Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who! I only write for fun and don't profit from my work.
Spoilers: No more spoilers! Though there will inevitably be references to series 1, 2 and the already aired series 3!
A/N Well, I expected a slow flow on this fic due to the 'Utopia' mini spoilers…oh well! But thanks to all those who read and big hugs to Boo26 for reviewing! Please take a minute to press that little button and make my day!
1- Captain Jack Harkness
"Doctor! DOCTOR!" Martha yelled, shoving roughly at the Time Lords shoulder. "Get outta the way!"
The Doctor backed off, letting Martha kneel beside Jack and check his vital signs.
"No pulse." She said, her face set like stone for a moment before she started CPR on the strange man. She did a cycle of compressions as the Doctor paced around the TARDIS, running his hands through his hair.
"Bloody idiot!" he muttered, angrily. "What the hell did he think he was doing…I always knew he was trouble…urgh!"
Martha rolled her eyes and ignored the Doctor's ranting as she desperately tried to revive the handsome stranger the Doctor had called 'Jack'. She lowered her mouth to his, pinching his nose and giving him her breath. It worked.
Jack started coughing, sitting up and opening his eyes before falling backwards and hitting his head on the metal flooring.
"Ooof…my head." He grumbled. "Wait…" He looked up and grinned, "Was someone kissing me?"
Martha blushed furiously, noting for the first time just how gorgeous the American was.
"Martha Jones, Captain Jack Harkness. Jack, Martha Jones." The Doctor said, wearily, wandering over to where Jack was lying on the floor. "Now, Captain, I'd be most grateful if you'd tell me why you felt it necessary to fling yourself at my TARDIS like that!" He spat angrily.
Jack sat up. "Who the hell are you?" He asked, frowning at the Doctor. "I must've hit my head harder than I thought…" he put a hand to the back of his head, feeling a lump beginning to form there.
"It's me you idiot!" The Doctor rolled his eyes and stretched out a hand to pull Jack to his feet.
"Doctor?" Jack asked, looking quickly around the TARDIS, then at Martha and then back at the Doctor.
"I suppose regeneration was a myth too…" The Doctor said, before giving way to a grin as Jack threw his arms around him, hugging him tightly. However, the smile was quickly wiped from his face as Jack pulled back and the Doctor felt the full force of the Americans practiced right hook. He staggered backwards, grabbing the console for support.
"That's for leaving me behind!" He said, voice bitter for a moment. "Now, are you gonna tell me what the hell is going on? Who the hell is she?" He pointed his finger at Martha. "And where the hell is Rose?"
The Doctor, who had been nursing his cheek by the console looked up, his eyes filled with raw pain.
"She's not here, Jack." He said, quietly.
"Doctor…." Jack said, a dangerous edge in his voice as he marched over to where the Time Lord stood.
"Where is she? What happened? Why am I even alive?! I died! I need answers, Doctor!" Jack said, clutching the Doctors upper arms in desperation. "Do you have any idea how long I've waited?!"
The Doctor didn't answer. He looked at Jack, seeing the pain and desperation in the other mans eyes and wondering what kind of hell he must have been through. He felt guilty all of a sudden…guilt ridden for taking off like that instead of throwing open the TARDIS doors and rushing to greet his old friend. But he didn't do 'going back' – he always had to move forward. It was the only thing that kept him sane.
"Doctor? What on earth is going on?" Martha asked, quietly, moving towards the two men. They both looked so young to her, young in body, and yet, as she saw their eyes they suddenly looked incredibly old.
"OK…OK…" The Doctor sighed, rubbing the back of his neck nervously and moving away from Jack. "Grab a seat and we'll talk."
Jack sighed with relief, dropping his backpack on the floor and flopping down into the Captains seat next to Martha. The Doctor stood, leaning against the console, as he studied Jack. This was a different Jack from the one he had known…the happy-go-lucky guy he remembered from that time, so long ago now, when he had smiled and laughed with his friends. The time he was with his Rose. He exhaled slowly.
"Martha, I'll try and answer your questions as best I can, but I do owe Jack some answers…so bear with me." He looked at his companion, who nodded. "Where do you want me to start?" he asked, looking up at Jack, steeling himself as he prepared to remember all those things he wanted to bury away.
"From the minute you ran away from me on Satellite Five." Said Jack. "I was killed…the Daleks killed me. But then I woke up – I was alive. What the hell happened?"
The Doctor let out another long sigh, taking it all in his stride. He thought for a moment before the realisation dawned.
"Bad Wolf…" He muttered.
"Bad Wolf? What?" asked Jack, confused.
"Bad Wolf, Jack. Bad Wolf…" He trailed off, breathing deeply again. "Rose…"
"Rose?" Martha asked. "What's Rose got to do with it?"
"Everything." Said the Doctor sharply. "Rose is…was…" he quickly corrected himself. "She's everything."
And Martha got the feeling that he was no longer speaking just in relation to her and Jack's questions.
The Doctor started to wander around the console, refusing to look at either person he was speaking to. He told them about the Bad Wolf – about Rose saving them all.
"And then…" he said, "That must have been how you came back to life. When Rose became the Bad Wolf she brought death, yes, and she brought life." He looked Jack in the eye. "Rose raised you from the dead."
Jack went white as a sheet, not knowing how to feel…knowing that Rose was responsible for saving his life, and yet cursing him to immortality.
The Doctor continued with his story, recounting how he absorbed the vortex from Rose and then regenerated. He talked for a very long time, telling Jack about what happened to them after they were separated…about his fantastic Rose.
Martha watched the two men with interest as the Doctor talked, occasionally interrupted by Jack when he asked questions. Both men had a twinkle in their eye as they spoke about this girl. Jack smiled for the first time since he had arrived on the TARDIS and the Doctor, he smiled wistfully as he remembered, a far off look in his eye as if reliving every moment.
"But then…" his face fell again. "Then came the war…and Torchwood." He ground out the name of the institution, his eyes burning with anger.
Jack shifted nervously in his seat as he saw the look in the Doctors eyes. Torchwood was something that he clearly hated, and he soon found out why. The ex-Time Agent said nothing as the Doctor told him about the Cybermen, Rose facing the Daleks, and the breach between the parallel worlds. He knew the Doctor and Rose had been seen at Torchwood One before it's untimely demise, through his research into the Torchwood archives, but the details were hazy as most people there that day had been killed. He listened intently as the Doctor explained about trying to send Rose to be with her family, and how she returned to him and told him that she would never leave him. Jack felt a lump rise in his throat as the Doctors expression became pained and cold. The Time Lord turned his back, unable to tell the last part of the story whilst looking at them.
"She…she fell, Jack. I couldn't do anything. I yelled, I screamed, but there was nothing I could do…then, just as I thought it was the end for her, Pete from the other world reappeared and grabbed her. The last thing I saw was her looking at me before she disappeared into the other world…and the breach sealed itself. I lost her Jack….I lost her…" The doctor's shoulders slumped, his knuckles turning white as he clutched the edge of the console tightly.
"But did she get back safely?" Jack asked, his voice laced with concern.
"Yes…" The Doctor said, sadly.
"But you can't be sure…can you?"
"Oh, I can be, Captain." The Doctor said, almost bitterly as he sniffed and turned to face Jack and Martha once again. "I spent months rushing around the universe, from one end to the other trying to find a way to get her back…but I couldn't. I failed. Then I found a gap…a gap between this world and hers. I couldn't get through it but with enough power I could send a projection from the TARDIS to her. So I found power and started calling her name…"
"What power?" Martha asked, speaking for the first time since the start of the story.
"A star." Said the Doctor, looking at Martha briefly, the pain and grief in his eyes stinging her.
"A star?" Jack asked, frowning.
"A supernova." The Doctor explained. "I burnt up a star, Jack. I burnt up a star to say goodbye." The Doctor gulped, knowing that, despite his best efforts, he was on the verge of breaking down.
Jack stayed silent, watching the Doctor sadly. He had been feeling bitter and lost, imagining Rose and the Doctor gallivanting around without him…but now he knew that the Doctor was in pieces. He was a just a shadow of the man he had known…a man who had been saved by love, only to be destroyed by it.
"I saw her one last time…She followed my voice all the way to Norway where we met on Bad Wolf bay…talk about ironic." He chuckled, mirthlessly. "I didn't know what to say…neither did she. She wanted to touch my face, and I wanted to hug her and tell that it was all gonna be OK, but I couldn't."
"What do you mean, you didn't know what to say?" Jack said, aghast. "You should've told her that you love her you ass!"
"What?!" Martha burst out, her tone harsh and shocked but the Doctor didn't respond, he was too wrapped up in his memories. He fixed his gaze with Jacks.
"I tried…" he said, his voice cracking. "Rose started crying…she told me that she loved me, and I just looked at her for a moment. Then I started to say it…but I only got to the end of her name before she disappeared and I was just staring at the TARDIS walls…its not fair Jack. I'm the Time Lord who ran out of time."
And with that the Doctor turned on his heels and walked briskly down the corridor and out of sight.