Supernova |Doctor Who/9th Doctor x Rose Tyler x Jack Harkness one shot| ✓

supernova

The Daleks descended.

Every corridor, every crook of the station, echoed with the clinking of their metal husks and artificial burbling voices as they went up level by level.

The time was running short.

The Doctor felt the blood rush in his ears. His fingers were getting clumsy. He needed hours and had minutes if not seconds, but at least Rose was safe. His sweet, fierce Rose with her blue eyes filled with wonder he so longed for. She would have a good life, he hoped she would. Find a good man to settle with, travel the world, find the job she could actually enjoy, and just be unapologetically herself in every second of existence. She might mourn him, but she could move on. He really hoped she would. He would have never forgiven himself if his actions had damned her in any way. She was too precious, too much light and hope to be another spark put out by his brutal, awkward self.

A cord slipped through his grip to the floor and as he fumbled to catch it again, another thought occurred.

Why hadn't he thought about getting Jack in the TARDIS with Rose?

Jack was there somewhere. He wasn't safe. He was fighting.

The bloke might be a former Time Agent, trained and seasoned by years of action, but, even though unwilling to admit it, still a gentle soul. Worth protecting as much as any other.

They were similar, him and Jack, in so many ways. Both loyal to the fault, stubborn, filled with anger at the unfairness of the world and sacrificing, willing to rush into action, to protect others, in a blink. Both bitter and branded by life in their own way, and yet still finding scraps and pieces of wonder.

Rose had seen it and the Doctor had too, although he might have been a little thick at first. Maybe he just hadn't wanted to acknowledge it, because if Jack — capable, knowledgeable, a fighter, a conman, a liar — could and should be protected from harm, then what did it say about the Doctor himself?

The similarities between them awaken an ache somewhere deep, but he hadn't had time to linger on that before, and he didn't have it now.

The Daleks were getting closer, their voices penetrating metal, words finally comprehensible, repeated like a mantra over and over as they claimed levels and exterminated lives.

The Doctor flinched and shook his head. There was still a chance, however small, he might succeed. Possibly even save someone.

But you don't want to die alone, some treacherous part of his mind prompted.

He shushed it harshly.

He was strong. He needed to be. He was the protector and not the protected. People counted on him. He couldn't allow himself to be vulnerable. There was no one who could save him, but he could save Jack. They all were precious, of course. All life was. But Jack was precious in another way, more personal. And he wanted to save him. If not the Earth, then at least him. The Doctor owed him that.

"They're closing in," said Jack over the coms, his voice barely audible through creaking and whooshing. He sounded determined, yet through the thin mental link that started to form between them months ago, the Doctor felt his fear. "I will buy you as much time as possible, Doc, but it might not be much. Hurry up, and we will have drinks afterward, as promised."

"Sure thing, lad," he said, although the transmission had ended before Jack could hear him.

The Daleks were blocking communication.

He hurried even more, his fingers blurred from speed as he twisted and connected and teared.

He wasn't fast enough.