Fic: Family
Title: Family
Rating: K+
Word count: 718
Characters: Jack, Rose, Ninth Doctor
Timeline/spoilers: Post-Empty Child/Doctor Dances, pre-Boom Town
Summary: It wasn’t smart, wasn’t sensible, but he couldn’t really do anything about it, not now.
Challenge: Belonging
The feeling had been creeping up on him for some time, unnoticed in the pace of life on the TARDIS. It had wriggled inside and settled, and it was only when they were at rest, on a peaceful planet far from his home planet or time, that Jack finally realised the presence and meaning of the feelings he experienced in the TARDIS, running behind the Doctor, or holding Rose’s hand.
Stretched out on a sandy beach, watching his companions playing in the waves, Jack felt a pang of terror. It had been a long time since he’d felt so comfortable, so safe with anyone. Years - decades, even, if he really thought about it. Before the Time Agency, before the academy…before his family had been ripped apart. He’d been safe then, but never since, not until now.
It wasn’t safe, of course, not really. Nobody could say his life now was safe, not with the TARDIS dropping into war zones and pivotal historical moments, and - no, it wasn’t safe.
And yet.
The sand was warm beneath his bare feet, and he wriggled his toes, burying them as he thought about what it was, how to define the warmth in his chest when he looked at the Doctor, at Rose, at the TARDIS. Never in a million years could he have guessed when he first met them that this combination of ancient alien, young woman and powerful time ship could become…
What? A home? Jack wanted to scoff at himself. Home was something he’d lost a long time ago, and he wasn’t looking for one now. This was temporary - pleasant, diverting, but temporary. He’d learned that lesson long ago, or he’d thought he had. Depending on other people, for whatever reason, was always a mistake. Always.
He’d learned that lesson the hard way.
Temporary, and he needed to remember that, because there was, he had to admit, no way he was going to escape this without getting hurt unless he remembered that nothing lasted forever, that whatever contentment he was experiencing now was fleeting and would fade away all too soon.
No matter how much he wished it could be otherwise. This would end, as certain as the passing of time. One day, somehow, he would walk away - or the Doctor would leave him behind. He had met the Doctor’s challenge, had proven that he was bigger on the inside, more than the conman he’d been trying to be, but Jack was under no illusion. One day the Doctor would decide he wasn’t worth it, wasn’t good enough, and he’d be…left behind.
The thought pained him, brought him back to that comfortable feeling of safeness that had so disturbed him. Jack did not want to be left behind.
But why?
In the shallows of the ocean, Rose slipped over and disappeared under the water for a moment. Jack watched as the Doctor tried to help her up, overbalanced and fell over as well. He had to smile; they were enjoying the rest, enjoying the peaceful stop. Even the Doctor, usually so frenetic, was laughing and relaxed.
They had become, Jack realised, as close to him as his own family. Nobody could ever take the place of his lost brother, his parents, but the Doctor’s role and importance in his life was that of an older brother; Rose was as close to him as any sister could be, blood relation or not. They were his family, his friends…yes, he had to admit, his home.
It wasn’t smart, wasn’t sensible, but he couldn’t really do anything about it, not now.
“Oi, Jack! C’mon, stop lazing about!” called Rose from the water’s edge. “You’ve been sat on that towel for three hours!”
“I’m tanning,” Jack yelled back, grinning at her.
“Leave him alone, Rose,” said the Doctor. “He’s a lazy sod.” He was teasing, and Jack knew it, but it was a taunt that he couldn’t deny. He rolled over, pushed himself to his knees and then stood up. His lower legs were caked with sand, but it would rinse off. Some things didn’t come off by a dip in the water, couldn’t be rinsed away by the lap of a tide.
He ran into the ocean, sun beating down on his bare shoulders, ears ringing with the sound of his family’s laughter.
Rating: K+
Word count: 718
Characters: Jack, Rose, Ninth Doctor
Timeline/spoilers: Post-Empty Child/Doctor Dances, pre-Boom Town
Summary: It wasn’t smart, wasn’t sensible, but he couldn’t really do anything about it, not now.
Challenge: Belonging
The feeling had been creeping up on him for some time, unnoticed in the pace of life on the TARDIS. It had wriggled inside and settled, and it was only when they were at rest, on a peaceful planet far from his home planet or time, that Jack finally realised the presence and meaning of the feelings he experienced in the TARDIS, running behind the Doctor, or holding Rose’s hand.
Stretched out on a sandy beach, watching his companions playing in the waves, Jack felt a pang of terror. It had been a long time since he’d felt so comfortable, so safe with anyone. Years - decades, even, if he really thought about it. Before the Time Agency, before the academy…before his family had been ripped apart. He’d been safe then, but never since, not until now.
It wasn’t safe, of course, not really. Nobody could say his life now was safe, not with the TARDIS dropping into war zones and pivotal historical moments, and - no, it wasn’t safe.
And yet.
The sand was warm beneath his bare feet, and he wriggled his toes, burying them as he thought about what it was, how to define the warmth in his chest when he looked at the Doctor, at Rose, at the TARDIS. Never in a million years could he have guessed when he first met them that this combination of ancient alien, young woman and powerful time ship could become…
What? A home? Jack wanted to scoff at himself. Home was something he’d lost a long time ago, and he wasn’t looking for one now. This was temporary - pleasant, diverting, but temporary. He’d learned that lesson long ago, or he’d thought he had. Depending on other people, for whatever reason, was always a mistake. Always.
He’d learned that lesson the hard way.
Temporary, and he needed to remember that, because there was, he had to admit, no way he was going to escape this without getting hurt unless he remembered that nothing lasted forever, that whatever contentment he was experiencing now was fleeting and would fade away all too soon.
No matter how much he wished it could be otherwise. This would end, as certain as the passing of time. One day, somehow, he would walk away - or the Doctor would leave him behind. He had met the Doctor’s challenge, had proven that he was bigger on the inside, more than the conman he’d been trying to be, but Jack was under no illusion. One day the Doctor would decide he wasn’t worth it, wasn’t good enough, and he’d be…left behind.
The thought pained him, brought him back to that comfortable feeling of safeness that had so disturbed him. Jack did not want to be left behind.
But why?
In the shallows of the ocean, Rose slipped over and disappeared under the water for a moment. Jack watched as the Doctor tried to help her up, overbalanced and fell over as well. He had to smile; they were enjoying the rest, enjoying the peaceful stop. Even the Doctor, usually so frenetic, was laughing and relaxed.
They had become, Jack realised, as close to him as his own family. Nobody could ever take the place of his lost brother, his parents, but the Doctor’s role and importance in his life was that of an older brother; Rose was as close to him as any sister could be, blood relation or not. They were his family, his friends…yes, he had to admit, his home.
It wasn’t smart, wasn’t sensible, but he couldn’t really do anything about it, not now.
“Oi, Jack! C’mon, stop lazing about!” called Rose from the water’s edge. “You’ve been sat on that towel for three hours!”
“I’m tanning,” Jack yelled back, grinning at her.
“Leave him alone, Rose,” said the Doctor. “He’s a lazy sod.” He was teasing, and Jack knew it, but it was a taunt that he couldn’t deny. He rolled over, pushed himself to his knees and then stood up. His lower legs were caked with sand, but it would rinse off. Some things didn’t come off by a dip in the water, couldn’t be rinsed away by the lap of a tide.
He ran into the ocean, sun beating down on his bare shoulders, ears ringing with the sound of his family’s laughter.