The last chapter and extra long it is too! Thank you for sticking with this and the reviews that i have got. Please R&R if you're reading so I know what people think - I like comments good or bad! (P.S. I especially want to know what people think about Jack's 'crimes' lol) Oh and I'm taking the Torchwood line from the episode 'Captain Jack Harkness' regarding the name thing.
Chapter 5
Rose stretches slowly and nuzzles her face against the Doctor's shoulder. "Good morning."
He groans and forces his eyes open.
"Are you alright?" she props herself up on one elbow and looks at him.
There is a large bruise just below his ribs where Jack punched him and his lip is still slightly puffy and the split has crusted over. He blinks and looks up at her with slightly bloodshot eyes. "I feel terrible," he murmurs softly.
"You look it!" Rose exclaims laying a hand on his forehead.
"I think I might be sick," he groans closing his eyes again.
"Is this because you…"
"Don't say it!" his eyes snap open again. "I don't want to be reminded."
"Sorry," she sits up slowly. "Do you want me to stay?"
"I can't stay," he groans and sits up very carefully. "I have to roll myself into my barracks and report to the colonel."
"But…"
He holds up a hand to silence her. "I'll tell him I'm sick. You have to go. It isn't done for a girl to be out all night."
"But I want to stay with you."
"I'll be fine. I've been beaten up before." He rubs the back of his neck with a hand. "Jack sure knows where to hit you so it hurts."
Rose looks sympathetically at him. "What do I do about Jack?" she asks.
"Nothing. Just observe him. Let me know if anything happens."
She presses another kiss onto his lips as she gets out of bed. "Be careful."
He nods. "I will."
She gathers her clothes quickly and heads for the door. "Bye."
"Bye Rose." He waits just a second until she has left the room. "I love you."
Nothing happens the whole day and Rose only sees Jack once, at a distance, when he puts his head down and walks away, and even then she cannot be sure that he actually saw her. She stares at the ceiling of her dormitory room and winces as the plastic rollers dig into her head.
Lizzie had asked her what Jack was like in bed in a half whisper as they ate dinner. Rose had blushed bright red and said she wouldn't know. Lizzie laughs and calls her a dirty little stop out. Rose doesn't know why that bothers her so much. Maybe because it would bother the Doctor. He won't ever tell her but she can see it in his eyes. She shifts awkwardly and closes her eyes in pain at the rollers. She hears the soft shifting of one of the other girls. The hand over her mouth is a unforeseen shock. She screams a stifled scream against the palm over her lips.
"Sssshhh," Jack looms over her, a finger to his lips. "You'll wake the others."
Rose flicks frightened eyes down the rest of the dormitory where the other seven girls are sound asleep.
"Come with me," he hisses softly straightening up and removing his hand. "Don't scream."
Rose slowly gets out of bed and shivers in her cotton 1940's nightdress. She slips on her uniform jacket and the nearest shoes, which happen to be a pair of high heels. Jack grabs hold of her upper arm and pulls her towards the door. His grip is tight enough to bruise.
She winces but goes silently with him.
In the darkness Lizzie opens her eyes. This is even better than she could have planned.
Jack kicks open the door to the Nissan hut storeroom and hauls Rose inside. She stumbles slightly on her heels and turns to face him as he shuts the door behind her. The room is dark and there is a shelf of cans to one side and a long table to the other.
"What are you doing Jack?" she demands.
He smiles strangely at her in the darkness. "I'm sorry Rose Tyler. I know exactly who you are."
"What?"
He pulls his pistol and aims it at her. "I don't want to do this…"
"Then don't!"
"I have to. I won't go back."
He pulls the hammer on the pistol back and Rose winces as it clicks. She lifts her head and stares him straight in the eye.
"This isn't you Jack. I know you. You can't do this."
"Shut up!" he growls at her, hating her in that moment for getting to him. "You're a Time Agent and you've come to take me back. I won't go. We had some fun Rose. But it stops here."
"I'm not a Time Agent Jack. I promise you that much." She smiles sadly at him. "I didn't bring you back for it to end like this."
He blinks to himself. What is she talking about? "More agency lies?" he sneers eventually.
She shakes her head. "No. But you won't believe that."
"You stole two years of my life!" he shouts at her.
"And if you shot me you'll have every soldier on the base coming down here!"
He grins in a slightly twisted way. "I can escape anything Rose."
"Jack… please."
He tightens his grip on the gun. "Sorry Rosie." His smile is almost fond. "I did mean what I said to you."
"If you do this, then I'll forgive you. He won't but I will." Rose's voice trembles as she closes her eyes and waits for the bang.
Jack blinks and tries to steady the muzzle of the gun that is wavering in his trembling hand. 'Do you like Glenn Miller?' the words are his, to her, but he can't remember when. 'If you hear us dying…" He feels bile rise in his throat and swallows thickly. 'Well I think you daughter is a real pretty sight for sore eyes.' 'Easy. I'll just scan for alien tech.' 'I dunno what you've done to me Rosie, but I think I'm fallin' in love with you.' He feels a trickle of sweat run between his shoulder blades. 'Oh, you sort of have a boyfriend called Mickey Smith, but you consider yourself to be footloose and fancy-free.' 'Rose, you are worth fighting for. Wish I'd never met you, Doctor; I was much better off as a coward. 'I always said I'd see you in Hell.' The words pour into his brain like crashing waves and he can't understand where they're all coming from. He wipes sweat out of his eyes with the fingers of his other hand.
There is another soft click and Jack feels the icy press of a gun's barrel in the back of his neck.
"Wrong girl Harkness," a soft female voice says in his ear. "Now be a good boy and drop the gun."
Jack pulls a face and breathes out slowly. How could he have been so stupid? He uncocks the pistol and drops it to the concrete floor, then holds his arms away from his body the way he remembers Time Agents would demand.
Rose has opened her eyes and is staring wide eyed at the newcomer. "Lizzie?"
Lizzie Cash has stooped and picked up Jack's gun all the while keeping her far more high-tech gun pressed into his back. She is wearing her WAAF uniform but there is a hard edge to her face that Rose has not seen before. "You stay there Tyler." Her voice is harder, colder than it ever was before. She shoves her gun into Jack's spine. "Strip."
He shoots her a look over his shoulder.
"I don't trust you. You could have all sorts hidden about you. So strip."
Slowly Jack shrugs off his coat and lays it on the table. Then pulls his braces down and unbuttons his shirt. He drags it slowly off his shoulders and drops it onto the table with his coat. He reaches for his trouser button with a smirk.
Rose watches silently, while Lizzie keeps Jack's pistol aimed at her.
Jack throws Rose a broad grin as he drops his boxers. Rose rolls her eyes.
Lizzie stuffs Jack's gun into the waistband of her skirt and pulls a pair of handcuffs from the bag slung across her body. They look like they are made of black plastic but the middle is much thicker, like a battery pack. Lizzie hauls Jack's arms behind him and cuffs him. She smiles and slams him face first into the table. He grunts softly.
"Jack!" Rose cries worriedly. "Why aren't you fighting back?"
Lizzie laughs. "These cuffs contain enough microdioasticide to make him weak as a kitten." She leans her hand on the back of Jack's neck.
"What?" Rose frowns at Lizzie.
"There…are needles…in the cuffs," Jack groans from the tabletop. His eyes automatically find Rose's. "I'm sorry Rosie."
Lizzie pushes down harder on the back of his neck. "Shut up Harkness!"
"The Doctor!" Rose says suddenly. "He can…" She stops. Last time she spoke to the Doctor he looked like death warmed up and he doesn't know they're here. "I…can…"
Jack's eyes are sad. "Stay where you are. This isn't your fight Rosie."
Lizzie looks down at Jack. "Too easy Harkness. I play the exact type of girl you always take advantage of – a little bit stupid, wants to be rescued by a dashing hero – and then I didn't need to lift a finger because you found your own."
"Hey!" Rose retorts.
Lizzie fixes Rose with a withering look. "So you didn't fall for his American charm?" she laughs derisively. "And he went and fell in love with you. That was a turn up. So blondie just shut up while I talk to the Captain here."
Rose glares at her but the presence of the gun makes her stay silent for now. Jack hisses as Lizzie presses harder on his neck.
"So Jack now is it? Well Jack Harkness I hereby arrest you for crimes against the Time Agency. You stand charged of fifty seven counts of deliberately defrauding the Time Agency and its agents."
Jack grins at Rose.
"Thirty three counts of forgery. Fourteen counts of obtaining money through deception. Twenty-three counts of theft of property. One hundred and seven counts of public indecency and offending moral standards."
His grin gets a little bit wider.
"One count of murder."
Jack's grin falters.
"Murder? Jack…he couldn't…" Rose stares at him. "Tell me you didn't."
"I didn't kill her."
Lizzie pays him no attention. "Two hundred recorded counts of working illegally under assumed identities including Jack Harkness, James Harper, Jolyan Keats, Jack Forsyte, Robin Hood, James Harkness, Jack Masterson, Fiyero Hunter, John Smith, Robert Calzaghe, Tallulah Delores..."
Rose raises an eyebrow. Jack looks unapologetic.
"…Alexander Dante, Jack Tyler…"
"Jack Tyler?" Rose interrupts. "You used my name?"
"I missed you," he says simply. Then he frowns. "How can I miss you? I barely know you!"
"But you do Jack!"
"How very touching," Lizzie sneers. "Forty counts of deception with the intent to obtain money. Two counts of pick pocketing. Bound over by the law fifty three times. Sentenced to death nineteen times."
The door clatters open at that moment and the Doctor strolls in nonchalantly, wearing his RAF uniform. "You have been a bad boy."
"Doctor she's got a gun!"
"Really?" He raises an eyebrow at Lizzie who is covering him and Rose warily with her pistol. The Doctor looks down at Jack. "This is kinky even for you Jackity Jack."
He steps towards Lizzie and holds his arms open to her. "I'm so sorry I stood you up. I was looking forward to that dance." He reaches out and hugs her tightly against him.
She pushes him off and jabs the pistol into his chest. "Shut up!" she orders. "Get over there," she gestures with the gun towards Rose. The Doctor walks mildly over to her and turns round.
"Doctor?" Rose breathes nervously.
He just smiles and squeezes her hand.
"But you were sick!" Rose continues staring at him and completely ignoring the murderous look that Lizzie is giving them. "You looked like you were dying again!"
"Oh I figured that out too," the Doctor adds happily. "I died because of Jack not because of the Bad Wolf."
Jack is staring at the two of them like they are crazy.
Rose blinks. "What? How?"
"He can't die so his body was fighting any way it could to stay alive so when I kissed him it decided to suck on my life force." He shrugs. "Time Lord regeneration energy may be old but it doesn't know everything so it just took a little while for my body to work out what was going on. Kind of like a life vampire. By the way I love the rollers," he says pointing at her hair with a gleeful smile.
Rose raises an eyebrow.
"I don't know what the hell you're talking about but will you shut up!" Lizzie levels the gun at Rose. "I will shoot her Smith."
Rose's eyes go wide.
The Doctor holds his hand out defensively. "I won't do anything stupid."
"Yet," Rose mutters barely audibly.
The Doctor smiles gently.
Lizzie turns her attention back to Jack, and presses down on the back of his neck a bit harder. She leans over his ear and whispers into it so only he can hear. "Always heard you were one of the best. Poster boy. Not so pretty now are you?" She straightens and looks down at him. "I make that four hundred and thirty five know charges against you Harkness."
Jack winces as she pulls him upright by the handcuffs. "I didn't do it…well not all of it."
Lizzie gives him a sharp look as she pulls him roughly into the middle of the room. "I have enough evidence to execute you right here." She kicks the backs of his knees and he stumbles to the ground.
"Bollocks!" His kneecaps hit the floor with a hard thud.
"Jack!" Rose cries reaching for him.
The Doctor pulls her back and crushes her face into his chest. "Don't look."
The gun makes nothing but a soft silenced 'pop'. The Doctor swallows and watches the blasted hole in the back of Jack's head as he crumples to the floor. Come on Jack. Come on. I know you can do it come on. He feels Rose trembling his arms and whispers to her, "Don't look yet. He'll be alright." He keeps one hand on the back of her head so she can't look.
Lizzie slips the pistol back into the bag and looks down at Jack's body. "Shame. Damn good agent by all accounts. Just too bad he went off the rails." She looks up at the Doctor. She lifts her wrist and blinks.
"Looking for something?" The Doctor holds up his hand. On his finger is dangling her silver watch. He holds it at eye level and studies it. "Nice disguise. I did wonder why it intrigued me. Vortex Manipulator very nice."
"How did you know that?" Rose asks, her voice muffled against his chest.
"I spent the day in bed Rose. I get bored in bed. There's only so much to amuse myself with…ahem," he coughs realising what he has said. "So I started thinking about stuff. Figured out that Jack was gonna go after you…because well…you know Jack and a pretty face. And then did a scan for alien tech."
Rose grins against his chest. "My professional," she whispers.
Lizzie is watching him stonily, trying to take in his high-speed clarification.
"And you Elizabeth Cash," the Doctor swings the watch back and forth on his finger, "are a Time Agent. Who is seriously beyond her jurisdiction. I must say you played the part well. But the curtain must come down." He drops the watch to the floor and steps on it, grinding it with the heel of his boot. It crunches glassily on the concrete floor.
"What did you do that for?" Lizzie screams at him. "I'm a Time Agent and you are violating sector seven of the…"
"Blah blah blah," he interrupts unsmilingly. "I make the rules. The buck stops with me. Especially when it comes to him." He smiles at her suddenly. "Welcome to the slow path. You get to live here and enjoy your life. Play your wartime sweetheart, go dancing."
"What gives you the right to decide that?" Lizzie steps towards him glaring. Her hand starts fumbling inside her bag.
Rose lifts her head at that moment and stares at Lizzie for a fraction of a second. "Because he's a Lord of Time, bitch!" Rose's punch sends the other girl flying.
Lizzie crumples into a heap on the floor, her gun skittering away across the floorboards.
The Doctor nods appreciatively. "Been taking lessons from Jack there?"
"Jack!" Rose drops to her knees at the other man's side. She looks up at the Doctor. "Is he?"
"No." The Doctor has already noted that the hole has closed up. He is glad Rose didn't see that. He crouches and uses the sonic screwdriver on the cuffs. They drop off with a hiss and a little foul smelling liquid seeps from the ends of the needles.
"Leave him a moment."
Jack gasps and his hand reaches out and finds Rose's instantly. "Bitch shot me!"
"Yeah."
"Rose?"
"Jack?" She carefully helps him sit up wondering if its really him or not.
"I'm naked."
"Yeah," she says nodding, as her cheeks go rather pink.
The Doctor reaches for Jack's coat and hands it to him.
"Thanks Doctor," Jack says pulling it over his nakedness, then frowns. "Doctor…and Rose…" He blinks and his mouth drops open. "Oh god Rose I'm so sorry!"
"Its okay," she says rubbing his hand up and down his trembling shoulder blade.
Jack swallows and raises shining eyes to Rose. "Did I tell you I was in love with you?" he asks nervously.
The Doctor's eyebrows go skywards.
"Umm yeah." Rose looks embarrassed. "Least you didn't fight me."
"Hey he attacked me." Jack looks up at the Doctor. "I'm sorry I punched you…more than once."
The Doctor leans down, puts his hand under Jack's armpit and pulls him to his feet. "Get dressed Jack."
Jack looks down at Lizzie's unconscious form. "I didn't do everything they accused me of."
Rose slips her hand into his and squeezes. "I know."
Jack turns and stares at her. "You don't know. She died. My partner, Karin. They blamed me and when I went AWOL they said I did it." He winces and rubs the back of his head. "Didn't think I'd get executed on the spot though."
Rose bites her lip and then hugs him tightly. The Doctor coughs and holds out Jack's boxer shorts.
"Hey," Jack pokes his head round the door of the control room, "can I come in?"
Rose looks up from the magazine she has been flicking through and the Doctor's head appears from under the control panel. "Yeah."
He steps into the room and stops just inside the door, his hair wet from his recent shower and looks apologetic. "I am so sorry."
Rose jumps to her feet and hugs him firmly. Then grabs his hands and pulls him fully into the room. He grimaces.
The Doctor is wiping his hands on a rag. "Time for a few explanations Jack."
"Doctor!" Rose whirls and glares at the Time Lord. "No Jack you don't have to…"
"I do." Jack stares over Rose's head at the Doctor as he says it. "What first? That I can't die?"
The Doctor shrugs.
"I woke up on the Gamestation and you were leaving. There was nothing but Dalek dust and dead bodies. I kinda freaked out and used my Vortex manipulator to get the hell out. I landed in 23rd century Somerset in a cow shed."
The Doctor sniggers. Rose shoots him a look.
"How did you work out…?"
"I got shot by the farmer," Jack says calmly. "For trespassing. And I woke up dumped in a ditch with a sack over my head. I got stabbed in Germany in 1904, and it happened again. I've been poisoned, hanged, electrocuted; there was a nasty incident with a javelin." He winces at the memory. "Got 'exterminated' again." He looks down at Rose. "That's how I got the ship Rose. They killed me and Daleks can't comprehend someone coming back. So I just waltzed right out with it from under their…noses?" He shrugs and looks uncomfortable. "I was a conman you know that. So yes I did do most of the things they accused me of. And yes they will come after me again." He smiles a little. "Most of the crimes were reported on very prudish planets…"
"Thanks for that," the Doctor says firmly dissuading any further discussion on that topic. "And thank you for saving Rose back in the club. And why 1942 may I enquire?"
Jack's cheek twitches. "Because I did something terrible in 1942."
The Doctor frowns and Rose squeezes his hands silently urging him to continue
"End of another self cleaning con. You weren't there Rose so instead of falling for you, I fell for her. Bright young thing who threw herself at me so who was I to say no? I seduced her." A frown line forms between his eyebrows. "Or so I thought. Found out what she was doing right at the last minute. And instead of her shooting me, well…I…" he swallows. "I shot her." He looks at the floor. "She died."
"It didn't happen." The Doctor looks compassionately at him. "She's still alive."
"But I remember doing it."
"I know," the Doctor says softly. "And you always will. But you didn't do it Jack. You have no blood on your hands."
Jack nods and glances down at Rose. She is staring at him, her lower lip between her teeth. "What is it?"
"She, Lizzie, said that Jack Harkness wasn't your real name."
Jack stares down at her solemnly. "Its my name."
"Yeah now!" she snaps. "Do I even know you at all 'Jack'?"
She pulls away from his sharply and runs from the control room.
"Rose!" Jack turns and yells uselessly after her.
The Doctor shakes his head as he walks over to Jack. He pats him on the shoulder. "She'll come round."
Jack turns almost tearful eyes to the other man. "You think? I lied to her."
The Doctor regards him for a moment then pulls him into a hug. "We've all done that Jack. Just don't do it again." He lets go of him and smiles. "And don't be telling her you love her again. That's my job."
"Yes sir."
The Doctor smiles, pats his shoulder again and follows Rose.
She is lying on her bed staring at the ceiling with her brown teddy bear between her hands when he opens the door. He walks inside and plonks himself beside her on the bed.
"Hey."
"Hey," she says back flatly in a tone that tells him she doesn't want to talk.
Too bad, he thinks to himself. Because I'm the king of making you talk Rose Tyler. He gently takes the bear out of her hands, sets it down between them and then strokes the side of her face. "Oh my sweetheart," he says softly sounding terribly sad. "We keep disappointing you don't we?"
Rose blinks, not expecting this, and props herself up on her elbows. "You don't…"
He interrupts her. "We do. We don't ever mean to but we do." He entwines his fingers in hers. "I promised you that I would never leave you. But I still did. Jack doesn't mean to be who he is. Or to have done what he's done. But he never meant to hurt you Rose."
"I know," she says softly.
He looks sceptical.
"I do. Really." She sits up and pushes her hair back. "I just thought I knew everything y'know?"
The Doctor laughs lightly. "I think Jack will always keep surprising us."
She nods. "Yeah. Like you."
The Doctor raises an eyebrow. "I am nothing like Captain Harkness." He is pretending to be affronted.
"What handsome, charming, a good dancer…"
"I hope to Gallifrey that you very little about Jack's dancing," the Doctor says firmly.
She giggles. "I love Jack. And he loves me. That's enough." She smiles at the Doctor. "And I love you most of all."
"Good." The Doctor's face breaks into a big grin and he leans in to kiss her. "Now go and clean up your own mess. I don't want Jack blubbering all over the control panel."
Rose looks horrified. "I made him cry?"
"Near as when I was there."
Rose looks like she might cry herself.
"Hey," the Doctor pulls her onto his lap. He strokes away the stray tear from her cheek "Go make up with him sweetheart."
She shakes her head. "Give me a little while?"
"Not a chance," the Doctor says pouting a little. "I'm staying right here. Go have a shower, take a few deep breaths and go when you're ready to talk to him. I've had enough time away from you."
She smiles, picks up the bear and places it in his hands before standing and heading for the en-suite bathroom. She looks over her shoulder at him and smiles. "I hope you kept the uniform Flight Lieutenant."
Rose enters the control room much later that night and finds Jack perched on the edge of the control panel dressed in a pair of jeans and a casual black shirt. He is staring at his toes and chewing his lip worriedly. He looks up as she enters and presses something on the control panel. He stands just as the first strains of 'Moonlight Serenade' and silently holds his hand out to her. Rose hesitates for just a second before she walks over to him and takes his hand. He smiles in relief and pulls her closer to him. They dance the well-known steps that they instinctively worked out around the control room in silence for a minute before Rose looks up at him.
"I'm sorry Jack."
He looks down at her while they continue to dance. "I am to. Hey," he smiles, "least you didn't slap me this time."
She smiles for the first time since entering the room. "So we're good?"
"We'll always be good Rosie."
He picks up the pace and jives her round the room energetically. She can't help but laugh with the sheer joy of it. He dips her low and pulls her up laughing too, his blue eyes twinkling. The song ends and he draws her into a tight hug. She presses her nose into his shirt and smells his familiar aftershave and smiles. She is happy here. Jack will always be there for her. Jack smiles, smoothes down her now-wild hair with one hand and presses a kiss on the top of her head. He looks up to see the Doctor leaning in the doorway watching them. They both look flushed and slightly dishevelled. He is pleased that they made up.
The Doctor smiles his wide boyish smile at Jack who just grins back.
The End