Eyes red, nose running, Archieva – thats pronounced Ar-H-ee-va – was standing before the mirror, in the public bathroom, shaking hands holding lipstick.
She was actually going to do this… Well she had NO choice, its either do this- or… Or nothing, she couldn’t allow the planet to be destroyed…. Not even for one man.
She took a deep breath and locked the emotions behind a steel door, before applying the lipstick, Carfully, making sure to not eat any herself.
Once Done, she put it away and saw the man, her target and followed him out of the bar, down the empty ally and then spun him around and kissed him, passionately, making sure that it was the bestlast kiss he would have, tears falling down her face as she pulled back.
“Im- Im sorry… Im so sorry… I- I had NO choice…” She cried, hands gripping his shoulders “It- it was either you… or- or the planet… there- there isn’t really a choice…” she sobbed, and she carefully helped him to the ground, The poison in the lipstick, fast acting, unconscious in 3 minuets, death in 5 minuets, but with no paralysis, she thought that would be too much… He was handsome and she had tried to do everything to lessen the pain of death.
All she could do now was listen to his last words and hold him as he died. She would never forgive herself, especially if the monsters that held her family still went on to kill them and the planet.
It wasn’t exactly unheard of for random strangers to come up and kiss him, so Jack wasn’t too concerned or even all that surprised. He even already had a witty greeting when the woman burst into tears in front of him.
Well, that was a new reaction.
“What are you talking about? What-” Suddenly, his head started to swim and he felt himself flush. Oh, that explained her panic. “What did you do? Was that poison?”
Archieva nodded tears falling down her face. “Y-yeah… I… Its amazing what books you find when you’re a librarian…” She sniffed and moved his head onto her lap, not caring about the muck she was sitting on.
“I- I made it myself… made sure to get rid of the notes so no one knows how to make it of course…. don’t want a real mass-killer to find it…” she gave him a watery smile.
“I sometimes wondered, with Torchwood and the stuff that happen’s in Cardiff, if the rumours of aliens were true…” she laughed bitterly. “Now- Now i wish i never knew… They have my family, my friends, the old cat lady that lives around the corner… the little 8 year old boy who helps his dad deliver my milk….” she bowed her head and wiped her face.
“I don’t even think that they will keep their word… The planet will probably be destroyed no matter what i do… But i had to try…” she took a shuddering breath, taking his hand, her fingers on his pulse.
“And you have only a minuet left… its fast acting, didn’t want you to suffer long… even made sure you wouldn’t be paralysed… thought it would be worse if you were…” she then looked at what he was wearing and her eyes widened in horror, her tears falling faster and guilt gripped her heart in a vice.
“Oh God… im so sorry… You’re- You’re IJ’sJH…. Arn’t you… i don’t think anyone else in Cardiff wears a RAF Coat…”
Gosh, everyone made it sound like asking someone you liked out on a date was easy… HA, not at all.. it was the mostnerve wracking thing he had to do since getting back to this universe.
“I’d say when and where, handsome?”
Oh, he KNEW how much nerve it took for Rozen to ask that, no matter how easy going he tried to make it sound, and Jack had to admit, he was a bit surprised that the man had actually found the courage. Not that he was complaining, of course.
Rozen couldn’t help but laugh slightly in relief. “i- Heh.. I never thought further than that…” he rubbed the back of his neck. “i personally haven’t been on a date thats on Earth for… quite a long time…” he admits.
Usually it would be some distant planet or some exotic restaurant.. He had forgotten how a simple date felt like.
“We could… have a picnic… under the stars… Tonight?” He half asked half offered.
Jack paused, slowly looking up at the Doctor. He knew exactly how real hallucinations brought on by torture could be, having experienced his own fair share himself. He reached out and took the Doctor’s hand, resting it on Jack’s shoulder. “I’m real, I promise. Here, feel my pulse if it makes you feel better.”
He moved the Doctor’s hand so that it rested right at the pulse point in his neck, the focused back on the sonic and zapped his wrist strap. He pocketed the sonic and held onto the Doctor. “Let’s get you back to the TARDIS. Hold your breath, it’ll pinch less.”
He pushed a button on his wrist strap and teleported them out of the cell, right to the door of the TARDIS.
The Doctor felt himself tear up when he felt his pulse under his fingers and forced himself to wait till they had teleported before he wrapped his arms around his neck, his breathing shakey… and he could feel himself about to fall apart…
He could feel himself shake as he suppressed the tears for a little longer.
“J-jack… you’re real… you’re here.. I’m actually out…” he managed to get out, pressing his face to his neck.
“Shhh, shh, it’s okay, you’re safe,” Jack said, holding him tightly with one arm as he struggled to get his key out and unlock the door of the TARDIS with the other. After a moment, the door swung wide open and Jack lifted the Doctor up just enough so that he wouldn’t have to worry about putting too much weight on his emaciated frame.
“Here we go, home sweet home. See? We’re in the TARDIS now.”
Safety.
That was the first feeling he felt when he was helped through the door. He felt like he could finally breath, his mind being stroked by the tardis, soothing him, the ol’ girl humming in worry.
Taking a deep breath, he gave jack one more tight hug, more for himself, before pulling back slightly. “Thanks…” he croaked.
It was clear that he wasn’t better, but it was a start. But right now, he needed to get out of there, leave that ship before they found him again.
The Doctor moved over to the console and jerked down the leaver and then rushed to the next button, as if he couldn’t press or pull something fast enough, not caring if jack helped or not…. he just needed to leave!
Only when he got the ship into the vortex, did he allow himself to fall back onto the pilot seat… and pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes, taking another deep breath through his nose, forcing himself to keep his emotions in control.
Jack certainly helped her up onto the medbed, hands on her hips and effortlessly lifting her up. He didn’t want her wiggling that cut around too much until he had it bandaged up.
“Hopefully not. I need to clean it first, but nothing a bit of dermal regeneration can’t fix.”
He busies himself getting all the supplies he needs and sets them on the bed beside her, just to make it go as quickly as possible once he gets started. Carefully, he rinses her hand in a bowl of water, equally careful as he pats it dry and gives it a quick spray of antiseptic gel. Then he picks up the little device, about the shape of a marker, and brings her hand up close to his face so he can see what he’s doing in detail.
He’s quiet as he works, passing the dermal regenerator over her skin as the little laser repairs the cut. Most of the work is being done by the device, but he still wants to make sure it leaves as little a mark as possible. When he’s satisfied that it’s done, that there’s only a slightly pink line where there used to be a deep gash, he sets the device down again and kisses the scar.
“There. Good as new. Still might want to stay away from knives for a few days, though.”
The Doctor tried her best not to wince and whine as he washed and patched up her hand. She didn’t want to sound like a child no matter how much it stung… Only to sigh softly as the regenerator healed the cut.
The Doctor smiled softly when he kissed her palm. “I guess ill leave the cooking to the Tardis or to you then.” she laughed softly.
“Oh no, don’t leave the cooking to me,” he teased, starting to put away the equipment. “You’ll end up with a burned kitchen more often than not.”
“Guess I’m just gonna have to take you out to dinner more often.”
“Ooo~ Fancy~” she laughed. “I guess its better then asking the Ol’ Girl to just get ready made food.” she hummed.
“…. but i have to say…. i’m still hungry, i wasn’t just making the lunch for fun.” She pouts slightly.
“so… Italy and its restaurants? or shall we just go get Chinese take-away?” “unless you have a better idea?”
The woman sat on the couch and gently moved Jacks head onto her lap, stroking his hair and forehead. “You *silly* man, you don’t have to always sacrifice yourself as a solution, you know that right?” she kissed his forehead gently. “there are other ways to solve things other than that sweetheart…” she sighed. “Never mind, you rest now, ill look after you.”
“It worked, didn’t it?” he laughed hoarsely, still feeling a bit worse for wear. His body was still knitting itself back together after the encounter with the poison gas, but he’d get there. Especially if she kept doting on him like this.
He closed his eyes and smiled, turning on his side and slinging an arm around her legs as he settled in to rest. “Just keep calling me that.”
She sighed and continued to stroke his hair at the statement….
Only for a teasing smile to cross her lips at the request. “What? Silly man or sweetheart?” she jokes laughing lightly.
She knew that he had been the only one to be able to crawl through that room to stop the gas from getting to the rest of the building, the only one who would have survived the gas and live to ‘tell’ the tale.
Oh how she wished she had a different plan to save those people… But jack knew what he had to do and he knew that it was him without her even saying or asking anything.
“Cap’ten, My brave cap’ten…” she murmured softly. “Hey, How about we both lie down on th’ couch, hmm? i think we would both prefer to snuggle.” she offered.
Idris sometimes wondered if she had the ability to make a hologram in her console room…. and today she found out that – yes, she could.
It was quite the odd feeling being ‘physical’… Well, she say’s physical, but she was only, but a projection of light, one bit of herself being pushed in to the physical 4th dimension.
Thankfully she was ‘ace’ at multi-tasking, so it would not do anything to her driving or ability to keep everything in her in order.
She opened her eye and smiled. ah, so she had one companion on board, her impossible man. She hummed softly as she walked around her console, moving the corridors, on purpose, so that Her Dearest Jack would come and meet her.
Once upon a- who knows when in the timeline- The Torchwood 3 radio started to broadcast a live message.
“Mayday! MAy–DAy! AH! Mayday!” Came the crackling voice of a man who was clearly in a slight panicked distress.
“This is the Doctor! calling Torchwood 3 for help! The Doctor in the Tardis… well i say IN the tardis, TE–chnacally-!” His voice rose as the ship bucked and he barley held on “Im Hanging from the edge of the Door frame! hundreds of feet ABOVE CARDIFF! AH! Yikes!” he tried once more to climb inside.
“Just thought id let you know, Jack… that I JUST regenerated, the TARDIS is on FIRE and im CRASHING… ugh…” the doctor closed the doors behind him after clambering inside.
“Dont worry, ive Finally got back inside and closed the doors… Keep watch for where i ‘land’ will you… who knows if the gravity will still be working properly with how bad it is in here….” He sighed… and then radio went to static as the TARDIS crash landed, the gravity became dodgy and the doctor fell into the depth of the tardis and hit his head.
Looks like Torchwood 3 will have to go and find him if he doesn’t come up himself. @canspotatimeagent
An alarm went off on Jack’s wrist strap. Any time a TARDIS energy signature popped up somewhere, he got an alert. It was an old habit from his time waiting for the Doctor, and he never really got around to turning it off. Lucky, too, it seemed, because this TARDIS signature was ever so slightly different than the Doctor’s TARDIS.
Good thing too, as Jack approached the young man, he could tell this too was not the Doctor.
“You alright there pal?”
If you asked him, Koschei would deny the fact that he had practically jumped in shock when the human male addressed him.
He span around, collecting himself, making it seem like he did not just jump a foot into the air and licked his lips…. “Right… earth english…” He murmured in gallifreyan. He was ever so thankful for the Capsule’s translation software.
“Um… Hi… Yes, i’m- im good… just… exploring… its, my first time in…. in Cardiff…?” He guessed, while sneaking a peek into a near by gift shop praying to the Other that, thatwas, what the city he was in, was called.
It was his first time to Earth, never mind this city called Cardiff. And he was not really doing well on acting natural.
“So… um… any idea where it would be a good place to, you know start? Tourist wise? Anything interesting that Hum-… People do? Museums? Art Galleries?” He quickly corrected himself, hoping that the man didn’t notice.
Oh lord. This guy needed helpand it wasn’t just the kind Jack provided. Jack already knew that he wasn’t human, but this would have sealed it for him. At least the guy was trying, so Jack was willing to play along and see where it went.
“Well, we do have a couple museums and a castle, plus a football stadium and some modern art sculptures – I’d be happy to show you around if you’d like.” he offered his hand to the stranger for a shake. “Jack Harkness, at your service.”
Koschei let out a breath, relived that it had somewhat worked and the human wasn’t running off screaming that he was an alien that came to invade them.
Not that he thought what any of them would do… Just.. he was told they were more primitive and he wasn’t sure just how much.
He beamed and shook his hand, ignoring the strange feeling of unease that he felt when he touched him.
“That sounds perfect! Koschei- Koschei Oakdown, pleasure to meet you!” “My friend talked about this, er… City and i thought id come and see what all the fuss was about, wanted to see why he liked it so much.” he explained.
“…Yes, Hello…. Its come to my attention that you are familiar and that you might even know who i am… You see… i’m having a spot of bother… i cant seem to recall my own name and i seem to be looking for a Doctor….”
Rose peered around a piece of the coral reef at the handsome merman that was practically surrounded by other mermaids who had went shopping at the coral reef mall, only to spot Jack Harkness.
Jack Harkness. THE Most handsome out of all the Mermen… Well… one of, her friend john was too, but he had his eyes on another pretty blond by the name of River.
Rose on the other hand, was cursed to have feeling for this merman, one that she was sure would never looked at her twice.
Sighing, she continued to watch him. That Tail really did bring out his eyes.
drapetxmaniia - The Urge to run away 