How Long Is Forever?
Spoilers: This is a post Journey's End Reunion fic, so there are spoilers up until there.
Disclaimer: I don't own either DW or SG, which I only put in here in case I ever got the guts to write down that crossover that got stuck in my head.( so that I won't have to think up a timeline-on the DW part-for it)
Chapter 21: More Family Matters (Part II)
"Of course, they mate for life… so they always hunt in pairs," the Doctor cried out in frustration.
"Nevermind that, what do we do?" Gwen asked him.
"We shoot it," the Time Lord answered in his 'well, duh' tone.
"But we could hit Jack," the black-haired constable replied.
"You're right, it could kill him," the alien said, giving her a pointed look. "Oh, wait, he's immortal. He'll live. Although, I don't know if he would, if that creature eats him, so seriously, just shoot."
Reluctant, Gwen had to agree that the Doctor had a point- as always- and fired, twice, because the first time, she actually did hit Jack.
"What are those things?" Jenny then asked, exasperated.
"Ehrm… Rose, you remember how I told you that you descend from apes, while I descend from something else?" the Doctor asked her, fidgeting.
They gaped at him.
The Doctor shifted uncomfortably under their staring. He could even hear stunned silence from the other end of the com, although he was rather sure that he heard Mickey-the-idiot snicker uncontrollably for a moment. The others had most likely given him death glares to shut him up. Still, as the silence stretched, and the Time Lord grew ever more uneasy around his friends.
"Are you telling me… oh, that's rich!" Rose growled. "Calls us stupid apes, the hypocrite! And then it turns out he descends from skinless alien lions or something!"
"Well," the Doctor amended. "They're not exactly my… I mean, they evolved a bit, too… They're more like prehistorical cousins…"
"That explains your oral fixation!" Rose shouted, maybe a tad bit hysterical. "If they take a nip at everything that moves, no wonder you've got to lick everything that passes your way, and is remotedly interesting. I'm surprised you haven't licked any of us yet."
"Well, technically… does french kissing qualify?" the Doctor wondered aloud.
Rose blushed furiously, but other than that an irate grunt was the only answer he got.
"Besides," the Last of the Time Lords continued, pouting. "It's quite an achievement to evolve into humanoid form from such a beast. And not just any humanoid form, either, but the oldest, most mighty race in the universe. That's an achievement to be proud of. You lot have barely lost all that dark hair that once covered your whole body, hiding your silky skin."
He reached out to caress Rose's cheek with his knuckles for emphasis, but the young woman flinched away. He frowned at her, before following her gaze to where Jenny was helping Captain Flirt back to his feet at the moment. The pinstriped alien gulped, when he looked back to his beloved's face, only to see tears welling up in her eyes. Tears of betrayel, and heartbreak. He went to reassure her, but Rose backed away from him, shaking her head as she looked him in the eye, and then ran.
As fast as she could, away from him!
"You didn't tell her, about Jenny, I mean?" Jack asked, coming up at his side.
"She said that the other- that John had told her what I'd done while she was trapped on that parallel Earth. I just assumed he had spoken about this, too," the Doctor admitted sulkily.
"Would you have told her in his place? Told her everything?"
"…probably not," the alien sighed.
"There you have it, then," Jack told him, patting him on the shoulder. "You better go talk to her."
"But-" the Doctor protested, turning to look at Jenny.
The blonde smiled.
"This woman… she is important to you, yes?" his daughter asked.
He just nodded, not trusting his voice anymore.
"Then what are you waiting for? Go after her."
The Time Lord in question looked up, surprised.
"I've waited so many years to talk to you again. I can wait a little bit longer," Jenny assured him.
He nodded again, and ran after his love.
Torchwood Three- or the part that was present- and Jenny watched him disappear in the distance, all of them sighing at how complicated this relationship was. Although, at least, it never got boring. Best soap-opera ever, in Jack's opinion. Still, it was getting a little annoying that the two of them could never find their common ground, and stay on it, dammit! They were still standing there, wistfully gazing at where the two starcrossed lovers had disappeared from view, when Sarah-Jane arrived with the rest of Torchwood and their little group, ready to help moving the sleeping bodies back into their cages.
"Good thing you came," Jack muttered as he started to lift one of the bodies. "These beasts weigh a ton. And I'll need my strength for that stupid conference."
"What conference exactly, Jack?" Gwen immediately asked, hoping she'd get an answer this time. A real one. "We couldn't exactly make out anything useful between your curses, when we had just removed those wasps from the street."
Jack sighed.
"UNIT plans on telling the americans about their programm- not ours, their's, but they want two of us present."
"But UNIT stands for United Nations Intelligence Taskforce- the americans are part of it. They've got their own branches," Mickey wondered.
"Not those americans, the other americans."
"What other americans?" came the instant reply.
Jack just looked at them like they were mad.
"But you… I mean, sure, to me they're history, but seriously...don't you guys read the reports we get in?" the Captain asked incredulously.
Martha tapped her foot.
"Jack," she said, exasperated. "We get thousands of reports send over by UNIT or from Glasgow every day. If we were to read every last one of them, we'd never get any work done, and some of us actually need to sleep, so… What americans?!"
"The SGC, Stargate Command."
"I've read about them. Even seen a memorial here on Barcelona," Jenny mused aloud.
A moment of silence.
"Ah…" Mickey was the first to answer. "I deleted those reports-"
"YOU WHAT?"
"Well, I thought they were a joke, I mean, it's not very secret, is it? There's even a TV show about it. It's fiction," the dark-skinned man defended himself.
"Good thing, I save all reports on paper, then…" Ianto muttered.
"Yeah, good thing," Jack agreed, growling. "And they're not fiction. They're real. Very real. And very annoying. Have you any idea how many times I had to clean up their messes when I was still a member of the Time Agency? They cause paradoxes wherever they go, or they blow up solar systems, or tear apart the fabric of reality… And the paper work alone, they still give me nowadays!…Ugh!"
"So, basically, you don't like them?" Sarah-Jane clipped, and everybody fell into fits of laughter.
3333333333333333333333333
She hadn't run back to the hotel, even though she still had the spare keycard for his room. Instead, she'd run home, back into the TARDIS to press herself against one of the ship's walls, as if she was looking for a hug. The sentient ship tried her best to be of service, and gave the brunette the psychic impression of warm hands that caressed soothing pattern on her back as she cried. The lights dimmed, and Rose sank down on the floor, only to lie there like a sobbing bundle.
That was how the Doctor found her.
"Go away," she told him weakly.
He did the exact opposite, he moved towards her and gathered her in his arms. Rocking her gently, his hands went to replace the TARDISes, but the ships consciousness remained linked with her own still. Rose pushed meekly at his chest, unsure of whether she wanted him to actually leave, or just needed to look at his face as he began to speak.
"It's okay, love. It's okay. Everything is fine…"
"No, it's not… Why didn't he tell me?" she cried into his chest.
The Doctor stilled.
"You're angry at him? At John?"
"For not telling me, yes. And I'm hurt that… th-that you r-replaced me when I was gone, but I know I couldn't expect you to stay on your own. I didn't want you to be lonely… But he should've told me!"
"I didn't replace you!" he argued vehemently.
"Then how come you have a daughter, and he didn't tell me! And she's about my age, too. How long exactly have I been gone?" she asked him, anger rising at his denial.
"She isn't my daughter… well, yes she is, but only technically."
"What is that supposed to mean? Either you are her father, or you aren't?"
"Well, a DNA test would definitely designate me as her father, but," he continued before she could interrupt him. "…but that's because she came from me, through progenation."
"What's progenation?" she asked, sounding as if she was trying to hold on to her anger, and failing. She pushed against his chest once more, and this time he loosened his embrace just enough so she could read the sincerity in his eyes.
"Progenation. Reproduction from a single organism. One parent is biological mother and father. You take a sample of diploid cells, split them into haploids, rearrange them differently, and grow- very, very fast. The machine aged her body to it's prime, plus she's spend some years travelling, so that's why she looks like she's your age. She isn't. She was genetically engineered- like my other children. Well, looming is a bit more complicated, mind you."
"Looming?"
"That's how we made children on Gallifrey. No physical intimacy, it was frowned upon. We made children, literally manufactured them. And so was Jenny."
"So, she's… she's…a Time Lady, or whatever you call it?" Rose asked, trying to wrap her mind about all this information.
"No," he replied, sadly, kissing the top of her head. "She has two hearts, but…she's an echo, nothing more. I thought, she'd died, but… she didn't regenerate… but maybe the terraforming device gave her cells the decisive push, just a bit later… I…"
Now it was Rose's turn to hug him as he wavered. She quietly apologized for overreacting like she did, but he just shrugged it off, telling her it was an understandable reaction. They then proceeded to cuddle up to each other, uncaring of the hard metal grating they were sitting on. A small grateful kiss turned into something much more passionate, that had them part only for air.
"Think, the rest of the vacation will go smoothly?" Rose asked, mirth in her voice.
"Oh, you never know." He smiled, his eyes twinkling.
Rose's head fell forward once more to engage into another furiously passionate kiss, but this time, her hands came up to loosen his tie. Nimble fingers then proceeded to open the upper buttons of his shirt. Slowly sliding down, careful not to touch him, just tease him with the warmth of her finger tips she went about laying his chest bare infront of her eyes, loosening his jacket when it stood in her way. Before she could finish her job, two strong hands came up, and stopped her as his mouth broke away from hers.
"Please, Rose," he pleaded. "I want our first time to be special, not some stupid make up sex."
Alright, yes, Time Lords did blush…furiously…at their own choice of words…
"Doctor, we've already made up with that first kiss."
"We have?"
"Yes, I'm no longer angry at you, or John."
"Oh."
"So, would you agree that we've made up."
"Uhm…yes?"
She smiled at how cute he looked when he was unsure of himself. She disentangled her hands from his, and lifted his tie up and over his head, throwing it into the far corner of the console room. Then she finished unbuttoning the upper layers of his clothing, allowing a hand to slip underneath the garments to caress the smooth firmness of his chest. The Time Lord gasped adorably when a finger grazed his nipple.
"Then, Doctor, make love to me."
The Doctor growled. He didn't need to be asked twice, as he immediately picked her up, and carried her to his bedroom. Once there, he put her down onto her feet, but refused to give her any time to take in the sinfully red sheets on his bed, or the neatly cataloged assortment of physic books in the shelf beside his nightstand. Instead, he distracted her by letting his cool fingers slip between the fabric of her shirt and her skin, not touching until he reached her bra, where he lazily outlined the soft garment. Rose's hands gripped his shoulders for support as she moaned at that small contact. She couldn't bring herself to care about the smugness that settled in his features at that reaction, especially when he disvested her of her shirt and bra, and shrugged of his own shirt and jacket. Both half-naked now, the Time Lord immediately set to work his mouth down the column of her neck in a series of sensual and torturingly slow kisses, and his hands began to massage her chest carefully.
Rose couldn't help but marvel at how similar this alien and her late husband were. All the things she had loved about the Time Lord she'd travelled with for so long, had still been there in John. And now she was discovering that all those things she'd thought to be the quirks of John's human side were part of his alien self as well. He was exploring her just as thoroughly, slowly driving her insane with his teasing strokes and flirtatious gaze.
This Doctor, too, seemed intend on worshipping her body…
End of chapter 21!
A/N: One more chapter to go... Yay! Unfortunately, since I'm going into Christmas Break now, it won't be up until January, Third or Fourth (not sure yet). I'm being mean, I know, but I can't help it. I haven't seen my family in ages, and it's Christmas. I'm sure you understand. Thank you.
And don't forget: Reviews are love! (and a wonderful Christmas gift) :)
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!