Chapter 6
After around ten minutes of walking, Eya bounded back towards the group of travelers.
"We're almost there, are you ready for this?" she asked with a grin.
The Doctor looked at her, trying to get an image off the surface of her mind, but she looked at him.
"No cheating," she wagged a finger at him mockingly. He almost regretted teaching her how to build unbreakable walls around her mind and how to feel if someone came into contact with them…almost. He loved that she had listened to him well enough to still be able to do it perfectly now, after all these years.
Ianto looked at her curiously. "How could he cheat?"
She looked at him with a little bit of surprise. "He's telepathic," she said, with a tone of disbelief. She thought it was obvious.
"I know, but—"
"It's stronger than you think," the Doctor cut him off, with a tight, humorless smile, "a gift of the Time Lords." The Doctor didn't want him to know the extent of his mental powers. If he knew, he could begin to piece together the Doctor's deception, and he could not – would not – allow that to happen.
Eya looked back and forth between the two men, not quite sure what to think, but shook off the feeling with another smile, this one a bit more forced but not by much. "Anyways, it is just through there," she pointed at a wall of trees.
"How do we get through?" Gwen asked curiously, missing the slight tension in the air.
Eya just winked at her, and bounded towards the base of the wide-trunked trees that seemed to stretch up into the sky forever. In this part of the forest, the leafy covering was so far off it looked more like a solid line of green than individual leaves. It almost looked like a green sky. The Doctor could tell that his companions loved it.
The Doctor grabbed Jack's hand a little tighter, and pulled him after Eya, the rest of the group following quickly after.
They stopped at the base of the lines, and Eya called out a string of the coded language that the Doctor recognized as her revealing who she was, and a request to be let in. He waited patiently to see what would happen as the rest of Eya's people circled around them.
It started with a slow creaking noise, and the Doctor's eyes widened as he realized what was happening. He had been able to see that the trunks had been extremely wide; some reaching almost a hundred feet, but this was incredible. A portion of the trunk slid upwards, and the humans beside him all gasped as they saw the beauty of the hollowed out tree. The village wasn't protected by the trees; it was the trees. As they all stepped inside, the Doctor looked up and saw a long, curving staircase that ran up along the wall and up to the very top of the tree. There were several breaks in the steps for doors, probably leading into other trees, and there were several half-platforms at places further up in the tree. Where they were now, in the very bottom, the inside of the trunk had been painted with reds and blues, and globes expelling light were hung all around them. The combined effect of the lights and the paint made the area shine with color, and Eya grinned at their reactions.
"Do you like it?" Eya asked, her tone already saying that she knew what their answers were.
The humans all nodded, completely breath taken and unable to speak, but the Doctor looked at Eya.
"It is amazing. I'm so proud of you."
Eya beamed at his compliment, and she pulled him by the hand to the base of the stairs.
"It's better from the top, just wait until you see! Come on!" she said excitedly, and the Doctor was reminded of the excitement she always had when she was just a kid. "And we can lend you a tree house of your own; somewhere you all can stay for a while!"
"I don't know how long we'll be here for Eya, it certainly won't be longer than a few days," the Doctor said slowly, trying to choose his words carefully.
Her face fell slightly, but she quickly recomposed it, and continued telling them all they had achieved in the years since the revolution. Normally, a flight of stairs as large as the one they were climbing would be tiring, but at each new level was a completely different looking room, all decorated with different colors. They were too interested to feel tired at all.
When they finally reached the top levels of tree, so that they were only around twenty feet from the leaves, the stairs stopped at a closed door.
"I hope none of you are afraid of heights," Eya grinned devilishly, before stepping through the door.
Even with all that he had seen, all that he had done, the Doctor's breath still caught in his throat as he looked around. They were now standing on a wooden bridge leading to a central tree, larger than any he had ever seen before, and that was something. All the other trees that had made up the wall had actually been in a circle, and all of them had similar bridges connected to the huge platform extending around the central tree. There were people everywhere, going about their everyday lives. The center tree had several more platforms extending around the outside of it at different levels as well, staircases wrapping around the outside of the trunk, all also filled with people, laughing and smiling. On the ground, although the Doctor could barely see that far down, he could tell that there were children milling around, and what seemed to be a playground. The only word to describe the scene was beautiful. All of the humans were dumbstruck at the sight, even Jack although he had been a Time Agent and had also seen a lot.
Eya laughed at all of their reactions, proud that she was partially responsible for the city extending around them. She looked up at the sky and saw it was beginning to darken, so she stuck her fingers in her mouth and let out a loud, shrill whistle that rang around the village. Almost at once, the same globes that had been casting light on the inside of the trees lit up outside, only slightly brighter and all slightly blue tinted.
"It's late," she said, turning to her guests as her people started to shuffle into their own homes. "Let me show you to someplace you can sleep." She started walking towards the center, when she stopped and let out a small, excited, "Oh!" She laughed, and tugged on the Doctor again. "You guys can stay on one of the floors of my home! We have quite a few extra floors of just beds, for when we have long parties. You can stay on the floor directly below mine! It's usually where the guards stay, but I think the Doctor is guard enough," she winked.
The group followed her into the tree, and down a few levels. On the way, they passed a couple doors, and she explained what was behind them. The top floor, that could be walked into directly from outside, was a marketplace, the floor below was a meeting room for Eya and her advisors, below that a dining room with a wall separating it from the kitchen…They were a few floors down from the kitchen when she motioned to the door of her own room, and then continued to the floor below where they would all sleep.
The room she walked into wasn't ornately decorated, but it was still beautiful, the walls a shade of deep purple, lit up by more of the softly glowing globes. There were several beds throughout the room, all with wooden frames and soft-looking white sheets with dark purple comforters.
"You guys can sleep in any that you like," she smiled kindly at them, and all the humans felt the exhaustion of all the exercise slowly catch up with them, and complied quickly. "Doctor, if you're not too sleepy, which I know you probably aren't, do you want to come to my room so we can catch up some more?"
"Of course," he smiled at her. "All of you behave yourselves! Don't insult anybody, don't do anything stupid, and don't wander off. Sleep tight!" He turned and followed Eya up the steps, Jack's eyes watching him the entire time.
While speaking to Eya, the Doctor made sure to avoid all the stories of times when he had been unrelenting in his punishments. He knew exactly what she wanted to hear, so told her stories of where he had come out as a dashing hero, much like he had with her.
"So you're still just wandering then?" she asked him, her voice full of slight sadness.
Before he answered, he felt a presence right outside the open door, a presence he easily recognized as Jack. He gave a slightly faked, small, sad smile at Eya, and replied, "That is what I do. I wander around, and when I find those in trouble, I help."
"You never stay anywhere," she said.
"I don't have anywhere to stay. In the end, it is always just me and the TARDIS," he replied, taking extra care to make the sentence seem sad.
"You could stay here," she said softly.
He looked at her warm, blue eyes, and gave her another sad smile. "I can't."
"Is there something holding you back?" she asked him.
He shook his head slowly, looking down again.
"Is it someone?" she asked him, catching on.
He looked up at her as though he wanted to answer, but the words wouldn't come.
"We could switch to our code if you're worried anyone is listening," she said, and the Doctor felt Jack stiffen at her words, thinking he had been found out. "I haven't taught that much to the guards, just enough so that we can communicate around possible hostiles."
The Doctor gave the appearance of thinking it over, and secretly contacted the TARDIS, pushing his knowledge of the code to the TARDIS, and making sure she would send it to Jack so he would still be able to follow the conversation. He wanted Jack to hear this. It is what would convince him completely that he actually had feelings for him. He nodded at Eya, and opened his mouth to speak.
Jack felt a presence pushing towards his mind, but he immediately recognized the TARDIS, and allowed her in. He found that when he heard the Doctor speak again, presumably in the code, it came out as English for him. He smiled. The TARDIS wanted him to hear what the Doctor was saying, which meant it was something important. He risked a peek around the corner again, and saw the Doctor's face in a sad expression, lit up by the glowing balls.
"It's not easy for me to talk about things," he said, and Jack watched as Eya rested a hand over his.
"You can talk to me. You know that."
He looked up at her again, before looking at the floor and speaking. "It is someone, but they won't return the feelings. I know they won't."
"Who?" she asked softly, and Jack strained his ears to hear the Doctor's whispered reply.
"Jack."
Jack's heart leapt into his throat at his name. He thought it was possible the Doctor returned his feelings, especially with the entire hand holding, and the small kisses, but hearing him say it to somebody else was completely different.
"The guy from earlier?" Jack almost missed her response.
"Yeah…"
"He was kind of cute," she joked, trying to lighten the mood, and she was rewarded with a small laugh from the Doctor. She then got serious again. "The way he was looking at you though…I don't think you have to worry."
"He's from the 51st century…That's the way he looks at everyone. I'm nothing special. There is no reason that he would choose me over anyone."
Jack wanted to burst in right there and tell him just how wrong he was, but he knew if he did that then he would be caught eavesdropping.
"Doctor, you are special. You do more for people than they usually ever know, and ask for nothing in return. You are a hero. I can't think of a single person that he would choose over you."
The Doctor didn't reply, and Jack saw he was looking down at his hands, picking at the bottom of his suit.
"Doctor, did something happen that you didn't tell me about?" she asked softly.
The Doctor seemed conflicted about talking about it to her, before speaking again.
"I was drifting in the TARDIS, and she picked up signs of a battle below, so I landed to see if I could help. The occupants of Grotsnee, the planet, were fighting against a warden of one of the largest prisons in the galaxy. The warden had gone corrupt, and the Grotsnees were well known for their treasure hoards. With all of the guards from the prison, he didn't have a problem in disposing of them and taking their treasures. When I stepped in to help…he realized I was a far greater treasure, and set his sights on imprisoning me so that he could steal my secrets and my TARDIS. I…" his voice broke off slightly, and Eya moved next to him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. "I have been imprisoned before, and I couldn't go through it again. I fought, and…I killed." He buried his head into her shoulder, and Jack could see from the way he was shaking that he was crying. "I killed so many of them, and I couldn't stop myself. I murdered them, and they still imprisoned me. I took lives for nothing. All those people, all the things they could have achieved…Just gone in one instant…"
"It wasn't your fault," she whispered to him, rocking him back and forth slowly to try and make him feel better. "You were only defending yourself. They might be gone, but the world might be a bit of a better place, because if they were trying to imprison you, then they weren't very good men."
It was quiet for a while after that, and Jack wished it was him in that room, his arms wrapped around the Doctor, his voice soothing him. He had thought it was bad before, when he had just known about the torture, but this on top of that? He had already loved the older man, but now, he loved the Time Lord more than he thought possible. After going through everything he went through, he still was completely conflicted about the deaths of evil men. Jack wouldn't have even batted an eye at killing them, but the Doctor did, and that was one of the great things about him.
As the silence continued, he thought the talking was done and was about to return downstairs, when Eya's voice sounded again. "How long were you there? What did they do to you?"
It took the Doctor slightly longer to reply. "I was there for six months, until Jack saved me. They…They tortured me. They probably would have continued if Jack hadn't come when he did."
"Jack rescued you? The same Jack that you brought with you?"
Jack watched as the Time Lord nodded.
He dreaded the answer to the next question she asked. "Do you think your feelings for him are just because he saved you?"
The silence seemed to stretch on forever as Jack strained his hearing, holding his breath.
"No." Jack breathed again, small black spots behind his eyes as the Doctor denied his worst fear. "I felt for him before, but I didn't say anything or act on it. I couldn't. It isn't easy for me to be…intimate with others. I've already lost so much; I don't think I would be able to handle it if I lost him to. I don't want to start anything with him, only for him to realize it isn't what he wants. And I wouldn't blame him. I wouldn't want me either."
Tears pricked behind Jack's eyes as he heard the Doctor's words, all the emotions he always kept so perfectly behind his smile.
"I…I love him though, even if he doesn't share the feeling." The Doctor continued.
The Doctor loved him…Jack bit the insides of his cheeks to keep from whooping, and quietly returned downstairs with the new information swirling around in his head.
Jack climbed back into one of the empty beds, and pretended to be asleep when he heard the Doctor's soft footsteps a few minutes later. He made sure to keep his breathing slow and steady as he heard the steps stop by the foot of his bed, but he could do nothing about his heart, which was pounding in his chest. The footsteps moved directly next to him, and he had to focus all his energy on keeping his face still as the air above his cheek tingled, and he recognized the fact that the Doctor's hand was a few centimeters from his face. If Jack moved even just a tiny bit, they'd be touching. He prepared himself to "roll" into it, when it was removed and the steps led to the bed next to his, and he heard the Doctor lay down to sleep with a soft sigh.
