New chappie! *le gasp* It's the beginning of Utopia! Oh noooooooooes! But also...guess who's back? Back again? Someone's back! Tell a friend! I bet you can guess who, but if you can't, well...heh heh. You'll see. ^_^
Thanks to Grac3, Mabudachi-trio, NorthernMage, RenkinMaiTai, Yosbones, Shadowbat12, Akayuki Novak, Fulminata, AnonymousWhovian, TimeTravellingThestral, Guest Cat, Amy, FandomsUponFamdomsUnleashed, Maia, Marina, and antisocial-gallifreyan for reviewing and to anyone else who read. Let's do this.
"Morning, all," said Sam, practically bouncing down the stairs. He danced over to the console, whistling cheerfully. "Isn't this a gorgeous day? Absolutely brilliant. An A plus day. The universe gets a gold star for today."
Smells seemed sweeter, colors were brighter, music sounded better. Was this what love was?
"Glad you're in such a good mood, lover," said the Doctor, smirking, as Sam sauntered over to him. The Doctor's hands settled on Sam's hips and Sam's arm twined around his scrawny neck as they leaned toward each other for a kiss.
On the other side of the console, Martha rolled her eyes fondly. "Oi. Get a room."
"We're in a room," said the boys at the same time, then laughed, completely wrapped up in each other.
Martha shook her head at them. "Where are we off to today?" she asked.
"Why not Italy?" suggested Sam. "Rome, Verona, Venice. We could go gondola-ing."
"That's not a word," teased the Doctor.
"Yeah, and 'wibbly wobbly timey wimey' is," Sam shot back, bumping his shoulder affectionately.
"You're right. That's four words." The Doctor grinned like the cheeky bastard he was, and Sam had to laugh.
Martha cleared her throat. "Hello? Remember me? I'm that medical student you picked up that one time?"
"Oh, Martha, come on, it's the honeymoon stage!" said the Doctor cheerfully, winding his arms around Sam's torso, holding him from behind.
"I asked you a question," said Martha.
"Uh…what was it again?"
"Where are we going," prompted Sam.
"Ah! Right!" The Doctor regretfully pulled away from his lover to type in something on the controls. The TARDIS landed with a mechanic wheeze and a thump. "Cardiff!" the Doctor announced, checking the coordinates.
"Cardiff?!" squawked Martha.
"Not very sexy," agreed Sam.
"Ah! But the thing about Cardiff is, it's built on a rift in time and space, just like California on the San Andreas fault," the Doctor explained to Martha, pacing around the console and pulling levers and such as he spoke. "But the rift bleeds energy. Every now and then, I need to open up the engines, soak up the energy, and use it as fuel."
"So it's a pit stop," laughed Martha.
"Exactly, Pidge!" cheered Sam.
"Should only take 20 seconds," the Doctor added.
"Wait a minute," said Martha suspiciously. "They had an earthquake in Cardiff a couple years ago-was that you?"
The Doctor and Sam grinned at each other. "Bit of trouble with the Slitheen, a long time ago," the Doctor said. "Lifetimes. I was a different man back then."
"Ya know," said Sam, leaning against the edge of the console. "Why can't we refuel somewhere more interesting? I mean, what is there in Cardiff exactly? The BBC filming studios?-hey!" As Sam's hand brushed over something on the controls, the TARDIS gave a loud and sharp metallic screech and lurched suddenly. The time travelers were forced to grab the console and hang on for dear life.
Sparks flew from the controls and the ship rattled and buffeted back and forth. "What did I do?!" Sam yelped over the cacophony.
"I don't know! You must've brushed the ship's Rassilon Imprimtur!" the Doctor said. "It doesn't normally react to human contact, but for some reason the ship's going berserk!"
"Well make it stop!" shrieked Martha.
"I can't!"
The TARDIS continued to rocket through the Vortex. "Where's it taking us?" Sam called.
"We're accelerating-into the future!" said the Doctor, looking at the scanner. "It's like it's running from something, but I can't imagine what! The year 1,000,000…5,000,000,000…5,000,000,000,000! What?!" The Doctor squinted at the screen in disbelief. "The year one hundred trillion, that's impossible!"
"Why, what happens then?!" said Martha frantically.
The Doctor's mouth moved in meaningless shapes. "We're going to the end of the universe," he said.
"Is that possible?" said Sam worryingly. "Does the universe have an end?"
"We're about to find out-hang on!" the Doctor hollered.
The TARDIS finally, finally, landed with a last vibration and a groan. "Well," said the Doctor, putting his hands in his pockets, looking at the ceiling curiously. "We've landed."
Sam swallowed. "But where? And…at what?"
"I'm not sure," said the Doctor, casting his eyes to the door. "Not even the Time Lords came this far. The answer to all those questions is out there."
Martha and Sam looked at each other uneasily, then back at the Doctor.
"We should leave," said the Doctor. "We should go, we should really, really…go."
The three nodded in agreement. Then they grinned at each other.
"Race ya outside!" exclaimed Sam, scampering for the door.
"No fair, you got a head start!" the Doctor called after him, laughing.
"Wait for me!" added Martha, tailing after them. They grabbed their respective hoodies, coats, and jackets from the hatstand and rushed outside. Or at least tried to.
But before Sam's fingers could even touch the handle of the door, it swung open.
A well built man with jet black hair and piercing blue eyes in a long, military jacket was standing outside, gazing into the TARDIS like a blind man seeing for the first time.
"Oh my God," whispered Sam.
"I knew it," said the American, his handsome face bursting into a grin. "I knew I'd find you someday."
"Jack?"
The ex-Time Agent whooped loudly and grabbed Sam into a hug. "Sam Tyler," he growled, and he cupped the other man's face and pulled him into a sucker-y kiss. "Just as sexy as I remember," Jack teased, grinning wolfishly.
"Jack! What the hell are you doing here?!" laughed Sam as Martha and the Doctor came out of the TARDIS behind him.
"Well, after Satellite Five, I had a helluva time; I was trying to find you and the Doctor, with this," said Jack, holding up his wrist, where his Vortex Manipulator was strapped to him. "I must have travelled to at least a million different locations in time and space, tracking leads to where the two of you might be, but I must have always just missed you. Finally, my Vortex Manipulator just crapped out on me and stranded me here. This is Malcassario, luckily, the home of one of the last surviving colonies of friendly humanoids in the universe."
"Jack, I'm so sorry," said Sam. "I guess we always meant to come back for you but…we must have forgotten," he said, feeling ashamed.
"I'm not so sure," said Jack, his playfully grin dissipating as he looked over at the skinny man in brown, staying silent for once.
"I'm sorry, hold on," said Martha, looking from one to the other to the other. "Do you all know each other? Is there some sort of hot guy time traveler club that you're all a part of or something?"
"Where are my manners?" Jack's trademark 500-megawatt smile returned as if by magic as he strode over to Martha to kiss her hand. "Captain Jack Harkness. And who are you?"
The usually self-composed medical student laughed flusteredly, blushing. "Martha Jones," she stammered out.
"Pleased to meet you, Martha Jones."
"Oh, don't start!" groaned the Doctor, as Sam laughed in the background.
The Captain rolled his eyes. "I was only saying hello."
"I don't mind," gushed Martha.
"None of us do," said Sam, winking at Jack.
"Oho! Well, aren't we comfortable in our own sexuality!" Jack guffawed, leaning toward the man in the hoodie flirtatiously. "So Sammy boy, did you and the Doctor finally bump uglies?"
"I don't shag and tell, Captain Innuendo Squad," said Sam smugly.
"I'm not hearing a 'no'!" sang out Jack triumphantly. "Good for you, son. It's about time."
The Doctor cleared his throat. "Alright, Jack, enough about my bedroom exploits, if you don't mind."
Jack turned to the Time Lord solemnly. "Doctor."
The Doctor nodded. "Captain."
"Good to see you," said Jack.
"And you," replied the Doctor. "Same as ever. Although…have you had work done?" he asked jokingly.
Jack looked at the tenth regeneration of the Doctor in disbelief. "You can talk."
The Doctor looked confused for a moment, then his eyebrows shot up in realization. "Oh yes, the face! Regeneration. How did you know this was me?"
"Eh, the police box kinda gives it away," said Jack.
"Also, you told him," Sam piped up. "'My bedroom exploits'. Your words."
"Ah. Yes. That too."
"I've been following you for a long time," said Jack. "You abandoned me."
"What? No, never. Jack, you've got it all wrong," said Sam, stepping in. "The Doctor, well, I'm still not exactly sure what happened on Satellite Five, but the Doctor said that you…that you wanted to stay…a-and help…and that's not what happened, was it?" he said, turning to the Doctor. "Did you really? You really just left him?"
But the Doctor couldn't answer the question, for it was cut off by a loud roar in the distance.
"Uh oh, Futurekind, right on time," said Jack.
"What are Futurekind?" said the Doctor.
Suddenly, they all looked up the hill to see a mass of strange humanoids running toward them. They were oddly dressed and marked and were carrying torches and sharp weapons. In the glint of the firelight, their sharp white teeth could be seen. "Uh oh," said Sam.
"I'm guessing they're not our welcoming party," said Martha.
"Cannibals, they live out here in the wild, preying on the idiot humans who come wandering out into the open," Jack informed them. "Kind of like us, actually."
"Right, into the TARDIS, all of you-" But before the Doctor had even opened his mouth, the gang heard that familiar wheezing sound. "Ohnonononononono!" the Doctor babbled, grabbing desperately for his dematerializing ship.
"Are you serious?!" Sam barked at the space that the TARDIS had just occupied. "That stupid old cow!"
"She sensed danger and went to the nearest safe place!" said the Doctor.
"There's a silo nearby, fenced off so the Futurekind can't get in," Jack told them hurriedly. The hunting party was getting closer and closer.
"Can we run to there from here?!" Martha exclaimed.
"We can go one better than that! Captain, your wrist!" shouted the Doctor.
Jack held out his Vortex Manipulator. The Doctor whipped out his sonic and scanned it. "It's locked onto the TARDIS's coordinates! Everyone grab onto Jack!"
Jack laughed loudly and yelled as they flashed out, "Oh, I've missed this!"
