Fic: Disintegration: Finding Jack 1/1
Story: Disintegration: Finding Jack
Author: wmr / wendymr
Characters: Tenth Doctor, Jack Harkness
Rated: G
Series: The Disintegration Universe Series
Summary: Jack's finished rebuilding the Earth - what's next?
For juliet316, who won a drabble from me for correctly guessing my dwsanta fic and requested Jack and Ten's reunion in the Disintegration-verse. Um... this is longer than a drabble. That's because I already had around 1000 words of this reunion sitting idle on my hard drive for over four years. Now it's finished, and I hope you like it, juliet316.
NB: As Disintegration pre-dates both Torchwood and DWS3, Jack's story here is now completely AU. He isn't immortal, and the Doctor had a different reason - as explained in Disintegration - for leaving him behind. If you haven't read Disintegration, all you need to know is that Rose left the TARDIS after their visit to the parallel universe, and this is set during the time she was gone.
Disintegration: Finding Jack
Sitting at the bar, gaze lowered so as not to catch the barman’s eye - he really wasn’t in the mood for making conversation, despite his reason for being here - Jack sipped at the drink he’d ordered. Not bad; something like a vintage whisky, though he’d tended to prefer bourbon himself. Or hypervodka. Now, there was a drink.
First thing in the morning, he had a meeting with the newly-elected President of the revived Fourth Great Human Empire. The purpose of that meeting hadn’t been disclosed, but he knew it. He was about to be offered a job. A high-status position, either in government or the military. He was to be rewarded as a hero, and required to give even more of his time to the Empire.
It was time to move on. Hence his hanging out in this of all bars. A popular joint among space-travellers, it was a venue where he could guarantee finding himself a ride off this planet, even if not away from this time.
A movement to his left caught his gaze. Someone had taken the stool beside him. A man - young, younger than himself by a few years, wearing a very anachronistic suit. Definitely not from this time. Interesting. Very interesting. A time-traveller? Maybe he’d just hit the jackpot.
The man was good-looking, too. Mid-brown hair, in need of a comb but strangely attractive for all that. It definitely invited fingers to ruffle it. Even features. A scattering of light freckles across the nose and cheekbones. Brown eyes. And, as the man turned to look at him, clearly noticing his interest, a friendly smile.
“Hey.” He favoured the man with one of his most charming smiles. Time to start working that old Harkness magic.
“Hello, Jack,” the man replied, and he almost fell off his stool. “How about letting an old friend buy you a drink?”
No. He’d definitely never met this guy before. He’d remember it. Unless it was during those two years he’d lost... “Much as I hate to admit it, I think you have the advantage on me,” he answered smoothly. “I know I’d remember you if we’d met.” Let the guy explain how he apparently knew him.
“Oh, you know me all right, Jack,” the stranger said with a lop-sided grin. “I can promise you that. And I’m not from your missing years, either.”
Shit. This guy really did know him. Or he’d been well-briefed.
But he’d turned away now and was gesturing to the barman. In moments, he’d ordered and paid for a couple of drinks. And then he turned his attention back to Jack.
“When you knew me before, I looked very different,” he said, his tone just a little rueful. “I can understand you not recognising me immediately.”
If this guy wasn’t his best hope for a ticket away from this time and place, he’d get up and walk away. All his emergency-warning systems were on full alert. A guy who claimed to know him, who knew something about him that few other people did, who was clearly out of his own time and who’d just happened to turn up in this time and place out of anywhere else in the whole of time and the universe he could be... that all spelled danger.
“Maybe you could just give me a clue or two,” he suggested. “I’m sure I’ll remember with a little prompting.”
“Oh, I’m sure you will, too.” And the stranger smiled once more. “You’re a very unusual man, Captain Jack Harkness. You should be dead at least twice over. In fact, you did die, but you lived again.”
How the hell...? “You’re not making sense.” This time, there was a definite warning note in his voice. Forget his ride out of here. This guy was beginning to sound too dangerous for it to be worth it.
“The last time we saw each other, you kissed me. And one of the last things you said to me was Never doubted him, never will.” Again, a smile; this time, a sad one. “Do you remember now, Jack?”
The Doctor.
But how...?
And then it hit him with the force of an earthquake. The Doctor was a Time Lord. And one of the old legends surrounding the Time Lords - believed to be a myth - was that they regenerated. That they couldn’t die. They were reborn, but as adults, into a fully-grown, fully-matured body.
The Doctor had found him.
But why? Why, when he’d left him behind to die?
Rage filled him until he felt ready to explode. He barely restrained himself from banging his fist on the bar. “So you finally came back, Doctor.” It took supreme effort to sound indifferent rather than angry. “Why now? Got bored, did you? Thought you’d come and see how I was managing without you? Fine, in case you’re interested. Just peachy.”
“Yeah, can see that.” The Doctor’s tone changed, became almost gentle. “Jack, I know you believe I betrayed you. I know it looks like that. Come with me. I’d like to tell you what really happened.”
“I don’t want to hear it.” He slid off his stool. “Goodbye, Doctor. Have a nice life.”
He turned and strode to the door, torn between relief and satisfaction when the Doctor didn’t call him back.
Outside, he started walking, no destination in mind other than getting as far away from here as possible. And then the Doctor’s voice came from right behind him, sing-song, irritatingly cheerful. “Not at all curious about how you’re still alive, then? I’m disappointed in you, Jack.”
The sensible thing to do - the right thing - would have been to carry on walking. Show no response, not even to indicate that he’d heard the Doctor. If he were strong enough, that was exactly what he’d do. But he wasn’t.
Damn the Doctor anyway. He always did know Jack too well, and in particular knew exactly what buttons to push. Yes, he did want to know how come he survived extermination by Dalek. He’d wanted the answer to that mystery from the second he opened his eyes and realised he was still alive.
He paused, then turned on his heel and eyeballed the Doctor. “Okay, you win. You get an hour and no more. Then you can get the hell out of here and I never want to see you again.”
The Doctor showed no reaction at all. With a faint gesture of one hand, he said, “The TARDIS is this way.”
***
He’d had no intention of going anywhere near the TARDIS. He’d started to insist on going back to the pub, or to some other public location.
Just how he managed to end up in the TARDIS kitchen with the Doctor, he had no idea. But here he was, and it was killing him to be back here again, in the place where he’d been happier than at any other time in his life.
“Rose not around, then?” he asked, a deliberate jab. That was a no-brainer; there were none of the obvious signs of her presence. No jacket or jumper thrown over a railing in the console room. None of her favoured mugs out on the counter, and the kitchen looked neglected. On his own, Jack was aware, the Doctor often didn’t bother to eat. He liked to eat, but it wasn’t necessary for his survival in the same way as humans.
“She’s gone home.” Abruptly, the cheerfulness in the Doctor’s voice was gone, and his eyes had turned bleak. It was as if he were with a completely different man.
Rose went home? What? That made no sense. Rose loved travelling with the Doctor. She was devoted to him - worshipped the ground he walked on. There was no way she’d just leave. Unless... maybe she hadn’t been able to accept the Doctor’s regeneration? But that didn’t make sense either. Rose wouldn’t have been able to resist this new body, this new face.
So, something else. Maybe her mum was sick? But that look in the Doctor’s eyes said different. He felt hurt. Rejected.
Only one way to find out. “Why did she leave?”
“Doesn’t matter,” the Doctor said, and that closed-off air was still there. He definitely hit a nerve there. “Besides, you said you weren’t interested in anything I had to say. You want to hear about why you’re alive, and that’s all.”
He shrugged, refusing to defend his change of mind. “So, what? Rose walks out and you come looking for me instead? What am I, a consolation prize?”
There was a flash of what looked very like hurt in the Doctor’s expression. “I was always gonna come back for you, Jack. It just couldn’t be straight away. You had things to do.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “You’ve done them now, and you’re a hero, Captain Jack Harkness - yes, I know what you’ve been up to. And that’s why I’m here now. It’s time.”
What? “How can I believe that?”
The Doctor ran a hand backwards and forwards through his hair, until it was all standing on end. “Because you’ve never doubted me, and you never will?”
He flinched, and was about to tell the Doctor exactly why he’d lost every inch of trust Jack ever had for him, but the Doctor spoke again. “Jack, think about it. You know what you’ve been doing over the past few months. You know you’re quite probably the only person who could have done it - and you’re right: you are. I had to leave you to it. History depended on it. Not any more, though.”
“And that’s why you’re here? Give me a pat on the back and I’ll forgive and forget that you abandoned me on a satellite full of dead bodies without even knowing why I was alive?”
The Doctor sighed. “What you do after this is up to you, Jack. I’ll take you anywhere you want to go. First, though, here’s what you wanted to know. You’re alive because Rose wanted you alive.”
He listened with growing incredulity to the story of Rose opening up the TARDIS, returning to the Game Station as an avenging angel and destroying the Daleks with a wave of her hand. Saving the Doctor - and, with another wave of her hand, reversing his death.
“She really did that,” he said slowly once the Doctor finished. “For me.”
“For you - well, and quite possibly because in that moment she understood what you had to do,” the Doctor said. “In that moment, she could see all that was and all that ever could be. She told me that. And then when I took the power from her, I saw what history had in store for you, Jack. And I knew I had to leave you.”
The regret in the Doctor’s voice was matched by the way he was looking at Jack, and he knew he was hearing the truth. He hadn’t been abandoned.
“I’m so sorry, Jack,” the Doctor continued. “If there’d been any way... but I couldn’t risk anything that could’ve changed the timelines. Time’s constantly in flux, you know that, and even the tiniest-”
“Yeah.” He cut the Doctor off. “I know. And... yeah. It’s okay. I understand.”
“Good.” The Doctor reached across the table and laid his hand over Jack’s, pressing briefly. “It’s good to see you, Captain.”
Jack smiled as all the hurt of the last six months finally melted away. “And you, Doctor.”
***
Later, over a fresh cup of tea, Jack asked again, “Why did Rose leave?”
The Doctor swallowed. “I wish I knew. I did... something, or didn’t do something - I don’t know. She was upset and before I knew it she’d asked me to take her home.”
“And you took her? Just like that?” Insane. Didn’t the Doctor have a clue about how to treat someone who was obviously upset?
“What else could I do? It was what she wanted.” The Doctor looked down at the table. “She knows how to contact me if she changes her mind.”
Argument upon argument built in Jack’s head, but he stopped himself. This was the Doctor’s problem to deal with, and no doubt telling the Doctor things he already knew wouldn’t help at all. Maybe the best he could do, for now, was to be an understanding friend. He gestured towards his cup. “Got anything stronger?”
A grateful smile accompanied the Doctor’s “Sure.”
Almost a bottle of hypervodka, and a lot of conversation about nothing in particular, later, Jack couldn’t stop himself yawning. The Doctor gave him an amused smile. “Go on, off to bed with you. You can tell me where you’d like me to take you after you’ve slept.”
His own bed on the TARDIS, the most comfortable place he’d slept in years, sounded like bliss. No way was he passing that up. Damnit, even though he’d been telling himself not to fall into that trap from the moment he crossed the TARDIS threshold, he was starting to feel like he was home.
Though maybe, for a while at least, that wouldn’t be a bad thing. The Doctor, he guessed, could do with some company. The TARDIS was too empty without Rose, and if he stuck around for a few days he might be able to take the Doctor’s mind off missing her, at least a bit.
“Yeah, I’ll go to bed,” he agreed. “As for later, is it okay if I stay around for a few days? It’s been...” He pulled a face. “... a tough few months. I don’t really feel ready to make any decisions yet.”
The Doctor’s warm smile was clearly genuine. “Course you can.”
***
A week or so, and several adventures and near-death escapes, later, the Doctor seemed happier. More relaxed, less prone to moments of sadness.
Good. Nice to know he’d done some good by being here.
But at the same time, he didn’t want to outstay his welcome. So he broached the subject over dinner. “Think maybe it’s time I was moving on. I was thinking-”
The Doctor stopped him, simply by laying a hand firmly on his shoulder and waiting until Jack looked at him. There was an expression in the Doctor’s eyes he never imagined he’d see directed at him - and yet there it was.
After a moment, the Doctor spoke. He said just one word. “Stay.”
So Jack did.
- end
Author: wmr / wendymr
Characters: Tenth Doctor, Jack Harkness
Rated: G
Series: The Disintegration Universe Series
Summary: Jack's finished rebuilding the Earth - what's next?
For juliet316, who won a drabble from me for correctly guessing my dwsanta fic and requested Jack and Ten's reunion in the Disintegration-verse. Um... this is longer than a drabble. That's because I already had around 1000 words of this reunion sitting idle on my hard drive for over four years. Now it's finished, and I hope you like it, juliet316.
NB: As Disintegration pre-dates both Torchwood and DWS3, Jack's story here is now completely AU. He isn't immortal, and the Doctor had a different reason - as explained in Disintegration - for leaving him behind. If you haven't read Disintegration, all you need to know is that Rose left the TARDIS after their visit to the parallel universe, and this is set during the time she was gone.
Disintegration: Finding Jack
Sitting at the bar, gaze lowered so as not to catch the barman’s eye - he really wasn’t in the mood for making conversation, despite his reason for being here - Jack sipped at the drink he’d ordered. Not bad; something like a vintage whisky, though he’d tended to prefer bourbon himself. Or hypervodka. Now, there was a drink.
First thing in the morning, he had a meeting with the newly-elected President of the revived Fourth Great Human Empire. The purpose of that meeting hadn’t been disclosed, but he knew it. He was about to be offered a job. A high-status position, either in government or the military. He was to be rewarded as a hero, and required to give even more of his time to the Empire.
It was time to move on. Hence his hanging out in this of all bars. A popular joint among space-travellers, it was a venue where he could guarantee finding himself a ride off this planet, even if not away from this time.
A movement to his left caught his gaze. Someone had taken the stool beside him. A man - young, younger than himself by a few years, wearing a very anachronistic suit. Definitely not from this time. Interesting. Very interesting. A time-traveller? Maybe he’d just hit the jackpot.
The man was good-looking, too. Mid-brown hair, in need of a comb but strangely attractive for all that. It definitely invited fingers to ruffle it. Even features. A scattering of light freckles across the nose and cheekbones. Brown eyes. And, as the man turned to look at him, clearly noticing his interest, a friendly smile.
“Hey.” He favoured the man with one of his most charming smiles. Time to start working that old Harkness magic.
“Hello, Jack,” the man replied, and he almost fell off his stool. “How about letting an old friend buy you a drink?”
No. He’d definitely never met this guy before. He’d remember it. Unless it was during those two years he’d lost... “Much as I hate to admit it, I think you have the advantage on me,” he answered smoothly. “I know I’d remember you if we’d met.” Let the guy explain how he apparently knew him.
“Oh, you know me all right, Jack,” the stranger said with a lop-sided grin. “I can promise you that. And I’m not from your missing years, either.”
Shit. This guy really did know him. Or he’d been well-briefed.
But he’d turned away now and was gesturing to the barman. In moments, he’d ordered and paid for a couple of drinks. And then he turned his attention back to Jack.
“When you knew me before, I looked very different,” he said, his tone just a little rueful. “I can understand you not recognising me immediately.”
If this guy wasn’t his best hope for a ticket away from this time and place, he’d get up and walk away. All his emergency-warning systems were on full alert. A guy who claimed to know him, who knew something about him that few other people did, who was clearly out of his own time and who’d just happened to turn up in this time and place out of anywhere else in the whole of time and the universe he could be... that all spelled danger.
“Maybe you could just give me a clue or two,” he suggested. “I’m sure I’ll remember with a little prompting.”
“Oh, I’m sure you will, too.” And the stranger smiled once more. “You’re a very unusual man, Captain Jack Harkness. You should be dead at least twice over. In fact, you did die, but you lived again.”
How the hell...? “You’re not making sense.” This time, there was a definite warning note in his voice. Forget his ride out of here. This guy was beginning to sound too dangerous for it to be worth it.
“The last time we saw each other, you kissed me. And one of the last things you said to me was Never doubted him, never will.” Again, a smile; this time, a sad one. “Do you remember now, Jack?”
The Doctor.
But how...?
And then it hit him with the force of an earthquake. The Doctor was a Time Lord. And one of the old legends surrounding the Time Lords - believed to be a myth - was that they regenerated. That they couldn’t die. They were reborn, but as adults, into a fully-grown, fully-matured body.
The Doctor had found him.
But why? Why, when he’d left him behind to die?
Rage filled him until he felt ready to explode. He barely restrained himself from banging his fist on the bar. “So you finally came back, Doctor.” It took supreme effort to sound indifferent rather than angry. “Why now? Got bored, did you? Thought you’d come and see how I was managing without you? Fine, in case you’re interested. Just peachy.”
“Yeah, can see that.” The Doctor’s tone changed, became almost gentle. “Jack, I know you believe I betrayed you. I know it looks like that. Come with me. I’d like to tell you what really happened.”
“I don’t want to hear it.” He slid off his stool. “Goodbye, Doctor. Have a nice life.”
He turned and strode to the door, torn between relief and satisfaction when the Doctor didn’t call him back.
Outside, he started walking, no destination in mind other than getting as far away from here as possible. And then the Doctor’s voice came from right behind him, sing-song, irritatingly cheerful. “Not at all curious about how you’re still alive, then? I’m disappointed in you, Jack.”
The sensible thing to do - the right thing - would have been to carry on walking. Show no response, not even to indicate that he’d heard the Doctor. If he were strong enough, that was exactly what he’d do. But he wasn’t.
Damn the Doctor anyway. He always did know Jack too well, and in particular knew exactly what buttons to push. Yes, he did want to know how come he survived extermination by Dalek. He’d wanted the answer to that mystery from the second he opened his eyes and realised he was still alive.
He paused, then turned on his heel and eyeballed the Doctor. “Okay, you win. You get an hour and no more. Then you can get the hell out of here and I never want to see you again.”
The Doctor showed no reaction at all. With a faint gesture of one hand, he said, “The TARDIS is this way.”
***
He’d had no intention of going anywhere near the TARDIS. He’d started to insist on going back to the pub, or to some other public location.
Just how he managed to end up in the TARDIS kitchen with the Doctor, he had no idea. But here he was, and it was killing him to be back here again, in the place where he’d been happier than at any other time in his life.
“Rose not around, then?” he asked, a deliberate jab. That was a no-brainer; there were none of the obvious signs of her presence. No jacket or jumper thrown over a railing in the console room. None of her favoured mugs out on the counter, and the kitchen looked neglected. On his own, Jack was aware, the Doctor often didn’t bother to eat. He liked to eat, but it wasn’t necessary for his survival in the same way as humans.
“She’s gone home.” Abruptly, the cheerfulness in the Doctor’s voice was gone, and his eyes had turned bleak. It was as if he were with a completely different man.
Rose went home? What? That made no sense. Rose loved travelling with the Doctor. She was devoted to him - worshipped the ground he walked on. There was no way she’d just leave. Unless... maybe she hadn’t been able to accept the Doctor’s regeneration? But that didn’t make sense either. Rose wouldn’t have been able to resist this new body, this new face.
So, something else. Maybe her mum was sick? But that look in the Doctor’s eyes said different. He felt hurt. Rejected.
Only one way to find out. “Why did she leave?”
“Doesn’t matter,” the Doctor said, and that closed-off air was still there. He definitely hit a nerve there. “Besides, you said you weren’t interested in anything I had to say. You want to hear about why you’re alive, and that’s all.”
He shrugged, refusing to defend his change of mind. “So, what? Rose walks out and you come looking for me instead? What am I, a consolation prize?”
There was a flash of what looked very like hurt in the Doctor’s expression. “I was always gonna come back for you, Jack. It just couldn’t be straight away. You had things to do.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “You’ve done them now, and you’re a hero, Captain Jack Harkness - yes, I know what you’ve been up to. And that’s why I’m here now. It’s time.”
What? “How can I believe that?”
The Doctor ran a hand backwards and forwards through his hair, until it was all standing on end. “Because you’ve never doubted me, and you never will?”
He flinched, and was about to tell the Doctor exactly why he’d lost every inch of trust Jack ever had for him, but the Doctor spoke again. “Jack, think about it. You know what you’ve been doing over the past few months. You know you’re quite probably the only person who could have done it - and you’re right: you are. I had to leave you to it. History depended on it. Not any more, though.”
“And that’s why you’re here? Give me a pat on the back and I’ll forgive and forget that you abandoned me on a satellite full of dead bodies without even knowing why I was alive?”
The Doctor sighed. “What you do after this is up to you, Jack. I’ll take you anywhere you want to go. First, though, here’s what you wanted to know. You’re alive because Rose wanted you alive.”
He listened with growing incredulity to the story of Rose opening up the TARDIS, returning to the Game Station as an avenging angel and destroying the Daleks with a wave of her hand. Saving the Doctor - and, with another wave of her hand, reversing his death.
“She really did that,” he said slowly once the Doctor finished. “For me.”
“For you - well, and quite possibly because in that moment she understood what you had to do,” the Doctor said. “In that moment, she could see all that was and all that ever could be. She told me that. And then when I took the power from her, I saw what history had in store for you, Jack. And I knew I had to leave you.”
The regret in the Doctor’s voice was matched by the way he was looking at Jack, and he knew he was hearing the truth. He hadn’t been abandoned.
“I’m so sorry, Jack,” the Doctor continued. “If there’d been any way... but I couldn’t risk anything that could’ve changed the timelines. Time’s constantly in flux, you know that, and even the tiniest-”
“Yeah.” He cut the Doctor off. “I know. And... yeah. It’s okay. I understand.”
“Good.” The Doctor reached across the table and laid his hand over Jack’s, pressing briefly. “It’s good to see you, Captain.”
Jack smiled as all the hurt of the last six months finally melted away. “And you, Doctor.”
***
Later, over a fresh cup of tea, Jack asked again, “Why did Rose leave?”
The Doctor swallowed. “I wish I knew. I did... something, or didn’t do something - I don’t know. She was upset and before I knew it she’d asked me to take her home.”
“And you took her? Just like that?” Insane. Didn’t the Doctor have a clue about how to treat someone who was obviously upset?
“What else could I do? It was what she wanted.” The Doctor looked down at the table. “She knows how to contact me if she changes her mind.”
Argument upon argument built in Jack’s head, but he stopped himself. This was the Doctor’s problem to deal with, and no doubt telling the Doctor things he already knew wouldn’t help at all. Maybe the best he could do, for now, was to be an understanding friend. He gestured towards his cup. “Got anything stronger?”
A grateful smile accompanied the Doctor’s “Sure.”
Almost a bottle of hypervodka, and a lot of conversation about nothing in particular, later, Jack couldn’t stop himself yawning. The Doctor gave him an amused smile. “Go on, off to bed with you. You can tell me where you’d like me to take you after you’ve slept.”
His own bed on the TARDIS, the most comfortable place he’d slept in years, sounded like bliss. No way was he passing that up. Damnit, even though he’d been telling himself not to fall into that trap from the moment he crossed the TARDIS threshold, he was starting to feel like he was home.
Though maybe, for a while at least, that wouldn’t be a bad thing. The Doctor, he guessed, could do with some company. The TARDIS was too empty without Rose, and if he stuck around for a few days he might be able to take the Doctor’s mind off missing her, at least a bit.
“Yeah, I’ll go to bed,” he agreed. “As for later, is it okay if I stay around for a few days? It’s been...” He pulled a face. “... a tough few months. I don’t really feel ready to make any decisions yet.”
The Doctor’s warm smile was clearly genuine. “Course you can.”
***
A week or so, and several adventures and near-death escapes, later, the Doctor seemed happier. More relaxed, less prone to moments of sadness.
Good. Nice to know he’d done some good by being here.
But at the same time, he didn’t want to outstay his welcome. So he broached the subject over dinner. “Think maybe it’s time I was moving on. I was thinking-”
The Doctor stopped him, simply by laying a hand firmly on his shoulder and waiting until Jack looked at him. There was an expression in the Doctor’s eyes he never imagined he’d see directed at him - and yet there it was.
After a moment, the Doctor spoke. He said just one word. “Stay.”
So Jack did.
- end