[for donna]

[more_flexible]

The winter was nice, but it was damn cold. Jack had come into the compound and sat before the roaring fire, flipping through a manual of tri-phasic morphing cells and their various applications. It would probably be either boring or incomprehensible to most people. For Jack it was pure nostalgia. Maybe, one day, he'd have an opportunity to actually use that sort of tech. Here? Not really gonna happen. Even if he had something, it'd only be worth playing with, and even then he'd have to do it in the TARDIS.

He shifted a little and looked up, catching sight of something far more interesting than tech. There was Donna...and her magnificent rack. Jack smiled and waved her over.

"Hey there, gorgeous," he said, flashing a friendly smile.

Comments

[nobledonna.livejournal.com]

"Right," Donna continued cheerfuly, "well. Their planet is all cold and snowy, yeah? And they sing, and it's just..." She sighed. "The most beautiful thing you've ever heard. When they're free."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

She was so happy talking about it that Jack, for once, refrained from launching into a tale of his various and sundry activities. Although, now that she mentioned them, he had another tale to horrify Logan.

"Wait," he said, caught on her words. "What planet? I thought they were all captive. Cloned, or whatever..."

[nobledonna.livejournal.com]

"Well they had to come from somewhere, right?" Donna smirked at him. "Don't tell me that I need to explain the basics of the birds and the bees to you, Jack. But you're right - the humans found their planet and enslaved them. I've been to Ood Operations." She shuddered. "It's just awful, what they did to them."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

Jack's smile faded away. He'd honestly never given any thought to where they had come from. They were so docile and eager to please.

"That's amazing," he replied. "With the Doctor, huh?"

[nobledonna.livejournal.com]

Donna nodded. "We helped free them. They're telepathic, you know. That's why it was so awful, turning them into slaves, cutting them off from each other... they're such gentle creatures, they have to be, they're born with their brains in their hands."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

Jack stared at her blankly, trying to process that. In the end, all he could say was, "In their hands?"

[nobledonna.livejournal.com]

Donna nodded again, gravely. "You should have seen them all caged up before their little brains were cut off and replaced with those communication orbs. They could still sing to each other in their heads. The saddest song you'll ever hear."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"...Wow. That's...wow. I saw a lot of things with the Doctor, but nothing like that," Jack replied as his arm slipped off the cushions and around her shoulders.

[nobledonna.livejournal.com]

"The Doctor doesn't like it when I talk about it," Donna said. "I mean, the Doctor here. He's all uncomfortable about the whole my being from his future so he doesn't remember thing. At least I'm not in love with him, right? But that doesn't seem to help." She glanced over at Jack's arm on her shoulder but merely lifted an eyebrow and then continued, "He probably would have preferred I didn't get my memory back at all."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"Oh, probably. He'll get over it," Jack said, knowing with near certainty the Doctor wouldn't.

"He has companions coming out of the woodwork. Some that he kind of screwed over in the past, and the ones from the future...well, I've got four people here who know me from a time I haven't lived yet," he shrugged, which pulled her closer. "Traveling in time makes things interesting, and the fractured timeline that put us here means there's another life we've got no idea about."

Or wouldn't, except for that fucking bookshelf.

[nobledonna.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, but the difference between you and me is that you went on and did interesting things after your timeline diverged," Donna pointed out. "Whereas I more than likely spent the rest of my life working as a temp in Chiswick and not remembering a sodding thing about the best year of my life." Kind of depressing, come to think of it. She sighed and tilted her cheek down onto Jack's arm.

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"You don't know that for sure. You know that me, right? Maybe, eventually, you temp for, oh, Torchwood," he grinned, leaning in closer. "I'd take you on in a heartbeat," he purred.

[nobledonna.livejournal.com]

Speaking of heartbeats, she was expecting him to try to cop a feel any second now. Not that she didn't appreciate how smooth he was being, but Donna was nearly thirty-seven years old, smooth gets increasingly more difficult with age.

"I did temp for Torchwood, actually," she said sweetly. "Or rather, a Torchwood-owned company. That's where I met my ex-fiance."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"I meant Torchwood Three," he said. "From what I understand, we don't have anything to do with Torchwood One in London."

[nobledonna.livejournal.com]

"Well, that's probably good," Donna said. "After all, they did have a giant spider empress living in their basement that my fiance tried to feed me to after slowly poisoning me for six months."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

He figured he better not mention Lisa in the basement in Cardiff. Besides, if Jack in the future took in Donna, that would have been long done with.

"Six months, huh? That doesn't sound so...temp."

[nobledonna.livejournal.com]

"Well it wasn't a permanent job, but it was quite a good one. You know, until the spider thing. And I can't even be so angry at him, since that's how I met the Doctor."

She paused. "Actually, I take that back. I can be bloody angry. Not only did he try to feed me to a spider, but he called me an idiot."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"He called you an idiot?" he asked, easing a fraction closer. "I can't imagine anyone saying that to you. You're fantastic."

[nobledonna.livejournal.com]

Donna snorted. "Please, you hardly know me."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"I'm good with people. I'm rarely wrong," Jack replied. "Part of the charm of a Time Agent."

[nobledonna.livejournal.com]

"Oh, is that where your charm comes from?"

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

The corner of his mouth tugged higher and he dropped his chin. "Part of it. The rest is just natural talent."

[nobledonna.livejournal.com]

"I understood it came from genetic engineering," Donna said matter-of-factly. "Are you supposed to be the perfect specimen of a man, then?"

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"Hardly," he replied, his smile fading away as he looked at her a little more critically. "What do you know about me, Donna? In your travels...did you learn something? I mean, before Torchwood. I know all that stuff. Most of it, anyway..."

[nobledonna.livejournal.com]

Donna shrugged. "Just the vague information the Doctor gave me. Fifty-first century, used to be a time agent whatever that is, traveled with him and Rose for a while... He, uh, didn't like talking about Rose."