"The Torchwood Girls" fic snippet
Jack and Dr W H R Rivers, Craiglockhart, 25/11/1917, 350 words, PG, scenes in Pat Barker's "Regeneration" used for inspiration
Follows on from this: http://laurab1.livejournal.com/268176.html#cutid1
If you're here via torchwood_three, please note this is only a snippet, and not yet "proper story".
“What did you do, before the war, Jack?” Dr Rivers asks him, when his file finally arrives, a few days after he does.
Jack’s been people watching, and trying to come up with an answer to a question that he expected to be asked. One that doesn’t mention “save the world from aliens, and their stray tech, on a regular basis.” Or maybe he should say that. Would certainly get him completely out of the war. Where he’d end up was an entirely different matter, and one that really didn’t bear thinking about. He has enough circling around in his head at the present. However, he had finally settled on something he could say.
“I ran a branch of a Crown agency, in defence of Great Britain and the Empire,” Jack tells the doctor, voice quiet, but looking at him, across the large wooden desk.
“When did you join up?”
“August 1914. Right at the beginning. Like I’d always planned to.” He whispers the last sentence.
“What happened to you in France?” Dr Rivers asks, giving no indication as to whether or not he heard the end of Jack’s reply.
“Doctor, I think what didn’t happen to me in France would probably be a more useful question,” Jack says, laughing bitterly. Okay, so he’s avoiding answering. Because it hurts to even think about it all.
“Answer the question, please, Colonel,” the doctor orders.
“Isn’t it all in there?” Jack asks, indicating the file Dr Rivers is reading through.
“Yes. But I want you to tell me, Jack.” He sounds more sympathetic, now.
Jack’s done all of this before, yes. But this is different to how he and the Doctor worked through Jack’s Time Agency issues, and the Gallifreyan’s Time War trauma. He figures he is gonna have to talk about his unique condition, but he needs to assemble it all in his broken and battered mind, first. “Not today, Dr Rivers,” he finally manages, “not today.”
“Very well, Harkness,” the doctor says, with a sigh. “You can go.”
“Thank you,” Jack replies, rising from his chair, and leaving the office.
Follows on from this: http://laurab1.livejournal.com/268176.html#cutid1
If you're here via torchwood_three, please note this is only a snippet, and not yet "proper story".
“What did you do, before the war, Jack?” Dr Rivers asks him, when his file finally arrives, a few days after he does.
Jack’s been people watching, and trying to come up with an answer to a question that he expected to be asked. One that doesn’t mention “save the world from aliens, and their stray tech, on a regular basis.” Or maybe he should say that. Would certainly get him completely out of the war. Where he’d end up was an entirely different matter, and one that really didn’t bear thinking about. He has enough circling around in his head at the present. However, he had finally settled on something he could say.
“I ran a branch of a Crown agency, in defence of Great Britain and the Empire,” Jack tells the doctor, voice quiet, but looking at him, across the large wooden desk.
“When did you join up?”
“August 1914. Right at the beginning. Like I’d always planned to.” He whispers the last sentence.
“What happened to you in France?” Dr Rivers asks, giving no indication as to whether or not he heard the end of Jack’s reply.
“Doctor, I think what didn’t happen to me in France would probably be a more useful question,” Jack says, laughing bitterly. Okay, so he’s avoiding answering. Because it hurts to even think about it all.
“Answer the question, please, Colonel,” the doctor orders.
“Isn’t it all in there?” Jack asks, indicating the file Dr Rivers is reading through.
“Yes. But I want you to tell me, Jack.” He sounds more sympathetic, now.
Jack’s done all of this before, yes. But this is different to how he and the Doctor worked through Jack’s Time Agency issues, and the Gallifreyan’s Time War trauma. He figures he is gonna have to talk about his unique condition, but he needs to assemble it all in his broken and battered mind, first. “Not today, Dr Rivers,” he finally manages, “not today.”
“Very well, Harkness,” the doctor says, with a sigh. “You can go.”
“Thank you,” Jack replies, rising from his chair, and leaving the office.