You got me a girly drink?" Rose said. "I'll have you know I can hold my--"
"Trust me, you'll like this," the Doctor said, grinning wickedly. "Appearances are deceiving."
Rose struggled to her feet and went over to the Doctor, thankfully leaving the mug of vodka with Jack. He had a feeling he was going to need it.
She took the bottle from him, unscrewed the top, and took a long pull. Then she lowered it and stared at the Doctor in glee.
"It's amazing!" she exclaimed. "It tastes... it tastes golden!"
"Synaesthetic liqueur," he said. "Thought you'd enjoy it."
Jack goggled. Synaesthetic liqueur? In that size bottle? The Doctor must have money to burn. He narrowed his eyes at him as Rose merrily chugged at the bottle, like it was a beer bought from a roadside vendor or something. The Doctor stared back at him expressionlessly, as if daring him to say it.
Jack took another drink instead.
"So," he said, after he felt sufficiently lubricated -- for the moment, anyway, "care to tell me a bit about yourselves? I like to know who I'm indebted to."
"Makes avoiding them easier, does it?" the Doctor said.
"Exactly," Jack said.
"Doctor!" Rose said, looking upset. "Haven't you taken enough cheap shots at him?"
"Don't worry, Rose," Jack said. "I can take it. Could argue I deserve it. Small price to pay."
He got to his feet, still holding the mug, walked over to the controls and stroked them fondly. They were cobbled together with what looked like bits of string and wire, and he thought it was one of the most gorgeous things he'd ever seen. "Your ship's a beauty," he added irrelevantly, and then felt an odd hum around him almost like a satisfied purr.
The Doctor pinned him with his eyes and then seemed to relax a little. "She seems to like you," he said. "No accounting for tastes, I suppose."
Jack smiled. "So really," he said. "Who are you? And did you really call this ship a TARDIS? What is that, some kind of homage?"
"No. It's a TARDIS," the Doctor said. "Time And Relative Dimension--"
"In Space. I know. But it can't really be--"
"It is," the Doctor said. "And I am."
Jack stared at him. "You know," Jack said finally, "I like fairy tales as much as the next guy, but really, there's no need for the story. I want to shag you as is."
The Doctor laughed. "Impressing you's not really something I worry too much about."
"You expect me to believe that you're a--"
"Don't expect you to believe anything," the Doctor said. "You asked, I answered."
Jack turned his head to look at Rose. "She's not," the Doctor said, before he could ask.
"Right," Rose said. "I'm like you, Jack. Human. 21st century."
"Oh," Jack said, and looked around for the mug. Clearly, he had not yet had enough to drink. He wasn't sure there was enough hypervodka in the universe. After he found it, he slumped back down to the grilled flooring and took a long swallow, nearly finishing off the other half.
The Doctor coughed conspicuously in Jack's general direction.
"Uh. 51st, actually, Rose. Remember?"
"Right," she said, clearly enthused about the idea.
"Yup. More or less. Travel a lot, but --"
"Like the Doc--"
"No," Jack and the Doctor said in unison.
"So what's it like," she asked greedily. "Earth, 51st century."
"No damn idea," Jack said. "Unless you want textbook stuff. Not from Earth."
"So you're not human?" She asked, wary, but possibly more intrigued.
"Human. Just not from Earth."
"You lot spread out a bit," the Doctor said by way of explanation.
"Where're you from then?" Rose asked.
"Bit of a backwater colony and a shitty war," Jack said, knowing the answer sounded entirely stock and probably insincere and not really caring because he didn't want to actually discuss it.
"That's all wars," the Doctor said darkly.
"Is it?" Jack asked, turning to look at him.
"Are some better than others?" Rose asked.
"You bet, sweetheart," Jack said, turning on the charm again. "Some have great music. Beautiful clothes. Armies full of boys and girls that really know how to shag. And, every once in a while, a few of them even have a valid cause."
"That's it," the Doctor said. "He's off at the next stop. Got anywhere particular in mind, Captain?"
Jack shrugged. "I dunno. A bedroom would be nice. Suppose up against that column would be all right though if you're in a hurry."
Rose giggled. "Let him stay. He did save me."
"And we saved him, and now everybody's even," the Doctor said.
Jack stood, handed Rose his drink to hold and went over to the Doctor, to stare him down as best he could, although it wasn't really entirely successful.
"Seems like you're in one hell of a rush to get me out of here. And since I'm pretty certain you're not actually running from anyone, I figure the problem's just me. Now what would that be about, Doctor? Scared I'm going to steal your girl? Or have you got some wars too that you and your high horse don't want to think about?"
The Doctor stared at him expressionlessly, and Jack braced himself for the punch he felt sure would be coming his way, but all of a sudden, the Doctor laughed in his face instead. Jack stepped back. People didn't do that to him either. He looked back at Rose, who shrugged, still smiling.
"Oh," the Doctor said, when he could finally speak again. "Haven't laughed so hard in years. Fantastic!"
"You're laughing at me?" Jack said, unable to quite believe it.
"Too right," the Doctor replied, grinning. "All puffed up, you are, like a little cock of the walk who doesn't know when he's well off! Hilarious!"
"Hey! Nothing about my cock is... little!"
The Doctor looked at him skeptically. "Well, you'd know, I suppose. What are you compensating for then?"
Jack stared at him dumbfounded, as he beamed.
"No?" the Doctor said. "Well, never mind. Don't really care anyway." He blew by Jack, as if he weren't even there, and then pulled up a star chart on the screens. "Pick a destination, or would you like me to choose for you?"
"Doctor," Rose protested. "I think--"
"Remember what happened the last time we gave a lift to one of your boyfriends? Practically ended the whole human race." the Doctor said.
"At least I've got that out of the way already," Jack said, not quite understanding how the tables had been flipped on him so easily, but knowing that they had. "I won't do it again."
"I did that too," Rose said. "And he did try to give up his life to make up for it."
"He's a soldier, Rose. Not even that, a mercenary. Thinks money's a good reason for fighting."
"And I was just a shopgirl," Rose said. "Everyone does things for money. We haven't all got a TARDIS and a sonic screwdriver."
"Shopgirls don't kill people," the Doctor said. "No one dies in the lunchtime rush."
Jack's attention swung back and forth between them, feeling like he was a child again, holding his breath while listening to his parents argue about whether he could do something that he wanted to do with all his being, hanging on their every word, knowing his fate lay in the balance.
"Oh come on, Doctor. It's not like we've never brought death to anyone, is it?" Rose said.
The Doctor looked back at Jack, and then towards Rose again. Then all of a sudden, he underwent some sort of mercurial shift and beamed. "Okay."
"Okay?" Jack and Rose said at once, and then looked at each other startled.
"Okay. Fine. He can stay."
Rose bounced a little with pleasure, and then wrapped her arms around the Doctor. "Brilliant! Thank you!"
Jack slumped against the wall in relief.
"Rose, do me a favour?" the Doctor said. "There's a few more bottles of that stuff you were drinking in the kitchen. Run down and get us a couple, would you?"
"Of course," Rose said. Making her way out, she paused by Jack so she could wrap her arms around his neck and give him a kiss on the cheek. "Back in a bit," she said. "Oh, and boys -- don't kill each other while I'm gone, okay?"
The Doctor made a 'who-me?' gesture at her, and Rose laughed before disappearing through the door.
Jack looked at the Doctor expectantly, but the silence just built. Finally he couldn't stand it anymore. "What did you want to say to me?" he asked.
"Impatient, aren't you?" the Doctor said, adjusting one of the controls.
"Yeah," Jack said.
"Rose likes you," the Doctor remarked.
"I like Rose."
"She's nineteen," the Doctor said. "I'm not."
"I didn't think you--"
"I like you fine, Captain. You don't know when you're beaten, and I enjoy that in a man. All the same, I'd be careful, if I were you. You hurt Rose, ever? Even a little bit? You'll be sorry you were ever born."
Jack didn't understand it -- wasn't like he'd never been given a version of this speech before -- but somehow, a chill ran up and down his spine. Unfortunately, his dick wasn't getting the right message, as it just seemed to become more interested every time the Doctor threatened him or otherwise expressed his disapproval. "I wouldn't--"
"Good."
"Look, I understand why you felt like you had to say this," Jack protested feebly. "But you should know. You didn't need to. I wouldn't hurt her. Or you. Ever."
The Doctor laughed. "You couldn't hurt me, Jack."
"No?"
Suddenly the Doctor looked very far away. "No," he said.
There was a pause, and then the Doctor seemed to come back from wherever he'd gone off to.
"So!" he exclaimed. "Where d'you reckon next? Woman Wept? Fabulous icy beaches there! Think Rose'd like that? And what happened to the music?" He tapped a button, and the sound of a saxophone surrounded them from speakers Jack still hadn't been able to locate.
Rose rejoined them swinging a bottle in each hand, and Jack had to work hard to school his features into something other than absolute horror at the amount of money she was risking with the gesture.
She sauntered up to the Doctor and presented the bottles. "Your wine, sir," she joked.
The Doctor looked at the bottles. "That one's for the Captain, and this one, this one's mine," he said, gleefully snatching the bottle that had been in her left hand.
"Blue," the Doctor said, holding it up. "I love blue."
Rose giggled, and Jack tried not to look too eager as he took the bottle Rose handed him.
"What've you got?" she asked, watching him open it.
"We'll find out," he said, before taking a sip and looking stunned. He smiled slowly, not at her, but at the world, and then broke into his usual grin when he registered her face again.
"Moonlight stones. On a beach." He squeezed his eyes shut tightly for a moment trying to find the right word. "Opals!" he said finally, laughing to need such vocabulary without being a thief. It was a bit like home to him in a way -- grit and shimmer -- even if it was too rich in both fact and taste.
"Thought you might appreciate that," the Doctor said, sounding smug but not, for a change combative.
"Yeah, thanks," Jack said, meaning it. He'd felt plenty lustful towards the Doctor since the beginning of this mess, but this was maybe the first time he felt warm, like maybe it could all be easy, the three of them tumbled into bed together and sleeping like children.
"Let me try," Rose asked, and Jack couldn't deny her.
"Oh!" she said brightly. "It's melancholy a bit. Sharp too. Metal and light. But melancholy. Definitely."
"Is it?" Jack asked quietly.
"Yeah. Wait. Try mine," she said, fetching her bottle back from the Doctor and handing it to Jack.
Jack sipped shallowly in an effort to be polite and then sighed. It tasted a bit like being a god if that sort of business weren't all hard work and viciousness. And Jack knew first hand it usually was. He'd convinced all sorts of far flung and primitive planets of all sorts of shit. He and his partner. What fucking hobbies they'd kept. He took another swing of his drink in memory of the man and smirked. He wouldn't have had the faintest goddamn idea how to appreciate this. Luckily, Jack did.
The Doctor watched him carefully. There was a lot to know about this fellow, which was interesting in and of itself. Humans usually required little more more data than 'big apes, less hair.' But Jack had gratitude. And hatred. Lust and violence and desperation. And also joy.
It was the joy that had allowed Rose to win him over on the subject of the captain coming along with them. Not the murdering. It wasn't the sort of thing that changed anything when you had it in common with someone. You just knew you should hate them as much as you should hate yourself, and quite frankly, the Doctor found that tiring. He could do it on his own time. Not Rose's.
Because, it wasn't going to last, this time with Rose. Might as well enjoy it. She'd get tired, get over traveling, want to settle down somewhere, put down roots, all that domestic stuff. Maybe even meet someone, like this Jack fellow, or go back to that boyfriend of hers. Something. So, he was going to keep her happy. However long he could. Somehow when she was around, he didn't hate himself quite so much. She didn't make him forget. But she did make him think of other things.
And this Jack, or whatever his real name was. A Time Agent. A rogue Time Agent. But was that because he was better than the lot of them? Or worse?
The TARDIS liked him, though. Of course, she'd been fond of other unsavory folk once upon a time, so maybe she'd just got to be a bit of a masochist in her old age. Like him, perhaps. Because this, getting humans along for the ride, was something he'd never thought to do again, until Rose had come along. It felt dangerously nice, watching Jack and Rose flirt and talk and tease each other. The TARDIS not so empty. Not so barren.
The Doctor tamped down on that tendril of pleasure. Numbness was better. Attachment wasn't an option. And that was the other reason to bring Jack along. Rose'd imprinted on him, he was beginning to think, sort of like a baby duckling. First thing she saw, showed her the universe, and well, it was him after all, and he'd that effect on women sometimes -- of course she was going to get a bit hung up. Perfectly natural.
But this, this'd work. A distraction, the Doctor thought triumphantly. He'd had a go with that Adam bloke, but that had proved disastrous. This one might even be able to last a while. He'd see. Nothing but the best for his Rose, the Doctor reflected and grinned.
"So, Captain," he said, taking another swig from his bottle. Blue really was the best flavour. Nothing in the universe like it. "You ready for another dance with Rose? Maybe this time not tripping over your own feet?"
"Do I get one with you later?" Jack asked hopefully.
"I've got to pilot this thing," the Doctor said. "Besides, haven't seen any proof that you could keep up with me, have I?"
Jack lifted his eyebrows. "Them's fighting words, Doctor," he said with a grin. "Also, we don't actually appear to be moving, so not sure what piloting you need to be doing."
"That's why you're a human, and I'm a Time Lord."
Rose rolled her eyes affectionately and took Jack's hand in hers. "Why don't we show him what he's missing?" she suggested.
Jack laughed and set down his bottle. "At your service, ma'am," he said. And then more seriously, as he took her in his arms, "Always."
There was something about Jack that made Rose feel like she was drunk, and that wasn't just because she had been drinking. After all, she'd felt the same thing when they'd first met, the appeal of him somehow bringing her down from the most terrifyingly vicious adrenaline high of her life, like all that nervous, frightened energy had turned him on and he had it in him to suck it right out of her. Nice trick that. And so instead of dancing with him, she kissed him.
It was on the cheek; it was light; it was quick; it was darting forward like she was half-scared, because he was a man and in his arms she was pretty sure she was still a girl, and even if she felt a bit like that with the Doctor too, that was different, because the Doctor tried hard not to want, tried hard not to take and seemed pretty bad and inexperienced at life too. Nine hundred years old or not. They were a lot alike like that.
But not Jack. He'd seen the world and done a lot of it along the way it seemed. And she wasn't sure how she could measure up. Hell, she wasn't even sure how anyone could measure up to the stories Jack seemed to hurl at them, true or not. But she couldn't help but kiss him and then nestle in his arms, hoping desperately he would somehow remind her that she actually secretly knew exactly how to do this.
He held her tightly and even though she was lost in it straight away, she did hear the Doctor clear his throat.
Jack pulled back instantly. He was a guest. And not particularly eager to wear out his not entirely enthusiastic welcome so soon.
"Sorry," he said, looking at the Doctor in a way he hoped was a bit sheepish and entirely come hither.
The Doctor waved it off like he didn't care, but Jack was pretty sure he knew better.
"Whatever Rose wants, Rose gets," the Doctor said. "Even if it is you," he added, and Jack was relieved to hear a tinge of humour -- of appreciation, even -- in his voice.
"Do you know what Rose would like?" she asked, turning in the circle of Jack's arms to look at the Doctor.
"No. I don't," the Doctor said, the admission sounding forced.
"Come here," she said, clearly trying to put some bravery into her voice.
The Doctor did and stopped two steps short of her, just out of reach of her arms, and maybe Jack's as well.
"Closer," Rose said, and the Doctor took a small and reluctant step forward.
"I want you to be happy," she said.
She went up on her toes then, leaning forward to brush her lips over the corner of the Doctor's mouth, enough to pretend she meant it as a kiss on the cheek, but so obviously not.
Jack did his best not to gasp as her ass rubbed against him just right and couldn't help but be fascinated by how hard the Doctor worked not to react to her kiss. The man wanted to beam and wouldn't, and Jack felt he could almost understand, except for the part where he didn't. Not anymore.
"I'm taking my blue and going to bed, Rose Tyler," the Doctor said. "Captain, take a left, then the third right, up the stairs, slight left down the curved corridor, past the library, then another left, through the secondary control room, then keep going straight, and take the second left -- your room'll be the third door on your right. I suppose Rose can show you there if you get lost. Or something. Just don't cause trouble," he said, and then looked soulfully at Rose. "Please," he added softly and there was nothing Jack could do but release the woman in his arms and step back. There was nothing here that was his to take quickly. Or possibly at all.
The Doctor stalked towards the doorway and disappeared through it.
Jack and Rose looked blankly after him, nonplussed. Then the Doctor's head poked back in. "Get a good night's rest," he advised them. "Tomorrow, adventures!" And with that, he was gone again.
Rose turned to smile at him. "Welcome to the TARDIS."
Jack shook his head in wonder. "Thank you," he said.
"I'll take you to your room."
"I can find it."
"You remember all that?" she asked.
"Yeah," he said. "Left, third right, up the stairs, slight left, past the library, another left, then straight, second left, third door on the right. Got it."
"Wow. You're good," she said admiringly.
"I am. Besides, if you were to take me, we might not get too much rest." He winked at her.
"Would that be a bad thing?" she asked.
"You know," he said with a grin and a shrug. "Doctor's orders."
Rose smiled. "Good night then, Captain. I'll see you in the morning."
"Yes you will," Jack said.
As Rose slipped out of the console room, Jack sat back down on the floor, and found his bottle again. He raised it in salute to the ship, and took another long, extravagant swallow.
"Congratulations," he said to himself. "You are totally and completely fucked. Cheers."
Continue to part 2