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mtxref_ficTitle: "Another Inch of Your Life Sacrificed"
Author:matrixrefugee
Rating: PG-13
Pairing(s): Tenth Doctor/Jack
Spoilers/warnings: Mild violence and Jack being Jack...
Summary: Written for the prompt "Doctor holds Jack after Jack has died, waiting for him to revive and examining his feeling for the immortal". When the Judoon execute an outstanding warrant on a certain time-travelling former con man, the Doctor has a moment when he realizes what life without him might be like. (Title shamelessly stolen from Alicia Keyes's "Another Way to Die") Written for "wintercompanion"'s Doctor/Jack fic exchange
"So there I was, hanging onto the branch with one hand, holding the Koh-i-Noor in the other, and my own family jewels were there on display. Of course Queen Vicky was 'not amused'," Jack related, half the customers in the cafe of the main space station off Rigel now cocking an ear to his chatter, the other half paying him no mind.
"Got that phrase from Rose, I'll have you to know," the Doctor put in, with a hint of a smirk to hide the wistful twinge he couldn't help feeling at the thought of the girl who'd traveled with them both. Both of them were different men back then: Jack was younger and more wily even than now, and he was a bit tougher and more cynical, but somehow, neither of them had changed.
"Like Vicky would admit she got the phrase from a pretty chavette," Jack said, grinning. "Anyway, she's looking at me like she's not sure where not to look. Or where to look, as the case might be, so I say, 'You want me to let got the diamond or the branch, 'cause I can heal, while the diamond's gonna go ker-smash, 'cause it ain't really yer pretty rock' --"
The attention of the cafe patrons around them shifted from Jack's racy story to the doors leading to the main companionway of the space station. Marching footsteps echoed behind them. Then they crashed open, admitting three massive figures, well over two metres tall, clad in studded black leather armor, blocky black helmets covering their vast heads.
"Security guards need some fashion tips," Jack remarked, with a smirk.
The leader removed his helmet, revealing a rhinoceroid head. The alien scanned the room, taking it all in before the being's yellow eyes honed in on Jack, as if glaring at him could vaporize the ex-Time Agent.
"Ro ho flo jo cro no mo ko assa-gassa-mosso-jo," the Judoon trooper barked. Then switching to Earth English, the alien continued, "By order of Galactic Council, Judoon present to execute extent warrant for Time Agent, Code Number Zero-Zero-Seven. Known alias: Captain Jack Harkness. Crime: Twenty counts of intergalactic confidence schemes. Fifty counts of intergalactic theft. Penalty: execution. Time of execution: Immediate."
The cheeky grin on Jack's face turned nervous. "Guess I'll have to save the ending for later: got some unfinished business to clear up first," he said, slipping off his chair and bolting for the rear door. The Doctor bolted after him, dodging fire from the Judoon's blasters, and trying to keep pace with Jack.
The Doctor felt a bolt clip the hem of his coat, nearly brushing his ankle. The same bolt nearly clipped Jack's heel, making him yelp and he barreled around a corner, the Doctor on his heels, the Judoon thundering after them.
They reached the nook where the Doctor had parked the TARDIS earlier, a gap between two trade booths, Jack running flat out, the Doctor close behind him.
It all seemed to happen in slow motion: Two bolts from the Judoons' blasters honing in on Jack's shoulders like tracer bullets. Two holes burning through the fabric of his coat -- one between his shoulders and one in his hip -- and into his flesh. Jack falling flat on his face, sprawling on the decking, inches from the door. The Doctor lunged past him, bulling the door open with his shoulder, before turning and grabbing Jack's body by the shoulders. He hauled the body over the threshold and kicked the door shut behind them.
Lunging for the console, the Doctor keyed the TARDIS into the time vortex, no time or place specified, the better to flee their pursuers. More bolts slammed into the door, but if the hordes of Genghis Khan couldn't make it through, neither could Judoon. The vortex generators snarled and ground into action as the console glowed like a reassuring beacon.
The bolts thudding against the door stopped, signaling that the TARDIS and its occupants had dematerialized.
"We made it, Jack! Can't execute that warrant if they can't find us," the Doctor crowed. "Judoon. All that bone on their heads leaves them no room for thinking, much less thinking outside -- or inside -- the box."
He turned toward Jack, who still lay prone on the floor. The Doctor felt his hearts still hammering in his chest. For anyone else, his hearts would be sinking, knowing the injured companion was gone, that they had slipped through his fingers. But this was Jack, this was the companion Rose had brought back when she took the essence of the Time Vortex into herself. The man who became a pure fact, a fixed point in time.
Sliding over to the prone figure, he slipped an arm under Jack's head, his knees under the human's torso, cradling him. Maybe this was the end of the road, maybe his friend would at last have the release he desired. Someone long ago had told him that if you really loved someone or something, that you let them go when they needed to go. Perhaps this was the time to let Jack go...
Except it wasn't. He would find a way to make his friend normal again, but this wasn't it, this wasn't the time for it to happen. This wasn't the way for someone as madcap as Jack to go, shot down for some foolishness he'd gotten into that might not have happened yet. He'd travelled with many companions over the years, but Jack was and would be the one who could share those years, one who could match his own near-immortality, and yet stay the same -- aside from the odd grey hair or smile line added to the corners of his eyes. Someone who could remember who he was and had been and remind him of where he had come from and where he had been.
Leave to Jack to get them into a situation that required a hairs breadth escape, and they needed more of those: kept the blood pumping and the running was good for them both, remind them both they were alive and still had reasons to keep travelling: sights to see, adventures to be had. Though no doubt, Jack could think of other, less public ways to get the Doctor's hearts racing.
Reasons he might have been denying himself for too long. He had had a spouse once, long ago, when he had been on his first form and the TARDIS was his first companion. Why not let himself be that close to someone again, and let that someone be the irrepressible, irresistably charming man lying in his arms. Maybe it was time he laid there in a different way, one that his friend Siegmund would have called "life-affirming".
"Come on, Jack, the road's not over yet," the Doctor coaxed. "We were stopped over on the way to New Venus: You were going to show me that half-grav cabaret you used run with back in the day. We were trying to get those two years of your memories back. You've that story about the fake Koh-i-Noor that you'd been telling me...
"Come on, you heartbreaker, you're breaking both of mine."
Jack arched his back, gasping loudly, as his eyes fluttered open. "Ugh, how long was I out?" he asked, his hand going to his hip, fingering the hole in his clothes and the healed flesh underneath.
"Long enough to make me wonder if this was it," the Doctor said. "What'd you get yourself into this time? No, wait, don't ask: knowin' you, it's someone's spouse who hired those Judoon, pulled some strings with the Galactic Council to make it all legal."
"Judoon must be slipping, if they set their blasters to Make a Hole in a Man's Coat, instead of Make a Man Into Black Confetti," Jack said, sitting up, slipping off his coat and unbuttoning his shirt. "Either that or I really am strong enough to take 'em on."
"Wait, what are you doin', defabricating here? In my TARDIS?" the Doctor asked, his voice turning into a squeak as he tried to sound firm, but ended up sounding more amused.
"Care to help me find a fresh change of clothes in her vast wardrobe?" Jack asked, stripping off his shirt and unbuttoning his trews. "Along with a coat that doesn't look like a honeycomb."
The Doctor let himself grin from ear to ear and taking Jack by the hand, lead the way to the wardrobe....
Author:
matrixrefugeeRating: PG-13
Pairing(s): Tenth Doctor/Jack
Spoilers/warnings: Mild violence and Jack being Jack...
Summary: Written for the prompt "Doctor holds Jack after Jack has died, waiting for him to revive and examining his feeling for the immortal". When the Judoon execute an outstanding warrant on a certain time-travelling former con man, the Doctor has a moment when he realizes what life without him might be like. (Title shamelessly stolen from Alicia Keyes's "Another Way to Die") Written for "wintercompanion"'s Doctor/Jack fic exchange
"So there I was, hanging onto the branch with one hand, holding the Koh-i-Noor in the other, and my own family jewels were there on display. Of course Queen Vicky was 'not amused'," Jack related, half the customers in the cafe of the main space station off Rigel now cocking an ear to his chatter, the other half paying him no mind.
"Got that phrase from Rose, I'll have you to know," the Doctor put in, with a hint of a smirk to hide the wistful twinge he couldn't help feeling at the thought of the girl who'd traveled with them both. Both of them were different men back then: Jack was younger and more wily even than now, and he was a bit tougher and more cynical, but somehow, neither of them had changed.
"Like Vicky would admit she got the phrase from a pretty chavette," Jack said, grinning. "Anyway, she's looking at me like she's not sure where not to look. Or where to look, as the case might be, so I say, 'You want me to let got the diamond or the branch, 'cause I can heal, while the diamond's gonna go ker-smash, 'cause it ain't really yer pretty rock' --"
The attention of the cafe patrons around them shifted from Jack's racy story to the doors leading to the main companionway of the space station. Marching footsteps echoed behind them. Then they crashed open, admitting three massive figures, well over two metres tall, clad in studded black leather armor, blocky black helmets covering their vast heads.
"Security guards need some fashion tips," Jack remarked, with a smirk.
The leader removed his helmet, revealing a rhinoceroid head. The alien scanned the room, taking it all in before the being's yellow eyes honed in on Jack, as if glaring at him could vaporize the ex-Time Agent.
"Ro ho flo jo cro no mo ko assa-gassa-mosso-jo," the Judoon trooper barked. Then switching to Earth English, the alien continued, "By order of Galactic Council, Judoon present to execute extent warrant for Time Agent, Code Number Zero-Zero-Seven. Known alias: Captain Jack Harkness. Crime: Twenty counts of intergalactic confidence schemes. Fifty counts of intergalactic theft. Penalty: execution. Time of execution: Immediate."
The cheeky grin on Jack's face turned nervous. "Guess I'll have to save the ending for later: got some unfinished business to clear up first," he said, slipping off his chair and bolting for the rear door. The Doctor bolted after him, dodging fire from the Judoon's blasters, and trying to keep pace with Jack.
The Doctor felt a bolt clip the hem of his coat, nearly brushing his ankle. The same bolt nearly clipped Jack's heel, making him yelp and he barreled around a corner, the Doctor on his heels, the Judoon thundering after them.
They reached the nook where the Doctor had parked the TARDIS earlier, a gap between two trade booths, Jack running flat out, the Doctor close behind him.
It all seemed to happen in slow motion: Two bolts from the Judoons' blasters honing in on Jack's shoulders like tracer bullets. Two holes burning through the fabric of his coat -- one between his shoulders and one in his hip -- and into his flesh. Jack falling flat on his face, sprawling on the decking, inches from the door. The Doctor lunged past him, bulling the door open with his shoulder, before turning and grabbing Jack's body by the shoulders. He hauled the body over the threshold and kicked the door shut behind them.
Lunging for the console, the Doctor keyed the TARDIS into the time vortex, no time or place specified, the better to flee their pursuers. More bolts slammed into the door, but if the hordes of Genghis Khan couldn't make it through, neither could Judoon. The vortex generators snarled and ground into action as the console glowed like a reassuring beacon.
The bolts thudding against the door stopped, signaling that the TARDIS and its occupants had dematerialized.
"We made it, Jack! Can't execute that warrant if they can't find us," the Doctor crowed. "Judoon. All that bone on their heads leaves them no room for thinking, much less thinking outside -- or inside -- the box."
He turned toward Jack, who still lay prone on the floor. The Doctor felt his hearts still hammering in his chest. For anyone else, his hearts would be sinking, knowing the injured companion was gone, that they had slipped through his fingers. But this was Jack, this was the companion Rose had brought back when she took the essence of the Time Vortex into herself. The man who became a pure fact, a fixed point in time.
Sliding over to the prone figure, he slipped an arm under Jack's head, his knees under the human's torso, cradling him. Maybe this was the end of the road, maybe his friend would at last have the release he desired. Someone long ago had told him that if you really loved someone or something, that you let them go when they needed to go. Perhaps this was the time to let Jack go...
Except it wasn't. He would find a way to make his friend normal again, but this wasn't it, this wasn't the time for it to happen. This wasn't the way for someone as madcap as Jack to go, shot down for some foolishness he'd gotten into that might not have happened yet. He'd travelled with many companions over the years, but Jack was and would be the one who could share those years, one who could match his own near-immortality, and yet stay the same -- aside from the odd grey hair or smile line added to the corners of his eyes. Someone who could remember who he was and had been and remind him of where he had come from and where he had been.
Leave to Jack to get them into a situation that required a hairs breadth escape, and they needed more of those: kept the blood pumping and the running was good for them both, remind them both they were alive and still had reasons to keep travelling: sights to see, adventures to be had. Though no doubt, Jack could think of other, less public ways to get the Doctor's hearts racing.
Reasons he might have been denying himself for too long. He had had a spouse once, long ago, when he had been on his first form and the TARDIS was his first companion. Why not let himself be that close to someone again, and let that someone be the irrepressible, irresistably charming man lying in his arms. Maybe it was time he laid there in a different way, one that his friend Siegmund would have called "life-affirming".
"Come on, Jack, the road's not over yet," the Doctor coaxed. "We were stopped over on the way to New Venus: You were going to show me that half-grav cabaret you used run with back in the day. We were trying to get those two years of your memories back. You've that story about the fake Koh-i-Noor that you'd been telling me...
"Come on, you heartbreaker, you're breaking both of mine."
Jack arched his back, gasping loudly, as his eyes fluttered open. "Ugh, how long was I out?" he asked, his hand going to his hip, fingering the hole in his clothes and the healed flesh underneath.
"Long enough to make me wonder if this was it," the Doctor said. "What'd you get yourself into this time? No, wait, don't ask: knowin' you, it's someone's spouse who hired those Judoon, pulled some strings with the Galactic Council to make it all legal."
"Judoon must be slipping, if they set their blasters to Make a Hole in a Man's Coat, instead of Make a Man Into Black Confetti," Jack said, sitting up, slipping off his coat and unbuttoning his shirt. "Either that or I really am strong enough to take 'em on."
"Wait, what are you doin', defabricating here? In my TARDIS?" the Doctor asked, his voice turning into a squeak as he tried to sound firm, but ended up sounding more amused.
"Care to help me find a fresh change of clothes in her vast wardrobe?" Jack asked, stripping off his shirt and unbuttoning his trews. "Along with a coat that doesn't look like a honeycomb."
The Doctor let himself grin from ear to ear and taking Jack by the hand, lead the way to the wardrobe....
