Before His Time 2/3
Story: Before His Time
Author: WMR
Rated: PG
Characters: Nine, Rose, Jack, brief appearance by Ten
Spoilers: All the way to TCI
Summary: After being left on Satellite Five, Jack tries to track his former companions down. Finally, he thinks he's found them... but all is not as he assumes.
Chapter 1: Familiar Strangers
Chapter 2: Testing Times
He’s being tested.
No surprise there. Should have expected it, in fact - that’s the Doctor all over. Suspicious to a fault. Yet, paradoxically, incredibly trusting sometimes. Just not this time.
This is hardly a difficult test, though. Unless, of course, the Doctor is conspiring with his TARDIS against him.
But he’s not. It’s a straightforward walk to the kitchen, with the other two following him. Once there, he gets the impression that he’s expected to make tea, so he does what’s needed. A couple of things aren’t in the same place as he expects them to be, but it’s not hard to find them.
While he works, Rose and the Doctor just watch, the Doctor leaning up against the wall next to the door and Rose perched on the table. Neither of them say a word.
So he doesn’t talk, either, until the drinks are made and he’s carrying them to the table. “Milk and two sugars for you, Doctor,” he comments, putting one mug down. “And just milk for you, Rose.”
“Not bad,” Rose says. And she gives him an impish smile. “Either you’ve been spying on us, or you do know us.”
He shrugs. “Made you a morning cuppa almost every day for three months, so it’s not hard to remember.” It hurts, though, that she doubts him. Even if he can understand it. Even if he would doubt him in this situation.
“So, Jack Harkness,” the Doctor says, strolling over to the table, “what do you know about me?”
He pulls a chair out, turns it around and straddles it backwards. The Doctor sits normally, leans his elbows on the table, and waits.
“Time Lord,” Jack says briefly. “Last of ‘em.”
A single raised eyebrow is his only response.
“You want more?” He rests his arms on the chair-back and considers. “You’re over nine hundred years old. You’re from a planet that no longer exists.” And he holds his breath after that one, remembering again that this is an earlier Doctor. A Doctor whose scars are fresher.
But the Doctor merely inclines his head. “Not many people know that, true.”
“When you first met Rose she saved your life. Though you saved hers first.”
“Yep,” Rose says.
He looks from one to the other. “There’s more I could tell you, but I don’t want to risk mentioning anything that hasn’t happened to you yet.”
“True,” the Doctor says with a nod. “Okay. We just saved the Earth from destruction by a Raxacoricofallipatorian family.”
“The Slitheen,” he says with a definitive nod. “They wanted to reduce the Earth to a radioactive slag-heap. And you stopped them with a missile guided by Rose’s - ” He hesitates. Is Mickey still her boyfriend at this point? “By Mickey,” he amends. “Aimed right at Ten Downing Street, with you guys inside.” He stops himself before he can go on to mention Margaret Blaine - or Blon Felfax Slitheen - in particular.
“Yeah, another escape by the skin of our teeth.” Rose grins, catching the Doctor’s eye. The Doctor looks back at her, returning her grin with one of his own. The private moment between them is so familiar - and painful, knowing these aren’t his Doctor and Rose. He actually catches his breath.
The Doctor turns to him and gives him an appraising look. “All right, Jack Harkness, I believe you.”
“Me too,” Rose says. And, to his surprise, she reaches out and lays her hand on his forearm. The gesture almost brings a lump to his throat. He can barely look at her to nod his thanks.
So close, and yet so far.
“I’m sorry we’re not the ones you’re looking for.” That’s the Doctor, and it takes him completely by surprise.
“Not your fault,” he says, and he can hear the heaviness in his voice. “God, I really thought I’d done it at last, though. Have you any idea how difficult you are to track?”
“Yes, actually.” The Doctor smiles at that, one of his ‘I’m-so-brilliant’ smiles that’s so familiar to Jack. “Only another Time Lord could track a TARDIS. And since there aren’t any of them around any more except me...” He smiles almost ferally. “No-one can. Well,” he adds, “except me, of course. I can track myself.”
Jack can see what’s coming. “Doctor, you can’t go into your own future - ”
“Why not?” The Time Lord spreads his hands wide. “Done it before. I can do it again.”
“And what if you find out something about your own future?”
“Again, I’ve done it before. Lived to tell the tale, too.”
Maybe he has. He is a Time Lord, after all. But what if seeing his future changes the future? And something worse happens?
He can’t tell the Doctor anything about the Game Station. Or the Daleks.
The Doctor’s standing suddenly. And a hand claps him on the shoulder. It almost feels affectionate. “Come on, Jack Harkness. Gonna see how much else about the TARDIS you remember.”
He stands, ready to follow the Doctor. Rose stands too, but then the Doctor’s laying a hand on her shoulder. “Not you, Rose.”
Right. Only to be expected. The Doctor wants to talk to him alone. No doubt thinks that he’ll be more likely to talk without Rose around.
She gives him a questioning look. Jack can see she’s ready to protest.
“Do this for me, Rose,” the Doctor says quietly. “We won’t be long.”
*******
He believes Harkness. Believed him, actually, before he started his little question-and-answer session, but he’d suspected that Rose was still a bit suspicious. Plus, Harkness no doubt knows him - the future him - well enough to expect more of a challenge than he’d given the man so far.
But it’s clear enough. At some point in their future - probably the not-too-distant future, since Jack hasn’t seemed to notice any change in Rose, and humans do have a tendency to change over comparatively short periods of time - they will meet Jack Harkness again. For what should be the first time. And they will invite him to travel with them. Or he’ll end up travelling with them through some sort of accident - that’s nothing unusual. In fact, that’s been more commonly how he’s acquired his travelling companions. Rose is a rarity in that respect.
He takes Harkness into the TARDIS library. It’s quiet, it’s far enough away from the kitchen and Rose’s bedroom that they won’t be overheard, and it’s comfortable. It suits his purposes. Because, if Harkness is going to be persuaded to say more, and he mentions anything about their future, he doesn’t want Rose to hear it.
Harkness looks around in the manner of a man who’s been here before. “Doesn’t look any different,” he comments.
“Has in the past,” he says. He wonders briefly whether Jack knows about regeneration; if so, then he could elaborate. But it’s unlikely. He doesn’t tend to talk about things like that unless it becomes essential. Though, of course, the man was a Time Agent. So maybe he knows anyway.
Not that that matters.
“So, Jack,” he says, getting down to business. “You want to get back to the future Rose and me. An’ I’m willing to help you. But unless you start helping me I can’t do it.”
“I know.” Harkness blows out a breath. “And I’m grateful that you’re willing to help, Doctor. But I don’t see how I can tell you what you need to know without giving away your future. And, believe me, it’s something you can’t know about. Not before it happens. But I can’t stay here either, even assuming you’d be willing to let me. I know too much about your future, and that’s dangerous. As hard as I try, something’s bound to slip.”
He studies the other man for a few moments. Young - well, older than Rose, of course, but so very young compared to himself. Late thirties, at a guess. Certainly handsome. No doubt Rose had liked that. Or will like it, to be strictly accurate from his perspective as opposed to Jack’s. Fit, probably athletic, no doubt handy in a fight. Looks a bit like he wouldn’t appreciate getting his hair or clothes messed up, but that’s probably not accurate. There’s something about his eyes... something that suggests he’s been through some very tough times. He’s not pampered. Hasn’t had it easy.
A former Time Agent. So he knows about time travel, will have done some space travel. A useful bloke to have around, probably, in that case. Maybe that’s why he let him stay.
Though the way Harkness had greeted him outside the TARDIS suggests that it was - or will be - more than a relationship of convenience. He acted as if they were friends. Close. He’d expected that the embrace would be welcomed, and returned.
So, someone who will be a good friend, by the look of things. No doubt trusted, cared about. Harkness had been very sincere, very definite in his insistence that he wouldn’t have been left behind deliberately.
And he believes it. He doesn’t actually do stuff like that, of course. Finds it difficult to believe, too, that he’d have left thinking Jack dead but without retrieving his body. If Jack was a friend, a fellow traveller in the TARDIS, then he would consider it his responsibility to bring his body... well, to wherever it should have its final resting-place.
There had to be a good reason. Well, will be a good reason. Because it’s just not something he would do. Unless, of course, as Jack said, he was sick or dying or something like that.
Well, he will find out in the course of time. As with most things.
“You’re right, of course. You can’t stay.” The Doctor nods. “You might already have said too much.” He folds his arms, looking thoughtful. “So, something dangerous. Not that that’s anything new to any of us, of course,” he observes with a grin.
“Nah.” And Jack grins in return, the most lighthearted expression he’s seen on the man’s face yet.
Then he sobers. “Yes, dangerous - but worse, Doctor. Maybe not the worst you’ve ever faced, but not far off.” A wary expression flits across his face then, and he turns away.
Clearly, he’s revealed more than he wanted to.
And that’s interesting. Worrying.
Because the worst he’s ever faced is undoubtedly the Time War. And it’s obvious that Jack knows about that. So he wouldn’t say something like that unless this - what he’s come from, what split them up - was really bad.
He’s faced terrible enemies in his past. The Daleks, of course. Cybermen. Silurians and Sontarans. Even the Master and the Rani, come to that.
If Jack is saying this - whatever he will face in his future, when he leaves Jack behind - is not far off the worst he’s ever faced, it’s bad indeed.
“Right,” he says, and it’s businesslike. Jack has a point. He can’t know about this, because whatever good intentions he might have he could still mess up the timeline. Things could end up changing as a result - perhaps, even, this man, this friend from the future who seems to care so much about both of them, could end up really dead, instead of just believed dead.
“You don’t need to tell me anything about what happens in my future,” he tells Jack. “Just tell me where and when I was. Will be.” He waves a hand in a kind of shrug. “You know what I mean. And I can find the me you were with.”
Jack hesitates. “Even telling you that much...”
“Been all over the place, me. Chances are I’ve been there before.”
Jack frowns. “You’d been there at least once before. I remember you said that.”
“So, no harm telling me, then.”
The other man grimaces. “Look, maybe if you just take me back to where I was before I teleported here...”
“Then you’ll be no further forward. An’ with nothing to help you find us. I can help you, Jack Harkness. And if you’ve known me you know that I wouldn’t suggest doing something that could be disastrous. Would I?”
A grin creases Jack’s face. “Actually, Doctor, that’s exactly what you would do.”
And he has to grin in return. Because Harkness is right. Reckless has, on occasion, been his middle name.
“Well, all right, maybe sometimes. But I do tend to know what I’m doing.”
“You do. And there’s no-one I trust more.”
“Then trust me now.”
Jack seems to consider this for a few moments. Then he takes a deep breath, which is apparently decisive. Then he lists off a date, a location and some other identifying co-ordinates.
“Thank you.” He nods, then heads for the door. “Should be able to get you to your destination in a couple of hours, as long as the tracking capacitor does its job. I’ll have to make a couple of modifications to the console first, though - that’s why it’ll take time.”
“Modifications?” Jack looks interested. “Anything I can help with?”
Surprised, he gives the man a questioning look. “I take it you’ve worked on the TARDIS, then?”
Jack nods. “I’m good with machinery. Electronics. It took you a while, but you trusted me to help you with repairs - even to work on things on my own, after a while.”
And that’s very surprising. This is his TARDIS, after all. Nobody messes with his ship without his permission, and very few with. The TARDIS herself doesn’t like other people mucking about with her.
If the two of them trusted Jack, then he must be something special. And not just in terms of his ability with machinery.
So he nods. “Okay. Come and show me what you can do.”
*******
So, they really will meet Jack in their future. She wonders when it will happen - how far into the future. Weeks? Months? Probably not years. She’d look younger to him if that was the case.
And she was right. Losing them has been painful for him. She saw that when he talked about how hard he’d searched and admitted it was disappointing to realise he hadn’t succeeded. Hadn’t found them in the right time.
Impulse had led her to lay her hand on his arm. She’d just felt he needed it. And the brief, grateful glance he’d given her told her she’d been right.
She doesn’t mind too much that the Doctor’s taken Jack off to talk to him alone. It’s obvious that there’s stuff he knows about which could be very dangerous if they accidentally find out about it. Even worse, there’s stuff in their future which... She grimaces. Which isn’t good.
God. She doesn’t die or anything, does she? Or the Doctor? God, no, not the Doctor...
But Jack had been looking for the two of them. So that’s okay, then. They both have to be alive.
Whatever happens, then, it’s not that bad. They can cope with anything as long as they’re alive and together.
Except they’re not together, are they? Because Jack’s got separated. And she can’t imagine that he’d be that desperate to find them, would look that devastated at being separated from them, if they didn’t care about him, too.
There are voices in the hallway now. It sounds like they’ve finished whatever private conversation the Doctor wanted. She wanders out to join them, only thinking as she does that maybe the Doctor wants to keep her away from Jack. In case Jack might say the wrong thing and reveal stuff she shouldn’t know about.
But she gets a warm smile when she reappears. “We’re going to take Jack back to where he should be, Rose.” And the Doctor claps the other man on the shoulder.
“Oh, good!” And she smiles. She’s glad they can help him.
So, they’re going to find themselves in the future? That sounds fascinating to her. She wonders if she’ll get to see herself. If she’ll look all that different.
“What’s the plan, Doctor?” Jack asks as they enter the console room.
“We track the other TARDIS, and materialise inside it.” The Doctor grins, as if expecting major congratulations for such a brilliant plan.
“You can do that?” Jack frowns.
“It’s not easy. But then, when you’ve got someone as brilliant as me...”
“Yeah, yeah.” Jack rolls his eyes. “Heard that one before, Doctor. Lots of times.”
“But I am brilliant!” the Doctor insists.
“You are.” Jack smiles, but it looks like a fondly reminiscent smile. He’s thinking again of the future them, not the two of them right here with them. But that’s hardly surprising. They don’t know him. He’s a stranger to them.
A stranger, true, but already she thinks she likes him. Can understand how they might have become close.
“Jack.” She has to ask him, even though the Doctor will probably growl at her. She knows already, from what he’s said, from the way he looks at them, but she wants to hear him say it. “We’re good friends, right? When you know us?”
The Doctor’s eyes narrow, but he doesn’t say anything.
The expression in Jack’s eyes is distant. “Yeah,” he says quietly. “The best, Rose. The kind of friends a guy would be willing to die for,” he finishes, so softly she barely hears him.
And she sees the Doctor look up sharply at that.
The penny drops. Jack said they - the they he got separated from - thought he was dead. Could that be how? Because he did something very brave? Sacrificed himself for them? Or was willing to?
But he says nothing more. Instead, he strides up to the console platform, clearly intending to help with whatever the Doctor has to do to track the other TARDIS. And, within seconds, the two of them are poking around in the innards of the console.
And that’s surprising. That the Doctor is actually trusting someone anywhere near the workings of his - as he’d put it to Mickey - frankly magnificent TARDIS.
It’s a revelation, seeing the two of them working together. At first, the Doctor is watchful, supervising Jack’s every move, repeating instructions slowly, carefully, pedantically. But then, as the visitor seems to prove himself, the Doctor lets him be, and even asks his advice a few times. Though she suspects that at least some of those times are tests. To see if he really knows as much as he seems to.
But they work well together, and she senses that the Doctor will like having Jack around. Even if there’s some element of edginess there in their relationship. It’s hard to spot, but she’s noticed a couple of signs. A faint twitch in the Doctor’s expression any time Jack mentions her, especially in the context of doing things with her. Not that he says anything specific; he’s being very careful not to mention anything about their future. But general mentions of spending time with her.
There are hints of irritation, too, when Jack mentions his Time Agency past; she wonders whether that’s from a dislike of the Agency or whether he’s feeling just a tiny bit threatened by suddenly not being the only experienced time-traveller around the place.
Well, it looks like things will be interesting when Jack joins them. She grins. When added to the fact that he’s certainly easy on the eye, this could be fun.
*******
It’s so familiar, yet so different.
Working with the Doctor in the bowels of the TARDIS, with Rose leaning against the console rail watching them and making smart remarks that bait the Doctor, making him growl and interrupt his activities to retaliate. It’s just so painfully familiar, yet it’s not the same. These aren’t his Doctor and Rose. He’s not part of their comfortable partnership. They’re being kind by not making him feel too left out, but he doesn’t belong here. And they don’t want him here. They’re still new enough at this to want to be alone together.
Well, he won’t be here much longer. If the Doctor succeeds in what he’s trying to do, and the Time Lord is irritatingly confident that he will, he’ll be gone in less than half an hour.
He’ll be back with his friends, his family, in less than half an hour.
The excitement is building, though after his disappointment earlier he’s trying not to let it take over too much. Sure, he’s got a Time Lord and a TARDIS on his side. But life, he’s learned, has a habit of delivering hard knocks, especially when you least want them.
And then the Doctor straightens and brushes off his hands. “Finished!” And he grins. “Now, all I have to do is feed in the coordinates and, Jack Harkness, you’ll be back where you belong. I’m just so impressive, I am.”
“Yeah, Doctor,” Rose says, and rolls her eyes.
But he is. He knows it, and he knows that Rose does too.
And things are definitely looking more positive.
“Right. Found them. We’re tracking their path now,” the Doctor announces a few minutes later. “Hold on... What’s going on here, then?” He peers at the monitor. “Strange. Definitely shouldn’t be doing that... Oh, never mind. Seems fine now.” And he looks up, gives Jack a lightning smile, then studies the console again. “All right. Materialising in fifteen seconds.”
“Well, looks like I’ll be out of your way very soon, then.” He gives the Doctor a grateful smile, one he really means. “I appreciate this, more than I can say.”
“Least I can do.” The Doctor shrugs, shoving his hands in the pockets of that ubiquitous leather jacket. “I left you behind, after all.”
“Yeah, though, like I said, I think you thought I was dead.”
“Still.” Typical of the Time Lord. Always taking responsibility for things, even when it’s something he couldn’t possibly have helped.
It occurs to him now, as he gets ready to say goodbye to these earlier versions of the two people he loves, that the next time they see him he’ll be trying to con them.
God. He can imagine what they’ll think of him then. He’s just spent the last few hours giving them the impression that the three of them are the closest of friends and that he’s cared about and respected by both of them. And, in a couple of months’ time, they’ll meet a conman masquerading as an RAF officer, who almost manages to destroy the population of the Earth.
It still amazes him that the Doctor allowed him to stay after that. That the Doctor even rescued him from his doomed ship in the first place.
And then the answer occurs to him. Was it because they’d met him already? That they knew something of what he could be? That they believed him when he told them of their future relationship? Was that why he was allowed to stay? It’s something he’s always wondered about, but the Doctor always evaded the question. Came up with one half-baked excuse after another. But this makes a lot of sense.
Now, he’s tempted to say something. To warn them. Let them know that the next time they see him they’ll have good grounds to believe him a total idiot and a waste of clean air. To ask them to give him a chance, let him prove himself.
But he can’t. He knows the dangers inherent in discussing the future with people who haven’t seen it yet. One tiny change now could result in catastrophic alterations to the future.
So he’ll just have to let it go, and hope that they won’t think too badly of him.
The materialisation sequence begins, and the Doctor turns to Rose. “You better get out the way. Believe me, you don’t want to know what happens if you accidentally meet yourself.”
Rose looks intrigued and a little disappointed, but obligingly shifts away from the console rail. “S’pose this is goodbye for now,” she says, smiling just a little hesitantly at Jack.
“Yeah.” His smile in return is equally hesitant. Oh, he knows exactly how he’d say goodbye to her if she were his Rose. A hug. Definitely a tight, warm hug. And, if he dared - and he’s dared in front of the Doctor once before, though the circumstances were different - a kiss.
But this is different. So he holds out his hand.
She ignores it, stepping closer and reaching up to kiss his cheek. “See you soon, Jack,” she says as she moves back.
“You bet,” he promises.
And then she’s gone, heading towards the door leading out of the console room.
The Doctor is walking in his direction, too. “Everything’s set. The TARDIS will finish materialising and the doors will open automatically,” he says. “I’m getting out the way too - not that I haven’t met myself before now, but best not to take chances.”
“Right,” Jack agrees. This farewell is easier. He extends his hand, expecting that this time it will be taken.
It is, but the Doctor also presses his hand to Jack’s shoulder as he moves past. He doesn’t say goodbye.
*******
tbc
x-posted to time_and_chips