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fandomweekly2026-04-19 03:57 pm
m_findlow) wrote in fandomweekly2026-04-19 03:57 pm
Entry tags:
[#297] MORE TO IT (DOCTOR WHO)
Theme Prompt: #297 - Unexpected kindness
Title: More to it
Fandom: Doctor Who
Rating/Warnings: PG.
Bonus: Yes
Word Count: 1,000 words
Summary: Rose is curious about the man she and the Doctor have adopted as their new companion.
Rose Tyler knocked gently on the door, waiting for a response.
‘If you're naked, you can come in!’
Her cheeks grew momentarily hot before she checked herself and realised she should have expected a reply like that. ‘Are you decent?’ she called back.
‘Never. But people will keep on asking that question and one day maybe I'll surprise them.’
Rose rolled her eyes as the door slid open. She knew the TARDIS wouldn't have opened it if it thought she'd be put in an awkward position. Jack was anything but naked, lounging on the bed in black jeans and a fitted white t-shirt, engrossed in a magazine, with a small pile of them on the bedside table. As she got closer she noticed the cover and her embarrassment flushed back into her cheeks. ‘Oi, did you knick those magazines from my room?’
‘You weren't reading them,’ he replied. ‘I've missed trashy rags like these. Oh, and by the way, Spice Girls reunion? Not gonna happen for another twenty years in your timeline and then it'll be a fizzer so don't get your hopes up.’ He tossed the glossy publication aside and looked at her. ‘To what do I owe the pleasure?’
‘The Doctor is off tinkering with something. He gets all technical and starts babbling about temporal transistors and the theory and nano-flux resistance and then forgets you're even there… So, I thought I'd see how you're doing. I brought checkers and chocolate.’
Jack's eyes narrowed at her. ‘What kind of chocolate?’ She tugged the block out from under her arm, showing off the purple packaging. Jack made a rude sound of visceral pleasure. ‘Give!’ He ripped open the top of the paper and then the foil, breaking off a stick and inhaling it in one mouthful, chewing and making more lewd noises. ‘Sweet goddesses, that's good! Finally something the twenty-first century got right.’
Rose sat on the end of the bed, tucking a leg underneath her as she opened up the box of checkers and unfolded the board, slowly setting out the pieces on alternating squares. Jack ate another piece of chocolate and Rose could feel his eyes on her, not in a creepy “looking to have sex” kind of way, but a wary “uncertain motives” kind of way. Since they'd left Earth Jack had been gregarious and always with a smile and an innuendo-laced comment, but he'd also spent his fair share of time tucked away in the quarters the TARDIS had provided for him.
‘Is this weird for you?’ Rose asked.
Jack's eyes met hers. ‘Playing checkers?’
‘No. I mean, being here. Travelling with me and the Doctor.’
Jack shrugged, breaking off more chocolate and this time handing it to her. ‘You didn't have to save my life,’ he said.
Rose took the chocolate and bit off a small piece. ‘You didn't have to sacrifice yourself and your ship so that the whole of London didn't get blown up,’ she said, articulating the words around her chewing. ‘Red or black?’
‘Red.’ He let her make the opening move. ‘I suppose,’ he finally said. ‘I spent the last year and a half working my way across the universe, looking for the right con job that would give me sufficient leverage with the Time Agency to negotiate the right price.’ He pushed a red piece diagonally across the board. ‘When you've had two years of your memories wiped out, you tend not to be very trusting of people anymore.’
‘Is there a right price?’ Rose asked, suddenly curious to know how Jack was going to get his memories back, assuming the Time Agency would ever consider it. ‘They must have had their reasons.’
Jack leaned over and studied the board. ‘I don't know. Maybe I did something terrible, but maybe because I was still valuable as an Agent they decided just to erase the bad stuff and sweep it under the rug.’
‘Or maybe they did something bad,’ Rose said, leapfrogging a black piece and moving further out into the game, ‘and you stood up to them and that's why they stole your memories.’
Jack snorted. ‘Not sure I believe that. I'm just a grifter, Rose. Always looking for a way to make some money and take advantage.’
‘If that were true you'd have left the first chance you got. I think there's more to Jack Harkness than just some pretend criminal.’
Jack made his move, bouncing over three other pieces to capture her black piece, setting it to the side and reaching for more chocolate. ‘Maybe that's why I didn't leave,’ Jack replied. ‘The Doctor, he's… different.’ Jack's face contorted as he tried to find a way to explain it. ‘It's like he doesn't even acknowledge who I am and what I've done. Like it doesn't matter.’
Rose tucked her leg more comfortably underneath her. ‘I was a shop girl before I met the Doctor. He didn't have to bring me along with him either, but here we are. He is different,’ she agreed. ‘It's like… like there's only good people in the universe, and that they all matter and someone them just don't know it until they've spent time with him. I guess it costs nothing to be kind. That's what he is.’
Jack looked up and smirked. ‘Rose Tyler, did you just compare being a shop girl to being an ex-Time Agent con man?’
‘Well, neither of us had much going for us before, and now look at us. We saved London from being blown up or converted into mindless drones in gas masks.’
‘None of which would've happened if I hadn't dumped that Chula medical transport there in the first place,’ Jack reminded her.
‘And none of which would've been stopped without you, either,’ she replied. ‘I think maybe you're as surprised by your own kindness towards others as you are receiving it.’
Jack looked at the half eaten block of chocolate, then at the magazines and finally at Rose. ‘Maybe you'll prove me wrong.’
Title: More to it
Fandom: Doctor Who
Rating/Warnings: PG.
Bonus: Yes
Word Count: 1,000 words
Summary: Rose is curious about the man she and the Doctor have adopted as their new companion.
Rose Tyler knocked gently on the door, waiting for a response.
‘If you're naked, you can come in!’
Her cheeks grew momentarily hot before she checked herself and realised she should have expected a reply like that. ‘Are you decent?’ she called back.
‘Never. But people will keep on asking that question and one day maybe I'll surprise them.’
Rose rolled her eyes as the door slid open. She knew the TARDIS wouldn't have opened it if it thought she'd be put in an awkward position. Jack was anything but naked, lounging on the bed in black jeans and a fitted white t-shirt, engrossed in a magazine, with a small pile of them on the bedside table. As she got closer she noticed the cover and her embarrassment flushed back into her cheeks. ‘Oi, did you knick those magazines from my room?’
‘You weren't reading them,’ he replied. ‘I've missed trashy rags like these. Oh, and by the way, Spice Girls reunion? Not gonna happen for another twenty years in your timeline and then it'll be a fizzer so don't get your hopes up.’ He tossed the glossy publication aside and looked at her. ‘To what do I owe the pleasure?’
‘The Doctor is off tinkering with something. He gets all technical and starts babbling about temporal transistors and the theory and nano-flux resistance and then forgets you're even there… So, I thought I'd see how you're doing. I brought checkers and chocolate.’
Jack's eyes narrowed at her. ‘What kind of chocolate?’ She tugged the block out from under her arm, showing off the purple packaging. Jack made a rude sound of visceral pleasure. ‘Give!’ He ripped open the top of the paper and then the foil, breaking off a stick and inhaling it in one mouthful, chewing and making more lewd noises. ‘Sweet goddesses, that's good! Finally something the twenty-first century got right.’
Rose sat on the end of the bed, tucking a leg underneath her as she opened up the box of checkers and unfolded the board, slowly setting out the pieces on alternating squares. Jack ate another piece of chocolate and Rose could feel his eyes on her, not in a creepy “looking to have sex” kind of way, but a wary “uncertain motives” kind of way. Since they'd left Earth Jack had been gregarious and always with a smile and an innuendo-laced comment, but he'd also spent his fair share of time tucked away in the quarters the TARDIS had provided for him.
‘Is this weird for you?’ Rose asked.
Jack's eyes met hers. ‘Playing checkers?’
‘No. I mean, being here. Travelling with me and the Doctor.’
Jack shrugged, breaking off more chocolate and this time handing it to her. ‘You didn't have to save my life,’ he said.
Rose took the chocolate and bit off a small piece. ‘You didn't have to sacrifice yourself and your ship so that the whole of London didn't get blown up,’ she said, articulating the words around her chewing. ‘Red or black?’
‘Red.’ He let her make the opening move. ‘I suppose,’ he finally said. ‘I spent the last year and a half working my way across the universe, looking for the right con job that would give me sufficient leverage with the Time Agency to negotiate the right price.’ He pushed a red piece diagonally across the board. ‘When you've had two years of your memories wiped out, you tend not to be very trusting of people anymore.’
‘Is there a right price?’ Rose asked, suddenly curious to know how Jack was going to get his memories back, assuming the Time Agency would ever consider it. ‘They must have had their reasons.’
Jack leaned over and studied the board. ‘I don't know. Maybe I did something terrible, but maybe because I was still valuable as an Agent they decided just to erase the bad stuff and sweep it under the rug.’
‘Or maybe they did something bad,’ Rose said, leapfrogging a black piece and moving further out into the game, ‘and you stood up to them and that's why they stole your memories.’
Jack snorted. ‘Not sure I believe that. I'm just a grifter, Rose. Always looking for a way to make some money and take advantage.’
‘If that were true you'd have left the first chance you got. I think there's more to Jack Harkness than just some pretend criminal.’
Jack made his move, bouncing over three other pieces to capture her black piece, setting it to the side and reaching for more chocolate. ‘Maybe that's why I didn't leave,’ Jack replied. ‘The Doctor, he's… different.’ Jack's face contorted as he tried to find a way to explain it. ‘It's like he doesn't even acknowledge who I am and what I've done. Like it doesn't matter.’
Rose tucked her leg more comfortably underneath her. ‘I was a shop girl before I met the Doctor. He didn't have to bring me along with him either, but here we are. He is different,’ she agreed. ‘It's like… like there's only good people in the universe, and that they all matter and someone them just don't know it until they've spent time with him. I guess it costs nothing to be kind. That's what he is.’
Jack looked up and smirked. ‘Rose Tyler, did you just compare being a shop girl to being an ex-Time Agent con man?’
‘Well, neither of us had much going for us before, and now look at us. We saved London from being blown up or converted into mindless drones in gas masks.’
‘None of which would've happened if I hadn't dumped that Chula medical transport there in the first place,’ Jack reminded her.
‘And none of which would've been stopped without you, either,’ she replied. ‘I think maybe you're as surprised by your own kindness towards others as you are receiving it.’
Jack looked at the half eaten block of chocolate, then at the magazines and finally at Rose. ‘Maybe you'll prove me wrong.’