TITLE: Distantly in Love
AUTHORS: Gillian Taylor(Dark Aegis) & NNWest
DISCLAIMER: Don't own them. We just like playing with them...a lot.
Chapter Thirty-four
Needing a few moments to catch his breath, Jack pulled Rose away from the press of the dance. On the way past, he gratefully accepted an earthenware mug from a smiling tribeswoman before finding a quiet spot some distance from the fire and festivities. He sank to the ground against a tree stump. She settled next to him, her warmth moulding into his side.
He took a long drink from the cup and offered it to Rose. "Careful with this. It's pretty rough. Actually reminds me an awful lot of Prohibition Era rotgut."
She took a small sip and grimaced, coughing a little as she handed it back to him. She was still breathless from the dance and the brew didn't help matters. "Told ya," he said, a laugh colouring his voice.
For a few moments, they watched the Sevateem around the fire. A comfortable silence stretched between them. When she felt rested once more, Rose spoke, "Dance again?"
"Nah, I'm happy here. Unless you want to?" he replied, eyes still on the dancers.
"Nope, here is good." She snuggled a little closer, sighing contentedly.
"Always preferred the tango, myself."
She sat up a bit, looking at him. "You know how to tango?" There was a note of excitement in her voice and Jack was struck by how something so simple could so entrance Rose. Her enthusiasm was infectious. "Would you teach me sometime?"
"I'd be honoured." He smiled at her. "Gives me a chance to get my hands on that body of yours," he said with a wink.
Jack offered the cup to her again. She took drink and made another face at the taste of the alcohol. He grinned at her reaction before finishing the contents. Setting the container aside, he turned back to find her studying him intently. Her expression was unreadable in the dim firelight.
"What?" he asked.
A small smile played on her lips. "This." Closing the distance between them, she leaned into him heavily and kissed him. There was no tentativeness in it, only a sure outpouring of the love she felt for him. Jack responded in kind, deepening the kiss and encircling her with his arms.
When the kiss broke, Jack looked away a bit embarrassed.
"What is it?" Rose asked with concern. She knew what he had said before about loving her, but she worried that she may have made a mistake with her actions.
He looked back. His warm smile was somewhat sheepish. "It's just a little strange. Holding you like this. Being able to touch you."
"If I remember, you held me this close the very first time we met." Rose remembered their dance atop an invisible spaceship in the middle of an air raid. He'd had no qualms at all then or anytime since. "You've never been shy about being close to me. To anyone really," she teased. "What's different this time?"
His hand on her back toyed with the ends of her hair while he searched for an answer. "I know I love you. I know you love me. I suppose that's why. And believe me, it's a world of difference."
For all his experience in the realm of physical 'love', he had almost none when it came to falling in love. He's forging a path through foreign territory, Rose realised. "And is it a good difference?" She smiled, already knowing the answer.
He gave her a brilliant grin. "It's fantastic," Jack mimicked the Doctor's customary reply.
Her smile fell a little, as did his grin as they were reminded of their reluctant third. "What are we going to do about the Doctor?" she asked softly.
"I don't know. The only thing we can do is to leave the door open and wait. Hope he finds his way." His embrace tightened around her as she leaned more heavily into him seeking his comfort. He didn't need to see the beginnings of her tears shining in the firelight, he felt his own pricking at him.
A minute later, Jack started when someone unseen laid a hand on his shoulder. The small jolt telegraphed through Rose and they both looked quickly up to find the Doctor smiling fondly down at them. Suppressing a slightly guilty urge to pull away from each other, they searched the Time Lord for a hint of his feelings at finding them in each other's arms.
"I think it's just about time to go," he stated. "Go make your farewells, Jack." He nodded across the fire to where the anthropologist was seated, catching up with small a group of Sevateem women and not so secretly studying her brother and Rose.
Jack nodded, releasing Rose. He stood and tousled her blonde hair before going to talk to his sister.
At her brother's approach, Emily smiled and excused herself from the Sevateem she'd been talking to. Taking the hand her brother offered, she let him pull her up from her place by the fire.
"Hey, Em, looks like we're ready to ship out."
"Figured it wouldn't be long before you three got restless. I'm sure this little place doesn't hold a candle to your usual ports of call." She wrapped him in a hug.
"I don't know. This place saw more action than it should have. I'm sure everyone here will be happy to get back to uneventful." He grinned down at her. "What are your plans? Staying here?"
"For a while. Help clean things up. Finish my original research, if possible. Then, I don't know. Back to the university maybe, publish again, carefully avoid any powerful temporal artifacts." Her grin matched his.
"In that vein, it's probably best not to mention the Doctor or Andred, or their planet if you want to stay clear of the Agency."
"Your lover's secrets are safe with me," Emily vowed.
He went still for a moment. "If only he were." Jack cast a glance in the Doctor's direction.
"Hey, he'll come around," she assured him, placing a warm hand on his arm. "I've seen the way he looks at you two. There's nothing more important to him than you and Rose. Leela's familiar with him and his people. She says he just needs to get over his cultural hang-ups and I do believe that she put in a word on your behalf. Either that or a good swift kick in the shin. It's hard to be sure which. She's quite the pistol when she gets riled."
"I really can't imagine why you two get along," Jack jibed, eliciting another grin from his twin. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his mobile phone. "I want you to take this."
She gave the lump of plastic a dubious look as she took it from his hand. "What is it?"
"It's a comm," he explained, flipping open the device, "disguised not to be out of place back in the twenty-first century. It can reach our ship wherever or whenever we are." He showed her how to navigate the phone's menus and find the TARDIS' entry. When he'd finished, he said, "Promise you'll call."
She laughed. "Of course I'll call. I know how notoriously bad you are at keeping in touch."
"Bye, Emmy." He pulled her into another embrace and kissed her forehead.
"Take care, Johnny."
As they watched Jack make his way across the clearing to say goodbye to Emily, Rose reached up and took the Doctor's hand, giving it a squeeze. "And where've you been?"
"Thinking."
"Brooding?" she asked reprovingly.
He gave her a small tight-lipped smile, but did not answer the question. She really did know him too well. "I need to say goodbye to Leela and Andred." He was mildly surprised when she did not relinquish his hand and instead stood to go with him.
They found the Sevateem warrior and her husband sharing a quiet moment among the shadows some distance from the main festivities. As Leela and Andred turned at their approach, the Doctor was suddenly aware of Rose's hand clasped steadfastly in his and of Andred's attention. He was about to pull away from the taboo contact when Leela's words came back to him; he owed it to his people to live his life and be happy in it. Forcing himself to maintain the touch under Andred's scrutiny, the Doctor maintained a neutral mask, but his eyes dared the other Gallifreyan to comment.
In answer to the Time Lord's challenge, Andred simply smiled and took his wife's hand within his.
"You are leaving." Leela's words were a statement, rather than a question.
"Well, you know me. Can't stay in one place for too long. Things to do, people to see..."
"Bad guys to defeat..." Rose added.
"That has always been your destiny, Doctor. I am pleased that you have found good warriors to share it with."
Rose blushed at being included amongst the 'warriors.' She had quickly recognised that that was the greatest compliment that the Sevateem woman could offer.
"So am I." He squeezed Rose's hand.
Andred dropped Leela's hand and touched his closed fist to his opposite shoulder in a traditional salute. "Doctor, you are always welcome on Ampelle as are your illanavantrelur." He used the Gallifreyan phrase for bondmates rather than the human term.
He arched an eyebrow at the use of the word. It had been a long time, at least one or two lifetimes, since he had last heard illanavatrelur used in everyday conversation. That was especially true when it came in conjunction with himself. Come to think of it, it had never been used with his name in the same sentence. The Doctor came to the realisation that, perhaps, everyone else around him - in this incarnation, at least - had known something that he didn't. It was a humbling thought for a man who was used to knowing everything, or at least seeming to.
The reactions of his friends made him aware that he had remained silent for too long. Forcing himself out of his reverie, he spoke. "Thank you, Andred, but I'd be happy if you'd never salute me again. Hard to keep up a caste system with only two people." He offered the other man a lop-sided grin. "Never believed in it to begin with."
Leela caught the arched eyebrow and smiled smugly. Now, he had finally begun to understand. It was, in her estimation, about time. "You are members of the tribe. I believe the phrase is...don't be a stranger." She offered him her hand.
He released his companion's hand with a faint squeeze to grasp the warrior's wrist. "That would be the phrase. I won't."
"Good."
Once the Doctor had stepped away, Rose took his place to engulf the Sevateem woman in a hug. "Thanks," she said simply, ignoring the way Leela tensed at the touch.
"You are welcome," the warrior said somewhat stiffly.
She pulled back and moved to Andred, reaching upwards to peck his cheek. "Goodbye, Andred."
He accepted the gesture a little abashedly. "Goodbye, Rose Tyler. Take care of him."
"We'll take care of each other," the Doctor replied. He held out his hand, and Rose took it with a smile. "Shall we collect Jack and get out of here?"
"Sounds like a plan."
Chapter Thirty-five
As they entered the Matrix chamber, Jack said, "You know, I wonder." His thoughtful expression was lost in the dim light as he walked once around the TARDIS slowly. "Rose, run and get me a flashlight." Slightly baffled, Rose ducked inside the ship to comply. He started running his hands over the painted wood.
The Doctor watched the other man for a few seconds before asking, "What are you thinking, Captain?"
Jack didn't pause in his search. "Does it strike you that the Agency found us a little too quickly? Both here and on Verata."
"You think we were tracked. Would make sense," the Doctor mused.
"I should have thought of it sooner. I know it'd be my first move if I was running the show and I came across the opposition's time ship. And we were away from her for quite a while in Cancun."
The Doctor moved to join Jack. "Know where I'd put it?" To Jack's questioning look, he pointed up.
At that moment, a slice of soft golden light splashed across the stone floor as the ship's door opened and Rose appeared with the requested item. Handing the torch to Jack, she asked, "What we looking for?"
"A bug," the Doctor said as he clasped his hands together and offered the other man a leg up. Jack nodded and switched on the torch. Using the Time Lord's shoulder to steady himself he stepped up and the Doctor lifted him to where he could see the TARDIS' top.
He played the light over the roof and easily spotted the Time Agency tracking beacon. Examining the device closer, he let out an expletive. "Looks like it's bonded to the plasmic shell. We're going to have to cut it off."
"Oi!" the Doctor cried in protest. "Don't you think for one minute of cutting into my ship! Come on down from there." Jack switched off the torch and complied, landing with a muffled thump. "Besides, there's an easier way," he continued. He gave them a smug look and disappeared through the TARDIS door.
A few moments later, the familiar groan of the ship's dematerialisation filled the chamber, but the TARDIS did not fade. Instead, it reformed, the police box replaced by an irregular pillar of stone that exactly matched the limestone of the cavern. In the process, the offending temporal beacon simply fell off and tumbled to a stop at Jack's feet.
"Right." Rose looked at the TARDIS' new shape, shaking her head. "We'd run right past it when we're running for our lives. What's the point of blending in when we need to get off a planet or wherever quickly? 'Specially when it comes to bein' with him." She cocked her head in the direction of the cavern's newest stalagmite to indicate the Doctor.
Jack's reply was cut off as the TARDIS once again grated to life and the reassuring regular angles of the police box reappeared.
With a satisfied nod, Rose smiled at the Doctor as he emerged from TARDIS.
"So she can change?" Jack said as he stooped to pick up the tracker.
"Never said she couldn't."
"Yes you did," Rose protested. "You said the chameleon circuit was stuck."
The Doctor just shrugged. "Stuck, not totally inoperative. Why? Thought you liked her?" he replied defensively.
Rose patted him comfortingly on the arm. "Of course we do, Doctor. You know we love her," she reassured him playfully.
Jack grinned his agreement as he threw an arm over the Doctor's shoulders. Holding up the tracker between them, he said, "I say we chuck this thing in the vortex - should give Danninger's plebes some fun figuring that one out. And then, somewhere along the line I think I promised Rose I'd teach her to tango."
Hand in hand, Leela and Andred had watched the Doctor, Rose, and Jack depart from a distance. Slowly, they walked back to the encampment and to the celebration.
"What now?" Andred asked softly. Without the Matrix to guard, he suddenly felt out of sorts. What was his purpose now? He was a Citadel guard without a Citadel. A guard without the Matrix.
"Now," Leela said, pulling his hand and placing it over the swell of their growing child, "we live."
He watched them through hooded eyes. The console room seemed brighter with the two of them within it, their laughter echoing brightly throughout the TARDIS, breathing life into the world that he called his own. The Doctor's dark form rested easily against one of the pillars in the room, and though he gave every appearance of being relaxed, his body was tense. They danced. His body swayed slightly in time with the tango beat, his pulse quickening with every gesture the two made, with every step, with every touch. His hands itched to reach out to them, to gather them within his embrace. However, at the moment, he contented himself to observe from the sidelines. The time would come for him to join. He would make certain of that.
"The Tango is the dance of love," Jack told her as he pulled her against him. Her eyes bore into his in an unconscious echo of the intensity of the Doctor's gaze upon the two of them. "It cannot be done casually." He spun her away, before pulling her back into his arms, lifting her leg up his side ever so slowly. "It is the dance of passion. Of lust."
Rose swallowed at the naked hunger in Jack's gaze as she followed his lead. Their bodies separated, entwined only by the music and the low rumble of Jack's voice.
"The purpose of the dance is to make the woman look and feel beautiful and cherished," he continued, pulling her back into the dance. He ran his hands down her side, enjoying the delightful shudders that ran through her body at his touch. Moving in, his gaze intense upon hers, he spoke into her ear, "It's also about the most fun you can have in public."
His hot breath on her ear almost caused her knees to buckle beneath her, but she stayed upright only through the strength of her will. As they danced, her mind dwelt upon the two men in her life. How could she accept only having Jack, when she wanted the Doctor as well? She was in love. Life, she knew, was not meant to be safe. It was not meant to do what was expected. If it were, she would still be in London, working in the shops, and probably married to Mickey. Rose Tyler knew exactly what she wanted, and she suspected that she would have to make the first gesture in order to get it.
"Rose," Jack's voice startled her out of her thoughts. "What is it?"
"He's not going to do it, is he?" she whispered, pitching her voice for the former Time Agent's ears.
He sighed, gently touching her chin, and forced her to look at him. "We need to give him time." Jack pressed a gentle kiss against her lips, pulling away in an attempt to avoid the temptation of deepening the gesture. "I love you. I love you both."
She moistened her lips to reply, but before she could a soft, almost inaudible moan pulled her attention across the room to take in the Doctor's lanky form. His familiar manic grin was still there, but there was something in his eyes that called out to her. She had never seen that particular set of emotions in the Doctor's darkening eyes, and she stilled her dance with Jack to guide his eyes towards the Time Lord. If she were called to name them, she could see lust, desire, want, worry, a tinge of fear, and dominating it all was the one emotion that she had longed to find within him.
Love.
The music thrummed in the background and she gently disentangled herself from Jack, letting her hand slide down his arm to entwine with his. Tugging gently, she led him across the console room to stand before the Doctor.
The Time Lord's eyes seemed to rumble with tantalizing hints of an oncoming storm, yet he continued to hold himself still. The resolve he'd felt earlier at Leela's encouragement now threatened to desert him. He could not reach out to them. He would not give into the ache he was feeling in both his hearts, an ache that could only be satisfied by the touch of flesh to flesh, lips to lips, hearts to hearts. It was too dangerous, too...
"Doctor," Rose said, in a husky tone, interrupting his thoughts. She released Jack's hand to press her own against the Doctor's wool covered chest. The staccato beat of his hearts echoed in time to the music, and she stared deep into his eyes. She could feel the tremble of his muscles as he fought against instinct. She had captured him with her eyes, her hand merely confirming that he was but a moth to her flame.
Oh, but Rassilon, he wanted her. He wanted them. He loved them. They had been a forbidden touch. A forbidden taste. Especially for one such as he. Control, he suddenly realised, was an illusion. It had always been an illusion when faced with the dark, masculine power that was Jack and the soft, feminine beauty that was Rose. He loved them. His hand snaked upwards to cover her hand against his chest, his eyes darkening further as he took in Rose's expression. His world suddenly rested upon a precipice, a precipice at whose bottom was all that he had desired and hoped for in this life. No, he corrected, in all his lives.
"I love you." Rose smiled, reaching behind with her free hand to grab Jack's to pull him forward. "I love both of you. I just...I didn't think that this was possible. It is possible, isn't it, Doctor?"
"You travel through time and space." The deep rumble of the Doctor's voice vibrated against her palm and she felt a shudder ripple down her back. "Anything's possible, Rose Tyler."
"Anything?" she asked hopefully.
He smiled, reaching out to brush back an errant strand of blonde hair in a tender gesture. "I have two hearts. One belongs to you, Rose Tyler." The Doctor turned his head towards Jack, his smile widening. "The other is yours."
"I thought you didn't dance," she accused him, though her eyes were filled with joy.
"I do." He pulled them both into a hug, pressing kisses against their skin before pulling away. Resting his forehead against theirs, their hearts and breaths intermingling he continued in a soft voice. "I was just waiting for the right people to show me how."