Torchwood Is Yours 6/12
Sep. 24th, 2010 11:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
humantalesTitle: Torchwood Is Yours
Author:humantales
Beta:quean_of_swords
Artist:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rotaryphones
Character: Captain Jack Harkness, OC's
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1,560
Warnings: AU
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.
Summary: When Jack lands over a hundred years past where he was aiming, he has some time to fill. Why not spend it baby-sitting the Rift?
Masterlist
1873
"There's so many people here," Hugh Morgan said to Jack as they stood in the Morgan's back garden. "Tad and Mam are that proud of him." He stared down into his drink. "Did he know?"
Jack nodded, swallowing his own tears down. "He told me once that he'd always been the odd one out in the family. Not the black sheep, just never quite fit in. He said the best thing about working for me was that not quite fitting in became a blessing. He wanted—" Jack's throat closed up.
"Glynnis is due next month," Hugh said. "If it's a boy, he'll be Percy Jack. Do you think he'd've liked that?"
Jack nodded, his face working. "Yeah," he finally rasped out, "he'd have been so proud, his head wouldn't have fit through the door."
"Tommy's taking it hard," Hugh pointed out. "The poor lad can hardly move for how hurt he is. You and Sarah'll be taking care of him, yeah?"
Jack nodded and took a deep breath "We really need a doctor. I don't think Percy could have been saved," he swallowed, "but . . ."
"Would you take a woman?" Hugh asked.
Jack's gaze snapped up to Hugh's face from his drink. "Do they allow women to be doctors here?"
"I don't know about allowing it," Hugh said, shrugging, "but a school friend of Mary's helped her father out before he died and he put her through the whole course as if she were reading to be a doctor. No one with money'd ever go to her, but she's a real blessing down here."
"I wouldn't want to pull someone like that away from you," Jack said. It gave him an idea though. He had no problems with a woman being a doctor; enough of them had treated him in his life before and he'd never given it a second thought.
"Well, no," Hugh said, "don't think she'd want to work for you anyway. She's one of us, but she has this friend. Same kind of training, but her tad worked with rich people. None of them will give her the time of day, but I thought you mightn't care."
"Send her to me," Jack said. "I'll see how she does with Tommy; that'll be her entrance exam. Warn her, though, that it won't be safe."
Hugh glanced toward the house, where his brother's wake showed no signs of stopping. Percy and Tom had been hit by something that had come through the Rift. Jack didn't even know what it was; his two agents were supposed to be gathering information while Jack tracked it. It had been smarter than any of them had realised and had aimed straight for the two younger men who hadn't been enough on their guard. Even though he had to have been terrified, Percy had stood his ground, firing one shot after another into the thing and blocking its access to the unsuspecting public. One of those shots had killed it, but not before it had sliced Percy open. Tommy and Jack had tried, but they hadn't been able to stop the bleeding in time, and there hadn't been time for help to get there.
"I'll make sure she knows," Hugh said. "A hero's death still leaves the family mourning."
A week later, a young woman with flaming red hair stood at the Warehouse door. "Ellie Adams," she said when Jack opened the door. "Hugh Morgan sent me. In a roundabout way, of course. I understand you need a doctor. I can't claim to be one, of course, but I do know what I'm about."
"Maybe you can tell me why my agent can't walk," Jack said, challenging her. Tommy had just fallen and his hip had been dislocated. Jack mentally promised the long-suffering policeman a shot of his best brandy when this Ellie Adams had finished with him.
Ten minutes later, Jack was shaking her hand. "Welcome to the Warehouse, Dr. Adams."
"Not Doctor," Ellie said, firmly. "I won't use a title I'm not permitted."
Jack shrugged. "Healer Adams it is."
She crinkled her nose to stop from laughing. It had the most adorable set of freckles; Jack wondered what they'd taste like.
When he asked, he was told, quite firmly, that Ellie Adams had no use for men in her bed. Jack wished her luck, with a little sigh for what wouldn't be.
The letter was a request for Jack to meet with Arthur Briggs, the attorney for the Howard Foundation. He knew what it was about; the Howard Foundation had been created by Ira Howard as an experiment in voluntary eugenics with an aim towards increasing human lifespan. It had failed, though, early on, due to a mixture of distaste to choosing partners from a short list with love not considered, and the high number of birth defects from the small gene pool. Especially with the knowledge of his prolonged life, there was no safe way for Jack to get anywhere near the Howards. Which was a pity, since he'd always wondered what would have happened if it had succeeded. With a sigh, he threw the letter into the fireplace.
Jack stormed through the Warehouse and back to his flat. Behind him, he could hear Tom telling Sarah, "I don't know if you could call it a success." As he went to slam the door behind him, he heard Mattie squeal, "Not on me!" Looking down at the little boy, Jack asked, "Do you want to come with me and listen to me be angry?"
Mattie nodded. "Uh-huh," he said. "Missed you."
"Sarah, I have Mattie," Jack called and ushered the little boy into the flat with him. Aware of how Sarah would react if he taught Mattie about slamming doors, he closed it firmly instead. He threw his coat over a chair and dropped his valise in the little parlour and sat down, his head in his hands. So close. If he'd only been paying more attention.
"What's wrong, Uncle Jack?" Mattie asked, leaning on the arm of the chair.
Why not? "Do you know what this is?" he asked, indicating his wrist strap.
"Your special not-watch," Mattie answered.
Jack couldn't help smiling. "It's a Time Agency wrist strap," he said. "Among other things, it can sense certain energies. If you're watching for them." He scowled. "I wasn't paying enough attention, but it's been picking up on zygma energy for a while now."
"What's zyga energy?" Mattie asked, his eyes wide.
"That's zygma energy," Jack corrected. "It's what the very first working time travel devices used. And it was there in London." He felt like crying and giving up. The Doctor had been right there. He might have been too early; that was why Jack had brought Tom. But the Doctor had already been and gone; Professor Litefoot had been very certain of that.
"Is that bad?" Mattie asked.
"It could have been," Jack said. Magnus Greel in Victorian England; the thought was terrifying. At least he was dead now. "But some very good men took care of it."
"You and Tom," Mattie said, beaming.
"Not this time," Jack said.
Mattie walked away for a minute, but came right back, holding the book Jack had been reading to him before he'd left for London. "Please read?"
Around the World in 80 Days. Jack sighed. He could have done it in eighty minutes, when his teleporter worked. "What about Sarah?" he asked. "She's enjoying it, too."
"She can read it herself." Mattie sounded very sure.
"Yeah, but we've all been enjoying it together." Jack could feel the knots from the disappointment start to loosen.
"Tom, too," Mattie said, with an air of decision. "Come on, Uncle Jack." He grabbed Jack's hand and tried to pull him towards the door.
Jack laughed and let him.
Later, after Mattie had been put to bed, the three adults sat enjoying a brandy. "Can you explain what that was all about, now?" Tom asked, sounding a little plaintive.
"Magnus Greel was a despot from Earth in the fifty-first century," Jack said. "He'd found a way to use zygma energy to travel in time; that's what my wrist strap picked up."
"And he killed young women to get it," Tom said, scowling into his drink.
"Right. The Doctor, and the woman he's currently travelling with, stopped him," Jack finished the story.
"Isn't that the man you've been hoping to find?" Sarah asked.
"Yeah, but I think it was too early in his timeline," Jack said with a sigh. "So I couldn't have talked with him even if we'd made it there before he left."
"Why do you need to find him?" Tom asked.
"A lot of reasons," Jack said. "Why don't I stay dead, and how long will that work? Why did he leave me behind?" Can I go home now? He thought but didn't say it, not wanting to hurt the two young people.
"My tad said something before he died," Tom said, putting down the glass and picking up his coat to leave. "Don't spend so much time waiting that you forget to live. Reckon it's true even if you have more time than the rest of us."
Jack sighed. "Your father sounds wise," he said. "Give my love to your mother and sister."
Tom waved his hand as he left.
1874
Author:
humantalesBeta:
quean_of_swordsArtist:
rotaryphonesCharacter: Captain Jack Harkness, OC's
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1,560
Warnings: AU
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.
Summary: When Jack lands over a hundred years past where he was aiming, he has some time to fill. Why not spend it baby-sitting the Rift?
Masterlist
1873
"There's so many people here," Hugh Morgan said to Jack as they stood in the Morgan's back garden. "Tad and Mam are that proud of him." He stared down into his drink. "Did he know?"
Jack nodded, swallowing his own tears down. "He told me once that he'd always been the odd one out in the family. Not the black sheep, just never quite fit in. He said the best thing about working for me was that not quite fitting in became a blessing. He wanted—" Jack's throat closed up.
"Glynnis is due next month," Hugh said. "If it's a boy, he'll be Percy Jack. Do you think he'd've liked that?"
Jack nodded, his face working. "Yeah," he finally rasped out, "he'd have been so proud, his head wouldn't have fit through the door."
"Tommy's taking it hard," Hugh pointed out. "The poor lad can hardly move for how hurt he is. You and Sarah'll be taking care of him, yeah?"
Jack nodded and took a deep breath "We really need a doctor. I don't think Percy could have been saved," he swallowed, "but . . ."
"Would you take a woman?" Hugh asked.
Jack's gaze snapped up to Hugh's face from his drink. "Do they allow women to be doctors here?"
"I don't know about allowing it," Hugh said, shrugging, "but a school friend of Mary's helped her father out before he died and he put her through the whole course as if she were reading to be a doctor. No one with money'd ever go to her, but she's a real blessing down here."
"I wouldn't want to pull someone like that away from you," Jack said. It gave him an idea though. He had no problems with a woman being a doctor; enough of them had treated him in his life before and he'd never given it a second thought.
"Well, no," Hugh said, "don't think she'd want to work for you anyway. She's one of us, but she has this friend. Same kind of training, but her tad worked with rich people. None of them will give her the time of day, but I thought you mightn't care."
"Send her to me," Jack said. "I'll see how she does with Tommy; that'll be her entrance exam. Warn her, though, that it won't be safe."
Hugh glanced toward the house, where his brother's wake showed no signs of stopping. Percy and Tom had been hit by something that had come through the Rift. Jack didn't even know what it was; his two agents were supposed to be gathering information while Jack tracked it. It had been smarter than any of them had realised and had aimed straight for the two younger men who hadn't been enough on their guard. Even though he had to have been terrified, Percy had stood his ground, firing one shot after another into the thing and blocking its access to the unsuspecting public. One of those shots had killed it, but not before it had sliced Percy open. Tommy and Jack had tried, but they hadn't been able to stop the bleeding in time, and there hadn't been time for help to get there.
"I'll make sure she knows," Hugh said. "A hero's death still leaves the family mourning."
A week later, a young woman with flaming red hair stood at the Warehouse door. "Ellie Adams," she said when Jack opened the door. "Hugh Morgan sent me. In a roundabout way, of course. I understand you need a doctor. I can't claim to be one, of course, but I do know what I'm about."
"Maybe you can tell me why my agent can't walk," Jack said, challenging her. Tommy had just fallen and his hip had been dislocated. Jack mentally promised the long-suffering policeman a shot of his best brandy when this Ellie Adams had finished with him.
Ten minutes later, Jack was shaking her hand. "Welcome to the Warehouse, Dr. Adams."
"Not Doctor," Ellie said, firmly. "I won't use a title I'm not permitted."
Jack shrugged. "Healer Adams it is."
She crinkled her nose to stop from laughing. It had the most adorable set of freckles; Jack wondered what they'd taste like.
When he asked, he was told, quite firmly, that Ellie Adams had no use for men in her bed. Jack wished her luck, with a little sigh for what wouldn't be.
The letter was a request for Jack to meet with Arthur Briggs, the attorney for the Howard Foundation. He knew what it was about; the Howard Foundation had been created by Ira Howard as an experiment in voluntary eugenics with an aim towards increasing human lifespan. It had failed, though, early on, due to a mixture of distaste to choosing partners from a short list with love not considered, and the high number of birth defects from the small gene pool. Especially with the knowledge of his prolonged life, there was no safe way for Jack to get anywhere near the Howards. Which was a pity, since he'd always wondered what would have happened if it had succeeded. With a sigh, he threw the letter into the fireplace.
Jack stormed through the Warehouse and back to his flat. Behind him, he could hear Tom telling Sarah, "I don't know if you could call it a success." As he went to slam the door behind him, he heard Mattie squeal, "Not on me!" Looking down at the little boy, Jack asked, "Do you want to come with me and listen to me be angry?"
Mattie nodded. "Uh-huh," he said. "Missed you."
"Sarah, I have Mattie," Jack called and ushered the little boy into the flat with him. Aware of how Sarah would react if he taught Mattie about slamming doors, he closed it firmly instead. He threw his coat over a chair and dropped his valise in the little parlour and sat down, his head in his hands. So close. If he'd only been paying more attention.
"What's wrong, Uncle Jack?" Mattie asked, leaning on the arm of the chair.
Why not? "Do you know what this is?" he asked, indicating his wrist strap.
"Your special not-watch," Mattie answered.
Jack couldn't help smiling. "It's a Time Agency wrist strap," he said. "Among other things, it can sense certain energies. If you're watching for them." He scowled. "I wasn't paying enough attention, but it's been picking up on zygma energy for a while now."
"What's zyga energy?" Mattie asked, his eyes wide.
"That's zygma energy," Jack corrected. "It's what the very first working time travel devices used. And it was there in London." He felt like crying and giving up. The Doctor had been right there. He might have been too early; that was why Jack had brought Tom. But the Doctor had already been and gone; Professor Litefoot had been very certain of that.
"Is that bad?" Mattie asked.
"It could have been," Jack said. Magnus Greel in Victorian England; the thought was terrifying. At least he was dead now. "But some very good men took care of it."
"You and Tom," Mattie said, beaming.
"Not this time," Jack said.
Mattie walked away for a minute, but came right back, holding the book Jack had been reading to him before he'd left for London. "Please read?"
Around the World in 80 Days. Jack sighed. He could have done it in eighty minutes, when his teleporter worked. "What about Sarah?" he asked. "She's enjoying it, too."
"She can read it herself." Mattie sounded very sure.
"Yeah, but we've all been enjoying it together." Jack could feel the knots from the disappointment start to loosen.
"Tom, too," Mattie said, with an air of decision. "Come on, Uncle Jack." He grabbed Jack's hand and tried to pull him towards the door.
Jack laughed and let him.
Later, after Mattie had been put to bed, the three adults sat enjoying a brandy. "Can you explain what that was all about, now?" Tom asked, sounding a little plaintive.
"Magnus Greel was a despot from Earth in the fifty-first century," Jack said. "He'd found a way to use zygma energy to travel in time; that's what my wrist strap picked up."
"And he killed young women to get it," Tom said, scowling into his drink.
"Right. The Doctor, and the woman he's currently travelling with, stopped him," Jack finished the story.
"Isn't that the man you've been hoping to find?" Sarah asked.
"Yeah, but I think it was too early in his timeline," Jack said with a sigh. "So I couldn't have talked with him even if we'd made it there before he left."
"Why do you need to find him?" Tom asked.
"A lot of reasons," Jack said. "Why don't I stay dead, and how long will that work? Why did he leave me behind?" Can I go home now? He thought but didn't say it, not wanting to hurt the two young people.
"My tad said something before he died," Tom said, putting down the glass and picking up his coat to leave. "Don't spend so much time waiting that you forget to live. Reckon it's true even if you have more time than the rest of us."
Jack sighed. "Your father sounds wise," he said. "Give my love to your mother and sister."
Tom waved his hand as he left.
1874
