Sweet as Sugar
16
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Sweet as Sugar Chapter Seventeen
A/N *big bags of muse kibble for wondermous beta types*
“I think
you gave me the room with the small closet on purpose,” Jack accused in a
friendly manner, traipsing through the archway leading to the control center of
the TARDIS.
“The TARDIS is fluid,” the Doctor
muttered, bending so low over a screen that his nose was practically touching
it. “She decides who gets what.”
Jack raised a brow, leaning against
the doorframe. “Oooooookay…
What’s so interesting on the boob tube, Doc?
You find Rose and a gaggle of naked, pillow fighting Venusians?”
screen!” He was trying to lighten the
mood but even as he spoke he knew that he was failing miserably.
look…”
“Shut up, would you?
you’re running your mouth!” The Doctor
spared Jack a bitter glare and returned his attention to the screen, his
stomach roiling in anxious anticipation as the words before him confirmed his
suspicions. “This,” he said on a breath,
“just keeps getting more and more interesting.”
Sometimes, the memories of past incarnations were difficult to access.
Things that happened centuries ago were like fog, slipping through his fingers
before he could even grasp a whisp.
lived, he knew would always be fresh in his mind, solid through
each regeneration. A persistent
beeping niggled the corners of his concentration and he was about to snap at
Jack to stop making noise when he realized it was the TARDIS itself trying to
get his attention. More specifically,
the screen he had left moments before, the one trying to find Rose.
Jack beat the Doctor around to the
other side of the console, sliding into place before the monitor as the Time
Lord, fleet of foot but not as fleet as the conman, tried to insinuate himself
between the human and the machinery.
“Last one in is a rotten egg,” Jack snapped smartly.
The Doctor scowled, peering over
Jack’s shoulder at the read out.
“Thought so,” he crowed, his mood taking a sudden upswing, though his
previous anxiety not forgotten or abandoned, deep down inside.
the TARDIS. They’ve got wards against
this sort of thing.”
Jack raised a brow, peering at the
jumble of images and information. It was
giving him a headache, trying to quickly sort through it, and truth be told he
was mildly irked that the Doctor just had to glance at it to figure it all
out. “Who does?
my form? Or those
three midgets chasing you around?
Lemme tell ya, Doc, you should be proud… three
women and they all want you bad.” He
winked broadly at the Time Lord’s annoyed expression, suddenly becoming serious
as he leaned back against the console and folded his arms.
Venus I know from any time, Doc.” He
would freely admit to being a frequent visitor to the Venus of his own time, usually
on leave from his training as a Time Agent and often times as a side jaunt to
missions and trips. He had even gone out
of his way to visit the planet at various other times, a sort of comfort food
for the soul, a familiar place that did not depress him like seeing Earth sans
his loved ones or Earth sans anything did.
Never, he thought, watching the Doctor’s carefully neutral face, had he
known Venus to be anything but welcoming, a tourist planet designed for the
pleasure and ease. He had know it to
include a sort of indentured servitude in some of the larger Domes but the
Ladies Market had never seemed to include the slavery that had brought them to
this point, that had driven Rose to beg to stay and help.
“Rose is in the
of the Lady, six domes over from here, cut off from the other domes
entirely.” He tapped in a series of
commands on the board below the monitor and nudged Jack out of the way
finally. “Look, here…”
Jack followed the Doctor’s pointing
finger to the spot on the map that indicated the presence of Rose’s biorhythms
as detected by the TARDIS. “So we go in,
get her, and split. No problem.”
black leather vest, a boyish smile playing across his lips.
The Doctor acknowledged this truth
with a bare nod, but he did not return Jack’s smile.
another world, for lack of a better term.
Someone has been messing with the timeline and for once it isn’t
me.” He paused, then
corrected himself. “Us.
white shirt in aggravation, a fleeting glimpse in his mind’s eye of Rose, in
nothing but his jacket, doing in appropriate things to his thought processes,
ratcheting up his pulse enough to make him uncomfortably aware of Jack’s
presence in the room.
“So you’re saying there’s someone
else manipulating things? Like a Time
Agent?” Jack tapped a finger against the
cleft in his chin thoughtfully, his mind racing.
made a mental note to bring it up later.
He was sure he knew the cause; he knew love when he saw it and he knew
that, even if it did not go anywhere, the Doctor’s feelings for Rose were the
motivation behind most of their recent trips to various locales in the known
universe. No man, no matter
how…delicate… he thought, would purposefully choose six planets in a row just
for the ‘glorious vistas’ and shopping. “I
don’t know… most of the time, they’ve got an auditor breathing down their neck,
ever since that debacle on Old Earth, pre-world war four…”
“No,” the Doctor cut him off
sharply, his brows drawing together in an expression of confusion, annoyance
and, if Jack was not mistaken, fear.
“It’s something…someone…far more dangerous than a mere Time Agent.
and knowledge to manipulate an entire planet’s history to bring them to this
point. Slavery, captivity…
there’s only a handful of beings I know of that could do this and go unnoticed
for so long.” He turned away from Jack
and began striding from the control room, heading for his own quarters.
for her.”
“For who?”
Jack called, already feeling the start of a headache.
“You don’t know her,” the Doctor’s
voice lilted back. “Besides, it’s
impossible to kill the dead.”