[PLOT:TARDIS]

[more_flexible]

Jack had been searching the corridors and rooms for...he didn't know how long. When he came across food, he ate it and when he was tired he had lain down in a place that was as lovely as the butterfly atrium had been. He never did find that again, which was kinda tragic, but he was too busy searching. He'd forgotten all about his lunch and the repairs. He'd forgotten the Doctor's warning that he needed to be careful or he'd walk out a month later and think only a few days had passed. He'd forgotten any responsibilities or friends he had on the island...not forgotten entirely, but it just seemed like they wouldn't be bothered if he was gone for a while. He had something to do. Something consuming. Something important. The TARDIS needed him and he could help. He could make her better.

As he looked down the deep shaft that continued on in inky darkness, down and down into what could be anything, Jack knew that was where he needed to go. He needed to get down in there, no matter how long it took. He circled the giant hole and tried to find a way past the barricade, the decided that the best course of action was to simply climb over. He could jump in and get to the bottom faster. He'd fix her with his bare hands or die trying.

He'd already died once and come back thanks to the TARDIS and Rose. He wasn't afraid. Death was just a do-over.

Comments

[sortofaman.livejournal.com]

"I know you didn't, just...you have to be more careful. You've been gone for days. You could have died and no one would have known."

He didn't even know if the door to the outside would be open, would let them out. Shit. He reckoned they could at least have pot noodles.

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"I'm sure someone would have figured it out, eventually," he said dryly. "You know, when someone finally realized their bed wasn't as warm as usual."

He double timed until he was walking beside the Doctor, matching him step for step. The longer they walked, the more he resented being chastised for some stupid mistake that he'd never intended to begin with.

It was like the Chula ambulance all over again.

[sortofaman.livejournal.com]

"Oh, stop it," the Doctor said, and glared at him. "You know full well you're more important than that."

One more corridor and they'd find out. Jack was sullen, he could tell. It almost made him wish he hadn't bothered saving him. Not really.

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

He took a deep breath and stopped in his tracks.

"To you?" he asked the back of the Doctor's head. He felt more like himself, but something almost itched in the back of his head and down his spine. His brows creased and he had a question rattling in his head, but it made no sense. None at all. He knew the answer...and yet, he didn't.

"Do you miss being with me?"

[sortofaman.livejournal.com]

The Doctor stopped and turned, looking at Jack with dark eyes. "In what way?" he asked, because he wasn't certain. Sex, travelling, living in the same place...

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

He opened his mouth to speak but the words stalled. "I...I don't know. Let's just get out of here."

There was something wrong and the last thing he wanted to do was attempt to explain it. The things he wanted to know were things he'd never felt or wondered before.

[sortofaman.livejournal.com]

"Jack," the Doctor said, because the Doctor could never leave.things.alone. He looked at him, imploringly, confused.

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"I really don't know, Doctor," Jack answered as he scrubbed his hand across his face. "Miss being with me. Part of me. Do you feel alone without me? Without me inside you...all the time?"

He pressed the heel of his hand to his forehead for a second, then let go and shook to clear away the fogginess. He felt like he'd just woken up.

"Can we just go now? I don't think I want to hear the answer."

[sortofaman.livejournal.com]

Which told the Doctor that Jack wasn't Jack, not entirely. Gently, he backed him up against the wall, touching the side of his cheek with his hand. "Come back, Jack," he said, and looked him in the eye.

Not answering the question. She already knew the answer anyway.

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

With the wall against his back and the Doctor before him, his hands went to the Doctor's waist purely on reflex.

"I never left you," he replied, the same dashing smile curving his lips, but his eyes almost looked through the man--until they slid shut and he leaned in to kiss the corner of his mouth. His cheek. His jaw.

"I love you. I did this for you."

[sortofaman.livejournal.com]

The Doctor, to his credit, tried to pull away, but Jack had a fairly good grip, and it wasn't really Jack anyhow. "Did what?" he asked, voice quiet and eyes scanning Jack's face to try to find an answer.

Meanwhile, he knew he had to sort this.

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

Jack shifted his footing and pivoted, switching positions so the Doctor was pressed against the wall. He caught his face in both hands and kissed him softly, lingering just a little too long before he pulled away.

"I have got such a fucking headache," he said slowly, his fingers moving lightly across the Doctor's cheek before he reluctantly pulled away. "If I'd died, someone would have noticed," he continued, answering the last question he remembered.

[sortofaman.livejournal.com]

Not certain what was going on anymore, whether Jack had been Jack for that or if Jack had been the TARDIS, the Doctor found he was breathing harder than he would have liked. "Jack," he said, the name a slow and uncertain question.

It wasn't clear if his lips tingled from something more or just a psychosomatic reaction. Either way, he was getting a headache himself.

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"The one an only," he chuckled as he pulled his hands back, fingers sliding lightly across the Doctor's face. "You saved my ass. I was going to jump into the core," he continued, softer, and stepped back. Jack shoved his hands into his pockets.

"She's a good ship."

[sortofaman.livejournal.com]

"She is," the Doctor said, and licked his lips, once. "It wouldn't have done anything, Jack. I think...she's just lonely."

Would she have taken Jack, then? Been with him?

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"Maybe..."

He took a deep breath and looked back down the corridor, the way the'd come.

"Maybe we made a mistake trying to get her back. Should we disconnect what we've fixed, do you think?"

[sortofaman.livejournal.com]

"I don't know," the Doctor said, and heaved a heavy sigh. "I can understand why, but at the same time, that'd be on the level of murder. I can't betray her more, Jack."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"I know. I just don't want it to happen again," he replied. "October...I had no idea. What if she does it again? What if she does it to Martha? Or if Rob and Jo decide to take another crack at finding the wardrobe?"

[sortofaman.livejournal.com]

"They won't be digging around 'under her skirts'," the Doctor pointed out. "Not like you do, Jack, not even Martha. And you know it's not the same with anyone but you. Not after Rose did...what she did."

Maybe he was scrambling for reasons, but they were true.

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

Jack couldn't find a single argument for that. K9 had been clear about the fact that he had been physically altered and it wasn't Rose alone who had done that.

"Okay, yeah. I guess you're right," he nodded. "I'll just...be more careful. If I'd thought the console was going to open, I'd have, oh, I don't know. Run?"

He chuckled and ducked his chin, looking at the Doctor from beneath his lashes.

"Hopped for my life?"

[sortofaman.livejournal.com]

"You totally would have looked anyway," the Doctor said, then grinned at him. "Daredevil. And don't pull that flirtatious bit with me or you'll be snogging me again, and then you'll have Rob to deal with. Almost worse than falling to your doom."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"Oh, come on, Doctor. I've kept from doing it this long...I'm sure I can hold out longer," he quipped.

"Is he any better? He was stressed like I've never seen him the last time he and I talked," he continued without hesitation, then started waking slowly. The this rate, they'd never get out.

[sortofaman.livejournal.com]

"Somewhat," the Doctor said. "Enforced rest periods have helped somewhat." He tailed after Jack. "'This long?' You did it five bloody minutes ago."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"I did not," he insisted with a soft laugh. "If I'd snogged, you, I'd remember it. And you'd be bright red...I know you."

[sortofaman.livejournal.com]

The door was right there, and there was the console room, and the Doctor brushed past Jack to call up the internal sensor array.

The picture wasn't that clear, but it was pretty obvious who it was and who was being snogged, and when.