OOMM: Second report

[border_prince]

In the end, the report James does not want to write is three lines long:

Had a second encounter with Torchwood agent Jack Harkness at Milliways.

Learnt in the course of conversation that said agent is acquainted with the Doctor.

Security considerations prevent me from committing details of conversation to paper.He's desperately tempted to simply

Comments

[prettysexual]

The problem with encountering people centuries in the past is that you can't ever know when the repercussions will come.

From the moment he hired James, Jack knew that the time would come when his younger self, full of youthful enthusiasm, babbled all about the Doctor in his presence.

He had hoped that it would come a little later, though. He had actually been having a decent day.

He takes the report wordlessly, puts his coffee mug on the desk, and makes himself look at the report. Maybe there's another meeting with James that he's forgotten--but no. This is the one, mercifully short as it is.

"The contents of this report," he says slowly, "recorded and otherwise, are classified. Understand, Mayer?"

[border_prince]

James can't remember the last time Jack addressed him solely by his last name, if it's ever happened at all. It stings a little, particularly after the last couple of days, and because it confirms he was right about just how unwelcome this report would be. It establishes a clear line of formality, though, which helps: This is strictly business.

"Yes, sir," he says. "Absolutely."

[prettysexual]

It was meant to sting. Jack usually makes a point of calling his agents by their first names; it establishes a casual atmosphere that tends to reduce stress, if only by a little. And it makes him come across as a man to be trusted, or so Jack likes to think.

To call someone by their last name means either trouble or serious business, and in this case it's the latter.

There is a moment of silence that follows James' statement, in which Jack considers his options. Then: "Close the door."

[border_prince]

James had been standing in the doorway; he steps fully into the room now, pulling the door closed behind him.

He doesn't move to sit, but stays where he is, and waits silently for Jack to start the - conversation. Debriefing. Lecture. Whatever this is going to be.