ext_4029 ([identity profile] wojelah.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] wintercompanion2011-07-07 10:00 am

sahiya: Coming Home (Jack/Future Doctor) [PG-13]

Title: Coming Home
Author: [livejournal.com profile] sahiya
Characters/Rating: Jack/Future Doctor, PG-13
Word Count: 1300
Disclaimer: Not mine! They belong to the BBC, Moffat, and RTD.
Summary: Today, with a new body and a new face and a new him, the Doctor wanted his Jack.
Prompt: gray 29 joy ginger
Author's Notes: Many thanks to [livejournal.com profile] fuzzyboo for beta reading, and for the mods here for running another great summer fest!




Coming Home


The Doctor often wished he had not met Jack when they were both in their immortal adolescences. Nine hundred had been considered mature even for the Doctor’s people, but that was when they were still around to enforce the artificial limitation of twelve regenerations. Frankly, once the Doctor had broken two thousand in his nineteenth incarnation (not that he’d made a big deal about it or, indeed, said anything to anyone at all, not even Jack, though he suspected he knew anyway), nine hundred had started to seem unthinkably young. He’d been so young and so broken and so foolish, and he wished he might have met Jack later; he was fairly certain it would have all turned out much better for them both.

Fortunately, living forever - or at least until he decided he’d had enough and it was time to stop - meant that there were plenty of chances to get things right. They’d even managed it a handful of times by now: Jack had traveled with his fourteenth self for a time, and with his seventeenth and his twenty-second. It was all out of order for them both, but Jack was a still point, a Fact, and in a way, that made it easier. He was a rock in the stream. Time swirled and eddied around him, but he was also always there for the Doctor to hang onto.

But Jack was still human, and that made it harder.

Now, the Doctor - the twenty-ninth Doctor - was ginger for the first time, and tall and gangly; he looked, he had to admit, a bit like a Weasley. Freckles, there were lots of freckles, even in places he’d never had freckles before, and long, thin hands and blue eyes. And a sex drive, which was rather new again. His last self hadn’t had much use for sex, he’d been a bit too cerebral for it, but practically the first thing he thought when he finally stopped coughing up bits of the vortex was, Brilliant! Time to find Jack and get shagged.

But not just any Jack. Today, with a new body and a new face and a new him, the Doctor wanted his Jack. His Jack had hair that was shot through with gray and a few extra lines around his eyes and mouth, and yet he was even more gorgeous than he had been as a picture-perfect young Time Agent. The Doctor hadn’t seen him in at least fifty years. The last time he had seen him, there just wasn’t any zing for either of them, so it’d been at least two hundred since they’d last shagged.

The TARDIS always knew how to find Jack, and she was even pretty good at finding the right Jack. He entrusted her with the navigation, as he often did these days - seeing as how they never went anywhere she didn’t want them to go anyway - and wandered down to the wardrobe to find something suitable to wear.

Fifteen minutes later he had decided on a suit - blue this time, to match his eyes, with a very thin pinstripe - and was contemplating ties when he heard someone sneaking up on him. “I hope you don’t harbor ambitions of sneaking up on a Time Lord in his own TARDIS,” he said dryly, without turning around.

Jack’s only response was a sharp intake of breath.

The Doctor turned around, green paisley tie in hand. Jack stared at him. “What,” Doctor said, after a rather long silence, “no ‘hello’?”

Jack shook his head. Then he stepped closer, until the Doctor could see that it wasn’t shock that had frozen him; there was something very akin to joy shining in Jack’s eyes. Without a word, he kissed the Doctor.

They were perfectly of a height, the Doctor noticed vaguely; neither of them had to bend or stretch. Jack slid one hand beneath the open jacket of the Doctor’s suit to splay across the small of his back and the other into the short hairs at the nape of the Doctor’s neck. The Doctor made a noise startlingly close to a purr as brand new nerve endings fired for the first time. He fisted his hands in Jack’s cardigan and pulled him closer, wedging his leg between Jack’s thighs.

When the kiss finally broke, they were both breathing heavily. The Doctor felt wonderfully alive, aroused, and he wanted more than anything to take Jack to bed. But he had to ask him something first.

“Which one?” he asked, holding up the green paisley and the red and purple checked ties.

Jack shook his head. “Neither,” he said, the first word he’d spoken since he’d entered the wardrobe room, “unless you’re asking me to tie you up with them.” He took the ties from the Doctor and tossed them aside. Then, without letting go of his hold around the Doctor’s waist, he spun the tie rack, frowning in concentration. “Ah ha,” he muttered at last, and pulled a solid dark blue silk tie off the rack. “This one.”

The Doctor frowned at it. “Really? It doesn’t really look like me. It’s a bit . . .” Boring, he wanted to say, but Jack was shaking his head.

“No, Doc. I promise you. It’s this one.”

The Doctor looked at him. Jack was smiling at him again, so quietly joyous. The Doctor suddenly understood. “You’ve met this me before, haven’t you?”

Jack leaned their foreheads together. The Doctor closed his eyes. Shagging or not, this was the most intimate he’d been with Jack . . . ever, possibly. “Did you ever wonder who put me back together after the 456?”

The Doctor went very still. “I thought you did it yourself.”

Jack shook his head. “I’ve waited centuries for this. You told me that there were a lot of good things to look forward to in the meantime, but it would be a while before I saw this you again. The ginger you,” he added with a grin, and ran his fingers through the Doctor’s hair. The Doctor made a soft, involuntary noise of pleasure, and Jack did it again, his smile fading to seriousness. He leaned in and kissed him softly. “I don’t play favorites,” Jack murmured in the Doctor’s ear. “I’ve loved every one of you I’ve ever met.”

“I know,” the Doctor said. And he did; Jack had always loved him, even when they weren’t shagging, even when the Doctor was horrible to him, as he was on occasion.

“But this you,” Jack swallowed, audibly, “this you was the first you that ever really loved me back. I thought I was a monster - I was a monster - and you loved me anyway. I don’t know what I would’ve done if you hadn’t come for me when you did.”

The Doctor rubbed the back of Jack’s neck. “You’ll have to tell me when that is,” he said, “but later. For now - let’s go to bed.”

Jack nodded. “Yes, let’s, Doctor. My Doctor,” he added, smiling, and kissed the Doctor until his head swam and he stopped thinking about circular causalities.


***

Jack was dead when the Doctor found him. His Jack had told him this was how it had happened, but that didn’t make it any easier. The Doctor sighed, gathered Jack’s broken body into his arms, and carried him into the TARDIS, where he sank down onto the floor, and held him across his lap.

It didn’t take long. Jack jerked, gasped, and stared up at the Doctor.

“Hullo, Jack,” the Doctor said, smoothing the hair back from Jack’s forehead. “Welcome home.”

Fin.

[identity profile] arnica.livejournal.com 2011-07-07 02:27 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm seeing Ron Weasley piloting the Tardis and it's fantastic.

[identity profile] sahiya.livejournal.com 2011-07-14 08:24 pm (UTC)(link)
*grins* I'm glad you liked it!

[identity profile] firefly124.livejournal.com 2011-07-07 02:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Damn, that's amazing. I love how you've taken so many shards of canon that have felt unfinished or have contradicted themselves and wrapped them around the Factness of Jack that the Doctor has learned to hang onto and made them fit. Gorgeous.

[identity profile] sahiya.livejournal.com 2011-07-14 08:24 pm (UTC)(link)
Awww, thank you, m'dear!
ext_73208: (Default)

[identity profile] dimestore-romeo.livejournal.com 2011-07-07 03:02 pm (UTC)(link)
Ahhhh my heart just grew three sizes. This is lovely and sweet, and very satisfying.

[identity profile] sahiya.livejournal.com 2011-07-14 08:24 pm (UTC)(link)
Awww, thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
ext_17795: (Default)

[identity profile] dshael.livejournal.com 2011-07-07 03:07 pm (UTC)(link)
It's so happy! It's cool that you can take all that broken, bleeding history and turn it into something hopeful. I love it. Quietly joyous is a good phrase. :):):)

[identity profile] sahiya.livejournal.com 2011-07-14 08:25 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you! Yes, I liked the prompt for joy, though I think gray is the part of it that actually inspired the idea of a much, MUCH older Jack and Doctor.

[identity profile] taffimai.livejournal.com 2011-07-07 03:10 pm (UTC)(link)
This made me happier than any story I've read in a long time. What a gorgeous, lovely happy ending.

[identity profile] sahiya.livejournal.com 2011-07-14 08:25 pm (UTC)(link)
Awww, thank you! That is a lovely thing for a writer to hear.

[identity profile] starlady38.livejournal.com 2011-07-07 03:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, this is so great. I love all the bits you've woven together, and the ending.

[identity profile] sahiya.livejournal.com 2011-07-14 08:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you!

[identity profile] sahiya.livejournal.com 2011-07-14 08:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you!

[identity profile] scifiangel.livejournal.com 2011-07-07 06:27 pm (UTC)(link)
This is so wonderful! I truely believe they are meant to be. Thank you.

[identity profile] sahiya.livejournal.com 2011-07-14 08:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you! It would certainly appear that way.

[identity profile] phinnia.livejournal.com 2011-07-07 08:24 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm now imagining him wearing one of those Weasley sweaters :) this is brilliant. I love this to bits - Jack's quiet joy (which he doesn't get enough of) - how they orbit each other - and of course how he's finally ginger. <3 well done.

[identity profile] sahiya.livejournal.com 2011-07-14 08:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you!

He's certainly waited long enough to be ginger - I do feel he's earned it!
yamx: (Default)

[personal profile] yamx 2011-07-07 09:36 pm (UTC)(link)
This is so awesomely.... RIGHT. With all their convoluted and sometimes quite horrible history, there HAS to be a point like this. :)

[identity profile] sahiya.livejournal.com 2011-07-14 08:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you! I certainly hope so.

[identity profile] satiaentreri.livejournal.com 2011-07-07 11:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Uh... I am a HUGE Ten/Jack-shipper and did not think, that I could accept any other version - but I really love this one!

[identity profile] sahiya.livejournal.com 2011-07-14 08:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you! I'm glad you liked it even as a devoted Ten/Jack shipper.

[identity profile] wendymr.livejournal.com 2011-07-08 03:27 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, I love this! The joy on Jack's face when he sees this Doctor, his certainty when choosing the blue tie - and that's when I realised he'd met this Doctor before - and then his revelation that this Doctor put him back together after the 456. Just perfect.

But now I want to know all about the 29/Jack meeting, and what older Jack is doing while they're having their heart-to-heart. More, please?

[identity profile] sahiya.livejournal.com 2011-07-14 08:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you!

I want to write more in this 'verse. I have a few other things to get to first, but it's definitely on my list. It seems the Summer Hols are when I find my AU for the year. :-)
ext_348818: Jack Harkness. (permission to sin)

[identity profile] canaana.livejournal.com 2011-07-08 04:13 am (UTC)(link)
I love the rock in the stream similie. And I have a soft spot for it being future!Doctor who puts Jack back together after the 456. Brava!

[identity profile] sahiya.livejournal.com 2011-07-14 08:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you!

[identity profile] lindenharp.livejournal.com 2011-07-08 05:32 am (UTC)(link)
This is beautiful, and it makes me happy.

[identity profile] sahiya.livejournal.com 2011-07-14 08:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Aww, thank you! That's lovely to hear.

[identity profile] rrr-nightingale.livejournal.com 2011-07-08 09:25 am (UTC)(link)
This story is AMAZING!!! :D You've made my day))) I love the idea of the 29th Doctor, who is ginger and who loves Jack! And the ending is very interesting too... Thank you so much for writing!

[identity profile] sahiya.livejournal.com 2011-07-14 08:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you for commenting!

[identity profile] tardis-stowaway.livejournal.com 2011-07-09 06:20 am (UTC)(link)
This is gorgeous. I enjoyed the way you look back from the joyous distant future setting to create a fresh perspective on the common, angsty scenario of the Doctor putting Jack together after the 456. I like that Twenty Nine has matured enough in his relationship with the TARDIS to trust her steering. Hooray for the Doctor finally getting to be ginger, and double hooray for the Doctor and Jack finally getting to a place in their intersecting timelines when everything is just right.

[identity profile] sahiya.livejournal.com 2011-07-14 08:30 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you for the lovely comment! I love these two best when they're timey wimey and grown into each other, I think.

[identity profile] mycatsellsclues.livejournal.com 2011-07-10 06:03 pm (UTC)(link)
Yummy fun! Thanks for the new!canon!

[identity profile] sahiya.livejournal.com 2011-07-14 08:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Aww, thank you!