Manning the Helm

[donutsweeper]

Title:  Manning the Helm
Pairing/Rating/Warning:  rated G, vague Jack/Doctor pairing
Word Count: 593
Summary: The TARDIS seeks out Jack to help the Doctor
Author's Notes: Written for the promptfest at wintercompanion

The TARDIS was at a loss.  His pain, his sorrow leached into her core.  She pulsed tenderly trying to help, but he remained where he was, sitting on the floor staring at the doors.  He was waiting for them to be thrown open, but there was no one who could do that.  Not here.  This planet was dead now.  It had not been his fault she told him, but he ignored her.

She tried.  She took off to the vortex and sent showers of sparks from the console.  He always ran to her when that happened.  But this time he did not.  He remained seated, watching the doors.  She could not fix this.  She could not help him that way.  He needed someone to walk through those doors.  

She fretted, he hadn’t moved in so long.  He needed someone he would listen too.  He needed someone to force him to get up and get on with life.  She had to find someone full of light and life who could chase the darkness away before it was too late.

He was her world.  If he was lost to the swirling despair then she would be lost as well.  He was all she had, without him she was an empty shell, a means of transport but incapable of moment with no captain at the helm.  She needed him to be her captain, to guide her, to keep her safe.

Of course!  He needed the same thing.  A captain to steer him out of the despair.  His Captain.

So she reached out.  With all of time and space to hunt through it should have been difficult.  But it wasn’t.  He stood out like a beacon.  And she welcomed it with the relief of a ship, lost at sea, finally seeing the lighthouse that would guide it home.

She landed gently.  She did not know if his Captain would come.  She could only wait.  And hope.  And watch as the fire in his eyes ebbed and began to slip away.

Then the doors opened.  Sunlight and hope poured in.

“Doctor?”  The figure in the doorway hesitated.  She pulsed with excitement.  He had come.  All would be saved.  The tall Captain spotted the crumpled figure and ran over to him.  “Doctor, can you hear me?  Doctor?”  There was no response.  “What happened?” 

The TARDIS  wasn’t sure if he was asking the Time Lord or herself but she answered him by bringing up the screen on the console and playing her recording of what had happened just outside her doors.  The Captain closed his eyes and muttered a curse.  Then, gently, as if caring for a child he gathered the other man into his arms.  “Shhh... it’s okay,” he whispered, “it’s over.  It’s all over.  You're not alone.  Not anymore.  I'm here now.  You'll never be alone again.”

There was the smallest of sobs before the dam broke and he was crying.  It was scary for her to see.  He never cried, never showed weakness, not to her, not to anyone.  This last incident had just been too much for him, the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back.  He had floundered.  Without his Captain’s guidance he would have been lost.  She watched as they rocked back and forth, a tight bundle of warmth and love.  The Captain was healing her Doctor, slowly and carefully shooing away the darkness and letting in the light.

She pulsed and hummed with happiness.  It would take time, but with the Captain’s help his hearts would heal and his soul would mend.

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