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If the Winds in the Right Direction
by Bane Huntress
Chapter 3 – Too Far
Tosh tried to block out the noise by covering her ears, but it seemed to
bury it’s way into her skull.
At first she hadn’t realised what was going on as she picked herself up
off the floor, rubbing her back where she had connected with the railing
around what the Doctor referred to as the control column.
Then the noise had started to build into a crescendo, but it didn’t taper
off.
First there was the sound that came from all around her, like a heart
beat, then what sounded like the screech of metal under to much pressure,
grinding together like nails down a blackboard.
Then the more human shrill cry of a little girl somewhere in the distance.
But the sound that she wanted to shut out the most was coming from the
only other being in the room.
Through squinted eyes, she looked over to the main doors where the Doctor
now stood.
His hands were clutched painfully tight into his hair as he arched his
back, his mouth wide open as he screamed to the heavens.
But it was like nothing that she had ever heard before, this was something
soul wrenching, the note of pure unadulterated agony and loss,
disturbingly, not all together human.
The scene turned blurry as she realised tears were forming in her own
eyes, she wiped them away, not knowing if it was from the pain in her head
from the volume of noise, or the sound of such torment.
“DADDY!! Where’s Daddy?”
Tosh moved her head to see Rose come staggering into the room, her little
face streaked with tears that still flowed down her red cheeks. She ran
over to the Doctor and threw her arms about his legs, tugging and crying
up to the man who seemed more lost in his own terror to worry about
anything else.
Tosh slowly edged her way over until she knelt down by her and tried to
pull her away, cooing and cajoling, but the child wouldn’t have it as she
clung tighter to her father.
“Get away from her.”
Toshiko froze still with her hands out stretched as a jolt of cold
animalistic fear crept down her spine.
‘At least the screaming stopped’ some level of her mind thought, as she
slowly moved her head to look up at the cold voice that had just addressed
her.
She physically flinched away as she found the Doctor looking down at her,
his brown eyes, once so warm and round with mischief, were now slits of
murderous rage.
His thin frame, once nothing to be threatened by, now oozed the threat of
violence.
This was like some old tale her grandfather liked telling her when she was
a child, about Youki masking themselves as human and terrorising villages.
And something inside her was desperately scared right now.
She pushed herself as far back as she could as the Doctor bent down to
take his child into his arms, his eyes never leaving her as he did so.
“Where’s Daddy!?” the girl questioned again as she tried to look into his
face.
Tosh watched as the cold eyes moved from her to his daughter, suddenly
becoming full of pain as he spoke to her.
“The TARDIS is trying to go home.” He said, his voice soft, but breaking
on almost every word.
“But she can’t!” Rose wailed, “You said so! I didn’t touch the button!”
“No you didn’t.” he replied as he tried to wipe her tear streaked cheek
with a thumb. For a moment he looked back at Tosh again. “Someone else
did.”
“But I can’t feel Daddy! Where did he go? Make her go back!” now she
buried her head into the Doctors shoulder.
Tosh’s heart went cold at the man’s next words.
“I can’t…”
Gwen bit her lip as she looked back over to where Jack sat, one arm around
his belly, the other covering his eyes.
It had taken some time before they had calmed him enough to move him, all
but dragging him over to the tatty old sofa.
“He doesn’t look too good.” Owen mused, arms tightly folded over his
chest, trying not to look as worried as she was.
“Mr Understatement.” She muttered. “I’ve never seen him like this. What
are we gonna do?”
Owen shrugged uncomfortably. “From what he was babbling it doesn’t sound
like they will be back anytime soon… and in his… Condition, we can’t leave
him here to fend for himself.”
Gwen couldn’t help but frown at the other man, he was obviously not happy
with the idea of male pregnancy. Well at least that was something she
could sympathize with, but then she wasn’t too surprised, not with her
current job.
“Well I guess he can stay with me, I have a spare room. I’m not sure how
Rhys is going to take it.”
“He’s not used to sharing?” Owen gave her a sly smile. When she glared at
him, he rubbed his face with both hands and turned serious. “Look, why
don’t you take him home to get some rest, he’s obviously in some kind of
shock and from what I know of pregnancy it’s really not good for him right
now.” He pushed her towards the traumatised man. “I’ll hold the fort here,
then come by and…” he coughed, “examine him, we have an ultrasound around
here somewhere I can dig out.” Then he walked towards Jack himself, she
was close on his heals.
“Jack?” Owen said, but got no reply, so he sat on the coffee table facing
him patting his knee in a most doctorly type way. “I’m sending you home
with Gwen, I want you to tell her if you have any abdominal pain, ok?”
there was no response, “OK?” he said more firmly.
Jack finally looked up, his face was white and his eyes red, but he nodded
mutely.
“And I want you to rest, that’s doctor’s orders.”
Gwen cringed as they watched Jack’s face crumple as the tears began
falling again.
“Yeah, well…” Owen muttered. “I’m your physician now, so you have to do
what I tell you, for you and your child’s best interests. We can’t have
you ending up in casualty now can we… so come on.” He pulled Jack to his
feet. “Go rest, if they come back I’ll know where you are.”
Gwen dashed off then to get one of Jack’s coats they had found when they
were tidying up the first time.
It hadn’t taken them long to get to her flat, she led her boss by the hand
the whole way, despite the odd looks she got from people who passed.
After all not many people got to see a grown man with tears streaming from
his eyes every day.
“Come on in,” she said, pulling him through the door, then leading him
towards the box room that passed as a guest room, come dump room for all
the junk they had.
Soon as she opened the door she sighed, there were boxes and old clothes
piled up on the bed, as well as everywhere else.
“Ok… so I need to do some tidying. Come on.” She led him to her own
bedroom, the sheets were clean on the other day, so it wouldn’t be so bad.
Letting go of Jack for a second she threw back the duvet, then turned back
to him and began taking off his great coat.
He didn’t make a sound, just content to let her push and pull him about
like some kind of giant doll.
“Sit down there,” she patted the bed, and watched as he slowly but
automatically did as he was told. Then she removed his shoes and got him
to lie down.
“You just stay here and call me if you need anything ok?” she stroked his
fringe away from his eyes.
He didn’t reply as he turned from her and closed his eyes, curling up on
his side and burying his face into his hands.
“Right.” She tucked him in a bit more before softly leaving the room.
So for the rest of the morning Gwen attacked the spare room as quietly as
she could. She had no idea how long he would be staying with them, so she
packed as much as she could into boxes, then stacked them in the small
hallway to one side, she placed all the clothes into charity bag’s that
had been dropped though the door and precariously placed them on top of
the box’s. Finally she changed the sheets on the bed, and bought in one of
the better looking house plants to sit on the window to make it look more
homely.
She was just finishing off the last of the dusting when the phone rang.
She dived for it before it rang for a third time. “Hello?” she questioned
down the receiver.
“Hey… What are you doing home?” came Rhys’s voice down the line.
“Oh, well…” she pondered how to explain this one away. ‘my very male boss
is pregnant and has to stay with us for a while?’, she didn’t think that
would work right now, but she was saved from answering as her boyfriend
continued.
“I was just gonna leave a message, hoping you might get it at some point
in the next twenty four hours.”
‘Ho here we go again.’ She though, but didn’t reply.
“I’m gonna be late home, some boys from work are going to that new club
tonight and dragging me along, you know the one, down by the docks. So you
can come if you want, if not I’ll see you later. Ok I have to go!”
“Ok, see you.” She managed just as he hung up.
She was just about to go check on Jack when there was a soft knock at the
door. When she peered though the spy hole she saw Owen looking slightly
bored and put out, just like he always did.
“Bout time!” he said as she opened the door for him, “You have any idea
how heavy this crap is?”
He all but dragged a large box on wheels into the flat. “So where is he so
I can examine him?”
“Through there,” she said pointing past the box’s and bags, she didn’t
expect it, but she felt kinda awkward letting her ex-fling into the very
room she shared with her boyfriend.
“Is he ok?” Owen asked as he manoeuvred the box round. “No pains or
anything.”
Gwen just shrugged, “I’ve been cleaning out the spare room all morning,
and I never heard anything.”
Owen growled as he rolled his eyes, “I asked you to keep an eye on him.”
“I was just about to!” she protested.
Owen stopped to glare at her, “He’s in shock for fucks sake!” he snapped.
“He’s not in his right mind and I specifically asked you to look out for
him.”
”I’m sorry.” She quelled the feeling of being told off like a stupid
school girl, then her eyes caught the clock on the wall, it was already
past four in the evening. “Oh my god!” she gasped. “I didn’t realise it
was that late!”
“What ever” Owen muttered as he went into the bedroom where he instantly
put on his Doctor façade.
“Jack? Jack…!” he said ever so softly, shaking the other man’s shoulder a
bit. “I need to check you out mate, make sure everything’s ok. Can you
roll onto your back for me?” He said as he took hold of the covers and
threw them aside.
Jack did as he was instructed, but he didn’t look at them, or even
acknowledge their presence, just stared up at the ceiling.
“Right.” Owen said as he hopped from foot to foot, rubbing his hands
together. “I guess this should be the same as with women.” Ever so
carefully he lifted Jacks’ t-shirt up over his belly, then unbuttoned his
jeans to open them a little.
Gwen watched as Owen slowly felt around Jack’s belly, then removed a
stethoscope from the box he had brought. Putting it on he then breathed on
the flat end to warm it before using it on Jack. He grumbled something as
he moved it around. “Well everything sounds ok, though I think you should
eat something, your stomachs grumbling.” He chuckled but got no response.
“Oh well, Gwen gimmi a hand will ya.” He said as he turned back to the
box.
Inside was the promised ultrasound, monitor and everything. It took them a
few minutes to set it up.
“I didn’t have time to warm the gel.” Owen addressed his patient, “so it’s
gonna be a little cold.” Then he was squeezing clear gel onto Jacks belly,
before moving the wand thing though it.
Gwen watched the fuzzy blue image on the screen, she couldn’t make hide
nor hair of it, but Owen ummed and arrd in satisfied tones.
“Well everything looks the same and where it all should be, what is it?
Four months?”
Jack just nodded slowly before turning his face away from them.
Owen switched off the equipment, “Well, we should keep this stuff here, no
point dragging it back and forth… You just ring me if anything changes and
I’ll be right over. Ok?”
Another slight nod.
Owen then wiped Jack clean, straightened his clothes and covered him back
up again before ushering Gwen out the room.
“Try and get some food in him, use blackmail if you have to, call me if
anything happens you’re not happy with.”
“Sure.” She said softly.
“I left a note at the HUB if that Doctor guy comes back with Tosh and
Ianto…” he placed a hand on her shoulder, “You stay with him, of the both
of us, you’re the one who can get through to him.”
Gwen felt tears in her own eyes, the last few days had been a blur of one
emotion or another and she was exhausted. And now the man she admired was
hurt in a way that she couldn’t just put a plaster on and make better.
For a change Owen didn’t patronise her, instead he took her into his arms
and hugged her tightly.
“I still have something’s left to do back at base; I’ll be over in the
morning though to see how things are going.”
She felt him kiss the top of her head before he pulled away and left.
Numbly she wandered back to the bedroom. Jack had turned back onto his
side.
She sat down on the bed, placing one hand on his shoulder, only to find it
shaking.
“Jack?” she questioned softly as she leaned over a little to see his face,
it was covered by his hands and she could see the tears.
Without a word she made her way to the other side of the bed and laid down
facing him under the covers, then pulled him into her arms, pressing his
face into her chest.
“It’s gonna be alright,” She promised, and deep down she knew she was
telling the truth, but that was her heart talking. Her head said
otherwise. “It’s gonna be alright.”
Rhys was proud that he managed to get the key in the hole as he stumbled
though the door.
That new club had been great, nothing like cheap booze when all his
friends are fondling as many woman as they could, so he downed his drinks
half hoping Gwen would turn up and half expecting to be disappointed,
again he wasn’t so surprised. She never did. But as he drowned his sorrows
his temper also rose. What was the point of a girlfriend when you never
fucking saw her, always running off after that tall American twat in the
old coat like some avenging hero… “Fucker…” he seethed to himself as he
kicked his shoes off.
He shed his coat and let it land on the floor; he was unbuttoning his
shirt as he stepped into his bedroom and flicked the light on. Then he
stopped, his breath caught in his throat.
Gwen was on her side of the bed cuddling up with that twat Americans’ face
in her tits.
Without thinking he turned off the light, closing the door softly as he
made his way to the living room. Numbly he sat down on the sofa, staring
at nothing.
All this time… All this time he thought it was just a job, when she came
home smelling of someone else, he just innocently thought that it was just
new surroundings or something… But now he knew… She was fucking her boss…
and in HIS bed!
He gritted his teeth on his anger; his brain spinning trying to find what
to do next, but it was a blank.
There was a shuffling from the hall… then someone walked into the living
room and through into the kitchen.
He heard the cupboards being opened and closed as if they were looking for
something.
He couldn’t take it anymore as his eyes narrowed.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doin’?” he hissed as he stood up and
turned to look at Gwens’ boss.
At first the other man just blinked at him. “I need a glass…” he said.
Rhyss’ blood boiled. He needed a bloody glass? Who the hell did the think
he was, shagging his missis then asking for a fucking glass like he owned
the bloody place!
“I’ll give you a fucking glass!” he screamed as he launched himself at the
taller man.
He had no idea how he got into the kitchen so fast, but with all the force
of speed he punched the American in the face, sending him crashing into
the sink were he slumped to the floor.
Now he just saw red, remembering the way this man just dismissed him when
ever they had met, taking Gwen further and further away from him with
every day she worked with him.
He bought back his foot and kicked the prone man now cowering on the
floor, arms wrapped about his torso whimpering, begging him to stop. This
only fuelled his anger more as he landed another kick.
Gwen awoke with a start, sitting bolt upright.
At first her mind was a blank, before she looked over to the open door,
then realised that she was alone, Jack was gone.
Then she heard it, the sound of Rhys shouting then something crashing in
the kitchen.
She tried to scramble out of bed, cursing as her feet got caught in the
sheets. Then her heart went cold at the sound of Jack’s soft cries of
‘stop’.
She flung herself at the door, down the corridor and into the living room
where she saw Rhys bent over, his hand braced against the sink as he
kicked something repeatedly.
When she saw what he was kicking she froze in horror.
Jack was huddled on the floor, trying to turn his back to his attacker
while trying desperately to protect his stomach for any blows, all the
while giving out oof’s of pain as each vicious blow landed.
Then she was moving again, she grabbed Rhys, throwing him bodily to the
other side of the kitchen, not bothering that he landed dazed on the floor
as she bent to Jack.
“Jack!” she called, pulling the struggling man into her arms. “Jack it’s
me it’s all right now!” she brushed her fingers though his long hair,
cooing in his ear as she rocked him.
After a few moments he settled down, growing limp in her hold, before
tensing again and trying to bury himself against her, that was when she
realised Rhys was getting unsteadily to his feet, she could smell the
alcohol from where she knelt.
“You fucking unfaithful bitch!” he snarled, propped up against the
counter.
Gwen froze, had he found out?
“I go out for the night and you jump into bed with your bloody boss!”
She let the breath she was holding go. “What the hell are you talking
about!” she yelled back at him, “We have our clothes on you idiot. Look…”
she took a calming breath, “Something happened today, and Jack’s just
staying with us for a while… He’s in shock, I left him in our bed while I
cleared out the spear room, didn’t you see the boxes in the hall!”
Rhys blinked at her owlishly. His drunken mind obviously trying to take in
this bit of information.
She turned her attention away from her boyfriend and tried to get a better
look at Jack. His lip was bleeding profusely and his cheek was already red
and inflamed. “Jack, what hurts?”
He just tried to bury his face again, once this powerful self-sufficient
man was now trying to hide from the harmful world like a child.
“Tell me what hurts!” she demanded.
“Back an’… side…” he muttered, moving his right hand in the vague
direction. Then he became still, his blue eyes widened in something like
horror as he reached around to his backside, when he bought his hand back
around his fingers were smeared in blood. “No…” he whispered as his whole
body began to shake. “No…!”
“Rhys, get me the phone…” Gwen hissed. When she heard nothing, she looked
over at the other man, who still stood stunned.
“I didn’t kick him so hard…” he uttered.
“Get me the bloody phone!” she cried.
He shook himself then dumbly took the phone from its hook and passed it to
her then stood back again.
Still with one arm around Jack who was getting more distraught by the
second, she pressed in the numbers she had committed to memory.
The ringing on the other end seemed to go on forever before it was finally
picked up.
“Yeah…” came a bored sleepy voice from the other end.
“Owen, Get over here now! Jack’s bleeding!” she screamed down the
receiver.
She was answered by a faraway curse as the line went dead.
Ianto sat next to Toshiko in the control room as they watched the tall
gangly man fiddling with the control column. They had sat like this for at
least 2 hours now, after the Doctor had put his daughter to bed.
He had tried talking to him, but all he did was glare at them, and Tosh
was silent, just sitting there with her eyes wide, watching.
After the initial screeching noise, there seemed to be a sound that
permeated everything. It was nothing like the slow whispered heartbeat
type sound that they had heard before… this was the sound of something in
pain, like a mourning wail that never seemed to ebb away and infected
everything.
Finally he had had enough, Standing up he addressed the Doctor. “So how
long is this going to take?” He asked, “I had paperwork that I needed to
file.”
The Doctor paused, then turned his eyes slowly towards him. Ianto took a
step back, it was almost the same look Jack gave them all when they tried
to open the time vortex, but this look was more frightening, so ancient it
was terrifying.
At first the Doctor didn’t move then he was suddenly animated, throwing
his arms in the air and strode about the control column. “oooh, I don’t
know, maybe we are being thrown through space across galaxies to get back
to a place that no longer exists, with no off switch or a reset button,
all because someone touched something that they shouldn’t have, even
didn’t ask to touch, just touched it, as glib as you please… and BOOM!
Here we are, stuck in a ship that once it reaches it’s destination, that’s
not there, we are gonna… well I’m not sure what’s gonna happen, but what
ever it is we are going to keep doing it until maybe I can disable this
nice little protection circuit that used to be really handy in a fix, but
is now unbelievably useless, here we are, stuck, with no way of getting
any help… well not helpful help, more of an unhelpful help, or help that’s
not so much as help as hindrance…” then he seemed to quell. “So now we are
stuck… Until I can find a way of fixing the unfixable…”
“So you’re saying this could be permanent?” Ianto was proud his voice
didn’t break, he was going to be stuck in this place with his lov…
ex-lovers’, he corrected himself, lover forever? That just couldn’t be
happening; Jack had hinted at something the other day, and how could that
happen if he was stuck?
“In a nutshell.” The Doctor replied in a dead tone that was more
frightening that the anger before it. “And I’ve left Jack behind… again.”
The pain in that last sentence was so palpable that Ianto could almost
feel it. It seemed to wash off the Doctor in waves leaving a hollow
feeling in Ianto’s chest. He was vaguely aware of Tosh sobbing behind him.
He managed to turn and sat down unceremoniously next to her, as he put an
arm about her shoulders.
When he looked back up he saw the Doctor slowly making his way to the only
other door in the room, his shoulders hunched, head down.
And that was when the panic really set in…
Gwen paced the small space, from window to door and back again, gnawing at
her fingernails as she did so. Ryes hadn’t moved from his place on the
sofa, his head in his hands since Owen had kicked them out of their
bedroom.
Thirty minuets earlier Owen had finally come banging on the door,
demanding to know what had happened, then when he saw Jack still on the
kitchen floor, he had been furious, not his normal type boisterous anger,
but a quiet seething anger, all of it geared towards Ryes. Gwen couldn’t
blame him, she wasn’t too happy with the man she thought she knew right
now either.
They had carefully got Jack to his feet, then with great difficulty moved
him through into the main bedroom, throwing the duvet off they laid him
down on his side.
Gwen had offered to help, but Owen had just asked her to bring him warm
water and towels then shoved her from the room.
She was just about to go and see if he needed anything else when Owen came
back into the room, the bowl and bloody towels in hand. She couldn’t read
the expression on his face.
“So?” she asked desperately, “Please tell me it’s gonna be ok!” she
begged.
Owen just shrugged as he dumped his burden in the sink, then washed his
own hands.
“So far as I can tell, there is extreme bruising to his back and right
leg, another straight one on his right midsection, I assume where he fell
against something.” Then he looked down at the sink, and the disarray it
was still in. “Well that explains that.” He rubbed both hands over his
face and groaned wearily. “There will be trauma to his womb, but its
sound… for now…”
“But the bleeding?” she moaned, “He was bleeding so much!”
Owen managed a humourless chuckle. “That was from a pen in his back pocket
taking a blow, snapping and gouging a deep wound out of his ass.” He
reached into a pocket and pulled out the item in question; it just looked
like a silver pen that had been bent till it snapped leaving two razor
sharp edges.
Gwen clamped a hand over her mouth. “Oh thank god!” she muttered, relief
washing though her leaving her knees weak.
“But this doesn’t mean its all ok.” Owen uttered softly, “With the shock
and… beating… There is now physical as well as physiological trauma to the
womb… I’m sorry to say this… but it’s not looking good, I’ll go get some
meds as soon as the pharmacy opens to try and stop a miscarriage, it’s not
the kinda thing we sto…”
Before he could finish she felt her legs buckle beneath her, then Owen was
holding her as they crumpled to the floor.
Owen just held her close for a few moments, before Rhys’s voice broke the
silence.
“What are you guys talking about?”
Gwen pulled away and saw Owen rolling his eyes and he helped her to her
feet.
Rhys still sat with his head in his hands.
“Your talking like that guy is pregnant or something, he’s a bloody guy!”
then he was getting to his feet to face them.
Gwen looked at Owen who just shrugged. “That’s cos somehow he actually
is.” Owen said in an offhand tone. “Or he will be if he can get over the
beating you have just given him you fucking ida… oof!”
Gwen elbowed him in the ribs. “Look Rhys... it’s too late… early to talk
about this and you’re still drunk… go to bed…”
”I can’t go to bed, that freaks in it!” He snapped.
“Like I would sleep anywhere near you after what you just did!” she
snarled back. “The spare room is cleaned up; you’re sleeping in there for
the foreseeable future!”
With a violent wave of his arm Rhys stomped off and Gwen gave a sigh of
relief.
“I guess I’ll also get some retcon in the morning.” Owen mused.
Gwen shook her head. “That’s not gonna help, either he accepts this, or…
or, well we’ll just have to see…” she knew Jack had scolded her to keep
her life separate, but what kind of life was it with a guy who seemed to
get more and more violent and jealous the more time went on… she knew one
day she would have to choose, she just didn’t want it to be now.
“Look.” Owen said. “I’m gonna crash out here for a bit… I take it I’m on
the sofa?”
“Yeah… umm I’ll get you a blanket.”
She got Owen a pillow and blanket, then made her way back to Jack, he was
once again on his side under the duvet, curled up, and when she looked
closer she could see his eyes wide open.
With a sigh, she toed off her shoes and sock’s, then took off her jeans
before sliding under the covers again.
“It’s gonna be ok.” She whispered as she once again pulled him into her
arms, trying to make sure she didn’t jar him. “It’s all gonna be all
right.” She knew she was just trying to reassure herself, but she had to
hope.
He held Rose in his arm’s as she slept, slowly rocking back and forth in
the rocking chair Jack had insisted on so long ago.
The amount of times he had to take Rose and tuck her up in bed, before
lifting an equally sleeping Jack into their own bed from this very chair,
were beyond counting. It was just one of the many moments where he didn’t
mind being domestic. Where the past and future didn’t matter and he found
himself at peace with the most mundane of little things.
He had watched many other people have these moments over his time alone,
always picking up the odd passengers, loving and protecting them with his
life, if need be. But he knew they all must end sooner or later. Always
sooner when he thought that maybe he had found the one, the one he could
watch grow old and die, but those were the quickest to leave him.
But not Jack…
Jack had come and then gone so soon, that he didn’t even have time to
register that he had feelings for him.
Then he had blundered back in, alive and well and immortal. Someone he
didn’t have to watch die, someone who the TARDIS let mess with her innards
and never complained.
He smiled wryly at that.
He should have realised in his last incarnation that she, the TARDIS,
already knew what he was blind to. That Jack was the one he had been
flying all over space and time for, and all that time had been worth it,
every second… But now he was gone.
He could also feel her mourning for Jack, tingeing at the edge of his own
grief.
Rose squirmed in her sleep and whimpered a little.
He made shushing noises, as he held her that little bit tighter, kissing
the top of her blond head till she settled back to sleep.
At least he had her. His and Jack’s little Rose, a little piece of the man
who had stolen not one, but both, of his hearts.
Now she was doomed to living her life lost in space unless he could fix
this.
That was something he had to do, no questions, he had promised Jack he
would be there, promised he would take care of him. Him, Rose and their
yet to be born child.
As part of that promise he knew Jack would never forgive him if he
neglected their little bundle of joy, even though he yearned to lose
himself trying to fix the TRADIS so they could all get back to Earth.
Something tickled over his cheek and it took him a moment to realise…
He was crying.
Jack woke with a start, sitting bolt upright, then fell back down, dizzy.
At first he just stared up at the low ceiling, not understanding where he
was or why. That was before the hollow hole in his chest which seemed to
go on forever, followed by a deafening silence, even though he hadn’t been
aware of the sound before, just now aware of its absence.
He wasn’t surprised by the tears that were leaking from his eyes.
Then other things started making themselves known, odd pains like bruises
on his back, and a strange stinging pain… but something more important was
wrong, something inside was loosening, trying to brake away and die.
Taking a deep breath he closed his eyes and tried to focus deeper and what
he found scared him.
His own body was trying to reject the foetus and that wasn’t something he
was willing to let happen, not if this was all he had left of his Doctor.
Without thinking he reached into his own being, soul, if you will, then
wrapped it about his precious cargo, layering it, letting it leech
strength from him, almost attaching it to his own being to keep it safe,
to keep it alive.
He knew the Doctor wouldn’t let him do this, he would stop him, would hold
him, and tell him everything would be all right, that they had all the
time in the universe… But he wasn’t here, nor would he be.
He heard himself sob out loud.
Then someone moved besides him.
“Jack?”
It was Gwen, her voice filled with nothing but worry and concern as she
leant over him and he couldn’t keep the grief in as he let the gut
wrenching sobs come.
End – Chapter 3 – Too Far
Chapter 4 – Some time later |