Doctor Who: ALBION - Countdown
Chapter 32 - Toska Saudade
Disclaimer - I don't own nothing or nobody you know/recognize. Doctor Who is intellectual property of the BBC, afaik.
Characters: Gleeson!Doctor, Markham, River, Jack, OCs
"Where are we now?" Alistair inquired, bored.
"We're going to meet one of your father's favorite people," Su informed him, adjusting the controls. "Abraham Lincoln. We're going to see his Gettysburg Address in person."
"So, where are we going, then?"
"Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, 1865, right?" Jamie piped up.
"Close enough," Will acknowledged, adjusting the vest of his suit. "The date's a bit off, but you were close."
"And we are here!" Su informed the group as she shut down the controls. "Everyone ready?" She strolled past Will and couldn't resist running her hand across his freshly shorn cheeks to his amusement. "You're going to trim those nose hairs, right?" she teased.
"Bite your tongue, woman!" he replied, indignant. "This is a fine mustache, and one more word against it and I never shave again!" He glanced to the boys, then leaned close to her. "Including...ahem," he whispered with a knowing look. "I'm also keeping the sideburns. I almost feel naked without some hair on my face and chin," he insisted, sliding his own hand down his shorn chin and throat. "Not that being naked is a bad thing," he teased her again.
"Just the one chin?" Jenny called out as they exited.
Su laughed at his annoyed glare to Jenny as they marched the twins out of their TARDIS onto the mid-nineteenth century street alley. They had chosen a brick shed to disguise their craft, this time, instead of relying on the invisible stealth mode. The scene on the street didn't look too different from what they expected.
"I thought you said the streets were paved with gold, not cobblestones?" Alistair complained.
"It's a figure of speech," Will informed him. "Actually, more like advertising to get more immigrants, like most adverts bend the truth as far as they can to promote their product." He looked around at the passersby and shops. "I'm sorry, but weren't your colonies already breaking from traditional English wording about a century ago? I know Charles' Territories were still using Albion syntax."
"I think so, why?" Su replied, admiring a dress in a window.
"I could swear we were still in England?" he informed her, pointing to a sign that read 'Ye Olde Haberdashery' and another down the street 'The Crown and Dragon'.
"What?"
He leaned close to her again. "Looks to me like someone missed her destination again?" She gave him an icy look. "Uh, and by her, I mean our TARDIS acting up like the old man's?"
"Just what do you mean by that?" she threatened.
"I believe she once told him, 'I take you where you need to go' when he complained about never arriving where he wanted to," he informed her.
She glared at him in disbelief.
"He, uh, he never told you about the 'House' incident? With Amy and Rory? Where his TARDIS matrix was put into the body of a woman, Idris?"
Her expression never changed.
"Uh, right. I take it that's a no, then?" he said. "No, really, we can stop by the Pond's and ask them, before, uh-" he glanced to the twins, suddenly perking up at seeing their grandparents again. "Yeah, we'll discuss it, but they were there. Trust me," he insisted, tapping the side of his head.
"So where are we, if we're not in Pencil-vane?" Alistair asked.
"Pennsylvania," Su corrected, now looking around herself, trying to place their location. "Looks like any typical town in England," she finally decided. "Let's find a local paper or simply ask, shall we?"
"I have no clue. I didn't really study up on England's history other than the major differences from my Albion," Will admitted.
"La-Timer Street," Jamie informed them, pointing to a street sign. "Kinda ironic we end up here, huh, being you-know-what's and all," he chuckled.
Will stopped and stared at it. "Bloody Hades," he muttered under his breath. "Not La-Timer, it's Latimer. Latimer Street. I-I can't-no. Not here," he stammered. "I knew it looked familiar. I can't- no." He started to turn back.
"Will? What's wrong?" Su asked, grabbing his arm.
He looked at her like he'd seen a ghost. "Not here. Anywhere but here," he insisted, pulling away. "I can't."
"Why not? What's wrong with here?" she pressed. "Who would you even know here?"
The boys flanked him, looking up at him curiously. "I can't," he repeated, pressing up against the wall, holding on to it as if his life depended on it.
"Will? Are you alright?" Jamie asked.
"not here, anywhere but here," he chanted under his breath. He started to turn away from the wall, but began to fall, nearly taking Jamie with him. Jamie managed to grab his arm, slowing his fall just enough he didn't hit his head on the sidewalk.
The trio crowded around him, trying to rouse him. Su turned to Alistair. "Go run and get Jenny. She can help us carry him back," she instructed as she propped him against a wall.
No sooner had he left than a young man stopped to offer his assistance. "Is your friend okay?"
"He's not feeling well," Su told him. "I just sent one of our boys to fetch some help. Thank you, anyway."
"My home is just around the block. I'm sure my father won't mind if we bring him there and send for a doctor?" he offered.
"Thank you, no, I have the situation under control," she replied as Will moaned. "Will? Can you hear me?"
"not here, not here," he mumbled as his eyes flickered open.
"Please, I insist," the young man continued. "It will be no trouble at all. My name is-"
"Frederic? No!" Will shouted as he looked upon his would-be rescuer. "Not him! Not here!" he exclaimed before passing out once more.
The young man stepped back. "H-how did he-? He knew my name? Is he a friend of my father or something?"
"I'm sorry, I don't know why he shouted like that," she told him. "He sometimes gets sick while we're traveling, but he doesn't like to make a fuss."
"Ah. I was much the same in my younger years, traveling with my father," the Frederic agreed. "Perhaps that's how he knows father?"
"I'm sorry, who are you again?" she asked.
"My name is Frederic Lake. My father is a professor of mathematics at university, and we often travel in his spare time, when he's not tinkering in his workshop," he informed Su and Jamie.
The pair suddenly realized the reason behind Will's outbursts and collapse. "Oh Bloody Hades, indeed," Jamie muttered as he and Su shared a look of understanding.
"Jamie!" she scolded before turning back to Frederic. "I, um, that is, yes. My friend Will has mentioned your father, um, I think from his readings. He's apparently quite a fan?"
"What's a fan?" the boy asked.
"Too early," Jamie whispered as she paused to answer. "He really enjoys reading up on your father," he corrected. "He said he even met him by chance, once or twice?" He hoped the half-lie was enough to placate the older boy.
"what?"
Su thought they were lucky as Alistair returned with Jenny at that moment, avoiding any more pressing questions from the younger Lake. She soon realized she could not be more wrong.
"I'm here," Jenny announced. "Is Will time sick again?"
"Time sick?" Frederic echoed. Su winced.
"Uh, hi?" she stammered. "I'm sorry, I meant to say 'Is Will still sick'? Sometimes my words I confused."
Frederic stared at her in his own confusion.
"Right. Upsy-daisy, big guy," she said, reaching down to help Su pick him up.
"Ladies, please, I insist you bring him to my father's where we can send for a doctor," Frederic offered again as he helped them raise the burly man up onto his feet.
"Who are you again?" Jenny asked, glancing at her niece.
"Frederic Lake. My father is Professor Jackson Lake at-"
"No!" Will suddenly shouted. "Get me away from him!"
Jenny was caught off guard by the boy's introduction and nearly hit by Will when he lashed out. She quickly subdued him against the wall, using his movement against him.
"Your friend is delirious, possibly epileptic. We will take him to my home," Frederic decided, struggling against the wriggling man.
"We have our own lodgings close by," Su insisted.
"Then let me assist you two ladies. Your friend is too large for you and these young boys to handle if he should lash out once more," he insisted. "Unless you would rather wait a moment while I dash home to fetch my father-?"
"No!" Su blurted, surprising even herself. "I thank you for your kind generosities, but we have managed Will back to our lodgings over further distances by ourselves."
"Yeah, but we had a litter to carry his fat-"
"Alistair!" Jenny chided her brother. "Why don't you run ahead and get the doors for us?" she admonished him.
Frederic did his best to ignore this and persisted, "At least give me your address, so I may call and check on your friend's health?"
"Again, no thank you, we can manage," Su repeated, wary that he would bring his father, causing Will more grief. "We appreciate your concern, but we can handle this matter ourselves."
Frederic finally acquiesced with reluctance and bid the group luck in their travails as he took his leave of them and returned home. The two women carried Will along the street to their alley, getting several odd looks along the way. Jamie kept an eye out for trouble and more interruptions by Frederic and others. They were just getting Will inside their TARDIS when Jamie spared a last glance back out onto the street.
Frederic was leading an older man along with a concerned look on his face. "There, father!" he cried out as Jamie ducked back around the corner.
"You there, boy! Hold up!" the older man shouted as he ran to catch Jamie. Both were surprised to find an empty alley. The older man checked the two doors off either side of the alley, but both were locked.
Jenny watched on the monitor as the man looked around, knocked on the doors, even eyeing the shed a long moment before shrugging and leading the boy away.
"That was a close call," she informed her little brother, who was still leaning against the front doors. "I managed to get a good shot of his face so we can avoid him as long as we stay here. The boy will be a bit more trouble if he spots us first."
"So why don't we hop over to America and catch this boring speech our dad liked so much?" he asked.
"Not my call, kiddo," she shook her head. "Let's go check on Will, see if he's going to live or whether we need a brain surgeon," she teased, emphasizing a dastardly idea by crooking her fingers and putting on a crazed expression.
Jamie laughed and ran into the other room where Jenny and their niece had carried their ailing mentor.
Outside, Frederic Lake was reentering the street with his father. "I am sure I saw the boy duck down there," he insisted.
"How sick was this man?" Jackson inquired of his son.
"I don't know, not drunk, but definitely out of sorts, perhaps epileptic? He seemed to recognize me and lashed out when I mentioned your name to the other woman, the blonde?"
"Well, they seemed to have moved on. We'll have Rosita and the neighbors keep an eye out for them, then, alright?" he assured the boy. He spared a last glance back down the alley. He had walked past this alley every day, but had never really paid attention to it. He knew something wasn't quite right, but could not quite put his finger on it.
Present day
"Hello sweetie," the blonde woman greeted. "I was wondering what was keeping you."
"River," Jack warily acknowledged.
"Jack, Gwen. Where are the others?"
"Who said we were with anyone else?" Gwen countered.
"This is Will's apartment, and you love your husband too much to cheat on him," she informed them. "Even with Jack," she winked.
"How did you know to find us here?" he asked.
"I could use the old standby of 'spoilers', but we both know that isn't the case," she smirked, then showed the band on her wrist. Gwen glanced at it, then at the identical band on Jack's arm. "We can track each other."
"So where are you?" Jack inquired. Gwen gave them a confused look. "The life of a time traveler, you never know at what point in their lives you meet them," he explained.
River continued, flipping through a battered blue book. "Think of one of those complex jigsaw puzzles, fresh out of the box. A big pile of pieces, jumbled together. Each piece is a moment of time, but to make any sense of it, you have to assemble them into one picture. The completed picture is the life of a normal person, the pile a time traveler's life. Now toss in another pile of loose puzzle pieces for every other time traveler, like the Doctor, myself, and Jack. It gets a bit complicated, to say the least."
"I think I see?" Gwen said, mulling over the mental images.
"Anyway, where are we?" Jack asked again.
River looked through her book. "I'm married, the Torchwood Estate was obliterated, you just escaped from the Valiant, yes?"
"That about sums it up," he acknowledged.
"Who else is with you, right now?" she asked. "I'm guessing Rice, sorry, Rhys? Martha and Mickey, and-?"
"John Hart, James Gloucester, and, um, someone else," he added to her list.
"Ianto," Gwen said. "Only he's not. I mean-"
"He's a Ganger?" River nodded. "Yes, I've had some experience with them, myself." She glanced to Jack. "You don't trust him, yet?"
Jack stood stoic.
"I thought not."
"Ianto is dead," he finally replied, voice cracking. "That-that thing is not him. It's an abomination to his memory, a marionette, a-" Gwen laid a hand on his shoulder to stop.
River held up her hand, too. "I know, sweetie. I'm not telling you to trust him, but you will need him, soon enough."
"Why would someone do something like that?" Gwen asked. "How is it even possible?"
"It's a technology that shouldn't exist yet, not here and now, at any rate," the professor of archaeology explained.
"It fell through the Rift?" she asked. "We've had all sorts, from different places and times, Jack said."
"That's one possibility," River agreed. She looked at Jack. "Another is it was brought here. And it wasn't the only one."
"Abaddon is a time traveler?" he asked. "Is he another Time Lord, like the Doctor and the Master? Is he the Master?"
River shook her head, her curls swaying. "No, he is not the Master, Tremas, Saxon, or whatever name he was using in this time. He is someone far worse and far more deranged." She said this last with an obvious note of sadness.
"I'm sorry? Who's the Master?" Gwen inquired.
"The Doctor's nemesis from his home world," Jack explained. "You would know him as Harold Saxon, former Prime Minister."
"Oh. Yes, I knew who he was," she agreed with distaste. "I guess that would explain what happened with his short term?"
Jack and River shared a concerned look. "You have no idea," he said. "So you know who Abaddon really is? Can't we go get the Doctor and stop him before he does all this?"
River shook her head again. "I have an idea of who he is, but...I can't go back in his own time line and change things. He is a necessary evil, like the Daleks."
"The Daleks?! A necessary evil?" Gwen retorted, trying not to laugh at the absurdity of it.
"On a galactic scale, yes."
"It's like the Hitler paradox," Jack told his friend. "If you were to go back in time and kill him as a baby, what if he were replaced by another infant, who would grow up and ensure that World War II and all the devastation it brought were still to happen. It's a fixed point in time, it's meant to happen, you can't change it."
"So this Abaddon is another Hitler?"
"On a galactic scale, yes," River repeated.
Jack was taken aback by this. "What?"
River nodded. "There were rumblings at first. Small groups of ships went missing, scouting parties for potential invasions. No one thought anything of it. Then whole armies. He claimed to be Abraxas, even wearing his face, but it wasn't him. It was a diversionary tactic to throw off the real Abraxas, ruin his reputation."
Jack considered this. "But Abraxas, doesn't he look like-?"
She nodded. "He bears the same face as the Doctor. He won't say why." Jack could tell she had her suspicions.
Gwen spoke up. "This Abraxas, it sounds like Abaddon? If they look alike, and can time travel, what if he's creating his own future?"
"There's only one problem with that," River told her. "Abraxas is not Abaddon. I know the Governor well enough to know he would not create such devastation, no matter what he looks like." She avoided looking at Jack as she said this.
"But if he looks like the Doctor?" Gwen asked, then seemed to reconsider. "Wait, which Doctor? The one I first met was different than the one I saw marry you? I saw him change in Albion, and even then he looked different than before? Even then, Abaddon looked nothing like any of those Doctors."
River nodded. "Governor Abraxas looks like the Doctor you saw change into in Albion, the Doctor you saw me marry. Abraxas usually wears a beard, though. Abaddon uses this face when laying waste to armies in the future," she explained. "The few who have encountered the Doctor as he looks now, they assumed he was Abraxas at first, and tried to detain and kill us for Abaddon's crimes."
"I thought the Doctor was trying to keep a lower profile?" Jack inquired.
"Yes. How long did you think that was going to last?" she asked with amusement. "My husband was itching to get on with his travels the day after-" she paused, glancing at Gwen. "I assume you can keep a secret?"
"Yes?" she replied, but the look Jack gave River told her this was doubtful. He trusted her, but only to an extent.
"I'll just say the Doctor never stops running, no matter what his situation," she finished. "The very idea he could go back into hiding was never going to last long. Now the Sontarans know his current face and assumed him to be Abraxas. Now there is a bounty on his head, as well, which he knows nothing about."
Gwen could tell that she was hiding a secret Jack knew about the Doctor, but was potentially devastating to the Time Lord. She had a feeling that whatever it was, it had likely been kept at the now-destroyed Torchwood Estate. She recalled encountering a werewolf there with the Doctor in Albion's past, but doubted that would be the same secret.
"So whatever this secret of yours is, Abaddon wants it and is using us to get to the Doctor?" she asked.
"It goes much deeper than that," Jack told her. "He knows about the vortex manipulators, and became increasingly frustrated he couldn't get mine to work."
"It's a good thing they're keyed to our molecular structures, then, isn't it?" River smiled.
"Pardon my asking, but when were you a Time Agent? I don't recall ever seeing you at the Institute?"
"I never said I was there," she replied, teasingly.
Jack wasn't sure he liked that reply. "Listen, we've got our crew waiting outside for an all clear signal. You've swept the place?"
"It's as clean as our dear Will ever kept it," she said.
"Maybe I should go give it a second sweep?" he said and headed to one of the bedrooms, leaving the two women alone.
"You know he's just hiding certain things from you, right?"
"I trust Jack more than he trusts me, apparently," Gwen said.
"Actually, I was talking about what he was hiding in the bedroom he briefly shared with Will, but there's that, too." She rose and approached Gwen. "Jack has his secrets. We all do. You just have to know how far to trust him, or anyone, in keeping those secrets." She glanced down a second and touched Gwen's arm. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'll let the others know it's okay to come in."
River let herself out, leaving Gwen alone. She glanced towards the bedroom Jack had entered and could hear him shuffling around a bit. "Jack?"
"Yeah?"
"It is okay to let the others come in, right?"
"One more minute!" he called back, sounding like he was in a rush.
"Too late for that," she mused to herself. She looked out the window to see River approach their van on the street. Martha hopped out and hugged her in greeting.
"How are you doing?" the doctor turned warrior enthused.
"I'm well, what about you? Any future Smiths we need to keep an eye out for?" she teased as Mickey stepped out.
"Oh, not yet," Martha smirked. "What about you guys?"
"They're being taken care of," she assured her friend. "Actually, I was just leaving. I just needed to tell Jack something in private."
"He told you about the Estate?"
River was silent for a moment. "We arrived shortly after- after what happened. That was part of what I needed to talk to Jack about." She looked towards the back of the van. Martha glanced over to see what she was looking at and understood it was something about Ianto, as well.
"Who's this then?" Gloucester demanded as he exited.
Rhys and Mickey moved to block him. "Another friend. One you don't need to know about," Mickey warned.
"Don't worry boys, I know all about James, here," she smirked. "I'll see you all soon enough," she said, giving Rhys a nod. "You be careful now, big guy," she flirted, running her hand up his arm, giving him a squeeze, before she walked around behind the van.
Rhys gave her a big, if somewhat confused, smile before he glanced up to see a familiar silhouette in a window.
"Who was that, then?" Gloucester demanded again, following her around the vehicle only to find nothing there. "Where'd she go?"
"It's a long story, and one you don't need to know about," Martha told him. She nodded to Mickey and Rhys, who urged the Flesh Ianto out of the vehicle as she led the way to the others in Will's flat.
John Hart said nothing during this exchange, but eyed River warily. He was not surprised to see her teleport away as he watched from inside the van. He stepped out and brought up the rear as the others entered the apartment building.
Gwen greeted them inside. "It doesn't look like much, but we do have a bit more room than we did in the other flat," she informed them.
Jack reentered from the bedroom, slightly flushed. "I think the same arrangements as before, couples get the bedrooms, singles bunk on the floor?"
"There's no food here," Rhys noted, checking the refrigerator. Most of the eyes turned to James.
"Something else we'll need, money," he noted, handing the last of his cash to the burly man.
"What about keys to the flat?" Mickey asked. "I mean, if this place used to belong to Jack's friend, then he has a key, right? What about the rest of us?"
"There should be someone here all the time if we're using this as a base of operations, right?" Hart offered. He looked to Jack, who now seemed lost in thought. "Right?"
"Hm? Oh right," Jack replied. "I'll get a couple copies of the key made, but that also reminded me of something else."
"Oi! We didn't need to hear that," Rhys teased. "You at least hid all your porn, yeah? That's what you were doing in there?" He pointed at the room Jack had come out of.
Jack started to say something, but thought better of it in front of the wives. "Actually, Rhys, the mention of keys made me think of something else, entirely, which could also cover our expenses among other needs."
"What, like a secret Swiss bank account?" Mickey offered.
"Even better," Jack smiled. "I'm talking about a whole company that specializes in security needs. Will did some work for them, and I just remembered it was one of several fronts used by Torchwood." He glanced to Martha. "The main office was in Canary Wharf."
A confused look spread on Martha's face which gave way to shock as she realized what he meant.
"H.C. Clements?" It was Gloucester who answered. "Their logo was a key."
"Yes. Is there a problem with that?" Jack inquired.
"Where have you been? That company was liquidated a long time ago," he replied.
John had to stifle a laugh at the shocked expression on Jack's face.
Will stared at the screen, monitoring the passersby outside the alley. He was feeling less panicky now that he had gotten used to the idea that an alternate version of the man he once knew intimately was living literally around the corner from where they had landed. That was the only explanation that they could come up with for his fit: an anxiety attack.
He had thought he had spied Jackson passing by several times, but it was so quick, he could not be sure. Right now, he simply watched the light rain fall, forming puddles in the alley, as people rushed past.
Su had asked him how he named the boy before Frederic could tell them, but he had no answer for her. The whole incident was a blur to him. Had he picked up on the boy's presence, or plucked it from his mind? He recalled now that his Jackson had a number of old family portraits on display in his home, showing his family back as far as the invention of photography, and paintings alongside those. He insisted that his features were merely passed down, but he still could not recall most of his early years. He laughed this off, but Will knew that it scared him, as if remembering the truth would also be the end of him.
Will had become so lost in his thoughts, he didn't realize someone had been standing outside for several minutes. He wore a cloak and a brimmed hat pulled down to keep the rain out of his face, which also obscured his features. He seemed to be examining the alley, as if he were searching for something. He seemed to take special interest in the brickwork.
Will watched as he inched closer and closer. There was something familiar about him, that flickered at the back of Will's mind. Something very familiar he thought as the man looked directly at the camera feeding images to Will's screen.
Jackson Lake had come looking for him once more.
Will touched the face on the screen. So familiar yet so strange. This man was beginning to grey, worry lines etched his face. Lines Will had traced with his fingers many a time before in a different place, a different world.
Before he realized what he was doing, Will was already moving for the door. He stopped himself from opening it, knowing Jackson was mere inches away, oblivious to who Will was or what he meant to him.
The next few moments were a blur. He saw the door open and felt the rain. He saw the shocked expression on Jackson's face as he stepped out, exposing the interior of their TARDIS for a moment. He saw Jackson's mouth move, but he didn't hear the words. Instead, he embraced the man, falling against the rough, wet brickwork. Jackson struggled in his grip as Will squeezed him tighter.
"I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry," Will sobbed into the other man's shoulder.
"Unhand me, sir!" Jackson demanded, trying to pull free of this madman squeezing the very breath of life from him. He landed light slaps on Will to distract him, but he might as well have been slapping the wall. Jackson began redoubling his efforts with every blow, finally causing the burly madman to release his grip.
Will had lifted Jackson off his feet, but now set him back down, relaxing his grasp, but not releasing him. "Jackson? Don't you recognize me?" he pleaded.
"I know you not, sir!" Jackson retorted.
"Jackson?" he stammered, his broken heart could be seen on his face. "Please? Please tell me you remember?" He reached out to touch Lake's face, but his hand was knocked away.
"I thought you might have been someone else, but I see I was wrong, now," he insisted, still trying to squirm free. "Please unhand me, else I shall call for help."
"I-I- No. I'm sorry," Will said, fully relaxing his grip on the other man. "You aren't- You never were my Jackson, were you?"
"I know not of what you speak, sir," Lake replied.
Will leaned against the wall, crestfallen. "Then why did you come?"
"My son says he encountered a man in need of possible medical attention, but then the man and his friends seemed to vanish into thin air," he explained. "I came in search of this man, to offer my assistance, but I see now I was in error."
"That man was me, and I am sorry," Will said. "When I realized where we were, I- no. It would take too long to explain and you wouldn't believe me." He turned away back to the brick shed.
"You live in this alley?" Jackson asked.
Will shook his head. "Not quite." He opened the brick-disguised door to the TARDIS and entered.
Jackson was shocked once more as he peered inside.
"Are you coming in or are you going to stand out there in the rain all day?"
Jackson stumbled forward. "I-I didn't imagine- After all this time?" He looked at Will again. "Doctor? Is that really you?"
Will sat down in one of the chairs. "No. I am not him, but it is because of him that I am here."
Jackson was looking around, taking in the futuristic setting similar to one he had a glimpse of nearly a decade before. "Is he in trouble then? Is there something I can do to offer assistance?"
"Jacks, sit down, please."
Lake stopped and looked at the man. He seemed beaten. "You know me? Who are you?"
"I knew you in another world, Jacks," he said somberly. "We were...close. Very close. I had to abandon that world in order to save this one. I lost my entire family, my friends, my-"
"Will? Are you in here? I thought I heard voices?" Su asked, entering the control room. "Oh. Hello?"
"Hello, my dear," Jackson greeted the brunette, slightly taken aback at seeing her in a man's suit, fitted to her slight frame. "I, ah, I was outside and, uh,-"
"Jacks, you thought you were meeting the Doctor again? This is his granddaughter, Susan," Will introduced. "Su, this is Professor Jackson Lake."
"Granddaughter?" Jackson echoed in surprise. "Ah, yes, I seem to recall that now. Good to meet you at last."
"Jackson Lake?" she repeated, recognizing the name. "Will? What's going on? Why is he in here?"
"It's alright. He knows the old man," he assured her. She was about to say he admitted to her about 'knowing' Lake in a different way when the other man started babbling.
"Well, that's mainly due to an infostamp imprinting itself on my brain, but yes, I have met the Doctor," he explained. "It was ten years ago, now, on Christmas. I helped him stop an invasion by the Cybermen." He was quiet a moment, recalling they killed his wife and briefly held his son hostage. "We-we had Christmas dinner, after."
"Su, would you get Jacks some tea, please?" he asked. "I'll be right there, I need to, ah, I'll be right back. He takes two sugars and a dash of milk."
Lake stared dumbfounded at the stranger who seemed to know him so well as he passed and entered a side door. He glanced to the woman who beckoned him to follow. She led him to another side room which appeared to be some sort of kitchen.
"This is all too much," he said, taking a seat at the table.
"From the way you were looking around, you must be having some culture shock, yes? I apologize for Will inviting you in the way he did," she told him. "I take it Grandfather took you along for a while, as well?"
"No, I refused his offer. I never left London, but he did allow me to see inside his magic machine, his TARDIS. It was quite overwhelming. I owe that man much, but I never expected to see him again."
"Knowing my grandfather, I doubt you ever will see the same man you met again."
Lake could hear the sadness in her voice. "He's changed his appearance once more?"
"This is going to be a long conversation, isn't it?" she mused as she set three mugs on the table. She glanced up to see Will at the door, a drop of water still clinging to his mustache from washing his face. She went up to him and wiped it away with her thumb. "Why don't I leave you two boys alone?" she patted him on the chest, then ran her hand down his arm as she left.
Lake made note of this as Will sat down across from him and stared at his own mug.
"When did the Doctor have children?" Jackson inquired. "It must have been a while for him since he's seen me, if he has a full grown granddaughter." He decided not to inquire of their obvious relationship.
Will shook his head. "She left Gallifrey with him, his first Companion." He spared a glance up. "He has had sons more recently, though."
Jackson smiled. "Give him my congratulations, then. I don't suppose they travel with you, as well?"
"Actually, yes. Those were the boys with me your own son encountered earlier," he admitted. "Perhaps we arrived here instead of Pennsylvania for a reason?"
"America? What is so special about there?"
Will allowed himself a smile. "The old man admires their current President, Lincoln, especially a speech he gave. That was why we came here, to show the boys in person."
"So he gave you his TARDIS for an educational trip?"
Will's smile faded. "This isn't his TARDIS, but yes, he entrusted me to teach his sons." Jackson nodded understanding but before he could reply, Will asked "I don't suppose you would be interested in showing them a thing or two?"
Lake considered this a moment. "I don't suppose it would do any harm, but surely you have access to better minds than mine? I-I mean, in the future?"
Will shrugged. "We already tried Shakespeare, but wound up placing his life in danger," he admitted. "We thought about a few others like Einstein and Tesla, but-" He held up a hand. "Sorry, I don't think either have been born quite yet? Nevermind those names."
"William Shakespeare?" Jackson asked. "I don't recall reading any assassination attempts on his life?"
"Then that's good news," Will mused. "They may have only been after me, then?" and another, he thought.
"Are you endangering my life, then?"
Will looked up at him, as if he just realized the potential danger. "By all the gods, I hope not. It's bad enough that- I don't think I could bear being responsible for anything happening to you, Jacks."
After a brief awkward silence, Lake looked into the other man's eyes. "Tell me."
"What?"
"How you know me. Why you call me 'Jacks' instead of Jackson. Why my very presence causes you great pain."
"You were a dear friend to me," he admitted.
"You aren't from this time." It was a statement, not a question.
"No. In fact, the calendars in Albion are centuries ahead of what you use. Even older than the Ch'in or Hebrew tables," he admitted. "You were still born in this same relative period, but there was a man, he- He was from another future, and he- He used you. He used all of us."
Lake nodded, urging him on.
"He, um, he used you as an experiment, wiped your mind, and, uh- He somehow prolonged your life for nearly two centuries," he stammered. "You were made to believe you were your own descendant. You were unaware of this, of course, but he used you to spy on the Royal Family. Charles and Miranda, especially, in my time."
"I worked for them? The Royal Family in your world?"
Will nodded. "That was how we met. You worked with my father, part of the special security called Torchwood."
"Torchwood? Like the MacLeish estate in Aberdeenshire?"
It was Will's turn at surprise. "You've heard of it then?"
"Only in passing."
"Stay away from it, for now," he warned. "Torchwood won't be founded by your Queen Vic for a few years, yet."
"My Queen Vic?" he echoed. "Is there something I should warn Her Majesty about?"
"Her?" Will asked, then shook his head. "Right, no, nevermind. Just trust me that Her Majesty will encounter something there that will lead to the founding of Torchwood, and you can not -must not- interfere in any way. Do you understand me?"
Jackson reluctantly nodded. "It is something that must happen. A fixed point in time."
"Yes," Will agreed before moving on. "Anyway, the Torchwood that will rise up here is not the same as in my world. We were high level security for the Family. We worked with Scotland Yard on a number of cases."
"You were detective inspectors?"
"Close enough to be Sherl-ah, to be sure," he caught himself, recalling that man would not be around for a few decades, yet. "My Jackson worked with my father and later with me when I joined up. We, ah, we became close, especially during one case. Missing children and- I'm sorry, you don't need to know the details. They're too disturbing, even for me. I still dream of the ravens, though," he explained, the listless, helpless feeling of the nightmare returning.
"So you're saying, this other me, this other Jackson Lake and you? You, ah, you were close?"
Will stared at his mug again. "Very."
Jackson shifted uncomfortably I his chair. "I see."
Will realized what the implication meant. "No, you don't understand. In our world, it was common to have intimate relations with close friends. I still had a wife, and you had several over the years, decades, I now realize. What we shared, though? There was no shame in that. I loved Tosh, my wife, we had two kids of our own. But she also accepted you were part of my life, as well as my cousin Charles."
Jackson's jaw clenched. "Good sir, you spin fancy and delusional tales. Not just implying that we- that we had- but also that you had relations with your own kin? You disgust me, sir!"
"What? No! Charles was a distant cousin and our Regent!" he explained. "I loved him like a brother, but we never-! Listen, I loved Tosh as my wife. I loved my boys. Charles and you, there was a different kind of love. Not just a fraternity, but a kinship that others shared with those they loved. By Hades, I even teased Charles that he was a prude because he never had any desire for the intimacy that my Jacks and I had, that was an accepted part of our society."
"Excuse me?"
"Okay, listen, you had your Black Plagues and such, right?" Jackson nodded. "Our world, Albion, we had a- I guess you would call it a venereal plague? It would return every few centuries, leaving a generation of women barren. Because of that, and our Hellenic-based society over your Christian one, it was accepted that some men- listen, in another century, a movement here and in America will be called 'free love', the 'Summer of Love', where the prudish values of this time are finally ignored and people are allowed to openly love whomever they want. It will take a few decades, but people will be less ashamed to love whoever they want, openly. That is how my world existed for millennia. Do you understand?"
"A world of decadence, sir."
"Jackson, please," Will reached across the table to grab Lake's hand. "I was worried I could not face you after leaving my Jacks and Toshiko behind. We had just exposed the truth about what you had endured for over a century. I still worry about my friend, that he will be okay, that he will accept that I still loved him deep down. That I could see the real Jackson Lake behind the puppet he became. I did not want to leave him or my family behind, but I knew I had to. I had to help the Doctor and his friends get back to this world. I sacrificed everything for strangers. I know you are not my Jackson, and I panicked at the thought of encountering you here. I could not face you because I knew you were not my Jackson, someone I loved but had no clue who I was. Do you understand?"
Jackson pulled his hand free from the other man's grip and stood up. "I know the Doctor travels through time as easily as I cross the street, and I know this will occasionally send out ripples, like a stone tossed in a pond. This is the world you lived in?"
Will nodded. "Yes. Changed in prehistory. A world where people were freer to express themselves. But we didn't realize it was all controlled by one man with a twisted, black heart. The very word 'doctor' was virtually unknown to us until the Time Lord set foot upon our world. It was only used as the blackest, vilest curse you can think of."
"This is the world you sacrificed because of the Doctor?"
"Yes."
"Then, I...I am sorry, but I am not your friend and I have no feelings toward you save for pity," Lake told him. He moved toward the door, but Will caught his arm. "Unhand me, sir," he warned.
"I am sorry, too," Will said and tugged him close, wrapping his free hand behind the other man's neck and pulling him close. "I loved my Jacks, and-and I hoped I could find forgiveness with you," he said and kissed Lake on the lips.
Jackson pulled free, stared at Markham aghast, then turned and left the TARDIS, not even looking back at the brick shed he exited into the now pouring rain. Thunder rumbled overhead as he marched back to his house.
Will fell to his knees, tears streaming down his face. He never noticed the small shadow listening in the pantry.
Jackson slammed his front door shut behind him and fell against it, sobbing. His mind a whirl of images since the burly stranger kissed him. He saw his life play out before him, well longer than it should have. He saw a chance meeting with a Doctor he did not recognize. A world not yet imagined surround him in the present, full of horseless steam carriages that went at dizzying speeds, and soon after, became electricity-driven. There were metal craft soaring silent in the sky, including his own bicycle-dirigible invention, reminiscent of his own TARDIS he constructed while confused. Men were walking and even living on the moon and making plans for Mars, but he knew it also to be called Ares.
He saw in that parallel future to come, Markham grow from a young man into his current appearance, and he knew that man. Knew him intimately. He was with the ginger haired Doctor in the present day, despite not being born for a century. They both helped save young Frederic and many other children that day the school in that world burned. He forced the Doctor to save his own ancestors, nearly costing his own life.
Behind it all was a lean, old man. A man who should not be, and was as ageless as time, itself. A man who approached him in this time, but was still active in Will's future time, drawing him and many strangers into a trap, only then to fail at Stonehenge, the night before the Coronation of a future Monarch. He planned to murder the rightful King and his father Regent there, had it not been for the Doctor and Will. He saw himself there, too, a mindless drone of the eternal evil man.
Jackson Lake clutched at his head, trying to make sense of it all, but not much did. The little that did was Markham, himself, and his pure love for this other man that wore his face, the face of Jackson Lake.
"Are you alright, love? You're soaked from the rain."
Jackson forced his tear-filled eyes open to see his dark skinned lover standing before him. Another relationship that many looked down upon, so they kept quiet, save for a few close friends. To everyone else, she was his maid. "Rosita?"
"You look like you've seen a ghost?" she asked, kneeling beside him. "You've a nosebleed," she said, pulling out a kerchief to dab at the blood.
He grabbed her hand, holding it tight as he kissed it and held it against his cheek. "I think I may have. A ghost of an old friend and echoes of a life not lived. A cursed life that I want no part of," he sobbed.
She looked at him in concern and confusion as another rumble of thunder passed overhead outside.
Another quick flash of memory obscured his sight. Parisian aristocrats, only they weren't. Mercenary marionettes. A crushing blow to the head could stop them. Jackson knew this was meant to be a warning, possibly the danger Will had mentioned they brought to Shakespeare. He also knew that Will suspected who was behind them, but was helpless to interfere.
TBC...
A/N: Will's appearance here is similar to Addy's in the 2002 Wells directed Time Machine remake.
Frederic was about 6-7 in "Next Doctor", set in 1851, so 18-20ish here? No one in particular to play this role.
Jackson is less freaked out by the revelation of an alternate life and relationship with Markham, and more how Will is acting towards him. Plus the whole mental download at their parting kiss.
