for rude_not_ginger Terra Novus: Outpost 7

[quitehomoerotic]

Follows this.

Smack.

Jack landed on the marbled floor with an unceremonious fall.

"Yeah, but you missed it," he said finishing the sentiment the Doctor started before he activated the manipulator.

He pulled himself up from the floor and stretched himself out, looking over to the Doctor to make sure he was okay and all in one piece.

"We're about 800 years to the left," he said as he checked his wrist strap. "Set it on random, thought it'd be more fun that way."

He grinned over at him, and stretched his neck out a little more as he looked around.

What he saw, was nothing short of spectacular.

The walls looked to be made of stone and were decorated with gargoyles and elaborate gold filigree flourishes. Ahead of them, up on the wall, was a vast round glass stain window. Small lights illuminated it around the circle, but just about visible through the other side was the vague starlight in the distance. They were still in space, not on a planet surface.

"Well this is new... what is this, some sort of space monastery?"

Comments

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack rolled his eyes dramatically and laughed.

"Oh sure right because you're really that important, aren't you?" he scoffed. "You know you really seem to think a lot of yourself, but between you and me, I really couldn't care less. So by all means, you go right ahead and think you matter enough for someone to change time, but trust me, you don't."

He laughed again, and shifted his hands to his hips. Utterly incredulous and somewhat amused at just how ridiculous it was.

"And anyway!" he went on, adding justification even though he was sure he didn't need it. "If I was wasting my time messing with your memory, you really think I'd mess with my own too?"

Hmm. He hadn't quite meant to say that.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Ooooh, I think we both know better than that, Captain," the Doctor said. "Look at you! You're fixed! Nothing would affect your memory. Certainly not a low-scale time alteration by a cheap Time Agent."

That had to be it. Sure, the low-scale time alteration probably wouldn't hit the Doctor at all, but this man must've been clever, to catch the Doctor so off-guard.

He pointed at Jack, unimpressed with his attitude. "You're trying to play with me, and I'm not the sort of man to be played with."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"Then I guess we can rule out a low-scale time alteration by a Time Agent then, can't we!"

Jack shouted at the Doctor, fumed at him. How dare he make assumptions and jump to conclusions like that. He'd come a long way from the Agency, a very long way.

"Oh don't flatter yourself," Jack said, unamused. "You should be so lucky, and really, you're not. Now why don't you take your stupid sonic toys and go wherever it is you were going, because you're wasting my time. Because if something is happening here, someone has to stop it, and I don't think that someone is you, Doctor."

He got even closer to him, shouting in his authoritative tone, right in the Doctor's face.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

The Doctor stood there for a moment, a little stunned by the venemhence in the other man's voice. Then, he smiled. A victory smile.

He held up the sonic and said. "I don't think I told you this was sonic. So, if you don't know who I am or anything about me, how did you know, hmm?"

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

For a moment, Jack looked completely confused. He looked at the sonic and back to the Doctor and... yes, how did he know it was sonic?

But he recovered as quickly as he fell and he retuned a patronising smile of his own.

"Oh come on. You think I'm that stupid? I've been around a while. I've seen a lot of things. I can recognise sonic technology when I see it."

But no that really wasn't it, was it? He knew that device was sonic. How did he know? Did they salvage one at Torchwood? Oh that must have been it. It must have been some alien tech that fell through the rift.

"And I've seen one before," he added in a scoff.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"No," the Doctor said. "This is unique. I made it myself. And no matter what knock-offs you might find floating around UNIT headquarters. Added the little finger-holder myself. Trying to catch up to where I should be."

He sighed, looking back at the new sonic. He hadn't perfected the red settings yet, and part of him didn't want to. Red settings meant truly giving in to what the future was telling him he'd have to experience.

"So! Tell me who you really are," he said with a note of finality, stuffing the sonic back into his pocket.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"Oh so you've heard of UNIT, have you?" Jack laughed. Sure he could go around throwing names about like he understood them, but there's no way he did, no way at all.

But as he looked at the sonic, he smirked. It was as though something was in his head that just hadn't been there before. And it wasn't a remarkable change, just an obvious one.

"And really, if you think it's unique, you might want to go back to the hack that sold it to you."

From his pocket, where he knew it had always been (or did he?), he pulled his own sonic pointer (because that's what it was called, wasn't it), and he held it up..

"Doesn't look too unique to me."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

The Doctor gaped. "But---That's mine."

How was that possible? It wasn't, that was for certain. It was not possible that the man had his sonic, he---he---what did he do with his old sonic?

He felt that stabbing in his gut as his mind tried to compensate for the missing data. He melted it down and put it into the TARDIS. That was right, wasn't it? Because he--he had to---

He collapsed forward again and grasped Jack's arm for support. He cried out in pain, equally for the time distortion and for the wrong feeling of Jack.

"What are you doing to me?" he demanded.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack was all for bickering and arguing and acting superior. In fact he could be very good at all of the above when the time called for it (and often when it didn't). But the moment the Doctor fell forward his mind seemed to click into a different mode.

Protective.

He reached out and caught hold of him.

"You're okay, you're okay. I've got you. I've got you."

He lifted one hand and cradled the Doctor's face a moment, stooping to look at him and check he was okay. Far too intimate a gesture really, but then that was just him. And it came naturally.

"Look," he said, "whatever this is, it isn't me. Now Doctor, let me help you, come on, sit back down."

He guided him back towards the bench and for the first time, spoke the Doctor's name without the sarcasm.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

The Doctor jerked back from the intimate gesture. It was something he reserved for companions and lovers, neither of which had been part of his life for a long while. But it came naturally to Jack. Not a slap or a shove, but a gentle touch.

If the Doctor were a genius, which he was, he would think that such a touch would be a sign that he'd known Jack, as a friend at least. Feelings were difficult things to rip away with a temporal distort, but if Jack was a fixed point, it might've lingered.

It would explain the sonic and the lapel pins. Well, not explain explain, but it would at least give them an idea where to start.

"Options," he said. "We need options and theories. Who could do this, first off, then why."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack settled the Doctor back on the bench and sighed. "Relax, I'm not going to hurt you."

He was used to rejection, in a round about way. Or being left behind. Left behind by friends, or left behind when people die, but to be jerked away from so obviously... well, it was a little chaffing.

"Well we can tick me off the list," he said as he sat himself down. "Okay... some sort of Time Sensitive. And they're effecting you so I guess that you're one too? What are you? And it's effecting both of us. I mean... it could be that we just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time but hell of a coincidence, don't you think?"

He wiped a hand up over his face. "How about we start again?" He offered his hand out towards him, "Captain Jack Harkness. Human. Well, mostly."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Time Lord," the Doctor said, rubbing his head. "And I could do this, but I wouldn't. The nausea's worse than vortex manipulation aftershock."

He looked down at his finger, where the cufflink had pricked him. "I don't think so, Jack. Somehow, we know each other. And however we know each other, I managed to give you that sonic. And I don't just give my sonic to anyone."

He couldn't figure out why in the world he'd give it to Jack, though. The man was cheesy, and he had the feeling his name wasn't even Jack. But the Doctor had trusted him, once.

"And I've come to discover that very little in my life is coincidence."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack looked at the Doctor, his mouth slightly agape. "You're kidding, right? I mean... I was just joking when I said that."

The Doctor wasn't kidding though, Jack knew that somehow. He didn't know how he knew. But he knew.

"So what did?" he asked with a sigh and looked down before adding, "Yeah. Yeah I think we do."

He looked back at him, and for a prief moment, he smiled. He didn't know why. It just felt natural, smiling at the Doctor.

Under his breath, he whispered. "I think I've always known you."

So okay, he thought, need to work this out. "Right," he said, tapping his hands against his legs and looking back up again. "How about we start with the last few days? Because I can't quite remember where I've been. It's like... like I've taken retcon or something --that's this drug, retcon--. Just drawing one huge blank."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

The Doctor thought back, but suddenly that wave hit him again and he leaned forward. He was out for a walk in the TARDIS---but those memories weren't right, somehow. They were what was making him sick? Maybe?

"I think that's what it is," he said. "I think we did something or opened something together and we've forgotten it. Every time my mind tries to make up something new, it hurts."

Through the pain, he looked over to Jack. Always known him. He couldn't understand the sentiment, but he didn't think he remembered as much as Jack did. Jack's touch wasn't familiar to him.

"Focus your mind," he said. "Try to remember. I think of the two of us, you would be the one who could."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack shook his head. He was sure there was nothing he could see, sure of it. "I don't, I can't--"

But quite against his words, he tried anyway. He glanced down at the floor and closed his eyes, focusing his thoughts. He thought about his life, and as he thought about it he realised so much of it seemed wrong. So much of his long life seemed to not make sense.

And then... then he saw the memories that mixed. He saw people, remembered people he knew, but then he remembered them again, and he was there, the Doctor. He remembered Martha and it wasn't Martha and that UNIT officer (why would it be, when he thought about it?) it was Martha and him.

But even then, it didn't make sense. He thought of his memories and saw them for what they were, but the longer he held each memory in his mind, the longer it seemed wrong. The longer it seemed like the Doctor should have been part of it. And these memories... they went back as long as it mattered. Right back to...

He opened his eyes sharply and looked at the Doctor. "You knew Rose?"

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"How do you know about Rose?" the Doctor snapped, irritated. He did very well not thinking about her on a daily basis. It had been long enough that walking past her room didn't hurt anymore, but it would be a long while before he was fully past her. It always left a scar, being with people he loved. Losing them.

"I can't have known you that long," the Doctor said, but he already felt the nausea settling around him as he tried to think back. "I can't have."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"You were there when I met her..." Jack said with a furrowed brow. Half phrasing his words as a statement, and half as a question.

"1941... middle of the Blitz. But it wasn't you. A man called the Doctor... he didn't look like you. But--" he stopped and swung his head suddenly looking back up to the hill where he knew the TARDIS sat beyond it.

"The TARDIS," he said as though it were familiar. "I travelled in the TARDIS. I travelled and..." it seemed to hit a blank. It's not what he remembered. It was as though he were constructing a story to fit... but no, no it was his memories that were the story. This felt real. So much more real.

It started hitting like a barrage as he examined his own mind. Things that had to be wrong. Points that seemed to need the Doctor there (and there were apparently so many).

"Waiting" he said, starting off on the muddled list, "Torchwood, Martha, the year-- that year on the Valiant-- you were there, weren't you? It's you. They're all you."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

The Doctor remembered those things happening, but Jack wasn't in his memories. The gap where he was had been filled by Rose or Adam or Leo. Jack wasn't there, but how could he know?

Jack didn't come flooding back into his memory as the Doctor had hoped. There were still huge gaps that needed filling, and every thought about the gaps wracked the Doctor with more pain.

"So time hasn't been altered, just our recollection of it," he said, looking down at the cut on his thumb. "Removing me from your history and you from mine. But why? What would that accomplish, short of us mistrusting each other?"

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack continued to investigate within his own mind. To look back at months and years. It seemed many of the years the Doctor wasn't there. But he was present in his mind. Somewhere, somehow. He'd always been there.

He looked again, and looked closer. Looked recent. He'd been alone; so very alone. But when he scratched away he saw beneath it. There'd been him. There'd been the Doctor.

For a moment, he realised just what had been hidden and it hit him like a ten tonne truck.

He took a shaky breath before going on. Withdrawing from his memories and glad for now of the fact they seemed to veil over again with the lies.

"I think maybe you've got it," he said, "mistrusting each other. I think we- we..." he trailed and shook his head, he couldn't force himself into those recent memories again too much. "I think we we're close."

Looking over at the Doctor's hand he nodded and without thinking he reached over to touch his finger against the cut.

"I think we're really close."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

The Doctor raised an eyebrow at the suggestion, and then slowly pulled his hand away from Jack's touch. Close, pah. The Doctor didn't get close to people anymore. It was a rule, after Donna. Hell, before Donna. Before everything that happened.

He wouldn't know what to do with himself if he got close to someone again. He wasn't sure Jack would know, either. He hopped off of the bench and took a few steps away, running his hand through his hair.

"Right, so the things I don't remember include you as a companion and why we would have our memories altered." He gestured to Jack. "What about that chip. What do you remember? Why was it going off?"

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack felt his heart drop a little as the Doctor moved away. He didn't know why it mattered so much, not really.

But no... no if he thought about it, he knew exactly why it mattered. It seemed ridiculous to him, utterly ridiculous, but when he looked at it, when he really looked, he knew it was real, as unbelievable as it might seem.

He took comfort though in the fact that as he cleared his mind, the memories faded. He saw the last few months again as him alone. Alone was painful, but he was used to that. Seeing what he wanted (did he want that) as a reality he couldn't even remember... that was so much harder.

"Yeah," Jack said softly, "yeah."

With a heavy breath he looked at the manipulator. The chip. He thought about the chip.

And he remembered.

"Oh no." His face paled. "Oh no. I have to go. I have to get out of here. Really, I have to get out of here right now."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"You do?" the Doctor asked with a disbelieving snort. Right, of course. Had to make a run for it, that made sense, because he was the cause of---

No. No, it was the way Jack said it. The tone of his voice, the pure fear. Something was wrong, something that would terrify a fixed point. And, really, when invincible things were scared, it was probably a good idea to be scared as well.

"What's happening, Jack?" he demanded. "What does it mean?"

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

It was hard. Hard to remember. Because every time he stopped trying to remember, he stopped seeing the truth. The only thing that seemed to help is that whatever was changing his old memories wasn't changing his new, so everything he'd discovered, he knew was there. He knew he only had to look.

"I'm going to die," he said quickly. "If I stay. That chip..." he concentrated on it, tried to work it out, pin it down so he could examine the right memory. It didn't come easily. He hit on them arguing first, and then on them talking and then... bingo.

"You put it there," he told him. "There's someone following us. Someone-- he's--- damn what is it?" he got frustrated with himself. "I don't know!" But he's trying to use me... my life. I don't die, Doctor, I can't die. He's trying to use that. That bleeping it was doing means he's on his way. He's on his way and I'm running out of time. I'm sorry, I really have to go."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"The hell you are," the Doctor said. He pushed through his disgust and reached out for Jack's hand. He caught it in as firm a grip as he could.

"I've got a TARDIS, and she'll get us out of here. I'm not leaving you behind." It was idiotic, possibly, but he felt like that was the most important thing. He couldn't leave Jack behind.

Idiotic, of course. He never left anyone behind, ever.

"Allons-y!"

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack gripped back on the Doctor's had as though holding it was naturally. He didn't do holding hands, so how could it be? But, he just knew if he tried to remember, he'd see the reason why. It was natural. It must have been.

He nodded and gripped tight before starting to run along with him and back up over the ridge.

As they dashed the landscape seemed to haze in his vision, and it blurred as though he'd had too much to drink.

"Hurry hurry hurry," he said, trying to keep his vision focussed on the TARDIS ahead, sure that it was a bad sign. It had to be a bad sign.