FIC: Doctor Who - The Universal Constant

[fajrdrako]

Title: The Universal Constant
Author: fajrdrako
Pairing: Jack/Nine (with reference to Jack/Nine/Rose)
Part: 1/1
Disclaimer: Not mine, never mine.
Words: 726
Notes: General spoilers for Doctor Who season one; set before "Bad Wolf". Cross-posted to doctorslashjack.



The Universal Constant

It was foolhardy to say anything about time to a Time Lord. Jack knew that, but sometimes he liked to be reckless.

Time was their enemy and their friend. Aboard the TARDIS, they had an infinite amount of it, and used it to advantage in the large white bed that was their favourite. It seemed the Doctor also had an infinite supply of sexual energy, but Jack - for all he had always prided himself on his stamina, and sometimes staked his life on it - was only human.

Not long ago, Rose had fallen asleep, awakened, kissed them both, and had gone in search of food, laughing and dodging Jack's hand as he tried to pull her back to the bed. "Distract him, Doctor!" was her parting shot, and the Doctor did. Quite effectively.

Lying at last in boneless bliss, his body shimmering with the aftermath, Jack lay with his cheek on the Doctor's chest. He could hear the thrumming double-heartbeats and smell the Doctor's skin, cooler than his own, always cooler. If he had the strength to move his lips a quarter of an inch, though he did not, he could have tasted it too.

The Doctor ran lazy fingers over his head. The touch on his hair was unimaginably sensuous.

Jack asked dreamily, "Will it still be this good ten years from now?"

The Doctor's fingers paused in their movements, then rested, motionless, on Jack's back. Jack was sorry he had said anything. Though the Doctor did not at first answer, he could feel the change in mood, a vague psychic shift impossible to identify or understand. After what they had done - with such pleasure - it could not be regret. What was it, then?

Finally the Doctor kissed the top of his head. "Enjoy the present. Let the future take care of itself."

Jack could handle anything. He had learned the value of courage. He just wanted to know - to be prepared. This was one of those forbidden questions. He knew it. But it was always the forbidden questions that most needed to be asked. He was not afraid of answers. "What's wrong with us in the future, then? I'm not going to leave you. Am I going to die?"

He got a smack on the back of the head for that. "Ape-brain! Of course you are. Nothing lasts forever. And don't ask when. What do I know about it? Not a thing. Even if I knew every gory detail, I wouldn't tell you. Go bother some other omniscient genius."

"Yeah, sure, just tell me where I can find one with a little humility."

"After what we just did, I've earned some pride."

If Jack's death was not what the Doctor could foretell, then what was it? His own? No, Time Lords didn't die, they regenerated. So... would a regenerated Doctor not want Jack any more? Why not? Sheer pain pushed him to pursue the question. "Why won't we be together, then?"

"Did I say that?"

"So we will be?" He expected the Doctor to tell him again that time was an irrelevant concept. Within the TARDIS they were masters of time, not its slaves. But that wasn't the point, and both of them knew it. Jack was mortal. He would age, either in the TARDIS or out of it.

"Don't -"

"Tell me what you know!"

"I know better than to answer stupid questions."

"I won't ever leave you."

"I know."

"Will you send me away? Lose me? What?"

The Doctor touched his face. "Think, Jack. The future won't plan itself by your desires. You can't just choose your future. You create it minute by minute. You approach it one step at a time. Everyone does. Even me."

"You're saying you don't know?"

"I'm saying...." There was a long silence. The Doctor gathered Jack more tightly into his arms, and at first Jack thought he was going to say nothing more. He was wrong. The Doctor spoke lightly, which meant it was important.

"I'm telling you a truth known to all Time Lords, when they were around to know this kind of thing. There's only one constant in the cosmos, Jack, only one thing you can be sure of. Good or bad, in the long term or in the short..." He lowered his voice, and breathed the last words softly into Jack's ear.

"Everything changes."

~ End ~

Comments

[ladykoori.livejournal.com]

AW! *sniff* *huggles them all*

Very lovely.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[spherissa.livejournal.com]

Aw, I liked that. Poor Rose who ends up further away in the end than anyone else.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yup, that she does. I guess it proves the point - everything changes.

Thanks for commenting!

[kikibug13.livejournal.com]

Ooh pretty... Pretty!

Me want to hug them all too...

The after-glow. Sometimes, I have thought it just might be the best part of love-ma... NAH! it's all good!

I love the way Jack keeps pushing, and the Doctor just... gives in, to say what is rather scary, right then and there.
And I love the Doctor gathering Jack more tightly into his arms, towards the end.

Live now. Yesterday is lost. It may all be gone tomorrow.
Perfect for the Doctor to teach Jack. Oh indeed!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Excuse me, I am a little distracted by your icon. Sooo nice.

Glad you enjoyed the story. I don't think the Doctor would ever lie to Jack; telling him the truth is a sign of trust.

It was only after I'd written and posted the story that I realized how it echoes Jack's advice to Jack in "Captain Jack Harkness": "lose yourself in love now because you may be dead tomorrow".

[firko.livejournal.com]

The Doctor spoke lightly, which meant it was important.

I love that - and Jack being needy and vulnerable rather then the 'grown-up', as he has to be in Torchwood.

(By the way, there's a double around in the last paragraph.)

[kikibug13.livejournal.com]

Oh that's right... I think I got it on Friday, and you left then, so you must have missed my commenting around with it (mostly on firko's LJ, I think.
Ah well. I knew I had to get it as soon as I saw it. Had to drop my Bingo five-in-a-row userpic for that, but it's OK, this one is better.

Ah well. It does make sense, really. If Jack had learned it from the Doctor (and especially in your set-up), I think it would be the perfect situation for him to pass it on.

I don't think the Doctor would lie to Jack either, but he MIGHT withhold the truth, if he thinks Jack isn't up to it. MM which may be the same as almost in no case at all, but then again, the Doctor seems to be protective enough ("It is defended", and I think it means individuals too - that's why this - - quote from a fanfic struck me as so truthful... ).

And I am tired - sorry. I think the sentence in the above paragraph should never end up in any sort of good writing workshop. Except as an example of confused thinking, maybe.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

It's one of the best icons I've ever seen. I'm becoming more accustomed to the image of Jack with Ten, but it gives me a thrill every time I see them in the same picture.

If Jack had learned it from the Doctor (and especially in your set-up), I think it would be the perfect situation for him to pass it on.


And it generally fits his world view. For him, everything has changed, over and over. And in the spread of history, past and present, he knows about great changes. Permanence itself must seem ephemeral to him.

I don't think the Doctor would lie to Jack either

He might, in the right circumstances - I'm thinking of the time he lied to Rose in "The Parting of the Ways", to trick her into going into the TARDIS so he could make her leave. He might do that sort of thing. But it's also indicative that in that instance, he didn't do that sort of thing with Jack - he knew Jack knew exactly what was happening and he didn't sugar-coat anything.

"Save the human race at the expense of the humans" - could also be "save the human race from the humans".

Don't worry, I never critique anyone's messages - my own are garbled enough to worry about.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Jack being needy and vulnerable rather then the 'grown-up', as he has to be in Torchwood.

Yes. I don't think he has shown any of the Torchwood team his more vulnerable side, though Gwen may have guessed some of it. He showed John Ellis, a bit, and he certainly showed Jack Harkness.

Anyway, I think the Doctor saw all facets of Jack - Jack without defences or pretences, and I don't think many people see that.

Thanks so much for catching my terrible typo - eek! Now fixed.

[myfavouriteplum.livejournal.com]

Ah. This is simple, sad and beautiful.
Time is overwhelming. It's the master of us all, even the Time Lord.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

That must be the central irony of the Doctor's existence.

Thanks for the nice comment!

[reina-isabella.livejournal.com]

Such a true moment - who hasn't asked that? and known that maybe they shouldn't - not to mention such a loaded question to ask a Time Lord.

Quiet and gentle and very lovely!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

such a loaded question to ask a Time Lord.

Precisely why Jack feels compelled to ask. It's a point I find fascinating about the Doctor, the question - at any given moment, and in any circumstance: just what does he know? More than us, clearly, but never everything - so there's always that gap, that uncertainty between what we know, what he knows, and what he might know.

Thanks so much for your comment.

[laurab1.livejournal.com]

Aww :) Gorgeous, and a bit sad.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Only partly said. Yes, I wrote it to console myself back in December because Jack and the Doctor were parted.... but the thing is, if everything changes, then even that stage will change in its turn and they'll be together again.

Endless circles of change.

Anyway... thanks for commenting!

[star-momma.livejournal.com]

Awwwww... now... which one to hug first... hmmm... ::grabs them both::

Lovely piece!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Thank you!