Another First Sentence fic: Maternal Instinct 1/1
Story: Maternal Instinct
Author: wmr
Rated: PG
Characters: Tenth Doctor, Jack Harkness; reference to Martha Jones and Rose Tyler
Disclaimer: do I really need to say they're not mine?
Summary: "What did I ever do to Francine Jones?"
Written as part of
the_sandwalker's Five First Lines challenge on
time_and_chips. It didn't turn out quite as I intended; I thought it was going to be a little light-hearted exchange on the subject of mothers, but... well, as you'll see, it didn't end up that way.
Maternal Instinct
“I don't understand,” the Doctor muttered as he shook his head, “why mothers never seem to like me.”
Jack glanced up from the electronics he was tinkering with, revealing a raised eyebrow and crooked grin. One thing he’d always liked about the Captain: he never had needed to have things explained. Well, not after he’d been a passenger in the TARDIS more than a couple of days. “Obviously they’re just immune to your charm and good looks.”
“Must be.” He glanced around; Martha still wasn’t back. Safe enough. “What did I ever do to Francine Jones?”
Jack ran a hand through his - as ever - immaculate hair. “Oh, I don’t know - ran off with her daughter and almost got her killed. Maybe that could have something to do with it?”
“That was Jackie’s problem. Couldn’t blame her, either, really.”
“Least Rose’s mom never betrayed you to your worst enemy. However much she hated you.”
“Oh, she didn’t hate me in the end, Jackie didn’t. Even snogged me one of the last times I saw her - did I tell you that?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “Francine, though... the worst isn’t that she betrayed me. She’s betrayed her own daughter. He did that. And that I can’t...”
He fell silent, his gaze dropping to the laptop again for a long moment. “It’s all my fault. If I could only learn to just leave them where I find them...” He sighed. “But, no, I have to take them with me. Just one trip, I tell them. Come and see the universe. Have a trip into the future. Or the past. Course, then I end up keeping them. Or they stay. And this is what happens.”
“You make us sound like pets.” There was a faintly acerbic note to Jack’s voice.
“Well, come on - you haven’t exactly done well out of travelling with me, have you? You’d’ve been better off taking me up on my first offer.” Oh, so long ago now: just an hour or so after rescuing Jack from his ship. He’d offered the conman turned hero a good night’s sleep and then a choice: he could have a lift to a destination of his choosing, or he could sign up as crew.
“Nah.” Jack met his gaze full-on. “No regrets, Doctor.”
“I was wrong.” His voice was low, and he deliberately met Jack’s gaze. “I shouldn’t have left you. Won’t do it again, I promise.”
Jack shook his head, smiling. “You’ll do what you have to do. I don’t need promises, Doctor.”
Blue eyes continued to meet his in silence. And there it was. Jack understood.
“He went too far.”
He must have shown too much anger in his voice; Jack’s eyes narrowed and his entire body was on alert. “Who? What?”
“The Master.” The dingy alley faded away and all he could see was a succession of images. Red sky and a domed citadel; two small boys, one after the other, looking into the Untempered Schism; encounters through the centuries with his one-time friend in a succession of regenerations; the kindly, brilliant Professor Yana and his efforts to save the humans at the end of the universe; and, finally, the return of the presence in his head.
You are not alone.
Not alone, no; but why did it have to be him?
“He went too far,” he repeated. “Attack me, by all means. Even my companions, if he has to - that’s the price you, all of you, pay for travelling with me. But her family - he had no right. Even if he doesn’t physically hurt them, he’s damaged that family permanently.”
Mother against daughter, husband against wife. And Martha with her loyalties torn between her family and himself.
Families. So important, they were. Somewhere to belong, people to belong with. He’d taken companions away from their families too many times. Almost permanently, in Rose’s case. And now, Martha’s family was divided, thanks to him, and they were going to be used against her. Against him.
“I made a promise to Jackie. Was even able to keep it, in the end,” he says quietly as he finishes his adaptations to the laptop. They’d be able to pick up internet now wherever they went; no relying on finding an unsecure wireless network.
“What promise was that?”
“To keep Rose safe. To always bring her home. And I did.”
“Yeah.” Again, Jack held his gaze. “She chose it, you know. Being with you, doing the things we did. You never forced her. Never forced any of us.”
Ignoring that - it made no difference in the end, not to him - he said, “Jack. Promise me something.”
“To keep Martha safe? You know you don’t have to ask.”
Of course he knew. Never had needed to ask; from the moment he’d come on board the TARDIS, Jack had without a word taken on shared responsibility for keeping Rose safe and alive. “Not that. Well, that, but as well as that. Don’t let her lose her family over this. Over me. If I’m not around to... well. Just look after her. After them. Make sure they’re okay. All right?”
He got just one brief nod in response, but it was enough. That was Jack: still dependable, still loyal, even after a betrayal and almost a hundred and fifty years of abandonment.
“Thank you.”
Jack’s hand covered his briefly, then it was withdrawn as they both heard the sound of hurrying footsteps. She was back.
“Is there any news?”
Not the kind of news she was looking for, of course, but there was reassuring news all the same. Whatever happened, she’d be safe. Her family would be safe. Because, between them, he and Jack wouldn’t let it be any other way.
end
First sentence prompt from
wiccagal