I just got back from vacation and I felt the need to update, so I pounded this out…I hope I didn't make too many mistakes. That being said, I need you all to pretend like the TARDIS doesn't take off randomly at the end of Poison Sky…it didn't work with what I wanted to do, so I tweaked it a bit. I hope you all enjoy.
Disclaimer: I wish…if anyone who owns it would like to give me an early Christmas present, I wouldn't say no.
Martha walked into the console room to see the Doctor standing back nervously as Donna tried to fly the TARDIS.
"I can't believe I'm doing this," she said in excitement.
"No, neither can I," the Doctor said with some reluctance. Finally, as the TARDIS made a noise, the Doctor couldn't handle standing back and watching. "Oh, oh, careful," he ordered, smacking a piece on the console with his rubber mallet. "Left hand down, left hand down! Getting a bit to close to the 1980s."
"What am I going to do, put a dent in them?" Donna asked indignantly.
"Well, someone did," the Doctor responded.
Donna didn't get to respond as a mobile began to ring.
"Hold on, that's a phone," Donna stated in surprise.
The Doctor caught the phone in the air and stared at the screen.
"You've got a mobile," Donna said, still trying to wrap her mind around the Time Lord having something as human as a phone. "Since when?"
"It's not mine," he said, lowering himself onto the jump seat. "Hello?"
The Doctor snapped the mobile shut and began flipping levers on the console.
"Who was that?" Donna half questioned, half demanded.
"Not now, Donna," the Doctor murmured, obviously thinking about the mysterious caller.
Martha stayed quiet, she knew of only a few people that had the Doctor's number, and if it was someone in her family, they would have just called her phone.
The TARDIS thumped slightly as she landed, the Doctor immediately checking the screen to make sure that he landed in the right time and place.
"Where are we?" Martha finally chimed in.
"Why don't you take a look," the Doctor suggested with a raised eyebrow and a small quirk of a smile.
Martha threw a questioning glance at the Doctor as she made her way to the door. Slowly turning the handle, Martha eased the squeaky door open…they really had to do something about that squeaking, she thought offhandedly.
"Martha Jones!" A male voice shouted in greeting, followed by a squeak from Martha.
Donna followed the Doctor out of the TARDIS to see the man she recognized as Captain Jack Harkness swinging Martha around in a hug.
When Jack saw the Doctor exit the TARDIS he set Martha down on the ground and gave him a nod. "Doctor, thanks for coming."
The Doctor returned his nod, "Care to tell me what's going on?"
Jack explained Torchwood's interest in ATMOS and how they suspected that there was something bigger happening, they just couldn't prove it. "UNIT has organized a raid on the main facility, but Torchwood is overseeing it."
"How'd you manage that?" the Doctor asked, knowing the dislike of both organizations for working together.
"Convinced them that we had the technology and the experts necessary to figure out what was going on, but that we needed the man-power."
Raising a quizzical eyebrow the Doctor asked, "Who's your expert?"
Jack, Donna, and Martha all just stared at the Doctor.
"What?" he asked, pausing for a few moments. "Oh! It's me!"
Jack nodded, his eyes alight.
The Doctor sat at the end of the teleport pod in the living room of Luke Rattigan, his hearts racing and heavy at the same time. Luke was only a child, a brilliant, clever, and completely misled child. If only he could have had the time to right his wrongs, to do something amazing, but that was all taken from Luke the moment he decided to switch places.
Martha ran over and wrapped her arms around one of the Doctor's and Donna followed closely behind with a slap to his other.
Jack stood in front of the group, his arms crossed over his chest, with a slight frown. He was glad that the Doctor had survived, what he wasn't happy about was that the Doctor was willing to die in order to offer the Sontarans a chance…it wasn't as if they were actually going to take it anyways.
"Why don't we get out of here," Jack suggested to the group. "I could do with a cup of coffee right about now."
The Doctor pushed open the door to the TARDIS and gestured everyone inside.
"Hey, old girl," Jack murmured softly, patting a column fondly. "How are you two doing?" Jack asked, referring to both her and the Doctor, knowing that they were connected.
The TARDIS hummed in appreciation at Jack's touch, causing Martha and Donna to smile, even though they couldn't hear Jack's question. The TARDIS' response to Jack's question was a half-hearted rumble.
"That good, huh?" Jack mumbled, looking over at the Time Lord in question as he checked the screen on the console to make sure that the TARDIS was fine after having been on the Sontaran's ship. "Does he still miss…"
"Why don't you lot go find the kitchen, I will follow in a minute, I just have to fix something really quick," the Doctor said, pulling out the sonic screwdriver, and interrupting Jack's quiet conversation.
It almost sounded like the TARDIS heaved a sigh as the Doctor lifted up one of the floor panels and slid down inside.
"You know she hates it when you mess with her," Jack called out in amusement.
The Doctor's muffled response drifted up, "She just doesn't know what is good for…ouch!"
Laughter sprang from everyone except for the Doctor, even the TARDIS sounded like she was chuckling.
Standing up straight the Doctor examined his index finger closely before popping it in his mouth, "Jus' go."
Jack turned and led the way out of the console room, making his way to where he last knew the kitchen to be.
"It is down there," Donna spoke up when Jack walked past a hallway.
"No, it's down here," Jack assured, continuing on his path.
"No…" Donna was cut off when Jack opened up a door and was greeted by a loud roar.
"Every time!" Jack exclaimed, faced with the same creature that he had ran into when he had made that video so long ago.
Martha and Donna burst into laughter, recognizing the creature from their time spent watching the videos.
"Believe me now?" Donna teased, turning back in the direction of the actual kitchen.
The three of them got their respective teas and a coffee and sat down on the small couches that the TARDIS had provided for them. Small talk and tons of innuendo from Jack ensued for a few minutes before Martha got up the nerve to ask something that had been on her mind since she began to consider the movies to be a part of the Doctor's life that he wanted to keep quiet.
"Jack, if you were given the chance to learn something about someone who usually kept everything to themselves, and something…I mean one…that was very close to them encouraged it…would you do it?" Martha trailed off uncertainly, knowing how confusing that all was.
Jack took a moment to figure out what Martha was asking, "You mean like a diary or a journal or something?"
"Yes….no…maybe?" Martha replied.
"Not exactly," Donna chimed in, "it's more like a biography, or a documentary."
Jack nodded in understanding, "You mean, you want to watch those videos I made and you want to know if you are invading the Doctor's privacy."
Donna and Martha stared at him completely gob smacked, "How, what do you, what are you…"
"There is only one person, who is better than myself, at talking all the time and at the same time saying nothing of any value. And if it were anyone else, I would say no, you shouldn't watch them."
"Wait, why are you saying we should?" Martha asked in confusion.
Rubbing the back of his neck, Jack took a second to try and form his reason in a way it made sense, but simply put, it came down to, "I'm worried about him."
Donna nodded, "We found the videos after drifting in the Vortex for two weeks. He refused to leave the Vortex, he would disappear into the TARDIS for days at a time…"
"I didn't really notice it when we were dealing with the Master, everything happened too quickly and we were all separated, but today it hit me right in the face. I think he is losing it." Jack quickly put up his hands to stop the questions, "I don't think he is going to go crazy and kill the you both in a fit of anger, but I do think he is struggling."
"Struggling with what?" Martha asked, interested to hear what Jack thought, maybe he would have some more insights than she and Donna had.
Jack shrugged, "His personal demons, his decisions…his humanity. Sometimes I wonder if all of the good doing is him compensating for the other thoughts, the darker ones, the uncompromising, no second chances ones."
They all fell silent as each of them thought of a time when the Doctor did something that had seemed so out of character, recently in Pompeii, his punishments for the Family, back when he had destroyed the Racnoss children, when he had fallen into melancholy when they thought Rose had died on the Gamestation…
"I think after…" Jack trailed off, remembering Rose was always hard, for a while there it was Jack, the Doctor, and her, best friends, experiencing the wonders of the Universe together. He swallowed and started again, "The Doctor needs help, but he doesn't know it yet. Maybe if you two combine what you find out on the videos and what you already know, you will be able to help him."
"Help him what?" the Doctor asked, entering the room while sliding his sonic screwdriver into his jacket pocket.
"Help him with his hair product addiction," Jack supplied with a grin. "It's gotten out of control."
Later that evening Jack left to return to the Hub and the Doctor sent them into the Vortex.
"That was…" Martha started.
"The longest day ever!" Donna finished, throwing herself onto the jump seat.
The Doctor chuckled as he flipped a few switches, "You two should rest up, who knows where we will be next."
"That sounds wonderful!" Donna exclaimed, sliding off the seat and heading for her room. "Night, Spaceman."
Martha wandered over to the Doctor, knowing that Donna was going to go change and then meet her in the little theatre. "Are you okay?" she asked the Doctor.
"Okay? Of course I'm okay, I'm always okay," he rambled off as he pointedly refused to look at her.
"I just thought that after the whole Luke…"
"Martha," he said, looking up and grasping her shoulders, "I'm fine, promise."
"Good," Martha said, putting on a fake smile, noticing the way the Doctor's smile was strained. "I'm gonna head to bed then. Good night, Doctor."
Donna and Martha took their places in the theatre room and looked at one another, "I think that Jack is right," Martha said.
Before Donna could nod the lights dimmed down and the video started up.
"If I have to do this, then I don't want that damned camera on," the Doctor appeared on the camera, walking with his hand out towards the camera.
"After all the stories I have heard there is no way I am not recording this," Jack's voice piped up off screen. "So Rose," he said turning the camera to her, "where are we and what are we doing?"
Rose smiled, "We're in London, 2006...or at least it had better be, and we're on our way to visit my mum."
"Unfortunately," the Doctor could be heard mumbling.
"Oi! I heard that," Rose said reaching across the out and presumably giving the Doctor a nudge.
The screen darkened and came back to the image of Rose unlocking her front door and calling out, "Mum! We came by for a visit!"
"Rose!" an energetic voice could be heard in the flat.
Rose turned back to the camera, the Doctor, and Jack and motioned them in.
The Doctor went before Jack and the camera, which quickly panned down the Doctor's backside before snapping upwards again, catching the end of a hug between Jackie and Rose.
"Of course, you had to bring him along," Jackie said as she noticed the Doctor. "Risk my daughter's life lately? Blow up any rooms with her in them?"
"Mum! Leave 'im alone," Rose reprimanded.
"Can't blame me for asking, I have no idea what goes on when you are with him," Jackie said with a slightly worried expression.
"Jackie Tyler, wish I could say I missed you, but me using bits of the TARDIS for firewood are more likely," the Doctor greeted sardonically.
Jackie looked like she was going to respond, but she had finally noticed Jack. "And who is this?" She asked, her entire demeanor changing.
"Captain Jack Harkness," Jack's voice announced, "and it is a pleasure to meet you."
Jackie smiled coyly and both the Doctor and Rose had looks of disgust on their faces.
"Jack, that's my mum you're talkin' to," Rose reminded, looking like she was two comments away from gagging.
"It's not so much that it is Rose's mum, but that it's Jackie," the Doctor added, flinching back when Jackie turned on him.
Jack chuckled before the scene changed to Jack pointing the camera at himself, "I missed it! Five minutes of the camera being off and I missed it!"
"Jack, you're not helpin'," Rose called from off screen.
"But I missed it!"
"Jack!"
"It's not my fault he couldn't keep his comments to himself. Didn't the Time Lords teach their kids, 'if you don't have anything nice to say'…"
"Jack," the Doctor practically growled.
Jack finally turned the camera around and he chuckled again, "That looks like it hurt."
The Doctor was grabbing a bag of frozen peas from Rose and pressing it against his cheek that was swelling.
Rose looked up from her ministrations and bit back a smile as she met Jack's eyes over the camera. "It isn't…Jack, this isn't…you shouldn't be…" Rose tried again and again. "Probably should…." Rose brought her hand to her mouth and stifled a laugh. When the Doctor looked up to glare at her, his eye slowly turning purple, she couldn't hold the laughter in anymore. "I am sorry…hahaha…it's not…hahaha…it's not funny, it's just…hahahah…you should have seen your face!"
The video faded again and when it returned everyone was dressed in different clothes and the Doctor's eye seemed to be in the last stages of a bruise.
"So, after our highly entertaining trip to London, we wasted time, waiting for the Doctor's face…and ego to heal," the Doctor turned to glare as Jack did a voice over. "I wish I could have recorded that, but the Doctor threatened to break the camera. Oh, there's Rose! Hello, Rose."
"Hello, Jack," Rose greeted, waving at the camera that had become a familiar part of their life.
"How are you?"
"Exhausted," Rose replied, pushing her bangs from her face. "Aren't you?"
"Oh! I forgot to tell our watchers," Jack exclaimed, turning the camera on himself, "we just got back from our first adventure since the Unmentionable Event took place. We went to Kyoto, Japan in 1336. Apparently the Doctor took us when Kyoto was being divided in half and we were welcomed with open arms. I decided not to record anything, if the fact that we were not natives didn't get us killed, the Doctor's insults didn't do the trick, then I figured that having a piece of technology like this camera would for sure."
"Doctor, speakin' of the camera's technology, how come I have never seen Jack charge it? Or insert a tape?" Rose asked.
"It is designed to feed off of any continuous power source," the Doctor answered.
"Like the TARDIS?" Rose connected.
"Exactly," the Doctor beamed at her. "And instead of using tapes the videos feed directly into the TARDIS, and then she stores them for you to watch later."
"It would be hilarious to go back in a few years and watch all of them," Rose said.
Before anyone replied, a bright light filled the TARDIS, so bright that it blocked everything from the camera's lens. When the light began to fade, the camera seemed to fall onto the jump seat, facing the console…and a completely empty room.