Cheating Time, by Gillian Taylor and WMR; 6/9
Story: Cheating Time
Authors: dark_aegis and wendymr
Characters: Tenth Doctor, Rose Tyler, Jack Harkness, others
Rated: PG13
Disclaimer: Unfortunately, no matter how much we beg, they're still not ours...
Summary: He's saved the universe over and over again. He's lost everything, including his own race. Doesn't the universe owe him something in return?
With thanks and hugs to nnwest and chloe_az for BRing. We're running out of ways and words to say how much we appreciate all the love (and, yes, yells and tears) this story is getting. Thank you doesn't sound like enough, but it's said with all sincerity and love in return.
Chapter 1: The Lure of Temptation | Chapter 2: A False Sense of Security | Chapter 3: Home to Roost | Chapter 4: Consequences ( part a | part b) | Chapter 5: Armageddon
Chapter 6: Running out of Time
Rose remembers a time when she believed that all stories had happy endings. Cinderella always got her prince and at the end of the day good always won. That was before life taught her otherwise. There is so much pain in the world, so much grief, yet so much joy, too. It's a strange balance, really. For every towering joy, for every 'everybody lives', there's its exact opposite.
There is no such thing as a happy ending. Not for him. Not for her. She wishes it could be otherwise, god knows she does. If there was a way, but there isn't. She knows as well as the Doctor that the only way to save the world is for her to accept her fate, to accept that she doesn't get a happy ending.
But that isn't the greatest tragedy of this particular tale. No, the greatest tragedy is that neither does the Doctor. No-one deserves a happy ending more, even if it's only a happily ever after for now. Yet it's not meant to be. It seems like it's never meant to be.
His companions leave, even if it is against their will, and he remains. He was wrong when he said that was the curse of the Time Lords. She doubts that they ever felt as much as he does, ever cared as much. This particular curse is his own.
That knowledge burns in the Doctor's eyes as he looks at her, practically devouring her with his gaze. Making every second count, really, and it's breaking her heart.
Jack clears his throat and gives her a sympathetic look. Even though he's not the same man she danced with on top of an invisible spaceship, he still cares. "We'll bring down the TARDIS now. It'd be safer for you to leave from here rather than trying to make it back without alerting the Daleks. Luckily you picked the right spot to park."
The Doctor starts to rise, but Jack waves him back. "It's just a matter of using the lift. The TARDIS is sitting right on top of it."
"We're running out of time," the Doctor says quietly, catching their attention.
"Running out of time?" she repeats.
Jack looks like he's about to say something, but his jaw snaps shut after the Doctor's next words. "We're in a causality loop."
Now she knows she's missing something. Now Jack's giving her the same look the Doctor did a few minutes ago. Like she's going to disappear any second. Like… Oh, god. Is that it? Is she going to disappear? Are the Reapers-?
"How long?" Jack asks.
"Not nearly long enough," the Doctor replies, and she hears the tension in his voice. "I need the TARDIS."
"Five minutes." Jack reaches out to touch her shoulder in wordless comfort for the briefest of moments before he's gone, leaving only the sound of his pounding footsteps and the faintest hint of his warmth behind him.
"What's a causality loop?" she asks. If there's a hint of demand in her voice, she believes it can be forgiven.
Judging by the expression on his face, this is probably the last thing he really wants to get into. She just hopes he realises that this is the only thing she has to cling to right now. If something's wrong, or going to go wrong, she needs to know. Even if it does mean the Reapers are going to come or if she's going to just disappear.
"You know that time's not a straight line. You can be born in the twentieth century and die in the nineteenth. Only thing is, there's an order to time. Cause leads to effect ninety-nine point nine percent of the time. It's that pesky point one percent that's causing the problem. Causality loops are based on cause and effect. I lost you-"
"An' you pick me up again, some time after you lost me," she finishes, already guessing the effect of that particular loss. No, wait. That can't be it. Losing her shouldn't've done this. Couldn't've done this. He said it, after all.
His companions wither and die. He goes on. So why would he do this? "No. Too simplistic, isn't it? This isn't about me. Can't be, not really. I'm just another effect. You lost me an' what happened?"
The Doctor winces. "I can't tell you."
She tries to pick the most outlandish things possible. "What? You did somethin' reckless? Destroyed something or someone? What?"
His silence is answer enough. Surely she didn't have that much impact on him? Yeah, she loves him and she knows he cares for her, but that can't be enough to cause that much of a change. The Doctor she knows, knew, wouldn't've done that. Then again, the Doctor she knew had her.
"Oh," she whispers, stunned.
"The sequence of cause and effect has been changed," the Doctor says, effectively cutting off anything else she might've said. "I never lost you like… before. There'd be no reason for me to change history."
"Which means I shouldn't be here." It makes sense in that headache-induced sort of way.
"Which means you won't be here by the time causality catches up with us," he corrects her.
"The Beast was right, yeah? Guess I will die in battle," she says, trying to make light of something that terrifies her.
The chair creaks as the Doctor stands. It only takes a few steps for him to reach her and to wrap her securely in his embrace. "No, you won't," he tells her fiercely. "I won't let it."
She pulls back a little, reaching up to touch his cheek. "You can't stop fate."
Grief, sudden and intense, fills his gaze as he looks at her. "Maybe not," he acknowledges. "But I can delay it for a while."
Safety is an illusion, but she allows herself to be fooled for just a little while longer thanks to the comfort of his arms.
***
There've been many times over the course of the past century that he's cursed the Doctor. Immortality isn't something he asked for or really wanted. He thought he'd have a given time in this universe and then that'd be it. No more Jack Harkness or whatever he'd be calling himself at that point in time.
However, as much as he cursed the Doctor, he still desperately wanted to find him again. Unfinished business is one thing, but the other thing that kept him holding on is far simpler than that. Friendship - hell, maybe even love. You can't touch the life of a Time Lord without being changed somehow. He certainly isn't the same man he was before that fateful day in 1941.
Then again, he isn't the same man he was before the Game Station. Sighing, he directs half his attention to the lift while the rest is devoted to watching the external monitors. Though the Daleks are generally creatures of habit, there's no guarantee that their usual patrol won't be a few minutes early. Nor can he be certain that, with the lift within the Hub, the Daleks won't be able to see through the perception filter.
So far, so good. Five minutes is a good estimate, really. It takes about that long for the lift to descend to Hub-level with their minimal power levels. It’s safer that way - less chance of Dalek sensors detecting them.
"Why are you helping them?" Suzie asks - no, she demands. That’s anger in her voice. She's found someone new to blame for what's happened to Earth. Even though he's done his fair share of blaming the Doctor, something about Suzie's unspoken accusation angers him.
"Leave it," he snaps.
"Why should I, Jack? You saw what happened. Everyone we care about is dead. I don't care if you slept with-"
He whirls, taking his eyes off the lift and the monitor, and lays his finger against her lips. Even though he's angry, he won't hurt her. She's all he has left besides Rose and the Doctor. It doesn't take a genius to know that soon enough he'll lose them, too. "Don't say it, Suzie. Just don't. He's going to fix this."
Suzie pulls his finger away, her own anger lending her strength. "How d'you know that? Why don't you think he's going to run away from this? Go somewhere safe and never return?"
"He won't do that," he replies, astonished by the depth of faith that he still has in the Doctor.
"How do you know?" Suzie repeats, enunciating each word carefully.
A ghost of a smile crosses his face as he utters a phrase that he once thought had long ago been retired. "Never doubted him, never will."
She shakes her head and rolls herself away from him. Knowing her, she'll brood for a while, but she'll let him do what he wants. Not like she could stop him, anyway. This is the best shot they have to fix this particular temporal mess.
Hell, the best way to fix it is for it to never have happened in the first place. Running his hand through his hair, he turns away from Suzie's retreating figure and focuses on the lift.
Causality loop. Just thinking those two words is enough to send a chill down his spine. Every Time Agent is familiar with its effects. It’d become something of a tradition to tell the story about the careless agent who toyed with time and had time toy with him back. That Rose is the one who will be affected by the loop only adds to the urgency he feels. However, no matter how much he wills the lift to go faster, it’s constrained by both physics and the Hub’s power levels.
Sighing, he turns away from the sight of the slowly lowering lift, knowing that it will only seem to take an eternity to descend if he continues to observe it. In this forced moment of idleness, something that he's tried to avoid at all costs, he lets himself consider the what-ifs. What if the Daleks had never invaded? What would've happened to him? Would he still be here, or would he have found the Doctor by now?
What if this place actually performed what it was supposed to - protecting the Earth by confiscating technologies too dangerous for human consumption? What if… He shakes his head and dismisses those thoughts from his mind. There's no point in even thinking about it.
This is life as it is right now. If everything goes as it should, this life will be no more. Hell, he probably won't even remember this - any of this. He steals a glance towards where the Doctor is hugging Rose and smiles sadly. Probably for the best that he doesn't remember this.
Leaving him behind is one thing, but destroying the universe, even if it's for her, is overkill. Sighing, he turns back to the lift. Just a few more feet and it'll be here.
He's about to take a step towards the platform, wanting to touch the TARDIS again, when the Hub is suddenly bathed in darkness. The only source of light is the small square of daylight high above him and the ethereal glow of the TARDIS's windows.
Shit.
In the faint light, he thinks he can see the Doctor and Rose picking their way towards him. Right. He needs a torch and then he needs to look at their power source. There should be a torch in one of the desk drawers - which is, thankfully, not that far away.
Why would they have a power failure, though? The alien technology that supplies their power should last for centuries. There's absolutely no reason for the power to fail, even if the power source is at half-strength. In fact, the only way to lose power is either by turning it off using the power breaker or… Oh, hell. Daleks. They might've found them.
He bites out a rather poignant curse when his thigh hits the edge of the desk. Fumbling a little in the darkness, he finds the drawer and pulls it open, fishing inside for a torch. By the time he finds it, the Doctor is at his side, sonic screwdriver in hand.
"Power troubles?" the Doctor asks. The casualness of the remark is belied by the tension in his voice.
"Can you get into the TARDIS? Pull over whatever you need to climb on top of. Just get in there." He isn't about to tell the Doctor that he fears the Daleks have found them.
"Oh, it'll take a bit of a scramble, but we can. I'll get Rose inside and come back to help," the Doctor replies. There's no room for objection in that comment.
Right. Turning on the torch, he gives the Doctor his best carefree smile. He just needs to-
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Suzie says. The sharp snick of a safety being released echoes in the silence of the Hub. "You can stay right there, Doctor."
"Suzie, what the hell are you doing?" He thinks her voice is coming from somewhere off to the right…by the main power box for the Hub. He never thought she'd pull something like this.
"What you aren't. What you won't. Consider this payback for the Earth," Suzie replies.
"Doctor, go," he says, taking care to put himself between where he thinks Suzie's voice is coming from and the Doctor.
"Jack-"
"Go. I'll handle this." He should’ve seen this coming. After all, this is the easy path. Sure, it's the Doctor's fault, but he's going to fix it. Doesn't mean he deserves to be regenerated for it. Ignoring the Doctor, he focuses his full attention on Suzie.
Is that-? Yes. Definitely movement by the power box. Judging by the shadows, she's leaning heavily on the wall as she aims her weapon. Good. He can use that. "Suzie, you don't want to do this."
"I don't?" Suzie asks, disbelieving. "How d'you know, Jack Harkness? How do you sodding know? Your precious Doctor's got you so wrapped around his little finger that you can't see the wood for the trees. I know you, Jack. You should be helping me, not him."
"He can stop this," he says. He can hear scrambling behind him as someone tries to climb onto the lift platform. The shadow moves and he shifts accordingly, moving ever so slowly towards her. "Let him try."
"Why should I? What's the point, Jack? What's the point of any of this? Why'd Terri die? Why'd Owen? It's because of him, isn't it?"
He wants to deny it, of course he does, but he can't. It'd be easy to lie to her, but it seems that he's hesitated for too long.
"See? You can't even deny it! Don't you see? It's better this way." Suzie's voice breaks as she begins to cry.
"It won't bring them back," he tells her. Almost there, he chants to himself. He can make out her features now. See the commingled despair and anger that's driven her this far.
"I know that. Of course I know that. But it bloody well helps." She takes aim, he leaps and the sound of a gunshot echoes through the Hub.
***
Oh god, oh god, oh god.
She's frozen, rooted to the spot, half-off the lift platform and condemned to only be able to stare in the direction of the gunfire. The semi-darkness around her is condemning. All she can hear are the sounds of a scuffle, the impact of something against flesh, and the sound of the Doctor moving towards the fight.
"Jack," she whispers. Yeah, he can't die, but he's told her that he can be killed. If Suzie shot him…
No. She isn't thinking about that.
When Jack steps out of the darkness and into the faint illumination of the TARDIS, she bites back a sob of relief. He looks a little worse for the wear. His lip's cut and his shirt's torn, but she thinks he looks wonderful. He must've knocked away the gun. Done something to get Suzie out of the picture.
She doesn't know if she wants the specific details.
"You've got to go," Jack says, sorrow and weariness hanging over him like a cloud.
Even though she knows she shouldn't, the words escape her lips anyway. "Come with us."
Jack's lips stretch upwards into a sad smile. "I can't, Rose. You know that."
She does. "I know," she whispers, hanging her head, unable to imagine him staying behind in this post-apocalyptic world.
"Rose, get into the TARDIS," the Doctor interrupts her. The strain in his voice spurs her to action.
"It's happening?" she asks, even though she already knows the answer.
"Yes."
She scrambles to her feet, swaying slightly from vertigo as she yanks her key chain free from her clothes. Slipping the key into the lock, she opens the door and looks back at them.
"Get inside," the Doctor says tersely. When she hesitates for a moment too long, he snaps, "Now!"
The instant that she's surrounded by the comforting hum of the TARDIS, the vertigo disappears. She doesn't have to look back at the Doctor's face to know how close it must've been.
Now the Doctor is climbing on top of the platform, balancing himself as he carefully stands. Through the small gap between the TARDIS doorway and the Doctor's shoulders, she can see Jack's expression as he watches them both. "You'll fix this." It isn't a question.
"Yes," the Doctor promises.
"Then do it. Go. I don't want to spend one more minute in this timeline if I don't have to." Jack turns his gaze towards the darkness and she knows he's thinking about Suzie, and about everyone who’s died. "Please."
That single choked word is enough to make her want to fight her way out of the TARDIS to comfort him, but she doesn't, she can't. She knows the consequences.
So she's forced to watch through her tears as Jack Harkness turns away from them. The only thing that she can do, she does. She silently condemns herself for being the catalyst that caused him so much pain.
***
“Go.”
They should. Time’s of the essence now - although as long as Rose is inside the TARDIS she’ll be protected. Temporal grace. The only thing gained from disappearing right now would be ending this timeline sooner.
But - no, Jack deserves better than this. Leaning down, he holds out a hand to his former companion. “We’ve got some time. Come and say goodbye.”
Jack scrambles up, but shakes his head as he straightens. “What’s the point? This timeline’ll disappear, right? I won’t remember any of this.”
“There’s a point.” He reaches past Jack, closing the door, all the better to protect Rose. “I never told her you were alive,” he says, hands buried in his pockets. “That’s just one of many things I owe you an apology for, by the way. Which reminds me, I never did say sorry, even when you caught up with me in that other timeline. Bit late, but... I’m sorry, Jack.”
The stunned look on Jack’s face takes him aback. Did he really treat Jack that badly when they travelled together before that his apologising is such a shock?
Jack finally seems to find his voice. “I figured you had your reasons for leaving me behind. And for the immortality thing. Just do me one favour, Doctor, if you mean that apology.”
“What’s that?”
“Tell me the truth. When time’s reset, come and see me again and tell me.”
Yes, he definitely owes Jack that much, and it’s more than about time he started paying up. For that, and for so many other things, to so many other people. “I will.”
A nod, and then Jack’s moving past him to Rose. He stays out of the way, a silent observer, as the two of them embrace, clinging tightly.
“This really is goodbye, right?” Rose is saying, looking straight up at Jack. “ ‘M not going to see you again?”
Jack glances sideways at him, a silent appeal for help. He looks down at the floor, suddenly ashamed to admit the truth: that his earlier self never once thought about the friendship between the two of them and what he was depriving them of because of what Jack called his prejudice.
“No,” Jack says eventually, reading the truth in the lack of answer. “But, hey, at least we got this goodbye, right?”
She nods, and suddenly the two of them are kissing; not the affectionate kiss between friends of the Game Station, but something much more desperate and intense. And now he has the answer to something he wondered about back then, in his other life: the two of them could have been, would have been lovers, had he not been there to stop it.
Too late now. All because he couldn’t resist meddling in history, abandoning his friends and putting his own selfish desires before everyone else’s interests.
He turns away, to give them privacy, but still can’t help hearing Rose’s half-sobbed, “I love you, Jack.”
Jack murmurs something in response that he can’t hear, and then suddenly there are footsteps on the grille, coming in his direction.
“Time I went.” Jack’s voice sounds a bit gruff, and he turns to look at his friend. It’s not his imagination, surely? Are Jack’s eyes tinged with red? But Jack’s already walking past him, reaching for the door. “See you in another timeline, I guess, Doctor.”
“You just hold on a minute there, Jack Harkness!” he insists, reaching for and grabbing Jack’s arm. “You’re right. This timeline won’t exist once I’ve done what I need to do. That’s not the point.”
“What is?”
What is? Lots of things, really. Too many, and he’s too much of a coward to admit to most of them. All right, the most important of them, then. “It wasn’t anything you did,” he says firmly, allowing both sympathy and caring to flow through his tone. “Leaving you behind - I was being a coward, Jack, that’s all. I didn’t want to face what’d happened to you, so I ran. And, yes, I’ll tell you that again when I find you next. Though, actually,” he adds, brow furrowing, “think I’ve already told you that. Or will have, once the timeline resets again.”
Jack just nods, apparently speechless for once. He seems about to reach for the door again, and this time the Doctor acts completely on impulse. His hands frame Jack’s face, and he leans in and kisses, warm and lingering. His turn, this time. This is a debt long owed, finally being paid in full.
Jack’s got a hint of that old grin in his eyes as he steps back. “Gonna do that again when you find me next, huh?” Not waiting for an answer, he jogs to the door, opens it and in less than a second he’s gone.
This is it. Nothing to delay them any longer. It’s time to take Rose back.
Slowly, as if his body’s once again as old as the Master made it during the year that never was, he makes his way to the console.
***
tbc
Authors: dark_aegis and wendymr
Characters: Tenth Doctor, Rose Tyler, Jack Harkness, others
Rated: PG13
Disclaimer: Unfortunately, no matter how much we beg, they're still not ours...
Summary: He's saved the universe over and over again. He's lost everything, including his own race. Doesn't the universe owe him something in return?
With thanks and hugs to nnwest and chloe_az for BRing. We're running out of ways and words to say how much we appreciate all the love (and, yes, yells and tears) this story is getting. Thank you doesn't sound like enough, but it's said with all sincerity and love in return.
Chapter 1: The Lure of Temptation | Chapter 2: A False Sense of Security | Chapter 3: Home to Roost | Chapter 4: Consequences ( part a | part b) | Chapter 5: Armageddon
Chapter 6: Running out of Time
Rose remembers a time when she believed that all stories had happy endings. Cinderella always got her prince and at the end of the day good always won. That was before life taught her otherwise. There is so much pain in the world, so much grief, yet so much joy, too. It's a strange balance, really. For every towering joy, for every 'everybody lives', there's its exact opposite.
There is no such thing as a happy ending. Not for him. Not for her. She wishes it could be otherwise, god knows she does. If there was a way, but there isn't. She knows as well as the Doctor that the only way to save the world is for her to accept her fate, to accept that she doesn't get a happy ending.
But that isn't the greatest tragedy of this particular tale. No, the greatest tragedy is that neither does the Doctor. No-one deserves a happy ending more, even if it's only a happily ever after for now. Yet it's not meant to be. It seems like it's never meant to be.
His companions leave, even if it is against their will, and he remains. He was wrong when he said that was the curse of the Time Lords. She doubts that they ever felt as much as he does, ever cared as much. This particular curse is his own.
That knowledge burns in the Doctor's eyes as he looks at her, practically devouring her with his gaze. Making every second count, really, and it's breaking her heart.
Jack clears his throat and gives her a sympathetic look. Even though he's not the same man she danced with on top of an invisible spaceship, he still cares. "We'll bring down the TARDIS now. It'd be safer for you to leave from here rather than trying to make it back without alerting the Daleks. Luckily you picked the right spot to park."
The Doctor starts to rise, but Jack waves him back. "It's just a matter of using the lift. The TARDIS is sitting right on top of it."
"We're running out of time," the Doctor says quietly, catching their attention.
"Running out of time?" she repeats.
Jack looks like he's about to say something, but his jaw snaps shut after the Doctor's next words. "We're in a causality loop."
Now she knows she's missing something. Now Jack's giving her the same look the Doctor did a few minutes ago. Like she's going to disappear any second. Like… Oh, god. Is that it? Is she going to disappear? Are the Reapers-?
"How long?" Jack asks.
"Not nearly long enough," the Doctor replies, and she hears the tension in his voice. "I need the TARDIS."
"Five minutes." Jack reaches out to touch her shoulder in wordless comfort for the briefest of moments before he's gone, leaving only the sound of his pounding footsteps and the faintest hint of his warmth behind him.
"What's a causality loop?" she asks. If there's a hint of demand in her voice, she believes it can be forgiven.
Judging by the expression on his face, this is probably the last thing he really wants to get into. She just hopes he realises that this is the only thing she has to cling to right now. If something's wrong, or going to go wrong, she needs to know. Even if it does mean the Reapers are going to come or if she's going to just disappear.
"You know that time's not a straight line. You can be born in the twentieth century and die in the nineteenth. Only thing is, there's an order to time. Cause leads to effect ninety-nine point nine percent of the time. It's that pesky point one percent that's causing the problem. Causality loops are based on cause and effect. I lost you-"
"An' you pick me up again, some time after you lost me," she finishes, already guessing the effect of that particular loss. No, wait. That can't be it. Losing her shouldn't've done this. Couldn't've done this. He said it, after all.
His companions wither and die. He goes on. So why would he do this? "No. Too simplistic, isn't it? This isn't about me. Can't be, not really. I'm just another effect. You lost me an' what happened?"
The Doctor winces. "I can't tell you."
She tries to pick the most outlandish things possible. "What? You did somethin' reckless? Destroyed something or someone? What?"
His silence is answer enough. Surely she didn't have that much impact on him? Yeah, she loves him and she knows he cares for her, but that can't be enough to cause that much of a change. The Doctor she knows, knew, wouldn't've done that. Then again, the Doctor she knew had her.
"Oh," she whispers, stunned.
"The sequence of cause and effect has been changed," the Doctor says, effectively cutting off anything else she might've said. "I never lost you like… before. There'd be no reason for me to change history."
"Which means I shouldn't be here." It makes sense in that headache-induced sort of way.
"Which means you won't be here by the time causality catches up with us," he corrects her.
"The Beast was right, yeah? Guess I will die in battle," she says, trying to make light of something that terrifies her.
The chair creaks as the Doctor stands. It only takes a few steps for him to reach her and to wrap her securely in his embrace. "No, you won't," he tells her fiercely. "I won't let it."
She pulls back a little, reaching up to touch his cheek. "You can't stop fate."
Grief, sudden and intense, fills his gaze as he looks at her. "Maybe not," he acknowledges. "But I can delay it for a while."
Safety is an illusion, but she allows herself to be fooled for just a little while longer thanks to the comfort of his arms.
***
There've been many times over the course of the past century that he's cursed the Doctor. Immortality isn't something he asked for or really wanted. He thought he'd have a given time in this universe and then that'd be it. No more Jack Harkness or whatever he'd be calling himself at that point in time.
However, as much as he cursed the Doctor, he still desperately wanted to find him again. Unfinished business is one thing, but the other thing that kept him holding on is far simpler than that. Friendship - hell, maybe even love. You can't touch the life of a Time Lord without being changed somehow. He certainly isn't the same man he was before that fateful day in 1941.
Then again, he isn't the same man he was before the Game Station. Sighing, he directs half his attention to the lift while the rest is devoted to watching the external monitors. Though the Daleks are generally creatures of habit, there's no guarantee that their usual patrol won't be a few minutes early. Nor can he be certain that, with the lift within the Hub, the Daleks won't be able to see through the perception filter.
So far, so good. Five minutes is a good estimate, really. It takes about that long for the lift to descend to Hub-level with their minimal power levels. It’s safer that way - less chance of Dalek sensors detecting them.
"Why are you helping them?" Suzie asks - no, she demands. That’s anger in her voice. She's found someone new to blame for what's happened to Earth. Even though he's done his fair share of blaming the Doctor, something about Suzie's unspoken accusation angers him.
"Leave it," he snaps.
"Why should I, Jack? You saw what happened. Everyone we care about is dead. I don't care if you slept with-"
He whirls, taking his eyes off the lift and the monitor, and lays his finger against her lips. Even though he's angry, he won't hurt her. She's all he has left besides Rose and the Doctor. It doesn't take a genius to know that soon enough he'll lose them, too. "Don't say it, Suzie. Just don't. He's going to fix this."
Suzie pulls his finger away, her own anger lending her strength. "How d'you know that? Why don't you think he's going to run away from this? Go somewhere safe and never return?"
"He won't do that," he replies, astonished by the depth of faith that he still has in the Doctor.
"How do you know?" Suzie repeats, enunciating each word carefully.
A ghost of a smile crosses his face as he utters a phrase that he once thought had long ago been retired. "Never doubted him, never will."
She shakes her head and rolls herself away from him. Knowing her, she'll brood for a while, but she'll let him do what he wants. Not like she could stop him, anyway. This is the best shot they have to fix this particular temporal mess.
Hell, the best way to fix it is for it to never have happened in the first place. Running his hand through his hair, he turns away from Suzie's retreating figure and focuses on the lift.
Causality loop. Just thinking those two words is enough to send a chill down his spine. Every Time Agent is familiar with its effects. It’d become something of a tradition to tell the story about the careless agent who toyed with time and had time toy with him back. That Rose is the one who will be affected by the loop only adds to the urgency he feels. However, no matter how much he wills the lift to go faster, it’s constrained by both physics and the Hub’s power levels.
Sighing, he turns away from the sight of the slowly lowering lift, knowing that it will only seem to take an eternity to descend if he continues to observe it. In this forced moment of idleness, something that he's tried to avoid at all costs, he lets himself consider the what-ifs. What if the Daleks had never invaded? What would've happened to him? Would he still be here, or would he have found the Doctor by now?
What if this place actually performed what it was supposed to - protecting the Earth by confiscating technologies too dangerous for human consumption? What if… He shakes his head and dismisses those thoughts from his mind. There's no point in even thinking about it.
This is life as it is right now. If everything goes as it should, this life will be no more. Hell, he probably won't even remember this - any of this. He steals a glance towards where the Doctor is hugging Rose and smiles sadly. Probably for the best that he doesn't remember this.
Leaving him behind is one thing, but destroying the universe, even if it's for her, is overkill. Sighing, he turns back to the lift. Just a few more feet and it'll be here.
He's about to take a step towards the platform, wanting to touch the TARDIS again, when the Hub is suddenly bathed in darkness. The only source of light is the small square of daylight high above him and the ethereal glow of the TARDIS's windows.
Shit.
In the faint light, he thinks he can see the Doctor and Rose picking their way towards him. Right. He needs a torch and then he needs to look at their power source. There should be a torch in one of the desk drawers - which is, thankfully, not that far away.
Why would they have a power failure, though? The alien technology that supplies their power should last for centuries. There's absolutely no reason for the power to fail, even if the power source is at half-strength. In fact, the only way to lose power is either by turning it off using the power breaker or… Oh, hell. Daleks. They might've found them.
He bites out a rather poignant curse when his thigh hits the edge of the desk. Fumbling a little in the darkness, he finds the drawer and pulls it open, fishing inside for a torch. By the time he finds it, the Doctor is at his side, sonic screwdriver in hand.
"Power troubles?" the Doctor asks. The casualness of the remark is belied by the tension in his voice.
"Can you get into the TARDIS? Pull over whatever you need to climb on top of. Just get in there." He isn't about to tell the Doctor that he fears the Daleks have found them.
"Oh, it'll take a bit of a scramble, but we can. I'll get Rose inside and come back to help," the Doctor replies. There's no room for objection in that comment.
Right. Turning on the torch, he gives the Doctor his best carefree smile. He just needs to-
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Suzie says. The sharp snick of a safety being released echoes in the silence of the Hub. "You can stay right there, Doctor."
"Suzie, what the hell are you doing?" He thinks her voice is coming from somewhere off to the right…by the main power box for the Hub. He never thought she'd pull something like this.
"What you aren't. What you won't. Consider this payback for the Earth," Suzie replies.
"Doctor, go," he says, taking care to put himself between where he thinks Suzie's voice is coming from and the Doctor.
"Jack-"
"Go. I'll handle this." He should’ve seen this coming. After all, this is the easy path. Sure, it's the Doctor's fault, but he's going to fix it. Doesn't mean he deserves to be regenerated for it. Ignoring the Doctor, he focuses his full attention on Suzie.
Is that-? Yes. Definitely movement by the power box. Judging by the shadows, she's leaning heavily on the wall as she aims her weapon. Good. He can use that. "Suzie, you don't want to do this."
"I don't?" Suzie asks, disbelieving. "How d'you know, Jack Harkness? How do you sodding know? Your precious Doctor's got you so wrapped around his little finger that you can't see the wood for the trees. I know you, Jack. You should be helping me, not him."
"He can stop this," he says. He can hear scrambling behind him as someone tries to climb onto the lift platform. The shadow moves and he shifts accordingly, moving ever so slowly towards her. "Let him try."
"Why should I? What's the point, Jack? What's the point of any of this? Why'd Terri die? Why'd Owen? It's because of him, isn't it?"
He wants to deny it, of course he does, but he can't. It'd be easy to lie to her, but it seems that he's hesitated for too long.
"See? You can't even deny it! Don't you see? It's better this way." Suzie's voice breaks as she begins to cry.
"It won't bring them back," he tells her. Almost there, he chants to himself. He can make out her features now. See the commingled despair and anger that's driven her this far.
"I know that. Of course I know that. But it bloody well helps." She takes aim, he leaps and the sound of a gunshot echoes through the Hub.
***
Oh god, oh god, oh god.
She's frozen, rooted to the spot, half-off the lift platform and condemned to only be able to stare in the direction of the gunfire. The semi-darkness around her is condemning. All she can hear are the sounds of a scuffle, the impact of something against flesh, and the sound of the Doctor moving towards the fight.
"Jack," she whispers. Yeah, he can't die, but he's told her that he can be killed. If Suzie shot him…
No. She isn't thinking about that.
When Jack steps out of the darkness and into the faint illumination of the TARDIS, she bites back a sob of relief. He looks a little worse for the wear. His lip's cut and his shirt's torn, but she thinks he looks wonderful. He must've knocked away the gun. Done something to get Suzie out of the picture.
She doesn't know if she wants the specific details.
"You've got to go," Jack says, sorrow and weariness hanging over him like a cloud.
Even though she knows she shouldn't, the words escape her lips anyway. "Come with us."
Jack's lips stretch upwards into a sad smile. "I can't, Rose. You know that."
She does. "I know," she whispers, hanging her head, unable to imagine him staying behind in this post-apocalyptic world.
"Rose, get into the TARDIS," the Doctor interrupts her. The strain in his voice spurs her to action.
"It's happening?" she asks, even though she already knows the answer.
"Yes."
She scrambles to her feet, swaying slightly from vertigo as she yanks her key chain free from her clothes. Slipping the key into the lock, she opens the door and looks back at them.
"Get inside," the Doctor says tersely. When she hesitates for a moment too long, he snaps, "Now!"
The instant that she's surrounded by the comforting hum of the TARDIS, the vertigo disappears. She doesn't have to look back at the Doctor's face to know how close it must've been.
Now the Doctor is climbing on top of the platform, balancing himself as he carefully stands. Through the small gap between the TARDIS doorway and the Doctor's shoulders, she can see Jack's expression as he watches them both. "You'll fix this." It isn't a question.
"Yes," the Doctor promises.
"Then do it. Go. I don't want to spend one more minute in this timeline if I don't have to." Jack turns his gaze towards the darkness and she knows he's thinking about Suzie, and about everyone who’s died. "Please."
That single choked word is enough to make her want to fight her way out of the TARDIS to comfort him, but she doesn't, she can't. She knows the consequences.
So she's forced to watch through her tears as Jack Harkness turns away from them. The only thing that she can do, she does. She silently condemns herself for being the catalyst that caused him so much pain.
***
“Go.”
They should. Time’s of the essence now - although as long as Rose is inside the TARDIS she’ll be protected. Temporal grace. The only thing gained from disappearing right now would be ending this timeline sooner.
But - no, Jack deserves better than this. Leaning down, he holds out a hand to his former companion. “We’ve got some time. Come and say goodbye.”
Jack scrambles up, but shakes his head as he straightens. “What’s the point? This timeline’ll disappear, right? I won’t remember any of this.”
“There’s a point.” He reaches past Jack, closing the door, all the better to protect Rose. “I never told her you were alive,” he says, hands buried in his pockets. “That’s just one of many things I owe you an apology for, by the way. Which reminds me, I never did say sorry, even when you caught up with me in that other timeline. Bit late, but... I’m sorry, Jack.”
The stunned look on Jack’s face takes him aback. Did he really treat Jack that badly when they travelled together before that his apologising is such a shock?
Jack finally seems to find his voice. “I figured you had your reasons for leaving me behind. And for the immortality thing. Just do me one favour, Doctor, if you mean that apology.”
“What’s that?”
“Tell me the truth. When time’s reset, come and see me again and tell me.”
Yes, he definitely owes Jack that much, and it’s more than about time he started paying up. For that, and for so many other things, to so many other people. “I will.”
A nod, and then Jack’s moving past him to Rose. He stays out of the way, a silent observer, as the two of them embrace, clinging tightly.
“This really is goodbye, right?” Rose is saying, looking straight up at Jack. “ ‘M not going to see you again?”
Jack glances sideways at him, a silent appeal for help. He looks down at the floor, suddenly ashamed to admit the truth: that his earlier self never once thought about the friendship between the two of them and what he was depriving them of because of what Jack called his prejudice.
“No,” Jack says eventually, reading the truth in the lack of answer. “But, hey, at least we got this goodbye, right?”
She nods, and suddenly the two of them are kissing; not the affectionate kiss between friends of the Game Station, but something much more desperate and intense. And now he has the answer to something he wondered about back then, in his other life: the two of them could have been, would have been lovers, had he not been there to stop it.
Too late now. All because he couldn’t resist meddling in history, abandoning his friends and putting his own selfish desires before everyone else’s interests.
He turns away, to give them privacy, but still can’t help hearing Rose’s half-sobbed, “I love you, Jack.”
Jack murmurs something in response that he can’t hear, and then suddenly there are footsteps on the grille, coming in his direction.
“Time I went.” Jack’s voice sounds a bit gruff, and he turns to look at his friend. It’s not his imagination, surely? Are Jack’s eyes tinged with red? But Jack’s already walking past him, reaching for the door. “See you in another timeline, I guess, Doctor.”
“You just hold on a minute there, Jack Harkness!” he insists, reaching for and grabbing Jack’s arm. “You’re right. This timeline won’t exist once I’ve done what I need to do. That’s not the point.”
“What is?”
What is? Lots of things, really. Too many, and he’s too much of a coward to admit to most of them. All right, the most important of them, then. “It wasn’t anything you did,” he says firmly, allowing both sympathy and caring to flow through his tone. “Leaving you behind - I was being a coward, Jack, that’s all. I didn’t want to face what’d happened to you, so I ran. And, yes, I’ll tell you that again when I find you next. Though, actually,” he adds, brow furrowing, “think I’ve already told you that. Or will have, once the timeline resets again.”
Jack just nods, apparently speechless for once. He seems about to reach for the door again, and this time the Doctor acts completely on impulse. His hands frame Jack’s face, and he leans in and kisses, warm and lingering. His turn, this time. This is a debt long owed, finally being paid in full.
Jack’s got a hint of that old grin in his eyes as he steps back. “Gonna do that again when you find me next, huh?” Not waiting for an answer, he jogs to the door, opens it and in less than a second he’s gone.
This is it. Nothing to delay them any longer. It’s time to take Rose back.
Slowly, as if his body’s once again as old as the Master made it during the year that never was, he makes his way to the console.
***
tbc