I Need You Safe 4/??
Series: I need you safe
Part: Four
Word Count: 1620
Characters: Jack Harkness, Martha Jones, mentions of the team, OC's
Pairings: Jack/Ianto, Gwen/Rhys
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Angst! AU!
Warning: Spoilers for Exit Wounds and the whole of the second series.
Disclaimer: Alas the Torchwood character's are not mine, they belong to other more fabulous people. Which makes me sad. The OC's are all my creations though, not that i wouldn't share them with RTD. 'Cause i so would ^_^
Un-beta'ed, sorry. Any and all mistakes are my own (i'm known as the typo queen around friends), and i apologize for them.
Authors Ramble: Okay so here's the fourth part, now that i'm done with Taken i can concentrate on this fic fully. Which means the updates will start happening faster, since i know i've been really lacking in the update department. I'm fully aware of this, you may all kick me if you'd like. But before resorting to violence, read first ^_^
Summary: Jack takes desperate measures to assure his remaining staff is safe, which leaves him with a new team who are experiencing a VERY different side of Jack. Now it's up to one of his closest friends to try and straighten things out.
It only took Jack a matter of minutes to track down where Martha was, he just simply tapped into the embedded GPS system that was in her mobile. It was the only time he ever found himself thanking UNIT for their conspiracy theory ways.
Jack quickly located her, finding the her at a small cafe. He stood outside the shop for a moment, watching her through the window. She was sitting at a table, talking happily with a woman who had her back to Jack. He let out a little relieved sigh, well at least it wasn't Ianto. It then occurred to him, that perhaps she really was looking up an old friend.
Jack was even content to believe that was until he saw Rhys walk up to where Martha sat and lean over, kissing the other woman on the cheek. Watching as she turned into the kiss, Jack saw Gwen's bright face. His first reaction was to be furious with Martha, but he couldn't because of the warm sense of familiarity and friendship that swept over him. He wanted nothing more than to burst into the little shop and pull Gwen and oddly enough even Rhys, into a crippling hug. But he didn't, instead he just stood there watching the three people chatting away, feeling his heart ache for them. After a few minutes he turned and left, never catching sight of Martha's knowing smile as she inconspicuously watched him go through her eyelashes.
When Jack got back to the Hub, he walked right past everyone and went straight to his quarters. The team neither heard nor saw from him for the rest of the day.
####
"I'm telling you, he's offed himself." Collin said later on, while the team and Martha sat around the conference room table eating a late supper.
"Don't be stupid, he can't die." Mackenzie reminded the boy, rolling her eyes.
"Well maybe he's finally found a way to make it stick." Collin replied around a mouthful of food.
"Chew with your mouth closed." Nareesh chastised her young team member, getting a mumbled apology from him.
"Wait, you all know about him being immortal?" Martha asked from where she sat at the head of the table, in Jack's usual seat.
"Of course." James nodded. "One of the first things we were told when we started working here, wasn't it?" The rest of the staff nodded in agreement.
"Hmm, that's so odd. It was this huge secret he kept from his last team." Martha mused aloud, resting her head on her hand as she considered the multitude of personality changes Jack had undergone in the last year.
"What were they like?" Emma asked curiously. "His old team i mean, because he never talks about them. And we're certainly not permitted to asked about them."
Martha smiled fondly, thinking back to the small group of people that use to be called Torchwood. "They were brilliant, all of them. And Jack, he loved them. So much."
Mackenzie snorted. "He loved them? That Jack?" She jabbed her thumb in the general direction of the Captain's office. "Mister i-have-about-as-much-emotion-as-a-cyberman?"
Martha chuckled wearily, shaking her head. It killed her to know that was the facade that Jack was wearing. "This Jack, the one you lot call 'Captain'. I don't even know this man, that is not the Jack Harkness i know. The Jack i know is emotional, he feels completely, deeply." She told them earnestly, wanting so bad for them to get a glimpse at the amazing man she knew. "And he loved his team, so much. They were his friends, his family, his siblings. At times, they were his children." She said with feeling, trying to explain the deep bond the group had. "One was even his lover. The five of them formed a cohesive whole, they lived and worked with pack animal mentality. When one was hurt, they all hurt. Each and every one of them was flawed, damaged in their own way. But when they were together, they were perfect." Martha realized that she had just painted a highly romanticized picture of Jack and his last team, but that didn't make the picture any less accurate.
"Wow." Mackenzie said softly.
"That's beautiful." Emma said wistfully.
Martha smiled, each person in the room was hanging onto her every word. "It was, they were."
"What happened?" Collin asked.
"Two of them died, one actually died a couple times." She held up a hand, quickly stopping the questions she knew would follow about how someone could possibly die more than once. "It's a long story." She assured them. "But the two, they died and he thinks it's his fault. He wasn't there, he couldn't have saved them. And when he finally did arrive, it was just in time to have her die in his arms." Martha finished quietly, looking off to the side for a moment and she fought back the emotion she felt sweeping over her at the thought of Toshiko dying in Jack's arms. Taking a deep breath, she continued. "Their deaths frightened him, horribly. He was so afraid of losing the other two, that he..." She paused, thoughtfully shaking her head. "He retconed them, and sent them away. He was desperate to keep them alive, keep them safe. He needed them safe."
A small sniffling sound that echoed softly in the suddenly very quiet room, reminded Martha that she wasn't actually alone with her story. She looked up, having forgotten that she was actually talking to other people. She saw Emma sniff again, looking like she was about to cry. Actually the whole team looked rather somber.
"And now he's shut down." James said insightfully.
"Yeah." Martha nodded.
"Are you going to help him?" Collin asked.
"I'm going to try." Martha assured the boy.
"Hmmm." Mackenzie hummed thoughtfully. "Well, i say. If you're going to snap him out of it, you might have to start beating him with something heavier than file folders." They all laughed at that, the morose mood lifting almost instantaneously.
####
It was a short time later after the team had finally left, that Martha went in search of Jack. She knew he was in his quarters, and only knew where those were located thanks to Ianto. He had let slip a few tidbits about his personal life in his correspondence to her, back when they use to e-mail one another on a regular basis.
She tapped her foot against the hatch in the floor as a way of letting Jack know she was there, before pulling it open and climbing down into the bunker like living space below.
"Hmmm, roomier than i had expected." She quipped, looking around the large room.
"What do you want?" Jack asked from where he sat in a large leather arm chair in the corner of the room.
"Just checking on you." Martha told him casually as she surveyed the space, walking around a bit. Stopping, she picked up an old metal from atop the his dresser. "You've a purple heart."
"Yeah, got a couple actually." He said in a bored tone, keeping his attention fixed on the book he was reading.
Placing the metal back down, Martha then picked up a picture that was laying there. It showed the old team and Jack, smiling brightly. Tosh wore a bright red Santa hat whereas Gwen wore a pair of felt antlers, complete with bells attached. Martha chuckled at the picture quietly, she never would have thought they would be ones to have holiday parties. But she guessed when you spent all your time saving the world, one was owed a little time off.
"Did you mourn them?" She asked, turning to face Jack, picture still in hand.
"Of course i did." Jack said, finally looking at her.
She sighed, rolling her eyes. "Not Tosh and Owen, i meant Ianto and Gwen."
"They're not dead."
"But they're still gone."
"Apparently not gone enough." Jack said, shooting her an accusing look.
Martha shrugged. "You know, stalking is a very unbecoming habit."
"So is lying."
"How did i lie?"
"An old friend?" Jack challenged, quirking an eyebrow.
"Hey now, Gwen could be considered an old friend." She said with a smile.
"Martha, if you did anything to trigger her." He shook his head.
"Relax, i didn't trigger anything. She didn't remember me, i'm just a clumsy girl who bumped into Rhys which caused him to spill his drink on her pants."
Jack rolled his eyes, snorting disbelievingly. "Oh you are sneaky."
"Yeah." Martha grinned. "But i'm good aren't i?"
They were both quiet for a moment, before Martha spoke up again.
"Do you want to know how she is."
"No." Jack shook his head firmly.
"Too bad."
"Martha..."
"They have a baby." Martha cut in. "A little girl, two months old. Her name is Meridith."
"They have a baby?" Jack echoed softly, looking a little surprised.
"Uh-huh. I'm surprised you didn't see when you were looking through the window, but then Gwen was holding her on her lap. And her back was to you, so." She shrugged slightly.
"What does she look like?" Jack asked, his voice sounding a little sad.
"Like Gwen, but she has Rhys' eyes. She's beautiful."
"I bet." He paused, swallowing back the pain he felt from missing out on such a big part of his friend's life.
"What about..." He started to ask before Martha cut him off.
"I didn't check on Ianto. That, that's your job." She told him firmly, placing the photograph of the five teammates square in the middle of his still open book. "So do it." She said before turning and exiting Jack's quarters, leaving him alone with his many confused and longing thoughts.
Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 - Part 8 - Part 9 - Part 10 - Part 11 - Part 12
Love it? Hate it? Wanna take it home and cook it dinner? Let me know! Comments are love!
Part: Four
Word Count: 1620
Characters: Jack Harkness, Martha Jones, mentions of the team, OC's
Pairings: Jack/Ianto, Gwen/Rhys
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Angst! AU!
Warning: Spoilers for Exit Wounds and the whole of the second series.
Disclaimer: Alas the Torchwood character's are not mine, they belong to other more fabulous people. Which makes me sad. The OC's are all my creations though, not that i wouldn't share them with RTD. 'Cause i so would ^_^
Un-beta'ed, sorry. Any and all mistakes are my own (i'm known as the typo queen around friends), and i apologize for them.
Authors Ramble: Okay so here's the fourth part, now that i'm done with Taken i can concentrate on this fic fully. Which means the updates will start happening faster, since i know i've been really lacking in the update department. I'm fully aware of this, you may all kick me if you'd like. But before resorting to violence, read first ^_^
Summary: Jack takes desperate measures to assure his remaining staff is safe, which leaves him with a new team who are experiencing a VERY different side of Jack. Now it's up to one of his closest friends to try and straighten things out.
It only took Jack a matter of minutes to track down where Martha was, he just simply tapped into the embedded GPS system that was in her mobile. It was the only time he ever found himself thanking UNIT for their conspiracy theory ways.
Jack quickly located her, finding the her at a small cafe. He stood outside the shop for a moment, watching her through the window. She was sitting at a table, talking happily with a woman who had her back to Jack. He let out a little relieved sigh, well at least it wasn't Ianto. It then occurred to him, that perhaps she really was looking up an old friend.
Jack was even content to believe that was until he saw Rhys walk up to where Martha sat and lean over, kissing the other woman on the cheek. Watching as she turned into the kiss, Jack saw Gwen's bright face. His first reaction was to be furious with Martha, but he couldn't because of the warm sense of familiarity and friendship that swept over him. He wanted nothing more than to burst into the little shop and pull Gwen and oddly enough even Rhys, into a crippling hug. But he didn't, instead he just stood there watching the three people chatting away, feeling his heart ache for them. After a few minutes he turned and left, never catching sight of Martha's knowing smile as she inconspicuously watched him go through her eyelashes.
When Jack got back to the Hub, he walked right past everyone and went straight to his quarters. The team neither heard nor saw from him for the rest of the day.
####
"I'm telling you, he's offed himself." Collin said later on, while the team and Martha sat around the conference room table eating a late supper.
"Don't be stupid, he can't die." Mackenzie reminded the boy, rolling her eyes.
"Well maybe he's finally found a way to make it stick." Collin replied around a mouthful of food.
"Chew with your mouth closed." Nareesh chastised her young team member, getting a mumbled apology from him.
"Wait, you all know about him being immortal?" Martha asked from where she sat at the head of the table, in Jack's usual seat.
"Of course." James nodded. "One of the first things we were told when we started working here, wasn't it?" The rest of the staff nodded in agreement.
"Hmm, that's so odd. It was this huge secret he kept from his last team." Martha mused aloud, resting her head on her hand as she considered the multitude of personality changes Jack had undergone in the last year.
"What were they like?" Emma asked curiously. "His old team i mean, because he never talks about them. And we're certainly not permitted to asked about them."
Martha smiled fondly, thinking back to the small group of people that use to be called Torchwood. "They were brilliant, all of them. And Jack, he loved them. So much."
Mackenzie snorted. "He loved them? That Jack?" She jabbed her thumb in the general direction of the Captain's office. "Mister i-have-about-as-much-emotion-as-a-cyberman?"
Martha chuckled wearily, shaking her head. It killed her to know that was the facade that Jack was wearing. "This Jack, the one you lot call 'Captain'. I don't even know this man, that is not the Jack Harkness i know. The Jack i know is emotional, he feels completely, deeply." She told them earnestly, wanting so bad for them to get a glimpse at the amazing man she knew. "And he loved his team, so much. They were his friends, his family, his siblings. At times, they were his children." She said with feeling, trying to explain the deep bond the group had. "One was even his lover. The five of them formed a cohesive whole, they lived and worked with pack animal mentality. When one was hurt, they all hurt. Each and every one of them was flawed, damaged in their own way. But when they were together, they were perfect." Martha realized that she had just painted a highly romanticized picture of Jack and his last team, but that didn't make the picture any less accurate.
"Wow." Mackenzie said softly.
"That's beautiful." Emma said wistfully.
Martha smiled, each person in the room was hanging onto her every word. "It was, they were."
"What happened?" Collin asked.
"Two of them died, one actually died a couple times." She held up a hand, quickly stopping the questions she knew would follow about how someone could possibly die more than once. "It's a long story." She assured them. "But the two, they died and he thinks it's his fault. He wasn't there, he couldn't have saved them. And when he finally did arrive, it was just in time to have her die in his arms." Martha finished quietly, looking off to the side for a moment and she fought back the emotion she felt sweeping over her at the thought of Toshiko dying in Jack's arms. Taking a deep breath, she continued. "Their deaths frightened him, horribly. He was so afraid of losing the other two, that he..." She paused, thoughtfully shaking her head. "He retconed them, and sent them away. He was desperate to keep them alive, keep them safe. He needed them safe."
A small sniffling sound that echoed softly in the suddenly very quiet room, reminded Martha that she wasn't actually alone with her story. She looked up, having forgotten that she was actually talking to other people. She saw Emma sniff again, looking like she was about to cry. Actually the whole team looked rather somber.
"And now he's shut down." James said insightfully.
"Yeah." Martha nodded.
"Are you going to help him?" Collin asked.
"I'm going to try." Martha assured the boy.
"Hmmm." Mackenzie hummed thoughtfully. "Well, i say. If you're going to snap him out of it, you might have to start beating him with something heavier than file folders." They all laughed at that, the morose mood lifting almost instantaneously.
####
It was a short time later after the team had finally left, that Martha went in search of Jack. She knew he was in his quarters, and only knew where those were located thanks to Ianto. He had let slip a few tidbits about his personal life in his correspondence to her, back when they use to e-mail one another on a regular basis.
She tapped her foot against the hatch in the floor as a way of letting Jack know she was there, before pulling it open and climbing down into the bunker like living space below.
"Hmmm, roomier than i had expected." She quipped, looking around the large room.
"What do you want?" Jack asked from where he sat in a large leather arm chair in the corner of the room.
"Just checking on you." Martha told him casually as she surveyed the space, walking around a bit. Stopping, she picked up an old metal from atop the his dresser. "You've a purple heart."
"Yeah, got a couple actually." He said in a bored tone, keeping his attention fixed on the book he was reading.
Placing the metal back down, Martha then picked up a picture that was laying there. It showed the old team and Jack, smiling brightly. Tosh wore a bright red Santa hat whereas Gwen wore a pair of felt antlers, complete with bells attached. Martha chuckled at the picture quietly, she never would have thought they would be ones to have holiday parties. But she guessed when you spent all your time saving the world, one was owed a little time off.
"Did you mourn them?" She asked, turning to face Jack, picture still in hand.
"Of course i did." Jack said, finally looking at her.
She sighed, rolling her eyes. "Not Tosh and Owen, i meant Ianto and Gwen."
"They're not dead."
"But they're still gone."
"Apparently not gone enough." Jack said, shooting her an accusing look.
Martha shrugged. "You know, stalking is a very unbecoming habit."
"So is lying."
"How did i lie?"
"An old friend?" Jack challenged, quirking an eyebrow.
"Hey now, Gwen could be considered an old friend." She said with a smile.
"Martha, if you did anything to trigger her." He shook his head.
"Relax, i didn't trigger anything. She didn't remember me, i'm just a clumsy girl who bumped into Rhys which caused him to spill his drink on her pants."
Jack rolled his eyes, snorting disbelievingly. "Oh you are sneaky."
"Yeah." Martha grinned. "But i'm good aren't i?"
They were both quiet for a moment, before Martha spoke up again.
"Do you want to know how she is."
"No." Jack shook his head firmly.
"Too bad."
"Martha..."
"They have a baby." Martha cut in. "A little girl, two months old. Her name is Meridith."
"They have a baby?" Jack echoed softly, looking a little surprised.
"Uh-huh. I'm surprised you didn't see when you were looking through the window, but then Gwen was holding her on her lap. And her back was to you, so." She shrugged slightly.
"What does she look like?" Jack asked, his voice sounding a little sad.
"Like Gwen, but she has Rhys' eyes. She's beautiful."
"I bet." He paused, swallowing back the pain he felt from missing out on such a big part of his friend's life.
"What about..." He started to ask before Martha cut him off.
"I didn't check on Ianto. That, that's your job." She told him firmly, placing the photograph of the five teammates square in the middle of his still open book. "So do it." She said before turning and exiting Jack's quarters, leaving him alone with his many confused and longing thoughts.
Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 - Part 8 - Part 9 - Part 10 - Part 11 - Part 12
Love it? Hate it? Wanna take it home and cook it dinner? Let me know! Comments are love!