Superhuman 2b/2
Story: Superhuman
Author: wmr
Characters: Tenth Doctor, Rose, Jack, Jackie, Mickey
Rated: PG13
Summary: “Knowing Jackie, she’s just complaining cause it’s been a month or so since we visited.” Sequel to Man and Superman.
Sorry, but LJ decided that a perfectly normal-sized post was too big, so I had to split this up.
Chapter 1: Family Ties l Chapter 2: The Oncoming Jackie part 2a
What?
What’s got into Jackie? “Safe? Here, on this planet?” he demands, hearing his voice go high-pitched and not even caring. “The last three or four times I visited this planet I ended up saving it from alien invasions! And look what just happened today! I saved your life, Jackie Tyler. So don’t go saying it’s dangerous out there in space.”
“Mickey an’ I wouldn’t have been in any trouble if it wasn’t for you, Doctor. Those things were after you. You heard them.”
He’s about to protest again, but Jack’s restraining hand on his arm stops him. “Later,” his lover says softly, with a quick flick of his gaze towards Harriet.
“Right. Later.” But still... he thought Jackie was over this kind of irrational fear. She seemed fine when she said goodbye to them all after Christmas, and the last couple of times they visited. What’s going on here?
“I must get back to the office,” Harriet announces, getting to her feet. “I’m very glad to see that you’re all right, Mrs Tyler. And you, Rose. Doctor, I’m sure I’ll see you again some time. Captain Harkness, Mr Smith... good to see you again.”
With a flurry, she’s gone. And he’s standing, seething, staring at Jackie. “Not safe? I promised you, Jackie! And have I broken that promise?”
“You call keeping her safe turning her into something that’s not human?”
“Mum!” Rose protests, and there’s hurt as well as anger in her voice. Damn. This is getting out of hand. Jackie was never supposed to know about this.
“I don’t mind about the not-human thing,” Jackie says, surprising all of them by her words as much as the fact that she’s not shouting now. “I do mind that you’re in such a bloody hurry to make her be able to die again, Doctor!”
Oh. So that’s it. “Well, I didn’t say I was going to do it immediately!”
And he’s not. Well, not immediately. Some time. Soon. After all, it can’t be left indefinitely. Not a good idea. Something could happen to him, and then the two of them would be left helpless, condemned to live on and on and on in an endless cycle of death and resurrection until Time itself ends.
“Promise me you won’t!” Jackie’s gripping his arm now. “Doctor, promise me. I want to know she’s gonna be safe!”
“Mum, you know I’m as safe with him and Jack as I’d be here,” Rose insists, and he winces just a bit, thinking of some of their very narrow escapes.
It’s obvious where Jackie’s coming from, though. She worries about Rose; of course she does. And here’s a solution to that worry. If she knows Rose can’t die, then she can be secure in the knowledge that her daughter will always come home. And if that daughter comes home every time looking no older than she has for the past year, then it’s a small price to pay, isn’t it?
“Jackie, do you really want Rose to look like she’s still only twenty when she’s forty? Fifty? Because that’s what’ll happen if I do nothing.”
Jackie barely winces as she says, “That’s what make-up’s for.”
“Mum!” Rose is laughing as she throws herself into Jackie’s arms. “ ‘S not as simple as that. An’ you know it. Might have to stop coming home after a bit if he doesn’t take it away from me.”
“You can come an’ see me,” Jackie protests. “No need to see anyone else if you don’t want to.”
“Hey! What about me?” Mickey, who’s been silent through this whole conversation, suddenly stands up, arms swinging awkwardly by his side. “You think I care if you don’t look any older than you do now in twenty years’ time, Rose? You’re still my best mate. An’ I want you alive, too. Nearly killed me today when I thought you were dead.”
Rose releases her mum and goes straight to Mickey, hugging him too. “Sorry I frightened you. I know what it’s like - the first time we saw Jack shot an’ thought he was dead was horrible.”
“I think we need a deal here,” Jack says smoothly. “Jackie, you know you can’t stop Rose leaving with us. She’s an adult, and anyway you know she belongs with us.” There’s possession in his tone, as well as pure statement of fact. And he’s right. Rose is theirs. Just as they are hers. Family, the three of them.
Jackie’s expression shows she knows Jack’s right. “You’ve got to promise me, Doctor.”
“It’s our choice, Jackie,” Jack points out. “Though we said the Doctor could choose the time. You want to choose a time now, Doctor?”
What’s Jack up to? That’s not going to reassure Jackie. And then he sees. It makes perfect sense. “When you ask me to. Will that do?”
Slowly, Jackie nods. “Rose’s choice?”
“And Jack’s. Yes.”
It doesn’t mean the two of them will stay immortal indefinitely, or even that it’ll last beyond a few years, or his next regeneration, or whatever. Jack and Rose know the downsides of their situation. But if it keeps Jackie happy... well, strangely, he finds that keeping Jackie happy does actually matter to him.
It’s agreed. Jack’s and Rose’s nods, and the warm smiles they give him, make the message clear. And, a few hours later, they’re leaving, about to head back to the TARDIS for their next adventure, wherever that happens to be. Hugs all round for Jackie and Mickey, and he finds himself held tightly by Rose’s mum.
“You take care of yourself, Doctor,” she murmurs fiercely into his ear. “Just cause those two can’t die doesn’t mean you should do stupid things too.”
He’d probably only regenerate, he’s tempted to say, but then realises from the look on her face as he pulls back that she doesn’t want that either. “Thanks, Jackie. I will,” he promises softly, then leans in and presses a kiss to her cheek.
Maybe there’s more than just the three of them in his family, he muses as he escorts Jack and Rose back to his beloved ship. Jackie’s adopted him - and Jack, too, by the way she hugged him as well. And Mickey... he’s not the idiot he used to call the bloke, by any means. He’s handy to have around, and... yeah, okay, he feels a bit like family too. Even if his last regeneration would be screaming blue murder at the thought.
Rose reaches up to kiss him as they shut the TARDIS door behind them. “Sorry ‘bout my mum, Doctor.”
He smiles warmly as he wraps one arm around her and one around Jack. “That’s all right. You can put up with a lot when it’s family.”
“Yeah.” Jack leans in, brushing a kiss across Rose’s lips before coming to kiss him too. “You can. Even when it’s the in-laws.”
END