donutsweeper: (Default)
donutsweeper ([personal profile] donutsweeper) wrote2007-11-04 06:40 am
Entry tags:

Opening The Door

Title:  Opening The Door/ The fourth in 'The Old Man' universe
Pairing/Rating/Warning: Jack/Doctor, rated R, series contains spoilers for "Utopia"
Word Count: 796
Summary: The Doctor ponders how to correct the terrible mistake he made with Jack
Beta:  [personal profile] unfeathered

Part One: After years apart, the Doctor finds Jack broken in both body and in spirit.

Part Two: The Doctor tries to help Jack through blissfire withdrawal.

Part Three:  Things seem to be going better for Jack, until the Doctor reads the signals wrong.

Part Four: 

The Doctor sat on the floor staring at the door across the hall.  All he had to was get up and open it.  Get up and open it and enter the medical bay.  Get up, open the door, enter the medical bay and face Jack.  Get up, open the door, enter the medical bay and face what he did to Jack.

It had only taken one day.  Less than a day actually.  Less than one day to find someone so broken and beaten down by the universe that they thought there was no hope, no way out- then to show them a glimmer of hope, that light at the end of the tunnel- and then turn that glimmer into the light of an oncoming train.   How could so much have gone wrong in just one day?

He’d always made fun of those tiny little human brains; he’d always believed he was so superior to them in all ways that mattered.  Was he?  Was he really?  After what he’d done today he had to wonder.

When the TARDIS brought him here he’d dismissed it as a lark; no one in their right mind would come to this backwater dump on purpose.  Only to find out that at some point in time, Jack had.  Why?  He still had no idea, and he certainly couldn’t ask.  Not now.  Definitely not now.  He couldn’t ask anything now.   He couldn’t ask about the family Jack had lost, or what Jack had been doing all these years.

In fact he didn’t want to ask Jack about anything, that would mean going in there.  Going in there would involve facing him and he wasn’t quite sure he could do that.  At least by himself.  He could go back to town and fetch Gunther or Nell from the tavern, they would certainly know how to deal with Jack at less than his best.  But, then he’d have to admit how badly he’d screwed things up.  They thought he was merely a friendly doctor, of the lowercase variety, who was willing to help their friend due to altruistic motives.  He hadn’t told them of his history with Jack, and he’d assumed Jack hadn’t wanted them to know, especially considering he’d never even told them his true name, or the name he’d been using since the London Blitz anyway.

And he wasn’t sure he could, or even should, leave Jack alone in the TARDIS.  If he did, there’d be the chance Jack could slip out and return to both his former line of work and the drugs.  That was something the Doctor couldn’t risk.  Jack hadn’t had a dose of  blissfire in over a day and the withdrawal symptoms were to a point that they were controllable and he wasn’t going to take the chance that his stupid actions would cause Jack to relapse.  He rubbed his face over and over, trying to rid his mind of the image of the rumpled heap Jack had been when he first spotted him and trying not to think about what the medical scans had shown him, or the way Jack had been lying on the bed before he’d fled the room.

What had possessed him to act so irresponsibly?  Why couldn’t he have thought of the consequences of his actions?  Damn it!  One hug from Jack, one little kiss and he was foolish enough to think things were all back to normal?  That it was enough to wipe away years of prostitution?  Of abuse?  Jack had told him, over and over again, that he was a changed man.  Why had he refused to see it?  How could he have missed it?   

And how could he fix what he’d done?

Could he fix what he’d done?

Maybe he should have the TARDIS leave this planet.  They could take to the time vortex.  With all of time and space to choose from there had to be someone that could help Jack, do a better job than he’d done.   Martha would seem like a logical choice, perhaps in her later years, when she was a well respected doctor, the kind of the medical persuasion.  But there was that pesky problem of crossing timelines.  She and Jack lived through that part of the twenty-first century together and there would be the risk of running into the Jack of then with the Jack of now.  There was also the minor issue that neither version of Jack would want Martha to see him like this.

No.  Martha wasn’t an option.  For so many reasons.

Really, the only option was him. He couldn’t foist the problem he’d created off on anyone else.  He could fix this.  With new found determination he walked over to the medical bay door, ready to face what he’d find inside.

[identity profile] lurker1860.livejournal.com 2007-11-04 01:36 pm (UTC)(link)
Just read parts three and four....

I'm enjoying this even if I don't think Jack is as quite 'on the mend' as I did at the end of the second part but...

More soon please :)

[identity profile] donutsweeper.livejournal.com 2007-11-04 01:41 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, he was on the mend... stupid doctor! Glad you like the series!

[identity profile] travels-in-time.livejournal.com 2007-11-04 02:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Just catching up! Read parts 3 and 4 together and OUCH. The Doctor is such a twat. *kicks him* How he manages to do exactly the wrong thing EVERY TIME...

Jack has always been the better person, though--well, at least between him and Ten--and I know he'll be able to get through this as well. *hugs him* Even with the help hindrance of the Doctor.

[identity profile] donutsweeper.livejournal.com 2007-11-04 02:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Wow, you're userpic is perfect for this fic! Ten=twat? Yep, that sounds about right!

And Jack will pull through, eventually...

[identity profile] hellenebright.livejournal.com 2007-11-04 03:21 pm (UTC)(link)
Missed part III when it came out somehow - so just read iii and iv together. God the Doctor is such a gonk! Tell me you're not going to leave it like this.

[identity profile] donutsweeper.livejournal.com 2007-11-04 03:24 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, of course not! Might be better reading 3 and 4 together though, just to keep the angst factor down a bit. :)
unfeathered: (Ten Oh shit)

[personal profile] unfeathered 2007-11-04 03:24 pm (UTC)(link)
Love this. Very, very powerful and poignant. And I'm really glad you managed to get the Doctor to the point where he's ready to try and fix things, because I had no idea how you were going to do it, but you've done it really well here! :-)

[identity profile] donutsweeper.livejournal.com 2007-11-04 03:26 pm (UTC)(link)
*shhh* That's why it took so long to update this, I wasn't sure how I'd get there either. Our little secret, right? Glad you liked and thanks for the beta!

[identity profile] adafrog.livejournal.com 2007-11-04 04:04 pm (UTC)(link)
Wonderful addition. Poor Jack, though. I'll bet that even though the doctor used him, he'll see the doctor not coming back in (even for a little while) as an abandonment-hadn't he said essentially that he was going to help Jack?

[identity profile] donutsweeper.livejournal.com 2007-11-04 04:37 pm (UTC)(link)
The Doctor certainly has been less than helpful, hasn't he?

[identity profile] adafrog.livejournal.com 2007-11-04 07:17 pm (UTC)(link)
He is the very definition of less than helpful.

[identity profile] secbeth.livejournal.com 2007-11-04 06:39 pm (UTC)(link)
I love this chatper... The Doctor's regret!

[identity profile] donutsweeper.livejournal.com 2007-11-04 06:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Glad you liked! :)

[identity profile] phoenix64.livejournal.com 2007-11-04 08:17 pm (UTC)(link)
I've just read the whole series so far, and ouch ouch ouch. Poor Jack.

[identity profile] donutsweeper.livejournal.com 2007-11-04 08:21 pm (UTC)(link)
No worries, Jack'll recover, eventually

[identity profile] badwolf36.livejournal.com 2007-11-04 08:40 pm (UTC)(link)
I like that the Doctor finally faces up to the fact of what a jerk he's been and is at least going to attempt to fix his error. Looking forward to the next part!

[identity profile] donutsweeper.livejournal.com 2007-11-04 08:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Thanks, I'm glad you're enjoying it!

[identity profile] eumenidis.livejournal.com 2007-11-05 02:51 am (UTC)(link)
How could it go so wrong in just one day? Gee, I dunno, Doctor, but that sure seems to happen a lot around you, doesn't it?

[identity profile] donutsweeper.livejournal.com 2007-11-05 02:52 am (UTC)(link)
lol, truer words have never been spoken!

[identity profile] eumenidis.livejournal.com 2007-11-05 05:03 pm (UTC)(link)
*Ain't* they just. I've said elsewhere I get a kick out of the Doctor's thoughtlessness & arrogance coming back & biting him on the butt. Unfortunately, it's usually other people (beings) who get bitten by it.

[identity profile] morgan52x.livejournal.com 2007-11-05 06:48 pm (UTC)(link)
just read the whole series so far in one go and I'm on the verge of tears! Stupid Doctor! Poor Jack! *hugs Jack, gives Doctor evil glare.*

[identity profile] donutsweeper.livejournal.com 2007-11-05 06:56 pm (UTC)(link)
*passes tissues* Sorry, don't worry, it'll all work out. Eventually!

[identity profile] echo-fangirl.livejournal.com 2007-11-07 11:41 am (UTC)(link)
Absolutely in love with this series, have been since the very first part. Genius! Thank you!

[identity profile] donutsweeper.livejournal.com 2007-11-07 01:34 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm so happy to hear that, glad you're enjoying them!

[identity profile] itsarift-thing.livejournal.com 2007-11-26 10:38 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh that just *hurts*
Poor Jack, poor Doctor...

[identity profile] donutsweeper.livejournal.com 2007-11-26 10:46 pm (UTC)(link)
I am evil. :)

the old man

[identity profile] shirosilver.livejournal.com 2010-01-14 03:40 am (UTC)(link)
ahh! this is great! (depressing, but great!) i'll start going through withdraws if you don't post another chapter! please don't abandon this beautiful work

Re: the old man

[identity profile] donutsweeper.livejournal.com 2010-01-14 03:48 am (UTC)(link)
there are 2 more parts, sorry, I didn't realize I never put the links here. Next is Consequences (http://donutsweeper.livejournal.com/59083.html) and then http://donutsweeper.livejournal.com/76580.html

Re: the old man

[identity profile] shirosilver.livejournal.com 2010-01-14 04:41 am (UTC)(link)
oh, wow! you just made my day! i have a slight obsession with depressing stories, and yours is one of my new favorites!

Re: the old man

[identity profile] donutsweeper.livejournal.com 2010-01-14 04:45 am (UTC)(link)
*vbg* glad you like it! :)