donutsweeper (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
donutsweeper) wrote2008-12-14 10:13 pm
donutsweeper) wrote2008-12-14 10:13 pm
Entry tags:
Inexorable Slide
Title: Inexorable Slide
Pairing/Warning/Rating: Torchwood/Doctor Who (old and new school) crossover, spoilers for “Spearhead in Space” “Silence in the Library” and “Forest of the Dead”, rated G
Word Count: 869
Beta:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
_medley_
Summary: Desperate, Jack Harkness seeks out the retired Lethbridge-Stewart for help with the Doctor.
Author's Note: Set shortly before the events of "Mawdryn Undead" and written for day fifteen of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
consci_fan_mo. As requested by _medley_, I was helpless to resist her offered plotbunny....
Students didn’t usually knock at his door, at least not with that sort of purpose and attitude. It implied something was very wrong, that there was some sort of emergency that required his attention. Lethbridge-Stewart strode quickly to the door, throwing it open to reveal-
“Captain Harkness,” he said, coldly. They’d butted heads often enough when their jurisdiction clashed, and Jack Harkness was not a man who was easily forgotten.
Looking around, almost surreptitiously, Harkness gave a nod of greeting before slipping into the room. “Brigadier, I need your help.”
It was said with such raw honesty that Lethbridge-Stewart bit back his usual droll attack on Harkness and his Torchwood tactics and instead motioned the man to a chair. “Captain,” he repeated after a few minutes of silence.
“I’m not really here. Well, I am here, obviously, but the me that’s here isn’t the one from this time,” he pointed around the room, “here. And now.” Harkness winced, as if realizing how little sense that statement made and then continued, softly, “You are a friend of the Doctor’s.”
It wasn’t a question, but Lethbridge-Stewart realized it demanded an answer. “I’d like to think so, yes.”
“A good friend?”
He stood stiffly, not sure where any of this was heading, but answered honestly, “As good as they come, here on Earth, anyway.”
Harkness nodded. “Right. Yes. That’s what I thought, what I had hoped anyway. I couldn’t get close to him, the Doctors you knew, because I had to wait for mine. For his timeline to match mine.”
Suddenly Lethbridge-Stewart understood. “You traveled with him.”
“Yes.” Harkness sighed. “That’s why I always kept my distance when he was with UNIT.”
“Because he hadn’t met you yet.” He tilted his head, eying the other man carefully. “Hasn’t met you yet.”
“Exactly.”
“I assume, since you’ve apparently some sort of time travel available to you, your timelines eventually crossed?”
There was the slightest pause. “Yes. Several times actually. The whole time you knew me I was waiting for him, but then once I’d found him I realized I’d found a home here and wanted to stay.”
Lethbridge-Stewart nodded. “The Doctor lost many traveling companions that way. I’d met several of them, you know.”
“Yes, I was aware of that.” There was another pause, before Harkness added a quiet, “Sarah Jane always spoke very highly of you.”
“Captain,” he said, sitting down himself, “Perhaps you should just tell me what it is you need from me.”
“Like you said- the Doctor’s lost a lot of people in his life. And he takes all the losses personally, even when it’s a whole planet’s worth he couldn’t save. There was a war, you see, before I knew him, and while the ends justified the means, he never quite got over how it ended. Especially when it all wound up being for nothing. The details don’t matter, but the result was the Doctor I knew was shaped by loss. And there were more losses as time went on. People taken from him before he was really ready to say goodbye. And...”
“And?”
“I don’t know how to help him anymore. One loss to many, I guess. Something snapped when I wasn’t looking.”
“Can you tell me the details?”
Harkness rubbed his cheek for a moment. “I’d better not; it happens a long time from now. But I know you’ll see him before then.”
“I would never intentionally let anything slip, but I understand your concern. What can you tell me?”
“It was bad. There was a contagion of a sort- Vashta Nerada- and there didn’t seem to be a way to stop it, and there wasn’t time,” Harkness’ voice grew louder, higher, more desperate, “and he said there was no other way, and he couldn’t let it get off the planet, and I tried to reason with him. I did. But he said it was too dangerous, and it had taken more than he’d been willing to give already and there was no other choice-”
“What did he do, Captain?” He wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer, but it was necessary to learn it.
“He killed them all. The whole planet. Billions of lives, affected and unaffected alike, just gone.” Lethbridge-Stewart’s surprise must have shown on his face. “I wouldn’t have expected it from him either, I mean, he’d gotten harder and colder, but I never thought he would resort to something like that. Something’s snapped, in him. And it’s getting worse.”
“What can I do to help?” The offer was quickly made, without a moment’s hesitation.
Some of the tension leached out of Harkness, along with a sigh. “Thank you. I know we haven’t seen eye to eye in the past, but I didn’t know who else to turn to. Trying to find someone else familiar with the Doctor, who knew several regenerations, let’s just say it’s a very short list.”
“I can imagine. Now,” Lethbridge-Stewart leaned forward, “I’ve seen him angry and frustrated and trapped before; although it just made him more determined. He never cracked. Do you know about how he was sent here, stuck here actually, with a broken TARDIS? That would have been about seven years or so ago.”
“Only dribs and drabs, third hand accounts, and random notes I’ve unearthed in some of UNIT’s files.”
“Well, let me see if I can shed some light on it for you then.” He stood up. “I better put the kettle on, we’re going to be here for a while.”
Pairing/Warning/Rating: Torchwood/Doctor Who (old and new school) crossover, spoilers for “Spearhead in Space” “Silence in the Library” and “Forest of the Dead”, rated G
Word Count: 869
Beta:
_medley_ Summary: Desperate, Jack Harkness seeks out the retired Lethbridge-Stewart for help with the Doctor.
Author's Note: Set shortly before the events of "Mawdryn Undead" and written for day fifteen of
consci_fan_mo. As requested by _medley_, I was helpless to resist her offered plotbunny....Students didn’t usually knock at his door, at least not with that sort of purpose and attitude. It implied something was very wrong, that there was some sort of emergency that required his attention. Lethbridge-Stewart strode quickly to the door, throwing it open to reveal-
“Captain Harkness,” he said, coldly. They’d butted heads often enough when their jurisdiction clashed, and Jack Harkness was not a man who was easily forgotten.
Looking around, almost surreptitiously, Harkness gave a nod of greeting before slipping into the room. “Brigadier, I need your help.”
It was said with such raw honesty that Lethbridge-Stewart bit back his usual droll attack on Harkness and his Torchwood tactics and instead motioned the man to a chair. “Captain,” he repeated after a few minutes of silence.
“I’m not really here. Well, I am here, obviously, but the me that’s here isn’t the one from this time,” he pointed around the room, “here. And now.” Harkness winced, as if realizing how little sense that statement made and then continued, softly, “You are a friend of the Doctor’s.”
It wasn’t a question, but Lethbridge-Stewart realized it demanded an answer. “I’d like to think so, yes.”
“A good friend?”
He stood stiffly, not sure where any of this was heading, but answered honestly, “As good as they come, here on Earth, anyway.”
Harkness nodded. “Right. Yes. That’s what I thought, what I had hoped anyway. I couldn’t get close to him, the Doctors you knew, because I had to wait for mine. For his timeline to match mine.”
Suddenly Lethbridge-Stewart understood. “You traveled with him.”
“Yes.” Harkness sighed. “That’s why I always kept my distance when he was with UNIT.”
“Because he hadn’t met you yet.” He tilted his head, eying the other man carefully. “Hasn’t met you yet.”
“Exactly.”
“I assume, since you’ve apparently some sort of time travel available to you, your timelines eventually crossed?”
There was the slightest pause. “Yes. Several times actually. The whole time you knew me I was waiting for him, but then once I’d found him I realized I’d found a home here and wanted to stay.”
Lethbridge-Stewart nodded. “The Doctor lost many traveling companions that way. I’d met several of them, you know.”
“Yes, I was aware of that.” There was another pause, before Harkness added a quiet, “Sarah Jane always spoke very highly of you.”
“Captain,” he said, sitting down himself, “Perhaps you should just tell me what it is you need from me.”
“Like you said- the Doctor’s lost a lot of people in his life. And he takes all the losses personally, even when it’s a whole planet’s worth he couldn’t save. There was a war, you see, before I knew him, and while the ends justified the means, he never quite got over how it ended. Especially when it all wound up being for nothing. The details don’t matter, but the result was the Doctor I knew was shaped by loss. And there were more losses as time went on. People taken from him before he was really ready to say goodbye. And...”
“And?”
“I don’t know how to help him anymore. One loss to many, I guess. Something snapped when I wasn’t looking.”
“Can you tell me the details?”
Harkness rubbed his cheek for a moment. “I’d better not; it happens a long time from now. But I know you’ll see him before then.”
“I would never intentionally let anything slip, but I understand your concern. What can you tell me?”
“It was bad. There was a contagion of a sort- Vashta Nerada- and there didn’t seem to be a way to stop it, and there wasn’t time,” Harkness’ voice grew louder, higher, more desperate, “and he said there was no other way, and he couldn’t let it get off the planet, and I tried to reason with him. I did. But he said it was too dangerous, and it had taken more than he’d been willing to give already and there was no other choice-”
“What did he do, Captain?” He wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer, but it was necessary to learn it.
“He killed them all. The whole planet. Billions of lives, affected and unaffected alike, just gone.” Lethbridge-Stewart’s surprise must have shown on his face. “I wouldn’t have expected it from him either, I mean, he’d gotten harder and colder, but I never thought he would resort to something like that. Something’s snapped, in him. And it’s getting worse.”
“What can I do to help?” The offer was quickly made, without a moment’s hesitation.
Some of the tension leached out of Harkness, along with a sigh. “Thank you. I know we haven’t seen eye to eye in the past, but I didn’t know who else to turn to. Trying to find someone else familiar with the Doctor, who knew several regenerations, let’s just say it’s a very short list.”
“I can imagine. Now,” Lethbridge-Stewart leaned forward, “I’ve seen him angry and frustrated and trapped before; although it just made him more determined. He never cracked. Do you know about how he was sent here, stuck here actually, with a broken TARDIS? That would have been about seven years or so ago.”
“Only dribs and drabs, third hand accounts, and random notes I’ve unearthed in some of UNIT’s files.”
“Well, let me see if I can shed some light on it for you then.” He stood up. “I better put the kettle on, we’re going to be here for a while.”