Fic: Triple Point (1/1)
Title: Triple Point
Fandom: Doctor Who
Author: strange_charmed
Characters: Femme!Ninth Doctor, Rose Tyler, Jack Harkness
Rating: Teen
Wordcount: 2573
Summary: Sometimes, even friendship is better with three
A/N: AU for ohfantine in the secret santa fic exchange on Tumblr
They spun around the console, arms and gazes wrapped up tight in each other, Rose’s grin meeting Jack’s smile watt for watt. She found her eyes locked on the couple, like a little piece of her was whirling around the room with them, spinning and dizzy. The feeling settled uncomfortably in her stomach. She couldn’t fault them for enjoying each other’s company: they were so beautiful. For humans. Something inside her started to twist, and she turned away, averting her eyes. She began to examine Some Interesting Button and adjusted it slightly, fingers dancing over a series of controls on the console.
Jack and Rose didn’t seem to notice her and continued to sway to music which only they could apparently hear. On their next pass around the console she could feel Rose watching her, smiling at her, trying to get her attention. She refused to look up, setting her gaze sternly on the now Fantastically Interesting Button, and proceeded to tuck a wisp of short, dark hair behind her ear. Damn ears in this regeneration. Not that she fancied herself vain at all, it was just …
She was only slightly startled to feel Rose’s arms slide gently around her back, locking her into a hug.
“Thought you said you could dance, Doctor,” Rose said, a teasing glint in her voice. “Dance with us.” The Doctor could feel the smile on her companion’s face, even through the thick, rough leather of the jacket that separated them.
“Some of us are trying to work here, Rose,” she said in a monotone, straightening her posture and keeping her eyes fixed on the console in front of her. The Extraordinarily Fantastically Interesting Button clearly needed another adjustment, a delicate tweak, and she reached out the long fingers of one hand to turn it ever so slightly -
Her own hand was stilled by that of her companion. Rose gently threaded her fingers between the Doctor’s, squeezing softly, and slowly pulling the Doctor around to face her. Their eyes met briefly and the Doctor felt the knot in her chest start to unravel, ever so slightly. The Doctor broke the gaze, looking down towards their joined hands.
“Everyone lived today, Doctor - you said it yourself,” Rose said with a small smile. “The world won’t end if you - “
“I can’t,” the Doctor murmured. She slowly tried to turn away, back towards the console and a myriad of things that she could be - should be - doing. Rose’s fingers remained clasped with her own, stilling her movement.
“Can’t dance? No need to worry, I’m an excellent teacher.” Jack suddenly sidled up next to the Doctor, arms crossed.
The Doctor’s steel blue eyes flicked up to meet Jack’s. “Oh I bet I can teach you a thing or two,” she said, eyebrows set in a challenge, buttons and objections all but forgotten.
“Is that so…?” Jack said, leaning in even closer with a knowing grin. “I’ll bet you could.”
The Doctor’s mouth fell open as if to respond with a retort of her own, only to be interrupted by Rose’s giggle. Shaking her head, Rose relinquished the Doctor’s hand, pointing towards the Extraordinarily Fantastically Interesting Yet Ultimately Forgotten Button.
“That settles it then,” Rose said. “Music … it’s this button, right, Doctor?”
The Doctor glanced at Rose and gave her a small grin, nodding. Rose pressed down, and Glenn Miller’s In The Mood began to play throughout the console room.
With a small flourish, Jack offered his hand out for the Doctor’s. An invitation.
The Doctor raised her eyebrows and stepped away from Jack. She reached out instead to once again clasp Rose’s hand, leading her surprised companion out onto the grating. She caught Rose’s eyes and grinned broadly, victorious. Rose threw her head back, laughing, and stepped out with the Doctor into a somewhat awkward embrace, as Jack looked on in mock affront.
"Well I did call dibs,” Rose grinned, as the Doctor’s fingers settled against her waist, and pulled her into a swing step. “You lead, Doctor?” she said, a question in her eyes.
I’ll follow you, more like it, thought the Doctor, nodding and giving Rose a wide grin.
--
The gravel pelted his face and Jack knew it would leave a bruise (and not the fun kind) come morning. Nearly unable to see anything in the swirling dust and debris, he tucked his head and crouched down by the fence-post, shrugging off his overcoat in the process. He quickly tossed it over the heads of the Doctor and Rose, who were similarly huddled down.
“I can’t see with that over my eyes, Jack,” the Doctor said with a hint of annoyance in her voice, as she tried to strip the plastic coating off of a piece of wire and loop it into a port on the sonic screwdriver.
“You can see at all in this rock-storm, Doctor?” Jack shouted, trying to be heard over the din of the pebbles pelting down on them. “They weren’t kidding about pissing off the gods here, were they?”
The Doctor gave a noncommittal shrug, and even despite the torrent of pebbles and sand nearly blinding them, she could feel Rose staring at her.
“Wait - so the rocks are alive? It’s a real god then?” Rose said, astonishment in her voice.
“I’ve seen plenty of gods, Rose. Bad gods, demi-gods. You name it, they’re all fake. I've never believed in any of them before, and I don't plan on starting now.”
“I thought the sonic screwdriver didn't resonate stone,” Jack said.
“Nah, the sonic just doesn’t work against concrete. This girl’s different. She’s stone, which means she’s got a magnetic field. That means she can be demagnetized,” the Doctor said. Suddenly she chuckled to herself. “I even can reverse her polarity.”
“What will that do, Doctor?” Rose asked.
“Sonic amplifier. Won't hurt her much on this setting, just sting her a bit til we can get back to the TARDIS.”
With a triumphant smirk, the Doctor finally stripped the wire down enough to squeeze it through one of the ports on the screwdriver. She grinned and pushed away Jack's coat in order to stand. Rose watched the Doctor's profile as she stood to face down the rage of the oncoming storm. Rose wasn't sure which one looked more fearsome, yet she was struck by a sudden, almost protective, desire to go and stand by the Doctor, to help her.
Rose made a move to rise from her crouched position, but Jack caught her arm, cautioning her back.
The pebbles started to rain down on the trio, fiercer and faster than before. Jack once again tossed his coat over the heads of both himself and Rose to protect them from the onslaught, but not before a sharp stone slashed Rose's hand, lacerating it. She yelped in surprise and pain, and the Doctor turned around with a start to see her companions barely visible under the overcoat, a small rivulet of blood trickling away from their hiding place.
Her eyes darkened and she gripped the sonic screwdriver tighter in her hand, thumb playing over the setting panel.
We warned you not to interfere here, a voice from below rumbled.
“And I warned you to let us pass,” the Doctor said through gritted teeth, slowly and softly. Any other words were lost to the din of the raging onslaught of the pelting sands.
Rose and Jack remained huddled together under the blanket, Jack tearing his shirt to make a makeshift bandage for Rose. Suddenly a burst of electricity nearly threw them back, making their ears ring and causing Rose's hair to momentarily stand on end. The storm stopped, and a soft dusting of powdery sand began to fall, almost like gentle snow. Suddenly, the winds stopped and all was quiet.
Jack was the first to move, abruptly coming to a stand and staring at the Doctor. She stood still, gazing off into space, with her back to her companions, sonic screwdriver hanging limply from one hand.
“Is it over?” Rose said, looking from the Doctor to Jack and back again. “Did you demagnetize it?”
The Doctor looked over at Rose, her face a mask. Her eyes flicked to Rose's hand, swaddled in Jack's shirt. She made no move to answer Rose's question.
“Yeah, Rose. Yeah she did.” Jack interjected softly. “C'mon, let's get you to the med bay. Can't let that pretty hand get a scar.”
Jack took Rose's uninjured hand in his own, smiling at her with his trademark grin. Smile fading slightly, he then looked over to the Doctor, still standing silently. Their eyes met and the Doctor pocketed her sonic screwdriver. Jack reached over and grabbed the Doctor's hand, rubbing it reassuringly.
-
The Doctor remained quiet throughout most of the afternoon, and through the following day, until Jack convinced to her go somewhere, anywhere. She let Rose set the coordinates to 'random' and they spun into a landing fairly quickly after that, the TARDIS materializing with only a small shudder. Despite the Doctor's previously somber mood, she couldn't help a grin as she made her way up the ramp to discover a new adventure with her companions.
The Doctor flung the TARDIS doors open to reveal a frozen landscape, and the trio stepped out into the bitter cold. Rose coughed slightly as she took a breath of the frigid air. Ice and snow crunched beneath their feet, and their breath left an eerie mist hanging in the air. Slowly they turned around, taking in the majesty of their surroundings. All was almost impossibly silent and peaceful, despite the apparent violence of whatever had caused the 40-foot waves around them to freeze in place.
Pink and yellow and burnt orange and gold lights played on the frozen waves towering over their heads. The reflection of the lights on the iced waters made them appear to glisten against the thin layer of fog that floated above them, in striking contrast with the sparse clouds hung over their heads. The interplay of the lights against the fog, ice, and clouds created an almost haunting dance. It was so cold, but so majestic and powerful and lovely. Rose couldn't take her eyes off it.
Rose shivered, adjusting her scarf to cover more of her face, while Jack pulled a pair of gloves from his pocket and put them on, rubbing his hands together for warmth. The Doctor pulled her leather coat more firmly around herself, despite not seeming to be as affected by the cold as her companions.
Rose was the first to take a step, moving towards a nearby wave. The peak on the wave's crest was so sharp that Rose was afraid to touch it, lest it either shatter or cut her. Whatever had caused this to happen had been violent and turbulent, indeed.
“It's beautiful,” Rose murmured, leaning closer for a look at the wave.
Despite the thickness of the ice, the waves themselves were nearly transparent. The sunlight illuminated the iced waters such that Rose could see through it much like she could see through an ice cube. An ice cube full of frozen air bubbles and seaweed and sand, but still. Peering closer, her brow furrowed as she saw a fish completely encased in the ice, tail swished to the side as if it had been trying to swim away at the moment the ocean turned to ice, completely freezing it in time.
The thought caused a lump to rise up in her throat, and she trepidatiously raised her hand to come to rest against the shiny surface.
“The poor thing,” she whispered.
Rose removed her hand, leaving a slightly thawed patch. Wordlessly, the Doctor stepped up behind Rose and watched as a small drop of condensation trickled down the side of the ice.
“What is this place, Doctor?” Jack said, softly. None of them seemed to want to raise their voices and interrupt the quiet splendour of their surroundings.
“Woman Wept,” said the Doctor in little more than a whisper.
Crouching down near Rose, Jack spotted several crustaceans encased in ice, so close to the water's edge that he thought they almost might have been able to break free.
“It's almost like they're trapped in time, frozen in place like this,” Jack said, expecting a smile or a retort about 'you can't be trapped in time' back from the Doctor. But the Doctor remained silent, her face a mask, her adventurous grin having long since vanished.
The Doctor looked around, then back to her two companions. She cleared her throat, and in a slightly louder, more matter-of-fact tone, she continued.
“A space storm caused this, actually. This planet was legendary for its sea storms, but the climate was temperate as far as oceanic planets go. The scale of atmospheric disturbance is beyond anything this planet was capable of creating alone. Took a bit of extra galactic power to create this. It's been frozen for 20,000 years now, give or take.”
“Will it ever unfreeze?” Jack asked. Somehow, the answer seemed important.
The Doctor paused, then shook her head. No.
“Why's it called Woman Wept?” Rose asked.
The Doctor shrugged, then looked around once again.
“The continents, some people say they look like a woman is curled in on herself, in mourning. Name probably came from that.”
Rose nodded slowly but didn't take her eyes of the Doctor. The Doctor paused for a moment, and then, very softly, continued.
“There are legends though. Rubbish things, really, legends. But they speak of a woman, a woman who faced a great struggle. They say she - the legend says she - she lost everything. Everything that mattered to her. There was nothing left for her,” the Doctor's voice caught slightly on the last words.
Instinctively, Rose stood up and took the Doctor's hand.
“So she came here, all alone, and curled herself up. She cried an ocean's worth here, and now … ”
The Doctor trailed off, clearing her throat again.
“Like you said, rubbish things, legends,” Rose said, clasping the Doctor's hand between both of her own.
“Absolute rubbish,” nodded Jack in agreement.
“You two,” the Doctor said, head still lowered, but with a smile stealing across her face. “Oi, enough! This is supposed to be one of the most glorious sights in the universe. One day it will be the top tourist destination for 5 intergalactic cruise lines. I thought we could have a bit of a break from saving planets -“
A thought occurred to Rose and the words were out of her mouth before she could stop them.
“Does it have to stay frozen?”
The Doctor's piercing eyes flicked up at Rose, only half surprised at the question. Yes. No. Are-you-seriously-talking-about-melting-what-will-one-day-become-the-most-famous-tourist-destination-in-the-universe.
Rose held the Doctor's gaze, and despite holding her breath for a long moment, couldn't help but smile brightly. Jack smiled as well, in almost a debonair challenge. It felt like hope and permission and forgiveness all at once, hanging in the frozen air, just waiting for her. The Doctor let out a short breath, a misty puff of air that by all laws of physics should have immediately turned to frost. Instead, she watched, entranced, as her breath mingled with that of her companions and dissipated into the slight fog around them, lingering in the air. Just waiting. She couldn’t hold back a small grin of her own.
Arm in arm, they all walked back into the TARDIS.