Secret Santa for doctorwhoismylife (Doctor Who, featuring (mainly) 10 and Harkness): This dream must end (3 parts)

[TheCakeIsAlive]

Dear doctorwhoismylife,

I hope you like your story and that it is something close to what you wanted. As you specifically put down 10 & Harkness together, I have done my very best to fit it into the canon (which I found very challenging, many thanks to Joal for coming up with a brilliant suggestion to make it work). Writing 10 was also quite a challenge. I have been watching back a lot of episodes to get the tone right, so I hope that has succeeded.

It uhm... ended up being a tad longer than I intended. The format I have tried for is episode, which means it is rather plot-heavy and it takes me ages to get to the fetishy bits (my apologies if that isn't really your thing. ).

I've had a lot of fun writing this so far and still having fun with it. I hope you like it so far. Other parts will follow soon.

Kind regards.

General story notes:

A quick plot-outline is blow under the spoiler-tag. Don't read if you'd rather be surprised, but I am not sure how well my hints at what is going on are coming through in the story so for that reason (and for those who prefer to know roughly what is happening beforehand) I've included the outline.

Spoiler alerts: We step into the Doctor's timeline at the beginning of the episode "The Rings of Akhaten", so spoilers for the first few minutes of that episode and also some spoilers for the whole Clara-arc up until then. Jack Harkness is post-Torchwood III, minor spoilers for that. Also some spoilers for the season 5 episode 7 (put like that because that in itself is a spoiler for this story.).

The Dream Lord makes a return. This time he draws from the darkness in the immortal Jack Harkness. For that reason, in the dreams, the 11th Doctor has regressed into the 10th, as Jack is more familiar with him. The two worlds created are 1) A dying TARDIS, as a result of her violently rejecting Jack Harkness due to his "wrong-ness". 2) Between a few decades to a century after Torchwood 3 was destroyed, Jack Harkness has created Torchwood 5. As the previous location was too painful for him, he abandoned the bay for an office building a few streets away, still close to the Rift. Old (next to Millenium centre) and new location (Cargo Rd, near Queen Alexandra Dock) here: http://goo.gl/maps/TdtsK .

Enough rambles from me. Hope you enjoy!

This dream must end

Clara. The impossible girl. The impossible woman he kept running into. Having already lost her twice, he was determined to solve the mystery this time, before anything else could happen to take her away permanently. If madame Vastra had seen him, she would have said he was brooding, but he insisted he was just watching. He flew the TARDIS from time to time, staying in the same place, watching her grow up. Simply watching his impossible girl.

One day, a man walked up to him.

"Doctor?"

He spun around. The voice was familiar but... different. It took him only a moment to connect the voice and the memory. "Jack!" He moved to shake his hand. "How is my favourite immortal guy? I thought you would be rather... tied up in Cardiff around now."

Jack's eyes were sad and older than the Time Lord remembered. "Well, long story short: my vortex manipulator malfunctioned, I crossed my own timeline, twice, and now I'm rather looking for a ride out of here. What are you doing here? Isn't a London suburb a little... boring compared to the Universe?"

For a moment the Doctor paused, his brain evaluating all possible responses. Then he sprang into action, deciding that the advantage of a time machine was that he could be back here only a few seconds from now after he would drop off Jack in a few days (relative time). "Never mind me, where do you want to go? You, me, the TARDIS... the possibilities are endless." He winked, snapped his fingers and the doors of his trusty police box opened.

Jack walked in after him, taking in his surroundings. "You've redecorated?"

The Doctor was already fiddling with the controls. "New desktop. Do you like it?"

The immortal raised his eyebrows playfully. "I rather liked the old one, but this is quite neat. Kind of sexy..." He stroked a panel and the TARDIS purred.

"Jack, stop flirting... Ooh, I used to say that a lot, didn't I?"

He smiled. "I was just saying hello."

The Doctor paused for a second, frowning, then his face lit up. "For you that's flirting."

The Doctor waves his hand. "So... where do you want to go? Pooch is quite nice this time of year... of, oooh... what about Vontrilli 8? A planet filled with dance clubs. We could literally dance our way across the planet on every beat known to man (and then a few), eh? Or maybe... "

Jack laughed and put his hands up. "Whoo! Slow down, Doctor, you're making me dizzy. Just take me... somewhere fun, somewhere... exciting."

(...)

The doors flew open just in time to let the immortal and time lord back in, accompanied by the sound of explosions and bullets. Only when they slammed the doors and the Doctor had parked the TARDIS in the vortex did they start catching their breath.

"Doctor?"

"Hmmm?"

"There is such a thing as too much excitement."

The Time Lord leaned one hand on the console, half-consciously studying the floor, breathing hard. "It is hhh... hardly my fault you had to go and start a war. Anyway, we need to go and fix this mess. This is exactly while the previous me disabled your vortex manipulator." He bounced back and started to flip switches, jiggle jigglers and press buttons again. "I am trying to land her just after we left, you can go back to apologise and hopefully prevent this whole mess."

Jack grinned.

"What?"

"Oh, you just really remind me of another you. I can still hear you say it: 'I can't have you walking around with a time-travelling teleport. You'd go anywhere. Twice. The second time to apologise.' You were right about the apologising bit..." He winked.

Something sparked and the TARDIS shook, hurling both onto the floor just as the lights flickered out, blinding both time travellers.

"DOCTOR!" Jack's voice cut through the darkness. "What's happening?"

"No no no no nooo!" The Doctor flipped a lever on the yellow-ish console. "Come onnn..."

Suddenly, all activity stopped. A heavy silence fell over the interior of the TARDIS, only broken by the Doctor's frantic pushing of buttons, pulling of levers and infrequent exclamations.

After a few minutes, Jack tentatively opened his mouth. "What's wrong with the TARDIS? Where are we?"

The Time Lord stopped and stared at the scanner. "She's dying." His voice was incredulous, not believing the readings he saw. "She has terminated herself." Angry, he kicked the console. A slight whirr came from the machinery, then stopped again.

He whacked the scanner, but the image stayed blank.

Jack felt his head starting to become a bit... blurry for lack of a better word. Through the fog he just registered his wrist strap beeping, then the lights went out.

A few feet away, the sneaker-clad Time Lord slumped against the console.

--------------------------- TBC ----------------------------

[NorthernLady]

Ohhhhhhhh this is brilliant! Can't wait to read what's next. The doctor in that first part was 11, right?

[TheCakeIsAlive]

Ohhhhhhhh this is brilliant! Can't wait to read what's next. The doctor in that first part was 11, right?

Thank you so much. Yup, it is. Up until the last section of the first part.

Edited December 31, 2013 by TheCakeIsALie

[MoonDuck]

Yay, a DW fanfic! I was like omagosh yes when i saw this Awesome!

[TheCakeIsAlive]

@MoonDuck: Thank you so much. I'm very glad you enjoyed it!.

This dream must end: part 2

Jack woke up from a knock on the door. "Sir? The report about last week's unusual Rift Activity."

He sat up in his chair and put on his customary face-wide smile as the door opened. "Thanks, Joe, you can take the rest of the day off. You look like hell. Alida and I will hold the fort."

"Thank you sir." The door closed again. He stretched and grasped his mug for a sip of coffee, which he immediately spat out again. "Yuck, cold." He shivered.

The TARDIS landed on the roof of the office building, next to a lone bench, looking out towards Cardiff Bay. The sound filtered through to the office below. Jack jumped and ran to the source of the noise. When he came into view of the blue box, he spotted the Doctor lounging on the bench, enjoying the view.

"Doc! What brings you here?"

The spindly man in a suit turned around. "Since when do you have an office? A grey old boring office building? I think I liked your previous hub better..."

Jack grimaced for a second before beaming. "I've always liked offices. Besides, I've spent enough time being buried to deserve a bit of time aboveground."

"Fair enough. Still close to the rift I see. The TARDIS can feel it, even from this distance. I'll leave her to recharge for a bit. Now about these funny things that've been happening lately..."

"What funny things, Doctor?" They walked down the stairs, where Alida waited.

"Is that..." The redhead gawked but recovered quickly.

Jack smiled his toothpaste commercial smile, causing the corners of her lips to curl up as well. "Absolutely. Alida, meet the Doctor. Doctor, Alida, one of my team. Absolutely top notch."

They all went down another few flights of stairs, which opened up into a large open area spanning the first three floors of the building. Near the ceiling a large pterodactyl circled around.

"So, Doctor, please fill us in..." Jack pulled up a chair and invited the others to sit as well. They both declined. One standing still, seemingly filled with nervous anticipation, the other paced, swinging his sonic screwdriver around.

"Something is trying to break through the Rift. Something massive. The energy pouring out from the Rift is causing the weather patterns. Imagine this: TeraJoules of energy pouring out from the vast nothingness of space. All that heat needs to go somewhere. Thankfully, we're in Wales, no-one will really notice if it rains a bit more than usual. Apart from you lot of course. Soon, all of Cardiff will be flooded. Ooh, like that time that Vampires tried to take over Venice..."

He stopped dead, wondering for a second where that information came from. Then he shook his head and carried on. Suddenly, his whole body felt heavy. Through his closing eyelids he saw Jack collapsing first. Then his head hit the floor.

------------------------------

Jack opened his eyes. "Wow, that was one bizarre dream. Sorry Doc, I nodded off." He shivered. "Can you turn up the heat, it's a bit chilly."

He received an incredulous look. "The TARDIS is dying. No, I can't turn up the heat. Nothing works. Strap on a headlight and follow me, we have to get to her core. And stay close. The closer we will get, the more... timey-wimey things will get."

The immortal nodded and followed the Time Lord. Without the lights on, the TARDIS looked eerie.

Every so often, the Doctor would stop, sniff the air or lick a wall at an intersection and go in a different direction. The silence was so heavy, neither of them spoke.

It seemed to go on for ages, hallway following seemingly identical hallway, until the Doctor stopped dead. It was so sudden Jack slammed into his back. "Shhh!" They peered through the darkness and saw themselves turn a corner.

"Doctor, how is that possible?" Another hush. "Timey-wimey. I did tell you. Now stay silent."

His head started hurting as his wrist strap started to beep and, without a sound, he fell to the floor.

-------------------------------

"Sir, the bunker can withhold floods up to 30 meters above sea level. Should we take additional precautions?"

Jack sighed and whipped out his phone. "I really hate to do this but..." He dialled a number and waited a few seconds. "Joe? Yeah, I am really sorry, but I need you to do additional analysis on the weather. We need to know how fast water levels are going to rise."

He ended the call and looked at the Doctor. "So, what do we do now?"

The Doctor looked... distracted. His eyes were glazed over and his breathing was shallow.

"Doc?"

No response. A lone tear ran down the Time Lord's cheek. He lifted a finger before sneezing violently. "Sorry, what?"

Jack simply pointed at the ceiling.

"Oh, yes, of course. How accurate are your void probes?"

The woman stepped in. "All signals seem to be blocked. We cannot detect anything within 7.2 meters of the rift."

His nose crinkled and he sniffed, then turned to Harkness. "What else? We go talk to it of course!"

He jumped into action and ran up to the nearest computer. "Jack, access codes please?"

The immortal glared. "They are supposed to be personal, you know, so that only you can get access via that account?"

"Yes, yes, just type them, okay?" Rolling his eyes, Jack entered the access codes and pointed his old friend to the webcam. "Iris scanner, contains information of all your known regenerations. Neat, right?"

A metallic voice rang through the office. "Identification complete. Welcome, Doctor."

Seemingly losing all awareness of his surroundings, the Doctor started typing away, occasionally cursing the, in his eyes rather primitive, equipment. Alida stood next to Jack, awaiting instructions.

"As we have no idea what we're dealing with so far, I think it might be best if you go get us some high-grade stunners, just in case."

"Yes Sir." She clicked her heels and strolled over to the other end of the room.

"Doc, I will run up to my desk and get Joe's readings. Will you be okay here?"

"Yes, yes." He waved his hand impatiently. "Busy, trying to break through the shields of whatever is inhibiting your scanners." The tip of his tongue was escaping through his teeth. Jack allowed himself a brief sentimental moment, savouring the moment. It was just like old times.

Resolute, he turned and jogged up the stairs back to his office. Just as he entered his office, he was distracted by his wrist strap beeping. That was the last sound he heard before the world went black.

---------------------------------

"Doc, what happened?"

The Doctor was pressed with his back against the wall, breathing shallow. "Do you mean seeing a future, or past, copy of ourselves in the hallway or the fact we seem to be unable to keep awake?"

"Both. It is bizarre. The dreams I have... being back on Earth..."

The Time Lord finished his sentence. "New Torchwood, new team. Jack, defending the Earth from an office building in Cardiff."

"Same dream then. But... how?"

The Doctor scanned the air around them with his screwdriver. "It has to be some kind of field, causing hallucinations. The last thing I remember is the sound of your wrist strap beeping. But you weren't in the room..."

"Funny, I remember the same. I was in my office and suddenly... light's out." They started walking again, watchful for any odd appearances.

"And for the other us... that means we are getting closer. The deeper you go into the TARDIS, the more... timey-wimey things get. Because she contains so many dimensions, her inner parts are constantly moving around in increasingly complex ways. You will mainly notice the space and time bit. It may be a bit disorientating."

The light of their headlamps made unnatural shadows on the walls. The Doctor started trying every door, most of which had to be opened with the aid of his sonic. Jack couldn't resist taking a peek as well. Most rooms appeared empty. It wasn't long before he spotted themselves again and pulled the Doctor into the latest room, shutting the door mostly behind them.

"What..?" Now it was his turn to shush and point.

He took a moment to take in the room. A large four-poster bed took up most of the space. An oaken desk, almost buried under stacks of paper and a mountain of pens graced one of the walls. A matching wardrobe darkened the other wall.

The most disturbing fact was that there was someone asleep on the bed. By the dim light he could see she was a brunette, most likely in her 20s. He stared. "Is that..." The woman started to wake up. "...Sarah Jane?"

The Doctor glanced over quickly and nodded.

She stretched and yawned, without opening her eyes yet. "Doctor, what is that all about?"

He cleared his throat and used his best soft tones. "Oh, good grief. I'm terribly sorry about all this. Go bah... hhh... back to sleep my dear child." He grimaced, pinched his nose and gestured Jack to leave the room. They dashed out and slammed the door shut.

"Hhhhh-AAAATCHHH!" The Time Lord sneezed violently.

"Bless you. Why is Sarah Jane in there? And why is she so young?" Jack looked at his own hands, a little miffed at the signs of ageing he had acquired before becoming immortal.

"Keep up. Timey-wimey. She will wake up to her own time in the TARDIS with a previous me. Remember when you were travelling with Rose and me? How you would go to sleep in one place and wake up with your room being somewhere else? This is one of those times. But worse. Hhhhhh... " His breath hitched again, stopped by the palm of his hand rubbing upwards against his nose.

Jack's wrist strap started beeping again. He looked down at it, puzzled. "It's deactivated, it shouldn't...." His eyes rolled back into his head and he sagged against the Doctor.

"That's because it isn't..."

-------------------------------

"Okay, whoever is doing this... stop it!" The Doctor yelled at no-one in particular.

The red-head gave him a puzzled look. "Do what, sir?" She had returned with a set of stun guns. "Any progress breaking through the field?"

His nose and eyes itched. It drove him mad. Well, madder, in any case. "Oh, nothing. And getting there. I just need to find the right frequency so I can trigger a sonic shift that removes molecular interference around the Rift. Once I've done that, it's simply a case of reversing the polarity of the energy flow and boom... problem solved."

She stepped forward and hit him with the stunner. "Ow! That hurt. What did you do that for?" Then realisation dawned. "Ohhh... that is it."

Another shock knocked his lights out.

He woke up bound and gagged, in darkness. "Oh, brilliant. Just... brilliant." The sound was muffled through the gag. "Hhhh... AAATCHH!" He itched all over and now he couldn't even rub his nose. For a moment, that was the most upsetting thing. Then more lights in his brain went on. If he could reach his pocket, he could get out... He should warn Jack... "Hhhh... HHUHHTCH!"

Jack grabbed the papers and ran back downstairs, only to be met by Alida on the way up. "I wondered if you needed a hand up here."

He tried to pass her on the stairs. "Nope, all good. Did you get the stunners? Do we know who or what is trying to get through?"

"No sir, the Doctor is still working on it. He asked me to help you here so he could work in peace."

Jack grinned. "We'll give him five more minutes. Did Joe get back yet?"

"He is still on his way. The roads are flooded."

They slowly walked up to his office again. "Alida, how about you get us all some coffee, we may be here quite a bit longer." She nodded and walked on while he lounged in his chair, scanning the pages. One line caught his eye and he jumped up to tell the Doctor.

The computer was abandoned. He hadn't even logged out. Jack shook his head. "Doctor, where are you?"

No response. A little worrying. He walked round the area, but the Time Lord was not to be found. He looked up. "Myfanwy? Do you know where he went?" The dinosaur swept down from the ceiling and started circling the other end of the room. The Captain raised an eyebrow and walked over. "He isn't here." She cawed.

"Hhhhh... HHHTCHMMPFF!" The muffled sound of a sneeze alerted him. Then Alida tapped his back. "Your coffee, sir." He turned around. "Thank you. Where is the Doctor? I have something important to show him."

"I'm sorry Jack..." came her whisper before he too got stunned.

------------------------------- TBC ------------------------------

Edited January 1, 2014 by TheCakeIsALie

[Vongola Undicesimo]

Really, really good. Sneezey Doctor always seems to make me happy!

[MoonDuck]

yay 2 pts in one day. Fantastic

[TheCakeIsAlive]

@Vongola Undicesimo: Thank you so much. I hope to make you happier still with this last part.

@MoonDuck: Thank you! Love your avatar btw.

This dream must end, final part

He gasped. "This is getting ridiculous. We need to figure out which one is real."

Jack nodded. "They both feel real." He thought for a second.

"Torchwood."

"This."

The walked on. To their right, a door opened and a sleepy, significantly younger-looking Jack strolled out. The younger Harkness yawned and grinned. "Ooh, I didn't know it was my birthday!" He smoothed his hair and smiled. "To what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?"

The older Jack looked at himself, the Doctor and back again. "Well, I can't say I never fantasised about this... Hello Captain Harkness."

"Jacks, focus. If this is the real world, we need to keep the younger you safe. History can be rewritten and the such." He turned away. "And don't stray. Come along, Ponds."

Immediately, his shoulders hunched and he sneezed openly. Then he turned back. "Would you like a jelly hhh... ahhhh... a jelly baby... HAAATCH!? Ahhh.... hhhhh... ehhhHEHHTCH!" He grasped his chest with his hands and then ruffled his hair, looking distraught.

"Doctor, what is wrong?"

"Information is pouring through from different regenerations. It is like a little bleed of time-energy through my brain. Hhhh-HAATCHH!"

"And it makes you sneeze?"

"Technically, it's causing a mini-temporal rift in my head, which activates my anti-bodies. They go into overtime to close the gap, which is comparable to a histamine reaction in humans..."

He paused, his head reared back and his breath began to hitch. "Hh... AAAHTCH!"

"Gesundheit."

"... yes, it makes me sneeze."

Both Jacks grinned and winked. "You know, Doctor, you are kind of hot like this."

The Time Lord glared. "Jacks, behave."

This only served to make them grin more. Then an alarm started blaring.

The Doctor opened a door. "Quickly, in here!" Two sets of wrist straps started beeping. He slapped them both. "No, stay awake. We need to either figure out who is doing this or...." He just about managed to close the door and lock it with his sonic before he lost consciousness."

--------------------

"HHHHTCHHMPHHHH!" A groan.

Another groan. "Doctor, is that you?"

A muffled affirmation.

"Are you gagged?"

The same muffled sound.

"Okay, stupid question. My hands are tied. Thankfully, I always have a little something to get out of a tight spot..." He grasped but his hands came up empty. "Ah, should've known. Never trust your team. Some help would be appreciated."

Through the door they heard a comm-link open. "The Time Lord and the humans have been neutralised. The Earth is undefended." The voice was Alida's, but sounded rougher.

"Good work. Now open the transmat so our technicians can come through. This planet will soon be ours." The voice was thick, sluggish, almost slimey.

The Doctor sneezed twice and managed to wrestle free of the gag. "Ewww. Jack, can you reach my coat pocket? If we can get to my screwdriver, I can get us out of here."

"I thought you'd never ask."

"Stop it...hhhhTHHCHHM!"

In the next room, the amount of voices multiplied.

"Quick!"

Jack's hands fell limp to the side as beeping commenced.

----------------------

They woke up. The younger Captain Harkness was still asleep. John Hart hovered next to the limp body.

"Hello. You finally seem to have worked it out, so I thought I should make an appearance. Poor form, I expected more from two such ancient and wise souls." The words were wrought with mockery.

"John?" Jack leaped up and tried to throttle him, but his hands went straight through the form. "Oh dear, not quite then. My heart would cry, if I had one. Look at you now, pathetic. You try to keep the Earth safe, but you cannot even help yourself."

"You..."

The Doctor stopped him. "Wait." To the other. "What do you want?"

He winked. "Oh, I think you know what I want, Doctor. But I was talking to your companion. Poor Captain Harkness, so obsessed with his looks to mask a deep, painful uncertainty. Does anyone love me? Why do they keep abandoning me? Will I ever die? Such a little brave soldier... Stuck in a box that committed suicide because it could not bear to be near him. Pathetic."

Jack's cheerful façade crumpled more with every word.

"You really should end it now while you have the chance. Mortal you at your feet, older you here as well. Perfect opportunity to erase yourself from the fabric of this world. Before you kill your own grandson..."

The last words broke the Captain. He bit his lips as tears ran down his cheek. He glanced at his younger self, as if tempted.

"Jack, don't listen to him. He is just trying to wear you down. Think of all the good things you've done, the lives you've saved. That sacrifice you made was a horrible thing to have to do. But you saved millions. Billions of children don't have to live in fear because of what you did. You have done so much good in your lifes. Do you really want to undo all that?"

John grinned. "Ooh, but what would happen if I would split you up? Tara Doctor, time to go to sleep. Or are you waking up?"

------------------------

He used Jack's limp hand to get out the screwdriver and quickly cut himself and his friend loose. "I'm sorry Jack, I'm so sohh... HHHHhh... AAATCHHH!" The allergic symptoms were getting worse. He could hardly see for the tears welling up from his eyes, and everything itched. He could just about scream with frustration. Maybe that was exactly what he would do.

He charged out of the cupboard, right into a gathering of vaguely humanoid aliens who looked... perfectly human. He shook his head. When he fully opened his eyes, they looked human, but when he peered through the allergic tears, he saw their true shape. The itch was overwhelming. He tried to speak but his nose quickly stopped all such attempts by succumbing to a fit of waist-bending sneezes. Due to this, he was quickly apprehended. "You cannot stop us now, Doctor" the alien disguised as Alida said. "Our ship will break through the Rift and Earth will fall. We have been in the darkness for so long..."

The Doctor concentrated very hard and soon, he heard the characteristic beep that would cause him to wake up in the other world again...

----------------------

Captain Harkness sat quietly, holding his young, mortal self, still suffering under a torrent of abuse from the ethereal representation of John Hart. Slowly, the Doctor came to.

"Jack, I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry." He hugged him and then looked up at the figure. "As another me used to say 'Two wrongs don't make a left turn.'" He twisted his body to look his companion straight in the eye. "Jack. Listen, this is important. Have you been to Karass Don Slava recently?"

Jack shook his head, stopped, then nodded. "Actually, yes." "To the Candle Meadows?" He shrugged. "There was this lovely Karassian lady, very... innovative. The things she can do with a plant... raawr."

The Time Lord beamed. "Molto bene."

"Does that mean you have worked it out?"

"Oh yes." The cheeky smile popped up. "Remember the alarms? That means the hallway is now flooded with a deadly gas. We are going to run out into it."

"Have you gone mad?"

"Do you trust me?"

Jack thought for a second. "Yes." He reached out with his hand.

He took the hand and hauled his companion up. "Good. In that case... allons-y!" He tore open the door and they darted into the gas cloud.

------------------------

The Doctor gasped for air, and, still sneezing violently, waited for Jack to emerge.

"So, Doc, this is the real world?"

He shook his head and sneezed again. "They're both dr.... hhhh... dreams. If we die in the.. in the... AAAARRRCHHH! If we die in the dream, we wake up in reality."

"How can you be certain this is a dream too?"

The Time Lord gasped. "Because I know you. You choose your friends with more care. Besides, if this was real, you would've seen through her disguise ages ago. Ehhh... UHhhSSSHH Sorry. Pheromone field. Quite similar to yours, but with a different purpose. Doesn't really agree with me." His nose twitched violently.

Jack tasted the air and nodded in confirmation. "Okay Doc, I believe you." He raised his head to look Alida straight in the eye before booming. "Voice control on. Hub self-destruction activation, security clearance Harkness. Immediate execution."

A metal voice rang across the room, quieting the horde of invaders. "Command acknowledged. Self-destruction ready for activation. Are you certain you want to continue?"

In the background, the command. "Stop him!" was shouted. Too late.

"Confirmed!" The hand reached his mouth milliseconds after the fatal word. Neither of them felt the explosion.

----------------------

"So, how did you figure it out?"

The Time Lord stood silent, stroking the TARDIS control panel. Finally he spoke. "Experience. When the Dream Lord appeared, I knew. Different shape this time though, but still very much the same old yada-yada. Besides, I know the old dear wouldn't kill herself over you. I think she's quite grown used to you now." He ran his hands over the monitor.

"Why did you ask me if I had been to the Candle Meadows?"

The Time Lord held up a finger and fished a handful of small glowing pips out of the machinery. "Psychic pollen. A parasitic lifeform found only there. You must have brought the spores on board. A few of them fell into the machinery, heated up... poof: Dream Lord. Nasty little bugger, feeds on all the darkness in you. All your doubts, pain and self-loathing in one annoying little package." He tossed the seeds out of the door. "So, where were we. Ah, yes, you were going to apologise..."

Jack grinned, then his face grew solemn again. "Thank you, Doctor. I am not sure what would've happened in the TARDIS dream if you hadn't been there."

"Don't mention it." He flipped some levers, jiggled the zigzag plotter and landed quietly. "So, about those apologies..."

Captain Jack Harkness saluted and grinned. "One dose of grovelling... coming up." He jogged out of the police box, waiting for his friend to catch up.

The Doctor smiled and patted the console. "Well done dear." It was not more than a whisper. In one fluid motion, he darted after the immortal.

The End

Edited January 3, 2014 by TheCakeIsALie
Forgot to explain something rather vital. Fixed now. :)

[MoonDuck]

Woahh I was slightly confused at first (probably still am ) and now I'm not and this is so awesome and realllyyy clever!

@MoonDuck: Thank you! Love your avatar btw.

thanks :3

[Vongola Undicesimo]

Ooh, yay! Another part! This was great, TheCakeIsALie. You definitely succeeded in making me even happier!

[tma]

This was brilliant. I loved the plot- everything seems to "make sense" within that world. Which I'm sure can be really tough.

A sneezing 10....

Oh... the lines - I thought that they really fit, and I like that while the sneezing was definitely part of the plot, that there really was a story there as well- which (according to me) is a sure sign of talent. (Which I already knew that you are talented with writing. )

Oh... one of my personal *favourite* parts

*************************************

"... yes, it makes me sneeze."

Both Jacks grinned and winked. "You know, Doctor, you are kind of hot like this."

The Time Lord glared. "Jacks, behave."

This only served to make them grin more

***************************************

Oh I SO did not identify with that.

Or with the reaching into the pocket- nope. And totally not jealous of Jack at all...

Anyway- *loved* it!

[OCC]

OH MY GOD DID I LOVE THIS!!! I am terrible at praising things because I just want to shout "YES GOOD," over and over again, but this was really awesome, and I really loved it. (The reason I didn't read it sooner was because I had failed to finish my Secret Santa thing on time so I felt I didn't deserve my gift.) You are such an amazing writer, and this is such an amazing fic.