Title: A Happy Accident
Author: Shen
Rating: PG
Summary: What if, instead of Jack flinging the TARDIS to the end of this universe in Utopia, the ship had jumped universes instead? Originally written for the OT3 ficathon.
Chapter Two: Meetings
With a snk and a long squeak, the TARDIS doors open. Rose grins expectantly and watches. Some portion of her brain picks up on the way Jack tenses at her side, but she thinks nothing of it. The Doctor is about to walk into her life once more; that fact takes up almost the entirety of her focus.
A thin, black woman in a stylish red jacket skips out the door.
"Er," Rose sputters momentarily, "hello?" The young woman opens her mouth as if to respond, glances around, and immediately leaps backwards into the TARDIS again.
"Oof!" comes a familiar voice from inside, accompanied by a metallic banging. "What in blazes-"
"There are guns. An awful lot of guns," Rose hears the woman expound worriedly. Ah, of course. The other agents had stopped aiming at Jack at Rose's behest. Still, the newcomer possessed no such endorsement from her, so necessary caution was being used – in the form of a large number of rifle muzzles aimed from every direction.
Rose looks at Jack. He shakes his head, apparently as confused as she, but his brows are knit and the carefree joy of several moments ago completely gone. And at last, the fog of disorientation and joy dispelled, it becomes clear to Rose that something is very wrong. Or at least… amiss. The Doctor should have run out to her first, hell or high water. Jack should be as jubilant as she is, and he certainly shouldn't have been TARDIS-surfing through the Void.
She visibly shakes herself. There's a duty beyond her own personal drama, no matter how prodigious it is.
"Weapons down," she orders, swinging away from the TARDIS. If her eyes linger on the box, her personnel will think it's concern for safety. Not… well.
"Jefferson." At her wave, her second-in-command walks over. His dark eyes, set in a deep brown face, look at her with intense curiosity.
"Ma'am?"
"Send these men home. Have them disassemble the barriers first. I'll take care of this; just tell Pete to expect us at HQ."
"Ma'am…" he repeats hesitantly. Rose sighs, trying to bleed the disquiet from her expression.
"You can stay; I won't break protocol. Have Campbell and Shah direct everyone else."
"Excellent." He grins, having heard what he wanted. She shakes her head affectionately as he trots off. For a second-in-command, he's very apt at keeping her in line. Without a hint of insubordination, of course. The consummate lieutenant. And now…
She takes a breath. It doesn't slow her heart one iota. With trepidation, she turns.
The Doctor hangs half out the door, his palms resting on the inside of the frame. He probably started with a cheeky grin, but now he sports a jaw-dropped, blank-eyed, porcupine-headed visage of pure shock. Rose smiles and turns to Jack.
"Did we break him?" she asks jovially, but the man looks stern, almost angry. He takes measured steps up to the Doctor, who finally walks out of the ship. The woman follows him after a moment, looking dreadfully confused.
"Doctor." Barely controlled.
"Jack." Cautious. The moment is extraordinarily tense, until a grin randomly splits Jack's face.
"Rose is alive!" He hugs the Doctor fiercely and is squeezed in return. "You have no idea how I… doesn't matter." The men share a last squeeze and a laugh before the Doctor turns to Rose, arms open. Two steps and she's wrapped in him, adjusting to get as close as possible. Curves meld into planes; faces turn into the crooks of necks.
Rounding out the moment of reunion, a laughing Jack throws his arms around their backs and picks the both of them up just a few inches off the ground. A questionable benefit of this Doctor's slimmer form, Rose thinks as the air rushes from her lungs and she makes an undignified "nngerg" noise.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Oh. That's iRose,/i waiting outside the ship. Though, that's Rose? Figures she'd be pretty. And blonde. And apparently some kind of militant, though that didn't match what she would expect the Doctor to be interested in.
What were the chances that the TARDIS would fly out of control and randomly crash in front of his old girlfriend? Though they don't look like a pair that had broken up. Martha feels she has to be missing part of the story.
"Martha, come here!" the Doctor calls jubilantly. While she was in her reverie, they must have finished their hug. He draws her forward with a friendly hand on the back. "Martha Jones, this is Jack Harkness and Rose Tyler. Rose, Jack – Martha." Suddenly, his whole body freezes mid-breath. Martha watches him, alarmed, while he looks at Rose as if expecting her to eat him or something. The other woman either ignores or doesn't notice it, however, and instead holds out her hand to Martha and smiles.
"Good to meet you! Been traveling with the Doctor long?" Well. Though feeling somewhat petty, Martha would not be outmatched in politeness.
Shaking hands, she says, "I think so, though I couldn't tell you how long." Smile, Martha. Your mother taught you that much.
"Ha, it's like that. You don't even know how long your days are sometimes, am I right?"
"Or how long your jail stays are," Jack chimes in. There's a moment of laughter, and then silence. Which, after a bit, makes itself distinctly known as awkward.
Becoming uncomfortable, Martha mentions to Rose, "He's told me about you." Oh, bugger. What did that even mean? But despite the randomness, the blonde positively lights up.
"Really?"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Um, yup!"
Rose is delighted to hear that the Doctor didn't forget about her. Though, she fought hard not to laugh when he introduced Martha. He must have gone a bit dim, to think that she hadn't learned anything from meeting Sarah Jane. She never wanted him to be alone, after all. Not that she wouldn't have been… snippy, had she felt the need to be jealous. But the jubilant, loving look the Doctor holds for her and Jack right now precludes such a thing.
God, she wants to get them alone. Talking needs to happen. As does touching, tonguing, and f-
"Er, Tyler? Are you alright?" She turns her head to look at Jefferson blankly. In return, he looks concerned, as if he's been asking after her for a minute now.
"Um…" She's been completely zoned out, hasn't she? Staring at Martha politely but thinking about her men. How rude... "Jefferson! These are Martha - Jones, yeah? - the Doctor, and Jack Harkness. Guys, this is Jefferson Green. He's second in command of today's operation." There's a string of greetings. "And that brings me to a problem."
"Problem? I can't even begin to list the potential problems with the TARDIS. I didn't even get a chance to look at her and see what needs to be fixed after this awful crash. Not that the circumstances are awful – those are amazing- wonderful- swimmi- I actually lack the wo-" The Doctor halts his ranting when Rose plants her lips on his.
