RP for rude_not_ginger The morning after...

[quitehomoerotic]

Follows on from this

When Jack woke it took him a while to realise where he was, a while to catch up with the night before.

But it soon came rushing back.

The sleep, what little he'd had, had still been more than he'd had in weeks. Though it still wasn't enough to relieve the ache he felt inside. An ache that only seemed to grow when he thought about the night before.

He felt like a fool. A fool for attempting to push aside pain. Guilty for it too. Guilty for trying. Guilty too for making a fool out of himself in front of the one person who might understand.

One thing he knew though, almost immediately; he should leave. The TARDIS wasn't the place for him. Not any more. It was once, when he was a man who could die, a man who could sleep a dreamless sleep. But he wasn't that man now. And besides, the Doctor had hardly asked him to stay, had he? If he left it would remove the need for the inevitable conversation that would only leave them both feeling awkward. And besides, Jack didn't want to have to hear the Doctor asking him to leave.

So he washed and dressed (and he had to admit he was thankful for the shower), and he made his way back to the console room. His feet padding as quietly as they could along the endless corridors.

He took one last look around the room, touching a light hand against the walls as he took his coat and put it back on. He smiled at it, at the memories this place and the man who owns it hold.

And he walked to the doors to leave.

Comments

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"Well, Doctor," Jack grinned to himself as he gripped his way along the side of the hull, kicking aside his coat which he'd hooked around like a makeshift waistband. "If this is your idea of a date, it's inventive, I'll give you that."

He laughed slightly and tilted his head to the side to briefly check on the other man and added, "Though if that's an offer of a demonstration, I'll remember that for when we get back on the TARDIS."

Though it might not seem like it, Jack was concentrating on moving along the hull of the ship. His head turned to get a look at the Space Wall, vast and consuming as it was. It was beautiful, as so many catastrophic things were. He looked away.

"Yes, sir."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Ooooh, I get 'sir', now," the Doctor teased, pulling out the sonic to loosen the holds on the next hatch. "Been a while since anyone's thought of me so highly. I may have to wear a proper tuxedo on our date."

He gave a wave at the hatch, but nothing altered. He sighed. "Sonic waves in the vacuum of space. We'll need to loosen this the old fashioned way."

He gripped the handle of the hatch and pulled. It was stuck but good.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"Oh you know, I'm a military man. Respect where it's due." And all too flippantly, just backing up its truth, "I've always thought of you that highly."

"Well in that case it's good you've got me here. I'm not just a pretty face, you know." He took hold of the hatch at the other end and tugged hard, letting out a slight grunt. "Okay, yeah, this was fitted well. There's got to be an emergency release or something around here?"

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

The Doctor struggled again, then shook his head. "It's jammed. The extent of the damage from the ship."

He looked across the hull. "If we go to that entrance, we'll have to pass the leak as well. The sonic needs a sealed area to work..."

And the ship was moving closer to the Wall. There wasn't time to worry about things like this or coming up with another plan. He tied his coat around his forearm and took in a few steady breaths.

"I should be all right for a few minutes, but if I go unconscious, don't let me float off. I don't plan on being a meal for that Wall." Yet. Without giving Jack time to protest, he let out a breath of air and unpressurized his suit. The helmet disconnected immediately and he worked to seal it around the latch and the sonic.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

And of course Jack would have protested, or at least he would have if the Doctor had given him even a moment's breath of a chance. Instead all he had time for was a glare. But it was a very well placed glare.

One of his hands shifted from the hull to the Doctor's shoulder, gripping into the orange fabric to keep a hold of him. "If you die you'll have me to contend with," he warned.

His eyes turned towards the black expanse of the wall, steadily approaching, and back to the Doctor. "Might want to get a move on with that thing!"

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

Jack's voice was lost to the immeasurable silence of space, but he had a feeling Jack wasn't pleased with him. It wasn't the first time the Doctor had been in space without a suit, and the sensation hadn't improved with time. He finished up the seal and unlocked the hatch. For good measure, he vibrated back a dent across the top, ensuring a smooth open.

His ears had begun to ring and he could feel air in his blood vessels pulling them to the surface.

He gestured to Jack to open the hatch and struggled to keep himself awake.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack knew he was arguing into nothing, but then he'd rather do that than just pretend he was okay with the Doctor putting himself in such abject danger.

Right on cue Jack released his hand from the grip he held on the Doctor reached an arm around him to grab the hull on the other side of him, pinning him between the ship and himself. He took his other hand and released it from the hull to take hold of the hatch, and with one swift tug it opened.

Jack hooked his leg inside and all but fell in, pulling the Doctor along with him. He didn't give himself even a moment to catch his breath. Up immediately, closing the hatch behind them before turning his full attention to the Doctor on the floor beside him.

"Doctor?!" He called his name as he kneeled down. "Doctor, you with me?"

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

The hatch pressurized and the Doctor took in a deep lungful of air. It burned, like breathing in acid. The radiation must've been much higher here, permeating the oxygen. High, but not terrible enough to really do him, or He felt blood trickle from his right ear from a few broken blood vessels, but he nodded.

"I don't remember it being that bad a few centuries ago," he said, struggling to unzip the suit. "I must be going a bit soft in my old age."

He grinned up at Jack. "Thanks."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"Yeah. Any time."

Jack just kneeled there for a moment or two, catching his breath. He flicked his helmet off and discarded it to the side, staring at the Doctor with an open mouth. He stood, following him a step or two.

"You know the guy around here with the death wish is supposed to be me, not you." He scowled slightly, then softened his voice, "You okay?"

Stretching a little he pulled himself from his suit and reinstated his coat in its rightful position. "So, after that little diversion..." he opened his wrist strap and nodded, "Should be just two doors away."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

The Doctor did the same with his own coat, feeling a bit more like himself with it around his shoulders. It was good that Jack understood that sentiment.

"I'll be all right," he said. "Nothing quite like a few minutes of spacewalking to remind you to love life. Read those books you never read, go to those places you've never been to. 'Course, that's how I try to live. Let's give these doors a go, shall we?"

He waved the sonic over the next door's panel.

Open door 5.

The Doctor opened the door, and behind was nothing short of carnage. The bodies of dozens of medical personnel, skewered alive or strangled. Piled on top of each other in stacks, with a thin path to walk through. The strong stench of decaying bodies assailed the Doctor's nostrils immediately.

"Think I preferred space," the Doctor said. "Explains why there weren't any bodies along any of the hallways. They were being stored.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"You know I'm sure there are safer ways of giving yourself a jolt," Jack said, a little hypocritically given his own situation. He chose to gloss over that.

Clearing his throat he advanced through the open door, his hand immediately raising to his mouth to mask the stench. "You know and I thought I'd never miss Weevils."

He trod carefully around the piles of bodies, shaking his head at whoever or whatever would have done this. "You know, Doctor, I've seen a lot, but some things never fail to make me sick to my stomach. The universe would be better without some people."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"That's not our decision to make," the Doctor said, deftly manuevering around them as well. "And whoever is being that door are either perpetrators or victims."

He wanted to think that they were the latter, at least. It would be easier that way. He could just save them, not worry about justice for these people. There were so many of them. None alive.

The Doctor gave the side panel a wave with the sonic.

"In either case, we can't leave them to die."

Open door 4.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack pulled a face. His opinion on justice was a little harder than the Doctor's. It changed with time but recently he'd become harsher again. The world had made him harsher. He thought it was best not to voice it.

The door opened and he took a step through. His hand went to the gun in the holster at his waist, discreet so the Doctor didn't notice. It made him feel more comfortable that way.

On the other side were four people and one body. They were too late for that one. A young man huddled in a corner with his arm around his shipmate, whimpering and pleading Please don't hurt us, it wasn't out fault!

Jack glanced at the Doctor and then back to the frightened people in the corner. "We're not here to hurt you. Just wanna find out what happened, that's all."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"It's all right," the Doctor said. "I'm a Doctor, we're here to help."

He stepped forward and pressed his fingers to the pulse of the man on the ground. Oh, long since dead, his skin was cold to the touch. "Radiation sickness?" he asked.

One woman nodded. "We've been locked up here for days while he---" She looked like she might burst into tears again.

"He?" the Doctor demanded. "Who is he?"

The Doctor looked down at the body, then at the four frightened people. "Jack. You said there were five life signs on board?"

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack crouched down beside one the pair and touched a hand against the shoulder of the young man, comforting. He nodded as the Doctor spoke and stood to turn back towards him.

"Five, yeah." It took a moment or two, but it caught up with him. He had been assuming the fifth was the other body but no, no that body was far too dead for that.

He flicked his wrist strap open and turned his attention immediately towards it. "Doctor, I'm still reading one. It's weak but it's close." He looked back up to him. "He's on the bridge."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Jack, get these people to one of those pods back there, interface the manipulator to the pod's systems. You'll need this." He tossed Jack his sonic.

He took a breath and turned immediately to the door.

"You can't go in there!" One of the crew cried. "Look what he did to our officers!"

The Doctor shook his head. "If I'm not back in five minutes, just go without me."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack reached up a hand and deftly caught hold of the sonic. He didn't argue, but it was obvious enough by the look in his eyes that he wanted to. Were it not for the presence of the crew there'd be no way he'd let The Doctor go (he wondered if this is how his team felt every time he stormed off and told them to stay).

"He'll be fine," Jack said, reassuring the crew, a hand outstretched to touch a shoulder.

With eyes back on the Doctor he nodded. Oh he'd take them to the pod all right, and do everything he asked, but he wouldn't leave, not without him.

"Not a chance. I'll see you in five."

He turned back to the crew and with an arm gesturing towards the door, he led them out of the room, with just one quick glance back to the Doctor.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

The Doctor caught Jack's eye and gave him a nod, then a small wink. Of course he'd be back, he tried to convey. Nothing to worry about. No mass-murdering killer on the other side of this door. Jack wouldn't let him down. Those people would be all right.

He turned back to the door and took in a deep breath.

"Blimey."

Open door three.

The door slid open easily, revealing the expanse of the bridge. Blood smeared across the floor and one lone figure dressed in war gear struggled to steer the ship.

Close door three.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack directed the people through the ship to the damaged escape pod. He could do this, he told himself. It had been a while but he could do this. This is what he did. This is who he was.

He guided them past bodies and damaged beams, heading out a path that bypassed the majority of the radiation. These people had been exposed enough, the last thing they needed was another blast.

As they walked, Jack kept an eye on his manipulator, making sure those life signs were still there, that the Doctor was still okay. He got the survivors to the pod and safely inside, reassured them they'd be okay as he removed his wrist strap and wired it up to the panel, fiddling a little with the incompatible technology to make it work.

He was counting down the time in his head. Cutting it close. As soon as it was ready he stepped out and back into the ship. Back to wait for the Doctor. He had to wait for the Doctor.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"How did you get past the doors?" The man shouted. He was large, muscular, and heavily scarred. He reminded the Doctor of the Tereleptil War Lords, only more human. Physically more human.

He brandished a sword and he raised it menacingly. "You weren't here when I cleansed the ship!"

"No, no, I missed that part, unfortunately," the Doctor replied cooly. "Because if I arrived then, I might've been able to stop you from slaughtering dozens of innocent lives."

"They were not innocent! I cleansed them, and I will cleanse you!

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

The time ticked away and Jack wasn't content to just sit and wait for the Doctor. He'd spent far too long in his life doing that, he wasn't about to start doing it again.

He checked the pod, promised the crew he'd be back, and locked them inside, pocketing the sonic, and he ran. Ran the path he'd walked and back towards the bridge, back towards the Doctor.

He'd be there for him.

He took a deep breath before pressing the door release and walking inside.

"Need a hand, Doctor?"

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Jack, look out!"

Things had progressed from bad to worse (much like the rest of the day). The man admitted to piracy and ritualistically murdering the crew. The Doctor told him the ship was about to be destroyed, but he had a chance, one chance for them to take him to the authorities. And then he attacked the Doctor.

Negotiations could've gone better.

The man swung his sword towards Jack, the new target an easier kill than the one protecting himself with an overturned chair.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack ducked barely in time to avoid the business end of the blade. "Woah," he exclaimed, as though it were a butter knife and not a sword. "Careful where you're swinging that thing, you might nick someone."

Like a reflex reaction his gun was de-holstered and in his hand, pointed towards the man. "This guy giving you trouble, Doctor?" He stared forward at the man, a stern and harsh expression on his face.

"You know, I don't take kindly to people hurting my friends. Especially this friend. You mess with him, you mess with me. And you really don't want to mess with me." He cocked the gun back, "I'm volatile."

Jack hadn't had many chances to vent the anger and rage he'd built up since he'd left Earth. The anger that made him leave Earth. It looked like he'd just found an outlet.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

The Doctor had a rather difficult decision to make. If he shouted "Stop!", Jack would stop, and probably be stabbed to death. If he didn't, well, the business end of Jack's gun was aimed straight at that man.

On one hand, they really needed to get off the ship. No time for waiting.

On the other hand, it would be cold-blooded murder.

On the other hand, this man just murdered everyone on board, and would probably murder him and Jack, too.

And the Doctor promised himself he'd take care of Jack.

"Aim up! There's a radiation cable!"

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack's face was cold and fierce, a little vacant. Something unpleasant had awakened in him, he needed shaking from it.

It's a good job the Doctor was there to do the shaking.

At the words he tilted his arm up and fired. The sound of gunshot echoed around the room and the bullet ripped through the cable.

Jack was a good shot.

The man cried out in a mix of rage and pain as the radiation started to flood the room, but Jack didn't lower his gun completely. He kept it trained on the man.

"Doctor. Go." He called out, loud, pointed.

"I'll make sure he doesn't follow us."