amberfocus | Body Language (4/4)

amberfocus

Title: Body Language
Author:

amberfocus
Betas:

amyo67,

jeprdyfrndly
Series: Bodies in Motion
Characters/Pairings: Nine/Rose, Jack
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Romance, Fluff, Angst
Rating: Adult
Summary: An idyllic summer day on the planet Janesta is shattered when the Doctor is injured in an explosion.
A/N: Written for the second round of the

storm_and_wolf ficathon. The picture prompt will be posted in the relevant chapter. This is the fourth entry to my Bodies in Motion series, but stands alone fine without having read those. Dedicated to

lostwolfchats as a belated birthday gift.

Here is the picture prompt for the story:

Ch. 1: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/304213.html
Ch. 2: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/307467.html
Ch. 3: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/311007.html

Chapter Four

A half an hour later the sound of boot heels clanging down the hall jerked them out of the quiet bliss that had settled upon them as they basked in the afterglow of their lovemaking and the first declarations of their love. Jack pounded on the bedroom door. “I’ve thought of something,” his voice came from outside.

“Give the man a medal,” the Doctor said sarcastically.

“Hey, do you want to get healed or not, Doc? ‘Cause I can keep my brilliant revelation to myself, you know.” Jack sounded entirely too pleased with himself to actually do that, though.

“Come in, Jack. If you’ve thought of anything that can help—,” Rose began.

“I have. At least, I think I have.”

“Well, let’s hear it.”

“Well, first, do you think you can pilot the TARDIS blind?” Jack asked. “To a place other than the Vortex, I mean? Because it’s kind of gonna rely on you being able to.”

“Won’t be easy, but a lot of it is pure muscle memory. And I have the keyboard memorized so if I know what coordinates to put in, I should be able to, yeah,” the Doctor said.

“I’ve been reading one of the books in your library, trying to find something that was tickling the back of my mind, but I couldn’t quite place. Something I read when I first came on board and I finally found it again. Something I’d only ever heard rumors about in my time. You ever hear of a place called Ralta?” Jack asked.

For the first time since he’d figured out he couldn’t work the equipment in the infirmary the Doctor felt a surge of hope wash through him. “I’ve heard of it,” he answered cautiously.

“Where I come from most people thought it was just a legend, but sometimes, well, you’d hear about people coming back from there and being miraculously cured.”

“Ralta’s a real place, Jack, but the healing pools…well, whether or not we can get to them is a different story. No one can get past the priests without being deserving,” he said.

“After all you’ve done for this universe, all the people you’ve saved, how can you think you’re not deserving?” Rose demanded.

“I don’t think someone who’s committed mass genocide on two species is going to qualify as deserving,” the Doctor said flatly.

“You did what you had to do for the greater good of the universe,” Rose said loyally.

“Don’t know if they’ll see it like that.”

“Well, we have to try!” she said fiercely. “If there’s any possibility you can be healed than we have to try.”

“We really do, Doc. There’s no one else to tell us how to run the equipment that would save your eyes and I’m not sure how we’d ever find a hospital randomly that could do it. The book gave the coordinates of the planet. We need to go there.”

“Okay,” the Doctor said after a long pause. “Give us a minute to put on some clothes.”

“I’ll wait,” Jack said cheekily. The Doctor heard a thump and a soft oof and grinned. He was pretty sure from the motion next to him that Rose has just hurled a pillow at Jack.

“I’m going, I’m going,” Jack said and Rose chuckled.

The door clicked shut. “I don’t think he’ll ever give up trying to join us in bed,” Rose told him.

“It’s not in Jack’s nature to give up.”

“I think I’d be kind of disappointed if he did give up, really.” He felt the warmth of Rose’s body moving away from him as she stood up. “Come on, Doctor. Get up.” The Doctor scrambled to his feet and took the pile of clothing Rose handed him, quickly getting dressed.

“Do you know where my leather jacket got to?” he asked.

“Jack brought your clothes back. They’re probably in your room. What you’re wearing is the spare set you keep in here for after we almost died shags.”

“Appropriate I’m wearing ‘em then,” he said.

Rose swallowed hard. “Yeah.”

The Doctor reached out for her, his hand thumping into her shoulder, and pulled her close to him. “I didn’t die, Rose. Got off pretty easy, really.”

She buried her head against his chest and he felt her nodding. “Didn’t seem like it at the time.” He hugged her tightly and she clenched him to her fiercely.

After a long moment she released him. “Best get on with it,” he said. Then taking Rose’s hand, he allowed himself to be led back to the console room.

Programming the TARDIS console to take them to Ralta wasn’t as hard as they feared it would be. Since they weren’t aiming for a specific time period, it was a simple hop across space, a far less complicated procedure than trying to hit an actual date…or even century. The Doctor had got them into orbit, but he informed them that a blind landing was going to be difficult, if not downright nasty.

“Rose, I want you to get some safety restraints. They’re in the third roundel from the floor on the left side of the door to the corridor. Jack, I want you to tie Rose down—.”

“Now there’s a sentence I never thought I’d hear you say,” Jack quirked. Rose laughed at the stormy look the Doctor shot in his direction and went to retrieve the harnesses.

“And then I want you to strap yourself to a support strut,” the Doctor continued as if Jack hadn’t spoken. “This is going to be far more than a bumpy landing, I’m afraid.”

“What about you?” Rose asked as Jack hooked a harness up to the strut nearest the console and then fastened it securely around her.

The Doctor put his hand under the edge of the console and pulled out what looked very much like bungee cords. A couple more descended from the ceiling above him at his activation. “These should keep me in place while we land. They give me free reign to move about the console but will tighten up on impact.” He attached the cords to his ankles and around his chest under his arms.

“How come we don’t use these all the time?” Jack asked.

“Where’s the fun in that?” asked Rose.

“I knew I should have talked you into installing airbags when we had the chance on Korvalas,” Jack muttered.

“No one works on my ship that I don’t trust,” the Doctor said darkly. “Which limits it right down to you and Rose.”

“Aw, Doc, I’m touched that you trust me enough to touch your girl,” Jack said.

“The TARDIS,” the Doctor said just to be clear, “not Rose.”

Jack laughed. “Yes, Doctor. I’ve had that point driven home long ago.”

The Doctor made a few adjustments to the controls. “Do you still have that book handy?” he asked.

“Yeah, it’s in my pocket, hold on.” Jack squirmed and managed to retrieve it from the inside of his jacket without having to unfasten himself.

“Good. Read me out the exact coordinates of the healing pools. We’ll land as close as we can to the ancient temple.” Jack read them out and the Doctor carefully input them into the computer. “Ready?” he asked and waited for confirmation from both of them. “Here goes nothing.” The ship dematerialized.

It took them half a dozen tries and a lot of cursing from both Jack and the Doctor, and at one point Rose was pretty sure, the TARDIS herself, before they found themselves arriving at the correct destination. Arriving might be too gentle a word as the TARDIS crashed against a cliff face in a shower of sparks and a small explosion that caused four foot high flames in two different places.

Rose released her harness and grabbed the fire extinguisher and aimed it at the base of the first fire while Jack searched around for something to beat the flames of the second one with. He ended up grabbing a cushion off the jump seat. Even he wasn’t crazy enough to dare use the Doctor’s beloved leather jacket. He smothered the worst of it, then Rose finished up with the extinguisher.

“If you’re done playing,” the Doctor said irritably when they’d finally managed to put the fires out.

“Playing!” exclaimed Jack. “We’re lucky we got here in one piece and you’re the only one who needs to use the healing pools.”

“This damn well better work,” added Rose, “because I think you’ve got a week’s worth of repairs ahead of you and I don’t see how you’ll manage them if it doesn’t.” She was trying to hold back her temper, knowing he didn’t mean his irritable words. The stress of trying to land had hit them all quite hard. “At least we’re finally in the right place.”

She slipped her hands into the Doctor’s and said, “Come on. Let’s go.” Jack led the way out of the ship, the Doctor and Rose trailing behind him. He kept up a steady stream of chatter so the Doctor would be able to tell where they were going from the sound of his voice.

“It’s maybe a half mile from here,” Jack said. “I can see the temple.”

Rose could, too. It was an imposing structure, made out of yellow and brown river rocks that had been polished by centuries of tumbling through water before being used to construct the ancient building. It soared high into the sky, at least thirty feet over her head and a huge, wide opening yawed in its center. To either side of this massive door burned torches lit with cold green flames.

Rose kept up a quiet commentary of what was on the ground ahead of them as they walked, warning the Doctor of any particular dangers on the path, and threw in descriptions of the forest around them and the temple before them. “Oh,” she said suddenly coming to a stop and her motion stopping the Doctor as well.

“What is it?” Jack asked.

“I thought I saw someone.”

“Probably one of the caretaker priests,” the Doctor said. “They’ll be alert to our presence by now and should be sending someone out to greet us.”

As if the Doctor’s words had been the cue waited for, an old man suddenly appeared on the pathway before them. It looked as if he’d just materialized out of thin air, but Rose could see that there was actually a small bend in the path that had been obscuring him from full sight. He was dressed like the color of the forest, in a simple brown burlap robe that fell to his sandaled feet, a belt made of green jungle vine wrapped firmly about his waist.

“This be sacred ground. Why come ye here?” he asked in a strangely musical voice so deep that it seemed to reverberate through their bodies.

“Please,” said Rose. “We seek healing for this man. He’s been blinded.” She indicated the Doctor and the caretaker priest turned his eyes on the Time Lord.

“Come forward. Let me touch you.” As they approached the man, Rose realized that he was as blind as the Doctor, huge white cataracts covering what had once been very blue eyes. Sudden fear leapt into her heart. If a caretaker priest was not worthy enough to be allowed into the healing pools what might the Doctor’s chances be?

The man’s eyes turned and focused narrowly on Rose. “I can hear your thoughts, child. Yes, I be physically blind. That does not mean I cannot see. Without this blindness I could not view the beyond, past all strictures and bindings, into the true heart of one’s soul. I have the choice over which type of vision I can possess. I chose this life.”

“I’m sorry. I meant no disrespect.”

“None taken. Now, please, bring him here.”

They walked forward until the Doctor stood before the caretaker priest. He reached up for the Doctor’s head, hands sliding into place over his ears, pinkies resting at the base of the Doctor’s skull and thumbs over his eyelids. “Try not to resist me,” the man said. “I need to enter your mind. I need to see who you are.”

The Doctor relaxed beside Rose, allowing the other man the access he sought. The two men stayed locked together for so long that Rose and Jack took themselves to a log on the side of the path and sat down to wait, watching the swaying of limbs as the Doctor and the priest seemed to be swaying to some unheard music.

At last with a gasp and a stagger backwards the link was broken. “I have seen what was necessary,” said the priest. “Though ye have done things that many would consider evil, it was always with pure intent, always for the greater good, always with a righteous heart. Ye have been judged and ye have been deemed of worth to use the healing pools.” Quietly he explained the process that must be used, then the old man turned towards the temple and in his deep, musical voice roared out. “Let them pass!”

The grinding of gears came from somewhere within the temple and the three of them walked inside. In the middle, giant wooden doors had been pulled open and they could hear the rush of water. They walked through the inner sanctum and to the back side of the temple. It opened up back outside onto a river bed. A series of small waterfalls and limpid pools, lined with flat yellow stones, lent the water the look of fine champagne.

They were careful to place their feet on the downward path to the bottom. The three of them stepped into the bottom pool, Jack and Rose on either side of the Doctor. “Keep your eyes open,” Rose warned and the Doctor nodded. Carefully they ducked him under the water and counted out the twenty seconds he needed to stay submerged. He rose then and they helped him climb through the waterfall to the pool above. In the second pool he had to stay submerged for forty seconds. The pattern was repeated until they’d hit the sixth and final healing pool. He stayed under for a full two minutes.

When he finally emerged Rose looked at him hopefully. “Did it work?”

The Doctor wiped the water from his face and slowly blinked his eyes. Gradually the image of Rose’s worried face came blurrily into view. “It’s working!” he cried out jubilantly.

Rose threw her arms around the Doctor and hugged him tightly. “Oh, thank goodness!” she said.

Jack wrapped himself around the pair of them, holding them to him. “That’s great, Doc!”

Finally the three of them stumbled to the shore where a young priestess awaited them with dry, white robes. With each minute that passed the Doctor’s vision became more and more clear. By the time they’d changed and had their clothing lain out in the sun to dry he was almost back to normal. The temple dwellers gave them fruit and cheese and bread and wine to drink and offered them quarters for the night. A stay of twenty hours on the planet following the procedure in the healing pools was necessary for the cure to be permanent.

The Doctor made love to Rose reveling in the beauty of every inch of her body and when he had thoroughly exhausted her and she had fallen into a deep sleep, he eased himself out of bed and went to take a walk by the river that had given him his sight back. Jack stood quietly on the shore, tossing tiny yellow pebbles into the current.

“Can’t sleep?” he asked the younger man.

“Rose loves you,” Jack blurted.

“I know that,” he said.

“She was so afraid of losing you, and then so afraid you were going to send her away.”

“I won’t do that,” the Doctor said. “I want her with me. Always.”

“Her always and your always…they aren’t the same thing.” The Doctor tensed and turned away from Jack. “Doctor, you’re in love with Rose, aren’t you?” Jack asked.

“She’s my world,” he replied.

“How many years does a 21st century human live for?”

“Not enough,” he said grimly. “About a third of what you will.” Jack whistled. “She says she’ll never leave me. And she won’t. Not by choice. Just by time passing.”

“What if…what if she didn’t have to?” Jack asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Healing pools aren’t the only legend carried throughout the universe about this planet,” Jack said. “I asked the priestess about it, just to be sure. I thought she was barely out of her teens. Turns out she’s 845. On the far side of this planet…there’s a spring. They call it the Everlasting. It’s a fountain of youth, Doctor. Rose could…Rose could drink from it. And it isn’t really permanent. You’d have to return every 50 years or so to renew the effect. So if she ever wearied of it, she could change her mind, let herself die, but in the meanwhile…I just thought you should know.”

The Doctor pulled Jack into his arms and hugged the man tightly to him, then let him go quickly before Jack recovered enough from his surprise to try to take advantage to the situation. “I don’t know if she’ll want to, but having the option…”

“You’d have the possibility of a real future.”

“Yeah.”

The Doctor turned to head back the way he’d come. “Are you going to tell her?”

“Not yet. Things are still so new. But one day, when she’s ready to make this permanent, I’ll ask her. Do you think you can keep it quiet until then?”

“I will,” Jack agreed.

“Thank you.” The Doctor left him staring up at the stars and headed back to Rose. He took off his clothes and slipped back into bed, pulling her to him. She cuddled into his body and let out a little sigh of satisfaction. For the first time since meeting Rose Tyler, he realized that if she’d have him, there really was a chance of forever with her. He smiled in contentment. He couldn’t think of anything he’d ever want more.