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Regeneration - the sequel, last part
Title: Regeneration - the sequel, last part
Rating: PG
Notes: Crossover Hornblower/Dr Who/Torchwood .
No claim made on or profit made from these characters.
"Where's he that wishes so?" Kennedy, queue hidden under a convenient helmet, standing on a cart transformed into a makeshift stage, made the Agincourt speech from Shakespeare's version of the history of 25th October 1415. As Hornblower watched him, deeply anxious as he was in case his lover should be found out, he couldn't help but feel an enormous amount of pride. Archie spoke with aplomb and dash, employing theatrical gestures that he must have seen some flamboyant leading man use on the stage at Drury lane. It was all very effective.
And Kennedy was enjoying himself enormously of course - what an actor he might have made, had it been suitable employment for the third son of an earl. And Horatio recognised no end of the words, naturally, as old Bard-boots was liable to spout them at the least provocation. Even Ianto seemed impressed, mingling among the serried ranks of Welsh bowmen; chatting away in the native tongue, he occasioned no suspicion and was making sure that his little clique were vociferous in their king's support.
"He that outlives this day and comes safe home." Archie stumbled rather on the words. Would they outlive this day and get back to their own place in Earth's history? And what the hell was he doing anyway, popping up at random in various parts of time and space, like a ring of fairy mushrooms at dawn? It had all seemed very exciting while he was still under the influence of his last dose of codeine - given to ward off a migraine - but now that the feeling of elation was abating he felt exposed and nervous. He caught Horatio's eye in the crowd and was reassured - Hornblower never batted an eye at adventure or uncertainty, although his reaction to one of the girls back in Cardiff, all tattoos and what seemed to be merely a few hankies for clothes, had shown that he could still be unnerved.
Kennedy took a deep breath and continued. "Then he will strip his sleeve and show his scars;" he thought at this point of stripping off his shirt and showing his own scars, just for dramatic effect, but decided that it would shock Horatio too much and was not in keeping with canon as he understood it. A little too much on the extemporising side. And it would have brought the risk of Hornblower seeing a certain mark on the edge of his neck that he'd managed to keep out of view so far.
"We few we happy few, we band of brothers." Horatio had forgotten those phrases had come from this play, this speech. They produced in him such feelings of homesickness; for the early days on Indefatigable when life was glorious for the first time ever, for the later days when he had his first visions of becoming one of the great men in the navy, for the cursed times under one of Nelson's own. His thoughts returned to more urgent matters. Where were William and Jack? If they didn't get back with the rightful King and pretty damned soon, then they'd all end up down in the defile between the woods - in the midst of battle - and their chances of survival, even in view of the knowledge that the English army should win nobly, would be slim.
"Where's Harkness?" Hornblower grabbed Ianto's arm.
"He'll be here; he knows what he's doing. Trust him."
Horatio scowled - confidence was the last thing he had in this so called captain; he did not resemble any ideal of leadership that he had ever known.
Ianto noticed the look. "Don't you rely on your men to trust you - to follow instructions without question just because you've said so? That's part of what he's been about," he nodded towards Archie, who was valiantly winding up his speech. "Getting the men to go in and obey their leader without grumbling."
"God be with you all!" Amen to that. Kennedy, pale from his exertions, joined his friends as the army began to deploy itself across the defile as Henry and his advisors had thankfully already arranged. "They're leaving it bloody tight."
Ianto prepared to launch into his standard support Jack speech when the man himself appeared bearing an enigmatic grin and what seemed to be Archie's twin brother. The tales had not been exaggerated - Henry really was the spit of Kennedy.
"Couldn't appear until you'd got them all dispersed." William was out of breath but grinning widely. "Risky enough to have a ringer in - letting them see two kings would have been pushing it a bit too far."
"Gentlemen," Henry spoke for the first time, "We are indebted to you for saving us from those..." he sought for the right words to describe the strange creatures who had laid hands on the royal personage, "miscreants. We have seen strange sights this day," he cast a sidelong glance at Archie, "but thank God we are restored to take our rightful place in the fray. The game's afoot, is it not?" He grinned, looking less like a king and more like the saucy lieutenant who had impersonated him.
Hornblower and Kennedy made low bows and the others followed suit.
"Your majesty," Bush automatically gave an anachronistic naval salute, "we have to restore you fully. You will need your armour," he raised his eyebrows at Archie, who was wearing it, "which this man needed while he covered for the royal absence. Let us to your tent where we may attend you."
Kennedy soon emerged, back in the medieval clothes they had assumed in Cardiff before the whole daft rigmarole began. He looked tired but satisfied and assured them that he had fully briefed the King on what he was supposed to have said.
William and Jack soon emerged from the camp among the trees wearing particularly secretive smiles. They refused to answer any questions about how they'd managed to explain the situation all away to the king and his advisors - Bedford has been most persistent in his questions - and why the whole story wasn't going to enter into history. It was left to Ianto to vaguely mutter something about erasing unwanted memories when it was expedient to do so. The thought that if they probed further they might end up having the same done to them, made Hornblower and Kennedy keen to change the subject and be led back to what Archie referred to as the blue box of wonder.
***
"I think that your last evening in the twenty first century deserves a special celebration. Something better than a few beers and a chicken tikka massala." Jack had a particularly wicked look on his handsome face.
"That's a shame," the doctor ventured - "one of the best things about being on earth in the twentieth and twenty first centuries. is the accessibility of decent Indian restaurants. And even Mr Hornblower enjoyed that take-away." The remark raised a smirk among all the company, the man in question having sweated so much at the consumption of a simple Korma their first evening here - and having suffered so much in the aftermath - that he swore he would never touch a spice again. Kennedy had managed a Madras and now regarded his lover with a distinct degree of moral superiority that could not be gainsaid.
Ianto smiled his sweet, shy smile. "There's a club..."
"Like a gentlemen's club?" Horatio was trying hard to find his feet again. He didn't like this world and was glad that he'd be long gone before it came to fruition. He was happy to cling to anything that reminded him of the 1800’s.
"Not quite, although it's predominantly gentlemen that frequent it. All of them men, anyway," he added, rather enigmatically.
"And what would one do there?" Kennedy had caught the undercurrent in what Ianto was saying and could not fail to notice the looks that passed between him and Harkness.
"Drink; eat; dance; raise a toast to new friends and departed ones." Jack looked wistful - an expression that Kennedy thought he was not capable of assuming - not genuinely, anyway.
"Well that sounds just the job. What say, Horatio?"
"How do we dance if there are no women? Is it like the hornpipes that the hands perform up on deck?"
When Jones and Harkness - ably assisted in their laughter by Bush - had dried their eyes, they simply shook their heads and rose. "Come on, this you need to see."
The music was like nothing the officers had ever heard. Some of it loud, clashing, at times more like a musical representation of a broadside than anything they'd come across. Sometimes they could make out the odd word; there was a song which Archie adored and insisted be repeated again and again so that he could sing along that he too didn't feel like dancing, no sir, no dancing today. He made a point of telling Horatio that he would perform this at Pellew's table next time the man suggested the hands be allowed to sing and dance on deck.
Hornblower could not have sung even if he had the musical ear that the wonderful Jack - curse his ridiculous range of talent - possessed. He sat, stunned, a bottle of beer in his hand and in front of him a packet of what were said to be thinly cut fried potatoes, but which tasted like salt horse. There were men dancing with other men. In broad daylight. Well, not quite broad daylight, given that it was night time and the light inside this club was fairly dim - but in public, certainly. And Harkness and Jones were two of them, waving their arms in semaphore motions to a song about something called a YMCA, a song that even Bush was tapping his feet to, although he was signally not indulging in the dancing.
Harkness could dance beautifully, the swine, and Horatio suspected if he didn't concentrate one hundred per cent of the time, the man would be whisking Archie up onto the floor and jiggling about with him in an unseemly manner. He'd had a few beers and now needed to find the modern equivalent of the quarter gallery, but he dare not, just in case; he crossed his legs and thought of England.
Ianto came over, looking unusually flushed. Horatio was used to him having a sober, dapper appearance; he was a studious, thoughtful lad - or so Hornblower had always thought - but the sight of him shaking his unseemly parts around had erased all those notions.
"Fancy a dance, Horatio? Just the one?"
Ianto, of all people, quiet little Ianto with his 'please give me a cuddle' face that made everyone think of Wellard; Hornblower felt like he'd just had a French frigate sneak up out of the fog and rake him with a broadside. "Sorry, need to ..." he indicated the toilets and sped off to take a refuge there and weigh up his options.
Rarely in the service of his majesty had Horatio Hornblower had to admit to a mistake, but on this occasion he had employed the wrong tactics - discretion had not proved the better part of valour. When he returned to the main part of the club he found a song being played that concerned a Dancing Queen and there - out on the floor but definitely not young and sweet, only seventeen - was Archie, dancing with Jack. Or sort of dancing - more a sinuous curve of body around body that made Horatio’s blood boil. Action was required - the sort of decisive stroke that had freed them from the threat of the Spanish fort's guns. Hornblower took a deep breath and raised himself up to his full height. "Mr Jones - Ianto - I believe I am ready for that dance which you so kindly offered."
A smug, shy, little grin crossed the man's face. "That'd be a treat, Horatio."
Now it would be an exaggeration to say that Hornblower enjoyed himself - but it was not the agony he thought it would be. There were no steps or patterns to learn, just a general moving to the beat of the music, which was all a damn sight easier than the dances that his dancing master had tried time and again to drum into him. The sheer amount of bodily contact was disturbing to a degree and he wished that he had the ability to let himself go as Archie was doing. The man was as happy as Horatio had seen him since they'd drunk Pompey dry together.
Several more dances followed, in which the notion of set partners seemed to disappear - at one point Hornblower was even dancing with his arch rival, something that seemed to amuse Harkness enormously before Horatio realised and sidled over to Ianto again. At last the rapid tempo of the music fell and a lovely, plaintive melody began to waft over the floor - Jack whispered in Archie's ear and propelled him over to Hornblower, leaving himself to be tenderly embraced by Ianto. The singer began to say that he'd like to leave right now, and Horatio couldn't help agree with him.
"We should be getting back now - going home tomorrow and we'll need all our strength to carry this deception off."
"Just a few more dances, Horatio. I've not felt so truly alive for ages." Kennedy clasped his lover - his one true love - closer. "Can't do this in 1802 and I intend to make the most of it."
They danced the rest of the tune in silence, Hornblower with his eyes closed trying to ignore the mass of humanity around him, Archie with eyes open drinking in the novelty of this wonderful freedom. Another slow song began and he pulled his head away from Horatio's shoulder. "Can't do this, either. May be the only time we ever get to do this in the sight of anyone but God." He drew Hornblower towards him and gently kissed his lips.
"Archie, we can't..."
"Oh but we can - and we will. As often as we can get away with before they throw us off the floor."
***
They'd bandaged Archie and William up again, the linen spattered expertly with something that wonderfully resembled reasonably fresh blood. They were also supplied with substances to dampen their healthy complexions and make them seem more like men at death's door - though what Clive would say when he saw their wounds was anyone's guess, Hornblower would have to try to keep the man at bay. Buckland would be easier to deal with as he'd been lined up to meet an unfortunate accident at the hands of some of the local banditry. Or Jones and Harkness dressed up to look like them.
The TARDIS started up, Bush having very pointedly taken Horatio to help him with navigating the journey and Ianto having made himself scarce.
"Still would have liked you on the team - the twenty first century is when everything changes and you'd have been ready - more ready than your friend." Harkness smiled and laid his hand on Kennedy’s arm.
"That's kind, but I have to be with him. Have you never been in love, Jack? Don't you understand?"
Harkness nodded. "I have; I do." They shook hands. "Go and make history, Archie."
Kennedy grinned. "I'll try my very best. Could do with some encouragement, though - what say we try that kiss of life one last time?
Rating: PG
Notes: Crossover Hornblower/Dr Who/Torchwood .
No claim made on or profit made from these characters.
"Where's he that wishes so?" Kennedy, queue hidden under a convenient helmet, standing on a cart transformed into a makeshift stage, made the Agincourt speech from Shakespeare's version of the history of 25th October 1415. As Hornblower watched him, deeply anxious as he was in case his lover should be found out, he couldn't help but feel an enormous amount of pride. Archie spoke with aplomb and dash, employing theatrical gestures that he must have seen some flamboyant leading man use on the stage at Drury lane. It was all very effective.
And Kennedy was enjoying himself enormously of course - what an actor he might have made, had it been suitable employment for the third son of an earl. And Horatio recognised no end of the words, naturally, as old Bard-boots was liable to spout them at the least provocation. Even Ianto seemed impressed, mingling among the serried ranks of Welsh bowmen; chatting away in the native tongue, he occasioned no suspicion and was making sure that his little clique were vociferous in their king's support.
"He that outlives this day and comes safe home." Archie stumbled rather on the words. Would they outlive this day and get back to their own place in Earth's history? And what the hell was he doing anyway, popping up at random in various parts of time and space, like a ring of fairy mushrooms at dawn? It had all seemed very exciting while he was still under the influence of his last dose of codeine - given to ward off a migraine - but now that the feeling of elation was abating he felt exposed and nervous. He caught Horatio's eye in the crowd and was reassured - Hornblower never batted an eye at adventure or uncertainty, although his reaction to one of the girls back in Cardiff, all tattoos and what seemed to be merely a few hankies for clothes, had shown that he could still be unnerved.
Kennedy took a deep breath and continued. "Then he will strip his sleeve and show his scars;" he thought at this point of stripping off his shirt and showing his own scars, just for dramatic effect, but decided that it would shock Horatio too much and was not in keeping with canon as he understood it. A little too much on the extemporising side. And it would have brought the risk of Hornblower seeing a certain mark on the edge of his neck that he'd managed to keep out of view so far.
"We few we happy few, we band of brothers." Horatio had forgotten those phrases had come from this play, this speech. They produced in him such feelings of homesickness; for the early days on Indefatigable when life was glorious for the first time ever, for the later days when he had his first visions of becoming one of the great men in the navy, for the cursed times under one of Nelson's own. His thoughts returned to more urgent matters. Where were William and Jack? If they didn't get back with the rightful King and pretty damned soon, then they'd all end up down in the defile between the woods - in the midst of battle - and their chances of survival, even in view of the knowledge that the English army should win nobly, would be slim.
"Where's Harkness?" Hornblower grabbed Ianto's arm.
"He'll be here; he knows what he's doing. Trust him."
Horatio scowled - confidence was the last thing he had in this so called captain; he did not resemble any ideal of leadership that he had ever known.
Ianto noticed the look. "Don't you rely on your men to trust you - to follow instructions without question just because you've said so? That's part of what he's been about," he nodded towards Archie, who was valiantly winding up his speech. "Getting the men to go in and obey their leader without grumbling."
"God be with you all!" Amen to that. Kennedy, pale from his exertions, joined his friends as the army began to deploy itself across the defile as Henry and his advisors had thankfully already arranged. "They're leaving it bloody tight."
Ianto prepared to launch into his standard support Jack speech when the man himself appeared bearing an enigmatic grin and what seemed to be Archie's twin brother. The tales had not been exaggerated - Henry really was the spit of Kennedy.
"Couldn't appear until you'd got them all dispersed." William was out of breath but grinning widely. "Risky enough to have a ringer in - letting them see two kings would have been pushing it a bit too far."
"Gentlemen," Henry spoke for the first time, "We are indebted to you for saving us from those..." he sought for the right words to describe the strange creatures who had laid hands on the royal personage, "miscreants. We have seen strange sights this day," he cast a sidelong glance at Archie, "but thank God we are restored to take our rightful place in the fray. The game's afoot, is it not?" He grinned, looking less like a king and more like the saucy lieutenant who had impersonated him.
Hornblower and Kennedy made low bows and the others followed suit.
"Your majesty," Bush automatically gave an anachronistic naval salute, "we have to restore you fully. You will need your armour," he raised his eyebrows at Archie, who was wearing it, "which this man needed while he covered for the royal absence. Let us to your tent where we may attend you."
Kennedy soon emerged, back in the medieval clothes they had assumed in Cardiff before the whole daft rigmarole began. He looked tired but satisfied and assured them that he had fully briefed the King on what he was supposed to have said.
William and Jack soon emerged from the camp among the trees wearing particularly secretive smiles. They refused to answer any questions about how they'd managed to explain the situation all away to the king and his advisors - Bedford has been most persistent in his questions - and why the whole story wasn't going to enter into history. It was left to Ianto to vaguely mutter something about erasing unwanted memories when it was expedient to do so. The thought that if they probed further they might end up having the same done to them, made Hornblower and Kennedy keen to change the subject and be led back to what Archie referred to as the blue box of wonder.
***
"I think that your last evening in the twenty first century deserves a special celebration. Something better than a few beers and a chicken tikka massala." Jack had a particularly wicked look on his handsome face.
"That's a shame," the doctor ventured - "one of the best things about being on earth in the twentieth and twenty first centuries. is the accessibility of decent Indian restaurants. And even Mr Hornblower enjoyed that take-away." The remark raised a smirk among all the company, the man in question having sweated so much at the consumption of a simple Korma their first evening here - and having suffered so much in the aftermath - that he swore he would never touch a spice again. Kennedy had managed a Madras and now regarded his lover with a distinct degree of moral superiority that could not be gainsaid.
Ianto smiled his sweet, shy smile. "There's a club..."
"Like a gentlemen's club?" Horatio was trying hard to find his feet again. He didn't like this world and was glad that he'd be long gone before it came to fruition. He was happy to cling to anything that reminded him of the 1800’s.
"Not quite, although it's predominantly gentlemen that frequent it. All of them men, anyway," he added, rather enigmatically.
"And what would one do there?" Kennedy had caught the undercurrent in what Ianto was saying and could not fail to notice the looks that passed between him and Harkness.
"Drink; eat; dance; raise a toast to new friends and departed ones." Jack looked wistful - an expression that Kennedy thought he was not capable of assuming - not genuinely, anyway.
"Well that sounds just the job. What say, Horatio?"
"How do we dance if there are no women? Is it like the hornpipes that the hands perform up on deck?"
When Jones and Harkness - ably assisted in their laughter by Bush - had dried their eyes, they simply shook their heads and rose. "Come on, this you need to see."
The music was like nothing the officers had ever heard. Some of it loud, clashing, at times more like a musical representation of a broadside than anything they'd come across. Sometimes they could make out the odd word; there was a song which Archie adored and insisted be repeated again and again so that he could sing along that he too didn't feel like dancing, no sir, no dancing today. He made a point of telling Horatio that he would perform this at Pellew's table next time the man suggested the hands be allowed to sing and dance on deck.
Hornblower could not have sung even if he had the musical ear that the wonderful Jack - curse his ridiculous range of talent - possessed. He sat, stunned, a bottle of beer in his hand and in front of him a packet of what were said to be thinly cut fried potatoes, but which tasted like salt horse. There were men dancing with other men. In broad daylight. Well, not quite broad daylight, given that it was night time and the light inside this club was fairly dim - but in public, certainly. And Harkness and Jones were two of them, waving their arms in semaphore motions to a song about something called a YMCA, a song that even Bush was tapping his feet to, although he was signally not indulging in the dancing.
Harkness could dance beautifully, the swine, and Horatio suspected if he didn't concentrate one hundred per cent of the time, the man would be whisking Archie up onto the floor and jiggling about with him in an unseemly manner. He'd had a few beers and now needed to find the modern equivalent of the quarter gallery, but he dare not, just in case; he crossed his legs and thought of England.
Ianto came over, looking unusually flushed. Horatio was used to him having a sober, dapper appearance; he was a studious, thoughtful lad - or so Hornblower had always thought - but the sight of him shaking his unseemly parts around had erased all those notions.
"Fancy a dance, Horatio? Just the one?"
Ianto, of all people, quiet little Ianto with his 'please give me a cuddle' face that made everyone think of Wellard; Hornblower felt like he'd just had a French frigate sneak up out of the fog and rake him with a broadside. "Sorry, need to ..." he indicated the toilets and sped off to take a refuge there and weigh up his options.
Rarely in the service of his majesty had Horatio Hornblower had to admit to a mistake, but on this occasion he had employed the wrong tactics - discretion had not proved the better part of valour. When he returned to the main part of the club he found a song being played that concerned a Dancing Queen and there - out on the floor but definitely not young and sweet, only seventeen - was Archie, dancing with Jack. Or sort of dancing - more a sinuous curve of body around body that made Horatio’s blood boil. Action was required - the sort of decisive stroke that had freed them from the threat of the Spanish fort's guns. Hornblower took a deep breath and raised himself up to his full height. "Mr Jones - Ianto - I believe I am ready for that dance which you so kindly offered."
A smug, shy, little grin crossed the man's face. "That'd be a treat, Horatio."
Now it would be an exaggeration to say that Hornblower enjoyed himself - but it was not the agony he thought it would be. There were no steps or patterns to learn, just a general moving to the beat of the music, which was all a damn sight easier than the dances that his dancing master had tried time and again to drum into him. The sheer amount of bodily contact was disturbing to a degree and he wished that he had the ability to let himself go as Archie was doing. The man was as happy as Horatio had seen him since they'd drunk Pompey dry together.
Several more dances followed, in which the notion of set partners seemed to disappear - at one point Hornblower was even dancing with his arch rival, something that seemed to amuse Harkness enormously before Horatio realised and sidled over to Ianto again. At last the rapid tempo of the music fell and a lovely, plaintive melody began to waft over the floor - Jack whispered in Archie's ear and propelled him over to Hornblower, leaving himself to be tenderly embraced by Ianto. The singer began to say that he'd like to leave right now, and Horatio couldn't help agree with him.
"We should be getting back now - going home tomorrow and we'll need all our strength to carry this deception off."
"Just a few more dances, Horatio. I've not felt so truly alive for ages." Kennedy clasped his lover - his one true love - closer. "Can't do this in 1802 and I intend to make the most of it."
They danced the rest of the tune in silence, Hornblower with his eyes closed trying to ignore the mass of humanity around him, Archie with eyes open drinking in the novelty of this wonderful freedom. Another slow song began and he pulled his head away from Horatio's shoulder. "Can't do this, either. May be the only time we ever get to do this in the sight of anyone but God." He drew Hornblower towards him and gently kissed his lips.
"Archie, we can't..."
"Oh but we can - and we will. As often as we can get away with before they throw us off the floor."
***
They'd bandaged Archie and William up again, the linen spattered expertly with something that wonderfully resembled reasonably fresh blood. They were also supplied with substances to dampen their healthy complexions and make them seem more like men at death's door - though what Clive would say when he saw their wounds was anyone's guess, Hornblower would have to try to keep the man at bay. Buckland would be easier to deal with as he'd been lined up to meet an unfortunate accident at the hands of some of the local banditry. Or Jones and Harkness dressed up to look like them.
The TARDIS started up, Bush having very pointedly taken Horatio to help him with navigating the journey and Ianto having made himself scarce.
"Still would have liked you on the team - the twenty first century is when everything changes and you'd have been ready - more ready than your friend." Harkness smiled and laid his hand on Kennedy’s arm.
"That's kind, but I have to be with him. Have you never been in love, Jack? Don't you understand?"
Harkness nodded. "I have; I do." They shook hands. "Go and make history, Archie."
Kennedy grinned. "I'll try my very best. Could do with some encouragement, though - what say we try that kiss of life one last time?
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This had so many layers my gob was smacked! The Shakespearean crossover, the Jack / Ianto dalliance, the gay bar scene, the return to the 19thC. So seamless. But the shining consistency was H & A's faithfulness to one another. *sigh* lovely!
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Glad you liked all the little bits and bobs; I really get a kick from getting all the little disjointed bits to connect up sensibly.
Merci, cherie.
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Archie and that speech *fans self* Great to see A getting the chance he deserves to be the inspirational leader for once.
It's a crime that JB1 hasn't done more Shakespeare. Somebody has got to let him do Hamlet
and if JB2 just happened to be cast as Horatio than all the betterAnd it would have brought the risk of Hornblower seeing a certain mark on the edge of his neck that he'd managed to keep out of view so far
Ooh! Has there been some biting going on? Ordinarily I wouldn't want *anything* to come between Horatio and Archie but Jack is, you know, Jack and I can deny him nothing (I'm guessing you're rather familiar with that sentiment *g*). That, and Horatio still owes Archie for Mariette.
Something better than a few beers and a chicken tikka massala." Jack had a particularly wicked look on his handsome face.
Jack, a wicked look and H&A at a gay bar is the one thing that could ever be better than a few beers and a chicken tikka masala. You've chosen well :P
Kennedy had managed a Madras and now regarded his lover with a distinct degree of moral superiority that could not be gainsaid.
*Falls over laughing* I'll never look at curry the same way again. I think Ianto would have eaten a vindaloo and not even broken into a sweat - he may fade into the background but there's not much that perturbs him. What would Jack have had?
feel like dancing, no sir, no dancing today. He made a point of telling Horatio that he would perform this at Pellew's table next time the man suggested the hands be allowed to sing and dance on deck.
I was playing this song
and dancingearlier - can only imagine the look on Horry's face at the mere suggestion that it even be thought about in Pellew's presence.the sight of him shaking his unseemly parts around had erased all those notions.
*giggles* This begs the question - why was Horry looking in the first place? And knowing him, the shaking was probably nothing more than a bt of jigging on the spot. Unless arms are now unseemly, as there isn't much more to YMCA than the arm movements. Or the macarena, I'd give anything to see H try that :P Will stop being mean to Horatio now (it's just that there's three characters I love and rather than swooning multiple times I've chosen to be snarky once *g*)
dancing with his arch rival, something that seemed to amuse Harkness enormously before Horatio realised and sidled over to Ianto again
Oh, the mental image. I wonder whether J and I planned all of that previously?
Harkness nodded. "I have; I do." They shook hands. "Go and make history, Archie."
*wipes away a tear* Oh, my sweeties. So lovely, so wonderful.
Thank you so, so, so much for writing this! It's made my week!!!
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Thanks for the kind words. *blushes*
Youre dream team for Hamlet exactly matches that which
Biting? Noooooooooooooooooooooooo. A little over enthusiasm, that's all.
Jack would have had three poppadoms, prawn puri, chicken tikka biriani (veg curry madras hot) and two pints of Kingfisher to wash it down. That's what he always has when he come around for a take away. *g*
I would give worlds (well, some of my sports autographs) to see Archie sing 'I don't feel like dancing' in the great cabin or Horatio doing the macarenha - I bet he'd still have his hands on his head while the rest of em were turning 90 degrees.
As to the unseemly bits - you didn't see a certain JB2 in panto and his hip gyrations. *whoo*
I suspect the whole gay bar thing was a Torchwood plan that Archie was in on. He was a bit TOO knowing when they first mooted it...
My pleasure in providing it, my little co-obsessor.
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Or if he were to play Henry V at the Stratford Festival in Canada, I'll unfold the futon and blow up the inflatable mattress for British visitors.. that's in driving distance.
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What's that? They're not real? *g*
I got inspired to do something someday with HenryV not just because I love the play but because of the snippet in The Even Chance where Archie quotes the Agincourt speech.
And you're right about Harkness - half the fun was winding up Horry.
Merci!
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I got great fun out of writing this - the loonier bits in particular. The inside of my head is a worrying place....all these people living there together hugger-mugger.
:)
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It cheers me up a little to think of the estate as the Daleks; cutting off whatever career A&E might have written with their meddling, and here the Doctor and Captain Jack are finally putting it right.
No, I don't care that it's C. S. Forester's work, if they wanted me to be sympathetic, they would have killed off Kennedy's brothers. Like so:
HORATIO: What's that, Archie? A letter from your family?
ARCHIE: It appears my brothers, their names seem to escape me for the moment, have both been killed in a tragic riding/boating/canon-related accident.
HORATIO: Is that so?
ARCHIE: Mother says I must leave the Navy and return home immediately, to begin learning the business of the estate.
HORATIO (looking very depressed): Well, I imagine you must return to your family at the end of this episode-- I mean, the next time we dock.
ARCHIE: Oh Horatio! You must visit frequently, and always off-screen.
HORATIO: I'll write to you everyday, will you write to me?
ARCHIE: Of course, and never with any voice-overs!
HORATIO: Huzzah! Oh Archie, I'm so glad you'll never die in some emotionally-scaring, tragically heroic way!
...And scene.
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I like your version much better. (And so do Jack and Archie, naturally. Jack could come and visit the Kennedy estate while Horatio is off at sea. Frequently. And always, as you rightly say, off screen. *g*)
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I enjoyed writing that club scene - I think it was done long before the rest of the episode. And about the ending - I do hope HH didn't return too quickly or fisticuffs might have ensued. *g*
Thanks!
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Regeneration II - I
he couldn't help but feel an enormous amount of pride.
Another aspect of love that’s so important for these two (I do adore reading about both of them being proud of each other and I like how their relationship is different – I have the sense that it’s a big thing for brides!archie to be proud of horatio for becoming bolder and more confident, etc, whereas in this universe, it’s really archie who had such a harder time of things with simpson and being made up after horatio and all that.) and, though I’m reiterating it, it’s so great for archie!!! I wonder what aos!archie acted in when he was younger, before he went to sea. Do you think he ever regretted not pursuing a career on the stage?
what an actor he might have made, had it been suitable employment for the third son of an earl.
Acting would have been looked down on that much more than going to sea?
Would they outlive this day and get back to their own place in Earth's history? And what the hell was he doing anyway, popping up at random in various parts of time and space, like a ring of fairy mushrooms at dawn?
Echoes of what Jamie!adama must think at times too.
He caught Horatio's eye in the crowd and was reassured - Hornblower never batted an eye
although his reaction to one of the girls back in Cardiff, all tattoos and what seemed to be merely a few hankies for clothes, had shown that he could still be unnerved.
*giggle* Oh that’s funny. At the dinner in December I had a very similar conversation with a girl from Liverpool and she was talking with a guy from wales and they noted that the sartorial preferences of the girls in the towns shared more similarities than differences …
the risk of Hornblower seeing a certain mark on the edge of his neck that he'd managed to keep out of view so far.
*shocked* Oh, archie. Now whatever we they doing … and I could just about argue adequate provocation for voluntary manslaughter. Not really but maybe. You know, I’ll ponder this off-LJ.
we band of brothers." Horatio had forgotten those phrases had come from this play, this speech.
I forgot this as well. It’s so interesting – it was used in the second world war, after nelson surely and of course he thought of it from the Shakespeare. Excellent detail …
he did not resemble any ideal of leadership that he had ever known.
Since you’ve seen it you can say – does jack exhibit much leadership among his team? Or perhaps it’s that our notions of leadership have changed? Somehow I don’t think that’s entirely it …
Ianto prepared to launch into his standard support Jack speech when the man himself appeared bearing an enigmatic grin and what seemed to be Archie's twin brother.
Oh his loyalty is so sweet. Is he like horatio and captain pellew?
You know the whole premise of time travel adds many intriguing possibilities of where/when they could have been and could have gone to prevent/cause/change things. I wonder that archie never did do any theatricals or anything on ship. There was a reference in POB about hamlet being done on ship (I think jack was Ophelia or something) … pre-commander days, perhaps archie could have done.
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In re AOS Archie and acting - I bet he did some stuff at school or acted in plays/charades with the family. He always strikes me as having a theatrical streak. And I think that the navy would have been infinitely more highly regarded than the stage. (Prince Billy and his naval connections and all that.)
As to that mark on his neck i think that JH got a bit carried away and rather overstepped the mark. *g*
Jack does lead his team - and they regard him highly for it. He is very much 'The Captain'. But he's not aloof or unapproachable which HH would find incongruous.
Ianto is very loyal; a bit of hero worship and a big degree of love.
The time travel thing is exciting. One day i want to write something with Lee Adama and Dr Who and perhaps Mr Fantastic cropping up at say the Battle of Copenhagen....
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The remark raised a smirk among all the company, the man in question having sweated so much at the consumption of a simple Korma their first evening here - and having suffered so much in the aftermath - that he swore he would never touch a spice again.
*giggle* You’d think, being at sea and going all over the world, one would become accustomed to many types of cuisine. But then again, HH does like what he likes.
Kennedy had managed a Madras and now regarded his lover with a distinct degree of moral superiority that could not be gainsaid.
*giggle* he’d never let him live it down.
"Like a gentlemen's club?"
*giggle* now there’s a word that’s meaning has evolved over time. Poor old horatio. I’ll bet he might have been in army/navy when he lived in bond street.
"How do we dance if there are no women? Is it like the hornpipes that the hands perform up on deck?"
That’s adorkable. And you know, since he’s tone deaf and was hopeless at dancing you’d think he’d want to sit this one out …
he too didn't feel like dancing, no sir, no dancing today.
What song was he songing?
even if he had the musical ear that the wonderful Jack - curse his ridiculous range of talent - possessed.
No competition at all. Will have to be pistols at dawn to fight for his beloved …
Harkness could dance beautifully, the swine, and Horatio suspected if he didn't concentrate one hundred per cent of the time, the man would be whisking Archie up onto the floor and jiggling about with him in an unseemly manner.
Jealous!horry and pouting!horry are so amusing. And archie can read him like a book. Can’t imagine what he’s thinking about all this.
he crossed his legs and thought of England.
ROTFL. he gets that look on his face sometimes doesn’t he, like he’s very uncomfortable.
Ianto, of all people, quiet little Ianto with his 'please give me a cuddle' face that made everyone think of Wellard;
I must say I’m shocked as well.
in a small way it would serve jack right for flirting so shamelessly with archiebut jack wouldn’t care.Kennedy clasped his lover - his one true love - closer. "Can't do this in 1802 and I intend to make the most of it."
Oh that’s so sweet I want to cry. I was almost disappointed in archie at first. Not really disappointed, just surprised. But, even if it was at jack’s urging, I believe archie would have done the right thing in the end - they are so perfect and sweet together. Nothing can really come between them ..
Have you never been in love, Jack? Don't you understand?"
Oh archie. What a good lad.
Harkness nodded. "I have; I do." They shook hands. "Go and make history, Archie."
Oh jack. Good at heart. And is this ioanto that he’s in love with? And to let archie go and just say goodbye …
*contented sigh* So brilliant and such a great story!!!
talk soon, xx
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Quite likely - i do think that Jack and Ianto and Archie had this all set up somehow. Kennedy must have been in on the plan...
Archie was singing 'I don't feel like dancing' - I'll send you the song.
And that uncomfortable look - yep, the very same one!
Ianto dancing with Horry - I'm sure jack wouldn't mind and, as i said, I now suspect they had this plan all laid out, to reassure Horatio and make him see that he was the only one. And that jack was just a silly little dalliance that was never more than a few kisses. And a nip on the neck.
And Jack is supposed to have been in love with a Land Girl during the war - that's who i had in mind for that part, although there may well have been others. Does he love Ianto? In his fashion...
Thank you so much my sweet heart.
Hugs
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I love that line. Thank you!
And Horatio does take Archie's love for granted, I'm sure; I hope this will make him buck up his ideas.
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he found a song being played that concerned a Dancing Queen and there - out on the floor but definitely not young and sweet, only seventeen - was Archie, dancing with Jack. Or sort of dancing - more a sinuous curve of body around body that made Horatio’s blood boil.
EEEEEE! You put 'my' song into the fic!! (Ah, the song of latelatelate nights at the sole gay club in Delaware...) And I keep having to go lie down when I picture Archie and Jack dancing together. And make noises like "gnarrh".
Hornblower took a deep breath and raised himself up to his full height. "Mr Jones - Ianto - I believe I am ready for that dance which you so kindly offered."
A smug, shy, little grin crossed the man's face. "That'd be a treat, Horatio."
Hah. Now you get it, Horatio -- no longer simply relegated to watching Archie. Go forth and make the boy jealous! ;)
And the whole slow dance, and Archie's conversation with Jack -- sigh. Sweet and so nice; I really think if Archie could talk Horatio into it, he's stay in the 21st century. He is not a man who takes well to having to hide his passions.
Thank you!
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Glad I worked in your fave song. Managed to sneak in some of my current faves, too. *g* (Actually my computer playlist amuses me - Will Young, Scissor Sisters, Rufus Wainwright, John Barrowman....what do they all have in common?)
I'd pay huge amounts of money to see Jack and Archie dancing. Wht couldn't they have cast JB1 as the real Harkness?
Bless Horatio - I'm sure he felt he was being all masterful here, and I'm equally sure that the rest of them had this whole scene worked out beforehand.
HH in 21st century Cardiff? Hm. Anyway, there'll be a few more crossovers like this at some point. Soonish.
Thanks!
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PS Can this be related to your land sickness, perchance?
*hugs*
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