(no subject)

[imamaryanne]

Title: The Pike Torchwood Connection; Chapter 7
Prompt: Sunrise
Word Count: Approx 4500
Rating: T
Summary: Nick spends the night with Radha and tries to convince Captain Jack that he should work for Torchwood
A/N: Sorry for the crap spacing and tiny font. LJ was being a bitch and not letting me post. I had to copy this to WordPad Online then past here on LJ and that completely screwed the formatting. I'm going to be posting this on ao3 shortly if you'd rather read it there.

It was early in the morning. Nick was standing at the window in Radha’s apartment, coffee in hand, and staring out at her view. The sunrise this morning was beautiful, all reddish purple slowly turning the sky blue. He wondered if Radha ever woke up early enough to enjoy it, or if she slept through it most mornings.
He had been right about them sleeping together the night before. And it had been good, some of the best sex of his life with none of the first-time awkwardness when you normally sleep with someone new. Nick felt drawn to her. This worried Nick, because he wasn’t sure if he really was drawn to her, or if he was drawn to Torchwood, and he was using Radha as a means into Jack Harkness’ secret organization.
Radha had read his father’s letter, and she cried over it. That she was so touched meant a great deal to Nick. That she was willing to spend two hours pouring over the letter and every word they’d heard through the vent meant even more to him.
The determination he’d felt the night before about moving to Cardiff full-time and becoming a Torchwood agent was waning. By the light of the new morning, what had seemed so heady and exciting the night prior now seemed like a frightful joke. How could a man who looked barely older than Mallory be his great-great grandfather? How could there be aliens running around? How could this secret organization even exist without everyone knowing about it?
When Nick had been a teenager and into his early twenties, he’d gone through a phase of reading science fiction almost exclusively. College was stressful for him - moreso than medical school had been really, and science fiction had been the only way he’d been able to destress. Even while he’d been enjoying it, he was always able to point out plot holes.
The entirety of the previous day’s events felt like a fiction story with gaping plot holes. Including the fact that time travel doesn’t exist so Jack Harkness’ very existence should be impossible. An organization like Torchwood couldn’t possibly exist in such secrecy. How much did the police know? Gwen had mentioned Mac was a police officer, so there must be some knowledge in the police force. How much of the Royal Family knew of Torchwood’s existence? Only King William? How did an alien impregnate Gwen on her wedding day?
Nick was vacillating between a strong desire to stay in Cardiff and get answers, and returning to Stoneybrook immediately and trying to forget his whole time in Cardiff. Maybe he should voluntarily take Retcon? Nick pondered on that thought for a moment, before shaking it out of his head. The idea of doing that seemed even more improbable than Torchwood’s existence. Nick knew that even if he didn’t want to stay and fight aliens, he certainly didn’t want to forget about it. And Nick could keep a secret. I mean, he wasn’t Margo.
From his spot in the living room, Nick could hear Radha stirring in the next room. Covers were thrown off and seconds later, Radha appeared wrapping herself in a short blue robe. “Morning,” she said. Nick loved that she came right out of bed, hair mussed up and eyes puffy to say good morning to him. Nick couldn’t stand it when women thought they needed to primp first thing in the morning after he stayed over.
“Hi,” Nick said raising his mug to her. “I made coffee.”
“Thanks,” she responded gratefully as she made her way into the kitchen and poured herself a mug. “Are you going back today?”
“Yes,” he said. “I at least need to have a conversation with Jack. You don’t think he’s going to force Retcon into me, do you?”
Radha shrugged, “Jack’s a total mystery to me to tell you the truth. I never quite know what to expect of him.”
Nick nodded. He and Radha had spent the previous night talking and discussing whether Nick should stay and try to convince Jack he should be a Torchwood agent, or whether he should forget the whole thing and pack up back to the States. Talking it out had helped Nick feel better at the very least, even if it didn’t help him make a decision.
“I don’t want the Retcon,” Nick said. “Above all else, no matter what I decide, I won’t take Retcon.”
“Don’t then,” Radha said. “Don’t accept any food or drink, and be on your guard. I don’t know if he has that stuff available by injection.”
“Jesus. Injection. I never even thought of that.”
Radha wrapped her arm around Nick, “If it helps you at all, I want you to stay.”
Nick smiled down at her. He liked Radha. He and Radha had an easy rapport, and had spent the entire previous evening talking seriously, right up until they’d had the mind-blowing sex. He felt a connection to her, and he wasn’t sure if it was pheromones, (something he couldn’t even believe he was considering) that she was connected to Torchwood, or that they genuinely meshed well together. Hearing her say that she wanted him to stay actually did sway him a little bit.
“I think I want to. But I can’t do anything without talking to Jack first.”
“You want me there with you?”
“Mmmm,” Nick considered it. “No, I’d better go in alone. But feel free to listen at the bathroom vent.”
Radha smiled, “I was planning on it.”
“With Gwen?”
“You bet.”
“What’s her deal anyway? Isn’t she retired?”
“It’s the same reason I think you’ll end up staying,” Radha said. She paused to drink deeply from her coffee, and Nick waited patiently to hear what she had to say, “Torchwood is addictive. Once you know about it you can’t get it out of your head. Gwen is addicted to Torchwood, and she’s definitely addicted to her friendship with Jack. I don’t even know why Rhys puts up with it.”
“Are she and Jack….?” Nick drifted off.
“No. I don’t think so at least. I thought Jack was gay at first, but now I think he’s bisexual. But I still don’t think he and Gwen are anything like that. Jack respects her more than he respects anyone, at least as far as I’ve seen.”
“Have you and Jack?”
“No,” Radha smiled.
“He’s really handsome,” Nick said. “I’m not even gay and I can see that.”
“So handsome,” Radha agreed. “But I have, no desire to mix work with pleasure. Well, I had no desire anyway.” She smirked.
Nick smiled at her. He got what she was saying.
“C’mon,” she tilted her head toward the bedroom, “Let’s shower before we go back to the hub.”
___________
Radha drove them back to the hub, and they went through the pathetic visitors center and down the lift.
Nick followed her to the center bay which was covered in computers and other tech gadgetry. She turned on the biggest computer, and they all lit to life. “You can’t look,” she ordered.
“I don’t even know what any of this means,” he pointed out.
She gave him a Look, indicating that he needed to pay attention to something else. He took the hint and climbed the stairs toward Jack’s office.
The door swung open right as he reached the top of the stairs. “Nick. You came back,” Jack Harkness said, his voice sounding simultaneously annoyed but unsurprised.
“Morning, Jack.” Nick said, keeping his voice chipper.
Jack sighed, and massaged his temples briefly. “Come on in,” said said sounding resigned and motioning Nick into the office.
Nick entered the office and Jack followed, closing the door behind him. From out the window, he saw Radha heading toward the bathroom, and smiled a little inside.
“You shouldn’t have come back,” Jack began.
“Really?” Nick asked. “You think I could walk away?”
Jack sat at the chair behind his desk and leaned forward, clasping his hands in front of them atop the desk. Nick looked at him and realized that after only one night, Jack seemed more tired, his eyes more full of depression than he’d had the day prior. His eyes looked about a hundred years older than his face. “I’ve been thinking about it,” Jack said. “We have two options.”
“All right,” Nick said slowly.
“The first option is that you go back to the States, and you never ever talk about your time in Cardiff. You don’t talk about Torchwood, and when you’re on your deathbed you don’t write a letter to your son about it. You choose this option and you must know that Torchwood will track you until your dying day and will get Retcon into anyone you talk to about us.” Jack paused before continuing, “The second option is that you voluntarily take the retcon if you think you won’t be able to keep quiet about it. You go back to the States and you get back with your girlfriend and you keep working at Stoneybrook General Hospital, and you maybe have kids someday and you are happy and alive and safe and you won’t know any different. And Torchwood will never bother you again.”
Jack looked at Nick expectantly. Nick swallowed, “I choose option three.”
“There is no option three,” Jack insisted.
“Sure there is,” Nick argued. “Option three is you let me in.” Jack shook his head and Nick pressed on, “I want in Torchwood. I want to be here.”
“You don’t know what you’re asking for,” Jack said.
“Maybe not, but does anyone? Did Gwen know? Radha? Mac? Has anyone who’s ever worked for Torchwood really understood it until they were in the thick of it?”
“Look,” Jack said. Nick could tell he was becoming impatient. “I know you’ve lost your dad recently and that you have all these….emotions about it. And I also know you slept with Radha last night-”
Nick cut him off, “How could you possibly know that?”
“You’re wearing the same clothes you did yesterday, your hair is wet and you came in with her.”
“Good catch, Sherlock,” Nick said. He was becoming aggravated. “But that doesn’t have anything to do with you not letting me become a part of Torchwood.”
“You have a mother and seven siblings,” Jack persisted. “Do you really think you can go the rest of your life living in a different country? Doing a job you aren’t allowed to tell them about? How difficult was it to not tell Byron the truth last night?”
Nick was startled into pausing momentarily. “How do you know I called Byron last night?”
“We’re watching you,” Jack said. “As long as you know about Torchwood, you’re going to be monitored. If it had sounded like you were going to tell Byron about us, the call would have been disconnected.”
“You can’t-”
Jack cut him off, “Oh yes I can. I can and I will. If you want to go back to Stoneybrook without taking Retcon, the rest of your life will be us monitoring you.”
“I’m not going back to Stoneybrook,” Nick insisted. “I can’t for another four months anyway. I took a six month research job and I intend to see it through.”
Jack gave him a Look, clearly indicating he didn’t believe a word of Nick’s excuse. “I’m sure you could find a way to get out of a job that you work at so little it gave you time to investigate Torchwood.”
“I’m not leaving,” Nick persisted.
Jack sighed and leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling. “You don’t know what you’re saying.” He lowered his head and looked Nick straight in the eye. “You have no idea what it’s like, leaving all that family behind.”
“Well,” Nick said. “I’ll have you, won’t I?”
“What?” Jack asked.
Nick shrugged, “You told me yesterday that we’re related. So, I’ll have you. You’re my family, right? What are we, cousins?” He carefully avoided saying great-great-Grandfather. He didn’t need Jack knowing he’d listened to his conversation.
Immediately, Nick knew he struck a nerve and Jack’s resolve was waning. So he pressed on, “It sounds like you don’t have family around here. But here I am,” Nick gestured to himself. “Why are you turning away an opportunity to have a cousin around?”
Jack was silent for several moments, and Nick decided to stop speaking. He watched as Jack seemed to be having a painful internal struggle. Jack scratched at his forehead and closed his eyes. Finally he muttered, “I can’t believe I’m about to do this.”
“Do what?” Nick asked eagerly.
Jack,3bb looking defeated, sighed, and pushed himself back from his desk. “Follow me.” He sounded resigned.
Nick followed Jack out of the office, glancing and shrugging at Radha who’d just come out of the bathroom. Radha gave him a quick thumbs up.
They ended up in a room that Nick immediately recognized as a morgue. The walls were lined with beds in drawers. Jack went to one, typed a code into the number pad and pulled it out. On the bed was the body of a man in a hospital gown. “This guy came in a couple nights ago,” Jack began. He pulled the gown up, revealing a dark, perfectly round mark on the man’s left upper abdomen. “Every ten years, we get a body - usually a homeless person, who has this mark on their abdomen. This is the fourth guy. I want you to do two things. First, do an autopsy on this guy, then I want you to go down to the archives and read the reports on the other three cases just like this. Tell me what you find.”
Nick knew better than to tell Jack that he wasn’t a pathologist. He’d never done a complete autopsy by himself in his life, though he’d done rounds as an intern and a resident. He’d very nearly gone in to pathology, but in the end decided something with more patient face-time. But doing an autopsy looking for something unusual? He wasn’t sure this was up his alley. Still, he put on a brave face and said to Jack, “Well show me the archives then.”
Jack gave Nick a sort of cringe-smile, and said, “Follow me.” Nick followed him down, and down, and down some more until they were well into the depths of the ground. Jack rapped on a door, “These are the archives,” he said. Nick looked around. It was dank and damp down here. The lighting was by electrical lanterns, the orange type that you’d normally see on construction sites. The walls were stone.
Jack swung the door open, “It’s disorganized,” he admitted.
Jack wasn’t kidding. Nick couldn’t help but stare, mouth agape at the large, cavernous room. The walls were lined with file cabinets. Too many for Nick to even count. The center of the room was a jumble of tables with confusing pieces of tech, files, paperwork, boxes, some random blinking lights, a jar with a hand floating in it, and various other bits of Nick didn’t even know what. “Where are the autopsies?” he asked.
Jack shrugged, “One of the file cabinets. Our doctors always know, but we don’t have a doctor on staff at the moment.”
“Huh,” Nick said, realizing at that moment that finding three autopsy reports in this mess would probably actually be more difficult than performing an autopsy on a man who’d died mysteriously.
“I’ll leave you to it,” Jack said, slapping Nick on the shoulder. “Your success determines whether I let you stay. You have ten hours.” Jack turned to leave, but when he got to the door, looked back at Nick. “And I’m not sending Radha down to help you.”
The door slammed loudly behind him.
Nick stood still for a few moments, taking the room in. He walked over to the tables and glanced at the detritus that lay before him. He recognized nothing, and wondered how much of it was alien. He reached over and lifted what looked to be an ordinary rock. The first thing he noticed was that the rock was much heavier than it looked like it should be. The next thing he noticed was that the rock began glowing yellow where his fingers had been. He dropped it quickly and watched for the next minute as the yellow faded back to the slate-grey color.
No more touching strange objects, he decided. Anyway, he was here to do something; he needed to find three autopsy reports in this mass of mess. He figured they were most likely to be in the filing cabinets, so he started at the first cabinet by the door.
The first filing cabinet said Jack Harkness -Personal. Nick tried the drawers and found them locked. The very next cabinet said Ianto Jones - Personal. Those drawers were unlocked. The top drawer had Ianto’s personnel file. Nick flipped through it, and saw a picture of a guy wearing a smart suit. He had brown hair and just a quirk of a smile on apple-cheekedagw his face. Nick knew there wouldn’t be autopsy reports in this cabinet, but continued to peek curiously. There were notes and photos about a woman in a frightening looking metal suit. Lisa was her name. Nick didn’t read thoroughly, but understood enough. Ianto had been trying to keep her alive and figure out a way to help her live without the metal suit.
The second drawer down had only one large brown envelope. Nick took it out and peeked through the photos. God. They were all provocative nude photos of Jack Harkness. Nick shoved the photos back into the envelope and slammed the drawer shut. Between the mysterious rock and Jack Harkness’s naked body, Nick had quickly learned to not let his curiosity get the best of him.
Nick walked from filing cabinet to filing cabinet. They all had labels on them in the handwriting that Nick recognized from Ianto Jones’ notes about Lisa. Despite the mess in the center of the room, it seemed that the filing cabinets were, at least, somewhat organized.
Sure enough, after a few minutes of browsing, Nick came to a filing cabinet marked Medical - Alien. A few cabinets later one was marked Medical - Human. He opened the top drawer and saw that the very first divider was marked Autopsies - Human. Thank god for small favors, it hadn’t been that difficult.
The problem was that the autopsies were in alphabetical order by subjects last name, and there were plenty called John Doe or Jane Doe. Another problem? These autopsy reports dated back about 150 years. Nick sighed. He had to think about this logically. He could immediately dismiss the oldest reports, those yellow with age and hand-written. Jack had said the bodies were found every ten years. So his best bet was to look for reports for ten years ago (2026), ten years before that (2016), and ten before that (2006).
Once he’d made that decision, searching became much easier. Within ninety minutes, he held in his hands, the autopsy report for Kenneth Flynt, who died in 2026, Delyth Smith who died in 2016, and Maired O’Connor who died in 2006. All were found with dark black circular marks on their bodies.
He took the files out of the archives and followed the long winding halls and staircases back up to the main part of the Hub. He was glad to be out of there. The depths of Torchwood were oppressive and creepy.
Finally he made it back to the morgue. Jack Harkness and Radha were there waiting for him. Jack’s eyebrows were raised, “That was faster than I expected.” He appeared loathe to admit it.
Nick gave a small smile, “Ianto Jones did a fair job of filing. The paperwork, at least.”
Nick carefully watched Jack’s face when he mentioned Ianto. Although Jack did a good job keeping his face expressionless, Nick thought he saw a hitch in the breath and the ghost of a frown cross his face. “Well, here’s your guy,” Jack said pulling the morgue bed out again. “We don’t know his name yet. Radha’s going to run a DNA test on him and we’ll get a match shortly.”
“All right,” Nick said.
Radha grabbed the swab she’d taken earlier, gave Nick a small smile and scurried out of the morgue. Jack stayed behind. “Nick,” he said. Then he fell silent.
Nick waited. He didn’t even know what was the appropriate thing to say in this situation. His parents taught him manners, but there was no etiquette lesson for what you say right before an autopsy of a stranger and to your great-great Grandfather who was a time-traveler and appeared to be only ten years older than you and was the head of an alien-hunting organization that you were currently fighting with him over whether or not you could join. Also, that great-great Grandfather fucked your dad, who’s now dead, once. It was an absurd situation.
Jack never finished his thought, and instead turned and left. Nick was even more confused about what was going on in Jack’s head. The argumentative Jack, the one who was staunchly refusing to have him join Torchwood was one thing. But this Jack? The one who only now seemed aware of his relationship to Nick? Nick didn’t know what to think.
But, he had other things to do besides think about Jack Harkness’s feelings. He had an autopsy to perform, and three reports to read. Nick flipped through the three reports. He was surprised that they were written in the same format that Stoneybrook General used. Something else he noted is that each autopsy was performed by a different doctor. So Jack’s concern about people not lasting long at Torchwood was noted.
The turnover in doctors made for some shody work. Nick could see within minutes that what connected all three, in addition to the mark on the body, was that they were all missing a spleen. Only the 2006 report, written by Owen Harper, noted the probable cause of death as splenic rupture.
Well, he knew what to look out for. Nick tossed the reports onto the counter, searched through the cabinets for a surgical gown, gloves, and tools. He found everything and began the autopsy.
He used his phone to record his notes. Even though he he was no expert in performing autopsies, he decided to go in the same order that the other reports had been in. External description and examination before cutting in to the body for the internal exam.
Just as Nick expected, this John Doe was missing his spleen, but….something wasn’t right. Nick did a cursory search of the body cavity, but decided he wanted Jack to see this before he went any further.
He removed his gloves and gown and left the morgue. He climbed the stairs to the main part of the hub and looked around. He couldn’t see anyone there. Even Radha wasn’t at her position in front of the computers. Nick continued to look. At the top of the stairs, he saw a brief movement in the window of Jack’s office.
When he got toward the office, he heard muffled voices. The door was slightly ajar, so Nick knocked as he opened it. “Oh!” he said. “Sorry!”
He turned and pulled the door shut behind him. He’d walked in on Jack and Mac, half-naked and kissing. “Shit,” he heard one of them say through the door.
“Just a sec!” Jack called out. A few moments later, he opened the door. Jack Harkness’s hair was disheveled and his face had a sheen of perspiration. Nick couldn’t help but notice his lips, which were red and plump. “Hi!” he said. “Need me?”
Nick glanced behind Jack and noticed Mac looking both terrified and embarrassed. “Uh, yeah,” he answered. “I wanted to show you something. In the body.”
“Sure,” Jack answered, closing the door behind him.
“Sorry,” Nick said again, as they walked back toward the morgue. “I didn’t know-”
Jack cut him off, “It’s fine. Not the first time it’s happened.” Nick remembered what Radha said about Jack sleeping with most of his employees.
They got back to the morgue and Nick handed Jack the prior autopsy reports. “You’ve had some shit physicians here.”
“I know,” Jack nodded. “It’s not as easy to find good people as you’d think.”
Nick couldn’t tell if that was sarcasm, because he was pretty sure finding a good doctor to work on alien autopsies for  top-secret organization actually wasn’t  simple. He pushed further, “All four of the bodies have had their spleens missing. Only one of the doctors, Owen Harper back in 2006, managed to realize splenic rupture was the cause of death. But they all missed out on something important.”
“What’s that?” Jack asked.
Nick pulled on a pair of surgical gloves and went over to the body. “See this?” he pointed something.
“Yeah?” Jack asked.
“That’s the splenic artery. See how the end is ragged?”
“Yeah?”
“His spleen wasn’t surgically removed. He had a Grade-V rupture of the spleen, and it happened right here at the artery.”
“OK…?” Jack asked. Sounding confused. “So his spleen ruptured? And that’s what killed him?”
“Technically I don’t know if the spleen ruptured,” Nick answered slowly. “Because there is no spleen in the body.”
“What?”
Nick shrugged. “His spleen isn’t there. But it looks like it’s been, I don’t know, yanked out of him. She all the free blood in the cavity? That’s because he bled out from this artery. But there is no spleen. Not even pieces of spleen anywhere in his entire body.”
There was a pause. “So what you’re saying,” Jack said slowly, “Is that he died, not from a splenic rupture, but from having his spleen forcibly removed from his body.”
“Yes,” Nick nodded. “But there was no point of entry into his body. There’s the mark on his abdomen, which is where the spleen is. But his skin is whole. There was no cut into the body to get to the spleen.”
Jack looked thoughtful. Nick was impressed, as how quickly Jack could go from looking thoroughly sexed to thoroughly professional. He’d had, Nick guessed, a lot of practice.
“Remind me what the spleen does.” Jack said.
“It’s basically a blood filter,” Nick answered. “It’s function is for our immune system. Boosting red-blood cells, holding lymphocytes, and reserving blood for shock.”
“Immune system,” Jack murmured, thinking hard. “Does the spleen have healing properties?”
Nick nodded. “In some mammals anyway. There are monocytes that can travel to tissues and act as macrophages for pathogens, or as dendratic cells…” Jack looked lost at the terminology. Nick assumed that Jack being the urbane, time-traveling, death-defying man that he is, would understand. He started over. “Yes.There are reserves in the spleen that can heal some injured tissues.”
“I think I might know who did this,” Jack sounded surprised. He turned and walked out the morgue. Nick stood there dumbly, looking at the spot Jack had just vacated.
Two seconds later Jack came back in, “You coming?”
“I...yeah.” Nick nodded. “Yes. I’m coming.”
As they walked quickly through the hub, Nick shot Radha a smile eyebrows raised. She grinned back and gave him a quick thumbs-up. He felt a small spring in his step as he followed Jack into the lift, and up to the cool Cardiff afternoon.