SquidgeWorld Archive

Mr Smith and the Captain
by Lilithangel

Mr Smith looked in horror at the chaos in the school yard.  A huge wind had sprung up and the hildren were running around screaming in terror.  The playground was a mess of equipment and foliage torn from trees and bushes.

He rushed out to assist nearly tripping over Martha as he did so.  “Sorry, sorry,” he called back to her without stopping.  The nurse sighed and chased after him.

After they’d checked over all the children and sent them home Martha was helping with the tidying up when a large black vehicle pulled up.  She realised who it was and hurried to find Mr Smith.  Torchwood was one of the groups she had been told to keep him away from.

Martha still wasn’t sure how the TARDIS had organised for them both to get hired by the Coed Y Garreg Primary school but it had.  Even the Doctor couldn’t explain why Cardiff in the twenty first century and they really hadn’t had time to find out either.  The last thing she’d ever expected to see was the Doctor teaching eight year olds basic arithmetic.  Of course it wasn’t the Doctor, it was Mr John Smith and Mr Smith was a very different creature.

“You and him,” Maggie, a teachers assistant, stared out the window at the object of her interest, “you sure you’re not an item?”

“Nah,” she fought down the blush that always happened when someone asked her that.  “We’re just flatmates.”

“He’s that way is he?” Maggie asked.

“What way?” Martha looked at her blankly and then recognised the gesture Maggie was making.   “I don’t think so.  There was a girl, but she’s gone and I don’t think he ever got over it.”

“Did you meet her?”

“No, but he talks about her occasionally and he gets that look, you know the one.”

“You sure he isn’t gay?” Maggie looked out the window to where John was now talking to a tall good looking man in a long coat.  Even from a distance their body language suggested something, they were standing very close to each other for a start.

“I hope not,” Martha mused as she took in the new man.

“Such a shame,” Maggie agreed.

“I might just go and see what they’re up to,” Martha said.

“You do that,” Maggie said with a laugh.

When Martha got out there the stranger turned a dazzling smile on her.  “Captain Jack Harkness,” he said, “and who might you be?”

“Jack, this is my friend Martha,” John said enthusiastically.  “Martha, Jack’s investigating that strange wind phenomenon we experienced.”

“Just making sure nobody was hurt,” Jack said, taking Martha’s hand and holding it just a bit too long.

“I was just going to mention little Jasmine,” John continued and Jack was suddenly serious.

“Jasmine?”

“Yes, she seemed completely untouched by the wind, just standing there smiling while all the other children ran around in a panic…”

Jack got Jasmine’s details off John and left abruptly.

“He seemed nice,” John watched Jack leave almost wistfully.

Martha sighed, first a ghost and now a man.  There was no way she could compete against odds like that.  She cared deeply for the Doctor and for John Smith, but it seemed that neither would be interested in her.

* * * * *

They saw Captain Harkness again at Jasmine’s funeral.  Her mother had been nearly inconsolable at the loss of partner and child and the funeral had been awful.  John was not very comfortable with strong emotions and had been looking everywhere but at the mother, so had noticed Jack standing off to one side, hands stuffed in the pockets of his greatcoat.

Martha was grateful that the Captain left without speaking to anyone, driving off in the big black Torchwood SUV.  The last thing she wanted was Torchwood getting interested in John Smith, especially the handsome Captain.

To her shock she found the SUV parked outside their flat one afternoon.  Jack was ensconced in their front room talking with John who was talking enthusiastically about cricket of all things; she didn’t even know the Doctor knew anything about cricket.

Jack smiled when she entered and stood up to shake her hand.

“Has he offered you a cup of tea or coffee?” Martha said with a matching smile.

“I was going to,” John said with a blush, “I just hadn’t gotten there yet.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll get them,” she said taking Jack’s order and heading for the kitchen.  As she was setting the mugs out Jack came in and offered to lend a hand.

“Go back and sit down,” she scolded.

“And let a pretty lady languish in the kitchen,” Jack said, “I think not.”  He leaned against the fridge and watched her.

“Go on and ask,” she said without turning around.

“Ask what?”

“Whatever it is you want to ask me.” She knew there was more to Jack’s presence than gallantry.

“How long have you known John?”

“A while, why?  We’re not a couple if that’s what you’re wondering.”

Jack laughed, “No, I was just curious.  When we first met I was sure I knew John, he was so much like an old friend of mine I was just wondering.”

“Shouldn’t you know if he was a friend of yours?”

“My friend changed a lot a while back,” Jack said and Martha could tell he was holding something back, “we haven’t seen each other for a long time but I was certain it was him.”

Martha didn’t know what to say, it was obvious that Torchwood had monitored the Doctor’s progress and probably knew when the TARDIS arrived.  Being human John wouldn’t hit their radar but if they got suspicious who knew what they would do.

“John has a pretty good memory,” she said, setting things out on a tray, “I’m sure he wouldn’t forget you.”

Jack smiled, “thank you very much, Martha Jones.”  He took the tea tray from her and they returned to the front room.

John was waiting happily for them and they spent a very pleasant hour talking about Cardiff and teaching.  Jack charmed them both with slightly risqué stories that had John blushing and Martha
laughing more than she had since their adventure had started.

After that Jack would turn up occasionally at the school or the flat and spend an hour or so just visiting.  Sometimes he seemed quite sad, but it never stopped him from telling stories and making John blush.  Martha started to relax a little around him but remained grateful that the TARDIS was parked in the little garden shed out the back and not visible from the flat.

Martha had built up some good friendships among the staff at the school so it was nice that John had a friend as well, even if Jack wanted more than friendship and John was completely clueless.  Well maybe not completely clueless if the kiss she walked in on was anything to go by.

She couldn’t wait to tell Maggie about it, but Maggie was acting very strange and Martha decided
not to mention it.  Especially when Maggie sniffed her and pulled a gun, letting her know the family had found them.

Running into the classroom where John was teaching Martha tried to get him to leave but he was in full teacher mode and shooed her out of the room until the end of class.

“You have to change back,” she begged him when she dragged him into the Sick Bay; “they’ve found us, the Family.  It’s too soon so you have to turn back.  They’ve taken over Maggie and I don’t know who else.  I need the Doctor back.”

“What are you talking about?” John said, “If you’re sick I can take you to the hospital.”

“I’m not sick,” she insisted, “you forgot who you are and I need you to remember.  You’re the Doctor, we were running in the TARDIS from the Family, you made yourself human to hide from them but they’ve found us.  I need you back Doctor, please.”

“Martha have you been drinking?” John said with concern, “I’m not a doctor, I’m a math teacher.  We’re not running from anyone.”

Try as she might Martha couldn’t convince John to come with her back to their flat where the  pocket watch and the TARDIS were hidden.  She knew she had to do something or they would be
lost.  Avoiding Maggie and then Mark the PE teacher she stumbled into Jack waiting at the school gates.

“Are you alright Martha?” Jack said with concern.

“I’m fine,” she said without stopping, “I’ve just forgotten something at home.”  Never had she been so grateful that the flat was so close to the  school.  She had to get the watch and get the Doctor to open it before it was too late.

Jack watched Martha run down the street.  There was something more than just a forgotten something in Martha’s manner and Jack was instantly worried about John.  Every instinct had
told him that John was the Doctor when they first met but his scans had shown John to be fully
human.  That didn’t dampen his attraction to the odd school teacher and Jack had happily struck up a friendship with him and Martha.  John was a great kisser too, very tactile and enthusiastic with an innocence that was particularly attractive.

Jack hurried into the school, not paying any attention to the couple walking past.

“Do you smell what I smell mother of mine?” The one who had been Mark the PE teacher tilted his head and watched Jack walk past.

“He smells of time,” the one who had been Maggie said, “he smells of the universe.”

“Not a Time Lord, something different, something better...”

Together they turned and followed Jack.

“Jack,” John called out when Jack appeared, “did you see Martha?  She’s been acting very strange I’m worried about her.”

“She was heading home; she said she’d forgotten something.”

“I hope she is planning to get back in time for the show,” John said worriedly, “it’s the end of term concert, and my class are doing the inchworm song.  It’s funny since they’re not worms and not an inch long.”

Jack grinned at John’s enthusiasm and tangled explanations.  “Mind a gatecrasher?  I’d like to see this inchworm song.”

John grinned, “I’m sure nobody will mind, except some of the teachers who can’t seem to concentrate when you’re around.”

Jack laughed with open abandon, the way that mesmerised John every time.  They headed for the auditorium with their followers unnoticed.

Jack enjoyed the inchworm song as much as he expected to, and John’s intense focus on the children even more so.  He was aware of the strange scrutiny from two of the staff, but he was used to attention and shrugged it off.

Martha’s dramatic entry into the show stopped everything.  Children and staff were standing around yelling when Maggie jumped to her feet and pulled a gun.  It didn’t stop things until she disintegrated the Head Master.  Everyone subsided to whimpers except Jack and Martha.

Martha ran to John’s side and stood in front of him protectively while Jack pulled his gun and pointed it at Maggie.

Before they realised it, Dave the caretaker had grabbed John around the neck.

“Put down the gun life man,” Mark said to Jack, “come with us and father of mine will not harm the Time Lord.”

“Time Lord?” Jack looked at John and Martha.

“You don’t want the Doctor?” Martha said in confusion.

“He would have let us live a long time, all the lives of a Time Lord,” Father said, “but this one will let us live forever.”

“You’ll let him go?” Jack said.

“Jack you can’t,” Martha said, she turned to John, “Doctor, you have to come back, you have to stop this.”

“You’ll let him go?” Jack yelled again, tossing his gun to Martha.

“He is of no further interest to us except as a means to your cooperation,” Mother said.

Father pushed John into Martha as Mother and Son took hold of Jack.

“You can’t let this happen, Doctor,” Martha begged, catching the gun and aiming it at the group.  “You have to change back.”

“Martha, get John and the others out of here,” Jack ordered.  The teachers scrabbled to get the kids out, but one stayed behind watching them all avidly.

“What’s going on, I don’t understand,” John said in distress.

“They obviously feed on time,” Jack said, “and I have a lot of it to go around.”

“The Doctor called them The Family,” Martha said to Jack.

“Get him out of here Martha,” Jack said, “keep him safe.  I’m sorry about this Doctor,” he added, “this wasn’t how I expected our reunion to go.”

“I’m not a doctor,” John said in distress, “I don’t understand.  Why do I have to change?”

“It’ll be fine,” Jack said, “just go with Martha.”

Martha backed up pushing the Doctor behind her and keeping the gun trained on the Family.

When they were gone Jack turned to the Family and raised an eyebrow.  Mother stepped up and caressed his cheek.

“I can feel all that life inside you,” she said with pleasure.

Jack grinned and grabbed her gun.  “Not much use to you in a moment,” he said, raising it to his temple.

“Then we will just go and get the Time Lord,” Maggie said calmly, “and your sacrifice will be useless.”  She held out her hand and Jack dropped the gun into it and let them take him away.

Their spaceship was concealed in a wood just behind the school.  In any other situation Jack would have been fascinated by the interior.  He was pretty certain it hadn’t always been theirs, not that he could talk but he was also pretty sure the previous owner wasn’t alive out there looking for it.

The first life they sucked out of him hurt a lot and when he woke to find them standing around him with avarice on their faces he knew he was in for a very painful time.  Mother glowed with his stolen life and the others obviously wanted their share.

Before the next family member could get their fix of Jack, John stumbled inside.  They turned to stare at him and Jack tried to get to his feet.

“I don’t want to be this Doctor, this Time Lord,” he said, “I’m just an ordinary math teacher, but I can’t allow you to hurt my friend.  I’ve called the police, they’ll be here soon.”

“Why would we stop for pathetic human police?” Father asked.  “They cannot stop us any more than these shells did.”

Daughter sniffed and Mother smirked, “still human.  No use to us a human.”

“Can’t you just leave him, leave us alone.  Why do you have to do this?” John begged.

“We want to live forever.  This one will live forever and so will we.  Our lives are so brief, what’s wrong with taking extra time?” Father backed John through the ship.  “You could save him the pain if you were the Time Lord.”

“I’m just a normal man, nothing special.  I don’t want to be anything special, please…”  John looked at Jack asking for forgiveness as he stumbled around the spaceship trying to avoid being touched by the Family.  “He made me, he made me an ordinary man, I don’t want to be anything more than an ordinary man who was falling in love,” John added looking at Jack.

“Nobody wants to be ordinary,” the son said with contempt, “unless they’re pathetic and afraid.”

“Please,” John held out the pocket watch, “take it and let him go.  Have the Time Lord’s lives and let us have ours.”

“No John,” Jack said, “don’t do it.  I’ll be fine, don’t give him up.”

Father pushed Jack to the floor again.

Son snatched the watch and threw John against a wall.  “This will serve as an appetizer, the lives of a Time Lord.”

“Let Jack go,” John pleaded.

“Why would we do that, human?” Father said.

“I gave you the Time Lord,” John said, “let that be enough, please.”

“The universe will be ours,” Sister said.

“We will take everything anyway,” Mother added as Son opened the watch.

They stared in confusion when nothing happened.  “It’s empty,” Son said.

“Where’s it gone?” John asked.

“You tell me,” Son said, tossing the watch at him.

John caught it and stood up, suddenly not so scared and not so human.  “Seems to me you’ve been fooled by a simple olfactory illusion, kind of like ventriloquism for the nose, but it has got to be said,” he added putting on a pair of glasses, “I don’t like the look of that hydro chronometer.  It seems to be indicating you’ve got energy feedback all the way through the retro stabilisers feeding back into the primary heat converters.  Ooohhh… cause there was one thing you shouldn’t have done, you really shouldn’t have let me stumble around your spaceship pushing all those buttons…”

The Doctor reached down and helped Jack to his feet.  “But, in fairness I will give you one word of advice… run…”

The Doctor helped Jack out of the ship before the feedback destroyed it and then left Jack in Martha’s hands while he dealt with the Family.

Several days later Jack was standing on top of the Millennium Centre regretting lost chances when a tall slender form stepped up beside him.

They didn’t say anything for a while, just watched as Cardiff woke.

“Did you like him?” The Doctor said, “John.”

“Yeah, I did,” Jack said.  “When I first saw him I thought it was you, but the sensors said otherwise.  I was disappointed but John was a nice guy, a little pompous at times but a nice
guy.”  He looked sideways at the Doctor.  “Would you really have wanted to be him?”

“He had such a simple life and looked forward to simple things,” the reply was slightly wistful.

“Did you mean it, about falling in love?” Jack tried to hide to hope in his voice.

“It wasn’t quite what he’d expected, but yes.” The Doctor finally looked at Jack, “he could have fallen in love with you.”

The stress on ‘he’ told Jack everything not yet asked.

“I know what you mean about the simple,” Jack said, watching the familiar but not face, “it was nice with John, peaceful.”

“He’s still in here,” the Doctor tapped his head, “he’s still me, but he’s gone forever, and for one moment I could have been gone forever,” he confessed.

“But he was you and you never give up,” Jack said firmly.

“I gave up on you,” the Doctor said, “knew you had survived the Game Station.  I was in the middle of a few things, new teeth and all, but I knew.”

Jack shrugged, “water under the bridge.  I just need to know… what happened to me and can you fix it?  I’ve been stuck here for a long time, I don’t seem to be aging and I can’t die.”

“I’m so sorry Jack,” the Doctor replied, “Rose happened.  She took the heart of the TARDIS and saved us all.  She didn’t want you to be dead so you weren’t.  She gave you some of the time vortex.  It was killing her so I took it back.”

“And it killed you instead and now it won’t let me die,” Jack said with a nod of understanding, “I spent a lot of time researching,” he explained, “waiting for the right you to turn up.  Can you take it back?”

“I’m so sorry Jack, no I can’t.  You were dead and now you’re not.  That’s fixed; you’re a fixed point in time.  I wish I could, but I can’t.” The Doctor’s voice was sorrowful but Jack couldn’t look at him to see what was in his eyes.

“So I’m forever?”

“Nothing’s forever, Jack, but I’m glad you’re here now.”

There was a hand in his and Jack looked at the Doctor.  “As John we could have had a future of some sort but I would have had to watch you die so I can’t be sad that you’re you again.  Maybe I’ll see some more of you though?”  He had been falling for John Smith, he knew that, but it could never rival the feelings he had for the Doctor.

“Maybe you could come with me,” the Doctor replied, “maybe you could even buy me that drink.”

END