neadods | FIC: Operation Awesome 2/5

Entry tags:

FIC: Operation Awesome 2/5

TITLE: Operation Awesome, 2/5
Rating: PG
Main characters: entire casts of SJA & Torchwood, the Doctor, Martha, Donna; cameos by other new and old school characters
Spoilers: SJA-S1; TW-S2; DW-S3, Journey's End

All characters licensed by the BBC. This is not an authorized tie-in.

Who_Daily; T3; Sonic: a href="http://neadods.livejournal.com/712757.html">Operation Awesome 2/5 by lj user="neadods"> (casts of all shows | PG | Spoilers: SJA-S1; TW-S2; DW-S3 through Journey's End)

Part 1

Chapter 2: The Operation Begins

The Doctor's voice was sharp and cold. "I don't let humans in anymore."

Martha cried out, a wordless, hurt sound. Alan put a protective arm around his daughter. Jack rocked back, stunned and wary.

Sarah Jane merely narrowed her eyes.

"I'm only here," the Doctor continued equally coldly, "Because you lesser beings need closure. So here it is. You won't see me again. Forget you ever saw me. Forget about me, the TARDIS, everything. Just like Donna. You'll be better off that way."

Jack was starting to growl. Sarah Jane's eyes narrowed further.

"Goodbye." The Doctor turned on his heel and started back inside - but the TARDIS door slammed in his face so hard that it knocked him onto the lawn. (Someone - Mickey would deny it to his dying day - choked back a laugh.) The Doctor launched at the door, reaching for his key, but the lock erased. For a frozen moment he stared at it, shoulders heaving as he panted in fury, obviously considering a full-out attack on his own home.

Then the moment passed and he slumped against the door, back to the crowd.

"Right." Sarah Jane sounded as calm and unconcerned as if she was about to go grocery shopping. "All of you, back in the house. We'll be in in a moment." Most of the onlookers translated that as an order to cluster around the windows rather than the open door as Sarah Jane strode across the lawn. After a moment's hesitation, Jack and Martha followed.

"Tell me what the real problem is," Sarah Jane said quietly to his back.

"The problem is that traveling with you apes is like living in a spun glass forest!" the Doctor shouted at the unyielding door. "No matter how careful I am, I break you!"

Martha's and Jack's angry denials overlapped and the Doctor turned at bay, teeth bared. "Martha, I broke your heart, traumatized your family, and made you walk a devastated Earth. Jack, I left you behind stuck in time, not even a word of explanation. Sarah Jane - you said it yourself. I took your whole life away. Davros was right. I'm-"

"...being a complete wanker," Sarah Jane finished. Her tone was still no-nonsense and calm, but her chin was high and her cheeks flushing.

"I... what?" the Doctor gasped, completely derailed.

"You. Are. Being. A. Wanker." Sarah Jane repeated. She turned for a moment to call over her shoulder. "Luke, you must never use that word. I know you're listening."

"But you-" floated out of the house before someone shushed him.

Martha and Jack were gaping at her. After a moment Martha shut her mouth with a click, turning to the Doctor. "You know something? She's right. You really are. It's not like you were living on bonbons and beer that year yourself."

"He always gets this way," Sarah Jane told her conversationally. "He gets rude and starts pushing you away when he's frightened, and he's a complete boor when he's hurting, but he'll never admit to anything as lesser-species as pain to the likes of us."

"I'm not going to stand here and listen to you-"

Sarah Jane rounded on the Doctor, finally letting her own fury fly, "And I'm not going to stand here and listen to you quote Davros - DAVROS! - as an authority on anything. Not to me. And certainly not from you. Not after Skaro. And certainly not after now."

"He was right," the Doctor said sullenly. "I saw it with my own eyes. All of you, so ready to fight and kill. I did that to you."

"Of course you did." It was not physically possible to cram any more sarcasm into Sarah Jane's dripping tone. "Because the human race is otherwise only interested in peacefully tatting and making jam, as you have remarked on so many occasions."

The Doctor's mouth opened soundlessly a couple of times.

"Into the house," Sarah Jane ordered, pointing, "and we're going to sort everything out right now."

"Do you treat your son like this?" the Doctor asked, caught between admiration and irritation.

"Yes," three voices chorused out of the house at the same time as Sarah asked with poisonous politeness, "So you're admitting you're having an adolescent strop, then?"

***

The Doctor was on the couch admitting to a cup of fresh tea about the metacrisis. "They don't happen often, and they've never really been stable. The last time there was a cross between human and time lord biology, it was because of Rose looking into the heart of the TARDIS. And that started burning her out in just a couple of minutes. Donna was so stable for so long that I thought maybe it was going to work out for once. And she was so happy, and I was too because she was and then..." He took a ragged breath, still staring at his tea because he couldn't meet any of the fascinated eyes staring at him. "She started breaking down fast, and there wasn't any time. I had to save her, I had to, and she was begging me not to and I didn't... I didn't... there wasn't any time!"

"So it could kill her to remember and you don't bother warning us about that?" Mickey demanded angrily. He was the only one who wasn't pretending that the scene on the lawn had never happened.

"I didn't think that..."

"You didn't think, period!" Mickey snapped.

"Enough." It was Jack stepping in. "Mistakes were made, but we're going to fix them."

"How?" Alan wanted to know. "Is there something alien you can do to fix her now that you've got time?"

"No," the Doctor told his tea.

"No, there isn't, or no you don't know how?" Gwen asked.

"I don't know of any way that won't risk her remembering and dying," the Doctor elaborated. "It's not like we can try something else if a plan doesn't work."

"So we'll get it right the first time," Ianto promised. "Let's see. We can run some simulations on the hub computer."

"And Mr. Smith will help." Sarah Jane offered.

"Maybe the TARDIS can too. What about that fobwatch thingie? Can we use it to draw out the Time Lord parts?" Martha suggested.

"But if she sees the TARDIS..."

"Does she have to be conscious?"

"JACK!"

"Hey!" The children had been more or less ignored as the planning session went on, but Maria's shout brought everyone's attention to them. "You're going on and on as though traveling in space is the only thing that made Donna's life worthwhile."

"Yeah," Clyde backed her up. "And on behalf of those who haven't, gee thanks for suggesting there's no point to our existence."

"It's really quite illogical to keep saving the planet and then assume that its inhabitants' lives have nothing to value," Luke added.

"So shouldn't we be focusing less on how to get the Time Lord bits out of her head and more on helping her develop here?" Maria turned to Sarah Jane, who was goggling at her.

"Maria, yes, of course!" Sarah Jane was suddenly in a flurry of action. "She has a home, but she needs work. You said she was a temp - what sort of skills does she have?"

"Types 100 words a minute," the Doctor offered.

"I like a girl with nimble fingers."

"Jack, you're not helping."

"She's great at human resources. While we were running around looking for aliens at the Sontaran factory, she figured it right out with one trip to the office," Martha said.

"Should we offer her a scholarship of some sort?" Ianto wondered.

"Too obvious," Sarah Jane waved him off, flipping through her address book. "She'd start asking questions we can't answer. But what could be more natural than finding her work? Only we'll find her a good job, one with a future where she can let her inner... what's that word you kids are using?" she asked Maria.

"Awesome?"

"That's it! Somewhere where Donna can let her awesome out."

"That's not how you say it," Maria giggled.

Sarah Jane rolled her eyes, but she'd found the page she was looking for. "Here! Just the person!"

Maria punched the air. "Operation Awesome begins!"

"But isn't this just as obvious as offering her a scholarship?" Gwen asked.

"Not really. Who's going to question a job offer when you're already hunting?" Sarah Jane's voice was distracted as she dialed the phone. "I didn't realize for years that the Brigadier rescued my career."

***

Oh, his brilliant, brilliant companions. His friends. His Children of Time - certainly he couldn't have been prouder of them if they had been his own lost children. So wonderfully stubborn, so characteristically determined, and not one of them considered a possibility of failure. Only this time they weren't armed to the teeth and threatening destruction to their enemies. Davros was right about him, but Sarah was also right about them - they were such a violent species, but there was so much more to them.

So many centuries on this planet and he still underestimated how big their single hearts could be.

The Doctor was so busy being proud that it took a moment for his brain to catch up with his ears, but when it did, his hearts skipped a beat. Rescued Sarah? What had he done to her? More than just dropped her in the wrong city. He'd just dumped her and ran. Just as he'd done to Donna. And Jack. And Rose. And Tegan. And so many others, all the way back to his own granddaughter. He left them behind and hoped they'd be all right and never went back to check - Peri? Where are you really? - and left them to pick up the pieces.

His friends. His friends he didn't deserve.

"Sarah?"

She had the phone to her ear and waved him away irritably. "Hey! It's me. Remember how you were saying that one of your branches was crying out for a good organizer? Well there's someone who has lots of office experience and she needs a job right away. She also needs someone who won't ask questions about two missing years of her life. Yeah, got it in one. Himself. There's something wrong; if she remembers him, it'll be bad. But she's got what it takes, we just have to bring it out. We're working on it, but in the meantime, she needs work, period. Can you help?" A pause. A laugh. "Yeah, you probably can get her to start this Monday. I'll email the details to you within the hour; I don't know what agency. Mr. Smith can find out."

Sarah caught his eye as she talked, and her encouraging smile faded at his expression. "Oh, and by the way, guess who is having another midlife crisis," she casually told the phone. "Thinks he's ruined all of us. Care to tell him how miserable you've been?"

She shoved the telephone into his hands and the Doctor stared at it for a moment as if he'd never seen one. "Hello?" he finally asked tentatively.

Her voice had aged, but her personality was unmistakable. "Doctor?" Jo Grant asked. "What am I supposed to be miserable over?"

***

He'd been so shocked that he was almost tongue-tied to Jo, who filled all the silences in with cheerful chatter. She'd been very happily married to her inventive professor, and when it got inconvenient to travel up the Amazon while pregnant, they'd come back to Britain and founded a series of environmental charities. Miserable? He was just an old silly and if she wasn't trying to stop a shopping mall from being built on the land of an endangered bird, she'd come right down there and give him a squeeze. In the meantime, if there was anyone who could whip their London office into shape she would give them a big wet kiss, because the ninny they had there thought "filing" only applied to manicures.

Barely had the handset been clicked off than Sarah Jane was dialing again, and again waving off his attempt to talk to her. "Hi! Am I interrupting? Oh, good, let it bubble for a few minutes. This shouldn't take too long. Unless he's going to be stubborn, and he usually is. Yes, him. Only now he's insisting that he's ruined all our lives and it's really tedious. Want to tell him how silly he's being?"

He lifted the phone gingerly to his ear. "Hello?"

"Doctor, I can't believe that I still have to pet your ego and remind you you're brilliant," Liz Shaw sighed in his ear. "If you were here in my lab, I'd make you pass me the test tubes this time, though. I'm right on the verge of another breakthrough, and I want to have an even hundred patents before I die."

***

Word must have started getting around via another network than the group in front of him, because it wasn't long after that conversation before the phone rang on its own. Sarah Jane answered, grunted, and handed it over. "It's for you."

A veddy veddy proper clipped voice barked with military precision, "Doctor? What's this poppycock I'm hearing about you ruining lives?"

Part 3

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Awesome indeed *g*. And yay for Sarah Jane :o)

SJ has known the Doctor the longest and arguably the best - while Jack and Martha have seen him upset and defeated, only Sarah Jane (of this group) has seen him flat-out scared, and called him on his behavior then, too.

Good to see that you're addressing BOTH ways of "fixing" Donna, both by trying to restore her memories and by developing her Earthbound character in the meantime. :)

And it's nice for ~~Russell T. Davies~~ the Doctor to be forced to acknowledge all the people who benefitted from knowing him.

There's more than one path to greatness, *particularly* for Donna. And there are an awful lot of people who know the Doctor. :>

A veddy veddy proper clipped voice barked with military precision, "Doctor? What's this poppycock I'm hearing about you ruining lives?"

The Brig, right?

This is very good. :-)

You betcha!

And thanks!

Excellent. It would be the kids who were smart this way. Well done.

I love stories where it admits that there were companions before Rose. (I mean other than Sarah) If only the show would do this as well.

I figure the kids are in the best position to have the Earthbound solution, as they have not only not traveled in space or time, they're just the right age to be worrying themselves about jobs and identities.

The show may be working its way up to it - it brought Sarah Jane back, and had the Fifth Doctor, and Tennant has name-checked Jamie, Tegan, and Nyssa.

Tennant has name-checked Jamie, Tegan, and Nyssa.

Can you remember where that was from? I'd really love Tegan to make an appearance.

Time Crash - Ten looks at Five and in part of his "I recognize you!" babble mentions Nyssa and Tegan. Ten also adopted Jamie's name in Tooth and Claw.

Thanks, I'd forgotten about that.

Shame the Brig's not there in person to give him a short, sharp jab with his swagger stick! :P

Brilliant!

He might yet, some of the details are in flux. :>

LOL!

I do love the idea of his companions telling him of the extraordinary or even plain ordinary things they're doing because of him. I wish the show writers would let him see that because four seasons' worth of emo!angst is wearing...

four seasons' worth of emo!angst is wearing.

It is - it would be nice to know that not everything is going to end up a downer at the finale. I have hopes for when "Everybody lives!" takes charge; he's already written some fabulous Who comedy.

That's what I'm hoping too - that Moffat will actually give us a slightly happier Doctor...

*begs very hard*

Love that something's being done for Donna, and that the companions are shaking some sense back into him, but I suppose the logical counter for the Doctor to make if he's being so self-pitying is that it's friends from his third and fourth incarnation that he's hearing from, when most of the seriously messed-up lives in his wake happened later on.

when most of the seriously messed-up lives in his wake happened later on.

I wanted to use a more recent companion, and realized I didn't know what happened to them! By media canon only, Peri disappears, Ace's fate is unknown, and I forget what happened with Mel.

Here's a link to a discussion on how the old companions left (http://community.livejournal.com/doctorwho/3624573.html).

Ace's unknown fate at least means you have room to make something up if you find it convenient. Mel wound up leaving to keep an eye on Sabalon Glitz and lord knows if she ever made it back to Earth, though I gather some Big Finish or books claimed that Peri and her husband eventually did so. Also, there was Tegan walking out on the Doctor on Earth in the 1980s, though her opinion of him might not be such a positive one, unless she'd been able to look on the bright side after a few decades.

I'm trying to hew to video canon, except for the parts I'm directly making up for this story!

Wheee!!

Best line:

"But if she sees the TARDIS..."

"Does she have to be conscious?"

"JACK!"

::snigger::

And one beta niggle:

"How?" Alan wanted to know. "Can you do something alien and fix her now that you've got time?"

"No," the Doctor told his tea.

"No, there isn't, or no you don't know how?" Gwen asked.

For this to make sense, Alan's line needs to be "Is there something alien you can do to fix her..."

Eagerly awaiting more... (Now, with added BRIG!)

Oh, thank you! Will fix in a bit.

Your "Be Enthusiastic" button is very appropriate here. :)

I adore this story and how you're developing it. Been eagerly looking forward to more, and this is even better than I expected. Having the kids point out that it wasn't just traveling with him that made her awesome is perfect.
Hooray for the extended Team TARDIS!

Sarah asked with poisonous politeness, "So you're admitting you're having an adolescent strop, then?" Made me sporfle right out loud.

Sarah Jane has *always* had his number!

OK, trying REAL hard not to squee here- but ONLY because I'm at work and the office would NOT appreciate it...
LOVE all the others pitching in to knock some sense into his hard head, (Go BRIG!!!) ... also LOVED that the TARDIS gave him the shove he needed (You GO GIRL! Have I ever mentioned how much I love that sentient ship?)

And Sarah Jane, Our DEAR Sarah Jane! Calling him on being a twit! BRAVA! (Yes, I CHEERED at that. As quietly as I could, but I CHEERED!)

Quick question about that scene on the lawn, Jack and Martha were leaning out the open window or something? Because they left, then they were involved in the conversation... well- part of it, anyway.

Everyone but Jack and Martha left - that's what I intended, anyway. It's unclear?

A little, yes. Because you say Jack and Martha hesitated, then followed. (the others I presume?)

Then two paragraphs later, "Martha's and Jack's angry denials overlapped and the Doctor turned at bay, teeth bared. ..."

Sort of gives the impression that they were either still right there, having NOT gone inside. Or they are yelling across the lawn and through the window at each other.

I understood that Jack and Martha followed Sarah...

That's what I was aiming for - that Sarah's headed over to the Doctor and the other two companions trail behind her.

This continues to be awesome :)

Jack's hilarious, the TARDIS is just what the Doctor needs, and Sarah rules all:
Sarah asked with poisonous politeness, "So you're admitting you're having an adolescent strop, then?"

He really needs to be confronted with his idiocy and his patronising, paternalistic behaviour. He does not know what's best for people, even if he was probably right that he had no choice but to do what he did for Donna. He needs to stop making decisions for people and walking away before they can challenge him.

Sarah rocks :)

You know, even if Rose does seem to be a dirty word sometimes these days, I would also think it might pull him up short if someone - Sarah, perhaps - pointed out that Rose would slap him if she saw how he was behaving. Because she so would.

I'm amused by the gang's efforts to find Donna a job, because in my current post-JE WIP they also do so (it's over and done with by the time the fic starts, so no overlap), and the Doctor's reaction to it is not all that enthusiastic ;)

Keep this coming - I'm enjoying it very much :)

He really needs to be confronted with his idiocy and his patronising, paternalistic behaviour.

Sarah Jane usually did, canonically. Not just in School Reunion - I think it's Masque of Mandragora when he snaps at her and she outright says "you always do x when you're scared." And I forget the episode where he tells her to stay behind safe; she marches after him and when he tries to rip strips off her for making him worry about her, she snaps that she'd come after because *she* intended to protect *him* and he backs down.

It makes her the perfect person to put a boot up his ass now.

The scene I have in my head where the Doctor gets emo about having ruined lives wasn't quite the scene that ended up on phospher, but there were a couple of things that I still want to bring out, and Rose is going to be namechecked. But probably not quite in the way you wanted, because the Rose who would have slapped him is also the Rose who refused to even try to build a life without him - which still creeps me out and thus in my writing is going to creep the Doctor out as well. And all *Sarah* remembers of her aside from this last adventure is the one who stayed silent when the Doctor was offered godhood.

What I dodged around here but I want to bring up is that all of the (remaining) new companions are too in awe of the Doctor, even Rose who occasionally punctured his pomposity and Martha who occasionally forced him to talk about his vulnerability. Sarah's seen him at his worst and would laugh herself sick if she ever heard the words "Lonely God." Laugh and *point.*

Oh, y'know what? I've just figured out how I'm ending the next scene.

it's over and done with by the time the fic starts, so no overlap

:> Just don't use "Dominatrix of Donations," that's all I ask. This statement will make sense if I ever get around to telling Donna's side of the story, which wasn't supposed to take this long to get to!

Ah, if only Ace could take a potshot at him right now.....

Don't tempt me! :D

Whee!

(loves on Brig) (loves on Jo) (loves on Sarah Jane) (loves on all of them)

(has grin on face)

Yay! I'm glad you like it. Now that the recapping is finished, I'm going to make a push to finish this story, hopefully by the end of the week or weekend.

Yay!

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FIC: Operation Awesome 2/5

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