| Date: 15 January 2008
Characters: Kurt Harding, Jamie Tyler Location: hotel lobby Link to IJ: thread #36818 |
 Kurt was looking for the Doctor. He'd said he was going to check up on him, and he'd meant it, even if he was starting to feel like a mother hen looking out for everybody he'd met in this place.Trouble was, the old so-and-so seemed to have gone to ground. Normally, he could have just tracked him down the same way he had that very first time, all those years ago, with Rose. But his wrist computer was frustratingly useless here. Wouldn't even tell him the time for goodness sake! Well, he knew it was late. But hours and minutes just didn't seem to exist here. He decided to wait around the hotel a bit longer anyway. There were several other people he wouldn't mind bumping into and this was as good a place to find them as any. He got himself a coffee and wandered into the lobby to drink it and see who was about. |
 Jamie couldn't help it. He stared. Then he came over to stare, straight on at Kurt like he was the most confusing thing that Jamie had ever seen. He reached out a finger to poke Kurt's arm. |
| Kurt raised an eyebrow, amused. Poking seemed a little bit - young - for the kid who was doing it. "Can I help you?" |
| "Just making sure you're real. You look old." Pause. "No offense, Jack." |
| "Thanks," he said dryly. "None taken. Who're you?" |
| Sigh. "Jamie," he held his hand out. |
| "Kurt," he said, taking the hand and shaking it warmly. "I take it you knew another version of me when I was Jack?" God, his past was complicated enough, without alternate realities confusing the issue. |
| He nodded, "At a guess. And since you don't know me, I'm guessing alternate reality as well. 2009 for me. When is it for you?" |
| Kurt's eyes twinkled. "A bit later." He looked the kid up and down. "Do you work for me - well, Jack - Jamie?" |
| "No, sir," Jamie couldn't help the small smirk, at the idea. "Jack knows my parents. In some reality or another." |
| "Really?" He took a sip of his coffee, frowning at Jamie's face. Didn't look like anyone he had known. "Who're your parents?" |
| "Don't think you know them," Jamie smiled, "When are you from?" |
| "How would you know if I knew them if you're not from my reality? I could know them but they just didn't have a child. Or you could have been a girl. There seems to be a bit of that sort of thing going around." |
| "Who's a girl?" he asked interestedly. |
| "The Doctor. Do you know the Doctor? In another reality, the Doctor's a girl. Well, a woman. A very attractive woman. And so's the Master." |
| "...That has to be mind bending." |
| "It was a little disconcerting, yeah." Kurt grinned. "Still very much like the Doctor I know, though." |
| "Did you meet him again?" |
| "What do you mean? Here? I haven't seen him since I saw the female version." |
| "No, I mean past s- you know, nevermind. I'm assuming your timeline follows my Jack's despite the fact it obviously doesn't." |
| Kurt shook his head a bit, catching up. "Sorry. You mean, after abandoning me and then ignoring me for 140 years on Earth? I assume that happened in most realities?" And no, he wasn't bitter about that. Not at all. |
| "After that, yeah. ...Only 140 years?" |
| "1869 to 2008. 139, to be exact. Uh, you said 2009, didn't you?" |
| He nodded with a tiny wince. |
| "Shit." He put a sympathetic hand on Jamie's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Jamie." |
| "Why are you sorry for me?" he shook his head, leaning into the touch automatically, "I'm sorry for Jack." |
| "You winced - it's automatic." Kurt slipped his arm further round Jamie's shoulders - that was automatic too. "Come and sit down." |
| "What name do you go by now?" Jamie leaned into Kurt, angling them for a bench. |
| "Kurt. I told you that already." He sat down, pulling Jamie down with him and keeping his arm round the kid, rubbing his shoulder gently. "Is the Doctor your father?" It was a reasonable assumption, after all. He'd already met the Doctor's granddaughter here. And the Doctor was a friend of his. |
| He looked startled, then, oddly, relieved. "Yes. Am I a girl in your universe?" |
| "In my universe, the Doctor doesn't have a child. Well, not one who's around at the time you are. He had one back on Gallifrey, who had a daughter, Susan, but I didn't know about her till I landed up here." He shrugged. "3,000 years, and there's still so much I don't know about him." |
| "Okay," Jamie shook his head, "I've never met the Doctor." |
| "You haven't? You mean he just abandoned you on... oh wait, this is starting to sound familiar. But as a baby? How do you know he's your father, then?" |
| "No, I never met him," he shook his head, "He doesn't know about me." |
| "So how do you know he's your father?" Kurt repeated patiently. |
| "If I ask you about the weather can we change the subject?" |
| "Not a lot of weather here to talk about, but go ahead," Kurt said easily, uncannily reminded of his recent conversation with Jack. |
| "I miss snow. How do you feel about snow?" |
| "Er - it's cold?" Kurt gave a wicked grin. "Can be fun, though." |
| "Are you a sledder, Kurt?" |
| He raised his eyebrows. "Why? Have you found somewhere to sled around here?" |
| "No, but I am very, very clever," he grinned hugely, "Maybe I'll find the climate controls." |
| Kurt gave a slow smile, that grew into a big grin as he thought about the idea. "Well, if you find them, let me know. We could have a snow-fight. Doctors versus Jacks. I have no idea how many of each of us are wandering around but it must be quite a few!" |
| "And what, I get to arbitrate?" he grinned, "How many Jacks? I've only met you and another." |
| "Well, I think we can count you on the Doctor's side. And Susan," Kurt said, eyes dancing. "I've met two Jacks so far, plus me, and there's at least one more around. And I've met two Doctors and heard about another. Hmm, need to find another me, then, to make it fair!" |
| "Sounds like you do," he nodded, "Or Susan can be on the Doctor's side and I'll arbitrate." ...Being on the Doctor's side instead of Jack's *bothered* Jamie. |
| "Oh, I'm sure I can find another Jack," Kurt said comfortably. "With a hundred trillion years of me to choose from, there ought to be far more of me here than the Doctor. Logically." |
| "A pardon?" |
| Kurt leaned back on the bench, stretching his arms out along the back. "Sorry. I forgot your Jack hadn't found his Doctor again yet and so wouldn't know quite what the deal is. Do you want me to explain about the part where I'm a universal constant and I'm never, ever going to die?" |
| Jamie looked a bit like he was going to throw up. "What?" |
| Kurt turned his head and looked at Jamie, concerned. He swallowed. "Jamie. Are you - involved - with Jack?" Because it was clear the kid felt a lot for his Jack, and involvement was a very obvious conclusion to draw. |
| "I said I knew him," Jamie didn't take involved with in the normal context because well. No way. |
| "I know you did. It's also really clear that you feel a lot for him. I'm sorry - I'm just trying to work out how to tell you about this and not knowing just what your relationship is with him isn't making it easy." He wondered if this was how other people felt when he wouldn't give them answers. Frustrated. He held up his hands with a bright smile. "Not gonna push, though." |
| "Just tell me. I'm the only one responsible for my emotions." |
| "All right," Kurt said peacably, and cleared his throat. "I assume it happened the same in your world. Rose Tyler absorbed the power of the Time Vortex from the TARDIS to obliterate the Daleks, yeah?" |
| He looked blank, "Is that what happened?" |
| "Okay..." Kurt thought back. Damn, it was all so long ago, he'd forgotten he hadn't known that either. Hadn't had a clue what had happened, till he'd met the Doctor again. He grinned. "It's a long time ago, for me. I forgot I didn't know that either. Right. Yes, that's what happened. She got rid of the Daleks and then she brought me back to life. Only she couldn't control it - she brought me back forever. As far as I know, it really is forever, or at least till the end of the universe. The Doctor says there's nothing he can do. I'm just here. For good." |
| "A constant," Jamie nodded, "She just brought you back?" |
| "Don't ask me how. The way the Doctor tells it, it was like making a wish or something. She had all this power in her, and she just... chose to use it to bring me back. And I never saw her again." |
| "He misses Rose," Jamie said quietly. |
| "Yeah." Kurt leaned forward, put his hands in his lap and looked down at them for a long moment. Then he looked up at Jamie with a lopsided smile. "You don't have Zeppelins in your universe, do you?" |
| "What? No." Jamie shook his head, confused. "Like the balloon things?" |
| "Yeah." Kurt shrugged. "The Doctor says Rose is trapped in an alternative reality where they have Zeppelins. Would have been cool if it was yours." |
| "Jack told me there's a Rose here." |
| "Really?" Kurt's face lit up. "Wow, it'd be great to see her again!" He gave a short little laugh. "There are so many people here I haven't seen in 3,000 years. I really don't want to end up going home again before I've spent some time with them all." |
| "3000 years." He shook his head, "I can't fathom it." |
| Kurt laughed. "It gets easier. Though it's probably a good thing I won't remember this when I go back, or I could end up trying to get used to loving and losing all over again." |
| "You mean you stopped?" |
| Kurt looked at him gently. "I never stop loving, Jamie. But I have got used to losing the people I love. I just meant I could get used to having them around again here, and have to learn to lose them all over again." He leaned back again and gave Jamie that lopsided grin again. "Something you'll have to get used to too, if you're going to continue to live on Earth amongst beings with a much shorter lifespan than your own." |
| "How old do you think I am?" he half-smiled. |
| Kurt looked him over. "Late teens?" he hazarded. Then he stopped. "Oh," he said, with an embarrassed grin. "You've regenerated already?" |
| He tapped his nose, "I understand the feeling." |
| "What feeling?" |
| "Watching people you love die." |
| "Oh, right, sorry." He gave Jamie a comiserating grin, then raised his eyebrows. "How old are you?" |
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