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Series: A Good Old Normal, Human Life
Fandom: Doctor Who/Torchwood
Rating: R
Word Count: 1740 / 8320
Pairing: Ten2/Alt.Master, Eleven/Jack Harkness (background Rory/Amy, Ianto/Jack)
Characters: Ten 2 (John Smith, Alt.Master, The Doctor (Eleven), Jack Harkness. Cameos from Donna, Wilf, Amy, Rory, Gwen, Martha, Rose, alt. Ianto, Suzie Costello, Owen Harper & John Hart (phew)
Summary: Continues straight after Data Compression. The Doctor has found John and the Master and he and Jack want some answers. Can they work together to save 'Pete's universe' and their own?
Warnings: potential non-con (of a time lord-y mind nature) in later part
A/N: Set partly in 'Pete's universe' where The Doctor left Rose and Ten2 (John Smith) at the end of Journey's End, this follows on from A Good Old Normal, Human Life, Data Compression & Ianto's Dreams. Also as usual the fic is filled with pictures, because they are fun!
Title taken from Robert Frost quote; "In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life. It goes on."
Archived on AO3 here
“Oh that isn’t good,” John murmured just loud enough for the Master to hear over the noise of the engines of the Doctor’s Tardis.
“No, really?” the Master muttered snide, his hand still gripped John’s wrist tight enough that it would likely bruise.
“So Jack and Martha weren’t the reason-”
“I don’t even know that thing and his little friend, so no,” the Master glanced over at Jack who had lowered his gun and shifted his attention to the materialising Tardis.
“We should-” John moved toward the Master’s Tardis, pulling the Master with him.
“Wait!” Jack called sharply; when John turned he saw Jack had raised his gun at them.
“You won’t shoot us Jack.”
“I’ll shoot him.”
John was in front of Jack before he even realised that he’d moved; the Master’s grip on his wrist was now even more biting. “Don’t touch him.”
“Hey,” Jack lowered the gun which due to John’s swift interception had been pointed directly at John’s head. “Okay.”
“That was sweet, you’re like a yappy little guard dog,” the Master said. “But we should-” the final creak of the Tardis engines as they shut down made him pause “-go now.”
Jack barely moved to protest before the Master had dragged John into his Tardis and shut the door behind them. He ran to the central console and after a few moments there was a video feed from several different angles of Donna’s street up on the monitors.
John came up to stand beside the Master and bumped his shoulder with his own, “We got sound?
***
The Doctor opened the Tardis door a crack and looked outside. “Rather crowded out there,” he muttered.
“What was that?” Amy asked loudly and directly in his ear.
“Do you have to-?” he pushed her back gently by the shoulders, “Do you have to be so close? And loud? Do you have to be so loud?”
“Yes, and yes,” she replied with a grin.
“What’s out there then?” Rory asked. He stepped up close beside Amy and took her hand in his, tugging her closer toward him and away from the Doctor.
“Chiswick,” he said and took another peek out of the door, closing it quickly when Amy leaned over to take a look.
“Chiswick?” Rory asked. “Why are we in Chiswick?”
“Maybe it’s Chiswick in the future?” Amy asked.
“Oh, right right,” Rory nodded; they both looked expectantly at the Doctor.
“Chiswick of the present I’m afraid,” he answered, eyes darting toward the door and back. “So,” he clapped his hands together, “You two stay here, and I’ll be back in a bit.”
“Wait, what?” Amy asked. “Why?”
“Bit of business to take care of won’t be long,” he replied and darted out of the door before they could reply. He used the sonic screwdriver to lock it behind him and ignored the loud protests of the Ponds on the other side of the door.
When he looked up there were several pairs of eyes staring at him.
“Helloo,” he waved in greeting.
“Huh,” Jack said contemplatively.
“Well it’s not any of you making my brain itch, so where are they?” he frowned.
“Doctor?” Martha asked, wide-eyed, jaw-dropped and everything.
“Well, yes,” he frowned. “I thought,” he gestured behind him, “with the-“ he waved his arm at the Tardis. “Pretty obvious, right?”
“Right,” Jack said, he was grinning now. That was slightly worrying, but there were more important things to be concerned with at the moment.
“Where-?”
“The phone box,” Jack said and walked over to said box.
“You’re kidding,” the Doctor objected as he walked up next to Jack.
“No, they’re in there,” Jack said as the Doctor stepped up and took a deep breath, nose to the glass.
“Is he sniffing it?” Donna asked behind him.
“Donna!” he turned round sharply. “You remember? You’re mind should be burning!”
“They fixed her didn’t they,” Wilf said.
“They?” he asked and turned back to the phone box to take another deep breath. “Smells like me, the last me that is, and Donna. And the Master, but not quite. Like before, when he was-” young. Before the drums.
He span round again, “Fixed how?”
“I don’t really know, a chameleon thingy they said,” Wilf answered.
“Chameleon arch?” Martha asked.
“They would have had to adapt it, it’d take ages to figure out how to-”
“That Master bloke did it in a day,” Wilf interrupted the Doctor.
“Oh. Oh well that’s. Huh. I might’ve overestimated I guess. But then he always was the clever one,” he frowned at the other Tardis for a moment.
“You could knock?” Jack raised an eyebrow at the Doctor and quirked his lips.
“I could,” the Doctor drawled in response. “Seems a bit undignified though,” he said.
“Undignified? You were just sniffing their phone box!” Donna said, incredulous.
“True, true,” the Doctor replied. He raised his hand to knock but before it could meet the door of the phone box the engines whirred into life. “Oh no no no. No you don’t!”
He ran over to his Tardis and yanked the door open, Rory and Amy tumbled out in an ungainly heap at his feet.
“Move!” he snapped and began to climb over them. Rory yelped as the Doctor used his back as a stepping stone.
The Doctor ran over to the centre console and began trying to lock onto the other Tardis’ flight path. After a few seconds the engines started up and they were being dragged through the vortex in the wake of the other Tardis leaving Chiswick behind them.
Belatedly, he thought to look up and make sure Amy and Rory were inside the Tardis door only to come face to face with Jack Harkness.
“Oh for-” he rolled his eyes. “Do not talk to them,” he waved a hand at Rory and Amy. “Ponds, do not talk to him.”
“I think I’m insulted,” Jack pouted and walked slowly towards the Doctor, his gaze swept the Tardis as he did so. “Love what you’ve done with the place.”
“Thank you.”
“Love what you’ve done with the face too,” he grinned and waggled his eyebrows ridiculously.
“Stop it,” the Doctor replied. Jack’s grin widened.
“And who are you’re lovely companions?” Jack turned round and smiled at the other two Tardis occupants.
“Seriously, stop it,” the Doctor darted round Jack who was now lounging against the console.
“Amy,” Amy volunteered with a wave and a smile.
“Rory,” Rory said from beside her as he eyed Jack warily.
“Captain Jack Harkness, at your service,” he said with a little bow.
“You’re behind is in my way Jack,” the Doctor grumbled from beside Jack
“By all means feel free to move it out of the way,” Jack replied turning to face the Doctor so they were practically nose-to-nose.
The Doctor rolled his eyes and grinned as he pulled Jack into a quick one armed hug and placed a smacking kiss to his temple. “It’s good to see you Jack,” he said by way of explanation.
Jack looked stunned for a moment as the Doctor pulled back and hip-checked him out of the way, before he smiled warmly. There were a few moments of silence, Jack put his hands in his pockets and rocked on his feet for a moment, “So, where are we going?”
“I’ve locked us on to the other Tardis, it’s effectively pulling us through the vortex,” the Doctor replied.
“So we’ll find out when we get there?”
“Exactly,” the Doctor replied and they shared an excited grin.
Out of the corner of his eye the Doctor saw Amy roll her eyes. “Boys,” she muttered
***
“They’re following us,” the Master said through gritted teeth.
John sighed, “We could just stay in here.” He crossed his arms and slumped against the computer console. The Master raised an incredulous eyebrow at him.
“And let two universes collapse around us?” He stepped in front of John and kicked his legs apart slightly so he could step in between them. “I suppose we could think of something to occupy the time,” he said lowly and leaned forward, forehead pressed against John’s temple.
The Master grinned into John’s neck when he felt John’s hands slide round his waist and grip tightly at his back. John groaned as the Master began to mouth along his jaw and pulled the Master fully against him. The Master raised one hand to John’s temple and rested his forehead against John’s; he used his other hand to pull John’s hips in line with his and closed his eyes.
John’s mind was a tumble of whirling thoughts -the Doctor-Jack Harkness?-the end of the universe- but underneath it all was a thrum of MasterMasterMaster which had him gasping against the Master’s mouth, hips stuttering in the Master’s grip.
“Hmm-no, wait-” John murmured in between broken kisses.
Shush. The Master combed the tips of his fingers gently through the hair at John’s temple in counterpoint to the harsh grip he had on John with his other hand.
“We need to-” The Master deepened the kiss and ground his hips against John’s. John cursed and pushed his hips up to meet the Master’s, fingers trailed underneath his shirt to the bare skin of his back. He returned the kiss more eagerly and opened his mind further, dragged the Master in deeper-
STOP
The Master pulled away sharply, “What?”
“We need to go out there and-”
“Save the world?” the Master tilted his head and regarded John with a sneer.
“Yes.”
“Can’t we just get your Doctor on the case? We have other things to keep us busy,” he replied and moved back in to John’s personal space.
“We should talk to him I suppose. And by we, I mean me. You are not going near him,” John stated.
“And why is that?” the Master asked, hands sliding up John’s thighs. John placed his hands on top of the Master’s and halted their progress.
“I’m not sure what he’ll do.”
The Master laughed, “You can do all the talking. I’ll just stand there quietly. I can even hold your hand if you want.”
John rolled his eyes and looked away. The Master reached up and turned John’s head back to face him. “Where were we?” he murmured against John’s mouth. John laughed and let the Master kiss him without further protest. Just for a little while, he reasoned.
Until a third, slightly more female and Scottish voice said, “Oh my god!”
***PART TWO***
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