Torchwood - fic - Come away, O human child, Jack/Estelle, TW3, PG
Title - Come away, O human child
Author - laurab1
Rating - PG
Pairing/Characters - Jack/Estelle, Torchwood Three
Length - ~3000 words
Summary - Written for the AU round, on tw_exchange. Prompt 58, from jadesfire2808: Jack got there in time to save Estelle from the faeries.
Spoilers - TW 1.5 Small Worlds
Disclaimer - none of these people are mine
Feedback is loved and appreciated :) Enjoy!
Come away, O human child
by Laura
It’s late at night.
In the dark, Estelle Cole walks though Roundstone Wood.
"I'm returning to the same spot. I do hope they're here," she says, into her cassette recorder. "I have to move carefully. Don't want to frighten them. Now then ..."
Looking over to a clearing, and a stone circle, she sees what she came for: fairies. "They are! They're here!"
Looking like Tinkerbells, several of them fly around the stones.
Watching them, Estelle smiles, saying, "My little darlings!" She pulls out the digital camera Captain Jack Harkness gave her last Christmas, and takes some pictures. When she’s satisfied with her photographs, Estelle turns away from the fairies, and leaves the wood.
She doesn’t see the fairies turn human size.
She doesn’t see them for what they really are.
***
The next morning, she gets her pictures made into slides, hires a hall and writes a speech.
Then she calls Jack, and invites him to a talk: “Fairies - Fact Or Fantasy?”
***
'A slightly larger audience might have been nice,' Estelle thinks. 'Never mind. Not everyone believes in the same things. Here we go...' She presses the button on the slide projector, and begins.
"I suppose I'm one of the fortunate few who's been allowed to see our little friends."
There’s a noise at the back of the hall, and Jack enters, accompanied by a young woman. He smiles at her, and Estelle smiles back.
"And it's been no easy task. One needs to have the patience of a saint and the blind faith of a prophet." One of the Cottingley photos is on the screen, and she says, "But for me the long wait has been worthwhile."
Estelle flicks the projector on, to the pictures she took herself. "This is my first picture. Not that clear, I know, but the ring of stones can be seen quite distinctly."
To a blurry photo, she says, "Well, of course, I'm not the world's best photographer. But this little person is just about visible." She happily continues, "I was so lucky to have seen them, so privileged to witness such a magical moment. Because fairies are shy, you see. But I know in my heart that they're friendly, loving creatures." Switching off the slide projector, she ends with, "Thank you."
The audience claps, just a little, and then leaves.
Jack and his companion don’t, though, because Jack does believe in strange things.
They wander up, and Jack smiles at her again. "Can I see the pictures for myself?" he says, turning the projector back on, and flicking through the slides. "Estelle, when did you take these?"
"A couple of nights ago."
"Where?"
"In Roundstone Wood."
"Not far from here," the young woman says.
"So good to see you again, Jack." Estelle goes through her photos. "Oh, look, there's the wood." She gives the picture to Jack, and he sighs.
"What's wrong?" Jack’s companion asks.
"Oh, Jack and I have always disagreed about fairies. I only see the good ones. He only ever sees the bad," Estelle tells her.
"They're all bad," Jack says, in a tone that doesn’t allow for disagreement.
"No. I refuse to believe that," she says, anyway.
"I suppose one person's good could be somebody else's evil," the dark-haired woman offers.
"That's what his father used to say," Estelle says, but she knows that’s not the case.
She knows it’s what Jack himself used to say.
He might think he’s been fooling her, passing himself off as his own son, but she knew it was still him, from the first moment she saw him again. How that’s the case, she has yet to work out, but she has to play along, until she does.
"Oh, Jack, if only you had seen them there in the wood. They were happy. They were dancing. The fairy lights were shining."
"Do you have any more photos?"
Estelle smiles up at him. "Yes, at home."
"Right. I need to see them all." He gives her the blinding smile, yet again.
***
Jack introduces his friend as Gwen, and the two of them help Estelle carry her things to her car, and then into her house.
"Oh, thank you, Jack." Estelle introduces her cat to them: "This is Moses."
"Hello, Moses," Gwen says.
Estelle gives Jack the folder with the rest of her photographs. "They're mostly just pictures of the area."
While Jack examines the photos, Estelle gathers Moses into her arms. "Come on, my darling, it's quite time you went outside, isn't it?" she tells him.
Smiling at Jack again, Estelle departs.
***
Gwen wanders out into the garden, and Estelle greets her with a smile.
"If you don't mind me asking, did you know Jack's father after the war?"
Oh, she’s curious, this one. Ex-police? Jack likes curious, Estelle learned, more than sixty years ago. "No. We lost touch. Why?" More playing along, but Estelle suspects that Jack’s involved in some kind of military work, associated with the supernatural.
"Did all three of you ever meet? You, Jack and his father."
"No. Never," she tells Gwen. "Jack contacted me a few years ago. I was so surprised. He's so like his dad. Same walk, same smile. I hope he's still alive. He'll be in his early nineties now."
"You could always ask Jack about him."
"I have, but he doesn't seem to want to talk about his father."
Jack walks out into the garden, the folder of pictures in his hand. He puts a hand on her shoulder, and looks down at her. "Estelle, when you next see these creatures you call us immediately, understand?"
"Mm-hm."
"Night or day, it doesn't matter, just call us. And be careful, it's important to me."
"But, Jack, I've nothing to worry about."
"Just be careful. Please."
He knows more than he’s telling. As usual.
Jack places his arm around Estelle’s shoulders, kisses the top of her head and holds her close. As she leans into him and smiles, she remembers just why she fell in love with him, at first sight, all those years ago. Yes, he’s a flirt and a charmer, with bedroom eyes (that worked on far too few occasions) and a matinée idol smile, but he’s also a perfect gentleman.
And he does look so very handsome, in uniform.
***
That night, Estelle uses her crystals, to encourage the fairies to re-appear. Sat in her lounge, she picks up one of them. "Quartzite. The searching stone. Oh, let the energies flow. Help me find them again."
Then she hears something in the kitchen that sounds like wings flapping, but it’s not a pleasant sound. Placing the quartzite back on the coffee table, she goes to investigate.
And what she sees through the window, in the garden, finally convinces her that Jack is right, about this one thing. There’s cackling, more flapping, and an evil-looking pair of eyes staring at her.
"Oh!" she exclaims, as the creature breaks the window.
Leaving the kitchen, Estelle grabs her phone and calls Jack.
***
"Yeah?" he says.
"Jack, it's me, Estelle."
"Yeah, what is it?"
As much as it pains her, she has to tell him. "You were right, Jack. There are bad ones. They've come to me."
"Estelle, we're on our way. Stay where you are, don't go anywhere near them, do you understand?" he says, all commanding officer.
"Yes."
They hang up on each other, and she hears Moses make a terrifying sound, from out in the garden. Going to her back door, Estelle calls her cat, encouraging him back inside.
He doesn’t appear. As she goes outside, Estelle once again hears wings flapping. The door closes behind her, with a bang. Attempting to open it, she discovers it inexplicably locked.
And then the rain starts.
It’s heavy.
Estelle’s very frightened.
‘Hurry, Jack!’ she thinks.
She can just about hear the cackling, yet again, as the rain becomes heavier, and she loses consciousness.
***
The next thing Estelle knows, she feels almost unnaturally warm. Coughing up rainwater, she opens her eyes, and sees Jack’s beautiful blue ones looking back down at her.
Out of the corner of her eye, Estelle notices Gwen, and another man.
"Estelle," Jack sighs. "Thank God."
The man swears, and Gwen quietly admonishes him, "Owen!"
"Jack." She lets herself be pulled into his arms, pretending she can’t hear him crying. He kisses the top of her head.
"Go find someone else to scare!" Jack yells at the fairies. "This woman belongs to me."
"It wasn't your dad that was in love with her all those years ago, was it? It was you," she hears Gwen whisper.
"We once made a vow. That we'd be with each other till we died," Jack replies, so quietly that he’s clearly hoping she can’t hear him.
But she does.
Jack loosens his hold on her. "C’mon, let’s get you inside. Can you stand?"
"I think so."
Falsely brightening, he pulls her up, placing an arm around her shoulders. Estelle sees that the rest of her garden is completely dry.
"Jack, I think they locked the door," she sadly tells him.
“Yeah? Let’s just see about that, shall we?”
He looks down at her, with a grin hovering between manic and happy, before pulling a green, pen-shaped item from the pocket of his greatcoat. When they get to the door, Jack places the device at the key hole and presses a button on it, causing a light to appear.
"Try it now, Estelle," he says, putting the item back in his pocket.
She presses on the handle, and the door opens. "How did you do that?" she asks.
"Trade secret." He beams down at her.
"Of course."
Estelle vaguely rolls her eyes at him, off his view, and they all go inside. Alongside them, Moses wanders in, thankfully none the worse for wear.
***
"Gwen, you quickly help Estelle get dry and changed," Jack orders. Looking up at him, she can see the gears turning in his head. Finally, he says, "Estelle, you’re coming back with us."
"Jack!" Gwen protests. "You can’t do that!"
"I am not leaving her here, Gwen. Right now, I really don’t care about protecting our secrets," Jack snarls.
Protecting secrets. Keeping quiet. Not telling anyone anything. All those things had been drummed into them, over six very long years. Estelle looks the young woman straight in the eye. "Have you ever seen any of the propaganda posters from the war, Gwen?"
"Yes, Estelle." She’s a little meek, now.
"Well then, I think you can safely assume I won’t tell anyone what I see at your base."
Gwen’s eyes go wide.
'Yes, miss. Not as old and foolish as you thought I was.'
They go to her bedroom, and Gwen helps her get changed, and pack a bag. Gwen carries the bag, Estelle grabs her handbag and they go back downstairs. Jack hurries them outside, to a waiting Range Rover. There’s a young Japanese woman in the car, who greets Estelle and introduces herself, as Jack helps her into the passenger seat. He hands Moses to her, already in his carrier. She puts her seatbelt on, Gwen and Owen join Toshiko in the backseat of the car, and Jack speeds off.
***
Several minutes later, they stop.
At the Roald Dahl Plas, of all places.
Everyone climbs out of the car, bags and cases in tow. They go into the tourist information office, and Jack throws the car keys at the man behind the desk, who expertly catches them.
"Go put her in the garage, please, Ianto."
"Very good, sir." Looking at her, he says, "Welcome to Torchwood, ma’am."
"Thank you."
Ianto leaves.
"Come on," Jack says, taking her hand. "Let me show you the Hub."
***
There’s a lift, a rolling metal door, and then there’s a cave. Yes, it’s full of computers, but it’s still a cave, which goes up quite a long way. Estelle can just about see something flying around. It’s far too big to be a bird, and she knows it isn’t one of the creatures she was just terrorised by. "Jack? What’s up there?"
"Myfanwy, our pterodactyl."
"Your pterodactyl?"
"Our pterodactyl," he confirms.
So, he’s prepared to reveal that, is he? Estelle resolves to make him tell her just why he looks no different to how he did sixty-six years ago. Whether there will be time for that while she’s here is another matter. "What are you doing about stopping...these creatures, Jack?" she asks, for now.
"We’re tracing unusual weather patterns," Toshiko offers, before Jack has a chance to say anything. "Would you like to see, Estelle?"
"Yes, please, Toshiko."
Jack looks like he’s grateful for the out, and he and Gwen go off to his office.
***
As Toshiko tries to explains to her what the computers are looking for, Estelle listens in on Jack and Gwen’s conversation.
"Where did you and Estelle meet?" Gwen asks.
"In London, at the Astoria ballroom, a few weeks before Christmas. She was seventeen years old and she was beautiful. I loved her at first sight. But nothing lasted back then. Promises were always being broken."
"The petals in Goodson's mouth, where had you seen that before? Was that during the war?"
"No. Long before then."
Ah. Gwen knows something else, then.
“On a troop train. Fifteen men with me in charge.”
Always the soldier, Jack. Always big on responsibility for his people.
"Everyone happy. Too happy. Too noisy. Then we hit a tunnel.
"We thought some birds had flown in through an open window. Then came the silence. And when we came out of the tunnel... all fifteen men were dead."
‘Oh, Jack,’ she sighs.
"They'd been suffocated. My squad. Men I was responsible for."
"But why were the men killed?" Gwen asks.
"About a week earlier some of them had got drunk. Drove a truck through a village, ran over a child, killed her. That child was a chosen one."
They come back out. Jack sends his people home, and then takes Estelle to his quarters. She hands Moses down to him. Negotiating the ladder, she asks, "You live here, Jack?" It’s very...stark.
"Yeah. See you in the morning, Estelle." He goes back up the ladder.
It’s a while before he apparently settles.
***
The next morning, Ianto directs her to the conference room, and presents her with breakfast. Jack, Owen and Toshiko are also there.
Then the phone rings. "Yeah?" Jack presses something which means they can all hear.
"Jack," Gwen says. "Our flat’s been trashed by the creatures."
"I’m on my way, Gwen." He rushes off.
***
About an hour later, they come back.
"I want a check on all unexplained deaths in the area," Jack orders Gwen.
Toshiko and Ianto are monitoring the weather. "What's the forecast for today?" Toshiko asks.
"Long, sunny spells," Ianto replies.
"It's happening again." Jack and Toshiko both look at her screen. "I can't understand it, it's going crazy."
"Just leave it, let's go," Jack says. “Ianto, look after Estelle, please.”
The four of them go. “More coffee, ma’am?” Ianto says.
“Yes, please. Then find me something I can help you with, young man.”
Ianto chuckles. “I’ll see what I can do, ma’am.”
***
That afternoon, when Jack and his team return, they’re not speaking to each other; it’s clear there has been a disagreement. Estelle’s sat in the board room, examining a box of uncatalogued alien artifacts for Ianto. She gets up, and goes to knock on Jack’s office door. Putting down his glass of whisky, he opens it, invites her in, and closes it behind her.
Taking the seat Jack offers her, Estelle asks, “Do you want to tell me what happened out there?”
He sighs. Topping up his glass, he then pours one for her, before recounting the day’s events: the incident at the primary school, the fairies in the garden, all of which led to letting Jasmine go with the fairies. Jack sounds sad, when he finishes his story.
“Haven’t you taught your people about the greater good?”
He laughs, but it’s bitter. “I thought I had, Estelle. Now, I’m not so sure.”
This might be her chance. “That’s another thing they drummed into us, during the war: ‘the greater good’. Do you remember, Jack?”
“Only through reading about it, Estelle.” He looks uncomfortable.
Sipping her drink, she decides to just go for it. “Did you really think you could fool me, Captain Jack Harkness, passing yourself off as your own son?”
“Estelle...” He looks even more uncomfortable.
“No, let me finish. I knew it was still you, from the first moment I saw you again. Same walk, same smile. Same glint in your eyes. I don’t know how any of it’s possible, Jack, but I knew something was different about you, all the way back in the 1940s. You taught me words and ideas that I didn’t hear again for another twenty years.”
“Guess that kind of gave it away, huh?” Jack laughs. He sounds sheepish.
“Only slightly.”
Resolve appears on his face. “I will tell you everything, Estelle, I promise. Not today, though. I’m exhausted.”
And then that wicked glint appears in Jack’s eyes. He leaves his chair and comes round the desk. Taking Estelle’s hand, he pulls her up.
Then he cradles her face in his hands, and kisses her, full on the mouth.
Oh, God. She’d almost forgotten how very, very good he was.
“Jack, I’m in my eighties,” she says, when he pulls away.
At that, something she can’t read goes across his face. Is her age part of what stopped him from telling her the truth?
It’s soon replaced by a smile, and he says, “So? You’re still you, Estelle; you’re still beautiful, to me. And I love you as much I did during the war.”
“I love you, too, Jack.” There were a few more things he was very good at. Estelle smiles up at him. “When are you taking me dancing, then?”
“Dancing?” Jack laughs, eyes wide.
“Yes, dancing.”
“Is tomorrow night alright? There’s a regular Forties night at one of the council halls, I believe...”
“That sounds perfect.” Then she pulls Jack’s head down and kisses him, making him gasp.
“You’re a wicked woman, Estelle Cole.”
“So you used to tell me.”
Jack laughs, and it’s happy.
Estelle laughs, too. She’s got her captain back. Everything else can wait.
-end-
Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.
"The Stolen Child," William Butler Yeats.
crosspost:
torch_wood
torchwood_fic
galactic_conman
tw_exchange
"You taught me words and ideas that I didn’t hear again for another twenty years." - http://laurab1.livejournal.com/167908.html
Author - laurab1
Rating - PG
Pairing/Characters - Jack/Estelle, Torchwood Three
Length - ~3000 words
Summary - Written for the AU round, on tw_exchange. Prompt 58, from jadesfire2808: Jack got there in time to save Estelle from the faeries.
Spoilers - TW 1.5 Small Worlds
Disclaimer - none of these people are mine
Feedback is loved and appreciated :) Enjoy!
Come away, O human child
by Laura
It’s late at night.
In the dark, Estelle Cole walks though Roundstone Wood.
"I'm returning to the same spot. I do hope they're here," she says, into her cassette recorder. "I have to move carefully. Don't want to frighten them. Now then ..."
Looking over to a clearing, and a stone circle, she sees what she came for: fairies. "They are! They're here!"
Looking like Tinkerbells, several of them fly around the stones.
Watching them, Estelle smiles, saying, "My little darlings!" She pulls out the digital camera Captain Jack Harkness gave her last Christmas, and takes some pictures. When she’s satisfied with her photographs, Estelle turns away from the fairies, and leaves the wood.
She doesn’t see the fairies turn human size.
She doesn’t see them for what they really are.
***
The next morning, she gets her pictures made into slides, hires a hall and writes a speech.
Then she calls Jack, and invites him to a talk: “Fairies - Fact Or Fantasy?”
***
'A slightly larger audience might have been nice,' Estelle thinks. 'Never mind. Not everyone believes in the same things. Here we go...' She presses the button on the slide projector, and begins.
"I suppose I'm one of the fortunate few who's been allowed to see our little friends."
There’s a noise at the back of the hall, and Jack enters, accompanied by a young woman. He smiles at her, and Estelle smiles back.
"And it's been no easy task. One needs to have the patience of a saint and the blind faith of a prophet." One of the Cottingley photos is on the screen, and she says, "But for me the long wait has been worthwhile."
Estelle flicks the projector on, to the pictures she took herself. "This is my first picture. Not that clear, I know, but the ring of stones can be seen quite distinctly."
To a blurry photo, she says, "Well, of course, I'm not the world's best photographer. But this little person is just about visible." She happily continues, "I was so lucky to have seen them, so privileged to witness such a magical moment. Because fairies are shy, you see. But I know in my heart that they're friendly, loving creatures." Switching off the slide projector, she ends with, "Thank you."
The audience claps, just a little, and then leaves.
Jack and his companion don’t, though, because Jack does believe in strange things.
They wander up, and Jack smiles at her again. "Can I see the pictures for myself?" he says, turning the projector back on, and flicking through the slides. "Estelle, when did you take these?"
"A couple of nights ago."
"Where?"
"In Roundstone Wood."
"Not far from here," the young woman says.
"So good to see you again, Jack." Estelle goes through her photos. "Oh, look, there's the wood." She gives the picture to Jack, and he sighs.
"What's wrong?" Jack’s companion asks.
"Oh, Jack and I have always disagreed about fairies. I only see the good ones. He only ever sees the bad," Estelle tells her.
"They're all bad," Jack says, in a tone that doesn’t allow for disagreement.
"No. I refuse to believe that," she says, anyway.
"I suppose one person's good could be somebody else's evil," the dark-haired woman offers.
"That's what his father used to say," Estelle says, but she knows that’s not the case.
She knows it’s what Jack himself used to say.
He might think he’s been fooling her, passing himself off as his own son, but she knew it was still him, from the first moment she saw him again. How that’s the case, she has yet to work out, but she has to play along, until she does.
"Oh, Jack, if only you had seen them there in the wood. They were happy. They were dancing. The fairy lights were shining."
"Do you have any more photos?"
Estelle smiles up at him. "Yes, at home."
"Right. I need to see them all." He gives her the blinding smile, yet again.
***
Jack introduces his friend as Gwen, and the two of them help Estelle carry her things to her car, and then into her house.
"Oh, thank you, Jack." Estelle introduces her cat to them: "This is Moses."
"Hello, Moses," Gwen says.
Estelle gives Jack the folder with the rest of her photographs. "They're mostly just pictures of the area."
While Jack examines the photos, Estelle gathers Moses into her arms. "Come on, my darling, it's quite time you went outside, isn't it?" she tells him.
Smiling at Jack again, Estelle departs.
***
Gwen wanders out into the garden, and Estelle greets her with a smile.
"If you don't mind me asking, did you know Jack's father after the war?"
Oh, she’s curious, this one. Ex-police? Jack likes curious, Estelle learned, more than sixty years ago. "No. We lost touch. Why?" More playing along, but Estelle suspects that Jack’s involved in some kind of military work, associated with the supernatural.
"Did all three of you ever meet? You, Jack and his father."
"No. Never," she tells Gwen. "Jack contacted me a few years ago. I was so surprised. He's so like his dad. Same walk, same smile. I hope he's still alive. He'll be in his early nineties now."
"You could always ask Jack about him."
"I have, but he doesn't seem to want to talk about his father."
Jack walks out into the garden, the folder of pictures in his hand. He puts a hand on her shoulder, and looks down at her. "Estelle, when you next see these creatures you call us immediately, understand?"
"Mm-hm."
"Night or day, it doesn't matter, just call us. And be careful, it's important to me."
"But, Jack, I've nothing to worry about."
"Just be careful. Please."
He knows more than he’s telling. As usual.
Jack places his arm around Estelle’s shoulders, kisses the top of her head and holds her close. As she leans into him and smiles, she remembers just why she fell in love with him, at first sight, all those years ago. Yes, he’s a flirt and a charmer, with bedroom eyes (that worked on far too few occasions) and a matinée idol smile, but he’s also a perfect gentleman.
And he does look so very handsome, in uniform.
***
That night, Estelle uses her crystals, to encourage the fairies to re-appear. Sat in her lounge, she picks up one of them. "Quartzite. The searching stone. Oh, let the energies flow. Help me find them again."
Then she hears something in the kitchen that sounds like wings flapping, but it’s not a pleasant sound. Placing the quartzite back on the coffee table, she goes to investigate.
And what she sees through the window, in the garden, finally convinces her that Jack is right, about this one thing. There’s cackling, more flapping, and an evil-looking pair of eyes staring at her.
"Oh!" she exclaims, as the creature breaks the window.
Leaving the kitchen, Estelle grabs her phone and calls Jack.
***
"Yeah?" he says.
"Jack, it's me, Estelle."
"Yeah, what is it?"
As much as it pains her, she has to tell him. "You were right, Jack. There are bad ones. They've come to me."
"Estelle, we're on our way. Stay where you are, don't go anywhere near them, do you understand?" he says, all commanding officer.
"Yes."
They hang up on each other, and she hears Moses make a terrifying sound, from out in the garden. Going to her back door, Estelle calls her cat, encouraging him back inside.
He doesn’t appear. As she goes outside, Estelle once again hears wings flapping. The door closes behind her, with a bang. Attempting to open it, she discovers it inexplicably locked.
And then the rain starts.
It’s heavy.
Estelle’s very frightened.
‘Hurry, Jack!’ she thinks.
She can just about hear the cackling, yet again, as the rain becomes heavier, and she loses consciousness.
***
The next thing Estelle knows, she feels almost unnaturally warm. Coughing up rainwater, she opens her eyes, and sees Jack’s beautiful blue ones looking back down at her.
Out of the corner of her eye, Estelle notices Gwen, and another man.
"Estelle," Jack sighs. "Thank God."
The man swears, and Gwen quietly admonishes him, "Owen!"
"Jack." She lets herself be pulled into his arms, pretending she can’t hear him crying. He kisses the top of her head.
"Go find someone else to scare!" Jack yells at the fairies. "This woman belongs to me."
"It wasn't your dad that was in love with her all those years ago, was it? It was you," she hears Gwen whisper.
"We once made a vow. That we'd be with each other till we died," Jack replies, so quietly that he’s clearly hoping she can’t hear him.
But she does.
Jack loosens his hold on her. "C’mon, let’s get you inside. Can you stand?"
"I think so."
Falsely brightening, he pulls her up, placing an arm around her shoulders. Estelle sees that the rest of her garden is completely dry.
"Jack, I think they locked the door," she sadly tells him.
“Yeah? Let’s just see about that, shall we?”
He looks down at her, with a grin hovering between manic and happy, before pulling a green, pen-shaped item from the pocket of his greatcoat. When they get to the door, Jack places the device at the key hole and presses a button on it, causing a light to appear.
"Try it now, Estelle," he says, putting the item back in his pocket.
She presses on the handle, and the door opens. "How did you do that?" she asks.
"Trade secret." He beams down at her.
"Of course."
Estelle vaguely rolls her eyes at him, off his view, and they all go inside. Alongside them, Moses wanders in, thankfully none the worse for wear.
***
"Gwen, you quickly help Estelle get dry and changed," Jack orders. Looking up at him, she can see the gears turning in his head. Finally, he says, "Estelle, you’re coming back with us."
"Jack!" Gwen protests. "You can’t do that!"
"I am not leaving her here, Gwen. Right now, I really don’t care about protecting our secrets," Jack snarls.
Protecting secrets. Keeping quiet. Not telling anyone anything. All those things had been drummed into them, over six very long years. Estelle looks the young woman straight in the eye. "Have you ever seen any of the propaganda posters from the war, Gwen?"
"Yes, Estelle." She’s a little meek, now.
"Well then, I think you can safely assume I won’t tell anyone what I see at your base."
Gwen’s eyes go wide.
'Yes, miss. Not as old and foolish as you thought I was.'
They go to her bedroom, and Gwen helps her get changed, and pack a bag. Gwen carries the bag, Estelle grabs her handbag and they go back downstairs. Jack hurries them outside, to a waiting Range Rover. There’s a young Japanese woman in the car, who greets Estelle and introduces herself, as Jack helps her into the passenger seat. He hands Moses to her, already in his carrier. She puts her seatbelt on, Gwen and Owen join Toshiko in the backseat of the car, and Jack speeds off.
***
Several minutes later, they stop.
At the Roald Dahl Plas, of all places.
Everyone climbs out of the car, bags and cases in tow. They go into the tourist information office, and Jack throws the car keys at the man behind the desk, who expertly catches them.
"Go put her in the garage, please, Ianto."
"Very good, sir." Looking at her, he says, "Welcome to Torchwood, ma’am."
"Thank you."
Ianto leaves.
"Come on," Jack says, taking her hand. "Let me show you the Hub."
***
There’s a lift, a rolling metal door, and then there’s a cave. Yes, it’s full of computers, but it’s still a cave, which goes up quite a long way. Estelle can just about see something flying around. It’s far too big to be a bird, and she knows it isn’t one of the creatures she was just terrorised by. "Jack? What’s up there?"
"Myfanwy, our pterodactyl."
"Your pterodactyl?"
"Our pterodactyl," he confirms.
So, he’s prepared to reveal that, is he? Estelle resolves to make him tell her just why he looks no different to how he did sixty-six years ago. Whether there will be time for that while she’s here is another matter. "What are you doing about stopping...these creatures, Jack?" she asks, for now.
"We’re tracing unusual weather patterns," Toshiko offers, before Jack has a chance to say anything. "Would you like to see, Estelle?"
"Yes, please, Toshiko."
Jack looks like he’s grateful for the out, and he and Gwen go off to his office.
***
As Toshiko tries to explains to her what the computers are looking for, Estelle listens in on Jack and Gwen’s conversation.
"Where did you and Estelle meet?" Gwen asks.
"In London, at the Astoria ballroom, a few weeks before Christmas. She was seventeen years old and she was beautiful. I loved her at first sight. But nothing lasted back then. Promises were always being broken."
"The petals in Goodson's mouth, where had you seen that before? Was that during the war?"
"No. Long before then."
Ah. Gwen knows something else, then.
“On a troop train. Fifteen men with me in charge.”
Always the soldier, Jack. Always big on responsibility for his people.
"Everyone happy. Too happy. Too noisy. Then we hit a tunnel.
"We thought some birds had flown in through an open window. Then came the silence. And when we came out of the tunnel... all fifteen men were dead."
‘Oh, Jack,’ she sighs.
"They'd been suffocated. My squad. Men I was responsible for."
"But why were the men killed?" Gwen asks.
"About a week earlier some of them had got drunk. Drove a truck through a village, ran over a child, killed her. That child was a chosen one."
They come back out. Jack sends his people home, and then takes Estelle to his quarters. She hands Moses down to him. Negotiating the ladder, she asks, "You live here, Jack?" It’s very...stark.
"Yeah. See you in the morning, Estelle." He goes back up the ladder.
It’s a while before he apparently settles.
***
The next morning, Ianto directs her to the conference room, and presents her with breakfast. Jack, Owen and Toshiko are also there.
Then the phone rings. "Yeah?" Jack presses something which means they can all hear.
"Jack," Gwen says. "Our flat’s been trashed by the creatures."
"I’m on my way, Gwen." He rushes off.
***
About an hour later, they come back.
"I want a check on all unexplained deaths in the area," Jack orders Gwen.
Toshiko and Ianto are monitoring the weather. "What's the forecast for today?" Toshiko asks.
"Long, sunny spells," Ianto replies.
"It's happening again." Jack and Toshiko both look at her screen. "I can't understand it, it's going crazy."
"Just leave it, let's go," Jack says. “Ianto, look after Estelle, please.”
The four of them go. “More coffee, ma’am?” Ianto says.
“Yes, please. Then find me something I can help you with, young man.”
Ianto chuckles. “I’ll see what I can do, ma’am.”
***
That afternoon, when Jack and his team return, they’re not speaking to each other; it’s clear there has been a disagreement. Estelle’s sat in the board room, examining a box of uncatalogued alien artifacts for Ianto. She gets up, and goes to knock on Jack’s office door. Putting down his glass of whisky, he opens it, invites her in, and closes it behind her.
Taking the seat Jack offers her, Estelle asks, “Do you want to tell me what happened out there?”
He sighs. Topping up his glass, he then pours one for her, before recounting the day’s events: the incident at the primary school, the fairies in the garden, all of which led to letting Jasmine go with the fairies. Jack sounds sad, when he finishes his story.
“Haven’t you taught your people about the greater good?”
He laughs, but it’s bitter. “I thought I had, Estelle. Now, I’m not so sure.”
This might be her chance. “That’s another thing they drummed into us, during the war: ‘the greater good’. Do you remember, Jack?”
“Only through reading about it, Estelle.” He looks uncomfortable.
Sipping her drink, she decides to just go for it. “Did you really think you could fool me, Captain Jack Harkness, passing yourself off as your own son?”
“Estelle...” He looks even more uncomfortable.
“No, let me finish. I knew it was still you, from the first moment I saw you again. Same walk, same smile. Same glint in your eyes. I don’t know how any of it’s possible, Jack, but I knew something was different about you, all the way back in the 1940s. You taught me words and ideas that I didn’t hear again for another twenty years.”
“Guess that kind of gave it away, huh?” Jack laughs. He sounds sheepish.
“Only slightly.”
Resolve appears on his face. “I will tell you everything, Estelle, I promise. Not today, though. I’m exhausted.”
And then that wicked glint appears in Jack’s eyes. He leaves his chair and comes round the desk. Taking Estelle’s hand, he pulls her up.
Then he cradles her face in his hands, and kisses her, full on the mouth.
Oh, God. She’d almost forgotten how very, very good he was.
“Jack, I’m in my eighties,” she says, when he pulls away.
At that, something she can’t read goes across his face. Is her age part of what stopped him from telling her the truth?
It’s soon replaced by a smile, and he says, “So? You’re still you, Estelle; you’re still beautiful, to me. And I love you as much I did during the war.”
“I love you, too, Jack.” There were a few more things he was very good at. Estelle smiles up at him. “When are you taking me dancing, then?”
“Dancing?” Jack laughs, eyes wide.
“Yes, dancing.”
“Is tomorrow night alright? There’s a regular Forties night at one of the council halls, I believe...”
“That sounds perfect.” Then she pulls Jack’s head down and kisses him, making him gasp.
“You’re a wicked woman, Estelle Cole.”
“So you used to tell me.”
Jack laughs, and it’s happy.
Estelle laughs, too. She’s got her captain back. Everything else can wait.
-end-
Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.
"The Stolen Child," William Butler Yeats.
crosspost:
torch_wood
torchwood_fic
galactic_conman
tw_exchange
"You taught me words and ideas that I didn’t hear again for another twenty years." - http://laurab1.livejournal.com/167908.html