A/N: I like to think that Jack's real name really is Jack. The easiest alias to remember, after all, would be one close to your real name.
Roughly translated, "qing wa cao de liu mang" means "frog-humping son of a bitch," and was a (relatively) common insult during the 26th Century.
Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of its components. I do own Abby and her mysterious dream boy, though.
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Time Is Not A Straight Line, Chapter 02: Not One of the Famous Beaches of the Krik'nak System
After two days of confinement, the poor girl finally broke down and tried demanding that she be told where and when her brother had been sighted; she knew it wouldn't work, but she was desperate. Beside herself with frustration and worry, she ended up throwing the glass she kept on her bedside table at the wall with a heartfelt (and rather tearful, though she would never admit it) scream, where it shattered quite spectacularly; unfortunately, it didn't make her feel any better, and now she didn't have a glass for her water. That night, Abby cried herself to sleep.
She also had a dream – or at least, she thought it was a dream. It really didn't make sense for it to have been anything else, since anyone breaking into her room would have set off over a dozen alarms, and the security system made it impossible for anyone to teleport inside. And the dream, or whatever it was, had very definitely involved someone being in her room.
In the dream, something had woken her, and she'd just been blinking her sleepy eyes open when she caught sight of a young man standing in the middle of her room. He'd looked to be about her age (maybe a year or two older, but no more than that), and he had a head of the wildest dark hair she'd ever seen; she rather thought it looked like a hedgehog had curled up and fallen asleep atop his head, and that thought very nearly had her giggling. His pale skin (possibly even paler than hers!) seemed to shine in the moonlight, and his eyes were such a vivid, cool shade of blue that she could clearly make out the colour even in her dark-but-for-a-bit-of-moonlight room. He was also watching her with undisguised concern, and as their eyes met, Abby was suddenly (and rather randomly) reminded of an old early-21st Century song she was rather fond of: Evanescence's Bring Me To Life.
"Hold on, Abby – just keep holding on," the strange boy encouraged, his voice almost impossibly gentle. "He'll come for you just as soon as he can, but until then, you're going to have to be strong. I know you can make it." He smiled at her then, and it was so full of encouragement and confidence in her that she really did feel like she could make it.
She would make it – Jack was coming for her.
Abby spent the next two weeks irritating her prison guards by playing Evanescence non-stop at top volume, and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. Sometimes, a girl just needed to feel in control of something; besides, irritating her guards was fun.
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It finally happened a little over a month later, on a Tuesday. She had just gotten out of Professor Langley's class, and was being escorted back to her room, when the strangest sound suddenly filled the corridor – a sound that immediately made Abby think of the universe. The students that filled the busy corridor all came to a sudden stop as they looked about in confusion for the source of the strange sound, while Abby's escort suddenly had her arm in a vice-like (and more than a little painful) grip. It was clear that the Time Agent was ready to draw his blaster at a moment's notice; it was also clear that he had no idea what was going on. Abby drew a strange sense of satisfaction from that.
Then a strange-looking blue box appeared at the far end of the corridor. It was an old police box, from early 20th Century England, but Abby rather suspected that she was the only one who knew that. For a few minutes nobody moved; then the door opened, and her brother stepped out.
"I hate to break it to you, Doctor, but this doesn't look like one of the famous beaches of the Krik'nak Sys-"
"JACK!" Abby cried out with more than just a hint of desperation and panic, knowing that the Time Agents would be showing up at any second to either take him out or capture him. Automatically moving to go to him, she was rather forcibly reminded of the Time Agent who currently had her arm in a death-grip by his yanking her back to him, causing a small cry of pain to escape her lips.
Jack suddenly looked more than a little scary, at the sight of his baby sister being so mistreated; he moved as if to go after her abuser, but Abby couldn't let him risk it.
"Jack, run! GET OUT OF HERE!" she yelled.
Abby could do nothing but watch as the truth began to sink in for him, immediately followed by horror and guilt. He hadn't known – hadn't had a clue that the Agency had gone after her, or would ever go after her, in order to get to him. But then the Agents began to arrive, and the 'what's and 'why's ceased to matter.
"JACK!" Her scream was one of utter panic this time, as she saw them open fire. Desperately struggling to break free of her captor, so that she could help her brother, she was at least a little relieved to see him retreat back into the police box – even if he didn't take off again, like she'd told him to.
The sound of the Agents' blaster-fire caused Abby to wince in fear, but… it soon became evident that it wasn't having any affect on the blue box he was hiding in. That was encouraging; Abby actually felt her spirits begin to lift a little, until the feel of the muzzle of a blaster being held to her head reminded her of her own rather precarious predicament. What followed was essentially a wordier and more pretentious-sounding version of the clichéd, "surrender or she dies," which the young teenager would have loved to mock under different circumstances; as it was, she decided it might be best to keep quiet.
Don't do it, Jack, don't do it! she thought to herself desperately, wishing with all her might that he would somehow hear it anyway.
He didn't. It only took seconds for the door of the blue box to ease open, and for Jack to cautiously step out with his hands on his head; the door snicked closed again behind him.
"Qing wa cao de liu mang!" Abby exclaimed in frustration, before she could even think (let alone want) to stop herself.
"Abby!" Jack immediately objected, utterly shocked to hear such profanity from his little sister – that was one thing he'd been very careful not to teach her. Besides, he didn't curse in Chinese. The teenager just rolled her eyes, attempting to hide just how afraid she was for him as the Time Agents converged upon him, forcing Jack to kneel on the floor as they disarmed and handcuffed him.
