Lost In Time: A Doctor Who Fanfiction

Chapter 83 - The Doctor Dances

Someone's hand brushed her shoulder and she flinched at the unexpected touch, whipping her head around to the side to see Jack smiling sadly down at her.

"Ja-" her voice came out gravely and hoarse, and she coughed to clear her throat. "Jack? What are you doing here?"

"What, can't a guy want to say hello?" he asked in mock offense. "Your Doctor fixed everything. We're all back to normal now."

She frowned, glancing over her shoulder as a stream of red light appeared in the air, with Jack atop a large bomb hovering in the middle of the beam, talking to someone down on the ground. "Wait. You're over there. How are you over here -" She stopped. "You're from the future, aren't you? My personal future, I mean. What are you doing here?"

"Clever as ever, I see," he chuckled. "A little Imp told me that a very handsome ex-Time Agent found her when she was sleeping on the streets and brought her to the hospital. A good thing, as it turned out, for several reasons - although those can't be told. Some things have to be lived. Spoilers, you know!" he told her with a wink.

"Wait." She narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. "Are you - did River -"

"River? River who?" he asked innocently. "Did you have a particular one in mind? They can be quite lovely, although I myself tend to prefer ponds. They make such a nice melody."

Lyssa stared at him, jaw agape.

"Something wrong?" he teased, mischief dancing in his eyes.

"Are you - did you - " she sputtered, mind scrambling for words and coming up blank.

Jack glanced over her shoulder, then back down at her. "Well, your Doctor is probably on his way over, and he can't know I'm here, so I'm gonna head out. I might take over my past self's persona here, give him a natural end." He paused, tilting his head thoughtfully. "Actually, you know what? I think I might see if I can get in to the Cabinet War Rooms - I've been hearing a few things through the grapevine about some new weapons they've been experimenting with, and a couple of them don't sound like they're from Earth."

Lyssa's eyes widened, her mind filling with memories of Jack leaping in between Amy and a Dalek, saving her but dying himself in the process, if only temporarily. 

"Well, good luck with that," she said faintly. "But be careful. And Jack..." she caught his sleeve as he turned to leave. "Thank you," she told him sincerely. "You really are a hero."

One side of his mouth crooked up in a smile. "Well, you might be one of the only people to believe that, but... thank you."

And then, with a dramatic twirl, he was gone, vanishing in the crowd.

Lyssa waved a quick farewell in his direction, then turned to find the Doctor and Rose and the current Jack, hoping one of them could explain what had happened, although she could guess the gist of it. There was no sign of any of them, although Jack was probably taking care of the bomb by this point. 

She could see Dr. Constantine looking around at his surroundings in bewilderment, but before she could go up to him, she felt more than heard someone coming towards her, and turned around to see the Doctor racing towards her, his grin threatening to split his face it was so wide. She smiled, relief washing over her as she ran towards him.

"We did it, Lyssa! We did it!" he exclaimed ecstatically as he reached her, placing his hands on her cheeks and kissing her on the forehead before picking her up and twirling her around in the air, making her laugh, giddy with excitement. "Everybody lives! Just this once, fairy-girl, everybody lives!" 

He set her down carefully, looking her over before crushing her to his chest in a tight embrace. Tears trickled down her cheeks as she felt his arms wrap around her securely, making her feel safer than she had for weeks. Too many emotions for her to process coursed through her as she returned the embrace, trying to hide her tears in his jacket.