When Everything Changed - Chapter 3/20
Aug. 14th, 2010 09:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tonjavmooreTitle: When Everything Changed – A Torchwood/Dr. Who/Sarah Jane Adventures Crossover
Author: tonjavmoore
Characters/Pairings: Jack/Ianto, Gwen/Rhys, Eleven and Amy Pond, and a lot of people from the Whoniverse at large
Rating: PG
Word Count: Total: 31,520; Chapter 2: 1,595
Spoilers: This assumes that you are familiar the five days of Children of Earth. Otherwise, you’ll be a bit lost. This is a timey-wimey fixit that takes up action partway through Day 3.
Disclaimer: Torchwood, Dr. Who, and Sarah Jane Adventures all belong to the BBC and RTD. Sadly.
Betas: Thanks to midlist_writer and welsh_scotsman on Live Journal. Also, for my friend Alexandria Cameron who put up with my squeals and tantrums when it just wouldn’t get out through my fingers the way I wanted it to.
Summary: When the Shadow Architects find a paradox that is destroying the Universe, can the Eleventh Doctor find a way to restore Jack’s timeline to what it should have been?
Story starts here:
Chapter 1
A/N: This story is dedicated to the best friend and roommate anyone could have, Susan Garrett, who today lost her months long battle with stomach cancer and left us.
Chapter 3
She was trying. The TARDIS was looking in all the places she could reach to find out what had gone so terribly wrong. It was difficult to probe those areas.
Even through her pain, she could feel relief when the Doctor came back on board. He stroked and soothed her. “I know you’re hurting, but I need your help. We can fix this. Amy, can you support her? She needs to be touched.”
The TARDIS absorbed the reassurance that flowed from her Lord’s latest Companion. She loved Amelia Pond, as she did all who travelled with them. She was so young and yet so determined. She might even earn a TARDIS name – who could say?
“All right now, we need to look around in 21st century Earth. The path diverged there. Jack was, as usual, in the thick of it.” Even though the Doctor’s voice was casual, she could feel the sorrow and regret in his mind. “So maybe Cardiff? London?”
She brought up what she could find. So much was hazy here; it had to be the source of the paradox. There were two of everything. Two wildly different everythings. Blinded by the agony, she flung information at her Lord until she heard him exclaim, “There!”
Had she been a human, the TARDIS would have fainted. As she was not, she retreated into waiting. He stroked her and whispered. “It’s all right. All right for now. I’ve seen where we need to go. Rest up a bit and then we’ll travel. All right?”
She heard Amy say, “I don’t know if she can move.”
“She has to, so she will. Won’t you, my girl?”
She would. She had seen more than she thought. So much sorrow for things that should not have happened. She could do this. She could take her Lord back to that time and place. She only needed to concentrate a little more. She moved, but it was so hard. She could not stay steady.
There were gasps. “Where are we going?” Amy demanded.
“The third day,” the Doctor answered in his distracted way.
“Sometimes, I want to work you over with a spanner!” Amy shouted. The TARDIS knew she would have been amused if she’d had the strength. “What do you mean by ‘the third day’? The third day of what?”
“Oh! Sorry. The third day of the invasion by the 456,” he explained. “The third day of the chanting children.”
“Why not the first day?”
“Because…” He appeared at a loss for a minute. “It’s one of those timey-wimey things. This is as early in the process as I can risk. Some things had to happen before I could intervene.”
“So, are we changing history now?”
“Not quite yet.”
The TARDIS waggled dangerously and landed with a loud thump at her target. Her charges were safe, if rattled. This was the place. The first place where things went wrong. They had to start here.
“However, we will be as soon as we knock on that door.” The Doctor continued. He indicated the door that led into the house of the garden in which the TARDIS had landed. “Let me get some psychic paper and off we go.”
Jack couldn’t remember when he started hearing the Voice. Always before the blackness of death had been completely quiet. It wasn’t always there, but enough now that dying wasn’t unpleasant. He hadn’t died by his own hand – the Voice was never there when he did that – so he might hear it this time.
A melodic whisper replete with lovely vowels, not identifiable as male or female. “I am here. How did it happen?”
“I think it was a metallic projectile this time. Not sure.” Jack knew he wasn’t speaking or thinking – he was dead. It just seemed to come out somehow when the Voice came.
“Pain?”
“Too quick.”
“Good. You have too much pain.”
“Yeah.”
“Something is changing.”
“What?”
“There’s a pull. Things are reversing. Do not be afraid. Let yourself be pulled.”
“Where?”
“Into folds and twists of time.”
He felt the pain begin and then the dizziness. “Wait. Will you be there?”
“When you need me.”
The process of reviving began.
The street was quiet, eerily so. Alice peeked out of the curtains for the hundredth time that day to check that the car was still there. It was. It had shown up shortly after she made the phone call with the borrowed cell phone. The two had to be linked.
There was a soft knock on the back door. Her nerves went into full alert mode. It didn’t sound like something the people in the car would do – politely knock on her garden door – but she was taking no chances.
A note had been slipped under the door. Cautiously she approached it, keeping a low profile. The paper felt odd to her fingers and the words were hard to focus on, but they resolved into her father’s untidy scrawl:
Alice –
You and Steven are in grave danger. The government is going to take you into custody to force me to cooperate, even though what they are doing is very wrong. You know that I would do anything to keep you from harm.
The people who bring you this note can be trusted to keep you and Steven safe. They’re the only people who can. Please go with them.
I love you.
Dad
She read it twice more. Her mother had done nothing to engender trust between father and daughter. Jack had already tried to lure Steven into some unknown tests. This was different. She knew that those men outside were there to hurt them. At the very least she should assess the situation more thoroughly. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door.
There were two of them, a man and a woman. The woman had long red hair, pale skin, and a charming face. The man looked to be in his mid-twenties, with floppy dark hair and piercing green eyes. Alice beckoned them inside and closed the door quickly. “How do you know Jack Harkness?” she demanded.
The man said quietly, “Jack has traveled with me on a few occasions. He’s been a good friend. We’re here to help you.”
She frowned. “Are you Torchwood?”
“No. If we were, we’d be on the run. I’m the Doctor and this is Amy Pond. The government is trying to find Torchwood and eliminate them.”
“Do they know Jack can’t die?”
“Yes, but they tried anyway. That explosion on the Roald Dahl Plass? It was designed to kill him and his team. They’re still in hiding.”
Alice weighed the possibilities. Was this just a trick to get her and Steven into custody without violence? She didn’t think the government was that clever. Jack, yes, but not them. Besides, there was something about this man that seemed… unusual. She looked at the girl with him.
“What he said,” she remarked in a softly understated burr. “We really are here to help. But you have to come quick. Those men will be bursting in here at any moment. They’re already out of the car.”
Alice turned and ran into the parlor. “Come with me, Steven. Right now.” She didn’t have to look out. She could see shapes moving toward the house. How those two could get them away now, she didn’t know, but she was out of options. She held Steven’s hand tightly and went back to the door. “Let’s go.”
The girl Amy led them and the man called the Doctor brought up the rear. They hurried to a corner of the garden and Alice couldn’t restrain a gasp of surprise when a blue police box suddenly appeared. “There’s not enough room to hide in there! Won’t they look?”
“Come on,” Amy insisted. She opened the door and disappeared inside.
Alice took a deep breath and tightened her hold on Steven’s hand. She stepped across the threshold, prepared to be crammed up against Amy. To her surprise there was a large open area, almost the size of her house. Steven was the first to speak. “Wow, Mum! It’s big!”
The Doctor came from behind them. “Yes, son, it’s bigger on the inside.” Lowering his voice, he added, “Do you want to watch what’s going on?”
Even though she was still somewhat dazed, Alice nodded and let him lead her over to a screen. It showed people in front of her house, inside, and on both sides. There were men peering behind her hedges and in the mews.
As each person shouted “Clear!” Alice felt herself breathing easier. A man appeared talking into a phone. Alice could tell he was not pleased. He called the people to him and told them to search the nearby houses.
“Why can’t they see this box?” she said.
“A little piece of technology called a perception filter. Makes her invisible for all intents and purposes.”
“Her?”
“My ship. Do you feel any better now, my girl?” Alice watched him stroke the console. “We’ve only just begun, but we’re off to a good start.”
Was he crazy? Maybe. Maybe she was crazy. Maybe this was some sort of strange dream. Or maybe not. “Are we just going to stay here?”
“Oh, no, no, no, no, no! Amy and I have more work to do. No, we’re going to take you to a place in Cardiff. You’ll be safe there for now. Last place they’d look, etc. When I come again, we’ll put you in an even safer place. That’s what Jack wants, you know. He wants you safe.”
Chapter 4
Author: tonjavmoore
Characters/Pairings: Jack/Ianto, Gwen/Rhys, Eleven and Amy Pond, and a lot of people from the Whoniverse at large
Rating: PG
Word Count: Total: 31,520; Chapter 2: 1,595
Spoilers: This assumes that you are familiar the five days of Children of Earth. Otherwise, you’ll be a bit lost. This is a timey-wimey fixit that takes up action partway through Day 3.
Disclaimer: Torchwood, Dr. Who, and Sarah Jane Adventures all belong to the BBC and RTD. Sadly.
Betas: Thanks to midlist_writer and welsh_scotsman on Live Journal. Also, for my friend Alexandria Cameron who put up with my squeals and tantrums when it just wouldn’t get out through my fingers the way I wanted it to.
Summary: When the Shadow Architects find a paradox that is destroying the Universe, can the Eleventh Doctor find a way to restore Jack’s timeline to what it should have been?
Story starts here:
Chapter 1
A/N: This story is dedicated to the best friend and roommate anyone could have, Susan Garrett, who today lost her months long battle with stomach cancer and left us.
Chapter 3
She was trying. The TARDIS was looking in all the places she could reach to find out what had gone so terribly wrong. It was difficult to probe those areas.
Even through her pain, she could feel relief when the Doctor came back on board. He stroked and soothed her. “I know you’re hurting, but I need your help. We can fix this. Amy, can you support her? She needs to be touched.”
The TARDIS absorbed the reassurance that flowed from her Lord’s latest Companion. She loved Amelia Pond, as she did all who travelled with them. She was so young and yet so determined. She might even earn a TARDIS name – who could say?
“All right now, we need to look around in 21st century Earth. The path diverged there. Jack was, as usual, in the thick of it.” Even though the Doctor’s voice was casual, she could feel the sorrow and regret in his mind. “So maybe Cardiff? London?”
She brought up what she could find. So much was hazy here; it had to be the source of the paradox. There were two of everything. Two wildly different everythings. Blinded by the agony, she flung information at her Lord until she heard him exclaim, “There!”
Had she been a human, the TARDIS would have fainted. As she was not, she retreated into waiting. He stroked her and whispered. “It’s all right. All right for now. I’ve seen where we need to go. Rest up a bit and then we’ll travel. All right?”
She heard Amy say, “I don’t know if she can move.”
“She has to, so she will. Won’t you, my girl?”
She would. She had seen more than she thought. So much sorrow for things that should not have happened. She could do this. She could take her Lord back to that time and place. She only needed to concentrate a little more. She moved, but it was so hard. She could not stay steady.
There were gasps. “Where are we going?” Amy demanded.
“The third day,” the Doctor answered in his distracted way.
“Sometimes, I want to work you over with a spanner!” Amy shouted. The TARDIS knew she would have been amused if she’d had the strength. “What do you mean by ‘the third day’? The third day of what?”
“Oh! Sorry. The third day of the invasion by the 456,” he explained. “The third day of the chanting children.”
“Why not the first day?”
“Because…” He appeared at a loss for a minute. “It’s one of those timey-wimey things. This is as early in the process as I can risk. Some things had to happen before I could intervene.”
“So, are we changing history now?”
“Not quite yet.”
The TARDIS waggled dangerously and landed with a loud thump at her target. Her charges were safe, if rattled. This was the place. The first place where things went wrong. They had to start here.
“However, we will be as soon as we knock on that door.” The Doctor continued. He indicated the door that led into the house of the garden in which the TARDIS had landed. “Let me get some psychic paper and off we go.”
Jack couldn’t remember when he started hearing the Voice. Always before the blackness of death had been completely quiet. It wasn’t always there, but enough now that dying wasn’t unpleasant. He hadn’t died by his own hand – the Voice was never there when he did that – so he might hear it this time.
A melodic whisper replete with lovely vowels, not identifiable as male or female. “I am here. How did it happen?”
“I think it was a metallic projectile this time. Not sure.” Jack knew he wasn’t speaking or thinking – he was dead. It just seemed to come out somehow when the Voice came.
“Pain?”
“Too quick.”
“Good. You have too much pain.”
“Yeah.”
“Something is changing.”
“What?”
“There’s a pull. Things are reversing. Do not be afraid. Let yourself be pulled.”
“Where?”
“Into folds and twists of time.”
He felt the pain begin and then the dizziness. “Wait. Will you be there?”
“When you need me.”
The process of reviving began.
The street was quiet, eerily so. Alice peeked out of the curtains for the hundredth time that day to check that the car was still there. It was. It had shown up shortly after she made the phone call with the borrowed cell phone. The two had to be linked.
There was a soft knock on the back door. Her nerves went into full alert mode. It didn’t sound like something the people in the car would do – politely knock on her garden door – but she was taking no chances.
A note had been slipped under the door. Cautiously she approached it, keeping a low profile. The paper felt odd to her fingers and the words were hard to focus on, but they resolved into her father’s untidy scrawl:
Alice –
You and Steven are in grave danger. The government is going to take you into custody to force me to cooperate, even though what they are doing is very wrong. You know that I would do anything to keep you from harm.
The people who bring you this note can be trusted to keep you and Steven safe. They’re the only people who can. Please go with them.
I love you.
Dad
She read it twice more. Her mother had done nothing to engender trust between father and daughter. Jack had already tried to lure Steven into some unknown tests. This was different. She knew that those men outside were there to hurt them. At the very least she should assess the situation more thoroughly. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door.
There were two of them, a man and a woman. The woman had long red hair, pale skin, and a charming face. The man looked to be in his mid-twenties, with floppy dark hair and piercing green eyes. Alice beckoned them inside and closed the door quickly. “How do you know Jack Harkness?” she demanded.
The man said quietly, “Jack has traveled with me on a few occasions. He’s been a good friend. We’re here to help you.”
She frowned. “Are you Torchwood?”
“No. If we were, we’d be on the run. I’m the Doctor and this is Amy Pond. The government is trying to find Torchwood and eliminate them.”
“Do they know Jack can’t die?”
“Yes, but they tried anyway. That explosion on the Roald Dahl Plass? It was designed to kill him and his team. They’re still in hiding.”
Alice weighed the possibilities. Was this just a trick to get her and Steven into custody without violence? She didn’t think the government was that clever. Jack, yes, but not them. Besides, there was something about this man that seemed… unusual. She looked at the girl with him.
“What he said,” she remarked in a softly understated burr. “We really are here to help. But you have to come quick. Those men will be bursting in here at any moment. They’re already out of the car.”
Alice turned and ran into the parlor. “Come with me, Steven. Right now.” She didn’t have to look out. She could see shapes moving toward the house. How those two could get them away now, she didn’t know, but she was out of options. She held Steven’s hand tightly and went back to the door. “Let’s go.”
The girl Amy led them and the man called the Doctor brought up the rear. They hurried to a corner of the garden and Alice couldn’t restrain a gasp of surprise when a blue police box suddenly appeared. “There’s not enough room to hide in there! Won’t they look?”
“Come on,” Amy insisted. She opened the door and disappeared inside.
Alice took a deep breath and tightened her hold on Steven’s hand. She stepped across the threshold, prepared to be crammed up against Amy. To her surprise there was a large open area, almost the size of her house. Steven was the first to speak. “Wow, Mum! It’s big!”
The Doctor came from behind them. “Yes, son, it’s bigger on the inside.” Lowering his voice, he added, “Do you want to watch what’s going on?”
Even though she was still somewhat dazed, Alice nodded and let him lead her over to a screen. It showed people in front of her house, inside, and on both sides. There were men peering behind her hedges and in the mews.
As each person shouted “Clear!” Alice felt herself breathing easier. A man appeared talking into a phone. Alice could tell he was not pleased. He called the people to him and told them to search the nearby houses.
“Why can’t they see this box?” she said.
“A little piece of technology called a perception filter. Makes her invisible for all intents and purposes.”
“Her?”
“My ship. Do you feel any better now, my girl?” Alice watched him stroke the console. “We’ve only just begun, but we’re off to a good start.”
Was he crazy? Maybe. Maybe she was crazy. Maybe this was some sort of strange dream. Or maybe not. “Are we just going to stay here?”
“Oh, no, no, no, no, no! Amy and I have more work to do. No, we’re going to take you to a place in Cardiff. You’ll be safe there for now. Last place they’d look, etc. When I come again, we’ll put you in an even safer place. That’s what Jack wants, you know. He wants you safe.”
Chapter 4
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2010-08-15 05:03 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-08-18 05:19 am (UTC)I tried hard to make it coherent.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-08-15 08:31 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-08-18 05:20 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-08-15 12:19 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-08-18 05:21 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-08-15 01:22 pm (UTC)Poor TARDIS!
(no subject)
Date: 2010-08-18 05:23 am (UTC)The TARDIS is very sick, but things are looking up.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-08-15 02:15 pm (UTC)Sorry about your friend.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-08-18 05:24 am (UTC)She was the very best person you can imagine. The world is a little bit darker because she's no longer in it.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-08-15 03:36 pm (UTC)that Voice, Jack is hearing, is it the TARDIS? Although, those "lovely vowels" could mean Ianto, too ;-) (I don't expect an anwer, just had to get it off my system so to speak ;-) )
And I'm sorry to hear about your friend.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-08-18 05:28 am (UTC)My friend was so excited that I started posting this story. It's for her now.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-08-15 11:17 pm (UTC)This was brilliant, I love that the first step the Doctor took was getting Alice and Stephen to safety.
And I'm really curious about that voice Jack is hearing.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-08-18 05:30 am (UTC)And I'm glad I've caught your attention.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-08-15 11:47 pm (UTC)Wonderful story too.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-08-18 05:33 am (UTC)I'm glad you're enjoying the story.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-08-18 06:36 am (UTC)Just know that you're not alone. I know it doesn't seem like it now, but the pain lessens as time goes on and it's easier to separate the pain of her death from your memories of your time with her. Whatever else happens, Susan will always be in your heart, just like my brother is in mine. It's something I've learned to cherish and it helps.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-08-16 01:19 am (UTC)You are drawing me into this so well. yes Alice and Stephen are good. I'm quite fond of both.
I'm just going to sit back and cheerfully cheer the doctor on. ^_^
(no subject)
Date: 2010-08-18 05:37 am (UTC)Alice and Stephen need to be out of the firing line.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-08-20 02:30 pm (UTC)I'm so sorry to hear of your loss *hugs*
(no subject)
Date: 2010-08-20 04:24 pm (UTC)I'm glad you are enjoying this. I hope to keep it exciting.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-08-22 09:12 am (UTC)Oooh, a voice that Jack hears when he dies (not by his own hand) could it be Ianto? *hopes*
(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-06 11:43 pm (UTC)I know this is over a year later but I'm sorry for your loss and just wanted to say 11 years on I still remember discovering her fiction for the first time. It was amazing and so was she.
Thank you!
Date: 2011-12-07 12:35 am (UTC)I'll tell you a story. I got the Forever Knight tie-in novels before I met her. Of all the tie-ins, I thought hers was the best and was the only one I re-read. Imagine my surprise later when she mentioned that she had written that one in some other context. I nearly exploded with excitement. She really laughed when I danced her all over the room and whipped out my copy for her to sign.
Thank you twice. One little for reading my story (and I hope you're enjoying it) and one big for making me smile at one of my many memories of her.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2011-12-07 10:29 pm (UTC)I had started using the internet just after seeing Forever Knight for the first time. Oh how I remember the old dial up tones.
Susan was one of the first fanfic writers I discovered. Fanfic! I couldn't believe it. Fiction written by fans that added so much depth to this show I had fallen in love with.
We ended up involved in the writing campaign to try save the show, my husband on a trip to New York (we're from England) even visited the Sci-Fi channel for me and in a mix up at the front desk managed to get up to Bonnie Hammer's office to deliver a gift basket to her bemused assistant!
Sorry I digress. I was hooked on Susan's fics and thru her discovered so much more, FKFanic.com the FK mailing lists and from those I even discovered that fans were arranging to meet up. And while I couldn't get to those meet ups they prompted me to start meeting fans in the UK. And that led me right into the Stargate Fandom and from there we haven't stopped. We are so lucky now to have made so many friends that we regularly see. Some of them have even married each other and we have attended weddings and christenings of these online friends.
It's impossible to say how much Forever Knight changed our lives.
I remember exchanging 1 or 2 emails with Susan about her fiction and telling her that I was once told that I should never try writing. It was one of those throwaway comments that I just happened to put in, saying I wish I could write like her. I wish I still had her response. But I remember it vividly. Her anger at someone being told that they couldn't write, her encouragement that I should go ahead anyway and it didn't matter what others thought.
And I did. I wrote in the Stargate Community and loved it. It was great therapy for me!
I wish that I had known Susan. I wish that I could have a moment to tell her the effect that she had on me. I can't believe she is gone, she made one hell of a difference for me.