First Chapter
He had done it! After several months of work, the Doctor had finally recreated a TARDIS, thanks to the cutting the Doctor – well, the original one, the real Time Lord – had given to him*. He had replanted the cutting and it had grown remarkably quickly, as Donna had explained to him. He had then constructed his ship around it, and here it was: a new TARDIS, working perfectly fine, and ready to take them anywhere and anytime in the universe. The Doctor was eager to set off on an adventure again; these ten years or so on Earth, living a normal life, had been quite boring. Even if he had Rose with him and, later on, their two children, Donna and Ian, he was not made for this kind of sedentary life.
As soon as the TARDIS was finished, the whole family went on board and set off to explore the universe. The shimmering waterfalls of Centauria IV, the flying fish of Aryadell, the singing mountains of Nelidya, Middle Age on Earth, the fifty-second century… They had met the Ood, talked to Charlie Chaplin, ran away from Sontarans and Vastha Nerada… The Doctor had even accidentally gotten himself engaged with Princess T'kirx, from the Xilirian Empire – much to Rose's dismay.
The Doctor was delighted with his new adventures. His only disappointment was the fact that he hadn't succeeded in giving her original shape to the TARDIS; the spaceship did now look like a huge sailboat. The Doctor had however achieved the creation of an interface that allowed the TARDIS to talk directly with her crew.
Two years after their first journey on board of the new TARDIS, the whole family went to the peaceful planet of Apalapucia. Donna and Ian were respectively thirteen and twelve years old, and they were starting to be a bit bored; of course the journeys were great, but they were at this age when one starts to want to discover the world on their own, without having their parents around.
Rose and the Doctor were gone on a lovers' walk (which generally consisted in escaping fifteen aliens' attacks and saving the world four times in one day), leaving their children alone in the TARDIS.
As soon as they were alone, Donna turned to her brother:
"What if we left?"
"What? Like that? Without telling the parents?"
"Well, yeah! We could go together, travel where we want, and then we would go back at this hour here, and the parents wouldn't even realize that we had left!"
Ian was a bit anxious first, but he was quickly convinced by his sister. When your father was a Time Lord (well, almost a Time Lord), the adventure was always calling you.
The two children hurried towards the TARDIS's console and started touching to all the controls, despite their obvious lack of experience in the subject. They could not care less about the words of the TARDIS's interface, which was desperately trying to make them change their mind about going away alone.
Donna pressed a button, and the TARDIS activated.
A few years ago, in another universe
Jack would have recognized that so particular sound anywhere. There was no possible mistake: the TARDIS was coming. The Doctor must have decided to stop in Cardiff to recharge his ship on the rift that ran beneath the city, as usual. The captain left his office immediately; anyway, since Ianto's death, he avoided as much as he could to stay in there. Too many painful memories were piled up there.
Jack went outside, his coat tucked under his arm, and walked up to the TARDIS, a bit unsure of what he was doing; after all, the last time he had done that, he had ended up at the end of the universe and had lived a year which, for the rest of the world, had never existed. As he reached the ship disguised as a police-call box, the Doctor went out. A small smile played on his lips when he saw Jack.
"Captain!"
"Doctor! How are you?"
The two men greeted, each of them finding comfort in the presence of the other after all the losses they had gone through during these last years – Donna and Rose (a second time) for the Doctor, Ianto for Jack, and so much more… Seeing each other again seemed to make their lives a bit more stable. However, they kept the talk on light subjects, as usual.
The Doctor had to wait for a dozen of hours before the TARDIS was fully recharged, so they went in a nearby pub to have a drink. The Doctor ordered a tea while Jack took a whiskey. They sipped their drinks, talking about everything and nothing all the same. After a while, Jack asked the Doctor if he had found a new companion. The Time Lord's face grew dark.
"I haven't looked for one," he answered. "I'm not ready to lose someone again."
"Well, in that case, that's a piece of luck I'm immortal," Jack replied, his self-assurance probably due to the quantity of alcohol he had absorbed before.
The Doctor stared at him, evidently taken aback, before he pulled himself together.
"That's a piece of luck indeed," he said nonchalantly.
It was Jack's turn to be taken aback.
"What?"
"I'd need someone to… (he rapidly searched for a pretext, not willing to admit how much he felt lonely in the TARDIS) …accompany me on Xeros. They're organizing a party in honor of their Empress, and I decently can not go alone, they would feel insulted."
Jack arched an eyebrow.
"Are you really proposing me what I'm thinking you're proposing me, Doctor?"
The Doctor rolled his eyes with a sigh.
"Jack… You haven't changed a bit."
"Why would I change someone who's as perfect as me?" Jack joked.
The Doctor ignored him.
"So, are you okay for that?" he asked.
Jack flashed a wide grin.
"Of course I am."
* See the deleted scene at the end of season 4: watch?v=7fixNsuYRmg
