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[personal profile] kalleah
Another vignette from Pete's World after Voyages of Discovery, once again from Pete's POV. This one haunted me a bit until I got it out. Back to the normally scheduled program in a couple of days.

Spoilers through Doomsday and for my stories The Calm Before The Storm and Voyages of Discovery.

Thanks to betas [personal profile] ivydoor and [personal profile] platypus.

Previous Vignettes

"Truth is beautiful, without doubt; but so are lies."
Ralph Waldo Emerson


Pete watched Jackie and the baby sleep, their faces both slack and dreaming, in the faint glow from the new pink-and-yellow night light. Long shadows stretched out over them, enfolding and dark.

He turned at the soft sound at the bedroom door and saw the butler's face half in shadow from around the door. Immediately, he made a shushing gesture with one hand and stepped out into the hallway.

"Sir," said the butler. "Mickey Smith is here, asking to see Mrs. Tyler."

"I'll see him." Pete strode down the hallway. For Mickey to arrive at midnight on their first night home with the new baby certainly indicated a development with Rose's abrupt disappearance.

In the living room, Mickey was pacing back and forth when Pete arrived. "I've got to see Jackie," he burst out at once.

"She's sleeping." Pete had no intention of upsetting Jackie unless there was a damn good reason. "What is it?"

When Mickey held out his hand, palm up, showing the cube, Pete's stomach lurched.

He remembered well the last time that he had seen this particular device. Through it, the Doctor had ordered him to snatch Rose back from the Void. He had never spoken of it again, not to Jackie, not to Rose, not to anyone. He had saved her from an unspeakable hell, he knew, but he had also dragged her against her will into a world she had rejected, away from the man she loved.

He had wondered, at times, if she resented him for it.

"I have to give it to Jackie," said Mickey. "The Doctor said it's got a message for her."

A blue light on the side of the cube was blinking persistently, offering him an answer to the mystery of Rose's disappearance. Jackie's faith, her certainty that her daughter was safe and with the man she loved, sustained her. Could he dare allow a message to reach her, not knowing if it would confirm her faith or shatter her completely?

In his darker moods, he resented the Doctor for asking him to be the one to break Rose's heart so completely. He did not know if he could also bear being the one to break Jackie's.

He reached out and touched the cube with one finger, but didn't try to take it. It blinked mockingly back at him without any clue of what message it might carry.

Which is more important, he wondered, the truth, or a beautiful lie?

Date: 2007-07-17 01:04 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jlrpuck.livejournal.com
Let's try this again--last time, I was distracted by honest-to-goodness responses to my LJ ;)

I love it. I love that you're talking about not only the cube that Ten gave Mickey, but referencing it in a way that feels so very true to the Pete that you've created. I can picture him there, in the dim light, weighing the decision, the weight of the decision visible on his face.

Fabulous.

Date: 2007-07-17 01:25 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kalleah.livejournal.com
feels so very true to the Pete that you've created

Thanks. As [livejournal.com profile] platypus commented in her beta response ... we don't see much of alt!Pete, and it's interesting to hear what he's thinking. I'd venture that we know more about original!Pete from Father's Day.

Date: 2007-07-17 01:23 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] briodenebuliser.livejournal.com
...keep going, this is awesome!

Date: 2007-07-17 01:25 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kalleah.livejournal.com
Thanks. Eventually, I'll get to Mickey and Jackie again, but I'll wait for inspiration to strike.

Date: 2007-07-17 05:03 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] larielromeniel.livejournal.com
I love this, and am lookign forward to the next bit.

Date: 2007-07-18 12:59 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kalleah.livejournal.com
Thanks ... these vignettes are incredibly fun, and let me delve into the characters I don't get to spend as much time with.

Date: 2007-07-17 05:57 am (UTC)
ext_23543: (Default)
From: [identity profile] starlightmoonla.livejournal.com
Oh love this! I really enjoyed the way Pete was portrayed in this part. I can't to see the next part when it comes out. :)

Date: 2007-07-18 12:59 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kalleah.livejournal.com
Alt!Pete is a bit of a mystery -- but I like to think he'd make parallel, unselfish decisions like his counterpart did. We'll have to see how it goes.

Date: 2007-07-17 09:05 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] blackcat-1.livejournal.com
I was wondering when you were going to come back to this! Wonderful development and beautiful characterisation. Can't wait for the next installment!

Date: 2007-07-18 01:00 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kalleah.livejournal.com
I was wondering when you were going to come back to this!

As inspiration strikes, essentially. Not sure when the next one will come around, and I'm not sure whose POV it will be from.

Date: 2007-07-18 05:53 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] debs7.livejournal.com
I'm really liking these short but insightful views into the people that Rose left behind. I can't wait to read more :)

Date: 2007-07-18 11:46 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kalleah.livejournal.com
I'm so glad. More to come when inspiration strikes.

Date: 2007-07-19 11:36 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] np-complete.livejournal.com
Oh, what a decision. Will we find out what he did, down the road?

Date: 2007-07-20 12:23 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kalleah.livejournal.com
Will we find out what he did, down the road?

Certainly. I can't say when, as I'll have to wait until I'm inspired to write it, but absolutely.

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