Torchwood/Doctor Who - fic - So Much Younger Than Today
smithy161 is hosting a Jack/himself fest, here - http://community.livejournal.com/thewordsmithery/22572.html
Title - So Much Younger Than Today
Author - laurab1
Pairings/Characters - Jack/TARDISes, Jack/himself, TW3
Rating & Warnings - 12, angst and language
Length - 1251 words
Spoilers - TW: 1.1 Everything Changes, DW: 1.8 Father’s Day, 1.11 Boom Town to 1.13 Parting of the Ways, 3.11 Utopia
Summary - ...the TARDIS, he just plain misses. His younger self, he thinks he needs to reassure. Whether that’ll be all he does is another matter.
Note - I'm going with Ten being an unreliable narrator about the TARDIS not loving Jack anymore
Disclaimer - alas, none of these people are mine
Feedback is loved and appreciated :) Enjoy!
There's some art to go with this, over here - http://laurab1.livejournal.com/221555.html
So Much Younger Than Today
by Laura
When his younger self, the Doctor, Rose and the TARDIS are due to arrive on the Rift, Jack avoids all the possible complications and questions from his team by dispatching Suzie, Owen and Tosh off to a training course at Torchwood One.
Psychic training, which Owen elegantly dismisses as “complete bollocks.”
“You never know, you might find you can kill an alien with your brain, Owen,” Jack tells him, only to be met with a v-sign and a snort.
“Yeah, yeah, Harkness.” Owen leaves Jack’s office and returns to his own desk.
Jack sighs and whispers to his girls, “Keep him in line, please.”
“Of course,” Suzie says, Tosh nodding in agreement.
“Thanks. The last thing I need is Yvonne yelling at me, for yet another supposedly stupid thing Owen’s done.”
***
The day they come to Cardiff, Jack ensures the CCTV is working, but not recording. No action, nothing to wipe; easy as that.
It’s kinda weird, watching the Doctor, Rose, Mickey and himself exit the TARDIS. He makes that “whatever” sign to Mickey’s “innuendo squad” line, the Doctor explains why people will ignore the TARDIS and the four of them go to the café. Later, they return, the Slitheen in tow. Rose and Mickey then go off together, and the Doctor takes his prisoner to dinner.
With his younger self the sole occupant of the TARDIS, Jack decides the time is right to pay a visit to the two of them.
He’s watched Rose grow up, visiting her estate a couple of times in the Nineties, the Doctor, he doesn’t know if he wants to actually see in the flesh, but the TARDIS, he just plain misses. His younger self, he thinks he needs to reassure. Whether that’ll be all he does is another matter. Grabbing his greatcoat, keys and a few other supplies, Jack secures and exits the Hub.
***
Key, lock, easy combination. Maybe. When he’s finally fought his way into the TARDIS, as quietly as he possibly could, Jack heads straight for the nearest coral strut and runs his hand over it. “Hi, beautiful,” he whispers.
Despite the work his younger self is doing, she rushes into his mind so fast it makes him physically gasp.
“Whoa, sweetheart. I know you’re not really that kinda girl,” Jack says, calming himself, laughing a little, and then promptly earning himself what is quite clearly an eyeroll.
“Yeah, I missed you, too,” he tells the ship, at the next feeling she transmits to him. That’s followed by her scolding him for being there; Jack feels so very small and a little guilty.
It’s at that point that his younger, t-shirt wearing self looks up from connecting the extrapolator and notices him. “You shouldn’t be here," he immediately says, wandering over to him. “Time lines? Remember them?”
“Yeah. I know. But I couldn’t resist seeing inside her again,” Jack replies. If he was less on edge, there’d have been some of his usual charm and swagger.
“How long’s it been?” his younger self asks, after a minute.
Nearly one hundred and forty years. But there’s no way he can tell the guy that, so he just has to settle for, “Too long. Far too long.”
Any minute now, the extrapolator and the TARDIS are going to start sparking, the Rift’s going to open and everything’s pretty much going to go to hell. He needs to leave, before the Doctor comes back and asks him questions he can’t answer.
He gets a nod, in some kind of sympathy and acknowledgement. “You gonna make me forget about this?” the kid then asks.
“I was,” Jack admits.
“Well, that’s kinda good, I guess,” the younger him says, laughing bitterly.
Time for the reassurance, then. His usual way, of course. Jack grabs his younger self’s hand, dragging him close and into a quick, but deep kiss. “I’ve gotta go,” he says, dropping the hand, pulling away.
“I thought touching another version of yourself was a major no-no,” the kid says.
“I can’t see any Reapers,” he replies. “And I’d love to see them try and get in here. She’s taking care of us, it’s fine.”
“She always does.”
“Yeah. Exactly.” He turns to leave, but he gets another question.
“How did you get here?”
“Cardiff?” he stalls, turning back.
“Yes.”
“I work here.” After a pause, he says, "Look after yourself, Jack, and them.”
“Always. They mean a hell of a lot to me.”
At the certainty and love in the guy’s eyes, Jack has to bite back a reply. Fortunately, within seconds, the alarms will start going off.
“I really must go, now. He can’t find me here, there’ll be hell to pay, otherwise.” But he can’t leave without giving the guy something. “Jack?”
“Yeah?”
“Something’s gonna happen, fairly soon, but you’re gonna be okay.”
“Kinda figured that, thanks,” he says, half smiling, looking him up and down.
“I guess you did,” Jack says, accompanied by sparks. “Go! Get fixing her!” he instructs.
“Yes, sir!”
Jack returns the vague salute he receives, and turns to leave the TARDIS. She manages to transmit her sadness, even with everything that’s happening to her. “I can’t be here, sweetheart.” Twisting the latch, he opens the door.
“You’ve got that younger version of me to look after. I’ll see you again when I’m meant to,” he says, running a hand over the blue wood. “But right now, after a drink, I need to check what our friend Margaret’s managed to inflict on us.” Jack looks up at the sky, at the open Rift, and then walks through the chaos and back to the Hub.
***
Back in his office, the Hub alarms finally silent, Jack pours himself another large whisky and runs a hand over his coral. He sips his drink. Based on the vague telepathic signals he sometimes receives from it, and the way it’s been growing, he’s long suspected it’s a baby TARDIS.
“It’s you and me, kid,” he says.
High up in the Hub, Myfanwy screams. “Okay, I hear you!” he yells back.
“Scrub that, it’s the three of us. Just as well the Doctor, Rose and I were in town. Not exactly a world-saving combination I’ve got here.” You did that to yourself, Jack, his subconscious tells him. Yeah, but it was the right thing to do, he returns. They couldn’t be here, I couldn’t risk it. Throwing back the last of his whisky, he gets up.
"Better check the computers and the cells, see what the Rift’s spat out at us. There might be something I can give Suzie, Owen and Tosh to compensate for sending them to London. Probably not, though,” he says, finishing with a slightly bitter laugh.
Walking to Tosh’s desk, he can just about hear the TARDIS dematerialising.
“Watch out Raxacoricofalapatorius. And Japan,” he breathes, sitting down, hitting a few keys. He doesn’t want to think beyond that.
Myfanwy flies past him, and out of the lift. “Don’t kill any sheep, like you did last time,” Jack shouts at her. “Took us weeks to clean up that mess.”
***
A hour later, the pterodactyl returns, screaming in greeting. “Could you keep it down, please?” Jack asks, looking up at her, still at Tosh’s desk. She then drops three very shiny items onto the floor beside him.
“What are these?” He picks them up, smiling. “I know exactly what they are. Andromedan shape-shifting toys will definitely make up for sending my people on that course. Now I’ve just gotta remember how they work.”
-end-
crosspost:
dwfiction
galactic_conman
new_who
torch_wood
torchwood_fic
http://community.livejournal.com/thewordsmithery/22572.html
Teaspoon
Title - So Much Younger Than Today
Author - laurab1
Pairings/Characters - Jack/TARDISes, Jack/himself, TW3
Rating & Warnings - 12, angst and language
Length - 1251 words
Spoilers - TW: 1.1 Everything Changes, DW: 1.8 Father’s Day, 1.11 Boom Town to 1.13 Parting of the Ways, 3.11 Utopia
Summary - ...the TARDIS, he just plain misses. His younger self, he thinks he needs to reassure. Whether that’ll be all he does is another matter.
Note - I'm going with Ten being an unreliable narrator about the TARDIS not loving Jack anymore
Disclaimer - alas, none of these people are mine
Feedback is loved and appreciated :) Enjoy!
There's some art to go with this, over here - http://laurab1.livejournal.com/221555.html
So Much Younger Than Today
by Laura
When his younger self, the Doctor, Rose and the TARDIS are due to arrive on the Rift, Jack avoids all the possible complications and questions from his team by dispatching Suzie, Owen and Tosh off to a training course at Torchwood One.
Psychic training, which Owen elegantly dismisses as “complete bollocks.”
“You never know, you might find you can kill an alien with your brain, Owen,” Jack tells him, only to be met with a v-sign and a snort.
“Yeah, yeah, Harkness.” Owen leaves Jack’s office and returns to his own desk.
Jack sighs and whispers to his girls, “Keep him in line, please.”
“Of course,” Suzie says, Tosh nodding in agreement.
“Thanks. The last thing I need is Yvonne yelling at me, for yet another supposedly stupid thing Owen’s done.”
***
The day they come to Cardiff, Jack ensures the CCTV is working, but not recording. No action, nothing to wipe; easy as that.
It’s kinda weird, watching the Doctor, Rose, Mickey and himself exit the TARDIS. He makes that “whatever” sign to Mickey’s “innuendo squad” line, the Doctor explains why people will ignore the TARDIS and the four of them go to the café. Later, they return, the Slitheen in tow. Rose and Mickey then go off together, and the Doctor takes his prisoner to dinner.
With his younger self the sole occupant of the TARDIS, Jack decides the time is right to pay a visit to the two of them.
He’s watched Rose grow up, visiting her estate a couple of times in the Nineties, the Doctor, he doesn’t know if he wants to actually see in the flesh, but the TARDIS, he just plain misses. His younger self, he thinks he needs to reassure. Whether that’ll be all he does is another matter. Grabbing his greatcoat, keys and a few other supplies, Jack secures and exits the Hub.
***
Key, lock, easy combination. Maybe. When he’s finally fought his way into the TARDIS, as quietly as he possibly could, Jack heads straight for the nearest coral strut and runs his hand over it. “Hi, beautiful,” he whispers.
Despite the work his younger self is doing, she rushes into his mind so fast it makes him physically gasp.
“Whoa, sweetheart. I know you’re not really that kinda girl,” Jack says, calming himself, laughing a little, and then promptly earning himself what is quite clearly an eyeroll.
“Yeah, I missed you, too,” he tells the ship, at the next feeling she transmits to him. That’s followed by her scolding him for being there; Jack feels so very small and a little guilty.
It’s at that point that his younger, t-shirt wearing self looks up from connecting the extrapolator and notices him. “You shouldn’t be here," he immediately says, wandering over to him. “Time lines? Remember them?”
“Yeah. I know. But I couldn’t resist seeing inside her again,” Jack replies. If he was less on edge, there’d have been some of his usual charm and swagger.
“How long’s it been?” his younger self asks, after a minute.
Nearly one hundred and forty years. But there’s no way he can tell the guy that, so he just has to settle for, “Too long. Far too long.”
Any minute now, the extrapolator and the TARDIS are going to start sparking, the Rift’s going to open and everything’s pretty much going to go to hell. He needs to leave, before the Doctor comes back and asks him questions he can’t answer.
He gets a nod, in some kind of sympathy and acknowledgement. “You gonna make me forget about this?” the kid then asks.
“I was,” Jack admits.
“Well, that’s kinda good, I guess,” the younger him says, laughing bitterly.
Time for the reassurance, then. His usual way, of course. Jack grabs his younger self’s hand, dragging him close and into a quick, but deep kiss. “I’ve gotta go,” he says, dropping the hand, pulling away.
“I thought touching another version of yourself was a major no-no,” the kid says.
“I can’t see any Reapers,” he replies. “And I’d love to see them try and get in here. She’s taking care of us, it’s fine.”
“She always does.”
“Yeah. Exactly.” He turns to leave, but he gets another question.
“How did you get here?”
“Cardiff?” he stalls, turning back.
“Yes.”
“I work here.” After a pause, he says, "Look after yourself, Jack, and them.”
“Always. They mean a hell of a lot to me.”
At the certainty and love in the guy’s eyes, Jack has to bite back a reply. Fortunately, within seconds, the alarms will start going off.
“I really must go, now. He can’t find me here, there’ll be hell to pay, otherwise.” But he can’t leave without giving the guy something. “Jack?”
“Yeah?”
“Something’s gonna happen, fairly soon, but you’re gonna be okay.”
“Kinda figured that, thanks,” he says, half smiling, looking him up and down.
“I guess you did,” Jack says, accompanied by sparks. “Go! Get fixing her!” he instructs.
“Yes, sir!”
Jack returns the vague salute he receives, and turns to leave the TARDIS. She manages to transmit her sadness, even with everything that’s happening to her. “I can’t be here, sweetheart.” Twisting the latch, he opens the door.
“You’ve got that younger version of me to look after. I’ll see you again when I’m meant to,” he says, running a hand over the blue wood. “But right now, after a drink, I need to check what our friend Margaret’s managed to inflict on us.” Jack looks up at the sky, at the open Rift, and then walks through the chaos and back to the Hub.
***
Back in his office, the Hub alarms finally silent, Jack pours himself another large whisky and runs a hand over his coral. He sips his drink. Based on the vague telepathic signals he sometimes receives from it, and the way it’s been growing, he’s long suspected it’s a baby TARDIS.
“It’s you and me, kid,” he says.
High up in the Hub, Myfanwy screams. “Okay, I hear you!” he yells back.
“Scrub that, it’s the three of us. Just as well the Doctor, Rose and I were in town. Not exactly a world-saving combination I’ve got here.” You did that to yourself, Jack, his subconscious tells him. Yeah, but it was the right thing to do, he returns. They couldn’t be here, I couldn’t risk it. Throwing back the last of his whisky, he gets up.
"Better check the computers and the cells, see what the Rift’s spat out at us. There might be something I can give Suzie, Owen and Tosh to compensate for sending them to London. Probably not, though,” he says, finishing with a slightly bitter laugh.
Walking to Tosh’s desk, he can just about hear the TARDIS dematerialising.
“Watch out Raxacoricofalapatorius. And Japan,” he breathes, sitting down, hitting a few keys. He doesn’t want to think beyond that.
Myfanwy flies past him, and out of the lift. “Don’t kill any sheep, like you did last time,” Jack shouts at her. “Took us weeks to clean up that mess.”
***
A hour later, the pterodactyl returns, screaming in greeting. “Could you keep it down, please?” Jack asks, looking up at her, still at Tosh’s desk. She then drops three very shiny items onto the floor beside him.
“What are these?” He picks them up, smiling. “I know exactly what they are. Andromedan shape-shifting toys will definitely make up for sending my people on that course. Now I’ve just gotta remember how they work.”
-end-
crosspost:
dwfiction
galactic_conman
new_who
torch_wood
torchwood_fic
http://community.livejournal.com/thewordsmithery/22572.html
Teaspoon