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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.
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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Jack swivelled himself slightly, angling his body back a little towards the Doctor.
"Beautiful," he said with a beaming smile. "Traders just setting up, people running around. Had quite a nice chat with my uncle Saf. Didn't tell him who I was, of course. Oh and I got these," he said and reached over for the other bag. "Regulators, sonar thingies. Oh and something with flashing lights I thought you might enjoy taking apart. You got my manipulator?"
He reached for his own roll then, taking a large bite and letting out an overly satisfied noise.
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He picked up one of the sonar manipulators and grinned madly. "Perfect."
He began taking apart the top, ready to do a little tweaking. After all, perfect was only really perfect once the Doctor had perfected it.
"Well, once we've got all of this sorted out, we can probably look around a bit before the storm." He nodded to the sky where darkening clouds neared. "Seems we're always caught in a storm, you and I."
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He grinned too at the Doctor taking apart the equipment. "You know I used to do that when I was a kid," he said. "I'd take apart anything. Used to get in so much trouble for it."
As the Doctor pointed out the storm he looked up and over it.
"Yeah weird that," he said. "Doesn't happen a lot round here. And we had that here, had it on that planet, had it at that bar. Huh."
He looked back to him, thoughtful a moment. "Nah, just a coincidence, right?"
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He pulled a safety pin out of his pocket and twisted it to connect two wires. He grinned. "There we go. Now, this should amplify the wave frequencies so we could communicate with the creature down there or---"
He sniffed. "Or, if necessary, defend ourselves."
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"Yeah well lets hope it's the former," he said with a decisive nod.
He finished off his little roll and paused a moment, thoughtfully.
"You know I've been thinking," he said, "where we should go after this. You got any ideas? All of time and space and all that-- well, you know your spiel."
He paused again, and glanced down and back up. "It's good, you know," he said, not making much sense, he knew. "This, I mean, it's good."
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"Ooooh, we'll hit the randomizer, I think," the Doctor said with a smile that was at least 67% genuine. "Give us a surprise where we land. Always do love surprises! Well, some surprises. Well, certain surprises. Well----this is good, what sort of fruit is it?"
He agreed with Jack, though. This was good. It made him happy, just sitting here with someone with whom he wasn't preoccupied with the end. Jack could stay as long as he wanted. He would die, eventually, the Doctor knew that. But not for so long. Maybe the Doctor really could grow old with him.
Domestic, again, Doctor?
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"Sounds good to me," Jack said with a grin. "Fine some planet, or you know... Norwich in 1973, either way, I'm sure we'll make the most of it. Mana Berries," he nodded, "good huh? They grow them in the gardens back in the hunches."
He pulled his other bag over and tugged it towards the Doctor's direction. "Clothes. You've ruined your suit enough as it is without going down there and damaging it any more. Besides, this lot will be better in the heat."
He paused, and then grinned a little cheekily. "And I think you'll look hot in it."
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He tugged off his tie and suit jacket before slipping into the offered suit. It felt like changing into the suit on Mars and how he felt a bit more like he was part of the environment. Not quite a native, not like Jack.
"Right," he said, straightening the collar. "We'll need to go fairly far down, it looks like."
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He gathered up the Doctor's removed items and put them into the waterproof bag he'd put his own things into. Nice and tightly compacted, safely stored away.
He shifted up onto his knees in the sand and looked up at the Doctor.
"Yep," he said decisively. "Just like I thought. Hot." And then, "There's a pathway down the rockface, a ledge down there where we can leave our stuff before making the dive."
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"Do we have to jump?" he asked, scratching the back of his head. "I mean, really, it's a bit far down. Might be better to leap off something...a bit shorter."
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He dusted himself off a little as he stood, slinging the bag over his back and turning his head to look out to the path and then back to the Doctor beside him.
"Oh now who's changed their tune?" he shook his head, "There's a ridge, it's lower down, there's usually a rope ladder tied down the side."
And on that, he took a step forward and put his hand almost absently (but in truth not at all) to the Doctor's upper arm.
"We'll be fine. About a 5 foot drop from there."
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A beat. "Not that I'm frightened, of course. Just...would prefer the five feet or so. Fewer rocks, can't risk damaging myself up more than I already have." Which was to say, he was rather terrified of heights. He couldn't believe he'd leapt from that.
He gave Jack a smile at the touch. The Doctor only initiated hand-holding, and intimacy like this, while brilliant in itself, wasn't something he could do naturally. It felt good that Jack could.
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But he was there for him now, and he didn't want him to be frightened (if he was or wasn't) or uncomfortable, and so he let his hand fall down from the Doctor's arm to his hand and he took a gentle hold of it, squeezing just a little.
"No damaging," he said with a small nod. "Not for either of us, right?"
He smiled, trying to reassure, and then gave a gentle tug on his arm. "Come on, this way."
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"Course, it was my own fault," he continued, keeping hold of Jack's hand as he led the way down the side of the cliff. "Fighting with the Master, sort of preoccupied with my own death." He snorted. "Good to see some things change with time."
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"Yeah," he said, "sure, some things do." But he didn't press on it, there was hardly any point. It was though, a small reminder. The Master, somewhere, was still out there.
"You think everything is your fault," Jack said idly as they continued to walk. "But it's not," he added before turning his head to the Doctor's, and despite his words, smiling, "Some of it's mine."
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Jack had grown so much since the Doctor said that last. All of the things he did, the person he became. It might've been awe-worthy if the Doctor hadn't seen so much potential in Jack the first time they met. Well, technically it was the second time, wasn't it? Timey-wimey wibbly-wobbly and all that. If only he could get those two years back for Jack somehow.
One day.
"Here we go! Quick hop in, then dive down to the bottom. And no getting hurt, no making any stupid moves, all right? And here---" he handed Jack the sonic device again. "Keep hold of that until we get to the bottom."
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It wasn't as simple as that though now, was it? He didn't just want to be with the Doctor, one of his team, under his wing, a step behind. He wanted to be here, a step beside, always there.
"Yeah," he said with a nod, "well you're mine. So it evens out."
Jack looked down to the water and the frayed edge of the rope ladder he could see just ahead. He let the bag fall down from his shoulder and hooked on his arm and he took hold of the device.
"Got it," he said, swinging the back down to an alcove in the rock face. "Time to do some heroics. No stupid moves, got it."
He threw the device up and caught it again before nodding to him. "One more thing though, before we go down..."
And on that, he leaned in and kissed him.
"Right. Now I'm ready."
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"I'm going to end up used to this, you realize that?" Which was potentially brilliant and potentially disasterous. After all, he wasn't domestic. But, then again, neither was Jack, was he? And there they were, kissing before risking their lives. Again.
"All right, off we go. Allons-y!" Without hesitating, the Doctor leapt the few feet into the icy water.
Still cold. Positively frozen, and worse than before, if the Doctor wasn't terribly mistaken. He took in a breath and dived under, waiting once he'd gone down a few feet in order to look back and make sure Jack was following.
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Jack watched the Doctor as he disappeared into the water and he was behind him, merely a pace or two.
He braced as he hit the water, the cold biting and taking his breath away. "Jesus!" he said to himself, and took a deep breath before ducking beneath the surface and following him down.
The water seemed a little more clouded before, and it was certainly colder, but it seemed to clear up a little the lower they got. He continued down until he reached the bed and reached out an arm for the Doctor beside him.
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"Right-o, here we go. I think all of this cloudiness up there is sediment," he said. "Probably our squiddy friend down there is digging for sulfides and probably knocking around the floor while he's at it."
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"Yeah," he agreed, "so I guess we follow the trail and when it ends we find out squiddy friend."
He glanced up at the light he could see above and down to the murkier waters below.
"Okay," he said with a nod, "going down?"
And on that, he turned and began swimming along towards the curve of the rock and (hopefully) the origin of the trail.
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"So what normally lives down here?" the Doctor asked, kicking off another rock to speed his journey. "Basic fishlife? Any predators we should be wary of?"
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He couldn't quite work out what that meant.
"Yeah," he said, looking back to the Doctor, over his shoulder. "Fishes. Stuff like you had in that sandwich. Nothing dangerous. The waters out here are safe until the reefs off about a mile or so out. Well. They should be."
Up ahead the rock seemed to crumble a little, it looked fresh and Jack gestures towards it. "Hey, look at this. Think we're near?"
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He turned his head, glancing back towards the cave entrance. The likelihood that this creature was only around to help was getting slimmer and slimmer. If they had to, they could destroy it. They would destroy it. Jack's world would be safe.
He looked up, then nodded out to the water. A bait ball of the small, alien fish swam through the rocks, spinning faster and faster in fear.
"Strange," the Doctor said. "That sort of thing only really happens when a predator is attacking."
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"Looks like our friend's been snacking, huh?" he said, looking at it with a wary expression. He ran his own fingers delicately against the surface and it started to crumble beneath his touch.
He started to speak but stopped as he saw the swarm, frowning over at it.
"Yeah," he said, still wary. "Maybe the rock was just the appetiser?"
He gestured again, this time towards the cave mouth. "Well guess there's only one way to find out. Lets just try not to be the main course."
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