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Link to Part 10
http://amythest-n-ice.livejournal.com/45790.html
Link to Part 12
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There was no sign of Rose in the doorway, but now that he was listening, he could hear her stomping down the corridor, she must have yelled from halfway down the hall. He glanced wryly at Jack, and saw a flash of hurt that the younger man had been too slow to hide. He had no time to ask him what was wrong as Rose stormed into the room then, her hair dripping, wrapped in her long fluffy bathrobe.
“What the hell is going on? I just get relaxed in the shower, and then the floor is shaking, and I’m being thrown around,” she said angrily.
“Sorry Rose, just a little turbulence. Are you all right?” the Doctor asked quietly.
“Fine, the TARDIS did something to stop me hitting the walls.”
“I think I might grab a shower myself, Doctor, before we land,” Jack said, leaving the console room without looking at either of them.
“What’s wrong with him? He was all right before. You didn’t say anything to upset him, did you?” Rose asked suspiciously, watching as the stiff back vanished out of the door.
“I didn’t say a thing; I have no idea what’s upset him.” The Doctor said, looking genuinely confused. He was even more confused that he could feel that the TARDIS herself was annoyed with him too.
“You were looking kind of guilty, when I came in. You must have done something.”
“Not that I know of. Why don’t you go and finish your shower, Rose, the floor should stay still now. I’ll go and talk to him, see if he’ll tell me what’s up.”
The Doctor went to Jack’s room, tapping lightly on the door, but not waiting for an answer before stepping in. Jack was sitting on the bed, barefoot, his shirt thrown across the chair in the corner of the room, his jeans unbuttoned, but not unzipped, letting them hang low on his hips.
“What’s the matter?” the Doctor asked, looking down at the younger man, who was looking at the floor, not him.
“Are you sure you want to talk to me? You’re not worried that Rose might see you talking to me? You’re not ashamed to be seen talking to me?” Jack demanded, a faint taint of bitterness in his tone.
The Doctor stared at him, startled, and opened his mouth to ask him what the hell he was talking about, when the TARDIS shoved an image into his mind, himself leaping away from Jack as if scalded, guilt written all over his face. The Doctor’s shoulders slumped as he realized how that must have looked to Jack. Jack tensed as he sat on the bed beside him, their shoulders brushing lightly, but he didn’t pull away from the contact.
“I don’t say this often, so make the most of it now. I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“I really didn’t mean to hurt you. I’m not ashamed that I like you that way, Jack, I don’t much care who sees me kissing you. It was just…….” The Doctor trailed off, a very faint blush dusting over his cheekbones.
“Just what?”
“The tone of Rose’s voice, the way she spoke, it reminded me so much of bloody Jackie Tyler. I suppose guilt is a gut reaction to that tone of voice. Jackie makes me feel guilty a lot you know, it isn’t something I’m used to.”
Jack snorted in amusement, finally looking up at the older man, and the Doctor could see faint traces of the hurt still lingering in the blue eyes. He reached up with one hand to cup Jack’s cheek lightly, his thumb stroking gently.
“I can’t promise this is going to be easy Jack, and unfortunately I can’t promise to never hurt you again. It’s been a very, very long time since I’ve gotten involved in a serious relationship with anyone. I am falling in love with you though, and if you can, I need you to hang in for me.”
Jack looked at him for a long moment, then leaned into the touch on his face.
“I don’t want you to make promises Doctor, I just want you to be with me.”
The Doctor leaned in to kiss him again, his hand sliding down to rest on the bare skin of his shoulder, stroking gently over the smooth skin.
The Doctor broke the kiss gently, brushing a light parting kiss over Jack’s lips as he pulled away.
“We’ll be landing soon, you should take that shower,” the Doctor said, getting to his feet
“Ok.”
Jack stood up, pulling down the zip of his jeans to allow them to slide further down his hips, making it very clear that there was nothing under them. The Doctor left quickly, before his resolve to do this properly with Jack wavered, and he threw him back on the bed here and now. He was sure he heard Jack laugh behind him, and address some comment to the TARDIS.
“Glad you’re enjoying this,” he muttered to the ceiling himself, feeling her amusement.
**
Rose was the first one back in the console room, now wearing comfortable jeans and a plain grey sweatshirt, her hair almost dry, pulled into a loose tail at the nape of her neck.
“Did you sort out whatever was bothering Jack?” she asked, plunking herself down on the chair.
“Yes, he’s fine now,” he said with a vague smile as he fiddled with the console.
“So, what was it?”
The Doctor suddenly looked a lot more absorbed in the console, holding off the need to answer the question. He wasn’t ashamed of his feelings for Jack, he hadn’t lied to the younger Time Lord about that, but he wasn’t sure what to say to Rose, he knew she had harbored hopes of her own, she had made that fairly clear. She was a young, human female and he didn’t know how she would take the news that he had chosen someone else, especially given the way she had run off with the revelation that Jack was a Time Lord. He didn’t want to hurt her, but he wasn’t about to hurt Jack again either.
“I hurt his feelings without meaning to.”
“How? I was only gone five minutes, you couldn’t have done anything too awful in that amount of time.”
He frowned slightly at the implication that she thought he could have done something awful given more time, but let it slide, this wasn’t the time.
“Rose….”
She caught the indecision and worry on his face and something clicked in her head, the distance between them when she came in, too close for casual conversation in a room that size, too far apart to be intimate -just- and the slight flushes on both of their faces, overlaid with guilt on the Doctor’s face.
“You and he were doing something in here, something sex related, and I interrupted you, didn’t I? You felt guilty for something, and he thought it was because you were ashamed to be seen having it away with him.”
“We were only kissing, I didn’t have him thrown over the console,” he objected without thinking about what he was saying, stung by the assumption that he would do anything more in the console room, the closest thing in the TARDIS to a public space.
“Well, that was faster than I thought,” she sighed.
“What?”
“I knew he was interested in you Doctor, that was quite clear from the second he met you, and I could see that he piqued your curiosity. I knew it was going to happen, I knew he was going to make a move on you sooner or later, and you were going to let him. I just never thought it would be this soon,” she said. Seeing the shock written clearly on his face, she grinned a little.
“What, you thought I would chuck a wobbly? I’ve had time to get used to the idea.”
“You amaze me, Rose Tyler, you really do.”
“Thank you,” she said with a cheeky grin.
Jack came back, looking at the two of them suspiciously as he saw the grins.
“What are you two looking so chirpy about?”
“Oh, I just found out that if I’d been a bit quieter before, I would have got a treat when I got into the console room. Oh well, I dare say I’ll catch the two of you kissing sooner or later.”
Jack flushed scarlet at her blunt statement, his eyes dropping to the floor with sudden shyness. Rose quickly got up and went over to hug him, leaning up on her toes to kiss him lightly on the cheek.
“I’m happy for you, really,” she said softly, before heading back out of the room to find her jacket.
The Doctor went over to the still frozen Jack, pulling him into his arms and waiting until he felt him relax into him.
“You told her?” Jack finally asked.
“She figured it out for herself,” the Doctor replied, tilting his head to catch Jack’s lips in a brief, light kiss.
“Come on, we’re landing soon,” he sighed regretfully, moving away and returning to the console.
Jack smiled and moved to take up his own position on the other side of the console, waiting for the landing sequence to start.
tbc
