[Doctor Who/Torchwood] "Leaving Aside the Last Things of Home" (PG)
Author's Note: Written for 
fic_promptly's any, any, and do s/he changed her/his name. Featuring a teenaged Jack Harkness.
Jax Gralfagor. Not a very pleasant name, and Standard Boeshanic did not often turn up on people's lists of languages that one needed to master to be a mover or shaker in this universe. Best to brush up on his Standard English, so he did not come off as a bumpkin from a back water planet like Sirius 5
So, the name had to go. Hardly seemed much of a change: the only one left at home who called him Jax who mattered the most to him was his father's wife and Grey's mother. They had never really shared much of a connection, aside from sharing the same cubicle in the communal dwelling, or at least, not as deep a connection as Jax had with his father.
"So what will I call you?" his mother asked, as he rechecked the contents of his rucksack one last time, before the next freighter arrived to whisk him away to the Time Agency's headquarter world.
"I'll think of something," Jax replied, closing the mouth of the ruck sack and slinging it over his shoulder. "And when I think of it, I'll write to you under that name."
"Guess I can't call you Jax any more," she said. Shaking her head, hands on her hips, but with a smile, she said, "You get more like your father every day: he would be proud of you, for moving on like this, for wanting to find Grey. I'm not sure he'd approve of this Time Agency, though. Traveling in time as well as space?"
"He'd 've said I can do whatever I put my mind to, that don't hurt nobody," Jax said. "Though if I get to put the hurt on those that killed him and took Grey, I think he could look the other way for that."
A worried look crossed her face, and she reached out to put a hand on his cheek. "I just worry that I'll lose you. Promise me you'll be careful out there."
"Mum, they're gonna train me to be a fighter. When I'm done, people are gonna have to be careful around me," he said, trying to sound tough yet reassuring, and failing with a hint an adolescent crack popped into his voice at the least appropriate moment.
She restrained herself from laughing, but a smirk still crossed her face. "I know that: I just... I know you're ready to go see the rest of the universe and I can't keep you away from it. But I wonder if the universe is ready for you, Jax."
The roar of the freighter arose outside and the walls, despite their thickness and their construction from the superdense sandstone that made up the planet, still transmitted the noise, making the room shake. She looked up. "I'd better not keep you, young man," she said, holding her arms out to him. He stepped forward and hugged her with one arm, resting his chin on her shoulder. When had he grown so tall? After the attack that had taken his father and his brother?
He released her, giving her a brave smile. "I'll see you again, Mum; I'll have a different name then, but I'll be back," he said.
"I know you will," she said. And giving her a small, nervous salute, he went on his way, clambering up the ladder to the surface, and out of her sight...
fic_promptly's any, any, and do s/he changed her/his name. Featuring a teenaged Jack Harkness.
Jax Gralfagor. Not a very pleasant name, and Standard Boeshanic did not often turn up on people's lists of languages that one needed to master to be a mover or shaker in this universe. Best to brush up on his Standard English, so he did not come off as a bumpkin from a back water planet like Sirius 5
So, the name had to go. Hardly seemed much of a change: the only one left at home who called him Jax who mattered the most to him was his father's wife and Grey's mother. They had never really shared much of a connection, aside from sharing the same cubicle in the communal dwelling, or at least, not as deep a connection as Jax had with his father.
"So what will I call you?" his mother asked, as he rechecked the contents of his rucksack one last time, before the next freighter arrived to whisk him away to the Time Agency's headquarter world.
"I'll think of something," Jax replied, closing the mouth of the ruck sack and slinging it over his shoulder. "And when I think of it, I'll write to you under that name."
"Guess I can't call you Jax any more," she said. Shaking her head, hands on her hips, but with a smile, she said, "You get more like your father every day: he would be proud of you, for moving on like this, for wanting to find Grey. I'm not sure he'd approve of this Time Agency, though. Traveling in time as well as space?"
"He'd 've said I can do whatever I put my mind to, that don't hurt nobody," Jax said. "Though if I get to put the hurt on those that killed him and took Grey, I think he could look the other way for that."
A worried look crossed her face, and she reached out to put a hand on his cheek. "I just worry that I'll lose you. Promise me you'll be careful out there."
"Mum, they're gonna train me to be a fighter. When I'm done, people are gonna have to be careful around me," he said, trying to sound tough yet reassuring, and failing with a hint an adolescent crack popped into his voice at the least appropriate moment.
She restrained herself from laughing, but a smirk still crossed her face. "I know that: I just... I know you're ready to go see the rest of the universe and I can't keep you away from it. But I wonder if the universe is ready for you, Jax."
The roar of the freighter arose outside and the walls, despite their thickness and their construction from the superdense sandstone that made up the planet, still transmitted the noise, making the room shake. She looked up. "I'd better not keep you, young man," she said, holding her arms out to him. He stepped forward and hugged her with one arm, resting his chin on her shoulder. When had he grown so tall? After the attack that had taken his father and his brother?
He released her, giving her a brave smile. "I'll see you again, Mum; I'll have a different name then, but I'll be back," he said.
"I know you will," she said. And giving her a small, nervous salute, he went on his way, clambering up the ladder to the surface, and out of her sight...