Title: Stood On The Edge
Rating: FRT/15
Characters/Pairings: Ninth Doctor, Rose, Pre-immortality Jack, ?
Spoilers: DW S1 and TW S2
Warnings: Angst, Minor gore/violence in later chapters
A/N: Massive thanks to cazmalfoy and bandgeek01 (on LiveJournal) for the advice and beta'ing skills!
Summary: The mind is the hardest of things to heal, and when someone cries out for help in the Doctor's mind, he knows he has to help - but does everyone on the TARDIS agree with the new addition?
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, they sadly belong to RTD, the BBC
STOOD ON THE EDGE
CHAPTER 1
The TARDIS landed at its destination in its usual fashion – its passengers sprawled across the console, clinging on for dear life. At least, Jack and Rose were. The Doctor was grinning proudly at the ship in front of him, patting the coral beneath his hand.
"Here we are. Arganon Delta." The Doctor looked over to the other two, who were pulling themselves up off the floor. They glanced at each other and turned their attention to the Time Lord.
"What are we here for?" Rose was bouncing with barely contained excitement, a huge smile on her face. The doctor beamed back at her affectionately.
"Think of a world filled with Ancient Egyptian landscapes – and I mean the idealistic ones. Sand dunes and deserts in every direction, with huge bazaars and markets lining the streets of the cities." The Doctor painted the scene perfectly and Rose bit her lip as she listened raptly. No matter where they landed, the Doctor made the places sound perfect. "You can walk for miles in some of them and never find two places selling the same things."
"Weather?" Rose was used to this game and joined in.
"Perfect!" The Doctor grinned. "Sunny for a total of nine months a year, the rain dispersed across them in healthy amounts."
"Sights?" Rose raised her eyebrows and the Doctor folded his arms.
"A multitude of pyramids and underground caverns in this section of the world. Oasis', waterfalls, and lakes on the other side."
"It sounds like two worlds in one!"
"That's exactly what it is." Jack muttered next to her, having observed the whole conversation quietly. The Doctor turned his eyes to the Captain and watched him critically for a moment. When he spoke again, it was to the both of them, his breezy air back. "The key thing to remember about this planet is that they communicate mentally." The Doctor glanced down at the console to check their precise location.
"Telepathy?" Jack said sharply, clarifying his words.
"Yup, though this is one of the most peaceful civilisations in the universe. There's never been a dispute that hasn't been settled by words and negotiations." The Doctor didn't seem phased by Jack's attitude at all.
"No war?" Rose's eyebrows shot up in surprise.
"Nope. Each year, they search out the most powerful amongst them and, using stations and facilities across the entire planet, they maintain a psychic field to sense passers by and fend them off with redirection if needed." The Doctor smiled, but Jack didn't return it. His expression was still cold and stony. "The people are rotated every few months for the year they're signed up for. Everyone has to give one year, but you can volunteer again after that if you want – though they prefer people to take at least a year with their family before returning."
Rose looked more than a little awed. The Doctor couldn't help but feel incredibly protective over her. She really was still seeing the universe through a child's eyes sometimes.
"But hang on, how will I be able to communicate with them?" Rose's face suddenly fell. As far as she was aware, the TARDIS didn't translate mental signals into words for her.
"The area we're in is used to travellers from different planets. All you have to do is touch their hands, or let them touch yours, for you to receive the words they're saying. Skin contact increases the ease of telepathy a great deal." The Doctor smiled as Rose's expression switched back to a grin of relief. "The natives can speak directly from mind to mind, but it's a little like electrical appliances. People from other planets generally aren't compatible. Even Jack will have to use skin contact to talk to them."
"Right, I'm going to go grab a change of clothes. Don't leave without me!" She raced out of the console room towards her bedroom, leaving the atmosphere several degrees cooler as Jack stood watching the Doctor.
"I'm not going out there." Jack's voice was tinged with anger, but the Doctor knew better than that. Jack was scared.
Since his arrival on the ship, they'd worked together to heal some of the mental damage done to him by the Time Agency, but the very real fact of someone having meddled with his mind had left Jack closed and terrified of all telepathic interactions.
"It's not the same as the Time Agency, Jack. No one's going to take any more of your memories," the Doctor spoke gently, carefully even. He could see Jack's penchant for bolting starting to rise. "You have to soften your shielding and bring it down."
"Why?" Jack spat, fists clenched and muscles primed.
"Because it's considered one of the highest forms of social indecency to shield from others." The Doctor hardened his expression and drew himself up to his full height. "And don't suggest you can just pretend to be like Rose. They can still sense her mind being present. Your shielding makes you drop completely off the radar and there's nothing more suspicious than a missing mentality here."
"What about you? Are you just going to go out there with your head on show to them all?"
"Of course not. But I've got enough practise and experience behind me to allow me to open up sections of my mind - seven hundred odd years of travelling the universe will do that to you." The Doctor shrugged and Jack sneered.
"Like I'm ever going to have that amount of time to work on it!" Jack turned away from the Time Lord and attempted to compose himself.
"You can still try. The reason we're here is as much about you learning to trust others and practise your limiting as it is to show you two this world." The Doctor continued to speak in a slightly cool, professorial manner. As much as he understood and empathised with Jack's history, he couldn't help but feel offended for the citizens of Arganon Delta. This distrust in them shouldn't be allowed.
"When Rose gets back, we're all going to go out there and you're going to drop your shields. You're going to keep them down until we get back into the TARDIS and you're going to bury all of your suspicion and fear."
"Why the hell should I?" Jack snapped, turning round again and glaring at the Doctor.
"Because you need to accept and control your abilities!" The Doctor all but yelled back at him, the two men frozen as they glared at each other.
Neither noticed when Rose appeared in the doorway, rolling her eyes at them. She'd grown used to their bickering over the issue of Jack's 'lessons' but they'd both confided their reasons to her. Without the knowledge of why Jack was so scared and why the Doctor was so determined to remove said fear, Rose didn't think she'd be able to stand the tension that followed their sessions in the 'quiet room'.
"I can practically smell the testosterone in here!" She moved over to Jack and tugged at his arm, dragging his attention away from the Doctor. "Now, will you two please get over what just happened and get outside? We've been cooped up in here for too long."
The ship hummed her agreement and the Doctor sighed heavily, looking up at Rose with a small smile. Jack yanked his arm out of her grasp and reached out to grab his currency card. They'd been modified to hold Arganon Delta's currency as they'd landed and he had a feeling he'd need it.
Without a word, he turned and left the TARDIS, stalking away from the blue box.
Back in the control room, the Doctor watched the door with a faint scowl of frustration. Rose sighed and moved over to him, snatching up the last two cards and pulling him over to the door.
"Stop moping, will you?" She looked at him and he snapped out of his thoughts, looking down at her. "We're on a brand new planet and I want to see everything before we go, yeah?"
"Yeah." The Doctor's face split into a grin and he took over, pulling her from the box and guiding her down a long, winding road towards the first of the ruins.
A/N 2: I promise, the plot picks up soon... The posting schedule is Mondays and Wednesdays with Fridays as a possibility :) I really hope you enjoyed it, comments are majorly appreciated!