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Jack injected the hypospray into the crook of his arm. He suppressed a wince, not at the sting of the hypospray, but at the burn of its contents. For a few seconds, it felt as though all the veins in his arm were on fire. Jack stayed very still, breathing deliberately until it passed. Then he pulled his sleeve down over the injection area, which would be an angry red for at least a couple of hours, and disposed of the hypospray.
It was the middle of the TARDIS night cycle, and he managed to make it back to his room without running into anyone. So far, Jack had been lucky: neither of his companions had noticed him getting up in the middle of the night every few days to give himself his injection. But then, Jack hadn’t been sleeping with his companions. That was a new development.
Still, Jack didn’t think he had anything to worry about. The Doctor had gone to bed with him and Rose, but of course he hadn’t stayed there for more than an hour or two. Rose could sleep through anything.
Except, it seemed, tonight.
Jack slid back into the bed, taking care not to jostle her. But she rolled toward him, and he saw that she was already awake. “Hey,” she said sleepily, reaching for him. “Where’d you go?”
“Kitchen,” Jack murmured, gathering her close to him. “Couldn’t sleep, so I went and made some tea.” It was a totally reasonable explanation, and Rose didn’t argue with it, just went back to sleep with her head on Jack’s chest. Jack closed his eyes, too. If he could sleep for a few hours, by the time he was awake the worst of the side effects from the injection should have passed.
Three nights later, Jack got up again in the middle of the night cycle. This time, when he came back to bed, Rose didn’t stir. She didn’t wake the third time, either. But the fourth time, almost exactly two weeks after they’d started sleeping together, she was waiting for him, holding a mug of tea to her chest.
There went the kitchen explanation.
“What’re you doing up?” Jack asked, sliding back into the bed.
“Was gonna ask you the same thing,” she said. “Because I know you weren’t in the kitchen.” Jack opened his mouth, but Rose cut him off. “Have I mentioned I don’t like being lied to, Jack? Because I don’t. And I’m not an idiot.”
Jack winced. “I never thought that, Rose.”
“Good. Then tell me what’s going on. All I know is that every few days, you get up in the middle of the night, leave for twenty minutes or so, and come back. And the one time I asked where you’d gone, I’m pretty sure you lied to me.”
“I did,” Jack admitted. He supposed there was no way around it - well, there probably was, but he found himself not wanting to find it. “I go to the medbay,” he finally said. “I have a chronic medical condition. Managing it requires an injection every few days.”
Rose frowned at him. “What kind of medical condition?”
Jack grimaced. “The Time Agency called it artron poisoning. Humans aren’t meant to travel through the time vortex unprotected, which is basically what happens when we travel by vortex manipulator.” He held up his wrist, where he still wore his defunct manipulator. “If you do, you end up with artron poisoning. It’s a sort of . . . well, I guess the best analogy from your time would be cancer. It causes problems on the cellular level.”
Rose’s frown deepened. “Is it - I mean, how serious is it?”
Jack shrugged. “It’s fatal if left untreated.” He didn’t add that it was an unpleasant and painful death. As long as he kept up with the injections, there was no reason his condition would ever get to that point.
“That’s terrible. And there’s no cure?”
“Oh, there’s a cure,” Jack said with a sigh. “The cure is not traveling through time anymore. I was all right when I was in 1941.”
Rose bit her lip. “Am I going to to get it?”
“Oh, sweetheart, no,” Jack said, firmly. “Traveling by TARDIS is a lot safer than traveling by vortex manipulator. We’re still exposed to some artron energy on the TARDIS, but not dangerous levels. At least, they aren’t dangerous unless you already have artron poisoning.”
“Okay,” Rose said, slowly. “But why’re you doing it in the middle of the night? And why’re you lying about it?”
Jack grimaced. “Well, one reason is that the side effects of the injections are pretty terrible, and I’d rather sleep through most of them.” He could already feel them starting, as an ache behind his eyeballs and a queasiness in his stomach. “The other reason is that I’d really prefer the Doctor not know.”
Rose’s eyes widened. “What? Why?”
Jack gave her a look. “Stupid apes, messing around with things they don’t understand,” he said, in a passable imitation of the Doctor’s accent. “Vortex manipulator, nasty way to travel, of course you end up with artron poisoning eventually. No more than you deserve.”
“He’d never say that, Jack! Well, okay, maybe the first part,” Rose admitted, “but definitely not the second. If you tell him, maybe he could help you.”
“I doubt it,” Jack said. “He’d just lecture, and he might put me off the TARDIS for my own good.” That was the last thing Jack wanted, for so many reasons.
Rose gave him a dubious look, but she didn’t argue. She did wrap herself around him more tightly than usual and stroke his hair until he fell back to sleep. Jack would’ve argued that the extra coddling wasn’t necessary, but it distracted him from the side effects of the injection, which might otherwise have kept him awake.
When Jack woke, it was to an empty bed. He lay there for a few minutes, frowning to himself. It was strange for Rose to be awake before him, much less up and out of the room. He thought back to the night before, trying to remember what he’d said to her. He’d definitely told her he didn’t want the Doctor to know. He hadn’t made her promise not to tell him. But she wouldn’t, if she knew he didn’t want her to. Would she?
She would, Jack thought. If she thought it was for his own good, she would.
Grimly, he got up, showered, and dressed. By the time he was done, he felt somewhat more human. Human enough, at least, to face the music, though Jack hoped he might have a cup of coffee first.
No such luck. The Doctor was waiting for Jack in the kitchen. Without Rose. That, plus the look on the Doctor’s face, was all the information Jack needed.
“She told you,” Jack said flatly.
“Good morning, Jack,” the Doctor said, pleasantly. “Would you like some tea?”
Jack was not in the mood. “I told her I didn’t want you to know.”
The Doctor abruptly dropped the overly pleasant tone. “But you didn’t tell her not to tell me. Frankly, Jack, I’m offended you didn’t tell me yourself.”
Jack shook his head. “Nothing you can do about it, after all,” he said, looking away. “I suppose I should get packed. Just, drop me somewhere decent, all right? Since I’ll probably be stuck on the slow path for the rest of my life.” He turned away, hoping he might at least avoid the lecture.
“Stop,” the Doctor said. “Come back here and sit down.”
Jack turned back, but he didn’t sit. “I don’t need to hear -”
“Yeah, you do, lad. You’re being an idiot and making assumptions.” The Doctor stopped, took a breath. “Sorry. Rose told me not to be rude. But it’s upsetting to find out that someone on my own TARDIS is ill and didn’t want to tell me because he thought I’d be angry about it.”
Jack crossed his arms over his chest. “You’ve made your views on the Time Agency and vortex manipulators more than clear.”
“That’s true,” the Doctor said. “I don’t like either of them. But you know what I like even less? People I care about suffering. Especially when they don’t need to be.”
“I’m not suffering,” Jack said. The Doctor glared. “Not much, anyway,” he amended.
“Maybe not,” the Doctor said. “But that’s not the point. Those injections aren’t good for you, Jack. And they’re not necessary, either.”
Jack frowned. “What do you mean?”
The Doctor leaned forward. “Jack, I’m a Time Lord. You really think we didn’t have a cure for artron poisoning?”
Jack stared. “Really?”
“Yep. I could’ve taken care of this days ago - could’ve taken care of it the day you came onboard, in fact - if you’d only said something.” The Doctor shook his head, then stood and crossed over to Jack, reaching out to grip him by the upper arms. “Did you really think I’d just throw you off because of this?”
“I did,” Jack said, forcing himself to meet the Doctor’s eyes. “You did a good job scaring the hell out of me the first few days I was here.”
“I reckon I did,” the Doctor said, looking chagrined. “I never thought - well, water under the bridge now, I guess.” He slid an arm across Jack’s shoulders. “C’mon, then, lad. No time like the present.”
***
In the end, it was ridiculously easy. Jack spent a couple hours stretched out on a bed in the medbay with an IV running from a bag of blue liquid to his arm. It didn’t hurt or burn or itch or tingle. It felt a little cold when it first went in, but Jack got used to it quickly enough.
The bag was about half-drained when a quiet sound in the doorway made him glance up. Rose hovered there. “Hey there,” Jack said.
“Hey,” Rose said, stepping just inside the room. “I, um, I realize you might not want to see me right now, but I just wanted to say I’m sorry. I know you didn’t want the Doctor to know, but I couldn’t stay quiet, knowing you were sick.”
“Rose, it’s okay,” Jack said. He held out the arm without the IV. “Come here, sweetheart, you’re too far away.” Rose came closer and let Jack pull her in. “I never asked you not to tell him.”
“I know,” she said, “but I knew you didn’t want me to. I just - I couldn’t believe he’d kick you off for something like this, and I thought he might be able to help.”
“And you were right. You were right to trust him.” Jack glanced away. “I don’t trust easily. And the Doctor was kind of rough on me at the beginning, so I decided to just play it close to the chest like I always have. I should’ve changed my mind later, but I didn’t. Stubborn, I guess.”
Rose smiled at that. “So’s he,” she said. “And yeah, I dunno what would’ve happened if you told him those first few days.” She looked down at the needle going into the vein in his arm. “You’re going to be okay, though? Really okay?”
“Yeah, I am,” Jack said, still not quite able to believe it. And not just for now. If what the Doctor had said was true, he’d never have to worry about artron poisoning again.
Not for the first time since Jack came on board the TARDIS , he marveled at his good fortune. He’d never thought he’d find someone - much less two someones - like Rose and the Doctor, whom he could trust, and who trusted him in return. And now that he had it, he thought, as Rose curled up on the gurney with her head on his shoulder, he was never letting it go. Never.
Fin.