Fic: Future-Perfect-In-Past, chapter 5/6
Mar. 12th, 2009 03:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
veldeiaTitle: Future-Perfect-In-Past
Author: Veldeia
Fandom: Doctor Who/Torchwood
Spoilers: All the way through S4 of Doctor Who and S2 of Torchwood. Takes place post Journey's End for the Doctor, but after A Day in the Death for the Torchwood team.
Characters/Pairings: 10th Doctor, Jack, Ianto, Owen, Tosh, Gwen. Slight Jack/Ianto.
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I'm sure that somewhere out there, there's a wonderful parallel universe where I own all the stuff I write about - but it definitely isn't this one.
Beta: Thanks to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cytherea999 for the beta, and to my anonymous alpha for everything.
Summary: Dead Weevils and an unconscious Doctor amount to a mystery more challenging and less straightforward than usual for the Torchwood team.
5.
Gwen was the last to climb up from the sewers. She blinked hard at the bright sunlight, barely able to see a thing.
"I don't get it," the Doctor was saying to Jack. "This just doesn't make any sense. If all they wanted was for me to stay here and help you, why didn't they simply ask?"
"Let me see that," Jack said. By this time, Gwen's sight had adjusted enough that she could make out the two men standing next to a wall, glaring at a small piece of paper.
Jack frowned. "The handwriting looks familiar."
"I don't recognise it," the Doctor said.
"Gwen?" Jack said. "What do you think?"
He handed her the note: a few words written on a yellow Post-it in blue ink, but - "That's my handwriting!" Gwen exclaimed. "But it can't be, since I haven't written that, I swear I haven't. I don't even understand what it means."
"Aah! Yes!" the Doctor called out eagerly, practically bouncing up and down with delight. "Yes, that's it! Now I've got it, I do know what to do. I was right all along, I just didn't realise it!"
"Right about what?" Jack asked, looking amused and puzzled at the same time.
"That, Gwen Cooper, that really is your handwriting," the Doctor said, beaming at her. "You just haven't written it yet. Except that you have, of course, since it's right there."
She stared at him, baffled. "What are you talking about? Time travel?"
"Oh, and you're bright, too!" the Doctor said happily. "Jack, are we far from the TARDIS?"
"If she's still where you left her, that's right around the corner. You'll walk there in five minutes."
"Great. You should return to the rest of your team. There's something Gwen and I need to do."
"Jack?" Gwen asked.
"Seems you've got a mission. Go on, it's all right."
Jack had barely finished giving them the directions, when the Doctor headed off, running. Gwen shrugged at Jack and Tosh, and ran after him, without the slightest idea of what was going on. She thought about all that conspiracy theorising Owen had done. The more she saw of the Doctor, the more convinced she became that Owen was wrong about him. She had seen his compassion for the Ood down in the sewers, his willingness to put his life at risk to solve this mystery. She couldn't believe he was dangerous, let alone evil.
They ran through and along several small streets, finally coming to a stop at a small parking lot. In one corner of it stood a blue, wooden box with "Police" written on it. The Doctor went straight to it, patted the surface gently, and said, "Oh, I missed you already. You knew what was going on, didn't you? That's why you didn't let me in. Clever thing." He unlocked the door, and stepped inside.
Gwen stared after him for a few beats, but when he didn't return, she decided to follow. She stepped through the door, into a room far bigger than the outside had suggested, and completely alien.
"So, this is your ship," she said, in awe.
"My dear old TARDIS, yes. Hm, honestly, I was expecting you'd be even more surprised."
"Oh, believe me, Doctor, if there's one thing I've learned from Torchwood, it's that nothing is impossible." Not that she had ever seen anything even remotely like this, but she couldn't say this was the strangest thing she'd ever seen, either.
The Doctor busied himself with pushing buttons, pulling levers and twisting dials on the contraption in the middle of the room, which Gwen took to be a control console or something like that. The ship rumbled and shook around them, and then settled again.
"Ah, here we are," the Doctor said.
"Where's that? Did we just move?"
"Yup. Not far, half a mile north and about six hours back. Should give us enough time."
"We travelled in time, just like that? Won't the monitors at Torchwood pick this up? There was a clearly noticeable disturbance when you first arrived."
"That was the TARDIS soaking up rift energy, a completely different energy signature. This will be nothing more than a tiny blip you'll ignore. Was a blip that you ignored, in fact, since it's already happened."
"I can't believe this." Gwen shook her head. "You're not just pulling my leg, are you?"
"You can see for yourself! Let's go," he said, motioning towards the door.
She placed herself between it and him. "Not before you tell me what's going on. If we really are back in time, why did we come here? Why am I here? To write that note?"
"Notes, plural. I found another one earlier, on the door of the TARDIS, and yes, you need to write those. But what's more important, you're also going to knock me out. Well, not me, as in, the me here and now, but the me from four hours back, who will be appearing in about two hours' time."
"But why me, why not someone else? Why not Jack, for example?"
"Because you wrote those notes."
"But I'll only end up writing them because you picked me!"
"Exactly! That's time for you, all tangled up and nonlinear and very confusing if you don't know it, like I do. Now, come on, we need to go and buy some carambolas."
"Carambolas?" she repeated, but he pushed past her and disappeared through the door. She shook her head. Every time she thought she was getting the hang of this, he said something that made no sense whatsoever.
They left the TARDIS to look for a grocery store. As far as Gwen could see, they really had gone back in time. The clocks, the newspapers, and the late morning sunshine of the unusually beautiful day were just right.
They had to go through several stores before they found one that sold the fruits the Doctor was looking for, which, he informed her, were needed, because they could be used to put his past self to sleep. They finally found their star fruits at a supermarket, where they also bought a blue pen and a sheaf of Post-it notes. She had to pay for them, since apparently, he had no money.
"Why do we have to go through all this trouble, though?" Gwen asked, once they were back in the TARDIS, sitting in the galley and pressing juice out of the fruits.
The Doctor peered at her over the rim of his glasses, as if she was being really thick. "Because this is how it happened."
"Yeah, right. But assume it didn't. If you could choose freely, why couldn't we just, I dunno, go and meet the past you, and ask you to stay here and help Torchwood?"
"Of course we couldn't! Although, you could. Right. That's actually not a bad question. Why couldn't you just reason with me? Oh, I know. You couldn't, because I would run away the moment I saw you. Wouldn't want you to see me, since you weren't supposed to. And even if you did manage to talk to me, I might not believe you. We can't just leave a note, either, I wouldn't trust it. Much too easy to fake. No, this way's more reliable. More exciting, too!"
"Fine," Gwen said, nodding as if she understood perfectly, even though she had almost no idea what he was talking about. At least he clearly did have his reasons. "That's why we've got to knock you out. Why carambola juice, then? Why not some regular sedative, or an alien one?"
"Well, it had to be this and not something else," the Doctor began slowly and thoughtfully, pointing a device about the size of a pen, with a bright blue light, at all the fruit juice they'd managed to produce. "Not just because this is what it was, is, and will be, but because if I had used something alien, I would've recognised it instantly. Your regular sedatives wouldn't do, but it had to be something from Earth, to keep me guessing. If I had known right away that I did this to myself, I - actually, I'm really not sure what I would've done, but it might have been a problem."
"All right. One more question: why am I here, really? Couldn't you have done this on your own? I mean, if you forget about the 'it's already happened and Gwen Cooper did it' thing again?"
"Crossing your own timeline is never a good idea. Hitting yourself on the head is a very, very bad idea. So, someone else has to do it. There." He poured the finished fruit juice concentrate into what looked like a syringe without a needle, and gave it to her. "You just bop me on the head and inject that right here," he pointed at a spot on his neck. "Well, obviously, not right here, as in - oh, you know what I mean! You've got about half an hour. Plenty of time for you to walk to where I first appeared, and do what you have to do. And don't forget to take the keys, and write the notes."
"Wait, aren't you coming with me?"
"I better not, it's safer that way. I'm sure you can handle this on your own."
"What if something goes wrong, though? Like, what if I accidentally hurt you?"
"Oh, I doubt you could do that even if you wanted to, I'm tougher than I look! Besides, I know you won't! I'm fine, see? You didn't hurt me. Hurry up, or you'll be late!"
Feeling about as confident as on her first day at the station, Gwen left the TARDIS and ran back to the parking lot where she'd first seen it. She got there just in time to witness the blue box materialise out of nowhere, accompanied by the recognisable sound she'd heard earlier. She crouched to hide behind a car.
A minute later, the Doctor stepped out of his ship, looking exactly like his near-future self. To her horror, she realised she hadn't considered the details at all - how was she going to knock him out? She looked around frantically. He was almost in front of her now. She spotted a loose stone in the pavement not far from her, grabbed it, and flung it forcefully at him. It collided with the side of his head, he keeled over, and stayed down.
She ran to his side. He was mumbling something indistinct, his eyes still closed, but clearly about to wake up any minute. Quickly, she pressed the syringe against his neck. With a faint hiss, it injected the bright yellow liquid into his bloodstream. He fell silent. Working almost on autopilot, cold and detached, Gwen went through his pockets, and found not one, but two TARDIS keys.
Only when she'd done everything she'd been supposed to do, she sat back on her haunches, starting to take it all in. The Doctor was completely still now, deeply unconscious, which was exactly what she'd been going for, but she felt worried, nevertheless. He seemed to be breathing all right, but what if she had given him a concussion, or an overdose, or worse? There was no way she could know for sure.
She stood up and looked around. Luckily, the parking lot was empty, no one had witnessed her unprovoked attack on him. No CCTV, either, as far as she could see. She pushed the flagstone she'd thrown him with under a car, away from sight.
Jack should arrive sooner or later, but what if he didn't? After a moment of indecision, she got out her mobile and made an anonymous call to the emergency number, letting them know she'd found an unconscious stranger. Just in case, so that there would be at least someone around to help him, if something had gone wrong.
Gwen still needed to write the notes. She'd seen the second one, but all she knew about the first one was that she was supposed to stick it on the TARDIS's door. She'd just have to think up the text on her own. She wrote a few sentences that were hopefully understandable, but mysterious enough not to give away everything.
After a ten-minute detour to the place where they would exit the sewers after meeting the Ood, where she hid one of the keys in the brick wall, she returned to the TARDIS. She still felt anxious. She had no idea what would happen - what would have happened - if something had gone wrong. Would he have disappeared? Or would there be a huge temporal disturbance of some kind?
At least the TARDIS was still right where she'd left it. She knocked on the door, and the Doctor let her in, looking no different from before.
"Hello again," he greeted her happily.
"Hi," she answered. She offered him the second key she had found on his past self's unconscious body. "You had two of these, and I didn't know what to do with this one."
"Spare key! Isn't that sparkly! I knew I had one, always do. Was wondering what had happened to it. Thank you. And thanks for everything else, too. Well done, Gwen Cooper."
"How do you know I did well? I haven't told you anything about it yet."
"I'm still here," he said, spreading his hands, smiling.
"You mean... I could've done something wrong, and you'd have..."
"Like I said, time's a very complicated thing."
"But I thought... How could you let me do it on my own, then? I could've killed you!"
"Oh, you could've done much worse than that, but that's completely besides the point, because you didn't. Now, then, time to return to where we belong - or, more precisely, where you belong."
Chapter 6
Author: Veldeia
Fandom: Doctor Who/Torchwood
Spoilers: All the way through S4 of Doctor Who and S2 of Torchwood. Takes place post Journey's End for the Doctor, but after A Day in the Death for the Torchwood team.
Characters/Pairings: 10th Doctor, Jack, Ianto, Owen, Tosh, Gwen. Slight Jack/Ianto.
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I'm sure that somewhere out there, there's a wonderful parallel universe where I own all the stuff I write about - but it definitely isn't this one.
Beta: Thanks to
cytherea999 for the beta, and to my anonymous alpha for everything.Summary: Dead Weevils and an unconscious Doctor amount to a mystery more challenging and less straightforward than usual for the Torchwood team.
5.
Gwen was the last to climb up from the sewers. She blinked hard at the bright sunlight, barely able to see a thing.
"I don't get it," the Doctor was saying to Jack. "This just doesn't make any sense. If all they wanted was for me to stay here and help you, why didn't they simply ask?"
"Let me see that," Jack said. By this time, Gwen's sight had adjusted enough that she could make out the two men standing next to a wall, glaring at a small piece of paper.
Jack frowned. "The handwriting looks familiar."
"I don't recognise it," the Doctor said.
"Gwen?" Jack said. "What do you think?"
He handed her the note: a few words written on a yellow Post-it in blue ink, but - "That's my handwriting!" Gwen exclaimed. "But it can't be, since I haven't written that, I swear I haven't. I don't even understand what it means."
"Aah! Yes!" the Doctor called out eagerly, practically bouncing up and down with delight. "Yes, that's it! Now I've got it, I do know what to do. I was right all along, I just didn't realise it!"
"Right about what?" Jack asked, looking amused and puzzled at the same time.
"That, Gwen Cooper, that really is your handwriting," the Doctor said, beaming at her. "You just haven't written it yet. Except that you have, of course, since it's right there."
She stared at him, baffled. "What are you talking about? Time travel?"
"Oh, and you're bright, too!" the Doctor said happily. "Jack, are we far from the TARDIS?"
"If she's still where you left her, that's right around the corner. You'll walk there in five minutes."
"Great. You should return to the rest of your team. There's something Gwen and I need to do."
"Jack?" Gwen asked.
"Seems you've got a mission. Go on, it's all right."
Jack had barely finished giving them the directions, when the Doctor headed off, running. Gwen shrugged at Jack and Tosh, and ran after him, without the slightest idea of what was going on. She thought about all that conspiracy theorising Owen had done. The more she saw of the Doctor, the more convinced she became that Owen was wrong about him. She had seen his compassion for the Ood down in the sewers, his willingness to put his life at risk to solve this mystery. She couldn't believe he was dangerous, let alone evil.
They ran through and along several small streets, finally coming to a stop at a small parking lot. In one corner of it stood a blue, wooden box with "Police" written on it. The Doctor went straight to it, patted the surface gently, and said, "Oh, I missed you already. You knew what was going on, didn't you? That's why you didn't let me in. Clever thing." He unlocked the door, and stepped inside.
Gwen stared after him for a few beats, but when he didn't return, she decided to follow. She stepped through the door, into a room far bigger than the outside had suggested, and completely alien.
"So, this is your ship," she said, in awe.
"My dear old TARDIS, yes. Hm, honestly, I was expecting you'd be even more surprised."
"Oh, believe me, Doctor, if there's one thing I've learned from Torchwood, it's that nothing is impossible." Not that she had ever seen anything even remotely like this, but she couldn't say this was the strangest thing she'd ever seen, either.
The Doctor busied himself with pushing buttons, pulling levers and twisting dials on the contraption in the middle of the room, which Gwen took to be a control console or something like that. The ship rumbled and shook around them, and then settled again.
"Ah, here we are," the Doctor said.
"Where's that? Did we just move?"
"Yup. Not far, half a mile north and about six hours back. Should give us enough time."
"We travelled in time, just like that? Won't the monitors at Torchwood pick this up? There was a clearly noticeable disturbance when you first arrived."
"That was the TARDIS soaking up rift energy, a completely different energy signature. This will be nothing more than a tiny blip you'll ignore. Was a blip that you ignored, in fact, since it's already happened."
"I can't believe this." Gwen shook her head. "You're not just pulling my leg, are you?"
"You can see for yourself! Let's go," he said, motioning towards the door.
She placed herself between it and him. "Not before you tell me what's going on. If we really are back in time, why did we come here? Why am I here? To write that note?"
"Notes, plural. I found another one earlier, on the door of the TARDIS, and yes, you need to write those. But what's more important, you're also going to knock me out. Well, not me, as in, the me here and now, but the me from four hours back, who will be appearing in about two hours' time."
"But why me, why not someone else? Why not Jack, for example?"
"Because you wrote those notes."
"But I'll only end up writing them because you picked me!"
"Exactly! That's time for you, all tangled up and nonlinear and very confusing if you don't know it, like I do. Now, come on, we need to go and buy some carambolas."
"Carambolas?" she repeated, but he pushed past her and disappeared through the door. She shook her head. Every time she thought she was getting the hang of this, he said something that made no sense whatsoever.
They left the TARDIS to look for a grocery store. As far as Gwen could see, they really had gone back in time. The clocks, the newspapers, and the late morning sunshine of the unusually beautiful day were just right.
They had to go through several stores before they found one that sold the fruits the Doctor was looking for, which, he informed her, were needed, because they could be used to put his past self to sleep. They finally found their star fruits at a supermarket, where they also bought a blue pen and a sheaf of Post-it notes. She had to pay for them, since apparently, he had no money.
"Why do we have to go through all this trouble, though?" Gwen asked, once they were back in the TARDIS, sitting in the galley and pressing juice out of the fruits.
The Doctor peered at her over the rim of his glasses, as if she was being really thick. "Because this is how it happened."
"Yeah, right. But assume it didn't. If you could choose freely, why couldn't we just, I dunno, go and meet the past you, and ask you to stay here and help Torchwood?"
"Of course we couldn't! Although, you could. Right. That's actually not a bad question. Why couldn't you just reason with me? Oh, I know. You couldn't, because I would run away the moment I saw you. Wouldn't want you to see me, since you weren't supposed to. And even if you did manage to talk to me, I might not believe you. We can't just leave a note, either, I wouldn't trust it. Much too easy to fake. No, this way's more reliable. More exciting, too!"
"Fine," Gwen said, nodding as if she understood perfectly, even though she had almost no idea what he was talking about. At least he clearly did have his reasons. "That's why we've got to knock you out. Why carambola juice, then? Why not some regular sedative, or an alien one?"
"Well, it had to be this and not something else," the Doctor began slowly and thoughtfully, pointing a device about the size of a pen, with a bright blue light, at all the fruit juice they'd managed to produce. "Not just because this is what it was, is, and will be, but because if I had used something alien, I would've recognised it instantly. Your regular sedatives wouldn't do, but it had to be something from Earth, to keep me guessing. If I had known right away that I did this to myself, I - actually, I'm really not sure what I would've done, but it might have been a problem."
"All right. One more question: why am I here, really? Couldn't you have done this on your own? I mean, if you forget about the 'it's already happened and Gwen Cooper did it' thing again?"
"Crossing your own timeline is never a good idea. Hitting yourself on the head is a very, very bad idea. So, someone else has to do it. There." He poured the finished fruit juice concentrate into what looked like a syringe without a needle, and gave it to her. "You just bop me on the head and inject that right here," he pointed at a spot on his neck. "Well, obviously, not right here, as in - oh, you know what I mean! You've got about half an hour. Plenty of time for you to walk to where I first appeared, and do what you have to do. And don't forget to take the keys, and write the notes."
"Wait, aren't you coming with me?"
"I better not, it's safer that way. I'm sure you can handle this on your own."
"What if something goes wrong, though? Like, what if I accidentally hurt you?"
"Oh, I doubt you could do that even if you wanted to, I'm tougher than I look! Besides, I know you won't! I'm fine, see? You didn't hurt me. Hurry up, or you'll be late!"
Feeling about as confident as on her first day at the station, Gwen left the TARDIS and ran back to the parking lot where she'd first seen it. She got there just in time to witness the blue box materialise out of nowhere, accompanied by the recognisable sound she'd heard earlier. She crouched to hide behind a car.
A minute later, the Doctor stepped out of his ship, looking exactly like his near-future self. To her horror, she realised she hadn't considered the details at all - how was she going to knock him out? She looked around frantically. He was almost in front of her now. She spotted a loose stone in the pavement not far from her, grabbed it, and flung it forcefully at him. It collided with the side of his head, he keeled over, and stayed down.
She ran to his side. He was mumbling something indistinct, his eyes still closed, but clearly about to wake up any minute. Quickly, she pressed the syringe against his neck. With a faint hiss, it injected the bright yellow liquid into his bloodstream. He fell silent. Working almost on autopilot, cold and detached, Gwen went through his pockets, and found not one, but two TARDIS keys.
Only when she'd done everything she'd been supposed to do, she sat back on her haunches, starting to take it all in. The Doctor was completely still now, deeply unconscious, which was exactly what she'd been going for, but she felt worried, nevertheless. He seemed to be breathing all right, but what if she had given him a concussion, or an overdose, or worse? There was no way she could know for sure.
She stood up and looked around. Luckily, the parking lot was empty, no one had witnessed her unprovoked attack on him. No CCTV, either, as far as she could see. She pushed the flagstone she'd thrown him with under a car, away from sight.
Jack should arrive sooner or later, but what if he didn't? After a moment of indecision, she got out her mobile and made an anonymous call to the emergency number, letting them know she'd found an unconscious stranger. Just in case, so that there would be at least someone around to help him, if something had gone wrong.
Gwen still needed to write the notes. She'd seen the second one, but all she knew about the first one was that she was supposed to stick it on the TARDIS's door. She'd just have to think up the text on her own. She wrote a few sentences that were hopefully understandable, but mysterious enough not to give away everything.
After a ten-minute detour to the place where they would exit the sewers after meeting the Ood, where she hid one of the keys in the brick wall, she returned to the TARDIS. She still felt anxious. She had no idea what would happen - what would have happened - if something had gone wrong. Would he have disappeared? Or would there be a huge temporal disturbance of some kind?
At least the TARDIS was still right where she'd left it. She knocked on the door, and the Doctor let her in, looking no different from before.
"Hello again," he greeted her happily.
"Hi," she answered. She offered him the second key she had found on his past self's unconscious body. "You had two of these, and I didn't know what to do with this one."
"Spare key! Isn't that sparkly! I knew I had one, always do. Was wondering what had happened to it. Thank you. And thanks for everything else, too. Well done, Gwen Cooper."
"How do you know I did well? I haven't told you anything about it yet."
"I'm still here," he said, spreading his hands, smiling.
"You mean... I could've done something wrong, and you'd have..."
"Like I said, time's a very complicated thing."
"But I thought... How could you let me do it on my own, then? I could've killed you!"
"Oh, you could've done much worse than that, but that's completely besides the point, because you didn't. Now, then, time to return to where we belong - or, more precisely, where you belong."
Chapter 6
