Jack's Agenda Part Six
Notes: Well, they're all in a very tricky position…I must say this story has taken on a whacked out life of it's own…I have no idea where this is going anymore…I just have a possible ending…it's all going pear shaped!
Uh.yeah: Yes, it's all very bad…but well done you! You've managed to win the Master of Observation Award (Chubby chub chub chub). I salute you, shake you warmly by the hand and say to you "Chubbychubchubchubchubchubchub!"
Tai: Yes, it's very addictive…but you can't say it for too long without spitting, which is a shame. Also the word 'chub' becomes meaningless, which is a crying shame!…I mean it about your reviews though, they're incredible! I love getting reviews from you! Teenage girls have strange priorities. And Jack may not get a chance to cause mayhem if Rose's plan works…I'm kinda cheating a bit cos I couldn't think of any other way for them to save him without the Doctor, so you'll have seen it before…but with two of them, it will have a different outcome! Lol, I really wanted to include the word 'socks' in some dialogue, I don't know why. This time I want to include the word 'Cambridge'. I'm not sure why. My mind is a little weird.
Morph: Cossie gave you spoilers? A spanking be upon her! Another winner of the Chubby Chub Chub Chub Award! Well done morph, you smart ass you! And thanks for reviewing…I knew you would! ;)
Spaci: Good good, tell me what you like and I'll write more of the same. Thanks for the support.
Cossie: I hope you can forgive me for not sending this to you to beta…but time is money my friend! Basically, I'm impatient and there should be a spanking upon me. Aww, three huzzahs for me? Thankee sankee. Lol, it looks like 'huzzah' is the word of now, am I right?
Dingbatt: Yeah, I thought it would be funny…NOPE! You got it wrong! No award for you!
YamiKITG: Hi there you! Haven't seen you around recently…how are things? Anyway, thank you for reviewing and I hope you like this update.
Sands of Patience: Why thank you! I am 'cool'? Wow, that's a first. Yup! You got it right too! You win the Chubby Chub Chub Chub Award!
Regarding the Chubby Award: don't feel discouraged if you didn't win it! I'm superbly talented at hiding quotes (I'm not boasting, even Roy didn't spot the quote and she's the authority on Rocky Horror, being a transvestite) and there will be more chances…you just have to keep reading my fics, keep enjoying them, and be on the look out for those well hidden quotes! To all those who did win it: well done! Stick it on your profile for all to see!
And now, sit back and relax as you receive the next chapter of everyone's favourite fic…Jack's Agenda…
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"The what of the TARDIS?" asked Stella again as she watched Rose trying to prise a panel off the control panel.
"Heart, and can you give me a hand please?"
"I don't understand how its heart can help us rescue Jack," she stated, trying to find a seam in the panel.
"You wouldn't. A while back me and the others…it's a long story. But it's really powerful," said Rose.
"Which is why we should be playing with it?" Stella raised her eyebrows. "This doesn't sound like a very good plan. This sounds like a 'let's get ourselves killed' plan. Like running with scissors or playing with knives."
"The TARDIS wouldn't hurt us," said Rose dismissively. "And running with scissors is a lot less dangerous than skating with the Gaals."
"How can you be so sure?" Stella fired back. "I'm usually one for crazy ideas, hence the skating, but we won't be much help to anyone if we're dead." She gave another tug at the panel, breaking several finger nails. "And there's no way we're going to get it open this way. How did it open before?"
"I dunno…a rift in time or something…"
"Don't think we'll find one of those in the tool box." Which gave her an idea. "Wait here. I'll be back in a sec." She scampered away, leaving Rose still trying to find some way of opening the panel.
Stella knocked on his door anxiously. "Doctor?" No reply. She hadn't really expected one. She pushed it open.
The Doctor was lying quite still apart from his strained breathing. He stared at the ceiling, his eyes glazed over.
"Doctor?" He didn't even twitch. Stella approached the bed nervously and waved a hand in front of his face. His eyes didn't even flicker; his pupils unresponsive. It was decidedly eerie. If it wasn't for the sound of his laboured breathing, Stella would have said at a glance that he was dead.
Stella bit her lip. This was awkward. But the Doctor seemed pretty out of it…
There was no way she'd get his coat off, although he'd probably benefit from being cooler. She felt embarrassed doing so, but she searched through his pockets, in and out, until she found her prize. Rose had told her once before that it could do all sorts of things. She'd bet her life savings that one of those was unscrewing panels of the TARDIS. Otherwise, why would he have called it the sonic screwdriver?
Suddenly the Doctor coughed and spluttered weakly, making Stella jump like a thief caught red handed.
"Doctor? Can you hear me? How do you feel?" she said quickly, trying to somehow use his pillows to prop him up as he seemed unable to move. He mumbled something unintelligible. She strained to hear him. "Speak a little louder Doctor, I can't…"
"Water…" he said slowly in a grating voice. Stella hurried to the bathroom and filled a tooth mug for him.
"Can you…" Stella realised he probably couldn't manage the cup on his own. This was so awkward for her. She looked up to the Doctor. He protected her, Rose and Jack. Now he was less use than a child.
"Do you want help?" He nodded and she brought the cup to his lips, tipping it only slightly so he wouldn't choke. She watched over him as he took a few sips, spilling a lot down his jumper, but definitely swallowing some. Stella was forcibly reminded of helping her little brothers drink when they were too young to manage. She had three. Nick, who was older, and the younger twins, Martin and Steve (my little joke).
"Thank you," said the Doctor, who looked painfully weak. His eyelids were dropping again.
"You need to rest," said Stella. "Me and Rose are taking care of everything."
"Rose…" he murmured as his head drooped. "Is she…?"
"She's safe," said Stella immediately. "She'll check on you later, I promise." But the Doctor had already fallen back into an uneasy sleep.
Stella walked back to the control room, where Rose was leant against the console.
"Here," said Stella, passing the sonic screwdriver to Rose. "Do you know how to use it?"
"How did you think of this?" she asked, smiling.
"I might not have got into Cambridge, but I'm pretty intelligent when I put my mind to it. The innocent teenager thing is just a ploy."
"The Doctor," said Rose suddenly. "Is he…?"
"He's sleeping," said Stella, smiling as she heard the Doctor's words echoed.
"Good. I don't know exactly how to use this, but we'll work something out," said Rose, squinting at the appliance. "I think this is the setting he uses for locks." She adjusted a dial and pressed a tiny button. The screwdriver leapt into life. Rose passed it over the seams then tried removing the panel. No luck. "OK, we'll try something else. This is the setting for reattaching barbed wire…maybe if we…" But there was a sudden hiss and a swirl of steam as the panel slipped open, revealing a light so bright the girls could focus on nothing else. It flooded the room, bathing it in a glow that was half enchanting, half terrifying.
"What…?" began Stella in a strangled voice. She wouldn't remember completing the sentence. All she remembered was, at the last moment, grabbing Rose's hand.
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Beautiful things can be painful…
Jack jerked awake, his heart pounding. He couldn't remember what he'd been dreaming about, but that phrase…it rang in his head like a death toll.
He stretched out his back, wincing as it clicked. His neck was sore. Not surprising, since he'd just had a kip propped up against concrete.
He tried to remember his dream. It was more likely to be a nightmare under the circumstances, but it had seemed important.
He thought about the sentence, saying it aloud.
"Beautiful things…"
Suddenly a grating, churning noise began. Jack's heart leapt. He'd know those engines anywhere. He'd been thinking about it since they'd locked him up and he'd remember it as an old man. The Doctor was coming for him.
He was a little surprised when an enormous steel storage cupboard materialised in his cell. He was even more surprised when Rose and Stella, hand in hand, stepped out of it. Their eyes were golden, and they were surrounded by light. They looked like angels, his guardian angels.
He recognised that light.
"Girls, what have you done?" he asked nervously as his guards sprang into life. "Get down!" He ducked, expecting them to do the same as the guards fired on them. They were completely unconcerned and the bullets didn't touch them. Instead, they went speeding back to the people who had fired them, embedding themselves in the guards' flesh.
"Oh my God," breathed Jack.
"Get in," said Rose and Stella as one, their voices robotic.
"You've been…you looked at that light!" Jack realised. "You looked into the heart of the TARDIS!"
"And the TARDIS looked into—"
Jack interrupted them, "What have you done? That light…whatever it was, it turned Margaret into an egg! What were you thinking? Is the Doctor there?"
"Yes," they chanted. "Repaired now." And he was.
"You're not making sense," said Jack warily. He heard the not-so-comforting sound of more guards rushing to the scene.
Rose's face suddenly scrunched up with pain and Stella's mirrored it.
"My head!" said the girls, identical tears running down their faces.
"You two…you're acting like twins!" said Jack. "You're acting like…"
"…it's killing me…" they cried.
"Like one person!" whispered Jack. He didn't understand what made him do it, but he knew he had to get them apart, intervene somehow. Call it instinct. He grabbed their hands and used his body to separate them. Instantly power coursed through him like nothing he'd ever felt before. For one moment he understood everything.
But the pain…the pain that came with the knowledge reminded him of his goal. A goal that was suddenly beautifully but painfully clear.
Using every atom of his strength, he helped the girls to push the vortex back.
They heard shouting behind them as the light slowly began to seep back into the TARDIS.
Shots rang out as the panel sealed up again.
Then they fell into the ship and the door slammed shut.
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The mists around him were suddenly swept away, giving way to glaring reality.
The Doctor sat up slowly, draining the rest of the water in the tooth mug Stella had filled. Liquid life. Refreshing him.
He swung his legs over the side of the bed, pushing himself to a standing position. He took a few uneasy steps, a toddler trying to wobble his way forwards. After this humiliating stage of progress had been completed, he felt sure enough on his feet to stumble to the control room. It was eerily quiet. Where was Rose? Where was Stella?
Using the console as a support, he shuffled around it to see one of the most disturbing things of his life. Disturbing because to begin with he misinterpreted it so wildly.
Jack was lying on the floor, with both Rose and Stella sprawled on top of him. The Doctor tried to clear his mind of some very strange visuals and made his way towards them, glad to drop to the floor as he checked they were breathing. They all were.
Something miraculous had happened.
And miracles are something no one understands.
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That's your lot for now…I'll try and update again tomorrow…but as you can tell, it's drawing to a close! Shame really. I love Stella to pieces though…can't promise anything but if I think of something amazing, she will return!