A/N: I know, it's been ages since I've written, but I've been slowly getting back into the Whoverse. Also, because it's been so long, my writing style for Jessica might have changed somewhat until I get back into the swing of things. Sorry!
And a big thank you to those people who still faved and followed knowing I haven't updated in forever! Your loyalty and willingness to wait has inspired me again!
Interim
"Oh my God, you're awake!" Rose's quiet exclamation nearly made me jump as I put the last coffee mug away. She took a few steps forward then froze, concern clouding her face as she eyed me from top to bottom. "Sorry…um…is it okay if I…."
I grinned, letting that bubbly, infectious energy of hers bleed into me. "Don't worry, I'm not going to fall apart at the seams," I tapped the side of my head. "Doctor's given me enough support that I don't think I'll be in trouble for quite a while. Oof!" The air burst out of me and I found myself in a huge bear hug. One I returned even if it had caught me off guard.
Rose almost bounced away, her confident smile returning. "He said you'd sleep for a while but after day two I thought he'd gotten it a bit wrong. You have no idea how worried we were. I mean…what exactly happened in there? Are you all right, all right?"
My first thoughts to reassure her came to a screeching halt as I processed what she'd just told me. I scowled. "Hold on, day two? What are you talking about?" An idea already danced around but I had to hear it from her. To make sure that I wasn't overreacting.
"Jessie, you've been asleep for three days now." Rose placed a hand on my shoulder and her voice grew soft.
Three days. I'd been asleep for three days and the Doctor hadn't thought about telling me? Sure I'd been mentally drained, but I'd never slept longer than 9 hours at a time in my life. The Doctor had to have done something while he repaired my barriers. A certainty filled me to the point where I knew I had to be right. Either that or the TARDIS did something to the time running in my room.
No, I realized with an odd, glowing warmth in my chest. The Doctor made me sleep for three days to recover…and apparently worried the entire time enough to not go on any adventures.
"Jessie? Are you okay?" Rose's sharp cheddar-like concern tugged at my attention. Even through thick barriers I could feel how strong her worry for me had become. She could be a bit thick like the Doctor, but that didn't mean she couldn't care about people.
I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. "Yeah. I will be once I smack that pretty head of his for neglecting to mention that part, but yeah, I'm fine." Truth be told, I didn't know what to feel about him changing my brain like that, even if it technically was a teeny tiny part of it. For the moment, the annoyance and desire to smack his head at least once proved the stronger so I settled for that.
A mischievous smile began morphing Rose's face into one I didn't want to be on the other end of. "He didn't tell you, did he?" At my snort, she giggled and shook her head. "Oh, that's just like him. Tries to be helpful but forgets the little things like giving you a warning first."
I smirked, the need for some vengeance—albeit a slightly ridiculous one—sounding better by the second. "Uh huh. Let's see how long it takes for him to figure out that he's busted, shall we?" I mimed cracking my knuckles, which brought a slightly-hysterical laugh out of Rose.
She quickly clamped a hand over her mouth, but the bubbly joy had increased so much, I knew I wouldn't have been able to handle the emotions without the Doctor's help. "Oh my God, you're serious. This I've got to see."
"Only if you don't spoil anything."
"All right, I'll…."
My phone blared to life. An embarrassing reveal of my favorite hamster song. As funny as that was, my heart pounded hard against my chest.
I didn't remember putting that ringtone to any specific number.
Quickly, I plastered a sheepish grin on my face and fished the thing out of my pocket. "Sorry, I think that's my mom. Even traveling through time and space she manages to find the wrong time to call." Did my chuckle sound real enough? While I could control what I sensed coming from others, I could by no means hide my own feelings very well.
"So does mine," Rose winced and backed away like it had the plague. "I think it's a mum thing. Tell you what, I'll go see where the Doctor's taking us now that you're up and about. Don't take too long, yeah?"
I flashed a smile in her direction. One that only had to last for a couple of seconds before she ran out of the kitchen. Alone, I noticed my hands shaking just the slightest. The pounding of my heart roared in my ears as I turned the phone to see the caller ID.
JACK, EMERGENCY.
Shit. Most likely a misdirected call, but I couldn't not pick up. The TARDIS must have let the call through for a reason. My quivering thumb slid the unlock button. "Hampton the Happy Hamster is not the right ringtone for an emergency, Mister," I blurted out, unable to think of anything else. How did I normally pick up calls from him that came from another time?
"Not the time, honey!" Jack hollered back, all but blowing out my eardrum. I could barely hear that over the cacophony in the background; screeches, things falling over, shouting…and gunshots. "Where the hell are you when I need you?"
Emotions over the phone were impossible for me to sense, but I knew Jack. He sounded terrified.
I quickly slammed the kitchen door shut, not wanting the Doctor or Rose to hear something they shouldn't yet. Adrenaline surged through my system. For a few long seconds, I felt close to panic. I couldn't do anything from where or when I was. Any choice I made could be the one I shouldn't have.
"Jess!"
"Right! Right!" That snappy, boss-ish tone brought me out of panic mode and centered me back in the present. "I think you're a bit early, but what can I do to help?" Jack. Never meeting the Jack Harkness I fell in love with again still clawed at my chest, but that was still Jack over the phone.
A sharp retort made me wince. "Ow! Dammit! Gwen, Ianto, get that thing's attention away from me! I'm busy here!" Distant yelling responded to Jack's barked orders. I waited them out. The chaos died down only a fraction. Tired gasps of air puffed into the line. "Look, I know we have a bad history of misplaced calls, but now isn't the time for a joke. Where's that damned backup you promised?"
I winced, pacing around the kitchen as the adrenaline refused to wear off. Guilt flooded me a thousand times stronger than my panic. "Time check, Jack," I insisted, forcing myself to keep a calmer voice than him. Somehow, he always listened to my quieter voice more than another one screaming back. "Your rule and that's because you never get a version of me that coincides with your own."
Sure enough, those frantic gasps of air slowed down enough until I could see him pinching the bridge of his nose and forcing breaths through his nose to calm himself. "Fine. Where and when did we last see each other from your timeline?" Jack growled, but at least he started to listen.
"I…the Vortex Manipulator sucked me away," I murmured, feeling my throat clench in spite of my resolve to move on. "Right after the…."
"…Weeping Angels. Shit." So much anger and bitterness soaked into that one word. If Jack had been able to, he'd be punching holes in the wall by now.
Hearing more gunshots, I clenched my teeth and forced my own frustration with our backwards timeline to the side. He needed help. And if I never met the Jack I fell in love with again, he would always be a close friend. "Okay, so we're very off, if I'm hearing you right. Doesn't matter. I'm on the TARDIS right now and that means she let your call come through for a reason. Let me know how I can help."
"I don't think that's…."
"Listen to me, Mister Jack Harkness," I snapped, raising my voice enough to get him to understand me. "Either let me help you get out of whatever mess you got yourself into the best I can or stop calling me altogether to avoid getting the wrong me in the first place."
Even though I made myself sound confident, I had no clue as to how to follow through with that offer. Not without corrupting the Doctor's and Rose's timelines or having to lie to them outright. What could an empath like me do when I didn't even know how to travel through time itself?
The chaos became so loud, I thought I'd lost him, but soon enough I managed to hear Jack grumbling to himself. "Okay, fine. First off, I didn't start this," he finally managed with what sounded like a reluctant sort of relief. "Second, I'm gonna text you the exact time, date, and place for you to make a drop. You're gonna have to get the Doctor to trust you on this one."
"No problems there." I smiled, the memory of our recent conversation still glowing in my mind. "What do you need?"
"A copy of your Vortex Manipulator's base code. That way I can get through to the Jess I lost track of."
I blinked, heart twinging at his casual reference to another me. Someone who knew what she was doing, no doubt. "Right. I'll need the Doctor for that too since I have no idea what in the world a base code is…."
"What? Just use your…."
"Jack!"
"Shit, sorry!" Another growl rumbled through the phone. "Just leave a drive or disk thing at the coordinates on the right day and time and we'll be peachy." Another round of gunshots drowned him out for a bit.
"Should…should we see each other? Or would that do something to time and space?" I gnawed on my lip as I managed to get that request past my common sense. Even seeing his face would make me feel loads better. That goofy smile of his always managed to lift every weight off of my shoulders.
Not anywhere near the level the Doctor's had on me, though.
A long time passed where I began thinking that he hadn't heard me at all. Then a long, drawn out sigh wooshed in my ear. "Probably not. I'm sorry. I'll probably get smacked around for bringing you here in the first place. Don't want to have two versions of you in the same place at once." The regret that soured everything he said actually reassured me.
I tried to hide my own remorse that pulled on every limb. Jack was in trouble and he needed me. "I get it. I might not be her, but I'll help you the best I can." Too late, I realized the envy that nibbled on my tongue.
"Thanks," Jack's voice almost got drowned out by nearby gunshots, probably his. More voices bled through, though I couldn't make them out. "Almost done! Hold your damn horses! Jess, enough about the 'wrong you' crap," he added in a sterner tone. The fondness behind those words, however, softened the wounded sense of self I'd thought I'd hidden. "I told you once I always reach the Jess I need. Stay safe and I'll see you in a few weeks, okay?"
"Wait, what?" A fountain of questions began bursting inside me, but the line went dead before I could voice any of them. A few weeks? Did he just….
My phone buzzed and a text popped up on the screen with a date, time, and coordinates that I couldn't begin to understand. A second later, another one bounced up beneath it:
YOU'VE ALWAYS BEEN 'FANTASTIC.'
A blush made its ugly way across my face. Deep in whatever kind of trouble and he still had time to send me a compliment that I didn't deserve.
The kitchen door slid open behind me and the room pulsed with a kind but friendly urgency, like a psychic push in the back.
Right, I could take a not-so-subtle hint. I had no idea how I'd convince the Doctor to help me make such a delivery. Or even how to do it so Rose didn't know or suspect. In any case, and even though I essentially now lived in a time machine, I shouldn't put it off. The TARDIS didn't seem to think so anyway.
I got punched in the gut with strong emotions as soon as I stepped into the console room, however. Very strong, very serious. Gripping the rail to ground myself in reality, I followed those feelings toward their source: Rose. Through the barriers I could only feel the basics of what bothered her and with my control feeling like one big bruise already, I didn't think I wanted to know the full effect.
"So…I was thinking…" Rose hesitated, shifting in place and not quite meeting the Doctor's eyes. Like she suddenly grew shy around him again. "Could we…could we go and see my dad when he was still alive?"