[Doctor Who] "Three Way Question" (PG-13)
Author's Note: Written for < lj user="comment_fic">'s Doctor Who, Jack/Nine/Rose, Marriage is different in Jack's time
Jack "popped the question" to the Doctor over the console of the TARDIS. A quirkily rational chap like a Time Lord required a quirkily rational setting for that kind of question.
"So, I've been thinking..." Jack started, laying on his back, head and shoulders inside an open access panel, as he jiggery poked with some of the innards of the console.
"Now there's a novel gesture from you," the Doctor replied, leaning over the console top, a few inches from where Jack lay.
"Hey, no time for you to get sarky: I ain't finished what I was saying," Jack snapped back, grinning up at him. "As I started to say, with you and me and Rose traveling together for as long as we have, I'm thinking it's time we three got honest with all of us."
"Oh, we're honest: we travel, Rose is explorin' places an' times she won't get to see otherwise, you flirt with everyone and everything, and I keep the lot of you out o' trouble," the Doctor replied. "Hand me that spanner."
"I meant a whole other kind of honest," Jack said, pulling out of the console and sitting up. "I meant, it's time we got serious, that we made honest people of each other. Because I've had my ear to the ground and certain people I know have heard about us and started to talk."
The Doctor pished. "Like you'd be worried about that kind of honesty. And I've been married before, though that was a different time. I was a different man then."
"So you're trying to say you're a one and done sort?" Jack asked, a hint of disappointment starting to creep into his tone.
"Didn't say that, just said I'd been married once before," the Doctor replied cryptically, a shadow passing through his eyes, then vanishing.
"Someone you loved, or a marriage of convenience?" Jack asked.
"That's for you to ask about and me to reveal when the time comes," the Doctor replied, smiling. "You talked to Rose about this?"
"Thought I'd ask you first: you're likely to be the Alpha, or one of the upper legs in our Y-configured relationship," Jack said.
"Thoughtful of you," the Doctor noted. Then tilting his head, he asked, "They doin' those three-way marriages in your time?"
"Oh yeah," Jack said with a grin. "Long before he had me, my dad was the Beta male in a three-way with a lady and another gent, till the gent ran off with a lovely spacer and the lady went looking for him and never came back. Almost got myself hitched with two of my lovely comrades in the Time Agency's academy, but we had a falling out over who would have the kids: I offered, but the ladies had other ideas."
"Ahh, figured you were double-hung, considerin' the way your dance card fills up so quickly," the Doctor noted.
"Gotta love 51st century pheromones," Jack said, with a grin.
"Does Rose know about yer gifts yet?" the Doctor asked.
"As in, has she been introduced the little captain's little sister?" Jack asked. "Not yet: figured I'd save that for the wedding night, though she's met the little captain," he added, cheekily.
"I thought as much: better do sumthin' about that, or she might get scared off," the Doctor groused.
"Like Time Lords can talk," Jack twitted.
The Doctor let that roll off his shoulders. "Want me break the ice with 'er, pop the question meself?"
"Oooh, and have you keep her all to yourself, leaving me cold and alone? Likely story," Jack retorted, his smile remaining unfazed.
"Could do it together, if yer game to it," the Doctor said.
"Sounds like a plan I can get behind," Jack replied.
* * * *
Rose wasn't sure why "the lads" were taking her to the Leisure Palace on the planet Midnight, after they had been there not terribly long ago. Something was up: they looked at each other differently and they looked at her differently, as if they had something on their minds.
It was after dinner in the Anti-Gravity Restaurant, when the three of them were lounging on their private sun deck that she found out.
"Rose, we've been travellin' a while together, us three," the Doctor began.
"Two years, it would seem, if yer counting," Rose observed, raising her sunglasses.
"Oooh, keepin' count, eh?" Jack teased.
"Oy, disrupt the moment, will you?" the Doctor twitted, smirking at Jack. "What I'm tryin' to ask is... Rose, will you marry Jack an' me?"
She raised both her eyebrows. "Both of you? Is that legal?"
"Out here it is," Jack said. "You can marry anyone that's their species equivalent of eighteen."
"Two men: makes me the luckiest girl in the universe," she said, considering the question. "But, Doctor, are you marrying me or Jack, too?"
"I'm marryin' you both: call it takin' a love triangle and puttin' it on the books," the Doctor said.
"Oooh, makin' it less scandalous," Rose replied. She reached out, taking one of Jack's hands in her left hand and one of the Doctor's hands in her right. "Yes, Jack. Yes, Doctor, I will marry you."
"You got a ring?" the Doctor asked Jack.
Jack reached into a rumpled corner of the beach blanket and took out a square box covered in New Venusian velvet, opening it and revealing three rings, each set with a diamond. "One for each of us: You do the honors for Rose, Doctor; you found her after all."
"And that means, I do the honors for you, Jack, since I found you," Rose noted, as the Doctor took the smallest of the rings and slipped it onto her finger.
"You got it," Jack said. "You raised her well, Doctor."
Rose looked at the ring, which grew shinier in the sunlight, as she gazed on it. "Either of you seen my mobile? I need to call my mum. She'll go crackers when she hears this."
Jack "popped the question" to the Doctor over the console of the TARDIS. A quirkily rational chap like a Time Lord required a quirkily rational setting for that kind of question.
"So, I've been thinking..." Jack started, laying on his back, head and shoulders inside an open access panel, as he jiggery poked with some of the innards of the console.
"Now there's a novel gesture from you," the Doctor replied, leaning over the console top, a few inches from where Jack lay.
"Hey, no time for you to get sarky: I ain't finished what I was saying," Jack snapped back, grinning up at him. "As I started to say, with you and me and Rose traveling together for as long as we have, I'm thinking it's time we three got honest with all of us."
"Oh, we're honest: we travel, Rose is explorin' places an' times she won't get to see otherwise, you flirt with everyone and everything, and I keep the lot of you out o' trouble," the Doctor replied. "Hand me that spanner."
"I meant a whole other kind of honest," Jack said, pulling out of the console and sitting up. "I meant, it's time we got serious, that we made honest people of each other. Because I've had my ear to the ground and certain people I know have heard about us and started to talk."
The Doctor pished. "Like you'd be worried about that kind of honesty. And I've been married before, though that was a different time. I was a different man then."
"So you're trying to say you're a one and done sort?" Jack asked, a hint of disappointment starting to creep into his tone.
"Didn't say that, just said I'd been married once before," the Doctor replied cryptically, a shadow passing through his eyes, then vanishing.
"Someone you loved, or a marriage of convenience?" Jack asked.
"That's for you to ask about and me to reveal when the time comes," the Doctor replied, smiling. "You talked to Rose about this?"
"Thought I'd ask you first: you're likely to be the Alpha, or one of the upper legs in our Y-configured relationship," Jack said.
"Thoughtful of you," the Doctor noted. Then tilting his head, he asked, "They doin' those three-way marriages in your time?"
"Oh yeah," Jack said with a grin. "Long before he had me, my dad was the Beta male in a three-way with a lady and another gent, till the gent ran off with a lovely spacer and the lady went looking for him and never came back. Almost got myself hitched with two of my lovely comrades in the Time Agency's academy, but we had a falling out over who would have the kids: I offered, but the ladies had other ideas."
"Ahh, figured you were double-hung, considerin' the way your dance card fills up so quickly," the Doctor noted.
"Gotta love 51st century pheromones," Jack said, with a grin.
"Does Rose know about yer gifts yet?" the Doctor asked.
"As in, has she been introduced the little captain's little sister?" Jack asked. "Not yet: figured I'd save that for the wedding night, though she's met the little captain," he added, cheekily.
"I thought as much: better do sumthin' about that, or she might get scared off," the Doctor groused.
"Like Time Lords can talk," Jack twitted.
The Doctor let that roll off his shoulders. "Want me break the ice with 'er, pop the question meself?"
"Oooh, and have you keep her all to yourself, leaving me cold and alone? Likely story," Jack retorted, his smile remaining unfazed.
"Could do it together, if yer game to it," the Doctor said.
"Sounds like a plan I can get behind," Jack replied.
* * * *
Rose wasn't sure why "the lads" were taking her to the Leisure Palace on the planet Midnight, after they had been there not terribly long ago. Something was up: they looked at each other differently and they looked at her differently, as if they had something on their minds.
It was after dinner in the Anti-Gravity Restaurant, when the three of them were lounging on their private sun deck that she found out.
"Rose, we've been travellin' a while together, us three," the Doctor began.
"Two years, it would seem, if yer counting," Rose observed, raising her sunglasses.
"Oooh, keepin' count, eh?" Jack teased.
"Oy, disrupt the moment, will you?" the Doctor twitted, smirking at Jack. "What I'm tryin' to ask is... Rose, will you marry Jack an' me?"
She raised both her eyebrows. "Both of you? Is that legal?"
"Out here it is," Jack said. "You can marry anyone that's their species equivalent of eighteen."
"Two men: makes me the luckiest girl in the universe," she said, considering the question. "But, Doctor, are you marrying me or Jack, too?"
"I'm marryin' you both: call it takin' a love triangle and puttin' it on the books," the Doctor said.
"Oooh, makin' it less scandalous," Rose replied. She reached out, taking one of Jack's hands in her left hand and one of the Doctor's hands in her right. "Yes, Jack. Yes, Doctor, I will marry you."
"You got a ring?" the Doctor asked Jack.
Jack reached into a rumpled corner of the beach blanket and took out a square box covered in New Venusian velvet, opening it and revealing three rings, each set with a diamond. "One for each of us: You do the honors for Rose, Doctor; you found her after all."
"And that means, I do the honors for you, Jack, since I found you," Rose noted, as the Doctor took the smallest of the rings and slipped it onto her finger.
"You got it," Jack said. "You raised her well, Doctor."
Rose looked at the ring, which grew shinier in the sunlight, as she gazed on it. "Either of you seen my mobile? I need to call my mum. She'll go crackers when she hears this."