Another Day, Another Elephant (4/4)

[amberfocus]

Title:  Another Day, Another Elephant (4/4)
Author:  Amberfocus
Characters/Pairings:  Nine/Rose, Jack Harkness
Genre:  Action/Adventure, Romance
Rating:  Teen
Beta: amyo67
Warning:  Discussion of violent punishment for criminal offenses in chapter two.
Summary:  Jack's missing--and there's an elephant in the console room.  Is it just a silly prank or is there something far more serious going on than meets the eye?
A/N:  Written for the Hearts in Time Summer Adventure Ficathon.

Previous chapters:
1.  http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/278006.html  2.  http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/279325.html
3.  http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/281048.html

Chapter Four

 

 

“Why did you do that?” Rose asked when they left the TARDIS and were on their way to the city. Jack had been left behind on the TARDIS to watch over his growing elephant herd. Despite being taken away from their food and water source they were continuing to divide and Jack had been forced to ferry the growing tribe into another room as the first one overflowed. They didn’t dare leave the ship without one guardian left behind to watch over the creatures. At least the newborns were not growing any bigger but they more than made up for that in sheer numbers.

 

“Why’d I do what?” the Doctor asked in his most casual tone of voice. He knew precisely what she was asking him, but because he was not entirely sure what had possessed him earlier, he was deciding to play dumb. A huge stretch for him, but there it was.

 

“You’re really going to do that?” she asked.

 

“Do what?” he answered blandly.

 

“If that’s the way you want to play it,” Rose huffed and buried her hands more deeply into the pockets of her coat, muttering something about emotionally stunted Time Lords. It was much colder at night than it had been during the day. He should have insisted on a warmer jacket before they left.

 

He debated offering her his leather jacket but she was in a mood now and he didn’t think she’d accept it. Well, he would make sure she was plenty warm when they got back to the ship. Not the way he might wish to warm her up, but…He sighed and waited for Rose to bring it up again. She didn’t. He frowned. Usually Rose was far more persistent than that. Maybe she was upset about it then. Maybe it was a demand for an explanation of his behavior and not her wanting to figure out where things were supposed to go from here.

 

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to talk about the kiss so much as he just didn’t know how to explain to her why he’d done it. He hadn’t meant to. He was always so careful to keep himself in check, confine himself to hugs and holding hands with her. It certainly hadn’t been something he’d planned. Didn’t mean he hadn’t wanted it though. Truth be told he had been wanting it for a while now. Against his better judgment sure, but that didn’t stop the wanting. Didn’t stop him from wanting to grab her and kiss her far more thoroughly than a mere brush across her lips.

 

“So how are we going to break this Marésa out of jail?” Rose asked finally as they approached the edge of the city. She seemed determined to ignore any hint of what had happened between them now.

 

“I thought we might try the usual method,” he replied dryly.

 

“What? Me flirt with all the guards while you sneak around the back and jimmy the locks?” Rose asked a little sharply.

 

“A simple distraction will be sufficient, Rose. No flirting. Not with those men.” He kept the jealousy at the idea of her flirting with other men out of his voice. Barely.

 

“Why?” she asked flatly. “Because it might actually be effective if I do it with someone who isn’t you?”

 

“Rose, I...” He stopped. It would be so much easier if he just knew what she wanted.

 

“Yeah, whatever. Got anything I can set to blow up in those pockets?” she asked.

 

“What?”

 

“To create your diversion. Since I’m not allowed to flirt,” she said.

 

“But an explosion?”

 

“Suddenly I’m in the mood to be destructive,” she said.

 

He was quiet for a bit. He’d really triggered her temper by not being able to talk about what she wanted to talk about. He wasn’t used to it though. Talking about his emotions was anathema to him. He absolutely hated it. It was far easier to just feel, to act, to do, than to explain why.

 

He managed to rifle through his pockets and pull out a pack of gum. “Here. Torshel gum. Chew it, stick it where you want things to go boom, and back away. Once it’s been exposed to saliva you’ve got five minutes to get it out of your mouth and get away from it.”

 

“Bit dangerous, don’t you think?” she asked.

 

“Only if you swallow it. Meet me back at that big, yellow-leafed tree on the outskirts of town when you’re done.”

 

“You sure you don’t need my help?” she asked.

 

“It’s a one man job, Rose. I’ll be fine. I don’t need you with me.”

 

“No kidding,” she muttered, jamming the toe of her trainer into the dirt.

 

“Rose,” he said stopping and reaching for her arm, pulling her to a stop, too.

 

“What?” She looked up at him, her eyes glittering angrily in the moonlight. He gestured helplessly, trying to find the right words.

 

“I’m not good with this sort of stuff,” he said gruffly.

 

“I noticed.”

 

“I am good at other things, though,” he managed, wondering where his nerve had come from and why it had brought that particularly husky tone with it.

 

Rose’s stance softened. “Yeah?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Like what?”

 

He closed the space between them and dipped his head down, his mouth finding hers easily. He kissed her gently at first, his lips just a light pressure against hers before his tongue slipped out to run along her bottom lip, asking quiet permission for access. Her lips parted and her hands went inside his jacket to rest against the thin fabric at the back of his jumper.

 

He took his time, exploring her mouth with far greater care than he took with anything else in his day to day life. Everything always seemed to be a race to the finish. He didn’t want that pace here. He wanted exquisite slowness, a buildup of desire that would linger long after the kiss was through. He swept over her tongue and teeth and her warm, little body pressed into his. She made a soft moaning sound in the back of her throat that pleased him immensely.

 

Eventually he broke the kiss and rested his forehead against hers. “Not good at emotions, me,” he said to her. “But that…it…doesn’t mean I don’t feel ‘em.”

 

She pulled away from him with a reluctant sigh and offered her hand to him.  His fingers happily returned to their familiar embrace. “Got a job to do,” she said.

 

He smiled softly at her and they began working their way through the small town and around to the back of the jail. As soon as they had located Marésa's cell the Doctor shooed Rose away and waited expectantly, and a bit too enthusiastically to be justified, for the chaos to begin.

 

 

 

Rose slid the stick of gum into her mouth and chewed quickly. The Doctor may have said she had five minutes but she wanted that stuff out of her as soon as possible. She’d settled on the courthouse. It was deserted this time of night and no one would get hurt.   She was just outside the magistrate’s office where they’d gone to officially pay Jack’s bail. She wouldn’t mind inconveniencing him a lot. The guy reveled in his job a bit too much.

 

“You’re breaking curfew.” The loud voice of a man behind her made her jump. She whirled around, swallowing reflexively. She coughed, choking on the gum, managing to get it back up out of her throat and into her hand. Quickly she wedged it against the rough stucco of the building behind her without turning around.

 

“Just needed a breath of fresh air. You know how it is. The old man getting on your nerves and you need to step away for a bit…” She trailed off at the annoyed look on the man’s face. There was just enough moonlight to make out the police constable uniform he was dressed in.

 

“You’re going to have to come with me,” he said taking her arm. “People in violation of curfew are remanded into police custody until morning. You’ve just won yourself a night’s stay in the local jail. And you’re in luck. We just happen to have a vacancy. You’ll get a room to yourself right next to our most dangerous criminal. Unless you fail to behave yourself. Then you’ll have to share.”

 

Rose tested his grip on her arm, trying to pull herself away and make a break for it. “That’s enough of that,” he said pulling out what looked very much like a billy club from Earth. He jabbed her roughly in the ribs with it and she groaned at the sudden pain in her side.

 

“Yes, fine, coming,” she said breathlessly, trying to catch the wind he’d managed to knock out of her. He yanked her along at a pace faster than she wanted to go with her sore ribs, but she didn’t dare delay. He might hit her harder and then there was the fact that the gum could go off at any moment and the further away she was when it did, the better. She just hoped the police constable wasn’t bright enough to put two and two together and come up with Rose when the wall of the building blew out.

 

There was no booking or paperwork or anything of the sort. He just dumped her into the open jail cell. Marésa was sleeping on her bunk in the next cell. Rose waited until the constable left and then she made her way to the window and peeked out through the bars. “Doctor? Are you there?” she asked.

 

“What? Rose?” came the harsh Northern voice. “What the hell are you doing in there? You’re supposed to be creating a diversion.”

 

“I got caught.”

 

“Are you okay? Did they hurt you?” he asked.

 

Rose fingered her bruised ribs. “I’m fine,” she said. It was nothing that an hour inside the cellular regenerator in the TARDIS infirmary wouldn’t fix. She’d be fine at any rate.

 

“Rose, I can hear the pain in your voice,” he said.

 

“I’ll be okay. It’s just bruises,” she said.

 

“What did he do?” the Doctor nearly growled.

 

“We don’t have time for this. I’m going to wake up Marésa so she can be ready when the gum blows.”

 

“I’m awake,” came the tired sounding voice from the next cell. “What’s going on?”

 

“We’re Jack’s friends, from this morning, remember? We’re staging a jail break,” Rose said softly.

 

A loud boom rocked the night and even a few streets away the ground shook beneath their feet. Rose heard panicked shouts from the front of the jail, but no one ventured back to check on them. A loud clanking sound filled the room and she saw that the bars on Marésa's cell window had been removed. A moment later the Doctor heaved himself up into the cell and then lowered the trader out and down to the ground. “Wait by the yellow-leafed tree on the outskirts of town,” he told her. “We’ll meet up with you there and get you off this planet.”

 

“No thanks,” came the voice of the woman now safely outside. “I haven’t finished the job I came here for.”

 

Rose and the Doctor looked at each other in horror. “And what was that?”

 

“Bio-terror,” she said simply. “I’ve got thirty billion Terran dollars coming to me if I tank this planet’s ecosystem by the end of the week. But thanks for the help getting out. Couldn’t have done it without you.” And she was gone.

 

“I’m killing Jack,” the Doctor said moving over to the bars that separated the cell he was in from hers.

 

“I’m not stopping you,” Rose said. He held a small device up to the bars and she watched as a thin line began to glow at head height across four bars. It took about four minutes and then he did the same on the bottom of the bars. He had nearly got them cut all the way through when a constable came into the room and saw what he was doing.

 

“Hey, you, stop that!” The Doctor ignored him and kicked at the bars. They were through far enough that they bent out of the way and Rose quickly slipped through into the other cell. He hugged her tightly and then handed her out the window as the guard came rushing back with a set of keys and a weapon. “I command you to stop.”

 

“I don’t take commands,” the Doctor said slipping over the sill. A bullet winged his shoulder and he yelped.

 

“You okay?” Rose asked, her hand pressed firmly to her side. The Doctor's hug had started it throbbing.

 

“My jacket,” he said in dismay.

 

“I’m sure we can get it repaired,” she said noting the hole and the bit of blood. “What about your arm?”

 

“My arm will be fine. Just a flesh wound. It’ll probably have healed by the time we get back to the ship. Come on.” He grabbed her hand and they made a run for it as several police constables came around the side of the building. It was horribly painful but Rose didn’t ask to stop until they were safely back inside the TARDIS.

 

“Come on, let’s get you to the infirmary,” he said. Rose nodded but slipped down to the floor instead. “Rose? Rose!”

 

“It’s just…was the room meant to spin like this?” she asked before losing consciousness.

 

 

 

He was by her side when she woke up, fiddling with his sonic screwdriver. Breathing didn’t hurt anymore and when she looked down the bruising she had expected was gone. She noticed that her shirt was, too and that her upper torso was clad only in her blue and black bra. “Doctor?”

 

“You’re okay. I fixed you.”

 

“You took off my shirt.”

 

“Yeah. Needed to see what I was working with,” he said.

 

“You could have just pushed it up.”

 

“Nothing here I haven’t seen before,” he said. “Besides, you’ve got more on than me.”

 

It was then that she realized he was shirtless. How she’d not noticed that the minute she’d woken up was beyond her. She must be a bit more out of it than she thought. Her eyes strayed to his arm where a bandage covered one shoulder. “I thought it just winged you.” There was real worry in her voice as she searched his face.

 

“I may have fibbed a bit so you wouldn’t worry,” he said sheepishly. “It’ll take a bit longer to heal than I thought. But I got the bullet out.” He reached around behind him and snagged her shirt, handing it to her.

 

“You’re really okay?” she asked hesitantly as she slipped the garment back on. The regretful look on the Doctor’s face as she clothed herself did not escape her notice.

 

“Yeah. I wanted to make sure you were all right before I went into the cellular regenerator. Now I know you are, I’ll go take care of it.” He stood up and walked across the infirmary.

 

“Doctor? What about Marésa? How do we catch her now? How do we even find her?” Rose asked.

 

“We don’t. I’ve sent a message to an enforcer I know at the Shadow Proclamation. Deliberate destruction of planets is a high crime. They’ll catch her and deal with her. In a much more humane way than the authorities of the planet would have.”

 

“Ah.”

 

“We saved her life, Rose. That’s all Jack asked for,” the Doctor said.

 

“I suppose. Doctor, about Jack…”

 

“I’m not really going to kill him.”

 

“I know that,” she said. “I was just wondering what we were going to do with all those elephants. We can’t let them lose on some unsuspecting planet.”

 

“Well, Jack figured that out while we were gone. He can be clever when he chooses. There’s a terraforming company in the Scarlet sector that is desperately in need of having land cleared of its original vegetative life so that they can remake it for human habitation. These animals are uniquely suited for this sort of thing and they leave behind a remarkably potent fertilizer. Plus they have a really strong side business with DNA manipulation,” the Doctor said.

 

“Which means?” Rose asked.

 

“Which means that they should be able to create a serum that effectively switches the reproductive gene off until it’s needed and then they can use a different one to turn it on again.”

 

“And they’ve said they’ll take them? This isn’t just one of Jack’s schemes to wash his hands of the whole thing and skirt the consequences?” she asked.

 

“It’s not. I talked to the person in charge myself, a man by the name of Mal Wolfe. He’s more than thrilled at the prospect. His costs will be low because they eat what they clear and they’re a renewable resource. And I get them off my TARDIS. It’s a win-win situation all around.”

 

“I’m glad,” she said. “I was afraid…”

 

“I wouldn’t have just dumped them anywhere, Rose. And I wouldn’t let them die.”

 

“Good, because they can’t help being what they are. I don’t suppose any of us can do,” she replied heavily.

 

“That go for an emotionally stunted Time Lord, too?” he asked. “No good with the words, Rose. But you know…you do know…don’t you?”

 

“How bad’s the arm, then?” she asked.

 

“Not too bad,” he said, but he winced as he moved and she could tell it hurt him.

 

“It can wait,” she said. “You get that fixed.”

 

“What can wait?” he asked curiously.

 

“You may not be good with the words, Doctor, but you know what they say.”

 

“What do they say?”

 

“Actions speak louder than words.  So...show me your actions.”

 

As it dawned on him what she was meaning, he broke into a beatific grin.

 

“Yeah?” he said.

 

“Oh, yeah. And Doctor?”

 

“Yes, Rose?”

 

“I’ll be wearing the hot pink ones.”