Title: Neighbours
By: lilithangel
Pairings: Jack/the Doctor
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: character death.
Challenge Prompt: Somewhere, somewhen, there is a house whose occupants seem to change all the time. Sometimes it is a very handsome man in a great coat. Sometimes, it's a man in a bowtie (sometimes accompanied by a woman, sometimes not). Sometimes there's a mysterious blue box with strange lettering in the front yard. And sometimes it stands empty for years at a time, until the ivy starts to encroach. The Doctor and Jack do domestic in their own ways.
Summary: The residents of Riverside lane have new neighbours.

***

2008

A sold sticker appeared over the For Sale sign much to Marion’s delight. The old house had been on the market for over a year without any movement and she had begun to despair of it ever selling. Kids had broken into it several times and it was beginning to drag the property values down for everyone. She just hoped that some flash developer hadn’t bought it to tear down and build some sort of hideous monstrosity. The man who put the sticker up didn’t look like a flash developer; he looked more like a military man.

“Captain Jack Harkness,” the man said extending a hand. “Call me Jack.”

“Marion Lloyd from across the street, Jack,” Marion said preening a little under his smile, “I do hope you and your family are planning to renovate and move in,” she added as she shook his hand.

“No family,” Jack said with a smile, “but I do intend to renovate. I work in the city so this is going to be my weekend project; we intend to use it as a bit of a getaway.”

“We?” she raised an enquiring eyebrow.

“A friend who works out of the country most of the time,” Jack said, “we thought it would be something nice to do together.”

“I look forward to meeting them,” she said, “you must pop over for a cup of tea.”

“The Doc would like that, he likes tea,” Jack said with a grin.

As she watched Jack jump into a big black car and drive away Marion realised Jack hadn’t told her what he or his friend did, or whether they were intending to sell once it was renovated.

She didn’t see Jack for a couple of months but windows were repaired and the rubbish was cleared away before he appeared one afternoon shirtsleeves rolled up, enthusiastically throwing things into a skip bin.

Another time she saw a tall man in a long tan coat wandering around. He waved to her cheerily when he saw her watching and went into the house so she had to assume it was the Doc Jack had mentioned. Later he ambled over and accepted her offer of a cup of tea. He was delighted by her collection of commemorative plates although she thought it a bit strange that he seemed so familiar with some of the people, he was far too young to have met Winston Churchill. He was definitely a pleasant young man Marion decided when he left. A little odd but intelligent people often were.

A gardener came and looked after the plants and tended the lawn, landscaping it back to how she remembered it. Although she wasn’t sure she liked the removal of the statues and they appeared to be toying with a more whimsical approach, an old police box appeared in the garden one day which she wasn’t keen on. Luckily it vanished the next day or she might have had to have a quiet word.

She heard from Doris next door that a furniture truck had arrived while she was visiting Derek in hospital and the house certainly looked lived in again even if she rarely saw either man. No For Sale sign appeared so she started to relax, at least they were quiet neighbours.

She only saw them together once. Standing in the doorway their shoulders touching Jack was looking at the Doctor with a fond expression while the Doctor talked animatedly, gesturing upwards. Jack’s laughter was clear and so joyful she had to smile as Jack pulled the Doctor inside and shut the door.

2009

Gary and Stan slipped around the back of the house to the garden where they’d hidden from the soldiers. Mrs Lloyd had told them to hide there and they’d listened to the sounds of trucks and soldiers breaking in doors looking for children. Nobody had said why but two months later people were taking to the streets and protesting against the government and their parents were arguing again.

The house had been empty for longer than that and the boys had taken to hanging out in the garden away from the fights.

“Think there’s anything valuable in there?” Gary said gesturing with his stolen cigarette. They’d peered through the windows in the past but hadn’t seen much more than dust covers.

“Dunno,” Stan said puffing determinedly on his own cigarette. He didn’t like them much but didn’t want his older brother to tease him.

“You know those things will stunt your growth,” a voice said from the side of the house.

They both spun around to see a tall man in a long grey coat standing there.

“Shit,” Gary said, stubbing out his cigarette, “we weren’t doing nothing.”

“Maybe you should be doing nothing somewhere else,” the man suggested and the boys ran for the break in the hedge they’d found on their first visit.

Stan hung back as Gary sauntered away down the street, pretending they hadn’t been chased off. He’d heard a strange noise and wanted to see what the man was up to.

Back in the garden he saw another man, taller than the first and wearing a long brown coat.

“I’m so sorry Jack,” he was saying but the other man cut him off.

“Nothing you could do, the choice had to be made and I made it,” Jack said.

“You shouldn’t have had to make that choice on your own,” the man said and Jack seemed to crumple.

The man pulled Jack in for a hug and Stan slipped away uncomfortable with the grief.

2011

A young man in a tweed jacket and bowtie was pottering around the old house. Gary and Stan had stayed away since their encounter with the man with the dead eyes (as Stan liked to call him) but Stan had kept watching the place just to see. The man who had scared them both more than either would admit hadn’t been back, neither had the other one. Stan wondered if he had sold the place even though no sign had gone up because the young guy was eagerly poking around the garden and talking animatedly to someone inside.

It turned out to be a young girl much to Stan’s initial disappointment. She was cute though and not at all scary like the other man had been.

“So this is your place, Doctor?” the girl was asking, she didn’t look at all impressed.

“Mine and Jack’s,” the Doctor said, “we bought it years ago. Not sure why now, seemed like a good idea at the time.”

“Are you going to keep it?” she looked around with more curiosity.

“Of course,” the Doctor said in surprise, “it’s a place for Jack when he finally comes back, he’ll always need somewhere.”

“Am I ever going to meet this Jack?” She said.

“Not a chance,” he said firmly, “it’s not a good idea for Jack to meet my companions it can turn their heads, and you I wouldn’t trust within a mile of him.”

Stan wasn’t sure what a companion was cause the girl really didn’t look like a prostitute (Gary talked about hookers all the time so Stan was pretty certain) so it had to mean something else. Maybe the guy was an invalid in some way and needed paid assistance. She looked like she could be an au pair or a nurse maybe. It was funny that he was called Doctor like the other one Stan had seen.

“I think you just want to keep him to yourself,” the girl said, “Martha showed me a photo, he is rather dishy.”

“I don’t know why everyone says that,” the Doctor said with a huff. “Anyway everything looks fine here, we can head off.”

“Weren’t we meeting Jack?” the girl said.

“Nah, he’s not due back for a few more years, just checking on the old place. Now come on, I seem to remember promising you Henry the Eighth this time.”

2047

A moving truck arrived outside the old house. The place had fallen into disrepair over the years but nobody ever broke into the place. It was as if people forgot it was there as soon as they looked away. The hedges had grown wild and ivy curled up around the second story windows.

“Come on Doc, this was your idea after all.” A man leapt down from the truck and stared up at the house.

“What was I thinking again Jack?”

Stan watched a second man climb down from the truck and frowned. He’d all but forgotten about the strange men and the old house even after moving back into the area with his wife and kids. These two couldn’t be the same men he’d seen so long ago but they looked exactly like what his memory called up.

“Slow path remember?” Jack replied, “Healing up, going to the local pub for quiz night, getting the Times delivered.” He slung a companionable arm around the Doc’s shoulders.

“I hate the Times,” the Doc replied but he didn’t shake off the arm, instead he seemed to lean into it slightly.

“You need time to tinker on the old girl and I need to see how the old firm is going, make my peace with history. You’re the one that said you were tired of running all the time, reminiscing about Amy’s little village and how nice it had been to have roots,” Jack said pulling the Doc through the front door.

Stan watched them leave and decided he had to be imagining the resemblance, unless the men were aliens of course, it was something you couldn’t rule out anymore.

The hedges and the ivy stayed but the place was suddenly there again, they way it hadn’t been for too long.

Jack met all of the neighbours and charmed them. Even Mr Barney who thought anyone new was a foreigner who should go back to where they came from and thought he had a robot living in his garden shed. The Doctor was just as friendly but not as active at meeting people as Jack, except for the kids who couldn’t stay away from him. He spent most of his time in the odd little blue garden shed out back according to Stan’s oldest who they had hired to mow the lawns.

Stan hadn’t mentioned his suspicions to either of them although he wondered if Jack knew something.

Jack had decided to have a garden party and the backyard was full of curious neighbours and a few city people that knew Jack. Stan had taken the opportunity to finally see inside the house. It was nice enough but very much a male house. The furnishings were practical and well worn and the kitchen looked like the most lived in. A couple of rooms had odd things, one was full of hat stands and the office had airplane models hanging from the ceiling. All in all Stan quite liked it although Maggie from number five was less complimentary and Stan could see her eyeing up the two men as her next mission.

The Doctor was mixing cocktails with practiced ease while Jack manned the barbeque grill. Stan ambled over to Jack and tipped his bottle in a salute.

“Great party,” he said, “you two planning on staying long?”

“Don’t know yet,” Jack said, “depends on how the Doctor copes with suburbia. What happened to your brother?”

“My brother?” Stan said.

“The one who talks back with debatable taste in cigarettes,” Jack said.

“That was thirty odd years ago,” Stan said, “I’m surprised you remember.”

“You remember.”

“Yeah but we were just some punk kids. I’m an adult now how the hell did you make the connection?”

“I did some checking at the time,” Jack said with a grin, “Marion Lloyd from across the street happily filled me in on your escapades.”

“I bet she did,” Stan said with an amused frown, “she was a nosy old bird but a good sort all the same. She told us to hide from the soldiers in your garden and we just kept coming back. It was a good place to hide for a kid.” He smiled at the memory. “Gary’s in prison again, he never did learn not to talk back.”

“Well it looks like you turned out alright Stanley,” Jack said.

“You don’t look like you’ve changed,” Stan said, “and your Doctor, he’s different to the first one, is it like a nickname or something?”

“A title and what he is,” Jack said looking over at the Doctor and smiling.

Stan recognised the smile, it was the one Annie gave him on their wedding day and each time he did something that made her love him even more.

It was a shame really that an alien invasion ruined the end of the party but the Doctor and Jack were certainly good fellows to have around in a crisis. They worked together seamlessly like they’d done it a hundred times before.

2100

Tamsin stared at the old house. Grandpa Stan had been full of stories about the man who didn’t age and the man who changed his face that had lived there. She’d never seen anyone and she figured he had just been senile at the end or making up stories to entertain her. She didn’t know about the men but there was something about the house.

Like the fact that everyone seemed to forget it was there. Some nights there would be strange noises and lights from behind the windows and everyone would remember it was there and call it haunted and talk about having it pulled down until they forgot about it again. Except Grandpa Stan who would just smile and tell her stories about her grandmother.

He told her other stories too, about the aliens in the early days when everyone was trying to invade, and Adelaide Brooke and the Bowie Station. One day she was going to go out there, into space like Captain Susie Brooke and see the aliens for herself she just knew it.

Grandpa Stan had told her to keep an ear out for a strange sound and a strange box because they would mean the man who changed his face was around and probably that there was going to be trouble. So when she heard a groaning noise from the old house she ran for the gate. It was never locked because nobody ever tried it.

There in the garden was the box just like Grandpa Stan had drawn for her. The door opened and a man tumbled out. He was wearing a bowtie and braces with really scruffy hair and he was hurt.

“I’m sorry,” he gasped when he saw her, “but you really had better step back.”

“But you’re hurt,” she said, “shouldn’t I get an ambulance?”

“Too late for that,” he said buckling over in pain, “just… when Jack gets here tell him it wasn’t his fault it was the best option… oh bugger, I’ll tell him but if he gets here before I can… Ow…”

Golden light started to stream from his body as it arched and she jumped back straight into the chest of another man.

“Hi, I’m Jack,” the man said pulling her back further, “best to stay back from this.”

“What’s happening to him?” she asked as his features blurred.

“He’s regenerating, it’s what he does,” the man said, his voice sad.

“The man whose face changes,” she said in awe, “just like Grandpa said. Are you the man who doesn’t age then?” she turned to face him. It was hard to tell how old the man was but he had a lovely smile.

“Just call me Jack,” Jack said and she blushed.

“Ow,” said a voice and they both turned. A different man wearing the same clothes was trying to stand and Jack let her go to help him.

“Easy there Doc,” Jack said, “I’ve got you.”

“You always do,” the man said, “but right now…”

“Yeah, the Lisarteans,” Jack said, “they were hard on your tail.”

“They got a bit closer than that,” the Doctor said.

“I noticed,” Jack said, “hey, you’re ginger this time.”

“Finally,” the Doctor trying to stand upright and look at his hair which wasn’t as long as it had been before.

“Easy Doc,” Jack said, “do you think you lost them?”

“Unlikely,” the Doctor said, “They’re stubborn about their religion and the whole taking over the universe thing. Hello,” the Doctor said noticing Tamsin, “I’m the Doctor.”

“I’m Tamsin,” she replied. “Are the Lisarteans tall and grey with big guns?” she added looking over Jack’s shoulder.

“Shit,” Jack said spinning around, causing the Doctor to stumble.

“Did you get it Jack?” the Doctor demanded.

“Yep,” Jack said handing a strange stick to the Doctor. “Hope it was worth it.”

The Lisarteans were advancing on them and Tamsin squeaked with fear. Their guns really were big.

Jack pushed her behind him and drew a rather small gun as the Doctor pointed a silver cylinder at the stick.

“You will not stop us Time Lord,” one of the advancing Lisartean said in a strange musical voice.

“Of course I will,” the Doctor replied, “there,” he said triumphantly.

“You really shouldn’t underestimate him,” Jack said, still pointing his gun at them.

“You will give us back the God staff,” the Lisartean said. “You had no right to take it from us.”

“What this old thing?” the Doctor said, tossing the stick at them.

The Lisartean caught it only to howl in anger. “What have you done?”

“Funny thing about devices that can drain the vortex,” the Doctor said, “nobody ever builds them with rechargeable batteries. Looks like this one’s all used up. Just like you will be if you don’t get off my property.” The Doctor practically yelled the last sentence.

Something in his eyes must have convinced them, or Jack’s gun was more threatening than it looked to Tamsin. The Lisarteans sang something she couldn’t understand and vanished in a golden glow.

“Rift surfers,” the Doctor said with a sniff.

“Hey,” Jack said, “I should resent that.”

“Grandpa would have loved this,” Tamsin said stepping out from behind Jack.

“Oh, hello again Tamsin,” the Doctor said, “Nearly forgot you were there.”

“Does this happen a lot to you?” she asked in awe.

“More than it should,” Jack said.

“That’s awesome,” she said, “I don’t ever want to have something like that happen a lot.”

“Sometimes you’ve got to do things to protect what matters to you,” Jack said his eyes flicking to the Doctor and Tamsin nodded her understanding.

“Nice to have met you Tamsin, but I’m afraid we have to dash,” the Doctor said and Jack winked at her. “I need a cup of tea and a lie down.”

“See you in the stars Tamsin Lake,” Jack said as he half carried the Doctor into the strange box.

Tamsin watched as the box began to wheeze and groan and then it started to vanish. Suddenly it was solid again and the door opened. The Doctor came out and ran past her into the house looking a lot sprightlier.

“Nearly forgot,” the Doctor called as he came back into the garden holding a large piece of coral.

Jack was standing waiting in the door of the box and his eyes widened in surprise. “I thought that was destroyed,” he said.

“Nearly indestructible,” the Doctor said, “just like her mother. Took a while to find her but I did. Bout time you started tending her properly,” he said to Jack who took the coral off him reverently.

The Doctor waved cheerfully at Tamsin and then the box was really gone. Tamsin looked back at the house which suddenly seemed to just be an old house. She wished she could tell her Grandpa Stan about what had happened and she really wished she knew how Jack knew her last name.

2150

The house was never sold and as the neighbourhood began to disappear with everyone wanting to go off world instead of live in the suburbs it became just another relic of the time before everything changed. Every so often people would report lights and strange noises but nobody cared enough to check.

Decorated war hero Tamsin Lake was gifted the house by the Torchwood Trust as part of her retirement settlement. She hadn’t wanted all the things the government offered her saying she was only protecting what mattered.

She was sometimes visited by other old soldiers who would stay a night or a week and then carry on and she passed the house on to her youngest nephew who had always loved it and didn’t mind visitors at odd hours.

He in turn gifted it to a distant cousin, Jack Harkness who settled like he’d lived there forever. He arrived alone and there was a deep sadness in his eyes that never completely went away. Nobody could figure out how old he was but they all knew he had lost someone important; his eyes gave him away despite his charm.

His most treasured possession was an old blue box that he positioned in the garden and grew a climbing rose over where he would sit and drink tea in an old deck chair. His pride and joy was an older class personal cruiser that he said resembled a Chula warship but nobody knew what that was and figured he was teasing them.

He did like to tease did Jack. The few families that still lived in the area grew accustomed to finding their children lazing around in his garden as he read to them from an actual paper book, A Journal of Impossible Things. The kids were as fascinated by the book itself as they were by the stories within and Jack was happy to tell them about the times when everyone owned books and drove in vehicles that couldn’t fly.

Nobody worried because there was something very safe about Jack, something protective and honourable like the old soldiers that sometimes visited him.

Jack left the house with everyone else to head for the stars when the Earth could no longer support them. Before he left he rested his head against the side of the blue box and said goodbye even though he knew there was nobody there to hear it.

Slowly the ivy covered the house almost completely and the climbing rose wrapped the box in a bouquet of colour including one perfect white bloom that crowned it in memorial, just waiting for the day another ship that only looked like a Chula warship would return for a visit.

END

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