Chapter CXIII
Mira
The TARDIS had landed somewhere in Scotland – at least it definitely looked like the Scottish highlands. They were sitting on the edge of a small pier on some Loch, their feet dangling down, the sun about to set and the trees rustling in a fresh breeze. And in the noise of an occasionally passing jet – they must be near an air force base. The Doctor had vanished in the entrails of the TARDIS, mumbling something about maintenance and that he would join them later.
"Vintage fighter jets?" Jack asked, grabbing the bottle of vodka from her hand.
"Yes. Vintage. I mean, in the late 24th century jets from the mid to late 20th century certainly were vintage. It was a vintage flying club slash aerobatics team from the fleet's flight training school back then. Decent twin engine jets without all that modern stuff. Well, they took a more modern take on the ejection seat. They even had thrust vectoring. You could do beautiful, controlled flat spins with them. And all sorts of other things seemingly defying aerodynamics. We had gliders as well, and- What?" she turned her head only to see a wide grin on Jack's face.
"I just have difficulties imagining you flying a fighter jet," he chuckled and took another sip of vodka.
"Why?" She tried to pull an indignant look. But she knew she wasn't really looking the part. Rather dreamy and absent at times, not really like one would imagine a fighter pilot to look like, whether vintage or modern jets. "I was in really good shape back then. You should have seen my abs. I mean, I couldn't pull quite as many g for quite as long as some of the others as we didn't have any inertia dampeners in them, but I had a good feeling for the jet and for flying as such. I still am a really good pilot – maybe a bit out of practice though. Guess it runs in the family." She shrugged. "My father started off his career as a test pilot. He actually encouraged me to continue beyond basic flight training and then I ended up with that team. I mean, I liked flying, but I never really thought I would be good enough to qualify for such a thing."
Now it was her turn with the bottle. She could still remember the day she had first flown in one of those jets with her father, even though it was literally ages ago – definitely before she had turned thirty. There were so many small things she had forgotten over the ages, but she could still remember that particular flight at the annual school's air show on a hot summer evening. It had totally been on a whim, Perry had been there to visit her after holding a speech, the jet was free, just sitting on the apron and waiting to take off because another pilot had taken ill that day. Not getting that jet up in the air on such a lovely evening in front of a big crowd would have been an utter waste. She hadn't quite felt up to flying again herself after already having flown twice that day, but just sitting in the back being passenger wouldn't be that hard, right? Oh, had she been wrong. But, even though she had clearly underestimated how much work just being a passenger was, it had been great. It was common knowledge that Perry was an excellent pilot, but no amount of common knowledge would ever get close to first hand experience.
And, weirdly enough, it had brought them closer to each other. They had been on quite good terms already then, but she still hadn't quite gotten past that aura of distance and of being bigger than life about him, making it hard for her to approach and bother him with her rather normal and, comparatively to his work, unimportant matters. Being with him in that jet and feeling his enthusiasm for flying, the same enthusiasm she felt every time and sharing it with him, had shown her a much more human and approachable side of him. They had never before done something together like that just for the fun of it.
And it had been fun. Her vision had blacked out once or twice (He claimed she had even actually passed out for a few seconds, but that was still a matter of debate) and she had squealed like a teenager on a rollercoaster (Which, rather embarrassingly, was a matter of fact) as he had dived nose straight down for a fast and, in her opinion, way too low pass.
That memory had stayed with her ever since. Maybe because just a few years after that they had found the transmitter in the centre of the galaxy, eventually stranded in Andromeda - and then everything had gone to hell. Thinking back to that moment had always been an anchor for her, a reminder of good times. Of normal times.
"Damn, I miss it." She sighed.
"The flying or your abs?" he asked with a cheeky grin.
"The flying!" she nudged him with her elbow. "I'd probably have to start training again though. For space fighters you don't really need to be able to deal with that much g-forces. They do have inertia dampeners which only let a certain amount through, which helps with motion sickness – it's really weird when you're flying like hell and it's constant 1g as if standing still. I had them always set to 4g as maximum. And if they'll ever fail we're talking pilot-crushing levels of acceleration. Abs won't save your arse then. But yeah, I wouldn't mind getting my hands on a jet again. Or a glider. They're a lot of fun too."
They watched another formation of jets passing by, making any conversation impossible for the moment.
"You're sure you want to leave?" she asked eventually.
"I have to eventually. Besides, you don't need me. You work well together, just the two of you."
"That's not true," she protested and tried to hold on to the bottle as Jack was pulling at it. "You should really go easy on the booze."
"It's true, and no." He wound the bottle from her hands. "You should rather heed your own advice."
"I'm not getting drunk from that, neither will I get liver failure," she nodded to the half empty bottle. "But you will. It might not kill you for good, but dying of liver failure doesn't sound fun, even when coming back to life." She lighted a cigarette and continued, "You should stay. We can bring you back to Torchwood at any point in time." There was a moment of silence when she was thinking about what to say next. Or, rather, how. "Look, I know you felt a bit... left out. I'm sorry for that, and I tried, maybe not hard enough, but-"
"It's okay," he interrupted her. "Being with him, travelling with him is great. With both of you. But I'll never have him, not in the way you do, and it's okay. You have each other, and I also have something to take care of. Besides, it was great fun teaching those aliens a lesson when you were out, and you know how the saying goes? You should always leave on a high note."
"Glad at least you two had fun," she grinned and took a drag from her cigarette.
"Yeah, sorry, I mean, 'fun', and I'd rather your life hadn't been in danger, and-"
"It's okay, I get it. No hard feelings."
"No, seriously. How are you? It was quite a lot you went through."
"I'm fine," she said. "It was quite a... humbling experience, but I'll be fine."
"I'm just glad you saw reason in the end. I was afraid I'd have to knock you out the old fashioned way."
"I wouldn't call it reason", she laughed. "I don't know. I just... believed him. Sort of. I mean, at least I knew he wouldn't do anything to harm me. That, even if he was lying, his intentions were good. He's right, I've been in his head, and- Let's face it, he can be a liar and manipulative, and he wouldn't have much of a problem lying to my face if it serves his purpose, and I wouldn't even know, not in a psychic sense, unless he wanted me to see it. But at the same time he's one of the most honest and loyal people I have ever met. Honest by his very own definition. Sometimes I still don't entirely know where to stand with him, but I think I trust him. And I trusted my own judgement of him. If that's what trusting in someone means."
"Sounds like a pretty accurate definition," he said after a moment of silence.
"Actually, someone we had met a while ago had to remind me of it."
"Who was that?"
She smiled and shook her head. "A friend. You'll find out eventually."
A little later the Doctor stuck his head out of the TARDIS. "Anyone wanted to go to Cardiff?"
Now that old chapter annoying me for two years is finally closed.
Thanks for all your nice reviews so far, I really appreciate people still coming back to my story after all that time. :-)
