ElevenJackRose Prompt: After losing the Ponds' the three are trying to cope in their own ways, not wanting to burden the others. But forgetting that the other people are always there for them, eventually one of them just cracks and it leads to the others cracking as well. The three finally letting themselves rely on the others again.
Ooooh, you are my new best friend now.
No tentoo, Jack reunited in Journey's End not mentioned in the fic but important to know. Also posted on ao3, under the name Doctorjackrose Tumblr Fic #1. This is 1234 words long, I couldn't have managed that if I tried. Enjoy! (I'm still open to prompts for doctorjackrose, just be aware that I'm working on a lot at the moment and it may take some time.)
The Doctor had let himself openly mope about losing the Ponds for a total of a seven Earth days, one week. That was all he allowed himself, and it seemed that Jack and Rose had managed to get over it in a week. He must have guessed the correct period of time to mope over friends then.
He hadn't much been one for reading aloud to his partners this regeneration, but he started doing that more often. It was especially calming to do while Jack and Rose worked on their own projects. Jack had taken up knitting, although he really wasn't very good at it, and Rose had started painting more. They certainly had more time now they weren't travelling with the Ponds every chance they got.
Sometimes he wondered if he was too attached to Amy and Rory because Jack and Rose were getting on just fine without them. He still missed them, and he still blamed himself for loosing them. Surely he could have done something to save them, anything. He couldn't think of anything he could have done, but it still hurt.
Jack had let himself openly mourn the Ponds for a week. He was used to grief, he was old now and he'd lived on Earth for a good couple of hundred years while he waited to find home again. The Doctor was fine, he had to be too. Especially if Rose was ok too. He'd tried knitting back when he was stuck on Earth as a way to help him process the grief, he started it up again.
The Doctor hadn't really read to them in this body. He'd liked doing it in both his past regenerations, but not so much this one. He loved books and reading, but not so much reading aloud. However he'd started up again. Perhaps, Jack reasoned, he hadn't wanted to read with Amy and Rory on board.
He knew he was awful at knitting. It was obvious, and it always had been. The point of his knitting though was not to make something good, but instead to give him something to do while he thought. The lull of the Doctor's voice and the strokes of Rose painting helped him relax and think too.
He wondered if he was perhaps too attached to Amy and Rory. If perhaps he had convinced himself they would get to have a good life after the Tardis. Perhaps they still where, but he wouldn't know. They could never visit them. Not even if they convinced the Doctor to actually go.
Rose gave herself a week to mourn. She'd given herself two when she left the other universe. That had been her mum, her dad, and her brother. As well as the few friends she had let herself make there. This was just two friends. There where still ways she could see them, complicated and ridiculous ways, but still ways. Still, she stopped showing it effected her after a week.
With Jack and the Doctor being fine after a week she figured it was the right thing to do. She'd have to get used to this, loosing companions. Both her partners were familiar with the lose, both the dying and impossible situations. She wondered if the pain they felt had been numbed from the familiar experience of if perhaps they were still hurting too but hiding it. Or maybe she had gotten too attached to them.
With nothing else to do, Rose threw herself further into her painting. It helped her process in a way. It gave her something to focus on as she let the feelings flood through her. The Doctor had finally started reading aloud to them again. She'd missed it, and now it provided a soothing background noise as she worked.
Jack had, for some unfathomable reason, picked up knitting. He was awful, but the clacking of the knitting needles provided a nice background noise as well. Whatever he was attempting to make, it didn't look like anything. It was sort of lumpy and uneven. She didn't say anything about it though.
Now it had been three more weeks, a whole month, since they had lost the Ponds. Their routine was still get up get food, do their limited activities, go for a quick hopefully relaxing trip, and get on with life. The Doctor still read aloud to his partners, Rose still painted more than she ever had, and Jack still failed miserably at knitting. The Doctor slammed his book suddenly and groaned.
"I'm going to get food," he told them.
"Bring me back something sweet?" Jack asked.
"Sure," the Doctor agreed before he sulked out the door.
"Somethings up with him," Rose muttered. Jack hummed.
"Where you listening to what he was reading?" he asked.
"No, it was more soothing background noise," she admitted.
"Same here, maybe it was something with the book," Jack suggested. Rose put her paintbrush down, wiped her hands on the cloth she kept by her easel, and went over to the book. The book mark was easy to spot, it was like a mini scarf and it dangled out both ends of the book.
Jack come up behind her and grabbed the book from the Doctor's favoured chair. He flipped it open to the pages the doctor had been reading and read through the two pages aloud. There were mentions of ponds and a ginger girl.
"He was reminded of Amy," Rose realised.
"It's a fairy-tale too," Jack added as he read the back cover.
"He's still mourning them," she muttered. Jack hummed and grabbed Rose's hand.
"We should go check on him," he said. Rose nodded and let him pull her from the library and towards the galley. Their partner was sat at the table, his head resting against it and a cup of tea next to him. The oven was on, presumably cooking up some fishfingers. Rose slipped into the seat next to him and took his hand as Jack slipped around to start on the custard the Doctor enjoyed with his fish fingers.
"I miss them," the Doctor admitted, though it was muffled as his face was still against the table.
"I do too," she admitted.
"I also miss them," Jack admitted. Rose gave him a sad smile over the Doctor's head.
"It's normal yeah, missing people we lost. It's a sign we have hearts," Rose said.
"It's a sign we're good people," Jack added on. The Doctor nodded, which looked strange against the table. Rose gently removed her hand from the Doctor's and wrapped her arm over his back.
"We're here for each other, it's what we do," she said. The Doctor hummed and shifted so he was sat up. He leant into Rose's side then, and smiled weakly over at Jack.
"Can we," the Doctor started though he huffed and shook his head.
"Can we what?" Jack asked softly, briefly turning round to squeeze his hand.
"Go settle somewhere and just have a life for a while?" he asked. Jack and Rose looked at each other.
"I think it's a good idea," Jack said.
"Me too, where have you got in mind?" Rose asked.
"Remember Madame Vastra?" he asked, they both nodded. "Somewhere near her."
"We'll set off after some food," Jack promised.
They weren't ok yet. But they would be with some time. And support from each other of course.
