Review questions:
-This isn't a crossover- it's just Jack jumping in a little. I don't watch Torchwood, don't know enough about it to do a full-scale crossover. I don't know a whole lot about Jack, either, so I hope this isn't out of character. Sorry to you Jack fans.
-There were some questions about 'Jack Franklinson'. Jack's father's name was Franklin. I'm not saying I know his real name, or this is it. It's just River showing off her smarts and trying to be intimidating by calling him Franklinson. Plus, she prides herself in being a skillful liar, in both lying and seeing through lies. She knows Jack's name isn't really Jack Harkness, and is calling out his lie. Showing off again. Oh, River.
-There might be a bit of innuendos here, if you squint. Because it's Jack. So watch out for those, don't be too offended.
They were all seated around a small table. The woman had scurried off to get tea, noticing that there was private business to be done, and dragged the man off with her, who was all too happy to stay away from the diseased stranger in the curly-haired woman's arms. The Doctor was lying on a cot that the woman had found before departing, and River was seated closest to him, not wanting to stray more than four feet from his side.
"So what is this all about? Who are you all, and how did you get the Doctor's TARDIS?" Jack asked furiously. "And what's wrong with him?" he gestured toward the Doctor, who's eyes had closed completely and ceased muttering, a fact that worried Rory, which in turn worried River and Amy.
"He's the Doctor, obviously," River said curtly. Jack snorted.
"That skinny little kid? Yeah, right. The Doctor doesn't get sick, anyways," he dismissed.
"Apparently he does. You've met him, many times- you must not have met him in this regeneration cycle, then?"
"He swore his next body would be a ginger. That," he said, nodding toward the Doctor, "is not a ginger. Or a Time Lord."
"Yes, he is."
"No he's not, his hair is obviously brown-,"
"No, I mean yes, he is a Time Lord. The Time Lord. The last survivor, unless you insist on arguing for three more hours."
"He is not! Why do you keep saying that? What do you want from me? It's not the Doctor. He can't get sick, he told me so himself- the Time Lords eradicated all diseases that could affect them."
"Not all of them. This one, TL-S13, is the only one left, and he'll be dead in seven hours, maybe less, unless you touch him."
"He's a very handsome gentleman, I'd love to touch him. I bet he's got great skin when he's not comatose and dying," he said, rolling his eyes. "Except I'd like to know why. Say he is the Doctor. Why do I need to touch him?"
"He's in emergency drain- his body is dying, but slowly enough that rather than regenerate, it's trying to take life energy from other things to survive. Regeneration is a traumatic process, a last-ditch effort. You have limitless energy. If you touch him, he can take that energy and heal himself with it."
"How do you know I have enough energy even for that? What if it takes all of my energy? I don't know if it's limitless. So far, it seems that way, but why push it?"
"I know the Doctor would never ask you to risk your life for him. He would never ask you to die for him. But I would," she replied, a steely look in her eyes.
"What is this TS-30 thing again?"
"TL-S13," Rory corrected.
"Right. And what does it do?"
"The first stage is much like common strep throat, with headaches, minor fever, sore throat, fatigue, a bit of an upset stomach. Second stage happens 36 hours later, and during the second stage, the victim develops spotty rashes, vomits blood, spikes a deadly fever, may have fluid leaking into the lungs, seizures, and internal bleeding. It finishes with nerve system failure. Paralysis moves from extremities inward, until it paralyzes the muscles that make your heart beat," he listed helpfully, still half in nurse mode. "It seems similar to hemorrhagic fever, with all the internal bleeding and sores, but the final stages being paralysis are different. There's no cure for hemorrhagic fever, though. And this is worse than that."
"Hemorrhagic fever?" Amy whispered to Rory.
"Your tissues and muscles and skin separate and you bleed from everywhere," he whispered back. Amy looked vaguely nauseous.
"And you're bringing that here? And you want me to touch him?" Jack asked incredulously, sliding farther away from the Doctor. "That's disgusting. I don't want to get sick. If it was the Doctor, why wouldn't you just let him regenerate?"
"Because it wrecks his body too thoroughly. From the symptoms, I can guess the virology behind it- like Ebola and the other Filoviridae, it kind of… well… melts your insides. By the time it's through with him, he'll be a skin sack of body fluids. I doubt even a Time Lord can rebuild after that."
"Gross. Who are you all again? Oh, wait," he said, rolling his eyes. "You haven't told me who you even are yet."
"They are Rory and Amy Pond," River introduced. "And I'm River Song." That had an effect. Jack stood up suddenly, palms flat against the table, looming over them.
"River Song. Also known as Melody Pond, correct?" he asked quietly, voice dangerous.
"Correct." She drew herself upright proudly.
"Take your sick man out of here. I know about you, and I'm not falling for any of your shitty traps. The Melody Pond I know of would never help the Doctor. If anything, this is a scheme to kill him. Taking power- I bet you're stealing my energy, or technology, or going to hold me hostage to get the Doctor. I'm not playing your game. Get out, or I'll escort you all out. At gunpoint." Before the others could react, he produced a shiny, alien-looking gun from his pocket and had it pointed between River's eyes. Rory put his hand on the hilt of his sword, and Amy whipped out the Doctor's sonic.
"Ahh, see? You've got his sonic. He doesn't give that to anyone, at least not willingly. What've you done to him?"
"He's right there! That's him, how do you think we got here? The TARDIS, the Doctor himself taught me how to fly her. I would never, ever, ever do anything to hurt the Doctor," River snapped, ignoring the gun and standing to face Jack. At the mention of his name and his TARDIS, the Doctor moaned piteously. One of his legs jerked, and he rolled onto his side, spasms going through his limbs, a watery cough climbing out of his throat. Rory was at his side in a second, carefully looking at him but avoiding touching him. He held a hand over his face.
"He's getting worse. I don't know if he'll even survive the next two hours," Rory said worriedly. He bent down to look at his fingers. "Look. The nerve failure has already started. His fingernails are blue, and his temperature is well over 40o Celsius. I'd say almost 45o." He turned to Jack. "Look, you might not trust River, but you have to trust me. Look in my eyes, and tell me I'm lying when I say that this is the Doctor, and he'll die for sure if you don't help us," he demanded.
"Jack…" the Doctor mumbled. "No…"
Jack studied Rory's face. It seemed sincere enough, like he truly did believe what he said. But what if he had been tricked by Melody?
"You said this was a new regeneration of the Doctor. Why did he regenerate?" he asked suddenly, testing their story, trying to catch them unawares.
"Massive amount of radiation. A portal through time and space was created to bring Gallifrey back, and when it was shut down, the energy used to create it was vented in the form of radiation, which the Doctor took to save another man, Wilfred, and it killed him," River answered quickly. Jack nodded slowly- that made sense. He knew about the events that had happened, but not about the regeneration.
"You're Melody Pond. Why would you want to save him?" he asked.
"Because I love him," she said softly. Jack opened his mouth, but she cut him off. "I know, I was programmed by the Silence to kill him. But as I learned all about him, I began to love him too. I learned everything about him- all his strengths, weaknesses, his fears and hopes and what he loved and hated. When you know someone so well, and your destinies are so intertwined, it's hard to hate him. I never hated him- just knew I needed to kill him. I had a desire, a burning within me that I knew would only end when I killed him. When I was around him, all I knew was what could be used as a weapon, how he was giving me an opening, and the like. It was a game to me- like flirting. And then I did kill him," she said sadly.
"But he's here. Did he regenerate again?"
"No. I was conceived in the TARDIS, in a time vortex. That's how the Time Lords gained their abilities and their regeneration power, was prolonged exposure to the time vortex. I had that same power. I'm a Time Lord as well, I suppose. When I killed him, the desire to kill him was gone, obviously. I'd used it, and it had used me, and so I was released from my brainwashing. I used my regenerations, all of them, to bring him back."
"Bravo," Jack said, mildly impressed. They all jumped as the Doctor wailed suddenly, curling up into a ball, shaking uncontrollably.
"River-," Rory said anxiously.
"I know, I know," she said soothingly before turning back to Jack. "Do you know what happens when he dies? We all die. That is the Doctor. You have to save him. All you have to do is touch him, and the connection will be established. He'll tap into your energy, and be healed."
Jack walked slowly to the shaking man on the cot. He reached out, but hesitated, his hand a centimeter away from the Doctor's. Suddenly, the Doctor's eyes snapped open, and locked on Jack's face.
"Jack… no," he whispered in a voice wracked with pain. Their eyes met, and Jack knew it was the Doctor.
"Hang in there, old friend. You'll be okay," Jack said confidently, before grabbing the Doctor's hand. He collapsed, but their hands remained connected.
"Now what?" Amy asked fearfully. River sat down, staring at the two immortals, wondering if either (or both) would survive.
"We wait."
Three is the magic number.
