gracie_musica (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
gracie_musica) wrote2010-03-09 02:15 am
gracie_musica) wrote2010-03-09 02:15 am
Mageverse Interlude: Double or Nothing
Mageverse Interlude: Double or Nothing
Date Written: 3/9/10
Rating: PG-13/T
Word Count: 1,712
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who
Characters/Pairings: Doctor/Sarah Jane, Donna, various former Companions
Spoilers: Doctor Who up through Season 04, Torchwood up through 02, Mageverse
Warnings: AU like whoa, het and (slight) femslash.
Author's Notes: Major thanks to my betas![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
totally4ryo, thrace_adams, and teachwriteslash, and to cjharknessgirl for the absolutely gorgeous banner! This is for luvinthe88and20 for the ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
help_haiti auction back in January. Her prompt was so unexpected that the muses popped right up and I had to do it! I hope you all like it!
banner bycjharknessgirl
"Listen to us. It's like me and my mate Shareen. The only time we ever fell out was over a man, and we're arguing over the Doctor. With you, did he do that thing where he'd explain something at, like, 90 miles per hour and you'd go 'what?' and he'd look at you like you just dribbled on your shirt?"
"All of the time! Does he still stroke bits of the TARDIS?"
"Yes, yes, he does! I'm like, 'Do you two want to be alone?'"
"How's it going? ... What? Listen, I need to find out what's programmed inside this. What? Stop it!"
-- Rose Tyler, Sarah Jane Smith, and the Doctor, School Reunion
The moment Sarah Jane realized that John Smith was getting serious, she told him about her Choice.
"But why?"
She shrugged in response. "I don't want to live forever," she replied. "Do you?"
John was flabbergasted at the very question, eyes wide in amazement. He opened and closed his mouth like a fish out of water, casting his gaze around as if the appropriate answer would magically appear. "Doesn't everyone?" he finally managed. "We're Time Lords and Mages and -- Think of all the people we can help! We have responsibilities."
His response was so unashamedly, unabashedly earnest that Sarah Jane realized there was no way John Smith could not be in her life. Life just wouldn't have any real meaning if he wasn't in it.
She told him she loved him three days later.
He'd proven his love for her by telling her his true name and asking her to take it as her own.
She'd agreed when she was able to catch her breath.
-----
She'd worried about meeting the famous Donna Smith when John had mentioned it. From the stories he'd told, his twin was boisterous, outgoing, and quick to temper. What if Donna didn't like her? What if she thought Sarah Jane wasn't good enough?
She and Donna, of course, got along famously from the moment they'd met.
Sarah Jane had grown up as an only child, and she'd always wanted a sister the way girls without sisters do. Donna, it seemed, had had quite enough of having a brother as a constant companion and took easily to what John teasingly dubbed "girly things". One night not long after their Binding ceremony, he started teasing Donna about her new found passion for spinning and weaving.
"Donna's never taken much to fabric work," John teased, leaning over the table. "She always said that it was a male contrivance to keep women too busy to do real work."
John and Donna always, always sat on the opposite ends of the table. They had to shout down to one another when they had dinner with the rest of the House, conversations that usually sent some off blushing and the others rolling with laughter.
Sarah Jane could smell a contrivance for the sake of humor.
"It's enjoyable when you have someone to talk to while you do it," Donna replied, leaning across the considerably smaller table in the kitchen. The twins often dined there instead of with everyone else, still unsure where they sat in their newly appointed House and Second positions.
It was a bit more intimate, familiar. It made Sarah Jane feel more at ease as the new Lady of Torchwood House, at least.
"I would have learned with you." John's voice was mock affronted, but Sarah Jane knews that the words are true. The Smith twins are as they were born, two together.
"She said, talk to, sweetheart," she teased, putting her hand over John's. "It's hard to get a word in edgewise with you sometimes."
"Yeah." Donna's tone was one they all know, that legendary temper coming to the fore. "And maybe I didn't want to do it with you. Maybe I wanted something of my own."
And there it was, as near as any of the Smiths would come to admitting. Two together was now plus one, and someone was inevitably left out.
John was, as he always was in these situations, speechless. It's one of the things that Sarah Jane both loved and hated about him: he can be incredibly observant and can twist any situation to his advantage, but when it comes to those he loves and how they feel, he's utterly clueless. He's having fun. Why shouldn't everyone else?
Then he says the one thing that was guaranteed to Make It Worse.
"You're... A bit... In love with Sarah Jane, aren't you?" he said slowly, turning the idea over in his mind as he speaks it.
Donna's entire face turned a brilliant, bright scarlet that Sarah Jane wasn't sure she's seen before. She squawked indignantly, stammering really, and Sarah Jane considered this.
Two together, always. It makes sense -- they have the similar mannerisms, similar tastes, similar minds, sometimes. It... doesn't offend her; the idea of Donna loving her.
"It's okay," Sarah Jane said when Donna paused for breath. "I'm a little bit in love with Donna too."
The twins stopped their squabble to stare at the brunette. She just smiled in response and took a bite of her food.
There'd always be enough room for two, anyway.
-----
Ian came first. That she's sure of. After that, it gets a little... Fuzzy.
John and Sarah Jane had always wanted a large family -- John and Donna had a slew of cousins to compete with -- and the Goddess blessed them with easy pregnancies and healthy babies. The House was soon full of the noise of their beautiful, brilliant children.
Jenny and Ace (not Dorthy, never Dorthy) were constantly challenging Jamie to two-on-ones, the three brave little warriors tussling in the corridors and out on the lawn. John would just smile and shake his head and lament that they'll never grow out of it.
Grace turned out to have a knack for Healing and threw herself in her work in the Healing Halls. She and Ian were the closest, usually bent over dusty tomes in the library. Little Nyssa often tagged along as well, learning at the apt hands of her elder siblings.
Polly turned out to be almost a little copy of her Aunt Donna, a jack-of-all trades who was constantly cleaning up after strays. Her favorite stray was Ben, a Water Mage in the school and one that Sarah Jane was anticipating to be her son-in-law someday.
She did feel a little for Donna. Always included, beloved aunt, but it was obvious that she yearned for children of her own. Each time Sarah Jane announced another pregnancy, there was a split second of grief that flashed across her face.
"I was thinking that after this one we'd take a bit of a break," she declared one night as she and John were getting ready for bed. Well, she was getting ready for bed, in her dressing robe and braiding back her long hair. John was already in bed.
John looked up at her over the edge of his glasses (he doesn't really need them, he just likes the image they present), one eyebrow arched. "Really? Why's that?"
She smiled indulgently at his reflection in the mirror. "This one will make eight. I think I'm due a break, don't you?"
John laughed softly, looking back down at his tome. "But you look so lovely when you're with child," he complimented, holding out a hand to her, beckoning her to come in.
"Flatterer." She grinned and tied off the end of her braid. "I'm not as young as I used to be," she argued, rising and climbing into bed next to her husband.
Her husband put a ribbon between the pages of the book to mark his place and set it aside. "Is that so?" he teased, taking his glasses off as well. He regarded her with a critical eye as she settled under the covers next to him. "Mmm, I'm afraid you're right." He brushed his fingers over her face, lingering for a moment around the crinkles in the corners of her eyes, the smile lines beginning to deepen in her cheeks. "When did that happen?"
"Between the children and the House running, I assume," she sighed.
"Ah, yes. That whole business." He winked at her, and she smiled back. "Why'd we even do that?"
"Insanity," she said immediately
"And good sex," he agreed.
"Just good?"
"Great. Amazing. Fantastic sex. Brilliant, even."
"Uh-huh." She sighed and shifted more onto her back.
John's hand moved to settle on her stomach and he grinned when the baby shifted a little. "What names were you thinking of?" he asked, leaning down to kiss her belly.
Sarah Jane closed her eyes, running her fingers through his hair with practiced ease. "Oh, I don't know. Luke?"
"I like Luke."
-----
She was so... tired.
Was that the word?
She couldn't even remember any more. All she remembered now was the endless black.
Sometimes she thought she remembered something more. Light and warmth and laughter. Anger and resentment and sorrow. Love. Hate. A million other things she couldn't name, didn't know how to name, couldn't remember their names.
She didn't even know her own name anymore.
She didn't even know what a 'she' was, just that she was one.
Sometimes.
Occasionally she would remember a name. She didn't know what a John or a Donna were, just that they were important. And that she wasn't one of them.
Look at the will of this one.
I see, I see.
Two voices, two powerful beings, were on either side of her. Their words weren't so much spoken as felt, resonating inside of her being.
O child, why do you cling to the past so? one voice asked.
If you were to let go, if you were to completely forget, you would be at peace, the other prompted.
They were worried. Concerned. The voices, they loved her.
Two voices had loved her before. Had wanted her happy and safe.
Is that your desire? To be with them once more?
Even if the road back to them is hard, and it causes you pain?
"Yes," she replied instantly. Pain was better than this... regret she carried with her. This longing for a past she couldn't quite remember.
Then go and be well, our child.
There was a tug at her very soul. Unused to any such stimuli, she cried out in surprise...
... and continued to scream as white light enveloped her, as she left a warm, wet place and was grabbed almost too-tightly by a pair of too-big hands. She screamed as warm became too cold, as the hands holding her poked and prodded. She only stopped when a blanket was wrapped tight around her and the hands became too-big arms, rocking her entire body, lulling her to sleep after all that commotion.
"Welcome to the world," a voice murmured as the peaceful dark overtook her once more. "Little Princess Rose."
Date Written: 3/9/10
Rating: PG-13/T
Word Count: 1,712
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who
Characters/Pairings: Doctor/Sarah Jane, Donna, various former Companions
Spoilers: Doctor Who up through Season 04, Torchwood up through 02, Mageverse
Warnings: AU like whoa, het and (slight) femslash.
Author's Notes: Major thanks to my betas
totally4ryo, thrace_adams, and teachwriteslash, and to cjharknessgirl for the absolutely gorgeous banner! This is for luvinthe88and20 for the help_haiti auction back in January. Her prompt was so unexpected that the muses popped right up and I had to do it! I hope you all like it!
banner by
cjharknessgirl"Listen to us. It's like me and my mate Shareen. The only time we ever fell out was over a man, and we're arguing over the Doctor. With you, did he do that thing where he'd explain something at, like, 90 miles per hour and you'd go 'what?' and he'd look at you like you just dribbled on your shirt?"
"All of the time! Does he still stroke bits of the TARDIS?"
"Yes, yes, he does! I'm like, 'Do you two want to be alone?'"
"How's it going? ... What? Listen, I need to find out what's programmed inside this. What? Stop it!"
-- Rose Tyler, Sarah Jane Smith, and the Doctor, School Reunion
The moment Sarah Jane realized that John Smith was getting serious, she told him about her Choice.
"But why?"
She shrugged in response. "I don't want to live forever," she replied. "Do you?"
John was flabbergasted at the very question, eyes wide in amazement. He opened and closed his mouth like a fish out of water, casting his gaze around as if the appropriate answer would magically appear. "Doesn't everyone?" he finally managed. "We're Time Lords and Mages and -- Think of all the people we can help! We have responsibilities."
His response was so unashamedly, unabashedly earnest that Sarah Jane realized there was no way John Smith could not be in her life. Life just wouldn't have any real meaning if he wasn't in it.
She told him she loved him three days later.
He'd proven his love for her by telling her his true name and asking her to take it as her own.
She'd agreed when she was able to catch her breath.
-----
She'd worried about meeting the famous Donna Smith when John had mentioned it. From the stories he'd told, his twin was boisterous, outgoing, and quick to temper. What if Donna didn't like her? What if she thought Sarah Jane wasn't good enough?
She and Donna, of course, got along famously from the moment they'd met.
Sarah Jane had grown up as an only child, and she'd always wanted a sister the way girls without sisters do. Donna, it seemed, had had quite enough of having a brother as a constant companion and took easily to what John teasingly dubbed "girly things". One night not long after their Binding ceremony, he started teasing Donna about her new found passion for spinning and weaving.
"Donna's never taken much to fabric work," John teased, leaning over the table. "She always said that it was a male contrivance to keep women too busy to do real work."
John and Donna always, always sat on the opposite ends of the table. They had to shout down to one another when they had dinner with the rest of the House, conversations that usually sent some off blushing and the others rolling with laughter.
Sarah Jane could smell a contrivance for the sake of humor.
"It's enjoyable when you have someone to talk to while you do it," Donna replied, leaning across the considerably smaller table in the kitchen. The twins often dined there instead of with everyone else, still unsure where they sat in their newly appointed House and Second positions.
It was a bit more intimate, familiar. It made Sarah Jane feel more at ease as the new Lady of Torchwood House, at least.
"I would have learned with you." John's voice was mock affronted, but Sarah Jane knews that the words are true. The Smith twins are as they were born, two together.
"She said, talk to, sweetheart," she teased, putting her hand over John's. "It's hard to get a word in edgewise with you sometimes."
"Yeah." Donna's tone was one they all know, that legendary temper coming to the fore. "And maybe I didn't want to do it with you. Maybe I wanted something of my own."
And there it was, as near as any of the Smiths would come to admitting. Two together was now plus one, and someone was inevitably left out.
John was, as he always was in these situations, speechless. It's one of the things that Sarah Jane both loved and hated about him: he can be incredibly observant and can twist any situation to his advantage, but when it comes to those he loves and how they feel, he's utterly clueless. He's having fun. Why shouldn't everyone else?
Then he says the one thing that was guaranteed to Make It Worse.
"You're... A bit... In love with Sarah Jane, aren't you?" he said slowly, turning the idea over in his mind as he speaks it.
Donna's entire face turned a brilliant, bright scarlet that Sarah Jane wasn't sure she's seen before. She squawked indignantly, stammering really, and Sarah Jane considered this.
Two together, always. It makes sense -- they have the similar mannerisms, similar tastes, similar minds, sometimes. It... doesn't offend her; the idea of Donna loving her.
"It's okay," Sarah Jane said when Donna paused for breath. "I'm a little bit in love with Donna too."
The twins stopped their squabble to stare at the brunette. She just smiled in response and took a bite of her food.
There'd always be enough room for two, anyway.
-----
Ian came first. That she's sure of. After that, it gets a little... Fuzzy.
John and Sarah Jane had always wanted a large family -- John and Donna had a slew of cousins to compete with -- and the Goddess blessed them with easy pregnancies and healthy babies. The House was soon full of the noise of their beautiful, brilliant children.
Jenny and Ace (not Dorthy, never Dorthy) were constantly challenging Jamie to two-on-ones, the three brave little warriors tussling in the corridors and out on the lawn. John would just smile and shake his head and lament that they'll never grow out of it.
Grace turned out to have a knack for Healing and threw herself in her work in the Healing Halls. She and Ian were the closest, usually bent over dusty tomes in the library. Little Nyssa often tagged along as well, learning at the apt hands of her elder siblings.
Polly turned out to be almost a little copy of her Aunt Donna, a jack-of-all trades who was constantly cleaning up after strays. Her favorite stray was Ben, a Water Mage in the school and one that Sarah Jane was anticipating to be her son-in-law someday.
She did feel a little for Donna. Always included, beloved aunt, but it was obvious that she yearned for children of her own. Each time Sarah Jane announced another pregnancy, there was a split second of grief that flashed across her face.
"I was thinking that after this one we'd take a bit of a break," she declared one night as she and John were getting ready for bed. Well, she was getting ready for bed, in her dressing robe and braiding back her long hair. John was already in bed.
John looked up at her over the edge of his glasses (he doesn't really need them, he just likes the image they present), one eyebrow arched. "Really? Why's that?"
She smiled indulgently at his reflection in the mirror. "This one will make eight. I think I'm due a break, don't you?"
John laughed softly, looking back down at his tome. "But you look so lovely when you're with child," he complimented, holding out a hand to her, beckoning her to come in.
"Flatterer." She grinned and tied off the end of her braid. "I'm not as young as I used to be," she argued, rising and climbing into bed next to her husband.
Her husband put a ribbon between the pages of the book to mark his place and set it aside. "Is that so?" he teased, taking his glasses off as well. He regarded her with a critical eye as she settled under the covers next to him. "Mmm, I'm afraid you're right." He brushed his fingers over her face, lingering for a moment around the crinkles in the corners of her eyes, the smile lines beginning to deepen in her cheeks. "When did that happen?"
"Between the children and the House running, I assume," she sighed.
"Ah, yes. That whole business." He winked at her, and she smiled back. "Why'd we even do that?"
"Insanity," she said immediately
"And good sex," he agreed.
"Just good?"
"Great. Amazing. Fantastic sex. Brilliant, even."
"Uh-huh." She sighed and shifted more onto her back.
John's hand moved to settle on her stomach and he grinned when the baby shifted a little. "What names were you thinking of?" he asked, leaning down to kiss her belly.
Sarah Jane closed her eyes, running her fingers through his hair with practiced ease. "Oh, I don't know. Luke?"
"I like Luke."
-----
She was so... tired.
Was that the word?
She couldn't even remember any more. All she remembered now was the endless black.
Sometimes she thought she remembered something more. Light and warmth and laughter. Anger and resentment and sorrow. Love. Hate. A million other things she couldn't name, didn't know how to name, couldn't remember their names.
She didn't even know her own name anymore.
She didn't even know what a 'she' was, just that she was one.
Sometimes.
Occasionally she would remember a name. She didn't know what a John or a Donna were, just that they were important. And that she wasn't one of them.
Look at the will of this one.
I see, I see.
Two voices, two powerful beings, were on either side of her. Their words weren't so much spoken as felt, resonating inside of her being.
O child, why do you cling to the past so? one voice asked.
If you were to let go, if you were to completely forget, you would be at peace, the other prompted.
They were worried. Concerned. The voices, they loved her.
Two voices had loved her before. Had wanted her happy and safe.
Is that your desire? To be with them once more?
Even if the road back to them is hard, and it causes you pain?
"Yes," she replied instantly. Pain was better than this... regret she carried with her. This longing for a past she couldn't quite remember.
Then go and be well, our child.
There was a tug at her very soul. Unused to any such stimuli, she cried out in surprise...
... and continued to scream as white light enveloped her, as she left a warm, wet place and was grabbed almost too-tightly by a pair of too-big hands. She screamed as warm became too cold, as the hands holding her poked and prodded. She only stopped when a blanket was wrapped tight around her and the hands became too-big arms, rocking her entire body, lulling her to sleep after all that commotion.
"Welcome to the world," a voice murmured as the peaceful dark overtook her once more. "Little Princess Rose."