"Ow! Damn!" Jack yanked his hand back, stung, and popped his bleeding finger into his mouth. "That hurt."
Seymour, the Sawarsian Snapping Shrub, gave him what he could have sworn was a perturbed look and settled himself in his pot.
"Oh, you only eat for Ianto, do you?" asked Jack archly, shaking the container of food in front of the plant. The largest leaf jerked once, as if to nod.
"You sure know how to make a guy feel welcome," Jack told Seymour, setting the container back on the table. "Do you realize how quiet it is when everybody's gone?"
Seymour twitched a leaf again, perhaps to indicate he did know, considering he never left the Hub.
Sighing, Jack jammed his hands in his trouser pockets. Even the plants weren't feeling sociable. Well, he could hardly blame them, with him running off like he had. He was half-dreading the rest of the team's return.
He'd been hoping for a warm welcome, but in the back of his mind, he wondered if they wouldn't be upset at him for running off like that. He paced through the hothouse, looking at, but not really seeing, the various alien plants. He was definitely beginning to regret not waiting for them, to tell them where he was going, but he also knew he couldn't have missed the Doctor.
He supposed he'd just have to sit and wait for everyone to come back—he'd certainly done enough mundane tasks and they hadn't done anything for his mood. Maybe he could take a nap. Dejectedly, he made his way into his office –
– to find the Doctor sitting at his desk, playing with his model airplane.
Jack froze. "What are you doing here?" he asked, blinking in surprise. "Did you forget something?"
The Doctor stared blankly at him. "Did I what? …Oh! Oh, brilliant." The Doctor leapt to his feet and walked toward Jack, looking him up and down. "Is this that same day?" He rubbed his chin. "I am good."
Jack stared. "When you say 'same day,' do you mean…?"
The Doctor set the airplane down and stood, his grin faltering slightly. "I've just come from next Christmas."
"Where's Martha?" Jack was an experienced time-traveler, but there were still parts of it that threatened gave him a headache.
"She's… gone." The Doctor didn't meet his eyes. "Back to her family," he added hastily when he saw Jack's concerned expression. "They needed her."
They stood in silence for a few moments before Jack said, unnecessarily, "My team's not here."
"I gathered," said the Doctor, rubbing the back of his neck. "So. Jack. How are you… faring? After... well…" He trailed off, his gaze drifting back to the various things on Jack's desk, his expression threatening distraction. "I suppose it's not been very long for you." He reached out and began picking up the various small knick-knacks on Jack's desk. "You know, I could fix your camera for you—you realize, this is a camera, right?"
"I got it covered," he said. He made a mental note to tell Ianto it was a camera.
The Doctor nodded and began sorting the pieces of the camera by shape. "Got any plans for the afternoon? I mean, I expect you've not had the time to make them, but…" He straightened a stack of books, rearranging them by size. "You could come with me. For the time being."
Jack started. "What?" He definitely hadn't been expecting that, though he wasn't sure what he had been expecting when the Doctor turned up suddenly in the Hub.
The Doctor looked up at him. "While you're waiting. I can bring you back later today."
Jack blinked. He had just heard the Doctor ask him to come with him, though it had been longer for the Doctor. He'd hesitated saying yes before because he'd wanted to return to his team, and part of him had also suspected that the Doctor hadn't really meant it. But he did have time to kill and the offer was tempting. Really tempting.
"Sure," he said, shrugging, trying to mask his eagerness. "I've got an afternoon to kill."
The Doctor smiled, a genuine, warm smile that gave Jack an unexpected pool of warmth in the pit of his stomach.
"Brilliant!" he said, his grin widening to his eyes. He reached over and plucked a piece of hard candy from the dish, popping it into his mouth. "Allons-y!"
**
It felt weird for Jack to come back to the TARDIS when he felt he'd just left it. The air felt the same, and there was that same familiar, comforting hum, but there was something different. Jack glanced at the Doctor. How long had he been on his own for? The TARDIS somehow felt as though it had been empty for quite a long time.
"Look!" said the Doctor suddenly. "She's glad you've joined me! She's always liked you, the TARDIS."
Jack placed a hand on one of the coral struts, giving it a fond pat. "Oh? I thought she panicked and ran off to the end of the universe when she saw me."
"Oh, yes." The Doctor rubbed his nose. "Right. Well. I'm sure she's… gotten over that." There was a pause, and then the Doctor turned back to the console, away from Jack. "Where can I take you, Jack, on this trip of ours?"
Jack thought for a moment. He hadn't expected to be prompted to choose, and it was hard, trying to pull some destination out of all of time and space, especially when he was so rusty. Spending over a century in linear time had made him forget what traveling with the Doctor was really like.
"I don't know," he said. "Could you put it on random?"
"Sure!" said the Doctor brightly. "Haven't had it on random for a long time now." He reached over and flicked a switch. Immediately, the TARDIS began to dematerialize and Jack felt that old familiar feeling he'd always had when he was traveling with the Doctor.
He glanced over at the other man. He hadn't yet had a moment to really study him in his new body. It was good. When Jack had first noticed that the Doctor had regenerated, he'd been a little disappointed, but this new body was… really good.
He watched as the Doctor leaned around to look at the monitor, giving Jack a perfect view of his arse, which looked particularly delectable in those tight pinstriped trousers.
"Kindly refrain from drooling in my TARDIS," said the Doctor, without turning to face Jack.
Jack stuck his hands in his pockets and came to stand next to him. "Wouldn't have to if you didn't look so good in that suit. Got a thing for suits. I think I like it more than that ratty old jumper."
The Doctor pretended to pout. "I still don't know what was wrong with that jumper!" He paused. "You know, you've kind of fallen into a habit there yourself." He nodded to indicate Jack's clothes. "Might not be appropriate where we're going. Want to change?"
Jack considered this, but he felt more comfortable dressed like this. He'd been wearing the same "uniform" for sixty years now, and he suddenly realized why.
It had been in the 1940s that he'd first met the Doctor. Had he been clinging to these clothes for over half a century because they reminded him of that time?
He remembered what it had been like before, when he'd had no other choice in the universe but to trust this man, this alien, who he had eventually come to, well, love.
He shrugged. "I think I'll stay like this," he said.
The Doctor grinned. "Me too."
Jack returned his smile. He opened his mouth to say something else, but his thoughts were interrupted by the TARDIS beginning to materialize.
"Here we are!" exclaimed the Doctor.
"Where's here?" Jack asked.
The Doctor rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't know," he said thoughtfully. "But wherever here is, we're there." He regarded the doors thoughtfully. "Who knows what's out there, Jack? Could be anything. Could be Venice, thirteenth century, one of the busiest ports in Europe. Could be Thessafloy, thirty-second century, right on the brink of the Great Rodower War." His lips twitched into a smile that was almost sly. "Shall we have a look?"
Jack returned the Doctor's smile. Yeah, this regeneration was really attractive. "I'm game if you are."
The Doctor grinned, sprang across the console room and threw open the doors.
A bulldozer drove by outside.
Jack came up next to him and stuck his head out the door. "Were you imagining this?"
The Doctor crossed his arms over his chest. "Wasn't at the front of my mind, no." He smirked. "You were the one who suggested I put it on random."
"Shut up," muttered Jack.
The Doctor grinned at him and took a step off the TARDIS. "Ah, well, doesn't matter. I'm sure this place is plenty interesting! TARDIS doesn't pick uninteresting places."
Jack smiled and jammed his hands in his trouser pockets. "An interesting place would be good right about now," he mused. Could take my mind off some things, he added silently.
"Ah! What's this?" The Doctor had already gotten a few paces ahead of him. "Looks like someone's set up a mine! Love a good mine, me. Rocks! Rickety old carts zooming along rails… little men with long, white beards. Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, and all that. Love a mine."
"Oh?" said Jack, falling into step beside him. The Doctor appeared to be correct. The TARDIS had landed in a valley that had perhaps once been teeming with life. Now, however, it had been stripped bare to make room for the mining equipment. The huge cranes and drills stood out starkly against the barren, dusty landscape. The few trees Jack could see on a distant ridge looked very lonely.
"Oh, yes," said the Doctor brightly, as they walked together down the dirt road toward where all the action seemed to be concentrated. "All sorts of lovely mines out there." He began to tick his favorites off on his fingers. "Gold, silver, diamonds, coal, shale, potash! Mustn't forget potash. And then of course there's—"
"Halt!" An armed guard pointed his rather large weapon right at the Doctor. Jack winced. He'd spent enough time over the last year being shot that he was a little leery of guns.
"Oh," said the Doctor, glancing down nervously at the long barrel trained on his chest. "Hello. You must… That's really… I'm…" He reached into his pocket and dug around for a moment before producing a familiar black wallet. "John Smith, I'm John Smith," he said, flashing the psychic paper at the guard. "And this is my assistant Jack Harkness." Jack gave the guard a small wave. "We're…" The Doctor tried to turn the psychic paper so he could read what it said.
"You're with those archaeologists?" asked the guard, not bothering to hide his disdain.
"Yes," said the Doctor pleasantly, flipping the psychic paper shut and stowing it safely back in his coat pocket. "We are indeed with those archaeologists."
The guard looked at them skeptically and then jerked his head in the direction of a cluster of tents. "They're expecting you. Maybe if you hurry up and tell them there's nothing down there, we can hurry up and finish this job."
"Perhaps!" said the Doctor. "Because that's our job, you know, to see if anything's there."
Jack nodded.
"Don't you need equipment?" asked the guard suspiciously.
"They have already have the stuff we need," said Jack smoothly. The Doctor looked at him, impressed.
"Right then," said the guard. "Happy digging."
Jack smiled. "Same to you."
"Jack, stop it.
"What?"
**
The Doctor flashed his psychic paper and a classic grin, and soon, the archaeologists were convinced they'd known he and Jack were coming all along.
"Dr. Smith!" the one who seemed to be their leader exclaimed, rising to his feet. "We've heard so much about you! I'm Roger Bradford—Doctor Roger Bradford, of course." He shook the Doctor's hand enthusiastically.
"It's nice to meet you," said the Doctor, smiling. "I'm… well, you know who I am. You were expecting me, after all. What do you need me for?"
Dr. Bradford looked at him blankly for a moment. "We called you in for a consultation," he said.
"Oh, yes, of course!" The Doctor's features lit up and he turned to look at Jack, a broad smile on his face. "A consultation. We'll be consulting away shortly, me and Jack." He nodded decisively, as if this brought the matter to a close.
"What are we looking for?" asked Jack, rubbing his hands together and trying to look purposeful.
"Anything," said Bradford unhelpfully.
The Doctor and Jack exchanged glances. "That's a bit… broad," said the Doctor.
"Dr. Smith, we need to work quickly," said Bradford. "Johnson's men are going to start digging any day now and we can't afford to waste a moment." He pointed to the dig site in the distance. "By law, we are allowed to go in there and do a survey before they go in and destroy valuable artifacts."
"What sort of artifacts?" asked the Doctor, leaning forward on the balls of his feet.
"Oh, we don't know," said Bradford. "That's why you're here, obviously."
"Right, obviously," said Jack. "So we go down there, poke around, assure those guys there's nothing valuable down here and then we go on our merry way."
"Oh, but there is something valuable down there!" exclaimed Bradford. "We've done scans—there's a pocket of air about fifty feet below us. I'm absolutely positive it's the Holy City of Yanda-Orr."
The Doctor's eyes lit up. "The Holy City of Yanda-Orr," he breathed in a reverent voice.
"Indeed," said Bradford happily. "You can use the shaft Johnson's men have already begun. As soon as we received word of the discovery of the cavern, we ordered a stop-work immediately." He looked at the Doctor and Jack curiously. "Which one of you will be going down?"
The Doctor and Jack looked at each other.
"Going… down?" asked the Doctor.