Wow…this has been up for less than 24 hours and the response has floored me. Thank you all! I wasn't originally planning on posting tonight/this morning, but after all those reviews I couldn't stop myself. This chapter was a little harder for me because I bounce back and forth between Nine and Ten. While they are essentially the same people, they are different and I want to try and capture that difference. Let me know what you think.
Disclaimer: In my dreams, which happens quite a lot…
The Doctor sighed and ran a hand over the uncharacteristic stubble that graced his face; he hadn't bothered shaving during the two weeks that they had been drifting around the Vortex, and it was beginning to show. It had been almost an hour since he had left Donna and Martha in the kitchen and he was already regretting his harsh words; in fact, he regretted them the moment they came out of his mouth. He wouldn't admit it out loud, but the events in Pompeii affected him far more than his emotional outburst about not being able to save his own people. It wasn't just the Time Lords the Doctor wished he could save, but all the people who had died because of him, who died for him. His thoughts crept to Rose, beautiful, kind, brilliant Rose. How he wanted to save her, see her again, hug her and pretend nothing bad had ever happened; at the very least he wished he could have said those last three words.
He shook his head slowly, even now, after all this time, he couldn't voice his feelings, it wasn't the way he worked. Holding her hand for no reason other than he felt like it, the secret smiles between the two of them, leaning his cheek against hers as she rested her chin on his shoulder as she looked to see what he was reading…these were the ways he told her that he l…
Blinking, the Doctor rubbed his face tiredly, a coward to the end, even when she was stuck in a parallel world.
…Still, Martha and Donna didn't know all of the Doctor's thoughts, and they shouldn't have to, they were his burden to bare. So, why had he treated them like they should know what would hurt him? As he sat in a whirlwind of thoughts, he felt the comforting pressure of the TARDIS on his mind, not invading, just letting him know that she was there.
Donna looked at Martha, "So, who's this Jack? I've never heard him mentioned before."
Martha gave Donna the quick details of what she knew about Jack, that he traveled with the Doctor and Rose, Rose absorbed the Time Vortex, made him immortal, and then that he was now the head of Torchwood. Oh, and that he is a complete flirt.
"I wonder if that was the only video of them," Martha pondered.
Like the TARDIS knew what she wanted, the lights dimmed down and the screen shot back to life.
"And now we come to the kitchen," Jack informed, opening a door in the hallway. "Here is where…" he paused as a roar came from the room, "okay, this is no longer the kitchen."
Snapping the door shut, Jack continued down the hallway, the camera on him. "So, the TARDIS likes to move things around," he looked thoughtful for a minute. "I wonder if I can convince her to move the Doctor's room closer to mine."
"Not if I have anything to say about it," the Doctor's voice called from an open doorway, which was now the kitchen.
"Speak of the devil," Jack greeted, wandering into the kitchen, "I am just giving my viewers a tour of the TARDIS."
"Why would you do that?" The Doctor asked, biting into a banana, continuing before he had finished the entire bite. "The TARDIS moves things around, it won't be of any use. And what viewers?"
"At least some things haven't changed," Martha commented in amusement.
"I have to do something with my free time, and since you won't teach me how to fly the TARDIS, I will make this and leave it for the next unsuspecting person you convince to travel with you."
"Of course I won't. You think I want a mysterious ex-Time Agent knowing how to fly my time machine?" The Doctor asked snarkily. "And will you stop filming me? I knew I put that thing away for a reason."
"Is it the ears?" Jack questioned seriously. "You really shouldn't be ashamed of them, they are quite fetching on you. Besides, we could have all sorts of fun with this baby."
The Doctor didn't get a chance to reply because Jack had swung away from him, focusing on a bleary eyed Rose entering the kitchen.
"And speaking of fun. Rosie" Jack said cheerfully, "good morning, beautiful."
Rose stared at him as she plopped down onto one of the kitchen chairs.
"Proper response is, 'Hello, handsome'," Jack prompted.
"In your dreams," Rose groggily teased.
"That reminds me, last night I had this amazing dream with the two of you in it," Jack started. Both the Doctor's and Rose's eyebrows had shot up.
"Hold on right there," Rose said, holding up a hand to stop him, "it is way too early for you to be coming on to us."
"Fine, there is always later," Jack conceded, sitting back in his chair, panning around the kitchen.
The Doctor stood up from his spot on a sofa in the library and stretched out his aching muscles. He been spending too much time sitting around doing nothing, and it was time to change that. All of the thoughts, all of the memories, weren't going away any time soon, so he might as well push them to the side and struggle forward.
He made his way to his room, and immediately went for the adjoining bathroom. Looking up at his reflection in the mirror, the Doctor grimaced; first thing first, a shower. He was surprised that neither Donna nor Martha had commented on the fact that he officially looked homeless.
Turning the taps off, the Doctor reached a hand out blindly, managing to locate a clean towel. Securing it around his narrow hips he stepped out of the shower and took a quick peek at the mirror, glad to see his usual, albeit tired, face staring back at him.
"Better," he said, running a hand along his smooth jaw. "Now, old girl, where are they?"
An amused hum was the only answer he received.
"No, really, I need to find them," the Doctor tried again, only to receive the same response.
"Why won't you," the Doctor stopped when the amused hum turned into something similar to laughter.
"Why are you….oh," the Doctor looked down at his towel covered body. "Yes, clothes first, then apologize."
Back in the theatre, the video jumped to a new scene quickly to show the Doctor tinkering with the console and Jack zooming in and out on him.
"Rosie!" Jack hollered from behind the camera, "My first real trip with Mr. Time Lord here and you're holding us up."
"Hold your horses, I'm right here," Rose replied off camera, giving a little wave as Jack turned it on her, "Hi".
"The camera loves you, let's go," the Doctor said, hurrying them out the door.
The camera was jostled around as Jack and Rose were shoved out the door and into the new environment. Finally, once the click of the door shutting could be heard, the camera stilled.
"Wow," Jack said with a low whistle, off screen.
"It's beautiful," Rose added.
The camera panned around to capture the image of frozen waves, some a hundred feet tall. Unlike beaches on Earth, there was no sound of seagulls flying in the sky, no kites being held by children, just the three time travelers and the wind.
As if standing still was too much for Jack to handle, he could be heard challenging Rose, "Race you!"
"Oh, you're so on," Rose declared, "Doctor, you in?"
"Nah, I'm good," he replied with a reassuring tone, making sure that Rose knew she should do it.
"Perfect, you can hold this," Jack said. The camera's view turned over a few times before it stopped and turned towards Jack and Rose.
"Can I turn this thing off?" the Doctor asked Jack.
Rose looked at the Doctor, swiping her hair from her eyes, "Actually, I was thinkin' that it might be nice for my mum to see the…safer…side of traveling with you. You know, just to let her know that it isn't always running for your life."
"Just running so you're not a loser," Jack teased and without waiting for a reply started, "On the count of three…one…two..".
"Three!" Rose yelled and took off before Jack had a chance to stop her.
"Cheat!" He hollered after he as he ran to catch up.
With the two of them running off onto the beach, the Doctor turned the camera on himself. "You see what I have to put up with? Humans, just stupid apes, the lot of them. Every time I tell myself that I am going to pick something other than a human, but you're always just there, blundering around like a bunch of buffoons, wandering into things you aren't meant to see. Then, I have to pick you, it's like seeing a stray puppy, you know you shouldn't feed it, but you still do, and then they never leave you alone."
The Doctor's explanation was stopped by a squeal of laughter and he looked up, "Jack, put her down!"
There was some response from Jack that could neither be heard nor seen.
"It's not me you have to worry about, it's her mother! You'll remember that slap for the rest of your life!"
The screen went black and the lights in the mini-theatre came on fully. The popcorn had been set on top of the table and had gone untouched since the start of the video.
Neither Martha or Donna wanted to break the silence, but after a few minutes, Donna figured she had to say something.
"That was…" she trailed off.
"Yeah," Martha added.
"At least we know who Rose is now," Donna said in an upbeat tone; however, she didn't feel so upbeat. She knew that the TARDIS was showing them the videos for a reason, but she didn't know why yet. Was it because of what she said to the Doctor before in the kitchen? Or was it something else?
"You know, whenever the Doctor talked about her, I always pictured some sort of super-woman," Martha commented thoughtfully. "But, she just seemed like a normal girl from London."
"You can't be normal if you're traveling with the Doctor," Donna joked, thinking about the videos as well. "I wonder if there are any more?"
"Probably, that seems like an odd place to end them, but who knows what is happening in between the videos? However, even if there are more, I don't think the TARDIS will be showing us any tonight," Martha hypothesized, gesturing towards the black screen.
They dropped back into silence when a hesitant knock resounded through the room and a sheepish looking Doctor slowly opened the door and peeked his head into the room.
"Hello," he greeted softly, stepping further into the room when nothing came flying at his head. Sliding his hands into his pockets he took a breath to begin apologizing when Donna came flying off the couch and wrapped her arms around him. "Easy there," the Doctor breathed out as Donna knocked the wind out of him.
"I'm sorry," she said simply, referring to her comments in the kitchen.
"No, I am," the Doctor argued. "I shouldn't have…"
"Oh, shut up," Donna said, dismissing his apology, "We both said things we didn't mean, now let's move on."
"Martha?" the Doctor asked, looking over Donna's shoulder. He needed to make sure that both of his companions forgave him. And Martha knew better than Donna that he had really lost it back in the kitchen.
Martha nodded in response and gave him a small smile, "Don't think anything of it."
The Doctor freed one of his hands to motion Martha over to him and Donna, then he pulled her into the hug as well. Softly holding his two companions to him, the Doctor reveled in the feeling of it; he had forgotten what it was like to just hug someone, not because someone's life had been in danger, but just for the comfort of another living being. After Rose was gone, he had subconsciously stayed away from any form of comforting contact, perhaps he was punishing himself, or maybe he was trying to protect himself from the eventual pain. What ever the real reason was, it would be very hard to return to his personal prison.
All it took was Martha shifting her weight to make the Doctor realize he had been holding on to them for the past three minutes.
"Right," he said, rapidly pulling away, running a hand through his wild hair. "So, I originally wanted to come in here to ask where you two wanted to go. I think we have been in the Vortex for long enough!"
The Doctor gave them a boyish smile and immediately took off towards the console room.
"Is it weird for you, looking at him…well, this him…after seeing the…other him?" Donna asked.
"Oh yeah," Martha confirmed with a few nods of her head.
Apparently they were taking too long because the Doctor popped his head back in the room, "You coming?"