Fic: This Glorious Sadness
This Glorious Sadness by PEJA Fandom: Torchwood/Dr Who Genre: slash Chapter number if WIP: Undefined. I'm also working on a piece called "Let Me Be Empty" which picks up immediately after "Children Of Earth" and explains where Jack fled at the end of Season Three. There is a slight possibility that that piece may work into this story line creating a series, or it may go off into something entirely different. If these two do merge, there could well be several pieces with Jack falling farther and farther into his personal hell that develop to this point...we will have to see Characters/Pairing: The arc offers lots of possibilities, but lets say Jack/Ianto, Jack/John H, Jack/Ten Portrayed by John Barrowman/Gareth David-Lloyd, John Barrowman/James Marsters, John Barrowman/David Tennet Rating: FRM for mental destruction Summary: A broken Jack Harkness is discovered in a slave market Warning: angst, depression, slavery Prompt: Only prompt for this is a need for answers to what now? Previous chapters or series at: Again undetermined General thanks to all of you folks who are requesting short fics and improvs in the various fandoms. You're keeping the words flowing. Comm/List Written for: http://community.livejournal.com/cardiff_tales Permission to archive to WWOMB: Y Author's websites: Disclaimer. Dr Who and Torchwood do not belong to me. no money made in this Acknowledgments/Notes: One of the things that stuck out for me in the follow-up specials was John Barrowman's comment that Jack had experienced depression through the show. That his daughter's faith in him fueled him up again, so for me, it has to be asked what happens when Jack loses his soul mate, sacrifices his grandson and destroys the tenuious link to his daughter when he was so close to giving up before.
The Doctor found him quite by accident.
He'd been following a tip. Humans had been showing up in the Azriel slave marts. If the tip could be believed, humans had proven to be quite a popular draw among the patrons of the slave mart as it happened, driving the hunger to own one to dangerous scales. He'd actually heard rumors that one group of black marketeers had tried to force the planet Earth to hand over a tenth of their children, implying that the children would be a source of a much desired drug. The humans had all but buckled to the outrageous demands until an eleventh hour miracle ended the threat.
The Doctor was confident that the unflappable Captain Jack Harkness would have been a big part of that particular fate causing that nefarious plan to go terminally wrong.
Still, the threat of this happening again had The Doctor scurrying to the black market slave planet.
He was quite taken aback, though, at the sight of the torn and tattered Greatcoat flopping from a rope line near the back of the market. Jack's trademark coat was not something anyone would expect to find millions of light years away from Earth, so it was with a planet sized lump of apprehension roiling about in his stomach that The Doctor rounded the makeshift curtain and stopped dead in his tracks, stunned by the sight before his horrified eyes.
In the shade of this make-shift awning, Jack Harkness lie curled up in the dust and grime listlessly drawing circles in the sandy soil.
"Jack." The Doctor moved to his side quickly, touching his shoulder.
Jack reacted to the touch instantly, and violently. Rearing up onto his knees with an animalistic growl, he slammed both hands into the Doctor's shoulders and shoved, propelling The Doctor backwards and away from him.
Caught off guard, The Doctor landed with a dusty, painful thump on his tush, catching himself with his arms just in time to prevent a nasty conk to the noggin. He stared, gape-mouthed at the other man, too shocked to speak.
Jack used the time The Doctor took to rein in his speechless shock to scramble into a darkened corner by the rickety, weathered shed, cowering with his hands over his head.
"Wha...?" The Doctor stammered, getting his feet under him and moving in ever closer circles to the other man. "Wha...?"
Jack's warning snarls gave him pause and he stilled, studying the wild-man. "Jack?"
Jack hissed and spat like a feline, cautioning him off from behind his trembling arms.
Before The Doctor could speak again, a swaggering man in a British Redcoat jacket ambled out of the shack. His clear blue eyes widened as he caught sight of Jack curled up and trembling against the wall. Not giving The Doctor a second glance, he darted to the other man's side murmuring soft words and slowly, so very heart-breakingly slowly, Jack let his arms drop.
Jack's stormy gaze stabbed the second man. He tilted his head slightly, listening to the flow of reassuring words.
"Okay?" the second man asked when Jack finally quieted, still taking care not to touch Jack in any way, even while his hands fluttered in what clearly would have been comforting caresses if the movements came to fruition. "You're okay now, love."
Jack huffed out a heavy breath, slumping back down into the dust without a glance in The Doctor's direction. A soft humming lifted on the dry air from the prone man.
"That's right, Jack-O-Mine. You're safe. No one's gonna put hands on ya while ole' John's here." The Red coated man's head swiveled around and he hurled a venomous glare at The Doctor. "No one."
The warning was clear.
The Doctor nodded, raising his hands in supplication.
"What's going on here?" a woman swayed her way across the market, her movements sensual and compelling. "Hart, what happened to him?"
Hart rose to his feet, slapping off the dust from his pants legs. "Was him, Mistress" he provided mid-slap. "I only left Jack for a couple minutes. Thought he might need some water what with all this heat..."
The woman's eyes swept the area, finding no water or even a bottle that might have held the suspiciously missing fluid. "Water?" she asked, arching a brow.
Hart had the grace to blush, "Yeah, well.."
The woman reached out, catching Hart's ear in a painful pinch and twisting enough to have his knees trembling. "You left him alone again."
"Ow! Ow! Ow!...." Hart crowed, twisting away from her punishing grasp. "Fuck! Shit! Ow! Sorry, Mistress. Won't happen again. Promise..."
"Liar," She hunkered down in front of Jack. "He's not improving, Hart. I don't know how much longer I can afford to swallow the expense of keeping him..."
Hart went down on his knees, clasping her hand, "Mistress, please..."
"He is for sale, then?" The Doctor snapped on the implication.
The woman rose, turning to face him. "You are interested in him?"
"Ahmmm...," The doctor pursed his lips thoughtfully. "I might be persuaded to consider..."
"I'm certain we can come to some sort of an equitable arrangement." Her dark eyes moved slowly over him assessing the cut of his character with a sharp professional eye. "He is a fine specimen, don't you think? Very attractive..."
"He is a pretty piece," the Doctor remarked, moving nearer. "Nice teeth," he added when Jack reared up and bared his teeth aggressively.
"He makes an excellent guard dog," The woman murmured, turning a low selling point to a positive.
The Doctor forced a soft chuckle. "So I have seen." He leaned closer, willing Jack to show some sort of recognition. "What happened to him?"
"Who can say," the woman responded with a casual flip of her hand. "These two were apprehended in a skirmish over one of the outer rim planets. Sentenced to lifetime servitude for pirating. I was just lucky enough to be the Market of the day." she sighed dramatically. " should warn you though, that they are a package deal. This loafer here," she settled a sharp slap against Hart's cheek. "is the only one who can control the other."
"Mercenaries, then?" the Doctor said with a nod. "All right. I could well do with a pair of trained ...body guards." The Doctor moved to examine Hart, making a big thing of squeezing his upper arms, checking under his tongue and peering down one ear canal while holding a lighter at the other side.
Hart scowled at his antics, muttering under his breath about the man being a flake, ending in "All I need is to be bought by some kind of flake."
The Doctor grinned at him. "Oh, but I am not just your common ordinary flake, I assure you." He moved back to squat in front of Jack. "Isn't that right, Jack?"
Jack's lips peeled back into a sneer, then he eased up on one arm and tilted his head, murmuring, "I remember a doctor..."
The Doctor's smile was brilliant as his body thrust back to a standing position and he hurled a figure well above the going rate at the woman, ending with "Won't haggle, I know their worth, so take it or leave it."
The woman nodded. "Done."
The deal was sealed with papers changing hands and The doctor took his slaves under wing, instructing a leery Hart to bundle up Jack, "And don't forget his coat, man, what are you thinking?" He quipped as they made to leave the area behind.
Hart darted a curious glance at The Doctor before scooping Jack's coat off the line and draping it over Jack's drooping shoulders as they were lead away from the street vender's shack.
Jack leaned over to whisper, "I know a doctor," into Hart's ear, adding "Intimately."
"Yes, darling, Jack-O-Mine." Hart murmured comfortingly, than hurled a questioning glance in the direction of the preening stranger walking next to them. "It's all right then, you think? Going with this guy?"
Jack reached out a trembling hand and laced his fingers with The Doctor's. "I know...The Doctor."
Startled by the contact, The Doctor studied Jack a long moment, then smiled. "Yes, Jack. That's right. The Doctor. I'm The Doctor." He paused, drawing Jack to a standstill as well. "I'm taking you home with me. Back to the Tardis."
Jack stared back into The Doctor's eyes for a long heart beat, then said, "I know The Doctor."
end this chapter
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