Only One Way

[amberfocus]

Title:  Only One Way
Author:  amberfocus
Characters/Pairings:  Nine/Rose
Genre:  Drabble, Gen
Rating:  All ages
Beta:  jeprdyfrndly
Summary:  The Doctor hoped never to tell her the truth.
A/N:  For wendymr and the Shadow Proclamation for their bid during the Support Stacie auction.  Wendy wanted a bit from The Doctor Dances where Rose wants to know why Jack said good-bye before they go and rescue him from the bomb blowing up his ship.  This was very hard to do in 100 words, probably my hardest prompt (hence the last written), but I did it!

Only One Way

 

 

“Why’d he say good-bye?” Rose demands to know.

 

“What?”

 

“Jack, Doctor. Why’d he say good-bye?”

 

The Doctor hoped never to tell her the truth, but her eyes are demanding that he answer. “There was only one way for him to clean up his mess. He towed the bomb out into space, but…there isn’t enough time…”

 

Her eyes widen as understanding dawns. “But…he can’t die, Doctor. Everybody lives! You said so!”

 

“And I meant it,” he says with complete conviction. Suddenly she hears the sound of the TARDIS materializing and glances at the view screen. She smiles as the door opens.

 

Comments

[wendymr.livejournal.com]

Yes, you did really well to get this into 100 words! I really like this:

“And I meant it,” he says with complete conviction. Suddenly she hears the sound of the TARDIS materializing and glances at the view screen. She smiles as the door opens.

It's obvious that he meant to save Jack all along, and that's my personal canon, so I love to see authors agreeing with me ;)

Thank you for writing this! :)

[amberfocus.livejournal.com]

Thank you. It was very, very challenging, but I enjoyed trying to boil it down to the barest and most important elements. I do believe that he meant to save Jack all along, too. One, because Rose would have been terribly disappointed in him if he hadn't, two because it would have ruined his everybody lives day if Jack had died, and three and most importantly because he saw the potential in Jack of what a good man he could be with the right people around him. He was willing to give that chance, somewhat grudgingly, because he thought Jack could live up to that potential. And you're welcome.