A Darker Shade of Midnight

Chapter 2

He had been with Lord Elrond taking a little wine when he heard it, that peculiar grinding, whirring sound. Gandalf laughed aloud. "The Doctor! He's come for a visit! I wonder what that rascal has been up to now? Elrond, an old friend of mine has stopped by. I'd like you to meet him. He's a very unusual character."

They hurried out to locate the Doctor. Gandalf scanned the area about him and spotted the TARDIS. As they came nearer they saw the door of the Doctor's blue box open, but instead of seeing his old friend bouncing out with his peculiar energy, Gandalf saw a young man in a long gray coat step out, his eyes seeming to sweep the area as if to spot trouble, then move a little more forward. The Doctor walked behind the young man. He was in shocking condition, Gandalf saw. And obviously in some sort of trouble or he would not have had this apparent guardian with him. One of Elrond's guards had stepped forward and had drawn his bow in readiness for trouble. Suddenly the Doctor's guardian had a small, silver object in his hand and was pointing at the guard, shouting "You. Ears. Drop it. Now." Suddenly the stone just by the guard's feet exploded, sending dust and rubble flying.

The guard loosed his arrow, hitting the Doctor's guardian in the chest. Gandalf saw the young man crumple to the ground and ran forward, Elrond at his heels.

"Doctor," Gandalf called.

But the Doctor wasn't listening. In fact he began to exhibit the most bizarre and disturbing behavior Gandalf had ever seen in his friend. He straddled his dead companion's body and ripped the arrow out roughly. Worse, he proceeded to beat up the corpse, cursing vilely. Gandalf closed the gap between them and placed his hands on the Doctor's shoulders to draw him away from his dead companion. To Gandalf's shock, the Doctor rounded on him, swatting away his hands.

"Leave him alone," The Doctor shouted, and then returned his wrath on the corpse. "Get up! Get up, you stupid ape!"

Suddenly the corpse gasped, drawing in what sounded like a horribly painful breath. The Doctor snatched up the small, silver object, obviously a weapon of considerable power, and pressed it to his own temple.

"Doctor!" The young man, obviously miraculously not dead, seeming to be no longer even injured, cried out, his hand raised as if he wanted to wrest the weapon from the Doctor's hand, but was afraid to try. "Doctor, please, that thing has a hair-trigger. You're going to hurt yourself, maybe kill yourself…put it down, Doc. Please."

"What, you don't like it?" the Doctor snarled. "Why don't I just pull the trigger, yeah? If I manage to regenerate, I can do it again, too. I've only got three left in me, Jack. Three. I can just keep doing it until there aren't any more regenerations."

"Doctor, please…please stop, Doc, you're scaring me," the young man said, horror plain on his face.

"Three times, Jack. Just three times and all my troubles will be sorted for good and all. Three times."

"Doctor, no, please…"

"Oh, I'm scaring you, am I? Well, Jack," snarled the Doctor, "That's how I feel every time I see you pull that little stunt. How does it feel, Jack? How does it feel watching me maybe die for good? Because that's what it does to me, you stupid, thickheaded barbarian! How am I supposed to know how many times you can come back? Hmm?"

The young man lunged suddenly, expertly taking the weapon from the Doctor and jamming it into the pocket of his coat. Fast as lightning, he grasped the Doctor's lapels and rolled, pinning the Doctor to the ground. He proceeded to shake the Doctor like a dog shakes an old rag. "You ever do that again, you skinny little shit, and I'll put a belt across your ass, and not in a fun way!"

The young man rose, practically snatching the Doctor to his feet. For a moment, Gandalf thought the young man was going to hit the Doctor. Instead, he pulled him close, his face twisted with pain. "You bastard. Don't ever do that again, Doc, please. I really would die forever if you did what you said." The young man was near tears. The Doctor squirmed out of the embrace and brushed himself off.

"I'm not going to apologize, Jack." His face looked tired and grim and angry. "Stop doing that, I mean it. You frighten me every time I see you die. Now, the TARDIS brought us here for a reason. Let's just leave all this and find out what it is." He turned then and his face lit up, actually recognizing Gandalf for the first time since his arrival. "Gandalf!" The Doctor grinned with delight. "Jack, look! It's Gandalf. Told you this would be fantastic!"

His face was pale, terribly pale. He wobbled, his eyes rolled up in their sockets, and then he collapsed like a wet sheet. The young man with him grabbed the Doctor before he could hit the stony ground. The little silver weapon was once more in his hand. He looked like a wild animal, his eyes cold, hard, daring anyone to move. "Touch him and I'll kill every one of you," he growled softly. He was like a warg defending his young, angry and afraid. His eyes flitted from one to the other before settling on the guard with the bow. His eyes narrowed to slits and his teeth were bared in a soundless snarl.

"Jack?"

Gandalf saw that the Doctor's eyes were open again. He reached his hand up and gently touched the young man's hand, the hand gripping the little silver weapon.

"Jack," the Doctor said softly, soothingly. "It's all right, Jack. Put that thing away, please. We're among friends, Jack. The guard just reacted because you discharged that laser. No one here will hurt me, Jack, I promise. I promise."

"Could have fooled me," Jack said. "But! You're the Doctor. Never doubted you, never will." At last the weapon was put away once more, hopefully for the last time. Jack still, however, did not let go of the Doctor. "You okay? Look a little unsteady there, angel face."

"Jack…don't…don't…don't call me that in front of everyone, really."

"Okay, sweet cheeks, I'll wait until we're alone to call you angel face."

"Jack, stop it."

"Think you can stand up now, Doc?"

"I think so," the Doctor said. "Blimey, how many times do I have to ask you to call me 'Doctor'? Who do you think you are, Bugs Bunny?"

The young man tried to steady the Doctor on his feet. It didn't work and he had to be caught all over again. "Okay, then," he hefted the Doctor into his arms. "Come on, Skeletor. You there, Ears." He looked at Elrond. "Nice look, by the way. Got someplace I can put him? He's not in too good a shape, in case nobody noticed. And…wait. Doc, did you actually say 'Gandalf'?"

"Yes, Jack. Gandalf. As in wizard."

"No. No, really?"

"Yes, Jack, really, what happened to 'never doubted you, never will'? Good old TARDIS! Brilliant, isn't she?"

"Seriously, Doc…this can't be right. Have we fallen through the rift or something?"

"No, Jack, Middle Earth is more a when than a where, you see. Well, almost. Well, not really, it's…wibbly wobbly, timey wimey…stuff. Look, just trust the TARDIS and me, will you? She brought us here—"

"Here for a reason, yeah, you said that already. So, Ears! What do you say? Got a sick Time Lord here could use a little rest."

"Jack, don't…don't call Lord Elrond 'Ears,' that's just so rude."

"Oh, so that's Lord Elrond," Jack said. "Hello, Lord Elrond!"

"Stop iiiit!"

"I was just saying hello!"

"Just saying hello is flirting to you. Now stop it."

"Oh, all right! You never let me have any fun. If it was up to you I'd be celibate."

"Blimey, that would be a full time job, that would, keeping you celibate. Don't think there's a force in the universe that could do that."

"Well? Sick Time Lord? Hello? Bed, anyone?" The young man moved forward, looking from Elrond to Gandalf as if waiting for directions. Wordlessly Elrond motioned for the guard to lead the way and Jack followed, eager to get the Doctor settled in.

"Did I mention," Gandalf said to Elrond, "That he's an unusual character?"