amberfocus (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
amberfocus) wrote2010-04-06 10:44 pm
amberfocus) wrote2010-04-06 10:44 pm
Leap of Faith: Chapter Eleven
banner by seduff
Title: Leap of Faith (11/?)
Author:
![[info]](https://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
amberfocusCharacters/Pairings: John Smith (alt!Nine)/Rose Tyler, Toshiko Sato, Jake Simmonds, Mickey Smith, Ianto Jones, Jackie Tyler/Pete Tyler, Tony Tyler, various original characters
Genre: Romance, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe
Rating: Adult
Betas:
amyo67, jeprdyfrndlySummary: Hiding from the Family of Blood, the alt!Ninth Doctor turns himself into John Smith via the chameleon arch and with his companion Toshiko Sato, takes a job at Torchwood. He clashes with everyone he meets and Rose Tyler, the beautiful young director of Torchwood Field Operative Training and the daughter of his boss, is no exception. AU after season 2 and based mostly, but not completely, on my short story Third Time's the Charm: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/319447.h
Previous Chapters: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/327895.h
Chapter Eleven: Aftermath
Rose blinked her eyes open and saw that she was in a sterile, white room. When she tried to rise she realized she was connected to an IV in one arm and since her head ached abysmally she was quite content to let it remain on the pillow where it rested, quite possibly forever. A haze of medication seemed to be muddling her reactions and thoughts, but she knew if she worked it through for a minute she could figure it out. Pain, in bed, IV. Hospital, she was in hospital. No, wait, not hospital. Hospital walls in this universe were always green. This was the infirmary at Torchwood. Why?
She scrunched her eyes shut trying to recall the last thing she remembered. She’d been shooting at the alien queen, she thought she’d killed it, but then someone had called out to her that she hadn’t and she’d raised the power on the cannon and lifted it to fire again and—“John!” she cried out.
She heard a noise to the left of her in the room and turned her head gingerly in that direction. The curtain around her bed was suddenly pulled back and she saw Toshiko. “He’s asleep,” Tosh said moving the curtain far enough out of the way to reveal his unconscious form in the next bed. Tosh had a scrape across her cheek and was moving gingerly, one hand firmly pressed beneath her breasts.
“Is he okay?” Rose asked.
“He’s a fair sight better than you, I can tell you. He kept badgering Dr. Varley about your condition and wouldn’t stay in bed so she finally dosed him with a sedative several hours ago. He’s got mild back strain from carrying you away from the blast and they had to take a fair amount of shrapnel out of his thigh. He’s supposed to stay off it for a few days, but otherwise he’s fine. You on the other hand cracked your head pretty good. You’ve been out since yesterday,” Tosh told her.
“He carried me?” Rose asked in surprise.
“Like a sack of potatoes thrown over his shoulder. I’ve never seen anyone run so fast burdened down like that before. Even so he barely got you out of the danger zone in time. When you two went flying I thought…well, you don’t want to know what I thought.”
Rose swallowed hard and looked at the too familiar face of John Smith for a long moment. A thousand emotions seemed to be swirling around inside her, but the foremost one was relief that now she’d have a second chance to get to know him after having dismissed the first one without even trying and just how much she wanted the chance to accept the friendship that he had offered. He’d saved her life with no thought to his own safety. She had been so wrong about him. He was willing to put others first. He was willing to put her first.
“He’s really okay?”
“Yes. Wouldn’t have thought you’d care so much,” Tosh said softly.
“I just…he saved me. He put his own life on the line for me.”
“Yeah, but you were asking before you knew that,” Tosh pointed out gently.
“I’m just grateful. Of course I am.” She looked steadily at Tosh, her face betraying nothing of the turmoil she was feeling. “What about the others?” Rose asked.
Tosh looked down. “Daniel’s dead,” Tosh paused and Rose winced at that piece of news, “and Emily’s in intensive care. Martin and Dina sustained minor injuries. Gabe has a broken arm and collarbone from a piece of the ship hitting him. Mickey and Jake are both fine. They have some bruises and scratches, but nothing serious.”
“And you?”
“Bruised ribs and a few cuts,” Tosh said with a sigh. “Daniel…shielded me with his body. He took the brunt of the metal that hit us. I’d be dead if it wasn’t for him.”
Rose put a hand on Tosh’s arm. “It was very much like him to want to protect someone else. It’s the way he’d have wanted to go out.”
Tosh nodded, her brown eyes brimming with emotion. “Yeah, I just…”
“I know.” She grabbed hold of Tosh’s hand and squeezed it gently. “It’s never easy to lose a colleague and harder still when it’s because they were protecting you.” Tosh gave her a wan smile for the support. “It’ll get easier. Give it time.”
A loud ruckus suddenly brought their attention to the door to the infirmary. “I don’t actually care who you are. Do you know who I am? Because I think that’s far more important, young man. That’s my daughter in there and there’s no one keeping me from seeing that she’s all right. And don’t think I don’t know how to disarm you and take you down. Rose isn’t the only one in this family who’s taken down aliens, thank you. I shouldn’t imagine one scrawny Torchwood nurse is going to be any harder.” The voice was determined and angry and Rose smiled because she would recognize it anywhere.
“Is that George out there?” Rose asked. Tosh nodded. “Poor man. He’s very protective, but she’s more so.”
“Your mum?” Tosh asked. Rose nodded then groaned at the pain the sudden movement brought to her head. “Do you want to see her?” Tosh asked.
“Yeah. Just pull the curtain on John’s bed first. I don’t want her se—disturbing him.”
“Okay. I’ll go rescue her from the overzealous duty nurse then, shall I? Or maybe him from her.” Tosh stood up, pulled the curtain back around John, and walked to the door. “Hello, Mrs. Tyler. Rose is awake and asking for you. If you’ll just come this way?”
“You must be that nice Toshiko she’s told me so much about and let’s not stand on ceremony. That lot out there can call me Mrs. Tyler, and well they should do, but any friend of Rose’s knows to call me Jackie right from the start. Is she really okay? They said she was, but you know it’s hard getting them to give a straight answer unless I have Pete right there beside me and I—oh, Rose, you really are all right,” Jackie said as she finally caught sight of her daughter grinning at her from across the room.
“No worse for wear,” Rose said. “Bit of a headache.”
“Well, that’s to be expected. You were concussed, Mickey said. And where’s this John fellow that carried you off the battlefield all knight in shining armor like? He deserves a right smack on the lips from me for that one,” Jackie said.
Rose started to giggle. She remembered how horrified the Doctor had been when Jackie had kissed him on their final visit home. For the first time in ages the memory of that visit being the last visit didn’t hurt her, but brought her a tiny bit of joy. He’d complained off and on about it for the rest of the day, probably would have for weeks had things turned out differently, but she’d suspected he’d been secretly pleased at how accepting of him her mum had become. They were going to tell Jackie that trip home what they’d become, that Rose would be staying with him for the rest of her life. She sighed. It was less bitter and much sweeter now, that memory. Time did a lot to heal, eventually.
She tried to picture the reaction of this new man to the same situation. She was pretty sure that John would be horrified at the very idea of Jackie Tyler planting one on him. She giggled a bit more then realized that her mother was staring at her rather oddly. “What?” she asked.
“It’s just that I haven’t heard you laugh in so long, sweetheart,” Jackie said. She brushed a long strand of hair out of Rose’s face. “How much medication do they have you on?”
“Oh, Mum,” Rose said holding her arms out to her mother. Jackie came into them carefully, as if she feared Rose was fragile. “I think I’m awake again,” she said softly into her mother’s ear. “I think I’m alive.”
“Because you nearly died?” Jackie asked. She pulled back to look at her daughter.
“Nothing like confronting my own death to decide it’s time for me to make some changes,” Rose said.
“Ready to quit Torchwood?” Jackie asked hopefully.
“No, Mum. I’m not gonna quit Torchwood, but it won’t be, it can’t be, my whole life anymore.”
A soft groan from the next bed brought Rose’s attention back to John and not letting her mother see him just yet. “I better go get Dr. Varley,” Tosh said. “She said to come get her when either patient started to wake up.”
“I promised I wouldn’t stay long either,” Jackie said. “I just wanted to make sure you were alive with my own two eyes. And when you’re better, bring that man around to dinner. The one who saved you. We can thank him in true Tyler fashion.”
“He’d probably think that’s a fate worse than almost dying,” Rose said dryly.
Jackie grinned. “Should be fun then, shouldn’t it? Toshiko, you can come, too,” she offered with an inclusive smile before turning back to Rose. “Your father will be in to see you tomorrow. I took the first zeppelin out of Geneva, but it was booked up so he had to catch a later flight. I only got on because I was me. Not Mrs. Peter Tyler me, but Jackie off the Powell Estate me. Works as well here as it ever did back home. I will never get used to how slow those things travel. Did Mickey ever get anywhere on that jet engine design?” she asked. “Because I miss planes desperately.”
“I don’t know,” Rose said.
“I’ll have to put a fire under that boy. Pete’s willing to finance a faster mode of travel. Can I bring Tony around later? He heard ‘Rose’ and ‘hurt’ and he’s been a bit frantic wanting to kiss big sister’s owie and make her better,” she said.
“Yeah, I’d love to see him. Don’t know how long they’re going to keep me chained up in here.”
“Just so you do what your doctor says and take the time to recover properly,” Jackie admonished.
“Very good advice,” said Dr. Varley bustling into the room followed by Tosh. She was a tiny dynamo, barely five feet tall with glittering green eyes, short chestnut brown hair, and a take no prisoners attitude. “Hello, Mrs. Tyler,” she said politely.
“Hello. Thanks for patching up my Rose again,” she replied.
‘Yes, of course. I do need to examine her and my other patient now, though.”
“I’m just on my way out.” She gave Rose another hug and kissed her on the forehead. “See you tomorrow, love.”
“Okay.”
Rose sighed with relief as Jackie finally exited the room. She loved her mother completely, but the whirlwind that was Jackie Tyler could be exhausting in the best of health. The curtain between Rose’s bed and John’s was suddenly yanked open. “Thought she’d never leave. Your Mum could talk for England,” John said giving her a wry grin. Rose couldn’t help herself. She turned her widest smile on him. His eyes softened dramatically.
“For the whole U.K. and Europe, actually,” Rose replied. “When did you wake up? You’re supposed to be asleep still.”
“About the time your mum came in and started yapping. And you should learn something about me, Miss Tyler, and learn it well…I never do what I’m supposed to.” She shivered at the dark quality to his voice. In a less lofty tone he added, “Good to see you’re still with us.”
“Call me Rose. My friends,” she said pointedly, “call me Rose.”
“But we’re not friends,” he reminded her.
“Yes,” she said firmly, “we are.”
“Yeah?” he asked quietly.
“Yes.”
“Well, since it’s been firmly established that we’re all friends here,” Dr. Varley said with an impatient but tolerant smile, “I’d like to examine Rose now she’s rejoined the land of the living.” John started to rise. “And you can stay right there, Dr. Smith. I’ve got to change your wound dressing and you are supposed to be staying off it.” John grumbled but settled back into his bed.
Dr. Varley ran Rose through all the basic tests, checking whether or not she could track a little light with her eyes and asking questions to test her memory function. Last of all she checked the wound itself. “I had to shave a small patch of hair off the back of your head when I stitched you up, but you have enough hair to cover the spot no one will notice,” the doctor mused. “It’s healing well. That new wound ointment R&D developed is definitely doing its job. The stitches will need to stay in for another five days and then we’ll take them out. Afterwards you’re not going to want to wear a pony tail back there for at least a month. I don’t want you drawing the skin tight there.”
“It sounds like you’re releasing me,” Rose said in surprise.
“No, not yet. Your brain got rattled around in there pretty well, you were unconscious for fourteen hours, so I’m keeping you another twenty-four hours for observation and then if things continue to go well you’ll be cleared for light duty only. That means no field work, no training, no sparring. You’ll be a desk jockey for a good two weeks and then we’ll see how your head is.”
“I hate riding a desk,” Rose grumbled.
“Tough,” said the doctor. “As head of medical I overrule every person in Torchwood, including your father when it comes to these decisions. If your mum had her way you’d not be coming back here at all, you know.”
“I know. She’s made that well clear every time I get hurt,” Rose said.
“To everyone who will listen,” Dr. Varley responded. “If your stomach isn’t too queasy I’d like to see if you can handle some food now. Are you hungry?”
“Famished,” Rose replied.
“I’ll have the cafeteria send something up,” she said. “If you keep it down we can remove the IV line and the catheter and you can start taking pain medication orally. Now, I need to check on my other patient.”
Dr. Varley stood up and stepped across to the next bed. “On your stomach, you,” she said in a no-nonsense tone, pulling the curtain closed behind her. Rose heard the rustling of fabric and then a sharp yelp. “Oh, hush, that was just the adhesive coming off.”
“And all of my leg hair,” grumbled John. Rose giggled. “Oi, I heard that! No laughing at the invalid.”
“You’re hardly an invalid, John,” Rose said.
“You’ve been moving around too much, Dr. Smith,” said Dr. Varley. “It’s pulling at the stitches. I was going to let you go home tonight, but I think you’d benefit from another twenty-four hours of confinement as well before I clear you for duty.”
“But I—.”
“No buts, except the one hanging out the back of your hospital gown. Now if you’re hungry I’ll make sure they send something up for you as well.”
“I am.”
“And some clothes if you like, to spare Miss Tyler the oh, so lovely view of your bum when you ignore my advice and get out of bed again,” she said sarcastically.
“There’s nothing wrong with my bum. I’ve got a nice bum,” he complained petulantly at the doctor’s snarky words. “I’ve gotten compliments on my bum.”
Rose giggled again. From what she’d seen of it, encased in denim, she was sure it was a very nice one indeed and wouldn’t doubt he’d gotten compliments. She almost said she didn’t mind then realized that was probably the pain medication lowering her inhibitions and very wisely kept her mouth shut. She wondered why her attraction to him was suddenly hitting her with such force. Gratitude might be part of it, she supposed, or the bonk on the head, but it almost felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders, like she was suddenly free to feel again.
“I’m sure you have. Nonetheless I’ll have someone grab you a spare set of workout clothes from the gym. They’ll be nice and loose over the injury site,” Dr. Varley said. “You’re to stay in that bed until someone comes with them and then you can get up to change, but you’re to get right back into it again after, do you understand? I don’t want you getting up unless you have to use the loo.”
“You’re a very bossy doctor,” he told her as she headed for the door.
“You’re a very disobedient patient,” she told him in return and then she was gone. As soon as she’d vanished John reached out and snagged the curtain, pulling it open again.
“How are you, really?” he asked.
“My head hurts. I’ve got aches and pains all over my body, but I’m very happy to be alive. Tosh says I have you to thank for that, so thank you,” she said.
He nodded. “Of course.”
“No, really, John. Thank you. I would be dead if it wasn’t for you. Dead when I’m just figuring out how to live again. You didn’t have to risk your own life. Not for me. I told you we couldn’t even be friends and you did it anyway. You saved me when you had no reason to,” she said earnestly. “I will never forget it. So thank you.”
“I had reason to,” he said softly his voice full of so much warmth that her stomach did a slow flip. “I had every reason to.” Rose looked away from him trying to get her emotions back under control. “Besides Tosh would have kicked my arse to Scotland and back again if I’d left you there to die,” he said his usual self-mocking tone back in his voice.
“And my mum would have helped her,” Rose added letting the moment go.
“Yeah, your mum sounded pretty scary. What’d she mean by ‘Powell Estate me?’” he asked.
Rose’s breath caught and a slight fluttering panic filled her before she forced it down. Thinking fast she said, “Back before my dad developed the Vitex juices he and mum lived on an estate. Mum grew up poor and scrappy. She had to fight for everything. And she was good at it.”
“I’ve no doubt.”
Searching for something to change the subject from her mother’s past she asked, “What really happened after I was knocked out? I remember shooting the queen again after you said she wasn’t dead, but the recoil from the plasma cannon must have thrown me down again. I couldn’t get proper purchase in all that mud to stay upright.”
“The queen burst into flames. We think that her blood was highly flammable and the cannon ignited it. Then the ship's self-destruct mechanism started counting down. I saw you lying there, not moving, and you didn’t respond to me so I simply picked you up, chucked you over my shoulder and ran like hell,” he said. “The ship exploded and the blast wave threw us into the air. I remember hitting the ground and rolling with you and then I woke up here.”
Rose didn’t know what to say to that, but was saved from having to respond by the door to the infirmary swinging open. It was Mickey and Jake, each carrying a tray from the cafeteria. Mickey’s eyes raced over Rose’s body as he walked over to her and set the tray down on a little table beside her bed. Jake took John’s to his side and then came back to see Rose who Mickey had engulfed in a hug.
“I thought I’d lost you babes,” Mickey said in an emotional tone of voice. “After all we’ve been through, to lose you yesterday, I couldn’t have stood it, Rose.”
“I’m still here,” she said. “And you’re hugging me too tight. Ease up. What did you bring me to eat?”
“Soppy stuff,” Mickey said sitting back on her bed and pushing a strand of hair out of her face tenderly. “Soup, mousse, apple juice.”
“But I’m starving!” Rose complained. “I could eat an entire five course meal.”
“Well, Dr. Varley says if you can keep this down you can have real food next meal,” he told her.
“You’re hogging the girl, Mickey,” Jake said and Mickey jumped up, letting Jake sit down and give Rose his own concerned hug.
“I’m okay, Jake, really I am,” she said. “Just a little worse for wear.”
“I just needed to see it with my own eyes. Dr. Varley said we could stay for a while if you’re up for visitors.”
“I’m really pretty tired, boys,” Rose said. “I just want to eat and go back to sleep.”
“All right.” Jake leaned forward and kissed Rose gently on the forehead. “I’m here if you need me,” he said squeezing her hand softly.
The two men got up, said a cordial good-bye to John and left. John was silent after they went but not because he was eating his food. “What?” she asked.
“Are you and Jake lovers?” he asked jealously.
“Hell, no,” Rose replied. She didn’t miss the look of relief on John’s face. “Jake’s in a serious relationship.”
“And Mickey?”
“Is my oldest friend. We grew up together. And yeah, we dated for a couple of years but that was before…” She trailed off.
“Before?”
“That was before I met the man who changed my world. Not that it’s your business. What’s with all the nosey questions?” she asked picking up her spoon and poking at the soup with it before taking a bite.
“Just curious. You said we were friends now and I’m just trying to get to know you. You said to ask instead of hacking into your life so I’m asking. They both seem to really love you.”
“Well, yeah, of course they do. We’ve been through hell together, the three of us,” she said. “And I love them both, but not like…”
“Not like you loved him. The man who looked like me,” he said.
“Yeah. I don’t want to talk about him, John. He’s gone forever and there’s nothing I can do about it. I have to move forward and I can’t do that if I keep living in the past.” She took another bite of her soup to give her mouth something else to do other than blab her feelings and emotions all over the room. “So, there’s no one for me. What about you?”
“Me?”
“Got a girl in the wings somewhere waiting for you?” she asked.
“Not anymore,” he said shortly.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to touch a nerve.” They fell silent while they ate. She noted with a bit of jealousy that John had actual chicken and potatoes on his plate. It made her soup look even less appetizing. Rose had almost forgotten what they’d been talking about when he spoke up again.
“She died.”
“What?”
“The girl who was waiting in the wings for me. She…she died. She was…the Cyber War, she…I lost her.”
“I’m sorry John,” Rose said softly.
“Made me close myself off a bit. Made me not want to be around people. It was a dark time. Tosh…Tosh pulled me out of it, but I’m still…” He stopped and shrugged.
“It made you close down,” she said recognizing in him what had been in herself for far too long.
“Yeah.”
“You loved her.”
“Josie was the light pulling me out of the darkness,” he said. “She made me look forward to living and when she…when she was gone, when her light went out, I just…I couldn’t…for a long time I just wanted…I just…Rose…I can’t…”
“Shh, John, shh, it’s okay.” Her heart was aching for him and she reached out her hand towards his bed. He caught it in his and she gave him a comforting squeeze. “I know. You don’t have to say because I know.”
“Yeah,” he said. “Yeah, you do. I think you’re the only one who does. The only one who can.” He held onto her hand like a drowning man holding onto a life raft. They stayed like that for a long time, the hold awkward, but neither one wanting to let go. Rose didn’t know what the future held for her and John Smith, but for the first time in three years, she was looking forward to finding out.
Ch. 12: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/334912.html
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Page 1 of 2