Log; completed

[sciencegeekchic.livejournal.com]

When: Sunday, March 10th, afternoon
Rating: Everyone
Characters: The Doctor sciencegeekchic  and Captain Jack Harkness handsomejack 
Summary: The Doctor and Jack go take a look at the clock and become excited little schoolboys.
Log:

Years of getting himself lost and getting himself found, meant that Jack had a fairly good sense of how to get himself back to places he'd been.

Which was proving handy as he strolled towards the carousel.

Despite not having much more than a basic clue of where he was and also being a bit concerned about whether or not he could get back to the time and place he'd called home for over 100 years, Jack strolled along confidently. Head up, eyes bright and a friendly smile on his face. He had gotten pretty good at making the best of the unexpected over the years.

The Doctor was happy to see that Jack was here, or as happy as you could be when one of your friends was trapped in a City outside of time and space that seemed to enjoy inflicting curses on its citizens. Still, the Doctor couldn't deny that it felt good not to be quite as alone as before. He had lost all of his people so suddenly... and slowly, very slowly, he was finally letting people close again. The Doctor felt like Jack was someone who could understand that. Jack wasn't a Timelord, but he certainly shared their curse.

When the Doctor saw Jack near the carousel he beamed broadly and threw his arms wide, an open invitation for a hug.

"Jack, it's good to see you!" he exclaimed. "Of course, it would be nice if it was under better circumstances, but it's arguably better than last time I think."

As if Jack was going to turn down that invitation? Of course not! Beaming a wide smile of his own, he picked up his step and closed the distance between them, throwing his arms around the Doctor. It felt so good to see him and if he was going to be trapped in a City outside time and space that liked to throw curses at it's citizens, well there was no one he'd rather be trapped with than this brilliant man.

"Doctor, am I glad to see you!" He even squeezed in the hug before leaning back, not immediately letting the man go. "Definitely better than the last time, though this does seem to be about par for the course for us, wouldn't you say?"

Jack smiled a little ruefully and looked around for a moment before cocking his head to the side.

"You were right about the ticking."

Clapping the man's back during their embrace the Doctor stepped back and ran his hand through his hair. Jack did still look that same, although if he hadn't changed after a hundred years or so the Doctor doubted a few months would have made much of a difference. Still, if Jack had looked significantly different that might have been... significant in and of itself.

"You should have been here earlier," the Doctor said. "There were two of me, my Fourth regeneration and myself. And another Time Lord, President Romana. Well, the one who was here wasn't president just yet. You would have liked her though. Not sure if you would have liked Four though..."

"And people think I give them headaches," Jack said looking somewhat bemused as he tried to follow all that.

Giving his head a slight shake, he folded his hands into the small of his back, unconsciously adopting an 'at ease' position and smiling at the Time Lord.
"So, let's get the important stuff out of the way first. You and Rose, how did you get her back?"

The Doctor stuck his hands in his pockets and started to walk, excited to lead Jack into the Underground and to see the workings of the clock. Not that he thought Jack could see something that the Doctor might have missed but it was helpful to have someone who you could work ideas back and forth with.

"Didn't do anything, really," he had to admit. "I just showed up in the City and here she is. Was rather awkward for a bit since when we parted with some things unsaid..."

Thinking back, the first little bit had been incredibly awkward as he danced around the issue of never telling her that he loved her. It was one thing to say it when you were positive you were never going to see the person again, quite another when you did see them again.

Jack smiled a little knowingly and tilted his head towards the Doctor even as he walked along in step with the man. Really, the Doctor could be leading him to a hundred deaths and it never seemed to stop Jack from following him with faith and a hint of hero worship in his eyes.

"And now those things have been said? And you two are ..." Jack pulled a hand out from behind his back and gave it a sassy little waggle back and forth. "Dancing?"

The Doctor's only response was a grin that more than answered the question. It wasn't that he was bashful about it. Really, if anything he was rather proud of the fact, but he wanted plausible deniability if Jack gave Rose a hard time.

"What about you, worked your way through most of your team yet?" the Doctor asked, only a hint of accusation in his voice. Jack and the Doctor were both from different times and civilizations and understood that other cultures had different ideas about sexuality. "Or find anyone in the City yet? I think you've been here long enough."

Jack chuckled and gave his eyebrows a rakish arc.

"Well, not my entire team. There's Ianto, who I think you'd like, probably wonder what he's thinking taking up with the likes of me and insist he could do better. He probably could but oh does he look good in a suit. Owen, I've honestly never had feels in that way for him. I think his shining heterosexuality sings through, even to my desire to tempt the impossible. Toshiko ... ah my Toshiko ... she's stronger than she looks but ... she'd be hurt and that I wouldn't do. Which leaves Gwen, happily married Gwen. She actually reminds me a bit of Rose but, her man is a good bloke, she'll be happy with him."

Lifting his head, Jack looked forward, lost in his own thoughts for a moment as the Doctor's question brought up his team. One trapped here with him, three left behind without word. Jack wasn't happy about that but there wasn't anything he could do at the moment except keep and eye on Owen and try to figure this out.

"Mmmm, here? Oh, no. I've actually slowed down a little bit in my old age. Tend to focus on the whole out of time and space thing first, then I'll get about chatting up the locals."

The Doctor wasn't sure if he was proud or disappointed in Jack's behavior with his team or in the City. It sounded like any hesitation on Jack's part was due to a sense of responsibility he felt towards his team, which was a good thing. It sounded like Jack had become a good leader in the last hundred years or so. The Doctor probably would be proud of what he'd done with Torchwood. It made the Doctor feel good knowing there were people like Jack out there.

"Well, I'm sure you'll make up for lost time," he said. "And maybe Ianto will come here, would like to meet him, sounds like a good fellow. What sort of work does he do for you? Oh, and did you bring your gun? We might have a bit of trouble slipping past the monsters to get to the clock."

Monsters around the clock. Jack idly thought that might have been something the Doctor could have mentioned earlier but it was the Doctor after all and this regeneration did have a bit of a cheeky side.

Jack chuckled and reached down to touch the Webley sitting on his right hip.

"You know me, Doctor. Only I would take a gun to a wedding," he explained cryptically. "Ianto, started out as our general office boy, tea, getting us where we needed to go, clean up. Then he betrayed us and nearly gave the cybermen a renewed hold on Earth. Now, he's a hell of a field operative. Cunning mind, dry wit, cuts me down to size regularly, I really do think you'd like him."

Jack was right, Ianto did sound like the type of person that he would like. Other than nearly giving the Cybermen a renewed hold on Earth of course, that was something he wouldn't have been to happy to have to deal with. He was glad that Jack was willing to give him another chance that. Thought Doctor believed in second chances. As far as he was concerned though, you got one.

"You had a general office boy at Torchwood? Alien technology and all that, and you had someone running around fetching tea?" he asked, somewhat incredulous. "Who gets the tea now that he's a field agent?"

"He still does," Jack admitted. "But mostly because he makes the most amazing coffee, uh."

Ianto's coffee was practically orgasmic as far as Jack was concerned. If anything -and there were quite a few things- was pricking at him about his current situation it was the thought of having to drink his own coffee.

"It's a bit of a story actually, maybe one for a quiet moment over tea?" You know, not while heading underground to face possible monsters. "Speaking of ... I ah, spoke to Rose."

The Doctor wondered if coffee was some sort of euphemism for something that he'd rather not know about. Of course, he really could make a great pot of coffee, although the Doctor had never liked coffee as much as tea. He had always thought Americans had started off on the wrong foot by dumping tea into the harbor.

"What did Rose have to say?" the Doctor asked casually, one of his hearts skipping a beat for just a moment. Not that there was anything embarrassing that she would have admitted to, the Doctor was far more free about sexuality than she was, but the hesitant way Jack spoke about it made him wonder. Of course, maybe it had to do with the year that never happened that the Doctor had never really talked about with Rose. He had never really talked about it with anyone for that matter, not even himself.

"I think I came as a bit of a shock to her," Jack admitted with a fond smile. "Of course, she came as a shock to me! Even with your good news."

Lifting his head, Jack looked around thoughtfully, thinking over his conversation and the corners of his lips twitch.

"We talked about you, how finding you here helped her believe in the impossible. She tried to apologize for ... well what happened to me but I told her not to worry, that it was just a thing," Jack tilted his head slightly, looking over at the Doctor's profile. "She seems to want to know about the 'year that never was'. I get the feeling she blames herself for not being there to help us, even though she doesn't completely understand what happened."

The Doctor hissed through his teeth as he reached up to scratch his head. The "year that never was" was a sensitive issue with the Doctor. While it had worked out eventually it was still... not a pleasant subject for him. Things could have gone very badly, and they did go very badly for a while, and he felt responsible. He didn't have many people left in the world that he cared about on a deeply personal level, but those he did had been in danger during that year.

"Well, I wasn't quite sure how much of that I should share just yet," he confessed. He had always played things close to the vest and it was hard to change that. "And I think she just wanted to be there, more than anything. To be there for me. Now quite sure how I feel about that, haven't had anyone feel about me like that in a long time."

Head down, Jack nodded as he followed along with what the Doctor was saying.

"I got that feeling, from the way she was asking me questions, that you two hadn't talked yet and for once in my life managed to keep my big mouth shut," he looked over again and gave the Doctor a sad, tired sort of smile. "Wasn't easy mind, she's always had me ..."

He held up his pinkie, indicating how Rose had always had him wrapped around her little finger.
"She does have that sort of affect on people, doesn't she?" the Doctor agreed, unable to hide his smile at the knowledge that she basically had the same affect on him.

Before he could say anything further though, he realized that they were at the entrance to the Underground. Turning to Jack with an excited look in his eyes he motioned for the Captain to go ahead of him.

"After you Captain Jack, and welcome to the Underground," he said.

Eyeing the Doctor with an expression that said I'm dubious about this but expect it will be fun, even if it does try to kill me Jack bowed his head in acknowledgement and swept forward, genuinely curious to see what could put such a light of excitement in the Doctor's eyes.

He might have been keeping his right hand close to the Webley, that was just an old habit that he'd probably never entirely break.

The Doctor followed Jack down into the Underground, a bit of a spring in his step. There was something especially exciting about sharing something like this with someone. He got to see so many things it would have been a shame not to share them with anyone. If watching everyone you cared about grow old and die while you didn't was the curse of the Time Lords than having several lifetimes worth of good memories of those friends was the blessing.

"We have to go down quite a ways, but usually there aren't too many monsters," the Doctor said. "We might not even have to run from any of them, but you should be ready just in case."

It was a blessing and a curse that Jack now shared, perhaps it was what made him feel closer to the Doctor and in many ways, more settled about how their friendship was going forward.

"See, that's what I love about hanging around you, Doctor. Your bright outlook on things that might eat or kill us."

Jack said it with a twinkle in his blue eyes and a spring of his own in his step. He loved this and it showed in his body language. Despite the events from last time, the 'year that never was' and the horror show that had turned out to be, Jack still looked forward to discovering these things with the Doctor.

"Well, just because someone wants to eat you doesn't make it bad," he argued. "I would hate for my smoothie to think I'm a horrible person."

Pulling out his sonic screwdriver the Doctor turned it on, the soft glow giving just enough light for them to navigate through the area without drawing the attention of some of the seedier residents of the Underground.

"So how has Martha been doing?" the Doctor asked, intent on news of his previous companion. She had wanted to finish her doctorate, he wondered if she had. Dr. Martha Jones definitely had a good ring to it.

"She's good," Jack said with a ready smile. "A doctor now, working for UNIT, which we both imagine you already know."

Eyes carefully scanning the area, Jack was committing it all to memory as much as he was looking for anything to pop out at them, though he moved with light steps, trying to be unobtrusive.
For him at least.

"Had her at Cardiff for a bit to help with things, particularly after Owen died. She's got a boyfriend now, you know?"

If those last two bits of information didn't seem to go together, it might have been because Jack was shying away from the guilt that came with Owen's death and then the whole debacle with the second resurrection glove.

"Does she? That's great!" he said, fully meaning it. The Doctor had been worried about how things would be if Martha came here. He'd feel obliged to offer her a room in the TARDIS, but at the same time he enjoyed his privacy with Rose. If Martha had a boyfriend, well then maybe she would refuse the offer all on her own.

"I assume you approve of him?" he asked, giving Jack a serious look. "You have to substitute for me in situations like that. Substitute Doctor. Well, maybe that's a bit much..."

"Are you implying I wouldn't be up to the job?" Jack asked with a little huff, though really it was just for show and he was soon laughing as they walked along.

"I didn't get a chance to meet him but from the way she spoke of him ... " Jack trailed off and a far away little smile touched his lips. "From the way she spoke of him, he's being good to her, making her happy."

"That's brilliant," the Doctor exclaimed, truly happy for Martha. "She's an amazing young woman. Hardly phased by anything. Did she tell you about meeting Shakespeare? Apparently I upset Queen Elizabeth too at some point, doesn't that sound like fun?"

Time travel was always full of interesting moments like that, it made it that much more exciting than you would even normally think.

"Oh, that reminds me, do you still have your..." the Doctor asked, tapping his own wrist, indicating Jack's teleportation device.

"I'm genuinely sorry I missed it, usually you charm queens," Jack pointed out.
And it was time travel with the Doctor that was so much more exciting than one might imagine it to be, though Jack didn't think anyone could ever truly understand what traveling with the Doctor was like, unless they did so. It was like having a whole new way of looking through your own eyes opened up to you.

Lifting his left arm, he tugged back his sleeve, exposing the vortex manipulator/general comm unit strapped to his wrist.

"Still has it's uses, even if someone disabled it's time bounce capabilities."

The Doctor took Jack's wrist and passed the sonic screwdriver over his vortex manipulator. It was not something he was entirely comfortable doing, but he had seen too much happen in the City to think that it wouldn't save lives if the manipulator was working. He didn't want what had happened to Astrid to happen to Rose.

"There, that should help," he said with a nod. "Make it a bit easier to get around in the place at least."

Jack arched an eyebrow, genuinely surprised and perhaps a little concerned. He knew how the Doctor felt about Jack having such ready mobility at his disposal, for the Time Lord to give it back to him, told him a lot about the potential dangers in the City.

"Appreciate it," he said by way of a thank you.

"Well, it doesn't quite work like it does back home," the Doctor admitted. "Seems time travel isn't really possible here. Well, other than always traveling forward in time. I think that might have something to do with the City not being in the time stream, really. Rather exciting, actually."

It was also rather disturbing, but there was no need for him to tell Jack that. Jack was probably one of the few beings left in the universe who could understand some of the intricacies of time travel and the way it worked. Not as good as the Doctor of course, but well enough.

So, the TARDIS really was stuck here for the time being, curious. Jack pursed his lips thoughtfully as he walked along.

"Guess it's not that impossible a concept," he said in a pensive tone. "After all, how else would Time define it's own existence if there wasn't at least one point beyond it to compare against. Sort of like how you can't have Chaos without Order, because the one holds a mirror up to the other."

"Absolutely, can't have a starting place if you don't have a stopping place as well," the Doctor said with a nod. "Or it just has its own concept of time. Sort of like rivers have tributaries and dry spots and dams. Someone might have just dammed up time here."

The idea was both interesting and disturbing. Ever since coming here he had wondered if the Guardians had anything to do with this, although normally they preferred not to disrupt time. Of course, if the deities here were right, this place was rather important to the ending of all worlds. Not that both he and Jack hadn't been there already and practically seen that.
Twice even!

Folding his hands behind his back, head down Jack listened closely to what the Doctor was saying, processing it through his own experiences and own knowledge of Time and Space.

"Still a curious thing to do. Usually you dam something up as a way to either clear the path for something to be built down stream or to use the harnessed energy towards something. Any idea what?"

"I'm wondering if it has something to do with it keeping us here," the Doctor mused as they made their way deeper into the Underground. Whenever the sonic screwdriver started detecting any life in the direction they were heading, he changed their route slightly to avoid any possible run ins with monsters.

"Because a lot of these people here seem to be important in their world," he continued. "Take you and I for example. If we just disappeared and never returned... well obviously things are going to happen that didn't happen. So I think by sticking us here with no time it stops time back home from moving."

Jack watched the Doctor closely, learning from him as he always seemed to do as they moved along. He was getting the feeling that it was simply best, for whatever reason, to avoid the monsters entirely. Whether this was due to being unable to survive an altercation with them or it just being best for all involved to avoid and altercation, he'd just have to ask later.

"See now, you go and say those sorts of things and I'm going to get an ego," he joked but it didn't reach his eyes. Instead it seemed to die on his lips as he went back to thinking about their situation.

"So, it has a reason, unknown to us here, for grabbing us and then keeping us but in an effort not to destroy the time lines we effect outside of this place, it's sort of built a time bubble, stopped things."

Pursing his lips, Jack's hands fell forward, restlessly seeking his pockets as he walked along beside the Doctor.

"Selfish and thoughtful at the same time. Makes me more curious about the motivation, the need behind such an act."

"I've been thinking about that too," the Doctor said, giving Jack a smile. He'd had a lot of idle time since being here and thus, a lot of time to think about why he and the others were here. As much as it chafed him that he couldn't leave the Doctor could never resist a good puzzle.

"Why have the Curses that always seem to anger people? If it was just for entertainment... well that doesn't make much sense, really. There's a lot more fun things to do than watch all of us. I mean, who would be so bored they would want to watch the City all day? So that leaves us being here for a real purpose. It's either a grand social experiment... or the City needs us. A City isn't much of anything without citizens. You live here long enough and the City seems like a sort of living thing... and what if it is? What if the Curses are its way of feeding?"

"A thought that is both intriguing and disturbing at the same time," Jack said honestly. He began to work the idea over in his own mind, well used to following most of the Doctor's leads of logic through situations that otherwise seemed illogical.

Drawing his hands out of his pockets, he began to gracefully gesture. Ever restless.
"So, if the City is almost it's own organism, perhaps not organic the way we think of organic but an entity with needs and it's citizens fulfill those needs, through ... our emotions, our thoughts, just our very being?"

"I'm not quite sure yet," he said, scratching his head in thought. "My first guess would be our emotions... but when you see the clock you'll see that it does rely on technology in some way. Well, unless the clock is just there to give us something to think about."

Honestly, he wouldn't put it past the City to have the clock down there to just keep them all busy, but it seemed like very few people in the City paid all that much attention to it, so if that was the case it was a bit of a failure. Still, he felt comfortable that if that's all it was, he would eventually figure that out. Even finding out it was all a hoax would be valuable information.

"Hmm," Jack said in a pensive tone. "It is the first thing you notice when you arrive, that ticking and as you told me, it almost seems to spur us to seek each other out in an effort to blot out the noise. Perhaps a way of 'herding' new arrivals in the right direction? After all, emotions are always going to be more intense when you have interaction and the more interaction the more emotion you get."

This thought almost made Jack want to run off and be a hermit, just to see what would happen, see if he'd get sent back home due to being useless as far as the City's needs were concerned. But it was a fleeting thought as this puzzle was already drawing Jack in and he wasn't about to leave the Doctor and Rose.

"That could be the reason, certainly makes sense!" he said.
Rounding a corner the Doctor beamed broadly as they arrived at their destination. The inner workings of the clock!

"Oh brilliant, here we are!" he exclaimed, rushing forward he threw his arms out dramatically. "The clock!"

Jack's steps slowed and an expression of awe came across his face. He'd seen a lot, much of it while traveling with the Doctor but even with those experiences under his belt, this was still ...

"Bloody fan-tast-ic," he breathed with a growing sense of excitement as he walked closer. "Doctor ... look at it, it's gorgeous."

His grin broadened even more at Jack's excitement. This was infinitely better with someone who could appreciate this sort of thing. Of course, his other self appreciated it, but this was a bit different.

"Isn't it brilliant? I have no idea who made it or how it got here or what it does," he admitted. "And I love it."

Jack was unable to help the laugh that bubbled up within. It came from a combination of seeing the Doctor so giddy and his own love for such a marvelous puzzle as this beautiful, complex, enigmatic clock.

Walking past the Doctor, Jack carefully moved around the clock. He reached now and then as if to touch but always managed to stop himself just before he'd actually come into contact with the gears and mechanisms.

"I've never seen anything like this," he breathed, turning to look at the Doctor, that hundred watt smile of his in full effect. "All we've seen and there still surprises like this out there to be found."

That ... that was what made the thought of living forever bearable.

Turning back to the clock, Jack bounced on the balls of his feet and began to move faster in and around it, his coat tails flying behind him like a banner.

"Where do we start? Have you started already? Sketches I guess, we obviously can't risk touching any of the actual mechanisms but I imagine I could try to recreate them on paper and then we could ... "

His mouth was going a mile a minute, almost as fast as he was.

"Hadn't even thought of pictures, really," the Doctor had to admit. "Mostly trying to get past the force field. Never seen anything like it and I haven't been able to get past it. Well, that and every time I devote some time to it, things to crazy."

The Doctor also didn't want to admit that the clock had, so far, stumped him. Plain and simple, and avoiding on working on it was sort of a way he could avoid that fact. Maybe it was time he put more effort into it.

"So we'd have to get past the force field first?" Jack said, pursing his lips and nodding slightly. "Well until we figure that out, we can definitely work off what we can see with our eyes."

Jack wasn't entirely aware of the Doctor's thoughts and simply saw an incredible puzzle that begged to be worked on.

"You can see the power conduits running along there," he said, pointing to the large conduits. "Unfortunately they were smart enough to place them inside of the force field."

While perhaps not the most advanced technology the Doctor had seen it was certainly effective and had kept him out so far. What bothered him most was that the TARDIS should have been able to appear inside the field, but all attempts at that had met with failure too.

"As if they were expecting attempts to circumvent the system?"

Which was a slightly disquieting thought as Jack suddenly had the lab rat in a maze sensation that he always hated.

Stepping back to the Doctor's side, Jack folded his hands into the small of his back once again unconsciously adopting an 'at ease' position as he shook his head gently.

"We really have found ourselves a doozie this time, haven't we Doctor?"

"Ohhh, yes we have," the Doctor responded, a somewhat goofy grin plastered on his face. He was all but bouncing on the balls of his feet at the excitement of it all.

"It's almost as if they knew people as smart and determined as us would end up here and try and solve the mystery," he added. The Doctor even had his suspicions that this mechanism was connected to anything. Why even put this where it was accessible? Even it was just something the deities put here to keep them busy, the Doctor loved a puzzle.

"We could start with those questions alone," Jack pointed out, eyes still taking in the clock. "You know, I may not be happy about the whole inability to leave situation but if you're going to be trapped somewhere, not so bad when there's a big ole puzzle about Time and Space to keep your occupied, eh?"

The Doctor took out his specs and put them on to get a closer look. He had been over and over this place again and again, but he never knew when even he would miss something. Besides, there were a lot of interesting things about this force field. The Doctor would show Jack that later though.

"Oh absolutely," he agreed. "There's all sorts of things here to keep us busy. Did you know there are other time travelers here?"

"Actual time travelers or people who have just happened to travel through time to get here to this place?" Jack asked as restless feet were carrying him off in some direction or other, no doubt intrigued by something shiny.

"Actual time travelers," he said, sticking his hands in his pockets as he followed after Jack. He could understand his reaction, having a similar one when he first saw it. If they weren't careful though, they could spend a long, long time down here. It was time to head back up. The fast way.

"Oh, best part of the whole thing though?" the Doctor said, jogging a few steps to catch up with Jack. "The force field also does spacial displacement."

With a broad grin he gave Jack enough of a shove to hopefully send him tumbling into the force field.

"Real..." Was about as far as Jack got before he was suddenly knocked off balance. Eyes widening, he felt himself pitch back and then sort of bounce. There was a moment of extreme disorientation, rather like time travel without a capsule and then Jack was stumbling over, sprawled out on the ground near the familiar form of the carousel.

"Bastard," he said, affectionately.

Laying there, Jack blinked a couple of times and then gave a chuff of laughter as he rolled to sit up and look around. Yep, definitely back at their original starting point.

"Wow!"
A moment later, the Doctor jumped in after him, feeling the same sort of disorientation, although he was able to keep his balance since he had done it several times before. It was sort of like an amusement park ride, only more of a rush.
"Isn't that brilliant?" he asked Jack as he casually walked over to him. "Best force field in the world, just picks you up and sets you somewhere else."
Picking himself up off the ground, Jack dusted off his hand and was grinning from ear to ear.

"That was downright fun," he said and whether he meant the whole adventure or just the ride back, well ... probably both.

Turning back to the Doctor, Jack smiled with a special sort of warmth he reserved for his old friend and held his arms wide in invitation for another hug.

"I rather think we'll get along here, won't we, Doctor?"

The Doctor embraced Jack again before pulling away and smiling broadly at him.

"It's good to see you again, Jack," he said, giving the other man an enthusiastic grin. He meant it too, despite the fact that he had ran away from Harkness at one point he had come to accept the anomoly that Jack was. "This is going to be quite an adventure, I can tell."