Life Less Ordinary, Chapter 14
Chapter Title: Little White Lies and Painful Truths
Author: stormwolf10
Character/Pairing: 10.5/Rose, Jack
Rating: PG
Summary: Jack has questions that Rose isn't prepared to answer, and the Doctor has to admit something terrible to Rose.
Disclaimer: Still don't own Doctor Who or any of it's canon characters.
Jack took Rose to the canteen while the Doctor worked on a way to track Captain Hart down, grumbling the whole way that the Doctor had insisted on taking his Vortex Manipulator off of him to use it as part of whatever contraption he was building. Rose chuckled to herself, remembering how the Doctor told her how he kept having to deactivate the time travel device in the Vortex Manipulator to keep Jack from hopping around the time lines. She supposed this time, he felt it was necessary to take it from Jack altogether.
Handing her a cup of coffee, Jack slumped back into the chair across from her. "Seems I've got you two in a bit of trouble, eh?" he said.
"Yeah, well...you get used to it when you're with the Doctor. He doesn't even have to try to get us into trouble and it falls into our laps. Don't blame yourself." She reached across and patted Jack's arm lightly and smiled.
"Your boyfriend blames me," he replied with a one-shoulder shrug, then leaned forward and looked at her curiously, "You know, you acted awfully funny when he was angry that Loretti tortured you."
Rose blinked. "I did?"
"You acted like he'd committed some sort of crime. It's only natural, isn't it?"
"Not for him it isn't."
"What do you mean?"
Picking at the edge of her cup, Rose sighed. It was so hard to work this new Doctor out. He was part human now, so of course he'd say rash things when he saw she was hurt. And yet, this was the Doctor. It was just wrong for him to speak about killing anyone like that. Sure, he had wanted to kill the Dalek in Utah, but that was the old him; the one the other Doctor had said she'd made better. "It's just that...he doesn't kill. The Doctor isn't about taking lives, he's about saving them. Or, at least, he was..."
"He was? What does that mean?"
She shook her head. "Nevermind, lets just say he was a different man once. It shocked me to hear him say something like that, is all."
"Well," Jack said with a soft smile, "It's not like he goes around saying it all the time is it?"
"No..."
"Oh, good! I don't have to watch my back then." He winked, and she let out a quiet little laugh. This Jack wasn't so bad.
They drank their coffees in silence for a while. Every now and then, Jack would watch her over the rim of his cup, and Rose could see the questions in his eyes. She had a good idea what he was wondering. "So tell me," he finally asked, "Why is it that you call all the other agents around here by their rank, but you call me Jack? And the Doctor, too...when we were in his ship trying to find you, he spoke to me like he knew me or something. Do you?"
And there it was. Rose put on a neutral expression and simply said, "No...it's nothing. You just seem like one of the gang, is all. Or at least, more friendly to our side than the rest of the Agents around here, since we're trying to help you."
"So, you know nothing of the memories that were stolen from me."
"No, we don't, and I'm really sorry," she said, and meant it. It was likely Jack would never be able to get those memories back, and the Doctor wouldn't be able to help. If he was, he would have helped their Jack regain his memories years ago.
The Doctor's voice suddenly blared through the tannoy system into the canteen. "Rose, Jack... come to the lab. I think I've got a trace on our wayward Captain Hart."
=====================================
The Doctor had indeed tracked Captain Hart down. The man was still on Davaran, living on an island off the coast of some southern desert continent. Rose and Jack leaned over his shoulder, peering down at the blinking lights on the computer display. "That's days away by jump ship!" Jack groaned.
"We can get there faster in the TARDIS," the Doctor replied, "We're not using those Vortex Manipulators. I'm tired of feeling like I'm being pulled inside out." Tapping quickly on the keyboard. Another display popped up on the screen, and with a bleep, the Cendras system was magnified. "If we get a shuttle back to the Black Hole -- not the most welcoming name for a space port, is it?" He waved the distracting thought away. "Anyway, we can make it back there overnight, easy. Then we hop into the TARDIS and I can get you to Davaran in a flash. It's the fastest way."
General Savil turned to Major Loretti with a nod, and the woman gave a salute before disappearing down the corridor. "We'll have a shuttle prepared for when you're ready to go. You'll be taking a squad with you to apprehend Hart."
The Doctor exchanged a look with Rose and sighed. Military types, they never changed. At least the Brigadier had control of his men. "General, if we go in guns blazing with no clue of what he's got over there, we could be risking a lot of lives." Crossing his arms over his thin chest, he waited for an argument.
None came. Instead, the General nodded. "Very well, Doctor. It's your ship we'll be arriving in. However, I have one demand that I won't take no as an answer to. The Major and I are coming with you at the very least. And that's final."
"Well, that was easier than I thought," he muttered to Rose, who grinned. "Done and done," he said to the General, giving a little salute, "Lets get going then, shall we?"
==============================================
They had been advised to get some rest during the overnight flight back to the Black Hole. Jack had been given his own cabin, which left the last remaining cabin for the Doctor and Rose to share. Not that they minded it at all. They'd been sharing a bed for months now, even in the TARDIS. And yet, the Doctor found himself a bit uneasy as he dropped his suit jacket onto the back of a nearby chair and toed off his trainers. It was the first time the two of them had been completely alone since Rose gave him that terrified look, and the first time since he had nearly shot Major Loretti in the head.
Rose seemed to have the same realization when the cabin door thudded closed. Her shoulders tensed slightly, and her movements were mechanical as she kicked off her own trainers and tossed her leather jacket onto the Doctor's. Her blond hair fell over her eyes as she looked down and busied herself with loosening the flimsy blanket on the tiny bed. She was avoiding his gaze.
Without a word, she climbed into the bed and settled down onto the pillow. The Doctor was struck with a moment of awkwardness, suddenly finding himself unsure if she wanted him sharing the bed with her. "If you want, um, I can take the floor. It looks...comfortable enough," he mumbled, and she finally looked up at him.
Rose's brown eyes regarded him quizzically and she gave him a small smile. He still thought she was angry with him, she realized, which wasn't the case at all. She wasn't quite sure what she felt. "Don't be daft, Doctor," she said, budging up a bit to give him some room and he slid under the blanket beside her. Thin arms enveloped her and he held her close, resting his head in the curve of her neck as he let out a breath that neither of them realized he had been holding. Rose held him tight and stroked his back gently, murmuring, "Hey, it's alright."
Releasing her, the Doctor shifted slightly to lie on his side and gaze down at her. "It's really not, Rose. You're right, that's not me." He lifted a hand to his face and rubbed at it wearily. "You know, I think I've got more human in me that I'd like to admit. When you lot are angry or scared, you lash out. Usually in a rather violent way."
"Don't I know it..." Rose said, rolling her eyes as she cuddled herself closer to him. "I saw that a lot, working for Torchwood while you were still gone. If an alien got loose in the city, and we couldn't contain it before word got out, it took a hell of a lot to convince the army not to storm in and shoot up the place."
The Doctor nodded and tried to banish the feel of the Major's gun in his hand, and the nausea that rose when he thought of how close he game to putting a bullet in the woman's head. "Rose, it's worse than you think. I have a confession to make. When we were escaping the headquarters, I got the gun from Major Loretti. I nearly pulled the trigger, Rose. I'm sorry."
Rose went still beneath him, and she stared with horror. "How could you even think of such a thing?" she breathed.
"The only thought going through my head at that moment was that she wouldn't be able to hurt anyone anymore."
"What's worse? Hurting someone or taking a life?"
Closing his eyes, he rolled over onto his back and rubbed at his eyes. "I know, trust me. I know. That's why I didn't do it," he said, "Hypocrisy, sadly, isn't something I can blame on the human part of me. That's all Time Lord. Still, what's important is that I didn't do it, right?" He peeked out from under his fingers at Rose, watching her think it over. The idea that he even thought about it left a bad taste in his mouth, but he had to let it go if he was ever going to move beyond it. He hoped Rose realized this as well.
To his relief, she relaxed and wrapped an arm around his waist, her leg curling around his as she rested her head on his chest, listening to the beat of his single heart. "Yeah, of course. I mean it's wrong -- terrible even -- but everyone is tempted to do the wrong thing in the heat of the moment." They lay in silence for a while, curled up with each other as they listened to the low, metallic hum of the ship's engines.
"I have to admit, though," the Doctor murmured against Rose's hair, "I've always had a habit of snapping when it comes to you. Even back when I was the first me you met. Not that that version of me would have ever admitted it to you, mind."
Rose lifted her head and gave him that brilliant smile of hers, the tip of her tongue poking out from between her teeth. "Of course not. That might have ruined your cool reputation, wouldn't it?"
"Oi! I was cool!" he protested with an indignant sniff, "Still am, you know. The coolest, cleverest man in the room, you might say."
"And the only man in the room at the moment," she teased, and he decided he'd best shut her up. And what better way than to snog her breathless?
Author: stormwolf10
Character/Pairing: 10.5/Rose, Jack
Rating: PG
Summary: Jack has questions that Rose isn't prepared to answer, and the Doctor has to admit something terrible to Rose.
Disclaimer: Still don't own Doctor Who or any of it's canon characters.
Jack took Rose to the canteen while the Doctor worked on a way to track Captain Hart down, grumbling the whole way that the Doctor had insisted on taking his Vortex Manipulator off of him to use it as part of whatever contraption he was building. Rose chuckled to herself, remembering how the Doctor told her how he kept having to deactivate the time travel device in the Vortex Manipulator to keep Jack from hopping around the time lines. She supposed this time, he felt it was necessary to take it from Jack altogether.
Handing her a cup of coffee, Jack slumped back into the chair across from her. "Seems I've got you two in a bit of trouble, eh?" he said.
"Yeah, well...you get used to it when you're with the Doctor. He doesn't even have to try to get us into trouble and it falls into our laps. Don't blame yourself." She reached across and patted Jack's arm lightly and smiled.
"Your boyfriend blames me," he replied with a one-shoulder shrug, then leaned forward and looked at her curiously, "You know, you acted awfully funny when he was angry that Loretti tortured you."
Rose blinked. "I did?"
"You acted like he'd committed some sort of crime. It's only natural, isn't it?"
"Not for him it isn't."
"What do you mean?"
Picking at the edge of her cup, Rose sighed. It was so hard to work this new Doctor out. He was part human now, so of course he'd say rash things when he saw she was hurt. And yet, this was the Doctor. It was just wrong for him to speak about killing anyone like that. Sure, he had wanted to kill the Dalek in Utah, but that was the old him; the one the other Doctor had said she'd made better. "It's just that...he doesn't kill. The Doctor isn't about taking lives, he's about saving them. Or, at least, he was..."
"He was? What does that mean?"
She shook her head. "Nevermind, lets just say he was a different man once. It shocked me to hear him say something like that, is all."
"Well," Jack said with a soft smile, "It's not like he goes around saying it all the time is it?"
"No..."
"Oh, good! I don't have to watch my back then." He winked, and she let out a quiet little laugh. This Jack wasn't so bad.
They drank their coffees in silence for a while. Every now and then, Jack would watch her over the rim of his cup, and Rose could see the questions in his eyes. She had a good idea what he was wondering. "So tell me," he finally asked, "Why is it that you call all the other agents around here by their rank, but you call me Jack? And the Doctor, too...when we were in his ship trying to find you, he spoke to me like he knew me or something. Do you?"
And there it was. Rose put on a neutral expression and simply said, "No...it's nothing. You just seem like one of the gang, is all. Or at least, more friendly to our side than the rest of the Agents around here, since we're trying to help you."
"So, you know nothing of the memories that were stolen from me."
"No, we don't, and I'm really sorry," she said, and meant it. It was likely Jack would never be able to get those memories back, and the Doctor wouldn't be able to help. If he was, he would have helped their Jack regain his memories years ago.
The Doctor's voice suddenly blared through the tannoy system into the canteen. "Rose, Jack... come to the lab. I think I've got a trace on our wayward Captain Hart."
=====================================
The Doctor had indeed tracked Captain Hart down. The man was still on Davaran, living on an island off the coast of some southern desert continent. Rose and Jack leaned over his shoulder, peering down at the blinking lights on the computer display. "That's days away by jump ship!" Jack groaned.
"We can get there faster in the TARDIS," the Doctor replied, "We're not using those Vortex Manipulators. I'm tired of feeling like I'm being pulled inside out." Tapping quickly on the keyboard. Another display popped up on the screen, and with a bleep, the Cendras system was magnified. "If we get a shuttle back to the Black Hole -- not the most welcoming name for a space port, is it?" He waved the distracting thought away. "Anyway, we can make it back there overnight, easy. Then we hop into the TARDIS and I can get you to Davaran in a flash. It's the fastest way."
General Savil turned to Major Loretti with a nod, and the woman gave a salute before disappearing down the corridor. "We'll have a shuttle prepared for when you're ready to go. You'll be taking a squad with you to apprehend Hart."
The Doctor exchanged a look with Rose and sighed. Military types, they never changed. At least the Brigadier had control of his men. "General, if we go in guns blazing with no clue of what he's got over there, we could be risking a lot of lives." Crossing his arms over his thin chest, he waited for an argument.
None came. Instead, the General nodded. "Very well, Doctor. It's your ship we'll be arriving in. However, I have one demand that I won't take no as an answer to. The Major and I are coming with you at the very least. And that's final."
"Well, that was easier than I thought," he muttered to Rose, who grinned. "Done and done," he said to the General, giving a little salute, "Lets get going then, shall we?"
==============================================
They had been advised to get some rest during the overnight flight back to the Black Hole. Jack had been given his own cabin, which left the last remaining cabin for the Doctor and Rose to share. Not that they minded it at all. They'd been sharing a bed for months now, even in the TARDIS. And yet, the Doctor found himself a bit uneasy as he dropped his suit jacket onto the back of a nearby chair and toed off his trainers. It was the first time the two of them had been completely alone since Rose gave him that terrified look, and the first time since he had nearly shot Major Loretti in the head.
Rose seemed to have the same realization when the cabin door thudded closed. Her shoulders tensed slightly, and her movements were mechanical as she kicked off her own trainers and tossed her leather jacket onto the Doctor's. Her blond hair fell over her eyes as she looked down and busied herself with loosening the flimsy blanket on the tiny bed. She was avoiding his gaze.
Without a word, she climbed into the bed and settled down onto the pillow. The Doctor was struck with a moment of awkwardness, suddenly finding himself unsure if she wanted him sharing the bed with her. "If you want, um, I can take the floor. It looks...comfortable enough," he mumbled, and she finally looked up at him.
Rose's brown eyes regarded him quizzically and she gave him a small smile. He still thought she was angry with him, she realized, which wasn't the case at all. She wasn't quite sure what she felt. "Don't be daft, Doctor," she said, budging up a bit to give him some room and he slid under the blanket beside her. Thin arms enveloped her and he held her close, resting his head in the curve of her neck as he let out a breath that neither of them realized he had been holding. Rose held him tight and stroked his back gently, murmuring, "Hey, it's alright."
Releasing her, the Doctor shifted slightly to lie on his side and gaze down at her. "It's really not, Rose. You're right, that's not me." He lifted a hand to his face and rubbed at it wearily. "You know, I think I've got more human in me that I'd like to admit. When you lot are angry or scared, you lash out. Usually in a rather violent way."
"Don't I know it..." Rose said, rolling her eyes as she cuddled herself closer to him. "I saw that a lot, working for Torchwood while you were still gone. If an alien got loose in the city, and we couldn't contain it before word got out, it took a hell of a lot to convince the army not to storm in and shoot up the place."
The Doctor nodded and tried to banish the feel of the Major's gun in his hand, and the nausea that rose when he thought of how close he game to putting a bullet in the woman's head. "Rose, it's worse than you think. I have a confession to make. When we were escaping the headquarters, I got the gun from Major Loretti. I nearly pulled the trigger, Rose. I'm sorry."
Rose went still beneath him, and she stared with horror. "How could you even think of such a thing?" she breathed.
"The only thought going through my head at that moment was that she wouldn't be able to hurt anyone anymore."
"What's worse? Hurting someone or taking a life?"
Closing his eyes, he rolled over onto his back and rubbed at his eyes. "I know, trust me. I know. That's why I didn't do it," he said, "Hypocrisy, sadly, isn't something I can blame on the human part of me. That's all Time Lord. Still, what's important is that I didn't do it, right?" He peeked out from under his fingers at Rose, watching her think it over. The idea that he even thought about it left a bad taste in his mouth, but he had to let it go if he was ever going to move beyond it. He hoped Rose realized this as well.
To his relief, she relaxed and wrapped an arm around his waist, her leg curling around his as she rested her head on his chest, listening to the beat of his single heart. "Yeah, of course. I mean it's wrong -- terrible even -- but everyone is tempted to do the wrong thing in the heat of the moment." They lay in silence for a while, curled up with each other as they listened to the low, metallic hum of the ship's engines.
"I have to admit, though," the Doctor murmured against Rose's hair, "I've always had a habit of snapping when it comes to you. Even back when I was the first me you met. Not that that version of me would have ever admitted it to you, mind."
Rose lifted her head and gave him that brilliant smile of hers, the tip of her tongue poking out from between her teeth. "Of course not. That might have ruined your cool reputation, wouldn't it?"
"Oi! I was cool!" he protested with an indignant sniff, "Still am, you know. The coolest, cleverest man in the room, you might say."
"And the only man in the room at the moment," she teased, and he decided he'd best shut her up. And what better way than to snog her breathless?