rude_not_ginger | for quitehomoerotic: Welcome to the Boeshane Peninsula

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for quitehomoerotic: Welcome to the Boeshane Peninsula

Follows this.

When the Doctor woke, he was prepared to feel stiff and uncomfortable. Usually, when reaching that point of exhaustion, he usually found himself on the floor or on the console, in some sort of an awkward position that left him sore for the next day. This morning, however, he was out of his clothes and stretched out on his bed, under the covers with a heating blanket.

A breathing heating blanket.

He raised an eyebrow and looked to where Jack had an arm around him as he slept. The previous day came rushing back. Pearl Harbor, the goodbyes, the return of Gallifrey, being captured by the Shadow Proclamation, and finally nearly killing Jack. They came so very close. Too close.

Without really thinking about it, the Doctor found himself wrapping an arm around Jack's shoulder. Jack, who was ready and willing to die the previous day. And the Doctor was willing to give him that. He had been willing to give him that. Not anmymore.

Where could they go, now?

Onwards, of course. It was the only way they could go.

The TARDIS wasn't moving anymore, and the Doctor slowly extracted himself from Jack's embrace. He grabbed his trousers and shirt and threw them on quickly, heading towards the console, hopefully before Jack woke.

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"And we'll beat it again," Jack said, trying to sound assured. "I promise you, Doctor. It is done."

He gripped his arm again, a tight hold. He would be there, and he wasn't going to leave him this time.

As the Doctor's head turned, Jack followed his gaze and saw the haze ahead, the cloud growing and moving closer.

Closer and closing in around them.

It wouldn't be a surprise to learn that if there were going to be any way Jack would be trapped, just about the least he would like would be in a confined space underground (well, under water, but there'd be plenty ground on top of him).

"No!" Jack called out, the panic in his voice. "Doctor don't go that way."

He fumbled, trying to open his wrist strap to get them out of there, but he dropped the light pearl and the area grew even darker.

"It's crumbling from above, Jack, we have to go down!" The Doctor grabbed Jack's arm and gave him a tug downwards. At the very least, they could get to some sort of temporary safety and use Jack's wrist strap to get out. But for right now, down was the only way to go.

Jack grew dimmer in the light, until they were in darkness surrounded by moving darkness. The Doctor thought of the Hub, of being under where that submarine was. Death loomed there for them, too.

"Come on," he said. "I've got you, Jack. We will get out of this."

he hoped.

Jack closed his eyes a moment and took a deep breath. Focus, because that's what he needed, and so he concentrated on how the Doctor held his arm.

And he swam.

Around him he could feel the water changing, growing thicker with the dust from the falling rocks. It was darker and harder still to see.

He didn't speak, just swam. Focussed on moving and getting out, finding a different way, down and down, lower into the depths of the cave.

He glanced again to his wrist strap, but he could barely even see it.

"Doctor," he called then, "it's too dark. I can't programme in the co-ordinates."

"We'll find that light source," the Doctor said. But, even this deep, he couldn't see the glimmer of a light pearl anywhere. He was just swimming in blackness.

He fished his sonic out and pointed it straight ahead. Oh, he could only hope he wasn't pointing it at Jack. He took a breath and squeezed the button. A burst of sonic energy came from the screwdriver, blasting into a rock and setting it ablaze with temporary blue energy.

Also, setting alight the fact that they'd swam down into what appeared to be another bait ball. Fish blasted around the Doctor, frightened by all the light and movement. He cried out as one of them knocked his sonic free of his hand.

"Jack!"

If Jack was worried or panicked (and he was) there was only one sure fire way to push that utterly to the side: Think the Doctor is in trouble.

He saw the light like a flash and heard the Doctor call. He turned then, his head twisting sharply to look out for him.

It felt as though time slowed down (and maybe it did, maybe it was part of that creature's promise, protecting as it said it would), but Jack turned his head back, and in the blue light he could see his wrist strap well enough to reach out and programme in the co-ordinates. He shouldn't have had time for it, it shouldn't have been time to do that and turn and still have the Doctor close, but he was there, and it seemed the light was only just fading as he reached for him.

And then, like a snap, as his arm reached out and grabbed the Doctor tightly around the waist, time seemed to catch up again, and it was just in time because as Jack pressed down the button on the wrist strap, the rest of the cave above collapsed in.

They were gone.

Gone, and mere moments later re-appearing on the beach, a few feet away from where the TARDIS sat half embedded into a sand dune.

The Doctor collapsed the moment he felt his feet hit sand. The nausea shot through him immediately and it was pretty much everything he had not to vomit the lovely lunch he'd had with Jack earlier.

He really, really hated time travel without a capsule.

"How many sonics is that, now?" he asked, cracking his neck as he moved back to his feet. "Too many. Way too many. If it wasn't me destroying them, I'd start charging myself.

Jack attempted to catch his breath. He looked out at the ocean and it seemed to lap strangely beneath the waves. The surface clouded with the destroyed rock face underneath. It was hardly anything, and nobody would ever know.

He looked then to the Doctor who was being over dramatic about travelling by vortex manipulator. Really, he should be used to it by now.

"Yeah well I'd rather lose a sonic than you," he said as he stood himself up and reached his hand out towards the Doctor. "And trust me, I won't be doing that."

He nodded ahead towards the TARDIS. "Lets go," he said, "clean up, and go get some dinner or something. Moving on."

"Busy life," the Doctor agreed. Never stopping, never slowing. That was them.

He stepped next to Jack and patted his back. "So! Jack Harkness, protector of Boeshane. I think you owe me a drink."

He pulled his key from his pocket. "And I happen to know a great bar on Milliways 5."

"Protector of Boeshane," Jack repeated, "you know, I kinda like the sound of that." He smiled, because that was good. There might be some things that weren't. Some pretty terrible things. But some that were pretty brilliant too.

He looked back to the city, one last look at his childhood home. It looked a little gloomy with the darkened clouds ahead. Must be rain coming.

Time to go.

"Oh I think I can stretch to that," he said with a smile. "Treat me nice I might even buy you dinner," he added, shooting a wink in the Doctor's direction.

He waited at the door, ready to step in behind him.

"Goodbye Boeshane, hello Milliways 5!"

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