Cracked Fairy Tales, Chapter 5

[indiana_j]

Title:  Cracked Fairy Tales (Chapter 5)
Fandom:  Doctor Who
Characters:  Rose, Nine, Ten, Jack, Romana, Donna, (Jack/Rose, Rose/Doctor, Jack/Rose/Doctor)
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2,560
Disclaimer:  Nothing in here belongs to me.  Alas
Summary:  Not every story is told in a straight line and sometimes one has to follow the bread crumbs in order to get back home.
A/N: Many thanks to bounce who took a look at the start and to deathpixie ,  who beta read this on her vacation. :D  This is a direct sequel to my story ‘Composed of Nows’ (linked to the last part because there are links to the first chapters from there) and the nugget of an idea in that story blossomed into this 10k+ story.  Ow, my brain. :D  And cross posted. 

Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four

"Right, you lot," the Doctor said as he ran around the controls, ignoring the bumpy ride as the TARDIS exited out on the proper side of the Void, "I'll just drop you off at a spot that you're likely to run into the future me, your proper Doctor if you will, and off I'll go."

Jack winced as he landed on the floor in a heap with Rose sprawled on top of his legs. "Oh, I did not miss the bad driving..."

"Oi!"

"Don't know," Rose groaned, heaving herself up, "find it a bit endearing myself, actually."

"I'm right here, you know. Not deaf, you tossers, not with these ears and all."

"You would," Jack smirked as he accepted a hand up.

"Bloody apes," the Doctor sighed as they touched down. "Right out those doors, take a left on the third street and wait in the market. I'll be by shortly."

Heaving on his pack, the former Time Agent walked over to the Time Lord and shook his hand - before grinning suddenly as he planted a great big kiss on the Doctor's mouth. The Doctor looked irritated but just rolled his eyes as he pointed towards Rose. "Take care of that one," he ordered, shoving Jack away.  "She's important."

"You do the same," Jack replied, stepping towards the door as Rose came up.

"I know you're gonna do that Time Lord memory removal thing, yeah? But take note, this'll be important for future reference: I like chips; my mum's got a wicked left hook on her; you are that impressive but don't let it go to your head and..." she eyed him. "Remember ta change that jumper of yours from time to time."

"What's wrong with my jumper?" he demanded as he tugged on it and she giggled.

She reached up to tug his head down to her level. "And remember, Doctor, that I love, will love, and have always loved you."

The Doctor hesitated and glanced towards Jack. "What about Captain Flash over there?" he asked.

"I love him, too. You taught me a thing or two way back about that, lovin' two people with all your heart. When the stars seem to go out, remember that, yeah?" Rose kissed him and it was sweet and gentle - it was hello and goodbye and see you around the corner all in one gesture.

She was crying, a little, when she pulled away from him but he pretended not to notice.  He was too busy, anyway, trying to figure out the great big ball of timey wimey stuff that had landed on his lap.

The door was just about to close when it popped open again and Rose stuck her head back through, Jack in the background. "Doctor? One more thing. You are not alone."

He hesitated once more and for a moment, he could almost feel the heat from the fires of London burning.  He could smell Arcadia burning and, in turn, the other path he could have taken - could still take - rose up with promises of retribution, fire and cleansing.   The other path, though, oh the other path held such promise.

It held Rose and Jack and a host of others.  He just had to keep hope alive.

"Promise?"

"Promise."

~~

"... this is not London."

"Oh great bloody buggering fuck, he really is pants at this landing properly thing, isn't he?!"

"Ooo-kay, let's try and hitch a ri - huh. Hey Rose, do you happen to speak Spanish?"

"Why? ... are we in Spain? We're in Spain, aren't we?"

"Hey, I like Spain."

"I'm so kickin' his arse when we meet him again!"

~~

Now

Donna Noble was trying to figure out if she was supposed to be impressed or not. "We've been all around the universe," she said slowly. "Back and forth in time, even, in that big blue box of yours. And yet you have a sudden, utter desire to come to the shops in London?"

"Market, actually," came the muffled reply and Donna sighed before kicking him lightly in the ankle. He yelped as he popped up from the bin he'd been poking around in, looking startled.

"2010 ain't that far removed from my time, Martian Man. What gives?"

The Doctor scowled. "'Oh, let's go shoppin', she says," he mimicked, dodging another blow. "'I need new hats', she says. And here we are, the best market in London, 2010, and you're all..." he waved a hand in her direction. "You! You're all you!"

She sniffed. "Don't go tryin' to put the blame on me, alien boy. What's goin' on? Really?"

She really was worried and that made him feel slightly guilty. "I don't know," he admitted with a sigh. "I just had this sudden flash that I was supposed to be right here, right now, and nothing else. No call for help on the psychic paper, no mauve going off in the TARDIS. Nothing!"

"That all?"

"That's all."

"Right then," Donna said, cheerful once more, as she looped her arm through his. "Let's find this thing then. I've some serious shopping to do, Doctor, and you owe me one."

As he let himself get dragged through the market, he started to complain, loudly, about how that worked. "I whisk you away, show you sights that your puny little human mind can barely comprehend and yet I owe you one?"

"Yep!"

Well, that was Donna for you.

Barely five minutes down the road and he found himself being propped up half by her and half by the wall of a shop. She was saying something as she shook him - lovely bedside manner, that Donna - but he couldn't make it out over the rush of wind in his mind. It was a feeling he'd felt before, the falling of walls he'd built himself. He'd sectioned off a block of memories, ones that forced him to come to this market, on this day...

And he couldn't see or hear anything of the here and now. Only the then.

~~

The Doctor was alone once more on the TARDIS and he rested his head against the doors before willing himself to get up, to move, to go.

"I'm completely daft," he muttered to himself, "for listening to that girl." But what's the harm? Pop over to London, poke about for a bit and if Rose was wrong ... well, no harm in stretchin' his legs.

A breath whispered across the back of his neck but he ignored it.

Hope.

He ignored that, too.

He settled himself in the chair, eyes closing slowly until all he could see was the light from the TARDIS pulsing against his eyelids. It was a simple matter of extending walls - thick, brutal walls that seared the mind if he went near them - around the memories of the last day. One by one, things dropped from his mind.

Rose Tyler. Jack Harkness. The future. The Shadow. All of it gone and when he opened his eyes, he knew what he'd done but had no idea why.

"Ah, well," he said, with a shake of his head. "Genius, me. Suppose I did it for a good reason." He grinned a false smile when the TARDIS flashed him something on the screen. "Aaahh, seems the earth's gotten itself a bit of a plastic problem, then? Well, let's get to it!  Might as well make myself useful, right?"

~~

Nowhere and no when

And where two paths had laid stretched out - one to redemption and the other to the end of days - suddenly there was only one.  Inside one, tiny human a Shadow shuddered once before it lay still; with it's task complete, the wolf could sleep now.   Somewhere, somewhen, the cycle was starting over again but this one could rest at last.

~~

Now

His eyes snapped open so quickly that Donna nearly jolted back but she refrained and stayed, hands gripping his elbows quite painfully. "Doctor? Come on, then, that's not funny."

Oh. Oh oh oh.

And then he was off and running. One more block and he'd see if his regained memories were correct but at least he had enough presence of mind to grab Donna's hand in his and drag her along for the ride.

For once, the woman stayed quiet and kept pace with him, her hand wrapped tightly around his in fear that she'd slip and be dragged through the muck of the alleyway. They skidded around a corner and she ran right into his back when the Doctor stopped cold and vibrated in place.

There was a quaint little cafe at the end of the market place - a French bistro with cute little umbrellas (oh how he loved those) and food that was French without being weirdly French. A place that Rose had always had a deep fondness for.

And, apparently, still did.

She was seated at the last table, pillowing her chin in her hand as she chatted with her lunch partner. Animated, in the flesh, glowing - and so impossibly there.

Not impossible, he thought as he drank in the sight of her. After all, this had all been prearranged. Little minx, indeed.

When she spotted him, her smile lit up and her partner swung around in his chair, showing the grinning face of Jack Harkness. Though he'd already guessed from the gut feeling of a temporal oddity like the Captain and his own memories. He'd told them to go here, after all, and promised he'd come back for them.

The Doctor found himself with an armful of former shopgirl as she flung herself at him. He rocked back on his heels so they didn't sprawl on the street and clung back to her, murmuring nonsensical words in her hair. Rose pulled back with that familiar smile that used to drive him nuts - tongue in the corner of her mouth as she smiled in heartfelt joy - before she reached up and snogged him thoroughly.

A hand inserted itself between them and he found himself being gently pulled back. He turned a full on pout towards Jack - despite what he now remembered Rose saying about her and the Captain, he was still concerned. They'd had years upon years together. Did Jack even know how to be jealous and if he did -

His train of thought was brought crashing to a full stop when Jack pulled him in for a quick, but hard, kiss. The Doctor stumbled a step back, jaw slightly open, as the other man blew him a kiss and winked.

"We're two grown men, Doctor," came the teasing explanation. "I think we can learn how to ... share."

"Oi!" Donna finally cried out, hands on her hips. "Some of us would like an explanation. Martian Boy goes all weird - weirder than normal, thank you very much - and pulls me down some bloody alley so he can get the best snog of his life?"

"Who're you, then?" Rose asked cheerfully.

"Donna. I travel with him. You must be Rose, I take it?"

"Yep!" And still full of mischievous grace, Rose reached over and planted a kiss on Donna's cheek.

"...what was that for?"

"Keepin' that one in line."

"Oh, well, supposed I deserved that." She turned a questioning eye on Jack. "What about you, then?"

"Well," Jack responded, spreading his hands wide, "if you insist."

The Doctor sighed. "Stop that."

"I was just saying hello!"

As Donna interjected and grabbed Jack by the arm, the Doctor found Rose by his side once more. "I don't quite know what to say," he admitted, rubbing the back of his head.

"Well, I do," she said sternly, sliding her arms around his waist. "Several things in fact. Number one, you're not alone - look at the family you've got. Two, didn't I tell you mum had a good smack on her?"

He muttered something into her hair about that one but left it alone for the moment.

"Three..." Rose's face softened. "I love you and you don't have to say it back, I know how hard it is for you. But you came back for me, you really did."

"Hard not to," he said cheerfully. "Between you and your Shadow, it was damned near impossible not to. Oh Rose. So many things to tell you..." Though he wanted to have a closer look at her and Jack. The thing that had been keeping her alive for so many years, that Shadow, should have left her system by now. With its mission complete, it should just fade away.

But it had been inside her and changing her for Rassilion only knew how long. There was no telling what the final outcome of those tests would be.  He glanced over at Jack, who was still flirting mildly with Donna, and then down at Rose. Or the final outcome of all of it, actually. There was so much to work through.

But the idea that he could have been so far gone in his own grief, so destructive, struck him cold.  Without Rose, or Jack, or even Mickey in the start, what could he have done?  He hadn't been joking when he told Jack that a Time Lord with that power could become a Vengeful God.  He knew how dangerous he could be when he put his mind to it and without that intervention...

"Stop. Stop thinkin' for once. Besides, I've one more thing to tell you."

The Doctor shook himself - that was in the past and they could deal with it on the TARDIS.  Together. "Oh?"

He leaned down as she stood on tiptoe to whisper in his ear as she gave him a good smack on the arm.

"You so bloody owe us for droppin' us off in Spain."

~~

Once upon a time ... or is it, In the future? Perhaps even 'Right Now'?

Once upon a time and in the future and right this very moment, there was a New New Woodsman, a pirate Captain, a not quite so Bad Wolf and, what the New New Woodsman would sometimes call her under his breath, the Wicked Witch of the West. Though it was probably safer to call her Dorothy to her face. Most fairytales would end with the prince saving the princess and riding off into the sunset on his white charger.

Well, as you probably have already noticed, this is in no way most fairytales. The Woodsman and the Bad Wolf saved each other on a regular basis and the Captain tended to pop in at odd moments, looking suave and Captain like, and even the Wicked Witch ... sorry, Dorothy, was known for saving the day. The white charger was a rather blue, square box but the Bad Wolf preferred it vastly over anything that could bite her or carry away the Woodsman towards potential French tarts.

And in the end, the prince didn't marry the princess.

The Wicked Witch would always be rather confused at the relationship between the three on board the charger but paid it no never mind as long as the Captain paid her enough attention and the Woodsman still took her with them and the Bad Wolf went on shopping trips with her.

After all, the Wicked Witch was always in need of a good pair of shoes.