![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fajrdrakoTitle: Companionship
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who
Characters: Jack, Sarah Jane Smith
Challenge: Way back in May I accepted a challenge from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
neadods to write a 'first kiss' scene between Captain Jack Harkness and Sarah Jane Smith. I did not forget. I was not even slow to start working on it, as I loved the idea. But I wrote one scenario after another and discarded them as inadequate or unconvincing. It proved to be extraordinarily difficult. Here at last is a version I like enough to post.
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Not mine, no claims, all property of the BBC.
Notes: Spoilers for Doctor Who episode "The Last of the Time Lords", with a fleeting reference to "School Reunion". Cross-posted to galactic_conman and dwfiction.
Companionship
From the very beginning, Sarah Jane Smith did not trust Captain Jack Harkness. He'd come sailing out of nowhere, appearing on her doorstep with a smile full of promises and a mouth full of lies.
Clearly he knew some things about the Doctor. He'd met Rose, yes, that she could believe. He'd been on the TARDIS, obviously; his information was too good to have been acquired any other way. Beyond that, she believed nothing. There were too many things he didn't say, or couldn't, or wouldn't. He'd met the Doctor - that didn't necessarily make him any kind of a friend of the Doctor, least of all a friend of hers.
She did some research on him, and came up with an inescapable fact: there were no records of any American named Captain Jack Harkness being in the UK since 1941. He was false as a Titanian brisket, this Captain, and she intended to keep her eye on him.
His organization, Torchwood, was even worse. It seemed everyone with any actual power knew about Torchwood, but no one knew the important details. The whole institution looked like a powder keg. She had a good talk with UNIT; they were suspicious of Torchwood, too. "Weaponry no one should have," they said, and "too much power, too little accountability". It seems Queen Victoria set up Torchwood under suspicious circumstances, to guard the world against alien threats in general and the Doctor in particular.
This was an expose waiting to be written, even if it was another article that should never see the light of day. Since Torchwood under Harkness seemed to pose no immediate threat, and the rest had disappeared with the Battle of Canary Wharf, she let it go for the sake of more immediate matters. When Captain Jack again turned up on her doorstep, she told him to go away and not come back.
One day, more than a year after the Battle of Canary Wharf, he broke the silence. She received a telephone call from Captain Jack Harkness.
"I've seen him," he said, without preamble. "I have news. Do you want to hear?"
There was only one person he could be talking about. She shouldn't listen. It might be a lie. But she'd had no word for so very long, not since the Krillitanes had invaded that school. She said, "Very well. Come to my place."
"On my way," he said, and disconnected. It was probably literally true: he no doubt rang her from his car. She put the kettle on for tea, and tried not to pace in anticipation. Luke was off somewhere with Maria, and she was glad - she wasn't sure how to explain Captain Jack to Luke. She wouldn't lie about him, of course, she didn't lie to Luke. But she didn't much want to talk about the mysterious Captain, either.
When Jack tapped on her door twenty minutes later, Sarah Jane had already finished half of her own cup of tea. His smile was as she remembered. She ignored it. "Come in," she said. "Care for some tea?" She hoped she managed to sound sufficiently casual. Friendly but not gullible. Businesslike.
"I'd rather a glass of water," he said, and she got it for him. They sat in her living room, with Jack in the large, comfortable chair, while she sat on the sofa. He said, "The TARDIS came to Cardiff to refuel. I hitched a ride. On the outside."
As he continued, she saw how absurd it was, like all his stories. A severed hand, as some sort of Doctor alert? Riding the time vortex hanging onto the outside the of TARDIS - what was he, Spider-Man? Going to the end of time? Searching for Utopia? Well, that all sounded like the Doctor, right enough, he was always into wild extremes, and seemed to be more so inclined as time went on. Not that time ever just 'went on' for the Doctor.
Captain Jack's story got more and more outrageous. Meeting another Time Lord at the end of time, one who'd lost his memory, who turned out to be a friend of the Doctor, but insane and power-hungry. Harold Saxon and Archangel. Toclafanes and warfare. A year that never was, of imprisonment, enslavement and resistance. Martha Jones, saviour of mankind. Deceptions, tricks of the mind, and psychic magic.
Sarah Jane listened to him without interruption. "Quite a story," she said, mildly, when he stopped.
"Yes."
"If I didn't know him, I wouldn't believe any of it."
"But you know him."
"I was looking into the disappearance of Harold Saxon."
"Oh?"
"And the way he popped up a couple of years ago. He was almost as mysterious as you."
Jack smiled at that. "No one is as mysterious as me."
"...But your ego is bigger."
"Not just my ego," he murmured, but she pretended not to have heard him.
She tried to picture the scene he described. The gunshot, the woman in red. The Doctor in tears. "He loved him?"
"The Master was the only other living Time Lord. The Doctor wanted to save him. It was his last chance... He couldn't save the others, back in the Time War. He thought he could maybe save this one. Just this one."
"Chivalrous nonsense," she snapped, and found herself on the verge of tears herself.
"Not nonsense. It's what he is. It's why we love him."
She looked at him quizzically. "We?"
"You. Me. Rose. Martha, too. How could we not?"
Jack was a con man, an actor. She knew that. But looking at him now, she believed that he knew the Doctor, believed that he loved him, that the Doctor had touched him in the same way he had her, and triggered a soul-deep change. Some people, after meeting the Doctor, would never be the same again.
Jack reached over and took her hand, squeezing it.
"How could we not?" she echoed. "I wish... How he must be hurting. I wish we could help."
"He'll find us if he needs us," said Jack. He kissed her hand, comforting her. Then he kissed it again.
She looked at him suspiciously, though didn't pull her hand away. "Jack Harkness. Are you coming on to me?"
He did not let go of her hand, which he had lifted to his lips. She could feel his warm breath against her knuckles as he held it there. Without moving his lips away from her skin, he lifted an eyebrow and said quizzically, as if it were another question rather than an answer, "Yes?"
She pulled her hand away quickly, and tried not to wish she hadn't. "Idiot man. I'm too old for flirtation."
He laughed - not at her, but in a warm sort of way that made even the air around him feel good. "Sarah Jane Smith, how old are you? Fifty at most? I have a century on you, and I'm not too old for flirtation. We both know someone pushing a thousand. Doesn't he make you feel young?"
"I miss him," she said bluntly. She felt like crying again. She was the idiot, a weepy old fool. She was usually more careful than this. But Jack's news about the Doctor had unsettled her, and Jack himself.... She realized how badly she had misjudged him before, and was furious with herself for it. He had needed her friendship, and she had coldly withheld it. Had she turned into such a suspicious old curmudgeon that she didn't know a friend when she met one?
"I miss him, too," said Jack gently. "Every day. Always. But it makes life worth living, you know? He's out there, doing his thing. And one day he'll return." He stood. So did she. He pulled her into his arms as if it was the most natural thing in the world, and Sarah Jane let herself accept it. He was a link to the Doctor. A link to her past and the planet's future, even if he and she hadn't shared that time together. A link to a world out there of planets and aliens and adventures and dangers and doing things that must be done.
He had a very comforting hug.
She said, "What's this about you being more than a hundred years old?"
"A hundred and fifty. But looking good, don't you think?"
"Are you human?"
"Completely."
"Then how...?"
He kissed her, lightly, on the lips. "It's a long story. It involves the fifty-first century, and the Time Agency... or maybe the year 200,100 and a Game Station... or maybe a girl hanging from a barrage balloon in the Blitz. Tell you what. Let's order Chinese and I'll tell you the story of Captain Jack Harkness and how he became immortal."
"Immortal?"
"And hungry! Have a heart. I drove all the way from Cardiff and I haven't had any lunch."
"There's a really good Chinese place just around the corner. I'll call them - Luke loves it."
"Luke?"
"I can tell you a story or two as well, Captain. Did you know I'm a mother now?"
He sat, laughing. "You're full of surprises."
"It comes with the territory. Egg rolls, do you think?"
"Definitely egg rolls," agreed Jack.
- end -
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who
Characters: Jack, Sarah Jane Smith
Challenge: Way back in May I accepted a challenge from
neadods to write a 'first kiss' scene between Captain Jack Harkness and Sarah Jane Smith. I did not forget. I was not even slow to start working on it, as I loved the idea. But I wrote one scenario after another and discarded them as inadequate or unconvincing. It proved to be extraordinarily difficult. Here at last is a version I like enough to post. Rating: G
Disclaimer: Not mine, no claims, all property of the BBC.
Notes: Spoilers for Doctor Who episode "The Last of the Time Lords", with a fleeting reference to "School Reunion". Cross-posted to galactic_conman and dwfiction.
Companionship
From the very beginning, Sarah Jane Smith did not trust Captain Jack Harkness. He'd come sailing out of nowhere, appearing on her doorstep with a smile full of promises and a mouth full of lies.
Clearly he knew some things about the Doctor. He'd met Rose, yes, that she could believe. He'd been on the TARDIS, obviously; his information was too good to have been acquired any other way. Beyond that, she believed nothing. There were too many things he didn't say, or couldn't, or wouldn't. He'd met the Doctor - that didn't necessarily make him any kind of a friend of the Doctor, least of all a friend of hers.
She did some research on him, and came up with an inescapable fact: there were no records of any American named Captain Jack Harkness being in the UK since 1941. He was false as a Titanian brisket, this Captain, and she intended to keep her eye on him.
His organization, Torchwood, was even worse. It seemed everyone with any actual power knew about Torchwood, but no one knew the important details. The whole institution looked like a powder keg. She had a good talk with UNIT; they were suspicious of Torchwood, too. "Weaponry no one should have," they said, and "too much power, too little accountability". It seems Queen Victoria set up Torchwood under suspicious circumstances, to guard the world against alien threats in general and the Doctor in particular.
This was an expose waiting to be written, even if it was another article that should never see the light of day. Since Torchwood under Harkness seemed to pose no immediate threat, and the rest had disappeared with the Battle of Canary Wharf, she let it go for the sake of more immediate matters. When Captain Jack again turned up on her doorstep, she told him to go away and not come back.
One day, more than a year after the Battle of Canary Wharf, he broke the silence. She received a telephone call from Captain Jack Harkness.
"I've seen him," he said, without preamble. "I have news. Do you want to hear?"
There was only one person he could be talking about. She shouldn't listen. It might be a lie. But she'd had no word for so very long, not since the Krillitanes had invaded that school. She said, "Very well. Come to my place."
"On my way," he said, and disconnected. It was probably literally true: he no doubt rang her from his car. She put the kettle on for tea, and tried not to pace in anticipation. Luke was off somewhere with Maria, and she was glad - she wasn't sure how to explain Captain Jack to Luke. She wouldn't lie about him, of course, she didn't lie to Luke. But she didn't much want to talk about the mysterious Captain, either.
When Jack tapped on her door twenty minutes later, Sarah Jane had already finished half of her own cup of tea. His smile was as she remembered. She ignored it. "Come in," she said. "Care for some tea?" She hoped she managed to sound sufficiently casual. Friendly but not gullible. Businesslike.
"I'd rather a glass of water," he said, and she got it for him. They sat in her living room, with Jack in the large, comfortable chair, while she sat on the sofa. He said, "The TARDIS came to Cardiff to refuel. I hitched a ride. On the outside."
As he continued, she saw how absurd it was, like all his stories. A severed hand, as some sort of Doctor alert? Riding the time vortex hanging onto the outside the of TARDIS - what was he, Spider-Man? Going to the end of time? Searching for Utopia? Well, that all sounded like the Doctor, right enough, he was always into wild extremes, and seemed to be more so inclined as time went on. Not that time ever just 'went on' for the Doctor.
Captain Jack's story got more and more outrageous. Meeting another Time Lord at the end of time, one who'd lost his memory, who turned out to be a friend of the Doctor, but insane and power-hungry. Harold Saxon and Archangel. Toclafanes and warfare. A year that never was, of imprisonment, enslavement and resistance. Martha Jones, saviour of mankind. Deceptions, tricks of the mind, and psychic magic.
Sarah Jane listened to him without interruption. "Quite a story," she said, mildly, when he stopped.
"Yes."
"If I didn't know him, I wouldn't believe any of it."
"But you know him."
"I was looking into the disappearance of Harold Saxon."
"Oh?"
"And the way he popped up a couple of years ago. He was almost as mysterious as you."
Jack smiled at that. "No one is as mysterious as me."
"...But your ego is bigger."
"Not just my ego," he murmured, but she pretended not to have heard him.
She tried to picture the scene he described. The gunshot, the woman in red. The Doctor in tears. "He loved him?"
"The Master was the only other living Time Lord. The Doctor wanted to save him. It was his last chance... He couldn't save the others, back in the Time War. He thought he could maybe save this one. Just this one."
"Chivalrous nonsense," she snapped, and found herself on the verge of tears herself.
"Not nonsense. It's what he is. It's why we love him."
She looked at him quizzically. "We?"
"You. Me. Rose. Martha, too. How could we not?"
Jack was a con man, an actor. She knew that. But looking at him now, she believed that he knew the Doctor, believed that he loved him, that the Doctor had touched him in the same way he had her, and triggered a soul-deep change. Some people, after meeting the Doctor, would never be the same again.
Jack reached over and took her hand, squeezing it.
"How could we not?" she echoed. "I wish... How he must be hurting. I wish we could help."
"He'll find us if he needs us," said Jack. He kissed her hand, comforting her. Then he kissed it again.
She looked at him suspiciously, though didn't pull her hand away. "Jack Harkness. Are you coming on to me?"
He did not let go of her hand, which he had lifted to his lips. She could feel his warm breath against her knuckles as he held it there. Without moving his lips away from her skin, he lifted an eyebrow and said quizzically, as if it were another question rather than an answer, "Yes?"
She pulled her hand away quickly, and tried not to wish she hadn't. "Idiot man. I'm too old for flirtation."
He laughed - not at her, but in a warm sort of way that made even the air around him feel good. "Sarah Jane Smith, how old are you? Fifty at most? I have a century on you, and I'm not too old for flirtation. We both know someone pushing a thousand. Doesn't he make you feel young?"
"I miss him," she said bluntly. She felt like crying again. She was the idiot, a weepy old fool. She was usually more careful than this. But Jack's news about the Doctor had unsettled her, and Jack himself.... She realized how badly she had misjudged him before, and was furious with herself for it. He had needed her friendship, and she had coldly withheld it. Had she turned into such a suspicious old curmudgeon that she didn't know a friend when she met one?
"I miss him, too," said Jack gently. "Every day. Always. But it makes life worth living, you know? He's out there, doing his thing. And one day he'll return." He stood. So did she. He pulled her into his arms as if it was the most natural thing in the world, and Sarah Jane let herself accept it. He was a link to the Doctor. A link to her past and the planet's future, even if he and she hadn't shared that time together. A link to a world out there of planets and aliens and adventures and dangers and doing things that must be done.
He had a very comforting hug.
She said, "What's this about you being more than a hundred years old?"
"A hundred and fifty. But looking good, don't you think?"
"Are you human?"
"Completely."
"Then how...?"
He kissed her, lightly, on the lips. "It's a long story. It involves the fifty-first century, and the Time Agency... or maybe the year 200,100 and a Game Station... or maybe a girl hanging from a barrage balloon in the Blitz. Tell you what. Let's order Chinese and I'll tell you the story of Captain Jack Harkness and how he became immortal."
"Immortal?"
"And hungry! Have a heart. I drove all the way from Cardiff and I haven't had any lunch."
"There's a really good Chinese place just around the corner. I'll call them - Luke loves it."
"Luke?"
"I can tell you a story or two as well, Captain. Did you know I'm a mother now?"
He sat, laughing. "You're full of surprises."
"It comes with the territory. Egg rolls, do you think?"
"Definitely egg rolls," agreed Jack.
- end -
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-10-19 09:05 pm (UTC)No. I wish they did. I phoned a friend and begged her to copy it for me. She says she can. I hope so!
I would love to see Moffat write another story featuring Jack. If only.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-19 09:12 pm (UTC)Moffat's has mentioned he wants to write for Jack. Originally John Barrowman was supposed to be in DW 10-13, not 11-13 and Moffat was happy because he was in charge of episode 10, but then things happened and JB was only available for 11-13. Let's hope he's given the opportunity some other time!
no subject
Date: 2007-10-19 09:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-19 09:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-19 09:30 pm (UTC)Well said! Makes me drool just to think of it. All that is really interesting about Jack, he set up in that first episode, and did it beautifully.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-19 09:36 pm (UTC)http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/episodes/2007/blink_annual.shtml
I'm still amazed that Moffat was able to create SUCH a detailed, well rounded character for Jack. Utterly amazing. And of course, picking JB to play him was brilliant on RTD's part.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-19 10:10 pm (UTC)Yes. Other writers design an intergalactic con man and he turns out to be shallow and superficial. Moffat does it, and Jack is complex and interesting and heroic - and still an intergalactic con man, and a good man, too. Heroic enough to warrant his own TV show and a return to Doctor Who. Very impressive.
of course, picking JB to play him was brilliant on RTD's part.
It seems to be one of those rare cases of utterly perfect casing. You'd think Captain Jack had just stepped out of his Chula warship and said to them, "Here I am."
no subject
Date: 2007-10-19 10:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-19 10:20 pm (UTC)I also love the way fans from the age of 4 to 104 can relate to him and enjoy him.
Of cousre Jack turns out to be anything but "shallow, superficial, cowardly" - but I think he still has a fear that he is those things, and has to struggle to meet his own standards - which are, of course, his own interioralization of what he thinks the Doctor is, the hero he wants to be.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-19 10:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-19 10:34 pm (UTC)This might be at least partly because, though he has a strong sense of self, he has made himself out of the identities of other people, living one pretense after another. He finds heroes and makes himself like them.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-19 10:38 pm (UTC)Couse, would be nice if the Doctor treated him a little less like dirt though in response.
But this could also explain why he was so taken with the real Captain Jack Harkness. He's still living off the identites of others.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-19 10:47 pm (UTC)I can't help thinking that Nine would have recognized what Jack was doing, and have been flattered, and have been kind about it. But maybe I am rationalizing the discrepancy by separating the two incarnations of the Doctor.
this could also explain why he was so taken with the real Captain Jack Harkness. He's still living off the identites of others.
Yes. It's the way Jack operates. Admiration and emulation. He adopted the name and style of Captain Jack Harkness, and some of his moral code, but his live and his goals are much more in line with those of the Doctor: saving the world, helping people, using his unusual knowledge to protect the Earth.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-19 11:11 pm (UTC)using his unusual knowledge to protect the Earth
One of these days we will find out just why "the 21st century is when everything changes." and why it is we really have to be ready!
no subject
Date: 2007-10-21 07:35 pm (UTC)Oh, yes! I wish that rather desperately.
Nine had a wistful loneliness about him, I think he would have appreciated the man Jack had become
I think he would have been very good for Jack, and Jack for him. I love the way they could make each other laugh. And their sense of effortless mutual understanding - cf. the scene in "Bad Wolf" when they were in prison together, and broke out.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-21 07:41 pm (UTC)And when they did talk? I loved the witty banter between the two in the beginning of "Boom Town" (How come I never get any of that? Buy me a drink first. Such hard work! But worth it)
no subject
Date: 2007-10-21 07:46 pm (UTC)Yes, witty with flair. If series 2 had continued as series 1 had set things up, with the Nine, Jack, and Rose all together on the TARDIS, I suspect they would have had trouble finding writers who could handle that level of dialogue and characterization. So on TV terms it was a brief and shining moment, but I loved it totally.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-21 07:53 pm (UTC)It's so rare to even find fics with those three. *sigh* The DW S1 Jack was so different than the TW S1 Jack and the DW S3 Jack. I guess it's a tribute to John Barrowman that I like them all so much.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-21 08:16 pm (UTC)Ah, yes, put that high in the hierarchy of "Things that haven't been written, but should be".
He's said he'd like to tell the story of Jack's missing two years. I just hope RTD gives him that chance someday.
Now, that's something to hope for! I'm not sure how it could fit into Doctor Who, though. Maybe in Torchwood? No, wait, it could be one of those Doctor Who stories like "Blink" or "Love and Monsters" that doesn't feature the Doctor as part of the main plot.
It's so rare to even find fics with those three.
Yes. You'd see more, but I find them difficult to write successfully. The level of skill and thought required is rather high.
I guess it's a tribute to John Barrowman that I like them all so much.
Barrowman is amazing - I can't argue with that! And wouldn't want to try.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-21 08:22 pm (UTC)That would be incredible. And without Ten, then my issues with him wouldn't have to take away from my enjoyment of the episode!
no subject
Date: 2007-10-21 08:24 pm (UTC)I can't help longing for such a possibility.