amberfocus | You're What?: Chapter Eight

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You're What?: Chapter Eight

Chapter 7: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/74934.html

Change of Mind

“Changed your mind? What do you mean you’ve changed your mind?” Rose asked sharply. Her hand reached out for Jack’s and he laced his fingers through hers. Her stomach was roiling, partly from the confrontation but mostly from her morning sickness.

“I’m not sending you back to London, Rose.”

“But…why not?” she asked. “I’m nearly prepared. There’s plenty of money in that account you set up for us, and Jack and I are ready to do this.”

“I know,” he said. “But I’m not taking you back there. I’m not sending you away.”

“Well, what if I want to be sent away now?” she asked.

“Do you?” he parried.

“Yes.”

“Oh.” He hadn’t expected her to be stubborn about it. She had fought so hard to stay with him, to stay on the ship that it hadn’t occurred to him that she might have changed her mind now that he had changed his. He was such an idiot. Of course she no longer wanted to stay. He’d done everything in his power to make her feel unwanted, unloved. He’d been deliberately cruel, said unforgiveable things he’d never meant to drive her away from him. “Well, too bad,” he said autocratically.

“What?” she said. “Doctor--.”

“I’m not taking you back there.” He crossed his arms and glared down at the table. Rose let out a sound of frustration, stood up and walked out of the room.

“Why not?” Jack asked curiously.

“What?”

“Why not? Why aren’t you taking us back to London?” Jack’s eyes were steady and he refused to look away from the Doctor. “Something’s going on here. You were dead set on your idea before you left the TARDIS this morning. Now I’m expected to believe that you’ve changed your mind in the course of a few hours? I don’t think so. Tell me.”

“I have my reasons and they’re important ones,” the Doctor insisted.

“How can I even believe a word you say? I’ve watched you lie to Rose for weeks now. How can I believe you haven’t just changed your mind, decided you just made a mistake and you want her back? And what's to stop you from changing it again?” Jack questioned.

“I ran into Rose,” the Doctor blurted out. “Future Rose. Jack, it all went wrong for her, wrong for you.”

“What do you mean, wrong?” Jack asked.

“I mean you’re dead within six years and so is Charlie.”

“Charlie?”

“The baby. That’s what she named him.” He set the photograph of the little boy down on the table between them. “She lost everything. And for some reason when she called me, I didn’t come.”

“Doesn’t surprise me,” Jack said.

“Well, it does me. If I told her I’d come if she called, then I would have, even if she wasn’t mine, I would have come if she needed me enough to call. And I didn’t. And the only conclusion I can come to for that is if something had happened to me,” he explained.

“Without her here,” Jack said slowly, “you’d be reckless, careless. I already see that starting these last few weeks. You’re dead, I’m dead, Charlie’s dead, and Rose is alone, all because you made a really bad decision.”

“I’m correcting it now.”

“Rose doesn’t want to stay. You can’t make her.”

“I can’t abandon her to that,” the Doctor protested.

“But you could have abandoned her otherwise,” Jack said flatly.

“Look, I’m not expecting to pick up where I left off with Rose. I’ve done far too much damage to ever believe she’ll forgive me. But the both of you need to stay on the TARDIS. She can still lean on you, I’m not going to try to interfere or take that away.”

“Thought you said you couldn’t stand to see the two of us together like that,” Jack pressed.

“What’s the alternative? My son will be alive and Rose won’t be alone. I can keep them protected and you can be the one who…takes my place.” The last bit was said reluctantly.

Jack studied the Doctor for a long time and then glanced off in the direction Rose had gone in. He swallowed hard. “Do you still love Rose?” he asked.

“Yes,” the Doctor said without hesitation. “Always have. Just wanted what was best for her.”

“And you thought hurting her was what was best for her?”

“I was trying to protect her. Pushing her away from me, I thought it was my only option!” he snapped.

“But you love her. And do you want her back?” he pushed.

The Doctor didn’t say anything for a long time. His inner demons warred within him, but he finally raised his eyes and met Jack’s. “Yes.” The word came out hard and heavy.

“Do you want this child?” he wanted to know.

“I…I…I want to want him.”

“That’s not good enough, Doc,” Jack said.

“I’m not going to lie to you, Jack. The whole idea of having a child at this stage in my life worries me. I don’t have the lifestyle for raising young children. It’s a dangerous life. You’ve seen it,” the Doctor explained.

“So you’ll have to change how you live for a while. You’re 900, Doc, what’re fifteen or sixteen years in the course of a lifetime measured in centuries? Especially if you get to spend those years with Rose? Isn’t it worth the alteration for such a fleeting amount of time for you?”

The Doctor bowed his head. “I’m scared, Jack. I’ll muck it up. I always muck up the important things. Rose, the baby.” He shook his head sadly. “She’ll never forgive me for this. I’ve hurt her so much.” He clenched his hands into fists. “I don’t even begin to know how I’ll make this up to her and convince her I still want her in my life.” He looked down. “But I want to try, Jack. I want to try to fix things. I want to try to be a father again. I will. For her.”

Jack studied the Doctor for a long time. The inner battle he was struggling with raged across his face until he finally spoke. “I’m not quite ready to forgive you for what you did to Rose and I’m probably going to hate myself for this, Doc, but…I’m going to help you win her back, because she’s not happy like this. And she doesn’t want me. She never has. It’s always been you. As long as we’re clear that I’m doing this for Rose and not you, we’ll be fine. We have a lot of work ahead of us. It’s going to be a long time before she’s ready to forgive you,” Jack said. "And if you hurt her again, I'll regenerate you myself."

“Whatever it takes, Jack,” the Doctor said. “I’ll do whatever it takes.”

Rose was miserable. She’d spent most of the morning trying to keep her breakfast down and had succeeded until the Doctor had come back and made his announcement. That’s when she’d left and lost it. She’d been so weak afterwards that she’d sat on the bathroom floor for twenty minutes trying to get her strength back. Four months pregnant and she was still dealing with morning sickness.

When she’d queried the Doctor on that particular topic a week ago he’d replied with a condescending, “When my people still gave birth naturally, Gallifreyan women didn’t get morning sickness, Rose. It’s a human thing.” Which meant basically, he didn’t know if it was going to end or not. She had managed to get him to tell her how long the gestation rate was for his kind, a lovely 15 months that she was not happy about.

Of course, if it followed that she’d be ill for the first trimester and a trimester for her would be five months, then she’d only have to wait another month for it to be over. She sighed and stepped onto the scale with quivering legs. Even though her belly was just starting to round out she had actually been losing weight with the constant sickness and she was a little worried about it. It was probably a good thing she’d had a bit of spare flesh to start off with or things would be much worse than they were.

A knock at the bathroom door diverted her attention and she said, “What?”

“Are you okay, Rose?” She sighed. Jack again. Although who else would it be? It wasn’t exactly like the Doctor would be asking after her.

“I’m fine. I’ll be out in a minute.” She stepped over to the sink and washed her face and brushed her teeth, then unlocked the bathroom door and gave Jack a weak smile. The smile he turned on her was dazzling and she leaned on him as he walked her down the corridor to her room.

“I’m worried about you, Rose,” Jack said as she settled down onto her bed. He sat down beside her and picked up one of her hands.

“I’m worried about me, too,” she said. “I can’t keep anything down. According to the Doctor’s scale I’ve lost 4.8 kilograms. That can’t be good for the baby.”

“8 pounds?” asked Jack with a furrowed brow. “Have you told the Doctor?”

“Please. I talk to him as little as possible. Last thing I need is him accusing me of harming the baby, like he did about falling off the cliff,” she said in annoyance.

“He didn’t actually accuse--.”

“I know what he said and I know what he meant, Jack.”

“Well, I still think you should tell him. You might need to go on a nutrient drip or something like that to get your strength back up. You were shaking like a leaf on the walk back here. I’m not sure you would have made it if I hadn’t helped you,” Jack said.

“Fine then, you tell him. The less I have to talk to him, the better.”

Chapter 9: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/76250.html

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You know, I kinda feel bad for Jack. I know he wants what is best for Rose but I hate that he has to be the one to stand aside, when he has been the one who has been so supportive. He is a good man, he deserves someone just as good.

And I really am interested in seeing how the Doctor fixes this problem. Rose is done, and I don't blame her. The Doctor might need the last 11 months to fix this, if not more.

I know, it is sad for Jack, but I just always reassure myself with the fact that that is why I've given him Andromeda. She's perfect for him and loves him utterly and completely and he's so head over heels for her it's not even funny. Except when it is, of course.

I think if he would just apologize to her and admit that he was wrong it would go an awfully long way towards getting her to at least talk to him, but he's still in the I'm doing what's best, I'm making the decisions here, mode. And that just gets her back up.

Good, the Doctor's showing some sense. I was starting to get annoyed. And good on Jack, too--with these two stubborn idiots, he's got his work cut out for him, but at least the Doctor's giving ground now. He might think about locking them both in a room until they finally admit they love and need each other.

Yeah, he really was so wrong here. I very well may end up locking them in a room together. Whether it's Jack or the TARDIS that takes that step, we'll have to see.

Aww, Jack's so awesome! *draws hearts around him* ;) So glad that the Doctor is finally wising up but he's going to have to do a LOT of groveling to win Rose's trust back again! ;)

Oy, poor Rose and her (practically) never-ending pregnancy and 5 months of morning sickness! O_O *pets her gently* ;) ♥!

Yep, lots of grovelling and some serious wooing. Rose will start feeling better shortly.

Usually, I love your angst. Adore it! But not now. That's probably because most of your angst stems from miscommunication between the two, or different morals/reactions/etcetera. This time, it's all because the Doctor is a stupid man who needs to be hit over the head a couple of times with his own TARDIS. I'm sure I'll love this fic later, but it's making me sick at heart right now.

That doesn't mean it's not good, just, at the moment, not my cup of tea. I'm still gonna read it, though. Gotta know what happens!

I will be exploring a little further just why he is being a stupid man and he will be sharing it with Rose when he finally lets down his guard and lets it all come tumbling out.

Oh... Poor them. Now it's Rose's turn to push him away. Looks like The Doctor will be having a hard time to win Rose back. Yay for Jack!! He's a good man indeed. After the stupidity that The Doctor has done, he's still willing to help him winning Rose back. I wonder how would h do that. You're really good in this. One chapter you make me feeling so annoyed with The Doctor, and in the next chapter you make me love him again. Well fone! Looking gorward to the next parts. By the way, how are the other fics? HM, Possibility and Guilt?

Thanks. The next chapter of Hunger Moon is with my beta, but she's busy with RL so I probably won't get it back until tomorrow. I've just finished outlining Guilt and I'm about to start outlining Possibilities. I won't start writing on those two until after I'm done with You're What? though. Possibly not until I'm done with HM, either. We'll have to see.

I've always liked how you write Jack, but never more so than in this chapter. As someone mentioned earlier, Jack deserves someone positively fantastic. It's not easy being caught in the middle and doing what's right for both sides.

Kudos for "I'll regenerate you myself" - cute twist on a classic saying - and for the 8 lbs comment. Like Jack, I still haven't learned to function in the decimal system and still do the conversions. I rather suspect a lot of Americans do - very nice touch.

Well, Jack has Andromeda (Rose and the Doctor's granddaughter) who is definitely his soulmate. I created her with him in mind to help make up for all the stuff I've put him through and she's pretty terrific and is utterly devoted to him. And he adores her.

Oh, well, I'm American so I always translate. Though I'm not sure England is on Kgs, I think they do pounds, too. But I figured the Doctor would have a scientific scale which would be in Kgs regardless. And Jack, being American sort of, would automatically convert it to what he was used to. Same way I always have Jack saying Mom instead of Mum. Just one of those things.

Duh, I'm a moron - meant "metric" system.

I've heard the UK still uses a mix. I've heard km and Celsius, then people saying they dropped stones (?), but they still ask for pints of beer.

I haven't been following the series with Andromeda as obsessively as I do this one, but I like her character. Although I think I'm always a little afraid the Doctor will whack Jack for messing with his baby girl!

I knew what you meant, though. A stone is 14 pounds and I have no clue why they measure that way. Seems rather random to me, though it's probably how much something weighed once upon a time.

Well, the Doctor has had many years to come to terms with the idea of Jack with his granddaughter by the time it happens in his time line and he's gotten over any trepidation he once had.

Poor piggy in the middle Jack! And the Doctor - I refuse to feel sorry for him - he's so dense. But ROse, bless her, needs a hug!

Yeah, Rose definitely does. Things are going to turn now, though and head towards a better situation for them all.

Oh the Doctor is going to have to do a lot to make up for what he did. Jack's right in 900 years taking 16 years off fromt eh crazy life style won't kill him.

Can't wait for more!

Yep. Let the apologies and the wooing commence!

Now Doctor, you need to start saying those things to Rose, it might go some way to make her feel better.
Poor Jack, he is being so selfless here I hope it all works out ok for him too x

He will. Slowly but surely he's going to start letting stuff out. Jack will be fine. He loves them both enough at this point to help them work things out.

Finally the Doctor stops being a complete idiot. Can't blame Rose for still being mad, though.
And poor Jack will help the Doctor to win her back. He reall is a good soul.

Yep. Took him a while, didn't it?

Uncle Jack, you're fantastic!

*grins*

Don't tell Rose, but I hear tell of some women who have morning sickness all the way through.

Not that I would know or anything, I just hear tell.

So the Doctor has realized he's an idiot and is going to at least think about trying to make it better. Hmph. That'll be fun to watch, because I don't think he's going to be successful for a while.

*sits back and readies the popcorn*

Been there, done that. Well, seven months of my first pregnancy I had morning sickness. It was nasty. He won't be terribly successful at first. And Rose will be quite protective of her broken heart.

Good (re: Rose being protective, not regarding seven months of morning sickness - egad, woman). Rose ought to be extremely protective of that heart.

*double checks popcorn supply for use as ballistic missile at Doctor's head*

*hugs Rose*
*hugs Jack for the sheer awesomeness that is him*
*is willing to think about hugging the Doctor now that he's pretty much admitted to being an idiot and wants to fix things*

And the long, slow trudge down the road to forgiveness begins. Why do I have the feeling that I shouldn't put the box of tissues away just yet?

Because you've cottoned on to my way of story-telling and you know that it's going to be a bit before the heartache heals? Maybe? *laughs*

Rose was miserable.

I think we all are. Poor Rose, morning sickness and a Doctor who can't see the right way to do any of this. Thank goodness for Jack.

Yeah, it's definitely hard on me writing him like this because I love him, but the plot bunnies are merciless in defending the through line of the story.

I liked the bit between Jack and The Doctor,What a mess he's in, he needs to do alot to make it up to Rose, lets hope Jack can be an asset.

He's definitely ready to start trying to fix things. And Jack will help as much as he can.

"And if you hurt her again, I'll regenerate you myself."

Yeah! Go Jack! This is so good, can't wait for more...

Thank you!

I love Jack being the white knight in this fic, especially since the Doctor is being such an ass. Poor Rose - 15 months!

I know. Long pregnancy, but at least it means he has time to make things right.

Hmmm, I'm actually not taking this well at all. Yes, the Doctor is being an idiot. But I'm thinking hard about smacking Rose. She's overlooking the obvious--a lot of it--which she doesn't usually do. sigh* You are so messing with my head here. But what can I do, I'll be back for more. 8)

Rose will come to her own realizations about this mess pretty soon, too.

Well, I have to say I am having a hard time staying with this, because you know me I want that romantic light at the end of the tunnel. But because I do so love your writing and trust you completely to let things play before finally ending well(most of the time), I am sticking with it in hopes that they will work it out, hopefully sooner rather than later.
Keep up the good work.

Okay, okay, I promise you there is a happy ending. A happy Rose/Nine ending? Better?

Oh, poor Jack, with this mess to clean up! They better let him loose on a pleasure planet when this is all over. And let him be godfather.

Well, he does get to go to quite the party much later on. Makes up for a lot right there.

"And if you hurt her again, I'll regenerate you myself." - Jack

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You're What?: Chapter Eight

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Loves this quote