for quitehomoerotic: Welcome to the Sahara Desert

[rude_not_ginger]

follows this.

The Doctor woke only a few short hours later and found himself positively disappointed at his lack of dreams. He'd spent years asleep without dreams, and now, when he really wanted them, he still had nothing. No memories, no twisting nightmares, not even a good brain-dump of nonsensical mental garbage. Just nothing. He was asleep next to Jack on the bed, and then he was awake.

He sighed. His memory was still swiss-cheesed with missing parts of the last two hundred years, but there seemed to be more gaps filled in. And that was something, wasn't it? It meant maybe a few more nights of dreamless sleep and he'd be back to himself completely.

He just hoped there weren't more memories like Mars to discover.

He looked over to Jack, asleep next to him. This was what Jack loved the most, he said. Not sleeping alone. Not being alone. In that instant, the Doctor understood it.

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[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack huffed quietly to himself. The Doctor trying to protect him; a completely idiotic move considering a bit of gunfire wouldn't do much than kill him. It would do much worse to the Doctor.

"Hope you don't mind if I tag along," Jack said overly casually, his hands shoved in his pockets as he followed him up and moved to climb aboard.

He shot the Doctor a look and with a little concentration, spoke to him silently. Don't do anything stupid.

"So," he said to one of the guards. "What's this party the Doctor's got an express invite to?"

"His presence is requested," one of the guards said. He noted their guns were on the Doctor now, not him, and that feeling didn't fill him with comfort. "Why you pointing those at him?" he asked.

"Because we know how dangerous he is."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

The Doctor heard Jack speak, and turned to him, but no words were coming out of his mouth. It was a thought, from Jack to the Doctor, and it went smoothly across their connection. It was a little startling. No, no, actually, it was rather startling.

He concentrated and thought back to him. When do I ever?

Then, to the guards, he gave a wide grin. "Ooooh, so my reputation proceeds me, then? I like it when my reputation proceeds me. I always get a bit more attention than when it doesn't."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack couldn't help but smirk a little to himself. He glanced down and shoved his hands in his pockets before looking back up and over to the Doctor. Oh most days.

"Take it my reputation doesn't proceed me then? Well, that certainly knocks a guy down to Earth. Reputation? No? Not even a bad one?"

None of the guards even turned to look at him, and so he went and sat on the edge of a bench, somewhat dejected.

"So this Beatrice," he said. "Run the joint, does she?"

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

The men utterly ignored Jack, and that made the Doctor even more irritated. If this Beatrice traveled with him during the time that Jack was sleeping on board, wouldn't she be anticipating Jack's arrival, too? And why the anger? Why the utter hatred? Was she like Bess, who---who hated him for reasons that were missing from his mind?

But why would she give him her necklace, then? And why was it broken?

"Suppose that's something we're going to find out," the Doctor said to Jack, giving him a nod." He leaned over to one of the guards. "By the way. Where'd we get pulled to?"

"The Sahara Desert."

"Mmmm. Lovely spot. Any reason you all are traveling this way?"

The guard ignored him and barked at one of the others. "Sand shield up. We're nearing the ship."

"Ship?"

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"The Sahara!" Jack said with mock enthusiasm. "If I'd have known I'd have brought my camel."

He looked around at the space around them. The guards that milled around and obviously saw him as no threat. Well that was their first mistake, of course, they really had no idea who they were dealing with.

The guard glanced towards the Doctor and took a step out towards a panel on the wall. He lifted a receiver and put it to his ear. "Yes ma'am," he said, "he's here. But he's not alone. We'll bring them."

Jack grinned tight lipped over to the Doctor.

Any bells ringing over here?

There was a loud noise outside of something heavy hitting and locking against something else, and three of the guards came back and surrounded the Doctor, two reaching down to grab his arms and stand him up.

"Follow us."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Hey, now, that's not necessary, I'm not planning on running away," the Doctor said. Which was, of course, an utter lie. He planned on running just as fast as he could...the moment that he knew what the hell was going on here. Curiosity, it seemed, would forever be his downfall.

Several, but most of them are warning bells. Did I ever talk about a Beatrice? Ever?

This was actually nice, he thought. Being able to have a private conversation with Jack with guards all around them. Speaking of, the guards ignored the Doctor's protests and hoisted him to his feet.

The door slid open, revealing a long, metal corridor that apparently repelled the warmth from the outside utterly. It was almost cold in there.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"Ooh goodie, can I come?" Jack asked as he started to follow. He was watched by one guard, but it was little more than a cursory glance. He wasn't what they wanted, that was sure.

Not even once. And I'm pretty sure we've got to the point you tell me things.

It was still relatively new being able to talk to the Doctor like that, and Jack thought how good it was, and how many times in their past it would have come in useful.

I could just take them all out you know. He smirked a little, though the way they had the Doctor surrounded, he undoubtedly wouldn't see.

They walked ahead into the cooled and sanitary corridor, and they opened a door up, inside was a bench against the wall, they stepped the Doctor over to it and forcibly sat him down.

"Wait here."

Jack followed in and stood in the doorway. He suspected he could have quite easily left without being noticed. Odd.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

He sat, awkwardly, on the bench, feeling almost like he was a student about to be chastised. No cuffs, no checking for weapons. Beatrice must've known him well enough, at least.

Don't you dare. The way the Doctor spoke internally was surprisingly aggressive, his voice inside translating the anger he didn't normally show to Jack. But Jack was his responsibility. Jack was the person he needed to protect from himself.

Maybe, in that way, he could also save himself. Was that the sort of man the Doctor was, now? Saving people in order to save himself?

You could try walking past them. If they're androids, they may not be programmed to recognize you.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

They're not androids. They're just idiots. And don't worry, I'll keep my hands to myself. Just a suggestion.

The men backed away from the door, and Jack stepped in, just long enough to let them pass by. They moved out and the door, heavy and thick, was closed behind them. No visible lock from the inside, so some sort of holding area.

Back on the wall, a video screen flashed into life. There was a camera above it, pointed towards the Doctor, and as the screen flickered a couple more times an image settled on it. The head and shoulders of a woman, young, blonde, pretty with almost delicate features. She wasn't smiling.

"There you are," she said. "Knew I'd find you."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

The Doctor looked at the woman and felt absolutely nothing. She was pretty enough, he supposed, though he couldn't recognize her at all. She scowled.

"Oh, don't look so surprised," she said.

"It's not surprise," the Doctor assured her. "It's more confusion."

She snorted at that. "As in why would I ever want to see you again?"

"That, too."

The Doctor shot a look over at Jack. Who was this woman?

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack looked over at the Doctor and shot him a stare.

Don't look at me. She doesn't know I'm in here.

He shifted to the side and a little out the way, definitely out of view of the camera.

She doesn't know you don't remember her. Just play along. Ask her leading questions.

"I'm sure you want to know why I called you here," she said. "Especially considering how I left."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

Right, leading questions.

"Exactly," he said, nodding a little too emphatically. "And, um, the things you said to me."

If this were an obvious villain, someone he knew was Up To No Good, he'd be able to pick her apart without question, he was sure. But this was someone he obviously cared for at some point in his life, though he couldn't, for the life of him, remember how.

He took a breath and tried to affect a look of calm relaxation. "You could've just called."

"You had the TARDIS reroute my number to an operator."

"Did I?" the question was, unfortunately, genuine.

"Don't act all smug about it."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack couldn't help but roll his eyes a little.

Another stray dog, Doctor.

But there was obviously some reason for all this. It didn't make sense to go to all this effort to get hold of him if it wasn't for something important, but what?

You could try telling her the truth. Novel idea, I know.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Listen," the Doctor said. "I don't want to cause more trouble than there already is, but I don't actually remember you. It's a very long, very complicated story and I only know bits of it. But I know I know you, and I don't know how."

He nodded, watching Bea's face on the monitor carefully.

I don't think she liked that.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack shifted a little so he could see the screen a little more. The woman didn't look pleased. She shook her head and then looked down and Jack thought she looked almost sad.

Yeah maybe not.

"Typical excuse, Doctor. I've impounded the TARDIS. It's being taken to storage. You're not running away this time."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"I'm not---" The Doctor's expression started out calm, almost apologetic. She thought he always ran away. Most of his companions believed that, they believed that he ran because he wanted to, because he wanted to leave them. He knew he wouldn't have kept her necklace if he thought that. Well, he hoped, at least.

Then what she said fully struck him and he went from apologetic to infuriated.

"You've impounded the TARDIS?!"

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack reached one hand out as if to try and calm the Doctor.

She'll be okay, he urged. The TARDIS will be fine.

Still, that didn't mean he wasn't completely in a panic about her himself. She was all he'd had the last few years, she was more important to him than ever.

"What else was I supposed to do? If you knew it was me I knew you'd run. That's what you do, isn't it, run. You didn't leave me much choice."

She took a heavy breath. "Anyway. Doctor. We need to talk. It's important."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Why would I run?" the Doctor demanded. "Because I don't block the numbers of just anyone. I even left Bjork's number open even when she started leaving all those weird little messages."

What an awkward time that was.

"In Norwegian."

This woman, whoever she was, wanted to talk to the Doctor, and she was willing to use the TARDIS in order to get to him. And if she knew him, she knew that wouldn't make him happy.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack tried not to laugh. It really wouldn't be appropriate to laugh, and so he covered his hand over his mouth and tried not to smirk too much over at the Doctor.

"Because you always run," she said. "That's exactly what you do. First sign of trouble. First sign anyone touches you past that shell of yours. I know how it is, don't think you fooled me."

On that, Jack stopped laughing. He grew more curious, and turned his head towards the screen.

"They said on the phone you had someone with you. Where is she?"

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Shell? What shell? I haven't got any shell. If anything, I'm more candy-coated, I'll have you know," the Doctor said, trying desperately to deflect away from this topic of conversation.

Right, fine, maybe she knows me a little bit. he admitted to Jack.

"He," the Doctor said. He sighed, then turned to Jack and nodded to him, then to the screen. "Go on, say 'hello' to our captor, Jack. But not hello."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Oh y'think?

He gave the Doctor a slight glare as he was pointed out, and he stepped up a little closer, in sight of the camera, and perched himself down on the bench next to the Doctor.

"Hey," he said, lifting a hand in a half hearted wave at the camera. "Beatrice, I take it. Good to meet you. Hey, don't have any breakfast there, do you?" he spoke flippantly.

But the woman's face looking back was one of shock.

"Did you say Jack? Not the Jack? Jack Harkness?"

"That'd be me."

Her expression was almost unreadable. She looked pleased for him, almost, and then even more angry than before. Like her emotions wouldn't settle.

"You found him then."

Jack turned his head and looked at the Doctor.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

The Doctor tried to figure out what that expression meant. What was she feeling? Why did every emotion seem to sit on her face so sharply, like it either hurt more than anything or felt good, more than anything? And, most importantly, how did she know about Jack Harkness?

"How do you know about Jack?" the Doctor asked. "Cause...I wasn't actually aware I'd lost him."

There was a sudden boom outside the ship, and the Doctor jumped at the sound.

"What was that?" the woman snapped into an intercom like phone. Whatever the response was didn't settle her expression. "We're in the middle of the desert. That's not possible."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack was just about to remind the Doctor he 'lost' him for quite a considerable amount of time, actually. But instead he was distracted by the noise, and he immediately stepped to his feet and moved to the door.

He pulled his sonic from his pocket and tried it on the door but it was deadlocked, no surprise there.

"Look, whoever you are and whatever your deal is with the Doctor, you've picked a bad time. This is gonna have to wait. And you better open this damn door!"

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

She all but growled at the screen. The Doctor imagined she had a rather short temper, though he couldn't for the life of him remember if she did. He didn't even remember knowing her.

"You determined my every move for two years," she snapped. "To the point where I was asking myself what Jack would've done, because that was always better than whatever Bea would've done."

The Doctor opened his mouth to ask who would've compared her to Jack like that, then he realized it must've been him. He did that to Martha, he remembered. Compared her constantly to Rose, considered her by her not-Roseness rather than her Marthaness. And by the time he realized he didn't want her to be Rose, she was gone. Was it the same way with Bea?

"Listen, Bea, it's been lovely catching up, but you should really call me when I've got my whole memory back, eh?" he said.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack absorbed those words and tried not to allow himself to overthink them too much. He easily could spend too much time thinking of the fact the Doctor thought of him like that. It was important, though. Important to him. Too much was important to him.

He pushed a little more at the door, trying to ease on the hinge and get around the lock that way.

"Don't think he's going to keep you around," Bea said, and Jack realised she was talking to him. "He never does. He gets what he wants and then ditches you. You'd know all about that, wouldn't you, Jack. Sure you sit there while he listens and he takes whatever you'll give him."

He tried not to listen. He tried to ignore her as he worked on the door.

"Is that what it was, Doctor? Did you take enough and realise there was nothing left? Or was I just your drawn out version of a one night stand."

And on that, Jack stopped. He stopped and looked up, over at the Doctor, frowning a little, wondering if she just said what he thought she said.