Doctor Who Fic: It Goes On (Part 2/4)

[fathomlessspite]

Title: It Goes On (2/4)
Series: A Good Old Normal, Human Life
Fandom: Doctor Who/Torchwood
Rating: R
Word Count: 2707 / 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 this 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

***CATCH UP WITH PART ONE***

“Amy?  What is it?” Rory asked, he stepped toward where she stood lit by a shaft of light coming from the ceiling of the Tardis.  “What’s going on?” Rory turned toward the Doctor.
 
“Nothing’s going on Rory.  It’s just a holographic communication device thingy.  I’ve hooked it up to the internal sensors of the other Tardis so Amy can see and hear what’s going on in there,” the Doctor explained.
 
“They’ve landed,” Jack reported from where he was studying one of the Tardis’ monitors.  The engines rumbled to a slow halt a few seconds later.  “And now so have we.”
 
When the Doctor turned back round to face Amy she had taken a step back out of the holographic sensor and the light had switched off.  She was smirking at him.
 
“What happened?”
 
“Oh nothing, they were...busy.” She was still smirking.
 
“What’s with this look, this look all over your face?”
 
“So that guy, that other you.  How close of a copy is he?”
 
“He’s not a copy.  He’s a mixture of the Doctor and Donna’s DNA through a biological meta-” Jack explained.
 
“Okay,” she held up her hand.  “Thanks.  So this Donna, is she particularly attracted to the other one?”
 
The Doctor having turned away from her and walked to the console to check their location paused and looked at her.  “To the Master?  Not that I know of and certainly not at a biological level.”
 
Beside him Jack leant against the console and crossed his arms.  “What were they doing?” he asked with a suspicious look and a sideways glance at the Doctor.

“I’m sure we’ll find out what they’re up to soon enough,” the Doctor clapped his hands together and headed for the door.
 
Amy caught him by the arm and linked hers through his.  As he opened the Tardis door she leant in and asked, “Is this why you reacted the way you did when I kissed you?  Are you a horribly promiscuous closeted crazy man in a box?” she glanced over at Jack as she finished speaking.
 
“No.  You were already committed to Mr Pond over there weren’t you?  Credit me with a bit of honour and common decency
Amelia,” he huffed.  He removed her hand from his arm and hooked it through Rory’s before he walked out of the door.

“Hang on, you’ve not even told us where we are yet!” she shouted after him.
 
Jack ducked in front of her before she could get to the door.  “We’re in Cardiff,”   he told them.  “And he’s really not horribly promiscuous, not in any reality outside of my head that is,” he sighed wistfully and darted out of the door after the Doctor.
 
“Cardiff?” Rory asked.  “From Chiswick to Cardiff.  If only I’d known travelling in time and space was this exciting, I’d have started much sooner.”
 
Amy rolled her eyes. “Come on,” she said and dragged him out of the Tardis after Jack and the Doctor.

***

“How long are we going to sit here?” The Master asked with a pout.
 
“They’ll find us soon,” John responded eyes fixed on the window of the chip shop.  He flicked a glance back toward the Master for a moment.  “And I’m sure if you needed to you could eat a third portion of chips,” he said pointedly.
 
“Well if that’s what you need me to do, I suppose I’ll have to,” he sighed dramatically and rested his chin in his hands.
 
A few moments of silence were broken by John as he jolted back round to face the Master and glared accusingly at him, pulling half a cold chip out of his hair.
 
The Master looked at him with a smile full of exaggerated innocence and shrugged.  “Entertain me whilst we wait,” he instructed.
 
“How?” John asked as he fixed his gaze back on the window.  The Master kicked him under the table.
 
“I’m sure you can think of something, you were most entertaining an hour or so ago,” he added, with a leer which John missed completely as he was still pointedly not looking at the Master.
 
“I’d rather not be arrested for public indecency if it’s all the same to you.”
 
“Spoilsport,” the Master replied and flicked another chip at John.
 
John rolled his eyes and once again turned round to face the Master.  “Conversation, then?”
 
“The art of conversation is dead, so I here,” the Master replied.  He reached across and wrapped his fingers gently round John’s wrist.  John felt a tickle of awareness across the back of his mind before he snatched his wrist back.  “What?” the Master asked.
 
John glanced away and shifted in his chair.  The Master reached over again in the same way as before but John’s mind remained blessedly his own.
 
“What?”
 
“It’s just, I’m only part Time Lord,” he began.
 
“So?”
 
“So I’m part human, and all the telepathic contact has left me with a bit of a ... headache,” he finished and started to retrieve his hand but the Master held on.
 
He looked at John contemplatively for a few moments.  “All right then, let me know when you’re feeling better,” he paused.  “Or if there’s anything I can do to make you feel better,” he added and with another leer.
 
John rolled his eyes but couldn’t help the smile that crept across his face.
 
The Doctor and entourage walked into the chip shop just as the Master leant across and kissed John all over that ill suppressed grin.

***

 
“Do you have to do that in front of Pond?  She’s pigeon holing me into limited definitions of human sexual orientation because I wasn’t all that responsive when she kissed me and you are not helping,” the Doctor complained when he stopped at the Master’s and John’s table.
 
The Master leant back in his chair so he could glance around the Doctor and look at Amy, “You did always have a thing for redheads.”
 
“And who started that?” the Doctor responded with a pointed look at the Master.
 
John grinned, “Ginger wasn’t his best look really.”
 
“Also I’m assuming you didn’t respond to her advance because of her wife here,” he slanted a glance at Rory.  “Gallant and noble as you like to think you are.”
 
“Hey,” Rory objected.
 
“Ponds,” the Doctor turned round sharply to address them.  “Why don’t you get yourselves some chips and have a wander?”
 
“Why?” Amy asked.
 
“Cardiff, lovely place for a wander,” the Doctor shrugged.
 
“But-”
 
“We’ll fill you later,” Jack reassured.
 
“You’d better,” she huffed in reply and dragged Rory out of the shop by the arm.
 
“She didn’t get any chips,” the Doctor observed.
 
“Her loss,” the Master responded as he signalled for another portion.

***

 
An hour, four portions of chips and a stack of scribbled on napkins later found the Master with his head on his arms and John patiently trying to convince Jack that yes they were both trying to save the universe.

 

 
“But him?”
 
“He’s different, he’s not the same man you knew,” John reiterated.
 
“Okay let’s get something straight here.  I am that man.  Minus some insanity inducing drums in my brain and the euphoria which I’m sure came upon hearing of the destruction of my race, I am very much the man the dear Captain knew,” the Master argued into the crook of his elbow.
 
“The drums though, they made you do some pretty awful things here,” the Doctor intervened.
 
“I know all about those things, I’ve seen the inside of John’s head.  I have to say I was pretty impressed with the plan itself, the execution was a little off but...”
 
“Master,” John protested.
 
“And don’t think when I heard about you’re little immortality problem I didn’t think about finding out the limits of your condition in a manner similar to that of my counterpart.”
 
“You’re not helping!”
 
“I don’t want to help,” the Master snapped and sat up to glare at John.  “I want to go and get on with this,” he slammed a hand down on the table where the notes from their discussion sat.  “Save the universe and then we can-”
 
“What?  Then you can what?” the Doctor asked.  “Because thats the question really.  Sure you can run around and save the universe, but what are you going to do when that’s done?”
 
The Master sat back in his chair and levelled a calm look at the Doctor, “We’ve not decided yet."
 
The Doctor glanced at John and back at the Master.  “Well that’s not good enough is it?”
 
“You seem to be under the misapprehension that just because you’ve killed all the other time lords in this universe that you are somehow in charge here-”
 
“This universe.  My universe.  I am in charge here!”
 
The Master let out a low growl but instead of responding he got up and stalked out of the shop.
 
“Shouldn’t you go after him?” Jack asked in the ensuing silence.
 
“I will,” John agreed.  “Don’t go anywhere okay?”
 
“Why?” the Doctor asked.
 
“You want to help right?  I’ve been thinking about how you can.  Let me go and...” he trailed off.  “I’ll come find you in a bit.”
 
“Well that was interesting,” Jack said with a sideways glance at the Doctor as the door clattered shut after John.
 
“Hmmn.”
 
“Do you really think he’s going to get up to something?” Jack asked, curious.
 
“Maybe, maybe not.  But can we take the risk?”

 

***

 
 
John found the Master slumped against his Tardis with hands stuffed in his pockets; his foot tapped quickly against the concrete.
 
John stopped in front of him, just close enough to here the Master say through gritted teeth, “I need to kill something.”
 
“Or?” he asked.
 
The Master growled and moved too quickly for John to respond; he grabbed both of John’s wrists in a bruising grip.  He looked at John for a moment, John just looked steadily back silently acquiesing to whatever the Master wanted.
 
This was what he’d agreed to be here for afterall, to keep the Master in check.  To help him when he was feeling out of control.  An outlet for his frustrations, so to speak.
 
The Master hauled him forward sharply and pulled him into a kiss every bit as bruising as the iron grip he had on John’s wrists.  John felt a tingle of awareness at the edges of his mind just as the Master bit down so harshly on his lip that he drew blood.  Seconds later he pulled back and spat on the floor, his lip curled with disgust.
 
John looked away, the copper taste of his blood filled his mouth.  His human blood.
 
The Master released one of his hands, pulled the Tardis door open and dragged them inside.  Once it was shut and locked he pushed John up against it and leaned in close.  The tingle of awareness became sharp and painful as the Master’s thoughts buffetted his own.
 
“If I’m going to have to stomach the taste of you filthy human mouth I’m going to have to try and connect with the tiny sliver of Time Lord that you possess first,” he explained calmly as he pushed again John’s mind with his own.
 
John didn’t answer; it felt like someone was moving over his thoughts with sandpaper, the rough edges of the Master’s mind made John’s own feel raw.
 
“Okay?” the Master asked politely, but John didn’t hear him.  He knew what was coming regardless and tried to brace himself for it; could feel the Master preparing to rip though his mind to find what he wanted.
 
Nonetheless he tried to open his mouth to respond, but he couldn’t move, couldn’t speak.  The Master laughed, “Let’s begin then shall we?”
 
Inside their minds John screamed.
 
 

***

 
 
Outside of the chip shop, having picked up the rather large bill John and the Master had clocked up, Jack and the Doctor waited for Rory and Amy to return.
 
“So you’re travelling with a married couple now then?” Jack asked.
 
The Doctor rolled his eyes at Jack’s tone.  “Yes, yes I am.”
 
“Must be a little odd, not having your companions swooning over you,” Jack responded.
 
“Who says they aren’t?” the Doctor asked.  “Swooning all over the place they are.  Regularly.”
 
“Sounds like fun,” Jack shot him a sideways look.  The Doctor huffed.  “Talking of, here they come now.  They look pretty steady on their feet, already had their daily dose of swooning have they?”
 
“Oh shut up,” the Doctor responded and gave Jack a little shove with his elbow.  Jack grinned and turned back to the Doctor expecting him to be grinning back but a frown marred his face.  He raised a hand to his temple and grunted in pain.
 
“You okay?” Jack asked.
 
“Yeah, no, I’m, I’m fine,” he swayed on his feet and Jack grabbed his arm to steady him.  “Maybe I should sit down?” he said weakly.
 
“Yeah come on,” Jack began to lead him to a bench a few metres away.  Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Amy and Rory jogging toward them.
 

 
“Ah!” the Doctor’s knees went out from under him before they reached the bench; Jack went down with him in surprise.  “Someone’s screaming, who-?” he cut himself off with a groan of pain.
 
“No-one’s screaming, I can’t hear anything,” Jack answered  He tilted the Doctor’s chin up toward him, his eyes were wide and pupils dilated he looked at Jack.
 
“I can hear him, he’s screaming,” he insisted.
 
“What’s wrong?  What’s happening?” Amy asked as she dropped down beside them, Rory stood hesitantly at her side.
 
“I’m not sure,” Jack answered as the Doctor bent forward and groaned, head in his hands.  Jack’s fingers moved to thread through his hair offering comfort as the Doctor muttered to himself.
 
“Screaming, screaming, I’m screaming?  He-” he stopped muttering and looked up at them sharply.  “Oh,” he blinked and brought his hand up to run through his hair.  When he encountered Jack’s hand he wrapped his fingers round it.  “I need to get to the Tardis.”
 
“Why, what’s going on?” Jack asked pulling their clasped hands down between them.  If it wasn’t for his concern for the Doctor he might wonder about the hand holding, as this version of the Doctor seemed much less tactile than the last.  He hadn’t expected hand holding.
 
“I can hear him, in here,” the Doctor tapped his temple with his free hand.
 
“John?”
 
“Yes, the Master was- I don’t know, I-John was screaming.  And not in a good way,” the Doctor added when Jack opened his mouth to interrupt.
 
“Has it stopped now?” Amy asked.
 
The Doctor blinked at her as if he had forgotten she was there, “Yes, no I can still-” he tapped his temple again.
 
“Still hear him?”
 
“Hmm, yes,” the Doctor nodded and leant on Jack’s shoulder.  “He-The Master- He’s apologising I think, yes he’s,” the Doctor laughed into Jack’s shoulder.  “Definitely apologising, can you get me back to the Tardis now please, Jack?”
 
“Of course we can,” Jack said; he started to pull the Doctor to his feet.  When they were standing with one of the Doctor’s arms slung over Jack’s shoulders, the Doctor he groaned a little into Jack’s shoulder.
 
“Quick as we can please,” he said.
 
“Why?” Jack asked as they starting to move in the direction of the Tardis.  He was peripherally aware of Rory and Amy trotting along beside them, for all his focus was on the Doctor.
 
“It’s about to get good,” the Doctor said quietly and directly into Jack’s ear.  Jack’s eyes widened when he comprehended the Doctor’s meaning.
 
Jack tried to increase their speed but was somewhat hampered by the fact that the Doctor had released his grip on Jack’s shoulder to run his fingers through the short hairs at the back of Jack’s neck.
 
“You know, I should probably stay with you until this is over, make sure you’re okay,” Jack suggested as nonchalantly as possible considering he was jogging toward the Tardis which was now in sight with the Doctor in tow.
 
“Oh, yes,” the Doctor breathed.  “Good, sound, brilliant plan.”
 
Jack was still grinning when he shut the Tardis door on a rather put-upon looking Mr and Mrs Pond. 


**PART THREE**