for quitehomoerotic: Welcome to the Boeshane Peninsula

[rude_not_ginger]

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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Jack looked over to the jagged edges beside them as they swam along. It was wrong all of it, and unsettling. Maybe it was the place, but it wasn't supposed to be like this. He didn't remember it being like this. He'd swam down here, and it never was.

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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The Doctor swam over, picking a piece of the rock up and crumbling it with his fingers. "This looks like granite," he said. "Or, well, something like it. But all the chemical components have been stripped, drained."

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."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

It didn't make things feel any easier, the crumbling rock, the removal of the nutrients and all within it.

"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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"Maybe," the Doctor agreed. The bait ball spun madly through the water, and a long tentacle shot out of the sediment, snatching up a fish effortlessly from the group. It sank back down instantly.

"Many things about that are not good," the Doctor pointed out, his voice squeaking slightly out of surprise. That was the same tentacle that wrapped around his leg, the same sort that nearly caused his regeneration. Jack was right, though. No way to find out but to go down.

He took a breath and kicked off, swimming towards the hole they went through before. He swam around Jack, trying to make it to the cave mouth first.

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"Oy, Hero," Jack said, reaching out a hand to grab hold of the Doctor's arm. "Stop the rushing. Together, remember?"

Maybe old habits died hard (and maybe in truth that's the way they should be) but that didn't mean Jack was going to allow the Doctor to be the one ahead and in danger.

"It'll be fine," he assured overly casually, "like I said, we'll just take a moment, chat with this thing."

He tilted his head upwards a little and nodded, speaking up, "Won't we. See, not trying to hurt anything."

He shrugged (well, as much as one can shrug while swimming). "Well maybe it's listening?"

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"Maybe," the Doctor said. "Maybe not. Just...don't become a meal, Jack. I've seen you grow back after being dinner once already, I'd rather not have that happen again."

He pushed through the mouth of the cave. It was darker than before, probably because the creature was less active during the day. Eating, absorbing nutrients, chilling the water, but that's it. Strange that it detected the bait ball but hadn't noticed Jack and the Doctor yet.

"That's what I'm hoping," he said. "And when you use that sonic device, maybe it'll be able to hear what you want and give it to you. Like it tried to give me what I wanted."

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"Trust me," he said, "that's really not on my agenda for today. Can think of a few things that are, but really, that's not one of them."

He was flippant enough in the way he spoke of it, certainly, but the thought of the Doctor having to observe as he recompiled like that was not a pleasant one. It was hard enough for him to go through, of course, but he hated thinking anyone else would have to remember that.

The cave seemed more ominous in the dark, and Jack pulled from his pocket something that looked like a small pearl. He shook it and it started to glow, giving off a warm natural looking light that illuminated the area around them.

"If it just gives us what we want better be careful what we're thinking," he said as he advanced ahead in the water. He pulled out the device and poked at a couple of buttons, activating it.

"Okay so testing testing, you out there. Captain Jack Harkness. I'd like a chat."

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Jack was illuminated in the natural light and it made the Doctor smile. There they were, saving the world. Doing what they did best. If he got what he was wishing, they'd never be anywhere but right here, right now. Because this was what he loved about them best. Never stopping, never staying still.

He loved Jack for this most of all.

He pulled out the sonic and pointed it at the darkness. A low rumble emanated from the depths.

"I think we've got a response," he said. He checked the readout on the side of the screwdriver. "Sonar reception. Something down there is listening. See if you can switch that device to reverse.""

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack turned the device in his hand and twisted it as he examined it in the illuminated light.

"Don't think this thing has a reverse," he said with a fronw before looking up at the Doctor and turning to a grin.

"Yet."

He started poking at it, pulling at tugging at a wire that stuck from the one side. "Should have a feedback loop. If I can superceed the core I should be able to root it backwards and reverse it."

He prodded. Prodded a little more, got the casing open and tugged on a new wire.

"Aha, there, got it!"

Jack looked over to the Doctor and grinned happily, pleased with himself, before activating the device again.

"Okay, how about we try again, ready to chat?"

This time, when the sonar was returned, it was audible. Audible but at first? Nothing but a screech. A screech that went right through Jack and made him lift a hand to clutch his ears.

"Well it did something. That a language you can understand?"

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He grinned. "Oh, that's brilliant, Jack."

The screech pierced the Doctor's ears, but it was a language he was familiar with. He didn't get all of the nuances, but it was close enough for him to understand.

"Andromeda sector," he explained to Jack. "Not far off from Gallifrey. You're a long way from home."

He concentrated on the screeching and translated for Jack. "It's doing a basic sort of greeting to you. Acknowledging your technological intellect, which in the Andromeda sector is a pretty big compliment, actually. Not acknowledging me at all, though. Probably doesn't fancy Time Lords. Well, very few in our galaxy did."

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Jack's grin widened. He couldn't help it. A compliment from the Doctor was one thing. A compliment on technical ability was quite something else. It made him feel good. And that was pretty special.

He continued to clutch a hand over his ear, trying to get used to the tone, but focussed on the Doctor and on his translation.

"Yeah," he said, twisting into a slight smile, "well don't worry, I'll fancy you enough for the both of us."

He looked back towards where the sound was coming from and called out.

"Come out, address us. I'm not trying to hurt you, but you're hurting here. You're killing it. I can't allow that to happen. This place is full of people, full of life and if you carry on you'll kill it all."

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With Jack's words, the screeching stopped for a long, quiet moment. The Doctor felt panic seize his hearts. He knew a lot of life lived in the Andromeda sector, but he didn't know all of it. This creature looked hostile, and it acted that way. What if Jack had unintentionally incited attack?

Then, a long tentacle shot up into the glow from the pearl in Jack's hand. Then another, and another, and a large, wet mass moved up, its body covered in those spindly tentacles. Then, without warning, every part of the wet mass moved, opening up as it revealed thousands of tiny eyes, the tentacles protruding from the lids like enormous eyelashes. Its pupils dilated in the dim light.

The screeching began again, and the Doctor translated. "Our world is gone, we only seek---no, past, sought out a world to live." The screeching stopped again, and it slowed down, as though recognizing that the Doctor was translating. "Your seas are empty, we assumed the world was.

"We wish no harm on the animals---no, no, no, that's people, it's not trying to insult, it's just a colloquialism---on this world. The gift we offered before was to show you that."

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Jack watched as the creature shifted into the space in front and around them. Huge and spanning across pretty much all the space he could see in the dim light.

"Ever feel like you're being watched?" Jack mumbled to the Doctor, glancing sideways at him.

He listened again to the translation, and nodded to the creature in eager acknowledgement.

"Right," he said, "but we can help you. Find somewhere else for you. Somewhere that's empty. But you have to leave here. Help us and we'll help you. We know you didn't mean to hurt anything."

He looked again to the Doctor, questioning, "Gift?" But then he realised. "Right, the regeneration?"

Again he looked at the creature, picking a set of eyes to concentrate on.

"So you can see what I'm thinking? So you can see that this is my world. My homeworld. And if you carry on, it'll be lost, just like yours."

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"Well, when they say the 'Aye's have it," the Doctor said. He turned to Jack, made a face, and shook his head. "Maybe not."

The screeching started back up again for a moment, and then stopped, the screech coming out with a word like 'Jack', and then continuing. The Doctor concentrated.

"You have done much, and you will do much, and the universe is grateful, as so we are grateful. We will leave your world, Jack. We see through your mind that there is a----I'm not really sure what that word is, but I think it's a moon---that is close, we will use the nutrients there before we leave. And we will offer you a gift."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow and turned to Jack. "I think they just said 'yes'." That was a first.

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Jack smirked, just a little, before telling himself that right now was hardly the time for humour and attempting to straighten his face, clearing his throat.

He listened again, raising an eyebrow as the words sunk in and processed. It seemed too easy, almost. But then did things always have to be that hard? Maybe they'd just got used to that.

He turned himself, looking at the Doctor, his expression mirroring his. "I'll do much, apparently. And we get a gift."

Looking again at the creature, he nodded. "Thank you. We appreciate it. The whole planet appreciates it. Trust me, I speak on their behalf. And really, we don't need a gift, your saving this place is enough. I just want to keep it protected."

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The creature shut its eyes quickly until it was a moving mass again. The tips of its tentacles glowed as it, one would assume, processed Jack's request. There was a screech, and the Doctor winced.

"We will watch and protect until our resources on the moon wear out," the Doctor translated. "That will be----"

Oh. He took a breath and whispered. "Timey-wimey indeed."

He looked over to Jack. "Four years."

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Four years.

Jack's childhood life seemed to flash before his eyes. The creatures that always passed the planet by. They never knew why. Never knew why they stayed away until that day that they just didn't. Until they appeared on that horrible day he lost both his brother and his father.

And it was him. It was now. He did that. His words here, now, held them back.

He looked to the Doctor, a little like he'd been winded. It was a shock. But then when he processed it? It wasn't bad, was it? His doing this held the creatures back. Could it be that he was truly saving his own planet? If only for a while.

"Four years," Jack repeated back, an echo. "Of course."

He looked back up. "Thank you," he said, most emphatically. "Thank you, I'll remember this."

And then again, he looked to the Doctor. "It was me. They stayed away because of me."

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"They did," the Doctor said, staring at the moving mass. "You saved your world, Jack. It's the only thing you wanted, and it was what you got."

The creature moved, as if in affirmation of their words. It opened its eyes and turned to the Doctor, letting out a screech that made his blood run cold. No. No, it couldn't be.

And then it vanished, dropping down to the depths. There was the sound of scraping, and the Doctor swam back to the mouth of the cave. Dozens of other rocks broke open and more of the creatures followed the first's lead, joining together like a giant bait ball, swirling and swirling and vanishing.

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It was overwhelming. Jack had effected things before, but he'd always seen it as bad. Things he had damaged or hurt. It was perhaps a rather darkly tinted way of looking at things, but he couldn't help but feel that way.

But here, Jack had helped. He'd saved Boeshane. That felt pretty damn good.

His reactions were slightly delayed but he still caught the screech in the Doctor's direction, and caught the way his expression changed.

"What?" he asked sharply, "Doctor what did it say to you?"

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The Doctor thought about not telling him. About keeping it in, keeping it a secret. He did it for long enough, and it was good, then. It was good to keep Jack safe.

But now, there was more going on than just being safe.

He looked over to Jack. "He will knock four times."

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It should have all been over, that. It should have ended. They thought it had ended. But then nothing really ever did, did it?

Jack felt a cold chill run up his spine.

He didn't know what to say. What could he say? Say that it terrified him? Say he was sorry? Nothing was right. None of it would be. And so he just moved in the water and wrapped his arms tightly around him, giving him one fierce hug.

"Come on," he said gently. "Lets go home."

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The Doctor spoke aloud what Jack was thinking. "It was supposed to be over. It was supposed to be done. We beat it, you and I. We beat it."

Jack was right, though. They needed to go back to the TARDIS. They needed to run. Well, the Doctor needed to run. He needed that control.

He looked back towards the mouth of the cave. It looked wrong somehow. It looked...foggier. And the fogginess was moving towards them.

"The rocks are crumbling!" the Doctor cried. "Jack, get back!"

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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.

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"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.

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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."