TITLE: Distantly in Love
AUTHORS: Gillian Taylor(Dark Aegis) & NNWest
DISCLAIMER: Don't own them. We just like playing with them...a lot.
Chapter Seven
"Nothing." Jack Harkness reviewed the medical scan results for a third time. "No trauma, no illness." He rubbed his forehead and raked his fingers through his still mussed hair.
Jack had arrived in the medical bay not very long after Rose had started the scan. His complete lack of flirtation during his reintroduction to the Doctor betrayed the extent of his worry.
"I feel fine, fantastic even," the Doctor was saying, "except-" He made a gesture indicating his head and by extension his missing memory. He sat on the examination table, Rose close by his side.
Jack paced restlessly. "It's got to be environmental - chemical, maybe. Something you came in contact with. What's the last thing you remember?"
"My first clear memory is waking up with Rose." At that statement, Jack raised an eyebrow and sent a questioning look at Rose, evil-minded smirk playing at the corners of his mouth.
Her glare in response told him, 'Nothing happened.'
'Pity,' answered his disappointed expression.
If the Doctor noticed their silent exchange, he didn't show it. He simply continued, "Before that, things are too indistinct to tell. I have a vague impression of drinks, a colourful bar..."
"Around here, that could be anyplace," Jack commented dryly before turning to Rose. "What do you know?"
"Well, I got back to the TARDIS after you ditched me to go to the leather bar with Brad-" It was the Doctor's turn to raise an eyebrow at the mention of Jack's taste in entertainment.
"Brian," Jack corrected, shrugging off the Doctor's look. To Rose, he said "Sorry I ran off on you."
"'S okay," she forgave him. "He was in his room when I got here. Things didn't seem quite right, so I stayed with him."
Jack pounced on her statement. "How do you mean not 'quite right'?"
"He looked confused, like he didn't know where he was or who I was. I asked if he was alright. He nodded, but he never said a word."
"Not much to go on. No idea where he was before that?"
"None."
Jack sighed. "Well, we're going to have to find out. Without anything else to go on, that means we're going to have to hit the streets and start asking around. Tedious, but maybe someone saw him last night."
The Doctor hopped down from the exam table and rubbed his hands together. "Well, no time like the present!" He turned to help Rose, still clad in her pyjamas, to the floor. "No more lounging about. Time to get dressed."
Since it was on the way to her room, Rose walked hand in hand with the Doctor back to his. Outside his door, they paused and the Doctor leaned against the doorframe to regard her. Her features were shrouded in distress and there was a faraway look in her eyes.
"Rose, I'm sure it's going to be all right. We'll figure this out." He lifted a hand to push an errant lock of blonde hair back from her face. She smiled, but she still looked unconvinced. Suddenly the desire to reassure her sparked within him and the Doctor did the first thing that came to mind. He brushed his lips against hers in a soft kiss.
Rose stiffened at the unexpected touch. How long had she dreamed of kissing the Doctor and it was finally happening. Before she had recovered from her momentary shock enough to respond, he pulled back, confusion in his eyes.
"We don't do this?"
She shook her head mutely.
The Doctor's brow creased in frustration as he looked away, thinking the situation through. "It felt so right. I was sure we do this." Now needing to reassure him, Rose reached out to take his hand once more. He looked back to her. "Is there some reason we don't?"
She shrugged, trying to quash the nervousness she could feel growing inside her. "Can't think of one. Just never have before."
He brightened a bit. "It did feel right? Not just my imagination?"
"Oh yes." Rose was a bit surprised by how breathless her voice had become.
"Good." He grinned and leaned in to kiss her again, tentatively at first, but with growing confidence as she responded in kind. The contact was brief, sweet and loving and when the kiss finally broke, they gazed at each other for a long moment.
Finally breaking the silence, in hushed voice Rose spoke, "I'm gonna go and change. See you in bit." With a last smile and a squeeze of his hand, she turned away down the corridor towards her room.
Chapter Eight
Nearly twenty minutes later, Jack was headed toward console room. He'd showered and changed, and was ready to take Cancun to pieces with his bare hands if that's what it took to find out what happened to the Doctor.
Striding into the console room, he found the Doctor mooching around the control console and Jack paused to watch him for a moment. From the second Jack had dashed into the medical bay that morning, he'd been amazed at the change in the Time Lord. Completely gone was the air aloneness and grief that Jack had never known him to be without. Emotions still slid mercurially across his features - confusion, triumph, anger, beautiful joy - but the once constant backdrop of sadness was absent. He was haunted no longer.
In addition to the dark jeans he'd been wearing earlier, the Doctor had donned his customary Doc Martins and a t-shirt in a surprisingly bright shade of blue. 'Suits him', he thought, though the Doctor's most notable accessory was conspicuously absent and Jack had to comment, "What, no leather jacket?"
The Doctor looked up. "It's 30 degrees out there. Why would I need a coat?" he asked and grinned conspiratorially. "Are you really that hung up on leather?"
"Only on some people," Jack answered with a little wry smile and winked. He nodded to the console. "What are you doing up there?"
"Trying to determine the extent of my memory loss. My functional memory still seems to be intact. I'm sure I can fly this ship." He went back to poking gingerly at the controls.
"TARDIS."
"What's that?"
"She's called the TARDIS."
"TARDIS," the Doctor said experimentally, tasting the word. He nodded, satisfied. "I just stepped up here and instinctively knew what all of these do." His expression darkened as he pointed to the console. "Except that one."
Jack came to stand close to him, draped a friendly arm over his shoulders, and peered at the offending control. "Don't know either. You never told me what that one does. Could be you never knew?" he offered.
"Maybe, can't remember," the Doctor joked, mischief gleaming in his eyes.
Jack slid away and turned to lean against the console. "Know how you feel, but I must say I took it a whole lot worse that you seem to be." The Doctor gave him a quizzical look. "Oh right, gotta tell you again. I used to work for the Time Agency. I quit - causing a rather spectacular scene I have to admit - when I found a gaping two year hole in my memory."
The Doctor sobered. "And you've never recovered them?"
Jack shook his head solemnly and studied the deck plating. "I tried for a while to find a way to get them back, searching out what specialists I could. But those memories are either completely gone or they're locked up tight."
He looked up at the Doctor and was disheartened to see some of the sadness had returned to the Doctor's eyes. He moved close again and reached up to cup the Time Lord's cheek. "Listen Doc, that was a long time ago and I'm coping," he said comfortingly before pressing a quick kiss against the Doctor's mouth. Jack let his had slide to his shoulder and gave it a small squeeze. "Okay?"
A moment of confusion passed over the Doctor's face, wiping away the sorrow. "You and I?"
"Nope," Jack replied, a shade of regret in his tone. "Rose had your heart first and I wasn't going to mess that up."
The Doctor thought for a while before speaking. It was so natural, so easy to reach out to this man, just as it had been to kiss Rose. He considered the way Rose had clung to Jack the moment he appeared in the med bay and the tender way he had comforted her as she briefed him on the situation. They drew strength from each other, loved each other. And, for no reason he could rationally explain without his memory intact, the Doctor loved them. So he answered, "Seems to me I've got two." He held up a hand to forestall response on Jack's lips. "I can see you care for her. She cares for you," he said. "Doesn't seem to be anything excluding you."
"You have no idea how long I've longed to hear you say just that. And much as it pains me to have to say this, we can't jump into anything with your memory like this."
"I'm still me. Just can't remember what I did last week."
"Might be better that way," Jack mused. "You've survived some pretty hellish stuff."
"And you're telling me you wouldn't want those two years back even if they aren't pleasant?"
"No, you're right. Just being selfish. I like you this way."
"Anyway, when I could remember, I seem to have missed what was staring me in the face."
With that statement, Jack could sense a whole new gravity had been added to the conversation. Suddenly the Doctor was open to him in a way he never thought he'd see. Jack struggled to think of something flippant to say, anything to turn aside everything he wanted to say. This is what he'd wished for, his greatest desire. Why, then, was he trying to escape it?
He knew he loved the Doctor, loved Rose with the same ferocity. He had wanted them from the moment he'd met them and that lust had changed to love far too quickly. While Jack was overjoyed to know the other man loved him as well, the timing was wrong. He couldn't help the feeling that though the emotions existed, they would be buried again once the Doctor regained his memory. If they let genie out of the bottle, who could say it wouldn't prove to be a curse later - a cause of pain?
More so, he didn't know what Rose would say to the idea. If, with her twenty-first century grounding, she could love two men. It was clear to anyone with eyes how much she loved the Doctor, but Jack wondered if she had any love for him beyond that of a friend, a sibling. More than once he'd teasingly brought up a threesome, she'd rebuffed the notion, seemingly repulsed. So he had never mentioned the depth of his affection for her, holding back because he felt that Rose and the Doctor were perfect for each other.
A moment later the diversion he'd been searching for appeared in the form of Rose and he was rescued from his thoughts. She'd changed into a sleeveless tee and shorts, a lightweight hoodie tied around her waist.
"Great, we can get to work," Jack said as Rose came to stand near them. "Which direction do you want, east or west?"
Rose considered a moment before randomly choosing west.
"Where am I headed?" the Doctor asked.
The ex-Time Agent regarded him seriously. "Doctor, I think you should let me and Rose do the poking around, just in case someone did this to you and is looking to get in a second shot."
Not to be deterred so easily, he responded, "I really should come with you. What happens if you get in trouble?"
"Not to worry, Doctor. I can look after myself."
"And Rose?"
"Well, she is jeopardy-friendly."
"Hey, I am not," Rose cried. "'Sides," she said and dug in her pocket, pulling out a copy of the device the Doctor had instinctively shoved into his pocket earlier, "I've got your spare sonic screwdriver. If I wind up in a jam, I'll just zap myself out of it," she said with a little flick of the tool. "And we've all got our mobiles. One call and you can come running to the rescue."
Feeling faintly like an invalid, but seeing in Jack's eyes that he would not be allowed to argue his way around their logic, the Doctor conceded to stay with the TARDIS.
Jack clapped him on the shoulder. "Take some time to relax, maybe something will come back to you. We'll try not to take too long," he promised.
"Alright, but be careful," he called as Jack and Rose stepped out onto the beach.
Chapter Nine
Rose was assaulted by vendors as soon as she stepped foot into the busy marketplace. Children ran underfoot, either attempting to sell her various trinkets or brushing against her in an attempt to lift her wallet. Rose, having learned by now the perils of marketplaces in third world countries (or planets), kept her wallet in her hoodie's inside pocket much to the thieves' disappointment.
"¡Oyé, señorita! Come, come in. Nice things for you," one particularly determined man tried to wave her into his store.
A woman boldly stepped out of her store to try and grab her arm to steer her inside. "¡No! Señorita, come here. My shop is muy better than his. I have pretty clothes, sí?"
"No thank you," Rose told her firmly. "But, I do have a question."
"Sí, sí. Ask, por favor. Is nice to help, no? Then you come buy, sí?" The woman was determined; Rose had to give her that. However, she also suspected that the woman would not give her any answers until she bought anything.
"Thank you," she said and allowed the woman to lead her inside her store.
"Que es your question?"
"I'm trying to find out if you saw my friend last night. He's tall, dark hair, blue eyes, wearing a black leather jacket?"
"Oh, sí. I saw this man. He would not buy anything," she said sadly before continuing, "He moved quickly through the market, not stopping to look. I saw him brush off many offers to see las tiendas. He walked towards las casas al lado del Parque Aviario."
Rose smiled, and quickly selected a small trinket from the woman's selection and handed it to her. "How much?"
"¿Para tí? Oh...diez pesos." She shared a toothless grin with Rose and held out her hand.
Though it was too close to highway robbery for the item in her opinion, Rose was in too much of a hurry to argue. Pressing a ten peso bill into the woman's hand, Rose slid the item into her hoodie's pocket. "Thank you."
"De nada, señorita. Buenas tardes."
"Buenas tardes." Rose repeated, even though she knew her accent was horrible. Swiftly escaping the store, Rose headed towards the Parque Aviario. According to her map, the Parque was relatively close to the market and surrounded by some of the nicer homes in the area. She had no idea why the Doctor would have chosen to visit those homes, but she decided the least she could do was knock on the doors and ask.
When she reached the street adjacent to the Parque, Rose was dismayed to discover that though the properties were large for the area, there were many of them. Resigning herself to several hours worth of searching, she stepped up to the first door and knocked.
"¿Sí?" a harried sounding voice spoke through the door. "¿Que quieres?"
"Do you speak English? Um, hablas inglés?" she asked hesitantly. Though the TARDIS would translate alien languages, the Doctor tended to turn off the automatic translator when they were on Earth - 'Got to practice, you know,' he'd grin. There were times, such as now, that she wished he had not decided upon doing that.
"Un pocito. A little. Lost?"
"No, no. I'm trying to find out if you saw my friend last night."
"Friend...¿quien es?"
"Tall bloke, dark haired, blue eyes, black leather jacket?" Rose asked hopefully.
"I sorry. No me entiendo."
"Oh, nevermind then. Thank you."
She could hear the other person leave the door, and Rose sighed. She suspected it was going to be a long couple of hours.
Several fruitless hours of searching later, the sun blazed overhead, and Rose wiped the sweat from her brow as she leaned against a wall. Pulling her mobile from her pocket, she dialed Jack's familiar number. "Jack?"
"Who else would it be?" he asked, and she could hear the amusement in his voice.
"I dunno. Maybe the Doctor decided to pick up your phone by mistake. Anyway, I haven't found anything. I'm gonna check out one last house and then head back to the TARDIS. I'll call ya back if I get into trouble. If not, I'll see you back home."
"Okay. Where are you?"
"By the Parque Aviario. I talked to someone at the market that said they saw the Doctor head this way."
"Sounds good. I'll see you back home, if not before then."
"'Kay. Bye." Rose punched the 'end call' button and slid the mobile back into her pocket. Sighing briefly, she headed towards the multi-story adobe home, unknowingly echoing the Doctor's footsteps the night before.
Private Sandra MacPherson drummed her fingers on the battered wood of the table. After all the excitement with the intruder last night, today's sentry duty was boring. She glanced at the clock, finding that she was only about half-way through her shift manning the complex's 'front' door.
It was her job to fend off anyone who might come to the door of the ordinary looking house that sat atop the Time Agency's outpost. She didn't care for it, but Sandra understood why she always got picked for this post. Though her family was far removed from Mexico in the twenty-first century, her ancestry had given her the dark hair and eyes needed to pass as a 'local'.
She had just decided she would call in her back-up and take a short break when a knock at the door came.
Sandra opened the door and regarded the blonde girl about five years her younger that stood before her. "¿Sí?" she asked.
The blonde pushed the hair out of her face and smiled. "¿Hablas inglés?"
"Claro que sí. Yes, I speak English," Sandra replied.
Rose felt slightly faint from relief. "I hope you can help me. I'm trying to find out if you saw my friend last night," she said.
Sandra nodded. In cases like this, it always worked better to pretend to helpful before sending them away. "I will help if I can."
"Great. This would have been yesterday afternoon or evening. He's tall, dark hair, blue eyes, probably wearing a black leather jacket, goes by 'the Doctor'. Ring any bells?"
Sandra fought to keep her emotions in check. She had seen this girl's 'friend'. He was the intruder that had broken into the base the previous night. She was sure her superiors would want to know about this and possibly question the girl. "I think I may have seen him. Would you come in?" She swung the door wide in a gesture of invitation.
Rose smiled widely, happy to finally find a lead, and entered the house. Sandra directed Rose to a living area just off the entryway and turned to close and bar the door. While Rose was momentarily distracted taking in the decor, the Time Agent signaled for reinforcements.
She turned to ask a question of her hostess, but before Rose could begin speaking something hit the side of her head. The room spun crazily about her and she fell to the floor in apparent slow motion. Her last thought before her mind guttered and winked out was, 'So this is where the Doctor was yesterday.'