Still Life

A/N: I was originally going to carry on from where hana-to-mame left off, but I tried that and I wasn't happy with it. I may do it by putting it in as a flashback at some point, but right now I've been brainstorming for a bit and I've thought of a new beginning. Me, being able to think of a beginning to one of my fanfics? Must be a blue moon… Anyway, this is a sequel to Out of Death, the wonderful fanfic by HtM which was the first fanfic to ever make me cry. HtM is brilliant to be letting me make a sequel to that wonderful fic of hers. Sorry this is so late, but New Year, new regime! I'm not such a lazy arse anymore and I actually WANT to update my fics now, no matter how busy I get an how drained/dead school leaves me in the nights. I always bring my netbook to school so I'm writing this sequel fic on it. Those of you who have been waiting for this or have asked me about it (only one person besides HtM has asked about it so far, hi, RedEyedMotorbikes! [If you're reading]) will perhaps have an inkling of what the general plot will be. To those who are aware of the general plot, it hasn't changed in all the time I've thought about it. And to those of you who have no idea what I'm going on about or what this is, sit back and enjoy the gravy train! This is a Ten/Simm!Master fic, so those of you who aren't a big fan of that pairing or just aren't a big fan of slash in general may want to run and hide; right now. Okay, I still remember the new beginning I've recently envisioned in my head. Let's get cracking, and sorry for the super-long A/N… I get carried away with these things allot of the time. (this A/N was written on the 29th of Jan, really sorry 'bout the length of it...)

Chapter One – New Beginning

"We're cornered…" the Master said, a smirk gracing his lips, "And you wanted to take a holiday from this kind of thing!"

"Can you really blame me? We're both run ragged, I wanted to allow us some respite." the Doctor said, pouting.

"Did you really have to choose the only holiday home in this solar system that's run by the carnivorous bellhops from the planet flesh-eating travel lodge!" his mate said, dodging another bunch of claws with ease.

"Perhaps in hindsight I should have checked the news broadcasts in this area, perhaps in hindsight I should have brought something to fight them off, and perhaps in hindsight you should have remembered to pack my hair gel for me!"

"What'd you mean? It's your hair, it's your responsibility! Can't you live without your oh-so-precious hair products for a week?"

"No! My head feels naked!"

Suddenly from above, a shout came out "Hey! Mutated scum, chew on this!" a slab of meat was flung down to the carnivores, and quickly jumped upon. Perhaps they should have noticed that the meat man had a big load of netting with him; He jumped down and, while the carnivores were all huddled up together above their supper, captured and subdued them.

Jack turned to his two squabbling friends, "What the hell is wrong with you two? You could have been eaten alive!"

"Yes, but we weren't…" the Doctor said, looking down at his shoes like his mate.

"This time; Think what would have happened if I hadn't found a net, or a butcher's down the road."

Four feet were shuffled nervously; four eyes still looked down ashamedly.

Jack frowned, "What's up with you two? Half the time you're arguing, the other half I never see you together anymore!"

The walk back to the TARDIS was drowned in silence, the atmosphere like silly putty; you could try to reshape it but it would just snap back into place eventually. Attempt at starting conversation would yield very little success, they all knew. One man on either side of Jack, something he'd normally love; if it was a better situation. Striding on, waiting for the famous blue police box to come into view, all three men keeping themselves to themselves for the time being.

A snap of the Doctor's fingers; the TARDIS opened her doors obediently for her pilot, sensing the conflict hanging in the air.

The entry into the vortex of time was made in silence, as was the flight. They were all aware of the loud voices of the things left unsaid, the noise of the things on their minds.

For the TARDIS, it was that she did not want her pilot to lose his mate; he surely would if they all carried on like this.

For the Doctor, it was that his mate seemed to be losing interest in him, leaving the room when he entered it, not talking to him, and when they talked they only argued. It always left him tired and confused, he didn't want a repeat of the rivalry they had once had.

For the Master, it was that it felt like his mate was pushing him away, and he didn't like it; didn't want it, hated it even. He wanted them to go back to how they were, when the words 'I love you' weren't words that very rarely left their lips, when they were happy with each other, when they laughed and loved and everything in between. When the Doctor thought like trying for adoption again wasn't a bad idea.

For Jack, it was that his two best friends were destroying their relationship, and that they has sent Matthew home temporarily to save him the absurdity of what were then the pointlessly argumentative months to come. That Matthew knew very little of the problems facing his former foster parents, despite having the right to know. The look in his eyes as he'd had to say goodbye, like he was a little boy again, at the time when they'd all found out he wasn't going to live with the Doctor and the Master because it had been discovered he had godparents. The young crying boy had grown into the young tearful man.

The silence was deafening, it was so quiet. Nobody spoke for fear of causing some kind of uproar within the confines of the console room. Time went by slowly, nobody really wanting to do anything.

"Anybody for a cuppa…? I think I'll make myself one." the Doctor, spouting a one-sided conversation for the sake of a one-sided conversation, lest the silence take any more of their sanity.

End A/N: Okay, I hadn't really planned to make it all angsty. But it adds to the drama! Why did I take Matt out of picture? I honestly have no idea. It's the 4th of February at around 11:30am right now, I'm working here on a terrible and I've just typed this entire chapter IN SCHOOL. I had nothing to do and didn't feel like reading or drawing, and I sneezed a few times when I started typing. And I woke up to a nosebleed this morning, so I'm not on the greatest of emotional highs – but I persevere! Sorry about this, this angsty bullcrap will hopefully slide when my cold goes away… or when I find some tissues. Either way you'll be getting lots of angst and drama, and I've recently been stressed and depressed in school so get ready for that shit to join the rest! This will not be a nice fic, will it? I might type up a nice lovely chapter at some point… I have the unfortunate ailment that translated into English means 'With cold, comes coughing fits', I don't know when those are really happening at the moment because it's just the mild stuff right now.

And right now I really need to shut up an save this. All done on my netbook!

9th of February – meant to post this after I'd finished it… goddamn school destroying my online life :(

10th of Feb – Okay, today I am putting this up. Because chapter two is scheduled for Valentine's Day and it's 4 days away. EDIT AFTER SCHOOL - The next chapter is already finished and is going to be in my document manager shortly, I'm really getting stuck into this fic now that I can continue with it when I'm at school (the entire thing is being done on my 3-month-old netbook). Please review, as I'd love to hear what you think. I wont keep this thing full of angst and moodiness forever! I had free time at school today and so made a wonderful Chapter 2 that contains major fluff... you have all been forewarned.