#like the shift from ‘the names kelly. jack kelly; you think im lying?’ ‘well you have a way of improving the truth’ -> ‘you didnt even tell

[sarahjacobs]

you know what really gets to me. is how jack loosens up david’s morals. like how david starts off as a staunch pacifist because of the Optics and strategy of it all, but then later he kicks a cop in the face and threatens him with a swing + tries to punch jack when he scabs. and both instances occur specifically because he cares so deeply about jack. But also there's this tidbit from the 91 script

it's like. up until now, david's interactions with jack have largely consisted of david being openly skeptical/confrontational whenever he detects any kind of bullshit. and while he immediately clocks that all this stuff about santa fe is a lie, for the first time, he decides to let it go. Because there's a kernel of authenticity to the statement, though the authenticity doesn’t lie in factual truth, it’s in how jack desperately "wants it to be true". because. this is david's first time seeing the soft underbelly to jack. because david IS charmed by jack despite not really trusting him

[wordshakerofgallifrey]

for @elozable , @mirkwoodsguardian , and @radioactivepigeons ... careful, y’all, or I’ll start to think you like my writing or something, and then I’ll get a big head ;) <3

A hand gripping his shoulder suddenly woke Jack up. 

Bolting upright, he resisted his deep, innate instinct to throw a punch. Instead, he tried to clear his fuzzy head. “Kath?”

“Jack, Jack, something---ohhhh---something’s wrong, something’s really wrong.”

His wife’s panicked voice shook the last of the sleepiness from his mind, and Jack was wide awake. “What is it, babe, what’s--what’s happenin’?”

He managed to twist around to turn on a lamp. Katherine had managed to rip the covers off her by the time he turned around, only to see blood soaked into their sheets.

Jack scrunched his eyebrows. “Nothin’ that hasn’t happened before, we’ll just change the sheets---oh shit.” His eyes went wide. “You’re pregnant.”

“No. Shit.” Katherine said through gritted teeth, holding her stomach. 

“Okay, okay, okay. Shit. We gotta---” Jack frantically stood up, rounding the bed to her side. “---Hospital. Can ya stand? We’ll get... We’ll get Pete, an’ we’ll take ya to the hospital, an’---”

“Jack.” Her voice stopped him. His six-and-a-half month pregnant wife looked more scared than he had ever seen her. “It’s too early, this---ah---this can’t be good, that’s too much blood for it to be anything but bad.” Katherine shook her head, eyes welling up.

“No, no, no, shhh, darlin’.” Jack cupped her face, trying to steady himself. He was scared, too, it was a lot of blood, but his wife didn’t need him freaking out now. “He ain’t comin’ out yet, not ‘til he’s s’posed to. We just gotta get’cha ta the hospital just ta make sure, okay?”

Katherine nodded, swallowing hard, even as tears spilled over. “Okay. Okay. Get Pete. I--I can make it to the door.”

“Ya sure?” She nodded again, and he kissed her forehead, wiping away her tears. “Okay. We’ll be okay.”

***

“Mama! I sit wit’ you?”

Jack scooped up Pete before he could climb up on the couch, looking at Katherine, who was lying on her side, in question. She nodded, looking a little wistful. She’d been on bed rest for the last month, unable to travel much further than the distance between their room and the couch without causing more bleeding. It was killing her, not being able to be as active as she wanted, go to work, or play with their son.

“Okay, buddy, but we gotta be gentle wit’ Mama, okay? Can ya be gentle?” Pete nodded enthusiastically, and Jack set him on the couch, near Katherine’s hip. She reached out a hand out to comb her fingers through Pete’s short hair, as Jack sat on the floor in front of the couch.

Pete leaned on Katherine. “Mama okay?”

“Mama’s okay, baby,” she reassured him. “Mama just has to rest a lot because of the baby.”

“Me?” Pete’s brow wrinkled in confusion, and Katherine laughed.

“No, the baby in Mama’s tummy. He’s making me tired, so I have to rest.” 

Pete reached out a tentative finger to poke her stomach. “Dis baby?”

“Yeah,” Jack said. “That’s ya lil’ brother.”

Frowning, Pete poked Katherine’s stomach again. “Stop makin’ Mama tired. I wanna play wit’ Mama.”

Katherine laughed. “Don’t worry, buddy. Mama’ll be able to play soon. But for now, can you rest with me?”

Pete yawned, face scrunching as he did, and he nodded. Stretching out, he managed to curl himself around her bump, pillowing his head on her chest. Within a minute, he was already asleep.

Jack shook his head. “Think Number Two will be this easy?” he asked, pulling a blanket over Kath and Pete.

“With the trouble he’s given me so far?” Katherine shook her head. “Who knows?”

***

“Okay, Dad, time to cut the umbilical cord.”

Jack couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief. The last two and a half months had been rough, right up to this moment. Corey---they’d finally picked a name last month---had decided to make things even tougher on Mom and Dad, trying to wedge his shoulder out before his head.

But he was out now, and Jack accepted the scissors from the nurse, cutting the cord with a much steadier hand than he had with Pete, and Corey was whisked away to be cleaned up. 

Jack moved back to stand next to Katherine in the bed, lacing their fingers together and kissing the back of her hand. She sighed, rolling her head tiredly towards him. 

“Well,” she sighed again. “That was... an adventure.”

He laughed, squeezing her hand. “Ya did great, baby.”

“I know.”

Jack laughed again, pressing a kiss to her head. 

“Alright, here he is, Dad,” one of the nurses said, bringing Corey back, swaddled in a blanket. 

Taking his son---second son---in his arms, Jack couldn’t help put marvel at this little boy who’d made their lives difficult before he even entered the world.

When he married Katherine, he didn’t think he’d ever love anyone like he loved  her. Then they had Pete, and he thought the same. 

Now, holding Corey, Jack couldn’t believe his heart was capable of feeling so full. 

He turned to allow Katherine to hold their son, just in time to see her curl in on herself, grimacing. “Kath? What--?”

“She’s losing a lot of blood!” the doctor said suddenly, and, in an instant, the room was bustling with activity. “Get her to an OR, prep a unit of whole blood!”

Before Jack could ask what was happening, the sides of her bed were pushed down, Katherine was transferred to a gurney and wheeled out of the room, leaving Jack holding Corey, completely stunned. 

***

A couple hours later, Jack had been updated on what happened to Katherine--- “It happens, sometimes, especially on a second or third child. She’ll be fine, we just have to get the bleeding stopped.”---and was sitting in a chair next to her bed, waiting for her to wake up. 

Corey’d been taken to the nursery to be fed and to sleep for a bit, and Jack was already missing him. If nothing else, there’d be someone else in the room, awake. 

It was too late to call anyone now, even though they all insisted that he wake him up when Corey came, but it felt wrong to have anyone come see Corey when Kath hadn’t even met him.

He’d called Davey and Chaya earlier, just after Kath went in to surgery, to check on Pete, who was ecstatic that his little brother was finally here and couldn’t wait to meet him the next morning. 

The door clicking open broke him out of his thoughts, and Jack looked up to see a nurse holding Corey. “Mr. Kelly? Would you like to see your son?”

He nodded, holding his arms out for his son, not able to trust his voice right now. 

She set Corey in his outstretched arms, smiling a little as she closed the door behind her. 

Corey blinked up at him. “Look at’chu,” Jack said. “I swear’s ya eyes’re already darker, kid. Ya gonna have Mama’s eyes? Pete does. An’ Mama’s eyes are the prettiest I’ve ever seen, so’s I’m okay if both ya boys get ‘em.”

Unimpressed, Corey stretched an arm out, his mouth forming a little ‘o’ as he yawned. 

“That’s ya Mama.” Jack turned him a little towards Katherine’s bed. “Ya gave her a hard time, lil’ man. She’s gonna be okay, don’ worry ‘bout that. But you’ve given us too many scares, an’ she had a couple’a problems afta’ ya came out. But’chu know what?” Corey stared past his head. “Ya Mama’s the strongest girl I know. We’re gonna be fine.” 

He wasn’t sure if he was reassuring himself or Corey at this point.

They sat there for who-knew-how-long, Jack just watching Corey drift in and out of sleep, and wait for Katherine to wake up.

“Hey,” a soft voice said next to him, startling him slightly. He looked up to see Katherine, sleepy-looking, but awake, smiling softly at them.

“Hey,” he said back, standing to sit on the edge of her bed. “Wanna meet Baby Number Two?”

She laughed a little and nodded. “Let me meet Corey.”

After she’d sat up, Jack transferred Corey into her arms. Cradling him to her chest, Katherine shifted the blanket so she could see his face better.

“Oh,” she breathed. “Look at that, Jack, he looks just like you.”

“Nah,” Jack shook his head. “I had a lotta time ta look at ‘im, Lookit those ears, that’s all you, Ace. Hair’s too light, too.”

Katherine was quiet a moment, tracing Corey’s features lightly with a finger as he settled into her.

“Kath?”

“I--I know we always talked about more than two,” Katherine said, looking at Corey rather than him. “I had six siblings growing up, you had the boys, but... I don’t know if I can go through that again. I don’t want to say never, but--”

He set a hand on her leg. “I get’cha, baby. We don’t gotta figure anythin’ out now, but y’know. I think two boys’s enough ta add to the mix.”

She looked up at him then. “For sure?” she asked, cracking a little smile.

“For sure.”

***

A Little More Than Two Years Later

They stared at the little plastic stick on the bathroom counter, the little plus sign glaring mockingly at them.

“Well... shit.”