Chapter Six
Jack stared with cold eyes at the woman who now wore the Doctor's body like a suit. He'd always done ice queen exceptionally well. And, of course, the Doctor warranted only the best of Captain Harkness's many talents with tongue and tong… and thong.
"Well, now that we've established sufficient professional boundary, what do you need? The quicker you're satisfied, the quicker the Doctor gets back to his –real- job."
She smiled, curling the Doctor's lips like a pro in the ghost of an alien sunrise; Yahs was standing like a mute referee between the two of them, calmly turning first to one side, then the other, back and forth. It reminded Jack of an old Earth comedy skit… 'Who's on First?'
"… I need you to ask me the questions you need to ask me. Is that suitable, Jack?"
Jack Harkness remained unimpressed. "And don't call me Jack. It's Captain Harkness to you, until you prove you aren't out to kill my friend out there. I've only known of one Time Lord able to switch bodies like you claim, and his name was The Master."
Yahlas blinked. "Was? So he's… gone then? Really gone?"
That threw him; he honestly thought she would care. "Yeah, he ah, had a bit of a problem with the Doc back on Sol."
She curved the Doctor's lips again, this time in relief, summoning a grin that seemed devoid of all female guile. "I had hoped he could be saved. But at least now he won't hurt anyone else with his childish petulance. Thank Good for that."
It was Jack's turn to smirk, despite the surprise he felt. For now, that response was enough to share a few juicy bits. "He –was- saved, according to the Doctor. He stepped in front of Rassilon's rod to save him, just as the Doctor was sending the Lord President and his entourage back to their proper timeframe. He fried the old goat, too, but good. I…I lost a lover not long before. The Doctor doesn't know." He sighed and looked away, hoping she would think he was letting his guard down. "He would have wanted to come, to save all those children and as many lives as possible, but… he was pregnant at the time…wouldn't have been right to risk his life and unborn child like that, just for a little blue marble in the back waters of Sol System."
Yahlas considered this, or pretended to, before she spoke again with those beautiful lips that weren't hers. Irrationally, Jack found himself wanting to hit her.
"I see. Even still, don't you think the Doctor might have wanted to make that decision on his own?"
Jack breathed, his exhalation icy in the surprisingly crisp air. Of course the mercury which cooled the Xja ships and served as a liquid method of communicative transfer was refined -properly- to avoid mental decay, but nevertheless the cold was beginning to affect his outer nervous systems. Soon he would die. Again.
His laugh made the woman who wore the Doctor stiffen and step back. "So which section is he in again?" he said, smiling as his eyes suffered the first in a long wave of petechial hemorrhages, causing blood to drip down his face and freeze like little red petals on his skin.
Yahlas' stolen eyes grew wide; without a sound she replaced the feeding tubes and stood back, waiting for the impossible, like any good little Time Lord. How had she ever thought she was worthy of this kind of devotion, this… this kind of love?