Been a while huh? Well, I'm back now and ready to write! Sorry for the extremely long wait.
When The Doctor Needs A Doctor
Chapter 9: Hearts of a Time Lord, Part One
Despite what The Doctor had said a few hours had gone by and he and Jack were still working on the TARDIS. Rose and Mickey had both gone home to say goodbye to Jackie and get some fresh clothes.
Tinkering around with the TARDIS wires Jack was beginning to get bored, no matter what The Doctor said he still wasn't convinced that they were getting anywhere. But then again what did he know about TARDIS's?
"I think she's being awkward on purpose." The Doctor declared, falling back from his crouched position into a sitting one. "Can you find any dislodged cables Jack?"
"Nope, are you sure that's what the problem is?" He asked, sounding quite doubtful.
The Doctor gave a sight shrug. "I'm just going by what she said." He got up and gave Jack a hand, pulling him up from under the floor. "Well come on, we still have four more rooms to check."
"How wonderful." Jack muttered sarcastically. "Why can't she just tell you were the problem is?"
"Must be in a mood." He shrugged.
"Yeah, but she knows that your ill and need to get to this place." But the Doctor didn't here as he'd already set off down the corridor. With a slight shake of his head Jack raced after him.
"Oh, oh here we are! My beauty!" The Doctor shouted out before Jack had even entered the room. When he did step in it was to see the Doctor with his glasses already on, sonic screwdriver between his teeth, fiddling with something Jack couldn't see from where he was stood. "Mhphph." He motioned at Jack, voice muffled due to the screwdriver.
"What?" Jack asked.
The Doctor rolled his eyes and gave Jack a pointed look. "Mhphph." Getting a blank look from the other man, The Doctor rolled his eyes once again, and waved him over. As soon as Jack was next to him The Doctor took his hand, and guided it to hold two rather large wires in place together. He removed his sonic screwdriver from his mouth, rubbed off a bit of saliva from it onto his jacket sleeve, and then changed the setting. Jack watched as he put it to the wires, fusing them together. "Excellent, you can let go now Jack."
"So that's it? Can we get going now?" Jack asked, letting the wire fall from his hand.
"Nope, still have one hundred and eight more wires to go." The Doctor replied cheerfully.
"Oh, how fun." Said a sarcastic Jack.
Not at all put off, The Doctor gave him a quick kiss and darted to the other side of the room.
0000
"So, The Doctor and Jack huh?" Mickey said, sat across from Rose at the kitchen table an hour later, back in the TARDIS.
"I guess." She said, shoving a spoonful of ice cream into her mouth, a slight frown on her pretty face.
Mickey shifted slightly in his seat. "So, er, I guess it's different for you now yeah? No more just you and him."
With a heavy sigh, Rose slouched in her chair. "Yeah, I suppose."
Mickey paused for a few seconds, and ran a hand over the back of his head. "Well, there's always gonna you and me ain't there? I sure ain't gonna run off with no bloke!"
Rose gave a small giggle and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "Well, he didn't run off, he just ran in the wrong direction."
"The direction which wasn't you?" Mickey said before he could stop himself. He quickly closed his mouth, maybe that wasn't the right thing to say just now.
A few seconds of silents went by, and then Rose nodded. "Yeah, the direction that wasn't me."
With a frown, Mickey looked down. He wanted it to be him and her, but he didn't no how to word it to her, after all, she had no problem running off with The Doctor the fist time round, maybe she just wasn't into him as much as he first thought. He watched her as she brought her feet up onto her chair, keens against her chest as she rested her head on them, not looking at Mickey. "I'll er, go see how their getting on fixing the TARDIS." He declared, then stood and left the room.
Lifting her head from her knees, Rose watched him go, remembering what it was like when it was just him and her, when they'd meet up on her lunch hour from work, go for something to eat. They'd been so good together, Mickey had always been easy to talk to, fun to be around, even if he wasn't as brave as The Doctor. The Doctor, Rose groaned as he came into her head, as she remembered all the fun they'd shared, from eating chips to saving the world. She was happy for The Doctor and Jack, she really was, The Doctor defiantly deserved someone, and if that someone was Jack rather than her, then so be it. However, she couldn't help but be a least a tiny bit jealous. Giving another loud groan she rested her head back onto her knees.
00000
Half an hour later found Jack and The Doctor in the consol room, The Doctor looking rather worn out and tired. He had to shake his head every few minutes to try to rid himself of a growing dizzy spell, and blink more often as the back of his eyes began to ache. He'd put his glasses on to try to help with that, but it did nothing, not that he actually needed glasses anyway.
As he and Jack ran around the consol, setting their destination, he was moving slower than normal, it wasn't enough of a change to catch a humans attention, but a feeling of sluggishness was slowly working its way threw his body, and he felt drained, almost burnt out of energy. Every move was exhausting. Be he tried his best to ignore it, he didn't want his human companions worrying more than they already were, or Rose catching on that there was more to this illness than anyone's told her. If he just hangs on a few more hours, The Doctor told himself, then he'll be fine, right back to normal, and the tiredness will just be an unpleasant memory.
With the final pull of the handbrake the TARDIS roared into motion, and The Doctor and Jack had to grab a hold of a conveniently placed rail which wasn't there moments before to stay upright. After a few seconds, the TARDIS evened out, moving into a steadier flight threw the vortex. Jack gave a small chuckle as the TARDIS beeped happily; it was good to be home. Now being able to walk without ending up on his ass, Jack made his way to stand with The Doctor. With a bright smile on his face, The Doctor threw his arms around Jack in an enthusiastic hug. Pulling at his waist Jack held him against himself and ran a hand down his cheek. A few silent seconds went by, then The Doctor closed the gap between there lips. The hand that lay on The Doctor's cheek quickly moved to the back of his head, holding the Time Lord close to the immortal. Jack's arms gripped tighter around the alien as The Doctor ran his hands up under Jack's shirt. Jack let out a tiny moan as he felt the cool skin of The Doctor's hands against his warm stomach and up to his chest. He felt his back hit a wall, not quite sure when they had moved. A low sound that sounded oddly like a mix between a growl and purr came from the Time Lord, loving the sound, Jack thrust forwards against The Doctor, rubbing their growing erections together. The Doctor suppressed a moan at the feelings he's be so foreign to for much to long, Jack was kissing him so hard it was almost like the other man's tongue was fucking his mouth, and every time Jack thrust forwards he wanted to just tear both their clothes off. "Jack." He muttered against the immortals lips; vaguely wondering if he'd ever sounded that needy before in all the nine hundred plus years. "Jack, please." And he wasn't even sure what he was asking for, but it seemed Jack new. The hand at the back of The Doctor's head travelled down his back and came to rest on his arse, Jack's other hand running down his front. The Doctor hitched a breath when Jack's hand came in contact with the bulge in his pants.
A throat was cleared off to the side.
There was a pause, as Jack and The Doctor just stirred at each other for a moment; and the turned their heads as one to find Mickey looking rather embarrassed standing by the corridor. "Hey, I er, was just wondering if you'd fixed the TARDIS yet?" He said hurriedly, looking close to running off.
"Yep." The Doctor nodded, then noticed neither his nor Jack's hands had moved from each other. With a slightly red face The Doctor stepped away from Jack. "Better get to moving us huh?" And with that he scurried over to the consol, flicking switches, pulling leavers and turning dials. He didn't look up at either human.
Sending Mickey a disgruntled look for having picked that moment to enter the room, Jack slouched off. He arrived a few minutes later in the kitchen, where he found Rose shovelling ice cream down her. "Hey Rosie."
Having not seen him, Rose jumped in her seat and snapped her head round. "Oh, hey Jack. How's it going with the TARDIS?"
"All fixed." Jack said, taking the seat Mickey occupied before. "The Doc's just setting off now."
Rose nodded. "Well, the sooner we get there and get him well again, the better."
They fell into silent's for the next few minutes, something which Jack wasn't used to, he liked noise, things going on around him, having people's attention. "So, you ok?"
Once again, Rose nodded. "Yeah, never better, you?"
"Fine."
Jack frowned inwardly, the conversation seemed to strained, like they hardly even new each other. He opened his mouth to try and strike up a conversation of some kind, but Rose beat him to it. "Can I ask you something, and you promise to be completely truthful?"
"Of course." Jack said, sounding slightly insulted that she'd think he'd lie to her.
"The Doctor. Honestly, what are your fist thoughts when you hear his name?"
"I don't know," Jack frowned. "Kinda like when you see something which you adore, but aren't sure if you should get close. Or a puzzle which your not sure how to make the picture, even if you have all the pieces. There's something about him, which draws you in, yet pushes you away at the same time. Like, I don't know. Like he's sure about everything but himself. There's something about him that shines brighter than anything, but also a darkness hidden away somewhere. For all the wrongs he right's, he's damaged himself, and is unable to save himself, so he saves the universe instead. It's hard to explain." Jack shrugged.
Rose smiled and nodded. "Thanks, for telling me the truth. I think I'd have thought of kicking you off the ship if you went off about how amazing, surreal and perfect he is."
Jack gave a little laugh. "I think I'd throw myself off the ship if I ever became that sappy with anyone. As much as I love the guy, he is a bit of a nut job."
Rose laughed along with him for a while. "Do you really love him though? Like, really."
"How could I not?"
"…You could be a Dalek." Both of them laughed again. Back to the easy flow.
0000
"Right, welcome to the planet Leeva, home to the Locque and Devinea." The Doctor grinned, pushed open the doors of the TARDIS and stepping out, not bothering to check the area for any dangers first. The other's followed him out, and The Doctor continued to grin, looking over the glum landscape. The grass was a dull sickly green, moist to the touch and thick. The sky was a boring shade of blue, with smoke coloured clouds as thick as smog. There was no sigh of trees or civilisation in any direction, just many swamps all around them.
"Well, isn't this place charming." Rose muttered sarcastically.
The Doctor took another step forwards, and his foot sunk into muddy ground with a squish. "Lovely." He mumbled to himself.
"Which way?" Mickey asked.
"If ever in doubt, follow your nose." The Doctor grinned, then set of in the direction he was facing, walking slower than usual due to the muddy ground. With a shrug, the others followed him, watching carefully where they trod.
It took almost two hours before they could see the swamps beginning to thin out and a forest come into sight in the distance. "Hey, did you just see that?!" Rose said suddenly, pointing to her right, into the dark water of a large swamp.
"What was it?" Mickey questioned, going to her side and peering over to see for himself. The Doctor and Jack soon came over to join them to.
"I'm not sure, some sort of dark shadow." Rose shrugged, still looking into the murky water, but it was to dark to really see anything.
"Could have just been a trick of the light." Jack suggested, not seeing anything himself.
"Or maybe not." The Doctor muttered. He looked up from the swamp towards the forest. "Come on, we'd better hurry, but keep your eyes open."
The group nodded and set off again, scanning the area around them as they walked.
Five minutes had passed and no life forms had been sighted. They had come to a small lake, but something seemed different about it. Unlike the swamps around it, the water was clearer, still murky, but not as bad. Although the bed underneath wasn't visible, they could see deeper in, and so a faint light was visible. It seemed to be a tunnel, leading to who knows where. However, it wasn't so much the tunnel that caught their attention, more the body on the entrance floor of it. It was a giant spider on its back, twenty-two hairy legs curled up in a fatal position. However, it was nowhere near as large as The Doctor had described; which made the dead Devinea only a child. "C'mon." The Doctor said gravely after a few minutes. They turned to go, but before they could take a step a huge shape jumped from the water, splashing them all and causing them to lose their balance. As one, the group fell into the lake.
Mickey gave a short yell of surprise as he fell, but was quickly cut off as he broke the water's surface and went under, his mouth filling with dirty water. He sank down before his senses came back to him. He kept his mouth tight shut, but he had no breath, just water in it. He tried to kick up, back to the surface, but his foot was trapped in something. He looked down, and could just make out some sort of reddish weeds tangled around his left foot, threw the mucky water. Trying not to panic, he reached down and desperately tried to remove the weeds. He thought with them as he began to feel dizzy; he needed air and fast. He tried tugging with his leg and hands, yanking as hard as he could. The weeds began to loosen! Filled with a new hope, Mickey pulled as hard as he could, and the plant snapped. Wasting no time he swam upwards as fast as he could, eyes strained and lungs painful in his chest. A few seconds later his head broke he surface, and he took a huge gulp of breath, spitting out the water. Gasping he looked around when he heard a frightened shout from The Doctor.
"No! Don't you dare!"
Mickey looked around, momentary confused due to the lack of oxygen, but he soon came to his senses when he looked over to the lake's bank. There were three creatures; each must have been around seven foot tall. Lizard like, stood on two muscular legs with dark scaled skin, small slanted vibrant yellow eyes with small slits for pupils. Their arms were covered in some sort of grey armour, like what you'd expect to see knights wearing hundreds of years ago, as were their knees. In one hand they held some sort of weapon, a gun like object that ended in a spear shape. But what really worried Mickey was that two of the three held Jack and Rose, guns to their heads.
"Who are you?" The hostage free one hissed, but there was something different about this one, two red streaks, running down from each eye, not ending until it got to his nose. 'The leader,' Mickey thought to himself.
"We're not here to cause trouble." The Doctor assured hurriedly, eyes locked on Jack and Rose. "I'm The Doctor, I promise, we're just passing threw."
The leader sneered. "You were heading towards Devinea territory! They are the enemy of the Locque! You are spies."
"No, no we're not. We have nothing to do with the war. Please, let them go and I'll tell you whatever you need to know, I swear." The Doctor moved his eyes to the head Locque and edged forwards, hands up to show he meant no harm.
"Come any closer and we'll blow off their heads." The leader hissed angrily. The Doctor stopped in his tacks.
In the lake, Mickey quickly swam over and climbed out, rushing to join The Doctor. "We're not doing nothing, honest!" He called out. "We're just hear for help, we need to find the Devinea an-"
But he was cut off be an aggressive hiss. "So you admit to working for the enemy!"
The Doctor groaned; trust Mickey the Idiot to start blurting things out. "No. We're not working for them! Look, I met them a while back and I got ill, we're only hear to find a cure, then we'll be gone, I promise."
But the Locque weren't listening, the leader brought up his gun to The Doctor's level. Seeing what was about to happen, The Doctor pulled out his Sonic Screwdriver. He pressed the button and a large sound wave admitted. A horrid screeching filled the air and everyone yelled and covered their ears, or in the case of the Locque, the place where their ears would be if not covered by a layer of scales. "Run!" The Doctor shouted, reaching for Rose and Jack, but before he could grab their hands, the Locque dived to the side, still holding them, right into the lake. In a matter of seconds they had disappeared through the tunnel.
"NO!" The Doctor screamed, running to the edge of the lake. "Come back!" He looked ready to jump in after them, and Mickey quickly grabbed a hold of him. "Get off me!" The Time Lord tried to break Mickey's grip, but he stayed fast, holding on tightly.
"Jumping in there won't do them any good." He gasped out from the strain of holding back the taller man. He grunted when an elbow connected with his stomach. "We've got to find another way to help them."
After a few seconds, The Doctor stopped struggling and Mickey's grip relaxed. The Time Lord stayed looking into the water, panting heavily, face filled with fury and his ancient eyes dark and icy. "We'll get them back, and the Locque will regret ever taking them." He sneered quietly; voice full of promise and venom.