After the Dancing is Done (Part 5)

[amythest_n_ice]

 

http://amythest-n-ice.livejournal.com/33169.html
Link to Part 4
http://amythest-n-ice.livejournal.com/35769.html
Link to Part 6
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Jackie was waiting in the courtyard when the TARDIS landed, standing with her arms folded.

 

“Just wanted to make sure you didn’t get any ideas about running off without coming in for tea,” she said, glaring at the Doctor as he stepped out of the TARDIS behind Rose.

 

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” the Doctor assured her with a grin.

 

“Liar. So, where is this new bloke Rose said I was going to meet?”

 

“Jack’s right here,” the Doctor said, reaching back and grabbing his wrist, hauling him out of the TARDIS.

 

Jack looked at Rose’s mum in silence, wondering how she would react to her daughter travelling with two strange men.

 

“Well, hello.” Jackie looked him up and down.

 

“A pleasure to meet you,” Jack croaked, turning his charm on full as he kissed the back of her hand. Rose rolled her eyes as Jackie blushed and giggled like a teenager.

 

“Oh, you. Come on, let’s get indoors.”

 

Jack caught the Doctor glaring at him as they followed Rose and Jackie inside, and raised an eyebrow at him in question.

 

“Do you flirt with anything with a level of sentience?” The Time Lord growled.

 

“It distracted her from glaring at you, didn’t it?”

 

The Doctor quirked a grin at him, realizing that Jack was right, he had derailed her habitual growling at him for running off with Rose.

 

“So, where did you find him?” Jackie asked as she and Rose made the tea a few minutes later.

 

“World War II, he rescued me in the middle of the blitz.”

 

“The Doctor left you alone in the middle of the blitz?”

 

“No, he told me not to wander off, and I wandered off. It was my own fault mum, don’t start on him again,” Rose said, shooting her mum a warning look.

 

“Fine. So, won’t anyone be missing your new friend in 1943 or wherever you got him from?”

 

“Don’t think so, he’s another time traveler, he didn’t belong there any more than we did. He ended up with us because his ship blew up when he got rid of a German bomb that was heading for us.”

 

“So, he’s brave as well as handsome? You fancy him then?”

 

“No, I think he’s well out of my league mum.” Rose shrugged, privately wondering how long it would be before the former conman made a move on the Doctor. She wasn’t entirely sure he would turn him down, and that thought hurt a little. She could see possessiveness already when the Doctor looked at Jack, stronger than had ever been directed at her.

 

The tea was ready, and they carried the pot and the cups through to the living room where the two men had been left to wait.

 

“So, how do you take your tea, Jack?” Jackie asked, wielding the pot.

 

“Black, unsweetened, please.” Jack had encountered this drink during the war, and he had found that was the only way it was remotely drinkable.

 

“So, how did you hurt your throat?” Jackie asked as they sat back with their cups a few minutes later.

 

“I swallowed something harmful.”

 

“How on Earth did you manage that?”

 

“Intentionally.” Jack’s tone turned cold, not inviting any further questions on the subject. Jackie nodded and backed off, she would get the rest of the story out of Rose later.

 

“So, are you going to stay for a reasonable time this visit?” She asked, giving the Doctor a gimlet glare.

 

“Only until tomorrow, there are some things I want to pick up. You just can’t get a decent blend of tea out there, and the milk leaves something to be desired too.”

 

“You came to the 21^st century to go shopping?”

 

“Yes, and?” The Doctor asked, not seeing the problem. Jackie just shook her head, all of time and space to go to, and he came here to do his shopping.

 

“Well, I’m going to call some of my friends, and arrange to meet up tonight,” Rose said, putting her cup down and heading for the phone in her bedroom.

 

“Rose says you’re another time traveler, Jack. Where do you come from?” Jackie asked, curious. He looked human enough, but that meant nothing, so did the Doctor.

 

“An Earth colony on the other side of the galaxy, three thousand years from now.”

 

“It must seem very primitive to you here then.”

 

Jack shrugged, thinking about some of the horrors he had seen since he was found by the colonists, even before he joined the Time Agency, the brutality of war in his youth.

 

“Advanced isn’t necessarily better,” he said softly, then winced and rubbed his throat with the palm of his hand.

 

“You OK?” The Doctor asked him.

 

*No, my throat hurts.*

 

*Do you want to go back to the TARDIS?*

 

*No, it’s not too bad if I don’t talk.*

 

*All right.*

 

The Doctor looked over at Jackie and gave her a small shrug.

 

“Sorry Jackie, Jack isn’t really up to talking too much right now,” he said.

 

“What? But he didn’t say anything.”

 

“He did to me,”

 

“Hey, you’re not in my Rose’s head like that, are you?” She demanded.

 

“Rose is not a telepath, Jack is. Both Jack and I can only communicate well with other telepaths.”

 

Rose bounced back in then, grinning at the thought of a night on the tiles with the girls. She paused when she saw the tension in the room.

“What’s going on?” She asked, giving her mother a hard look, silently demanding to know if she had said something.

 

“Nothing, Jack’s throat is bothering him again Rose. I’m going to get him back to the TARDIS and check him over. Will you be coming back tonight, or will we see you tomorrow?”

 

“Tomorrow probably. Feel better Jack,” Rose said with a small frown.

 

“What did you say to them?” She demanded as soon as the men had left to go back to the ship.

 

“Nothing. Did you know they were telepathic?” Jackie asked.

 

“I knew the Doctor was, I didn’t know Jack was, but I thought he might be. They seemed to be talking even when Jack wasn’t allowed to talk at all. What’s the problem?”

 

“How do I know they’re not in your head, making you do stuff?”

 

“Don’t be silly mum, they’re not.” Rose scoffed, deciding not to mention the fact that the TARDIS did have a connection to her.

 

“If you’re sure. Who did you get to go out with tonight?”

 

“Shareen, Nancy, Vikki and Mickey. He can’t get away this afternoon, so he’s going to come tonight.”

 

“Room for me to come along?”

 

“If you want.”

 

“Come on then, lets go shopping, I think we could both do with a new outfit, and there is a new shop on the high street.”

 

“Sounds good to me.” Rose grinned.

 

**

Back in the TARDIS, the Doctor made Jack sit through a quick scan to make sure he hadn’t actually done any damage to his throat by talking too much, and then gave him a drink of the now familiar analgesic liquid.

 

*So, is it all right?* Jack asked.

 

*Looks to be, just don’t talk any more than you have to for the next couple of days, stick with telepathy with me.*

 

*OK. Rose’s mom didn’t like that, did she?*

 

*No. Judging by the science fiction crap I’ve seen from this time, people think telepaths are out to control their minds.*

 

*As if. There would be a hell of a lot less wars out there if we could force people to see reason telepathically.*

 

*Well, Earth will get there eventually, when telepathy becomes more dominant in the gene pool.*

 

*Maybe.*

 

*So, are you up for the tour now?* The Doctor asked brightly, clapping his hands together to lighten the mood a little.

 

*Why not.*

 

Jack hopped off the medical couch and he and the Doctor walked to the door together, the Doctor feeling a swirl of excitement at the thought of showing off his beautiful lady to his young companion.

 

tbc

 

I have, in the last few days, posted a clue in my journal. An answer to the big question in this fic. Has anyone caught it?