Chapter Text
The room was small. Much too small for the three single beds that had been cramped into it alongside a wobbly wardrobe that looked like it had been flown over from Old Earth. With a wary sigh, Jack put his duffle bag on the bed farthest away from the others and stared out of the window. Thunderbolts lit up the sky, followed by thunder that drowned out the pattern of the rain. No one had expected that kind of weather, least of all the hundreds of guests that had come to the yearly parade. The priests were saying it proved their Gods’ temper but Jack knew that there was nothing supernatural about the weather. If you didn’t include messing around with Time as supernatural, because that storm felt like a time storm if only a small one. Jack doubted that the Time Agency would even send out agents to check it out – or rather, he hoped they didn’t.
Jack stroked the leather band of his Vortex Manipulator, trying to find comfort in the familiar sensation. It helped in so far as it reminded him that while he couldn’t jump through time right now, neither could any other Time Agents. As long as the storm was howling outside, he was safe. He only needed to act fast as soon as the storm weakened and leave this planet and time. If the Time Agency found him again after they had already erased two years of his memories, Jack didn’t want to imagine what they would do to him. So far, he didn’t have anything of value to trade them for his freedom – or information – so his only chance was to keep moving until he came up with a better plan.
The cracking of the door disturbed Jack’s thoughts and he looked up to watch a couple push into the room. The man looked like a human in his forties while the woman appeared to be in her twenties, going by Earth standard years.
“Damn, I’m soaked through,” the young woman muttered, chucking off a jeans jacket from the 21st century and wringing her blonde hair.
“You humans, complaining about a little rain,” the older man rolled his eyes at his young companion, throwing his leather jacket on the foot of one bed. “I guess that’s why even this hotel is packed and there weren’t any free rooms left anymore.” Piercing blue eyes fell on Jack who felt the sudden urge to stand up straight and salute. He withstood the impulse, if only barely.
“What?” Confused eyes, surrounded by a black substance that might have been kohl at one point, looked up at Jack. “But they said that they had two free beds… Oh!” The young woman snorted. “Well, I guess they didn’t lie.”
“I guess not,” her companion muttered and while her easy laughter relaxed Jack, he felt wary of him. Only one way to act then.
“Hi,” Jack crossed the few steps to the couple and offered his hand, “I’m Captain Jack Harkness, and you are?” He made sure to turn on his most brilliant smile and was rewarded with a blush from the young woman.
“Rose Tyler, nice to meet you and that’s,” she gestured to her companion, “the Doctor.”
Jack was sure that he wouldn’t shake his hand but the moment passed and a strong but extremely cold hand squeezed his own. Either the man was an alien or he was in dire need of medical attention.
“Doctor of what?” Jack cocked his head to the side and smiled at the man. He wasn’t what one would have called handsome in his time – with his huge ears and nose, and his clipped hair – but there was something about him that drew Jack in. It could be the surprisingly strong handshake or the look in his eyes, warning him away, Jack had always loved a good challenge that came with a warning sign.
“A lot, more than one of you apes could imagine.” The reply wasn’t harsh despite the choice of words but Jack could only stare at him in shocked surprise.
“Don’t mind him,” Rose sighed, “he’s just pissed because we can’t go back to our ship in this weather, insulting other species is his favourite form of stress relief.”
“Good to know,” Jack smiled, filling in all the information he had just gathered away and planning his next course of action. It only took him a split second to make up his mind. They had a spaceship that, judging from Rose’s denim trousers and her cotton shirt, was capable of temporal flight and they were both hot – it was the easiest decision Jack had made in years.
“I’m just glad to get to spend the night with such a lovely couple,” Jack gazed meaningfully into Rose’s eyes and watched her cheeks turning pink.
“Ahem, we’re not a couple, we’re just,” Rose’s eyes shifted to the Doctor who lifted an eyebrow at her, “friends. We’re friends that travel together.”
“O-kay.” If Rose didn’t look so uncomfortable, Jack would have suspected that she was pulling his leg. Everything about these two screamed that they were a couple, they had to be deaf to ignore it. Or maybe, Jack mused when he caught the dark, and yet longing, look of the Doctor, something else was holding them back. Good thing he was there then.
“I could help you get together if you like, I’ve been told that I’m a great go-between,” Jack winked meaningfully at Rose and turned to the Doctor with an inviting smile only to take a step back at the glare in his eyes. God, but it looked like a thunderstorm brewing in the depths of them.
“Oh, you’d like that, wouldn’t you, Captain?” The Doctor’s lips turned into the terrifying imitation of a smile, showing off his teeth threateningly. “Get the two into bed, use your 51st-century pheromones to your advantage and steal our ship in the aftermath, right?”
“What?” Jack stared at the Doctor in disbelief and Rose mirrored his expression, although her next words showed that she was confused by something else.
“What pheromones?” To Jack’s great disappointment, Rose stepped away from him.
“51st-century humans – and the ones after that, up until the 56th century – have their pheromones modified to appeal more to others. Don’t worry, it won’t make you do anything that you don’t want to do, but it can certainly lower your inhibitions,” the Doctor mostly spoke to Rose, who relaxed at the explanation before his focus snapped back to Jack. “You’ll find that your plot won’t work, Captain,” the Doctor spat his title mockingly. “You’re not getting your hands on my ship. I’m not as easily played as the poor sod who lost their wristband to you.”
“You mean my Vortex Manipulator?” Jack raised an eyebrow at the Doctor. “That’s mine.”
“You’re a Time Agent, then?” The mocking note in the Doctor’s voice told Jack just how little regard the Doctor held for the Time Agency. He didn’t even wonder how he knew of them – they were supposed to be a secret organisation through most of time.
“I was,” Jack admitted, loathe to play games with these two, “I quit after they took two years of my memories.”
The Doctor snorted, “So, you stole that Vortex Manipulator after you did something horrible enough to have your memories erased. That’s reassuring, I certainly trust you enough to invite you into my bed, now.”
Jack swallowed the bitterness in his mouth. “You’re right, you shouldn’t trust me. For all I know, I’m a murderer.”
Jack turned his back to them, took off his boots, and slipped underneath the scratchy covers of the bed he had claimed as his. He didn’t move despite feeling their gazes on his back. He didn’t have anything else to say to them, even if Rose were interested in him, the Doctor had made it clear what he thought of Jack. Any other day, Jack would have brushed the Doctor’s opinion of him aside but they rang too true, the Doctor couldn’t have hit closer to home if he had tried.
“Did you have to be so mean to him?” Rose hissed quietly, likely assuming that Jack was already asleep. “He didn’t do anything wrong, he was nice.”
“He was trying to get in our pants, both at them, at the same time,” the Doctor returned, and somehow, despite only having known them for less than an hour, Jack knew that Rose was rolling her eyes at him.
“If you’re trying to shock me, you’ve to try harder. I’m not some naïve princess who grew up sheltered in my parents’ palace.” An annoyed huff followed that statement. “It’s possible to reject an offer without getting nasty, you know.”
“You didn’t look like you wanted to reject his offer,” the Doctor’s voice was quieter now and Jack detected a question in it. If he didn’t still feel like someone had punched him in the gut, he would’ve told Rose to seize the moment, but he didn’t fancy playing matchmaker for someone who had hated him on sight.
“I’m tired, I’m going to bed,” Rose merely replied, bedclothes rustled, and the light was dimmed in the room.
Jack forced himself to breathe quietly and steadily in the sudden silence of the room, pretending that he was asleep while listening for anything to tell him if the Doctor had gone to bed, too. The only sounds were the prattling of the rain against the window and the howling of the wind, but somehow, Jack believed that the Doctor was still awake. He drew the covers closer around himself and willed his body to find some rest without the pills that were hidden away in his duffle bag. He wouldn’t risk taking a sleeping aid while in the company of two strangers.
The rain had lessened significantly by the time Jack finally succumbed to exhaustion and fell into a restless sleep.
The ships came at dawn.
“Take your brother! Take Gray and run!”
Jack ran. Bombs exploded around him. People screamed. The ships dove down above them. A bomb exploded right next to him. Jack stumbled and fell to the ground. Everything was blurred, unreal like walking through thick fog. His head hurt. Jack lifted his hand to check for injury only to realise that both his hands were empty.
“Gray!” Jack screamed, stumbling forward but he couldn’t find his brother, and then, the next shock wave of a bomb close by knocked him out.
When he next opened his eyes, he was standing next to his mother who was cradling the broken body of his father. Something was wrong with that sudden change, but Jack didn’t question it further. His head was still throbbing, he likely had a blackout.
“Mum,” he started, tears streaming down his cheeks, “I’m so sorry, I…” Jack was reaching out, wishing for his mother to hold him while their world lay crumbling around them, but his hand was slapped away.
“You useless excuse of a son!” Rage was burning through the sorrow in his mother’s eyes. “I only asked one thing of you, to look after your brother, and you couldn’t even do that. Why couldn’t you die in his state?”
A sob shook Jack’s body and the image of his parents – one dead, one hating him – blurred before his eyes. “He might not be – maybe, Gray was just knocked out and…”
“You better hope he was and you better find him!” His mother snarled at him. “Don’t bother coming back if you don’t find him!”
Sobbing, Jack stumbled away from the house, wiping his eyes desperately while he walked along the shoreline, finding his way amongst the corpses of former friends and neighbours. Soon, the stench of the rotting bodies in the heat of the day made him retch but Jack carried on. With every small body that turned out not to be his brother, his heart soared high and plumped down at the same time. He didn’t want to find his brother amongst the corpses but not finding him would be worse. He needed to find him. He had to find him. There was no other way, he’d lose everything if he couldn’t find Gray. His mother would hate him forever – and rightly so. He was the worst, he had lost his little brother. He should be dead, rotting on the beach. At least then, someone might care.
Jack stumbled over a torn arm and fell. Pain stabbed his hands and knees, and a stifled sob tumbled from his lips, followed by another and another until he was crying desperately into the sand, surrounded by the dead and with only the harsh sun as a witness.
“Jack!” The name drifted towards him.
“Captain!” Something was shaking him, moving him. Maybe They had come back to kill all the survivors. Jack just hoped that they would do it fast.
“Jack!” Coldness closed around his nape.
“Just kill me! Damnit!” The words hadn’t died away completely when Jack’s eyes flew open.
A dream. It had all just been a dream, nothing more. Gasping in air, Jack made to push upright, only to realise two things at once: he was already sitting up – which wasn’t entirely surprising- and something was slung around his chest – which was much more worrisome.
Breathing heavily, Jack glanced down and blinked when the restraints around his chest turned out to be arms. Strong arms held him securely against a broad chest, and while Jack kept staring down, one of the hands started to rub small circles on his chest.
“Breathe, lad! It’s alright, you’re fine.” The voice was familiar, but it still took Jack a few precious seconds to place it and recall where and with whom, he was. It didn’t help at all.
Jack squeezed his eyes shut again, forcing more air than necessary past the burning pain in his chest and into his lungs, desperately trying to calm down despite knowing that it was impossible. Waking up from a nightmare – especially this one – was bad enough when he was alone, but it was downright terrifying with two strangers around – one of them hating his guts.
“Doctor,” soft, warm hands cradled his clammy ones, “I don’t think he’s calming down.”
“No, you’re right, Rose.” The hand that had been rubbing his chest moved to his head, fingers stroking through his sweaty hair. A sense of calm and security trickled into Jack’s thoughts, calming down the racing panic and fear that were consuming his thoughts. Slowly, the pressure on his chest eased and his heart rate slowed down until he was breathing normally.
“There,” a sweaty strand of hair was stroked away from his forehead, “that’s better, lad.”
“What did you do?” Jack rasped out, slowly blinking his eyes open, only to meet Rose’s worried gaze. It was better than looking at the Doctor who was still a solid weight in his back.
“Calmed you down a little. I was afraid you’d pass out otherwise,” the Doctor said and yet, he didn’t explain anything.
“You did something to my mind,” Jack returned even as he accepted a glass of water from Rose. If he wasn’t so exhausted, he’d be terrified right about now.
“I wasn’t in your mind,” the Doctor sounded indignant, “I merely nudged the surface of your mind with my own. I’d never go inside anyone’s mind without permission.”
Somehow, Jack believed him. It wasn’t logical, he had only just met these two and the Doctor hadn’t made a secret of his dislike for Jack, but… he trusted him – to a certain extent.
“Alright,” Jack emptied the glass and handed it back to Rose with a shaky smile, “sorry for waking you up.”
“Not your fault,” Rose perched on the edge of the bed and took repossession of one hand, “you can’t control your dreams and this sounded like a really bad one.” Sympathetic, brown eyes looked up at him. “What was it about?”
“Gray, my brother,” Jack replied without thinking and snapped his mouth shut a second later. He didn’t – couldn’t – talk about his failure to protect his brother, right now. He had only ever told his best friend, and as nice as Rose was, he couldn’t tell her –not with the Doctor around. He already thought him a waste of space, Jack didn’t need to confirm his assessment of him. Luckily, Rose didn’t ask any follow-up questions and Jack relaxed a little, only to notice that he was leaning back against the Doctor. Mortified, and afraid that the Doctor’s mood would change again, now that Jack had recovered, he tried to get up, but the Doctor’s hold on him tighten.
“Take it slow, lad. There’s no rush to get up, I don’t mind.” The Doctor sounded completely serious and Rose nodded to his words.
Jack snorted, “Right, could’ve fooled me. I thought you couldn’t stay far enough away from a thief and a potential murderer.”
A wary sigh tickled the hairs at his nape. “That was uncalled for, I shouldn’t have said that.”
Stunned, Jack’s eyes widened and Rose chuckled at his, no doubt, funny expression. “You should mark that one down, he usually doesn’t apologize – not even if he eats the last of the jam.”
“Rose,” the Doctor scolded with no heat to it.
“What?” Rose glared at the Doctor over Jack’s shoulder. “You don’t apologize even if you’re in the wrong. Jack didn’t do anything wrong, he just flirted a little with us.”
Something clicked into place in Jack’s mind when the Doctor grunted in reply to that. Now, that explained why the Doctor had snapped at him like that, he had felt threatened by Jack. The realisation didn’t take the sting of his words away, but they helped Jack to understand the Doctor’s motivation. He could accept getting snapped at out of jealousy, it was better than the Doctor hating him at first sight, and it also explained why the Doctor had bothered to help him after his nightmare. Time for some concessions.
“It’s fine,” Jack addressed Rose, certain that the Doctor would listen, too, “he was right about me wanting to leave this place and time, and that I had figured out that you are time travellers. I guess I should’ve just asked for a lift.”
“Yes,” Rose furrowed her brow at him, “why didn’t you?”
Jack shrugged, “In my experience, people are more inclined to help you if you offer them something in return.”
“But,” Rose started, but interrupted herself, her eyes growing wide in shock, “you were offering us sex in return for a lift?”
“You make it sound like it’d be some kind of hardship,” Jack returned with a wink, but kept the leer out of his voice, “it’d be a win-win situation for me.”
“It’d still be prostitution,” Rose protested and Jack wondered when exactly she was from.
“As I said, no hardship.” Jack decided it best not to mention that it wouldn’t have been the first time. Rose looked shocked enough as it was, he didn’t want that expression to turn into disgust.
“But,” Rose started again, only to be interrupted by the Doctor this time.
“Rose,” his tone was firm, yet gentle, “you can’t force your moral conceptions on someone else. It doesn’t even work in your century on Earth and Jack’s from three thousand years into your future.”
“Fine,” Rose conceded with a sigh, “but we could still give him a lift, right?”
Jack opened his mouth to reassure her that it wasn’t necessary – the storm had lessened considerably and he’d be able to leave on his own – but the Doctor was faster.
“Nothing wrong with it.” Carefully, and with more finesse than Jack would have expected, the Doctor disentangled himself from him and got up. He was even more confused when a hand was offered to him. “We can leave right away if you’d like. I doubt any of us will sleep tonight and the storm is almost over. We should be able to reach the TARDIS in no time.”
Jack didn’t ask what a Tardis was, but just took the Doctor’s offered hand, allowing him to haul him to his feet. “I’m all for leaving right away. If that’s fine with you, Rose?” Jack wasn’t exactly sure what the dynamic between Rose and the Doctor was, but he had learned enough to know that the best way to piss the Doctor off was to treat Rose badly – or to be too friendly with her.
“You won’t hear me complaining about leaving that dump.” Rose grimaced at the bed. “I’m positive something lives in that mattress.”
“Fantastic!” The Doctor beamed at them both. “Let’s go, then. No time like the present.”
It still took another few minutes for Jack and Rose to be ready, despite the Doctor tapping his foot impatiently the whole time. They left the hotel quickly through a back entrance which made Jack wonder if they had paid their bill even as he hurried after them. Their way led them through the quiet streets of the town, through a muddy field, and up a slick hill. By the time they came to a stop, Jack’s clothes were soaked through and Rose was muddy and – judging from her pinched expression – deeply annoyed.
“Now, that’s what I call a nice walk,” the Doctor beamed at them both, and Jack wasn’t entirely sure if he was serious or pulling their legs.
“Nice walk, hah! I’m dirty and wet and I’ve got a puddle in my shoe. I want a shower, a cup of tea, and my bed, Doctor!” Rose wiped a strand of hair from her forehead and smeared a streak of mud all over her skin.
“No sense of adventure anymore,” the Doctor muttered, retrieving a key from his leather jacket.
Jack frowned, surveying the surrounding area more closely in the hopes of spotting the Doctor’s ship, but there was nothing except trees and some kind of blue box. Of course, it wasn’t unlikely that the ship possessed a cloaking device to make it untraceable. If Jack had a time ship, he would make sure that no one could find it easily.
To his complete surprise, the Doctor stepped up to the blue box and opened it with a flourish. “Everyone inside.”
“Finally,” Rose sighed and to Jack’s disbelief walked past the Doctor and into the small box.
“How,” Jack started, only to be interrupted by the Doctor’s impatient huff.
“Get inside before the mud and rain get in, she’s peculiar about the state of the grating.” With that cryptic statement, the Doctor followed Rose into the small box, leaving the door open for Jack.
Shaking his head, and preparing himself to squeeze inside, Jack walked through the door and stood, gaping. It was bigger on the inside!