Chapter 15: Interlude

Jack, Rose and Ten stood facing each other at one end of the room. None of them seem willing to be the first one to speak.

"Look, I'm sorry Jack. I shouldn't have left you there but when Rose brought you back she did a little more than just bringing to back to life."

"Oh my god. What did I do?" Rose asks looking horrified. It sounded like it was her fault they left Jack behind with no way off the Station.

"You brought him back permanently. You won't be able to die." Ten tells him.

"Ever?" Jack asks, eyes wide.

"Well, as far as I have seen you age but incredibly slowly. In the meantime nothing can kill you. Well, it can but you always come back to life within a few seconds."

"I...is there any way to fix it?" Jack asks, not quite able to wrap his head around the idea of never dying.

"Not that I know of. I think only Bad Wolf has the power to do so but I took that power out of Rose. I never told her what happened either. I'm sorry Rose, I lied to you and told you Jack stayed behind to rebuild the Earth."

"Why did you lie to me?" She demands.

"You didn't remember being Bad Wolf and it was safer if it stayed that way. Remembering that could be just as deadly as having the power running through you." He explains pleadingly.

"So I can't die, why did you have to leave me behind?" Jack tries to get the conversation back on track."

"She made you a fixed point in time. My Time Lord senses can't stand being around you, having a living fixed point is wrong. The next time I saw you, you grabbed onto the outside of the TARDIS and she literally flew to the end of the world trying to shake you off."

"I'm so sorry Jack." Rose twitches like she wants to pull him into a hug but restrains herself.

"You missed me enough to bring me back forever. Don't apologise Rosie." He tells her, reaching to hug her. "I need some time to think about this, but I'm not mad at you Rose." He assures her. Then he walks off to his room. Rose and Ten look at each other.

"You're lucky I don't slap you for lying to me about Jack." She glares at him. "You could have at least gone back and made sure he had a way home." Ten looks guiltily.

"I'd never had managed to sneak away from you for that long." They both rejoined the others for dinner. Sarah Jane was telling the others about some of her adventures with her Doctor. They sit around a chat for a few hours, all trying to relax after a tense afternoon. Slowly they started drifting towards their bedrooms in ones and twos. Once alone in their room, Nine and Rose settled down in bed.

"You alright?" He asked her in a low voice.

"I think so." She nods. "It's going to be weird watching him and me running round on adventures."

"Might skip to him and someone else." He tells her.

"Maybe. But I imagine, given the stuff it's shown so far, it will at least show how I end up separated from him." She replies. He pulls her tighter at that. "Yeah, I'm not looking forward to that either." She agrees. He doesn't ask her about Jack and she is grateful for that, not sure how to feel about it herself. She is delighted that Jack is alive and yet horrified and guilty about forcing such a long life on him. He puts his hand to her temple but waits for her nod of confirmation before letting himself in. They both bask in the joy of being connected so intimately and reassure each other that they are both still alive and fine.

The next morning both Doctors and Rose are the first ones up again. Ten is looking forward to getting to watch some of his adventures with Rose yet wanting to never have to relive what he still counts as the second worst day of his very long life. Given how little sleep he needs he has far too much time to think about all the memories and emotions rewatching his life is bringing up. The realisation that when they get out of this room he has to go back to a timeline where Rose is stuck in a parallel Universe.

He is fairly sure his timeline will continue and his Ninth self will set a whole new timeline with Rose. He wants to be happy that at least one version of him has a much better chance at a happy ending with Rose but all he can really think is that he is frustrated it won't be him. He watches his younger self emerge with Rose looking content in a way he never managed in that body. Rose dives straight for the coffee as ever and then comes over, pulling him into a hug. He goes to let go of her but she keeps clinging to him and he welcomes the warmth.

Eventually a door opens and she backs away to see who it is and Jack comes out. Ten keeps a hold on Rose's arm to stop her dashing to the Captain and overwhelming him. Jack looks up and sees the trio stood by the food and hesitates before joining them.

"Morning all. Loving the bedhead Rosie." He winks, trying to keep up his normal act. She glares at him.

"I needed coffee alright." He smirks at her.

"I didn't say I disapproved."

"Oh stuff it." She rolls her eyes and then hugs him. Her head tucked under his neck and he rests his chin on the top of her head.

"I'll be ok Rosie." He tells her quietly, well aware the other two occupants of the room can hear him perfectly well. "Just takes some getting used to." He had done a lot of thinking overnight and come to the conclusion that he was mostly glad to be alive. Living for that long was bound to get boring eventually but he would try to enjoy it until then. Besides, it hadn't happened yet and it may never come to pass. As Rose breaks away more doors open and Mickey emerges, as done Sarah Jane. Sarah Jane comes over to Rose and the two of them start chatting.

"How ya doing Captain Cheesecake?" Mickey asks, sitting down at the table.

"Not bad Mickey Mouse." Jack flashes him a grin. The two of them strike up a conversation about technology in the future and Jack finds Mickey far more intelligent that he had appeared so far when it comes to technology. Martha then makes an appearance and once she has eaten joins Mickey and Jack. Jack notices the two of them making eyes at each other during the conversation and grins to himself.

"So you said the Time Agency stole two years of your memories, how long did you work for them before that?" Martha asks Jack.

"A fair number of years. Got stuck in a two week time loop for five years once. That wasn't as bad as it sounds either. It's all in the company." He winks at them.

"Could be worse for you but what about the poor person stuck with you for that long?" Mickey asks.

"She didn't seem to mind too much." Jack replies with a smirk. Mickey rolls his eyes. After a while Donna finally emerges. Glaring at everyone and everything she grabs a cup of coffee and proceeds to mumble about 'bloody morning people'. Once she has woken herself up properly, Mickey suggests they all start watching whatever comes next. Nine, Rose and Ten all sit back on the same couch. Mickey and Martha take the other one as before but this time Jack sits with them, leaving Donna and Sarah Jane to sit on the bean bags. Donna takes control of the remote and turns the TV on.