set the controls for the heart of the sun
Doctor Who fic, written in mid-07. This is the prelude to the Doctor Who/His Dark Materials crossover I plan on writing... uh, sometime? Um. This bit's title is from the Pink Floyd song of the same name. :)
Clockwork - Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun
*
She turns him down, and he leaves her, and that's that. The Doctor's had other people turn down his offer to let them accompany him; they've faded almost entirely from memory by now, little faceless what if?s that just barely echo across his thoughts from time to time.
Fifty years later, he can picture Rose in perfect clarity. He's not sure what that means, precisely, but he thinks it's about time he found out.
He opens the door of the TARDIS to see her staring at him, that boyfriend of hers - what was his name again? - gawking and cringing like a slack-jawed idiot. "Did I mention it travels in time?" he asks.
A few moments later she's running to him. And that's that.
*
"We're pushing it, aren't we?" Rose asks, worry in her voice as she watches the Doctor fiddle with the TARDIS controls. He doesn't answer, but she's right to worry; it's only a few seconds after Jack shuts the TARDIS door that the Chula ship explodes.
The Doctor hesitates when Jack enters his ship, but nothing happens, and he goes back to dancing with Rose, his last bit of apprehension fading. Everybody lives, the Doctor thinks again with an ounce of satisfaction.
He's glad that Rose hasn't caught on. Jack only had a matter of minutes, and they've taken much longer than that. But the temptation - for once, every last person living, everyone happy and healthy and alive - was too much, and really, who can blame him for sending the TARDIS back a few minutes? There aren't any Reapers, and nothing bad seems to be happening - except for the fact that Rose is eyeing Jack like a dog would a piece of meat - so the Doctor can only assume that he hasn't interfered where he shouldn't have.
Still, it's a good thing Rose hasn't noticed; he can already imagine the lecture she'd give him, considering how harsh he was with her regarding her father.
He lets those thoughts slide. There are more pressing matters at hand; namely, he's just remembered how to dance.
*
For a few moments, she is Time, and Time is her. She sees everything, and she knows they will part soon; a part of her cries out against it, and Time acquiesces. There is, should she know how to find it, a way back.
Of course, she doesn't remember, and when the time comes and they are separated, Rose is plagued with the idea that there's some way back to her universe, back to the Doctor.
She'll get back. She knows she will, and she'll find him, and they'll find Jack, and everything will be as it should.
It's that thought that keeps her fighting.
*
The Doctor knows the presence sitting beside him at the bar before he hears the voice; there's just something distinctly Jack about Jack. There's a moment of It isn't you, can't be you, I heard you die before he sees the smile. A wide, charming smile; an "I'm about to con you" smile, rather than one of recognition, and he knows it's Jack before he meets him. An almost-paradox, probably, if it weren't for the fact that he's wearing a different face than the one Jack will meet.
He humours Jack. After a couple hours ("to think about it", or rather to think about whether or not he can take this), he leaves the TARDIS to find Jack again, and this time the Doctor's carrying more than enough money to pay the ridiculous amount that Jack is asking.
The bomb hits, and Jack buys him a drink, and they talk about tough luck. The Doctor isn't one for deja vu - would be a bit silly for him, really - but this just hurts too much. He's about to leave; he stands and pushes back his chair, about to make up some excuse or another, but Jack is right there with him when he moves, standing too close and leaning in to whisper a suggestion in his ear.
Well. Jack never mentioned this part of the con.
When they reach Jack's flat, the Doctor is apprehensive - not from nerves, though that's probably how Jack sees it. His hands are shaking when he reaches up to cup Jack's face in his palms. No words, but Jack’s expression changes when he looks the Doctor straight in the eye, and for a moment he's the Jack the Doctor remembers. Then he's back to charm, and he's leaning in, and the Doctor inclines his head to meet him partway.
*
The Doctor leaves Martha in the alley, but he doesn't go back to that morning just yet.
He goes to see them first. Not just Rose this time: it's Rose and Jack and himself, too-big ears and nose, the three of them covered in slime from whatever alien creature they'd just fought with (funny, that - at the moment, all he can remember is the laughter and the exhilaration, not whatever they'd battled). Rose is between them, and they've each got a hand on her back, his fingers just brushing Jack's.
They leave, and the Doctor steps back into his own TARDIS and starts fiddling with the controls. He thinks about waiting fifty years, just to see if he remembers Martha's face, but suddenly the idea of being alone for that long isn't so appealing. With a sigh, he sets the controls for 2007 and begins loosening his tie.
*
Clockwork - Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun
*
She turns him down, and he leaves her, and that's that. The Doctor's had other people turn down his offer to let them accompany him; they've faded almost entirely from memory by now, little faceless what if?s that just barely echo across his thoughts from time to time.
Fifty years later, he can picture Rose in perfect clarity. He's not sure what that means, precisely, but he thinks it's about time he found out.
He opens the door of the TARDIS to see her staring at him, that boyfriend of hers - what was his name again? - gawking and cringing like a slack-jawed idiot. "Did I mention it travels in time?" he asks.
A few moments later she's running to him. And that's that.
*
"We're pushing it, aren't we?" Rose asks, worry in her voice as she watches the Doctor fiddle with the TARDIS controls. He doesn't answer, but she's right to worry; it's only a few seconds after Jack shuts the TARDIS door that the Chula ship explodes.
The Doctor hesitates when Jack enters his ship, but nothing happens, and he goes back to dancing with Rose, his last bit of apprehension fading. Everybody lives, the Doctor thinks again with an ounce of satisfaction.
He's glad that Rose hasn't caught on. Jack only had a matter of minutes, and they've taken much longer than that. But the temptation - for once, every last person living, everyone happy and healthy and alive - was too much, and really, who can blame him for sending the TARDIS back a few minutes? There aren't any Reapers, and nothing bad seems to be happening - except for the fact that Rose is eyeing Jack like a dog would a piece of meat - so the Doctor can only assume that he hasn't interfered where he shouldn't have.
Still, it's a good thing Rose hasn't noticed; he can already imagine the lecture she'd give him, considering how harsh he was with her regarding her father.
He lets those thoughts slide. There are more pressing matters at hand; namely, he's just remembered how to dance.
*
For a few moments, she is Time, and Time is her. She sees everything, and she knows they will part soon; a part of her cries out against it, and Time acquiesces. There is, should she know how to find it, a way back.
Of course, she doesn't remember, and when the time comes and they are separated, Rose is plagued with the idea that there's some way back to her universe, back to the Doctor.
She'll get back. She knows she will, and she'll find him, and they'll find Jack, and everything will be as it should.
It's that thought that keeps her fighting.
*
The Doctor knows the presence sitting beside him at the bar before he hears the voice; there's just something distinctly Jack about Jack. There's a moment of It isn't you, can't be you, I heard you die before he sees the smile. A wide, charming smile; an "I'm about to con you" smile, rather than one of recognition, and he knows it's Jack before he meets him. An almost-paradox, probably, if it weren't for the fact that he's wearing a different face than the one Jack will meet.
He humours Jack. After a couple hours ("to think about it", or rather to think about whether or not he can take this), he leaves the TARDIS to find Jack again, and this time the Doctor's carrying more than enough money to pay the ridiculous amount that Jack is asking.
The bomb hits, and Jack buys him a drink, and they talk about tough luck. The Doctor isn't one for deja vu - would be a bit silly for him, really - but this just hurts too much. He's about to leave; he stands and pushes back his chair, about to make up some excuse or another, but Jack is right there with him when he moves, standing too close and leaning in to whisper a suggestion in his ear.
Well. Jack never mentioned this part of the con.
When they reach Jack's flat, the Doctor is apprehensive - not from nerves, though that's probably how Jack sees it. His hands are shaking when he reaches up to cup Jack's face in his palms. No words, but Jack’s expression changes when he looks the Doctor straight in the eye, and for a moment he's the Jack the Doctor remembers. Then he's back to charm, and he's leaning in, and the Doctor inclines his head to meet him partway.
*
The Doctor leaves Martha in the alley, but he doesn't go back to that morning just yet.
He goes to see them first. Not just Rose this time: it's Rose and Jack and himself, too-big ears and nose, the three of them covered in slime from whatever alien creature they'd just fought with (funny, that - at the moment, all he can remember is the laughter and the exhilaration, not whatever they'd battled). Rose is between them, and they've each got a hand on her back, his fingers just brushing Jack's.
They leave, and the Doctor steps back into his own TARDIS and starts fiddling with the controls. He thinks about waiting fifty years, just to see if he remembers Martha's face, but suddenly the idea of being alone for that long isn't so appealing. With a sigh, he sets the controls for 2007 and begins loosening his tie.
*